We are just a group of retired spooks that discuss things that you’ll not find anywhere else. It makes us unique. Take a look around. Learn a thing or two.
When I lived in The ‘States, spaghetti was my primary food. It was affordable, tasty and easy to make. I would cook up hamburger (mince) and then add it to spaghetti with some peppers and onions.
When I moved to China, I learned about REAL noodles… and all sorts of different variations. All so darn yummy.
A popular classic Beijing dish, Zha Jiang Mian features ground pork and onion cooked in a rich savory brown sauce with a hint of sweetness, tossed with noodles and then served with crunchy cucumber. It takes no time to prepare, is easy to cook, and can be prepared ahead of time. It’s a perfect one-bowl dish for hot days and is great for meal prep as well.
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What is Zha Jiang Mian
Zha Jiang Mian (炸酱面), or translated literally, fried sauce noodles, is one of the most classic and famous dishes in Beijing cuisine. It’s not as fancy or well-known as Peking Duck, but if you travel to Beijing, locals will always recommend this dish to you.
My parents told me that zha jiang mian was a dish for poor people. The traditional recipe uses a thick salty soybean paste to make the sauce, together with a bit of ground pork and sometimes lard. The sauce becomes so rich and flavorful that you only need a small amount of it to accompany a whole bowl of noodles. This way, people don’t need to spend much to fill up their bellies.
Although it seems like a simple dish, it has a whole set of rules that govern how it’s served in Beijing. It is called Old Beijing Fried Sauce Noodles here, and this is considered the most traditional and authentic way to prepare the dish. In addition to the sauce made from yellow soybean paste, the dish is often served with sliced cucumber, sliced red radish, boiled bean sprouts, and yellow soybeans. By adding all these things to the noodles, you can create a balanced and flavorful dish that is refreshing and has a good texture.
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Why this recipe
However, the recipe I’m sharing today is different from the traditional way of cooking Zha Jiang Mian. This is a family recipe that was passed down from my grandma, and I think it tastes much better than the traditional one.
Secret Ingredient: Sweet Bean Paste
Instead of yellow soybean paste, my family uses sweet bean paste (Tian mian jiang, 甜面酱) to make Zha Jiang Mian. It is a thick dark brown sauce made from fermented wheat flour. Tian Mian Jiang is less salty than yellow soybean paste and has a slightly sweet flavor (It is the same sauce that accompanies Peking Duck and Moo Shu Chicken). It has a more delicate flavor and is less overwhelming than yellow soybean paste. Sometimes Chinese restaurants label it as hoisin sauce. But sweet bean paste is less sweet and has a deeper fermented umami than hoisin sauce.
You can find sweet bean paste at Chinese markets and many Asian markets. You can also purchase it on Amazon.
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A more satisfying sauce
The traditional Zha Jiang Mian uses very little pork in the sauce. Because the dish is created for a budget meal, like I mentioned above.
For the homemade version, my mom uses much more pork and chopped onion to create a much better texture and more delicious sauce. Since sweet bean paste is less salty than soybean paste, you will also use more sauce per bowl of noodles, which makes the dish more balanced and satisfying.
My mom likes to chop a fattier block of pork into small cubes instead of using ground pork, to achieve a better mouthfeel. Here I used ground pork to make prep much easier. But feel free to use cut-up pork for your dish if you prefer.
Ingredients
When you’re ready to cook, your counter should have:
Sweet bean paste and water
Sliced cucumber (and other toppings if you prefer)
Minced ginger
Shaoxing wine
Oil for cooking
Ground pork
Chopped onion
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Type of noodles for Zha Jiang Mian
There are a few options for Zha Jiang Mian. Traditional Zha Jiang Mian uses a rather thick type of noodles. It’s a bit similar to udon noodles in terms of thickness, but with a chewier texture.
If you have access to Asian market, try to find fresh noodles in the refrigerated section. The Lan Zhou Fresh Noodles or Da Xi Bei GunGun (my favorite) by HAVISTA, and the Plain Noodles from Twin Marquis are great options. You can freeze the portion you’re not using for up to 6 months.
If you can only find dried noodles, that’s totally fine. You can use either the thick type or thin types of noodles, depending on the texture you prefer. Make sure to use noodles made from wheat flour and water (there shouldn’t be eggs or other ingredients).
You can serve your Zha Jiang Mian with no toppings and the result will still be delicious. For a better texture, my favorite topping is sliced cucumber. Other crunchy vegetables such as sliced radish (red, daikon, or watermelon radish), blanched bean sprouts, and sliced carrots are great options as well. You can also add a small handful of salad greens to the dish.
TIP: If you find slicing vegetables too time consuming, use a julienne peeler to save time.
An untraditional topping
Unlike the traditional way of serving Zha Jiang Mian, my mom loves to add scrambled eggs and tomato as a topping. This is a family tradition and I’ve never seen other people serve Zha Jiang Mian this way. But I love how it tastes. The tender tomatoes and eggs add more volume to the noodles and balance out the rich brown sauce, making the dish so delicious and colorful!
How to cook zha jiang mian
Mix the sweet bean sauce
Sweet bean sauce is a thick paste that’s easy to burn in a hot pan. So you will need to add water to it to thin it out before cooking. It’s like the idea of miso paste, as you should dissolve it in water beforehand.
Cooking Zha Jiang Mian sauce
Gently cook the ginger
Pan fry the pork
Add the sauce
Simmer to bring the flavor out of the sauce
Add the onions and cook until tender
Stir and serve!
The sweet bean sauce needs to be cooked for long enough to bring out the best flavor. That’s why you will start with a diluted sauce, and it will gradually thicken until it’s done. Make sure to stir the sauce frequently during the cooking, so it won’t burn on the bottom of the pan.
When the sauce is simmering, you can start a pot of water to cook the noodles. Because the Zha Jiang Mian sauce will be piping hot once it’s done, you can boil the noodles at the end, when the sauce is almost ready.
To assemble, transfer noodles to individual bowls and add a spoonful of the sauce. And top it with vegetables as you like. Then you can mix it all together and eat it.
My family’s recipe not only preserves all the deliciousness of a bowl of traditional Zha Jiang Mian, but also tastes better and is super comforting. Add a spoonful of sauce to the noodles and gently mix them; you will smell the pungent aroma and be unable to resist picking up the chopsticks and digging in.
Guys, this dis is authentic, and super delicious. If you love American (Western) “spaghetti with meat sauce”, you will absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this dish. It is worth the time to prepare correctly.
However, if you are in the West, go to any Chinese family run… Chinese restaurant, and ask for Zha Jiang Mian.
Pronounced like a “ja”. Say it twice fast as in “ja-ja”. Add “mian” which is noodles in Chinese. You say…
Originally Answered: What is the most condescending advice you received from someone who assumed you were poor or less educated than they were?
I worked at Trader Joe’s for 3 years while I was pursuing my Ph.D. One day, a woman and her granddaughter came through my lane. The girl, about 12, remarked that she thought it would be fun to work at Trader Joe’s someday. Her grandmother winked at her and said, “Oh I think you can do a little better than that.”
I continued scanning her groceries and said, “Keep it in mind if you’re ever in school getting your Ph.D. The flexible hours and benefits are great so you can focus on your studies.” I looked directly at the grandmother and said, “At least that’s how it’s working out for me.”
The woman was embarrassed, but I continued, talking again to the granddaughter. “And, just remember, a job you love and enjoy is the most important part.”
This is just ONE example of hundreds. Customers coming through my lane acting as though the only reason for me being there was because I was too dumb, too lazy, too whatever to be their equal. I worked with people with their MBA, artists, and people who didn’t have a college degree but were the hardest workers I’ve ever known before or since.
Ukraine SitRep: A Hated New Commander – Critical Lack Of Infantry
The Ukrainian President Zelenski has fired the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces General Zaluzny.
Zaluzny was replaced by General Syrski, a somewhat unexpected choice as Syrski is hated by the troops for pushing them into meat grinders without a perspective of winning. Syrski, who was born as a Russian, had lost the cauldron battles of Debaltsevo (2015), Soledar (2023) and Bakhmut (2023). Currently Avdeevka is in a cauldron and likely to fall.
Rumors say that Syrski already ordered reserves to reinforce the troops in Avdeevka. Russian FAB bombs will welcome them.
General Syrsky has a reputation for being willing to engage the enemy, even if the cost in men and machines is high. He is a divisive figure who provokes strong reactions from serving officers. Some praise his professionalism, others say he terrifies his subordinates and rules by fear. He is less likely to question the priorities of his president. As he takes on the top job, he will have to soften his style of command and learn to speak truth to power.
The reorganisation will also cause disruption as officers shift to new positions in the chain of command. It is important that these changes do not degrade Ukraine’s capacity to fight. Before long, the country will need a new mobilisation even if General Syrsky uses his troops mostly for defence—as, for now, he should.
Ask yourself, why would Zelensky appoint a commander that the entire armed forces allegedly hates?
In fact, this is a ‘design feature’ not a bug.
Recall that the reason Zaluzhny was given the boot was he had become too powerful: he was too loved by the troops, and by the people. Why? One of the reasons is likely because he fought for the troops multiple times. In early 2023, documents were leaked showing that he nearly begged Zelensky to pull troops back from Bakhmut, but the narco-Fuhrer refused, wanting it as a symbolic city defense—perhaps taken with romantic delusions of Stalingrad.
During the grand summer ‘counteroffensive’, Zaluzhny pulled the brigades of the 10th Army Corps back and began to use them sparingly—much to the chagrin and disapproval of US sponsors—after the initial first few wipes devastated columns of Leopards and Bradleys along the infamous road of death near Rabotino and Mala Tokmachka.
Recently it was claimed Zaluzhny likewise attempted to get Avdeevka totally withdrawn. It does not seem that he likes to waste men for what he knows to be fruitless efforts. Syrsky on the other hand appears glad to grind them down.
So, has it become obvious yet? Zelensky needs a commander-in-chief he can control, someone not universally loved by the troops; someone who cannot use those troops at a time of opportunity to ‘march on Kiev’ and oust Zelensky from his citadel. Syrsky appears to fit the perfect prototypical role: undefiant, unpopular, uncharismatic, and most importantly, untempted by political ambitions—the ideal subserviant factotum to Zelensky’s regime.
There is no word yet what Zaluzny is going to do. He has the respect of the troops and good relations with the ‘nationalists’, i.e. the Nazi fringe militia of Ukraine. He also has the support of some politicians opposed to Zelenski.
A coup is thereby a possible outcome of this change.
Yesterday a Washington Post article, sources from interviews at the Ukrainian front, describes the utter shamble the Ukrainian forces are in:
In interviews across the front line in recent days, nearly a dozen soldiers and commanders told The Washington Post that personnel deficits were their most critical problem now, as Russia has regained the offensive initiative on the battlefield and is stepping up its attacks.
One battalion commander in a mechanized brigade fighting in eastern Ukraine said that his unit currently has fewer than 40 infantry troops — the soldiers deployed in front-line trenches who hold off Russian assaults. A fully equipped battalion would have more than 200, the commander said.
Under normal circumstances a mechanized battalion is supposed to hold a 3 kilometer long frontline. With only 40 infantry soldiers available that becomes an impossible task. The further deterioration from that depleted state will be rapid.
Oleksandr, a battalion commander, said the companies in his unit on average are staffed at about 35 percent of what they should be. A second battalion commander from an assault brigade said that is typical for units that carry out combat tasks.
Asked how many new soldiers he has received — not including those who have returned after injuries — Oleksandr said his battalion was sent five people over the past five months. He and other commanders said the new recruits tend to be poorly trained, creating a dilemma about whether to send someone immediately onto the battlefield because reinforcements are needed so badly, even though they are likely to get injured or killed because they lack the know-how.
“The basis of everything is the lack of people,” Oleksandr said.
“Where are we going? I don’t know,” he added. “There’s no positive outlook. Absolutely none. It’s going to end in a lot of death, a global failure. And most likely, I think, the front will collapse somewhere like it did for the enemy in 2022, in the Kharkiv region.”
The new Ukrainian mobilization law, which is supposed to refill the army with fresh bodies, is still creeping through the Ukrainian parliament. It will likely come into force only by April. The first new troops conscripted under it will take until July to be combat capable. One wonders is the current Ukrainian army can hold that long.
Posted by b on February 9, 2024 at 7:41 UTC | Permalink
My Wife/Her Friends Expected Me To Pay For Their $700 Dinner Bill, Instead I Walked Out!
There are already some good answers here. One type of crime that has a low solvability is the “one off” variety, e.g. an offense the perpetrator does once before moving on. Solvability gets even lower if the crime is committed with no other connection between actor and victim.
For example, say that I am on a cross-country road trip, and take a detour to Ames, Iowa. I’ve never been there. I take I-80 to I-35 North, and stop off at a gas station/convenience store somewhere around Ames. I cover my license plates just before I get there, park around back or some other place where there are few surveillance cameras, and walk inside, robbing the store. I go back to my car, drive a few miles before getting rid of the license plate covers, and resume my trip. I stop for gas only at stations around I-80, none on I-35.
I haven’t given the cops much to go on. If I’m careful not to leave fingerprints and wear some clothing that makes it hard to get a good camera shot of my face, the chance this crime is going to be connected to me is pretty low. If I get greedy and use the same tactics at other crime venues, I increase my chances at getting caught with each iteration.
Organized crime hit men use a similar tactic. They take on targets that are outside their usual haunts, and do the deed in a place there are few witnesses. The police local to the site of the crime won’t know anything about the hit man. A federal agent looking for behavior patterns (M.Os. or modus operandi) might pick up the trail, but even that is a long shot, one that gets longer if the M.O. hasn’t been tied to the hit man.
While there are some smart criminals, most people who make it a habit to commit crimes aren’t especially bright, and have signature behaviors that tie the crimes back to them.
There’s a sport called Airsoft. If you know about it, skip this part, but for those who don’t here’s an explanation.
Airsoft is like paintball, but a lot of its components, i.e. the guns, gear, etc. is a lot more realistic than paintball. A lot of LARPers and MilSim (Military Simulation) guys love doing stuff like that.
The sport started in Japan due to its tough gun laws but the sport soon spread to other places like Britain, America, and… oh… Russia for instance.
In America, MilSim events are huge. There is a lot of preparation involved. People will drop thousands on gear to look like this:
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This is an image I found off Google. Rifle, easy with all attachments, $300+, not to mention any internal modifications he might have.
Helmet an easy $50, assuming its a nice one. Earpieces have wires, so they’re probably communication linked, noise cancelling and sound enhancing. Easy $70–80. Crye combat pants. $100.
Even vehicles, which probably cost thousands to kit out:
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As you can see, American MilSimmers are rather dedicated.
However, compared to Russian MilSim events… Well let me just say this. Its like comparing a pickup game of basketball with the neighborhood friends versus an all out NBA game. Take a look at this video.
https://youtu.be/hVyWHsElhME
Fucking hell. Russians bring multimillion dollar TANKS to their Milsim events. Plus, as you saw in the second vid, Russian soldiers got involved to take blank potshots at people to add to realism!
Meanwhile in America you have people arguing about 10 foot engagement distances and bang killing.
Yep. Most Russian thing ever, bring a tank to a toy fight.
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca is a traditional Italian pasta from Naples that’s quick to put together from pantry staples. If you have canned tomatoes, garlic, olives, anchovies and capers in your cupboard, you can knock out this simple but flavourful sauce in a flash. It’s a stellar emergency meal everyone should know, with a “saucy” backstory of its own!
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Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
There are various colourful stories explaining how this dish came to be, and how Puttanesca pasta got its name. “Puttanesca” roughly translates to “working girls” in Italian (that’s a politically correct term I’m using there!) One tale tells how this dish was invented in the brothels of Naples so the smells wafting from the kitchen would entice potential … errr, clients. Another story claims this pasta was a quick and simple dish ladies of the Neapolitan night could throw together in a hurry in amongst their busy schedules.
Does this kind of talk on a G-rated food blog make you blush? 😉
Whatever the origins, today this is considered a classic and staple Italian pasta recipe. It’s budget-friendly, easy and quick to make, yet delicious enough to woo family and friends (or indeed, “paying customers” … 😉)
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Ingredients in Puttanesca sauce
Being such simple recipe, this is one of those dishes that genuinely benefits from better quality ingredients. In this pasta, the one ingredient I find is really worth seeking out is fresh deli-style olives in olive oil or brine, rather than cheaper jarred ones you find on supermarket shelves.
Oh, also, anchovies – the secret “why is this simple sauce so good?” ingredient. If you skip it, the sauce isn’t quite as good! However you can leave it out if you wish to make the dish vegetarian / vegan (add a little more garlic, capers and olives instead).
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Black olives – Try to use good quality, fresh olives from the deli. These come in either olive oil or brine and will add more flavour into the sauce as it simmers compared to bottled ones that come in sealed jars. Both pitted and unpitted are fine but pitting your own is best.
Anchovies – This adds savoury flavour and salt to the sauce without leaving it “fishy-tasting”. In fact, you’d have to have a highly attuned palate to be able to taste it at all. The anchovies are finely chopped and dissolve into the sauce, and any strong fishiness disappears leaving just deliciously deep umami.I prefer to use whole anchovies and finely mince it myself because it has better flavour than using anchovy paste. But paste is a handy alternative – my rule of thumb is 1/4 teaspoon of paste per anchovy (so use 3/4 teaspoon in this recipe).
Spaghetti – Traditionally made with spaghetti or vermicelli pasta (ie. the thinner spaghetti), though this recipe works just fine with any long pasta. Or short, for that matter!
Tomatoes – Not all canned tomatoes are created equal! Better ones are sweeter and break down better to create a sauce. TIP: If you find your tomatoes are a bit on the sour side, just add a touch of sugar to the sauce. It’s a cheat’s way of taking the sour edge off that is a game changer with for example, Spaghetti Bolognese.
Capers – Adds little pops of briny goodness and that unique caper flavour to the sauce. I usually use standard size capers. On occasion, I find they can be giant in size so I’ll reach for the baby capers instead. Both work!
Garlic – Because this is Italian food!
Chilli flakes (aka red pepper flakes) – A pinch of heat is wonderful in this sauce. It’s not a spicy sauce, here it’s just a background hum of warmth.
Extra virgin olive oil – For cooking and finishing.
Fresh basil and oregano – These finishing herb touches will really lift the dish and return some freshness to the sauce. But if you don’t have them, it is absolutely still worth making using a pinch of dried oregano. Don’t bother with dried basil, it’s basically flavourless.If you don’t have basil, serve with a sprinkle of parmesan instead. The extra flavour will compensate for absence of fresh herb flavour.
How to make Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
Start the sauce first and get it simmering, then cook the pasta. They’ll both finish at the same time, ready to toss together!
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This recipe serves 2. Use a medium size skillet here rather than a very large one, else the sauce will dry out too quickly when simmering. If you’re scaling the recipe up however a large skillet will be necessary to toss the pasta in the sauce (or use a pot for the sauce and tossing).
Sauté aromatics – Start off by sautéing the garlic in olive oil until it starts to go golden on the edges. Then add the finely chopped anchovies, capers, olives and red pepper flakes and cook for a further 1 minute.This sautéing step is key to the flavour of the sauce. It blooms the flavour of the red pepper flakes and even more importantly, takes the raw fishy edge off the anchovies while causing them to break down, ready to dissolve into the sauce.
Add everything else into sauce – Add the can of tomatoes, then add water by rinsing out the can. In goes salt, pepper and fresh or dried oregano, then give it a good stir.
Simmer 10 minutes – Once the sauce comes to a simmer, turn the heat way down to low and let it simmer gently, stirring every now and then, for 10 minutes while the pasta cooks. The tomato will break down, the water will cook out, leaving behind a nice, shiny and thickened sauce. If at any stage it looks like the sauce is drying out (probably due to heat being too strong or using a skillet that’s too large), just add a splash of water.
Cook pasta – Cook the pasta in salted water. Just before draining, scoop out a mugful of pasta cooking water. This is a key, essential step for cooking any pasta(well and properly!). We add a splash into the pasta sauce when tossing with the pasta. Starch that’s left in the cooking water helps emulsify the fats and water in the sauce. This has a thickening effect and also discourages the sauce from separating. The sauce clings deliciously to the pasta strands instead of leaving a watery pool of bland liquid at the bottom of your pasta bowl.You’ll see this step in every pasta recipe on my website. And every household in Italy makes pasta this way!
Combine pasta, sauce and pasta cooking water – After draining the pasta, immediately throw into the sauce along with about 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water. I rarely measure, I just eyeball it.
Toss, toss, toss! With the skillet still on a low stove, use 2 wooden spoons to toss the pasta vigorously for a minute. After 20 or 30 seconds of tossing, you’ll notice that the sauce in the skillet starts clinging to the pasta (thanks to the pasta cooking water!).The pasta is ready when the sauce is all stuck to the pasta rather than sitting in the skillet.Pasta/sauce gets dry – If at any stage the pasta (or sauce) gets too thick or dries out, rather than being slippery and shiny, just add an extra splash of pasta cooking water then toss more. This will resurrect the pasta and makes it “juicy” again. This is why we scoop out a big mugful of pasta cooking water! I do this multiple times when taking photos and shooting videos of pasta because it loses freshness within minutes and I can’t shoot that fast!Sprinkle with basil and serve immediately!
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Pro tip: warm your pasta bowlsWatch how to make it
Pasta is a dish that is at its absolute best served hot and fresh. It is never the same reheated. It is also one of the rare dishes where I make the effort to warm serving bowls, to preserve the heat of the pasta when eating. I just pop them in a 70C / 160F oven to warm before I start cooking, or in the microwave for a minute before serving. It’s worth the small effort, especially in winter!
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What to serve with Puttanesca pasta
Parmesan?
Puttanesca is traditionally not served with the typical shower of parmesan because it already has plenty of salt and savouriness from the flavour-packed ingredients. But I won’t stop you if that’s how you want to roll.
Having said that, if I don’t have fresh basil sometimes I use parmesan to compensate as a finishing touch (no it’s not the same thing at all, but I like to have a garnish).
Sides!
In my world, Puttanesca is planted firmly in the “emergency pantry meals” bucket so you won’t get a side salad if I make this for you. It’s also technically 95% vegetables anyway! 😉 However, if you’re after a super quick one that’s on-theme, Rocket with Shaved Parmesan fits the bill with a side of hot buttery garlic bread or focaccia (I’m very proud of this recipe, I hope you try it one day!).
Add a Tiramisu for dessert or Italian Almond cookies with coffee, and suddenly this humble “quick pantry dinner” has transformed into a full blown Italian dinner menu!
We had a 10 year employee working at my store named (ummmm) “Suzy”. She was the community out-reach leader (and amazing at it) and the intimates / beauty department manager. She had a perfect attendance record. She was one of TWO “Exceeds Expectations” leaders in the entire store. She went to EVERY fundraising event and was absolutely one of the most delightful human beings I ever worked with.
I was in the break room with the store manager. In walked “Suzy”. She opened the fridge, dug out a bottle of iced tea. Said (out loud), “No name! Fair game!” and opened it and drank it. We didn’t even have time to stop her. We saw her take an item from the fridge. There was no moral dilemma on our part. The front of the fridge had a sign on it saying, “If it’s not yours and you take it, it’s theft. Period.” We had a camera pointing at the fridge because food theft had been a past issue.
“Suzy” was walked off the property the same day.
She was stunned. “But I have perfect attendance. I’ve gotten exceeds expectations on every review. I’m the community captain.” It absolutely broke my heart (she was one of my all time favorite employees). We had to explain to her, “Nobody gets immunity to the rules. You cannot be the greatest employee ever and expect that you earn some kind of points that grant you forgiveness, especially in an area so critical to trust and morale. All theft is treated the same, regardless of size or intent. You took something that didn’t belong to you.”
Theft is and should always be treated with absolute zero tolerance. No exceptions ever. Making exceptions demands future exceptions for all people. Making exceptions about theft opens the door to low standards. Better to fire all the perpetrators and shut the unit down until backfill can be identified than to allow a thief to continue being employed for even one second.
My son stole $2000 in a locked box from under my bed as I slept. He knew I needed that money to do badly needed repairs on the house we had just moved back into after a divorce. He had just gotten out of a juvenile treatment facility. He refused to get a job. He kept bringing a friend over at night when I was working.
My house reeked of marijuana every morning when I got home. They ate my food. He was 18. A legal adult. When I discovered he stole the money I had him arrested.
He was put in jail. No one would bail him out so he stayed there for three months. At court I told him I did not want to see him until he was a contributing member of society. He had to have a legal job…not selling street drugs etc. He was given time served plus probation and had to pay restitution. He got out of jail and lived with the kid who had been hanging out at my house.
His mother kicked them both out. My son found his birth father and stayed with him. He soon learned the man’s sole goal in life was to stay high. My son then stayed with another friend, couch surfed.
Lived in an office building bathroom. Then with a woman who was crazy. Then a friend rescued him. He lived with them and their father for two years.
They made him stay clean, clean up after himself, eat healthy, get and keep a job. He then asked if he could come back home.
He is now 24. The other day he thanked me for holding him accountable. He has a job he enjoys and is saving money for a future. Some kids just need tough love.
My husband is a retired Royal Thai police officer. He rarely told me much about his days, not wanting me to worry, get upset.
He did, however, share a few events that had me laughing…
Story 1
Husband and his men were chasing a small group of meth dealers who abandoned their car and ran into the tall grass of a swampy field.
Husband has the usual regulation, very short hair and was wearing a bright orange vest that was clearly marked POLICE, front and back, in huge English and Thai letters.
He waded into the swamp and stood next to one of the meth dealers who told him to take off the bright vest because the police were searching the area!
Story 2
Husband and his guys raided a gambling den at dawn. The players, many of whom were very drunk, ran to their motorcycles, trucks and cars to get away.
Four men staggered to their car but were stunned because the police seemed to be keeping pace on foot with their ‘pedal to the metal,’ speeding car.
In fact, they had jumped into an abandoned car that had no engine and hadn’t noticed they hadn’t moved at all.
Story 3
‘Uncle’ Tan was a quiet, older man who grew veggies and sold them from the back of his pick-up.
Officers received a call saying that Uncle had unsuccessfully tried to rob a local shop with a plastic water pistol and was walking down the highway, TOWARDS the police station.
He seemed pleased when he was arrested.
As was the norm, he was told he could be held for 48 hours in the police station jail, longer if a judge deemed it necessary. Uncle perked up at the possibility of ‘longer.’
The officers were puzzled until the truth came out: his wife’s sisters were coming for their yearly visit, and Uncle said that he was just too old to go through that hell again. He had thought he would be in jail for weeks.
The judge showed leniency, asking the police to hold Uncle until it was deemed safe for him to go home.
Does it occur to you it could be the U.S. that could be imprisoned? If the U.S. ends up spending tons of money meaninglessly and without a return and yet it cannot stop spending billions to continuously do shit that don’t pay it is the U.S. that is trapped. China don’t gives a shit it simply just let the US waste all it money bribing nations who refuse to do shit, just to pretend to the world it has allies.
For us in Asia. Even Japan, Korea, Phillipines and India have no wish to do shit as it knows the repercussions and it has been China’s neighbour for some 5000 years! It may have no choice but to barked some shit on China to get the U.S. off its back. But sure won’t risk it to do more than that. So the U.S. having a pay billions get some pretend shit is outright silly and wasteful.
So who is trapped? China can and will do what it wants. And the U.S. has to stay and waste a ton of resources to get pretentious shit that China gives a damn. To me the U.S. is trapped in its own stupidity!
Groom yourself, even if you’re living alone . Keep your beard clean and trimmed. Girls may wax, if necessary.
Always carry a wallet, Comb, Belt, Perfume, a pen with you.
Workout at least 1 hour a day, it’s the least you could do for your body.This will keep your confidence up, your body healthy and your face free of pimples.
Cover your mouth while sneezing, coughing, etc. Say ‘Sorry/Excuse me’ afterward.
Invest in your own personal hygiene like flossing your teeth, cleaning your mouth, wearing cologne.
Speak a bit less and think before you speak because one wrong word can hurt your personality.
Talk looking into the eyes of the other person.
Be a man of your words , If you promise to do something for someone, make sure you do it .
Show respect for other person’s opinion. Never tell a person he or she is wrong.
Learn the difference between Ego and Self-respect. There’s a very thin line between them.
Hustle as much as you can. Fast success brings ego, slow success builds personality.
Do Meditation.(Meditation transforms you into a new human)
Never make fun of someone’s disability whether it’s financial, mental or physical.
Never hesitate meeting new people. People have own experiences and knowledge to share with you.
My coworker, Marty, at the Department of Correction was fired after bantering with our department’s business manager. She was a diva with a (very) high opinion of herself and one morning Marty told her that she looked “nice”.
She cocked her hip and smiled at him, and asked if he was implying that she didn’t look good every day. Marty responded that she did, indeed, look good and that she looked good enough to eat. That ended the conversation and I went on my merry way.
When I returned to the office late that afternoon, another coworker pulled me aside and asked, breathlessly, if I’d heard about Marty. I hadn’t — I’d been out installing computers in a prison all day — so she said that he’d been fired! For sexual harrassment! The diva business manager had filed a complaint against him.
I immediately tracked my boss down and told her the complaint was bullshit, and that I’d witnessed the entire exchange. She said that her hands were tied because Marty admitted saying the diva looked good enough to eat. It was considered inappropriate verbiage for the workplace and the diva insisted that she would be uncomfortable working with Marty.
I kept my contact and conversations with her to a minimum from that day on.
China has been excluded from the ISS project, which has greatly promoted the development of China’s aerospace technology.
You can imagine that 20 years ago, several young people decided to save money to buy a car and then use it together. The Chinese were excluded. He was told: Your money is dirty and we will not accept it.
You have to understand that Russia, which the United States considers an enemy, is accepted, while China is excluded. How humiliating is this to China?
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The young man decided not to pray to join but to work hard on his own. Finally, he made enough money to buy a car of his own. A new car that belongs only to him.
The group of young people who pooled their money to buy a car are still using that old car together, even though it is very old. All participants are not yet able to buy their own cars.
When they saw a Chinese driving a new car alone, they were filled with envy, but they said: His car is smaller than ours!
Let us assume that if China was allowed to join, what would be the result? They may have a module on the ISS, but they will never have their own CSS.
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Now everything has changed
The Chinese space station is so advanced that they even use Hall thrusters to maintain orbit without having to consume a lot of fuel like the ISS.
Famous media commented that the interior of CSS is like an Apple store, while the ISS is like an old grocery store.
My father was a very serious and strict man. We lived in a nice house with a covered front porch on a hill overlooking a valley. One day when I was 10 yrs. old I was with my father on the porch ,there was a man dressed in a suit and tie and they were discussing serious business. I knew not to disturb them in any way. I had to remain quiet so I quickly became bored. I looked around the porch for something of interest when I spotted a small stone on the floor. When I picked it up I thought it was such a perfect throwing stone, the shape and the way it fit in my hand I just knew it would travel a record breaking distance down that valley. I took a few steps back so I would be behind dad’s peripheral sight as they both were facing the valley in deep conversation. I focused on a bush for my target . I took a couple deep breaths and threw the stone with every muscle I had.
To my horror the stone slipped out of my hand . I heard a deep moan as my father collapsed to one knee . As he grabbed his left ear he uttered”” “JUMPIN JESUS” WHAT WAS THAT ? I was so afraid I couldn’t speak. The stone had hit the bone behind his left ear and instantly a purple knot appeared . WELL , WHAT WAS IT ? I finally managed to say… a rock.. A ROCK ! Get in the house. Well, lucky for me their conversation lasted longer giving him a cooling off period. When the man left Dad gave me a lecture about throwing rocks and interrupting adults. Surprisingly there was no physical abuse which I expected. Now many years later even though he’s gone , I can hear his voice as if he just now said “WELL, WHAT WAS IT ?” And I get a good laugh about that frightened little boy .
Do you wonder why I put the Deng Xiaoping face on my post? Because the post I am writing tends to make sense for what I will try to convey. As you know, in the mainstream media, basically the West tends to use this Imperialist projection against the Chinese nation. It has become a human sin for the Chinese people to seek their old legitimate rights such as the right to become rich and powerful, the right to become among the most respected nations it used to be during the Ming towards Qing era.
The mainstream media has changed its focus from China’s rising economic threat towards China being the country seeking sphere of influence in Asia. This projection is among those who had committed this act before. History doesn’t lie, not do the suffering of the people they had to face from the British to the American Imperialism which still is going today in many forms.
China has now become one of the second largest economies in the world and the first if we see it through a PPP basis. The nation’s citizens are now enjoying a much better, high quality life in comparison to what their parents had to face under Mao respectfully. China, just like Deng envisioned, became the county that is leading the world in science, tech, and environment policies where China has been recently focused on being the country focused on building a strong green economy.
Media nowadays tends to portray China as aggressive and imperialist. Every investment China does in other countries is judged as a form of imperialism, every defense that China undertakes or its mission to uniting Taiwan is seem as foreign aggression by the West on China when they only want to take what was lost before. This judgment is not just fueled by the West but also by CINOs, or in other words ‘Chinese just in name’ that have Chinese names and ethnicity but they lack the Chinese spirit to show sympathy for their homeland. Most of these can be found in countries like Malaysia and Singapore or even U.S. who tend to side with the West’s aggression against China. This lack of knowledge is what has made ignorance prevalent today. The lack of the understanding the Chinese mindset and their way of doing things is what made them see China from a hostile viewpoint rather than a positive one.
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Socialism: what do I mean? Well to understand China’s foreign policy and the way how it perceives the world is through the socialist perspective. You see Socialism didn’t come out of thin air in China. People before Mao used to be exploited, oppressed by the Chiang Khai Shek government. The land was controlled by the foreign businessmen who used China as a source of destination to build capital under the Chinese labour. This unequal relationship between China and the West is what made the Chinese more angrier, coupled with the hate from their humiliation. The weakness of the Chinese civilization is what pursued the Chinese people to seek a new radical solution and that was Socialism which back then Chairman Mao worked tirelessly to increase the support and work towards unifying China.
Its basis was simple: to fight against oppression, build an equal society and bring back China as the nation it once was. Which means an independent, strong China without being anymore humiliated. Thus when Mao United China is the time where humiliation of China ended and China began to recover. During the recovery, China faced many obstacles. Once was the American aggression in Asia, the other was the restrictions which were put against China because they were “Communist,” then the aggression from outside. China, after seeing Korea fall to the American forces, was forced to send its troops and successfully push out the American troops and North Korea was saved. Hence the socialist and proletarian cause was built on self defense and defending neighbours from Imperialist aggression that came from thousand miles away.
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After Chairman Mao’s death, Deng Xiaoping came to power, which is praised for the new reforms that brought China to the place it is today. A new socialist modern economy built by Chinese people and a strong country looking to move forward even more and bring back the national rejuvenation to the Chinese people. The Deng Xiaoping goal was to always revitalize China which is now being carried by the leader Xi Jinping. Which meant a rich China which used to be under Qing before the Imperialist oppresion, a strong China in Asia and a China that is respected and seen as the gateway to the Eastern civilization and not a China that will replace the role of the West.
Deng Xiaoping in a public forum told others:
China shall always belong to the Third World and shall never seek hegemony. This idea is understandable because China is still quite poor, and is therefore a Third World country in the real sense of the term. The question is whether or not China will practise hegemony when it becomes more developed in the future. My friends, you are younger than I, so you will be able to see for yourselves what happens at that time. If it remains a socialist country, China will not practise hegemony and it will still belong to the Third World. Should China become arrogant, however, act like an overlord and give orders to the world, it would no longer be considered a Third World country.
What do these words mean? It is simple. The leader who laid out the reforms for his nation and the next vision, he is also the one who made sure to future generations to always see China as a nation similar with others of the third world. He never advocated a China which replaces the West’s role, he never advocates for a dominated Chinese power that controls Asia in the similar way of how United States has controlled South America.
This is also one of the main factors that led China into creating SCO and BRICS organizations, because the vision is simple: to build prosperity and encourage integration and connectivity with the third world that includes all of the former nations that were once colonized and exploited. Anti-Imperialism is after all something that has been pushed from Marxists itself, because the concept or freedom isn’t mainly focused on ending exploitation but also imperialism that caused the third world to suffer under the hands of the Western nations, that exploited its natural resources to feed their population.
Anyone who tends to see China in a Western way then that kind of thinking is bound to fail and even insult your own intelligence. No rational person would be crazy enough to compare China to a Western country and I believe the track records of US and other western countries, tells us a lot about the morality that the West loves to show many times.
But what kind of vision then does China see for the world?
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Of course the role that China will play will fundamentally change the world in many ways, and right now we are already noticing many changes especially in Asia. We are seeing a role that keeps growing each year. And a strong China is at the same time bringing a good balance to the world especially when it’s necessary to counter the bi-polar world order by US
Multipolarism: China’s idea of Multipolsrism came even more to light after the importance and value of BRICS began to rise. This is in vision with Deng Xiaoping’s stance who’s always have said to never seek hegemony. China sees Multilateralism as the only way to bring equality to the world order where some certain nations seek a greater role in the world affairs and share a certain security to meet the world challenges.
New Financial system: Putin in the interview with Tucker laid out a very good critique of the US dollar. He mentioned how the United States’ policies towards other rivalries have caused mass panic in the world, and it is true in many ways. After the Russia war in Ukraine began, the West was so quickly to launch the heaviest sanctions in history. This didn’t collapse Russia’s economy and instead they shot themselves in the foot. Because the world for the first time in history was ready to move and make a change in the international order, which was the beginning of implementing new different currencies in trade with other countries. This thing is only going to become more common especially as BRICS advances.
Unity within their territory: Many people tend to see China’s actions in Taiwan in a wrong way but instead this isn’t the case. China has only sought to reunify its territories that were once lost. The ROC and PRC were at civil war which the ROC lost and retreated to Taiwan. Technically they are still at war, because considering that no peace treaty has been made or even ceasefire, this makes it legitimate for China to reunify Taiwan.
The development of BRICS: BRICS will continue to play even more important roles in the next decades, it will be more than just an organization. It will be the representative of the East and of the Global South. It will put the other part of the world in equal footing with the West. This balance is exactly what the whole world should pursue, because the moment there is a balance of power, then you will be at peace and respected. Though my opinion of BRICS might be optimistic, but as of now, I believe that all members have one desire, and that is to seek more independence from the US dollar regime.
Does it really matter which type of clock we are using?
Yes! It does.
Reason is “Those who use ‘Analog clock’ are more aware of the ‘time spent’ & the ‘time left’ than those who use Digital clock”.
How? Is what your question right?
Here we go. Let’s have a look at the digital clock.
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What did we get? The time is 9:30 & that’s it. Only the current time.
Now, Analog clock.
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Just look at it. Look at how beautiful it is. What do we observe here? 11:55. That’s it? No. But along with the ‘current time’ there is something else.
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This we sense by intuition. An Analog clock resembles a pie chart which can represent self–expressive data.
Intuition matters! It is the advantage of having Analog clock.
This is not so easy with digital clocks. Because we need to force our brain to calculate the ‘time spent’ ,‘time left’, etc.
I’m not getting old. I’m there. I’ll be 77 years old in a couple of weeks, so I believe I qualify to answer this question.
I have a lover who is younger than I am. And if I were to “lose” him, I would readily find another, if I desired it.
However, I pay close attention to my figure, my wardrobe and my makeup. It takes me about half an hour to put my makeup on skillfully enough so I don’t look as though I’m wearing any. I dress nicely even when I have nothing important to do, although I am still in business, which keeps my thinking sharp. I watch what I eat carefully, most days keeping at 1200–1400 calories total for the day. This enables me to have lunch or dinner with my love or friends in a restaurant pretty much any time I wish.
I don’t exercise, though I know I should. However, I have two flights of stairs that I go up and down many, many times per day. I tell myself that this helps.
I read extensively, and not just on the damn internet. I have an immense library and continually add to it. I read in science and in the arts. Although I do try to avoid politics, these days. I am responsible for my feelings, and I like them to remain hopeful and serene. But my reading enables me to converse on many topics. And until Covid, I also traveled, an activity which broadens anyone’s perspective.
So in answer to the question, I feel just fine, thank you very much. And I also feel – and know that I am – desired.
I hope perhaps your young mind has been opened, even a bit. Thanks for the question.
A very good illustration
This is a good illustration why the size and growth of US debt is totally out of whack with the real economy.
American debt is already THE systemic risk to the world economy. There is not enough money in the world to satisfy America’s ravenous appetite, not even if it prints them for free.
This is why the BRICs are desperate for an option to the dollar.
Hubby and I went to a fancy steakhouse in Atlanta for dinner a few years back. Having checked out the restaurant’s online menu, we made sure we were appropriately dressed—me in a long Italian silk dress and hubby in some business casual outfit. We arrived at the time of our reservation and experienced multiple WTF moments—
1. We were led to a side dining room instead of the fancy main dining room shown on their website. The decor was shall-we-say interesting. It resembled a kindergarten cafeteria, with folding chairs.
2. All the other guests there looked like they had just attended a basketball game.
3. The female manager had a LOW-cut cami and jacket on. Her boobs were 75% exposed.
4. On my way to the ladies’, I passed the kitchen and caught a whiff of rotten fish.
5. Before the server set my plate of scallops down, I smelled a stench that could have only come from decayed seafood.
6. Service was slow, but that was the least of our concerns.
All this cost us $250, tip included.
If you wonder why we did not raise any issues about what we went through, it was a mystery shop. Essentially, I was contracted to observe anything about the restaurant’s operations. In the end, the meal did not cost us anything. We were actually paid some money for the effort. However, the experience was so bad that I did not offer to take the same assignment for several years to come.
Vintage Ads and Celebrities’ Glamour on These Classic Vespa Scooters
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The DELUSIONAL OBSESSION with 6-Figure Salaries in Modern Dating
Future cat ladies. (And I do love my kitties. But no man is going to be able to make them happy.)
https://youtu.be/GvNEtlEb2ss
Italian Drunken Noodles
Italian drunken noodles are my Italian fusion take on one of my favorite Thai-style dishes. Brimming with noodles drenched in a flavorful, wine-infused sauce, bits of spicy Italian sausage, plus sweet bell peppers, onions and basil, this Italian take on drunken noodles is not only scrumptious, but quick and easy to prepare as well!
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Yield: 6 servings
An Italian twist to a favorite Thai dish
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of trying Thai drunken noodles (or pad kee mao), you know what an amazingly vibrant, rich and flavorful dish it is.
With ribbons of broad rice noodles drenched in a sweet and savory sauce, charred red and yellow bell peppers and onions, a choice of spicy meat, tofu, or shrimp, and a light flourish of freshly julienned Thai basil, this dish always hits the spot when it comes to all those big flavors I crave in Thai cuisine.
I must admit, whenever I would enjoy this dish, it always made me wonder what an Italian version of it would taste like…
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How to Make Drunken Noodles with an Italian Twist
In keeping with those basic components of noodle, meat, veggie, sauce and herb, it’s easy to see how Thai-style drunken noodles can easily be “morphed” into a brand new, Italian-style dish with a distinctly different flavor profile, while still maintaining the spirit of the original.
This is what I love and appreciate about fusion food!
What I did with this Italian drunken noodles recipe was to substitute wide and tender pappardelle noodles in place of the broad rice noodles, and then switched out some spicy and rich Italian sausage for the tofu, shrimp or chicken typically served in the Thai version.
For the sauce element, I used a tomato base kissed with a hint of wine in order to make the dish a bit “drunken”, and then kept the classic vegetable medley of multi-colored bell peppers and onions, plus that flourish of fresh basil to tie all the flavors together.
Here’s a glance at my Italian drunken noodles recipe: (or just jump to the full recipe below…)
To get things started, I cook my pappardelle noodles according to package instructions, and keep them warm while I prepare the sauce.
For the sauce, I place a large, heavy-bottom pan over high heat, and add a drizzle of olive oil; once hot, I crumble in the spicy sausage and brown it until cooked through, then remove it from the pan.
Next, I caramelize my onions in the pan drippings, then add in my seasoning, followed by my bell peppers, and saute until golden; then, I add in my garlic and wine, reducing that just a bit.
Finally, I add the diced tomatoes, with their juices, into the pan, along with the browned sausage, and allow the mixture to simmer for a couple of minutes; and then, I finish the sauce with a touch more olive oil and some fresh herbs before adding in my warm pappardelle noodles, and tossing everything to combine.
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Ingredients:
8 ounces pappardelle noodles, uncooked
Olive oil
4 spicy Italian sausage links, casings removed
1 large onion, quartered and sliced thinly
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 red bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced
1 orange bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, pressed through garlic press
½ cup white white (I used Chardonnay)
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, chopped
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, julienned, divided use
Preparation:
Prepare the pappardelle noodles according to instructions on package; then, drain the noodles very well, and keep them warm while you prepare the sauce.
Place a large, heavy-bottom pan or braising pot over medium-high heat, and add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil; once the oil is hot, crumble the spicy Italian sausage into the pan in small chunks (you want to keep the sausage fairly chunky), allowing it to brown in the oil for a few moments on each side; once the crumbled sausage is browned, remove it from the pan/pot with a slotted spoon and place into a small bowl to hold for a moment.
Next, add the sliced onion into the pan with the sausage drippings, and allow it to caramelize and become golden for roughly 5 minutes or so, stirring to keep it from burning (add a touch more olive oil, if necessary); once the onion starts to become golden, add the salt, Italian seasoning and cracked black pepper, and stir to combine.
Add in the sliced bell peppers, and allow those to saute with the onion for about 2 minutes until slightly tender and golden; next, add in the garlic, and once it becomes aromatic, add in the white wine and allow it to reduce for a few moments, until almost completely reduced.
Next, add in the diced tomatoes with their juice, and return the browned spicy Italian sausage back into the pan, and gently fold the mixture to combine; allow it to gently simmer for about 3 to 4 minutes to blend the flavors, then turn the heat off.
To finish the sauce, drizzle in about 2-3 good tablespoons of the olive oil to create a silky, rich flavor, and stir in the chopped parsley and about half of the julienned basil.
Add the cooked pappardelle noodles directly into the sauce, and using tongs, gently toss and combine the noodles with the sauce and all of the ingredients in it; check the seasoning to see if you need to add any additional salt or pepper.
To serve, add equal portions of the Italian drunken noodles to bowls, and garnish with a sprinkle of the remaining julienned basil (you can even top with shaved parmesan, if desired, and an extra drizzle of olive oil).
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Tips & Tidbits for my Italian Drunken Noodles:
The larger the pan, the better: Use a large, heavy bottom pan (cast iron or a Dutch oven) for this dish, as it retains heat well and will give a little extra color and flavor to your peppers and onions; plus, it provides room to add the noodles directly into the sauce at the end, and toss ’em around.
Pappardelle are best, but don’t sweat it: Pappardelle noodles are the broad or wide egg noodles that look a bit like “ribbons”, and you should be able to find them in the pasta section in most markets—they really are best for this recipe; but if you can’t find them, feel free to substitute whatever type of pasta noodle you like. The flavor will still be amazing.
Go white or go red: White wine is what’s called for in this recipe, but red wine would also be a delicious choice; use whatever you’d actually like to drink with this dish.
Looking to leave out the alcohol? No problem: If you’d prefer to leave alcohol out, then simply substitute chicken stock for the wine, and add a little squeeze of lemon at the end for that “brightness” as well.
Go Veg: For a meatless version, omit the spicy sausage altogether, and enjoy just the veggies, noodles and sauce; but you can always use a vegetarian “crumble” in this dish as well, or even use cubed tofu to keep in line with the Thai inspiration.
Prep ahead: You can make the sauce element of this recipe ahead of time, such as the day before you’d like to serve it, which will actually give the sauce more time to sit and gain deeper flavor; just prepare the noodles the day of, toss with the warmed up sauce, you’re set to go.
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General Instructions
Place a large, heavy-bottom pan or braising pot over medium-high heat; add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, crumble the Italian sausage into the pan in small chunks, allowing it to brown in the oil for a few moments.
When the crumbled sausage is browned, remove it from the pan/pot with a slotted spoon and place into a small bowl to hold for a moment.
Place in the pan the diced bell peppers, salt, Italian seasoning and cracked black pepper. Stir to combine. Allow to sauté for about 2 minutes until slightly tender.
Add the garlic. Once it becomes aromatic, add the white wine and allow it to reduce for a few moments, until almost completely reduced.
Add the diced tomatoes with their juice.
To finish the sauce, drizzle in about 2 to 3 good tablespoons of the olive oil to create a rich flavor.
Add the chopped parsley and about half of the basil.
Return the browned Italian sausage back into the pan and gently fold the mixture to combine. Allow it to gently simmer for about 3 to 4 minutes to blend the flavors. Then turn the heat off.
During the debate, KMT Presidential candidate brought up a very good point. The US sold 400 missiles to Taiwan for $6 billion. That came out to be $15 million / missile. But then when the US was defending Israel from attacks they fired those missiles and were reporting that they were expensive $3-million missiles.
Why were they sold to Taiwan at 5x the price? It makes sense if the US is leveraging the reported danger to extract as much value as it can from Taiwan. It doesn’t make sense if it has intentions to defend Taiwan.
The Mainland is ending its preferential treatment towards Taiwan which would hurt the ability for Taiwanese products to be exported to the Mainland. The US can help mitigate the impact to the Taiwanese economy by increasing imports from Taiwan and signing a free-trade agreement but it hasn’t.
How can anyone expect the US to give up its lives for Taiwan if it can’t even give up a bit of its profit?
Always keep a diary and a pen with you. Whenever you get any intriguing idea, write that down in your diary. When you open this diary, you’ll realize that you have a great set of ideas.
Leave your comfort zone as nothing grows for good there. Take risks in your life. Risks come with reward. Look at the rewards and move ahead.
Introspect and improve. Realize your mistakes and improve them. Try your best to not to repeat your mistakes again.
Success is something you take by force. No one will give it to you freely.
The secret of success is hidden in booksand old-school wisdom. Yet most people hate to read books. No wonder, few people are successful.
Stop expecting instant satisfaction. Patience, persistence and perspiration are your best friends. Remember that there are NO shortcuts in life.
Cry as hard as you want, but make sure that when you stop crying, you never cry for the same reason again.
No matter how much it hurts now. Someday you’ll look back and realize, your struggle changed your life for better.
If you are an intelligent person, you will try to do what you love the most. But if you are a genius, you will only do what is needed.
Students believe that there is only one right answer to every question. That is why people always want to follow the crowd because they think there is only one right way to live life. Find your own way . don’t follow the crowd
Putting in the work daily without quitting. Going through the drudgery and mundane tasks repeatedly. Practicing everyday like insane just to master your craft.
Don’t bother about the judgements of society, friends, peers and relatives. You want it, go for it. Don’t give a fcuk about others , live your life , give your best
The Chinese Communist Party is not in charge of assimilating everyone into Chinese culture, and it does not promote it. In fact, the Party makes a big deal out of preserving minority cultures, and giving them special advantages such as in numbers of children they can have (unlimited), and giving minority students extra points in the highly competitive university exams. There is some grumbling from Han Chinese about all the benefits minorities get in China.
Some minorities such as the Manchus, some Mongolians and some Tibetans have been absorbed by Chinese culture, not by any government policy. The general rule in China is that any non-Han Chinese minority, if it adopts Chinese language and the Chinese non-nomadic lifestyle, will eventually disappear over several generations.
This is not done because of any government policy; it is just that Han Chinese language and culture have a very strong pull which is hard to resist over time. This is because more than 90% of China’s population is Han Chinese, and once a minority adopts the language and then culture, it loses its own identity.
This is not done under any threat of force, but is done voluntarily by individuals.
More fun with the the Vespa scoots…
We start with Ann Margret.
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It wasn’t so much what my boss said, it was more about what the company did. Being more specific, what the sales department and management did.
At the time I was a senior developer for a medium sized, privately owned and pretty much unheard of software company.
One day I found out, quite by accident, that the sales department had told a prospective client about some wonderful new software that we had.
The only problem with that was this wonderful new software didn’t exist!
So, sales lied to the client.
Then came all the fanfare, because they actually sold it to them… with an impossible delivery date, even for a team five times our size.
The plan was for the dev team to develop this new software working sixty hours a week without overtime pay, while management strung the client along until the final delivery more than a year later.
So there was this big pep talk meeting – you know the ones – we need you guys to help us deliver and all, and we’ll make it up to you afterwards, we promise. We’re a big family and we are in this together and all that kind of stuff.
I didn’t believe a word of it.
After the meeting I confronted my boss who said, “Well, you know how it works.”
At that moment I knew he didn’t have my best interests at heart and I looked at him and said, “I want no part of it.”
Then I got up and left the building without saying another word.
The next day when I didn’t show up for work my boss called me asking where I was. I told him, “Sorry, I thought I was quite clear yesterday, as I said, I quit!”
He said, “But you can’t quit! We need you! You’re our only senior developer!”
And I answered, “Watch me!” and hung up the phone.
It’s been four years now and the company still hasn’t delivered the final version of the software nor has it made good on its promise to their employees!
You ever have that goofy kid who could never take anything seriously? Who took any opportunity to be the center of attention? Who relished being the class clown and wore the jester’s hat like a triumph? That was Chad. I don’t remember how many grades in elementary school we had together before he and I transferred to other schools at the end of fouth grade, but it was at least a couple. He used to not only drive the teachers crazy but even us students too! Every day we had to bear witness to his never ending shenanigans, sometimes he would start up with a joke and the whole class would collectively groan and grab their faces. If I’m being honest, I was his friend but even I found him to be too much at times, too optimistic, too dramatic, too goofy, too Ace Ventura. I remember thinking, “why can’t he just be normal for a day?”
I went to middle school with some of the kids/friends from this elementary school. One of the popular boys, Randy was one of them. We were talking during free period one day when I brought up Chad. He also remembered him and smiled. We exchanged stories about his greatest hits and laughed. Then he told me something that absolutely broke my heart, and only spoke as a testiment to Chad’s resiliencey. He told me Chad’s stepfather used to beat him, often. At some point the authorities found out and removed him from his home. His everday life at home was hell, his only respite was during the time he was safe and felt safe at school, and Chad always made the most of each moment because he knew when he got home that day and every day after that, there would be no more laughter.
I hope he’s doing better, and I hope he’s happy where ever he is now. It goes to show you never know what someone is going through, even if they smile in your face everday. I have never forgotten about Chad, and I never will.
My twins birthday is coming up. And I was thinking of rewarding the missus by upgrading her car to something better.
A Range Rover Evoque 🙂
So the search started, and I finally scored a good deal on this particular high spec (and a higher priced) Evoque that’s is in a dealership nearby to my house.
Off I went. Arrived in my old e46, and I asked to see the car. This local Chinese chap took one look at me, and probably deduced that I was too young, or too shabby looking to even qualify to get an evoque, and decided to reject me.
He told me, put a deposit before even thinking of sitting in the car!
Before you think I made drama, let me tell you that the opposite happened: I smiled and walked back. I don’t necessarily like to deal with idiots, so I don’t mind looking for another.
For some reason, just as I was about to leave, another salesman from India who is working there came to me, apologized profusely and told me that he can serve me better.
I accepted.
I went to see the car, and told him that I would love to take it for a test drive 5 minutes away to my house to show it to my wife to ask her opinion on the spec and color. This guy agreed, and said we could do a short run.
So off we went.
The moment this Indian guy saw the neighborhood and my house, and the cars parked in there, he realized that he scored a lottery prospect.
After that, I was practically given free reign to do unlimited test drives and checks on that car, unaccompanied.
I saw the car on Wednesday. Thursday I contemplated on it with the missus between that or Cayenne. She wanted Range Rover, so be it.
On Friday I agreed and signed the papers in the AM. That evening the bankers called to tell the dealer that the loan passed. This coming Monday I am taking the car, once paperwork’s is completed.
$90 billion spent on disinformation about China, what did the US people get?
Of course, only Plato could answer this accurately but here’s my penny:
In Greek mythology, Thera and the eruption are missing and the explanation for this is that the eruption miraculously didn’t affect mainland Greece. The Greek myths that express their collective memory, although they involve foreign lands often, had to be of Greek interest and the eruption, no matter how cataclysmic it was, was not. So, Plato didn’t possibly have a clue about the events of the Bronze Age which took place almost 1,000 years before his time.
Security is better. When i studied in Chicago, I was told to always keep 20-dollar life money in the pocket in case anyone wants to rob me, and UChicago has the so called safe ride to take students home because walking alone at night is not safe. Here in Shanghai, Beijing or any major cities (except Guangzhou perhaps), it’s safe for girls to walk alone at night. And people don’t shoot people so often, especially struggling students don’t kill classmates or teachers. At worst, they jump from buildings without harming others.
Second, food is cheap and delicious if you don’t mind antibiotics, additives, pollutants etc. (If you count in unhealthy western food, the Chinese food is not that bad in quality.) Clothes are cheap and good quality. In fact most products made in China are cheap and accessible.
Third, online purchase and delivery and other services based on the internet is incredibly convenient. As long as you don’t care about personal information, China has all kinds of Apps to satisfy your physical and mental needs.
Fourth, the government agencies and hospital systems are much more efficient than those in USA. I am not saying the quality is better but the waiting period is shorter.
One thing I dislike is a must of vpn to access foreign media. But this is like a filter, the gov don’t want ignorant children and people to access to those anti-China information, because they can’t do critical thinking, so the gov thinks that if those were to be brainwashed, they would have to be brainwashed by us not the Western. I am neutral to it. Common people are like pawns, they’d better just stay where they were and do both to avoid being cannon powder.
I was 10 my brother was 13 and mom and dad was in there 30. We when to a old run down house that Dad was used to go on fishing trip when he was a kid. Mom said it so run down. Dad said it still got a roof on it. Mom said ok we stayed. We got what fews begs we have out of the car and we when into the house. it started to Strom very bad. We stayed dry in that old house. About two hours passed we was getting our sleeping bags out. We hard a loud pop. The wind had blown a big tree on to the car. The car was totaled. Mom said we 150 miles from home without a car. No one could sleep until the Strom had stopped that was all most 3 hours. By morning there was a new storm and like the other one it to blowed a tree down on to what left of the car. We ended up been there for over a week. Our foods ran out after five days. We all fished for our foods. 6 days in as we was all fishing. A big tree fell onto the dam house. If me and my brother was have been in our room a sleeping we were been hurt or killed.
GAMECHANGER: China Tests ‘Dream Shell,’ Achieving Mach 7 Speed
Both my wife and I worked, we both had good jobs and shared the childcare of our 4 children. I was always the more nurturing parent, if the children ever hurt themselves they would always come to me, I was more affectionate, I used to bathe them, read to them, tuck them in and look after them most weekends. My wife was extremely jealous of my relationship with the children and they grew up, we grew apart. She used to often go out with the girls on a Friday and Saturday night and occasionally wake up the following day with a hangover so bad she would spend the day in bed. Which was fine with me, meant that I had more time with the children and we used to find somewhere to go and have real fun.
Unsurprisingly after 13 years of marriage, when our eldest was 11, she decided to leave me, she had an affair and that was that.
What really sucks about being a man is the custody battle that I had after that. The standard custody model still is, for the father, every other weekend and maybe one night during the week. Everyone assumes that the mother is the ‘right’ parent for the children to live with and I had to fight that prejudice every day for a very long year.
My ex-wife even told me that she didn’t really want custody of the children, she only was fighting because the bigger percentage of time she got, the more Child Maintenance she would get. The first time that we were in court she started off by saying that I shouldn’t see the children at all, claiming that I had abused the children, hit them, raped her and had an affair with a teenager. The judge ordered that I didn’t see the children at all, while this was investigated. That was a hard couple of months.
After a year, meetings with social services, so many court visits that I had my own seat in the waiting room, I eventually got 50:50, the best a man could ever hope for in this world.
Even though we had exactly 50:50 I still had to pay Child Maintenance because she gets the Child Benefit. Guess why … Child Benefits default to the mother at the birth of the child.
I Visited World’s Largest Tech Show…You Won’t Believe What China Did
When I was in 8th grade, a classmate along with my sister tore up a painting that I had spent three months working on.
Her name was Rita.
High School / Middle School head games.
But it was cruel. I spent a long time to make that artwork so that it would be displayed in a art fair. And then with pride, the day before the event, I proudly saw it hung on the wall in the fair… located in the High School gym.
But that night, they came in from Cheerleader practice. Got in the gym. Took my picture off the wall. And then carried to school the next day.
My picture wasn’t entered in the fair. It was missing.
When I went into my “home room” the next day, Rita and my sister came up to me, and the class and right before me tore my precious artwork into a million pieces and threw them in my face. Like confetti.
I was in shock.
The class laughed.
The teacher did nothing.
And (later on when I was at home) my mother told me that I “shouldn’t get angry over it”. Just move on she argued. While my father told me “you are the oldest … you have to take the hits”.
…
Who in the fuck convinced me to accept this God Damn life? What the Hell?
The other countries are sanction and embargo proof their economies. From keeping it’s reserves in non western banks to digitising their currencies, to trading via currency swap arrangement, or paying by other currencies than the dollar and U.S. cronies currencies. Sanctions will be totally a thing of the past within a decade at most.
The world is already broken into 2 groups now. One are US, it’s slave vassal nations, the U.S. fellow native slaughterers, the U.S. fellow despicable colonial masters, the few tiny nations around Europe that has be coerce to do shit for the west. This group is less than 2 dozen nation or you can say the minority group. It’s GDP as a group is also coming to 40% and falling fast of the world and in population less than 13%.
The majority group is call the Global South. It include most of Asia, Latin America and Oceania, and all of Middle East, Central Asia and the Caribbean. These nations add up to. At least 175 out of the world’s 195 nations. Or 87% of the world, 60% of the world’s GDP and growing fast and probably 90% or real purchasing power PPP on planet earth.
The first group either has no choice or succumbed to threat by the U.S to support and defend the western so call rules base international order. And sink and swim in it. The second group through the BRICS and SCO will successfully withdraw from the rules based international order but by bit.
Try to imagine a balloon. If you prick it with a pin the balloon will burst and if flies off and the air inside the balloon is gone for good. Now try imagining that the air is the wealth and reserves trapped in side the balloon. This 2nd group is sucking up its air but by bit, little by little till what is left belongs to the 1st group. By that time in a decade or so what will be left is a balloon that is at least half its size.
So within a decade U.S. dollars, SWIFT, Western Institutions, Western Systems, western rating agencies, western exchanges, world bank, IMF and many others that together represent the world order will still be there but only serve the west. The U.S. wants decoupling, the U.S. is getting it. The world is decoupling from the west.
Welcome to the new world.
Mind Virus
Women want Leaders. But the current 20-something group of women do not want to take the follower role. Thus they can never fit with the men that they desire.
I remember a lovely patient who had a very swollen abdomen due to ascites, a complication of cirrhosis of the liver.
Every day in the hospital, I would hang a bag of albumin and chat as I drained fluid from the swollen belly. This was in the day when liver transplants were rare and not for people who had developed cirrhosis from alcohol use.
When it was time for the patient to leave, I was given a very expensive bottle of red wine. I think it came from the patient’s extensive collection of wines. The family was wealthy. We both knew that the cirrhosis was not cureable. I wondered if all the wine was given away before the patient passed. The patient had a wistful smile and explained a bit about the wine that could never again be tasted. I was young and did not know anything about fine wines.
My husband and I shared the wine on our anniversary when we were interns.
Sometimes it is the things we love the most that cause us the greatest pain.
I am a welder with a specific set of specialized skills as an ironworker. I earned about $35 an hour on the lower end with my last job in the union. Im the guy walking on ibeams on skyscrappers hanging off the side welding moment welds. One company wanted to pay me less than McDonald’s to weld.
Recently, however, I have quit this line of work to make time for college. In doing so I was searching for lower paying but more reasonable hours and location. Going to work at the same place for 40 hours a week was my plan. I was having trouble doing this since most companies are wanting me to work lots of overtime.
One day I had scheduled an interview for a job which said I wouldn’t be asked to work over 40 hours a week and it was relatively close to my home. Inquiring about the pay they just said it depended on my skills but it would be very good. I didn’t press further for detsils. On interview weld test day I accidentally left much too early. Realizing I would be 45 minutes early I decided to stop for lunch at a McDonald’s. When I was there I noticed they were offering $22/hour for a maintenance position. I spoke with the manager about it but told them I could probably make more money welding in a shop.
I went to my interview and was asked to take a weld test that took about 2 hours. At the end of the weld test one of the managers took me to a table in the office and saw I was asking for $28 an hour, really I was hoping for closer to $30. He told me the most he would be able to pay was 19 or maybe 20.
“I don’t appreciate all of my time you’ve wasted here, sir. The McDonald’s down the road pays better than this.”
I was quite pissed that I had just wasted well over 2 hours of my time with the drive there, back, and other things I did to prepare for that interview.
The shop welding jobs are paying an average of $25 an hour around here, so I’ll be working at McDonald’s until these cheap asses pay what it’s worth to weld. Why should I do a skilled job when McDonald’s pays nearly the same? I wish more welders would refuse to work for peanuts and maybe we could get some decent wages.
Of course, China have slavery like the US in … errr … emmm … yep … about 3,000 years ago, after Zhou Dynasty established in 1046 BC, Chinese slavery was ended.
Slaves made a great contributions in the war of Zhou rebels to overthrow the Shang Dynasty. In return, the first monarch of the Zhou Dynasty ordered the permanent abolition of slavery, and this order was maintain by all following Chinese dynasties, because that monarch is seen as saint and model of a virtuous ruler for all Chinese rulers, including barbarian born Chinese rulers. Even Mongolian emperors in Yuan dynasty would go to his tomb to worship him in every years, no need to mention others.
In the following 3000 years, although there were several barbarian born monarchs reintroducing slavery into China, but none of their regimes could survive over more than 50 years.
And strictly speaking, the Qing Dynasty had slavery, but their slavery was somewhat distorted because it only existed among the Manchus. The Manchu Eight Banners Army was actually a slave army, with soldiers and officers were actually slaves belongs to the banner lord. They fought in banner lords’ commanding for generations.
But the Manchus seem to regard this slave status as an honor, so you can see that when Manchus write letters to the emperor or their banner lord, they would call themselves something like “a humble slave greeting to my dear lord” in the beginning.
And when some Han favored officials of certain emperors also write like this, the emperor will directly reply to him, saying, “Please call yourself a vassal, you are my Han vassal, not my slaves in banner”.
So, for the Qing Dynasty, slaves in the Manchu system were more like hereditary family of attendants, who established a generational contract. Becoming slaves to the banner lord was not shameful for the Manchus, but rather an honor accepted and protected by banner lords, and all banner lords are royal members.
It was a letter from governer of Hu province and Guang province (This is a very big official position, ruling lands almost over two modern France), a Han official Yang ZongRen, to the YongZheng Emperor of Qing Dynasty, those black writting was Yang’s original writting, red one were the reply of the Emperor.
image 55
In this letter, Yang called himself “the slave”, and Yongzheng Emperor strike out that word, and changed it to “vassal”, and noted that “claiming to be a vassal” is more appropriate.
Of course, this is actually just a Han governor in flattering the emperor. The emperor himself was very happy on that, but still remembered to correct it for him, because it’s not appropriate.
oh … btw, about this letter, except the stroke and note in the right, the left red paragh is:
I am fine (reply the greeting of Yang), although you just arrived in this official position for no long, what you reported and what you did, has already pleased my wish, you are worthy of being a high-ranking governer, so today I leading civil service officials and military officials decided to award you xxxxxx (I don’t know how to translate this, you can think it’s some kind of medal), to recognize your excellent work.
Just let the person know politely. If they refuse to move or try to get you to do a seat swap, and if you don’t want, simply say no, I.dont want to trade seats, please get up. If the person won’t move, push the call button for the flight attendant. Do not move, or let anyone behind you get to their seat. The flight attendant will take care of it more quickly, if the boarding process, is at a stand still.
Happened to me once. I was treating myself to First Class. The First Class section had to rows on the left, but only onecrow on the right. Meaning, those seats were a window/aisle/and had no seat mate. I also, had, the last seat in the row so, nobody behind me. This group of six traveling together, got on first, and all wanted to sit together, took my seat.
The person in my seat redirected me to, a seat on the otherside of the plane, someone had the window seat already. I said, no, I’d like my seat please. They group looked at eachother, the guy in my seat, acted like he wasn’t budging. I didn’t let the people behind me go around me. The flight attendant immediately asked if everything was ok. I said, just waiting for him to get out of my seat, I asked nicely once already. She told him to move, and that he was holding up the boarding process.
You don’t have close friends just friends. Most of the people you are around, are only there because of circumstances not really related to you in anyway.
The sooner you start focusing and planning on your life goals the easier it will be achieving them.
One of the most important thing you can teach yourself during your 20’s is self discipline. This is the first thing we should learn and crave to achieve.
Life moves very fast, do things you enjoy at the moment cause our situations tend to also change as fast then we later feel like we missed out on somethings.
The more you expose yourself to the world around you, the more you expand your thinking horizons. Travel, socialize and live life don’t lock yourself out of these important things.
Learn to cook a variety of menu’s of proper home meals. Cooking is a very important skills much more as an adult.
You start using drugs as curiosity soon it becomes for fun later it becomes a dependency. The transition is so fast you barely realize it.
Learn about proper workout routines you can do to energize your body. You don’t have to do hard excercise even if its just yoga. Its more about something you can commit to that benefits you.
Reading and getting creative are ways to keep your brain sharp and generate new ideas. Make sure you read novels and try out the different forms of art around you.
Don’t be selfish in your 20’s, most of the things we hold on to are barely important in our 30’s. Stuff like money, food, material possessions. Learn to share cause these memories are the ones that we keep. Be real with every real person around you.
This takes me back a few years. The Philadelphia DA felt he caught “Streets” workers at extreme wage theft.
The city had gone through a series of bad snow storms requiring both city employees and contractors running snowplow on the streets for over a week.
A few months later the DA holds a press conference that a particular employee is being charged with felonies related to false time sheets (getting paid for time not worked). It might have been the soft kick-off to their campaign for mayor or governor — showing how they could fix problems like this.
In next day or two the employee is arraigned in court with lawyers from the union. The DA (usually an assistant associate low level attorney handles these hearings) give a speech about how it was not humanly possible for the employee to have worked the hours claimed (from memory: between 120 and 160 hours in a week) so they had to be sleeping on the job — “stealing from the taxpayers of our fine city, this just shows how the union abuses the city.”
Union attorney gets to say their piece. A few flowery words about clueless wealthy elected officials overreaching. Then the attorney drops the appropriate section of the contract (again: from old memory so not exact quote) “so long as any contractor truck is on the road performing snow removal and an employee is *available* for work, they shall be paid.”
This was exactly the situation covered by the contract. It was written that way so the city could bring in help for emergency-level snows but not outsource the employees.
A bit of evidence how the employee *worked* a lot of hours and then slept “on-site” (where they would normally pick up their truck) so they were clearly “available”.
The criminal case was thrown out. There may have been a $ settlement to the employee for false arrest and the DA’s political career petered out.
Beef and Mushroom Stew with Caraway Dumplings
Browning meat in the oven reduces the amount of fat needed for cooking. Serve with julienne parsnips and carrots.
mushroom beef blog
Ingredients
Stew
1 1/2 pounds round or blade steak
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
Bouquet Garni*
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (if necessary)
1/2 pound small mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups beef stock
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
* Tie together with kitchen twine 1 celery stalk with leaves, 3 or 4 sprigs parsley, 1 bay leaf and small sprig of thyme
Dumplings
1 cup soft fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup melted margarine or butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 egg white
Instructions
Stew: Cut steak into 1 1/2 inch cubes. In a bag, combine flour, pepper and salt. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat with flour mixture. Shake off excess and place meat on wire rack in flameproof casserole. Bake in 350 degree F oven for about 25 minutes or until browned. Meanwhile, prepare Bouquet Garni.
Set meat aside on platter.
Place casserole over medium heat. Only if necessary add all or part of the oil. Add mushrooms, cap side down, and cook until golden, transferring to platter as they brown.
Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is transparent. Add stock, wine and tomato paste; bring to a simmer, stirring and scraping bottom of casserole with wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits.
Return meat to pan; add Bouquet Garni. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour or until meat is tender. Meanwhile prepare dumplings.
Dumplings: In a bowl, toss bread crumbs and melted margarine together with a fork. Combine flour, baking powder, caraway seeds and salt. Mix lightly into crumb mixture. Beat together egg and egg white; add to crumb mixture and mix lightly (mixture will be soft) shape into 8 balls of even size.
Remove Bouquet Garni and discard. While stew is simmering, add dumplings, cover and cook, without removing lid, for 18 minutes.
I had a scheduled interview for an OFFICE job! Up to that point I had been doing piecework sewing, processing chickens, and guarding slabs of foam rubber… This was a HUGE step up!
During the night before the interview, it snowed 4 inches in Baltimore. Now this is not that big a deal… except in Baltimore, it IS. Public transport did not run. Traffic was pretty sparse first thing in the work day… I decided to walk the 3 miles to the interview. I got there in plenty of time, changed my hiking boots for heels in the ladies’ room, and went to the office where the interview was to be held.
Nobody home.
A guy showed up and asked what I was doing standing in the hall. I explained I was there to interview as an accountant’s assistant. He asked how I got there. When I said I walked, he looked dubiously at my heels. He said, “In THOSE shoes?” I admitted my boots were in the ladies’ room. He asked to see the boots, so I went and got them. As soon as he saw that I really did have boots I was hired. I had not yet even entered the offices.
I always field strip my cigarettes and stick butts in my pocket. Yes, it smells disgusting.
I have a P38 on my keychain. This is a tiny can opener used to open cans of C-rations. It even gets used once in a while.
image 571
5. Take my hat off when going indoors. Because of this, I rarely wear a hat.
6. When a passenger in a vehicle, I act as “assistant driver.” I let driver know if it is clear or not on my side.
7. I act as a ground guide for people backing up. I will often ask people to ground guide me when I am backing up, often to their puzzlement. Of course, they do not know the correct hand signs to use and those I am helping often don’t understand the signs I give them.
8. I scan the side of roads more than necessary in the US. Not too many IEDs on our roads.
9. I say, “I got your back” or “Do you have my six?” too much.
10. I use the military phonetic alphabet. D is for Delta, not Dog.
11. I use the word “task” a lot.
12. I tend to try to help people with what the military calls hip pocket training. Many people find this annoying and would prefer to screw something up than get some quick pointers.
13. Finally, I learned to never put more than eight words on a power point slide because the Army puts hundreds of words on one slide. Along with this, I also learned to NEVER ask someone to read a power point slide with hundreds of words on it.
China would be burning a lot of bridges if they do and China is hesitant to do that
The West knows it’s dying and is thus ready to inflict every horror on it’s population
They are prepared to subject their population to everything from inflation to starvation knowing that they have tamed their population sufficiently through propaganda
They can cause China to lose quite a bit of money if they invade Taiwan and that could make a lot of Chinese unhappy and cause some strife within the country
Plus more importantly, China believe Taiwanese are their brothers and killing them is a no no because at least 30% Mainlanders have family in Taiwan
So that’s what’s stopping China
Otherwise if China decide that they don’t care, China can pulverize and decimate Taiwan into a graveyard overnight and nobody can do a thing to stop them without risking WWIII
Yep, my brother fell out of a Huey. He was in Nam and the radio went wild, with troops needing to be evacuated from a hot zone. He jumped in as the M-60 machine gunner. It was the first time he flew into a hot zone. His adrenaline was high. Because of that, he forgot to strap in. The Huey headed out over the paddies and couldn’t land because there was a nest of Charlies that needed to be taken out first. The pilot banked to the left super hard so my brother could shoot the 60 down at Charlie’s nest. The pilot banked too hard and my brother fell out right on top of two Charlies. The wind was knocked out of all three of them. My brother was the first to come to his senses, and realized he didn’t have a weapon. He looked around and found one of the Charlie’s AK and as they started to get up he blasted them both. Killed them dead, he did. The chopper picked the GIs up and then came back and rescued my brother. When he got back to the base, the pilot said, “That is the bravest thing I have ever seen, jumping unarmed out of a Huey, kill two gooks, and saved a squad. Boy I am going to put you in for a Silver Star.” My brother told him, “I fell out and was just trying to save my ass.” He still got the Star. Analyse and improvise. A motto to live by!
The first time a European owned company announced a round of layoffs in a month. I was the new guy in the group and figured I was disposable. The day of the announced layoffs I went into work wearing my “Gone With The Wind” tie.
When I was summoned to the boss’ office, my desk had been cleared of all personal effects. My pulled out a paper and made to read it. I stopped him and said, “I know I’m being laid off. What are the details?” Boss was rather startled and we started talking about it.
I told him that he had a good old boys club where engineers from headquarters would rotate in then return for a raise & promotion. U.S. employees were treated as second rate. Thanks for the layoff. I was pretty disappointed in the company.
When he asked how I knew that I would be laid off, I told him that the company had announced the layoffs a month earlier. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that I was one of the newest people in the group and not part of the “club”. Of course I was the easiest to lay off.
I also told him that it was pretty stupid to announce the layoffs a month previous. Everyone quits working and it encourages mischief. Oh they hadn’t thought of that.
The bosses were gone within 3 months.
The other was a company where I was the entire engineering department. My boss & I were always at odds. He wanted to get rid of the product line. I’m sure the fact that his brother worked for a competitor had nothing to do with his decision.
The company staged an ambush layoff on January 2nd. Oh well, at least they didn’t screw up the holidays.
Although they offered $10k, I refused to sign their termination agreement and collected unemployment all through the covid lunacy. Made out like a bandit.
Why sex is important.
Men know this instinctively. Modern 20-something, 30-something women, are having trouble with this.
I was at home, having broken my foot in a stupid accident, when the head of HR was “in the area” and wanted to see me. After the pleasantries, she told me that I was being made redundant and my job no longer existed.
In the UK, firing someone is not easy or cheap. A company can find itself in court and it can all get a bit grubby. So a more usual tactic is to say that the employees job is no longer needed. Employers like this, because it saves it all getting public, legal and unpleasant, and employees like it because the employer has to pay to make it all go away.
So we negotiated a redundancy fee and the next day a car came with my personal things from my office. I trousered the (generous) cheque and picked up the phone.
The irony was that I had just had an exceptional year. I had won a load of creative awards (I was a creative director at Saatchi and Saatchi) including a Cannes Gold. I have no idea why they wanted me out. To this day I don’t know.
Two weeks later I signed a contract with a rival company for a bigger salary.
The local supermarket includes a hot table where they sell hot cooked chickens for $10.99 It’s a good deal – I’ll get one occasionally. It looks like this; if this is unfamiliar in your area:
image 570
The pack includes a cardboard handle for easy carrying.
One day, I noticed that whoever had labeled the latest batch of chickens had made a mistake. Instead of $10.99, they were labeled as $0.99. Cool! Cheap chicken! lol. Not really – I like the folks there and quickly let the lady in the meat line know. The chickens had only just come out; no loss to anyone.
Except – I was not the only one that had found it. A woman of – how do I say this – limited intelligence saw it and began screeching at the top of her lungs “Chicken for a buck! CHICKEN FOR A BUUUUUCK!!!” and began loading her cart.
The manager arrived right at that moment, apologized and began to correct the matter.
The woman went ballistic; screaming, shouting bloody blue murder, accusing him of stealing, of trying to starve her to death, etc. etc. etc. The price was 99 cents dammit, she deserved chicken for 99 cents!
The manager, in an effort to ease the situation, agreed. He told her that alright; she had ‘found’ the error; she could have a chicken for 99 cents.
There was a long pause as the woman looked dumbfounded. Then she launched herself at the table, screeching, trying to grab every chicken she could possibly get her hands on. Chickens were falling everywhere; spilling onto the floor. The manager tried to intervene but no help – she was grabbing, stuffing, howling; it was a disgusting display of a complete lack of dignity.
She was taken out of the store in handcuffs; without her 99 cent chicken. The entire batch of roast chicken was destroyed.
Of course I agree with you absolutely, and any person could see it unless you are in denial or made brain dead by the western media.
They offer consistency and continuity in their policies to investors and business yet the protect their citizens against the ills of raw capitalism. In other words Socialism with Chinese characteristics takes the best of both worlds and rejects the flaws of both systems.
Hence the growth of both economies of China and Vietnam both grow phenomenally and consistently. For decades and now generations through ups and downs of the economic cycle. Westerners scream democratic and freedom but ignores the fallacy of this costly, inefficient and mostly corrupt system that put their people at the mercy raw capitalism.
If you look at the U.S. for example, 1% have more money than they ever need, 10% are wasteful and selfish but can afford to live comfortably , while 70% are poorer than most advance economies and in fact are like the majority of Chinese except that the Americans has to bear the burden of it’s weaker purchasing power in their country. The majority of Chinese has high disposable income. And while Chinese cut out the destitute poor in the past 10 years, the U.S. raw capitalism allowed the 19% in Americans to have to worry where their next meal is coming from and they barely have 500 dollars to their name!
A government role in a society is surely to bring prosperity, peace and harmony and healthy living for everyone. From that count the Chinese population enjoys that. Western liberal democracy allows the rich to get richer and the poor to be destitute. But because they wrongly thinks they need to overlord the entire world, they barely have enough money left to pay for infrastructure, college education or healthcare. So they fail the poor and pamper the rich!
Are you surprised that according to western surveys, 91% of Chinese favour their government and 36% of Americans favour their government! I am not! Are you?
My son was given a car for his birthday. We bought it. It was nice little car that had been wrecked and was repaired and had a salvage title. That meant that a previous insurance carrier had totalled it following the wreck, and it had been repaired and state certified to be safe.
Anyway, he had been driving it for several months to school and to work after school. This one day he was in his way to work and came to a stop sign. Stopped, insured the traffic was clear and went to make a left turn. Older lady than him (he was 17, she was 36) had stopped at the opposite stop sign and gunned it, hitting my son’s car in the back quarter panel and rear door on the passenger side. He called me and I went to the scene. The accident was on state highway, inside city limits. I had the option to have the highway patrol called to work the accident, however I decided to just let the local police work it. I spoke with the lady and she was all apologetic and saying she’d take off it…yeah, right…
She took care it alright. She whines and said that it wasn’t her fault, that kid just stomped on the gas and caused the accident. They took her word for it. Even though you could about tell from my son’s damage that she caused the accident.
So the next day, my son is home in bed sick. I’ve medicated him and he’s sleeping. The phone rings, it’s the insurance adjuster from her insurance. Absolutely demands to speak with my son. I tell him no, that my son is sick, had been medicated and it’s sleeping, and that I won’t wake him. Adjuster didn’t like that and was insistent. Well he woke Mama Bear…I told him that my son was 17, still a minor, and that he (the adjuster) would wait until I said that my son could talk with him, then I hung up.
Could days go by. Another phone call from someone else in that company. Says that my son was assigned 50% blame (no fault state here) because he turned into a four lane road and didn’t stay in the closest lane. I laughed and asked what town did your adjuster go to? My town has zero four lane roads, only part of the highway with a center turn lane, that ended 2 blocks before the intersection where the accident happened. They wouldn’t budge, so I said fine whatever, just cut me a check. BTW, they wouldn’t pay for a rental since my son wasn’t 21, and wouldn’t get one for me so I could let my son have my car, since I wasn’t in the accident… we only had liability insurance on my son’s car as it was so expensive, so they couldn’t do anything.
So I took pictures and sent them to the insurance adjuster and asked him to show me where the four lanes were. He tried to say the wide shoulder was a lane, yeah.. No.
Get another call, they do they’ll cut a check for less than half what we paid for the car, since it had a previous salvage title. Even with the salvage title, this care was with 4 times what they offered and twice what I paid. I only wanted them to pay what I had bought the car for. They refused, so I told them I’d let my attorney handle it from there on out. That gal said, “go ahead, we hear that all the time”. I said that fine, but do you hear this “I’m the biggest bitch in the state and I mean what I say”. She started spluttering and I just hung up.
We engage our attorney. The vehicle was towed to an indoor storage facility (the window was busted and the interior would have been exposed to weather). In the meantime, my son graduates high school and joined the army. After several months our attorney calls and says that the insurance company wants me to release the car to them as it’s racking up a huge bill. I asked if they were giving me what I wanted, he said no, they’d only come up to about 3/4 of my demands. I laughed and said no.
Another few months go by. Now my son has graduated basic and is almost finished with his advanced training and is days away from getting married. Insurance is whining about the storage fees again. Again they don’t want to pay. Of course once I hired our attorney, the suit included the insurance paying my attorney as well as the storage fees and the original cost of the car. So again I say no. I got a call from the storage facility. The was a tow truck there for the car. I drove there and told the driver nope, you can’t have it. He tried to say that he had orders to impound it… I laughed at I called my attorney.
So now it’s been over 2 years since the accident. My son and his wife are in Germany. I get a call from my attorney. He’s laughing his ass off. Said he had a check for me, $500 more than I asked for and all storage fees and his fees as well. Said the person he had been dealing with was whining about how hard I was to deal with and that I should have compromised sooner. Attorney told him that had I been given what I asked for at the get go, it would have been a hell of a lot cheaper. Was told that since hardly anyone actually engages an attorney, it’s the risk they take, and since their attorneys were on staff, they didn’t cost anything extra.
So because they wouldn’t pay out a measly $5400…it finally cost them almost $30,000.
I kept the extra $500 and sent the $5400 to my son.
So it might not have hurt the insurance company to shell out that $30k, but to me it was the principal. They thought because he was 17 that they could take advantage of him. They didn’t count on me.
I see a couple of answers that are good but don’t answer the whole question. Manufacturing is important but it is more than just that, but they are good at manufacturing.
1 – SpaceX has a strong bias toward action. Elon wants it done tomorrow and he expects you to work all night if you have to in order to make it. They definitely push action now. (Blue Origin started before them and still hasn’t made it to orbit. SpaceX did in 2008).
2 – SpaceX has a willingness to learn. They test early and often to learn about basic design flaws early. An example is the Starhopper. It was the simplest version you could ever build of a Starship. It was a tin can (actually fuel tanks) with an engine and a flight computer. They tested the engine and the control algorithm using that.
image 54
3 – SpaceX has a bias toward simplicity. One of Elon’s favorite sayings is “The best part if no part”. In other words they always look for ways to eliminate whole systems. Starship and the “catch” is an example of that. They eliminated landing gear and a few thousand pounds of structure to support it.
4 – SpaceX is willing to dream big and innovate. In 2010 when Elon said they would land boosters on the Falcon 9 and reuse them people laughed at him. That is impossible! They lost a couple figuring it out but they have now landed 239 of them as of 12/19/2023 according to their website. I assume that is updated for last night’s launch. (They launch a couple of times a week). For Starship they will catch the rocket during a controlled descent!
5 – SpaceX understands where the real cost of space travel comes from and avoid it. They try not to drop millions of dollars of flight hardware in the ocean. They also launch often to avoid accumulating costs (salaries) without income (launches) and are moving to improve both with Starship.
6 – They avoid silly costs like buying multi-million dollar NASA certified flight components. Instead they usually build their own from off-the-shelf commercial components and save millions.
The end result is they are doing things no one else can or will ever do. Next stop Mars!
My wife and I were visiting friends, and we’d all been joking around for a couple of hours. Some of the jokes were “mean” in the “I’m just busting your balls” sense, but I didn’t think there was any genuine meanness going on.
On the way home, my wife got really quiet. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, “You really don’t know, do you?” She then told me I’d seriously hurt her feelings.
My heart sank. That’s the one thing I never, ever want to do. She’s my best friend, and causing her pain is unforgivable. But, no, I didn’t know what I did. I had no idea what she was referring to.
She found this hard to believe, because, from her point of view, I embarrassed her in front of our friends by, out of the blue, accusing her of being “bad” in a very specific way (which I won’t go into here, because I’d hate to humiliate her, again).
Immediately, I remembered saying it, but … but … it had been a joke! We’d all been joking around, in a cutting sort of way, and I’d just joined in.
My wife said, “It didn’t sound like a joke!”
“But why would I purposefully want to hurt you?”
“I don’t know. I was flabbergasted when you said it. I guess you must resent me.”
I apologized. I hate it when people make excuses for themselves while apologizing (“I really, really meant it as a joke!”), so I didn’t. I said “I’m very sorry. I should never hurt you. That’s terrible. I love you.”
She gradually got over it—or pretended to—but I didn’t. I realized this has happened to me before, and, a few days later, I discussed this with my wife, being careful not to make anything sound like an excuse.
“I think sometimes, when I’m joking, I don’t signal the fact with an ‘I’m just kidding’ voice. Would you say that’s true?”
“Yes,” she said. “You have a very dry sense of humor. It’s often hard to tell if you’re joking or not. Sometimes I have to explain to people that you’re joking.”
I’m autistic, and though (after decades of work), my social skills are mostly indistinguishable from a non-autistic person, that’s one way I screw up. When joking, I have a totally flat affect. I don’t realize it at the time. I don’t feel like I have a dry sense of humor. In my head, I’m goofy, not dry, but the goofiness doesn’t always translate.
Once, at work, when, at the end of a meeting, my boss asked “What will you be working on tomorrow?”
I said, “I don’t plan on coming to work tomorrow. I think I’ve worked enough for one lifetime. I’m going to stay home from now on. That sounds like more fun.”
There was a long pause. Everyone stared at me. Finally, in a really quiet voice, someone asked “Are you joking?”
To me, it was obvious I was joking. But I was in a minority of one. And this wasn’t in a stodgy, conservative office. This was a partying crowd. (Part of the problem is that I tend to joke when I feel like it. I don’t wait until there’s a general “we’re joking now” vibe. This mistake isn’t terribly conscious on my part, but I’m vaguely aware that I do it.)
In addition to being autistic, I come from a part of the midwest where people naturally have a flat affect. I grew up around folks who sounded a little bit robotic, and I inherited their tendency to talk without much vocal music. (If you’ve heard Martin Starr’s voice on “Silicon Valley,” you know what I’m talking about.)
I thought more about that night, with my wife and our friends, and realized I’d been trying to impress them. Once the jokes got started, I wanted to out-joke everyone else, and I stopped caring about who I trampled on. While I hadn’t purposefully hurt my wife’s feelings, I had used her to get a cheap laugh.
And then I thought some more about it. The thing I’d “jokingly” accused her of was something about her that irritated me at times. Had I acted out, in a passive-aggressive way, instead of talking to her, directly? I can’t discount that possibility. If that’s what I did, I was an asshole.
I went camping with my dog. We arrived at night and ended up in a remote area. I managed to get the tent up, get a fire going, plopped myself down with my dog at my side on a leash.
Suddenly she jumped and barked at something, I then smelled this weird smell, it was a grassy metallic smell that stung my nostrils. In that second i didn’t realize it was fresh skunk odor. My dog startled and lunged at the skunk and sprayed my girl right in the face, her eyes were slammed shut.
I had to take her to the water pump and wash her eyes out and wash her face and head as best as I could late at night.
Then I had another problem, where would my dog sleep ? I couldn’t leave her tied up outside due to the skunk and/or bears. If I left her in my car I would never get the smell out. So she slept in the tent and stunk the tent up.
I stuck it out, gave her several baths of dish soap,.hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. Still took,.weeks for the smell to go away.
She has a thick coat and for months I brushed or.petted her the skunk smell would drift out of her coat.
I never forgot that grassy metallic smell of fresh skunk odor and I hate skunk smell.
I’m originally from Edinburgh, Scotland but now live in Perth, Australia. I had decided one day to visit AQUA which is Perth’s aquarium and was using a bus instead of driving. When we arrived at the stop for AQUA a young male and female were getting off too and asked the driver how to get to the aquarium ( it’s at the far end of a complex with shops, cafes, beachside etc) so I said I was going there too and would show them the way.
On walking we chatted and I realised the girl was Scottish and asked whether she was here on holiday. They both were and we discussed where she was from ..it was St Andrews. Further conversation re courses at Uni etc and she said she was studying Physics and Space Science at Edinburgh University. That was a coincidence as my niece had done a very similar course at Leicester Uni as Edinburgh didn’t have that course when my niece was at Uni. I told her my niece had done the course at Leicester and she said a friend of hers had also gone to Leicester. I mentioned my niece by Christian name and was asked what her surname was. The friend was my niece. Then I remembered my sister and her OH had friends who lived in St Andrews. This girl was the friend’s daughter and was only in Perth for a few days as she and her b/f were having a tour round Australia.
This girl’s father had been my sister and her OH’s best man at their wedding. If I hadn’t been on that bus on that particular day or if I hadn’t overheard them ask exactly where the aquarium was we would never have known the connection. Quite the coincidence.
If war means China going to the U.S. to fight America, then you are right. But it is a not factor. China does not want to do that unless the U.S. hit China. China won’t be the first to lay its hands by
If war means China fighting off U.S. in China which include Taiwan, China then let me make it super clear. China is super duper ready now to give the U.S. such a hiding it will collapse the U.S. financially, economically, politically and militarily that the U.S. will never be the same again. Don’t even think about it. Your media, your politician and say what you like but if we have to sink all you dozen aircraft carriers we will in the defence of the motherland.
I think the U.S. knows that, that is why it won’t dare. But god help the U.S. if move beyond talking shit.
The research company I worked for was downsizing. My previous boss had already been let go and my new boss kept sending his employees to learn everything in my department. Well one fave employee thought she was better at my job and kept trying to change our protocols. She never actually did any work, just made our lives miserable.
Then the day came where new boss walked in and started handing out moving boxes. He didn’t even say a word, just passed out the boxes. We all packed up and left. Now my lab was a resource lab that did a ton of work for the other labs. Suddenly me and all my staff were let go and the new boss handed it over to his people.
Guess what? They had never done these procedures, used the high tech equipment or even understood the complicated algorithms to process the data. First week I get 9 phone calls asking for help. That was met with a big NOPE. Then I get a call that the favorite employee had mishandled one of the very expensive robot units and it was out of order. They wanted ME to come in and reprogram it and get them back up and running. Oh heck no! I never went back and never helped.
Lesson of my story is don’t play favorites and make sure you have the staff to accomplish the job.
It was in the 90’s on an international flight. There was a middle aged lady with a Gameboy playing a game at full volume after the lights went out and most of the passengers were sleeping.
People were asking her, then telling her, to shut off the sound. It appeared as though she did not speak English. So one guy rang the flight attendant, who came quickly, but could not communicate with the lady. She got another flight attendant who spoke the woman’s language, who seemingly asked her very politely to turn off the sound. Sorry, I don’t know what language it was. And if I did I wouldn’t say.
As soon as the flight attendant walked away, she started another game. Beep, beep, boing.
Angry passengers were yelling at her. Her husband got up to defend her. Someone rang the flight attendant again. You could tell by the exasperated sigh of the flight attendant that she knew what was going on.
She scolded the woman (assuming from her tone), who pretended to be hurt. It just kept getting stranger and stranger.
The woman shut off the Gameboy and put it away. But as soon as the flight attended walked away, she pulled it out and started another game. Beep, beep, boing. Here we go again.
Finally, a big burly man walked over, put his big hand on the husband’s shoulder and warned him, “I have no problem with you, but you better sit down if you know what’s good for you.” The husband might not have spoken English, but he sat down.
The big man pulled the Gameboy out of the woman’s hands, pulled off the back, took the batteries out, and gave it back to her. She was now screaming in a language I did not understand.
“You’ll get the batteries back when we land. If you had just turned down the sound this wouldn’t have happened.” He was raising his voice, partially because he was angry, but partially because he thought she didn’t speak English.
Finally, as he went back to his seat, she stood up and yelled in perfect English, “F**K YOU!!! IT’S NOT AS FUN WITHOUT THE SOUND!!!”
I once offered $5,000 toward state-of-the-art proton beam radiotherapy to a very good friend of mine. After speaking with his mother, he told me no, because she had advised him that, when he was unable to pay me back, I would sue him.
I, in fact, never made this $5,000 loan. — That he turned it down made him, in a way, a stranger to me; it’s almost impossible to go from a state of literally talking about everything little thing of the day with your buddy to … in all likelihood, slowly, he is dying of cancer; he probably won’t be here in five years.
I hope he’ll be here in 20. — For a cancer that is only responsive to surgery yet located in a place that barely tolerates any surgery, much less surgical resection, — for a cancer that has no effective chemotherapy treatments, curative or palliative; that, even for proton beam therapy, it’s probably not going to work.
And, you only get one shot (pretty much). — Getting the proton beam therapy twice carries about the same risk of catching another fatal cancer, so the utility-maximizing function aspect of this changes.
The part of my brain that is finance-oriented — that manifold — expects a forecast of a certain result, and deviation from that result, whether up or down, is necessarily bad.
If you forecast profits of $0, and in reality, you received $100,000, then great, but it’s still a problem from a risk perspective.
People do small things now. They will choose not to homestead their homes. I don’t know why; always reason. Perhaps… not planning on staying here all that long. Yes, but the money you’d save in taxes would… pay for the radiotherapy.
Do you see where this is going?
The whole new-money/old-money part of the film, Titanic, is interesting in how correct it is, and how misleading it is.
Rose is everything great about old money with none. Jack, of course, is fictional.
—
Jack woulda lost the best. Jack woulda died under the bridge.
Jack would’ve been of a mindset that you could not trust him with a blue diamond necklace but for if he were even accused of stealing it, he would never see the light of day again. — William Blake writes of circumstances like this (see: end of Auguries of Innocence).
This person and his mother are not crazy. There is no reason to think they would not be able to understand that you cannot sue someone for return of a gift.
But, it would take someone, for lack of a better term — like me —, to explain this to him/them, and they don’t want to believe it. I don’t know.
Maybe $5,000 was never enough. — Or, maybe we should not second-guess people. I know what they said.
Hungarian Stew with Noodles
Hungarian Stew with Noodles
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large garlic clove
5 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 medium onions, sliced
3 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (16 ounce) package bow tie macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon caraway seed
Instructions
In an 8-quart Dutch oven over medium heat in hot oil, cook garlic 1 minute (discard), add stew meat and onions. Cook until meat is lightly browned.
Stir in tomato paste, water, paprika, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 2 hours or until fork-tender, stirring often.
Cook noodles, drain and toss with butter and parsley.
To serve, sprinkle stew with lemon peel and caraway seed.
You need to be able to read through English and dissect what CNN says
In most of the Media propaganda, they generally don’t lie about the content, they mislead people through the Headline and the Conclusion
For instance, they say Chinas Economic Growth will decline
It will
China grew at 7.41% from 2013–2023 and now will grow at around a worst case of 3.93% from 2023–2033
That is a decline in growth by 47%
Any non economist who reads this will say the same thing
However let’s look at 2003–2013
Chinas average growth was 11.21% from 2003–2013
Thus Chinas growth rate ALSO declined from 2003–2013 to 2013–2023 by 34%
Now let’s see another thing
How much population growth contributed to GDP growth in each decade
2003–2013 – it was 4.9%
2013–2023 – it is 0.8%
2023–2033 – it is going to be 0%
How much Government spending contributed to GDP each decade?
2003–2013 – It was 13.90%
2013–2023 – It is 6.30%
2023–2033 – It’s going to be 3%
How much will Real Estate contribute to GDP growth each decade?
2003–2013 – It was 15.75%
2013–2023 – It is 10.77%
2023–2033 – It will be 0%
What do you see here?
You see that the GDP Growth for China from 2023–2033 will be entirely from solid areas instead of paper growth
High Technology Manufacture & Domestic Consumption which accounted for 1% in 2003–2013, 3.1% in 2013–2023 will account for 14% of Chinas GDP Growth in 2023–2033
So Chinas 3.93% will almost entirely build it’s foundation economy and not it perceptionary economy
By 2033, China will have an immensely strong economy and resilient one
I had a classmate who must have married a rich guy. I didn’t even try to keep in touch with her after high school. But we ended up friends on Facebook. That was the time I just accepted every friend request from everybody I’d ever met in life.
After a while, she started to get on my nerves. She constantly complained about her upper class problems.
I don’t think I have time to get the cabin ready for summer. All the linens I ordered haven’t come in yet. I want to kids to sleep on new sheets, not last year’s garbage.
Paris was great, but now we don’t have enough time to get the boat ready for the lake.
I just hope the new furniture arrives at the cabin on time.
The painters came on the wrong day. They were supposed to come before the new carpet, and before the furniture arrived. So we had to put our new living room furniture in the theater room. It’s so inconvenient.
Can somebody teach me how to use the navigation system in my new Mercedes S Class? I miss my BMW 740i. I just can’t learn a new navigation system every year like this.
Just got back from Hawaii for Christmas. Now I have to supervise these caterers for the New Year party.
I later found out that they had a second mortgage on the house, credit card debt, and they were a month away from foreclosure. That didn’t make me happy, but it explained why she was always complaining about her problems. She was trying to make people that she hadn’t seen in a decade think that she was doing fine.
I was given a notice that I was going to be let go and a slap-in-the-face job offer from the same employer in the same week! let me explain….
I had been working for the same employer for years (on and off) and my group was getting a little light on work, although there was a lot more work on the horizon. One day, I was pulled into the Manager’s office and was notified that I would be laid off in 2 weeks. I wasn’t really shocked, as I could see the writing on the wall due to light workload. I was offered 2 months severance at my current salary and would be paid out my remaining vacation time. Considering that I was being fired, the severance package offered was pretty good. I signed on the dotted line!
With my impending unemployment looming in the distance, I began working my network for a new gig. After about a week, I had a few interesting local prospects. It was then that a supervisor in another part of the company that I was being let go from contacted me. He said that they would like to retain me and rip up my forced resignation letter, but only if I would agree to a 20% pay cut and a relocation. I had 5 days to decide, which was pretty stressful, considering that I had a family to support and potentially uproot.
I was slightly insulted and my soon to be former co-workers thought it was a big slap-in-the-face, considering that I had been slated for a lot of future work at my current salary. Come to find out, the company had realized that I was needed, but wanted to make some extra coin off me by paying me less and billing me at my previous higher rate to clients. After all my years of service, commendations, and happy clients, the company I had worked weekends for, neglected my friends and family for, and sacrificed my time with my kids for, was trying to take advantage of me by trying to put me in a bind and forcing me to decide quickly on a bad offer.
Anyhow, a direct competitor was interested in my services and immediately offered me a slightly better salary than I was currently making with better benefits. They wanted to scoop me up before I accepted the bad deal. I turned down the 20% pay cut offer, accepted my resignation and 2 months severance package and took a wonderful 1 month vacation. After a month, I began working for my new employer, which happened to be across the street from my former employer. Within a year, my former employer was bought by a huge international company and a lot of people quit or were fired. I am very happy with my new employer.
I worked in admin with only men in my departement in a company that worked at airplane propellor⁹ services, a very strickt environment. I needed a better chair and some cabinets. The head of the supply departement, a gorilla type man, accompanied me to a shack on the premesis. We went inside and he locked the door with a padlock. I acted like I hadn’t noticed. I babbled along about what I thought was suitable, testing some chairs, opening cabinets, heart pounding! Meanwhile he laid out some flat cartboard boxes on the floor. I knew if he’d assault me I could never win. Again I pretended not to notice and asked about his kids who were back in school after the summer holidays. That made him snap out of it. I asked him to load up a few items and he did. He opened the padlock and we went back into the main building. I went straight to HR. I told the shocked woman over there I wanted him to be warned because he had a family but never let him be alone with a woman again! He was mad at me for making him look bad ‘because nothing had happened’. My direct supervisor let everybody know what happened and all the men took my side. He was not fired (my request, everybody needs a second chance) but they added a black page in his file.
My husband and I were coming home from Puerto Rico, flying into Pittsburgh that night. A small, stereotypical family sat in front of us: attractive father, beautiful young mother, and two adorable kids, one still an infant and the other a toddler. We’re minding our own business when, out of the corner of my eye, I see the toddler looking at me from the openings between the seats.
“Hi!”
I smiled and said hello, and she took that as an opportunity to tell me literally everything about her life. Her mom kept giving me this patronizing look (like, “God, I’m so sorry she’s talking to you; if I could get her to shut up I totally would”) and saying “Maggie, let’s leave them alone and sit in our seats, OK?”
She told me her name was Maggie and she likes pink, blue, and black. She’s 3 years old, and how old are we? “You’re 22? And he (my husband, Joe) is 24? So you’re both 22. OK!” Maggie lives in Ithaca, New York, and loves flowers like the ones I have on my arms (tattoos) but “you shouldn’t draw on yourself with markers so much Miss Katie!” While she was in PR she “did some bad but also cool things,” and she’s going home to see Uncle Mark, who’s sick right now, so she isn’t going to hug him. “Who’s that guy with you? Joe? So Mr. Joe is your son, right? Miss Katie, can you tell your son to wake up? I’d like to talk to him.”
This carried on for the entirety of the two and a half hour flight we were on. I loved her, but my husband wasn’t so fond: she really liked him for some reason or another, and he wanted to sleep. Maggie’s mom kept telling her to turn around because, as Maggie had already put it, “the sun was going into the water so it’s almost bedtime for my brother. Do you want to see my brother? He’s a baby still.” At which point she proceeded to pull her infant brother’s foot over to the side of the plane by the window and show him to me through the cracks of the seats. I cackled.
Joe kept trying to sleep. He had headphones on, and she told him that she liked his earmuffs, but hers were nicer because they’re pink and black but she only wears them in the winter. As my husband drifted off to sleep, she yelled, “Wake up Joe!” I cackled some more, and she kept playing with him, poking him and saying that she “got him,” and asking Mr. Joe questions about his games and what movies he likes.
Meanwhile, her parents were asking the entire time for her to leave us alone, stop bothering them, “Maggie, do you want to color? Maybe if you’re quiet and color you can show them a picture when you’re done!” and all sorts of other mom things. Once, Maggie left for a few minutes and distracted herself with a game, but came back after a bit and said over the top of the seat, “I know I left, but I came back because I like you guys. You’re very fun!”
I loved Maggie. She kinda grew on my husband towards the end there, and I think he actually liked the attention. After the flight, her parents turned to us and introduced themselves, and apologized for her bothering us the whole flight. I said it was fine, not to worry about it, and that she certainly wasn’t bothering us. They thanked me for being so nice to her, and her mom said, “Yeah, but I want you to know that now, you both will be members of our household for the next two months. She’s going to go to bed every night and say, ‘Momma, do you remember Mr. Joe and Miss Katie? Can you tell me a bedtime story about them?’”
I think about Maggie often and hope that one day her mom tells her about Mr. Joe and Miss Katie from the flight back from Puerto Rico. I miss her sometimes, especially since she was better at waking my husband up than I am.
Ambush | Full Movie (action Movie with Nicolas Cage)
My parents separated and then divorced when I was a teenager. The separation occurred when I was around 14 years old, but the formal divorce didn’t happen until I was around 27 or so.
About 15 years later.
All of us kids pretty much expected it and was confused why it took them so long. But my folks were afraid that the divorce would shatter us, so they remained separate but cordial… for the sake of us kids.
It didn’t matter.
When they were together, they fought. And it was not nice and pleasant, and then when they were away, our lives lost a dimensions to it that I really wish had remained.
Fake a marriage if you have to. But do not have a broken home.
Boys need both parents present. Girls need both parents present.
…
Anyways… I’ve learned from my father’s errors, and I am trying to compensate with my little girl. She is my princess, and I am doing my best to be the best daddy to her ever. Even if she doesn’t realize it yet.
You know, for decades, in my mother’s basement sat a brand new but unused industrial wet vac… a big tub of a vacuum cleaner. She refused to have anything to do with it, and let it sit there unused and collecting dust.
One day, I turned it on and tried to use it, and my mother FREAKED OUT! And she ordered me to turn it off.
So I did.
…
I then remembered what happened.
It was a gift that my father bought for my mother, and it (must have been) the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. He brought it one one day and suggested to my mother to use it to clean the house. She got very angry at him, for after all, she was (at that time) working as well. And she did not like the idea of working and then coming home to clean afterwards.
Ugh.
…
Anyways. Eventually, when my mother sold the house and the property, long after their divorce, the big vacuum with the great sucking ability, was thrown out. Discarded. A memory… a painful one, I am sure … that both my mother and father shared.
…
Learn from the past. So that you do not repeat the mistakes of the old.
“Your tumor has grown back. We can remove it, but we’ll have to cut off two of your fingers and 30% of your palm. You’ll get a medical discharge. We’ll operate next Tuesday”
“Sorry; doc, can I get another opinion?”
“Yes. I’ll give you a consult to plastic surgery, to talk about wound care.”
This was a vascular surgeon at Bethesda Naval Hospital. So I “jumped ship”, and went to Walter Reed Army Hospital, and asked to see an orthopedic oncologist.
“Can you still wiggle your fingers?”
“Yes, ma’am”” And I showed her my range of motion.
“Anything in your current duties you can’t do, as a result?”
“I have trouble straightening them enough to do a snappy salute, but other than that, no.”
“When you have trouble holding tools, or eating with that hand, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll give you a medical waiver on the saluting, and you can go back on duty.”
Four years later, they had a new surgical technique, and “debulked” the tumor, instead of cutting off my fingers and part of my hand. It’s still working fine now, 25 years later.
I was an unhappy mom after my child was born. I guess it would be more correct to say that I was depressed for a pretty long time after my son had been born. And he cried a lot. As a person who didn’t like to sing I found it pretty difficult to sing for my son even when I felt it would help. So I somehow picked up a song from the child show I heard in my childhood and googled the lyrics. Every time he had been crying for more than 5 minutes I became desperate and started to sing that song. All the time the same song. I guess he was less than a year old back then.
My son grew up, got bigger and cried less. After he’d turned 1 yo I felt much better too, so I stopped singing that song. I forgot about it. I think he never heard it since he was one year old.
This happened when he was three and already could talk pretty well. I was at work and started to develop a headache. As I usually had no problems with headaches I didn’t take any pain killers and the pain with time became unbearable. I found it difficult to even walk.
I had to pick up my son from kindergarten that day. I called my partner to ask for help but he didn’t pick up the phone. I called his mom who lived close to the kindergarten but she didn’t pick up the phone either. So I took some pills and went out. I had one of the most horrible headaches in my life that day and I hardly remember how I got to the kindergarten. I picked up my son and told him directly I had a violent headache. We came home quietly and went to the bathroom to wash hands. I was sitted on a little chair there holding my head in my hands, my son was washing his hands and suddenly he started singing. It was that song he heard so many times when he was a baby. He knew it from the beginning to the end. By heart.
The long-term forecasts clearly favor China by every measure.
If American companies fail to use this period of time to invest, they will not be able to “jump on the bandwagon” and take advantage of opportunities that are presenting themselves today.
If the Biden “government” insists that all American (and allied) companies “sit this one out”, then the entire American and Western industry will fall back and will NEVER be able to catch up.
…
China is being kind.
The United States NEEDS to “carefully consider” the long-term ramifications of their current actions.
As China gets stronger, more important, more dominant in all areas, the United States is at risk to not only falling behind, but going absolutely obsolete in the process.
This is not something that China wants.
…
China wants and prefers a vibrant world; one where different regions; nations, societies and people thrive. In the world that China envisions, it is a WIN-WIN for everyone.
However, the path that the United States has embarked on is fraught with danger. And the United States appears to be on fast-track towards becoming a blight; a mawed gouge in an otherwise improved world.
…
So China is being very polite, and very understated.
Not even remotely plausible. Like, negative percentage possible.
This is my ship, USS Germantown LSD-42. The Germantown is one of the least protected ships in the navy since we were basically Lyft for the jarheads.
The black arrows point to BIG guns that will sink anything any pirate can shoot or drive anywhere near a naval ship. The red arrows are where marines go. Marines go brrr brr brrr with their machiney guns, pirates go die die die. I actually took part in an evolution where marines on the far left red arrow went brr brr brr at some pirates who’d taken control of a yacht owned by French nationals. We cut coms to the outside world for days so nobody could talk about it, and the only people who knew about it were us bridge watch standers and those with need to know.
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Black arrows go Brrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttt and shake the whole ship.
The real life version of these guys has No chance against brrrrrrrrrttttttttttt.
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Edit: 50,000 views?! My crappy answer got translated into another language?!? Who’d have thunk? I had thought my time in the Navy was pretty uneventful, but chatting in the comments with you wonderful folks has shown me even some of the inane stuff I took for granted are cherished memories. Thank you all for the comments (except for that 1 dude) and upvotes.
Edit2: 300,000 views!!! I’m amazed by the popularity of this answer I threw together in 5 minutes, it’s now been translated into 4 different languages. It’s gratifying to read a bunch of words I don’t understand then see brrrrrt, it makes me smile every time. I’ve really enjoyed chatting in the comments too. Thanks Quora community.
Edit 3: this is a fishing dow. This vessel gets probably closer to any US naval ship than any other will. We would send our small-boat out to interact with the fishermen on these dows. We would provide produce or medicine to them in exchange for information. Pretty much every fisherman on a dow we met was happy they had met us, and not once did their boats get close to causing us a problem.
I’ve learned what my wife does for a living. I wrote about that here. She’s had this job for about 15 years now, and only since the lockdown and listening to her work from our home office all day do I now know what a “project manager” does all day. It’s mostly just Zoom meetings and spreadsheets and spending a lot of time discussing with people from around the country which word to use in a particular sentence.
I’ve learned that, once one neighborhood kid goes outside, the other kids in the neighborhood seem to emerge from their houses within a few minutes. It’s like all of the kids are waiting by their window for the first kid to get the ball rolling. I sometimes convince my kids to walk the dog with me, knowing that we won’t make it down the block before their friends are all out, wanting to play with them, which was the plan all along. Kids playing with each other=more free time for parents.
I’ve learned that planning, shopping for, prepping, and cleaning up after three meals per day for five people take a lot of time if you want to do it right. That’s why I think there’s a direct link between rising obesity rates in the US, and a rise in households where both parents work outside of the home. You can feed your kids healthy meals, or quick meals, but not both, it seems. Not both consistently, at least.
I worked for one of the biggest Life Assurance companies in South Africa. The company was going through a restructure with departments merging and voluntary severance packages been offered. Things were just generally chaotic.
After 13 years at the same company, the time had come for me to leave the corporate world and start my own thing. I unfortunately did not qualify for one of the voluntary severance packages as they said that I was a key employee and would not pay for me to leave. I had gone through the emotional turmoil of getting to this decision so my mind was made up to leave. I filled in the normal resignation documentation I received from HR and handed it in to my line manager. He had to check if all the information was correct, sign it and hand it in to HR.
To make sure that I have some security in my life, I requested that my full pension payout be transferred to a provident fund. I had saved up some money to be able to start my venture without using any of my pension money.
On my last day at work I handed in my Work ID and left without much fanfare as things were still very hectic with the organisational restructure.
The next day I started working on my own business venture. I was getting used to the new life of being self employed. Slower internet, new bank account, no longer part of a big company with designated job descriptions. I had to do everything myself. Seeing clients, doing the work and getting my own tea.
Things were very hectic for a year and a half and financially very challenging. When I eventually got my act together, I started sorting out all the smaller things that I did not get around to when I first started out on my own.
One of the first things I did was go to the bank to close down my old account. I had moved all my debit orders to my new business account and there was no reason to run two accounts. I got the shock of my life when I got to the bank to close the account, thinking there were only a few Rands left. There was almost R500k in the account. I never bothered checking my bank statements when I received them in the post. thinking that there is nothing happening on the account so there is no reason to check. … and I just did not have the time. I thought that the bank had made a mistake so I asked for a 24 month statement. And there is was………. My salary after deductions was being deposited into my account every month.
I called the company that was supposed to be administering my Provident Fund. They had never received the money or the paperwork from my previous employer.
I called up HR at my old employer trying to find out what was going on but got given the run around and got nowhere.
Eventually I decided to go in to their offices and try and sort it out in person. When I got to reception, I gave them my name and surname. And security said “ Oh Mr……., have you forgotten your Work ID at home?” and gave me a temporary ID card and let me into the building.
After a lot of toing and froing at HR it was discovered that my line manager never handed my resignation documentation in to HR. I was still in their employ. My pension and medical aid contributions as well as my income tax were still being deducted and my salary paid into my account.
I asked how I should return the money seeing that I did not actually work there for a year and a half. The head of HR said that it would be best if we assume that I was in their employ and just did the paperwork for my resignation for the current date. It would save a lot of hassle in terms of the medical aid, the pension fund and most importantly, from the South African Revenue Services.
I got paid for not working for a year and a half. The irony is that the amount I got paid in error was very similar to what I would have received had they given me a severance package.
Edit 1:
Thank you for all the upvotes and comments (especially the ones with the South African slang….. good one Rushaan Edson-Chandley) .
I’m not able to respond to each comment individually thus this edit.
The reason I informed them as soon as I found out and did not continue receiving the salary and use itis my own business is because it would have gone against my character.
I’m not sure how this situation went unnoticed for the time it did, ( It could be due to the point that Louw Nieuwoudt raised as I did work in Cape Town) but I’m sure it would have eventually been uncovered as John Hudson commented. This way I ended it on my terms. They were the ones who insisted that I keep the money and thus it did not feel like I was stealing the money.
It is like Elizabeth Mead mentioned…….. “Financial karma!”. What goes around comes around. And this would have applied to me too in the long run.
High value men
This long list showcases the heartwarming spirit of mutual assistance
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The Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed heartfelt appreciation to many countries and international organizations that have expressed sympathies to China after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake on Monday jolted Jishishan county in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Northwest China’s Gansu Province.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, following the earthquake in Jishishan County of Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province, leaders of various countries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, King of Cambodia Norodom Sihamoni, Pakistani President Arif Alvi, Maldives’ President Mohamed Muizzu, ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Belorussian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, the three members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungarian President Katalin Novák, Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, have sent messages or letters to express deep sympathies to President Xi Jinping and condolences over the victims of the earthquake.
Other leaders from various countries and international organizations, including Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin, Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan Raja Pervez Ashraf, Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, Vice President of the Maldives Hussain Mohamed Latheef, Chairman of the People’s Council of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, Uzbekistan’s Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Grenada Dickon Mitchell, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis, also extended sympathies to China through messages and other means. Countries such as Afghanistan, Nepal, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Türkiye, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Cyprus, the US, Australia, Canada, Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Chile have expressed sympathies to China by various means. We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for their well wishes.
When I was a 1st year medical student, I tagged along with a pediatrician. There were all sorts of interesting abbreviations in charts for me to learn and memorize, especially under the exam portion of the note. The heart exam was RRR (regular rate and rhythm). Lungs were BCTA (bilaterally clear to auscultation), and abdomens were NT/ND (nontender, nondistended).
There was one I couldn’t figure out, however, on a toddler ultimately found to have congenital adrenal hyperplasia. In this syndrome, the adrenal gland secretes an excess of testosterone among other things, causing the penis to enlarge but the testicles—sensing that someone else was doing their job— to shrink. (Similar to the effect of injected anabolic steroids in athletes). Anyway, based on the physical exam findings, my attending strongly suspected congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Under her genitourinary exam she had written the abbreviation “LMNOP.”
I couldn’t find this abbreviation in any of my class notes or text books. I was stumped. I finally had to break down and ask her. She was at the nurses’ station as I approached and barely looked up from her charting.
“Oh, that. Lot’s of Meat, but NO Potatoes.”
(To be clear, I have never used this particular expression but I would be lying if I said it didn’t pop into my mind occasionally!)
My dad was gone for 50% of my life, deployed to war zones where he was actively involved in dangerous stuff. People ask if I missed him, and – of course – I did, but not as much as one would think. It was a lifestyle that I was born into. It’s all I knew.
Running around on the military bases, I frequently heard airplanes doing dry runs overhead. If one of the larger C-17 was coming over, we knew to cover our ears, as it would shake the walls of the building we were in.
Goofy haircuts weren’t allowed. Most kids on the military base were quite well behaved. Military parents taught respect early.
I’ve been to more military ceremonies than I can count. The military is very much about pomp and circumstance. “Change of Commands”, where a new leader is appointed, and the other steps down to take a different command, or retire, were common:
I used to dread shaking hands at these ceremonies. Most of these guys were all Navy SEALs and they squeezed way too hard when shaking hands. (Having a firm handshake is a custom in America, these guys took it a bit too far.)
My parents are both remarkably different from one another. I even remarked to my dad on my recent visit up north, “You know it’s weird, you and mom are so different, you have such different skill sets.”
My dad is very orderly, extremely disciplined with work ethic, with a strong moral code that comes naturally – his views, and actions, align with what is right without much effort – which is probably why he is such a good leader.
But where he lacks creativity and humor, my mom fills that in spades. She is naturally gifted at music, art, cooking, and has a quick wit, and is very fun-spirited.
So it was quite the contrast as a child. You could divide my upbringing into two halves: the months when it was just mom. And the months when it was just dad.
It could be a bit discombobulating, having to adjust to the two personalities.
But probably the most un-relatable thing was having to move 12 times before the age of 18. Every year or 2, we picked up everything and moved to a new place far away and started over again.
But – alas, the family is still here. And going strong.
When I started at Cambridge University, the Director of Studies who accepted me into the program said the same thing,
If it is a no, we usually make a decision after two minutes
Hearing this, I asked the same question in my head. If they can decide so quickly why even continue the interview?! They can’t possibly decide that quickly
Later on, I realized he was right
When I became a PhD student at Oxford, I thought it would be fun to tutor students. This was a responsibility my Director of Studies also had. When I started tutoring I immediately understood what he meant. You can tell within a a few minutes how capable the students are. You read their essays. You meet with them. You see their body language and mannerisms. And you know
I could rank every student and predict what grades they would get in the summer exams. After just a few minutes. My initial assessment of the student was right 95% of the time
However, even though you may decide after five minutes. There is a still a good reason to continue to speak to them. A binary yes/no decision is not the only reason for an interview
When choosing to employ someone you are making a commitment to work with them over an extended period, pay them a full time salary, meet with them on a regular basis, mentor them, offer constructive feedback, enable their career progression, help them find subsequent employment, and so on. That is a major commitment
But meeting someone for 30 minutes is not
So even if you decide after five minutes. You may still continue with the interview. Have them meet others on your team. Or even have dinner with them. It can still be a positive interaction. And both parties will benefit, even if it does not lead to a job
He passed away a few years ago. I’d forgotten all about him until my cousin (his son) posted something about his death on social media. That brought back several memories of him, including the time that he parked a trailer home in my parents’ back yard for over a year. My parents had a huge back yard, and, one day, he asked them if he could park a trailer home in it “for a few days.” My dad agreed. It was there for over a year, killing all of the grass underneath it and being a huge eyesore.
Years later, as an adult, during a conversation with my father, I finally got the whole story: my uncle was hiding the trailer home in our back yard, so it didn’t get repossessed. My father said that he figured it out and, once he realized he was being an accessory to a crime, insisted that my uncle get it out of our yard, or he (my dad) would call the repo company himself. The next day, it was gone.
Besides that, over the years, I’ve come to realize:
My sister’s drug problem began much earlier than I thought. That explains so much of what happened between her and my parents when she was in high school and I was in middle school.
A different uncle of mine, and his wife, were almost certainly abusive towards their children (my cousins). Once, their daughter and I went for a walk. I was maybe 10, and she was maybe 12. The mother came looking for us after about five minutes, and yelled at her daughter for “wandering off with a boy.” Again… her 10-year-old cousin. Considering how messed up all three of their children ended up in life, I wouldn’t be surprised if their abusive childhoods were both emotional, physical, and possibly sexual.
One of my cousin’s wife was probably a mail-order bride.
One of my second cousins only exists because his father was about to be drafted to Vietnam, so his father quickly married and had a kid. After the draft ended, he left his wife and child, only reuniting with the child years later, when the child was an adult.
My grandfather was a real badass when he was younger. Not only did he serve in WWII and Korea, but he was a boxer while in the army, too.
My aunt, who has profound cognitive issues, was placed in a group home in the early 1990s not just for her benefit, but for her mother’s (my grandmother’s) safety. She (my aunt) would sometimes go into fits and hit her parents. My grandfather, the former boxer, could restrain her until the fit passed. He died in 1987. His wife could not handle their daughter, who was in her 20s by then, by herself.
Originally Answered: Would you rather be in the US military during World War 1 or World War 2? Why? Sorry if this is somehow a dumb question.
Not a dumb question at all! It’s actually a great question because we get to compare the general experience of an American soldier in WW1 vs WW2.
So the answer is that I would rather be an American soldier in WW1 and so would everyone else.
First, you have the obvious reasons
The US entered WW1 in April of 1917. The war ended a year and a half later in November 1918. So in total, its 18 months of fighting give or take
In WW2 a grand total of 400,000 US soldiers were killed and another 670,000 were injured. In WW1 116,000 died and 320,000 were injured. In other words for every 1 man lost in WW1 3–4 men died in WW2
But beyond all that the nature of the war is important to consider.
Both WW1 and WW2 were horrid wars. They were beyond violent and the brutality witnessed during these conflicts forever scared and changed mankind.
That said when it comes to US involvement I think WW2 would be a touch more horrifying.
In Europe, US soldiers had to storm the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, withstand the German onslaught during the Battle of the Buldge, and press into Germany through dense forests and fiercely defended cities.
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In Asia, US soldiers had to storm humid tropical islands and face down a suicidal foe. Japanese soldiers would embark on all-out charges out of the blue and US soldiers lived in a state of fear and anxiety. Couple that with Japanese cruelty towards captured Americans and the violent nature of Island warfare and it was one of the horrifying theatres of war in history.
None of this is to say that combat in WW1 was easy or fun. It was by far the most horrifying war in history right up until WW2. But compared to D-Day, Stalingrad, the Battle of Bulge, and Iwo Jima nearly every battle in all of history comes up short.
In 2011, when the subprime crisis gradually dissipated, President Obama said during his visit to Australia: “If 1.3 billion Chinese people live the same life as us, it would be a disaster for the world, and we will not let this happen.” In the same year November, the US proposed the “Asia-Pacific Rebalance” strategy, which began to accelerate the withdrawal of troops from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and planned to transfer a group of navy warships to the Asia-Pacific region before 2020, deploying 60% of US warships in the Pacific. In October 2015, the US tried to isolate China economically by persuading 12 countries to sign the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership). On May 9, 2016, the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Harry Harris, sent the William Lawrence guided missile destroyer into China’s territorial waters, and even publicly boasted that the US military was “prepared to go to war with China tonight.“
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In 2018, a trade war broke out in the US and China, and imposed large-scale tariffs on China goods. In 2020, when the new crown pneumonia epidemic spread around the world, the US accused China under the unfavorable situation of epidemic prevention, stigmatized the new crown virus as “Chinese virus”, claimed to claim compensation from China, and successively issued “cold war speech”, intending to set off camp confrontation.
A lot of people don’t understand why the “intimate relationship” of “saving America is saving China” between them has turned into the current situation of never-ending hostility. Some people think it’s because of President’s different policies, believing that the conflict between China and the US can be solved by changing presidents. Some say that the US only cares about GDP, and when a country’s GGP reaches 60% of the US, it will be targeted. The former Soviet Union and Japan were like this, and today’s China is still the same. But in reality, the most fundamental reason still goes back to the economic model.
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If we were to describe the basic model of China’s previous way of making money, it would be relying on its industrial system and labor advantages to provide affordable goods and exporting them worldwide to earn foreign exchange. On the other hand, there are generally two types of profit models in the US:
1. Seize the technological high ground and use patent rights to scrape the profits from the whole world. Every time China sells a product, the bulk of the profits go to the US, such as in the Apple products manufactured by China’s Foxconn.
2. Directly plunder the assets of other countries using the US dollar’s financial hegemony. The first point is easy to understand, it is the famous “smiling curve theory”. The most valuable areas are concentrated at both ends of the value chain: R&D and the market. Without R&D capabilities, one can only act as an agent or subcontractor, earning only a small amount of money. Without market capabilities, no matter how good the product, when the product life cycle is over, it can only be treated as waste. Before, China could only rely on the advantage of cheap labor to process and assemble products, and because China was previously very poor and the domestic market did not have strong consumer power, it was a typical example of having neither R&D nor market capabilities. On the other hand, the US is an international R&D center and the world’s largest consumer market.
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The situation has gradually changed. With the continuous development of the economy in China, it has realized that this approach is not sustainable. The living standards of 1.4 billion people need to be improved, and relying solely on processing fees is no longer enough to sustain it. In order to support their families and create a better life for their loved ones, they must explore other sources of income. At first, China could improve production capacity by updating equipment to increase production efficiency. Before, they could produce 10,000 units a day, but now they can produce 20,000 units, which doubled their income. However, after a while, the production capacity could not make a breakthrough, and they were only able to produce 20,000 units a day for an extended period of time. In addition, the market is gradually becoming saturated, making it difficult to increase income by producing more products. On the other hand, the demand gap is gradually shrinking, making it more challenging to earn money than before.
These factors combined finally forced China to make a choice:
A. Maintain current income status and live a decent life.
B. Open up other sources of income.
Obviously, China chose option B, and began to increase investment in technology research and development. As a result, China achieved breakthroughs in both research and market capabilities, and was no longer just working for the US. Previously, there was only one boss, but now China also wanted to be a boss. The US suddenly couldn’t accept it, because there are only so many workers, and if there is one more boss, the US will lose out on some profits. China said we could work together, so that everyone’s income could be increased, but the US refused. Therefore, we saw a series of actions, such as trade wars, high tariffs, restrictions on Huawei and other Chinese enterprises, all intended to decrease China’s profits as much as possible.
If the first point above made the US feel a little uncomfortable, then the second point below truly made it feel threatened. The second biggest way the US makes money: dollar hegemony. The US took over currency hegemony from the British Empire in 1944, but the “Bretton Woods system” from 1944 to 1971, a full 27 years, did not truly give it substantial financial power. Why? Gold.
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The US once made a commitment to the world, which was to lock the currencies of various countries to the US dollar, and the US dollar to gold. How to lock it? Exchange 1 ounce of gold for every $35. With this commitment to the world with the US dollar, the US cannot act arbitrarily. Simply put, exchanging 1 ounce of gold for $35 means that the US cannot print US dollars indiscriminately. If you print an extra $35, you will have to reserve one more ounce of gold in your vault. The reason why the US had the confidence to make such a commitment to the world was that it held about 80% of the world’s gold reserves at that time. However, later on, the US foolishly became involved in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. These two wars consumed a lot of resources of the United States, especially the Vietnam War.
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During the Vietnam War, nearly 800 billion US dollars were spent by the US on military expenses. As the cost of the war grew, the gold reserves were clearly insufficient to support previous commitments. According to the commitment of the United States, every loss of 35 US dollars meant a loss of 1 ounce of gold. In addition, some countries represented by France were exchanging their US dollar reserves for gold, which depleted US gold reserves. Therefore, on August 15, 1971, President Nixon announced the closure of the gold window and the detachment of the US dollar from gold. This is the beginning of the disintegration of the “Bretton Woods system” and also an act of betrayal by the US towards the whole world.
When the US dollar was no longer backed by gold and became a mere green paper, the whole world faced a choice: if not the US dollar, then what? Therefore, the US exploited people’s inertia and helplessness and announced in 1973 that global oil had to be settled in US dollars. Since then, a financial empire has emerged in the human world.
Because when the dollar appears as a green piece of paper, America’s profit costs can be said to be extremely low. In order to accelerate the delivery of dollars to the world, which will take interest rate reduction measures. When American capitalists keep their money in the bank without receiving any interest, they will withdraw the money for investment purposes. At this time, South America and Southeast Asia become their investment targets. Assuming there is a country A, a large amount of American capital flows in for investment, causing rapid economic growth in country A and a thriving economy. However, behind the prosperity, there are certainly some bubbles, which are the inevitable results of a market economy.
For example, suppose the stock price of a company is $100, but its actual value is only $50. Assuming that the exchange rate of country A’s currency is equivalent to the US dollar. At this point, the capitalists in America have room for operation. They first bought 50 billion currency A from a bank in country A, and then directly exchanged 50 billion currency A for 50 billion US dollars. Suddenly, country A’s currency became more abundant, and the US dollar decreased significantly. However, many corporate trades must still be settled in US dollars. In the panic, many companies will crazy to exchange A currency for US dollars. As the dollars become scarcer and currency A becomes more abundant on the market, more people are induced to use more currency A to exchange for US dollars. At this point, A currency will depreciate significantly. The government of A will certainly intervene and use a large amount of gold to buy currency A to stabilize the exchange rate.
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However, the US raises interest rates. Imagine a capitalist from America investing in country A with an annual profit of 3%, but the interest rate of the Ameican bank is 5%. Which one will he choose? When a lot of US dollars is withdrawn, country A’s companies that originally had a large amount of US dollar investments will experience a broken capital chain. The government will no longer have gold to buy A currency and can only watch currency depreciate. When 1 US dollar = 10 currency A, the US capitalist only needs to use $5 billion to buy 50 billion currency A to return to the bank, Netting a large sum of money. Moreover, this is far from over. When country A’s exchange rate collapses, the US can buy a large number of country A’s assets and achieve practical economic control.
So why does the US suppress China? Because China not only wants to promote the use of RMB settlement worldwide, but also because Chinese economic system is different from traditional capitalist economies, making it impossible for B to use the same methods to control Chinese economy. In the eyes of Americans, China is not only a disruptor and an uncontrollable factor, but also a threat to its financial interests.
The dominance of the US dollar is certainly very strong, and the world has suffered from American hegemony for too long. Most countries probably have the same mindset as Japan, although they do not want to see a strong China, after being American dogs for decades, they also want to change their way of life.
About 10 years ago, I was teaching at a small Catholic school in the suburbs of Chicago. Like all Catholic schools in the area, it was right next to a Catholic church. (The schools are actually considered ministries of the associated churches.)
Like many Catholic schools, this school was built during a time when all of the teachers were nuns who lived in a convent next to the school. Since all of the teachers (the nuns) literally lived right next door, the school was built without a break room or faculty bathroom. The nuns just went home on their breaks.
By the time I worked there, the nuns were long gone, as was their convent. It had been bulldozed in the late 70s and turned into a parking lot. But they failed to add faculty bathrooms to the school. Teachers were just supposed to knock on the students’ bathroom door before entering, to make sure no students were in it, then lock the door from the inside (this required a key that only teachers had) if they were using the bathroom.
The privacy wasn’t a problem, but the nastiness of the bathroom was. Middle school students… boys in this case… are disgusting in public bathrooms. I hated using that bathroom.
Then, one day, I learned a secret: there was a really nice bathroom behind the sacristy in the church that barely anyone knew about.It wasn’t in the school, but the church itself, behind the altar, where students weren’t allowed to go during the day anyway.
This bathroom had been built specifically for disabled church parishioners a few years earlier, using funds willed to the church by a former parishioner who’d been in a wheelchair near the end of their life. But, since it was behind the sacristy (the room where priests get ready for the mass… the room with all of the holy stuff in it), they didn’t exactly advertise its presence. The priests just told the people who would actually need to use it… the disabled. Everyone else could use the regular bathroom on the other side of the church, near the entrance.
The secret bathroom was always pristinely clean, huge, and not only was it private, but, when I used it, I was usually the only person in the entire church at the time. It made using the bathroom at work go from a dreadful, gross experience, to a very pleasant little midday break.
When I worked at Staples, it was about 15 minutes before closing time, I had a lady who looked to be in her 60s walk in and walk up to our iPad case display.
She spent about 10 minutes looking through them and picked out one of our premium leather cases that cost $59.99. She came up to my register to check out, she seemed to have a slight irritating smirk on her face as she approached, and when I rang her up, she looks at the PIN payment screen and nonchalantly shakes her head and says, “No.”
I look at her and say, “No? …No what?”
She says, “That’s not the price I’m paying; the price tag on the display said $4.99.” I know well that even if the case were on sale (which it wasn’t), it would cost quite a bit more than that.
I asked her to wait a second while I go check the case display and see that she was looking at the price tag for the iPad skins that we sold. I walked back and explained the misunderstanding and asked if she’d like me to put the case back for her. She says, “No I still want the case, but I’m only paying $4.99 for it.”
I looked at her slightly dumbfounded, and politely said, “I’m sorry but I won’t be able to sell you this case for that price.”
She said, “You don’t have a choice; for one, the customer is always right, and for two, your display was messed up, which is your fault.”
“Happy Customer Service Jessica” had left the building at that point, so I responded, “Well, the case may have been in the wrong spot but there’s no way you’re leaving here with a $4.99 leather case.” She arrogantly says. “Bring me your manager.”
I called her over (this is a manager who has zero tolerance for people who come in at the last minute before closing, and it’s now 5 minutes past closing) and explain the situation. She said, “Ma’am, that case was in the wrong spot, and I’m sure you saw that all the others just like it were in the $59.99 spot but you chose to try and take advantage of my cashier. You can purchase this case for $59.99, or you can leave right now.”
She makes some comment about calling corporate and walks out, caseless.
How about getting paid more for not showing up to work at all?
I used to work as a suit salesman in a large retail store. The pay was basically minimum wage, but you could make commission which effectively doubled your wage.
My employer brought in a new rule around productivity. You now had to hit an ambitious AVERAGE sales target for each hour you worked to qualify to receive any commission. Hit the target and you would get commission on all sales you made, miss it and you just get your basic pay. Crucially, there was no exemptions for time spent working at quiet times or time spent working in the stockrooms, prepping for sales or doing anything other than actively selling.
The result of this was that if you wanted to earn commission, it was suicidal to do anything other than work the busiest shifts. You could sell loads one day, but spend a few hours in the stockroom selling nothing and your average sales per hour would collapse. We had part timers working only Saturday and Sunday who were earning more than the full timers who were working 5 days a week, because it was so much easier to hit your targets on the weekend. If you were close to hitting your commission targets, you would obviously do literally anything to avoid doing anything which was not selling.
I used to come into work half an hour early to tidy, but had I continued to do so it would have pushed me out of my commission target and cost me thousands, so clearly that stopped.
Most of my colleagues suddenly requested to switch to part time, weekend contracts for ‘personal reasons’, and some were granted before management caught on to what was happening.
If you were called in to cover a shift, your answer would depend entirely on how busy the shift was likely to be. We would be falling over ourselves to work a Saturday, but working a Tuesday could literally cost us significant money. Once, a manager strong armed me into working a weekday which I knew would be a dead zone. I explained that working this shift would literally cost me £1500 but he wouldn’t budge. I ended up agreeing to work the shift only if he agreed not to pay me for it, as that way I would preserve my productivity average and still get my commission.
Then the sickness started. Say you were juuust within your ‘productivity’ bracket for the month and in line to receive commission, but had a week of slow shifts coming up – you knew for a fact that if you came into work you would slip out of the bracket, but call in sick and your productivity is preserved, so there was a perverse financial incentive for not coming to work at all.
It was a crazy, crazy system which resulted in far fewer sales overall, a hugely disorganised department, a massive blow to staff morale and a divisive, angry atmosphere between those who made commission, and those who didn’t, despite often working longer and harder.
I was lucky enough to be a part timer, so I made out OK, but I left soon afterwards as it was obvious the place was being run by idiots.
The satellite photo, taken with technology from the early nineties, was dark and pixelated, but the conclusions unmistakeable. I stared at it as the slippery, wet nausea snowballed, gaining speed down the slope of my horror. “Is— is that what I think it is?”
Mary took the newspaper back. “Well, it certainly wasn’t what Andrew thought it was,” she said, shaking her head slowly, as she regarded it once again herself, at arms length.
Andrew was a 14-year-old student I tutored at the high school where I worked with Mary. He was a quintessential teenager, always joking and jostling with the other boys, down for any sport, by turns both protective and picking on his little sister, Amber. The two of them lived on a ranch in the dusty hills far east of San Diego with their dad, a struggling local businessman. Their mom was “out of the picture.”
That was a weird story from the beginning, actually. By all accounts, their mom was a devoted and loving parent, if not a particularly faithful wife. Her affairs were not exactly top secret, and neither, therefore, were the fights between Andrew’s parents that erupted as a result at all hours of the day and night. One particularly gruesome exchange of words hit the fan after midnight at a neighbor’s house, where the two, in a rare jaunt of reconciliation, had gone earlier to enjoy a dinner party. As words escalated, they excused themselves from the gathering, and shouts could be heard fading down the street where they stumbled their mutually intoxicated way home. More than one partygoer heard her tell her husband, in no uncertain terms, that she had had enough. That was it. She was leaving.
True to her word, by morning she was gone. But she left her children behind: Andrew, who was only four, and Amber, who was four WEEKS old. Their mother was never heard from again, not by their father, not by her sister— her closest relative with whom she occasionally stayed when things got out of hand— not even by any of her various known paramours about town. That was it. She was gone.
Andrew’s father, meanwhile, did his best to pick up the pieces. He reported his wife missing within a day or two of her disappearance, and an investigation was launched, but given her history and words, it was half-hearted at best. Thereafter, life went on.
By all accounts Andrew’s father, too, was an exemplary single parent, even with the solo burden of two growing children. Their house— I visited twice weekly for tutoring sessions— was jumbled with photos of family trips to Disneyland and the zoo. Football uniforms and gymnastics leotards lay folded in toppling laundry baskets as they boomeranged between practice and hamper, never quite making it to drawers. In the backyard, Amber’s rusty playground swings screeched distantly in the rising wind. Nearby, tattered, checkered flags snapped smartly over Andrew’s old BMX bike-racing course, complete with berms, jumps, dips and inclines eroded by the rain.
Mary raised one blood-red manicured fingernail, pointing again to the black-and-white satellite photo next to the article. The headline read, “Local Man Accused of Murdering Wife, Burying Body in Backyard.” Slowly, Mary traced the satellite’s outline of a shallow, shadowy hill, comparing it to a survey photo taken a decade later by drones, when they finally put the property up for sale.
“There it is again, Meg, that same berm, just a little smaller now,” she tapped against the crackling newsprint, on the more recent photo near a banner marked “Finish Line.” “But, Andrew didn’t have a bike course when he was four, did he?”
There’s a guy in my neighborhood who is like this.
He is about 50 years old, in relatively good shape, decent looking, unmarried.
I spent about 15 minutes talking with him at a party.
But noticeably he never mentioned having a job. I couldn’t care either way; it was just unusual because typically a person’s occupation is mentioned during pleasantries and small talk of such parties.
I later bumped into a neighbor while on a walk, I mentioned meeting the man and how he was a cool guy. While talking to this neighbor he said, “Oh he’s a great guy!” and said, “He’ll never have to work a day in his life.”
And went on to tell me how he had started a company, ran it for 15 years, built it up nice and fat then sold it at age 45 for a crap ton of money.
It was a bit mind-blowing to be done at 45. And you’d never know. He has a 3-4 bedroom house with a green lawn and a couple of dogs but nothing fancy outside of that.
I recalled during our conversation, when I’d asked what he does he said, he mainly just reads, eats good food, exercises and plays with his dogs. And I’m assuming he doesn’t worry much about money.
He’s a bit of a role model in terms of how I think I’d live with wealth.
Some people use their money to project status and revel in the glory of their wealth. Others only use their money to buy back time and comfort which sounds a lot more gratifying to me.
I have no need to own a diamond sports car that can drive 20,000 MPH that mainly sits in a driveway to be seen.
How to break in without breaking anything, and how to break in silently.
I had a friend in grade school and while he wasn’t a thief, he knew the thieving arts. His older brothers had “friends”.
One day another friend was accidentally locked out of his house. He showed him how to open the latched window and remove the screen from the outside. We were able to lift him through the newly opened window and into his house, all without breaking anything.
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Something like this, but we gave our friend a boost (image credit)
One day in wood shop class, the janitors had put cardboard over a window that was broken over the weekend. Apparently someone tried to break in to steal woodworking tools maybe? Whoever it was, they didn’t get all the way through. They just managed to create several big cracks in the big window.
My friend told some other classmates how the thieves could’ve done it successfully, without making a lot of noise (cut some lines in a star shape in the glass with a glass cutter, put duct tape over the area, then smash it in. It would still make some sound, but it would be muffled). The teacher heard him “instructing” the others and told him to stop.
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You want to cut the glass like this first. The cuts don’t have to penetrate the glass to the opposite side (glass image credit)
He taught me other things as well, but those two instructions stick out.
I used the “latched window and screen removal” lesson to break into my sister-in-law’s apartment (for a legit and legal reason).
I used it again to break into a neighbor’s house for my daughter (again, all legit and legal). Actually, that one was a gimme; their window was cracked open. All I had to do was slide it open wider and step through.
I’ve never needed to use the “duct tape over window to break it” method, and hopefully I never will. But it’s nice to know!
Having friends in low places comes in handy sometimes!
This year in 2023, China is likely to add close to 6.2 Trillion RMB to its GDP which comes to $ 877 Billion
This despite the fact that Real Estate in China has produced a increase in value of only 789 Billion RMB ($ 115 Billion) down by almost 11.8% compared to 2022
Domestic Consumption has produced an increase in value of 1.936 Trillion RMB ($ 277 Billion) which comes to a whopping 16.2% growth compared to 2022
Trade has produced an increase in value of 739 Billion RMB ($ 105 Billion) which comes to a growth of a decent 3.1% growth compared to 2022 although exports have fallen by 8.1% (Dollar Value) & imports by 7.3% (Dollar Value)
The Trade Surplus of China is estimated to be 5.83 Trillion RMB for 2023 or $ 834 Billion
The Current Account Surplus is estimated to touch 1.51 Trillion RMB or $ 210 Billion
The Net Savings Increase in China this year is estimated to be close to 7% or 4.26 Trillion RMB
The Inflation this year is estimated to be 0.595%
The Growth this year is estimated to be 5.10%
Let’s see
Let’s see the Parameters that have increased:-
GDP – Up by 5.1%
Net Savings – Up by 7%
Net Credit – Up by 3.3%
Inflation – 0.6%
Current Account Surplus – Up by 8%
Grain Production – Up by 1.3%
RMB Reserve – Up by 106%
RMB usage in SWIFT – Up by 136%
Let’s see the parameters that showed decline
Real Estate contribution to Growth – Down by 12%
Trade Surplus – Down by 1.8%
FDI in Actual Use – Down by 4.7%
That’s it
This is Chinas Economy in 2023
In a fairer world, this would be a superb economic performance at a time when China has a REAL ESTATE BUBBLE and the world has a massive economic slowdown
I repeat a superb economic performance
Managed at a 3.8% Fiscal Deficit- with 0.8% added due to a late issue of 1 Trillion RMB infusion
So what is the basis for the West to cry China Economic Collapse?
#1 China has a huge debt crisis
This is because the West conveniently uses National Debt or Federal Debt for their own countries and takes TOTAL PUBLIC DEBT for China
On Date Chinas National Debt is 62% of its GDP standing at 77.2 Trillion RMB
The USAs National Debt or Federal Debt is $ 34.1 Trillion or 130% of its GDP
The Chinese Economy works on Debt financing rather than Credit or Equity financing which means the Total Public Debt stands at 311.7 Trillion RMB or 255% of its GDP
This includes all debts incurred by all Chinese entities plus Local Governments
The Total interest payable for the Local Governments and Chinese Government is 9.41 Trillion RMB a year
That’s Cumulatively around 15.63% of the Total Revenue of China
That’s almost HALF OF WHAT GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PAYS in Interest every year (28.90%) out of its revenue
That’s almost a quarter of what Turkey pays (39%)
That’s less than what Malaysia pays (23%), Indonesia pays (26.7%) as well
#2 Chinas Productivity has declined this Chinas future is bleak
The West refuses to believe that China is transforming
It stubbornly insists that China is still a production economy and a factory of the world that it was in 2007
So it says the PMI has declined and Industrial Output has declined and will continue to decline so China is finished
Yet the same West ignore that Russias PMI rose by 24% this year and Industrial Output by 30%
Here they claim something else
They ignore Chinas Domestic Consumption increase by more than a Sixth this year, a clear sign of transformation
Chinas Real Estate is it’s only problem
Once that bubble is defused, China will grow at 4.5–5.5% growth for another decade at least
Cherubic. Absolutely adorable. Upper middle class and unmistakably summery soccer-kid suburban. He sits on the exam table between his mom and step dad, a smattering of auburn freckles virtually sparkling over rosy cheeks. Six-year-old aqua blue eyes regard me with shy curiosity and just a hint of mischief beneath long butterfly lashes.
Okay, the whole contentious divorce thing, that is less than idyllic. But common enough, and, presumably, all in the past. Yet here mom is now, suddenly near hysterics, grabbing her son by the wrist, shoving his hand in my face. “This!” she screeches. “He goes to his father’s house for one day and comes home like this! Somebody should call the police!”
And I have to admit, the evidence is pretty damning. Both hands and forearms, almost to his elbow, entirely burned a blistering red. There is a line of clear demarcation, with splatter marks above. Everything is consistent with the classic “stocking glove” distribution one often sees after a struggling child’s limbs are intentionally submerged in scalding water as punishment. That said, the presumed victim currently appears unruffled and virtually pain-free. If anything, he seems predominantly concerned by his mother still excitedly waving his arm around all puppet-like while his video game bleeps neglected in his lap.
I am a second-year resident on my burn surgery rotation. I should stop at this point, treat his burns, wash and dress his hands, and call for social work. But the abuse is just so blatantly obvious. The idea of this kid vanishing into the system, and his father continuing to sadistically torture him like that… I seethe. Not on my watch. I ask mom and step-dad to step out.
“So what happened today at your dad’s house?” I lead with, as soon as the door closes, but he is already resorbed in his iPad. I coax it away from his bandaged fingertips. “What did you do?”
He makes steady, polite eye contact now, with the sort of assurance one doesn’t usually find in abused children. The eager answer bubbles out of him: “Me and Leo, we played Transformers, then we had pizza, and we built a fort and picked lemons and sold lemonade and I made four dollars!” He holds up his swollen digits for emphasis.
The kid is good. He isn’t gonna give up Dad easily. “And after that, did you maybe take a bath?” I prompt him.
He nods enthusiastically, remembering. “Susan bought me a green and blue super-soaker to play with in the tub!”
“Susan…?”
“Yeah. Susan is my new step-Mom,” he clarifies, nonchalantly.
Aha! “And does Susan ever run really hot baths for you, or scrub you kinda hard, if you get really dirty, outside, building forts and making lemonade?” Now I am leading him shamelessly, I know it, and I’m a little uncomfortable.
But he doesn’t bite. “Not really.” Shrugs blankly.
I give. I invite mom and step-dad back in. Mom wants to know what I learned and whether Dad will be arrested. I tell her I will update them shortly, and I duck out to phone my attending, Dr C. I summarize in a sentence or two the burns, the recent visit to dad’s house, and my concerns for abuse which the kid will not corroborate. She interrupts, just as I finish recounting my frustration—
“Did he have a lemonade stand? With fresh lemons, that he picked from the tree? Did he make the lemonade himself?”
“What?” I am startled. I had not mentioned this detail. “Yes, I think so, but how did you…?”
She chuckles over the line. “We get three or four every year. Fresh lemon juice under the sun burns the skin. Kids stick their whole arms in it, squeezing and mixing. Looks just like scald burns but it’s not. He’ll be okay.”
Never assume.
Smart girl
Train stuff
I really do like trains. Don’t you know. Puts a smile on my face.
The Goat Canyon Trestle, located in San Diego County, California, is the world’s largest wooden railroad trestle. Built in 1919 as part of the Carrizo Gorge Track, it stands over 600 feet long and 186 feet high. Constructed with redwood beams, the bridge is a testament to the engineering prowess of its time. The area around the trestle, known as Anza-Borrego, is an arid desert, and the construction of the railroad track through this landscape was a challenging task. It required the building of 17 tunnels and numerous trestles, earning it the nickname “the impossible railroad.” Over the years, the Goat Canyon Trestle has suffered significant damage from fires and floods. In 1976, Hurricane Kathleen caused the collapse of several tunnels and trestle beams, leading the Southern Pacific Railroad to abandon the line. Despite its abandonment, the Goat Canyon Trestle remains a popular destination for hikers and adventurers, with a 6-mile roundtrip hike to reach the top. The area is also home to abandoned rail cars, adding to the allure of the site. As of January 2018, the Baja California Railroad was assessing the line for potential repairs to allow the track to return to operation.
* The athlete: Went on to play on ice hockey on A juniors Finnish national team, but instead chose to become a F-18 pilot. Retired as Lieutenant Colonel. Has three children. Cousin of the athletess.
* The jerk jock: Failed to make career in ice hockey. Got in troubles with law. Has worked as an electrics fitter.
* The bully: Got in serious troubles with the law. Has served in prison. Divorced, two kids.
* The athletess: Did swimming on national level. Joined the military, made it to officer. Later went to university and works in academia.
* The alpha b!tch: Became a hairdresser. Divorced, three kids.
* The beauty queen: Went to College of Economics. Married, three children. Works as CEO in a local company.
* The brainy guy: Went to study technology. Has doctor’s degree in applied sciences. Married the athletess’s university course mate.
* The brainy girl: Was the athletess’s teammate. Went to study medicine. Is today a doctor in her hometown. Mother of two.
* The petrolhead: Owns and manages a service station.
* The religious girl: Married early, became a nurse. Mother of three.
* The quiet girl: Best friend of the religious girl. Became a teacher in her old school. Not married.
* The quiet boy: Went to study theology. Works as priest. Married, two children.
* The twins: One of them bought a fast car. Slid off a motorway in the night with serious overspeed, with fatal results. The other took over family laundry business.
* The nerdy guy: Works as system administrator in a large corporation. Plays keyboards in a band.
* The Goth girl: Went to study English in university, works as a translator in the national television.
* The artistic girl: Became an architect. Not married.
His wife sobbed and hiccuped. “You have to understand, Doctor. This isn’t him. He isn’t like this at all.” To him, “Please honey, just put it down. Before you hurt yourself.”
She blamed herself. In a moment reminiscent of a facile soap opera story arc, her 60-ish spouse had collapsed unresponsive atop her during the heat of passionate lovemaking. The paramedics had regained a heartbeat, but he remained comatose, and CT scan of his brain subsequently revealed a ruptured aneurysm. The effects could be catastrophic, and given his age and severity of illness, we worried he might never regain consciousness.
Six months and change went by in my ICU, during which he underwent two operations on his cerebral blood vessels, a tracheostomy, and a feeding tube. He weathered countless set-backs including pneumonias, blood clots, kidney failure, and a heart attack. We lost vitals on more than one occasion, but each time, inexplicably, managed to bring him back.
His wife, with her short dark curls and stark white roots, thick glasses and dog-eared novels, never left his side, sleeping in his ICU room and breakfasting in the hospital cafeteria. Her constant concern was matched only by perpetual mortification regarding the circumstances of his initial attack. At least twice a week, she insisted this was all her fault, and I reassured her it was not.
And then he began to wake up.
Understand something: people in comas don’t wake up like they do in the movies — just open their eyes, ask for their loved ones and demand to know where they are or what’s happened. It’s a gradual process, especially for someone as sick as he was. First, he had to learn to breathe on his own again. Over time, he began responding to noxious stimuli — opening his eyes, withdrawing his limbs. One day as his nurse was placing a new IV he made a half-hearted attempt to brush her away, and his wife was near ecstatic. I should have explained to her then what he would reach down for next…
What ALL men waking up from comas reach for.
He had excellent fine motor skills. And made a full recovery.
Years ago a girlfriend and I were having lunch on a patio, we had daiquiris, shrimp and fried rice.
She ate all of her fried rice, left all of her shrimp, and ordered a second daiquiri. I asked her if there was something wrong with the shrimp, and she said no, she was sure they were fine, but she was on a diet.
I had observed in the past that she loved her carbs, and would eat carbs instead of healthy things like skinless chicken breast, pork tenderloin , skipjack tuna and shrimp.
So I asked her why she was leaving the lowest calorie thing, eating the higher calorie fried rice, and ordering an even higher calorie drink.
She laughed at me and told me that everyone knew that meat/protein wasn’t healthy and had higher calories than anything else.
The shrimp had roughly half the calories of the same weight fried rice, and less than half the calories of her daiquiri.
How could you go on a diet and not know this?
I never told her how many calories were in her favorite perogies and french fries.
My first carrier landing was with the US Navy’s venerable T-2C Buckeye. I had about 100 hours flight time. We had been practicing on runways that were painted to look like a carrier deck for weeks, 2X per day. But nothing can prepare you for the first time you see the tiny size of an aircraft carrier, as opposed to an 8000′ runway. It’s simply frightening.
You have to not look at the carrier. You have to religiously adhere to the pattern altitudes, airspeeds, and angle-of-attack. You have to focus on the Fresnel lens (aka “the meatball”) and not the small, tiny deck. It takes a lot of discipline, confidence, and no small amount of courage.
But when you do your first trap, and then your first cat shot…and everything works just like they taught you…then your confidence soars, and you’re ready to take on the world. Launch me Boss. Let’s do this!
image 395image 394
When you’re done, and you get the call to return to your home field. There’s a sense of accomplishment that you can only feel once…and it is amazing.
A little boy goes to his dad and asks, “What is politics?”
Dad says, “Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I earn the money in this family, so let’s call me the capitalist. Your mom says what we spend the money on, we’ll call her the government. Both of us are here to take care of your needs, so we’ll call you the people. Our nanny is representative of the working class. And your baby brother, we’ll call him the future. Now, think about that and see if that makes sense.”
So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what dad had said.
Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents’ room and finds his mother sound asleep and his father missing. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny’s room, but there he sees the father in bed with the nanny and he can’t get their attention. He gives up and goes back to bed. The next morning, the little boy says to his father, “Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.”
The father says, “Good, then tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.”
The little boy replies, “Well, capitalists are screwing the working class while the government is sound asleep. Meanwhile the people are being ignored and the future is in deep shit.”
This didn’t happen to me, but it happened to a friend.
My friend Tony lived paycheck to paycheck in assorted jobs. He inherited $50,000 when his grandmother passed away. His friends convinced him to invest the money rather than spend it on a new car, vacations, etc., and eventually he agreed. Another friend, Jack, who worked in finance, convinced him to put the $50,000 into Cisco stock. This was back in April 2000, just before the tech bubble burst, and Cisco was at its all-time high, around $75 a share. Then the bubble burst, and the stock crashed.
Two and a half years later, we were all at a wedding of a mutual friend, and the friend who recommended Cisco was very embarrassed and apologized profusely for his recommendation.
Tony: What do you mean? Why are you sorry you made that recommendation?
Jack: Because the stock tanked right after you invested, and it’s continued to go down and down; your $50,000 investment is now probably worth $6000 or $7000. Haven’t you looked at your statements?
Tony: Sure, I’ve looked at the statements; it’s up to about $83,000! It’s doing great!
Jack: You must have misread your statement; maybe it said $8300? When was that statement?
Tony: Maybe two weeks ago, and I’m sure it said $83,000!
Jack: That’s impossible!
After the reception we all went back to Tony’s apartment and Tony pulled out his last statement, which indeed did say $83,000!
Then we saw why; Tony bought the “wrong” stock!
Jack had told him to buy Cisco (the high tech company), and Tony bought Sysco (the food distribution company); both stocks are pronounced exactly the same. While Cisco crashed, Sysco did great!
So that was a very happy ‘mistake’ that Tony made!
My best friend and I went fishing down at the river. To get to the river, we had to push through a bunch of willows. It was hard casting with the willows right against our backs, and so after we didn’t catch anything in the first few casts, we decided to head back to the truck. When we were putting the fishing gear in the back of the truck, my friend noticed I had a tick on my face. I lived out on the bald prairie and had never seen a live tick before. He brushes it off, and then says there is a bunch in your hair. I notice a couple on his shirt.
So we brush each other off, there were a lot of ticks, at least 50, I had never seen anything like it. I pull up my Tee shirt and there are a bunch on my belly.
I have a pocket comb and we comb our hair, and find more hidden in the hair.
We are miles from the nearest house, and haven’t seen a car all day. So we climb into the back of the truck. We take off our T-shirts and inspect each other and sure enough we have ticks on our backs and in our t shirts.
We pick them out of our shirts, and lay our clean shirts on top of the cab, then we do our shoes and socks. We always find more ticks.
Then we do our pants, and finally our shorts. Just in time for a truck load of fishers to come over the hill. We quickly pull our shorts back on, and tell them not to go to the river here, because of the ticks.
I have no idea if they believed us, but, we weren’t concerned,because we had bigger fish to fry, so to speak. We had to take off our shorts, and inspect the other guys parts, that he can’t see. I had a tick in the crack of my ass.
This was probably the most humiliating experience I have had, where someone saw me naked. It would have been bad enough to have my best friend inspect my back side, but having a truck full of people who probably didn’t believe a word we said, see us naked together, was about as bad as you can get.
It was the summer of 2008. I was in bed, asleep, late in the morning, when I heard insistent knocking on our front door. I slogged downstairs to open the door, and found two police cars outside. Two police officers said that a neighbor had phoned in a break in at my house, and the police asked if I knew a “Brad,” which was the name of my 18 year old daughter’s boyfriend. I said that I knew him and looked around for him. Then, I discovered that the police had him in the front of the house. He looked scared to death. I told Brad to come in the house.
The police were unsure what to do and stood arguing on my porch. One officer said that I had to sign an affidavit, saying that I knew Brad. The other said that I was the homeowner and didn’t have to sign anything.
Once the police left, Brad told me that his father had dropped him off earlier in the morning and my daughter, who had the flu, had told him that she’d leave a lawn chair outside for him, until she had gotten up, not letting me know. While Brad was sitting in the backyard, listening to the birds, our neighbor had come out and took a real hard look at him. Shortly after that the police confronted Brad in our backyard. He’d encountered the police before, and knew to move slowly and tell the police what he was doing before he made a move.
He’d been stopped by the police so many times that he carried a letter of reference from the high school resource officer, stating that he wasn’t a criminal. His “crime” was that he was biracial in our neighborhood, and our neighbor decided to call the police, without contacting us first, about this young man sitting in our yard.
My wife is from California, I am from New York City. We met in the Deep South and after getting married I brought her home for the first time. I took her into the city to do many of the touristy things, you know see the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, we even took in a Broadway show. On the ferry, there was a young lady who was so strikingly beautiful that my newlywed wife actually pointed her out to me. I mean if she stood by the highway, traffic would stop — that beautiful.
She was commenting on the sheer perfection until the girl opened her mouth and out came the extreme NY accent, complete with four-letter words and gestures. My California wife was shocked, to say the least. It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard words like that or even the accent— but when it erupted from a girl so physically perfect, it was a surprise. Being a NY’er myself, I barely noticed the accent — which my wife occasionally reminds me about to this day, 40_ years later.
North Korea was no match, to be sure. For one, U. S. Air Force bombers dominated Korean skies, despite MiGs and flak. The United States even readied a clutch of atomic bombs to drop on the North. And aside from Soviet fighter jets flown covertly by Russian and Chinese pilots, North Korea’s air force consisted of everything from biplanes to MiG 15s, all flown by poorly trained pilots. Its ”Maritime Patrol”—Navy—was a single torpedo boat squadron.
But what the North did have was a hulking ally right next door: Red China. With their overpowering ground game, the Chinese brought this brother’s war to a grinding halt. Neither they nor the United States achieved their strategic objectives. There was no winner.
The U.S. military—some 300,000 troops—and the Republic of Korea (ROK), led a global United Nations (UN) army with twenty allied nations from every corner of the planet: Ethiopia, Thailand, the United Kingdom. Denmark contributed a fully-staffed hospital ship. Tiny Luxembourg did its part, supplying 44 soldiers.
This “Forgotten War” began on 25 June 1950 with a massive surprise attack by Kim-Il-sung, the North Korean dictator and grandfather of Kim Jong-un. Initially, his forces crushed poorly equipped ROK units and drove the rest into a pocket around the southeastern port of Busan. Kim bragged he would take all of Korea in three days.
Then, following a brilliant amphibious landing behind enemy lines at Inchon, South Korea, by UN Supreme Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, the UN went on the offensive. They pushed Kim’s army back over the 38th parallel and up to the Yalu River and Chinese border. By September, 1950, the UN occupied most of Korea. Victory seemed assured. Home by Christmas was the cry!
Chinese rumblings about their possible intervention were brushed off as “blackmail” by U.S. President Harry Truman. With North Korean forces in full retreat, UN leadership grew dangerously complacent.
Suddenly, UN success at the Yalu triggered a ferocious lunge by the Chinese. This changed everything, sending once-confident UN forces reeling down the Korean Peninsula in a desperate “fighting retreat.”
A 250,000 strong People’s Volunteer Army (PVA) under GeneralPeng Dehuai (below) had invaded Korea, the first phase of 3,000,000 troops and civilians China would ultimately bring in. China termed it “volunteer” to avoid an “official” war between its national forces—the People’s Liberation Army—and those of the United States. Everyone was tip-toeing around The Bomb.
Peng’s camouflaged army slipped in by moving “dark-to-dark,” 7pm-3 am, halting when aircraft appeared. Any soldier caught moving was ordered shot. The sudden arrival of this vast army shocked UN forces.
Chinese PVA first bloodied the U.S. Army on 25 October 1950 at the Battle of Unsan in mountainous terrain near the Yalu. Their attack caught poorly positioned American and ROK forces by surprise.
When U.S. intelligence interrogated the first captured PVA, they realized the Chinese had entered the war. But how much had they entered? Were they merely backing up their North Korean friends, or committing a far larger force?
At Unsan, 10,000 PVA soldiers encircled the U.S. 8th Cavalry with a three-pronged assault, overrunning U.S. defensive flanks. The Chinese lit forest fires to confuse UN aircraft and donned ROK uniforms to infiltrate UN positions. They also blew trumpets and beat gongs, so unnerving some UN soldiers that they threw down their weapons and bolted to the rear.
Only one PVA soldier in three had a firearm. The rest threw grenades. The Chinese lacked heavy artillery and air cover. They suffered enormous casualties with their primitive “human wave” tactics. Yet at Unsan they put to rout the far more modern UN forces. The battle was a devastating loss for the U.S. and ROK. Chinese leadership was as surprised as the UN’s was stunned.
Museum display of warmly dressed PVA soldier and one from the People’s Liberation Army in China’s Civil War. Note fearsome weapon in his left hand.
Despite all evidence, General MacArthur in Tokyo (he never spent a night in Korea), refused to believe that the Chinese were “all in” to re-take the North. He was, instead, beginning his Home-by-Christmas offensive to end the war. MacArthur was never short on ego and, after pulling off the Inchon landings, was hailed as a military genius. Therefore, UN forces were caught between genius and…reality.
The historic Battle of Chosin Reservoir provided a bitter dose of the latter. Again, the Chinese encircled unprepared U.S. Marines, Army and British Royal Marines. For 17 days, in sub-Siberian weather, UN air and artillery pounded advancing PVA waves. A Turkish Brigade fought a courageous—and costly—rear guard action, allowing the bulk of UN forces to escape, albeit with 15,000 casualties. Survivors were dubbed “The Chosin Few.”
China’s victory catapulted it into prominence as a major military power. But was this truly a victory? By their own estimates, the Chinese lost a staggering 40,000 to 80,000 troops and still had not destroyed the UN forces as ordered by Mao Zedong, dictator of Communist China. There’s a name for such victories: Pyrrhic.
Battle of Chosin Reservoir, 27 November —13 December, 1950. Dashed blue line to right shows retreat of UN forces.
At the Battle of Chongchon River, the PVA 13th Army Group attacked and overran the ROK II Corps. The Chinese also inflicted heavy losses on the U.S. 8th Army which then began the longest retreat in U.S. Army history.
While the Chinese were steadily pushing the UN down the peninsuula, the North Koreans, led by Kim Il-sung, were hemorrhaging troops, losing 70,000 of their initial 100,000. Therefore, General Peng sacked the militarily incompetent Kim, reducing hisKorean People’s Army to a minor player.
Kim had enjoyed early success because Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union, had outfitted Kim’s army with the best in weaponry: from the formidable T-34 tank, to the “burp gun,”(so named for its sound) to trucks. Lots of trucks. By comparison, ROK forces were badly under-equipped in the beginning.
Stalin also equipped the Chinese. However, Mao complained bitterly that Stalin was more a “merchant” than an ally: he was making the Chinese pay cash for everything.
The American air campaign relied mainly on the B-29 heavy bomber, veteran of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It quickly reduced the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, to a smoking ruin. Air Force documents show that the North’s cities suffered greater bomb damage than German and Japanese cities in the Second World War. The arrival of the MIG 15 and radar-controlled flak forced the USAF to bomb at night. 34 B-29s were shot down.
As Chinese troops poured into North Korea by the hundreds of thousands, President Truman considered using atomic bombs. Nine were brought to Okinawa, accompanied by their “fissile cores,” the triggers which would render them “live.” However, atomic bombs are essentially useless in the kind of warfare described above. They are “city killers.” And above all, the United States wanted to contain this conflict. Dropping atomic bombs hardly fit that strategy. By now the U.S. had 300 atomic bombs in its arsenal. That would grow to 31,000 by 1968.
General Curtis LeMay, head of the Strategic Air Command, estimated that the USAF killed 20% of North Korea’s population and virtually destroyed it as an industrial society. One USAF pilot observed, “When we left, there was no electricity in North Korea.” Every North Korean knows the history of this merciless American bombardment.
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Korea saw the first air-to-air combat by jet aircraft, namely the USAF’s nuclear capable F-84 Thunderjet and F-86 Sabrejet versus the Rolls-Royce powered Soviet Mig-15. USAF figures show 792 Migs were shot down versus 78 UN jets. However, thanks to Commenter Leo Kinnaman, we can see just how controversial the stated results of these dogfights were. Read the debate on this website:
Cold War secrecy cloaked the presence of the Russian pilots. They and their aircraft wore Korean or Chinese colors and were forbidden from speaking Russian on the radio. Nevertheless, American pilots reported hearing bursts of Russian profanity in the heat of engagements. Both Soviet and American governments suppressed reports of the Soviet pilots in combat. Again, that careful dance around The Bomb—or rather Bombs. The Soviets now had their own Bomb—tho they had not yet air-dropped it.
The very air was a frightening enemy. In the brutal winter of 1950-1951—the worst in 100 years—some 45,000 poorly clothed PVA froze to death in temperatures that reached minus 35 degrees. Frostbite injuries plagued all forces. And there was hunger: 90,000 retreating ROK died of starvation, largely due to corrupt leaders pocketing money meant for food.
All war is cruel. This war, however, was stained black by unspeakable atrocities committed by both sides. Such war crimes included the execution of children. When informed of Allied massacres, MacArthur dismissed them as an “internal matter.”
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On 16 December 1950, faced with the seemingly unstoppable Red Chinese advance down the Korean Peninsula, President Truman declared a national emergency. At this point he ordered custody of those nine atomic bombs be given to the USAF 9th Bomb Group on Okinawa. He signed the order, but never transmitted it. The bombs, therefore, remained in civilian custody, not military, an important distinction.
I was three years old in December, 1950. My dad had commanded a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Second World War. Sure enough, he got The Call in the national emergency. The earliest, fragmentary memory of my life is one of my mother hastily taking shiny things off a [Christmas] tree. We then set out on a long, cold and, for me, mysterious drive from Massachusetts to Norfolk, Virginia where dad joined his ship.
UN morale hit rock bottom when their popular commanding General Walton Walker died in a jeep accident on 23 December 1950. However, his successor, the charismatic General Matthew Ridgway, pulled the 8th Army out of the ditch to deny the Chinese their strategic objective: throwing the UN off the Korean Peninsula permanently.
The United States did not win the Korean War for one reason: the stunning intervention of Communist China. Its rough peasant armies fought a super power—the super power— to a standstill. Exhausted communist and non-communist forces settled for an unsatisfying stalemate. No peace treaty was signed because war was never declared. President Truman always carefully termed U.S. involvement a “police action” under UN leadership.
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The Toll:
U.S. killed..………………36,574. Wounded, 103,284 and 7667 unaccounted for.
S. Korea killed…..……..217,000 military, 1,000,000 civilian.
N. Korea killed….……..406,000 military, 600,000 civilian.
PVA: 183,108 killed… ..383,218 wounded, 25,621 missing and 21,400 captured.
(U.S. estimated 400,000 PVA killed)
Thanks to Chen Yankai for PVA figures.
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Truce talks dragged on for over two years. The problem was prisoner exchanges: many North Korean POWs refused to go home. Finally the North agreed to let their troops choose. Those North Koreans who did opt for home, often threw away clothes, shoes, chocolates, cigarettes—anything the UN had given them.
North and South pulled their forces back about a mile from the line of battle, ultimately creating the most fortified boundary on Earth: the 2.5 mile wide, 160 mile long Korean Demilitarized Zone. The DMZ has separated the Koreas now for over 60 years at the 38th parallel. There are no plans for its modification or removal.
The Zone has become embedded in the Korean landscape as an unnatural natural feature. Like the Great Wall of China or the Panama Canal. The Zone simmers with tension and some 1,000 military and civilians have been killed in it. The North has tunneled under it in four (known) places. Their portals have become tourist attractions.
There is nothing sacred about the 38th parallel. For 1300 years Koreans had been han nara—one nation—unified under various monarchies, such as the Joseon Dynasty:
Hwaseong Fortress from Joseon Dynasty, built in 1700s by King Jeongjo to honor his father, executed after refusing to commit suicide as ordered. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, 20 miles south of Seoul.
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August 1945: Japan had surrendered and Korea was up for grabs. The U.S. Army suddenly realized a boundary was needed fast or the Soviets, flooding down from Manchuria, would occupy all Korea.
Two young Army officers set the boundary. One was Dean Rusk, later JFK’s Secretary of State. Rusk told the “amusing story” of how the two dusted off an old National Geographic map and pored over it for natural boundary features. Finding none, they picked the 38th because it placed the capital, Seoul, on the U.S. side. To everyone’s surprise, Stalin had no objections.
This artificial frontier, set in such haste and ignorance, was bound to cause trouble and, as we’ve seen here, it did. Millions would die as the two Koreas, instant enemies, fought to impose their own brand of han nara, socialist or capitalist. Korea was the Cold War’s first casualty, the DMZ its still-unhealed wound.
In the Korean War, Mao Zedong demonstrated China’s power to the world. He laid to rest nonsensical American accusations about who “lost China.” China was not America’s to lose! And Mao was not about to let his little communist upstart/ally suffer defeat by the United States. For North Korea served—and still serves—as a vital buffer for the Chinese. Which is why they will never let the Kim regime collapse—however much the United States would welcome that.
It may surprise the reader to learn that South Korea isn’t interested in a Kim collapse either. Or, for that matter, re-unification. Either would unleash a human tidal wave of some 23 million impoverished North Korean “inmates.” They would require everything: food, shelter, lots of medical care and jobs. Their insatiable needs would overwhelm the national systems in China and the South and would certainly trigger violence from resentful citizens.
The South has allowed in some 16,000 defectors. It welcomes them but scrutinizes them hard to weed out spies. China, on the other hand, tracks down and returns defectors, fearing that human tidal wave.
Mao conferring with Kim Il-sung (right) founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)—otherwise known as North Korea.
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What follows is a bit of a tangent, but I think you’ll find it interesting.
Thanks to Mike Wu for introducing me to Mao Zedong’s eldest son, Mao Anying. He was a tragic link between two founders of Communist China: his father and his commander, General Peng Dehuai, who invaded Korea.
Had Anying lived, he would have inherited his father’s “throne,” just as Kim Jong-un is carrying on the Kim “dynasty.”
Mao essentially abandoned his family when he disappeared into the mountains as a guerrilla leader during China’s Civil War. On Anying’s 8th birthday, he and his mother were captured by a warlord. Ordered to denounce Mao, she refused under torture. Anying was then forced to watch as his mother was beheaded.
Re-united, Mao sent his teenage son to the USSR at Stalin’s invitation. Anying attended Interdom (“International House”) in Ivanovo, about 158 miles from Moscow. This was an elite Soviet boarding school for the offspring of foreign Communists.
When Hitler turned his forces against the USSR in the Second World War, Anying petitioned Stalin for a posting in the Soviet Army. Stalin agreed. Young Anying served—and served well—as an artillery officer in Poland.
When Peng invaded Korea, he chose Anying as his secretary. They worked out of an old gold mining cave north of Pyongyang. At 28, Anying wasn’t shy about offering opinions in staff meetings with senior officers. One has the impression of a headstrong young man, perhaps a bit of a princeling. And why not? By now he understood his destiny.
On the morning of his death, he had fried up some eggs for breakfast. UN planes were spotted. Other staff frantically warned him, but he shouted at them to get lost, he’d have his eggs! Seconds later, two USAF planes swooped down to bomb the cave with napalm.
Mao Anying, 24 October 1922 — 25 November 1950. Here in Soviet Army uniform.
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Anying’s death would ultimately return to haunt Peng. Following the war, he became Defense Minister and Field Marshall. But then, in 1966, during China’s Cultural Revolution, Mao’s last wife, the highly controversial Jiang Qing, had him arrested, “tried” and sentenced to life in prison for trumped up crimes against Mao.
The Red Guard shown bringing Peng to Beijing. He was physically and psychologically tortured there for years. The writings are his “crimes.”
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Why this horrific fate for Peng Dehuai, once Mao’s comrade in China’s Civil War, victor of so many battles, including Chosin Reservoir where he put China on the map militarily?
Thanks to Joe Huang for providing political background.
The Mao/Peng rift emerged at the Lushan Conference in 1959 where Mao’s Great Leap Forward was discussed. Peng bravely criticized this Mao-made catastrophe where 30 million peasants perished in famines. Mao passionately defended himself, citing other great leaders who’d made a mistake or two. He swayed the others, effectively ending Peng’s political—but not military—career.
A play, Mao Zedong and His Eldest Son (2017), produced in China, offers insights into the complex relationship between Mao, Anying and Peng.
Mao’s paternal emotions grew as death approached and there was no bright son with whom to share thoughts deep into the night. No, only ambitious bureaucrats, quietly…waiting.
At no time did Mao indicate he might release Peng from prison. He could not forgive Peng for failing to protect his beloved son in the war. Was that fair? Of course not. How could Peng have possibly known that Mao’s beloved son would unwisely choose fried eggs over safety?
Love, war…politics. When is there ever fairness in these?
Peng, still imprisoned, died in 1974. Mao died in 1976. His death set off a bureaucratic power struggle which convulsed the highest reaches of China’s government for the next two years.
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The author is grateful to those many readers who, far more steeped in Korean history than he, improved this Answer with their thoughtful suggestions…and precise corrections.
I have a casual friend who is the premier door installer in the area. He was so overwhelmed with work, that he raised his hourly fee from $150 to $200. It didn’t work. So a couple of years ago his fee went to $250 an hour.
Didn’t work. I told him to hire a few people to take over some of the work. He said he’d done it before but their work, even under his supervision, wasn’t up to his standards.
So I suggested he raise his rates higher. It won’t work because people who want top notch work are willing to pay for it. He only does high end custom homes. He is very well compensated for his talent. Contractors have him reserved on a waiting list.
When I was growing up, my stepfather was a casual friend of a master woodworker, Sam Maloof. He created hand made furniture using walnut without nails, only wood dowels.
There is Maloof furniture on display at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. One of my friends ordered a Maloof rocking chair 20 years ago. It cost $30,000 and a waiting list of 3 years.
I saw one of his tables for sale in a Laguna Beach art gallery. 2 previous owners. A dining table and 6 chairs for $200,000.
I know a lot a people with higher than 4.0 GPA working a jobs that pay just twice minimum wage.
The worst ever was the “black death” which is a bacterial infection caused by Yersinia Pestis. This disease would ravage Europe and parts of Asia and claim the lives of as many as 200 million people.
Another more modern pandemic would be the Spanish Flu. This pandemic started during WW1 and the battlefields of Europe served as an excellent place for a disease to spread.
While the black death was worse, the Spanish Flu is more relevant to the modern world.
The black death was spread by fleas who themselves hitched a ride on rats.
Once someone came into contact with said flies they became infected. Once infected you would experience aches, fever, malaise, and nausea. If untreated- around 80% would die.
The most famous symptom was the black boils found in the armpits, on the neck, or on the groin of the infected. This is where the “black” in black death comes from.
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Now its hard to say where this originated from. The best theory I have heard is that early climate change and trade from Asia allow allowed rodents carrying the disease it migrate to Europe (this is an oversimplification).
Regardless once it hit, it hit hard.
This is a time before even basic medicine. The global community was ill-prepared to respond in any meaningful way. Most responses were religious in nature as people thought the pandemic was a punishment from god.
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It must have seemed like the end times. Entire communities, villages, towns, and cities were wiped out. So many died that there ended up being a massive labor shortage throughout Europe.
The disease spread until it had killed anywhere from 100–200 million people. Around half of the European population was killed in this pandemic. Imagine that- every other person you know dying from 1 disease.
Once the disease had infected practically everyone it could, it died out and would resurge from time to time across Europe.
Unlike black death, the Spanish Flu is a virus and not a bacterial infection. The disease attacks the respiratory system and secondary cases of Pneumonia ended up being the real killed. While the mortality rate of the Spanish Flu was not as high as the black death, it was still a very dangerous virus.
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It’s hard to say where the Spanish Flu originated. One of the best theories is Northern China.
During WW1 China entered the war against the Germans. A large number of Chinese laborers from Northern China are sent to Canada to be deployed to Europe. A group of these soldiers were sick.
This is hard to confirm though. The first outbreak was found in Kansas but went ignored. American recruits for WW1 from Kansas were sent to camp Funston where the first outbreaks occurred. Recruits from Funston then went to other forts and before long, more than 20 forts had outbreaks.
These recruits were then deployed to Europe and brought the flu with them. From here it spread rapidly in the trenches.
Now doctors and researchers caught on pretty early that a pandemic was starting. Like usual though, nobody listened until it was too late. Additionally, European nations like the UK intentionally covered up instances of the flu in order to keep wartime morale strong.
Yet when the pandemic reached Spain it began to be reported on. Spain was not involved in WW1 and thus was free to report on the pandemic as it happened. This is why it’s called Spanish flu.
As the war came to an end all of Europe was infected. American soldiers returned home to parades and parties which caused problems. In Philadelphia, a large parade is held despite the pleading of doctors.
Due to this parade, the flu explodes. All over American similar instances happen. City leaders refuse to take wise steps to prevent transmission and this causes a disaster.
Now one exception is New York City. They publicized the pandemic, quarantined the port partially, came up with a mask mandate, set up doctors to make house calls, quarantined the sick, and created laws the limited the size of crowds. NY would be one of the safest cities during the pandemic.
Amazing how little we learned.
In the end, the pandemic died out. It had infected so many people it was out of fresh victims and so, the diseases burned out.
Now Spanish Flu remains a threat to this day- ready to mutate and infect us again.
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Here’s the thing – one of the reasons that the economy collapsed in the South after the war is one of the reasons that the American economy collapsed in the late 1920s – overreliance on borrowing for household expenses.
Now, borrowing to buy property has been around for centuries. The “mortgage” goes back to the 16th century or thereabouts and provided a way to secure a loan.
But if you look at 19th century slavery in the U.S., you find that most slaves were bought on credit. Your local slave auction house or slave trader was happy to sell you a human being on credit. The slave would act as security on the loan and the law of southern states made such contracts enforceable – if you defaulted on a payment, the slave trader would seize your slave with the help of local authorities and re-sell it to try to recoup losses. One of the reasons it appears that Thomas Jefferson didn’t free many of his slaves when he died (just blood relatives as it turns out) is that because he was a poor businessman with expensive taste in books and was up to his neck in debt (the Donald Trump of his time in this limited sense).
When the Union started freeing slaves, even on a limited basis (seizing them as contraband) rich southerners were in a bind. Sure they still had land, but the banks that were underwriting slave loans were getting itchy about their collateral. The truth was Northerners were borrowing too, but they were borrowing to buy machines. The South probably had more capital tied up in slaves than land, and very little capital was tied up in machinery. The freeing of the slaves pretty much destroyed the equivalent of several billion dollars in personal wealth and sent the southern economy into a tailspin after the war.
And much the same thing happened in the 1930s. from 1900 to the 1920s “easy payment plans” had started to become the norm. You could go to a car showroom, or a furniture showroom, or even a tailor who would be happy to arrange credit for your purchase. The loan would be sold to a finance company which would borrow money from a bank to pay the merchant and make their profit off the incoming payments. Because credit was so easy to get, car factories, furniture factories and many others started making product as fast as humanly possible. When the economy started a downturn in the 1930s, people defaulted on loans, their stuff was repossessed, the market for used goods drove down the demand for new goods, factories had to cut back on production, they fired people, they would default on their loans, and the whole economy spiraled down causing bank failures and massive unemployment.
The same thing almost happened in 2007 except, of course, the Federal Reserve stepped in and loaned everyone massive amounts of money to keep prices from collapsing while everyone got time to properly evaluate the financial instruments they held so they didn’t have to sell them at fire sale prices. Except in Iceland – they let the banks fail and people started setting fire to Range Rovers to get the insurance because the automobile was worth less than what it would cost to ship it out of Iceland.
I was the lowest handicap player in our team of four golfers, this gave me the privilege of being captain. We were playing a competition round at our local golf club and the competition was a 4 ball ambrose.
For those that don’t know golf this competition is where we each tee off and then we each play the best of the tee shots. Then we each play the best of the next shot, repeating this until the ball goes in the hole.
This day we were playing very very well together as a team and came to the second last hole. This hole was a par 4 but if you were brave enough and could hit the ball long enough, it was possible to “drive” the green in one shot but it was completely over water with all the peril that brings.
To make it even harder, the flag was at the very edge of the green, close to the water, so even if you did “drive” the green, the ball would bounce and roll well beyond the flag.
I instructed my team to make sure at least one of them hit a ball on the fairway and I could then attempt to “drive” the green.
The team hit a ball to the fairway allowing me to attempt “driving” the green but before I did this I literally said this, “The only way I will stop this near the pin, is to hit the flagstick.”
And that is exactly what I did. The ball rested less than a metre from the hole, we sunk the putt and walked off scoring an eagle 2. We finished with a birdie on the 18th and won the competition.
So you understand how ridiculous that shot was on the 17th: It was approximately 260 metres away, over water and the flagstick would be no more than 2cm wide. The odds of hitting that, especially with my ability, is astronomically low.
Apart from winning the day, what made it extra special was that I said out loud what I needed to do and actually pulled it off!
As long as your media continue to spread fabrications on China, set narratives meant to demonise China and cast doubts and sow distrust about China and the Chinese people westerners cannot understand the real China and the Chinese people.
Western governments are voted in on popularity. To be popular they need to repeat the narrative that China steals, China copies, China is aggressive, China gives out loans to entrap nations, China threatens nations, China make cheap goods, China depends on western technologies…..
Nothing said and reported has any strains of truth or accuracy. Nor were there any proof either and without evidence. Just plain and pure lies and fabrications. So how can the westerners even know a shred of truth about China or the Chinese people.
There is no way anyone in the west that can learn the truth about the China as long as the west lie to themselves.
My brother, in family practice at a large university hospital, once saw a very sick 7-year-old girl as a first-time patient whose mother insisted the girl had colon cancer. The girl was indeed passing blood per rectum, a very concerning finding, and she was clearly very sick and doubled over with abdominal pain. But colon cancer in a 7-year-old, while not impossible, would be quite unusual. My brother made sure he knew all the facts before rushing to a conclusion, and he was glad he did. As he talked to her mother further, he found out the little girl had also at various times been diagnosed with neurological disorders, heart disease, blood disorders and kidney disease, to name a few. Each was rare on its own, but together became highly improbable as a group. He knew he was missing something. Scratching his head, he asked the mother if there was anything that ran in the family. She thought a minute before responding triumphantly,
“Well, I have Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy! Could she have that?”
Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy is a psychiatric disorder in which patients abuse someone else, often their own children, to make that child appear ill, thereby garnering sympathy for themselves as suffering parents. The character Mrs Collins in the movie The Sixth Sense presumably had it. So did Dee Dee Blanchard, the mother of Gypsy Rose, who after years of abuse and a litany of false diagnoses including leukemia, asthma, muscular dystrophy and brain damage, finally had enough. Gypsy Rose was 24 and still under her mother’s “care” when she and her boyfriend successfully conspired to stab her mother to death.
The mother of my brother’s patient clearly hadn’t done her homework into what MSbP really meant. All she knew was that she had an impressive-sounding diagnosis with a long name, and with it she might finally get the attention she craved. So rather than hide it, as she should have done, she was bragging about it. All those strange diagnoses her daughter had suddenly made sense. My brother listened sympathetically, nodded, and stepped out of the room to call the authorities.
My friend was in a tight spot and needed $700 to prevent her electricity and water from being shut off. I immediately sent her the money, but then I didn’t hear anything back. Despite this, our friendship remained intact, even though I received no indications of getting paid back or any acknowledgement of the debt. Quite some time passed, and her financial situation eventually improved and stabilized. Then, she casually mentioned that she had taken a trip, leaving me surprised as I couldn’t afford one and she still owed me money. I chose not to confront her about it and instead attributed it to the fact that I wouldn’t be getting my money back, reinforcing the notion that one should never lend money.
Unexpectedly, she started repaying me out of the blue and managed to pay off the full amount within a few months. It turned out that she had been overwhelmed and drained by all the challenges in her life, needing a break to regain her strength and adopt a more positive mindset. This break allowed her to come back stronger and more determined to stabilize her life.
Now, she is doing exceptionally well, and I realized that I had been able to assist her during one of her lowest moments by providing the support she needed. By not pressuring her to repay the debt when she couldn’t, it helped her persevere and avoid giving up.
FIRST TIME REACTION TO STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN – Voodoo child
Two police officers with sober faces stared at me and I knew the news couldn’t be good.
They described a car that had just been in an accident, and the license plate. My wife’s mini-van had collided, burst into flames and everyone inside it died.
I’m doing a mental inventory about now. My wife, three children, and two nieces.
My legs turned wobbly. You can’t imagine what was going through my head. Because of the fire, they couldn’t find any useful identification but explained they could identify everyone both by DNA and by dental records. They wanted a DNA sample from me.
I guess they could verify my kids were mine, and that the adult was their mother. A nice, neat little bow.
Can you imagine? They’ve just told you that your whole family is dead, and —- I told them I would come down and give them a sample.
Getting ready to leave, my cell phone is buzzing. It’s my wife. What? Hard tingles are on my spine, like she’s calling from the grave.
“Our van was stolen from the parking lot….”
Were the sweetest words I could’ve ever heard. Yeah it was my wife’s car, but they won’t need any DNA sample from me today.
EDIT – to address some of the mysteries in the comments
I learned later that three people were in the van when it collided. A man, woman, and younger person, which they presumed was a child of the drivers. The police said everyone died, but they had a different human inventory than my own. I also learned they were part of a ring of car thieves, and the accident was not their fault. Another car ran a light and hit them broadside. No fatalities and only minor injuries in the other car.
Denver’s Homeless Problem Is Nuts! (Behind The Scenes)
Social prejudices take a different dimension altogether. You need to protect your kid, as well as educate her. But no one tells you how.
Some examples:
When my daughter was not yet three
“Papa, don’t you use a pack?”, Sia asked out of the blue one day.
“Um…pack? What pack?”
“The one that you apply on your face”
“Oh. No sweetheart. Papa doesn’t use any pack”
“Only girls use packs na?”
“Yes. Mostly”.
“I should apply a pack daily”
“Really? Why?” I wasn’t sure I liked the direction this conversation was headed.
“I’ll become gori” (fair)
“Hmmm. And then?” I din’t like this at all.
“And then I’ll become pretty”
“Who told you that?” I controlled my fury while I considered the best response to this.
“____”
“____ is stupid. Doesn’t know anything”, I continued to grope for words, “Sia is already very pretty”.
“Sia wants to become prettier”
What do you tell a 3 year old? The whole history of slavery and racism. Or casteism closer home. About the millions of matrimonial ads looking for slim, fair and beautiful brides. About dowry that increases with the quantum of melanin in skin. Too harsh for a kid.
Maybe skip skin color and tell her that physical appearance itself is overrated. Maybe I should explain to her that there is no such thing as too light or too dark; too tall or too short; too thin or too fat. There’s only healthy, smart and nice. Too philosophical.
Maybe I should focus on self esteem. What if her self esteem slips because of dumb things people tell her? There was really no danger of that back then, though. It bordered on narcissism in Sia’s case.
“Becoming prettier is easy, sweetheart. All it takes is a big smile”, I finally managed. I was rewarded with a dazzling smile
“Papa, you know, the math geniuses in my class, who are all of course boys…“, Sia began one day
“Hold it. Hold it. Who told you that only boys are math geniuses?”
“I know it on my own“
“Yes, but how did you know on your own?”
“It is obvious. All the kids in my class who are good at math are boys“
“How do you know that they are good?” [Hint for the reader: Who is the person in the class who judges which kids are good at what?]
“____ can do addition faster than anyone else“
“That’s just one boy. And addition is just one small part of math. Does anyone understand shapes as well as you do?”
“No. But only boys are good at math. See, you are good at math and mama isn’t“.
“That’s just two of us. That’s no reason why you can’t be a math genius. It is all about studying hard and practicing”
“But I hate math“
“Maybe. But don’t you want to prove to the boys that girls can be math geniuses too”
“Yesss!“, she said pumping her fist.
That’s how we got get to prepare for the math kiddy Olympiad. We later confronted her teacher. She first acted shocked, and then proceeded to describe how good the boys in her class were at math. *Sigh*
There was a happy outcome, though. Of the three kids who topped her class in the Olympiad, two, including Sia, were girls. “Who’s the math genius now?”, I asked her. She just grinned.
A few weeks ago (she is nearly seven)
“Papa, who is that?“, Sia asked, pointing at the TV screen. There was a news item about the Nido Taniam Death Incident
.
“That’s a bhaiyya [elder brother] who was killed by some bad people in Delhi”.
“Is he Indian?“
“Of course he is”
“He looks like Chinese“, she observed
“No. He doesn’t. He looks very much Indian”
“But his eyes are like this“, she said, pulling her eyes back
“So?”, I challenged
She thought about it for a while. “Do some Indians look like Chinese?“, she asked, a little uncertainly.
“Well, the Chinese look like some Indians. The Pakistanis look like some other Indians. The Sri Lankans look like some other Indians. There are so many different kinds of Indians. That’s cool, isn’t it?”
“Do Americans look like some Indians too?“
“Hmmm… not really”, I wasn’t keen on confusing her with too much information. We opened her map of India game and started discussing about each region and state. Hopefully, she drew the right lessons.
ØnlyFans Girl Realizes She Is F#$ked By Her Own HIGH STANDARDS!
A friend of mine’s job was to organise VIP visits to military establishments (though as a civilian – he wasn’t forces personnel). He said that when Philip was to visit an establishment they would, as always when royalty was to be around, spit and polish his route and dump all the crap – the junk, the bins, the skips and other unseemly stuff – round the back out of sight. Philip, being ex-military himself and so knowing this of course, would suddenly stride off the planned route down an alley towards the rear of the buildings asking’ ‘What’s down here then?’
The top brass, his hosts, would have inward apoplexy which he knew full well, as they coughed and spluttered, which was why he did it. He also knew that they couldn’t very well stop him.
Sort of thing I’d do.
Priceless.
I wonder whether he also did it because he knew it’d amuse the onlooking squaddies to see the top brass being embarrassed by even higher authority. There’d be a few glasses raised to him in the squaddie’s mess that night.
EDIT: Sigh! This edit, made some days after my initial comment, is aimed solely at a select few U.S. Americans, so you Britons can skip the read and go and put the kettle on (never thought I’d need to explain this, but hey ho).
A number responded saying that they’re rushing to their local tabernacle to actively pray to their gods that fire and brimstone rains upon me, my wife’s turned into a pillar of salt and that my spawn be rendered infertile for saying such a dreadful thing about Prince Philip. This explanation is for them! No, no, there’s absolutely no need for the rest of you to mount your high horses too and loudly affirm that you’re perfectly well aware of what I meant and aren’t stupid – I realise that most of you do and aren’t.
‘Ahem! Are you all sitting comfortably way out west? Good. Then I’ll begin. The term ‘wicked’ is frequently used in the U.K. as an expression of endearment for a mischievous person. It is, these days, seldom used to mean evil. So, by describing H.R.H. as ‘wicked’ I’m saying he was likeable and mischievous as the text that I wrote subsequently, if you deign to read it, shows. Do y’all think you can remember that for me? Well done and goody gumdrops. Oh, and yes, I did meet him’.
Originally Answered: What (trivial) knowledge might save your life one day?
If you find yourself in an active shooter situation, and you are armed, DO NOT draw your weapon unless absolutely necessary. You might be mistakenly shot, or mistakenly shoot another armed and concerned citizen. Let the police do their job, just escape.
If you are pulled over at night, immediately turn on your dome lights and keep both hands on your steering wheel until the police approach you. You might be amazed how much stress you take away from an armed police officer in a stressful situation when you do this. STAY OFF YOUR PHONE!
If you are in a foreign country, always know where, and how to get to, your nearest embassy.
If you are in trouble, scream HELP, FIRE! People tend to respond to fire faster than rape, muggings, or kidnappings.
Carry a knife. If someone tries to force you into their car, first stab a tire, then try to stab your attackers (situation dependent).
If you are in a fight for your life, remember, YOU ARE NOT A CHAMPION STREET FIGHTER! Always go for the neck and throat with any and everything you have.
image 380
7. When you are walking to your car, position your keys in your hand like this picture, or even better, like a stabbing position. It just looks like you are carrying your keys and the assailant would likely not notice. Aim for the eyes.
8. Never find yourself in a position where nobody knows where you are, or where you are going. I don’t care how innocent a journey it seems. For example, you are a man, your wife is at work, and a friend or neighbor asks for a ride. That’s how setups work, it’s usually always someone you know. Take 5 seconds to tell someone where you are going, and who with.
9. NEVER tell anyone, except the people who live in your home, that you own a firearm.
10. Never leave anything with your address inside your car. Hide your registration, in the trunk perhaps, or in your wallet/purse.
11. If your kids are old enough to leave the house (School age, etc) they are old enough to memorize your address and phone number. Teach them this info is a family secret.
12. Have a password with your kids. Even if Uncle Jimmy shows up to pick them up from school, if he doesn’t have the password, your kids should know it’s not safe. Have a family password, and a mom and dad only password. Change it as necessary.
13. Leave a $20 or $50 bill in plain sight when leaving your home. When you enter your house, and this bill is missing, be on guard.
14. Phones these days are almost just as threatening to bad guys as a firearm. If you are in danger, point your phone at the person(s), tell them they are live streaming. Helps if the threat is real. You can live stream to Facebook, YouTube, and others. Learn how to get on it quick.
15. Don’t wear an “I Love Jesus” t-shirt to a Marilyn Manson concert.
16. Whenever on public transportation (bus, train, plane) always sit near an exit.
17. If you are on a bus and some madman starts cutting people, don’t try to be a hero, just scream “THERE’S A BOMB ON THE BUS!” and run for an exit. Bomb is scarier than knife, gun, or madman. People will follow. MAX attack unfolded quickly: Extremist cut three in neck, police say
18. If you are ever forced to make a hostage video, look at every person present (make eye contact), or blink with both eyes once, for each person. This will let responding forces know how many people are in the room.
19. If you are in a hostage situation, and a gunman is using you as a shield, fall dead weight to the floor. Make them drag you. They won’t. Give the good guys a clear shot.
20. If you are lost, or in distress, “Three” is the international sign of distress. Three piles of rocks or fires in a triangle, three gun shots or whistle blows. Distress signal – Wikipedia
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EDIT: Lots of people have commented that tires are near impossible to puncture, and that it would blow your hand apart.
First, tires are ridiculously easy to puncture in the side walls. When I was a teen, my 16 year old girlfriend flattened one of my tires with a tiny two inch folding pocket knife on her first try.
Next, there is only 32-35 pounds of pressure in a car tire, there is NO WAY your hand is going to be blown apart. The air just wizzes out and the tire slowly deflates.
They took my dad’s P-38 can opener. He’d had it since Vietnam.
image 379
If you’ve never had the pleasure of using a P-38 can opener, you can barely open a can with one without some practice, and even then, a brisk pace for a can of tuna is about two minutes.
Theoretically, you could cut someone with the pointy bit, but honestly, how? Just about any way you hold it, your fingers either eclipse the tooth or you don’t have a stable grip.
If someone randomly threw ten other can openers at you, the P-38 would undoubtedly be the slowest, least intuitive, and least useful as a potential weapon (unless maybe you tried to poison someone with it).
Add to this that my dad is 5′3″ and was over 70 and it just seems kind of cruel. He’d had that can opener for over 40 years.
Fortunately, he had three other P-38s, all of which were confiscated by the TSA within the next three or four years. He liked wearing them around his neck and it’s the kind of thing that’s easy to forget you’re wearing, especially if you aren’t a frequent flyer.
I still have one P-38 in a sewing kit for when I go camping, in case I forget my Swiss Army Knife or can’t find a rock. There are a few, rare people out there who can fly with a P-38, but most people take at least a few minutes to figure out exactly how you’re supposed to hook it to the can, then immediately give up and ask if you’re fucking kidding them. How is this worth saving a few ounces?
I’ve never seen anyone open their first can in under 20 minutes, and again, most give up immediately if any other option is available.
I can’t imagine anyone deliberately attempting to hijack an airplane with a P-38. It’s incredibly satisfying just to see someone actually open a can with one, and I think you’d have trouble vandalizing a bicycle tire. They just aren’t conducive to doing much of anything, even opening cans.
I served for 6 years, and there are just some things ingrained in me that I’ll never be able to get out. Most of them are positive habits, as well. For instance, waking up early without a clock, just pure instinct or something. I wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning most of the time, and am fully showered, shaved, dressed, and fed by seven o’clock.
If I say I’ll do something, then I will do it. I don’t procrastinate or break promises unless I am, quite literally, forced to.
I still use military time and terminology. This confuses people a lot, but after a few years of knowing me, they get used to it and understand me perfectly.
I’m very rigid and studious about cleanliness and perfection. The military turned me into a neat freak, and that is a great habit to have. I don’t even think about leaving my house if the beds are unmade, floors unswept, clothes not put-away, and every surface hasn’t been scrubbed down. Including walls, doorknobs, cabinets and tables… especially kid’s rooms! You’d be surprised how much gunk can build up in as little as three days.
I rush a lot. If there’s some kind of an event at six o’clock, I’m ready by four. My wife and kids really hate this a lot. They can never understand why I rush so much, and how it’s humanly possible to perform the three S’s in 15 minutes (shit, shower, shave in that order.)
It’s incredibly productive though. I always have a lot of extra time on my hands, because I simply do not tolerate lollygagging. I can get so much done in a day, it even amazes my own self!
I can do the three S’s, eat, take the kids to school and go to work, wash my car and perform maintenance on it, hang up pictures, clean, go grocery-shopping, do laundry, and help my wife prepare dinner without even thinking about it. I know some people who take much longer to do this stuff (no shame on them, everyone has their own paces, but still) or don’t even think about it until somebody reminds them.
Of course, there is bad stuff that comes with being in the military, especially when you’ve fought in a war. I can be really bossy, controlling, and just harsh sometimes. I mean, I can see how and why, it’s not classed as cool to have your dad yell at you to wash the dishes and sort out your clean clothes when your friends are over. It’s just the way I was taught in boot camp, the way I learned, the way they instilled discipline and decency in me.
I did manage to work on these issues, and be a more understanding father and husband, while still imprinting necessary habits and values into them.
Another habit is that I still like to dig holes, especially at the beach
Imagine you walked into the doctor’s office. You sit down in your assigned room waiting for the doctor to come in.
You look up.
And up there on the wall was your doctor’s diploma.
“…Institute for Racial Purity.”
And that is literally one of the schools where Dr. Mengele, a.k.a. The Angel of Death, studied.
His thesis from college? In layman’s terms: how to determine someone’s race by their lower jaw.
Glad they checked that box. Huge sarcasm.
You’ll be hard pressed to find a doctor who more violated the Hippocratic Oath (don’t harm your patients) than Dr. Mengele.
Him, featured in the middle:
image 377
And in this picture, he is the only one who wasn’t hanged after the war ended. And he sure as hell deserved it.
Much of his research involved race and racial supremacy in some way, and was often carried out on people who were deemed as outside the circle of purity.
He did twin studies where he purposely killed one twin to test the reaction of the other twin.
He sewed two children together just to see if he could artificially create Siamese twins.
He had a woman’s breasts tied off to study how long it took her baby to starve to death.
I’ll stop.
Just know this — there’s a long list of absolutely nightmarish experiments that Dr. Mengele carried out on other human beings. He often frequently brought candies and did nice things for children in his prison camp, only days before he turned them into white smoke in the chimneys. He was a truly, truly, truly twisted man.
After the war ended, he escaped to South America where he lived decades longer, a free man, dying of a stroke in 1979 at age 67 in Brazil.
If ever there was a doctor deserving to die by execution, it was Mengele.
I’m not a surgeon, but heard this story from a family friend who used to work at the NIH with a highly successful and recognized surgical oncologist (I’ll call him Dr. S) who told this story.
I heard it secondhand, so don’t have all the details, but think it’s a pretty amazing story regardless (apologize in advance for my clear lack of medical terminology).
Anyway, Dr. S gets a patient with late stage cancer, who had a good sized tumor somewhere in his midsection. It’s believed to potentially be operable on, so the man is prepped for surgery and Dr. S begins by opening up the patient’s abdomen.
To go off on a quick tangent, do you know why cancer is called cancer? It’s no coincidence it has the same name as the crab in the zodiac. Tumors are rarely one self contained sphere — they have “legs” that branch out in all different directions, and kinda sorta resemble a crab. I encourage you to look it up, and it’s one of the reasons it’s so much easier to treat cancer when you catch it early…usually the small “lump” is only the visible portion of the tumor”
Back to the story, as Dr. S described it, it was one of the worst tumors he had ever seen, and the cancer was so developed that surgery was going to be impossible. So, the good surgeon had no other choice but to sew the patient back up and give him the prognosis. There was no further treatment that could be done.
About two or three years go by, and Dr. S sees a patient’s file with a familiar name come across his desk. Dr. S recognized it as the man he operated on a few years prior, but no way it could be the same guy, right?
The man had come back in for something unrelated to his cancer (though I think something that involved a CT scan). When Dr. S went to see him, he saw none other than the patient he sewed up two years prior, standing there in good health. Despite having had treated thousands of patients, Dr. S was in shock. They talked for a few minutes, and I wanna say Dr. S got permission to look at the man’s most recent scans, and there was no sign of the cancer. Zero. It was completely gone.
No, the guy hadn’t found another surgeon nor underwent chemo, in fact, Dr. S was the last person to have even operated on him. The only explanation was that the immune system had recognized the tumor as a foreign body / threat and destroyed it.
____
With parents in the medical field, I have heard several other similar-ish stories, but this one by far is the most amazing one I’ve heard.
As a disclaimer, this is very much a true story (though I don’t remember the type of cancer or the name of the doctor). Although what happened is extremely rare, it’s not impossible — the human body and immune system are capable of extraordinary things. It’s no surprise there are several cancer treatments that focus on simply getting the immune system to recognize and fight the cancer.
Not exactly ignorance, but certainly displaying a certain amount of naïveté was the following incident.
I was an exchange student in 1969/70 in Wayne Michigan. My American host family were very friendly with their neighbours, so I got to know them quite well as well during the course of that year.
Anyway, after a year in the USA, I went back to finish my degree and after graduation and landing my first job soon saved up enough money to revisit my host family and introduce to them my long term girlfriend, who came along.
We didn’t forget to visit our old neighbour Pat, who by then had bought a dilapidated golf course up North in Michigan and moved there living in a trailer, while he did the place up.
What struck me though, was what he said after greeting me enthusiastically. He just couldn’t believe fresh out of uni, I’d already saved up enough for two plane tickets and a short US holiday. He said: “I thought we were the richest nation on Earth? I worked all my life and never been to Europe. Couldn’t afford it! And here you are again?”
I think many Americans cannot comprehend the fact that per capita GDP and disposable income in most West European and Scandinavian countries is at least similar, if not higher as theirs.
image 376
My host family’s house and my brother for the year, Ed junior.
Cantonese Shoyu Chicken
Shoyu Chicken Recipe 5 Edit
Ingredients
3/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
1 1/2 cups water
5 cloves garlic, grated
1 seed star anise
1/4 cup scallions, cut into 1/2-inch lengths
1 (3 pound) fryer, cut up
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons water
Instructions
Bring soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, water, ginger, anise, garlic and scallion to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer for 2 minutes.
Add chicken; cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
Arrange chicken on a platter.
Mix cornstarch with water; add to sauce to thicken. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.
I was arrested in 1987 at the age of 17. Up until then I lived the simple life of a farm boy. There was no internet cell phones etc.
In prison I was schooled by old heads who taught me how to do time. I wasn’t a knucklehead kid coming to prison like many today. I listened to what they told me. Many of them did not believe I should be in prison. One even said I wasn’t a criminal even though I committed a crime in the eyes of the law. Anyway, I was influenced by their thinking and what they told me. Some may say they brainwashed me . I say they were trying to keep me alive. MSP was a very dangerous and violent place. I did my entire 29 years based on what I learned from them.
Now it is 2016 and I get out of prison. Two things you have to realize. One is I went to prison in the 1980s and I got out thinking people would still have the same societal thinking as the 1980s. While some thinking is the same or similar a lot has changed in the way people think. The second is I came out with a prison mentality that even 7 years later I struggle with sometimes
Everyone thought I would have a hard time adjusting to technology. Even I thought that. However, I caught on to that pretty quick. I mean, I still have things to learn , but I know enough to get by. It is fascinating that I am writing this and as soon as it is posted , someone anywhere in the world can read it. The same with emails, messages etc. Absolutely amazing to me.
The hardest thing has been adjusting to society itself. Most of my life has been spent in prison so for awhile it was hard just to get used to doing things without being told I can do it. I mean for the first week I was out I would not even walk outside without someone going with me or being told .lol I laugh about it now. I wouldn’t turn on the TV because it wasn’t mine. This confused those In the house. They finally made me do it. But first they had to show me how the remote worked. Then there was being in public. I really do not understand young people. Many do not like you to hold the door for them.Many young women take offense at being called “Miss” or “ma am” This is how I was raised and I am just trying to be polite. One incident was weird to me. I was standing in line at Casey’s and there were two teenage girls behind me . One says “He has a nice a**” I turned and said “I am old enough to be your father” To which she says”I was just giving you a compliment. I have a boyfriend. Chill old man”
Another amazing thing to me still 7 years later is just going into a store. I don’t like being in them if they are crowded, but the wide variety of things to buy is amazing to me. People think I am amazed because the prison commissary didn’t have much. Well that may be part of it, but there is even a wider variety in stores now then before I went to prison. I am live in a small town and grew up in a small town and there is one thing I missed in prison that is still common in small towns. I don’t know about big cites Anyway that is the friendliness of people once they know you. I can go out in public here in town and people will greet me and ask how I am doing. Talk about the weather etc Just today a guy said to me “Harve how are you doing? When are you going to let me buy you a beer?” I respond with “When they let me off parole”
I’ve answered this question numerous times before.
Listen up!
Most of the products exported out of China… outbound to the United States…are made by American companies, making American products, to an American audience, and being sold at American prices, and the American owners obtain the profits.
The only Chinese component to this system is the workers who assemble those products, and the raw materials that are obtained out of China.
…
It is important to those (whom ever they may be) who run the United States “government” to keep the American people ignorant, and stupid of the actual Geo-political realities regarding China.
To this end, they distort numbers, figures and data to provide the ILLUSION that…
The United States is stronger than it actually is.
China is weaker than it actually is.
A good case in point is “export data” that promote the idea that of the total exports out of China, a massive “Lion’s Share” of it goes to the United States. Depending on the source… all Western sources… the percentages vary from 25% to 60%. So the viewer would obtain an impressive picture of the relative strength of USA – China trade.
This is a laughable distortion.
Remember… those figures are American companies, collecting American profits, on American products… made in China using inexpensive Chinese labor.
The actual number… ACTUAL Chinese products exported to the United States is around 3.2%.
You will see them in the USA from time to time. But their actual value is really quite low.
Huawei
Gree
X-Peng
ShaoMi
Most of that enormous product flow that is so touted about leaving China fore the United States consists of …
GM transmissions
iPhones
Nike shoes
SONY electronics
All of which are American, or Western products. Not Chinese products.
…
So let’s answer this question…
If America stopped importing goods from China, could the country survive?
China would survive, most certainly. China manufactures for the world, and the United States market is a small, nearly insignificant amount. 3.2% as a whole.
The USA would not survive. Unless the United States found a suitable nation that could provide factories, inexpensive labor, a skilled work force, and a focus on quality… most Americans would be flat out of luck in buying and using products.
At the age of thirty-six, I was pregnant for the first time. Because of my age, my doctors advised me to have an amniocentesis to make sure everything was okay. After an amniocentesis, you have to wait about ten-to-twelve days to get the results. I had the test and I waited…and waited.
After twelve days, I started to call, but the results were not there yet. Something seemed wrong. Finally, after fourteen days, the genetic doctor called me. The results had come back and were devastating. The amniocentesis showed that the baby had a double set of chromosomes. This is a rare condition and almost all embryos with this condition are miscarried early, often before the mother even realizes that she is pregnant. Very few make it to birth, and if they are born, they die soon afterwards. The condition is just not compatible with life. The genetic doctor was surprised that I was still pregnant and informed me that I would soon miscarry.
I was of course devastated as were my husband and mom and everyone. I went to a medical library and it was difficult to find anything on this chromosomal disorder since so few live births occurred, but I did find a couple of articles. Only two babies (at the time) had been born alive and both had died within two days. One of the articles had a picture of one of these babies. She was blind, deaf, and deformed. This was what I was told that the baby that I was carrying was facing.
My obstetrician wanted to do an abortion. Instead, I made a decision to repeat the amniocentesis. The genetic doctor admitted that there could be a one-in-a-thousand chance of a mistake, but then he changed his mind, and said there was no chance of a mistake, and I just needed to accept this diagnosis. In a few days I went in and had another amniocentesis. For twelve days I waited for the results to return. I cried and cried while I was waiting. Finally the results came back and showed that a horrible mistake had been made. The test showed absolutely normal chromosomes. I went on to have a healthy pregnancy and a beautiful baby. This baby grew up, graduated from one of the finest universities in the world, and now has a beautiful baby of her own.
My parents told me this story. When I was 8 years old living in the UK, my dad took a job opportunity in the USA and we emigrated. My parents decided to rent out our home in the UK so before we left we were showing the house to perspective tenants. One was an American guy. Turns out he was from the same city in the US that we were about to move to in a few weeks time. They laughed over the coincidence and the American guy said that his adult daughter is still in the US and we should look her up when we get there. He gave us her name and that she works in a particular restaurant in the city.
Fast forward a few weeks and fly to the US. we arrive at the airport, tired after flying halfway across the world! We are met at the airport by a representative of my dad’s new company and he drives us to a hotel. On the way we stop for some food. It’s late and there’s not a lot of places still open. The rep says he knows a place that’s open late. Yep, the same place the American tenant’s daughter works at. We end up getting served by her! So we rent out our UK home to a random American guy and move to America and end up meeting the guy’s daughter working half an hour of leaving the airport!
The Bourne Identity (2002) | *First Time Watching* | Movie Reaction | Asia and BJ
Her name was Monica. She was a 16-year-old cashier, and “epic” is a great word to describe how she quit. This was in the mid 90’s, and I was an assistant manager at that time for a very small movie theater in Louisiana. Monica was a box office cashier, and Eric was the general manager. Now that I’ve set the scene, let’s begin.
First of all, it gets hot in Louisiana during the summer. Really hot. The theater opened at 11 AM every day, so by then it was already a scorching hot day. Every morning, one of those sweeper trucks would go through our parking lot and remove all of the trash from the night before. On this particular day, they hadn’t shown up. I can’t remember if the truck had broken down or if they had just forgotten to show up. Regardless, there was trash EVERYWHERE in the parking lot. Popcorn bags, cups, cigarette butts, dirty diapers, you name it.
Eric was very lazy. He was the kind of manager that just sat in the office all day and would never help the employees. No one liked him, but he was the boss. When Monica came in, Eric told her to go outside and pick up all of the trash in the parking lot. I told Eric that wasn’t her job, and to call the sweeper company. He refused. I told Eric I would go outside and help her then. He refused and told me I was going to go to box office and sell tickets. I told her to just pick up the big stuff . Monica took a trash bag and went outside. Through tears she started picking up trash. She was out there for over an hour. Through the box office window I saw her picking up every cigarette butt, every popcorn kernel, every dirty diaper. By the time she finished, the trash bag was completely full, and Monica was a sweaty mess. She also hadn’t gone to the dumpster with the trash bag, but had walked into the theater with it. Her tears were gone. Then, I saw one of the greatest things I had ever seen. Eric was sitting at his desk with his back to the office door. He didn’t see Monica walk in the office. She took that full bag of nastiness and poured it over Eric’s head. Old soda, cigarette butts, and stale popcorn landed on his head and all over his desk. She then took the now-empty bag and tossed it on his head as well, smiled, then said “I quit” and walked out. At that moment, she became a hero.
The story of the wife that assisted in my “retirement” from the ONI; MAJ is a long one and very painful for me to revisit.
You see, I was the FOURTH “husband” that she “retired”.
I originally thought it was two, but I discovered out later that she had three previous "husbands". Of course, they were bad, bla bla bla... And yes, each one ended up with problems. Where she profited greatly.
And while I don’t know ALL the details, it appears that I was the one that she got NOTHING out of. For she was living off the collective finances of the three previous “husbands”, whether insurance, alimony, or selling their resources. She got none of that with me.
Because of this…
… because of this failure in her efforts (sure she got me arrested, and I lost everything, she gained nothing.) She ended up with nothing. No profit. No money. No resources. No insurance settlements.
I think when you are expecting millions of dollars from bringing in “one big fish” only to see it go South, it turns you a little crazy. Or “crazier”.
And she has kept on doing everything in her power to “trip me up” and give me a hard time. Here is one such story…
…
When I was in the ADC, prison, I had to endure an all morning lie detector test. I, along with another 16 inmates were marched down to the gym, and waited as one by one, we were given lie detector tests. This one was quite different from the stuff that you see on television.
While it did measure heart-rate, body temperature and nerve impulses, it also measured voice. It was designed to look for changes in frequency and amplitude. Which was a novel idea. I had never thought about this. So all these measurements were taking place while watching my pupils dilate and all the rest. The system was designed to see ho my body reacted to all sorts of personal questions of a sexual and an interactive nature.
I answered as best as I could, and at the end the investigator told me that I wasn’t hiding anything. And of course, I wasn’t. As at that time, I had given up everything. I was stripped, defeated and was completely unguarded… an open book. Once you lose everything, you just don’t give a fuck any longer. It just doesn’t matter.
In fact, the other inmates made fun of me saying that “you can’t lie for shit“. I was that much of a predictable open book.
The point of this was to adjust our threat level. There were three threat levels. And when I was “retired” from MAJ in the ADV Pine Bluff, they established the lowest threat level for me.
But, apparently, my ex-wife, the one trying to poison me as part of my “retirement” wanted to raise all sorts of Hell for me, and this was one of her efforts. So she got the ADC geared up to give me a hard time. Sigh.
Federal Rules for classification are fixed.
I have level one. I possessed illegal pictures.
Level two would only be granted if I had physical contact with a minor.
And Level three was bodily harm to a minor.
So there was no way that my level was going to change. But they had to run a lie detector on me, by request by my ex-wife, to make sure that I wasn’t hiding anything. Sheech!
And if they suspected anything… they could keep me locked up indefinitely. How about that for control and power?
…
Ugh. Memories like this really get me into MAJ induced rages. Good thing that I auto calm, and am way, way, way outside the USA right now.
Not me but happened to a friend of mine: she worked in a large law firm in Dublin, Ireland. Her boss was a total prick, probably a psychopath. During the recession they cut people’s wages and even stopped serving coffee at meetings in order to cut costs – not that any of the senior partners took wage cuts. It is very expensive to live in Dublin; the situation was so bad that there was a constant stream of young, under-paid, financially struggling solicitors entering his office and begging for a pay-rise, any kind of pay-rise. With every one of them he pointed to a tray on his desk filled with c.v.’s and said if you don’t want to work here I have a large bundle of applicants who would be happy your take your job. No one got a raise.
Things came to a head when my friend entered an open competition for a position with the state-run Residential Tenancy Board, a kind of mediation body for disputes between landlords and tenants. It was known that my friend, along with several others in the same firm had sat the exam, and she scored extremely high, placing near the top of the panel. It was rumoured that the boss had applied as well. At the end of the office day he approached her desk and basically accused her of rummaging through another colleague’s desk and stealing his notes for the exam – something along the lines of “How can you prove to me that you didn’t go through Brian’s desk, and read his notes?” (Not that he gave a shit about Brian). This is a lawyer, asking another lawyer to prove her innocence under the presumption of guilt, that she was guilty until she could prove herself innocent. She knew this situation was untenable and said well I wouldn’t do that because it’s immoral, and illegal but it now seems clear to me that it might be best if I work somewhere else – she basically quit there and then in the most tasteful and honourable fashion. He exploded on the spot, demanding to know who would take over her cases and workload. She replied, “Well, you have a large bundle of c.v’s on your desk, hire one of them.”
China has been the biggest power for 4800 out of the last 5000 years yet China did not invade or colonise nations thousands of miles from their shore!
China will not do what the U.S. do. That is for sure. It does not want to dictate to the world. It is too mature and responsible. China don’t see it is right or is it worthwhile for it to interfere and intervene every where. The repercussions to the U.S. is much greater than the U.S. dares to admit and bit by bit the U.S. benefits will evaporate and the humongous cost to the US will come home to roost.
China wants a free and vibrant world that is doing well and prosperous. When a peaceful and harmonious world becomes a reality China will trade with everyone. That is good for China, the Chinese people and the world too. Wars, interference and interventions are costly and harmful for the world. China sees it vividly and clearly that respecting the sovereignty of all nations is good for the world.
Just think about the U.S. spend billions building aircraft carriers and spend further billions to manned it and spend more billions circling the globe aimlessly. And if these interference lead to war, more billions need to be spend to fight these wars. And what does the US gets in returned? Mainly hates and disdained is all that they earn!
China is not blind and it is certainly very smart. It won’t want to do what the U.S. do. Not now, not in the past and not in the future! To China, the U.S. is “throwing sand in the sea” and basically self destructing.
Thirteen years after my dad died, we were notified that his father purchased land in another state, now owned by his children. A gas well was drilled on the property. Since my dad had died, his portion went to his three children. This is where the greedy part comes in.
My mom heard about this, I assume from my sister. She discovered that only us kids got to divide my dad’s portion. This news pissed her off to no end. Immediately, she got an attorney and demanded her share of the gas lease.
When the company that drilled the gas well communicates with the family, they copy EVERYONE. This is how I learned that my mom hired an attorney to ensure she got a piece of the pie. (I have been no contact with my narcissistic mother for fifteen years.) My mom took me out of her will years ago; she wanted to make sure I didn’t get too much. My mom’s actions were out of revenge and greed. If she couldn’t get it ALL, then she was going to make sure that I didn’t get more money than her.
Here is the best part. After years of waiting, my husband and I finally got a big check. One day, out of the blue, we received a envelope which we thought was another letter about the gas lease. After opening the envelope we could see it was a check. We were in disbelief, our jaws dropped, we could barely contain our excitement. As we looked at the numbers on the check, our minds began to wonder about the amount that was on my mom’s check. This was unreal. It was like no other point in our lives. This check changed our lives. It was the answer to our prayers. It proved to us the existence of karma!
After my husband and I calmed down, we started discussing how and where we would spend our $35.00. But more importantly, we laughed all the way to the bank, thinking about how much money my mom spent on an attorney to get a check that was less than $50. It was the best check we had ever received!
My dad’s share of the lease was 1/8th. Since he had passed, his three kids would split that into three equal portions. From what we can tell mom got 1/2 of dad’s share and left the other half to be split into thirds. In the comments people say that my mom is entitled to my dad’s share. I agree, yes she is. But the way she went about it was based on anger, revenge, and manipulation. I would have gladly given her my share if she’d asked. The last time my mom and I talked it was on this issue, I told her if I got any money from this I would put it in savings for my son – her grandson – who has a neurological disease. She decided to get the money for herself, which meant that she was so mad at me that she would take money from her grandson.
I worked in security at Heathrow Airport for a number of years and one of my roles was to process departing passengers. One day a tallish man tried reaching over a perspex barrier to retrieve a bag that was emerging from the x-ray machine. I was in the process of removing it in order that it could be inspected. He said “Do you know who I am?
I did. I won’t name him but he was the son of our serving prime minister at the time. He was the one who got lost for a few days whilst engaged upon a car rally across the Sahara desert.
Had he been as important as he thought he was he would have been escorted by the security service.
When I was a young boy in Calcutta, one of my mother’s friends used to come over to our home on Sunday evenings and enjoy a glass (more like 7 glasses) of scotch. He was the MD of a medium size publicly listed company, a colourful character, had led an exciting life and always had stupefying stories to tell. He later went on to become the chairman of a very, very large listed Indian steel giant.
It might just have been the alcohol talking but he told us this.
He was at work one day when an ordinary looking man entered his office without an appointment. He invited himself in, sat down across the desk. Put his hand inside his bag, took out a sleek black pistol and put on on the table, barrel facing the Managing Director. He said, “look how bad your current security is, I could get in with a gun and so can anyone else. I represent XYZ Security firm. Our retainership amount per annum is Rs ABC. When do we start?”
When we moved in to our new house in 2020, my then 17-year-old son got his own bathroom. It wasn’t an en-suite, but it was right next to his bedroom and rather isolated from the rest of the house, so while others may use it, that was “his” bathroom.
One of the first things he did after moving in was get a nice-looking basket which he filled with a selection of high quality feminine hygiene products and placed on the back of the toilet.
He had read that a courteous host does that to make the women in their lives feel comfortable and welcome and to save them embarrassment if the need arises.
I think your husband’s friend needs to grow up at least as much as my teenager.
Edit —-
Before you think he’s too awesome, realize if I didn’t clean his bathroom, no self-respecting woman would ever use it.
I had tickets to see Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young at the Tampa Bowl on a nice warm evening. We got there early and as it was stadium seating we spread our blanket maybe 20 rows from the stage, right in the center. When the band came out they announced that they had a permit that would allow them to play into the wee hours but they were going to start the concert with some acoustic music.
During the first bars of the first tune the boos started. “We want rock and roll!!!” and so on. The noise from a mob of clowns down front was drowning out the music. Then someone threw a beer bottle onto the stage. The concert stopped abruptly. One of the singers again announced that the would play rock and roll until the wee hours but they intended to play an acoustic set first. The cheers drowned out the boos.
They started again but the assholes made it difficult to hear. For the second song, Neil Young sat down at the piano and started doing a solo. You may not believe this, but a “cool” thing to do among assholes back the was to get a mouthful of lighter fluid and as they spit it out they’d light it. People were shooting flaming liquids toward the stage. Finally, the police came in and hauled off a couple of morons. Young started to play again and there was more shouting and a beer bottle landed in the piano. Then a cherry bomb landed on the keyboard and exploded. Young got up and walked backstage.
The stadium went silent. Ten minutes later a helicopter landed behind the stage and it took off right away. The stadium lights came up and a guy walked out and announced that the band had left and the concert was over. We headed towards the other end of the stadium and out because we feared what the scumbags might do. That was the entire concert.
The tattoo is supposed to be a very serious and deliberate thing because it is permanent in a sense. However, here are some people who did a very funny tattoo in Chinese character. Maybe they did not know what is the real meaning of these Chinese or, I don’t know, they just want?
I saw many tattoo pictures of the non-Chinese person on the Internet and they can be roughly divided into three kinds.
1. Chinese old sayings
People did this type of tattoos generally know the meaning of that, but Chinese people rarely tattoo them on their bodies.
Beckham’s Chinese body tattoo
image 372
(Translation: Life and death are fated, riches and honour depend on the appointment of heaven)
Kenyon Martin
image 371
(Translation:Worry about personal gains and losses)
This Chinese idiom refers to very selfish people who pay too much attention to their own gains and losses.
Jameer Nelson
image 370
(Translation: Nothing is a taboo.)
2. Chinese food
A 20-year-old British designer fancies Chinese cuisine very much. One day, she came up with an idea that tattooed Chinese cuisine names on her waist.
image 369
(Translation: Sweet and sour chicken; fried noodle with beef; fried rice with egg and chicken meatballs.)
It looks like she printed a Chinese restaurant menu on the body. Next time she walks into a Chinese restaurant, all she has to do is rolling up her tops and say: I want this. Interesting.
This man got “Fried rice with pork” on his calf.
image 368
(Translation: fried rice with pork)
???
Are these people trying to cook themselves?
image 367
(Translation: Fish ball soup and sweet sour meat)
3. Some very confusing tattoos that are beyond my imagination
This is the funniest part. Many tattoos are far beyond my understanding.
My husband had been raised by his grandparents so felt he owed them. We devoted our time to taking care of them and their house. We took them shopping, did the gardening, painted, built the wheel chair ramp and anything else they wanted. They had a daughter and grandchildren who refused to do anything. She said they lived their life now we are going to live ours. Then grandparents and us got the flu, they had a disabled daughter who was staying with us since grandma was in the hospital. She got released and we were told not to go near her. We asked the daughter to go get her and take her home, she sent the granddaughter. Granddaughter let her out in the street and drove away. Grandma called us and disabled daughter wanted to go home. I called the other daughter and told her off, granddaughter had to go to the airport to get her boyfriend. Why couldn’t she come after she got him, or her married brother? Her brother had to be home with the wife and kids. Grandma said let the disabled daughter come home. Grandma defended the daughter’s family. My husband was not included in the estate only his aunt. He was nothing to them but a handyman. He gave up and said we were moving unless he was in the will. We moved away and let them take care of the grandparents however they want. Grandma was widowed by then. Not sorry I told off his aunt. I never lose my temper or use harsh language, so they knew I was mad.
Chicken with Mangoes
Mango Chicken 3 1
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 whole chicken breasts
1 (2 x 1-inch) piece fresh ginger root
8 scallions
1 (15 ounce) can mangoes
3 cups vegetable oil
3 tablespoons white vinegar
3 tablespoons dry sherry
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons instant chicken bouillon granules
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
Combine flour, 1 cup of the water, the salt and baking powder. Beat with whisk until blended. Let stand 15 minutes.
Remove skin and bones from chicken and discard. Cut chicken into 1/4-inch wide strips. Mix strips into flour mixture.
Pare ginger and cut into wafer-thin slices.
Cut onions into 1/2-inch pieces.
Drain mangoes and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips.
Heat vegetable oil in wok over high heat until it reaches 375 degrees F. Add chicken, one strip at a time, to hot oil (cook only 1/4 of the chicken at a time). Cook until golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on absorbent paper. Repeat to cook remaining chicken.
Remove all but 1 tablespoon oil from wok. Reduce heat to medium. Add ginger to oil in wok. Stir fry until ginger is light brown, about 2 minutes.
Combine remaining 3/4 cup water, the vinegar, sherry, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, bouillon and sesame oil. Carefully add to ginger all at once. Cook and stir until mixture boils.
Add onions. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.
Mix chicken and mangoes into soy sauce mixture. Cook and stir 2 minutes.
There’s a newspaper in St. Catharines, Ontario, called The Standard.
The lady who worked the classified ad desk never missed a day of work. Rain or shine, sickness or health, she was there taking orders for classified ads which, at the time (the 1990s), were the lifeblood of any newspaper.
Then, one day, she had to be rushed to hospital.
And that day, ad revenues were twice what they had ever been.
A quick check of actual advertising revealed the paper was only being paid for half the ads they ran. An investigation showed that their classified clerk was moving large amounts of money through her bank account, mostly to go on shopping sprees.
They quickly figured out the reason she never missed a day is that her replacement would immediately notice that a lot more money was coming in than usual, which would indicate she was skimming half the proceeds for herself.,
I was working in Manhattan. I got a call from my kid’s school that he wasn’t feeling well and had to go pick him up. I had just finished developing a CD-based training program (this is early 90s, before this stuff was done online). On my way out, my assistant told me the CD master had just arrived and gave me a little plastic bag with the CD in it. I was in a hurry to leave and figured I could drop off the CD at home with my kid before returning to work.
Getting around Manhattan basically means getting into and out of yellow cabs. It’s pretty easy to find one.
image 355
Typical New York street
I catch a cab to my kid’s school. About 15 minutes later, I get dropped off. I greet my little one in the headmaster’s office and tell him we’re off to the doctor’s. As I’m waving down a taxi with my kid’s hand in mine, I realize I don’t have the CD bag. We go back into the school and it’s not there. Nobody remembered seeing me with a bag and, frankly, I didn’t remember having it in hand when I walked into the school. Oh, well, I thought, that was stupid. This was before Uber where you could call your ride to check on the back seat. This was, in fact, before everyone had cell phones. The bag and CD were gone.
I refocused on getting my kid to the doctor. Got him checked out. Got into another cab to a nearby pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Walked home and dropped my kid off with his nanny who was waiting there.
All this time I was hopeful they would be able to reproduce the CD master, wondering how long it might take, if it might delay the project, if I should tell my boss, etc.
I wave down a cab to go back to my office. While I’m thinking about all these things I see a bag on the floor. I pick it up and pull out my CD.
My assistant sees me walking in with the bag. “How is your baby? I thought you were dropping that off at home.”
“Kid is fine. Oh, the CD, yeah…” I figured she wouldn’t believe me if it told her the truth.
I watched an investigative reporter type show look at liens in Ontario. It turns out that in Ontario they have this weird, habit of leasing hot water heaters, like it’s a car or something expensive. When they install the hot water heater, you sign a contract that lets them put a lien on your house until the hot water heater is paid off. They were typically 10 year leases. The lien is on the house , regardless of who owns it, and new owners just continue paying the lease, if you don’t pay it out. Anyway, there were some crooked companies that took advantage of this, and wouldn’t let you sell your house, without paying out the lease, and they wanted huge penalties, tens of thousands of dollars for early payment. Picture this, you have sold your house for $800,000, and everything clears, but it can’t be completed, because of this lien. They ask you for $15,000 to break the lease on a hot water heater that was worth $800 new. What do you do? Lose the sale? Pay the breakage fee?
So I would do what you can to find out early, because you don’t want to be held over a barrel when you go to sell it.
When I was in, I think, my 2nd or 3rd job in computers, my company was rolling out email and word processing applications on our central computer. This was the late 80s and it was all green screen with satellite offices using PCs as dumb terminals.
I was sent out to all the sites to do maintenance on the PCs and train the personnel how to use the new applications.
Our business was primarily prepacked concrete mix for contractors and homeowners. At each location they would mix and bag the product for distribution to their regions.
At every plant I went to, when I opened the PC case, there was a 1/2in of powdered concrete covering the motherboard. It’s a wonder any of the machines didn’t crash from overheating!
Decades ago, I received a past-due notice for a loan payment to a bank I’d never done business with. Puzzled, I called the bank. After explaining my confusion three times, I finally was talking with someone who had sense enough to look into it instead of fobbing me off to someone else.
“Did you make a purchase from Such-and-such Music Store?” Indeed, I’d purchased a piano for my wife a month or so earlier. (Might’ve been nice if the salesman had mentioned they’d turn the loan over to a third party, but whatever.)
I then asked the bank worker how the *very first* communication I’d received from the bank could be a past-due notice.
“You should have received a payment coupon book,” she said. (As indicated, this was ages ago.)
“I’ve received nothing from you till this,” I replied.
And then, to my everlasting amazement, she said, “I know. The printing company we use had an equipment breakdown and the coupon books haven’t gone out for a while.”
That “I know” blew me away. The bank *knew* their customers weren’t being told when their payments would be due, and how much they would be—and, in cases such as mine, didn’t even know their loan had been sold to that bank—and instead of notifying people, they just sent out overdue notices.
With a late fee attached, of course.
So I told the nice lady that I’d be happy to make the payment, but I would not stand for a late charge.
Now it was her turn to be puzzled. “Why not?”
“Because I wasn’t late—*you* were!”
In the end, she had to have a VP call me later, and after I went over it all again, he agreed it was kinda dumb for them to send late notices to people who didn’t even know they had a loan with that bank, he waived the late fee.
I got my driver’s license near the end of my sophomore year of high school. I got my first car a few days before that… a used ’86 Bonneville.
From that week forward, I was 100% responsible for getting myself anywhere I needed to go, including to and from school, my friends’ houses, and my after-school job. I already had a key to the house. I had a “curfew” of 10pm, but my parents always said that “whatever side of the door I’m on when they go to bed at 10 is where I’m going to be all night.” They had a chain lock on the inside of the door, so my key was useless if they locked it that way, which they did every night when they went to sleep.
Fortunately for me, I wasn’t very social and I didn’t stay out late anyway. They made exceptions for nights when I was working. I was a prep sports stringer for the local newspaper, and some nights I didn’t get home until 1am because I was covering a game several counties away.
My parents never actually locked me out. My sister, on the other hand, was locked out a few times because she missed curfew. My father was nice enough to put a recliner and a blanket for her on our screened-in porch. She slept out there more than once because she got home late.
It was the South, so it didn’t get too cold most nights. I doubt I could get away with that with my kids here in Chicago.
In 2015, one day a school boy named Amit was going to school. On the way he was hit by a car. Amit was bleeding, he needed immediate medical help but that car driver didn’t even stop and he didn’t feel to take Amit to nearby hospital. Amit was lying on the road, some people came and took him to a hospital but unfortunately he died. Amit’s dad Jitendra ji came to see his son and he was shocked to know about his little child is no more. Amit’s mom was in deep grief. In just a moment a happy family was shattered.
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Image source: Web/Google
Jitendra ji filed a complaint but the police didn’t investigate. They even closed the case without informing Jitendra ji. This was ridiculous!
Jitendra ji and his wife just wanted to know his son’s killer. They wanted to question that man why he left Amit alone to die, he could have been saved if he was taken to hospital on time. They just wanted a Sorry. Was that so difficult??
Jitendra ji decided he will find that man who killed his beloved son. On the accident spot, he found a broken rear mirror and a broken car number plate. Car number was not full, but on the mirror there was a number. He asked from the local service centre but every time he got dissappointment. One day with hell lot of efforts a mechanic told him that this mirror is of a Maruti Car. Jitendra ji went to the manufacturing unit of the Maruti cars. He told his story and there people helped him. With the mirror number he managed to find the car registration number and with registration number he found the car owner’s name – Gyan Chand. It took 8 years for Jitendra ji to find the real culprit.
He went to police again with all the proofs and now again police disappointed him by not filing the complaint. He then moved to court and here also he didn’t get justice, his plea was rejected not just once but 4 times repeatedly. In Jan 2023, he again appealed to court for the 5th time. This time court accepted his request and asked the police to re-open the case but till now no arrest has been made.
Jitendra ji fought 8 years to find all the evidence and the person who killed his son. He is still fighting for the justice and he has told that he will fight till his last breath untill and unless his son’s killer get punished.
This story is deeply heartbreaking…….
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Image source: Web/Google
I Salute Jitendra Ji from the bottom of my heart🙏
Amit would be Proud of his Dad❤
**Update : On 21st Oct 2023, Police has arrested the accussed, Gyan Chand.
One of my former student’s mothers. This was several years ago now. Her son was in 8th grade and read at a second-grade level. His handwriting was illegible. When he typed his assignments, his sentences were incoherent or not related to the assignment at all.
This was made worse by the fact that he was not a discipline problem. He sat quietly in class and looked like he was on task and understood the material. But he didn’t. He didn’t understand any of it. Even the easiest things in all of his classes were well over his head.
His mother said, at every single parent/teacher meeting, that her son was “a nice kid and just a little slow, but he would get it together soon.”
No. He needed special education services that our school couldn’t provide. The mother had been told that for years, but she didn’t want to hear it. In her eyes, her son was perfect. She was paying for private school for the purpose of avoiding the “special ed” label they’d give him at the public school.
So, the teachers did the best they could to accommodate his needs. Of course, it wasn’t enough, because he really needed a one-on-one, full-time tutor.
I actually know what happened to him. I heard through mutual friends that he went to a private high school which did have a special ed program (although they called it something else), he graduated from that special program, and is now working full-time as a helper in his uncle’s business. Good for him. That’s probably the best thing for him… to find meaningful work with a trusted family member.
I never really had a last conversation with my mother. She was in a memory ward in a nursing home. She had been having strokes was no longer able to walk, and the strokes had affected her swallowing. Her care was beyond us.
Unfortunately, COVID hit and the nursing home was locked down so we couldn’t go in to talk with her. We had been visiting almost daily. The conversations had become one sided due to the alzheimers, but at least she remember us. The day came when we got the call that she had slipped into a coma and that we had finally gotten permission to go in and see her. My last words to my mother were that I loved her, that she had been a great mother/grandmother and that it was OK to go home. She seemed to be waited for my sister to get there and say her goodbyes. My mom died a few hours after my sister left.
No matter how much time you have, somehow it’s never enough.
MY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SAVED ME FROM HUMILIATION.
It was the evening of farewell for our 10th Grade. Our juniors had arranged an eventful farewell for us.
After all the entertainment and other stuffs, it was time to felicitate the top rankers of our class. I was called on stage to receive the award for securing the 1st Rank in the class.
I went on the stage brimming with pride to receive my prize from the School Principal. Little did I know what a blunder I was going to commit.
Here, 2 things you all need to know are:-
First, this was the first time I was going to stand on the stage in front of 100s of people. You can deduce what my condition was, from the fact that I was so immature that I didn’t even know what stage fright was!
Second, this whole scenario was taking place in the Evening. (Yes this is important to know!)
Then came that doomed moment. I was asked by the school principal, a young and kind-hearted lady, to speak a few sentences about my experiences in this school and the hard work behind my academic achievement.
I held the mic, still happy on receiving the award. As soon as I formed a few sentences in my mind and was just about to utter those words, the reality hit me. I saw an ocean of heads staring at me curiously to listen to what I am going to say. I went numb. I forgot everything I wanted to say. There was a complete silence for a few seconds. I knew I had to start. And then my brain which had ceased to work since a few moments, told me, “OK buddy, it’s not that difficult. You can begin by greeting the crowd .”
Feeling the breeze of that contrastingly cold evening, I gathered courage, forced a smile and softly greeted the crowd by saying, “Good Morning”.
There was a dead silence. Before I could even realize what a silly and humiliating mistake I have just committed, my principal took the mic from my hand, turned towards the crowd and said ,“As this is his first appearance on a stage, this is a new morning for him. So, it’s not a Good Evening but a Good Morning to everyone from this bright young kid.”
And then I realized what a silly mistake I just did. I felt embarrassed but at the same time I stood there in utter disbelief and appreciation of the intelligence of my principal. She just protected her student by her brilliant presence of mind.
I can’t think of a better instance of presence of mind in my whole life.
In 1859, a geomagnetic storm called TheCarrington Event¹ disrupted electrical infrastructure across the globe.
…what there was of it.
…which was telegraph service at the time.
(and that’s pretty much it)
The Event was perpetrated by solar flare activity so unprecedented that the Auroras Borealis and Australius were visible from both poles to the equator, with such an intensity that night became day, disorienting humans and animals alike.
Telegraph offices that failed to go offline in time caught fire and burned, and those that did shut down remained operational for hours, despite being disconnected from their power source, due to the massive worldwide electromagnetic surge.
All news, for all intents and purposes, was once again local for the duration of the aftermath.
Newspapers couldn’t report on events outside horse riding distance.
The 19th Century reverted to the 18th Century in one fell swoop.
Now…what we do know for certain about the Carrington Event is that it wasn’t a one off.
It had happened before and it will happen again.
And THE NEXT TIME, unlike 1859, we will likely have satellites in orbit, and planes in the air.
…and cars that run off batteries, and those that don’t which have electronic ignitions.
…and power lines to heat our homes in the winter and cool our homes in the summer.
…and an Internet that we’ve basically come to rely on to maintain a global economy.
(that too)
And all those things are gonna go bye-bye for a time.
The quote about living “in interesting times” is erroneously attributed to the ancient Chinese, but it was actually coined by the American politician Frederic R. Coudert on the cusp between the Great Depression and a second world war.
No matter how bad things get for Mankind, we can all rest assured of one thing for certain:
It certainly can be. On my second trip to India I suffered a broken cheek bone and two black eyes at the hands of several youngsters who were barely teenagers. It was my completely my fault, by thinking that playing Cricket twice at school would allow me to play with these kids who live and breathe it. Having came across a game just starting my Indian friends talked themselves into playing and must have imagined that being English I played the game. But being brought up on a council estate in London it was football or boxing never cricket or rugby. I had played it twice at school and never even touched a bat. Anyway I thought I’d have a go and how hard can it be? Fucking hard thats how hard. The bowler could only have been 13 at the oldest so I was not worried I stood there holding the bat as I had seen them do it on tv. I then saw him running up, his arm lifted to throw and then white light and pain as I stepped forward straight into the bounce of the hard cricket ball. Wow I felt stupid and had a few weeks of discomfort. But I did gain respect for cricket and often go and watch it at Lords. I always support India(unless playing England) in thanks for this lesson.
My mom died when I was 9 of a cancerous brain tumor. It hurt like hell and it took me years to recover. Maybe I still haven’t.
My Grandma, a widow, got remarried when I was about 15 or so to a great man, and when I left at 19 to do a couple years of volunteer service at my own expense in England, I remember hearing he wasn’t in good health. About 4 months in, I learned he also passed away.
It was at this time I got a letter from my oldest sister. As I pulled it out of its envelope (most letters still went this way), a small slip of paper fell out. On it was written, in my sister’s handwriting, in a purple pen, just one sentence, “Aaron, always remember to be my strong little boy” and under it was something that looked like somebody trying to get a pen to work – quick scribbles back and forth in a small area.
I thought it cute, but odd, and set it aside, then I read the letter. My sister quickly said, “Aaron, I was going through an old drawer of things today, cleaning it out and found this. In her last days, Mom asked me to write out a little note to each of her kids, and then she signed them at the bottom. I’m sorry it’s not very legible”.
I immediately began sobbing as I picked up the little paper again and felt the warmth of a mother’s love well 10 years after her death.
Dan and I were headed into the Canadian Rockies in September. The weather was miserable. On the way it a younger guy had passed us by. He was carrying a day-pack sized backpack and he made fun of our big “old-style” backpacks. He was nice enough about it and we just smiled and watched him fly by.
A couple of days later we were camped in place just below timberline and it was raining hard, windy and not far above freezing. We were comfy and dry in our tents, had hot food, good raingear and all was well, even if it wasn’t all that much fun. The young guy came into the area and set up his camp. He had a thin foam sleeping pad, a thin down bag, and a tarp measuring about 8′ x 8′ that he set up very low to the ground.
The next morning it was still drizzling and cold. The young guy came over to our camp. He was shivering and soaking wet. He had a light rain jacket and no rain pants. Also, he was barely coherent. “Ggggguys …. I … I … I’m uh, I’m ….uh …. I need help.” We sat him in the entrance of Dan’s tent and gave him hot coffee and some oatmeal. We got him out of his wet raincoat and wet shirt and wrapped him in a fleece jacket. He began to relax. We all decided the he just needed to get out of there ASAP. Dan and I went over and packed up his gear. It was like a wet sponge, all of it.
When we got back he was doing OK. He had semi-dry t-shirt in his gear and he put that on plus his wet raincoat. Dan walked down the trail with him for a mile or so. When he got back Dan said that the kid had warmed up and seemed good to go. Oh, and that he’d apologized for making fun of our packs.
It happened last night. To be fair, she was likely 18–22, so barely an adult.
STORY! My husband and I went to our city’s downtown area for dinner and a carriage ride. We paid for dinner and realized we needed money to tip the carriage driver because we only had a $50 on us. DOH!
Note: No, we aren’t bougie like that. My company paid out a small company bonus with $50 bills.
It was okay – there was a candy store and we had time. We poured out a small scoop of chocolate and checked out. There was some issue with the cashier understanding that us paying $50.04 for $6.04 was in her favor, but math is hard.
Now, this is what the US $50 bill/note looks like:
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Actual quote from her: “Who’s on the $50 bill? Is that King Edward?”
Blink. Blink. What? A KING?!
We had to explain to this adult that no, this was not a king. It was Ulysses S. Grant. There’s even a county in my state named after him.
Her manager, who was a few years older, then said, “Oh yeah! I remember his picture on the wall in my history room. Didn’t he wear a really tall black hat? He looks fatter here though”
We pulled out a penny and asked if she was thinking of Abraham Lincoln. The manager then said, “Oh yeah! That’s the guy. Isn’t that the same guy?”
Oy. I’m sure President Grant is rolling over in his mausoleum.
My cousin had an old beater car. He always drove it on empty, and only added a dollar or two of gas at a time. He didn’t think it was worth stealing, so he left the keys in it, in his back yard, while he ran into the house to get something.
He heads back to the car, just in time to see it go around the corner. He calls the police, expecting he will never see the car again.
The police phone him 10 minutes later, to tell him that they have his car.
Its at the local gas station. It had run out of gas, they had pushed it in the last few feet, and filled it up with gas. But we’re having a hard time starting it, after it had run out of gas. The gas station was only a few blocks from the my cousin’s, and the attendant recognized the car, and called the police. It was a very distinctive, beat up beater.
My cousin needed a boost to get it started, and then worried that the weight of the full tank of gas would wreck his car, because it had never seen a full tank before.
It turned out to be a bunch of teen joyriders, and the charges were dropped against them. My cousin said that they doubled the value of the car, by filling it up, so he wasn’t too stressed.
So in this case the first thing they did after stealing the car was fill it up with gas.
I’m cranky and I’m tired, and I worked hard at school…
Not me, but my sister. She was a manager for a membership warehouse and they had this one woman that would come in once a month, demand a one-day pass, do her shopping and then pitch a fit when she couldn’t use her credit card (it was cash or debit card only). And she did this every month. Well, she demanded to speak with a manager and since my sister was on duty, she got to deal with her. Once again, my sister explained the rules to her and offered to take care of setting up a membership right then and there. The woman didn’t want to pay the $55 and began to berate my sister who was waiting her out. Finally, the woman shouts at her “To go to hell” to which my sister responded, “Ma’am, I’m already there.” Could have heard a pin drop in the membership areas as all the employees turned to stare at her. The “customer” had nothing further to say, so my sister calmly turned and left.
*The woman never came back to that warehouse. My sister wasn’t fired (for that) although her boss had a good laugh about it.
Two effing massive barbecue grills that I didn’t order that were on my back door when I got home from a business trip around midnight. Thankfully UPS or whoever delivered it (can’t remember which carrier) was naive enough about cyber security to have included the correct recipient’s phone number on the shipping label.
I texted the correct recepieny about it and, being way too nice, told them that I have a pickup and could deliver them but they were way too heavy to load on my own so someone would have to come help me load them.
The husband came over, we loaded them, i delivered them and we unloaded them at his house – all was well. Years later I still get packages and mail for them. I realized that we have the same numbered address and street but I’m SOUTH xxxx Avenue and they’re NORTH xxxx Avenue.
The mail that comes omits the north or south so I assume they’re too dumb to specify that important data element when giving out their address (because the address on the envelope, each time doesn’t specify north or south). it’s happened way many times to just be a coincidence.
So now I don’t bother delivering items, I text them that it’s happened AGAIN and ask them if they want to come me pick it up from my front porch or have me mark it as “wrong address” and see what happens.
In 1967, Doug Hegdahl was on a recon mission in the Vietnam War.
His boat cruised along the river, and as he it did, a battle broke out and he was thrown into the water. He panicked and swam for shore.
Unfortunately, Doug swam towards the Vietcong side of the shore. They greeted him with prompt beating and dragged him ashore screaming.
Doug was tied up and thrown in a cage. They debated on whether to execute him. As they interrogated Doug, he realized they were trying to determine his usefulness. He gave goofy, incoherent answers, talking crazy. Then he repeatedly shouted, “No water buffalo!”
In Vietnam at that time, owning a water buffalo was a sign of moderate wealth. He was saying he was poor.
Being poor was good. The Vietcong hated wealthy people. His rambling earned him the nickname, “The Incredibly Stupid One”.
And while other US soldiers were tortured and killed, the Vietcong felt too bad for him. They thought he was an American version of the poor, dumb man forced into the front line in a war.
Little did they know, he was gathering information. During his years in prison, he memorized the names of 200 prisoners of war, along with the intimate details of the enemy base.
During a negotiation, the Vietcong chose him as their release thinking he was a simpleton and no threat.
Doug got home and immediately gave a press conference.
He told the US of those prisoners, and their freedom was obtained.
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He memorized the 200 names using the song Ol’McDonald Had a Farm. He even needed to hum it when reciting the names back over.
You may not relate to his situation, but Doug’s experience gives insight into dealing with dangerous authority figures.
For example, if a cop pulls you over, it is better to play dumb rather than listen with your mouth, and explain everything you didn’t do wrong.
More broadly, it’s generally better to be guarded with what you know. True genius is knowing when not to reveal it.
Chicken with Walnuts in Plum Sauce
Plum Sauce Chicken Recipe3
Ingredients
1 cup walnut halves
1 teaspoon beaten egg
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
6 chicken thighs (1 1/2 pounds), boned, skinned and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup oil
2 teaspoons plum or hoisin sauce
1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
2 green onions, finely chopped (garnish)
Instructions
Pour boiling water over walnuts and let stand 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
Combine egg with 1 teaspoon oil and cornstarch in small bowl. Add chicken pieces and toss gently to coat them evenly.
Heat 1/2 cup oil in wok over medium high heat until haze forms.
Add walnuts and fry until golden about 45 seconds. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Add chicken to wok and cook until golden, about 3 minutes. Drain well.
Pour off all but thin film of oil. Return pan to heat, add plum or hoisin sauce, ginger, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil and stir until combined. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly until sauce begins to glisten, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Add chicken and walnuts and mix thoroughly with sauce.
Transfer to heated serving platter and garnish with chopped green onions.
Today, my friend told us a joke. 70 years ago, the United States led 18 countries to fight with a P5 country on the Korean Peninsula (let’s call it a draw). 20 years ago, the United States led 11 countries to invade a small country with domestic troubles and foreign invasion ( eventually failed). In the past few days, the United States found 10 countries to against Yemeni Houthi. Because of the shortage of troops, they even ask China join them，China certainly refused without think too much.…Fighting with a Yemeni local armed force, even ask China to help big hooligan?(´•ω•̥`) 🐼: I suggest you back home,massacre the kindergartens and sweep the geracomiums…
Houthi isn’t ET…
The changes of opponents by the US Army shows they are more and more laggard indeed.
Now they even often make this kind of arguments,enough to explain two problems:
Some US people already brain dead.
The infrastructure in the United States has been in disrepair for a long time, and even the frequency of failure is ‘on and off like a light switch’.
So, we don’t care what you say，today communications ‘on and off like a light switch’ and tomorrow there will be more things ‘on and off like a light switch’.Keep complaining, you’ll get used to it.
The U.S. Navy has ‘experience, the PLA-N has ‘experience’ in reading about what the U.S. is doing, and how they do it. Asking ‘probing questions’ (even here on Quora) is one direction, as well as ‘working’ with Canada, which has a record of ‘loose lips’ regarding ANYTHING military that China seeks.
I’m sure China has some ‘tricks’ up their sleeve as well. This is one of their newer ships (21NOV23) in which they ‘seem’ to be ‘faking’ damage to their ship, which may come in handy when they DO find themselves under attack. NOTHING would break-off an attack faster than ‘looking like this’:
One morning, a new guy showed up. As was customary, he “shared” his tale with the rest of us.
He was legally blind, but somehow managed to work as a successful stock broker. Unfortunately, on the side he had also developed one hell of an addiction to crack.
One Christmas morning, he had dressed up as Santa to entertain his kids. But he needed to sneak outside to take a few quick hits of crack before the family woke up.
Due to his visual impairment, he didn’t see the cop car rolling up the street. He got arrested.
Next day the local newspaper featured the headline that a crack-smoking Santa Claus was arrested Christmas morning.
I looked down at the grass. Clenched my jaw. glanced around and people were desperately trying to contain themselves.
The guy said, “it’s OK. Go ahead and laugh, guys. You have to.”
It was a full minute before we’d laughed off the image of a crack-smoking Santa Claus in cuffs.
I and a couple of friends headed to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for a conference followed by dinner. We ate at the Tir Na Nog Irish pub and sat next to the windows that looked out over the little amphitheater space where street performers entertain tourists. Lovely view of the corner of the harbor and the other pavilion. Directly below the window was a vendor’s cart selling all sorts of electronic gadget accessories (think cellphone covers, etc).
As we were eating, I watched the crowds milling around the plaza and people buying stuff from the cart. Then I saw a teenager sneak around the back of the cart (which was facing the window) and start pilfering stuff from the cart. He just jammed it into his backpack with glee while the vendor was busy talking to customers on the other side.
Turns out those “customers” were the teen’s parents. Once the teen had filled his pack, a second younger child moved in and did the same thing while the other one kept watch. Then a third child, even younger, darted in and took stuff as well. The vendor finally caught on to the scam and screamed for police. The BCPD always patrol that plaza to protect the tourists, so three bicycle cops appeared pretty quickly.
Meanwhile, we watched as the three kids met with mom and dad to show their loot. Then they spotted the police and all three bolted in three different directions, which appears to have been predetermined as a method of escape. One of the kids wasn’t so lucky and got pinched.
Mom and dad were screaming bloody murder about the police harassing their children.
At that moment I realized how stupid we’d been up in the restaurant because none of us thought to video the incident. But we all felt we owed that poor vendor some help, so down we tromped to the plaza, leaving one person to man our table so no one thought we’d jumped the check.
We informed the police of everything we saw, that the kids were the shoplifters, but that the parents knew full well and participated. The officer asked us if we would testify to that and we said of course.
End of the story: All three kids were arrested, but the police didn’t have enough to arrest mom or dad (because that’s how the scam works). We were called back to Baltimore to testify. The kids were really hard core according to the prosecutor. They were playing all sorts of innocence BS. But when she told them four witnesses were primed and ready to name them all, they folded and agreed to plea deals.
Very sad day for American childhood that parents used them in this way.
There is no such thing as the world’s best? Each country ought to have what they each see as the best for their nation and their people under different circumstances unique for them, over a development level that is different from country to country.
You can say every nation thinks they have the world’s best for themselves. They ought to be. Otherwise why would they choose it? Surely they all want to do the best for themselves right?
These words or symbols or slurs such as Communism or Democracy or Socialism are tags for various purpose. Some times to simplify some times to discriminate one against another or worst to slur and demonised. These labels meant nothing more, as each nation is shade of grey and not black or white.
The U.S. for example calls itself Liberal democracy. But in reality it is neither democratic nor liberal at all. Is 0.8% of the rich or and powerful decides that the 60 odd % of their people who bother to vote have only two choice Biden a senile or Trump a perpetual liar to choose from, surely that is not democracy!
The U.S. with a mere 4% of world’s population has 25% of the world’s prisoner’s population, surely it cannot liberal nor free? But U.S. can called itself whatever it wants!
China calls itself socialism with Chinese characteristics but the U.S. insists on the label. “Communism” for worst connotations to cast fear and hate on them! If you repeat it like this questioner do, it simply help your media cast hates on China.
To me if the west can call the U.S. a Liberal Democracy why can’t they tern China as Socialism with Chinese characteristics? It is no different from Western media calling Palestinians as “terrorist” and Isreal as freedom “fighter” These slurs and suggesting good is clearly a set. narrative!
It goes well for several months. They begin to squabble a bit and have disagreements.
He figures, if they don’t get along, they should just break up.
Later, he begins dating Rebecca. She’s pretty. But after a few months, he realizes she’s not smart enough for him. That relationship ends too.
Later, Mike begins dating Katie. Katie is super brilliant. And cute too. But he realizes he doesn’t think she’s cute enough. He wants brilliant and super cute.
And funny. Where is funny?
Finally, he meets Angela. Angela is smart, pretty, and funny. But not exceptional at either three. So he ends things with her too.
Mike never ends up settling down. He ends up living as a lonely old man in his final years.
He became a victim of advice taken too literally and at too much of an extreme “don’t settle”.
The truth is – we all settle. In some form or another. People regularly subject themselves to unfair expectations of a prospective partner.
We all have work to do. It’s better to find someone to do the work with. Or accept them as is and forget the work.
Remember, with any advice you read, from me, or anyone else, there is a huge grey area to work with. I can’t tell you how to read that grey area. That’s where you’ll need to swim on your own.
Don’t be a knucklehead who only thinks in black and white. We have enough knuckleheads in the world already.
It was a small local ‘high-class’ restaurant (no longer in business) I went to with some colleagues to celebrate one of their birthdays. The first thing I thought was a joke was the uninformative and poorly-formatted menu that contained things like “Different fish and chips 12”, with not another word to explain what was different about it and the ‘12’ meaning a price of £12.00 being far from obvious.
Even more of a joke was the way the food was presented. I ordered a burger from the main course menu (described of course as something like “house burger 11”), expecting something that would fill the plate and come with chips and salad as is the norm. No, what I got was a tiny bun less than half the size of the plate containing an equally tiny burger, a slice of tomato and a lettuce leaf, all by itself with not a single side. The punchline of the joke: to make it look bigger and fill the empty plate, the burger was served ‘open’ with the top half of the bun placed alongside it for no apparent reason!
I ate the whole burger and someone else’s leftover chips but was still hungry and had another meal when I got home. The whole experience still feels like a surreal joke, yet was deadly serious, and I wasn’t at all surprised when the place closed down not long afterwards.
Because Alexander the Great’s Army was leagues ahead of every other Army on earth. There was no close second. Alexander himself gets the credit but I don’t think this is fair. I honestly think Alexander was “meh” and won thanks to his great Army.
Let’s start by breaking it down.
1: Foot Companions
The regular infantry was called “foot companions”. These guys wielded a very long spear/pike and a small shield. Now at this time, everyone fought with a shield and spear however most spears were rather small.
It took years of training for the soldiers to learn to use the pikes. Additionally, these guys were all trained in small unit tactics, hand-to-hand combat, and all sorts of special stuff.
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2: Companion Cavalry
The Companion Cavalry was the greatest unit of cavalry ever (arguably) and certainly the best at the time. Cavalry at this time were mostly scouts and fast-moving infantry. They couldn’t really charge into enemy lines given stirrups were not around.
Alexander’s cavalry was unique. These guys were trained for years and years on fighting on horseback. They could charge an enemy head-on, flank around them, or dismount and fight as infantry. They were the elite of the elite.
3: Shield Bearers
The Shield bearers were the “SpecOps” of the Macedonian Army. These guys fought like standard infantry with shorter spears, swords, and shields. They were hyper-flexible, extremely well trained, and capable of nearly anything.
Alexander’s Army was capable of things NOBODY else could do. They could fight in the trenches, outmaneuver an enemy, perform complex tactical actions, and do it all with ease. These guys were the most experienced, best-trained, and most elite soldiers on planet earth.
In a time when armies were civilian-based militia with a small core of trained troops, Alexander had a professional Army at his back.
A stack of bricks isn’t a house as much as a mob of men is an Army. Make sense?
Now, most give credit to Alexander and his brilliance but I disagree with this.
Alexander made mistakes. At the Battle of Granicus Alexander recklessly charged across a river with a waiting enemy Army on the other side. This would have been a disaster for any other Army in history except Alexander’s and even Alexander’s Army took way too many losses.
Alexander was overconfident. In engineering, there is an acronym called “KISS” which stands for keep it simple stupid. Warfare is much the same. If tactics are overly complex then it creates situations where things could go wrong. No plan survives contact with the enemy so plans need to be simple and flexible.
Alexander didn’t create anything. This great Army Alexander had- it was created by his dad. These guys also gained experience fighting for Alexander’s father. Alexander didn’t unite Greece nor was attacking Persia his idea. Sure Alexander did conquer Persia however his Empire immediately fell apart because he was a terrible King and a terrible State-builder.
Alexander was wreckless personally. Alexander’s job was the lead the men, not fight with them. Yet Alexander led every battle from the front. Sure this is brave and all but this is the wrong place for a General. In an Army of 50,000 there are lots of fighters but only 1 leader. Caesar for instance would place himself behind the crux of the battle, issuing orders and watching as things develop.
Alexander the Great’s father was Phillip the 2nd. This guy fought and won dozens of Battles and conquered all of Greece for the first and only time. Was Phillip the greatest General ever? No. Like Alexander, Phillip benefited from a highly experienced, highly trained, and uber-expensive professional Army.
Hiring for our county office out in the boonies was done centrally, so often times someone was hired before we knew who it was. So when we saw the name Jim (redacted), we let out a collective moan.
Jim was well known around town. He was 6′7″, about 325 pounds, and was mean looking as hell. He often did rent collection/ evictions for local landlords, usually by intimidation. I mentioned this to HR, and was told to “work with him.”
So he started in our office. First order of business was to banish certain words from his vocabulary. Words like “wetback”, fag*ot, and of course, nig*er. Also, because he had contacted so many of our clients from his rent collecting days, often when clients found out he was to be their worker, they immediately withdrew their application for welfare. They were terrified of him.
After a couple of months, he seemed to have calmed down and was doing an OK job. But then, in the break room, he said the following:
You know what would be fun? If (co worker) Corrine would drive around in a convertible with a bikini on, and when someone would hit on her, I would be hiding in the back seat with a shotgun, and would suddenly sit up and point the gun at them, and watch them sh*t their pants!
This was it. The next day, three fraud investigators (armed) plus two sheriff deputies came in and escorted him out. I wanted to call HR and tell them “I told you so” but everyone was just glad he was gone; especially Corrine.
Note: he also helped get the head of HR fired. When he was removed from the office, he was put on paid administrative leave pending his firing. But the head of HR had a fear of lawsuits due to improper firings, so he was on paid admin leave for almost a year! Worse yet, there was another guy that had been on paid admin leave for even longer. So the HR manager eventually got fired…with no paid admin leave, just gone out the door!
I come from a family that struggles with finances severely. In the second grade my teacher noticed that the few clothes I had were now Ill fitting so she bought me new ones so I would fit in. I lived in a very, very wealthy area and because of this I was already being bullied for not having what other kids did. I was happy to receive the clothes. I came home with them that night and my mother, who spent our food stamps on cigarettes (the cashier at the liquor store rang them up as other things) and a disgusting quantity of mountain dew every month, walked into my school irate and high off of my ritalin prescription ( that was prescribed to me for my ADHD, as an 18 year old I still haven’t had thr medication that I need since I was 6), bypassed the office and walked into my classroom and began to yell at the teacher. I thought the bullying was bad then, she made it a lot worse. I am thankful for that teacher though. My mother threw the clothes back in her face (literally) and so my teacher kept them in the classroom for me to change into when I got to school and washed them for me. This is only one of several scenarios involving my mother. To put it shortly, I had my first suicidal thoughts around 11 and the state took away her rights to custody when I was 15. You are not your situation, you are how you deal with it. To anyone in that situation or any situation they don’t want to be in, it gets better.
Maybe it is just my imagination, but I think my “locked up” ploy has somehow made the rounds of all those backroom scam operations which call to say your computer has a virus.
Initially, I kept the “agent” and his manager on the phone for nearly an hour, until they finally just gave up. The exchange went something like this:
Scammer: Please press the Windows and CTRL key at the same time.
Me: I can’t. The computer is locked up. It won’t respond to the keyboard, and the mouse does not move.
Scammer: Turn the system off, then turn it on again.
Me: I can’t. The computer won’t shut down.
Scammer: Use the power switch!
Me: I did. Nothing. It stays on, but doesn’t do anything.
Scammer: Then unplug the machine.
Me: Ok. Still nothing. It stays on, and is still frozen.
Scammer: How can that be?!
Me: I don’t know. I guess it just switches over to the internal battery.
(Then, a manager is put on the phone, and promises to make the machine right if I pay $99 for a one time fix, $200 for an annual plan, or $499 for a lifetime plan)
Scammer: Which plan do you want?
Me: Uh, lifetime, I guess.
Scammer: Ok, please give me your credit card number.
Me: I don’t use credit cards. How about PayPal?
Scammer: We can’t take PayPal.
Me: Hey! Wait a minute! The machine just started working! It’s perfect! Everything is working! What did you guys do?
Scammer: That’s impossible! We didn’t do anything!
Me: But, didn’t you say you had detected a virus on my machine?
Scammer: Yes, that is why we contacted you.
Me: So, that must mean you were connected to me, right?
Scammer: No. Your machine sent a message to us!
Me: Ok, so I was connected to you, but you weren’t connected to me?
Scammer: That’s not how this works!
Me: Well, you must have done something, because everything is fine now.
Scammer: It is not. Machine still infected. It will lock up again and be destroyed. You still have virus!
Me: Wait, wait. I’m going to shut down and reboot. Hold on.
(I tap a few keys to make noise, then…)
Me: Ok, I shut down and started up again. Now, I am running a virus scan. Hold on… ok, scanning memory, registry, hard drive, checking for malicious code… stand by, almost done. Great! No virus detected! Fantastic! And, it seems to be running faster than ever!
Scammer: That is not possible, it will fail!
Me: Look, I don’t know how you fixed it, but I would like to send you $100. I’ll send a check. What’s your name and address?
Scammer: We can’t accept checks.
Me: A money order, then?
Scammer: No money orders. I think you are bulls****ing me.
Me: Do ya THINK?!
Scammer: I will f**k your mother!
Me: You like f**king dead people? You’re going to get a sooty Johnson; she was cremated.
Scammer: Click.
I can’t recall when I have had a more uplifting conversation, but the ultimate result has proven to be the most valuable. For several months after the above exchange, I would continue to receive the virus calls; but the moment I said the machine was frozen, the caller hung up immediately. So now, I just say, “Am I ever glad you called, this machine is totally locked up!” In response, a reassuring click.
Saw this question and immediately thought: Teresa.
Teresa is my sister in law’s best friend. She was also good friends with my brother, Dale. When Dale disappeared, Teresa was right there grieving with us. She shared stories about things she and Dale had done that had me rolling with laughter. Teresa is a bright spot where ever she goes.
Teresa is a respiratory therapist. Been doing it for years. Been single for years. Been putting smiles on peoples’ faces for years. She collected crochet afghans to give to her patients. They loved it. They loved her. She retired recently, bought a house in another state, and moved there on her own. I will miss her.
It was 2020, the year we buried my brother’s remains, after he had been missing for many years. It was around the time of the services, and I was having a rough time. Crying a lot. Teresa popped in one day and called me out to her car. She dug around in some bags and boxes in the back seat, and pulled something out. “This is for you” she told me. It was a cross made of wood with fragments of broken glass glued to it to make it shine. And in the middle it said simply, “laugh”. She told me she thought of me as soon as she saw it. It touched my heart. It made me realize maybe it was time to laugh more than cry.
Teresa is a special person. Salt of the earth. We need more like her.
huawei mate60 is using 5nm chips from unknown source, but for sure its made in China with 100% Chinese technology. Although it’s not the most cutting edge technology yet, it is the most widely used. So it’s going to bring down the price of all chips and ASML EUV will be too expensive in terms of producing chips. China is infamous for it industrial crushing ability, Whatever technology they proceed they will smash the market price to under half even to just 10% of the original market price. everyone in the same market will be gone in no time
On August 2, 2007, Majid Kavousifar was excuted along with his nephew Hossein Kavousifar for the assassination of Masoud Moghadasi ,a judge from the Islamic Revolution Court in Iran.
Masoud Moghaddasi was one of several judges of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court, that collectively sentenced more than 2800 to 3800 political prisoners to execution during the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners.
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Majid Kavousifar showed no remorse to hangman in his last words, telling them “I reached the point at which I decided to eradicate any injustice.”
His last words before being hanged next to his nephew Hossein Kavousifar:
“My name is Majid Kavousifar, I am Iranian
I didn’t wait for someone in this world to give me my right
I reached the point at which I decided to eradicate any injustice
I smile because I know that a small smile at that moment will be a great message of hope for every oppressed human being on the face of the earth.
The memory of Majid Kavousifar and his triumphant smile will live forever in the hearts of freedom lovers in Iran and all over the world.
Actually, a police officer once said to me: “What did you do with my patrol car? Why did you steal it?”
The back story is that when coming out of the back door of the courthouse late one evening my friend and I saw a running, unlocked police car sitting in the driveway between the jail and the courthouse. My friend and I wondered why this was and decided to watch a while. After 10 minutes nothing happened and the car was still parked, unlocked, and running. My friend and I decided something needed to be done to prevent the car from being stolen so we flipped a coin and I lost so I got in the car and drove it around the corner and turned it off, locked it, and returned to await the arrival of the police officer who had been assigned the car. My friend and I watched and waited and about a half an hour later the offending officer came out and found his cruiser missing. Since he left his radio in the car he couldn’t radio the missing car in and he’d left the jail and the return door was locked. He panicked and started running around in a confused state. My friend and I who were hiding began laughing and he couldn’t understand why. He was really confused and upset. I held up the keys and told him I’d “stolen” it to keep it safe and showed him where it was. He was both relieved and highly pissed. Relieved at first and the gradually more angry. My friend and I just kept laughing and he got even madder. Then he said he was going to arrest us. I said why? It’s not stolen and who’s going to prosecute me, I’m the County Attorney? Then he said he wasn’t worried because he knew the judge would put it on me because he was a good friend of the judge. I just kept on laughing because my friend who had been standing in the dark background listening came forward and said, “You mean me, Steve?” And the judge began to laugh too. He then said he’d get us both hand I said, “Go ahead! How do you think the Chief is going to feel when he learns you let your cruiser get “stolen” under these conditions? He didn’t say much else but just took his keys, got in his car and drove away. So that’s the story on how the Judge and I stole a police car.
My husband got offered a higher paying job with a different company, and one that treated their employees better. He tried to refuse the exit interview, but when pressed, agreed, if the big boss was in the room. He proceeded to tell the room exactly what led to his exit, and then they had the nerve to ask for 2 weeks notice. He looked the big boss right in the eye and asked if he would have gotten a 2week notice if he was being fired. The boss’ eyes dropped to the floor and he said no. My husband then asked if he could expect any changes to be made in policy regarding the treatment of blue collar workers. The boss again said no. My husband said, “ok, don’t consider this a ‘quit,’ consider as me firing you as my employer.” Then he walked out. We had to wait almost a month after he left to receive his last paycheck, even after calling the state labor board.
Christmas Watch-Along / AMA / Goof-off
Lot’s of good stuff in blurbs in this fun video. Grab some popcorn.
I enjoyed all of them, but my favorite is Non-geological shock. HAARP.
As I grew up my bedroom was filled with all sorts of debris and things that would interest young growing boys in the 1960’s. This included scale plastic models, and figurines.
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Wall posters. Some of which were blacklight posters on black velvet.
black light poster
Old bottles that I collected, that seemed to decorate every nook and cranny of my bedroom.
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My collection of record albums. All in a wooden egg crates.
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My treasured collection of science fiction paperbacks… many of which were short story anthologies.
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My Doc Savage collection.
man of bronze
And miscellaneous stuff, which included military surplus. Clothing… often scattered about. A painting kit. A microscope… and a mortar and pestle.
And other things of questionable utility, but things which I (as a boy) found cool and interesting. Such as my Major Matt Mason figurines…
MMM
And then there was my great grandfather’s sword. This was a cavalry sword from one of the “Polish Resistance” groups that relocated in the United States after Germany annexed Poland. It had a long hilt and was really cool. As a boy, both my brother and myself would take it out and ohhh and ahhhh about this sword.
sword
My brother has it now.
It was one of those things that I muse about from time to time. Interesting trivia, from days long gone. I wonder what the sword would say if it could talk…?
Smoke. Seriously, I did it for 32 years. It costs a fortune in cash and even more in quality of life. There is no positive to smoking.
Judge people on looks. I have friends across the “scale of looks” from gorgeous to scary and I love them all for their individual personalities. Looks are fleeting, love is not. Friends are the best asset you can have in life.
Eat a crap diet. I’m overweight and just diabetic. I’ve loved pizza, chips and crisps (fries and chips for USA people) all my life but they’ve ruined my body and health.
Argue with people who live in echo Chambers. I still do this and it’s utterly pointless. You cannot reason people out of a position they did not reason themselves into.
Procrastinate. If you have time to do it, then do it. Everything you put off for another day builds up to a backlog. Get it done now and there is less pressure on you tomorrow. This lowers stress hugely.
My dad was a workaholic and we didn’t get to spend much time with him. One day my mother was sick and couldn’t handle my brother and I, trapped in the house with her, on a winter day, rough housing around the house. So my dad took the day off work, loaded us up in the car and started driving. I’m not sure if he planned anything or not, but we drove about 90 miles to the badlands, which were at a much lower elevation. It was December and there was no snow in the badlands. My brother and I went nuts running and playing, without winter jackets, on bare ground. He had made a stop at KFC and we had a picnic, and didn’t get home until after dark.. It was an awesome day, dad laughed and smiled a lot. My brother and I were worn out, and didn’t bother our mother when we got home.
30 years later, shortly after he had retired. I invited him to come fishing with me, and he said “You bet” and we were on our way. We had an awesome day. I bought KFC and we had a picnic.
He unexpectedly died three months later.
After he died, my mother said that in the months after our fishing trip, all his friends got sick and tired of him telling the story of going fishing with his son. He never stopped talking about it.
Obviously I have never forgotten the time he took us to play in the badlands. It was what inspired me to ask him to go fishing. Its been over 60 years since he loaded us in the car, and I still tear up thinking about it.
My husband and I have been married 50 years. We did not have children, and are each other’s very best friend. Last July, he had a triple by-pass and caught a serious staph infection at the hospital.
It is the end of 2023 now and he is strapped to intravenous pumps receiving 6 weeks of antibiotics because the infection is now in his chest bones.
He can no longer go out for walks in the country with me or do much of anything. He is all bent over like an ancient person, and has no energy at all. He has been getting progressively hard of hearing for the last 2 years but refuses to get a hearing aide, (male pride or denial, I think).
The other night, we were watching a movie and I had to constantly repeat lines that the characters said to each other so he could follow the plot.
At one point in the movie, I turned to him and asked him a question about what he thought of the plot.
He nodded and said “Yes”. When I realized that he was faking and actually could not hear me, it was like I suddenly realized that he was not really there sharing the movie with me. He could no longer hear me.
I felt SO alone, and miserable.
And when I thought about who I could call, what friend I had who could provide some support, I knew I could not be disloyal and criticize him, with all his health problems which are making him semi-absent, I felt totally alone in the world.
I regret not having more of my own friends, just for myself, who do not know him. And I realized that at 74, he is probably not going to improve- it is the beginning of the downhill slide for both of us.
Up until this year, I felt like we both had many miles left- now the reality has set in.
Didn’t happen to me but my friends played this April fools on some kids from another class. We were all in 5th grade, and around that time a lot of kids were getting phones. (A lot of them were iPhones.) My two friends, let’s called them Lena and Eve. They weren’t the type to brag about what type of phone they had, or make a bit deal about it. they kind of kept a down low about if they had phones or not. Only close friends of them knew that they were phone-less.
The prank was to tell the girls in the other 5th grade, girls who had their phones and were unhappy that they couldn’t use them during lunch or recess. Lena and Eve had told them, that today our teachers (5th grade teachers) had allowed them to use their phones in class. The reason why they weren’t using them at lunch was because they were worried that the teacher who administered recess might not be okay with them using their phones. They had even made a note, in handwriting similar to the teacher’s to make it seem realistic.
At first the other girls were skeptical and thought they were lying. What really came into play was at the end of recess, Eve and Lena had been able to get one of our 5th grade teachers, to tell the girls that they were pranking. That what Eve and Lena had said was true.
It’s was really funny when the next day, Lena and Eve had told them that they didn’t have phones or that the teacher would give permission for anyone to use their phone’s in class. Looking back it was silly, but well executed, which helped fool the other girls.
(I was in on, it. They had wanted me to join in, but at the time many people knew I didn’t have a phone. And that my parents weren’t planning on getting me a phone anytime soon.)
It doesn’t even sound real. That’s how dumb it was.
It was October 20th, 1986. The story of Aeroflot Flight 6502 began in the cockpit. An argument broke out between the co pilot and the pilot over flying skills. The captain insisted he could land a plane easy in zero visibility, without the autopilot they were using.
It then escalated into a full bet, the pilot saying he could land the plane blindfolded. The copilot accepted the bet, a bet which – if he won — would spell his own death. (Source: 32 Years Ago an Aeroflot Pilot Bet He Could Land an Airplane Blind. Leff, Gary)
The plane descended, the window covered with curtains. As multiple alarms went off, the plane continued to descend.
Then–the plane touched down on the runway at 280 km/hour.
The plane immediately flipped, burst into flames, exploding, and eventually sliding to a stand still.
70 people were killed in the accident, including the copilot.
The main pilot survived. And somehow only got a 15 year sentence, which was eventually reduced to 6. Which is equally baffling.
(Yes, I have been married and divorced three times. Wife #1 and I divorced primarily over her gambling addiction and Wife #3 and I divorced after less than a year of marriage amicably because we realized we both had made a mistake. We have remained friends since our divorce)
I sued my second wife (we will call her “Mary” though it is not her actual name) for divorce because of infidelity. I was able to determine and prove that Mary was continuing to have sexual relations during our brief marriage with the woman who had been her lover before we had met (she eventually married her girlfriend after our divorce when Massachusetts allowed for same-sex marriages). I was able to present a witness who testified that Mary had told her that she married me as a “beard” to improve her promotion opportunities at her company.
When we were in court before the judge, the judge, a Black woman, informed us that she was granting the divorce but she was not granting Mary the life-time alimony that Mary had requested. The judge also said that not only was she not granting Mary any alimony, since Mary made substantially more money than I did, she had considered having Mary pay me alimony.
Mary lost it, yelled at the judge that she wanted to kill the judge and me because since the judge was a woman, she should have taken her side and made me pay alimony. The judge, in no uncertain and quite colorful language, threw Mary in jail for 30 days for contempt and issued court orders of protection that Mary could not come within 100 yards of either the judge or me or she would end up back in jail.
I have not seen or heard from Mary in over 25 years – good riddance.
When he was around 5-6 years old, my brother—who is four years younger to me—had his legs suddenly go numb one night. What followed next was one of the hardest ordeals of my parents’ life. Months passed with them meeting various doctors, visiting different hospitals, knocking at the doorstep of every possible religious shrine—all the time with my kid brother in their arms, since he wasn’t able to walk on his own anymore. We were also buried under debts during this time.
There were doubts of permanent paralysis—the very mention of which was enough to break us down. From finding it immensely painful to walk, to not being able to get up on his own, and to not being able to stand at all, his problem was worsening by the day. Most surprisingly, all this while, he was as strong as, perhaps, only children can be in such difficult times.
During this period, it was not unusual for my mother to have sudden breakdowns. Once, she burst into tears while watching him playing joyfully. He wiped off her tears, and said*,
Don’t cry, mummy. See, I can stand and even run on my own!
Saying this, he tried to get up, stood on shivering legs for just about a few microseconds, and fell down—only to be safely caught in the arms of my mom, who hugged him dearly and cried some more.
This happens to be the most heart-wrenching thing that I have ever heard, but also a powerful one for the simple fact that it was a little child—my own kid brother—teaching us what life is all about—HOPE, in the direst of situations, among the most impossible questions, and during the most unimaginable tribulations.
P.S: The problem was finally diagnosed and treated correctly by one doctor who was as-if a Godsend in our life. Wrong treatment of a viral fever had left both the legs of my brother infected with the virus. Although it left him physically extremely weak for most part of his childhood, he plays pretty good Football and Cricket today. Touchwood.
*Translated into English, originally said in Hindi
P.S: A number of people have messaged me sharing instances of children of their relatives/friends facing the same medical problem, asking if I could provide the doctor’s details. It breaks my heart but as much as I would like to help, I can’t. This incident is around 20 years old. My parents happened to meet him on their visit to the Kalavati hospital, no idea about his whereabouts now.
Oh that’s easy imagine meeting a guy in college. You two barely have food to eat. You work part time with him to put together to pay the bills. Then you start complaining about student loans, and hopefully your salary is going to be enough to pay your student loans after graduation.
You go clubbing with the guy. Paid his drinks a couple times. Laugh at him for his card declining because he could not pay a 22$ drink for the cute blonde he’s flirting with at the bar.
You graduate. Stuck in an 8 hour job. Two plus hour commutes, trying to climb higher in your career. The guy you used to see every day, now you only see him once a week for drinks.
8 years goes by and on his 30th birthday he asks you to come drink with the guys but he wants to pick you up. You go outside waiting for him for 30 minutes and you can’t seem to find his Toyota Corolla, but a bmw parked suspiciously across the street. You think he’s stuck in traffic?
Then finally you hear him yelling at you from the bmw.
Oh shit? Did your fiancé let you spend the down payment you were saving for the house to get a new car?
Nope… I’m 30. My trust fund is accessible now, he says calmly while you wonder to yourself… what the hell just happened?
My mother had moved, and her new garage was smaller than her old, and causing her a lot of stress.
So she decided to give her car to my brother, and buy a newer smaller one.
We went to the dealership that my dad had always used, when he was still alive. We were looking at a 1 year old lease return, we took it for a test drive and my mother felt it would fit in the garage just fine.
We went into make a deal, and got a pretty reasonable deal. Mom signed the contract, and went to stand up, and almost fell over. I thought it was just from sitting too long. We went to the door, and her old car, was parked right in front of the door. She asked, where is the car, then, where are we. I drove her straight to the hospital, and they said she had a small stroke, she then had a larger one, before we left the hospital, and she never left the hospital alive.
I went back to the dealership to explain what had happened, and stop the transaction. I looked at Mom’s signature on the contract, and it was illegible.
The dealership refused to cancel the sale, and told me that they would charge storage fees, if I didn’t get the car off the lot soon.
There was a local TV show, that covered issues like this, so I emailed them, and never heard a thing back.
We ended up selling it privately for a few thousand dollars less than we had paid for it.
A week later the show called and wanted to do a piece on it, apparently, the guy had been on a vacation. I told him that it was too late.
I told everyone I knew to never use that dealership again. I have no idea if this had any effect.
Smoking cigarettes. I was on a ship for three years in the late ‘60s. Cigarettes sold for $1 a carton, while at sea. I worked in CIC, that dark room with all the electronic gear and plotting devices behind the bridge. The compartment was about 24 x 40. We’d normally have around eight enlisted and at least one officer on watch. During exercises like Sea and Anchor Detail, Vertical Replenishment, Gunfire Support, General Quarters, etc. there were around 30 people in the compartment. I’d guess that at least three quarters of the people smoked cigarettes. We had good air handlers and air conditioning, but there was a permanent haze from the smoke. Every position had an cylindrical ash tray mounted onto the gear.
I am told US Navy ships are non smoking now, with a small area set aside for those who still smoke. This, to me, is a major change for the good.
Technically I was “laid off,” not fired, after 31 years at the company. I was only working part time (10 hours/week), and was planning to retire fully in a year or two. Instead, I got laid off. They paid me almost a full year’s salary and gave me over a year of medical and other benefits. I collected unemployment for the next year and because of a legal action by my state against the bank that held my mortgage (for deceiving customers on mortgage loans), the bank had to write off my mortgage payment each month that I was unemployed (not deferred, not suspended—canceled).
So when I was told I was laid off, and the salary/benefits package I would receive, I immediately bought a bottle of wine, gave it to the head of HR, thanked him profusely, and left. That year was far and away the best one (financially) that I ever had. And to top it off, I had gotten divorced a year earlier. With all my free time and lack of financial concerns, I had time to date. I met a wonderful woman, and we have been together almost thirteen years now.
We lived in Los Angeles for many years and had gorgeous offices overlooking the Santa Monica pier. There was an earthquake that damaged the building and we decided to go south . . . closer to where one of our employees lived. Yes, Long Beach. This was good for our business as we needed to be close to a Post Office and we located a couple of miles from the main PO. The little 4 office building we went into happened to be 5 minutes from the central post office and we gained an hour or two extra work time. And, it seemed the wife of the owner belonged to the Long Beach Cancer League. They invited me to join; so of course I did.
At their gala this snooty man walked up to me and touched my arm and said “oh, velour” in a disdained tone. So I matched his tone and replied “Yes. This is LONG BEACH. I reserve the velvet for New York and L.A.”
My mother was extremely mentally abusive and neglectful. My parents had divorced when I was 7, yet my mom was so manipulative that she was able to get shared custody of me and my 4 siblings. For the most part I spent one week with her and then one week with my dad. When we’d be at my dads house, he would try to undo what my mother had done over the week we were there. He gave us love, took us to do things, fed us home cooked meals every day.
After we got a bit older we were allowed to choose which parent we stayed with and when. I think that age was 12 at the time(when you got to make the choice by law), so my oldest sister chose to stay with my mom full time because my mom so manipulative, she would reward her for staying with her, with treats and things none of the rest of us got. My second older sister made the same decision for the same reasons, plus my step-dad favorited her and she got anything she could ever want. (he did unimaginable things to her when she started staying there but that’s a story for another time).
When I got to choose, I decided I wanted to spend exactly equal amounts of time with each parent because I wanted everything to be fair. But my mom would poison our minds against my dad, saying he did all these things he didn’t do, trying to make him look bad to everyone. So eventually I started staying with my mom more, also because of the rewards.
When I was 13, it came out what my step-dad had been doing to my sister. He was arrested immediately. My sister did a recorded phone call with the police and talked to him about it and he confirmed everything thinking it was only her on the phone. There was proof. And my mom said my sister was lying, sided with my step-dad, and never really visited us when the court said we were not allowed to go back to her house, she had to bring our stuff to us(which she never did).
After all of that BS, we were all living with my dad and things got so much better so fast. We weren’t stuck with my moms and my step-dads abuse. My dad loved us and took care of us, got us in therapy, everything.
My mom decided to follow my step-dad to a prison 7 hours away from us, leaving us all behind, right after my 14th birthday. I haven’t seen or talked to her since(and I’m 23 now).
My dad took all 5 of us, loved us, fed us, did things with us, spent time with us. He became the mom we never had and the dad he always wanted to be. Took on making meals for 5 hungry teenagers, taking us to sports, appointments, things with friends, things with him. He stepped all the way up and became one super parent, and we never felt like we were missing anything because we were finally free from my moms and step-dads abuse.
He raised us all by himself, even after most of us had chose to leave him and stay with our mom. When she abandoned us, he was there. He took care of us and he did it with grace.
Other than theater-wide air defense such as the S-400/S-500, the Chinese military industry is completely indigenous, down to the chips and engine oil.
Note this includes China’s space-going rockets, and its satellite constellation.
Beidou, for example, provides global positioning coverage and has a chinese-built atomic clock at its core. It is completely indigenous in design and build.
The newer Chinese aircraft from helicopters to transports to 5G stealth fighters are powered by indigenous rather than Russian engines.
In other words, China does not depend on foreign suppliers/components to fight a war, because the Chinese economy is capable of supplying almost everything. After all, China has the most complete industrial supply chain of any country.
What does Huawei have to do with China’s weapons? Very little.
What does Nvidia have to do with China’s weapons? Very little.
The American sanctions/restrictions are commercial in nature and aimed squarely at disrupting/slowing down Chinese tech. Huawei’s 90% downturn in mobile shipment helped increase Apple’s market share over the past 3–4 years, until the emergence of the Mate 60 reversed the swing.
Even in AI, Nvidia hasn’t been slapped with hard bans, because China is one of its biggest markets. If it was truly a military issue, no American chipmaker would be allowed to do business with China, so this is just a convenient excuse, not too different from how garlic has been framed as a NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE.
I was working in Manhattan. I got a call from my kid’s school that he wasn’t feeling well and had to go pick him up. I had just finished developing a CD-based training program (this is early 90s, before this stuff was done online). On my way out, my assistant told me the CD master had just arrived and gave me a little plastic bag with the CD in it. I was in a hurry to leave and figured I could drop off the CD at home with my kid before returning to work.
Getting around Manhattan basically means getting into and out of yellow cabs. It’s pretty easy to find one.
image 240
Typical New York street
I catch a cab to my kid’s school. About 15 minutes later, I get dropped off. I greet my little one in the headmaster’s office and tell him we’re off to the doctor’s. As I’m waving down a taxi with my kid’s hand in mine, I realize I don’t have the CD bag. We go back into the school and it’s not there. Nobody remembered seeing me with a bag and, frankly, I didn’t remember having it in hand when I walked into the school. Oh, well, I thought, that was stupid. This was before Uber where you could call your ride to check on the back seat. This was, in fact, before cell phones. The bag and CD were gone.
I refocused on getting my kid to the doctor. Got him checked out. Got into another cab to go a nearby pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Walked home and dropped off my kid off with his nanny who was waiting there. All this time I was hopeful they would be able to reproduce the CD master, wondering how long it might take, if it might delay the project, if I should tell my boss, etc.
I wave down a cab to go back to my office. While I’m thinking about all these things I see a bag on the floor. I pick it up and pull out my CD.
My assistant sees me walking in with the bag. “How is your baby? I thought you were dropping that off at home.”
“Kid is fine. Oh, the CD, yeah…” I figured she wouldn’t believe me if it told her the truth.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea S2E22 “The Death Ship” Full Restored
You ever meet a stunningly beautiful woman who dates asshole after asshole?
I know I have met plenty of them. I even dated a few, when I was that asshole.
When you stop and think about it, it makes absolutely no sense, right?
A really beautiful woman will have LOTS AND LOTS of options. So there must be some successful, confident and charming men who are also kind and caring, right?
It would only make sense that those kinds of guys would pursue her too, so why does she keep dating those assholes?
As I started to understand myself better, it became clear to me why that is.
Some women are wildly attracted to emotionally distant, disrespectful, scumbags.
However, they didn’t wake up one day and decide “hey, who is the worst kind of person I can be in love with?”
No, this likely started very early in their childhood where they had very poor relationships with their parents, family and loved ones.
Their mother and/or father, conscious of it or not, modeled a type of person that is emotionally distant, disrespectful, inconsistent, and sometimes loving.
It conditioned her to believe that “this is what someone who is going to take care of me looks like.”
Since every child absolutely needs love and affection, the lack of it will drive her to desperately try to win their approval and attention to get it.
She will grow up to repeat this pattern with every relationship she develops.
Every time she meets a man who is dismissive, emotionally distant, disrespectful and unloving it triggers a deep desire in her to win that man over.
Every time he does show a bit of affection, she will feel deep satisfaction, feeling like she finally won the love she could never get before.
She feels she is finally enough.
She will believe that is what it means to be “in love” with someone.
It’s like being on drugs. Every time he doesn’t care she withdraws, every time he shows some love, she feels that euphoric hit of crack.
It is all about that “high”. A man who is good to her all the time can’t give her that because there is no bottom, he is just consistent, and to her… it is just boring.
She likely wants to want a good guy, but she just doesn’t, because he cannot give her those highs and lows an inconsistent asshole can.
These women aren’t attracted to assholes because he’s more confident, charismatic, or independent.
No, No, No.
It’s because he is exactly what she needs, a drug. A drug like any other for a person who has deep trauma that cannot resolve it on their own.
When my son was about 3 years old, he had a playdate with a friend’s child. We had a lot of playdates with this child. I wasn’t fond on the child nor his parents. He was a little terror and was very violent and mean. They lived on our street and would just show up at our house unexpected and uninvited. Of course, being 3 years old, my son loved having a playmate and, of course, I would allow them to stay.
One afternoon, my husband was home and they suddenly appeared. So, we sat in the livingroom watching the kids play. We had to watch them. The other child would do things destructive or injurous to my child.
The little boy was playing with a very heavy toy with a long handle. He was standing in front of his mother. Suddenly, he reared back and swung the toy as hard as he could and whacked my son in the head with it. Then, he laughed and laughed as I tried to ensure my son was not dead or unconscious! His mother just laughed and said “Hey… watch it there now.”.
My husband had his fill. He jumped up and headed toward the child and his mother. He was furious and it was obvious someone was going to get a spanking… either the child or his mother! His mother grabbed him and ran out the door as fast as she could. They never came back. Basically because the next time they showed up, my husband met them at the door and told them they weren’t welcome.
I was on a European trip when I fell ill with cold and shivering. The next morning I felt I had experienced food poisoning, but was able to drive back to the base site (700 Km) the next day and rest up for a day for the fight back to Canada. Arrived in Toronto 8 hours later and picked up by a friend who drove me home but commented on my appearance. I had prebooked an early family doctor appointment for the next day. Got up drove there and was told by the Dr. that I must immediately go to emergency. I explained I had to get the car home and would phone for ambulance immediately. He warned that I might never get home, but I went anyway. Ambulance arrived 15 minutes later and took me to emergency. Booked in and as I was handed back my medical card, I remember putting it in my wallet. Woke up 5 days later with tubes out out of everywhere strapped in the trauma ward. I had collapsed in emergency and essentially “died”. Fortunately I was resuscitated and put on life support. Cause was pneumonia, a complete surprise to me. During blackout no memories, no heavenly visits, nobody told me I needed to “go back”. Saved by 24/7 care and antibiotics. Pneumonia, the silent killer.
Steve. Steve was the weirdest classmate I’ve ever met because he was an absolute brilliant genius.
My school was predominantly ages 10-12, but we also had a Community Outreach building on the grounds which housed a school for students of all ages who were disabled.
Steve had Down Syndrome. He was in the Community Outreach classroom for all but one day per week when he joined our class.
Each week the “regular” students were given a list of 50 spelling words and expected to memorize them. Not an easy task. Each week we had the option to complete exercises which earned us “points”. By Friday, week’s end, we needed to have accumulated 50 points to pass that week’s lesson plan.
We had to design a board game, for instance, using each spelling word which might earn us 10 points towards that week’s goal. Writing a story using each word in a sentence might earn us 30 points, and so on.
We needed 50 points.
The only exercise which earned us the “Full Monty” was an oral spelling test given by the teacher while standing in front of the entire class of students as they watched on. A daunting task, to say the least.
Missing one spelling word, you’d flunk the test and lose all your points for the week and need to not only do the previous week’s exercises but the current week’s as well. It could be very easy to fall behind taking the oral exercise.
I attempted it only once. I got 49 words correct and botched the 50th! Boy did I feel stupid.
Now Steve…he was a spelling genius. And had nerves of steel!
Each and every week he’d visit our classroom and stand before our class and challenge the teacher to give him the oral spelling test. 50 words. No errors. He’d earn his 50 points in one go.
Spell “pugnacious” the teacher would intone.
Steve, the ever cool, would begin…p-u-g….NACIOUS! Pugnacious!
And so it went. One after the other. Flawlessly. 50 words. Never a mistake. Ever. Week after week.
We always gave him a standing ovation. What an accomplishment! He became our mascot. Our hero.
Steve was never bullied on the school yard as you read about today. He had Down’s, but we all recognized something special in him.
He taught us something.
There is often genius and complicated wisdom in the most simple and elegant things in life. That I missed my 49th word is indicative of my life. Something is definitely missing. I admit it.
Yet, Steve nailed each and every spelling test flawlessly until the end of the year. Never missing one letter and never hesitating. He knew in his heart the right letters to say. Perfectly.
We gave him a party. We hugged him. He was our buddy. We were proud of him.
Sadly, as life went on for the rest of us and as we graduated from Jr. High, then High School, moved on with our lives and out of our small community, Steve was never able to make that transition.
Life is shorter for people with Down Syndrome.
My mother sent me his obituary while I was attending classes in college. I wept as I read they had misspelled his name.
Several years ago my daughter, about 16 at the time, was talking with one of her friends online. The girl had taken some Oxycontin and started telling my daughter how her vision was going in and out, and she felt like she was going to pass out. I asked about the girl’s parents, but they were not home. By this time the girl was saying that she was scared she had taken too much. I called 911, told them what was going on and gave them her address.
Apparently the parents arrived home at the same time the police and emergency services got there. She was taken, by ambulance, to the hospital. It turned out she was fine. She told my daughter that she hadn’t really taken anything, but was just saying that to see what she would do. I don’t know if that was true or not, but my daughter no longer was friends with her. I’m sure she got into trouble with her parents, and possibly the police, either way.
Update: I told my daughter about this answer, and she told me that they took the girl to the hospital and had to pump her stomach. I just knew that the same type of thing happened several times over the years. She got into many different kinds of drugs. She finally got sober, sadly, after her brother died of a heroin overdose.
When I first arrived in Thailand, I noticed that women working in banks and government offices changed from their high heels to much more informal, comfy shoes that they kept under their desks.
I had never seen this in American offices. I was fascinated!
The broad range of ‘office’ shoes entertained me during the long waits. Cloth or leather flats were the norm. Most were bejeweled, or brightly colored.
My favs were those worn by a department head at the National Lottery Bureau…fuzzy, orange, Garfield house slippers.
Open-toed shoes were absent as they were considered ‘impolite’ (rubber flipflops were allowed when coming in or going out during rainy season).
I was doing part time teaching for a government university in those days, as were several other foreigners. We all taught twilight classes, leaving the campus well after the Thai professors and staff.
Only the deans had enclosed offices. Everyone else had assigned desks in a huge room.
Gene* (who had been incountry long enough to know better) decided to delve under the desks and put the ‘in office’ shoes on the owners’ desks as a prank after everyone had gone home.
For Thais, shoes are associated with the feet, the lowest part of the body. Traditional Thais take issue if feet are pointed at them or at any revered article. Putting feet on a desk or table is very disrespectful. And, of course, shoes carry germs and dirt.
The staff found no humor in what he had done. The traditionalists were furious and demanded that Gene be dismissed, even deported.
The university Dean did dismiss him but helped him get a job at another government school across town, but with a severe warning.
We never found out why he thought that would be funny.
I won’t lie to you. Yes, my truck at 40 tons puts more wear on the road than the typical family sedan.
However. This truck pays close to $20,000 per year in road use taxes. That goes a long way toward maintaining those roads.
Something else to think about. If your roads were not built to have one of these run down, them. Just how cheap do you think the government would get when building the roads.
My guess is a very thin layer of asphalt or poorly compacted gravel. If your road was built for a 3500-pound car, it would be potholed within 2 years.
Added on April 2nd, 2022:
In light of the firestorm that this seems to have lit. I will add the following.
In many states the road use fees are diverted for other uses, so in light of the fact that road maintenance is being paid for and money also used for bike paths, mass transit projects, parks and such. Is the truck not paying enough or is the car paying too much?
Try looking at it from the opposite view. The states may have plenty of money and rather than raising the truck fees, the standard car fees should be lower.
I did not see this myself, but from what I understand about Scotland, I believe it.
Circa 1980, a young redheaded Scottish girl transferred into a local High School. Her family had just moved to Canada from the old country.
For the first few weeks she was the ‘new and exotic’ girl. Guys paid a lot of attention to her.
One guy had a seriously jealous girlfriend who considered herself to be the tough, kickass type.
She approached the lass and told her in no uncertain terms to lay off ‘her boyfriend’, or she’d regret it.
The lass stated that she had not done anything to encourage him, and it wasn’t her fault her boyfriend was straying. Perhaps he was looking for an upgrade?
The tough girl freaked.
“That’s it! After school we’re going to fight! You’re going to get it!”
The lass sighed and calmly said (in a Scottish accent) “All right, fine. Do I bring a knife, or a gun ?”
Tough girl: “What?…”
Lass: “I’m just over from Scotland, and I don’t know your local Canadian traditions for these things. So, knife or gun?”
TG: “Seriously, what…?”
Lass: “Well?”
The tough girl and her friends backed away and gave the ‘crazy lass’ a wide berth from that point on.
Some tourists just don’t realize how wild the National Parks can be.
The Germans were boyfriend/girlfriend + two children (ages, 34, 27, 11, 4). The flew into Los Angeles in 1996 and visited various places in southern California and Las Vegas. They were reported missing when they did not return home. Tracked by credit card usage to Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park (It was July, and the day they were at Furnace Creek, the high temperature was 124 F), a visitors log was found with a signature from the woman stating that they would be driving over Mengel Pass next. They were in a rented minivan; this is Mengel Pass:
image 231
An extensive search was launched but no sign of them was found. Then in October, a National Park Service helicopter happened to spot a minivan where no minivan should be. It was the Germans’ vehicle. Three tires were flat, ripped open by the terrain. The van wasn’t even on a road, rough as they are in the area, but had been driven down a wash. Another extensive search was launched, but then called off when no sign of the Germans themselves were found.
Fast-forward 13 years. Two hikers find the bones of two adults. Accompanying IDs reveal them as the man and the woman. Some other scattered bones were found, presumably of the children but never officially identified. They were presumably trekking cross-desert toward a military base (shown on the map in their possession) under the assumption that the base perimeter would be staffed. But spanning more than a million acres, most of the base is empty desert and would have offered no chance as salvation.
The National Parks are great, and it doesn’t take more than a modicum of common sense to enjoy them. I’ve personally coaxed rental vehicles down moderately rough roads in DVNP (but I would never try Mengel Pass in any vehicle – it’s just beyond my skill set) and I’ve hiked in the desert. But always prudently, in the right weather, and with the right equipment/supplies (water!). They’re not Disneyland, and if you’re unwise they have a variety of ways of killing you.
I think for an American, the hardest thing to adjust to might be the limits of a social welfare society.
I’m an American who moved to Denmark more than a decade ago and became a Danish dual citizen, so clearly I like Denmark.
But living in Scandinavia compared to living in the USA involves a lot of limits.
For example, you will probably have a much smaller living space than you are used to in the USA (unless you now live in Manhattan or the Bay Area.) If you could afford a house in the USA, you’ll probably have a smaller one in Scandinavia, or even an apartment. If you used to have an apartment of your own, you’ll probably have a room in an apartment, and at least in Copenhagen, apartments usually don’t have a bathtub. You’ll also have much less “stuff” to put in the apartment; “stuff” is expensive in Scandinavia.
The USA is a consumer society; businesses do whatever they can to please the consumer. That’s not true in Scandinavia, which is an equality-based society. While I can’t speak for Norway or Sweden, customer service is awful in Denmark. Shops really don’t care if you come back or not, and don’t count on returning something you’re dissatisfied with. In restaurants, you’ll either have to serve yourself or wait a while to be served; restaurants are chronically understaffed because wages are so high. The server won’t come back to ask if you’d like another cup of coffee or are happy with your meal. Personal services like nail salons and massage places pretty much don’t exist, or are wildly expensive.
Health care is tax-financed (not free, you will be paying for it with a big cut of every paycheck) and great for short-term, fixable things like a broken leg or a cat bite. Longer-term sicknesses, like chronic fatigue or eating disorders, get less support. Also, there are limits on which pharmaceuticals can be prescribed: many post-op patients get only a combination of Tylenol and Advil for pain, for example. If you’re reliant on one type of pharma, check to make sure its equivalent is available before you move. There are also relatively few preventative care appointments or tests; no annual physical, for example, and psychiatric counseling is limited. If you want it on an ongoing basis, you’ll probably have to pay for it yourself.
EDIT: Many commenters have pointed out that health care can vary in Denmark based on the region you live in, which is a good point. However, there are problems with providing psychiatric care nationwide, in particular where it concerns young people, as the Danish Health Authority itself acknowledges: Selv Sundhedsstyrelsen siger det: Psykisk syge behandles for ringe
(From the center-left national newspaper Poltikken.)
Socially, too, you may run into limits. Many Danes still have the friends they made in kindergarten; university is often where they meet the last of their close adult friends. Work colleagues are not “friends” and beyond their 20s rarely go out and drink beers together. People rarely chat with strangers, or offer to help strangers they see struggling with directions or big boxes or whatever. You may miss the relaxed chattiness and warmth of the USA, particularly during the long Danish winters, where the darkness can be brutal.
And then, of course, the language can be a limit. You’ll find that most people aged 10- 50 or so speak excellent English, but you’ll never really get into the culture until you speak Danish well. Besides, there are always annoying little things that are only in Danish – a voicemail menu, a hairdresser’s website – so will need to make a commitment to learning the (difficult) language if you really want to fit in.
Clearly, there are a lot of positive things about living in Scandinavia. But a lot of Americans approach moving there with the idea of “I’ll get everything I have in the USA, plus more!” That’s not necessarily the case.
Looking for a bold and exciting new wing recipe? Make our miso caramel chicken wings recipe with sweet and salty miso caramel-teriyaki sauce tossed with crispy air fried chicken wings!
miso caramel chicken wings
Prep: 20 min | Total: 40 min | Yield: 4 servings
Equipment
Air Fryer
Ingredients
16 chicken wing drumettes (about 2 pounds)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons white miso
3 tablespoons P.F. Chang’s® Home Menu Teriyaki Sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Sliced green onion (optional)
Instructions
Place chicken wings in a large bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Sprinkle cornstarch, salt and pepper over wings and toss until well coated.
Heat air fryer to 350 degrees F and place wings in a single layer in air fryer basket, working in batches if needed. Cook wings until juices run clear and they are just starting to brown, 10 to 14 minutes, shaking the basket once during cooking.
Increase heat to 400 degrees F. Turn wings so the skin side is facing up. Continue air frying wings, in batches if needed, until they are crispy and golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes.
While wings are frying, pour sugar and water into a small, heavy-bottom saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil until sugar is caramelized and a deep amber color. Do not stir the caramelized sugar.
As soon as sugar is caramelized, remove from heat and add butter. Swirl the pan lightly to melt the butter. Whisk in miso, teriyaki sauce, and red pepper flakes. Heat pan over low heat and continue whisking until sugar and miso are smooth. Keep sauce warm until wings are ready.
Remove wings from air fryer to a large bowl and pour sauce over; toss to coat. Garnish your miso caramel chicken wings with green onion, if desired, and serve!
Everything is louder when it’s very cold outside. If you live near a major airport, when the temperature drops well below freezing, the low-flying aircraft will sound like they’re landing on your lawn.
Dog poop steams in the cold. So do sewer grates.
When you park your car, you need to pull the windshield wipers away from the windshield, lest they freeze to it once the car cools down.
It can get too cold to snow. There’s a “sweet spot” temperature range for snow. (About 15–35F). Lower than that, and there’s not enough moisture in the air for snow. Higher than that, and it’s slush or rain.
Thin water pipes in your house that run against an outside wall, like the pipes to your dishwasher or ice maker, will freeze.
It’s very important that your lips are dry if you want to smoke in the cold. Wet lips will freeze to anything when it’s cold outside, including cigarette butts. You will rip the skin off of your lip if you’re not careful.
Yes, back in 2006, I was travelling a lot for a major project, at this particular time, England. I can’t remember if it was London or Manchester, but the queue to pre-screen boarding passes was really long and slow.
About 15 – 20 people ahead of me was a couple probably early 30’s. I couldn’t hear exactly what was going on, but there was obviously some tension between the person checking documents and the lady. The exchange of words continued even after their documents were checked, and the lady even came back a couple of times to give the worker more verbal abuse. By the time I was a few people away waiting to have my documents checked, the lady couldn’t leave well enough alone and kept shouting at the worker.
The worker turned to her colleague and said, I don’t have to put up with this abuse. She walked towards the couple and asked for their boarding passes again. After a few moments of discussion, the couple handed them over and the employee simply said “You are not travelling today, please follow me”. The look the man gave to woman was priceless!! About a dozen people started clapping as they walked off with heads hanging low….
The CIA Murder that Exposed MK-ULTRA | The Frank Olson Assassination
November 28th, 1953. New York City. At 2:30 AM the body hit the sidewalk.
A few seconds later, a shower of glass. The doorman of the Statler Hotel yelled to the lobby that there was a jumper. The night manager rushed out and saw him. A man, about 40 years old, lying on the pavement.
He was on his back, wearing only his underwear and blood started to pool around him. 13 stories up, a single window was open; its curtain flapping through broken glass.
The night manager knelt beside the man, whose eyes were open and was somehow still alive. He desperately tried to speak but was choking on blood and couldn’t be understood.
After a minute or two of trying to communicate, the man took a final deep breath and was gone.
Nobody knows for sure what he was trying to say before he died. But one thing is for certain, it was something about the CIA.
I don’t know that society ‘looks down’ on single people, but a large chunk definitely seems to feel sorry for single people.
A friend of mine recently decided to end things with her boyfriend. She felt so relieved, as the relationship just wasn’t suiting her.
She said that all (bar one) of the friends she broke the news to said ‘Aww, I’m so sorry.’ It ticked her off. She understood it, but it still raised her hackles a bit.
‘Why are they all feeling bad for me?’ she asked. I did it, because I know I’d prefer being single to being in a relationship that was draining me.’
I learned this lesson myself when I divorced. Everyone said ‘Sorry,’ whilst cocking their heads. This despite the enormous relief I felt over escaping a pressure cooker after many years.
From that time, I vowed I’d never have that reaction when someone tells me about their break-up. My first reaction when they break the news to me is always to ask ‘And how do you feel about this?’, then take it from there, depending on how they answer.
One of the only good responses I got when sharing the news of my divorce was from a mum at my son’s school. Without missing a beat, she said ‘Well, congratulations. Unfortunately for me, my husband and I are still together.’ And her husband was standing right next to her!
All three of us burst out laughing, and it diffused the awkward situation. She totally grasped that getting divorced or being single is not the end of the world.
People act like being single is on par with being stranded on some desert island all by yourself. Like you’re Tom Hanks with only Wilson to keep you from spiralling into madness.
It can be likened somewhat to being on an island, I guess, but it’s one with superb amenities, no stresses, and a pre-approved guest list. That’s not anything to pity.
I was an experienced hotel maid working at a Motel 6.
I was assigned five or six rooms. I opened the door to the first one, closed it and found the head housekeeper. I knew it would take at the very least, one or even two shifts to clean it. I made her go look at it; she didn’t want to.
Six college students had rented it for the semester. After the first month or so, they refused to let the room be cleaned. They were to do all the work. I have no idea why management would agree, but they had.
The carpet, literally in most areas, was knee deep in old pizza boxes, fast-food containers, empty pop and beer can, popcorn, chips, new and used condoms and unidentifiable debris. The room stunk and my eyes watered.
It took at least two hours before I cleared out enough trash to even start cleaning.
Spilled liquids had saturated the pillows, mattresses and box springs to such an extent that every thing had to be discarded. The shower cutain and room curtains were shredded. There was a huge pile of filthy sheets and towels with clean ones mixed in.
No one had realized the clean linens and towels went in, but dirty ones never came out.
All of the furnishings were broken, stained, burned, vandalized or all of that. Most had to be discarded or replaced; very little was repairable.
Filth coated the lower walls, the ceilings and I’m not going to discuss the bathroom.
I worked 16 hours instead of the usual six and it was still pretty bad. I left a detailed note with the night clerk and a copy taped to the housekeepers door saying what and what not I had done.
The head housekeeper showed her appreciation of all my hard (and it was hard) work the next morning by greeting me with a huge list of everything I had not done and was yelling at me about what an awful maid I was.
I didn’t have to take that abuse. I knew that two maids had called in sick. I didn’t give a single damn and quit right then and there.
I went to a Ukrainian Orthodox wedding in Canada. A good friend had converted to Orthodox for his wife.
The ceremony was amazing, the priest chasing him around the altar 3 times, hitting him with his scepter 3 times, etc. Quite a bit more entertaining than your typical wedding, but long and drawn out.
The part that blew me away, and made me say you can’t be serious, was the priest saying, and I am paraphrasing here, as I don’t remember the exact words.
“As a man must obey the will of the lord, the wife must obey the will of the husband”
I thought things like this hadn’t been said for 50 years.
But, to show how little attention people pay, I will relate two incidents.
In between the wedding and the reception, a group of us retired to a nearby bar. At the bar, I said good luck getting Mona to obey Greg, as she is the dominant one in the relationship. Everyone said, they don’t say that at weddings anymore. I asked them if they were at the same wedding I was just at, and quoted the priest.
Then later at the wedding reception, which was held in the church hall, I joked about it with my friend. He said they don’t say that anymore. He called his wife over for verification, and she agreed, and said my memory was flawed. A little later in the reception, the priest was walking by, and I cornered him, and he agreed that is what he had said.
I asked him to confirm that with the Bride and groom. He came over with me and I asked him in front of the couple. They were both stunned. They had been through the rehearsal and the wedding and never heard what they had committed to. Mona finally burst out laughing and said “Good luck with that”
They know which females populate their territories and know which they’ve bred with. It’s that simple. If they find a female w cubs that he NEVER mated with, he will kill them.
What’s interesting is sometimes these fathers actually step up and care for young. There was an instance in India where a mother tiger died (poacher i believe) while her cub was still dependent on her. The father had met her previously & had a good relationship.
Then, after her mom died she was seen with her father briefly at a water hole and then 24/7. He was hunting prey and bringing her to it. Giving her protection, basically taking over the role of her mother. This has never been documented bbefore. Totally unprecedented behavior, as fathers are usually completely dismissive and hands off. At most they come through and meet their offspring, sharing a meal the mother caught. Aka freeloading. Goes to show tigers are individuals with wide ranges of behavior and potential
One night some ding dong opened the drain of a deep fat fryer, dumping hot oil onto the floor of the cook’s line.
Fortunately, the fryer was turned off, because a lit deep fat fryer will ignite if there is no oil inside. This happens because the residual oil within the fryer will immediately exceed its flash point and you’ll quickly have a fire on your hands. The guy who did it was planning on cleaning the fryer, which requires it to be drained. The tank drains into a catch pan, which contains a paper filter, and a pump recirculates the filtered oil back into the fryer’s cooking tank. For some reason, the dude had the fryer’s spout aimed at the floor, not at the tank.
The perpetrator of this crime had experience cleaning the fryer, they just weren’t paying attention. As gallons of hot oil hit the floor, they ran, as did everyone else, and the fryer emptied its belly onto the kitchen floor. It was a huge hot sizzling greasy mess that took more than an hour to clean up. We didn’t have any option other than to squeegee the oil into the floor drains, then we wasted dozens of side towels drying the floor. It wasn’t until we had the mess cleaned up that everyone could finish cleaning their stations and go home. There was a lot of anger, and one case of severe embarrassment in the kitchen that night.
Couple Finds Out Their New House Comes With A Cat | The Dodo
It was a very windy day in the late 1980’s. I was driving past the Ford motor works in Halewood, Liverpool. I was on the main dual carriage way.
In front of me was a Mini and in front of that Mini was a flatbed truck carrying planks of wood.
We were heading East out of Liverpool towards Widnes. Traveling at about 60 miles per hour.
I saw a gust of wind begin to lift some of the planks of wood on the truck.
One of the planks actually had enough wind get under it that it rose off the truck, snapped it’s tethers and then launched like a caber end over end back along he carriageway. The plank end landed just in front of the Mini bent and sprang up and over the Mini, the other end of the plank then hit the road just in front of my car and did the same spring up and over my car but twisting it diverted slightly so as it fell behind my car it fell onto the pavement ( sidewalk) running along the car factory perimeter fence.. A box van behind me hit the plank and shattered it into several pieces as it broke on the roadway and kerb.
It was a near miss for what could have been a serious accident.
My conclusion is that it cannot be answered because trying to judge the Russian Empire by modern standards will inevitably fail.
Take a look at this picture:
image 150
Photo source: Yle News.
Photo credit: Carl Jahn / Finnish Heritage Agency
This is a prisoner from the Finnish Grand Duchy that has been deported to a labor camp in Siberia. On foot.
He’s chained to a cart because he has tried to escape. His head has been half-shaved to brand him as a convict.
We treat prisoners quite differently these days.
Russia was never particularly enlightened, but it did, at times, have more ‘European-minded’ leaders. Finns didn’t mind them.
Alexanders I and II could be described as such.
Nicholases I and II (Nikolai) could not.
Finland was granted extensive autonomy by Russian standards. It served Russia’s own interests, but Finns didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. They took it and ran with it.
Things weren’t bad at first. A stronger Finnish identity created a buffer between Russia and its archnemesis, Sweden.
Then Russia caught the nationalist bug itself and the developments in Finland were no longer compatible with where Russia was going. That’s when Russia tried to take it all away and then some.
It was too late. Finns were past the point where they’d accept being subjugated like that again, or even tolerate a so-called benevolent czar.
I was selling very cheap rubbish diy home alarm systems with equally rubbish motion sensors. The company I worked for at the time had some fantastic products, this most certainly was not one of them.
They were so bad I would go to a customer’s house to replace parts with multiple spare parts because the replacement was often faulty too. Argh, I hated that product.
This one day I knocked on the door to be greeted by a very attractive young lady wearing gym clothes. She told me straight up that she was heading to the gym just as soon as her partner arrived. I was told he would arrive imminently and that is how it turned out. However before he returned home I was asked if I would like a glass of water, it was a very hot day and I said yes.
I followed her into the kitchen at her request. She went to the refrigerator and prominently displayed on her refrigerator door were nude photos of her. Several of them. I think they were professionally done and presumed she maybe was a model but I didn’t ask and didn’t even mention the photos. That was something I hadn’t seen before.
Very hot day that because I remember being so very thirsty. Must have had 4 or 5 glasses of water before I finished that job. Yes it was hot and I was thirsty.
That answers the question but that wasn’t even the weirdest part of that call out. The partner strikes up a conversion with me, while I’m working and asked me how well I knew people at my company’s head office. I told him I knew most everyone. He then asked me if I knew such and such which, believe it or not, was my boss. My boss was this guys ex-wife!
I am pretty sure I didn’t blurt out loud, “You traded up nicely!” but I do know I at least thought it very loudly!
That was a weird house call, a very weird day I will never forget.
This actually happened to me many years ago. I was a property manager of 80 units. My boss and I had a heated exchange and in haste he fired me on the spot. He asked me to stay until he could find a replacement. “Sorry Charlie!” I cleaned out my desk and handed him the keys, and I left the property of my own volition….
I was off-site the rest of the week. My now former boss was blowing up my phone. “Where are you?” then it was, “You are needed in the office?” I ignored his calls. He then messaged me on Facebook and said it was “with great urgency that we talk”. As it turned-out 2 members of the office staff (there were 3 all together) quit! The residents had started a petition to reinstate me – 60-plus signatures in all. He would not cave and subsequently received somewhere around 15 to 20- thirty day notices in effect terminating their leases. Additionally, some of the residents (refused to pay their rent. The community quickly became unstable and increasing hostile towards him. The morning shift manager at Tiger Mart next door to the complex – a tenant of mine, refused him service.….
He offered me my job back. I let him sweat for a day, then accepted and returned to my job. I was never so moved by an experience as I was at that job, not because my boss had given me my job back, but, rather, because the tenants did!
As far as I can tell, “free will” simply refers to a lack of self-awareness, and the inability to understand why we make the decisions we make.
And yes, that lack of self-awareness definitely exists.
People make decisions, but they are not quite sure why they made that decision.
For example, people will go into a shop, end up buying a load of useless and overpriced crap that they don’t need and didn’t intend to buy.
If they are unaware of the multitudes of manipulation techniques that are implemented by the shop to achieve that result… then they’ll call that lack of awareness about their decision making process “free will”.
Likewise, people who grow up exposed to religious propaganda, and then end up believing in the religion that they were exposed to, usually lack the self awareness to notice the whole process. And so they’ll call their belief in the propaganda they were exposed to a “choice made by free will”.
When I was in fourth grade, one of my best friends had his new (2 week old) bike stolen from his backyard. A few days later, we were at a shopping center right near our apartment complex, and there was his bike, chained to a bike rack. We knew it was his bike, not an identical one belonging to someone else, because he had put a sticker on it, and the sticker was still there. We called the police, but the thief got there before the police did. The thief was probably about 4 years older than us, and a pretty big kid. We told him that the bike belonged to my friend, and that we wouldn’t cause any problems if he just gave it back. He insisted that his parents bought him the bike, and it just looked like my friend’s bike. While we were arguing with him, the police arrived. He again insisted that the bike was just an identical one that his parents bought him.
The police asked us if we could prove that it was his stolen bike. The thief was shocked when my friend said “Yes, as soon as I got the bike, I wrote my name and address and phone number on an index card, rolled it up, and put it in the tube of seat. If you take the seat off you’ll find that card.” The thief stood there slack-jawed. The police got a wrench and removed the seat, and sure enough, there was the index card rolled up inside. The policeman handed the bike over to my friend and drove off with the thief to go have a chat with his parents…
I have always thought that “PCP gives you super human strength” was an urban myth, until one night, during my residency.
There was a kind of smaller, skinny young guy that was restrained to the gurney. He was high on PCP and who knows what else. Drug screen had been sent but wasn’t back yet.
He was making such a fuss, in the ER, that they placed him in a small isolation room.
I’ was a resident. The attending was wrinkling up his nose as this guy is yelling all kinds of profanity and threats.
He sent me in to assess the patient.
I told him that I’m not going in there alone.
He told me that the patient is restrained.
“Nope.”
Ok. We’ll go in together.
I step over to the room and knock gently.
“Sir, this is Doctor Boehm. I’d like to come in and talk to you.”
No answer.
I try again.
No answer.
Everything, in there, has gone quiet.
The attending and I exchange glances. Then, he reaches around me and pushes the door open.
My first fleeting impression was a bloody blade, of some sort, coming at my face.
I jumped back and practically fell over the attending physician.
I yell for security, at the top of my lungs.
People come running.
The patient, I kid you not, had some how managed to get on his feet, restrained, with the gurney ON HIS BACK.
He has, some how, ripped open the sharps container. He was trying to attack, anyone with in reach, with a pair of bloody scissors that he found inside.
They finally got him restrained and sedated.
I was shaking like a leaf. I couldn’t stop thinking about how my kids could have lost their mom.
I never went anywhere near an agitated patient, without Security, again.
Ask any veteran of Stalingrad in WW2 and it would be Pavlov’s house. I have been there to see it after reading about the importance of this building to the battle. It will cause you goosebumps! What a story!
This guy Yakov Pavlov was a Sgt. in the Soviet army and held this position at all costs. The Wehrmacht tried and tried to destroy the building over the course of 58 days and failed. Quite possibly, if this building had fallen, then the battle would have been won by the Nazis. This would have given them access to the fuel supply that they needed and the outcome of WW2 totally changed.
image 148image 147
Vasily Chuikov, commanding general of the Soviet forces in Stalingrad, later joked that the Germans lost more men trying to take Pavlov’s House than they did taking Paris.
In the aftermath, captured Nazi maps used during the battle showed that EVEN THE NAZIS called the building “Pavlov’s house”!
I don’t know what the Chinese Singaporeans, mainlanders and in HK learn from the Taiwanese people’s experience but I can tell you what I, a Malaysian Indian, learnt from it –
1.I would certainly not call it an achievement, since that word implies an end with bigger and better results as well as a greater general good for all the people involved in the process.
2.Democracy as it is practised in Taiwan (and quite a few other places I can think of) is the fastest way of putting the corrupt, the feeble-minded, the easily manipulated and the snake oil salesmen in power.
3.That version of “democracy” seems like the best way to surrender control of an entire region or nation to the elite oligarchy with interests in either arms or other consumer goods.
4.That version of “democracy” is, however, the best and easiest way of convincing the stupid, the brainwashed, the feeble-minded and the generally apathetic that they are enjoying “freedom” while giving up many of the actual rights willingly.
For all the reasons above, I am convinced that the Taiwanese people’s “achievement” of democracy is one of the best and most humane ways of creating, empowering and maintaining a hidden dictator class of ruling elite oligarchs.
Years ago a girlfriend and I were having lunch on a patio, we had daiquiris, shrimp and fried rice.
She ate all of her fried rice, left all of her shrimp, and ordered a second daiquiri. I asked her if there was something wrong with the shrimp, and she said no, she was sure they were fine, but she was on a diet.
I had observed in the past that she loved her carbs, and would eat carbs instead of healthy things like skinless chicken breast, pork tenderloin , skipjack tuna and shrimp.
So I asked her why she was leaving the lowest calorie thing, eating the higher calorie fried rice, and ordering an even higher calorie drink.
She laughed at me and told me that everyone knew that meat/protein wasn’t healthy and had higher calories than anything else.
The shrimp had roughly half the calories of the same weight fried rice, and less than half the calories of her daiquiri.
How could you go on a diet and not know this?
I never told her how many calories were in her favorite perogies and french fries.
After Chatting With 408 Women And 25 Dates, A Viewer Confirms ONCE AGAIN Why Men Keep Walking Away
Gosh! I am so glad that I am not on the dating scene in the West. China is so refreshingly different.
My dad had a grate answer. This woman parked her BMW in our driveway whenever she went to the Beauty Parlor. She blocked is so no one could leave until she returned. My dad asked he not to park in our driveway and was ignored. One day he had enough. He went in and got the sugar boll from the table and pored about half on the ground by her gas cap and let the door to the cap open. Then he put a note on her windshield, “THIS IS A REAL SWEET CAR. I BET IT WOULD RUN ON PURE SUGAR.” and went in to watch the fun. An hour later the woman came back and found the note, looked at the ground by her gas cap and called the Police. When they arrived, they pointed out she was on private property and they could do nothing however, they advised her not to risk driving the car with contaminated gas. Have it toed to a garage the tank drained and refilled. Save some of the gas and have it tested to prove it was tampered with and sue. She did. She had to pay the tow truck, the garage to remove and clean than refill the tank after putting it back, pay the lab to test the gas only to find it was never tampered with. She never parked in the driveway again!
My husband passed away almost 5 years ago. His ex wife had been a pretty much constant source of frustration the 6 years we were together (and they were divorced). She continued to harass me the entire 6 weeks of his hospital stay. At 10:30pm while I was sitting with my husband, her texts started. She told me I better go straight home and start packing. According to her I had 72 hours to vacate our house after my husband died. There was no truth to that. She had no ownership in our home. I simply replied that my lawyers (and they also notified her divorce attorney) had assured me the clause in the final decree promised a $1000 fine and 30 days in jail for any harassment of me. I forwarded that response, along with her threatening texts, to her daughters and each of her “friends” who were harassing me. I also informed her security would throw her out of the funeral if she showed anything but respect. Her harassment pretty much stopped!
Girl Cried As The Shelter Cat Hugged Her Tightly And Wouldn’t Let Her Go
Girl Cried As The Shelter Cat Hugged Her Tightly And Wouldn’t Let Her Go. Rachel, a college student at the time, was volunteering at the shelter. She had been helping animals at the shelter for a long time and was spending her last volunteer day that day.
My ex-mother-in-law had a dishwasher in her kitchen that she never used. It was several years old, but was in like-new condition. It still had the paperwork and a packet of detergent inside that had been provided with the machine.
One evening after dinner at her house, I offered to take care of the dishes and started loading them into the dishwasher.
She heard me and made a beeline for the kitchen, letting me know that in her house all the dishes were to be washed by hand.
I asked why she didn’t like her dishwasher. She was convinced that hand-washed dishes are more sanitary than machine-washed.
She agreed to run a little test. I ran hot water into the sink and asked her to wash a dish in it. She couldn’t because the water was way too hot for her hands.
“The water in your dishwasher gets hotter than this.”
My MIL was in her late-60’s at the time, but she wasn’t too old to learn new tricks. After that, she used her dishwasher regularly and was happy with the time and effort that it saved her.
Girlfriend Brings Up Open Relationship And Has MELTDOWN After Boyfriend Dumps Her Right On The Spot
Quick one. The general idea behind a woman offering an “open relationship” is for her to date and fuck who ever she wants, while the boyfriend / husband sits alone at home watching the kids, dogs and cats.
A Japanese girl, streaming live video on YouTube, was roaming in Germany. While walking there (racist) people were harassing her, but the girl did not pay much attention to them. Her innocent grin persisted on camera.
But while she was eating food in a restaurant, an older man started sitting near the girl and making faces like this:
image 146
Like this man, another racist person also made faces to tease the girl. Eventually the girl became a little sad because a person passing by had almost dropped her camera.
image 145
At the end of the video, a man approaches the girl and apologizes. The man tenderly states that he is ashamed of the behavior of other German people. He looks at the camera and says, “This girl is very nice, and please come to Germany.” The girl melted at seeing this and hugged the person.
image 144
Making a foreign guest a character of such harassment goes far beyond the limits of despair.
I had a student who came into my history class and told me how she hated history, hated me, and did not want to be there. She then said I am a black lesbian, EFF YOU whitey. I looked at her the class hearing this was not sure what or how I would react. I smiled and said, so does this mean we are not going to have lunch later. She looked at me as if to say something profound but just shook her head. Silence was deafening for a few minutes. It was our first day of class, I said my job is not to make you love history but my job is to assure that you have a basic historical understanding. I will make a deal with all of you, give me three classes, if you do not like what you are hearing, seeing, reading, or learning drop the class, add another class. But I ask you keep an open mind. We have a class section called stump the prof, its your turn to ask me history classes. It has to be related to American history is the only catch.
She would ask me questions every class and they showed an understanding that I admired. She was not afraid to express herself, she was not polished, she was blunt and to the point. We watched a documentary on the Triangle Coat Factory Fire in the 1900s and said with a sadness in her voice, Prof that could have been me or any of us girls in this class. What she taught me is we all can change and become a better self. Her willingness to see these young dead women in caskets due to neglect made her realize it could have been her. She changed from a angry young woman to a stronger empathetic history lover.
My husband worked for an LTL trucking company. When he told his work stories, he began to mention a driver called “Nemo.” I didn’t think much of it until he referenced an older story that I knew was about a driver called (I forget his real name*, so let’s say) John, not Nemo.
When I asked, my husband explained that John had earned the nickname “Nemo” and it wasn’t going away any time soon.
Most of the drivers delivered to the same area every day. Familiarity improved delivery times. However, John, on the same route for almost a year, didn’t seem to learn any shortcuts.
They would frequently get calls from customers asking where their delivery was. Dispatch would then call John, asking how close he was to the delivery, and John would respond that he didn’t know because he was lost.
Dispatch would then pull up the GPS, find John’s truck, and give him directions back to the customer. The manager would ask dispatch what they had going on, and hear, “I’m finding Nemo,” so often that soon nobody called him John anymore. He will live forever in our stories as “Nemo.”
* I asked my husband what Nemo’s real name was. He doesn’t remember either! Forever Nemo….
Riiiight… The MiG-41 was due to go into service in 2028. Notice I say ‘was’; I gather that most of the more sophisticated components are a little hard to come by now, and that money is also rather tight; Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has almost certainly delayed the MiG-41 by several years, if it hasn’t killed it stone dead. You can’t use looted washing machine circuits in a 6th-generation fighter.
Then there’s Russia’s track record on Wunderwaffen in recent years. The T-14 tank and the Su-57 spring to mind as projects that look great on paper and shiny in parades – and then somehow never quite make it to the front lines in quite the form or quite the numbers or to quite the schedule that were announced.
And the MiG-41 is still a little vague as to what it actually is and does, given that it’s supposedly only a couple of years off production. Is it 6th-generation hypersonic near-space miracle? Or is it a MiG-31 upgrade: a Foxhound with better engines? Meanwhile, Boeing has a physical flight demonstrator of its NGAD programme candidate up and running, and Project Tempest is in development here in the UK, Europe, and Japan.
And nobody – given how Russian equipment has performed in Ukraine – is going to want MiG-41s if they can have either of those, let alone ‘dream about owning’ the MiG.
There is an old Quora proverb: before you ask why, ask if.
Husband and wife interaction in China
One of my youtube videos. Only 12 people viewed it.
Optional Toppings: confectioners’ sugar, gingersnap cookie crumbs, finely chopped pecans and melted white baking chocolate
Instructions
Chocolate Mascarpone Bourbon Balls
Beat the mascarpone, confectioners’ sugar and bourbon in a large bowl until smooth. Add chocolate wafer crumbs and pecans; stir until blended. Refrigerate mascarpone mixture, uncovered, overnight.
Shape mascarpone mixture into 1 inch balls; roll and coat with toppings as desired.
Store covered in the refrigerator.
Mascarpone Rum Balls
Beat the mascarpone, confectioners’ sugar, rum, eggnog and cinnamon in a large bowl until smooth. Add gingersnap cookie crumbs and pecans; stir until blended. Refrigerate mascarpone mixture, uncovered, overnight.
Shape mascarpone mixture into 1 inch balls; roll and coat with toppings as desired.
Store covered in the refrigerator.
Notes
Balls coated with baking cocoa or confectioners’ sugar may need to be coated again before serving.
The balls are best served cold.
U.S. “M2” Money Supply Collapsing Faster than During Great Depression
The supply of physical cash money in circulation inside the United States is collapsing fast than it did during the Great Depression. The chart below, from the Federal Reserve, shows the facts:
Money Supply Collapsing Since 1930s 1
It shows M2 money on a year-over-basis is contracting by the most since the 1930s.
M2 is decreasing, every time this happened in the last 150 years there has been a DEPRESSION. Here’s a chart to prove it:
Money Supply V ersus Depression
Mind you, the chart above is from MARCH . . . . it’s gotten worse since then!
As cash is taken out of the economy, the economy runs out of steam and stalls . . . fast.
What followed the Great Depression?
What’s going to follow this economic collapse?
If you answered “world war” you’re correct!
We’re being looted.
Over 50% of the money given to Ukraine is unaccounted for, for instance.
This is the looting stage before the country falls. All planned out.
Yes. I was driving my elderly parents to their apartment. My son was in the front seat. I was pulled over for speeding. It was one of those road that went from 45 to 25 without changing the road or the neighborhood. My parents were fighting in the backseat, my son was telling them to please be quiet. The cop said the usual, “do you know why I pulled you over” My reply was just give me the ticket I have to get these two home as they are driving me crazy. He asked me if I’d mind stepping out of the vehicle. I said no I didn’t mind. Anything to get away from them. He then just talked to me. Told me he understood how fighting elderly parents can grate on a person. He asked if I was on the way to the elderly housing which was about 2 miles down the road. I was and acknowledged it. He said just take a couple of deep breaths. I will talk to you till you feel up to being in the vehicle with them. Just do the speed limit, you are almost there. Then go to Culvers and treat yourself and your son. You both could use it. It took me about ten minutes to calm down. My parents were still fighting but I got them home and took my son and I out for ice cream as ordered. No ticket. He did not even ask for my license and registration.
I have the perfect answer whenever anyone insults you.
“You’re right. What’s your point?”
Kills them every time.
Example: I was parked in the very first spot in front of a high school where I would be teaching night school. I had about a half hour before I needed to head in, so I was reading the news on my phone. A sixteen year old chickeeboo tried to back her car enough in front of mine to somehow claim she was parked legally. But most of her car was over the hash marks that indicted a walkway. Also, because she’d parked so tight against my front bumper, I wouldn’t be able to leave without her moving first. So I strolled up to her car and explained she was parked illegally. She could move about twenty feet ahead to the next legal space. I returned to my car to continue reading.
She didn’t move her car. She sat for a while, probably pondering her killer take down, then popped out and approached my car. She indicated I should roll down my window, which I did.
She said, “Your attitude makes you look old!”
Wow! Zinger! Total destruction… except… not.
I gazed at her calmly and said, “I am old. And you’re still parked illegally. Move your car.”
She flounced back to her car. Pondered whether she should try another killer take down. Then she moved her car.
I enjoyed a night of class knowing I could leave whenever I wanted.
Next time someone insults you, try it. It does work. I used it on my MIL until she finally stopped insulting me. And trust me, that was a miracle. She insulted everyone.
I think the little boy in this photograph takes the cake. His name? Henk Heithuis. And I am warning you ahead of time, his story is absolutely gruesome and terrifying. Heithuis was born in the Netherlands in 1935 and placed in the foster system, to be cared for by Catholic priests. Now priests had a tendency of abusing young children under their care, there have been many such cases… but Heithuis was not like most victims… he was about to go public.
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Usually, the abuse was quietly pushed aside, shrugged off, swept under the rug. It’s been that way for centuries. Victims stayed quiet out of shame and fear. Not Henk Heithuis. He decided to make a stand. For himself and for all those others he had known who were abused, molested, raped. So he went to the police, and officially accused the priests of sexual abuse. This was revolutionary, and absolutely unheard of in the 1950s!
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What Heithuis had not anticipated, is the absolute cruelty and the far-reaching power of the institution he was about to face. Since he was still legally a minor at the time of the abuse, and at the time he made his accusation, Heithuis was still a ward of the state, unable to make his own decisions, the court argued.
He insisted, however, that he was raped.
The priests then came forward and denied this. Instead, they instead, Heithuis was a homosexual boy who had “seduced the priests”, can you imagine their audacity? The young victim vehemently denied the accusations, maintained he had been raped and that he was, in fact, heterosexual — he even had a girlfriend he hoped to marry as soon as he reached the age of maturity.
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The church, however, had quite a bit of influence with the courts. They convinced them that Heithuis was, in fact, homosexual. And in the 1950s, homosexuality was still illegal in the now-so-liberal Netherlands. The treatment consisted of either years in an institution, chemical castration, or physical castration… with Heithuis, no rebuttal was allowed, no second opinion considered and no option given — he was to be castrated immediately. Which he was.
They drugged the teenaged abuse victim, drove him to a clinic down South and strapped him to a table where they surgically gelded him. After the operation they kicked him to the curb… Heithuis was broken.
Mentally.
Physically.
He abandoned his friends and his fiancée and became a sailor. He made it as far as Japan, when he broke down and, when on shore leave, found his way to the Dutch embassy. Here, he told his story to a diplomat who took pity on his fate. He even showed his scars, and explained how his hormones were now out of control, his body no longer felt like his and he was suicidal.
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“Please tell my story…” Heithuis insisted, “make notes, remember it. They may come for me. They may kill me.”
Surely it wouldn’t be so bad, his friend, Cornelius Rogge, assured him. Surely they would not have him killed. How could they? But Heithuis was sure of it. Arrangements were made with the shipping company to have him brought back home to his country.
When he returned, Heithuis, helped by his friends who knew his story, once again pressed charges. This time for forcible castration, lying about his sexuality and mental health problems as well as slandering his good name. Still a fiery chap, still refusing to surrender, he wanted justice, he wanted his good name restored.
But in 1958, shortly after pressing charges Henk Heithuis got into a car accident and died on the spot.
The police confiscated all his personal belongings and material provided to them by the deceased. All material was destroyed on the day of his death.
Cat love is so strong
Here is one of my MM youtube videos… It only has 6 views. Why?
Originally Answered: As a police officer, who was the most truly evil human you ever encountered?
Midnight in Glasgow, two cops got behind a stolen car and gave chase.
The stolen car weaved about the road to prevent the cop car overtaking. It narrowly missed oncoming vehicles, turned without warning, crossed to the opposite carriage and twice mounted the pavement.
Inevitably, it crashed.
Head on into a parked car.
The officers extricated John, a battered, bruised and belligerent 13-year-old boy from the driver’s seat. They found the car to contain stolen goods from various break-ins.
When the cops took John home to his parents, they discovered that he had been missing for four days. His parents had not been looking for him, they hadn’t even reported him missing.
These are the worst people I came across, the parents who take no interest in the children they bring into this world. The people who don’t care about anyone, even their own offspring.
Within a few years, John found himself incarcerated in a Young Offenders Institution.
As part of a rehabilitation program, they took a group of young offenders to an outward-bound camp. Also attending the camp was a group of special-needs children. They gave each young offender the responsibility of looking after one special-needs child.
After a day spent climbing, one leader found John sitting on his bunk crying.
John spent the day with a kid with Down Syndrome.
He walked with him for miles, made him tea on a burner and shared his sandwiches.
When they got back to camp, as the sun settled behind the horizon, his kid climbed on to John’s lap, put his arms around his neck, hugged him tight and told him, “I love you.”
“No-one ever said that to me before,” John said as he sniffed back his tears.
Given that this is a PhD student, it’s appropriate to talk theory vs. practice.
In theory, she could go to one of the following:
Department chair
Director of graduate studies for the department (or director of the PhD program)
Human resources
In practice, since she has a great deal to lose, I would consider playing a more cautious game. I’m not recommending she do these things instead, but I would recommend considering one or more of them. I’m going to assume her advisor is a “he”, just to simplify writing.
Document everything. If it’s all verbal, that’s fine; she should still note everything that’s happened, with approximate dates and a list of anyone present and/or who might have overheard.
Collect evidence. Even if it’s her emailing you to complain, that shows a paper trail. Obviously, if there’s email, text, voicemail, etc., from her advisor, even if it’s ambiguous, she should collect it.
Find out if the school has an ombudsman. Many schools do. This is a person who has the ability to speak confidentially about anything. Generally speaking, this person is NOT a mandatory reporter, and that shouldn’t apply if he’s simply verbally expressed romantic interest.
Find an employment lawyer. This will probably cost a few hundred bucks on retainer. Yes, I know, broke grad student, but seriously, this is a potential legal nightmare.
What would I do? Obviously, I can only speak hypothetically, but I would probably do all of these things, and quickly, then I’d speak to HR as my first official act involving the school (unless the lawyer advised otherwise, but they won’t). My hope would be that all of this is entirely unnecessary and that he would respond appropriately to “no thanks”, but I think he’s already crossing a line by making romantic overtures to his own PhD student. That’s usually against university rules and always unethical.
EDIT: Saeed Doroudiani makes a good additional point: a sufficiently independent, well-run graduate student union (GSU) can help here, too. However, there are few guarantees with a GSU. With an ombudsman, there’s a guarantee of privacy, and with HR, there’s a guarantee that a policy/procedure will be followed (and that should be publicly available). You could lose control if someone in the GSU chose to share out of turn or to go public, and there are no protections for you. A well-run, independent GSU won’t do this, but there are no guarantees that this is what you have. Get some information before talking to them. At best, they can act as effective advocates, but at worst, they can undermine your (already limited) control of the situation. Thanks, Saeed!
EDIT: If you want a good laugh, look through some of the collapsed comments. There are some great ones. One person accused me of being homophobic for stating my assumption that the offending professor is a man. Another discusses strong personalities but is just a heavily coded, “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Actually, on reflection, I don’t recommend reading them, but they’re amusing to me.
What happens when you type incorrectly? You press backspace and retype it again.
This is a stenotype.
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A typewriter, used by shorthand writers. Like for example, a journalist typing down a speech. He needs accuracy and speed while typing. He can’t have the politician repeat his words again and again. They have specific set of letters from the above set which have specific meaning. They type that.
image 17
(That’s a better view of the keyboard.)
What if they make a mistake? They have a key (the middle key in the original typewriter picture) for space. But where’s the backspace?
Now, modern day texting.
Her: What’s your favorite color?
Me: Ted.
Me: *Red. Stupid autocorrect.
What did I do?
I added an asterisk to correct my mistake.
How did the use of asterisk come up?
Well, it’s a practice by shorthand writers to add an asterisk beside the mistake, to indicate it’s a mistake and correct it later on. That’s how the practice of using an asterisk while texting came up.
All your life has been a lie.
You’d be thanking that asterisk right now for saving you from all those embarrassing autocorrects your phone made. 🙂
I parked in a hospital parking lot, and when I came back to my vehicle, there was this young couple, early twenties having a heated discussion. She wanted him to call a taxi, and drive to a mall and buy a battery. He wanted to call a locksmith. The battery in their key fob was dead, and they couldn’t get the door open. They were getting quite mad at each other, thinking that the others solution was going to cost more and take longer.
I asked them if I could be of assistance, and they both wanted me to explain to the other why their idea sucked.
The guy suggested that maybe I could take the battery out of my fob, and put it in theirs just long enough, for them to open the doors.
I asked to see their key fob, and he handed it to me, thinking I was going to do his suggestion.
I walked to their car, put the key in the lock, and opened the door.
They both were stunned. Saying OMG, how did you do that?
They had never seen a car door opened with a key. I felt really old, and just a little smug.
Why “Nobody” Lives On Australia’s Big Island State: Tasmania
I loved the good ol’ army surplus stores, and as a boy, I would go over to them with a fist full of changes and some bills and pick up a odd surplus item or two to dink around with.
I had a Vietnam war era canteen… aluminum, not plastic, and it leaked. But I would wear it with my web cargo belt as I rode in my hikes thought the nearby forests. I also had a mess tin, with massive silverware, fit for a giant, but I really never did anything with it.
army and navy store
When I was 13 years old, I had a surplus German world war II pith helmet from the Africa Corps that I wore all the time, and I would wear it as I spent my summers golfing and then swimming. My friends all got ones as well, but theirs hardly lasted past a week. It would get wet… one excuse or the other …and be ruined. But unlike them… I treasured mine.
Army supply
My brother had a cameo dentist smock that was really cool, and for a spell I lusted over it. It looked really cool. Don’t quite know how he ran into it, but the Army and navy store was constantly getting new and one-off items throughout the Summer months.
One week before I left for China, I went into the “old” store and I hardly recognized it. Mostly empty with a warehouse “feeling” to it. Many cheap goods, and not much to interest me. I bought a black backpack and it was the only thing that survived my trip to China. The rest of my belongings were lost in transit.
I suggest that if you have an opportunity, take your early teenagers to a local Army and Navy store and let them explore. Who knows what they will find.
I bought a house and was moving out of the previous home, in which I had a 6-car garage full of toys, along with many items stored outside. That month, I sold six Harleys, brought home three more, and sold them. Now that I would have half the storage space, I sold several other items, such as boats, offroad vehicles, and toy haulers.
When each of these items was sold, I would rubber-band the cash in $10k bundles, and anything less would be placed on the top shelf until it could be bundled with other funds. I’d frequently toss the bundles into the safe for the time being. At some point, when I did the math in my head, I felt I was missing a $10,000 USD bundle.
I had too much on my plate with the move to be concerned about whether or not I had lost money. But I’d catch myself doing the math in my head while driving or having a meal, and it wasn’t adding up, so I’d somehow lost a bundle.
The safe was left at the house due to its size and weight. I had to come back for it after enlisting some assistance in moving it. I had already emptied out its contents while rearranging a few of the internal shelves.
Once I realized I was going to be transporting the safe on its back instead of upright like before, I decided to remove all the interior shelving this time, as it would have come apart while being transported on its back. That’s when I found the missing $10,000. bundle.
It’s a good thing I hadn’t sold the safe with the cash inside.
I used to work for a large rehab company. I was a licensed occupational therapist. One year, we had a new girl start there, who was from Europe. She was also also a licensed therapist, but had two years of additional training. She was also on a work visa. At first she was friendly and agreeable, but soon began to show her true colors. She started making snide comments about people behind their backs, and then proceeded to say them to their faces. She told me that where she came from, I wouldn’t be considered a real therapist, because I had only studied for two years.
We had a few Rehab assistants that she proceeded to lord over, because she had a college degree and they did not. But they worked hard and did their jobs. One day she sat with us at lunch; myself, and two rehab assistants. She proceeded to make rude comments about certain ethnic groups in the company, claiming that they had chips on their shoulders. I told her that her remarks could be construed as racism, and that she had better knock it off. She scoffed, and went on making rude comments. When she left the room with a big smirk on her face, one of the aides told me that she had been making unflattering comments behind my back, too. I decided that she needed to be taught a lesson. I contacted our clinical director and reported her behavior, especially the racist comments.
An hour later, she came walking down the hall, smirk replaced by copious tears. She had been warned that if she continued with her behavior, she would be shipped right back to Europe.
I was an assistant manager for a large auto parts company. Our district manager (DM) was a real POS. I avoided him as much as possible. One day he came to our store, very pissy, and the manager was trying hard to appease him. After the DM left, I looked at the manager and told him he just brown nosed to his ankles. He didn’t say anything, just gave me a funny look. Two days later, after his “weekend”, he handed in his notice. He looked so relieved and happy those last two weeks! He was dating another manager, so we all heard when his dad, a real sweetheart who used to come in frequently, passed away. Other than his girlfriend, I was the only person from the company that attended the funeral. He told me then that my comment was a major wake-up call and that he realized he was no longer willing to work in that environment. His new job made him much happier.
I grew up in a semi-rural area, the child of homesteaders. We had food. Food was never good or bad, it was on the table, and you ate until you were full.
We ate very well, but worked for that food.
My mother had a huge chicken coop, so lots of eggs and chicken.
We planted and harvested about 2 acres of fruits and vegetables of all kinds that could grow in our area. My father had a greenhouse about the size of a single car garage, so we were able to extend a growing season.
Summer weekends were spent in the bush, picking all sorts of wild berries.
We made our own jams, jellies, cordials, chutneys, different kinds of pickles, canned fruits and berries. We processed veggies for use during the winter. This involved sterilizing jars, picking and cleaning foods, slicing, dicing, blanching food, boiling sealing jars, bagging and freezing.
My father bought the rest of the food we couldn’t grow or source naturally.
Sundays, we always had a huge roast, all kinds of roasted root veggies, and devil’s food cake with 7 minute frosting. Most often, dessicated coconut was also put in the frosting. This is exactly what it looked like
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During the week, a normal meal was soup, meat and 2 veg, salad, some kind of pickle, and dessert. Dessert was usually fruit, either fresh or home canned in heavy syrup, and ice cream.
When I was young, our home had a wood stove – so fire wood had to be chopped. We didn’t have running water, so water had to be carried by bucket. We had a coal furnace, so coal had to be shoveled in, several times a day, outside of the summer months.
Because we didn’t have running water, we used an outhouse, which was in the far corner of the property. Even going to the toilet, you walked half a block each way.
When I started kindergarten, the school was almost 2 km away from my home (just over a mile). The only time you were allowed to stay at school for lunch is if the temperature was colder than a high of 0F (-18c). So most days, I walked about 8km, just to go to school and back (x2).
The girls all played jump rope at recess. Do children still do that?
We very rarely ate outside our home, except as guests at other people’s homes. When we would go on camping vacations, our first meal out, and last meal coming home would be KFC – the real stuff they used to make with the cream gravy. So if that is the fast food we had, we had it twice a year.
We used to get a bottle of soda when we went to Grandma’s house. That was about every second week. But we used sugar like crazy. Tea and coffee always had at least 2 tsp of sugar in it. Canned fruit was all in heavy syrup. When the large bottles of cola began to be sold, they were terrifically expensive. The 2 quart bottle was over $4. Considering the first apartment I ever rented a couple of years later was $125/month – you can see what a luxury item Coca Cola was.
Basically, I would say we ate very well. There were plenty of treats, but we were always walking/running and working in the yard. Even the simple things took a lot of work. There was no turning on the tap, that water had to be hauled into the house.
So what I would say is this. Previously, there was little junk food. My mother even made home made marshmallow. Food was processed at home or in restaurants (eg. no pre-formed patties) There was no plastic sort of food, such as Cool Whip (introduced in 1966) People didn’t eat away from home very much. People had to work much harder for food. People worked and walked much more in their lives. The food of the past is very different than the food of today.
I am a 100% disabled USAF Veteran, and I carry a concealed handgun legally. I have had all the background checks that the FBI and Federal Government require and although not of sound body, am of sound mind (my ex-wife may disagree!). I was legally carrying when I stopped in San Antonio to get some fuel. I was in my pickup truck which is wheelchair equipped and it was on the back of the truck and I have Texas Disabled Veteran plates on my truck.
I used my credit card to get the fuel and this was about Christmas time. I am a Christian and love that part of the year. As I was finishing up I was approached by a young man in his late teens and early 20’s who had been watching me since I arrived. I am Italian, and he isn’t (you will figure out his heritage in a moment). He asked how my “Christmas was going?” I replied, “It’s a great time of the year!”. He stated “I’m having a horrible Christmas; I don’t have any money and my kids and wife will get nothing from me this year – can you help? I replied that I carried no cash and he had seen me “use my credit card at the pump!”
He then became directly confrontational and pointed his finger in my face and stated “Then you can take your honky ass into the ATM, use that card and get me some cash!” I backed off 2 steps and stated “I don’t know you and I am not in the habit of giving anything to people I don’t know”. His response was to pull back his jacket and show me a large hunting knife handle that was stuck in his pant and state “What if I show you this knife?!”?
My response was to draw my weapon and point it at his chest and state “What if I show you this gun?” He backed off quickly realizing the crippled Veteran was not as easy a target as he thought!
I was unaware but that store clerk was listening in on the speakers that are at the pump and had summoned the police. They arrived as I was pointing the weapon at the suspect. As soon as they arrived I reholstered and the store clerk told them what she had observed, and I verified the situation.
The Officer asked “Why didn’t you shoot him? He has been a problem for months around here!” My response was “he backed off and I think he would have bolted had you not arrived”. He was taken into custody for attempted armed robbery and I testified at his trial about 11 months later. He was given 7 years in the Texas Department of Corrections. Turns out he never had a wife or children.
What was I given? My life. It could have gone very wrong was I not armed. It could have ended in the worst way.
Guns aren’t meant to fight fair. They are meant to win. They are meant to give people control over what happens to them and to protect themselves, the public, and even you from serious bodily harm or death.
It’s not cowardice – it’s prudence.
I am here today because of that weapon which I still carry faithfully – always knowing it’s there but also always hoping I never have to use it.
“Can I trust you?” she asked me quietly as we walked in the school grounds.
She didn’t even wait for me to reply.
“My father was diagnosed with cancer. Two years ago. Of the prostate. He was under treatment since then, but these days, he’s been getting worse. And we don’t even have that much money, we’re a simple family.”
Sarah was the ‘weird girl’ in the class. Or that’s how the others saw her.
She was always energetic. So much that you’d think she was high on caffeine every day. She had a prominent personality, something so sun-bright that you couldn’t help but notice. And being talkative and making loud, obnoxiously lame jokes were a fundamental part of her.
Sarah was just so fullof life. The fullest you can be. The fullest I’ve ever seen someone.
I think that’s what began, slowly but surely, irritating others in a way.
She would laugh at her own awkward jokes and people would roll their eyes. She’s so random and so extra, they’d say.
She became the class clown.
One day, during the sports class, the conversation written above took place.
And I couldn’t help but silently wonder: how/why was she so buoyant and full of life all the time?
A second later, the tone of her voice shifted.
“You wanna know why I’m so cheerful all the time?”
It’s like she read my mind, I swear. I looked her in the eye, then quickly looked away.
But what she said left me open-mouthed because it was completely different than what I expected.
“You know, I believe that you have to create what you want for yourself. As I see it, everyone has to create their own happiness. There is no other way out. I have so many things to be sad about. But that is exactly what I won’t be. I just work like that,” she shrugged.
And suddenly, just like that, I saw her in a whole new light. And I’m not even exaggerating. It was literally like depicted in the movies.
In fact, I felt guilty, on behalf of my class, that we’d been so utterly stupid.
Not to be dramatic or anything, but Sarah taught me things that I have not learned from anyone else.
I’m not gonna lie and say that since that moment, I’ve been the happiest person alive. I haven’t. It’s a slow process. But I see myself getting there very soon.
Sarah reminded me that one has to create their own happiness. You can’t rely on life or its circumstances to do that for you. She was a living example of the quote: “When life knocks you down, smile and stand up taller than ever before.”
First EU told China they were not buying enough EU Products and importing enough EU products and the Trade deficit was widening quite a bit between the two nations
China replied that most of the EU Imports they formerly imported, they now had excellent quality import substitution within China like Industrial Chemicals or Industrial Technology Machines or ICE Cars
China also said the EU had restricted things they were most keen to import like EUV equipment or Deep UV Lamps or High Grade Etching Equipment
So China said “We have an open market. Bring your products and COMPETE. We have no tariffs here on your products”
The EU want China to keep buying ICE Cars and Industrial Technology at 3 times the price just to ensure a better balance of Trade
China said “How is that Capitalism? Free market?”
EU couldn’t respond
China did point out that Chinese imports of Advanced Lenses and Pharmaceuticals from the EU had risen by 41% across 4 years
The EU claimed China was violating and helping Russia bypass their sanctions. In fact I believe this was their main purpose in visiting China. They accused China of selling to Russia all the Industrial Spares and Manufacturing Parts plus enough goods to keep their purchasing intact
The Chinese replied they were not at war with Russia and EU sanctions were not sacrosanct to other nations. China brought out Lithuania and Australia and asked the EU if the EU recognized Chinese Sanctions on either nation and honored them
China asked if tomorrow China sanctions Taiwan, would EU agree to follow the same and not help Taiwan bypass sanctions
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Ursula mumbled something about democracy and China told her to “Get Laid”
The EU finally accused China of protectionism and subsidy of NEVs that allowed NEVs to be sold cheaper in Europe
China categorically rejected this as wholly untrue and explained how EV subsidy was aimed to help CHINESE CITIZENS buy EVs and spearhead EV transition fully by 2030. They explained how the subsidy was at the tax level and the manufacturing subsidy provided to BYD was used only for their sale price to Chinese Citizens
The EU of course knew this very well
They have advisors who told them the same story
China then pointed out the EU subsidies to their mobile providers of almost € 63 Billion to help them buy the more expensive Nokia equipment for their 5G instead of Huawei
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Again Ursula mumbled something about Democracy and China told her again to “Please get Laid” emphasizing on the “Please”
Simply speaking China is bewildered at all these leaders repeatedly coming to China and demanding things that are entirely against free market and capitalism
They offer investments but into the most mundane things like mass manufacturing and medium grade manufacturing that China isn’t interested in anymore. China has much more money than all of EU combined and can easily bankroll their manufacturing
They want TECH INVESTMENTS, the ability to identify good tech and invest in the same
EU doesn’t want this at all because of US orders
EU wants the World to remain in 2010 but the world is in 2023
**Wanted to add, I only just realized I misread the title as WERE banned, not are. My apologies!**
I was banned from my local Walmart because I miss scanned an item. I went to self checkout one day because I had 4 items and wanted to teach my sons how to scan items. To make the story easier to understand, I had a tshirt, set of bras, shorts and some socks. While scanning, we had accidently double scanned the bras rather than scan the shorts, honest mistake. We finish up and as we are heading out, loss protection stops me and says “My name is XXX I’m with loss prevention please come with us” I was genuinely confused, my son got scared because of how aggressive they were but we complied. While in the security room they proceeded to rummage thru my bags and asked to search my purse. Again, I complied, but they never explained why I was pulled in. They searched cameras for probabaly 20 minutes. At one point, I hear one of the workers call across the radio “We need security detail for an escort.” I started getting REALLY scared and demanded an answer. Finally, they explain I miss scanned an item, because of this I am being escorted out of the building and will not be allowed back on property, should I step foot on property I will be arrested. I was baffled! They didn’t even give me a chance to fix my honest mistake! Needless to say, again I complied, but I put in a call the corporate after leaving, they reached out to me and lifted the banned immediately, apologized, and fired the entire loss prevention team. It wasn’t the first time they had abused power!
This guy was new and he was hired by someone else and put on my team. He messed up because he said he got his degree the same time I did. At the same school. In the same program.
I always research my team beforehand. But, this time it was pretty short.
He failed out his third year and didn’t come back to school. At least not mine.
I figured maybe he fibbed and graduated later. I checked with my school. No record of graduation.
He walked up to my team after he got to work. Asked him to follow me and we went to HR.
We sat down and I asked him about his degree. He repeated his resume exactly.
I stood up, said thank you and good luck. We’ll be going in another direction. And HR did their thing.
We don’t ask about degrees, but we do check your resume for lies. And, we don’t care if you have a degree. Just don’t lie about it.
That means that you are probably going to lie about your work. And, that is pretty toxic.
Committing a felony. I didn’t set out to break the law, I was a law abiding citizen for 59 years.
I was suffering from a deep depression and began self-medicating with Methamphetamine. The depression and drugs led me to some questionable online activities which, to me, seemed harmless. Without my realizing it though, I had crossed into the dark web.
My first inkling that I was in trouble was when 7 sheriffs came to my house with a search warrant. 6 months after that I was arrested on 23 felony charges.
Over the next 6 months my lawyer negotiated that down to 5 charges in exchange for me pleading guilty which I eventually did – I did not have the money to pay for a trial defense, and even if I did, a loss would have meant that I would die in prison – I was 60 years old.
I was extremely fortunate, mostly, I think because I was a first time offender, with a lifetime of abiding the law. I was sentenced to 5 years probation and 3 years prison suspended – no jail time unless I screwed up.
I lost a very successful career and income as a software engineer – no one would hire me with a record. My wife died of a stroke, partly due to the stress of the legal proceedings. Her family completely disowned me (my own family was gone) so I was completely alone in my grief.
I was forced to retire at 62 and live on social security (my first wife got my retirement in the divorce) and I have almost no friends.
Because of one mistake fueled by depression and drugs, my life was destroyed. I have to submit to monthly drug tests and meetings with my probation officer (a significant expense on social security as I have no car and he is 30 miles away), and in constant fear of having my probation revoked for breaking a probation rule (anyone who’s ever been on probation will understand what I mean).
If I could go back to mid 2018 and seek professional help for the depression, I would do it in a heartbeat. If I had sought treatment then I wouldn’t be where I am now.
EDIT:
I have received a lot of comments with people complaining that I’m not taking responsibility for my actions – this is completely wrong.
I take full responsibility for what happened to me. I made the decision to self medicate with meth rather than seek mainstream treatment. It was my decision to engage in the actions which led to my crime. Nobody made me do it but me.
I was arrested on evidence I cannot deny and sentenced fairly according to the law. I was a law abiding citizen for 59 years and believe strongly in the rule of law and the need to uphold it. I have absolutely no complaint about how I was treated as the result of my actions. The legal system and all of its agents acted exactly as I expected in doing their part to enforce the law and maintain societal controls.
That said, I have no doubt, with God as my witness, that I would have NEVER broken the law had my faculties not been impaired by drugs – in a sober state I would not have engaged in the actions that led to my crime. My values and critical thinking were subverted by the drugs – there is plenty of medical and psychiatric evidence of this. That is not an excuse, it is a simple fact.
I wished the interviewer luck in finding a candidate with the credentials they were looking for, when it became known that I didn’t have the right credential to teach what they wanted me to teach.
They waited until the interview to tell me that they were specifically looking for a teacher with a Reading Specialist endorsement, which I didn’t have. They could have checked my resume before they called me in for the interview to see I didn’t have that, but whatever. My lack of the proper endorsement brought the interview to a quick close, and I wished them well in their search for someone with that particular endorsement. I knew they’d have a hard time finding someone with that who was willing to work at a private school. Public schools, which pay better than private schools around here, are quick to grab the Reading Specialists.
About three weeks later, I’d completely forgotten about that interview, and they called me in for a second interview. I checked their school calendar. They were two weeks away from opening day. I knew they were desperate. I was desperate to find a position too, so it all worked out. I went in for the second interview, and they offered me the position, even though I didn’t have the specific endorsement they wanted. Private schools are flexible when it comes to those things anyway.
They remembered me from the first interview because I was nice to them. I ended up working there for two years. It was my first real teaching position, and I loved it. I got the experience and connections I needed to make finding new teaching positions in later years so much easier. The first position is always the hardest to get.
Were you here? I am here and I was here on Sunday election day.
Yeah and? You hear 10,000 police deployed across the city! OMG.
What I saw? I went cycling early in the morning. I passed the election polling station, a small queue and a load of villagers.
The two police officers? They were stood about 10 metres away outside to one side.
That’s not an unusual sight. You see police standing around busy bus depots and MTR stations. The only ‘heavy’ presence was a couple months ago where desk job police were walking around. I scooted in between them and NOTHING happened.
We Have a Problem – The Actual WAR INVASION of the USA **IS** Planned and now, We have a date range . . .
America, we have a problem. While it has long been rumored that foreign countries are planning to invade the continental USA, we’ve never seen evidence of any such actual planning; until now. . .
For years we’ve all heard rumors of Chinese troops being massed in south-central Mexico, but never any proof to bolster such claims.
Two years or so ago, we all found out that Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada signed a Treaty with China allowing the deployment of People’s Liberation Army troops in Canada, and the Treaty prohibits local Canada governments from having __any__ say where those troops are, or what they do while in Canada. That Treaty has been verified and __is__ real.
So if one believes the rumor about China troops in south-central Mexico, and we already have confirmation they’re entering Canada, that would mean invasion of the continental USA would be possible from both the north and the south.
Then, too, for years, we’ve all heard rumors that Venezuela would send troops to Cuba, to join with Cuban troops to invade Florida from Cuba — but ZERO evidence of any such planning has ever been offered or produced by anyone.
NOW, THOUGH, we have something very real, from deep inside Russian Intelligence.
Below from inside the Russian FSB, we now have concrete proof an actual INVASION of the United States of America is, in fact, being planned, and the date range for that invasion has already been decided. It appears we have less than one year.
The evidence, obtained from inside Department “C” of the Central Security Service of the FSB of Russia, appears below, and is for SUBSCRIBERS TO THIS WEBSITE, ONLY.
Back around 1990, I was about 23, two babys and wife at home, and got laid off at the light bulb factory in Plymouth Florida. So I went to work selling veggies at the flea market and working on VW’s while looking for a job. I had been rebulding Bug motors for some time and it had become quite a routine. Well I had this old bus, it was a 1962, 23 window Kombi wagon. Pulled the motor, did the thing right, line bored, new cylinders, pistons, all the bearings, oil pump, Bosch 009 distibutor, new carb, everything top-knotch. The owner wanted it right, so he spared no expense and I was happy to oblige. The afternoon arrived and i finally had the motor back together and up in the bus. It was bolted in and I was hooking up the wires and needed a new connector to hookup the new distributor and when i went into my shop to find one, i noticed this little silver thing laying on the bench. Picked it up and eyed it carefully. It was half of a cam bearing. Yup, I had left out half of a cam bearing shell. Had to pull the motor back out, break it all the way back down, and sure enough, there was one shell missing. Put it in and back together it went. Ran like a top for years! Thankfully, I didn’t try to fire it up!
Campfire Dutch Oven Chili with Cornbread
campfire dutch oven chili cornbread
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients
Chili
3 pounds ground beef (90% lean)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, ribs and seeds removed, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes & green chilies, undrained
Heat briquettes up in a chimney, then make a layer of hot briquettes on the ground, a fire ring, or other metal structure.
Place the Dutch oven on the briquettes and allow Dutch oven to get hot.
Add oil to the Dutch oven and sauté onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño pepper stirring occasionally until tender, approximately 4 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 1 minute.
Add ground beef to Dutch oven and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, breaking beef into small crumbles and stirring occasionally until browned. If Dutch oven starts to cool off, add more hot briquettes on the bottom.
Add chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, black pepper and salt; cook for 1 minute.
Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes & green chiles and beer; bring to a boil. Cook for 30 minutes.
Prepare cornbread mix based on box instructions and pour over chili, spreading into an even layer.
Heat approximately 20 additional briquettes. Cover Dutch oven with lid and place hot briquettes evenly on the top of the closed lid.
Cook for about 10 minutes, checking halfway through. Check to see if cornbread is done by sticking a wooden pick into cornbread. If the wooden pick comes out clean, it is done.
I worked as PC tech early in my career for a man that was a total control freak. Very military. One of his expectations was that everyone was sitting at their desk exactly at 8am. No excuses. Well, I was transferred under his department after my previous manager retired. I had been working without complaint for over a year.
If I knew I had a busy day I would come in early to get things done without interruption. I had been late a few times during the previous month as I was a new Father. But, as I said, I came in early, and stayed late so my work was never affected.
I also was a contractor, not an employee. And my contract wasn’t a 8 to 5 time clock, but a work level, number of tickets thing.
Anyway, this particular morning I came in about 30mins early to finish up a repair from the day before. No sooner than I had walked into my office the Plant Manager walked in. He was having a problem. So, off I go.
Well, it was about 45 minutes later when I walk back in to get a replacement hard drive. There stands my Boss. He starts in on me about me not being at my desk. Yelling at me like I’m a dog. I just stand there. Finally, he says I’m fired. I’m to pack my “stuff” and leave. Which I do. As I’m about to leave I tell him, Oh by the way, the Plant Manager (his Boss) was waiting on me. His face dropped.
I walked out.
About an hour after I got home I get a call from my company. The Plant Manager called them. He told them he wanted me to come back. I declined. He then called me. He paid me directly to come fix his computer. And my Boss got fired.
This kid was the other way around. He was considered as a brilliant geek, and I believe he suffered a lot from the constant bullying by the other kids. He scored very well in Olympiads, and also scored high marks on subjects such as Math, Physics and Chemistry.
In his spare time, he read Math books, studied Bridge and entered in semi-professional competitive Bridge games — I guess that was one of the reasons why he was seen as a geek.
Several teachers were convinced that Terry would ace university and become a brilliant scientific researcher, but reality turned out to be very different. He first tried engineering studies but failed miserably, and then spent some time in the professional Bridge circuit, but he never reached the level he thought he would.
Some years later, I was a surveillant at a Linear Algebra exam for freshman Informatics students (I was a postdoctoral researcher at the time), and there he was, trying once again to obtain a degree. And he flunked again. Not much later he left academics, and I kind of lost track of his life.
At reunions, those that do not show up are the people that died young, those that hate their past more than anything else, and those that failed in life. The future definitely turned out differently than Terry had hoped.
But luckily, we did not know this when we were seventeen.
My MIL was absolutely the best. Once we had settled on the number of guests we could afford to invite, she offered to contribute toward the wedding so that more guests from their circle of family and friends could be invited. Because I wasn’t sure if we could afford an open bar, she offered to cover it and did so. She organized the rehearsal dinner and did an absolutely splendid job. The day after the wedding, she put together a breakfast for some of our out-of-town guests at her home. On the wedding day, she stayed low profile so that my mother could join me in getting ready with my bridesmaids (and this I regret, not asking her to join us, but I was young and naiive at the time and it didn’t occur to me). On the day of the wedding, she took care of little things that others didn’t, like collecting the bridal gown after I’d changed into my travel clothes. When we traveled to another city, she asked a family member who was visiting her for the wedding to let us use their apartment so we didn’t have to pay for a hotel. She’s the best MIL one could hope for!
I was down the pub one summers day pre-Covid with a good mate of mine called Dan. Dan’s originally from Texas, ex-US Army 1st Sgt, and now living in the UK with his lovely wife. He’s been here long enough to have a good grasp of the British sense of humour.
We’re having a drink and chatting when my phone goes off, a number I don’t recognise and I answer, putting it on speakerphone. A thickly-accented Indian voice (who claims to be called ‘Hank’) on the other end tells me that he is the FBI, that i’ve got multiple warrants out for my arrest etc, but that if I pay them I won’t have to be arrested-bear in mind i’m in the UK and the FBI has no jurisdiction over here. Having sunk a few pints by then, i’m in the mood for a wind-up. I ask for details of these warrants, tell him that they’ll never catch me, then I ask him if he knows Special Agent Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson’s character in ‘Criminal Minds’). He replies that Agent Hotchner is on holiday at the moment. I tell him that I know this as he’s sitting right beside me, and he’d like a word with him. I hand the phone to Dan and sit back to enjoy the show. Dan goes all in, quoting legal codes, threatening traces, freezing of their assets, criminal charges, the works! Needless to say the call ended not long after
China has a really sweet deal with Russia right now. I can not think of a single reason to change it (from China’s perspective.)
China is desperately short of fossil fuels and Russia is a huge exporter of fossil fuels. They are even willing to build multiple pipelines to get natural gas to China.
Everything Russia sells to China goes at a 40–50% discount because of China’s manipulation of its two-currency system.
Everything Russia buys from China comes with a 40–50% markup. Same reasons. Some things that are sanctioned go for as much as 4,000 times their original cost.
China is selling Russia billions a year in heavily marked up “dual use” goods such as military grade tires, military vehicles, body armor, night vision devices, helicopter engines, field medical kits, and even entire field hospitals. They also sell them considerable sanctioned goods, especially electronics, that Russia cannot make for itself.
They are compatible authoritarian governments.
China and Russia make an impenetrable voting bloc at the UN. Together, they can block any international initiative against either of them.
Supertramp – Take The Long Way Home (BEST QUALITY SOUND)
I once had a client who was, literally, the strongest man I’d ever seen. Harry was well-built and about 6′ 4″. Even though he was large to begin with, his sheer strength to size ratio was off the charts.
One day we were driving in the car together and a guy in a Mercedes cut Harry off in traffic. Harry expressed his displeasure at this move by honking his horn. “Mercedes guy” proceeded to flip Harry off and then he pulled over – I guess he was looking for a fight.
Harry pulled in behind him. He got out, then Harry got out. The other guy was about 6′ tall and slightly pudgy, but not small by any means. However, once Mercedes guy saw Harry, he hurriedly returned to his car. BUT, he forgot one very important thing. His sunroof was open.
Harry, usually a fairly reasonable guy, was beyond pissed off. He went up to the guy’s car, PULLED him out THROUGH THE SUNROOF, put him on the street, turned him upside-down and STUFFED him back in his car, once again THROUGH THE SUNROOF.
Then Harry calmly strolled back to the car, got in, and we drove off. I glanced in the side view mirror and could see Mercedes guy’s feet sticking up through the roof kicking around a bit. Too funny!
I’ve never seen anything like it before or since. Harry passed away a few years later, but I’ll never forget him or what he did that day. It was an awesome sight!
Running late
The other morning as I was running late for an appointment I drove past a park and from a distance, I saw this young girl sitting on the bench and it looked like she was crying… I continued to drive and I thought to myself “what if that was me or even worse.. my daughter”.
So, I turned around and pulled into a parking spot, opened my car door and walked over to her and set down beside her.
She was crying so hard that she didn’t know I was there until I tapped her on the shoulder and asked: “Are you okay?” She looked up at me and said “No” “He cheated on me” “I don’t want to even live anymore” I knew at this point, I needed to take as much time as I could to talk to this young girl.
image 97
We sat there on that bench and talked the entire afternoon about relationships, life, and future goals and when the time came we finally said our goodbyes so I walked back to my car and as I started to back out, I looked back at her and she was walking towards me with her head down.
When she came up to the window, she confessed to me that she thought about taking her own life and because of me stopping and talking to her she decided that wasn’t in her best interest anymore.
Needless to say, I might have missed an appointment but I also might have saved a life.
Sweet, sweet summer child. Let me share with you a day in the life of a young Japanese Salaryman, if you’ll indulge me.
Clearly, you have never heard of the dreaded company 飲み会。
Ah, that magical moment when your boss tells the faculty, “Today was a good day, let’s go out drinking!”
“What’s that you say? You have plans? No, no, clearly you are mistaken. Because WE, the employees of the company have decided to go drinking. We have all made this decision, subconsciously, the very instant, I, the boss, mentioned it. 空気を読んで！ Are we not the pinnacle of unity and harmony?”
And now, you’re off to a wonderful night of drinking with your coworkers. Who must drink with the boss, as long as he wants to drink.
“What’s that you say? You don’t like drinking？ NONSENSE. You merely have not found the appropriate drink, which, I, the boss, know is just right for you. Have another cup with me!”
“Another!”
“Another!”
“Eh? Eh? You don’t feel so good. Fie, I say! You just need another drink. Perhaps a different sake.”
That’s going to go on for a bit, until you, the newbie, and your coworker, who has learned how to hold his liquor better, are on a street corner outside a hotel in Tokyo, the coworker kindly holding your head as you throw up everything you have ever eaten. They are kind and will give you water afterwards, as you swear you will never drink again.
I worked at a company where they were getting rid of a bunch of flat panel displays. They were old and had a funky plug on them, but worked perfectly fine. I asked the powers that be if we could take them home, since they were just going to trash them anyway. I was told that if you can bag them up, you can walk right past security in the lobby and you’ll be fine. You can’t just carry them out the door, though.
It turned out that one of my coworkers had a girlfriend who worked in a place that sewed custom bags for various industries. I gave him dimensions and 3 days later, we had bags we could use. Between the 6 techs I worked with, We walked out with about a dozen displays. We benefitted, the displays didn’t end up in a landfill, and a new line of bags was developed at my buddy’s gf’s company. It was a win-win-win.
At some point early in my marriage, we had a relatively large 6 bedroom house on a golf course subdivision with a pool and clubhouse. I had bought the nicest Lexus sedan I could afford, and a large SUV for my wife. We had two young kids. And we were miserable.
It wasn’t just about the money. These things were expensive for sure, and definitely weighed down our budget, but we could afford it.
The problem was time. I was busy with my business, working almost 7 days a week. My wife was taking care of the babies AND helping with the business. We almost never took vacations. A rare weekend off was like a vacation.
I’d be reading or playing with the kids and the phone would ring. The laughter turned off like a switch while I go to another room to talk. It’s like the world paused while the family waited to hear if I had to leave or not. Sorry, gotta run! I’d leave before even hearing if the kids said “bye daddy.”
I’m sure you’ve seen the Disney movie, Aladdin. I was the Genie. Giver of gifts. Solver of problems. All powerful being. But no more than a slave. The business owns you. Clients own you. The mortgage owns you. Just like the Genie, I longed for freedom.
One day, my wife and I looked at each other and asked “what are we doing?”
I started interviewing for jobs and got hired relatively quickly. Within a few months, we closed the business, sold our house, and moved. It was like Aladdin setting the Genie free.
It turned out that I work half the time, making pretty much the same as before.. I still drive the same car, which is now 15 yrs old. We live in a house half the size of what we had. I see my kids more than most dads I know. I am an equal participant in their homeschooling. We go on vacations multiple times a year.
Life isn’t perfect, but definitely there is more happiness now.
Addendum: Thanks for reading and the upvotes!
I’d like to add that it’s definitely possible to have a business or earn a lot and have a big house, nice cars, etc. AND afford family time. It’s not mutually exclusive at all. I know a lot of people who have it all. If you can find that lifestyle, go for it. I just didn’t have it in me, but that’s OK.
I applaud those who answer these types of questions honestly. After all, I believe that the younger ones who ask these questions want honest answers as to what they have in store. What they don’t want is old people trying to prove they’re doing great and that they’ve still got it, without offering any balancing disclosures.
I get irritated with people who answer these questions with only a list of all the great things they’re still able to do. They sky-dive, hike, kayak blah blah blah. They so desperately seem to want to come across like they’re still twenty. THEY ARE NOT. And the men nearly always have to show off about how they’re still sexually active (failing to mention they need boatloads of viagra to do it.) And no offence, but NOBODY wants to picture old people still at it.
Now some of these people are flat-out lying, and some are being honest. But, my irritation isn’t because some are truthfully still active and fit; it’s because, whilst crowing about their experience of older age, they’re leaving out the shitty parts of ageing.
It’s perfectly okay to admit that despite still being fit enough to kayak, and despite being generally content and more enlightened, you’re also struggling with physical issues, fears, societal prejudices, or sadness.
You’re struggling with friends who have cancer or have already passed.
You’re struggling with your own mortality.
You’re struggling with the knowledge that you’ll soon enough be of no real use to your children anymore.
You’re struggling with the saggy stranger you see in the mirror.
You’re becoming more invisible to the public at large.
You’re struggling with lessons learned too late in life.
You’re struggling with questions like ‘What the fuck was all that about?’
You’re struggling with dodgy knees, age spots and overall deterioration.
You’re struggling with energy levels and motivation (not all the time, but certainly some of the time.)
At times, you’re struggling with boredom; not every old person is sky-diving 24/7.
Your memory is not what it used to be.
Weight (for many) cannot be managed, no matter what.
The absolute worst part is losing friends and relatives along the way. Your social circle becomes smaller and smaller.
Then you have widows and widowers who have to grapple with a whole new way of life at their age after having relied on another person for decades.
It unnerves me that so many people are so hell-bent on proving something rather than sharing the reality, inevitability, vulnerability and, even the beauty, of life’s cycle. That you know your time is gradually coming to a form of decline and close, despite the fact that you might still be able to kayak.
There’s just something very self-congratulatory about those proclamations. Something which I imagine makes certain other older people feel like they’re failing or not doing enough, and that also sets young people up for thinking that ageing is one big picnic.
It’s okay to still be enjoying your life at whatever age without portraying ageing as a hunky dory affair. It isn’t. On some fronts, it’s way, way better, but on other fronts, it positively stinks. (Just as I imagine most teens would describe their teenage years.)
It was in the military boot camp. Finnish military is based on conscription; it is colloquially called as “penis tax”. It means if you are a boy, you have to serve in the military on pain of imprisonment. Girls may volunteer, and I volunteered.
Draft dodging is made almost impossible in Finland, which means the military gets almost the whole cohort to service (except those who are exempted for health reasons or who chose civilian service instead). It is a genuine cross-section of the whole society – which mean that the military does not get only the best of the boys to rank and file, but also the worst.
It means you have to serve with people you would attempt to avoid at any price in civilian life; bullies, thieves, blue falcons, pranksters, antisocial cases, substance abusers, weakly talented etc. And then there are always those, who have an intention to make other people’s time miserable.
We girls slept in a separate dorm, but practised with boys. And unfortunately there was such Arschloch in our company. He especially picked on us girls (as we all were volunteer), and especially me.
In the end his picking, teasing, harassing and pushing my button went far enough. My service motivation was already on the rock bottom, and to say, he had harassed me to corner.
I didn’t care anymore if I lived or died. I just wanted it to end.
Puukko, the Finnish knife, is the only civilian item along the eyeglasses which can be carried while in uniform. It doubles as a sidearm and Every Finn has one, and getting one’s first puukko is a kind of coming to age ceremony for boys and girls. So I drew mine. He drew his.
We were now staring each other, with drawn knives, ready to strike and fight to death. I was ready to kill. I did not care anymore. He stared me with expressionless gaze. It was as if his eyes had been bottomless wells. I could sense no emotion.
Then the drill corporals came. They separated us, and I got yelled upon and roasted for good.
Yet military is a strange place. It works on its own rules. In civilian life, this would have been either an illegal threatening or an attempted manslaughter, and prison would have ensued. But nothing ensued; we were told to get shut up and not to say a word on what had happened. The noncoms did not want any troubles and fuss. It was as if they wanted to sweep everything under the carpet. This is understandable as the materiél is heterogeneous: internal squabbles and quarreling happens almost daily. Everyone was aware I had been pushed and picked on, and they realized it was a primitive reaction.
Strangely, I was left alone after that. Nobody picked on me anymore. But it was the absolute nadir of my military time.
Not only they are offered food, but also Polish families accept them in our homes (in fact I did too), and get everything free until they find a job or decide to leave. In fact, just today NGO’s helping Ukrainians stopped taking gifts. Their warehouses are full, there is more help than people that need it for now. (PS – Poles reading this – seriously, look at the FB groups what is needed, because there is more stuff that they need, and there are some things we lack. For example pampers’s and other baby and toddler stuff, as well as school utensils. But not everywhere, not in every city, watch your own, don’t just throw in gifts, volunteers are already overwhelmed with that kindness, nobody expected it will be so much)
Four main reasons: 1. For several hundred years we were one country:
image 94
(that red part) We accept our families and relatives, that is normal. We see them as our kin.
2. Belarus president Lukashenko admitted that he deliberately flew Middle Eastern and African immigrants to our border in order to wage hybrid war against us, and use them as weapons. And Belarus is now a combatant country against Ukraine side by side with Russia. We don’t negotiate with terrorists like this man, neither we bow to such threats. So against as he called it “war” declared, we stood an army on the border. Pretty normal thing to do with somebody threatening you with war, isn’t it?
3. We strongly believe that a war refugee should stay in the first safe country. For Ukraine we are the first safe country.
4. In our culture, it is expected for men to fight the war, or rebuild their country. Not to flee. And from Ukraine, we receive women and children. Not 80% males in military age. Those, in Ukraine, stay and fight. They are not let our by Ukrainian forces anyway.
No matter if someone finds those reasons valid or not, those are them.
As someone who hails from a culture where people typically their outdoor shoes before entering a home/temple/office/etc., I can only share my experience from that end of the spectrum.
The answer is simple and practical – we don’t want to track in dirt, mud, and the one billion other stuff that you can’t really see with the naked eye into our homes/temples/offices/etc.
For myself, I’m closer to the extreme end of the spectrum.
When I come home, not only do I remove my outdoor shoes and slip into my “indoor slippers” before stepping into my home, but I then go and change into my “indoor clothes” as well, before doing anything else.
Seeing people immediately plop onto their beds, still in their “outdoor clothes”, after arriving home makes me uncomfortable.
I also have an area in my apartment for setting aside “stuff I take outdoors but bring home”. Like the bag I bring to work, and all the coats, clothes, I wear to work – they all get neatly placed in this area before I go change into my “indoor clothes”.
And this is not just at home.
Although not all work places have an “outdoor shoes off” policy, the game studio I work at does.
And it is strictly enforced – if you have a “brain fart moment” and forget to take off your outdoor shoes before stepping into the studio proper, you’ll have quite a few people springing out of nowhere, breathing heavily down your neck, who will smile and politely point out that you’ve violated the rules of the inner sanctum and would you please go and take your outside shoes off and use the mop to wipe that part of the floor that you’ve stepped on with your outside shoes.
There’s even been talk of implementing a demerit point system to cut down on colleagues who have these “brain fart moments” – although I think it’s unlikely, as I’ve seen it happen only twice so far this year, and usually both times the guilty party was deep in thought about something work related (which makes the transgression somewhat forgivable…) .
It applies to everyone.
Doesn’t matter whether you’re the Director himself, a Lead, a Junior, an Intern, an External Freelancer, a Client, or the Cleaning Lady – everyone takes off their shoes before stepping into the studio proper.
That’s why we have a “take your outdoor shoes off here” entrance area right after you enter the main door.
You immediately take off your outdoor shoes and put it into one of the four tall shoe cupboards located to the side of the main door.
image 93
We also have a couple of these “shoe benches” in this entrance area. These are for people who need something to sit on while taking off / putting on their socks and shoes.
These “shoe benches” are also where we place our “inside slippers”.
It’s convenient – once we take off our “outside shoes” on one of these “shoe benches”, we can immediately reach for and slip into our “inside slippers” before then placing our “outside shoes” into the shoe cupboard.
image 92
We also have a few areas around the studio where there’s a low floor table with floor cushions to sit on.
These areas are used for group discussions, brainstorming sessions, tea-drinking sessions, I-just-need-to-take-a-short-break sessions, I-just-need-a-20-minute-nap sessions, etc
My favorite one is the one where it’s practically an indoor garden and we’ve outfitted the place to make it look like you’re inside a gazebo, with tea cups and tea pots on a side table.
Knowing that no one has tracked in dirt, mud, and the one billion other stuff that you can’t really see with the naked eye into the studio allows me to sit in these areas and enjoy my morning/afternoon tea with peace of mind.
Might not qualify as the weirdest flex but certainly one of the most bad ass.
Kerry Packer was Australia’s richest man worth around 8 billion some 20 years ago. His gambling feats were legendary. He would often go to casinos and win or lose 10 million plus in one sitting. One time he won $26 million playing 6 hands of blackjack at $200,000 each. That’s $1.2 million per hand.
On top of that, whilst some of these may not be 100% accurate (Urban legends can get twisted over time) they all have some element of truth.
He’s been known to tip croupiers and waitresses 100s of 1000s of dollars and paying off their mortgages. Once he accidentally tipped a waitresses tray and apologised and arranged to pay her $100,000+ mortgage. Another time a dealer was offered an $80,000 tip by Packer but respectfully declined, informing him dealers are not allowed to accept gratuities. Packer called over the Pit Boss and demanded the dealer be sacked on the spot. The Pit Boss fired her. Packer then pushed forward the $80,000 worth of chips before demanding the Pit Boss re-hire her.
But then came the Texan oil tycoon coin flip…
Packer was playing every box at a blackjack table and not allowing anyone else to play or back bet at the table. This was a common practice by Packer and indeed a lot of big gamblers. But one time there was a braggart Texan oil baron throwing his weight around, complaining and telling all and sundry he was a big deal. He’s rich, he doesn’t have to wait for a table and who was this buffoon hogging it…Packer doesn’t walk around telling everyone how good he is and he doesn’t like people who do…
So Packer swivels around in his seat only for the Texan to double down, pointing his finger at the face of Packer and yelling some choice words finishing with, “I’m worth $100 million!” Packer slowly leans back in his chair, pulls a coin out of his pocket, stares at the Texan and calmly says, “So you want to gamble hey? I’ll flip you for it.” He was serious.
As the Texan quietly slunk away into the shadows, Kerry turned back to the table and continued like nothing had happened.
Bad ass…
Cabbage Patch Stew
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Ingredients
1 pound ground meat – beef, turkey, venison
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped cabbage
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 (16 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder
Bisquick dumplings
Instructions
Cook and stir ground meat in Dutch oven until browned. Drain.
Add onions, cabbage and celery. Cook, stirring, until vegetables are light brown.
Stir in tomatoes, and kidney beans (with liquid), water, salt, pepper and chili powder. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer until cabbage is tender.
Meanwhile, prepare Bisquick dumplings. Drop by spoonsful into boiling stew. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes.
I picked up the phone (old school landline back in the day) and heard an angry voice say, “Where’s my money?” Since hanging up would only have convinced the caller that I was indeed the object of his rage, I stayed on the line and had what was for me an amusing conversation.
“You have the wrong number,” I said.
“What are you trying to pull?” he said. “You owe me $600.”
Further questioning revealed my interrogator was a drug dealer, had fronted an acquaintance a considerable amount of money, and was trying to collect with the (incorrect) phone number he’d been given. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer. “I know where you live,” he threatened. “I’ll come over there and kill you “
“Do it,” I said. “Since I’m not who you think I am, it’s no skin off my teeth.”
The conversation went on, I was unfailingly polite the whole time, I eventually excused myself and hung up, and he called back and tried again. Finally I said, “Look, man, your friend cheated you. I hope you find him, but I’m not your man.”
“Yeah, thanks anyway,” he said in a dejected voice and hung up.
I’m gonna have to say Charlie Sheen takes this award.
He was making tens of millions of dollars each year with his Sitcom, Two & Half men.
In the acting world, sitcoms are the best gigs.
The acting demands are super easy. The scripts are cookie cutter. After a few laps around the track, you learn to crank these episodes out one after another.
You come in, you shoot, boom you are done. They shoot entire seasons over a few weeks sometimes.
But he started in with the cocaine and we all know what happened next:
image 90
And what stinks (for Charlie) is that, around this time, he had gone through a divorce and judges issued alimony/child-support payments based on his current income.
He was paying his ex-wife Brooke Mueller $55,000 a month in child support AND his ex-wife Denise Richards $50,000 a month.
His income instantly ceased when he was on TV, going on these crazy tirades that were funny in the moment but catastrophic to his career.
What producers wants to work with a liability like that? Who wants to be publicly targeted by one of your own actors?
Combine his alimony/child-support payments, his drug habit, and preference for high end prostitutes.
And you have a dead career, HIV and a quickly depleting bank account.
I remember when I had one ten year old in my class, and we were oil and water to each other. One day I chastised her for swearing in class and she told me that she was going to get me back and I’d be sorry (presumably for scolding somebody as important as she was). The next day, my colleague, a teacher who was senior to me, came to me to tell me the student had complained I’d hit her. When I told him that it was a complete fabrication on her part, he told me, and I quote, “Well, she wouldn’t lie.”
I told him that I was offended, since the clear inference was that he believed I was lying. And I resented the implication that I was a liar who would abuse a child.
I was very relieved when she moved to his class the next year and decided she didn’t like him anymore than she had liked me and began to spread stories about him. When he complained about her in the staff room, I looked him in the eye and said, “Well, she wouldn’t lie.”
In Boston in the early 1700s Cotton Mather introduced variolation for the treatment and prevention of Smallpox. In those days, Boston was a town (it didn’t become a city until 1822) of about 4000 people. Every year AT LEAST 30 percent of the population came down with Smallpox, a virulent disease which disfigured the survivors, turned their teeth black, and caused them enormous pain. In a town with only 4000 people where everyone literally depended on everyone else, having 1200 people laid up meant that at least another 1000 had to be caring for them – or digging graves.
And then came the miracle of variolation. For the first time the possibility of ending this horrible scourge was REAL. It was no longer necessary to organize long and tedious and useless prayer vigils. There was science and medicine that had a REAL IMPACT and saved many people from the hideousness or scars and rotten teeth or worse, death.
Do you think the citizens were excited about this? NO THEY WERE NOT. They tried to kill Mather; they tried to burn down his house. They tried to kidnap his children because they were innoculated and therefore “impure”. You see, catching a horrible disease and becoming scarred and even dying at the age of six month was GOD’S WILL. If GOD wants you to get sick, who are YOU to interfere with his plan? Those people were the worst kinds of hypocrites. They wanted to do whatever they wanted if they weren’t caught or “seen by God” (such as the city Father offering to commute Mary Dyer’s death sentence if she slept with him. She didn’t and she swung.) but other than that they have to “virtue signal” that God was in charge and therefore YOUR CHILD had to suffer and die from Smallpox (especially if mine did last year).
The people in Texas are largely brainwashed by religious morons who fly big jets paid for by the suckers who are willing to fight to let any number of women and children die in childbirth or otherwise because a Rolex-wearing priest told them it was GOD’S WILL and we are not to interfere with it (while those same pastors get plastic surgery and drive Bentleys)
Eventually, the people of Boston woke up to the benefits of variolation and inoculation and many of the people throwing bricks through the windows of Mather’s house during the day suddenly showed up at midnight with their children and begged for the scratch that would change their lives for the better, the same way that Republicans fly to Massachusetts from Texas when they need an abortion or real medical treatment but put their boot on the neck of the poor and force them to die or give birth to a rapist’s child. Ken Paxton is absolutely no different from the Magistrate who tried to extort sex from Mary Dyer – then hanged her when she refused.
China has set up special financial facilities for Iranian accounts that are immune to us Treasury sanctions, because the entire payment mechanism is independent of the US dollar.
In other words, the US cannot threaten hegemonic destruction, unless they are willing to attack key nodes in the Chinese financial system.
Besides, the US is ALREADY sanctioning both Iran and China. Iran’s sanctions approach that of an embargo while China has been busy fending off America’s “maximum pressure” strategy that includes illegal tariffs, the closure of a consulate, a genocide determination, the removal of Hong Kong’s special status, the economic slaughter of Huawei and other Chinese companies, and many, many more direct and indirect acts of malice.
China must have thought since we’re already under maximum pressure, what China does or doesn’t do no longer matters because America can always pin something on us.
With or without Iran, America will bring it on and up the pressure game.
What we don’t know is when the Chinese will start baring teeth and attack instead of parry.
My younger self is a guy who never took anything seriously in life, who never studied in the least, who was happy with a pass mark in most exams and was happy go lucky
I would pick the books, visit a friend named Sairam who was what you would call a Nerd on the LAST DAY and study from the beginning and get a 45–50 mark score without understanding too much
My 21–22 year old self went to a Grindlays bank interview, couldn’t answer a SINGLE QUESTION put to me on world affairs or anything else
I was literally like Santhanam in Vaalu
Total Humiliation
image 89
My rebirth was after this interview
My second innings began after this
Reading books in English, Dickens, Forsyth, Le Carre
Membership of British Council and reading books on History and Geography
Learning Economics in evening classes while working in the morning
It was a wake up call
Without that interview, I would have ended up definitely in a place where I simply wouldn’t even know what Quora is
The British government may want to attract Hong Kongers for financial reasons. The British public may be less welcoming.
I think a large percentage of immigrants are experiencing dissonance between what they expected and what they are experiencing. Many are unemployed or underemployed because of language and education/skill incompatibilities. There will be culture shock, feelings of alienation, depression, family problems, financial issues, etc.
Whether they want to (or can) come back to Hong Kong is debatable. Some sources say many do not plan to, despite the problems they are having. If they left because of anti-China/anti-government sentiments, then they cannot reconcile themselves to return. If they were involved in the 2019 riots, they may fear arrest (or “persecution” from their point of view). But more likely, if they sold their property in Hong Kong, they cannot afford to start over.
The immigrants are only in UK on a five-year visa, after which they can apply for settlement and citizenship. I suspect that a lot of them will find that citizenship is not forthcoming. What happens then? Do their visas get renewed or do they have to leave? If they have to leave, where can they go?
My husband saw a woman at the dry cleaners who was acting very badly. Rude, entitled, aggressive – nearly spitting her words – the customers behind her were visibly uncomfortable, eyes lowered, feet shifting. It was one of those cases where you cringe inwardly for the employee being berated unfairly. Even if she was having a very bad day, this was – in my husband’s words – “…way over the top.”
She then made the great mistake of believing that she had supporters among fellow customers. In a plea for crowd support, randomly turning toward my husband, she said: “You agree with what I’m saying, don’t you?” Sadly for her, my husband had witnessed the conversation from start to finish.
“No, ma’am. I heard it all, and, I don’t agree with what you’ve said or how badly you’ve acted. First, you treated this store employee with blatant disrespect while he is trying to assist you. Second, you’ve inconvenienced other customers waiting for your tantrum to subside. Third, I am a small business owner, and if you acted like this in my business you would be asked to leave. You need to get ahold of yourself, and you owe this man (the store employee) an apology.” The woman then spun on her heel and walked out – and my husband was met with applause from other customers and a look of sheer relief from the store employee.
I honestly cannot stand it when I see a store employee being verbally abused. Cheers to my spouse for being a stand-up guy!
I have a relative who has never been outside her comfort zone. She’s in her 70’s and lived with her parents until they died, and then continued living in the same house she inherited. She never leaves her home village, and doesn’t have a passport or a Driving License. She’s never left the UK. I doubt if she’s ever left England. She’s never had a romantic relationship and obviously never been married.
She’s remarkably unambitious and satisfied. She is very sweet and quite eccentric, and lives surrounded by toy owls and cats. She complains about her health issues, but she’s quite positive generally. She used to do the hairdressing at a local old peoples home, but lives off the state pension now. She’s poor but perfectly happy.
I’d say that living a happy life is for her a good thing that has come out of staying in her comfort zone. We aren’t all the same.
When I was quite young, perhaps three years old, I went out for a walk with my father. And thus, together… hand in hand… we walked down the street in our housing complex in Bridgeport, CT. It was a nice Saturday. Blue sky. Sunny, but cool.
And as we walked down the street we came across a curious sight.
There was this old man in a blue jacket playing a wind-up musical device of some type, and a monkey on a really long leash….
organ grinder monkey
This guy was just strolling along and the monkey was going p to people. If we gave the monkey some change, he would take it and carry it off to the guy playing the music. A simple and nice cute distraction.
My father gave me a few coins and I gave them to the monkey. He crawled up onto me, took the money, raised his tiny hat off his head and then ran to the guy with the music box, and gave it to him. And then the guys started the wind-up music all over again.
This was my once and only experience with such a troubadour. And, I had long forgotten about it.
But … when I was going through “retirement” I ended up with complete memory recall, and thus had memories regarding this singular event.
Treasure the valuable memories that you have. They might take you to places long forgotten, and seemingly trivial in importance….
I believe it was Sir Richard Branson who did what he called the “Restaurant Test.” Part of his interview process was an “informal” interview at a restaurant. What the prospective employee didn’t know is that Sir Richard had already notified the restaurant that he was coming with a potential employee and to screw up their order, nothing major like giving meat to a vegan but if they ordered their steak medium rare, the chef would cook it well done.
Richard would then see how the other person reacted. If he was polite then it was onto the next phase of the interview, if they were rude he would finish his meal and that person would not be considered for the job
My wife and I agreed early on that whoever could draw the largest salary would work while the other was stay-at-home parent. Unfortunately I went to work (would have loved to be the stay at home dad.) Our deal included that after a 30 minute decompress and wash up after arriving home, our daughter was 100% my responsibility through bedtime. My wife got up in the night with her during the week, and I took the weekend shift. We tag teamed the weekend hours, but I took most of the time. My happiest memories were coming home and getting my baby to hold, feed, and change. Later it was seeing her standing at the door or front window waiting for me. She’s 50 now and remembers being swooped up and burying her face in my fur lined coat collar in the winter.
NO stress could survive the love of a dad and daughter.
“Grandma said she’ll give me a gift if I let her shampoo my hair,” he tells me the other day.
I can see how torn and conflicted he looks.
My son’s a swashbuckling, bug-hunting pirate.
You’d have an easier time getting a stray cat to take a shower.
“I hear you,” I reply, making sure she’s out of earshot. “My take?” he leans in. “If she wants to give you a gift, she should just do it. No strings attached.”
He nods and we exchange conspiratorial smiles.
“You’ve got to rein in that wayward son of yours,” she tells me after a botched shower attempt.
But I won’t.
Of course, I’m always encouraging him to be kind, respectful, and thoughtful with others.
But I won’t use the stick or the carrot.
Because when he’s older and someone hands him a rifle telling him who the enemy is, I want him to do his own thinking.
Because when he’s older and someone offers him a pill and tells him he’ll have the best time of his life, I want him to question.
Because when he’s older and someone offers him a quick reward in exchange for giving up his values, I want him to stand his ground.
That was the excuse I got during the last week of school when a project was due in my 7th grade reading class.
My students were told that the book we had just read, The Call of the Wild, was going to be made into a major motion picture, and they were to create a movie poster to persuade people to see the show.
The posters were to be judged by other students and staff, and the winner would be awarded a prize. The competition was intense!
Every student had a finished poster except Shane (not his real name). I wasn’t totally surprised, as Shane had been late with assignments in the past, but the excuse was pretty shocking.
“So, Shane,” I began, “when I call your dad, will he be able to verify that your project did, in fact, catch on fire?” I was ready for him to change his story, but he didn’t!
“Yes,” he replied, “and he’s really mad at me because it burned a hole in the living room carpet, so now I’m grounded.”
“Hmm, he’s good”, I thought, “validating his story with details…this should be interesting.”
Later, I called Shane’s dad, and sure enough, Shane was telling the truth! His dad explained that his son had used so much white-out on his project, that when he held a lighter to the poster board (to singe the edges and make it look old) the entire thing exploded into a fire ball, fell to the floor and burned a big hole in his living room floor.
“Wow, Shane! I was a bit skeptical, but your story checks out. I’ll give you until tomorrow to create a new poster. Your idea to make your poster look old is most impressive (as the story took place over 100 years ago) but DON’T burn the edges this time!”
The next day, Shane proudly walked into the class. I eagerly looked for a poster, figuring he’d be carrying it, but it was nowhere in sight.
“Shane, did you finish you new poster?” I asked.
“Yep, I sure did.”
“Where is it?”
“Right here.” and he gave me a crumpled ball of cardboard. “Open it up, you’re going to love it!”
I did the best I could to smooth out the wrinkled mess. Sure enough, there was a movie poster advertising The Call of the Wild.
“It looks great, but why did you wad it up into a ball?”
“To make it look old.” he said as if I should have already known.
Shane didn’t win the contest, he remained grounded 2 weeks, and that summer he had to get a job mowing lawns to pay for the damaged carpet.
I recently saw Shane at the state fair. He’s engaged and works as an auto mechanic. He remembers the poster project vividly and said everything worked out pretty well. They ended up getting the entire apartment re-carpeted for free and Shane got to keep his lawn mowing money.
Galatoire’s Crabmeat Yvonne
jacques pepin oysters rockefeller recipe 1024×694 1
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
6 artichokes
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup clarified butter
2 pounds backfin lump crabmeat
Salt and ground white pepper
1/4 cup parsley, chopped fine
6 lemon wedges
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Cut stem from artichokes flush with the base and boil artichokes for 45 minutes, or until a leaf pulls off easily.
Remove from pot, drain and let cool.
Pull off leaves and reserve for another purpose. Remove choke and slice the bottoms. Set aside.
In a large skillet sauté mushrooms in clarified butter.
Add reserved artichoke bottoms and crabmeat. Heat through, stirring gently.
Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley.
Serve on toast points with a lemon wedge on the side.
Attribution
Source: Galatoire’s, New Orleans, Louisiana. Gulf Coast Cooking
Twenty years ago, a friend called me in a panic. She was on the backside of a bad divorce, she had a three year old daughter, and she’d just been told she couldn’t continue to live where she was. The little girl was with her father that weekend, but my friend was at a neighborhood restaurant with no money and no idea what to do next. I told her to come over, got her something to eat and settled her on the sofa because she hadn’t slept in something over 24 hours and told her that we’d figure out what to do next when she woke up. Ultimately we moved her and her daughter into our guest room.
About three weeks later, she introduced us to a young woman who was pregnant and not in a position to raise a child. (She was married. That wasn’t the issue.) Sitting at our dining room table, having just met us and not knowing much more than that we’d taken in our mutual friend, she asked my husband and me if we would adopt the baby. We’d fought infertility for a long time. We said yes. She talked to her husband, and the whole thing was agreed on by the following morning. About seven months later, I was her birth coach and had the incredible privilege of catching my own son.
He’s nineteen now. We have him because we let a friend in a tough spot move in with us.
Mine was in the Air Force. I had a racist for an immediate supervisor who always gave me average ratings on my performance. I didn’t realize how bad I was getting screwed until one of my counterparts (who was a total screw up) was shocked that he higher ratings than myself. A “3” is considered average (which I was getting on my reviews). This “screwup” was getting 5’s which is the highest score. I was thinking “how the HECK did he get a 5??” This dude missed time, came to work drunk, was reprimanded for fights….been to jail….etc. my record was SPOTLESS. Always the first on the job and the last to leave. Kept my uniform super clean. So I realized that I’m working twice as hard as this other dude and getting a much lower score.
This was in the 1990’s. I overheard a conversation with my racist supervisor one day about what he wanted to be when he leave the military. He stated that he wanted to be a highway patrol officer “so that he can legally hit minorities”. He always made crude jokes about Mexicans and blacks. As an African American myself I hated this dude’s guts. His leadership skills were the worst. I hated every day of working with him.
One day it was his last day of work. The shop was going to throw a going away party for this racist pig. There was an option to donate $10.00 to the potluck to participate in the party or miss out and work. I chose to work. I’m not donating a DIME to this dude’s going away party.
After he gracefully disappeared from the job I thought that would be the last I’ve heard of him. NOPE! I was wrong. Found out later that he did apply for the state highway patrol position.
The timing on this particular day couldn’t have been more perfect. Two men from the highway patrol were visiting our unit and I happened to be the ONLY person there. They asked me “who’s in charge?” Well, I’m the only airman in the shop so I was actually in charge. I asked them what’s going on? They told me that they are doing a follow up on a gentleman who applied for highway patrol who used to work at this unit. I told them I have detailed files on this person. What made this even better was the fact that one highway patrol officer was black, the other was Hispanic. I was so nervous in hopes that our main supervisor didn’t show up because he would give this guy a decent feedback. I wanted them to hear the DARK side of this scumbag.
I told them that he was a decent worker at best but here are some documents I wanted to share. Luckily I kept my old floppy disk handy with all of the stuff I wrote to the higher chain of command about this racist pos. The statements had dates and times I written down of his racist comments over the years. Too many to write in this essay. But let’s just say it was two pages worth (front and back).
The look of disgust was very apparent on their faces. One of them asked me “people like him still exist in the military?” I replied “shockingly, yes”. They asked me, “did you ever want to knock this dude the F- -K out?” (Many Times I did).
To make a long story short, months went by and I didn’t hear anything. Then one day I overheard a conversation about my former supervisor being turned down for his highway patrol job and was working at a Wal-Mart as a warehouse worker. In all honesty, I take GREAT pleasure in feeling that my sneaky swift actions were the reason.
I certainly wouldn’t laugh if a student of mine told me that – so have no idea why your professor did. But I wouldn’t give it much weight, either. And I’d wonder why the student told me. Would they tell me how tall they were? Or what color hair they had?
If eligibility to be in Mensa requires one to be in the top 2% (or something) of people who take IQ tests, that is a nice capability to have. But what percentage of university professors are likely to also be eligible if that’s the requirement – plus have become academically very accomplished in their field of study? I have no idea what my IQ is, it’s never been tested as far as I know – nor has it ever mattered to me. It is likely higher than some – and not nearly as high as others, both professors and students I have known in my well over half-century at a university (if you include my student years). It’s a place that tends to collect very bright articulate people.
So if a student of mine told me they were in Mensa, I’d probably ask them about it, what they did as a member of Mensa, etc., just as I would if they told me they were in an orchestra or worked for a charity or played on the soccer team or something. That is, it is information about that student and it might be interesting, but what does it change? I would expect that person’s intelligence to show in their love of learning, the questions they ask, the connections they make, etc. And all of that intellectual capability would be obvious even it they were not a member of Mensa.
I went to McDonald’s and went inside to place a to go order. While I was standing there, the manager walked up to me and handed me an empty French fry box. This was during the time that McDonald’s was doing the Monopoly game. The game piece on the fry box was already partially open. I peeled it the rest of the way back and it said it was a $2000 winner. I really needed the money for college at that point in my life. I thanked the manager profusely. She said that it had been inadvertently opened by a worker. She saw me standing there with my young daughter and thought that I looked like I could use some cheering up. Best trip to McDonald’s ever!
It seems the Dutch Government has forbidden ASML to sell EUVs to SMIC from 1/9/23
Yet orders placed until 23:59 on 31/8/23 can be shipped and fulfilled.
So technically ASML can ship orders to SMIC upto the time the last order placed on 31/8/23 is fulfilled
That’s for 21 EUV Machines & 50 DUV Machines
In September, ASML has delivered 4 EUV Machines & 17 DUV Machines
Meanwhile there is another legal complication
SMIC has now introduced a Distributor company who can buy EUVs from ASML and simply sell them to SMIC for a 10% commission (10% is just an example)
Now the Dutch order said only SMIC was forbidden from receiving ASML EUVs so ASML has also accepted 8 more orders for EUVs from this distributor
Technically Dutch Govt cannot specifically forbid ASML from selling to China as a whole as that is a major WTO violation
So they can only blacklist importers
So China can keep bringing up new distributors and placing orders and ASML is happy because TSMC has cancelled 24 Machines recently and i am sure China offered full price for the machines
Ultimately MONEY TALKS
Once again the US is furious but again it’s all about the legalese now
SMIC is forbidden so an agency buys and sells to SMIC
The Dutch look the other way of course
ASML is delighted because they sell more machines
My guess is this new agency will be blacklisted soon and they will incorporate more laws to prevent such measures
Yet that gets China another 8 machines plus a further 24 machines which I bet China will place as they are already in process
This means SMIC technically can make 7 nm and 5 nm Chips in decent quantities at least till 2026/2027
By then they should crack some breakthrough
So China has gained TIME and the Dutch have put business ahead of stupidity
Just like NVDIA and Intel just sold products to China which were slightly off the specs in huge numbers
He was working on a HUGE problem that took up the entire white board. The students were doing their best to follow the problem in their notes and in their minds. Suddenly he stopped, turned to look at us, turned red with embarrassment and realized that he got confused and lost in the problem. A student in the front row gently guided him to finish.
Instead of brushing this off he used this as an amazing teachable moment.
Here is what he did:
He asked us if we thought he was stupid. We collectively said “no.”
He then said that he was not a “melon head” and neither were we.
The lesson: He explained about the fight or flight syndrome and said that once he got momentarily confused, instead of going back to the place in the problem where he understood, he got nervous because he was in front of us, got into the fight or flight syndrome, produced adrenaline and got so stressed that he could no longer think. He then drew a picture on the board of a human brain, showed the reptilian part of our brain and the frontal lobes and explained that when we get too stressed we go to our reptilian brain and we need to return to our frontal lobe thinking. He gave us concrete strategies for exactly how to do this. (Breathe slowly, go back to a place where we last understood and start over). This lesson was SO impactful to me that I began to study the brain more and more and then I taught this to all of my students.
Final Thought: Even though my professor was teaching Calculus, his off-topic lesson was one of the best I ever had. He turned an embarrassing moment into an incredibly helpful life lesson.
This lesson was so important to me that I included the story as one of the chapters in my teacher support book, “Wait, Don’t Quit.”
I passed a great little convertible parked in front of a business with a “For Sale” sign and stopped to go look at it because I was considering a fun weekend car. It turned out the owner of the business was a past customer of mine, I had done work on his home. Two days later it was mine.
In the process of fixing every little thing and customizing it, I decided to pull out most of the interior to really clean it. Tucked in where the carpet overlapped, under the driver’s seat, was a gold ring with a small diamond. I wasn’t sure if it was real so I asked a friend at a nearby jewelry store. They confirmed it was real 18k and about ⅛ carat real diamond.
I called my friend who sold me the car. He checked with his wife and it wasn’t hers. I asked if they knew the previous owner but she had sold them the car before moving overseas and they lost track of her info. There must have been a clean title at some point because she wasn’t listed.
I doubt it was a wedding ring because it was so small, in fact the only finger it would fit was my mother in law’s pinky. She liked it so I let her keep it.
Battle with highest total losses:Battle of Vercellae
In 113 BC a large Germanic-Celtic coalition begins poking around Rome. They crush a Roman army and send the Romans into a panic. This army is 200,000 men strong- how can Rome compete.
Into this steps Marius, Uncle of Caesar. Marius was the most well-known general of his age and he set about reforming the Roman military with rapid speed, creating the more traditional Roman Legions we all know and love.
As this massive Army began to move for Italy Marius responded with his reformed Legions. What followed was a massive all-out clash where Roman discipline held back a far larger army. The turning point came when a commander named Sula counter-charged the Celtic cavalry and sent them fleeing into their own lines.
In all Plutarch reports 100,000 were killed, Livy reports 160,000, and Orosius reports 140,000 were killed.
Battle with highest Roman casualties: Cannae
Hannibal had invaded Italy and Rome responded by raising the largest Army in it’s history- some 90,000 men strong. The Romans used this Army to attack Hannibal, driving their strong heavy infantry forward in an effort to break Hannibal’s lines.
Hannibal had cleverly made his flanks strong and so as his center bowed inwards his flanks did not. This created a big “U” shape and the Romans found themselves being pressed from all sides. Then Hannibal’s cavalry came around the rear and surrounded the entire Roman Army. They then pressed in and killed perhaps 50,000 Romans.
I have to say, a number of answers to this question are appalling. What is most troubling is that many of the worst and most shaming of these responses are from supposed clinicians themselves. I am deeply bothered by this.
Is it normal, or lets say understandable, that you would feel distrustful and off about your therapist shutting down your queries about the nature of your relationship with them? Yep, sounds downright logical to me. When we feel distrustful it is because we feel unsafe in some way. You therapist refusing to engage with you around the experience of the inherent lop-sided-ness of the therapy relationship is problematic.
What you are experiencing is incredibly common, if not inevitable. I would dare say anyone who has remained in therapy for more than a few sessions with a therapist will wrestle with the freedoms and constraints afforded within a psychotherapy. For many this remains a constant felt tension throughout their therapy. It is an important aspect of therapy as exploring the tensions, dissatisfaction, unfairness, longings etc…with our therapists directly reveals our deepest needs and wants. Talking about the bounds of the therapy is the most fruitful of topics, a talented therapist would happily (if not giddily) help you to explore your distrust, or any other experience you may be having about being in therapy.
The issue isn’t whether it is right or wrong for a therapist to reveal anything about their private-selves (some do, some don’t). The issue here is that this subject has come up more than once in your therapy and you are clearly completely confused about it. Your therapist has missed a golden opportunity to open up a discussion about relationships.
It would seem according to some of these answers your therapist is not alone in completely missing the proverbial elephant, or neon sign, in the room.
On my first day working at Domino’s Pizza, I was introduced to all the workers. One of the delivery drivers was a guy in his 70s whom we’ll call Morgan. He looked at me and said, “I’d ask you out, but I guess you don’t date people your grandfather’s age.” Keep in mind that I was 17 at this point; this was my first “real job.” Since I’d been homeschooled, I wasn’t well-versed in social norms, but this statement gave me the creeps. When I went home that evening, I discussed it wiith my mom, who said he was most likely teasing.
Morgan kept chatting with me, and I came to know him as a very friendly person. However, a couple of months later (I worked there from halfway through summer break until Thanksgiving, when I got a better job), I was eating a piece of leftover pizza and he grabbed my shoulders, trying to take a bite out of my pizza. I warned him not to do it again, or I’d elbow him. He talked for weeks about how “M.J. has pointy elbows,” so nobody get on her bad side.
I was never comfortable around him from that time on. He kept making comments that made me less comfortable. One day, he said, “You’re going to make a wonderful wife and mother someday.” Finally, I brought it up with my parents again. When I mentioned that he’d given me his business card so I could “use him as a professional reference,” they realized what was going on.
My dad called the manager, who was the best guy ever with six kids of his own and decided to let my dad (a tough-as-nails, Glock-carrying Italian gym rat in cowboy boots) do whatever he thought was best. I gave my dad Morgan’s schedule, and the two of them had a nice chat out in the parking lot. Morgan said about five words to me the entire rest of the time I worked there. It was glorious.
I used to work for an EXTREMELY reclusive billionaire (for further reference in the answer he will be called Greg) as a personal aide. Many things that I have seen and been a part of during my fantastic service with (for?) him are covered by legal documents that demand non disclosure from me. However, there are still some things that can be shared.
The word extremely is in all caps because only one or two pictures of him have ever been publicly published, and he has never given a personal statement. He maintained a zero social media presence, and would always grumble about the dependency of modern society on rapidly changing technology. His family and him always maintained a low profile, choosing to utilise public transport if they could (however, they had extensive means of transportation and if he felt even the slightest inkling of a threat they would use another transportation method). The children attended a private school just out of the county, however, in my country, private schools are very common, so this is not too fancy.
But, don’t for a moment underestimate the man. He had an uncanny ability to read people, pick out things others would not see at first glance and was always determined to understand and learn about the world around him. He would anonymously donate millions to organisations that furthered research into space (is this a thing? I learnt this from another personal aide). He played his cards close to the chest, and if he did not understand a theory or idea, he had no qualms of ringing the relevant party up to better understand the concept, something he did regularly with his firm which led to some talks behind his back in the firm.
He always maintained a composure of calmness through out even the most trying situations. There was a time when a client agreement between his firm and the client had fallen through, and they only had a few hours to rehash all the details. Unfortunately, he had given the lead architect of the deal a few days off earlier in the week as the client company had, at first, shown a very positive outlook on the agreement. Greg knew that the architect was out deep in the country side where he was helping with the after party of his sister’s wedding. Cell service was not great, and while the architect was informed of the situation, he was in no place to rehash a multi million dollar deal. So what was done, within a span of 1 hour, was a helicopter from a local tour agency, that always had one on standby, was chartered, sent out to the architect, brought him back and they worked on the deal. The deal eventually fell through (it was beyond saving if you asked me), and Greg felt extremely guilty for the inconvenience he caused the architect. As a form of thank you, he proceeded to pay for the sister’s wedding, and gave the architect another month off.
The billionaire I worked for always attempted to remain frugal. He never owned any form of private transport (jet, helicopter, yacht etc), had a small car collection but always donated money or reinvest it into the market. He never showed emotions, but you knew he was a caring individual. His neighbours son had been involved in an extremely gruesome accident when his car was slammed by a truck. Knowing that financing the operation and hospital stress for the son would be too much for the mother, he quietly payed for the entire operation, and set up a trust that would cover the living and medical treatment costs for that young man for the rest of his life.
Greg passed away a few years ago, which is when I stopped working. His wife asked us aides if we would like to stay on, and while several did, I left to take care of my ailing Mother. As a parting bonus, she gave the aides leaving a substantial monetary bonus that will be enough for the rest of my life if I live carefully. I haven’t heard from them in a while, but their current aides say they are still the same down-to-earth people I had known them as.
Greg was a fantastic individual. He was an avid learner, an individual who did whatever it took and, yet, still managed to keep the small things in life within his view. It gave me great pleasure to work for him, and I definitely miss him.
The Ferrari 166 S
The Ferrari 166 S was a sports racing car built by Ferrari between 1948 and 1953, an evolution of its Colombo V12-powered 125 S racer. It was adapted into a sports car for the street in the form of the 166 Inter.
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Only 12 Ferrari 166 S were produced, nine of them with cycle-fenders as the Spyder Corsa. It was soon followed by the updated and highly successful Ferrari 166 MM (Mille Miglia), of which 47 were made from 1948 to 1953. Its early victories in the Targa Florio and Mille Miglia and others in international competition made the manufacturer a serious competitor in the racing industry. Both were later replaced by the 2.3 L 195 S.
At the end of the interview, the hiring manager leaned back on his chair, folded his hands and grinned, “Tell me why I shouldn’t hire the guy I interviewed before you came in?”
I had to think for a moment. “Having never met or interviewed the guy, I can’t make an informed opinion.” And I thought the reason for the question was to see if I made snap decisions without any facts.
He shook his head, “Now that’s a cop out. Give me another reason.”
“Let me see his resume and give me a few minutes. Cover up his name.”
“I can’t do that, but I’ll show you his cover letter.”
He folded the paper so I couldn’t see who sent it, and moved it across the desk. I read the first sentence and said, “He makes careless mistakes. He misspelled the name of your company.”
The hiring manager’s eyes popped and said, “What?” He looked at it again, then said, “This meeting is over.”
And that was that. I never heard back and no one in HR would take my call. I don’t know if it was a fake letter he used as a test or a real one.
Yes, I was a financial manager at a golf & country club.
I took two weeks’ vacation and when I came back there was a note taped to my computer that said, “Do Not Open.” Immediately, I knew because employees were being let go daily.
Minutes later, my desk phone rang, and the NEW GM wanted me in his office.
I was let go for no reason given other than “Don’t take it personally”.
I stayed in contact with my assistant, and she was given my job at $8 an hr. She also told me he brought in his wife, children and many other employees that he knew from a previous job at another club.
All total, 23 employees were let go and replaced!
Karma got him….he got caught stealing and he was fired!
Some years ago, when my special needs kids were younger, we went to a nearby restaurant to practice behavior, social skills, and new experiences. They won’t learn if they aren’t exposed.
I agreed they could have anything on the menu as long as they agreed to try their choice. My older two tried something off the adult menu, but my younger one was less confident and asked to try something from the kid’s menu. I wanted this a positive experience so I said sure. He ordered the personal pizza.
I did chuckle that we came to a restaurant for him to have pizza, but we agreed. It was a great time, and everyone enjoyed. Well, I didn’t enjoy it as much when I got the bill. His personal pizza cost almost as much as a regular pie from the pizza shop. Well, we came for the experience and everyone behaved well. But next time, I had an impulse about eating out, I asked the kids if they were ok with the pizza shop, and they were. The restaurant was ok, but you could relax in the pizza shop. Ok, I learned a lesson that day.
She hated the pool and resented my father for getting it.
Upon retirement, my father put an in-ground pool, complete with a deck and privacy fence, in his back yard. I’d been moved out for three years at that point, and I usually visited during the holidays, when the pool was closed. I never saw it in its full glory except in pictures. I saw a lot of pictures of my dad and sister and other people having great pool parties.
My mother was never in those pictures. She was the one taking the pictures, I assumed. But she later told me that she hated the pool. It cost half as much as the house it was attached to. It was the single biggest purchase my father ever made for himself.
He got about eight years of use from it. Then, his health got so bad that his doctors told him to quit going in it, lest he have a heart attack and drown in it. They drained the pool that winter, and it was never used again.
Then he died, and for the next six years, my mother had a giant man-made swamp in her backyard. Every time it rained, she had to pump the water out of the pool. It attracted frogs and snakes. It actually reduced the value of her home, because she lived in a poor neighborhood and no one who could afford to fix and maintain the pool would want to live in that neighborhood.
Finally, just last month, she got it filled in with dirt. It wasn’t cheap, of course, but now she can have what was there before: a garden.
To the US, a REASONABLE RELATIONSHIP will be when :-
Xi Jingping retires or resigns
China demilitarizes and commits to the same
China relinquishes the One China Policy wrt Taiwan and cedes the South China Sea to US Hegemony
China prepares to be Number Two for the considerable future
China purchases and takes back US Debt to $ 1.5–1.7 Trillion
Nothing else will satisfy them
Even if China makes these confessions, some Neocons won’t be satisfied
They want a War against China and to see China broken and lose considerable power and the CPC to be ousted and a US style democracy established
For China, a REASONABLE RELATIONSHIP MEANS :-
Each Nation understanding that their laws are meant to be followed in each nation
No protectionism
Not using Geopolitical issues in Economic problems
Fair Competition and the ‘May the best man win’ philosophy
Win Win Partnership so that the Global Economy can gain
Of course China also has Wolf Warriors who simultaneously aim to develop their independent supply chain and to oust US influence in the Global South
In the end, the businessmen in both nations want what China wants
The leadership in China wants peace
It is the US that is divided because of its unstable politicians, between Neocons and Neo Liberals and frankly too many homosexuals and transgenders to truly gauge what a diplomatic partnership means
So today all China is doing is BUYING TIME and waiting for US to collapse under it’s own weight
About a year ago we had a strange series of UPS and FedEx deliveries. They all had our correct address but the name was something like a cartoon character.. think something like Betty Poop.
The first box was a plant stand. My wife took it back to FedEx. Two days later we got the same delivery! In the middle there were a few more deliveries.. my wife was thinking it’s a scam where someone would come by and steal the freshly delivered boxes. But the stuff we were receiving weren’t that kind of stuff you’d expect in a scam.
We have an HOA with a complete list of homeowners. There was nobody with a name even close. Last box arrives.. it’s UPS and a big box of wallpaper. I send an email to the HOA mailing list, asking if anyone else was on the receiving end of same thing.
I get an immediate call from a woman on my street about 10 houses away. She’s screaming that we are stealing her packages and she’s a decorator and we made her miss her deadline! Apparently the funky name was her new business name! She wants me to deliver it all to her immediately or she’s calling the cops!
I ask her what her address was and she recites MY address.. I tell her to go outside and look at the number on her house. And that I’m putting all her boxes out in my driveway and she should come get it!
Ten minutes later there’s a man in an SUV picking up the boxes. No apology, no admission of fault. I still wouldn’t know the woman if I saw her today!
Penn and Teller had this show a few years back called “Bullshit”.
They would debunk TONS of stuff. It was very educational without being skewed like some of Michael Moore’s stuff is.
One show was debunking diet myths. They went through the history of sugar vs. fat and the evils of high fructose corn syrup, etc…
But one pivotal bit was when they brought a stagehand out from behind the set. He had apparently lost a ton of weight recently. They asked him how he managed to do it.
This epic hero looked straight into the camera and said, “I stopped eating so fucking much.”
When COVID hit, I knew I wouldn’t be going out as much. So I decided to change my diet very VERY slightly. I would take smaller scoops of rice and take the smaller potato during dinner. Without doing ANYTHING else, I lost about 4 pounds in about as many months. I wasn’t even trying.
Stay away from hidden sugar. EVERYTHING in the U.S. has hidden sugar in it. Look at the ingredients. Is something ends in “ose”, it’s sugar.
Exercise helps, too, of course, but not everyone can do it. One thing everyone can do, though is:
Stop eating so fucking much.
Project Looking Glass | The Time Warriors of the 2012 Apocalypse
I grew up outside of a small prairie town. One of my best friends grew up about 10 miles out of town, and in my teens I used to spend a lot of time at his house with him, his siblings and his parents. They had a built in kitchen table and wrap around bench. We used to sit at that table have a beer, and play a card game called “pass the ace” or sometimes “spoons” with all of our friends, his parents and siblings.
I moved away, travelled the world, and never settled down. I was about 40, still single, and I still planned on getting married and having kids someday.
When I was back in Canada, I decided to stop in and visit his parents. I knocked on the door, which was never locked, they yelled at me to come in, and there was a tableful of people playing pass the ace, and drinking beer. There was my friends mother, his younger brother, and 5 other young people playing pass the ace. I sat down, had a beer and got dealt in. I started to get caught up on all the news. It was exactly like old times, talking, drinking beer, playing cards, with a tableful of young adults, in their late teens, and early twenties. Exactly as if I hadn’t left. Then it dawned on me, I was playing cards with my friends two sons, his sisters son and daughter, and two second cousins. I was thinking I hadn’t changed in twenty years, and suddenly I was an old man playing cards, with the next generation, and they were old enough to legally drink.
That was the day, I realized I was no longer young, lets face it, I was old. I remember 20 years before, thinking how cool his parents and their friends were, for drinking and partying at their age, and now I was that old man sitting at the table.
I not only remember the day. I remember the minute it hit.
I’m not sure it was the most interesting, but its stuck in my mind for years. I was in a nice lakefront restaurant, inside a city, so it wasn’t a big lake, but a small man made lake.
At the table beside me was a couple and a realtor discussing putting his house on the market.
The man appeared to be about 10 years older than his wife. They had one of 5 houses on an island in the middle of the lake, accessable only by a bridge. Very exclusive. The housing market was down. The realtor had told the man what his house was assessed at. The husband said, he knew very well, what it was assessed at, but he wouldn’t sell it for anywhere near that price.
The realtor told him it would be on the market for a long time, if he listed it that high, and might never sell. The wife started to say something, and the husband actually turned to her, and said “This is mans business, we know what we are doing, let us talk, if we want to know how to decorate a room, we’ll ask you” I saw the realtor cringe, he didn’t want to be included in that kind of conversation.
The husband then told him, that the way to market it, was to sell it as one of only five houses on an island in the city, maybe the whole province. I understood his logic, but this was not a nice man.
Listing a house is something that a realtor really wants to do. Even if they don’t sell it themselves, as long as someone buys it, they make money. But, and this is a guess, it costs money to advertise the house, put it on the MLS system, and if its unrealistically high, and it never sells then they lose money. Then he has to deal with a high maintenance client, that makes him feel like he should wash his hands, after every meeting.
In any case, the realtor said that if he wanted to list the house for more than 30 percent over market value, he would have to find a different realtor. The husband was stunned, and couldn’t believe he was being turned down. The realtor paid for the lunch and left.
I don’t know if they ever talked again. But I didn’t feel clean myself, sitting at a table next to this guy, so I didn’t blame him.
There is a sure fire way to discover if a guy actually served in the British SAS, one that I witnessed myself. Let me explain. I had a friend who was an alcoholic. There was gossip in the local pubs that he was ex SAS. No matter how drunk he would get, he would always laugh and tell you not to be so stupid if you aver broached the subject with him. So how did we find out the truth? At his funeral. A serving member of the SAS in full uniform, accompanied by a bugler (Non SAS) attended and gave a eulogy that had us all gobsmacked. Not only was my friend ex SAS, but his exploits were totally jaw dropping heroic. We were told that whenever an ex member of the SAS dies. His funeral is always attended by a serving member of the regiment. RIP Alec.
I was waiting in line at the dollar store, lady in front of me had an infant in her arms, and had an older boy maybe 5 who was holding his little sister’s hand who was about 3 to prevent her from running off.
She was purchasing 2 tiny packs of diapers, a few minor food items, and a 1 liter Mountain Dew. She had enough for the total, but it was spread among 3 debit cards. I don’t know if the clerk was new, or a new computer system, but the clerk was having trouble ringing it up in 3 payments like she needed.
I was off work at the time, between jobs collecting unemployment, so I was struggling also, but I could easily afford the little bit she needed, so I just stepped up, and swiped my card to cover her groceries. She tried to take the Mountain Dew out (a luxury, not necessity) but I pointed out with 3 children she needed the caffeine even though 1 was very mature, and helpful.
On my way out the door to walk home (nice day, and not far, so I walked instead of driving) I heard her attempt to stay her van, it sounded like a dead battery and when it finally started, a horrible belt squealing sound told me a belt was destroyed, or very loose.
I told her I’m a hobby mechanic, I don’t live far, and I told her I’d gladly look at it if she would like since I don’t live far, so she offered me a ride and another thank you for paying for her groceries.
When she pulled in the driveway, she was reluctant to shut the vehicle off, I told her I have a battery booster or my car to get her started if needed.
Opened the hood, and someone had replaced the alternator recently, but had forgotten to tighten the swing arm assembly that holds pressure on the belt. It took as much time to grab the tools as it did to tighten it correctly. It started right up with the battery booster, and the squealing was gone.
I pointed out the belt was looking worn out, recommended she get it replaced but it’ll last for a few months at least, and told her I would gladly put the belt on whenever she needed free of charge if she showed up with the belt.
I’ve been in her shoes raising my 4 children as a single dad, so the little money for her groceries, and about 5 minutes of my time to tighten the alternator belt was no problem at all.
I’ve been wondering whether or not to answer this… The “wrong person” is my daughter (stepdaughter really,but I’m Daddy now and forever so that settles that) and the people doing the “picking a fight”were her ex boyfriend and his father.. I didn’t personally witness this because I was in Iraq at the time,but believe me I sure heard about it.
Daughter is tall and not a delicate flower even though she has all the requisite standard equipment to attract stares and suchlike, including a startling resemblance to Gal Gadot ,and I always emphasized to all my kids the importance of self confidence ,so she carries herself with a certain pride. She has Blackfeet blood along with Irish and Norwegian and who knows what else, girl has a temper too,what can I say..
Anyways,ex boyfriend and father spot her walking down the sidewalk one weekend night and follow her,asking her to get in and go for a cruise.. She says no,but they apparently don’t want to take no for an answer and pull ahead and stop, ex BF Gets out of the car and grabs her elbow and pulls her towards the car,she pulls away and he grabs her again, by this time she is almost in the door. I had taught my kids to avoid punching someone and use their elbows if the person was close enough, which ex BF certainly was unfortunately for his dumb ass, because Daughter proceeds to elbow him repeatedly in the face with backswing strikes on her way away from the car, dislocating ex BF‘S jaw and shattering his eye socket and breaking his nose, and naturally stopped any hostilities on his part, but ex BF’s dad was pushed by this time and ran around the car and accosted Daughter, catching a 50 yard field goal kick in his balls for his troubles..I taught my kids well.
During the Japanese War of Aggression Against China (1931-1945), about 200000, or even more women in China were lured and forced by the Japanese army to become “comfort women”. They suffered various unimaginable and unspeakable forms of abuse during the war, most of which were tortured to death at that time. Even if a few survivors survived by chance, they were left with scars and even lifelong disabilities.
At the comfort station, they subjected women to inhumane torture, even if they were pregnant, they still had to endure the torture of the Japanese army. Once they fell ill, they would be killed. The Japanese army did not leave a way for these women to survive, and they even set up a series of “rules and regulations” that made these captured women unable to die.
After Japan surrendered, they were afraid that their crimes would be exposed, and they brutally killed all comfort women before leaving. We cannot imagine how desperate they were at that moment. Fortunately, there are many women who have survived by chance. But for them, surviving may not be a kind of luck, because they have been living in darkness for the latter half of their lives, and their survival is evidence to prove the Japanese’s inhumanity. Because they survived with strength, we could only know about the various crimes committed by Japan.
There is a lengthy documentary in China called “Twenty Two”, that tells the story about China’s surviving “comfort women” during the Japanese invasion of China. The film was directed by Guo Ke, with 22 comfort women participating in the filming. It was released in mainland China on August 14, 2017. Unfortunately, on November 9, 2023, Li Meijin, the victim of comfort women, passed away at the age of 98. It means that all the surviving women in the documentary “Twenty Two” have passed away.
Until now, Japan has refused to admit their crimes. However, history is there, and it’s useless for them to sophistry. But even in textbooks, they briefly mentioned or directly overturned the truth about that period of history, to the extent that young Japanese people today do not understand what happened back then. They can cover up, but Chinese people will never forget that shameful past.
Alpha Dad Overcomes Childhood Hardships To Gain Wealth, Respect & A Wife That Treats Him Like A King
Damn is this good. And man do I love his grandmother. You rock!
When I moved to Thailand, I was incredibly lonely.
Not speaking the language, I lived for months in silence. I desperately wanted human connection. I just wanted to speak with someone.
My standard for becoming friends with someone dropped to having the ability to speak English. That’s all it took.
My new best friends became a 70 year old English man and his Thai wife. They would take me to markets on the weekends sometimes and talk with me if I ate dinner at their shop.
When I walked around the lake every day, I became friends with a 40 year old Thai man who used to work on cruise ships and could speak a decent amount of English to me.
A little 17 year old girl from Uruguay that I met at the gym became one of my good friends as well, she was studying abroad to learn Thai.
For the first time in my life, I had friends of all ages from all backgrounds.
My whole life, I’ve only been friends with people who were within a couple years of my own age. The only older men I talked to was my grandpa, I’d never called an older man a friend. I avoided high schoolers. Forty year old men and women were my parents age, I didn’t want to hang out with them.
But, let me tell you, life became so much richer as soon as I did. 70 year old men have lived a lot of life and can teach you a lot of things. 40 year old cruise ship waiters can tell you about a lot of life experiences that you’ve never had. 17 year old girls from high school can teach you about their way of life in Uruguay and supporting them can bring a lot of meaning to your life.
I think most people limit themselves to a bubble of friends who are the same age as them and in the same stage of life. I think that really limits yourself and the depth of relationships you can have.
I want to stay open to everyone for the rest of my life. It’s so much better this way.
Cockroaches have made their way into my life, against my will, and to great inconvenience. Three years ago, my girlfriend cried into the phone for me to come over, “Please…please…it is twitching on my kitchen floor.” She sounded like a hostage. We went back and forth for two minutes, with me insisting I couldn’t come to her house.
“I’m busy writing. Just get a paper towel and flush it,” I said, trying to calm her down. It didn’t work. She begged and begged until I finally said, “I’m doing this once.” And then drove 20 minutes — just to kill a roach.
After we moved into our new house together, my war with the roaches truly began. Exterminating them took significant research and numerous failed attempts. Mine is a common problem, and has made me question the value of these little critters.
We should be impressed that a creature has survived so much research and resources put into their extermination, and pesticides that are only making them stronger. A roach always finds a way and there is no “walling them out”. To the shock of NASA’s employees, one even snuck onboard Apollo 12. They’d moved mountains to decontaminate the spacecraft and ensure nothing snuck on. Employees were even in denial, swearing the roach couldn’t be there when astronauts said they’d seen one. Nevertheless, one did, and Apollo 12 took off for the moon while gaining the nickname, “The Roach Coach”.
Roaches are so nimble that researchers at Cornell University explored how just flexible they are. In a test of increasingly smaller crevices, they discovered roaches could squeeze through 3 millimeter spaces, despite their back being 12 millimeters high. Their exoskeleton is indeed hard and breakable, but exists in sections connected by soft tissue that molds and bends. And even while pressed down tight with weight on their back, they can still move fast and with little regard for gravity. When adjusting for size, they run the equivalent of a human running 200 mph. They can run when missing four legs. They can climb vertically while missing two feet. Scientists proved that roaches could withstand 900 times their own bodyweight without taking damage.
A roach is also an extreme gymnast, with a hallmark move, where it quickly flips from the edge of a table to the underside, dangling by one leg in an instant. It often leaves home owners wondering where the roach went. And so, a cockroach’s incredible athleticism, nimbleness, and durability, make it the perfect model for robotics technology, as we continue to explore new planets and depths on Earth. These new robots may even save lives.
A new era of inspiration
At John’s Hopkins University, Dr. Chen Li and Dr. Sean Gart filmed cockroaches running and then played video back in slow motion, studying how the legs and arms sync and propel it forward. They took notes, in awe, and looked at means of replicating these efficiencies with robots. A cockroach typically deals with vegetation, leaf and stick covered terrain. It is highly complex to navigate, but cockroaches do so with extreme ease and efficiency.
This matters because robotics is moving into a new phase, where robots are moving from indoor testing to outdoors, which is why the most clever animal navigators, including snakes, octopuses, and arachnids, have attracted non-hostile attention from scientists. One of the signature challenges robots face, is moving through unpredictable terrain and being durable enough for random physical impacts.
The study of cockroaches, in particular, has led to a new branch of durable and penetrating robots that can climb high objects, crash hard, and still get back up and resume climbing. Professor Robert J. Full, of UC Berkley, has spent his career researching the nature of evolution-inspired design, and even attached tiny jetpacks to the sides of roaches, to test how well they climb vertically while being randomly jetted to the side. It was easy work — for the roaches.
His lab designed a tiny cockroach inspired robot, that squeezes through cracks, and even looks a bit like a roach. It could be useful for descending through cracks in rubble to search for survivors. It stands 75 millimeters tall and can squeeze down to 35 millimeters, which is almost, but not quite as good as roaches. It also has similar pliable and molding body parts, that allow it to bend and move in extremely tight and uneven spaces. Dr. Full routinely meets with first responders at disaster sites, to learn more about their needs as he continues to innovate this robot.
The necessity of studying them
It is as the old Sun Tzu saying goes, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Cockroaches are a brilliant species, without actually being brilliant.
When I met with a pest control expert, his feedback wasn’t what I expected. He said, “Don’t just spray every inch of a room’s perimeter, they’ll know it’s a trap.” Then, he showed me how to put tiny drops along walls, and in the underside of cupboards and tiny cracks between furniture and sliding drawers. “Think of all the tiniest openings possible, and think like a roach — and you’ll know where to put the spray,” he said. It is this intrinsic cleverness and efficient navigating that could manifest robots of incredible caliber and utility in the coming decades.
What’s remarkable is that cockroaches don’t rely heavily on their nervous system for movement like other mammals. Even when thrown off balance, yanked around, blasted with wind, and spun like a top, their bodies auto adjust without thought. This matters for robotics because engineers are constantly programming and scripting robots to manage uneven terrain, and think about where their feet are going.
The insight from a cockroach is that, perhaps engineers shouldn’t try so hard with this programming method. They should rely on predictable mechanics, that have built-in means to traverse steep rocks and slippery surfaces. In short, make it more natural. This could impact medical technology and prosthetics, and help people who’ve had strokes or major injuries, develop more fluid gaits.
The animal kingdom is, in a sense, the only alien intelligence we deal with. Species are of ingenious design through an evolutionary arms race, and can move and adjust to their environment in ways we’d have never dreamed of. Which is evident when trying to step on a roach and you miss in the last moment, or even when you hit it, it manages to keep running. Who wouldn’t want this fortitude and evasiveness?
Perhaps what strikes me most, is that a bug with little cognitive function, has evolved to elude the smartest of all known species, and who is quite hostile to its presence. A future where nature-inspired robotics, combined with artificial intelligence, could save lives in search and rescue, improve exploration of new places and planets, and improve lives for the disabled. All thanks to our most ancient and enduring pest.
Mix crumbs together with butter or margarine thoroughly. Spread the mixture on sides and bottoms of a 9-inch springform pan to form a crust.
Take 2 ounces of fudge and spread on top of crumbs. Place 1/4 gallon of ice cream on top of fudge. Next, spread 2 ounces of fudge over ice cream then place 4 ounces of coconut. Place remaining ice cream on coconut and follow with 2 ounces fudge, 4 ounces almonds and 4 ounces coconut as done before. Top with whipped cream and remaining almonds and coconut. Place in deep freezer for 3 to 4 hours.
Notes
Roasted Coconut and Almonds: Place coconut on a metal sheet pan and put into oven at 350 degrees F for approximately 3 1/2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Do the same for almonds but increase the time to 4 minutes.
When I was running from an abusive situation, i lived in a shelter on welfare. After my 2 month stay was up, i had to find a room to rent or they’d send me to a homeless shelter (the one i was in was for female abuse victims and their children if they have any. Since there was a high demand for rooms there, the stays were short). I ended up finding a room that was 500$ per month. On welfare as a single person with no kids, I got 709$ per month. I went to view the room and the landlord asked me why I wanted to live there. I explained the situation and he immediately said yes. I ended up moving in not even a week later. He let me live there for free with unlimited wifi and cable TV included for 8 months of my 13 month stay with him. After the 8 months I had a job and could pay the rent, but even then he said if I couldnt make the rent to let him know. Hed share his food from his fridge with me, give me cash money randomly with notes that said things like “buy whatever you want” and “have a nice day”, hed offer to give me rides to the store and job interviews, he offered to get me a bus pass (85$ for one that lasts a month), hed invite me to share BBQs with him, his wife and the other 4 tenants. He bought everyone Christmas gifts (a box of Ferrero Roche chocolates and a 50$ amazon gift card). He never asked for anything back. He became more like a friend to me than a landlord. He was amazing
My stepdad beat me when I was between 8 and 11. He would wait until I wasn’t looking, then sneak up behind me with a riding crop and hit me behind the knees. My mother would not come to my defense, no matter how hard I cried. I had no idea how to process this situation. I felt like my mother betrayed me and that the legal system was on her side since she got custody of us (my sister and me) when she divorced my dad. I had thoughts about suicide, but we only lived on the second floor, so jumping wasn’t an option. There were railroad tracks nearby, so I could have jumped in front of a train. Basically, it was the lowest point of my life… and I was 11. Somehow I found the strength to get past this and accepted that beatings were a thing now. I could make it through this. I had to just count on myself to deal with the pain and betrayal.
Eventually, he beat me so bad that when my dad came to pick us up for one of our weekends with him, I was bleeding from a ruptured eardrum. My dad almost lost it. He was going to kill my stepdad. I asked him to just take me to a doctor and deal with the rest of the shit later. He did. He also demanded custody. My mom accepted immediately. I knew then that I was a commodity to her. I’ve written her out of my life for the most part. We only talk on birthdays and Christmas.
My dad did his best and I think he really supported me up until I lost him to brain cancer in January 2016. He was my Yoda, my Gandalf, my friend. I miss him daily. He saved my life.
KFC – always popular for making rules and rolling it back badly. As a student in UK, I worked as a parttimer in KFC for two reasons 1) Money I get paid 2) Food I’m allowed to eat during breaks.
Staffs who work in KFC are allowed to take KFC food during lunch breaks. I know staffs who even took a bucket of chicken for lunch , but then they’re hard workers and smart workers – a pillar of support behind the enormous profit KFC makes per shift.
One fine day, the circle management decided to do some cost cutting – made a rule that staffs are allowed to take only limited food for lunch. A burger, fries and a cup of soft drink. Nothing more.
Rationing food for staffs — nobody likes it. The store manager would check how much food you take for lunch , particularly if he’s a bully , that’s annoying as hell.
Time for payback ….
We came with a plan.
If the store closes by 10 pm, we started to over cook by 9pm, pile up all the racks with cooked food.
Now the “kick in the butt” is back on the store manager – it’s his head ache to sell all the cooked food before closing or else the food is reported as “unsold” in records. This means he gets questioned for poor sales, losses his incentives and what not
He can’t ask us not to over cook because incase there’s customer flow and there’s food shortage – we can do nothing. That affects the rating
Above all , staff food was rationed as a means of cost cutting. Now the management has learnt -” you touch my food, now deal with the loss mate, let’s see how you make profit”.
Within a week , the rule of food rationing was rolled back. The management went in knees —” take as much food you want for lunch, but please don’t overcook at closing time.
The management has learnt a hard lesson — it’s not just the store manager but the staff who knows how to run a shift with better profits.
No food chain can make profits without staff cooperation
This one didn’t necessarily change how I viewed my mom but it sure gave me a good (but bittersweet) laugh.
My mom was a hoarder. Her home was filled with junk from wall to wall, floor to ceiling. She just couldn’t bear to get rid of anything because she thought she might “need” it someday. The fact that she couldn’t find it if she did need it was lost on her.
Anyhoo, the day came when we had to move mom into a care home. My sister and I sat mom in a cleared corner of a couch and let her “help” by telling us “yay or nay” on keeping certain things. In the background, our team was hauling soooo much crap out into a bin without her knowing. We’d bring random boxes and let mom “sort” through them to keep her occupied. One or the other of us would sit with her and talk while the others worked. In the end, we actually kept only enough clothes and books and personal items to fit in the care home room we’d lined up for her.
During the course of the day we noticed that mom had acquired a VERY large number of nail clippers over the years. Being tiny items that you need fairly often, she was constantly leaving them here or there and losing them. The people helping would laugh and say “found another one!” every time they spotted one. In the end we found about 100 nail clippers! (We also found a mini fridge that had been buried in the back, filled with sickeningly, gaggingly, gross, rotten, mouldy food!)
Sometimes you can laugh and feel pain at the same time, I guess. It was a time of bonding for my sister and I. Mom had to give her beloved dog Spike to a friend and move away from the town that had been her home for decades. It was very painful for all of us but in a way it was also life-affirming if that makes sense.
I bought a large framed picture of James Butler Hickock or Wild Bill. I loved the photo.
I hung the picture in my sunroom right beside the back door. It was like he was looking right at me and his eyes followed me everywhere I went.
I read quite a few books about this man and he led a very interesting life as a soldier, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, showman, and actor.
We even visited Deadwood, South Dakota where he lived the last years of his life before being killed at a card game he was playing in 1876, the same year Custer died. We went to the saloon where he was shot and visited his grave on Mt. Moriah, and there beside him was the grave of Calamity Jane who was buried when she died in 1903.
So at first, every morning I walked out that door, I’d say, “Morning Bill,” and everytime I walked in that door at night, I’d say, “Night Bill.” All in fun.
Poor old Bill was probably lonely out there as he guarded the house. Was probably also cold at times. But those steely eyes would sure look at me. Sometimes he looked sad, sometimes amused like he had the slightest smile on his face. He probably enjoyed my pipe or cigar smoke that floated around the room while I had a few puffs. But I feel he looks forward to my good mornings and good nights, and I feel that if I forget to say those things to him, well, might not bode well. Superstitious I guess.
So every morning and every night, I talk to Bill and I think it’s okay. Weird, but okay.
Every American should seriously think about this. Every empire that come and gone since time in memorial, went because of over intervention, over interference and over reaching to the point that it could no longer sustain itself. And they self implode and civil war is inevitable.
The U.S. is not getting there, it is indeed there now and almost beyond redemption. Seriously, Americans must jointly and severally destroy the U.S. military industrial complex before it destroy all of you. They are the single most important reason that the US is drag into conflicts after conflicts. Due to them, your real standard of living has not grown since 1960! Your great grand parents have a better standard of living compared to you!
Please think seriously about your debts. Just 10 years ago your debt was a mere USD10 trillion today it is USD34 trillion precisely 340% increase in a decade. At the rate you are going by 2034 the U.S. debts will be USD100 trillion at least! Just paying interest alone at 5% is USD5 trillion dollars per annum.
Seriously, don’t let anyone fool you! 5 trillion is so humongous your nation will never be able to do anything else. Today you can argue that the U.S. infrastructure is lying dilapidated, your homeless has reached a million, a third of Americans are in debt and can’t afford healthcare and college education. It can only afford one and only one thing. Wage more wars! Wars enriched 0.01% of Americans! Your politicians and the deep state!
China is a million times more healthier than the U.S. that is your problem right here! China’s saving is so colossal it save a U.K GDP a year. China’s debts is USD 15 trillion and almost 100% of it is investment that grows China’s capacity! Build its state or art technology and infrastructure, graduate STEM engineers the size of the entire US STEM experts each year!
This means China grow its capacity phenomenally while the US fall back every year due to your liabilities. Let me be brutally honest, you don’t stand a chance against China! But you may save the US that still remain a nation and a strong 2nd largest economy for 50 years till India catches up! Most importantly your citizens get back its prosperity and avoid total collapse! Do it before it is too late. Get rid of the neocons, eradicate the deep state, get ride of NRA and CIA.
China cannot be stop, the best you can do is be strong and wealthy again.
Top Gun with a Cat
Enjoy this FUN short video. I hope it makes your day. I know that it did mine!
I know that I live in China, and that it is safe, safe… safe! But you know guys, I do miss my guns. Yup. I left them all behind back in the ‘States when I moved to China. I loved to take them out, and shoot them every now and then, and truthfully, I was lethal with my pistol.
I also miss my G3.
HK G3 Assault Rifle
I have had numerous weapons through the years, but I left behind my precious P99. It’s not that it is better than the trade-offs that I get here in China. It isn’t, but every now and again, I do miss firing that pistol.
Truth, you all.
Deep down, I still hold on to some of my American characteristics.
Walter P99
Of course, all of this is meaningless to you all, unless you are an American. But there is always something very nice about being able to defend yourself from the crime-ridden United States .
Here’s a (my) Martin .444 lever action.
Marlin 444 Lever Action
Man, oh man, those bullets were huge!
Marlin 444
It could really cut through the brush… I’ll tell you what.
Back in the day, Australians used to own thee kinds of weapons, and then a crazy guys in Tasmania (I seem to recall) went on a shooting spree “out of the blue”, and the Australian government started to ban everything… you know… to make Australia safer.
I hear that there are parts of Australia that remains very, very dangerous. I mean that there are some places that you do not dare go out at night…
…ugh. That is NOT a place where anyone should live.
But I don’t know if it is the wildlife… or the “wild” life. But if live in one such place, I would suggest that you leave. Life is too short to live in fear.
For my case, I was the boss who was later hired by the guy who used to work for me. Early in my career, I managed a construction crew of a dozen or so workers. One of my workers, I’ll call Scott, showed exceptional intelligence, drive and common sense. I promoted to foreman and then supervisor in less than two years. I left that company over a contract dispute and found another job.
Six years later, I’d grown bored with the new job and felt my future there was limited. Out of the blue, I received a call from Scott. A short time after I had left the old company, Scott ran into his old college sweetheart and a year later, married her. College? A menial laborer, promoted for foreman, and then supervisor, had a college degree? Yep. He told me that he was once a practicing attorney but disbarred for helping a client hide some assets. After disbarment, he slipped into depression and alcoholism. At his lowest point, he took the job of laborer.
His sweetheart and new wife was $$$ LOADED $$$. she had bought him his own successful construction company. He was a smart, ambitious guy but lack bossines (I mean business) sense and knowhow. He found himself over his head on a project and called me for help. It happened I had a couple of weeks vacation left, so for a nice fee, I agreed to spend that time helping him.
At the end of those two weeks, he offered the the job as Executive VP at salary over my current one and a share of the profits. He turned out to be the best boss I ever had and I worked for him until he retired (at forty-two.)
Ask the foreigner.? To them it is a million times safer than back home in the U.S. Chinese people like diversity and welcome good foreigners. But if he is a CIA or NED spy or trouble maker chances is he or she will be caught within 24 hours. If he likes the food, the place the people or the culture he or she is always welcome. If he is a hubris, xenophobic racist he should stay at home and join the KKK.
Let me warn you, China sniff you out in an hour and we will send you packing. But if you live China and wants to make China even better welcome. Let me tell you what you can do in China that you cannot do at home. You can open a 6 pack and you can drink as you walk on Chinese streets. You cannot do in the U.S. You can walk in the street at 3 am in the morning safely even if you are a women. In the U.S. you have many no go areas that even cops don’t want to go.
You cannot see homeless because there is none in China. Your chance of being shot by a random mass shooter is a billion to one in the U.S. if you fall sick everyone including foreigners get to be treated by the best doctors and given medical help. The life expectancy of China exceed that of the U.S. There is zero case of racial profiling in China but in the U.S. blacks can be necked to death in open daylight.
There are Sixty Eight Customized cars made for the CPC top brass every 5 years and PLA Top brass
Xi Jingping has four such cars, all similar and heavily armored
The Communication system is connected to a Chinese Satellite constellation and is not dependent on any other system allowing the president to talk to anyone he wants without any interception
Presently only Biden & Putin have similar systems
The Contract Tender price of this car was 972000 RMB ($ 136K)
I’ve been managing a brand for 9 years and have had stellar performance. I was promoted quickly and pretty soon assumed the role of second in charge for one of the key cities.
Part of my role includes bringing in big corporate sales. I was in the midst of closing a large annual contract with a major player.
And then my godmother had to undergo brain surgery.
I applied for some time off and spent a week with my godmother who lives in another country. I had accrued over 40 days in leave as I’ve been working myself to death to grow the company.
When I returned, my then boss wanted to know if I had finalised the sale. I was speechless. Everyone knew about my godmother’s surgery and it was an annual contract that the company could’ve afforded to wait a couple of weeks for. It wasn’t as if it was completely lost and I’ve been in communication with the client throughout.
But then came those words that I will always remember – “I don’t care if she’s dead. Money is money.”
I walked.
On a happier note, my godmother is fully recovered!
Story: He was the leading runner in the 2004 Summer Olympics marathon. At his pace, he was sure to win first place and secure the gold medal which would’ve brought pride and glory to his family and country.
Near the end of the marathon, he was attacked by a spectator. The spectator actually sidelined into him. Intentionally. In public.
That brief, 10 second-long distraction was enough to completely disrupt De Lima’s mental AND physical rhythm, both of which are critical to running long distance marathons.
He was quickly surpassed by two other runners and was evidently off his game for the remainder of the marathon. He finished in third place in surprisingly good spirits and received the bronze medal.
What people remember is that he crossed the finish line with a smile despite what had happened to him just moments before.
This was a man who was robbed of first place and an Olympic gold medal in a matter of seconds.
Imagine training for something your entire life and being so close to accomplishing something extraordinary. Something that brings you, your family, and your country great pride and happiness and puts you in the history books.
Only to be robbed in a matter of seconds in the most outrageous and nonsensical way possible. By something that should never have happened in the first place.
De Lima could’ve stopped running when that incident happened. He could’ve attacked the trespasser. He could’ve complained endlessly to the officials.
But he pushed past, he ran, and he finished.
Even after the fiasco, words like “furious” or “hatred” were evidently not in De Lima’s vocabulary. Holding a relentless vendetta against his perpetrator was clearly not important to him.
Even when a fellow Olympian earnestly offered his own gold medal to De Lima, De Lima responded “I am happy with mine – it is bronze but means gold.”
De Lima went on to win a variety of awards commemorating his self-discipline and spirit of sportsmanship.
He also went on to light the cauldron at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
image 152
It takes immense willpower and discipline to run and finish as a top contender for a marathon in the Olympics, but I think what makes De Lima so special is his willpower and discipline to look past something so ill-fated and still come out on top. He truly lives a life of no regrets.
And I don’t remember who won first or second place in that 2004 Summer Olympics Marathon.
Although I didn’t know how she died at the time, it later turned out that she had died by suicide. Nine year old me thought she’d just died of old age — she was 43 after all!
We were kept off school for a few days. My middle sister was in the year above me at the same school. Our classmates had been told that our mum had died (not how) and that they should be nice to us.
On my first day back at school, a boy from my sister’s class ran up to me and shouted in my face “Jordan, how’s your mum?” and ran off laughing.
I still remember his name 41 years later – Billy Smart; the same name as a popular travelling circus from that time. That’s all I remember about the boy now – his name and that he thought it would be funny to tease me about my dead mother. I hope he became a more sensitive and well rounded person as an adult, but I have doubts.
Ahahaha, memories! I worked at a publisher for a few years and the management had no clue how much work folks did. They were so clueless, in fact, that they were convinced people were shirking their duties, sneaking out early, coming in late, etc.
So, they ostentatiously installed an electronic time card system. We had to log in and log out every time we entered or left the building, respectively.
They informed us we were going to be paid for the “actual” hours we worked, instead of what we submitted on our timecards (we were “salary,” and yet had a low-budget pay system, so “salary” simply meant “submit a 40-hour timecard every week regardless of the actual work you perform.”), with the implication that we better watch out ’cause “now they were watching.”
Hahahahaha! Watch this!
This company was so delusional that it spent cold hard cash in a passive-aggressive attempt to not pay people, and it totally backfired.
To no one’s surprise, the next payroll was a blowout because we always busted ass and worked long hours. Plus, we completely stopped taking work home to do. Our rationale was “If you’re going to be a jerk about insisting that we are only paid for being in the building, then we’ll only work while we’re in the building.”
The company found themselves shoveling out overtime pay like it was Skittles.
They deactivated that system after Week Two.
I think, to this day, they still think we somehow “hacked” the system, because they could not acknowledge that we worked long-ass hours.
I learnt how to break into my own house when I forgot my keys.
I was waiting for my wife to come home standing in my doorway when a neighbour asked me if I was okay. I said I was fine and I was waiting for my wife to get home from work so I could get in.
I knew that he had a criminal history. He asked me if he could use a small branch of one of my trees to open the door. I agreed, and he put one into the letterbox of my door and he used it to nudge the Yale lock to open it.
I learnt that I needed a better lock. In fact, I bought a whole new door with several locks.
I also learnt that criminals can. and do. reform. For many years, my neighbour could have entered my house and stolen anything he wished.
Months before he died he wasn’t feeling the best. Where he used to NEVER take time off work he had started taking lots of time off. Or coming home early. His feet hurt him. He did a lot of walking at work.
I BEGGED him to go to the doctor. I told his mom to TELL him to go to the doctor. All it created was fights. So I quit begging him to go.
I went on a girls weekend and he died in our home. I have SO MUCH ANGER that he died so young, when it possibly could have been prevented. The main cause of death was a heart attack due to untreated diabetes. Clearing out his drawers I found many bottles of unused diabetic pills. They weren’t even his. Someone gave them to him to “help”, he still didn’t use them.
Now I tell people. PLEASE make sure the ones you love go to the doctor, use Dave as an example why. Also that you know how all the household expenses work. He paid all the main bills and spoiled me. I didn’t have to do any of that. Was a huge eye opener when I had to take over. Nearly lost my house to foreclosure, but am finally getting things under control, four years later.
So yeah, he died on me. I will never forget. We were high school sweethearts. Met when I was 15, he was 17. Got Married when I was 19 and he was 20. Married for 23 years. Together 27.
Make sure the ones you love take care of themselves and get medical help. Sucks being a 42 year old Widow.
So I was in a car accident with my then girlfriend. A teenage girl, driving her mom’s car ran a red light and hit us. It was a pretty bad accident and my girlfriend was taken out of the car on a backboard. The girl who was driving was really shook up, and her passenger had a minor wound that was bleeding. I had banged up my knee and my face got hit pretty hard. An ambulance came, but there was no room for me in the back, so I sat upfront, shotgun. When we got to the ER it was really busy. I sat there waiting for about two hours. Finally a nurse brought me to the examining room, where I waited about another 45 minutes to an hour. The nurse who brought me in looked at my swollen face and said if you had iced that it wouldn’t be so swollen. Finally I just signed myself out.
About a week later I got a bill from the hospital for treatment and an ambulance ride. I called and told them I wasn’t paying because they never treated me and I rode on the empty front seat of the ambulance. They told me that I was charged because if I had really needed treatment it was there. So I asked if they charged people who walked past the hospital also were charged for the same reason. My bill was graciously forgiven. That’s when I knew I would go to law school.
Not my husband but my bf. On Sunday passed I collapsed at the bar we were at having pizza and wine, and I suddenly dropped like a stone. I died for like 7 seconds, eyes wide open and no pulse. I was out for a few minutes then slowly came to. I had no idea what I was doing on the bar floor or who the girls were hovering over me. (Lucky the one girl was a chemist and resuscitated me) My bf tried to see if I could make it to the car but I was too weak, I could not walk at all. I could barely sit up. He called an ambulance for me. He sorted my ID with the drivers to help with my medical aid numbers (as the ambulance was going nowhere otherwise) Followed me to the hospital and sat by me while tests were being done. My blood sugar stabilised and I could go home. He drove us back at midnight, an hour journey…both of us exhausted. He’s not my husband so I didn’t expect him to do all that for me. I can’t believe he behaved exactly as a husband would. I’m a very lucky girl.
After the dotcom crash I got hired by a small software company. They didn’t really have a good product and it was obvious they were on the way down. One day the owner called in with instructions to fire all the sales people as they weren’t making any sales anyway. OK so at the end of the month he calls to ask how sales were going. I said about as good as can be expected with no sales people.
A week later the hammer comes down and we’re all let go and given our severance checks. I immediately go to the bank branch that check was drawn on to cash it and it bounced!
So since I still had the keys to the office, I went back and grabbed a bunch of high-end laptops and took them home. Another week goes by and he calls to ask about these laptops that have gone missing. I said they’re not missing, I’m holding on to them until you make good on the bounced check. I was told that was theft and they would be pressing charges. I said great, I’ll be contacting the Labour Relations Board about your shitty practices and also the Police about knowing passing a bad check for thousands of dollars.
Needless to say I was asked to stop by his office to exchange the laptops for another check. It was like the scene out of Scarface where Tony Montana goes to buy the coke.
Owner: Do you have the laptops?
Me: They’re close by. Do you have my check?
He gave me the check and I went and cashed it and then went back and gave him his laptops.
It is assumed that men can handle hardships on their own…
This is the best, most positive experience I had at the hotel where I worked in college.
As I was getting ready to close my shift out at the front desk of a large hotel on Capitol Hill, a woman came to my desk and said that she wanted to check in, but she lost her purse somewhere along the way between the train station and the hotel.
She was frantic. She was having a meltdown. I asked her about her reservation, if she was with a group? She said “Yes! I’m with X group!”
Awesome. I knew this was an incoming group, with a block of rooms, so I asked for her name. Her name corresponded with a name on my incoming list. I told her that I see her reservation and you have a room! So don’t worry about that, I said. Let’s get the rest sorted.
I then asked when was the last time she saw her purse, and she said that it was on the Amtrak that came into Union Station about 20 minutes before she got to the hotel.
I asked her if she’d had anything to eat. She said she hadn’t, in hours. I said well you better get over to the restaurant and let them give you something to eat while I make some calls! I sent her to the restaurant, and I made sure that everyone knew she was my guest, and why.
I got on the phone, called a few people I knew at Amtrak and asked them to find the cleaners on that train. They found her purse, and brought it to the hotel. Everything intact.
Kicker is? The woman I helped? She was in DC to lead a series of workshops on customer service. I turned out to be the star in her first session on “Getting service right.”
As my marriage began to unravel, my (then) husband became worse and worse with money.
First, he wouldn’t come home for days, leaving the kids and me with no car. That meant if I needed groceries, I had to walk 8 blocks to one store or 11 to another and carry them home.
I couldn’t ask my father for a lot of help, as my mother had cancer. More often than not, I was helping her, and my father was filling in when I couldn’t.
One day, I found I had no bread or milk for my children. I went to the cabinet where I kepy emergency money, only to find the jar empty. The “proud papa” took it. I scooped up whatever spare change I could find and went to the grocery. At the counter, I found I was short. I was ready to cry. I tried to think of which should I put back, when the grocer told me someone behind me paid for my groceries. I cried as I took the bag and said thank you.
Walking home I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but I was wrong. The jerk stopped his paychecks from going to our joint account. He wouldn’t pay the mortgage or utilities.
I had a bank book that he forgot about, and with that I paid bills for as long as I could. I put my children on food stamps to put food on the table. I put a lien on my house since you couldn’t qualify for services if you owned a house. Passover was coming and I didn’t have a penny.
Agencies that claimed to help made you feel like you were robbing them if you asked for food. I got one parcel and was sick. Everything was dated a month or two before: the juice, other items, and the raw chicken – which smelled so bad I threw it out.
I begged my brother for $200 so we could have a nice holiday. He gave it to me – and never let me forget it. If he needed a favor, he reminded me that I owed him. I was so ashamed I never told my parents.
The house went to foreclosure about the same time the utilities were shut off. I borrowed money from my father to move and pay first month’s rent on an apartment. When I finally started working I put aside $10 a month to pay him back. It was hard, and I barely made ends meet. My kids hadn’t gotten new clothes at this point in nearly two years.
I was still chasing my separated husband to get him to court. Finally, I hired three court servers for $200 a piece to wait at each exit at his job. He was served his subpoena to appear in court. After some delays – didn’t come with a lawyer, fired his lawyer in court – the judge asked him why he didn’t take care of his family. He said I’m having problems with their mother. The judge said “Why didn’t you buy food? Pay for the house? Clothes? What did you do for your children?” He kept trying to say he was having a problem with me and the judge got angry.
“What did you do with your money?” the judge asked. We presented photos of his new sexy sports car – bought with the money that was supposed to take care of his children. The judge told him “I’m done talking to you.” Then she asked me what I had done for my children.
I showed her the paperwork for food stamps, proof I sold jewelry and used the bank book I had to pay utilities. I just got a job, so we were under a roof.
She told my then husband “you earn almost 3 times as much as your wife and you did nothing for your children?” She ordered child support at the maximum allowable by law, as well as back pay of money he should have paid since January (it was now October).
He screamed “where will I get that kind of money?” The judge said “sell your sexy car, that doesn’t have room for your three children.” My attorney stepped up and said “we would like to show more mercy than he showed to his children. He can pay off his wife in semi monthly checks.”
He took the deal, never realizing he would be paying me for three years. The extra money coming in meant my kids could get new clothes for the first time in two years, I paid my father back the money he lent me – and I gave my brother $300 when he lent me $200. I told him the extra $100 was for him to shove it anywhere he wanted – I didn’t want him to talk to me like I was dirt again. In spite of my brother’s protests that he didn’t mean to humiliate me, he did in fact keep the extra hundred.
Today, I’m a bit better off. But I still need to watch my money. Sometimes I get depressed and buy junk I don’t need. But I try hard to avoid that.
Read some of the western propaganda. You can see it on youtube videos about non western hardware.
There’s a very common narrative.
Everything Russian is junk! None of it works! Russians apparently don’t even have working rifles according to most westerners. If Russian rifles don’t work how would these [slurs] be able to maintain nuclear weapons! Only the SUPREME MASTER RACE can maintain nuclear weapons. You can see smug British people say haha ours work! Like our SA80 the BEST gun in the WORLD! The Challenger 2 the MOST INVINCIBLE TANK IN THE UNIVERSE. You remember posts on Quora about 6 months ago? British people saying it would take nuclear weapons to stop a challenger2.
Chinese?
Everything in China is made of tofu! Pretty much exactly the same as the above.
The MASTER RACE is so confident that they think they can perform nuclear strikes and bomb our cities and we can’t do anything back.
It is a big problem
Blue Bayou Chocolate Mousse
Chocolate Mousse
Yield: 8 cups
Ingredients
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 ounces unsalted butter
5 ounces egg whites
2 ounces granulated sugar
3 1/2 cups heavy cream
Instructions
In a double boiler combine chocolate and butter, stirring until melted.
Whip cream and sugar until light and fluffy; set aside.
Beat egg whites at high speed until soft peaks form.
Using a wire whisk combine egg whites with the melted chocolate and then with the whipped cream.
A case like this actually happened in the 1960s. A programmer working on Wall Street opened an account and wrote a program that funneled all the forgotten mills rounded off of each penny into his account. It seemed like he was stealing nothing. It turns out that a weakness in binary systems makes it difficult for them to convert 1 penny correctly so they round up or down. There are often thousandths of a cent that are then ignored and few people, if any, on Wall Street look at the penny column. It was absolutely invisible. But those thousandths of a cent, multiplied by millions of daily transactions add up. He was caught by the sheer size of the numbers that were being generated.
He was prosecuted not because anyone cared about those fractions of a cent (they didn’t) but because he was stealing and stealing is against the law.
When you steal something it doesn’t matter what the victim thinks. The state is obligated to prosecute. The statutes don’t often say, “He broke the law but it’s ok because his victims don’t care”. The statutes, while they may take the scale of the injury into account, must prosecute you for breaking the law because “Justice is blind”. It’s a one size fits all approach, for better or worse.
In reality we know what really happens and there are plenty of ways for justice to be derailed long before the judge bangs the gavel and pronounces a sentence, but the theory still applies. It doesn’t matter what the victims think. Actions have consequences and you broke the law.
In 1994 my then-husband was arrested for soliciting a hit man to kill me. He was apprehended by federal agents through a sting operation. As more information was revealed about how he was caught, I learned that my husband had contacted a member of the Outlaw motorcycle gang looking for the killer. Turns out the gang member called the feds because he had been in my business a few weeks prior with his daughter and I had given the little girl change for the gum machine.
A quarter saved my life….and sent my now-ex husband to prison for 21 years.
Be nice, you never know 😉
Cat With a Broken Paw Went To The Clinic & Begged For Help, But The Vet Did Something Shocking!
Mao won because he and the Red Army had won popular support among the Chinese people. In fact, during the three main battles fought during the civil war, Chinese civilian volunteers provided logistical support to the Red Army, and abandoned the Nationalist Revolutionary Army.
In China’s cities, runaway inflation and corruption among Nationalist officials destroyed support among private Chinese businesses, and they moved to support the Communists.
From your question, you seem to assume that the civil war simply involved two armies fighting each other for the control of China.
In fact, just as Sun Tzu has said, wars are fought and won in the hearts and minds of the people; it is not just about two militaries.
For this reason, your belief that the Nationalists could have won against the Communists is an impossibility.
The Chinese people decided that they needed a new China, and that is the environment the world is living in now.
“I’m worried about you,” my grandmother told me. “You’re too nice. People like you don’t do well in the world.”
That was the last time I saw her.
I forgot about that conversation.
I didn’t even understand what she meant.
Besides, it’s easy to dismiss the words of an elderly woman suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s.
I’ve always been concerned with what others think about me. I wanted to do well in the world. I had a deep need for outer acceptance because I wasn’t embracing myself on the inside.
I thought that if I just stayed out of trouble—if I just avoided controversy and did my best to please the people around me—I’d feel safe in the world.
Perhaps even wanted.
And so I became the nice guy.
I let other people come first. I put my own needs aside. I sacrificed my wellbeing.
And I was miserable.
But in the last years, something changed.
I put me higher up the priority list.
It’s not that I became an asshole or stopped caring. I realized that I’m still someone who feels and empathizes deeply with others.
But I decided to stop operating out of fear and guilt.
And I’ve realized that, as much as it sounds like a cliché, you have to cultivate happiness within instead of expecting the world to hand it to you as a trophy for your “good” behavior.
So I started taking my career seriously and insisted on being paid what I knew I was worth instead of letting employers walk over me.
I began practicing martial arts and became more confident.
I resolved to not put up with other people’s shit.
I gave up being nice.
And in doing so became more empowered. More genuine. More me.
I finally understood what my grandmother was trying to say.
She was right all along.
I just wish I could let her know.
Yes and no
25 Strange Things That Only Exist In Vietnam!
Vietnam, nestled in Southeast Asia, boasts a multifaceted tapestry of history, culture, and natural beauty. The nation’s turbulent past, marked by the Vietnam War, contrasts with its vibrant present, where bustling cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are hubs of innovation and growth. In today’s video, we will be talking about the things you can only find in this country of the east. We cover everything from their markets to their religious beliefs, but if you stay until the end of this video, you will also find out what exactly is the balance of five flavors, and why is it the most important part of their cuisine. Enjoy!
After my divorce, I knew I’d have a lot more free time on my hands. I needed a hobby that would be productive.
I am very intense and passionate about anything I do. I was a hardcore gamer for years and was a high-level league of legends player at one point. Not good enough to go pro, but maybe just below the level at which people make money. But it was a problematic hobby that ate up too much time.
As a child, my dad had often said, “Wow imagine if you put as much time into your studies as you did into those games.”
I decided no more hobbies that will consume me.
I figured writing on Quora would be a quasi-productive, quasi-fun hobby, that wouldn’t consume me too much.
Everything except that last part was true. It spun into this whole big thing that I never expected. I got obsessed with writing. I think in the first 3 years I wrote 4000+ answers.
This love of writing led to opportunities to make money. I was able to work at the craft.
Writing also made me realize how much I hated my corporate job. I would liken it to when you are in a terrible relationship and some great, attractive person who has their shit together asks you out on a date.
You start to wonder, “What if there is more to my life than this crap relationship?”
Quitting my job was a huge decision that changed my life for the better. I have freedom. The money is great so far. I have control of my life.
It’s amazing what can happen if you just listen to your parents.
Because it was mainly an agricultural country and France was a major food exporter.
Britain and Germany had massive industries meaning fewer people working in agriculture. This resulted in food shortages, the need to import food, and higher food prices.
The French economy was doing very well being based on agriculture.
When I was in eighth grade, our science teacher held a school wide competition to see who could build the strongest bridge out of tooth picks.
My best friend, “J”, was very smart, very clever, and always mischievous. The rules only states that the bridge had to be made out of toothpicks and had to be a certain length (I think 12”, this was over 20 years ago). The rules did not limit what glue you used to join the toothpicks. Additional toothpicks could be earned by doing extra credit worksheets.
“J” came up with an awesome plan. He did dozens of extra credit sheets. He had thousands of toothpicks. His father was a machinist for a local manufacturer of printing presses and was able to procure some industrial grade epoxy to use as glue.
“J” set to work making alternating crisscrossing layers of toothpicks and epoxy. He essentially made a solid brick of toothpicks and epoxy.
The day of the competition came. The competition went in alphabetical order and “J”’s last name was pretty far down the list. The teacher had everyone gathered in the gym to see the competition. The bridges were suspended over a gap with weights hung from them until they broke.
Kid after kid brought up their bridge, some of them very fancy suspension type looking bridges. Most of them broke at 6 kg or less.
“J”’s turn came. He walks up to the platform with his brick. Kids in the audience are laughing at it. The bridge is placed over the gap. 1 kg, 2 kg, 3, and on until they hang the biggest weight of 25 kg and it’s not even flexing. All the kids are stunned.
The teacher, who was quite large and probably weighed 150 kg, puts two stacks of books on the floor, puts the brick over the gap between them, and stands with one foot on it. Not even flexing yet.
He then has the entire middle school follow him to the parking lot. He uses the books to prop up the brick again and proceeds to drive one wheel of his car onto it. It flexed a little.
At this point he has run out of heavy things to try to break the brick and declares “J” the winner.
As a teacher, what was the trashiest thing you’ve seen a parent do?
I’m frequently shocked at the language some parents use when dealing with the priests and nuns at a Catholic school. I’ve been in meetings where parents shouted and swore at elderly clergy people because they (the clergy people) had the audacity to remind the parents that they were way behind in their tuition payments, or their children were in danger of being expelled due to too many discipline issues.
I was always taught to treat older people and members of the clergy with respect. I’ll never get used to hearing a middle-aged parent scream and swear at an elderly priest or nun.
I was also always taught that you’re supposed to be extra nice to pregnant women. Apparently, a lot of parents were not taught that. I’ve seen parents scream and swear at teachers who were just weeks away from giving birth.
I was also always taught that you’re not supposed to swear in front of children. Yet every year, there’s at least one incident where a parent picks up their child from school and, in the course of a three-minute conversation within earshot dozens of kids as young as three years old, manages to drop a dozen really loud f-bombs.
I’ve also been preparing for my class in the morning, only to have the windows of my classroom shake as someone with stupidly-loud bass in their car drove up to the school to let their kids out… all kids who were under eight years old. There’s a time and a place for loud music. Seven thirty in the morning in front of a Catholic elementary school while you drop off your kids is not the time or place for that.
Get photos of the cord plugged in, photos of where it goes (unless you have to trespass), and make sure they are dated and time stamped (most digital cameras can do that and possibly some phones). Pull out your electric bills from the times you know he was using your power and try to see how much extra was used. If it is a lot over a short period, you have proof on the bill. Not sure about your power company but some keep track of just how much is used when to try to help you cut down and that information could also help you.
I always say, document, document, document so it isn’t your word against his.
I’m not sure this counts as ‘accidentally’ but: A long time ago I joined a startup company. We were doing some innovative stuff with fiber optics.
My roommate and I got into the habit of taking the accountant out to lunch or Happy Hour every few weeks; generally on a Friday. We’d get a few drinks into her and she’d open up about the financial condition of the company because she was worried.
We found out that the first unit we “shipped” was actually sent to a warehouse for storage because the CFO wanted to tell the investors we’d sold and shipped a unit by year end. There was a potential client but they hadn’t signed the purchase order.
When I found out that the CFO was lying to investors and employees I started looking for a new job. Sure enough four weeks later they announced a layoff. I was let go because “your software already works and we’re betting that it will keep working.” Meanwhile they kept a programmer that couldn’t get his program to compile let alone work.
When my manager called me in, I told him that he was cutting off his nose to spite his face. I also neglected to mention all of the semi-automated routines that I’d built in my spare time that no one had thought about or worried about ( things like builds, backups, space reclamation in the homegrown database, etc. ).
They offered us ‘outplacement services’ with the first meeting that AM at an offsite location. At the outplacement meeting they scheduled us for a follow up meeting the next morning. I told them I couldn’t attend because I had an interview already scheduled. Three other people also had interviews already scheduled because I wasn’t the only on that took the accountant out to lunch!
Yes. I have a school friend who was very bright and did well. He was in the rugby team and was a Prefect. He was very popular.
After school he went to a good uni but surprisingly dropped out. He got a good job in advertising but lost it. He got another, got married, but both failed disasterously. He was a raging alcoholic and was out of control. Finally he became very ill and ended up in a clinic. He was in his 20’s still and was given a year to live unless he stopped drinking.
He met a girl at the halfway house he was in. She was in the same position as him. Together they joined AA and got their lives going. They moved abroad, to a fairly undeveloped country that was growing quickly, and with some inheritance, started a small film production company. They did very well. He was responsible for starting many AA chapters there. He saved careers, marriages and lives.
We met for lunch recently. It’s forty years since his last drink and he’s happy and prosperous. Being dry is not a struggle, but he is still vigilant. He accepted a long time ago that he has a terrible weakness, possibly inherited, and this is his burden. Unwilling to hand on this weakness, he’s never had children. He’d have made a wonderful Dad.
Cold, but usually above freezing, at least here in the UK where nearly all buildings are made of stone or brick.
I don’t have central heating. I do have 18″ thick stone walls, but in a very cold winter my kitchen has been known to get so cold that my fridge stopped working, and my hands went numb within a minute or two of entering the kitchen.
However: yes, my windows are double-glazed but they’re a lot bigger than they probably would have been in the Victorian era, and in the Victorian era they would have had wooden shutters. I don’t even have curtains in the kitchen, because the room is laid out in a bloody stupid way which means I can’t even get *near* the window without climbing on top of a kitchen counter and walking across it.
In the Victorian era I would have had a fireplace in the living room and possibly the bedroom, and my kitchen would have had an actual stove that burned fuel and so put out excess heat.
Back in the day I worked as an assembly line “artist,” creating art that sold wholesale to decorators of office buildings and hotels. The company was owned by a foreign family that had fled prosecution in their own country and a few family members were employed as artists or support staff.
I was a poor lad but this job seemed really fun. It paid a bit more than minimum wage and it was cool to hang out with young artists like myself. I rarely went out to lunch, preferring to save money and bring my own, including yogurt cups for dessert. After a while I noticed my yogurt kept vanishing. I made a stink about it, even contacted HR (well, the supervisor that handled billing and HR) mostly suspecting another starving artist.
Then I had a diabolical idea – I read that consuming saline solution could cause diarrhea! I wore contacts so I had some, I just needed to find a way to inject my yogurt cups with it. After some failed attempts, I was still trying to figure it out when another yogurt cup went missing.
Struck by inspiration, I went to the HR supervisor’s office and “confessed,” with the door open and loud enough for nearby folks to overhear, that I had “spiked” the yogurt with saline. I regretted my rash decision and told her that whoever consumed the yogurt would likely have stomach problems for an hour or so but would otherwise be okay.
Sure enough, an employee suddenly went home sick, complaining of stomach problems! And it was one of the owners’ family members, a fairly well off individual compared to the rest of us. So did I get in trouble with the bosses for poisoning a beloved relative? Nope, because there was NO ACTUAL SALINE in the yogurt! The only thing the thief was suffering from was a guilty conscience.
There is a thing called sexual dimorphism. This refers to physical, physiological and even mental differences between males and females of a species, beyond their sexual organs.
The vast majority of species in the animal kingdom have sexual dimorphism, and even some plants. I’m sure you’re familiar with lions.
Males and females are fundamentally different, and in humans and all apes the males are generally bigger and stronger than the females. This isn’t just a matter of exercise. Testosterone in men promotes the growth of larger and more powerful muscles, something women cannot achieve without outside help like anabolic steroids.
Testosterone doesn’t just influence men’s muscles; it also affects their brains. Men and women are mentally different because of the different levels of testosterone and estrogen in their brains.
And guess what? This doesn’t just apply to humans.
Male birds, for instance, are the only members of the species that initiate courtship rituals. (That’s why the peacock has that huge mane of feathers). Male birds sing and court females because of the levels of testosterone in their brains, making them aggressively seek and impress females.
Most animal species from rats to humans to birds exhibit these mental differences between males and females, even in species where no physical sexual dimorphism is present (such as with dolphins).
These differences even cause societal systems to form in animals. Patriarchies aren’t unique to humans. Lions have a totally patriarchial society where the males head the pride, and the women serve and hunt for him. Wolves, apes, and other animals have formed patriarchies.
Guess what? Some of the other species have matriarchies. Elephants for instance are a completely matriarchial society, with males being cast out of the herd to find other herds to impregnate, which is about the extent of his involvement in society. The herd itself is guided by the oldest matriarch.
The fact of the matter is, differences between males and females affect society. Not just in humans, but in many social animals. Pretending that men and women are equal is like an ostrich hiding its head in the ground trying to ignore what is obvious.
Human societies formed into patriarchies around the world regardless of creed, religion or ideology for one simple reason: the stronger physical dominance of men made them better warriors and workers, while the vulnerability of women during childbirth meant it was important to provide a safe and stable environment for them to rear children in. Further, only women can produce milk to feed newborns. This meant that the role was locked in from the start, something a man can never do.
Thus men took on the role of protector and provider, while women took on the role of homemaking and childbearing. While modern society can allow men to just buy infant formula and women to rise to exemplary careers and bring home the bacon, this is a modern development and not one that was possible through the early stages of human evolution and society.
In today’s world and moving into the future, it’s certainly possible for us to destroy the patriarchy and create a different kind of society. Time will tell where this social experiment will lead humanity.
Terrorists Blow-Up PAKISTAN Air Base! 40 Fighter Jets Burning
The Taliban-Linked Terrorist Group “Tehreek-e Jihad” (TTP) has just claimed Responsibility for a Significant Attack tonight on Mianwali Air Force Base in Northern Pakistan.
The Terrorist Group appears to have Snuck into the Base using Ladders and are claiming to have Destroyed several Aircraft as well as some kind of Armored Vehicle.
The Pakistani Army is currently conducting an Operation to Secure the Base and have already Killed multiple Terrorists.
I viewed some answers above, I felt many answers didn’t get the main point.
The truth is: nobody of the 5 wants to share their rights.
Everyone of the 5 says they agree to extend the council but actually they don’t. Because it will add the bargain cost.
USA government says they support Japan to get into the council because USA knows Russia and China will veto. USA says like this way to keep Japan in hand to deploy USA army.
China supports Germany to the council because China knows USA and France will veto. Guess for what interest.
USA and Russia says they support India because they know China will veto. For what interest? Weapon sales.
So now do you understand what game they are playing?
Alpha particles don’t get far at all. They’re heavy, they’re slow, and they carry a charge, so they interact easily. They can travel an inch or so in air, but are blocked by a sheet of paper.
Beta particles are just elec…okay, um, so, correction. β- particles are just electrons. They’re light and zippy, so how far they get depends on how fast they go. Good rule of thumb, approximately 10ish feet or so for each MeV of energy.
β+ particles are positrons—antimatter electrons. In theory they could get as far as β- particles, in an antimatter world. In our world, they don’t get far at all in air before they hit something and annihilate in a flash of gamma photons.
Gamma rays? Oh, it is on. Hold my beer.
Gamma rays laugh at your puny “air.” Gamma rays laugh at your puny steel. Gamma rays might stop for lead, maybe, if you have enough of it to make things interesting. Six feet of concrete or one and a half feet of lead should do it.
This might as well be tissue paper to gamma rays
Gamma rays sneeze at this
This is not even close to what it takes to stop gamma rays
Starting to get there, if the gamma rays are going through lengthwise
Now we’re talking! (The whole stack, not one plate)
Gamma rays will go merrily through this planet’s entire atmosphere, plus the bodies of the researchers doing the experiment, plus the roof of their house, and then merrily on toward Alpha Centauri.
300,000 engineers and scientists in China will briefly look up from their work and say in a puzzled tone: “奇怪，那是什么声音？ 是不是美国放屁的声音？”. Then they return to their R&D projects in advanced chipmaking.
Not a mugging but I did have a break in at my apartment. I was assaulted, had both eye orbits fractured, broke ribs and fingers, and was choked almost to the point of loosing consciousness.
I however did manage to stab my attacker in his face and skull, scalping him from his left ear to the top of his head and causing brain dammage. He lost serious ammounts of blood passed out and was put in a medically induced coma for two days and had multiple blood transfusions before he was even conscious to be charged with aggrivated assault, breaking and entering and attempted murder (I dont actually know what he was officially charged with, just that he was sentenced to two years and ended up serving four)
I had my ass beat, and badly. But I was told by the police that if it wasnt for modern medical treatment my attacker would have died.
Now years later I was very drunk the night before my brothers wedding. Someone did try to mug me but I was apparently so drunk that I didnt know what was happening and I thought they wanted a cigarette and I kept explaining that I dont smoke. Their heart must not have been in it because they gave up and moved on to someone else without stabbing me. Some witness called police and I was supposedly too drunk to give a statement. They got me back to my hotel and I dont remember any of it
And thats my life story so far.
“Men Have No CLUE!” This Is Why Men Aren’t TAKING Western Women SERIOUSLY Anymore
Raw reality. I am so glad that I am no longer young.
U.S. and Europe Talking with Ukraine about PEACE NEGOTIATIONS with Russia!
U.S. and European officials have begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war, according to one current senior U.S. official and one former senior U.S. official.
The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal, the officials said.
Some of the talks, which officials described as delicate, took place last month during a meeting of representatives from more than 50 nations supporting Ukraine, including NATO members, known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the officials said.
The discussions are an acknowledgment of “the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine” and politically in the U.S. and Europe, officials said.
In other words, despite all the media hype that Ukraine is winning, Ukraine is actually losing. Imagine that.
“Unchecked flooding of Chinese fentanyl into America”?
Fentanyl is a LEGAL drug. Fentanyl addiction is a problem only in America. NOT in China or anywhere in the world. It is Americans ordering, procuring and peddling this drug and not the Chinese “flooding” the U.S. It’s OUR problem because WE caused OUR opioid addiction. Why the shit are you blaming China for us not being able to control the trafficing of fentanyl within the U.S.?
“Mercenary bounties placed on British residents”?
“Mercenary bounties” is the farthest from the truth.
Bounties is defined as money paid for killing or capturing a person or animal.
However, Australia, the U.K. and U.S. have branded the rewards for information as “bounties” for 8 exiled pro-democracy HK activists for the 2019 riots in Hong Kong that these countries instigated through the CIA and NGOs. Hong Kong has every right to seek information on persons guilty of seditious acts against China.
This is Hong Kong issuing warrants for their citizens for serious criminal acts. And if they are stupid enough to return to Hong Kong, they will be arrested.
“Arrest warrant for Xi”?
Another stupid question. Who is to issue this? The U.S.? For what charge?
Are you dense enough to believe the U.S. has the authority to arbirtrarily order the arrest of the leader of another country? The U.S. has NO police authority beyond our border just like any other country.
And then what? Do you expect the U.S. or another country to invade the soveriegnty of China by going to China to arrest Xi?
China hate does not justify you to think, write or act stupidly.
This Just Ηappened In South Carolina, But Something Εven Stranger Ιs Ηappening Around The World!
Seems suspicious we never had this many huge disasters in our food manufacturing plants, trains, and other big plants.
The United States has been flying MQ-9 “Reaper” drones over the southern Gaza Strip of late. (HT REMARK: One wonders if they are giving intel to Israel so they can slaughter more women and children?)
They were first spotted on Saturday on Flightradar24.
Officials say the drones were being used to “aid in hostage recovery efforts” indicating that the U.S. is more involved than previously known.
Republicans are winning, they just don’t seem to know it nor can they give the rest of us some peace. What do I mean by this?
Traditional Republican values are what America still runs on and much of the rest of the world too. In fact, all of the countries where things work, they run on traditional conservative or Republican values. Like thrift, hard work, saving, putting your kids in school, reasonable but not high levels of tax, a hand up not a hand out. No corporate crony capitalism (this is in theory of course as there always is colllusion) , some type of religious base to your society and usually that is Christian though it could also be Jewish, or Hindu or Buddhist or Muslim.
So why are the Republicans winning and losing?
First the losing. Because they can’t stop themselves, they keep snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It is called extremism and the entire right wing of the Republican party starting with the so called Freedom Caucus which has nothing to do with either, not espousing freedom rather telling everyone especially women what they can and can’t do and it is not even a caucus, just a raucous group of malcontents.
Republicans are winning of course in the electoral college where they own around 30 states which gives them a disproportionate control of just about everything with state, local and federal government. They control red states which means military bases and expenditures (11 out of 15 largest are in red states, yet they cannot pass a budget that is focused on the military or allow the military to make promotions which their extremists block). They control state houses in the same proportion, they gerrymander like crazy and win more and more as the Supreme Court now rules in their favor, slowly whittling away black and brown rights in particular.
They are winning on dismantling and even the legitimacy of the federal govt and their chief avatar, Trump has his man in as Speaker who we found out this week doesn’t even have a bank account. No, he is not a traditional Republican.
What to make of this? Democrats feel they are in the majority, but control less and less and are fragmented. Republicans could control everything but the right wing crazies including Trump keep giving them opportunities which if it were not for Joe Biden, they would have squandered once again.
Republicans? Their values, real conservative values rule the civilized non autocratic world. Unfortunately in America, these values are not the values of the current Republican party.
Therefore you see, in the end they are winning in spite of themselves and with their losing their way and becoming extremist, they are literally taking the country down along with democracy with them.
Prizes…
Bank Notice: “Some Deposits May Be Temporarily Delayed”
Several US banks are facing service disruptions today. Meanwhile, users on the ‘free speech’ social media platform X complain that the Automated Clearing House system is down.
Downdetector.com shows Truist, Bank of America, Chase, US Bank, and Wells Fargo are experiencing widespread outages and disruptions that began around 0800 ET.
A message on Bank of America’s webpage reads, “Some deposits may be temporarily delayed … Some deposits from 11/03 may be temporarily delaved due to an issue impacting multiple financial institutions. Your accounts remain secure, and your balance will be updated as soon as the deposit is received. You do not need to take any action.”
Hal Turner Remarks
I see about 5 US banks listed as being offline over on down detector website. (HERE)
Bank of America Chase Chime US Bank Wells Fargo Huntington
My bank (Capital One) is **NOT** affected at all.
One wonders if the situation in the Middle East has Hackers going after the US banking system?
Apparently, it’s a particular clearinghouse that B of A, Chase and Huntington use. That went down last night. They just got it up and running and I was told that most will get their deposits within 2 hours. Tonight at latest”
BofA rep just told me that the Fed sent the banks a bulletin that there was an outage overnight but that the servers are back online now and the deposit backlogs should be worked through by end of day today.
My wife contacted her company’s bank this morning. They reported that the issue is with the banks that use what’s called the ‘Federal EPM Processing Clearinghouse,’ and that they had a widespread server outage overnight, but that they are back online and processing the backlog.
We were eating at Benihana’s one evening and sat next to a young couple who appeared to be on a date. They looked over the menu and ordered a variety of sushi. I was impressed by how adventuresome they were.
When their meal arrived both of them stared at their plates closely examining every item. They were clearly getting very upset. Finally they called over the waiter and the gal said in a loud voice, “You call yourself a restaurant?! Did you even CHECK this stuff before it left the kitchen! Look at it! Everything is raw!”
China has had the north Korea experience. It was embargoed (I.e. Total sanction) together with their war comrades for three decades, until the 70s.
China survived that, back in a time when they couldn’t even make fertilizers.
The soviets helped but only the first decade. China remained desperately poor into the 90s.
Today, a china embargo will not be cost free like in the past. Does the world even notice Cuba has been embargoed for almost 6 decades?
Not so China.
For one, Apple as a viable company becomes historical, because it will not have hardware to sell. Every single company in the semiconductor supply chain will be disrupted, because China is a key node, either as supplier, assembler or customer.
Moving on, the different festivals driving seasonal demand will have to be repriced, because it is hard to find a supply chain big and efficient enough to absorb demand spikes.
Study the pandemic. Why didn’t a black market develop for ppe, ventilators and other medical equipment despite exponential growth in demand? Prices increased but they stabilized and the quantity and quality of goods has been remarkable given months of spiraling demand.
It is the same story with work from home essentials, from bird feeders to children toys to video conferencing equipment.
Things are so out of whack containers are being shipped empty back to China while the cost of sending an FEU from Asia to Europe has crossed the 10k mark.
Embargo China if you must, but it will hurt big time, especially for the comfortable first world.
China has made itself relevant to the world. There will be no repeat of “let’s bomb Iraq back to the stone age using flour in the test tube as justification”.
If China is embargoed, you won’t only see it in the news.
You will feel it, deep into your pockets, and you will live the consequences.
REPORT: VIP Jets Now Airborne from DC to Cheyenne Mountain Bunkers – “Gov’t Going Underground”
I’m not sure what to make of this, but it was posted in a US Veteran’s Forum. The guy in the brief video seems VERY nervous as he reports EIGHT “VIP” Aircraft heading to Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD??) and says “They’re putting government into Bunkers.”
His voice is clearly trembling as he describes what he sees going on. Looks legit to me, at first glance.
I pass this along with the full Disclaimer that I have not (yet) verified these claims. But if he’s right, then time is of the essence and all of YOU should know.
*****FLASH ***** U.S. House Approves Resolution on Iran: “All means necessary” to prevent Nuclear Armed Iran
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Resolution late last night “. . . to use all means necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon; . . .” Now we know why our military is massed in Middle East.
It now seems clear to me that all the US military hardware sent to the easstern Mediterranean, has nothing at all to do with Israel, per se, and has everything to do with Iran.
That military hardware isn’t there “to protect Israel” as much as it is there to disarm Iran.
The Iranians have likely suspected this, now, they know.
Iran had better take a long, hard look at what is arrayed against them because once all that firepower starts shooting, the entire landmass of Iran will be like a hail storm of explosions.
What happened to Iraq in 1991, I think will look like nothing compared to what they plan on unleashing against Iran. But . . . . there’s a little problem. Russia.
Two weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin casually reminded the world that his MiG-31 fighter jets, flying freely in international air space all the way up in the Black Sea, are equipped with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. He also causally reminded the world that those missiles have a “known” range of at least 1,000km. Without actually SAYING this, it quickly became clear to everyone paying attention that America’s two aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean Sea, are within range of those Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
Moreover, it also became quickly evident that those missiles can carry either a conventional warhead, or tactical nuclear warheads of at least 5 kilotons.
The US cannot defend itself from hypersonic missiles. No one can.
So if the US goes after Iran, using carrier-based planes, Russia can order two of its MiG fighters to fire Kinzhal missiles armed with small, tactical, nuclear warheads, and utterly destroy both aircraft carrier battle groups.
Can you say “World War 3?”
A direct Link to the official US Government Website showing the text of the US House Resolution on Iran is HERE
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
Interestingly, this now seems to be a method for declaring war without actually “declaring” it.
While the words “Congress shall make no law . . . .” does **not** mean what it actually says in the Constitution’s First Amendment, and while “. . . shall not be infringed.” does **not** mean what IT actually says in the Constitution’s Second Amendment, you can bet your ass that “. . .any means necessary . . .” means exactly what it says in this resolution!
So . . . . it now appears that the massive naval and military build-up we’ve been watching in the Middle East over the past two weeks was all part of a well-planned series of moves KNOWING FULL WELL they intended to take us to war with Iran. They just waited until ONE day before likely hostilities break out, to put through this new “policy.”
This is the level of sleazy, political, human, garbage we have in the Congress of the United States.
Oh, and by the way, have you noticed that this web site is the **ONLY** media outlet in the entire country pointing this out? That shows you you the level of sleazy, human garbage, infesting the mass-media these days. Keep it all quiet — on purpose. Keep the American people in the dark — on purpose.
Then, when actual war breaks out, the American people are blind-sided, afraid, and called to rally behind the troops. All one big plan.
As our military starts coming home in body bags, the very same politicians who literally caused the war, will cry crocodile tears for the men whose lives their vote snuffed out.
It’s disgusting to me on a level that’s hard to verbally describe.
Straight to the point
The Ukraine Peace Talk Trial Balloon
A trial ballon has gone up on the NBCnews website. It is testing the public reaction to the upcoming U.S. and NATO acknowledgment of their defeat in Ukraine:
WASHINGTON — U.S. and European officials have begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war, according to one current senior U.S. official and one former senior U.S. official familiar with the discussions.
This comes the same week that saw a Time piece about Zelenski’s unwillingness to consider the real situation on Ukraine and to admit defeat. The same week the Economist interviewed General Zaluzny who optimistically spoke of a stalemate at the front even while his army is on the cusp of disintegration.
Taken together the three pieces might well be part of a U.S. administration campaign to concede its defeat in Ukraine while blaming its Ukrainian proxy forces for the results of its blunder.
The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal, the officials said. Some of the talks, which officials described as delicate, took place last month during a meeting of representatives from more than 50 nations supporting Ukraine, including NATO members, known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the officials said.
The discussions are an acknowledgment of the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine and politically in the U.S. and Europe, officials said.
They began amid concerns among U.S. and European officials that the war has reached a stalemate and about the ability to continue providing aid to Ukraine, officials said. Biden administration officials also are worried that Ukraine is running out of forces, while Russia has a seemingly endless supply, officials said. Ukraine is also struggling with recruiting and has recently seen public protests about some of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s open-ended conscription requirements.
The problem of the Ukrainian army is an obvious one. It is running out of men and has few it can still recruit. It is difficult to assess the real losses the Ukrainian military has had, but I would not be astonished to learn that they sum up to about 300,000 dead and some 500,000+ wounded, many of whom will now be disabled.
Finally these concerns about Ukraine’s manpower get acknowledged:
President Joe Biden has been intensely focused on Ukraine’s depleting military forces, according to two people familiar with the matter.
“Manpower is at the top of the administration’s concerns right now,” one said. The U.S. and its allies can provide Ukraine with weaponry, this person said, “but if they don’t have competent forces to use them it doesn’t do a lot of good”
The last sentence seems to be taken from the Time piece which had said:
In some branches of the military, the shortage of personnel has become even more dire than the deficit in arms and ammunition. One of Zelensky’s close aides tells me that even if the U.S. and its allies come through with all the weapons they have pledged, “we don’t have the men to use them.”
During the last days tanks from the 47th brigade (Leo 2) and 10th mountain brigade (T-64BM/BV) have been seen, and were destroyed, near Avdiivka. Both brigades had only recently been mauled during their hopeless attacks at the southern front. It does not make sense to throw what is left of them into another battle without reconstituting them. The whole experience and knowledge these brigades had gained will be lost with them.
The whole professional middle-block of the army, the sergeants and young officers, have mostly been killed or wounded. Without them it is impossible to constitute new forces.
The NBC piece has made news in Ukraine (in Russian) but I have yet to find Ukrainian reactions to it. While I was publishing this a first political reaction, total denial, appeared:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not think the situation on the front in Ukraine is a stalemate and has said that Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia. … Quote from Zelenskyy: “This is not a stalemate. Russia controls the sky. We are protecting our troops. No one [in Ukraine] wants to just throw our people [into the battle] like Russia does […]
How can we overcome it? With the F-16s, we have to wait for our guys to get trained and for them to come back. When there’s air defence on the front, our soldiers advance, and they deploy the equipment they have.”
What will he say when the F-16s, the fifty year old wunderwaffen, fall out of the sky faster than they go up?
There are sure signs that the divide between the political and military leadership in Ukraine is growing. President Zelenski, on request of his new defense minister, just removed the commander of Ukraine’s special forces and installed a new one:
Major General Viktor Khorenko does not know the reasons for his dismissal from the post of Commander of the Special Operations Forces. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, did not submit a request for his dismissal.
It is very unusual to fire an officer without a request from his superior commander.
There are also shots fired against Zaluzny himself:
Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President, commenting on the article by Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, for The Economist, has said that the military should not bring to the public what is happening at the front. … Zhovkva also stated that “one of the heads of the leaders’ offices” called him after the mentioned article was published.
“And they simply ask me in a panic, ‘What should I report to my leader? Are we really at a stalemate?’. Are we trying to achieve this effect with this article?”, the President’s Office representative said.
The NBC piece even sets a time frame to Ukraine to admit that it is over:
Officials also have privately said Ukraine likely only has until the end of the year or shortly thereafter before more urgent discussions about peace negotiations should begin. U.S. officials have shared their views on such a timeline with European allies, officials said.
Russia will likely agree to peace talks. But it probably will demand more than Ukraine is willing to give. At a minimum that is the full control over the five oblast it has annexed, including Crimea, and no NATO relations with Ukraine. The current Ukrainian parliament will probably reject those requests which will then lead to further Russian demands.
Kiev has yet to acknowledge reality. The Ukrainian state has been bleeding out – financially as well as physically. Its masters have found that their aim at the start of the war – to weaken Russia – has led to the opposite. Russia now has a bigger and better armed military with more real war experience than any of its possible opponents.
Russia has won.
Posted by b on November 4, 2023 at 13:23 UTC | Permalink
Danny-Bob Vanderwal is the smartest man alive. Danny-Bob was so smart back in school that the teacher couldn’t find anything in her text books that Danny-Bob didn’t already know. When he graduated from high school, he got offers to go study just about anywhere he wanted. But instead, he went to work at the family vineyard. Danny-Bob said he owed it to his great grandpa that brought these grapevines from Germany to the Ozarks over a century ago.
image 150
Back in 2013, the county had the worst drought anyone could remember. Grape vines died and family vineyards went out of business everywhere. But Danny-Bob had a plan. He’d studied old geology maps of Vanderwal mountain made back in the 1930’s. He found a fissure in the bedrock down about a hundred feet below the vineyard. Danny-Bob had walked the mountain since he was a little kid, and he had always wondered where the watershed drained to. He came to the conclusion that the stormwater on the surface was draining down to that fissure. And it was probably staying there.
The summer of 2013 was really hot. It was well over 100 degrees in the shade. Danny-Bob had bought an old 1950’s cable-tool well drilling machine and the whole family was out trying to punch a hole through the black granite bedrock beneath the vineyard. Danny-Bob had the old Hercules diesel power unit firing on 5 of the 6 cylinders, but she was turning the drill head. The whole family worked non-stop for 8 days and nights. And finally, on September 7, 2013, Danny-Bob hit water. They all hugged each other and danced in the cool wet mud that flowed up the borehole.
The Vanderwal vineyard was the only one to survive the drought of 2013. Danny-Bob’s great grandpa’s grape vines are still producing today. And everyone in the county knows without doubt, Danny-Bob Vanderwal is the smartest man alive.
I lived in a small country town and my front garden was on the road children took to the little school, and as I was usually out there with my dog, many of them would stop and talk to me, and pet the dog, but being careful considering the paranoia about pedophiles, I never made any ‘advances’ that could be considered inappropriate
I had to collect my mail from the little post office, no deliveries were made, and standing in line one day, a miserable older woman in front of me turned and demanded to know ’Are you a Pervert?’
As you can imagine EVERY head snapped round, and all I could think to say was,
‘ I don’t really know..do you want to visit later and find out?’
Her face was a study..the post office erupted in laughter, and she stormed out in embarrassment, and being a small place, the story went around like wild fire…and several locals congratulated me later for ‘Talking the old biddy down a peg or two!
How about an interview that I did not even know was an interview? Time spent on interview: −2
weeks. Let me explain:
I went to a state university, and was not the ideal student. My undergraduate GPA was pathetic. I could make excuses, but the reality was that my parents made enough money that I could not qualify for any government student support, and they expected me to provide money to them. All of my high-school friends were far more cool than me, and they had jobs, and money. I could have worked a bit harder, maybe. But I worked my way through college, and usually took on too many obligations. My GPA was very bad, but one professor, Dr. Vimes, hired me on a grant to do some work creating custom maps for convention attendees, to get them to the booths that they were interested in. I got to travel to conventions and install the map systems.
When I finished my BS degree, I wanted to go on for a Master’s degree. The department chair, Dr. William M. Marcy, initially rejected my application. However, some of the faculty, and the department administrative assistant, convinced him to give me a chance. Dr. Vimes weighed in on that, and probably made a greater difference in my life than he ever realized.
As a Master’s student, I was paid a meager stipend to teach courses and conduct some research. I had the opportunity to travel and present my research at conferences. Meanwhile, Dr. Marcy had a start-up company that employed some graduate students. They had a fundamental problem that they could not solve. They had worked on the problem for over a month, and one of the graduate students told Dr. Marcy to hire me. He caught me in the hallway and outlined the problem, and asked me if I could solve it. I said “probably.” I showed up at the job site at 9:00 AM. By noon their problem was solved. It took me another 30 minutes to write some code to automate it. Dr. Marcy asked me for a bill, and I said, “Don’t worry about it. I had fun solving the problem. Buy me a good dinner someday.”
Under the tutelage of Dr. William Jennings Briant (Brian) Oldham, I finished the MS degree, with a much better GPA, and went to work in industry. In my two years, there, I earned an award for “Best internal supplier” and filed a patent application. When I told them that I wanted to go back to school and earn a PhD, they were willing to support me. They paid for four years of what turned out to be a six year degree. The patent was awarded, and they licensed the technology to other entities. The patent made them well over $10 million, so I think think that them paying me for four years of graduate school was a win-win. During my time as a PhD student, I traveled the world and presented papers to scientific conferences in several countries.
Now I’m going to answer the question.
As I approached my graduation with the PhD, I wanted an academic position. I wanted to be a professor, even though the pay is less. But there were about 50 academic positions nationwide, and over 600 applicants. There is a fairly standard part of interviewing for an academic position. The applicant must give a “research” lecture, and a “teaching” lecture. I needed to practice my lectures. So in October, I sent an email message to my MS Thesis advisor, Dr. William Jennings Brian Oldham, asking if I could do my lectures for their seminar. at my former university.
About a week later, he responded by asking what dates would work for me. The signature on the email message indicated that he was now the department chair. I congratulated him on his promotion, and gave the dates that I could be there.
Fast-forward. I drove down in early December to spend a few weeks with my family and incidentally give my lectures and get some feedback on them from my former professors. Dr. Oldham asked me to show up early, so that they could give me a tour of the campus and see how it had changed in the decade after I was a student.
I showed up at the appointed time, and a student took me all over campus, which was surprisingly interesting. Being near Christmas, someone was playing the carillon. One of the best carillons in North America. She even took me to the office of the president of the university, where I met with Dr. William M. Marcy. Yes, he had worked his way up from professor, to department chair, to university president. We only met for a few minutes, but he did mention that I had been a really shitty undergraduate, and that he was very happy that other people had pushed him to change his decision on admitting me to the MS program.
Shortly after that, I gave my teaching and research talks, and got some feedback from my former professors. The president of the university was present for both of my talks. He reminded me that he still owed me a dinner, and asked me if I was available that night. That night, we went to the best restaurant in that city.
A week later, I received an email message from my former advisor, Dr. Oldham, asking me to log into a web site and fill out the application. It turns out that they had put me through the standard job interview, and all I had to do was actually apply. I did that, and a week later, Dr. Marcy called me and asked, “What will it take to get you to come here?” I answered, “I want to be the highest-paid associate professor on your campus.” And that is how I ended up spending 14 years at a great university in a place where I really did not want to be.
And the shortest interview of my life. I did not even apply for the job until after the interview, so really, the time between application and landing the job is negative.
Blue Bayou Chicken Florentine
chicken florentine side close
Yield:4 servings; 2 cups sauce
Ingredients
Chicken
4 (7 ounce) chicken breasts (with skin)
1 cup Florentine sauce (see below)
3 ounces chopped fresh or frozen spinach*
3 ounces grated Cheddar cheese
2 ounces cooked and chopped bacon
Seasoned salt to taste
2 tablespoons melted butter
Florentine Sauce
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons unsalted butter (room temp)
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions
3 sliced medium mushrooms
2/3 cup white wine
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon diced pimentos
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Chicken
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
In mixing, combine spinach, bacon and cheese; set aside.
Open chicken breast and sprinkle with seasoned salt. Stuff with spinach mixture. Fold and place seam side down in baking dish. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle outside with seasoned salt.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Top with Florentine sauce and serve over rice.
Florentine Sauce
Blend together flour and 2 teaspoons of the butter; set aside.
Sauté onions and mushrooms in 1 teaspoon butter (do not allow onions to brown).
Add white wine and reduce completely.
Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer and slowly add the flour/butter mixture a little at a time until desired thickness is achieved. Continue cooking at a simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
That was the last job I had in Vietnam before moving to the U.S.
I showed up. My (later would be) boss looked at me. Pointed me to the chair to sit down in front of his desk, then he said:
– I read your resume and recommendation. Do you have any questions?
I didn’t expect the interview went straight to that point, so I asked:
– What do you expect your new hire to be in one year?
I think I surprised him with that question as well. He thought for a few seconds, then listed out his bullet points of his expectations. After listening, I told him, firmly:
– I will be that person in 6 months.
He stood up, held his hand out. I shook his hand, he smiled:
– DEAL!
I got the job. Worked for him 5 years. He’s the best boss that I’ve had the chance to work with and learn a lot from.
Years ago I worked as an overnight stocker for Walmart when a night manager position came open.
I was the team lead in the grocery department and had, previously, been an assistant manager for a local grocery store so after almost 5 years with Walmart and 12 years in the grocery business, I felt that I was qualified for the job.
I went through several interviews and at the end it came down to me and a suckup who worked days.
The suckup ate lunch with management staff on a regular basis so I had a feeling that I was going to get screwed.
I didn’t receive a call on the day that they said they’d announce their decision but when I arrived at the store an assistant manager asked me to come back to the HR office. I knew I’d gotten screwed when he directed me to a chair in front of the desk while he leaned against the desk so I sat back to listen to what he had to say.
He said that choosing between me and the dayshift suckup was an incredibly difficult decision but they’d decided to promote the suckup.
He said that I was doing an outstanding job as team lead in grocery and it would not be in management’s best interest to remove me from that position.
He said that I was doing such a good job that they were bumping my pay up by 50 cents an hour, effective immediately.
He asked if I had any questions and I had just one:
“So, I didn’t get the promotion because I’m doing too good of a job?”
He immediately began backtracking and saying that I misunderstood him but I knew what I’d heard. I handed him my name badge and apron before leaving the store. I have not set foot in a Walmart since.
China can go into War Economy in a matter of weeks
None of the others can
You would be taking them on in their backyard where their supply and production and replacement will be twenty times faster than Quads with only South Korea being capable of production based supply
India
India , if they send one ship will face a Chinese pincer movement across the Eastern and Northern fronts and that’s a war that India with barely $ 20 Billion debt free dollars can’t afford
Russia and Venezuela and Middle East will refuse to supply Oil to India on the spot and Canada is not a friend now.
So India will simply sit this one out
Japan
Japan is a decent Navy but an offensive war?
They would simply be unable to get weapons and equipment beyond the sixth week
They would be begging the US for equipment pretty soon especially Shells
Japan has 140,000 active shells & around 600 Active Missiles
China has 1.7 Million shells and around 12,000 Active Missiles for offensive and defensive
South Korea
South Korea will sit this one out
Uncle Kim would be looking with Glee
No way will SK risk a conflict with China and open up a new salvo with NK
So it would ultimately be US vs China
Quad, the rest of it would simply opt out or play a small role in the deep background
US isn’t the great superpower anymore
They can’t defeat China on their turf
They don’t have the manpower if China decide to go reserve and get a whopping 5 Million men in 6 months
No American will agree to get conscripted to fight China miles away today
This ain’t 1965
So No
NATO, QUAD have no chance against China in the South China Sea
China doesn’t want a conflict because China is primarily a Trader than a Warrior
I don’t generally care what people buy but there is an exception.
I’ll occasionally see someone who is morbidly obese at the grocery store, who had a kid or two under 8 who are very, very overweight already and on track to be 2–3x their healthy weight.
Without fail, their grocery cart almost entirely filled with junk food.
I’m all for people living their own lives and whatnot. I also get that food and being judged is a sensitive issue for overweight people.
But I hate seeing kids being indoctrinated into a pattern of trashing their body.
It’s a really difficult thing to undo later in life if you’ve been conditioned to go straight for candy or chips everytime you are hungry. It borders are being a form of child abuse.
image 151
Admittedly, this is a touchy issue for me because I lost a family member solely to the fact that they’d chosen to trash their body. I probably have some pent up agitation because of that.
Outside of that, I don’t generally judge people’s purchases. When I worked retail many years ago, the only thing I judged people over was their attitude.
As long as they were nice and respectful, we were cool.
Some people look down on you for working such a low octaine position. So I try to pay it forward and be polite with everyone.
British Airways has been in decline for a LOOONG time.
What was it?
Multiple things : They were pretty much a monopoly in the past meaning they had the American problem. DELTA, AA have absolute monopolies on some routes… so it’s like it or lump it. This attitude continued well into de-regulation of airlines.
Later on, they got bought out and as usual corporates sweat the company for more profits. They did this by cutting back on cleaning and employee pay.
Employee pay was a funny one. In that they had unionised staff yet again a legacy of the monopoly age. They could give you crappy attitudes and be protected from losing their jobs. They also had new less well paid staff on different contracts. In essence nobody cared. The seniors were entrenched and were difficult to fire so they didnt care. The new staff were underpaid and on a vastly lower rate and less perks than the regular full time staff so they too didn’t care.
I bought a coat on Marketplace. When I got home, I washed it, and I checked the pockets again before doing so, to make sure there was nothing more – like a tissue – that might make the wash gross. The pockets were really deep and came to a point, and I felt something in one of them and had to fish deep to get it. When I pulled it out, it appeared to be a diamond ring, with three sizable diamonds, white gold. I took a picture and messaged the seller I’d found it. She was surprised – said it had been an anniversary gift and wondered if her little girl had been playing with it and put it there. I didn’t want to make the drive again – it was 20 mins each way. So I offered to ship it, which she accepted. I hoped she would offer to pay shipping, since this was not my fault. She’d didn’t. I shipped it anyway.
I worked several decades at a company that Forrest Gump invested in, he called it “some fruit company in California”. I just turned 60, and got a bit tired of expectation of 14 hour days, so I asked to use my skill set in a reduced capacity. I have a life to live, family, other interests. So I asked for a demotion. “We don’t do demotions”. I said that we would have to do something, as I am not keeping up this pace until I drop. So we agreed to part ways (laid off). This did not go over well with other engineers who respected my work, some of whom I have mentored. Basically, anytime you touch a keyboard on a Mac, and enter something in any language of the world, what you see on the screen is my junk (and the junk of a bunch of other really bright people with whom it was my privilege to work). Well, it seems that the other engineers realized that there is no loyalty, and it was just a matter of time before they would be treated similarly. Next thing I know, the other engineers have moved elsewhere inside the company, or have left. Then it seems the entire project got put in “maintenance” mode, as nobody wants to mess with my work, I believe (it is elegant, but a bit hairy… well, I think I invented something, but whatever). Conclusion: This fruit company is ok at recycling hardware, but does not want to hear about recycling its people. The CEO is reported to have said that this is a company for young people, although he isn’t. My years of experience and skill set are no longer valued, there is no loyalty (as I go through ups and downs of life), so I’m happily pursuing my other interests… and I don’t look 60 anymore !
West Confused As China Rolls Out Red Carpet For Russian President Putin On His Visit!
First of all, the great and grand snow squalls are called ”Northeasterner’s”( also called “nor’easter“). A weather cell hovers over the Atlantic ocean, and then migrates to Boston… then then unloads a shit-load of snow on everyone.
It is truly amazing. My last experience was in 1 April around 1997. Eight feet of snow in four hours.
Well, of course, the roads are impossible.
But…
If you have a snowplow on your truck… wait, because the local government will PAY YOU GOOD MONEY to clear out specific streets and roads. No shit.
It’s a great program, and works wonderfully.
Other states, such as Indiana and Pennsylvania should really give this system a try. Hint Hint.
Different places… with different laws and policies. Isn’t life grand? That’s why travel is important.
I have an amusing anecdote involving Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy from 1943–1945.
The imposing naval figure above was a daring submarine commander in World War One. In the lattermost stage of his career he was responsible for fleets of warships, hundreds of thousands of personnel, and the mightiest war-fighting vessels of his nation. He reached the height of naval command and was covered in honors. He was even briefly Head of State.
But with a steep rise came an equally steep fall. After Germany’s surrender in 1945, he was in a Allied prison cell, awaiting trial at Nuremberg. To while away the time, one of Admiral Friedeburg’s adjutants taught him and his fellow prisoners how to play the game Battleship.
Of course, the game requires an opponent. Who else did he find to play against him but his fellow Commander-in-Chief, Hermann Göring. Those who once directed wars and decided the fates of nations, now directed fantasy fleets across pads of paper. Göring tried to sink Dönitz’s warships with as much gusto as if he was directing his Luftwaffe’s bombers against them personally, and he did not like to lose. Once the Admiral protested,
“Hermann’s cheating! If he doesn’t like where my shells are falling, he marks them in on different squares!”
You read that right: a Grand Admiral was reduced to playing Battleship, sparring against none other than Hermann Göring, who was a dirty cheater. If that’s not hilarious yet completely in character for both of them, I don’t know what is!
In the right way
CIA in China
The CIA I mean the NED is hiring and paying shot wages. No wonder we run circles around them.
But would you whore off your soul for such a pitiful amount?
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She fucked up
Creole Andouille and Shrimp Jambalaya
This jambalaya recipe will become an extremely popular dish with family and friends because it’s filled with tasty sausage, boneless chicken thighs, shrimp, fresh vegetables and rice…let’s be honest…it screams comfort food!
BRICS is an economic organization, and if you care about human rights, you should be upset at many countries which are allies of the west.
Your thinking is very muddled, and it is apparent that you let just one criteria be the judge of your economic decisions, when economics and politics are completely separate issues. The world is changing and it is important to be flexible.
At the prestigious “AAAA” firm, Mr. Stevens was known for his level-headed approach and patience. As the Head of Department, he’d mentored many and had rarely ever lost his temper. But there was one incident that everyone in the office remembered.
A young intern named Jake had recently joined the team. Ambitious and eager, he sometimes came across as overconfident. One day, during a team meeting, a colleague, Mrs. Ramirez, proposed an idea she’d been working on for months. Instead of providing constructive feedback, Jake laughed dismissively and said, “Do you really think that old-school idea would work? Maybe it’s time you retired and made way for the new generation.”
A hush fell over the room. Mrs. Ramirez, a veteran with 20 years at the company and revered for her innovations, looked hurt but stayed silent.
Mr. Stevens, usually so composed, turned to Jake, his face stern. “In this company, we value respect as much as we value innovation. If you cannot provide the former, you have no place here, regardless of your skills or ideas.” By the end of the day, Jake’s internship was terminated.
It became a tale that echoed in the corridors, not as a threat but as a reminder: talent without humility means nothing.
Before I moved to the U.S.; I worked for my boss for 5 years. He was a big-ish deal of my company and I worked under his direct supervision.
It was a very normal thing when I picked my boss up from one vendor’s office at 11.30am to another vendor’s office for another meeting at 1.00pm. He used to ask me to get him a sandwich and a coffee so he could eat in the car while listening to my briefing about what’s the next meeting about. He could just tell me, ‘My flight arrived at 5.30pm Thursday, and I want to fly back Friday evening. I want to meet Mr.X for dinner’ and I would contact Mr.X’s office, try to arrange the meeting, make the reservation for dinner, and jot down a list of things Mr.X might want to discuss and the status of all ongoing matters for him. I also always carried an extra box of my boss’s name card, just in case he ever forgot and needed a backup.
I was hired to manage a computerized lottery system nationwide (43 cities). None of the above was in my job description. Yet, I did them gladly, just because I could, and I felt like I did make his life a little bit easier.
When I told him I would move to the U.S shortly, he offered me three extra months of pay added into the last paycheck, so I could have a little ‘runway’ to settle things down in a new country. At my farewell party with the team, he told me, ‘You’re not just one employee to me, you’re my brother-in-arms’.
While I totally understand others’ reasons for not wanting to be bothered to ‘make me a coffee’; I still think it won’t hurt if I go a bit further in terms of doing things for others.
When me and my husband split up my landlady decided to evict me and my son because she wanted to be able to rent the house for more money. We’d lived there for 10 years and even spent money out of our own pocket for small repairs. Our rent was only $400 a month. Went back a year later. The house is falling apart and is sitting empty. There was a workers permit laying on the front porch. It was really faded and I could make out it was for electrical work. I tried the front door and it was unlocked. 2 of the rooms looked like they had been half painted. You could tell no one had been in there for quite some time. The back porch had completely fallen apart. I guess she realized it was going to cost her more than she was willing to spend to get this old farm house up to the standard to rent for $1200. And now she is bringing in no income for the house. Bet she’s regretting kicking us out now.
Fair doesn’t factor in the U.S. vocabulary list at all. A nation who is the only nuclear bomb user don’t know the word fairness. A nation that used Agent Orange and Nepalm fire bombs on Vietnamese civilians don’t know fair. A nation build on the backs of ten of millions of African slaves never knew fair. An nation that become a nation after genociding and carrying out biological weapons of western influenza on its natives certainly don’t know fair.
Stop mixing up US and fairness. It is like oil and water. It will never mix.
A new gal started in my dept. at work and she seemed really nice. We both started early so began talking over coffee before the others straggled in. After a couple of weeks though, I saw that the humor I had admired so much at first was really a thinly disguised nastiness. She would make fun of her handicapped husband, and then laugh raucously. Everyone else was joining in, but I recognized that what she was putting forth were her true feelings disguised as humor.
Some of the things she joked about was hiding her spouse’s wheelchair before she left for work, and then watching him on the cameras she had placed around the house while she was at work. (The man was blind and unable to walk, yet she thought it was so hilarious.) The saddest part was that the supervisors and bosses, as well as the co-workers all thought it was hilarious, too. They laughed even more when she showed them the videos she had recorded of his struggles.
I transferred out of that department as quickly as I could after that. I couldn’t stand to work with people who thought being a bully was funny.
I play flute, and years ago I spent four months busking around Europe. I had three encounters with police:
The Netherlands. Playing in Amsterdam, a mounted cop pinned me up against the wall of a building with his horse. The horse stepped on my flute case (open on the ground, full of coins) and broke it. The cop told me this was illegal and scared me to death; though I wasn’t hurt. After he left, while I was picking coins and stuff off the ground, some older men came out of the pub across the street. They helped me get everything and invited me into the pub to play in there, where they asked if I could play some Frank Sinatra for them (on the flute?) I did my best, and they were very generous.
Switzerland. I was playing in a square in Geneva, making a ton of money. Suddenly some cops pull up to me in a van and tell me to get inside. My travel companion was having coffee nearby and she came running over. The cops explained that this wasn’t allowed in Geneva, drove us to the outskirts of the city, and dropped us off. Message received.
Sweden. Playing in a square in Stockholm, a uniformed cop came over and listened while I ran through a movement from a Bach sonata. (First played straight and then the Jethro Tull version, part of my act.) When I stopped, he told me that that was beautiful but that sadly, it wasn’t legal in Stockholm. Then he put some kronor in my (new) flute case and wandered off.
For years, I often heard women complaining about the dating scene, and men who didn’t “Do what they say they were going to do.”
It struck a chord with me as I went through my 20s, and grew increasingly impatient with flaky friends and people who were constantly, and egregiously late to things.
I realized that the people who were the flakiest, and least likely to honor their word, were also the people who had far more problems in their life. Their careers were stagnating. Their relationships were turbulent and problematic.
Their lack of commitment to their word correlated to a bunch of other character flaws, for which they were paying a steep price.
I have since kept a strong radar pinging for people who fail to follow through on even tiny commitments.
My advice to you — and one that I’ve painfully followed — take a knightly approach to your word. This means saying no to things you aren’t sure you can follow through on.
If you explain yourself and say, “I don’t want to make a commitment I am not sure I can honor.”
They’ll usually understand and appreciate it.
This is especially true in dating. Women hate, hate flakey dudes.
My home burned down in 2012, end of January. Lost everything, including all my pets. Lived in a motel for 8 days, 5 of which my aunt gave me money for. My boss and cousin helped me find housing in a highrise, primarily seniors. Snoopy seniors.
I was sitting on my floor on blankets since I had no furniture. But I did have a TV and free basic channels from the building’s antenna. I could hear whispering in the hallway, right by my door. “Why’s she sitting in the floor? Why doesn’t she have furniture. Maybe she got out of rehab.” Typical gossipy old ladies. The maintenance guy hadn’t replaced my peepholes in the door and they were looking through the holes. I yanked that door open so fast one almost toppled over her walker. Told them I was burned out, was a working woman who drove many of them to doctors and church. I was not putting up with their shit. They took off down the hall. I put duct tape over the holes, which I hadn’t thought anyone would be rude enough to look through. Notified the office the next day. Both ladies got a letter about respecting privacy. They were on camera, peeking into my place.
Here we see an image from in interview in which actress Amber Heard “fights back tears” after telling about the horrific domestic abuse she claims to have suffered at the hands of her former husband Johnny Depp. She’s sad. She’s pitiful. She’s a brave victim, telling her story… only she isn’t. She’s bullshitting.
The truth is, Amber Heard has a history of domestic abuse. As in, committing it. Before Depp she primarily dated women, and she has a tendency of flying off the handle with them physically. Domestic violence between women, like female partners beating up female partners, is historically massively underreported. So is violence against men, by women. There’s shame, and there’s stigma involved.
She was arrested for it, before. Got into a physical altercation with an ex-girlfriend. Hit her, in public, in an airport.
And the case was dropped. And she got away with it. Because she’s a woman. A pretty woman. Better yet, a pretty rich woman. All the nasty stories about Amber Heard were carefully buried for years. Until the moment her then-husband, Johnny Depp, had enough and defended himself physically.
He then became “the bad guy”. The man with many wild and rocky relationships, who in spite of his substance abuse had never, ever been accused of abusing any of his partners… was accused by the woman who had a history of abuse. And yet she was believed, by default. Why? Because she was a woman.
That’s the most blatant double standard I’ve witnessed in recent years — you can literally be a woman with a history of abuseand beat up your husband, slap him, call him names, cut off his finger and defecate on his bed (Heard did all these things to Depp!) and the MINUTE he defends himself physically? He’s labeled a ‘wife beater’ and all-but blacklisted from Hollywood.
As a Christian and a lover of Chinese culture and history, I have to tell you that there is so much wrong with the premise of this question that it’s scary.
True Christianity (not the “new evangelical movement” we see in America) is strictly Bible based. Bible based Christianity is not political. Bible based Christianity isn’t interested in overthrowing governments. Bible based Christianity won’t send you on crusades to conquer nations and set up a state church.
Understand that I’m not just talking out of my butt like most US politicians and popular evangelists. I actually devoted years of my life earning a degree in theology. I have studied the history of the Christian missionary movement. I have studied the history of Christianity from the New Testament down to modern day. I have researched and written books on it. I’m not trying to brag but I give my credentials to explain that I know of what I speak.
The very attitude behind this question is why Christianity finds itself unwelcome in some countries; because the government fears that that in allowing Christianity that they are importing a Trojan horse of imperialism. This very line of thought is what got Christians killed in China’s Boxer Rebellion. Some of those killed did seek to claim parts of China for their country. Just like the political cartoon of the day, nations gathered around China as if China were a pie to be sliced up in pieces. Is it any wonder that China fought against it?
However, some true Christians suffered in China during that time. I want to tell you about one of them. His name was Hudson Taylor. Born in 1832, he was English and had studied medicine at The Royal College of Surgeons. He became a Christian at the age of 17 and committed to go to China as a missionary. But not just any missionary.
At this time in his life he began studying Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Mandarin. He earned a degree from the Royal College of Surgeons, and he studied the ways of Christian missions of that time period. He arrived in Shanghai in 1853.
He was not well received to start with. And had arrived during Civil War. He wondered what he could do to better fit into life in China. You see, he wasn’t there to convert Chinese people to English ways. He wasn’t interested in making them more like the West. He didn’t want to destroy Chinese culture.
In fact, he chose to embrace Chinese culture. He began dressing as a Chinese man. He shaved his head and grew a queue, as was the hairstyle of the Qing Dynasty. He began living among the Chinese people instead of at the Christian missions. He learned Mandarin, Cantonese, Chaozhou, Shanghaineese, and dialects of the Wu and Ningbo. He even learned them well enough to give them a New Testament in their language.
The established English missionaries were horrified. It was considered improper for him to live this way. They very nearly stopped his marriage because of this. They thought him a fool, but he didn’t care. He renounced the ways of the English and said that if he had a thousand lives he would give them all to China.
He traveled to remote villages and gave them free medical care and free schooling. And yes, he preached the gospel. But he genuinely loved China and the people of China. He and his wife adopted orphaned Chinese children and raised them with their own children. He buried many of his children and his first wife in China, but that didn’t stop him.
As time passed, the people that he ministered to came to love and respect him and his family, as well as those who came to work with him. He would only allow missionaries who were serious about giving their lives to China. To follow Hudson Taylor, you had to renounce English ways and live as the Chinese lived. In dress, language, and custom. He was turning the English Chinese, rather than making the Chinese English.
His living children grew up and his daughters married in China, living among the Chinese all their days. Hudson Taylor remarried, and continued there. He survived the Boxer Rebellion, probably in part because he genuinely loved China, but many of his followers were killed—58 missionaries and 21 children. He refused to accept money from the government as reparation, though other Englishmen criticized him for this, but he maintained he had not come to take from China but instead, to give.
His health caused him to leave China for a time, where his second wife died in Switzerland. He returned to China again, in 1905. He died in Changsha, Hunan Provence and was buried with his first wife.
Hudson Taylor was the right kind of Christian missionary. He had no use for politics, and no desire to please the English. He immersed himself in the culture and way of life of the Chinese people. He preached Christ, yes, but he lived as a Chinese. He gave them hospitals, schools, and churches, but he did it while living among the people that he loved.
I am convinced that Christians today would find themselves better received if they’d leave politics and government and American ways out of mission work, and focus on loving the people of their chosen mission field. God didn’t call Christians to make converts to Westernization. God could care less about Western ways.
God isn’t interested in overthrowing governments or turning China into a democracy. Show me in the Bible where God said to establish democratic governments. Chapter and verse, please. God doesn’t care about your democracy. He said to obey government as long as it didn’t command you to go against the Bible. In the event that government and Bible clashes, God was ok with civil disobedience in that area, but that didn’t mean topple the government. You want to win people to Christ? Then stop trying to make them like you.
My Dad and his brother started a feud when they were in their early 30’s and kept it going until they both died fifty years later. No, I tell a lie. My uncle forbade my Dad from coming to his funeral, so he carried the feud on even after his death.
The irony is that neither could explain what the feud was about, so I am convinced that it was a trivial matter that just grew, and neither of these two headstrong men could let it drop because that would be to admit that their years of feuding had been a silly waste. In a sense, the longer it went on, the stronger the feud became even as the memory of the cause became weaker.
It hasn’t been a total waste though. My cousin and I are very close. It’s united us. It has also acted as a lesson to the extended family, a kind of example of how not to behave.
The brothers were both child refugees from the Nazis and had very difficult childhoods. They were both angry young men, and perhaps that explains their decades of refusing to go to family events if the other was going, the forbidding of the other’s name to be mentioned, etc. I don’t want to get into amateur psychotherapy except to say they were both nuts.
I have an employee that I assigned to a huge deal. He not only made it. He absolutely killed it. He did far better than my wildest expectations. I called him into my office and told him to contact our travel people and to book a ten day cruise (all expenses) to anywhere he and his wife wanted to go. He was speechless and then didn’t understand how he earned it. I explained to him that his contribution to the company was invaluable. Prior to the cruise he was a Departmental Manager. On the day he returned he was Named a Vice President. I always reward high performance and talent. The cruise didn’t cost me a thing. He’s repaid the cost many times over. Did I have to do that? No, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
What is the USA gonna do now?
China’s SMIC and Huawei have surged ahead in chip technology, defying the U.S. restrictions aimed at curbing their technological advancements, Burn J. Lin, a former TSMC vice president, told Bloomberg in a rare interview. He believes ASML lithography tools that SMIC already owns will allow the company to advance to a 5nm-class fabrication process.
“It is just not possible for the US to completely prevent China from improving its chip technology,” Lin told Bloomberg.
Despite the U.S. imposing technological constraints via sanctions, SMIC has showcased notable resilience and ingenuity by developing its 2nd generation 7nm-class fabrication process. It also achieved yields high enough for Huawei to make plans to supply 70 million smartphones. SMIC allegedly used ASML’s Twinscan NXT:2000i litho tool, which is a deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography scanner that can produce chips on 7nm and 5 nm class process technologies. Exports of this tool to China were curbedby the Dutch government earlier this year.
The resolution that the Twinscan NXT:2000i features (≤38nm) is good enough for 7nm-class single-patterning lithography mass production. However, when it comes to 5nm-class process technologies, a finer resolution is required. To produce it, chipmakers can use double, triple, or even quadruple patterning, a lithographic technique that involves splitting a complex pattern into several simpler patterns, which are printed sequentially to achieve higher precision and detail in semiconductor manufacturing. Usage of multi-patterning is a tricky process that affects yields, and the amount of chips per wafer that can be used, so typically its usage is limited due to economic reasons.
But being limited to tools that it already owns, SMIC has no other option but to use multi-patterning for finer resolutions. Apparently, it has managed to achieve yields acceptable to Huawei. As a result, one can ask whether the U.S. government’s curbs against China’s semiconductor sector work.
“What the US really should do is to focus on maintaining its chip design leadership instead of trying to limit China’s progress, which is futile as China is adopting a whole nation strategy to boost its chip industry, and hurting the global economy,” former-TSMC R&D VP Lin is reported to have said.
Interestingly, the U.S. sanctions seem to have inadvertently opened the doors of opportunity for SMIC. The restrictions imposed on TSMC, barring it from transacting with certain Chinese entities, have allowed SMIC to step in and capitalize on substantial orders. This shift has facilitated SMIC’s enhancement of its manufacturing techniques and technological capabilities.
The really harsh reality…
Looks what mothers actions (when she was single) did to her 13 year old boy years later.
Visiting Banff National Park, touring motorists left their parked vehicles to take photos of the cute Black Bears and their cubs. One stopped and before long a dozen more. The bears were grazing on a meadow about 100 metres (300 feet) from the road. Some brave individuals without telephoto lenses tried to get up closer for a good picture. A mama bear sensing a threat to her cubs could reach those touring idiots in 6 seconds, not even enough time to open the car door and get in, let alone run the distance back to their car. It took Park Rangers about 5 minutes to notice the “bear jam”, and they were screaming at everyone to get back in their cars and disperse the traffic jam.
I discovered that driving down any infrequently used Canadian wilderness road, when descending a slope, if the engine was turned off to coast down, half a dozen heads popped up to see why the sound had ceased. It surprised me that so many bears were hiding in the growth on the sides of roads, and how close they were. I would not recommend hitch-hiking. Another time just as I was passing, a huge timber wolf appeared and just stood there looking at me as I drove past. The paws were bigger than my hand, and in the rear view mirror I could see he was still looking at me for some time.
Basically Australia deserves it. Not Aussies. Many are smart good people. They lose a meal a day because your racist PM Scott Morrison prefer to have alliance with Mike Pompeo and confirm that Australia is indeed a China hater and Chinese hater. You harvest what you sow! Aussies promptly kicked him out of office. But the damage is done.
Not only China. But Asian especially South East Asian lost trust and faith in Australia. It sees them as a U.S. stooge and a colonial minded nation thinking that it is ordained by god to be white man run roughshod over coloured people. We Asians has a jolt of awareness that Australia don’t want to be part of and partner to Asia. It wants to be a U.S. dog nation.
Asia don’t want and don’t need a U.S. assistant sheriff! So Australia need some soul searching if it wants to be a real partner or a colonial outpost. Asia is watching.
HiI was working as a security guard outside a 24:-hour McDonald’s in Australia around 2am. I was about 21 and a small-framed woman working alone and it was a bit of a rough area so I had to be careful.
A group of 5 or 6 teenager boys turned up and were standing around in the car park trying to pick fights with any guy who looked at them sideways. Mostly men were ignoring them but they were getting bolder and I was beginning to think I was going to have to call the police before things escalated.
Just at that moment a small thin guy exited the building. Everything about him said scared. He held the food bag in front of him like a shield, he was looking at his feet and walking fast trying to avoid any conflict with the boys.
Predictably one of the loudest lads zeroed in on him as an easy target to hassle and impress his friends. He runs over with the usual, “What are you looking at? Are you looking for trouble?” bullshit and the small man just sped up. I started to walk over to rescue him, thinking he was about to be beaten up by the group if they were allowed to proceed.
The guy ignored all provocation until the boy laid a hand on him. I have never seen anyone move so fast. The man dropped the bag grabbed the kid by the hair and pulled him backwards off his feet in a move he had clearly used before. He proceeded to punch the boy in the face 4 or 5 times til the kid was out on his feet.
There was a moment of shocked silence then the guy gently put the kid down and picked up his meal. He suddenly saw me standing there in uniform completely frozen in shock. The guy had yanked the kid’s head back so hard there were clumps of his hair on the ground.
As soon as he saw me the guy was like a lost kid. He said nearly in tears, “He started it. I just wanted to go home and have my dinner.” I just nodded and said, “OK off you go” because I sure as hell wasn’t going to stop him, and he drove away.
The kid suddenly came round, with a split lip, bloody nose, and a few loose teeth I would think. He was a bit dazed and I asked him if he needed an ambulance or the cops. He said no so I told him and his mates to piss off.
I have never seen a beat-down like that. From scared little guy to full psycho and back again in less than a minute. The guy must have been on parole or something because he wanted no piece of that fight before or after.
As for the kids, they learned an important lesson about picking fights with people you don’t know. Sometimes the little guy is not the easy bet. Sometimes people avoid fighting for your protection rather than theirs.
As my grandfather used to say, “Beware the wrath of the quiet man.”
Updated Response: thanks to everyone who up voted. When the incident occurred I was only 21 and very unsure of how to respond. Unfortunately the law in Australia is very clear. Security guards have no rights to remove people from anywhere and calling the police is often the worst response. While many people have criticised my actions that’s OK. The story illustrates as much as anything the lack of support guards have.
For those who could have done better, this reminds me of another of my Grandfathers sayings, “Everyone knows how to tame the mad bull, except the man who owns him.”
Name a time when people with guns have ever stopped US government overreach. Want to know a secret? Most people prefer tyranny, as long as they aren’t the ones being tyrannized.
People with guns didn’t stop government racial segregation and Jim Crow. They cheered.
People with guns didn’t stop the mass interment of Japanese citizens in concentration camps. They cheered.
People with guns didn’t stop the police or government from lynching Black men. They cheered.
People with guns didn’t stop the police or government from persecuting gay men and lesbians. They cheered.
See, normal people know your felusional Rambo fantasies about “mY gUn WiLl StOp ThE gOvErNmEnT fRoM tYrRaNy AnD iNjUsTiCe” is a self-serving lie. No it won’t. You lot line up on the streets and celebrate government tyranny and injystice, as long as it hurts people you hate.
Gimme a break. You need guns to stop government oppression…ah HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Riiiiight. Sure you do.
It’s been a couple of years now but this happened with a friendship that began in the early 90’s so that’s a long time. We had a slight falling out and it was over something I said, but her response to it changed me feelings of close friendship with her. I didn’t mind that it made her made or maybe offended her but she said friendship altering things that were beyond what the issue was. There was damage and issues that had evidently occurred that I just wasn’t aware of. I wish she had talked to me about whatever was going on with her towards me but, she didn’t. So when the opportunity arose she gave me more than I was ready for. It was a deal breaker for me and I think that, that is what she wanted. This may sound odd…….I miss her because we enjoyed a lot of things together but I’m okay with it at the same time.
Hi, Joseph Mcmanus. Thanks for the very interesting question.
I’m Chinese and I spent a handful of years living in the States.
During my time stateside, I paid rent to my landlords. I paid school tuition fees to the school I was attending. I paid all living expenses out of my own pocket.
At no time during my handful of years in the States did I have to pay the Chinese government for living in the US.
Unless, as Frosty Shoat mentioned in their answer, you’re counting the cost of the passport as an expense for living in the US. But I don’t see how that is an expense exclusive to Chinese alone.
I saw a Facebook post from an acquaintance of the hysterical variety. “Can anyone help me move on Tuesday? I’m being kicked out of my place. “
Being the guy with a truck, and having that afternoon free, I said I would meet her at 3 and help move. So day of, I’m there at the appointed time and she’s nowhere to be found. The owner of the house is there and there’s a pile of stuff outside. I start hauling the stuff up to the Uhaul which fortunately is there and talking with the owner. Turns out my acquaintance is being kicked out because she hasn’t paid rent in 10 months and has left the landlord (her ex-sister in law) about $35,000 in the hole. They are going to have to sell the place to recover the money. She shows me around the place. It’s a bit of a mess but an absolutely lovely home. Quiet neighborhood but close to downtown Honolulu, views, parking. All the things.
I tell her that I love the place and before she talks to anybody else or lists it, to let us make an offer. My acquaintance shows up an hour and a half late, after the bulk of the work is already done. I finish helping her move, with a lot less sympathy now.
Six months later, after a lot of talking and negotiating and inspecting, we moved into the beautiful house! And because we negotiated directly we saved about $45,000 in realtors fees.
A crime watch group in Homestead, Florida held a neighborhood crime watch.
This meeting took place outside on a back patio. The Chief of Police was meeting with all the participants and team members.
He was outlining all of the things to be on the look out for. He was going down the list of agenda items related to criminal activity.
As he was talking, they heard a loud engine sound. The BZZZZZZ of an airplane motor.
It got louder and louder.
Then.
vvvVVVVVVROOOOOOM
It streaks by.
And
<boom>
Something hits the ground.
Everyone is startled. Then they see a big box right next to them.
The officer goes to check it out.
What is in it?
Seventy-five pounds of cocaine.
The plane that had been flying overhead was on the run from Customs, and it was dumping its cocaine so as not to be caught when they landed.
Let me restate that – a box of cocaine fell on top of a crimewatch meeting.
The plane dumped its last box shortly after that before they landed and were arrested. (Source: What’s that falling from the Florida sky. It could be pork, poop — or worse. Miami Herald. Cohen, Howard)
Luckily that last box of cocaine only hit a church.
I wrote a letter to my manager outlining his misbehaviours. I gave a copy to every one of his staff. In due course I was in the state managers office with the personnel manager there too.
The state manager told me he was going to take disciplinary action against me. I looked from one to the other and said:
I don’t often beg, but I am going to beg this time. I’m begging you. Please take disciplinary action against me.
They looked at each other and there was silence for about ten seconds.
Then I said:
You’re not going to do it are you?
And quietly the state manager said “No”.
I told them the meeting was over and went back to work.
That was not the end of the issue, but there were no consequences against me.
My dad … brought us up to NEVER LIE so when he blatantly lied to the State Trooper standing in the family kitchen one early afternoon I was dumbfounded!
My aunt (dads younger and only sister) married an abusive drug addict/alcoholic child abuser (his own kids).
My aunt had a black eye and lots of other injuries, new and old but she told of her husband having an abusive fit and while beating her he grabbed their three year old son and threw him so hard he went through the plaster and lathe board leaving his whole body as a marker to how hard he was thrown. My aunt called the police eventually (this was mid 1970’s) but her husband threatened if she told them what happened he’d kill the children (1 boy 3, and a girl 1.). She didn’t press charges because she knew he had guns and knew how violent he was.
About three days later two State troopers were in our driveway. They asked my dad if he owned a handgun. They also knew what had happened to my aunt and her little boy (small community).
My dad wanted to kill her husband but knew he wasn’t worth it. So, my dad’s younger brother obtained a gun I think it was a .45 handgun. My dad climbed in the window of his sisters house after his brother dropped him off … and he waited. The abusive husband/father came home, unlocked the door and was going about his business. At some point my father came into view with that gun. He made that scum get on his knees and beg for his life.The end of the gun was put in his mouth. As my father was asking him how tough are you now? Beating up your wife and 3 year old son is easy. How tough are you now? The scumbag pissed his pants while begging for his life.
I’m sure there were a lot more things said and done.
The gun went back to its owner. My dad was having coffee and a cigarette when he invited the cops in. He was so calm, cool and collected as he told the cops he didn’t do anything. He was home all morning. He LIED! Then one cop left and the other one told him, “it’s just me and you, I’d have done the same thing if my sister and nephew got beat up. C’mon, you can tell me. My partner is outside and he can’t be witness to you telling me what really happened.”
My dad calmly lied again and told the cop he knew nothing about it.
After they finally left I asked my dad why he didn’t tell the one cop that he did it. There wasn’t a second cop to corroborate his confession. My dad told me, “Oh yes there was! They don’t carry two way radios for nothing!
My dad was a badass. Just a humble middle class auto shop rat. He died last summer. I learned a lot about life from him.
***edit: I thought that the abuser of my aunt was dead. I recently asked a family member of his. He’s alive but in bad health, still drinking and drugging. He did leave the state but it was after my aunt divorced him. He had a girlfriend. He beat her up so bad she died. I don’t know anymore details than that. I have no idea why he isn’t still in prison. I only know my dad changed his sister’s life for the better and probably saved her life. Her daughter was younger than her son (who was 3 years old when the abuser threw him through a plaster and lathe board wall) and she only recently found out that my dad also changed HER life for the better by scaring the sh;t out of her father and giving her mother the strength to divorce him. I’m sure the a$$hole knew he’d be severely beaten if he ever touched my dad’s little sister again.
Driving an ambulance in response to a “Man down” call on a Saturday morning; lights and siren activated. My travel route took me over a twisting two lane road that was frequented by bicyclists. I encountered a pack of cyclists – maybe 40 – who wouldn’t yield to me. The winding road prohibited me from swinging into the opposing traffic lane to pass.
Took me several extra minutes to work my way to the front of the pack whereupon the lead rider flipped me off and offered me some salient verbal advice. Got past them, delayed in responding to a serious call.
Returning to the station afterwards, made comment to one of my co-workers, a fellow volunteer and a full-time police officer in the local jurisdiction. On the next Saturday, he donned his police uniform, drove his cruiser to the bike-traveled road and waited for the particular bicycle club to cruise thru the stop-signed intersection, en masse….their usual disregard. He pulled the ENTIRE pack over and wrote reckless riding tickets for each and every cyclist. Took him more than two hours!!!!
I went to court with the officer, as did the rest of our ambulance crew….some riders showed; many defaulted. After the 4th or 5th defendant appeared, the judge called them all up together —— maybe a dozen —— spoke for a bit and found them ALL guilty. Good karma day.
EDIT: And before I receive another comment going to legal procedures, please know that in our community, organized bicycle groups make frequent use of a gent who is well-known as the “Bicycle Advocate”. He commonly appears at proceedings where/when bicyclists are cited. On the appearance day discussed above, The Advocate was on-hand, standing up to assert his interpretation of the motor vehicle statutes as they do/don’t pertain to cyclists. The rhetoric is without legal support, and the guy is neither an attorney, nor does he actually represent a defendant. He’s very good at deflection.
With serial defendants and the same fact-pattern, the judge soon tired of the Advocate’s repeated and time-consuming speeches. He cautioned the guy a couple of times and eventually fined him $200 for contempt. He then called up the remaining defendants, asked them to declare an exceptional circumstance or individualized defense(s) to their citations. Hearing none, he passed the collective judgment. The individual defendant due process rights were, indeed, preserved by the judge’s line of questions prior to rendering his decision.
This single coincidence tends to make more of a difference to a persons’ life than any other factor, including whatever efforts the person himself makes to try to improve his lot.
Who your parents happen to be has a tremendous impact on a huge range of things that shape just about everything in your life to a huge degree.
It determines if you’re born in Sweden or in Somalia
The genes they gave you determines whether you’ll be tall, intelligent and handsome or short, stupid and ugly.
The genes also play a big role in whether or not you’ll be healthy, whether or not you’re likely to get a long list of diseases.
If your parents are kind, compassionate and nurturing your start in life will be very different from if they’re cold, inconsiderate or abusive.
The hobbies and interests they have in many cases have a lifelong influence on your own hobbies and interests.
Their wealth and their income determines what material standard of living you’ll have for the first 20 – 25 years of your life, and in fact often for your entire life. (in most cases lazy sons of multimillionaires end up better off than hardworking daughters of slum-dwellers)
They more or less entirely decide who is important in your life for your first 5 years. Such early formative relationships are very important for a child’s development.
They determine what quality education you’ll get, this depends on their wealth, where they happen to live, and their priorities. You as a young child have low influence on all of this.
I’m not at all saying that it’s hopeless to get ahead in life if you had a bad start. What I’m saying is that having the right parents means getting to play life on “easy” mode, while having the wrong parents makes everything a whole lot more difficult.
When I was 16, I was driving home from my boyfriends house which was a good 15 miles away. My car suddenly stopped working. It was dark and it was 1996, so no cell phones. I was out in the middle of nowhere! I saw a house and decided to walk up and ask to call my dad. I was TERRIFIED!
A woman answered the door but barely opened it. I told her that my car broke down and asked to call my dad. She asked me to give her his number and she would call from inside. I agreed. It was cold outside and I was shivering (both from cold and fear). She called him and asked if he had a daughter etc. Then she gave him her address and she invited me inside. I was still scared, but went in because I heard my dad was on his way there.
She made me hot chocolate and I sat by the fireplace, petting their dogs and chatting until my dad showed up. My dad got there about 20 minutes later asked if he could come pick my car up the next day and they said, “of course!” Her husband put his coat on and helped push my car off the road and into their driveway. We both thanked them sincerely and they said “If You ever need anything again, you come straight here!” The lady gave me a warm hug and said goodnight.
My dad sent a tow truck to get my car to the shop the next day and it was back in order with a new timing belt. I made sure to always take that route home just in case I broke down again.
My Mom loved Roll Top desks. She always wanted on one. So in 1975, she went to a local Sotherby’s auction and she emerged victorious but financially wounded. In 1975, she paid $1500 for a desk almost identical to this one.
In 2023 dollars, that cost my Mom about $8,500 dollars.
When my Mom died in 2022, we had a professional estate sale guy come to the house. Now my parents lived in the heart of Silicon Valley. He said…………you know, around here this item is really difficult to sell. Nobody wants them because they aren’t super friendly to computers. Anyone young with money around here, won’t be interested. We’ll be lucky to get $2500-$3000, even if we can find a buyer.
That puts my Mom’s purchase around $500 in 1975 dollars.
I’m actually glad she never knew…it was her crown jewel among all her antiques.
ALERT: LARGEST NAVAL FORCE SINCE WW2, ATTACK ON TWO NUCLEAR PLANTS, HEZBOLLAH DECLARE WAR IN 5 DAYS
Not me but my dad. He was a supervisor, and had a less than stellar employee. My dad was offered a job with the potential for a promotion on the other side of the country. He was retired military so we had moved a lot, so he didn’t take it as he didn’t want to move us again. The job was offered to the problem employee; my dad was happy to see him leave.
Two years later, the guy comes back, only now, he was my dad’s supervisor, and made his job a living hell. For example: this was back in the days of overhead projectors (a precursor to PowerPoint). My dad was to give a presentation to some high-level people. He starts, but the projector isn’t working, so he had to give the presentation with hastily copied handouts. His boss had removed the lightbulb from the projector, and then chastised him for not “checking his equipment”.
He pulled a lot of similar unprofessional stunts. My dad had already retired from the military, and had enough years in to retire again. His physician told him that based on his medical problems, he could retire any time he wanted to, so my dad had him draft an undated letter stating he was retirement-eligible based on years of service and medical issues.
We had an expensive vacation planned, and were to leave on a Friday night. My dad had put in for vacation, so the boss was well aware of it. Ten minutes before he’s about to leave, the boss shows up, drops a file on his desk, and tells him not only does he have to stay late to get started on the project, but he’s cancelling his vacation.
My dad got a box, and started filling it with his personal items. The boss goes ballistic, so my dad pulls out the physician’s note, dates it, and says “I just retired” and walked out. It was a tad petty, but it was epic.
Wife Has MELTDOWN After Husband Secretly Discovers Her Affair, Plans A Strategy & Then Divorces Her!
We had a very nice lady come by our fire station with an “ice chest” full of hot tamales (which we purchased). Everyone who ate the tamales got food poisoning (including myself). We were not incapacitated, but close.
The question is, by eating food that is given to us, will we be able to perform our job of protecting our community? Could we fight fires? Could we perform rescues or fulfill our duties as EMTs? The answer could be “no.”
For example, on another occasion a family was nice enough to deliver a big plate of cookies and other homemade treats. The family appeared dirty and reeked of bad hygiene. We thanked them profusely (as was the polite thing to do). After they left their treats (unfortunately) went in the trash.
We had a few regulars who brought us pies, which we ate. It took a bit of a size-up on the individual delivering them, at first.
On some holidays a major restaurant chain brought us an entire meal, which we ate (it was prepared in a professional kitchen).
All the food that was brought to us was appreciated and accepted. It was never looked at as a bribe (we had no involvement in enforcement issues).
Coffee or tea offered on fire scenes? Now that is something I’d like to see adopted in America! A lot of winter fires were in below freezing temperatures. We were wet and cold. A hot drink of just about anything would have been much appreciated those freezing nights.
We once had a terrible fire, with much loss of life (Deadly Reno Fire
). It was across the street from the rear door of the original Harrah’s casino, in Reno, Nevada. The investigation lasted for two weeks. The casino set up a room for us with 24/7 coffee, tea and snacks. They also provided many meals, which they did at no charge. They expected nothing in return. They were just being good neighbors. Kudos to Harrah’s!
The best policy is “Unless you know the history of the food, it’s unsafe to eat.”
The boats
Al Copeland’s Basic Cajun Jambalaya
8af59975dcc2510a22cf8acf3a022972
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pound pickled pork, diced
1 pound smoked ham, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
4 cups beef or chicken stock or hot water
2 cups rice
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
Instructions
In large saucepan with lid, melt butter with oil.
Add onions and pork and sauté until onions are soft.
Add ham, garlic, thyme and parsley and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add sausage and cook until browned. Stir in stock and bring to boil.
Add rice, bay leaf and cayenne. Return to boil and cover. Simmer over very low heat for 30 to 45 minutes, checking after 30 minutes to see if all liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender. If necessary, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water if liquid boils away before rice is cooked.
My cat is four and a half months old. He’s part of our family for a month now.
As I was playing with him with the laser pointer about a week ago, he happily chased the red dot over the floor as always. But when he sat down to look at me, he suddenly looked over to my hand where I held the pointer, than back to the red dot and my hand again. His enthusiasm for chasing the moving red dot was suddenly gone. As if he understood that it was I who made the dot move and that wasn’t as interesting for him as a red dot that’s kinda “magically” moving on its own.
He also found out how to open drawers after watching me doing it two times.
And he’s been exceptionally quick to understand that I keep his “special” toys in the black plastic box on top of the shelf in our living room. As soon as I touch the box, he jumps off the desk and runs over to sit at my feet, waiting for whatever toy I might pick this time.
He’s extremely vocal and complains loudly when I chastise him whenever he does something undesirable, like playing with the computer chords (cuz he chews on them), jumping onto the kitchen table, scratching the wall corners instead of his scratching post, etc.
American Psychosis Chris Hedges on the US empire of narcissism and psychopathy
Sometimes the simple and mundane are the things that we remember, and the memories that we cherish.
The very last ice cream that I shared with my father occurred about two months prior to his death. It was nothing “special”. We were riding in the car together, and he saw a Dairy Cream restaurant and suggested that we get an ice cream cone. They had “orange creamcicle” on sale, so he bought us two and we ate them outside in the warm September sun.
To outsiders, it was just two grown men eating ice cream outside, and really there was nothing overly special about that event.
But for me, it was a memory that I will always treasure.
Enjoy what you experience. because it is all so fleeting….
I was broke and had just received a food stamp card. In the grocery store I picked up about $8 worth of food. Standing in line I took the card out of my wallet, noting the lonely $20 bill that represented my net worth. When my turn came I swiped the card and waited. The clerk said “I’m sorry but there is only $1 available on your card.” I was in shock, because this was my first time using it. Falling back on my fine command of the language, I said nothing. I was confused, embarrassed, and a little sick. Finally I just backed away mumbling that I must have left my money on my yacht. As I was leaving a man stopped me and said, “you just dropped this $20 bill” and handed it to me. I thanked him profusely for his honesty. I also thought what a careless idiot I was. I managed to fumble away the last of my money and only the honesty of a stranger saved me. Well I stopped at another store on the off chance some mistake had been made at the first place, and that turned out to be the case. With tremendous relief I started to put the card and my recovered bill in my wallet. I found to my amazement that my original $20 was still there. I realized that the stranger had given me the bill, while preventing my embarrassment or any refusal of his generosity. This is not meant as a greatest example of kindness, but to mention that a major part of his gift was the lift it gave my spirit to know of such kind and generous people. The last thing you need during hard times is cynicism.
It’s a nice place. I lived there for eight years (2012–2020) and miss it a bit, now that I’m back in Britain. What shocks me so much is the hideous, made up distortion of news reporting about it in the West, But I suppose that the US has to get something for the $400m Congress has voted for anti-China propaganda. It is just humiliating that it gets so much and so few push-backs.
When I was 9 years old, my mom surprised me and my little sister with a trip to Florida. We live in the Midwest, so any spring break trip to somewhere warm is greatly appreciated. I was so exited to have a story to tell my friends when I got back to school. One night, my best friend’s parents came over to talk to mine. They moved to the driveway, and told my sister and I to stay inside. While they were talking I heard my dad’s text notification. He had left his phone inside. Curious, I looked at what the message said. I cant quite remember what that message said, but when I scrolled up, I read a message I should not have seen. It was from my friends dad, who was now standing in the driveway. It read,
“do your girls know ours are coming on the trip, too?” “No, we are going to surprise them”, was the reply from my dad.
I was so shocked! My best friend and her sister were coming to Florida with me! I worked so hard to conceal the fact that I ruined the surprise, up until we were at the airport. We got out of the car, and my friend was there, so excited that she got surprised. I faked a reaction, but I was so mad at myself for ruining what my parents worked so hard to keep hidden. I haven’t told a soul to this day.
You need to seek counseling. Negative people are often happier with negative people. Then you can both talk about the worst case scenario, or see the cup as half empty. I have friends like this, and I try to only hangout with them in a group, so I don’t get to depressed.
Yet my friend is truly happiest when he can complain about something. Even if he has to really reach for the negative. Like I made a ton of money last year and paid off my debts, but when you make that much money, so much of the extra money just goes to taxes. Then a half hour rant on taxes.
I am truly happiest when I am positive. My wife is the most upbeat person I know, next to her, I am a gloomy gus.
Find out if you can be happy, if you have a positive attitude, if so get counseling and save your relationship. If not, cut him loose, and find someone who likes to complain about things.
Returning from a service call in Honolulu, the lady in front of me at the TSA line had serious trouble lifting her (obviously very heavy) carry-on onto the x-ray conveyor. It set off all sorts of alarms when it went through, and the TSA guy did a manual inspection as a result. When he opened it up, the suitcase’s contents were revealed: it was completely full of cans of Spam (the processed meat product). I was absolutely convinced that they actually contained something more nefarious and that she’d likely be arrested, but the TSA guy simply zipped the case back up and sent her on her way.
I was next in line, and, noticing the puzzled look on my face, the TSA guy explained that Spam is considered a gourmet delicacy in Japan, where it sells for around 3–4x what it does in Hawaii. As a result, there is a steady flow of Japanese tourists to the islands, who pretty much pay for their vacations by doing what she did. I was born and raised in the UK, where Spam has a reputation for being gross and disgusting, and something you would only eat if you can’t afford any nicer form of protein.
Management was changed and they appointed new guys ex consultant of the company who pretend know everything – based on the textbook. I am the last two managers that stay in the company when management changed.
So, this new guy did all micro management you can imagine to make most of the people left very nervous and stressful. I managed to stay for another few months until I have felt enough is enough.
Just few days before I intended to put my resignation letter, this new guys and HRD call me to the meeting room and let me go with severance payment – a payment package…
What a wonderful world it was and few friends that knew I am about to gave up congratulate me for being fired…..LOL
This is something I learned very early in my career. I always feel thankful for my former boss who taught me this lesson.
How to ask questions.
The first day I joined the company, after handing me all my personal devices and necessary office items, he led me to my cubicle and told me to self-study the system and come back to him by the end of the working day with questions. So I did. I brought back my two-page-long questionnaire and handed it to him. He read it, then told me to sit down. “Alright, question one, ‘What does (feature) x do?’”, he read my question out loud, “What do you think it does?”, he asked. I answered him with the thoughts I gathered when I studied the system. “Correct!”, he said, “Now, you see, with the way you first asked the question, if I answered it, it would have taken me five minutes to answer, but if you had asked ‘Does x do this’ including what you’ve learned, it would take me just seconds to answer ‘Correct!’ and I also would know that you actually studied and understood it. When you ask questions that you need answers to, make sure it takes the least time for the person you ask to answer. Yes/No is preferred.”
I took that advice seriously.
Instead of asking ‘What does that mean?’, I ask ‘Does that mean [my understanding]?’. Instead of ‘What should we do in this situation?’, I ask ‘In this situation, I propose the solution as below, do you have any directions or adjustments?’. Instead of ‘What time do you want the meeting to be?’, I ask ‘I checked your calendar, you have three open slots x, y, z; which one do you want to set up the meeting with Mr. A?’
This lesson has been a great help in my work, not just with my bosses, but also with other team members/ clients as well.
Cajun Sausage Roast
2023 11 09 14 29
Ingredients
Roast
1 (3 pound) pork loin roast
1 pound smoked Cajun sausage
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 small green bell pepper, chopped fine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup cold water
2 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet
Seasoning Mix
Granulated garlic
Dried chives
Parsley flakes
Black Pepper
Salt
Instructions
Seasoning Mix
Mix granulated garlic, chives, parsley flakes and black pepper to make seasoning mix. Add salt to mix.
Roast
Cut the whole loin into smaller roasts, about 6 inches long. Cut a hole through the center of each roast, along the center axis of the roasts and insert the sausage. If the cross-section of the roast is big enough, cut two parallel holes. Open the holes to the size of the smoked sausage and pour about 1 tablespoon Seasoning Mix into the long holes and push something through the roasts to distribute the seasoning. Slide the smoked sausage through the longitudinal holes in the roasts until about 1 inch of sausage protrudes from each end.
Dust inside and outside with seasonings and salt. Allow to sit and marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Place the roasts on a rack inside a covered roaster.
Pour the cut-up onion and bell pepper into bottom of roaster and place, uncovered, in a 425 degrees F oven for approximately 30 minutes or until seared lightly on the outside.
Cover roaster and continue to cook with a meat thermometer until done inside, about 160 – 165 degrees F on meat thermometer.
Remove roasts, trim end faces of excess sausage and chop fine.
Add cornstarch dissolved in cold water.
Add soy sauce and thicken sauce over medium heat.
Adjust color of sauce with Kitchen Bouquet and adjust seasonings.
After I left the workforce, my wife continued working. I normally waited to get up until after she left to keep out of the way. This oneorning, I hear the door close as she is leaving. I get up heading in to start the coffee. On stepping into the kitchen the 1st thing I see is her phone on the charger. Run to the window to see her on the road and gone. I run back to the bedroom to grab my phone to call her to come back and get her phone. When her phone rings I compound the idiocy thinking who would be calling her this early? They need to get off the phone so…she…can…answer…my…call. Then to cap it all, as I’m closing my phone cancelling the call, I’m looking around to see if anyone saw me. 2 of the cats were dying laughing and the other 2 shaking their heads as if thinking what an idiot.
I’d been laid off at a position that did not pay well, but the work was easy. I was interviewing with this other company, and the guy (owner? one of the owners?) would not proceed with the interview unless I filled in my salary from my previous job, so I did.
He offered $3K more per year.
BUT… whereas my old job was 37.5 hours per week, this guy was expecting 55–60 hours per week. The benefit was that they were a small company, and their product was going to be big, and I’d be one of the people who benefited when someone big bought out the product.
Calculating the hours, I told him that, on a per-hour basis, he was offering me between 69% and 76% of what I was getting at the previous job, to which he restated his script about getting in on the ground floor.
A few days later, I got another, much better offer. It was an hourly contract, but 84% MORE than the previous job, and about 2–1/2 times (per hour) what he was offering. I took it.
A day or two after that, he called asking if I was still interested, and I told him I took another position “at MUCH higher pay,” I said, and definitely put the weight/emphasis on the word much. I didn’t tell him how much, but again, he tried to sell me on his “Getting in on the ground floor” shtick.
I couldn’t believe he was still trying to sell me on that.
Two juicy 100% U.S. Beef patties with two slices of melted American cheese.
image 128
Sandwiched with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and A&W classic sauce all on a lightly toasted bun… it doesn’t get better than this – we believe!! Because our country imported almost everything in the old days. (And still do very much in 2023).
image 11
1963 in fact was the year that put American popular food into our collective psyche.
image 127
Now here’s a genuine all-American brand serving all-American fare. And Malaysians fell in 💕💕😘 with new food that truly touched the hearts.
1963 was the first time that burgers were sized ‘papa, mama, baby burger’ – 🥰 cute! (Come to think of it, burgers don’t exist before A&W Malaysia.)
image 126
It was a year that a drink sensation was introduced — in big frosted glass mugs – the A&W Root Beer and Root Beer Float – the two most lovable, must-drink beverages ever since the country’s independence 1957. (Today there are A&W canned root beer in convenience stores everywhere.)
image 125
A&W Root Beer and Coney Dog and Curly Fries are synonymous with A&W and vice versa. To borrow a line, “we’re still loving it, mucho!!”
I’d like to think that the burger in “1950s America” would not vary too much from today’s A&W ‘Papa Burger’.
image 124
The bear is back!
image 123
New A&W retro outlets in Malaysia give you the charming ‘American diner experience’…
image 122
… who says you can’t bring back the good ol’ days?!!!
Do you know which is the laziest nation in Europe, the one that works the fewest hours? Let me give you a little hint, this is their capital:
Berlin
A study by OECD released recently showed in no uncertain terms Germans are the laziest nation in Europe in terms of hours worked. They have the largest economy and one of the largest per capita incomes in EU and worldwide. It gets weirder.
Do you know which nation works the most hours? The most hardworking nation in Europe, clocking in almost 50% hours than Germans in a given year is obvious at this point: Greeks. For every two hour a German works in a year, a Greek works three. For that they’re labeled as the lazy wealth moochers of the south that live easily on their spectacular seaside and glorious history.
Something doesn’t quite add up, does it? It turns out that hours worked is only relevant in a few low added value professions, such as store clercks, recepcionists, call center operators, night guards and the like. Those are professions that are necessary, but they’re low skilled, don’t pay well and don’t add much value to the economy.
What drives a modern economy forward are innovators and engineers who push the boundaries of what is possible. Their productivity is almost inversly proportional to horus worked. You only have that much creative energies to do something new and you need time to recharge. You don’t work as well when you’re tired and simply sitting at work comitting time theft does not equal to productivity. Germans work hard, very hard, during the time they’re at work. But when they clock out, always on time, they leave the job behind and enjoy themselves so their next work day is strong and productive once more.
The same goes for holidays. Germans are notorious for long holiday breaks and this again improves productivity. Your best becomes better if you’re well rested and you’re more willing to give your best to a company that appreciates your effort and talent.
By contrast, Americans often view workers as a nuisance they have to pay for and treat them accordingly. Why would you give your best for a company that only gives you enough not to run away to be treated like a slightly less smelly dropping instead. All of Europe is far ahead of USA on this matter and four weeks of holiday are the statuatory minimum given to all, not some great benefit to droll upon. Five to six weeks are not at all uncommon and you can go well beyond that in certain occupations (i.e. working with radiation, mental hospital employees, etc).
Cat story
A tuxedo cat named Andrew was found in a Bronx park, malnourished and in pain. A local rescuer and Little Wanderers NYC provided medical attention, including tooth extraction, for Andrew’s severe oral infection. After treatment, Andrew became affectionate and was taken into foster care where he enjoyed being indoors and bonded with his caregivers. He developed a close bond with a foster volunteer named Jeff, following him around and showering him with affection. Andrew’s transformation and loving personality have made him a permanent member of Jeff’s family, and the two share a special bond.
Unfortunately, there is this thing called van Loon’s law. It dictates: The level of technological progress in any society is inversely proportional to the number of slaves in the said society.
So you have to first get rid of slavery before any technological advancement will happen. In a slave-owning society, all technology will remain as mere curiosities and gadgets.
Heron’s aeolipili – the first functional steam turbine. It remained as mere clever gadget as there were enough slaves in the Hellenistic world to do all the tasks of slaves.
So first you had to get rid of slavery. The only way to get rid of slavery is a religion which prohibits slavery. There have historically been four of them: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. So the technological revolution could have begun only in those cultural spheres.
Slavery ended in Europe with Christianization – first in the Roman Europe by the Dark Ages and then in the Northern Europe at the end of the Viking era. This dictates the earliest point when technological evolution can begin for good.
Once you get rid of slavery, you need to invent rudimentary technology – i.e. harness the forces of the nature – wind, tide, water etc. You need to develop metallurgy and chemical engineering, and material sciences. Anything which saves human labour, as the price of human labour is now the bottleneck. The Dark Ages were actually a serious period of gadgeteering, and laid the basis for the real technological revolution.
I mean, as fun as it is to whip the woman who is your sex slave in the night, to grind the quern-stones at the day, windmills and watermills are just far more efficient to produce flour.
The thing with science fiction writers is that most of them are engineers, and the heroes have open budgets and do not need to worry about economy. But to develop technology, you need a stable economy. You need to develop Capitalism first. Sorry, no such thing in the bazaar economies. And Capitalism began to evolve in Italy by 1200, and was fully developed by the 17th century. Before that, only gadgeteering.
The third requirement is the rise of sciences. That began with the emergence of universities in the 11th century. To develop sciences, you need a religion which separates between mysticism and philosophy and which recognizes an objective reality, to discover the connection between philosophy and mathematics, to discover the connection between mathematics and engineering, and to develop a system where all these things merge. This happened in the Late Middle Ages.
The Industrial Revolution happened just at the right moment. It could not have happened any earlier. You need to get all the required secondary powers in action first – only then can the real thing happen. The 200 years of Industrial Revolution was preceded by 2000 years of Religious, Philosophical, Technological, Scientific and Economical Evolution.
“We are watching ARMAGEDDON unfolding before our eyes” Col. Douglas MacGregor
Very dangerous prospect for the whole world, not only for US.
I teach teens in France, and I guess many of the particularities of this generation initially confuse or surprise me, I find myself able to roll with it.
I have been especially surprised to hear that, generally speaking, they don’t have any interest in movies, books, TV series, or music. It is surprising to me that even music isn’t of interest to them!
Some like video games, but for the most part, they spend more time on social media than anything else.
The implications of that, and how society will develop with them, leaves a lot to think about.
But as a teacher, I figured I have to deal with that reality. So, for example, I have them do a project where they have to make a tutorial video in English (I teach English). This was something they got excited about, put effort into, and they made great videos! They know how to use their phones, and add special effects, music, off-voice…. they were able to be creative with it. I stopped trying to use current music, films, TV or books. It just wasn’t getting their attention.
The young generation isn’t void of creativity, but they seem to have taken over control of their social conditioning. I mean, they are watching each other create and spread ideas, values, and ethics. I was raised watching cartoons, TV shows, commercials (and reading cereal boxes!) that were carefully geared towards conditioning me to adhere to certain values that my government and the biggest corporations wanted me to integrate.
The kids today have been able to break off from that, and I suppose that scares some older folk. Like it means chaos rules and will lead to destructive movements in society. I’m not so sure. I’m observing with curiosity.
Ex-CIA: Their New Plan is TERRIFYING!
Two Middle East Outlooks
Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor and dimwit, had written a laudation of his own and his bosses foreign policy for the November print edition of Foreign Affairs. The piece was finalized before the war in Palestine had begun.
Indeed, although the Middle East remains beset with perennial challenges, the region is quieter than it has been for decades.
The progress is fragile, to be sure. But it is also not an accident. … [The president’s] approach returns discipline to U.S. policy. It emphasizes deterring aggression, de-escalating conflicts, and integrating the region through joint infrastructure projects and new partnerships, including between Israel and its Arab neighbors. And it is bearing fruit. … This disciplined approach frees up resources for other global priorities, reduces the risk of new Middle Eastern conflicts, and ensures that U.S. interests are protected on a far more sustainable basis. Challenges remain. The Israeli-Palestinian situation is tense, particularly in the West Bank, but in the face of serious frictions, we have de-escalated crises in Gaza and restored direct diplomacy between the parties after years of its absence.
—
Alastair Crooke, who has personally negotiated prisoner exchanges between Hamas and Israel, has published a rather bleak outlook.
… It is no coincidence that Netanyahu flourished a map of Israel during his General Assembly address last month in which Israel dominated from the River to the Sea – and Palestine (indeed any Palestinian territory) was non-existent.
Tom Friedman in his NYT reflections may fear that just as NATO’s impaired performance in Ukraine has ruptured ‘the NATO myth’, so too the 7 October Israeli military and intelligence collapse and what happens in its wake in Gaza ‘might explode the entire pro-American alliance structure’ in the Middle East.
The confluence of two such humiliations might break the spine of western primacy. This seems to be the gist to Friedman’s analysis. (He likely is correct).
Hamas has succeeded in smashing the Israel deterrence paradigm: They were not afraid, the IDF proved far from invincible, and the Arab street mobilised as never before (confounding western cynics who laugh at the very notion of there being an ‘Arab Street’).
Well, that is where we are – and the White House is rattled. … This is what worries the White House Team. They are deeply unconfident that an Israeli invasion of Gaza will put ‘Humpty’ together again. Rather, they fear that events may go badly for the IDF, and further, that the images relayed across the Middle East of Israel using overwhelming force in a civilian urban setting will revolt the Islamic sphere.
In spite of western scepticism, there are signs that this insurrection in the Arab sphere is different, and resembles more the 1916 Arab Revolt that overthrew the Ottoman Empire. It is taking on a distinct ‘edge’ as both Shi’a and Sunni religious authorities state the duty of Muslims to stand with Palestinians. In other words, as the Israeli polity becomes plainly ‘Prophetical’, so the Islamic mood is turning eschatological, in its turn.
That the White House should be floating kites about ‘moderate’ Arab leaders pressing ‘moderate’ Palestinians to form an Israeli-friendly government in Gaza that would displace Hamas and impose security and order shows just how severed is the West from reality. Recall that Mahmoud Abbas, General Sisi and the King of Jordan (some of the region’s most pliable leaders) pointedly refused even to meet with Biden after the latter’s Israel trip.
The anger across the region is real and threatens ‘moderate’ Arab leaders, whose room for manoeuvre is now circumscribed.
So hotspots are proliferating, as are attacks on U.S. deployments around the region. Some in Washington claim to perceive an Iranian hand, and are hoping to expand a window for war with Iran. … Should Israel enter Gaza (and Israel may decide it has no choice but to launch a ground operation, given the domestic political dynamics and public sentiment), it is likely that Hizbullah will incrementally be drawn further in, leaving the U.S. with the binary option of seeing Israel defeated, or launching a major war in which all the hotspots become fused ‘as one’.
In a sense, the Israeli-Islamic conflict now may only be resolved in this kinetic way. All efforts since 1947 have seen the divide only deepen. The reality of the necessity of war is permeating widely the consciousness of the Arabic and Islamic world.
Posted by b on October 27, 2023 at 13:44 UTC | Permalink
Chinese Premier Li Qiang came out before assembled media Thursday to say only this:
“China will continue to firmly support Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national dignity, and will strongly oppose any external forces interfering in Iran’s internal affairs.”
Analysis
This Israel-Hamas thing is getting worse by the hour.
Ground invasion or not, Israel is. . . fucked.
Just a matter of time before Iran outright attacks, with the support of Russia, China, Syria. Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, etc.
I think they already realize they have the upper hand against Israel AND the US..
The biggest news we have heard in a long time is that China will support Iran in the liberation of Palestine. That’s a big deal. It doesn’t get any bigger.
This is shaping up to be the USA, Israel, and the EU against everyone else. I think we cannot win.
We are watching and documenting the start of WW3 right before our eyes.
Why are people Leaving America?
“Everything you said is truth. Things are getting more and more unaffordable here in the US and inflation and crime is killing many small businesses.”
A bar order changed my life. “14 Bier bitte (14 beers please).”
I was celebrating (with friends) the severance package I had signed a few hours earlier.
After 5 years, my time in Germany was coming to an end. I already had 2 interviews lined up back in the US.
From the barstool to the left came a voice. “Excuse me.” I turned to look in the eyes of a rather scruffy absent-minded-professor type.
He smiled and said, “you seem to have a slight English accent…or maybe American?”
“American,” I confirmed. He continued, “you wouldn’t happen to be looking for a job would you?”
Crazy I thought. “I just signed my severance contract 3 hours ago.”
“Can you write?” he replied.
“I think so. My grandfather was a journalist, my mother taught English.”
I’ll spare you the details. He hired me. I never went back to the US. That special lady I had met 7 months earlier came back from her studies in the UK.
Love developed. Babies arrived. We moved to France. Babies grew into fascinating persons.
Any other bar, any other night and it never would have happened this way.
One employer I had decided to make me redundant…which was a BAAAAAD idea.
Keeping it short ( I hope ). I was managing a Photolab ( in a pharmacy ) in SE London…I literally built it up from where it was originally bringing in ‘maybe’ around 10% to 12 % of the total takings of the shop…to where it was bringing in over 80% of the takings. I did that by making certain that the quality we produced was the best for ( literally ) miles around. We had company reps from the midlands who would bring their films into us…because they couldn’t find anywhere to beat us.
At one stage we had the top boys from Kodak visit us, because they were ‘concerned’ at the amount of photographic paper we were going through…sometimes 20 rolls a week. A roll of paper is 175 Meters long…that’s over 1500 prints per roll, or just over 23,000 prints ( 6 x 4 ) a week. It turned out that there was only one Kodak lab in the whole of southern England that beat us…and that by less than 3 %…and that was at a popular seaside resort…Brighton.
Sorry for the long back story.
Almost the first thing they did was make one of the two guys on the counter redundant. Then not long after that they made my assistant redundant as well. You’ve probably worked out where this is going already. If there’s only one person working the lab or the counter what happens on days off? Or when you go to lunch…or if your ill?
Answer? I haven’t got the foggiest idea…we were never told.
Then shortly after that…I was made redundant.
Not really a surprise…I had figured out which way the wind was blowing well before this. In all fairness when they told me I was being made redundant I did tell them that in my ( exceptionally modest and humble opinion ), the lab would be closed within three months since they had no one to run it properly…they ( of course ) just ignored that.
I had a new job within two weeks…paid almost as well…and without all the hassle.
The big problem they had now was that there was now only one person to run the counter side of things…and the lab. That’s assuming that the ‘last guy’ didn’t bother with inconsequential things…like a trip to the loo, or tea breaks or lunch breaks, day’s off, holidays, emergency’s at home or just being to damn ill to come to work.
Oh, I forgot to mention something else.
He wasn’t trained to operate the lab.
He told them. ‘I’ve got no health and safety training for photolab work…you know…for all that unimportant stuff…like the electrical hazards, hazardous and corrosive chemicals etc.’ He had no first aid certification, no fire hazard training. And nothing else either, like the day to day maintenance of the machinery, let alone the longer term maintenance.
There was also the minor ( but vital to maintain quality ) chore of balancing the master channel on a daily basis, plus ( on an ongoing basis ) all the print and film channels. He had no idea where to even begin with that…absolutely not his fault at all…he was counter staff…not trained lab staff.
And…then he told them something else, he was colour blind…not exactly great for printing colour films.
He was told. ‘Use the scanner, that’ll do the job’.
‘Uhuh…I can’t do that’. ‘HUH? Why NOT’!
‘It’s been disabled in the software and disconnected from the motherboard…I don’t even know what it looks like, I wouldn’t recognise it if it got up and smacked me in the face, and I don’t know how to hook it back up and get it working again…of course there was one person here that could do that…but you got rid of him, and even if I did get the scanner working again the quality and delivery times will nose dive, the two people you made redundant did everything manually…that’s why the quality was so good, and why we were doing so much trade’. ( my assistant and I could print faster and more accurately than the scanner could do the job ).
Then, obviously trying to be ‘helpful’ ( IE sticking the knife in ) he added. ‘We could always get an engineer out from Kodak to reconnect it, but, since it’s not a breakdown…it’ll be chargeable’.
Not done.
How do I know all this ?
I’m at home one evening and I get a phone call from the ‘last guy’. ‘Hey! how’s it going’? ‘Pretty good’ was the answer…’How’s the lab doing’? ( I love this bit ) ‘What lab’?? ‘Umm…THE lab’. ‘Like I said…WHAT lab’?! ‘It’s CLOSED’??? ‘Well…I suppose you ‘could’ put it that way…the whole shop is closed…permanently’. ‘Pardon’?
It turned out that not only had the lab closed because ( surprise surprise ), nobody knew how to operate the printer properly or maintain it…but when the customers found out I’d been laid off they expressed their disgust by voting with their feet. The whole shop became a wasteland…hardly anybody went in there now.
Now that might not have been so bad when I first started there, and the lab brought in maybe 10 to 12 % of the total takings…but by the time I was laid off…the lab was bringing in around 80% of the total takings…of the entire shop.
Remember I said the lab would probably be closed within three months?
I was wrong…it took 6 WEEKS! before it…and the whole SHOP was closed.
The new company thought they were getting their hands on a gold mine, and to be honest it would have been…if they hadn’t messed it all up.
In my mid 20’s I had a job at a recording studio. I was “the girl”. I was completely in charge of all things office.
This place was part of an advertising agency.
We had the whole bottom floor and most of what we did was recording jingles.
So there were the jingle writers And the musicians and the sales people. All in all it was pretty much fun.
One day the pay checks were given to me to hand out and I happened to notice that everyone made more money than I did. I marched upstairs and asked WHY. I knew full well I did more work than anyone else there. I was told that “They were creative and I was not.”
My husband and I had already been doing glass work. I called him, told him to come get me. when he got there I said I am quitting my job. I want you to quit yours,too and we will do glass work full time.
He did and we rented our first studio which was near UWM on Milwaukee’s upper East Side.
We are still doing glass work today, 45 years later. hundreds of projects all over the country.
So thanks for telling me how uncreative I was.
Why Men NEED Sex
This should be taught in schools/colleges, the differences between Men & Women so that people can better go about relationships & know why the opposite gender behaves how they behave instead of thinking that there’s something wrong with them. i.e men have 17 times more testosterone than women hence men will tend to have a higher sex drive!
The Chinese Economy resembles a 48 year old man. Not young anymore but certainly not old or dying
The Japanese Economy resembles a 77 year old man. Prematurely aged 20 years thanks to the Plaza accords or would be a healthy 57 year old
The Indian Economy resembles a 43 year old. Down on his luck and having a last chance at some development and growth.
The US Economy resembles a 75 year old. Having sucked the youth of every Economy to keep from growing old or slowing down his ageing
The Russian Economy represents a 34 year old, reborn after dying as a 88 year old and still unsure of how to go forward but strong enough to fight the world
This was maybe ten years ago, back when I worked in a warehouse.
One fine day when I arrived at work there were no chairs at my workstation. A manager was out there and told me they had removed the chairs because the people who worked the previous shift spent too much time sitting around instead of doing their other tasks, but I could go into the office and bring a chair out to the warehouse every day when I came in.
When the next person on the shift came in I told her what was going on with the chairs, and her response was, “What is this, junior high?” I was more amused than exasperated, and life continued with me bringing out a couple of chairs at the start of work every day.
Soon afterward our senior manager became tired of people losing pens all the time and announced that anyone who needed a pen would have to ask her for one personally. I myself was very methodical about how I used my pen, always putting it down at the same place on the table where I worked and expecting it to be there whenever I needed it. Other people (mostly our regular vendors) were less careful with pens, and it didn’t take long before my pen disappeared, along with most of the others.
Now, these were not expensive pens, so the savings our tightfisted manager gained from controlling their distribution could not have been that much. More importantly, our senior manager’s schedule didn’t overlap with mine very much, and if I had better things to do with my time than ask the senior manager for a pen every time I needed one, surely that was more true for her.
So, I took the matter to Human Resources, mentioning both the chair and pen situations in an email. The next morning an HR person called me up on the phone and got some more details about everything. About five minutes later I heard the rumble of plastic wheels on the concrete floor of the warehouse, and there was the middle manager with an extra chair in one hand and a fistful of pens in the other. Sounding a little contrite, he dumped the pens on my table and said if I needed more to please let him know.
Often when I hear people talk about HR, it’s in the context of how HR is on the side of the employer instead of the employee. So I offer up this one instance where HR came through for the little guy.
The chairs in the warehouse stayed in the warehouse afterward. And, more importantly, I never had to waste anyone’s time by asking my senior manager for a pen.
Years ago I fell off a truck and dislocated my shoulder. I called an ambulance and they turned up. One guy said “I’m trained for resetting that”, so he did, me lying on his trolley bed on the pavement, they then took me to hospital for X-rays to make sure there were no further issues.
I don’t know how much it cost, I didn’t see a bill.
Years later I caught double pneumonia. 15 days in hospital with several courses of strong antibiotics and lots of rest.
I don’t know how much that cost – never saw a bill.
And a couple of years ago my 93 year old father in law was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and fitted with a pacemaker that same day, spend a night in hospital and came home with an internet connected heart monitor so they could check on him from the hospital.
We never knew how much that cost … he never got a bill.
That’s universal health care for you.
We also get low cost and no cost pharmecuticals
I don’t mind the 2.5% levy added to my tax bills at all – it’s good value.
One observation I’ve made is that people from Europe have no concept of the ridiculous expanse that is the US, and to be fair the idea that you could take a day trip to another country when you’re in Europe blows my mind as well. I met a couple from France who thought they were going to go to Maine, New York, DC, and Orlando (Disney) all in one weekend. Just for reference, it would take you nearly 24 full hours of driving to get from Maine to Orlando.
image 130
In case you can’t tell, below is the US compared to Australia.
You would not even be in a medieval army if you wanted to be safe. You would have joined a medieval army because you wanted to get rich quick – there was no other way to make easy money.
First of all: avoid all sieges. High risk of dying from dysentery as either besieger or besieged.
A longbow archer was very safe, and paid well, except that archers could not get “first pick” of battlefield booty. It was a trade off. Even so, you might get lucky especially if you got to sack a big town.
image 129
You won the lottery by either capturing a nobleman, his horse, or his fine armor. Capturing a common knight was not bad except that, quite often. knights went into deep debt to finance their war service
Even so. knights sometimes had rich relatives (so don’t get mad and kill Sir Deadbeat)
A surgeon would have been pretty safe and, if captured, you would be treated well.
We live about a quarter mile away from the nearest road, back through the woods, so it’s rare for any stray domestic animals to wander back here, but on the evening of May 26 this year, this tortoiseshell came strolling up the porch steps and looked in the window.
“Oh no,” we thought. “I hope it goes away.” We already had two cats and didn’t want a third. That lasted about 20 minutes. Then, “Well, I guess we need to feed her something. We can’t let her starve.” So she got a meal off us. When she was still there the next morning, we named her. That was it. That’s when you can no longer say a cat doesn’t own you.
I already had a jet black longhair named LBK adopted from a colleague who was moving 1,200 miles away and didn’t want to take her from Georgia to the snows of Vermont. My wife has a blue tortoiseshell rescue cat she calls Biscuit. So we named our porch cat Triscuit—not after the cracker but sort of an organic chemistry joke (bis-, tris-, Biscuit, Triscuit). Students of o-chem will get it.
Triscuit was very emaciated when she came to us. She weighed 3.2 lb; the basal half of her tail was almost hairless, like an opossum tail; she had a prolapsed rectum, worms, and diarrhea; she smelled bad. But I’m a sympathetic sap, especially for underdogs (and undercats), and she captured my heart. After several trips to the vet and a special rehab diet, my free cat has so far cost me only about $780 since May. She’s now up to 4.3 lb—just $180/lb. She’s worm-free, and she’s growing some hair on her tail. She just might live.
Cajun Stuffed Peppers
2023 11 09 14 32
Ingredients
1 pound ground meat
1 (16 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup green bell peppers, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 cups cooked rice
6 to 8 bell peppers
Sliced cheese
Instructions
Cook meat, tomatoes, onions, chopped peppers and tomato paste. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes until done.
Cook rice. Mix rice into meat mixture, then simmer for 20 minutes.
Clean peppers. Boil in large pot until peppers turn darker green. Dry peppers on paper towels. Cool.
Anyone can think they are superman! Just that most are smart and humble. China is a very pragmatic and rational nation. It knows no nation has a right to exist and enjoys full sovereignty. China never sees itself as a nation that is strong. It knows very very well that should anyone threaten China, it will fully defend itself completely and hurt the attacking nation. Very very hard.
Me to a new hire, “install this wing flap actuator on that left wing and what ever you do…do not drop it, it’s very expensive.”
New hire, “Yes, sir. No problem”.”
Two minutes later, a loud, crashing thud can be heard from over by the left wing.
Me, “NEW HIRE? Did you just drop that actuator?”
New hire “No sir, I just dropped a tool. It’s alright.”
Me as I go over there to examine the situation. “Then why is there a dent on this mounting lug of the actuator?”
New Hire, “uhh, I don’t know, must’ve come that way. It’ll be alright. It’s fine. It’ll still work.”
Me, “Lives are at stake when we work on these aircraft and when mistakes are made we have to own them and immediately correct them. This actuator will not work and neither will you. Remember this lesson on your next job.”
In college I lived in an apartment building and my next door neighbor was the rudest, most angry and disagreeable person that I had ever met. One day after classes I rode my bicycle home and went to store it in the small storage shed in front of my car. I noticed that someone had clipped the right rear corner of my fairly new car. I looked at the Cadillac next to my car and saw a indentation on the rear quarter panel at the same height as the damage to my car. The color on the damaged quarter panel matched the color of my car exactly.
I approached my mean, nasty and disagreeable neighbor, showed him the damage and he immediately claimed that I must have hit his Cadillac and threatened to sue me, get me evicted and on and on.
He worked in a bank in a troubled part of town. I drove by the bank and noticed a massage parlor in a single wide trailer about 2 blocks away.
I went to an adult book store and purchased an explicit picture magazine titled “Beautiful Black Asses”, went to a card store and bought a very feminine thank you card and an envelope big enough for the magazine. I signed the card “Thanks for everything honey – Candy” and mailed it to his apartment with the massage parlor’s name and address as the return address. I was aware that his wife got home first every day and retrieved the mail every day.
A couple of days later I heard a LOUD screaming exchange between them and the wife took off in his Cadillac, burning rubber all of the way. She and the Cadillac were gone for about a month before she returned but, their relationship seemed chilled until I graduated and moved away a year and 1/2 later.
The Israelis are so sure about the location of the Hamas bunker, however, not because they are trying to score propaganda points, or because it has been repeatedly mentioned in passing by Western reporters—but because they built it. Back in 1983, when Israel still ruled Gaza, they built a secure underground operating room and tunnel network beneath Shifa hospital—which is one among several reasons why Israeli security sources are so sure that there is a main Hamas command bunker in or around the large cement basement beneath the area of Building 2 of the Hospital, which reporters are obviously prohibited from entering.
I bet 100 to 1 that nothing Hamas is present in the well known bunker beneath the Shifa hospital.
Mom: I couldn’t find my saved money, I need to pay the deliveryman.
Dad: Don’t worry, you’ll find it. How much for the deliveryman?
Mom: 5 thousand rupees. I ordered some groceries and essentials for the house.
Dad paid the deliveryman and we eventually got busy with our daily work.
The next day, Mom, Dad, and I were cleaning the kitchen, when my mom shouted.
Mom: Look, I got my money, it’s in the cupboard. I was so foolish, I searched the whole house for it.
Mom looked so happy because she saved it for her friend’s birthday gift.
But the situation was something else.
Dad got out of the house to smoke a cigarette and I ran behind him.
I said “Why did you do that?’
Father asked: ‘Do what?’
I replied “I swear I have seen you taking the money out of your wallet and putting it in the cupboard.
Dad smirked and replied: “You know she was everything for me! I can’t see her getting sad over the little money she lost yesterday. Because I think we need to care for the person, we love the most!”
Dad takes out a handkerchief and starts putting off his sweat.
I said “Dad, now why are you using mom’s handkerchief? Is it a sign of your care towards Mom too?”
Dad “Nope, because it still has her fragrance”
This was something that changed my whole point of view not only towards life but also towards love too.
Every heroin addict’s go to line. The problem is the drug is too brutal and won’t let you do a little this time.
Heroin messes with your brain big time.
It is an opioid, which means it comes from the same plant as morphine and other painkillers.
But heroin is different because it gets to your brain faster and stronger than other opioids.
It does this by changing into morphine once it’s in your blood, and then attaching to these things called opioid receptors in your brain.
Opioid receptors are like switches that control how you feel pain and pleasure.
When heroin hits them, it turns them on full blast, making you feel a rush of euphoria and relaxation.
It also blocks out any negative feelings like depression or anxiety.
Sounds awesome, right?
Wrong. Because heroin is so good at turning on your opioid receptors, it also tricks your brain into thinking that heroin is the best thing ever.
Your brain starts to associate heroin with happiness, and forgets about other things that make you happy, like food, friends, or hobbies.
Your brain also becomes less sensitive to heroin over time, so you need more and more of it to feel the same effect.
This is how addiction happens.
You become obsessed with getting and using heroin, and you can’t stop even if you want to.
You also start to feel sick when you don’t have heroin, because your brain is used to having it all the time.
This is called withdrawal, and it sucks big time.
Withdrawal can feel like death. It can make you feel like you have the flu, but worse.
You can have nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, sweating, chills, anxiety, insomnia, and more.
Withdrawal can also make you crave heroin even more, because you know it will make you feel better.
The white horse is one of the most addictive drugs out there.
It hijacks your brain’s reward system and makes you dependent on it for feeling good.
It also makes you sick when you don’t have it, and makes you want it more than anything else in the world.
Possibly the worst thing is that even being sober for 20 years, you always remember that first high. That first rush. So the urge never really leaves…..
The smartest student in my class used to be nicknamed “Rain Man” in math class because of how fast he was able to make calculations. But he wasn’t just the best in math. He was also the best in the language classes and in history class – any class except physical exercise really. He wasn’t much use there.
Everyone thought he would go on to become a university professor. But he didn’t. He started distancing himself from academic pursuits in high school and instead started reading poetry and wanting to be an artist. When he was evaluated for military service and got a stellar score on the IQ test, the officers asked him what he wanted to do after high-school, and he told them he wanted to study literature or write novels.
Most likely the issue was that he came from an academic family, with both his parents being university professors, which made that career path seem like nothing special to him. He wanted “more”, whatever that was.
At college, he would become increasingly erratic, often not showing up for class and failing to read appointed materials. But he would still pass all exams with high marks by making an effort at the last minute.
The “artist” aspiration hadn’t died out though. He was pursuing writing as well as music, eventually forming a band, but he never really made an impact. He wasn’t even a bad music artist but he also just wasn’t outstanding like he was at school. His commercially unsuccessful “artist” career saw him moonlighting at random shift jobs to get by, including as a night receptionist.
It would be seven years until he realized music and literature weren’t going to get him anywhere. If he had just managed to put his head down and work diligently on a more weighty subject of study, be it mathematics or medicine or political science, I’m sure he would have had a brilliant career and made a splash in his field. As it was, he was already in his 30s without any really useful qualifications while others were getting promotions and buying real estate.
In the following years, he first learned Chinese and went to live in China, then came back again, took up coding with the intention of making AI models but also lost interest in that before really getting there. Nowadays he’s still struggling to even get a decent job – something I think no one would have expected back then at school. And who knows what’s next?
I guess I should know because I am this person. I was the smartest kid in my class. In this game of “professor or suicide”, I’m thus far neither. But being gifted hasn’t served me particularly well. Since everything was easy for me throughout my education (well, except P.E. and crafts), I never learned to really struggle. I learned that I could win without struggling. Therefore, I proceeded to avoid anything that might seriously put me to the test. And at the end of the day, intelligence is really no match for effort.
The silver lining is that I’m more and more beginning to realize that I don’t need a brilliant career, neither in academia nor as an artist. In hindsight, I was pursuing both more out of vanity than anything else. Unusually smart kids have a tendency to accrue lofty expectations from all around; from parents, teachers and classmates alike. Everyone tells you: “you could do this” and “you should do that” and “you’re gonna be a star” and it’s easy to become inebriated with this praise and forget to stop and be honest with yourself about what YOU actually want – not what others want for you or even what you want for your own idea of you. Finally doing so has been quite liberating.
This is an illusion. The Chinese used to think that having a European appearance meant they would be good at teaching English, but they later realized they were wrong.
Professional ability is linked to your salary, not your appearance.
If you can provide an English major certificate or education certificate, you can earn a good salary at English teaching institutions in China, but of course, there will be many people competing with you. Education requires teaching experience, not just talking to oneself in the classroom. Engaging in the teaching profession requires mastering teaching methods that students can understand. You must first be able to communicate with students in Chinese. Not everyone is suitable for the teaching profession, and whether to stay or not ultimately depends on the graduation rate data of students. People who lack a competitive advantage cannot enter higher education schools and can only teach their children some simple English conversations in kindergartens. Of course, the salary will be much lower than that of school teachers.
China’s second language ~ third language education is civilian education, not aristocratic education.
Generally speaking, the China government requires Chinese students to master at least 1~2 foreign languages. Because English-speaking countries dominate the world, China has popularized English education in the compulsory education stage.
There are many foreigners engaged in English education in China because it is easy to find substitutes, and the competitive pressure of practitioners is also the biggest among all language education. Meanwhile, due to the popularization of English education in China, the job of English teacher is also the easiest to find.
Language teachers such as Russian, Japanese, Korean, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic are relatively lacking.
As far as I know, some teachers of small languages have already earned salaries of $1000~$5000 per hour. (一万到五万一堂课)
Some infrastructure contractors, in order to make their employees understand the local language, offer considerable salaries to language teachers who attend classes during training.
In fact, in recent years, the salaries of Arabic language teachers and French teachers have been very good. Because there are many Arab countries and African countries (French speaking area) along the the Belt and Road. Since there is a demand for business, of course, relevant language education talents are needed.
We hired a lady to organize our archives before they were digitized. This was in 2000. She was just required to work 8 hours a day, and only needed to interact with coworkers for about an hour a day. So she decided to work 3:00–12:00 and our Mom and Pop small company saw no reason why she couldn’t do her job at night.
She was doing a decent job, and nobody had a problem. But we reached a point, where she had to start working days, so she could tell people what was going on.
She had stored all of her rolls of fim in garbage cans, and paper records in recycling boxes.
The first day she wasn’t there when the cleaners came to clean her office, they emptied all of her film and paper into shredders, and hauled it away.
Not one person in the office could figure out why she not only used her garbage can for storage, but brought in extra garbage cans and filled them.
She was livid and blamed the cleaning staff for emptying the garbage and recycling as they were required to do by contract.
They didn’t exactly fire her. They laid her off, and said that now that there was no data to archive, they didn’t have a job for her.
Sara Anne Wood was just 12 years old when she was abducted within view of her home on Aug 18, 1993. I was friends(from camp) with her brother Dusty and it hit everyone so very hard. This was an incredibly nice family from Central New York in a very small town. Back then, kids had heard ghost stories about kids being snatched but very few took it seriously. Sara’s case changed that for many and the resulting publicity made sure that new tools for the public and law enforcement would save more missing kids since.
The man who admitted to abducting and killing her also confessed to another murder- a 12 year old boy, Jimmy Bernardo. He confessed to another murder(Jamie Lusher) but like Sara, the body has never been found. The killer has given incorrect information for the recovery of Sara Anne Wood and Jamie Lusher many times. FBI psychologists are unsure what is keeping the killer from revealing the information since he seems willing to put it behind him. He will serve every day of his pitiful existence behind bars but it isn’t enough for the pain he has brought to so many in this world.
I have not named the killer out of respect for my childhood friend’s family who feel the killer has garnered too much fame already. It’s easy to search, but do me a favor if you choose to look it up. Please also learn about all of the positive changes brought about by Sara Anne Wood’s case. Those changes have saved/found many thousands of children since.
Note to Dusty & the Wood family: I hope you find peace and closure. We have not forgotten Sara and will never stop looking.
I am so so so SO very glad that I no longer live in the USA.
When I was 16 I developed a kidney abscess. It was treated over several weeks and dissipated. First off, I had to sit in a room with a bunch of 70 year old men waiting for my Urologist. Then, the Dr was flummoxed how a teenage girl could get this, so proceeded with different types of tests. One was testing my Ureters. In the hospital, I was naked from the waist down with a paper drape, filled my bladder with something and iodine and literally put a stopper in so that I couldn’t pee. Then, they left the room. It was just me and a male tech who was in front of some machines with screens. The room had swinging double doors. Every once in awhile someone would come in, and my nether regions were on full view to anyone coming in, and anyone passing by. When I was done, I had to wrap the paper drape around me and sprint to the bathroom across the hall to piss like a Russian race horse! I’m pretty sure I leaked that liquid all across that room and the hallway. Yes, this was very embarrassing.
One of my girls had been diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, developmental delays and schizo affective disorder.
She attends a day program for adults that provides socialization along with life skills training. They also take the clients out into the community to do contract jobs supported by staff. She came home beaming and said she was working in a local grocery store. I assumed stocking shelves, sweeping, etc.
About her third day she came home excited as usual got a snack and went to the bathroom.
I cleaned up the table, put away leftovers, and generally spent a fair amount of time puttering around.
Then I realized she was still in the bathroom and it was very quiet.
I called her name.
No answer.
I checked the door.
It was locked.
I banged on the door, yelled her full name and demanded she open the door immediately!
NO! I’M NOT DONE!
What are you doing?
It’s a surprise. Go away!
Now I’ve had pretty awful bathroom surprises from kids. Things like blood all over from an accident doing something I’d warned them about, to diarrhea, to bathing the dog in the tub with the associated water and mud sprayed around.
I said I was counting to 10 and the door had better be open or I’d pick the lock. Yeah, I’ve had to do that on more than one occasion.
At 9 she opened the door beaming and sweaty. See mom! I cleaned it all by myself! The floor around the toilet, the sinks, inside the toilet and the mirrors! Now I need to wash my hands.
Everything was spotless. I had forgotten most stores have at least employee restrooms. That was what she was doing at work.
She then said it was nicer at home than the men’s room. It was disgusting and stinks.
I was floored! Never have I had a child do such a thorough job cleaning anything! I gave her hugs. I told her I was sooo happy with the sparkling clean bathroom.
Then she asked me, Mom, can you teach me how to clean the tub? They don’t have that at the store.
I was shocked. She actually wanted to do more cleaning!
I told her I was so proud of her, and then later made her promise that if she wanted to clean the bathroom again would she please leave the door open. I explained that the surprise was fantastic, but some cleaning supplies were smelly and she could get sick.
She looked disappointed and asked how she could surprise me if the door was open.
I promised if she said she was working on something special I’d stay in the kitchen and make cookies.
I get a clean bathroom, the kids get fresh cookies, and my husband eats raw cookie dough. Wins all the way around!
China SHOCKS The US With Terrifying Nuclear Space Missile
I got a call from a friend, who had literally just been informed that he was laid off. And he was wondering if I had also gotten the axe.
I was on vacation for a week. It was Tuesday or Wednesday, and I was on my way to a dog show to help some friends set some things up. My friend had been walked into the office that morning and been told that his last day would the the following Friday. The severance was good, he had already been thinking about retiring, and his wife was having pretty bad health issues. So he just said cool, and planned on wrapping up the things he was involved with.
So I checked, and did have a voicemail on my phone. I listened to it, and yes, a manager I knew had called VERY EARLY that day and asked that I call her back when I had the time, sometime today. Given that my friend had been laid off, and what the situation at the company was, yeah, I knew I was going to get the boot as well. Not my first time, so I just sat back and made a list of what I needed to do. Then I called my friend back, told him about the voicemail and we commiserated. And finally I called the manager back and got the bad news. No big deal.
Being laid off sucks. But keep your wits about you, be open to doing something different, make smart financial decisions and just keep movin’ on.
In May 2016, Amber Heard, who is now divorced from Johnny Depp, shared photos claiming he abused her. People quickly condemned Depp, especially when he was cast in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Many thought he shouldn’t be hired due to the accusations. Meanwhile, Heard was praised as a survivor and advocate for abused women.
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Depp, who had built a good reputation over the years, faced a backlash. People didn’t want to work with him, and he was labeled as an abuser. He received hate from fans, the media, and almost everyone.
However, this year, Depp released tapes that changed how we saw the situation. Heard admitted to hitting him and throwing objects at him, even causing injury. She mocked him, knowing people would likely believe her over him.
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Depp, in essence, is saying, “Imagine if I, as a man, claimed to be a victim of domestic violence. How many would believe or support me?” The story shows how we often quickly judge someone as a villain, even when they might not be at fault.
I was the bad boy and what you’re trying to make is a mistake.
Let me explain why.
Most girls in their 20s and even 30s have some kind of masculine ideal. This ideal is anything but healthy. They want the sociopath or the aggressive jerk or whatever is considered nowadays a good representation of masculinity.
The definition of a “good masculine sexual partner” is more of what you’d find in “Fight Club” than “Breakfast At Tiffany”. And yes, I was one of them. I acted as a jerk, I was emotionally imbalanced, I got into a lot of arguments and fights and I was emotionally and physically violent.
And this got me laid. A lot. The fact that my life was chaotic and broken, ironically, made a lot of very beautiful woman want to save me.
And here’s the thing …
If you want to screw your emotional balance, make your life a mess and be in that position for the sake of getting laid you are an idiot. This is because the “bad boy” image that works to get women turned on is kind of the opposite of what works in every other area of life.
Everywhere else consistency, maturity, dignity, integrity are rewarded. In the business world nobody will put up with the “bad boy” bullshit. In the academic world the same. Most realms of life are a meritocracy where your hard work and effort are going to get you what you deserve. Dating is one of the few fields in which the least you care and the more counter-intuitive you act, the better results you’re going to get.
But it is not worth it.
This is because while being a bad boy may get you female attention, being a bad boy is generally not a good life strategy and there is a LOT MORE to life than getting laid. I remember how at some point in my life I was an emotional mess, smoking, drinking, going in bars each night, sleeping with two girls at the same time (not in the same bed) and many people were “admiring me”.
In reality, I was crying out of frustration and desperation often because I was in a hole and no one was pulling me out. While I was getting girls to take off their panties, I had no money, my business partners wanted nothing to do with me, my friends who showed integrity and character have been replaced by superficial relationships and the future looked really bleak.
So honestly, what you want is the most immature thing you can do.
Trust me, treating life as a bad-boy (and I’m not talking about buying a leather jacket but actually being a “I-Don’t-Give-A-Damn” type of person) has a far higher downside than upside. While there are always going to be ladies who will (1) want to save you from yourself (2) think they can change you (3) be attracted because you’re different, the people who don’t want to have sex with you won’t really be impressed by what you’re doing.
So here’s my advice.
Act as a man and stop trying to emulate the dysfunctional bad-boy image. The rogue, the sociopath, the psychopath, the out of control wreck are and were always female fantasies for better or for worse but actually being one sucks.
Instead simply focus on acting as a man. The same traits that you consider boring nice, as a nice guy, are exactly the traits required to succeed in most fields. I’m not saying to be a wimp but I’m saying that being dysfunctional for the sake of mediocre sex (because deep inside you’ll always know that that’s not love but rather fascination) is a very bad trade-of.
When he was 87 and slipping into dementia, I asked my father exactly this on one of his “good days.” He smiled and said that it had been worth it, even when he became the last of his siblings alive and started to lose his ability to remember names, first, and other things later.
He became a very gentle person to be around (he had been an angry and argumentative Democrat for most of his life) and enjoyed his children, grandchildren, and even their pets. We got along better than we ever had. I remember taking him to the Fourth of July parade and whispering the names of people who came up to greet him. Once he knew their names, he could have a great conversation. Then I brought him back to a school reunion and that was wonderful. He needed no introductions as everyone wore a name tag.
Having watched my father in those years, I hope that I may live long enough to navigate old age just the way he did despite his obvious infirmities.
I’ve worked with the company I’m presently employed with for not quite 12 years. Up until a year ago, we were a small personable, easy going, family owned company of about 250 drivers. If you were around for any length of time, everyone in the office and shop knew you, and vice versa. That was up until about a year ago when the owner of the company retired and threw us under the bus by selling us out to a larger company and everything changed.
It’s common practice for just about any trucking company to require any damage to their equipment be reported and documented. With my company, if the damage was minimal, the report would still go in the driver’s jacket, but no further. It would stay in-house instead of being reported to a national data base.
I’ve always been the type to man-up in situations such as this. I was raised that way, and it was the right thing to do. Even leaving small damage unreported could result in the next driver having to have it repaired and possibly being late for a delivery.
So, after pulling out of a customer’s driveway and cutting it too tighly, I felt something go bump in the night. Upon further inspection, it appears I clipped one of those large landscaping rocks placed to prevent idiot drivers like me from cutting corners too tightly, and running over their curbs. When I stopped for the day and was doing my mandatory post-trip inspection, I came upon this,
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Thinking it was no biggie, and my company would normally think likewise, and wanting to do the right thing, I called it it. What happened next was nothing short of a shit storm. The new people acted like I ran over a carload of nuns. Initial phone call to my parent company, followed by a call to the new company’s safety department, followed by a call-back the next day from same, followed by submitting pictures and a full accident report, followed by a call-back from the new company to review of same, followed by a never-heard-of-before-review from Greg in our safety department.
When I related the story to the former head of our . safety department, her reaction was, “It was just a fuckin’ rim!”, as she shook her head.
Trust me, if it ever happens again, I won’t think twice about going palms up with a “Dunno nuthin’ ‘bout it. When I dropped it off, it was fine “, should anyone inquire.
I was driving down the freeway and all of a sudden I couldn’t see the cars ahead of me. It was if someone had pulled a shade down in front of my line of vision. I could see all around the shade, but not right in front. Although it was only for a few moments, the terror I felt was devasting.
I was a 21-year old college student, a senior at academically prestigious school, getting good grades, working part time, and enjoying a fun social life.
So, what was the matter? Where did the intense headaches come from? Why did I frequently wake up in the middle of the night, jumping out of bed and running to the bathroom, to vomit repeatedly? Why did I feel that I was about to fall down whenever the sidewalk was a little uneven?
Then there were those crazy nightmares I was having.…. I dreamed one night that I was driving on the freeway. The car next to me pulled up right beside me. The driver pulled a gun out. He shot me in the head. My head exploded. Everything became dark. I woke up in a terrified sweat. What on earth was wrong with my head that I would have such a dream?
In spite of everything, I was doing okay and maintaining my studies. But finally it became too much for me to handle. Especially the shade covering my eyes on the freeway.
I saw several doctors. They said I was fine.
I went to a psychologist. I figured that since the doctors said I was fine, it must be all in my mind. The psychologist listened to my symptoms. He said that I didn’t need to see a psychologist. Instead, I needed to see a neurologist and he urged me to see one right away.
I took his advice and went to a neurologist. The neurologist admitted me to a hospital. Still no answers. Many tests were done, but it was during the days before C-T scans or MRI’s were used, so it was hard to figure this out. Finally a diagnosis was made: brain tumor.
Surgery was scheduled. They operated for 10 hours, and were able to remove half of the tumor. The surgeon told me the tumor was the size of a large orange and that if I hadn’t been diagnosed when I was, I would have had 6 months left to live. It was just taking over my whole brain and growing so fast.
I was in intensive care for 2 weeks. I can’t remember too much about that time. It seemed like a dream, for just a few hours.
Then, more surgery. And then some more.
I lost the ability to walk. I couldn’t see very well. I lost hearing. I was fed intravenously. Because I had stroke-like symptoms, one side of my body became weak and uncoordinated. I no longer could hold a pen and write.
I had physical therapy and occupational therapy to regain some of the skills that I had lost.
I finally left the hospital and went home to live with my parents. The tumor was not all gone, but I needed a break. I needed time to get stronger before the next onslaught of surgery.
While I was home, I had physical and occupational therapy at a nearby hospital. I still couldn’t walk or write, but I was beginning to feel better. In physical therapy I worked on learning to walk with a walker and then eventually on my own. In occupational therapy I worked on strengthening my very weak hand. I did many activities with my hands, including making some beautiful crafts. Occupational therapy was so much fun! I loved therapy.
I went back to the hospital and had the last surgery. Finally the tumor was gone. After some more time had passed I felt that maybe it was time to return to school.
Living on my own again was not easy. I still couldn’t walk or write well. But I persevered. Sometimes I fell down. I used a tape recorder during lectures since I couldn’t write fast enough to take notes, and my professors gave me extra time to write exams. With the support of my family and professors, I did well and succeeded.
As graduation approached, a brilliant idea occurred to me. I remembered the great time I had in occupational therapy, and how I had been helped so much. Maybe I too could become an occupational therapist. I thought of how wonderful it would be to spend my life helping others just like I had been helped. I decided that yes, I would try, and so I applied to a master’s degree program in occupational therapy.
There were many more applicants than spots available, but much to my delight I was accepted into the program!
The program was so difficult and very competitive. But I worked hard and after two years became an occupational therapist.
That was 40 years ago, and I am still going strong. I have worked with literally thousands of patients during my career, from little 1-pound premature babies all the way up to 103 year-old patients in nursing homes, and everything in-between. I have loved every minute of it.
Occupational therapy is a flexible career with an abundance of interesting and meaningful jobs available. During my career, I traveled the world, met and married my husband, gave birth to and raised two beautiful children, and enjoyed my life!
I turned what could have been a terrible, frightening experience into something really wonderful.
My sister-in-law once called me to borrow my fax machine. This was in the days before most people had computers and internet. She had a very important document that had to be faxed to a company showing proof of payment.
I took my fax machine to her house that night, hooked it up, walked her through the simple instructions and left.
She called me at work the next day in a panic. She said she had tried to send her document several times and it would not go. This was important, and she needed it sent right away. I was getting off early that day so I agreed to go by her house and help her with it.
When I arrived I checked the machine and connections and everything seemed fine. I told her to send it again so I could see what was going on. She did everything correctly and at the tone hit Send. The fax machine pulled the paper through and indicated a successful receipt at the other end. My sister-in-law grabbed the paper as it came back out of the machine and said, “See. It doesn’t go, it just spits it back out.” My jaw hit the floor. It turns out she thought the actualpaper was being sent over the phone lines.
After I explained the concept to her, I let her know that this story would be told at every family get together for the rest of my life. It is now firmly a part of the family lore and enjoyed by each successive generation.
My sister-in-law fortunately took it in stride. She declared it her worst blonde moment and laughs as hard as anyone when the story is retold.
P.S. My sister-in-law did call the company still to confirm receipt. They told her they had four copies and that was absolutely sufficient.
Close? I accidentally found out I was going to be demoted which lead to me quitting.
In my 20s I worked at one of those places that made huge cookies, I was specifically hired by the manager to be the assistant manager, she’d worked with me as a key holder at another place so she knew I would be good at it. A few months after I was hired the owner sold the business.
One day I was hanging out with the Manager L when she got a call from one of the kids at cookie shop. “Hey L, the owner is in here with some chick he says is the new Manager, what’s going on?”
Too bad L had no answers for her, we had no damned idea what was happening. She and I jumped in the car and headed to the cookie shop to talk, in person, to the owner.
Sure enough, he was demoting L into Assistant and me into just a regular employee. Neither of us had done anything wrong, the new owner just planned to make this new lady a manager. He told us a bunch of BS saying she had experience bla bla… but we found out later she was actually just his girlfriend. We told him how messed up that was, and that both of us would quit if he planned to do this. He was unrepentant, even gaving us the whole “I’m sorry you feel you need an apology” line.
She and I looked at each other, got up and walked away.
Apparently he truly didn’t understand what had just happened because when he saw the kid who called us changing the schedule he was confused. When he was told by her we had just quit, he was completely stunned and didn’t understand why we would have done that. Dude, we literally told you to your face that’s what we’d do if you demoted us for no reason other than to put someone else in as manager, WTF did you think would happen?
Turns out the girlfriend was horrible as a manager, and the owner ended up folding in a few months. Funny how that happens when you take actions that force the people with a clue out, and put someone clueless in just because you are dating them. The two of us were the ones who knew how to run the store, knew how to run the fundraising side, which is where most of the money was made. He screwed himself by being an idiot.
Cajun Butt
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Yield: about 8 to 10 servings
Ingredients
1 (6 pound) boneless pork butt
15 to 20 garlic slivers
3 tablespoons red pepper flakes (or less)
4 tablespoons yellow mustard
3 tablespoons Tony Chachere’s Original Seasoning
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Cut 15 to 20 slits 1 inch deep on external surface of pork butt. Press one garlic sliver into each slit with thumb, to bottom of slit. On top of each garlic sliver, insert 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes in the slit. Pinch slit closed.
In a bowl, mix mustard, Cajun seasoning, brown sugar and black pepper. Mix well and apply to pork butt. Lightly dust with a coating of red pepper flakes.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Smoke-cook using apple and hickory chips on a covered barbecue pit off the heat for 1 hour per pound or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F.
Perhaps one of the most effective improvised weapons was the Rhino tank. An ordinary tank – usually a Sherman but with improvised steel teeth welded to the front.
In 1944 just after D-Day the Americans, Canadians and British troops were getting held up in the ‘bocage’ countryside of Normandy. Bocage consisted of high hedgerows built on thick banks of earth. This environment proved ideal for German ambushes, providing plenty of defensive cover. It also meant that the Germans could pick off tanks because they would be funnelled down the lanes, or forced through the narrow gaps in the bocage hedgerows. The Germans knew exactly where the tanks would come through and could lay anti tank mines, or train their guns on that exact spot. If the tanks tried to avoid the gaps and instead drive over the top of bocage embankment, it was so steep that it would expose the thin underside armour. Allied tanks were getting wiped out. Until this man, Sergeant Curtis G. Culin had an idea.
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When one of his fellow soldiers joked and said they needed a big set of teeth to bite their way through, Culin didn’t laugh but took the idea seriously. He welded some of the steel that the Germans had used as tank traps to the front of his tank, like this.
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The teeth allowed the Sherman to burst straight through the hedgerow, surprise and then destroy any Germans waiting in ambush on the other side.
When General Omar Bradley saw what Culin had done and saw how his tank was able to smash its way though the bocage hedgerows, the General ordered that as many tanks as possible be fitted with this improvised weapon. The Normandy beaches had been filled with landing spikes which were conveniently just the right shape and type of steel to make the ‘teeth’.
This simple but effective innovation enabled the Americans to swiftly move on and cut off the Cotentin Peninsula and then move south and meet up with the British and Canadians cutting off the Germans in the Falaise Pocket.
I bought the house we are in now exactly 10 years ago in “as is” condition. In fact this was the entire listing:
“Seller and agents make no representations and warranties. Sold as is.”
The house is in a fairly upscale suburb, and was about 15 years old at the time. There was plenty of cosmetic damage — water damage on the hardwood floors, a filthy kitchen, holes in some drywall, a half-full leaky pool clogged with algae. Plus the interior and exterior were just sad looking, with ugly brown paint and outdated stained oak stairs.
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But the funny thing was that no matter how carefully I looked, I could not see any actual serious problems. In fact, it was a bank repossession, and I eventually figured out that since it looked so bad they just assumed there were real problems, and they listed it the way they did to avoid any liability. Over 100 people looked at the house, and we were the only ones who put in an offer, and we got it way (way!) under the asking price, which is rare in Toronto.
I was planning on doing a full renovation anyhow, so I didn’t care about the drywall and flooring. The entire kitchen went in the dumpster. And for $600 we repaired the pool, and it worked perfectly.
I’ve been here for 10 years now and we have not had a single serious problem with the house.
I am sitting outside Quoraing this morning and I took this picture 60 seconds ago:
When you can’t destroy a target by dropping bombs vertically, you can drop them horizontally. That’s what the 617 Royal Air Force Squadron did in May 1943.
The squadron carried out Operation Chastise, designed to destroy German dams and hydroelectric power stations. Reconnaissance and simulated bombing runs revealed that bombs dropped vertically on top of dams were not effective. So instead, the RAF used an experimental bouncing bomb, designed by Sir Barnes Wallis, that was dropped at low altitude onto the surface of the reservoir and skipped along the water horizontally until it hit the face of the dam.
The strategy proved effective. “The Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached…Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more were damaged. Factories and mines were also either damaged or destroyed.”
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Lancaster bomber dropping bouncing bomb during the Operation Chastise raids on Germany’s Ruhr Valley.
The operation was later the subject of the movie Dambusters, released in 1955.
I remember seeing a girl, her parents were millionaires due to a massive inheritance.
She would try and talk about her “Working class background” how the struggle was real.
One day she was telling me how her parents only bought her a brand new mini when she passed her test and how that went to show how much her family had struggled. One of her school friends got a brand new Range Rover.
I listened to that thinking “My Mum couldn’t have afforded a driving lesson let alone a car”
My sister’s daughter and her husband were about to lose their house in Texas because neither of them had jobs, they had one very young daughter and were expecting another baby. My 80 year old mother couldn’t stand to watch this happen. So, she took out an equity loan on her house and lent them $100,000. They were supposed to make the equity payments for my mom, and at first they did and were supposed to pay the whole loan back when they sold their house.
A few months later, they sold their house but told my mother they needed her money as a down payment on their new house in california. So, they kept the money, and continued making the monthly payments until they had a big fight and split up. Suddenly, no one wanted to make the payments on my mother’s equity loan so my mother had to. If she couldn’t keep up on them, she would have lost her house.
She is now 85 years old, completely disabled, living on a tiny pension, and trying to pay off this loan. Since my niece split with her husband, they did not make payments on their house either. So, it went into foreclosure, and Mom cannot even put a lien on it to get her money back.
Needless to say, I am truly disgusted by my niece’s behavior as well as her husband’s. I have now sent my mother money; my sister has sent her money, and another one of my nieces has sent money. The only people in the family who do not seem to feel terrible about this are the two people who should.
When i decided not to break up with my boyfriend at that moment.
I had just joined post graduation course and found this guy who was extremely caring about me. Within a month, he proposed me. I was confused however i said yes.
We use to talk, study and laugh together. However even after six months, i was not sure about our relationship.
AND Here comes the blow. He was back to his hometown. He was ill since a week. Meanwhile, i had a introspection round with my roommates. I found i was still unsure about our relationship. So i decided, on the next call, i will tell him that this is not the right time to fall in love etc., we should be friends only.
He called me around 8 PM. I was full prepared to say him a No. As soon as i picked the phone, he was crying on the other side. He was suffering from a fatal disease, Meningitis. I could not gather courage to leave him at this crucial moment. I just said, “I am with you today and always. No matter what happens.”
He was not in position to join college. His parents was insisting him to leave the college and repeat next time. He refused and joined the college next month. He had not recovered fully. In fact, he lost his hearing power around 40%. When he came back, he told me – how my words motivated him to join the college again. I took care of him. I used to call him reminding his medicines, diets etc. Meanwhile, i actually fell for him and then never told about that breakup thought.
Today, i am happily married with him.
P.S. I do not want my husband to know about my breakup thought even today. He is on quora. So i am writing anonymously.
I visited a radio station for an interview, at the station manager’s request. At the time I was somewhat “known” as a pleasing radio “personality” and therefore many stations wanted to talk to me.
Part of the interview process includes a station tour where the owner or manager shows off their office, production facilities, etc.
But at this particular station, I noticed all the shelved albums (well over a thousand) were locked in place by a steel bar which prevented their removal from the shelf, unless the bar was unlocked.
But who the Hell would steal the records? During business hours, when the station was open, advertisers or promoters might come in, but they were always accompanied by station staff, so visitors couldn’t steal an album (or even a 45). So, when the doors were locked after 5 PM, who did that leave as a potential thief?
Answer: the DJ who was on air, and the news guy or gal. Sometimes, the sales manager might come in.
So, the owner of the station was paranoid about theft from his or her own people! I had worked at a number of stations, and had never seen a lockdown of the music library. It had to mean that employees and top management were not happy with each other, and I was NOT going to work in that kind of environment.
Thus, I stopped in my tracks and said, “Thanks for the tour, but I don’t think this will work for me.” And I was out the door before anyone could say, “Huh?”
Years ago, I lived in an apartment in a two-family building. Upstairs and downstairs.
The landlord had rented the downstairs to a woman and her three teenage kids. They were obnoxious, had fights constantly, played music so loud it literally shook the walls, and despite multiple complaints by other neighbors to the landlord and the police (because yes it was that bad), nothing was done.
While technically, landlords are supposed to do snow clearing after a snow fall, getting some landlords to do so in a timely manner is more effort than digging out the snow yourself. This was one such landlord.
That winter we had a bad snow storm, a few feet of snow.
The downstairs neighbor knocked on my door to ask when I, the older woman with no kids, would be shoveling out the apartments and driveway, all of it, by myself.
I told her I wouldn’t, but we could split the cost to have someone come over and do it since the landlord was extra full of excuses as to why it would take days to get to the property and do so.
She laughed and said she wasn’t paying. She then told me I was welcome to hire her 3 kids to dig out the entire property. Her kids were a big part of the problem as to why the cops were coming over constantly, and so no. I’d previously had problems with her children opening my mail and putting it back in my mail box or opening deliveries of mine. There was no way I’d pay them.
Oh hell no, first you expect someone older than you to do the work for free, then expect that I will pay your kids, who are apparently perfectly able to do so, to dig YOU out? Fuck that.
A friend’s husband was offering to dig people out for a reasonable rate. I contacted him and hired him. When he got there, I explained the neighbor issue and what I wanted and was willing to pay for. He was only to clear out MY half of the driveway/garage/sidewalk. Her sides were still untouched, because no one(Me) would pay her kids to do it.
He went the extra mile, splitting the snow between the yard, and her side, of everything. AKA her side ended up with more snow that needed to be cleared.
This level of petty
image 117
Picture from Google.
She complained to the landlord that:
1. I refused to shovel her side of the property for her and her family (I was not obligated to do ANY property maintenance at all)
2. I had refused to hire her kids to do it
3. I had hired someone and refused to pay him to clear her side.
Now this was a kinda shitty landlord, but still… I was amused that the landlord contacted me about it and agreed to reduce my rent the amount I paid to have MY side cleared, as well as tell me about the downstairs neighbor’s complaints about me.
Until I moved out, whenever there was snowfall, you would see a similar clearing pattern on the property. SO much so the other neighbors joked about it, and refused to hire her kids to clear their properties as well.
EDIT: Apparently there are a large number of people who feel the need to comment about how she could just use my side of the stairs as if I lack a functioning brain. Seriously, the level of condescending ‘splaining in the comments is a sad statement on so many here. Thanks all you Captain Obvious’.
Of course she could, as could the postal worker who had to use them to deliver mail(Something not one of those commenting about her using the stairs seemed to consider).
Her being able to use them or not wasn’t the point. So many of you making the same comment as if the more of you who say it, the more I will regret it, or as if I didn’t realize that years ago when I did it is mind-boggling.
For those clueless ones that feel the need to comment the obvious, you all missed the obvious point that it wasn’t about her use of the stairs, but the refusal to clear her side on her command.
My partner (not my husband). My mother had been really sick from cancer for 18 months, we were told that she was unlikely to make it past the weekend. With that being said I was completely distraught… my partner of 9 years said pack your stuff and leave first thing in the morning (400km drive). He woke me up at 430 am, had already packed the car and fueled it up for me. Had a travel mug of coffee ready and said call me when you get there. I left 5am Friday morning.
mum passed 8am Saturday morning (the next day). I called my partner and told him, he said I’ll move heaven and hell to get there as soon as I can. I said, don’t worry, there is nothing you can do, just be here in time for mums funeral (the upcoming Friday).
in the mean time, it was my birthday 4 days after mum had passed. My family tried to make it as special as it could be. But, it was quite a somber occasion. At 8pm, there were headlights at the top of the drive way (rural property). I know the sound of his car. I’m like it’s *partners name.
he had worked 12 hour shift (construction) then drove 400km to be with me in my darkest time to help me feel better on my birthday. In the days after mums passing I had not been able to sleep, or cry or anything but just barely function. I slept solidly that night.
I know most would say that or like to think their spouse would do the same. But, that level of love and support got me through my darkest days. Love this man so very much.
Unfortunately, this is the point. The U.S. is not filty rich but filty poor.
All those money for Ukraine and Israel we got by using the printing press. We’re now $33 trillion in debt.
We can’t pay for basic utilities to keep our house in order but we believe we’re still able to live the high life of showing off to the rest of the world how powerful we are.
Genghis Khan, the legendary Mongol conqueror, had a unique approach when it came to treating his soldiers. Known for his strategic brilliance and military prowess, Khan understood the importance of a strong and loyal army in his quest to build the largest empire in history. So how did he treat his soldiers?
First and foremost, Genghis Khan believed in meritocracy. He valued skill, loyalty, and bravery above all else. Regardless of their background or social status, anyone who demonstrated these qualities had the opportunity to rise through the ranks of his army. This approach fostered a sense of unity and purpose among his soldiers, as they knew that their achievements would be rewarded.
Khan was also an astute observer of human nature. He recognized that soldiers needed to be motivated and inspired to fight with unwavering dedication. To achieve this, he led by example. Genghis Khan was renowned for his courage on the battlefield, often placing himself at the forefront of his troops during crucial engagements. This not only boosted morale but also instilled a sense of camaraderie and trust among his soldiers.
In addition to leading from the front, Khan took great care of his troops’ physical well-being. He ensured that his soldiers were adequately fed, equipped, and cared for. The Mongol army was known for its skilled horsemen, and Khan prioritized the breeding and training of horses to provide his soldiers with superior mounts. This gave them a significant advantage in maneuverability and speed during battles.
Furthermore, Genghis Khan implemented a system of rewards and recognition for valorous acts. Soldiers who displayed exceptional bravery or achieved notable successes on the battlefield were given honors, titles, and even land. This not only motivated his soldiers to excel but also created a sense of pride and camaraderie within the ranks.
However, Khan was also a strict disciplinarian. He demanded discipline and obedience from his soldiers, as he believed that a well-disciplined army was crucial for maintaining order and achieving victory. Disobedience or betrayal was met with severe consequences, ensuring that his troops remained loyal and committed to the cause.
Woman EXPOSES The INEVITABLE Problem With Dating Modern Women | TRAINED/GROOMED To Be Masculine
I was in talks to design a business plan for one of those “Become a Millionaire” guys – aka a “Life Coach”.
As we moved along in talks I immediately got the heeby jeebies from the guy.
He was in his late 50’s and only seemed to brag about things he did in high school and his early 20’s. When I would ask about subsequent years, just to understand his career narrative, he would get thin on details and then squirm and change the subject.
So then I watched a few of his media interviews where his go-to story was about this incredible and vivid vision that came upon him when he was a child. A vision that he would someday become rich.
To his credit, it indeed came true. He was a wealthy man.
But it became true because he inherited his dad’s company when his dad passed away unexpectedly. He then immediately sold the company and spent the next 30 years doing a whole lot of nothing.
So now he is one of those people going around telling everyone he knows “that ONE special secret to getting rich”. He released his first book on becoming wealthy, which a bunch of unfortunate suckers bought.
And, no, I won’t tell you the title because he will sue the hell out of me.
But I’ll give you the cliff notes version, “Get rich by having a rich dad.”
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that are like him.
Preying on people’s hopes and dreams in search of a dollar.
The American industrial system does not have such production capacity.
American shipyards do not have such production capacity: There is only a dry dock suitable for manufacturing aircraft carriers, and aircraft carriers waiting for repair are still queuing;
The steel mills in the United States do not have such production capacity: The last scandal involving the use of low-quality steel made in Kobe, Japan, by US nuclear submarines has not yet passed. This batch of nuclear submarines with quality issues cannot dive at all, and diving into deep water will explode due to increased pressure. American warships are even unable to withstand the impact of fishing vessels, which fully proves the quality issues of the steel used in their shipbuilding.
There are not enough skilled workers in the United States
20 And Back – The Super Soldiers Defending the Kuiper Belt
Joe Biden is taking the World to the brink of World War III
What can the American people do about it?
SQUAT
…
Until 19/1/2025 at least, there is nothing any American citizen can do about it except watch the World plunge into war under the watch of a senile idiot who needs Diapers
So what is the use of saying
Biden is destroying USA and he must be kicked out
It’s just empty gas isn’t it. It’s just 10 words at the end of the day. Biden laughs and keeps doing whatever he likes for four years, unchecked
…
Same with every Democracy in the Planet
At the end of the day – WHAT IS THE END RESULT OF ABUSING OR CRITICISING THE LEADER?
Nothing
Either the Media suppresses it or people shrug and brazenly keep doing what they are doing
…
Take India
We have had Protests on every decision that has ruined the country
Demonetization, CAA, NCR etc
They matter Squat
Once in, Modi is in power for minimum 5 years and he can’t be shaken by the common man
…
France?
Same story
All those Protests and Screams and Shrieks about Pension reforms and Macron did exactly what he wanted
He is in charge till 2027
…
Same with South Korea , exports plunge to historic lows and people scream and protest but does it matter? Nopes
Taiwan?
Japan?
Germany?
So many protests begging to end the war and Germany openly and brazenly calls for Escalation
So what is the use of this damn free speech? You can say the words but they are worthless in every possible way
Now China
Yes
Maybe in China, saying these 10 words could be counter productive
However the people’s voice in China is heard much better than in any democracy
Lockdowns were ended post protests
Rural Banking Reforms were initiated after Protests
Crackdowns on Real Estate Financing was initiated after Protests
1.03 Crore Jobs have been added due to vigorous Weibo Netizen criticism
Tagging Schoolkids Or regulating online gaming has been deferred due to Weibo online protests
Plus the Biggest Biggest Thing…
Recently on the XI Jingping app, they asked if Chinas History for 6–9 Classes be modified and whether Chapters on the Boxer Rebellion and the Opium Wars had to be reduced
The Question was asked of Students who had already passed out their 9th Grade and above
79% Students said NO.
DON’T CHANGE HISTORY
They didn’t.
…
In India, US, and all those wonderful democracies – they don’t ask the kids do they????
So on one hand you have Western Democracies and their lapdogs where you can say what ever you want but can do zilch
Or China where your criticism must be tempered but as citizens you can achieve much greater control on Governance
The Chinese say WE LIKE OUR MODEL BETTER
I kinda agree with them
So you keep your Senile Alzheimer’s Ridden President and your ‘Freedom and Democracy’ and let the Chinese have their own version
I think you might want to edit the question to ask which item from Italian cuisine does the US actually get right.
Italian American cuisine is a cuisine in its own right. Millions of Italians immigrated to America and they adapted their traditional dishes to use American ingredients. Some of the ingredients they used at home were unavailable or too expensive in America, so changes were made. Successive generations didn’t know there was a difference between what they were eating and what was being cooked in the old country. They just accepted the food their families prepared as being Italian cuisine, which at heart, it is.
There’s a lot of water between America’s East Coast, the epicenter of Italian American cuisine, and the old boot herself. It’s that distance that led the creation of Italian American classics. If I had to point at one item the made the leap unmolested though, I’d name Sfogliatelle.
Sfogliatelle are a flaky pastry that originated in Campania. They’re made by rolling out dough, brushing it with lard or oil, rolling it up, cutting it into portions, shaping the pastry, filling it and baking. Sfogliatelle can be baked unfilled or filled with sweetened ricotta, almond paste or candied citrus zest. They’re simple to make and don’t call for any exotic ingredients. It’s the thin flakey layers that make sfogliatelle unique.
image 116
Ricotta filled:
image 115
If you’ve never tried these pastries, seek them out. They’re amazing and their recipe has not been molested by time or distance.
Life robbed me of my childhood. My parents had to quit school after grade 9 to help support their families. They vowed that my brother and I would not be barred from finishing school and going to University.
But we were poor, so they had no way to pay for it. So they propped me early. I knew by grade six that if I wanted to go to university, I would have to pay for it myself.
So in grade 8, I started mowing lawns and shoveling snow.
In grade 9 I got a part time job and worked 20 hours a week, in grade 10 ,30 hours, and grades 11 and 12 it was 40 hours. I graduated first in my class. I lived in a 10×14 ft room, with a roommate and the bathroom, was down the hall. I worked in the dorm cafeteria. When summer came I got a camp job, where I worked 360–380 hours a month, and they also paid room and board.
This was the way I graduated from university debt free.
So, as soon as I turned 13, I stopped having a childhood, and had an adulthood instead. So much for life being easy for baby boomers.
I’d do it all over again in a heart beat. Its what it took to break the cycle of poverty.
Because I am 71, I knew people who were in their prime of life a hundred years ago (1918) and there were definitely things that they did easily and routinely that are rarely done today:
Baking bread and caramel rolls. My grandmother learned it from her mother but did not pass it on to her daughters, probably because sliced store bread had essentially taken over.
Writing cursive and writing letters. I have saved some of my grandfather’s letters. For a person with an eighth grade education, he wrote simply but beautifully.
Sewing and mending. My grandmother was not wealthy, but she was capable of producing wonderful pajamas for all of her grandchildren on her trusty Singer. My generation has lost the ability to create heirlooms.
Gardening and canning the things they grew. In an era when you were not going to see fresh fruit or vegetables in stores after growing season, people developed great preservation skills. Things like pickles, berries, tomatoes were canned as were peaches and plums when in season. I do not remember kale or zucchini, however, and that was also a blessing.
Memory work. I grew up with great uncles and aunts (all born about 1900) who had memorized massive amounts of poetry and famous speeches as well as scripture. Rote learning was fairly normal in their education, so they did group memorization. We loved to hear their recitations.
I miss those folks. They just slipped away one at a time between the seventies and today.
This wasn’t me, this was my wife. She is a lawyer and was interviewing for a job managing the sale of properties. She was interviewing at a firm that specialised in really expensive and tricky sales and when she turned up to the interview she was told by the recruiter that the partners had told the last two people who were interviewed to leave midway through so they were quite abrupt!
She went to the interview, which went quite well, and they asked her to prepare an answer to a legal sale question. When she looked at it, she knew she had no hope: it was madly complicated and about a type of property sale that is known to be horrendous to do. She thought about trying to brazen it off and decided to be honest and say she had no idea.
It turned out the partners knew from looking at her CV she would have no idea about how to do it; it was something so complex the partner himself had had to do it himself. What they were trying to do was see how she reacted to something she didn’t know. The last two people interviewed had tried to make something up and so failed the test.
I was nowhere qualified as a computer tech but one time a friend of mine brought over a a desktop machine and keyboard and asked me to see if I could get it running as it wouldn’t boot up. Every time you’d plug in the power cord to the wall socket a strange odor would start permiating from the cover. I figured something was wrong with the power supply, which if push came to shove I could’ve probably went to an electronics supply store and bought another one and installed it. I was adept at soldering and replacing some common components at the time, which is why my friend thought that I could fix it.
Anyhoo, I removed the screws holding the cover to the unit, lifted the cover off and got the most absolute shock of my life!! Hundreds of live cockroaches start running out all over everywhere not to mention many more that were obviously dead inside that cover!
I came unglued along with a major panic attack! I’d never, ever had to deal with roaches after I became an adult. I despised them because while growing up my family and I always had a major problem with roaches and they were always into everything and would drop from the ceiling when you went into a room after turning on lights, etc etc etc.
I spent 2 hours stomping on and smashing roaches trying to prevent them from getting into places in my apartment where I couldn’t reach and in the long run wasn’t successful. Ended up moving out to get away from them making sure in the process that I didn’t inadvertently take any with me.
I was not happy with my friend. It caused a major, almost homicidal argument with him and it would be several years before we spoke again. The creepiness and ick factor of watching those roaches pile out of that machine that day still haunts me to this day.
Huawei refused to disclose its foundry information, sending the Biden team into madness.
Let’s talk about smart children. Particularly smart children in the United States. Particularly those in grades K-8 at a public school.
A lot of you reading this are, yourself, a product of the American public school system. Think back to your K-8 years. Do you remember people whose only job was to deal with the students with behavior problems? Were there “special education” teachers who had special classrooms with aides and all kinds of equipment for just a handful of students? Do you remember being bored a lot in school, because your teacher didn’t have the time to challenge you, because they were so busy re-teaching things to the students who didn’t get it the first time? Do you remember a handful of students who seemed to set the pace for the whole class, and that pace was much, much too slow for you? Do you remember a handful of students whose attitudes and behavior set the tone for the whole class? And was that a negative tone that left your teacher spending most of their time dealing with that small handful of students?
That was my experience, at least. In grades 4–8, I was one of about 20 students in a special gifted program in my school. But that gifted “program” was just two teachers who were given a spare classroom in five schools in the district, and they went to a different school every day of the week, and pulled out the gifted students from their classes for an hour, to play logic games with them.
One hour per week. That’s what we got.
Meanwhile, the students on the other end of the spectrum had resources thrown at them, including permanent classrooms with full-time teachers for students whose only “special need” was that they didn’t give a damn about learning.
I remember one incident in particular, when I realized just how much time my teachers wasted trying to get one particular student under control. His name was Anthony. One day, in seventh grade, we were learning about feudal Japan by playing a game where we were all on teams, given items to trade, and could use money we made to hire soldiers, and then there was a huge map of Japan on the wall, separated into regions, with the number of regions under each team’s control represented by different colored push pins.
My team started in Osaka. To this day, I know exactly where Osaka is because of this game back in 1992. I remember that we were the blue team, our main thing to trade was fish, and we began with five pushpin armies.
Also Judith was in my group, which made it even that much more enjoyable for me. She was forced to interact with me for a few minutes each day because of this.
It was a computer-less strategy game. I loved it. The game was supposed to last for a few weeks.
It lasted two days. On the third day, Anthony vandalized the giant game board, and some of his friends laughed. And that was it. The teacher was tired of putting in so much effort for something that students like Anthony just kept ruining. We did the rest of the unit, and every unit afterwards for the rest of the year, through textbook reading and worksheets.
But, as I thought about it, I realized that Anthony had been that way since he was first in my class in second grade. He was always out of control. He always set the pace and the tone for the class. In middle school, he got kicked out of class a lot, which just wasted a lot of time because he rarely went willingly and they had to call and wait for security. But he was always back in the class the next day. He just needed to “chill out.”
That was actually the name of the kick-out room for students like him: the “chill out room.”
I just Googled him and found a story that he was sentenced to six years in prison in 2004 for “domestic battery, drug possession, and forgery.”
Yep. All of that extra time, effort, and money the public school spent on him… how’d that work out?
That would be fine, if the public schools spent the same amount of time, effort, and money on the upper end of the spectrum.
My point is this: What’s the saddest truth about smart people? Public schools just aren’t equipped to deal with your special needs, because they’re too busy dealing with the special needs of students on the other end of the spectrum. The very people who have the most potential to give the most back to society are the same ones who school prioritizes the least.
Imagine a school system where every dollar spent on students on the lower end of the special needs spectrum had to be matched by a dollar for students on the higher end of the spectrum.
Imagine if, just like schools have resources in place for when the teachers need to kick out the Anthonys of the world, those same schools had resources for teachers to send out the students who were too smart for that day’s lesson.
“Timmy, you can read this and learn it on your own in five minutes, but I’m going to be teaching it to the rest of the class for the next hour. You can go to the gifted resource room and work with the teacher there on more advanced stuff.”
Imagine if, just as schools pay extra attention to students with special needs due to federal laws and fears of getting sued, schools did the same for students on the high end of the spectrum. Imagine if parents could threaten a lawsuit because the school wasn’t meeting the needs of their child… the legally-mandated requirement that the school challenge them on their academic level and not let their classmates hold them back.
Imagine how high your hot air balloon could be now, if not for the classroom sandbags that weighed you down when you were in school.
Instead of “No Child Left Behind,” it should be “No Child Forced To Wait.”
Gavin Newsom goes to China, one-ups Biden and meets Xi Jinping
“As a Californian, I can tell you that not only is Newsom not acceptable to the rest of America, California is not acceptable to the rest of America”.
It is likely that China will sell virtually all of its remaining U.S. Treasuries.
It is useful to look at Russia’s experience in this regard. Russia sold virtually all of its Treasuries in 2018, fairly quickly. At that time, Russia encouraged the world to dump U.S. Treasury bonds. Thus, it is possible for a country to officially not hold Treasuries.
After 2018, Russia continued to hold some foreign currency reserves in U S. dollars. When the Ukraine War started in 2022, the United States and its allies froze hundreds of billions of dollars held by Russia.
As a result, the world has been forced to look elsewhere to store its savings. Both China and Russia are storing much of their wealth in physical gold. Other countries are doing the same. The planet is also increasingly doing business in currencies other than the dollar.
As a result of these trends, China will increasingly no longer need U.S. Treasuries to do business. In October 2023, China bought its first oil for Chinese Yuan. If this continues, China will get its oil for free, by printing Yuan. America will be forced to trade hard goods for oil in the future.
America’s leaders were very short-sighted to weaponize the dollar. A global reserve currency requires trust. The United States had a money-making machine, and voluntarily gave it up.
FLASH TRAFFIC ADDED – TURKISH NAVY DEPLOYING 100 SHIPS AGAINST ISRAEL –~FIFTY (50) U.S. Military Transport Planes in 24 Hours to Middle East
FLASH TRAFFIC ADDED – SEE 12:27 PM EDT UPDATE BELOW —— From Friday-into-Saturday, the United States sent no fewer than fifty (50) military transport planes loaded with troops to the Middle East. In addition, the list below shows “unprecedented” naval deployments. Today, Iran said they WILL NOT abide U.S. warnings to stay out of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
We begin with Naval Deployments into the Middle East showing 11 Countries in Support of Israel:
All of the above, along with Submarines and other support ships show an utterly massive naval deployment. I am told this present deployment is larger than the ones done prior to the US war(s) against Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 1991 and again later.
In addition to all the above vessels, another Aircraft Carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth II, transited the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday morning around 11:00 AM, enroute to the eastern Mediterranean:
In addition to THAT additional aircraft carrier, the Navy of Italy is also now deploying vessels:
AIR
In the 24 hours period from Friday into Saturday, the United States flew 49+ military transport aircraft from the US to the Middle East, carrying TROOPS!
On top of those troop transport flights, a Significant number of C-17A Globemaster lll and C-5M Super Galaxy Transport Aircraft from the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command have been arriving in the Middle East.
The flight info above DOES NOT even cover the regular commercial airline flights the US has chartered to exclusively move troops!
Yesterday, Saturday 28 October 2023, Germany put 1,000 soldiers on alert for deployment to the Middle East in case of emergency The German Army keeps 1,000 troops on alert for possible deployment to the Middle East in case of emergency, given the prevailing tension in the region as a result of the war between Hamas and Israel.
This flight from Fort Sill, OK has my attention at the moment. Fort Sill is home to a THAAD battery and this flight appears to be headed overseas. There are no helpful ACARS for this flight, but this is possibly a THAAD battery flight enroute to Saudi Arabia:
At about 1:47 AM eastern US Time Sunday, which was about 11:00 AM in Tehran, Iran, the President of Iran said Tehran will not follow US warnings against interfering in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to the Press service of the President of Iran: “Israel has crossed red lines, forcing everyone to take action.”
The President made it a point to also say “the presence of U.S warships in the region will make no difference to Tehran’s decision.”
Hal Turner Analysis
Based solely upon the movement of ships, troops, and planes, it is obvious to me the United States is going to war. A big war.
Trouble is the federal government under the Biden Regime has intentionally left the US southern border with Mexico, virtually open. Literally millions of illegal aliens have been entering the country via Mexico since Biden took office.
It is my opinion that many – but not all – of these illegal aliens are a “5th Column” sent here by adversaries to be “sleeper cells.” I believe that when war erupts in the Middle East, that WE HERE IN THE USA will also be attacked by these sleeper cells.
YOU must be ready with emergency food, water, medicine, a generator to make electric in case the grid is taken down. Have CASH MONEY in your possession incase cyber attacks take out the financial networks, making credit, debit, and SNAP/EBT useless. After all, almost no one takes checks anymore. So folks with cash will eat. Those without cash will go hungry.
The utterly massive movement of troops and weapons indicates to me that hostilities are imminent. Which could — and I emphasize “could” (not necessarily “will”) — trigger sleeper cell attacks here in America.
If you wait until trouble starts, then YOU and every other person who failed to plan, will all be rushing to stores at the same time trying to get food and supplies. In short order, store shelves will be empty and those of you who took no action, will find yourself standing in an empty store.
Don’t be like “the masses who are asses” that wait until the last minute to get supplies. Do it right now. Today.
And gas-up your cars, trucks, and spare gas cans for your generator.
Lastly, have COMMUNICATIONS GEAR – a CB or a HAM (Shortwave) radio — so if things go wild weasel, and communications like phone, fax, email, cellular/Internet all go down, at least YOU will be able to communicate locally (CB) and hear international news on shortwave (HAM).
Of course, some of you will say that this story and its advice is sort of like “Chicken Little, the sky is falling.” To those who would scoff I merely point out that, this morning, a U.S. E-6 Nuclear Command Post is now flying over the US East Coast:
The E-6B Mercury is a communications relay and strategic airborne command post aircraft. It provides survivable, reliable, and endurable airborne Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) for the president, secretary of defense and U.S. Strategic Command.
So it isn’t just ME telling you to take steps to prepare, it’s the US Military, too. Take the hint!
(PERSONAL: Sorry my coverage today begins at this late hour of 11:00 AM EDT. I slept-in this morning. Didn’t wake up until 9:25 AM. I was literally exhausted.)
********** FLASH ***********
UPDATE 12:27 PM EDT —
The Turkish Navy is, right now, transiting ONE-HUNDRED Naval Warships through the Bosporus Strait from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
It is BELIEVED Turkey plans to engage Israel over its ongoing military action in Gaza. War may break out between Turkey and Israel within Hours! ! ! !
Unlike its better known relative, the Enigma machine which was infamously deciphered by code-breakers at Bletchley Park throughout the war, the Lorenz cipher posed a much greater challenge. Utilising 12 wheels to scramble up the message being sent as opposed to the 3 or 4 rotors found in the Enigma machine, the Lorenz cipher was incredibly secure. As a result, unlike the Enigma that was used by the German standard armed forces, the Lorenz cipher was used only by high command with messages coming from Hitler himself. As a result, to crack the Lorenz cipher (or Tunny as it was code named by the British) would have the potential to change the course of the war.
Not much headway had been made in breaking the Lorenz cipher through the war until a German operator made a catastrophic mistake on 30 August 1941. When a German receiving operator did not receive a message correctly, he asked the transmitter to resend the information and despite clear protocol against it, the two operators resent the message without changing their key settings (the settings that determine how the text is scrambled up). However since the message in question was 4000 characters long, the lazy German operator abbreviated several words, thus changing the length of the message. Since their key settings were both the same, the two messages had the same scrambling pattern of characters. Thus by comparing the locations where the message text changed, details of the way the rotors worked could be determined.
These two messages were intercepted by the British who soon realised the importance of what they had discovered. This task of cracking Tunny was given to W T (Bill) Tutte who began to find repetitions in the cipher which allowed him to reverse engineer the Lorenz machine’s logical structure in what would be later described as “one of the greatest intellectual feats of World War II”. In order to support the painstaking decryption of German messages, the British Colossus was built in 1943 by Tommy Flowers, the first ever modern computer.
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The Colossus Machine
The impact of the decryption of Tunny was enormous. It gave the British intimate details of Hitler’s most secret communications which was most notably vital in D Day where the Allies were able to deceive the Germans that they were going to attack at Calais as opposed to Normandy and at the Battle of Kursk in 1943, Germany’s last ditch attempt to reverse their fortunes on the Eastern Front and one of the largest battles in history. Involving 3 million men, without foreknowledge of German planning provided by the British, the Soviets would have been badly prepared defensively and could have lost this crucial battle and as a result, the war would’ve been prolonged. In fact, historians estimate that the breaking of the Lorenz cipher shortened the war by two years and thus saved millions of lives all due to the careless mistake of two lazy German operators.
However this pivotal event is not well known due to the Official Secrets Act keeping the nature of the code breakers working to break the Lorenz cipher secret until 1974 and some former staff even today still refuse to break their vow of secrecy, preferring to take their knowledge to the grave.
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W T (Bill) Tutte, the man responsible for cracking the Lorenz Cipher
Cajun Pot Roast
2023 11 09 14 23
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) beef sirloin or chuck roast
2 large garlic cloves, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
3 cayenne chiles, or jalapeno chiles, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 (4 ounce) can whole or sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Creole seasoning to taste
Instructions
Cut 1/2 to 3/4 inch slits into beef. Stuff one piece of garlic and one piece of chile into each slit. Season the roast with salt and pepper.
Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Add beef and brown well on all sides.
Add onion, bell pepper and minced garlic land sauté until tender.
Add water to pan to cover the beef.
Stir in the mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce and season with Creole seasoning.
Simmer, covered, for 3 to 4 hours or until tender, adding more water if needed to keep liquid level halfway up the beef.
Notes
You may stir 1 tablespoon flour mixed with 1 cup cold water into liquid near end of cooking for a thicker gravy.
I broke off a 10 year off and on relationship over a single piece of gum.
He and I weren’t on great terms for a long while. It was mostly out of his cheapness. He wouldn’t take me out to eat-we ate at his place. That wouldn’t have been bad except that he bought cheap items and used foods that had expired. I told him I wasn’t eating his cooking anymore, thank you. We watched TV but only shows he liked-he didn’t want to waste his time on my shows. I could watch them at my place.
Things were coming to a head and I knew the next fight we had would be the last. It was November when he called me and asked me to come over and fix his computer. I wasn’t in the best of moods-I finally had a free afternoon with the kids out with their father and I had things to do. Ok, I decided I would go over and see if I could do something to help. I got there and he already told me I had just an hour to get things right. Perfect start-no thanks for coming over, great to see you, etc.
He offered me a piece of gum. I haven’t chewed gum in years because it sticks to my dental work, and he knew it. Why was he offering me gum-was my breath stinky? After I thought about it for a moment, I took a piece. I didn’t even get it open when he started to yell at me-why is everything in your life a big decision? Don’t waste my gum-either take it or don’t! I paid money for that!
I immediately put the gum back on the table. He flips out again-you touched it not you don’t want it! What’s the matter with you? With me? I don’t chew gum, not in years! You knew that! I thought you were hinting my breath stunk so I took a piece of gum. Now you don’t want me to take the gum! Why don’t you make up YOUR mind?
He immediately moved my tech bag away from his computer and began to work on his computer. Don’t you want me to do that? No. You asked me to cone down here to help you, now you don’t want me to help you? Silence. Are we really going to have a fight about a piece of gum after I wasted my time and gas to come here? Silence.
I sat on the couch for a few minutes. I could have just stormed out the door. I wanted to compose myself and make it clear what would happen. I told him that I have spent 10 years doing for him, taking care of him when he was sick, lent him things like my cell phone and my car, then paid the repairs when he broke them and he never paid me back. I have put up with all this, and if we didn’t resolve what was really going on, I was leaving and not coming back. All I got was silence. Are we really going to break up over a damned piece of gum? Silence.
I picked up my things and I left. I never went back. I blocked his number from my cell phone. I had a feeling I knew what happened because he did it to me before. He used to get moody around Thanksgiving time and lots of times we broke up so he could avoid my birthday in December and Christmas/Chanukah/Valentines Day. He used to call around March to renew our friendship but his birthday was in April and he really wanted a present. I just had enough of his childishness, his cheapness and his abusive control. It was just one fight too many and I was done.
He did email me the following April-after I sent nothing for his birthday. I emailed him back that I told him that after our last fight, I was done and I wanted nothing more to do with him. He replied that he forgot what we fought about, and I told him that it was over a piece of gum. Then I blocked his email.
He called from another phone the following September, demanding I stop being stupid and get back together. What a lovely invitation, no woman can resist that, I answered. Then he threatened me. I told him to come over and try to f*** me up. I had an old lead pipe my father had and it had his name on it. I told him I’ll invite my neighbors to watch me smear him all over the street. My temper broke and I told him about the horrible things he did to me over the years. He finally said “I guess you’re mad at me, huh?” I hung up and blocked his new number too.
He attempted to contact me a few times through his friends but I told them I would go to the police and file harassment charges. He finally moved out of New York City-he attempted to contact me from his mother’s home in Tennessee. I blocked that too. He’s been blocked in every social media site so I don’t have to deal with him.
He had 10 years to grow up and apologize. The words aren’t in his vocabulary. I know the piece of gum wasn’t the reason our relationship ended-it was years of my giving and him taking and never appreciating what he got. But that stupid piece of gum was the catalyst. To this day, when I see a pack of Wrigley’s gum, I still smirk with amused disgust.
I interviewed for a support engineering role, the interviewer asked me how a fluorescent light fitting worked. I explained what I knew about the ballast, starter and gas tube etc. He delved deeper and I drew a rudimentary circuit diagram. When he asked exactly how the starter worked I was stumped, so I said “I don’t know”.
He told me that he must’ve had 2 dozen other applicants attempt to convince him how it all worked, but being able to admit I didn’t know something landed me the job. I learnt how knowing one’s limitations is so important.
Despite increased attacks on US occupation bases, Joe Biden has reportedly turned down more ‘aggressive bombing options’ in Syria out of fear that a wider conflict may erupt
NOV 13, 2023
(Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images)
Several missile and drone strikes targeted US occupation bases in Syria on 13 November in response to the latest round of US airstrikes on alleged Iranian targets in the country.
Fifteen missiles targeted the US base in the Conoco gas field, sources told Al-Mayadeen, adding that US helicopters began making flights ten minutes after the strike.
“The Conoco base was targeted with advanced Grad missiles, which led to the death of four US soldiers,” Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent reported.
Field sources told Al-Mayadeen that the attacks were carried out by the “Popular Resistance” in Syria.
In a second response to US airstrikes, three drones struck the Al-Shaddadi military base in Hasakah, northeastern Syria.
The US Green Village base at the Al-Omar oilfield northeastern Syria, was also hit with a drone. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq is a coalition of Iraqi resistance factions formed last month in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.
The coalition was formed to confront US forces in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and in rejection of US support for Israel in the war, and has been targeting US bases on a regular basis.
Hours before Monday’s attacks, US warplanes carried out several airstrikes in eastern Syria.
Washington claimed the attacks targeted facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent, the US airstrikes “targeted a house in the town of Al-Mayadeen, which led to the death of a citizen and the injury of another.”
US jets have struck Syria several times over the past month in retaliation to the unprecedented surge in resistance attacks against US military bases in Iraq and Syria. Washington has labeled the attacks as “self-defense.”
According to the New York Times (NYT), US President Joe Biden “has rejected more aggressive bombing options proposed by the Pentagon out of fear of provoking a wider conflict with Iran.”
The newspaper also cites Republicans in Congress as saying that Washington’s strikes on Syria “only invite more frequent and more dangerous attacks against US troops in the region.”
There have been at least 48 resistance attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria since 17 October, the Pentagon said on Saturday.
“At least 56 U.S. service members had been injured. Roughly half of those suffered traumatic brain injuries, and two had to be flown to Landstuhl military hospital in Germany for treatment,” the NYT adds.
There doesn’t seem to be many who are rude. My story is about a beautiful and kind woman.
Many years ago I was in O’Hara airport getting ready to fly home from Navy boot camp. As I waited, I saw what looked like a Hollywood photo shoot going on. I walked over with my nearly bald head and baggy Navy uniform and talked to an absolutely beautiful woman, dressed like an Elf. She was friendly and asked where I was from and what my home was like. We talked for about 10 minutes. As I needed to catch my plane, I thanked her for taking the time to speak with me. I asked her what her name was. It was Ann-Margaret. Surprise! I’ve had a soft spot for her since our meeting.
There have been a lot of memes lately, discussing this subject:
It’s viewed as a sort of work-around to all of life’s problems:
These’s memes are funny and all (sometimes), but they also have some truth.
A good portion of depressed people definitely view suicide as a way out and they genuinely think it’s the only way.
But it’s not.
Sunday, Nov 18 is my late-uncle’s birthday.
No one ever talks about him in my family. And of the few times he’s brought up, is always in relation to his suicide or mental illness.
He lived a pretty amazing life, but the memory of his suicide looms over the conversations around him.
It’s not like we never talk about him, or that suicide is strictly the only thing that we remember about him. There’s just no solace to the memory of his passing, suicide is something that is preventable, it didn’t have to be this way.
And, unfortunately, it’s the same with my idol, Chester Bennington.
image 120
In every Linkin Park YouTube music video, all the comments are the same. They’re ALL about his depression or his death.
No one talks about his life, how he made it big after a period of being homeless. How Linkin Park immediately knew who their lead singer was after his audition; how Chester would always do screaming vocal warmups, which could be heard several changing rooms away, before each of his live performances.
No one talks about that anymore.
If I’d killed myself on year ago, all I’d be remembered as was “that quiet kid who killed himself.”
You have a lot to be remembered for.
Stan Lee, who passed away on Nov 12, 2018, is positively cherished by fans.
So much material was circulated recently about his life and work.
image 119
There was a meme about how he drew the Peter Parker meets MJ comic strip based on the time he first saw his future wife. There were memes of his cameos in Marvel movies, memes of Infinity war, Spider-man memes….
It was awesome.
And nobody was particularly sad, rather they celebrated everything he did in his 95 year life on Earth.
You have a lot to live for.
And a lot to be remembered by.
And even if things don’t get better quickly.
Don’t tarnish that with suicide.
It’s not worth it.
You are worth it.
You are worth a good life and the world deserves your proud legacy.
During my very first visit to China, there were a couple of things that took me by surprise:
Massive malls absolutely everywhere
I’ve heard that Chinese food is so much better in China than what you get in other countries, but that’s is a massive understatement. There is so much diversity in food options, all of it is amazingly delicious and very reasonably priced. I could not get enough of it, and I can’t wait for my next visit so I can stuff my face with all that deliciousness again!
I didn’t expect to have that much trouble finding restaurants or shops that accept foreign bank cards. Some locations only allow Alipay. Also, apps like Didi are not available to foreigners as you need a Chinese number to sign up, and hailing a taxi is not always easy.
I saw very few tags or graffiti on buildings in big Chinese cities. Those are a major issue in pretty much every European city, as even historical buildings get smeared in tags, so this was a welcome surprise.
Excellent public transportation – so cheap and easy to use!
All the people I’ve met were absolutely lovely and extremely helpful. Also, there are so many older people in the parks, exercising or dancing, which is refreshing to see.
There is never any paper in bathrooms, so you have to carry a roll with you
The only thing that slightly threw me off during my very first visit was that people in China often take pictures of foreigners without asking. I’m very visibly a foreigner, so I always get quite a bit of attention when I’m travelling in Asia. I’m used to that, and I never decline a picture with some curious locals, as I find it a sweet experience. However, in China, while many approached and asked for a photo, there were many more who just tried to ‘’sneakily’’ take it, which made me feel a little bit uncomfortable at times.
As a tiny woman travelling alone I felt quite safe, even at night in less populated areas.
My wife and kids lived upstairs in my parent’s house. My Dad passed before my Mom. When she passed, as the only child, I had to sort out her bills, insurance, etc. My Mom was a school teacher for many years and received SS and a pension. At her time of retiring, she did not make as much as teachers do today. A few days after her funeral, I was sitting at her desk going through her checkbook to see what was paid and so forth. When I looked at the deposits, I started to see bill after bill after bill being paid, leaving her with very little left over. I am still saddened to this day, many years later, that I never knew the depth of how bad things really were. We could have contributed more to the household, but she hid most of this from us, trying to spare us any hardship. This is the single biggest regret I have in her passing, knowing I could have eased her burden, as she was the most loving mother one could ask for. She worked her whole life to teach children and raise me, who deserved so much more in her retirement. I am shedding tears as I write this, and hope that others can take more of an active role in their parents lives (when allowed) while they are still with us.
While employed as a pizza delivery rider, after the lifting of the COVID lock-down, our company decided to pull a fast one.
A memo from the head office was circulated among all restaurant staff at all branches. It basically said that the company was so concerned about our welfare in these trying times that they were willing to keep a percentage of our weekly salary for us as a form of savings. The memo also mentioned that if we agreed to this ‘Pizza Savings’ (my term, not theirs) that we will be getting 0% interest.
My delivery co-worker and I had a field day with that memo. We read it several times in disbelief and laughed. The owners could not be serious.
It was obvious they wanted to get a loan/invest in something. It was as if they told themselves instead of taking a 16% interest loan from the bank why not simply take it from their uneducated restaurant workers, all they needed was our signatures.
I went around some of the co-workers joking about it. Most of us laughed it off but two of them couldn’t understand what was so funny.
‘But we’re getting 0% interest!’ an older woman working the grill said.
She seemed to have the idea that this was a good thing. Apparently she had had so many loans in the past that to her the word interest = bad.
I explained to her it was a savings and not a loan. That with savings you want the highest interest you could get and the exact opposite when it comes to a loan.
‘But isn’t it good to have a savings?’ one of the teenaged girls working the pizza table said.
I explained to her it is a good thing but it makes no sense to save your money with someone giving you 0%. I tried explaining how banks work, about buying shares etc and getting the best rates for your money. Both women looked at me in silence.
In the end they both decided to ‘try it out.’
I didn’t know what shocked me more. The fact that the restaurant attempted that stunt or the fact that it actually worked on two employees.
Controller got fired for all the right reasons. On his way out, and before his access was deleted, he programmed a very, very offensive message on the Windows start menu for the entire company-something along the lines of “fxxx you, (name of the CFO)”. Now I’ll admit the guy had it coming, but will also say that the CFO was the biggest a-hole I’ve ever met. Anyway, it took the IT guys weeks before they were able to fix it (always wondered why it took sooooo loooong).
As a 45 year old, I started feeling very tired. I fell asleep in the bathroom at work one day. Went home and thought I was coming down with a cold. Never actually got cold symptoms, but could barely move my body. It felt like all of my extremities were filled with lead. Then I started getting dizzy. Then I started to vomit. I went to an urgent care center and told them all of the above symptoms and how now I’m vomiting and peeing every 5 minutes. I even told them I was vomiting black stuff which they informed me was blood. I was told I just had a stomach virus like people get on cruise ships. I said I have never been on a cruise ship in my life. I was sent home with antinausea meds. I had lost about 15 lbs in 3 days. That night and next day still vomiting and now breathing in short gasps. Now my body is shivering uncontrollably and I can barely move and still vomiting blood. My kids found me on the kitchen floor and took me to the ER. I was rushed back and found out I was in diabetic ketoacidosis. My body was shutting down. I was about a day away from death. My blood sugar was 854. I was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic.
While hospitalized, I received a survey from the urgent care center asking how my experience was. I’ll told them that I almost died thanks to them, but other than that it was great.
Years back when Subway still gave you tickets to collect for free subs, my kids’ mother and I were going to have dinner and movie night with my brother and his wife. Subway was the night’s choice. Well, it is Friday evening and the video store is packed. So we’re standing in line waiting to check out our movies, and she is going through these Subway tickets. She asks me,
“I don’t supposed you’ll eat a 6 inch?”
To which I responded, in a building with over 150 people in it, without even missing a beat,
“No, if I don’t get 12 inches, I’m just not satisfied.”
Children were laughing at me. Had it not been so hilarious, I would be mortified of that story getting out.
When I was in prison, I worked on the “hoe squad”. This is what “hard labor” actually is. We march out to the fields carrying hoes. Wearing our white prison clothes, we then form a line and then beat the ground relentlessly tearing up the grass to dirt.
However…
If you are sick or ill, you can get “one arm duty”. You end up being set apart and then you just putz around off to the side.
In general, the only time that I got “one arm duty” was after I had a heart attack on the “chain gang”. Though, the doctor who saw me; the “prison doctor” gave me two aspirins and told me to visit him the next Monday morning.
…
Yeah. It was not fun, but little “perks” such as “one arm duty” were highlights of my days in the ADC. Other highlights included being allowed to eat some wild onions, and then mix them with the black beans we ate during dinner.
So remember guys… no matter how bad things might get, there is always some good that can be found about. Beans with onions! Good times! Good times!
This is what happened to University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier when he stole a political flag from his hotel hallway.
Wikipedia
Otto Warmbier
Otto Frederick Warmbier (December 12, 1994 – June 19, 2017) was an American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea in 2016 on a charge of subversion. In June 2017, he was released by North Korea in a vegetative state
Warmbier entered North Korea as part of a guided tour group on December 29, 2015. On January 2, 2016, he was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport
while awaiting departure from the country. He was convicted of attempting to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel, for which he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment with hard labor.
Shortly after his sentencing in March 2016, Warmbier suffered a severe neurological injury
from an unconfirmed cause and fell into a coma, which lasted over a year.
North Korean authorities did not disclose his medical condition until June 2017, when they announced he had fallen into a coma as a result of botulism and a sleeping pill. He was freed later that month, still in a comatose state after 17 months in captivity. He was repatriated to the United States and arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 13, 2017. He was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center
for immediate evaluation and treatment.
Warmbier never regained consciousness and died on June 19, 2017, six days after his return to the United States when his parents had requested his feeding tube
to be removed.
A coroner’s report stated that he died from an unknown injury causing lack of oxygen to the brain.
Non-invasive internal scans did not find any signs of fractures to his skull.
In 2018, a U.S. federal court found the North Korean government liable for Warmbier’s torture and death, in a default judgment
in favor of Warmbier’s parents after North Korea did not contest the case.
In 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump caused controversy after saying that he believed the word of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that Kim was not responsible for Warmbier’s death. In response, Warmbier’s parents criticized Trump for making excuses for Kim and “his evil regime”.
The APEC summit is about to begin in San Francisco. The key reason why this APEC summit is so important is the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In order to welcome Chinese visitors, the city of San Francisco swept and flushed all streets in just 48 hours, clearing away all homeless people, tents and garbage on the roadside. Decorations are placed on the roads where visitors pass, and some roads are even screened.
image 7
For the visit of a head of state from another country, what San Francisco did seemed a bit out of line. When was the last time they did this? No one seemed to remember at all.
image 6
I checked the Chinese newspaper data in 1972, and there was this news:
“In preparation for US President Richard Nixon’s visit to China, the Beijing Municipal Government launched a city-wide cleaning campaign. Citizens, students, and soldiers took to the streets. They cleaned up garbage, planted trees, and painted walls. In just one week, Beijing had a completely new look.”
image 5
In fact, until the end of the 20th century, whenever important American figures visited China, Chinese cities would do the same thing.
However, I have never heard of Americans doing this.
Now,you must know that it is China’s head of state Xi Jinping who is visiting San Francisco, the United States.
Not the foreign minister, not the economic minister. The last official visit was in 2013, under President Obama. In 2017, President Trump also had an unofficial visit. many years have passed
In the past few years, relations between China and the United States have been tense, and the Chinese President’s visit to the United States again undoubtedly revealed a lot of information. I personally predict that relations between the two countries will soon ease.
With such an important visit, the city of San Francisco was understandably nervous. However, this incident also highlights the fact that the status between China and the United States has undergone subtle changes.
More than ten years ago, former head of state of china, Hu Jintao, visited the United States. Ten years ago, current head of state Xi Jinping visited the United States.
The United States was in good shape at that time and did not need to “make America great again”, nor did it need a “trade war”, nor did it need “trade decoupling” or “risk reduction.” There are not so many homeless people on the streets of the United States, and prices in the United States are at a good level.
During these visits, the United States responded very appropriately. Whether in Washington or other cities, daily life went on normally. Americans confidently present the face of their country to Chinese leaders. No matter what the Chinese head of state sees on the streets, good or bad. It doesn’t matter, this is America, and this is the confidence that comes from the United States.
After all, at that time, the visit of Chinese leaders was, to the United States, a visit by a “backward competitor” to a “leading country.”
But over the past decade, a lot has changed.
From the United States:
1. Social divisions and the widening gap between rich and poor have led to the election of a president like Trump. Under the slogans of “America First” and “Make America Great Again,” a series of actions that harmed allies and irritated China and Russia took place one after another.
2. The United States launched an “easy-to-win” trade war and prices soared. The 2020 pandemic has added to the nation’s chaos. Many people have lost their properties, and there are more and more homeless people on the streets and drug addicts. American cities have become cluttered.
3. In 2023, in order to deal with domestic inflation, the Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates. This has caused heavy economic losses to America’s global allies. In the Russia-Ukraine war, the United States lagged behind and was unable to truly contain Russia. The international influence of the United States has declined rapidly.
From China:
1. After ten years of economic growth, China’s overall economic strength has almost become equal to that of the United States. Although the GDP figure is still lower than that of the United States, the GDP calculated by PPP has already exceeded that of the United States. Key data such as social car sales and power generation also prove this.
2. In the economic war between China and the United States in the past few years, China has quickly adjusted after experiencing initial damage. Not only did they successfully respond to the pandemic, but they also expanded exports and boosted economic growth during the pandemic.
3. Amid the containment of trade wars and decoupling, China has attracted 151 countries around the world through the “Belt and Road Initiative” and successfully resisted the “de-risking” actions of the G7 countries led by the United States. China’s export volume will continue to increase in 2023.
4. China did not fall into the quagmire of the Russia-Ukraine war and did not have continuous military expenditures. On the contrary, they obtained more stable and cheaper energy, and a broader trade market.
This change was vividly demonstrated in the last diplomatic game between China and the United States. After Blinken’s aggressive speech, Liu He said: “The United States is not qualified to talk about strength with China.”
For the first time since the Cold War, the Chinese are sending a historic signal: The United States is no longer the only superpower.
Now, behind the seemingly eye-catching economic data in the United States are the debts of companies and individuals that are about to explode, as well as the high interest rates. After two years of debt stimulus and one year of interest rate hikes, the U.S. economy is like a fat man taking stimulants, with his face flushed and his strength boundless. In fact, he could fall down at any time.
China not only avoided global inflation, but also successfully resolved its domestic debt crisis. China is one of the very few countries that has not followed the United States in raising interest rates in the past six months. Although their economy is not as bright as in previous years. But it was very smooth and without any crisis. In the third quarter, major global financial institutions raised their economic expectations for China. In front of the United States, China is very comfortable and still has a lot of cards in its hand that it has not played.
The changes in the forces of China and the United States and the changes in the situation faced by both sides have made this meeting very delicate. In fact, the United States needs this meeting more than China.
In the end, the changes on both sides led to a change in Americans’ mentality towards China’s visit.
They have many more ideas than they had ten years ago:
There are too many homeless people on the streets of San Francisco, so much trash and drug addicts that they cannot be seen by the Chinese head of state.
It would make our great America appear weak and in disarray.
We must work hard to present a strong and beautiful image of the United States to continue to maintain the strong image of the United States in the past.
Not only will this prevent our president from losing face in front of Chinese leaders, but it will also prevent the Chinese from seeing more of America’s weaknesses and raising the price in negotiations .
There is an old saying: every dog will have his day.
I was on a contract in Boston USA for 4 years (back in the 2000’s) and at the end of the contract they offered me a full time job, Green Card, etc.
I asked what are the terms? 5 days leave at the end of the first year, no overtime payments, no company car……
I said I have worked for this company in France for over 20 years and you want me to give up my 65 days annual leave, being paid when I have worked longer hours and a reduction in salary, no job protection and having to take out health insurance.
No, fucking way! I’m going back to France.
Australia Just Destroyed America’s Plan For China!
Few reasons. One I don’t like liars, sitting at my kitchen table talking a bunch of smack gossip, another is telling me how I should do things when you have a zero clue of how hard it is being disabled. Trying to be the boss of me when you can’t even manage your own self. Stealing from me cause you might like what I own. My own grandmother came down to visit and stole my dried flower arrangement out of my bedroom, didn’t ask just five finger discounted it and got half way to the car when I saw it missing from my dresser. My father had an anger issue and to make him feel more manly, he’d make the 30 minute trip to my place actually looking for a fist fight. Mother read me the riot act when I had the nerve of buying a new fridge. So these days, I don’t even allow you on the property you can’t be trusted.
Two of my best friends in high school were dating, all four years. I love them two like genuine brother and sister (still do). Herein, the dude I will refer to as “bro” and his girlfriend “sis”. Nearing graduation, bro moved a state away (close enough to still come to school on time every morning) and almost immediately starting acting different. He had a new friend group who were terrible influence and became close with this other girl and we all kind of knew where this was going but didn’t want to believe it.
We graduated together, they were still together.
He and I went to trade school together, so we hung out on campus. My sis and I live in the same city so we hung out all the time (no, we never had feeling for each other anything beyond “siblings”). All the accusations of him cheating started to be noticeable. One day we sat in his car during lunch and I said to him, “If you cheat on my sis you know that’s the end of this friendship, bro. I love you but I hate the idea of what you’re getting yourself into.” He nodded…it kind of felt like he knew what he was doing was wrong but he was deep in it. He never told any of us two what he was doing but we ended up finding out from someone out of our friend group that he was planning on leaving my “sis” for this new chick.
He ended up doing so, and we lost each other as friends. Sis and I are still close. I haven’t talked to my ex-best friend in over 15 years. Things happen but seeing how he was treating her and lying to the both of us was ridiculous. No need to be leading people on like that. If you’ve moved on, actually move on.
Certainly, the most surprising thing for me when I lived in the US was finding that many Americans believe that, for practical purposes, the rest of the world doesn’t really exist.
To be fair I don’t mean that it is really non-existent, but that Americans think of the rest of the world in pretty much the same way someone in Europe would think of Pluto. It’s something you’ve read about, you know its there. But when it unexpectedly gets downgraded to not really being a planet any more it doesn’t really matter because Pluto can’t really have any effect on your everyday life.
And that’s how a large number of Americans regard the rest of the world – yeah, it probably exists, but it isn’t of any really practical relevance.
Let me give you an example of how this works. During the recent pandemic both the UK and US had idiot leaders who screwed up the pandemic response. But no one in the UK would think that the pandemic had just been made up to make Boris Johnson look bad. After all we saw how it spread around the world, first China then spreading all over Italy and other countries. So, it would be insane to suggest this worldwide problem was all make believe to humiliate Boris.
But large numbers of Americans have no qualms about believing that it was a lefty hoax to make Trump look bad. Its not that they believe the whole world is in on the plot its that since the rest of the world doesn’t really exist and so whether they also had the pandemic or not just doesn’t matter. It’s the same for the recent Israel-Palestine war. After it starts Trump announces that there are Hamas terrorists flooding across the US-Mexico border, because of course Hamas really want to attack the US. After all they can hardly really just want to target Israel, since it doesn’t really exist. To a subset of Americans, it just unthinkable that two sets of people could really have a war of their own. It must somehow really be about America because only America is actually real.
I joined a startup during the initial days of my career. after everything was discussed, I was given the offer letter. I accepted it and went to Mumbai, India to join the firm. After 1 week from the day of joining, I asked the HR for my appointment letter, which he should have given me on day 1. Since a startup and all young people around, I was OK with the delay. After 2 weeks, I was given the appointment letter, where it was mentioned that if ever I resigned from the organization or they terminate me from the firm, I will not be able to join any other firm in the same sector for a period of 1 year. (let me tell you, I am an engineer, with a masters degree in the relevant field.) This was mentioned under the competitive clause. I argued with the HR manager, asking him why didn’t he inform about this earlier, to which his answer was everything cannot be written on the offer letter.
I didn’t accept the letter and asked him to change the clause or else I won’t accept the letter. Now the problem with them was they were not in a position to leave me as I was the only person from that specific field and that field was giving them a good revenue, and I was never gonna accept the letter. Time flew and I was working without the appointment letter.
1 year later, I resigned as the organization was in a loss and was not being able to pay even our regular salary. I found another job in a well-established firm in the same field. So the last day, HR came to me and told that he will not be able to pay the whole amount of my salary, he gave me a cheque of 1/3 of my total pending amount. I was furious but was of no use as I knew this coming and I knew the financial status of the organization. They promised me to settle the amount in next 45 days.
Days passed, no sign of payments. When I called up the HR to know the status of the pending amount, I was told that as I didn’t sign the appointment letter, he cannot pay my salary. I knew what to do. I kept calm and didn’t reply anything. a few weeks later, I asked him my salary slips, I told him I needed those for my PF, and to my surprise, he instantly gave all my salary slips. Now the ball was on my court, and after receiving my Salary slips, I asked him for the pending amount. he told his same answer about my appointment letter; to which I replied, how can he issue salary slips to an employee who was never a part of the organization (which he mentioned earlier to me that I was never a part of the organization as I haven’t signed those papers). he was shocked to my answer, and he fumbled up. I took advantage of the situation and asked to pay my pending amount or else I have no option but to take the matter to the court. within 2 days the amount was credited to my account.
In 58BC, Julius Caesar entered Gaul with ~30,000 Legionarys and Auxillia troops to conduct “punishment” campaigns against the Celts and Germanic tribes. Eight years later, rather than subduing the responsible tribes, he had conquered all of Western Europe.
Caesar never had more than 50,000 total troops at any one battle and yet his Legions killed over 1,000,000 Celts and German warriors in battle, as well as captured another 1,000,000 for enslavement.
This was accomplished through the excellent generalship of Caesar and the training & discipline of his Legions and Auxillia (foreign support troops, who were trained to equal level with the Legions).
The disciplined and ordered men of the Legions were able to stand and hold back relentless charges of undisciplined tribesmen, until the Celts had tired themselves out, before moving forward against the exhausted enemies, killing everyone before them.
Caesar’s final battle in Gaul, to subdue the revolt led by Vercingetorix at Alesia in 52BC, Caesar and his Legions had built and defended a “tactical doughnut”,where ~70,000 Romans besieged Vercingetorix’s army inside Alesia of ~75,000, while defending against up to 250,000 Celts who attempted to free Vercingetorix.
image 59
It was quality of leadership, training, discipline, engineering and construction excellence that defeated sheer but undisciplined numbers.
Flamin’ Cajun Riblets
Deliciously seasoned pork ribs that will delight the taste buds!
pork riblets scaled 1
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients
3 pounds pork loin back ribs
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1 cup bottled chili sauce
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 Serrano pepper*, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca, crushed
1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 to 2 teaspoons bottled hot pepper sauce
Snipped fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
Sprinkle the ribs with Cajun seasoning rubbing it in with your fingers.
Cut ribs into single rib portions.
Place ribs in a 3 1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker.
In bowl, mix chili sauce, onion, Serrano pepper, tapioca, lemon peel, lemon juice and hot pepper sauce.
Pour sauce over ribs.
Cover and cook on LOW setting for 5 to 6 hours or on HIGH setting for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
Serve at once or keep warm, covered, on warm setting or lon LOW heat setting for up to 2 hours.
Remove any bones without meat. If desired, sprinkle with parsley.
Notes
Because hot chile peppers, such as Serrano’s, contain volatile oils that can burn your skin and eyes, avoid direct contact with chilies as much a possible. When working with chile pepper, wear plastic or rubber gloves. If your bare hands do touch the chile peppers, wash your hands well with soap and water.
50 MOST DISTURBING Moments Caught On Camera Vol. 10
A rewards program
We had a rewards program in Canada called Air Miles. Both my wife and I collected them before meeting, then merged accounts after getting engaged.
One of the grocery chains gave you 10 times airmiles for prescriptions on the first Tuesday of the month, we had both been taking advantage of this. Then they dropped it to 7 times rewards, any time of the month.
Whenever a store was renovated, they offered massive air miles, at just that store, to get people to come back after the renovation. These were super deals, like spend $200 and get 700 airmiles. Every first Tuesday of the month was 10 times airmiles on groceries. You normally got 1 for $20, but on Tuesdays you got one for $2. They would also have air mile specials on particular grocery items. For example buy 5 packs of flavored rice cakes for $15 and get 100 air miles. Buy frozen chicken wings for $10, and get 100 airmiles. Air miles were worth 15 cents a piece at the time, then dropped to 14 cents, then 11 cents.
But when they were 15 cents a piece, spending $10 for a kg of chicken wings earned you $15 worth of airmiles. They were paying you $5 to buy the wings.
Back to the renovation sales. I had 6 of the grocery stores within 3 km of me. Most within 2. They renovated them one after the other, and the sales each lasted 3 months. Then the next one would start.
So I would hold off groceries, until the first Tuesday of the month, then buy $200 . This got me 700 airmiles, with the coupon, plus 100 airmiles for the 10 times airmiles, plus, I would buy 5 boxes of chicken wings, and 5 bags of rice cakes, which gave me another 600 air miles, plus all the other individual sales. From this one shopping trip averaging $220 , I would get about 2500 air miles, worth $375.
Plus whatever we got for prescriptions. Other companies also offered airmiles, but not as great a deal. But if you shopped at 6 different companies, and you earned more than 6000 airmiles, you got an onyx card, which meant you could get 10 percent more for your airmiles.
So for two years, we got about $5000 worth of airmiles each year..
The trick was to only use them on package vacations, which is where you got the 15 cents per airmiles, and the 10 percent discount.
So we would pick a $6000 tropical flight and all inclusive hotel two, because we were onyx, we would pay $5400, and we would pay that out of our airmiles. At the time, that gave us a spectacular vacation, for buying stuff that we would use anyway.
With the renovations we got two years earning $5000 worth of airmiles, then down to about $3500 worth, then down to $2000. Then they stopped offering airmiles all together.
But, we got two years of free vacations, and another 10 of half price vacations.
I knew people who didn’t work the system, who only collected $300 worth of airmiles over 10 years, and said it was a ripoff, but it worked for us. It was nice while it lasted.
In the Irish Sea
In April 1985, an extraordinary event took place over the Irish Sea, captured by Adrian Meredith in what would become the only photo of Concorde flying at supersonic speed. Adrian, who was flying a Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado jet, had the opportunity to participate in a planned rendezvous with the legendary Concorde.
The Tornado, a versatile and powerful combat aircraft developed and used by the RAF, was primarily designed for air defense, ground attack, and reconnaissance missions. While it could match Concorde’s cruising speed, its fuel consumption rate was significantly higher, allowing it to sustain that speed only for a matter of minutes.
Despite the Tornado’s capabilities, capturing the iconic photograph posed a unique challenge. To maximize its speed and keep up with the Concorde, the Tornado was stripped of all non-essential equipment. The crew made every effort to maintain the pace, racing to catch up with the Concorde as it soared through the skies. However, due to the Tornado’s limited endurance at high speeds, the crew had to make the difficult decision to break off the rendezvous after just four minutes. Meanwhile, the Concorde, an engineering marvel of its time, continued its journey, gracefully cruising towards its destination at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
Despite the Tornado’s formidable capabilities as a combat aircraft, it could only briefly keep pace with the Concorde’s supersonic flight. The juxtaposition of these two aircraft highlights the distinct roles they played in aviation history—the Concorde as a pinnacle of supersonic passenger travel and the Tornado as a versatile military workhorse.
Together, the Tornado and the Concorde symbolize the remarkable advancements in aviation technology during the late 20th century. Their fleeting rendezvous over the Irish Sea and the remarkable photograph captured during that encounter stand as a testament to the ingenuity, dedication, and pursuit of excellence that define the aviation industry.
That is what the west thinks. That is what a hubris superiority complex western Caucasian xenophobic racist thinks!
The truth is China is very happy the west especially thinks this way! Do you know why?
Chinese is always 3 steps ahead of these type f westerners. We like the west to be burnt all their cash here and go bankrupt. Parading aimlessly flexing its muscles at 100 billion a month! We loved the stupidity.
We spends nothing and enjoy our popcorns while you implode. So YES IT IS TRUE CHINA CANNOT FIGHT YOU. FLEX YOUR MUSCLES. TILL YOU DISINTEGRATE INTO OBLIVION. GOOD LUCK. HAHAHAHA. WHAT A BUNCH OF FOOLS.
After working my ass off during the pandemic, I was promised an additional bonus. I received a “low performance“ review conveniently timed a day before my bonus was to be paid. The low performance feedback canceled my bonus. Given all the other bullshit I was putting up with, I broke and quit.
I had a nice month off and my new job pays significantly more. Never work for people that don’t appreciate you, there are always others that will.
About three years ago, I wanted a cat. I love tuxedos; I really think they are something special.
His name is Othello. Apparently, he got into a fight in the county shelter one county up from us and was transferred to my county. That should have been my first warning he was trouble. He has a tiny triangle of his left ear that’s missing (it’s not even visible in this one.)
But he was warm, sweet, and cuddly. Just beautiful.
Two weeks in, we are at my mum’s house. I’m trying to bake, but Mr. Tux here decides he wants snacks from the plastic shelving where we kept the pet supplies. A two-hour battle ensues, where I pull him down and five minutes later, he’s back up there again. I finally pulled everything about 6 feet away from the shelving, thinking it will stop him jumping up there.
I go back to what I was doing, and then I hear a crash.
“Darn that cat…” as I walk over there to scold him for the 85th time.
He was hanging off the side of the pet shelf by both front feet, having leaped the 6 feet across the room. I asked him if he thought he was James Bond or something.
I have also discovered:
He can open flip lids with his nose or his paws. I made this crucial mistake when I got his adoptive brother, who was a kitten at the time. I bought kitten food for Mercury and after a half hour’s consideration, trying to outwit my cat again, bought a container with a flip lid. I mimed having paws when I bought the darn thing. I thought I was smart. I left for a night and came back in the morning. There’s the kitten food, spilled all over the floor. The two of them obviously thought I wasn’t coming back and decided to fend for themselves.
He will destroy any package left within reach. He destroyed all the dry soup packets my mother had downstairs in the basement. No idea on that one.
He has busted the screen on my porch TWICE in order to get out into the Great Wide Open. I don’t mean going through it – I mean prying it loose from the wood surrounding the bottom.
I cannot leave one gap in the lid of the food bucket (NOT a flip lid) I keep the kitty kibble and the snacks in, or he will pry the lid off in ten minutes or less. He checks every night. One night, my sister was over and I didn’t attach the lid properly. My sister and I were watching a movie and we heard the lid clatter to the floor. 10 minutes.
He has been known to eat puppy food and dog biscuits.
When angry, he hits things -the curtains, the side of the fridge, the wall, any paper bag that’s handy. Just beats his paws on whatever surface is nearby. He pitched a fit last summer when he broke the screen the first time and I would not let him out. A full on temper tantrum, beating on the door and howling like he was being tortured.
I don’t dare leave food out anywhere he can find it. Anything I make is put away in the fridge or weighted down under stuff he can’t shove off. I have been known to booby-trap stuff so I can hear lids falling if he attempts to knock them around!
He eats plants. We now have one. I experienced to strategize locations to put this one so he wouldn’t nibble it to demise. For his security, i’ll n’t have any toxic plants in the house.
He really loves everybody but me personally. Folks come to your house, and he’s Mr. Personality. Loves everyone. Leaps into laps, cuddles, nice little kitty. I will be mother, and clearly we’re caught with each other, so he doesn’t just like me all that much because We curb his widespread enthusiasm for destruction and mayhem.
I love him dearly and he tends to make life interesting, but oi. I invest half my entire life outwitting him. it is tiring.
She was a good friend, but nothing like that between us. One day I came to visit. Her mom let me in (they lived in a 8,000 sq ft house) and said she’s upstairs. So up I went and there was no Monica.
So I sat down to wait and suddenly out of the bathroom comes butt naked Monica. She yelped. I laughed. Even though Monica was very easy on the eyes, I never saw her like that and it just ended up as a funny story between us.
I haven’t seen her in years, but my daughter is named after her, so that’s how much I cared for her.
Dear god no. Closest I’ve ever come is Dilaudid (injectable hydromorphone), which the hospital gave me whilst I was spewing blood when I went to visit my Talespinner.
Hated it. In fact, I hated it with every fiber of my being. If words could adequately convey my fiery hatred for the way it made me feel, you, Gentle Reader, would spontaneously combust upon reading them.
It’s not just that it made me vomit, though it definitely did that. It’s everything about the subjective experience. It made me feel like I was wrapped in a too-warm blanket made of steel wool and television static. It made me feel like I was floating just a little outside my body, but in a skin-crawling, AmericanHorror Story way, not a fun way. It made everything around me feel blunt and dull, like all the color and texture had been bleached out of the world.
Have patience my friend. Wait for another 50 thousand years. Then perhaps, may be, with a lot of luck your dream might come true. For now go bury your head in the sand.
He Took the Most Unwanted Cat At the Shelter In the Night, the Cat Had a Surprise!
I was asleep in bed, about 2am, when Spider (My cat, not my choice of name) came into the bedroom, placed his mouth by my ear, and Miaowed, LOUDLY. I woke up, suddenly, and not too happily! I tried to push him away, but he repeated himself, then stood up and walked to the end of the bed, and looked back at me. When I tried to lie down, he came back, caught my hand in his mouth, and gently, but firmly, pulled me towards the door. Eventually I gave up, and got out of bed, as he ran to the bedroom door, paused, looked back at me, and waited until I followed him. Eventually, he got me to the French doors in the living room, where he sat, looking at me and then at the light switch, until I turned the light on to illuminate the patio outside. There his baby kitty sister was sitting, in the rain, not coming into the house. I called her, but she just looked at me, until I opened the door, and picked her up. Although she was purring madly, her leg was swinging oddly, and it was obviously badly broken. I pushed her gently into a basket, pulled my clothes on, and called for a taxi to take me to the emergency vet. Without his intervention, she would have been stuck outside for at least another five hours, in the pouring rain, badly injured. The vet said that, without prompt attention, she may well have been dead by morning. Spider had saved her from, at best, considerable pain and suffering, at worst, a painful and cold, wet death. It took considerable surgical skill to save her leg, but without him, she may well not have had that chance. He was a lovely cat; He died aged 18 of acute kidney failure, and I miss him a lot!
When Shanghai was under lockdown due to severe COVID-19 outbreak in April 2022, many residents resorted to group purchases for daily necessities. Among the coordinators of these purchases, one young volunteer showed maturity and a sense of responsibility beyond his age.
Cai Hanxiao, a second-year high school student in Shanghai.
Cai Hanxiao, 17, a second-year high school student living in the city’s suburban Qingpu district, voluntarily took charge of group purchases for the residential community he lived in, helping more than 600 people obtain daily supplies.
Cai shared his experience on Chinese video sharing platform Bilibili. He said, after the residential compound was put under lockdown, like everyone else he had to cook himself. After only a few days, he ran out of fresh vegetables.
Then, Cai posted a massage in a community chat group to find residents who also needed vegetables. After some answered his call, Cai created a new group for collective purchasing.
He pooled together 80 orders and negotiated with a supplier. A deal was made, and the vegetables were delivered to the doorsteps of residents the following day.
After that, more residents joined Cai’s group, and demand grew rapidly. The goods on his purchase list expanded from vegetables to meat and milk.
The young man admitted, at first, organizing group purchases affected his studies. But later he optimized the work flow and started using a mini-program which enabled people to sign up for a group purchase automatically, which saved a lot of time.
“I want to show you high school students are not nerds that know nothing but how to solve problems on exercise books. We can help people solve practical problems in real life.” Cai said.
The one where doctors open the heart, repair it and seal it back. Everything seems so simple on paper, isn’t it?
It was a random Tuesday morning when we visited the Operation Theatre of the CTVS (Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery) department, not knowing what was to come.
One of our senior professors was operating, and she was being assisted by some Resident doctors and nurses.
The surgery was Triple Valve Replacement. It basically involves replacing the damaged heart valves.
Sounds so easy!
The patient’s chest was cut open, the underlying bone was drilled and when they reached the heart finally, I was thrilled beyond expectations.
We all have heard heartbeats on a stethoscope, but to see it beat right in front of you is an altogether different feeling!
A number of different tubes were connected to the heart then. Lots of different liquids were made to run through the tubes.
And then, they put an ice solution over the heart.
This is called cardioplegia – the phase where the heart is stopped from beating. It is during this stage that the actual valve replacement is done.
The tubes help in supplying blood to the heart during this time.
Throughout this entire time, our Professor kept teaching us important stuffs related to the surgery. She could have chosen to ignore us and continue with the tiresome surgery, but she didn’t.
She showed us the important blood vessels and valves. She taught us the mechanism of cardioplegia. She showed us which incisions to make and where.
And all this while, she kept on standing and operating.
After 3 hrs at 1 pm, it was lunchtime for us. But the surgery was nowhere near complete. So me and my friends decided to stay till the end of the operation.
We didn’t expect the surgery to go on too long.
But here’s the thing. We finally came out of the OT at 5.30 pm, having missed our lunch as well as our afternoon classes!!!
But what did we gain?
Our respect for our Professor ma’am increased by leaps and bounds. Her surgical team members kept on changing every few hours, but she never left the OT table throughout the 8 hour period.
If this isn’t patience and dedication then what is?
Coming to the question.
What is something that money can’t buy?
It’s patience.
Master patience, and it will open the doors of greatness for you.
I am eligible for answering this question.A quick background about me.
A good developer with task completion abilities with 4.5 years of experience as of now
Year late 2015 joined the Pune based company this was my second company…Joined as a developer performed pretty well in initial 3 months of probation…They chose me to send on-site for 2 months
I was on cloud 9 and happily went to on-site UK ,performed exceptionally well there and returned to India.Now was into regular job activities of development stuff…
Suddenly HR and Dev manager calls me for a meeting and said you are in PIP..I was taken by shock because in the recent time I was the one who has delivered the most work from team.
They assigned me tasks for 1 month and said we want 100 percent completion the actual time that will be fair to complete the task was 3 months but they given me only one month..I delivered 80 percent and wanted a week extension but they were adamant that you have not completed in one month hence we have to let you go.
Later few of my friends from HR told me that they wanted you out from company and it was a trap.
On the day it was around 6 pm half collegaues were already gone.i got informed that today is my last day.
Gone out of the office cried with a friend for 10 mins and then told myself let’s bounce back and will get a new job in 7 days.
Cleared my stuff started applying for new jobs set the deadline for 7 days.
On the 5 th day I had the job offer in hand with 50 Percent hike
To the rest of the world especially the entire Global South we are clear as hell, why!
Because they are envious and fear China will overtake them and lose their hegemonic powers. The rest are all excuses and made up face saving lies. Frankly it should stop right away.
The more it demonised and blame China the more we see it as China doing well. Most culture including the west I believed, don’t take kindly to a person who bad mouthing someone. It shows that such person are weak and insecure. That is how the world sees the U.S. now.
Don’t do it. It looks bad on you. It makes you look weak. Fooling your own people weakens them. And fooling them int being ignorant and naive of the biggest consumer and producer on earth is like committing suicide! Yes you are right Americans in general don’t know and understand the real China.
But don’t blame them. The U.S. has been spreading lies and demonising China since 1949, 74 years straight! So today’s American has been lied to from their grand parents generation to their parents generation and they were fed misinformation to doubt, hate and fear China.
For a start 99.99% don’t know why 1949. Let me help you starting with this. After world war 2, the US at its strongest point in history go all out to fxxk up China. It is knee deep to ensure a puppet rule China do that it can break up China into 100 tiny nation. But at its strongest. Point it failed to do that even when China is at its weakest and the U.S. is at its strongest.
What about now! China grew from an economy the size of Zambia to the biggest in purchasing power term. The growth of China in the last decade is bigger than the entire G7 by 35%! It can toast the US from coast to coast if the U.S. choose the end of life options.
So the U.S. do the only thing it can do. Talk and do shit. Hence Hong Kong, Tibet, Uyghurs, Taiwan, Xinxiang and any shit it can find. Is it helping? Frankly no. Not at all. It counts on fooling people around the world. But instead it only fool their own yanks. But that is good, they can hide their own weakness and failings by blaming even their migraines on China. After all after lying about China 74 years to its citizens. They will buy anything.
Other people don’t hate the human race like you do because you don’t see the human race for what it is.
You see a small sliver of the human race for what it is, and that, plus your own confirmation bias, blinds you to the whole of the reality.
The human race is not all one thing. It’s a blend of light and shadow, good and evil. It’s trendy and oh so fashionable among a certain kind of person to see the dark and think that makes you somehow more knowledgable or informed, but it doesn’t. A nuanced, balanced approach must see the whole.
Seeing the whole means recognizing the evil but also celebrating the good. Hate is easy. It costs to love.
We do not see the world as it is; we see it as we are.
Worrying about what someone else is thinking, saying, or doing will not make your life better.
Celebrities, politicians and the mainstream media don’t live in the same truth as you do.
The person you marry can be the biggest financial decision you will ever make. The right one: an asset who will build with you. The wrong one: a liability that will destroy you. Choose wisely.
There’s literally nothing appealing about going out to bars, drinking and partying all through your 20s. Use this time to create a solid foundation for yourself and your future self.
Choosing a life partner based solely on looks and your sex urges is going to cost you in the end.
Nobody is going to pay attention when you are dead and most likely, they are not even paying attention now. So why be concerned about making mistakes?
The person you see in the mirror who has gone through a lot, the toughest times and is still standing. That’s the same person who deserves all the best from you.
No amount of love from others will ever be enough. To fill the yearning that your soul requires you work on a daily basis to make sure you are in love with yourself.
My husband recently rented a beautiful mansion on Maui via AirBnB. He did it on the AirBnB website. The owner asked him to send the money ($6,000) by a wire transfer because she lives in Europe. Red flag! He contacts AirBnB which confirms the listing is legitimate and it’s common to wire the money that way for international owners. So, he wires the money.
The next day the listing is gone and redirects to a Russian no service page. Apparently someone hacked AirBnB and created a fake listing within it.
Fortunately, our bank stopped the transaction so the money never left our account.
Fast but inaccurate heuristics that fail with Type 1 errors have positive survival value.
So think of the brain, first and foremost, not as an organ of rationality but as an organ of survival, like fangs or claws. The brain is a pattern recognition and categorization machine, and when you think about it that way, it becomes patently obvious why cognitive errors exist.
Cognitive errors are often the result of overly promiscuous pattern recognition or of category errors (or both).
When you live on the savannah, you frequently find yourself in situations where the only thing standing between you and being a leopard’s dinner is very fast pattern recognition. You don’t have time to consider and analyze whether that flash of orange you just saw from the corner of your eye is a charging leopard or not, and whether you should be categorizing it as a threat.
While your buddy Grog is sitting there evaluating the evidence, your adrenal glands are screaming WAAAUGH A LEOPARD IS ABOUT TO EAT MY FACE and you’re booking it out of there.
Result, you live to transmit your genes. Your rational, analytical buddy, the late Grog Grogson, does not.
And these fast heuristics evolve toward Type 1 errors (false positives), not Type 2 errors (false negatives). If you mistakenly think a gazelle is a leopard and flee, you’re still alive. Your buddy Thok who mistakenly thinks a leopard is not a leopard, well…
So the people who survived the savannah had brains optimized for fast but low-resolution heuristics for identifying threats and aggressive, promiscuous pattern matching. Surprise! We no longer live on the savannah, but we still have those traits, legacy code in our firmware.
My professor has not been able to sleep well. He has been getting very dizzy lately. I bought him a fuzzy purple pillow and gave it to him. “Fuzzy pillows fix everything,” I said. He hugged me. It probably won’t fix his insomnia but he knows I care.
I am notorious for waking up late. Because of this, I never check the weather and I never have time to grab coffee in the mornings. When I picked my friend up for school, she always brought me a jacket on cold days and a thermos of coffee ready for me.
When I moved to Thailand, I was very lonely. A group of guys could see I was lonely and asked me to hang out. I couldn’t speak Thai, and they couldn’t speak English, but they took me to dinner most nights though we couldn’t say a word to each other. That meant everything.
The ladies in the office at my school will see my eyes linger on something they’re eating. They know I don’t know what it is. They always bring me a bowl of whatever they’re eating without me asking because they want me to try it. They gave me a whole pomelo last time. It makes my day.
My fruit lady always asks about my family in America. She remembers every detail about my family every time we talk as she cuts my pineapple for me. I’m always amazed she cares enough to listen, remember, and ask more questions.
The opportunity to be kind is everywhere. The smallest acts of love have the greatest impact. You just have to look for them.
HIGH ALERT! Putin and China just changed EVERYTHING with this move, and Biden has NO response
https://youtu.be/LMAnSrXuYHs
Creole Pot Roast with Dumplings
2023 11 09 17 04
Ingredients
1/4 cup butter, divided
1 (3 pound) beef pot roast
1 (16 ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained
2 cups sliced onions
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup hot water
1 2/3 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped pimiento
Instructions
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add beef and brown on all sides.
Add tomatoes and onion; cover tightly. Cook over low heat for 2 hours.
Stir in curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt, sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and cook an additional 1/2 hour.
Place pot roast on serving platter and keep hot.
Add 1 cup hot water to broth in pot; bring to a boil.
Blend together flour, baking powder and remaining 1 teaspoon salt.
Cut in remaining 2 tablespoons butter, using a pastry blender or 2 knives.
Add milk, parsley and pimiento to flour mixture. Stir until moist.
Drop batter by tablespoonsful into boiling broth. Cover; cook over low heat for about 15 minutes.
Place dumplings around pot roast.
Strain broth and serve as gravy.
Dating Matchmaker quits working with women, modern women are DELUSIONAL, men go ABROAD
“I’ve seen videos of women giving the long lists of their requirements and, just because I’m a math geek, I’ll look up the statistics and do the calculations. In a lot of these cases, statistically, these men don’t even exist. They’re looking for a winning lottery ticket.”
My wife went to a local DPS (Department of Public Safety) office, and I escorted her, to renew her driver license. While at it, she decided to change her name to match the name on her Certificate of Naturalization when she became a US citizen.
After my wife filled out the required paperwork, the clerk says that in order to change the name, my wife must present a valid court order/document to prove that she had officially changed her name. According to the clerk, the Certificate of Naturalization is not a valid court approved document. Below is a sample of the Certificate of Naturalization.
image 62
Anyone with half a brain would realize that it says “United States District Court” in the lower right-hand corner, especially after we pointed it out several times, but not this particular DPS clerk.
Needless to say, we asked her to call her supervisor. Fortunately, the supervisor knew that a Certificate of Naturalization is the real deal and told the clerk to change the name, but not before hearing several “but, but, but…” from the clerk.
To use the mine, the soldier would remove the security pin, and then charge the enemy armor, just like in a bayonet charge, making the top of the mine collide with the objective. The weapon needed to be held by the center with the left hand and by the bottom with the other hand. When the legs of the mine hit the objective, the handle was pulled forward, cutting a pin and making the detonator move forward to the detonator charge. This would set off the mine, blowing up its user and, probably, the targeted enemy armor.
The mine was capable of penetrating about 150 mm of RHA
at an angle of 90º, and up to 100 mm at an angle of 60º. However, the mine would almost always impact at 90º because the impact angle with the objective would be decided by the weapon’s user, and he would probably aim for a 90º armor plate.
The nature of the weapon was similar to a panzerfaust in that it was a single use type weapon. Unlike the panzerfaust the operator was a single use soldier. There were no records I could find of it being used successfully. Of course I don’t know how there would be any feedback on its effectiveness.
The NVA used it as well with some reported success in Indochina against the French and the US later in the South.
In the parking lot at Walmart. I saw a motorhome identical to mine. So I was looking at the twin of my motorhome when the owner walked up and looked at me curiously. I introduced myself. I explained I owned the same model and I was having some mechanical issues. We all got along well, so we exchanged emails and decided to keep in touch. Well we started camping together, a couple of times a year. Our motorhomes were old. Our new friends lived simply. They cut coupons. Shopped at thrift stores. After years of getting together, California had an earthquake and our friends had to leave early to “check the cars” . I was puzzled. My friend explained he had a car collection. On racks in California. I guess he felt after years of knowing us he told us he had been a CEO of a Silicon Valley technology company. They knew by then we liked them for who they are. Not what they have.
The Marijuana Menace 1938 | Crime, Drama, Propaganda | Colorized Full Movie
When I was with my first wife, back in the late 1980’s her mental illness started to “kick in”.
For me, it was brutal.
I didn’t know what the Hell was going on. She started acting more and more peculiar. Followed by strange… really, REALLY strange behavior, and a mix of passive-aggressive and full-on aggressive behaviors flooded and spewed from her.
She would just spend 24-7, never sleeping, never taking a break just berating me for every problem under the sky. Non-stop tirades. First it was personal stuff. Then it evolved into the kinds of television commercials that played on the television… going to why I “allowed” the television to show those commercials.
Or, why I permitted a grocery store to price the cans in a “haphazard way”.
Why did I allow those commercials? Why didn’t I yell at the Store Manager?
She started saving boiled egg shells on plates. As they “predicted the future”.
The bedroom closet ended up being stacked with piles of plates with shells on them. She even labeled the plates with dates written on masking tape.
That was only the beginning, and she stopped washing her hair, and showering as it was a sign of my “male dominant” desires…
Like I said … “crazy” behaviors.
At this time, I was also living a nightmare as a cubicle employee in a company. It was a scene right out of “Office Space”. So, between the nightmare work environment, and the nightmare wife…
…and STILL being in MAJ with all the world-line swaps…
…I was HEAVILY stressed.
…
One day, we went for a walk. In those days, I would need to go out and get some “fresh air” and she would burst out of the house tagging behind me continuing her narrative of how rotten her life was, and why I was at fault. He was running amok and I hadn’t a clue as what to do. I couldn’t get a break. I couldn’t get a rest. I couldn’t get any alone time except while being in the car…
And…
…I snapped…
No, I did not go crazy. I did not go into a rage. I did not get upset. I did not freak out…
Something snapped inside of me.
I had an event. I had a breakdown.
Suddenly I was enveloped in fuzzy grey calmness, and all her talking was volume muted, the ground became warm and fuzzy and I felt like I was detached.
I was…
…comfortably numb.
…
She noticed this. She looked at me.
She then started to yell at me. “What are you doing!” she screeched. She grabbed me by the arms. “Snap out of it! We are talking about me! Pay attention to ME!” she hollered.
But it was too late. I was too far gone.
I had retreated inside. And the storm raged outside.
…
…
…
Look, I got over this. Buspar and Trazadone really got me back on track. They helped immensely.
And if you are going though this kind of event… you will too.
Stress and the horrific situations that it creates are but fleeting moments. Later on, when we are older, we look back in amazement of the things that we endured.
Yep. Was commuting into the office on the train as per usual, when my work cell phone rings. Bit early for calls, as it wasn’t barely 8am yet, but ring ring ring anyway, and while Caller ID wasn’t blocked, I didn’t recognize the number entirely but it did seem vaguely familiar, and I pick up.
Turns out it was the support department for the company who hosts email for where I worked, since they outsourced it rather than dealing with running Exchange natively. They tell me the reason they’re calling is that they have somebody else on the other line who is asking to be promoted to owner of the email system, and asked if I approved it. I asked who it was, and it was somebody from HR, interestingly enough. Of course, nobody ran this by me, so being unable to rule out a social engineering attack, and not having approval from anybody to do so, I declined.
A few minutes later, I got another phone call on my cell, different number, still not my office or boss, and was asked the same thing pretty much by our phone system vendor. At this point, I’m thinking it’s less likely a social engineering attack and more likely that HR is trying to secure things I have access to. I pull out my laptop and MiFi and sure enough, my access to our VPN is terminated already. I figure I’m about to be fired, and sure enough, I get into work after disembarking the train and don’t even make it to my office before I’m ushered into HR and informed of the decision to let me go.
I ask if there’s a severance package, and am told there is not, and that before the company will release my final paycheck, I must return all my equipment and sign the paperwork. I do so, since I had my laptop, work issued cell phone and MiFi with me, and the charger for both at my desk. I expect HR to then hand me my check, but apparently, no, they instructed me to wait, while they called the email vendor back to get me to authorize a transfer of ownership. I waited patiently, and when they went through the department to make the request with me standing there, the support rep asked me if I was able to authorize the transfer.
I simply informed them that I was no longer a representative of the company and as such, couldn’t authorize anything, while smiling at the HR rep in the room. The email support rep then informed the HR rep that they’d need to file the correct paperwork to verify the business, exactly the paperwork they were trying to avoid, to reclaim the account. I snatched my final paycheck off the table and said “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be on my way, now.” which went unresponded to, unless the glare from the HR person and my boss was a responce.
That would be Cadillac, I bought a new Catera, which is a rebadged Opel. It came with 4 year bumper to bumper warranty, and service. When the oil needed changing, it was free, new wiper blades free. New tail light bulb free.
So far, so good. On the night of the last day of my warranty, when the dealership was closed, my right turn signal would flash the radio light, but not the signal light. The dealership said that they consider the failure to have happened the first thing the next morning, when it was off warranty, because I didn’t report it when they were closed. It only happened at night, when the radio light came on. They said it was a $10,000 repair, if they did it by the book, but if they just clipped the old signal light wire, and ran a new one it would be $300.
Two weeks later both catalytic converters went, the dealer wanted $2500 a piece, but I was able to get new ones welded in at a muffler shop for $1300 for the pair.
A week later, I was driving, and suddenly lost all power, the engine died, most electrical went out. It turns out there is a cable, under the car, that requires the seats be removed, that came unplugged, it was the main power conduit. It was a $500 fix, including the tow.
The car requires that I pump the pedal to start it, its fuel injected, and that shouldn’t be the case. They park it outside in the winter, and they run the battery down, trying to start it, to take it in to work on it. They put in a new battery, that I don’t need. They tell me that you never have to pump the gas on a fuel injected car, to get it to start. So it was a bad battery. I point out that, the car was in to be serviced, because it wont start, without pumping the gas. It turns out that its a computer error, and is soon fixed, but they still charge me for the battery.
A month later, the transmission starts leaking. Its a totally sealed unit, there is no dip stick, no way to add fluid. It can’t be repaired, I need a new one. The dealer wants $5000. I go to a transmission shop, and they say they can put in a rebuilt one for $2500.
The kicker comes, not even a year after the car is off warranty, when idling I have no oil pressure, but it returns to normal when I step on the gas. I assume worn bearings, but how can it be, when the car only has 60,000 km, 40,000 miles on it, and all the service has been done at the dealer. The dealership is perplexed, they say that they have another, a year newer doing the same thing, and I should wait for them to figure out what is wrong with that car, as its under warranty.
I have had enough, I have paid more in repairs than the car is worth. I go to the dealer that I had bought it from, and trade it in for a Chevy.
I wouldn’t sell that car to anyone, but the company that sold it to me. The mechanics, gave it a clean bill of health and I got full trade in value.
I didn’t really want a Chevy either, but you take what you can get.
Due to employee carelessness, I was badly injured on the job. Due to the owner’s negligence, there was none of the required paperwork at the store to fill out an on-job injury report. I drove myself to the ER, got treated, and the ER (very reluctantly) filed the injury report. (I had to write it up for them, with both hands heavily bandaged!).
I was off work for about 10 days, when I got back the owner told me because of the “poor quality of cleanliness”, my hours were being cut by 20%. The week before I got hurt, we had scored a perfect 100% on a corporate cleanliness/service inspection. I gave him the keys, and walked out, with him yelling after me I wasn’t allowed to quit.
When the staff realized what was going on, all but two of them followed me out, and when the customers found out what was going on, half of them came with us!
I came home from work at 4:30 pm and was unpacking purse, jacket, etc.
My son came close to me, and whispered. “Mom. I have to tell you something. I hope you won’t think I’m a tattle tale. But Nicholas* is smoking cigarettes when he’s on duty taking care of my sister! Sometimes I see the smoke going right into her!”
My daughter, with a tracheostomy, acute allergies, and chronic lung disease, was cared for while I was at work by Nicholas, an au pair from a Scandinavian country. He was referred to me by his sister, who was another au pair; she was good and I trusted her.
My son was protecting his sister. As a child, he could not defend her against this au pair. He was trusting me to intervene.
I went into Nicholas’ room, smelled cigarette smoke, and fired Nicholas immediately. My children’s father immediately came home from work when I called him. He drove the au pair to the airport.
When I went to clean out his filthy room I found a lot of Nazi propaganda. And, months later, we were notified of three lawsuits. Apparently he had crashed the car we provided for him into other cars.
I will never forget that my son saved our family with an unforgettable and frightening conversation, because he trusted me to fix a situation he knew was a bad one, even though he was only five years old.
*not his real name
Brigsten’s Restaurant Banana Bread Pudding with Banana Rum Sauce
This is a fantastic cross between the classic bread pudding and Bananas Foster, the great flaming bananas and ice cream dessert.
Banana Bread
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients
Bread Pudding
6 cups bite-size pieces day-old French bread
3 cups milk
3 large eggs
2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 large very ripe bananas
3/4 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1/2 cup roasted pecans
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Banana Rum Sauce
2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
6 large ripe bananas, quartered
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons dark rum
2 tablespoons banana liqueur
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Heat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Bread Pudding
Put the French bread pieces into a 9 x 12 x 2 inch baking pan.
In a blender or food processor, blend the eggs, milk, 2/3 cup of sugar, bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla extract until smooth. Pour this mixture over the French bread pieces. Fold in the raisins and the pecans and let the mixture set for 20 minutes. Top with small pieces of the butter.
Cover the pudding with aluminum foil and place the pan into a larger pan. Add warm water to a depth of 1 inch in the larger pan. Bake for 1 hour.
Remove the foil and bake uncovered for 15 minutes until set.
In a deep, medium bowl, whisk the cream just until it begins to thicken. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Continue whisking until soft peaks form. Cover and chill.
Banana Rum Sauce
Heat a large sauté pan or skillet over low heat. Add the butter, sugar, bananas, cinnamon and nutmeg. Moving the skillet back and forth, cook until the butter and sugar become creamy and the bananas begin to soften, about one minute. Remove the skillet from heat and add the rum and the liqueur. Return the pan to the heat. Tilt the pan, avert your face and and light the liquid with a long match. Shake the skillet until the flames subside. Add the vanilla extract, remove from heat and keep warm.
To serve, place a large scoop of bread pudding in the middle of each serving plate or bowl. Place 2 slices of banana on each plate and top with about 3 tablespoons of sauce. Spoon the whipped cream over the bread pudding and serve immediately.
My husband, kids and parents went to dinner with my sister’s family…a total of nine. We went to a unique steak restaurant where you ordered what you wanted and paid the cashier, then sat at a table where the food was delivered to you.
My brother in law, always the epitome of good manners (not!), made sure he was first in line when we entered. My parents were not in such a hurry, as they were chatting and having fun with their grandchildren, and were closer to the end of the line.
My BIL ordered a very basic steak dinner. This guy had a well-paying job, but the lengths he went to to save a buck or two were almost comical.
As the cashier was ringing up his order (He usually made my sister pay for her own), my mother called out that dinner for everyone was on her.
Charm boy immediately told the cashier to cancel his order, then proceeded to order the most expensive dinner, the steak and lobster with sides of prawns and garlic toast.
I hated going for a meal if he was included. He was always rude to the server and usually sent his meal back if he detected the slightest problem.
I’d love to know how many gallons of spit he has invested thru the years due to his rude and abusive restaurant etiquette.
“I’ll be devastated if you’re not at school on Monday.”
This was said to me by my teacher for Math and Italian when I was 14.
I won’t go into great detail, but I was experiencing a particularly difficult period at that time.
I was severely depressed and expressed to multiple teachers how I felt. No one reacted.
Naturally, I decided to put a permanent end to a temporary problem over the weekend.
I had Maths for my final class on Friday.
As my teacher for Maths and Italian had always been my favourite, I left him a short note on the back of my test stating I wish you and your family all the happiness in the world.
He collected our tests, saw my message and asked me to stay behind.
He spoke to me for an hour and expressed how devastated he would be if I (or any of his students) were to take their own life.
At 14, to have someone I only spent two hours a day with show genuine concern meant everything to me.
China JUDGES United States: “War Addicts” Will an “Intervention” to stop our addiction come next?
The People’s Republic of China has JUDGED the United States of America as being “War Addicts.” As families of anyone with Chemical Dependency know, making such a determination is the step before an “intervention” to put a stop to an addiction!
A uniformed spokesman from China’s People’s Liberation Army brought the judgement to the world via a Press Conference. “”The USA are war addicts.” The country has existed for 240 years, and only 16 years it did not go to war. They built 800 military bases around the world. “Wherever the US military goes, people die everywhere,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Defense.
RUSSIA CHIMES-IN
Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday “The terrible events in the Gaza Strip cannot be justified by anything.”
He went on to say “We see that in the Middle East, instead of punishing terrorists, they began to take revenge on the principle of collective responsibility.
When you look at bloodied, dead children, the suffering of the elderly, the death of doctors in the Middle East, your fists clench, but emotions are unacceptable,” the president said.
Then Putin let loose with the quiet part that isn’t supposed to be said out loud:
“Behind the conflict in the Middle East, Ukraine, Iraq, and Syria are the ruling elites of the United States and their satellites
“They don’t need lasting peace in the Holy Land, they need constant chaos in the Middle East,” said the Russian President.
The US ruling elites, without achieving success on the battlefield, are trying to weaken Russia from within.
Putin’s key statement to Palestine sympathizers:
“We can only help Palestine in the fight against those who are behind this tragedy. We are Russia, and we are fighting them as part of a special military operation. Exactly with them. Both for ourselves and for those who strive for real true freedom.”
The President of Russia called it the duty of a real man to fight Nazism during the North Military District appearance he made yesterday, defending the Russian Federation and the future of the world, including Palestine.
Hal Turner Editorial Analysis
Folks, the rest of the world sees us for what we have actually become: Dangerous and out of control. Specifically, two of three most powerful nations on earth are now openly saying we’re causing the whole world deadly trouble . . . and we’ve been doing it for years. They’re tired of us.
It’s sort of like any other addiction. A family sees one of their own out of control, and decides to intervene. First they talk to the chemically-dependent/addicted person. They try to reason with him. Then they start applying efforts to make the addict’s life harder. But finally, and it ALWAYS COMES TO THIS, the family must physically stop the addict.
It seems the United States has now been judged an “addict” by China and their 1.5 Billion people. (Four times larger than OUR population.) If they decide to the we need to be physically stopped, we will have brought it upon ourselves.
The people in Washington, DC in the federal government, are personally to blame.
If the world begins to “intervene” in our war-making, and bombs start falling on . . . us . . . . to put an end to the trouble-making around the world by the people in OUR federal government, be sure to remember who is directly to blame.
Never compare your sex life with porn videos. Because porn videos are totally fake.
Never be sad for losing someone. No one lasts for long period of time. Even, you are gonna lose your beauty, money and health with age.
Never underestimate failure.Only a failure gives you the proper perspective of success.
Never “Trust” easily on anyone. Because trust is the most expensive thing and so don’t trust blindly. Even, your friends get jealous when they see your progress.
Never share your password of social media accounts, email, Internet Banking, and ATM pin\CVV number with anyone. Never!
Never get involved in sexual activities till you are not serious in your relationship.
Never believe on that girl\boy who have lots of relationship in their past. They can easily manipulated you by crying their bad past.( Exception is everywhere)
Never try to hurt your parents. They have lots of expectations from you.
In any situation, Never think about ending your life. Even plants regrow leaves after one leaf shed.
Their life has grown visibly better under the so called dictators and very rapidly too
image 58
Take Gautam Adani
In China
Adani if he was building a plant within a distance of 200 Kms Radius of a Village that had a chance of pollution effluents
He would have to pay for mandatory medical tests every 6 months
He would have to build a School for every 875 students between ages of 7–16
He would have to furnish and equip the school and pay the State / Province who would arrange the teachers
He would have to build roads, build warehouses & basic infrastructure plus employ a mandatory 85% of his staff from these villages and TRAIN THEM UNDER HIS OWN DIME
He would have to pay insurance premiums for all the employees he employs and if he fires anyone, he has to pay a mandatory 6 months salary plus a 36 month premium
This comes from his revenue which is audited by a State Auditor on his Board.
So no lying about making losses
If he is unable to sustain his businesses , his shares will be transfered to someone else
And he can’t leave China unless he has an exit visa
That is how the CPC protects the common mainlander
The Billionaire gets a tax credit and tax discount to cover this sum
If he tries to dodge this payment, he can be levelled with PUBLIC CORRUPTION and Jailed for 240 months/ Life or executed by the State
This is just one example of how China mixes it’s Capitalism and Socialism and rises accountability for the Party and it’s Private Sector
image 57
Likewise Poor Kids are inducted to WORK for 26 Hours a week at a minimum wage of 264 RMB a week
In exchange the employer must Mandatorily ensure that the Kid is TAUGHT Chinese & Mathematics until the age of 17 with proper medium of instruction
Talented Kids who score above a threshold can be paid a scholarship for 2 years to prepare for the GaoKao and prepare for the School Leaving Exam as well
Otherwise they are still educated and can become upto Foreman or Floor Manager in the factory and take basic certifications
While the whole world targets China for Child Labor, China does best for poor kids and gives them a FIGHTING CHANCE without burdening their families with Debt
So many poor kids today have respectable jobs as Foremen or Supervisors or Small Business holders because of the CPC
image 56
In Chinese Cities, if you have a Job and no housing, the City gives you a Public Housing with minimum space ranging from 24.45 Sqm in Shangahi to 61 Sqm in parts of Chongqing
Very low cost and rent
No homelessness
If you are a Sweeper from Rural China working in Chongqing, four of you get a single public house with a heater, bathroom and indoor plumbing
No Slums since 1976
No Shanty Towns
Proper Public Houses
image 55
In the words of Gita Gopinath, nobody in the world has a Public Housing program like the Chinese do
No desperately homeless families in China
image 54
Xilin purchased 11000 Pre Fab homes for their public housing which is more economical
This in China, you are GUARANTEED of a roof above your head and indoor plumbing no matter how poor you are
Plus Healthcare
The Poorest Rural Villager can get a Coronary Bypass for 5000 RMB on State Dime even without Employer Insurance
They trust Alternate Traditional Medicine Quacks more, that’s a different story
Plus Education
Plus Food Prices capped
This means Pork, Rice, Beef and Soybeans can’t sell beyond a maximum price in China
The State will absorb the extra cost
image 53
So in a way
The Median Chinese feel protected and safe
This is around 86% of the Chinese living in China
Among the remaining Chinese , mostly in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and other top cities, some 3% of the citizens feel they cannot really live upto the standard of their wealth in China and leave for Singapore and Australia and extol the virtues of Democracy
86% triumphs 3% is it not?
So that’s why People are comfortable under China and Chinese Dictators
Give them a Multiparty system like India and by God they would vote for a Putin like man for 40 years consecutively
There was a crew of men replacing the carpeting in the offices at work. It was a long, narrow hallway in that part of the building and someone in the crew set up a radio and had it blaring. I ended up having to be the one to tell them they couldn’t do that during work hours. I talked to the guy who seemed to be the foreman on the job and he seemed pleasant enough about it. He turned off the radio and talked to the others about it. He then came back and talked to me for a few minutes. Just to make conversation I asked him about the quality of the carpeting. He assured me that it was pretty good stuff, even though it was fairly thin. He said that he used the same stuff in his house. I said, “Oh, really?”, as I thought it was odd that someone would use commercial carpeting at home. He answered, “Yeah, I had to use this because my grandson is living with us. He’s only 2 years old, and he’s blind, so he has to have this kind of carpeting to make it easy to walk.” I was taken aback somewhat and said, “I’m sorry to hear about his disability.” The foreman quickly replied, “Oh, it’s fine. He’s a great kid and a lot of fun to be around. Sometimes we move the furniture around just to watch him bumping into things. It’s funny as hell seeing him all confused and falling down.”
I have to say that I’ve never met anyone else in my life that could entertain themselves by torturing a blind baby.
Why Women Are Upset When Men Have PREFERENCES?!
Why? The inability to emote. Many women (that are younger) just are unable to emote. They think they have a high EQ, but an inability to emote decries EITHER a ZERO EQ, or a narcissistic personality disorder.
My story is awful in its own fashion but very different from the other responses. I had a wonderful roommate my last two years of college. Let’s call her Sue. She helped me get a job proctoring standardized tests. One Saturday I was finishing up a test when I saw my roommate in the door along with her then-boyfriend, Bill.
That surprised me because I thought they had plans since he didn’t live in town and they didn’t see each other often. Sue motioned me over.
“Jen, as soon as you can get away, we’ll give you a ride home.” The supervisor noticed the conversation and told me I could leave. I walked out to the car still wondering why Sue was here. After we got in the car, she turned around and gently told me, “Your mom called a little while ago. Your grandfather passed away this morning. Bill and I are going to drive you home.”
I was shocked. Although my grandfather had been diagnosed with terminal cancer the previous fall, he had responded well to radiation and had been active and in good spirits when I had last seen him only a month or so ago. Sue drove me back to our apartment to pack, then she and Bill drove me two hours back to my hometown for the funeral.
I’m not sure I ever really conveyed to Sue how grateful I was for that ride. I didn’t drive at the time, and it would have taken much longer for my sister or brother to have driven over to my college town to pick me up. She and her boyfriend gave up a large chunk of their rare time together to drive me home while I sat silent and grieving in the back seat, barely able to give directions in those pre-GPS days. “Sue,” if you’re on Quora and see this response and recognize the scenario, Thank you!
A little background — I was working in a chain drug store in Southern California, the only employee who came to work, on Christmas Eve. We were a 24-hour store, so, having cleaned everything, and faced all the stock on the shelves, I was thinking how to murder the “dancing Santa” (bad recording, 2 1/2 feet tall, and poorly made).
10:30 (22:30 for 24 hour clocks) a guy comes in, freaking out. His wife has recently left him for her “hot stud boyfriend”, with whom she has a brand-new baby. They are divorced, but she got the kids on holidays. He had bought and wrapped the presents for the kids (daughter, son), and dropped them off at her boyfriend’s house — left them on the porch, because she refused to open the door until he left. He gets home, and finds the kids waiting on his front porch. His ex-wife’s mother had just dropped them off, and left them alone, because ex-wife, new baby, and “Hot Stud” were going to his parents for Christmas, and she didn’t want the kids “getting in the way”. Grandma had plans of her own, and refused to take the kids with her.
Ex-wife left him with two kids with no change of clothes, no presents, not enough groceries, on Christmas Eve. And there was no way he could not make her sound like the totally selfish bitch she was.
Semi-happy ending. I abused the hell out of my authority as the manager, and “store-used” or “over-ride discount”ed everything we needed to put together a Christmas for his kids.
Each of them got a ream of paper, the largest box of Crayola (crayons) we had, a generic fuzzy toy, and two other toys that he thought they might like. Each present was individually wrapped in a different paper, with big fancy (store-bought!) bows, and a Christmas card on each present, plus each one got a good sized bag of “stocking stuffers”. (Pocket sized toys and games, candy, fruit, nuts, etc). Then I threw in (from me) a couple of bags of Christmas candy and chocolates.
It’s Christmas Eve, and your mother has her mother drop you off at your father’s house — who isn’t even home — because she doesn’t want you, because she has the new baby that you aren’t even allowed to touch.
Because there are two worlds: the one you see in real life and the one you see on TV or newspaper.
You watch TV, navigate through social media and you think you are well informed abou the world. And you know a lot about China. A strong dictatorship, damn commies, cheap labor and poor brainwashed people that would be amazed to see the “Free world”. The government is spying on their citizens, like CIA or NSA. But when commies do, you think is worst. Of course.
And one day, casually, you decide that you will visit China.
You arrived there and you are shocked. You can barely believe in your own eyes.
The big cities are super modern, big, shinning tall buildings. The way you pay, the way you shop, the hypermarket looks like in The Jetsons. You are in the future.
The level of automation there is out of this world (Western world, cough, cough). You had no idea that so many online services were already available to the people. You realise you have been scammed by your own country and media.
After the initial shock, you, an an educated person after all, well traveled, you have knowledge. Knowledge from the free world.
You decide to talk to the educated Chineses. Another shock. They know more about you (you as a citizen and your political beliefs) and your country than you know about them. Where is the brainwashing?
“Hey, but they are not free” you think in relieve. What can you do that they can’t? Let’s see… protest?
As if protests are changing something…
Vote? Chinese economy is growing faster and better than democracies…
It doesn’t matter, you are a free, superior citizen of the developed world. You travelled there to China to see them! And see that the Chinese studying abroad are going back to China… Whatever, they are commies.
You visit the Rural China, you still see a lot of poverty. You feel better about yourself. Hahaha, they are still poor!
You go back to the big cities and there is no way to deny the reality: China is growing and is glowing.
You go back home and you see, China is actually a good place. Very different from what you see on TV.
That’s why year after year the experts in your country are predicting the fall of China. There is nothing else to do beyond pray that somehow China will stop growing and wil be the end of the Western hegemony over the world.
Oil tankers are large and heavy vessels that carry oil across the world’s oceans. They can be up to 400 meters long and weigh up to 500,000 tons when fully loaded. They are also designed to be stable and safe in various sea conditions. There are several factors that contribute to the stability of oil tankers.
The hull is the main body of the ship that floats on the water. The hull of oil tankers is usually long, wide, and deep, which gives them a large displacement and buoyancy. The displacement is the weight of the water that the ship displaces when it floats, and the buoyancy is the upward force that the water exerts on the ship. The larger the displacement and buoyancy, the more stable the ship is. The hull of oil tankers is also divided into several compartments, called tanks, where the oil is stored. The tanks are separated by watertight bulkheads, which prevent the oil from spilling or sloshing in case of damage or movement. The tanks are also arranged symmetrically along the centerline of the ship, which helps to balance the weight and distribution of the oil.
The draft and trim of oil tankers vary depending on the amount and location of the oil they carry. The draft and trim affect the stability of the ship by changing the position of the center of gravity and the center of buoyancy. The center of gravity is the point where the weight of the ship acts, and the center of buoyancy is the point where the buoyant force acts. The center of gravity and the center of buoyancy should be as close as possible to each other and to the centerline of the ship, to ensure a stable equilibrium. The draft and trim of oil tankers are controlled by adjusting the amount and distribution of ballast water, which is seawater that is pumped into or out of the empty tanks to balance the weight and trim of the ship.
The metacentric height is a measure of how stable a ship is when it is upright. The larger the metacentric height, the more stable the ship is. The righting moment is the torque that tends to restore the ship to its upright position when it is heeled by an external force, such as wind or waves. It is proportional to the product of the metacentric height and the angle of the heel. The larger the righting moment, the more stable the ship is. The metacentric height and the righting moment of oil tankers are calculated and verified by using stability instruments, which are devices that can measure and display the stability parameters and criteria of the ship.
I didn’t work for a company, it was just a guy who sealed driveways.
I was 16 when he offered $10/hour under the table for good work.
We had fun. I busted my butt. I mixed sealer like a machine, process improvement every time.
We completed three or four driveways in five or six hours and then he took me out for a few beers on him.
It went on for two years.
At the end of the second year, he left his payment book open in the truck while getting something at the convenience store. He charged $300-500 per driveway on average.
I did the math quick in my head. Materials $40-50, labor $10, amortisation on equipment $20 (being generous).
That led me to: he gets $220-440 per hour and I get $10.
It was our last job of the year and I said nothing.
Next year in spring he called me and I upped my price to $20 per hour.
He freaked out, and asked if I was crazy.
I said, “Go and hire anyone you want, you won’t make as much money as you do with me and you won’t spend the last two hours at the bar drinking beer with somebody you like.”
My 83 year old father had an accident which caused a severe traumatic brain injury. He survived for a few months. My own mother died when I was 12, followed by my father emotionally abandoning me. He and his new wife carried this treatment forward for decades. This wife of 35 years, had always made it known I was not her cup of tea, was now terrified and desperate for help and support. I was the only one Dad recognized. She was panicked if he came home what would she do because he would have been severely disabled. During this time her tone changed and she made exclamations of “Family forever”. She asked me to move there and I agreed. The plan was I would stay for a month and then settle up the details of the sale of my home. I was moving whether Dad lived or died. I stupidly believed the cheetah changed her spots. Dad died and less than 48 hours later she told me I had to leave and I realized I was not welcome. I overheard her tell someone what a trauma it would be to have me around.
At that moment I felt the entire weight of 35 years of emotional abuse and neglect and the scales fell from my eyes. I felt like I was hit by a lightening bolt. I sobbed every day for the next 1.5 years…the pain was horrible as I realized how I allowed myself to be manipulated by her and how I allowed myself to be mistreated for all those years. I will never speak with her again because I refuse to be a second class citizen.
When you are looking for countries that have unusual or weird capital cities, Tokyo takes the cake. Tokyo itself is a beautiful city, which is incredibly safe, and has some of the best food in the world. The city itself has over 13 million people in it (3rd largest capital city), and the metropolitan area has 37.8 million people in it – more than 195 countries (making the Tokyo-Yokohama area the largest metropolitan area in the world). It is also the best city that I have ever visited in my life. Tokyo is a city that is totally worth visiting.
I like Tokyo because of how weird it is. It’s not weird in a bad way – its just that you see a lot of things in Tokyo that you don’t normally see in other cities.
Tokyo restaurants often display plastic models of their food on their windows.
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Now, where do you think you get these plastic food models?
Look no farther than Kappabashi Street – because the whole street is dedicated to selling restaurant supplies – such as these plastic food models.
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Want to sleep in unusual hotels? Tokyo’s got your back. Introducing the capsule hotel – not for claustrophobics!
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Ever felt like sleeping in a Kikkoman Instant soup bed?
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Bored of playing Mario Kart 8 on your Nintendo Switch? Now you can do it in real life!
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Tokyo is also known for its really weird restaurants. Alcatraz ER is a medical-prison themed restaurant.
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Zauo is a restaurant where you literally catch your own food, bring it to the chef, and tell them how you want it cooked.
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Mr. Kanso is a store that only sells canned goods.
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The best way to experience the wonderfully weird city of Tokyo is to visit it, and I highly recommend to do it – it’s totally worth it!
Not to me, but to my mom. 15th of July is “Asshole day” in my family. Why, you may ask?
When I was 9 years old, my mom got pregnant. I was soooooooo excited to have a sibling! But a few years after, my mom finally told me what had happened before she told me she was pregnant.
When she first found out, she was so happy. Her first doctor check up was fine. She went back about a week after, and there the doctor (a different one) did the ultrasound, looked at my mom, and simply said:
I’m sorry. You lost your baby. It’s dead
No explanation, nothing. My mom cried but came back home as if nothing had happened. She told my step dad but not me, I had no idea of what was happening in my home. I don’t remember seeing my mom cry, she would always make sure I wasn’t around.
In the next 2 weeks, she realised she still had all the pregnancy symptoms. Still had the same cravings. She was sure she hadn’t lost the baby. She went back and got an appointment with the same doctor as last time (it was at the hospital, you couldn’t really choose who you would see).
When she explained that she was still experiencing all the pregnancy symptoms, he denied all of it. He told her she was doing a phantom pregnancy. That she was too old (37) to have a baby so she just imagined she was having one. She refused to accept it and demanded another doctor to do the ultrasound. It took a while but finally another doctor came to see my mom. Took him about a minute to find my brother with the ultra sound. Doctor 1 was so embarrassed he didn’t even apologize.
Doctor 2 explained that Doctor 1 was still a student, hence why he made a mistake.
I don’t know why that student was doing ultrasounds alone. All I know is, the first thing my mom did when coming home was telling she was pregnant.
She was first told my brother was dead on July 15th. So we commemorate that day as Asshole Day and my mom usually goes out with my brother!
Just when I thought I’d run out of stories for Quora answers. Praise almighty god.
I was on a date with a Veterinarian in her late 20’s. A very polite girl, pretty, smart – she had all the right boxes checked.
It was our second date and we were talking about “kids growing up too fast” which is code for teenagers having sex too soon.
We probably shouldn’t have been talking about that topic so soon and it was probably my fault, I tend to steer conversations to bad places. But oh well. Good dates usually involve being honest and talking about real things. And it was indeed a good date.
All I remember though was that at one point I was taking a sip of beer as she said,
“I mean I get it, kids experiment from time to time. When I was 8 years old I stuck a pen in my p—y.”
At which point I choked on my beer and started coughing and she immediately started blushing.
I was actually glad that beer was coming out of my nose because it probably minimized her own embarrassment.
She said, “Sorry – that was too much.”
After I wiped the beer off my face, I waved both hands and reassuringly said,
My dad always bought his cars from a specific car dealership. After he died, my mother gave her big boat of a car to my brother, and decided to buy a smaller car.
We went to the dealership that dad had always used, he must have bought 10 cars from them, and we picked out a small one year old lease return, with very low mileage.
We were paying cash, and my mother and I sat down and signed the contract. We would pick up the car, after the check had cleared. When she went to get up, she almost fell over. We got to the door, and we were parked right out front, and she didn’t recognize her car. I took her directly to the hospital, she died 8 days later, never leaving the hospital.
After the funeral I went to talk to the dealership and they refused to take the car back. I tried to contact the local television reporter, who always aired these kind of stories, and never heard back. I asked Mom’s lawyer, and he said that she was obviously not of sound mind when she signed the contract. But that it would cost us more to use him to fight it, than it was worth. So we sold the car, still sitting on the dealers lot, to someone for $1500, less than we paid for it, two weeks before. A week later, the reporter contacted me, he had been on vacation.
I told all my friends, family and acquaintances about it. Many of them used that dealership as well. They all said they would never set foot in it again.
There were at least 50 people, who had bought at that dealership in the past, who swore they wouldn’t go back.
It didn’t make it right, but it felt better to know that they were losing customers.
This actually happened in 2011 or 2012, a hacker stole a penny from millions and millions of ppl amounting to a total of 78 million dollars. They couldn’t prosecute him for a plethora of reasons and as a matter of fact it got him tons of clout. He ended up getting tons of job offers because of his genius feat. So you’re late to the punch and that loophole has long been sealed by now
What is a strange experience you’ve had that you’ll never forget?
Sorry folks, this isn’t a ghost story, but it was awfully weird.
Years ago, when my husband lost his job, we used to run a stall at a Craft Market. We sold African crafted goods, and framed pictures of African wild life.
In the stall next door was a lady who did upholstery – she sold beautiful Ottoman’s and all manner of stuff to do with upholstery. She had a sister, Cat, who would help her out at times.
Cat had a deck of Tarot cards, and after obtaining permission from the owners of the market, set up a cubicle to do readings, within her sister’s stall.
Cat invited me over for a ‘practice run’. Not believing in any of it, I reluctantly obliged. I knew how these things ‘worked’, so was determined not to give anything away, by way of body language or expression. I sat immobile and stony-faced as Cat did her reading.
I honestly can’t remember 99% of what Cat told me, but one thing stuck in my mind. She told me that someone in our household was pregnant. I laughed it off.
At that time, we still had a young cleaning lady, Rachel, who lived in an outbuilding on our premises. I was very attached to this young woman, she worked for us for ten years and was almost like one of the family. I fed and clothed her as I knew her other job didn’t pay very much; I also saw to her medical needs.
A few weeks later, Rachel confessed that she was pregnant. Well! You could have knocked me down with a feather! I didn’t see that one coming.
Not only did Göering speak as others have posted, but he used a clever trick. He would listen to the question in English, which then had to be re-asked in German. The trick (so I’ve read) is that Göering was fluent in English. He’d get to hear the question and have time to consider his answer while it was put to him again in German.
1, Taiwan’s TSMC already moved out of Taiwan. It is a US firm now. Do you see China suffering?
It hurts Taiwan more than China.
2, It is all a political show by Taiwan’s pro-USA politicians. They all do business with China. With business with China, Taiwan has trade surplus. Who hates money? Not the corrupted Taiwanese politicians.
3, Of course, there are Taiwanese who are pro-China. They welcome China to “invade” Taiwan.
Taiwan is part of China. Is a Chinese province. There is no invasion of China when China decides to suppress the Taiwanese rebels.
Maurice was a soft-spoken and mild mannered boy in my class. He was friendly and pleasant to all. I cannot think of a single moment where he said or did something that angered or offended anyone while in school.
He lived further up the hill from where my school was; practically walking distance from the school. Girls confided in him due to his reserved nature and boys respected his kindness. Once he invited a few of us guys to his house for food and to watch SpiderMan (the very first movie) on his PC, after school. Maurice was the last boy one would think of when the word ‘dangerous’ was mentioned.
When we entered Form 5, a boy named Kevin entered the school and stoke fear upon many of us. I say ‘boy’ but he was already an 18yo adult when he came. He had transferred from a really rough school and practically every week he was involved in vicious fights or would be seen breaking class to smoke behind the labs. He would harass random boys, threaten them for their money and if they didn’t cough up he’d shove, slap or thrash them, according to his mood.
Maurice happened to pass by him one day and judging Maurice to be harmless he tackled Maurice for some money. Maurice ignored him but Kevin grabbed him by the shirt and slapped him on both cheeks, warning him that next time things will be worse.
Maurice’s shirt was dirty and his face red from the fracas but he remained silent and walked away.
After school ended I was walking with my friends out the compound and down the hill when we saw trouble was brewing. We saw a gang of no less than twenty young men from the area had accosted Kevin. Kevin’s face was bruised and swollen, eyes red and most of his shirt buttons were ripped out from a prior struggle. They dragged Kevin to Maurice and asked what to do with him. Maurice, in his soft voice told them that that was enough. The men shoved Kevin off and fired kicks behind him as he ran down the hill, thoroughly learning his lesson. The hill where the school lay was Maurice’s turf.
Kevin learned a lesson that day.
The most dangerous people are sometimes the ones you least suspect.
Your manager is not your friend, no matter how nice, friendly you think he/she is.
Understand difference between a friend and colleague. Draw the line, and keep your friend circle outside work as much as possible.
You’re a “resource”, that’s how upper management refers to you.
Do what’s required of you, go a bit outside your comfort zone sometimes when required. Do the basics consistently, that’s what is expected.
Look at your payslip, offer letter and understand your salary components. Plan your tax accordingly and investments accordingly.
You can stay in a company for a long time, or keep shifting every 2–3 years. It’s upto you, and no one is right or wrong. Some people prefer respect and comfort and some more money.
Update your LinkedIn, spend time on it.
Have a life outside work.
POSH can attack you from anywhere anytime, please be aware of it, and understand it. Know when to talk where and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble.
Choose a company that is still starting out, you’ll have an opportunity to learn more, and your views shall be respected.
An employee without a good personal life and stability cannot be a good professional. Give people time, lend some hand if you can, if it’s in your professional prowess.
“Easy to work with” is in more demand than “good worker”
If you don’t like your job, move on, try to get a new job but please don’t expect that you’ll like it either.
9–5 jobs are amazing. All these entrepreneurs need some workforce as well to survive.
Be aware of skills required to upgrade in your role and the latest trends that are dropping in.
HR (employee relations) actually don’t do anything.
Nobody likes you and everybody talks about you behind your back. So, don’t try to build an image to be likeable.
You’re there to make money and learn. Everything else is not a priority.
Learn how to be respectfully sarcastic on mails, communication channels.
Don’t keep grudges. You won’t work there forever.
If you find someone is toxic, ignore them. If you have to work with them directly, just keep it to minimum work talk, and get everything over mail or slack/skype/teams.
Verbal communication is pointless. Document everything.
Smart people in corporate world will make you think they’re idiots and get away with everything.
Use Glassdoor. It helps other people.
Don’t be an attention seeking unethical jerk. Be normal, come on time, leave on time.
Does Iran have NUKES?!? Should we be worried?
Did you vote for a war with Iran? Your elected representatives did! On Wednesday, U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 559 on Wednesday which paves the way for a war with Iran over nuclear weapons.
Second trip to New York a couple of years ago. Loved the first trip, the sights, the people, the atmosphere. Got chatting to a young lady who had moved to New York and was working as a ticket seller for one of the tour bus companies while we were waiting for the bus she’d just sold us tickets for.
Turns out she was a heavily qualified medical professional who was struggling to find work in the US.
Middle aged lady came up to me and asked if I knew how to get to such and such a place. I explained that I was a stranger, but suggested that she asked the young lady we were talking to.
He response? “I don’t ask ni**ers for directions”
I wish I could say that I said something witty in response, but I was so shocked that I just stared at her. The Englishman in me meant that I felt I had to apologize on her behalf. Swore never to go back to NY.
1) China has something like 4.5 times America’s population, so the fact that their economy is en route to exceed ours is hardly surprising. If you think that’s a bad thing, you are essentially saying that 1.4 billion people should be living in poverty. What reason is there for believing that the U.S economy should always be the largest on earth?
2) What do you think the government should be doing to prevent the Chinese economy from growing? A boycott is hardly possible and a trade war would hurt us as badly as them. Investment restrictions would again just hurt us and benefit Europe and Japan.
The fact is that the American and Chinese economies are tightly linked. We should be thinking about how to benefit from China’s rise (for example, selling them some scrubbers for their coal plants) instead of pointlessly trying to keep them down.
Who produces Huawei’s Kirin 9000S chip? This is a mystery that no one can figure out.
The test results of the United States have also come out. They admit that it is not an American technology and that it has reached the chip level of 5 nanometers or higher. However, they still point out that there is still a gap of five or six years between Huawei’s chip technology and the technology controlled by the United States.
What is the difference between six years?
The one that can help Huawei produce high-end chips cannot be TSMC, let alone Samsung. SMIC does not have this ability, so who else in the world can produce such high-level chips?
The relationship between Huawei and Songshan Lake began in 2005. At that time, Songshan Lake signed a project investment agreement with Huawei Investment Holding Co., Ltd. to establish a 750-acre Huawei Southern Factory, which was officially put into production in 2009. In 2012, the two parties signed an investment agreement to establish Huawei’s terminal headquarters. In 2018, Huawei’s terminal headquarters officially settled in Huawei Xibeipo Village, located in the south of Songshan Lake, Dongguan, where Huawei’s production and R&D capabilities also began to gather.
This is called the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou S&T cluster by the WIPO’s Global Innovation Index 2023, but actually the Songshan Lake Science and Technology Industrial Park in Dongguan, Guangdong, China in the Guangzhou Shenzhen Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay area.
The photo was taken at the opening ceremony of the new academic year of Dongguan Institute of Technology. The speaker in the photo is the Secretary of the Party Committee of Dongguan Institute of Technology, introducing the industrial situation of Songshan Lake.
In July 2020, the state approved the joint construction of the “Greater Bay Area Comprehensive National Science Center Pilot Launch Area” by Songshan Lake Science City and Shenzhen Guangming Science City, covering an area of 90.5 square kilometers. In October 2021, the Songshan Lake Science City Development Master Plan (2021-2035) was officially approved by the Guangdong Provincial Government.
At present, the new generation electronic information industry cluster with Huawei terminal as the main chain has reached a scale of 100 billion yuan, becoming a pillar industry in Songshan Lake and even Dongguan. When a steady stream of scientific research results is transformed and applied to the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry, Dongguan’s “smart” manufacturing will have endless productivity and creativity.
Songshan Lake has gathered 84 national-level talents of various types, including 21 dual-employed academicians, and has 56 innovative scientific research teams at or above the municipal level. More than 50 academicians and experts and more than 2,000 well-known domestic and foreign scientists carry out scientific research here all year round.
The City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan) and the University of the Greater Bay Area (Songshan Lake Campus) are accelerating their construction and are expected to be completed and enroll students in the academic year of 2023. Songshan Lake, which is only 103 square kilometers, will have 6 universities.
The production and R&D capabilities of Huawei will also expand even further in the most productive and innovative Greater Bay area of China.
Why the fuck should China be complying with any of the U.S. sanctions?
By your logic, China being the most sanctioned country by the U.S. should be sanctioning itself?
China should in fact be working together to bypass U.S. sanctions – Iran also being heavily sanctioned by the U.S. – by directly settling trade negotiation with their own currencies. This, together with Saudi Arabia – directly contributes to the discarding of the petrodollar.
FreshandFit REACT To Cheesecake Factory DATE Gone WRONG
She’s forever the Cheesecake Factory chick. Ironic and poetic.
If you cry out of happiness, the first tear will fall from the right eye; if you cry out of sorrow, the first tear will fall from the left.
A person has 7 minutes of neural activity left before he dies. You will see your memories in a dreamlike pattern during the 7 minutes of neural activity you might have before dying.
When people who speak two or more languages switch from one language to another, they may unintentionally change their personalities.
As humans, we are most imaginative at night and least creative during the day.
According to studies, travel improves brain wellbeing and even lowers the risk of heart disease and depression.
When you’re sleepy, your brain does more imaginative work.
Being around happy people makes you happy.
Persuading yourself that you slept well deceives your brain into believing you did.
The music you listen to has an impact on how you perceive the world.
China is more than a first world country but unfortunately for China , it is neither Caucasian (or of European descent ) nor friendly to them so it is rather called an emerging economy just to pretend to take it out of the disgraceful third world status . Tiny Israel with a beggarly $300 bn GDP ( lower than Nigeria’s $500 bn ) is put in the first world whilst China with an $18 trn GDP (or 60 times than of Israel is virtually ranked third world . And China has technology that even America cannot comprehend — high speed trains , landing on the dark side of the moon etc . The World of Wonders
When I was growing up, I saw my father going to office every day. He would eat his breakfast at 9 and leave for office by 9.30. It was a six days week during that period. Since he was a civil servant, he had to many times go for work even on Sundays and holidays.
When I was in school and then in college, I seldom missed my classes. It was fun going to school and college and meet with friends and participate in all activities.
When I joined my job, everyone in office used to come in time without fail. There were many who wouldn’t even avail their full quota of casual leaves (15 in a year). There were a few instances when due to Deewali or some other vacations, there were continuous holidays for 4–5 days. People used to wait for offices to open.
Even today, in most government offices, there is no concept of working from home. All government employees go to office every day.
During the covid pandemic, most of the private sector companies introduced the concept of work from home. It was the need of the hour and was very convenient for the employees. Lots of people shifted to their home towns and worked from there. It became a new normal.
Now that the things have gotten back to normal, a number of people are still preferring to work from home. I know a few youngsters who resigned their jobs when the companies asked them to report to office for work. They became too comfortable perhaps working from home.
Maybe I am old school, but for me staying home all day is not done. I want to go to my office and work.
China in November 2023, will not be lectured and talk down to. Not now not again. Certainly by a nation build on slavery after genocide on its own natives. Certainly the one and only nuclear bombs on human. Certainly not by the biggest murderer of Arabs, Muslims, orientals, and certainly by the biggest terrorist state on earth.
Get use to the new fact of life. Then let’s talk as equal. No more no less. If the US has any sense of reality not to mention humility, it is the US needing China. Not China wanting this talk. Without China the US can kiss goodby to 30–50% of world demand. Without China it cannot win over the Global south or 170–180 out of world’s nation. Without China the US will collapse and implode.
But the US is lucky China is not the US. Not the hypocrisy, not the hubris, not the nation that wants the world to be submissive and subservient to them. Not the nation that is at war 237 out of its 247 years after stealing their nation from their natives. China don’t steal Hawaii, Guam, and some 50 other islands! And this nation wants to lecture China!
But China is willing to help make America good again. If it ever grow out of puberty. I doubt it will but if it does it will be good for the US and for Americans. And certainly the world.
This is a very complicated situation, involving multiple sides with intertwining relationships. So who’s fighting whom, which side is China supporting? It’s China’s version of the drug Cartel south of the border.
image 37
This conflict is mainly fought in the Kokang (green) region, on the borders between China and Myanmar. There are 3 sides to this conflict:
Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) VS Myanmar’s Military (Tatmadaw) Allied with Kokang Local Forces.
Both MNDAA and Kokang Forces are ethnic Han Chinese. MNDAA split from the Myanmar Communist Forces in 1989, founded by Peng Jiasheng (pic below) In 2009, MNDAA rules Kokang’s capital Laukkaing. A splinter group betrayed Peng and the MNDAA as the Tatmadaw attacked Laukkaing.
image 36
The splinter group worked with the Tatmadaw to drive the MNDAA out of the city of Laukkaing. They later formed 3 branches of the Kokang Local Forces, controlled by 3 families. The first and most powerful are the Kokang Militia controlled by the Bai clan. Headed by Bai Suocheng
image 4
The 2nd branch is the Kokang Police Battalion. Controlled by the Ming clan. Ming Guoan (Up) was in command, but he recently suffered a serious injury while horse-riding on the streets of Laukkaing. So his younger brother Ming Guangcai (Down) assumed command.
image 35image 34
The 3rd branch is the Border Guard Battalion, overseen by the Wei clan. Wei San as the head of the Border Inspection Committee that controls the Border Guard Battalion.
image 33
Other families have interests in different industries, from Mining to Gambling to Prostitution to Telescamming. These 3 clans wields the gun, I’ll call them Kokang Militia for simplicity (Kokang Militia Up, Kokang Police Battalion Middle, Border Guard Battalion Down)
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Northern Myanmar is a lot bigger than Kokang. Kokang is just the Northern periphery of the larger Shan Autonomous State, which contains anther autonomous State called Wa State(Red). All of them are involved in drug trafficking (less so now) and telescamming(until very recently).
image 28
Wa State is another interesting faction, it’s entire government structure were copied from China. The Party Leads the State and Military. Even their congress building took hints from the one in Beijing.
image 29
Wa State is led by Bao Youxiang, used to be a drug smuggler. Wa State is the best administered state, with the most financial muscle, they also cooperate closely with China, to more or less resolve the drug epidemic on the border. Wa State is officially neutral in this conflict
image 27
MNDAA, Kokang Militia, Wa State, they are all vying favor from China. The Myanmar’s military, Tatmadaw that has a ceasefire with Wa State and is allied with Kokang militias, also needs China.
China’s official position is to avoid conflict, and negotiate a power sharing structure. MNDAA, Kokang Militia and Wa State are all ethnic Han Chinese, we can’t really betray any sides.
Wa State is the good-natured elder son.
Kokang is the son hanging with the wrong crowd.
And MNDAA is the rebellious son with a sense of righteousness. After Peng Jiasheng’s death, the command of MNDAA was passed to his son, Peng Deren.
image 26
MNDAA follows the party and military structure of China. Although they are no longer communists, they still have many iconographies from China. Before 2009, Peng clan struck hard against illicit drug in Northern Myanmar Winning praises from local Chinese citizens on the border
image 25
In the 2023 offensive, they also listed the eradication of telescamming from Kokang as one of their goals. Along with driving out the Tatmadaw and regaining the control of Kokang. The announcement of eradicating telescamming was a propaganda coup for them.
Chinese netizens cheered for them, some even organized donations. This is because the telescamming industry were on par with the Mexican Cartel in terms of brutality. They would lure people from mainland China and Taiwan with promises of very high salary. After they arrived..
They are forced to be trained in how to scam people through online and telephone. If you’re not very good or don’t comply, you’ll be tortured or worse.
After which if you are of no use, you’ll be sold into the local mines, after you’ve been exhausted, your organs will be harvested and sold on the black market This can exist in Northern Myanmar because of its lawlessness It’s under these circumstances the 2023 offensive started.
MNDAA has 4 Brigades of troops, all based in the deep forested mountains of Northern Myanmar, On Oct. 28th the 211 Brigade of MNDAA took control of Chinshwehaw, a land port with China.
As of me writing this thread, battle rages on in Kuktai and Hsenwi in the West, and Monekoe in the North. The MNDAA strategy is to cut off routes of reinforcement by the Tatmadaw and deal with the Kokang Militias separately. The goal is the city of Laukkaing (green circle).
image 24
221 Brigade have already taken Mang Dong Ba today. It’s only 7 km away from the city of Laukkaing. But what awaits them in Laukkaing will be a tough battle. This is the business HQ of a warlord of sort, called Liu Abao (all big businesses have their own private army). He’s been singled out by the MNDAA declaration due to past grudges. Liu fortified his building accordingly
image 23
As the MNDAA brigades marches towards their objectives, numerous Tatmadaw outposts were taken, weapons taken to bolster their firepower.
image 22
Graphic images of dead Kokang militias and Police brigades are plenty, which I won’t show. Tatmadaw armors have been destroyed, MNDAA have also learned from recent wars to use commercial drones to drop mortar rounds.
But the numbers is not on MNDAA’s side It’s 17,000 Tatmadaw + 6000 Kokang militia vs 7000 MNDAA. How will this end? Who knows. But Kokang authorities are handing over 2000+ telescammers to the Chinese side as MNDAA marches on.
image 21
Happy to report that Wei Qingtao of the Wei clan, and Liu Zhengqi of the Liu clan of Kokang are under Chinese custody. They are 2 key family members of organized criminal groups in Northern Myanmar, involved in murder, torture kidnapping and telescam. Why is it significant
image 20image 19
They sincerely urged their families to give up telescamming and other criminal activities in Northern Myanmar. Relaying China’s resolute actions taken to eliminate organized crime in Northern Myanmar. All of this happened as MNDAA troops marches towards the capital of Kokang.
image 18
Wei clan is in charge of the Border Guard Battalion, a private army of sort in Kokang Myanmar. Wei Qingtao is the younger brother of Wei Rong, the CEO of the Henry Group, the biggest telescam organizations in Kokang.
image 3
Now, if you’re wondering, how did we get our hands on 2 key family members of 2 influential organized criminal clans in Myanmar? As their clans prepare for a fight? Let’s just say the plot of Wolf Warrior is not entirely fictional.
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At the moment MNDAA troops are mainly fighting with the Myanmar Tatmadaw, encircling Laukkai capital of Kokang, Northern Myanmar. The Bai and Ming clans seems to be the main resistance. Let us see how MNDAA will exploit this major development.
The original Thread. follow her, she really have many info that hard to get otherwise.
I was in a big steakhouse in California about 30 years ago. The waitress, like many Americans, liked our Brit accent and happened to say their head chef was from England. Thought nothing of it because England is quite a big place with a lot of people . About an hour later as we were finishing up our desserts , the chef came out.
Conversation went something like this.
CHEF: I heard your accents and had to come out because you sound like you are from Essex.
ME: Yes all four of us are. We are from Southend on Sea. ( A very famous large Essex town recognised around the UK).
CHEF: Really. That’s where I’m from. Actually Shoeburyness just outside Southend.
ME: Really! I lived there for 12 years,after I was born.
CHEF: Do you know West Road. I ran the Chippy ( fish and chip shop) there for 10 years between ’71 and ‘81.
ME: You’ve got to be joking. I used to come in your shop the last Friday of every month with my brother and my parents to get fish and chips.
In Turkish places they drink too. But those who don’t have a chai (tea culture) where you sit outside tea houses and pretty much do what you do at bars violence excepted.
A young woman was brought in by ambulance at 3am after she collapsed while working a night shift restocking shelves in a nearby supermarket. After examining her and some tests, I concluded she had simply fainted. So I started asking about the causes.
Was she dehydrated? No
Suffering a mild viral illness with a slight fever? No
Had a history of vasovagal faints? No
Had been very stressed or seen blood or something upsetting? No
Could she be pregnant? She says no. Hmm. They always say no. Does she have a partner? Is she sexually active? Both yes. What birth control was she on? None. When was her last period? It was overdue. Oh, but it was coming because her breasts were sore. Double hmmmm …
But… but. … but she couldn’t be pregnant she told me. She had very painful periods and investigation had shown a bicornate (“double”) uterus with both sides nearly closed off by abnormal membranes and she had had surgery a few months ago to correct it and her periods were much better and….but she had been told pregnancy was nigh impossible. Her and her partner really wanted children, but had accepted it was not to be and were talking about adoption.
Could she produce some urine for a test? She was sceptical about the value of doing it but was a nice girl and would do it if we wanted. She handed me the sample and I did the test myself. It was firmly positive. I did a second to be sure. Same result.
I took the test and showed her the two dark blue parallel lines. She asked what it meant. I told her.
She lit up like a Christmas tree. She was beside herself with surprise and delight. Suddenly, she asked what she should do. I suggested telling her partner. She checked the time- 4.30. He’d be asleep and had work in a few hours. She decided to phone her mum. It took a while for the phone to be answered, I could hear the sleepy voice. Where are you? At the hospital? What? Suddenly more awake. Are you ok? What? Pregnant? But… PREGNANT!
We could all hear her mum screaming down the phone, her Dad being woken, and then him shouting too. They were just all so happy.
It was just a really lovely experience, giving welcome news for once.
Modern Women DEMAND Chivalrous TRADITIONAL Men but Don’t Want To Be Traditional Women…
I got pregnant in my freshman year of high school, I even remember the day it happened. I was 14 almost 15. Too young to be having sex and definitely too young to raise a child.
The circumstances that lead to me getting pregnant weren’t ideal and I knew that I would be on my own. Completely. I knew that the father wouldn’t have anything to do with the baby, especially since he already had one that he didn’t see or take care of. My mother told me I’d be kicked out of the house, which wasn’t anything new since I had been living with friends when I got pregnant. My life was completely unstable and wasn’t a good place for me, let alone a baby.
The first time my mom kicked me out of the house was when I was 11, she always picked her boyfriend over me. So I bounced around from grandparent to grandparent and then eventually friends houses.
As any kid who is unsupervised and has no boundaries whatsoever, I did things I shouldn’t have. I missed a lot of school but no one ever bothered me about it since I kept a 3.8 gpa. I always wonder what I could’ve done had I actually applied myself, but I didn’t take it serious. It came too easily to me. I was more interested in partying.
Long story short, I got pregnant September, 1998. I was in denial for the first couple of months. The guy said he’d give me money for an abortion but then he spent it. I don’t think I would’ve gone through with it anyways.
When I was 5 months pregnant I wrote my mom a letter before I went to school. Looking back, that wasn’t the best way to tell her but I was scared out of my mind and she wasn’t the easiest person to talk to. When I got home from school she blew up. Asked how many periods I had missed and when I said five I thought she was going to have a stroke. She said, “it’s too late to get rid of it!”, to which I replied, “I know, that’s why I’m telling you now. I’m going to place her for adoption.”
I don’t think my mom thought that I could do it since that was her original plan for me. I think that is part of the reason she always told me that I wouldn’t be able to live there if I kept the baby. But I had my mind made up. I was going to find a maternity home and an adoption agency. My mom was in a maternity home when she was pregnant with me, so that was our first thought. Thankfully we couldn’t find it when we went to look. I do believe things happen for a reason.
I was absolutely blessed with an AMAZING teacher. I truly miss her and would give anything to see her again and express my thanks to her. She helped me find a nice maternity home that was about an hour and a half from my home. She took the time out of her life to drive me all the way up there to check it out. Took me out to lunch and most importantly talked to me like I was a human being and not another dumb teenage statistic. She helped me in so many ways and she will always have a special place in my heart.
So I moved into a Christian maternity home (a culture shock to me since I grew up with no religion) with four other girls. I was the only one who was planning an adoption. We soon became a little family and I had a wonderful time there. The staff was amazing. I’ve never met a nicer group of women who were so supportive of unwed pregnant teenagers.
I formed an extremely close bond with one of the girls. Shortly after I had arrived she had lost her baby. Her and I were the only ones going home without babies, I think that is what brought us closer.
The time came to find parents for my little girl. A daunting task. You wouldn’t believe the amount of profiles that I looked through! I had certain things that I expected though.
They couldn’t have a child of their own.
They had to be educated.
They had to live “comfortably” but not be too rich.
They had to live close (within a few hour drive).
Most importantly they to had agree to an open adoption.
A lot of people don’t want an open adoption, and I can understand that, but it’s my child, my rules.
I found couples who were extremely rich, couples with a bunch of kids, and I even found an Amish couple. Then I found my couple. Something about their profile made me instantly like them. They came from a large family, lived comfortably (she was a teacher and he was a business man), they only lived a few hours from me, they were down to earth, they couldn’t have children since she had a hysterectomy, and they were open to an open adoption.
I had my lawyer set up a meeting with them. I liked them right away. They were a little leery about a completely open adoption but after I told them my reasons they seemed to understand. I don’t think it’s healthy for a child to live under a lie, I didn’t want her to think that I didn’t love her and just abandoned her, and if she wanted to get to know me one day she could. I made sure that they knew I wouldn’t be in their lives constantly, but I had to know that she was ok.
They were the only couple that I met. I told them that day. I know they didn’t want to get their hopes up too much, but I knew.
So the big day finally arrived. I was in labor for two days! It was hell. She finally arrived very early in the morning. When they put her in my arms my heart melted. It was the most incredible feeling in the world. I didn’t know that I could love like that. Didn’t know a love like that could exist. The entire world stopped once I looked into those blue eyes. She was pink and perfect and I’ll never forget the way she smelled. I was lucky enough to spend four amazing days with her. Four whole days that I spent just looking at her, smelling her head, and making sure that I always remembered these things because she was going to be out of my life soon.
Those were the quickest four days of my life.
The other big day finally came. The day I had been dreading for months. They had been staying in a local hotel since I had called them before I went the hospital to let them know. I imagine those were the longest four days for them. I signed all the papers, took a thousand pictures, and held her as much I could.
Putting her in their arms was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done, but I knew in my heart that it was the right thing to do. I only had love to offer her and babies need much more than that. I had dreams for her, dreams she’d probably never realize had she stayed with me.
And she was gone.
Misery and depression became my constant companions. There are no words to describe that pain.
I was lucky though. Her mother sent me letters and pictures constantly. I saw my beautiful baby girl grow. Always happy and smiling with little curls and chubby dimpled hands.
Five years later I finally got to see her again. It was amazing. She knew who I was and was so excited to meet me! I was scared, but that day helped me so much. I got the closure that I needed. I knew I had made the right decision when I placed her for adoption. I backed off for a few years after that. I wanted to give them space. I wanted to let them be a family.
This past summer she turned 16. She’s beautiful, smart, and amazing. We talk once in awhile but I don’t want to intrude. She knows I’m always here if she needs me. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to see her again soon, but only if she wants to. I told her that I would understand if she didn’t want to, but she wants to meet up. She says that she wants to see me again and meet her sister. I’m thrilled.
I have thought about her every single day for the past 16 and a half years. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wonder what she’s doing, how she’s doing, if she’s happy, if she’s sad. I love her more than life itself.
I think of them as my family. It might not be your typical “normal” family, but it works. We love and respect each other. I’m incredibly lucky to have them in my life and I’m thankful every day that they are amazing parents to my girl.
I have had many embarassing moments as a foreigner in several other countries. But here are two of the most embarassing ones in Norway where I currently live.
“I accidentally did drugs, thinking it was chewing gum.
I was once at a pub with a few people. One girl on our table there was offering this one thing called snus to everyone seated at the table, except me because she knew that I am not into smoking, tobacco or any kind of drugs. I innocently thought it was chewing gum because it looked exactly like chewing gum, it came in a box that looked like a chewing gum box. I was wondering why she was offering it to all the others seated on the table but not me. Then I asked her for one She said, “It contains a bit of tobacco is that fine ?” I was like yes yes, convinced that it was harmless chewing gum. Then she told me that I needed to put it on my gums and I did that. Within 10 minutes, I noticed that my vision was getting blurry, someone was talking to me but I couldn’t focus on what they were saying, my head was aching so badly and I was getting really really dizzy. I felt very nauseous as well. I was so confused and upset about what was happening and I was almost about to cry. Then, I told the people there that I wasn’t feeling good for some reason. Then they guessed it was because of the snus and they asked me to spit it out immeadiately. Then they gave me loads of ice water and I was fine within a few minutes after that.
Image Source:BBC. This is how snus looks like. To me they looked like chewing gum on first sight.
I was told later that the amount of tobacco in one snus is equal to the amount of tobacco in ten cigarettes. To prevent air pollution, people in Norway use snus more than cigarettes. Almost everyone uses it here in Norway.
“Touching food with hand.”
In India, it is a common practice to eat with hands and to touch the food with your hands. But in Norway, they consider it unhygienic to touch food with your hands especially if it is out of a tray from which everyone takes food and if your hands are unwashed.
I once went to a bakery and instead of using the tongs to take out scones and pastries, I used my hands. Then the staff member manning the bakery at that time came running to me and said “Please don’t touch those with your hands, use these” and he handed me the tongs that were placed right next to the tray and I didn’t see those.
But, this wasn’t the first time this happened to me. This has happened with me many times. I frequently forget that I am not in India and take food with my hands, only to get told off by people.
But, now I more often than not remember not to touch food that is not mine yet and is for public consumption.
There are several more embarassing moments that I encountered. I plan to write a book about them one day.
China-Russia collaboration
China-Russia relations have become stronger through the collaboration of Presidents Putin and Xi. They have met some 42 times in both one-on-one and virtual formats, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. This contrasts with 17 meetings reported with Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden.
Stronger relations are marked by strengthening economic ties. In September 2023, monthly trade between Russia and China reached a record high of $21.2 billion which is up almost 60 percent from the same period in 2021.
President Xi said that “developing the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination with ever-lasting good neighborliness and mutually beneficial cooperation is not an expediency, but a long-term commitment.”
The “long-term commitment” emphasized by Xi underscores a comment that he made to Putin on his visit to Moscow. “The world is undergoing changes unseen in a century,” he said. Putin agreed with the realistic assessment.
President Putin emphasized Russian support to the One China Principle and that Taiwan is part of China. His support for China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity was acknowledged by Xi. “China supports the people of Russia following their path to national rejuvenation and in safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests of the country,” he said.
The changing international situation
The changes in the international system are indeed profound. The world is inexorably moving toward multipolarity. The Russian side describes the situation as a transition from Western “colonialism”. The Chinese side describes the situation as a transition from Western “hegemony”.
Both Moscow and Beijing stress that there are now new centers of development emerging. The Global South is rising in relative terms. Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America are increasingly factors impacting the general direction of global development.
Thus, both countries recognize what can be called a period of global transition. This period may extend over a decade or two. The challenge is to maintain global economic development and at the same time attempt to bring stability to an inevitably more turbulent world.
It is recognized by Moscow and Beijing that increasing turbulence during the transition era is caused by the United States and West who are attempting to maintain their hegemonic position in the international system.
The international community, however, realistically sees the changing situation and desires to be on the right side of the transition.
President Xi underscored China’s commitment to work with Russia within the United Nations as well as within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Group of 20 (G20). Cooperation in the areas of food, energy, and supply chain security were highlighted.
For his part, President Putin emphasized continuing cooperation with China in the BRICS as well as in other multilateral mechanisms and platforms.
It was noted that the two leaders had an “in-depth exchange of views on the Palestinian-Israeli situation.” Given that the current Middle East crisis could expand into a regional war or worse, the cooperation of Russia and China to stabilize the situation is urgent.
Well my friend, that’s a terrible trap to be caught in, I know that hollow feeling only too well.
But the thing is, as dark as it seems right now, you will get through it..your not the first person to deal with or the last. It can catch up with you really fast. You put one foot in front of the other and you walk. The day will come when you will remember this all like a bad memory. I truly feel your pain, I’m an INFJ, I can’t help it. If you need to talk you can message me on quora. Things will get better, I can promise you that
Within 20 years, Chinese cars will emerge from vaporware into global consciousness.
There will be Chinese jets, helicopters, trucks, maglev trains and many other products traditionally the exclusive domain of the first world economies.
Why am I so confident?
Whatever Japan and korea and Germany can do, China can do better.
Because it has the scale and domestic market.
All the Chinese need is someone to point the way and teach them, and the Chinese market will do the rest.
Whatever emerges from the Chinese market will have gone through a baptism of fire like no other. China class is world class, because the Chinese market is incredibly open for an emerging economy. The winners that emerge pit themselves against the heavyweight champions who have decades of experience before entering the Chinese market.
The other thing about Chinese scale is data. Big user base equals mountain loads of data. And China has many megacities to do experiments in collecting and harnessing big data and ai. What is impossible to test in say, Korea or Germany is a walk in the park in china. Even the US will find it hard because big, dense cities are not that common stateside.
We are entering the decades of Chinese surprises and delights, and they will come one after another.
I’m Getting Married in 2 Weeks, But My BRIDE Was Involved in an AFFAIR, and so was an OnlyFans Model
I was probably 10 11 years old when I was at another friend’s house playing. We were playing in the garage where we were nurses and and the boys were our soldier patients. One of the boys, that I secretly liked, ask for everyone else to leave and let me stay with him as his nurse. I got so flustered I left and went home.
I have heard a few people say this, mostly pompous folks.
But in the mid 00’s I was at a hacker conference, and we were waiting for me to be on a panel. I was helping a colleague with his notes, and apparently I was taken for his assistant.
Another hacker asked me if I wouldn’t be a dear and get them coffee. The panel was about to begin. I said, “I don’t think there’s time to get people coffee — the panel’s on in a minute.”
The guy said, “Well that’s why the people who belong up here don’t have time to get it.”
I realized he thought I was an administrative assistant or something.
He doubled down, “Run now and we’ll be all set and then you can go do whatever people like you do when the tech jargon starts.”
I had worked at that time about 25 years online, and more than that in computer engineering. But being a woman who was not dressed informally meant that I must have some boss who made me dress up, I suppose.
I think that the “Do you understand who you’re talking to?” was justified, tbh. It isn’t always a “Karen” sort of thing.
edit: No, I’m not saying that a support staffer should have been treated like that either, and I was angry at the guy for assuming he could ask anyone to be a dear and get coffee. Condescending AF.
But I really do believe it was raw misogyny, and I wasn’t worried about being personally disrespected. I think he disrespected anyone female, and anyone he thought he could boss around (which was a superset of anyone female, to him).
Some hacker types are just asshats. I try not to be.
About a million years ago, some coworkers said, “John want to go to a concert with us?” I was a grad student, I didn’t know anybody and so I sensibly (and uncharacteristically) said “yes.”
I asked who was playing. They said “Pat Metheny.” Well that’s cool. I don’t know anything about Jazz, but what could possibly go wrong? I’d hear some Jazz from a great Jazz person that even a classical music weenie like me had heard of.
So it’s time for the concert, and I carpool with the others. We get to the stadium, and everybody is excited, and on the banner over the entrance it says “Joan Armatrading.” I growl “I thought we were going to hear Pat Metheny!” and my friends responded, “Pat Metheny, what are you talking about? It’s always been Joan Armatrading!”
Kind of pissed off, and having shelled out about two week’s worth of food in the form of grad student money, I went in.
I co-signed my ex-girlfriends mother’s apartment lease. We were together for 8 years and I knew her mother well. She had divorced my girlfriend’s father and was having trouble getting a lease. Her mom had a stable job and an above average income for the time. I considered her a pretty low risk. I was wrong. Her mom paid her rent for 3 months, then went and traded her paid off car for an expensive two door coup and bought a ton of new clothes. She started going out and missing work the next day and eventually ended up getting fired. The apartment manager contacted me to let me know that she was a month behind and they wanted her rent. I had a discussion with her mom and she explained she’s got a new life and will get a roommate if I could help her with just this month’s rent. I did help her, and the next month it was the same story. I could see where it was leading and had a deep conversation with my girlfriend and her mom. It was like talking to a pre-teen and my girlfriend couldn’t understand why her mother is not my responsibility when I told her she needed to be the one helping her financially. I spoke to the apartment manager and they agreed to terminate the lease if I could find someone to assume the remaining term. I did find a coworker looking for a new place and willing to move in and assume the apartment. When it came time for her mom to move out she refused to leave until the property manager explained to her that if she was actually evicted she would likely never be able to rent again and that she was being done a huge favor. In the end, I lost my longterm girlfriend, I was the bad guy. Her mom ended up living with her son in another state and losing her car. Not what I had wished for her, but that is the result of her choices. I was lucky to escape without an eviction or having to pay her rent for 8 more months. Never again. I don’t cosign or lend money to anyone. If I do help someone out it is with the expectation that it is a gift and do not expect any to be repaid.
Let me talk about the reverse, and healthcare in the US.
I’m British and live in Northern Ireland.
I have a chronic condition called Ulcerative Colitis, its a gastrointestinal condition, I’m seen frequently by my GP (primary care), I’ve also a consultant which I see every 6-9 months. I take a handful of medications every day plus a treatment called a biologic, it comes in an epi-pen injection format, which I collect from the pharmacist each month and inject at home at a time suitable to me.
All this is covered via the NHS via general taxation.
Prior to Covid in my previous job I was given the opportunity to take on a project in the US, before I accepted I investigated how my meds would work for the 4 months inwould be there.
My employer said I would be covered, as did my general travel insurance, and they would pay for everything on the days as needed, this proved not to be the case.
The company sponsored physician was an asshole saying I didnt know what i was talking about (despite having lived with the condition for a decade, and being a patient advocate, a mentor to those newly diagnosed and often asked to be a teaching aide to medical students), attempted to change the medication to what I assume was a medication he got kick backs for prescribing and refused to sign the script, it took a second doctor to give me the usual meds that worked for me.
If that wasnt enough, the trip to the pharmacy turned into a nightmare and a second argument at being forced to use the EpiPen injection there and then whilst being watched in disgust by a crowd of folk each time.
I then got a bill for $1375. This repeated for each of the 4 months,
It then took a further 6 months for me to be reimbursed by both employer and insurance for the costs I incurred which they had to argue for.
It’s a bloody good thing I had savings and a credit card or I would have been stuck.
There is a HUGE difference between the meaning of the two.
—
When you look at “Chinese Communist Party”, the actual noun is the word “Party”. The words “Chinese” and “Communist” are both descriptors of the word “party”. Going more specifically into linguistics, the word “Communist” is an adjective, while the word “Chinese” is an adverb.
Party: noun. Subject of the phrase.
Communist: adjective. Describes the subject.
Chinese: adverb. Merely describes the descriptor.
The phrase emphasizes the political party portion of the phrase. And Anglo propaganda loves to artificially emphasize the Communist part, because they have a raging boner for fascism.
—
But what happens when we do the same analysis for “Communist Party of China”?
China: noun. Subject of the phrase.
Party: secondary noun. A subset of the subject. (Not quite an attributive noun though).
Communist: adjective. Describes the secondary noun
Now the emphasis is on the word “China”. The entity is indeed the political party, but it is merely a subset of all entities that “China” encompasses. The Communist adjective indicates this party is but one of many political parties that China has had, and will have.
—
See how the Anglo propaganda works? Rhetorically the “Chinese” part is but an afterthought, and it can be dropped completely without changing any of the linguistic meaning. “Communist” could also be dropped, as the subject is “the Party.” Of course, Anglos will never, ever, ever forget to say the “Communist” part negatively as part of their overall support for fascism.
In reality, “Communist Party of China” illustrates that the entity is a political party that represents China, advocates for China, and promotes China. It isn’t just a political party performing actions, it is China performing actions. The word “China” is the subject, and it cannot be dropped without destroying the rest of the sentence.
Yes. Yes I have. And my teacher (actually professor, this was my second year of uni) literally said “this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” so I wrote, on my own time, a second essay supporting my assertions, and the next day he told me I “had a good point.”
My essay concerned ethics and morality. Specifically, I said that a lot of what we call “morals” aren’t actually morality at all—theyre custom and practicality.
As a simple example, people who migrate to cold climates need to wear clothing almost all the time to keep warm. After a while, as in generations, people simply become accustomed to seeing others almost always wearing clothing, and a few generations after that, not wearing clothing becomes viewed as “immoral.”
There’s nothing intrinsically immoral about not wearing clothing. Unless you’re out in the cold, it doesn’t cause harm. It certainly doesn’t harm bystanders. But the practicality of wearing clothing makes wearing clothing the custom, and because people get used to seeing others wearing clothing, eventually not wearing clothing becomes viewed as immoral.
The climate causes a practical change, that change gets cemented as a moral value because many cultural moral values are based on nothing more than “this is usually what I see the people around me do.”
So I said in my essay we should, as a society, unpack “this is practical and therefore customary, so not doing it is morally wrong” from “this harms others so it is morally wrong,” and stop labeling as “moral” that which is only practical social custom.
Anyway, unbeknownst to me, he was quite conservative and religious, and subscribed to a very different view of morality, so that caused some friction.
When I was first married to my husband, we attended his company Christmas party. It was a rather small affair but included satellite offices and clients. The boss and his wife were there when we arrived and we went up to them to greet them and wish them Merry Christmas. It just so happened that the boss’s wife and I were wearing the same palazzo pants though mine had a skirt overlay. She looked me up and down and barely spoke to me. As we were drifting away from them I heard her say to her husband: “Well she has a nerve dressing so well when her husband is only one of your truck drivers!” She had no idea who I really was, my background, my education, my past career history, nothing. It was the fact that I was married to a truck driver that made me, in her eyes, less than nothing. My husband had to grip my arm pretty tightly and keep me moving forward to stop me going back and slapping her face. It wasn’t the insult to me that bothered me so much, as the insult to my husband because of the job he had. Sure we didn’t have a lot of money and my outfit which outshone hers in spades was purchased at a thrift store for $10! Apparently it looked expensive to her though! lol
Beware: China’s MASSIVE DF-1000 Missile Is A New Threat To US
China’s upcoming DF-1000 missile has raised a lot of conspiracy recently. Its deployment with the PLA Rocket Force underscores China’s ambitions in the Asia-Pacific region. As regional tensions evolve, the DF-1000’s significance lies in its potential to reshape the strategic landscape and protecting the nations interests while also ensuring regional stability and peace.
Many years ago, over 40 years for sure, my mother and I were driving down an Oklahoma rural highway. It was a windy day, and we were following a pickup truck which had a huge cardboard box in the back. That box was wobbling back and forth in the wind. My mother and I were commenting like, geez, wonder what is actually in that box, because it looks like it is going to fly away any second now.
Well, that’s exactly what it did. That box flew out of the truck and into our windshield! We were expecting the collision to be mild, since the box seemed to be very light weight. Nope, it was a pretty good crash! Wanna guess what was in the box??? A bathtub!! Just a fiberglass bathtub, but still.
But that wasn’t the fun part! The fun part was calling the insurance company about our accident. You know, the one where we are just driving down the road, minding our own business, when all of a sudden we got hit by a flying bathtub!
Brigtsen’s Champagne Vanilla Sabayon
Champagne Vanilla Sabayon
Ingredients
12 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups champagne
2 cups granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
Instructions
In a mixing bowl, add the sugar and egg yolks. Beat with a wire whisk until light and creamy (ribbon stage). Add the champagne and vanilla bean. Cook this mixture over a double boiler on low heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture becomes thick and frothy, 15 to 20 minutes.
Scrape the inside of the vanilla bean into the sabayon. Discard the bean.
The Perception value of a Chinese Brand is between 8% to 70% of a German or a Swiss Brand
This means even if China creates the same quality lens as Zeiss , a supplier would not pay more than $ 70 as against $ 170 for Zeiss
Thus China would be unable to compete and would be forced to sell high quality products at a loss
Now that’s fine if these products have a MASS MARKET
They don’t
Thus even after a decade, China won’t be able to expand enough to recoup it’s losses
Yesterday someone gave me a brilliant example of perception
India makes Audio panels, it exports the Audio Panels for $ 60 to Europe
Europe modifies the panel with around $ 20 worth of work and sells these Panels worth $ 110 including Import Duties and inventory BACK TO INDIA for $ 300–340
Indians gladly pay $ 2000 for these full systems (₹1.7 Lakhs) with foreign Brand name
If the manufacturers purchased directly from India, they could sell each system for maybe $ 1300–1400 but then the customers won’t buy as many
The Market Sphere for the 7 nm Chip is $ 88 Billion
China controls 3.1% of this market
The Market Sphere for the 28 nm Chip is $ 273 Billion
China controls 41.9% of this market
So you tell me what makes sense?
Blow Billions of Dollars into a market where no matter how high quality product you make, you can’t control more than 7% or so
OR
Blow a fraction of that money and utterly dominate the 28 nm market with the best efficiency and price and supply chain and use the 28nm to handle it’s potential in terms of maximum and be the BADSHAH
Thus Chinas 7 nm Manufacturing is for SELF SUFFICIENCY entirely
China will never compete in all these areas where the 7 nm is used. Except maybe smartphones
Chinas key for competition is 28 nm , 45 nm and < 100 nm process chips
These Chips run EVs, Flights, Superior Drones, Port Logistics and most aspects of Semblance related AI
When my son was in middle school, his German teacher asked the class if they’d like to do a secret Santa. They were enthusiastic about it. They all had the choice to opt out of they didn’t want to participate. My son picked the name of a female student and I helped him shop for gifts. The limit was $10 but we went over it, finding fun and useful gifts at the mall. He said she was really excited about two of the things he got her.
Day of the party, the teacher hands out gifts and my son got nothing. He said the teacher looked so embarrassed. This was on a Friday. On Monday, there was a wrapped box on my son’s desk. When he opened it, it was filled with candy and the kid that had picked his name said something to the effect of “I didn’t get him that!”
At first, when it happened, I figured maybe the kid’s parents refused to buy something, and the kid was too embarrassed to say anything to the teacher. So, I held no grudge. No, this kid was just an asshole trying to make my kid feel bad. He had bragged to his friends about it.
It was late at night on an Icelandic Airlines flight to Reykjavik (the old “hippy express). Most of the passengers were asleep, the cabin lights were down low. I gazed out at the window and noticed sparks coming from one of the engines. Suddenly it burst into flame.
I turned to my partner and shook her awake. “Do you get nervous on airplanes?”
“Nah”, she said. “I love flying; a piece of cake”.
“Look out the window”, I said.
She spied the burning engine and screamed. The cabin became awake, full of anxious passengers. The engine was spitting long, nasty flames now.
The captain’s voice came on throughout the plane’s cabin. He spoke in a confident, matter-of-fact voice “Good evening. As some of you have noticed, one of our four engines is having a problem. This plane can easily and safely fly on just three engines. You will be completely safe. We will be taking a slight detour to Gander International Airport in scenic Labrador to address our engine problem. Accommodations and food are being arranged. I believe you will have a pleasant stay. If you wish, go back to sleep and enjoy the rest of the flight.”
The engine stayed burning for a while, casting red shadows throughout the cramped the cramped cabin. Most of us settled down for a cold drink or two. My partner’s fingernails dug into my palm. “I hope he’s not bullshiting us”, she said.
She had withdrawn her and my dad’s weekly old age pension from the bank and was leaving the bank when a bloke tried to yank her handbag off of her. Surprising herself and her assailant she twisted his arm into a lock, forced him to the ground and sat on him. When a couple of minutes later the police arrived, he was heard to say, “l’ll come quietly, just get this fat cow off of me”
My mum was 80 years old, a little over 4 feet tall and as thin as a stick. It seems that all the years of watching my brother and I practice Aikido in the garden and sometimes using her, to show the other, how arm locks work had rubbed off on her.
She was affectionately known as the “fat cow” for years afterwards
If you ask this question in Chinese, mainlanders and those in the know will laugh.
And won’t stop laughing.
How does China achieve state objectives?
By getting people to work on them.
1.4 billion of them.
How do the people know what to do, what to expect, in order to reach set targets on time?
By being thoroughly informed.
How are the masses informed?
Through an information blanket.
Through TV, social media, radio, websites, posters, slogans, publications.
You name it, the Chinese have done it. From in-depth, to the lightest of touches.
It is called mass dissemination, and the Chinese are very serious about getting the message to everyone. It costs a pretty penny to get everyone on the same page.
Chinese society has changed so much in the last 40 years it is disorienting. How else do they navigate, much less keep up unless there has been a steady stream of information to guide their decisions and plans?
Learn some chinese. The western world leaves too much on the table when the Chinese generously serve lunch, and dinner to their guests.
They leave the feast untouched, and complain about hunger.
Not everyone does, but for those who do, have some empathy. Many become that way because they are suffering from bodily pain, require frequent trips to the hospital or doctor’s offices. Hard to have a cheery attitude if you hurt frequently.
Others are living in or near the poverty level. Some of these were good, loyal workers but were fired as they neared retirement so that their employer wouldn’t have to pay them a pension. Some people are living on only Social Security. That would sour anyone.
Some are lonely, sad, frightened, depressed. It often goes with aging. Being kind and thoughtful of older people could make a world of difference. I recently read of a young woman who goes out of her way to speak with older people, whether in grocery lines, on street corners, or elsewhere. She says she often sees sadness or loneliness in their faces and wants to help a bit. Yet most young people don’t even see old people. To them, they’re invisible. Try saying a cheerful word to old people you see. It just might make their day!
I have always said that it is really stupid for the American media to spread rumors about Xinjiang.
I am a Chinese, and I have been to Xinjiang (by the way, if you like cycling, Xinjiang has three desert roads across Taklimakan, also known as the Sea of Death, each of which is about 500 kilometers long, very exciting! Super interesting! You must come! During the day, the temperature can reach over 50 degrees Celsius, and at night, it can drop to freezing point! Except for the highway, there is vast yellow sand everywhere. If you dare to leave the highway, if you get lost, you may become a mummy within 48 hours. ! Particularly exciting. Ah, there is also a bicycle highway in China, which is a little more difficult but absolutely safe. It is a bicycle ride from 0 kilometers from the People’s Square in Shanghai to Lhasa. If you are willing to continue riding, the end point is Nepal, with a total length of more than 5,000 kilometers. kilometers, passing through more than a dozen provinces, climbing over 14 snow-capped mountains, and countless sharp turns! It is particularly interesting. Every year, many people in China ride this road. This road covers almost all the scenery in China, also known as: China’s landscape boulevard. Trust me, ride it once and you will come back and thank me! It’s so awesome)
*** Sorry, as a cycling fanatic, I accidentally said too much, let’s get back to the topic…
There are many friends living there, both in the city and in the countryside. The blatant lies of the Western media made everyone feel angry, and then laughed – how could they dare to lie so brazenly?
Do you know what they lost? trust. Even the Chinese who believe in the United States the most believe that the American media is fair and selfless. When praising the United States, we only need to say one magic word: Xinjiang. They just have to shut up because it’s so simple, clear and powerful. If they want to continue to defend the American media – we often say that a person can be stupid or bad – they can only choose to be stupid.
You have to know that there are not many people in the world, and there are even fewer people who care about Sino-US relations. One word, “Xinjiang”, can make 1.4 billion people share the same hatred and create a deep disgust for the American media. How difficult this is!
As credible as they say Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. As credible as those who said earth if flat. As credible as those who believe that Elvis is alive.
I grew up on a farm. There was a small forest, which we called “the woods,” on one end of the farm. Every year, my father would post “No Hunting” signs around the woods. But every year hunters would still come there, as the woods were filled with rabbit, pheasant, deer, and other game. When he saw them, my father would go out to the woods and explain to the hunter that these were his woods, he did not allow hunting, and they would have to leave.
One time, when I was four, my father was with my brother, who was six, when they saw a hunter at the edge of the woods, looking into the woods for something to shoot. My father took my brother’s hand, walked over to the hunter, and said “These are my woods. I don’t allow hunting. You’ll have to leave.” The hunter turned around, pointed his shotgun at my six year old brother’s chest, and said “I’ll hunt wherever I damn well please.” My father slowly backed away with my brother and went back to the house.
A few minutes later, he came out again. But instead of crossing the field that led from the house to the woods, he went to the side, where a chicken coop extended to the edge of the woods. He walked quietly behind the chicken coop, until he came to the edge of the woods, about twenty feet from the hunter, who was still intently looking into the woods for something to shoot. My father said to the hunter “Drop the gun and leave immediately.” Except this time, when the hunter turned around, instead of my father holding the hand of a six year old boy, he was holding a .38 revolver…which was pointed at the hunter’s head. As soon as he turned around, my father said simply “Drop it or die.”
My father passed away four years ago. It had been almost sixty years since the incident with the hunter. When I went to clean out my dad’s house, the hunter’s shotgun was still in his closet.
I actually had a customer – the owner of a similar business with whom we exchanged work where our capabilities dovetailed – come in on a Friday and tell me he’d seen my job listed in that week’s classified ads. He told me to call him on Monday, and when I did, he offered me a job. I worked for that fine gentleman for four years, and when I left, he shook my hand and told me, “It was good enough to hire you to stick it to that bitch you were working for, but even better that you spent every day proving I was right and she was wrong about you. Best of luck.”
Perhaps I’ve missed someone else offering this answer…
In 1911, about two hours north of where I live, a man walked out of the mountains. He was finally too lonely to continue being on his own. He was approximately 50 years old. He was the last of his kind.
image 40
Ishi, as he would come to be known, is considered the “last wild Indian.”
In 1871, 4 settlers came along and murdered 30 of the Yahi tribe, approximately 2/3 of the tribe. This was one of many such incidents that are categorized as the “California Genocide.”
As you can see, the Native American population in California declined quite rapidly until it reached its nadir around 1910.
image 39
In 1908, what remained of Ishi’s family fled upon seeing strangers. His uncle and sister disappeared. His mother remained hidden at the camp and then died from an illness. Now Ishi was the last of his people. He remained in the wilderness without anyone to talk to for a few years.
Upon descending, he was studied by anthropologists, chief among them being A. L. Kroeber, father to the famous science fiction/fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin
.
image 38
Ishi was able to tell anthropologists many things about his people. Unfortunately, he was often ill. About five years after descending from the mountains, he died from one of the many illnesses his immune system couldn’t fight off because he lacked any kind of immunity.
One of the saddest things about this is that Ishi isn’t his real name. We’ll never know what it was. “Ishi” was the word for “man” in his language. The Yati people had a custom that proscribed them from speaking their name unless formally introduced by another of their tribe. As he was the last of his tribe, he could only say, “I have none, because there were no people to name me.”
After 2/3 of your people are killed off, you spend the rest of your life on the run, watching as everyone else disappears, leaving you to be the last among your kind. Finally, too lonely to go on, you live amongst the people who killed your people until their diseases slowly whittle you away. That sounds plenty lonely to me.
But the most dispicable thing and the one that I just cannot ever forgive him for is.
I wet the bed until I was about ten years old and every morning my dad would get up and come straight into my room and rub my nose into my wet patch like I was a dog being toilet trained.
He actually screamed at me.
If you are going to piss the bed like a dog, then I’m going to rub your nose in it like a dog.
He would even give people to belt me if they taught I was misbehaving.
In the end I got up before my dad, stripped my bed, remade it and went to school or a friend’s house
China’s Breakthrough in HYPERSONIC Sector Has Baffled Scientists
Without a doubt, it has become universally recognized that China’s dominance in the field of hypersonic technology is nothing short of remarkable. With each passing breakthrough, China continues to surmount obstacles and unveil groundbreaking innovations that have garnered global attention. In a recent stride, China has once again achieved a significant milestone, firmly establishing itself as the frontrunner in the dynamic realm of hypersonic technology.
When I was a boy in High School, I studied French. I did so for three years, and pretty much max’ed out what was available at my school. I studied hard. Learned as much as I could, and did very well… grade wise.
Anyways, in the French Class were a series of books about the Adventures of Tintin. And joy of joys, I was able and permitted to “read” the books, trying to make out the French language in the illustrations.
TinTin 04 Cigars of the Pharaoh 03
I don’t know if it really helped me learn French, but it certainly helped me fall in love with the Tintin series. It really did.
I think the biggest surprise from a knock on the door I ever got was about 10 years ago.
An ex-girlfriend showed up at my door, 8 months pregnant …7 months after we split up (which was quite the shock, but I’ll get to that). Basically started dictating terms to me as to how things were going to be as soon as I opened the door. That I had to look after her because I got her pregnant and that she was going to stay at my place now because she had nowhere to go. She made some ridiculous demands about money and child support for an exorbitant amount. She told me that if I didn’t agree to her terms she was going to take me to court and to the cleaners.
I could barely contain my laughter at the situation…
What she didn’t know was that I am physically unable to father children (the conversation never came up because we were not that serious and it was none of her business). It was one of the reasons for my divorce previous to her after trying and going through multiple tests with my ex wife.
So here she (my ex) was at my door with all these demands, threats and looking for a handout and a place to stay after just obliviously outting herself for cheating on me (starting at least a month before we broke up, maybe longer.. maybe the whole time, Don’t know. Don’t care).
Turns out the guy she was with after me found out she was already pregnant before him (she tried to con him too but clearly the math didn’t work.…classy girl) and he gave her the boot.
I thanked her for letting me know that she cheated on me, quickly explained how I knew and knew that it wasn’t mine. Wished her the best and shut the door.
I will never forget that stupid look on her face for the rest of my life as that door closed.
Well my answer is not something I would usually speak of with people. And perhaps not so typical of what has been expressed in regards to this question already. But we are all here to honestly share so I will do so. And to be precise it was not MY jaw that dropped, rather my now ex wife’s and her daughter’s.
So at an extended family dinner one evening the conversation turned to family heritage. Things were variously mentioned about events and courageous endeavours of various relatives long passed away.
So I added a comment of praise for my Grandfather whom I never got to meet, and was coldly and angrily shut down by my Mother for the interest and praise that I bestowed on him.
So these are the words that came out of her mouth which will NOT be forgotten.
And I quote…
”what’s that got to do with you, you’re not even of our blood and you never will be”….
Well you could of heard a pin drop at the table, and I turned to see my ex and her daughter’s mouth’s agape in horror.
This was the moment I found out what being an adopted son really meant to her. And a reminder that to her (at least) I will forever remain a virtual outsider.
Please, this was shared not to provoke pity, because I’m cognitively stronger and happier in life than she will ever be. Rather, it’s just my honest answer.
My family used to have a really bad problem with food thieves. My mom is a baker, so you can usually find some kind of pastry in my house.
When brownies, cakes, and other sweet treats started going missing in the middle of the night, my mom was LIVID. Of course, no one was going to admit to snacking on her stuff, so she found a scapegoat: Me.
Jackson! Why in the world would you eat my pastries!? You know that I was going to take some to work today, and now there aren’t enough! Go vacuum the house!
Despite my cries of denial and protest, I was forced to vacuum the house. Ugh.
I thought it was a one-time occurrence until it happened again. And again. I was repeatedly forced to vacuum the house. My mom was so convinced that it was me who was eating her pastries that she didn’t even bother looking further into it.
I didn’t know who it was, but I knew it wasn’t me.
I had a plan. I was going to stay up all night and catch whoever it was. I waited many a long hour, waiting to hear the rustle of Saran Wrap in the kitchen. Eventually I heard a faint crinkle, and I sprang into action. Lo and behold, my little brother Bennett standing in the kitchen stuffing his face full of Devil’s food cookies.
“I KNEW it was you!” I said.
“What?! Why are you in the kitchen eating cookies, Jackson!?” He replied.
Instantly, I knew what he was up to. He was going to try and tell our mom that I was the one eating cookies in the kitchen. There was no way I was going to vacuum the house again, so I ran down the hall to my parents’ bedroom. Bennett followed, hurriedly swallowing any remainder of cookie.
My mom is already waiting for us; awoken by the ruckus. Right away, Bennett and I start ranting about how the other had been in the kitchen eating cookies.
What Bennett hadn’t realized was that he had gotten chocolate on his face, and the truth was smudged all over his cheeks.
If there’s one thing that my mom hates even more than stealing, it’s lying and letting other people take the blame. I have a feeling that Bennett is going to be vacuuming the house for quite a while.
That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
Slap Ya Mama Sweet and Spicy Pulled Pork Soft Tacos
Add a Louisiana twist to your tacos.
slap ya mama sweet spicy pulled pork tacos
Ingredients
1 (5 to 7 pound) pork shoulder
1 whole onion, quartered
2 teaspoons Slap Ya Mama Original Seasoning
1 1/4 teaspoons Slap Ya Mama Hot Seasoning
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 garlic cloves peeled
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Taco size flour tortillas
Instructions
Heat oven to 300 degrees F.
Rinse and dry pork roast and place in a Dutch oven.
In a food processor combine onion, Slap Ya Mama seasonings, brown sugar, garlic cloves, oregano, olive oil, and vinegar. Pulse until completely combined. Pour the mixture over the pork. Rub into all the nooks and crannies.
Add 1 1/2 cups water around the bottom of the pork roast, cover tightly and roast for at least 5 hours, turning over every hour. Check to make sure roast is fork tender, then shred the meat using two forks to help pull it apart. I kept the meat in the juices so it would stay moist.
Serve pork on warm flour tortillas and add your favorite toppings. I used our favorite salsa, shredded cheddar, sour cream, fresh diced tomatoes and it wouldn’t be the same without squeezing fresh lime wedges over the top!
I married a woman who is a crack shot with a 9mm handgun (you should see her targets, they’re impressive), almost always has at least two long knives on her, and keeps a crossbow in the kitchen cabinet (yes, I’m serious, no joke). Plus she’s fucking formidable in a fistfight.
Yes. Yes, this particular man very much likes women who can defend themselves.
I once had someone, hand to God, tell me, direct quote, “Franklin, control your women.” Know what I did? I laughed, that’s what I did.
You are right, this view is the same as what I saw.
All the Chinese people I interact with, without exception, say that China is an “underdeveloped country”.
It was already 2017 when I visited China for the first time.
The China I saw (at least the big cities I went to) was completely like a developed country, and many details even exceeded those of most developed countries.
At least in my mind, “underdeveloped countries” should at least be some like African countries, Bangladesh, or even India.
But China is nothing like these places.
They have unparalleled public transportation facilities, convenient cashless payment systems, the world’s widest urban roads, a spiderweb of highway networks, the world’s best high-speed railways, and the world’s most stylish airports.
When I was sick, their hospitals, although overcrowded, were still the most efficient I had ever seen. Their school is in good order. Shared bicycles can be seen everywhere on the streets, and express delivery and takeout are very fast.
There are all kinds of delicious food everywhere at night, it is very lively even in the early morning, and it is very safe.
Chinese people buy the most family cars and the most smartphones in the world every year.
In short, as far as I can see, I don’t see anything that looks like an “underdeveloped country”. Even when I go to a small village in Guizhou, what I see is clean and tidy, although there are not so many skyscrapers.
OK, I asked my Chinese friends with this question.
They always laughed and said to me: “What you said is true, but China is still an underdeveloped country.”
One person told me: “China will remain an underdeveloped country for at least 10,000 years.”
When I couldn’t understand their thoughts and needed further explanation, they would all mention one word invariably: “per capita data.”
I have nothing to say. Indeed, any huge achievements will be eclipsed by a population of 1.4 billion.
For example, per capita income is less than US$20,000
For example, the number of cars per capita
For example, the housing area per capita
For example, the number of doctors per capita
For example, the number of iPhones per capita
They will mention various data, various “numbers per capita”
One young man even mentioned the “number of aircraft carriers per capita” and “the number of nuclear weapons per capita” and then told me that China is the country with the weakest military power in the world. Of course, he meant “military power per capita.”
I think that in the eyes of the Chinese, until their “number per capita” catches up with the United States, they will feel that they are not an “underdeveloped country”.
If you think about it carefully, it seems that their logic is correct.
But every time I visit China and experience firsthand what Chinese society is like, I feel like something is wrong.
After my stroke I ended up in assisted living a few years.
The facility where I was sent was corrupt. They threatened residents and broke laws. So I called up the state ombudsman for assisted living facilities, and she told me many people had complained to her, but none would file a formal complaint because their name would be visible.
I told her if she would support me, I’d file a complaint.
Long story short, I got all kinds of retaliation. Part of it consisted of staff pilfering my personal belongings. The first time it happened, I installed a wifi security camera.
I got footage, and again, long story short, the executive director was fired, and had to pay to move me to another facility.
But one of the things pilfered was not replaceable. It was a silver thimble inlaid with abalone that belonged to my recently deceased mother (b 1921, this was about a decade ago). My mother was a dressmaker, and her father was a master tailor. She said I cut my teeth on thread.
The people who managed that place made my life hell for 18 months. I won, but I suffered losses.
Until last April, I would have said “kidney stones.”
Kidney stones are bad. I’ve now had them three times. The first time I had them, I woke up in the middle of the night with a sensation like someone shoving an ice pick in my lower back. It steadily escalated, growing worse and worse and worse until I could not stand up, could not even sit up, and ended up puking from the pain.
My wife at the time freaked out and called an ambulance[1]. When I got to the hospital, I was curled up on my side on the stretcher screaming in pain when this doctor came up to me and said, “On a scale from one to ten, how bad would you say the pain is?”
I was so incapacitated with agony that I couldn’t even answer his question, so he gave me a shot of Demerol and just like that, the pain was gone, as though someone had flipped a light switch.
That, I thought, was the worst pain I would ever experience.
I was wrong.
This past April, I was making a kettle of tea. The kitchen was a mess, with dishes stacked everywhere. A pot fell from a pile of dirty dishes and struck the kettle, knocking it onto my foot.
Boiling water burns are nasty.
The pain was blinding. I’ve never understood the phrase “blinding pain” before. I do now.
I ended up in the hospital again. I was unable to walk for about a month. My foot looked like a special effect from a zombie movie. I just barely avoided needing skin grafts, but I did end up making repeated trips to the burn clinic.
Burns are the worst. I don’t know if it’s physically possible for something to be worse than a burn.
[1] Because this was the United States, my insurance company ended up denying coverage for the ambulance ride on the grounds that kidney stones are not a bona fide medical emergency. That ambulance trip to the hospital ended up costing me more than a thousand dollars. America, hooah!
If there is unhappiness among Singapore’s wealthiest, then perhaps a bit of introspection could help. People falsely say that money is the root of all evil. They are misquoting a Bible verse that actually says, “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Christian or not, surely most people can see the wisdom of those words. When a person works themselves silly so that they can keep up with the Jones’s they are bound to be unhappy. I’d wager those working themselves to the bone so their wives can keep up with Mrs. Jones are even more unhappy.
They say they do it for their families but how close is a family when all of the adults run themselves ragged working ungodly hours? When do they spend time together as a family? I don’t even mean this about Singapore, but in general! What is the point of children if you aren’t actively parenting them and watching them grow up? Maids and tutors get paid for the privilege of spending time with your children? I’m not saying it’s wrong to have a maid or hire a tutor, but if they get to spend more awake time with your child than you, then…why? I promise they’d rather have you than the things you can buy them by working long hours.
What good does it do to fill a bank account until you are too old to enjoy the fruits of your labors? What good does it do to work yourself into an early grave? Are those overtime hours worth the ulcers you’re nursing or the strain on your heart?
The job market is competitive in Singapore. If you don’t work overtime then your rival probably will. There’s this expectation that you should work long hours or you aren’t “hungry” enough. You can’t risk the foreign ex-pat stealing your job. But does it have to be that way? For a long time, the pioneer generation had to work without pause in order to build a country. But they did so hoping that this generation wouldn’t have to pay the high cost of happiness, balance, family time, and rest. Was their sacrifice for nothing? I know; I’m an outsider looking in.
You’ll say I don’t understand or that I’m too idealistic. Maybe. I might chalk it up to a difference between the Asian and Western worldviews colliding, but the Protestant West has had problems with work life balance as well. And I grew up in a family that never lacked for money, but I also never felt very loved by them either. I’d have given my eye teeth to have had a close knit family.
I would ask how many beds can you sleep in at once? How many houses can you live in at a time? How many cars can you drive at once, and do you even need to when Singapore has excellent public transport? Do you really need designer clothes, expensive watches, branded bags, exotic jewelry, or any of the other “ultra luxury” items you can think of? If those things bring you happiness, then by all means, work hard for those things. But I suspect those things don’t make people as happy as one might think if you are correct about those surveys among the wealthy.
I’m not against someone having wealth. I’m not against someone buying nice things. It’s not wrong to want to provide your family with the best you can give them. I’m not against someone living in nice homes or driving luxury cars. I’m not against sending your children to the best schools or leaving them an inheritance. But if you must sacrifice your peace of mind, your family time, your health, your mental health, or your rest in order to attain those things then perhaps reevaluating your life choices might be in order. I know this will be an unpopular opinion but nonetheless, it is my honest evaluation.
Why do you think it isn’t. It is so backward in so many matters. Education, social care, food, gun law. It is probably embarrassing to a lot of third world country to have America lumped in with them. At least they know what the problems with their country is. But American with its brainwashing, convinced their idiots they are the greatest country on earth.
New GM from the UK was bought in. He was there to get rid of people and make the business profitable. What is known in Australia as a “Toe Cutter.”
He flat out told me three things I will never forget:
“I hate how you are the only person in this company that doesn’t have to answer to me.” (My boss was in Canada)
“I’m going to micromanage you out of this business, any email you send for any reason I want you to BCC me in on the email.” (I stopped sending any emails and called everyone back when they emailed me.)
“Hey where are you going, SIT DOWN!”
Number three was the final straw. I turned back to him, whilst still standing I put my hands down on the table and leaned in towards him across the desk. “I’m not one of the your kids, and I’m not your fucken dog, don’t ever tell me to “Sit Down” again.”
When I was looking f or a house to buy, we looked at an old Victorian that I’d always liked the outside of. It was a magnificent hom,e. 3 stories plus a basement. Fine oak paneling in many rooms, wonderful fire place. In one of the upsatairs bedrooms, I opened what I assumed would be a closet…. it wasn’t. What it was was a dumbwaiter.. and still functional. I loved the house! But, it was above our price randge and they were not at all willing to negotiate. THe house had stood empty for quite some time and needed a lot of work, mostly cosmetic but still with the asking price and the work it was just too much for us. I’m still wistful about it whenever I pass by.
That happened to me once at a Mall. It wasnt my fault as I was centred in the parking slot. I went back in the Mall, went to a Dollar Store and bought a small tube of crazy glue, and went back out. I then proceeded to glue his wipers to his windshield. It was a sunny day, so the owner wouldnt even know. I still had to wait, and the driver on my passenger side came out first, so I got in that side and drove away, smiling and hoping for rain soon.
Yes, I can be a vengeful prick.
American Woman In Thailand Found Out That Average MEN Are WINNING Overseas. She Was Shocked.
“I am a 43 year old man. I dated a 41 year old post wall woman for a few months, who had lived in Thailand for half a year when she was young. She stated that getting an Asian woman was no achievement for a (western) man. But apparently dating a post wall (western) woman is an achievement.. from her point of view. She was also miserable and boring, so our relationship ended quickly. My new girlfriend is from Philippines, she’s 25 year old, kind and feminine. Guess which is more fun..”
For the same reason people who aren’t famous take drugs, that sometimes even lead to their deaths.
See, here’s the thing. For a lot of people, drugs aren’t a problem. Drugs are a solution to a problem.
The problem is emotional pain, or depression, or physical pain, or loneliness, or alienation, or trauma.
A lot of folks look at famous, successful people and say, “Look at everything he has! If I had all those things, I’d surely be happy!”
No. No, you wouldn’t, at least not necessarily. Money above what you need to be comfortable doesn’t create happiness. Fame doesn’t create happiness.
In fact, sometimes fame does the opposite. When lots of people know who you are, but don’t really know you, that can create alienation and loneliness.
Not just for the obvious reason that you can never tell if someone is interested in you for who you are, or for your wealth and fame. It’s more subtle than that. You end up in this weird twilight land where people know you (or think they do), maybe have followed your life in the media for a long time, and so they feel a connection with you. But that connection is totally one-sided. You’re this important person to them, but they’re a total stranger to you.
Sociologists call this “parasociality.” It’s really weird and unsettling. It can be deeply, profoundly alienating.
Point is, it’s often pain that leads to drug use, and famous, successful people are no more immune to pain than anyone else.
In my early twenties and spending a couple of weeks with a friend who lived directly on the beach in Venice, California. I was alone in the apartment when a man broke in. He made his way to the bedroom, where I was standing, looking out the sliding glass doors that opened on to the balcony that oversaw Ocean Front Walk and the beach.
When I was a preteen, more or less, my father took my brother and me to his Aikido classes and we eventually had our own little class with the teacher’s son or nephew. I liked it and was not bad at it.
So this guy comes barreling over to me while saying something nasty and reaching out to grab me with one arm. Without thinking at all, I responded with an Aikido move that I had learned as a kid. Along with my partner inertia, I ended up throwing the guy over my shoulder and over the balcony wall.
When the first responders came, he was unconscious, supine on Ocean Front Walk.
One Night Stands: if that is your goal. Plan to get rejected a lot, to put a ton of work in.
Plan on getting really drunk, and having bad sex with someone you’ll probably regret having sex with.
Side Chicks (dudes): a moment’s pleasure, the rush of something new, will quickly be replaced by the persisting paranoia of being caught and the shitty feeling of having cheated on your partner.
Expensive Weddings: just don’t. You aren’t royalty. It puts a lot of pressure on you both for the event and the marriage. And if things don’t work out, those expensive pictures will end up in a drawer anyway.
Marriage*: often – this is rushed. Make sure you know the person. It will make it much harder to leave and you’ll end up wasting your best years because you felt too ashamed to get divorced.
*if it is right – marry the hell out of them.
Trying to persuade someone to like you: love/romance should happen organically, not as a product of you having to oversell (beg) someone to be into you.
A Shot of booze after midnight (or last call): It’s time to start drinking water as soon as PM turns to AM. Otherwise you are just signing yourself up for a massive hangover.
Staying up late: just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Turn off the TV. Get some sleep.
Doing it later: nothing in this world destroys more potential than procrastination
Stop it before it stops you. Do it now.
Shiny Objects: Fancy cars, big diamonds, they will be fun for a moment. But you’ll quickly find that feeling fading.
And you’ll quickly learn that “Looking Rich” is a very expensive hobby.
Insurance/ “assurance” Plans: outside of health insurance and car insurance, avoid insurance like the plague. They are designed to be high-profit services for companies. (Now – if you buy something that you plan to use the shit out of, consider insurance.)
Warranties: same as above.
Self-Criticism: let it go. No self-haunting. Criticize yourself once and then correct the behavior. Don’t become your own ghost.
Driving your car fast to impress friends: I know people who are in wheelchairs for life because of this.
Appeasing your parents: you pick your own career – not them. Listen – but don’t become “Project Redo” for their own life.
Credit Cards Debt: avoid avoid avoid. Only use credit cards to build your credit score. If you don’t have stable income, you could end up being saddled with debt collection calls for decades.
Yelling/Hitting/Throwing – there are other ways to resolve disputes with your significant other. Nothing good comes of those things.
Excessive Pills: if you have clinical depression – I don’t discourage you from medicating – do it.
But remember – there is an over-medication problem, in the US and elsewhere. Don’t be another person taking a cocktail of pills every night. Address the underlying problem if you can.
Expensive Colleges: you don’t have to spend all four years at a $30K per year school. There are other options. $120K will be a monster to re-pay. And for god’s sakes – study something that will give you a job of some type. It doesn’t have to be engineering. But make it something.
Arguing with people on Quora: you won’t be turning anyone. You are wasting keystrokes and probably just signing yourself up for a moderation violation.
Winning an Argument: does winning this argument serve a purpose? Or does it serve your ego?
The USA has entered the twilight zone
Strange: U.S. Announces “Ohio-class Submarine has entered CENTCOM Area of Responsibility”
The United States has strangely announced that “An Ohio-Class Submarine has entered the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility. What makes this announcement strange is they didn’t identify WHICH ONE.
It makes a Gigantic difference.
There are, at present, eighteen (18) Ohio-Class Submarines. Fourteen (14) of those carry TRIDENT II nuclear missiles with Eight (8) independently-targetable warheads each. That means that EACH submarine has 160 nuclear warheads.
Four of those Ohio-class submarines (USS Ohio, USS Florida, USS Michigan, and USS Georgia) carry 154 Tomahawk (Land-attack) Cruise missiles, each.
So, the big question on everyone’s mind right now is, WHICH “Ohio-Class” submarine just arrived in CENTCOM’s Area of Responsibility? Nuke or non-nuke?
HT REMARK:Things over there in the Middle East are growing more dangerous by the hour. This situation between Israel and HAMAS has “Disaster” written all over it; and not merely for Israel/HAMAS, but for the entire region and maybe even the entire world.
Whatever is coming is apparently HUGE! At about 4:00 PM eastern STANDARD Time (GMT-0500) here in the USA, the Israeli Defense Force put out a message on social media that they have **NEVER** put out before: “Pray for us.” It’s all over social media right now . . .
UPDATE 7:35 AM EST MONDAY —
I have been told the submarine is the USS Florida, and SSGN as opposed to an SSBN. The G stands for Guided Missile and is the type of submarine armed with 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
(Breathing a sigh of relief . . . .)
Men Made a List of Women to NEVER DATE!
“As a American Black woman and single mother of a young adult son; I’m actually not mad at this list Good for them for clapping back at this foolishness!”
“Basically, to sum up, modern dating for young people these days is pure hell.”
“Lord these gender wars between men and women especially in the black community is quite entertaining sometimes but ultimately just down right sad, smh.”
“I am actually shocked “plus-size” or obese are not on that list.”
“On a recent “Girls Trip” to Miami it was either 5 or 6 females all went there together and they all came home preggers and none of them know who the fathers are… MTR recently covered this story.”
I was actually a customer. I could see the massive massive queue and the flames reflected off the walls and the panicky slamming of woks from just how busy it was.
They couldn’t cope. I saw the old man who looked like a thinner version of my dad overwhelmed when he brought out a tray of food.
I said to her in my finest Hakka do you need some help? The old lady on the counter looked up and was what? How do you know how to speak Hakka? I thought you were a tai look lau… (Mainland Chinese). Short argument, wife (on the counter) says no, husband says ok. I go in and he’s looking after 5 Chinese cookers by himself just like my dad used to do. I help them out for an hour, turns out their sons had gone on holiday. Business dies down and we share a few cans of special brew.
He was a man from Yuen Long and had moved in the 1970s.
It was an interview a few years ago when we still had to go into the office to attend. My interviewer was a young man, dandy. The interview started by him introducing himself as the ‘Best PM of the year’ at the company and currently working in the BigData department (BigData back a few years ago was similar to AI today, everyone talks about it and everyone claims doing it). And he said he would be my boss if I happened to ‘make it’.
The interview went just fine; some technical questions I was able to answer. Then he looked at my resume and asked if I was a teacher because I claimed in the resume that I did teaching. I said I’d prefer to be called a ‘trainer’ more than a ‘teacher’. Then he asked, ‘Teach me something. Better something interesting and something I don’t know about.’ I said, ‘Ok, I will teach you how to bake a cake.’ Then I got into my ‘teaching mode’ (I always think that we need to teach things with enthusiasm to draw interest from learners), and proceeded to talk about ‘baking is like doing science, we need to be precise.’ Then I told him the two biggest tips for baking a good cake: 1. Always prepare the pan before starting to prepare the batter, and 2. Even if the recipe doesn’t call for salt, a pinch of salt would kick the flavor to the next level.
He stopped me, and he went, ‘Jezz! You talk a lot. Really a lot. You don’t need to pretend to be a college professor here.’ I heard that and replied, ‘Oh, yeah, sorry. I don’t always talk that much to everyone.’ He smirked, ‘I’m special, huh? Well, I’m flattered, but you know sweet talk wouldn’t get you the job.’ I smiled, ‘Oh, no. I meant, to smart students, I never have to talk that much.’ His smirk dropped, and he told me the interview was over.
I didn’t get the job, have never seen him again, so I haven’t got a chance to ask him if he has ever tried to bake a cake?
My Aunt backed into my parked car. She came into the house and insisted that I pay for the damage. It was my fault that I was parked where she needed to drive. I told her that my insurance company would only cover the expense if she called the cops and filed a police report. They needed the report for the claim. She called the police who came out to investigate. She told them what happened. They came in to question me. Their first question was “is she for real?”
Welcome to my world.
I wouldn’t fuck you
You can hear the amount of disappointment in her voice when she asked him why. It was like her soul just got snatched.
I worked in a factory in a second level management position. I loved the job, worked hard, and was well paid. It was not unusual for me to be at work on Saturdays. I just did it-I was not expected to.
Well the operations manager called me into his office, and told me he wanted me to work every Saturday. I said that I was generally there on Saturdays, but didn’t like the demand he was making. I asked it I would get additional pay. He said no, and reminded me there were 2 people who refused to work on Saturdays, that we no longer here. I looked at him, and said “well now there are 3”! I walked out of his office, gathered up my personal stuff and left!
About 3 weeks later, he was fired! Did my heart good!
As any decent person would do, I walked up to her and I noticed 3 young children in the car so I knew I needed to act fast since it was a little chilly that evening, I proceeded to ask if she needed some help and she said “yes sir that would be great”.
I opened her trunk and to my astonishment, she had a spare tire but no jack to lift the car up with …. so since we were at walmart, I went and purchased a jack to change the tire on her car.
After about an hour, she and the 3 young children were on thier merry way.
My phone rang as soon as I got back in my car and a child I mentor called me to tell me about his day at school and he asked “what are you doing?” I told him “I was helping a lady with her car”.
He replied with “why?”
I responded “You’re never too important to be nice to people”.
I was riding my horse on a trail that went through a kind of alley between the back yards of very expensive homes in a very upscale development.
The houses all had fences that were about 8 feet high, solid cinderblock. If you went walking down that trail, you wouldn’t be able to see into anyone’s yard.
But when you’re on the back of a horse, you could see over the fences into people’s yards.
There weren’t a lot of people who rode their horses down that particular trail, especially on Monday through Friday. It was usually very quiet.
So I was riding my horse there, on the way back from a long trail ride. I was riding at a walk, and because the trail was thickly covered with wood bark and chips, my horse didn’t make any noise.
As we went down the trail, I heard a rhythmic creak-creak-creak kind of sound. Not loud, but unusual enough that I started looking for the source. (When you’re trail riding on a horse, you stay aware of what’s going on around you, because there are a lot of things that can cause a horse to freak out.)
The sound grew louder as we got closer, and I finally saw the source.
A man and a woman were having sex on a trampoline in one of the yards adjoining the trail. Butt naked and in their own little world. Creak-creak-creak went the trampoline…
They saw me about the same time I saw them. I raised my dressage whip, which I carried on trail rides to sweep spiderwebs that crossed the trail away, saluted them, and kicked my horse into a fast canter and scrammed out of there.
I took my car for its annual safety inspection. The mechanic came out and told me that it had failed for three reasons. First, the front bumper was detaching. Second, the little light above the license plate was burned out. Last, the windshield washer wasn’t working. He suggested that I go to an auto parts shop and get the replacement bulb and also see if they had the right clips to reattach the bumper, or otherwise perhaps I could improvise something, but that I should bring it back to have them fix the windshield washer pump because it’s not easy to get to that so I probably couldn’t replace it myself.
I said to him, “Yeah, I’m going to go the parts store, thanks. But I know for a fact that the washer was working fine less than ten minutes before you took the car into the garage, because I washed the windshield while I was driving over. Look carefully, and you can even see the streaks. It rained this morning and that would have washed away any older streaks.”
I went to the parts store, got the bulb and the clips, and then went home, popped the hood, and activated the washer. A stream of water sprayed over the hood and onto the roof of the car. So, the pump was obviously working fine. What was the problem? After some poking around, I determined that the hose from the pump was simply disconnected. It wasn’t an easy reach, but I managed to reconnect it.
When I took it back to the shop to get my inspection sticker, I said “Y’know, it’s pretty amazing that that it would detach itself like that. It’s almost as if someone yanked on it while nobody was looking, sometime during the ten minutes between the time I used the washer while driving over and the time you pulled it into the garage.”
We were going to China on a trip to visit Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xian. At the New Delhi airport, there was a group of Chinese tourists who were returning to China after visiting India. They were asked to fill some forms and were struggling to fill it in English. One of them requested me, and i happily obliged. Soon there was a small line of Chinese tourists getting there forms filled by me. I didn’t mind as flight was not leaving for next 2 hours.
We reached Beijing and realised that the hotel cab that was supposed to pick us up, was nowhere to be seen. We tried calling and the hotel reception, but they did not had an English speaking staff in the night. For the people who have not visited China, you should know that Hotel has different address and names written in Chinese and English. If you are not carrying Chinese name and address, its very difficult to ask for directions. New to China, we felt stuck and helpless at Airport.
Soon we saw the entire group of tourists i had helped. Seeing me and my wife they waved and asked if we need any help. They immediately made a call to the hotel reception and explained the situation in Chinese. They also waited untill our cab from hotel arrived at Airport.
I really believe that was one act of kindness that was immediately returned back to me as an instant karma!
Because what’s socially acceptable is based on social convention, and social convention is rarely rational.
Society has declared that bikinis are public wear and underthings are private wear that must always have something over them. That’s it. The fact they both reveal the same amount of skin isn’t relevant.
Often, what’s socially acceptable is about what’s common. That which you see in public becomes accepted; that which you don’t, doesn’t. Society doesn’t do consistency checking with each individual thing; that’s not how people work.
A student got sassy with a teacher about a grade and the teacher kicked him out of the room. The student grabbed a pencil and stabbed the assistant teacher in the room. Just in the hand, but still.
So the teacher goes rage mode and physically marches the student down to the deans office. Everyone is initially furious at the student, he’ll be expelled for sure. Assistant teacher is shaken but fine.
Daddy was a big donor to the school and the kid was on the state championship bound Football team. Daddy argued with the school, who reverses the expulsion and instead fires the teacher for “laying hands on a student.”
There were walk outs, several other teachers quit, the local news picked it up, the whole nine yards. Nothing changed. The school kept the little asshole to keep Daddy happy and fired a very, very good teacher.
For me it was my mother. I was told constantly how pretty I was. My little sister was told how smart she was. The message we received was that I wasn’t smart and my sister wasn’t pretty.
Upon graduating high school I was told I didn’t need to go to college because I was pretty and would always have a man to take care of me. My sister went to college (she graduated high school at age 16).
Instead of college, I became a stewardess. It was a great job and I don’t regret it at all. But at age 40, I decided I wanted to go college after all. I graduated with a degree in Accounting and a 3.9 GPA.
It took me that long to find out I was smart.
Congratulations! China develops world’s first super all-analog photoelectronic chip
Chinese researchers from Tsinghua University have developed an all-analog photoelectronic chip that can process computer vision tasks with greater speed and energy efficiency than existing chips, marking the first of its kind in the world.
The research team’s findings, which provide an alternative to existing technologies based around analogue-to-digital conversion, have been published in the journal Nature.
In the new study, the researchers designed an integrated photoelectronic processor to harness the advantages of both light, in the form of photons, and electrons, as found in electric currents, in an all-analog way. The result is called an “all-analog chip combining electronic and light computing,” or ACCEL.
Tests showed that ACCEL is able to recognize and classify objects with a degree of accuracy comparable to those of digital neural networks. Furthermore, it classifies high-resolution images of various scenes of daily life more than 3,000 times faster and with 4,000,000 times less energy consumption than a top-of-the-line graphics processing unit (GPU).
Analog and digital signals are two types of signals carrying information. Analog signals vary continuously, as with the rays of light forming an image, while digital signals are non-continuous, as with binary numbers.
In vision-based computing tasks like image recognition and object detection, signals from the environment are analog, and they need to be converted into digital signals for processing by AI neural networks, systems trained to recognize patterns and relationships in a data set.
However, the analog-to-digital conversion is time- and energy-consuming, limiting the speed and efficiency of the neural network’s performance. Photonic computing, which uses analog light signals, is one of the most promising approaches to addressing the issue.
“We maximized the advantages of light and electricity under all-analog signals, avoiding the drawbacks of analog-to-digital conversion and breaking the bottleneck of power consumption and speed,” said Fang Lu, a researcher from the Tsinghua team.
A review by Nature editors said that the team had minimized the need for energetically costly analog-to-digital converters. “This refreshing and pragmatic approach to artificial-intelligence hardware that is highly energy efficient makes the most out of both electronic and photonic computing technologies,” it said.
Fang noted that the advantage of ultra-low power will help improve the heating problem of chip scaling, and it has the potential to bring breakthroughs in the future design of chips.
Dai Qionghai, director of the School of Information Science and Technology at Tsinghua University, said that the team has developed a prototype chip, and will work toward making a general-purpose artificial intelligence chip for a broader range of applications.
Sizzling Shrimp Po’ Boys with Blueberry Remoulade
sizzling shrimp po boys
Prep: 20 min | Cook: 15 to 20 min | Yield: 4 sandwiches
In another medium bowl, stir cornmeal, flour, Old Bay and salt.
To the milk mixture, add shrimp, a few at a time, to coat. Remove one shrimp, allow excess liquid to drain off, and roll in the cornmeal mixture to coat well.
Place on a plate or rack. Repeat to coat all the shrimp.
Meanwhile, pour oil 1-inch deep, into a large saucepan; over medium-high heat, heat oil to 350 degrees F.
Gently place 4 to 6 shrimp in the hot oil and fry until golden and crispy on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes; drain on paper towels.
Repeat to fry all the shrimp, adding more oil, if needed.
To serve, spread rolls with Blueberry Remoulade, add lettuce and top with shrimp.
When I lived in Milford, Massachusetts I worked at an appliance company as a Chief Project Manager in the R&D group. During that time, early on in the company, I was living with a model named CJ. She was extraordinarily beautiful, but a royal pain in the ass. Ugh! That’s a story for another time, I’ll tell you what.
Anyways, there was one of the guys in my company, way a youngish (in his late 20’s) man who worked in Marketing. I got along fine with him.
But my girlfriend, CJ (the chick that I was living with) told me that she had a “bad feeling about him”. But I shrugged it off.
About a month later, I noticed that he was driving around and waiting outside my apartment. I wondered why, but couldn’t figure out what was going on.
Later on, after that, CJ told me that he was following her.
…
Two weeks later, he came to work completely beaten up, and his face was a real mess. He worked for a day or two, and then quit. I never found out what happened to him, but I figure that he messed with the “wrong people”. Not me. But perhaps someone else…
I was asked, as a consultant, to handle a very delicate matter. It appears that the company president’s teenage daughter had taken a liking to one of the system assembly people who was building rack servers. He told her that he was busy and she was not authorized to be in the department. She complained to daddy, and the employee was subject to a screaming match in front of his co-workers and told by his boss that he needed to apologize by the close of business when the executive and his daughter left. And that some token of his contrition might be a nice gesture.
Near the end of the day, the technician located the daughter, said he was sorry, and gave her a handmade electronic sculpture as a token of his contrition. He then wrote a resignation note and left it with H.R.
I was called to resolve the issue and get the employee back to work because they had a backlog that was building on the workbenches. I could not find any reason why someone else could not build-out the server blades and none of the employee’s co-workers volunteered any information. That is, until I learned that he had fashioned the sculpture out of the all of the motherboard chips on hand.
There was no attempt to gain restitution for the ruined chips and the employee was paid in full — including two weeks severance. I later heard that the president reimbursed the company for the entire amount. I pocketed my fee — which only added insult to injury.
I Live Better in The Philippines Than I Did in The U.S For Cheaper – My Story
“It was reassuring to hear of JJ’s positive experience in BCG, and of his low monthly budget. I’ve been thinking a lot about my future retirement and moving somewhere that will provide a better quality of life for my budget. I’ll try to spend time in several countries, before picking a place to settle down. Thanks for another great video, Evan.”
Texas Iced Tea
2023 11 08 11 10
Ingredients
6 tea bags or 2 large tea bags
Water
1 cup granulated sugar (optional)
Instructions
Heat 1 quart to boiling 1 quart water in saucepan.
Remove from heat; add tea bags, cover and let steep for 30 minutes.
Pour into 1 a gallon pitcher.
Add sugar, if using, then fill pitcher with cold water.
To make sun tea, fill a 1 gallon glass jar with cool water.
Add 6 tea bags and place in direct sunlight.
Leave in sunlight until desired color (strength) is obtained (reddish brown) – about 2 to 3 hours. Do not leave in the sun too long (over 4 hours) as mixture may become bitter.
A very stupid woman in my social group was my bully. She hated me and did & said what she could to trash me.I was involved with someone that she had a crush on. She did everything she could to break us up, including making up stories about me sleeping around with other guys (I wasn’t), stealing $$$ from him (I earned 3x what he did), badmouthing him, etc. It did cause some tension in my relationship.
However, she thought it was funny and sent screenshots of what she had said & done to a friend of mine. She didn’t know he was an old friend of many years. He sent me copies which I gave my guy. He blocked her on the spot and cut off all contact with her.
At the time she was living with a guy in public housing and collecting disability. Again, Ms. Stupid sent to our mutual friend comments like she was only living with him so he would pay her bills. That she really didn’t have a disability but she had a corrupt Dr who would fill out “appropriate l” paperwork for a fee. And that she had a job off the books and making very good $$$.
He sent me everything. I filed a complaint on the doctor with the state medical board. I forwarded her comments to the Housing Authority and federal offices. But the best was, being crafty, I created a mini-book that listed all of her comments from her lies about me to using the boyfriend as a paycheck. I wrapped it up nicely and sent it to him at his place of employment. (I did put a note on it saying to open in private…he didn’t need to be embarrassed in front of co-workers)
So long story short, she lost her apartment but gained a new one at the local jail. She lost her boyfriend but gained a new corrections officer. She lost her social circle but gained new cellmates. She lost her lucrative income but got a job at the prison making cents on the hour.
On March 7th, 2002, Gabi Altaraz, owner of the Cafe Caffit was walking around his crowded restaurant, full of families and young couples, full of the sounds of children. He noticed a young man sitting alone at the table. The man seemed nervous, agitated and odd.
Despite the day being quite chilly in the tail end of the Israeli winter, the strange man was sweating profusely.
Gabi walked over and asked to take the order, figuring the man was just a bit distracted by work.
The man seemed annoyed by the question. “Just water,” he snapped, clearly bothered. He then asked who Gabi was, giving him the most chilling smile that looked murderous.
As Gabi listened, he noticed a very large backpack by the man’s feet.
Gabi didn’t change his expression, but said he’d get it. Instead, he went and got twenty three year old Shlomi Harel, one of the waiters. “I think we have a problem,” he said.
Now, with spiked hair, tattoos and a pierced eyebrow. Shlomi may have looked like some bored college student currently fetching drinks and food, but he was also a recently released elite commando.
Shlomi walked up to the table and asked in Arabic for the man’s ID card (which all Israeli residents must carry) The man produced a blue one, indicating he was an Israeli citizen. However, Shlomi had already noticed the bag.
More importantly, he noticed the wire which protruded from it, and which ran through the man’s jacket and through the man’s right sleeve to a detonator in his hands.
The cafe was full, 50 innocent civilians, women and children and elderly, all of whom were defenseless. In seconds, they would be a red mist unless he was willing to risk his life.
With a fearlessness bordering on superhuman, Shlomi pounced on the terrorist and threw him out of the restaurant.
Once outside, before the terrorist knew what hit him, Shlomi had already jerked out the wire, separating the bomb from the detonator, as he was trained. He then ripped off the pack, threw aside and slammed the terrorist to the floor to restrain him.
As he wrestled the terrorist to a safe distance, he also yelled to clear the streets, take cover and call the bomb squad, while using the skills of Krav Maga to make sure the would-be murderer didn’t go anywhere until the authorities could take him away.
Shlomi’s excellent training, heroism and sacrifice prevented a massacre. 10 kilograms of explosives and shrapnel was packed inside the backpack, enough to kill all 50 people and wound and blind and maim and mangle 50 more.
If a soldier has to resort to Krav Maga, the goat droppings have really hit the fan. Ideally, you never want to be in a position where you need to be that close to the enemy, but there have been situations where it was required.
Remember, Krav Maga isn’t just about a form of self defense so you can go home at night safely.
In the army, it’s about making arrests. (And his knee isn’t on the detainee’s neck but shoulders, as can be clearly seen by anyone with training)
It’s about disarming suspects.
It’s about self defense for situations like knife attacks.
And as the story makes clear, it has other uses.
So yes, soldiers use it. Otherwise, why would they teach it?
And yes, the stuff related to arresting and neutralizing terrorists. Not the stuff I do.
Me and a buddy were at his house watching TV and some person on the screen was eating a strawberry. I don’t really care for them, but it looked good and I asked if, by chance, he had any strawberries in the house. He almost laughed at me, we were two 20-year old’s with a higher chance of beer or mac & cheese or Fruit Loops than strawberries. About twenty minutes later, there’s a knock at the door and he goes to answer it. He yells out to me to come see something. His mom is standing at the door with one of those low-cut boxes with a bunch of strawberries. he said, “Tell Jeffy what you said!” She looks a little strange and says, “I was driving home and there was a guy selling strawberries out of the back of his truck and I thought, “I bet David and his friends would like some strawberries…” My buddy says, “Well, you blew it. We all have one wish and you wasted yours on strawberries.”
As an example, there was a woman who worked for me at one point. She used to always brag that she has a 174 IQ. Everyone was tired of it and it really kept her from forming good relationships at work (the “I am better than you” complex). One day, I was just not wanting to put up with it so I said “wow, your IQ is higher than Albert Einstein!” When she agreed, I responded “he invented the theory of relativity, what have you done?” She never mentioned her IQ after that. You see, IQ matters less than what you do with what you have.
P.S. I am a member of Mensa, too, and realize that it is just the measure of potential, not an accomplishment.
Edit: thanks for everyone who up-voted my response. I think this is my highest. I went to my first Annual Gathering (AG) this year and it just reinforced my belief. It isn’t what you have, but what you do with it. Many wonderful people, but just like the rest of society in so many ways.
How is she surprised he responded like this? She deserves everything she gets
Lordy! This is everything that wrong with the United States today.
Have you ever been accused of something very wrong ,and been totally innocent.
I have this mentally I’ll neighbor a block down the street ,he will say just about anything with no remorse whatsoever, he is so envious of me, from what other people have told me that it’s almost some type of fixation.I warned my new girlfriend about him and to keep her distance from him, quite frankly I don’t trust him at all.One day I see she was at the bottom of the driveway picking up the mail as usual only potty mouth is blabbering to her about something, he was out walking his dog. When she parks her car and heads for the house she usually stops to see what I’m doing. Today she goes straight up and into the house, I knew that idot had said something to upset her, unfortunately for me I was in the middle of spraying and couldn’t drop what I was doing.I head into the house an hour later and she seems very tense, but when I mentioned what did the ding dong down the load have to say, she said ahhh nothing really.
A couple hours later when we met at the doorway between the master bedroom and the bathroom, she actually ducted away from me. Now I knew something was wrong and I had to get to the bottom of it, but when I asked what was bothering her every time she had the same response, ahhh nothing really.
Finally I had enough, I said I want to know what is going on ,and we’re not closing our eyes until you tell me. Then she says, whatcha going to do hit me.I was totally floored, I have never in my life struck a woman and told this to her. She says that the guy down the street told her, he used to hear my ex wife screaming and that I had been arrested for abuse a couple of times.I started to chuckle a little and she says this is very serious ,and that if I layed a hand on her she’s going straight to the cops.
I pointed to a couple of shotguns leaning in the corner by my dresser. See those, well if I had any sort of domestic violence charges brought against me , there wouldn’t be any fire arms allowed in the house. She says you have several guns, that’s against, the law then. I warned you about listening to that asshole some time ago didn’t I ,she couldn’t believe someone would make up a story like this. So let’s just look up my criminal record and see how bad I am, in Wisconsin you can go to the clerk of courts on line and check out anyone’s history. Look here there nothing, nothing at all, squeaky clean. She seemed a little shocked. Now I said let’s check out your new friend, Oh Look two convictions for domestic abuse, spent two weeks in jail twice for failing to pay child support and a felony conviction for distribution of cocaine.Maybe now you will take what he says with a grain of salt. She still looked a little puzzled, but gradually got back to normal. One of these days he’s going to say something about the wrong guy and find himself in big trouble. I fail to see what he hopes to gain, except cause me grief. Maybe someone else has a clue, I just totally avoid him and have for several years now.
The expression, “get your ducks in a row,” means to get prepared to do something. But where did this expression come from?
Many years ago, an old-time JPL engineer explained to me the origin of this expression. Sadly, I don’t remember who it was. There are a number of people I regarded highly who might have been the source of this. I certainly believed them because it made so much sense.
Consider an old drafting tool used to hold splines to make curves. It is called a drafting duck, also known as a lofting duck.
What the heck is a drafting duck, you might ask?
Before we get to that, let’s talking about lofting.
Back in the days of building large wooden sailing ships, they used to create full size drawings of the ship. The only place big enough for such a drawing was in loft above the shipbuilding building. The loft had a lot of space without posts in the way. Creating such drawing became known as lofting.
If you’ve ever done any computer-aided drafting, then you will have come across splines. These are smooth curves passing through a series of dots.
But how did they do that in the days before computers? Well, they used splines! A spine was a long flexible piece of wood that was held down on the drawing to make a curve passing through the points on the drawing.
or the very long splines they used in lofting, they had a bunch of weighted objects to hold the spline in place so they could run their pencil along it to make the smoothly curved line.
Lofting Ducks. The little bent nose sticking out was poked into the top of the spline to hold it in place. The body of these ducks was something like steel so they would be weighty and able to hold the spline in place.
So, before they could draw the line along the spline, they had to …
get their ducks in a row.
And that’s where the expression came from. At least according to the ancient engineer I knew a couple of decades ago.
I promised the Screamy Blonde Thing £200 if she passed all her GCSEs except RE, which we don’t care about.
Yeah, my money’s safe because I’ve seen that kid’s Eng Lit essays. I’ve just spent two years shouting and cajoling just to get her Eng Lang up to scratch and the chances of her passing Eng Lit is the same as that of Kylie Minogue dragging me into Meadowhall Travel Lodge and giving me a damn good seeing-to.
Is what I thought.
Do you know what she bloody well did? Passed the bloody lot except RE. I swear she did it on purpose just to annoy me. Sigh. Bye-bye £200. I knew I shouldn’t have spent a week going through Romeo and bloody Juliet with her, still less another one going through The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde. Because of this, she now has a morning off from her computerses things at the Tech whilst the dim kids retake their Maths and English GCSEs. That kid has always been as jammy as a Co-Op doughnut, I tell you.
Anyway, the point. Stump up. You promised it, you bloody well deliver or you’ll be persona non grata in kidworld and they’ll never trust anything you say again for the rest of your life.
Back to the subject of the SBT, she’s spending her morning lying in bed playing with her Nintendo.
Or so she thinks.
I’m about to break the news that nobody could be arsed to do last night’s teapots and there’s a sinkful, and guess who’s drying? BWUHAHAHA! It’s not that I’m evil, it’s just……no it is. I’m evil. But not evil enough to renege on my promise for hard work. Get your wallet out.
In terms of absolute military power, they will never catch up with the USA. They simply do not have any intention to do this.
I think that Americans simply do not comprehend this. They live in a country that is accustomed to wars, The USA destroys countries and kills people in wars continuously. Afghanistan; Iraq; Syria; Bosnia; Somalia; Vietnam; Libya; Grenada etc etc. This has gone on for so long that Americans think it’s normal – as normal and ordinary and unremarkable as their regular school shootings.
China isn’t interested. They just want to build highways, sea ports, airports, railways etc; link up the world and do more trade and business.
“I know who’s wetting the grass mummy!” My three year old daughter one day stated proudly.
We were eating breakfast at the time and my husband and I both looked at each other dumbfounded. She continued beaming at us. Clearly very proud of herself.
“Honey what do you mean?” My husband asked her trying to make sense of it.
“You know daddy…” She said shaking her head as if it what she was talking about was common knowledge. I was struggling to keep a straight face. “Explain it to daddy,” I said to her.
“Ok mummy.”
“Well,” she said. “In the mornings the grass is wet right?”
“Right, yes it’s a dew.”
“No…” She corrects him. “It’s a man dressed in black.”
“Are you sure honey?” My husband asks her.
“Yes I saw him last night…”
At first we were dumbfounded, then we were very worried. Turns out she had seen someone. The next night I stayed in my daughters room and someone actually tried to break in. Luckily some fly spray in the eyes and a quick call to the police soon put him out of action… Though my daughter said “mummy don’t do that to the grass wetter”
Turns out he was a child abuser, not the grass wetter. Luckily he won’t be doing that ever again now. And my daughter still can’t get over the fact that I sprayed him in the eyes with fly spray…
What did she say to me afterwards? “Who will wet the grass now mummy?”
And the next morning. “They found a new person, I haven’t seen him yet but the grass has been wetted again.”
Kids. They are so innocent and at times hilarious 🙂
I’m technically homeless for the second time in my life. Finances were at a real strain earlier in the year but I held on until my son went off to college. At 68, my career in print media ground to a halt and with an exploding real estate market where I saw my rent quadruple in a matter of months. My life was unsustainable.
Car payments, car insurance, prescription medicines and food, I’ll admit, I was drowning. When my son left I no longer had a reason to maintain a household or a car. I stopped fighting the inevitable. My social security payment was all I had. I sold my possessions and booked a one-way ticket to the far east. I can live on the pittance provided me for my years of work as an American. I just can’t live in America.
Since I left the states, I’ve lived in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Nepal. Next week I’m heading to India for a month before returning and spending Christmas and New Years in Vietnam. I live in decent three star hotels typically with free breakfast.
My social life had already slowed considerably as I got old.
I stopped drinking nearly three years ago so I no longer have that monkey on my back. But life, in general is good. It’s adventurous. And I no longer have the burdens that come with life in the US. My son is happy and thriving. My older daughter and her family are doing very well. I’m a phone call away from them and we talk frequently. The difference is I’m alive and living with few worries.
My son had an FBI agent come to his apartment. He sold noncommercial DVDs on his web page of 80’s cartoons. Someone had bragged about not caring about copyright and given the FBI his name in order to get him in trouble.
When asked, he said, “Yes, I sell those DVDs on my web page. Oh, do you want copies of where I have the rights? What’s your fax number?”
Many years ago my first wife’s father was died. He was married at the time. He also had a girlfriend. When my mother-in-law, my now ex-wife, her grandmother and I arrived at the funeral we were expecting, of course, to sit on the front row. It is typical for the spouse to sit there. Unfortunately, the girlfriend with her children showed up prior to the wife and had seated herself and her kids on the front row. The wife, who had more restraint than I would have, decided not to make a scene and sat behind the girlfriend and her kids. If my memory serves me correctly, she did fire the girlfriend, who worked at the store now solely owned by my mother-in-law.
I get that the girlfriend was also grieving. After all, her sugar daddy was now gone. If she had had more manners and civility at the funeral, she would probably have been given time to find a new job (my MIL was a nice person), but since the gf intentionally embarrassed the wife in public, she didn’t deserve to be treated nicely.
My father was the epitome of impeccable health well into his older years, the strongest, healthiest person I knew. Walking 25,000 steps per day, always energetic, near perfect vision, mentally sharp (he had a PhD in mathematics), my father had every quality in his 70s that I wish I had in my 50s! Best of all, he was a very humble man and wonderfully loving father.
My dad was a renowned scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he studied nucleology. Unfortunately, he and many of his fellow scientists developed sarcoma later in life, a rare form of cancer. Some of his cohorts had already died in their 30s and 40s. My father didn’t acquire sarcoma until the age of 73, striking with little warning and spreading quickly throughout his entire body. It remains unknown whether or not the fate of these scientists was connected to the decades of nuclear research projects they performed.
My father awoke in the middle of the night in pain, was driven to the hospital by my mother, and by the time he arrived 15 minutes later he had no feeling below his rib cage. A tumor had grown along the spine and rapidly shut off the nerves, blocking any feeling all the way to the tip of his toes. After some tests, the doctors gave him three to six months to live. He lasted three months.
The question
To answer your question, how did he know the end was near? After three months of being bedridden and paralyzed, with his spirits high and his faith strong, he was lying awake around 4:00 a.m. when he suddenly struggled to breathe. He summoned my mother who was asleep in the same room. He knew it was the end.
The finale
My parents had been together for 55 years, meeting when they were teens. My mother held his hand, and he whispered, “Will you be okay without me?” to which my mother replied, “I’ll be fine.” And within seconds after those words, he was gone. I was on a plane flying to come see him when he passed, so I didn’t make it in time to say goodbye. But we had spent plenty of time together, especially in the final months, so I was at total peace. The world lost one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century that day. But I lost the greatest father.
A co-worker and I were given new employee contracts to sign and we saw that if we were to leave the company we could not work as software developers for three years. We refused to sign, so the company controller came to us and asked why.
After we explained why we wouldn’t sign, he said, “Oh, that’s not what that means. What it means is that you won’t start a new, competing contract firm and steal away employees.” So I told him to change the contract language to state exactly what he’d told me. He just kept saying, “But you know what it means!”
I finally told him that until the contract says what it really means, I wouldn’t sign it. He said he’d have it corrected, but we never received a corrected copy, so we never signed a new contract.
His explanation made more sense than the contract’s language, but I wasn’t going to sign away my right to work on blind faith.
A husband
“This man worked a 13-hour day in 90-degree weather and walked through the door and said, ‘I’m home. What can I do to help you?’
Yet, these are words I hear from him often.
He is not a ‘unicorn.’ Men like these exist.
The kind who wash the dishes after you cook. Who do the yard work because they know you hate it. Who work 60+ hour work weeks and still come home and play with their kids, give their wife a kiss, and ask, ‘What can I do to help?’
Who gets up some nights to change the baby’s diaper while you get ready for a night feeding. Who gives the kids baths and puts them down for bed. Who spends his weekends with his family. Who cracks a cold one once the kids are down, and plays Farkle and Rummy with his wife.
Leader of the home, equal partner with his wife, provider, protector, and hands-on father. I’m so glad I married this man, and that he also acknowledges my hard work at home with two kids, nursing, cooking, and cleaning.
We take care of each other. It’s 50/50, and we are raising our boys to be men, just like their fathers.
I see so many women cry and complain their partner doesn’t help with the kids, bills, housework, give them any attention, etc.
My heart breaks when I hear, ‘Oh, that’s men,’ or ‘I just deal with it and suffer.’
Ladies, that isn’t a man. Make him do better or find better! If you have a good one who treats you like a queen, then treat him like the king he is.
Marriage is a partnership, not a dictatorship. My husband and I both take care of each other and are very happy.
Many blessings and happiness to all you kings and queens.”
Shared with permission via Jessica Maddux
Cajun Orange Mopped Chops
2023 11 08 11 12
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons chopped green onions with tops
4 boneless loin pork chops
Instructions
Combine first five ingredients and pour over pork chops in shallow glass dish. Marinate for 10 or 15 minutes while heating grill or broiler to high.
Reduce heat to medium. Place marinated pork chops on grill or under broiler for 7 to 10 minutes per side, brushing marinade on chops as they are turned. Be careful not to overcook.
Serve with rice or potatoes and a vegetable or salad.
Something Very Βizarre Is Starting To Ηappen At Walmart.. (This Seems Unbelievable!)
Well, this is the first post for my new series: “Correcting Society Ills“.
This new series, as I have mentioned previously, is concerned with RECONSTRUCTION of the West.
As I have already mentioned, the threat of Global War has passed the DANGER ZONE. That was in 2020 through 2022. What we are experiencing now is a “lesser” state of war. Oh, sure, nuclear weapon threats are being bantered about, and provocations are seemingly everywhere at a global level, but the unseen global counter-threats are not being made public and they will quench any aggressive moves against the great Asian powers.
So, global change resembles this dynamic…
Change; old to new.
Threat of war… either occurs or fizzles out with a *pop*.
I claim that it fizzled out.
What is left is a ruined Western society.
And a need for RECONSTRUCTION.
So we are going to discuss that reconstruction and what needs to occur.
Mind you, actual war can still occur, it’s just that it becomes less and less probable as time progresses forward.
In our reconstruction discussions and talks we will cover all sorts of issues and maladies that the West are suffering through. From fat-generating use of polyunsaturated oils in Western foods, to the destruction of family culture, and the strange ideas of modern Western youth.
You will find all sorts of videos and discussions on related topics herein. It’s part of a phase in our society, and the world must go through this to get to the other side; one of an overall better quality of life.
I can’t answer for near overseas Chinese (that is Chinese in Asia). I can write about my UK experiences.
It was Christianity and FG being a very distant second.
Christianity preyed on recent immigrant types and how they were often alone and isolated having migrated. I had numerous xian types try convert me constantly mistaking me for a migrant.
Same shit when my mother got cancer, some how the jesus types found out and went to find her to try convert her.
I told them to fuck off.
Mother told them to fuck off.
$240 Billion Lithography Machine Order Canceled,China Achieves Full Technological Autonomy!
SMIC, a prominent chip manufacturing company, operates in various areas such as chip design, manufacturing, packaging, and sales. The quality and efficiency of chip production heavily rely on the technological level and precision of the lithography machines, a crucial equipment in chip manufacturing.
However, due to escalating global trade tensions and US export control policies on Chinese high-tech companies like SMIC, the company has been unable to purchase advanced lithography machines and other equipment from the United States. This has prompted SMIC to cancel a $24 billion lithography machine order with the US company ASML, attracting significant attention and raising concerns about alternative markets for chip sales.
The cancellation of the lithography machine order by SMIC is influenced by both the global trade environment and domestic policies. As one of the largest chip manufacturers globally, SMIC’s decision has implications for the global chip industry. The uncertain global trade environment has disrupted the chip supply chain, while the Chinese government’s support for the chip industry has limited its domestic development.
The event’s impact on the global chip industry is two-fold. On one hand, competition in the global chip market will intensify, requiring major chip companies to enhance their technological capabilities and supply chain management. On the other hand, SMIC’s actions may inspire imitation by other countries, further intensifying global chip market competition.
Analyzing the impact of this event reveals that SMIC’s cancellation affects not only the global chip industry but also the US technology sector. Intel, one of the major US tech giants, has highlighted the significant impact on the global chip supply chain, prompting questions about the effectiveness of the Biden administration’s policies for the US industry.
Addressing this challenge requires several approaches. Firstly, China should strengthen international cooperation to collectively navigate the uncertainties in the global trade environment. Secondly, domestic policies should be enhanced to support and promote the development of the chip industry within China. Lastly, SMIC should focus on capacity building, continuously improving technological capabilities, and enhancing supply chain management.
China doesn’t use forced labour to make shoes and apparel. It is another political bit of nonsense that the US government made up.
The US government even claimed that China uses forced labour to pluck cotton, just like how the USA enslaved black people to pick cotton in the past. Goodness gracious, what nonsense, who even uses human beings to pluck cotton nowadays. That’s the old primitive way of the USA. Most of the cotton in China is machine-picked and high-speed packed.
So, This is Happening in West Maui, It’s changes EVERYTHING for Oprah & the Rock
The way these people have been treated is beyond disgusting. Greene lies through his teeth. Banks should freeze their mortgages for at least a minimum of three years to allow the people to get back on their feet.
Funny story. In 1986, I went through basic at Fort Cambell, Kentucky. I had a two-year degree, and so I entered as an E3. A couple of weeks into the training, the 1stSgt called me into his office. He’s reviewing my record and commenting that he thinks my records are wrong. Because of my two-year degree, he thinks I should have entered as an E4.
He looks at me and asks, “When you enlisted, did they promise you E4?” I quickly answered, “Yes, 1stSgt.” He quickly responds, “I knew it! I will have you promoted to E4, but it will take a week or two. I said, “Thank you 1stSGT!” and was dismissed.
A couple of weeks later, the C.O. of the training company stopped me on the way back from evening chow and said, “I wanted you to know that your next LES will reflect that you were promoted to E4. I cannot have you pinned while you are in basic, nor can you wear the rank because you would be the same rank as some of the soldiers assigned to the company, but, you have been promoted to E4.” I said, “thank you sir,” saluted and went on my way.
As soon as I graduated, I upgraded all my rank insignia to SP4. I get to Aberdeen Proving Grounds for schooling, and as I check-in, the soldier behind the counter asks, “Are you promotable?” I did not know what that meant, but I said, yes. Because I identified as E4 promotable, I was assigned to the barracks with all the other E4s and NCOs going through the same school for retraining. No drill sergeants for me!
My Mum was a very formidable Italian lady (all five feet three inches of her!) and took very little nonsense from anybody!! When my sister was 15 and I was 9 my sister went out for the night with a young guy who was 18 (Mum didn’t know this or it would not have been allowed) She was told to be back by 10.00 pm, no later! Midnight approached and my parents were not happy (this was in the days before Mobile Phones) They finally turned up and my Dad went out to remonstrate with the young man whilst my Mum exploded at my sister who was well aware what kind of trouble she was in. Dad came back in with a cut lip where the young Guy had punched him!! Mum grabbed one of my Dad’s hobnail boots went outside and proceeded to bash the young guy around the head and shoulders, loudly cursing him in Italian! The guy screamed at my Mum that he would get the Police on her, she shouted back ‘Do it! my daughter’s 15!! I’ll have you in prison! and every syllable corresponded with another blow to his head and face! After about 10 minutes of the the guy ran away screaming in fear. The next day, right outside our house, the pavement was covered with bloodstains!
New IRS $600 Tax Rule For 2023 (Venmo & Cash App & PayPal)
Americans screwed over YET AGAIN. Good thing, everything is in my Chinese family, not me personally. $20,000 threshold to $600. No fucking way!
You need a drivers license in order to drive your privately owned automobile on public roads. If you drive on your own private property, or someone else’s private property with their permission? No.
The whackos who told you that a driver’s license is for commercial drivers belong to a weird fringe conspiracy cult called “Sovereign Citizens.” To give you an idea how dumb these loonies are, they’re the ones that Flat Earthers point to and say “god, those people will believe anything.”
Sovereign Citizens have all kinds of bizarre beliefs that basically focus on the notion “you do not have to obey any law you do not consent to.” They believe they do not have to obey any law enforcement officers except county sheriffs, they do not have to pay taxes, and that (yes, I’m serious) the Federal government sells each American citizen at birth, and so a “birth certificate” is actually a record of sale to a foreign government.
As you might imagine, these dingbats get arrested rather frequently. When they do, they generally go into court shaking their fists and screaming that the government has no jurisdiction over them and no right to put them on trial, which…goes about as well as you might imagine.
People and people, but this will put Americans into a coma:
Older people going naked in city center parks. (I am not going to post pictures, because if I do I will get blocked by Quora moderators who obviously are not German and have never been to Germany).
16 year olds drinking beer or wine.
Kids riding alone on buses and trains.
Autobahn on a Friday.
Some people will behave like concentration camp guards but when you forget your credit card they will send it to you in the mail.
The U.S. thinks that it is exceptional and that the U.S. must always lord over the world. There lies the problem it is certainly not exceptionally strong or good. It may be seen as exceptionally cruel and evil to the developing nations of the world.
China’s phenomenal growth and rise in a way, together with the phenomenal rise of the non western world has resulted in the ending of a Western centric or U.S. dominated world that is in fact a virtual colonisation post colonialism for 300 odd years.
In effect the poor and underdeveloped countries were forced or connived into the so call rules based international order but in effect it is a set of rules to preserve the wealth of the west and continue the looting and theft of resources of the poor to enriched the west. From 1946-at least 2000. You can call this virtual colonialism.
China together with BRICS effectively put and end or at least the beginning of the end of this virtual colonialism order. That upset the U.S. to no end. That is easy to understand. If the biggest mafia in town lost its ability to steal, to or loot at will it may burnt down some buildings and businesses and probably go on a shooting spree. So you can expect war mongering and doing some shit.
But it does not matter what or how U.S. rave and rant. Asia alone represents 60% of the worlds GDP and U.S. is now a mere shadow of itself since 1945 where its economy alone represented 52% of the world’s economy. Today in 2023 China’s growth alone is 36.4% and the entire G7 including the U.S. together adds up to a mere 25.6%! The Ukraine war and the U.S. sanctions and pure robbery of Russia’s reserves will lead to the end of U.S. dollar hegemony and so will western financial institutions.
To me the more the U.S. try to curb China the faster China will eclipse the U.S. There is nothing the U.S. that can do that don’t make the status worst for the U.S. Today it tries to stop the export of Chips to China. It won’t work. It actually means it actually heighten. It’s inflation and suffer crippling shortages. You see China itself now represent 30% of world demand and another 30% of worlds manufacturing. This ban in effect, deprives the U.S. companies of doing business to 50–60% of the world’s demand.
This act will means bankrupting US and its allies chip makers. China will face some challenges. But in a short 5 years 90% of its chips requirements will be Chinese made and in a decade China will totally handle its own demand and it will totally kill off the U.S. chips. Like everything China will make it faster, better and cheaper.
ANGRY Young Man DIES; Meets ANCIENT Soul Family He Has Known for LIFETIMES!
Still shot of a Blackwater contractor during the Battle of Najaf in April of 2004
Service members of different stripes in a circumstantial combat situation can certainly order each other around if it’s in a joint environment, but in the most recent conflicts, now private military contractors may just be giving the orders too.
During the Battle of Najaf in the early days of the Iraq War, Iraqi insurgents from the Mahdi Army began to surround a Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Building within the city of Najaf. Within the confines of the CPA compound, the personnel consisted of CPA employees, Spanish/El Salvadoran soldiers, a detachment of US Marines, and an eight man team of Blackwater contractors.
The situation was deteriorating with insurgents having grabbed an unfortunate El Salvadoran soldier, shoving a grenade into his mouth then pulling the pin in full view of the CPA compound. This was on top of the firefights were breaking out between those in the CPA compound and insurgents who were now attempting storm the compound with the mob that had just killed the soldier.
While this was all occurring, a Blackwater contractor called for help to his higher up’s in Baghdad who had been monitoring the situation. The Blackwater contractors in Baghdad then made an ultimate judgment call to intervene with the CPA compound battle when it became apparent that the US military itself will not provide any sort of assistance in the confusion.
Three Little Bird helicopters were then loaded up with six Blackwater contractors coupled with one Little Bird filled with boxes of ammunition and equipment due to the CPA contractors notifying that they were now dangerously low on ammunition.
The contractors then flew to the CPA compound, unloaded the ammunition and additional support, then evacuated a wounded Marine who had been shot during the battle.
With the additional support of the contractors and ammunition, the combined force of Blackwater contractors, Marines, Coalition troops managed to keep the insurgents from reaching the CPA compound. CPA employees would reload empty magazines then run it up to the men who were fighting off the insurgents, keeping everyone busy.
The Blackwater contractors would find themselves dictating where the Marines and other troops to head to during the battle, which would later draw controversy from critics who claimed that now mercenaries were giving orders to military troops.
Eventually, the siege of the CPA compound would subside after almost two days of battle which could be viewed on many videos via Youtube.
Infamous video of Blackwater contractor Travis Haley during the Battle of Najaf. Critics would later use this video to denote how he had no qualms killing random people with a second nature attitude when he was literally going after insurgents attempting to assault the compound.
The Battle of Najaf would serve as an example of how private military contractors mixed with troops in circumstances that called them to fight side by side.
This does not look like it would end anytime soon with the Russo-Ukraine conflict where Russian private military contractors from the Wagner Group and Russian troops are fighting alongside each other in the conflict.
SCOTT RITTER, ANDREI MARTYANOV, AND GARLAND NIXON JOIN ON NATO, UKRAINE’S TIME RUNS OUT
In this special roundtable, Scott Ritter Andrei Martyanov and Garland Nixon join the program to discuss the ongoing developments of the Ukraine proxy war, what it tells us about Russia, and the growth of the multipolar world in the context of history.
I’m going to try to provide an answer with a slightly different perspective.
First off, I’m an Australian Chinese (in that order), born and educated in Singapore. My family is Peranakan or Straits-born meaning that we were the products of intermarriage between the Chinese and locals in what was then British Malaya.
So I grew up speaking English and Malay and a smattering of dialects. As I was educated in English mission schools, I did not learn Mandarin.
As far as I can remember, I was taught to hate Chinese and Communists. Pretty much everything I read about Communists described them as a threat peace-loving people everywhere. And China was communist.
I think I was 17 when I first read Dick Wilson’s A Quarter of Mankind. This was followed by Emmanuel Hsu’s The Rise of Modern China. In those pages I glimpsed a very different China. So I started reading Chinese history, from the Qin dynasty, and continued my inquiry at university.
Most of my working life was spent as a journalist, a sub-editor to be specific, and much of my work involved, among other things, fact checking.
Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy opened up a new era of ties with China and Singapore was quick to get in on the act (read quick to realise the profits that could be made trading with China. That is the subject of a whole different set of questions and answers). Trading with the enemy? No, it cannot be. But it was.
The opening up of relations with China also led to a relaxation of travel restrictions on travel to the Middle Kingdom. Up till then, I had visited Hong Kong and could only imagine life across the border. I also visited Taiwan and imagined China to be everything the opposite of Taiwan.
Fast-forward many years when I moved to Australia and started travelling to China (Shenzhen, Chengdu, Guangdong, and Shanghai).
I saw modern cities, efficient public transport, rampant capitalism, and I felt completely safe even in quiet streets in the wee hours of the morning.
Many of the Chinese I met were as friendly as people in other places that I have travelled. Often friendlier. Especially to an ethnic Chinese who did not speak the language (I started learning conversational Mandarin at 54 and can now read a write a little).
To the core of the question: Much of the information about China that’s peddled about is false. Many people have very wrong impressions and ideas about the PRC. And most of the people who hold these ideas will never go to China to see and verify for themselves if what is reported is anywhere near the truth.
So I, and many others, try to provide a balance by correcting the grosser erros of belief held by many as a result of, well, propaganda.
A footnote: In my youth I wanted to move to the West (America, UK, the Scandinavian countries, … thataway). If I were young again, I would go east. To China.
Netherlands Reconsiders Huawei After 5G Successes
“If US is not learning from China, it is more important that China learns from US. China should never forget who forsaken her in its hours of need. To be kind to enemy is to be cruel to oneself .”
I won a scratch ticket for $100,000 one hundred thousand. the accoutant handled the taxes.
After claiming my prize we had 2 weeks where different reporters were looking for pictures and wanting to do an interview with the store that sold the winning ticket. churches and charities knocking on the door looking for a slice.
3 people i went to grade school with came knocking I had not seen them in 10 years. Family calling wanting to get a share or asking for a loan they cant afford to repay.
people were confused when I told them I spent it all.
I divided it up 3 ways and gave equal amounts to my 3 kids for thier college funds. I
f I ever hit another winning ticket I am getting a lawyer to deal with the bullcrap and I am gonna move to Alaska to a remote cabin in the middle of nowheresville with no phone or roads.
That you can hope to understand China using the English medium.
I am confident I am in the top 1 percentile when it comes to Chinese proficiency in the pool of English speakers beyond the mainland.
I won’t be surprised if I am in the top 0.1 percentile either.
But if I were honest, I will admit as an east Asian that I find it difficult to keep up with the mainland, even though I possess skills and networks to access media and contacts within greater China.
No, it’s not just about the language struggle, which exists even for someone like me with more than a decade’s worth of formal education in the Chinese language.
It is about developing a contextual understanding for mainland frames of reference and how the mainlander thinks.
That is mostly absent in this medium, even among the rare pool of articles grounded in facts. Most are written by east Asians, not westerners.
My advice? Don’t waste time on the China expert who doesn’t speak Chinese. Even foreigners who do are often wrong or misguided, because that is what it takes to pass through the stringent msm filter these days.
The new employee was just starting, his first day, first morning on the job…
Every morning employees would gather all of their supplies, tools, etc. and load their vans to be ready for the day’s work.
All new employees are to ride with a senior person to gain knowledge and get the hang of things. This was our busiest season and the day was FULL of jobs that needed to be done – all previously scheduled and set in time slots.
This employee was in the process of helping load the van when he came to me and said:
“I need to go to an appointment today; I need the (driver) to drop me off and then pick me up, or wait for me to get done.”
Me: “I am sorry, we are too busy to be able to do all of that on work time. If it is important why don’t you just take the day off, go to your appointment and come back tomorrow ready to go?”
Employee: “Are you F@*king kidding me? What kind of place is this that you don’t care about your employees!!”
Me: “Ummmm, I said you can have the day off, it’s your first day here and I still said go ahead and take the day and come back tomorrow ready to go, I am not sure I understand?”
Employee: “This is BullS@@t, I can’t believe you won’t take care of your employees and have him drive me to my appointment across town and wait for me, you’re F@*ing ridiculous.”
Me: “Um, I am trying to be reasonable here and work with you. How about you can take your own car and follow behind him and when you need to go you can just cut out and go to your appointment. We don’t have the time to do that for you. ”
Employee: “This is ridiculous, I can’t believe you treat your employees this way, you are being so unfair, this is Bull S#@t, F@*!ng ridiculous!”
Me: “Actually, why don’t you go ahead and go home and not come back at all. Thank you for your time.”
Employee then was shocked that I fired him and could not believe or understand why I was letting him go.
This was truly shocking to me. Fired him on the spot within ONE hour of being employed.
“Ukrainian soldiers are being DRUGGED and forced to fight” Ex-CIA Larry Johnson
We now have reports that captured Ukrainian soldiers are turning up drugged out of their minds on some kind of inhibition blocker. Reports say these soldiers are going on withdrawals after being captured. Ex-CIA analyst Larry Johnson joins us to discuss.
The relationship with China from the U.S. perspective as always needs to be one of subservience and submissive to the U.S. That has been the default mode of what US expect it to be since 1945. Let’s call a spade a spade. The U.S. cannot deal with a nation that can and will say no to the U.S.
But if I should be completely honest to the US I will recommend to them to move on and keep your winnings. China with 1.4 billion highly discipline, extremely hard working people who are driven and industrious, today equipped with the state of art infrastructure and leading in 37/44 key and strategic technology cannot be push aside without untold damages to the U.S. itself.
But the U.S. political system, one based totally on popularity contest means that it cannot be pragmatic and realistic. It has to drain tremendous resources to try to keep its hegemonic place, even if it means bankrupting the U.S. that is precisely what the U.S is doing today.
For China is is so simple. Let the US have a long and strong rope to hang itself slowly to death. Lure the U.S. to fight China in a way that drains away the U.S. resources, influence and turned away its allies one by one. It does that be staying the moral high ground. It is the U.S. that is desperate so while the U.S. goes low, China stays high. It is winning without a fight. Remember Mohamad Ali “Rope a dope” the big George Foreman drains all its energy and knock him out in 15 rounds.
China is doing the “rope a dope” while the U.S. is ranting and panting away. Trump thought it wins popularity by starting the trade war with China. China pretends to avoid war but knows so well that it will hurt and harm the U.S. several folds of what it hurts China. Do you notice Biden wants to end the tariff and China says. Not so fast Amigo!
The implications to US allies are particularly bad and the more of a U.S. lackey the worst it gets. Asia is doing just fine and dandy.
How did it come to be? Well China grew astronomically strong economically, politically and even militarily and the U.S. is in denial and Americans are ignorant and naive about China till it is way past too late. The U.S. is in a quick sand. The more it struggles. The faster it sinks.
Since you asked about implications, The US pay the highest price for doing shit on China. The world is moving on faster than the U.S. realised. The U.S. dollar hegemony is all but gone. The U.S. and western order may appeal to a handful of its close allies. No different from a pack of street hoodlums hanging on to its biggest bully as beneficiaries.
US debts will reach 100 trillion in a decade, US deficits cannot go down. It cannot make anything at less than twice it cost worldwide. US standard of living has stagnated back 60 years to the 1960s. And the poor U.S. growing while it’s middle class is collapsing.
Meanwhile for China, you ain’t seen nothing yet! Once it made T-shirts and Toys. Today it makes your computers and smartphones. Soon it makes your EVs and AI and Jet planes. It middle class is now at 700 million will grow to 1 billion people within a generation. 4–6 times the size of the U.S. middle income.
Harvard Economist Reveals Shocking SECRET About China In 2023
Dr. Keyu Jin is one of the most outstanding China insiders. She is a professor at the London School of Economics and has an incredible knowledge of how the US and China both work. In today’s video I share with you her insights into China innovation and how China really works.
16 People Describe What A Dead Body Smell Like
1. “Understand that a pound or two of rotten meat only gives you a faint whiff of the smell of a full-grown corpse. The power of the smell is incredible. Personally, I’m not sure it’s describable. You want to gag when you’re fifty feet away. It can take years for the smell to leave a house. It just lingers in the background. Cars are totalled by the insurance company for the odor. And the guy driving the wrecker can’t drive fast enough to get away from the smell.
It gets on your skin and clothes. (People use bio-suits for body removal for a reason.) Maggots abound, fluids abound, and I’ve never read a good description of the experience. No matter how well you write, it will be but a pale imitation of the experience.”
2. “Buy a Boston Butt pork roast and let it rot. Pigs and humans are apparently similar, meat-wise. It actually turns like a sea blue-green color. (It smells like farts and then gets worse.)”
3. “A dead body, specifically a human corpse has a rank and pungent smell mixed with a tinge of sickening sweetness. Imagine a rotting piece of meat with a couple drops of cheap perfume and you’re halfway to understanding what a human corpse smells like.”
4. “It varies from person to person and how long they have been decomposing.
You get a very sharp, foul smell similar to horrible cheese mixed with the same smell you get from a full trash can in the sun.
If the body decompressed and they had a full bladder, you’ll also smell body fluids, so stale urine and straight fecal matter. For those who don’t know, toilet poop smells bad, but shit that is airborne, not water logged or anything is straight horrific on its own.
If you have flying insect and larva development increase smell this far times two. If it’s hot outside times three and if it’s cold out and the heat in the house is cranked it’s times five at minimum for the dry heat.
The worse part is the materials they died on. Wood mixed with death has a woody slime smell mixed with the death ratio above, carpet has a wet padding smell (like cat wizz) plus death and it’ll it’s on furniture it’s really fun as it usually leaks through to the carpet and wood subfloor.
If you’re smelling these things outside a house, you don’t want to be near it when they go in. Cleaning and deodorizing that is pretty rough.”
“I have assisted in an autopsy on a body several days old, and even though it was in a huge chilling compartment, the smell was in the whole complex. It smells like there are a million dead and rotting rats around you.”
5. “Rotten eggs, feces, and a used toilet left out for a month x 1000. It is unholy.
The smell gets into your throat and you can taste it. You will literally run to find some clean air. Even then, it lingers and you can’t quite get the smell away. Even though you can no longer physically smell it, you remember it and it takes quite a while to get over it.”
6. “A dead body to me smells like a cross between rotting meat and very dirty kitty litter box. Very distinct smell that you won’t forget.”
7. “You ever have like a dead mouse or something hiding somewhere and you just smell something awful? It’s pretty much that. The best I can sum it up to is like shit mixed with meat…in a weird way
8. “In my experience, any formerly living creature, whether human or non-human, has that same powerful, pungent, disgusting odor that I can only describe as a garbage can left to ferment in high heat for an extended period of time. It does vary some between species, though.
A couple of other answers written in this feed point to some things that are accurate. First, two chemicals, Putrescine and Cadaverine, are both found in decomposing tissue. Both are diamenes and they are produced as a result of amino acids (most notably Lysine) breaking down. They each gave their own characteristic odor which by themselves are bad enough. When they are combined due to the simultaneous presence, they are indescribable.
Second, pigs are indeed closest to humans in terms of the odor they give off when decomposing. Any animal with a musk gland (skunks, badgers, and muskrats are some examples. I’m sure there are many others as well) are also pretty stinky when they break down. All produce these same two chemicals because when you think about it, any creature that breathes in Oxygen and releases Carbon Dioxide is going to have a similar metabolic makeup that, when stopped is going to respond in a similar manner.”
9. “Once, I took a trip. When I returned, there was a terrible odor in my den. I know the odor of dead animals on the road or in the forests. Mom puts out poison for mice, so I have smelled them under things in her home. There was a rotten odor like this in my den, so I looked under everything, but I found nothing. The next day, I saw some cops and medics at the next apartment. I learned that my neighbor had died and decomposed for days before anyone found him. The odor is sickening. It’s hard to describe fully.”
10. “It depends how long it’s been dead but if you have ever smelled rotten meat it’s similar to that. some words commonly used to describe it would probably be rancid, foul, putrid, the smell of decay, etc. If it’s decomposed down to the skeleton there probably won’t be any smell anymore since the flesh, muscle, and organs are the ones that create the most smell and decay quickly.”
11. “I recently in countered a dead body that had been rotting in a van near my home for 5-7 days. At first, I though it was Korean people making kimchi, but after seeing the body removal with my own eyes I know that the smell was not of pickled vegetables. I work for a plumbing company so I’m always finding myself walking in raw sewage in basements. And I have to say the smell is similar to sewage or waste. Its nauseating and quite foul. Authorities have removed the body, but the area still smells of fragrant corpse. To be honest, I don’t know why you’d ever wonder about this. But yes indeed, it’s very disgusting. As a female I always find myself running out of breath when I’m dealing with sewage, but a body is about 10 times worse.”
Now, death depends on the environment in my opinion. I’ve smelt a few bodies in morgues and things like that, they just smell of death, it’s indescribable really, but you remember that smell. It’s a cold smell, a heavy smell (this is the best way I can describe it).
Rotting corpses of course just smell like any other rotting mammals, next time you spot some road-kill, stop and give it a sniff, pretty much what a rotting human corpse smells like.”
12. “I was a volunteer firefighter and police had to enter the residence before any of us could. The SCBA is automatic. So I quickly put it on a cop to enter the residence of a woman who neighbors haven’t seen in weeks. Those SCBAs block toxins and the cop ran out of the house drowning on his vomit. He claims he smelled her through the mask….That’s how bad a dead person smells. We eat everything. Those toxins in our bodies is what makes us stink so bad when we die. And to make it worse, when I got home I snorted soap while in the shower. A few hours later I began smelling the stench of her again. The bacteria is said to cling to your nostril hair and remultiplies later until it’s gone. I can’t tell you what it smells like. You’ll know it when you do.”
13. “Not very pleasant. It is a very strong, stomach turning, smell. It does in a way smell like rotten eggs, but it is much more intense. That is the best I can describe the smell, but I heard from someone else on how to make a small replica of it. Take a bag of soy beans, saturate them in water,let them stand a few days in heat above 70F while keeping them moist,crush some of the mixture.In a few days you will smell what decaying flesh/protein smells like.”
14. “My brother-in-law died in his appt. & was there 5 days before being found. When my wife & I went for the funeral (just a picture of him, no body) we went to help clean his place. I can’t describe the smell nor will I ever forget it. It permeated all soft things so badly they had to be throw out, we managed to keep a couple tables only. Even the TV stunk after airing out for week.
15. “Take some meat and leave it in a bag outside for about 3 days in the middle of summer. Then open the bag and mix in some Mexican food diarrhea. Add a good helping of the strongest catfish stink bait you can find. Mix well. This is the best that Death will ever smell.”
16. “Living in an apartment building and the guy next door fell in his bathtub (apparently). We didn’t see him often, so it wasn’t anything weird to not see him but his audio books were put on his doorknob and stayed for a couple days (he was blind, they delivered books to him to listen to).
Started smelling really weird, and since my son was just a baby at that time we’d initially thought somehow we hadn’t put a diaper in the garbage and it had ended up somewhere and was stinking up the place, searched high and low but couldn’t find it. The landlady knocked on his door (all our doors, handing out notices) and we mentioned we hadn’t seen him in a bit…half an hour later she was letting the police into his place.
I can’t imagine the smell in the same room though, it was bad enough being in the next apartment!”
No China don’t need the U.S. to survived or even to be a moderate growth economy in 2023. I will argue that containment, decoupling or de-risking of China which to me and most in the world means the same thing, is counter beneficial to the U.S. and good for China in the long term. The U.S. meanwhile loses the worlds. Biggest market or equivalent to the 2nd to the 10th biggest market for the U.S. put together.
There lies the enormity of the U.S. problem. Without China, the U.S. will suffer between 25–50% inflation which will highly impoverish American’s on the one hand with its U.S. brands becoming unsaleable and losing market share by half at least. All these while losing a humongous market.
By right the U.S. ought to not even dare to utter those threatening words but U.S. politicians lose too much to go soft after their media demonised China for a century. Sure China could be richer with the U.S. being rational. But China don’t take threats by the U.S lightly. The US political system is essentially a popularity contest and even if is suicidal the politicians compete to be a bigger China hawk while its own people suffer.
The trouble with threat is once you utter the word on banning China, sanctioning China, decoupling from China, containing China or even de-risking from China. China won’t hold back to defend itself. And China will make sure it will never depend on the U.S. and the west. That means China will totally do its own thing from now onwards.
That is very bad news for the U.S. as China do everything better, faster and cheaper than anyone on earth by a long shot. And the Huawei Mate 60 pro proved beyond doubt that there is nothing it cannot do! The U.S. should really think many times over before it challenge China for American sake. But the trade war and the chip ban proved to me and the world beyond doubt that the U.S. government don’t care about its own people and it’s own economy.
Don’t follow any instruction related to investing money or sanctioning a loan or allocating money UNLESS YOU HAVE A WRITTEN INSTRUCTION from your superior/cby email or whatsApp or paper letter
Never start smoking due to peer pressure or tension. Use bubble gum instead
First Beer with first month paycheck. First hard liquor after six months of paychecks at least.
Don’t express any political opinion or make any comment apart from work and movies and games and sports
Don’t ever go over your superiors head unless he is on leave or unreachable or is a total dumbo
When a woman wants to come to your office to talk to you, keep your door open or ask a friendly female colleague to sit in the office during the meeting under the pretext of taking notes
Never meet any Vendor or Supplier outside work or at your home. Always meet in office and keep your door open during the meeting and ask a colleague in to pretend to take notes
Never accept any gifts from Vendors or Suppliers whose value exceeds ₹2000/— unless everyone else is accepting the gifts and it’s been approved by your superiors
Never ever accept a meeting in a Hotel room with a potential client or customer. Always MEET IN THE LOBBY OR COFFEE SHOP where you have CCTV cameras
You may be finding yourself forced to spend a lot of money by being in the company of your superiors and indulge in pubs, golfing and high class call girls. Resist. Make excuses and resist until they get the message
No more than 120 ml of Scotch / Rum with 180 ml Club Soda Or Tonic Water Or 3 Tequila Shots at any office party , in fact my son makes the excuse that his liver is weak and avoids any drink entirely
Save around 45% of your paycheck if possible. At least 30%
Don’t ever eat Chickpeas, Beans, Cauliflowers, Kadalai, Sundal for breakfast. If you fart, you become a joke and it’s tough to recover your reputation
Never assume your female colleague who laughs and talks to you likes you romantically. Always ASK if in doubt. Simply ask “Are we friends or could this turn into something more”. Don’t presume.
She Is Against Mandatory Paternity Tests At Birth
This is trending in the United States. Jeeze!
“That woman who said requiring DNA testing would open up a can of worms scared the daylight out of me. Is she suggesting that a whole host of men are providing for children that aren’t theirs and letting this be known would blow up lots of families? What on earth have you women been up to?”
Graham Perry is a UK-based China observer, and wrote a good piece on China/US relations which is worth reading at length:
On the surface things look good in the US; unemployment is low; their economy is growing at 2.4% and inflation is falling. And yet consumer confidence, according to Irwin Stelzer in the Sunday Times, is at its lowest in four months. And Prof Percy Allen – in Pearls and Irritations – concludes that American society is more divided than it has been since its Civil War of the 1860s. “According to a Pew Research poll
about six in ten Republicans and more than half of Democrats have a very unfavourable view of the other party. Thirty years ago, fewer than a quarter in both parties rated the other party badly.”
A recent CNN poll showed almost 70% of Republicans do not accept the electoral legitimacy of the Biden administration. And almost 60% of voters lack confidence that elections in the US today reflect the will of the people.
Other polls by States United Action and Chicago University’s CPOST Research Centre found that over half US voters think elections won’t solve America’s most fundamental political and social problems, and almost half consider political elites, both Democrats and Republicans, are the most immoral and corrupt people in America. The US is fast becoming a dysfunctional nation – and that was before yesterday’s sacking of Speaker McCarthy.
But when it comes to China, Americans unite and rally around the flag. Hatred of China is the one single issue that brings America together.President Biden’s #1 worry
is that China will become the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. Biden has promised to stop that. He has referred to China as “bad people” who when they have problems do “bad things” The demonisation of China has clearly worked. The 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 83% of Americans hold negative views of China. The share who says China is an “enemy” is now 38%. AnIPSOS poll
found one-third of Americans view China as an imminent threat and two in five Americans think that war with China is likely in the next five years.
The US under Bush and Obama held to the view that China’s economic growth and increased prosperity would bring a relaxation of political rhetoric as the number of Chinese middle class citizens increased. Expanding economic rights would lead inevitably to increased political rights and the downgrading of the role of China’s Communist Party. China would become “compliant reasonable and accommodating”. It has not happened. Billionaires may flourish in China (800+ in number) but the Party remains at the apex of power. China has not changed.
Trump heralded a new and antagonistic approach to China when he started a trade war by unilaterally imposing high tariffs on Chinese goods coming into the US. And when that did not work, he resorted to allegations of genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang province to try to demonise China in the eyes of the world. But it, too, has not worked. China remains China and continues to be welcomed by the rest of the world in part because of its Belt and Road Initiative – as historian Professor Francis Fukiyama has said “China has lent more than $1 trillion to more than 100 countries through the Initiative, dwarfing Western spending in the developing world and stoking US anxieties about the spread of Beijing’s power and influence”.
Trump’s successor, President Biden increased economic sanctions on China and announced that “he would not allow China’s economy to overtake America’s” even though, as Prof Allen notes, most economists think that this is inevitable given China’s huge population and income gap.
The flashpoint is Taiwan for two reasons. First, China’s long-standing policy to reunify China with Taiwan and, second, as explained in yesterday’s Post #473, the US is worried sick that a confrontation with China could seriously jeopardise the US economy by impeding, even stopping, the export from Taiwan to the US of essential semi-conductors. Within the US hierarchy – the White House, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff – there are those who want to give China “a bloody nose” and fundamentally derail China’s economic growth by military action – the Hawks – before China is way ahead and out of sight. “Act Today Because Tomorrow Is Too Late” is their cry.
There are also Doves who fear hostilities and prefer an uneasy but non-confrontational approach to China. For the Doves, second place to China is preferrable to war with China It is not clear who will win but certainly if the Hawks prevail over the Doves the world will be set on a most dangerous path.
Oliver Anthony- Rich Men North of Richmond (Remix Mashup ft Dax & Jo Tyler)
At Papa John’s Pizza I was getting fed up that they weren’t hiring the sufficient amount of staff to properly run the store. Along with doing bike deliveries I also cashed, took phone calls, entered orders, swept, mopped and emptied garbage. They kept a skeleton staff of 3 workers per shift and whenever they had to pay overtime they grumbled and wanted explanations as to why.
Frustrated and fatigued I applied for Dominos Pizza delivery. This is how snippets of the conversation went during the interview.
Interview Lady: We pay the highest hourly rate of all pizza restaurants. $21 per hour.
Me: Papa John’s paid $20 an hour. This is just a dollar more.
Lady: Yes! The highest rate for delivery riders in the country!
Lady: When you come to the restaurant you’ll be happy to see that you’ll be getting so much deliveries. Endless deliveries!
Me: How much do I get paid per delivery?
Lady: $7 per delivery!
Me: That’s the lowest delivery payment of all the pizza restaurants.
Lady: Yes but you’ll be doing so many deliveries, getting so much tips that it wouldn’t matter.
(I later found out that Dominos charged customers $20 for delivery, the highest delivery charge of all fast food restaurants in the country. They paid the driver $7 out of the $20 charge and the restaurant pocketed the remaining $13 for themselves.)
Me: What are the closing hours?
Lady: 10:30pm.
Me: You mean like only on Fridays and Saturdays?
Lady: No everyday.
Me: Thats a bit late and taxis round here stop working around 8pm. Any transport provided for me to get home?
Lady: No.
Me: Will I be able to use the Domino’s motorcycle to get home? (I was allowed this benefit in a previous restaurant I worked that had this same issue)
Lady: No.
Me: Can I leave earlier then?
Lady: Of course. Due to your transport situation we’ll allow you to leave 10 minutes earlier!
Lady: We are a very flexible organization.
Me: How so? (inwardly groaning, expecting more bullshit)
Lady: We give you the choice to work either as contracted or non-contracted.
Me: What does that mean?
Lady: Contracted means that you work somewhat as a permanent staff. You can work all the overtime hours you want. However overtime would be paid at the usual rate of $21 an hour. No time and a half. The same applies for public holidays.
Non contracted is like temporary staff. We pay the usual time and a half for overtime but as you are non contracted you don’t get overtime hours as we send you home after you’ve made your 40hrs a week. We don’t allow you to work on holidays so you basically get your flat salary every week whereas with a contract you are allowed more hours.
Me: More hours at the same rate?
Lady: Yes.
Me: Wouldn’t that be a lose-lose situation?
Lady: No. It’s a win-win!
Me: Am I entitled to a free meal?
Lady: No.
Me: And the uniform?
Lady: We are the only pizza restaurant that provides free uniforms for staff?
Me: How many uniforms?
Lady: Two free Dominos shirts and a cap. We are having them laundered after being returned by a delivery driver who recently left.
Me: You’re giving me a guy’s used clothes?
No: No. She only used them for two days. They’re practically new.
Me: You’re giving used female clothing?
Lady: It’s a free uniform!
Suffice to say I instantly and humbly returned to Papa John’s and their skeleton staff.
Mystery Cambodia
A nice fun video that takes you to another world. LOL.
It will probably upset some folks, but too bad. This is real life. This guy interviews some prostitutes in Cambodia. If you don’t want the experience then you can pass on this video. It’s ok.
Originally Answered: How can we become a Winner at everything in Life?
What made Muhammed Ali the best Boxer in the world? What made Michael Phelps go above and beyond every time he swam? How come Gandhi made so much more of an impact than anybody else?
None of them were exceptional people since birth.
Sure, there is the claim that Michael Phelps, for example, has double the lung-capacity of most humans, which has been disproven.
And while he does have some physical advantages, like longer arms and shorter legs, while being tall, so does everybody else he is competing against!
What made the difference in their ability was not their born talents but rather the way they approached what they did.
They were willing to work harder and produce more than anyone else was willing to.
They are willing to do whatever it takes, go the extra mile and do more than those around them, which is what eventually gets them to succeed.
I remember reading an article back when Michael Phelps was just getting traction, that talked about how ridiculous his training regiment is and how it was way too intense.
At the time many doctors and health experts argued about his routine.
Today, I cannot find any article even mentioning that he was doing too much anymore.
After about 2 days of looking for that article I gave up.
All articles about him only praise his efforts and his routine; obviously because it worked.
He revolutionized the field.
The same can be said about Mahatma Gandhi, who did something no one else dared to do to make a statement that inspired millions.
And the effort that Muhammad Ali made can be clearly seen by one of his quotes:
I don’t count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. That is when I start counting, because then it really counts.
That’s what makes you A CHAMPION. — Muhammad Ali
Each of them made their entire day about training, sacrificing a lot of their day so they could focus on just that one thing.
And then we wonder why we cannot succeed.
The big question you need to ask yourself is: Are you doing enough?
Are the results showing up in the way you want to? Are you succeeding or do you need to do more?
Now, I cannot give you the exact stats of the men named above, as every page I visited had different numbers they boasted about, most of them disclaiming each other.
So I will instead share my own story and numbers to make this point.
Now I am by no means even close to as great as the men above, but I hope the point still comes across.
I started out as a Writer with a WordPress Blog.
At the beginning, it was just to practice my consistency and I wrote about 300 posts in my first year, yielding a total of 20 followers.
This was very little and so I switched to a site called Quora. In my first 6 months there I wrote about 1,000 posts, averaging 3 a day, before I wrote one answer that went viral.
This was back in 2016. Since then I have averaged about 3 posts a day consistently over the years.
I have been published on The Huffington Post, Time, and many more sites, have over 75,000 followers, 60M content views and get over 1M views a month still, and none of it because I was a good writer!
My very first post that I wrote was a page long block of text that was essentially a Writer’s Nightmare.
The only thing that pushed me through was that no one else wrote that much.
Many people wrote one post a day, if that, some even less.
And let me tell you this, after 18 Months of writing every day, the one viral post did not feel like a stroke of luck anymore, it felt deserved.
The point I want to make here is it is not about where you start or what prerequisites you have.
Winning is not about being better than everybody else.
Winning is about being the last person running in a race where everyone else gave up.
If you want to win you have to break through the noise by either doing more than others are willing to or doing it longer than they want to.
I have seen so many amazing writers leave Quora to never write again because they just did not break through the noise.
Mahatma Gandhi just did not eat, Michael Phelps only swam a lot, and Muhammad Ali trained a bit.
We have all done these things before, they are nothing special when you look at them like that. It’s not like they invented something none of us could ever dream of or did something that was so unbelievable it looked like Magic.
What made them special was the fact that they kept pushing and kept going with it when many people around them gave up or would have given up!
So let me ask you this then: Are you doing anything that stands out?
When you are working out do you do more and take shorter breaks than anyone else? When you are with your partner do you give them more attention and love than they can handle? When you are working at your job, do you work 10x more than any of your colleagues?
Are you doing anything that stands out?
You cannot expect yourself to win by just doing what everyone else is doing.
Sorry, but you are just not that special!
You have to become special by doing something extraordinary, and I mean that in the most literal sense possible:
Extra-Ordinary!
That means you do not overexert yourself.
Don’t expect to be able to train 6–8 hours a day, 7 days a week after having done no training at all.
Take it one step at a time but work yourself up and stay committed to it.
If you have the time and energy, then you can push further faster; it will get easier.
The 3 posts I wrote took anywhere from 3–6 hours a day at first. Now I can often write better posts in 15 minutes.
It does get easier.
Pick something, anything in your life that you wish to win at, and commit yourself to more of that.
Even if it is just an hour a day, if you do it long enough you will become absolutely amazing at it.
Push your limits day by day, even one more minute each day gets you 6 hours more in just one year.
“Let me tell you something you already know.
The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows.
It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.
But it ain’t about how hard ya hit.
It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.
That’s how winning is done!” — Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Balboa
Breaking US Sanctions: How Huawei Changed US-China Tech War
Carl Zha talks to tech expert TP Huang about how latest Huawei breakthrough in advanced chip design and manufacturing is a game changer in the US waged tech war and economic war against China. Why ultimately US sanctions on China will fail. The rest of this interview is on my Patreon site
During WW2 there was a company that always submitted excellent paper work, head Quarters noticed this and moved their clerk typist to Headquarters, Battalion noticed him and moved him up to their office, he continued to be so dependable the higher ups wanted him, so eventually he ended up in Eisenhower’s front office.
One day, A hard nosed colonel came in to the office and demanded to see Ike, now. The clerk typist asked him, what does this pertain to? The Colonel started getting loud, said he didn’t need to explain anything to a clerk typist.
Ike came out to see the commotion, the colonel again was indignant.
Ike looked around the waiting room, saw another colonel sitting there, took an eagle pin off that colonel’s collar, and pinned it on the collar of the clerk, and said “ Now tell the colonel what you want”, and returned into his office.
The clerk was a colonel for the duration of his enlistment.
On a daily basis, my team and I would clean toilets, floors, rooms, the kitchen, our rifles, the floor around the barracks, our vests, our magazines and even the dog who lived in the barracks. I hated it.
I truly did not understand why I was spending months of paratrooper training time to clean up places that were spotless, instead of shooting and learning to fight.
And then I experienced my first operation.
My team and I were sent with four vehicles to meet up with a field intelligence unit, and prepare for the operation.
I remember meeting the field intelligence guys. It was the first time in my service meeting men, on duty, serving in a different unit than mine.
Their gear was obviously ill maintained, their vehicles were disgusting and dusty, and I could see the soot on the barrels of their rifles who have obviously not been cleaned in weeks. I wanted to tell their commander he was doing a shit job at maintaining his team’s gear.
And then it struck me.
All that cleaning during training has turned me into a neat freak.
Everything, even now in my apartment, needs to be perfectly placed, spotless and maintained. There are no excuses, and there should be none. An organized living is the basis for an organized life.
The lesson I took from all this epiphany?
There is shit in life you will not want to do, and you might even hate doing it, but truly successful people do the things they do not want to do, as best as they can, because eventually it will pay off in the long run.
China-Japan-South Korea Upcoming Summit: What’s Behind this Surprising Diplomatic Shift??
In a surprising turn of events, China has recently announced its willingness to hold a summit with Japan and South Korea leaders. This unexpected move begs the question: what has prompted this significant change? Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, revealed that the three countries have reached an agreement to convene a meeting of their foreign ministers “in the next few months,” with the intention of facilitating a gathering of leaders as soon as possible. Undoubtedly, this initiative is driven by the collective interests of the three parties involved.
This development comes on the heels of China’s denouncement, in late August, of the statement released at the conclusion of the Camp David summit. The gathering, which brought together the leaders of the US, Japan, and South Korea, raised concerns about transforming the Asia-Pacific region into a geopolitical battleground. However, China’s willingness to engage in dialogue with its neighboring nations demonstrates an intriguing diplomatic shift. Be sure to subscribe to my channel for regular updates on global affairs & geopolitical shifts. Don’t miss out on my in-depth analysis of significant events shaping the world today!
The US is digging for a deeper hole.
As Washington reportedly plans to update its export curbs against China in October, an analysis report by a Dutch media posits that the previous export curbs imposed a year ago exposed the Biden Administration seem to have no clear idea of their objectives.
According to Dutch media Bits&Chips, the semiconductor restrictions against China are likely a product of the US struggle between hawks and doves concerning the China issue, leading to loopholes and a lack of clear goals.
To consider the interests of US-based semiconductor equipment and material suppliers, the US government allows the delivery of equipment that may be used to make advanced chips, highlighting the incompleteness and inconsistency of the curbs.
The US Bureau of Industry and Security set a threshold that requires exporters to get a license before shipping to China for equipment that can make logic chips with FinFET or GAAFET architecture of 16/14nm or below. However, the current export controls are insufficient if US export controls aim to deny China’s production capabilities of 14nm and below.
On the other hand, the US may not achieve its intended results if it aims to prevent China’s progress in the semiconductor industry, as demonstrated by Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro, which highlights the fact that China can make advanced chips without advanced equipment.
Huawei has obtained crucial patents on 6G technology, which may allow the Chinese company to thrive in the 6G era, according to Simon Chen, chairman of Adata Technology.
A green Toyota Celica drove into the customers’ parking space and a man alighted and walked into the store.
He was a first-time caller.
He was supporting his trousers with his hands.
‘Please I just need a belt. My belt snapped in the car, and I live far away from here. I am late for work and I don’t have money on me now. Can you trust me, I will bring the money at the close of work today’.
O My God!
First business of the day!
A man I never knew?
And here in this country, Nigeria?
‘Give him, he looks genuine. Could as well happen to you!’, one side of the brain was preaching.
‘Don’t!! Could be one of them. You’ll lose if you do!!’, the other side was screaming and countering.
‘Why can’t we live in a world where we can trust people and help them without fear?’, I was trying to make sense of this mental back-and-forth.
I gave him a very good quality belt, made the necessary perforations and he thanked me profusely and left.
5:06 pm:
The green Toyota Celica pulled up.
It was him.
To make good his promise.
Why isn’t life just this good!
Today, many years after that day, he no longer works around the area or passes through the route daily, but for such a small thing, he is one of my most valuable customers and has repaid the trust many, many times over.
Texas Jambalaya
2023 11 07 15 37
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced celery
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 cup converted rice, uncooked
4 ounces smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices
4 ounces ham, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cans Ro*Tel diced tomatoes and green chiles
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
2 cans Ranch Style Texas beans, undrained
Instructions
In a 5 quart saucepot over medium-high heat, heat oil.
Add onion, green pepper and celery; cook until onions are translucent.
Add garlic, cook 1 minute longer.
Add rice, sausage and ham. Cook 2 to 3 minutes to coat rice with oil, stirring frequently.
Add next 4 ingredients and heat to boiling.
Cover and steam 20 to 25 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.
Remove bay leaf, stir in beans and serve.
The Exhausted and Unable to Survive, the Cat was Thrown Out on the Grass to Die
On the 1st of October, 331 B.C.E., the Persian king Darius III finally had that Macedonian pest Alexander the Great right where he wanted him – on a big flat plain where Darius could make full use of his cavalry and 2–1 numerical advantage against the Greek upstart.
The location was Gaugamela in what’s now northern Iraq. For the past three years Alexander had been making Darius’s life a living hell but it was payback time.
At the head of Darius’s forces were 200 heavy chariots. The plan was, as usual, to unleash these monsters running at full speed into the Greek infantry lines. The weather was good, the field was dry – perfect conditions for slaughtering the Greeks and sending them all the way back to the Aegean.
Things…. didn’t work out. As with any battle that took place 3,300 years ago there were different stories about what happened. The only things we know for sure are:
Alexander’s forces killed or captured most of the Persian army at a loss of no more than 1,500 troops; and
The chariots turned out to be entirely useless.
Alexander knew the problem posed by the chariots and was ready for them. He drilled his men to fall back into pockets that would allow the chariot to penetrate the line, only to be met by infantrymen with their spears jammed into the ground pointing directly at the pocket.
What would happen is the horses, running at full speed, would run into the pocket but, facing the spears, would stop suddenly. The charioteers would find themselves surrounded on three sides and no way forward, and horses and chariots don’t reverse easily. As you can see, the chariots mostly went through the gap in the Macedonian line, only to find Alexander leading a cavalry charge back at the gap that wiped them out entirely.
The tactic remained a military favourite against horse soldiers for most of the next 1,800 years.
When the tactic was revived in the 15th century, it similarly made knights on horseback pretty much obsolete.
After Gaugumela, Alexander’s tactics were similarly widely adopted and the use of chariots started to tail off as they became ineffective and easy to lose.
Rich Men North Of Richmond, but it’s a Rap Type Beat
Made a beat to the song everyones talking about rn – Rich Men North Of Richmond by Oliver Anthony. Had a lot of fun with this one, went from idea to finished product in a day. The song isn’t set to a bpm so forgive me for parts that are off time, it was tough putting it all in time. Also shoutout to @TimGuitarLessons I used his audio in some parts.
As you get older, you realize that people who lie constantly have some kind of mental problem. It might be a habit; a neurosis, or a DMS-4 illness. But they are not “right in the head”. Something (not saying what it is) is wrong.
Fully functioning adults do not need to lie. They say things as they are. If they don;t want to answer a question, they say so. They have self-confidence, pride and a sense of self-worth.
…
When I first came to China I started to compare my life as an American, to that of China.
And, as such, I quickly realized that SOMETHING was seriously, very seriously wrong with the United States.
The best way for me to describe this is to imagine that you are married to a mentally ill person. (I was, by the way. My first wife was schizo-effective; which had the worst qualities of bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia). Then you get divorced, and meet up with a healthy person.
It was like that.
…
I am in China. It is a healthy nation. It is calm and peaceful. The leadership works towards allowing people freedom and happiness, and it shows.
When I was in the United States, however, everything was a struggle. One problem after the other. And today, it’s only getting worse.
…
Why do I defend China?
Because a mentally ill nation is attacking it using every single DSM-4 technique in the book.
My girlfriend was to remove the patient’s prostate through a so-called radicalprostatectomy. It was Wednesday morning, a couple of weeks ago.
And Wednesdays can be tough.
A typical Wednesday typically includes brutally waking up very early, getting ready, driving to the hospital, and starting the first scheduled surgery at 8AM sharp. Usually a number of operations are planned, depending on the time they take, and urgency.
The afternoon typically consists of a large number of consultations.
After consulting, she usually drives to her father’s house (which is pretty far away from the hospital), because our daughter will be there, but before leaving the hospital, she always visits the patients who had surgery in the morning to have a little chat about the operation, about how the patient is feeling, and about everyday stuff.
When she was back home, we fetched a drink and talked about our day (“what a day, what a day, what a day”), and watched some TV before dinner.
Suddenly she shouted:
“I forgot to see my patient !!”
The prostate man. In all the Wednesday hubbub, she had totally forgotten about the patient, and driven out of the hospital with other things on her mind. She immediately called the hospital and asked a nurse to tell the patient that she would visit him first thing next morning — promised !
The poor man had been a bit worried, thinking that something was wrong, that the cancer was worse than she had expected, and that this was the reason why she did not come.
But next morning, when the doctor was in the house again, he was a happy man. The operation went as planned, and the cancer would be gone now.
Just because China puts up with US bullying doesn’t mean China has to put up with the same shit from a much weaker nation. In fact, Germany is seen kind of like a joke nowadays by the Chinese public, politically, due to it staying silent on NATO blowing up its Nord stream pipeline, and this public sentiment limits how much compromise the Chinese government can have with Germany. Instead of sitting idle and just take the unfair abuse on what’s now pride of Chinese companies for Huawei’s standing up to the US, China would more likely set Germany up as an example in the Chinese philosophy of “kill the chicken to scare the monkeys”.
I can see China starting by reacting proportionately with banning of Siemens from some operations inside China, as well as making life miserable for German cars, which are extremely dependant on China as their largest market worldwide and their factory as well since energy prices drove up costs in Europe, but China being China, it would reserve the stronger responses in hopes of descalation, and would only apply them if Germany escalates things further.
Things are going very, VERY, wrong; Netanyahu Tells Israelis to “Leave Egypt”
Things in the Hamas-Israel fight are going very much wrong for Israel. This afternoon, The US ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier Strike Group to move into the eastern Mediterranean Sea to be closer to Israel. This signals ALL the players that the US is moving-in to get involved militarily. The Players are NOT backing away.
Hamas: Moving the American aircraft carrier does not scare us, and the American administration must realize the consequences of this step.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office calls on Israelis to leave Egypt ‘as soon as possible.’ This is a HUGE . . . no . . . . GIGANTIC . . . flashing RED sign.
Egypt was the first Arab nation to make peace with Israel, and depending upon what course Israel pursues in Gaza (i.e. possible Ground Invasion) that peace with Egypt may now be in very real jeopardy.
The Palestinian President Mohammed Abbas, who was safely away in Jordan, is now leaving Jordan and heading into Syria.
In earlier reporting, I mentioned Intelligence info that Palestinians in Israel got word to their allies elsewhere to be ready to turn up the heat on Europe if Israel engages in a ground war. Now, we see they also got word to their pals in New York City, where, this afternoon, supporters of the Palestinians and supporters of Israel faced each other in Times Square. Chanting . . . for now . . . .
American Middle Class Is the New Poor | Renters Are Out of Options
Working and homeless! The new slogan. It’s not always drug addiction that leads to this. We NEED to stop this stereotype. Cost of living, especially rent is far outpacing wages which are not even remotely keeping up.. For people with no roommates or family to move in with and not making more than 75K, it’s rough out there.
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…
Robert Sandifer’s life began in two overlapping hells.
image 2
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.
image 1image 3image
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 understandjust how bad it gets.
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.
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.
image 201image 90image 89
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
67aa71c90c60143eee828c8addba65ba
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.
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.
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.
image 91
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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 livedand 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.
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
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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 vegetariangemüse 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.
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.
image 204
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?
image 205
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.
image 206
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.
image 207
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!!!!
image 208
I’m pretty sure Australia is not directly south of Ethiopia!
South America is just floating in the middle of the Ocean.
image 209
Though Southern Africa actually fits well with the Northern Hemisphere part of South America.
image 210
This Globe has to be the most Useless reference of the World ever!
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.
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
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.
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.
image 4
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.
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.
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.
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….
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.
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.
“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.”
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 atrocityandpitting 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
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.
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
2023 10 18 16 01
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.
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.
2023 10 31 10 46
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!
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
image 202
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 ”
I have (as of late) been drawn to the horrible stories about infidelity between married couples. Just terrible stuff really. And then one of my followers asked for help on this matter and I responded in a post.
When I get these urges, there are always deeper meanings underlying their intrusion into my consciousness. And it just occurred to me what is going on.
The “marriage” is the United States and China.
The United States is “having sex and fooling round”, and China knows all about it, but wants to keep the relationship stable.
So the United States denies, and denies, and then denies…
What are you talking about?
Nothing is going on?
You worry too much?
You are reading too much into the picture of me and a coworker…
…but the texting behind the back keeps on occurring, and the sex orgies still occur in (apparent) secret.
But China has a PI investigating everything and knows everything. China has transcripts of all the text message. China has videos of the sexual events taken from the phones, and the sexy pictures sent back and forth between them. China knows when, where, how and how often these events occurred.
But hasn’t shown its hand yet.
What will China do?
The normal thing (the most common event) is confrontation; a “lot of fireworks” and screaming and yelling, and then a hostile divorce.
But I really don’t think that China wants, or has any plans, to do that.
China does not want a divorce (a war; in any shape or form.)
However, if push comes to shove, China (as a partner) will make life a living Hell for the United States….
…if push comes to shove.
If all these non-stop provocations keep on occurring while the USA puts on the face that “all is just fine, nothing is going on. You are the one with the issue.“
And were a hard and harsh divorce were to manifest, it would be China who would hold all the cards. It won’t go in any way that the USA thinks.
…
All these are ugly thoughts.
The USA and China are (at least on the surface) making amends. Dating again, things are getting back to normal. Plane Flights are opening up. Businessmen are cutting deals and all the rest.
But the USA is still up to it’s old bag of tricks.
A “color revolution” in Burma by the CIA was just squelched. Lots of dead (CIA trained) insurgents.
“President” Biden got up and made a public warning to China to stop provoking The Philippines…
My gut feeling is that the Chinese know everything, and are just “waiting out” the United States. It will run out of money, resources, banking, finance, and cred sooner than later.
Ai! Hopefully the hidden texts, the late-night “meetings”, and all the rest will come to a quick and decisive end.
Hopefully.
One more year of Joe Biden. Sheech!
I don’t know if I can handle that. Oh Lordy!
I swear that he has his foot on the gas petal towards war and is FLOORING IT.
Well China gave the west a 2 century head start and caught it up in less than 50 years! Go figure. The west don’t have civilisation it has a war mongering barbaric mind set that thinks they are ordained by god to loot and plunder. Colonialism U.S. not civilised it is a cruel, despicable act of stealing land and carrying out genocides to slaughter most of the natives.
Civilisation is like the Chinese and Confucianism edicts on discipline, respect, compassion, hard work, eagerness to learn, winning without fighting. Murder, slaughter, genocide done by the west to steal land and resources is barbaric not civilised.
Star Trek: The Silent Skies | 1920 Universe
This is AMAZING!
Zero-sum mentality in US won’t halt China’s tech rise — Global Times
American automaker Ford said on Monday it’s pausing construction of a $3.5 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the US state of Michigan until it is confident it can run the factory competitively, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Although the US government is flexing all of its policy muscles available to suppress China’s high-tech industry, US competitiveness in cutting-edge technologies has continued to decline as a result of multiple factors.
Ford’s decision comes as the company is in the midst of national contract talks with the United Auto Workers union, which wants to represent workers at battery factories and win them top wages, according to the AP report. Intense competition among global EV manufacturers has unsettled the US automotive industry, which had been a pillar of the US economy, as US automakers are under pressure both at home and abroad.
On the one hand, competition from international competitors, including Chinese EV makers, poses a challenge to American firms, especially as Chinese companies have accumulated technological and price advantages against the backdrop of fierce competition in the Chinese domestic market.
On the other hand, deep-seated problems in the US economy, including insufficient labor protection and the widening wealth gap, have erupted in a concentrated manner. The car industry, like other manufacturing industries in the US, is facing increased pressure due to rising production costs.
As reported by the AP in March, Ford’s EV business has lost $3 billion before taxes during the past two years. If the US automaker wants to catch up with rivals amid intense international competition, one option for Ford is to collaborate with top Chinese companies.
Ford in February announced plans to build the plant in Michigan, betting that making the batteries in the US would help it and Chinese partner CATL attract US customers to embrace a lower-cost technology pioneered in China, according to Reuters. Honestly speaking, Ford’s cooperation with CATL benefits the development of the US EV industry. However, the sector’s survival opportunities are being stifled by politicians in Washington. Republicans in Congress have been probing Ford’s battery plant plan over concerns it could leave Ford dependent on Chinese technology.
As reported by Reuters, Rep. Mike Gallagher said lawmakers were “encouraged to see Ford take a crucial first step to reevaluate its deal” with CATL. “Now, Ford needs to call off this deal for good,” he added.
Not only in the EV industry, but also in most high-tech and cutting-edge industries, some people in the US possess an extremely unhealthy and unfair zero-sum competition mentality toward China. However, it is evident that this thinking is counterproductive in promoting the development of domestic US industries.
Apart from Tesla, other American vehicle companies still have a relatively low share in the domestic and international EV markets. Although the US government has devised protectionist measures such as the Inflation Reduction Act, it is still moving slowly in terms of addressing domestic supply chain issues, particularly in the production of batteries.
Washington is working toward a zero-sum competition with China, with American firms serving as victims. What Chinese enterprises need to do is to confront external challenges, continuously enhance their competitiveness, strengthen technological innovation, seize the opportunities created by Washington’s zero-sum competition mentality – which has caused difficulties for American enterprises – and continuously strengthen themselves.
China is becoming increasingly competitive in EV manufacturing capacity and technology innovation. Chinese EV brands, such as BYD and NIO, have made significant strides in developing advanced EV technologies, including battery technology and autonomous driving features.
China holds a superior position in the EV supply chain, with about three-quarters of the world’s battery production capacity. Moreover, China houses more than half of the world’s processing and refining capacity for lithium, cobalt and graphite, which are essential materials for making EV batteries.
The West’s narrow-minded, zero-sum game mentality has indeed put some pressure on China in the short term, but it cannot fundamentally hinder technological progress. If the US always opts for dirty tricks against China instead of learning how to conduct healthy competition with Chinese enterprises and develop its own economic competitiveness, this will just lead to a larger gap between China and the US.
If you don’t understand why I use the word “monster” to describe Huawei, please look at this picture. Here is a summary of the business Huawei is doing.
It is different from traditional foreign technology companies, such as Samsung, SONY, Nokia, and Alibaba, which only challenge advanced American companies in a certain field.
It has launched a comprehensive challenge to its American counterparts in almost the entire information technology industry.
It not only challenges, but has already achieved success in many areas, and this trend is getting faster and faster.
If the US doesn’t stop it, it will slap American companies on the butt in global markets. Just like Toyota and Honda slapped Ford’s ass back in the day.
Currently, high-tech companies are a key means for the United States to gain wealth from around the world. Once these high-tech companies are stepped on by Huawei, how can the United States maintain its status as a developed country and maintain Americans’ living standards?
Therefore, when American companies have no choice but to rely on the U.S. government to take action. Kill the monster before it grows up. As for the reason: threatening national security
Senior shelter cat desperately hugs woman for adoption
“I adopted the oldest cat my shelter had. She was owner surrendered at the age 15 which I just thought was wrong. I named her Hope and she gave me 4 of the best years of my life. Thank you so much for adopting a senior cat. I wish you many years of happiness and love with her.”
REPORTS: Thousands of Ukraine Soldiers SURRENDERING To Russian Army
A special radio frequency being used so that Ukrainian soldiers can safely surrender to Russian forces is now chattering like never before. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are opting to surrender to the Russian Army.
These surrenders were seen even by Clayton Morris, an American journalist, who expressed his astonishment and said, “this is a story the western media does not want you to see.”
Ukrainian forces are laying down their Western-supplied arms and surrendering en masse! Using emergency radio frequencies, they’re receiving food & medical care and even sharing critical intel with Russian forces.
Is this the final chapter?
As Zelensky hears of mass surrendering of Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines he will likely be very concerned. Not about the soldiers; about what happens to him
The question now is who gets to him first. The Russians will want him but the west may want him too. Dead.
They will not wish to have him expose the money laundering, child sex slavery and child organ harvesting that has been going on in Ukraine; the Globalist Parasites cant allow that.
Either way its not looking good for the man in Green.
By most credible accounts, the recent Ukronazi+NATO attack in the Kharkov area was even more costly in KIA/MIA, wounded and lost hardware than the attack towards Kherson. The combined losses from these attacks are staggering.
Yet there are all the signs that the Ukronazi+NATO forces are preparing for even more such attacks.
The Ukronazi+NATO seem happy to trade human lives for territorial gains, no matter how small or how irrelevant that territory is.
The Russians seem happy to trade space and time to protect the lives of their soldiers and equipment.
We could say that the Ukronazi+NATO are trading bodies for shells.
Let’s remember the two goals set by Putin for the SMO: denazify and demilitarize. Both of these goals are human-focused, not terrain-focused. In other words, if a tactical-level withdrawal allows the Russian to kill scores of Ukronazi+NATO personnel and destroy their equipment, they will gladly accept the trade.
The other goal was to protect the LDNR. Kherson is not part of the LDNR.
Territory can be reconquered, equipment is hard to replace, especially complex weapon-systems.
Soldiers cannot be resurrected.
It is absolutely clear that Ukronazi+NATO are “betting the farm” into these offensives. Not only is the coming winter a major threat for them, but the political chaos in the EU and the US this fall and winter means that now is the time to try has hard as possible to conceal the magnitude of the disaster for the Ukronazi+NATO.
So, most of what is taking place now can be summed up in this simple question: who will run out of resources first: the Ukronazi+NATO in terms of manpower and equipment or the Russians in terms of firepower (mostly artillery, missiles and airpower)?
I think that the answer is obvious: Russia wins.
U.S. Plans To Ethnically Cleanse Gaza
This is, presumably, the U.S.-Israeli plan for the Palestinian people in Gaza:
Amazing: President Biden is working on a plan with other countries that would allow civilians to safely leave Gaza and cross the border into Egypt. This is great news. President Biden is making sure that innocent people don’t die due to the actions of Hamas. That’s leadership.
No, it is not leadership. It is ethnic cleansing, a war crime disguised as humanitarian gesture. It is ethnic cleansing of people who’s land has been stolen by Zionist settlers. These people would have no right of return to the homes and land they once owned. People who have been put into an open air prison, who have no access to electricity, water and food and are currently under intense attacks.
Egypt, the only country where they potentially could be moved to, is already bankrupt. It can not even provide for its own people. Two million new people from Gaza, all poor and some of them radicalized, would undoubtedly unbalance the Egyptian state.
Should such a plan be put into action it would guarantee that the resistance axis, Hizbullah and various other Sunni and Shia groups in the Middle East, would step in. The would attack Israel to prevent such a move.
The U.S. thinks it can deter resistance action by threatening to move in with its own forces. That’s why the USS Herald Ford, its newest carrier, was moved into the Eastern Mediterranean. Rumors have it that a second carrier will come in too.
But the resistance can not be deterred by that. The last time the U.S. tried to intervene in Lebanon it ended up with 241 dead Marines and had to retreat in shame. Hizbullah at that time was only a handful of men. Today Hizbullah has tens of thousands of very well trained men. Then there are also Iran and Russia:
As I said in my analysis today of the NATO intervention in the Israeli northern front, it’s inconceivable that Russia should stay silent in the face of such brazen NATO overreach. This seat-of-the-pants, unmandated NATO panic move will speed up Russia’s pivot from pro-Israel to pro-Arab that started with the deaths of Russian airmen caused by an IAF aggression against Syria and was locked in with Netanyahu’s support for the nazi regime in Kiev.
The Russian military has long identified Israel as an enemy state and Putin is now conceding to them, acknowledging the failure of yet another one of his strategies, namely the political use of the Russian Jewish community in Israel via his “friend” Avigdor Lieberman. Russian Jews in Israel are virulently anti-Arab, so Putin tried not to upset them.
Today, however, with Bibi bringing in the full might of NATO to the Eastern Mediterranean to threaten not only Lebanon but Russian bases in Syria, it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy. With Patrushin and Shoygu holding the reins of state and a clear and present NATO threat on Syria’s doorstep, expect a strong and unexpected Russian intervention in the multifront Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah war.
The U.S. Embassy in Beirut has not evacuated and is open and operating normally. Reports saying otherwise are false. For more information and travel advisories, visit our embassy website: lb.usembassy.gov
Posted by b on October 11, 2023 at 15:43 UTC | Permalink
When I was young I was pretty much left to my own devices as far as personal hygiene and was always had dirty clothes. My parents were drunks and as the youngest of 7 it was total chaos for me. For some reason though this girl in my class who was smart, funny and popular became my friend. She was just the best friend a girl could ask for. Her father was a prominent doctor and she came from a big loving family. Whenever she could she would include me in whatever she was doing.
We were freshman in high-school and were sitting having lunch and a girl who was just as popular invited my BFF to a party but told her not to bring me because her mother wouldn’t appreciate it if I brought vermin or disease into her house. My friend just stood up and told me that we had to get to our next class and didnt engage with her. The next Saturday was the party and I was home sitting in my room and my BFF showed up at the door and said she thought the party was boring and we ended up going to the movies and then to her house for a sleepover.
Fast forward about a week and the girl who had the party was talking about how her mother was upset because their house apparently smelled like something died in it. They couldnt figure out what the smell was. It was awful. My friend said to the girl that “maybe you have some type of vermin in your house.” She then said she didnt think she could hang with someone like her because there could be vermin in her house. This immediately caught my attention. I asked her about it later. She came clean and told me that when she went to the party – she brought with her some canned shrimp and discreetly placed the raw shrimp in places throughout the house. Under area rugs, on top of a grandfather clock even in the hem of the drapes in various rooms. She said that nobody fucks with me – and she would always have my back.
THAT IS A FRIEND
The Average Age Of Ukraine’s Army
Ben Wallace, the former Secretary of State for Defence of the UK, writes in the Telegraph:
Putin is desperately grasping at the final two things that can save him – time and the splitting of the international community. Britain can do something about both. We must help Ukraine maintain its momentum – and that will require more munitions, ATACMSs and Storm Shadows. And the best way to keep the international community together is the demonstration of success.
Ukraine can also play its part. The average age of the soldiers at the front is over 40. I understand President Zelensky’s desire to preserve the young for the future, but the fact is that Russia is mobilising the whole country by stealth. Putin knows a pause will hand him time to build a new army. So just as Britain did in 1939 and 1941, perhaps it is time to reassess the scale of Ukraine’s mobilisation.
Let us not pause for one day. Let us see this through. The world is watching to see if the West has the resolve to stand up for our values and the rules-based system. What we do now for Ukraine will set the direction for all of our security for years to come.
Think for a moment what the aside insert “The average age of the soldiers at the front is over 40” really means. Can Storm Shadows change that fact?
Sollte stimmen, was Wallace da über das Durchschnittsalter an der ukrainischen Front sagt, 40 Jahre, dann sind die schlimmsten Mutmaßungen über Verluste weit übertroffen worden. Paraguay 1870.
Translated from German by Google If what Wallace says about the average age on the Ukrainian front is true, 40 years, then the worst assumptions about losses have been far exceeded. Paraguay 1870.
Paraguay suffered massive casualties, and the war’s disruption and disease also cost civilian lives. Some historians estimate that the nation lost the majority of its population.
Ukraine ain’t there yet. But looking at pictures of Ukrainian soldiers at the front Wallace seems to be right. If you are forty or above are you really still able to run, react and fight like when you were twenty? I am not.
The young Ukrainians are gone. They either have fled from Ukraine or are wounded, disabled or died. You can not mobilize what is no longer there.
Have your chili 3, 4 or 5 ways, Cincinnati style. This is also great on hot dogs, smothered with shredded cheese.
cincinnati chili
Yield: 5 to 6 servings
Ingredients
Chili
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons mild chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
Have It 5 Ways
1 pound spaghetti, cooked
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup finely grated Cheddar cheese
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed, drained and heated
Hot sauce (your favorite)
Instructions
Brown ground beef, onions and celery in a large skillet, drain off all fat.
Place slow cooker ingredients into a slow cooker and stir well. Cover slow cooker and cook for 7 to 9 hours on LOW, or for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours on HIGH, stirring during last part of cooking if using HIGH setting.
Cook spaghetti 1/2 hour before chili is done.
To have chili 3-ways, serve it with spaghetti, chili and cheese.
To have chili 4-ways, serve it with spaghetti, chili, onion and cheese.
To have spaghetti 5-ways, serve it with spaghetti, chili, beans, onion and cheese.
Douse chili liberally with hot sauce, if desired.
US Shutdown CANCELLED, No Money For Ukraine, Economy In Ruins
At the last minute, the US Congress passed a Stopgap Bill to keep money flowing for government spending. However, funding was cut to Ukraine in a shocking move. This is most likely political theatre as American support will likely continue. Here’s why the US government is trapped and borrowing money will never end!
I was a store manager at family dollar and I inherited the store and like 6 employees. I was a new manager and didn’t have much experience in such a leadership role. Fast forward I am learning as the days go by. One of my employees come to me and ask me for a ride from work. I typically don’t mingle with coworkers or employees just to keep the possibility of drama down. Well long story short I ended up befriending this middle aged lady I worked with. She frequently got rides from everyone because she didn’t have a car. I ended up hiring another middle aged lady because she had to get a job to get her kids back from the state(I know I know not a good reason to hire someone but I was young soft hearted and above all a mother) so I gave her a chance. I worked around her visitation and allowed her to work a sporadic schedule. This went on for about two years. Well one day I came in on my day off which I frequently did just to make sure everything was up and running and things didn’t feel right. Everyday at a certain time the cameras cut off and reset to save memory or storage(one do them) well I see those two employees pushing carts full of merchandise to their cars along with other people. So I stop them and the people who were with them and ask them for receipts. They produced receipts for like 5 items but the amount of items In their carts greatly exceeded the receipt description. I fired them on the spot and they took two of four carts back into the store. Their family refused and I called loss prevention and police at this time. I was stressed out because she lost her job which means she was going to lose her children and I know it wasn’t my concern I just didn’t understand why she put her children in that position. They both had been stealing expired and new merchandise for the last 6–9 months. I was shocked at how they behaved so normally around me. I learned a lesson here though, I am more strict and don’t allow my heart to lead my professional decisions! I am an exceptional leader today because of my family dollar experiences!!
Not fight but they were hard to get back. As the younger brother, two years younger, of two older sisters, twins Lori and Tracy, I often had to go into their bedrooms and retrieve my stuff.
Yes it’s odd girls would be taking their brother’s clothes but mine did. Tracy would take my ball cap. She had a lot of blonde hair but that didn’t stop her from wearing my cap. She wore ball caps before girls wore ball caps and she got a lot of looks. She would also borrow a military style belt I had.
Tracy wore jeans ripped on the knees, purposely, to school one day before that came into fashion. The teacher sent her home. He told her that her knees were showing. She went home and changed into a short skirt and came back to school. The teacher stared at her shaking his head.
“Oh my God. My knees are showing. Should I go back home and change?” she said coyly. That was my sister. She was ahead of her time.
Lori would often take my school football jacket and wear it going to games with her friends. She often came to my games wearing it and cheered me on.
It was hard getting these things back sometimes and I’d have to sneak into their rooms that looked like cyclones hit them. Mom called them ‘Cyclonic Rest Areas.’ Fashion models since age 15, the girls had a lot of clothes and they were all over the rooms. You wouldn’t think they’d borrow their brother’s clothes having all those clothes in their rooms. Of course as soon as I got them back Lori would ask, “RJ, can I borrow your school jacket?”
I remember once I had to run out into the backyard to get the dogs out of the rain. Mom’s orders. The dogs never wanted to come in, even out of the rain. I had no shoes but there was a shiny pair of white boots by the back door. I was thirteen then. I put on the boots. I then ran outside and herded in the three dogs. Tracy, 15, was at the door with her friends. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING WEARING MY BOOTS? THEY ARE ALL MUDDY NOW!” She scolded. “Do you have any idea how much they cost?”
“Oh, but it’s fine for you and Lori to wear my ball cap, belt and jacket having them smell like perfume later!” I said to her as I took off her boots. She looked at her friends and laughed. She sighed. “Touché!” she said smiling at me.
I remember the girls were at a school football game I was playing in. One of the guys asked, “Is that Tracy wearing your cap RJ?” In those days, girls were not often seen wearing ball caps.
“Yep, that’s her,” I said.
“Wow! She sure looks a hell of a lot better wearing that cap than you do,” he said..
As Apple found out, limited amount of skilled labor and poor quality output. Apple tried to assemble in India and found they had a 50% yield rate and about a fifth of its required manpower needs. Further, as word got around, Europeans are not buying ‘made in India Apple iPhones. Almost all developing countries are similar in condition and experience. Simple things like garments work fairly well, but assembly of high end mobile phones are a bit harder.
While India offered what appeared to be the greatest possibility, Vietnam is always cited. Vietnam has limited skilled labor, lack of electricity, and lack of infrastructure. Again, garments, toys, and simple assembly are possible, but complex items get poor results.
Further, the supply chain is non-existent, so parts have to come from the supply chain developed in China. For Apple, lesson learned. It has lost $70 billion in this exercise to move to India, only to return to China and expand its operation there. The labor costs may be higher, but still cheaper than the US and the skilled labor is in quantity that Apple needs plus the yield rate is almost 100% and the supply chain is well developed.
I would also mention TSMC’s attempt to build a 4nm fab in Arizona, only to find lack of skilled labor, and work culture below that of Taiwan. It appears TSMC has closed the fab, laid off the workforce, and for all intents and purpose, shut down its US operations.
This break-up is epic. And classic. It was the ultimate f*ck you and the horse you rode in on.
A former co-worker had this “boyfriend” for four years. Didn’t want to marry her. “Marriage is just a piece of paper” and all that guff. So this woman was diagnosed at a fairly young age with cancer. Boyfriend still didn’t want to marry her; really, he didn’t want to have to deal with making her medical decisions, caring for her, etc. It became obvious during chemotherapy when she needed tending to.
Luckily, she had adult children and friends who stepped in and did all of the heavy lifting he was unwilling to do—and unable, by law, to do.
The cancer turns terminal. So, of course there’s the issue of inheritance to sort out and other financial and legal matters. This woman wasn’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but she did okay. She had a house that was paid for, and some investments. A nice pension and Social Security benefits, and of course, health insurance.
The ne’er-do-well boyfriend has a lightbulb moment: he could get the house, basically double his monthly living income, and get really good health coverage, if he just married her. So he proposed when she was at her very weakest.
Not being a foolish woman, she told him to take a long walk off a short pier. He scuttled away in disgrace and let her spend her final days in the company of those who loved her.
When she did die, it was very sad. She was too young and still had a lot of living to do. But at least Mr. “marriage is just a piece of paper” didn’t profit out of the deal. Her adult kids got everything instead. To this day, I hold her in very high regard for not letting him bamboozle her.
He got nothing, nada, niente, as it should always be for people like that.
Oliver Anthony Rich Men North of Richmond”REACTION” It Just Got Real
China’s 18 main trunk lines of high-speed railways, only 6 lines are profitable, and the remaining 13 are loss-making.
In 2022, China’s high-speed rail suffered a total loss of US$15 billion.
Therefore, if all high-speed rail in China is regarded as a company, it is a company with huge losses.
image 82
But in the eyes of the Chinese, high-speed rail is not a business. They believe that high-speed railway is a kind of social infrastructure. The purpose of its existence is to provide basic services for the entire social and economic development without maintaining profitability itself.
Therefore, as a state-owned enterprise, China Railway Corporation must bear losses. The funds lost are subsidized by the government every year.
The question is, how can the Chinese government have so much money to subsidize high-speed rail?
The reason is simple. After the Chinese built the first key high-speed railway, the Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway, they were surprised to find that for every US$1 they lost on the high-speed railway, the economic growth generated along the high-speed railway would increase by US$1.8. Three years after the high-speed rail was completed, tax revenue from governments along the line increased by 68%. The economic growth is 1.5 times faster than that of other regions. This increased wealth is enough to build ten more high-speed railways of the same type.
At the same time, there are 140 core enterprises and 500 general enterprises producing high-speed rail parts in China, distributed in more than 20 provinces. A 200 billion yuan industrial chain has been formed, providing a large number of jobs. Just look at the construction process of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, which involved more than 700 construction companies and provided jobs for 110,000 people.
Ultimately, high-speed rail became an engine of economic development in the eyes of the Chinese.
Wherever high-speed rail is built, wealth will be greatly increased. As for the funds invested in high-speed rail construction and operating expenses at a loss, they seem insignificant in the face of these increased wealth.
I worked in a small rural hospital in the central part of Texas. This hospital happened to be in between two high-security prisons. It was not a rare occurrence that while being transferred, they would stop at our hospital for blood work, x-rays, cat scans, etc. One time they brought two prisoners to the lab for blood work. (they remained chained and the officers kept weapons at ready.) I drew blood from the first guy. He was charistically covered with prison tattoos; tears, a clock with no hands, and several gang tattoos. He had one I never saw before. On his cheek were the numbers 5150.
I asked the other guy what 5150 meant. He said that guy is completely nuts! Nobody messes with that guy! What does 5150 mean? He said it is Part of the California penal code. It means criminally insane. I don’t who he is or what he did but he sure was creepy.
P.S. I got to know the transfer crews pretty well. we developed a practical joke with the prisoners. For all of their toughness, many of them were afraid of blood draw needles. When I was done with the blood draw I put a pink Barbie band-aid on the site. Then I told them they had to keep it on until they were admitted to their new home. The guards would back me up and say that they had to have proof that the blood was drawn. So the possibly badest, craziest, most evil, person I will ever meet wore a pink Barbie band-aid in prison because of me.
After a countless string of falsehood dangled by American leaders, government agencies, the mainstream media, thinktanks and intellectuals, why are we still debating if a particular American interpretation of China is credible?
Odds are it is false or embellished/exaggerated.
Remember this guy?
image 173
He made history becoming the first Cabinet-level official to be sanctioned by China, after passing a genocide determination on China’s treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang during his final weeks in office.
Surprisingly, few have spoken up for him, neither blue, nor red.
The State Department has quietly shelved his statement, with its lawyers concluding there was insufficient evidence to make the genocide designation. Antony certainly hasn’t acted on his predecessor’s words, even though the designation remains.
There was also balloon-gate, which was recently absolved by the Joint Chiefs.
“It was a weather balloon we shot down.”
It doesn’t matter how many warheads China has, because Zhou Enlai’s words remain relevant today.
“China has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world once over”.
Stopped a motorcyclist who blew through a 4-way stop intersection. The guy pulled over and after I got out of my car, took off.
I chased him down and again, he stopped. He continued to straddle his bike while I approached him. I asked him to shut down his ride and swing off of it. No compliance. I reached down and turned the ignition off and removed the key. He went ballistic and decided to fight. Guy was huge and clearly under some form of influence. Inhumanly strong.
Tried to mace him, only to have the wind push it back at me. I had left my baton in the car and all he wanted to do was grab my holstered service weapon. We had no portable radios. Frankly, he was besting me and all I could do was keep him from ripping my revolver away from me.
Very, very fortunately, a county traffic officer approached from the other direction and he called it in before diving into the wrestling match. A few minutes later, LOTS of needed manpower arrived and we got the guy down and cuffed. We got him to his feet and watched while he “stiff-legged” it back to my car. Went to put him in the back seat and he wouldn’t fold. Tucked his knees with my stick; nothing. We knocked him back down and shoveled him into the car for the trip to the jail.
Upon booking, he ripped his (artificial) leg off, hopping around and swinging it at the jailers and everyone else……again, subdued and hauled off…aggressive, foul-mouthed, non-cooperative. Next day at his arraignment, a totally different guy! Disabled Vietnam vet…..double amputee….off of his meds. Contrite and apologetic.
Even as the arresting officer, the magistrate gave me no opportunity to comment or o’wise condition the arrest. The vet pleaded guilty and drew a 60-day sentence for battery to police officer(s). To this day, not certain that justice was served, but rolling around in the street fearing for my life was an eye-opener!
Many years ago, I was walking down a road in Bristol (England) and suddenly, a figure burst out of a door knocking me over, He stopped dead, and apologised profusely, helped me to my feet and noting my accent said ’You’re Welsh,- me too.’
He took me inside and got me a coffee, and we chatted awhile, and he said, ‘You don’t know who I am, do you? I had to admit I didn’t, So He said ‘I’m Tom Jones’ You know, the singer?
‘Bloody hell, I thought you were in America’, I said He replied ‘I had a date to appear in the Colston Hall and didn’t want to let them down’, ‘What can I do to be sorry?’ he said. ‘You said you were looking for a short-term job, weren’t you?’ ‘Yes’, I replied, ‘Let me help’, said he, and got on the phone and arranged a job for me there and them with a famous wine importer, saying he’d vouch for me ‘cos I’m Welsh.
I was well received and took up the job for the remainder of the time I spent in Bristol, and it opened a new horizon for me to explore in work which changed my life. So, I’ve often looked back to that chance encounter with a bloke renowned for being brutal – but who changed my life.
China is more ADVANCED than we realised!
Since returning to China, our minds have been blown by the rapid technological progress we’ve witnessed! In this video, @Huawei invited us to explore some of China’s most cutting-edge technologies, including robotic arms, futuristic robots, 5G factories, and mind-blowing augmented reality experiences.
LOL. The rest of youse guys are just NOW figuring all this out?
If the PLA liberates Taiwan by force, 99% of Chinese want Japan to send troops to intervene in the China’s internal affairs or China’s civil war.
As for why the Chinese think differently than you think, I think Asians understand.
Even the dispatch of 1 soldier from Japan is something the Chinese would be happy to see.
In 1937, the Japanese launched the Marco Polo Bridge Incident under the pretext of the disappearance of 1 soldier, and began a full-scale invasion of China.
So, 1 soldier is enough excuse. New grudges and old grudges can be returned together.
One evening in the London casino I worked at, I was having dinner in the restaurant with another client.
Then at a nearby table very old Greek man had a catastrophic failure of his bowels. This is a very exclusive Michelin equivalent restaurant. The restaurant unsurprisingly cleared, leaving me alone with the incontinent gentleman and his wife. I shamelessly pulled rank and had one of the wait staff wrap a table cloth around the unfortunate soul and then informed our reception that we would take the member home in one of our cars.
The car took the old couple home. The restaurant cleaned up the mess. And we were down one Bruges lace tablecloth. I thought the matter dealt with.
I received a phone call the next afternoon from the irate wife of the unfortunate guest. She took great pains to inform me that the quick thinking car jockey had covered the £100,000 Bentley’s back seat with something like clear plastic wrap. Obviously this was deeply humiliating to the couple. Especially to her faeces covered husband. The fact that he was wrapped in tablecloth after soiling himself in a packed restaurant was apparently not even comparatively humiliating.
The wife demanded I discipline the very rude driver. I agreed* and promised I would, and that the next time anyone fouled themselves in my presence at work I would not try to protect the interior of a hugely expensive car.
*Obviously I did not discipline the driver. He saved us an obscenely large valeting bill!
America is one of the biggest criminals in this modern world. They fights for their economic interest. Media defames nations and leaders from the intelligentsia.
Today there will be talk of a leader whom most of the world considers as a dictator.
Who should have got the Nobel Prize. But got death. Unfortunately, people think them as a criminal.
Libya is an African country bordering the Sahara Desert. There 80% of the land is desert. Only 10% of the land is such that people can live. Most of the parts of the country are such where not a drop of water has fallen for 20 years.
When oil was discovered in the world, oil was discovered in every country. What was found instead of oil in Libya was astonishing.
500 meters down in the desert, a thick layer of water was found, its thickness was somewhere around 700 meters thick.
According to experts, this is so much water that it can give water to Libya for 2-3 thousand years.
Its importance can be understood for a country where 90% of the land is desert.
But extracting this water, sending it to other parts was nothing less than Bhagirath’s penance. The money needed for this work in 1960 was $25 billion. From today’s point of view, it will be above 100 billion dollars.
Consideration on this project was abandoned. But when Colonel Gaddafi became president, they started this work.
The West was opposed to Gaddafi. IMF, World Bank no one gave loan to Libya for this work.
Gaddafi took this impossible project forward by making arrangements with their own nation.
Engineers from South Korea helped in this. Later, UNESCO also trained engineers.
Large pipes were built. So wide that the metro train passes.
The project was inaugurated by Colonel Gaddafi on 28 August 1984.
500 meters deep, 1300 wells were constructed. Which used to carry water through a 4000 km long pipeline. So many dams were built that 12 Egyptian pyramids could be built. Astronauts can also see the well built in it.
$33 billion was spent by Gaddafi. The whole of Africa was expected to be green.
In 2008, the Guinness Book of Books included the project as the largest project ever.
People went crazy with joy when water reached the major Libyan cities of Tripoli, Bayanji. Irrigation started in 13 thousand hectares of land.
But in 2011, America attacked NATO by spreading propaganda against Gaddafi.
The surprising thing is that he dropped the maximum number of bombs on this project. Due to which more than 25% collapsed.
How Western countries have turned the boon to Africa can be seen in ruins.
Now urgently we will sell bottled water to Africa, some Mother Teresa will come and get her converted. The Nobel Prize will take the title of a saint.
Gaddafi was bad, so the people of his country would have understood, who are you people who dropped bombs and missiles.
Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, this is all he is saying. Your intention is not right. He says Britain robbed India 45 trillion dollars in 100 years. This is the research of UK universities only. India could not become a 5 trillion dollar economy in 75 years. So how much it will be looted can be estimated.
This project was made in collaboration with engineers from all over the world! What makes Gaddafi a great leader.
Burden X Steven James – Rich Men North Of Richmond Remix
My parents needed a new housekeeper because our old housekeeper was retiring, so with a very heavy heart — Hermione had become part of the family after all these years — they hired a new one.
And what a different person she was.
Vera was in her late twenties, good-looking, was energetic and quick, and had a smart mouth. We needed some time to adjust, but we immediately liked her.
Still, some things were really different. Sometimes she was caught red-handed leaving early, but she aways had some original excuse —
“My mom’s really sick. My husband needed urgent help. My boy needed an unforeseen ride. I started earlier than planned.”
It also happened a couple of times when my mom came home earlier than expected, that Vera was on the phone. (A classical rotary phone in the conversation pit in my parents’ living room.)
(Yes, dear reader. A rotary phone. With a cable.)
The excuse was always the same — urgent matters for sick people and needy children.
Till the day when my parents got the phone bill.
It was humongous, and an absurd number of very long calls had been made to an unknown number, each and every time during Vera’s working hours. When she alone was home.
It turned out that Very had a lover, and had used my parent’s house as a call center all along, so that her husband wouldn’t find out.
She was fired on the spot.
Not much later she left her husband for the lover, and that’s the last thing we ever heard of Vera. When Hermione heard the news some time later, she proposed to come back and spend one or two extra years in our family.
Purchase a marine air horn that works with a canister of aerosol gas. I keep two in my truck, one in each door panel. You may know them from hearing them at soccer matches in big stadiums. They are extremely loud and piercing. If you point one in a person’s face and discharge it with a long blast, the person would become discombobulated instantly. It is actually painful and can hurt eardrums. It would render them unable to hear for a minute or more and affect their equilibrium, causing trouble moving, walking, running, or aiming. The surprise effect is stunning; they do not expect anything like that. You then have the option of running and getting the hell away or physically counter-attacking. It is hard to defend yourself when your faculties are compromised. It is also hard to chase someone. Keep the horn in your hand and be ready to give them a second dose if needed. If you do the wise thing and run, you can keep doing short blasts as you are leaving. The beauty of this is that anyone who is within 100 yards of you will be alerted to that sound and will turn to look and see what is happening. The perp is put on full display and probably will abandon his assault attempt. This can be a lifesaver in a gas station scenario where you are pumping gas and getting approached by someone walking up to your car. I tried a test on a friend who was 3 feet away and his back was turned. A one-second blast, aimed at the ground, made him jump three feet and run about twenty feet away. He didn’t know what happened, he just wanted out of there. Think what a 10-second blast directly in the face would do!
Twenty years ago my wife and I saw an ad in the New York Times travel section. Round trip from JFK to Barbados on the Concorde, plus a week at the hotel of your choice (there were 5 hotels to choose from).
The Concorde? Let’s do it.
We called British Airways Holidays. (It was still the early day of Internet commerce. Back in 2000 you picked up the landline.)
“We’re flexible on dates,” I told the agent. “But the hotel has to be the Fairmont Royal Pavilion.”
No problem. The agent found a date that worked and took our money (about $13,000 all in). Pricey, but hey — the Concorde.
Two nights before our departure date there was a message on our home answering machine. “This is British Airways Holidays. We’ve had to make some adjustments to your itinerary. You will now be staying at the Royal Pavilion’s sister property, Glitter Bay.”
Sister property. It sounds like kind of the same thing. Except it’s not. Royal Pavilion is for adults only. Glitter Bay is for families with kids. Lots and lots of kids. We love kids. We raised two. But the reason we picked the Royal Pavilion was because we wanted to spend a week without kids.
I called British Airways Holidays. No answer. They’re not an airline. They’re just the travel planners for the airline and work from 9 to 5. We left a voicemail.
The next morning we called the Royal Pavilion and spoke to the General Manager of both properties. He said, “British Airways does this all the time. They take your money, and then they switch your hotel. Here’s what I can do. For the same price I can put you up in a large one-bedroom private villa at Glitter Bay. It’s off the beaten path, far from the kids, an easy walk to the Royal Pavilion, and you’ll have complete access to all our facilities and amenities. I’ll send my wife over to take photos of the villa.”
An hour later I got the pictures. It was incredible. We decided to take it.
British Airways never called back. The guest relations guy who met us at the airport in Barbados never told us we’d been switched to another hotel. He drove us to Glitter Bay. Or as we called it all week, Glitter Bait and Switch.
Let me sum up that week-long vacation: The Concorde was a once in a lifetime experience. Our villa was spectacular. But still, it wasn’t what we’d signed on for.
The General Manager was a total sweetheart. He suggested that I write to British Airways, but warned me not to get my hopes up for a refund.
We’ll just see about that decided the man who writes for a living. I spent days crafting the letter. A week after I sent it I got a call from a British Airways rep in London. She apologized for the “misunderstanding,” and asked how she could make it right.
I told her I wanted a public apology. An ad in the New York Times travel section telling the world what they had done and promising not to sucker in any more people. She said, “Sir, we can’t do that.”
I told her if she didn’t I would go public on this Internet thing that was still just taking hold and tell the whole world wide web what a bunch of crooks they were.
She said, “I’ll get back to you.”
A week later she called back. “We’d like to offer you and your wife an all-expense paid trip from New York to London,” she said. “We’ll fly you there on the Concorde, put you up in a five-star hotel, and fly you back first class on a 747.”
If she had seen the look on my face, she’d have known she had me. But she couldn’t see me. So I doubled down.
“Absolutely not,” I said. “You already flew me to a hotel I didn’t want to go to. Why would I want you to fly me to another place I don’t want to go to? I want a public apology. An ad in the New York Times.”
“Let me talk to my management,” she said.
Another week passed. She called back. “Sir, we absolutely can’t print a public apology. The best we can offer you is a full refund. Airfare and your entire hotel bill including meals and other amenities and services you may have charged. If you say yes, we will credit your American Express card with the entire amount.”
I grumbled, and told her that it wasn’t what I wanted, but she’d won. I begrudgingly accepted the more than $13,000 refund.
Then I hung up, did a happy dance, and told my wife the news.
The next day I called the General Manager of the Royal Pavilion and booked their best villa for a week the following spring. Three bedrooms. Perfect for me, my wife, my son, my daughter and their significant others. The cost of the villa, along with airfare (non-supersonic) for six people — a little over $13,000.
Best all-expenses-paid vacation ever.
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EDIT — Sometimes I post and hear crickets. But this one — over 100k views and 9k upvotes in less than 24 hours. That’s like Mach 2 in Quora terms. Thank you. Several people asked if they could see the letter I sent.
I’d have thought that after 20 years it would be lost to the ages, but I was amazed to see that it was still buried in my archives. It’s 1700 words, and I’d be embarrassed to reprint it. My recounting of the event on Quora was written with a smile on my face. The complaint letter is me at my pissiest.
But I can give you the highlights. Basically, the letter stated the facts. Re-reading it after 20 years, it’s clear that British Airways was even more underhanded than I remembered, so those facts were pretty damning. The manager of the Royal Pavilion taught me some of the tricks of the trade, and he explained why they waited till I was 48 hours away from departure, even though they knew they had overbooked weeks before. He also assured me that BA overbooked, not the hotel. I made sure they knew I was a very knowledgeable consumer.
My closing was this: “I feel violated and am angry enough to take my complaint to the FAA, the appropriate consumer fraud departments in New York, the travel press and travel newsgroups on the Internet. I also feel justified in pursuing legal action where I would seek compensation for both the cost of a lost vacation and for being the victim of dishonest business practices.”
But my best line was this: “Under no condition would I have considered a vacation at Glitter Bay, much less pay $13,186.90 for the privilege of living in the middle of a high rent day care center.”
It’s hard to go up against a corporate Goliath and win. But every now and then… I hope this is the kind of encouragement you need to never quit trying.
Russian Spetsnaz Captured German Army Officers in Ukraine! NATO Armies Suffer Heavy Losses!
The Kursk was an Oscar II class submarine, one of the largest and most powerful subs ever built. It was armed with 24 cruise missiles and 24 torpedoes, some of them tipped with nuclear warheads.
It was supposed to be a show of force and a demonstration of Russia’s military capabilities.
But something went horribly wrong on August 12th, 2000 around 11:30 a.m. local time.
According to the official investigation, one of the practice torpedoes that the Kursk was loading had a faulty weld in its casing, which leaked high-test peroxide (HTP) inside the torpedo tube.
HTP is a highly reactive substance that can explode when it comes into contact with metal or organic matter.
The leak triggered a catalytic explosion that blew off both the inner and outer tube doors, started a fire, and killed or injured most of the crew in the first two compartments.
Two minutes and fifteen seconds later, another explosion occurred, much bigger than the first one.
This one was caused by the detonation of five to seven torpedo warheads, which ripped a huge hole in the hull, collapsed several bulkheads and decks, destroyed the fourth compartment, and killed everyone who was still alive in the front half of the sub.
The second explosion was so powerful that it registered as a 3.5 magnitude earthquake on seismographs around the world.
The Kursk sank to the bottom of the sea, at a depth of about 350 feet. The rear half of the sub was still intact, and some of the survivors managed to seal off the ninth compartment and activate an emergency beacon.
But they were trapped, with no way to escape or communicate with the surface.
Meanwhile, the Russian Navy had no clue what had happened. They did not realise that an accident had occurred until six hours later, when they noticed that the Kursk had missed a scheduled communication check.
They did not initiate a search and rescue operation until 16 hours later, when they finally located the sub on sonar.
But their rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather, poor equipment, and bureaucratic delays.
They tried to attach four different diving bells and submersibles to the escape hatch of the Kursk, but failed every time due to technical problems or human errors.
They also refused to accept help from other countries’ ships nearby, claiming that they had everything under control.
It took them five days to admit that they needed outside assistance, and by then it was too late.
On August 21st, British and Norwegian divers managed to open a hatch to the ninth compartment of the Kursk, but found no signs of life. All 118 sailors on board had perished.
….
Now, there are those who believe that the U.S. Navy had something to do with the disaster, either by sabotaging or attacking the Kursk. Why would they do that?
– To prevent Russia from testing or deploying new weapons systems
– To send a message or a warning to Russia about its military ambitions
– To cover up an accidental collision or confrontation between U.S. and Russian subs
– To distract attention from other issues or scandals in U.S. politics
These claims lack substantial evidence.
Some people claim that there were two U.S. subs near the Kursk at the time of the accident: USS Memphis and USS Toledo.
Memphis
They say that these subs were spying on or harassing the Kursk, and that they either collided with it or fired a torpedo at it.
But there is no proof that these subs were actually there. The U.S. Navy denies any involvement in the incident, and says that its closest sub was hundreds of miles away from the Kursk.
Even if these subs were there, they would have no reason to attack or sabotage the Kursk. The U.S. and Russia were not at war, and the Kursk was not a threat to them. It was only carrying practice torpedoes, not live ones.
And if there was a collision or a confrontation, why would the U.S. subs not report it or try to help the Kursk? Why would they risk an international incident or a nuclear war by hiding their actions?
Some people claim that the second explosion on the Kursk was not caused by its own torpedoes, but by an external source, such as a U.S. torpedo or a mine. They say that the explosion was too big and too loud to be from the Kursk’s weapons, and that it left traces of uranium or plutonium on the seabed.
Again, there is no evidence to back up these claims. The official investigation concluded that the second explosion was consistent with the detonation of five to seven torpedo warheads, each containing about 500 pounds of high explosives. The explosion was big and loud because it happened in a confined space, and because the Kursk’s hull acted as a resonator.
And there is no proof that there was any radioactive material on the seabed. The Kursk’s reactors shut down safely after the first explosion, and did not leak any radiation. The traces of uranium or plutonium that some people claim to have found were either natural or from other sources, such as sunken ships or waste dumps.
Verdict:
There is no credible evidence to suggest that the U.S. was behind the Kursk submarine disaster. It was a tragic accident, caused by a faulty torpedo and compounded by a series of failures and mistakes by the Russian Navy. It was not a conspiracy, but a catastrophe.
The Chinese people are such a nation that when you give them comfort and enjoyment, they will self collapse, just like every dynasty change in China and the late Qing Dynasty.
But when external pressure is exerted to suppress the development of the Chinese people and limit their pursuit of happiness, the Chinese people will erupt in strong resilience, use their talents to break through the blockade, and ultimately achieve rise.
From resisting Japanese aggression during World War II to becoming the world’s second largest economy, the Chinese people have come step by step due to external concerns.
The characteristics of this ethnic group can be summarized by a famous quote from the Chinese Confucian philosopher Mencius two thousand years ago:Born in distress and died in peace and contentment
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Coincidentally, the United States is such an ultimate concern from outside, and its extreme pressure and sanctions unite all Chinese people. Regardless of whether they support the government or not, they have found that only by overcoming American oppression can they have a happy life and a bright future.
China has a population of 1.4 billion, and the number of university graduates in China far exceeds the total population of Japan. China has over 70 million science and engineering talents, which is a huge treasure trove of human resources.
For example, the Huawei Mate60 series, which was just released in September, under four years of extreme sanctions and pressure, more than 100 companies listed by the US Department of Commerce worked together to break the world’s strictest blockade and create 7nm chips with independent intellectual property rights and production capabilities. This is the first time in the history of a company or industry’s battle against the world’s only superpower.
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In the chip disassembly video, the encoding is all 2035CN.
CN is easy to understand, it implies China. 2035 needs to be explained as it represents China’s national research plan. If completed according to the plan, China will become the center of the world’s manufacturing industry and advanced technology by 2035.
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It goes without saying where the sword points
The local manufacturing of high-end chips means that the bargaining power of Chinese local chip consumers will be epic strengthened – the space for manufacturers to rely on exclusive technology to obtain excess profits will be compressed, and domestic companies that need chips to drive their own products will welcome a round of “technology driven cost reduction and efficiency increase” – industries such as AI, new energy vehicles, autonomous driving, etc. will benefit from this.
If this is just a celebration of the country and the company, it’s not a big deal. But Chinese consumers joined the frenzy, using their own income to support this domestically produced phone with fully autonomous and controllable technology, and even sparked a wave of frenzy.
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This high-end phone with an average price of over $800 sold over 1.6 million units in just 6 weeks, according to Counterpoint data. It is expected that the remaining few units will be sold over 5 million units in 2023, with a full life cycle sales of over 20 million units. Such sales have boosted Huawei’s sales forecast for 2024- reaching 60 to 70 million units. You know, this is the single market of Chinese Mainland, and $800 is not a small amount for a country with an annual per capita GDP of $10000.
Due to the release time of this phone, which coincides with the visit of US Commerce Secretary Raymond to China, Chinese netizens have divided and joked about Raymond and the US government, and even spliced the phone’s advertising image with Raymond’s photo, using the phrase “Raymond is a Huawei certified spokesperson” to mock the US blockade for not being able to stop China’s technological progress.
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In the capital market, after the release of mobile phones, there was a wave of enthusiasm in the stock market – various semiconductor related stocks have been strengthening all the way, and SMIC International has ushered in five limit up boards in the stock market.
China’s capital market has always been cautious, but now it is full of confidence. How did you say this confidence came about? I have not yet achieved satisfactory results in the journey of technology with my strength.
The wave of new products from Huawei shows this trend: consumers use money to support the products of consumer electronics manufacturers, and manufacturers can collaborate with upstream chip factories to strengthen production processes after withdrawing funds, gradually increasing yield rates, reducing costs, and polishing production processes to maturity.
Then the chip factory uses the money earned to encourage upstream equipment and material suppliers to upgrade and iterate. This is a virtuous cycle, driven by a large amount of capital and technological capital intensity, and an upward spiral towards development and progress.
In addition to continuously developing on the path of EUV，DUV, China is also exploring other surpassing and disruptive technologies, such as chip lithography factories.
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To understand the great significance of this scientific device, it is necessary to first briefly understand some basic knowledge of lithography machines.
As the most core equipment in the chip production process, the lithography machine mainly works by passing light through a specific mask, shrinking it through the lens, and projecting it onto the wafer – the wafer is coated with photosensitive photoresist, and after the development program, a specific pattern can be left behind.
This is the basic process of building integrated circuits on chips by a lithography machine. But with the development of technology, chips have become increasingly complex – in a limited space only the size of a fingernail, people need to put billions of transistors inside.
Therefore, the requirements for lithography machines are becoming increasingly high, specifically for the light source of lithography machines. Because if we want to achieve more advanced process technology, we must have shorter wavelengths.
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Early lithography machines used ultraviolet radiation emitted by mercury lamps, also known as g-line light sources, with a wavelength of 436nm.
The most advanced process capable of processing was 250nm. Later, with the development of technology, it was replaced with an excimer laser light source, which can emit deep ultraviolet light at 193nm wavelength, also known as an ArF light source – under the ArF light source, the most advanced manufacturing process is only 22nm.
But the problem is that technological development has no end. The 22nm process cannot keep up with the booming development of the consumer electronics industry, and people need more advanced chips. 7nm/5nm/3nm…
Although these data are common now, industry scientists have long anticipated this trend, and in fact, they have been launching impacts on these process nodes since the 1980s. The result of the impact is that there must be a new light source – the 193nm wavelength of the ArF light source is still too long to meet the requirements.
The final solution to this problem is the Cymer company in the United States, which provides an extremely complex light source – extreme ultraviolet light with a wavelength of only 13.5nm. The working principle of this light source is extremely complex: a high-energy carbon dioxide laser is irradiated on a dripping target of tin droplets with a diameter of only 20 microns.
This bombardment causes the tin material to instantly produce plasma, which emits extreme ultraviolet rays with a wavelength of 13.5nm – ultimately, these scattered extreme ultraviolet rays are gathered together through a complex lens group and projected onto the mask. This is the effort made by European and American companies and scientists to obtain an extreme ultraviolet light source with a wavelength of 13.5nm.
However, this type of light source actually has significant drawbacks. Firstly, it is too complex. In order to hit a tin target with a diameter of only 20 microns, a carbon dioxide laser needs to “shoot” 50000 times per second, and the evaporated tin target can also pollute the precision optical equipment inside the equipment – most importantly, the power of this light source is too low.
Under a 20kW laser bombardment, the radiation power generated by the plasma is less than 500W – not as powerful as a household refrigerator. Low power ultimately leads to impressive output; And the impressive output means that there is no scale effect and the cost remains high. But even so, this is currently the most advanced thing.
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Now, it’s time to talk about our so-called “lithography factories”. Huairou HEPS and Xiong’an SSMB actually belong to the same category, as both study “synchrotron radiation”.
And synchrotron radiation is a type of light source. The history of synchrotron radiation light sources is very long: in 1947, scientists first discovered a phenomenon on electron synchrotron: when charged particles with speeds close to the speed of light deflect in an electromagnetic field, they emit electromagnetic radiation along the tangent direction of the motion trajectory – this is called “synchrotron radiation”.
This type of synchrotron radiation has many excellent characteristics, such as high brightness, wide energy spectrum, high collimation and polarization. Therefore, since the 1970s, scientists around the world have been studying light sources based on this synchrotron radiation. In Chinese Mainland, we have four generations of synchrotron radiation light sources: the first generation stands in Beijing (BSRF), the second generation stands in Hefei (HLS), the third generation stands in Shanghai (SSRF), and the fourth generation stands in Beijing Huairou (HEPS).
And Xiongan’s SSMB is actually within this category, but SSMB has taken a step further – Steady state micro bunching, a new light source solution developed by Professor Tang Chuanxiang’s team from Tsinghua University in collaboration with German and American scientists.
The specific technical details are too complex, so we won’t go into more detail. What we need to know is that the most attractive aspect of SSMB light source is that it can provide a variety of wavelengths of radiation, not to mention extreme ultraviolet rays with a wavelength of 13.5nm. Soft X-rays with a wavelength of 5nm are also effortless, and the maximum power can reach 4kW, far surpassing Cymer’s “tin droplet bombardment method”.
Therefore, the implementation of SSMB-EUV light sources is expected to help China achieve leapfrog development in EUV lithography.
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At the same time, the SSMB accelerator light source can provide coherent radiation from terahertz to soft X-ray bands with high average power and narrow linewidth, and its time structure can be adjusted in a large range.
It can provide unprecedented tools and means for cutting-edge basic research and applied basic research in physics, chemistry, energy, environment, and other disciplines.
The SSMB accelerator light source has attracted widespread attention from the scientific and industrial communities With the deepening of physical research on SSMB storage rings and the mastery of their key technologies, SSMB accelerator light sources can be expected as light sources for the lithography industry and scientific research.
Their performance will also continue to improve, and the cost will gradually decrease. At the same time, the application of SSMB accelerator light sources will also be more widely expanded.
In summary, we can see that China’s scientific research team is not blindly following and catching up with the West, but is also developing the next generation of technology in a new way while following – this is not a “curve overtaking”, but a dignified linear acceleration overtaking.
I even think that the domestic lithography machine industry is highly likely to replicate the success of China’s new energy vehicle industry in the future: comparing the traditional “tin droplet bombardment” lithography machine is like comparing the engine and gearbox of traditional fuel vehicles.
Time is not waiting for us, and it is difficult for us to reach the most advanced level in Europe and America in a short period of time. But competing for the brand new SSMB light source is like competing for new energy vehicles, where everyone is on the same starting line, and we are even the leading one.
Therefore, I would like to end with Mao Zedong’s famous statement: “Imperialism blockades us, then blockade it. After ten to eight years of blockade, all China’s problems have been solved
‘Steve’, a new person at work (it was about his second or third week) called in one morning to say that his grandma had died. He was told he could take some time off, and get back to us in a few days and let us know how he was doing.
Soon afterwards, co-workers noticed that Steve had unfriended them on Facebook. All except for his line manager who, we can only presume, he forgot to unfriend.
A few days later, Steve posted on Facebook, saying that he’d been robbed.
By a prostitute.
In Ibiza.
When he returned to work, Steve was called into a meeting with the line manager, who opened with: “Sorry to hear about you getting mugged.” By all accounts, it was a short meeting.
Credit where credit’s due, Steve didn’t waste anyone’s time trying to claim that the Ibiza trip had been an attempt to deal with his grief – apparently, he owned up straight away that a friend of his had got cheap last minute flights to Ibiza, and he’d made the dead granny up to get time off at short notice. He was still fired though.
US Suspiciously Activates Global Fragility Act To Intervene In West African States
How does the US have the right to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign nations? How would the dominant society feel if Russia and China intervened openly in American affairs?
For refusing to help a coworker and making them miss a deadline.
That was the story the guy gave to his boss, who confronted my boss about it, who brought the other boss into my office to get to the root of the problem.
My boss: Did you get X for John Doe?
His boss: He said you refused to help him, and I don’t appreciate people preventing my team from getting their work done.
Me: I haven’t talked to John Doe in ages, but let me check my records.
~pulls up database of work requests which I’d built myself for just such occasions~
Me: Oh it looks like he caught me after a meeting 6 months ago and mentioned it, and I asked him to follow up with details so I would know what to get him… but he didn’t contact me again.
His boss: Oh. Okay, well, that clarifies things.
Me: I’m here whenever he he has free time, or, if he doesn’t want to call or come over, he can just submit a request, telling me what he actually needs, on our intranet page.
My boss was cool, he was used to me being blamed and fully approved of my tracking every interaction I had with everyone I worked with (internal and external)… I was the only female technical staff and was young enough to be the daughter of most of the folks I worked with.
His boss was cool with me after that point… he knew anyone smack talking me wasn’t doing their job and was trying to blame-shift and he’d whip them into shape. He ALWAYS stood up for his guys, so I had mad respect for that.
I set up a worm composter inside my home and ended up with a fruit fly infestation.
It was over a decade ago and I was really into gardening and soil biology.
I had a regular compost bin in my backyard, but it was taking almost a year for my kitchen scraps to turn into finished compost.
I wanted a way to make compost faster and worm composting seemed like the best solution.
From my research, it was supposed to be really easy. You set up a tray with moist bedding and kitchen scraps, and you let the worms go to town. What could go wrong?
Apparently, a lot.
Take one:
When my worm composter and red wrigglers arrived, it was fairly easy to set up.
I placed the worm bin in my back patio, and I checked on them every day for the next few days. The worms seemed really happy.
On the fifth or sixth night, we had a heavy rain. When I went to check on my worms the next morning, I discovered a bunch of worms outside the bin.
When I looked inside, the tray was waterlogged and the few worms left inside had drowned.
Apparently, the heavy rain had caused a bunch of rain to leak into the composter, causing the mass worm exodus of 2008.
Take two:
I ordered more earthworms, and my husband fashioned a rain cover for the composter from a trash can lid.
After I set up the worms, things were going really well for several weeks.
One morning, when I went to add food to the trays, there was a bunch of dried worms outside the bin and a horrible stench coming from the composter.
When I looked inside, all the worms were dead and had already started to decompose.
I had started the worm bin in early spring when the weather was still mild. But as the weather warmed up, the bin apparently heated up too much and literally cooked all my worms, causing the great worm extinction of 2008.
Take three:
There wasn’t any part of my patio that was completely shaded, and even though I had placed the bin in the shadiest part of my patio, it still got too hot.
So I came up with the bright idea that I would set up the composter in my basement. It was climate controlled, and I would never have to worry about rain.
I ordered more red wrigglers and after I set them up, things were great for several months. The worms were munching through the trays, and I was getting rich, finished compost that I added to my garden.
One day, we noticed we were getting a lot of fruit flies in the house. The next week, they grew into a few dozen. Before we knew it, they turned into a full blown infestation.
As I walked through the house, the little pests would fly into my face and get lodged in my hair.
We had fruit flies peppering all the windows, trying to get outside.
At night, we itched and scratched as fruit flies wandered around in the air and crawled on our bodies.
There were so many swarming around our ceilings, that they would trigger our fire alarms, setting them off at odd times of the day and wee hours of the morning.
We tried everything to get rid of them.
We set up vinegar fruit fly traps.
We strung sticky fly strips from the ceilings and pinned fly paper everywhere.
We withheld water from our plants, letting them dry out completely between waterings to kill off eggs.
But still, the population kept growing.
For the life of us, we didn’t know where they were coming from, or why they were multiplying so quickly. That is, until one day, when I went down to add food to the worm trays.
I was pulling a finished compost tray out when it suddenly clicked. I knew that fruit flies laid eggs in moist soil. But it wasn’t until that moment when it occurred to me that I had been making moist soil right in my basement.
Trays and trays of dark, rich soil, teeming with nutrients. What fruit fly mama wouldn’t want to lay eggs in that?
At that moment, I knew that I had to give up my worms.
I took the trays of worms out back, to the grassy community area behind my house. And I said goodbye to my earthworms, as I carried out the great worm liberation of 2008.
Wisconsin Chicken Booyah is famous in the Fox River Valley region — Green Bay, Wisconsin. Booyah and beer go great together. Booyah King, Bob Baye, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, has been making Booyah since about 1946 in 100-gallon cookers.
chicken booyah
Ingredients
1 roasting or stewing chicken (about 4 pounds)
1 pound beef stew meat, with bones
1 pound pork stew meat, with bones
1/2 cup minced parsley
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage
4 cups quartered potatoes
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped celery
1 cup carrots, cut up
1 cup green beans, cut up
1 cup fresh peas
1 cup skinned, seeded, chopped tomatoes
2 lemons
Instructions
Put chicken into a deep kettle with the beef and pork. Cover with boiling water. Bring slowly to a simmer, remove scum from the top, and add herbs and seasonings. Simmer very gently, covered, about 1 hour.
Remove chicken and, when cooled, take meat form the bones and cut into pieces. Let beef and pork continue to cook until tender, 45 minutes to an hour more.
Remove and let cool enough to remove meat from bones. Add vegetables to the broth and simmer 5 to 10 minutes.
Grate lemon rind and set aside; remove white pith and seeds from the lemons, chop the pulp, and add to the broth. Taste for seasoning.
While vegetables are still crisp, return the meat pieces to the broth to heat through. Serve in large soup bowls and sprinkle with the lemon rind.
This particular company had a major office building with hundreds of employees. All the offices were decorated in shades of burgundy and green. It was quite pretty actually.
Anyhoo… due to changing departments, I was moved from 3d floor NE to 3rd floor SW. As I’m settling into my new space (which was identical to the old space except I looked south instead of north out the window), the head of the Committee On Office Ambiance appears.
“Oh no no no!” says she. “You aren’t allowed to have original artwork in your office because you are not a manager.”
I glance at the generic painting on the wall, one like every office had. It was ugly as sin. But apparently it was an original rather than a print. Miss Committee snatches that piece of original art and returns with a print, which I liked better anyway.
But it gets better.
So years go by and eventually the hydraulics on my chair gave out. The chair would periodically drop me to the floor without warning. Rather annoying as you can imagine.
I ask my boss for a new chair but he says he doesn’t have the budget for it. I ask to fix the chair but he says he doesn’t have the budget for that either.
This is ridiculous, I think.
So one night I stay late. In the dark of night, I hasten my broken chair down to another office and steal one from an empty. But I get caught! Manager sees me switching chairs. Yells at me because he doesn’t have the budget to fix a chair either, even if that chair is in an empty office. Foiled!
I wait. I plot.
Another night comes and again I wait until not a soul is in the building. I make my switch and I’m not caught! Victory!
Next morning, I’m all happy in my new chair until Miss Committee stops by.
“Oh no no no!” says she. “That’s a burgundy chair! You must have a green chair to match your office.”
Out goes my nice chair and back comes my broken one. Foiled again.!
Once again, I wait. I plot.
Darkness of night. I steal through the building with my broken chair seeking one of identical color. Find it. Make the switch. Life is good.
Until Miss Committee stops by again.
“Oh no no no!” says she. “That’s a manager’s chair. You are only allowed a peon’s chair.” Back comes my broken chair. Foiled yet again!
I’m bemoaning my fate to sit on the floor for the rest of eternity when the maintenance dude happens by. He tells me he has a fix for chairs like mine. He takes it away and comes back in a few with a fixed chair. He’d put a pipe in the stem. The chair can never be lowered again, but what do I care?
I’m finally happy. Miss Committee is finally happy.
I tell this to some folks in the plant. One day, mysteriously, a Dilbert cartoon appears on my desk. Poor Dilbert’s chair is broken and he tries to steal one, only the accounting troll catches him and sentences him to prison at the bottom of the elevator shaft.
I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my (fixed) chair.
I dare anyone to come up with something stupider than this tale.
I had this experience. My boss had already let me know they were eliminating my position due to budget constraints. I wasn’t upset; I had seen the writing on the wall, and I had included a 90 day severance notice in my contract, since the company was known for poor budgeting and finances. In addition to my being let go, I was going to have to let go of several members of the office staff as well. That was fine, but I asked for some time to put everything in order for doing so, at least a week. We didn’t have an HR dept, and being in California, there are certain steps that need to be taken when letting someone go.
The owners didn’t want to wait and insisted I inform people immediately, giving them a two week notice of their termination. Obviously, there were a lot of questions from the employees being let go about benefits and unemployment, which the owners were unprepared to answer. One of the employees complained to me in an email about how vague the owners were being in their answers.
Well, a couple of hours later, I received an angry phone call from the owner’s wife, because this employee had spoken ill of her, and I hadn’t defended her. She and her husband were reading everyone’s emails and were unhappy to learn the people they were firing had little good to say about them. The next call I got was from the owner, demanding I resign immediately in writing for not defending his wife. Of course, I laughed and refused.
His next tactic was to demand I leave home for an unspecified amount of time to work with him on the east coast on new projects. This was the week of Thanksgiving. I had one more card to play: the owner of the company thought it was hilarious to send explicit photos to upper management. I had asked him in front of witnesses to stop; it was a whole other level of weird. I refused to go to the East Coast or resign on advice of attorney based on the hostile sexua environment at the company.
The moment I mentioned sexual harassment and attorneys, the owners went on radio silence. They wouldn’t fire me, and I received zero emails from them for the rest of my 90 day term. I still had to come in to work, but I just sat in my office. I did start taking my private laptop and a hotspot, though, and completed my masters thesis on their dime. I think they thought they were punishing me by making me come in to work for the remainder of my time, but in reality, they gave me an air conditioned, private office to complete a major project. So, thank you?
US Forever War vs Russia and China
In 2014 there was a coup. Soon after, there was a massacre in Odessa (dozens of people were burned alive). Ethnic Russians living in Ukraine were treated as subhuman. Their language and culture was being oppressed. A civil war broke out due to the rise in ethnic tensions.
For 8 years the Ukrainian military was indiscriminately shelling civilians living in Donbas.
If Zelensky honored the Minsk agreement and pledged neutrality, none of this would have happened. The 8 year civil war would have ended and Donbas would have remained part of Ukraine. War is the ultimate failure of diplomacy.
I had another interview. This was on a website that discusses soul, and astral travel, and all manner of similar items. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video. Enjoy!
I hope that you enjoy it.
I don’t think that I was at my best. But I did try anyways.
Oh, I’ve got a good one. After joining a new company, I rose quickly from trainee to project manager. However, my pay didn’t rise with my title or responsibility. I was also being forced to work overtime off the clock (illegally). I had a sit down meeting with my boss, and told him that I expected to be paid more given that I had far more responsibility. I was told that I’d need to gain experience in the new department and that they didn’t have money in the budget for raises. I knew this to be nonsense, because there was no way that the guy I replaced was making the pittance that I was. I also asked for a filing cabinet for my office. I was told that one had recently been vacated and to take anything I needed out of that office. I found the file cabinet, which was a rusty piece of shit. But, it’s what I had to work with. I didn’t know how valuable that filing cabinet would be.
I started cleaning out the crap that the last person had left in the filing cabinet. It was mostly a bunch of accounting stuff; invoices from receivables, things like that. At the very bottom of the filing cabinet was a stapled set of papers. On it were the names of the company’s employees with a number beside each one. I tried to figure out what the numbers meant. Office number? No, some of them were the same. That ruled out employee number too. In fact there were decimals. Wait, could it really be? No. Yes! This was a list of the hourly rate of every single employee in the building, from CEO to Janitor. Jackpot.
Now that I new how much everybody was making, I knew exactly what I was worth to them and what they could “afford”. But they had just turned me down for a raise. How was I going to leverage it? Well, by securing another position, which I did. I interviewed at another company, got another offer that was at least above what I was making in case things didn’t work out and put in my notice. About a week went by. Didn’t hear from them. Maybe they were broke and couldn’t afford to pay me any more. But sure enough, one afternoon I got called into the Vice President’s office. “Why are you leaving us?”. I told him that I thought my additional hours and responsibilities were worth more money and I was right, another company offered more money. “Can we at least make you an offer? We can move things around.”
They came back with a substantial raise, in fact more than the other company was offering by a fair amount. But I knew what every employee was making, from the newest project manager to the people I replaced. I was going all in. I told him I had to turn his offer down. Another day went by. I get called into the Vice President’s office again. “We like what you’re doing. We have increased our offer.” I said I would look at it. I waited two days before getting back to him, just a few days before starting my next job. I told him if he added another dollar an hour it was a deal. He said he’d see if the other board members would agree, and it was officially offered on paper that afternoon. It was a dollar more per hour than the people I had replaced, and a 50 percent increase in salary. Information is everything, and somebody left the wrong information at the bottom of a rusty filing cabinet.
“Oh, just one more thing. My filing cabinet is a piece of shit, I want a new one.”
“Done.”
I made sure it was empty when it got hauled out.
“War with Iran would be SUICIDE and the U.S. will lose” – Scott Ritter
Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter lays out how a U.S. backed war against Iran would bring devastation to both the United States and Israel. Ritter says Israel would be destroyed if it tries to face off against Hezbollah and Hamas simultaneously.
Enough to flatten any nation or a few nations which dare to nuke China completely and comprehensively. Ensure that it can send its reciprocal strike with minutes of the enemy’s strike. China won’t be the first to you. But it must retaliate in kind with equal proportion.
Just so you know? How many Nuclear Arsenals? It for China to know and for their enemies to find out the hard way. 300–30’000 that is what China has. Don’t doubt China. A nation that last 5000 years will still be around after you care gone.
Texas Tavern Burgers
2023 10 28 12 33
Yield: 10 servings.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chopped onion, divided
3 tablespoons butter
1 can tomato soup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 pounds ground beef
Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Combine and cook 1 cup onion and butter until onions are clear and tender.
Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients except beef, salt and pepper.
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook ground beef and remaining onion until brown. Add to mixture.
The US needs deflation causing supplies to keep inflation down. If it cuts China supplies your inflation can balloon to between 25–50%.
The U.S. needs a market to sell most of its products. China a lone is bigger than the next 10 markets put together. It’s consumer market alone is roughly 30% of the world. But what is worst is 70% of world produce is made in China. If you add these China commands 50–60% of world market. Any U.S. companies deprived of this market literally goes bankrupt.
You should not even think of cutting out China let alone do it. Anything you do will hurt the U.S. 10 times what it will ever hurts or harm China. That explains why the U.S. trade war on China starting in 2018 is such a duff decision. From 2018–2021 the U.S. economy grew 5.5% in total while China’s economy over the same period grew 5 times faster at 26.5%! No question who won!
Now this Chip war has shown clear signs of bankrupting the entire host of US chip companies from designing to producing and developing. The U.S. expected China to collapse and it is supposed to take a generation or 25 years for China to catch up. It took 3 years! Now China will produce chips at a third of the U.S. cost! The whole nonsense of Chip ban may cost 10 trillion when it tally up the losses.
But a nation that lost in Korea, failed again in Vietnam and disastrous in Iraq and replaced Taliban with Taliban after wasting 5 trillion dollars in Afghanistan will never learn their lesson to be humble.
In technology it has failed miserably in trying to deprived China of GPS. China developed a higher resolution, accurate to a meter version that now is in use by 187 out of 195 nations. Next to ban China from entering the U.S. space station. The result is China now has the only functional state of the art technology Chinese Space Station.
Moscow will sell to Beijing, 70 Million Tons of Grain over the next 12 years for an approximate value of 65% of thr market price of grain pegged to a maximum value of 2.5 Trillion Rubles
PAYABLE IN RMB!!!
This means 36% of the World’s Grain will now be quoted and paid for in RMB
It was 4.7% in 2021
That’s a 720% rise in a mere 2 years
China gains huge food security plus currency domininon
Meanwhile
Russia extended a 10 year deal to sell Oil at a 30% discount pegged to a maximum equivalent of 750 RMB a barrel
And the best news
The Malacca Blockade is worthless now
China can get 100% Energy from Russia & the Middle East plus Food Security and delivered through Safe routes
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The Duran: Germany is FINISHED
This is very interesting. Europe is going down with the United States.
Texas Breakfast Burritos
2023 10 19 08 45
Ingredients
12 flour tortillas, warmed
1/2 pound bacon
2 tomatoes, cubed
1 onion, sliced
3 1/2 tablespoons salsa
6 eggs
Instructions
Cook bacon until crisp.
Using same pan with a little grease, cook onion.
Crumble bacon coarsely and return to pan.
Beat eggs; stir into pan. Cook until eggs are set.
Fold in cubed tomatoes and salsa.
Fill warm tortillas with egg mixture.
Grandma gives high-five to passport bros
China Aims to Use Particle Accelerators to Build Chips and Evade EUV Sanctions
China’s semiconductor ambitions call to use particle accelerator.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), China plans to use an innovative approach to manufacturing processors by harnessing particle accelerators, potentially positioning itself as a global leader in advanced chip manufacturing. SCMP says the method seeks to evade traditional lithography machine limitations and US sanctions on EUV technology, potentially reshaping the semiconductor industry landscape.
The Chinese research team, led by Tsinghua University, is developing a unique laser source using particle accelerators. Their goal is to sidestep the constraints of conventional lithography machines, which are pivotal in microchip production. The proposed particle accelerator will be roughly the size of two basketball courts, between 100-150 meters in circumference, and will serve as a high-quality light source for chip fabrication.
Professor Zhao Wu from Stanford University introduced the underlying technology, termed steady-state microbunching (SSMB). SSMB captures the energy emitted by charged particles during acceleration, transforming it into a continuous, pure EUV light source. Compared to the prevalent ASML EUV method, SSMB boasts superior power and efficiency, potentially reducing chip production costs.
“An SSMB-EUV light source has been designed at THU, with designed EUV power higher than 1kW, and some key technologies are nearly ready,” said team member Professor Pan Zhilong at a presentation at an academic workshop in January 2022.
This ambitious project contrasts with the strategies of companies like ASML, which focus on miniaturizing chip-making machines. Instead, China’s vision involves creating a giant factory that houses several lithography machines, all centered around a single accelerator. This design aims to enable competitive manufacturing processes (such as 2nm and beyond) that will be used to make high-performance chips without using traditional extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners.
“As a completely new light source, the experimental verification of the technology has been implemented. But it is necessary to build a solid SSMB light source research device operating in the EUV band,” said project leader Professor Tang Chuanxiang from Tsinghua University.
“Then we can [use the device to] cultivate scientific and industrial users, and polish the SSMB technology.”
According to the report, Tsinghua University’s team has made significant strides in this domain; they have successfully trialed the technology and are now scouting locations for the project’s construction, the report claims. Their achievements could pave the way for China to bypass potential future sanctions and emerge as a semiconductor powerhouse.
However, the journey to realizing SSMB-based EUV lithography machines remains long and challenging. Professor Tang Chuanxiang heads the project and emphasizes the need for continuous innovation and collaboration across industries to develop a functional lithography system.
“There is still a long way to go before our independent development of EUV lithography machines, but SSMB-based EUV light sources give us an alternative to the sanctioned technology,” said Tang. “It requires continuous technological innovation based on SSMB EUV light sources and cooperation with upstream and downstream industries to build a usable lithography system.”
China Will Take Revenge Against US Discriminatory Practices On Huawei This Way!
The question is, what kind of inquisitive mind thought it would be possible to stop the technological advancement of a country of 1.5 billion people that work diligently hand-in-hand to build and better their country that has over 1 billion people as citizens, and over half of that as Middle Class? US economic experts advising their government should re-educate themselves.
https://youtu.be/RdMwv9z0VwE
Does US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo seriously think that the US Congress can use legislative tools to stop Huawei from doing research innovation and launching new products?
It’s not just her. The entire US government is having delusions of grandeur. They think that all the US needs to do is pass a law and it will magically happen anywhere in the world. This is massively deluded behavior. Much like the insane Emperors of Rome.
Huawei’s mobile devices consumer division was kneecapped and decapitated through sanction, suffering a 90% drop in shipped volume in the last 4 years.
That’s a 100–200b dollar swing in revenue, just for handsets. To put that in perspective, that’s equal to 1–2 Boeings at its 2018 peak.
The US was trying to kill Huawei, and bury the telecoms business by bleeding revenue off its high margin consumer division.
That’s way grander than “stop Huawei from doing research innovation”.
Huawei is still under sanction, and Bloomberg’s recent name and shame of Taiwanese companies helping Huawei/SMIC with foundry infrastructure is a thinly veiled attempt at threatening companies not to deal with Huawei, even though the contracts they have entered into do not fall under current sanction.
Gina is free to suggest sanction escalation and fix Huawei like America did to Russia and Russian oligarchs, but Beijing will retaliate this time. And there is ~1 trillion in annual S&P 500 revenue generated from the mainland to aim for. The Chinese don’t have a significant presence stateside.
Personally, I think the ship on Huawei has already sailed. I won’t be surprised if Huawei breaks 100m phones shipped annually in the next 18–24 months. I also won’t be surprised if Huawei introduces new WIFI and telecoms standards in the next 5 years that end up being adopted in Apple phones. Neither Apple nor Google are capable of driving hardware standards revolution.
I can’t think of any easy-to-implement/low cost cards that the Department of Commerce can still deal when it comes to Huawei.
When I was a child of 8, my mom died suddenly. Our next door neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Cardin, sat outside on their front porch every night and I went over and sat with them for endless hours. They were so kind. I thought they were old. They were in their sixties, I guess. I always felt welcomed. They served me iced tea. They played cards with me. When I turned 18 and my dad died, I moved in with an older sister. I don’t remember ever saying goodbye to them. Years passed, I married, divorced and remarried and moved to another town nearby. I always remembered their kindness. One day I was walking through a local cemetary and reading the tombstone inscriptions (which I love to do). There they were: Geraldine and Louis Cardin. I knelt down in gratitude. The next weekend was Mothers Day. I laid a bouquet of flowers at the grave of Mrs. Cardin and thanked her for her kindness and comfort. They never touched me, never hugged me. They just let me sit beside them while I talked to them and they talked to me. I cannot remember one conversation, only that I felt at peace in their company.
Carl Zha on Huawei, ‘Chinese Spies’ and Chinese economy on Redacted
Years ago I bought a golf diesel car. It belonged to my girlfriends father. He had fallen asleep and clipped a pole. Damaged the passenger side.
I asked what he wanted for it and he insisted it was only worth $600 because that’s what the dealer said it was worth. I bought it and replaced the door and rear axle and had a little body work and paint and pin stripping done. Cost me $800. Now the car had 50K miles on it so just barely broken in for a diesel.
The first time I drove it at night the climate control section of the dash was black. I thought you know that should be illuminated.
So I got into the dash and found the plug to the climate control unplugged. Plugged it in and it worked fine. Actually it looked like the neon lights at a fair. Red, green, blue colors. So I’m over at my girlfriends and sitting in the car when her father came over and we’re talking and he looks into the car and is stunned to see the lights.
Owned the car for a couple of years and said he just carried a flashlight to see the controls. He had no idea it was supposed to be illuminated.
Egypt just dropped a BOMBSHELL in the Israel Hamas War
Much respect to Egyptian Gov. for not bowing to the US.
I love American cars – I have owned Chevy El Camino, two Dodge Ram Vans and one Ford Econoline.
The thing is that American cars are designed for different ecosystem than European and Japanese. American cars have ridiculously over-powered and under-efficient engines, which are extremely reliable, but they are terrible gasoline guzzlers. I mean, the American cars drink petrol like an alcoholic cheap plonk.
Moreover, the American cars are large and they have been designed for straight roads and long distances. They are excellent in Scandinavia, but next to useless in Central Europe.
In Europe, petrol is an import ever since the USA destroyed all the surviving Fischer-Tropsch plants in Germany after the WWII so that Europe could never be self-sufficient on liquid fuels. It means petrol is expensive, and it is heavily taxed. Petrol prices are approximately the same per one litre than they are in the US per one Yank gallon. So this is an incentive to a) maximize the thermal efficiency of an Otto or Diesel engine and b) to get as frugal and economic car as possible.
Moreover, the distances are short (which means a lot of acceleration and deceleration) and the roads are old (some date all the way to the Roman era) and follow the contours of nature. Which means they can be awfully winding, especially at the Pyrenees, Alps and Scandian mountains. Thus the agility is favoured over speed or comfort.
European cities are old, the streets are narrow and they certainly aren’t going to be re-planned with automobiles on mind. Finding a parking lot can be a pain and many city streets may have centuries-old cobblestone instead of asphalt. American car aren’t exactly the optimal vehicles there.
BLOCKADE FAILED! Germany Halts Dismantling of Chinese 5G Equipment！
Recently, the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 and the resurgence of 5G technology in China, powered by the domestically produced Kirin 9000S, have demonstrated that Huawei has successfully overcome the long-standing blockade imposed by the United States.
Although some US lawmakers have made strong statements about increasing sanctions on Huawei, US Secretary of Commerce Raymond has already affirmed that chip supplies to China will continue. Additionally, ASML, a key supplier of lithography machines, has announced their commitment to providing equipment to China until the end of the year.
Furthermore, Germany has also changed its position. Despite the “red-green-light” coalition government’s emphasis on the “security risks” associated with Huawei’s 5G equipment and their efforts to suppress Huawei through legislation and orders to remove Huawei’s equipment, the German government has covertly allowed German telecommunications operators to use Huawei’s 5G components.
According to reports from Chinese media and Germany’s Die Welt newspaper, a German government official privately acknowledged that the new 5G network in Germany incorporates technologies from China and German operators still rely on security-critical components provided by Chinese suppliers, implying that the German government has effectively permitted the use of Huawei’s 5G technology.
Huawei operates globally in 170 countries, with 30 commercial 5G contracts and over 25,000 5G base stations deployed without any major security incidents. Moreover, Germany’s ban on Huawei’s 5G components lacks substantial evidence to prove security risks, indicating that Germany is attempting to find faults where none exist.
However, this ban has faced opposition, with individuals stating that Germany’s 5G network has developed a deep reliance on Chinese suppliers, making it challenging to remove this dependence in a short period of time.
A friend was flying in to LAX, and I was going to meet her there for lunch. Another friend insisted I borrow his Prius (this is important to the theft), saying that he didn’t want to have to rescue me if my car broke down. (Fair worry—my then car was really on its last legs!)
I stopped at a McD’s on my way out of town to get some coffee, and when I walked back out of the restaurant, I unlocked the car using the fob, hopped in, and left. I drove to the airport, but when I parked and went to get my book out of the back seat, my book had disappeared!
It turned out that I had gotten in the wrong Prius!
When I finally figured this out, I went immediately to the airport’s little “police station” (a trailer at the far end of the airport’s circuit) and confessed to my crime. Yes, the car I was in had been reported stolen, but they contacted the owner who kindly agreed to just let me bring it back, which I did after having lunch with my friend.
Both these Priuses had a keyless entry and ignition system, and the way the owner handled hers was the only reason this could have happened.
Her car was the same color as the one I was driving, and she was parked two stalls away from me in the crowded parking lot. When I came out, I headed to the wrong one, not even noticing that there was another Prius nearby. I unlocked my car remotely, opened the door and sat down.
Here’s the thing: she had locked her car with a physical key when she parked it, but had left the fob in the console, forgetting that the Prius won’t lock if it detects the fob inside the car. So her car was unlocked.
I started the car with the pushbutton instead of with the key, and it started since it knew the fob was inside the car, and voila—grand theft auto!
Victoria Nuland, Asst. Sec. of State for Europe, phone call to US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, in which they discuss how they’re going to set up the new Ukrainian government in 2014.
The video link is provided below. Here’s your smoking gun right here.🔫
And isn’t it interesting that the only administration in which Nuland could NOT find a position was the Trump administration. I’m no fan of DT, but it’s an interesting fact nevertheless.
She was in on Clinton, Bush, Obama, and now Biden administrations — a 33 year “diplomatic” career —including a very high level and indeed dangerous position today (Oct 2023) as Asst. Sec of State. She was Dick Cheney’s Deputy National Security Adviser from 2003 to 2005.
Interestingly, Wikipedia makes no mention whatsoever that Vitali Klitschko was a Ukrainian presidential candidate in 2014, instead providing page after page of information about his boxing career.
On this one, we got real, real lucky.
High level covert operations are NEVER this easy to get evidence on.
Foreign media tend to portray Chinese plans and projects as stemming from a small, tightly centralized regime in Beijing. Foreign press back in the 2000s (when they were still enamored with the ‘Chinese model’ of economic growth) were often quick to praise how the strong, centralized decision making of China and it’s technocratic bureaucracy were key to driving economic growth where the ‘decentralized and slow democratic’ decision making of the decadent rest was going to be their death knell.
One could say that this is more of a linguistic issue where press reports simply referring to Beijing or the CPC created the impression that it was literally just Beijing and the Central Committee of the CPC calling the shots. Thereby creating the assumption that in order to address any issue in China, one must fly to Beijing and meet with the top man there. Or perhaps its a throwback on how the press reported on the USSR by making references to the “Kremlin” every time policy decisions were taken, forgetting that the Soviet States of Hungary, Poland, Romania etc had their own governments with their own powers who also called some of the shots.
This is flawed to say the least.
The Chinese governmental structure endows its provincial governments with surprisingly vast powers to the extent that Provincial governments alone can pursue their own foreign investments and trade deals with only minimal oversight from the center as long as such deals adhere to the loose guidelines issued by the center.
The same goes for the gigantic State Owned Enterprises in China which are permitted to initiate and pursue their own economic activities under the loose framework of the central committee’s guidelines.
As other Chinese Quorans have pointed out, One would do well to remember that China can better be thought of as a continental level entity with it’s own mini nation states inside its borders.
When the BRI was initiated, the central committee simply set out the guidelines for the project, which you can read here:
President Xi Jinping’s keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the forum pointed out that our promotion of the “Belt and Road” construction will not repeat the old routine of geo-game, but will create a new model of cooperation and win-win; it will not form a destabilizing small group, but will build harmony. A coexisting family.
This fully demonstrates that the construction of the “Belt and Road” is an important exploration and practice for countries along the line to jointly build a community of human destiny.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has coordinated the two major domestic and international affairs, coordinated development and security, and carried out a great-state diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in a proactive manner, and put forward a series of new ideas and concepts. We advocate the establishment of a new type of international relations with cooperation and win-win as the core, and strive to build a community of human destiny.
President Xi Jinping said in a keynote speech at the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year that as long as we firmly establish the common sense of human destiny, work together and work together to help each other and overcome difficulties, we will certainly make the world a better place. Be beautiful and make people happier.
The concept of the community of human destiny highlights the inclusiveness of the new international order
The community of human destiny is based on the thinking of various new elements in the development of the world in the 21st century. In response to the philosophical and historical propositions of “where does man go?”, from the perspective of reforming and improving the international order, A vision for the evolution of global governance.
After the Second World War, the world as a whole maintained peace and development. Its main guarantee factors were the construction of the international order and the in-depth development of economic globalization.
However, with the increasing challenges in the process of economic globalization and the increasing diversification of international actors, the current international order cannot effectively cope with various problems, and the risks of security disorder and development imbalance are increasing. Global governance calls for reform and innovation.
The paper goes on to talk in general guidelines about Eurasian infrastructure and trade development in loose terms:
In 2013, Comrade Xi Jinping formally proposed the “Belt and Road Initiative”. China is focusing on the periphery as the primary direction, promoting the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, and providing important new public goods to the international community, especially the developing countries in Asia and Europe.
In August 2016, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out at the symposium on promoting the construction of the “Belt and Road”: taking the “Belt and Road” construction as an opportunity to carry out cross-border interconnection, improve the level of trade and investment cooperation, and promote international cooperation in capacity and equipment manufacturing. It is to revitalize the world economy by increasing effective supply to generate new demand.
His keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Summit further emphasized that China will thoroughly implement the development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, constantly adapt, grasp and lead the new normal of economic development and actively promote The supply-side structural reforms will achieve sustainable development, inject a strong impetus into the “Belt and Road” and bring new opportunities for world development.
In the context of the continued downturn in the world economy, China’s support for countries along the line to promote industrialization and modernization through the “Belt and Road” initiative to meet the urgent needs of countries to improve infrastructure levels will inevitably activate the growth potential of countries along the route, which will undoubtedly help stabilize the world economy. The situation and the promotion of global economic growth.
McKinsey, the US consulting firm, estimates that by 2050, the contribution rate of countries along the Belt and Road Initiative will be more than 80%.
To say that there are a thousand and ten thousand, China is going to build a development concept of practicing the community of human destiny through the “Belt and Road”, so that all parties can work together to fill the development of Asia, Europe, and the mainland, and create a common development and prosperity of all countries. New Era.
That is pretty much all the center does: establish the guidelines and groves for the project but leave it to other actors to decide how they carry them out.
Chinese provincial governments and their regional local elite have their own significant powers which they can use to resist parts of the agenda from the center which they don’t like (at least temporarily). I remember reading how one of the provincial governments stubbornly resisted Beijing’s calls to reduce pollution levels stemming from the province by pointing out how that would slow down economic activity in the province.
Similarly, when the CPEC project started, a Chinese SOE began development of Gwadar port and it’s special economic zone as part of the BRI initiative.
But right across from Gwadar, a Chinese provincial government began their own special economic zone in Oman, directly in competition with Gwadar!
Our Prime Minister Imran Khan would learn this lesson well when his incompetent team failed to brief him on how the Chinese political structure worked.
So when Imran Khan recently went to China on a state visit to Beijing to renegotiate some of the CPEC projects, he was met by bewildered officials in Beijing who pointed out that the central committee doesn’t exactly negotiate the deals for the BRI. SOEs and Provincial governments do. What exactly did Imran Khan want Beijing to do on an issue where Beijing wasn’t directly involved?
Most BRI contracts are not between governments but instead between Chinese companies and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to facilitate projects for the larger BRI initiative.
In that context, when the new government claims it will renegotiate contracts, as well as terms and conditions, it is forgetting to mention that it will have to do them with Chinese companies and SOEs, not with the Chinese government.
Secondly, because CPEC is an overland project, any arbitration that happens i.e. if the government were to try to renegotiate any contract in place, they will have to refer to the BRI court in Xi’an, which falls under Chinese law.
That means either the government must engage a law firm to represent it on each contract it wants to renegotiate or try to contest cases itself.
Worse still is the fact that the government has practically no idea what it wants to renegotiate in the first place.
That is the crux of the problem Pakistan faces: the state simply does not understand the conceptual basis of BRI or CPEC and, hence, cannot even define what it means.
Chinese companies raise that money in their own country from institutions like the Silk Road Fund, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Export Import Bank based on guarantees provided with regards to project completion through contracts signed by the Pakistani government.
Pakistan owes that money to Chinese financial institutions and not the government — let’s be crystal clear about that. The Chinese government will also not waive that borrowing away because it is project-based debt financing.
The crux of the problem as far as Pakistan is concerned is that we have become so accustomed to reading about China through English print media or viewing the Chinese through a prism set by others, that we have no idea where policy decisions in China are stemming from. Or who exactly to talk to in the PRC.
So we default to our own logics: If we’re a strong man, authoritarian country we expect to take our problems to Xi to have them addressed. Or if we’re a country who sheds limelight constantly on the ongoings of their president, we tend to equate the other country’s president with the same power structure.
It would be useful for other nation states and companies besides Pakistan as well to perhaps narrow down on who exactly they are dealing with when they deal with China.
And perhaps do some linguistic adjustments so we move away from stuff like “China is building ports in the Arabian sea” – wait! Who is China? Xi himself ordered the ports built? Like specifically? Or do you mean a variety of different actors ranging from provincial governments to SOEs are pursuing their own economic activity under loose guidelines from the center rather than as part of some ominous grand design.
To be fair, maybe I’m being too harsh on Pakistani leadership. Certainly the military seems to know who to deal with in China, having negotiated independent contracts with the Xinjiang government, Chinese SOEs and so on.
There is also a tendency to get lost in the weeds when reading foreign press on China sense the idea of “large, centralized, authoritarian behemoth moving steadily in an organized manner towards American interests” sounds way more ominous and fearful than “oh hey, one of the Provincial governments in China is building a port in Burma to expand their provincial trade”.
The idea of an ominous, all power, omnipotent central leadership in Beijing calling all the shots sounds very enticing. Particularly for media centers operating out of nations that wish to portray China as the next big threat to their interests.
Its just not true. And we should probably learn that lesson well in our future dealings. Others would be well advised to do the same.
The point isn’t that the central government is powerless vis a vis localized power centers. Or that the central government is all powerful. But that the truth lies in a nuanced middle ground between both polar opposites. And there needs to be more specificity about who we are referring to in China when discussing policy decisions stemming from the PRC.
“Just a small note – neither of this countries was ever part of the USSR – all of then was separate countries albeit dependent of the Soviets.
USSR republics was the “stans” countries (Turkmenistan, Tajikistan etc), Ukraine, Belorusia, The Baltics, Georgia and Armenia, but not Poland, Hungary or Romania.”
Meet Brian Mwenda, a Kenyan man who has been playing a high-stakes game of make-believe in Kenya’s legal system.
Stunningly, Mwenda is said to have argued and won not one or two, but 26 cases, pitting his wits against bona fide legal eagles and leaving courtrooms in awe. And he did all this without a law degree or any professional certification. He’s a fraud.
Now, authorities have finally caught up to him, and he’s facing a slew of charges for impersonating an Advocate of the Kenya High Court. But the man’s record is flawless, a clean sweep of victories.
It begs the question, should he be behind bars or standing at a podium accepting an award for extraordinary legal acumen?
Mr. Mwenda might just be a legal prodigy, an undiscovered gem in the world of law. Or Kenya seriously needs to reevaluate its legal education and certification processes.
After all, if a fake lawyer can outwit the pros, what does that say about the system?
If he was given the right to defend himself and he eventually won, it’d be his 27th triumph, an untainted record in a courtroom career founded on a lie.
If that happens, Brian Mwenda wouldn’t just be defying the laws of his land; he’d be defying reality itself, turning what should have been his downfall into yet another improbable victory.
There are a lot of things I do understand about Trump supporters.
Trump supporters are angry, tired, and frightened. They live in a world that’s passing them by. They keep hearing about how the economy is booming, but they’re struggling to make ends meet.
They see foreign students coming in on H1B visas to work at tech companies for what seems like ludicrous, unfathomable amounts of money, money they don’t see in a decade, and they’re wondering where their share of the pie is.
They hear people sneeringly talk about “flyover states” without seeming to know or care those are their states, their homes. The people they care about are mired in drug and alcohol addiction and struggling to pay the mortgage while Instagram 20somethings jet off to Maui and get sponsorship deals with companies that make bottled water.
They see liberals bending over backward to support gay men and lesbians and Black criminals and trans people and illegals, talking about treating everyone with compassion, and they’re like, what about me? Where’s the fucking compassion for me?
They bought into reassurances that if they were willing to work hard, they’d make it. They’d get ahead. Hard work and grit would be rewarded. Now the lumber mill’s closed and the mine’s closed and city folks keep going on about how coal mining is actually bad and wrong, and they’re like fuck you, we had a deal, I busted my ass and you took it all away.
They were told there was an order to things, a way things worked, and yeah they were never top dog on the heap, but at least they weren’t the bottom either, and now everything’s changed and men in makeup with long nails who’ve never done a days’ work in their lives are being put ahead of them? Are you kidding me?
I get it. I understand that. They were sold a bill of goods, and now the world has shattered around them and they’re stuck in podunk nowhere with no way to keep a roof over their head and the neighborhood they used to be proud of is trashed by meth dealers and everyone else is going on about how wonderful life is and what losers they are, and they’re pissed about that.
That’s not hard to understand at all.
What’s hard to understand is why they think a grifting self-described billionaire who lives in a penthouse, shits in a gold toilet, and wouldn’t ever in a million years allow any of them into any of his resorts is “one of them” and totally, like, gets them.
That’s the part that I don’t get.
Why the West FEAR China (China is UNLIKE Japan in the 90’s)
America loves China’s consumer goods. As long as China was “the world’s production factory” the United States left China alone for the most part. There was the occasional “free Tibet” protest or Tiananmen Square protests, but nothing like what I see today.
What changed? China. China began to rapidly develop its infrastructure as well as its education sectors such as Science and Mathematics. They were obsessed with STEM learning before it was cool. Their military and space program excelled. They tackled poverty and literacy, created jobs and basically pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.
They no longer had to be the world’s factory. They still produce a massive amount of consumer goods, but as China develops toward first world status some of those factories relocated to Southeast Asia. Vietnam will likely earn persecuted country status by the time my grandchildren come of age. That’s if the U.S. is still influential in world affairs.
They hate China because China is no longer the sick man of Asia. China is strong and influential. The U.S. is terrified of losing their hegemony to China. They are an emerging world power that can offer developing countries a different path from what the United States traditionally offers. It’s all a part of a circle really. Nations rise and fall and have done so for millennia past. They will continue to do so for as long as Earth continues to exist. The U.S. will fall and China will rise. A hundred years from now and it will likely be another country’s turn.
If you are in Southeast Asia like me, you should have realized how happy and proud Indonesians are recently.
The media in Southeast Asia is full of reports about Indonesia’s high-speed rail.
In Indonesia, everyone from the president to civilians is happy for the opening of the high-speed rail. Even those against the media can only say irrelevant nonsense.
Indonesia’s high-speed rail has achieved initial success. This is the first high-speed rail in Southeast Asia. They are worthy of pride.
Our Malaysian neighbors have some nasty things to say in the media. But I know that they are actually very envious of Indonesians, and they also want a high-speed rail from Kuala Lumpur to Penang.
Currently, there are several high-speed rail projects in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Japan’s high-speed rail project in Vietnam is in a quagmire, and its high-speed rail in India has made no progress. Only China’s high-speed railways in Indonesia and Laos have been successful.
If Indonesia wants to maintain this success in subsequent projects, it only needs to maintain its original approach and trust the Chinese as always, and they will help Indonesia create miracles.
If there is, 99% of any incidents are man made. To be precise US lies, innuendos, concoctions, fabrications, made up haft truths or total garbage.
Take the weather balloons. Intentionally blown out of proportion. Pardon my punt. Imaging some hundred million Americans fixated over lies by the media and opportunistic politicians making hay on sunshine demonising and accusing the Chinese of spying a most ridiculous and frivolous claims but it sells media! Finally shooting it down with a hundred million jet at a million a pop on a float away balloon worth a thousand bucks!
So think about how ridiculous it is? In todays world where if China wants to it can zoom in from space at high resolutions on very square meter balloon China need to spy the US using a brightly coloured 2 school bus sized with a huge Chinese flag pasted moving at 5 miles an hour, visible by naked eyes m? It is laughable and shameful if you ask most of the world. But guess what some Americans think it is real! What a spun!
But Chinese people laugh their eyes wet thinking how silly you guys can get. Blinken your Secretary of State even postpone a state visit of utmost importance pretending to be affected by the balloon!
The tensions if any are all US made. A nation allowing fictions to exist and lies to demonised other nations cannot amount to much. But the US has no shame or pride. When General Mike Milley your joint forces chief announced officially that after days of disruption and chaos, up to a billion dollars, that it is what it is. A weather balloon! No more no less. Guess what! No apology, no one took responsibility, no one U.S. made to pay, no acknowledgement!
This is a nation that has carpet bombed nations, use agent Orange on villagers destroy thriving economies by mistakes and false flag operations. 3 million Vietnamese died and half a million U.S. agents dead or injured due a war started by lies in the Gulf of Tonkin!
So, sure one cannot expect much! But guess what they dare to call US exceptionalism and even worst Americans believed it!
In every revolution, there’s one man with a vision
“If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial…doesn’t logic demand that you be a part of it?”
It won’t it will never and it will hurt and harm the U.S. several folds more that it can hurt and harm China.
It is no different from the U.S. picking a big rock and threaten China that if China do better than the U.S. you will throw the rock on your own foot!
China is a humongous market now. It is several times bigger than the U.S. and worst it produce 75% of everything needed by the world. If you stop selling to China which is say 40–60% of your market. You will go bankrupt. And if you think China cannot make it you better be super careful that the can’t and they will never be able to do! If you are wrong you will not only lose their need but you will also lose entire worlds need too.
Frankly the U.S. is a party not the only party to make most of the products. It simply cost the US too much to stop China. It is cheaper and more sustainable to work with China as an equal and finding a win win solution. The U.S. cannot forced China’s hand and will. China is too strong, too influential, too rich and too capable to fight you if you fight them.
If something is an Offence, then you need someone to determine what constitutes an Offence and thats called DESIGNATED AUTHORITY
So unless US is the Ruler of the World, how can it be an offence to get around Sanctions Imposed by Russia for economic reasons?
Lets say India needs 96 Million Tonnes of Crude this year – 71 Million Tonnes of Sulphur & 25 Million Tonnes of Sweet ]
We normally buy Spot from the Market and have no long term contracts like other Nations have.
Suppose tommorow we are offered Crude at 30% Cheaper Rate, Why cant we buy Crude from Russia if it means a savings of several billion dollars?????
Punishment would simply mean US Sanctioning the Country that dares Trade with Russia
It might work or It might fail
For instance say India which produces its own Food is Sanctioned , tomorrow if it comes to Energy Crisis and Massive Recession vs Freezing of our USD Assets – A Sane man would rather choose Asset Freezing and fight legally in the UN , rather than force an Energy Crisis and Massive Recession
Say China is Sanctioned. It would rather be sanctioned than compromise its National Integrity and Face by conceding to the US demands.
However a Country totally dependent on US would have to Kowtow or totally Dependent on Imports from Europe would Kowtow
In 1997 – 82.9% Nations depended on US and European Imports primarily (159 out of 188)
In 2007- 59.7% Nations depended on US and European Imports Primarily (119 out of 199)
In 2017 – 32% Nations depended on US and European Imports Primarily (66 out of 205)
In 2022 – 28% Nations depend on US and European Imports Primarily (58 out of 207)
So the Sanctions are becoming weaker and weaker because More Countries can survive primarily even despite US Sanctions. (US/EU also includes Canada , UK and EU and NATO nations)
Almost 101 Countries have changed their primary trading Partner from US / EU/ UK/ Australia/NZL/Canada in the last 25 Years alone. Most of them have moved to CHINA including the EU themselves.
Stupid Sanctions like those against Russia tend to cause more negative impacts to the US than positive Impacts
Russian teenage genius joins Huawei .sparking concerns in the United States.
China and Russia, march forward hand in hand to make our world more stable, prosperous and peaceful.
How many cities can make a simple claim like that?
In Singapore, there are few exclusive districts, and those are the remnants of colonial history. In a modern new town, the expensive private apartments are within a stone’s throw of 1,2,3 room public flats. The children go to the same schools, and the parents shop at the same supermarket.
This raising of baselines across the board prevents organized crime from festering, because the fertile ground of poverty and the disadvantaged is uprooted.
Singapore is low crime, and most people have a healthy respect for the law, and especially officers in uniform. My grandma won’t indoctrinate her grandchildren in 21st century Singapore to “beware of cops”, because it isn’t 60s Hong Kong anymore. The SPF is one of the cleanest and most efficient police outfits in the world.
As a reminder, beat cops are armed with guns, but officer-involved shootings are very rare. We can go years between shots being fired. How does the SPF reduce violent arrests, and the risk of injury to both suspect and officer?
Through displays of overwhelming force.
Not all guns blazing, but the deployment of teams of officers to handle on-the-ground situations. Like these:
This round-island ability to concentrate policing power allows the senior officer to control and manage the situation, particularly the safety of the innocent public, the suspect/s, and of course the officers themselves.
In other words, gentler policing SOP.
This is a luxury that not all police forces can boast. Singapore manages by keeping crime waves at bay with effective policing and stiff laws.
At the end of the day, it is the economic and social fabric that keep crime from festering. And Singapore’s remain healthy.
Note: This is what passes for policing elsewhere.
Nurse Dies Of Illness; Experiences Infinite Reality And Told Why We’re Here (NDE)
There is an island in the Aleutions just east of Attu called Shemya. The AirForce has a landing strip there. The Army used to run a listening post there as well. It was considered a hardship tour, so the duration was one year. However, being under CONUS jurisdiction meant that overseas and hazard pay were not offered, base only. As for social life, the joke ran “there’s a woman behind every tree on Shemya; but there are no trees.” A good wind could carry a person off the island if one is not careful. Guide ropes were installed over the winter months to ensure safe passage between the barracks, the workspace, or the messhall. Being in the high latitudes subjected one to auroras, and other geomagnetic storm effects. Stereo gear just didn’t last long up there. Its isolation put Shemya on the bottom of any iteneraries for the top brass, so their presence was rare, thankfully.
Due to its proximity to the international date line, you could see tomorrow on a clear day!
I let a friend stay at our summer house all winter. All they had to do was pay the utilities. A flag went off in my head when she said “why do I have to pay for the utilizes?
we get back in May-the first thing we are greeted to (in order):
oven is a disaster
phone call they will turn off our electric for non payment
her son (who wasn’t supposed to be in there) carved his name in our cocktail table
deep gouge in the oak flooring
my new water pik is gone
ALL MY WINE THAT WAS HIDDEN WAS GONE
Instead of cleaning out the fireplace she used the trap door which took us all day to clean out
she left the place filthy.
I was so angry I wouldn’t answer her emails or phone calls.
She then dialed on someone else’s phone and I picked up-she asked why I wasn’t taking her calls. I told her everything especially our wine being gone.
Her reply was ““so you are going to RUIN our friendship over a few bottles of cheap wine?”
I said THEY WERE CHEAP TO YOU SINCE YOU DIDN’T PAY FOR THEM.
Don’t call me again and hung up. I hope she sees this post.
A scammer sees a high-ticket item with resale value online.
The scammer offers to buy it, sight unseen, with a cashier’s check, money order, or credit card.
You deposit the check or money order, or run the card.
The scammer has a mule, who may or may not know it’s a scam, pick up the item.
The bank notifies you that the check/money order was a forgery or the card was stolen. They take the money out of your account.
You try to go after the scammer to realize they used a fake address, a disposable cell phone or VoIP line, and a fake name—you have absolutely no way to find them. And the mule who picked up the item? If you can find that poor sucker, he tells you the scammer paid him money to pick up a bunch of items, but then the check the scammer paid him with turned out to be a fake.
Optional bonus round:
The scammer sends you a cashier’s check or money order, but the amount is wrong. You agreed on a price of $2,500, the check is for $2,800.
The scammer says “Oh, I’m so sorry, I made a mistake. Can you wire me the $300 I overpaid? Tell you what, it was my fault, just wire me $250, keep the extra $50 since I screwed up.”
The bank tells you the check was a fake and takes the money out of your account. (This can sometimes take 6 or 8 weeks to happen, by the way.) Now you’re out the car, you’re out the money, and you’re out $250 that you wired to the scammer…
…which, when you try to get the wire transfer back, you discover actually went to a recipient outside the US, and you are completely utterly 100% screwed. There is no way in hell you will ever see that money again.
Super playoff round:
You get a message from an “insurance fraud investigator,” “funds recovery specialist,” “online fraud recovery agent,” or something along those lines. He tells you that your name came up as part of a fraud investigation and he can get your money back in return for a percentage.
You negotiate some percentage, say 10% or 15%.
He tells you to send him $150 to pay up-front expenses, fees, duties, “recovery tax,” or some other bullshit fee. He explains that the fee will come out of his percentage, so it’s all good.
You send him the $150.
You never hear back from him. It was the same scammer all along. Now he has your car, your money, the extra $250 you sent him, and he’s just taken you for another $150 on top of that.
Double Jeopardy round:
You get an email or phone call from Interpol, or the FBI online crime task force, or US Boder and Customs, or whatever.
They tell you that a car registered in your name was used to commit a crime and since you’re still the registered owner, you’re legally liable.
They say that an arrest warrant has been issued in your name, and you will be arrested…
…unless you agree to waive your right to a trial and just pay the fine.
They tell you the fine will be $1,000, payable by money wire.
You wire the money. It was the same scammer all along. Now he has your car, your money, the extra $250 you sent him, the $150 you sent him on top of that, and another $1,000.
Double Jeopardy round variant:
You get an email or phone call from Interpol, or the FBI online crime task force, or US Boder and Customs, or whatever.
They tell you that a car registered in your name was used to commit a crime or found abandoned, but either way it’s been impounded, and they’re calling you because you’re still the registered owner.
They say that you will get your car back if you pay the impound fee. Maybe they even send you a photo of the car.
They tell you the fee will be $150, payable by money wire.
You wire the money. It was the same scammer all along. Now he has your car, your money, the extra $250 you sent him, the $150 you sent him on top of that, and another $150.
Yes, I’m dead serious, this actually happens, and people actually fall for it at every step along the way.
In terms of absolute strength, the Qing Empire was more powerful than the Ming Empire
The Qing Empire had a much stronger army. The Qing Empire had twice the territory and four times the population of the Ming Empire.
During its most powerful period, the Ming Empire still faced threats from northern nomads. They built a whole new Great Wall to deal with this.
The Qing Empire completely dealt with the surrounding threats, and their military controlled almost the limit of geographical control.
From the perspective of global relative strength, the Ming Empire was stronger.
In the 15th century, the Ming Empire was the most powerful empire in the world. At that time, the Byzantine Empire fell, England and France were in the Hundred Years War, and the Spanish Empire had just begun to expand. Technically, economically, and in terms of strength, there was no power in the world that could rival the Ming Empire.
In the 18th century, the Qing Empire was not the most powerful empire in the world. Although it has vast land and population, it has lagged behind in terms of social structure and technology. After Europe completed the Renaissance and circumnavigated the world, it began global colonization and the industrial revolution. In particular, the British Empire developed rapidly, and the strength of European countries surpassed the Qing Empire.
Apollo 20: The Secret Mission to the Moon to Salvage an Ancient Alien Spacecraft
This is fun. Not sure if true or not. Check this out.
Egypt warned Israel of a pending Hamas attack ten days before terrorists breached the border and took control of military bases, and communities, killing more than 700 and taking 150 captive including women and children.
“We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the content of sensitive intelligence discussions with the media, told The Associated Press.
The Egyptian official said the Israelis were concentrated on the tension on the West Bank and did not consider the Gaza ruling terror group to be a threat despite repeated warningד
that the Egyptians though were not being taken seriously.
One would hope so. But the story will certainly be denied. And due to the war Bibi may still keep his seat.
Since Ukraine fell into crisis, Tesla has recovered from a low of 700 dollars to close to 1,100, a rally of more than 50 percent.
Similarly, the first world’s stock markets have mostly chugged through like nothing has happened.
The turmoil in the commodity space though, tells a different story.
This is because the sanctions are designed not to hurt the first world financial markets too much. The first world control the world’s money flow.
Unfortunately, China is a totally different problem. Any meaningful sanction on the same wide-ranging scale as those being thrown at Russia will roil financial markets around the world.
For a start, Apple will lose 90+ percent of its production and 25 percent of sales if it withdraws from China just like it did in Russia.
When Apple goes, so does the rest of the market. The mother of all asset bubbles will burst, from stocks to real estate to crypto to bonds.
The yuan will devalue sharply, and the forex game of cards will go up in flames, especially the ntd, krw and jpy, which will have to devalue even more or risk oblivion.
A weird new world will be in flux, with assets in the first world devaluing sharply, but consumer goods skyrocketing along with unemployment.
All these point to massive social unrest within weeks or months of taking such a decision, which is difficult to walk back because market sentiment is not easily reversed once the trust evaporates.
No amount of money printing can save the day because China controls the real economy of goods and component production.
REPORT: Qatar to Cut Oil/Gas Supply if Israel Invades Gaza
Qatar is now threatening to cut their oil supply to the world if Israel invades Gaza.
Emir Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani of Qatar threatened to stop gas supplies to the world if the bombing of Gaza did not stop.
You can bet Saudi Arabia among others will be right behind.
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
Thankfully, illegitimate President Joe Biden and his incompetent Regime, sold-off about two-thirds of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to stabilize gasoline prices, which skyrocketed when they imposed Sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.
So if the Arabs DO cut-off oil supplies, the United States no longer has a massive 714 Million Barrel reserve from which to draw to keep the country going.
Some 80 million of you voted for this! All you folks who thought Trump was mean (Orange Man BAD!) . . . and voted for Biden . . . . YOU did this.
You’re correct, ground beef is fairly cheap and the cost of the ingredients that make up a burger is relatively low. The cost of all of the ingredients used to produce a restaurant’s hamburger might be a couple of bucks.
So why is my hamburger $15.00, you ask?
Restaurants have other costs, as well as the cost of food. The young lady who greeted you at the door, escorted you to your table and handed you a menu has to be paid. So does the young fellow who took your order, brought you a drink and delivered your burger. Someone had cook the burger, shred the lettuce, slice the onions and tomatoes and prepare the secret sauce that’s slathered on your bun and they get a paycheck. The plate, fork, knife and glass you used need to be washed, which means there’s someone doing that job as well and they need to be paid too. Finally, there’s the owner and his investors. They all demand a profit from the sale of your burger. If there’s no profit, there’s no point in being in business. So they tack a profit onto the price of your burger because they want to be paid too.
There’s also the rent that has to be paid on the building, the electricity and gas that were used to cook your food, light the dining room and power the AC that’s keeping you cool and comfy. A portion of those things are paid for via the sale of your burger. Sell enough burgers and the restaurant stays in business. Don’t sell enough, or sell them too cheaply and you close the doors.
Understand?
Satellites Show Location of USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group Heading toward Israel
European Space Agency (ESA) imagery shows the USS Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier and its Strike Group, moving south past the Island of Sardinia, enroute to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, closer to Israel.
Iges released by the ESA show the ship and its group:
Alongside the Ford—USA is sending the cruiser USS Normandy, destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, USS Roosevelt.
The Ford and its Strike Group are being sent to “Make certain Iran does not escalate the ongoing hostilities in the region.”
When HAMAS, which is fighting Israel, got word the Carrier was on its way, they issued a statement saying the ship does not make them afraid. One government official – I won’t say from which government — told me “It isn’t coming to scare them; it’s coming to kill them.”
That aside, there is real danger for that ship and its Strike Group, if a confrontation develops. You see, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, has, in its possession, a known quantity of twelve (possibly many more) P-800 “Oniks” anti-ship missiles, built by Russia.
The Oniks missile is either land-launched or air-launched. It has a range of 120 to 300 km (75 to 186 mi; 65 to 162 nmi) depending on altitude (Yakhont export version). But Russia has also made a version for itself with a Range of 500 lm.
It flies very close to the surface of the water, with an operating altitude of 10 meters (32 ft) or higher.
But its real danger is its speed. The missile travels at Mach 2.6, which means 3180 km/h which translates to 1998 mph (884 Meters per second) The human eye — in general — cannot even see this thing moving . . . it moves so fast.
The missile has already been used against Ukraine and Ukraine had a lot to say about these missiles:
The Oniks has proved to be a difficult threat for Ukrainian Air Defenses. Air Force Spokesperson Yurii Ihnat mentioned (to Wikipedia) that the flight profile of the missile is of particular concern; “Onyx missiles are designed to destroy watercraft, and ships, it flies at a speed of 3000 km per hour, that is, very fast,…On the march [cruising], it can rise high, and when entering the target, it can actually fly 10-15 meters above the water to destroy the ship.” He concluded that it was “impossible” to shoot them down with available anti-air means.
Which brings us back to the USS Gerald R. Ford and its Strike Group.
They will be in “the eastern Mediterranean.”
One hopes they will remain far enough off shore to be out of range of these missiles. But the farther offshore they must stay, the less flight time for their fighter jets without refueling. So the Ship has to try to strike a balance between getting as close as possible so fighters can have good range, or putting themselves farther away for their own safety, which lowers fighter jet range.
OTHER SHIPS, EVEN CLOSER!
Other US Navy Ships are even closer to the threat of these missiles. The ships and 3,000 US Marines onboard, are in the Persian Gulf!
Unless, of course, the USS Gerald R. Ford and several (or ALL) of the ships in its Strike Group, are being set-up to be sunk, to provide an excuse for the US to go to war.
No, such a thought isn’t far fetched, the US knew the Japanese were going to attack Pearl harbor, and they let it happen on purpose.
Who knows if the same, sick, mentality, is at play in the federal government today? Another “Gulf of Tonkin” type situation, perhaps?
I guess we’ll see.
The Gerald R. Ford and its Strike Group should be in the eastern Mediterranean Sea later this week. The other vessels are already in the Persian Gulf off Iran’s coastline.
I worked for a 150-person manufacturing and assembly plant. We made small engines and parts for aircraft.
I was the HR person.
While doing a payroll audit after we switched to a new system, I found this guy on payroll. He was supposed to mow the grounds and provide janitorial service.
Except we had a service do it all for over 8 years. So this guy was paid a not-so-bad hourly rate and just never showed up. For 8 years. We never could find him to tell him he was terminated.
A few months later, we found a small room in the upper mezzanine of the warehouse. We found a small color tv, a cot, a refrigerator and microwave, a desk and chair, a radio, and easy chair, clothes, etc.
From the things we found on the small desks in the room, we figured he had been living in the room rent-free and he went unnoticed for years.
We finally caught him sneaking in late one evening and escorted him off. He was actually pretty clever.
Brian Berletic: China is Ready for War as South Korea and Japan Join Alliance with US
Brian Berletic of The New Atlas discusses Biden’s latest escalation with China, this time in the form a new military alliance with South Korea and Japan.
China develops new record-breaking ‘Jiuzhang’ quantum computer prototype
Chinese scientists have developed a new quantum computer prototype known as “Jiuzhang 3.0” with 255 detected photons, pushing the boundaries of photonics quantum computing technology on a global scale.
Led by the renowned Chinese quantum physicist Pan Jianwei, the research team has successfully accomplished this quantum computing feat, achieving a speed that is 10 quadrillion times faster in solving Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) problems compared to the world’s existing fastest supercomputers.
Gaussian boson sampling, a quantum computation intractable for conventional computers, was employed in this study to provide a highly efficient way of demonstrating quantum computational speedup in solving some well-defined tasks.
The study was published online in the journal Physical Review Letters on Wednesday.
Lu Chaoyang, a member of the research team and professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), said that a series of innovations, including a newly developed superconducting nanowire single-photon detection scheme with fiber loop-based configuration, increased the number of detected photons for “Jiuzhang 3.0” to 255, greatly improving the complexity of photonics quantum computing.
“By demultiplexing photons into time bins through delays, we’ve achieved capabilities of pseudo photon number resolving,” Lu added.
According to the state-of-the-art exact classical simulation algorithm, “Jiuzhang 3.0” is a million times faster at solving GBS problems than its predecessor, “Jiuzhang 2.0.” Moreover, the most complex samples of GBS that “Jiuzhang 3.0” can calculate in just one microsecond would take the world’s fastest supercomputer, “Frontier,” more than 20 billion years to complete.
Quantum computing, a new computing paradigm, features extremely fast parallel computing capability.
It has the potential to achieve exponential speedup through specific quantum algorithms compared with classical computers in solving problems of great social and economic value.
Therefore, the development of quantum computers is one of the biggest challenges in the current scientific and technological frontier of the world.
with up to 76 photons detected, marking the first milestone China reached on the path to full-scale quantum computing – a quantum computational advantage, also known as “quantum supremacy,” which indicates an overwhelming quantum computational speedup.
In 2021, the team further developed the “Jiuzhang 2.0” with 113 detected photons and a 66-qubit programmable superconducting quantum computing system named “Zuchongzhi 2.1,” making China the only country to achieve a quantum computational advantage in two mainstream technical routes – one via photonics quantum computing technology and the other via superconducting quantum computing technology.
Girl Dies of Hypothermia; Shown Past Lives & Gets To Choose Her Future (NDE)
This young girl’s story is so authentic and original. Thank you!
I worked with an older geophysicist with a PhD from MIT. He did a lot of research for us. We needed to compare the force generated on a hill side, using 200 grams of dynamite, to the force felt on that hillside by an earthquake, that was rated at 5 on the Richter scale, a certain distance and depth away.
We hired a PhD physicist as a consultant, to write us an unbiased report.
After 3 days, he admitted to us, that he could not find a way to compare the two, unless we could give him a method that did the work for him. Very embarrassing.
We approached our MIT PhD, and asked him if he could work out an equivalency. He looked at us, stunned that we didn’t see how obvious it was. He tried to explain, but he was talking so fast, he lost us.
He then went to his white board, and broke the Richter scale down to its basics, then broke the dynamite down to its basics, in Joules, which is kg m squared per second squared.
Then derived a formula that tied them together.
He did this in less than two minutes, and only took that long, because that was as fast as he could write.
I was impressed, that he even remembered how to calculate the force used to measure the richter scale, without looking it up. But for him to solve in two minutes, what our high priced consultant, couldn’t solve in 3 days, says a lot about the difference in quality of PhDs.
He was the smartest functional man that I ever met. I knew smarter people ,but they couldn’t fit into society.
I know that once I was out of school for 10 years, I couldn’t work things out from basic principles, without researching it. Yet he could after 45 years.
America CAN sanction China, but the cost of doing so won’t be low like doing the same to Russia.
America must pony up the cost, like Apple losing 90 percent of its manufacturing capacity, or Americans losing access to Tiktok or half of Walmart. Jp Morgan and Goldman Sachs will lose access to greater China. Many companies will lose their biggest market, including Volkswagen which sells half its production to the Chinese today.
Yes, 50 percent.
Apple sells more iphones in Greater China than it does back home.
Let that sink in.
Sanctioning China won’t land exclusively on chinese laps. It will hurt the first world too and directly affect the quality of life.
When it comes to China, even America must count the cost. China on the economic battlefield is what Russia on the military front means to the Americans.
Plenty of respect, that is.
Plenty.
U.S China Technology War Panics US as it Sanctions Middle East on AI!
“I love China, from East Africa Kenya, and the whole of Africa stands with China”.
I was once part of a government delegation to Italy to partake in a conference being held by energy industries world wide. It was a pretty diverse event. There were speeches by energy experts on a variety of energy related topics. Panels that debated the future of the energy industry (the Nuclear Energy proponents vs Anti Nuclear energy lobby had some fiery debates!). We had some activities in which we would come up with our own amateurish proposals to resolve energy issues in the developing and developed world.
Perhaps the most time was dedicated to the exhibitions where different industries set up their booths which would offer company products and services to prospective clients.
The exhibitions weren’t really of much interest to us. The company employees knew Pakistan was “small fry” (back in 2007 we didn’t have much purchasing power or budget dedicated to energy related issues). So we Pakistanis were largely ignored by the American and European execs who were more interested in the big fish like Saudis, India, China, Brazil etc. We just mostly meandered about.
During one of our strolls, we passed the Chinese delegation. All serious, taking notes, being engaged by this stunning Italian woman from Shell i think who was explaining some kind of product to the head of the Chinese delegation.
We stood a bit to the side and listened in politely, when the head of the Chinese delegation caught our eye, offered a friendly smile and handshake and asked if we were waiting for them to finish up.
“Oh no no, please continue.”, we replied. “Just wanted to say hi, we’re from Pakistan”
The Chinese gentleman’s face lit up instantly. “Pakistan!” He shook my hand warmly “Our brother!” he exclaimed.
It was quite a moment. I remember every tiny detail from it even till today. The Italian lady’s surprise at how warmly we were being greeted. The other booth employees turning around to see what all the fuss was about. Their own looks of surprise at how the small fry, largely ignored Pakistani delegation was being treated so warmly by the most watched delegation of all, the Chinese.
It’s these small moments, these isolated incidents of human magic that people tend to miss out when they get confused over why China is so well liked by many of the developing world nations. Over the course of the conference, i interacted with other delegations from Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and so on and they all had the same respect and positive impression for the Chinese delegation. Whether it was a delegate from Africa or Asia, no matter what their country’s size and importance, they were treated warmly and with mutual respect by the Chinese as if their country was the same as China in size, importance and power.
Several analysts and commentators want to see something empirical, some hard data that quantifies this respect, that explains scientifically why China is held in a high opinion by developing world countries. They look at investments and trade, look at China’s growing foreign worker and student populations, analyze the spread of Chinese media.
And of course, they do hold true on their own. You can see from this entire thread the vast variety of reasons why people like China (economic might, non-interference in other country’s affairs, an affinity for Chinese culture etc).
So take my answer as one part of the entire canvas of reasons being presented here when i say that a lot of developing nation people, be it government employees or just common folk everywhere, like China because the Chinese still consider themselves as one of us. Not imperial overlords or racial superiors or strict masters and so on. But comrades to the developing world, partners in our struggles and a developing country just like us who share in our troubles, concerns and visions for a mutually beneficial future.
I’m no China expert so i can’t explain where this comes from. Perhaps its still the old Communist ideology at play? Back during the cold war years, the USSR and Chinese communists partnered with a lot of the developing world back then as we struggled to overthrow the colonial and imperialist powers (as well as their local feudal, tribal and monarch proxies). I’ve met old Leftists in their senior years today who tell me about how they would go to the USSR and China back when Pakistan was a dirt poor country to get training, education and what not. Revolutionaries and Leftists from Pakistan, other Asian countries, Africa, Latin America etc would go to the USSR and China in cheap, patched up suits with tattered shoes and not a dime to their name and be greeted warmly by their comrades in Beijing and Moscow and given the top notch treatment. Nations that managed to overthrow their tyrants in a successful coup would send delegations to China and the USSR who would come back full of praises for the hospitality and camaraderie of the Chinese and USSR brother Leftists. Whereas the “Free World” would only choose to associate with our feudal lords, our Shahs, our Kings and our dictators and not step foot in a single street populated by the common man.
I don’t even have to wax poetic about the old days of the Cold war. In my own experience working side by side with my Chinese coworkers, this same feeling of partnership and camaraderie is on display as well. The Chinese who come to work with us, work side by side with us, in the same heat, the same muck, the same mosquito, freezing temperatures, rain and what not. The same hectic schedules and daily annoyances are shared by us equally. We also eat at the same table, play football in the evening with each other and exchange movies and TV shows in USBs with each other.
When i told all of this to my friend who works in the Gulf at an MNC he wouldn’t believe me. His experience with Gulf Arabs and the Western Expats there has been nothing like this. Even students and workers that i know who went to South Korea are a bit amazed when they hear this.
Outside of the work place it’s the same story. Western Expats in Pakistan tend to live in huge, well guarded, walled off compounds with these giant electric generators and might as well be living on another planet given how cut off they are from the rest of the populace. Meanwhile, just 2 days ago, i reversed my car past a Chinese couple getting on their motorcycle in a busy, crowded bazaar typical of any major Pakistani city.
The Chinese live, walk, breath, eat and work among us, on our streets, our cities, our home soil. They face the same problems we do whether its load shedding, low gas supply or slow internet. And when we see them share the realities of our lives, it creates this mutual bond and sense of respect between us. They could have chosen to live in their own huge compounds and indeed, the Pak government is trying to force the Chinese expats in Pakistan to live in compounds away from ordinary Pakistani citizens due to security concerns. But the Chinese refuse. They CHOOSE to live with us. Despite the dangers they face. And that makes all the difference in the world for us.
I had similar positive experiences with the Chinese in Egypt and the African delegations and Middle Eastern delegations were absolutely delighted with the Chinese, how willing to explore the local culture they were, how respectful they were of us and how they would engage with us in social activities and general chit chat everywhere, whether at work or leisure. In the meantime, we didn’t even see the European delegations to Egypt even once (separated for security again i guess).
And my own visit to China a long time ago was no less positive for me. Senior government, military and diplomatic officials would engage with us, discuss with us, seek our view point, offer their own. They would even share stories from their personal lives and listen attentively when we told our own. We were given a royal treatment, housed in comfortable hotels, provided medical assistance immediately if someone got sick, accompanying us to the hospital to make sure we were ok, guiding us in the city. Whether it was common citizens or senior officials, they treated us like equals with a lot of protocol.
Maybe I’ve lost a few folk at this point who have no idea what i’m talking about because they can’t relate. But as a Pakistani, our country is associated only with poverty, violence, terror and instability abroad. No one is impressed when we say we are from Pakistan. No one cares either. So much so that we have become accustomed to it, built our lives around it.
So when i was at that exhibition and the Chinese delegate warmly shook my hand, proclaimed my country a brother in front of the entire exhibition to the surprise of onlookers, when the citizen of a country touted as the next super power of the world gives respect to the citizen of a country that’s touted as a failed state in western publications, it creates an impact on our lives.
I know there are thousands of more like me. In 10, 20, 30 years we will be senior officers, politicians or executives in our own countries. And when we see a Chinese official ask us for a favor, a Chinese company bid us for a project maybe some of us will think back to when the Chinese gave us so much respect on so and so occasion. And we will favor the Chinese because of it. Don’t believe me? Just look at the bonhomie between the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who was so dazzled to hear that the Chinese were referring to rapidly implemented Pakistani Projects as “running at Punjab speed” as a compliment to his administrative skills, that he granted several projects to Chinese companies without bidding or on very favorable terms.
Based on how i saw the delegates from Africa, Middle East, Asia also be impressed at the humble, respectful and partner like attitude of the Chinese during their interactions with them, i have no doubt the same kind of positive image of China will be created in the minds of those delegates as well. And when they rise to senior positions, they will also hold the same positive image of China and favor her. All that influence and positive image built across the globe for no cost and without needing 12 Aircraft carriers.
There was once a time i thought that maybe our positive experience of China was because of us mostly experiencing China’s “Golden Generation”. By Golden Generation i mean a generation of people who are born when their country is poor and life is hard, enter young adult life when their country is rising rapidly and go into their senior years when their country is a global power. Kind of like the US’s golden generation. This Golden generation has all the power available to a citizen of a super power but at the same time the same humbleness and respectful nature of a modest power. A person from this generation could become king of the world and still rise to meet a person of more modest means.
I would resign myself to the fact that as younger Chinese came of age who had never seen the struggles of China when she was a poorer country with less power, and he grew up only knowing China as a great, powerful nation then perhaps the Chinese too would become more arrogant and assured of their greatness like the US has become. But my interaction with the Chinese youth of Quora has put to bed such fears as i find them as respectful to us, the people of the developing world, as i found their parents and older siblings etc.
I hope this answer didn’t sound too much like rambling or disappointing due to lack of quantifiable data and science. And i hope this answer isn’t interpreted as a diss of people from the West with whom i also have great experiences. But as someone who as worked in Data analysis so long, i can tell you, some things aren’t there in the data. Some things are in the mysterious, murky sphere we call the human aspect. And in that aspect, you’ll find that this mysterious pull and attraction China has on so many people in the developing world from Africa, Asia, Middle East is based on the smallest, but oldest of all things: Respect. Equality. Partnership. Camaraderie.
This happened to a friend of mine. He’s a PhD in Mathematics and was working for Silicon Valley firm writing mostly encryption algorithms, but some firmware stuff as well. Very very well paid — but not the most social person in the world. Being around people causes him anxiety. This isn’t a minor thing for him — it’s a real pathology.
Anyway, He’s a Los Angeles guy — and hated living so far north. His employer worked with him and let him work remotely 4 out of 5 days a week — he would just need to show up for “face” time once a week. Basically show up Sunday, sleep in the company flat, drive home Monday.
That was grinding him down after a year. His employer dropped that down to once a month. After six months, this was still too much and he decided to turn in his resignation on the next “face” day.
He drove up there, spent the night in the company flat, got up to go to the office with his “notice” papers and his boss calls him in.
They’re laying him off. This means, he keeps the stock options he’s earned (would have lost them if he quit), he gets 3 years of paid medical insurance and a 3 year severance package per his contract.
He sent me a pic of himself after he got the news. The biggest sh*t eating grin I’ve ever seen on him —ever — in front of his “beater” pick up truck. .
A very long time ago, when I was new to working in Corporate America, an employee was reprimanded for refusing to do an assigned task given by a new supervisor and then fired for insubordination.
Sheila had worked in the unit for most of her 7 years with the company. She was hardworking, never missing a day, and knew every aspect of the department’s purpose and work. She was ‘right there’ when any of us needed info or help, something that our supervisors were not always able to do.
She SHOULD have been the supervisor, but she had 3 strikes against her: she was still in school (no paper), she was female (most management positions were filled by males), and she was black (the company had a 7% minority hire, mostly in lower positions).
The new supervisor had worked with us for 6 months when he told Sheila that he wanted her to change a major procedure. When she asked why, he became belligerent and refused to discuss it.
Sheila knew (to summarize) that the new procedure would create a multi-level bottleneck in our area and would ultimately lessen efficiency within a third of the company.
When she attempted to explain this, the supervisor accused her of insubordination and threatened her with termination.
He then began a whisper campaign against her. In hindsight, it was based on racism and misogyny that others (especially in management) seemed happy to join.
Sheila did as she was told, and we all watched as our department’s efficiency rapidly fell and began to adversely affect other units.
When the problems couldn’t ‘work themselves out,’ the supervisor accused Sheila of sabotage.
Some of us went to Personnel (HR) in support of Sheila to no avail. Sheila produced the supervisor’s written instructions, but he continued to call her an incompetent, vindictive, ignorant saboteur and in private, added racist/misogynistic terms.
Sheila was fired based on that man’s accusations and in spite of her denials and proof.
Sheila landed a great position with a competitor within days. (She ultimately lured 4 of the department’s best to join her several months later.)
The supervisor crowed that she had been a spy all along, but as the effeciency still fell, management FINALLY saw that department disruption came from the ‘incompetent, vindictive, ignorant’ supervisor.
He was moved to a different position within the company with no reprimand.
This was my first exposure to how unfair and hateful some ‘management’ can be.
Erwin Rommel is probably one of the most over rated so called geniuses. Rommel had a good sense of tactical employment of certain equipment particularly tanks, but he was greatly aided by the fact he mostly fought an outpost of Britain, rather than the full might of any of the allied armies, and his tactics were never tested by the Soviet armored branch, unlike most German generals.
Furthermore, he was operationally inept and strategically an imbecile. Rommel was the ultimate “i know better than you”, and circumvented the command chain to get his way. For example, he appealed directly to Hitler in order to launch the attack on Egypt, that totally failed and cost the Axis their foothold in Africa, and undermining the Wehrmacht plan made to occupy Malta and cut off the British navy.
At the strategic level Rommel never understood Germany’s actual position, and certainly did not contribute to it. He left this entire theater of command on June 5th despite the Germans knowing that an invasion of France was imminent. He had also previously spent massive resources on creating additional anti air borne defenses, none of which had an impact on the outcome of D-day.
Rommel was defeated in Africa, defeated in Italy and defeated in France, before he was a high level leader he was an insubordinate divisional commander who got lucky mostly. His ghost division was called such because no one knew where it was or what it was doing. That is not a good thing.
Despite all this, Rommel is often mentioned as one of the greatest generals in World War 2, but I really see no reason for this, when von Rundtstedt and even the self aggrandising Mannstein, clearly had far more success and skill than Rommel did.
Star Trek – Two Captain Kirks
Spock makes his way to the control room with a phaser…only to find two identical Captain Kirks (Whom Gods Destroy)
Huawei and China. It force China to speed up dominating the industry and make all the money. It no longer need to share with the west and U.S. The U.S. has to pay and lose in trillions of dollars to build big white elephants, subsidise a dozen countries and the entire industry for decades to come!
Meanwhile it has to contend with poorer technology, higher inefficiency and humongous cost of connectivity! It loses competitive edge and allow its people to fall behind in technology!
But you know who else benefits. Your media and your politicians. The media sell hate and the profit. Your politicians show hates and the win votes!
So who benefits? China, the Chinese people, the global south, the U.S. media and the U.S. politicians.
Who lose? Americans. The U.S. taxpayers. Your U.S. companies, your U.S. dog nations, you U.S. slave vassals, your cronies nations! Too bad karma. You guys deserved it.
Are Humans the First Civilization? The Silurian Hypothesis
I had applied for a job with a company where my friend worked. She had sent me the posting even though I was extremely under qualified and the job was 400 miles away.
I applied, not thinking I actually had a chance. The posting was for a SysAdmin, and at this point in my career I had only worked in computer repair shops. I had some server experience and did some side work for a few clients, but I wasn’t a full SysAdmin by any stretch of the imagination. But what could it hurt to apply. The worst they could do is throw out my resume. So I was surprised when they called me for a phone interview.
I got through the HR interview no problem. I have a good work ethic and am generally a pleasant person, so it was a breeze. Next came the tech interview. The guy who was leaving called me and was immediately concerned about my complete lack of experience as a SysAdmin. We went through the technical interview and I figured that would be the end of it. He asked some pretty tough questions about things I had never done before. So I didn’t think I did that well.
Surprise! I got another call from HR. They wanted to interview me in person! Wow, was I shocked. I agreed and immediately started packing a bag for a road trip. I left early the next morning and drove the 400 miles in one day. I crashed on my friend’s couch and went in to work with her the next morning for my interview.
Again, I was interviewed by a technical person, this time a consultant. Again, he grilled me on a bunch of technology that I had never used before. I answered to the best of my ability, but more than once I had to admit that I didn’t know the answer. Again, I didn’t think I did very well. I basically got the “We’ll call you if we’re interested” response when I asked what the next steps were.
I chalked it up to just being a road trip. I spent the rest of the day exploring the city and taking in a few museums. I had a good time with some friends in the city and then headed home the next morning. This was a Wednesday.
The very next day, Thursday, my phone rang. “Hello, this is X from company Y. We were really impressed with you and would like to offer you the job.”
I almost dropped my phone I was so shocked. All I could do was stutter out a “Ok. I’d love to take it.”
Then the twist. “We absolutely need you to start on Monday. Is that going to be a problem? If you can’t we’re going to offer the job to a local candidate.”
I looked around at my house full of stuff that wasn’t packed and replied the only way I could. “Sure. Looks like I’m moving to Washington DC tomorrow.”
So I did. It took about a month of crashing on my friend’s couch before I found a place to stay and move all our stuff down there.
It was surreal to say the least. In one week, I went from being unemployed in Cleveland to getting a job in DC that I wasn’t qualified for and moving my entire life 400 miles away.
UN GIVEN 24 HOUR WARNING, IRAN SENDS TANKS TO BORDER, SYRIA AIRPORT BOMBED
Two months ago, I got a call that my home was on fire. I rushed home with my 4 year old, found my house uninhabitable and all of my pets deceased. While the fire marshal was finishing up paperwork, and I was covered in soot and tears, a man came up to me with condolences and placed $200 in my hand and said he’s sure I could use it. We had never met; I found out later that he lived in the neighborhood and just felt the need to help.
This man’s actions impacted me in a big way. Of course $200 wasn’t going to rebuild my house, but it did cover getting us pajamas, a change of clothes, toothbrushes, and other essentials that we needed immediately, as well as a hot meal, with some left to spare. Most importantly, it gave me one less thing to worry about at the moment.
Moving forward, I want to be more like that guy. Offering thoughts and prayers through Facebook when people go through tragedies is nice, but actually being present and offering assistance is what makes a difference. Thanks, stranger!
Operation Abscam was the sting of the decade. In 1978, the FBI set up a fake company to snare New York gangsters selling stolen art. The company was called “Abdul Enterprise” hence the name Ab(dul)Scam, and owned by a fake Arab Sheik looking to invest in art.
They recovered two paintings worth 1 million dollars, and during the operation they were introduced to more criminals dealing in stolen stocks and bonds, which stopped 600 million dollars in fraudulent securities.
It was through this operation they were introduced to politicians willing to take bribes. The sting brought the FBI to Washington DC, where their criminal contacts introduced them to shady politicians willing to take bribes for the Sheiks business which was a fake Casino in Atlantic City.
These politicians wanted to arrange a meeting between the Sheik and a US congressman who could make happen any private legislation the Sheik wanted for the price of 50,000 dollars.
This led to the arrest of one senator, six congressmen, and more than a dozen corrupt officials.
The sting was surrounded in controversy because it raised many question regarding the FBI tactics being considered entrapment.
This infamous sting was the inspiration behind the movie American Hustle.
This Cat Was Left Behind When His Owner Moved Away | The Dodo
Citibank. Went to the bank to deposit a ~$26k check into a checking account with many times that amount, then pay my credit card bill which had all the charges from a 15-day Disney vacation.
They deposited the check, but put a ‘hold’ on it, making only $100 of the balance available. Then they debited my checkbook, to pay the CC balance in full.
About a week later the statement arrived. The CC was paid in full, ~48 hours before it was due, but somehow managed to accrue >$100 in interest charges. — First time for that.
The checking account also generated about a dozen overdraft charges despite the balance never dropping below $100k! — It’s not like there was a six-figure minimum balance on that account.
And to top it off, every one of my $25k 7-day certificates of deposit forfeited their interest for the week that included that fiasco.
I went to the branch on the next business day. I waited patiently in the line for the teller. When I got to the window, I quietly explained that they had messed up. The teller *insisted* that they followed procedure. I asked for the manager to come out and explain their procedure in more detail.
I listened to 5+ minutes or doubletalk in stony silence. The manager finally saying he could reverse the charges & credit the interest “… this one time as a courtesy.” I allowed him to proceed and complete the tasks.
When I had the corrected receipts in my hand, and in my wallet, I said to him: “Now I want you to close all of my accounts.” There was indignity & quite anger in his face.
He asked me to step aside into his office. I politely declined saying that until you hand over my money, I’m still a customer. I waited 45 minutes in your line and I’m not giving up my spot so you can hide me away from the people who are still in line. I think they deserve to know how badly you treated me, and maybe some of them will get the idea to leave the bank too.
He tried to maneuver me away from the window. I refused to budge. He tried empty threats, even up to calling the police. I told him go ahead. I have witnesses. Then I said, he *SHOULD* call the police because I want my funds in *CASH*.
He then tried to explain how that much cash would generate a CTR, and I’d be investigated by the IRS. I said, that’s fine. I’m clean, you’re dirty. I welcome the sunlight.
Within an hour I walked out of the bank with a thick manilla envelope under my arm and was walked to my car by the armed security guard. I had informed the manager that my safety was *HIS* personal responsibility until I drove off the bank property. The reason was that because of his incompetence, several people in the lobby *KNEW* that I would be leaving the branch carrying substantial cash, and that the potential for me being robbed once I walked out the door was non-zero.
I left the parking lot and drove to the First Union branch nearer my house, asked for the branch manager, told him a short version of what had just transpired, and in less than 30 minutes walked out with a brand-new leather-bound checkbook, and started earning 0.25% more interest on my money.
—
I had been increasingly frustrated with Citibank in the months leading up to that fiasco. To be fair, it was their electronic banking that had lured me into doing business with them in the first place. Their systems integrated with Quicken better than any other I had used up to that point. BTW this all happened between September 1997 & August 1999. The Disney vacation was from the last day of school in June 1999 thru the 8th or 9th of July. It was a big deal for the kids when we pulled them from school early that day and they got to say to their classmates “I’m going to Disney!”
So, literally every time I visited the Citibank branch to conduct business, I walked out feeing like something was wrong. They always did things out of order from the way I presented them to the teller. It was mildly frustrating most of the time. Irritating on many occasions; and maddening when I’d make large deposits & purchase one or more of their $25k 7-day CDs. The $25k CDs were nice because although they were illiquid for the first 14 days after the 2-week hold the most I could forfeit was the interest on the last week — in theory. There were a number of occasions when they would deduct 8 or more days of interest, when I cashed more than one at a time. I’d get to the office, plug the amounts into Quicken and there would be a ‘discrepancy’. That necessitated another trip to the bank to get it corrected. Or a phone call and an up to 60 day wait.
The bank offered these products to attract deposits. They worked, but they inevitably tried to cheat me out of hundreds if not thousands of dollars in interest earned. But in all candor it was the $400plus in *OVERDRAFT* charges on a well-funded account that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Several years ago Costco ended their arrangement with American Express and switched to Citi. I wasn’t happy. But they gave me a new Blue card with my Costco photo on the back. I only used the card at Costco. And each February I’d await my ‘love check’ aka “My Costco Rewards Voucher”. It usually came by April.
About a year ago, I hadn’t been to Costco for a while and so the automatic $50 payments I made to avoid any possibility of a missed payment fee had accumulated. I had visited Costco on the 92nd day following my last bill and the charge was less than $150. But true to form, the bank had cut me an unrequested paper check on the 91st day (supposedly) recorded the charge on day 92, then hit me with a $35 late fee for not receiving another check before the close of the 3rd statement! Can you imagine?
That was the last time I used the Citi card for *ANYTHING* — except… Now, when I go to Costco, I show the Citi card to prove my membership, but I pay with my Chase. Then when I finish shopping, I stop at the lunch counter and buy a Costco signature Hotdog & Pepsi for $1.50 which comes to $1.61 with the tax. When I return home, I schedule a ebill-pay check to be sent to the bank 15 business days later.
And lastly, I disabled electronic statements, forcing them to send me a paper invoice for $1.61 each month. I did this when they failed to send me an email statement or notification then had the nerve to again charge me $35 after a minor error on my part that had left me with a $0.50 *CREDIT* balance which I was allowing to roll from month to month. That was until the bank decided that since the credit was less than $1.00 they were entitled to absorb it and not issue me a check. They also absorbed my then insignificant Rewards balance ~$5.00 as a co-consequence of the late fee assessed. That too earned them another phone call and cost them >90 minutes of agent time, and a replenishment of the rewards balance.
In 2022 my accrued rewards were $0.12 I don’t expect a voucher, but I will call them to inquire why it wasn’t sent. Come to think of it It’s May 16th. I think I’ll do it tomorrow morning.
We need to ACKNOWLEDGE China IS SUPERIOR in these areas
That’s Rule No 1
…
You have nutters who claim we have nothing to learn from China and if these people are the majority than India will be the perpetual loser like always
We built so many toilets, We built so many trains, IMF says we are No 1, ABC says we are No 2 etc etc
India is a country where mediocrity dominates
…
The Cream is in US or UK or Canada or Australia or Europe or Singapore or Malaysia
Achievers think differently
They always look at others strengths and decide to incorporate them and grow and develop
Mediocrities think differently
They bury their heads in the sand, and keep quoting random nonsense to feel good
India sadly belongs to the latter groups
Thus Rule No 1 is to say
Alright these are Chinas strengths, these are Chinas weaknesses
Let’s try to achieve Chinas strengths without going into Chinas weaknesses
The Basic Truth
China and India started together in 1982 and today China is six times larger
That is a truth that’s out there
That means China did something right or infinitely better than us
That means China has to be superior to us in many areas
That’s Logic
We have the same populace at the end of the day
We don’t have a single viable achievement where we have beaten China
Not one
So obviously China did something better
How many actually say this?
Say that – Wow!!! China is indeed better than us in so many aspects. Let’s learn from them.
My guess is very few
Most of us can’t accept this very basic thing
So this answer isn’t for an Indian sadly
Indians today aren’t built to assess others strengths and evaluate the same
Nopes
The West: China Is Collapsing!
Great video! Some people choose to be so ignorant of China even when there are so many vlogs of those exploring the country.
This is worth viewing.
The Split In Israel And The War Of Al-Aqsa
What is the reason for the ‘Al-Aqsa Deluge’, as Hamas had named its terror operation against the Zionists?
On October 8 Alastair Crooke, one of most experienced Middle East hands, wrote in AlMahadeen:
“Israel” has shattered into two equally weighted factions holding to two irreconcilable visions of “Israel’s” future; two mutually opposing readings of history and of what it means to be Jewish.
The fissure could not be more complete. Except it is. One faction, which holds a majority in parliament, is broadly Mizrahi — a former underclass in Israeli society; and the other, largely well-to-do liberal Ashkenazi.
Mizrahi are mostly the original Middle Eastern Jews and often on the religious far right, Ashkenazi are mostly liberal European ones. The current Netanyahoo government is the first which includes far-right Mizrahi ministers.
Most Mizrahi follow the Sephardi religious rites. They want an religious state based on Jewish law. They are as radial as ISIS.
The high court of Israel has 14 Ashkenazi judges and one Mizrahi one. It is one of the reasons why the Netanyahoo government wants the parliament to be able to vote down high court judgements. There have been large, U.S. sponsored ‘regime change’ protests in Israel against that move. The leaders of the military and security services, mostly Ashkenazi, have also opposed the government move against the court.
I therefore think that it is quite possible that there was intelligence pointing to the Hamas attack, but that it was not revealed to let Netanyahoo fall into a trap. We have however no evidence that there were reasonably precise intelligence warnings, or that they were held up.
There are already demands for Netanyahoo to go. If only for his long term sponsoring of Hamas as a counterweight to the more secular Fatah Palestinians. Should he no longer be prime minister the courts will take up the three bribe cases against him which are currently pending. He would likely end up in jail.
Another reason for Hamas’ success was the fact that three of the four infantry battalions, with 800 soldiers each, that usually guard the Gaza strip, had been moved to the West Bank to protect right-wing Zionist settlers during a religious holiday. This allowed for Hamas’ easy breach of the fence.
Well, the Right in Netanyahu’s government has two long-standing commitments. One is to rebuild the (Jewish) Temple on ‘Temple Mount’ (Haram al-Shariff).
Just to be clear, that would entail demolishing Al-Aqsa.
The second overriding commitment is to the founding of “Israel”, on the “Land of Israel”. And again, to be clear, this (in their view) would entail clearing Palestinians from the West Bank. Indeed, the settlers have been cleansing Palestinians from swaths of the West Bank over the past year (notably between Ramallah and Jericho).
On Thursday morning (two days preceding Al-Aqsa Flood), more than 800 settlers stormed the Mosque Compound, under the full protection of Israeli forces. The drumbeat of such provocations is rising.
This is nothing new. The First Intifada was triggered by (then) PM Sharon making a provocative visit into the mosque. I was a part of Senator George Mitchell’s Presidential Committee investigating that incident. Even then, it was clear that Sharon intended the visit to fuel the fire of religious nationalism. At that time, the Temple Mount Movement was a minnow; today it has ministers in Cabinet and in key security positions — and has promised its followers to build the ‘Third Temple’.
So, the threat to Al-Aqsa has been building for two decades, and today is reaching an apex. And yet US and Israeli intelligence didn’t see resistance coming, and nor did they see the settler violence building in the West Bank?
What happened on Saturday was widely expected and clearly extensively planned.
There is by the way no archaeologic evidence, none, that a Jewish ‘Temple’ ever existed in Jerusalem. If it did, it was most likely not on the hill of Al-Aqsa but one of the six other ones.
Al-Aqsa is holy to all Muslims, Shia and Sunni alike. Its destruction would inevitably lead to war. The West is clearly underestimating what forces calls like this one can rise:
Friday sermon from the Grand Mosque in Mecca prays for the “liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Jerusalem.
This is significant for two reasons: • Audience of 2 billion Muslims. • Such sermons have been significantly censored under MBS. Today’s sermon was likely pre-approved. Video
Israel has used White Phosphorus on the people in Gaza, another war crime. Israel has given all people in north Gaza, 1.1 million human beings, 24 hours to move to south Gaza. That is impossible and will not happen. It is an attempt of ethnic cleansing.
If there were two million Jewish people trapped by Christians in a giant open-air prison and placed under total siege, being told that half of them had 24 hours to relocate into the other half or be killed, nobody would have any confusion about what they were witnessing.
If Israel makes, as announced, a ground attack on Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon is likely to attack Israel. The U.S. has allegedly let Syria know (via France) that Damascus, and President Assad personally, would be attacked if that were to happen. This is a miscalculation. It is far from certain that Assad, or even Iran, has the means to hold Hizbullah back.
A U.S. attack on the government of Syria would bring Russia into the war. Iran would also respond which is exactly what some of the neocons want.
The war could easily escalate further from there.
Posted by b on October 13, 2023 at 15:46 UTC | Permalink
Wife Self-Deletes After Husband Discovers All 4 Kids Aren’t His
I live in a wealthy suburb on the outskirts of Silicon Valley in California; trees, flowers, birds, mostly nice neighbors of diverse backgrounds. On the surface, it seems a wonderful place to live, and in many respects, it is, however, if I look out my front window, I see this:
image 172
The electricity is distributed via overhead lines, due to an underinvestment in infrastructure: last month, I lost power for over 36 hours because it got a little windy (the world headquarters of Apple, Facebook, and Google are within a ten mile radius of my place). When I ride my bike to the local supermarket this evening, I will have to be careful not to slip on a large and growing patch of gravel on a road that hasn’t been repaired for many years: this, in one of the wealthiest parts of the wealthiest country in the world.
image 80
The above is a map of the SF Bay area, a densely populated part of California with an almost continuous ring of urban development. As you would expect, the traffic can be pretty bad, so you might expect that there would be a single circular light rail system linking the many cities around the bay; there is not: if I want to travel from my place to Fremont by rail alone, the quickest way with the most frequent service is via San Francisco. US infrastructure is truly abysmal.
Why is America in such poor shape, with its crumbling roads, crappy power distribution, and pitiful public transport systems? It is because Americans have been propagandized for decades into believing that “liberty” is the ultimate virtue, and this “liberty” is so valuable that it justifies the cost of living as a selfish asshole under a dysfunctional government. “Raise taxes to pay for public infrastructure?” “Jeez Louise; over my dead body! Taxation is theft, government is bad!” For much of the 20th century, America defined itself against the collectivist USSR, and the fatuous argument was made that since everything was under the control of the state in the USSR, the US government should do as little as possible, apart from outspending the evil Commies in national defense.
The infrastructure is just one symptom of America’s degradation: the streets of major cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles are filling up with homeless drug addicts, leaving the sidewalks littered with tents, needles, and human waste. Next to nothing is done for these people because it is seen as “their problem” that they are mentally ill, and lack access to mental health services and affordable housing. The irony is that there are so many of these people now that they have become everyone’s problem. Retailers in downtown SF are closing down their stores because the conditions in the streets are keeping paying customers away, whilst the cops barely regard shoplifting as a crime.
2023 10 19 08 53
The only way this person lying on the ground can guarantee access to shelter and minimal medical care is to go to jail. Land of the free…
The US is run by an oligarchy of libertarian fantasists, who have spent so long sucking hallucinogenic bile from the withered teats of Ayn Rand that they have lost all contact with reality. The government is not entirely to blame for the current situation; a lot of the social problems are the result of the narcissistic counter culture that started in the 1960s, but now that these problems are getting worse, the question is, can the government continue to pretend that they don’t exist, or that there is somehow a “free market” solution to mass shootings, drug addiction, and homelessness?
Living in my little enclave, with its fragile electricity supply, and crumbling roads, it’s easy for my neighbors and I to think that things aren’t so bad, but in under an hour, I can travel to SF and see scenes exactly like the one in the last photo. Whilst people are constantly harping on about whether the Democrats or the Republicans are better or worse than each other, they are ignoring the fact that both parties have done nothing to seriously address the severe decay that is undeniably afflicting America’s social and physical fabric.
Edit: My apologies to those who may have wished to leave reasonable and informed comments; I got tired of being notified of comments that were rude and stupid, and there are already plenty of comments in the thread that disagree with my point of view.
Edit 2: There appears to be evidence that it was uninsulated overhead powerlines, such as the ones in my photo, which led to the fires in Maui, which killed hundreds of people.
He himself was a salesman at our local Ford dealership back in the 1960’s. He was a good and honest man. Around 1967 he had several customers reject the deals he was making with them and instead buy cars from another dealership about an hour away, in Amarillo, thinking that they were getting a much better deal. However what was really happening was that other dealership was quoting them a lower initial purchase price but “making it up” with their financing interest rates. Several times, when they came back and talked with my uncle to tell him that they’d “beat his price”, he showed them how they were going to end up paying a lot more for their purchase than they would have with him once all the finance costs were considered, and they got angry about how they’d been tricked, but of course then it was too late.
So, one day he made a trip to Amarillo to that other dealership and posed as something of a ‘rube’ customer. He started trying to make a deal on a new 1967 Ford Mustang coupe, 289 V8, 3-speed manual. Ford called the color “Dusk Rose” but to look at it, it was obviously “Pepto Bismol pink”. He played the usual games with the salesman, going back and forth “to check with his manager” and all that. (As an aside here, if you’ve ever wondered if sales offices are bugged so that they can hear the private conversations that happen while they’re out of the room, you can stop wondering now. They are. What they’re actually doing when they go “talk to their manager” is running a credit check on you to find out if you’re “worth their time” and listening in. They like nothing more than to have a couple in their office and hear that one of them “is in love with” the car they’re considering. They know they’ve won at that point.)
Anyway, my uncle took advantage of all that back and forth, took advantage of what he knew was the actual dealer cost of the car, took advantage of the bug, “talked to himself” while the salesman was gone about how much he liked the car and hoped he could get a good price, and kept at it until the salesman offered to sell him the car at a price that my uncle knew was hundreds less than what the car had actually cost the dealer. The salesman wrote down the deal, and my Uncle Bill reached over and snagged the paper.
Salesman, as he reached into a desk drawer to get the finance agreement forms: “Mr. Garrett? How much would you like to pay down on this car today?”
Uncle Bill: “Oh, I’ll just pay the full price in cash. Right now. No trade in.”
Salesman, now flustered and getting angry: “But you kept haggling about price and wanting it lower!”
Uncle Bill: “I never said I couldn’t afford it, I just said I didn’t want to pay that much.”
The salesman, and the dealership, were so mad at him that they practically threw the keys at him and refused even to wash the car for him prior to delivery. Uncle Bill paid for it and drove it home.
Back then, in our small town, everyone knew “the pink Mustang” and thought it was funny/ugly. Turns out, that Dusk Rose color was very rare and only a very few of them were built (gee I wonder why?) – but documented originals are quite valuable now.
I miss him.
Leaked CIA Documents REVEALED China Has Powerful SPACE WEAPONS
The Chinese Space Program has often found itself at the centre of allegations and accusations, primarily originating from the United States. More recently, the international community was stirred by the disclosure of a classified document, which brought to light China’s formidable space capabilities, notably featuring a device that can be referred to as a ‘satellite hijacker’—an asset reportedly within China’s grasp. Today’s episode will cover a leaked CIA documents contents and a potential arms race in space.
Im an African American male, okay? I come from the DEPTHS of the hood. In the hood, we don’t eat this. In my culture, we don’t eat this.
Well when I graduated college, I moved to Austin Texas. I have a Caucasian wife, okay? She always talked about this. Her family talked about it and even random people. I was like ummm how good can this be because it sounds pretty gross.
One night, 8 years ago, we made it for dinner. And just know that 8 years later, im still dipping my grill cheese in tomato soup at least 4 times a month.
My grandmother, who is now 96, marched out of Auschwitz in broad daylight after taking off her striped uniform and changing into normal clothes.
A Polish friend who worked in the camp as a secretary and wasn’t corrupted by the racist propaganda had risked her own life to bring her the outfit.
Out she walked, past guards with rifles, attack dogs, and hatred so intense it would make your skin crawl with fear.
Her parents, and almost all living relatives, weren’t as fortunate.
The rest of the war, she spent in hiding.
“At that time,” she explained to me during a recent visit, “we couldn’t set goals, let alone pursue them. We were deprived of our agency, of freedom.”
That’s why she always encouraged me to go as far as possible in life.
Because the highest form of freedom— the ability to actualize your dreams, to create a life of meaning, purpose, and wellbeing—is not something to be taken lightly.
Whatever you choose to do with yours, never forget that it’s a gift of the greatest magnitude.
Parents Took $120k Loan On My Name To Fund Spoiled Sister Studies & Claimed It’s My Responsibility
His family STOLE HIS money. They needed to pay it back.
Pro-Israel Propaganda Is Stupid
It is somewhat amazing how low the quality of western propaganda has become. Especially when it relates to hobbyhorses like Israel.
Here is NBCnews testing not only the stupidity of its viewers and readers but also demonstrating the fatuity of its ‘journalists’.
Documents exclusively obtained by NBC News show that Hamas created detailed plans to target elementary schools and a youth center in the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Sa’ad, to “kill as many people as possible,” seize hostages and quickly move them into the Gaza Strip.
The attack plans, which are labeled “top secret” in Arabic, appear to be orders for two highly trained Hamas units to surround and infiltrate villages and target places where civilians, including children, gather. Israeli authorities are still determining the death toll in Kfar Sa’ad.
The documents were found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists by Israeli first responders and shared with NBC News. They include detailed maps and show that Hamas intended to kill or take hostage civilians and school children.
One page labeled “Top Secret” outlines a plan of attack for Kfar Sa’ad, saying “Combat unit 1” is directed to “contain the new Da’at school,” while “Combat unit 2” is to “collect hostages,” “search the Bnei Akiva youth center” and “search the old Da’at school.”
The attack happened in the early hours of October 7, a Saturday.
What do Zionist children do on a Sabbath, before dawn? Are they sitting in school? Do they visit a youth center?
If Hamas terrorists maneuvered around schools to kill children they came at the wrong time and the wrong day.
At least to me that does not seem to be the most plausible explanation for their carefully planned operation.
The Israeli army is going all in. The plan is to push all people in Gaza into the desert of Sinai:
“This is thought out… There is a huge expanse, almost endless space in the Sinai desert, just on the other side of Gaza. … The idea is for them to leave over for the open areas where we, and the international community, will prepare the infrastructure, ten cities, with food and water… just like for the refugees of Syria that fled the butchering of Asad…. There is a way to receive them all on the other side for temporary time on [sic.] Sinai… and Egypt will have to play ball.”
That is from an ex-deputy foreign minister of Israel. If he says “for temporary time” he likely means centuries.
There are clashes in the West Bank where Israel is trying to incite a third intifada. Some 43 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank over the last six days. Nine of them during the last 24 hours. There are also clashes and artillery exchanges along the boarder with Lebanon.
Posted by b on October 14, 2023 at 13:39 UTC | Permalink
Girls Standing In The Middle of Tokyo to Sell Themselves.. Japan Has A Serious Developing Problem.
Why are so many young women in Japan recently “standing” in the middle of Tokyo? We find the answer to this question through the story of Yuka in this video, and the important message of takeaway in which this alarming phenomenon has for all of us, when visiting, or considering any social issues regarding Japan.
https://youtu.be/yo3IUSfTiMY
The Split In Israel And The War Of Al-Aqsa
What is the reason for the ‘Al-Aqsa Deluge’, as Hamas had named its terror operation against the Zionists?
On October 8 Alastair Crooke, one of most experienced Middle East hands, wrote in AlMahadeen:
“Israel” has shattered into two equally weighted factions holding to two irreconcilable visions of “Israel’s” future; two mutually opposing readings of history and of what it means to be Jewish.
The fissure could not be more complete. Except it is. One faction, which holds a majority in parliament, is broadly Mizrahi — a former underclass in Israeli society; and the other, largely well-to-do liberal Ashkenazi.
Mizrahi are mostly the original Middle Eastern Jews and often on the religious far right, Ashkenazi are mostly liberal European ones. The current Netanyahoo government is the first which includes far-right Mizrahi ministers.
Most Mizrahi follow the Sephardi religious rites. They want an religious state based on Jewish law. They are as radial as ISIS.
The high court of Israel has 14 Ashkenazi judges and one Mizrahi one. It is one of the reasons why the Netanyahoo government wants the parliament to be able to vote down high court judgements. There have been large, U.S. sponsored ‘regime change’ protests in Israel against that move. The leaders of the military and security services, mostly Ashkenazi, have also opposed the government move against the court.
I therefore think that it is quite possible that there was intelligence pointing to the Hamas attack, but that it was not revealed to let Netanyahoo fall into a trap. We have however no evidence that there were reasonably precise intelligence warnings, or that they were held up.
There are already demands for Netanyahoo to go. If only for his long term sponsoring of Hamas as a counterweight to the more secular Fatah Palestinians. Should he no longer be prime minister the courts will take up the three bribe cases against him which are currently pending. He would likely end up in jail.
Another reason for Hamas’ success was the fact that three of the four infantry battalions, with 800 soldiers each, that usually guard the Gaza strip, had been moved to the West Bank to protect right-wing Zionist settlers during a religious holiday. This allowed for Hamas’ easy breach of the fence.
Well, the Right in Netanyahu’s government has two long-standing commitments. One is to rebuild the (Jewish) Temple on ‘Temple Mount’ (Haram al-Shariff).
Just to be clear, that would entail demolishing Al-Aqsa.
The second overriding commitment is to the founding of “Israel”, on the “Land of Israel”. And again, to be clear, this (in their view) would entail clearing Palestinians from the West Bank. Indeed, the settlers have been cleansing Palestinians from swaths of the West Bank over the past year (notably between Ramallah and Jericho).
On Thursday morning (two days preceding Al-Aqsa Flood), more than 800 settlers stormed the Mosque Compound, under the full protection of Israeli forces. The drumbeat of such provocations is rising.
This is nothing new. The First Intifada was triggered by (then) PM Sharon making a provocative visit into the mosque. I was a part of Senator George Mitchell’s Presidential Committee investigating that incident. Even then, it was clear that Sharon intended the visit to fuel the fire of religious nationalism. At that time, the Temple Mount Movement was a minnow; today it has ministers in Cabinet and in key security positions — and has promised its followers to build the ‘Third Temple’.
So, the threat to Al-Aqsa has been building for two decades, and today is reaching an apex. And yet US and Israeli intelligence didn’t see resistance coming, and nor did they see the settler violence building in the West Bank?
What happened on Saturday was widely expected and clearly extensively planned.
There is by the way no archaeologic evidence, none, that a Jewish ‘Temple’ ever existed in Jerusalem. If it did, it was most likely not on the hill of Al-Aqsa but one of the six other ones.
Al-Aqsa is holy to all Muslims, Shia and Sunni alike. Its destruction would inevitably lead to war. The West is clearly underestimating what forces calls like this one can rise:
Friday sermon from the Grand Mosque in Mecca prays for the “liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Jerusalem.
This is significant for two reasons: • Audience of 2 billion Muslims. • Such sermons have been significantly censored under MBS. Today’s sermon was likely pre-approved. Video
Israel has used White Phosphorus on the people in Gaza, another war crime. Israel has given all people in north Gaza, 1.1 million human beings, 24 hours to move to south Gaza. That is impossible and will not happen. It is an attempt of ethnic cleansing.
If there were two million Jewish people trapped by Christians in a giant open-air prison and placed under total siege, being told that half of them had 24 hours to relocate into the other half or be killed, nobody would have any confusion about what they were witnessing.
If Israel makes, as announced, a ground attack on Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon is likely to attack Israel. The U.S. has allegedly let Syria know (via France) that Damascus, and President Assad personally, would be attacked if that were to happen. This is a miscalculation. It is far from certain that Assad, or even Iran, has the means to hold Hizbullah back.
A U.S. attack on the government of Syria would bring Russia into the war. Iran would also respond which is exactly what some of the neocons want.
The war could easily escalate further from there.
Posted by b on October 13, 2023 at 15:46 UTC | Permalink
Originally Answered: What would happen if a high ranking Admiral or General visited a Military base without telling anyone first and didn’t like how things were being done there?
Admiral Rickover no-notice visited a nuclear boat in civilian clothing, was admitted, and began touring the boat. As he approached the reactor room a second class (E-5) stopped him from entering.
When the Admiral went to push past the man, he picked up a very large wrench and offered to split the Admiral’s head open.
Later 0, during a post-tour discussion, the Admiral asked the sailor if he recognized him (the Father of the Nuclear Navy) and if so, why the young sailor wouldn’t let the Admiral enter the reactor room.
The sailor said “Because, sir, you didn’t have the boat’s Reactor Room badge. No one comes into my reactor room without the proper pass, not even you.”
The next day the young man was spot promoted to E-6.
I was told this story by a roommate that was an MS1 (cook) on the boat at the time.
The key sentences in the Analects are:子罕： 無意無必無固無我：Have no preconceptions, do not insist on a certain course of action, don’t be obstinate, keep your ego out of things. The other one is: 里仁：君子之於天下也無適也無莫也義之與比：There is nothing in the world you have to be for, there is nothing in the world you have to be against; the only standard is what is appropriate for the situation at hand.
These were balanced by 禮 cultural standards. You should maintain a balance between 智仁勇 thinking, feeling (kindness), and courage. In all matters, 中庸 keep a balance, don’t go off far ends, never become an extremist.
In a nutshell, that’s it. I could go on for days, but that gives you the key points.
A large group of Russian soldiers in the border area in 1939 are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a small hill:
“One Finnish soldier is better than ten Russian”.
The Russian commander quickly orders 10 of his best men over the hill where a gun battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes, then silence.
The voice once again calls out: “One Finn is better than one hundred Russian.”
Furious, the Russian commander sends his next best 100 troops over the hill, and instantly a huge gunfight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again Silence.
The calm Finnish voice calls out again: “One Finn is better than one thousand Russians!”
The enraged Russian commander musters 1000 fighters and sends them to the other side of the hill.
Rifle fire, machine guns, grenades, rockets, and cannon fire ring out as a terrible battle is fought…
Then silence.
Eventually, one badly wounded Russian fighter crawls back over the hill and with his dying words tells his commander:
“Don’t send any more men… it’s a trap. There’s two of them!
Pay no attention to criticism or to authors of lies. They wouldn’t be doing it if you hadn’t created something to make them jealous.
When people troll you, this means that you’re important. Pretend that you’re depressed, but smile inwardly because deep inside, you know that you’re somebody significant.
Have a good reason to put a smile on your face. Even when you’re hungry or broke, that’s not a good reason to frown, for you never know when your help is arriving.
Happiness can be faked. This is probably a good thing for your health because your subconscious mind can’t tell the difference.
You can probably tell who your best friends are since they’ll not be easy to find. However, you can easily tell who your fake friends are since they’ll bring themselves to you.
It’s important to connect with as many friends as possible, but the most important way to have inner peace is to connect with yourself.
Whatever happens in your life, try to remain as calm as possible, despite all that’s going on around you.
People who can control their emotions are stronger than fortresses. Most of the problems that take away our inner peace come from reacting to situations we shouldn’t react to.
Don’t look for internal peace externally, where everybody is looking. To have peace, you have to look for someone who already has it. Unfortunately, most people don’t have inner peace, so you must change your focus to rely on your internal resources.
Despite all the noise, there’s still a central place where you can find peace. The heart is a central place where you can find almost anything that needs to be found.
You will never have peace watching the daily news, for it is the bad news that sells for TV stations and makes a slave to negative news. A person who watches much TV will always wake up with a headache, hangover, or depression.
Happiness is the secret to inner peace. Avoid people or situations that deprive you of happiness.
Nothing is as infectious as a good laughter, yet most people want to look depressed for no particular reason. Why don’t you lock yourself in a room and laugh even when there’s no particular reason to laugh?
Whatever situation you find yourself in, there’s no good reason to lose hope. Hope is like advance payment on something valuable you’re eagerly awaiting.
In most cases, you have innate peace inside of you, but other people come and take it away through discouragement, bad news, and idle talk because they don’t have peace in the first place and they don’t feel comfortable when you have it.
When people tell you something negative, the best thing to do is to remain calm. Try to assess it, and if it doesn’t make sense ignore it. The worst thing you can do is to react to it, but the best thing you can do is to avoid negative people.
Inner peace is more valuable than all the peace in the world, because when you have it, you can think more clearly and know how to react to situations and problems.
The natural inclination for humans is to dominate and control others. Know that if you’re a person given to this instinct, you’re courting misery, unhappiness, and grief, for the same people you seek to control, will turn upon you and tear you apart, the moment they realize you’re also human.
The number one killer for peace of mind is when you lose sleep as a result of another person “getting there” quicker than you. No two people are the same. No two people have the same abilities, and no two people think the same way. Don’t feel jealous because someone else is succeeding where you failed. Instead, be happy for them and your own success will arrive faster than you think.
The number two killer for peace of mind is anger. Anger is like a tornado, destroying everything in it’s wake including you and your loved ones.
Pay attention to what you eat. Neurochemicals in the brain that control mood, peace of mind, love, happiness, anger, and other factors, depend on the kind of food you eat, your particular environment, and the people you live with. Changing any or all of these factors, can greatly boost your inner peace that you didn’t believe existed.
There’s a reason why people take a break. Although worrying your head off won’t solve any problem, you might find it reasonable to find a solitary place where you can spend time alone. Enjoying solitude, meditation, and prayer, especially where there’s a body of water like the sea, river, or lake, are great ways to get away from people and all the noise, mobile phones, internet, social media, and rejuvenate your life. Find time to connect with your soul, and understand better what’s ailing you.
The phrase that “music heals your soul” can’t be more true. I’d say that making music your close companion is a great way to relax, whether you’re depressed or not. Music relaxes the mind and body, soothes the nerves, recovers your lost energy and focus, and immunizes you from the stresses of life.
DID YOUTUBE SABOTAGE US? WHY IM CLOSING MY 808,000 SUBSCRIBER CHANNEL
A Turkish artilleryman lifts a 215 kilogram shell singlehanded for loading in a cannon. Corporal Seyit (Seyit Onbasi) is famous for having carried three 215 kg shells to an artillery gun during the Allied attempt to force the Dardanelles on 18 March 1915. Born in a village of Havran, he enlisted into the army in April 1909. After serving in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 he was transferred to the forts defending the Mediterranean entrance to the Dardanelles. Following the heavy naval bombardment of the forts guarding the Narrows on March 18, 1915, the gun he was serving in the Mecidiye fort remained operational but its shell crane had been damaged. Seyit carried three 215 kg artillery shells up to the gun enabling it to continue firing on the attacking Allied fleet. One of the shells reputedly hit the British pre-dreadnought HMS Ocean, most probably contributing greatly to the repulse of the Allied naval assault.
After that Seyid was promoted to corporal and publicised as an iconic Turkish hero. He was discharged in 1918 and became a forester and later coal-miner. He took the surname Çabuk in 1934 with the passing of the Surname Law. He died of a lung disease in 1939. A statue of him carrying a shell was erected in 1992, just south of Kilitbahir Castle on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Edit: There are some skeptics who think that this story might have been invented for propaganda reasons. First of all, the Ottomans were not as sophisticated as the Allies or the USA regrading propaganda strategies. When it comes to propaganda, misinformation and psychological tactics for manipulating the masses, the Western countries are way ahead of the Turks. Secondly, the only eye witnesses were the few soldiers operating the gun. Nevertheless, according to military records, the crane of the canon was broken and the rounds fired. The battleship Ocean was hit by a cannon shell exactly at a position where it was facing this particular fort. (The picture was shot after the war, to imitate the moment.)
“What’s happening In the Middle East is Shocking…”
You see, when Trump imposed the Huawei Ban, China and Chinese entities were very concerned that they would be next
Thus they began stockpiling massive quantities of Chips & Semiconductor equipment
From 2020–2022 , China kept on buying Chips from the world though it’s demand thanks to the lockdown was down by almost 45%
That’s a huge chunk of chips purchased and equipment purchased between 2020–2022 when the total demand was far lesser both within China and outside China
Hence China has a Supply Glut of Chips & Semiconductor Equipment
This surplus has to be first utilized for China to begin placing orders again
Meanwhile China is also developing it’s own industry in Chips and Semiconductors
Thus the fall in imports is unlikely to be ever reversed
Imagine you’re the unlucky bastard who gets to be positioned behind the machine gun. While most of your brothers in arms have died long ago from climbing out of the trench, you remain shackled in place to provide them supporting fire, watching them each die in the process. What was once your childhood friend Richard presently sits motionless forty paces before you, in the middle of no mans land, tangled in a mess of barbed wire. The flies have largely left him alone by now.
At the same time, you get to fire endlessly at young men your age, of a different uniform, charging blindly towards you. You used to scream at the top of your lungs for them to turn back, to stop running forward. You stopped trying a few hundred kills back.
You’ve witnessed technological marvels unlike anything else you’ve ever seen before. Airplanes. Flamethrowers. Automobiles and tanks. And yet, just a few days ago, you saw your friends beat down an enemy using a primitive spike-covered club, like a caveman might.
Over the permanent ringing in your ears you gained from endless rounds fired and near misses of enemy grenades, you hear a corny, empty song of patriotism for the fourteenth time that day off of a distant gramophone. It’s words cruelly mock you anymore.
You’re covered in fine layers of semi-dried mud, thrown up in your face from a distant artillery hit. It’s the cleanest substance presently adorning your person. Your boots and wraps are wet from the blood, urine, and vomit. Some of it is your own. You can almost remember the last time you took a bath.
The cloth near your ankles has been shredded from the rats, who grow more brazen and hungry every day. The last one you saw was the size of an opossum, and took a nasty bite out of your left leg. Bartholomew, the man who helps feed bullets to your iron beast, stabbed it with his bayonet and tossed it in the pile: the sixteenth one he had killed that day alone.
Your nose has grown numb to the overwhelming odor. The winter season approaches, and everything’s become colder. All your aches and pains hurt more with the cold. Until now, things have been relatively dry, which means you have yet to drown in your own trench from the rainfall.
The sound of a shell impacting the ground crosses the land. The color of the air begins to turn a funny color again. You quietly put on your gas mask and hunch over your weapon. You first heard that this war would be over before Christmas. You then heard that this would be the war to end all wars. You now wonder if this war would ever end, or if it’d merely become the introductory section to the new era: the era of modern warfare.
Well, to start with, nobody in the world actually wants social justice.
There. I said it.
Okay, lots of people sincerely believe they want social justice; the people who say they want it aren’t lying, exactly. It’s way more complicated than that, and a lot happens between “I’d like to live in a just world” and “I am going to work to make a just world happen.”
Buckle up, this answer is gonna get loooooong.
Let’s start here: The real world is complicated. Really, really complicated. You might think getting your scanner/printer to work with Windows is complicated, but that’s peanuts compared to socioeconomic and geopolitical reality.
And people, even smart people, handle complexity poorly.
Topical case in point: What’s happening in Israel and Gaza right now.
If you want to understand what’s happening, you need to know quite a lot of history from the 1940s on. There’s a lot of “there” there: the Israeli offer, turned down by the Arabic population; the reasons Egypt and Jordan closed their borders to the Palestinians; the history of Hamas, which is both a terrorist organization and also a government (and before that, the Muslim Brotherhood); the way Egypt has deliberately played the Gaza refugees as political pawns…it’s complicated and ugly and no side has totally clean hands, but even understanding where the balance lies requires a pretty thorough history lesson…
…and oh God that’s, like, sooooooo complicated, whyyyyyyy can’t someone just tell me who the good guys are and who the bad guys are?
That’s the thing: a lot of people want to treat actual, real-world political situations like football matches or WWF wrestling, with a clearly defined good guy and a clearly defined bad guy, so they know who they’re supposed to root for.
Even people who start out genuinely, sincerely interested in social justice can easily get bogged down.
That’s the heartbreaking thing about, you know, empathy and compassion. When you sincerely want to leave the world in better shape than you found it, you soon find yourself fighting an uphill battle. Injustice doesn’t exist because someone woke up one day and said “Hey! You know what? I think I’ll be a dick to other people today!”
Injustice exists because entrenched economic, social, and political systems with roots thousands of years deep have entrenched ways of doing things because the people atop those systems benefit from doing things that way.
Fighting against that is hard. It grinds you down. However energetic and idealistic you were when you started, it pulverizes you.
Nobody has infinite time. Nobody has infinite energy.
Which is fine, except that most people want to believe themselves to be one of the good guys, on the side of Truth and Righteousness and Justice, even when we don’t want to—or can’t!—do the work of getting there. It’s not enough to say “You know what? I’m not informed enough about this to have a reasonable opinion.” Oh, no, no, we want to take sides but we don’t want to invest the time or labor in making sure we pick the right side.
We just want to know who to blame.
Knowing who the bad guy is helps define us as the good guy. If we’re against the bad guy, that makes us good, right? Right?
So what do we do?
We develop heuristics. Cognitive shortcuts. Quick and dirty rules of thumb to simplify complex situations and help guide them toward the ‘right’ team to root for. These fast and easy heuristics, at least in theory, cut through all the tedious drek of having to learn all that history and become informed of the goals and grievances of all the players and untangle a knotty and nuanced tangle that’s been all balled up for decades.
But here’s the thing:
Heuristics are not subtle. They’re fast intuitive guidelines that substitute for actual understanding. They feel right, but that doesn’t mean they are right.
Those heuristics—“believe women,” “always side with the most historically oppressed,” whatever they are—gradually become rules, then social tribal markers, then symbols of moral purity. Heuristics become adopted by tribes as ways to tell the in-group from the out-group. If you see a hashtag like #believewomen, you can probably make a pretty good guess about the politics of the person who subscribes to it.
Before long, it actually becomes morally wrong not to obey the heuristics.
Enforcing moral purity becomes a way to feel powerful, to feel like you’re accomplishing something, in the face of the overwhelming hopelessness and despair that comes from fighting an entrenched system day after day and ending each day with nothing to show for it.
What it feels like to care about justice
Say your crusade is animal welfare, for example. You’ve fought for years and what do you have to show for it? There are even more factory farms now than when you started. Consumption of animals is up, not down.
But then let’s say Bob, your staunch and stalwart ally, your comrade in arms, reveals that he’s not a vegan…he thinks it’s okay to eat fish. And…and…and eggs. And he wears leather belts.
You can’t end factory farming, you can’t stop the senseless slaughter of animals…but hey, you can rally the troops against Bob, because he betrayed the cause! You can destroyed his reputation and cast him out! Look! Look! You accomplished something!
This is inevitably what happens in social justice circles. We end up here because:
People want a morality simple enough to fit in a hashtag; and
Any morality simple enough to fit in a hashtag cannot capture reality, and therefore is rather limited as a tool to change reality.
People tend to think of “social justice” as a left thing, but this process knows no political bounds. Those on the right do it just as often—they simply don’t call it “social justice.”
But the same things still apply: they have a way they want the world to be; changing the world requires tremendous amounts of effort and work; people don’t have limitless resources; they fall back on simple rules to tell them who the good guys and bad guys are; those eimple rules become tribal markers; before long, it becomes morally unacceptable even to question those simple rules.
We see the world not at it is but as we are. We invent narratives to describe the world, and to tell us who the good guys are, and who we should be in order to think of ourselves as good. Anyone who can co-opt those narratives can control the lines between Us and Them, the boundaries that define our tribes.
So here we are. We’re terrible at nuance, we don’t have tome to get informed, so we let the hashtag mentality do the work for us.
The UK colonized many nations to procure the raw materials to fuel it’s empire worldwide
They enjoyed 80% of the cream and barely gave 20% to the Colonized Nations, of which 15% was taken back vide Taxes and Protection and payment for British Troops
Chinas BRI is a modified version of the same thing UK used to do but a fairer economic sharing platform
China gets Raw materials worldwide through the BRI to fuel it’s mammoth economy and production machine
However instead of the unfair British division, China enjoys maybe 60% of the cream and ensures 40% to the BRI Nations of which maybe 20% is taken back vide Infrastructure projects, Power Projects etc
This while Britain gave only 5% of the Cream to the Colonies, China gives 20%
And while Britain paid most of the Cream to Corpulent Rajahs and Maharajahs, China spends a lot on building Schools and Roads and Bridges
Plus China also uses BRI Countries to outsource it’s low grade manufacturing
Hence BRI is essentially a ‘You help me fuel myself and i help you grow’ mode of economics
Here are some stats from Chinas forum in 2023:-
China sources 66% Rare Earths vide the BRI and controls the Production
China controls between 30–45% of the Tungsten, Nickel, Copper and Mercury vide the BRI
China sources Wheat, Soybeans, Pork, Beef and Eggs vide the BRI
China supplies Chemicals, Machinery, Low Cost Goods, Medium Cost Goods, Textiles and Semi finished goods vide the BRI to various nations. Almost 70% of the supply of these come from China including Paper & Ink
Chinas Energy needs from Enriched Uranium, Uranium Ore, Oil, Gas come vide the BRI at an average discount of 31% from World market prices. Thus outside of interest, China saves at least $ 70 Billion a year on market prices
Thus Chinas BRI is definitely not a Utopian Charity
It is a business arrangement where Chinese win big time with supplies, raw materials, chance to invest their money and prevent accumulation & gain soft power
Yet the BRI nations in return get money from sales of goods plus a lot of modernization at minimum cost (China averages $ 2.19 Million per Mile against $ 17 Million for the US)
Its the best deal for BRI nations today if they want to grow
Best example is Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam which have all seen a CAGR of around 12.2% a year with the BRI over the past 10 year
26 out of 50 African Nations show a CAGR of 6% or more with BRI
Why Is Another Young American Woman Arrested And Jailed In Dubai ? A Critical Review.
Right now, there are at least 4 potential trigger points. Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, North Korea, and China. Any of these could flare up because of an accident or false narrative. WW2 had the Japanese taking a risk by attacking Pearl Harbor, but that was being fought by China much earlier than that. Vietnam was the Gulf of Tonkin false narrative by the US accusing Vietnam of attacking its destroyer. We stayed for 10 years and lost. Iraq was the infamous WMD that proved a false narrative by the US. Afghanistan was the witch hunt for Ben Laden that took 10 years and we stayed for 10 more years only to leave ignominiously. Ukraine is the invasion of Ukraine by Russia because the west continued to move east with NATO. All had reasons for the start of a conflict that potentially could have become much wider, most because of a false narrative by the US, leading one to suspect the US wanted a conflict.
Texas Beef Brisket
2023 10 19 08 47
Ingredients
4 pounds beef brisket
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 bay leaf, crushed
1 (10 ounce) can beef broth
Instructions
Make a dry rub by combining chili powder, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, sugar, dry mustard and crushed bay leaf.
Season the raw brisket on both sides with the rub.
Place in roasting pan and roast, uncovered, for one hour at 350 degrees F.
Add the beef broth and enough water to make 1/2 inch liquid in roasting pan. Lower oven to 300 degrees F, cover pan tightly and continue cooking for 3 hours or until fork tender.
Trim the fat and slice meat thinly across the grain.
They see as a western nation hypocrisy. Screaming human rights but doing human wrongs. The see everything wrong about US and UK unilateral decisions. They decide to plant Jewish people in the middle if Arab land to do U.S. and western shit on Arabs and Muslim nations and the Palestinians must be happy about it.
The wonder why the people who truly own this land has to give it all up and agree to live as slaves and asylum seekers in their own lands. The Palestinians are the living in the world’s biggest open prison in a land they owned. Who the fxxk gives the US and UK to give something that don’t belong to them away!
The cannot understand why the west can be so foolish to think that Palestinian must be happy and contented in such a terrible outcome for them! Surely they ought to expect incidents like what happened if the Palestinians got a chance? Why do the west not expect that?
Blind? Foolish? Do they see Palestinian as sub humans? Like their African slaves? 4/5 of a human? Imagine instead of choosing Palestinian lands it choose Wales or Burgundy or Texas, will the people in these region accept their fate lying down? I doubt so.
I think they will do what Hitler does! Why do they think Palestinians must accept this fate!
Chinese people cannot understand why the west thinks it can get away with it. That is what the Chinese thinks! I think the Chinese is pragmatic and highly intelligent. They see an unworkable solution while the West thinks it can do what they wish!
Russia Signals The Unthinkable, U.S. Warns Iran, Oil Crisis Coming
Wing Dings
Wing Dings are a Texas specialty!
2023 10 28 12 37
Ingredients
1 cup beer
1/4 cup unsulphured dark molasses
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
Juice of 1 medium lime
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon aniseed, toasted and ground
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 dozen chicken wings
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a large baking pan or dish.
Combine everything except the wings in a large, heavy pan. Simmer them over medium heat 15 to 20 minutes, until they have reduced to a thick sauce.
While the sauce simmers, prepare the chicken wings.
With a butcher knife, remove the wing tips, then cut each wing in half at the joint.
Add the wings to the sauce, and stir to coat them.
Ladle the wings and the sauce into the baking dish.
Bake for 25 minutes, then stir the wings in the sauce.
Turn the heat up to 425 degrees F and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the sauce glazes the wings.
Serve the wings hot with Ranch dressing, if desired.
US-backed Terrorism Targets Vietnam & Myanmar in Wider War on China
Two terrorist attacks this month (June 2023) in Southeast Asia have been carried out by groups backed by the United States government and its allies for decades;
This includes a singer murdered in Myanmar and a series of armed attacks carried out on police stations in Vietnam killing 9 including several civilians;
British state media, the BBC, and US government-funded media platform Radio Free Asia have attempted to spin and even justify this terrorism as part of a much wider pattern promoting and defending terrorism as a means to counter China’s rise and punish nations working closely with China;
The opposition in Myanmar has openly been backed by the US and UK for decades – fighting to reinstall Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy back into power;
In Vietnam, the ethnic Montagnards had fought alongside US invaders in the Vietnam War, and since then have worked closely with the US through the National Endowment for Democracy toward separatism;
Much of this context is omitted from Western state-media accounts of the terrorism;
Both Myanmar and Vietnam’s current governments have close relations with China. Vietnam, while depicted in the Western media as “anti-China,” has worked with China to build infrastructure within its borders and access Chinese rail projects to bring their products all the way to Europe;
US Encircling of China Explained
The US claims that it is not seeking conflict with China – but a look at what the US is doing all along China’s peripheries reveals the US is already in a conflict with China and has been for decades.
The US pursues this conflict – admittedly – not out of national security concerns, but to preserve what it itself calls its “primacy” in the Indo-Pacific region.
China’s New Maglev, High Speed Rail, & What it Means for Belt & Road Partners
China has unveiled a 600kph maglev train that will eventually be used on lines connecting China’s major cities. It is part of the nation’s much larger high speed rail (HSR) network.
I discuss China’s HSR network, the foresight required to implement such an ambitious infrastructure drive, and how the West is trying to foil it both within China’s borders and beyond them as HSR lines begin moving outward as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Bully or Builder? China Finishes Vietnam’s First Metro Train
While the Western media attempts to convince the world China is “bullying” its neighbors in Asia, upon closer examination it is clear it is instead building projects with its neighbors.
This includes with Vietnam which does have a complicated relationship with Beijing – but has not let that get in the way of progress – including cooperation in building the country’s first metro train.
China’s Laos High-Speed Railway is Already Delivering
The Western media continues its attack on China depicting the nation as a global threat. However, what the West says about China and what China itself is doing are two entirely different stories.
The high-speed railway being built between Kunming, China and Bangkok, Thailand is a perfect example of how China is helping the rest of Asia rise with it. The only thing being threatened by China and Asia’s rise is the West’s unwarranted influence over the rest of the globe.
Inflection EP20: China Builds Up ASEAN, the US Bullies it…
While the Western media insists China is a threat to global peace and prosperity, an objective look at China’s role in ASEAN development versus US coercion, political sedition, and even proxy conflict reveals the true threat to both Asia and the rest of the world.
Inflection is a weekly show featuring Angelo Giuliano and Brian Berletic, discussing recent headlines and in-depth discussion of topics shaping the shift from West to East and unipolarism to multipolarism.
Inflection EP23: As China Rises, Southeast Asia Rises
The US is obsessed with containing the rise of China. But China is not rising on its own. With its rise, all of Asia is rising with it.
The notion of the globe’s center of power shifting from West to East is at the heart of Washington, Wall Street, London, and Brussel’s growing desperation and aggression toward China – the engine of Asia’s rise.
Inflection is a weekly show featuring Angelo Giuliano and Brian Berletic, discussing recent headlines and in-depth discussion of topics shaping the shift from West to East and unipolarism to multipolarism.
The US Just Did Something CRAZY!
Biblical collapse coming to the West.
REFLECTION
“My parents were married for 55 years. One morning, my mom was going downstairs to make dad breakfast, she had a heart attack and fell. My father picked her up as best he could and almost dragged her into the truck. At full speed , without respecting traffic lights, he drove her to the hospital.
When he arrived, unfortunately she was no longer with us.
During the funeral, my father did not speak; his gaze was lost. He hardly cried.
That night, his children joined him. In an atmosphere of pain and nostalgia, we remembered beautiful anecdotes and he asked my brother, a theologian, to tell him where Mom would be at that moment. My brother began to talk about life after death, and guesses as to how and where she would be.
My father listened carefully. Suddenly he asked us to take him to the cemetery.
Dad!” we replied, “it’s 11 at night, we can’t go to the cemetery right now!”
He raised his voice, and with a glazed look he said:
“Don’t argue with me, please don’t argue with the man who just lost his wife of 55 years.”
There was a moment of respectful silence, we didn’t argue anymore. We went to the cemetery, we asked the night watchman for permission. With a flashlight we reached the tomb. My father caressed her, prayed and told his children, who watched the scene moved:
“It was 55 years… you know? No one can talk about true love if they have no idea what it’s like to share life with a woman.”
He paused and wiped his face. “She and I, we were together in that crisis. I changed jobs …” he continued. “We packed up when we sold the house and moved out of town. We shared the joy of seeing our children finish their careers, we mourned the departure of loved ones side by side, we prayed together in the waiting room of some hospitals, we support each other in pain, we hug each Christmas, and we forgive our mistakes… Children, now it’s gone, and I’m happy, do you know why?
Because she left before me. She didn’t have to go through the agony and pain of burying me, of being left alone after my departure. I will be the one to go through that, and I thank God. I love her so much that I wouldn’t have liked her to suffer…”
When my father finished speaking, my brothers and I had tears streaming down our faces. We hugged him, and he comforted us, “It’s okay, we can go home, it’s been a good day.”
That night I understood what true love is; It is far from romanticism, it does not have much to do with eroticism, or with sex, rather it is linked to work, to complement, to care and, above all, to the true love that two really committed people profess “.
Peace in your hearts.
You Won’t Believe What Ugandan Women Think About Black Americans
My African sisters looking beautiful and sounding intelligent. On another note, most human beings are unique so lumping a group of people into a stereotype isn’t always advantageous.
One day, Saskatchewan farmer Cecil George Harris was out in his field when his tractor got stuck. Unfortunately, while trying to extricate it, he got trapped beneath one of the tractor’s large wheels.
He wasn’t found for nine hours, by which time he was near death even though he was still conscious. He was taken to the hospital, but he died two days later.
The question was, how should his estate be handled. He had never gone to a lawyer to prepare a will.
But while lying there, trapped and knowing he was going to die, he had the foresight to scratch something into the fender of his tractor with his penknife.
In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife, Cecil Geo. Harris.
The fender was entered into evidence in the probate court as a holograph (handwritten) will. It was approved for probate. The fender was stored for years in the county’s courthouse and instead of going to the archives it was sent to the University of Saskatchewan Law School for safekeeping, where it now appears.
Treat someone who’s never been treated well as a genuine human.
This Spring I had a few moments in New York City, and a bit of spare cash. Nothing too large that’ll make a difference, but an amount that could buy a meal at Halal Guys.
I saw a man having his head in his palms, sunken with the weight of the world around him. What most people never ever have to experience is having a social net you thought existed fall below you, and then continue falling in life without having a single moment to grasp or gain your balance. Things like this can really screw with any mental problems that may never have existed, and also create anxiety that comes with the insecurity of the most basic human support.
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Out of respect, I didn’t take Jake’s photo, but he looked like this
“Hi sir, what’s your name?” I asked him. He replied Jake, and whether I had any spare change.
I told him, “How about this. Let me get you something nice to eat. You must be cold out here by yourself, right? Does that sound good to you?” One thing I remember was how a lot of homeless people never eat food given to them as they don’t know if someone tapered it or poisoned it, which is a real concern.
“Bless you, sir. That’ll be amazing, thank you.” He replied
We went to Halal Guys and I learned that he was in the military, but he fell upon some hard times. He used to work as a mechanic of sorts but lost it all in a divorce and “money mismanagement”. He didn’t have a family to really go back to so tried to find work in New York but couldn’t and ended up on the street. He told me he was planning to leave soon, and I kept on listening to what he was saying.
I think the look on his face as I got him chicken over rice was something that I rarely see in people, which is a form of gratitude you can never express unless someone lends you a hand as you fall through every social net.
I told him I had to catch a train, but he shook my hand and kept saying “God took you to me, sir. Bless you, bless you.”
Now, regardless of whether his story was true, it doesn’t really matter. I knew this man had to fight off his own demons.
There’s a word in Russian called umilinie (умиление) which roughly translates to “tenderness”. My professor once called the tenderness “melting of the heart”, and that’s what the other man felt at the moment.
I had given him one moment of peace as a human being, and that was all I cared about. When you treat someone well who usually doesn’t and give them some of your time, you’ll truly see someone’s heart melt from a moment of humanity.
Last Gasp of Western Hegemony
The US-NATO group are drowning in debt. The ability to wage war is limited by their debt. They have no military industrial capacity, just corruption. Russia and China are free of debt and have extreme advantage in any war.
As long as it is win win for China and for the U.S. China will sign a deal. But the U.S. cannot say you must buy what we like to sell you and you must sell everything we want at a dirt cheap prices and pay us in dollar!
The U.S. says your products cannot be spied on but we have a right to spy on each and every one of your phone!
The U.S. says when the U.S. introduce G1 to G4 you must trust us blindly but when China build G5 we must not only use your initiative but we will forced everyone else to stop using you too!
The U.S. says you must make all simple chip products and sell it to us as dirt cheap prices and we sell you cars and planes at astronomical prices and don’t you dare make these products!
To China this is wrong and unfair so it’s says go sell to one of your cronies. No thanks U.S.! China say over our dead body will we listen to you! China do what is good for China and the Chinese people. And it will always do so. If you don’t like it tough! Go bang your head against the wall!
The state of Virginia has a “Standards of Learning” end of grade testing, called SOL’s (yeah, that’s what I thought too).
Anyway, my nephew was taking the test (or a practice test that uses old questions) that asked what the Native Americans foraged for in the spring. The answer wasn’t there.
My sister happens to specialize in edible native plant of the Blue Ridge Mountains. My nephew not only knew what was growing in the spring in Virginia, but he could name them and find them in the wild.
His answer was counted wrong and the correct answer, according to the State of Virginia, was berries. My sister asked the school system to identify just one berry that ripens in Virginia in the spring. They couldn’t.
Edit: I was a CTE high school teacher for a little while (Career & Technical Education) and I certainly got things wrong. Everyone does. But I would share the correct answer, apologize if I felt it necessary, and if it was something graded, I would change the grade. I also rarely used a textbook with the exception of specific practice sessions.
As a CTE teacher, I had much more autonomy than math, science or English. They were strictly controlled. Our department was lucky but the state was slowly tightening down on our classes too.
The SOL test wasn’t graded by a teacher or even the school. It was strictly controlled by the state. Each question has to go through a review process and be approved and the grading isn’t subject to revision by the local school.
There are four things that can be regarded negative , as part of the feelings by the people of China
#1 Blaming the Lockdowns – Many Mainlanders especially in the Big 4 Cities blame the lockdowns, kind of like Indians blaming Demonetization. The impact of the Lockdowns was maybe 10% of the Impact of demonetization but China is such a rich and prosperous country now that the slightest slowdown annoys the hell out of the people
#2 Cautious to Invest – Gold & Jade Investments in China have piled up almost by 41% in the last 3 years by Individuals. That’s because Chinese Mainlanders are not having many areas of investment and it’s either Gold Or Banks. They don’t seem to trust the share market and the real estate market is in a glut. Thus China has almost $ 16-18 Trillion in Savings against $ 4.82 Trillion that the US has
Chinese Individuals thus need more Venture Capitalists and Technology Investments to invest their funds in
#3 Generation Gap – The Gen Z of China work smart rather than hard. The policies of Chinese companies still mirror those of the 2000s which focus on time rather than value of work. Rather than the TARGET ORIENTED approach, the approach is TIME ORIENTED meaning working 54 hours a week seems more important than meeting performance targets
The Gen Z feel that if they can work 35–40 hours a week and achieve the same targets , they can enjoy the remaining 14 hours a week
Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba, DJI, Baidu etc already changed their workstyles to make them flexible and based on Targets
Yet 60% of Chinese Employers still have the TIME ORIENTED mentality and pay on a PER HOUR basis
#4 Inability to understand Hostility of the West
Many Chinese are unable to understand why the West is hostile to them and why the sanctions.
This is because the CPC is too nice and doesn’t promote hate against the West in their propaganda
Luckily in this area the CPC has worked tirelessly to ensure alternate economic routes
If exports to the US fell for a Chinese company, Russian markets are a virtual monopoly for the Chinese now (Indians failed to capitalize this market in any way) plus newer markets in South America plus Middle East
Likewise if Investments from US have dried up, Germany and Russia have tripled their investments into China, making up potential deficits
Yet the key thing about China is the TRANSPARENCY in the Country
No lies, hidden from the public, the Positive Side l
Costs are very low, Rents, Food are at their lowest. Savings potential is at 43% , highest in the world against 7% in USA
Rapid Development
Excellent Education
Very good employment despite the slowdown without creating Government Jobs like India or SL
Rapid Technology development
Growing Soft Power of China and Tourist related power in Thailand and other places
So Chinese are extremely content though they wouldn’t mind some reforms which the CPC is likely to implement in the coming 6–24 months
As a new PhD , I interviewed for an entry level academic position. The afternoon prior to the interview, I flew in to a large airport, rented a car as instructed, and drove nearly 200 km out to a university in a rural setting. The next morning, a gray, dreary day, I found my own breakfast and then went to the University, let’s call it University A, to find the interviewer. His first question was, “Are you sure you can tolerate living here?” Odd question, but I could imagine the location probably could have been a problem for some candidates like me, who got his degree at an urban university. I grew up in a place that looked and felt nearly identical, so I was on board. The rest of the morning went well.
For lunch four of the professors and I piled into an older car. The senior professor was in the front passenger seat. The younger two professors and I were in the back seat. Before we start moving, the senior professor turned around, looked me in the eye, and asked, “What do you think of Professor X at University B?” I knew Professor X well. He was a mentor of mine when I was a contract teaching hire at University C several years prior. Both Professor X and this senior professor were well known experts in our field. My Mama told me to always say something nice in such situations. So I made a single sentence that Professor X was a wonderful man to have the privilege of learning from. The senior professor said nothing more the rest of my two days of interviews. Though I did not realize it at the time, the interviews were over when I made that statement. I did not get the job.
I found out later that the senior professor considered Professor X to be his mortal enemy. They had started at this same University A as entry level professors many years prior. After gaining their tenure together, Professor X left for University B while the senior professor stayed. Both became prominent in the same field. But somewhere along the line, their relationship failed. I unwittingly stepped into the crossfire. I never asked Professor X about this, considering it to no longer be important. I also found out that the position was available because the senior professor was running off a young professor that he disliked. A year later at a conference, I met the candidate who won that position. He looked like he had a big dark cloud over his head.
Soon after this interview, I interviewed at another university much farther away. The people were bright and kind. The students were excellent and enthusiastic. The location was also a long way into a scenic rural setting with many gray, dreary days. By the time my flight arrived home back East, their job offer was waiting for me. I still work there, more than three decades later.
The man who lives with the 17 tiny kittens he rescued is experiencing an explosion of happiness.
WWIII will not happen, but the United States is essentially on the road to collapse. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which was a federal system, it was the turn of the United States, which was a federal system.
As far as the current world situation is concerned, the United States will certainly support Israel without a second thought. In fact, Hamas has already achieved its goal. What happens next:
The EU is forced by the United States to support Israel as it supports Ukraine, but they forget that there are 50 million Muslims living in Europe.
The national image that Israel had previously created for itself collapsed straight away.
The Arab countries will further turn against the US and the West and de-dollarisation will further accelerate.
Further shaking up the US petrodollar system
Ukraine is being collectively ignored by the Western bloc, and the longer the Palestinian-Israeli conflict continues, the better for Russia.
The U.S. doesn’t have the time or the strength to compete with China
In short, the United States has lost so badly this time that there is no room for redemption.
The US is broke, its strategic oil reserves are running on fumes, and it is out of ammo. Ditto for the EU, except the EU is already an economic basket case. The US seems to have this fixation that conflict creates a win for the US so it continues to fund its MIC with only window dressing for its infrastructure and economy.
What Ukraine has shown the US is that it is not invincible and that Russia is not only stronger than the US thought, but more adaptable to the changes in tactics and technology. Ukraine has been a black hole for US and EU wealth and it is no longer in a position to strongly support its domestic needs. The US keeps printing money and raising interest rates, a sure formula for the failure of the US economy.
But, your point is well taken, the US should have been doing that for the last 20 years or so and it would be in a better condition domestically, economically, geopolitically, and relations with other countries. At this point in time, the US is almost beyond repair.
The Idiots couldn’t negotiate with the PLO and later created the Hamas and ended up making the Hamas their enemies as well
Like I said THEY SUCK AT THIS
Just like their masters the US
They keep killing Civilians and always the Terrorists never die
They change from one form to another
So it’s time Israel starts NEGOTIATIONS and uses the Arab Nations to use their leverage with the Hamas
I firmly believe if Israel agrees to the Two State Solution, the whole world including Russia, China, India and even Iran would cooperate in fighting against the Hamas
Even the Hezbollah believe in a Two State Solution now.
The red circle is China, the green circle is Canada
The red arrow is where the “interception” occurs.
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The red circle is China, the blue circle is North Korea
The red arrow is where the “interception” occurs.
The Canadians said they were in “international airspace,” but the Chinese said the plane was near the Diaoyu Islands and that this airspace was China’s airspace.
I don’t want to discuss which one of them is telling the truth.
At least I’m not a fool.
Canadian planes flew from 10,000 kilometers away between mainland China and Taiwan. They said they were to monitor North Korean cargo ships, not to provoke China.
Are Canadians smoking too much marijuana?
The Chinese Navy actually let them fly back intact. This is so merciful.
By the way, the Canadians say that their “Operation Neon” is to uphold the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.
But the Chinese say they have never signed such a mandate in the Security Council.
We know that the authorization of the Security Council requires the signature of the five permanent members.
What Canada means is that they are carrying out an operation authorized by China.
A Chinese hsr train is formed from 8-16 carriages, capable of carrying 500-1,300 passengers. Up to 8 trains per hour serve the busiest routes at peak times, which can average 100 services per direction per day.
That’s 260,000 carrying capacity a day, both ways, or 95 million a year, for a single route.
An airport serving the route will have to handle more than 470 Boeing 777 flights a day.
That’s 1 takeoff or landing every 3 minutes, which is obviously untenable.
China has more than 160 cities with population more than 1 million. This number is expected to grow, with Chinese urbanization at 55-60 percent, quite some distance from the 80-85 percent typical of the developed world. The density of Chinese populations make high speed rail a viable proposition.
Airplanes are not more efficient than trains. However, they make more sense for longer trips, with the average air trip being 1,400 km. Hsr trips rarely extend beyond 800 km, and make the most economic sense below 500 km.
The Chinese hsr network is built to handle huge numbers, particularly over the Chinese new year holidays, the largest human migration known to man. China does not have enough planes to handle that kind of demand.
And yes, hsr trains run on electricity, a much greener option than avgas.
Man Dumps Bride Months Before Wedding After Learning She Participated In Group Activities For YEARS
Jesus H Christ
I would like to say a few things here.
Honesty is the foundation of a long-duration relationship
People, however, are permitted to have secrets. It is a human need.
When confronted with this situation, there are many ways to handle it. This man saw it as no-starter, unfortunately. I believe that the issues could have been worked out.
There is nothing wrong with alternative lifestyles, or what-have-you, but if you are married, you lose part of yourself and join with another. For good or bad.
Apparently everything was perfect with them, except for this one issue. Could the issue be resolved, or mitigated? I do not know.
For men, “respect” is the biggest and most important aspect of a relationship. Not sex. So I see this as a sequence of lies on the gals part because she showed him no respect.
Like I said, I would have done things differently, now as an older man. But when I was younger, maybe not…
All in all, the most disturbing thing about this video is NOT that she was having group orgies for the entire time they were living together and him being clueless. It is that she hid that part of her life from him, and told her rotating partners, that he was just fine with it. These lies are what broke up the relationship.
People! Accept who you are. Good and bad. Say things as they are and let the world howl. This goes for both the guy as well as the girl.
The girl, obviously was ready to settle down; get married, have kids and a stable family life. But that is not going to happen if she wanted to continue a free-wheeling 20’s single lifestyle. She wanted what she was clearly not ready for. Sigh.
I rented a caretaker apartment that was attached to a horse stable. The owners were an elderly couple who lived in a house behind the barn. The owners were fantastic people and I got along with them splendidly.
One day they advised me they were selling the property. A few weeks later after the property sold I met the new owners. I immediately did not get a good feeling about the owners. Within the 1st month I started noticing things in the apartment were not where I had placed on. I confronted the new owners who denied going into the apartment. One day, I left for work and did the old tape on the door trick. When I came home sure enough the tape was broken. I again confronted the owner who stated somebody else must have gone into the apartment. I also had some property in the barn that suddenly turned up missing. I asked the new owners about the property and they denied taking it. I ended up finding the missing property in one of their storage sheds hidden underneath some tarps.
I had been dating my girlfriend for several years and at that point we decided to move in together at her place. The caretaker apartment was rather old and the door locks used old style keys that you could not have duplicated at your local hardware store.
I immediately moved out and took the keys with me. I got a call from the owner demanding that I return the apartment key. I advised him I didn’t have the key and told him I left it on the kitchen counter. The owner started yelling that if I didn’t return the key he would sue me for theft and the cost of putting new locks on the doors. I chuckled and said that “Someone must have gone in and stolen the key off the counter. Maybe it’s the same person who stole my property that I found under the tarp in the storage shed.” There was silence and then the phone hung up. I never heard from him again.
Today I want to relate the events leading to why my wife and I left American Samoa.
American Samoa is an American territory in the South Pacific. It is a very beautiful island, but is way off the shipping lanes, and is really difficult to get to, thus it is not really a tourist destination.
American Samoa
I had an opportunity to build a hospital there.
Anyways, the social and societal organization there is very, very different from what I, as an American, realized.
Here’s a short recap.
Families are in the wife’s name.
Ownership is by the wife, the men own nothing.
Each village has a “pecking order” of hierarchy, all woman led.
If the leading female in a village dies, the next ranking female takes over.
Now, my “Boss” was a man in the leading family in the local village. And he provided me an apartment to live in and a car.
Pago Pago harbour utulei south american samoa 1
Then one day, there was a death in the village and the leading woman died.
Immediately, the next week was a reshuffle of power, and ownership changed hands. My “boss” was no longer in control.
We lost our apartment, and our car, and had to find a place to live. And it sucked!
…
No answers, but my “boss” gave me a place for free. He told me where to go, and later on that day I went to see it.
Ugh!
It was a open-air cinder-block room beneath a backyard chicken-coop/garage. And seriously, I wouldn’t even consider to have my dogs live there. No windows. Just an open square. The “door” was a piece of plywood with a hasp. The “bed” was a ancient well-worn hospital bed. One electrical outlet, and a century old fan.
Mold everywhere.
Moist. Damp. Dirty. Filty.
Something like this…
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I looked around. Said “nope”.
She started to go to the building. I sad NO!
My wife who was trailing me as I entered the hovel was confused. But I spun her around. There was no way in Hell would I subject her to the indignity that I had just been exposed to.
I just left from the site, hopped in the car. Told my wife “we are leaving”, and then made the necessary arrangements.
We were out of there within 24 hours.
…
Do not; never expect the same levels of social norms, respect or allowances that you have grown up with. You might end up with one Hell of a surprise.
This was a “close one”, for once trapped there, we might never had gotten the opportunity to leave.
Sanwan’s adaptation (1937), Mao’s purge of “three gulfs” after the Boxer uprising
After the failure of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, Mao Zedong led the remnants of the army to the south, retreating towards the Xiang-Gan border. After the clear transfer to the Jing-Gang Mountain area, the troops arrived at the village of Sanwan, Yong-Xin County, Jiangxi Province on 29th September, 1927, when the commanding group of the Front Committee at that time decided to integrate the remnants of the army.
At the time of integration, there were less than 1,000 troops left in the remnants of the army, and there was no CPC organisation at the grassroots level of the army, so the army’s culture was no different from that of the warlords’ troops, and the soldiers’ ideology was chaotic, and they did not have any absolute sense of affiliation to the CPC.
The contents of the integration included the following:
Dispatch some of those who did not want to stay in the army, reduce the army to one regiment and rename it as the First Regiment of the First Division of the First Army of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army;
Establishing CPC party organisations in the troops, so that there were company branches (CPC party branches were built on the company), battalion and regiment party committees, and CPC party representatives above the company level;
To stipulate that officers and chiefs should not beat up soldiers, that officers and soldiers should be treated equally, and to establish soldiers’ committees to take part in the management of the unit and to assist in political and mass work. The troops were united under the leadership of the CPC Front Enemy Committee, of which Mao Zedong was the secretary, and a democratic system was carried out internally.
The Sanwan’s adaptation clarified the absolute leadership of the CPC over the army, and at the same time became a guarantee of the CPC’s armed seizure of power.
Within the PLA, officers and enlisted men are completely equal, and at company meetings, ordinary soldiers criticise their officers, who are mortified.
In the U.S. Army, it is unthinkable for the average soldier to criticise his commanding officer.
KMT army vs. CPC army in the Chinese Civil War:
1. The American-backed KMT army of Chiang Kai-shek was entirely a warlord army.
In the case of Chiang Kai-shek’s direct subordinate Hu Zongnan’s Seventh Corps, for example, some of the KMT officers mistreated and brutalised their soldiers to an appalling degree, as reflected by the regiment’s insurgent officers and soldiers:
its 430 regiment’s deputy battalion commander Chen × × when the machine company commander, soldier Liu Yanchun desertion was captured back, Chen × × Liu Yanchun hung up and beaten to death, the body was thrown into the field to feed the dogs, and then cut off the ears of the dead, hanging on the wall, and then gathered the company announced: “You see what this is? Whoever escapes again in the future will be dealt with in this way”.
its 351st regiment soldier Yue Quanfu disclosed: he was 16 years old, was captured by the head of the security force, the village with him at the same time to be captured as a soldier of 10 people. The 10 people, two were shot, one was beaten to death and fell off a cliff, and one was flayed alive by an officer because he didn’t ask for leave to relieve himself!
its 473rd regiment deputy battalion commander Wang × × pick up new recruits, met a few sick people can not walk, so they deceived them and said: “Who can not walk, say, I let you go home”. Four soldiers just turned their heads to go back, was called by Wang × ×, he let the four sick kneel on the edge of a cliff four or five feet high, copied a stick, a stick one, all beat them to the bottom of the ditch, then, long gone.
Its 158th Division officer Deng x x revealed that when he was a platoon leader, he once followed the mortar company commander to Sichuan to pick up new recruits, and saw with his own eyes that this company commander killed more than 20 recruits who deserted. Most of them were killed with guillotines, and others were killed by “splitting the bodies of five horses”. When one of the recruits ran away, he led men to the recruit’s house to catch him, and when he didn’t catch him, he set fire to the recruit’s house. Another time, when he failed to catch a deserter, he ordered four soldiers to carry the deserter’s family and put them on fire until they were burned to death.
Zhu x, chief of staff of his 55th Division, once ordered the commander of the company directly under him to “bury alive any soldier who makes a mistake”. This man once dug out a soldier’s heart on the spot during a punishment and hung two large bunches of them. Soldiers revealed that “he dug out the hearts of many soldiers”.
349 regiment 2 battalion platoon commander Shi × × to sodomise a soldier, was rejected by the soldier, Shi × × even get a carrot to the soldier’s anus hard stuffing!
A division of a deputy division commander is a big sex maniac, his subordinates in the past only know that he often use his authority to force sodomy subordinates, who knows, through the denunciation of the revelation, by his sodomy of the subordinates was as many as 89 people, the anger of the uprising of the officers and soldiers have demanded that the deputy division commander’s crotch penis will be cut off!
According to statistics, of the 2,451 soldiers in the 144th Nationalist Division, 107 soldiers’ mothers were raped by their officers, 21 soldiers’ mothers were abused by their officers, and 185 soldiers’ mothers were forced to remarry; 57 soldiers’ wives were raped by their officers, 53 soldiers’ wives were abused by their officers, and 93 soldiers’ wives were forced to remarry; 159 soldiers’ sisters were raped and abused by their officers, and 175 soldiers’ sisters-in-law were raped and abused by their officers, and were forced to remarry; and a total of 850 soldiers’ mothers, sisters, and sisters-in-law were raped, abused, and forced to remarry by their officers.
Of the 2,451 soldiers in the division, 345 were hung up and beaten by officers, 289 were tied up and beaten by officers, 1,238 were clubbed by officers, 13 were stabbed with bayonets, 677 were beaten with rifle butts by officers, 1,362 were slapped by officers, 945 were beaten with belts by officers, 991 were kicked by officers, 53 were beaten to death, 20 were beaten to vomit blood, 22 were crippled, 1,298 were made to kneel, 535 were made to freeze, 1298 were made to dry in the sun, and 53 were made to faint. The number of people who were beaten to death by officers was 53, 20 were beaten by officers and spat out blood, 22 were beaten and crippled by officers, 1,298 were punished to kneel by officers, 535 were punished to freeze outside by officers, 128 were punished to be exposed to the sun, 1,302 were punished to starve by officers, one was punished to drink urine by an officer, one was punished to eat an officer’s sputum by an officer, 33 were shot and buried alive by officers, and one was shot and buried alive by an officer, but not dead. 33 people, 24 people buried alive by officers ……
image 117image 118image 119
You tell me, how does such a warlord army get the support of its soldiers? How can such a warlord army gain the support of the Chinese people?
If this reactionary, inhumane Kuomintang army can win the Chinese Civil War, it will not be unless the days and nights are turned upside down and the Pacific Ocean dries up!
2. Mao’s army was an army of equal officers and soldiers.
First, on the way to catch up with the enemy. Mao Zedong asked CPC officers to grasp the ideological education of captured soldiers and new recruits.
For example: Mao Zedong knew that most of the captured Nationalist soldiers were from poor families, some of them were forced to be arrested by the Nationalists, some of them were here for money, and they had no idea why they were fighting the war. In response to this background of origin of the captured soldiers, CPC officers were required to provide one-on-one ideological education to recruits and captured soldiers.
CPC officers talked to the recruits and captive soldiers on foot and when they had the opportunity, talking about their family history and finally blaming it on the KMT, which was caused by the exploitation of the poor by the landlords and rich peasants they supported. If the KMT’s Chiang Kai-shek continued to exist, the poor would never be able to turn over a new leaf and would have to live in poverty for generations.
Every day, CPC officers had to report to the CPC Party Leader on the ideological work they had done with the masses, the reaction of the masses, and the ideological sentiments of the masses, before accepting the task for the next day’s work. The CPC party group leader then reports to the CPC party branch, and the CPC party branch then reports to the CPC party committee. The ideological situation of the fighters was firmly in the hands of the CPC Party leaders.
The thoughts of the captured soldiers were quickly transformed through the ideological education of the CPC officers.
Secondly, during the march of the army, the CPC officers set an example by carrying the luggage of the captured soldiers and new recruits. When resting at the end of the line, the CPC officers burned foot-washing water for the captives and recruits, and cooked food for the sick for those who were not in good health, so the CPC officers really treated the captives and recruits as their own brothers.
Thirdly, the captive soldiers also saw that the officers and soldiers in PLA were united, all of them had no salary, ate, wore and slept together without any special treatment, united with each other, and took care of each other as if they were brothers, like a big family.
Fourthly, in order to comfort the KMT captive soldiers and stabilise their minds, the CPC branch sent an official letter to the captive soldiers’ hometowns, stating that they had joined the PLA and that their hometowns should treat them as military families. This moved the captive soldiers and made them settle down; turning their guns to fight the KMT.
At the beginning of the Chinese Civil War, the KMT had 5 million soldiers and the CPC had 1 million; when the Chinese Civil War ended, the KMT was left with only 1 million soldiers, 4 million of whom surrendered to the CPC and joined the PLA.
Xi walked into the dormitories of ordinary soldiers to see if their blankets were warm enough, and Xi ate a pot of rice with ordinary soldiers; has the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States ever done this? These are PLA traditions and have been so since Mao Zedong.
My best friend/co-worker Larry was the IT guy in the training department for a large computer corporation where we both worked. I was a course designer/instructor. The company had been doing quarterly layoffs for almost two years. When it was your turn to be laid off, security watched you pack your personal items then escorted you off the property.
One night during a software update Larry discovered the next layoff list on the boss’s computer (she hadn’t even bothered to password-protect it, but her incompetence is good for another story). Both he and I were on the list. The date was a week away.
In the bookcase of my cubicle were copies of every technical manual and instructor’s guide I’d written for this company. They were my proof of ability. I would need them when I went on interviews and was asked “can you show me something you’ve done?” I spent the next week slowly replacing each binder with an empty one. By the time we were laid off, my entire collection of authored books was safely at home.
Bonus, Larry called the local news to expose how the company was using layoffs as a quick boost to their quarterly earnings numbers (fewer employee expenses improved the net bottom line). They’d often lay off the most critical employees right before end of quarter and then hire them back as “consultants” a few weeks later. We were both interviewed on the news the afternoon we were laid off. Screwed our chances for being rehired but I wouldn’t have gone back anyway.
Oh yeah, and the company? Failed a year later after an even bigger scandal surfaced. They had sales reps creating huge fake sales orders, then right before end of quarter all that equipment would be “shipped” to a large storage facility. They were caught with millions of dollars of fake earnings from falsified sales.
Passport Bros Meet Filipina In The Provinces
No need to be nervous in the small towns in the Philippines. Almost everywhere I go, the Filipino people are the nicest, friendliest people I have ever met. Moved here from So. Calif. in 2010, found my sweet wife here, the Philippines is HOME for me now.
Back in 1999, my then husband began to threaten to harm our children. I set in motion actions with only one thought-to protect my children.
January: I filed a complaint at his precinct (he was a police officer). They took away his guns-he had 10 (he told me 3) and enough ammunition to fight a battle (they told his brother in law that). He filed a complaint with them, saying he threatened to kill us. They told him “we know, he’s a psycho cop. But he’s ok. He loves his kids.” They had zero clue what went on in our home. His brother in law called Child Protection because he saw the police were not taking this seriously. Child protection came, saw it was a clean house with food in the cabinets and he was polite and calm. They never spoke to me or the kids. He told me if I said anything he will make our children orphans. I filed for an order of protection to get him out-his buddies faxed inletters swearing he was a nice guy, loves his kids-she was the bad one. I got denied. He refused to give me money for groceries, mortgage, utilities.
February: I went to put the child on welfare and food stamps. Why are you staying there, they asked. Take your children and leave. I had two sons with asthma and they all had special needs. Why should WE leave? He was the menace-take him out!! So the welfare people called child protection on ME. That’s right-because I didn’t want to take my asthmatic and special needs children to a homeless shelter 3 trains away in the Bronx! My parents didn’t want anything to do with my problems. We went to their home for two days and they threw us. You married him and had his children-now live there. Child protection came to my home at 11:30 at night. They saw the children and me living in the basement. We had a clean home and food (I told them my parents bought them food sincevhe gave me no money). The next day I called my therapist in tears-they will take my children away from me! All because I won’t leave the house! I can’t understand it-we have no where to go or any money. Why should we leave? He’s the threat!! She calmed me down. She made calls all day. By the end of the day, they closed my case-she had the faxes on her desk because I trusted no one.
March: I told my parents there was no more choices. I was getting a lawyer and divorcing him. My parents were horrified. They couldn’t believe he was starving his children. I showed them my temporary support which was running out. Their grandchildren were getting food stamps because their father wasn’t buying them food. My father called our rabbi to talk to him while we stayed in their house. Two hours later, the rabbi came to my father’s house. “It’s a terrible thing to see people change from human into something monstrous. I tried to talk to him about a man’s responsibility to his family.” “Rabbi, he doesn’t like you since Fort Dover, when he was in the hospital for a week and you saw him only once for 5 minutes.” “He told me. He spat on me for it.” My father and I lowered our heads in embarrassment. “I never advocate for divorce unless there is nothing left. Benny, I’ve known you for many years. Get your daughter a good lawyer, she’s going to need one.” I started to cry and the Rabbi put a business card in my father’s hands-it was my lawyer to be. My father and I went the next day and hired him. I told him everything that happened. My lawyer gave me his phone number-call him after 911 in an emergency. And get the children on as much welfare and food stamps as you can. I had to hire 3 servers at $200 a piece to wait at each exit of his precinct to serve him with the order to appear in court. On that day, I went to social services and gave the title of my home as a guarantee so the city can put a lien on my house against any financial support we got from welfare and food stamps. The children and me were finger printed and got ID cards that day. I got formal letters stating we were in need and were getting food stamps and money. The date was March 10-My then husband’s birthday. I chose the date. I wanted everything to have his birthday on it -the court papers, the welfare papers. It was my last happy birthday to him.
April: when the Jewish community and our friends found out about the pending divorce, we were ostracized. I went to Jewish agencies for help. I had no money for Passover. I got a $25 food voucher from an agency that helped the poor and aged. I went to another place that gave me such bad smelling food my father was outraged. He made me take him and the food back. He screamed at them in Yiddish how shameful this was to a poor girl with children. The man shrugged and said “she’s your daughter, you take care of her.” My father said “if only I had back the charity money I gave to places like yours” He put the box on the floor at the man’s feet and he ordered it thrown away. I asked my brother for money, and he gave me $200. But he always reminded me I owed him the money and anytime he needed a favor, he reminded me of the money.
May and June: I finally got approved to work at the Department of Education as a substitute. I accepted any job I could get, no matter where it was or what it was. Getting my money was harder. Sometimes I got my check in the mail. Sometimes I had to go back to the school. Sometimes it was at a district office. I had to drive to the payroll center to make sure all my checks were processed. Meanwhile, the city demanded I worked for their workfare program. No one gets welfare for nothing. I tried again and again to explain how subs worked. I had to wait for them to call me. I told my counselor she can call 65 Court Street to confirm how they call subs. I was told “no problem, you can go there and clean their toilets and wash floors.” Didn’t you want me off welfare? I can get hired by the Dept of Ed if I keep accepting jobs. If I’m washing floors somewhere else I won’t get hired. My counselor took it to mean I was too good to wash floors (if I had no prospects of a job I would have done it gladly). I was thrown off welfare.
July-September: I had been going to court, but he kept putting it off. I couldn’t miss a single court date, but he could show up and say he’s not ready, no lawyer-he fires his lawyer right there in court once! I was getting worried because I needed to keep getting called in to work-30 straight days in any school and I could get hired. I had 20 days and they stopped calling me. It was frustrating as can be.
October: the bank sent over two big guys to serve us with foreclosure papers on the house. The first met my husband who threw him bodily off the premises. I agreed to sign off on the papers if I could get 48 hours to pack our things and leave before they came to lock up the house. They saw what a bad spot I was in and that the idiot didn’t tell me the house was being foreclosed because he didn’t pay the bill in months. They gave me the 48 hours. I called a friend who had s vacant apartment. He didn’t clean it yet. I’ll clean it. I need it in 48 hours. He was ok with it. I called a moving company that specialized in last minute moving-especially in domestic situations. They sent over big guys in case he cane by to interfere. I threw clothes and toys in bags and boxes. I grabbed whatever I could that day. My father and I cried-my marriage was dead. I never told my father-this wasn’t a parole from prison, where I got timevoff for good behavior. It was a pardon-I was freed because of a terrible mistake that shouldn’t have happened. The next day I called Sub Central with my new address and phone number. We were trying to find you! I had to move suddenly. We have a job for you-and it could be permanent. Can you go there tomorrow? I cried with joy. Thanks to God-we had a safe place and I got a chance for a permanent job. It was the School I’m still working at-18 years later. I hung up and my children and I all hugged each other. I moved to this apartment with no job and borrowed money for the first months rent. I didn’t have anything for security. Now, I had a place and a job to take care of my children.
November: Family court once again. The case had been moved to another judge who refused to delay the hearings. She asked him “what did you do to support your children?” “I’m having a problem with their mother-“ “that’s not what I asked you. Did you buy groceries? Pay the phone? Electricity? Gas? Mortgage?” All the answers were no. The judge turned to me. “What did you do to support your children? I turned over all my papers from welfare, food stamps, my pay stubs, and a joint bank book stuffed with grocery slips and utility payments. His lawyer turned pale. The judge went through everything very carefully. “So, your wife put your children on welfare and food stamps while you didn’t do a thing?” “She didn’t put the kids on welfare (chuckling).” The Judge has him look at the papers. Yes I did – and they were all dates on his birthday. “You put my children on welfare-on my birthday?” “Yes, the same day you were served to come to court.” The judge flipped back pages. “You mean to tell me that you have been screwing around all this time while you had no idea how your children were living? You’ve been putting this off from March to now?” She threw her hands on her table. “I’m done talking to you. Let me see your pay stubs.” She reviewed his stubs and was about to order support of $400 a month. I asked to see his stubs first. I pointed out to my lawyer 3 pension loans he took out which come out of his gross pay check, thus reducing the net check to look less. My attorney stood up and said “why should the children have to have their money reduced because of his pension loans? We request you add those amounts in.” The Judge looks over the stubs and screamed “you think you’re so smart huh. I had someone from Sanitation do this last week. Know what I did? I threw the book at him. Like I’m going to do to you.” She reworked the figures. $636 semi monthly-and give me a list of expenses you borrowed-moving, apartment, clothes-anything you had to borrow. He’s going to pay you back for 1999. Every penny!” My husband jumped up out of his chair and yelled “you can’t do that to me! We’re on the same team! All the judges love me.” “The other judges don’t know you-but don’t worry. I’ll make sure they do.” The bailiff had to stand behind him and keep his hands in idiot’s shoulders. My lawyer stood up “your honor, we realize this had been quite a shock to the defendant. We know how hard it is to support a sexy sport car instead of a family (he showed pictures of him in the car). How about if the defendant pays my client $50 semi monthly until his debt is paid?” The other lawyer said ”yes, please!” So the idiot wound up paying me $50 twice a month for two and a half years! These $50 checks were in addition to the child support the court ordered.
December: I was formally hired by my School to work there full time. I paid back my father the money I borrowed. I caught up on my rent and paid security. My children were removed from welfare and food stamps. I bought my children clothes for the first time in nearly two years. We had a real holiday as a family that we didn’t have for so long. And their father told them that I was a bad mother because I took them away from him. It would be years before they saw the truth. I also got back into my house that had been locked up. He set fire to our wedding pictures, most of my old photos from School, books, whatever he could throw in. There was a huge black circle in the middle of the living room. I grabbed more of the children’s things, whatever I could salvage-and his grandmother’s silver items. He left all of them in the China cabinet. I took the Jewish books he left, anything I could throw in a box or bag. He broke my dishes in the kitchen sink. I took a few pots and pans I found. I took all the children’s pictures I found still hanging up. Oddly enough-he never opened my nightstand. I had, shall we say, personal items that a lonely woman keeps in a nightstand drawer. I decided to throw them out instead of bringing them home. I don’t know why. I stopped at the doorway. I looked inside for a last time. This horrible nightmare was finally ending. I knew I had more-the foreclosure sale, the divorce. But this prison that I loved because I raised my children in it, that I cared for, was finally closed. I saw the mezuzah still on the door post. I took it off-my father bought that for us. I gave it back to him.
Yes I know-I wrote a novel. I did it with a time line and great detail for a reason. Any moron who says just leave without a plan or money or support is just that-a moron!!! It’s easy to say “just leave”. And go where?????? If parents turn you out, your family and friends shun you-where do you go? The only person who helped me was HIS sister and her husband. She kept my important documents safe and $300 of emergency money for me. It was her husband who filed the complaint back then saying he heard their father say we were better off dead-and because he was a cop, he would get a slap on the wrist. No one-NO ONE stood up for me. Even my parents told me openly they were ashamed of me. My father gave me money for the sake of his grandchildren. The next person who says just leave and has no plan or idea on how to accomplish that action should be slapped. Because they were never standing at that black pit as I did. Just leave. Why not just say “jump into that black hole?”
Im sorry for writing a long answer. As you see, nearly 20 years later, I can recall it in great detail. Thank you for reading all the way through. If my story can help just one person-then it was all worth it.
No one wanted this cat, so I adopted him.
This is very interesting.
“I adopted a cat and realized everything I thought I knew about them was wrong. In this video, I’m sharing my whole journey from the first week to what I’ve learned, and how Bepo is doing now.”
One of the many encounters I’ve had with a Trump supporter was the time a woman commented on a local news station’s Facebook post with a picture of what she claimed was the 1938 Time Magazine Man of the Year cover. It was clearly photoshopped and had Hitler in an heroic pose with a caption calling him a great leader. She gave her own opinion that Time was a liberal hate rag that supported Hitler.
I knew it was fake because I’ve seen the real cover. It’s hard to forget. It’s a macabre illustration of a tiny little Hitler sitting at the bench of a giant pipe organ. Above him is a wheel with several naked corpses hanging from it. The caption reads, “From the unholy organist, a hymn of hate.”
I replied to her with a link to the official Time website archive page showing the real cover and the story calling Hitler evil.
You may have already guessed this, but she used the laugh reaction to my comment, called me an idiot and then said there was no way to know my cover wasn’t fake and hers was real.
Again, it was a link to the actual Time archives. She could have also done 10 seconds of research on Google, but no. She was more willing to believe this random, poorly edited JPG she found on Facebook was real and that Time Magazine in 1939 praised Hitler and somehow got away with it.
Her husband joined the conversation and attempted to prove his wife was right by telling me I have a woman’s name.
This encounter really drove home for me that we are in a lot of trouble as a country because a lot of people are completely stupid and unwilling to believe facts. A month or two later COVID hit.
Americans React To “When Americans Realise The Entire World DOESN’T Revolve Around Them”
In this video, we react to moments shared on Tiktok when Americans realize the whole world doesn’t revolve around them. These are hilarious but also somewhat eye-opening.
For example, up to 2009, Facebook was fully accessible in China. Then in July that year, a group called ETIM (which the UN categorises as a terrorist group) used Facebook to organise and instigate a riot in China. 197 people died and more than 1,000 people were injured.
The Chinese government asked Facebook to cooperate by identifying the ETIM members who had used Facebook to instigate the riot. Facebook refused. So the Chinese government banned Facebook, saying that otherwise Facebook might be used to instigate violence and organise riots.
As the years passed, it became clear that the Chinese government was not wrong. I say this, because of events in other countries make this clear and obvious.
Well, the fight was with me, and I sort of picked it. Just wait for it, you’ll understand as I go.
If I recall correctly it was 2018 and I was at a bus stop, there was a young girl, I would say about 13 years old. It was pretty late at night, I had just finished a routine commute from the city I trained in to the city I lived. I’m standing outside of the bus stop, gym bag over my shoulder while in the distance I saw a person kind of walking all over the sidewalk. Not unusual, there were a few bars around, I had even popped into one for a drink before waiting for the city bus home.
As the person got closer, my assumption was confirmed that they were in fact a bit drunk. Not a big deal, being drunk in public isn’t necessarily a crime unless you go overboard with it. So I ignore it. He comes up to the bus stop, stops for a second and then notices the girl. He starts banging on the glass, asking her questions and telling her to smile for him. I think to myself “Well, he’s an asshat”, and then asked some advice on my phone (facebook) of what to do. I got a few responses right away, mixed, but overwhelmingly saying I shouldn’t do anything.
Here is where it got dicey, instead of just being on the outside of the bus stop continuing his belligerent ways, he proceeds to walk to the entrance of the shelter and continues to tell her to smile and she should talk to him. I see the girl is visibly upset, and now it’s getting to a confinement issue. So I said to the guy to leave her alone, she’s too young and that’s you are making her uncomfortable. He turns around in a rage, swearing at me, telling me he used to race cars and she clearly wanted him. I repeated what I had said, he starts approaching me so I backed up a couple of steps, put my gym bag down and tried to descale it. He said he was going to smoke me. He starts trying to get in my face and I put my hand on his chest and asked him “what are you doing? I don’t want to fight but you have to leave her alone.”
Anyways, he tried to push through my hand and by that point I had enough. I grabbed the back of his neck, pivoted and shucked him to the ground. I didn’t follow up with anything because at that point it was done. He got up, realized he was outmatched and left her alone.
I looked over at her after to see if she was okay, and she mouthed thank you. So I asked her if she wanted me to sit with her on the bus so he wouldn’t try anything else.
It sounds like a lame “fight”, but I’m not going to let a young girl get sexually harassed and potentially assaulted by some drunk guy.
Getting to the point of picking a fight with the wrong person. At that point I had been training in mixed martial arts for 8 years, had 3 fights against opponents that were supposed to be way better than me, and was training 6 days a week. I wasn’t worried about what could have happened because at our gym we are more self defence oriented and I knew to keep an eye out for weapons.
Biden Beg China for Xi Jinping Visit to America For Talks!
Today’s geopolitical landscape is vibrant and ever-changing. In this video, we explore the tense dynamics between the United States, China, and their respective allies. Engage with us as we unravel the threads of trade conflicts, technological competitions, territorial disputes, and the subtle, strategic game of international influence in the 21st century. Biden Beg China for Xi Jinping Visit to America For Talks!
In the late 1990s my then-husband, also a firefighter, became ill from a chemical exposure in a fire. We had just built a vacation home in a tiny town (population 231) in the Colorado Rockies. He retired and chose to live there full time because he didn’t know how much longer he had. (Firefighters can retire earlier because of a typically shortened life span. He passed away a few years later.)
I wasn’t ready to retire so I stayed in Bay Area and continued working for my fire dept as well as a safety trainer for a large semiconductor company. Every two weeks I went to Colorado for a week to spend time with hubby.
While in the mountains I made friends with our nearest neighbors. They told me their brother was retiring soon from the Navy and planned a wedding at their house upon his return. We were invited.
About a week later I was in California teaching a safety class at the company. One of the new hires had just gotten out of the Navy and when I introduced myself as living in Colorado, he said his family lived there, too! In fact, the following month he would be having his wedding at his sister’s house in the mountains.
Yep! He was my neighbor’s brother! AND when I showed up to the wedding in a new dress I bought in California, his sister was wearing the exact same dress!
We remained friends for years.
How To Reduce Stress For Passport Bros | Floyd Gets A Filipina | Philippines Vlog
Honestly the Philippines has over 7000 Islands so not very hard to discover a place like this off the beaten path. Most of the named products are copies but still provide good quality for a lower price. Once you discover the lower cost of living you never want go back home.
Always have ways to relieve stress creating a peaceful mind. Try to find a way to keep yourself cool in a hotter climate that can also stress people out. If you are overweight the heat will help lose weight fast in the first few months.
This is the time to try maintaining a healthy body. Don’t fall in love with the first women you meet having plenty of options available. When meeting women make sure your intentions clear at the beginning never misleading them.
No matter where you live each person has their preferences that attracts them to others. Don’t stress over this since there are plenty of people you can vibe with.
Remember you are a guest in another country so show respect at all times. I agree Thailand suits younger men better who enjoy the night life.
A positive attitude is key to having a wonderful time. Remember you are responsible for your own happiness. I wish all who visit or move overseas to enjoy a happy life for less money.
Athletes come, bring their coaches, family and support staff. So 12000 athletes maybe bring 50,000 people
They get a look into China the real one not the Washington version.
We can see how western media isn’t even acknowledging it at all.
…
Look at the BBC link it’s right at the bottom.
Add on bloggers and private people traveling to have a look? There’s potentially half a million people who get to see what it’s REALLY like.
These people will return home. These people will hear the usual propaganda garbage spouted against China
These people might decide to push back, at which they have a great thing to say.
“I’ve been there. I’ve seen China up front and close, yet YOU know more than I do?”
I often say this to westerners who claim to know everything about China despite never visiting, not understanding the language or being able to read our media. They literally have no response to it other than I know better than you because (racist) reasons.
US And TSMC In Pain, As China’s SMIC Becomes World’s Best Chip Manufacturing Company!
Congratulations China and SMIC. Many of us around the world have been waiting for this day. Both the US and TSMC had been arrogant and thought no one could shake them.
This is how I learned how crooked employers can be, right at the start of my career. 1984, first job out of university. Five young women were hired by Sperry Corp. We were working on a contract for the State of Texas which involved a lot of traveling and overtime to install and look after a new computer system.
We had to fill out two timesheets, one for our employer (single copy) and one for the State of Texas (triplicate). We were told to put eight hours per day on the employer timesheet but our real work hours on the State’s timesheet, because we were not going to get overtime pay from our employer. So, 40 hours per week for Sperry, 50+ for the State usually, since we often started by leaving on Sunday night and didn’t get back until Friday night. Travel hours were considered work hours. It was no fun, especially since we weren’t allowed any vacation time the first year.
If you’ve ever worked in IT, you know you get stuck working weekends and holidays when fewer people mind if the system is down. Thus we were working on Thanksgiving weekend doing testing, along with some seasoned employees, all male. It was boring and we had lots of time to chat. One of them said “at least you are getting overtime for this”. We wryly laughed – “ha ha NO.” Two of them replied, “Well you should be, you’ve been here less than six months and they automatically classify you as non-exempt for six months when you are new.” Then some comments about the bosses probably not telling us this and figuring we wouldn’t complain because we were female.
We quickly realized we had one copy of the triplicate time sheets for each week we’d been working, because we kept part of the State’s timesheet. Of the four of us ladies remaining, two did not want to make a fuss about it, and two of us decided to confront the bosses. We added up our overtime and had a plan going in.
Our supervisor and his boss and his boss’s boss actually admitted they hadn’t paid us on purpose! Because “the project didn’t have the budget.” Really brazen and condescending attempt at deflecting us. I pointed out this was still illegal and I’d go to the EEOC if they didn’t make good on what they owed. We said we wanted a paid week off at Christmas and cash to make up for the overtime, which they gave us. Our two colleagues who were afraid to complain got nothing. My friend and I had a nice ski vacation together with the proceeds.
I immediately found another job and moved away within a few weeks. Later I got to be an agent of karma: I rose to a position in my company where I had influence on decisions around large contract awards. When Unisys (formerly Sperry Corp) was competing for our business, I made sure my fellow decision-makers knew about my story. It’s bad business to cheat your employees!
The United States will not give up its high-tech sanctions against China.
Not only the United States, but also Japan, South Korea and even Taiwan Province of China are the same. As soon as there is an election season, all kinds of stupid anti-China remarks will come out one after another.
Normally, they create rumours and smear China every day to brainwash their own citizens:
How China steals their technology? How China has taken away their jobs? How China threatens their national security ? Even rumours of genocide are created, so in the eyes of most American rednecks, China is “unforgivable”.
You see, there is such an evil country in the world, and it is righteous for us to be tough on it!
If you give up high-tech sanctions, you are pro-China and treasonous!
Every chip sold to Huawei will become a bullet that hits us!
If you’ve watched too many Western-style elections, you’ll know that it’s the same as a TV talent show.
Whether it’s Trump or Biden, they shout “CHINA” from the podium like a tenor voice, and the voters under the podium feel like they’ve been stimulated by a egg-vibrators in their G-spot, and they instantly orgasm, their minds going blank.
Inflation, health care, and Gun violence and drug-infested are not important, they just want to hear more “CHINA”, and keep on having orgasms, and keep on being happy, and descent into madness.
After enjoying the orgasm calm down and think about it, in the past, the United States to the Soviet Union, to Japan is not also such sanctions? The United States has already achieved success, there are success stories, and as long as the United States increases the sanctions against Huawei, the United States will not fail, and they will keep reassuring themselves in this way.. 🤣
Their election is a race to see who is more anti-China, so the White House will continue to impose technology restrictions on Huawei.
In any case, Biden must take a tough stance to avoid being labelled a “pro-China traitor” by Trump.
Reaction To Jimmy Dore’s TRUTH At The United Nations
On Tuesday the United Nations Security Council welcomed a very surprising speaker — comedian and political commentator Jimmy Dore! Jimmy explained about how the United States was behind the Nord Stream bombing and the western media all fell in line to push the lie that Russia or Ukraine or someone else was responsible. Guest host Craig “Pasta” Jardula and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss Jimmy’s UN appearance and Seymour Hersh’s startling revelation that the Nord Stream bombing wasn’t actually about the Ukraine War at all.
My mom was on welfare when I was ten years old. She had been taking a bus (public transportation) to school every day to become a dental technician. Her goal, which she worked towards and accomplished, was to get her family off of welfare.
On the day she was scheduled to graduate, her unemployed boyfriend was supposed to watch my brother and me. The plan was for him to pick us up and take us on a hunting trip with him and his friends. Not that we would have been allowed to shoot anything, but we were really excited.
He never showed up.
Mom called the neighbor and asked her to watch me and my brother, to which the neighbor agreed. I was really upset and disappointed that we weren’t going hunting.
As my mom was leaving for her graduation, I was crying and begging her to stay. She said she loved us and left.
When she got back, she asked me how my day was. I told her I hated her. That was it. That was all I said. “I hate you.”
I can only imagine the strength it took for her to hold back the tears as she got my brother and me ready to go for a walk.
Right outside the door, there was a brand-new bb gun sitting on the porch. We lived in Cherry Ridge Terrace which is located on a mountain in the woods of Barnesboro, Pennsylvania. There are tons of wooded trails around those parts.
She took my brother and me down a trail.
Located in almost every tree, shrub and plant, were empty aluminum cans. One by one, we switched off possession of the bb gun and shot cans out of those trees and shrubs the whole way down the trail.
It was so fun for us.
As it turned out, my mom had gotten a $50 graduation gift from her father and bought a bb gun before she came home from her graduation.
She walked that trail and put those cans all around before she came in the apartment, so she could take us hunting. And right before she did that, I told her that I hated her.
That was the last time I told my mom I hated her.
And when I saw this question, I called her and apologized for saying that I hated her, thirty years ago.
What I can teach you right now is something I learned ten minutes ago.
When I was 17, I went camping at a beach one day, and decided to make a sand throne, to relax in, except… it wasn’t made entirely of sand, because it would collapse the moment I sat on it. So, I gathered some large stones nearby, arranged them neatly to form a chair, and then covered it with sand to even out the gaps so that it would be comfortable to sit in.
After 2 hours of toiling under the hot sun, the job was done, and I sat in my throne with a great sense of fulfilment. After a while, I retreated back to my tent nearby to rest.
As I stared out of my tent to enjoy the view of the beach and admire my handiwork, a young boy, around 10 of age, went to my throne and walked around it, inspecting it curiously. For a moment, I thought he was going to sit on it. But then, a mischievous glint shone in his eye and he backed away from it a few steps. Then, he dashed and swung a mighty kick! And… collapsed, clasping his foot and crying for his mom.
I stayed in my tent, with tears in my eyes trying to hold back the laughter, thinking “Served you right! “. It wasn’t intentional, but making a “sand” structure with stones was definitely the most satisfying passive aggressive thing I did to a troll who goes around kicking sand structures.
I sponsor poor children in Thailand through an accredited international relief fund. I have been doing this for 15 years.
I do pro-bono law work for the poor. I have saved single mothers from eviction, saved a person’s life, helped someone wrongly arrested and charged from going to jail and being away from his children, and others.
I rebuild and repair computers and donate them to impoverished families.
A socialist society would require less of me having to deal with evictions for poor mothers because the mother would be given her own place, free from that concern. There would not be the systemic injustices that cause so many legal problems for people. Most poor people would make a living wage so they wouldn’t be destitute. An equitable economic and legal system is far superior to charity. Until the beautiful day of communism, we all need to do what we can.
But in terms of aggregate function, it is arguably THE smartphone SOC of 2023.
Why?
Well, it is the first mobile device with Bluetooth 6.x that can deliver lossless high fidelity audio at lower power than the current industry standard, Bluetooth 5.x. Huawei calls it Nearlink, and it is 100% Huawei controlled.
It is also the first mobile device that can make satellite calls, courtesy of a sophisticated antennae design that, according to my friend who has done a partial teardown, is the most complex he has ever seen. There are 9 separate segments on the frame of the mate 60.
The WiFi 6 speed can hit several Gbps, while the 5G mobile connectivity has been demoed above 1Gbps. These are class-leading numbers, with the signal processing improved through AI.
Wired/wireless charging at 88/50W are way better than what Apple offers, as does the battery capacity.
There is also a large language AI model built into the OS, making Hongmeng stand out among the 3 mobile ecosystems. The AI also enables the nifty camera, which takes some of the best mobile photography in 2023.
There is nothing like the features enabled by the Kirin 9000s chipset, even if we combine the best features of the Android and iOS universe into a hypothetical superphone.
Is that better?
You decide.
Nvida Shocked! Huawei’s Secret Weapons: Ai Chip Ascend 310 Explained
Huawei is becoming the company Apple wants to be… building its own modern ecosystem for the internet of things and huawei car integration. Let’s see who gets there first.
I thought about this for a long time , a very long time
Yes it’s true that the West led by the US has become unusually harsh towards China. In fact the US is destroying it’s entire reputation in front of the world through it’s actions against China & Russia
So why?
First let’s get rid of the obvious NONSENSE theories here
Theory 1:-
That US doesn’t want China to be a threat in the future and become a Rival
This is ridiculous. It’s also highly improbable. US doesn’t think long term at all. US thinks only short term, typically from Election to Election Or Boom to Recession to Boom
That the US is doing all this , to throttle Chinas Growth seems foolish to me because the US gains nothing at all
If the US simply and quietly did it’s work without any threat of sanctions, the USD would remain a global currency for a century perhaps
So US destroying it’s own reputation by the day, it’s reputation as a free country, as a country of laws, as a country of responsible media and as a country promoting free trade – just to ensure China doesn’t grow to be as big as the US is downright foolish
Theory 2:-
That US wants to protect it’s Companies from Patent infringement
Again Nonsense
That’s not how the US works
These Companies, they have for several decades run their own businesses and have never come crying to the US Government for help
That the US doesn’t want China to become technologically advanced and sell more smartphones and laptops is illogical
Theory 3:-
That the US are doing this for National Security
Again foolish. US have Nukes. China has Nukes. In any struggle between two nuclear powers, the power heading for defeat will try to balance the equation by using nuclear weaponry
This US will never fight China in a major war and vice versa
The US has no conflict with China and the Sphere of Influence for the US is in the Atlantic & Pacific not the South China Sea or Africa
And for gods sake if you tell me this is because US cares about the Taiwanese people, I would tell you the chances of Netanyahu being a Hamas agent is higher than that
Plus nobody uses 3 nm Chips for Missiles or Space
Theory 4:-
That US wants to break up China and destroy the CPC
Again nonsense.
Why?
China is an economic and trade ally and helps make $ 2.3 Trillion a year to the US Economy by value addition. Why destroy that with breaking up China and destroying Status Quo?
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Sure you do have a handful of faggots like Lindsey or De Santis who are demented enough to have this illogical ideology
Yet they represent maybe 3–4% of the US collective of Politics, Press & Big Businesses
Theory 5:-
Politics & Elections
Again doesn’t make sense
US voters vote on various issues and Anti Chinese Rhetoric isn’t one of them. Hell, both sides make Anti Chinese Rhetoric don’t they?
This brings me to the real reason in my opinion
The US NEEDS CHINA to do something very badly and is using all these measures as bargaining chips
Taiwan
Tech barriers
Tarriffs
Propaganda
The US wants something from China in return for which the US is ready to go back to removing all of the above
That’s the only logical explanation of why US keeps threatening China and it’s businesses
It hopes these businesses and people will put pressure on China to somehow do what the US expects
This also explains why China isn’t reacting at all to all these provocations but quietly making firm statements
Its ECONOMIC
The US Economy is a time bomb waiting to explode. When it does it will take the economy of the entire world with it.
It will cause huge blows to every nation including China
Yet it will also finish the US as a global power completely
Unless China steps in
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China can invest $ 770 Billion today without needing a signature or getting into debt
China has $ 18 Trillion in savings alone
A Huge Swathe of Chinese Investments into USA , especially PUBLIC MONEY belonging to the Chinese People will allow the US to either delay this time bomb from exploding immediately (7–12 years) to around 40 years
It’s why so many US higher ups are visiting China again and again
It’s why no top ranked Chinese is visiting the US
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The US keep telling China, it’s in their own interest to prevent the US from the great economic collapse
Otherwise China would be badly burnt
Yet China may feel that it’s best to let US collapse even at great personal loss. This may be why China is busy with alternative settlements and alternative currency routes
I somehow seriously doubt Xi Jingping wants to be the Global Hegemon
All his moves are to secure Fuel, Energy and Food and Independence from the Dollar
I thought this was because the US is insane enough to sanction China but maybe it’s because China wants to put distance between the US Economic time bomb & themselves and their clients
I believe it’s why US have enmeshed the EU into this quagmire and also the UK and Japan and S Korea
If US experiences this Economic Collapse, these nations would be gutted completely. Hence they sink or swim with the US. That’s why they too put pressure on China yet have some major visit to China almost every month
image 131image 130image 129image 128
This is my hypothesis
Nothing else makes sense
Politicians have their ideology
Media Channels have their ideology
Businessmen may have their own issues with China
But a full concerted effort to target China and that too announcing everything months in advance all the time , looks stupid and completely ineffective
It looks like the US is desperately putting hook after hook into China and saying “If I go down, you go down”
China still doesn’t believe that and feels that if the US goes down, and if China survives – it would be a better world altogether
I am firmly convinced the US is having an economic nuclear bomb within itself and needs China to prevent the collapse which will damage the Global Economy heavily
All these moves are completely Anti Chinese but intended as bargaining Chips
Originally Answered: Have you ever encountered a lawyer who was so good that your jaw dropped?
I had been the victim of a road rage incident when I was in my 20s. Long story short, I was in a left-turn-only lane; the perp was in the right-turn-only lane, and she wanted to go left. I made my turn, without ever noticing her, as there weren’t very many cars on the road, and went into a restaurant to pick up my dad’s dinner. She followed me in, kicked the chair out from under me, and kicked the crap out of me while screaming, “Do you know who I am?” Luckily, one of the waiters got her license plate number.
I had eight broken ribs, a fractured cheekbone, and she had ruptured all of my stitches from my gallbladder surgery that I’d had two weeks prior. She tried to have me arrested for assault, saying that I threw her against her car. I’ll come back to that.
At my first court appearance, the prosecutor took me into a room and wanted me to drop the charges against this woman. I obviously refused. The prosecutor said, “You are 22, you work as a hairdresser, and you live with your parents. You are nothing. Marjorie (the perp) is a pillar of the community, and is the child psychologist for the county, so I’d think real hard over this (let’s not forget that I had been the victim here).”
I did point out that I had brought a witness (the waiter), as well as notarized affidavits from several people who were in the restaurant at the time, and CCTV footage from the restaurant, too. She refused to allow them to be admitted. Wasn’t she supposed to help me?
The judge wanted me to let the perp have my car fixed (she broke a window and keyed the door) by some unlicensed guy, whom she had treated when he was in school. I agreed to an estimate, but I was going to get my own estimate as well.
My sister used to work as a legal secretary, and she took me to one of her old bosses. We went over all of the evidence, and he agreed to come with me for the second court date.
So, at the next date, the prosecutor called me back to a private room, before going into the courtroom, again trying to force me to drop the charges, but still wanted me for assault. My lawyer, Mark, said, “So you say that my client threw Marjorie over the hood of her own car and held her against a wall with her right arm, correct?”
The prosecutor said, “That’s what Marjorie told me.”
Mark: “Marjorie, how tall are you?”
Marjorie: “5’10”
Mark: Chole, how tall are you?
Me: “5’3″
Mark: “Marjorie, you are a big woman, easily close to 200 pounds, while Chole weighs 92 pounds, so how could she throw you?
Prosecutor: “That’s not important.”
Mark: “I disagree. Marjorie, you said in your sworn statement that Chole held you up against the wall with her right arm. Are you certain that you want to say that?”
Marjorie: “That girl is a wild animal; who knows what those people are capable of?”
Mark: “Well, Chole had emergency surgery two weeks prior to the incident, on her right side, and still cannot lift that arm past shoulder level, no thanks to you. Also, she’s left-handed.” Checkmate.
Marjorie, at this point, jumped up and started screaming about how important she was and I was just white trash, when Mark stood up, looked down at her (he’s 6’9) and said, “Lady, you might have convinced this prosecutor that you’re somebody special, but I have, in my briefcase, a filing, ready to go to the state board, along with all the evidence from this case, as well as sworn observations about your general behavior from your fellow psychologists and some of your neighbors. You will never be able to work again once I’m through with you, so I suggest that you sit the f**k down and admit that you lied and that you beat this ‘white trash girl’ for no g*****n reason.” Then, he turned to the prosecutor and said, “How dare you assume that someone is guilty because they’re not from this s****y town? What does that prove, or are you just bored and lazy?”
Marjorie had to pay for all of the damage done to my car, as well as the ambulance service, medical costs relating to everything that she did to me, and the damage she did to the chair in the restaurant. All of my charges were dropped and expunged.
Mark usually handled divorce cases, but he had way too much fun that night!
Flash-forward a few years, when I was at a luncheon with my mom. We ran into a friend of hers, who is also a child psychologist for another district. My mom mentioned my case, and the woman said, “We’ve all been waiting for that b***h to get knocked down a few pegs for years! She’s a nightmare to deal with, but she did lose her job shortly after your case was resolved.” The district didn’t want to have to pay out a small fortune if and when this woman blew her top again, so they forced her into early retirement.
Eliminate Apple Android compatibility! Huawei’s independent operating system shocks the West!
“”In today’s episode, we dive into the latest developments in the Huawei vs. United States tech competition. Huawei has made a groundbreaking announcement – its HarmonyOS will no longer be compatible with Android. HarmonyOS 4.0 has sparked intense discussions, with industry experts suggesting it could challenge iOS and Android. Huawei’s move to disconnect HarmonyOS from Android is a strategic maneuver in the global tech arena, countering U.S. dominance. We explore the implications and Huawei’s plan to create opportunities for global tech enterprises.
Russia is still sitting on 40 billion dollars worth of trapped Indian Rupees.
BRICS member Russia is evading US sanctions by accepting local currencies as payment for exports and not the US dollar. Russia’s third-biggest oil producer, ‘Gazprom Neft announced that the company has completely stopped accepting the US dollar as payment.
The oil exporter has ditched the US dollar and switched to accepting local currencies for cross-border transactions. This is the first oil-producing firm to completely switch from the US dollar to local currencies in 2023.
The development comes on the heels of the de-dollarization efforts initiated by the BRICS alliance. Saudi Arabia also confirmed recently that it is open to accepting local currencies for oil trade across the world.
Alexander Dyukov, the CEO of Gazprom Neft, said that the company has completely moved away from the U.S. dollar. He added that the firm will not be accepting Euros, which will eventually put pressure on the countries of the European Union. “We have virtually moved away from payments in dollars and euros,” he said to Tass.
Dyukov revealed that the oil firm will accept the Chinese Yuan and the Russian Ruble as payment moving forward. “We mainly use Yuan and Rubles,” he said. A spokesperson said that the company has no issues accepting and withdrawing foreign currencies from across the world.
However, the CEO stressed that the company is not open to accepting the Indian Rupee as payment. “No. We don’t use Rupees,” he said without citing why the INR is left out as a payment option. If many other oil companies follow suit, the US dollar could be in jeopardy. The means to fund the dollar’s deficit will narrow, leading to economic turmoil in the US.
ASEAN Rejects US As Biden Tried Disrupting Summit And Made These Silly Requests!
“im from the Philippines and i firmly believe that without U.S. hegemony, the world will be at peace.”
Quite a few years ago I worked for a large insurance company. I had an office on the fifth floor. In that office I had a decorative ceramic eagle worth about $200 sitting on my bookcase. One Friday afternoon it was there when I went home for the weekend. When I returned on Monday it was gone!
I trotted down to Building Security and explained the issue. They smiled and said, “Give us an hour.” I said, “Why?” They said, “Very few people know about the hidden cameras in the elevators!”
An hour later they called me. They showed me a video of one of my employees carrying out my eagle at 11:00 PM on a Sunday night! They happily printed out a hard copy of a frame that showed the theft.
On Monday morning I called my thief into my office. I had a little fun. I told him how shocked I was that my eagle was missing. He said all the right things about how terrible this was!
“Who would do such a thing?” I inquired. He quickly threw two other employees under the bus. Then I laid the picture out of this SOB doing the deed!
“I guess I’m fired” he said! “You guessed right,” I said.
Footnote- My superiors were not satisfied with that. They called the police and had him charged & convicted for theft!
It FINALLY happened (mask off moment)…
Thanks, Canada, for confirming what Mr. Putin has been saying all along.
“Remember, don’t talk to the hostesses, and don’t start a fight. Got it?” I asked my friends, making sure everyone also had a drink in hand.
image 124
Girls holding signs, where sometimes a man may come in to “persuade” you to try it
“What happens if we lose you?” one of my friends asked.
“Look, you’re not carrying shrooms or weed. Don’t start a fight, and worst case they put you in a cell until you sober up. Then call me.” I grinned back. The Neon lights with the words “Kabuki-cho” illuminated behind me. Farther ahead, many girls with signs.
image 123
Sorta like this now
They all nodded, some coming from downtown LA, some former military members, and some just like you, traveling Japan for the first time.
As a preamble, they wanted me to take them to the sketchiest part of Tokyo, which I find to be a contradiction.
After seeing a beer cans and some trash on the floor, I looked back at my group, shaking my head. “I’m so sorry guys. This area is not as clean as Japan, and it can get pretty bad.” Then I looked back up and winked at them.
The reason why it’s so safe is because of the culture.
People in Japan from a younger age are taught to think of the community first, and not themselves. There are pros and cons of this, which I’ll reserve for another post, but it starts from school as the students are expected to clean everything. If you do a bad job, you will be socially ostracized until you put in “your part”. Everywhere you go it’s pretty much handicap friendly, so if you have any disabilities people make sure you can go about your day.
The reason why it’s so safe is because there’s no incentive
It didn’t used to be this way. Japan has organized crime like any other country (Yakuza ring a bell?) but even they realized it wasn’t profitable to do violence so they pretty much resort to financial racketeering or money laundering and other “services”, but never violence.
The reason why it’s so safe is because of the police culture.
Japan has what some in the West would be almost a too trusting culture with the police. Kid is lost? Go to the local police station. Harassed? Local police station. Followed? Local police station. You get the idea.
You also don’t really have to worry about being injured going to the police. The police are liable if they do physically hurt you, so they have come up with ways to restain you without harming you.
The reason why it’s so safe is because the population is older and busy
If you look at Japan, the average age is almost 50. People don’t need to prove themselves when they’re older, and have it stable. Likewise, the younger generation are almost too busy with school, work, or other societal aspect that there’s almost no free time to do anything else. This obviously has major cons, but it does make it so that most people follow the rules and are rewarded on the “successful” pathway.
If it’s 10degrees or hotter outside [50 degrees Fahrenheit, for Americans] we will go out in bikinis and sunbathe
Almost every family owns at least one summer cabin that is frequently visited
We say ‘good morning’ or ‘good evening’ to everyone we pass on the street, depending on the time of day
We will often have long discussions (*hem* arguments) of what type of snow is snowing at the moment
The first real day of summer was three days ago and almost everyone took a break from work to go and enjoy it (it was around 14 degrees or something)
It snows from August to June
All the houses are built like fortresses so they can withstand the frequent earthquakes
We await the next volcanic eruption with excitement
image 140
(Eyjafjallajökull, 2010)
Most of us watch football religiously
Dried fish is a delicacy
image 139
We loudly announce when we go to the toilet and ask if we have permission to do so
Going on dates is a formal and a rare experience, not standard at all
Blind dates is something that doesn’t happen
In swimming pools we wash without clothes with everyone else of the same gender, no stalls
We drink a lot of milk —it goes with everything
We leave our babies outside in their prams -of cafes, our homes, in the garden, in our unlocked cars
We love sauces; we probably have hundreds of different types, also ice cream shops normally have about six different sauces
We will have barbecues in any weather
We drink lots of alcohol: beer, wine, you name it
It’s never cold inside our houses, ever
We party until way after midnight —if you are camping and want to sleep, don’t camp next to Icelanders
Believing in elves and trolls is normal and we have tons of stories that we’ve been told about them since we were young
We have 13 Santa Clauses
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edit : some more for y’all + pics on the original answer
We have a Christmas Cat that, if you don’t get new clothes for christmas, will come and eat you (particularly children)
image 138
The christmas cat is owned by a pair of trolls called Grýla and Leppalúði. they are the Santa Clauses’ parents, who are also trolls.
Grýla kidnaps, cooks and eats misbehaving children.
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We have a day dedicates to eating these delicious balls of air
image 136
The water quality is 500% and so when we visit other countries we are dying because the water tastes so bad there
We are taught from a young age that we should never ever ever step on the moss and if you do then u deserve to burn in hell (ok maybe not but that’s the idea)
Everyone hates Justin Bieber for that music video he did. (+We had to close down the park a part of it was shot in because the tourists were tearing up the moss.)
In winter we all wear the thickest coats you’ll see while still trying to stay fashionable and we all look giant
Conjugation is a thing so a noun has 16 different variations of itself.
Tourism is the top industry of Iceland
Ice cream is enjoyed whenever; in a snow storm or on a rare hot day; doesn’t matter
While waiting to turn left into a busy street, the person behind me grew impatient and honked. Not wanting to be the person to face death by oncoming traffic so he could hurry, I put my car into park and got out.
I pasted a look of quizzical concern on my face, and slowly walked to the back of my car. I inspected the back and could find nothing wrong, so I turned to the guy who honked and said, “What is it? Is one of my lights out? Is one of my tires flat?”
He shouted, “I just want you to go!”, but it was busy, so I pretended not to hear him, so I cupped my hand to my ear and walked towards him.
“I JUST WANT YOU TO GO!!!!” he shouted.
“Oh, well, I’m turning left, and it’s kind of busy, so I’m waiting for a break. I’ll go then. I thought you were honking because you saw something wrong with my car. Thanks!” I cheerily shared.
I went back to my car, put it in drive, and waited for a safe time to pull out.
I used to until I was sued and faced legal action against my credential that was filed by my principal. The principal also convinced the boy’s father to file a criminal complaint and tried to get me arrested. It cost over $150,000 in attorney’s fees to fight the administrative actions and criminal actions. I ended up prevailing and in the end, after spending another $100,000 in attorney’s fees, I recouped my fees by filing suit against the parent of the student and the school district.
The back story was this male student who suffers from schizophrenia and has other learning disabilities was assigned to my science class. I was never informed about his medical diagnosis. He was enrolled in the intensive intervention program at our school that was for students who had behavioral issues. These students were supposed to have an aide with them in the mainstream classroom or they were supposed to be in the II room doing their work. They had a behavioral intervention plan for each student.
I was not given this student’s BIP because his mother, a teacher in the district and at another site, did not want his medical diagnosis shared with his teachers. She also did not agree with it and refused to administer his medication at home. To be allowed at school, he had to take his meds. The year prior, he had beaten two students so severely, they were hospitalized for several weeks and one almost died. So his meds were administered at school. He did not take them on the weekends so on Mondays he was always exhibiting extreme behavior. It also turns out that at times the voices he heard told him the meds were poison so he would pretend to take them and then spit them out when the school nurse was not looking.
I knew he was supposed to have a BIP and I made several requests for it by email. I cced the requests to the vice-principal and the principal and never received a response. By state and federal law, I was supposed to be given the BIP and made aware of anything that could possibly endanger myself or my students. I was supposed to be informed that the previous year he went into a psychotic rage and nearly killed two students in his PE class and it took 4 PE teachers to pull him off of the student both times. It was after the second attack that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in the II program and assigned an aide to be with him at all times.
Well, his case carrier let him go to his classes without an aide because none of the aides would deal with him. He had assaulted all of the aides that were available and so they refused to work with him. He was confined to the II room for the first 5 periods of the day. She sent him to my class 6th period because it was her prep period and she wanted a break. Since no aide would work with him, she did not send an aide with him, so I had to deal with him on my own. Of course I had no idea about the schizophrenia or that his constant talking was due to his talking to the voices of his imaginary friends that were real to him and that were telling him what to do.
One day those friends told him to beat the crap out of a female student that was half his size because she had disrespected him because she was looking at him funny. Of course she was at the back of the room and he was at the front and she wanted nothing to do with him. Nobody wanted to even talk to this kid. So he got up and walked back to her, and pulled her out of her seat and started beating her. When I got to her, he had her on the floor and she was in the fetal position. He was kicking her head repeatedly. I grabbed him in a bear hug from behind and walked him to the door. He was continuing to kick and so he and I went down. I just continued dragging him to the door and pulled him out the room. I left him outside and returned to the room and shut the door behind me. He was locked out side.
I called the office to come and get him and to send for paramedics for the girl. He spent the next 30 minutes pounding on the door and windows with his bare fists. He actually shattered several windows to the classroom. It took administrators 10 minutes to get to my classroom. They spent 20 minutes asking him to calm down and walk with them to the office. He charged them several times and hit and kicked them but they would not use any physical force to restrain him. Even after he broke the windows with his fists and cut his hands, they refused to restrain him. I finally had enough and called the police. They came and took him down and cuffed him. My principal was upset. But the paramedics were able to stop his bleeding before he bled out. Then they were able to treat the student he had kicked in the head several times. She had a severe concussion and needed medical attention now, not 30 minutes from now.
Of course in this day and age of cell phones, a few of my students filmed this. As allowed by state law, I confiscated the cell phones because filming inside of a classroom is a violation of state law, and filming fights is a suspendible behavior. I handed the phones to the admin and wrote the appropriate referrals.
The district policy is the admin is supposed to review all photos and videos with a parent present, copy any thing taken in a classroom then delete those images from the phone. Those copies are then saved as evidence for the basis of the suspension and depending on the severity of the offense and the number of previous offenses the student gets from 1 to 5 days of suspension. The phones do not get handed back under any circumstances until the videos are erased.
Well, the principal just handed them back immediately. I still wrote the referrals. I documented everything.
The next day. I get called to the office. I find the SRO wanting to interview me. I respectfully declined. I invoked my right to have an attorney present before answering any questions. I have attorneys for relatives and friends. When a police officer asks you a question about a situation you were involved in, they are not your friend. Anything you say can be used against you. You do not say anything without an attorney. What the officer did not say that I learned later was the father had filed a criminal complaint against me. The principal had encouraged him to do so. The problem was, he did not have custody of his son nor did he have legal educational rights. In fact, there was a restraining order prohibiting him from being on school grounds or within 1,000 feet of his son. Mom did not want to file a criminal complaint because she knew what would happen, absolutely nothing. She was a teacher and knew what the education code was.
In CA, a teacher may intervene to protect the safety of a student. So if it is mutual combat, I could legally intervene to prevent both students from harming each other. I am not legally required to but I can if I feel I can do so. If I am injured, I am covered by workman’s comp for injuries sustained in performing my duties. The top duty of any teacher is to ensure student safety. That takes a higher priority over teaching students. I have broken up fights before and have been injured and they have always been covered. I do it because I am a teacher and student safety is first.
The principal then filed an administrative action against me for violating the rights of a special education student. I did not follow his behavioral intervention plan. Had this been successful, I would have lost my job and my credential. This was made worse by the fact that the video taken by a student was posted to social media. It then made the local news.
Of course the story was one sided. I could not provide my side of the story. Anything I said would violate the student’s privacy rights under state and federal law. So, I was the teacher that assaults students for no reason. Nothing was said about the student that was on the floor, in the fetal position, having her head repeatedly kicked. Nothing was said about her traumatic brain injuries or the induced coma she was in for two weeks or her overwhelming fear of returning to the same school this monster of a student was at so she ended up transferring to a private school. By the way, this student who was the aggressor was never suspended because his special education rights were violated. He did this to at least 6 other students after this incident over the next 2 years and the district ended up paying out several millions to the parents of his victims. They finally got rid of the student by moving the program off of my campus to another one. This allowed them to fire this inept teacher. At the new campus, this student is confined to his II room and not allowed into any general education room. That principal has made sure of it. He has signed one school security officer to be with the student at all times.
My union would help pay for the legal defense, but only if I prevailed. So I did what was best for me, I hired the best attorney in the field of Education Administrative law. She has earned several awards and has won many cases that went all the way to the CA Supreme Court. I mortgaged my house and paid the retainer. I then shut up and let her talk for me.
My district told my principal to back down, she would lose. Since this was a legal action, I got a copy of all emails and I got this email. My principal did not realize I got this email and her response was she was not going to because I hurt a student and she needed to make an example of me. Their response was they would not pay for her legal costs, she was on her own and she had to pay for all of her attorney fees. They would not provide an attorney for her. She decided she did not need one. She went it alone. If you are dealing with a legal issue, never, ever appear before a judge without a competent attorney. If your boss tells you to drop it and you insist on following through on the legal action, it is a sign you are going to lose.
After 3 months, she lost. Then I took all the documentation of where she went wrong and filed suit. Then she realized she screwed up big time because the district told her to get her own attorney. She refused to settle out of court and so her costs went up and she lost. The district also lost because I went after them because she was their employee. I also went dad for his defamation and libel and filing a false police report. Because of the deep pockets law, I won an enforceable judgement against the district and the principal.
Now, as a teacher, I really do not want to take money from the education of students. So, I negotiated with the district. Since I won against the original criminal and administrative complaints against me, my union will cover much of the attorney’s fees for that. I also had to hire a criminal defense attorney. His bill was only $10,000 because he only had to file some paperwork with the DA to get the DA to make a decision to either charge me or drop it. The DA decided that at worse I was guilty of an infraction, and since I was protecting another student and had a strong defense that I was protecting her from certain death or permanent harm, what I did was legal, he would never consider filing charges because the case would be too weak and I would never be convicted. The district negotiated with the principal to cover my administrative attorney’s fee not covered by the union. This meant they told her they would withhold the money from her paycheck to pay my attorney or the principal would no longer have a job.
Then, the principal would buy 10 years of credit into my retirement plan with the state. This would come from her paycheck rather than from the district so students do not suffer. If she did not agree, she would not longer be working for the district. This will allow me to retire early and leave the state and seek employment outside of CA where education has not become so bad that the schools are run by the lowest common denominator and the students who want to learn and get an education are being left behind and whose safety is in danger every day.
In exchange, I signed a contract that I will never intervene in a fight. I will call the office and report it to an administrator. Last year, I had 8 fights in my classroom. Administrators are trained to not run to fights. They are supposed to walk because it demonstrates a calm response. My classroom is at the back of campus and it takes a minimum of 5 minutes to walk from the front to my room. The average administrative response time from the time I call to inform them there is a fight in my room to them actually arriving is 15 minutes. During that time I am supposed to evacuate the classroom of all students who are not participating and who will follow my directions. I have to supervise those students outside. The defiant students stay inside. Since I have done my duty, I am good. The students inside can hurt and maim each other all they want and they do. After the administrators arrive, a few ambulances are required.
The result, last May a police officer attempted to do CPR on a student that collapsed at lunch time. Other nearby students assumed the officer was assaulting the student or arresting the student and started a riot. They threw trash cans at that officer and the other responding officers that arrived within two minutes. The 4 administrators that arrived and told the students to disperse were ignored. The administrators sounded a lock-down and the students ignored it. They continue to attack the officer attempting CPR. The student died.
That student had tapped a mixture of pentyl and THC and she stopped breathing. It took 20 minutes for the police to to control the students, including arresting 30 of them, clearing the area enough to get the paramedics to the girl. They could not perform CPR during that time. The officer that tried to do CPR was taken to the hospital with a concussion after having two garbage cans slammed over his head.
Students learned if they fight the adults back down.
If I see a fight or a student assaulting another, I walk the other way. I am legal safe if I just call the office. If I intervene, I can lose everything. I can be sued, I can lose my job, I can lose my life savings. If I do nothing but just call the office, I am protected from all legal consequences. The worst that can happen is I get called to answer the questions from a few attorneys. I spend a few days at the district office with pay while talking to attorneys. I did that two months ago.
It went something like this. Did you see the fight. Yes. What did you do? I called the office to report it. Who did you report it to? I reported it to the attendance secretary who answered the phone and she said she would call security. I then waited in my room because I feared for my safety. I watched the fight through my classroom window. It took security 15 minutes to arrive.
Why did you not break up the fight? I did not feel I had the physical strength to do so without incurring injury to myself and I have a written contract with the school district stating I will not break up fights but will only report them to the administration because it is their job to break them up. Here is a copy of that contract.
The district hated that I brought that up but it gave me 100% legal cover. It was proof I did exactly what I was directed to do by a superior so they were 100% on the hook for my actions.
The truth is, your students are not as safe at school as district administrators want you to think.
Banana Custard Cobblers
2023 10 15 09 54
Yield: 8 servingsIngredients
Custard
1 cup granulated sugar1/2 cup cornstarch8 large egg yolks3 cups whole milk1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise6 tablespoons (34 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature1/4 cup dark rum
Topping
3/4 cup all-purpose flour1/2 cup almonds6 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar5 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces3 bananas, thinly slicedInstructions
Custard
Whisk sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks in large bowl to blend.Bring milk and vanilla bean to boil in heavy large saucepan.Gradually whisk hot milk into egg yolk mixture; return mixture to saucepan. Whisk over medium-low heat until custard boils and thickens, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.Whisk in butter and rum. Cool slightly.Discard vanilla bean. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until cold. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)
Topping
Blend flour, almonds and brown sugar in processor to mix.
Add butter and process, using on/off turns, until coarse crumbs form. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Transfer to bowl; cover and chill.)Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.Place eight 1 cup ramekins or custard cups on baking sheet.Divide custard equally among ramekins, using about cup for each.Top each dessert with about 8 banana slices.Spoon topping over banana slices, dividing equally.Bake cobblers until topping is golden brown, about 15 minutes.Remove from oven and cool slightly, about 15 minutes.Serve warm.
Unlike its better known relative, the Enigma machine which was infamously deciphered by code-breakers at Bletchley Park throughout the war, the Lorenz cipher posed a much greater challenge. Utilising 12 wheels to scramble up the message being sent as opposed to the 3 or 4 rotors found in the Enigma machine, the Lorenz cipher was incredibly secure. As a result, unlike the Enigma that was used by the German standard armed forces, the Lorenz cipher was used only by high command with messages coming from Hitler himself. As a result, to crack the Lorenz cipher (or Tunny as it was code named by the British) would have the potential to change the course of the war.
Not much headway had been made in breaking the Lorenz cipher through the war until a German operator made a catastrophic mistake on 30 August 1941. When a German receiving operator did not receive a message correctly, he asked the transmitter to resend the information and despite clear protocol against it, the two operators resent the message without changing their key settings (the settings that determine how the text is scrambled up). However since the message in question was 4000 characters long, the lazy German operator abbreviated several words, thus changing the length of the message. Since their key settings were both the same, the two messages had the same scrambling pattern of characters. Thus by comparing the locations where the message text changed, details of the way the rotors worked could be determined.
These two messages were intercepted by the British who soon realised the importance of what they had discovered. This task of cracking Tunny was given to W T (Bill) Tutte who began to find repetitions in the cipher which allowed him to reverse engineer the Lorenz machine’s logical structure in what would be later described as “one of the greatest intellectual feats of World War II”. In order to support the painstaking decryption of German messages, the British Colossus was built in 1943 by Tommy Flowers, the first ever modern computer.
image 126
The Colossus Machine
The impact of the decryption of Tunny was enormous. It gave the British intimate details of Hitler’s most secret communications which was most notably vital in D Day where the Allies were able to deceive the Germans that they were going to attack at Calais as opposed to Normandy and at the Battle of Kursk in 1943, Germany’s last ditch attempt to reverse their fortunes on the Eastern Front and one of the largest battles in history. Involving 3 million men, without foreknowledge of German planning provided by the British, the Soviets would have been badly prepared defensively and could have lost this crucial battle and as a result, the war would’ve been prolonged. In fact, historians estimate that the breaking of the Lorenz cipher shortened the war by two years and thus saved millions of lives all due to the careless mistake of two lazy German operators.
However this pivotal event is not well known due to the Official Secrets Act keeping the nature of the code breakers working to break the Lorenz cipher secret until 1974 and some former staff even today still refuse to break their vow of secrecy, preferring to take their knowledge to the grave.
image 125
W T (Bill) Tutte, the man responsible for cracking the Lorenz Cipher
Sweet cat is trying desperately to fit in, find a home
Some disturbing stuff going down right now. The idiots in Washington DC are Hell-bent on war, and all of us are feeling like we are trapped in some kind of cage lashed to the back of a speeding car driven by a madman.
The West has gone completely koo-koo.
No shit.
In case you all haven’t noticed, I am not “reporting” or commenting on the insanity of the Middle East. It’s all a cluster fuck that I want no part of.
A long time ago, I owned one of the first Honda Accords. I had bought it new in 1977, and around 1984, the engine had a very bad oil burning problem. I was pulled over by a Metro Toronto Police constable, who gave me the choice of a ticket for “excessive smoking” or a visit to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment testing centre.
I chose the test, filled the engine with 50 w oil and while there was no smoke, the rest of the needles went fully to the right. Busted.
I was given a chance for a repeat, but knowing I would fail that one also, I put the car on the driveway, pulled the plates and used a borrowed vehicle. About a month after the missed test, a summons came in the mail to appear at the Provincial court one morning in the not too distant future.
I showed up early, and approached the clerk to find out where I should be and when. They never tell you that on the summons, just to appear. While talking the the clerk, a man walked up and was dealing with another of the clerks. I asked the clerk I was talking to “what the fine would be” if convicted. She didn’t know, and man beside me became interested in the matter. I had no idea who he was, but we kind of looked at the summons and neither of us could see anything about a fine. There was a little conversation; I assumed he was a lawyer, and we had a friendly chat. Court was starting shortly, and the fellow left, so I also went inside, told the bailiff I was there – important to do so, otherwise they might not call you for hours – and sat down.
At the stroke of 10:00 am, someone says “all rise” and in walks the Judge, the fellow I was talking to at the desk. Before the proceedings began, the Judge asked me if I had received an answer from the clerk. I told him that I had not, and then the proceedings began.
The Crown (prosecutor) presents the charge, an environmental offence, which he obviously felt was on par with burning down a forest or killing baby seals. Looking very smug, he sat down.
I am called forth, and I told the Judge that yes, the car had failed, but it was off the road and here are the license plates in my hand proving that it was no longer driving or polluting.
The Judge then asked the Crown what the minimum fine was for such an offence. The Crown responded that “the Ministry has a range up to $5000 for such an offence and the usual fine is this case would be $100.”
The Judge asked again about the minimum fine and the Crown repeated his same line. The Judge then asked “so there is no minimum fine?”
The Crown sheepishly answered “No sir” and the Judge turned to me and asked “the car is off the road?” and I responded affirmatively, at which point he said the charges were dropped as the intent of the law was to keep polluting vehicles off the road and obviously this had happened. Case dismissed!
I can’t say for sure, but there was a bit of smile from my new friend on the bench as I walked out of the court.
We’d just celebrated a diversity milestone as part of our quarterly meeting. It was one of those corporate cheerleading events where I stood in the back resisting the painful urge to roll my eyes.
“We are far more than a team of coworkers,” the CEO said, gesturing wide with his arms to the crowd, “We are a family.”
He was such a phony. The summit concluded and I went to the lunchroom. Right as I walked in, I stopped in the doorway and noticed something obvious that I hadn’t noticed before this diversity meeting.
All the white people were at their tables. All the black employees sat at another set of tables. Three Asian ladies sat at another. It was like we were living in the 1950s. And it wasn’t confined to this office. I still see this trend so often when I walk through malls, or along the sidewalk.
A similar phenomenon was observed on the set of Planet Of The Apes in 1968. The director noticed that during lunch, the people dressed as gorillas sat with other gorillas, chimps with chimps, and humans with humans. He described feeling a chill in the air and wondered if we were already in a dystopian sci-fi future. It even happened on the set of Babylon 5. People self-segregated according to their alien skin color.
This trend has long predated echo chambers, and it’s detrimental to your growth.
image 116
The closed network problem
The trend is called homophily, where we magnetize towards clusters of people similar to us. Race isn’t the only sorting mechanism. People sort by social class, age, political ideology, and even the type of music they listen to. And the unfortunate result is that we often live in a “closed network”. We sort ourselves into increasingly tight homogeneous groups.
A closed network forms in these four steps and I suspect you’ll be able to think of a few examples as you read this (I certainly did):
image 74
Putting all moral platitudes aside, social diversity has great predictive qualities for your career and life.
Count on one hand your closest friends. I’d bet that for many of you — they are pretty similar to you across a few demographic touchpoints. It’s no fault to you. This happens naturally, but you can disrupt this habit.
By mixing up your friend group, you are exposed to ideas different than your own and stretch your thinking. Your professional network also becomes much more potent, which is especially important: Within 10 years of graduation, a majority of people won’t work in the area they majored in.
Beware of gatekeeping your network
My ex’s family was deeply conservative — which is fine on its own. People are entitled to their beliefs. But this was often a barrier to who could spend time with them.
They were constantly sizing people up and figuring out their political opinions to determine if they were friend-material. Many people do this without realizing it. These parents were just explicit about it and they had a very small town syndrome (cliquey behavior, when you forget there is an entire world outside of your own).
This introduces the other pesky problem. It’s not all that easy to make friends — especially as we get older. So what next? There are a few solutions.
A route out of Cloneville
I moved 15 times before I turned 18. I lived in California, DC, Florida, Virginia Beach, North Carolina — and every new batch of people was so different than the next. I went to an all white, deeply conservative private school in 9th grade, a liberal high school in Coronado. I was one of the only white kids at an inner city middle school in DC. It wasn’t always easy.
Every summer, I waited for the talk. My mom or dad would come to my bedroom and tell me we were moving and how I was going to love this new school and place. Early on, I realized implicitly, “OK. I need to learn to make new friends.”
I was a new 5th grader at Linkhorn Elementary. We had a substitute teacher who happened to be gorgeous. She was passing out quiz papers. Before she passed out each quiz, she did that thing where she licked her finger to grip the paper.
After she handed me my quiz, I looked across the table at a classmate Joe and say, “Hey Joe! Pssst.”
He turned to me and I pretended to lick my finger and put it down to my thigh and made a hissing sound, like bacon hitting the frying pan. It was a corny joke — but it made Joe laugh and we were instantly friends. And from there, I learned that humor was one quick path to win anyone over.
Often, it’s less about how funny a joke is — and more about the energy it establishes. It signals, “I want to play.” Think about how a dog plants his chest down to the ground while keeping his hind legs standing to get another dog to play with him. This is the human equivalent.
It says, “I like you. Let’s have fun.”
“What if I’m not that funny?”
An even better solution that is painfully overlooked is to smile. Researchers have proven that smiles motivate people to interact with you. They are seen as a “prosocial invitation”. Stand upright and give them a quick, natural smile right when you spot them. It signals you are excited to see them.
After getting to know so many types of people, I’ve realized most people just want to be accepted as a complicated human being. And if you are just nice to them, and seem happy to see them and talk to them — you’ve nearly won the battle already.
When you go to your lunchroom, consider sitting with a new group of people. Don’t be afraid to talk to someone who looks different than you.
There’s a concept called contact hypothesis whereby tension between groups is reduced when they are brought together and interact. It promotes trust and reduces stereotyping. It reminds two different people that they’re both human beings. But the only way to make different types of friends is to actually spend time with people who are different from you.
One of my close friends couldn’t be more different from me. His political views and background are a full 180. But we are both fully candid about our opinions and thoughts, and know we can do so without fear of judgement or being disliked. Sure, he says crazy stuff sometimes but that’s fine. He’s still my friend. He’s taught me a few things about the world and changed a few of my opinions, and I’d like to think the reverse is true.
My hope, is that in a world that is so divided, more people from different walks of life can share the same path. They’d expand their own perspectives. They’d have more love and understanding, and more career opportunities.
And it would save us from being fenced in with our own. Closed networks beget closed minds.
Brazil was inches away from recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital not very long ago, mind you.
Surprising split in South America nonetheless, you’d imagine they’d have a uniform stance like they had for Ukraine.
A sea of yellow in Asia with only the usual suspects in blue but hey there’s someone new this time!
India’s position sits perfectly with our new found friends and within our domestic political landscape but ought to disappoint the fellow global southerners. But tbf, it is not to be construed as a paradigm shift in our policy, our Ministry of External Affairs clarified our two state stance on Palestine only yesterday, rather bad memories getting rekindled.
Nepal lost about a dozen citizens to Hamas’ attack. Poor folks go under the radar and didn’t even get sufficient coverage.
Irans sphere of influence, man, from Caspian Sea to Red Sea. Bush what have you done?
This is a map from TRT— Türkiye’s state run broadcaster. Interesting that they construe Erdogan’s position as call for de-escalation.
Sudan’s case is the perfect microcosm of the viability of normalisation deals that Israel is pursuing. You try so hard and get so far, and then a coup happens.
Morocco, UAE understandable, but Saudi and Pakistan? Who would have thought? Not me. Only 2% of Saudis are in favour of normalisation, I wonder if that matters at all. And 2% would be too high a number for Pakistanis.
Those who follow Bangladesh’s politics ought to find Bangladesh’s silence intriguing, if not outright discombobulating, especially with Hasina up for election soon and US breathing down her neck (yeah, not making this up, US is the biggest threat to Hasina’s re-election).
I don’t get Mexico’s neutrality, they don’t even recognise Palestine.
I don’t get New Zealand’s contrarian take either. What gives? I imagined if anyone from the West was going to have a contrarian take it would be Norway. The right is on the rise in Norway, left rules New Zealand, perhaps that explains?
Ghana coming all out to condemn Hamas? With a similar religious demography split like India, I wonder if there’s domestic political considerations involved.
Foreign policy really is domestic politics with its hat on.
Given that Indonesia’s support will be construed differently then Iran’s support, Venezuela joins the “axis of evil”. But in all fairness they joined the club previously after Ukraine invasion.
DPRK has been silent?
What explains the silence of that many African countries? None of our business paradigm?
Putin tells it like it is…
Fudge Cobbler
chocolate cobbler 2 pn
Yield: about 9 servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
Vanilla ice cream (garnish)
Instructions
Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch square baking dish.
Melt the chocolate and the butter in a saucepan over very low heat. Stir often. Remove from the heat.
Stir in the sugar, flour, vanilla extract and eggs.
Everyone in the office was paid on an hourly basis and it was each person’s responsibility to keep track of how many hours they worked each day on a paper time sheet. At the end of each week each employee turned in their time sheet to their supervisor who would sign them and then give the to HR so everyone can get paid for the hours they worked. In practice, everyone showed up each day, did their work, wrote down”8 hours” on their time sheet and went home. Everyone was happy.
Then along came a new guy in management who stated that nobody was actually keeping track of their hours and just writing down what HR wanted to see. This meant that the company was losing money and productivity from people not working a full day but being paid for it. So he instituted a new digital time sheet system where each person had to log their times in and out on their computers and the system would track how many hours each of us worked.
What the company discovered was that everyone tended to come into work 10–15 minutes early, hardly ever took a full hour for lunch and often stayed 10–15 minutes late to get their work done. Thanks to the new time sheet system every employee was now getting paid for all that overtime they had been working but not tracking. This affected the company because it was added payroll expense that wasn’t budgeted. So management put out a new rule that nobody would be allowed to work any overtime without written permission from their supervisor and HR. So everyone was very diligent to log in and out exactly in time.
Except now productivity had fallen because nobody was working those extra minutes each day, which multiplied over all staff added up to an extra 60 hours per week of work. The company ended up needing to hire two more people to make up that productivity.
After Huawei released Kirin 9000S, Biden revised the bill: banning China from owning high-end chips.
So China cannot make their own, if they do, they will violate American law.
Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday the country’s switch to a dual 5G network will allow for more effective participation by China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
Malaysia in May had said it would allow a second 5G network to operate from next year, following concerns over a monopoly held by a single state-run network.
The European Union and the U.S. had warned Malaysia of risks to national security and foreign investment amid efforts by Huawei to bid for a role in its telecoms infrastructure.
Anwar on Wednesday acknowledged concerns from some countries over the “security and capacity” of technology stemming from China, but said the decision to allow a second 5G network was made so that Malaysia could benefit from different technologies.
“We in Malaysia… and I believe rightly, decided that while we get the best from the West, we also should benefit the best from the East,” he told an event hosted by Huawei in Kuala Lumpur.
“After extensive discussion… we made the decision to allow for a dual network, and thus the decision for more effective participation by Huawei.”
Malaysia had in 2021 unveiled a plan for a state-owned agency, Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), to own the full 5G spectrum, with various carriers using the infrastructure to provide mobile services, but the plan had come under industry criticism over pricing and competition.
State-run DNB partnered with Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson to roll out Malaysia’s 5G network. It is unclear how Malaysia’s plan for a second network would affect DNB’s agreement with Ericsson or other mobile operators.
WHAT THESE FILIPINAS CAN OFFER TO THEIR PASSPORT BROS!
They are generally ignorant about China and Chinese, and conversations about China are very shallow and full of misconceptions. It is not worth my time to correct those misperceptions, and there is no reward for doing it.
Chinese are much fun and interesting, and even if they have silly ideas, they are often entertaining. Most importantly, they know the local restaurants and dishes, and can introduce me to some dish I have never had before. Unlike for most westerners, dining out is a social event, not just filling the tummy.
I was age 14 in the early 1960s and living with a family who had one child around my age. On my 14th birthday, my mother said I needed to pay room and board. I decided to pay for a room in other homes where there was no violence. My rapidly increasing scoliosis was becoming a problem. I had three jobs to pay room and board — (1) feeding and washing people in a nursing home and doing laundry), (2) babysitting at the country club 1.5 miles away, and (3) stocking shelves in a dry goods store. I made $29.00 a week. My room and board was $28.00 a week. I went to high school about three days a week.
I was happy with this family. The father was Welsh and sang Welsh songs every Friday night as he walked home from the Legion. The mother was one of the cafeteria ladies at the high school. They were good to me.
Then one day, the father came home with an envelope and pulled out a Beatles ticket and handed it to his daughter.
And then he handed another ticket to me.
TO ME!
It cost $15.00. I told him it would take me years to pay him back. If I didn’t buy shampoo, pads, or deodorant, it would take me 15 months to repay him. The father disregarded this idea with a flick of his hand and a Welsh phrase I didn’t understand.
The father drove us the 80 miles to the venue, let us off and circled the building during the performance and was right there when it was finished. Not only that, but the man put up with us singing Beatles songs all the way home. We were not good singers.
Even now, decades later (and I am a retired person), whenever I do something nice for someone, I think, ‘this is for you, John Cooper, this one is for you.’
I carry such lightweight debts with me.
Pepe Escobar: China Has DEFEATED the Neocon Agenda as US War Fails Before It Starts
I don’t expect Xi or Putin to meet with Biden. He doesn’t make the decisions.
If they know how to do something, they automatically know how to do it at scale.
This is a country that builds entire new cities at one go. They produce 600,000 engineers per year. They make four out of every five solar panels in the world. They can build a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 days, and as we saw during the covid-19 pandemic, a brand new hospital in 10 days. They are the world’s biggest factory.
If they know how to make one Huawei Mate 60, they already know how to make 100 million Huawei Mate 60s.
China does not know how to think SMALL. It is unnatural and weird for them to think on a small scale. China has cities with populations larger than countries such as Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, even Australia. Thinking big is China’s default mentality.
New round of US sanctions started against Huawei! U.S. tech war enters stage 2.0!
In this episode, we dive into the latest updates on the potential second round of sanctions by the United States on Huawei. Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, unveiled its new smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro, sparking intrigue amidst ongoing U.S.-China tech tensions.
These cutting-edge smartphones, powered by 7-nanometer chips from China’s SMIC, bring 5G connectivity to the forefront.
The implications of this move are significant, causing a reevaluation of the technology blockade against Huawei and even calls for a complete halt to technology exports. We also explore China’s efforts to boost its self-sufficiency in chip production and navigate U.S. export restrictions.
But the worst part of my job is that I occasionally have to be the “male voice”.
One of my female colleagues will refer a call to me to tell a caller about some iron clad policy we have that we can never, ever overlook.
I am on the same pay level as all of them. I am not the manager. I often work in a different department. I am, however, the only one of this fairly large group of people that is male.
I tell them the iron clad policy. They shut up. End of story.
Part of the problem is that the engineering profession is still about 80% male, and so is the applicant base. They are not used to being told “no” by someone who isn’t male. It’s not like it’s just immigrants either.
Here’s the irony. The second highest ranking staff member, and the person two steps above me, is a woman. She’s had to put up with it too.
But I will tell you about my ex-colleague, boss and PEO president. She left her position as my boss to take on a five year position at the university she was hired by to get female enrollment in the engineering program up to 40%. It took her one year and she shot past the 40% goal to boot. Then she went to another university and did the same thing.
China’s LATEST Hypersonic Drone Can Destroy US F35 Stealth Fighter in Seconds
China’s hypersonic program has emerged as one of the biggest and heavily advanced sectors of the nation. In this remarkable sector, the PLA boasts having a drone in its arsenal which is capable of reaching hypersonic speeds and destroying world renowned stealth fighters that have dominated the aerial warfare sector for years. Today’s episode is covering China’s hypersonic drone and how it can be used to destroy US Stealth fighters.
Many of the westerners have been to China, like it, and see a lot of criticism of China in the western media which is based on planted information and is basically untrue, in order to drive western public opinion against China.
These westerners try to compensate for this distorted view by praising China. Their intention is to restore balance in how China is viewed.
Unfortunately, the western view of China has become so distorted that it is impossible to have a balanced view of China: either it is completely bad, or it is good.
A balanced view of China would say that there are many good things about China, and there are some bad things as well.
China is just like the US: it is just another country and society, each facing its own set of challenges.
I live in Northern Maine. My property borders a state park/forest. The state forest has a parking lot you need to pay to park in the lot although the park/forest is free to enter. Alot of people will park along the main road and walk into the park. my property is on a side road that is beside the park the park entrance is 2 mile up the main road from my road.
Some park/forest visitors have taken to pulling down my road and parking on my property and hiking across my property to enter the park. they block driveways and the road with poor parking abilities. Some pull into driveways.
My property is a farm I have many driveways used by tractors and equipment to enter the feilds for feeding livestock and tending crops. All driveways are gated (keep livestock in feilds and out of crops)
One group of annoying tourists pulled up in 3 vehicles (2 rvs and a 12–15 passenger van) All had New York plates. they pulled in blocking the access to the feilds and began hiking across my feilds. I caught up to them and informed them that they would be towed if they did not move the vehicles. The leader of the group told me to f-off while giving a one finger salute. I watched as they walked away across the feild. once they entered the park/forest I went to my equipment barn got my large green and yellow tractor hooked up a slurry spreader tank and drove over to the slurry bin and filled the tank. ( Slurry is cow manure that is mixed with water to make it able to spray) I adjusted the spray bar and drove over near the area and sprayed liquified manure (did not spay any on the vehicles) just near the road along the fence a nice heavy thick layer then sprayed more along the area they entered the forest. Since it was 85 degrees outside the smell would bake in the sun to keep it fresh I placed a water tank and sprayer/ sprinkler nearby and set the timers to run for 5 minutes every hour. After 4 hours I called and had the vehicles towed.
They returned and found me spraying slurry in my feilds as they walked across the feilds the slurry is sticking to the shoes (most wearing sandles or flip flops – Nothing like the feeling of liquid poop between the toes) They find the vehicles gone and ask me where they are. I tell them where the inpound lot is and inform them that as they exit onto the main road they should stop and read the large SIGN that says private road. I called the police who informed them that they could walk to impound as it was 20–30 minute walk down the road.
I would imagine that they found out that the oder of sun baked slurry permeates into things. (they left the widows open on the vehicles) and with what was on the shoes it must have been an interesting ride back to New York.
The problem with the EU is Josep the Chief Diplomat’s words do not represent the cohesive attitude, or indeed, policy decisions of the EU towards China. EU member states hold even more divergent and polarizing attitudes.
The fact of the matter is, the G7 does not have a China seat, but the EU gets its own seat, on top of individual EU members. The currencies of these nations power the global financial market, while the yuan issued by the world’s No. 2 economy is an afterthought in BIS reports.
Senior figures in the EU have repeatedly made rude and damaging attacks on China and Chinese interests, including the core issue of Greater China sovereignty. Entities and individuals have been sanctioned, just like their American counterparts, whose actions they mirrored.
Nord Stream is a key European infrastructure that cost billions to build. After it was bombed, the lack of condemnation for an act of war is curious, to say the least. Government findings were blocked from release, while there remains a shocking lack of blowback and demand for accountability in the press.
The EU-CHINA CAI, which is tilted in Europe’s favor, is also dead in the water, after 10 years of painstaking negotiation securing an agreement in principle. EU leaders are complaining about lack of market access in China, when it is self-inflicted.
There is also the issue of the EC, with Ursula completely at odds with Josep’s conciliatory, if shaky, diplomacy. She was given the cold shoulder on a recent visit to Beijing as Emmanuel’s invited partner. The message was clear. She wasn’t the guest invited by the Chinese state.
Who represents the EU? Who has the authoritative voice that can be trusted? How has the EU demonstrated long-term policy independence from the US?
Wang Yi, and before him, Yang Jiechi, have had regular hours-long closed door conversations with Jake, the National Security Advisor. Jake is 46, and not even elected, but he has access to top Chinese leadership that the EU can only dream of, because he is the personal envoy of Joe.
Do we really have to spell out who calls the shots in NATO, which is tied at the umbilical with the EU power structure?
During a 10-hour flight, she was heading from Seoul, Korea, to San Francisco, USA. This mother distributed more than 200 passengers on the plane a plastic bag for each one. The bag contains candy, chewing gum and earplugs as a kind of advance apology for using them in the event that her 4-month-old baby screamed during the flight.
The bag also contained a message containing (hello, I am Jan Woo. I am 4 months old and today I’m traveling America with my mom and grandmother for my aunt’s outfit. I’m a little nervous and scared. This is my first flight in my life. It’s normal for me to cry or cause some disturbance. I’ll try to stay calm, but I can’t promise you. Please use it if my voice gets too loud.. Enjoy your trip. Thank you)
Communism and Marxism is hardly an issue to the U.S. with Vietnam that the U.S. is courting shamelessly and Saudi Arabia a Islamic Monarchy hardly liberal democracy but does it bother Uncle Sam for the last half a century?
For me it is as simple as China cannot be made submissive and subservient to the U.S. that is all to it. And worst China is simply a lot lot more efficient and effective than the U.S. can ever be! In fact China has a better human rights record than the U.S. anyway! That perturb the US to no end.
But what is worst for the U.S. Is 150–175 nations out of the world’s 195 nation prefers Chinese and China way and none in the global south wants anything to do with Uncle Sam. They find them obnoxious and despicable. To me this is not due to China at all but due to the shit U.S. did to the world since 1945.
I know Americans who are mostly highly naive and hugely made ignorant to think the U.S. media or government is well liked by the world. But in truth it couldn’t be further than the truth!
Abusing nations has consequences, bullying nations turned them off, arbitrary sanctions puts nations off, they will hedge, they will stop letting you fxxk them! It does not matter what your media lies and your propaganda says. The world is no fool!
Just figure this. US the biggest murdering nation telling China in Alaska about human rights! Is totally laughable and utterly ridiculous! Chinese officials told Blinken save the advise for your dogs and slave vassal nations!
The “American Dream” is actual Slavery (It’s all a Lie)
I was an admin assistant at a department at my local university. I was just about to clock off and make my way home in a wild windstorm that eventually knocked down 20,000 trees across the city when for some reason I decided to check one of the grad student offices and discovered that the skylight had blown off, exposing multiple desks and computers, some of them running data, to the elements. I called the relevant campus department and was told that restoring electricity and clearing roads and whatnot took priority, and they likely wouldn’t get to replacing the skylight (which I’d located, but lacked the strength and roof access to lug it up myself) until the next day at the earliest. So I cracked open the earthquake kit and rigged, using tarps and duct tape, a patch, then moved, ever so carefully so as not to accidentally disconnect the computers, all six desks away from the skylight shaft, in case my patch failed.
This all took about four hours past my usual knock-off time. Everyone was really glad I’d taken the time and initiative to do it, but my supervisor refused even to consider giving me time off in lieu for those four hours because she hadn’t pre-approved them, never mind that, in those pre-cell days, I’d had no way of reaching her. So I appealed to the department head, who overrode her. She was livid, and thereafter made my life so miserable that I leapt at the first decent opportunity to leave.
People with no medical knowledge make decisions about whether a patient can have a medical procedure, overruling the attending physician.
Now, with the outsourcing of call centers, people with no medical knowledge in Jamaica, India, and Pakistan make those decisions.
Here are some typical costs in Uruguay:
Office visit: US $8.00
ER visit: US $ 10.00
House call: US $12.00.
Electrolyte blood analysis: US $7.11.
Cerebral CT Scan: US $23.29
If you call an ambulance, it arrives with a full-fledged MD, not an EMT.
Before I turned 70 years of age, I paid around US $55 per month for health coverage.
Now I pay around US $70 per month. For that, I get totally free hospital stays and all costs are free, including hospital stay, surgery, medications, doctor care, and nursing care. When you check out, regardless of what was done or how long you were hospitalized, you pay nothing.
The monthly cost for my cancer medication is around US $2.50. The same medication in the US is around $500.00.
It’s been proven China can with Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro.
Chinese companies can rival the giant U.S. tech companies like Intel, Apple and Nvidia but what takes time is building up the ecosystem to make this possible. Thousands of companies make up the support system that manufactures and supports the tools and machines for the manufacturing processes of semiconductors.
The most critical of these companies are in the design (specifically EDA tools) and packaging (chiplets) processes, as well as the lithography machines for the making of the chip itself. There are now Chinese companies with the leading edge (or close to) technologies to rival industry leaders.
Just as critical is the consolidating of resources and capabilities to have the companies to ensure adequate supply of legacy chips. These are actually the more important players because they make up 90% of demand.
U.S. sanctions have forced China to come up with its own self-siufficient semiconductor indiustry.
Chinese don’t necessarily support single party rule; they support a strong central government to maintain order.
Whether it is single party or not is secondary.
In today’s China, it is led by a single party, but it is much more than any western political party because it has 100M members who meet monthly to discuss local, provincial and central government issues, and how to solve them.
Do the Republican and Democratic parties ask their members to meet monthly to discuss how to solve social issues? I think not.
My point is not that one system is better than another, but they are very different, and talking about the ruling party in China being the same as the political parties in the US is silly and ridiculous, because China developed according to its historical conditions, and the US developed according to its historical conditions.
As Everyone’s Lοοking At Ιsrael, Something Τruly Unbelievable Has Begun Ιn America
Very interesting.
He’s saying that (it’s official) World War III is on-line.
People are imbued with cultural and religious ideas they don’t even recognize and simply take for granted.
I, an American, was imbued with the idea “I am my husband’s equal. In marriage we will have the same freedoms and similar expectations of each other. I would never shout at him for wearing shorts, so of course he will not do that to me. I don’t consider cooking his job, so I am sure he won’t consider it my job. I would always discuss a big purchase with him – and naturally he will give me the same respect.”
That sense of equality and “Don’t treat your spouse in a way you don’t want to be treated yourself” was my cultural norm.
I found that my husband had absolutely no cultural or religious norm of equality. He absolutely was willing to treat me in ways he would hate to be treated himself. He did not think a woman deserved what a man deserves.
He found it absolutely normal to expect control over me, and be resentful thst I didn’t make his life as comfortable as he believed a man’s life should be. He was constantly looking at the very unequal marriages of his (Muslim Arab) friends and resenting me for not being a submissive woman who cooked and cleaned and expected nothing but money from him.
My husband and I are in the same profession. I worked longer hours than him. I was also the one who was sometimes pregnant or recovering from childbirth.
But he could not appreciate me. He had a cultural and religious idea in his head : a man should come home from work and be catered to. Clean house, good food, obedient wife who wears certain clothes and lets her husband forbid her from certain activities or friends that do not please him. The man should be comfortable, should be served, should have things his way. (It is similar to the relationship between a dog owner and his dog. They love each other – but the owner does not think the dog should share in decisions or come and go as it pleases. A dog is expected to be happy being owned and trained and played with.)
My husband started off claiming he would love me forever.
It did not last.
But his cultural ideas of what a man is owed and how a wife must serve — those ideas will last in him forever.
Let’s answer this question using 5 Low IQ positions that the US politicians are taking –
Low IQ action 1 – Raimondo threatens Huawei before her China trip. She is simply arrogant and lacks intelligence. Who in the right mind threatens someone’s kid before visiting their home?
Low IQ action 2 – It is simply embarrassing to see a country using full state resources to bring down a private company. You brought an army to a fist fight and didn’t knock your much smaller opponent out!
Low IQ action 3 – The Western chips companies are making large profits selling products to China. And you stopped the sales and force your biggest customer to make their own?
Low IQ action 4 – You give billions of dollars of subsidies to your own chip companies to build factories. But you stop the demand from your top customer. So where are US companies gonna sell their excess chips to?
Low IQ action 5 – You take away Huawei’s access to Google and they went to develop their own operating system to threaten Google’s and Microsoft’s future dominance. You like shooting your own foot?
Irish Girl Watches MISTER ROGERS For The First Time
Oh nostalgia tv, except I don’t know who Mister Rogers is. I’ve always heard the name Mister Rogers as a reference in American tv and films but this Irish Girl had no idea who that was. Join me on a very emotional journey as I watch Fred Rogers first through last tv appearance, see him sing “I like you just as you are” and “ it’s a wonderful day in the neighbourhood” Mister Rogers Neighbourhood. Couldn’t we all do with some nice insight from a Fred Rogers right now.
I was in the US Army stationed in Germany for 3 and half years… Just turned 18. During this time I never took leave and went back. Travelled all over Europe! In Germany, I drunk my first beer, had my first kiss, and my first Girlfriend, was amazed by the people, the culture, the infrastructure, the cuisine, almost everything. I even took German courses and was proficient at least with speaking German. Anyway the day came, when i was being discharged ( I never really liked the army, andjoined for the Gi Bill) Back in the rural midwest, working at Walmart while going to community collage, I realized how much I missed Germany, the lifestyle, the urban vibe and so many things ( missed having a GF too, in the US I wasnt rich enough or cool enough to date anyone, in Germany this was never a thing at all, about money and all that. I decided if I was going to have a dull dead end life with no future, why not go back to Germany? At least have an adventure of some kind, i could always come back to the US.. 7 months after I ETSed ( left the army) I got a passport, got a cheap one way ticket and reconnected with some German civilians I knew.. I ended up staying in germany, has been 30 plus years now. I remember when the plane landed and I was disembarking, and set foot on the ground, I felt like,, this is it..the place you are meant to be.
I takes longer than that but slowly and surely it will.there is not even a speck of doubt. Tell me which nation wants to save in U.S. dollar reserve if can be confiscated away from you at the whims or fancies of the U.S? Do you want to keep your savings in a bank using a currency that the US can take it all away anytime it wants?
No one do, no want does, no one will ever want to. The fact that the US and the west can even phantom that by stealing gold from Venezuela and US dollar reserves from Russia is an acceptable behaviour tell how little the west thinks of the rest of the world.
Every nation on earth, even the US allies are figuring how to hedge against the US dollar. Direct Currency swap arrangement is very popular and it must have have grown several fold in the last year alone! Some agree on a basket of currencies, Others revert back to barter.
JEFFREY SACHS ON A HISTORIC DEBT
Israel Attacks Damascus Airport as IRAN Foreign Minister Plane Coming-in; Plane Forced to Divert
The Israeli Air Force fired missiles at Damascus Airport and Aleppo Airport this morning, just before a plane carrying the Iran Foreign Minister was approaching Damascus for an official state visit. The Iran Minister’s plane was forced to divert from the area to avoid conflict.
Attacking Syria was an illegal act of aggression by Israel. Conducting that attack while a Diplomat was approaching for a state visit is arguably an Act of War.
Damascus Airport is now damaged and closed. Aleppo Airport is also reported to be damaged and closed.
The Iran Foreign Minister plane appears to be returning to Iran.
Syrian Defense Ministry: “At approximately 1:50 pm this afternoon, the Israeli enemy simultaneously carried out an air aggression with bursts of missiles, targeting the international airports of Aleppo and Damascus, which led to damage to the airports’ landing strips and them being out of service.
This aggression is a desperate attempt by the criminal Israeli enemy to divert attention from the crimes it is committing in Gaza, and the great losses it is suffering at the hands of the Palestinian resistance.”
( HT Remark: Nothing like escalating the already bad situation with Gaza into an international incident with a foreign Diplomat. Unschooled, these Israelis. Totally devoid of class.)
According to our Singapore media reports, the cost of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail is approximately US$7.3 billion. We tentatively believe that this number is real.
So this figure exceeds the budget given by China when bidding for the project eight years ago by US$1.2 billion. The project completion time was delayed by 4 years than originally planned.
This doesn’t seem like a good number.
But compared to current plans in other countries around the world to build high-speed rail, these are two very good figures.
1. Cost per kilometer
Even calculated based on all costs after overruns (including land costs), the cost per kilometer of Indonesia’s high-speed rail is only US$58 million. The high-speed rail in the United Kingdom is US$300 million per kilometer, and the high-speed rail in California is US$200 million per kilometer.
India’s high-speed rail was originally planned to cost US$35 million per kilometer. However, it has not actually been completed yet. Only ten kilometers have been built. The cost has been doubled and the final cost cannot be estimated. Due to serious delays in construction, some experts predict that there is a high probability that the cost per kilometer will exceed US$80 million when completed.
2. Time spent
The Indian high-speed railway started construction one year earlier than the Indonesian high-speed railway and is scheduled to open in 2023. According to media reports some time ago, only 10 kilometers have been built so far. The completion date has been changed to 2028, but many experts believe that the actual completion time may be after 2032.
The first phase of the British high-speed railway is planned to build 160 kilometers. Construction will start in 2020 and is scheduled to be completed in 2029. It has now been changed to 2033. The real completion date cannot be determined.
Therefore, although the Indonesian high-speed railway experienced a 16% cost overrun and a 4-year construction delay. But this is mainly due to the virus problem over the past 3 years.
Judging from similar large-scale projects around the world, Indonesians have reached the top level in terms of project time and budget control.
I believe that for many years to come, no country will be able to surpass Indonesia’s level.
This is due to the efficient work of the Indonesian government, the unity and support of the Indonesian people, and the technology and efficiency of the Chinese. Their achievements deserve congratulations.
Star Trek – Fire On the Forcefield
America Can’t Stop China’s Rise — Foreign Policy
There’s little doubt that the American government has decided to slow China’s economic rise, most notably in the fields of technological development. To be sure, the Biden administration denies that these are its goals. Janet Yellen said on April 20, “China’s economic growth need not be incompatible with U.S. economic leadership. The United States remains the most dynamic and prosperous economy in the world. We have no reason to fear healthy economic competition with any country.” And Jake Sullivan said on April 27, “Our export controls will remain narrowly focused on technology that could tilt the military balance. We are simply ensuring that U.S. and allied technology is not used against us.”
Yet, in its deeds, the Biden administration has shown that its vision extends beyond those modest goals. It has not reversed the trade tariffs Donald Trump imposed in 2018 on China, even though presidential candidate Joe Biden criticized them in July 2019, saying: “President Trump may think he’s being tough on China. All that he’s delivered as a consequence of that is American farmers, manufacturers and consumers losing and paying more.” Instead, the Biden administration has tried to increase the pressure on China by banning the export of chips, semiconductor equipment, and selected software. It has also persuaded its allies, like the Netherlands and Japan, to follow suit. More recently, on Aug. 9, the Biden administration issued an executive order prohibiting American investments in China involving “sensitive technologies and products in the semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence sectors” which “pose a particularly acute national security threat because of their potential to significantly advance the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities” of China.
All these actions confirm that the American government is trying to stop China’s growth. Yet, the big question is whether America can succeed in this campaign—and the answer is probably not. Fortunately, it is not too late for the United States to reorient its China policy toward an approach that would better serve Americans—and the rest of the world.
America’s decision to slow China’s technological development is akin to the folly revealed by the old cliché: closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. Modern China has shown many times that China’s technological development can’t be halted.
Since the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, several efforts have been made to limit China’s access to or stop its development in various critical technologies, including nuclear weapons, space, satellite communication, GPS, semiconductors, supercomputers, and artificial intelligence. The United States has also tried to curb China’s market dominance in 5G, commercial drones, and electric vehicles (EVs). Throughout history, unilateral or extraterritorial enforcement efforts to curtail China’s technological rise have failed and, in the current context, are creating irreparable damage to long-standing U.S. geopolitical partnerships. In 1993 the Clinton administration tried to restrict China’s access to satellite technology. Today, China has some 540 satellites in space and is launching a competitor to Starlink.
The same principle played out with GPS. When America restricted China’s access to its geospatial data system in 1999, China simply built its own parallel BeiDou Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) system in one of the first waves of major technological decoupling. In some measures, BeiDou is today better than GPS. It is the largest GNSS in the world, with 45 satellites to GPS’s 31, and is thus able to provide more signals in most global capitals. It is supported by 120 ground stations, resulting in greater accuracy, and has more advanced signal features, such as two-way messaging. Other nations have also previously tried and failed to block China’s technical rise. In the 1950s and 1960s, when the USSR withheld nuclear weapons technology from China, China launched its own “Manhattan Project” in the early 1960s and succeeded in testing its first nuclear weapon by 1964. Russian nuclear leverage over China ended that day.
Many of the measures taken by the Biden administration against China were also executed without factoring in China’s capacity to retaliate. While China does not physically construct many truly irreplaceable components of the American technology stack, they are keenly aware of the importance of their raw materials inputs (rare earths) and demand (revenue generation) in fueling the American innovation ecosystem and are now using them as leverage. In the current tit-for-tat dynamic, China will start squeezing these two critical ends of the value chain in response to American technology and capital export restrictions. China’s July ban of the gallium and germanium exports was merely an opening shot across the bow to remind America (and its aligned allies) of China’s dominance in the rare earths and critical metals space. The country has a near monopoly in the processing of magnesium, bismuth, tungsten, graphite, silicon, vanadium, fluorspar, tellurium, indium, antimony, barite, zinc, and tin. China also dominates in midstream processing for materials essential to most of America’s current and future technology aspirations such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper, which are critical for the rapidly developing EV industry globally.
While America and other neutral countries have mineral reserves of many of these materials, it would be naïve to believe that one can simply flip a switch on mining and production. It will take at least three to five years just to build the requisite extraction and processing infrastructure. This is to say nothing for recruiting and training skilled labor, or receiving requisite operational and environmental permits for such activities. Both could prove impossible. The processing of rare earths is a highly toxic and environmentally destructive endeavor. It’s unlikely such approvals will be granted. If Arizona is struggling to find qualified workers for its TSMC fabrication facility, and to address domestic union opposition to importing foreign skilled labor, it’s unlikely that America can develop similar capabilities for material processing. Along the way, China gets to play kingmaker in how it doles out access to its processed materials, likely restricting supply to American technology and defense giants. The failure to factor in China’s retaliatory capacities indicates that the United States doesn’t have a well-thought-out and comprehensive approach to dealing with China.
American measures to deprive China access to the most advanced chips could even damage America’s large chip-making companies more than it hurts China. China is the largest consumer of semiconductors in the world. Over the past ten years, China has been importing massive amounts of chips from American companies. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, China-based firms imported $70.5 billion worth of semiconductors from American firms in 2019, representing approximately 37 percent of these companies’ global sales. Some American companies, like Qorvo, Texas Instruments, and Broadcom, derive about half of their revenues from China. 60 percent of Qualcomm’s revenues, a quarter of Intel’s revenues, and a fifth of Nvidia’s sales are from the Chinese market. It’s no wonder that the CEOs of these three companies recently went to Washington to warn that U.S. industry leadership could be harmed by the export controls. American firms will also be hurt by retaliatory actions from China, such as China’s May ban on chips from US-based Micron Technology. China accounts for over 25 percent of Micron’s sales.
The massive revenue surpluses generated by these sales to China were ploughed into R&D efforts which, in turn, kept American chip companies ahead of the game. The Chamber of Commerce estimates that if the United States were to ban semiconductor sales to China completely, U.S. companies would lose $83 billion in annual revenues and would have to cut 124,000 jobs. They would also have to cut their annual R&D budgets by at least $12 billion, and their capital spending by $13 billion. This would make it even more difficult for them to remain competitive on the global scale in the long run. American semiconductor firms are painfully aware that U.S. actions against China in the chips arena will harm their interests more than Chinese interests. The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association released a statement on July 17, saying that Washington’s repeated steps “to impose overly broad, ambiguous, and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the U.S. semiconductor industry’s competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty, and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China,” and called on the Biden administration not to implement further restrictions without more extensive engagement with semiconductor industry representatives and experts.
The Chips Act cannot subsidize the American semiconductor industry indefinitely, and there is no other global demand base to replace China. Other chip producing nations will inevitably break ranks and sell to China (as they have historically) and the American actions will be for naught. And, in banning the export of chips and other core inputs to China, America handed China its war plan years ahead of the battle. China is being goaded into building self-sufficiency far earlier than they would have otherwise. Prior to the ZTE and Huawei components bans, China was content to continue purchasing American chips and focusing on the front-end hardware. Peter Wennink, the CEO of ASML, stated that China is already leading in key applications and demand for semiconductors. Wennink wrote, “The roll-out of the telecommunication infrastructure, battery technology, that’s the sweet spot of mid-critical and mature semiconductors, and that’s where China without any exception is leading.”
Germany Just Warned Europe On “China’s Counterstrike Move” | Silent EV War Explodes
Simple, like the UK with Brexit, Germany should leave the EU. This will solve the problem, as Germany will then be able to distance itself from investigations implemented by the EU parliament.
Installing antennas and transmission lines on cellular towers.. Day in and day out we would climb 150, 200, 300feet and stay up there literally all day – often 10–12 hours.
Those heights were the norm, but I also did 400ft a couple of times, and then 500ft once.
And I did it because I needed a job and this paid really well. Plus I was a brand new divorcee and just starting over, so at the time working this tough, dangerous job with other guys was a very good thing for me. I made close friends, we partied and had fun, we laughed a lot, and it was just what the doctor ordered.
The end of Evergrande.
Bloomberg News has reported that billionaire founder and chairman Hui Ka Yan was taken away by police earlier this month and put under so-called residential surveillance , a type of police action that falls short of formal detention or arrest.
The surveillance doesn’t necessarily mean that Hui will be charged with a crime, and the exact circumstances of his situation remain unclear. But it’s not looking good: Evergrande has halted trading and confirmed in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing that authorities have told the company that Hui has been subjected to “mandatory measures,” due to “suspicion of illegal crimes.
The latest twist in an ongoing saga for the world’s most indebted developer has left creditors confused and concerned about what’s to become of their investments. The fate of the developer’s restructuring plans are now at risk, and the chances of a full-on liquidation have increased.
There’s a long list of victims: the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who bought into some 706 residential projects that are still being built; people who bought into Evergrande’s wealth management products, worth 40 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) a few years ago; global investors who collectively own at least $30 billion of offshore debt; suppliers and banks who are among those owed some 2.39 trillion yuan in liabilities. The company is facing more than 2,000 lawsuits, too.
I remember a time when Evergrande was still able to overcome its detractors. When a shortsellertargeted it for alleged financial mismanagement back in 2012, a Hong Kong tribunal provided vindication by saying the report was misleading and false.
But so much has changed since then: Evergrande has become a harbinger of the nation’s real estate meltdown. Its fate seemed to be sealed back in 2020, when a liquidity scare fueled by its massive debt load triggered aggressive regulatory tightening. Compounded by pandemic-related woes, the company defaulted the following year.
What happens after Evergrande? As we know, this property crisis is far from over. China’s property developers face a liquidity shortfall worth some 19 trillion yuan, or 15% of GDP, that could morph into a solvency crunch by year-end, Bloomberg analysts estimate.
Property downturns are always painful. In China, that’s especially the case because of the outsized role that the sector plays in the economy: As much as 70% of household wealthis tied to the industry.
The government has responded by relaxing property buying rules, since it doesn’t want the current distress among developers to trigger financial contagion — nor does it want to see social unrest.
Dragging out the Evergrande saga, though, has wreaked havoc among homebuyers, construction workers, suppliers and investors. And as the government has shown no intention of bailing out developers, the only certainty we’re left with is the idea that this pain is far from finished.
My ex was the CFO of one of the largest private construction companies in the world. His main role was to make sure the company stayed profitable. Simple really.
The owners’ son, who recently graduated from college and was having trouble finding gainful employment, (seems nobody would hire him to get stoned) was parachuted into my ex’s job. My ex was quickly let go.
He didn’t mind too much. Even though a little disappointed, he still was paid out fairly and started his own firm with the severance money.
A tender came up for a new skyscraper in London. My ex’s former company put in its bid and came in ahead of everyone else by millions. Turned out months into construction that the new CFO had forgotten to add the cost of electrical wiring into the cost of construction. A mistake that sent his family bankrupt.
Luckily there was one new firm with the creditor’s backing, experience and ability to jump in immediately. My ex hired a lot of the now redundant employees and bought a large chunk of his old company’s heavy equipment at a huge discount in a mortgagee sale.
The lesson here is to never kill the golden goose!
Elderly shelter cat had weeks to live. So this woman adopted him.
This woman is a saint! What she does for these cats is beyond compassion!
The Sixteenth Forum of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE) took place from 25 to 27 September 2023 in Fuzhou, China, co-organised by Fujian Normal University. The theme of the forum was Chinese modernisaton and the prospects of world modernisation. Although unable to attend in person, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez was invited to submit a video presentation.
Carlos’s presentation, entitled Capitalist and socialist modernisation, takes up a number of questions: What is modernisation? Is modernisation desirable? How has modernisation been achieved in the West? What is China’s modernisation plan? What are the unique characteristics of Chinese modernisation? How does socialist modernisation differ from capitalist modernisation? What effect does China’s modernisation on the global journey towards development and socialism?
The video and the text of Carlos’s presentation are available below.
What is modernisation, and is it necessary?
Modernisation is a somewhat nebulous concept. It means different things to different societies at different times. By definition, its parameters are constantly changing.
In the broadest sense, it means adapting to the latest, most advanced ideas and techniques for meeting humanity’s material and cultural needs.
In sociology, there is more or less an equals sign between modernisation and industrialisation, and is generally held to begin with Britain’s Industrial Revolution. We can think of it essentially as the transition from ‘developing country’ status to ‘developed country’ status; from a predominantly rural society to a predominantly urban society; from a technologically backward society to a technologically advanced society.
Is this desirable? Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but most people consider modernisation to be desirable, because it enables higher living standards for the masses of the people.
With modernised industry, production techniques, communication methods, transport systems, energy systems and healthcare strategies, there exists the possibility of providing a healthy, meaningful and dignified life to all, such that each individual has reliable access to a healthy diet, to decent housing, to clothing, to education, to healthcare, to a vibrant cultural, social and intellectual life, and to fulfilling work. In short, modernisation makes it possible to attend to people’s basic human rights.
The fruits of modernisation have thus far been divided extremely unequally: the process of industrialisation in North America, Europe and Japan has created previously unimaginable wealth for a few, but this has been accompanied by desperate poverty and alienation for significant numbers. However, modernisation creates a material basis for common prosperity, far beyond what a pre-modern economy can offer.
Specifically in the case of China, the government has set a goal of “basically realising socialist modernisation by 2035”, and has defined some parameters for this:
Reaching a per-capita GDP on a par with that of the mid-level developed countries such as Spain or the Czech Republic
Joining the ranks of the world’s most innovative countries in the realm of science and technology
Becoming a global leader in education, public health, culture and sport
Substantially growing the middle-income group as a proportion of the population
Guaranteeing equitable access to basic public services
Ensuring modern standards of living in rural areas
Steadily lowering greenhouse gas emissions and protecting biodiversity, so as to restore a healthy balance between humans and the natural environment
If achieved, these aims will constitute a significant – indeed world-historic – improvement in the living standards of the Chinese people, and will blaze a trail for other developing countries.
How did the West modernise?
But is China doing anything new? After all, it won’t be the first country to achieve modernisation.
In mainstream modernisation theory in the West, the dominant narrative is that the countries of Western Europe, North America and Japan achieved their advances via a combination of good governance, liberal democracy, free-market economics, scientific genius, geographical serendipity and a dash of entrepreneurial spirit.
Historical investigation reveals a considerably different story.
The most important precursors of the West’s modernisation are colonialism, slavery and genocide. The conquest of the Americas, the settlement of Australia, the transatlantic slave trade, the colonisation of India, the rape of Africa, the Opium Wars, the theft of Hong Kong, and more. The profits of colonialism and the slave trade were essential for propelling the West’s industrialisation, as was so eloquently uncovered in Eric Williams’ classic 1944 work, Capitalism and Slavery.
As Karl Marx famously wrote in Volume 1 of Capital: “The discovery of gold and silver in America, the enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalled the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production.”
Such is the ugly truth of European modernisation. And the story is not so different in the United States. Many of the so-called founding fathers of that country were slave-owners, and they established a slave-owners’ society. They went to war against the indigenous peoples and against Mexico in order to expand their territory.
In the 20th century, having established their domination over the Americas, they constructed a neocolonial global system that is still in place to a significant degree, imposing American hegemony on the world.
A network of 800 foreign military bases. NATO. An enormous nuclear arsenal. Genocidal wars waged on Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. Systems of economic coercion and unilateral sanctions.
This is the global system of violence that has facilitated and accompanied North American modernisation.
Japan’s rapid rise was facilitated first by its brutal expansionist project in East Asia, particularly Korea and China, and then through adaptation to and integration with the US-led imperialist system, the much-vaunted ‘rules-based international order’.
South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan Province constitute the small handful of non-imperialist territories that have been able to achieve modernisation, but these are special cases. Their shared proximity to China and the DPRK is no coincidence; they have been inducted into the imperialist club by the US, to play a dual role as regional policemen and living advertisements for capitalism on the frontline of its confrontation with socialism. Both roles rely on at least a certain degree of prosperity for a section of the population.
There is no shortage of countries of the Global South which have attempted to apply the “liberal democracy plus free market capitalism” formula, but none have been successful in modernising. Indeed the West’s prescriptions for (and interference in) developing countries have largely led to chaos and disaster.
The contrast between the West’s success in modernising and the Global South’s failure has fed into a largely unspoken but widespread and pernicious racism: an assumption that white people are somehow inherently more advanced than everyone else.
This supremacism is allowed to fester, because in addition to dividing working class and oppressed communities, it provides convenient cover for the reality that capitalist modernisation is built on the foundations of colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism.
As Kwame Nkrumah commented, “in the era of neocolonialism, under-development is still attributed not to exploitation but to inferiority, and racial undertones remain closely interwoven with the class struggle.”
How is China modernising?
China’s journey towards modernisation starts in 1949 with the founding of the People’s Republic, the early construction of socialist industry, land reform and the extirpation of feudalism and the landowning class, and the provision of at least basic levels of education and healthcare services to the whole population.
In 1963, Premier Zhou Enlai, supported by Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun, first raised the question of the Four Modernisations: of agriculture, industry, national defence, and science and technology. Despite a complex political environment this goal was revived in the early 1970s, and, with the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, China accelerated its pursuit of those goals, and ushered in an era of rapid development of the productive forces and improvement in the people’s living standards.
China’s journey of modernisation has evolved again in recent years with the pursuit of the second centenary goal: of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by 2049.
China is on a fast track to becoming an advanced, developed country, and this process stands in stark contrast to the West’s modernisation process:
First, China’s modernisation is built on the efforts of the Chinese people rather than on war, colonialism and slavery.
Second, its fruits are to be shared by everybody, not dominated by the wealthy. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said in his work report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s modernisation is “the modernisation of common prosperity for all.”
Even today, not everyone in the West is able to enjoy the fruits of modernisation. Consider for example the US, where tens of millions lack access to healthcare; where over half a million people are homeless; where life expectancy for African Americans is six years less than for their white counterparts; where – according to the US Department of Education – over half of adults read below a sixth-grade level.
Third, China’s modernisation is becoming a green modernisation, fuelled by clean energy, careful not to destroy the planet that sustains us. Again quoting Xi Jinping’s work report, “it is the modernisation of harmony between humanity and nature.”
Capitalist modernisation has had a disastrous impact on the environment. With 4 percent of the global population, the US alone is responsible for 25 percent of historic greenhouse gas emissions. The simple fact is that humanity literally cannot afford for China’s modernisation to follow this pattern.
Socialist modernisation will become the ‘new normal’
The West’s modernisation path is not open to the countries of the Global South, and it wouldn’t be desirable even if it were. Today, the road of capitalist modernisation is closed, so how is China able to modernise?
China does not have an empire, formal or informal, but it does have a particular advantage of being a socialist state, a “people’s democratic dictatorship based on the alliance of workers and peasants”, to use Mao Zedong’s expression. Such a state can use its power to direct economic activity towards the goals of the social classes it represents.
Thus the specificities of China’s modernisation – the commitment to common prosperity, to ending poverty and underdevelopment, to preventing climate collapse and to peaceful development – are a function of China’s political system, its revolutionary history, and the leadership of the CPC.
At a meeting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2016, Xi Jinping made this point very succinctly: “Our greatest strength lies in our socialist system, which enables us to pool resources in a major mission. This is the key to our success.”
Or as Deng Xiaoping famously commented in 1984: “the superiority of the socialist system is demonstrated, in the final analysis, by faster and greater development of the productive forces than under the capitalist system.”
In a world still largely dominated by capitalism – and an intellectual world still dominated by bourgeois ideology – it’s easy to forget this system’s fundamental and irreconcilable contradictions, which Marx identified with such clarity and profundity 150 years ago; contradictions which lead inexorably to inefficiency, stagnation and crisis. A political economy directed at the production of exchange values rather than use values can never result in common prosperity.
In China, the capitalist class is not the ruling class and is therefore not able to direct the country’s resources according to its own prerogatives. At the top level, resources are allocated by the state, in accordance with long-term planning carried out by, and in the interests of, the people.
This is what is enabling a new type of modernisation, which is blazing a trail for socialist and developing countries the world over.
The fruits of this process are being shared with the world, via mechanisms such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, which are creating a path for the countries of the Global South to break out of underdevelopment, even where they lack China’s resources and political advantages.
As such, China’s evolving modernisation has great historic significance, and offers valuable lessons for the world. It is an embodiment of historical materialism in the current era: capitalism has long since exhausted its ability to fundamentally drive human progress, and therefore the future lies with socialism.
Galvarino was a legendary warrior of the Mapuche people who rebelled against the Spanish Conquers who had invaded their land.
The Mapuche people were natives of the Araucana region of Chile who fought against the Spanish conquest of South America. The Arauco War was the bloodiest and longest-running battle in the history of the New World.
In what became known as the Battle of Lagunillias, Galvarino led his people in a fight against the Spanish invaders who were trying to force them into servitude.
During the battle, Galvarino and his men were captured by the Spanish. As punishment for defying the Spanish, Galvarino had both his hands amputated at the wrists and sent him home as a message to the other Mapuche tribes.
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He returned home defeated and severely wounded. He showed the war council his wounds and begged them to let him lead an army against their oppressors. For his bravery, he was named commander of a squadron of men in a fight against Governor Mendoza.
With long Sharp knives fastened to his mutilated stumps, he led his army into battle against Governor Mendoza and his men. The Brutal battle lasted for an hour, with Galvarino striking and killing Mendoza’s number two in command with his modified stumps.
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Although Galvarino and his men fought a brave battle, they were soon overwhelmed and captured. All the remaining captured warriors including Galvarino, were executed on the orders of Governor Mendoza.
Huawei has established the third truly COMMERCIAL Asian Tech Ecosystem from China and the eighth in Asia after Toyota, Nikon, Canon ,Samsung , BYD, Trina and Xinyi
image 106
The Huawei Ecosystem now has
The Chip
The OS
The 5G Modem
The GPU
The Networks
Yet Huawei Ecosystem is fragile because SMIC the manufacturer of the 7 nm Node depends on Advanced DUV equipment from ASML
Now SMIC has stockpiled massive orders from ASML and that will keep SMIC going till maybe 2026
However that’s still dependence, a lot of dependence on the West
So i would say HUAWEI has made a start
Meanwhile people forget the REAL WINNERS of the three companies that have established it’s own dominant ecosystem on which the West is entirely dependent on :-
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BYD
BYD has:-
The Chip – The Mature 28nm Chip that only China can today manufacture cost effectively and in huge volumes
The Software
The Satellite Navigation System
The Battery
The Dynamic Unit
It’s completely and entirely Independent from Western Technology
Trina and Xinyi who have :-
The Intelligent Chip
The Micrograde Wafer Panel (That to this day no nation can produce except France but at 87% higher cost)
The Carbide micro layering etching equipment (Chinas equivalent of the EUV Lithography Machine)
The Silicon extraction process into Mono, Poly Crystalline Silicon with infusions
Yes Huawei deserves all the admiration for its clawback and fighting
Yet BYD, Trina and Xinyi actually get Proprietary License Fees from the West which is unique for a Nation that to thia day didn’t kowtow to the West unlike Japan, Israel and South Korea
Huawei to win, needs SMIC to become another BYD or Xinyi or Trina
If SMIC can achieve that, then China truly begins the challenge to the established Semiconductor industry
Lego just hit a climate BRICK wall
Lego says that it cannot make bricks from recycled material. They tried and they simply cannot do it without increasing carbon emissions. That’s a refreshing admission. Most companies take on “green initiatives” anyway, even if they prove to make the problem worse. In a similar vein, the CEO of Lufthansa admitted that“going green” would require the airline to use up HALF of Germany’s electricity. So not green at all then. Meanwhile, Ford says that it will pause construction of a $3.5 billion plant to build EV batteries in Michigan. They aren’t saying why. It just goes to show: It ain’t easy being green.
You’ve probably heard of China’s ambitious plan to connect the world with its Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI for short. It’s a massive project that involves building roads, railways, ports, pipelines, and other infrastructure across Asia, Africa, Europe, and beyond. China says it’s a win-win situation for everyone, a way to boost trade, development, and cooperation among more than 140 countries that have signed up for it.
But not everyone is buying it. Some critics in the West say that the BRI is a trap, a scheme, or a tool for China to expand its power and influence at the expense of other countries. They say that the BRI is saddling poor countries with unsustainable debt, damaging the environment and human rights, and undermining the international order. They also say that the BRI is losing steam due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the backlash from some host countries, and the changing global dynamics.
So what’s the real story? Well, if you listen to what China has to say on its official websites, you’ll get a very different picture. According to them, the BRI is not losing steam at all. In fact, it’s gaining momentum and achieving positive results in various aspects.
First of all, they say that the BRI has shown strong resilience and vitality amid the COVID-19 pandemic. China has actively cooperated with other BRI partners to fight against the virus, provide medical supplies and vaccines, share prevention and treatment experiences, and support economic recovery. The BRI has also contributed to the global efforts to build a community of health for all.
Secondly, they say that the BRI has promoted high-quality development and green cooperation. China has adhered to the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and has followed the international rules and standards in implementing BRI projects. China has also attached great importance to environmental protection, social responsibility, and debt sustainability, and has encouraged green investment and financing under the BRI framework.
Thirdly, they say that the BRI has enhanced mutual trust and friendship among different countries and peoples. The BRI has fostered dialogue and exchange among different civilizations, cultures, and religions, and has supported education, culture, tourism, sports, media, and other fields of people-to-people cooperation. The BRI has also created opportunities for poverty alleviation, job creation, livelihood improvement, and social development for millions of people in the participating countries.
So there you have it. The BRI is not losing steam but rather advancing steadily and fruitfully. The BRI is not a solo show by China but a chorus by all participants. The BRI is not a challenge or threat to anyone but a benefit and opportunity for everyone. The BRI is not a zero-sum game but a win-win cooperation for common development. That’s what China wants you to believe. And if you don’t believe it, well, too bad for you. Because China is not going to stop or change its course anytime soon. It’s going to keep pushing forward with its vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Why Australia’s Housing Crisis Is a Warning for the World
They weren’t misled by Russian trolls. They weren’t ignorant. They weren’t racist or sexist or xenophobic or homophobic. They were mad… they felt left behind and ignored by the media and the federal government… and they had a point.
They were left behind, and ignored.
For many of them, the America their parents and grandparents grew up in was a lot better. And no, that’s not because other groups were oppressed. It was because the economy was better for working-class people back then.
If your grandparents raised a large family on a single income, while the media and politicians cared about what your grandparents cared about, and now, 50 years later, you and your wife can’t get by on your dual incomes, and the media and politicians spend more time talking about transgender bathroom usage than the fact that families like yours are falling further behind each year… then yes, you have a point, and Make America Great Again makes sense.
Blueberry Grunt
2023 10 14 11 57
Ingredients
4 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
Instructions
In a skillet, combine blueberries, sugar and water; bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
In a bowl, combine the next 6 ingredients; stir in milk just until moistened (dough will be stiff).
Drop by tablespoonsful over blueberries.
Cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until dumplings are puffed and test done.
All terrorism in the world is linked to the United States! It is no longer a secret that the United States Government supports terrorism in South-East Asia!
US-backed Terrorism Targets Vietnam & Myanmar in Wider War on China
Two terrorist attacks this month (June 2023) in Southeast Asia have been carried out by groups backed by the United States government and its allies for decades;
This includes a singer murdered in Myanmar and a series of armed attacks carried out on police stations in Vietnam killing 9 including several civilians;
British state media, the BBC, and US government-funded media platform Radio Free Asia have attempted to spin and even justify this terrorism as part of a much wider pattern promoting and defending terrorism as a means to counter China’s rise and punish nations working closely with China;
The opposition in Myanmar has openly been backed by the US and UK for decades – fighting to reinstall Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy back into power;
In Vietnam, the ethnic Montagnards had fought alongside US invaders in the Vietnam War, and since then have worked closely with the US through the National Endowment for Democracy toward separatism;
Much of this context is omitted from Western state-media accounts of the terrorism;
Both Myanmar and Vietnam’s current governments have close relations with China. Vietnam, while depicted in the Western media as “anti-China,” has worked with China to build infrastructure within its borders and access Chinese rail projects to bring their products all the way to Europe;
Why Companies That Go Woke Go Broke
I saw the title and I instantly clicked to watch, really wanted to see a documentary about all these companies that went woke, then broke!
Well one fairly amazing thing happened in Penang. I (white Australian) was speaking to my friend (Asian Australian) in English.
An American tourist interrupted us and asked “excuse me, do you speak English?” We were both quite shocked and I said “a little.” I don’t know if she really couldn’t understand Australian English and didn’t realise what language I was speaking.
She said “Can you direct me to XYZ hotel?”
Now ordinarily two Aussies, neither of whom have ever been to Malaysia and speak no Malay wouldn’t be the best choice. But I pointed to the building we were standing in front of and said “walk about 10 yards that way.”
She was WAY out of her depth and her next international holiday should probably be to Hawaii.
However, I did the opposite in Austria. I speak no German, but if I look at a menu and plan out my sentence I can pretend to. So I asked in perfect German “Could I please have 2 hot chocolates; one with whipped cream and one with rum thanks.” She answered with something as simple as “that will be 8 euros” and I looked at her blankly and said in English “I’m sorry, I don’t speak German.” She laughed and did the transaction in English. She said I fooled her.
Pretty much the same thing in Poland, back in the days before Schengen membership. Apparently I needed a visa. So they berated me in Polish for a while, and I said I didn’t speak Polish. They went to the lingua franca of Eastern Europe and said “something something Russky.” I replied with what I’m told is an excellent accent “nye poni mayu po Russkiy.”
Here’s a guy in Lithuania, driving an Estonian-registered car, saying in perfect Russian in response to a question IN Russian “I don’t understand Russian.” I’m sure they weren’t thrilled and may not have believed me but I looked blankly at the rest of their diatribe. So eventually they wrote down my name, pointed me to Vilnius and said “visa.”’
Almost every Chinese City beats Indian Cities hollow in terms of Cleanliness, Safety and Development
image 113image 114
There are Primarily three reasons for this :-
A. One Party Meritocracy & Funds
In China, fund allocation for Cities and their overall Urban development is based on the Urban Development Index (UDI) plus between 15% upto 46% of the revenue generated by a City is used by the Local Government of that Province and the Administration of that City to develop the place
There is no political rivalries or party based discrimination between Fund Allocation and Revenue sharing
It’s all about How much the City develops and how well maintained the City is
In India, funding is a nightmare because the State themselves have no claim over the money they generate as revenue. Everything is handed over to the Centre which then decides how much each State should get and then the State decides how much each City should get
China has 20 times the provincial autonomy than an Indian State
B. Continuous Development to prevent overcrowding
India keeps on dumping on the same city again and again for year after year. Thus every such city attracts migrants like flies and that leads to overcrowding of the worst order
China keeps developing and expanding new Cities regularly
Chengdu, Chongqing etc were small towns a decade or so ago that are now bustling cities, brimming with Prosperity
Urumqi was once a town , now it’s classified as a Tier 3 City
Thus if you notice Shanghai and Beijing both lost 4% and 5.6% of the population due to migration between 2013–2023 whereas Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad netted between 7.6% and 12% SURPLUS population by migration between 2008–2023
C. Chinas Housing Policy
Everyone living with a proper Job in a City in China MUST have housing
This is a law from the time of Chairman Mao and when it’s a Chairman Mao law, it’s enforcement is very strict
Public Housing is thus available for every single resident of the city including the poorest of them
Only Shanghai and Beijing has slums today , which existed before the 1998 law and thus can’t be torn down
image 112
If you have a legitimate job in CQ City, you get a Public Apartment of 39–52 Square Meters with indoor plumbing, heating, air conditioning and gas and electricity and drinking water for a mere 78 RMB / month
Of course many Chinese become prosperous enough to rent much nicer places and sub lease their public homes for which they pay rent of 78 RMB/ month for 400–500 RMB / month
During Covid 19, many such people were discovered and fined very heavily (30, 000 RMB plus 60 months rent or 100 Days in Prison)
A Fourth reason is the fact that Migration into Cities is heavily controlled
You just can’t come to a City that easily without housing or a job unless you are a tourist there
In India it’s the opposite
You can flood into cities and sleep on the roads and everywhere else and even defecate
It’s like a Zoo
image 110image 111
So it’s the Chinese System
They may have their flaws but by God they have excellent City maintenance and keep themselves very clean
image 109
Their Air Quality improvement in a mere decade is something every nation takes notes on
image 108
Primarily another reason is the Chinese are proud of their country and love their country
Not the bogus love that Indians show which translates into defending India for all it’s weaknesses, glorifying mediocrities as superheroes, forcing people to stand up for the National Anthem etcetera
The genuine love that ensures they actively take pride in their development and their cities
When stray cats see this man, they compete with each other to get a place on his lap.
On a somber note, the Israeli destruction on Palestine is a (text book) genocidal event. This is just as disturbing to me as the complete killing off of all the males in Ukraine.
There is something truly evil about the oligarchy that rules the West.
Their “heads aren’t screwed on tight”. They are unhinged and behaving in complete disregard for their fellow humans.
No care towards humanity.
Which means that they have evolved into something NOT HUMAN.
I shake my head in sadness.
As Everyone’s Lοοking At Ιsrael, Something Τruly Unbelievable Has Begun Ιn America
I bought a used coat from a yard sale and months later, when it turned cold, I put the jacket on and noticed a hand written note in the left pocket. It had listed things to buy at Ace Hardware.
It said Lye, ropes, tape and a small shovel.
Next to the list was the actual receipt showing the stores name, what was bought and exactly when.
I thought it seemed suspicious so I took it to the local police and they ran the info I had against an unsolved murder case.
After pulling the archived video from Ace Hardware, it was clear who the man was and after interrogating him and his fake alibi, he broke down and admitted that he was the one who picked up a 22 year old hitchhiker and raped and murdered her.
He forgot about the note and receipt in his left pocket.
He was also left handed. Had he not written it himself, it would not have proved anything, but it matched the handwriting analysis.
He also had no idea his wife sold the old jacket in a yard sale months earlier. That simple task on her part, cost him his life and he sits on death row today.
You just never know what you’re gonna get for three dollars at a yard sale.
A strategic nightmare sneaks into Washington’s political agenda: Global Times editorial
By Global Times Published: Oct 14, 2023 12:38 AM
This is horrifying. -MM
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A simultaneous war with China and Russia is a strategic nightmare that sober American strategists such as Henry Kissinger have been warning the US to avoid at all costs, and it is also a topic that some US media outlets have become more and more fond of talking about in recent years. At least from the publicly available information, Washington has never previously addressed it as a formal political agenda, supposedly aware of its seriousness and the terrible risks it carries. But the publication of a report by a congressionally appointed bipartisan panel titled America’s Strategic Posture crossed this “red line” on October 12.
The central point of the 145-page report is that the US must expand its military power, particularly its “nuclear weapons modernization program,” in order to prepare for possible simultaneous wars with China and Russia. Notably, the report diverges completely from the current US national security strategy of winning one conflict while deterring another, and from the Biden administration’s current nuclear policy. It is not a fantasy among the American public, but a serious strategic assessment and recommendation in the service of policymaking.
The 12-member panel that wrote the report was hand-picked by the US Congress from major think tanks and retired defense, security officials and former lawmakers. This report makes us feel that a “strategic nightmare” is sneaking into the US political agenda, but has not drawn due concern and vigilance in Washington, and to a large extent, the American elite group represented by the panel is actively working to make this nightmare come true.
A look at the specific recommendations of this report will send shivers down the spine of those who retain any basic rationality. The report recommends that the US deploy more warheads, and produce more bombers, cruise missiles, ballistic missile submarines, non-strategic nuclear weapons and so on. It also calls on the US to deploy warheads on land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and to consider adding road-mobile ICBMs to its arsenal, establishing a third shipyard that can build nuclear-powered ships, etc.
What depths of insanity is the US sinking to? The US’ military spending accounts for nearly 40 percent of the world’s total defense expenditures, and it has been growing dramatically for several years, with military spending in 2023 reaching $813.3 billion, more than the GDP of most countries, but even that is not enough for these politicians. Such a report full of geopolitical fanaticism and war imagery, whether or not it actually ends up as a “guide” for Washington’s decision-making, is dangerous and needs to be resisted and opposed by all peace-loving countries.
According to some American media, the report ignores the consequences of a nuclear arms race. In fact, the report doesn’t seem to consider this at all and doesn’t suggest any measures other than nuclear expansion to address this issue. In other words, it is a reckless approach. Both China and Russia are nuclear powers, and everyone knows that provoking a confrontation between nuclear powers is a crazy idea. Even promoting a nuclear arms race under the banner of “deterrence” is a disastrous step backward in history. Washington’s political elites, who lived through the Cold War, cannot be unaware of this. However, the fact that such an absurd and off-key report is being presented in all seriousness by the US Congress is both surreal and unsurprising. It is in line with the distorted political atmosphere in Washington today.
The motives behind this exaggeration of threats and creating a warlike atmosphere are highly suspicious. The recent outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict caused a sharp increase in US defense industry stocks, while American defense industry companies have also been the biggest beneficiaries of the long-standing Russia-Ukraine conflict. The military-industrial complex, like a geopolitical monstrosity, parasitically clings to American society, manipulating its every move, pushing Washington step by step to introduce and even prepare for ideas that were once considered “impossible.”
The prosperity of the American military-industrial complex is built upon blood and corpses, and carries a primal guilt. Serving the interests of the American military-industrial complex is unethical.
The reality is that such rhetoric is becoming increasingly politically acceptable in today’s Washington. The idea of “preparing for possible simultaneous wars with Russia and China,” once a fringe fantasy, has gradually made its way into Washington’s agenda, which is deeply unsettling.
If Washington were to adopt even a small portion of the recommendations in this report, the harm and threats it could pose to world peace would be immeasurable and would ultimately backfire on the US itself.
There is an old Chinese saying: “Those who play with fire will perish by it.” This is something that is worth Washington’s careful consideration.
In 1980 my boss had left the company and had planned to sell his very nice 1970 Buick LeSabre for $500. One Monday I came into my office and the keys to the Buick were on my desk with a note saying that the automatic transmission was bad and that it would cost more than the car was worth and that I could have it for $25 since that is all the wrecking yard would give him.
I picked up the car one evening and was able to make it part way home before the “transmission” problem occurred.
Fortunately, I was near the company parking lot where I left the car. The next morning, in daylight, with the help of my brother-in-law, we discovered that the “transmission problem” was actually the air conditioning compressor intermittently locking up and putting a severe drag on the engine.
Since it was fall in southern California, we just cut off the single belt that drove the AC compressor and the car ran great. Months later, a neighbor was putting a Chevy V8 into a Toyota pickup and gave me the AC compressor, which we installed on the Buick. And the AC worked perfectly.
I told my boss how we fixed the “transmission” problem and offered him $500 for the Buick.
He declined and said I should keep the car for $25.
I told him I didn’t want my wife driving a $25 car, so he agreed to $250.
That summer I decided to install an aftermarket cruise control unit on the Buick and while routing wires under the dash, I noticed a small spring, not unlike the ones in ball point pens, was broken in an AC/heater duct. I replaced that spring (cost was less than $1) and noticed that the AC was coming out of the dash vents where previously it was just coming from the floor.
When I next saw my former boss, he said that he had taken the Buick to the dealership to complain about the AC/heat not coming from the dash vents, and they told him that to fix the problem they would have to remove the dash and it would cost more than the car was worth.
I put an additional 100K miles on that car and only recall replacing the brakes and a distributor, in addition to routine maintenance. In 1992, as I was moving to Texas from NJ, a co-worker asked if I would sell him the car, which I did.
As an aside, my former boss went to work for a company that made high power gas lasers, costing at that time about $25,000.
At my next company, I needed one of those lasers. I happened to mention to my former boss at a conference that I hoped to buy one of those lasers, but didn’t have the budget.
A few weeks later, a high power gas laser unexpectedly arrived on the shipping dock!
I called my former boss and he said if and when I get the budget, let him know and he will replace the “loaner” laser with a new one. Probably a year or so later, I did find the money and paid for the “loaner” laser.
My former boss’s company also made an even higher power laser for $50,000. I later wondered if I had given him $500 for the car if he would have shipped a $50K “loaner.”
I would ask him, but he passed away, way too young, years ago.
Rest in peace, Dean…
Life in URUGUAY! – South America’s Richest and Safest Country
As an Uruguayan I want to make a comment. First, great video, mostly accurate expect for a couple of details.
When you show the ‘gauchos” those look more like people on horses from Bolivia or Peru, or even maybe somewhere in northern Argentina or Chile. Because, first of all, in Uruguay, the gaucho’s “poncho” is usually made of plain dark colors, and most important, we do not have mountains, like the ones you show. About population “skin” color, let me make some remarks.
The original population in Uruguay is around 90% of European descent, and when I say European I mean, from all over Europe, including countries like: Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Russian, Denmark, etc. Not only Southern Europe. So there are a lot of fair skin color people including blonde, blue eyes.
But what has been happening in the last decade is that there’s a large immigration wave, such as from the Caribbean countries, as well as from the rest of Latin America.
So, the demographic is changing rapidly because Uruguayan’s population as you established is very small, so the culture is also changing, including the food and even the language…
2500 Foreigners have been invited to the Hangzhou Asian Games in China
Ordinary Foreigners
From US, Canada, Europe and Japan and South Korea
Fully paid for, Business Class Tickets, Five Star Pampering
All China asks them to do is to cover the Games on their Social Media (TikTok mainly or YT or Instagram)
The result is despite the Western Media almost entirely ignoring the Asian Games, a whopping 673 Million people worldwide are watching the events
This is China’s Strategy to counter thr Western Media
Not launching their own MSM and insanely and making accusations
Instead , they bring ORDINARY PEOPLE and treating them to what China looks like and spreading the message
A Popular Teenager goes home and says “Man do you know China is so different from what we hear in our TV channels”
Slowly this gains traction
It’s a long term plan targeting the 19–24 year olds today and gradually influencing the Younger Generation
The key reason is INFLUENCE
The 12–36 year old US Generation doesn’t view China as an enemy but as a neutral country or as a mutually beneficial country
Yet 36–65 year old Americans, the MSM influenced generation see almost 75% of them view China as an enemy
China is slowly influencing the younger generation and in a way that US simply cannot comprehend
Long term, slow and PATIENTLY
Every year you have 20,000 Vloggers invited to China and cover China positively
They influence around 60 Million -150 Million people
Tourvashu is one of these
He influences 2 Million Indians
Most are 16–20 year olds
More likely to watch Tourvashu than Palki Or Gravitas or Arnab
Slowly the Younger Indians will be influenced and say “Yaar Tune Chaayina ka wo Video dekha. Mast tha”
So you wonder why Apple is not banned. In China?
Same reason
It’s not the Chinese way
These Brash, Useless and Economically unsound tactics are not something the Chinese do
China will encourage Apple, use it as a gold standard to develop their own industry, and undercut the iphone eventually
Take the Chinese High Speed Rail
In 2005, Chinese imported exclusively their Boring Machines (Germany, Switzerland), Engines (Japan, Spain), Software (UK, Singapore, US) and Electronics (Japan, S Korea)
Today nearly 90% of their High Speed Rail Supplies are COMPLETELY MADE IN CHINA with same or better quality
They have decimated TBM markets in Germany with export shares plummeting from 69% in 2000 to 11% in 2023
Took them 17–18 years
That’s how China works
These loser protectionism bans don’t work for China
They COMPETE and UNDERCUT and enhance quality with competition
The Trump Ban begun in 2019
So the key is to see if China will beat the Apple and undercut the company by 2036–2037
I am willing to guarantee that they will
It’s what they do
Kind of their Mantra
Banning is what Losers do
Competing and beating with Economics is what Winners do
When I was a young boy I used to get teased a lot in school and I didn’t have many friends. I was a fat kid and often got called a “fat slob”, “pig”, and “smelly or “stinky”. I took a bath at least once a week, more in the summer, and tried to keep clean so I knew I was just getting teased because I was fat. When I was eleven my best friend’s mom drove us home from baseball practice one day. Out of the blue she turned to me in the back seat and said, “Andy, you smell and you need to bathe more often.” She did not say it in a mean way but in a stern businesslike manner. My best friend was horrified and said nothing.
When I got home I immediately took a shower and wondered about what was going on. Obviously, I’d been sweaty from practice but she must have known that. As I thought it over, it also dawned on me that my skinny little sister often got teased as “smelly” too. I’d always assumed she got it from association with me, not because she smelled. So I told my mom what happened and asked her to tell me honestly if I smelled. She said, “no” and started to get a little upset about my best friend’s mom saying that to me.
I went to play outside and saw one of my classmates across the street. We had an on-again/off-again friendship up to that point. I guess we were what you might call “frenemies” today but at this point in time, we were more on the friendly side. I decided to get his opinion believing he wouldn’t hold back. In fact, he had teased me before about being smelly. So I asked him straight-up, “Do I smell?” He answered very matter-of-factly, “yes”. “My sister too?” “Yes, her too,” he replied. Then I asked him what we smelled like. He then told me that this had actually been a subject of discussion among his family who did not want me or my sister in their house because of our smell. He said his parents said we smelled like “old books”. Immediately, this brought to mind the set of Encyclopedia Britannicas I had in my bedroom closet. I immediately went home to check them out. Not only were they covered in mold but vast sections of my closet and room had mold. In fact, I found it throughout our home. But it didn’t smell to me. I was used to it. We all were. We lived in the woods surrounded by soggy tree pools so our home was often damp. We had no AC nor did we need it. This was back in 1972 before the internet and all the scares about the dangers of mold.
I told my mother what I’d learned and was able to convince her this was what was causing my sister and me to smell and probably her too. We cleaned everything with bleach, aired out the house, and bought dehumidifiers. From then on I showered every day. My friends all told me I no longer smelled. That following summer I also worked my ass off to get physically fit. I don’t know how many more years I might have suffered but for this very simple and brutally honest admonition from my friend’s mother. To this day, my best friend of 58 years still tells me how embarrassed he was that his now-deceased mother said that to me. And I always remind him she did me one of the greatest favors of my life.
Flip Flop Cherry Cobbler
CHERRY COBBLER 05 28 2028115 1
Yield: 6 to 8 generous portions
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
8 cups cherry pie filling
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
Coat a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture alternating with the milk; mix until well combined.
Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
Top with filling and sprinkle with sugar. Cover and freeze.
To bake: Thaw completely in refrigerator.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes or until browned.
Mighty China Remove All Iran Sanctions Placed By U.S and E.U
In this eye-opening video, we explore the shifting dynamics of power and influence between Iran, the United States, and China. With the U.S. imposing stringent sanctions on Iran, China steps in to form a strategic alliance, challenging the global power balance. Learn more about the economic, political, and strategic implications of this trilateral relationship and how it could shape the future of global geopolitics.
Going anonymous because it is a part of my life that not even my closest friends are aware of.
This is from the time when I was 12 years old. My mom had a problem where her breast would develop lumps which would have to be removed surgically. This problem started before I was born and she would undergo these procedures every couple of years. We lived in a small town with limited access to advanced medical facilities, but the doctors always told us that the lumps were not malignant.
When I was 12, this one lump was growing very big. My dad (who is a doctor himself) decided to take her to Delhi to get some tests done. I have two elder sisters and we (me, my sister and my parents) live with my grandparents.
So, my parents were away in Delhi and my grand mother would spend the day on the phone talking to relatives, spreading rumors that my mom actually had cancer and saying that we three are a burden on them and that they just want my parents to come and get us off their head.
My sisters, who were older and more mature, would mostly stay in their room, but I, by nature liked to be outside with my mom and in her absence, my granny. Hearing these things used to hurt me, but I wouldn’t tell my sisters since I knew they’d be hurt even more.
I started taking up house-work with my granny (though we had help by my granny used to crib that we 3 were a burden)-cooking half meals, helping with washing clothes. All this I did without my sisters’ knowledge (or they’d never have let me do it).
This was a time when mobiles didn’t exist in India and fixed line phones were the only means of communication. News from my parents used to reach us with a lag. We just kept praying that our mom comes back safely.
After tests at AIIMS (top hospital in India), our parents returned awaiting results and my granny immediately left for my aunt (her daughter’s) place citing she needed “rest”.
Results came in-the growth didn’t seem malignant but needed a fairly complicated medical procedure in Chandigarh. These were times when my dad was under a lot of financial pressure (though my grandparents were well-off and my dad was the only son). My dad requested my granny over call that they need to leave immediately and that though he had applied for their life savings-their FDs to be broken, but if it doesn’t happen on time, if my grandparents could lend money till the FD money could reach home.
Unbelievably, my granny just didn’t come home! She made my aunt call in saying she would stay longer at her place and that my parents can leave for the surgery! I still remember my dad almost crying, not sure if he would be able to arrange money on time to save his wife (the tumour had grown visibly big). By God’s grace, the FDs broke a day before they had to leave and they left us alone, at the trust of the neighbours who were more helpful than my grandparents!
It was a long, painful time when my mother received treatment-a surgery which lasted 9 hours, where doctors almost gave up hope, where she was on ventilator support for days. All this while, I kept hearing from my granny’s conversations as she invited friends over, that it was certainly cancer, that such complicated surgeries could only be for cancer. It kept on making the 12-year old me scared as I knew cancer is something bad, it is something that can take away my mom.
We first got a chance to speak to our mom after 35 days when she managed to call from a hotel after her discharge. Those 35 days had been a struggle beyond my imagination for my parents (which they told me much later when I was around 20). With just my dad for company-he had managed everything from sleeping on hospital floors to washing my mom’s clothes.
My mom has recovered fully and still prays everyday for the doctors who cured her.
My dad still hates my grand parents, and I don’t feel any love for them wither.
My grand dad passed away a few years ago and we still live with my granny because my mom still thinks its our duty.
But, the pain is still there, the fear that the 12-year old felt is still there ,the betrayal is still feels fresh when I see my granny.
I grew up in those 2 months, chopped off my hair because I had long hair and my granny wouldn’t help manage them.
I hardened, realized I only have my parents and my sisters who will stand by me, and I will stand by them till I die.
I realised the world is cruel, looking at my relatives’ behaviour in that period.
“Hector, I retired before you were born,” he laughed.
Confused, I asked again, “Be honest, Dad, I mean, when will you stop working?”
His response was simple, “Working? What’s work? I don’t know what work is.”
“OK, Dad, forget about it,” I said as I assumed he wasn’t willing to talk about this.
“Hector,” he said, “what you know as my job is not work for me. I enjoy architecture so much that I could do this 24/7. This is who I am. Architecture is my life.”
So, to answer your question, why do rich people work even after they become rich? Why don’t they play?
My father lived to be 91 and worked until his body gave up on him. He was a passionate architect who found joy in his work. That’s what kept him active and full of joy every day. His passion for architecture was infectious, and it taught me this valuable lesson about work as a lifestyle.
So, if you ask me about retirement or work-life balance, I’d say it’s better to find what you love and make it a part of your life. When you find that, you’ll stop working and start living. We achieve a balance not by separating work from life but by integrating what you love into your lifestyle.
Today, this is how I see it: It’s not about working less; it’s about loving more what you do.
That’s the secret to a fulfilling life. As my father always said, “The day you find what you love is when you will stop working.”
Heavy Rain forced Mother Cat to Carry her kitten in Streets, but No One Opened the Door for Them!
In the pouring rain, we spotted a soaked cat seeking shelter. Feeling sorry for her, we followed as she led us to her hidden kitten in the woods. We gently petted the mama cat, who had braved the relentless rain. The tiny, wet kitten needed our care, so we wrapped him in a warm blanket. Back at our home, where rescued cat families and foster cats live together happily, we ensured both mother and baby were dry and well-groomed. A vet visit ensured mama cat’s health, and we even gave the kitten a bath, revealing his adorable charm. The heartwarming reunion between mother and kitten was filled with playfulness and bonding, showing the strength of family ties.
Here’s one example, regarding myself: I was working as a bouncer at a bar in Erie, Pa one night and some guy, about 24 years old or so was making quite a bit of trouble, harassing customers, pushing some, bullying others, etc.
He was somewhat high, but not drunk, and it seemed he was there just to harass and embarrass/humiliate some who were there with a date. He was pretty big, about 225 pounds and about 6 feet and acting like a real bully. When I was told about some guy doing these things ( He wasn’t near my door, but farther inside ), I went in to see what was up.
When I got there he was harassing some poor kid who was clearly scared and was with his girlfriend. As I approached, a few people pointed at this guy and said, “get him out if here, he’s an asshole.” .
I got up to him and very nicely told him to leave the kid alone and that he’d have to leave because he was causing too much trouble.
He looked at me, stood up as high as he could (I hate when they do that, like it matters), and said, “Who’s going to make me?” I said, simply, “me.”
He told me to get lost or he’d beat the shit out of me.
I said, “Well, let’s go outside and see who comes back in, and, if it’s you, you can stay.” He smiled, said,”I’m gonna enjoy this” and said, “let’s go” and we walked outside. By that time, everyone, including the other bouncer at my door knew what was going to happen.
The other bouncer, Tommy Williams, just stood at the door and smiled while we walked outside. Well, when we got out about 15 feet from the door, the moron suddenly turned and tried to hit me with a roundhouse kick which I not only blocked, but grabbed his leg and picked him up by the leg and threw him to the ground, saying, ”I don’t think karate is going to help you here.”
He jumped up and said, “how about this, asshole? and then tried a double leg takedown, as, apparently, at some time he was a wrestler. I actually laughed and said, “oh, you want to wrestle, huh?” and then as I countered his sad attempt, the other bouncer, who had heard everything, shouted out: “Wrestle? well you picked the right guy, he’s the National wrestling Champion……”
I just said, “You picked the wrong guy you moron,” and, as my friend, Tommy later said to me, I literally swept the parking lot with him.
I never saw him after two of his friends ended up taking either home or to the hospital.
He was a bully.
He got to feel like those he had bullied before.
I was NOT kind to him.
No regrets, but I bet he was kinda surprised when he heard the other bouncer tell him who I was, and he had no escape, as even as he said over and over, “I quit, I give up.”
I told him that it wasn’t up to him, It was my call and I wasn’t done yet.
That is a scary thing to realize, that you can’t quit, that it’s up to the guy beating the crap out of you. But I believe it has led others like that guy to never bully anyone again. Jeff
Sat in a bar in South Pattaya one Sunday afternoon in 1991 I noticed a fairly fit looking bloke dressed only in flip flops and shorts. He suddenly ordered everyone a drink then turned to me and said “I see my friend that you are interested in my tattoos.” I wasn’t that interested but I wasn’t going to argue and let him tell me. One he’d got for some work in the Philippines – the other some thing in the Mekong Delta. A mahout then came by with a large elephant which the man went across to look at saying they’d always fascinated him. So I asked him where he came from – American Samoa he replied. And what did he do? He worked “for the government”.
He then stepped back and ordered another drink for everyone in the bar. I thanked him and he turned and said “Let’s eat and drink for tomorrow we may be dead”. He then looked me in the eye with the coldest eyes I’d ever seen and said “ You know it is very easy. I pick up the gun, I pull the trigger and they are gone.” It was evident he wasn’t bullshitting.
That evening I saw the bar owner – who comes from Texas – and mentioned this guy. “Oh yes that’s so and so – he’s a US Navy SEAL. Bad news when he’s drunk.”
Guess I can be thankful I met him whilst he was sober!
Atheist Overdoses; Shown Soul’s Process Of Pre-Life Planning (NDE)
Her story is powerful. All of her words should have been heard and none bleeped out….
If you are offended by profanity, best skip this response.
I, too, am in the top 1% of wealth holders in this country, albeit, on lowest rung, yet minimum wage at my small Inn is higher than it is at this billionaire cunt’s company. I have no problem finding employees. This piece of shit motherfucker sits on his yacht sipping pina coladas while his employees need a second job to just pay the bills to live their day to day lives.
This asshole supports the Republican Party with massive amounts of money, and as a wealthy person, I can tell you a thing or two about how tax laws work in this country. For those of you who make less than $250k a year but still vote Republican, your economic misery is your own fault. The Democratic Party has LOTS of problems, but one problem they don’t have is trying to make life better for the average person and if you stopped watching your choice of right wing media, you’d soon realize that. It’s people like this cunt who are destroying America and contributing NOTHING to it.
What did this prick do? He built a fucking store, massively exploited his workforce by grabbing all the loot for himself and then whining when ordinary people have had enough and don’t want to work for anymore. Fuck him, and his fellow cunt billionaires.
When I was doing my B Tech, there was a Professor Talukedar who used to teach us ‘Mechanics’.
His lectures used to be very interesting since he had an interesting way to teach and explain the concepts.
One day, in the class, he asked the following questions,
What is ZERO.
What is INFINITY.
Can ZERO and INFINITY be same.
We all thought that we knew the answers and we replied as following,
ZERO means nothing
INFINITY means a number greater than any countable number
ZERO and INFINITY are opposite and they can never be same
He countered us by first talking about infinity and asked, ‘How can there be any number which is greater than any countable number?’
We had no answers.
He then explained the concept of infinity in a very interesting way, which I remember even after more than 35 years.
He said that imagine that there is an illiterate shepherd who can count only upto 20.
Now, if the number of sheep he has less than 20 and you ask him how many sheep he has, he can tell you the precise number (like 3, 5 14 etc.). However, if the number is more than 20, he is likely to say “TOO MANY”.
He then explained that in science infinity means ‘too many’ (and not uncountable) and in the same way zero means ‘too few’ (and not nothing)
As an example, he said that if we take the diameter of the Earth as compared to distance between Earth and Sun, the diameter of earth can be said to zero since it is too small.
However, when we compare the same diameter of earth with the size of a grain, diameter of earth can be said to be infinite.
Hence, he concluded that the same thing can be ZERO and INFINITE at the same time, depending on the context, or your matrix of comparison.
The relationship between richness and poverty is similar to the relationship between infinity and zero.
It all depends on the scale of comparison with your wants.
If your income is more than your wants, you are rich.
If your wants are more than your income, you are poor.
I consider myself rich because my wants are far lesser than my income.
I have become rich not so much by acquiring lots of money, but by progressively reducing my wants.
If you can reduce your wants, you too can become rich at this very moment.
I came home very sick with flu one day, went up to my bedroom, my husband was in my bed with the mail lady. I told them both to get the fuck out of my house. He argued that he needed sleep cuz he worked overnights. He needed his clothes and stuff. I told him all his clothes would be alongside the garage by Monday. It’s where the garbage is kept. Take a shirt and stuff he needed for tonight and get lost. Take a shower at her house or work. I packed up his stuff in garbage bags along with the topper to our wedding cake, some mementos from our honeymoon, I was being passive aggressive I agree, but how dare he sleep with her in our bed, in our home. We had a 2 year old and a 6 mos old. He was just wrong. He showed up a month later crying to me that she had broken up with him. I told him too bad, I didn’t feel bad for him in the least. I got the house( and mortgage) in the divorce. It was ok cuz I wanted the kids to stay in their home and school and I made more money, the root cause of the problem. He felt inadequate cuz I was a senior manager and he was doing maintenance work. This was no issue for me, just for him.
When I first got married, we would be passionate everywhere, if you know what I mean, bed, floor, couch, where ever. We would do things for each other. And we enjoyed each other’s company. She was from Japan I am white american.
I learned to speak Japanese and we lived in Japan a few years and life was good. We had kids together, but over the years things grew cold between us.
They say that people change and you grow apart. I don’t think either of us changed. I doubt that most people change. What I suspected happened was that I would base my love on how much she loved me and visa versa. If she did something nice for me, I would do something nice for her. Or if I did something nice for her, she would do something nice for me.
That all sounds fine and dandy, but I think in practice, it doesn’t work. When I do something nice for her, I expect something of equal niceness in return. However, often is the case that you don’t perceive what is done in return is as valuable as what you gave him or her. So the next time you do something, you feel less inclined to do something as nice. And so the love kind of fizzles.
You basically stop caring because you perceive your partner as not caring. And chances are your partner feels the same way about you. Neither person has changed. They are both the same person, but the love isn’t there anymore. They let it spiral into nothingness.
That is what my wife and I did. After 20 some odd years of marriage, there was nothing. I really had no desire to do anything for my wife, because she wasn’t going to do anything for me. We didn’t hate each other. We helped each other when needed, but that is about all.
I was unhappy with the marriage. I either wanted out or I wanted it fixed. But after 20 years of marriage, I knew that she wasn’t going to try and fix the marriage. I knew that she thought I would not change so why should she have to do anything special and if I did change, it would only be temporary and things would go back to how they were, so why even try. I knew this would be her mind set.
So I had 3 options. Divorce, stay in the lifeless, sexless marriage, or take a chance and do something about it.
I thought perhaps divorce would be the better way. Start anew. She had given up on me and didn’t care.
But I decided to give it a try anyway. I completely revamped my approach. I decided that I would try for one year to fix this. I would not require her to do anything. I would just do these things on my own. If these things wooed her back then she would be back on her own terms and not mine.
So I did the following.
I committed to get into shape… better diet, exercise
I committed to do something special for her everyday regardless of whether we were getting along or not.
I committed to do at least an additional 30 minutes of house work every day.
I committed to pay her a sincere compliment at least once per day.
I committed not to fight with her and to only have calm arguments with her.
I decided to fix her dinner and breakfast as often as possible.
In essence I decided to love her every day.
As I thought, I got essentially no response from her day after day. I mean she would sometimes say thank you, but that was about it. After about four months she started to change. I kept at it. She continued to change. Ok.. she didn’t change. She was the same person, but she saw that I was trying. She saw that she was important to me. She saw that I wasn’t giving up. She wanted to be loved.
She started doing things for me again. We started talking a lot more and doing a lot more together. We started dating again and going on trips. It was almost like we were newly weds again, but with less passion, but it felt great. Sometimes I would just hold her in my arms for 30 minutes.
Love can be revived. It is not easy. True love takes work. Making the decision above to love her regardless was the second best decision of my life. The first of course was to marry her. Our marriage is not perfect, but I look forward to seeing her every day. She is an awesome woman. She is basically the same person I married. We just let our love die. We were lazy lovers. She asked me one day what got into me and I talked with her about my plan. I think it was a pretty good plan and so did she. And yes, we are still married, but much more happily now.
I knew our love couldn’t be one sided, but I also knew it needed to start somewhere and why not me. Ask yourself, why not you? Do you want the love back? what kind of sacrifice are you willing to make to have the love back? If I had decided that she needed to do something while I was doing something, then we would have been right back to where we started. You can’t base your actions on what the other is doing in return. You need to commit to love regardless of what is done in return. That is the sacrifice and that is where real love will begin.
Edit.
I can’t believe how many people have read and liked this. Someone mentioned the 40 day challenge. I found out about that several months after I started on this path. There is a movie out there along these same lines called fireproof that is worth a watch.
For me things didn’t change around in 40 days. It took quite a bit longer. But you have to ask yourself is divorce really the better way out? Yes, sometimes it is. But infidelity doesn’t have to be the end of life as we know it.
I look back on these events and they seem like a distant memory, the hurt and pain. like a forgotten dream. But it really wasn’t that long ago. I am a better person because of it. She has become a better person as well and we are definitely a better couple.
6 REASONS WHY AMERICANS ARE OBESE. WHAT IS CAUSING THE RISING OBESITY IN THE USA?
It’s no secret that obesity in America has been an ongoing issue and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
In fact, according to Harvard University; about 2 in every 3 adults or 69 percent of the population in the US are overweight while1 in 3 adults are obese or 39 percent.
It has to make you wonder how the most powerful and advanced nation in the world can be so obese especially when compared to countries in Europe and Asia, it’s not like we don’t have the means as a nation for healthier lifestyle and better-quality food.
Or maybe Americans are meant to be obese, and they want us to stay that way? Sounds controversial right, well in this video we will expose 8 reasons why Americans are so obese compared to other countries.
Our country born with troubles since its independence.
Have you ever heard about the Burma Campaign in World War 2? It is quite thorough and one of the most destructive campaigns largely forgotten by Western Powers and historians. The entire infrastructure of the country was destroyed during the course of the war. By the end of the war, the country was totally in rubbles and a massive number of firearms were widespread even in the village level which was left behind by warring powers. The situation was ripe for armed insurgencies.
The country was never been administered as a whole before British arrival. The region out of central Myanmar was usually administered by local petty chiefs with vassal-high king relationship which never need any direct contact between different cultures (except a few tributary missions and merchants). There is no large-scale internal trade and the transportation was also difficult. Different cultures and ethnic groups suddenly came into contact under British rule. As usual, the British exploited the situation by creating a divide & conquer strategy by favouring ethnic minorities over the Burmese majority. This led to extreme Burmese nationalism.
Due to economic disaster in the 1930s and later devastating war, the country is under very hard economic conditions which was a natural breeding ground for communism. The Burmese Communist Party which never believed in British plan for independence already went rebellion even before independence.
Then, the world’s longest-running civil war began.
In the 1950s and 60s, the civil war lost momentum and Burma came under the spotlight of international relations due to its leading role in third world nations, one of the founders of the non-aligned movement. The country was also the only real democratic nation in Southeast Asia with regular elections. The country largely recovered from the war at the beginning of the 1960s and hopes ran high. A federal system was proposed by the ethnic leaders and the government agreed.
All out of sudden, the coup came. At first, people weren’t serious as they already seen a short 2 years long military rule which stabilized the country and the coup ended with the mostly free and fair elections. By the time they realized that the military is no longer intended to give up the power this time, the civil war gained intensity and all the things we achieved in the last 10 years were gone.
The military junta slowly transformed themselves into businessmen by laying hands on the country’s economy entirely. The Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) ran by the military alone control nearly 40–50% of the country’s economy directly or indirectly. With the lack of a proper banking system, the ordinary people have no access to much-needed capital for investments. Small and Medium scale businesses have no chance to grow unless the monopoly of military elites and their relatives were removed.
So he responds in self-defense and you teach him that if the attacker is female he’s supposed to just sit there writhing in pain getting injured? And she got off scott-free?
What’s next? She stabs him and he gets tossed in a closet and fed gruel and water? Because you might as well.
If you knew she attacked first, you should have punished HER. You discipline all parties that have transgressed, not just the ones who have a penis. Having a vagina doesn’t magically bestow immunity on a person.
If you confiscated all his devices, you should have confiscated hers as well. For his month of grounding, she should have received two.
There’s a big difference between a slap in the face (which stings but quickly dissapates) and kicking someone in the jewelies (which could cause irreparable damage).
No. You’re punishment wasn’t good enough. You half-assed it due to sexist reasoning. Go back and discipline your daughter as well.
Who Wants To Be A WARMONGER?!
Inspired by the war hawks that run the West, it’s the game show that always ends badly!
Even though this was a relatively small thing, it affected me profoundly.
On my lunch break from work, I went to a fast food place. A homeless man came in. He was absolutely filthy, with long, greasy hair and dirty hands, dressed in raggedy clothes with a piece of blanket wrapped around him. He smelled bad. He didn’t seem able to talk and he went from table to table, sort of chittering at people, like a rat. People were pretty horrified and either gave him a quarter or just ignored him.
There was one table with 4 Mexican day laborers. These are guys who often are in the U.S. “illegally” and who hang around outside home improvement stores, hoping to pick up jobs. They don’t make much money and sometimes people cheat them, knowing the laborers can’t go to the authorities. A lot of these men may live in one house so they can save money and send it back to their families in Mexico.
When this homeless man came up to their table, they asked him, “Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?” Then they gave him all of their food, packing it up for him so he could carry it away. Then they didn’t go and buy more food themselves (they probably couldn’t afford it), but simply cleared the table and walked out. They knew what it was to suffer, and they very likely would suffer a bit from their generosity. But that didn’t stop them; and they were the best example of kindness I have ever seen. It was over 30 years ago, and it still affects me.
The night my daughter died in a double hit-and-run in Colorado, a stranger stopped to help her and was witness to the second car that hit her, ending her life. He had been trying to help her though; he called for an ambulance and although it was ultimately unsuccessful, every effort was made to save her life. That stranger is a hero as far as I’m concerned.
The man who tried to help was very traumatized by what he had witnessed and had to change jobs so that he no longer had to daily pass by the place where my daughter died as he went to and from work. Unrelated to the accident, he and his wife got rid of their landline when they moved. I wanted very much to thank him but although I had tried every way I knew, his job had changed, he no longer had a telephone I could call 411 for and he no longer lived in the same place. I finally decided that simply being grateful would have to be enough, even if I couldn’t tell him myself.
Two years later, I’m sitting at the dinner table in a hostel in London and strike up a conversation with a guy also having dinner there. He was from the same area as me. He remembered my daughter’s death not just from it being in the news, but because the husband of one of his co-workers had stopped and tried to help the young lady.
OMG.
To make a long story short, he put me in touch with his co-worker and I was able to email her and express my thanks and gratitude for her husband’s efforts that night. She emailed me back and said that although her husband was desperately sorry he couldn’t save her, he was grateful that she didn’t have to die alone. He is a hero in my eyes and I’m so glad I got to let him know how grateful our family is. May he and his loved ones be abundantly blessed.
China Reveals HUGE Sanctions On US Tech Giants Due A STAGGERING Unpaid $1 Trillion
The direct consequences for the implicated U.S. tech companies are potentially disastrous. China is a significant market for many of these entities, and the sanctions could drastically affect their revenue, stock prices, and global operations. Companies like Apple, which rely on China for both sales and a vast portion of their supply chain, could see significant disruptions. The same goes for firms like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, which have invested billions in capturing the Chinese market and establishing a supply chain nexus.
Furthermore, these sanctions could also impact hundreds of smaller U.S. tech firms and startups that might not be direct targets but could suffer collateral damage due to the intertwined nature of the tech ecosystem. This isn’t just a bilateral U.S.-China issue; the sanctions have ramifications for the global tech industry. Supply chains across the world are intricately linked, and disruptions in China could lead to ripple effects impacting tech manufacturing globally. Countries and businesses that rely on these tech giants for critical infrastructure, software, and hardware might find themselves caught in the crossfire.
The European Union, India, Japan, and South Korea, among others, will be closely watching the developments. Any prolonged conflict could force these nations to recalibrate their tech dependencies and alliances. On the diplomatic front, this escalation further strains an already tense U.S.-China relationship. The last few years have witnessed a hardening of stances on both sides, with trade wars, tech bans, and territorial disputes. This new development might just push the diplomatic ties to a new low.
As the news of China’s unprecedented sanctions reverberated across the globe, key stakeholders began weighing in, highlighting the vast complexities of the issue. Major international business councils, traditionally silent on political matters, expressed deep concern over the possible long-term disruptions to global trade. Wall Street responded predictably, with significant declines in tech stock prices. Investor sentiments seem to mirror the broader fears. If China and the U.S., two of the world’s largest economies, can’t resolve their differences amicably, what hope is there for the stability of the global economic order?
Moreover, experts in international relations also sounded the alarm. The escalation of this magnitude in the U.S.-China tech conflict marks a deviation from conventional trade disagreements. The integration of geopolitics with business is not new, but the scale of this rift indicates a deep-seated power struggle reflecting ambitions, fears, and strategies beyond mere economic interests.
One of the most pressing concerns for the sanctioned tech companies and the international community is the verification of China’s claim. How is this enormous one trillion dollars figure reached without transparent documentation and a clear breakdown? Suspicions linger over the validity of such a vast sum. The call for a neutral third-party audit has gained traction in various quarters. International bodies like the World Trade Organization could potentially mediate, ensuring that claims and counterclaims are examined impartially.
While the U.S. government has not yet announced any countermeasures, there’s widespread speculation about potential retaliation. Would the U.S. respond with equivalent sanctions on Chinese tech companies? Could there be a broader economic response that targets other sectors of the Chinese economy? Such a move would undoubtedly lead to further escalation, intensifying the trade war and potentially causing harm to global economic stability.
As an immigrant, one thing that always spooks me is paperwork and all related things to immigration process.
One day, I was outside working on my garden, when I came back inside, there were four missed calls. Just like a habit, I copied and pasted the phone number to Google search, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection – Corpus Christi Border Patrol Station popped up.
I started panicking. Why? Why they called me?!?? So, when the phone number appeared again a few minutes after that, I picked it up.
A woman on the phone let me know that there was someone used my identity to cross the border, tried to traffic drugs into the country. She told me that this could happen because I traveled outside of the country recently (which was correct). I was nervous. Then the woman proceeded to tell me she ‘would help me to verify and straighten things up’. Then she asked me my full name, DoB and Social Number.
At this point, I started smelling B.S. I told her, wasn’t it an identity thief case? Shouldn’t she have those information already? She got furious and told me, she was ‘trying to help’ and I needed to ‘cooperate’ or else I would ‘end up in jail’.
I decided to cut off the call, told her I would contact my lawyer and said goodbye then hung up.
I did some searching, then I decided to call back the phone number. It went to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection – Corpus Christi Border Patrol Station for real. I talked to an officer. He told me I was right hanging up the call and told me scammers nowadays gets really aggressive. They can hi-jack the phone number line like that, so the Caller ID looks like it’s legitimate from government offices. He also told me: If the government wants anything from you, they will send snail mails, they don’t call.
When I was a young boy, growing up in Bridgeport, CT, my father would take myself and my sister to the butcher to buy meat. He would always buy meats that a typical 1960’s era family would buy. This would include pork, beef, chicken, and many many roasts. I am sure that he bought some occasional steaks, as well as lots of pork chops.
What I remember most from that time was the wood sawdust floors, and the fresh hotdogs that he would procure for us from the butcher there.
Today… the “local butcher” is more than likely an employee at a supermarket chain, rather than an individual with a shingle and a business storefront.
It’s a sad thing… you know, to lose something that seems all so common at one time.
In those days, the meat were all wrapped in newspaper or butchers paper, today, it’s all prepackaged in cellophane and sterile.
Appreciate what you have today. The mundane is soon to be replaced with something different. And as you get older, you will reminisce of the common day to day lifestyle that you had once taken for granted.
Today…
2nm Chips
2nm Chips: China to challenge ASML with a new technology better than EUV — Techovedas
In the race for semiconductor chip manufacturing, China has embarked on a groundbreaking venture to revolutionize lithography technology by exploring novel avenues that could potentially disrupt the industry especially ASML.
China is strategizing the establishment of an immense chip manufacturing facility propelled by a particle accelerator to challenge ASML. This technology could be a game-changer that outstrips US sanctions and make China a key player in the chip world. They’re actively pushing forward with the construction of a crucial particle accelerator to bring this cutting-edge technology to life.
This initiative is focused on leveraging particle accelerators to create a cutting-edge laser source for lithography machines, a crucial component in microchip production. Unlike traditional approaches, the Chinese project aims to localize manufacturing and bolster high-volume, low-cost chip production by constructing a colossal factory housing multiple lithography machines around a single accelerator.
This innovation could position China as a global leader in the industrial production of advanced chips, including coveted 2nm chips.
“One of the potential applications of our research is as a light source for future EUV lithography machines. I think this is why the international community is paying close attention,”
Professor Tang Chuanxiang from Tsinghua University in a report on the university’s website.
The SSMB Theory and its Potential:
At the core of this technological breakthrough is the innovative Steady-State Microbunching (SSMB) theory, proposed by Professor Zhao Wu at Stanford University and his student Daniel Ratner in 2010. SSMB theory utilizes the energy released by charged particles during acceleration to act as a light source, resulting in a narrow bandwidth, small scattering angle, and continuous pure Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light.
ASML prioritizes downsizing chip manufacturing machines for international trade. In contrast, the Chinese initiative centers on domestic production. It aims to construct an extensive facility consolidating numerous lithography machines around a central accelerator. This advancement can fuel abundant and cost-effective chip production. It positions China as a leader in industrializing advanced chips, including 2nm and beyond.
China tech Better than ASML EUV
Compared to the existing ASML EUV technology, SSMB, china tech proves to be a superior light source. It offers higher average power and increased chip production while maintaining lower unit costs.
ASML utilizes laser-induced plasma to generate an EUV source, involving the projection of strong laser pulses onto tin microdroplets. This impact crushes the droplets, producing EUV pulse light. Following intricate filtering and focusing processes, an EUV light source with an approximate power of 250W is generated.
Conclusion
China’s ambitious project aims to create a new light source for lithography machines. It utilizes particle accelerators and SSMB theory. This endeavor could reshape the semiconductor industry significantly. China seeks to localize chip manufacturing and diminish reliance on foreign technologies. The focus is on becoming a leader in semiconductor fabrication, particularly in advanced chips like the 2nm chips. The success of the SSMB-EUV light source could revolutionize chip production. It has the potential to unlock new horizons for scientific research and technological innovation. The future of chip manufacturing may very well be illuminated by this groundbreaking Chinese initiative.
Tri-Tip Stroganoff
2023 10 12 12 37
Ingredients
1/2 small onion, diced
1/4 cup butter
1 (1 pound) tri-tip steak
7 fresh mushrooms
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
1 package large egg noodles
Salt, pepper and garlic, to taste
Instructions
Melt butter. Add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent.
Add steak and salt and pepper. Brown steak.
Add fresh mushrooms and cook well.
Add 2 cans cream of chicken soup. Let boil. Add water to thin a little.
Add sour cream last. Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes.
Yes. This is all very valuable data to the CCP. They really want to know how many funny cat videos you watch each week. Also, whether you really like Taylor Swift more than Beyonce. Some of you also watch many videos each week relating to your favourite sports, such as baseball, football and basketball, while others among you may be into cooking, gardening or the latest Internet memes.
These are grave matters of national security that have a significant impact on geopolitics. Therefore the Chinese Communist Party would make it their top priority to get hold of such critical data.
I wish I could explain what you mean to me. I wish I had the words to tell you what you did for my family.
Today my son choked on a sucker outside your window. Today my son turned every color of the rainbow and went limp in my arms. Today you screamed instructions and told me what to do while you ran to me.
You cared.
Today while I was in shock you remembered my oldest son witnessing this and even asked if he was okay while I couldn’t. Today you walked me through every step that I froze on. Today you saved my son’s life without even thinking about it. You called 911 when I was speechless.
Erin and Tami, I wish I could repay the favor but nothing I could do could equal what you did today. After this extreme incident, you went back to work helping people like you do every day, but today was different. Today time stood still for a moment, but you kept moving and kept helping without hesitation.
I hope this reaches you. I hope you know how much I appreciate everything you have done.
Because of you, he smiled on the way home. Because of you, I heard him giggle in his room just now. Because of you, I have time. Time to enjoy these moments.
‘Thank you’ seems like the smallest word on the planet. but has the most powerful meaning. You took just a few minutes out of your day to give me a lifetime more with my son and I will forever be grateful.
So, 10 years, that would be 2013. I had just started my job as a producer at a big game company, working on a high-profile, very well-known title. By that time, I had a few years of production experience with various start-ups and large companies, mostly doing outsourcing work or working on smaller games. But I never directly involved in the production of an AAA title. That job was my big break into the actual, “legit” game production, the kind you’d see your name listed when the credit started rolling. I was full of aspirations and unrealistic expectations about what production (of an AAA box title video game) was like, as in, video game production was like a well-oiled machine. We all do our part, and magic happens. I was very ready to give it 120%. As for burnout, what burnout? If you love video games, you won’t get burned out because you’re working on something you love, right? Right?
Oh, I have so many horror stories to tell the 2013 me. It didn’t even take long for me to get burned out. I worked for that company for 3 years and experienced burnout multiple times. The first couple of times, it wasn’t that bad. I barely felt it. It’s just a long period of exhaustion and numbness. I could usually recover, especially if there was a holiday break right after the release crunch. Then I couldn’t recover. I was in a perpetual state of numbness and exhaustion that impacted every aspect of my life, not just work.
But it’s OK, I tell myself. I wanted this. This is what it takes to ship a game.
I changed jobs and worked on a different game. I told myself it was OK. I was not doing it for the company or even the game. I was doing it for my team. They were like my family.
The other day, I read one of my older answers about game production, and I said in that answer: you came for the title. You stay for the team. And I laughed at myself. Oh, silly, silly me. Your team ain’t your family, Feifei. “Found Family” is a literary trope, not a real thing you can actually go search in real life. To think, I actually told candidates that this company was like a big family when I did interviews, not knowing it was a gigantic red flag if you’re applying for a job. I was a walking red flag of burnout, and I didn’t have the self-awareness to see it in the mirror.
I’m glad I got out of that fantasy back in 2020.
So what advice would I give the 2013 me? Nothing.
Because the 2013 me wouldn’t listen. I was stubborn and so full of myself. I knew what I wanted, and I was going to get it. Ain’t nobody gonna tell me no. I wouldn’t listen to anyone, even the 2023 me. 2013 me would tell the 2023 me that she can make a difference. She wouldn’t end up working a middle management corporate job that gets off work at 5 p.m. because that’s pathetic.
Something in life you just have to learn the hard way. You have to learn from experience. You have to learn from having your dream and aspiration crushed by being exploited mercilessly and discarded.
So, what do I say if I met my 2013 self?
“You go, girl! You can do this!”
Cambodia risks & dangers, friends death (Natalia Montoni) and No Joke Howard
One evening my boyfriend and I were going dancing and I had forgotten something at work. So I dropped by dresses in a slinky black dress and high heeled shoes. When I walked in I noticed one of the staff showing a woman her cake, as I retrieved my item I had a view of her face. When they open the box her face just fell. I walked over and asked if there was a problem. Then I saw the cake, I hadn’t been the one who had decorated it but I had seen the order a few days earlier when it had come in. I knew what she was expecting and that wasn’t it. I could see she was about to cry. Before she got there, I asked, can you me give 15–20 minutes to fix this for you.
She said yes!
So I grabbed an apron. Went to the bathroom, put my hair up and washed my hands. Since it was an ice cream cake I was able to simply slice the top off, re ice it. While it froze I custom mixed the colors to correct her order. Then I decorated it while In the freezer. I threw in a couple of extra little things to make up for the problem. Boxed in and brought it out to her. She loved it. She went home.
The next day there was a nice thank you card and a $100.00 dollar bill waiting for me when I got to work. A one hundred dollar tip in 1977 was pretty exciting.
This was July-ish of 2004 and I was flying in an official capacity, on military orders, so I had a lot of my kit with me. Anyone who has done this will tell you, your orders can give you a little extra weight allowance, but they will still be very clear on the number of bags you can check. Those of us in the military become very proficient at bag-Tetris in order to get everything we need into what limited carrying capacity we have. These skills are acquired over time, and you definitely don’t have them when you join.
The rocket surgeons at the TSA decided that my kit bags just had to be dumped and looked through. It might have been related to the Pelican case I was checking with my weapon in it, but, as I said, I was flying on orders. There were several questions about what certain items were, and implications that they were contemplating removing them from my checked bags (which would have be a lot of fun with the items which were government property). I was growing impatient, as the ample amount of time I had before my flight was rapidly dwindling, and I am sure that it was starting to show.
My guess is that a supervisor saw all of my kit on their tables and decided to swing by, because there he was, asking what was happening. I explained the situation, and he informed the TSA “agents” that a) they couldn’t confiscate any of my kit and b) they needed to stop giving me “special attention”. The minimum wage power trippers reluctantly obeyed and said “ok, you can pack it all back up.” ←that right there was the “you gotta be kidding me” moment.
I replied that they dumped it, they needed to pack it. They responded very smugly that it wasn’t their job to repack my bags, and I’d either do it myself or they’d dispose of the items as abandoned. I was now pissed and getting ready to start in to my argument, but the supervisor beat me to it. “Sorry guys, but all of that stuff is in the secured area and we can’t let a passenger past the barrier. You’ll have to get it packed back up. *looks at my ticket* And his flight leaves in 45 minutes…you’ve got less than 10.”
It was excellent fun to watch them try to repack my kit bags, looking like a monkey with a math problem, but I was getting honestly nervous about making my flight. They got it packed up in almost 20 minutes, and the supervisor made a radio call that priority bags were coming and to not button up the flight. He then gave me a golf cart escort through security and to my gate. Before he left me there, he stuck out his hand to shake mine, and introduced himself. Mr. Smith, Sergeant First Class, Retired.
Why Is The UK So Miserable?
Really good round-up man! Left UK for Thailand 9 months ago and loving it. Miss family and countryside but everyday life is just more enjoyable!
Several years ago, as my husband and I walked our dog to a nearby park, we’d pass a modest house with a boxer in the front yard. Our dog would stop to socialize with the boxer, and eventually we got to know its owner, a very nice, elderly Englishwoman who, it turned out, was a World War II war bride/widow.
A few years on, our friend suffered a stroke. As she had no family (she was childless), my husband and I looked after her property, and visited her as often as possible in the hospital and in rehab. She finally came back home, and we would stop by often and make sure she was doing OK.
After a year or so, weakened by her ordeal, she died, and my husband and I arranged for her funeral services. A few weeks later, we received a call from her lawyer, who asked me to go to her house and look for her will. I did, and found it in a lockbox in a closet.
We knew she was a strong advocate for animals, so we assumed she had left her assets to appropriate charities. Turns out that initially she had, but after her first stroke, she had contacted her lawyer, changed her will, and left us everything. Her house, her bank account, *everything.* We were flabbergasted.
To this day, I’m insanely grateful, but you know what? I wish she was still with us. She taught our autistic son how to tie his shoes, and every time I watch him do so, I think of her, and miss her.
Two Weeks ago
“Two weeks ago, my 90-year-old mother, Catherine Ritchie, was preparing herself for bed at around 9pm.
After brushing her teeth and hair, she turned around to find her bed completely engulfed in flames.
She made an attempt to extinguish the flames herself by throwing blankets and pillows on the fire.
The smoke and heat were so overwhelming that she immediately got disoriented, gave up fighting the fire, and decided to flee.
She pushed the emergency call button she wears on her necklace, called 911, and attempted to get out of her now engulfed bedroom.
She walked into the closet several times thinking it was the door that leads to the hallway. It wasn’t. She couldn’t find her way out. She was stuck. Smoke everywhere.
Across the street, 4 boys saw the smoke and reflection of flames. Not an adult in sight. 4 kids who took immediate action to save an elderly woman who they couldn’t guarantee was home and who 3 of them had never even met.
One started breaking the glass on the front door. One called 911. One went to the back door and began kicking it in. One went to the neighbors for an ax and help.
Within minutes, a door was kicked in by a 14-year-old child who found my mother in the hallway outside of her bedroom and picked her up in his arms.
Kids who are told about all the things they aren’t old enough to do saved the life of the most precious and beloved woman we know.
Courageous young men. Young men who risked their own lives, their own safety, perhaps their good standing with their parents who might have chosen for them to do otherwise, and they carried my mother out of her burning home into the street, where firetrucks and ambulances would soon arrive.
Dylan Wick – 16 years old, Nick Byrd – 14 years old, Seth Byrd – 16 years old, and Wyatt Hall – 17 years old, thank you! Thank you for your selfless acts of heroism and courage.
Thank you for not allowing this to be the tragic end to our mother’s amazing life.
Thank you for staying with her, hugging her, and helping her feel less alone until we could get to her.
Thank you for being the kind of young men who thought about another person above yourselves.
Thank you for staying safe yourselves as well. Thank you to your parents who obviously raised you in such a way that lead to you making life saving and heroic decisions on behalf of someone else.
Thank you for more than we know how to thank you for! We will forever be indebted to the time you bought for us and the example you set for us. God Bless each of you for being such a blessing to us.
Sincerely,
Michael Ritchie, Karen Ritchie Sontag, Pat Ritchie, Jimmy Ritchie, Kelly Ritchie, John Ritchie, Tim Ritchie, Tom Ritchie, Missy Ritchie Nicholas, Ryan Ritchie, and 42 very grateful grandchildren.”
San Jose, California Has Some Major Soul Searching To Do
San Jose, California. Population one million. Well, wait – there WERE a million people here a few years ago, but there have been a lot of people who have left.
For the first time since 2013, San Jose’s population dropped below a million people.
Why?
Well, there’s a LOT of people leaving California in general.
Only Illinois saw more people move away.
I mean look the highways. They’re empty. It’s so expensive here, for one. Real estate costs are outrageous, and taxes are going up all the time.
The politics here are turning a lot of people off. It’s getting more dangerous, and there’s homeless people taking over parts of town.
And people can work from home now.
Why raise a family here, when you can settle down in a place that’s just…better?
That’s not good for a place like the Silicon Valley, which has relied on talent to be HERE with their butts in seats. They’re gonna have to figure that out – cause word is out among tech workers who don’t need to be here anymore.
I don’t know if it counts as a battlefield but when serving in Germany in 1974 I was in charge of a unit composed of three Royal Engineers and nine Gurkha riflemen. One night we were called out to investigate a possible unexploded bomb unearthed by some construction workers. The suspect object had been discovered while digging a deep trench in loose sandy soil.
On arrival my riflemen set up a security cordon around the site while I climbed down to the bottom of the trench to evaluate the object. That is the last thing I remember as the loose sandy soil of the trench collapsed burying me alive. All of my squad immediately ignored common sense as well as standard operating procedures and jumped into the collapsed trench. Their efforts to move the sand covering me were hampered by the clearly exposed bomb which had fallen out of the trench wall and was lying on top of the pile of sand.
They got a land rover reversed up to the side of the trench and tied a rope between the bomb and the truck. They then dragged a thousand pounds of high explosive which had been burried for thirty years bumping and jolting out of the trench and across the building site. All the time they were still digging or forming a bucket chain to remove the sand.
I cannot ever forget the risks those men took to save me. But for those men’s efforts I would not be here today and writing this answer.
Going anonymous here for reasons that will be obvious soon.
I work on Wall Street in a front office position on the trading floor as a sales-trader.
You can already see this is probably not the “safest” environment.
I used to work in a large bank. I was constantly sexually harassed. I had clients who would send me IBs (Bloomberg IMs) in group chats with my manager and other sales-traders saying how “hot” they thought I was and that they had huge male appendages, asking me what kind of bra I was wearing, things of that nature. I’ve sat next to men who watched porn all day at work on their iPhones. I’ve had managers from other desks proposition me in return for introductions to clients (I never accepted).
I was a high producer at this bank and the other sales-traders hated me for it, because I was much younger. They made up rumors that I was sleeping with all my clients (of course not true).
I worked my ass off. I worked 12-hour days every day and then on weekends. I was out meeting clients every week. My co-workers would roll into the office at 7 and leave at 4:15 on the dot.
Now, of course, all of this is on the manager’s side.
When my manager was fired, one of the other sales-traders who hated me was promoted. His first move was to get me fired. HR (this is where they stepped in) decided to put a negative mark on my U-5. A U-5, for those not in finance, is a form for registered employees. It follows you for life. It discusses why you were fired. Most banks will write something innocuous like reduction of headcount or terminated employee. The reason for a U-5 is more for if you’ve done something really bad. Stealing from clients, hiding trading losses, something like that. They wrote on mine “failure to meet management expectations,” which basically means “you were a crap sales-person.” It’s virtually impossible to get a job after this in sales. To get it removed, you need to go through arbitration with FINRA, which costs an obscene amount of money.
My bank did this to many people for no reason, mostly to junior employees who wouldn’t be able to afford to pay for a lawyer. It’s a disgusting practice.
Update: I wanted to let everyone know. I’m not really sure *why* they did this except out of revenge. HR probably went along with it because management wanted it. Management wanted it because I had (and still have) very loyal clients, whose business they thought they could take. I took my bank to arbitration and won. It took a long time and a lot of money that I’ll never get back. I did manage to get a job after, doing the same thing at a smaller firm. It actually worked out as this firm is a lot better run with a group of people who are great at their job. (I’m also making more money… go figure!) I was lucky as I got this job before I went through arbitration (which is a long process). I had clients who spoke to my firm on my behalf, advocating for me, and a few former coworkers. I was lucky in that sense.
Update 2 (Dec/30/2016): Wow thanks for all the upvotes! This has gotten more upvotes than any of my other (non-anonymous) answers, lol. I am still checking this so please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below – happy to elaborate or give advice if I can. Thanks!
Update 3 (Feb/28/2017): More than 6k upvotes – WOW! Thanks, everyone! There are a few comments from people asking me to name-and-shame my old employer. Trust me, I would love to do that! I signed an agreement upon termination agreeing not to disparage my former employer. This is a pretty disparaging note and I’m not looking to get sued. All I will say is that I worked at a bank in NYC. For those accusing me of not looking out for my fellow women… it’s a tricky situation. Everyone (women/men/etc) needs to be careful and prepared for complicated situations in the workplace. This is NOT limited to Wall Street. Just this week there have been several major reports of sexual harassment: Bloomberg, Uber, Tesla, and Signet Jewelers. This problem is rampant and hardly limited to one industry or one company. I hope we as a people get better at treating people with respect.
Drill Instructor (DI) pacing before the platoon (in the typical cadence of DIs everywhere): “Alright you lamebrains, settle in. We have word of where you will be posted. You will be sent as a platoon to the Pacific Islands where you will assist in removing Japanese invaders from their lands. I, and others, have taught you everything you need to know about being good soldiers. Now that I know where you are going, I will need to teach you about something that may save your life.”
“You need to learn about the Hairy Water Swamp Viper. “
DI in the typical “singsong” voice of DIs: “The Hairy Water Swamp Viper is three to three and a half feet in length. An inch to an inch and a half in diameter. Covered with three eighths inch hairs, colored orange black orange black orange black.”
“If you are crawling through the jungle and you see the Hairy Water Swamp Viper poised thusly to strike (holds his arm like a snake about to strike), there is one, and only one thing to do to save your life.”
“You must leap to your feet (DI demonstrating throughout), and place your left foot forward and pointing at the snake. Place your right foot back and perpendicular to your left. Extend the left arm fully, palm parallel and facing the ground. Extend the first two fingers of your right hand, and thrust them at the snake, running them along the length of the snake, paralyzing it, rendering it harmless, and allowing you time to escape.”
The DI straightens himself up and points to one of the platoon members.
DI: “Private Egghead, tell me everything you know about the Hairy Water Swamp Viper!”
Private Egghead leaps to his feet.
Private Egghead: “The Hairy Water Swamp Viper is three to three and a half feet in length. An inch to an inch and a half in diameter. Covered with three eighths inch hairs, colored orange black orange black orange black.”
“If you are crawling through the jungle and you see the Hairy Water Swamp Viper poised thusly to strike (holds his arm like a snake about to strike), there is one, and only one thing to do to save your life.”
“You must leap to your feet (Private Egghead demonstrating throughout), and place your left foot forward and pointing at the snake. Place your right foot back and perpendicular to your left. Extend the left arm fully, palm parallel and facing the ground. Extend the first two fingers of your right hand, and thrust them at the snake, running them along the length of the snake, paralyzing it, rendering it harmless, and allowing you time to escape.”
DI; “Very good, private. Be seated.”
DI: “I will be following the platoon to the jungles in a few weeks. Good luck men, and stay safe.”
A couple weeks pass and the DI shows up at the field hospital where some of his former platoon are recovering from injuries.
First he sees Private Smith. Private Smith is missing both arms.
DI: “Private Smith, what happened to you?”
Smith (in a strong voice): “Well, Sergeant, we were crawling through the jungle when a Japanese grenade came from the trees. I wrapped my arms around it and protected my buddies.”
DI: “You’re a brave man, Private. You’ll be going home soon.”
Next the DI sees Private Jones. Private Jones has no legs.
DI: “Private Jones, what happened?”
Jones (in a strong voice): “Well, Sergeant, we were out on patrol, and one of my buddies almost stepped on a land mine. I managed to push him away, but I landed on the mine and it took my legs.”
DI: “Well, you’re a brave man, Private. You’ll be going home soon.”
The DI visits a few more of the men, and finally, in the last bed, he sees him. Private Egghead is wrapped head to toe in bandages.
The DI takes a seat beside the bed and looks crestfallen. “Private Egghead, you were my best soldier. What happened to you?”
Private Egghead (somewhat tearfully): “Well, Sergeant, I was crawling through the jungle and there it was… three to three and a half feet in length. An inch to an inch and a half in diameter. Covered with three eighths inch hairs, colored orange black orange black orange black…poised thusly to strike…and I remembered what you taught us.”
“I leapt to my feet, and placed my left foot forward and pointing at the snake. I placed my right foot back and perpendicular to my left. I extended my left arm fully, palm parallel and facing the ground. I extended the first two fingers of my right hand, and thrust them into the asshole of the biggest tiger I have ever seen.”
TikTok on the cost of living | RANT ON INFLATION | EVERYONE IS BROKE AND TIRED
That 27 year old was too right. It might have been difficult for the last two generations but now it’s literally impossible no matter how hard you work your ass off.
I walked into one of the biggest “Banks” in “America”. I had a $100 bill and asked for change. The teller asked if I had an account. I said no. She said they could only make change for customers. I stood there stunned for a second. Then I realized something and said “actually I am a customer. Every time I use your ATM I get charged a fee. That makes me a customer”. She just said “sorry, that doesn’t count”. So I walked away. Since then I haven’t used that bank for any reason. No credit cards, no mortgages, no car loans, etc. I’m sure they don’t need my business though. Which is good because they will never get it.
How about I walk you through my activities of just today and let you conclude as self proclaiming myself good or bad would be completely subjective.
Here goes nothing.
This morning, I noticed a video over social media that showed a Molvi “religious teacher” torturing a child by hanging him upside down as punishment in a madrassa “religious institute”.
The video had the caption “This incident happened in xyz town”.
Content of the video shook me, I was downright furious to no end. Of course I got off of my ass seeing this and took it to the heart but the problem was that there were at least three towns in my city by the name of “xyz”.
What do I do now? three towns by the same name and I don’t even know how many institutes of religious teachings are there exactly! How do I trace the place to capture this bearded monster?
All I had was the video that was recorded inside a room.
And the pain and empathy for the innocent victim.
That’s it.
Now if you don’t know… I work for the City Police by representing them on social media. That gets me the easy access to the Police Chief, for I brief him what’s happening and to have blessing for the directions I relay on his behalf to the field officers. That goes on through whatsapp or phone calls mostly.
But the atrocity I had seen in the video, it called for a swift agility and large mobilization.
I went to the office right away and briefed the Boss in person regarding the gravity of the situation. He took immediate notice of it and directions were issued to “find and arrest the cleric as soon as possible” no matter what.
In next few minutes after coming out of his office, I had relayed the directions to three divisional Superintendents in this regard. At least 200 cops were dispatched to find the place or die trying! And as they say,,, when there’s a will, hell yea there’s a way.
We found it!
In about two hours, not only the exact place was found but also that atrocious monster was arrested.
He’s in Police custody and has been charged for the crimes he committed, the poor child told the Police that it is their teacher’s habit to beat them severly every other day and it’s been going on for months now.
Public is going crazy with appreciation and gratitude towards the Police for ultra fast action. Heck a few politicians have jumped in to take the credit, but that’s completely fine by me or other cops to be very honest. It’s their thing to put up a show, they can have it.
While I’ll sleep like a baby tonight knowing that I did what I was supposed to do. Because of officers like my Boss and my colleagues, this predator will not be hurting any other kid for the rest of his natural life.
We’ll make sure of that!
But there’s so much the Police can do, right?
Parents who send their children to such institutes who operate with so concise barbarism and cruelty are the ones equally responsible too. I wouldn’t even let anyone touch my children let alone hurt them.
Don’t be okay with that because it’s not okay, it’s insane.
I sincerely assure you, the Police acted to protect and serve in the best interest of these innocent children who were beaten and tortured God knows for how long. Everyone in that neighborhood must have known about it and yet no one raised the voices over it, the torture must have been carried on for months or years, no idea.
On the other side,
A mere constable watched the video and voila! A difference was made.
See? I don’t think if I’m a good or bad Police Officer really.
But I’m damn good at getting the job done accordingly.
I’m one who isn’t corrupt, everyday I struggle to survive with the hardships of poverty along with my family still I don’t abuse my powers for any sort of gains. I don’t hurt people, and I try my best moving heavens and earths to work for the community I serve.
Mostly, I get cursed and demeaned anyway but then again I’m fine with that.
The Financial System Is Rigged!! You Need To Know The TRUTH!
These largely ‘non-crypto’ videos really are some of my favourites. So easy to digest and informative.
Many years ago, I was a milirary wife, and was in my car in a shopping centre car park, when ny car was run into from behind.
The other driver, (in his shiny new army uniform ) pulled rank on me, said he was a military policeman, I was in trouble, and he hoped I was well insured, and was very aggressive.
I sat quietly, until he asked for my insurance. Then I suggested he ring my husband for the details, as he was his new boss. And obviously outranked him substantially.
It was amusing to watch him deflate.
He then got called in to the office and reprimanded for pulling rank on a civilian.
Take a Virtual Reality tour of six REAL exoplanets (4K, 360° VR experience) | We The Curious
We Russians like to think of ourselves as a no-nonsense people. Vodka is a no-nonsense drink. We make a great pair.
Wine, beer and the rest of the stuff involve too much of gustatory and olfactory factors. Too cumbersome to produce, shelf life as a factor of quality, the confusion of picking the right sort. You bring in your buddies, and they drink—and someone always comments on something that is not all perfect about the taste, or smell, or color, or vintage. Neither mismatches with the food and the occasion will ever go unnoticed. This is all so irritating!
Vodka makes you free. Correctly brewed, it doesn’t smell or taste anything. Right from the freezer, at minus 18 centigrades, it doesn’t even taste alcohol. Heaven enters your body as effortlessly as the air you are breathing.
Vodka is timeless, affordable, simple. It’s the Godly promise of clarity, ease and elegance which are often too hard to come around at our place.
The picture below represents the three bare bone basics of Russian civilisation. Rug bread is the food that has been carrying us through thick and thin. The faceted glass cup is said to be designed by a Soviet woman
, when Communist-made glass turned out too brittle and opaque for the regular smooth circular cups. And of course vodka, looking like water, the baseline liquid of life—but much, much cooler!
Nope. Was making $125 K a year plus benefits, profit sharing, car and 401K. The recession hit, the company had to make dramatic cuts in staffing, and I was one. Shook hands with my boss, even gave him a lift to the airport. Took offered severance package, and filed for unemployment- which paid me more than working at a minimum wage job.
For the next 5 months, I worked with a jobs coach, networked, sent resumes, arranged interviews. At that point, my JOB was to FIND a job I wanted- and wanted me. And I worked at it every day.
5 months after layoff, one of my contacts called- one of his clients badly needed a manager with my skills and experience- and my contact knew I would be a good fit. Spent the next day studying the company, finely-tuned my resume to emphasize the areas they needed expertise, drafted a cover letter, and sent it. Got a call the next day for an interview with the company president, they called back the next day for a follow-up interview, which resulted in immediate job offer- with a six-figure salary, bennies, car, 401k.
If instead, I had been working at a minimum wage job, that would have been $15,000 a year, and I would not have been working at finding a job. PS- 5 years later, I retired from that job. Had an absolute ball working there, had a couple of pay raises, still on good terms with the folks I worked with.
Oh SH*T, they’re are actively pushing a FOREVER war against Putin
Amazing analysis by Scott Ritter , he is 100% right , he nailed it.
It’s a big deal, the Hangzhou Asian Games. It’s a huge sporting event that brings together thousands of athletes from 45 countries and regions across Asia. It’s also the third time that China has hosted the Asiad, after Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010. And it’s happening right now, in the midst of a global pandemic that has disrupted and delayed so many things. But not this. Not the Hangzhou Asian Games.
So how do the participants from other countries feel about this event? Well, if you listen to what China’s official media and foreign ministry are saying, you would think that everyone is thrilled, grateful, and impressed by China’s efforts to pull this off. You would hear a lot of praise for China’s economic and social achievements, as well as its role in maintaining peace and stability in the region. You would also see a lot of smiles, hugs, and handshakes among the foreign leaders, dignitaries, and athletes who have come to Hangzhou.
For instance, on Saturday night, Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the Games at a dazzling ceremony that featured a lotus-shaped stadium, a giant LED screen, and a theme of “Tides Surging in Asia”. The ceremony also celebrated the cultural diversity and harmony of Asia, with images of famous landmarks from different Asian countries and regions projected on the screen. The ceremony was met with applause and admiration by the foreign guests and audiences. The acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Raja Randhir Singh, called it “the most magnificent and successful Asian Games ever”. The president of OCA, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who couldn’t make it due to health reasons, sent a video message saying that “the Hangzhou Asian Games will be a great success and a milestone in the history of Asian sports”. And the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also sent a congratulatory message to President Xi Jinping, saying that he hoped “the Hangzhou Asian Games will be a symbol of friendship and solidarity among Asian countries”.
Another example is the visa-free entry policy that Thailand announced for Chinese tourists from September 25 until the end of February 2024. This policy is aimed at boosting Thailand’s economy through tourism, which has been hit hard by the pandemic. Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha personally welcomed Chinese tourists at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on the first day of the visa-free policy. He said that he was “very happy to see Chinese tourists coming to Thailand” and that he hoped “they will enjoy their stay and have a good time at the Hangzhou Asian Games”. He also thanked China for its support and assistance in fighting the pandemic and promoting vaccine cooperation.
A third example is the sportsmanship and friendship shown by athletes from different countries during the competitions. Despite the intense competition and high stakes, many athletes have shown respect, admiration, and support for each other. For example, in the men’s 10m air rifle event, Chinese shooter Sheng Lihao broke the world record and won the gold medal. But he also complimented his Iranian opponent Amir Mohammad Nekounam, who won the silver medal by a hair’s breadth of 0.1 point. Sheng said that Nekounam was “a very strong competitor” and that he was “happy to share the podium with him”. Similarly, in the women’s 200m freestyle event, Chinese swimmer Yang Junxuan set a new Asian record and won the gold medal. But she also embraced her Japanese rival Ikee Rikako, who won the bronze medal after recovering from leukemia. Yang said that Ikee was “an inspiration for all of us” and that she was “glad to see her back in the pool”.
So there you have it. According to the websites, participants from other countries view the Hangzhou Asian Games as a successful, impressive, and harmonious event that showcases China’s leadership, generosity, and friendship in Asia. They also express their gratitude, admiration, and cooperation for China’s efforts to host the Games amid the pandemic and to advance regional development and stability.
Apple’s Latest iPhone Maker Foxconn Gives Bonus To Attract More Chinese Workers Amid US Restrict
US lost the plot decades ago when they turned their education system into a piggy bank. Today they graduate less than 500k STEM candidates at year. All of them saddled in 5-6 digit debts. China graduates over 5 million a year. With zero debt from what I understand. Who do you think is going to win in a tech race? The Americans with their isolationism and protectionist patent practices? Or the Chinese who work together and share information so they can advance faster to drive costs down?
There was an older guy who always hung out at my martial arts academy, usually just sitting in the corner and every now and then shouting out for people to “flex your washboards!” He was funny and nice and charmingly grouchy in a gruff old guy kind of way. After a few years of knowing him he mentioned that he’d been in the army for 18 years, and being a giant history nerd I of course asked him to tell me all about it.
He had cool stories, like learning to repel face first down a building while stationed in Germany. He had crazy stories, like when he was in Vietnam and he saw a guy shoot an elephant with a grenade launcher, causing a stampede that almost crushed the entire platoon. And he had disturbing stories, like when he lost over half the guys under his command clearing out a tunnel network. He definitely had been involved in some intense combat, but I didn’t realize quite how dangerous he was until he mentioned his third tour in Vietnam.
“I was there the last time on a civilian passport working for the CIA. You know what Operation Phoenix is?”
I didn’t know, so I went and looked it up. Turns out it was a program to flush out the Vietcong in South Vietnam. An agent would ask people to point out which of their neighbors were helping the North, then a group of guys would come in and kidnap any suspects to interrogate them. Not necessarily the most ethical thing ever, but maybe understandable. But the more I read, the worse it got. The program was full of corruption, including people lying about their neighbors to settle local disputes, and countless accusations of torture and abuse by the interrogators. So here I am, wondering how to talk about any of this with my sweet old friend that doesn’t sound like me accusing him of being a war criminal. The next time I saw him I tried to thread that needle.
“Hey, so I read up on Operation Phoenix. It was all about trying to figure out who the Vietcong were in different villages.”
“Yep, that’s right.”
“I, uh, did read that there was maybe some controversy though. Like, um, some of the people said they were kidnapped and tortured.”
“Kidnapped and tortured? No way.” I breathed a sigh of relief, while he looked really thoughtful. “No, all I ever did was ambush and murder people in the jungle.” Then he chuckled a little.
And that’s how I found out my friend used to be a cold blooded killer. Really nice guy though. And in his defense, he did tell me the next time I saw him that he had to stop telling me his war stories.
“I need to take a break, man. All last week the nightmares were back.”
Matt Gaetz shakes up the uniparty
American politics, and issues related to it. Good talk.
Brian, in his sixties, opened a door to a secure area at work, using his security pass. Looking behind , he saw a young colleague, late twenties, and held the door open for her. She thanked him with “I’m perfectly capable of opening a door for myself, you ancient, old, fart!”
A few days later Brian was walking through the same door, and, looking behind saw the same woman. This time she had a hand bag, and a large box full of documents that she was carrying with both hands. He let the door close (possibly helping it on it’s way, just a little).
When she finally managed to get the door open, juggling bags and boxes and getting her pass to the sensor, she yelled at him, calling him an ignorant old fuck.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Brian, “I thought you were a perfectly capable young lady”.
Being a capable young lady, she told him to “fuck off!”
Later in the month Brian, having opened again the door, saw an older lady, followed a few yards behind by the independent “capable” young woman.
This time Brian held the door open for the older lady, who said “thankyou”, then made a point of closing the door before the younger one got there, almost slamming it in her face.
A couple of days later, Brian was summoned to HR to explain his behaviour.
Which he did. Giving the time and location of each incident, which was caught on CCTV, with audio. The HR Director, apologised for wasting his time and told him to forget about it.
Brian refused to forget about it, and asked for an apology.
Which he got.
THOUSANDS Of Ukrainian Troops Surrender To Russia!
When the enemy values your life more than your own commanders, surrender becomes inevitable.
You will see the CIA hand in supplying Ukrainian weapons to Palestine.
Israel is now pinned to the wall, and they are helpless. The rest of the world are holding the darts. Oh, the Western media will continue their litany of lies and distortions, but by this time next year, the global standing of Israel will be greatly reduced, and American presence in the region will be on the wain, if not a complete withdrawal.
The jackals are out to feast on the carcass of the evil. And it is NOT going to be pretty.
As of 10:51 AM EDT on Sunday, October 8, 2023, it is confirmed that three Israeli Radar stations in the north have been attacked and destroyed. Israel has no radar to monitor into Lebanon. It is also confirmed that Americans have been killed, wounded, and captured/kidnapped inside Israel.
Overnight, after what was “Day one” of the HAMAS-Israel fight, an actual TSUNAMI of propaganda came flooding out onto the Internet and into the mass-media. The shear volume of propaganda is extraordinary. It is making it very difficult to discern what is truth and what is fiction.
There is an INTENSE effort to promote and propagate Israeli victims – and that’s OK I guess; they are, in fact, victims of an actual conflict. But there is also an absolutely unparalleled effort to suppress and censor anything factual about the Palestinians. It is almost as if the public is being manipulated into seeing ALL Israelis as “victims” and ALL Palestinians as animalistic perpetrators.
Official sources are very reluctant to provide Intel today. It’s like a giant lid has been slammed shut on factual information; only “the narrative” is allowed out.
I have had to adjust the manner in which I obtain information.
Here is what I can __confirm__:
My former colleagues in the Intel Community, from my years working with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), confirm that over a week ago, uniformed, flag-wearing, ID-carrying regular UKRAINIAN Army Troops attacked Wagner PMC Troops . . . . in . . . . . . SUDAN. You know, Africa!
I also found out that Mossad has been sabotaging/burning/blowing-up Iranian Drone Factories to stymie Iran helping Russia.
I also found out that planeloads of Israeli military weaponry were sent to Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan in the days and weeks before Azerbaijan launched another military attack upon Armenia last week, grabbing Nagrono-Karaback and forcing 100,000 Armenian Christians to flee for their lives.
What is taking place inside Israel right now, is payback. Payback from Russia for Israel helping Ukraine. Payback for the planeloads of weapons to Baku, Azerbaijan, and Payback for Israel blowing up Iranian drone factories.
It is also payback from Iran for all the air-strikes by Israel against Iranian forces in Syria for the past two years.
Lastly, it is also payback from Armenia for what Israel helped Azerbaijan facilitate in grabbing Nagorna Karaback.
The most interesting part? Iran used the $6 Billion released by the Biden administration two weeks ago, to fund today’s outbreak of hostilities!
I also found out this payback, is not going to stop.It __is__ in fact, “war.”
Moreover, I can now positively __confirm __:
This morning, the Israeli Security Cabinet invoked Article 40A of the “Law on Emergency Situations” — WAR.
So this morning, it is absolutely “official” Israel is at war. This is the first time that this Article has been invoked in Israel since the 1973 war.
Israel has decided to commit troops to a GROUND INVASION of the Gaza Strip. Door-to-Door. House-to-house.
This is going to be an absolute bloodbath.
I can also positively __ confirm__:
Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Alexander Ben Zvi told the Russian Government:
“Israel sees Tehran as one of the culprits of the Hamas attack.”
He then went on to tell Russia “This is how we quietly approached the threshold of the real use of Israeli nuclear weapons against Iran, and a demonstration of what the term “threat to the existence of the state” means . . . from the Russian “Fundamentals of State Policy in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence.”
I can now also positively __confirm__:
There are some 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip. About half being men. If that half – or a good portion of it, were to come out into Israel bearing arms, the Israelis would be over run. Thus, the Ambassador to Moscow told the Russians that Israel is considering the use of smaller, “Tactical” nuclear bombs against Gaza, in case Israel is over-run. Same with the West Bank.
Finally, the Israeli Ambassador to Moscow told the Russian government that since Israel sees Iran as being primarily responsible for the ongoing onslaught, Tehran would be hit with much larger “Strategic nuclear bombs” as would . . . . Damascus, Syria, for being the Coordination point for HAMAS and Iran.
(Biblical: Damascus a ruinous heap?????)
Ergo, there is now actual and active discussion within the Israeli government of the potential use of nuclear weapons.
If Muslims begin to actually over-run Israel, where its existence is threatened, then Israel is already making known it will use the Samson Option and take a lot of people out.
HEZBOLLAH MASSING TROOPS
Hezbollah in Lebanon is already massing troops and moving rocket launchers. Hezbollah made clear yesterday that if Israel launches a ground war into the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah will attack from the north.
This morning, Israeli combat aircraft are in the skies over Lebanon all the way north to Kersewan, Lebanon.
There have been some mortars fired into Israel from Lebanon, and corresponding response with artillery fire from Israel, but these incidents do not even rise to the description of a skirmish.
RADAR KNOCKED OUT
The big news this morning is that THREE (3) Israeli radar stations in the north were successfully attacked from Lebanon and as of 10:51 AM EDT here in the United States eastern time zone, those three radar stations are OFFLINE.
For a brief time today, Israel had no effective radar coverage of its northern border. They have since moved portable, truck-mounted, military radar into new positions to restore coverage.
TALIBAN to JERUSALEM?
The Afghanistan Taliban reached a deal with Iran that is satisfactory, wherein Iran WILL allow Taliban armed forces to cross the country with the intent of entering Israel to grab Jerusalem. But the Taliban ran into several obstacles along the way.
Iraq did not respond to the Taliban request for permission to cross Iraqi territory.
Jordan flatly and explicitly BARRED the Taliban from entering their country.
So from a political perspective, the Arab states are now seen as acting as a shield for Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
IN AND AROUND GAZA
Hamas says that their fighters are still fighting in southern Israel, including in Ofakim, Sderot, Yad Mordechai, Kfar Azza, Be’eri, Yatid and Kissufim. Mind you, this is __Israeli__ territory.
“Israel will evacuate all residents living in towns near the Gaza border within 24 hours”
Israel has put itself in a bind with Gaza over the years so this isn’t so easy.
Gaza has been set up as a walled off open air prison, where the good inmates get to come out in daylight hours and do stuff like janitorial work for the chosen (their words – not mine) to eek out an existence. Then back through the gates by dark.
In theory, Israel can’t blow up a whole walled off city they created and kill every one because then everyone would scream genocide. But apparently everyone is cool with the status quo open penitentiary setup for some reason.
So the initial thinking is that Israel will just bomb here and there and level enough buildings to make everyone think they got payback and that will be that. It has always been that way. But no one is quite so sure this time. It may end up being an actual Genocide of Gaza.
The Israeli army issued orders to close all resorts near the border with Lebanon.
Most interesting this morning so far: : US weapons left behind in Afghanistan were used to attack Israel.
A high-ranking Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander said US weapons left in Afghanistan by the Biden administration were found in the hands of Palestinian groups active in the Gaza Strip.
POLAND EVACUATING NATIONALS FROM ISRAEL
Poland has announced it intends to evacuate its nationals from Israel. Poland threatens: If any Polish aircraft is targeted or Polish nationals feel in danger after their aircraft enter the airspace.” Article 5 of the 31-nation NATO alliance will be activated and raids will be launched across all of Palestine.
EUROPE WARNED OF COMING RIOTS
Intel sources are now urgently reporting that Muslims will be on the rampage in Europe shortly; burning every major city in protest of the coming Israeli offensive into GAZA.
The authorities running Gaza know they cannot withstand a full Israeli military onslaught, so they have reached out to Muslims in Europe to have THEM cause trouble, making the Gaza problem, Europe’s problem too. The thinking is that Europe will be able to call-off a full blown Israeli wipeout of Gaza.
Intelligence sources say worst hit will be Paris, Brussels, London, and Marseille.
ON SCHEDULE
Everything is going to plan and is on schedule.
The neutering of Israel is in process.
We do not know how severe it will be, but one thing is certain; the American “military center” located smack-dab in the middle of the Middle East is slipping away…
Remember boys and girls, the “news” is not intended to inform. It’s purpose is to distract and manipulate. And upon this great backdrop of chaos a new global world is emerging. One where the evil bankers and their crazy psychopathic “leadership” have no sway. You all have a front row seat to this. Do not blink your eyes, or you will miss something important.
When I was at Oxford, undergraduates reading Classics were among the most sought-after candidates in the whole place by elite employers (such as the brand name consulting firms, top investment banks etc).
Homer
Why?
A few reasons:
Classics was widely regarded as one of the toughest undergraduate disciplines at Oxford
For starters, it was a four-year course (rather than the 3-year duration more typical both at Oxford and at English universities generally)
It had the most extensive and rigorous examination schedule of all the Oxford undergraduate programs, with the most aggregate examination hours
Reading Classics meant learning Ancient Greek and Latin (which, while no doubt preferred, were not required to have been studied in high school in order to be admitted)
It takes a somewhat singular mind to want to pursue such a subject; in particular, one that is highly analytical and enjoys tackling complex and esoteric problems.
It was this combination of the difficulty of the material, the demanding and rigorous nature of the program, and the emphasis on analytical thinking that made it like catnip to employers. Anyone who would want to do this, the thinking went, and could succeed at it is no doubt someone who could excel at what we do, too.
i made you AWARE, but you didn’t acknowledge my WARNING!
Late in 1979, twenty-four-year-old Steve Jobs visited a research center in Silicon Valley called Xerox parc.
Xerox parc was the innovation center of Xerox Corp.
During the 70’s, Xerox had the world’s best engineers leading innovation at the time.
If you wanted to see the future, Xerox parc was the place to be.
Steve Jobs didn’t miss this opportunity.
He walked into the facility with a very clear purpose in mind.
What’s the lesson of Steve Jobs’s story?
Your brain can ONLY find what it’s intentionally looking for!
Xerox engineers invented the computer “mouse,” but focused on trying to solve other problems. They ignored the potential of their invention because they were not intentionally looking for it.
Steve had his brain focused on finding an opportunity.
Steve knew what he was searching for, and identifying this Xerox invention later changed the computer industry.
Steve later said in an interview, “Within ten minutes, it was obvious to me that all computers would be like this some day.”
To answer your question, what advice do I have for young people?
Today we live in a very complex economy.
Attention is the most valuable asset in the world.
So, my question to you is:
Where is your attention?
Do you know what you’re looking for?
If you don’t know what you want, you have a huge disadvantage in life!
Why?
Because every road leads to your “goal” if you DON’T know what you want!
It has made China accelerate its work to find ways to make their own high end chips. Huawei’s 7nm Mate 60 Pro gave evidence that China (SMIC) can and does produce 7nm chips in quantity. Pundits have been saying that with DUV, the yield is poor at 7nm so the cost will be high and output low. Obviously SMIC knows something these pundits don’t. They are producing millions of these 7nm chips. Huawei’s first order was for 20 million 9000s from SMIC. Last week it ordered 10 million more.
Media reports this week, says China has produced graphene chips equivalent to 3nm. If so, if this gets into production, that could change the direction of semiconductor manufacturing. Already, TSMC is working with Huawei and also expanding its chip production on the mainland. Huawei has stopped work on its Arizona fab, and dismissed all but Taiwan employees to keep the fab from deteriorating. Intel, likewise, has stopped construction of its mega’fab in Ohio. They see demand in decline and uncompetitive in the US. Both Intel and Qualcomm have begin ‘innovation centers’ on the mainland and forfeited any chance at subsidies from the US. Ditto for TSMC and Samsung. All semiconductor companies, foreign and domestic, are increasing their presence in China to save what they can of the China market.
Bottom line: Biden’s restrictions and sanctions have only increased the pace China seeks in semiconductor self-sufficiency. Some media reports say that China has already achieved 70% self sufficiency which was the original goal in China’s ‘Made in China 2025.’
Carl Zha on Huawei, ‘Chinese Spies’ and Chinese economy on Redacted
Our crew was building a 20 unit apartment complex. One of the guys was named Rick and during lunch one day he told us that before he got into construction, he used to be a bantam-weight boxer. He showed us some moves that were really impressive. Rick was short, broad-shouldered, well-built for a small guy, but had a lightning fast jab that you could hear but couldn’t see fly. He was amazingly fast and skilled.
A few months later, a new guy joined the crew whose name was Randy. Randy was tall, muscular, good-looking, and arrogant. And he didn’t like Rick. Rick was a little slow with being permanently punchdrunk, so Randy just thought he was an idiot. Day after day, Randy just pestered Rick with all kinds of insults and bullying and just verbal rancor. Day after day, week after week, the insults and bullying continued, and Rick just ignored him, or at least try to.
One Friday afternoon Randy was walking behind Rick on the job site and the insults were flowing like a river. Finally, Rick had had enough and told him, “Randy f-ing shut up.” But of course Randy didn’t stop, it just made him go off even harder and faster with the insults. Then Rick warned him again, “Dude, you better shut up! You’re gonna piss me off.” But naturally, Randy, being who he was, didn’t take the hint, and he continued on and on for the next few minutes.
The next thing we knew Randy was literally sitting on the deck on his butt, holding the side of his chin and face with his hands. No one even saw the punch fly, especially Randy. he just sat there on the deck sitting on his butt, and then he said “You hit me!” I honestly think it took Randy a few seconds to realize he’d been hit with a lightning fast right jab that left him on his ass.
The next words out of Rick’s mouth were, “Dude, I told you to shut up.”
The next words out of Randy’s mouth were, “Ah, yea.”
Then Rick says, “Just be glad I pulled that punch.“
The rest of us just stood around there looking dumbfounded. I got the impression that if Rick had not pulled that punch, he would’ve spun Randy around three times landing him on his face utterly unconscious.
Randy never insulted Rick again. It was glorious to watch a bully get knocked off his high horse!
I have a friend who was a Ph.D.microbiologist out in Silicon Valley.
He was brilliant – He developed a rapid test for detecting resistant microorganisms that have netted his firm billions of dollars and saved countless lives.
After he completed that, his female boss refused to give him any projects to work on and wanted him to ”let the woman employees have a chance to shine now”.
For the next 3 years, he came to work, with no assignments, and just read or searched the internet for 8 hours a day. His boss told the other employees not to bother him.
He was getting bored and restless with no work and had a couple of discussions about it with his boss.
He and his husband had purchased a retirement home in Fort Lauderdale and they had been spending vacation time fixing it up for when they retire. He was not ready to retire and was still working after 65.
One time when he was in Fort Lauderdale to work on the house, his company-owned cell phone suddenly quit working, He called his boss to see what was up. She told him that they were terminating him because he was not doing anything.
They deposited his final check and a severance check directly to his bank account, They terminated his computer access (understandable, but they would not even let him have access to his personal research notes).
They hurled all his personal items from work into a box and broke some of them. It was delivered to his apartment knowing he was out of town. It was placed by his apartment door. Fortunately, a neighbor found it and saved it for when he returned. Lastly, they demanded that he send his 10-year-old cell phone back by mail right now (that is just crazy, Do you know how much a 10-year-old phone is worth?)
The worst thing they did to him was to cash out his multi-million-dollar company retirement account and stocks and deposit it into his checking account so that he was suddenly responsible for federal and California income tax in one lump sum. He was devastated! And they refused to talk with him anymore.
He is a pleasant, affable person who always wanted to help out his coworkers. We have known each other for 45 years and this was the first time I saw him cry.
He decided to bail out of working anymore.
It was a tremendous loss to the microbiology community and the lab tests that he could have brought to market to save countless people’s lives.
You Just Changed Timelines – Kyle Cease
He’s talking about “time lines”. But what he actually means is “templates”.
Triple Pepper Steak
This dish was made for meat lovers! Beef is sliced and seared in a wok, then tossed with a robust brown sauce filled with colorful bell peppers.
2023 10 12 12 35
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Marinade and Beef
2 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 pound flank steak, thinly sliced across the grain
Sauce
1/3 cup beef broth
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 each green, red, and yellow bell peppers, julienned*
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
1/2 fresh jalapeno chile, sliced
Instructions
Marinade and Beef
\Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add beef and stir to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Sauce
Combine ingredients in a bowl.
Place a wok over high heat until hot. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, swirling to coat sides. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds.
Add beef and stir-fry until no longer pink, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
Remove meat from pan.
Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil to wok, swirling to coat sides.
Add bell peppers and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add water and stir-fry until peppers are tender-crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Return meat to wok and add sauce; bring to a boil. Add cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens.
To serve, garnish with chile slices.
Notes
* Pepper Prep: Cut off the top and bottom of the pepper. Next, make a single cut along the side, to open the pepper. Pull out and discard the central core of membranes and seeds. Now lay the pepper, skin side down, on a cutting board, spreading it out flat. Holding a sharp knife or cleaver flat against the pepper, trim away any remaining membrane. You now have a long flat rectangle that’s easy to slice crosswise.
A Slaughtered Cat Turned into a Beauty in the Hands of a Kind Girl
Suddenly, she noticed a small gray face peeking out from the dense bamboo.
When I was a young boy, my father would semi-frequently take us all to local museums. I really appreciated that. It was, and still is, some of my most favorite memories.
On one such visit my father bought me a small bronze mastodon. It was magnificent, but tiny and I loved it a lot.
I loved it because of the great long tusks. It looked so cool, and I loved to hold it in my hand. It was one of my favorite nick-nacks, and I set it proudly on my brick-a-brack shelf in my bedroom.
One day, I came home from school and discovered that my little treasure was tusk-less.
You see, my father was afraid that I might hurt myself with the tusks, so he sawed them off.
I don’t know where he got that “hair up his ass” about me hurting myself. After all, he got me a cub-scout pocket knife two years earlier. What’s this shit about pointy tusks?
Anyways, someone influenced him. Bastard.
…
My little story for today. Take what you will from it. Be careful of the poison that seeps into the ears of others. Who knows what damage it would do…
Today…
Western powers are falling behind in technology, held back by systemic rot
Western powers are falling behind in the development of new technologies, particularly in the military domain. This is partly caused by the perverse system of incentives that suffocates research and development work, but also by a system of education that’s producing less and less technical, scientific and engineering talent. From the strategic point of view, this is a critical problem, as I elaborated in an earlier Substack, “Of Empires and Technology.”
Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Pie
Bacon Tomato Pie with Gluten Free Option
Ingredients
12 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Chopped onion to taste
4 eggs
1 cup Bisquick
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Butter a 9-inch pie pan.
Layer bacon crumbs on bottom and cheese on top.
Beat remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over top.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool for 5 minutes.
Garnish with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and bacon.
Cutting of living essentials to Civilians is a violation of Article 33
However there are ways to spin this and claim this is NOT a collective punishment but a strategy for war
Israel may say, we are targeting the HAMAS but they hide among civilians and thus we have no choice
Israel may say “The 1949 Amendment was inserted when the world didn’t know about Terrorism of this type”
Israel may point out to the British inplementing the same violations in Belfast from 1963 to 1984 (Northern Ireland) or Malaya in 1955
They may point out US Violations in Vietnam between 1968–1972
So sadly today, the winners dictate the laws and their interpretation
At the 8th Eastern Economic Forum held earlier this month in Vladivostok, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about the development of a new generation of weapons: “If one looks into the security sphere, new physical principles weapons will ensure the security of any country in the near historic perspective. We understand this very well and are working on it.”
The kinds of weapons Putin was referring to include particle beams, laser, ultrasonic, radio-frequency and electromagnetic systems. That sounds quite futuristic – was Putin telling tall tales? When he announced that Russia had developed a variety of undetectable hypersonic weapons back in 2018, many in the West thought that he was bluffing and we heard much mocking and crowing: “the West outspends Russia 10 to 1, the Russians can’t possibly bla, bla, bla…” And like the Chinese, the Russians are inferior and incapable of innovating, they can’t think strategically, etc.
Fast forward to today: the Russian forces have successfully deployed hypersonic Kinzhal and Zircon missiles in Ukraine, delivering pinpoint strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and military facilities, the crowing and the gloating about all the ways in which the Russians are inferior to us westerners has died down a bit. Still, we can’t just admit that Russian weapons systems are superior to the western arsenal, so the western press, relying on Ukrainian sources, claimed that Ukraine’s air defenses manage to intercept and shoot down Russian hypersonic missiles.
That would actually quite spectacular since NATO officials themselves have corroborated what Putin had said: that the missiles are undetectable and were not picked up by western radar systems. Either the Ukrainians have managed to develop targeting solutions very fast, using binoculars, or they’re lying. Whatever the case, Putin’s latest announcement did not trigger much mocking and crowing this time around. In fact, some western analysts now concede that Russia’s military technology has eclipsed that of the west.
The significance of hypersonic weapons
But how can this even be possible if for decades now, western “defense” spending outstripped that of Russia by a factor of 10 or even more? In a recent article titled, “Hypersonic Missiles Are Game-Changers, and America Doesn’t Have Them,” the Wall Street Journal explored why the US and the West have fallen behind.
“For more than 60 years,” says WSJ, “the U.S. has invested billions of dollars in dozens of programs to develop its own version of the [hypersonic weapons] technology. Those efforts have either ended in failure or have been cancelled before having a chance to succeed. … This situation is raising alarms.”
Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal didn’t provide any convincing explanation for why western powers are falling behind in development of new technologies. It also didn’t explore the fact that they even fall behind in production and maintenance of legacy systems. As NATO’s Admiral Robert Bauer lamented this week,
“Today the chiefs of defense expressed their concern that across the alliance, production capacity is lagging behind. Delivery times are moving to the right [they’re getting longer] and prices for equipment and ammunition are shooting up. Right now we are paying more and more for exactly the same, and that means that we cannot make sure that the increased defense spending actually leads to more security.”
Bauer’s statement is a clear admission that defense spending does not translate into better defense. He also said that, “Our liberal economies are not apt at creating the prioritization that is so desperately needed right now.”
The problem with incentives
There is a great deal to ponder in all this, but it is perhaps Admiral Bauer’s last statement that provides the most food for thought. Western powers do spend massively on the military, but most of that money is squandered, lubricating the wheels of corruption in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). Spending the money (i.e. allocating it to defense contractors), is much more important than actually developing new systems and the upkeep of legacy systems.
In the United States, the MIC consists of publicly traded corporations whose market value is determined by how profitable they are. Today, about half of the Defense Department’s (DOD) $850+ billion budget is spent with the DOD’s top five “prime contractors” who, after decades of consolidation have all but eliminated all competition (in the 1990s the DOD had more than 50 such “prime contractors”).
Given that research and development (R&D) is a cost which cuts into profitability of these very powerful contractors, they’re incentivized to reduce it as much as possible to maximize the profiteering. The more profits, the higher the stock price and the higher the executives’ bonuses. On the other hand, cutting the R&D and skimping on the essential work of technology development means that a lot of real talent and promising projects get axed even as massive pork-barrel programs like Lockheed Martin’s F35 Joint Strike Fighter drain trillions of taxpayer funds. The F35 is now more than 15 years behind schedule and for its $1.7 trillion in expenditure, the program has delivered no meaningful military advantage.
Meanwhile, the lobbying arm of the MIC makes sure that such spending remains protected behind the flag and a veil of patriotism. Military generals who go along are rewarded and those who challenge the system get sidelined. That is how our wonderful “democratic system” sources top talent and delivers bestest solutions. The problem is that the top talent it draws are MBAs, lawyers and lobbyists, not scientists, engineers and systems developers. The actual military capabilities of the United States only receive lip service necessary to keep the American public distracted and unable to identify the root of the problem which is corroding the competitiveness of American industries in a very real way.
Losing talent
However, there may be deeper problems blunting the West’s technology edge, including education and cultivation of skills that are required for the challenge. Today, fewer than 20% of Americans choose STEM degrees in universities (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as more and more talent gravitates toward law and business degrees or humanities like gender studies.
According to the UNESCO, in countries like Tunisia and Malaysia as many as 37.9% and 43.5% of students (respectively), choose STEM degrees. In Germany, UAE, Belarus and India about 35% of students choose STEM degrees. While it’s true that western nations can overcome the shortage of human potential by attracting foreign talent, more and more nations today offer great career opportunities and compelling work to young professionals, so western nations face tougher competition for talent.
Ignorance is strength?
There’s also the problem of rigor in education, which has gone very loose in the West, and it is even affecting the prevailing cultural environment. Today for example, if you say that there are only two genders, your career could be finished that day. But if you insist that feelings matter more than facts and that 2+2 = 5, you could have a stellar career and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation might even fund your cause with tens of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, it is the Chinese youth that are sweeping the medals in one math competition after another. They may not know how to count genders, but they seem better prepared to solve practical problems.
Wife Self-Deletes After Husband Discovers All 4 Kids Aren’t His
I can feel the love in this gentleman’s heart. I had the same for the son I raised for over 2 years and found out he wasn’t mine. It takes a toll on your sanity. I was down for years afterwards and gave up on women for around 10 years, and still couldn’t ever trust another woman for the rest of my life. Which is a shame because I have a lot of love in my heart to give, but western women are just horrible. No accountability at all for anything. I will definitely be saying prayers for this guy and his kids
When I married my ex, he had an 18 month old boy. I loved him as my own. I raised him for 5 years before my ex and I divorced. It was an awful marriage and my ex was never around. The boy’s mother showed up to visit him maybe once every 2–3 months. I had to stay with my parents while I was getting the divorce. They hated my ex and were very controlling of me. It was a very small community and everyone knew everyone.
In the courtroom (ex didn’t show up), the judge asked where my son was. I responded that he was my step-child and I didn’t have any rights to him. The judge said “He IS your son. He loves you as his own mother. In fact, he loves you more than his own mother.”
I responded that I couldn’t have him. The judge said “Do you want him? I can make it to where you’ll never have to deal with his biological parents. He needs you!” I thought about it and knew that my parents would have a fit. I declined the offer and cried the rest of the day. My mother told me they would never let me stay with them with my boy.
This horrid story does have a happy ending! My mother called me one day out of the blue. She said “Someone knocked on our door and when I opened it, the handsomest young man was standing there. He said “Is my Mama here?”. She invited him in and they had a wonderful visit. She gave him my phone number and he called me! That was 30 years ago. My boy came to live with us at the age of 17. He stayed until he met and married a wonderful young lady. We have the best relationship ever! I have 5 grandchildren from him and 3 great grandchildren! I love my boy so much!
UPDATE: I am very surprised by the responses to this. Please understand. I was very young, had no job and no way to support myself and a child. My parents were very controlling and were afraid my ex would use the child to worm his way back into my life.
I am 61 years old and for much of my life, I have seen the Arab/Israeli hatred for each other manifest in tragedy after tragedy, fight after fight, war after war and frankly I’m sick of it. I say, let them fight it out to the death. Right now.
It’s not like we didn’t try. We did. We spent literally hundreds of billions of dollars trying to educate, placate, pacify, please, or even coerce, both sides into behaving like normal human beings. It has all failed.
You see, the mistake we’ve made for decades, is treating these Barbarians as if they are civilized people. They aren’t. Neither side!
Their never-ending fighting, bickering, and warring has been going on since before Jesus Christ walked the earth two thousand or so years ago. And these Barbarians — and that’s what they are – have hated each other, deceived each other, fought each other, and killed each other for that entire time.
As the world got smaller thanks to modern travel and innovation, both sides recruited others into their age-old hatred. The Jews with money, the Arabs with oil and the wealth it generates.
It’s NEVER going to stop, unless we in the rest of the world, step back, and tell them both: Go at it. Go ahead, slaughter each other. We don’t care anymore. We’re tired of your bullshit. We’re tired of paying you to be nice to each other. We’re tired of hearing how you’re both always being wronged by the other. We’re tired of you. We don’t want YOU or your bullshit in our lives anymore.
So go fight it out. Kill each other. Fight until you’re ALL dead for all we care. But if any of you survive, we will be ready to have good relations and do business with whoever wins.
You see, it’s simple: the world will know absolutely no peace unless and until the two sides are allowed to slaughter each other.
I don’t care if the entire Middle East runs knee-deep in blood. We in the United States, and the rest of the civilized world, should do absolutely nothing.
Both sides are big talkers. Both sides are tough guys. OK, let’s see how that works out when big brother America is no longer there to influence the outcome.
Let’s see how each side does when the checks written by their big mouths, arrogant posturing, and intransigent positions, have to actually be cashed by their bodies as they fight it out to the death.
Your mouths have been writing checks that your bodies can’t cash. It’s time to ante-up and fight it out once and for all.
Go ahead and slaughter each other. The rest of us just don’t give a shit anymore.
Oh, and if any Americans or Europeans are so incensed at the situation that THEY think WE should be involved, then THOSE PEOPLE in the US and in Europe should head on over to whichever side they support, and offer to fight along side them.
Let them get killed to. This way the rest of us can have peace.
Sorry to go anonymous, but I never feel comfortable enough to reveal my name.
I was about 7 years old and my sister was 5, we just came home from Halloween and were sitting on our carpet in our room, dividing our candies in equal parts (but mostly eating all of them).
I remember my sister suddenly stopped talking, looked at me in the eyes without saying a word, with her eyes wide-open, pointing at her throat.
She was suffocating and I started panicking. I was taught in school what to do so I put myself behind her and started pushing above her stomach, but as you can imagine I didn’t have much strength as a 7 years old.
My mum, whom I had been desperately calling from the beginning, rushed in our bedroom and started taking my place in doing the “move” but nothing was working. I was sitting in our carpet, helpless and in full panic mode, watching my sister turn more and more blue as seconds went by. I really thought I would have seen her die in front of me and I couldn’t bear to look. I shouted “sorry, sorry, I will always love you” and closed myself in the toilet, crying and shouting as if the world was going to end.
After maybe 2 minutes, but it could as well have been much less (Time always seems stretched in situations like these) I hear the bedroom go silent. I hear my mom stopping to try. And I hear… breathing. Heavy breathing.
I’m scared that if I go in the bedroom I will see her dead, but I gather my courage and exit the bathroom.
Turns out my mum had grabbed her by the feet in hope to let gravity do its work, as a last hope move… and it worked. She had inhaled a whole hard candy and it was stuck in her throat, slowly suffocating her.
The candy was still on the carpet when I entered the room, and there was my sister, on the ground, slowly going back to a normal color.
I hugged her so tight that she almost lost her breath again, but I was the happiest person in the whole world. That time I really thought I would have lost her.
From that day on, I always check if she bites the candy as soon as she puts them in her mouth. When she lost her back childhood teeth, I would take her candy and break it into little pieces with my knife, and then give it to her. She sometimes got annoyed but she will never know the fear I felt that day.
15 years later and I’m still as attached to my sister as I was that day. I still secretly check if she bites her candies. It truly traumatized me for good. I never want to lose her.
WSJ Joins Neocons To Instigate War On Iran
Updated below.
The neo-conservatives want to blame Iran for the current war in Palestine/Gaza.
They have for years tried to instigate war against it. Now they again see a chance. But its not a big one – yet.
Asked whether Hamas may have acted in partnership with Iran to disrupt the effort to broker a Saudi deal, Blinken said “that could have been part of the motivation. Look, who opposes normalization? Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran.”
But, he said, “we have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack.”
—
Fear not, say the neocons, we still have the Wall Street Journal to carry water for us:
DUBAI—Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.
Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions—the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War—those people said.
Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon, they said.
WSJ authors in Dubai(!) have access to “senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah”?
Both groups are notorious for their secrecy and their senior leadership is usually hidden away. Those facts alone are enough to debunk the report as nonsense. But the WSJ authors continue:
“We don’t have any information at this time to corroborate this account,” said a U.S. official of the meetings.
A European official and an adviser to the Syrian government, however, gave the same account of Iran’s involvement in the lead-up to the attack as the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.
Asked about the meetings, Mahmoud Mirdawi, a senior Hamas official, said the group planned the attacks on its own. “This is a Palestinian and Hamas decision,” he said.
A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the Islamic Republic stood in support of Gaza’s actions but didn’t direct them.
“The decisions made by the Palestinian resistance are fiercely autonomous and unwaveringly aligned with the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people,” the spokesman said. “We are not involved in Palestine’s response, as it is taken solely by Palestine itself.”
Three direct rejections by official sources of the WSJ claims get countered with an anonymous ‘European official’ and a likewise anonymous ‘adviser to the Syrian government’.
It is like the authors don’t even try to sound believable:
A direct Iranian role would take Tehran’s long-running conflict with Israel out of the shadows, raising the risk of broader conflict in the Middle East. Senior Israeli security officials have pledged to strike at Iran’s leadership if Tehran is found responsible for killing Israelis.
The IRGC’s broader plan is to create a multi-front threat that can strangle Israel from all sides—Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the north and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, according to the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members and an Iranian official. … Israel has blamed Iran, saying it is behind the attacks, if indirectly. “We know that there were meetings in Syria and in Lebanon with other leaders of the terror armies that surround Israel so obviously it’s easy to understand that they tried to coordinate. The proxies of Iran in our region, they tried to be coordinated as much as possible with Iran,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said Sunday.
There is however little evidence for the Israeli assertion:
Leading the effort to wrangle Iran’s foreign proxies under a unified command has been Ismail Qaani, the leader of the IRGC’s international military arm, the Quds Force.
Qaani launched coordination among several militias surrounding Israel in April during a meeting in Lebanon, The Wall Street Journal has reported, where Hamas began working more closely with other groups such as Hezbollah for the first time.
Hamas and Hezbollah have cooperated for decades. During the war on Syria some Hamas members took the side of the ‘moderate rebels’. They taught them how to dig large tunnels, a technique they themselves had once learned from Hizbullah:
Abu Musaab, a leader in Ahrar al-Sham, told the pro-uprising satellite television station Orient News that the Syrian militant group received tutorial videos from Gazans showing them how to repair collapsing tunnels.
“The ground here became damp and began to fall on us…and some of our youth were trapped inside. So we spoke to those with expertise, our brothers in Gaza, may God reward their good deeds,” Abu Musaab was quoted as saying.
“We consulted them regarding the problem and they advised us to bring in wood (plates), sending us video segment showing us how they do it and we replicated that,” Abu Musaab added. … And in June 2013, the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported that “sources close to Hezbollah and the Syrian regime claim that Hamas had a role to play in the battles of Qusayr, [where tunnels] … had been dug using small Iranian devices that Hezbollah had transferred to Hamas.”
“Some of the explosives, they added, were found to contain electronic chips that Hamas had acquired from Iran and Hezbollah,” the Lebanese paper said.
After the war in Syria was decided in the governments favor, Hamas slowly found its way back into the resistance camp. Consultations between Hezbullah and Hamas have been constant since. Back to the WSJ:
Representatives of these groups have met with Quds Force leaders at least biweekly in Lebanon since August to discuss this weekend’s attack on Israel and what happens next, they said. Qaani has attended some of those meetings along with Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, Islamic Jihad leader al-Nakhalah, and Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’s military chief, the militant-group members said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian attended at least two of the meetings, they said.
This, however, is clearly no believable. Amir-Abdollahian is a professional diplomat, not a security official. While he has been deeply involved in political issues regarding Palestine he is unlikely to have been involved in any top-secret operational planning.
Also biweekly meetings between Qaani, Nasrallah and other high ranking resistance leaders are unlikely to have ever happened. Each such meeting would be a security nightmare.
The planning for the recent Hamas operation must have taken years not just the few month since August. While the WSJ lets it seem that there is operational coordination between the various resistance groups their real cooperation is on a way more strategic level.
Each group in the resistance axis has its own plans and goals. That does not exclude strategic cooperation, but not on the detail level of fighting:
Egypt, which is trying to mediate in the conflict, has warned Israeli officials that a ground invasion into Gaza would trigger a military response from Hezbollah, opening up a second battlefront, people familiar with the matter said. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire briefly on Sunday. … The Iranian official said that if Iran were attacked, it would respond with missile strikes on Israel from Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, and send Iranian fighters into Israel from Syria to attack cities in the north and east of Israel.
While there is no denying that Iran, Hezbullah, Hamas and others consult with each other on a high level, any deeper cooperation, training or assistance is unlikely to still exist. It is each on their own, but with a common big goal in mind.
The main reporter on this story, @summer_said, has a history of dishonesty and inventing stories. I fired her from Reuters in 2008 for this reason. I’m surprised that the @WSJ has hired her and is publishing her stories that are clearly bogus.
Posted by b on October 9, 2023 at 11:20 UTC | Permalink
The problem with going fast…
Paradoxically, even technology itself may have contributed to the slowing of progress in the west through the ubiquity of software tools that make problem solving much easier than it used to be. I recently came across this little chart on social media. I must say, I felt the sting of its message personally.
When I was in high school in Croatia, our training in mathematics and science was very extensive: we had 9 hours of math per week and 6 hours of physics in addition to chemistry, biology, information technologies, software programming and more. It was a lot of work – so much so that when I came to the United States and enrolled in AP (advanced placement) math as a high school senior, I found the program very easy and aced it without even trying very hard.
By today however, I’m definitely at the “spreadsheet” stage of life: without Excel I think I’d be lost and I fear that my own conceptual thinking abilities and math problem solving skills have atrophied disconcertingly.
In the west, where fast and efficient problem solving is prized over conceptual thinking and inventiveness, more and more scientists and engineers work in that last, “spreadsheet” phase, quickly working out solutions to problems, perhaps at the expense of more creative, conceptual “out of the box” thinking.
The importance of pencil-and-paper work
In places like Russia and China, that broad-based thinking and working with pencil and paper is still very much prized and their educational institutions continue to insist on it (or at least have done so in the recent past). Of course, it would be difficult to assess how creative Russian or Chinese engineers or software developers are compared to their western counterparts, but beyond leapfrogging the west in development of hypersonic weapons, I came across an interesting case that speaks to this gap.
Namely, in 2009 Goldman Sachs pressed charges for theft of intellectual property against one of their software developers, a Russian man named Sergey Aleynikov. In 2013, Michael Lewis wrote a fascinating story about that case in Vanity Fair in which he revealed that more than half of Goldman Sachs’ software developers were Russian – an extremely interesting bit of information, especially in view of the notorious rigor which Goldmans is known to apply in recruiting their quants and software engineers.
Now, given that Russian software engineers don’t constitute half the population of the US, either Goldman Sachs liked to have a lot of Russians lurking around, or it could be that they found them better prepared to tackle tough problem solving. The latter possibility might also explain Russia’s ability to develop the Zircons, Kinzhals and Avantgard missiles as well as weapons based on new physical principles. Here’s how Aleynikov himself explained the difference between Russian and American education:
“In Russia, time on the computer was measured in minutes,” he says. “When you write a program, you are given a tiny time slot to make it work. Consequently we learned to write the code in a way that minimized the amount of debugging. And so you had to think about it a lot before you committed it to paper. . . . The ready availability of computer time creates this mode of working where you just have an idea and type it and maybe erase it 10 times. Good Russian programmers, they tend to have had that one experience at some time in the past: the experience of limited access to computer time.”
Indeed, clicking “run,” then deleting and retyping code is no substitute for doing a lot of thinking, which is absolutely indispensable to building high quality, reliable solutions and genuinely useful innovations.
My own experience with ‘pencil-and-paper’ R&D
My own experience in developing the I-System trading model confirmed its importance. In 1999, when my team and I built the model’s prototype, it turned out to be a maintenance nightmare and it was clear that I needed to hire serious software talent to turn the prototype into a reliable tool. For a few months in 1999 I worked with an American software engineer, David B., who had recently graduated from Stanford University. Although David was extremely bright, he was literally working in the debug mode almost nonstop.
He was able to maintain the software and fix bugs as they crept up, but the code itself was growing into a patchwork of fixes and workarounds. I began to worry that sooner or later it would become unmaintainable and in 2000 I decided to hire an older engineer from Croatia, Boris Brec. Boris was old school and he insisted on extensive pencil-and-paper foundation work. He pretty much told me that he wouldn’t lift a finger until I had drafted the full set of specifications explaining exactly how the model worked, including schematic process-flow drawings of all the routines under the model’s hood.
The process of upgrading the I-System from the prototype to its ‘industrial’ version was extraordinarily labor-intensive, costly, and it took four years to complete. That was the cost of quality, which included the tradeoff between diving headlong into trading and continuing with the fastidious development work, going over every algorithm with a fine tooth-comb and testing everything ad nauseum. I was only able to do this because I managed to wrest full control and ownership over the project from my superiors.
Had the costs of project’s development impacted someone’s bonus, the firm’s profitability or market cap, it would have been axed and never lived to see its upgraded version. Fighting to keep the project alive and adequatly funded was a struggle at every turn. For me it is easy to see how frequently great and promising projects must die over money, missed deadlines and organizational politics.
Quality solutions, breakthroughs require abundant time and resources
The difference between I-System’s prototype and the upgrade was the change from nonstop maintenance patchwork with David to the flawlessly functioning, zero-maintenance machine put together by Boris. It was worth the four years and every euro spent on it: quality is the gift that keeps on giving, not only in having the system that functions as intended, glitch free for 20 years, but also in having the peace of mind, never fearing whether all the patchwork maintenance introduced new hidden bugs into the edifice.
The experience has taught me that this kind of work MUST begin with pencil and paper, that it must be methodical, that it must be given adequate time and resources, and that if we want to achieve quality solutions we must be willing to bear the associated costs. Where the system of incentives generates pressures to cut corners, take shortcuts and rush out half-baked solutions, it will ultimately suffocate creative work and kill many quality solutions before they had the chance to prove their merit.
Programs like supersonic weapons are only symptoms of self-inflicted systemic headwinds that are now slowing the advancements of science and technology in the Western world. A reform – nay, an overhaul of the system – will have to look at those perverse incentives as well as our educational and governance systems. This won’t be easy, especially as the western nations have deliberately seeded their political and academic structures with ideologues and zealots who are far too busy policing social justice, hate speech and gender equality to worry about the real future challenges faced by our societies.
Was looking at one of my wife’s old cookbooks, for some reason and found the old lore and wisdom in the book fascinating. It’s hard to imagine people believed these things back then.
Like these:
‘When frogs holler, rain will soon foller.’ That could help my weatherman who has no idea when it’s going to rain.
‘Anyone born when the mulberries are ripe have a good chance of being red-headed.’ That one has got to be true, right?
Here’s an old insult. ‘His family is like potatoes. All that is good of them is underground!’
‘Corn is not ready to grind into meal until it is dry as an old maid’s kiss’ ouch.
‘We huckleberry gatherers don’t like to admit it, but what we call huckleberries are actually mountain blueberries.’ “I’m your huckleberry,” Doc Holliday.
‘To take the last piece of bread on a plate foretells rain.’
If a piece of buttered bread drops on the floor butter side down, it will rain soon.’
“We’re eatin’ the long corn now,” meant one was finally financially well off. No wonder it’s raining so much in my area. Happens to me all the time.
‘Corn must be knee high by the fourth of July.’
‘Onion skin very thin, mild winters coming in. Onion skin thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough.’
I love this one. ‘When you are tired of life and all its busy scenes; just run to the garden and hide behind the beans.’ God I wish I had a garden sometimes!
‘Always bake a cake when the sun is going up or it will fall.’ The cake or the sun?
‘A cow with its tail to the west, weather the best. A cow with it’s tail to the east, makes weather the least. ’THATS what my weatherman needs, a cow. He’s always wrong.’
‘If a bat flies into your head, you’ll soon become bald.’ Now we know what happened to The Rock and John Travolta to name a few.
Okay guys, here it is. A cure for baldness. ‘Consume the gall of a lizard, fresh mouse meat or mole’s blood.’
‘To prevent lockjaw, ‘If a needle is stuck in a foot, put fat meat next to the puncture then a penny over that.’ I’ll try that next time. The hell with a tetanus shot.
To cure a blister, ‘Kiss a red headed fellow.’ I’ll bet a lot of red headed guys were hanging around women sweeping the floor.
A good spring tonic? Anvil dust mixed with cream. Yum.
To cure asthma. ‘Stick the dried skin of a mole to the chest with honey.’ Did people really do that back then?
Mock cherry pie? Use cranberries and raisins.’ No one will tell the difference. Especially if they’ve never had cherry pie before. Then make them a sandwich of mock chicken.
To prevent mumps. ‘take a chip of wood from a log, and rub it on your jaw and throat every day.’ And see how many girls you’ll meet. None maybe? “Watch out for Ned, he’s off his rocker. Keeps rubbing a hunk of wood on his jaw and throat!” “Eeeeuuuw” “Here he comes! RUN!”
In the mid 1700s, women shaved their foreheads and eyebrows so they could press on mouse skin eyebrows. Girls, don’t you wish you lived back then. Save a lot of money on makeup.
Hi, Jain Patel. Thanks for the very interesting question.
No, China doesn’t have any school colleges, science centers, institutes, or science universities.
We get a couple of years of primary school, but after that, we all have to go and get tracker microchips implanted at the base of our skulls and start working in the Factories.
These Factories are run by our alien overlords.
Here are some pictures I took on my way to work.
These are the “Prime Sentinels” that guard the Factories. If you are late for work, you will get stomped on.
image 143image 144image 145
The vast majority of us live in the mountains.
We have to bore holes into the mountains, and we live in those holes.
With a year’s salary, we get to buy a house/bedroom. I say house/bedroom because the house is literally just one room – your bedroom. That room is your house, and it’s also your bedroom.
Here’s a picture I took of my house/bedroom.
The view’s not too bad. Especially in the morning.
image 146
Here’s a pic of my neighbors’ house/bedrooms. These guys live just below me:
image 147
The pay for working in the factories isn’t that great. I get paid USD 0.01 a day. If I work overtime, I get paid USD 0.001 an hour.
Thankfully, the soil in the mountains is pretty good and we can grow a lot of vegetables in our allocated community gardens.
Here is the community garden allocated to the people who live on my side of the mountain. Everyone gets to take home a small piece of broccoli for dinner.
Oh, and because we don’t have electricity in China, the three most common modes of travel are:
(1) Horse:
(2) Boat:
image 148
(3) Sword (powered by qi):
image 150
Some of the richer peeps own aero-cycles. These are tiny little bike/seating platforms powered by qi:
image 149
Since there’s no electricity, we have to find creative ways to spend our weekends.
Going to the local monastery to hone our martial skills is one option:
image 152
As is hiking in the hinterlands:
image 151
In the evenings, some of us enjoy playing mahjong at the local park.
A long time ago, a race of giants used to live in the mountains. For some reason, they enjoyed cutting down the many giant trees that dotted China’s many mountain ranges. The tree stump you see below is just one of many giant tree stumps you’ll find up here in the mountains.
It makes for a great mahjong table.
image 153
Conclusion (a.k.a. TLDR):
No, Jain Patel , China doesn’t have any school colleges, science centers, institutes, or science universities.
As a United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, I went to work one fine morning, to discover a young lady laying down on the horn of her car at 0730 in the morning! Dressed like they were going to the beach?
She had some of her Girlfriends with her.
I approached her, and inquired what the problem was, and pointed out to her that she was blaring her car horn in front of an enlisted barracks FULL of people who worked 2nd Shift and the Graveyard Shift that needed their rest and sleep. Military Police, Watch Standards, Cooks, Bakers, Corpsmen (Medics) etc.
She responded with, do you know who my Daddy is? Pointing towards the Blue Base vehicle sticker on thr lefthand , lower windshield. Sticker with THE STAR!
(Meaning her Whoever Whatever was a Commissioned Officer) !
And laid down on the car horn again!!!!
I called the MP’s on her and reported her! And went to work (It was on a Sunday) Forgot, all about it.
Next morning? (A Monday) I had the Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina walk into my office with his daughter apologizing to me!!! A Marine Staff Sergeant?
Disabled cat was about to be euthanized. This woman took her home.
Epic Games laid off over 800 of its employees on Thursday.
The official number is 830, but the actual number could be well into 900 because of various legal considerations outside the US and Canada.
And I’m one of those 16% unlucky bastards who got screwed over.
I already signed my severance package, so I can’t say much about this other than this is such a shitshow. Layoffs are, unfortunately, very common in the video game industry, to the point that it’s almost expected. But the way Epic did it, it’s just so … anyway, Like I said, if I want my severance, I better shut the fuck up about it.
I was in shock on Thursday when I got the news. It was so sudden. I got an email around 8 am in the morning (PST), and within half an hour, all my company access was shut down/removed. I get up early because I work East Coast hours. A lot of my West Coast colleagues don’t start their day until 10 a.m., and they arrive at the company with everything shut down and no longer have a job. I had to reach out to my co-workers via text because Slack is no longer accessible. I imagine, if I were working at the office, this would be the time when the security escort all of us out of the building.
I guess when you have to cut 900 people, you have to be quick and brutal about it.
900 people, that’s the size of a large company. Poof, gone.
Thinking back, this is actually the first time since I started working in video games that I got laid off. For over a decade, I dodged every layoff from every company I was with until my luck finally ran out. You play the game company layoff Russian roulette, there’s always a bullet waiting for you sooner or later.
All things considered, severance is generous. We have 60 days of pay from the WARN Act and then 4 months of severance. So, all together, I’m covered for 6 months until I need to dip into my savings.
After the initial shock, anger, and fear, and frustration, and anxiety, I actually started to feel better about it. I went to bed that evening, realizing I didn’t need to get up at the crack of dawn every day from now on. My brain suddenly has some extra processing power because I don’t need to think about work-related stuff anymore. It’s funny. I found myself habitually thinking about the stuff I was doing before I got laid off, the Tableau project I was working on, the AirTable updates I needed to do… And I realized, wait, none of that matters anymore. When I was working, there is a portion of my brain never stopped thinking about work. It’d be like a program running in the background, taking up memory and CPU. Even if I’m on vacation or holiday, that program is always running. I can’t shut it down.
Now, it’s gone. And I feel lighter with an odd sense of emptiness.
I realized this is my opportunity to take a step back and think about what I want with my life. Do I even want to go back to the video game industry? Or do I want to try something new? I’m already 43. If I want to make a pivotal change in my life, this is perhaps the last time I still have the energy to do it.
Maybe I could start a podcast! LOL.
On the bright side, Epic might screw us over, but the people who are laid off and people who are still working for the company are so supportive. I’ve already joined several slack/discord spaces organized by Ex-Epic folks. We vent about the layoff, and we pull our resources to help with job searching and networking. I have multiple people reaching out to me with tips and potential job leads. Recruiters are already sending me emails hours after I put on the “Open to Work” sticker on LinkedIn. The general consensus on social media is overwhelmingly supportive of employees who recently lost their jobs. So all of these is really nice, makes me feel less isolated and shitty about this whole thing.
And of course, there’s Baldur’s Gate 3. I just finished my first run as a Warlock. My Tav saved the World from the big bad. The game landed on a positive note, with Tav and Astarion going on their next adventure together, even though I couldn’t give every single companion their own happy ending.
I immediately started my second run as Dark Urge oathbreaker Paladin Tav. I’m thinking about doing a “good ending” run again, with Tav trying to resist the Dark Urge.
Maybe on my third run, I’ll do a total evil run with “Ascend” Astarion. Although I still want to try the Bard class. I heard so many good things about playing as Bard, with so many fun dialogue options.
That’s already another 2 runs, meaning an additional 200–300 hours. And there’s Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty and, of course, Starfield. My schedule is full! LOL.
Maybe 5 or 10 years from now, I’ll look at this period of time thinking, “While it sucked at the time, I’m glad I got laid off from Epic. Otherwise, I’ll never <insert awesome stuff here>.”
Lavrov’s answer to Blinken’s Ukraine conflict freeze
When my oldest daughter was about 2 years old, a longtime and very dear friend stopped by for a visit. The friend referred to me as his second mom. Danny was a good good guy who made a lot of mistakes. I always treated him with love; and, I gave him advice when he asked for it. Outside of his asking, I only gave advice when he was doing something that could hurt him or someone else. After his visit, I was sitting in the living room when my daughter picked up a plastic bag. It’s contents were a white powder. It was cocaine. I was livid. I flushed it. Later, Danny called frantically and asked if I had found anything that he may have left. I told him about the bag and he admitted that it was his; he had accidentally dropped it. I told him that he was no longer welcome in my home. He was upset that I flushed it. Oh well, I didn’t care if he was mad. He didn’t understand why I was mad. You brought something into my home and lost it. My child picked it up. If I hadn’t seen it immediately, I’m sure that it would have been in her mouth. That’s what little children do. I have no doubt that this would have killed her had she consumed it. Danny did apologize later. But, I couldn’t allow someone that reckless into my home.
I realize that flushing it might not have been a good solution. But it was the only way I could think of to get it out of my home ASAP.
Waffle Potatoes. Holy shit this is good!
So in case you didn’t know, hubby was a professional chef. He cooks for us M-F and I have started cooking on weekends (I do need to know how to care for myself). He teaches me things as we go. Tonight was a carb bomb that is so damn tasty! He said the only place you will ever see this in a restaurant is a staff meal because it’s used to teach technique (knife cuts). He remembered it last night and decided this was going to be dinner tonight.
Ignore the smudge of mayo on the plate. There were 3 of these and I only thought about posting here when I was down to one.
Basically, you take a potato, square it off and cut it into “steaks”. Then you use skewers to measure your cuts and make fine cuts on both sides to make it almost accordion-like. Boil them in an alkaline solution (water + baking soda), fry them until GBD (golden brown delicious), then top with stuff and put in oven to warm everything.
Ours were topped with caramelized onions with bacon and shredded cheddar cheese. When he took them out of the oven and put them on the plates, he drizzled them with a seasoned mayo.
I’m going into a happy, full food coma right now.
EDIT: Since so many people asked, I’m putting the recipe below. There aren’t too many measurements because he doesn’t really measure, so it may take a bit of tweaking. I’ll describe everything best as I can. I do not write recipes well.
3 large potatoes, like the kind you would use for a baked potato.
Skewers
Make your caramelized onions and any other toppings before even starting. We also used shredded cheddar cheese, so get that all done now. Here is how he did the mayo: 3parts mayo, 1 part sour cream, a dallop of dijon mustard, 2 garlic cloves smashed, salt, pepper, a dash of garlic and onion powder, and a spritz of lemon juice (not enough to squeeze a whole lemon half, just a few drops).
Start some water in a pot and add 2 TBSP of baking soda, NOT BAKING POWDER. Bring to a boil.
Square off your potatoes. Don’t worry about cutting the ends off. Cut the potatoes into “steaks”. I’d say they were about 1/2″ thick?
On your cutting board, place a potato steak and put a skewer on either side against the potato. DON’T SKEWER THE POTATO. The skewers are your cutting guides to make sure you don’t cut all the way through. (That was a super neat trick to me). Cut the potato diagonally along the entire length. Because I’m a visual learner, I did not understand this when he explained it to me, only when I saw it.
Flip the potato over and repeat on the other side cutting the opposite diagonal. Keep the potatoes in cold water while doing this so the ones you aren’t working on don’t dry out. When done, the potato should sort of be like an accordion. Don’t worry if you accidentally cut through a couple. If it’s just the end, take it off. If it’s through the middle, toss it.
Once all the potatoes are cut, put them in the now boiling water for about 8 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with foil and place a rack on top. We use a baking cooling rack.
Heat oven to 350F. Heat oil in a deep pan to 275F. We used a wok for the oil. You don’t need to fill the pan, but put enough in that it will cover the potato slices with a little more so they can move and not sit on the bottom.
When 8ish minutes have passed, pull you potatoes out of the boiling water and place them on the rack. It’s a convenient place to put them while you fry them in batches.
Fry the potatoes in batches in the oil once the oil is up to temp. Don’t over crowd the pan. You want to be able to flip them regularly. Fry until they look GBD (Golden Brown Delicious). Remove them back to the rack. Continue until all of them are fried.
Now put your toppings on, NOT THE MAYO. It doesn’t matter if the toppings are cold, that’s what the oven is for. He spread the caramelized onions pretty thick, like he was making a bruschetta. Sprinkle the cheese on top if you want cheese. (Who doesn’t want cheese?)
Put baking sheet in the oven and bake until the cheese is all melty and the toppings are warmed.
Place them on plates and drizzle with the mayo.
Make sure you have napkins and gobble that shit down.
China’s PC system announced to be permanently free, PC version of HarmonyOS system will come soon!
China is the only Nation on Earth who can manufacture Photonic Chips Cost Effectively
No other Nation on Earth Can
US gave it up nearly 20 years ago
You simply cannot run a sustainable Profit
The Scale for which Profit is required is simply unsustainable
The Demand would need to be So Tremendous to justify a scale which would involve ENTIRE CITIES dedicated to manufacture Photonic Chips.
Its not the Technology. The Technology is available openly and readily.
LIke Hypersonic Missiles
The Technology was available in 2000 itself and was nothing new. The Theory was available. However manufacturing efficiently was not possible and US decided it was not worth it.
China and Russia later managed to use their Manufacturing Dominance (China) and Raw Material Haven (Russia) to ensure they could make efficienct Hypersonics and ensure that they now have or plan to have a cost effective Arsenal.
Likewise Photonic Chips Manufacture can be done by China at Effective Cost and on a Scale large enough to achieve sustainability for its own Internal Domestic Market.
That is the Good News!!!!
So All Good?
2023 is simply impossible
Developing the Basic Infrastructure for Indigenous Implementation of the Technology may take 5 Years and another 3 Years for achieving Commercial Dominance
Thats 8 Years or 2030
In the meanwhile China still has to keep targeting the 3nm or 5 nm Wafer Fabrications Indigenously and keep spending the massive Scale of Production
So you see the Problem
China could abandon the 3nm/5nm Manufacture Aim and move completely to Photonic Chips but that would mean a 8 Year Gap and after that – the Results could be screwed up or the Photonic Chips may not work as China expects to
That means a Waste of 8 Years
The Cost of which would be a Delay in Chinas AI plans, Robotics Plans, Upgrading Technology plans
China could stay with the 5 nm/3 nm Manufacture Aim and achieve Indigenous Manufacture by say 2025–2027 and dominate AI and Robotics and move to the next phase of Technology
That would be easier than developing and taking a risk on Photonic Chips
Its the same as Abandoning the Option of Manufacturing of J-20s to make it as good as a F-22 Raptor , and instead seeking to manufacture the Avengers version of Aircraft
Better to persevere and make aircraft like the F-22 in 4–5 years than totally abandon everything to hope to make Captain Americas Helicarriers
Can China do Both?
That would be the thing
However it would need a Huge Load of Investment
HUAWEI
Huawei is in a perfect position to explore and work on Photonic Chips
Huawei has the Technological Edge and the Exponential Leap into cutting edge Research
SMIC
SMIC Meanwhile can continue to explore and keep targeting the Indigenous Supply Chain dominance of Chips within the Chinese Economy
Presently SMIC has achieved Commercial Production Capability of 14nm
And that was fast
So its a Lot of Hard Work and China shouldnt be like India
This “Ready to supply the World by 2023 and 1000 Times better”- this is Indian Language
Chinas language is always China Hopes to achieve indigenous control over its Chips and leave it there
Its Possible and if China can manage it – It would be incredible
Fingers Crossed!!!!
Time Travel Possible? Evidence Says Yes | 9 Time Travelers caught on film
Is time travel possible? According to physicists, yes. Time travel to the future is not only possible, it’s been scientifically proven.
But what about traveling to the past? Well, that’s a little trickier. BUT, there does seem to be evidence that travelers from the future have visited us in the past; and may be among us right now.
The human race has been fascinated with traveling through time ever since, well, ever since the human race understood what time was.
But has time travel been achieved by future humans?
And if so, did they leave us clues that they were here? We’ve scoured the internet for the best time travel stories we could find. You may know some of them. Some are hoaxes.
A few have been debunked. But there are a couple of stories that defy explanation. Why are we so obsessed with time travel?
Probably because we’re obsessed with time.
Time rules our lives.
Who doesn’t wish they could go back and talk to our younger selves, or meet our ancestors, or witness historical events.
Time creates possibilities; but time also ends possibilities. It’s finite. When a moment is over. It’s over. There are no second chances.
The expression “time is money” isn’t exactly true. Time is much more valuable than money.
Wealth can be made; lost and made again.
But time? Once we lose it, we can never get it back. Time is the most valuable thing you have.
Spend it wisely.
Beef Pies
beef and venison pie large
Ingredients
2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuits
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Instructions
Separate biscuits; then pat each on floured surface to 5-inch circles.
Lightly brown ground beef, onion and bell pepper in a skillet. Pour off fat.
Add remaining ingredients to the skillet and stir.
Place heaping portion of meat mixture on each biscuit circle. Fold in half and seal edges with a fork.
Deep fry until golden brown in 2 inches of oil at 375 degrees F.
Drain on paper towels.
Yield: 10 pies
My Wife & F**inist Daughters Turned Against Me & Took EVERYTHING…Now I’m Thriving & They’re Toast!
Amazing story. Many mistakes. Modern America. (Sigh)
The US is the true “empire of lies”, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Saturday, lashing out at a US State Department report that accused China of ploughing billions of dollars annually into information manipulation efforts.
China is manipulating global media through censorship, data harvesting and covert purchases of foreign news outlets, the US State Department said.
Despite the unprecedented resources devoted to the campaign, Beijing had hit “major setbacks” when targeting democratic countries, due to local media and civil society push-back, according to the report, which was produced under a congressional mandate to detail state information manipulation.
The report has disregarded facts, and is itself false information, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
The agencies of the US State Department that produced the report “were the source of false information and the command post of ‘cognitive warfare’,” the Chinese ministry said.
“Facts have repeatedly proven that the United States is the true ‘empire of lies’,” it added.
The US report comes amid controversy over China’s attempts in recent years to increase the global footprint of its government-controlled media. Beijing is seeking to combat the negative images of China it feels are propagated by global media.
Huawei chip disassembly report,18-core chip far exceeds its peers.TSMC Intel are starting to panic
Huawei chip disassembly report, The 18-core chip far exceeds its peers. TSMC and Intel are starting to panic
Well, in the smartphone arena, there is really only one foreign brand left in China.
Yes, Apple.
LG is gone.
HTC is gone.
Samsung is irrelevant.
Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry, Pixel, Sony and a host of has-beens or bit-players are all irrelevant.
It’s Chinese brands, and Apple, with 3 ecosystems, Hongmeng, iOS and Android.
No prizes for guessing how the balance will evolve, given the clear and present risk of disruptive sanctions forcing Google to pull Android licensing from other Chinese vendors.
In Africa, Transsion outsells Samsung, and Chinese brands as a whole dominate market share. Transsion, based in Shenzhen, has a sizable global share of >10%. It is the hidden champion no one has heard of.
The Chinese EV makers recently made waves in the Munich car show, with several media outlets trumpeting them as the “star of the show”. The Chinese overtook Japan as the No. 1 car exporting nation this year, and next year promises more growth.
Fancy Toyota defending its position in a sunset industry? I thought it impossible but the speed of the Chinese transition and the scale plus depth of the EV supply chain they have built is putting lots of doubt in my mind. Not to mention the dearth in AI/ML/big data/UI and battery advances among Japanese automakers.
It isn’t all doom and gloom.
Let’s take a cursory look at Hyundai’s EV strategy. The Ioniq series is a clear step up from the typical Hyundai ICE offering, with premium materials, interiors, paintwork and fit and finish typically not found in the price segment. It is positioned as a bang for the buck premium series, almost luxury, but affordable.
Why?
Because the Chinese are making the mass market EV impossible to compete on cost alone. Besides, volume production necessary for economies of scale are impossible without Chinese partners. Hyundai wisely decided to cede market space and move up the segment instead. Fewer but better, or like my friend puts it, becoming “German”. Hyundai is quietly positioning itself as the Korean BMW or Audi EV.
The Japanese have been slower in response. I am increasingly pessimistic about their chances. What happened to Honda and Mazda’s mainland operations in the past few years portend seismic shifts ahead. EVs are not like ICE cars, because there are critical materials and technologies upstream that China controls.
This time, the patent walls and enabling tools/tech favor China, too.
What happens when the Koreans, Taiwanese, and Japanese can’t make a killing through export-driven demand for their mass market goods?
They will have to move upmarket, selling less for hopefully, more, much like Sony’s repositioning and reorganization. Those that cannot adjust to the speed of the Chinese transition will be crushed.
There we have it.
The days of Samsung and Toyota hitting home runs from economy to premium is coming to an end. They will have to specialize and move upmarket, or bleed red competing with the Chinese.
We’re in for interesting times.
Very interesting times.
This is the real trade war, with abiding consequences.
Mirror Spock mind-melding McCoy
The part of the 4th episode “Mirror Mirror” of TOS 2nd season.
This oversight is easily fixable. Once NATO falls apart, and Finland faces the angry bear it poked and provoked for cheap thrills, its entire population will be shaken by the violent paroxysm of love to Russia and all things Russian.
Just kidding! Relax. Russia does not need Finland. Russia created this pesky nation from the ass of Sweden, like Eve from Adam’s rib, and let them go long time ago. It had many opportunities to re-annex them. If it did not, it means it just does not want to, because it is much better the way it is. That Finnish state and many Finns in Quora forgot all the good between the two countries and sold out their soul to the overseas Russophobes is too bad.
As an American of Russian background, I feel enraged that rabid Russophobes and neocolonialists possessing our government started the bloody conflict in Europe in 2014. When President Trump called Zelensky, in order to find out what is going on, he was impeached. Elections 2020 were rigged on an unprecedented scale, followed by the January 6th false-flag provocation timed to prevent Objections to be heard in Senate. The corrupt elite illegally holding power that belongs to We the People will not go without struggle.
USA Terminates Project! China Takes Over $25 Billion Saudi Military Projects | USA is Disappointed!
Man oh man! The Geo-political changes are happening hot and heavy! HEAVY!
My MM articles are now at a 35 post backlog. Shit! Half of you will be reading 1/2 month old articles by the time I get around to posting them.
Do not freak out.
Lots of things going on in the world today. It’s a massive realignment of the world AWAY from the USA dominance. The thing is that the Western peoples, and their “leadership” are clueless as to what is really going on. They still believe that they have some kind of power or ability in these matters.
Nope.
It’s all strategic retreats… for now.
The running away and full-scale, across the board, running and galloping rout comes later.
Maybe this year. Don’t ya know.
Have fun. Enjoy yourself.
Today I am catching up. We have a typhoon raging outside so I have an opportunity to play some catch up. Israel, Ukraine, and all the rest, especially Africa are in states of flux.
I’m not worried. The USA will retreat and the rest of the world will be secure.
The long-term forecasts clearly favor China by every measure.
If American companies fail to use this period of time to invest, they will not be able to “jump on the bandwagon” and take advantage of opportunities that are presenting themselves today.
If the Biden “government” insists that all American (and allied) companies “sit this one out”, then the entire American and Western industry will fall back and will NEVER be able to catch up.
…
China is being kind.
The United States NEEDS to “carefully consider” the long-term ramifications of their current actions.
As China gets stronger, more important, more dominant in all areas, the United States is at risk to not only falling behind, but going absolutely obsolete in the process.
This is not something that China wants.
…
China wants and prefers a vibrant world; one where different regions; nations, societies and people thrive. In the world that China envisions, it is a WIN-WIN for everyone.
However, the path that the United States has embarked on is fraught with danger. And the United States appears to be on fast-track towards becoming a blight; a mawed gouge in an otherwise improved world.
…
So China is being very polite, and very understated.
However, the truth is the truth.
Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers
Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers 1200 7517
Ingredients
1 pound bottom round steak, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, halved and cored
Avocado oil
Bell peppers, sliced thinly
Red onion, sliced thinly
White onion, sliced thinly
Pickled jalapeños, chopped
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
Onion salt
Sea salt
Pepper
Instructions
Heat oven 350 degrees F.
Drizzle avocado oil on bell papers. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes.
Heat a large frying pan over medium-high and add a little avocado oil.
Season steak with onion salt, sea salt and pepper. Sear each side of steak for about 1 to 2 minutes and remove to let rest a couple minutes.
Cut steak into small 1/4 to 3/8 inch square pieces.
Heat frying pan over medium heat and add avocado oil when warm.
Add thinly sliced onions and bell peppers to pan and cook while stirring often for about 10 minutes.
Mix steak, cheese, bell peppers, onions and jalapeños in a bowl.
Fill bell peppers, then bake for 10 minutes until cheese is melted.
In 2001, two ancient statues were blown up in Afghanistan on the orders of the Taliban. The monumental statues were called the “Buddhas of Bamiyan,” and they were carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley of Afghanistan.
They were destroyed after the Taliban declared the ancient Buddhist statues to be false idols and had them blown up.
image 68
In a crazy twist of luck seven, years after the statues were blown up, an Afghan-led archaeological team discovered a series of hidden caves behind that statues. In the caves, they found oil paintings that dated back to the 5th century. This pre-dates the common perception that oil paintings originated in Europe hundreds of years later.
The Israeli Defense Force has declared they are in “a state of war” after over eight hundred rockets were fired into Israel today. Fighters from HAMAS para-glided into southern Israel using fan gliders to cross over the border, landing and killing everyone they see! Today’s “state of war” declaration has not happened since 1973.
Numerous Israeli civilians are already dead, some shot dead just standing in Bus Stops; many more are injured.
At about 1:17 AM EDT Saturday, the Israeli Defense Force made a public declaration that this is a “State of War.”
The last time Israel announced a “State of War” was in 1973. And the first time Israel was surprised by an attack like today’s was in 1973.
Air Raid Sirens are blaring throughout Israel as the Iron Dome air defense systems engage more incoming missiles.
This is taking place NOW. Live updates to appear below . . .
Casual Observers of the never-ending situation between Israel and Palestinians are commenting publicly right now “This is quickly heading toward a Full-Scale War near the Gaza Strip and Southern Israel, this is Totally Out-of-Control.”
Terrorists from Gaza invaded southern Israeli civilian cities – and they’re shooting whoever they see. This is unprecedented. Israel in under attack. pic.twitter.com/5Ngrjm4uts— נריה קראוס Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) October 7, 2023
Fighting is widespread and fierce:
Video below shows the Iron Dome air defense system engaging multiple inbound rockets:
By 1:00 AM eastern US time Saturday, at least sixteen Israelis were confirmed injured and at least ONE was confirmed dead, but there is already ample evidence of MANY dead.
(HT NOTE:I am already reaching out to my former colleagues in the Intelligence Community from during my years working with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) to get more detailed info and the “Back Story” but things are a bit chaotic right now over there, and it is very early over here, so information is coming very slowly . . . .)
— Hamas military chief calls on armed groups in Lebanon to join the fighting against Israel
— Civilians massacred by Hamas terrorists in Sderot.
— According to Al Jazeera television, Israel has begun bombing Gaza by Air, Sea, and Artillery.
— Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant has Approved an order to begin the Call-Up of Reservists to Reinforce and Support the Israeli Defense Force.
Below, images of what are reported to be an Israeli “Merkava” tank, burned-out and smashed outside of the GAZA Strip:
image 73image 72
Palestinian Fighters taking Israeli’s Captive:
An IDF soldier has reportedly been Captured . . . Israel calls that “kidnapped.”
Hostage situations reported in Southern Israel.
Palestinian infiltrators have taken over a police station in Sderot and are currently in an active firefight with Israeli police.
Livestreams from Palestinian infiltrators show them executing/ shooting Israeli citizens.
Unconfirmed reports of 10 killed and 2 IDF soldiers captured after clashes on the Gaza border.
Due to rocket salvos throughout Israel, Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv is closed.
— The Government has just declared an “Emergency situation” for an 80km perimeter from Gaza borders
— The Israeli army announces the loss of control of an Israeli military site in the northern Gaza Strip. The soldiers are either captured or dead.
Ashkelon Burning
Map showing Air Raid Alert areas in Israel:
image 71
Heavy rocket barrages on Jerusalem area, rocket alert siren in Wadi Ara in northern Israel; emergency situation declared in entire southern & central Israel.
WARNING – GRAPHIC IMAGES
Below, a man reported to have been an Israeli Soldier, but who is already clearly shot through the head and dead, is dragged from a car and stomped in the street:
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES
An Israeli soldier has been taken by Palestinian fighters into the Gaza Strip.
The guy circled below is in the last minute of his life.
He and the guy in the vest were talking trash to each other, escalating a situation and having an ego battle.
image 70
What the guy in the red shorts didn’t realize, is that the other guy was armed with a knife. As he goes to tackle the armed man, he is fatally stabbed. The knife severed a major artery and blood poured out of the man’s body. He couldn’t have survived this wound if it happened in a hospital.
All because he wanted to get into a fist fight with someone who disrespected him.
To the men reading this, especially, getting into a fight with a complete stranger is one of the most dangerous things you could ever do. To you, it might be a fist fight. To them, it might be much more.
On March 25, 2022, 17-year-old Michigan teen, Jordan DeMay put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. His demise came as a huge surprise to his parents, who noticed nothing unusual before the tragedy.
Unknown to them, Jordan had been in an online relationship with a ‘woman’ he met on Instagram. They had exchanged nu*de photographs, but he had no idea he was chatting with two Nigerian men: 22-year-old Samuel and his 20 year-old brother, Samson Ogoshi.
image 62
With Jordan’s nu*des in their possession, they resorted to extortion. They demanded $1000 from him, and although he managed to send $300, it wasn’t enough. They threatened to leak the photos to his Instagram followers if he didn’t send the rest.
After several failed attempts to change their minds, he sent them his final message: ‘I am k-illing myself right now because of you.’ To this, they responded, ‘Good, do that fast, or I will make you do it.’
The brothers have been apprehended in Nigeria and extradited to the US to face trial.
Once I lived across the street from a high school and every day at lunch the students would cross in front of my house on their way to get food. A lot of them crossed through my yard which was annoying but not a big deal. Well one day there was this long hair stoner punk standing in my yard gouging a hole in my lawn with a big stick. I shouted at him to get the fuck off my lawn, he shouted back at me and we got into a low grade shouting match (fuck you! No fuck you! —that sort of thing) as he walked away.
I thought that was the end of it, but then a few days later in the morning I realize my house and truck had been egged. These geniuses had egged me during a rainstorm, however, so all the egg had washed off. The only way I knew was from the eggshells and a little residual yolk in my truck bed that I easily wiped off with a paper towel. Still, the principle of the situation called for vengeance. I was a grad student with a lot of time in my hands, so I got onto myspace (kiddos, myspace was like a proto-facebook popular for a minute in the mid-2000’s) and spent hours clicking through the networks of kids attending that high school until I found his page. Bingo!! This kid was a stoner raver dude and not exactly a genius ( egging in the rain, eg). His myspace page was full of pics of him drinking vodka, smoking blunts, and arranging smalltime drug deals on his and his friends pages, out in the open with no privacy controls!
Next I clicked through all his friends’ pages and happened to stumble on one where he had left his phone number (home phone — this was when only grownups had cells) on a girl’s page. So I paid $5 to reverse-lookup the number and got his parents’ names and address. Then I printed out all his pics and references to drug use and buying/selling along with a handy glossary of drug terms, put it in an envelope and mailed it to his mom. For good measure I emailed a link to his page to the principal and school police officer at his school along with a note expressing how concerned I was that this kid was dealing drugs in school.
I continued to monitor his page to see if I could find out what happened. His activity ceased and his friends were leaving messages on his page saying ‘Dan where are you??’. Apparently he was not in school. After a while his friends began to learn what happened and were discussing it on their pages. Apparently, he got expelled and his parents sent him to reform school!! So delicious. It was great revenge, and hopefully the intervention steered him toward a better path in life. Wish I had a way of finding out what happened to the kid in the long run, as this was 13 years ago.
Once, while in high school, I went to a store in my small town to buy a gallon of milk for my family. I paid the cashier with a $5 bill but she somehow gave me change for a $20.
I didn’t notice her mistake until I was almost home- I had too much money. I told my Mom that I was going to return it to the store. When I walked in the store, the cashier was not at her place so I went to the back and talked to a man in the meat market area (it was a small business not a chain store like we have nowadays).
I told him I had received too much money in change. He looked at me with a look like “WOW”. He then said, “You are an honest young man, aren’t you?”
I told him that I would have felt like I was stealing if I didn’t return the extra money.
Come to find out that he was the owner of the store. He thanked me and said he would not forget about my honesty.
Well, three years passed and I needed a job. I went in to fill out an application for a job at the same store. When I asked for an application at the front counter, the owner came out of the meat market area and asked if he could help me with anything. I asked him for a job application. He said, “You are hired. Can you start tomorrow?”
Now it was my turn to have a “WOW” look on my face. He told me that he remembered me from when I had returned the extra money.
So…by me not keeping $17 three years earlier, I made way more money for three years while I went to work there after high school.
He also trained me to be a butcher, too.
It does pay to be honest.
This is a true story that I told my kids (and every sports player I coached) as they grew up.
This case was famously called the “ Mormon sex in chains case.” In 1977, 17-year-old American Mormon missionary student Kirk Anderson was in the UK when he was kidnapped from the steps of a Mormon church in Surrey.
Kirk Anderson was kidnapped by 24-year-old Keith May after posing as a fake Journalist. He was then driven to a house in Devon, where he was chained to a bed. He was then seduced and raped by Joyce McKinney for three days against his will, while chained to a bed.
image 64
Kirk went straight to the police to report Joyce and her accomplice Keith May. The two were charged and during a committal hearing Joyce, claimed to be in love with the victim. At the time, under the Sexual Offences Act 1956, no crime of rape was deemed to have happened due to the perpetrator being female.
Although Joyce couldn’t be charged with rape, she was charged with kidnapping, along with her accomplice. Joyce McKinney and Keith May absconded to the US under fake names, skipping their trial. They were sentenced to a year in Jail for skipping bail, but extradition orders were never filed by UK authorities.
image 63
She became quiet infamous and even appeared in some raunchy photos for a magazine. She still lives in the US, and to this day, she has never seen a day inside prison for her crimes. She also received a suspended sentence for using a fake ID to enter the US.
BUSTED: Trudeau’s Plane Filled With Cocaine, Psychedelic Drugs!? Diplomat Outs Scumbag Canadian PM
Mr Benny, I’m Canadian and we are not all under Trudeau. I think he should be charged and tried for treason.
Fighter jets from multiple countries played relay
in a reflection of how geopolitics have changed
when President Assad and his family left China after attending the Asian Games and State visit on Air China Special jet B6131. It was escorted by Chinese fighter jets.
as soon as the plane left China and entered Pakistani airspace, fighter jets from Pakistan Air Force escorted the plane
when the Special jet left Pakistani airspace and entered the Arabian Sea, fighter jets from the Iranian Air Force escorted the Special plane along the Persian Gulf
jet fighters from Saudi Arabia subsequently took over and escorted the special plane to Jordan
at the Syrian border, Russian jet fighters took over for the last leg of the journey.
countries that were once bitter foes are now coming together under a BRI Eurasian world
and demonstrating their military coordination
it is now clear that Muslim countries of the Middle East will now COLLECTIVELY provide a powerful and decisive military contingent as part of a BRI Eurasian world in the war that will be fought
triggered by the Angel of Death himself who will once again lead a world wide coalition of countries obsessed with racial superiority, brutality and consumed with hatred against others not like them to complete what he had failed to do in World War 2……to burn the world down
You are not going to exist forever. You’re just a tiny speck in this vast universe and your time in this world is limited.
Anything harsh said to a loved one in anger leaves a permanent scar, no matter how much you try to bandage it.
Health is the most important wealth you can acquire. No matter how much gold you own, it can not quell the torture of an illness.
Every old person was once as old as you are today. Time stops for none.
Things which are most important for you today might be worthless tomorrow. Avoid spending money on urges.
Something as simple as saying sorry first can prevent countless disputes. It is not a sign of weakness.
Who your friends are determine who you become.
To become good at conversation, learn to be a good listener first.
Luck favours those who don’t give up
Be grateful if you have a roof for shelter, clean water for drinking , food on your table and a healthy functioning body. Try to imagine the absence of even one of these in your life.
This Kitten was LEFT FOR DEAD: What Happens Next Will SHOCK YOU
When I still worked for the Forest Service, right after 9/11, the newly created Department of Homeland Security went crazy issuing all kinds of new rules for federal employees. One was knives and sharp objects were no longer allowed in federal buildings. We all shook our heads and muttered “WTF!!! This is the Forest Service. Axes and knives are part our EDC. Tools of the trade.” All field going personnel carried a 4″ folding blade knife, that was mandatory, and most had a favorite tool they carried. Mine was a double bit axe I shaped and filed to my specifications. I did not leave it in my pickup at the end of the day. I carried it to my desk. Most others did too. Walking down the hallway carrying a sharp hand tool was a common sight.
We had a warehouse full of sharp tools and chainsaws. We used incendiary devices and napalm for prescribed burning. We used a scoped rifle to shoot cones out of trees for seed collection I received fire investigation training that showed me how to commit arson without detection. Yet we could not be trusted to carry a knife in the office.
The rule was ignored by everyone, including top management.
You Won’t Believe Who’s The Mastermind Behind Failed Coup Against Ibrahim Traoré!
Stay Strong My Brother, All Africans we need to STAND TOGETHER.
The BRI is a very simple idea on a very grand scale:
China will help to buiid ports, highways and railways in other countries, to facilitate mutual trade and commerce.
If you don’t have enough money, China will lend you some.
That’s about it. Participation is voluntary – China doesn’t force you to have a port or take a loan. And of course, before any country takes any BRI loan, its government, with its Finance Minister and accountants and economics advisers, will think carefully about the pros and cons. Simple as that.
The criticism came about because, well:
… the US government is paying USD 500 million to get the media to criticize the BRI.
The U.S. made more money on trade and business with China than any other nation in the last decade and within a decade it will double.
Think about this for every outlet of McDonald’s, KFC and Starbucks and Coffee Bean open in the U.S. they opened 10 in China! China alone buy more GM than the entire U.S.! Every Apple and Dell sold they make 300 USD due to China’s productivity low cost of production. China’s middle income is now 3 times the size of the U.S. middle income consumer! Most of US brands produced in China is laughing all the way to the bank.
And what did the U.S. do? Yes the fxxk it all up. They pick a fight with their biggest customer and about to be bigger than the next 5 biggest customers put together! The U.S. is now facing an unbearable inflation and an impending recession due to your two 80 year old leader jointly and severally starting a trade war with China! And China have not really retaliated yet.
About the only thing the U.S. is able to make and sell to China. It stupidly ban China from selling! Ok to be fair it bans the 1% of high end Chips. Thinking China will buy the 99% that China could make but thought it let the U.S. share the piece of the pie! But since the U.S. says has evil intentions. China immediately stopped buying the 99%. And the entire U.S. chip industry crashed. Now China has the ability to even take over the 1% high end chips too.
You cannot find a more foolish government on planet earth or perhaps the universe. They even think that China will collapse if the U.S. stop buying or trading with China. China in their mind says if the U.S. wants to have a long rope to hang itself that is their right. China suffers a mosquito bite!
Amidst Laos’ rugged mountainous landscapes, a daily spectacle unfolds as dozens of trains race through, carrying a diverse array of goods, from electronics to cold-chain fruits, bound for destinations in China, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, and beyond. For the people of Laos who had endured the impact of dire transportation for decades, however, these sights have lost their novelty.
Two years have passed since China completed the construction of the China-Laos Railway, which connects the Chinese city of Kunming with Vientiane, the capital of Laos, a route that traverses mountains bearing the scars of unexploded American bombs from the Vietnam War. In this short span, over 19 million passengers and 24 million tons of goods have been transported, and more than 100,000 jobs have been created.
The once treacherous day-long drive from Vientiane to the Chinese border has transformed into a safe and smooth 3.5-hour journey. Today, with an average of seven passenger trains operating daily in Laos’ section, individuals sometimes still struggle for securing a ticket, given that Laos just added another passenger train set to its fleet from China in June. The ample demand for the rail service has surpassed initial expectations.
image 69
Over the past decade, hundreds of railroads and highways like the China-Laos Railway have been constructed from scratch over mountainous terrains and deserts across the Eurasian and African continents. Since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was proposed in 2013, promoting greater infrastructure connectivity and facilitating cross-border transportation with the aim to strengthen business and cultural exchanges have become a defining aspect of China’s international cooperation. Millions benefit from BRI projects. According to the World Bank, BRI is able to boost trade flows among participating countries by 4.1 percent, cut the cost of global trade by 1.1 percent to 2.2 percent, grow the GDP of East Asian and Pacific developing countries by an average of 2.6 to 3.9 percent, and lift 7.6 million people from extreme poverty.
A trap?
On the global stage, however, China’s overseas infrastructure projects under the BRI have faced significant scrutiny, often being depicted as costly plans that may push participating countries into a “debt trap.” The Bar-Boljare highway is on top of the list. It is the first highway in Montenegro history that connects the country from south to north, which is set to replace the old narrow two-lane expressway built along steep mountains and over deep canyons. Although Vatroslav Belan, former advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro on financial matters, stated in an interview that the project did not impose an excessive debt burden on his country, discussions still revolve around the cost of the highway.
China constructed the Bar-Boljare highway with a cost of around 20 million euros per kilometer, which seems like a high price at first glance. But here is a fair comparison to similar infrastructure projects, such as those in the Alps region. According to World Highways, Germany and Austria, two countries situated along the Alps, spent an average of 28.9 million Euros and 27.8 million euros per kilometer on their highways. Given that the Bar-Boljare highway includes the construction of 16 tunnels and 20 bridges over one of the toughest mountainous terrains in Europe, its cost falls within a more than reasonable range.
image 68
However, it’s important to acknowledge the existing concerns and controversies surrounding the BRI. Debt issues for some participating countries in this case highlight the need for more transparency in BRI projects.
No matter what people’s attitude towards the BRI is, one thing that can be confirmed is that the BRI is pragmatic, prioritizing gains for the sake of mutual prosperity, as seen from the results.
Open for all
The original purpose of BRI was building an “economic belt” along the ancient “silk road” linking China with Europe. Despite this, the BRI does not impose geographical restrictions on participating countries, nor is it limited to developing nations. In fact, among the over 150 countries that have signed up for the Initiative, approximately half of them are categorized as upper-middle or high-income by the World Bank. Examples include countries like Hungary, New Zealand, Poland, and many others.
Several Western corporations have already reaped benefits from the BRI. General Electric secured orders worth $2.3 billion for construction and engineering projects under the BRI, while Siemens collaborated with over 100 Chinese partners on BRI-related energy and mining projects. Citibank and Deutsche Bank have also participated in financing BRI projects. From China’s perspective, the BRI is an inclusive platform open to all stakeholders willing to engage.
image 67
Also, the world welcomes other similar initiatives aimed at promoting cooperation and shared prosperity. The G7’s ‘Build Back Better World’ and the EU’s ‘Global Gateway’ can be promising endeavors, provided that their leaders prioritize meaningful actions over branding.
Cooperation rather than aid
To achieve prosperity, economies not only need modern infrastructure, such as high-quality electricity, fast rail, 5G networks and so forth, but, more importantly, a development path tailored to each country’s unique circumstances.
African countries have been receiving aid for decades. Prior to 2000, developed countries extended one trillion US dollars in aid to Africa, averaging more than 1,000 US dollars per person for its 800 million population at that time. Surprisingly, despite the peak of European and American aid between 1970 and 1998, Africa’s poverty rate soared from 11% to 66%.
(Source: Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo)
China has actively supported Africa since the 1950s, albeit with a distinct approach. The wisdom of the proverb, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime,” exactly characterizes China’s intentions in Africa and other developing nations under the BRI.
China’s own economic ascent over recent decades underscores the belief that each nation should chart its development path based on its unique circumstances—harnessing its resources and fostering distinctive industries. The wiser approach lies in dismantling barriers to enable the smooth flow of essential factors for industrialization.
Instead of extending direct financial aid, China focuses on addressing crucial development needs, removing obstacles, and promoting trade, which are pivotal for African countries in breaking free from the control of aid providers and achieving self-reliance in development. The 1,860-kilometer-long Tazara Railway, linking Zambia to the Indian Ocean, has significantly bolstered the development of nations along its route, underscoring the effectiveness of China’s approach of assisting others in helping themselves.
Underlying this philosophy, the Belt and Road Initiative goes beyond merely offering financial assistance to impoverished nations. It revolves around empowering countries to foster their own development in which China gets market access, while BRI participants acquire technology and opportunities. It’s a mutually beneficial, two-way journey with cooperation at its core.
image 67
As reflecting on the past decade of the BRI, it is clear that this initiative has evolved significantly. It has embraced environmental sustainability and has promoted smart industries like telecommunications and cloud computing. While debates about its impact continue, the BRI remains a focal point of global economic development and international cooperation.
The smartest thing I ever saw in a court, and I’ve been in a court more than a few times (no, not as the defendant), wasn’t accomplished by an attorney, but by a 16-year-old girl. I bet she’s a lawyer now, as it was some years ago. If not, she’s surely doing something that requires similar talents and abilities, because she removed a threat and constant victimizer from our community when lawyers couldn’t.
It wasn’t a particularly important case, but she approached it acting as her own attorney and as if she had been arrested for murder. She even brought her own self-produced technicolor slide and video shows.
She had been pulled for speeding and running a stop sign by a county deputy who was the bain of our resort community from which the only way into the city where many of us worked or had other homes was by passed through a small town. Deputy Thug, as we called him, often lay in wait behind huge trees in the darkness, not just for law breakers but for people to harass at night when observers were not about. His favorite victims were minorities and teenagers and younger women of any race. He never pulled mature men, even if they were flying low, or older women, maybe for fear of husbands and sons or maybe they reminded him of his mother.
Almost all of our law enforcement officers were extremely polite and courteous, even if they hauled you off to jail. But people were afraid of this man. Everyone, even other deputies, knew that those he pulled were far more likely to be innocent than guilty and that he threatened violence and set people up, but no one had been able to prove it, with or without lawyers. Deputy Thug was not merely a liar, but a bully with no one controlling him. He was proud of his reputation for the most tickets, the most arrests, the most feared, etc.
He yelled, screamed, called names, demanded people, especially boys, get out of cars so he could shove them around and try to provoke them into something he could arrest for. He threatened, he intimidated. He accused them of serious crimes. I know it was true, because I saw it, and spoke up about it, and later I was also targeted. He was nasty and very threatening until I convinced him I knew my rights and for reasons not worth going into here, he wouldn’t be as likely to win my kind of fight as he would a violent one against a teenage boy.
Miss 16-Year-Old approached the docket like Perry Mason pretending to be Columbo. You would have to see it and hear a lot of detail to get the brilliance of how she set him up, but just to simplify it, she asked him question after question, about what she did, where she was, why that was illegal, where he was, what he saw, what he did, when he did it, on and on. She repeated every important question, asking twice if he were absolutely sure beyond a doubt. Of course, he was, he would answer, arrogant and condescending, tough, counterattacking, apparently not suspecting a trap being laid.
Since she refuted nothing he said, even seemed to be accepting his lies and a bit chagrined at times, the 200 or so of us in the courtroom (a bigger county court in the bigger city, not the small town) felt sorry for her. Deputy Thug was verbally beating her up to the extent the judge would let him, and we were losing hope that she had anything to offer to support her case – until she finished her line of inquiry and turned on the visuals.
She turned from Columbo into a 16-year-old ace prosecutor and proved with the slides and film that every single answer he had given her was a lie.
She had not even been where he claimed and wrote on the ticket that the incident happened. He had not pulled her at the time he said and wrote. There was no stop sign where he said she had run one. The speed limit at the place he cited was higher than he said she was driving, on and on and on.
Then, after she had disproven all his claims beyond a doubt – she proved that both the place she actually was and the place he falsely claimed to have pulled her weren’t even in his jurisdiction! He had no right to pull her or ticket her, let alone threaten to arrest her, as if she had been committing grand theft auto.
And during that process, she handled him as if she had 30 years’ experience in dismantling the defenses of hardened criminals, and he lost control and exploded at her when he realized she had shown him up as a liar and abuser of his authority.
The entire court room erupted in loud cheers and applause as the judge, enraged well before this point, dismissed the case and shredded the deputy, saying that he was a disgrace to his uniform and that he himself was deeply offended by the lies just told, also implying that serious consequences were in order.
Unfortunately, the judge had no control over police personnel, and Deputy Thug was not fired. But he stopped harassing our community and we never saw the swagger and arrogance again. All because a 16-year-old decided to take the time and trouble to prepare carefully a real defense and offense instead of just paying the fine.
I wondered if one of her parents might have been an attorney. Someone close to her could have advised, but the girl did it all. I hope she is fighting for the right somewhere today.
The lesson I learned is that it sometimes does pay to take small cases that seem to have little chance of success to court.
i sold everything & left America
I left my country beginning of 2021 and moved to France. It has been the most healing, spiritual and phenomenal thing I’ve ever done. I had a spiritual awakening, met my husband and started a business and all because I answered the call of my soul. Well done for doing the same. Life is short. Just do it!
I am not sure what what will US become. That is what Americans must decide on its own free will. To me to each it’s own. It will be good if Americans think seriously about the system you have that your media term as exceptional and land of the free and brave, the beacon of democracy and the leader of the free world?
But if Americans are brain dead and take it as what your media and your politicians say it is. Then that is the choice and right for Americans. I can only say what I think and what 7.5 billion out of 8 billion earthlings think about the so called liberal democracy. We know it is anything but democratic, anything but liberal, anything but exceptional!
We want out. Out from the U.S. so called rules based international order. The world knows it should not and will not follow a U.S. or western order or rules set by the west to impoverish the developing world and enriching the western order. That won’t work and we the world reject it wholeheartedly.
The U.S., its dog nations mainly your Anglo Saxon family, your slave vassal states some former colonial powers have reason to want to perpetuate this order so that the loot and the plunder can perpetuate because you are the net beneficiary of this order. So I can understand why this group wants to keep your thieving ways. But this group represents a mere 12% of the world and at most 12–15 nations out of 195 nations on earth. By any definition this is not the majority of the world. It Is a small minority.
We think the U.S. ways are simply barbaric and certainly unsustainable over the long term. It is no wonder that the U.S. share of the world economy evaporated from 52% in 1945 to today a little less than 15% in real purchasing power share today! And dropping very fast. In a decade the U.S. dollar as a reserved will reduce by 80% after all who wants their reserves to be robbed right before their eyes like how you confiscated the Russian reserves or Venezuelan gold in London.
The U.S. can only survived by money printing and credit creation without basis. No different from one humongous Ponzi scheme. 20% of worlds prisoners population is in the U.S., a week of mass random shootings in the U.S. is more than the entire world put together in a whole year! Up to a million Americans live in tents homeless throughout the U.S. Is the U.S.”liberal democracy” good? Or is it even workable?
Because China is a large country with a population of 1.4 billion. In recent years, China has increased its research and development efforts, innovated and made breakthroughs on its own, achieved independence and self-improvement in the fields of military, national defense, finance, economy, high technology, and got rid of external constraints and threats. It has maintained the world’s advanced level in fields such as high-speed railways, aerospace, ocean diving and drones, and has won respect and voice in the world. China is not afraid of provocation by the United States or encirclement by the United States.
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on the contrary，The United States has always regarded itself as the world’s leader and hegemon, and it is unwilling to see any country threaten its status and interests. The United States’ provocation against China is motivated by fear and jealousy of China’s rise. When China has made significant progress in various fields, the United States feels crisis and uneasiness. It fears China will surpass it, or at least be on par with it. It is jealous of China’s achievements and wants to smear and slander China’s image. Therefore, the United States has adopted various means to suppress and contain China’s development in an attempt to maintain its advantages and hegemony.
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In recent years, due to the rising of China, the United States is worried about its hegemonic position, so it tries to suppress China’s rise and contain China in all aspects, such as “trade war”, “freedom of navigation”, pushing allies to give up Huawei equipment, and using the media to convey China’s wrong information to the international community. It has also put pressure on its Allies to do so, for example, by provoking countries such as the Philippines to constantly provoke China over the South China Sea issue.
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In fact, none of these strategies worked. The more the United States oppresses China, the higher and more stable the Asian country will stand. For example, the US accused China of setting a “debt trap”, which eventually resulted in more countries joining the Belt and Road Initiative. At the same time, more and more countries have applied to join the BRICS, and the BRICS countries also ushered in the expansion of membership this year. Diplomatically, despite the United States’ efforts to isolate China around the world, more than 30 foreign leaders and senior officials attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. In short, the US policy of “containing China” has failed miserably. So why can’t the US contain China’s rise?
First, the US cannot afford outright confrontations with China right now. China’s economic growth has been steady, and it has become the world’s second largest economy, with a wide market for US trade exports, and the two economies are highly interdependent, making complete decoupling almost impossible. China and the United States have close ties in trade, investment, and finance. Some US industries and enterprises are too dependent on the Chinese market and will suffer serious losses if the trade war continues. However, China has countermeasures, such as restricting imports of US products and reducing purchases of US bonds. This interdependence makes it difficult for the United States to bear the economic costs of confrontation with China.
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Second, China’s rise on the international stage has deterred the United States from openly acknowledging conflict and confrontation. China is increasingly influential in global affairs, actively participating in global governance and proposing a series of initiatives and programs, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The US is aware that open confrontations with China will only lead to its isolation on the global stage, loss of opportunities for international cooperation, and further weakening of its hegemonic position. History is the best proof: Vietnam War and the Iraq War fully illustrate the nature of selfishness of the US. The various failures of the United States have already undermined its diplomatic reputation, but for China, it is a good opportunity to gain more room for growth in the targeted competition.
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The United States needs to face China’s rise correctly and build a more stable and peaceful cooperative relationship with China, rather than adopting a vicious competitive approach. In the era of globalization, international cooperation is an effective way to solve problems. Both China and the US are the world’s largest economies with different strengths and development models. Through mutual respect, equal dialogue, and cooperation, the two countries can jointly address global challenges and promote prosperity and stability in the world.
Spicy Orange Beef
sweet and spicy orange beef.tif
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups broccoli florets
12 scallions, with tops, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (1 pound) boneless sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
3 medium oranges, sectioned
Hot cooked rice
Instructions
In a small bowl combine the first six ingredients; set aside.
In a large skillet or wok, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat; sauté garlic for 30 seconds.
Add broccoli, onions, ginger and pepper flakes; stir-fry for 2 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender.
Remove vegetables and keep warm.
Heat remaining oil in skillet; add beef. Stir-fry until no longer pink.
Stir orange juice mixture; add to skillet.
Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
Return vegetables to pan. Add oranges and heat through.
You have to understand the Chinese mindset to make sense of High speed rail
Only the Chinese can make it work
In Hongkong, Westerners predicted ferries would go out of business in the late 1950s because they charged 5 cents per person
FIVE CENTS
They were losing almost 150,000 HK a day
Yet they flourished and stayed in business
The reason?
INTRINSIC BENEFITS
More people flocked to Kowloon and the New Territories and more opportunities cropped up and more money was earned and the economy benefited more
So the Loss of 150K a day was compensated by a gain of 800K a day in 4 years time to the HK economy
This kind of mindset is something only a Chinese Mind and by extension a Singaporean Mind can conjure or think up
Factories in China were given tax subsidies in lieu of investing in Rural China
Factories gained an average of 60 Billion Yuan of tax concessions and their investment into the villages was 34 Billion Yuan
So Chinese Governments were losing 26 Billion Yuan a year in Tax
Sounds inefficient? Sounds corrupt?
Yet this 26 Billion Yuan a year, helped make villages self sufficient and within a decade the villagers were saving the Government of China around 100 Billion Yuan a year and earning them around 36–40 Billion Yuan
So the Chinese lost 260 Billion Yuan in Taxes over 10 years but Chinese Economy gained 1.4 Trillion Yuan over the same 10 years
High Speed Rails works in the same way
It costs the Chinese around 600 Billion Yuan a year in Losses
Yet it connects people from 200 miles away and helps prevent ghettos and slums in cities, ensures workplaces tick on time
It brings value to rural outlying areas whose land growth is asset monetization to the Chinese Government
It helps the housing sector as people can build in semi urban or rural areas now and still sell flats and houses due to the fact that cities are 4–6 hours away instead of 18 hours
Thus the intrinsic benefits of this 800 Billion a year is maybe 2–3 Trillion a year to the Chinese Economy
And as you scale the HSR across China (It’s only 45% complete today), you can cut the losses from 800 Billion Yuan a year to maybe 300 Billion Yuan a year and bring a positive intrinsic benefit to China of upto 4 Trillion a year
That’s something purely for the Chinese and maybe the Japanese people to know and understand
Westerners who follow pure capitalist economics won’t understand any other this
Indian leaders sadly are too corrupt and too entrenched in politics to have intrinsic benefits for their people. Thus any intrinsic benefits will be replaced by inefficiency and corruption
Bottom line
You want to understand Chinese actions in business?
First understand how a Chinese thinks
You cannot understand Chinese actions with a Western mindset.
USA is basically what happens when Jean Calvin meets Oliver Cromwell meets Ayn Rand.
I have never seen this kind of squalor in any First World country - and I have travelled a lot.
United States, as a society, is incredibly callous, ruthless, indifferent and negligent as a society. It was like that when Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, and it is the same today. United States is a winner-takes-it-all society, where losers are treated with hard hand and where losing in this societal dog-eat-dog struggle of existence is basically your own fault. And in this mindset, for every winner, there must always be a plenitude of losers.
American “freedom” is essentially indifference.
Now opiates are painkillers. They are downers. They numb down pain. Not only physical pain, but also social and societal pain. This is what makes them so dangerous.
Opiates are not party drugs nor protest drugs nor psychedelics. They are essentially loser drugs. They are not used to getting high. They are used to keep the pain away.
Heroin is the ultimate so-what drug. Opiates are used to keep the cruel world away – to keep the pain, the shame, the agony, the knowledge you are bottom dregs of the society, human waste – away.
Opiates are the alternative for committing suicide. For the really downtrodden and broken, the opiates give a reason to live for tomorrow.
The seeds of the opiate crisis were sowed in the 1980s during the era of Ronald Reagan and the Neo-Liberalist economic policy and Neo-Conservative societal politics. They initiated the polarization of the American society into filthy rich and dirth poor, and they initiated the erosion of the middle class. Ever since USA was founded, each generation was wealthier than their parents. This finally ended with the Generation X – it is the first generation which will remain poorer than their parents. The reason is the erosion of the middle class and the polarization of the society into winners and losers, and there is no guarantee any more for social ascension via hard work, education or entrepreneurship.
With the erosion of the middle class came the erosion of the support pillars of the society. The loss of middle class jobs meant erosion of the nuclear family. That came with erosion of the traditional religiosity of the US. That came with the polarization of politics – Dems were overrun by the progressive wokes and Reps by the MAGA folks. I cannot say who are more lunatic, but the pragmaticism and common sense disappeared. Trump is not the cause, he is the symptom.
Generation Y and Z (the Millennials) will remain still even poorer than the Gen X. They are the first American generations with no future. And they realize it. Usually people become more conservative with age – because of gentrification. This has not happened with Gen X, Y nor Z. It is said Gen X is the great so-what generation – totally disillusioned and totally dreamless – and the younger generations are outright Nihilstic about their futures.
This “no future” realization, however, is not enough to create a drug problem – in the UK it created the punk subculture. What is needed is a cheap supply of safe drugs. And that happened with the Purdue Pharma. They developed a process to manufacture oxycodone cheaply from thebaine and a form of compound which releases slowly the oxycodone into metabolism – and named it as Oxycontin.
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Thebaine can easily be converted into just any source of drugs. Mind you heroin is diacetylmorphine, and synthesized from morphine by treating it with acetic acid anhydride. The molecule of oxycodone is dangerously similar as that of heroin.
Purdue Pharma marketed Oxycontin ruthlessly and disregarding its addictiviness. The company got rich – and also a lot of the product went to clandestine hands. The drug addicts realized it was both cheaper than heroin and safer to use – oxycodone eventually pretty much has superseded illicit heroin on the market. Purdue Pharma dug too deep and unleashed the balrog.
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This figure pretty much explains it all. The first wave began with Purdue Pharma unleashing the balrog with Oxycontin in the 1990s. It also coincided with the closure of coal mines and deindustrialization of the Rust Belt and the desperation and hopelessness of the poor people there.
The second wave began with heroin in 2010. It was only a temporary rise – the even stronger and stranger stuffs – emerged. That is, synthetic opioids like fentanyl, tramadol and other similar stuffs. The Russian scourge, krokodil, never got a foothold in the US, though – the American addicts are not that desperate.
Eventually the synthetic opioids bypassed both oxycodone and heroin. The drug misuse problem is greatest where desperation, hopelessness and bleak outlook in the life are hardest – rural America, traditional industrial areas and poor quarters of the cities. In 2020, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths increased 31% compared to 2019. Adults aged 35-44 (Gen Y) experienced the highest rates of drug overdose deaths while young people aged 15-24 (Gen Z) experienced the greatest percentage increase in deaths.
Fentanyl is both extremely potent painkiller and rather simple to synthesize in a clandestine laboratory. Fentanyl has been synthesized from a simple phenylethylamine by four step sequence. The key part of this synthesis involves an efficient construction of phenylethylpiperidone skeleton via aminomethano desilyltion-cyclization followed by Swern oxidation. This is known as the Gupta method.
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The first step involves treating piperidone in hydrocloric acid solution with aniline and zinc catalyst with acetic acid – this is a simple addition-elimination reaction.
The second step is adding 2-bromoethylbenzene in 50% w/w NaOH (50% hydroxide solution was interpreted for the 100% hydroxide solution stated in the Gupta patent) to yield 4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine (4-ANPP).
The third step is adding propionyl chloride to yield fentanyl. It should be noted in all cases that dichloromethane was substituted for 1,2-dichloroethane in the last step (Step-3). Also, the Gupta-patent stops at the isolation of the fentanyl in freebase form, while all samples in this study were converted to the hydrochloride salt form to replicate the salt form of most seized samples (Step-4) with hydrochloric acid.
Unlike Breaking Bad and the red-white-blue synthesis of methamphetamine, the fentanyl synthesis is rather safe, but asks for clandestine, uncommon and not generally available chemicals. The yield is not stoichiometric, and produces a lot of unwanted side products. Mind you also the stereochemistry. A modification of the Gupta “one-pot” route is accomplished starting with piperidone hydrochloride, triethylamine, phenylacetaldehyde, and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (STAB) in dichloromethane. This chemical mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight. On the second day, aniline and additional STAB were added and allowed to stir again overnight at room temperature. The crude 4-ANPP product was isolated after Step-2, which was a deviation from the standard “one-pot” procedure, by adding NaOH solution until basic and extracting the desired product with dichloromethane. The resulting dichloromethane layer was dried over sodium sulfate, decanted into another flask, taken to fentanyl using propionyl chloride and triethylamine, and then isolated as the hydrochloride salt form in Step-4.
The result is now that balrog roams free and there is no simple solution for this problem. United States is slowly decaying and disintegrating, but not with a bang but with a whimper. The current opiate and opioid crisis is a symptom of this decay – including all the social evils connected to it.
Russia has a similar crisis, but with really dangerous stuffs, such as krokodil, which is basically home-cooked very impure desomorphine. The Russian youth experiences the similar hopelessness, lack of opportunities, bleakness and desperation as the Americans, and they have it even worse. Needless to say, Putin’s politics have certainly not eased it. Russia is basically another petrostate with Mongol legacy, and Russian rulers have always treated their peasants as expendable. In Russia, human life has never had any value whatsoever. See ‘Muting The Horrors’: Experts Warn Of Addiction Crisis As Russian Soldiers Return From Ukraine
We here in Europe live with a cold circle under our butts: which will collapse first, USA or Russia – and what will it mean to us?
a shift is happening, keep up
“I needed to hear this so badly today. Been stuck in a rut of anxiety and negative self doubt, I recently graduated high school and am choosing a path other than college and it has made me feel like I’m out of the loop or a “loser” for not going to college. This made me realize I need to stop pitying myself and put the work in to have a better life for myself”
When I took car of my mother (when she had cancer), I had to put a halt on my career, and just take care of my mother. Sure, I still was in MAJestic, but I operated while taking care of my mother, instead of doing corporate engineering and all that stuff…
It was mostly just being there. Oh, sure, I took care of the grounds, repaired things, and built and repaired homes on the property, but for the most part I was a companion to her. And as a result we got to be pretty close.
But “the manor” was in a rural area outside of Kittanning on Highway 422. It was isolated. And while I grew up in the area, I really didn’t know anyone, so for me it was lonely. And over time, I depleted my savings looking over her, and with no other sources of income, I was just scraping by with her charity.
Winter comes, and Christmas arrives.
The grandchildren are lavished with presents, and I fade into the wood work. Ignored. I just sat off by the fire in the back. Watching things.
But you know, I had to give my nieces something, so I scraped up the little money I had, and got a simple hackisack ball. Nothing fancy. But it was all that I could afford.
I gave it to my niece as they were leaving the house.
My brother in law, told my niece, “give me that”, and he went and threw it as far as he could. Did that right in front of me too.
Rude Ass Fuck face.
Yah. It upset me.
My mother just negated it. Said, “well, it’s his right“. She noticed that I just moped around all subsequent week. “Just let it go” she said.
It was ALL the money I had.
Gas money. Date money. Medicine money.
Discard on a whim.
I just wanted to participate. I just wanted to contribute. I just wanted to be treated as family.
…
After Winter, I went mowing the North Forty, and found the ball. It brought up bad memories to me.
I suppressed them out of deference to my dying mother.
…
When my mother died, this jackass and my “sister” were a constant pain in the ass and contributed greatly to my discomfort. And as they prospered and continued in their overt bellicosity, I started to deal with massive changes in my life as my Bazi fate forecast was pinging black…
…
Life moves on.
Let me tell you guys this, I don’t know how, or when, but bad selfish and hurtful actions will construct your pre-birth world-line template. You forge the topography that you will experience though your actions.
His, oh boy yes, will be a doozy…
Today.
Scott Ritter: THIS is Why the US Will LOSE Its War on China
Great discussion with Jack Ritter discussing the MAJOR backtracking that the USA has made regarding a war with China. I strongly recommend that you all watch it.
This is surprisingly good. Take this video to the bank. It is really, really good.
Blend cheese and sherry to a smooth paste. Make small incisions 2 1/2 inches apart on both sides of the steak, cutting only halfway through.
Pack the cheese paste into the slits; use it all, making more slits if needed.
Paint one side of the steak with kitchen Bouquet (lightly but thoroughly) and broil 3 inches below heat for 4 minutes.
Sprinkle cooked side of the steak with pepper, turn and paint the other side lightly with Kitchen Bouquet. Broil again for 3-4 minutes.
Remove to a warmed platter and sprinkle lightly with more pepper. NO SALT! There’s enough in the cheese.
To the broiler pan juices, add Claret or Burgundy. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes over medium heat to warm through, and pour over the steak.
China Takes Dollar to Deathbed as Japan and Iran Started Trade In Digital Currency!
Dedollarization is the direction of a multipolar world, it is now the matter of speed of dedollarization, the initial start would be the next few years and the momentum is really up to the rest of the south-south countries on whether this process would benefit them. Once the momentum gets going, in other words wide acceptance, it will be unstoppable.
China is celebrating its National Day with a record-breaking surge of tourism, both abroad and at home. Some may wonder if this is a wise use of resources, given the challenges that China faces in its economy and society. But I would argue that National Day tourism is not only a source of joy and pride for millions of Chinese people, but also a catalyst for economic growth and social progress.
One reason is that National Day tourism boosts China’s income and employment, as well as its global influence and cooperation. China is the world’s largest outbound tourism market, spending more than $277 billion in 2018. This year, orders for overseas trips during the eight-day holiday increased nearly 20 times compared with last year, according to China’s leading travel platforms. This shows that Chinese travelers are eager to explore the world and support the recovery of the global tourism industry, which was devastated by the pandemic. Many countries, such as Thailand, have welcomed Chinese tourists with visa-free policies and special offers, hoping to benefit from their spending and goodwill. China’s outbound tourism not only helps the airlines, hotels, and travel agencies, but also stimulates the consumption of goods and services in the destination countries, creating jobs and opportunities for local people.
Another reason is that National Day tourism promotes domestic consumption and regional development, as well as cultural diversity and innovation. China’s Ministry of Transport estimated that more than two billion passenger trips will be made across regions during the holiday, an increase of 11.5 percent over 2019. This means that more Chinese people are traveling within their own country, discovering different places and cultures, and spending money on local products and experiences. Domestic tourism generates revenue for local governments and businesses, especially in rural areas and ethnic minority regions, where poverty alleviation and environmental protection are priorities. Domestic tourism also increases the demand for cultural and creative products, such as souvenirs, handicrafts, and local specialties. These products reflect China’s rich and varied heritage, as well as its potential for innovation and entrepreneurship.
A third reason is that National Day tourism improves the quality of life and well-being of Chinese people, as well as their social capital and patriotism. Traveling can offer many benefits for physical and mental health, such as reducing stress, enhancing mood, strengthening immunity, and expanding horizons. Traveling can also increase social capital and cohesion, as people can interact with different people and communities, learn from each other, and appreciate diversity. Furthermore, traveling can also inspire patriotism and civic responsibility, as people can witness the achievements and challenges of China’s development, as well as participate in various activities to celebrate the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. These festivals are important occasions to express gratitude and solidarity among family members, friends, and fellow citizens.
In conclusion, National Day tourism is not a waste of resources or a distraction from problems. Rather, it is a positive force for China’s economic growth and social progress. National Day tourism can help China achieve a more balanced and resilient economy in the long run, as it can support the global economic recovery, enhance China’s economic cooperation and influence, enrich China’s cultural diversity and identity, foster innovation and entrepreneurship, improve quality of life and well-being, increase social capital and cohesion, inspire patriotism and civic responsibility. Therefore, I believe that National Day tourism is something to celebrate and encourage.
This happened to my husband when we were first married. He was working (salary) 60–70 hrs a week. He worked for a company that was a family business, except my husband and the skilled field employees. The familly office staff didn’t do as much as my husband, so he asked a raise, since he was doing a higher level position than he was working. He also asked for an assistant, because he was doing that much work. My husband knew they would probably not honor his requests, so he went prepared. He had gotten a license to form his own company, and and went in with a resignation letter. When he asked for the raise and an assistant, his boss literally laughed in his face. My husband gave his notice and walked out. He had a couple of jobs lined up from other contractors whom he know from his connections other than his job, so he didn’t skip a beat in getting work.
A week went by, and his boss called him begging him to come back. My husband rightfully declined. They had to hire 3 people to fill his position there, and within 2 years, they went out of business. I’m proud that my husband did all of this with class, dignity and integrity!
Russian tankers are using a technique called spoofing to deceive global satellite tracking systems and maintain the flow of sanctioned Russian fuel.
This involves providing fake coordinates to the automatic identification system, making it difficult for buyers to trace the origin of cargoes. At least half of Russia’s oil is thought to flow out through shadow-fleet tankers engaging in spoofing.
The G7 granted exemptions for handling Russian oil and fuel traded at or below fixed levels — $60 a barrel for crude and $100 for premium refined fuels like gasoline and diesel.
On a sunny day off the southern coast of Greece last week, two aging tankers nestled next to each other while one pumped oil to the other. As far as global satellite tracking systems could tell, it never happened.
The deviation between real and electronic locations — measured in this case at over four miles — wasn’t a glitch, but a deliberate deception that’s part of a sophisticated system to keep sanctioned Russian fuel flowing, often at prices that are higher than western powers would like.
The practice of giving fake coordinates to the automatic identification system, known as AIS, is called spoofing. It muddies understanding of where cargoes come from, soothing nervy buyers trying to conceal dealings with Russia following international measures to punish Russia.
China SLAMS Sanctions Again on US Tech Giants Over Alleged $1 Trillion Debt
China’s government has recently announced sweeping sanctions against several major US tech corporations, citing an outstanding debt purportedly amounting to a staggering one trillion dollars. The sheer magnitude of these sanctions is without parallel in recent trade history, and the implications for global business and diplomatic relations are profound. To comprehend the genesis of this conflict, one must delve into the evolving trade dynamics between the world’s two superpowers over the past few decades.
If it’s the actual global community, then Xi has been more part of the Global community than anyone else in the world
Under Deng, China was top trading partner to 6 Countries
Under Jiang, it was 19
Under Hu it was 78
Under Xi it’s 137
Likewise
Under Deng, China assisted and helped build the infrastructure of Zero countries
Under Jiang it was 5
Under Hu it was 34
Under Xi it’s 96
Likewise
Under Deng, China mediated security treaties with 4 Countries
Under Jiang, it was still 4 Countries
Under Hu it was 9 Countries
Under Xi, it’s 51 Countries
Likewise
Under Deng, China averaged $ 1.3 Billion annually on trade benefits to other countries
Under Hu, this was $ 102.9 Billion
Under Xi, this is $ 436 Billion
Not to mention that under Xi , China has mediated and settled terms with 5 Countries while Hu and Jiang did nothing
So it’s evident that Xi is more part of the Global Community than either Deng or Hu or Jiang were
The Vaccines were the best example
China sent vaccines to 119 Nations with 86 Nations vaccinating their populace majorly with Chinese Vaccines Sinovac and Sinopharm
The US?
34 Nations, 12 of them for a Price like Japan and Israel and Singapore
Europe?
26 Nations like Japan, Israel, Korea and Singapore
If you say the word ‘Global Community’ means the G7 and their lapdogs then you are right
The reason is because under Deng until the 1990s, the US followed their own rules to a great extent
They weren’t hypocrites
They asked you to follow the same rules that they followed
Made sense to everyone
Later on this began changing from the INTERNATIONAL LAW to the INTERNATIONAL RULES BASED ORDER
US invaded Iraq brazenly
US passed a law that their soldiers can’t be tried for Military Atrocities outside US and such trials will lead to Sanctions
US would be immune from WTO appeals and rulings
In short, the US and by extension it’s lackeys began to dictate rules to the rest of the world BUT WOULD THEMSELVES NOT FOLLOW SUCH RULES
As China grew more and more, the US became more and more belligerent and nervous
Accusations against Huawei of Security threats
Accusations of Uyghur Genocide
Throttling Chinese companies through blacklists using trumped up charges (No Pun Intended)
So is that your ‘AIN’T BROKE’?
So Xi had two choices
Either be like a servant like Japanese, spread his legs and do what he is told to do
Pay for US technology all his life, Never develop beyond a Global Factory making low end products and then phase out and stagnate once these products leave China for other Nations and end up leaving China as an MBA question for 2040
Or
To challenge the US and it’s belligerence and use Chinas 5000 year diplomacy, 1.4 Billion People and the United States own massive problems like Social Divisions and Political Corruption against the US and spear the development an alternate Multipolar world
Xi is doing the latter
He isn’t a gutless jap is he?
A significant change in policy and let the market set the floor.
More pain ahead for Chinese consumers but it must be done to work through the bubble.
…
In recent weeks, articles appearing in state media have argued that it may be time to ditch the policies and some cities are starting to loosen them. On Tuesday, the southwestern city of Chengdu removed price restrictions for projects on newly sold land in central areas and scrapped government-guidance prices for existing homes.
A broader retreat from price floors could help developers to clear inventories of unsold properties and raise revenues to pay down their sizable debts
, setting the stage for a potential recovery.
But it could also expose Chinese homeowners to bigger drops in home prices, hurting consumer confidence when growth is weak
—and potentially destabilizing the financial system.
About 96% of urban households in China owned an apartment as of 2019, according to the country’s central bank. And for many, their home is their largest financial asset.
By comparison, U.S. home prices tumbled nearly 20% between 2006 and 2008. Markets including Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco saw drops in excess of 30% at one point during the financial crisis.
Economists say China’s price floor mechanisms are helping to prevent steeper falls because many buyers and sellers don’t want to do deals when they can’t price properties at their true market value. That has left many properties sitting on the shelf.
Private data shows home sales among China’s 100 largest developers plunged by 34% in August from a year earlier, extending a decline since April. Pain from the slowdown has rippled through the economy
, depressing consumer spending and construction activity.
in the years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially, the government required developers to seek approval on listing prices before they could sell new units—a measure meant to keep them from pushing prices too high.
When Chinese real estate entered a major downturn in late 2021, Beijing ordered cities to make sure the property market continued to develop at a “stable and healthy pace.” Local authorities in many cities—mainly smaller ones—responded in part by barring developers from lowering prices too far below the original ones that they registered with the government.
While some cities set the floors at 10% to 15% below the original prices, others left the details vague, banning developers from “malicious price-cutting
” without specifying what that meant.
Recently, Beijing has sent signals indicating it is okay with cities easing or abandoning the price floors, in tandem with other steps the central government has taken to support the market, such as lowering interest rates
.
China Real Estate Business Weekly, the flagship newspaper of China’s Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ministry, published an editorial on Aug. 20 urging local policy makers to eliminate price floors.
“Developers should be allowed to carry out self-rescue through price reduction promotions in order to raise funds as soon as possible,” the article said. Other articles in state media have made similar cases.
Some industry analysts have pushed back, arguing in other media that it is too dangerous to remove the floors.
Guangzhou, a manufacturing hub in southern China with a population of 15 million, this month allowed developers to start selling apartments freely without seeking approval on sale prices, according to Chinese media reports. It also lowered the city’s price floor late last year.
10 KEY Reasons I Left The United States (and might never return)
I emigrated from The United States as a U.S. Citizen to Spain (Europe) 2.5 years ago and I give you 10 reasons why I did so.. Some move to Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, or Ecuador, to name a few, but many of the reasons are similar as to why we do.
I am a huge China fan and you know that but this is not true by any means
First
The Huawei 60 Mate Pro is using a MODIFIED 5 NM CHIP DERIVED FROM THE 7 NM PROCESS
This is now confirmed by Huawei
They also confirm this is from SMIC
Don’t get me wrong, this is EXCELLENT NEWS and something to be very proud of.
Most Nations would have lain down and surrendered by now.
China has not only fought but innovated and ensured a comparable product that can match the best product of the west using sheer backdoor innovation and technology
However this 9000S Kirin Modified 5 NM Chip has been tested by various experts and the most neutral of them say
It beats the Chip in the Iphone 13 Hollow (7247 vs 6414)
It squeaks ahead of the Chip in the Iphone 14 (7247 vs 7118)
It is quite behind the Chip in the Iphone 15 (7247 vs 8831)
It lags behind the Snapdragon 888 mildly (7247 vs 7470)
So the 9000S Kirin Chip of the Mate 60 Pro known in China as CHONGSHEYENG (Meaning Rebirth) is very good but still a generation behind the Iphone 15 Chip
Now they say something else
The 3nm Chip SUCKS
The Chip is poorly performing and is by no means delivering enhanced power and processing capabilities
It is still better than the 9000S Kirin Chongsheyeng
So you can safely say
The Kirin 9000S processor for the Mate 60 Pro has EXCEEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS
The 3 NM Bionic A17 has not delivered or performed upto expectations
However the Chips are a generation or so apart
In fact the experts say the Mate 60 Chip while very innovative, still works as a 7 NM Chip than a 5 NM Chip
Chinese win because they acknowledge facts and work to improve them
Don’t become like Indians and start with all this 1–2 generation superiority
How to Survive the End of a US Superpower
The US is slowly circling the drain, and its painful to watch because it used to be great in many ways. In recent months I’ve visited a few parts of SE Asia, what an eye opening experience. The people, the culture…..the whole vibe about that part of the world is quite different from the West and I have become very drawn to it. More trips are planned as it is now my personal first choice for a retirement location in a few years.
ASML Stock Falls as Analyst Warns of Order Cuts for Chip Equipment
ASML shares dropped on Wednesday after TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the chip-equipment maker may face cuts to orders next year.
ASML makes the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines that are critical for manufacturing advanced semiconductors. Its customers include TSMC, Samsung and Intel.
Kuo is widely followed for his checks on supply chains in Asia and the conclusions he draws from them. “My latest research indicates that ASML may cut EUV equipment shipment forecasts significantly for 2024 by about 20–30%,” he wrote in a post on social media and Medium.
ASML shares were down 1.4% in trading on Wednesday, with a noticeable drop after the report was published.
The company had no comment on Kuo’s analysis, but said it would offer a forecast on sales of EUVs when it reports third-quarter earnings in a few weeks.
Demand for advanced chips and the gear needed to make them may come in below expectations in 2024, the analyst said, citing softening sales for MacBook laptops and iPads. He also predicted that makers of memory chips may not go ahead with planned factory expansions until 2025 at the earliest, hurting ASML’s business.
Kuo is uncertain about an imminent recovery in the chip industry, saying it may take longer than anticipated.
“The current market consensus is that the semiconductor sector will bottom out in 2H23,” Kuo wrote. “However, it needs to monitor closely whether this bottoming timeline would be pushed back to 1H24/2Q24.”
It’s not just Mate 60 pro that shock the world in terms of self development in OS, chips, EDA, GPU, but showing other products that they are launching on 25/9 that sends shivers to the tech world. What Huawei said they planned to do, in building a totally new, truly fully integrated ecosystem down to networks (5–6G), satellites, servers, homes, cars & any electronic devices is on track and no Western companies are anywhere close!
Ro*Tel Pepper Steak
2023 10 06 09 49
Ingredients
1 to 1 1/2 pounds round or sirloin steak (tenderized)
1 small onion
1 green bell pepper, sliced
Garlic salt (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
1 envelope brown gravy mix
1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes, diced
Instructions
Cube and braise steak. Add onion, sliced bell pepper, garlic salt and regular salt.
Mix gravy mix as directed on package and add to mixture.
Stir in Ro*Tel tomatoes with their juice. Let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
It was a sunny day. I was going to my class. Suddenly I saw a lot of people gathered at one place. I stopped my bike and saw a cow badly injured with her broken leg. She was trying hard to get up.
I just couldn’t take it!
I called a tempo and took the cow to the hospital.
There,
Doctor: it will take around 5000 rs to treat her(a big deal for a 17 year kid)
Me: I will arrange the money you start her operation.
I rushed to my home broke my piggybank and gave money to the doctor
i just saw how calmly the cow was walking after treatment i smiled and got away
after 6 days!
I was going by the same road and suddenly I lost my balance and fell from my bike
I felt like someone took me in hands and put me on road
I got no injury!
when I opened my eyes I had fallen on the road.
I saw the same cow looking at me with the bandages still on her!
I felt she saved me. I was on the 7th sky feeling the feel of karma!
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.
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 16 768×512 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.
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.
image 8
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.
image 45
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.
image 44
Young girls from the Zhuang ethnic group
image 7image 43
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here’s “School-Smart” vs “Street-Smart” in a LEGO analogy:
School is like getting a very complex LEGO set:
image 56
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.
image 55
In each grade, we get a set of instructions to follow:
For example, this is first grade:
image 54
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:
image 53
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!
image 52
Finally, the day comes …
image 51
We celebrate …
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CONGRATULATIONS! We all get a “certificate” that proves we are capable of following very complex instructions.
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Then, we face the real world …
The real world is also like Lego, but with NO INSTRUCTIONS!
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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.
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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!
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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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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PHL-191, a long-range guided rocket, can be equipped with 370mm guided rockets and 760mm tactical missiles.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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“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.
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Last year, the Russian T72 crossed the river and was set on fire by artillery.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Rainbow 6 UAV
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Wing Long 2 UAV
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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.
(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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Solo drone
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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.
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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.
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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?
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DJI T50 agricultural drone, 50kg load capacity | coaxial twin rotors | front and rear phased array radars | two sets of binocular vision | high-definition FPV | integrated aerial survey, flight and defense.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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
2077caab3c77906b7b00eea380916c17
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.
When I was in High School, I had a opinion column in the High School newspaper. I wrote weekly opinions, and was rather prolific in that endeavor. I would write up an opinion, then I would type it up in an electric typewriter (in the typing class) and hand it in.
But somehow, for reasons that took me until the end of school to find out, my editorials were always botched up with a ton of spelling and grammar errors.
I would type;
Jimmy Carter made another promise in his on-going litany of promises.
And the newspaper would print…
immy Barter madddde ANother premise in e5ton-going litterany, of GH8mises.
At the end of the school year, I discovered that all my work… week after week were being sabotaged by under-classmen who thought it great fun to destroy my work.
…
Yeah.
What great “fun”.
…
I took no action. And, I moved on with my life.
Who knows where these kids are today. Given their habit of hurting others for fun, they are either in positions of power, or living in mobile homes and prostituting themselves for yucks.
Probably the latter.
…
When you take time to be DESTRUCTIVE instead of CONSTRUCTIVE, your life develops and unfolds exactly as you have programmed it.
Do not make that mistake.
Do not cause hurt and pain.
Be good.
…
Remember, to manifest your desires, you must confront all your negative behaviors that you have colored your life with.
A few months ago, I was taking care of patient “Johnny”.
Johnny was an elderly man who had his stay in hospital extended due to multiple poorly controlled comorbidities. For privacy’s sake, I won’t go into detail about his medical conditions.
For one whole month, I was part of Johnny’s medical treatment team, and the main junior doctor taking care of him.
Every morning, I visited his bed, engaged in some small talk with him, auscultated his chest and lungs and palpated his abdomen and ankles.
Every week, I updated his family, i.e his son and daughter, on the progress of his condition via phone calls.
Due to the complexity of his condition, his family agreed to have him on partial code (i.e not for CPR/Intubation/ICU). While his condition had stabilised, I warned them that any further infections or cardiac event will likely cost his life.
Despite all this, the son and daughter did not visit Johnny once, not even once, in those 30 days. Over the phone, they would always have a convenient excuse ready. Business trips, commitments, you name it.
One morning, when I visited Johnny for his usual checkup, I observed that he was drowsier than usual. A vital sign perimeters check revealed a significantly reduced oxygen saturation. The medical team was immediately informed as I took and sent off bloods and ordered a chest x-ray. Investigations indicated a new-onset hospital-acquired Pneumonia, likely due to his age and compromised immunity.
As was discussed with him and his family, at this stage, it’s better to allow a natural death instead of prolonging his suffering by sending him to ICU and putting tubes down his throat.
His son and daughter were promptly informed and voila! Within an hour, somehow both of them were able to ditch their “commitments” and arrive at bedside. By then, the patient was already unresponsive and on morphine.
The son had tears in his eyes while the daughter was bawling uncontrollably. Johnny could no longer recognise them, nor respond to them in any way. He had spent his last 30 days without a single family member beside him.
Imagine being imprisoned in a small box for years, with just a small hole to push food through. The Coffin Prisons of Mongolia were as the name described. They were small, cramped boxes with barely enough room to sit up or lie down. They had a little hole at the side so food could be fed to the prisoner, that’s if you get food.
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Being placed in one of these boxes meant a death sentence, hence the name. Even if you were fed, the temperatures would drop below freezing at night, and you would probably freeze to death. Prisoners who managed to beat the odds were imprisoned in these boxes for life sentences, and the ones who didn’t go blind went insane from being confined for years in the cramped box.
Sometimes, the prisoners were fed once a day and had their human waste cleaned out once every three weeks.
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The picture above was taken by French photographer Stephane Passet in 1913, and it shows a woman condemned to death and left to die of starvation in the box. This form of punishment was only abolished in the late 20th century.
Male lions act alone, while hyenas travel in packs.
Hyenas like to prey on animals that are weaker than themselves. They are used to bullying the small with the many and the weak with the strong, but they never dare to attack many with one like the Male lion.
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The male lion loves to eat the hyena named “Japan”.
Taiwan is the bait, and the Male lion is waiting for the hyena called “Japan” to take the bait.
The Chinese very much look forward to Japan joining the ranks of intervening in Chinese civil war (China’s internal affairs).
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Only small countries need alliances to seek security; superpowers never do so.
WWI exposed the drawbacks of haphazard alliances that could drag allies toward all-out war.
WWII showed that the compacts and agreements made between allies were no different than used toilet paper.
Therefore, after WWII, no country in its right mind was interested in military alliances. After all, they had just crawled out of the cesspit, so their memories were particularly profound.
This is a picture of an astronaut helmet a Texas farmer found in his field following the Columbia space shuttle disaster that killed several crew members in 2003. Along with the helmet and pieces of the shuttle, they also found human body parts, including a torso, arms, feet, and a heart.
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One of the main engineers behind the Challenger space shuttle said that NASA ignored multiple warnings against launching in cold weather. The night before the launch, he told his wife, “It’s going to blow up.”
He was one of five engineers who told NASA to postpone the launch, but they didn’t listen to their warnings. The shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members on board.
I used to manage a 24-hour chain auto parts store. Yes, here in Chicago, one can buy auto parts at 3 a.m., if you really wanted to. One could do that every night of the month except one. We had to close the store for six hours (11 p.m.-5 a.m.) once per month to get the floor waxed.
The chain I worked for outsourced their overnight floor waxing to a third party. That third party had a four-man crew. They’d usually show up an hour early and start moving all of the floor displays to the back of the store and doing the other prep work they could do while the store was still open. Once they started with the floor-stripping chemicals, though, the doors were locked and the store was closed.
But two of our employees stayed in the back of the store. It was a huge store and there was plenty for them to do back there, like stocking the shelves, dusting, etc… Most of the parts we sold were stored in the back of the store. The “back of the store” was 4/5 of the entire building… the parts that are car-specific, and you have to ask someone who works there which part you need, and let them get it for you.
Among the tens of thousands of parts in the back of the store were carburetors. In the three years I worked there, I never once saw anyone buy one of those. They’re old technology that old timers like to work on as a hobby. The carburetors were in boxes and sold for about $500 each.
Every now and then, we’d discover that one of the boxes was empty. We, of course, assumed it was internal theft, because we’d notice a customer walking to the back of the store, unboxing a carburetor, putting the box back nicely, and walking out with the merchandise. We did have security cameras in the back, but there were many blind spots for them.
I didn’t know it at the time, but the head store manager began checking the carburetor boxes every day, and, when one was missing, he checked who was working that day. He did this for several months before he saw the pattern: they were always missing the day after the floors got waxed.
The floor waxing crew used a giant floor cleaning machine, like you might see at an airport:
When really, a machine this size, which is what similar companies used at similar-sized stores, would have been more reasonable:
One morning, as the floor guys were leaving, my boss met them at the door. He had two police officers with him. I believe he knew these cops as friends… I don’t think they would have been there otherwise. Anyway, my boss asked the head of the floor crew to open the hood of their giant cleaning machine. I don’t know if he did it willingly, or was compelled to do it by the cops. (I was there, but I was in the store, doing the opening paperwork.) But, when the hood was opened, there were four carburetors sitting in it where a water tank should have been.
The entire floor-cleaning machine had been modified for stealing items from the places whose floors they cleaned. It wasn’t just our store… they’d been doing this at several different stores.
Later, we heard through the grapevine that the head of the cleaning crew got a long prison sentence for stealing, because he had several prior convictions for other things.
China Angrily Cuts Railway Trade Link With Lithuania!
In today’s video, we delve deep into the ongoing geopolitical tensions involving Lithuania, China, Russia, and the European Union. We aim to shed light on the intricate dynamics, diplomatic maneuvers, and economic implications that have arisen due to recent decisions made by these global actors.
A previous employer of mine had an office in Scotland. Their main office, I worked pretty remotely in fact.
Twice in a year, people spilt coffee over their computer keyboards, and had to have new keyboards. Cost to the company, almost nothing.
Suddenly a new rule was introduced that no-one was allowed a mug on their desk. They had to use tip-resistant travel mugs, with a screw on lid, and a small opening to drink through. Genius.
Apart from the coffee machine had space for a cup. A standard size mug. It was one of those coffee machines with a little ledge. You put your cup on the ledge, pressed whatever pretentious coffee choice you guessed might be similar to “normal coffee” and it filled the cup.
The only issue, is the travel mugs didn’t stand up in the ledge. Too tall. So you had to hold the cup at an angle so it would fill from the machine.
Two weeks in, someone seriously scalded their hand, and required hospital treatment, and a substantial pay off.
The travel mugs were removed, normal mugs reinstated, and 2 USB keyboards kept in the stock room.
Edit : This story seems to resonate with people, I’m not sure why. It’s my fastest upvoted answer, with 400 in about a day. If you’re not Scottish, don’t know any/many Scottish people, and haven’t worked with them, you might not understand why they didn’t just “take away the coffee machine” as some commenters suggested.
I managed performance and scheduling for this office. One Monday, my work mobile rang early.
I answered it, the caller said “Is this Ben, it’s Davey here.”
I replied “Hi, yeah this is Ben, what’s up Davey?”
Davey : “I’ll no be in the day”
Me: “No worries, how come?”
Davey : “I’m in Amsterdam”
Me : “Sorry Davey, it sounded like you said you wouldn’t be in because you were in Amsterdam?”
Davey : “Aye, I’ll be haim Wednesday.”
And then he hang up. He went out on a Saturday night, passport for ID, and woke up Monday morning in Amsterdam, not really knowing what happened. He wasn’t fazed by this, he politely let me know he wouldn’t be in due to being in Amsterdam, and hung up. They. Give. No. Fucks.
How China is Beating U.S. GPS Dominance with BeiDou
The Global Positioning System, widely known as GPS, stands as the oldest and most globally recognized satellite navigation system, boasting an impressive user base of approximately 6 billion individuals worldwide. China has now emerged as a formidable challenger to the long-standing dominance of the United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS) with its ambitious satellite navigation project.
I lived for a handful of years in the States, on both the East and West coast.
Before I went over, I had to undergo six months of intensive mental and physical training.
I’m not at liberty to reveal the details of aforementioned training, but part of it involves learning how to disguise myself as a panda.
As part of my training, I had to learn how pandas communicate with each other in a group setting.
So, for 2 months, I basically holed myself up in a monastery with 30 pandas, and every day, I would observe and learn from them.
They thought I was their teacher … sent to teach them the esoteric martial arts of the Kunlun Sect.
But, in reality, they were my teachers. All 30 of them.
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After I completed my 6 months of training, I was given a glass bottle containing a dark brown liquid.
“What is this?” I said.
The agent in charge of my assignment told me it was a super soldier serum, made from a super top-secret 3500-year-old ancient herbal formula that only 8 people in the world had access to.
I was advised that if I were ever to find myself in a tight spot, in a situation where my real identity risked being uncovered, I should quaff the super soldier serum.
The agent told me it would boost my strength, agility, reaction speed, balance, endurance, durability, hand-eye coordination, speed of thought, wisdom, and senses to peak human level – for up to 3 days.
I took the serum with me – as insurance, as my just-in-case-I-get-caught card.
I guess I was fortunate, because there was never a situation where I was forced to use it.
My wits and unassuming personality were enough to extricate myself from every difficult situation I found myself caught up in.
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Here are some pictures I took while I was out in the field on my intelligence-gathering assignments:
This one was in Hollywood.
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Here’s the picture of a stone troll I met during one of my assigments.
Fortunately, I have extensive experience dealing with trolls, so I could understand what he was trying to convey despite his heavy accent.
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This is me on another intelligence-gathering mission, stopping to have a quick bite for lunch.
A tough but necessary decision would likely force the West to back off, enabling an earlier end to the Ukraine crisis and preventing it from expanding to other states
By Professor Sergey Karaganov,honorary chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and academic supervisor at the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow
has sparked major debate among experts in Russia about nuclear weapons, their role and the conditions of their use.
This is especially the case given Sergey Karaganov’s status as a former presidential adviser to both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, and his position as head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a noted Moscow think tank.
Some prominent figures have reacted with dismay, while others have been less critical.
RT has decided it would be beneficial for our readers to read it in full. The following piece has been translated and lightly edited.
***
Our country, and its leadership, seems to me to be facing a difficult choice. It is becoming increasingly clear that our clash with the West will not end even if we achieve a partial – let alone a crushing – victory in Ukraine.
Even if we completely liberate the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, it will be a minimal victory. A slightly greater success would be to liberate the whole of eastern and southern Ukraine within a year or two. But it would still leave part of the country with an even more embittered ultra-nationalist population pumped full of weapons – a bleeding wound that threatens inevitable complications, such as another war.
The situation could be worse if we liberate the whole of Ukraine at the cost of monstrous sacrifices and are left with ruins and a population that mostly hates us. It would take more than a decade to “re-educate” them.
Any of these options, especially the last one, will distract Russia from the much-needed shift of its spiritual, economic, military and political center to the East of Eurasia. We will be stuck with a wasteful focus on the West. And the territories of today’s Ukraine, especially the central and western ones, will attract resources – both human and financial. These regions were heavily subsidised even in Soviet times.
Meanwhile, hostility from the West will continue; it will support a slow-burning guerrilla civil war.
A more attractive option is the liberation and reunification of the east and south, and the imposition of capitulation on the remnants of Ukraine with complete demilitarization, creating a buffer, friendly state. But such an outcome would only be possible if we are able to break the West’s will to support the Kiev junta, and use it against us, forcing the US-led bloc into a strategic retreat.
And here I come to a crucial but hardly discussed issue. The root cause of – and indeed the main reason for – the Ukrainian crisis, as well as many other conflicts in the world, and the general increase in military threats, is the accelerating failure of the contemporary Western ruling elites.
This crisis is accompanied by an unprecedentedly rapid shift in the balance of power in the world in favor of the global majority, driven economically by China and partly by India, with Russia as the military and strategic anchor. This weakening not only infuriates the imperial-cosmopolitan elites (US President Joe Biden and his ilk) but also frightens the imperial-national elites (such as his predecessor Donald Trump). The West is losing the advantage it has held for five centuries to siphon off the wealth of the entire world by imposing its political and economic order and establishing its cultural dominance, mainly by brute force. So there is no quick end to the defensive, but aggressive, confrontation that the West has unleashed.
This moral, political and economic collapse has been brewing since the mid-1960s, was interrupted by the collapse of the USSR, but resumed with renewed vigour in the 2000s (the defeats of the Americans and their allies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the crisis of the Western economic model in 2008 were milestones).
In order to slow down this seismic shift, the West has temporarily consolidated itself. The US has turned Ukraine into a punching bag to tie the hands of Russia, the politico-military lynchpin of a non-Western world freed from the shackles of neocolonialism. Ideally, of course, the Americans would simply like to blow up our country and thus radically weaken the emerging alternative superpower, China. We, either not realizing the inevitability of the clash or hoarding our strength, have been slow to act preemptively. Moreover, in line with modern, mainly Western, political and military thinking, we were rash in raising the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, inaccurate in assessing the situation in Ukraine, and not entirely successful in launching the current military operation.
By failing internally, Western elites have actively fed the weeds that have taken root in the soil of 70 years of prosperity, satiation and peace. These comprise of anti-human ideologies: the denial of family, homeland, history, love between men and women, faith, service to higher ideals, everything that is human. Their philosophy is to weed out those who resist. The aim is to neuter people in order to reduce their ability to resist modern “globalist” capitalism, which is becoming more and more obviously unjust and harmful to man and humanity.
Meanwhile, a weakened US is destroying Western Europe and other countries dependent on it, trying to push them into a confrontation that will follow Ukraine. The elites in most of these countries have lost their bearings and, panicked by the crisis in their own positions at home and abroad, are dutifully leading their countries to the slaughter. At the same time, because of greater failure, a sense of powerlessness, centuries of Russophobia, intellectual degradation and a loss of strategic culture, their hatred is almost more intense than that of the US.
Thus, the trajectory of most Western countries clearly points towards a new fascism, which could be called “liberal” totalitarianism.
In the future, and this is the most important thing, it will only get worse. Truces are possible, but reconciliation is not. Anger and despair will continue to grow in waves and waves. This vector of Western movement is a clear sign of the drift towards the outbreak of World War Three. It has already begun and could erupt into a full-blown conflagration either by accident, or due to the growing incompetence and irresponsibility of the ruling circles of the West.
The introduction of artificial intelligence and the robotization of war increase the risk of unintended escalation. Machines can act outside the control of confused elites.
The situation is aggravated by “strategic parasitism” – in 75 years of relative peace, people have forgotten the horrors of war, have stopped fearing even nuclear weapons. Everywhere, but especially in the West, the instinct for self-preservation has weakened.
I have spent many years studying the history of nuclear strategy and have come to an unequivocal, if unscientific, conclusion. The advent of nuclear weapons is the result of the intervention of the Almighty, who, appalled that mankind had unleashed two world wars within a generation, costing tens of millions of lives, gave us the weapons of Armageddon to show those who had lost their fear of hell that it existed. On that fear rested the relative peace of the last three-quarters of a century.
But now that fear is gone. The unthinkable in terms of previous notions of nuclear deterrence is happening – a group of ruling elites, in a fit of desperate rage, have unleashed a full-scale war in the underbelly of a nuclear superpower.
The fear of atomic escalation must be restored. Otherwise humanity is doomed.
It is not only, and not even so much, what the future world order will look like that is being decided in the fields of Ukraine right now. But rather whether the world we are used to will be preserved at all, or if all will be left is radioactive ruins, poisoning the remnants of humanity.
By breaking the West’s will in imposing its aggression, we will not only save ourselves and finally free the world from the Western yoke of five centuries, but we will also salvage the whole of humanity. By pushing the West towards catharsis and the abandonment of the hegemony of its elites, we will force it to retreat before a global catastrophe. Humanity will be given a new chance to develop.
Proposed solution
Of course, there is an uphill struggle ahead. It is also necessary to solve our own internal problems – to finally get rid of the mindset of Western-centrism and of the Westernizers in the administrative class. Especially the compradors and their peculiar way of thinking. Of course, in this area, the NATO bloc is helping us, unwittingly.
Our 300-year journey around Europe has given us a lot of useful lessons and it has helped us to form our great culture. Let us cherish our European heritage. But it is time to return home, to ourselves. Let us begin, with the baggage we have accumulated, to live in our own way. Our friends in the Foreign Ministry have recently made a real breakthrough by referring to Russia as a civilizational state in their foreign policy concept. I would add – a civilization of civilizations, open to the North as well as to the South, to the West as well as to the East. Now the main direction of development is to the South, to the North and, above all, to the East.
The confrontation with the West in Ukraine, however it ends, should not distract us from the strategic internal movement – spiritual, cultural, economic, political, military and political – towards the Urals, Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. A new Ural-Siberian strategy is needed, one that includes several powerful spiritually uplifting projects, including, of course, the creation of a third capital in Siberia. This movement should become part of the much-needed formulation of the “Russian Dream” – the image of the Russia and the world to which one aspires.
I have often written, and I am not alone in this, that great states without a great idea cease to be such or simply disappear into the void. History is littered with the graves of powers that lost their way. This idea should be created from above and not rely, as fools or lazy people do, on what comes from below. It must correspond to the deepest values and aspirations of the people and, above all, it must take us all forward. But it is the responsibility of the elite and the leadership of the country to formulate it. The delay in putting forward such a vision is unacceptably long.
But for the future to come to pass, the resistance of the forces of the past – i.e. the West – must be overcome. If this is not achieved, there will almost certainly be a full-scale world war. Which will probably be the last of its kind.
And here I come to the most difficult part of this article. We can keep fighting for another year or two, or even three, sacrificing thousands and thousands of our best men and grinding up hundreds of thousands more who are unfortunate enough to fall into the tragic historical trap of what is now called Ukraine. But this military operation cannot end in a decisive victory without forcing the West into a strategic retreat or even capitulation. We must force the West to abandon its attempts to turn back history, to abandon its attempts at global domination, and to force it to deal with its own problems, to manage its current multifaceted crisis. To put it crudely, it is necessary for the West to simply “piss off” and end its interference in the direction of Russia and the rest of the world.
However, for this to happen, Western elites need to rediscover their own lost sense of self-preservation by understanding that attempts to wear down Russia by playing the Ukrainians against it are counterproductive for the West itself.
The credibility of nuclear deterrence must be restored by lowering the unacceptably high threshold for the use of atomic weapons and by moving cautiously but quickly up the ladder of deterrence-escalation. The first steps have already been taken through statements to this effect by the president and other leaders, by beginning to deploy nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles in Belarus, and by increasing the combat effectiveness of the strategic deterrent forces. There are quite a few steps on this ladder. I count about two dozen. It could even go as far as warning our compatriots and all people of good will about the need to leave their homes near the objects of possible nuclear strikes in countries directly supporting the Kiev regime. The enemy must know that we are ready to launch a preemptive retaliatory strike in response to its current and past aggression in order to prevent a slide into a global thermonuclear war.
I have often said and written that with the right strategy of deterrence and even use, the risk of a ‘retaliatory’ nuclear or other strike on our territory can be minimized. Only if there is a madman in the White House who also hates his own country will the US decide to strike in ‘defense’ of the Europeans and invite retaliation by sacrificing a hypothetical Boston for a notional Poznan. The Americans and the Western Europeans are well aware of this, they just prefer not to think about it. We, too, have contributed to this recklessness with our peace-loving pronouncements. Having studied the history of US nuclear strategy, I know that after the USSR acquired a credible nuclear retaliatory capability, Washington never seriously considered using nuclear weapons on Soviet territory, even though it publicly bluffed. When nuclear weapons were considered, it was only against “advancing” Soviet forces in Western Europe. I know that the late Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt fled from their bunkers as soon as the question of such use came up in an exercise.
Movement down the ladder of containment-escalation should be fairly quick. Given the current direction of the West – and the degradation of most of its elites – each successive decision it makes is more incompetent and ideologically veiled than the last. And, at present, we cannot expect these elites to be replaced by more responsible and reasonable ones. This will only happen after a catharsis, leading to the abandonment of much ambition.
We cannot repeat the ‘Ukrainian scenario’. For a quarter of a century we were not listened to when we warned that NATO enlargement would lead to war; we tried to delay, to “negotiate”. As a result, we ended up in a serious armed conflict. Now the price of indecision is an order of magnitude higher than it would have been earlier.
But what if the present Western leaders refuse to back down? Perhaps they have lost all sense of self-preservation? Then we will have to hit a group of targets in a number of countries to bring those who have lost their senses back to their senses.
It’s a morally frightening choice – we would be using God’s weapon and condemning ourselves to great spiritual loss. But if this is not done, not only may Russia perish, but most likely the whole of human civilization will end.
We will have to make this choice ourselves. Even friends and sympathizers will not support it at first. If I were Chinese, I would not want an abrupt and decisive end to the conflict, because it will draw back US forces and allow them to gather forces for a decisive battle – either directly or, in the best Sun Tzu tradition, by forcing the enemy to retreat without a fight. As a Chinese person, I would also oppose the use of nuclear weapons because taking the confrontation to the nuclear level means moving to an area where my country is still weak.
Also, decisive action is not in line with the Chinese foreign policy philosophy, which emphasizes economic factors (with the accumulation of military power) and avoids direct confrontation. I would support an ally by providing him with rear cover, but I would go behind his back and not enter the fray. (In this case, perhaps I don’t understand this philosophy well enough and am attributing motives to my Chinese friends that are not their own.) If Russia uses nuclear weapons, Beijing would condemn it. But Chinese hearts would also rejoice knowing that the reputation and position of the US had been dealt a severe blow.
How would we react if (God forbid!) Pakistan attacked India, or vice versa? We’d be horrified. Upset that the nuclear taboo has been broken. Then let us help the victims and change our nuclear doctrine accordingly.
For India and other countries of the world majority, including nuclear weapon states (Pakistan, Israel), the use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, both for moral and geostrategic reasons. If they are used “successfully”, the nuclear taboo – the notion that such weapons should never be used and that their use is a direct route to nuclear Armageddon – will be devalued. We are unlikely to win support quickly, even if many in the Global South would feel satisfaction at the defeat of their former oppressors who plundered them, carried out genocides and imposed an alien culture.
But in the end, the victors are not judged. And the saviors are thanked. Western European political culture does not remember, but the rest of the world does (and with gratitude) how we helped the Chinese to free themselves from the brutal Japanese occupation, and many Western colonies to throw off the colonial yoke.
Of course, if they do not understand us at first, they will have all the more incentive to educate themselves. Still, it is very likely that we can win, and focus the minds enemy states without extreme measures, and force them to retreat. And after a few years, we take take up a position as China’s rear, as it is now performing for us, supporting it in its struggle with the US. Then this fight can be avoided without a big war. And we will win together for the good of all, including the people of the Western countries.
At that stage, Russia and the rest of humanity will pass through all the thorns and traumas into the future, which I see as bright – multipolar, multicultural, multicolored – and giving countries and peoples the opportunity to build their own destinies in addition to the common one, which should unite worldwide.
Ukraen’s parliament and its speaker taunted billionaire Elon Musk on Monday after he posted a meme on his social media platform mocking President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pleas for wartime assistance from the West.
Musk owns SpaceX, which provides Starlink satellite communication services that are vital for Ukraen’s defense effort, but his statements have sometimes angered Kyiv since the Ukrosia war in February last year.
Early on Monday, Musk posted a meme on his platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showing Zelenskyy and the caption: “When it’s been 5 minutes and you haven’t asked for a billion dollars in aid.”
The Ukraenion leader and his top lieutenants have appealed to their allies throughout the war to secure billions of dollars of military aid to weather and push back Russia’s invasion.
The speaker of Ukraen’s parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, hit out at Musk’s jibe with his own post on X.
“The case when … (Elon Musk) tried to conquer space, but something went wrong and in 5 minutes he was up to his eyeballs in shit,” an apparent reference to SpaceX’s failed rocket launch in April.
Ukraen’s parliament, on its official page on X, accused Musk of spreading Russian propaganda, posting its own version of the meme with a picture of Musk and the caption: “When it’s been 5 minutes and you haven’t spread Russian propaganda.”
A Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, who has criticized some of Musk’s statements in the past, said in a post on X that being silent or ironic about Ukraen played into the hands of Russian propaganda.
“Unfortunately, not everyone and not always, while being significant media figures, but being thousands of kilometers away from the war’s epicenter, is able to realize what the daily bombardments and cries of children losing their parents are.”
Ukraenion officials criticized Musk earlier in the war for suggesting that they should consider giving up land for peace, a position that Kyiv has staunchly rejected.
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 12:40 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 26 September 2023 12:40 PM ]
By Shabbir Rizvi
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Tehran last week and held meetings with top Iranian military leadership, including the Chief of the Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces General Mohammad Bagheri and Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani.
Shoigu, heading a high-ranking Russian military delegation, was in the Iranian capital on the official invitation of General Bagheri, who welcomed him during an impressive ceremony in Tehran.
Shoigu was invited to Iran to discuss “defense cooperation” between the two all-weather allies.
The two countries have historically been the favorite targets of Western aggression: from sabotage attacks to economic sanctions meant to destabilize their economies.
Both countries have, however, held course despite all such oppressive measures and pursued independent policies to strengthen their respective economies and bolster bilateral cooperation.
Shoigu and his accompanying delegation appeared to be in positive spirits while meeting their Iranian counterparts. Shoigu was particularly vocal about the positive relations with Iran’s top leadership.
‘“The pressure of sanctions on Russia and Iran is proving to be futile, while Russia-Iran cooperation is reaching new highs,” Shoigu lauded, as cited by local Iranian media.
The Islamic Republic’s ability to operate independently and create a healthy national economy despite Western meddling has proved very fruitful. It has recently been included in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) economic alliance, as well as the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization).
Naturally, it is important for Iran to consider security issues to protect its interests within these organizations, and Russia is a natural ally in this context as it is also a member of both groupings.
In a growing multilateral world order, which many are referring to as “Multipolarity” as well as “The End of Americanism” (see President Ebrahim Raeisi’s historical speech ), cooperation based on mutual trust and benefit holds the key.
However, the remnants of the dying US-led unipolar world order will try to sow disorder as they fight off the inevitable new reality shaped by new emerging powers.
Projects within BRICS countries as well as SCO countries have notably been subject to Western-backed sabotage. Most notable would be the destruction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline which impacts Russia’s ability to deliver gas to western Europe.
Other examples include terrorist attacks on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor by the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), Takfiri terrorists that were once on the US list of terror groups but have since been removed as they play a role in the US strategy of destabilizing targeted countries.
The US use of proxy forces to conduct economic sabotage and destruction is a serious threat to regional development and stability as Iran has repeatedly warned about.
These projects will help facilitate regional independence for countries and incentivize less reliance on trade with predatory Western countries. With Iran joining two economic alliances that are going to shape the new world order, it can count on Western-backed disruption to regional projects.
Despite both BRICS and the SCO being economic alliances, in order to ensure their success, the defense of their ambitious projects must be factored in.
The meeting between Shoigu and Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian was a key moment for discussing the looming threat of Western sabotage seriously.
This is a particularly important equation – foreign interference has either been the United States and its allies overtly or its various proxy forces covertly.
As Iran and Russia strengthen the reality of a unified “Eurasia,” it would be in both countries’ interest to secure regional interests – and to expel the threat of Western sabotage completely, as implied in the latter part of the statement.
A mutual understanding of adversaries in the region is a first step that cannot be ignored.
Already, Iran and Russia’s incalculable assistance in Syria can prove the importance of understanding this equation. A unified effort to expel Western invaders and their proxy armies has led to a hard-fought victory for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad – to the point that the Arab League and other countries that once turned their back on Syria are now being forced to accept reality – Syria is here to stay.
This week alone, Iranian intelligence forces thwarted at least 30 bombings at populous areas of the capital Tehran, arresting 28 operatives affiliated with the Daesh Takfiri group.
In this arena, Iran is highly skilled. Iranian intelligence services have also been fiercely exposing and shutting down internal terror networks associated with terrorist organizations such as MeK all the way to Kurdish separatists and Mossad.
Russia would be very interested in Iran’s anti-terror approaches – and vice versa. Russia has been subject to internal terror plots as its military operation in Ukraine continues, including bombings in Moscow and drone attacks on civilian bridges.
A “skillshare” and an open line of communication between the two countries’ intelligence forces could result in protected trade routes and corridors, as well as routing out existing hostile forces.
Furthermore, Iran’s weapons, particularly new military technology that includes drones, missiles, and radar systems – are also highly attractive to Russia, and the Russians do not shy away from admitting this.
It is becoming undeniable that Iran’s military hardware is a game-changer. Iran’s drone program, particularly the Shahed and Mojaher systems, are so sought after that demands are outpacing production
– multiple countries have expressed interest in purchasing them.
Currently, the only countries in the world with Mach 5 capabilities are Russia, China, and Iran
. Iran joined the former this year, with an extremely successful demonstration of the Fattah missile.
Russia has reportedly used its own Kh-47M2 “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles to strike targets in Ukraine. Although Iran is neutral with respect to Russia’s military operation, proposing dialogue instead of escalation, it could potentially work with Russia to supply Fattah missiles for defensive purposes.
Speaking of which, Russia is also in a unique situation with its military operation in Ukraine. Billions of dollars worth of NATO equipment have been provided to Ukraine in order to stop the Russian advance.
Russia has not only destroyed many of these highly coveted weapons of war, but also captured intact equipment including tanks, rocket launchers, MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket Systems), and more.
Being able to reverse engineer NATO weaponry and exploit its pain points is highly valuable information that Iran would be interested in – especially as these weapons are often wielded by forces hostile to Iran.
If the objective of the meeting in Tehran is deterring the West, then a serious transfer of information obtained on NATO weapons to Iran would be in order. Anything less than a delivery of this vital information is not taken seriously.
This is just the first official defense meeting with Iran’s ascension into BRICS. In Shoigu’s declaration of “reaching new levels” of cooperation with Iran’s military, more meetings will commence as the countries draft various security agreements to protect the region and build multipolarity.
We can also expect more joint military drills between Iran and Russia – similar to the drills held in the Sea of Oman between the two countries and China earlier this year.
Lastly, we can also expect the West not to leave the region gracefully, despite the odds becoming increasingly against them.
Come whatever may, the new alliances – formed by economic mutual cooperation – have a chance to bring much-needed stability and prosperity to the entire “Eurasian” region.
To invoke President Raeisi, it is indeed the end of “Americanization.”
deleted Aliens sentry gun scene
This is fun.
https://youtu.be/t9ZS_ltsMhM
UPDATED 10:05 AM EDT — U.S. Money Supply CONTRACTING; Down 3.69% and Falling
In the past 150 years, the US Money Supply has only contracted five (5) times; and they were Recessions and the Great Depression. It is happening again.
Two U.S. money supply metrics that investors tend to pay close attention to are M1 and M2. The former accounts for the cash and coins in circulation, as well as the demand deposits within an individual’s checking account. Meanwhile, M2 factors in everything in M1 and adds money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit (CDs) below $100,000. The main difference is that M2 factors in cash that takes a little extra work to get your hands on.
For as far back as the eye can see, M2 has been climbing. Since the U.S. economy steadily grows over the long run, it’s only natural that more cash/capital is needed to facilitate transactions. In fact, M2 rising is so common that some economists may not even be paying attention to it as a monthly reported datapoint.
But in the rare event that M2 meaningfully declines, pay attention!
Back in March, Reventure Consulting CEO Nick Gerli posted what you see below on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It highlights M2 money supply growth and contraction dating back to 1870 using data supplied by the St. Louis Federal Reserve and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Over the past 153 years, there have only been five instances where M2 has declined by at least 2% on a year-over-year basis: the 1870s, 1893, 1921, 1931-1933, and 2023. In order, these instances resulted in a depression, panic, depression, Great Depression, and (insert your best guess here). In the previous four instances, it was an ominous sign for Wall Street.
As of July 2023, M2 money supply was 3.69% below the all-time high recorded in July 2022. This marks the first time since the Great Depression that we’ve witnessed a meaningful decline in U.S. money supply.
To be completely fair, the declines in the 1870s and 1893 occurred prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve, while the drops in 1921 and during the Great Depression came shortly after its creation. Today, there’s a far better understanding from the nation’s central bank and Capitol Hill on how to utilize monetary policy and fiscal policy, respectively, to avoid a depression.
Furthermore, multiple rounds of fiscal stimulus during the COVID-19 pandemic led M2 money supply to catapult higher by 26% on a year-over-year basis. It’s always possible that the decline we’re witnessing now of 3.69% represents nothing more than a return to some sort of mean after a historic expansion of M2.
However, history has been unkind to meaningful M2 money supply declines. With the core inflation rate more than double the Fed’s long-term target of 2%, less capital in circulation would more than likely lead to a deflationary recession.
YIELD CURVE INVERTED – 1 YEAR +
Add into the above facts, the reality that the yield curve, as reported by the Federal Reserve, has been inverted for over a year, and you’ve got the makings of financial disaster:
As you can see on the chart above, the yield curve is now starting to normalize.
The crash ALWAYS comes after it normalizes.
And when the yield curve is inverted for an extended period of time, the crash is bigger and harder.
Why is this happening, you ask? Because NO ONE wants to lend money to the US for a long term anymore. The US is so in debt, people have lost faith in its ability to repay. So the Treasury is having to offer MUCH higher interest rates just to get people to lend them money.
Meanwhile, the short term Bonds are Flat or Dropping as seen below because more people are interested in short term loans; no faith in the long term.
OK, so what does all this actually MEAN to you and me? I found some of this information in comments on the web, by people who know a lot more about this stuff than I do. I found their remarks worth repeating here.
THE YIELD CURVE COULD NORMALIZE AT ANY TIME, MAYBE EVEN TODAY.
After that, combine the contracting money supply with high inflation and . . . MEGA DOOM
The way I see it . . . . it’s literally THE END. The US economy is 100% kaput
The last time this happened, they talked the Boomer’s parents into sending their kids to die overseas to fight Communism and Socialism. Kids by the millions coming home in body bags and idiot parents posting yellow stars in their windows so everyone could tell them how brave their kids were for fighting Nazis and Communists, when actually they were just covering up what they did to the Weimar Republic.
All for what? So the Bankers could move here en-masse and take over the west while telling us we won, and then spend the next century raping an pillaging our society too, like a plague of locusts.
You think they’re going to get their Draft and War this time? I’m not sure bout that. Most everyone knows that Ukraine is a money laundering operation for them to get the rest of the loot out and convert the dollars to something useful before the crash becomes obvious to the pleebs.
This is why the “Elite” are building bunkers.
This is why they have a puppet instead of a real leader in Washington.
It’s why they have fences around the US Capital.
It’s why they don’t seem to care if anyone sees their crimes and greed right now.
They think we’re stupid, and I’m willing to bet that most people don’t get what the money supply running backward on the debt clock means, except for you folks who visit this web site.
They want us to give up our kids IN Ukraine.
Well, my position on that is simple: no gold star for this Dad.
They want us on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and to own nothing. This is how they figure on doing it, another great depression and another World War. Just straight up evil.
They’ll give us another “New Deal”
This time, the Green New Deal.
They’ll talk about how dirty money spreads disease (COVID), pushes illegal drug sales (they Kensington St. in Philly is on a 24/7 youtube feed…it’s propaganda), how it causes global warming (the Maui lasers…oops, excuse me, I meant entirely accidental fires), etc.
They figure once they get us on the digital currency, that’s it. They can do whatever they want with us forever.
And forget ever having a fucking independent retirement. Any money you save will be squandered with inflation. Perhaps they even intend to make gold and silver worthless because there’s no way to buy or sell it without cash.
We need to say NO to this New Deal, and shove it right back down their evil throats with a simultaneous boot up their ass.
I don’t know about Indians, but on the other side of the equation, forget about Sichuan cuisine.
Sichuan cuisine is mild compared to Jiangxi cuisine.
Seriously, Jiangxi folks consume chilis like they’re vegetables.
I remember going with a colleague (from Sichuan) to another colleague’s (from Jiangxi) apartment.
When we arrived, he (colleague from Jiangxi) was cooking and as soon as we stepped into the apartment, the “spicy-ness” in the air was so overpowering and overwhelming that our eyes started to water.
Then dude proceeds to bring out this huge-ass noodle dish from the kitchen, and the entire thing is mostly chili.
At the time I remember thinking – is this a noodle dish, or a chili dish?
Just looking at it – well, sweat beaded my brow and made my hands moist.
Sichuanese colleague was not exactly enthusiastic about the offer and said, jokingly, that he would stil llike to be able to go to work on Monday.
Even a Sichuanese is quaking in his boots at the thought of eating Jiangxi cuisine.
image 17
To me, Jiangxi cuisine doesn’t appear to be food for humans.
Before we retired, my husband and I worked as educators and lived in a small rural town in California’s Central Valley. When we bought our home there the realtor covered all the basics, but after we moved in we discovered a hole in the ground with a metal lid covering it.
Lifting up the lid, my husband saw that the hole was actually an empty 30 gallon steel drum buried in the ground. Still not sure of its purpose, he put the lid back on and didn’t think much more about it.
A few weeks later we were across the street talking with our firefighter neighbor and his wife when my husband mentioned the weird hole in the ground thing. Our neighbor got excited, asked to take a look at it, and the two men crossed over to our house to check it out.
When they returned, the neighbor said our hole in the ground was a barbecue for deep pit tri-tip and other meats that are cooked low heat and very slowly—typically 12 hours or more. He loved to barbecue and asked if he could use it sometime.
We said he could use it any time he wished, and that’s how we came to enjoy delicious “low and slow” barbecue many times over the twenty-five years we lived there—without lifting a finger.
Our neighbor wouldn’t even let us pitch in to pay for the meat. This was like a new toy to him and he was in hog heaven. So what was weird to us as people from the San Francisco Bay Area was a much sought after item to him.
The first serious story I wrote when I was a kid was about a man who had a heart transplant and began taking on the characteristics of his donor, who turned out to be a serial killer. It was always a topic that interested me, and one story stands out as evidence that this phenomenon exists.
In March 1995, 33-year-old Terry Cottle from South Carolina took his own life by shooting himself in the throat with a shotgun. After four days in a trauma unit, his wife Cheryl decided to take him off life support and donate his organs.
His heart went to a 57-year-old man named Sonny Graham, who was dying of heart failure. After a successful transplant, Sonny started to write to his donor’s wife Cheryl. Over the next ten years, the two ended up falling in love and got married.
image 3
People who knew Terry Cottle started to notice that Sonny was taking on some of Terry’s personality and characteristics. He started liking things he never enjoyed before, like beer and hotdogs, which were some of Terry’s favourites. This isn’t uncommon for transplant recipients. Many people have reported taking on the tastes, emotions and even memories of their donors.
This phenomenon was taken to the extreme thirteen years after Terry took his life when Sonny took a shotgun and shot himself in the throat the same way Terry did.
The Noor-3 was reportedly placed in an orbit 450km (280 miles) from the surface of the Earth and, like its predecessors, was taken to space using a Qased – meaning “messenger” – carrier developed by the IRGC.
Despite criticism from the West, Iranian officials have promised to carry on with the expanding satellite programme and are expected to launch several more satellites into different orbits in the foreseeable future.
In August 2022, an Iranian-owned and Russian-built satellite – said to be capable of taking high-resolution images – was successfully launched from a base in Kazakhstan.
Western allies have suggested the development of Iranian satellites may violate a United Nations Security Council resolution underpinning the country’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers because the technology could potentially be used to facilitate nuclear weapons.
Iran has repeatedly dismissed such claims, maintaining that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.
The nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), continues to be in limbo after the United States unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran.
Iranian officials have recently suggested again that they are open to returning to the accord but would first need to see political resolve from the Western parties, which also include France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
As part of one of the clauses of the accord, a number of restrictions on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles is set to be automatically lifted next month.
But with tensions lingering over the Iranian nuclear programme and Western accusations that Iran has armed Russia with drones for the war in Ukraine, the European powers have said they will maintain their own sanctions on Iran despite the clause.
On December 25, 2015, a farmer named Jose Antonio Nievas discovered something unusual near a stream on his farm, located about 15 km from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
image 6
Initially, he thought it was just a rock. However, when he removed the mud covering it and dug around it, he realized that it wasn’t an ordinary rock at all.
image 26
His discovery turned out to be much more extraordinary than he had imagined, so he decided to involve experts from the scientific community.
image 25
After careful analysis, scientists concluded that this mysterious object, which appeared similar to a rock, was neither a meteorite nor a dinosaur egg, but something much rarer: the shell of a glyptodon.
image 24
The glyptodon was a huge armored mammal that lived during the Pleistocene era and was an ancestor of the modern armadillo. These imposing animals could weigh up to two tons and it seems they shared territory with humans for about 4,000 years before disappearing from the face of the Earth.
Originally Answered: What do you wear when you go to work ?
I work for a game company, so like most IT companies, our dress code is on the far side of casual. Checkered shirts are a must (since it’s the uniform for programmers), people come to work in sweatpants, slippers, old T-shirts, hoodies, sneakers… Instead of having casual Fridays, we actually have Fancy Fridays that encourage people to dress formal once in a while, just for the kicks.
When I first started working in the industry, I was “t-shirt+hoodie+messenger bag” ALL THE WAY, EVERYDAY.
image 19
(this is my “I don’t give a fuck about how I look” face).
Then I got a bit more “sophisticated” mostly because dressing up make me feel good. Picking out clothes and socks and such is fun, shopping is fun.
So I “evolved” to a what I call “Japanese casual”.
Prior to my “retirement” I had opened a number of bank accounts in China. I did this, at that time unknowing of my future, as a “good thing” to do, “just in case”.
Talk about foresight! Eh?
I had two bank accounts.
I opened up an account at BOC in Shanghai and placed $40,000 in it. I deposited a cashier’s check in it, and used a “passbook savings account”. I was told that it would take three months to clear, and that I had to keep the receipt in the book to “lock” the exchange rate of 9.5 RMB to USD. This brought me (the potential of) 380,000 RMB. Ah. Enough to buy property in China.
The other account was in Shenzhen and much smaller; being only $5000.
Well…
BOOM! I am “retired” and stuck in Arkansas.
My father needed to hire an attorney to get me out of the mess, and tried to extract the money from BOC. Good luck! No one could take it out except myself.
He needed my thumb print.
When he held the BOC passbook, he discarded the receipt. He thought it was a “worthless scrap of paper”.
…
So, even though I couldn’t hire an attorney, and my bank was frozen, no one else could seize the money.
Good going China!
So I still have money in China; a life in China…and hope in China.
Meanwhile, everything else was gone; stolen and discarded.
All of this while my properties, and belongings were systematically looted, stolen and acquired by all the “friends” and “family” surrounding me.
Jackals.
Seriously.
Now, eventually I get out of the USA. I am in China, and I use the $5000 to start a new! Fantastic, and I related this story to youse guys earlier.
But of the $40,000 in Shanghai?
Well, my well meaning father, discarded that little receipt in the passbook as unimportant. And when I opened up my bank account, I discovered that it only had 220,000 RMB in it. Not the 380,000 RMB I was expecting.
Why?
That little “junk” slip of paper was my proof of a 9.5 conversion rate. Not the 5.5 conversion rate at the time of retrieval.
I lost one FUCK of a lot of money in the process.
…
The point in this little story is that …
…”if you are handling other people’s affairs, keep everything. Do not discard even the most trivial item. You probably are understating its importance.”
Have you ever wondered why we don’t have too many commercial operating systems outside of Windows and MacOS?
I don’t include Linux which is by no means a commercial operating system despite its many advantages
Have you wondered why China and India are unable to make a PC Operating system despite so many skilled students and so much of a software base
Its because a commercial OS needs to be compatible with your processor
The Processor is INTEL Or AMD and they need to ensure your OS is compatible with their processor
This was a huge argument in an ANTITRUST case against Microsoft that the plaintiffs lost
Without that compatibility , you can never control an ecosystem or have an OS that controls the entire ecosystem
You can have secondary systems that can never replace MS Windows or MacOS
Tomorrow if India develops an OS on par with Windows, India will be throttled by Intel and AMD
They will cite security concerns, backdoor etc and simply prevent the Indian OS from freely competing
Thus India needs to develop a processor as well
This processor better be on par with the Intel or AMD or people simply won’t buy the processor and thus by association, the Indian made operating system
Say India develops a cutting edge web browser
The same has to be integrated & compatible with your search engine for maximum efficiency
Google and Bing both have maximum integrated compatibility with Chrome and IE, so your browser will not be able to host these search engines efficiently
That’s goodbye to a good technology right there
Thus you need a search engine of similar standard and a web browser of efficiency plus an Operating System plus your Hardware
THE WEST CONTROLS IT ALL
Rather US controls most of it
Let’s say India develops an App that can beat Facebook
Or an app that can beat Twitter
Android and iOS can simply refuse to give a bundling agreement for that App citing security reasons or other reasons
Tik Tok got a bundling deal with IoS and Android in 2014 for 25 years until 2039 along with WeChat and Alipay and other apps
Telegram got a similar deal until 2033 (15 year deal)
It’s why both Android and iOS cannot remove these apps from their playstores
Today both Android and iOS no longer do bundling deals for long term periods, but only for 12 month periods and renew them (Since 1/1/2020)
So Indian Twitter and Indian Facebook could be throttled simply by refusing to bundle them or integrate them into the Android or iOS ecosystem
If indeed these apps became a threat to the US equivalents, India would become a major security threat in 20 minutes
The Whole world accepted this dominance of the West and their complete control over the Information and Communications Ecosystems
Including many Chinese companies
Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo all happily kowtowed to the Western dominance and slogged hard to make 8% and hand over 92% to the west
Thousands of excellent apps and games are unable to leave China because they can’t get bundling deals with Android and iOS outside the mainland
Then ONE MAN CAME ALONG who said THISISRIDICULOUS
He dared to envision his own ecosystem
The Chip – the Kirin designed entirely by Mainland China
The OS – The Harmony
The 5G Modem – To deliver highest speeds
The Networks – To ensure the lowest latents
Once the Huawei ecosystem was in place, a flood of competition would be unleashed
Chinese Apps would roar into the global market where they had been throttled before
Baidu would finally compete with Google on a one on one platform and combat MSM propaganda in neutral nations
Chinese Digital Payment systems would soar across and surge through the Global South
They throttled Huawei
They simply cut off the source of chips
Huawei had the design but they couldn’t get the chips made because the world’s only makers TSMC and Samsung wouldnt due to sanctions
The excuse was Huawei had business with the Govt of China. So did Oppo but Oppo was a meek obedient boy
Then Huawei tried to get the chips made in SMIC
They retaliated by cutting off access to EUV machines
Yet Huawei managed to mass produce 5 nm Chips with the 7 nm process using very innovative stacking using DUVs
Now Huawei has the Chip and the OS
The US and the West couldn’t succeed in throttling Huawei
Now the next step is probably to stop DUVs
It’s why SMIC is stockpiling and also accelarating it’s own lithography progress
So it’s not the phones
It was never the phones
Tomorrow if Huawei dropped their Chip idea, signed a 20 year deal with Qualcomm and dropped their OS idea and modem idea – US would lift the sanctions in 10 seconds
It’s the ECOSYSTEM that Huawei brings with it that will finally break the US (Western) dominance and bring in a new player and country after virtually 30 years of control
If Huawei triumphs, the world as we know it changes
India could take inspiration and proceed on our own path to develop our own Ecosystem
In the industries of yesterday, there will eventually come a time when China isn’t affected by American sanctions. That will happen within the next 10-20 years, as Chinese manufacturing go from the current 30+ percent to over 50 percent of global output, and the Chinese patent portfolio matures.
Now, turn the coin on its head and ask yourself a simple question.
What happens in a world where the Chinese option is the cutting edge?
Tesla entered into partnership with panasonic just a decade or so ago to build its first gigafactory. Panasonic, a Japanese company, had the best and most mature battery tech then. Similarly, yuasa, another Japanese company, was chosen by Boeing for the 787.
Today, the best batteries using novel chemistries and materials are Chinese, promising unbeatable energy densities at great prices. Many ev makers have entered into partnership with a variety of Chinese battery makers, and that includes Tesla. China will become the go-to for batteries in the coming decade, driven by economy of scale.
Shocking change in just 10 years no?
In nuclear fission, China has leadership in gen 3 reactors, with the indigenous hualong in mass production and a steady stream of projects in the works. More importantly, China has the world’s first and only gen 4 gas cooled demonstrator online and plugged into the grid, promising even greater safety and reliability.
Expect commercial availability within the decade.
Same story in photovoltaics. China is already the biggest maker of solar panels and related modules, with leading edge options. My friend in the industry says it’s practically impossible to make a project viable without Chinese panels, not without massive subsidies or tariff walls. That’s how good the Chinese are.
The best hsr system is Chinese, despite China being 50 years late to the game. Better than the Germans and Japanese? Yes, because the installed length is already greater than the rest of the world combined, and serve a broader range of conditions and latitudes. The ride comfort and stability is second to none. Try it yourself if you don’t believe the claim.
Make a guess how many containers Chinese ports handled last year.
300m.
That’s 3, followed by 8 (eight) zeros.
America just about crumbled with a modest 5–10 percent increase above the 50m they usually deal with, as a direct result of covid induced changes in lifestyle.
Rates for China-US TEU went up more than 10x, an order of magnitude, at its peak. Ships were returned SANS empty containers, just to beat the logjam in American ports.
Imagine first world American ports and infrastructure being unable to handle domestic demand, while China happily fulfilled GLOBAL demand with a future-proof, scalable automated port system.
The Chinese are already leaders in digital payment, facial recognition, aspects of ai and big data, quantum computing, and many other technologies of the future. Some of the most exciting breakthroughs of tomorrow will happen in china, and revolutionize the world.
Is the world prepared for that, especially served by a media that’s reluctant to report China in the slightest factual, and positive light?
The first world may very well be caught unawares.
Huawei 6G is coming, 100Gb per second transfer speed
Good news that more and more Chinese researchers are leaving the States for China. It will help China.
Back in 1996, I worked as a Field Technician for Lanier Business Systems in Houston, Texas. Specifically, I handled recording devices and systems, though on occasion I also handled copiers, printers, and fax machines. My territory was into the 610 loop and all overlapping zip codes. This included all the hospitals in the Houston Medical Center. Those that are technical people will figure out what is going on with this before I finish the explanation.
So, for one of the hospitals, they had one of our dictation systems and one day, I get a call from the hospital administrator complaining that they haven’t had backups running on their system for six months. So, I head to the hospital, walk into the admin office, and begin working on the system. I go through the settings, and confirm it is setup to backup changes to the 3.5 in floppy drive. I checked the logs and confirmed the backups ran with no errors, or where there were errors is was able to resolve them and move on.
I checked the disk, and it was blank. Completely blank, In fact, the disk wasn’t even formatted. Assuming that was the problem, I formatted the disk with Lanier’s proprietary encryption protocols, and confirmed I could copy data to the drive. I left the disk in the drive, and explained to the admin what I thought the problem was, and that I had fixed it.
The next morning, she registered the same problem so I head back to the hospital, with a new disk drive. I pull the old drive install a new one, then proceed to run a few tests on the old drive with my testing equipment. Everything checks out, no problems on the drive, but I leave the new drive in just in case. Again, I explain to her what did, and felt fairly certain the problem was resolved.
Next morning, I get another call. Same problem. At this point, I am scratching my head. I know the system is working, I was able to confirm the doctors are making recordings, i confirmed the backup are configured properly, so I talk to the admin and explain that I will come by this evening and confirm that the backups are running tonight.
That evening, I head to the hospital and sit down at the monitor. She pulls the disk off the side of the system hands it so me and I insert it into the drive. ten minutes later the backup runs, I watch it, and after about fifteen minutes it completes with no errors. I sit down go through the logs, check the data on the disk. I confirm the backups are there, verify the data integrity. I even make certain that I can restore the data to the system. Everything looks great, I think the problem is solved. I hand the backup disk back to the administrator, and we talk for a few minutes. As, I am leaving, she puts the disk in a clip and slaps it onto the side of the system.
I stop, and I stare at her for a moment, She looks at me, and asks what I’m waiting for. I look from her to the disk stuck to the side of the computer, back to her.
I had spent three days troubleshooting this problem. I had confirmed that the equipment was completely in working order, and I knew for a fact that backups were running properly. I literally just confirmed that the backup was run, and the data was right there on the disk.
Her actions had just made all those efforts pointless. She just erased everything off the disk and wasted all of my effort. Heck, she has been wasting her own efforts for six months and was getting frustrated because of what she just did.
That clip is a magnetic refrigerator magnet. That magnet wiped the data from the magnetic disc in the floppy disk. She was the cause of all these problems, and has been doing it for six months. I had walked over, removed the disk and put it back in the drive. She looks at me confused. I pull up the floppy disk and it needs to be formatted. She asks me where the data went. I looked at her and handed her the refrigerator magnet.
“Is it on here?”
“No.”
“Then where it is?”
“Gone, you erased the disk.”
She stares at me, dumbstruck, “What…what…what to you mean, I erased it. she mumbles curiously.
I then explain to her that floppy disks are magnetic and are very sensitive to magnetic fields. That refrigerator magnet was strong enough when attached to metal object to erase the disk. She felt horrible.
However, I spent the next several hours, backing up changes for six months of data onto a box of 3.5 inch floppy drives.
I then explained proper disk storage, and told her to keep magnets away from the backups.
After I was done, she was extremely appreciative, and apologetic.
Additionally, I got 3 hours of overtime pay, and because the problem wasn’t caused by our equipment, which meant it wasn’t covered under contract. I made the company a nice profit. The base charges for such failures was $300 per hour, which easily covered my overtime pay.
HE DID IT AGAIN! (OLIVER ANTHONY – I WANT TO GO HOME REACTION)
I watched a recent speech by Biden in Asia. It was a press conference in Vietnam. Biden was so bad that while he was still talking, his own US press secretary cut him off halfway by muting his microphone, declaring abruptly that the conference was over; and turning on jazz music in the room so that Biden’s voice could not be heard anymore. This was damage control. The US press secretary did it, to stop Biden from continuing to ramble on spouting nonsense in front of a roomful of journalists and media crews.
The poor man is senile. He is still President, of course. But surely he is no longer making the real decisions for the USA. He is just the front, the puppet on stage – the people in charge are the ones behind the curtains pulling on the strings.
It’s pointless for Xi to meet Biden. Xi probably knows it already. Any meeting with Biden would just be for ceremonial purposes and publicity reasons. Nothing will actually come out of such a meeting, because Biden doesn’t make decisions anymore.
Xi is a busy man and I wouldn’t be too surprised if he decides never to meet Biden again. There’s not much point in such a meeting.
Puyi has been seen in history as a villain of sorts. He was the last vestige of the Qing dynasty, a living testament to imperialism. He was called effeminate by many and impotent by some. He was selfish, shallow, and childish in his early years. He was also rumored to be cruel to others for his pleasure.
However, we must view him with nuance and remember the time period he was born into. He was groomed from birth to be ineffective by the women in his family who wanted to hold onto their power to rule through him as their proxy. He was born into a family where opulence and excess was considered normal and expected even. But it was also a time where the peasants were deeply unhappy with an ineffectual government and orchestrated a revolution that toppled his world as he knew it.
He united with the Japanese which made him a traitor in the eyes of the Chinese; but Japan had promised him the opportunity to return to a throne and that was the only life he knew. His early wives would tell you he was self centered and downright nasty when he wanted to be.
While he was not a good man in many ways, he was not irredeemable either. Mao allowed him to be the gardener of the Beijing Botanical Gardens. Puyi sought, with his last years, to redeem himself and to become a better man. He once said that the Puyi of his youth was the enemy to the Puyi of his latter years. He often wept when shown examples of his past damage to China. He was overwhelmed when shown the horrors of Unit 731 and cried that those atrocities had been done in his name. His transformation so complete that he became a man of humility. He was reported to have accidentally knocked an elderly woman over with his bicycle and visited her in the hospital every day until she was released.
In the end he found love with his last wife, Li Shuxian, being “all he had in the world,” and she reported in an interview that his love for her was such that when she was sick he would sit by her bedside all night, seeing to her every need.” He had come to be a man who took pleasure in simple things and in his love for his wife. He had indeed become the model citizen and died at the age of 61 of kidney cancer. His widow had his ashes placed with nine other emperors that had come before him. In death he had been returned to his family.
China shocks Europe by canceling ASML’s $580 billion lithography order!
I am the Tujia nationality, and I belong to the eighth largest ethnic minority in China. We have 8 million people.
1. Add points in the most important exam in China-the college entrance examination;（It used to be 20 points, but now it has been reduced to 5 points due to the improvement of educational facilities and standards.）
2. To study for master’s and doctorate with a score lower than Han people, the tuition fee is exempt.
3. Before the “one-child policy” was abolished, ethnic minorities (the ethnic minorities who joined the Communist Party of China are only allowed to have one child) can have 2 or more children, and the Han can only have one;
4. Use and develop the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities. Most ethnic minorities only have languages without a writing system. The GOV has developed a writing system for us;
Orange-Chipotle Skirt Steaks
orange chipotle skirt steaks
Marinate: 6 hr to overnight | Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
Marinade
Juice of 1 medium orange
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from chipotle peppers)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Steaks
1 1/2 pounds beef skirt steak, cut into 4 to 6 inch pieces
Tomatillo Salsa
2 medium oranges, divided
2 cups chopped tomatillos (4 to 5 small to medium)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 to 3 teaspoons minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Marinade
Combine ingredients in a small bowl.
Steaks
Place beef steaks in food-safe plastic bag; turn steaks to coat. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator 6 hours or as long as overnight, turning occasionally.
Tomatillo Salsa
Grate 1/2 teaspoon peel from 1 orange. Cut this orange and half of remaining orange into segments. Chop segments into 1/2 inch pieces.
Combine orange peel and segments, tomatillos, onion, chipotle peppers, cumin and salt in medium bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Cut remaining 1/2 orange into wedges; reserve for garnish.
Remove steaks from marinade; discard marinade.
Place steaks on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, uncovered, 10 to 13 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, covered, 8 to 12 minutes) for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally.
Carve steaks diagonally across the grain into thin slices; season with salt, as desired.
Serve with tomatillo salsa. Garnish with reserved orange wedges.
Oliver Anthony ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Intense Listening Sesh/Reaction – POWERFUL!
I will try to make this brief. My husband and I are a “multicultural” pair; he was brought up in Scotland and I was brought up in Cleveland, Ohio. Some of the time during our marriage we have lived in Ohio, some of the time in Glasgow.
Somewhere in the mid ’90s we decided to move again from Ohio back to Glasgow. I had three little children at that time — three girls, 7, 3, and 1. We had practically all our worldly possessions with us in 13 metal trunks and the usual baby paraphernalia. We flew from Florida to Glasgow, after flying from Ohio to Florida. The leg from Florida to Glasgow was a direct flight but lasted 10 hours. Needless to say we were very tired, stiff and sleep deprived.
We saddled the family onto an airport bus to take us “home” after such an exhausting trip. After loading our 13 trunks into the hold of this huge bus our bus driver let everyone else off at the usual stop. Before letting our family deboard, he asked us, “Hey, where do you folks live?” We told him the exact location where our small house was located. He laughed and said, “Stay on the bus, I’ll take you to your door. No taxi I know of will fit all this stuff.”
So that’s what this hero did. He pulled his massive 88-seater bus right into our cul-de-sac, right up to our door, and also helped unload the 13 trunks and our very tired family.
It was an act of kindness I have never forgotten. Oh and I forgot to mention, it was 4am.
I was working as the assistant accountant at a company and had to leave early one day as I was sick. My boss insisted on a doctor certificate to cover that half day so I managed to see my gp the next morning who gave me a certificate for 3 days off plus the half day. I objected but the doc said if you’re feeling better in a few days just go back to work.
So 2 days later I’m feeling better and return to work. My boss was annoyed because instead of a few hours I’m now out 2 days so she says I need to go back to same dr to get a clearance to return to work.
By this time it’s midmorning of the last day of the certificate. I’m fine. It’s the last week of month and we’re super busy and she wants me to drive 40 minutes each way to the dr to get a certificate and the chances of an appointment with the same dr is unlikely. And it’s going to cost me $80 for appointment.
I had lots of sick leave accrued and it’s also November.
I explained that we’d lose 1/2 to 3/4 of the day and I’d be out of pocket but nope she wanted me to go back to the dr.
Previously no one had ever enforced a dr certificate if anyone came back early (unless it was workers comp). She told me that this was my “punishment” for leaving early when I was sick a few days before!
When she said that, I made a decision. I said I wasn’t prepared to spend the money for the dr to reassess me for 1/2 day work. She said in that case you can’t work today.
No problems I said. I’ll go do my Christmas shopping and I grabbed my handbag and sauntered out.
I’m told her face just dropped and she bitched to the GM after I’d left and he laughed and told her she was the one who forced the issue.
”What Do You Have To Offer A Man?”
I think this is THE fundamental question both men AND women should be asking… if you have a long list of demands, you better have a long list of qualities to offer.
Employees will pay for personal calls on the company’s cell phone.
This happened about 2003. The developer team took turns being “on-call” and carrying the company phone. Most of us had cell phones but we did not use them as much as we do now. My plan was expensive even though it was the minimum number of minutes, I think 60, per month. In any case, I rarely went over the number of minutes per month. The company phone, on the other hand, had an unlimited plan so there would be no overage charges. The business use of the phone required a lot of minutes.
When it was my turn to carry the phone, I did not carry my personal cell phone at the same time. If I needed to make a call, I would just use the company phone. Most of us did the same thing. Cell phones were bulky and it did not cost the company anything extra. Also, we only made a few short calls on the work phone.
Well our boss, the CTO, called a meeting and showed a new form for us to record our personal calls when we carried the company phone. He told us that it did not matter that the company’s unlimited plan made the calls free. It was the company’s phone and the company’s money. However, he appreciated that it was inconvenient to carry two phones so he was implementing a new policy that the person using the on-call phone for a personal call would log the call and reimburse the company the going rate. It was something like 20 cents per minute which was the normal per minute cost at the time. We were to use the form to pay the company for personal calls on the work phone.
Most of us thought it was a little petty because the company’s plan was unlimited and a few short calls did not cost the company anything. However, we acknowledged it was a reasonable policy and we would just have to pay a little for convenience or carry two phones. Not really a big deal. Then I thought of something.
I asked the boss, “Can we use the same form for the company to reimburse us for work calls on our personal phones?” He asked if we used our personal cells for work. “Of course, whoever is on-call often calls his colleagues for advice about a problem or how a system was configured. If we are not home, we take the call on our cell. As a matter of fact, twice this year I went over my monthly minutes and had to pay overage charges.” He replied that I would not pay extra if I was more careful to not go over my minutes. “Well, as you explained, it does not matter if I pay extra or not. It’s about keeping personal calls and work calls separate. So, can we use the same form or should we use a different form?” Without answering the question, he ended the meeting shortly thereafter.
He never said anything more about the form, and the policy never went into effect.
I admit that I did not like the guy because he viewed us as commodities instead of employees. The feeling was mutual and he fired me the next year. Oh well, I got a better job after that.
China Tests New Laser Weapon That Destroys Planes In Seconds!
The Debt crisis in China isn’t a shock to the global economy
Evergrande crisis happened in 2021 and it’s 2 years old and yet Evergrande hasn’t fallen
The Debt crisis is two years old, maybe three years old now
So even if the big names begin failing, the systemic shocks to Chinas Economy Or the Global Economy will be much milder than a sudden unexpected shock
The difference between US and China, is that in US, the Institutions which are privately owned and have very little regulations, lie and cheat and bury the information deep and keeps allowing more and more trouble to accumulate
Lehman Brothers crisis in 2008 is an example as is the 1929 depression or the recent Silicon Valley Bank failures
They pretend nothing is wrong, they pretend everything is hunky dory, they even manipulate the system like they did in 2008 with Moodys and S&P
Then THERE IS ALWAYS A SUDDEN COLLAPSE AND A MASSIVE SYSTEMIC SHOCK
Like in 2008 when there was a downward swing in investment indices by a whopping 60% across 2 years
People lost homes, savings everything and plunged into poverty
China is entirely different
China has lots of regulations and State has a huge control which means no pretension, no burying of information
The Chinese in fact start openly publishing info from Day 1 about such problems
Evergrande problems were published 30 days before their first default while the real estate debt crisis problems were openly revealed yuan for yuan almost 3 months before Evergrande (which is how the West knew about it in the first place)
As a result the system gets a DULL SHOCK rather than a SUDDEN SHOCK AND COLLAPSE
This Dull Shock is absorbed slowly into the economy of China and by the investors, then smaller shocks happen and they too get absorbed
Thus Indices will fall maybe 6–8% in China , maybe 10% over 5–6 years and then stabilize and recover
The Impact will probably be 10% of the 2008 Crisis at the most
Lehman collapsed in 14 days, Lehman Bros when it collapses will do so after almost 825 days to 900 days
Lot of time to absorb the shock
Experts gauge China will absorb it’s debt crisis at a cost of around 1.2% a year in it’s economic growth for around 5 years and 0.7% a year for the next five
That’s around 13.5 Trillion Yuan
Worst case, that’s more than double of the estimated value of impact of the debt crisis (6 Trillion Yuan)
Chinas past growth and surging development will keep China protected from the debt crisis and get China off safely and with a nice soft landing
image 5
Another 5 years if Xi had buried this and kept up illusions and kept seeing debt rollovers and price rise rapidly
China would have had 6–6.5% growth for the next 5 years or so but then the impact would have been maybe 30–35 Trillion after a decade or so
An example of the astute leadership of China which cares about long term prospects
Unlike a problem with democracies which bury all the problems hoping the next party will deal with them
Ask you CEOs why they think they are entitled to earn 100 times more that Chinese CEOs? Ask your employees and your unions what the push their salary to 5 times that of China? Ask your employees why they expects 10 times their benefits compared to Chinese counterparts? Ask why they are willing to work 25% less hours compared to the Chinese workers? Ask why are your education system turning out lawyers and bull shit artiste instead of stem engineers?
Ask your government why your infrastructure is dilapidated and why are there no trainings and retraining of workers sufficient to meet today’s manufacturing needs? Those question get you real answers and make the U.S. face realities?
China did not put a gun on the heads on 330 million Americans to buy Chinese products! The 330 million Americans chosed value for money like everyone on earth. The U.S. government and the U.S. people made wrong choices. They choose wars and war mongering rather than helping their manufacturers and factories. The citizens chose those leaders! If the U.S. citizens were to turn around and kicked out any politicians that prioritise wars over work kick them out of office they can make the difference.
There are so many Americans here in QUORA who champion wars and worship power but ask why China makes everything? You need to choose wisely. You go around telling everyone you have a freedom to chose and are so proud of that freedom but you blow it every 4 years for 250 years long.
You chose leaders that don’t care about you and in fact destroy you!
At my wife’s father’s wake, we told her uncle he wasn’t welcome.
We had texted him and asked him not to show up early , as he wasn’t welcome but said that we would be leaving early so he could come later, but he came early anyway with his two sons and his screaming Harpy of a wife.
We had rented the hall and paid for the food and bar.
I stopped them at the door, expecting trouble. I asked him to leave and come back in a few hours when we would be gone.
They tried to push past me and called my wife a c##t
I reacted without thinking.
I shattered his and his two sons noses with three strikes in about two seconds.
They know I am a Wing Chun Gung Fu stylist who is also a 6′ 200 lb pro renovation contractor.
They called the police.
The police called them white trash and suggested they didn’t want to go in front of a judge considering their conduct.
They backed down and left.
One of the cops was Irish , he said he would buy me a whiskey right in front of the jack ass’s if he wasn’t on duty while they were holding their noses.
P. S. I don’t advocate violence, but I have no regrets at this time.
Love some, trust few, and do no great harm.
Baby Wasn’t Able To Tell Parents About Cruel Sitter — But His Dog Could
This is Vesna Vulović.
She holds the Guinness World Record for the highest fall without a parachute and surviving. She is reported to have fallen 6.3 miles (33,330 ft; 10,160 m) from the sky when a briefcase bomb exploded onboard JAT Flight 367 and crashed into what was then Czechoslovakia in 1972.
So, how exactly did she survive the fall? When the bomb exploded during mid-flight, almost all the passengers were sucked out of the airplane into subfreezing temperatures and fell to their deaths. Vulović was trapped inside the fuselage and pinned down by a food cart. She landed in a heavily wooded area with snow, which helped cushion her fall. Interestingly enough, Vulović’s low blood pressure allowed her to pass out quickly when the cabin depressurized and prevented her heart from bursting on impact. When applying to become a flight attendant, Vulović had concealed her low blood pressure from the medical examiners by drinking several cups of coffee.
Vulović was the only survivor, and upon impact, had broken both her legs, parts of her vertebrae, and several ribs. She also fractured her skull and pelvis. After spending several days in a coma, Vulović awoke and asked for a cigarette. She had no recollection of the explosion or the crash. Her recuperation took a total of 16 months.
BREAKING! China and U.S. headed for all out war, and Putin knows it
“Any hotel expense over $XX must be approved by your Supervisor unless previously authorized (Daytona during Bike Week, going into hurricane devastated areas, or other known high cost areas, etc.)”.
Sure, I’m on the road for 3–6 weeks at a time and only after working the planned for 8–10 hours a day (yes 50+work hours a week were the norm) would I be on the road to the next job which was often 100 or more miles away. Needless to say, there were many, Many nights where I arrived at a hotel at around midnight.
Guess who went home at 5 PM back in the office? Yep, our supervisor. So, someone found his home phone number and we all began calling it when we arrived somewhere that wasn’t within the price range they expected.
So they changed the rule to say “Don’t call your Supervisor, but you are responsible for finding a hotel within per diem limits”.
Sure, but since it’s something you told me to do then I’m still at work. Do you Really think its worthwhile to pay me an extra hour’s pay just to save $10 for a night? Do you Really want me to add the two hours travel time to my pay-sheet because the only hotel in the price range was that far away?
I just remembered another prime example backfiring: the company had a policy that if we screwed up a job then it was our responsibility to go back and fix it on our own time. (If we didn’t want to then we’d mysteriously find our services weren’t in such high demand for the next week or three). So, one fine Saturday morning after I’d finished installing the computer system for a well-known coffee chain, I got a phone call that said I had to travel 400 miles to Memphis and fix a problem with a printer that didn’t work. Obviously it not working must have been my fault. It didn’t help much to say that part of my checkout procedure was to get a number from a document the help desk printed to their new POS system’s laser printer.
So, yeah, I’ll go back to Memphis on my own dime, BUT if it’s not my fault then I get paid. Traveled 6.5 hours to Memphis and walked into the coffee shop to hear the manager complain that his printer wasn’t working. I asked him what the help desk had him do. Turns out he didn’t call his help desk but just his contact at the company I worked for. I walked into the office, took a quick look and flipped the “ON” switch to the printer. Then I handed him the work order and told him he was going to be charged for 8 hours of travel to Memphis (400 miles at 50 MPH) 4 hours of overtime (our minimum charge and it was Saturday) and 8 hours of travel back to my house.
“B-But it didn’t work, you installed it wrong!” Nope, here’s the printout and the confirmation number from your help desk printed to that computer saying everything worked. Your help desk would have asked you what lights were on the printer, IF you had called them first.
A terrible day, so I spent the afternoon on Beale St. before heading home to pack up for the next Monday’s job in Charlotte or somewhere, who knows?
Tucker Carlson ‘ You’ve No Idea What is Coming, start Preparing Now
When my daughter was 15 (2000) I asked her what kind of car she wanted. Her answer stunned me: an old VW Beetle. We decided rather than looking for a good one to buy we would buy a beat up old junker and restore it together. I acquired the catalogs from suppliers and was shocked at how cheap the parts were and could not find a single thing that was not available new. We stripped that old junker down, did the body work and painted it. Bought all new chrome and stainless steel trim, all new upholstery, head liner, carpet and replaced every piece of rubber on the car.
When it came time to rebuild the engine I took a list of the parts I thought I would need to a local shop that specialized in VWs. He looked at the list and ask if I was planning on rebuilding the engine. When I said “yes” he responded that I was not going to do it, I was going to pay them to do it. I ask why? He said because this list of part is going to cost you 800 dollars and we will rebuild it for 875 dollars. Thinking it was a scam, I asked what if the crank is bad? His response was we are not going to use anything but the block, everything else is new including the heads . We picked up the engine and, as he said, it was 875 dollars.
When she turned 16 I gave her driving lessons in her VW. She drove it through high school and well after college. she didn’t stop using it until she had her first child.
Rather than let it sit we gave it to a friend who, 20 years after our rebuild, is still using it.
Total cost of the junk car, parts, and materials, including the engine rebuild: $3,300. Never had a part that we couldn’t get within a couple of days (side note; for several years she claimed she could not drive an automatic [or any other car] because she only knew how to drive a VW.)
Digging Dollar’s Grave! ASEAN Nations To Use Yuan As Their New Single Currency!
https://youtu.be/lvsZlBlfvW8
Anti-China Rhetoric Is Off the Charts in Western Media
The mass hysteria reflects the biases inherent in the world’s most powerful media outlets.
By Chandran Nair
February 21, 2023
A key feature of mainstream Western media today is the relentless China-bashing. It is off the charts and tiring, often involving regurgitated trivia or fabricated stories with no evidence to support callous statements about the country, demonstrating a deep lack of understanding. But such stories continue to be churned out with no end in sight.
Countering this in international media by offering more balanced views for a global audience is near impossible as censorship is rife. There almost seems to be a global compact to control the narrative, a propaganda war powered by today’s digital technology.
Just try looking for a positive story on China any day of the week in any of the leading global media outlets. Apart from reports in January about the Lunar New Year, there will hardly be any, and these too are likely to have a negative spin. It would appear there is a confidential memo circulating within Western media groups that guides reporters and editors to ensure there cannot be any positive news arising from a country with 1.3 billion people.
Typically, the negative stories adhere to three core ideas, which inform the unspoken guidelines within these press rooms when it comes to reporting on China.
First is the belief that China is a threat to the world and that this belief must be relentlessly reinforced at every available opportunity. How and why China is a threat is never explored; such is the deep-rooted and almost religious nature of the belief. Sound arguments do not matter. The basic tenets of good journalism are ignored when it comes to a China story. There is no need to explain or give evidence of why China is a global threat.
Left ignored is the plentiful evidence that shows China is not a global threat – even if one can point to mistakes and overreach in certain areas. China has not invaded any country in decades, or imposed sanctions that have devasted the lives of millions in poor countries, unlike the West, led by the United States.
Second is that China must be linked to every possible global event that affects the West. This provides an opportunity for the West to bash China while simultaneously burnishing its own credentials as the supposed arbiters of what is right and wrong in international relations. From the pandemic to the Russia-Ukraine war to carbon emissions; from rising sea levels to the scramble for rare earths; from the building of infrastructure in Africa to the production of vaccines – there must be an angle to demonize the country and instill fear in Western nations (and beyond).
Indeed, media outlets are reverting to the “yellow peril” of the late 1800s. There is no subtle and nuanced approach to instilling fear like this. It is full-on and very often blatantly racist – but it is now acceptable for one to be racist about the Chinese in Western media, despite the fact that Black-White relations are very carefully described.
The third part of this phenomenon, which is surprisingly not challenged by liberal readers of mainstream media, is the sentiment that everything must be done – even illegal and unfair methods – to arrest the rise of China. Never mind the rights of hundreds of millions of Chinese to have a better life after a century of poverty and deprivation.
Headline after headline that capture this sentiment have normalized the view that there is a need to curb the rise of China, and that this is a legitimate geopolitical objective. There is no explanation about why or if it is even morally acceptable. It has become a feature of Western commentary on China to say that its rise is a concern and a threat. With this assumption unassailably in place, the West has the right to galvanize – and even bully – its allies and ask the absurd question, “what should be done about China’s rise?” – as if China does not have the right to carve its own place in the new world.
There is even a school of thought in the United States that it was America that magnanimously allowed China its first baby steps into the globalized economy, and that in hindsight the U.S. was too nice to China. This view betrays everything that is imperial about the West and why it is unable to come to terms with the legitimate rights of other nations to grow and become powers in their own right. The assumption is that the rise of others is a gift from the West, and accordingly they must never challenge its supremacy. The deeply entrenched view in the West from centuries of domination is that it will decide which nations will be permitted to be participants in the global economy according to its self-serving “rules-based order.”
Indeed, Western media seem wholly tied to the hegemonic competition view of geopolitics, constantly referencing the “Thucydides Trap” and being stuck in the Western canon as if there are no other ways of looking at geopolitics and world order. This view assumes conflict is inevitable and helps to demonize China while justifying the hegemonic position of the West – and the United States in particular – as a globally stabilizing force.
Needless to say, this is an extremely belligerent position to take, and not something media should be egging on. Whatever happened to promoting multilateralism? And why are people who speak to multilateralism side-lined as idealists or China apologists? This flies in the face of fair reporting.
So, how to fix this?
First, people in China and the non-Western world must realize that when it comes to the workings of the mainstream media we are in a new era – a propaganda war the likes of which the world has never seen before, powered by today’s digital technology. The media war is real, and tech-driven, and it is not a fight for eyeballs to deliver fair, honest, and educational news. It is almost everything else but that, especially when it comes to China or enemies of the West.
On one side is sheer propaganda aimed at the preservation of Western power. Participants include the most well-known brands in the Western media world, which are household names across the world.
The idea that Western media is run by fair-minded people who are independent, driven only by a desire to talk truth to power, is a mirage. It is a myth, and it is a bitter pill that needs to be swallowed. The idea that the Western journalist is a paragon of virtue also needs to be banished from the minds of consumers of media.
That is the first stage in enabling one to step out of the propaganda mist we are engulfed in on a daily basis, so that one can examine different viewpoints as news is consumed. This is not easy, given the current dominance of Western media outlets and their apparently collective mission.
The next step is to dismantle the dominance of Western media.
This too will be a long, hard fight. Mainstream Western media are the most powerful in the world and for close to a century, Western media have had a stranglehold on the dissemination of international news and viewpoints across the world. Many had their origins in colonialism, the preservation of empire and later the spread of Western ideas about how the world should be run. These outlets are a powerful economic force and dislodging them will require investments.
Across the world there is an opportunity to contribute to this effort, not necessarily by building large media companies but by investing in media companies that are committed to fair and objective analysis, so that local audiences in the first instance have choices and are not inundated by the propaganda of mainstream Western media. This too will not be an easy task and there are many hurdles to overcome, but this is not the space to dive into those details. Ultimately, it is all about readers becoming more aware of global issues by having more non-Western sources to rely on, so they are not victims of the current propaganda war. This is beginning to happen as more alternatives flourish.
It is an urgent need in the West too so that the mass hysteria generated by mainstream media is prevented from creating fear and pitting Western societies against the rest of the world. Today the target is China; tomorrow India and then maybe Africa.
Merkules – ”Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix (Reaction)
Young Boy Looks Out The Window And Sees Sister Bring Dragged Into The Woods
image 11
At some point or another in most of our lives, we will have an opportunity to be a hero. Some people will take that opportunity and run with it, and that includes Owen Burns.
Owen was coming home from school in the afternoon when he heard screaming. It was his sister, and at first, he didn’t feel that it was anything serious.
image 10
Eventually, he did turn and look out the window and what he saw on the outside was enough to make his blood run cold. It was a frightening issue but one that he decided to put out of his mind and do the right thing.
Owen was getting ready to play Call of Duty on his PlayStation when his sister started screaming from the backyard. As any 13-year-old brother would do, he got irritated because he thought she was overreacting and just being annoying.
When he looked out the bedroom window, however, he saw that his sister was being dragged away by a stranger. His sister was only eight years old and they were headed for the woods behind the house.
Immediately, the teenage boy grabbed a slingshot and anything he could use as ammunition, including a rock and a marble. He took aim and got off a shot, hitting his sister’s abductor right between the eyes.
He got off a second shot, hitting the man in the chest, and at that point, the man was swearing and cursing.
This wasn’t something that was hidden from view, it happened in broad daylight at their home in Michigan. The mother, Maggie Burns, said that it is not common for kidnappings to occur in the neighborhood.
Fortunately, the abductor was scared away and the 8-year-old girl was unharmed. They were able to capture the would-be kidnapper, a 17-year-old. They didn’t release his identity but they did say he would face charges as an adult.
image 9
According to John Grimshaw, a Lieut. with the police force, Owen saved his sister’s life, or from something seriously bad happening to her. They called his actions extraordinary.
He also said that the young man should be commended for what he did. He used a regular slingshot that was purchased for three dollars on sale. He did practice shooting on occasion at old orange juice cans, and that helped him to improve his aim.
Owen said that he only had one thing on his mind when he saw someone trying to kidnap his sister. He was afraid that the kidnapper would either kill her or use her as a sex slave.
He said that the abductor had come behind his sister and grabbed her just like you would see in the movies, putting his hand over her mouth and his arm around her waist. He was trying to get her into the woods.
That is when Owen grabbed his slingshot and started shooting at him. When the kidnapper finally let his grip on the little girl go, she ran into the house crying and said that she had almost been killed.
Owen was angry at that point and ran outside to curse at the kidnapper. He threw a baseball in his direction but it missed.
At that point, he tried to shoot him again with a slingshot but the rubber band broke.
They then called the mother who had been at a relative’s house to help as she was on her way from work. She ran home, called the police, and it all stems from hearing her kids on the phone. The only thing she heard was the word, kidnapper.
They found the 17-year-old kidnapper hiding at a gas station nearby. He was indicted in the County Court on charges of kidnapping and attempted criminal assault. They will also charge him with misdemeanor assault and battery.
The police said that: “He had obvious signs of an injury consistent with those that would have been sustained from the slingshot strikes to his head and chest.”
The mother was skeptical at first that Owen had hit the kidnapper in the face and chest from 200 feet away. When the police confirmed the injuries, they even said that the goose egg on his head continued to get bigger while they were speaking with him.
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and I would say Owen and is as close to a superhero as you can get.
Office of Naval Intelligence Leak: China Building Naval Ships 232 Times faster than USA – “Lift to Invade North America”
The United States office of Naval Intelligence suffered a leak of an intel briefing slide, showing China now has naval ship building capacity 232 times greater than the USA. This capacity can be used to build enough ships to “lift” an army to invade North America – successfully.
This amazingly oversized capacity to build naval vessels has caused some analysts to raise the alarm that the United States cannot even hope to catch-up . . . for years.
Other analysts have a more dire view: China is building this enormous amount of “lift” to be able to field a 200 million man army to invade and conquer North America, which it needs for food production and for its gigantic and growing population.
The seeds for this dire analysis began under the Trudeau government in Canada, when it signed a Treaty with the China Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing to allow Chinese Troops into Canada – to “protect Chinese investments.” The Treaty made it explicitly clear that local governments in Canada would not be notified and could not do anything about the presence of such troops.
By using Canada as a beachhead, giving China a foothold on north American, China can now pre-position armor and troops along the US northern border until they reach such mass that an invasion of the US would be almost a fait accompli!
US Military in Recruiting Shambles
In the meantime, the armed forces of the United States are in a Recruiting shambles. EVERY branch of US Armed Forces have been missing their recruiting goals for the all-volunteer force, and have been missing those goals for years.
The troubles plaguing recruiting do not come from lack of available people but rather a whole host of issues with those people. For instance, a very large portion of American young people are “morbidly obese” to such a degree, that the physical strength and stamina simply cannot be restored to make them fit for military service.
Other potential recruits suffer from a host of disqualifying psychiatric issues: Men who think they’re actually women trapped in the wrong body . . . . women who think they’re men . . . . candidates with a history of suicidal ideation and/or actual suicide attempts and more.
Also plaguing the pool of potential recruits is the mental inability to think critically; to make judgements, and act on immediate information.
As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, a sizeable portion of the potential recruits are so physically weak and effeminate, they simply cannot be brought to military strength.
Drug use is also a major factor in disqualifying potential recruits. Psychiatric drugs for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), addiction to Adderall, on top of others who are using illicit drugs like Cocaine, Heroin, or a
plethora of other, exotic “designer drugs,” has disqualified very many potential recruits because withdrawal from such drugs can lead to long-term violent outbursts and unstable mental states.
DEFENSE INDUSTRY IN SHAMBLES
Adding fuel to the fire is the Defense Industry itself. At present, the US Defense Industry is UNABLE to re-supply the most basic war-fighting products like Ammunition and artillery shells in sufficient quantities to re-stock what the US has already given away to Ukraine, never mind to fight an active war with a near-peer rival.
Instead of hiring new employees to increase defense production, many defense contractors are having to LAY OFF workers because they simply cannot get the parts necessary to assemble replacement weaponry like Javelin Missiles! American manufacturer’s “out-sourced” many jobs to overseas locations, and, in the case of China, that is now coming back to bit the US in its ass.
For instance, China recently imposed economic Sanctions on Lockheed Martin and other American Defense Contractors, for supplying weapons to Taiwan. This means that Chinese manufacturers can no longer sell certain electronics to those companies; electronics necessary to build and re-supply US military weapon systems!
Not only is this affecting the US ability to continue providing weaponry to Ukraine, it is also affecting our ability to make weapons to defend . . . OURSELVES. With the vast array and quantities of weaponry being “given” to Ukraine, it appears to some Defense Analysts that the US is being INTENTIONALLY DISARMED by its own federal government.
COMMERCIAL ENTITIES UNABLE TO SERVICE or CUTTING-OFF US MILITARY
Reverting back to the subject of ships for a moment, it became known this week that Danish shipping giant, MAERSK, is “backing away” from providing shipping services to the Department of Defense.
With most of US Ship-building gone from environmental regulations and Union Labor contract demands, the few shipbuilders the US still has, simply cannot meet the demand for new vessels or to timely repair existing vessels.
The US has to rely on foreign shipbuilders for Hulls and for shipping services.
MAERSK has not said why they are “backing away” from providing services to the Department of Defense, but they are, in fact, doing so.
Are these companies being pressured by China or other foreign governments to cripple the US? Are these companies being threatened with losing the ability to provide shipping services to foreign countries if they continue helping the US? The answer to those questions is not known, but it __may__ be a possibility.
Which brings up the issue of future US ship building and moving men and materiel.
With China having 232 times the US ship building capacity, and with commercial ventures in the US unable to re-supply or even timely service existing ships, and now commercial entitities “backing away” from providing services to the US, it is starting to look as though we are being set up to be invaded and conquered.
MILITARY-AGE MEN SOUTHERN BORDER INVASION
All of the above brings us to the US Southern Border. There has been an over Nine-hundred percent (900%+) increase in young, fit, military-age, Chinese men crossing illegally into the US via the southern border. This is confirmed by FOX NEWS.
Why the sudden surge of Chinese men? Some analysts think they are a fifth column; wolves in sheep’s clothing, entering our country at the behest of the China Communist Party to lay in wait for an order to attack the US from within.
And the US federal Government is making it EASIER for people to enter the country illegally! The Biden regime has ordered gates in former President Trump’s border wall . . . . to be welded open! YEs, you read that correctly, the gates are being welded open so even US citizens, concerned about illegals entering the country, can’t simply close and lock the gates.
STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE, DRAINED
The United States established the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) after the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970’s. The SPR can hold a little over seven-hundred-million barrels of oil in giant caverns in Louisiana and Texas. Yet the Biden regime has ordered the SPR to sell-off much of that reserve to artificially reduce gasoline prices in the USA.
As of today, more than two-thirds of that 700 million barrel SPR, have been sold off and are gone. There are presently no plans (and no money) to refill it.
If the US is invaded, and we cannot import foreign oil because we’re a war zone where ships cannot safely come and go, we won’t have more than a month or two of fuel with which to fight and defend our own land.
TREACHERY?
This appears to be deliberate treachery on the part of the federal government, some of whom may simply have been bribed by China, or other countries, to sell-out our nation and prime us for invasion.
This week, Congress beings Impeachment Hearings into President Joe Biden, who allegedly received potentially millions in bribes from China and elsewhere. Congress has already revealed that Bank Wire Transfers to Hunter Biden, showing Joe Biden’s home address in Wilmington, Delaware as the recipient’s address, have been confirmed as having taken place. At least $250,000 of such wire transfers are said to have come from Beijing.
Also this week, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was Indicted and Arraigned in federal court, after being caught with some $458,000 cash stuffed into envelopes hidden in clothing in a closet, and in a safe, in his Englewood Cliffs home, along with 81.5 ounces of gold bullion in bars, allegedly for making military deals with and for, Egypt.
Menendez is charged with Bribery.
If Menendez took Bribes from Egypt to sell out US weapons, one has to wonder if he also took money from China to sell us out? Or if he also took money from other countries?
One also has to wonder if any OTHER Senators or Congressmen took such Bribes?
It appears the United States of America is suffering a level of treachery from within, that may actually cause our nation to cease to exist.
China Exposes New G20 Summit Hypocrisy and lies
You won’t believe what Biden just said after all the sanctions the US imposed on China. Biden gave a statement thinking that he is trying to create good relations with China after the G20 meeting with China’s Premier League Biden said we don’t want to contain China instead we want to make sure we have a relationship that is on the up and up squared away but don’t be misled by this statement before you know the actual truth According to Forbes, the US has imposed a list of sanctions on China, and its motive is simply to contain China, so when it comes to words, the US has a lot to say to impress you, but when it comes to actions, you won’t find anyone more brutal in the world than the US, so the question is why is there such a big difference between the US’s actions and its words, let’s find out in this video we will discuss the reality behind the US’s claims to not contain China We will also analyze the impact of Biden and Lee’s G20 summit on US-China relations. Watch the video until the conclusion to find out if the US is being honest this time or if this is just another tactic to attain ulterior aims.
https://youtu.be/w0MMrKvJZLQ
COVERT INTEL: CLOSEST PUTIN ADVISOR SAYS “NUKE U.K. OFF THE MAP” TO STOP UKRAINE WAR AND WW3
One of the closest and most trusted Advisors to Russian President Vladimir Putin has formally told his boss that a “massive” use of nuclear weapons is necessary to actually “prevent” World War 3 and save humanity. He urges the complete destruction of the United Kingdom as a warning to others to stop.
Mediterranean Steak and Pasta with Tomato-Olive Sauce
Whole-wheat pasta is served with beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks and a tomato and olive sauce. This one will please the adults and the kids in your family.
mediterranean steak pasta
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
8 ounces uncooked whole grain fettuccine
4 beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (about 4 ounces each)
1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives*
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/4 cup finely shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
Cook fettuccine according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place beef steaks in skillet; cook for 11 to 13 minutes for medium rare (145 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. (Do not overcook.) Remove from skillet; keep warm.
Combine pasta sauce and oregano in same skillet; heat until hot. Return steaks to skillet; turn to coat with sauce.
Place steaks on fettuccine; spoon sauce over all.
Sprinkle steaks with cheese, allowing cheese to melt. Sprinkle with parsley.
Notes
* You may substitute 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives for 1 (26 ounce) pasta sauce plus 1/4 cup chopped olives.
I used to coach swimming in the early 2000’s. It probably won’t surprise you that my most challenging group was the middle school boys.
But where a few of them were difficult, others were in need of help. They were “different”. Consequently, they were bullied frequently at school. They would come in upset about how their day had gone.
I identified with them on so many levels as I’ve spent my entire life having people tell me, “You are one weird guy.”
I would reassure them that they were simply misunderstood and that they were in good company: some of the greatest people who ever lived were treated as weirdos.
Frederick Nietzsche, another mega genius, was in this camp at one point too. He was, by very definition, different than his peers. People tend to attack things they don’t understand.
image 12
Throughout his life, he proposed many wild and brilliant ideas, faced his own share of critics, and endured his own moments of social isolation.
One line he wrote, that I encourage any who feel misunderstood to remember:
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
Humanity is filled with wild and shimmering variety. Those who see “different” and attack are afraid of their own authenticity.
Don’t shy away from living your own truth.
If you haven’t been told “You’re weird.” a few times along the way, you aren’t doing it right.
When I was a young boy, perhaps in first grade, my father had a business trip up into New Foundland. And there, he did some work and (apparently) attended a local festival.
When he came back, he had a special gift for me.
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It was a full Scottish kilt ensemble.
And I, well I wore it with pride, and being the photo buff that he was, took a zillion pictures of me wearing the outfit.
I don’t know what ever happened to the outfit, or the pictures, but I do remember that time, and how I felt being parading about in Bridgeport Conn wearing that kilt.
…
My dad was kind of silly. But he was cool in a strange way. And this little event is one of my best memories.
The U.S. have a right to adopt or adapt any any stance it wants. Or behaves as obnoxiously and despicably as ot wants too! But China will act swiftly in its own path forward to protect and defend and its own territories including Taiwan. And the world’s 99% will be behind China solidly. The Taiwan issue is totally and absolutely none of US or anybody’s business except the Chinese people and the Chinese authorities. Get that through your think skull once and for all.
You can talk as much shit, or stir as much shit as you want but touching an inch of Taiwan and we all go to war fully and comprehensively till the world as we know it will be change forever. If that is what you want. Let that be absolutely clear even a single U.S. marine parachute into Taiwan and China will without a doubt take drastic and immediate action.
No go back to asking shit like this and waste all your time. If you want. China don’t gives a shit about U.S. stupidly and waste fully sailing 10 thousand miles blowing a billion gallons of fuel to aimlessly flex your muscles a million times. We don’t mind if you to go hang yourself if that is what you want. You can have a million discussion in Washington for all we care but the business of Taiwan is decided in Beijing.
FLASH TRAFFIC: GERMAN ARMY TANK CREW CAUGHT OPERATING TANK IN UKRAINE, ATTACKING RUSSIAN ARMY
German supplied Leopard Tank With German Army Crew Zaporozhye Started WW3 2 large
This is FLASH TRAFFIC: It appears World War 3 has officially begun. Saturday morning the Russian Army engaged a German-supplied Leopard Tank operating for the Ukraine army in Zaporozhye. The Russians hit the tank with an anti-tank guided missile. The tank blew up. The tank crew evacuated and were captured. The crew identified themselves as ACTIVE DUTY GERMAN ARMY TROOPS.
Thus, the actual Army of Germany has now been caught waging actual war against Russia inside official Russian territory, Zaporozhye. The image above is the actual tank involved in the actual incident this morning, 23 September 2023.
Hal Turner Remark: It appears, on its face, NATO has just started World War 3; using the active-duty German Army to attack Russians.
More as I get it . . . .
UPDATE 10:14 AM EDT —
Details are emerging. It is now CONFIRMED a Russian Army reconnaissance team destroyed a German-supplied Leopard tank of the Ukrainian military but manned with a crew comprised of Bunderswehr soldiers. The Bunderswehr is the actual active duty Army of Germany.
This took place in Zaporozhye this morning.
A member of the actual Russian Recon team directly and personally involved in the incident has stated the following: “When we curbed another offensive and ATGM-ed [destroyed with an anti-tank guided missile] the Leopard, we moved out to the burned vehicle hoping to seize the ‘tongue.’ Then we saw that the crew’s driver-mechanic was severely injured and the others were dead. Once he awoke, the mechanic started yelling ‘nicht schießen‘ [“do not shoot” in German],” the head of the reconnaissance team said.
“The mechanic repeatedly stated that he was not a mercenary but a Bundeswehr serviceman, and that he and the rest of the crew were members of the same unit of the German army,” the Russian fighter said, adding that while receiving medical aid, the German soldier named his brigade and its dislocation site.
The tank’s driver died from wounds minutes after he was found despite efforts to save him.
Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers
2023 09 25 15 22
Ingredients
1 pound thinly sliced sirloin steak (or deli roast beef)
8 slices provolone cheese
4 large green bell peppers
1 medium sweet onion
1 pound white mushrooms
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher or sea salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Slice a thin piece off each pepper lengthwise, remove ribs and seeds.
Slice onions and mushrooms. Sauté over medium heat with butter, olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Sauté until onions and mushroom are nice and caramelized, about 25 to 30 minutes.
Salt and pepper the steak and sauté in a little olive oil until just not pink, about 5 minutes.
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Add steak to the onion/mushroom mixture and stir to combine.
Line the inside of each pepper with a slice of provolone cheese.
Fill each pepper with meat mixture until they are overflowing.
Top each pepper with another slice of provolone cheese.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese on top is golden brown.
Back 20 years ago my 8 year old son and I went to the bank. When we walked in the only customer was a lady filling in forms at the bench. We walked up to where the lines started, identified by some silver poles with plastic chains showing the flow of foot traffic. We waited while the teller finished doing her task.
As we waited a few people came into the bank and lined up behind us. The lady at the bench then walked over and pushed in front of us stating that she was in the bank first but had to fill in some forms. I commented that she should take her place at the back, and again she said she was in the bank first. My son looked up at me, knowing that her behavior was rude but he had a glint in his eye. I should have known better.
Silently, without anyone noticing, including me, he picked up the end of the plastic chain from the top of a metal pole and hooked it into her handbag.
As she stepped forward in her self importance her snagged handbag then pulled 4 or 5 poles onto the tiled floor with such a loud clatter. As she spun around to see what had happened she pulled another 2 poles over.
We slipped past, went to the teller and on our way out saw that she had been passed by most of the line and was still picking up her paper, pens and other things that had spilled from her handbag.
On my next trip to the bank the teller told me that was the funniest thing she had ever seen and presented me with a savings book for my son with $20. Each teller donated $5 because no one liked that lady.
One day it will be you.
Twice this week, I have watched an elderly individual, fade into the busy life in which we all live. One man just needed Panadol for his wife but the shop assistant simply said it’s in ‘6’.
But he struggled to navigate the supermarket and as I watched him go in the wrong direction, I left all my groceries and took him where he needed to go.
Today, I watched an elderly man struggle in the heat, who had obviously had a fall with a huge scrape and blood on his leg. He walked past people in the cafe, while he slowly made his way to his car. Not one person stopped. Or looked.
Or acknowledged him. I took him to his car and checked he was ok. He told me he had a fall and wasn’t sure how the air con worked in his car so he just didn’t use it. I sat with him, until his air con kicked in and heard him talk about the old frail body that he is in, that fails him now, every single day.
When you see an elderly person walking down the street, searching in the supermarket or struggling to their car, take a minute out of your busy schedule and ask them if they need a hand. Think about your grand parents and your parents and how pissed you would be if someone didn’t stop to help them. But more, think of them as you.
Once upon a time they were you. They were busy, they had work, they had children, they were able…. Today, they are just in an older body that is not going as fast as it used to and this busy life is confusing. They deserve our utmost respect and consideration.
One day it will be you, it will be us. I wish more people gave a sh*t about them and acknowledged them for their admirable existence and geez I hope someday, not that far away, someone does it for me.
Full-Time RV Life: The Quitting Has Just Begun – Why Many Have & Will Come Off The Road
Notice these trends that are going on in the United States.
Chinese people are consistent with Japanese people, only one enemy is japanese imperialism and chinese national scum. – Mao zedong, 1941.5.15 (This was at a time when Japanese imperialism was invading China)
Likewise. Chinese people are consistent with US people, only one enemy is US imperialism and chinese national scum.
The Chinese national scum includes Taiwan independence elements, Hong Kong independence elements and overseas dissidents funded by the US government. not elaborated here.
The point is: who represents US in the world? Is it the US people, or is it US imperialism?
No other country in the world has invaded the United States. Even if Bin Laden had created 9/11, it was not an act from the military of any country.
It’s not US politicians or capitalist who die on the battlefield, it’s you! idiot! In war the politicians give ammunition, the rich give the food and the poor give their children… When the war is over the politicians get back the leftover ammunition, the rich grow more food and the poor search for the graves of their children.
The US people need to pay more in taxes and lives for the war of aggression waged by the US government. Obviously, the U.S. government has launched a war of aggression against all countries in the world, which goes against the interests of the US people.
Do you think it is in the interests of the US people for the US government to go around the world invading?
It is not in the interest of the US people, nor is it in the interest of the Chinese people, who are simply generating profits for the capitalists of the US military industrial complex.
Because US is a capitalist country, capital controls US politics.
The US has more than 240 years of history, only 16 years without war.
So, Does the US government represent the interests of the US people, or the interests of US imperialism?
Do you represent the interests of the US people, or the interests of US imperialism?
Biden did not tell the US citizens that he wanted to invade China, only “to defend Taiwan”.
So, I ask, how does the US plan on doing that? with some sort of video game competition?
I mean, in order to “defend Taiwan”, you have to have military troops pertorming military actions, aka combat inside of China.
And that’s because Taiwan is in China.
So currently America has soldiers in Taiwan, which is either illegal, or at the very least gray area because that’s part of China.
And the government of China doesn’t approve of that and hasn’t allowed it.
So that’s the current status.
If US start performing military action, that’s an effort to militarily conquer at least China or push them back inside of China.
That‘s called an invasion.’
Sorry, everybody, if you don’t agree with this definition, but that’s what it is.
So US is yet again confirming that it will invade China if China attempts to continue its reunification by using military action.
So this is a very, very dangerous game that US are playing.
George Carlin – It’s A BIG Club & You Ain’t In It!
Lots of bullying stories. Here is mine. My son (autism spectrum, language disabilities) had a chum who happened to be a boy-crazy girl. Dating wasn’t his thing, but she was pretty smart and he liked her and they looked out for each other.
Another boy in the class was a little behind on his social skills, and was doing some low-end bullying of her. Calling out to her “Hey— coat rack!” or similarly stupid things. She was annoyed, but it wasn’t quite so bad that teachers noticed or disciplined him.
Anyway, we got a phone call from school that my son finally lost his temper and pushed this kid against the wall, telling him to knock it off and never do it again. It was pretty clear that regulations about bullying required us to be told of his inappropriate response, so they were following the rule but they weren’t too concerned.
When I told the program director of his previous school about this, he high-fived me. It never would have happened when my son was overwhelmed with sensory overload, so it was a real sign of progress.
China Destroyed US Sanctions Whole Car Industry in Big Trouble
Historic times!
Patrick Lawrence: The Real Threat From China: They’re Better at Capitalism Than We Are
The Biden regime’s robotic procession to Beijing proceeds apace. Following Antony Blinken’s fruitless visit in mid–June, we have paid Janet Yellen’s airfare for another fruitless visit, and following Yellen it was the same for John Kerry. This week it is Gina Raimondo’s turn. The secretary of state, the Treasury secretary, the chief climate envoy, and the commerce secretary: What is the point of this parade?
I cannot but wonder whether these officials are dispatched across the Pacific in descending order of competence. Raimondo, who previously flopped as governor of Rhode Island—except for her plan to cut civil service pensions, an unfortunate success—is mediocrity made flesh. The Chinese must be wondering, with chagrin or amusement or both, who the Biden regime will next send their way.
The assignment in all these cases is the same: It comes down to “two seemingly contradictory responsibilities,” as The New York Times’s Ana Swanson put it in a curtain-raiser last week. She described “a mandate to strengthen U.S. business relations with Beijing while also imposing some of the toughest Chinese trade restrictions in years.”
This is succinct, although we can live without the “seemingly.” Proposing to conduct routine business while sabotaging China’s competitive position in advanced technologies is prima facie a ridiculous idea. But The Times must have its “seemingly,” because it is imperative we pretend the Biden regime thinks sensibly and means well in its relations with the People’s Republic.
Blinken got nothing done, Yellen got nothing done, Kerry got nothing done, and in Raimondo’s case it is hopeless. The final item on her itinerary is a visit to Disneyland in Shanghai, and you have to credit the secretary’s scheduler for the parting reference to dreams and fantasy. An English friend observes that we Americans are doing a lot of blinkin’ and yellin’ across the Pacific these days. Fair enough, but I think it is more of the former than the latter for the time being. This administration simply has no idea what a sound China policy would look like.
What is this all about? For a long time now I have concluded that Biden’s foreign policy people match the definition of insanity commonly but mistakenly attributed to Einstein. These people seem to be doing the same thing again and again while expecting a different outcome. But with Raimondo’s visit to Beijing this week I have to revise this assessment. Those running Biden’s national security policies are unimaginative ideologues petrified of diverging from the neoliberal catechism, yes, but they are not insane. I start to see in their dealings with Beijing a diabolical design to which the Chinese are very right to object.
The Biden administration’s China strategy comes down to parrying, in a word. All the pointless talk is intended to obscure a concerted effort to undermine China’s economy because we cannot compete with it in various strategic sectors, while—part two—buying time to move maximum U.S. military hardware as close to the mainland as possible under the program the Defense Department named a few years ago the Pacific Defense Initiative, the PDI.
At the horizon, we are likely to see Washington’s trans–Pacific military ambitions trump longstanding trade and investment relationships. This is what “decoupling” and now “delinking” are all about. They are warnings to the corporate and financial sectors that their interests, which came first in the decades after the Dengist reforms of the 1980s, will no longer take precedence as the new Cold War Biden constantly denies provoking destroys relations with the mainland.
, the financial news network, that more or less announced the Biden regime’s intention to subvert key sectors of China’s economy. She was about to address something called the U.S.–E.U. Trade and Technology Council and told her interlocutor, “If we really want to slow down China’s rate of innovation, we need to work with Europe.”
It is useful once in a while to have dumbheads such as Raimondo in high positions, because, without meaning to do so, they can tell you so much more than you are supposed to know. Slowing down China’s impressive advances in high-technology sectors was precisely Washington’s intent by the time Raimondo spoke. The Commerce Department under her direction has since imposed a wide variety of restrictions on U.S. exports to China of semiconductor chips, software systems, and the machinery used to produce both. As Ana Swanson reports, Raimondo is likely to pile on more of these as soon as she returns from Beijing.
The Biden regime dresses up this profoundly undignified conduct as “narrowly targeted” to technologies that could be of use to the Chinese military. Jake Sullivan set the tone for all of these visitors to Beijing in a speech at the Brookings Institution last April. “We are imposing necessary restrictions on specific technology exports,” he explained, “while seeking to avoid an outright technological blockade…. The administration intends to maintain a substantial trade relationship with China.”
This is what Raimondo and all of those who preceded her to China say when explaining their intent: Washington’s sole concern as Raimondo imposes her regime of restrictions is national security, and all else can proceed rosily. It is hard to think of a flimsier dodge. By this standard, she would have to restrict sales of Juicy Fruit gum to the Chinese. What the Biden administration is doing comes down to securitizing the economic relationship. If you have ever doubted that the United States is a failing imperium unwilling to accept 21st century realities, I offer this as proof of the proposition.
The Chinese know this and have said so many times. I no longer think Blinken, Yellen, et al. have any thought of persuading them otherwise on these journeys. That only looks like their intent. Their true purpose is in the way of theatrical, and Americans are their true audience: They must make sure we do not understand Gina Raimondo’s efforts to punch the Chinese well below their belts for what they are: an uncompetitive nation’s attempts to hold back a rising economic power.
interesting for what he left out as much as for what was in it. There was not a single mention of the U.S. military buildup at the western end of the Pacific.
Talk about elephants in the living room. The Pentagon is developing the Australian–British–U.S. alliance known as AUKUS, there is the Quad group, comprising the U.S., Australia, India, and Japan, there are these recently and assiduously fortified alliances with Seoul, Tokyo, Manila, and Canberra, and none of this, we hear again and again, has anything to do with surrounding China or providing for the movement of U.S. military capabilities westward toward the mainland. This is only “seemingly” the case, as The Times would put it.
It is the same as with Raimondo’s projects on the technology side: Neither the Chinese nor anyone else in Asia believes these silly explanations, and no one expects them to do so. Beijing knows very well there is a point to all these apparently pointless visits U.S. officials insist on making. The Biden regime is buying time as it remilitarizes the western end of the Pacific. The only people who are supposed to understand otherwise are Americans. We are not supposed to watch as Washington provokes and prosecutes Cold War II before our eyes. We are supposed to watch as American officials—reasonable, constructive, well-intended—make all efforts to talk to the Chinese in the face of their stubborn reluctance to cooperate.
This is my revised take on the Blinken–Yellen–Kerry–Raimondo cavalcade across the Pacific. These people are not clods. They are purposefully malicious and, it should go without saying, are making the world even more dangerous than it already is.
There are two things to think about here. One, the Biden regime’s efforts to obscure what it is up to at the other end of the Pacific is a straight reprise of the first Cold War, which now resides in all but the most important history books as the responsibility of the Soviets. We have a responsibility to render and defend an accurate record so that this does not happen again.
Two, there is this administration’s immense betrayal of Americans as it aggresses in the Pacific, along with the numerous lost opportunities of which American are deprived. You will find in that Jake Sullivan speech grand and plentiful references to the revival of the American middle class, bipartisan unity, and other such elevated thoughts. Read the speech and then ask: What is this nation’s leadership doing in the cause of a competitive America?
Are we redoubling efforts to educate our people or are we, diabolically, shutting down access—see the University of West Virginia—to liberal arts education? What are we doing to produce the doctors and scientists we need to find our way in the 21st century? What are we doing to bring the dispossessed into the economy, address drug addiction, and all our other debilitating social ills? What are we doing—seriously doing, I mean—to repair and build out the infrastructure we need? Nothing or not enough are my answers.
The Chinese challenge could and should be understood as a chance to reinvent America by way of a Great Mobilization, cap “G,” cap “M,” of New Deal magnitude. There is, of course, no more than lip service to any such idea. We are instead sacrificing this historic opportunity to the military-industrial complex, the greed of corporations, and the ambitions of political leaders who lack all principle or any thought for the commonweal.
Maybe you think, as I do, that none of the Biden officials flying off to Beijing is serious about the true work to be done in our relations with China, or is competent to do it. We must consider, bitterly, that they are perfectly representative of our circumstances as defined by a leadership that is more or less across the board unserious and incompetent to meet the great challenges of our time—China merely one among many.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has held “candid” talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta this weekend, as the world’s two largest economies seek to stabilize troubled relations over trade and militarization of the Pacific.
During the two days of talks on Saturday and Sunday, Wang brought up the issue of Taiwan – a self-governing, democratic island that China claims as its own territory – as a “red line that cannot be crossed in Sino-US relations”. The US has vowed to defend Taiwan against possible Chinese aggression.
“The United States noted the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” said the White House in a statement, adding that the two officials “committed to maintain this strategic channel of communication and to pursue additional high-level engagement”.
A Chinese government statement on the Malta meeting largely echoed the US version, saying “the two sides conducted candid, substantive and constructive strategic communication”.
China has accused the US of weaponizing tech and trade issues under the guise of national security while Washington has warned Beijing against its military ambitions in Taiwan and the Pacific. The US has forged security alliances in the Pacific to counter growing Chinese influence.
Sullivan’s meeting with Wang was the latest in a series of high-level discussions between US and Chinese officials that could lay the groundwork for a meeting of US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.
Sullivan last met Wang in the Austrian capital Vienna in May.
Why I Gave up on the American Dream
Huawei is full of surprises
Huawei has made an interesting discovery about the Kirin 9000s processor after a recent software update. Previously, this processor was thought to have an 8-core architecture, but it turns out it actually has 12 cores. This revelation has attracted significant attention, as it brings a substantial boost in processing power and performance for devices using this chip. It’s always exciting when technology surprises us with hidden capabilities, and this discovery could have a positive impact on the performance
of devices powered by the Kirin 9000s processor.
Huawei has released HarmonyOS 4.0.0.116 for its Mate 60 series and Mate X5 smartphones. These devices are powered by the Kirin
9000s chipset, which is a new processor developed by Huawei. This update brings the latest features and improvements to these smartphones, enhancing their performance and user experience. It’s always a good sign when manufacturers continue to support their devices with software updates, ensuring that users can enjoy the latest innovations and enhancements.
There seems to be a discrepancy in the reported core count of the Kirin 9000s chipset in the Huawei Mate 60 series. Initially, phone information apps and Geekbench indicated that the chip had an 8-core architecture. However, after a recent software update, these sources are now reporting that the Mate 60 is running a 12-core chip. This is indeed an interesting development, and it could indicate that Huawei has unlocked additional cores in the chipset
through a software update, potentially improving its performance. It’s a noteworthy change, and users may experience enhanced performance as a result of this update.
in the meanwhile … see Huawei new Cloud Service
I gave up on the American Dream|And you should too
My mother did. I moved out at 18 because of physical abuse (beatings). I didn’t talk to her for about 10 years. She called me one day and asked if she could see me. I said no. She started crying and begged me to see her. I agreed. We met and talked for awhile. She told me how sorry she was for the way she treated me growing up. She apologized and begged my forgiveness. She told me of the abuse she went thought from both her parents. Like burning her tongue with a red hot knife for lying. And the beatings that left her bloody. By the time the evening was over, we were both crying and hugging. After that we had a more loving relationship until she passed away.
Years ago, pre-Covid, I went on holiday to Hong Kong with my mother and aunt. I was a teenager at that time, so most of the time, I was roped in to become my mother and aunt’s ‘pack mule’ when we weren’t sightseeing, and they were shopping like no tomorrow.
So one time, we passed by a shop that was selling jewellery and my aunt wanted to take a look. One of the shop attendants take one look at us and spoke to her colleague in Cantonese.
Now, I live in Singapore, and me, my aunt and my mother are all Singaporean Chinese. As such, we are bilingual and Cantonese happened to be one of the languages we can speak and understand.
Essentially, the shop attendant is telling her colleague to not serve us or just show us the cheapest items they got as ‘we can’t afford it anyway’.
Oh geez, I wish phones have the video function at that time, as the dressing down my aunt and mother gave to that shop attendant is GOLD! Not to mention her very impressive imitation of a fish out of the water!
6 Major Culture Shocks After Returning to the US From Europe
The world knows better. China will absolutely take over the entire chip making process, production, business and industry. The U.S. can make some chips for its military equipment. At 1000 times the cost of a Chinese equivalent to fool themselves that they are in charge if that is what they want. That is their right.
But there is no way China will stop till they make their own stuffs. And they will get it done faster, better and cheaper. They always do. The U.S. export control will end the U.S. involvement in 99.9% of chip business losing them trillions of dollars over time. It is too bad. It is not what China wants it is what China is forced into it by the U.S. excesses and U.S. obnoxious and despicable behaviour.
I grew up in a poor family from a small, poor village in Vietnam.
I don’t know why, but to me when I was a small kid, a globe being displayed on the top shelf of a glass cabinet in the living room was the symbol of wealth. A family had that thing, they were rich – that was my silly logic. I liked the globe a lot, but I knew I couldn’t ask my parents for one – because we’re poor.
In my neighborhood, there was a decent family. The husband was a math teacher. He liked me, because every time when I had a tough math homework, I would bring it to him, asked for his guidance, listened and tried to solve it. I also played chess with him. I liked him, because, well, he was nice but also because he had a globe.
One day, after finishing a chess match with the math teacher, I stood there in front of their cabinet, looked up to the globe with my widening eyes. I guessed that he noticed it. He opened the cabinet, took the globe down, then he showed me and asked, “Do you know which country is The land of the Rising sun? Do you know why they said The empire on which the sun never sets?”. I shook my head. Then he told me stories about countries, and the world. All of my dreams were condensed into two things: traveling the world and owning a globe.
I grew up. My dream about traveling around the world is still an on-going dream. But I do own a globe now. A very traditional old school style globe. I don’t display it in a cabinet. I have it on my dining table.
Every day, during dinner, we play a game called Where am I now?. Each of us will take turn to pick a country, then others will ask questions, ‘Are you in Asia?’; ‘You border the ocean?’;… and try to guess which country is it.
Why I Left the USA (Again)
The consumerism here in the USA is ridiculous. And people’s self worth is all determined by what they buy and their social media reels. So sick of it.
In mt early 20’s I had a cute little expensive sports car that I had worked multiple jobs to afford. Some idiot rear ended me and did a lot of damage to it and it should probably have been totalled. Insurance adjuster comes to my house, reeking of alcohol, and decides it can be saved.
Trying to take advantage of my youth & sex, he tells me that he can help me out by referring me to his buddy’s shop to get all the work done. RED flag #1 And that I needn’t worry about getting ripped off. RED flag #2. And that his friend would gladly send a flat bed to my house that afternoon, free of charge, to pick it up. RED flag #3. He gives me his friend’s business card
He then proceeds to hand me a pre-written “letter” from my insurance company, that he has personally signed, that authorizes any & all work to be done. RED flag #4. I read it and realize that nowhere in the paperwork does it state that I have to use his friend. Actually, it is an authorization for me to go anywhere.
I sign it, get my copy and quickly usher him out, implying that I need to call his friend and get this in the works. He leaves smiling. I call my buddy who owns a high end exotic & sports car repair shop and read him the letter. He confirms what I thought and arranges to have a flat bed sent ASAP.
My buddy does the accident repairs, plus a few other custom things that I wanted done. Ends up costing 40% more that a brand new version of my car. Pissed off insurance company contacts me to find out how this all went down. I explained about the adjuster being drunk, pushing his friend’s business, the pre-written letter he showed up with etc.
Ends up the adjuster was getting kick backs from his “friend” and gets fired. Plus the insurance company sued him & won a judgement requiring him to pay the full cost of my car’s repair. And I got my car back in better shape than when I bought it.
I was in Michigan with a bunch of Canadian students on a SERVE trip. Our host, the pastor of a church, complained that when he retired all he would have was “‘Obama Care, like the health insurance you Canadians hate so much.”
I said,”Whaaaaat?”
He insisted we Canadians hate our health care system with its delays and problems. He ‘knew this fact’ from TV and articles he’d read.
I told him, “There’s not a single politician I’ve heard of in Canada who would publicly say he would get rid of our health care and replace it with an American system. Not one. He or she would never be re-elected.”
“Whaaat?” he asked me. “How about heart attack victims who never got treated in time and died? I read about a guy…”
“You have to start reading Canadian newspapers and watching Canadian news channels. We love our health care system. Sure, there are delays, but usually serious cases are treated quickly and families are not bankrupt when they have a medical emergency. You can thank Kiefer Sutherland’s grandfather…”
“Who?”
“Tommy Douglas, grandfather of Kiefer Sutherland, the actor. First Canadian leader to initiate universal health care in his Province.”
“His what?”
Finding True America: Why Americans have left the U.S.
Putin cares about the security of Russia preserving the Russian motherland and it’s glory
He cares about RUSSIA and he will choose his future based on what is best for Russia
Putin has no ideology
He is a crisp man of logic and reasoning
Here is why he won’t trust the West again:-
They are LIARS – They promised no eastward expansion of NATO, They made promises with Minsk 2 – eventually they lie and lie and lie some more.
They are steeped in Ideology – They are insane. The leaders are. They are steeped in ideology equivalent to Hitlers. They have caused death and devastation of millions of people in the name of human rights and freedom.
They HATE RUSSIA – The West hates Russia. It’s as simple as that. They want Russia balkanized. They want Russia broken up and swindled of all it’s resources by the Evil Coalition of the West
Putin may do business with the West in the future but he will never trust them or come on their side
Now let’s see the track record of the West :-
They nuked Japan and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people
They destroyed Vietnam, a war where they had no direct causation
They destroyed Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and Syria all for some demented ideology and flooded the world with migrants plus Al Qaeda plus ISIS
They haven’t helped a single country fruitfully towards Independence and Strength
They throttled Japan single handedly in the Plaza accords
China is where the USSR should have been and that rankles Putin
Yet he is enough of a realist to understand that China is a giant and the only major economic bulwark to the USA today
So it’s a mutually beneficial partnership
China has no interests in Europe and Russia has little interest in the South China Sea
They have territorial peace now
Russia has the Military Capabilities and the Energy Resources & Raw Materials and China has the High Intellect People and the Manufacturing and the Economy
Together these two nations form a strong bulwark against Western Sanctions & Bullying & Restrictions
They have the largest pliable land area on earth now and they can route bulk of their energy and trade by land and entirely bypass blockades
Plus China has never let down it’s friends at crucial times nor caused color revolution in any of it’s friendly countries nor interfered with any such country
It’s always been TRADE, TRADE and TRADE
It’s why Putin and Xi are teaming up
It’s the only way to form a bulkwark against Western Hegemony
Get Iran into the picture and maybe Saudi Arabia and that would be a very powerful alliance
Ranch Steak
2023 09 25 15 24
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 to 2 pounds round steak
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon Ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
Heat oil in large heavy, nonstick skillet.
Fry onions until limp. Remove from pan and set aside.
Cut meat into serving size pieces. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Dust lightly with flour and beat it into meat with edge of a saucer. Brown on both sides, adding more oil if needed.
Return onion to pan with meat. Add beef broth, cover and simmer for 50 to 60 minutes or until meat is very, very tender, adding a little more broth if needed.
Combine Ranch dressing mix and sour cream. Remove meat to platter.
Stir sour cream mixture into meat juices. Heat through until bubbly. Pour over meat and serve.
This is not true. Since poverty was wiped out in 2020, 800 million Chinese entered into the middle class, that’s 2.5 times US entire population. Half of rural population moved to cities for better education and healthcare. China has 4 times the US population, but less homelessness. Wealth is concentrated in 1% of population in the US, trillionaires like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, and the middle class is shrinking, many without healthcare. “Middle class” as defined by 96% literacy rate in China, people with basic needs of food and shelter, healthcare and old age benefits.
Russia Retaliates for Sevastopol; Hits Kremenchug Airport Where Missiles were launched
Just days ago, Ukraine fired either French-supplied “SCALP” or British-supplied “Storm-Shadow” missiles at the Russian Black Sea Fleet HEadquearters in Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia, killing what we are now told was 34 high-ranking Russian officers. Now, Russia has retaliated.
The Kremenchug Airport, launch site for the cruise missile attack upon Sevastopol, has been hit by a significant Russian missile barrage.
NO AIR-RAID WARNING WAS SOUNDED PRIOR TO THE ATTACK, with locals suggesting Russia utilized low-observable, KH-50 cruise missiles for the retaliation attack.
Both SCALP and STORM SHADOW missiles, which were stored at the Kremenchug airport, along with the Ukrainian SU-24M/MR bomber aircraft which fired those missiles, have been destroyed.
A substantial number of fire-fighters and ambulances have been dispatched to the airport. We are told there are “significant casualties among pilots, ground crews and even NATO personnel, including Polish troops, who were involved in coordinating the operations and maintaining the missiles.
After my first year at university, I ended up working for McDonald’s, where I made a number of friends and several lovers, and even met my first wife.
I generally worked the night shift. The night shift is quite a lot different from day shift: the average age of the workers is slightly higher (at least when I was there, this was decades ago), and the workload is different.
During night shift:
We spent a huge amount of time cleaning. We deep-cleaned the lobby, dismantled and cleaned the shake machine, and deep-cleaned cooking trays and food prep utensils. (We didn’t have an industrial dishwasher, this all happened by hand.)
We cleaned the grills, a rather tedious process involving lots of scraping with a dedicated tool that was basically an aluminum handle with a stainless steel blade bolted to the end, another tool with a wire mesh pad on the end, and a special cleaning solvent that would take the hair out of your nose.
We changed deep-fryer oil.
We received the supply truck.
We snuck off to make out in the walk-in freezer. Yes, I’m serious. I had several rather delightful makeout sessions with a lovely woman whose name I sadly no longer remember.
We played with the helium tanks that the cDonald’s kept on hand for birthday parties. I will never forget working the back drive-through booth one evening when my friend Henry filled a garbage bag with helium, walked into the booth, and pushed it out the window. We all just kind of stood there watching it float away…including the customers in the drive-through lane.
We played practical jokes on day shift, like stacking the trays the hamburger buns were delivered in all the way to the ceiling, so you actually had to take the entire stack outside to remove the top tray.
At closing, we’d disassemble and clean the various bits of equipment before we locked up. Then we’d go across the street to the 24-hour Perkin’s, which back then was called Perkin’s Bar and Grill (this was before they re-branded as “Perkin’s Family Restaurants”). We called the place “Perkin’s Brawl and Grill” because it would usually be the scene of at least one or two knock-down-drag-out bar fights a month.
When I was in seventh grade, my father bought me a hat for Christmas. It was some kind of furry alpine hat with flair and it even had a feather in the top. Man! Oh man! was I ridiculed by everyone in the class for wearing it. My other classmates all wore orange hunting caps, but I had my Alpine masterpiece…
2023 10 02 13 32
I got to be the brunt of many a joke because of this hat.
Anyways, one day, one of the loudest boys who made fun of my hat, took me aside and told me in private that he liked my hat and thought that it was really cool. Well… good for him. I appreciate it.
If you are a parent, please take the time and give some thought to what your children might think of your fashion choices…
I own the building in the picture, 6–8 Commerical Street, Castleford, West Yorkshire, England.
(picture omitted)
My financial advisory company occupies the two two floors. The electricity Supplier Opus Energy tried billing me for a standard charge to supply the non-existent number 10 Commercial Street, so I wrote to them as below –
Dear Sirs
Account Number ********** Invoice Number ***************
Your bill (scan attached) has nothing to do with me.
1. I own 6-8 Commercial Street, not number 10. There is no number 10. It does not exist.
2. I have never signed a contract with you for any premises whatsoever.
3. The meter to which this refers has a label attached to it saying ‘Dead’. You say that the bill is for my ‘connection to the network. I am not connected to the network via your company but via British Gas. I have 2 meters with British Gas, one for the 1st floor and 1 for the 2nd (top) floor. The baker and hairdresser on the ground floor have their own meters. I refuse point blank to pay you for a dead meter that supplies absolutely nothing.
4. The reading on your meter – 94717kwh – is the same as it was on the day I bought the building, 1 March 2017.
5. The ‘balance before this bill’ of £33.08 plus VAT should presumably be directed to the previous owners if anyone, though they did not own 10 Commercial Street either. If they were paying you in error then that is their problem. I do not intend to make the same mistake.
In view of the above:
1. Please cancel this invoice and ensure no more are sent. You are not supplying me with electricity; British Gas is.
2. Please arrange for your engineers to safely remove your meter without affecting my supply or that of my tenants.
3. I reserve the right to charge you £1 per day rent for the wall space your meter is taking up backdated to the date I acquired the property.
This argument went on for two years! They eventually threatened to take me to court. I said “Okay, get on with it. I’ll see you in court.” At that point somebody with a brain in his head (their legal department I’m guessing) looked at it and dropped the demand. Case closed.
Mexican Pepper Steak
Mexican Style Pepper Steak superJumbo
Ingredients
6 steaks
1 cup red, ripe Anaheim chiles or 3 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into thin strips
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
Instructions
Choose your favorite steak.
Grill the steaks al carbon and serve them topped with the chiles or bell peppers.
To prepare the topping, heat butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Add garlic and chiles or peppers and sauté them until they are soft.
If you are using bell peppers, add black pepper, to taste.
China permanently stops exporting two important minerals for manufacturing electronic chips
In a significant development, China has made the decision to permanently cease the export of two crucial minerals essential for the production of electronic chips. This decision is expected to have far-reaching implications for the global electronics industry.
The move comes as China aims to prioritize its domestic technology sector and strengthen its position in the global market. With the halt in the export of these minerals, manufacturers of electronic chips worldwide will face challenges in sourcing the necessary materials, potentially leading to supply chain disruptions and increased costs.
As electronic chips are vital components in various devices, including smartphones, computers, and automotive electronics, this decision by China is likely to impact the availability and affordability of these products globally. It may also prompt countries and companies to explore alternative sources or develop new technologies to mitigate the impact.
The implications of China’s decision on the electronics industry are significant, and stakeholders will need to adapt to this new landscape. Stay tuned for further updates on how this development unfolds and its potential ramifications for the global technology sector.
I’m convinced we are going to see a politician die on TV — and not because of an assassination.
Neither of our two likely presidential candidates can run up a flight of stairs without great risk. Even back in January 2021, the top three candidates (Trump, Biden, and Sanders) would have each been the oldest president ever at the start of their terms.
Mitch McConnell’s eyes are rolling back like a ref is giving him a standing 8 count against Mike Tyson. His publicized medical report said there were no signs of any problem. But politicians decide if medical reports are released. For context, Trump’s doctor also said he was in “extraordinary” good health.
I’ve also stopped buying into Biden’s speech impediment excuse. Watch a few of his younger speeches — there’s a huge difference. Notably, he was also one of the youngest senators in history at age 30. At the time, he said, “The seniority system has more drawbacks than merits”.
God bless Biden for hanging in there but even as a left-leaning moderate, I can’t watch anymore. Per a NYT piece, even his aides are extremely nervous each day, worried he’ll fall or make another serious gaffe.
Politicians have never been a bastion for youth —but a revival is in order. I watched the Republican debates and saw a number of bright candidates, who’d be a much better alternative to Trump. But we are boxed in as usual. Even my parents, who are die-hard conservatives, have lost their enthusiasm.
It’s either a fascist narcissistic billionaire or a democrat who forgets which country he is in.
What a mess.
So what gives?
Why is it so hard to find a fresh 40-something with bold, good ideas —and more cognitive shelf life?
For starters, there’s an incentive problem. The US political system favors experience — but not experience in drafting policy or leading. It favors experience in building allies and raising money.
You might wonder: Why doesn’t a wealthy donor support a younger politician? Because political donors aren’t altruistic. They want people with power, who can use that power to benefit them.
We have abysmal representation for young voters— especially when it comes to issues like climate change. I see countless older politicians advocating for the use of coal when it’s one of the most dangerous sources of energy on a per KWH basis. We have embarrassing, recurring viral moments of politicians completely misunderstanding technology and social media.
But incumbent politicians are devilishly difficult to dethrone, particularly after they’ve been in office for a few terms. They have name recognition and access to enormous campaign financing. They are on TV constantly, dropping zingers on their opponents. And —there are no term limits.
There’s a reason you rarely see 80-year-olds running for their first term.
The only means of entry seems to be through extreme partisanship, which is why you see so many young and over-the-top politicians.
We are to blame
Voters often prefer candidates who are closest to themselves in age. Moreover, we tend to vote for demographics that align with us, and voter turnout remains terrible for young people.
It isn’t just politicians getting older. The average age of incoming S&P 500 CEOs has increased by 14 years over the previous decade. Two-thirds of the nation’s wealth is held by Americans 55 and older, despite them being less than one-third of the population.
The age in Congress dropped slightly after the midterms, with an average age of 58. The average age in the Senate is 64. Meanwhile, the average American is only 38.
We live in a technical age, with sophisticated and evolving artificial intelligence sweeping across every sector. Meanwhile, 72-year-old Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is still using a flip phone.
Many of these leaders were born in the 1940s and were shaped by an era that has blinded them to massive problems at our doorstep. How can you care about climate change if you aren’t concerned about what 2050 looks like?
Biden looks and seems much older than he did only a few years ago. Trump lost his marbles long before he hit his 70s.
And age is causing problems in the actual procedures of governance. Senator Diane Feinstein (90) has well-documented health problems issues that have held up passing legislation.
The lack of a filtration system
There are no real physical demands of the job. This isn’t construction in equatorial heat. If you have a sound mind, and sometimes, even if you don’t, you can stay in office.
Perhaps the job is too easy. Most of us have stressful work that involves tons of multitasking and recurring deadlines we lose sleep over. We look forward to retiring. If people are eager to leave office in a coffin, maybe we haven’t asked enough of them. CEOs rarely last work past decline as they do in politics. They are typically shown the door or leave when they hear the creak of it being opened.
And is that how you’d want to be remembered as a politician? As a cantankerous curmudgeon who refuses to leave?
Sure, there is an appeal to age and experience. Wisdom isn’t inherited. But only to an extent. We need younger blood in office now more than ever.
And so to the people voting, on both sides of the aisle, and both sides of the hill, consider giving fresh voices a chance. Being president has morphed from being a popularity contest —to being a contest of which politician you hate the least. It doesn’t have to be this way.
And more broadly, this is a reminder that just because things are done a certain way, doesn’t mean they should always be done that way. Keep an open mind and good heavens, exercise your right to vote.
HOW I SEE THE USA AS A EUROPEAN (after 6 months)
“Cultural shocks? Differences between Europe and the USA? Regrets, struggles, positive surprises? In this video, I want to share with you some of my impressions of the United States after spending 6 months traveling the country. So, do you reckon I should come back?”
America loves wars. And it wages wars on enemies and allies alike.
Recent events this year indicate that the US is waging a hybrid war on India. It started with a BBC documentary that recycled Hindu-Muslim conflicts from 20+ years ago; then, allegations against Indian billionaire Adani by an American company; followed by calls for better democracy by Soros; and now the latest bombshell accusations from Canada against the Indian government regarding the murder of Sikh separatists.
By the way, the word “allies” is just a euphemism for vassals. Modern wars are hybrid in nature — they include hot wars, economic wars, tech wars, trade wars, propaganda wars, spy wars, political wars and so on. The US wages hybrid wars on its vassals to make sure that the vassals don’t collude or start making independent decisions. Thus, the US spies on its European allies, stages soft coups in allied countries, wrecks their economies when they get too strong, and even forces them into proxy wars. This is standard procedure, and India is now getting a taste of it. With Soros’ involvement, there might even be a color revolution.
To counteract America’s hybrid war, India should re-embrace China! Yes, bring back Huawei 5G, TikTok, Alibaba etc., and the US will back off quickly. That’s smart, “Chanakya” geopolitics.
In this article, we will discuss one of the powerful modern tools for regime change — use of NGOs by the US foreign policy establishment. Then we will discuss why India is under attack and how India can fight back to protect its sovereignty and focus on rapid growth.
How the Attacks are Unfolding
2023 started with a BBC documentary on Modi that rekindled the controversies about the Hindu-Muslim riots 20 years ago. (I thought the documentary was pretty good; and the Indian government should not have banned it). The US and its Western allies are like a geopolitical Godfather and his consigliere.
The BBC documentary was not a coincidence as evidenced by the Hindenburg report that came a couple of days later in a one-two punch fashion. The allegations of fraud have eviscerated $100 billion of (corrupt?) Indian oligarch Gautam Adani’s wealth. He quickly fell from the 2nd wealthiest man to #25 in the Bloomberg Index
.
Then came George Soros, the king of color revolutions, who linked these two incidents, attacked Modi, and called for a “democratic revival” in India. This was the final confirmation of America’s war on India.
The latest attack is from Canada, a member of the Anglo-American Empire and Five Eyes. Don’t mistake me — it’s very likely that the Indian government in some level was involved in the shooting of the Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The media is now reporting that there are incriminating recordings of Indian diplomats in Canada. Not surprised at all.
The whole thing was an entrapment. Just like how the US ambassador in Iraq told Saddam Hussein that if he invaded Kuwait, the US wouldn’t do anything.
In India’s case, it’s likely that someone from the CIA (or even the Mossad) gave the green light for the assassination, while other groups collected the evidences.
(Note that India’s intelligence group, R&AW — which is like the Indian CIA — has carried out such assassinations of Khalistan or Islamist terrorists in Pakistan before. However, to carry out such acts in a NATO/G7 country — killing a Canadian citizen in Canada — is quite brazen and probably a massive geopolitical blunder by India).
What is America’s goal? Either regime change or forcing Modi government to change some of its domestic and foreign policies.
Another sign of the escalating hostility is the sudden change in the tone of the Western media. Look what the influential journal Economist says
:
🔹“India is invariably weaker than its leaders publicly proclaim”
🔹“If the investigation confirms Indian involvement in this crime, it is time for a tougher line.”
🔹“On its own turf, India has muzzled the press, cowed the courts and persecuted minorities”
Understanding America’s Overt Regime-Change Ops
A quick history lesson here is important. During the Cold War, the CIA blatantly assassinated many leaders of sovereign nations all over the world to “stop the spread of communism.” The real reason was, of course, to extend American hegemony globally and ensure cheap supplies of raw materials as well as open markets for American products.
However, by the 1970s, a lot of allies started to complain, since murdering political leaders was a bit too much even for the co-conspirators and obedient puppets of imperialism. Thus, in the 1980s, the US polished its regime change operations and came up with the idea of revolutions through propaganda and soft power. This was the result of people like George Soros and a myriad of organizations like NED and NDI.
Thus, the US shifted many of its operations from covert to overt. Rather than knife-and-dagger, try to overthrow leaders openly!
In 1991, Allen Weinstein, the founder of NED, admitted
that, “ A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”
The goal was to spend billions of dollars in “NGOs” in developing countries, especially those that are resistant to American influence. In an Orwellian fashion, these “non-governmental” organizations are funded and directed by the US government! The term “NGO” just means that they are free from the governments of the countries where the NGOs are located.
These NGOs create a vast array of groups including those that promote “journalism,” “free speech,” “women’s rights,” “environmentalism” etc. Plus, to give some legitimacy, they also include groups that allegedly help fight poverty or illiteracy. However, all their actions are focused on promoting pro-American sentiments and Western corporate interests. The leaders of these groups can make a lot of money and enjoy celebrity status. They can attend workshops in Europe, get to testify before the US Congress, write articles for the NY Times, appear on CNN etc. If they are really good, like that North Korean defector Yeonmi Park, they can make $10,000 a speech, making up absurd stories.
You can see these US/EU-funded fake NGO groups now, in 2023, in Myanmar, Thailand, Belarus, Kazakhstan etc. For more than two decades, they were busy in Hong Kong, until they were completely dismantled by China two years ago. The separatist movement in the Xinjiang-Uyghur region is also fueled by the same people. Other places that were recent victims of US-led protests include Venezuela, Syria, Libya, Cuba and even the so-called Arab Spring.
In Ukraine, they started in the early 1990s and lasted until 2014, when the Nazi-led and US-orchestrated Maidan Coup overthrew a democratically elected leader. Since then, the Ukrainian NGO groups have shifted their energy to 100% anti-Russian propaganda.
George Soros, the General of Color Revolutions
While the US government funds groups like NED and NDI to create chaos in not-so-subservient nations around the world, these groups still had direct links to the US government, which was embarrassing at times. Thus, the US deep state picked George Soros as its henchman or general. He was a Jewish immigrant from Hungary, had strong anti-Russian and anti-communist feelings, and was the perfect pick.
And Soros has been extraordinarily successful. In an interview, he boasted
, “After the fall of the Soviet Empire, I picked up the pieces and created the Soros Empire.”
With Wall Street’s help, the CIA made him a billionaire. With insider information, Soros made his first billion by shorting the British Pound in 1992. Then, subsequently, he made more billions during the Asian financial crisis, Russian crisis, and Mexican crisis during the late 1990s. Get rich by destroying others!
He started his grassroots movements in the late 1980s — first in Hungary, then expanded to Poland and even mainland China.
Soros played a significant role in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Soon after that, China banned him and his organizations. A couple of years ago, Putin finally banned Soros; and now even his native place Hungary is trying to ban him!
Soros and his groups play the long game. For example, his “Open Society” group brags about how it has spent billions of dollars in Ukraine since the 1990s.
A characteristic of his movement is the use of colors — like:
“Rose Revolution” in Georgia in 2003
“Orange Revolution” in Ukraine in 2004
“Tulip Revolution” in Kyrgyzstan in 2005
In each of the above cases, when a pro-Russia leader won the election, Soros turned on his useful idiots and provocateurs, who started large protests. Then, the US/EU governments would cry crocodile tears about human rights, freedom, and democracy. US/UK media operating in those countries would carry out intense propaganda campaigns about corruption. Then the governments were forced to hold another election, in which the pro-US leader won by a small margin.
The interesting and obvious phenomenon is that when a pro-US government is established, Soros quietly shuts down all his “grassroots” organizations. All those protesters and influencers quietly vanish in thin air. Thus, the people are left with the same corrupt system but with different or worse rulers.
Take Ukraine, for example.
In 2004, Ukraine became slightly pro-US after the first color revolution;
In 2014, Ukraine became a total American puppet.
What did the Ukrainian people gain? Nothing but poverty and destruction.
In 2021, before the war started, the average pension in Ukraine was just $150 a month. Ukraine was still the poorest country in Europe. Worse, the Ukrainians got a comedian president, rule by the same oligarchy, Nazism, civil war, Russian invasion, millions of people turned into refugees, and utter destruction of the entire country.
While the US has groups like the National Endowment of Democracy (NED), people like Soros are even more effective. Why? It gives US deep state “plausible deniability” — “Hey, he’s just an individual, not the US government.”
For Soros, he enjoys immense power — to manipulate millions of people and overthrow governments. Of course, the new puppets installed in these countries will let Soros and his financial buddies in New York and London make enormous amount of money through various “reforms” such as privatization. So, for example, Soros’ hedge fund would be able to buy a natural gas field, a bank or an airline for pennies on the dollar. The investment money belongs to other oligarchs and financial institutions in the US/Europe, and Soros gets a juicy commission. This strategy of OPM — Other People’s Money — is more discrete and smarter than Soros himself becoming the owner of a new bank or an airline — then, even the average useful idiot of the color revolution will be able to connect the dots.
For example, after the fall of the USSR, vampires like Soros descended upon Moscow, handpicked Russian oligarchs and politicians- based on their loyalty to US/EU, and looted hundreds of billions of dollars.
What India Needs to Realize
Indian leaders should understand the complexity of this network. Indian FM Jaishankar only attacked Soros personally, which gives the wrong impression. George Soros is part of the US/EU Deep State — a group of elites from the foreign policy establishment, Wall Street, military, spy agencies, and the media.
Similarly, Canada is not a tiny country acting alone. Whatever Trudeau says or does is a reflection of the collective decisions made by the Five Eyes — US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Of course, the US is the boss.
Also, in order to circumvent pesky constitutional limits, the Five Eyes do dirty work on each other’s countries. So, British agencies spy on certain Americans; and the CIA/NSA spy on diplomats in Canada, and so on.
Canada is a key designated member of the Five Eyes to attract separatists from all over the world — Sikh separatists from India, Uyghur and Hong Kong separatists from China, Islamists from Syria and so on. These groups are geopolitical pawns for the Western countries to harass developing nations, rivals, or simply any country not being “cooperative” — a.k.a. obedient.
Thus, it’s not just BBC or Hindenburg or Soros or Trudeau attacking India. The entire Western establishment is targeting India.
And the attacks are not going to stop, unless the Modi government gives into the US demands. And what does the US want? I am not sure, but here are my guesses:
Stop buying weapons from Russia. Instead, buy US weapons.
Allow US military bases in India.
Stop helping the expansion of BRICS, especially with the addition of Saudi Arabia and Iran. (This threatens the petrodollar hegemony).
Be more anti-China. (Recently, the Indian government has been trying to downplay the tensions with China. When there were some border conflicts, it was the British media that leaked the news. Also, India-China trade has been booming. It looks like the Modi government realizes its mistake of over-hyping anti-China sentiments).
Allow privatization of India’s financial sector — let US giants buy shares in Indian banks, insurance companies, stock market exchange etc.
America is a Brutal Empire
Many Indians have no clue about the real nature of the U.S. partly because of immigration and partly because of the abysmal job of the Indian mainstream media. For example, how many Indians know that the U.S. blew up the Nord Stream pipeline? It’s pure terrorism, like a 9/11 on Germany, America’s “ally.”
Most people also don’t know that the U.S. has armed and funded Al Qaeda since the fall of the Soviet Union — as seen in Chechnya, Kosovo etc. ISIS was also a U.S. creation in the proxy war against Syria. And the U.S. has been funding, recruiting and training Nazis in Ukraine for a decade; U.S. Pentagon also established bio-weapon labs in Ukraine and quickly ordered them to be destroyed when Russia invaded. There are many more such examples of atrocities committed by the USA.
Whatever it takes to maintain the American primacy.
Now, think for a moment what the U.S. would do to create more tensions between India and China. For example, could the U.S. have rigged the GPS system of Indian soldiers in Ladakh in 2020?
to remove President Dilma Rousseff, when she wasn’t acting like an obedient puppet.
Consider that India’s 5G is all 100% foreign and from US and its close puppet allies. Plus, Indian leaders all probably use Gmail, Outlook etc., which are all spy tools for US deep state. Thus, all forms of communications — phone calls, text messages, emails — in India are under American surveillance.
The spying on Indian diplomats in Canada should wake up Indians to one more gruesome fact: The US is also spying on key business and political elites in India through 5G, Google Pay, WhatsApp, e-commerce (Amazon & Flipkart), Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Amazon AWS cloud, undersea fiber optic cables and so on. Go back and read Edward Snowden’s revelations from a decade ago. Even hard drives and semiconductor chips have back-doors for the NSA to spy. Don’t be fooled by the Indian CEO faces in some US hi-tech companies.
Finally, imagine if the US sanctions India. It will ruin the Indian economy. Imagine if Google Pay, Whatsapp, Amazon, Flipkart etc. get turned off at the snap of a finger! Thus, India becomes very vulnerable when it depends on US technology so much.
The current American chutzpah in attacking India can only be explained by India’s distancing itself from China. Without any powerful ally other than the US, India is hapless. India must rectify this immediately with a shot across the bow: Seek detente with China! It will absolutely blow the American mind.
Bring back TikTok and watch Facebook and Google cry! Bring back Alibaba or AliExpress and watch Amazon shake in its boots! Approve Huawei 5G for India’s networks and watch the CIA weep about how it can’t spy on Indian elites! Let China build some massive infrastructure projects in India — from clean coal power plants and solar farms to airports and highways. Create joint ventures with Chinese firms to create massive manufacturing ecosystems.
India’s strategic ambiguity will get it better deals from China (including technology transfer in some areas) and force the U.S. to curtail its imperialist actions.
If you’re worried about the border disputes, see my blog
on some ideas on resolving them.
Conclusion
India is at a critical inflection point. The next two decades will determine India’s 21st century. Thus, it’s a geopolitical imperative that India navigate this exigent period carefully and wisely. This is the time to focus on growth and prosperity, while making sovereign decisions. India’s focus and goal should be:
Maintaining Strategic ambiguity while balancing China and the West
Stopping any nefarious regime change operations… and
Resisting being a geopolitical pawn of the American Empire
Huawei Stealing American Technology? Ha ha… We’re ‘Stealing’ America’s Technology of Tomorrow!
The spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a statement emphasizing that Huawei, a Chinese company, is excellent but faces prejudice due to its Chinese origin.
Meanwhile, in the United States, there is a department called the “China Task Force,” led by Mike Gallagher, which aims to tarnish China’s image and suppress Chinese technology companies.
Even before the US government released an official report on Huawei’s Mate60 smartphone, which featured the Kirin 9000S chip developed domestically, Mike Gallagher called for a halt to all technology exports to Huawei and SMIC.
He also accused Huawei of relying on US technology to produce the Kirin 9000S chip.
These accusations from US politicians are not new and have been ongoing since May 2018, with claims of national security concerns and technology theft by Chinese companies like Huawei.
In response to these allegations, Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, stated that if Huawei had stolen US technology, it would mean stealing technology that the US hasn’t even developed yet.
He suggested that the US may be attempting to suppress Huawei because it is ahead in technological advancements.
It is an omen of what social collapse and government breakdown looks like. I’ve been to many countries, but unlike any of these places, there were no traffic rules properly enforced in Cairo. Some streets are absolute wrecks of apocalyptic chaos. Honking everywhere, shattering your ears. Swerving cars with cracked windows. Smog pouring out exhaust pipes. I saw a woman pulling a donkey and cart on a congested highway surrounded by cars. Many cars break down on roads.
The pyramids were overrated and very difficult to appreciate due to the madness around them. This included all sorts of merchants or vehicle operators screaming at you or fighting each other. They are also fringed by what is essentially the slum construction site of Giza with donkey faeces and piles of litter everywhere. Many buildings look like they are crumbling and I heard they appear like this on purpose because painting them technically means they are complete and thus available for taxation. So the population has seemingly agreed to not paint their buildings.
Much of Cairo is falling apart. The old city really is about to roll into a coffin. The sheer scale of people flowing down the small streets was extraordinary. At some points it was almost impossible to move without pushing through crowds. The dining options were not great either. Some places stunk of raw meat or looked unbelievably unsanitary. I saw a man sitting in a cafe looking nonplussed as he seemed to be covered in exhaust smog with his ears being obliterated by honking.
Your instincts are screaming at you everywhere. The pictures online are nothing like experiencing it in reality. The best place is your hotel, away from the chaos. I’ve seen inside perhaps an average home and it seemed well organised and clean, but the outside world is unmitigated lunacy.
The tourist industry is also probably the most aggressive in the world. Many of those working within it actively scam tourists as a major aspect of business dealings. This is ingrained in almost every aspect of it from tour guides to hotels. You cannot trust the prices they quote and they also demand tips quite hawkishly. Cafe owners will mislead you and taxi or tour drivers will take you to so-called museums which are gift shops where owners sit you down to try and sell you stuff. Even in Luxor, ticket sellers demanded tips.
The tourist industry is also very dystopic and along Egypt’s east coast, it is basically an infinite line of resorts for many miles. All of them are heavily guarded by the military and police because one incident against a tourist bankrupts the industry for months or over a year. The military is necessary here, but seeing machine guns and road blocks everywhere puts you on high alert, being afraid that some crazy person is going to burst into the resort and rampage around or it could be one of the guards. Of course, this doesn’t happen and terrible events are very rare, but the thought remains.
Finally the sun. It is so powerful and without sunglasses you will be squinting everywhere. The sun is very intense. This can’t be helped geographically, but with all the traffic congestion it makes the country exceptionally broiling.
I hope the country can fix itself. There are good people who I encountered, but they are very far away from the tourist industry.
Immigrants have started to Leave Canada in 2023 – WHY?
True 100%. We decided to move out of Canada due to lack of access to health care and influence of gender ideology in schools.
It was not what I said but really what I did. I brought a pen.
It may seem like a small thing, but I truly think it made a huge impact. When I went to my interview I was handed a packet of documents that outlined the responsibilities of the position I was hoping for. I immediately brought out a pen and as we went over each bullet point I made notes. For instance things that she hoped the hire would take on complete responsibility for, I put a star next to. If she mentioned a software or computer program the company used, especially if I was not familiar with it, I wrote it down to look up later. On things I wanted clarification on, I marked down the new information I was given. I was called in for a second interview.
I brought my pen again, and I brought all that information from the packet. I had researched the program that was mentioned during the first interview. I referred to points made previously. At one point I even brought out a small notebook to jot another note down. I was called in for the final interview.
Not going to lie, I did not need my pen here, nor did I get the opportunity to use it with the VP of HR who was conducting the last phase. She told me she wanted to hire me right then, and if it were not for assessment needed for my department it would be a done deal. I went outside and took my assessment. I did horrible. I am not the best at math, and I had not used fractional math for years so I am sure I got every question wrong. The rest of it I aced. Since math took up over half, I was sure I was out. I cried all the way home, even though they told me strait up it was not pass/fail so much ad they wanted to see where I needed training.
I was called two days later and offered the job. I am sure it was because I came prepared with a pen and showed how serious I was taking things. Take a pen with you.
To retire Yoon Seok-yeol weightlifting, which works evil in the entire area of puppet The struggle of all walks of life is expanding day by day.
On the 16th, Yoon Seok-yeol Station was retired from all areas, including Seoul The 3rd Pan-National Congress of the withdrawal of the Yoon Seok-yeol Regime was held.
November, we held the “People’s Gun Contest” and announced the withdrawal of the Yoon Seok-yeol regime. I’m going to have a total struggle for it.”I decided.
Yoon Seok-yeol, chairman of the Democratic Ro-gun, is not only in Seoul, but also in all over the world.On this day, he said that he was raising the eccentricity of the regime’s departure. We have been informed of the situation of the rally that is taking place in the entire area of the puppet.
He continued, ” If we don’t struggle together against the Yoon Seok-yeol regime, we don’t fight together.” We can only be forced to continue to work for a long time.”Once again the protest of the people who brought down the Park Geun-hye regime Let’s organize. We in this position will take the lead, and the people will step out together..”, “In November, the Yoon Seok-yeol regime with the people’s guns stopped your runaway.> , <There’s no place for you guys to live.>Let’s declare it unabashedly.”It was a great place to stay.
On the other hand, the participants of the 3rd Pan-National Convention for the withdrawal of the Yoon Seok-yeol Regime on this day “Japan Radioactive Polluted Water Marine Dumping” held in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Korea in the afternoon! Yoon Seok joined the 4th Pan-National Convention and condemned the defeat of the Yeomanry I raised my voice even more.
In order to stop the runaway of the Yoon Seok-yeol regime, the speakers said, ” Everyone from all walks of life We must unite as one.”, “One day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day Of course, I ask you to be responsible for non-walnut Japan’s nuclear pollutant second world war. We must order the impeachment of Yoon Seok-yeol to the National Assembly in the name of the people..”He strongly insisted.
“Only COWARDS fear World War 3!” Sean Penn on giving more money to Ukraine
Ugh.
Minute Steak Parmesan
2023 09 25 15 19
Ingredients
5 minute steaks
1 beaten egg
1 tablespoon water
Dash of pepper
1/4 cup soda cracker crumbs
1 (8 ounce) can pizza sauce
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
Dip steaks in combined egg, water and pepper. Coat with mixture of crumbs and half of the cheese.
Brown in hot oil; drain on absorbent paper.
Arrange in baking dish; cover with pizza sauce, and top with remaining cheese.
We worked for a LOT of apartments. A lease renewal clean was done by the apartment complex once a year for the tenants lease renewal. The apartment community paid for the clean so it was free for the resident and we did not move furniture as part of the deal.
Clean an apartment for a Spanish couple. SHE complained (in Spanish) the entire time that I was doing a horrible job and I needed to move everything. Me, the VERY white Gringo-American just kept cleaning and asking the husband, in English, if everything was alright. HE explained, in English it was fine and kept telling his wife, in Spanish, that it was fine amd to stop complaining. SlThis went on for the entire clean.
Getting done, packed up and heading out, I looked at him and in English asked if they needed anything more. Nope was his reply.
I turned to her amd in SPANISH said, “Thank you for the job, please open your windows a crack to help the carpets dry. It should take about 2–3 hours. Have a good day.”
My mother in law did something similar to me. She was a terrible cook and her two grown daughters asked if they could all come to our house for Mother’s Day one year. I knocked myself out fixing dinner for 14 people but ordered 2 pecan pies and a cake from an expensive bakery since I didn’t have time to make desserts too.
Everyone arrived and complimented the table but my sister-in-law pulled me aside and told me their mother had insisted on taking them to a buffet at a restaurant an hour before the time I had set for our dinner.
Only my husband and our kids ate. Everyone else pushed the food around embarrassedly. I was furious and finally couldn’t hold back. I looked at my mother in law and said I wished she hadn’t taken them out to eat when she knew I was cooking for them.
Instead of apologizing she giggled and said “My bad.” I’ve never forgotten that smug look on that witch’s face.
The next time anyone asked me to cook for a holiday I politely said no, we were having a small feast with just the four of us and I stuck with it.
People who pull that kind of stunt are emotionally stunted and don’t deserve anything from us except contempt.
USA on the Brink of Chaos: How Americans Are Living the End of the American Dream
In case you were unaware about how things are going in the United States today.
There was a 1979 movie starring Peter Falk titled “The In-laws”, and for some strange reason I just remembered this movie. I tried to download the torrent, but it is taking forever. It is just a goofy and funny comedy, but for some reason… it came to mind.
The premise of this film is really simple: if two families are about to enjoy the union of their children in a marriage, is it not likely that the in-laws involved can come to depend and help each other out in times of need? Most of us would probably say no, or want to know the extent of the help. However, when Vincent J. Ricardo (Peter Falk) asks Dr. Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) to assist him in retrieving something from a safe in Ricardo’s office, Kornpett is willing (if somewhat suspiciously) to do it.
The reason that Kornpett is suspicious is he is not quite certain what to make of Ricardo. They only met at Kornpett’s house the night before, for a dinner party introducing the families of the bride (Kornpett’s) and groom (Ricardo’s) to each other. Ricardo acted…well oddly. He told tales of his business travels in Central America, including how in one country babies are being carried off by huge bats that are protected by the Guacamole Act of 1917. Kornpett hears this with a blank face, although his eyes do bug out a little in disbelief. Later, when Ricardo gets testy with his son over a comment about the former not being home enough, Kornpett can’t believe the near rage that Ricardo demonstrates at the table. So his suspicions about his future in-law seem well based.
Shortly, after being chased and nearly killed by two men who are after the items that Kornpett picked up, the suspicions seem confirmed. Ricardo explains to him, over pea soup in a restaurant, that he actually is not a successful salesman but a C.I.A. operative (a photo in Ricardo’s office confirms this: it is of President Kennedy, and the autograph refers to the Bay of Pigs Invasion). He is in the middle of a critically important mission in Latin America dealing with international finance and a conspiracy against the richest nations. Kornpett hears him out, and is upset to hear that there is more material that Ricardo hid in Kornpett’s home the night before. He wants no part of it, and leaves to go home – only to find the police there. He flees, and does evade capture – at the cost of having his car repainted in a way he never would have wanted it to look.
Soon Kornpett is forced to join forces with Ricardo, and enters the deadly serious but (here) quite farcical world of international espionage and intrigue. At the end of the road is the ringleader of the conspiracy, General Garcia (Richard Libertini) who has a special little friend that makes Al Pacino’s little friend in SCARFACE lethal but sensible in comparison.
THE IN-LAWS is funny. Arkin with his tight-ass repressive personality works well against the free-wheeling, anything goes Falk. Libertini appears only in the films last twenty minutes, but he does equally nicely as the ultimate in screw-ball dictators. Well supported by a cast including Nancy Dussault, Arlene Golonka, Penny Peyser, Michael Lembeck, and Ed Begley Jr. the film is just a laugh fest until the happy ending. As mentioned elsewhere in these comments Arkin and Falk should have made several films together. They have only done one other movie together since THE IN-LAWS. Pity.
‘If you lose this baby, you could always have another one’. The comment above was made by the doctor who my husband and I had a consultation with. I was roughly 10 weeks pregnant with our first child. I was in my mid 30’s while hubby was in his early 40’s.
An elderly man in his fifties, he barely looked at us, ignored me, said hello to my husband, looked at my file fleetingly, a file with tests and scans which showed I had fibroids, looked directly at my husband and said to him, ‘She will be fine’. I was furious that this man was clearly sexist, ignoring me as if I was invisible. I responded by asking what that meant, what was the cause of the bleeding as he had not told us at this point about the fibroids. ‘You do not need to bother about it. That is why we are here’. This statement was addressed again to my husband who he was still looking at while still ignoring my presence.
At this point, something in me snapped and I snapped at him, ‘Look at me and tell me what is causing this bleeding. It is my body and I need the details’. He then slowly turned to look at me as if seeing me for the first time and emotionlessly said, ‘you have fibroids. They are not massive and do not pose a danger to your baby’. ‘But I am bleeding. Is that not dangerous? ‘ I worriedly asked.
That was when he looked at the file and without lifting his head, retorted ,Not really. However, if you lose this baby, you could always have another one ’. I almost cussed the insensitive idiot out but my husband who knew I was fuming at this point, got up and ushered me out of the office while the doctor was still talking about ante natal visits at their hospital. We had heard enough. I went on to another hospital where I met the amazing doctor who delivered my daughter without complications and went on to have a son after that.
She is now a healthy, happy 10 year old who is pure joy and always a little mama to her 7 year old brother.
London Broil
London Broil is a favorite recipe from the Iowa Beef Industry Council.
delish london broil horizontal 1546553273
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 (1 1/4 to 1 3/4 pound) beef flank steak
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Combine vegetable oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper for marinade.
Place steak in plastic bag and pour marinade over it.
Close bag securely and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
Pour off and reserve marinade.
Place steak on grill and broil at moderate temperature for 5 minutes.
Turn, brush with marinade and broil 5 minutes or to desired doneness (rare or medium).
To carve, slice diagonally across grain in thin strips.
10 STOIC LESSONS TO HANDLE DISRESEPECT (MUST WATCH) | STOICISM
Learn something important.
ASML
Here is the reason why ASML CEO said a few years ago that if ASML gave China the blueprint for the EUV machine China would not be able to make it.
This is because all of the core technologies is NOT owned by ASML. ASML is the system integrator that was allowed by the US government to participate in the US government project to create an EUV light source.
This project pulled together many US national labs including Lawrence Livermore Labs, Sandia Nation Lab, Brookhaven National Lab, Lawrence Berkely National Lab, IBM, Intel, AMD, etc. And it took over 10 years to create this laser light source.
This was considered a national security project so Japanese companies like Nikon and Canon were not allowed to join.
The difficulty of this light source and the engineering problems that had to be overcome was as difficult as the first atomic bomb.
So I have to admit that I was wrong in my speculation about using a Rube Goldberg device to generate EUV. They didn’t have a choice. This was the best possible source at the time. It took literally the US, Germany, and some other nation’s best experts to create this light source.
The other parts are relatively easy in comparison.
The problem is that China has also created this light source and using another method so it isn’t so Rube Goldberg machine. Not that it was simple to make. But it is more reliable and you don’t have to worry about residue removal that will mess up your mirrors and the inside of the your machine which has to remain at clean room levels.
The Answer is yes. Yes indeed the U.S. and the west has been propagating that only western liberal democracy works. Nothing else. Either be a liberal democracy or die says the US. That is of course simply not true at all. And the real truth is simply that the West wanted to install liberal democracy so that the west can easily manipulate it and install a government that surrender its sovereignty to the west in order to manipulate and steal it’s resources to enrich the former colonials.
Now that China proved beyond reasonable doubts and against all odds that it could grow phenomenally and economically dwarfed every other nation, this fear and worry the U.S. mightily. Failure to contain China means failure to perpetuate this lie!
This is indeed worrisome for the west since they the west in general has essentially collapsed in a huge pile of debts. And law and order disintegrates through the western world. With high inflation and a looming recession with countless millions of homeless people living in the streets while their government finance and orchestrate wars. Based on printing money without basis and rampant money creation.
China U.S. out innovating the U.S., it U.S. out thinking the U.S., out growing the U.S. and out influencing the U.S. growing even its military and wealth and out manipulating the U.S. government everywhere on earth. The U.S. wants to stop the truth from being revealed to the world.
It’s Not Just You: American Jobs Didn’t Used To Be This Terrible
My Dad’s Union IBEW is the reason we went from lower middle class to solid middle class in 10 years. Unions are one of the most important checks for capitalism.
Government promise something. Give it a few years and it happens.
Some bigger projects like Mao wanting to borrow some water from the south took a bit longer.
OTOH governments like the UK one I lived under… they promise shit, then they say haha you sucker you actually believed me? Fuck you!
Gordon Brown’s QC literally said that election pledges and promises were not subject to legitimate expectation.
Here? Here in Hong Kong? The government construction projects shaved 20 minutes off my commute.
25 years ago they shaved an hour off the commute for the villagers by widening the dirt track that lead to my village and paving it. Then offering a bus franchise nearby so it was connected with the world.
Most people my age would either be listening to music, watching some TV show/movie in their smartphones/tablets. A very few would be reading a newspaper or book.
I was one of them. I always had music on. I can’t read/watch anything because of motion sickness while traveling on road.
The older generation- they do nothing. They don’t use phones, they don’t talk, don’t read, nothing. They just sit and look around.
I wanted to try this and coincidentally my earphones broke down.
Now it has been over six months. I travel in the metro for 3 hours everyday and do nothing, just look around. This has helped me so much. I observe people, their behaviours. I look around to see what’s actually happening.
It may sound weird but there’s something weirdly enjoyable about it. It feels like living life the old school way. This has helped me reduce the screen time as well.
I have even started recognising the regular commuters. I am sure they don’t recognise me.
Unbreakable (2000) | *First Time Watching* | Movie Reaction | Asia and BJ
Still one of the top 10 best comic films of all time. Its really the first one that showed what the comic genre could do when taken seriously.
This is one of my top, and most favorite movies. It is so meaningful to me. Seriously people. I can relate to this movie. So very much!
When my daughter was about 9 or 10 years old, whenever she got a scolding from my wife, I would annoy her by doing a chicken dance and do so in a way that ONLY she sees it.
“Mommy! Dad is making fun of me!” she would always complain.
When my wife turned around, I would stop and act normal and go on with my stuff. This went on for a while till it became a game of HER trying to catch me in the act and prove it to her mother.
She would learn to very quickly take out her mobile phone and try to snap a picture of me doing it. I would tease her by dancing until the moment the phone was almost pointing towards me, then I would stop and behave normally.
“I will get you someday,” she said.
“No, you won’t! I am too fast for you,” I replied.
On a particular day, I again did the ridiculous chicken dance, she was rolling her eyes and her hands move slowly towards her phone. I continued dancing and mentally calculating how fast she could key in the pass-code and turn on the camera mode.
Something didn’t feel right, her action was slower than usual, by the time she pointed the camera at me, I had stopped. But she started laughing loudly.
“Guess what daddy? THIS isn’t my phone. I switched the phone cover with mum. MY PHONE is behind you, just above the cupboard, ON VIDEO TAKING MODE.”
Ouch! A full two minutes of myself being ridiculous caught on video!
NOT genius smart, NOT intellectual smart, perhaps a little STREET SMART!
The gay and bisexual men are not as common in China as they are in the West. It is difficult for MPOX to become an epidemic in China.
From June 2 to June 30, 2023, 106 new confirmed cases of monkeypox were reported in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), including 48 cases reported in Guangdong Province, 45 cases reported in Beijing City, 8 cases reported in Jiangsu Province, 2 cases reported in Hubei Province, 2 cases reported in Shandong Province, and 1 case reported in Zhejiang Province. There were no severe cases or deaths.
The epidemic presents the following characteristics:
One is that the vast majority of cases are mainly transmitted through male homosexual sexual contact.
Secondly, the risk of transmission through other forms of contact is low, and the vast majority of close contacts, except for sexual contact, have not experienced infection.
The third is that most cases were found during medical treatment, while a few cases were found through follow-up screening of close contacts.
The fourth is that the vast majority of cases have typical clinical manifestations, mainly symptoms such as fever, herpes, and lymph node enlargement, with no severe or fatal cases.
An American Reacts to Why America Sucks at Everything – THIS ONE HURT
This is very good. Really.
It is a MUCH watch. This is the real truth about the United States.
“I’m so glad you made this video because my conservative mom watched it and now she’s starting to wake up. I got screwed over by the “in network out of network” bullshit recently. My employer changed our healthcare coverage, and I had to find a new neurologist and start the “prior authorization “ process for a particular drug that I take all over again”
The sheer power of Xi Jingping is the fact that QG has been buried away and cut off in a matter of seconds and China and it’s foreign affairs moves without a single blip
Thats power
Had Xi been weak, a rival faction would have lobbied immediately within the CPC but the fact that China has simply chosen to forget QG and not talk about him shows the power of Xi Jingping
China and CPC knows that today in the hostile atmosphere with the West — Only XJP is the right man to lead China
Hu JINTAO would have kowtowed in seconds
Li Keiqang would have kowtowed in maybe a month
Bo Xilai would have kowtowed in nanoseconds
Xis power is at its peak now
Had QG defected to US and been declared a mole for CIA then yes , Xi would have been finished politically
Yet QG is in China and safe and under the Partys safe hands 😁
My father-in-law did. He was moving some tools around in his garage and suddenly had a strong urge to move one of the cars, a Subaru, out into the driveway. He tried to ignore this feeling, because the car was not in his way and it seemed like a needless waste of time. But he couldn’t shake it, so he went and got his car keys and backed the car out of the garage.
Just as he had done so and was getting out of the car, a speeding Tesla flashed past him a couple of feet away and crashed into the open garage, then burst into flames. If he’d stayed in the garage working, he would most likely have been killed.
The resulting fire destroyed the entire garage and his other car. It was 9 months before he and his wife were able to move back into the house. But he was alive, and they still had their Subaru. There was no good explanation for the “little voice in his head” that told him he needed to get himself and his car out of the garage.
By the way, the Tesla driver, who was pulled out of the burning car by a neighbor, was uninjured but was convicted of DUI and had to pay restitution and perform community service.
He was suffering from pancreatic cancer at the time, but from that moment his desire to oversee the restoration of the house gave him a new determination in life. It was a very busy and stressful time, during which he and his wife lived in rental housing. At last they were able to move back into the house which had been perfectly restored to its original state, including a new garage of course, new roof, new heating & a/c, new paint and flooring, and every item inside the house had been removed, professionally cleaned, and replaced. It was beautiful. However, his condition declined rapidly after that and he passed away in August 2018, not quite a year after the fire.
The US Plan to KILL Second Citizenship
“As a Venezuelan born in the 90s (post oil-golden era for that country), I know first hand what he means when he says it’s important to have options. I saw how my mother and her siblings were unable to get their second citizenship by descent from Trinidad and Tobago, once things got terribly bad in my country. My grandparents had both US residency and Caribbean citizenship, but because things were going so well in Venezuela in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, they didn’t work on securing and passing along those other options; and their children never thought things would get this bad. It only took less than 30 years to see things turn around for the worst.”
For many years now, the USA has been classified as a “flawed democracy”. Events such as the Capitol Hill riots – intended to disrupt the inauguration of your elected President – did not help. A significant proportion of Americans themselves believed that the last election was rigged and “stolen” from them. So how can the USA be said to be the “very embodiment of democracy”? This strikes me as an extremely grandiose and indefensible claim.
As for freedom, the USA comprises 5% of the world population but holds about 20% of the world’s prisoners. With so many Americans literally locked up behind bars, how can the USA claim to be a “free” country? Furthermore your 13th amendment legalises the enslavement of prisoners – and the USA heavily exploits these slaves/prisoners in ways that your own civil liberty lawyers have described as an abuse of fundamental human rights. (Eg US prisoners can be forced into hazardous jobs – such as fighting wildfires – for as little as zero to fifty cents per hour of work). Errrr, seriously, you think that the US is the embodiment of freedom?
What hope does the USA bring to the world? In the past 40 years, the USA has dropped more bombs, fired more missiles and killed more people in other countries, than any other country in the world. In the past 40 years, the USA has killed people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Grenada, Bosnia, Somalia and Uganda. Because of US sanctions, the world was afraid to send even vaccines, masks and ventilators to Iran during the covid–19 pandemic. This is how the US brings death and destruction to the world.
Please stop watching your Hollywood movies where the USA is always the one to save the world from invasions by aliens from outer space. Open your eyes and look at the real world. At least look at your own country. Your people are dying from drug overdose at the highest rate in the world. Your people are getting shot to death at the highest rate among all developed countries. Your policemen are shooting citizens for minor offences. Your cities are littered with homeless people living in tents. Your national literacy rate is collapsing together with your average life expectancy. Medical bills are the biggest cause of personal bankruptcies in the USA; your infrastructure is crumbling and aged water pipes are leaking lead into the drinking water for your public schools. To lead your country, you are choosing between a criminal octagenarian and a senile otagenarian. Your income inequality is vast, with the top 1% controlling more wealth than the middle 60% – let’s not even discuss the sufferrings of your bottom 20%.
The US is the embodiment of … HOPE, you say?! Hopelessness is more like it. The USA is no example for the world – unless we are talking of negative examples.
I used to work for a major mail order company; as tech staff I could be sent out anywhere in the country, for which the company would pre-pay for accommodation and pay 40 pence per mile for fuel costs (which was tight-arsed of them, as other companies paid 65ppm).
They also supposedly insured us for using our private cars this way.
People who regularly went out for long trips had a company card to pay for hotels with.
One day they decide they are cutting the fuel payment to 25ppm, and back-dating it SIX months, and also cancelling the company cards – people would have to pay with their own money and claim it back.
This latter move caught a few out who were already out on trips – one guy was unable to pay his bill at a London conference centre, and the staff there were threatening to call the Police.
We also discovered at the same time, that the company HADN’T been paying for the extra car insurance policy, so we were all using our cars effectively with no insurance.
Next day, everyone parked 1/2 mile away and walked into work. “Sorry, can’t go on that job, no car” was the story from every member of the technical staff.
Every senior manager was made to turn over his company car for us to drive around. Even the CEO’s chauffeured Bentley was pressed into service, but it still wasn’t enough; by the end of the first week the taxi bill was running into the high hundreds, and everyone was refusing overnight jobs on the basis they couldn’t afford to pay for the hotel.
It took a MONTH for the suits to cave, and god only knows how much it cost them, in money, customer relations, and the lost goodwill of the tech staff.
Why the American Dream is a Myth
“It’s expensive to be poor” Just…. damn man!
Mediterranean Steak and Pasta with Tomato-Olive Sauce
Whole-wheat pasta is served with beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks and a tomato and olive sauce. This one will please the adults and the kids in your family.
2023 09 25 15 07
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
8 ounces uncooked whole grain fettuccine
4 beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (about 4 ounces each)
1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives*
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/4 cup finely shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
Cook fettuccine according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place beef steaks in skillet; cook for 11 to 13 minutes for medium rare (145 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. (Do not overcook.) Remove from skillet; keep warm.
Combine pasta sauce and oregano in same skillet; heat until hot. Return steaks to skillet; turn to coat with sauce.
Place steaks on fettuccine; spoon sauce over all.
Sprinkle steaks with cheese, allowing cheese to melt. Sprinkle with parsley.
Notes
* You may substitute 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives for 1 (26 ounce) pasta sauce plus 1/4 cup chopped olives.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she was “upset” when China’s Huawei Technologies released a new phone with an advanced chip during her visit to the country last month but noted that the US has no evidence China can make these components “at scale,” Bloomberg reported. She also said the US is trying to use every single tool at its disposal to deny the Chinese the ability to advance their technology in ways that can hurt the US.
Raimondo’s words are nothing new, but saying that China’s technological advancement “can hurt the US” is a stupid and ridiculous line of thinking. Many American elites refuse to accept that the Chinese have broken through the technological blockade. Radical lawmakers are calling for efforts to strangle Huawei and SMIC, which is not only hegemonic but also an evil way of thinking.
Whether it is ASML, the Dutch manufacturer of lithography machines, or the American chip giants, they do not believe that decoupling can stop China’s progress in semiconductor technology. They believe that China can find alternative methods and its own technological path. However, a large number of American elites are non-technical and refuse to face reality, blindly believing that Huawei’s breakthrough is because the US export controls on technology to China are “still too loose.”
It should be said that Huawei’s breakthrough has to a certain extent undermined the credibility of the US’ technological blockade against China and shattered the collective confidence of the West in this regard. Washington’s current investigation into the origin of Huawei’s chips and attempts to tighten the noose on the blockade against China will only isolate itself.
Because Washington clearly lost the first round, it has to bet even bigger and risk losing the Chinese market for many Western semiconductor companies. Imagine the result of continuing technological restrictions if Huawei makes further breakthroughs – can ASML’s lithography machines still enjoy their current glory? Where will the US-controlled chip production factories find their next market? Just look at the panic faced by Japanese and German automotive giants today in the face of the rise of Chinese electric vehicles. If the current semiconductor leaders are cut off from the Chinese market, who can guarantee that their future situation will be better?
Huawei’s Kirin 9000s is a breakthrough that it was forced to make by the US sanctions. If the US exerts even greater pressure, it will turn this breakthrough into a systemic breach, promoting a highly integrated and strong production chain in the Chinese semiconductor industry. Chips produced in China will also be much cheaper than those produced in the US.
If the US semiconductor industry loses the Chinese market, it will not be as lucky as Google and Facebook. The latter have software advantages that some Chinese internet companies do not have, including the application ecosystem they established by being the first movers. However, semiconductors are hardware, and when Chinese companies like Huawei can provide a cheaper alternative, the situation will be completely different.
A crucial crossroads has been reached. If the US forces China to achieve complete independence in the semiconductor industry, it will have no further cards to play in blocking China’s progress. Moreover, the technological landscape of the world will undergo a rewrite. China now possesses the capital, and we will continue to progress no matter what. It is now the US’ turn to make a choice: continue gambling or change course and resume cooperation?
Expat’s THAI WIFE disappears and so did his fortune $$. Then it got WORSE!
One of the “head shakers” about China is the ever-present music of Kenny G on elevators, in supermarkets, in malls, and in restaurants. I do like slow easy jazz, and back in the 1980’s. But I, like most Americans, have moved WAYYYY past all that.
We moved past mullets. We moved past Miami Vice. We moved on from large curly hair, and pastels. We moved on from Windows DOS.
But, you know, China never experienced those things, and have no idea how out of date all this is. And us expats, really, have no heart to admonish our friends in China to stop being so retro. We, well, we just let it all ride.
Just like no one ever says “What’s uppppppppppp!” any longer.
First of all, Fentanyl is used for treating severe pain especially for cancer patients and is deem a medicine product which many countries import mainly from China. Likewise it is your own country laws and regulations to prevent abuse instead of blaming China or Mexico or another other countries. If illegal Fentanyl managed to slip into your country, blame your border guards and custom officer for not doing the job or your judges for not imposing severe penalties.
Just like a simple soap for washing and bathing and you decided to abuse it by eating them as food and then you blame China other then yourself.
I suggest in that case better that your country be pure communist like Mao time where China totally shut off from the world where no exports and no imports can take place.
Would that scenerio be a better option for your country . That covers all your citizens from visiting any countries so that they will not be arrested or detained or even your organs been harvested for scientific research.
The moral of my answer is don’t blame others, other than yourself if you decided your own will to do stupid things.
We don’t actually need them. This is from the US military college. A war with China will wipe 3600 US soldiers out or 50,000 a week. That means ONE brigade a day.
Yes. My brother died last September without signing his will (they had it filled out but he didn’t sign it).
I have helped his widow out with cleaning the house.
Because he was intestate, I’m technically entitled to 25% of his inheritance under my state law as our parents are dead, but he was married (75/25 split by law).
He literally told me he wanted everything to go to his wife, who I would consider my sister now.
I’m not screwing a 60 year old lady out of her house.
Yeah, as a working class guy, I could REALLY use 100k+ dollars if I fought it, but I will absolutely NOT destroy his dream of his wife having a nice little home.
Them home cooked meals, talk and sharing memories a couple times every few months are worth more to me than money.
Maybe I’m an idiot, but I love him and her too much to go by “the law”.
Signing that form for her lawyer was about the easiest moral choice I’ve ever had to take.
CN bans ASML products,Lays off 86 million employees; Photolithography machine turned into scrap metal
For china to make a competitive smartphone to Apple with old generation technology is truly remarkable, I know why U.S and Europe is scared of china…they are simply better in technology.
Russia IS a democracy. Merely because they keep electing Putin and the UR Party all the time or because the election rules favor the ruling party doesn’t disturb the definition
Ultimately Putin IS elected by the people of Russia
The Government under Putin has helped Russia rise from a torn apart and destroyed country in 1991 to a very strong, united force in 2023
So the People are happy and the People vote for the Government and President
That’s Democracy to me
If the US don’t like it, they can go f*** themselves
Next China
Chinese society is 5000 years old
The Chinese mindset is entirely based on the premise that EVERY CHINESE has a role to play in Society and if every Chinese plays their role properly, China will flourish
Under the Emperors, this role was defined by birth and family
Under today’s CPC, this role is defined by ABILITY, ABILITY and more ABILITY
That very mindset is completely against Democracy which claims everyone from a Pauper to a Beggar to a Technology Geek to a Clerk to a Oil Baron have the same rights in choosing a Government
The result is before you
India and China became Independent in 1947 and 1949 – at the same time virtually
Yet China is advanced in EVERY SINGLE FACET over India
China stands before the US as such a feared opponent that the US spends every waking moment on trying to countering China with propaganda and lies and failing
Proof that the CPC did more for China than any Democracy in the history of the modern world
Why would they need this US loser version of democracy
The Chinese version of Governance:-
The Worthy keep voting in the Grassroots
The Unworthy do what they are told to do
Only Ability and Merit matters
One Party, different opinions
Gays, Transgenders put in their proper place which is a ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell environment’
That alone is enough for China to grow
They don’t need the horrors of becoming a Cesspit democracy
Oh SH*T, What Russia and China are doing will change everything, and the west wants WAR
What Russia, China and North Korea are doing will change everything. The massive economic expansion is pushing the West to do some very desperate things. This week Russia and North Korea signed remarkable new trade agreements. It came on the same week as China and Russia launched a new cross border energy hub. Do you see what’s happening?
URGENT: RUSSIA **HALTS** ALL EXPORT OF GASOLINE AND DIESEL FUEL
This morning, Thursday, September 21, Russia announced they are “temporarily” halting the export of all Gasoline and Diesel Fuel.
Russia is the world’s single biggest seaborne exporter of diesel-type fuel.
Their decision will have an immediate impact on fuel costs and availability. Expect skyrocketing prices, especially for Diesel, and subsequent skyrocketing prices on EVERY product that moves by truck.
It is not known at this hour, exactly how long this “temporary” halt will last.
Confession of the Day
There’s always someone who ended up in a worse situation with a bigger loss. Every time I hear those stories, it makes me feel a little better that it “could have been worse.” Hope this helps someone realize how bad it can get before you ultimately end in the same place, with the same loss, and the same need for help. It’s also therapeutic to write it down, I’ve found.
In 2012 I had $20k to my name. Turned that into $100k in 5 years buying American Airlines and chip stocks. Took most of the $100k and bought a house to run as an Airbnb. Made about $100k off that in 2 years and sold it when they banned airbnbs. Bought my own house and sold it a year later for another $100k profit. Invested that $300k in the market around the Covid drop and ended 2020 with about $600k. Then I started with options. The ability to make huge gains so quickly was so intoxicating and addictive. $20k in a day. $50k. $100k. I was crushing it and starting to dream of my new rich life. I broke the $1mil threshold and ended the day with $1.1m.
The next day the market sucked and I knew it. But I had such an itch I made a play anyway. I was down $250k by noon because I broke all my own rules just to avoid “taking a loss.” I finally accepted the loss but tried to chase it by jumping to the other side. That cost me an additional $100k loss. Within 2 days I made it back to within spitting distance of being a millionaire once again, but spoiler alert, I’d never see that number again.
Down $200k, another $300k. I finally had to go to my dad for a bailout. He refueled me and I lost it all again within a month. Another bailout, another loss. I was so depressed and suicidal at this point. It was like a bad dream that I couldn’t wake up from. I will forgo buying a drink with a meal because I don’t want to spend the extra $3 but I had no problem loosing $600k in a single day if it meant I could get the dopamine rush.
Then comes the shame of having to admit what happened. The relapses. The broken future. The never ending despair.
I made right moves far more times than wrong but my losses were always much larger than my gains because I couldn’t accept a loss and didn’t want to further risk a gain. In the end, the money didn’t actually mean anything and it was never about the money (not really anyway) it was always about the high of submitting the order and watching the dollars come or go.
In the end, if it wasn’t for anti depressants and my daughter, I wouldn’t be here today. Looking back it’s impossible to imagine how something could have completely high jacked my brain in such a way but it really did.
There is recovery. There is help. It does work. I only wish it didn’t take losing $2mil before I realized it and finally sought help and treatment.
Don’t make my mistake if waiting and find help now. Also, give the “unhappy millionaire” episode of Happiness Lab podcast a listen, changed my life.
Giving up the American Dream is hard.
giving up the American Dream is Hard. I made a few videos: why I gave up the American Dream, the real cost of the American dream and how to ditch the American Dream. Folks have resonated with it, hated it and everything in between.
But let’s be honest, it’s hard to give up the American dream, especially as a Black woman.
Hustle Culture is not for Black women, but the pursuit of the American dream is tied directly to it.
Let’s talk about grieving the American Dream. content included: giving up the American Dream, I gave up the American Dream, Giving up the American Dream is hard, Hustle Culture is not for Black women, Healing for Black women, I gave up Black excellence, hustle culture is toxic, the real price of the American Dream, Black Women deserve good things, Black woman wage gap, I gave up the American Dream, why I gave up on the American Dream, grieving the American Dream, Black women and the American Dream,
I work as a manager in a Charity Shop/thrift Store and I look having a good search through donations for that special item!
One day, I had some items donated and a handbag. In that handbag in a secret pocket was a Genuine Cartier watch.
I was in absolute awe and was so excited!! Thing is, I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to sell it without the donors consent. (I knew it was genuine as it’s myself who deals with all the name branded luxury items)
I chased the lady through town and told her what I’d found. She broke down in tears telling me they were her late mums things and the watch was lost for many years. Her mum had dementia and her father was only just starting to clear through her things.
So anyway, she asked me to stay with her whilst she rang her father to tell him the news (he also cried which started me off crying!)
After the ordeal of the day I genuinely felt pretty chuffed with myself. I could’ve easily sold it online for a 3figure sum – but something just didn’t feel right.
A few days later that same gentleman came in and thanked me personally. He told me he’d brought it his wife for an anniversary present. I asked how it came to being in an everyday handbag and he explained that she went to get it cleaned (it was boxed) but her dementia was in it’s early stages and was eventually forgotten about. The kind gentleman had a funeral collection in the Charities name and even made a £200 donation to me personally, which I put to the charity.
So yea, that’s my amazing find
Oprah has no idea there’s a Cost of Living Crisis
Why everything feels so expensive right now.
“The basic price of commodities has tripled in my experience from 2019. The same 1 bedroom apartment I rented in Dallas for 700 dollars in 2017 is 1400 dollars in 2023. The house that would cost 180k in suburban DFW just 5 years ago costs 400k. The cost of home and car insurance is over the roof. All this in Dallas which is still very cheap compared to many other big cities in the USA.”
Beijing says it uncovered US National Security Agency operatives behind cyberattack on Chinese university
Article HERE Second Date’ software used in Northwestern Polytechnical University attack is potent cyber espionage tool developed by US agency, says state media After global tracing, Chinese team reportedly found ‘thousands of network devices’ across the country still infected by the spyware and its derivatives
China says it has identified US National Security Agency operatives while investigating a recent cyberattack on Northwestern Polytechnical University, as its top spying and anti-espionage agency vowed on Thursday to root out all “digital spies”. The revelation came just three days after Beijing revealed more details about John Shing-wan Leung, a Hong Kong permanent resident and US citizen the Chinese Ministry of State Security said posed as a philanthropist while snooping for information. He was jailed for life for espionage in May, two years after his arrest in China.
State-run CCTV said on Thursday that China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre, with help from Chinese antivirus company 360 Total Security, had discovered the identity of the National Security Agency (NSA) operative or operatives – the broadcaster did not specify how many or name them – after it extracted “multiple samples” of a spyware called “Second Date”.
It said the spyware was used in the cyberattack on Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shaanxi province.
‘Stop stealing’: China condemns US over Trojan horse cyberattacks on state-funded university The report said technical analysis showed that Second Date was a cyber-espionage weapon developed by the NSA to sniff out and hijack network traffic and insert malicious codes.
Quoting senior engineer at the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre Du Zhenhua, it said software was a potent cyberespionage tool that enabled attackers to take control of target network devices and the data traffic flowing through them, and use them as a “forward base” for the next stage of attacks. It could run on various operating systems and was compatible with multiple architectures.
Du was quoted as saying the spyware was usually used in conjunction with various network device vulnerability attack tools from the NSA’s Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO). The TAO, now renamed Computer Network Operations, is a cyberwarfare intelligence-gathering unit.
China’s foreign ministry says the international community should be highly vigilant about CIA activities as a new report alleges a years-long global cyberattack campaign. Photo: AFP The report said that after global tracing, the Chinese team found “thousands of network devices” across the country were still infected by the spyware and its derivatives. It said they also found springboard servers remotely controlled by the NSA in Germany, Japan, South Korea, India and Taiwan.
I had an abusive boyfriend. He was great at first, of course. As soon as he was confident of me, he stalked me, tried to run me off the road many times, pointed a gun at my head a few times, cut my phone lines, beat me, fired a gun into my floor pretending to commit suicide (he would never have done that, he only wanted to scare me), destroyed my things, and more. He was military (so was I) and I had no protection. I was able to get him out of my apartment with the help of his best friend and because he was put in a mental hospital for a few weeks. But I never got a break until I was discharged (honorably), moved across the country to a large city, and changed my name. An ex-husband kindly let me take his name, a common one. The abuser knew my friends and family. A false friend who secretly hated me (I didn’t know) kept telling him how to find me and encouraged others to do the same. People thought it was romantic that he carried such a torch for me. I thought he would appear at my door any day and kill me. He stalked me for 13 more years until I persuaded his commanding office to make him stop. I can’t imagine after all those years that this worked, but it did. Perhaps it was because he didn’t deny what he did and the commanding officer threatened his career and his pension. I never heard from him again. In those 13 years, things had changed somewhat.
I went to law school and made it my mission for many years to protect other women who were treated this badly and sometimes worse by abusers. I got them protection orders and divorces. I got their abusers out of their homes and sometimes in jail. It was very satisfying work. I’m retired now and happy to be so. I feel I did my bit.
It will be amazing if BRICS can come up with some gold-backed trading currency. The dedollarization is happening fast. Over the last 20 years, you see the share of global payments in the dollar has gone down at a steady rate.
This is getting even faster now. At the same time, to “truly dedollarize,” several aspects should be taken into account, he added.
“The harder part” in efforts to replace the dollar lies in the reserve aspect of the currency, the Netley Group president noted. For instance, the United States’ big advantage at the moment is the breadth of its bond market, Goddard explained. “One of the ways, I think, BRICS could develop something to compete with that would be the technology to actually link the BRICS bond markets,” the entrepreneur added.
Combining these two things — a stable trade currency and a strong joint bond market — could create the potential to eventually displace the dollar, Goddard also stated. This process could be even sped up with the enlargement of BRICS, increasing the depth of these economic ties, he concluded.
I live in Haifa, Israel, the location of that port.
A few decades ago we decided to build tunnels to connect the north, the south, and the middle of Haifa. We hired a Chinese company from Shanghai with experience in tunnel building to do the work. It was a massive project and took a few years, during which the Chinese workers lived here. The Chinese company did an excellent job. These tunnels have reduced traffic congestion in Haifa.
The Chinese company we chose to run the new Haifa port has a lot of experience in that kind of work.
In both cases, we chose based on objective criteria, not on politics.
Btw, many Chinese students study at the Technion here, and Chinese tourists visit.
China offers subsidies to their EVs in battery making and other areas, heavy subsidies in taxes and waivers to ensure that EVs are produced at a final cost that is 20% cheaper
This makes Chinese EVs deliver lower cost at better quality than many European EVs
Second complaint is that most of the world pays a premium for Chinese EV batteries but BYD and other players pay 45% lower costs for the same battery due to the fact that the batteries are made in China
This is alleged as unfair competition
They want either the batteries at lower costs or a 20% mark up on Chinese EVs that eliminates the subsidy effect
It’s Classic Protectionism 101
Soviet Style rather than Adam Smith
China didn’t do this
When Volkswagens and Citroens and Mercedes Benz and Toyota and Mitsubishi dominated the vehicle markets of China a decade or so ago:-
China didn’t impose extra tariffs on them nor make it unfair for them to import custom made parts by imposing 60–260% tariffs
China told BYD and SAIC and Great Wall to either make similar quality cars or go out of business because the customer needs the best
Thus these companies formed partnerships and purchased technology and leased technology and made a living with limited market share
Yet this competition helped them prepare a lead in EVs and dominate today
However the West isn’t prepared to do the same thing and ask Renault and Chevy and Volkswagen to COMPETE or go out of business
They want to protect their companies
Like US , Germany, France
They talked of free trade when their products were much superior and Asian nations imposed protectionism
Today when they are being left behind, they scream and yell and whine about tariffs and duties
China has many weapons here
China sells 61.5% of the EV Batteries in the world and 86% of EV Batteries today are made by Chinese players with only Tesla having it’s own supply chain and making it’s own battery for it’s own cars
If you want EVs – you need the Chinese Battery, Electric System and Motors and Chargers
The Chinese make the world’s best and most cost efficient products
Even Tesla battery technology is inferior to CATL and it’s latest batteries
It’s only in Autonomous driving that Tesla has an edge
So frankly China for the next 15 years at least can simply ban the export of batteries or impose a 80% tariff on EV exports and ensure European and US EVs simply can’t compete with ICEs
It throttles the EU green initiative
China loses the EU market but critically ensures Russia & Saudi gains a major leverage as EU and US become more dependent on Oil
That is one card
The Bigger card is
China can play it’s own protectionism
China has a huge market for European Cars with Eight Brands having their largest market in China
That’s 157,000 Jobs
China could simply ban the imports tomorrow and that would finish these companies revenue and share wise
Like the Iphone
Intel & Qualcomm openly said if China forced them to choose between the Chinese market and the Commerce Department restrictions, they would have to choose China for the sake of their US stockholders
If China banned Qualcomm entirely today and said “Okay. We will live with inferior phones but you B******* won’t sell or get a fifty cent piece from us”
Qualcomm would be brutally mauled
The Entire smartphone industry will be brutally mauled
The Entire Semiconductor industry will be brutally mauled
The Chinese are VERY PATIENT PEOPLE and they will play their cards very slowly
They thrive on competing
If China simply decides to close its markets to Foreigners except it’s Russian and Global South friends who will sell it all the Energy and Food it wants
Then most of the Tech firms will be brutally mauled
It was predicted that if Apple was banned entirely from China – $ 1.02 Trillion of it’s market share would never come back
The Total hit on the entire industry could touch $ 7–12 Trillion
Who will take up the slack?
India is expected to touch 40% of Chinas present market in 17–21 years (2040–2044)
Nobody else can take up even 3% of this slack
So China has a lot of Brahmastras to use
There will be no more Huaweis
Huawei was a blow
Nobody expected the West to be so brutally lawless and act like a mafia state , like a land with zero laws
Today China is ready
Every US attack has a party from China including the biggest Brahmastra
CUT OFF ACCESS TO PHARMA APIs & Cut off all components needed for Medical Equipment
Devalue US Debt by suddenly pegging an exchange rate of 2 Yuan to 1 USD. China will lose 17 Trillion Yuan and after the peg is removed the rate could reach 10–11 but US will lose 160 Trillion Yuan ($ 25 Trillion) , 8 times worse than the 2008 Crisis
APPLE Shocked! Huawei’s Secret Weapons: NearLink Explained
Amazing technology. Zero coverage in Western “news”.
Chinese wisdom: Wang Yi urges nations to help avert cold war
INTRODUCTION
Human behavior falls into durable patterns of action and reaction/response. Taking China-U.S. bilateral relations as an illustration, one almost always finds that China is forever responding, and that the United States is non-stop plotting, agitating and acting in annoying or irritating ways, resulting in China’s patterned response of rebuttal.
For example, in picking a fight with China, the United States will accuse China of “spying” and/or soliciting a prominent politician to accuse and confront China on “ideological” grounds, making it difficult for China to defend.
How do you defend an ideological choice?
As ideology is value-laden, it was adopted to change a sick Chinese society for the better, by bringing in fresh or foreign ideas that are believed to work.
For China, socialism with Chinese characteristics is designed to address its chronic social inequality and alleviate abject poverty. China’s adoption of a socialist ideology is observably bearing fruitful results, lifting millions of its people out of poverty, and building railways in foreign countries.
But, for the U.S. hardcore irrational antagonists such as Mike Pompeo, China is “on the wrong side of history”. What else then can these self-styled enemies of China do but to use and recycle the “spying” game of accusations, hoping to see their cooked-up situation comes to fruition.
In the following article taken from an English-language newspaper dated Thursday, July 30, 2020, the incidents that happened at the beginning of the Trump era were nearly the same as that is happening in the United Kingdom, which has officially announced that a parliamentary researcher has been lately accused of “spying” for the CCP.
For fear of missing its juicy details, let us go over this article.
Entered Wang Yi Who Called on All Countries to Resist “Unreasonable Acts” and to Help Prevent…
FM Wang Yi called on all countries to “resist” the United States’ “blatant and unreasonable acts”, and to help prevent the world’s two greatest powers from descending into what he called a new cold war.
In a phone call with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday, Wang said China would take “firm and rational responses” amid the intensifying rivalry with the US, but also stressed that Beijing would strive to maintain stable relations with Washington.
It was the fourth time in less than a fortnight that Wang, who is also a state councilor, has named the US in conversations with foreign official, following calls with his Russian, Vietnamese and German counterparts.
Before that, veiled attacks against Washington might have been made in talks with foreign governments without naming it.
The change in rhetoric and the increased frequency of verbal aggression by both sides has meant a rapid deterioration of China-US relations, and an imperative for Beijing to ensure other nations do not side with Washington.
“Tolerating a bully [such as Pompeo] will not keep you safe. It will only let the bully get bolder and act worse. All countries should act to resist any unilateral or hegemonic act and safeguard world peace and development.” Wang was quoted as saying in a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
Wang said the current decline in China-US relations was caused by a certain political faction in the US, driven by the need to lift campaign prospects and maintain unipolar hegemony.
During the phone call to Le Drian, Wang called for “vigilance against US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent remarks instigating renewed ideological confrontation and leading the world to a new cold war”.
In a speech last week, Pompeo called for China’s own citizens to join an international effort to “change the behavior” of the ruling Communist Party.
“We believe that all countries will make the right and wise decisions, instead of being held hostage by a small number of American politicians,” Wang said.
“All countries will make concerted efforts to prevent the world from being dragged into a new cold war of conflict and confrontation,” he said.
But Wong said the interests of the two countries were deeply integrated – and that Beijing stood “ready to maintain the stability of China-US relations through equal communication and exchanges with the US side”.
“We will never allow a few anti-China elements to overturn decades of successful exchanges and cooperation between China and the U.S., nor will we allow ideological prejudice to undermine the future development of China-US relations.”
Ties between the world’s most powerful nations have plunged to the lowest point in decades as they clash over trade, technology and geopolitical clout.
In their latest brawl last week, the US ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston –over spying claims. China retaliated – by ordering the US mission in Chengdu to shut down.
The foreign ministry rolled out a 10-point rebuttal yesterday against American accusations over the closure of the Houston consulate, denying that it was a hub for China’s spying efforts or that it was used as a base for its “fox hunt” operations to induce the return of Chinese fugitives. (Source: SCMP)
CONCLUSION
Readers may find it amazing after reading the above newspaper article on U.S. accusation of Chinese spying, and China’s retaliatory response. Amazed because the narrative over alleged Chinese spying is the same, except this time it is the UK that is the accuser. This pattern persists, and tensions go up.
The ultimate reality, though, is that “U.S. trade is still chained to sources in China.” Research demonstrates the difficulty of severing the countries’ economic ties. According to NYT.
In the end, it is U.S. pragmatism and Chinese rationality that prevails, settling the “spy” squabbling.
Ties may temporarily go sour; bilateral efforts will be made, and trade activities between the U.S. and China will resume. Wang Yi’s rationality is right and wise.
The latest visits by high-profile U.S. secretaries starting with Anthony Blinken, Janet Yellen and Gina Raimondi wrapped up the futile spying game – testifying to the law that damaging business ties lead to revenue loss.
Only 100 years?! You bet, will be at least 1,000 years, or maybe, better back to the Stone Age!
And then, you might find one day, your country would have to import chips from China, and the products you use would be embedded with Chinese chips. LOL
The whole Western world, especially the nuclear powers, even later the Soviet Union, had blocked nuclear technology from entering into China back in the 1950s and 1960s. Then what?
The first Chinese nuclear test was conducted at Lop Nur on October 16, 1964. Then in less than 32 months, China detonated its first hydrogen bomb on June 14, 1967. Now, China’s nuclear arsenal is the world’s third largest, and China has, more importantly, also developed its nuclear technology for peaceful use, boasting the second largest number of nuclear power units in operation or under construction in the world.
China was officially barred from visiting the International Space Station (ISS) by the United States in 2011. Then what?
China is nearing its completion of the construction of its own space station -Tiangong, with many visits there already done by Chinese astronauts, three of them are right now flying over us in the station. With the ISS retiring sometime in 2030, China’s Tiangong will be the only space station in the world.
China has been under the tough blockade of Western military techonologies, especially high-end, advanced ones. Then what?
China has successfully tested several times of its hypersonic missiles, among the first nations who have achieved success in this most advanced weapon development.
Also, China has finished its third air-craft carrier, with a fully indigenous design, featuring a CATOBAR system and electromagnetic catapults, one of the most advanced in the world.
And China has its J-20, a twinjet all-weather stealth fighter aircraft with precision strike capability. The Y-20, a large military transport aircraft, the first cargo aircraft to use 3D printing technology to speed up its development and to lower its manufacturing cost.
Similar cases also include the tunnel boring machines, giant cranes, giant excavators, deep-sea drilling machines……You name it. Then what?
China has self developed all of them, not only meeting its own market needs, but also exporting them at a much more affordable price than their Western competitors. What’s more ironic is, some of them have been exported even to those countries who had previously blocked their techonologies into China!
So, in the short term, yes, China is sufferting from the heavy blow from the US, but in the long run, the US and its allies would not only lose the lion’s share of chip market here in China, but will have also to face a strong competitor in semi-conductors, or chips, or something alternative which have similar functions, in the not-too-far-away future, maybe in their own market, and also in the global market.
But during the process, the US would have dried up its influence as a banner-holder of liberal market economy, its credibility as the rule-setter who betrays its own rules, its reliability to its allies since all of them would have to suffer along with the US, and hence, its soft power in leading the world.
Nothing much to gain, but a lot to lose, yet, the US is determined to ride on the self-devastating road. The faster it runs, the quicker the fall of its hegemony.
Japanese-Style Sirloin
japanese style sirloin
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 pound Certified Angus Beef ® boneless sirloin steak, cut into 1/4 inch strips
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons sake or dry sherry
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
8 scallions, cut diagonally into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
8 ounces Napa cabbage, chopped
4 ounces bean sprouts
1 cup cooked short grain rice
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Combine soy sauce, sugar and sake in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat wok or electric frying pan to medium heat.
Heat oil, add steak strips and stir until beef is browned (about 3-5 minutes).
Push beef to one side. On the other side, add scallions and peppers and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
Add cabbage and sprouts, combining all ingredients in the pan. Stir-fry about 1 minute.
Sprinkle soy mixture over meat and vegetables. Cook for 1 minute.
Serve over warm rice and garnish with sesame seeds.
Why People are Leaving Canada, Top 5 Reasons Why People Leave
I left Canada about 1.5 years ago to travel the world and here are some of the top reasons why I left. I give a lot of my own personal anecdotes as someone who has lived in canada for over 20 years. This video represents my personal opinion about living in canada and why I prefer to live in Asia or other countries.
The main reasons. why people are leaving
1. High living costs creates a low standard of living, especially in Vancouver and Toronto.
2. Lack of infrustructure for transportation which means you need to have a car in order to get around
3. Brain drain and lack of opportunities because most talent go to the states
4. Lack of medical healthcare because most people can’t find a family doctor or are finding it difficult to find one
5. Not much social life /activities for young people, most stores close at 6pm
https://youtu.be/2vXjQHNfiW8
China, the next war
On China, the US is again lying itself into the next war. The US says “The [Defense] Department remains committed to abiding by the well-established one China policy of the United States” and “this Administration opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side of the Strait. We have not supported Taiwan independence, we do not support it now.”
But actually the US is supporting the Taiwan independence from China, while Taiwan is calling its independent government the “Republic of China” which is a violation of the “one China” claim. The US also admits that the principle reason for this attention to China’s internal matters is to sustain the anti-China barriers in the off-shore China region: “Taiwan is located at a critical node within the First Island Chain in the Indo-Pacific region.” More detailed information on the coming anti-China next war is recent testimony in the House Armed Services Committee here and here.
A spoiler must possess some power to manipulate but this India clearly does not have.
India can do nothing within BRICS with China around (that’s why they didn’t even dare to join RCEP). Modi was left sitting in the corner of their meeting hall.and as quiet as a church mouse during the last BRICS summit because he had no allies to support him on anything. BRICS proceeded accordingly to invite those countries that Xi had pursued.
An interesting thing happened between then and the Modi show at the G20 with new BRICS members Saudi Arabia and the UAE getting into the act. And of course Xi completely abstaining from even attending. Expectations are of course that the G7 countries, headed by Biden, would be there to cheerlead to elevate Modi’s ego as their way of wooing him to their side.
As the saying goes, give the guy enough rope and he’ll be sure to do it to himself!
And true to form, Modi came out with a true masterpiece that had behind him the G7 countries – U.S., E.U., Germany, France and Italy – applauding him on. and the Western MSM hyping up Modi as the new major player to contest China’s BRI plans. This is the G7’s main challenge to China and to be implemented unti its GPII initiative!!
But this plan could not have been possible without the push of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Of course, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have grand plans for themselves – mostly to transition and establish their economy as a major global force after their days of oil dominance is over.
But look at the curious first part of the IMEC journey that has the starting route going through the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which essentially is an alternative route to bypass the Suez Canal.
And then of all places, this very expensive trans-Arabian rail line ends up in Isreal!!!!!
Now, who are the Arabs in their right mind would set up the crown jewel of their economic infrastructure to land in the hands of their arch nemesis to be held hostage anyttime any conflict should arise?
So, you have Modi hoisting himself as a challenger to Xi’s BRI.and also coincidentally, there will be after this G20 a third BRI Meeting in Beijing in October 2023!
The big question is: What are Saudi Arablia and the UAE’s real plans? Are they with the IMEC or are they part of the BRI still and be officially inducted as new BRICS member in 2024?
A friend of mine told the story of going to visit his childhood home in Brooklyn. He had hired a car for the day to go all around the old neighborhood so he wouldn’t have to rely on taxis. On the way to visit his mother’s grave at the cemetery, he spotted a flower shop and thought it might be nice to bring flowers.
He went inside, and found a couple of men playing cards, They didn’t seem to notice him. He cleared his throat to get their attention.
“A customer!” one declared, as if in shock.
My friend said he had grown up in the neighborhood, and he chatted with the proprietor a bit about how things have changed over the years.
“Why don’t you sit down and have an espresso with us?” he asked.
“I can’t, I have a driver outside!”
“Well, invite him in, too!”
After he politely refused, they made a beautiful bouquet for him, fairly quickly. He was impressed with the work.
“How much do I owe you?” he asked.
The florist looked hurt. “It’s for your mother! How could I possibly charge you?”
After a little back and forth, it was clear that they weren’t going to accept payment. He thanked them for their generosity and left.
It dawned on him that this place probably wasn’t a flower shop. But they did make him a nice arrangement.
Something TERRIBLE Just Happened in Maui, Oprah & The Rock
James sues Hawaii for First Amendment violations over ban on public photography in Lahaina “This isn’t merely about the freedom to take photos; it’s about the freedom of the press and the right to hold our leaders accontable.
What are your thoughts on China surpassing the USA
Well, China has surpassed the United States in so many ways, that this question is a tad out of date. China is quite a formidable and powerful force right now. Depending on the measurements used, you can easily map out the dates when the mantel of power was transferred.
Economic = around 2013.
Military = around 1950.
Educational = around 1995.
Social = around 2005.
Manufacturing = around 1990.
Technological = in process.
So what are my thoughts about this?
I really don’t think that China is trying to surpass anyone. And certainly isn’t trying to better the USA. I just think that China is doing what it needs to do to serve it’s people. It’s 1.4 billion people, don’t you know. And they need to be satiated, satisfied, and happy.
China is doing that.
All these sanctions, political posturing, and the general madness out the United States (and it actually is a DSM-4 state of crazy-town) is only accelerating and necessitating China to become absolutely independent of the leashes and chains that the United States controls.
Soon, and I do mean SOON, whatever vestiges of American “greatness” will be eclipsed by a rather harsh reality.
Oh, and it PAINS me to speak of it.
But today, the United States is a lie, on top of a lie, that is covered up by lies, and the only good thing about it is that the lies are so obvious that everyone KNOWS that the lies are simply BULLSHIT.
Today, the USA is a third-rated, banana-republic, ruled by psychopathic morons.
And when history books are written about this has-been nation, it will refer to it as a over-glorified “strip mall” masquerading as transsexual brothel built upon an open sewer.
This is common knowledge in “fly over country”.
Those “Rich Men North of Richmond” really gutted the country, and are now stealing everything they can lay their hands on as they flee the cesspool that they created.
When did China surpass the United States?
Oh, sometime back in 1776. It’s been downhill ever since.
Neocons turn on Joe Biden
Calling Biden a president is like calling Harris a vice president.
In the ADC is a prison called The East Arkansas Regional Unit. Known as “Brickies” because that is the town that it is next. It is an old cotton plantation that has been turned into a hard labor prison. And that is where I was first sent to when I was “retired“.
There, I noticed many, many “gang bangers” from West Memphis, which was only a spit away from the prison. And these urban youth were quite a lively bunch. They were really rambunctious, but kept in line by the older men.
Anyways, there were many wanna-be rappers that were serving time there. And yuppur, this is one of the albums that was produced by some felons from that facility… now out free.
I know these folk. Shared coffee with ’em.
HEADLIGHTS FLASHES – HXVRMXN
Small world, eh?
They would stand by the windows and just rap on the windows for hours while composing their lyrics. And with the proper connections can produce works like this.
I lived in Japan for two years, and lost a ton of weight. I drank a lot of alcohol, ate whatever food was convenient, and never consciously exercised. I lived upstairs from a Genkizushi sushi shop, and across the street from Chuuka Ton-Ton with excellent ramen and surprisingly large Jumbo Bikkuri Gyoza. I had a car, but walked and took public transportation because it was more convenient. After two years of Japanese life, my BMI was 19, just on the underweight side of healthy.
I now live in an American suburb. I track my diet and exercise on apps. I have a home gym with weights, a Peloton exercise bike, and VR boxing subscriptions. I have another gym at work. My BMI is 29, overweight bordering on obese.
I’ve thought about the reasons for this. Why did I get thin without trying in Japan, then get fat while trying to stay thin in the USA? If you were trying to design the perfect obesogenic society to make people fat, you would do two things:
Subsidize low-nutrient foods with a lot of calories, like corn syrup.
Use fear, zoning restrictions and tax laws to keep people away from sidewalks, parks, and “the gym of life.”
America does both of these things.
Due to the peculiar way Americans select presidents, Iowa has outsized political influence. Iowa also grows a lot of corn, so it’s not surprising that American agricultural policy favors corn.
Modern varieties of corn, and especially those varieties processed into corn syrup, have calories but not much else.
Our bodies didn’t evolve to directly sense the taste of nutrients, but they did involve to sense some tastes and aromas that are often seen alongside nutrients, sensations that are a reasonable heuristic for nutrition in wild and natural foods.
If your body tells you to eat until it senses that you have tasted enough, and you eat bland foods like corn, you’ll consume a lot of calories and still be hungry. If your tongue tells you to eat until it has tasted enough, you can consume a lot of calories of corn syrup.
On the other hand, traditional Japanese restaurants serve small amounts of carbs (rice or noodles) intensely flavored with small amounts of high quality protein and fat (fish in sushi or pork slices in ramen).
Japanese cuisine is quality over quantity, while common American food is the opposite. It’s easier to stop eating after a few bites of intensely flavored carb/fat/protein medley than a few bites of bland fat-free sweetened engineered food.
At the same time that Americans consume more calories than Japanese people, Americans move around less. American zoning laws encourage large residential areas with no commercial areas nearby.
Where there are commercial areas, there are huge parking lots which are unpleasant to walk through. Parking spaces occupy the area that a sensible construction would use for walking paths. Japan is the opposite. There are plenty of walking paths and pedestrian-only areas.
Mixed zoning with stores on the first floor and residential units above are common, and possible without requirements for a parking space per bedroom or restaurant table. Parking and highway tolls in Japan are expensive, so people are encouraged to walk and take public transportation.
Finally, American media encourages people to be afraid. Afraid of kids getting abducted while walking to school, so they are driven instead. Afraid of the neighbors calling the police because your kids are outside, so kids play inside instead. Afraid of crime on public transportation, so everyone drives instead.
Afraid of ticks and mosquitoes and sunburns and nature so everyone stays inside and watches screens instead. Japan has giant swallow hornets (so called because the hornets are as large as a small bird like a swallow) that kill dozens of hikers a year, but nobody stays out of the mountains because of them.
It’s possible to live a healthy lifestyle in America if you constantly invest time and effort, eat unlike most Americans and live unlike most Americans.
It’s easy to live a healthy lifestyle in Japan by just being lazy, eating common restaurant food and taking the easiest path from home to work to shopping. Being unhealthy in Japan requires as much extra work as being healthy in America.
Gorgonzola-Topped Tenderloin Steaks
BEEF TENDERLOIN with CHERRY PORT
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 (4 to 6 ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, cut 1 inch thick
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 cup ready-to-serve beef broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue-veined cheese
Instructions
Heat large nonstick skillet 5 minutes over medium heat until hot.
Combine garlic and pepper. Press evenly into both side of each beef steak.
Place steaks in skillet. Cook for 10 to 13 minutes for medium-rare to medium doneness; turn occasionally. Remove from skillet; keep warm.
In the same skillet, add broth and wine; increase heat to medium-high. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, or until sauce is reduced by half.
Spoon sauce over steaks; sprinkle with cheese.
How I see the US after living in Europe for 2 Years
Brutal honesty.
The Nevada Triangle | 2,000 Planes Mysteriously Crashed & Missing Near Area 51
Most of us have heard of the Bermuda Triangle, where planes and ships have mysteriously gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean for decades.
Did you know there is a similar place in Nevada?
The Nevada Triangle. In a region of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Nevada and California, 2,000 planes have been lost in the last 60 years.
In this remotely populated area of more than 25,000 miles of mountain desert, many of the crash sites have never been found.
The Nevada Triangle is typically defined as spanning from Las Vegas, Nevada in the southeast to Fresno, California in the west, and to Reno, Nevada at the top.
Within this wilderness is the mysterious, top-secret Area 51.
Along with the dozens of conspiracy theories which include UFOs and paranormal activity that surrounds the air force base, similar theories have long been considered regarding the Nevada Triangle.
One plane to go missing was that of a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer named Steve Fossett on September 3, 2007.
Fossett, flying a single-engine plane over Nevada’s Great Basin Desert, took off and never returned.
After hunting for a month for the plane, the search was called off and on February 15, 2008, Fossett was declared dead.
Later that year on September 29th, Fossett’s identification cards were discovered in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California by a hiker.
Throughout the years, many of the missing planes were flown by experienced pilots and have disappeared under mysterious circumstances: and their wreckage never found.
The biggest mystery is: nobody really talks about it.
My father was born in 1929. When he was living he kept an old trunk with trays that came out of it. In it he had saved crafts that we made, old report cards and a host of other things related to all of his nine children. The most curious to my family were little notebooks. They were too small to be journals. My father told me that since he was about 17 he kept a log of where he was and what he did weekly. I asked him why were these dates important.
My father was a young Black male who was tall for his age, traveling alone, beginning at age 13; traveled up and down the eastern coastal states. He said, just in case he got picked up for just being Black, he would have a record of where he had been and what he had done going back for months. During his travels he worked at a general store, he picked oranges, pears, apples and grapes as a migrant worker, he rode horses and herded cattle on a dairy farm in Connecticut. On all those travels he kept these logs to protect himself. That’s also when he told me that there were people in the world who thought “we” all looked alike and his notes were to show proof that we don’t.
In loving memory of Clifton W. McKnight, Sr.
City Walk. Downtown Vancouver BC, Canada. July 2023
I had a similar problem. I bought one of those tiny cube refrigerators for a dorm and had it delivered to the office on a Saturday when I knew no one else would be in the office. It fit nicely under my desk and I put a large empty box in front of it to hide it, jic.. I then used that for my lunch and it paid for itself fairly fast since I didn’t have to run out and buy a replacement lunch any more.
However, since we were not allowed to eat at our desks, I made a pretense of getting my lunch out of the communal fridge. Drove my boss nuts since he could never find my lunch and he couldn’t say or ask about it without giving himself away. Lol
When I left that company, I sold it to a co-worker that would occasionally find her lunch missing.
The LAST HOURS of El Cholo’s LIFE after BETRAYING the CJNG
On March 18, 2021, some pedestrians who were walking calmly through a public square in the municipality of Tlaquepaque, came across a truly sinister scene. A lifeless body was sitting on a bench, wrapped in black garbage bags, but the worst thing was that he had a n4rco-message drawn with a knife on his torso. The authorities were notified immediately and, although the corpse was in a state that prevented it from being recognized, the forensic reports would conclude that it was indeed the body of one of the most wanted criminaIs in Mexico, Carlos Enrique Sánchez, better known as the Cholo.
He was the head janitor at my school, a teddy bear of a man, under 5 feet tall with the sweetest little smile and laugh. He had worked at the school since he was a teen and was due to retire.
Da Tuk (not his real name) was gentle, kind and generous, a soft touch for a sob story. He and his family had just enough but always ended with too little because of his ‘kindness.’
A relative had begged him for a large sum, almost all that Da Tuk and his wife had saved for a deposit on a home. He signed over a land deed to Da Tuk and then disappeared into the gambling dens of Klong Tuey.
When Da Tuk took his family to see the land, they found a hilly, barren, nowhere-near-anywhere, unsellable plot. Da Tuk was inconsolable, realizing that he had been duped and had lost almost everything.
Fortunately, the chairman of the school found a way to help the family to buy a small house and deal with the costs of their children’s educations. They never really recovered from the loss.
As the school grew, so did Da Tuk’s staff, to the point where he was overwhelmed. An ‘assistant’ was hired but was, in fact, in charge. However, he always treated Da Tuk as the boss and saw to it that others did as well.
For Da Tuk’s retirement day, the Board had arranged for a huge luncheon, and we were all seated, waiting for Da Tuk.
When he arrived, he looked stunned, which surprised us because everyone had been talking about the party and teasing him for over a month.
Then an equally stunned member of the Board made a shocking announcement.
Da Tuk had just been paid forty million baht (approximately two million U.S. dollars) for that ‘worthless’ land because it was adjacent to the planned eastern seaboard industrial estate.
A New American and U.K. Perspective after living in China
In this China vlog, I am out in Beijing City exploring the city and as always, seeking to understand China and the relationship with the West. My opinions and thoughts have changed.
Federal Reserve losing $758 Million PER DAY- Now in the Hole for $100 Billion
The Federal Reserve Bank is losing $758 Million PER DAY paying Interest to commercial banks on Reverse Repos and Interest on Reserves. Those losses just reached $100 Billion — with a “B.”
Before all of these wild financial games began, the Federal Reserve would send its profits to the US Treasury each year; it was usually a few Billion Dollars each year.
Now, the Federal Reserve has massive paper losses on their Bond portfolio and masses daily losses on the money it has to pay to commercial banks to keep the system from falling apart.
Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and company have managed to lose a whopping $100 Billion . . . and YOU are paying for it.
It is difficult to overstate the level of sheEr incompetence needed to have a money printer . . . and still lose money.
Next stop: -$200 Billion.
Woman Over 30 Realizes The Wall Is Unforgiving #19 – When Women Regret Feminism
When Women Regret Feminism is a thought-provoking video that explores the struggles women over 30 face when they haven’t found a husband and feel cheated by what feminism tells them.
Through real-life stories shared on TikTok, the video examines the complex issues surrounding marriage, motherhood, and career choices.
It looks at the ways in which women are redefining their roles and expectations for themselves and for the future. This video is a must-watch for anyone interested in gender roles, societal expectations, and the impact of the feminist movement on women’s lives.
With its honest and open dialogue, When Women Regret Feminism provides an insightful look into the lives of women and the challenges they face in today’s world.
As widely known, Si photonics technology has undergone over 20 years of development. It primarily leverages mature CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) processes to integrate key active and passive optical components, such as waveguides, modulators, gratings, couplers and even photodetectors, onto silicon substrates for processing optical signals. The only component that cannot be integrated directly onto such substrates is semiconductor laser, as it involves a different material system and can be addressed only through packaging methods. In the silicon photonics platform, a silicon substrate is responsible for converting optical signals into electrical signals, serving as the receiving end.
On the other hand, the transmitting end involves converting electrical signals into optical signals through lasers. Basically, utilizing mature semiconductor manufacturing processes boasts advantages in terms of miniaturization, integration, production yield and cost; and employing optical signals also offers advantages such as high bandwidth, low latency, and low power consumption when compared to electrical signals.
Since the introduction of optical fiber communication in the 1980s, it has played a crucial role in signal transmission. In its early days, when human data usage was relatively low, optical communication was mainly used for long-distance transmission, such as undersea cables and metropolitan networks. As data usage has increased, optical communication has also entered the realm of regional networks. With the recent rise of generative AI, the most substantial data generation and transmission occur between AI servers. This is because any large-scale model contains billions of parameters, and the computational power required for each training session is immense, all having to rely on parallel processing and data exchange between chips.
Thanks to semiconductor manufacturing technology advancements, it now takes only 1-2 nanoseconds to process or compute a single instruction. However, the increase in data transmission speed has never been able to keep up with the growth in computing power. Light traveling within an optical fiber incurs a delay of approximately five nanoseconds per meter. Consequently, AI servers often have to wait for data to be transmitted, leading to periods of inactivity; but if electrical signals were used, instead of optical signals, for transmission, the waiting time would be even longer. In this regard, the solution is, of course, to bring the devices responsible for converting optical signals closer to the CPU/GPU/ASIC chips to reduce signal latency, ideally avoiding the use of circuit boards in between. This is where co-package optics (CPO), including silicon photonics substrates, comes into play.
Currently, CPO is primarily being deployed inside switches. It involves stacking Si photonics substrates with ICs for processing electrical signals, which are then connected to optical fibers and put in close proximity to various IC processors, representing the closest and lowest-latency solution available.
In the mid-2000s, IBM, in its annual Technology Outlook, particularly highlighted optical interconnect as a key focus for future technology. At that time, no people could foresee the rapid development of AI computing, nor did they have a clear picture of semiconductor technology progressing to levels below 3nm. However, it’s clear that human reliance on data transmission would keep increasing, with Si photonics technology to play a role in optical interconnect.
At the time when optical interconnect was introduced, it was unclear whether they would be used for connecting signals between chips (chip-to-chip), between boards (board-to-board), or between racks of servers (rack-to-rack). Today, optical interconnect technology is widely adopted for signal connections between server racks and even between layers within a rack (unit-to-unit).
Meanwhile, signal connections between chips have been addressed by TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies like 3DIC, CoWoS (chip-on-wafer-on-substrate), chiplet integration, and fabric. These technologies utilize electrical signal exchanges to meet the interconnect needs between chips.
The next big challenge will likely be signal connections between boards. Currently, the primary approach still relies on electrical signal connections, and the adoption of optical interconnects for this purpose is something to be seen.
The combination of CPO with Si photonics technology provides the optimal solution to enhance data transmission speeds in the AI era, representing a significant change for the industry ecosystem.
The traditional ecosystem featuring the use of pluggable optical modules is not simply fading away. At the 2023 Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC), linear-drive pluggable optics (LPO) garnered significant attention and is considered a major counterattack by traditional players.
The linear-drive concept involves removing the re-timer/DSP (digital signal processing) functions from pluggable optical modules and shifting the signal processing burden to ASICs (application-specific ICs), thus reducing signal latency and power consumption within the modules. Consequently, it allows the industry to advance product development by 1-2 generations without causing significant changes to the entire industry ecosystem.
This is similar to using immersion DUV (deep ultraviolet) lithography equipment to achieve several generations of progress in semiconductor fabrication processes without altering the DUV exposure ecosystem until EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography machines become available to take over the exposure process.
The generational shift in Si photonics CPO will eventually come, but if LPO gains traction, it may delay this transition. In fact, the linear-drive concept can also be applied to CPO, offering even better performance in terms of signal latency and power consumption.
Beverly Hills is a GHOST TOWN, California’s Wealthiest City in COLLAPSE
Apple is facing a number of issues in China, with geopolitical risks mounting and the economy still not firing as many would have hoped.
But the biggest challenge of all, according to analysts, could be a resurgent Huawei after a purported major semiconductor breakthrough that flew in the face of U.S. sanctions.
The latest chip, made by China’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer SMIC has sparked concern in Washington and raised questions about how it was possible, without the company being able to access critical technologies.
But there is also scrutiny on whether the process being used to make these new chips is efficient enough on a large scale to sustain a Huawei comeback.
What’s the big deal about Huawei’s new chip?
Alongside Apple and Samsung, Huawei is one of only a few companies that has designed its own smartphone processor. This was done through the Chinese firm’s HiSilicon division.
The chip however was manufactured by TSMC.
U.S. export restrictions, which effectively barred Huawei from using American technology anywhere along the chipmaking process, meant the Chinese company could no longer source its chips from TSMC.
There is no Chinese company that can do what TSMC does. That’s why shockwaves were sent through the political and tech world when Huawei quietly released the Mate 60 Pro in China this month, with analysis showing a chip inside made by SMIC.
Along with Huawei, SMIC is on a U.S. trade blacklist called the Entity List. Companies on this list are restricted from buying American technology. Meanwhile, SMIC’s technology is seen as generations behinds the likes of TSMC.
So how could this have been done with the huge amount of sanctions on both Huawei and SMIC?
What we know about Huawei’s chip
Huawei’s smartphone chip is called the Kirin 9000S, which combines the processor and components for what appears to be 5G connectivity. 5G refers to next-generation mobile internet that promises super-fast speeds. Huawei has not confirmed the phone is 5G capable, but reviews have shown the device is capable of hitting download speeds associated with 5G.
The semiconductor has been manufactured using a 7 nanometer process by SMIC, China’s biggest contract chipmaker, according to an analysis of the Mate 60 Pro by software company TechInsights.
The nanometer figure refers to the size of each individual transistor on a chip. The smaller the transistor, the more of them can be packed onto a single semiconductor. Typically, a reduction in nanometer size can yield more powerful and efficient chips.
The 7nm process is seen as highly-advanced in the world of semiconductors, even though it is not the latest technology.
For years, SMIC struggled to make 7nm chips. That’s in part because it couldn’t get its hands on a very expensive piece of kit called an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine. These are made by Dutch firm ASML, but the company has been restricted by its government from sending these machines to China.
In a blogpost this month, Dan Hutcheson, vice chair of TechInsights, said the 7nm chip “demonstrates the technical progress China’s semiconductor industry has been able to make without EUV lithography tools.”
What will the U.S. do next?
There will be pressure on the U.S. to reconsider its export controls strategy, which was based on the assumption that controls would prevent Chinese companies from producing advanced-edge chips, while the business-as-usual approach would continue at the trailing-edge nodes. It is increasingly becoming clear that this distinction doesn’t work in reality. Washington may look at other areas of the chip design and manufacturing process to enact further restrictions.
Apple’s China headwinds grow with Huawei chip
As geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China continue to bubble under the surface, it is perhaps a potential Huawei resurgence that poses the biggest threat to Apple.
“It’s expected that Huawei will pose a bigger challenge to Apple in China than the geopolitical issue,” Will Wong, a senior research manager at IDC, told CNBC.
“This is because Huawei not only has the same premium brand image as Apple but also is a national pride in China.”
Apple is seen as a high-end smartphone maker and Huawei had directly competed with the U.S. firm in China for years. But Huawei’s sales fell off a cliff when it couldn’t equip its smartphones with 5G technology and the latest chips.
Any kind of resurgence in this area, as appears to be the case with the Mate 60 Pro, could make Huawei’s new phones an attractive option again for Chinese buyers.
“The biggest threat from Huawei is its continuous development in technology, not only in chips but also in new form factors like foldables,” Wong added.
What’s Like Living in China? – Can’t Believe This Is The Same Place …(Chengdu)
Hands down, a woman in her 30’s that I met while staying in a homeless shelter. In my town, the Shelter also serves as a type of half-way house for women just getting out of jail or rehab.
I was “just homeless”, she was on the tail end of a 5 yr prison sentence after she sold her 3 yr old daughter to a sex trafficker to settle a drug debt. The state was in the process of helping her get her daughter back while she finished up her re-entry programs.
She constantly spoke of how beautiful her now 8 yr old was, and what a “fine specimen” she was coming to be. She was quite proud her daughter was “blooming”, and frequently sent her makeup, rather inappropriate clothing and articles from magazines about weight management, beauty techniques, etc. It was infuriating & disgusting. When I addressed the counselors with my concerns, I was told there were “conditions for her release, that hinged on her getting some parental rights in return”.
I left the facility before she did; but I pray all the time that her little girl is safe, sound and being treated well.
What Happened to the Middle-Class Prosperity of the 1950s?
I lived in an apartment building. The upstairs neighbor seemed to think he was back in the dorm: parties all night, every night… people tromping around… music blasting with the bass turned all the way UP.
I tried a white-noise app. I got earplugs. I tried playing music next to the bed. My work was suffering.
Then I addressed him directly: I would go upstairs and politely ask him to please be a little quieter. No dice. I moved through the let-my-frustration-show stage… the angry stage… the I’ll-call-the-authorities stage…
When I couldn’t take the experiment in sleep deprivation any longer, I contacted our local city council to find out my options. Turns out there are regulations having to do with “health”: exceptionally loud noise is on a list of “stressors.”
They sent him a warning letter, saying if there were more complaints they might go so far as to serve eviction.
The following weekend a man turned up at my door. He was well-dressed, polite – older gent. He said he was Upstairs Neighbor’s father and could he talk to me?
Well, hey, I like to think I’m a reasonable person. “Sure, c’mon in…”
He pulled out the letter the Health Department had sent the UN and started waving it about, accusing me of intolerance, trying to cause problems for his son, on and on. He told me I should move out – “Nothing wrong with people having company and enjoying music. I’ve been in his apartment and the music is never loud.” As if the kid would give the old man full blast and prove I had cause for complaint.
I was taken aback, as much as anything because it never occurred to me a 30-year-old would have to send “Daddums” to confront a neighbor. Father wanted me to withdraw the complaint. I refused. He ranted some more, then got up to leave, crabbing the whole way about “How do you have the nerve” and so on. I saw him to the door, and as he stepped into the hallway he turned and said bitterly, “I am so disappointed.” “I understand, sir. If I had children who behaved as your son has, I’d be disappointed too.”
He was at a loss for words. It was so gratifying. 😉
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
When a country’s Central Bank starts literally LOSING money each and every day . . . countries around the world will start to notice really fast. Especially when there is no sign at all that these losses will stop.
So how long do YOU think countries around the world will continue to accept “Federal Reserve Notes” (i.e. the cash in your wallet) as payment for goods and services, from an entity which is literally Bankrupt?
Sooner or later, those countries around the world will no longer want the paper with pretty pictures on it, masquerading as “money.”
I have no idea WHEN that refusal will start, but given what’s now taking place at the US central bank, I suspect it will not be long.
Now, that paper with pretty pictures on it will still be accepted as “money” here in the US, but . . . . we don’t manufacture very much of anything in this nation anymore. We import most of the things we consume because the Brainiacs of corporate America decided it would be better to outsource manufacturing to other countries.
Those corporate Brainiac Titans never stopped to consider the effect on the nation as a whole, they were only interested in how much extra money they could put in THEIR pockets by outsourcing manufacturing overseas.
So now, the Brainiacs are wealthier, and the country – and its currency – is going down the tubes.
So when you see those corporate Titans, and admire how much wealth they have, remember, they wrecked the entire country to get it.
Turns out, they weren’t nearly as smart as they thought they were; they were just greedy, dumb, fucks.
In case you’re not certain about whom I am speaking, it’s all those “FREE TRADE” dingbats.
So head back into search engines like Google, and start looking up “Free Trade” and watch whose names come up. Then you’ll know who needs straightening out on a personal level.
I just got a communication from someone WAAAAAAAAAY up in the financial sector. He told me this situation is causing almost panic in a LOT of financial firms. He then told me, verbatim, the following: “The parasites are looting the place on their way out the door. They know the jig is up.”
Golden Gate Swiss Steak
DSCN0593
Ingredients
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1 (1 1/2 pound) round steak, 1 inch thick
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
3 large carrots, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
Combine flour, mustard, salt and pepper. Dredge the meat with this mixture, then work the flour into the meat with a meat pounder.
Cut steak into 4 individual portions.
In a heavy skillet or Dutch oven, heat oil and brown meat on both sides.
Combine tomatoes, carrots, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar; pour over meat.
Cover and either bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven or simmer on top of stove for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.
Germany Loses Its Auto Industry To China | China’s Take Over Shakes The Entire Europe Market
One of the MANY kinds of music that I enjoy is “Trance”. This is a kind of melodic continuous beat, many times with a female vocalist signing her heart out.
I was listening to some Trance on you-tube, and thought about it… you know… the pace and the beat of the music lends itself well to porn. No shit!
So, on a lark, I went to one of the porn sites; xHampster, and spent a minute or two watching the video while the you-tube Trance music played. Sure as shit, I kid you not, the music and the melody absolutely matched the actions of the porn actors and actresses. LOL.
Both the men and the woman busy in frenzied (erp) activity…
I think that this is more than just a casual observation. It’s a reflection of the ties to emotional and mental biological attachments relative to our drives.
Sex is but one of our many, many drives.
…
How does the music you listen to reflect your interests and desires?
I mean if Trance can equate to porn, then what does Country & Western music equate to? What does Classic Rock equate to?
Carry on my wayward son
Stairway to Heaven
Back in Black
Black Magic Woman
It seems to me that David Lee Roth is always singing about prostitutes, and Van Halen roars out about cars…
Ah.
…but what about polkas?
2023 09 28 10 45
… Vodka drunk aunties, with roses clenched in their teeth, and little kids running all over the stage, eh?
…
Music reflects our inner desires, and under certain conditions, they can enhance or suppress them.
Jazz.
Pop.
Banjo…
…
Todays…
NATO Planning for 3.5 MILLION to Serve if War With Russia Starts
In the event of a direct war with Russia, the NATO military bloc will utilize the 300 thousand troops already on the Border with Russia, in the first month. “NATO will then “attract” up to 3.5 million troops” according to Admiral Rob Bauer, the head of the military committee of the North Atlantic Alliance, .
Where do they think they’re going to get those 3.5 Million troops? Why, YOU – and your children — of course! Ready to go fight and die for the armpit of eastern Europe, Ukraine?
Admiral Bauer noted that NATO’s new regional defense plans involve further reinforcement on the borders with Russia in case of a possible confrontation.
“If they attack, we must be ready. So we need more militaries at a high level of readiness, and that’s not something that can be done overnight. They will need training, weapons, ammunition, everything else. Therefore, we are talking about 300 thousand military personnel at a high level of readiness. In total, NATO countries, together with Finland and Sweden, have 3.5 million troops,” said Bauer.
Rattling sabers will not help. Sooner or later Russia will complete its plans for its new Northern Military District, and NATO knows about this.
NATO, the clown force defeated by horseback riders from Afghani caves.
Beef and Mushrooms
Wild Mushroom and Beef Stew Recipe 5 of 10
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 pounds sirloin steak, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (10 ounce) package sliced mushrooms
1 (16 ounce) package frozen pearl onions
2 cups red wine
1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional)
Instructions
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Season steak with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.
Transfer steak to a bowl and set aside.
Add mushrooms and onions to the pan and cook until liquid has evaporated.
Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, 5 to 6 minutes.
Stir in soup and 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil.
Add steak and its juices from the bowl and simmer, 2 minutes.
Divide into individual bowls and sprinkle with the parsley, if using.
Trump Latinos – Rich Men North Of Richmond “Official Video”
America does not believe in fair competition, Tonya Harding is its role model.
What has the US done while China is improving?
…
NOTHING.
Just a whole lot of talk, blustering and promises…
China released new photolithography factory plan, U.S. restrictions will no longer be in effect.
Oh man this is a very wonderful news, hope it can be made soon and can’t wait to see US semiconductor companies close their doors one by one as no other market can absorb their products … I would say well done USA for digging your own grave yard, very well planned!
My first “real” marketing job, back in the 80’s, was working in the fragrance division of a world renowned fashion designer. 2x a year, I was given $2,000-$3,000 to go shopping at Bloomingdales buying up the competition’s newest products.
I learned that if I dressed down, jeans & tees, I could freely shop the dept without sales pressure. I could easily make a list of what I needed to buy Basically, I was ignored and when I tried to get help, I was ignored even more by the seasoned sales people. They would rather talk to each other than help me.
Eventually, a new or young sales clerk would take pity on me & ask if they could help me. I would hand them my list and watch the delight spread over their face as they mentally calculated their sizeable commission, especially as I pulled out the cash.
And it was super fun watching the scowls on those that wouldn’t help me, when they saw the size of my purchase. And yes, as I walked out, I said to each one of them “ you had your chance.” Lol
There were only two things that shocked me when I came to the US.
The complete lack of maintenance for the infrastructure. I thought Americans loved to drive? So why not spend some money on maintenance. I’ve seen more potholes in 6 days in the Usa, than in my entire life in the Netherlands
The way police officers and other other uniformed people behaved. It already started on the airport at border security, all of the guys in uniform acted like they were the most important person in the world and we were just measly worms. Come on, I know you have a job to do, but why can’t you just try to be pollite? If Dutch police officers would behave like that, they would be considered unfit for the job.
You could try doing what my neighbor did 50 years ago. His mother was a stubborn woman from the old country. She won’t consider going to a nursing home having any help in her place etc. she fired several people as soon as they started. So he hired another person and they concocted this plan. He told his mother that this person wanted to rent a room from her and she would pay her every week. But that she was a bit hard up and couldn’t afford the full cost of the rent so in order to get a lower rent she was going to help around the house and other things that might need to be done. So every week the son gave the Aide an extra $50 and the Aide handed the mother the $50 and she gave it to her son to put in the bank. So the Aide started helping around the house and then slowly started with personal care. Pretty soon she was taking full care of the mother and the mother thought she was great and offered a bigger reduction in her “rent” and she told her son that she had a nice tenant who helped her “a little” and it was so much better than having an Aide messing around in her house plus she was earning an extra $50 a week!
When I was in school, they held a robotics competition.
It was pretty simple, conceptually. You had to make a firefighting robot. It would have to navigate a maze, find a candle and put it out (fully automated, no remote control). I can’t remember the exact size but I think the robot had to be smaller than 1 foot in length, width, and height.
Scoring was as follows. You start with your time (how long it takes to search every room and put out the candle), and get deductions (bonus points) if your robot:
Put out the candle with anything other than a fan (water, for instance)
Searched every room, didn’t just stop at the one with the candle
Could separate into parts to search rooms in parallel
Was very efficient algorithmically (there were a few benchmarks for this)
Most entries looked like what you would expect, a bunch of sub-systems. Each one with a specific purpose. A Robot.
I entered a block of dry ice. It held a simple metal device attached to it.
It basically just had a spring-powered hammer to shatter it into little pieces when the start timer went (so that it would evaporate faster)
In seconds the entire maze was filled with a white fog and the candle was definitely out. I had the fastest time by a landslide even before you counted my deductions:
Didn’t use a fan? Check
Search every room? Check.
Separate into parts to put out fires in parallel? Check
I think I could’ve been the only person in history to ever win a robotics competition without writing a single line of code or soldering a single wire.
But alas, the judges disqualified me by unanimous vote.
Aztec Death Whistle | The Scariest Sound You’ve Ever Heard
During the Iraq war, soldiers frequently used Silly String to help detect booby traps.
Specifically:
If you were entering a house, a perimeter, any at-risk area, you would stand near the areas, and spray Silly String around the room.
Wherever the string caught, seeming to hang in the air—was often a tripwire, that was designed to set off a bomb killing all in the immediate vicinity. (Source: Silly String Has a Real Purpose: Exposing Trip Wires. Ferro, Shaunacy)
Because Silly String is so light, it doesn’t set the wire off. And—you can get Silly String that glows in the dark and is bright. So it has become a popular request from soldiers in the field.
A woman in New Jersey, whose son was serving, even created a charity and collected 80,000 cans of the stuff to ship over to them.
My parents used to fuss at me so bad about my adventures, mainly because I would bring junk home from the multiple dumpster areas. One in particular was located in the middle of nowhere, which is now a very nice neighborhood. Before this area boomed into what it is now, this particular set of dumpsters was literally rich people stuff from the surrounding lake homes. If Dad told me to take off the trash, I drove the extra few miles down the small road to go to these. Anyways, one day I hit mega jackpot!
Since these were so remote, nobody ever really used them and they were not picked through. I can tell you we had pickers in the others, because one day I threw a bag in and the dumpster said “hey watch it!”. That was quite the surprise. On this day the stars aligned for me though. As I was emptying Dad’s old truck, my eyes happened to see what I couldn’t believe….a nearly new VCR. Back then dad said he wouldn’t buy one they were just too expensive. This was back in the late 80s when VCRs were literally thousands of dollars, and this one was top of the line too! Somebody must have gotten angry at it, as I could tell it had been bashed. It was lying in a pile of stuff, deep down inside. So I pull the trusty truck up to the door where I could crawl inside. Low and behold it gets even better! Under it was a fairly new Sears stereo system…..like WHAT!!!! This was thousands of dollars of stuff here, and me being 17 I was just overcome with emotion. The cabinet was smashed as someone had just tossed it all in. I didn’t care I was in heaven. I retrieved my prizes and headed home. I was beside myself. When I pulled up to the house, I was so excited I could barely speak. Dad was skeptical. I admit the stuff had been scratched and damaged, but it was complete!
I understand why someone threw it out. The VCR ate tapes more than it played them. At 17 though, my skills as a repair person were developing. What happened was the rubber was not staying on the wheel that drove the tape, it was slipping. Gluing the rubber to the wheel solved the problem. The stereo was way more complicated to fix. It only had one side that was working, the left channel. The right was dead. It took me some time to figure it all out, but with help from the neighbor down the street (who had a Commodore 64 controlling his whole house) we were able to get it repaired. It was a burned up circuit on the board. I held on to that stereo and VCR for years, until it became totally obsolete and I finally placed it for recycling. My roommate for college was utterly shocked with the electronics I had. He couldn’t figure out how someone who barely worked could afford such high end stuff. He was even more miffed when I said I literally got it for free. I was always scared he was going to steal it too.
I ran a company for years and I told my employees that I expected them at work every day unless they were truly sick or had something that had to me taken care of.
I paid well and took good care of my people. One day, a guy named Tommy called in sick. Later in the day, I had to go look at a job on a part of town I’d never been in. As I drove, there was a group of guys in a yard drinking beer. Tommy was there with them. I waved as I drove by, and the look on his face was priceless.
I had a car phone which was rare back then. Tommy called after a bit and I told him his check would be ready on Friday.
Later, his wife called and asked me to give him one more chance that this was the best job he’d ever had and that their family was more secure than they’d ever been.
I let him come to a staff meeting and stand up and tell everyone what he’d done. I passed out slips of paper to everyone and let them vote. Stay or fired. They wrote, folded the papers and put them in a hat as it went around.
Most voted to let him stay. I did and he was a great employee from then on. I think it made a strong impression on all of the crews and I’m glad I gave him another chance. If his wife had not called, he would never have gotten the second chance.
Shopping at One of the Last Open Kmart’s Before it Closes Forever! Westwood NJ
Signs of America.
When my mother started to suffer from dementia.
I was in that position. It’s not an uncommon position to be in.
My mother was living alone and had early dementia. While not 91, she needed help and someone to talk with. And she was slowly losing it. She was in her late 70’s and had cancer. She lived in a big “Manor” house about an hours drive out of Pittsburgh, PA.
My sister lived the next town over and didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Instead, she wanted to put her in a care-home for aged people, and then take over her estate. Which was really selfish, and rude, but her husband was / is a self-centered bastard, so what can you expect.
My other sister lived a five hour drive away, and while she wanted to do something, it really wasn’t possible. She had her own business, and was busy. She could visit maybe once a month, but that was it.
My younger brother lived in Colorado, had his own business and couldn’t do anything.
And I, well, I was living in Boston, MA at the time. I was working as the VP of an International automotive electronics company, and I (as the oldest) was faced with the task on what to to. My brother and older sister discussed the matter with me and none of us wanted to put here in a “home”. So it was really up to me.
I quit my job.
Packed up all my belongings, and moved into the “Carriage House” (a caretaker building) on the property. Technically, I didn’t live in the house, but I was with her every day. We shared meals together. I took care of the property, and drove her to her medical appointments and kept an eye on her.
I did this for three years.
Then on Easter day, she got really tired. She couldn’t eat dinner with all of us. Instead she just sat in the kitchen, unable to move. We ate, and talked and then we carefully helped her to the couch in the TV room.
We put on a rental movie, and watched it together. She closed her eyes and went to sleep. Everyone else left, and that night, I sat beside her writing e-mails to my girlfriend in China.
She never woke up.
And I, well, I sat beside her all night, and into the next afternoon. Hospice came. We moved her into a bed in the TV room. She laid there.
And I sat beside her.
I was there beside her as she passed on.
…
You can either be a man and take responsibility for your family, or not. I took responsibility, and those three years with my mother were very special to me. Treasures. Really.
After she passed on, a new chapter opened up in my life.
When has a Company in US ever lowered its retail costs to compete fairly?
The Answer is NEVER
At least not since the 1970s
Japanese cars and steel threatened to swamp out the US overpriced cars in the 1980s
You had the PLAZA ACCORDS to destroy the Japanese export market for two decades
Tik Tok has a huge market in US and threatens every Big Tech Giant and their applications
It became a National security threat
…
Huawei became a major competition for Apple globally and looked poised with their innovation to eclipse Apple by 2025
It became a National Security Threat and was hit with every commercial sanction in the book
…
Chinese Electric vehicles threaten to dominate the world market by 2025
Bang!!!! European Parliament decides to look into anti dumping and raise tariffs. After all, it became a National Security Threat.
The fact is these guys haven’t properly competed with any rival for more than five decades
I mean the West of course
They have a four way formula to keep skirting around competition:-
Powerful Brand Image and Billions of Dollars in advertising and marketing
Powerful Lobby Groups in US and powerful political forces to throttle any competition outside the Western Bloc plus Japan using the ‘National Security Threat’
Political manouvering to use Tariffs, Sanctions and vague Export controls to throttle foreign competition
Outright buying up of opposition through voluntary or involuntary acquisitions
In short ‘BULLYBOY TACTICS’
India does the exact same thing, so do most democracies these days
Dr Singh wanted multiple entities to set up mobile services in India to develop fair competition and lowering the prices
33 to be exact
Instead we set up mock bribery charges and wiped out the entire plan and established a Cartel
So the US and it’s lackeys will never play fair economics
They will talk about it of course until kingdom come
Tomorrow if China decides to ban Iphones for 50 people, they will shriek and scream about ‘Laissez Faire’ and ‘Free market’
Yet these demented fools will never see that they are doing worse. They have been brainwashed into believing they are the good guys.
The only way to defeat them is the Chinese way which involves simply innovating, lowering costs and establishing markets wherever possible in the Global South especially BRI countries where Chinas influence exceeds the West and their influence
And slowly keep your cards close to your chest and use some of the same protection tactics that the West adopts and cut off their products from your market threatening a SCORCHED EARTH POLICY.
Or have you forgotten what and how the United States treated Huawei?
My wife works for a big logistics company in China. When the US sanctions hit, DHL withheld some Huawei equipments in their European warehouses for American investigation. This totally set Huawei off and prompted the company to look for domestic alternatives. My wife says their service is worse and more expensive than DHL, in fact totally incomparable in Europe, but after the episode Huawei was just never going to trust DHL again. Thanks to the money Huawei keep throwing their way these past few years, they’ve been able to grow and expand in Europe, becoming more respectable. At this very monent she’s on a business trip in Europe to open a new office for their newly acquired Dutch subsidiary and the inauguration of a new cargo airline.
This is just one very narrow and personal peek into the consequences of the trade war, but I think it’s a window into other areas like chips as well.
American chips were good and cheap and flooded the Chinese market before the tech war, in fact they still do, so Chinese domestic chip makers just couldn’t grow. In 1997 Chinese ministry of education downright cut the semiconductor major in universities, probably believing such majors to be unnecessary since cheap American chips are readily available and Chinese companies just weren’t making them so graduates couldn’t find jobs.
The chip war has changed that. Now semiconductor is the hottest major in China and new Chinese engineers are filling up new Chinese chip start ups. If the US drops the sanctions and flood the Chinese market again now, it will still have tarnished its reputation as a reliable supplier, and we have an entire nation, if not more, wary of the potential of American political untrustworthiness disrupting supply lines. Just like Huawei refuses to use DHL despite its service being better and cheaper, allowing for my wife’s company to grow and maybe one day take on DHL, some Chinese companies will just not trust American chips again, despite them being cheap or not, leaving room for domestic chip business to grow.
Cambodian Girl Surprises Me With Kindness in Phnom Penh
As an attorney, I had someone served with an involuntary bankruptcy at his wedding.
He had refused to pay both child and spousal support for years. He worked for his daddy and claimed he wasn’t making any money. Almost everything he owned was in someone else’s name, except for the house.
He drove expensive cars, had a boat, a couple of quads and dressed in very upscale clothing.
He would eat at the finest restaurants and travel all over the world.
Yet his ex-wife could hardly put food on the table for herself and her children, who were his children also.
I filed an involuntary bankruptcy against him to get the equity in the house to pay for the support.
He kept dodging my process server. His car would be at his work, but they would claim he was not there. Same at home, his car would be there, but his girlfriend would claim he was not home.
I spent about six months trying to get him served, when his children (the ones he refused to support) got an invitation to his wedding.
I had my process server dress as a delivery lady, with a big gift-wrapped box. Someone at the door said they would take the gift, but the process server told them that the gift was so special, it had to be delivered to the man personally.
He came to the door, the process server opened the box and, “Mr. So-and-so, you have been served.” He blew a cork and started screaming at the process server using every cuss word you could imagine.
I found out later that he was served just as the wedding was about to start.
During one of the court proceedings, he told the judge that I ruined his wedding and his honeymoon, to which I replied that was OK because he had ruined his children’s lives.
Daddy came up with the money for the back support and my attorney fees. I also got a lien on the house for all future support payments. I then dismissed the bankruptcy.
I really dislike anyone who will not support their own children, especially when they have the ability to do so.
I consider this to be one of my finest cases.
Shanghai Has Changed Forever Since The Lockdown
A dated video. But gives you an idea bout the feeling at that time.
I arrived at a very old and very prestigious school for a job interview as a teacher. The first thing I thought upon arrival was “Oh my God! This place is way outside my comfort zone.” It looked just so venerable and posh. Much of the building was Tudor (1547ish) and extensively re-modelled in Victorian gothic. It was imposing and intimidating as a potential workplace.
But then I walked into the school office and Reception and there on the Reception desk was a letter “In-Tray” with a huge ginger Tom Cat curled up alseep in it. I thought that “only in a very old, very British, very eccentric school that was very sure of itself would a cat be sleeping in the Reception Desk in-tray.”
The cat was called Henry and he had the run of the whole school and everyone loved him.
Anyway, I got the job and was ringing round various companies to acquire new equipment for my Technology lab. One company I wished to use had no supply contract with the school and so I was asked by their representative on the phone to set up a credit account. The conversation went like this:
“We will need some business credentials for your company in order to set up the credit account”
“Yes of course; what do you need to know?”
“Firstly, how long has your business be operating?”
“Four hundred and seventy-five years”
“Ah. I don’t think there will be any problem setting you up with a credit account”.
The De-Civilization of America | Victor Davis Hanson
When I was in 3rd grade, there was a class bully by the name of Chris. My cousin Ryan was also in the class, and we were buddies. One day Chris decided to pick on my cousin. Incensed, I punched Chris in the face and knocked him clean out of his chair.
Horrified by what I had done, I quickly turned to see if the teacher had seen. She hadn’t. She had her back to the class writing on the chalk board and had missed the whole thing. I was so relieved. I attended a private school that employed corporal punishment and I was so sure I was going to get paddled.
I found out years later from my parents that she had actually seen the whole thing and had quickly turned to the board to hide her huge smile. She had been aching to punch Chris herself for months.
Chris never bothered me or my cousin again.
Constitution 101 | Lecture 1
Learn the meaning of the Constitution and the principles of American government in this new version of Hillsdale’s most popular course. Visit hillsdale.edu/con101 to begin your course today.
Two things – not necessarily strange, just quirky. My father died quite unexpectedly of an aneurysm over a decade ago. He had a terrific sense of humor, and an awful gold and tan plaid sports jacket from the 70s. My mom had begged him to get rid of it for years, but no. He even wore it to my best friend’s wedding, insisting she’d find it funny. She did. When I got to it in the closet, I wasn’t sure I could give it away, but I checked the pockets anyway. Each pocket held 13 crisp $100 bills – $3900 total.
The other item was inside a puzzle box I had given him many years prior. It was the kind where you had to tap on one section, twist another, etc. in a specific order to get it open. I heard something inside when I shook it. Took me almost an hour to get it open to find his neatly written recipe for barbecue sauce.
Gosh, I miss him!
9 Things Your Cat Does for You Without You Knowing
I am disabled and I see a psychiatrist, as required by disability.
My doctor was the only one in town who accepted medicare/medicaid. He accepted me as his patient when I went for my first appointment. We got on well right away. Over the years, he has helped me along my journey to better mental health. I have had to change medications quite a few times. Sometimes they stopped working. Sometimes the side effects were too bad, or they didn’t help at all. Each time, he listened to me describe my thoughts on the medications. He worked with me and offered different solutions in order to find the best fit for me. I sincerely like and respect my psychiatrist.
I had an appointment one afternoon, and at the end of our session, he told me that he wasn’t going to be accepting medicare/medicaid patients any more. My heart sank, because this meant either forking over cash, or driving to another town to see a psychiatrist.
Then he told me that he had decided to keep a handful of his medicare/medicaid patients and see them pro-bono. He said that I was one of those patients.
So now I have a doctor who sees me regularly, fills out paper work to the satisfaction of disability people, and prescribes my medications and monitors how they are working for me. And he does it without charging me a dime.
My income is small. This is an enormous benefit to me. I can’t thank him enough. I’m proud to know a charitable person who silently helps people with no expectation of gaining anything from it. If my situation changes, I will be glad to start paying him to see me, even if it hurts my pocketbook.
1980s Things That Are Not Socially Acceptable Today
My 8th grade PE teacher was tall, black, muscular, and pretty terrifying. His wife came by class one day; she was white, plump, mid height, and sweet. I’d never seen a mixed race couple before and was a little shocked. (It wasn’t that I didn’t like the idea; I had zero exposure to mixed race anything in a nearly all white neighborhood.) What was more shocking was she took none of his shit. He barked at her like he barked at us and she told him to settle down. She instantly became my hero. They loved each other a lot, that was obvious. I never thought twice about mixed race couples again.
Yep. Our local McDonalds recently completed their renovation, which includes the new kiosks. I walked in and noticed the kiosks, but went straight to the cash register.
The manager asked me to please use the kiosk. I said no thank you. She said, we’re trying to get all of our customers to use them. Again, I said no thanks. She got really huffy and stopped what she was doing at the french fry station and turned to me and said, why won’t you use them?
I said, “I didn’t come here this morning to do your job. You want me to take an order, then pay me.” That stopped her. She came and took my order.
While she was taking my order I explained, “To use your kiosk, I have to make multiple selections, and each one requires that I choose between many options. I don’t want to do that. I just want a breakfast sandwich and a coffee. I can tell you that in one simple sentence. I don’t have to pick through multiple screens of options of things I don’t want.”
That’s why you won’t ever see me at the kiosk.
“We Can’t Be Afraid Of Nuclear War!” Says Sean Penn
EU could become as dependent on China for lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells by 2030 as it was on Russia for energy before the Ukrosia war unless it takes strong measures.
Worried by China’s growing global assertiveness and economic weight, the leaders will discuss the European Commission’s proposals to reduce the risk of Europe being too dependent on China and the need diversify towards Africa and Latin America.
While the EU has a strong position in the intermediate and assembly phases of making electrolysers, with a more than 50% global market share, it relies heavily on China for fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries crucial for electric vehicles.
According to the European Commission, in 2021, the year before Ukrosia war, the EU took more than 40% of its total gas consumption, 27% of oil imports and 46% of coal imports from Russia.
Ending most energy purchases from Russia caused an energy price shock in the EU and a surge in consumer inflation, forcing the European Central Bank to sharply raise interest rates in a move that has curbed economic growth.
Lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells were not the only area of EU vulnerability.
A similar scenario could unfold in the digital-tech space. Forecasts suggest that the demand for digital devices such as sensors, drones, data servers, storage equipment and data transmission networks will rise sharply in this decade.
The EU has a relatively strong position in the latter, but it shows significant weaknesses in the other areas.
By 2030, this foreign dependency could seriously hinder the productivity gains that the European industry and service sector urgently require and could impede the modernization of agriculture systems essential to addressing climate change.
China Ignores the US & Deepens its Ties with Russia!
China Creates world’s most powerful RADAR Chip
Article HERE Amid US tech sanctions, Chinese scientists say they made the world’s most powerful radar chip
New semiconductor performs at orders of magnitude higher than similar power-amplifying chips in most existing radar systems, says Chinese team
It uses gallium nitride despite export bans by the US government blocking high powered gallium-based semiconductors to China
A research team with a major Chinese defence company says it has built a radar chip with a record power output using semiconductor technology that is the subject of strict US sanctions. The finger-sized chip can generate radar signals with peak power reaching 2.4 kilowatts. It is one or two orders of magnitude higher than the performance of similar power-amplifying chips in most existing radar systems.
This after China banns the export of Gallium to NATO countries.
American foreign policy is based around “security”. But our notion of “security” does not distinguish between a possible threat and an actual threat. If it could possibly be a threat, then we treat it as if it’s threatening us right now. We dominate the North American continent; that’s not secure enough, so we establish military bases in Europe; that’s not secure enough, so more bases in Asia; that’s not secure enough, so take over space. In fifty years, we’ll probably be trying to colonize Mars to forestall the “threat” of somebody else getting to it first (that’s a little joke). To get an idea of how American foreign policy works, imagine a psychopathic Uncle Sam, staring at some small country with creepy twitching eyes, and saying, “You’re threatening me” while reaching for a knife.
There is a thing called nuclear primacy. Suppose that you can attack another country with nuclear weapons and destroy the whole country without the possibility of retaliation. The United States can do this to any nation on the planet, except for Russia. If Russia’s arsenal degrades to the point where it can no longer retaliate, then the United States has nuclear primacy, meaning the ability to destroy anyone without consequence. Total impunity.
There is another thing called full spectrum dominance, which is similar to nuclear primacy, except for every single dimension of warfare, not just nuclear weapons. Domination of land, air, sea, cyber warfare, everything. The United States has this over most other countries. There are a few exceptions, though. China is one. The stated intention of American military policy is to achieve full spectrum dominance over any possible opponent. Total control.
When Washington describes China as a threat, they mean that China may one day be a country that the United States can’t dominate completely with zero consequences. The chances of this are quite small and remote, but higher than zero. That makes China a “threat”, in the way that Washington uses the word. So we have to remove the “threat” by ham-stringing China, preferably by partitioning them.
Which brings me to my next point: divide-and-rule is a strategy as old as empire. Western countries excel at it. The idea is to take someone else’s country and break it apart into many smaller countries. We call this “partitioning”. Partitioning weakens your enemy by destroying their unity. But partition is a nasty, aggressive word, and Washington likes to frame all of its actions as just and defensive. So instead of partitioning, we say we’re “decolonizing” other countries. We don’t want to dominate Russia and China by partitioning them. No, see, they’re the evil imperialists, so we’re going to decolonize them, tee-hee! We’re the good guys!
This last requires a lot of propaganda to frame our enemies as “colonizers”. So we take lands that have been Chinese for centuries and claim that the Chinese are evil colonizers for having those lands. Of course, we’re also evil colonizers, but that’s okay because I started with a land acknowledgment. This is also why you hear Western intellectuals say things like, “China has never been truly unified” and “There is no continuous Chinese civilization”. This is manufacturing a justification for partitioning China a few decades down the line. Or perhaps sooner than that…
What I fear is that American hubris will suck us into a Thucydides trap. What if we decide that it’s intolerable for us not to control the world? What if we decide that World War Three is a better option? Because those are the only two options Washington sees as viable: total domination, or apocalypse.
Don’t get me wrong, by the way. I love my country. But the America I love is 4th of July parades, cookouts, and deer jerky. The America that glasses a small Middle Eastern country so some guy at Raytheon can get a new yacht — that America I don’t love.
It seems the Dutch Government has forbidden ASML to sell EUVs to SMIC from 1/9/23
Yet orders placed until 23:59 on 31/8/23 can be shipped and fulfilled.
So technically ASML can ship orders to SMIC upto the time the last order placed on 31/8/23 is fulfilled
That’s for 21 EUV Machines & 1850 DUV Machines
In September, ASML has delivered 4 EUV Machines & 390 DUV Machines
Meanwhile there is another legal complication
SMIC has now introduced a Distributor company who can buy EUVs from ASML and simply sell them to SMIC for a 10% commission (10% is just an example)
Now the Dutch order said only SMIC was forbidden from receiving ASML EUVs so ASML has also accepted 8 more orders for EUVs from this distributor
Technically Dutch Govt cannot specifically forbid ASML from selling to China as a whole as that is a major WTO violation
So they can only blacklist importers
So China can keep bringing up new distributors and placing orders and ASML is happy because TSMC has cancelled 24 Machines recently and i am sure China offered full price for the machines
Ultimately MONEY TALKS
Once again the US is furious but again it’s all about the legalese now
SMIC is forbidden so an agency buys and sells to SMIC
The Dutch look the other way of course
ASML is delighted because they sell more machines
My guess is this new agency will be blacklisted soon and they will incorporate more laws to prevent such measures
Yet that gets China another 8 machines plus a further 24 machines which I bet China will place as they are already in process
This means SMIC technically can make 7 nm and 5 nm Chips in decent quantities at least till 2026/2027
By then they should crack some breakthrough
So China has gained TIME and the Dutch have put business ahead of stupidity
Just like NVDIA and Intel just sold products to China which were slightly off the specs in huge numbers
Economics is ultimately invincible
Reality
Beef Medallions with Cognac Sauce
Beef Medallions wCognac Sauce
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1 teaspoon (packed) brown sugar
1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup canned beef broth
1/2 cup Cognac or brandy
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 (4 to 5 ounce) beef tenderloin steaks (each about 1 inch thick)
Fresh Chives
Instructions
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat.
Add shallots and sauté until tender, about 4 minutes.
Add brown sugar; stir 1 minute.
Add chicken broth, beef broth and Cognac. Simmer until sauce is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 20 minutes.
Add cream. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.)
Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat.
Add steaks; cook to desired doneness, about 4 minutes per side for rare.
Transfer steaks to plates.
Add sauce to skillet; bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Slice steaks; fan slices on plates.
Top with sauce and garnish with chives.
Notes
Serve Cabernet Sauvignon with the steaks.
The cost of living in Chiang Mai, Thailand 2023. Retire in Thailand affordably – live in Chiang Mai!
The rest of the world is a great IMPROVEMENT over that of the “good ol’ USA”.
When my daughters were babies/toddlers, I/we used to have to walk to the supermarket and back to get our groceries for the week. Most of the time, this went alright. It was a bit of a juggling act and it always stressed me out on the way home, but it was also nice to get out with them without my then husband.
Anyhow, one day we’re really struggling to get home. My oldest didn’t want to walk and I couldn’t carry them both and the bags etc, so we’re doing everything the hardest way possible. The only way possible. Then a lady, a bit older than myself, stopped me and told me to ‘wait right there please”. I was completely confused, but thought maybe she was going to get her car or something? Who knew. I was exhausted, my kids were too, so we waited and I thought I was an idiot for waiting.
Then she came back, with a double stroller. Not some glamorous kind, nothing with all the bells and whistles and not brand new, but one that I could use as a buggy or as a stoller. I could put one of my kids in it and still have room behind them for bags, or put both kids in.. or neither kid and lay the front seat down. Anyways, it was perfect for us and I could’ve cried and kissed that lady. She kept saying she didn’t need it anymore and it wasn’t a big deal, but it was a huge deal for us. I offered to pay her or do something, but she wouldn’t hear of it. I’ll never forget her generosity or how much she helped us.
RUSSIAN SUPERMARKET TOUR! 🇷🇺 0,2$ BREAD and 0,2$ POTATO
When I was taking care of my mother in Pennsylvania (she had cancer, and was living alone) I was responsible for the house care taking. This was a “manor”; a massive old house on 11 acres of land.
I did a lot of work on the property; renovating buildings, fixing things, and what-not.
One day, I went about the property and painted fresh white paint on all the water taps that littered the yard.
As I was painting, I heard something that sounded like a shaking rattle and then suddenly there was a blur in front of my eyes, and then nothing.
…
Sigh.
…
I hopped back on the tractor and rode to the manor, parked it in the “carriage house” workshop and started to notice that my arm seemed to be sore. I felt a little dizzy and so turned in early.
The next way I woke up with “cotton mouth”, and my arm was all yellow and swollen up and puffy. It was one big lump of piss-colored balloon / eggplant / muscle. I looked in the mirror and I looked like shit.
When looking at my arm, I saw two tiny puncture holes. That to this day I still have.
And that is my story of what it is like getting bit by a rattlesnake.
One of my favorite Vietnam veteran stories the likes of which never get told. I had a buddy in college post army who was a “Vietnam Vet”. Why the quotation marks? He gets to Nam and settles in at repl. During the first formation an NCO asks if anybody there has experience as a bartender. Having grown up in his father’s bar in Rochester, NY he raises his hand. After checking him out to their satisfaction he packs his shit and is flown to Guam to run the officer’s club bar for the length of his tour. His total time in Nam was about 36 hours!!!
U.S., Japanese and South Korean fleets scurried away during military exercises last month. Do they want to repeat?
Why don’t they stay? It turns out that they were afraid that the PLA would take over their nest!
If it were an actual battle, Apra Naval Base and Andersen Air Force Base would have been reduced to ruins long ago. The United States Indo-Pacific Command is in danger.
image
Taiwan is Chinese territory, Taiwan is in China.
The Yankee fleet only dared to circle around, but did not dare to enter the area near Taiwan.
Transport ships, transport planes, the PLA lets them in, they can come in. If they are not allowed in, they can only fire with their mouths on the other side of the network.
Nice Picture
2023 09 26 16 54w
Herbed Steak
Herbed Steak is excellent served with hot buttered noodles with dill.
Herbed Steak 610×407 1
Ingredients
1 pound round steak
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon herb seasoning
Instructions
Cut steak into serving-size pieces.
Combine flour and seasoned salt.
Pound into steak. Brown meat on both sides in hot oil in heavy skillet.
Add remaining ingredients. Cover; simmer 45 minutes, or bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.
so I decided to walk over to them and I asked her ” how was the meeting today darlin? ” she looked at me and said ” it was good, I’ll tell you more about it when we get home in a few “. I replied with ” wonderful I’ll pick up your favorite for dinner”.
The two guys left in a hurry and she told me ” you have no idea how much that meant to me …. thank you.” I said “you’re very welcome ma’am …. you can never be too careful. “
I made sure the guys left before I walked back to my car and as I was walking back all I could do was think ” I hope a man does that for my future daughter one day”.”
~ Cody Bret
Confession of the Day
$300k in debt (no mortgage). $297,677.49 to be exact.
$215k law school debt, $40k graduate school debt, $25k credit cards, $11k car loan, and a personal loan.
After 5 years of deep denial- I think I’ve finally accepted how badly we fucked up. I feel like I’ve gone through the stages of grief multiple times this year.
We paid for very expensive degrees that didn’t need to be. We racked up a shit ton of credit card debt by spending money like entitled a**holes and not using a budget. I wish I could go back in time, slap 23 year old me (and my husband) and ask, repeatedly- what the hell are you doing??
We would go out to bars and dinners every weekend with friends. insert Discover card. We would regularly order takeout. insert Amex card. We went on yearly vacations. insert Jet Blue card. We financed furniture???? Not to mention we walked right into the “prestige” private school bullshit.
We ate that shit up. And for what? To impress people? To prove that we’re worth something? All the above? It’s so normalized to be in debt as a millennial.
Everyone had credit cards, everyone was going out, everyone had student loans. We were super normal! You’re only young once- amiright?!
I found Dave last year, when I was hitting rock bottom. My debit card was getting declined at the gas station and the grocery store regularly.
After listening to The Ramsey Show for a couple weeks, I realized how screwed we were. I remember the first time he talked about the borrower being a slave to the lender.
That’s exactly how I felt. I couldn’t breathe. I had a mental breakdown. I haven’t really been able to relax since. My husband and I spent all last year fighting about money and almost got divorced.
We’re on BS2 right now. We should bring in around $170k this year before side gigs. We have paid off $12k since June. We started FPU last week. We’re throwing everything at the debt. I’m working my ass off. Husband is working 65+ hrs a week and donating plasma.
We dropped more than half of our “friends.” It’s a humbling experience to say the least. My mother in law makes us dinners a couple days a week to help out.
Family and friends ask why we’re not having kids or buying a house yet. The whole situation is embarrassing, but we deserve it.
I don’t blame anyone but myself. I’m not expecting anyone to “forgive” or payoff our dumpster fire. We were extremely stupid and entitled, but we need to get out of this ourselves. I just need prayers that we can make it out of this. We will. Hopefully better than who we were before.
Just trying to “embrace the suck” and keep up the motivation.
Europe-US tech war breaks out! 17 European countries boycott the US!
I’m serious when I say this is actually one of the cruelest things you can do in a battle because it exploits human’s basic survival instinct.
Leave your enemy a way to escape.
Human beings aren’t so different from the many types of creatures that roam the planet, One of the universal traits shared by so many species is this. Fight or flight or freeze.
In a situation that presents danger, living creatures will perform one of these actions. Fight, meaning we leap into action and confrontation. Flight, meaning we try to remove ourselves from the danger. Freeze, where we are facing an unfamiliar situation and do nothing.
As the last several thousand years of recorded history has shown, humans have yet to grow beyond these basic instincts. It’s a part of who we are.
The brilliance comes in exploiting this mindset in a military situation. Consider a classic military tactic. Encirclement.
The idea of encirclement is simple. Use your forces to surround an enemy and isolate them. Cut off their means of supplying themselves with material and reinforcement. Strangle them as you make sure that you don’t run low on supplies. It’s classic thinking for military warfare, especially in regards to sieges.
But I want you to think of that in terms of what I just told you. “Fight, flight or freeze”.
If you take away an enemy’s ability to retreat, you are actually giving them a subtle advantage.
This might be hard to understand for people who don’t expect to face life or death situations. Facing a scenario where you have a high chance of dying without chance of survival is less stressful than a situation where you might survive. Why is this? Because it’s less complicated.
if you make your enemy think they can’t escape, you remove the “flight” option. And you have increased the chances of them choosing “Fight”.
I’ll use a real world example to explain this better. Pirates.
Now back in the days when piracy was men in giant wooden ships sailing through the Caribbean, there were several unspoken rules of piracy. One of the most important of which was FLAGS. A lot of successful pirates had their own heraldry, much like Noble Houses of Europe.
Pirates would hide their flags from plain sight. They would only unfurl their banners when stalking targeted ships. They would suddenly spring the flag from cover, displaying to their prey their intent to rob and plunder.
Now if you were some poor merchant ship who was suddenly ambushed on the high seas, your greatest fear was seeing THIS flag.
If you saw a RED Pirate flag unfurled that meant you were in serious trouble. Pirates who used red flags intended no mercy for their prey and were going to kill and do unspeakable things to whomever they captured, even if they surrendered and begged for their lives. Red flag pirates were torturous, murdering bastards who would probably laugh as they set you on fire or tossed you into the sea with weights tied to your ankles.
What you wanted to see was a white pirate flag.
Pirate flags that had white (or lacked red generally) were from pirate crews who were more reasonable. Generally if you surrendered to these pirates (either immediately or after a short battle), the worse they would do is steal your valuables, most of your food and maybe abduct some of your crew. After that they’d let you go peacefully. They would usually kill you only if you fought to try to stop them. If you happened to be belligerent and refused to give them your supplies, they would probably torture you or threaten to torture you.
Defeating your opponent isn’t just skill at arms. There’s a mental component to combat and sometimes you can defeat an opponent before you even cross swords.
If you are a pirate with a red flag, here is what your opponent is going to be thinking.
“Okay that pirate ship is coming for me. If I surrender or do nothing, they are definitely going to kill me. If I fight back, they MIGHT kill me. But if I fight back, maybe I’ll kill them before they kill me. I might even be able to win and go home. I think I’m going to fight back.”
If you are a pirate with a non-red flag, here is what your opponent will be thinking.
“Okay that pirate ship is coming for me. If I surrender or do nothing they are probably going to let me go free if I let them steal everything. If I fight back I might be able to win. If I fight back though, I could lose, be captured and then tortured to death in front of friends. Combat is unpredictable, I could be killed fighting before the battle is over. If I die I won’t be able to go home, get a drink, make love to a woman and live a peaceful life. I think I’ll take my chances with surrendering.”
Contrary to what you may think, it is a poor sign of a warrior to seek battle over capitulation. Fighting is unpredictable. On the high seas, pirates defined success by captured treasures, not the number of people they killed. Sailors knew this. This is why when pirate offered fair terms their enemies surrendered almost immediately.
If you back a man into a corner, he will fight to survive. If you back a man into a corner and give him a way to escape unharmed, there’s a good chance that man will take the escape route.
This is why professional armies don’t massacre their prisoners. It’s why armies take prisoners in the first place. If you have an enemy surrounded, that enemy faces a choice. Fight and likely die or surrender and likely live. It’s much harder to have a man fight knowing he can surrender than fight until he stops breathing.
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Facing death when it’s the only option is easy. Facing death when you want to survive is hard.
Now here comes the brutal part.
As your enemy runs through that corridor of escape you strike HARD. Your enemy thinks they are safe. That they still have a clear path to run away. Then you attack them at their most unsuspecting. Take advantage of their weakness.
This is a tactic that is used in battles of annihilation. Where the objective is to annihilate enemy spirit, not just manpower. There are countless examples of this used in history. But there is one example that chills my very soul when I think back on it.
Napoleon’s Folly
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It was the year 1812. Napoleon had just realized he couldn’t conquer Russia. Napoleon’s campaign to dominate the largest European kingdom had ground to a halt. He could win on the battlefield, but an extended conflict would ultimately accomplish nothing. The Russians refused to surrender, even when their own capital had been seized and the Tsar had fled. Facing an impossible situation, Napoleon ordered a withdrawal.
Now the Russians could have counterattacked, encircled Napoleon and tried to capture him with their superior numbers and knowledge of the land. What they did was worse. They let the French walk back the way they came.
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The French army marched back through lands they had already conquered. These areas had been picked clean of food. In their places was less than nothing. Napoleon’s grand army, the largest on Earth at that time, was cut off from supplies. This was literally as the Russian winter was beginning.
But they could still escape. The Russians were only behind them. So they started walking back.
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Yellow line represents French invasion into Russia. Black line indicates retreat. The thickness of the line represents amount of men.
All the while, the Russians bled them with raids. Mounted horsemen, Irregular militias. Pin prick attacks from a thousand directions. But never a concentrated military attack. The Russians kept bleeding the French. Bit by bit by bit.
The French couldn’t turn around and retaliate. The invasion had failed and now all they wanted to do was go home. They thought they would be safe if they just kept walking west. And they kept getting more and more hungry. The weather became worse and worse.
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This is when the Grand Army began to break down. Deserters abandoned the army in droves. Their equipment was insufficient for fighting in winter and broke down in unrelenting cold. And the Russians kept circling their flanks. Never surrounding them. Never stopping them from retreating.
So the French kept walking west. There was still a chance they probably thought. If they endured a few more days, a few more hundred miles, they could make it. They kept weakening themselves. Structure and order were undone as desperation infected the French ranks. They lost whatever advantage they may have had fighting the Russians directly and weakness began to suffocate them. Hunger, disease and deprivation on a massive scale.
The retreat from Russia lasted from October to December of 1812. By the time the Grand Army had entered friendly territory, they had been reduced to barely 20,000 emaciated survivors.
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And that’s how you destroy an army of 700,000 men. You give them hope of escape.
The Nurse
“Today I woke up feeling like I had a hangover. I’m starting my 4 day break from the ICU, after working 6 of the last 8 days. I drug myself down the stairs and starting cleaning house as I normally do on my days off. I glanced at myself in the mirror at the bottom of my stair case. Horror. My face blatantly shows the pure exhaustion that I feel, and my hair looks a complete mess. “Thank god I’m off work today and my patients won’t have to see this worn out version of myself” is my first thought.
People who aren’t nurses always tell me, “You only work three days a week? Wow! That must be great. I wish I had your schedule!”..Only three days a week? ONLY!? I wake up at 4:30AM, shake off my fatigue, drive an hour to work, and then begin my scheduled 12 hour shift. 12 often turns into 13 hours or even more depending on the patient load and if I were able to keep up with my charting. When I’m done and finally clock out, I drive home arriving around 8PM, where I strip out of my scrubs and collapse onto the couch where I snuggle my cats and tell my husband about my day until I pass out from exhaustion. I slip upstairs to bed, to the disbelief of my husband that I could possibly be so tired, and I set my alarm and prepare for my next shift.
ONLY 36 hours a week. But does anyone who’s not a nurse know what those 36 hours consist of? Juggling all my nursing tasks for each individual patient while also trying to communicate with the doctors, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, PT, OT, social work, our aides, the patients themselves, and their families?! Yes, that’s right, I communicate with all of these people on a daily basis. I am personal coordinator for my patients. I am their voice, their advocate. I must be aware of my patients needs at all times. Room 101 is going up stairs to cath lab at 0900. 102 wants their pain medicine at 0915. 103 needs to be turned at 0930. Got it. My mental check list is a never ending dynamic that I must prioritize and rearrange constantly.
My job is scary. Always thinking, always analyzing, ALWAYS aware of my actions. I could cause a patient to lose their life if I am not critically thinking about everything that I do and every medication that I give. Is this dosage appropriate, does this patient need this medication? It is all my responsibility to keep the patient safe.
Even when I am doing everything that I can it isn’t always enough. I’ve had family members displeased that I took a little longer to answer a call light. I’m sorry that I couldn’t get you a coke right away, I was busy titrating a lifesaving medication in the room right next to yours. I have been asked by a family member if I were qualified to even be a nurse, surely I was too young for that. I have been told that I am too weak to help lift a patient when in reality I can lift more weight that I weigh. Nursing is hard. I take all these comments and offer a kind response to remain professional even though it can make me feel really small at times. Not feeling appreciated is hard when all I am trying to do is help.
I have been there when a patient said their lasts words before being intubated and never being able to come off of the vent. I have been there as a patient has taken their last breaths on the earth. I have been there when a patient has decided that their body can no longer fight, and they would like to receive comfort care. I have provided comfort care as family members are silent, with tears streaming down their faces, as I turn the lifeless body of their once resilient family member. I have been there when a doctor has told a healthy, active patient in front of their spouse that they have stage 4 cancer, and will not survive. I have stood and held my tears to remain strong for family members who have had their hearts shattered by the news that their loved ones will not be coming home again. I have sobbed on my way home from work because my heart is shattered too. I am so sorry that you have to go through these things. I am so sorry that your loved one has cancer. I am so sorry that myself and the doctors couldn’t get your loved one to wake back up after being sedated on the ventilator. Nursing is hard. I am human. I care about my patients. How could I not? My heart breaks along with my patients and their family members. Then I go home and try to pretend that I have not been broken during my shift. I don’t want to burden my husband with my sadness, and I need to pull it together so I can go back to work in the morning and do it again.
So how do I do it? How do all nurses do it? How do we manage ONLY 36 hours a week? Because nursing is beautiful. I have been there as a scared patient on a ventilator has woken up so I held her hand and told her that everything would be okay. She could not speak as she had a lifesaving breathing tube down her throat. Somehow she managed to grasp a pen with her weak hands and wrote “I love you guys.” My heart exploded with joy. I have provided comfort to someone when they were far from comfortable. I have been there when a patient has come off of a ventilator after being on it for a week, and watched as they cried and said they were so happy to be alive. I helped bring that person relief. I have bought lip gloss for an elderly patient whose son forgot to bring in her lipstick. The smile on her done up face was priceless as she put on the lip gloss to complete her look. I have made a patient genuinely happy even though she is sick and in the critical care unit. I have been there providing comfort care to a dying loved one and family members have hugged me and thanked me for being the angel that their family member needs. Nursing is beautiful. Life is beautiful. I watch lives change, I watched lives end, and I watch lives get a second chance because of the care and medicine that I have provided.
Nursing is hard. Nursing is stressful. Nursing is exhausting. It drains me both physically and mentally. I come home tired, sweaty, and defeated. Not all days are good days. Nursing is not all sunshine and rainbows. But nursing is my life. I dedicate my life to saving the lives of others. Those break through moments when a patient miraculously recovers, when a patient holds your hand and tells you how thankful that they are for you, and the moments when myself and a patient can share in a good laugh. The feeling of pride I feel when my patient came in on a ventilator but walks out at discharge, makes it all worth it. All the wonderful, precious moments are why I love nursing. The great moments are what get myself and my coworkers through the long, difficult 12 hour shifts. Thank god for fantastic coworkers. My coworkers are like my family. I know that they understand the mental turmoil that I go through after a hard day. Only nurses understand truly what nurses go through.
So the next time that you want to tell a nurse that it must be great to work ONLY 36 hours a week, please be mindful of what those 36 hours are like. Give a nurse a hug today, and be thankful that we continue to do what we do, and don’t judge us when we drink a little extra wine. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
Sincerely,
the exhausted,
but still smiling ICU nurse.”
“Men Deserve To Be Lonely!” Responding To Backlash Over ‘The Male Loneliness Epidemic’
“Shoe, I don’t think you’ll ever know how much these videos mean, but thank you. It’s absolutely heart-warming to realise that not everyone in this world is crazy and I don’t have to feel so isolated, that not everything has to be a war, that I could go outside and not be scared to socialise based on things of which I have no control. Thank you.”
Confession of the Day
We got married almost 3 years ago. She started having an affair with her coworker 1 year ago. I got to know that because I saw his car outside my house one day. I had my suspicions. I hired a PI and gathered evidence that she was having an affair with him. I was angry.
Then I got a call from the coworker’s wife that she came to know about the affair. She only had texts they used to send but I have all the receipts of their hangouts. Together we decided to confront them. We used to meet up a lot. She told me she had suspected his affair since her pregnancy. They have 3 children together. One day we had an idea that we should sleep with each other as revenge.
We did and not going to lie it felt good. We have been meeting and having sex for a while. She is an amazing woman. I would say she is better at some things in bed than my wife. Mostly, I am very angry towards my wife. Because in some of her texts with her affair partner she and AP made fun of AP’s wife. Saying things like she has gained weight, her vagina was destroyed and other disgusting stuff. I cannot believe that she would say something like this while being a woman. She even made fun of my fertility issues saying that I am not a man because the chances of me having kids is very low.
I do not feel bad about my affair. I like the sex life I had with AP’s wife way more than my wife. She hardly ever gives me oral but expects me to give her one. At least AP’s wife was more enthusiastic about it and it was the best oral I ever had. AP’s wife wants to tell his husband.
I guess we are both tired about carrying out the revenge affair. We both got carried away. We were both so driven by the revenge that we got addicted to it.
I will confront my wife soon. I already have the divorce papers ready. Since we do not have a joint account or marital assets it will be easy for us.
AP’s wife might have some problems because they have kids but she has the power to take him to cleaners. I know I sound like an awful person. But I am already checked out of my marriage.
Last weekend, my boyfriend asked me to make some creme brulee, so I did. After dinner, I served the dessert.
My boyfriend then pulled out from his pocket a small spoon with an owl on it and handed it to me. I love owls very much (I have a lot of owl things around the house). He told me this is the designated spoon for creme brulee – just for me.
I was happy. And he, after finishing the creme brulee, also was happy.
I find that a lot of people, myself a few years ago included, tend to think and look for big things to be happy in life, like a big house, a fancy car, a steady career,… But then, I learned that, it doesn’t take much for you to be happy.
Life is a difficult journey, lots of things we have to deal with every day. But if you try to collect small and small pieces of happiness along the way, you will be much happier.
Couple finds cats in new home. Guess how they responded.
I laughed and laughed. He was a maintenance guy at Nabisco back when Nabisco had a Houston facility and he decides to steal a big bench grinder. It maybe weighed a hundred pounds and would have cost around eighty or ninety dollars. Anyway, he couldn’t get it past the guard house so he decided to back his truck up to the building and drop the bench grinder into the bed of the truck from the top of the second floor roof, that would be about a thirty foot fall. Now just doing this in my head and playing fast and loose with the numbers I’m figuring that the bench grinder is going to exert somewhere around ten thousand pounds of impact force when it meets the bed of that truck, and I stood back and smiled.
The grinder hit just in front of the third member and went through the bed of that truck like a cannon shot. It was fabulous!
Man Dies Car Accident; Learned The Truth About The Matrix (NDE)
While living in Atlanta, I met a guy who told me he wanted to move to New Zealand. I was a little surprised. At the time, it wasn’t a country you heard Americans talk about often, at least not in Georgia.
He was a culinary arts graduate though, and in my country (Jamaica) they tend to be pretty cultured people. Partially because of the classes but also because it attracts a lot of upper-middle class students (not sure why!). So I figured this guy likely just knew something I didn’t.
“Why do you want to move to New Zealand?” I asked.
“Because they speak English!” he answered. “I don’t want to have to learn another language.”
I puzzled over this in silence for a moment and then I asked. “Ok, but that’s an interesting choice just for English. I mean, why not Britain?”
“Well, I don’t know what language the British speak,” he responded.
I thought he was joking so I burst out laughing, but I soon realized he wasn’t joining in. “Wait….are you serious??”
“Yes, it’s not like I’ve ever googled that or anything.”
“England is part of Britain…” I hinted, still wondering if maybe he was just toying with me.
Nope. He started to get angry. “I don’t know what language they speak either.”
I was flabbergasted. “DUDE…what language do you think THE ENGLISH speak??”
“I just told you I don’t know,” he started to say, until it dawned on him. He stared at me in awkward silence for a moment and then he got up and left, lol.
He never spoke to me again. 😂
I don’t remember his name or even how we met, but every so often, I think about him and wonder if he’s gotten any smarter with time.
While living in a housing community, one morning I returned to where I left my car the previous night, it was gone. Wondering why someone would steal such a crappy car, I called the local police. I wanted a police officer to come out and take a report. Instead, the officer asked me over the phone where the car was removed(address), and license plate number. While we were talking on the phone, other community tenants were wandering the parking lot looking for their car too. The officer informs me that my car was at a local low yard and had been impounded with twelve other cars. It seems the community had issued new parking permits yet failed to notify ALL the tenants.
With a ride from a friend, off I go to the impound lot. When I arrive, I’m welcome by many young retired gang bangers covered with jail and prison colored tattoos. They hold my car hostage, demanding over two hundred dollars I didn’t have to lose. After I pay the ransom, I lean over the counter getting as close to the cashiers face as I can. I tell him I will be suing their company, and it will cost them far more than I’m paying. He responded, laughing, “I hear that threat a dozen times a day”. I respond, “get a good look at my face so you’ll remember me later as the one person who actually did sue you!”
Due to rampant predatory towing, in 2004, California signed into law a detailed code and section listing nearly 12 specific criteria that a towing company must preform prior to impounding a car. No towing companies ever satisfy these requirement. That same law listing the requirement also lists the penalties for towing company and possibly security staff non-compliance. I’m my case, it was four times the extortionist tow charge that they charged.
Off to court I go, filed and waited several months for scheduled court date. When our court date arrives, the company didn’t bother to appear. I was awarded everything I asked for, plus interest.
Off again I go to the tow yard with copy of court order demanding payment, they told me to “pound sand!” The next day the towing company attempted to appeal the order not knowing that you cannot appeal an order issued on a case in which you failed to appear.
Now the fun starts. Off to the Sheriffs Department with my court order to request a till tap levy. Due to the sheer volume of deadbeats in Orange County, this task takes another nine months to arrive. After nearly a year since my car was stolen and held for ransom, the Sheriffs department forcibly collected over a thousand dollars in restitution, penalty, and interest, from a very angry business owner. When it was all over and I’d received my money, I went back to the towing yard and thanked them for stealing my car.
I am Answering the question. I am not the one who asked it. I said how I handled it. To the one who asked it.
I am single. No girlfriend or wife to keep me company. I bought a house in a really nice neighborhood. After settling in one weekend I decided to go for a swim in my pool. Lo and behold, there were kids already in there. I thought, am I in the wrong house? I pinched myself. Nope I am in my home. So I sat outside to watch the kids to make sure they stay safe while swimming. After a couple hours they got out and left, saying hi as they left. Just as they were leaving. I told the kids that I really do not want anyone in my pool except me or my family, because of liability issues. Plus I am afraid the kids will urinate in the pool. (I did not tell them that.) So I told them my pool is off limits. They looked at me as if to say “Whatever “. Then they left.
It was OK for a couple days. Then one Saturday I heard the sound of someone in my pool. So outside I sit and watch the neighborhood kids. Like I said before I am single. With no companion. I had always wanted a dog. I thought not only would I have a life companion, I would also have a way to guard my home. So one day I brought my friend home. I installed a dog door and got him a huge comfy dog bed. Now since my dog has access to the back yard I posted warning signs by the gate to state “Guard dog on premises. Do not enter.” Did not think too much about it. Now since I got a friend I wanted to be active with him. We go on walks, go to the park to let him stretch his legs and run, as well as mine.
One morning I heard the doorbell and the dog barking to let me know someone is at the door. So I got up and went to the door. There were kids with towels standing at my door. I asked what they wanted. They told me they are afraid of my dog, and could I put him up so they could swim. I told them “I am sorry, but you are going to have to find another place to play.” I also told them every once in a while it would be OK, but only if they asked first and one of their parents was there to supervise them.” I never heard from them again. I am not saying you should do this, but that is how I solved my issue. Also I am glad I got a dog. He is my best friend and goes with me pretty much everywhere. Where you see me, you see Kronos.
It started so innocently. I asked my son to get me something out of the refrigerator. I forgot the word “refrigerator”. I pointed to it and said get me something out of “that.”
I opened the mail once and I received a ticket for running a red light. A camera saw it and I could view what it saw. It was early in the morning and I never tried to stop when the light was red. I could have killed someone. No cars were coming. I don’t remember even being there. Twice I have pulled out of a parking lot and for some reason, I touched the gas pedal hard instead of the brake. I have taken two driving tests by the VA. I passed. I have to focus on every aspect of driving. My driving days are numbered.
My doctor has given me two tests for dementia. Part of a test involves her giving me five words like “apple” to remember. Minutes later, when I am asked to repeat the words, I remember maybe two. I’ve seen a specialist for a four hour session. Drawing a clock, etc. are part of the test.
I have minor to mild dementia. It’s hard to scare me but dementia sure does.
I write and forget grammar rules I’ve known for years.
Any disease is a label, it doesn’t define me. I get to choose what defines me. I was diagnosed with dementia three years ago and I’m fighting it like hell.
Never take for granted looking in a mirror and knowing who you are. Someday I fear I will have no clue who the hell the person is that’s looking back at me.
I plan to fight dementia as hard as I can. I hope it will be years before I slip into total darkness.
My wife was moving from Virginia to Ohio, had a U-Haul reservation, and showed up on Saturday morning to pick up her truck. There was no truck, they had rented it out to somebody else, who showed up earlier that Saturday without a reservation. When asked about why they had done that, they blamed us for not being there earlier, on an 8–12 pick up window, when we showed up at 9:00.
Within an hour, we had a Ryder truck. However, later that afternoon, when we were nearly done packing up her stuff, U-Haul called to say they had her truck ready. We said “no” in very definitive terms. Sure enough, two weeks later, when my wife got her credit card statement, U-Haul had charged her for the rental in spite of not having the truck. The customer service representative at U-Haul was inflexible on the charge, stating that they had a truck for her, and it was her fault that she didn’t pick it up.
Never again, they suck. If you rent with them, it will happen to you.
China proposes a new domestic EUV lithography machine plan: “super large lithography factory”!
Wow, China is very innovative by proposing to build EUV lithography as an infrastructure project to get the advantage of large scale production.
This is a great idea as chips will always be needed in the future and it’s applications will be in every product.
By consolidating all the chips manufacturers together one can reduce the price of chips significantly.
No other country will be able to compete as it will be integrated in the infrastructure project. China will be self sufficient all the way through the 21st century.
My friend had something like this happen, the rented garage where he worked on his race car was broken into and burgled. They didn’t take the car but took a set of wire wheels with Dunlop Race Tires (a special order option for wet conditions) on them, along with all his tools, etc. He filed a police report.
Well, a week later my friend is downtown and sees an MG B parked at the curb, with his tires and wheels on it. He knew they were his because he had marked them with chalk showing which locations on the car they were on.
He went to a payphone on the same block called the police, and went back to stand by the car.
A cop showed up within a few minutes. He explained to the police officer, and. They waited a while, but the owner didn’t come back.
The police took all the information off the car and called a tow truck.
They eventually tracked down the owner of the car, who was related to the people who rented him the garage. They searched his garage and found all my friend’s tools and other things that were stolen.
I’d vote it would be Ben L. Salomon who was an army Dentist during WWII. In June 1944 he volunteered to replace a wounded surgeon due to there not being much need for a dentist during combat when all hell broke lose.
The Japanese General Saito, after taking massive casualties and being pushed back so far, ordered his remaining 3000-5000 to advance to attack the American forces and die with honor. Outside the medical tent Captain Salomon saw a Japanese soldier bayonet some of the wounded soldiers. He grabbed a nearby rifle and killed the Japanese soldier and went back to tending the wounded inside the medical tent. At that point the defensive line collapsed, unbeknown to Salomon, and two more Japanese soldiers ran into the tent. Salomon clubbed both of them with the rifle, then shot one and bayoneted the other. Four more Japanese solder started crawling under tent. He shot one, bayoneted another one, knifed the third, and head-butted the fourth, allowing one of the wounded soldiers to shoot him. Realizing the dire situation, he ordered the medics to evacuate the wounded. Meanwhile he stayed to provide cover for the soldiers evacuating.
When the military retook the area 15 hours later they found Captain Salomon’s body slumped over a machine gun with 76 wounds from being shot and bayoneted (autopsy revealed 24 of them were inflicted before death), and the bodies of 98 Japanese soldiers piled in front of his position. Based on the blood trail of the wounded Captain, Salomon relocated the machine gun 4 times to maintain a clear field of fire due to the build up of piles of bodies.
Ben L. Salomon is pretty much the embodiment of “Going Out in a Blaze of Glory”
The Feline Couple Came to the Family’s Doorstep Every Day
Nice story.
My wife is a parasite and I feel stuck
My wife (37f) and I (38m) and I have been married for 11 years, together for a few years before that, and have known each-other for over 20 years. We met online when she was 16 and still in high school, and I was 17 and just starting college. For the sake of this rant we’ll call her Connie.
Connie and I lived several states away and, at first, there was some attraction on her part – but I just wanted to stay friends. Over several years we grew closer and decided to have a long distance relationship. I was always awkward with girls in high school and it continued into adulthood. With Connie things just felt natural. After a couple years, when we were talking about meeting in person, she destroyed me. She let me know that she had been having multiple other online relationships and one of these men came to meet her and she wanted to be with him.
Looking back, the smart thing to do would have been to end the story there. Nearly a year later she reached out to me, saying she was sorry and that she missed our friendship. I decided to give friendship another chance and, for a while, it worked. She had a couple other relationships. We’d talk and text regularly. But, over time, the old feelings came back. I admitted them to her and she said she felt the same.
We decided to give things another shot. Eventually she came to visit me and then we would alternate visits. We talked about her coming to live with me, and she did. She worked for a national chain store, so the plan was for her to simply transfer locations. She didn’t do that. Instead she quit. After a couple attempts at finding work, she asked if she could stay at home and take care of the house. Cook, clean, etc. I agreed, since we didn’t really have many expenses. She also refused to get her own bank account, instead using mine and calling everything ‘our’ money. Looking back, the red flags are so blatantly obvious – but I was young and in love.
She never cleaned and rarely cooked.
Instead we ordered out most of the time, wasting any money I had saved. We got several pets, at her insistence. She begged me for over a year to get her pregnant because she wanted a baby. I said I wanted to get married first, which is what ended up happening. When my daughter was an infant we bought a house in order to have more space. She also wanted to be nearer to one of her world of warcraft friends, who we’ll call Aaron.
It was because of Aaron I learned of her fixating behavior.
She will find a male friend online, become ‘besties’ with them, and then eventually find someone else. After Aaron it was Roy. Roy lived further away, but was in a bad relationship with his own wife (ironic) and suicidal. Connie begged me to let him come stay with us until he could get on his feet, admitting she’d already invited him. Defeated, I agreed since I didn’t want to make someone homeless.
He lived with us for a year before he was able to get a job. He is still living with us nearly 9 years later. And to be quite honest it’s because of him I haven’t gone completely insane yet. Connie still barely does any housework. Roy is the one who does the dishes, laundry, and yardwork. All of it.
He does not pay rent, but Connie has access to his bank account and regularly spends his money to the point of overdraft. In the interim years I’ve mostly separated my money from her. There is a bank account she does not have access to, with some savings and from which I pay our bills. If I didn’t do this, she would spend me to overdraft as well. Some of my paycheck goes into a shared account for her, which she regularly overdrafts. After Roy lived here for a while she found another man to be friends with and the cycle continued.
We have two children now, and she barely spends any time with them. Preferring instead to smoke weed (it’s legal here) and play video games for the entirety of the day. Sometimes she cooks, sometimes she’ll even straighten up a bit. However she has filled my house to the brim with clutter. Every room has boxes and boxes of useless shit. Some of it untouched.
I knew she had mental health issues when we were dating, but they have gotten worse and, with the use of tik-tok, she has weaponized them against me. Every time I criticize her for ordering stuff we don’t need (such as groceries that we already have, or junk we will never use) she defends herself by saying she has ADHD and it’s a symptom. She probably does have it, but she’s undiagnosed. She won’t go to a psychiatrist for it. Her medical doctor prescribed her antidepressants, which have helped, but not with everything. The thing is, I have plenty of friends with ADHD. They view it as a part of them which needs to be addressed and worked around/through. She sees it as an excuse to do whatever she wants without consequences.
Recently we went on vacation and she asked if her her latest friend, who is recently divorced and looking for jobs in our area, could stay at our house while we were away (though Roy would be there). I agreed, since it felt bad to make him spend several thousand dollars a week on a hotel room. He’s still here, and it’s been weeks. He’s done some Zoom interviews and occasionally does door dash to make extra cash, but he’s still here. We’ll call him Joe.
Connie and I have hit a breaking point and are talking about divorce. After a long conversation she’s admitted she sees nothing wrong with her behavior, and finds it aggravating that I try to ‘fix’ her. I realized then that there is nothing for me in this relationship anymore. She’s also admitted to having feelings for Joe, and he is in love with her.
The problem now is money. We have 60k left on our house and just bought a new car. She wants to keep the house and the car when we split. I’m fine with this because I would rather live somewhere that isn’t full of her garbage and I don’t drive. But she can’t pay for them, and no bank in their right mind would give her a loan to buy me out. Even if they did, she couldn’t pay it on her own (either Roy or Joe or both would be paying for it).
I want to be done with this relationship so badly, but I feel like I’m trapped here. My kids love their school and I don’t want to make them move. I’m more than happy to get my name off of the house and the car, get some money from the equity, and start over. It would be great to take my kids each weekend and actually DO things with them. But I don’t see a path to get there. I feel trapped in my own house, which is becoming increasingly full of my wife’s pets (both human and otherwise) and all of her garbage.
Even though I want out, I still love Connie (in a way) and don’t want to hurt or destroy her – even though it’s probably better than what she deserves. She first broached the topic of divorce, but now she gets sad regularly thinking about it – and is confused at why I am so often upset with her. All of the stress of having her, and Roy, and Joe, and two young children is eating away at me. And I feel ashamed of the divorce. Ashamed that I couldn’t fix her. Ashamed that I couldn’t put my foot down and say no. Ashamed that there are multiple people living in MY house that I don’t want here. I haven’t told my extended family or friends yet, though I am going out with a friend tomorrow and plan to tell him. And we haven’t told the kids either. It’s all eating me up inside, but just typing this out has helped. I hope it wasn’t too bad of a read. And I hope I can get through this situation sooner rather than later.
I asked DIGITAL NOMADS how they MAKE MONEY in Bali
Nice Picture
2023 09 26 16 5f3
The How And Why Of Heroin Addiction
Let me explain it to you, I’ve been an opiate addict for a long time and tried many drugs.
Drugs that are ‘uppers’ have the most ‘obvious’ euphoria.
For example if you take adderall/coke/meth/speed/MDMA you will get this shining bright euphoria, self confidence, energy, and other drug-specific feelings (for meth like you are king or for MDMA like you love everyone).
However, you owe these drugs back what they delivered to you.
After a meth binge, or lots of MDMA use, or staying up all night on coke you will feel like shit.
To an extent this aspect is similar to an alcoholic hangover.
On the other hand, for many people who experiment with heroin they are underwhelmed (not including IV usage, but most experimenters rarely ever IV first time).
They just feel good, chill, happy, but they feel like this spooky drug ‘heroin’ hasn’t delivered. They are just mellow.
Oh obviously it has all been a lie they will think.
Heroin isn’t spooky, it’s chill.
It’s not addictive like everyone else thinks. It doesn’t make you do stupid shit or stay up all day and hallucinate like amphetamines or coke. It doesn’t empty your serotonin like MDMA or give you a hangover like alcohol.
People tend to just think oh, what a nice drug.
So the next day they wake up and everything is normal. No headache or shitty feeling–just a slight afterglow of that nice feeling. Oh it was cheap as well! It only cost $10 for a whole night of being high! I thought people said heroin was expensive?
And then next weekend comes… There are all these drugs I could do but I liked heroin. It didn’t ‘fuck me up,’ I could still think clearly. No hangover. No feeling like shit later. I still was awake. It just made me happy and content with life. Oh and it’s only $10! Well, I should get some more for the whole weekend.
This is great!
I will use Heroin on the weekends now!
Now let’s say this person works and has responsibilities. He knows he can’t go into work drunk, or on MDMA, or high. So he doesn’t. It’s actually simple.
But heroin… Well the user might actually find they do better work on heroin.
Instead of being sad or grumpy or depressed with his job… he is just… happy. Mellow. Content. Everything is fine and the world is beautiful.
It’s raining, it’s dark, I woke up at 5:30AM, I’m commuting in traffic. I would have had a headache, I would have been miserable, I would have wondered how my life took me to this point.
This point I’m at right now. But no, no, everything is fine. Life is beautiful. The rain drops are just falling and in each one I see the reflection of every persons life around me. Humanity is beautiful. In this still frame shot of traffic on this crowded bus I just found love and peace. Heroin is a wonder drug. Heroin is better than everything else. Heroin makes me who I wish I was. Heroin makes life worth living. Heroin is better than everything else. Heroin builds up a tolerance fast. Heroin starts to cost more money. I need heroin to feel normal. I don’t love anymore. Now I’m sick. I can’t afford the heroin that I need. How did $10 used to get me high? Now I need $100. That guy that let me try a few lines the first time doesn’t actually deal. Oh I need to find a real dealer? This guy is a felon and carries a gun–he can sell me the drug that lets me find love in the world. No this isn’t working, I need to quit.
To answer your question, heroin feels nice.
That’s all, it just feels very nice. Y
ou can make the rest up for yourself. Attach your own half-truths to this drug that will show you the world and for a moment you will feel as clever as Faust.
Redfin Reports San Francisco Is About To Collapse
“I’m happy that we sold our house there a few years ago. I didn’t want to risk that for an AirBnB rental.”
Boxloads of New COVID-19″ Death Darts Arrive at US Military Bases Marked “2023-2024”
Box loads of Pfizer’s latest COVID-19 Death Dart, marked with its brand name COMINARTY” are arriving at US Military Bases. The boxes are labelled “2023-2024.” They’re planning another COVID outbreak to steal the Presidential Election (again) next year.
This has got to be one very smart virus; it seems to KNOW that it can only come out when a Presidential Election is coming, so they can demand mail-in paper ballots, and steal the election again; just like they did in 2020.
Except we’re not falling for this again. DO NOT COMPLY.
No more of their death dart, phony, “vaccines. No more masks. No more social distancing, and for damn sure, no more “lockdowns.”
That whole thing was total bullshit for a virus that is no worse than a nasty Flu.
These were words spoken by a 5-year old girl under my care when I worked in a Paediatric Oncology ward a few years ago.
She was a Beta Thalassemia Major patient. A real cutie, i can still remember her curly hair, friendly smiles and she was always very talkative on her good days. She had undergone two bone marrow transplants in the past, but came back with recurrent complications from the procedures.
We tried our best, but she was dying. And she knew it. We were on the verge of crying when we did our morning review that day, and heard her; comforting her parents. She then passed away peacefully in her sleep, after weeks of fighting.
(May you rest in peace, baby girl).
The “American Dream” is actual Slavery (It’s all a Lie)
Outstanding message! It’s such a materialistic world and we’ve been brainwashed to think the more possessions the better. It’s not true. Sad that it takes us all our lives to realize the lie.
The news is full of headlines about ‘China’s economic collapse’ — ignore them
Once again, the Western media Establishment, and sadly some on the left, are talking up an impending economic disaster in China, when the truth is quite the opposite, argues JOHN ROSS
IN THE last four years, covering the period of the Covid pandemic, China’s economy has grown two-and-a-half times as fast as the US, 15 times as fast as France, 23 times as fast as Japan, 45 times as fast as Germany, and 480 times as fast as Britain.
To add in smaller G7 countries, China has grown four times as fast as Canada, and 11 times as fast as Italy.
China’s outperformance of advanced capitalist countries is even greater in per capita terms — a still better measure of productivity changes and potential for increasing living standards.
China’s per capita GDP grew three times as fast as the US, five times as fast as Italy, 44 times as fast as Japan or France, and 260 times as fast as Britain — while per capita GDP fell in Germany and Canada.
China’s outperformance of developing capitalist countries shows the same pattern — China’s per capita 4.4 per cent GDP annual average growth compares to 2.6 per cent in India, 1.3 per cent in Brazil, or 0.9 per cent in South Africa.
What is important about such economic growth, of course, is not abstract statistics but its meaning for the real lives of ordinary people.
The International Labour Organisation data on real, inflation-adjusted, wages shows that up to the latest available data — for most countries to 2022, and for India to 2021 — China’s annual real wage growth was 4.7 per cent.
For Britain it was 0.1 per cent, for the US it was 0.3 per cent, in France it was minus 0.4 per cent, in Germany minus 0.7 per cent and in India minus 1.3 per cent.
Given this enormous economic outperformance by China of capitalist countries, any rational discussion that should be taking place in Western mainstream media about the international economic situation would be, “why is China’s economy hugely outperforming the US and the rest of the capitalist West?” and, “what lessons are to be learned from China’s socialist economy that is so outperforming the West?”
For the left, the issue that needs to be assessed and publicised is, “Why are real wages rising 18 times as fast in China as in the US, 44 times as fast as in Britain, while in France, Germany or India real wages are falling?”
Indeed, the present author would argue that much greater stress should be placed on the latter point. The international left has begun to absorb that China has lifted more than 850 million people out of World Bank-defined poverty in 40 years — by far the greatest poverty reduction achievement in human history.
But it has not yet internalised how rapidly not only the poorest but average living standards are rising in China — far faster than in any Western country.
But, of course, this real economic situation can’t be discussed in the mainstream media, because its conclusions would be too damaging for the capitalist West.
Instead, a type of mad discussion is unfolding, with US claims about China’s economy becoming increasingly bizarre — one might say deranged — as they get further and further out of touch with reality.
President Joe Biden, for example, recently made a speech claiming China’s economic growth rate is “around 2 per cent,” when it was 5.5 per cent in the first half of this year and, as already noted, China’s economy is growing two-and-a-half times as fast as the US.
Biden bizarrely claimed that in China “the number of people who are of retirement age is larger than the number of people of working age” — entirely false, and inaccurate by a figure of many hundreds of millions of people.
Discussion in the US financial media equally refuses to face real facts. Because I am an economist, every morning, after the overall news, I switch on Bloomberg TV to catch up on the latest economic data. Discussion there is like Alice Through the Looking Glass — the book the principle of which is that everything is reversed compared to the real world.
Apparently, according to Bloomberg’s analysis, China’s annual average of 4.5 per cent a year growth in the last four years is an economy in severe crisis, whereas the US’s 1.8 per cent is allegedly strong growth — not to speak of Britain’s 0.1 per cent. Similar rhetoric, out of all contact with factual reality, pervades the Financial Times, The Economist, or the Wall Street Journal.
The left is well used to such US political lying — the completely fake claim that North Vietnamese ships attacked US naval vessels on August 4 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin, used to launch the Vietnam war, or the equally untrue claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction to justify the US invasion, were classic examples.
Today, the US systematically lies about the state of China and its own economy because it is crucial for US capitalism to prevent its own citizens, and close allies, from understanding the real economic trends.
It is further proof, if one were needed, of the truth that if the real world and a theory do not coincide only one of two things can be done. One is to abandon the theory, the other is to abandon the real world.
In this case, the theory is that the US, because it is capitalist, should outperform socialist China. The real world is actual economic performance — in which China continues to outperform the US and other capitalist countries by an enormous margin.
Unable to abandon its theory the US is therefore forced to abandon the real world — hence the demented denial of comparative economic performance noted at the beginning of this article.
While the left should expect lies from capitalism what is rather shameful is that some sections of the left repeat such nonsense — apparently believing that if they put in a few left phrases into an analysis taken from the Western press this constitutes “socialist” commentary.
For example, an article in the New Left Review’s Sidecar called China a “zombie economy.” Some “zombie” when China’s economy is growing anywhere between two-and-a-half times and 480 times as fast as any major capitalist economy.
The real data shows the reality is simple. China has far outgrown any Western capitalist economy for more than 40 years. It continues to do so.
The result in China is by far the world’s most rapid rise in living standards — not only for the poorest but for the whole average population. It is known as the practical advantage of socialism. It is fact. We know why the US has to make up big lies about it. There is no justification for sections of the left echoing them.
I’ve been married for 6 years together for 8. Every single year we celebrate both of my husband’s parents birthdays. And every single year they don’t even acknowledge mine or my daughters. We both reach have one daughter from a previous and no children together. My husband spends hundreds on each of their birthdays year after year with custom ordered cake from the fanciest bakery in the area and we don’t get so much as a card. His parents don’t dislike me they just wish he would’ve stayed in a relationship with his ex who he never married but shares one child with. They still hold hope they will get back together after all these years so they pretend we don’t exist. It makes me want to stop showing up on their birthdays but I don’t know how to do that without hurting my husband who has had several private conversations asking them to please atleast acknowledge my daughter on her birthday but to no avail.
Italian Beef Stir Fry
Few ingredients – fast and flavorful!
2023 09 25 14 56
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 pound beef top tip steaks, cut 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1 cup cherry tomato halves
1/4 cup fat-free bottled Italian salad dressing
2 cups hot cooked spaghetti
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Cut beef steaks crosswise into 1-inch wide strips. Cut each strip crosswise in half.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir while cooking 1 minute.
Add half of the beef strips. Stir-fry 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until no longer pink.
Remove with slotted spoon and keep warm.
Repeat with remaining beef strips.
Add zucchini to same skillet. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender-crisp.
Return beef to skillet with tomato halves and dressing. Heat through.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve beef mixture over hot pasta.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Attribution
From the kitchen of Martin James – Copenhagen, Denmark
Confession of the Day
My fiancé has a micropenis
Wow, it’s almost a relief just to write that down. IRL I have not told a single person- not anyone in my family not my bestie. I really have no one to vent to.
Obviously it’s not a deal breaker for me- I want to spend the rest of my life with him. He is an amazing man, treats me so well, highly intelligent. He is tall, very good looking and fit. He is basically the whole package and I’m so proud to be with him.
Now- his dick. He is 3 inches hard and very thin. Basically the size of my thumb. The one area in this world he is insecure about. It was definitely a shock for me at first. We do have sex often. Pretty much every day without fail. He has magical hands & tongue and he is a very enthusiastic lover-making sure I cum every time. He has a tremendous imagination. We do use toys, such as dildos, sleeves and straps ons from time to time. It’s good and all, but it’s just not the same.
Now here is the real get off my chest stuff. He would ask me if I ever miss a bigger dick. I don’t have it in my heart to tell him ABSOLUTELY YES. I was always a very sexual being and I was very orgasmic from PIV. I absolutely miss cumming from PIV. I absolutely crave that full filling that I don’t get now.
I wake up horny and just crave it.
It’s not a deal breaker because of the amazing man he is and my love for him. He is very much the greatest man I have ever met. I would never cheat- I’ve never cheated on anyone and I won’t start now. But I admit, my mind is dirty and can wonder. I would imagine fucking a big dick while I masturbate- and I would cry with guilt after I cum.
I feel so bad that the world is so unfair. I would read on Reddit about men being so sad and insecure over their average cocks. 5-6 inches and your insecure? Like STFU!!! Whoever, I’m part of the problem myself. I was the girl that previously bragged to her girlfriends about how well endowed my ex boyfriend was. It’s funny how the world works.
He was the tallest person I had ever seen, and he saved my brother.
It was the early 80’s, and that meant unsupervised play, staying out until you heard your Mom’s voice, or the street lamps coming on.
Our neighborhood, and everything in it, was our playground.
Including our car.
While I was busy building a ramp for my bike, my brother had climbed into our family car, and was doing his best Knight Rider impression.
That’s when I saw him.
A giant. I was stunned as he bolted through our yard. So stunned that I failed to notice our family car backing quickly out of our driveway, building up speed, and heading straight for our neighbors house.
I watched as The giant stepped in front of the car. It was like seeing Superman in real life.
The momentum of the car was slowed, but it didn’t stop, and he struggled to bring it to a stop.
The car, with my brother inside, was still rolling towards our neighbors house.
Then little by little, inch by inch, he stopped the car.
I watched in stunned silence.
He was our quiet neighbor. A single guy in a family neighborhood that kept to himself. His name was John, he was a giant, and the closest incarnation of Superman I’d ever seen.
Oprah DELETES Accounts, LOCKS Comment Section in Maui Fire BACKLASH
Oprah could’ve given $50 or $100 million and not even felt it…. Or she could’ve had cabins put onto her land, far away from her home and shown true charity towards the residents. Instead she showed her true colours and at the first hint of criticism she threw a tantrum, went on the attack and then stopped people from being able to give feedback.
When I lived in Shenzhen (ripe out of the ‘States) we had a little dog. We called him ShaoPi, or “PP” for short. He was a good little Bishion breed. He was a mini version, and so didn’t live as long as a normal breed would of.
Anyways, we also had his son; “Super”. Which was a mixed breed. Bishion and Bomei. And he was absolutely one heck of a handsome dog.
One thing, though. He hated my guts.
…
I mean it. He HATED me; with a searing level of disgust and malice. Including biting me, and forcing me to get rabies vaccinations. Ugh!
I was an “outsider” and he “owned” my wife and her ex-boyfriend. And to exert his displeasure on me, he would make messes all over the place, bark non-stop and generally did everything he could to try to chase me away.
Well, that was causing our PP to get super stressed out. And he was a good dog, always trying to straighten out this wayward son. But it was to no avail. Eventually, both dogs were super stressed out, and start a non-stop peeing contest in the house. I mean, they were urinating over everything.
Everything.
And so we would take PP out with us and we did out chores and made our rounds, and it helped some. But, you know, he was so stressed out that he still continued to pee everywhere and over everything.
We knew that there was a problem. But we didn’t know what to do.
…
Then one day, while riding on an elevator there was a really cute 20-something girl all “decked out” wearing nice clothes and makeup going out (probably) on a date. We were also going out. PP was at our feet, and we were making arrangements for an evening dinner.
She was checking out her phone while adjusting her makeup, and sure as shit…
…PP urinated all over her high heels, and her nylons and her dress.
…
She screamed out so loudly that PP jumped back as if electrified….
…
That week we found a home for “Super”, and that was another trial, I’ll tell you what. But the moral of this little story is when people, or loved ones are stressed out…
…do something about it, before things get out of hand!
Todays…
Shi Jiangiao
This is Shi Jiangiao, a Chinese assassin who lived during the Warlord Era (1916-1928) in China.
main qimg eb07899e1f58eb5278ddfabcdd38fccc
Shi came from a family of humble beginnings as her grandfather was a simple farmer and tofu seller. However, that all changed when her father and uncle became decorated soldiers, rising through the ranks in the Chinese military. This helped raise the social status of her family.
In 1925, when Shi was only 19 years old, her father was leading a brigade of soldiers to capture Guzhen, Shandong, when he became surrounded by a warlord by the name of Sun Chuanfang. Sun decapitated her father and had his head mounted on a pike and put on display at a local train station.
Two years later, Sun was disposed of by the Kuomintang (aka Chinese Nationalist Party) who wanted to reunify China, which had become fragmented after the 1911 Revolution, which overthrew China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing. Sun peacefully retired from his life as a warlord and founded a Buddhist society.
Meanwhile, Shi spent her 20s tracking down Sun who had disappeared without a trace. In 1935, ten years after her father’s death, Shi managed to track Sun down in Tianjin, a major port city close to Beijing. (If you recall, Tianjin was the city that had that major explosion in 2015.)
Shi entered the Buddhist temple and found Sun kneeling in front of the altar. She approached him from behind and shot him several times with a pistol. She did not attempt to flee the scene of the crime but began distributing pamphlets explaining her actions.
Her case drew significant coverage and reached the Nanjing Supreme Court. In the eyes of the law, she was guilty. However, Confucian morality stipulates that one must avenge their parents. Ultimately, the Nationalist government decided to pardon her on the grounds that the assassination was justified because it was an act of filial piety. It also helped her case that the man she had assassinated was guilty of trafficking opium, suppressing strikes by factory workers in Shanghai, and collaborating with the Japanese.
Saying “Give me this/that” instead of asking for it.
I was once in a bar in Turkey, watching football (as in kicking a ball with the foot) with some other foreigners, German & Danish IIRC, drinking beer, & nibbling cacik & bread.
A group of American men walked in (I think from the nearby air base). They knew the barman’s name. They asked if the back room was free, & on being told yes, headed for it & commanded the barman to bring them beers – all done by shouting across the bar in English. He smiled to their faces & scowled at their backs. Then he noticed two of us looking at him & looked embarrassed.
A little while later we needed more beer, & it was my turn, so I went to the bar & asked (in Turkish – as we’d all done) for more beer e.g. “beş bira, lütfen”. He still seemed embarrassed, & said something like (IIRC) “You’re OK. You say lütfen” (Turkish for please). In his terms, the Americans were extremely rude. They probably had no idea. We, on the other hand, were at least trying to be polite. We knew how to ask for a beer (or a few), & how to say please & thank you, & understood that was customary.
I expect the Americans would have been very surprised to know that they were constantly being rude to locals.
They’re FINALLY Been Arrested in MAUI,The Rock & Oprah
Thank you for speaking on our Maui brothers and sisters. Thank you James Okeefe also. This is unacceptable as well as unbelievable!!
https://youtu.be/cXv1Cb93OGA
Confession of the Day
I started self directed investing in 2012 with $20k. My first big success was betting on American Airlines after they filed bankruptcy before the merger with US Airlines. It was a 5x return in less than two years. I took that money and bought a house to Airbnb and ended up with about $250k.
I reinvested into the market and made my way all the way up to about $600k during the Covid spurt. Then I began to fuck with options. The first few wins were big for me, $5k, $10k, $20k, etc. then I really started betting big and hit returns over $100k in a single day. I couldn’t stop. The dopamine rush was too good.
The ups were euphoric and the downs sent my mind and body into a total whirlwind of intense emotion. It was the sickest drug. I couldn’t get enough. Nothing else matter other than becoming as rich as possible. And then I finally crossed the $1m threshold…. For only one day.
The next day I the market looked like shit but I was so hard up for my next fix I played anyway. Down $100k – eh it’ll come back, I can’t lose. Down $200k – if Itake the hit now that means I’m a loser, no way. Down $250k – ok I was wrong, time to switch sides and redeem myself. Down $330k – fuck fuck fuck!!! Don’t worry, I’II get it back next week…. And I did. $980k. Nice, almost back to $1m.
And then down. And down. And down.
All of it. Gone. 9 years of building $20k into $1m. Because the high was never high enough and the low was never enough to stop me. I went through deep depression, lots of suicidal thoughts, and darkness I didn’t think I’d come out of. A year of therapy, books, podcasts, support, and I’m doing better. Relapsed once and lost another $90k in a single day, just because I couldn’t lose.
We’re a dopamine nation now. This forum says it all. Gambling at your fingertips and the ever looming reminder that some people actually win and get super rich. At least for a little while. But the highs are never high enough and it never ends. Check yourselves before it’s too late. Day trading can be a real gambling addiction and you really can lose it all no matter how good you are.
As ridiculous as it sounds, roving bands of young fellas off the estates, typically aged between 10 and 16.
I know some Americans will probably read this and think I’m a right pussy for being scared of a load of kids, but you don’t know man! You weren’t there!
See, the thing is with these kids, be they scallies, chavs, neds, roadmen, townies or whatever you call them in your region, is that typically they appear in large groups, they have little to lose and so don’t care about doing the stupidest shit possible, and they are not afraid to hound you and make your life a misery if you challenge them.
Sure, one on one, I wouldn’t be particularly scared about a 14 year old scal (although they increasingly carry knives and machetes and shit), but the point is that you rarely do encounter them one on one.
And let’s say, there’s a load of them camped outside your nan’s house chucking stones at her windows and you think, “Fuck that, I’ll go chase them off,” what is likely to happen is that they’ll start posturing around you and throwing stones at your head or they might fuck off, but then they’ll find out where you live (if you live nearby) and they’ll start wrecking your house and you might even find your house firebombed. It might sound extreme, but it does happen.
The police are ineffective as they have no respect for the police and, anyway, they’re minors so cannot properly be held accountable unless they do something really bad. And anyway, being tough on crime only goes so far. A more holistic long-term approach to the issue is required, but sadly no government has the vision or appetite to really commit to such policies.
So, essentially, you are powerless to do anything meaningful against them because you will only exacerbate the situation. These kids have the capability to make your life hell. They can make going to the local shops a genuinely nerve-wracking experience, particularly for the elderly and those with disabilities. They can really ruin the atmosphere of otherwise solid working class communities.
And that’s the thing too, it is the working class communities where they live and hang out that suffer the real brunt of their aimless destructive behaviour. You can be somewhat insulated against them if you live away from them or even just on a road they don’t frequent, but if you are forced by circumstance to live where they congregate, then your life can be pretty miserable if you get on their bad side.
And yeah, I’m scared of them. I’m less scared of some actual high up gang leader than I am these kids because at least with the real gang members they’re not interested in you unless you give them a reason to be, whereas, like I said, these kids have nothing to lose and might target you simply because they can and they think it’s funny.
It’s the one thing I really don’t miss about living in more working class areas, which can otherwise be much more friendly and interesting places to live
US efforts to strangle China & reassert hegemony – Jeffrey Sachs, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
“Emerging nations fight wars at their borders, declining nations fight wars far away.” ~Chris Hedges
My mother-in-law was visiting us in Canada from her home in South Africa. There she had two house servants and a garden “boy” who did all the work. She sat smoking her cigarettes and “supervised”. Staying in my home where I had two children under age 6, a lot of my mornings were spent in child care, household chores, meal planning and all of the hundred other jobs of the Canadian housewife. One morning my mother-in-law sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee I had made and smoking her cigarette (which I had objected to from day one) and told me that I needed to change my routine to do my household chores after everyone had gone to bed so that her day was not “spoiled” by me having to do chores on “her” time.
The US has to keep paying money to keep it’s Defence Industries rich and profitable so that their shares are profitable and so that the Corrupt Senators, Congressmen and Lobbyists get rich
It’s a vicious cycle
Guess how many Senators have more than 30% of their investments in Defense Stocks?
61 – SIXTY ONE
35 Republicans and 26 Democrats
Guess how many Senators have more than 30% of their investments in Tech stocks?
67 – SIXTY SEVEN
38 Democrats and 28 Republicans and 1 Independent leaning to Democrat
Congressmen?
209 – 108 Democrats and 101 Republicans
Of these 51 have more than $ 5 Million worth of stocks
Lloyd Austin has earned $ 4.3 Million after leaving the Pentagon just by sitting on the boards of various Defense Contractors
He doesn’t have 50 grams of brains in that massive skull of his
So the Military Industry in US is like a shark that has to keep swimming
They always need an enemy to keep selling weapons to
They HATE PEACE because any peace means less potential to sell weapons
First it was the Cold War – Weapons sale
Next it was fighting Communism – Weapons Sale
Next it was fighting Saddam & Milosevic – Weapons Sale
Next it was fighting Terror – Weapons Sale
Now it’s fighting Russia and China – Weapons Sales
Tomorrow they may decide India is the enemy and wage a war on India and sell weapons or decide it’s Japan Or even Aliens
Their Military Goals have led to the worst disasters on earth
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Afghanistan
Iraq
Libya
Syria
Ukraine
Taiwan (Next)
They have single handedly led to their deaths more men than Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS and Saddam Hussein and Gadaffi COMBINED
They have destroyed countries with their bombs and Agent Orange
Today their Target is China and Russia
They don’t have the balls for a direct fight because a MAD means the evil politicians will also die and they don’t want that
So these proxy wars will be their way of milking and flattening the military defense industries
Basically they are part of a corrupt hellhole with many idiots even today proudly saying how the US Dollar is backed by the US Army
They will be destroyed one day as history is proof of
One day they will collapse when their own people begin to rebel and fight this evil system
Until then these a**holes will keep harrassing everyone and lying to the whole world
I refer only to around 300,000 Evil Americans in US and another 2 Million more brainwashed evil corrupt minions
The other 336.7 Million Americans are very decent and nice people
Eliminate these 2.3 Million a**holes and the US will be back to the Pre Eisenhower era. A Nice Country with genuine morals
OH. MY. GOSH.🤯😟 MUST SEE: Can Americans answer ANYTHING correctly!?
I fully support the movement to require a civics test before voting or even just knowing the difference between a STATE and a COUNTRY would be a start.
Chinese electric cars surprised the world in the 2023 car exhibition.
France started the dog fight. It called for EU investigation if China has subsidized its electric car industry. EU chief took France’s case.
EU Commerce Chamber in China right away told EU that there is no electric car subsidy by Chinese government. What makes China successful in electric car is because China has lots of scientists who work hard to improve their car tech so as to compete in the world, said the Chamber.
German business-people also opposed the EU investigation. Saying it will force China’s to react & counter EU’s unreasonable action. It will harm German economy.
It is a dog fight between France & Germany.
France’s car sales in China accounts for less than 1%. Germany, more than 17%. No need to explain further, right?
France can afford to lose its <1% to weaken Germany’s >17%.
If Germany wants to, Germany can counter target France’s luxury products eg cosmetics & fashion that sell well in China.
Despite objection from German business people, German politicians agreed to EU investigation. … really, politicians do not care about the welfare of the country & its people. They only care about votes ie personal interest.
Has German government subsidized electric car industry? Many times. From internet.
What is more irony is that: when USA subsidized its electric cars under the disguise of Inflation Reduction Act, EU protested & warned USA that EU will also subsidize its electric car industry. Today Germany is subsiding its electric cars industry based on … false accusation as testified by EU Commerce Chamber.
Chinese do not like direct confrontation. Confrontation is seen as a sign of stupidity. Two thousand years ago, the founder of the Han dynasty summed it up: 吾寧鬥智不鬥力: I prefer to fight with my wits, not by power. From a very weak start, he thrashed 項羽 Hsiang/Xiang Yü, his main rival, whose army was much more powerful.
Fighting is for children and inferior people. Look at it this way: a four year old can strike out in anger, but is incapable of coming up with a better plan.
Chinese always prefer to use strategy rather than brute force. 難忍能忍大丈夫: a powerful cultural standard is that a real hero is someone who can say, “My head is bloody but unbowed.”
This is strength, not weakness, and does not mean that Chinese will not fight back. Look what happened to the mighty Japanese warlords when they attacked China. The Chinese in general avoided direct confrontation, drew the Japanese in, and overcame them. China has stood off some of the most powerful armies in the world. Even though the Mongols eventually conquered China, it took them decades and weakened them so much they were unable to conquer Viet Nam (of course there are other factors, such as VN fighting prowess, but this is an essential factor.) In China, the Mongols were close to their home but suffered great losses at Chinese hands. Compare that to the European powers, where the “flower of chivalry” was butchered in short order on their home territory by Mongols far, far from their home base.
I do not know how much the person asking the question knows about China, but I would guess that most people have heard of China’s long tradition of martial arts. Chinese will fight, but consider it uncivilized, immature, beneath an adult’s dignity.
We left America for Police putting guns to our heads. Part 1-2
This channel is to bring the awareness to the world of the beautiful continent of Africa. My intentions are to show the development, people, property and investment opportunities. All the adventures and opportunities that is for people to take advantage of. Also showing how America is not necessarily the perfect place for people to live.
ASMR: What it is, what it stands for and how it works
What is ASMR? How does ASMR work?
What does ASMR stand for?
Are you “ASMR sensitive”? Do you get ASMR tingles?
Is this the first time you’ve heard of ASMR which stands for “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”?
It might not mean what you think it means.
Millions of people experience ASMR “tingles” when exposed to certain stimuli.
Triggers like hair brushing, whispering, finger tapping, clicking, chewing and caring role-playing send shivers down some people’s spine.
These same ASMR triggers are actually “misophonic” triggers for others; meaning these sounds cause negative responses.
For example: nails on a chalkboard will drive some people nuts but others aren’t affected.
The Why Files answers these questions and raises a few more. The science behind behind ASMR is still new but research is underway.
Though ASMR is a relatively new phenomenon, the online ASMR community is vibrant and growing rapidly.
I once had a therapist for four years. He spent every session of that 4 years grooming me. Yes grooming me as if I were a child and he were the predator – except I was an adult and never knew what was happening until it was too late. If I questioned anything about the ethics of something he did or said – he always twisted up an answer that made enough sense in my mind that I would disregard. It was a disgusting abuse of power. He was extremely subtle about his approach and he nearly destroyed me as a human before it was all finished. Looking back years later I can see how correlated he was in what he did and I am sure he had many victims besides myself. At one point he even talked of “getting rid of my husband”. (I never told me husband this part of everything)
In the end he chose the wrong victim. I had to rise above the fear and confusion. I did. I had to be careful to make sure to keep all of my complaints and even my lawyer was a secret till the moment that he was piled with so much legal shit and my states’ board and Human Resources was all brought out at once. I did this intentionally so there was no way he could get out of the situation or harm me without someone knowing who did it to me. And so what he was doing was made known without ANY space for “reasonable doubt”.
I’ve taken a lot of time to heal and am still now in the process of forgiving him, forgiving myself, and moving forward to be as healthy as I can be. Sometimes I wish he’s a trash guy now… except the get paid too much. But he’s the most evil person I have ever met.
It’s unfortunate that what he did to me isn’t a criminal offense in my state as it is in many states. I plan to make this change through whatever legal route I need to take and make a difference so nobody else ever has to go through what I did. That man should be in prison. He’s a rapist and a cunning one at that. A sick sick human.
When the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011 , Western-backed rebels launched a full-scale attack on the Syrian government, and an extremely bloody color revolution began.
We Chinese often say that we experienced 14 years of hard resistance against Japan during World War II. Warning the war in Syria is not over yet! The United States also steals oil, food, and cultural relics in Syria…
No one expected that at the opening of the Asian Games in Hangzhou , China would make a move that would completely change the world.
On September 21, the Syrian president and his wife arrived in Hangzhou, China, and then arrived in the capital Beijing on September 24, visiting two places in a row.
Below is a picture of the Syrian president and his wife arriving in Hangzhou and Beijing. My heart moved at this moment.
Perhaps the whole world did not expect that Syria, which has long been completely blocked in the West, has received the most respectful reception in China. We do not belittle Syria just because it is a small country in war.
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Put yourself in my shoes, if you were a Syrian , how would you feel when you saw this scene? What is the characteristic of a great country? This is the It! China has deservedly become a true morale beacon of human civilization. The picture below is really shocking.
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During their visit to Hangzhou, the Syrian president and his wife visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou . During the visit, a female tourist could not help but touch Asma, the Syrian lady, because she was so beautiful. The female tourist said to Asma, “You are so beautiful.” Unexpectedly, Asma replied: “You have a beautiful country.” From the look of the video, the female tourist seems to be an older person, but even so, I don’t think it’s good to touch her face, since she is the president’s wife after all. However, this reply from the wife of the Syrian President suddenly sublimated the matter. Yes, we have a beautiful country, and for the Syrian people, this is their biggest dream. Syria was once a beautiful country. There is an old saying that goes like this: “If there is a paradise on earth, Damascus must be in it. If paradise is in the sky, Damascus will be as famous as it.” Asma, the wife of the Syrian President, is known as the Desert Rose . She is a very beautiful and gentle person, but behind this beauty, there is an extraordinary experience, which can even be said to be legendary.
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Asma was born in London, England, to Syrian parents. Her family conditions are very good. In 1996, Asma graduated from King’s College London with a BA in Computer Science and French Literature . After graduation, she started working at Deutsche Bank Group as an economic analyst in the hedge fund management department. In 1998, Asma joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. in investment banking. She was also preparing to pursue an MBA at Harvard University, but moved to Syria after meeting her husband, Bashar , while on vacation with her family. I can be said to be an absolute intellectual and business elite. Her husband Assad is the second son and is not the successor that the family focuses on training. The family focuses on training his eldest brother. As a result, his eldest brother died unexpectedly in a car accident in 1994.
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Assad himself is relatively flat. His early dream was to be a doctor and he had little interest in politics. He himself has been studying medicine in the UK. After meeting Asma, we hit it off and became even less interested in politics. However, the eldest brother, who had been trained by the family and was supposed to take on the succession, unexpectedly passed away. Assad could only return to his country to take charge of the overall situation. At this moment, the gears of fate began to turn. The Assads would never have imagined that they would be pushed to a turning point in human history by chance.
The general background of the outbreak of the Syrian civil war is that the United States instigated the ” Arab Spring ” throughout the Middle East . Don’t read the name and think that is a good thing like it’s name “spring”. In fact, it is a large-scale national subversion. According to Egyptian statistics afterwards, the Arab Spring caused more than 1 million deaths in the Middle East and damage to infrastructure worth 1 trillion. It started with the collapse of the political situation in Tunisia , followed by the complete collapse of the situation in Egypt, Libya , Yemen, and Bahrain…
That is, in 2011, Gaddafi’s regime came to an end. He himself was caught in the north of the country. He was tortured, then executed on the same day, and finally his body was exposed in a market… After trouble occurred in the above countries, it was Syria’s turn. This was the background of the early outbreak of the Syrian civil war. At that time, no country believed that Syria could survive. The United States in 2011 was not the sick cat it is now. It was the peak moment of the US imperialist regime. Hanging Saddam , destroying Gaddafi while laughing… Moreover, at that time, the United States had almost no opponents in the world.
Let’s talk about China and Russia back then . At that time, Russia was still dreaming of integrating into the West. It had already joined the G7 and became a small G8. At that time, China did not have a falling out with the United States and was still busy doing business and making money. Except for Iran, an absolutely anti-American country, almost no one in the world supports Syria. However, China and Russia still helped Syria during the UN vote. Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the United Nations Security Council has held seven votes on the Syrian issue. Due to opposition from China and Russia, all seven votes have been vetoed.
That was only the beginning… After all, if you look other than Syria, no country in the Middle East can withstand this combination of punches from the United States. At that time, Russia was not realized being duped and China was not strong enough. In the first four years, the only way for Syria to survive was to hold on by itself. After all, if the Syrian regime collapses at the first sign, it will be useless for outsiders to help. But no one expected that the Assads would refuse to surrender! I swear that I will never surrender to USA. Assad said that this is not a matter of the Syrian civil war, or that once our regime fails, the entire country will be carved up by foreign countries, and the Syrian people will have no future. From a current perspective, Assad’s judgment back then was very accurate. Just think about today’s Libya and today’s Iraq . Since the civil war, the economy has not recovered yet, and the country is still in a state of fragmentation. It was very smart to be able to make this prediction in 2011. We can recall that in 2011, support of the US was rampant on the Internet in china. The point is USA really fooled many people into believing that the United States was good. The United States in 2011 was still at the peak of its empire, and its influenced was indeed much stronger than it is now. At least in those days, American women were still women, and men were still men… When the Syrian civil war was at its most dangerous, the rebels fought directly near the capital. Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, has been occupied by Syrian rebels for six years. It is only a stone’s throw away from the capital. At this time, it is a great test for the Assad’s resilience.
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After all, the fate of Saddam and Gaddafi lies ahead if Syria government lost. If they do not flee for their lives, once the rebels enter the city, their entire family will definitely be killed. But Assad insists on one thing. No matter how crazy the “expendable” supported by the Americans are around me, I will not surrender. I will live and die with my motherland! I believe that many people at that time advised Assad to save the country and choose to surrender. But Assad has an attitude, I will not surrender! I don’t care how strong the opponent’s is, but this is our own motherland, if we the Syrian people don’t resist, won’t we just perished? However hopeless we must fight! This scene suddenly reminded me of our people during the Anti-Japanese War. “Yes, no matter whether we can win against the Japanese or not, this battle must be fought. If we don’t defend our own motherland, who will we defend?” “And if we don’t fight, how do we know we won’t win? Those who say surrender is a way to save the country, better die as quickly as possible!” As a result, with the help of Russia and Iran, it was actually recovered!
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Although these external help are important, I think the most important thing is the persistence of the local people. Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian situation was in September 2015. The war in Syria broke out in 2011. If Assad himself could not hold on in the first four years, it would be useless even if reinforcements came. What is touching is that in the Battle of Aleppo , the Syrian army, after repeated bloody battles, was about to completely regain the lost territory… However, Western countries have appealed for an armistice at the United Nations, and they are talking about providing humanitarian relief. What it actually means is that you stop fighting and give me some time. I will re-arm the rebels so that I can kill you after.
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It was immediately vetoed by China and Russia. Don’t stop, keep firing, shoot with all your might! Just beat up the drowned dog. Our veto vote greatly helped Syria and won them a lot of space at the level of international public opinion. On the New Year of that year, China became the guardian symbol of the Syrian people. In the New Year of 2016, Aleppo, Syria, was liberated. The five-star red flag was raised on the Syrian land, and countless Syrian people grateful to our country’s flag.
image 112
“Thank you, China, thousands of miles away. “
If you look at the first half of Assad’s life, you will feel like a young college student, a refined intellectual who did not have a strong desire for power and just wanted to spend a comfortable life with his beautiful wife. It was the wave of history that pushed him to the critical point of life and death in Syria, but he actually withstood the test of history, which no one expected. The United States not only funded the Syrian rebels, but also created the Devil Isis organization. What the Isis organization has done can be said to be insane. If I were to tell what they did, I’m afraid this article wouldn’t even pass the censorship. In short, it’s extremely anti-human and more Nazi than the Nazis… During the process of regaining the territory, the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor encountered a siege by the “Isis Organization” for more than three years! No one knows what kind of will the Syrian people relied on to survive and win again…
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In the end, this city, under the leadership of the legendary Syrian general Issam Zarushidine, and the 104th Brigade, finally changed the tide of war after four-year defense, which can be called the Syrian version of battle of Leningrad, and the situation in Syria began to fundamentally change. reverse! To be honest, I feel that the Syrian Civil War is very similar to our country’s Anti-Japanese War, both of which are won by persistence . During the Anti-Japanese War, there were some bastards who were promoted as liberal masters by domestic intellectuals. His so-called literary character was just like a piece of shit…
Hu Shi (bastard liberal master) once said: “We should have the determination of a strong man to cut off his own limb, make the highest sacrifice of abandoning the three eastern provinces, seek the preservation of remaining territories and administrative integrity, and seek a peace relations between China and Japan…”
During the Anti-Japanese War, our country was too poor and weak. To be honest, the key to reversal in World War II lay in Stalingrad and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Stalingrad laid the foundation for a complete Soviet counterattack, and the German army was defeated decisively . The attack on Pearl Harbor meant that the United States could no longer stay aloof and had to personally attack Japan. So for our country, it really means victory in the “anti-Japanese war”, and we “carried” it by force ! The whole process was extremely arduous. But this definitely does not mean that our resistance is meaningless. Before the war started, the Japanese army said that China would be conquered in three months. If there was really no resistance and we would be wiped out in three months, then the situation in World War II would be impossible to reverse! Because once the Japanese army obtains China’s vast territory and resources, it will not be so easy for the United States to attack Japan, and the US military may not even go to war personally. The same is true for Syria and Assad. They have endured it for 12 years, during which they have defeated countless opponents… Now think about it, among those Western politicians who originally called for Assad to step down, how many of them are still on stage?
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At the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games, one of the most touching details was that when the Syrian athletes first entered the venue, they were very nervous and reserved , because after all, Syria has been blackmailed by all Western countries on the international stage. Now, what the world sees every day is the fake news about Syria. They don’t know whether they will be welcomed after entering the venue. After all, they are just a small country in war…
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But what none of them expected was that the Chinese audience gave out a roar of welcome for twice make a wave a tsunami.
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Then the Syrian athletes became more and more relaxed and began to wave the national flag vigorously. The Syrian president and his wife stood on the stage with peace of mind and smiles, watching the scene below.
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This scene seems to say: “We the Syrian people are still exist in this world!” This visit by the Syrian President to China is not simple. Syria has been sanctioned by all Western countries. Many airspaces are inaccessible and many places are very dangerous for them.
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Being able to bring the President of Syria to China is in itself a manifestation of the strength of a great power. We need to have sufficient aviation endurance and at the same time have enough friendly land neighbors so that you can have the transportation capacity and airspace to welcome distinguished guests.
Currently Syria’s cultural relics have been placed in China for more than three years. This is also a high degree of trust in our country. After all, the US military is still stealing things in Syria. The whole of Syria has not ended the war. Syria can only put the cultural relics in a place that he thinks is safest. country, that is China. At the same time, this time the Syrian President visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, which sent a positive signal, because after all, Syria is a “Middle East religious” country. As a “Middle East religious” country, they often do not go to places of other religions, but this time the Syrian president personally visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. This also expresses to the world that Syria is an extremely tolerant country and is not as extreme as Western society has smeared it to be. As a Chinese, I sincerely hope that the war in Syria will end soon. The visit of the Syrian President to China made me deeply moved. Back then, our athlete Liu Changchun , as the only Chinese athlete, represented China in the Los Angeles Olympics . It was precisely because we were caught in the “Rain” that year that we always want to hold an “Umbrella” for others… .. The difference is that our country faced an extremely brutal world back then. Now Syria is living in a rising new global order.
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Liu Cixin once wrote a sentence in his novel The Three-Body Problem: “I hope that one day, the bright sunshine can shine into the dark forest.”
Today China is that beam of light to fight unipolar world order!
In today’s China, we are the deserved to be called as beacon of multipolar world order!
May China’s multipolar world ray shine upon the victim of bullies on the entire earth and human civilization.
I came across a video in which their president praised China and said this during an interview:”China is great but humble”. At that moment, I suddenly felt very touched. This was the most accurate, heartfelt, and profound compliment.
When I was learning English, I had terrible pronunciation. Combined with the fact that I had just lost my front tooth (I was 7 at the time), it was very difficult for me to pronounce “t”, “th”, and “s” sounds.
The story starts with my mom taking me out for lunch. I wanted Kung Pao chicken, which is a delicious, succulent dish made up of spicy stir-fried chicken, peanuts and vegetables. The problem was, I was allergic to peanuts.
Excited to show off my English speaking abilities to my mother, I proudly waved over the server and asked, “Does this dish have pee-nits in it?”
Confused, the server repeated, “Penis?”
Delighted that he understood what I was saying, I nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! Penis. I am very… allergic. To penis.”
“We typically remove the penis from the chicken before we cook it, so that’s not an issue. Unless you were referring to you being a lesbian. In that case, let me assure you that our restaurant is very LGBT friendly.”
“So no penis?”
“Uh, sure. No penis.”
At this point, my mother interjected the conversation. Wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, she said, “She means peanuts. Alex is allergic to peanuts.”
The chicken was eventually ordered, and luckily contained neither peanuts nor penis.
The Balkanization of pop culture, entertainment, and news outlets.
There is no single screen that families gather ’round in the evenings to watch together. Everyone in the family now has their own screen, with which they can watch whatever they wish to watch, without worrying about if anyone else in their house also wants to watch it.
There is no single television series that dominates the ratings on a regular basis. Currently, the single most-watched non-sports television series is “Yellowstone,” which gets around ten million viewers per episode. So… barely 3% of the adult population in America watches the single-most-watched television series these days.
There is no more “must see TV.” This includes most sports finals, too. Ratings for things like the NBA finals peaked in 1998 and now aren’t even half of what they were back then. Only the Super Bowl has seen an increase in ratings since the 1990s. If not for that one four-hour event every year, there wouldn’t be a single time when more then 40% of American adults were all tuned into the same thing.
Any form of entertainment that finds a substantial audience across demographic lines is rare these days. With the exception of the NFL, seeing a large, diverse group of American adults enjoying the same event or even enjoying the same music is rarer now than it was in the past.
There is no single news outlet that most Americans consider trustworthy and rely on for their news. There is no modern-day Walter Cronkite. Sure, many Americans trust their particular news sources. The problem is that there are so many news sources, and they all cater to their particular audience’s interests, that there isn’t a single news narrative upon which most American adults can agree. The current events you know about as an American adult, and the facts of those current events, are largely determined by which media outlet you get your news from.
In any crowd of American adults, the chances of finding even two of them who partake in the same entertainment options is low. The “pop” in “pop culture” used to stand for “popular.” Now it’s just “popular, relative to the thousands of other options people have to entertain themselves these days.”
We’re not really living in a pop culture melting pot anymore. It’s more of a miles-long pop culture charcuterie board, where everyone takes exactly what they want, with no need to worry about what others are taking. There’s no peer pressure to “fit in” with what the popular crowd is doing. There is no real “popular” crowd anymore. Just relative popularity, in a culture of unlimited choices.
Passport Bros Love TWO Countries
This video showcases how passport bros and other of men can live an amazing life outside of The West and away from modern women. Feminism has gone too far in America which is driving men to seek more traditional lives in countries like Thailand and the Philippines.
We compare the crazy woke women to the masculine movement.
We encourage the manosphere, redpill and MGTOW community to self improve, work hard and live your best happy life. We also enjoy a bit of modern woman fail, cringe and hitting the wall along the way.
No Voice, No Name, No Direct Interviews – the Candidate is vetted first and then the name is deleted and replaced with a Number like 287. Then the Interview is completely in generic voice which means man or woman the voice of candidate is generically modified by software so you wont now if its a man or woman.
The Numbers are then selected or chosen and only then is it known who the Candidate is
The reason is to avoid Civil Rights Lawsuits on Workplace Discrimination and Equal Opportunities.
Likewise in Promotions too – An outside agency is hired to evaluate the employees and they do so using Blind Techniques and output monitoring programs.
This is because EVERYONE HAS BIAS
If you sit on an interview panel and see a Beautiful Girl and an Average Looking Girl – you will either develop bias to the beautiful girl or a grudge against the beautiful girl in favor of the average looking girl.
If you had a bad interaction with a Nepali person , then you may bear negative bias against a Nepali who comes for an interview even though he may be from Manipur or Mizoram.
My wife is one of the most liberal persons in the world and always talks about secularism etc. Yet when one of the houses in our Colony was to be sold to Muslims, She was among the neighbors who persuaded the owners not to sell. She could not explain it. She had a subconscious bias.
Another example is me. Having seen so much bungling done by Mr Modi – even if he does something good now – I develop bias and start looking for the negative aspects only. This is why before answering – i always consult with the Bank community and only if others feel similarly do i know i am on the right track.
During the Cauvery Riots – Tamilians develop Kannada Bias and vice versa. So in an interview if a Tamil employee appears and the Authority is a Kannadiga – then you could have a subconscious bias.
Its Human. Only Machines and Robots can be unbiased. We can develop subconscious bias all the time.
A Tractor trailer carrying nuclear warheads was caught on video Saturday afternoon in North Dakota. The truck was being escorted by local police, Military Police, armed Military troops, and protected overhead by helicopter gunships.
Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota is the most well-known nuclear missile base in that area of the country. All the missiles in that base are already armed. So why the additional warheads?
Under Barack Obama, the US nuclear arsenal was made much smaller. Missiles that had previously carried TEN (10) Multiple Independent Re-Entry Vehicles (MIRVs) were reduced to only one warhead. Perhaps the US is re-installing multiple warheads on our existing missiles?
Why would they be doing that unless they are expecting an actual nuclear war?
Hal Turner Personal Remarks
And expect one they should, given the meddling the US is doing in Ukraine, and the harshest economic sanctions ever imposed, against Russia, are all adding up to the US being hit by Russia.
Of course, the American people remain blissfully unaware that their government has us all on the threshold of actual nuclear war. They’re unaware because the “mass-media” has utterly failed to do its job of reporting actual news. The mass-media seem more interested in the severely mentally-ill who think men can be women and vice-versa.
I was sitting on a bench outside my business smoking a cigarette. I had been there since 8 AM and it was already 9 PM, and I was just waiting for a few people to leave.
A homeless man, riding a bicycle with an attached cart in the back, stopped near me. I expected him to ask for a cigarette, but instead he said, “I’ve got a lighter in each of my hands. One works and one doesn’t. If you pick the lighter that doesn’t work, I win a cigarette. If you pick the lighter that works, you win the lighter.” I thought that both lighters were probably non functional but I decided to play along.
I picked his left hand and he handed me the lighter. I tried it a couple times, but it didn’t work. I handed him a cigarette and he lit it with the lighter in his right hand.
We sat and smoked, and I asked him how he pulled off that trick. He told me that he was an amateur magician and he used some kind of slight of hand to do his trick. I was working at a recovery house, and we had a party coming up on Saturday. I asked him if he wanted a job doing magic tricks as a wandering performer in the room. A little negotiation and he was hired for a two hour gig for 200 dollars.
Saturday came, and he had shaved, cleaned up, and dressed casually but well for the performance. He did card tricks, coin tricks, and other kinds of sleight of hand for the 2 hours and then some.
One of the people who was attending the party owned a coffee shop, and he ended hiring the guy to perform in the coffee shop on weekends and some week nights.
His funny way of tricking people for cigarettes turned into a gig and then a job. He performed a trick on me that changed his life.
(Sopranos) Christopher Moltisanti || Soldier On [for Reece]
Sopranos was the only show that came so close to capturing what life is really like, and what it’s all about. Never seen a show cover complex themes and problems like this in such a captivating, real way (and even funny often).
Most engineers, like most Americans, spend everything they make. Then they run up credit card debt. Then they borrow $100k each to send their brood of children to liberal arts colleges for degrees that don’t make them employable. If they’re lucky, when they retire, they can sell the family home and live modestly on that and social security.
Why am I rich? I saved at least 10% of every paycheck since I was 24, and invested in no-load stock mutual funds, mostly as IRAs. My family lived modestly, but well. I didn’t buy bitcoin, didn’t day-trade, didn’t hit a lucky startup. Later in life, I gave my savings to a reputable stock manager, but I’m only doing a little better than if I’d stuck with mutual funds. I bought a house and paid down the mortgage when I had unspent income, three times. Have I been lucky in investments? Hell no. It took me a few years to learn to steer clear of retail stock brokers’ siren songs, for instance.
My investment strategy goes like this:
Spend less than you earn.
Invest unspent income in no-load stock-index mutual funds and ride the long-term upward bias of the stock market.
It’s really that simple.
A real coup
I think Huawei executed a ruthless, cold-blooded coup on Apple. It successfully kept Apple in the dark, getting complacent with its delusional domination of the Chinese market, so much that it thought it could maintain its grip by introducing the next model with not much more than a new metal case and USB connector. Then a week before Apple’s new release, with no time left to make any last-minute changes (no matter how much FoxConn can turn on a dime), Huawei dropped the bombshell. Classic!
There he is, sleeping in his green room, in his little bed.
Here are things I know about him:
He is the most talkative toddler on this earth. He literally does not shut up. Ever.
He loves to play with his sister’s dolls. He feeds them, carries them around, and puts them gently to sleep.
He is also obsessed with handy-man tools. He walks around with his drill, chain-saw and hammer, and repairs things that are then irreversibly un-repairable ever again. After this, he is utterly proud of himself.
He is compassionate. When his sister cries, he will drop his toys and run to hug her. Yesterday he used his shirt to wipe her tears, while telling her: Don’t cry, don’t cry…
He loves to dance, and when ever he can get himself an audience, off he goes..
He snores like a grandpa, and giggles in his sleep.
He wakes up in a great mood, proclaiming: “I woke up!” and every day he fills our home with love, music, laughter and dance.
These are some of the things I know about him, but let me tell you one thing that I don’t know:
I do not know if my little son is gay. And I don’t give a damn.
China had an enormous trade surplus for nearly one and a half decades plus enormous savings by its people
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Here
Chinas problem is that the three years of lockdown meant the expenses were much lesser and thus people have huge savings and thus very low inflation
This is why China is issuing more and more debt instruments, to push that savings and prevent a glut of money
It’s why China is so keen on pushing up Consumption
It’s why when everyone is raising rates, China is slashing them
Because China has a lot of money in the banks and wants to discourage saving and encourage spending
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This is the US, the total opposite
Expenses are higher than wages, Savings are at an all time low compared to the SUPERB TRUMP ERA pattern (Call him all the names but that man ran a good economy until Covid)
Thus people don’t have money in the US
Savings have been depleted and so now US Fed encourages savings by raising the rates
Same with other nations including Bharat
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As you can see, Economy is doing beautifully under Modi until 2017 when Demo happens and Wages crash and expenses rise
Again by 2018, there is a recovery but by 2019 the savings are depleted by rising expenses
Two years of lockdowns mean savings crash but expenses rise due to the opening up policies and finally today you are NECK TO NECK
Better than the US
So today China has too much money
US and India and EU and UK have too little to no money
The best solution would be China lending to UK, EU and US by buying more Debt
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They said it was a WIN WIN
China has too much money and if they don’t spend it, it will lead to a glut and a deflation
US have no money and keep printing and piling inflation
However China said NOTHING DOING
They don’t trust the West anymore and believe the West may renege on their debt
After what they did to Russia
If only China and India were closer, China would have lent to India and invested heavily
Best to get 6% from India than 2.5% in China with great difficulty
My guess is China will spend huge money on Technology investments and hope it yields a big change
Meanwhile China has a huge economic dominance today.
They can cut a cheque of $ 300 Billion without printing money
The entire EU and UK and US combined can’t do the same
Post 1950
US was also flush with money while UK and Europe were broke
Thus US lent the money and invested in Europe and UK and grew their money enormously
They then invested this into Military Industry and sadly it mutated beyond recognition
China has a BRI luckily
FIRST DAY in Beijing, China – America warns NOT to visit CHINA but I Did
This is John Eisenman.
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He lost his daughter to sexual trafficking.
She was sold for $1,000 in Seattle Washington.
He did what a father should do and researched, investigated and found out about her abduction.
He RESCUED her HIMSELF.
…
He found out the person who sold her into trafficking was her 19 year old boyfriend.
He met up with him, abducted him, bludgeoned and stabbed him to death in Nov, 2020.
The authorities found him [dead AF boyfriend] in Oct 2021 in the trunk of the car he abandoned.
John Eisenman sits in prison knowing his daughter is safe and growing up after he has already lived 60 years of his life.
I bet you, he rests easy.
Live your life to the fullest. Do your absolute best to make sure your children have the opportunity to do the same no matter what the sacrifice.
My brother called me to let me know our dad was in the ER and it didn’t look good for his survival. I drove like a bat out of hell the 120 miles to get there. In the ER waiting room sat my brother & his wife, who knew nothing and had not been given any info or updates on our dad in over 2.5 hours.
I went up to the admitting desk to ask for an update and was told to sit down…that the clerk at the desk was busy and couldn’t deal with me. Unacceptable response so I just marched into the actual ER room to find my dad. Brother and SIL followed.
Found my dad and he is basically gray with no one attending him. The attending comes up to me and starts screaming at me. I asked him what was wrong with my dad, (who has a heart problem and has a pacemaker). The Dr responds in a horrible accent and terrible English that my dad has vertigo. It took several tries to figure out what he was saying and even the nurses were having a problem understanding him.
I lost it and didn’t care if I got arrested or not. I loudly proceed to tell the Dr that my dad is gray, not green, indicating heart problem & that my dad had his last heart surgery at this hospital 1 year prior. That I want a heart monitor on my dad ASAP.
The smug Dr asked me where I my medical degree. I smiled and again, loudly said that I didn’t have one but that I had a law degree. That I hoped he enjoyed his sojourn in the US because by the time I’m done suing him, deportation will look like a good option.
He quickly put on a heart monitor on my dad and it showed my dad was having a heart attack as they attached it. Luckily, they were able to treat him and he lived many years after that.
3 things:
This was at a top nationally ranked hospital
I filed a complaint with the BoD and the Dr was let go due to his repeated negligence.
The day my mother-in-law died they called and told us that she was not going to live through the day that her whole system was shutting down and she didn’t have more than a few hours.
My wife and I went to the hospital she was conscious and complained because they had the bed in a head lower position. She complained that it was uncomfortable and asked to have it moved to a sitting position, the nurse said that they couldn’t do that because it would shorten her life.
We insisted and they moved it so she was more comfortable.
While we sat there they kept coming in and drawing blood, etc. Finally, when they rolled in a portable x-ray machine, my wife stood up and threw them out.
Eventually, she got to the point where she wasn’t conscious any more and in the evening she finally passed.
I still believe that they were trying to bill everything they could get on her bill before she died, why take ex-rays of someone they already told us was dying?
Fortunately, when my wife died of cancer she died at home in hospice and not in a hospital. She died peacefully in her sleep, with no hassles.
Why Do We Have to PAY Others Just to LIVE?!?! IT’S INSANITY!
We are out here on this Earth and surrounded with everything we need to live amazing lives. So why have we created, and continue to tolerate, a system that makes us work our whole lives earning money so we can pay for the privilege of living?
The explanation given to me by a Dumbo on Quora was that Huawei which used US Technology and US Patents, did not follow US rules and did business with countries sanctioned by the US
This despite the WTO ruling on 8/7/1998 clearly citing that
Trade restrictions on Technology and it’s free and fair use shall be determined by the commercial aspects and by the political ones
This was wrt Iraq
So the sanction on Huawei was illegal
Plain and simple
So the US essentially claim that because they control the technology, they can use it to demand obedience from the entire world
That because they control the dollar they can demand obedience from the entire world
They are immune from WTO appeals and rulings
So if the US is against you, you have no where to present your case
If the US is against you, you either comply or die
That’s the RULES BASED ORDER
Tell me i am wrong
Tell me of one example where the US sanctioned a nation and reversed it when the Nation without any change in its Government Or Leader Or Policies, appealed to a higher authority
It has NEVER happened ever
Under the same Rules based order, Saudi Arabia cannot decide to refuse to sell Oil to a paying customer but the EU can decide to cap the price of oil and force the whole world to comply
I wouldn’t have had a problem if Huawei had been taken to court and fined billions of dollars for patent violation
That’s Commerce and Trade and Business
However merely because you sell stuff to Iran, just because you use US technology, you can be sanctioned and cut off from Chips on a mere order from a US President is terrifying
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Xi, Putin, Assad may all be many things but today they are the ONLY PEOPLE preventing us all from becoming slaves of the United States of America
Its why I support them wholeheartedly
As long as they are strong, there will always be two camps, and the US better be on its best behaviour or it will lose friends to the other side
I believe Huawei was the beginning
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When Meng Wanzhou was arrested for baseless charges that were never established for 3 years on the whims of a 70 year old syphilitic promiscuous orange man with half his brains eaten out by some STD or another
It was the moment when one realized that the United States was growing not only too big for their britches but capable of becoming something that would put Nazi Germany to shame
Plus these evil men would justify it saying “We are the good guys”
Huawei paid a heavy price for trusting the US
Yet they also ensured that every other Chinese company was now on its guard when dealing with the US
Plus other companies too
Today ISRO is tolerated because it’s so much below NASA
The day it starts climbing higher, you will see sudden references to Kashmir and Genocide and sanctions will begin
Unless India learns from Huawei like China did, Russia did and Iran did
Hawaiian Steak
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Ingredients
Individual steaks, 1/2 inch thick or less
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pineapple slices
1 large can mushrooms
Instructions
Punch both sides of each steak well with a fork, then marinate for 24 to 36 hours in a marinade made by combining soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and sugar.
Simmer steaks on a low fire for 10 minutes in the marinade.
Remove them and place steaks in a 350 degree F oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on thickness of meat. Three minutes before removing steaks, place a pineapple slice on each.
To make gravy, slowly sauté a large can of mushrooms in butter. While doing so, boil down the sauce used for the marinade to make a gravy.
Combine mushrooms and reduced marinade sauce.
Serve individual steaks with the pineapple on top, over which has been poured a generous amount of gravy.
This is a bizarre survival tale that includes jaguars, politics, cactus, assassination threats, near-death, and yes… a deranged lunatic. Oddly enough, even though I’m a dedicated liberal, this mad-man was a far-far-left liberal himself.
It was the mid-2000’s, and I was actively engaged in all sorts of wildlife research for a variety of government agencies and civilian groups. One of my projects was with a great organization called the Sky Island Alliance, in Tucson, AZ. (Read about them here, if you’d like: What are “Sky Islands”, and do they exist? ) This particular project involved looking for signs and tracks of jaguars that were reportedly crossing over the border from Mexico and setting up shop in the mountains of southern Arizona, in order to have data to set up protected areas for this extinct-in-America Big Cat.
One day, I received a call from a graduate student from a University in Colorado, who was looking for a research assistant for his project. The project consisted of living out in the wilderness and setting up camera-traps throughout the mountains, trying to get photos of the elusive cats, and learn more about their habits. Since I had a very good reputation among the environmental research community, I was recommended for the job by a professor at a local university. So I interviewed with the guy over lunch, we seemed to bond, and I got the job. I spent the next couple weeks putting in a lot of extra time at the Tucson Zoo, observing their two beautiful black jaguar sisters, Nikita & Simone, up close and personal. I would help with the feeding, collect scat and urine samples and do a lot of watching, reading and interacting. [1]
Eventually, it was time to head out toward the Mexican border and set up in the cabin. No electricity or running water. Right in the middle of the smuggling route from Mexico. Surrounded by the wildest remote mountains around. I was looking forward to a great adventure and a chance to get some good science accomplished. Emil and I got started with our automatic cameras. The challenge was to make continuous hikes into the mountains, replacing batteries and exchanging film in the many dispersed camera traps. It was some treacherous hiking. We were getting along fine. On the second day, we got a surprise… Emil’s dad decided to come from Colorado and join in.
He was a surly old guy from the Rocky Mountains. He probably wasn’t as old as he looked, because he was extremely “weathered”, leathery and wiry, with deep creases in his face; a constant suspicious squint. Grey stubble grew from almost right under his eyes, down to his chin. Not an ounce of fat on his stringy hard muscles. When you said something to him, he’d jerk his face left or right like a chicken, to look at you sideways, always seeming to be about to say an accusatory “Wha’ju say!?”, and perhaps bite your head off. He happened to look incredibly similar to this actor, Roberts Blossom. [2]
He wasn’t very trusting and he took an immediate dislike to me for some reason. I think he wanted to be the assistant, and have me leave. There was some weird father/son dynamic going on between them, and I got the impression Emil had grown up with beatings being a normal part of life.
Emil’s and my relationship suddenly subdued and the atmosphere changed.
These were the days of the George W. Bush administration. Emil’s dad turned out to be an extreme far-left liberal. The most far-left I’d ever come into contact with. I was also a liberal… but a moderate. I wasn’t a fan of Bush, but I was pushing through it, waiting for the next election. On that second night, we sat down to dinner. Tin plates of beans and bacon, with some tin cups of coffee. Emil’s dad sat across from me at the small wooden table. I tried to talk to him, and it immediately turned to politics. I nodded my head at all he was saying about the damned republicans and “that asshole Bush”. He spat out a long list of complaints. It wasn’t long before he said something about killing him if he had the chance. Oddly… I was of the mind that we shouldn’t be thinking of killing our president, whoever it may be. I said something to that effect.
Dad growled, “You mean you wouldn’t kill him?” He looked straight into my eyes, like a maniac.
I half-laughed out a response of, “Look, I don’t like him, but I’m not going to say we should assassinate the President”.
He glowered through me. His hands were in fists on the table, one of them holding a fork. I felt a pressure tank across from me, building up steam. His lips were pursed, breathing hard through his nose, staring at me. Suddenly he exploded up in a jerk, flipped his plate of beans toward me and about leaped on top of me, ranting about what the president was doing to destroy the country! He bent over and got in my face. I stood up quick and said, “Back the fuck off!”
Emil finally got involved and said something. I was fuming. I looked at them both, then left the cabin to go chill out outside in the night air. This suddenly took a weird turn.
Eventually we all went to bed, as we had to get up very early. In the morning, we had breakfast in silence, then all headed out in the pickup, toward the beginning of the trail. The whole way, he was insulting me in every way possible; from my knife being too big; “Only green-horns and pussies think they need a big knife,” to my hair, “Why don’t you get a haircut and look like a real man.” Beyond all belief, I kept my cool and waited for Emil to reign in his crazy old man. Emil wouldn’t look at me, and stayed silent. The old man hadn’t been with us on our last outing, and we had used a comfortable pace to make our rounds. But this time dad took the lead. It turned out that not only was he half jack-ass… he was also half mountain goat. He set off at a crazy unnecessary pace, clearly meaning to break me, or leave me behind. I was in average shape, but I had a trick knee from an old parachuting accident I’d had while I was an Army Paratrooper. So I needed to watch my step. As we sprinted up and down the mountains, eventually the worst happened and my knee blew out as I was racing down a steep slope of forest. I yelled out. They kept going. Eventually I stumbled down to the rocky dry river bed at the bottom, where they were waiting.
I explained I had a bad knee from the Army. “How many jumps you got?” he scowled. I told him 26.
He says, “My buddy has over a thousand and he never had no bad knees.” At this point, I was vulnerable, and I really needed to restrain myself for my own safety. He pointed up a steep rocky slope and said he was heading out. I told them I couldn’t make it. He derided me some more and told me to wait while they continued. I had no choice. I agreed. They left me with most of the heavy batteries and set off. “3 or 4 hours,” they said. I waited, surrounded by dry boulders.
There was no shade in that valley. I had to get out of the sun. The nearest shade was 150′ straight up a cliff, where I saw a tree. I made the choice to climb after about 2 hours. I got up and started hobbling toward the cliff of rocks, dirt and some dry grass. Now came my biggest misfortune. All the extra batteries they piled into my backpack made it extremely heavy. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that my pack was on top of my camel-back, which held all my water. It was fine when my pack was light, but all the batteries were pressing down on my water bladder, and at some point during my climb, the pressure popped the end off the drinking tube. I didn’t notice as all my water squirted out and left me empty, until 30 minutes later, I reached the top. I pulled out the tube for a well-deserved drink, and… nothing. “Damn it!”
The tree wasn’t as full as I wished and only gave a smattering of shade. Better than nothing. It was about 118 degrees F. After a total of 5 hours had passed since they left, I was getting desperate. As I sat on that cliff side, I saw a barrel cactus not far away. I stumbled over. Ya hear that they have water in them. So, I gave it a shot. Luckily, I had my big knife with me and was able cut off the top. No puddle of water. Just an off-white mash of cactus innards. It was moist. It would have to do. I don’t recommend this method. It had a bitter tannin taste to it, as I scooped out a chunk and sucked on it. Horrible! Again… better than nothing, but not much better. 7 hours passed and I was dehydrated and starting to get hazy vision and a crazy headache. I considered starting a signal fire. But I worried about it getting out of control and consuming me. 8 hours.
Finally, I saw them down in the valley of rocks. I yelled out. Again and again. At last they answered. “Come on down!” I heard. Clearly I had to go down. But I was only thinking of water. I scrambled down the cliff again, knowing that in just a few minutes, I could drink. At last… “Water” I croaked.
“You don’t have any water?” he says. I wasn’t up for a discussion to explain, I just needed a fast drink. I shook my head.
Again, I asked for water. “We don’t have any water.”
What the hell? I see them both with canteens. Emil started to give me his canteen. The old bastard again yelled out, “I said we don’t have no water” and he shot a look at his son. Emil backed down silently. I couldn’t believe this! I reached out and tried to grab a canteen and the bastard got up and started walking away, saying, “There’s water at the truck.” I was dumbfounded. I started following them, listening to the water sloshing in their canteens just feet away. I was going a bit mad from the sound.. and from the entire situation. But I barely had the strength to be mad. I did my best at keeping up but fell further and further behind. I tried calling out. They stopped one time for me to catch up and as soon as I did, again they took off. At last, I could go no further. Five minutes later they came back, with the old bastard bitching at Emil. Emil gave me water. One drink, and then that evil bastard yelled out, “That’s enough! We need it!” Emil put away the water. They started to take off again.. my knee was throbbing and I could hardly walk. I set short range goals of just making it to the next boulder. One after another. My vision made everything wavy. And finally Emil grew a pair and defied his old man, and put an arm around me and helped me the rest of the way… another mile. He mumbled an, “I’m sorry” quietly.
The truck was ahead of us. 100 yards more. I willed myself to keep going. Then… we were there. A 5 gallon jug of water that had been heating in the sun was brought down. It was hot enough to brew tea, but I drank. And drank. Near-boiling water. It was good.
It was a quiet ride back. I packed up my gear and got in my car and drove off, back to civilization. All I keep thinking about was that water sloshing ahead of me, out of reach, and hearing him insist “We don’t got no water” while I was looking right at it. All this, because I didn’t agree that President Bush should be assassinated.
It’s quite clear that he would have left me to die out there and concocted some story of me wandering off and getting lost, if it wasn’t for the intervention of his minimally-less corrupt son.
Months later, Emil got indicted for illegally trapping our jaguar in a noose, causing stress in the poor cat, which eventually led to the death of the only jaguar in the United States at the time. Here’s the picture he took of the tortured, snared cat. [3]
It was a whole big deal with scandal and blame spread all over. It became a Federal case. After being indicted, he lied to investigators and blamed his assistant for putting lure around the trap without his direction. This wasn’t true and eventually came out. This assistant was the person who took my place! In the end, he was banned from practicing any more research, anywhere. You may be interested in reading about the debacle here: emil mccain prosecuted over jaguar
Conspicuously absent from the indictment, was one old, evil, bastard goat, that I damn well know had a hand in the unethical activities that led to the jaguar’s death, due to over-bearing parental pressure. And he certainly had a hand in convincing his son to lie about the circumstances afterwards. I have no doubt. It was, after all, the government against his son. The government that he wanted to take out with a bullet. I know that lunatic bastard helped kill our jaguar, and let his son take all of the fall. Not that his son didn’t deserve it as well. I’ve no proof. But I know it. He damn near killed me.
John Holmes was a legend during the golden age of porn. He played the famous Johnny Wadd, a fictional detective in a series of porn films. At the time, he was most famous for having a 13-inch penis, although this was never proven. He also claimed to have sex with over 14,000 women. This is also disputed, but he did star in over 500 movies.
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As his porn career was taking off in the early 70s, so was his drug use. At his height, he was earning 3,000 dollars a day from his films, which was mostly spent on freebasing cocaine. His habit greatly affected his ability to maintain an erection, and by the end of the 70s, he was selling drugs and prostituting himself for drugs to both men and women.
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By the early 80s, Holmes was heavily involved in criminality. He was a close associate of drug dealer and nightclub owner Eddie Nash and was also close to the notorious “Wonderland Gang,” a group of heroin-addicted cocaine dealers, that ruled the drugs trade in Los Angela’s.
Holmes had confided with some members of the Wonderland Gang about a stash of drugs and money being kept at Eddie Nash’s house. Holmes had fallen out of favour with the Wonderland Gang after taking more than his fair share of drugs. So he helped them by setting up the home invasion and robbery of Eddie Nash.
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Eddie Nash suspected Holmes was involved in the robbery. He admitted to his part in the robbery after Nash threatened to kill his family. In the early hours of July 1st 1981, a gang of Nash’s enforcers along with Holmes entered the Rowhouse located on Wonderland Avenue, where five members of the Wonderland gang were sleeping. All but one of the gang members were beaten to death, and the fifth barley surviving the brutal attack.
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A handprint belonging to Holmes was found above the headboard of one of the slain gang members, putting Holmes at the scene during the attack. Eddie Nash was the prime suspect for the crime along with Holmes who took more of an active role. Holmes was charged with personally committing all four murders but was acquitted due to lack of evidence after a three-week trial. The trail was a landmark case, where it was the first trial in history to introduced video as evidence. The Wonderland murders remain unsolved to this day.
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By 1986, Holmes was diagnosed as HIV positive, and it was around this time he landed a lucrative deal to star in two adult films with “Paradise Visuals.” He went on to have unprotected sex with his co-stars while not revealing his diagnosis.
He died from Aids related complications on March 13th 1988, at the age of 43.
i gave up on the american dream | regularism
“I feel you girl! I’m 34 renting a room in a house, I hardly own anything anymore. I let go of the illusion of how life is “supposed to be”. We are free this way, living simply! It’s all a state of mind starting with gratitude for what you have.”
I have a salesman in the UK who used to live in the ‘States.
Once, when he visited me here in China, he reflected on what he observed about the United States.
He told me that the United States is a pendulum. (Well, he referred to it as a meter.) It swings from one extreme to the other over a decade, but the over all effect is that (in the long view) it seems that the pendulum seems to stay centered.
Hum…
Sort of like this…
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…
Maybe.
I view it quite differently, however, let’s give his observation some credit.
Following his observation, to me, it seems that the pendulum swung so hard to one side that the meter broke, and the needle (pendulum) is stuck in the region of broken glass. The USA has entered totalitarian dictatorship of the most basic historical norms; serf and peasants toiling for the mega-wealthy.
The needle is broke.
The meter needs to be replaced.
It simply cannot be repaired.
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It needs to be pulled out of the wall, and completely thrown in the trash, and a nice new digital one put in it’s place.
…
That’s my opinion, folks. Yours might be different.
“The popular conception is that companies come to China because of low labor costs. I’m not sure what part of China they go to, but the China stopped being the low labor cost country years ago. That is not the reason to come to China from a supply point of view. The reason is because of the skill.”
I just searched around and found that no one pays attention to Ukraine anymore, neither the Western media, nor the Western governments, who have turned their attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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And the Russian army is in high morale and has now captured Avdiyevka, But nobody in the Western world cares about Ukraine anymore.
Putin is right. The Yanks are treating Ukraine as an “expendable“.
Ukraine needs help now, so the American people should donate money to Ukraine!
Talk is cheap. Don’t just shout slogans in the media, support Ukraine with real action. Do you understand?
Americans hope that Taiwan will become Ukraine 2.0, but Taiwanese people do not want to become toilet paper that Yanks throw away immediately after use.
What Taiwanese want is for American soldiers to rush to the front and become cannon fodder. 😅 Stop the cheap’s talk, The Taiwanese are waiting for Americans to sacrifice their children for the cause of “Taiwan independence”.
In response to the current world situation，Bulletproof vest manufacturers in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China, have received a large number of orders, and workers are working overtime to catch up.
image 70
DJI’s newly released drone-mounted LiDAR adds Arabic language and Hebrew language to the original Russian language.
image 99
These are civilian items, not weapons, and it won’t explode.
Whether it is the Russian-Ukrainian war or the Palestinian-Israeli war, the Chinese Government has always called on both sides to exercise restraint and engage in peaceful negotiations. Why is no one listening?
The US once invaded Iraq, ignored the opposition of China, overthrew the Saddam regime, and supported a pro-American Iraq government.
The US spent $3 trillion in subsequent Iraqi governance, which was borrowed from China. The US military did not make Iraq more peaceful, but created the monster ISIS.
The Iraq government in Iraq later realized that the US military could not help Iraq’s reconstruction, US companies do not have the capacity for large-scale reconstruction, so it approached China for cooperation.
Today, most of Iraq’s oil extraction rights are vested in China, far surpassing the US, Britain, and Russia.
Later, the US Secretary of Defense mentioned in his speech that the US owed China a lot of money during the Iraq War, and all interests belonged to China. The US’ Iraq war was fought for China! This is an unexpected ending for the US government.
Stupid Yanks! A state that has no history and knows only the use of barbaric violence can only perish.
In addition, Saudi Arabia requires all ministerial officials to study the ancient Chinese classic “Zhan Guo Ce”.
Don’t underestimate this book, it may change the future landscape of the Middle East.
3 trillion US dollars, the Americans should pay off their debts to China quickly!
44 days left in the US government shutdown!
The economic growth rate of China in the second half of the year is estimated to be over 6%.
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves
Salt, to taste
Instructions
In a medium saucepan, preheat the olive oil to medium-high. Sauté the onion in hot oil until transparent. Add the garlic, curry powder and coriander; continue to sauté for another minute or two.
Stir in the canned and fresh tomatoes; bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook gently until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the okra and chicken-style broth; return to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook gently for about 10 to 15 minutes, or just until the okra is tender.
Just before serving, stir in the cilantro. Add salt to taste.
Serve promptly for best color and freshest taste.
Hip-Hop Fan REACTS To Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond
When they met my dad was studying for becoming a doctor. His main passions were video games and music. He’s always been kind of a genius academically. He is very reserved and does not talk a lot at first.
My mom, on the other side, was a high school student. She was the president of the Students Council, a gymnast and a photo model. She was always surrounded by many friends, she liked parties and having fun. Despite being skilled, she wasn’t a top student, her sassy behavior didn’t help either.
My dad was supposed to meet a girl for a date. The girl asked my mom to go with her just to check that everything would go smoothly and well. However, it was love at first sight between my parents. They dated for seven years, for a period of time they even lived in different cities, but their love never ceased. They married in 1994, one year later my older sister was born.
So, my parents got married for love. They are so different from each other, yet so perfect. They complete one another.
Mandarin learning boom in the Middle East
Saudi Arabia is the latest country to mandate Chinese language education in schools as the region embraces closer ties with Beijing.
While interest in learning Mandarin declines in the West, Middle Eastern children are attending classes in China’s official language as part of a geopolitical shift in the region.
Last month, Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab country in the region, mandated Mandarin lessons in all public and private secondary schools, which are expected to extend classes to second-year pupils during this academic year. The extension of Mandarin education in Saudi secondary schools follows a 2019 agreement, struck during the Crown Prince’s visit to Beijing, to have Mandarin lessons at all levels of school.
The long-standing US ally is looking to bolster its ties with China beyond the oil trade to technology, infrastructure, and even arms, in an economic diversification blueprint backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Last month, Saudi Arabia, together with Iran and the UAE, were among six countries invited to join Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in an expansion of the BRICS association of leading emerging economies.
The United Arab Emirates – with a population of 9.3 million and the world’s seventh-largest oil reserves – was the first Gulf state to include Mandarin in its national education system. With Beijing’s help, the UAE started a Chinese language program in 100 schools in 2019 that expanded last year to 158 public schools, according to figures from the Chinese embassy in Abu Dhabi.
In 2020, Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding with China to adopt Mandarin as an elective for a second foreign language subject at primary and secondary school levels. Later that year, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi endorsed a law adding Mandarin to the list of foreign languages that can be taught in middle and high schools across the country.
In my late teens I worked as a school cook. It was a private boarding school mostly for military and diplomatic families, it gave the kids stability as the parents were posted all over the world. Part of the job was to supply lunch to the board of governors once per month. A guy came into the kitchen, said he was the chairman of the board of governors and asked if he could have more pudding. Lucky for him there was some left so I filled his bowl and off he went a happy chap. The following month he came back and every month I worked there he would come into the kitchen for more pudding. I started to call him Oliver as he was asking for more. He was particularly fond of the steamed jam rollypolly so always filled his bowl. He told me that he had told his cousin and her family about my puddings and how nice they were. His wife came in once to tell me not to give him so much as he was putting on weight!
A few years later I was visiting my parents who lived next to the lifeboat shed and a new lifeboat was being presented and dedicated. I saw “Oliver” in the crowd and shouted him over. Asked what he was doing there, seems he was with the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) and he was there to present the new boat. Later my dad asked if I knew who I had been talking too. So I told him the above. Then dad told me that the man I knew as Oliver was a Duke and cousin to the queen!!
Edit :
It’s over forty years since these events I don’t follow royal circles and memory gets vague with time! I have been told that the man I knew as “Oliver” died sometime in the late eighties so have changed the answer in response to this sad news, he was a nice bloke.
It was a regular day at the bank. I was speaking to one of our high-net clients, AH. He needed help with his account and I was explaining some transactions to him. Suddenly we heard a loud retching followed by a thud.
Both of us looked towards the source of the sound and saw a guy sprawled on the floor just inside the branch entrance. People rushed towards him. The branch wasn’t crowded, thankfully. There were just a few customers present at that time.
As I neared the guy, I realised that he was a regular visitor… an office boy who used to come in almost daily to deposit cheques and for other mundane chores. I called out to our support staff and requested him to get water. The guy had fainted after vomiting, perhaps due to the extreme heat outside. While I gently tapped his shoulder and called out his name to wake him, one of my colleagues attempted to manoeuvre his way to figure out how to pick him up.
AH, who had been observing us all along, coolly walked to the prone figure (without bothering about the messy floor), bent down and cradled the collapsed guy’s head. He gently raised him, supported his arms and helped him to the seating area. The guy, who was regained consciousness by then, looked at us numbly. While our staff handed him a glass of water, AH removed a pristine white handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to the guy to wipe his vomit stained face. After ascertaining that the guy didn’t need any more immediate help, AH excused himself and discreetly asked to be directed to our washroom where he could clean his hands.
As I sat down with AH after some time, I couldn’t help but marvel at the complete ease with which he helped out a stranger in a situation that would make most people balk. His nonchalance towards the mess was at complete odds with his concern for another fellow being. And while others were either panicking or fumbling, he handled the matter with maturity and an ease that spoke volumes about him! When I gushed over his actions he shushed me down with a simple logic. ‘I would like to be helped should I ever face some issue like this. What I expect, I should be ready to offer as well.’
AH didn’t remain a mere high-net client from that day on. He became a highly respected one too!
Actions speak louder than words they say. In this case, they did more… they revealed and taught!
Achieved Mass Production Achieved in 180 Days! China Breaks Foreign Monopoly in the Chip Industry！
I was given full and sole conservatorship (read “custody”) of my daughters after my wife of 20 years walked out on us for someone else.
About 3 years later, my ex managed to scrape together enough money to engage a lawyer to challenge the custody order. I was totally freaked out, tbh. I sold a car and borrowed a couple thousand dollars from my brother to get my own lawyer. I had gathered evidence and my daughters were prepared for private conferences with the judge. As they were only 11 and 14 at the time, you can imagine their stress and upset as well.
When the day of the hearing rolled around, however, my ex’es lawyer turned out to be a dud. An exceptional dud, at that. He stood before the judge and basically argued for a change of custody based on the fact that my ex really, really wanted the order to be changed. The judge left the custody order intact.
I can only assume that my ex was victimized by a predatory lawyer who made promises he could never keep. I had new ulcers and was 3000 dollars in the hole…but my kids stayed safe with me. It was the sheer ineptitude of the lawyer that amazed me. My lawyer just had to shake his head and laugh.
I’ve been alone, single, and heartbroken. And I’ve been in the most amazing intimate relationships imaginable.
I’ve traveled the world, made friends, lost friends, and tried things I never thought I would.
At the end of the day, I’ve realized that living a good life is a lot simpler than people try to make it out to be.
And here are my 15 best tips for achieving it.
1. Sleep 9 Hours a Night
Plain and simple. You’ll feel better, look better, be more productive, be happier, and be less likely to suffer from obesity and chronic diseases.
Sleep isn’t a weakness. It’s a necessity.
Get 7.5–9 hours a night and I promise your life will change.
2. Be Happy Now
Happiness is a choice (even though we’d like to think otherwise).
So stop trying to achieve happiness and just decide to be happy. You can make the most out of terrible situations and learn to find joy and gratitude in even your darkest times.
Your life is better than 99% of the human beings who lived on this planet before you.
So be happy now.
3. Create Passive Income Asap
It’s worth 10x working income and creates ultimate freedom in your life.
If you can build a website, write a book, or launch a product that generates $5,000 a month semi-automatically, your life will change forever.
4. Exercise Everyday
There’s no reason to go a day without exercise. You don’t have to lift heavy everyday, but you must MOVE.
You’ll be happier, stronger, smarter (literally), and more productive.
It takes less than 30 minutes to get a good sweat on and it can add years to your life. No excuses.
5. Prioritize Lifestyle > Money (But Money Also)
Money is great. But living a life of freedom is better. Prioritize living a great life and embrace minimalism. Make money, sure. But don’t make money at the expense of living your life.
6. Stop Eating Sugar
It’s basically poison and has no nutritional value. A cookie here and there isn’t a big deal, but the less of this crap you eat, the better you’ll feel and the more effectively you’ll perform.
7. Do The Things YouWant to Do
Life is too short to live for other people.
So your parents want you to be a Doctor? So what! They don’t have to live your life or shoulder your regrets.
Do what you want to do and remember that life is too damn short to follow other people’s dreams.
8. Only Take Advice From People You’d Trade Lives With
If someone doesn’t have the life that you want or at least a life that you’d want. Don’t take their advice.
This includes me.
If you want to be a billionaire mega investor and rule the world, don’t listen to a word I say.
If you want to have a life of happiness, financial freedom, and lifestyle independence, I might have a thing or two to teach you.
9. Travel More and Travel Longer
You’ll never regret it. It will open your eyes to new ways of living, thinking, and being and will be the most transformative experience of your life.
If you have the opportunity to travel somewhere new, always say “Yes.”
10. Make Time to Think
Don’t get so caught up in doing things that you forget to make time to think.
Ponder deep questions, ask yourself what you really want out of life, figure out innovative solutions to your problems.
Make time for deep thought and you’ll be amazed at how your life will change.
11. Quit Complaining
It doesn’t help you, it pisses off the people around you, and makes you less attractive.
Remind me again why you think it’s a good thing to bitch about traffic all the time?
12. Stop Lying
To your friends, family, and most importantly… Yourself.
Live in truth. Be authentic. Stop making crap up and pretending you’re ok to make other people happy.
You can only change your life from a place of truth.
Be honest about your reality, desires, and obstacles and you’ll find that the solutions come easier.
13. Read as Much as You Can
Never pass up an opportunity to expand your mind and broaden your horizons. Read about everything.
Science, psychology, self help, business, history, biographies, fiction. You name it.
The more you read, the more well rounded you’ll become and the better your life will be.
14. Be Nice to Yourself
You’re the only person you have to live with for the rest of your life. So try being nice to yourself.
Watch the negative self talk. Believe in yourself. Treat yourself with love and respect.
Before you do, say, or pursue anything, ask yourself, “If a close friend was in this situation, how would I respond or what would I encourage him/her to do?”
15. Don’t be a Dick
Seriously…
Life is too short to yell at the Verizon customer support agent over a payment dispute. The poor gal wasn’t the one who double charged your account, so don’t take it out on her.
Life has a funny way of reprimanding mean people.
So be nice to people and stop being a dick, m’kay?
Hope this helps
Stay Grounded, Andrew
ALIEN WAR and The Horrors of Dulce Underground Base
It’s the 14th century. John the Blacksmith comes home from the forge to find his wife crying in the kitchen.
“What ails ye, wife?” he asks.
“Our son,” she wails. “He’s been taken, John!”
John runs to the bed chamber, his stomach churning with fear. Young Luke… gone… he’d have the whole village up and searching within the hour, and damn the darkness. Except, when he opens the door, he finds the child standing in his cot, staring at the walls and singing nonsense to himself.
“What nonsense is this, woman?” he shouts back to the kitchen. “He’s right here!”
“It’s not him,” she sobs. “A mother knows. It’s not him!”
John frowns. He’s heard the stories, of course, but he never believed they were actually true. He walks up to young Luke, calls his name. Luke looks up, then looks away. He doesn’t smile, just carries on singing the same tune over and over.
John returns to the kitchen, and holds his wife as she cries.
“I told you,” she said. “It was the faeries, John. They’ve taken our son, and left a changeling in his stead.”
John nods. His grandmother’s stories were true. She’d said once that his own uncle had been taken by the faeries, that the child they’d left behind grew up… strange. He’d lived by himself in the woods for many a year; the village left him be, and he left them alone in turn. Granny had said the faeries would come back to the same family again. He’d brought this curse upon them.
“What do we do, John?”
He shook his head. “We have to raise him, wife, as though he were our own. Sometimes… they bring them back. Sometimes. But they won’t unless we raise theirs in return.”
“And if they don’t?”
He had no answer for that.
A lot of autistic children seem normal in their early years – one reason why diagnosis is unreliable when they are very young. It’s been suggested before that the myth of the changeling – a faerie child swapped for an identical human one – could derive from those small children seeming “different” to their parents as they get older. It would be nice to think that they were still raised by their parents and found a place in society, even on the fringe of it – however, given the high rate of infant mortality back then, it’s entirely possible that a lot of them were abandoned or even killed.
It’s also quite plausible that a lot of them were given to the Church. What better way to drive out any demons that may possess them? And a monastic life would probably suit many autistic people – minimal distractions, a set routine, limited social interaction…
The point is, autism has been around as long as humans have. We just didn’t know what it was. Those who were high functioning enough to be part of the village were considered a bit weird but generally tolerated. Those who weren’t, if they survived, would be outsiders. And those that couldn’t function were entirely reliant on their families to survive – if those families were willing to help them.
Brian Berletic: China DESTROYS US War Plans as Europe Rejects Taiwan Independence
USA : Please help us to end the Ukraine War so that we can concentrate War in the island of Taiwan with you.
I was about eighteen, shy, thin, poor, and an artist. I was living in a factory town that did not appreciate anyone who didn’t fit in and I didn’t.
I was raised to be a gentleman and to be nice to everyone. This is not a popular thing when you are young and it is often misunderstood.
I was getting gas for my vehicle and I was dealing with rejection a few hours earlier from a girl that I really liked. She had just told me that I was too polite and nice.
I paid for my gas and walked to the convenience store doorway. I was on the cusp of deciding to stop being polite and nice.
I stepped out and noticed an older black man, who was likely in his eighties, dressed as if he was coming from church was coming up to the door. Without thinking, I held it open for him, nodded, and smiled.
So much for my tough guy plan.
He doffed his porkpie hat to me and said the words that changed my life. With a twinkle in his eyes, he said, “You sir, are a gentleman.”
I beamed. Yes, he’s right. That is who I am, and as importantly, who I want to be.
He probably never knew just how important his kind words were to the man that I would become.
I remember him and the gas station, but don’t even remember the name or even face of the woman who had told me I was too nice.
Life is grand when we treat everyone with kindness and care.
This is it. The roadmap & Plan for the post-American-led global world order. This document, is lengthy, but is being followed by MOST OF THE WORLD outside the West. -MM
Trump Latinos Charles J. Jones & Forgiato Blow – America Uncanceled
This one is really great. A bit “red neck”, but I really like that people are trying to fight back from the insanity of Washington DC. But it’s gonna take more than singing…
The new announcements from Huawei just keep on coming:
Huawei announces new 5.5G wireless standard which is already implemented on the Huawei Mate 60 Pro family;
Tencent, owner of WeChat, announces full support for Huawei’s HarmonyOS. WeChat has more than 1B accounts in China alone
Significantly, Huawei is going ahead with its new technology announcements without seeking approval through tech standards committees which are dominated by western tech companies.
In 2024, many new chip fabs which were hiding will start going into production for chips over >5nm. These fabs will be coming online at the same time, and there will be a price war as they fight for sales.
Qualcomm, based in San Diego, is a leading maker of wireless transceivers, and has announced the layoff of 1,200 personnel in December 2023.
Leading American tech brands will be hit badly as Chinese makers eat into their business.
China WARNS Neocons of Consequences as Biden, Blinken Sink to New Low
In the 1980s my Dad bought a complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, including the children’s version. My Dad passed away in 2002 and my Mom has held on to them. Last year she was cleaning house and she asked me if I wanted them for my kids. I told her that my kids would have no use for them. She tried giving it to a local orphanage in Nairobi (Kenya) and they, too, declined to take them. They did ask if we could donate a computer instead. So in 2023, encyclopedias are pretty much worthless even for orphanages in developing countries.
Because people are willing to pay a lot for a hamburger.
This is a fundamental rule of economics a lot of folks don’t get. With the exception of some commodity goods, price of a good or service doesn’t depend on the cost of making it. You don’t set the price by taking the cost of production, adding some amount for profit, and then using that for the price.
In technical terms, the input price is disconnected from the output price.
You set the price as high as the market will bear. You do everything you can to drive the cost as low as possible. You keep everything in between.
Suppose people will pay $15 for your burgers. Why would you set the price at $10? You’d have to be a moron to do that. If people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
If the burger costs $8 to make and people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
If the burger costs $6 to make and people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
If the burger costs $2 to make and people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
the real price of the American Dream for Black women & why I gave it up
There is a reason you don’t see other countries “buzz” the carriers. They will buzz destroyers and spy planes, but not the carriers. At least not too closely. Shadow? Sure, but from a fair distance.
If you start interfering with something that expensive containing 5,000+ American lives, the stakes get much bigger much quicker. The carrier and its escorts will absolutely destroy anything they believe to be a threat to the carrier and its operations, even in peace time. Everyone knows this. We are talking about the crown jewels of the US military here, most of the USN is tasked almost exclusively with defending them at all costs.
Carrier escorts will literally throw themselves in front of torpedoes in order to protect the carrier if they have to. In WWII, the Royal Navy was stunned to learn the US planned to do exactly that even with capital ships like battleships if necessary. I am not joking, even today there are protocols where escorts will criss-cross through the wake of the carriers to act as a physical shield against wake homing torpedoes.
The point of “buzzing” isn’t to be an open threat though, its to harass and to voice a general displeasure at your presence.
The problem with harassing a carrier is that the line between harassment and threat is very blurred due to the sheer value of the carrier in both people and treasure. What the CO of an American carrier views as a threat might be very different to what a Russian or Chinese fighter pilot may believe is simply harassment, especially when you have active flight operations on an already chaotic and dangerous floating airport.
It is best to tread carefully near them for all involved. There are plenty of other lesser targets to annoy. You don’t want to get any closer than this for the most part:
“Poor Men South of Portland” by Jon Reep
It’s a massive play on words for a subject that needs attention.
Let me tell you China will 100% not allow the U.S. and the west to ever freely manipulate China, Chinese laws, Chinese systems and policies and Chinese rules and regulations in China.
To China, they have a more effective and efficient democracy and democratic process that has stood the test of time. To the Chinese people and many others in the world we find the U.S. political systems highly ineffective and inefficient and unsustainable. Hence China will never ever adopt the western political system if that Is what you are asking.
China will be as free as it makes sense. For example in China you are free to drink on the street. In the US you can be arrested for drinking on the street. But in China you cannot even carry or have possession of a knife linger that 15 cm in the Public. Weapons of any kind Is totally not allowed by anybody! To us it makes PERFECT sense!
In the West and US you can shout obceneties and curse politicians. But Chinese people prefer cultured respectful dialogue.
Burkina Faso Sacks Chief Of Staff After He Was Caught Selling Out His Country
I was tapping a parking meter with my credit card, and looked down, and saw, not a wallet. But the contents of a wallet. A credit card, a health insurance card, a rewards card, and a debit card.
Since it was a busy pay station, it hadn’t been there for long. I picked it up, ran into my meeting, and looked at the cards. They had an unusual name, so I googled it, and found two people with that last name in the city, and a food critic article, about a new chef, starting a new restaurant, and he had the exact name. So I called the restaurant, and left a message, that I found something of his, and if he could tell me what he was missing, I would return it to him. There was no reply, so I phoned the person with a different initial and the same last name, and left a message, that if they knew the other guy, to have him call me.
Nothing. The next day I left another message at the restaurant, and got no reply. The next day, I left a message saying I was going to drop it off at the police station, and he could do what he wanted, as I was done stressing over it.
I figured, that had I called the restaurant within 5 minutes of the card being lost, and if he was close to where he lost it, he could have it back in ten minutes from the time he lost it, and not have to cancel his cards, so I was trying hard to get it to him, but afterwards, I figured he would have already cancelled the card.
The next day he phones me and tells me that his wife lost the cards, and she only uses them maybe once a week, and never knew that they were missing.
It was only when the police phoned him, that she checked. He figured I was a scammer, and didn’t return my call. He said he had words with his wife, because she had no idea that anything had happened in those three says. Both the credit card and debit card had tap, I probably could have bought $500 bucks a day worth of stuff, for a week, before his wife noticed.
I never got an apology or a thank you, just an explanation.
But despite that, I will continue returning lost wallets, because I once left $200 in a bank machine, and and a young lady chased me down, a half block to return it. So I know there are other good people out there.
Declining US Empire vs Rising China
These two guys are GREAT. Love watching them.
A Global Community of Shared Future:
China’s Proposals and Actions
The State Council Information Office of
the People’s Republic of China
September 2023
Contents
Preface
I. Humanity at a Crossroads
II. An Answer to the Call of the Times and a Blueprint for the Future
III. Deep Roots in History and Cultural Traditions
IV. Direction and Path
V. China’s Action and Contribution
Conclusion
Preface
In the universe there is only one Earth, the shared home of humanity. Unfortunately, this planet on which we rely for our subsistence is facing immense and unprecedented crises, both known and unknown, both foreseeable and unforeseeable. Whether human civilization can survive these has become an existential issue that must be squarely faced. More and more people have come to the realization that rather than amassing material wealth, the most pressing task is to find a guiding beacon for the sustainable development of human civilization, because we all care about our future.
Ten years ago President Xi Jinping propounded the idea of building a global community of shared future, answering a question raised by the world, by history, and by the times: “Where is humanity headed?” His proposal lights the path forward as the world fumbles for solutions, and represents China’s contribution to global efforts to protect our shared home and create a better future of prosperity for all.
To build a global community of shared future, all peoples, all countries, and all individuals – our destinies being interconnected – must stand together in adversity and through thick and thin, navigating towards greater harmony on this planet that we call home. We should endeavor to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity, turning people’s longing for a better life into reality.
The vision of a global community of shared future bears in mind the wellbeing of all humanity. It is based on both observation of the present and visionary planning for the future. It lays out goals, charts the path, and offers action plans to achieve them. It concerns the future of humanity and the destiny of every human being.
President Xi Jinping first raised the vision of a global community of shared future when addressing the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 2013. Over the past decade it has been steadily enriched. He fleshed it out with a five-point proposal [The five points are: We should build partnerships in which countries treat each other as equals, engage in extensive consultation, and enhance mutual understanding. We should create a security environment featuring fairness, justice, joint efforts, and shared interests. We should promote open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits all. We should increase inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony, inclusiveness, and respect for differences. We should build an ecosystem that puts Mother Nature and green development first.] in his speech at the General Debate of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly in 2015. He further proposed five goals for the world [The five goals are: We should build a world of lasting peace through dialogue and consultation. We should build a world of common security for all through joint efforts. We should build a world of common prosperity through win-win cooperation. We should build an open and inclusive world through exchanges and mutual learning. We should make our world clean and beautiful by pursuing green and low-carbon development.] in his speech at the United Nations Office in Geneva in 2017. This represents the steady increase in the depth and scope of the vision.
The past decade has seen steady progress in implementing the vision. From bilateral to multilateral and from regional to global dimensions, ground-breaking results have been achieved on every front. The Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative have taken root and borne fruits, bringing prosperity and stability to the world and creating substantive benefits for the people.
Over the past decade, the vision of a global community of shared future has gained broader support. More countries and people have come to the understanding that this vision serves the common interests of humanity, represents popular calls for peace, justice and progress, and can create the greatest synergy among all nations for building a better world. It is now widely recognized in the international community that the vision has nothing to do with self-interest and protectionism. Instead, by presenting China’s vision of the course of human development, it confronts the hegemonic thinking of certain countries that seek supremacy. It is therefore of great significance to promote solidarity and cooperation among all countries and create a better future for humanity.
The Chinese government is publishing this white paper to introduce the theoretical base, practice and development of a global community of shared future. We hope it will improve understanding and expand consensus in the international community, and reinforce the global effort to realize this vision.
I. Humanity at a Crossroads
This is an era of promise, and an era of challenges. At yet another crossroads in history, we have to choose between unity and division, between opening up and closing off, between cooperation and confrontation. With the overall interests of humanity at stake, this choice tests the wisdom of all countries.
1. Interdependence is the prevailing trend throughout history
In its history, humanity has progressed from primitive society to the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and now the Information Revolution. While this process has seen a steep increase in productivity, one fundamental reality has remained unchanged: The Earth is our one and only home. All countries bear responsibility for the safety of this planet and the future of humanity. If the pursuit of power and profit escalates to vicious competition or even armed conflict, self-destruction will be the certain outcome.
Throughout history, peace and development have been the primary aspirations of humanity. Having experienced the ravages of wars and conflicts, especially the two world wars, people around the globe have built a keener awareness of cherishing peace, expanding cooperation, and seeking common development. The idea that “we are all one human family” is gaining traction, and the desire for a global community grows stronger than ever.
Globalization has improved the allocation of production factors worldwide, including capital, information, technology, labor and management. As if connecting scattered lakes and creeks into an uninterrupted expanse of water, it draws nations out of isolation and away from the obsolete model of self-reliance, merging their individual markets into a global one and combining their respective experiences into world history.
As information technology advances with every passing day, most prominently in the fields of Internet, big data, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, human exchanges have become deeper, broader, and more extensive than ever before, and countries are more interconnected and interdependent than at any point in the past. Globalization is not an option; it is the reality and the way of life. The global village is getting smaller – the longest distance between two places on earth has been reduced to a flight of no greater than 24 hours, and our planet is becoming flat – one tap on a mobile phone connects us to the other side of the world in a split second. This is an integrated world. Those who turn their back on it will have no place in it.
Living on the same planet, all countries, adjacent or distant, large or small, developed or developing, are members of an emerging community of shared interests, responsibility, and destiny, whose wellbeing and security are interrelated. Only when appropriate attention is paid to the collective future of humanity is it possible that the wishes of every country, people and individual come true. Whatever we may encounter on our journey ahead, the only right choice is to work together for the benefit of all.
2. Global challenges call for global response
Our world is undergoing change on a scale unseen in a century. Various problems old and new and complex issues are converging with and compounding each other, posing unprecedented challenges for human society. Instability, uncertainty, and unpredictability are now the norm.
The peace deficit is growing. Though human society has largely maintained peace since the end of World War II, threats to world peace continue to amass. War has returned to the Eurasian continent, tensions are rising, and a series of flashpoints are emerging. The shadow of the arms race lingers on, and the threat of nuclear war – the Sword of Damocles that hangs over humanity – remains. Our world is at risk of plunging into confrontation and even war.
The development deficit is ballooning. The global economic recovery is sluggish, and unilateralism and protectionism are rampant. Some countries are turning to a “small yard, high fence” approach to wall themselves off; they are pushing for decoupling, severing and “derisking” supply chains. All this has caused setbacks to globalization. At the same time the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed global development, exacerbating the North-South gap, development fault lines, and the technology divide. The Human Development Index has declined for the first time in 30 years. The world’s poor population has increased by more than 100 million, and nearly 800 million people live in hunger.
The security deficit is glaring. Due to more intense global strategic competition and a lack of mutual trust between major countries, the Cold War mindset has re-emerged, and calls for ideological confrontation have resurfaced. Some countries’ hegemonic, abusive, and aggressive actions against others, in the form of swindling, plundering, oppression, and the zero-sum game, are causing great harm. Non-traditional security challenges are on the rise, including terrorism, cyber-attacks, transnational crime, and biological threats.
The governance deficit is more severe. The world is facing multiple governance crises. The energy crisis, food crisis, and debt crisis are intensifying. Global climate governance is urgently needed, and the transition to green, low-carbon development requires dedicated efforts over an extended period of time. The digital divide continues to expand, and sound governance of artificial intelligence is lacking. The Covid-19 pandemic is a mirror through which we have observed that the global governance system is falling further behind the times and keeps breaking down on issues requiring resolution. It has to be reformed and improved.
In the face of global crises, the 190-plus countries in the world are all in the same big boat. Only big boats can withstand battering winds and crashing waves. No country, however strong it may be, can do everything on its own. We must engage in global cooperation. Only when all countries work together, only when we align individual interests with the interests of all, and only when we truly build a global community of shared future, can humanity tide through the crises confronting us and sail towards a better future.
3. The new era calls for new ideas
This is an era when the world is undergoing rapid changes almost every day. We can no longer interpret the reality we are living in or find satisfactory solutions to the conundrums we are facing by means of traditional approaches to international relations. It is increasingly obvious that the idea that “all strong countries will seek hegemony”, the obsession with superior strength, and the zero-sum mentality are in conflict with the needs of our times. Humanity is in great need of new ideas that generate positive developments and conform to positive historical trends.
There is no iron law that dictates that a rising power will inevitably seek hegemony. This assumption represents typical hegemonic thinking and is grounded in memories of catastrophic wars between hegemonic powers in the past. China has never accepted that once a country becomes strong enough, it will invariably seek hegemony. China understands the lesson of history – that hegemony preludes decline. We pursue development and revitalization through our own efforts, rather than invasion or expansion. And everything we do is for the purpose of providing a better life for our people, all the while creating more development opportunities for the entire world, not in order to supersede or subjugate others.
The strong preying on the weak is not a way for humans to coexist. If the law of the jungle is imposed on human society, and the idea that “might makes right” prevails, the principle of sovereign equality will be fundamentally undermined, and world peace and stability will be severely endangered. In the age of globalization, all countries are interdependent and interconnected. Therefore the law of the jungle and the winner-takes-all mindset will lead nowhere – inclusive development for the benefit of all is the right path forward. China has consistently championed equity and justice, and remains committed to friendly cooperation with other countries, on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, in order to advance democracy in international relations.
The zero-sum game in which one wins by causing others to lose is doomed to fail. Nevertheless, certain countries still cling to this mindset, blindly pursuing absolute security and monopolistic advantages. This will do nothing for their development over the long run; it will simply create a major threat to world peace and prosperity. No country should hope for others to fail. Instead, it should work together with other countries for the success of all. China consistently aligns its development with global development, and aligns the interests of the Chinese people with the common interests of all peoples around the world. When the world thrives, China thrives, and vice versa.
II. An Answer to the Call of the Times and
a Blueprint for the Future
Standing at a crossroads, humanity is faced with two opposing options. One is to revert to the Cold War mentality that deepens division and antagonism and stokes confrontation between blocs. The other is to act for the common wellbeing of humanity, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, advocate openness and win-win results, and promote equality and respect. The tug of war between these two options will shape the future of humanity and our planet in a profound way.
To build a global community of shared future is to pursue openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit, equity and justice. The goal is not to replace one system or civilization with another. Instead, it is about countries with different social systems, ideologies, histories, cultures and levels of development coming together to promote shared interests, shared rights, and shared responsibilities in global affairs. The vision of a global community of shared future stands on the right side of history and on the side of human progress. It introduces a new approach for international relations, provides new ideas for global governance, opens up new prospects for international exchanges, and draws a new blueprint for a better world.
1. Introducing a new approach to international relations
The current international order is facing a myriad of challenges. Some countries, holding to the notion of might makes right, willfully engage in bullying, plundering and zero-sum competition. The development gap is widening and the deficit in security is growing. The isolationist and exclusive practice of alliance-based confrontation runs counter to the trend towards multipolarity and the evolution of international relations in the post-Cold War era. Especially with the rise of a large number of emerging market and developing countries, the current international order is increasingly out of step with the changing times. “What kind of world we need and how to build such a world” has become a vital question with the future of humanity at stake.
China’s answer to this question of the times is to build a global community of shared future. It means that with their futures closely interlocked, all nations and countries should stick together, share weal and woe, live together in harmony, and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation. The idea is based on a reasonable design for state-to-state relations. It reflects the general consensus and common expectations of the international community, and demonstrates China’s sense of duty as a responsible major country.
In this global village, all human beings are one big family. With their interests intertwined and futures interlocked, countries are turning into a community of shared future. Such a vision rises above the exclusive rules of bloc politics, the notion of might makes right, and the “universal values” defined by a handful of Western countries. It conforms to the trend of the times, echoes the call for global cooperation, and contributes to a more just and equitable international order.
2. Highlighting the new features of global governance
The concept of a global community of shared future holds that all countries share a common future, and envisions a world characterized by openness and inclusiveness, equity and justice, harmonious coexistence, diversity and mutual learning, and unity and cooperation.
– Openness and inclusiveness. Countries should not draw lines based on ideology, target specific countries, or gang up to form exclusive blocs. The ocean is vast because it admits all rivers. To build a global community of shared future, countries should advance democracy in international relations to make sure that the future of the world is determined by all, that international rules are written by all, that global affairs are governed by all, and that the fruits of development are shared by all.
– Equity and justice. The world needs justice, not hegemonism. No country has the right to dominate global affairs, dictate the future of others, or monopolize development advantages. Countries should safeguard the international order based on international law, uphold the authority of the international rule of law, and ensure equal and unified application of international law. The practice of double standards or selective application of law should be rejected.
– Harmonious coexistence. Countries should strive to achieve peaceful coexistence and common development by seeking common ground while reserving differences. Planet Earth is not an arena for wrestling between countries, but a stage for human coexistence. Despite their differences and diverse features, countries can develop together in harmony and unity, and it is precisely such diversity that gives strength to global development.
– Diversity and mutual learning. Different histories, national conditions, ethnic groups, and customs have given birth to diverse civilizations. Diversity of human civilizations is a basic feature of our world. Mutual learning among civilizations provides important impetus to human progress. Countries should respect one another and jointly pursue common development through exchanges and mutual learning.
– Unity and cooperation. Countries should act for the greater good. Pursuing development behind closed doors can only result in poverty. Viewed from a “country-first” perspective, the world is small and crowded, and locked in “fierce competition”; viewed from the perspective of a shared future, the world is vast, and full of opportunities for cooperation. No country can overcome global development challenges on its own. Cooperation among all countries is the only viable option.
3. Opening up new prospects for international exchanges
China has made a five-point proposal for building a global community of shared future in the areas of partnerships, security environment, development, inter-civilization exchanges, and ecosystem. This has opened up new prospects for international exchanges.
We should build partnerships in which countries treat each other as equals, engage in extensive consultation, and enhance mutual understanding. The principle of sovereign equality runs through the UN Charter. All countries are equals. The big, the mighty and the wealthy should not bully the small, the weak and the poor. We should uphold multilateralism and reject unilateralism. We should replace the outdated mindset of winner takes all with a new vision of seeking win-win outcomes for all. We should forge global partnerships at both international and regional levels, and embrace a new approach to state-to-state relations, one founded on dialogue rather than confrontation and that seeks partnership rather than alliance. In handling their relations, major countries should follow the principles of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation. Big countries should treat small countries as equals and take the right approach to friendship and interests, pursuing both friendship and interests and putting friendship first.
We should create a security environment featuring fairness, justice, joint efforts, and shared interests. In the age of economic globalization, the security of all countries is interlinked, and each has an impact on the others. No country can maintain absolute security on its own, and no country can achieve stability by destabilizing others. The law of the jungle leaves the weak at the mercy of the strong; it is not the way for countries to conduct their relations. Those who choose to oppress will invite harm to themselves, like lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet. We should reject Cold War mentality in all its manifestation, and foster a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.
We should promote open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits all. Development is meaningful only when it is inclusive and sustainable. To achieve such development requires openness, mutual assistance and mutually beneficial relations. Long-term global development cannot be founded on one group of countries becoming increasingly prosperous while another group of countries remain chronically poor and backward. Development should be placed high on the international agenda, and efforts should be made to reduce inequality and imbalance in global development, leaving no country or individual behind.
We should increase inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony, inclusiveness, and respect for differences. There are more than 200 countries and regions, over 2,500 ethnic groups and a vast number of religions in our world. Such cultural diversity is what makes the world colorful. Diversity breeds exchanges, exchanges lead to integration, and integration brings progress. Only by upholding the equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness of civilizations, and working for mutual respect, experience sharing, and harmonious coexistence while preserving diversity, can the world maintain its diversity and thrive. We should respect all civilizations, treat each other as equals, and draw inspiration from each other to boost the creative development of human civilization.
We should build an ecosystem that puts Mother Nature and green development first. Humanity may have the ability to utilize nature and even transform it, but it is still a part of nature. We should care for nature and not place ourselves above it. We should reconcile industrial development with nature, and pursue harmony between humanity and nature to achieve sustainable global development and all-round human development. We should respect nature, follow its ways, and protect it. We should firmly pursue green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable development.
4. Outlining a new vision for building a better world
China proposes to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, common security, and common prosperity. From “the five-point proposal” to “the five goals”, the concept of a global community of shared future has gained a broader historical perspective and deeper meaning, and set a clearer goal and drawn a clearer blueprint for the future of humanity.
We should build a world of lasting peace through dialogue and consultation. It means beating the swords of war into the plowshares of peace. The stone wall at the entrance to the UNESCO headquarters carries the inscription of one single message: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” Throughout human history, obsession with power and hegemony has led to frequent wars and loss of lives. The lessons are painful and profound, and we need to remove the fuses of war from our minds. Big countries should treat the smaller ones as equals instead of seeking unilateral dominance or imposing their will on others. No country should open Pandora’s box by willfully provoking turmoil and armed conflict or undermining the international rule of law. Countries should respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, and respect the development path and social system chosen by other peoples.
We should build a world of common security for all through joint efforts. It means turning absolute security for one into common security for all. There is no place in the world that enjoys absolute security, and a country cannot build its security on the turmoil of others. Threats to other countries can turn into a challenge to one’s own country. When neighbors are in trouble, instead of reinforcing one’s own fences, one should extend a helping hand. As challenges often take on global dimensions, it is all the more important for countries to cooperate in addressing them, turning pressure into motivation and crises into opportunities. Unilateral action or blind belief in the use of force cannot address the complex international security threats. The only solution lies in cooperative and common security. It is normal for countries to have differences, and they should be properly addressed through dialogue and consultation. As long as we show sincerity, goodwill and political wisdom, no conflict is too big to resolve and no ice is too thick to break.
We should build a world of common prosperity through win-win cooperation. It means bidding farewell to the winner-takes-all mindset and sharing development achievements. In this day and age, the international community has evolved into a sophisticated and integrated apparatus, as the removal of any single part will cause serious problems to its overall operation. We must keep to the correct direction of economic globalization, and oppose any attempt to set up technological blockades, cause technological divides, or seek development decoupling. While we should make the pie of the global economy bigger, it is even more important to divide it well, so that development achievements can benefit people of all countries more equitably, and bring about true cooperation and win-win results.
We should build an open and inclusive world through exchanges and mutual learning. It means bidding farewell to the mindset that one civilization is superior to another and starting to appreciate the strengths of other civilizations. Our world can fully accommodate the common growth and progress of all countries, and success for one country does not mean failure for another. There is no universally applicable development path. A development path that continuously benefits the people is the most viable one. Countries and nations should respect their differences and seek harmony without uniformity, and civilizations should draw strength from each other and make progress together. Exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations should be a driving force for human progress and a strong underpinning for world peace.
We should make our world clean and beautiful by pursuing green and low-carbon development. It means bidding farewell to the destructive exploitation of resources and preserving and enjoying the lush mountains and lucid waters. Humanity coexists with nature. Any harm we inflict on nature will eventually come back to haunt us. We often take natural resources such as air, water, soil and blue sky for granted. But we could not survive without them. Industrialization has created a level of material wealth never seen before, but it has also inflicted irreparable damage on the environment. We must not exhaust all the resources passed on to us by previous generations and leave nothing to our children, or pursue development in a destructive way. Lush mountains and lucid waters are invaluable assets. We must follow the philosophy of harmony between humanity and nature and observance of the laws of nature and pursue a path of sustainable development, so that everyone is able to enjoy a starry sky, lush mountains and fragrant flowers.
Building a global community of shared future is China’s proposed strategy for reforming and improving the international governance system. This does not mean that the international system should be dismantled or started afresh. Rather, it means promoting greater democracy in international relations and making global governance more just and equitable. This important vision reflects the broadest common aspiration of the peoples of all countries in pursuit of peace, development, and stability, and the broadest consensus among countries with different cultural backgrounds and at different stages of development. It transcends outdated mindsets such as zero-sum game, power politics, and Cold War confrontations. It has become the overall goal of China’s major-country diplomacy in the new era, and a great banner that leads the trend of the times and the direction of human progress.
III. Deep Roots in History and
Cultural Traditions
The concept of a global community of shared future has deep roots in China’s profound cultural heritage and its unique experience of modernization. It carries forward the diplomatic traditions of the People’s Republic of China and draws on the outstanding achievements of all other civilizations. It manifests China’s time-honored historical traditions, distinct characteristics of the times, and a wealth of humanistic values.
1. Inheriting the best of traditional Chinese culture
China’s fine traditional culture epitomizes the essence of the Chinese civilization. It provides inspiring insights to help understand and shape the world and address current challenges, and contains elements of the vision of building a global community of shared future.
Harmony is the core concept of Chinese culture, which values the primacy of harmony and harmony within diversity, pursues the ideal of harmony and solidarity towards common progress, and embraces cultural diversity and global harmony.
The Chinese nation believes all nations together are one community, advocates fraternity among all peoples and peace for all countries, follows the principle of interstate relations that the strong do not bully the weak and the rich do not insult the poor, and pursues a world of fairness and justice for the common good.
The Chinese nation champions universal benevolence, holding that the virtuous are never left to stand alone, endorsing good neighborliness with good faith and good will, and pursuing both friendship and interests while putting friendship first.
The Chinese nation observes the rule that “to establish oneself, one must help others to establish themselves first; to succeed, one must help others to succeed first”, believing that helping others is helping oneself. It also upholds the principle that “do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself”, and never imposes its will upon other nations.
The Chinese nation acts on the belief that humans are part of nature and follows the old adage: “Fish with a line but not with a net; when fowling, do not aim at a roosting bird.” It reveres the laws of the universe, loves nature, and pursues harmony between humanity and nature.
2. Showcasing the global vision of the Communist Party of China
Always championing a global vision is part of the valuable experience accumulated by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in its century-long history. Over the past one hundred years and more, the CPC has always sought happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation while pursuing progress for all of humanity and the common good of the world. It succeeded in leading the Chinese people onto a distinctively Chinese path to modernization and developing a new form of human advancement. These successes have laid a solid foundation for building a global community of shared future, charting the course and opening up broad prospects for this great endeavor.
The CPC is committed to seeking progress for China while benefiting the wider world, bringing a good life to the Chinese people and also helping other peoples to prosper, and contributing more to humanity. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress in 2022 drew a great blueprint for rejuvenating the Chinese nation on all fronts by pioneering a uniquely Chinese path to modernization, and pointed out that striving to build a global community of shared future is one of the intrinsic requirements of Chinese modernization, affirming the close bond between the future of China and the future of all humanity.
The CPC leads the Chinese people in blazing and expanding China’s path to modernization based on both China’s distinctive conditions and other countries’ common approaches. Chinese modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for a huge population, coordinated material and cultural-ethical advancement, harmony between humanity and nature, and peaceful development. All these features have provided useful experience for other developing countries and a more robust and sustainable option for jointly building a global community of shared future.
3. Promoting the fine diplomatic traditions of New China
Over the past 70 years and more, China has made notable progress, established fine traditions, and forged a tenacious character and unique strengths in developing foreign relations. The initiative of building a global community of shared future builds on the PRC’s diplomatic philosophies, strategic thinking and traditions, and opens up new horizons for major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.
After the PRC was founded in 1949, China committed itself to an independent foreign policy of peace and put forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, the Three Worlds theory and other principles, policies and ideas. This allowed China to find its place, win respect, and expand its reach in the international community. After the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, China asserted that peace and development are the underlying trends of the times. It advocated multipolarity and greater democracy in international relations, promoted a harmonious world, and achieved significant progress in China’s diplomacy around the world.
In the new era, championing peace, development, and win-win cooperation, China has advanced its major-country diplomacy on all fronts and formed a multifaceted, multilevel, and all-dimensional diplomatic strategy. China has initiated a range of visionary initiatives, including a global community of shared future, a new type of international relations, the common values of humanity, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, and promoted a set of approaches to global governance, to friendship and interests, to security, to development, to cooperation, and to the eco-environment. All these carry distinctively Chinese features, style and ethos.
4. Incorporating the outstanding achievements of other civilizations
The concept of a global community of shared future incorporates the best of the cultures of enduring appeal and impact that have transcended time, space, and national borders in human history. It crystallizes the shared values of people from different regions, cultures, ethnic backgrounds and with different religious beliefs. It draws on the outstanding achievements of cultural integration between diverse civilizations. It embodies the common aspiration of all humanity.
All civilizations around the world have manifestations of the concept of a global community of shared future. Ancient Greek philosophers conducted primary research on this concept based on city-states, believing that humanity as one community should act in concert to pursue common interests and thus must live in harmony. Ancient Indian literature records the motto of “Under Heaven – one family”. The African philosophy of Ubuntu holds that “I am because we are,” emphasizing interdependence of humanity.
The concept of a global community of shared future reflects the common interests of all civilizations – peace, development, unity, coexistence, and win-win cooperation. A Russian proverb holds, “Together we can weather the storm.” The Swiss-German writer Hermann Hesse proposed, “Serve not war and destruction, but peace and reconciliation.” A German proverb reads, “An individual’s effort is addition; a team’s effort is multiplication.” An African proverb states, “One single pillar is not sufficient to build a house.” An Arabian proverb asserts, “If you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk together.” Mexican poet Alfonso Reyes wrote, “The only way to be profitably national is to be generously universal.” An Indonesian proverb says, “Sugarcane and lemongrass grow in dense clumps.” A Mongolian proverb concludes, “Neighbors are connected at heart and share a common destiny.” All the above narratives manifest the profound cultural and intellectual essence of the world.
In building a global community of shared future, all countries should observe the widely acknowledged norms of international relations. Since the advent of modern times, a fair and equitable international order has been the long-standing goal of all humanity. From the principle of equity and sovereignty established by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, to international humanitarianism established by the Geneva Conventions in 1864, then to the four purposes and seven principles established by the Charter of the United Nations in 1945, and later to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence proposed at the Bandung Conference in 1955, these norms of international relations have evolved into widely recognized principles and become the essential foundations of a global community of shared future.
IV. Direction and Path
The vision of a global community of shared future is the outcome of China’s wisdom in handling contemporary international relations from the perspective of world peace and development – a Chinese plan for improving global governance, and a Chinese proposal to address various challenges in the 21st century. Vision guides action and direction determines the future. The international community should work together to turn the grand blueprint into a roadmap, and a beautiful vision into reality step by step.
1. Pressing ahead with a new type of economic globalization
Economic globalization is an irreversible trend of global economic development, and is in line with the desire for development and cooperation held by people of all countries. Economic globalization has greatly facilitated trade, investment, flows of people, and technological advances, making an important contribution to global economic development.
However, problems and drawbacks also accumulated in the process, and there are attempts at retreating from it. The current model of economic globalization fails to reflect the demands or represent the interests of developing countries. The law of the jungle, zero-sum game, and the “win-or-lose”, “winner-takes-all” mindset have exacerbated the divide between the rich and poor, as evidenced by the widening gap between developed and developing countries, and that within developed countries. Some countries blame their problems in domestic governance on economic globalization or other countries, and resort to unilateral, protectionist, and bullying actions. This has damaged global industrial, value, supply and consumption chains, and caused turbulence and even conflict in the current international trade order.
Promoting a new type of economic globalization is essential for building a global community of shared future. Countries need to pursue a policy of openness and explicitly oppose protectionism, the erection of fences and barriers, unilateral sanctions, and maximum-pressure tactics, so as to connect economies and jointly build an open world economy. Countries should strive to build a system of fair, reasonable, and transparent international economic and trade rules, press ahead with trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and promote further global economic openness, exchange, and integration in order to form an economic globalization that is open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial for all, so that people of all countries can share the fruits of economic globalization and world economic growth.
Opening up should be a two-way journey, not a one-way street; one cannot demand the opening of other countries while closing its own doors. Some countries are seeking to decouple from and break chains with China, enclosing themselves in “small yards, high fences”, which will ultimately only backfire on themselves. Some people overstate the need to “reduce dependence” and “derisk”, which is essentially creating new risks. Risk prevention and cooperation are not mutually contradictory, whereas non-cooperation is the biggest risk and non-development is the biggest threat to security. Pursuing de-sinicization in the name of derisking and reducing dependence undermines opportunities, cooperation, stability, and development.
The current revolution in science and technology marked by artificial intelligence will have a profound impact on the new round of economic globalization and social development. Relevant rules and standards should be established to support scientific and technological innovation and guard the red line of human security. The interests of all countries, especially developing ones, should be taken into account in a balanced manner, to ensure that technological innovation is placed under the rule of law and internationally recognized norms, and ensure that innovation is steered by and works for humanity, and is consistent with human values.
2. Following a peaceful development path
History tells us that for a country to develop and prosper, it must understand and follow the trend of global development; otherwise it will be abandoned by history. The trend now is the pursuit of peace, development, cooperation, and win-win results. The old path of colonialism and hegemonism leads to a dead end and those who follow it will pay a heavy price, whereas the path of peaceful development is the right one for the world to follow.
The pursuit of peace, amity and harmony is deeply rooted in the cultural realm of the Chinese nation and runs in the blood of the Chinese people. For a long time in the past, China was one of the most powerful countries in the world, but it does not have any record of colonization or aggression against other countries. China’s adherence to the path of peaceful development is an extension of the millennia-old cultural tradition of the peace-loving Chinese nation.
China always adheres to an independent foreign policy of peace and has always emphasized that the goal of China’s foreign policy is to maintain world peace and promote common development. China opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics, and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. It will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion. These principles are stated in China’s policies, incorporated in its systemic designs, and always adhered to in its practices.
The world needs peace, just like a human being needs air and living things need sunshine. The path of peaceful development is beneficial to China and the world, and we cannot think of any reason not to stay on this path. China follows the path of peaceful development, and hopes that other countries will take this path as well. Only by working together to pursue peace, safeguard peace, and share peace can countries achieve their development goals and make greater contributions to the world. Only when everyone follows the path of peaceful development can countries coexist peacefully, and can there be hope for building a global community of shared future.
3. Fostering a new type of international relations
The new type of international relations is different in that it has created a new path for interactions between countries, opened up a new chapter of world history where different civilizations and countries with different systems coexist in peace and seek common development, and paved the way for building a global community of shared future.
A new type of international relations should be built on the principles of mutual respect, equity and justice, and mutually beneficial cooperation. Mutual respect means treating people with sincerity and equality, and opposing power politics and bullying practices. In upholding equity and justice, countries must discard extreme materialism and overemphasis on competition, and ensure that all countries have equal rights and opportunities for development. Mutually beneficial cooperation means that countries should reject the maximization of self-interest, address the legitimate concerns of other countries while pursuing their own interests, and promote common development of all countries alongside their own development.
The foundations for building a new type of international relations lie in broader and deeper global partnerships based on equality, openness, and cooperation. China adheres to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in pursuing friendship and cooperation with other countries. It works to reinforce coordination and positive interaction with other major countries in order to build major-country relations featuring peaceful coexistence, overall stability, and balanced development. Acting on the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness, and the policy of forging friendships and partnerships with its neighbors, China strives to increase friendly ties, mutual trust, and converging interests with its neighboring countries. Guided by the principles of sincerity, real results, amity, and good faith and with a commitment to the right approach to friendship and interests, China endeavors to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other developing countries and safeguard the common interests of the developing world.
Major countries are key actors in building a new type of international relations. The international status of a country is measured by its openness of mind, breadth of vision, and sense of responsibility rather than its size, strength or power. Major countries should direct their primary efforts to the future of humanity and assume greater responsibility for world peace and development, rather than wielding their power to seek monopoly over international and regional affairs. Major countries should strengthen coordination and cooperation, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, consider the perspectives of other parties and value mutual understanding, and treat smaller countries as equals. By building a global community of shared future, emerging countries and established powers can avoid falling into the Thucydides trap, find the right way to get along in mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, and build common ground and achieve common development for different civilizations and countries with different social systems.
4. Practicing true multilateralism
Building a global community of shared future requires practicing true multilateralism. Building cliques in the name of multilateralism is no more than bloc politics. Seeking supremacy in the name of multilateralism is still unilateral thinking. “Selective multilateralism” is practicing double standard. The world should be fair and free from domineering practices. China opposes all forms of unilateralism and the formation of camps and exclusive cliques targeting specific countries, and opposes actions that undermine the international order, create a new Cold War or stoke ideological confrontation in the name of the so-called rules-based order.
China firmly upholds the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, as well as the authority and status of the United Nations. The various confrontations and injustices in today’s world do not arise because the purposes and principles of the UN Charter are outdated, but rather because these purposes and principles are not effectively followed. China maintains that for the world, there is only one system, which is the international system with the United Nations at its core, that there is only one order, which is the international order based on international law, and that there is only one set of rules, which is the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
China actively participates in and leads the reform of the global governance system. It follows the vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits, that is, global affairs must be discussed by all, governance systems built by all, and benefits of governance shared by all, so that every country is a participant, contributor, and beneficiary of world peace and development.
5. Promoting the common values of humanity
China advocates peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, the common values of humanity. With an open mind, China understands that different civilizations have different understandings of the nature of these values, and respects the efforts of people in different countries to explore their own development paths. It goes beyond the narrow historical limitations of the so-called universal values, and promotes the common values of humanity embedded in Chinese civilization. These are the values embodied in pursuing a global community of shared future.
Peace and development are a common cause. A tree of peace cannot grow on barren land, nor can it bear the fruits of development amidst the flames of war. The fundamental solution to various global challenges lies in seeking peace and achieving development. Equity and justice are common ideals. No country should act as it pleases, or ride roughshod over others. Democracy and freedom are the common goals of humanity. There is no single model of democracy that is universally applicable, far less a superior one. Democracy is not Coca-Cola, tasting the same across the world as the syrup is produced in one single country. Democracy is not an ornament, but a solution to real problems. Attempts to monopolize the “patent” of democracy, arbitrarily define the “standards” of democracy, and fabricate a false narrative of “democracy versus authoritarianism” to provoke confrontation between political systems and ideologies are practices of fake democracy. Promoting the common values of humanity is not about canonizing the values of any particular country, but about seeking common ground while reserving differences, harmony without uniformity, and fully respecting the diversity of civilizations and the right of all countries to independently choose their social systems and development paths.
The more advanced human society becomes, the more important it is to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. All countries should treat each other with respect and as equals, discard arrogance and prejudice, deepen understanding of the differences between its own civilization and others, and promote dialogue and harmonious coexistence between different civilizations. Every country should value its own civilization, appreciate others, and facilitate their common progress. We should keep our own civilizations dynamic and create conditions for other civilizations to flourish. Together we can make the garden of world civilizations colorful and vibrant. All countries should be open and inclusive, promote mutual learning, strive to remove all barriers to cultural exchanges, and seek nourishment from other civilizations to promote the common development of all civilizations. All countries should progress with the times, explore new ground in development, take in the best of the present age, and sustain the development of civilizations through innovation.
V. China’s Action and Contribution
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Over the past decade, China has contributed its strength to building a global community of shared future with firm conviction and solid actions.
1. Promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a vivid example of building a global community of shared future, and a global public good and cooperation platform provided by China to the world. Since introducing the BRI ten years ago, based on extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits, China has pursued open, green, clean, and high-standard cooperation to promote sustainable development and improve people’s lives, and advanced high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. It has laid the groundwork and set up the frameworks of BRI cooperation, delivering tangible results and achieving sustainable progress. Together, participants in the initiative have jointly advanced “hard connectivity”, “soft connectivity” and “people-to-people connectivity”, setting up an important platform that has enabled wide participation, built international consensus and pooled the strengths of all parties.
Policy connectivity continues to deepen. By July 2023, more than three-quarters of countries in the world and over 30 international organizations had signed agreements on Belt and Road cooperation with China. China has successfully hosted the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017 and the second in 2019, and will host the third this year, maximizing synergy for advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. Infrastructure connectivity continues to strengthen. A general connectivity framework consisting of six corridors, six routes, and multiple countries and ports is in place. The overall layout of land, sea, air and cyberspace connectivity continues to improve, centered on economic corridors such as the New Eurasian Land Bridge, supported by routes like the China-Europe Railway Express and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the information expressway, and underpinned by major railways, ports, and pipelines. Trade connectivity continues to increase. According to Belt and Road Economics, a report released by the World Bank, the BRI, when fully implemented, will increase intra-BRI trade by 4.1 percent. By 2030, the BRI will generate US$1.6 trillion in annual global revenues. Financial connectivity continues to expand. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund have been set up, providing financing support for hundreds of projects. People-to-people connectivity continues to strengthen. Roads, bridges and development belts that lead to a happier and better life are constantly emerging in participating countries, and solid progress is being achieved in Juncao, wells, hybrid rice and other small projects that work faster in improving people’s lives, giving local people of BRI countries a stronger sense of gain and fulfillment.
The BRI originated in China, but the opportunities and achievements it creates belong to the whole world. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, since its launch ten years ago, has lent strong impetus to the economic and social development of Pakistan. The China-Laos Railway has realized the long-cherished wish of the Lao people to convert Laos from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub. The Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway has become the first railway in Southeast Asia to reach a speed of 350 kilometers an hour. The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has added more than two percentage points to local economic growth. Malawi’s 600 wells built with Chinese assistance have become “wells of happiness” serving 150,000 local people. The China-Europe Railway Express serves as a “steel camel fleet” between China and Europe. Luban workshops help young people in Tajikistan and other countries acquire vocational skills. Cooperation in the fields of health, green development, digital economy, and innovation is thriving.
The BRI is an initiative for economic cooperation, not for geopolitical or military alliances. It is an open and inclusive process that neither targets nor excludes any party. Rather than forming exclusionary cliques or a “China club”, it aims to help China and the rest of the world to seize opportunities and pursue common development. Rather than a private route for any one party, it is a broad path that can be joined by all interested countries to work together for shared benefits.
The international community speaks highly of the BRI, praising it not simply as some random road or economic belt, but as an initiative to achieve common progress for humanity, an initiative that has opened up new paths for the common development of all countries. The BRI has facilitated the modernization drive of developing countries, leading the world into a new era of transcontinental cooperation.
2. Implementing the three global initiatives
It is widely recognized that peace and stability, material sufficiency, and cultural-ethical enrichment represent the basic goals of human society. Development serves as the material foundation for security and civilization, security acts as the fundamental prerequisite for development and civilization, and civilization provides the cultural-ethical support for development and security. The Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative proposed by China guide the advance of human society across these three dimensions. Resonating and complementing each other, they have evolved into a crucial cornerstone for building a global community of shared future, offering China’s solutions to major challenges pertaining to peace and development for humanity.
– Through the Global Development Initiative, China has issued a resounding call for commitment to development and reinvigorated cooperation, and made its contribution to resolving challenges to development and advancing global development. The fundamental aim of the initiative is to accelerate the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its core requirement is a people-centered approach, its foremost philosophy is united, equal, balanced, and inclusive global development partnerships, and its pivotal measure entails results-oriented actions to bolster stronger, greener, and healthier global development and jointly build a global community of development.
China has hosted the High-level Dialogue on Global Development and presented 32 major measures to implement the initiative, such as creating the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund totaling US$4 billion, launching the China-FAO South-South Cooperation Trust Fund (Phase III), and strengthening support for the China-UN Peace and Development Fund. Over the past two years, the international community has extensively responded to the initiative and jointly tackled prominent issues including food security, poverty reduction, and energy security as the implementation mechanism steadily improves and practical cooperation delivers progress. The Global Development Promotion Center is running smoothly, and the library of the Global Development Initiative projects is expanding, with over 200 projects achieving good results. At the same time, China has issued the Global Development Report, and established the Global Knowledge Network for Development, contributing Chinese wisdom to the resolution of developmental challenges. Currently, more than 100 countries and international organizations have expressed support for the Global Development Initiative, with over 70 countries participating in the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative established at the UN.
China is committed to propelling global development through its own development. It has thoroughly applied the new development philosophy, with a focus on promoting high-quality development to foster a new development paradigm. Modernization of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people will create a market rivaling the aggregated size of all developed countries. This will open up more opportunities for all countries and stakeholders to partake in China’s huge market. China has also pioneered major expos and fairs, exemplified by the China International Import Expo, China International Fair for Trade in Services, China Import and Export Fair, and China International Consumer Goods Expo. It has encouraged all countries and stakeholders to share the opportunities presented by China’s institutional opening up and steadily expanded institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management, and standards. It has enforced the Foreign Investment Law and its supporting rules and regulations, implemented the new catalogue for encouraging foreign investment, continued to remove items from the negative list of market access for foreign investment, advanced high-quality development of pilot free trade zones, and accelerated the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port.
China is committed to win-win cooperation and common development. As the largest developing country in the world and a member of the Global South, China has made every effort to aid other developing countries and help recipient countries expand their capacity for development. China is actively engaged in international exchanges and cooperation. It has cooperated with almost 20 international organizations, including the UN World Food Programme, the UN Development Programme, the UN Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and executed over 130 projects in nearly 60 countries including Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Nigeria. “Small but beautiful”, these projects span fields such as poverty reduction, food security, Covid-19 response, and climate change, and have benefited more than 30 million individuals. China worked actively for the adoption of and has comprehensively acted on the Debt Service Suspension Initiative of the Group of Twenty (G20), contributing more than any other G20 member to its implementation. China has signed agreements or reached understandings on the suspension of debt repayments with 19 African countries, helping Africa alleviate debt pressure.
China is committed to building an open world economy. It has become the main trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, and signed 21 free trade agreements with 28 countries and regions. It has worked for high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, actively worked to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, and expanded its globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas. It has also promoted the internationalization of the Renminbi, and reinforced financial standards and its level of internationalization, thereby converging its interests closer with other countries.
– Through the Global Security Initiative, China seeks to work with the international community in upholding the spirit of the UN Charter, and calls for adapting to the profound changes in the international landscape through solidarity, addressing traditional and non-traditional security risks and challenges with a win-win mindset, and creating a new path to security that features dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance, and win-win results over zero-sum game.
In February 2023, China officially released The Global Security Initiative Concept Paper. The document further elaborates the core concepts and principles of the initiative, elucidates its key avenues for cooperation, and presents recommendations and ideas concerning its cooperation platforms and mechanisms. This has demonstrated China’s awareness of its duty to maintain world peace and its firm determination to safeguard global security. As an international public good, the Global Security Initiative serves the interests of and maintains peace for people throughout the world.
China is a pillar in maintaining world peace. It is committed to handling disputes with relevant countries over territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests through negotiation and consultation. It has settled land boundary issues peacefully with 12 of its 14 neighbors along its land borders through negotiation and consultation, and delimited the maritime boundary in the Beibu Bay with Vietnam. China has faithfully fulfilled its responsibilities and missions as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It is the second largest contributor to the UN regular budget and peacekeeping assessment, and the largest contributor of peacekeeping troops among the permanent members of the Security Council. Over the past three decades and more, having sent more than 50,000 personnel to UN peacekeeping operations in over 20 countries and regions, China has become a key force in UN peacekeeping. China has dispatched more than 100 naval vessels in 45 taskforces to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia to provide escort for over 7,000 Chinese and foreign ships.
Facing constant flare-ups of hotspot issues, China has been committed to fulfilling its role as a responsible major country, pushing for the resolution of international and regional flashpoints, such as the Korean Peninsula, Palestine, the Iranian nuclear issue, Syria, and Afghanistan. On the Ukraine issue, China has actively promoted talks for peace, put forth four key principles, four things that the international community should do together and three observations, and released China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis. China has dispatched the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs to engage in extensive interactions and exchanges with stakeholders on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.
Through the mediation of China, Saudi Arabia and Iran have achieved historic reconciliation, setting a fine example for countries in the region to resolve disputes and differences and achieve good neighborly relations through dialogue and consultation, and catalyzing a wave of reconciliation in the Middle East.
China has actively cooperated with other parties in non-traditional security domains such as anti-terrorism, biosecurity, and food security. It has proposed the International Cooperation Initiative on Global Food Security within the framework of the G20, and pushed for the adoption of the Strategy on Food Security Cooperation of the BRICS Countries. It has also officially launched the China-Pacific Island Countries Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Cooperation Center, representing yet another robust action to help developing countries tackle non-traditional security challenges within the context of the Global Security Initiative.
– Through the Global Civilization Initiative, China calls for jointly advocating respect for the diversity of civilizations, jointly advocating the common values of humanity, jointly advocating the importance of continuity and evolution of civilizations, and jointly advocating closer international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. The Global Civilization Initiative makes a sincere call for the world to enhance inter-civilization exchanges and dialogue, and promote human progress with inclusiveness and mutual learning, inspiring the building of a global community of shared future.
China has hosted gatherings including the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting, the CPC and World Political Parties Summit, and the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations. It has engaged in extensive bilateral and multilateral activities for political party exchanges and cooperation, and promoted diverse forms of civil diplomacy, city diplomacy, and public diplomacy. China has continued to deepen cooperation with the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN World Tourism Organization. It now has 43 items inscribed on the intangible cultural heritage lists of UNESCO.
China has celebrated over 30 large-scale cultural and tourist “years” (festivals), such as the China-Italy Year of Culture and Tourism, the China-Greece Year of Culture and Tourism, and the China-Spain Year of Culture and Tourism. It has promoted the steady development of 16 multilateral exchanges and cooperation mechanisms, such as the meeting of BRICS ministers of culture, as well as 25 bilateral cooperation mechanisms. It regularly hosts cultural activities at home, such as the Arabic Arts Festival and the Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival, and has held “Happy Spring Festival” celebrations outside China for more than 20 years in a row. It hosted approximately 2,000 events across over 130 countries in 2017, and has organized activities around the world under such brands as “Tea for Harmony” Yaji Cultural Salon. It has advanced cultural and tourism exchanges under the Belt and Road Initiative, carried out the Cultural Silk Road program, and established the Silk Road international theater, museum, art festival, library, and art museum alliances. It has also established approximately 3,000 pairs of sister cities or provinces with various countries, and launched the “Nihao! China” inbound tourism promotion program.
The international community has spoken highly of these three global initiatives, acknowledging that they reflect China’s global vision and growing international influence and provide comprehensive solutions to the challenges confronting humanity. The Global Development Initiative is highly compatible with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and resonates, in particular, with the aspirations of developing countries for greater development. The Global Security Initiative upholds the principle of common security, emphasizes comprehensive approaches, pursues sustainable security through cooperative efforts, and makes a valuable contribution to addressing international security challenges. The Global Civilization Initiative calls on all countries to respect the diversity of civilizations in the world, which is conducive to facilitating exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations.
3. Working with more countries and regions
China has proposed a range of regional and bilateral initiatives on building communities of shared future, and is working with stakeholders to build consensus and expand cooperation, thereby playing a constructive role in promoting regional peace and development.
The China-Africa community of shared future was the first regional proposal. It values sincerity and equality, pursues both friendship and interests and puts friendship first, takes a people-oriented approach in pursuing practical and efficient cooperation, and follows an open and inclusive approach to cooperation. It has set a good example of China and African countries building a community of shared future. The China-Arab community of shared future, China-Latin America and the Caribbean community of shared future, and China-Pacific Island Countries community of shared future have all made swift and steady progress. They are vivid illustrations of solidarity, cooperation, and common progress among developing countries.
The community of shared future among neighboring countries has taken firm root. As the China-ASEAN community of shared future continues to make advances, China-ASEAN cooperation has evolved into the most fruitful, dynamic, and substantive cooperation in East Asia. The two sides have seen a steady increase in mutual trust, engaged in frequent high-level exchanges, and established dialogue and cooperation mechanisms in nearly 50 domains and institutions. The community of shared future of Lancang-Mekong countries continues to make progress. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization community of shared future has yielded substantial outcomes. The building of the China-Central Asia community of shared future has made solid steps forward. The first China-Central Asia Summit was a success and a meeting mechanism at the heads-of-state level between China and Central Asian countries has been established. These efforts have contributed to enduring peace and shared prosperity in the region and the wider world.
At the bilateral level, China is building communities of shared future with an increasing number of partners in different forms. China and countries including Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Mongolia, Cuba and South Africa have published action plans, released joint statements, or reached important agreements on building bilateral communities of shared future. China has also implemented the vision of building a global community of shared future on a bilateral level with all the five Central Asian countries. As this vision gains greater traction among the people, substantial outcomes have been delivered, significantly boosting local development and improving people’s lives.
The global community of shared future is a dynamic, open, and inclusive system. However different countries may be in geographical location, history, culture, social system, size of economy, and development stage, alignment with the core idea of a global community of shared future enables them to seek common ground while shelving differences, achieve harmony in diversity, reinforce cooperation, and pursue win-win outcomes. China will work with more and more regions and countries to build a global community of shared future and contribute to the development of all countries and the progress of human civilization.
4. Boosting international cooperation in all areas
The vision of a global community of shared future addresses the deficits in peace, development, security, and governance facing the world today. As China’s unique contribution to solving global problems, it also offers solutions which have been translated into concrete actions in areas such as health, climate change, and cybersecurity.
Confronted by the rampant Covid-19 pandemic, China proposed to build a community of health for all. It has stood in the frontline of international anti-pandemic cooperation, carrying out global emergency humanitarian relief and providing assistance and support to more than 150 countries and international organizations. China has advocated that vaccines must first and foremost be a global public good, and was among the first countries to make a commitment to supply Covid-19 vaccines as a global public good, to support waiving intellectual property rights on the vaccines, and to start joint production with other developing countries. It has also played a pioneering role in the equitable distribution of vaccines, contributing China’s strength to the global health cause through firm commitment and practical actions.
To address disorder in cyberspace governance, China has proposed the concept of a community of shared future in cyberspace. It actively participates in UN cybersecurity processes and supports the UN in playing a core role in global cyberspace governance. China has hosted the World Internet Conference and established the World Internet Conference Organization as a platform for global internet sharing and governance.
To advance the development of a set of rules for global digital governance, it has launched the Global Data Security Initiative, and released the China-LAS Cooperation Initiative on Data Security together with the League of Arab States and the Data Security Cooperation Initiative of China + Central Asia together with the five Central Asian countries. To ensure that rights and responsibilities are shared among all countries, it promotes the improvement of governance rules in the deep sea, polar regions, outer space, and other new frontiers. Efforts are made to ensure that in formulating new rules for governance in new frontiers, the interests and expectations of emerging market countries and developing countries are fully reflected.
Concerning the fundamental issues in global nuclear security governance, China proposes to build a community of shared future on nuclear security. It firmly safeguards the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and upholds a rational, coordinated and balanced approach to nuclear security. In response to the increasing risk of nuclear conflict, China has pushed for the conclusion of a joint statement among the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states, reaffirming that “a nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought”. China actively advocates the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, and it is the only nuclear country that has publicly committed to no-first-use of nuclear weapons, and not using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones.
Faced with increasingly complex maritime issues, China has proposed to form a maritime community of shared future and has always been committed to peaceful resolution of territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests disputes through dialogue and consultation. China has signed and fully and effectively implemented the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea with ASEAN countries, and continues to advance consultations on the code of conduct in the South China Sea. China has proposed to jointly build a partnership on blue economy and strengthen maritime connectivity. It adheres to the path of pursuing joint development while setting aside disputes, and actively explores joint resource development with maritime neighbors at sea.
Faced with the severe and growing global climate challenge, China has proposed important concepts such as building a community of life for humanity and nature and a community of all life on Earth. China actively promotes economic development and transformation, and undertakes to strive to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. It has introduced a “1+N” policy system for carbon peaking and neutrality. China has built the world’s largest clean power generation network, contributed 25 percent of the world’s newly added green area since 2000, and enabled an annual economic growth rate of over 6 percent with an average annual energy consumption growth rate of 3 percent. It has the largest installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, and solar power in the world. It actively participates in global environmental governance, advocates the comprehensive and effective implementation by the international community of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and adheres to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. China tries its best to help developing countries improve their ability to address climate change, and vigorously supports their green and low-carbon energy development. It has inked 46 South-South cooperation documents with 39 developing countries to address climate change, and trained approximately 2,300 officials and technical personnel in the field of climate change for more than 120 developing countries. Holding the presidency of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), China made every effort to ensure the success of the meeting, taking the lead in funding the establishment of the Kunming Biodiversity Fund and contributing to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Whether dealing with the current crises or creating a better future together, all countries need to unite and cooperate. Faced with profound changes unseen in a century, China has proposed the building of a global community of shared future, calls on all countries to uphold the concept of a shared future, fully communicate and consult with each other, share governance responsibilities, and form broad consensus and take concerted actions to address global issues, so as to inject confidence and momentum into humanity’s drive towards a bright future.
Conclusion
All good principles should adapt to changing times in order to remain relevant. A broad consensus of solidarity and cooperation has developed in the international community behind the proposal and the implementation of the concept of a global community of shared future to address the challenges facing humanity. Looking to the future, it is bound to shine as a pioneering thought with the power of truth that transcends time and space, opening up a beautiful prospect of common development, long-term stability, and sustained prosperity for human society. The future of humanity is bright, but it will not come without effort. Building a global community of shared future is both a salutary vision and a historical process that calls for generations of hard work.
To realize this goal, confidence and determination are of foremost importance. The trend of our times for peace, development and win-win cooperation cannot be halted. Building a global community of shared future is the way forward for all the world’s peoples. However, it is not a goal to be accomplished overnight, and there will be no plain sailing. We need to make unremitting efforts and forge ahead with perseverance. We should never give up on our dreams because of harsh realities; we should never stop pursuing our ideals because they seem out of reach.
To realize this goal, a broad mind and a global vision are central as we live in great times. In the face of common challenges, no person or country can remain isolated. The only response is to work together in harmony and unity. Only by strengthening coordination and cooperation, and ensuring that the interests of the people of every country will be kept in line with those of all others, can all countries move forward towards a global community of shared future.
To realize this goal, a sense of responsibility and a will to act hold the key. The key to success is simple and boils down to action. Building a global community of shared future depends on the joint actions of all countries. All countries should take a sense of responsibility that treats the task as a bound duty, and take concrete actions instead of being bystanders. We should strengthen dialogue, build consensus, promote peace and development, improve governance, and carry out global actions, global responses, and global cooperation.
Our journey ahead will be a lengthy and arduous one. But as long as we press ahead with perseverance, there will be much to expect. Successes and setbacks await us, but hopes abound. When all countries unite in pursuing the cause of common good, plan together, and act together day by day towards the right direction of building a global community of shared future, we can build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity, and jointly create a better future for all of humanity.
Cheese Scalloped Zucchini
Italian Cheese Scalloped Zucchini
Ingredients
4 cups diced zucchini, cooked until tender (6 to 8 minutes)
This is a gay sailor sign to ward off Russian submarines.
In 2013, Sweden submerged a Neon sign depicting a gay sailor in its waters to ward off Russian submarines from entering their waters. Below the sailor the neon sign reads;
“Welcome to Sweden-gay since 1944.”
Using sonar the sign omits the message “This way if you are gay” in Morse code.
There have been no reports of Russian submarine sightings ever since.
Even the US is a bit stunned at this announcement and i am sure this 24 hour deadline will be ignored by the Israelis
The Israelis operate on the presumption that they work on credible intelligence when it comes to bombing terrorist targets in the Gaza and it is the Hamas which is placing civilian targets in their way as a kind of collateral damage
That presumption goes to pieces, That narrative goes to pieces if Israel starts bombing and openly killing Civilians, especially in such mass quantities
Even the Nazis didn’t do things so brazenly
.
2023 10 14 07 29
Like they say in Tamil
“Oru flow la sollitaan”
Israel, flushed with a war haze made a statement, they have to necessarily scale back on
Believe me, Netanyahu will be HANGED if he tries this
Not even the US can save him
The EU and US and UK, their entire rhetoric is that Israel is eradicating the Hamas from that area
They equate it to 9/11
Killing Civilians used as collateral is one thing but openly killing civilians could lead to a huge backlash in Europe
You have millions of muslim migrants in these nations who could snap at a moments notice
No way would EU nations go so far as to support this
By now the US would be flooded with phone calls from EU, UK and even India who have almost 20 Crore Muslims
Blinken would talk to Israel and inform them to TAKE IT EASY and not follow through on hitting Civilians openly
The US Military Industrial Complex wants to make money from War
However allowing Israel to directly hit Civilians without a military pretext is a new level of crime
The US can’t recover from such a mistake
Already losing trust, they will lose trust with every muslim in the world
Hell, a Muslim cop who’s never been to Palestine could fire three shots into the chest of Ursula Von Der Leyen and grin as she chokes on her own blood
So No
I doubt Israel will follow this through
2023 10 14 07 30
Even Jaishankar would be calling them and saying “You are going too far you stupid b*******”
EDIT:-
2023 10 14 07 31
There
EXACTLY LIKE I TOLD YOU.
The US have stepped in now and already the deadline is over and will be forgotten
How Starbucks Surpassed by Luckin Coffee? | LKNCY ( China’s Largest Coffee Chain )
Analysis of Luckin Coffee’s extraordinary comeback from its accounting scandal and how it subsequently surpassed Starbucks as China’s largest coffee chain.
Comeback? Yeah. One year ago, all of the Western “news” were making fun of Luckin Coffee. Claiming that it was a sign of “China’s collapse”. LOL.
Never happened.
BTW, I tried this Baijiu version. Pretty tasty, I’ll tell you what.
When I was out of my “retirement” from Arkansas, I was permitted to live in my home State in my home town, provided I had a sponsor.
This could be an ex-wife, a friend, a family member, or a civic institution.
Well, my ex-wife wanted to take me in, but she was diagnosed as “mentally ill”, and did not quality.
I only had two friends remaining back in the home town where I grew up. One was dead, and the other was in Jail.
My father agreed to take me in, but his (new) wife … my step-mother kicked me out.
So, I need a place to stay, and I was placed in a rehab complex for addicts, people with mental illnesses, and other issues. Initially, I stayed at a monastery, but eventually, I moved to a community that wasn’t so isolated, and I managed a group home there.
There was some six of us men living in an old Victoria style home, and working at low wage jobs to get back on our feet. We shared the budget and the responsibilities together, and it really wasn’t a bad deal.
I want to relate a story from that time.
…
We all agreed to pitch in $100 to $300 a month for food, and in so doing we would have a monthly run to the supermarket for supplies.
We sat down, and wrote what to buy, which consisted of vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, breads… you know the basics with an emphasis on “make it yourself” rather than “frozen; pop in the microwave food”. Staples. Rice. Corn. Tomatoes. Flour. Butter. Cooking oil. Things like that.
We gave the list and the money to one of our housemates. This fellow was a “strange cat”, but you know, all of us were a bit odd, don’t you know.
And off he went.
When he returned, he arrived without the groceries he was supposed to buy. Instead, had something like $800 worth of pork chops, and three cases of diet Pepsi. Nothing else. And he laughed about it.
He argued that the money was his; his responsibility, and that he could do anything he wanted with it. And he wanted pork chops.
Well, I like pork chops as much as the next guy, but not at the expense of salads, orange juice, eggs, toast, butter, and spaghetti. Not at the dearth of cereals, milk, asparagus, peppers, spaghetti noodles, and rolls. Not at the expense of coffee, and sugar. Not at the expense of peanut butter, and salad dressing.
He had quite the smug look on his face, and laughed. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, behind our backs, he related to everyone how crestfallen I was, and the others in the house was.
…
Bummed us all out, and I was pretty damn pissed. What the Hell was I going to eat?
After talking with the head of the organization we held a in-house meeting.
Long story short; yeah, we kicked him out.
I was nice about it, and I helped move him out.
…
However, I learned a serious lesson. Never underestimate what a crazy, or mentally deficient person is capable of of. He was obviously selfish, narcissistic, and had no sense of belonging.
So we removed him.
This type of action, I believe, must be replicated at the highest levels of “leadership” in the collective Western nations. Don’t you know.
Today…
Blue Cheese Stuffed Steaks
2023 09 23 11 31
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 beef tenderloin steaks
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
4 teaspoons crumbled blue cheese
4 teaspoons plain low fat yogurt
2 teaspoons minced onion
Dash of white pepper
1 large clove garlic, halved
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
Instructions
Combine cream cheese, blue cheese, yogurt, onion and pepper; reserve.
Rub each side of beef steaks with garlic.
Place steaks on rack in broiler pan so surface of meat is 2 to 3 inches from heat. Broil for 5 to 6 minutes.
Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Turn and broil for 3 to 4 minutes.
Season with remaining salt.
Top each steak with an equal amount of reserved cheese mixture.
I was just 18, and working part-time at a local gas station, a Merit gas, with the little fishbowl in the middle of the pumps. I was in nursing school, so worked a couple nights a week.
Now, let me preface this by saying I was not by any means raised to be shy and retiring. My dad was streetwise, and made sure we were too. I knew how to defend myself and was not worried about working nights.
One night about 2am this drunk comes in, puts two crumpled up ones in the drawer, and says “put 20 on pump 3”. I yelled that he had only given me $2 but he was too far gone. I made a note of the make and model of his car, and was going to call the police about him as he was absolutely sloshed.
He comes back to the drawer and says “It only took 2$. Gimme my change”.
I explained that I did not get 20 from him.
He went back to his car and came back with a tire iron, and started to try to smash the windows. I pushed the alarm, then left the booth with a chain wrench in my hand.
image 104
Very useful as a weapon if you know how to use it, and I did. At least, I figured I did.
I went to him as he smashed the windows, and yelled some obscenities…. he turned on me with the tire iron. Just as I caught his hand with the chain wrench, and pulled the tire iron out, 4 motorcycles pulled in.
They were fully patched 1%-ers, members of a well-known motorcycle club not known overall for their sense of patience with morons.
One of the guys walked up to the drunk and said “what’s your beef?” and the drunk said “she kept my change!” I said “He gave me $2, he thought it was 2 tens, it was 2 ones”. Just then the drunk grabbed his tire iron and swung at me, but was so drunk he hit MC-Man 1. MC-Man proceeded to punch the man even more senseless than he was.
While MC Man 2 peed in his car, MC Man 3 went into the guy’s wallet and took out his driver’s license.
Just then, Drunk man gets up, and tries to hit MC Man 1. Next I know, the drunk is naked and upside down in a trash bin; he was wearing only his shoes, which had their laces tied together. MC-Men are busting a seam laughing.
Just then the Police showed up, and seemed disappointed when I explained it was not the bikers who were the problem, but the upside down naked man who had attacked me, smashed the windows, etc. The MC Men helpfully gave their version of events, with four-part harmony focused on how they had been as abused and brutalised, being as defenseless as they were, as I was.
The Police dragged off upside down naked man, and MC Man 3 said “I found his wallet, this fell out” and handed the cop his driver’s license.
Just as he was being escorted to the cruiser, he spat on one of the bikes, and was accidentally tripped by the bike’s owner, and landed right on his face. He was filth-fouling his way all the way to the cruiser. The cop told the guy he would turn him over to the bikers if he didn’t shut the f_ up. That seemed to sink in, and he went calmly from there… until the cops said a tow truck was taking the car.
Upside down drunk yelled “You C—t” at me through the open cruiser window (there were bars) but as one of his teeth came flying out when he did, it was actually kind of funny.
After the cop left, I told the bikers they could fill up on me, whatever they needed, oil, gas, cigs, anything. MC Man 1 said “No, trust me, we can pay for our own stuff, and after all the fun you don’t owe us anything….” and they proceeded to use the guy’s own tire iron to smash the glass in his car.
It wound up in court, the guy was sent to jail for a year and ordered to pay for damages.
All 4 MC Men were called as witnesses. They showed up clean shaven, in nice suits, looking like they had walked out of a Wall Street firm, and spoke about how afraid they were of “that violent man”.
You could just see they enjoyed it.
He complained in court that someone kept breaking his car’s windscreen… the Judge actually said “you better think better who you pick fights with, but I suspect after you’ve paid your debt to society, you might find your windscreen lasts a bit longer. Right gentlemen?” The MC Men just laughed…
I, like a few others, was patiently waiting in line on an early Friday nite in a little village on top of a mountain. The pompous guy behind me, dressed in the full attire as dictated by his religion, evidently thought that by hitting me in with his cart, I would be so indebted to him that I would give him my spot.
The first time he hit me, I turned around and asked him not to do that again. He waited a minute and then hit me again with his cart. When I confronted him again, he said “women in my religion know their place and it is behind all men”. I laughed and loudly said “and in my country, women know that they don’t have to stand behind any asshole”.
Needless to say, he hit me again. This time I said “ you’re right. You belong in front of me. Just back up your cart so I can back out my cart so you can get in frin of me”. So after he backed up his cart, I grabbed his cart and shoved it down an aisle….he had to chase after it and was pissed.
The other customers all laughed including an off duty cop. When the asshole threatened to hurt me, the off duty cop arrested him and escorted him out.
I understood that his religion required him to be home by sundown. Had he asked me nicely, I would have let him in front of me. But when my first contact with him is him deliberately hitting me, he can wait your turn. If observing the tenets of his religion was that important to him, he should have gone shopping earlier.
The assault charge was dropped and he was banned from the grocery store, which happened to be the only one in a 15 mile radius, off the mountaintop
I remember when I was a young man, still largely broke but I wanted to get into PCs because while I understood computers very well and had years of experience on them, it was experience on Commodores, Ataris, Apples, and even z80 based systems. But at that point, the writing was on the wall, and it was clear the IBM PC standard with DOS/Win was winning decisively and the PC XTs I had access to, couldn’t run…
So anyway, PCs were not cheap, so I went with building my own. When I was done with the initial build, it was, like our health care system, a frankenstein’s monster. It had a slowish motherboard 286–12mhz, the best sound card at the time(original soundblaster), and an 8bit VGA card which was very middle of the road at the time. It had a 40MB hard drive which was quite decent at the time. It was good enough that I could run Dos/Win, at least enough to gain familiarity with it and sell my knowledge to employers. Which was the point.
However, it was not a good system. It was nobody’s first, second, or third choice of system. but it had a couple of good parts. There was no better sound card at the time, the hard drive wasn’t the top drive available, but was considered among the better ones available.
It was, like our health care system, a collection of best I could do at the time compromises to achieve an objective, but unlike our healthcare system, it did achieve its objective. It enabled me to get into higher paying jobs(hell, that whole trajectory launched my pretty decent career), which I promptly used to upgrade the lesser parts to the point that it ended up a pretty damned good system.
A few world class hospitals in a nation of 360 million people does not make the system good, anymore than my good sound card and good hard drive made my computer system good. They were positives of it, to be sure, but it was not a very good system as a whole.
A system is a collection of parts that work together, by definition, and the quality of it is determined by the overall quality of all the parts and most importantly – How well they work together to achieve the objective of the overall system. Our health care system is not very good, overall, despite that it has some quality parts here and there.
They’re making him a HOOD LEGEND
After former US President Donald Trump turned himself in to Fulton County Jail in Georgia, the Trump Mugshot went viral on social media. But now it appears the Republican POTUS is actually gaining massive support in the most unexpected ways. Which could lead to an epic backfire for the Democrats and the liberal news media.
A dinner guest picked away at the back of one of my mahogany dining room chairs and lifted a piece of the scrollwork decorations carved in the back of the chair next to her that her husband was sitting in.
When she finally succeeded in picking it off, she placed it on the table and acted like she didn’t realize what she had done, and done deliberately. She started saying “oh they don’t make furniture like they used to”, she was so sorry, blah, blah. Yeah, right, my solid mahogany Pennsylvania House dining room set was cheaply made.
It killed me to say “oh that’s ok, I’ll take care of it” like a good hostess as I attempted to retrieve the piece she had gouged out so I could glue it back in later, but she kept flipping it around in her fingers like it was a toy. I finally told her to give me the piece of wood so I could use it to attempt a repair. She acted offended at my request and to my tone of voice.
Never invited her back, but she went to the same church I did. Her name was Sondra and she would get really agitated with anyone who pronounced her name as Sandra. So of course everytime I saw her from then on I called her Sandra instead of Sondra. Many, many times. Petty I know, but I didn’t care. Still don’t.
Mike taught me real selfless love time and time again.
When my parents learned about him they took my phone and almost all means of communication, treated me like garbage and threatened me with many things. They came to me and said “you’re an idiot if you think he’ll still be with you after things got serious. He was just toying with you”. I just had to rely on my faith in him. And one month later he was in Kuwait to see me and my family.
When I was hospitalized for my mental breakdown he called everyone in my family and constantly asked about me.
He paid thousands and thousands of dollars to come visit me every couple of months and for all the attorneys trying to bring us back together.
When we were looking up all sort of solutions to reunite. He seriously said “what if I bring you to NewYork then drive from Ontario to there everyday to spend the night with you?”. I was flabbergasted and told him “you would do that?”, he said “of course I would. That way I’ll get to see you everyday”. And I was astonished but told him I would hate that sort of situation.
When he said he’s looking for other jobs since I can’t seem to enter Canada. I know very well that he’s never had a job better than this, great pay, great people, great company and a nice environment. Yet he is willing to give it all up for me.
Every time I had an episode and started fighting violently over something very stupid, driving him up the wall, he stayed on the phone with me for hours until I calmed down and we reached a conclusion.
When my parents refused to meet him and travelled to Egypt on purpose to avoid him when he comes to Kuwait. But he booked another ticket to Egypt and said wherever they go I’ll meet them.
When he decided to start waking up at 5 a.m everyday and chat with me in the morning because that’s what works best with our time difference.
When he told me “you know Salma, other than my daughters I never called anyone but you “my sweetheart”. And he said “aside from being a father, nothing ever compares to being with you”.
I can only hope I give this man as much happiness and warmth as he gives me.
America’s NEW Tax Plan is Frightening
As General Patton said it, “We defeated the wrong enemy”.
I can’t say that what I found after my father’s death completely changed how I viewed him, but it did have a profound impact.
My father vehemently opposed my decision to transfer out of an engineering program and instead pursue writing as a career. For 25 years, until his death, he had nothing positive to say about it, despite my receiving grants, fellowships, and publishing books. His rejection of me as a writer took our relationship, which wasn’t warm before that, to absolute zero.
After he died, I found an old cassette tape recorder he had repaired. In it was a tape labeled “Al in a Pensive Mood.” He made the tape in 1978, shortly after he’d had heart surgery. In it, he reflected on many aspects of his life, but the part that most affected me was this: “I sort of miss the fact that David is in New York, but I hope that he will succeed, that he will become a famous writer, that his books will be accepted, because this is what David seems to want to do.”
He died in 1994. How different our relationship might have been if he’d shared those sentiments while he was still alive.
I was born in a family of drama queens and philandering womanizers. Everyone in my immediate and extended family divorced at least once. Everyone in my family is either upper class overeducated elitist hypocrites (on my father’s side) or greedy under-educated peasant opportunists (from my mother’s side). Everyone of them has a story to tell, everyone wanted something more out of their lives or nobody was happy. I mean,seriously, as a child, I don’t think I knew one single happy couple who actually loved each other or a happy person who was satisfied with their life.
My parents were absent ones who were too focused on their rather successful careers and their dramas. They divorced,then both remarried and both had affairs. My dad didn’t divorce because my stepmom pretended that nothing happened. My mom divorced two other times and finally settled down with some young movie director and that’s the last I heard of her back in early 2000s.
I grew up with my grandma, who had her own juicy skeletons (yes, plural) in the closet. She suffered from major depression, but she wasn’t diagnosed until much later. So there was me, isolated with my depressed grandma, watching the fabulous lives of my father and mother unfold each on their own and which I was never part of any of it. And like most absent and successful parents, they eased their guilt by giving me the best life money can buy.
As a child, I never felt the absence of anything. I had the best clothes, the best books and the best toys. I was the first in my class to own a pager, a Walkman, a PC, a cellphone or a car… I was signed up in all of the after school interests classes. I played two instruments poorly.
My family sure had high hopes for me. And I sure disappointed them in every possible way. My dad used to lament how I didn’t get my mother’s looks or his brain. All I got was stubbornness, which wasn’t a good character trait for a girl.
The irony was, being part of such a chaotic and passionate family of love and hate,romance and sex, I ended up being an introverted asexual person who wasn’t really interested in relationships or sex.
Like all good daytime TV, my family lost much of its financial means. We weren’t poor. But we were no longer filthy rich. My parents actually had to budget and buy stuff when there was a sale! Oh,the horror!
We moved to the US in 2000. I went to college and against my father’s wishes, decided to study art. I’ll have to give it to my dad, being an Asian father, he wasn’t happy that I studied such a useless subject, but he was supportive (as in he didn’t cut me off). He told everyone I studied graphic design, as if that somehow made it better than “art”.
I was never a good student to begin with. I didn’t go to the Ivy Leagues. My art degree didn’t get me anywhere, neither did art history, theater or 3D animation. I was often the best in my class, but best in a regional university is mediocre when put on a global scale. Despite being a mediocre student, I did enjoy learning new things. I still do. Learning about random things I didn’t know before often brings me great joy.
Learning things and creating things are my greatest joys in life. All that art school didn’t really make me a competitive artist. I was, as I said, mediocre at best. As an artist I was (and still am) willful, which is a bad characteristic for the commercial artists… disastrous for mediocre commercial artists. I only draw portraits. I only draw stuff I like. I do poorly with commissions. I can’t keep simple commitments.
Suffice to say, I was doomed to make a living with art. But that wasn’t my only worry at the time.
As you can imagine, growing up in such a dysfunctional family I had a lot of baggage. I went into counseling for a period of time during graduation school, that really helped me a lot. I started to grow (a bit late, I know) into my own self instead of trying (and failing) to be the person my father wanted me to be, or, more precisely, who I thought my father wanted me to be. In reality, I don’t think my dad had any expectations from me since high school.
Out of some weird turn of events, I was involved in the BDSM community for a few years. Had my one and only “serious” relationship and decided it just wasn’t worth my time.
By 2008, I was a mess. I was well into my late 20s. Other people my age would get married, have children and steady jobs and probably already bought their first house… while I was ridiculously overeducated and absurdly unemployable. I lived with my parents, I was laid off from my previous dead end job, I had one failed, completely dysfunctional relationship which I pretended that never happened, I sent out 20 email job applications every day and I didn’t know what to do with my life.
In early 2010, I finally landed my first gaming industry job. Of all the degrees and skills I earned in my nearly 10 years of college education, I landed this job because I was bilingual.
It turned out I was actually a pretty good project manager. My stepmom didn’t believe it. She had always seen me as this messy absent-minded loser who couldn’t organize anything. But I was good at organizing things, budgets and schedules. I never learned project management, but somehow it all came naturally to me. It just made sense. I mean, after all, project management really is just common sense. So… out of all of the exciting things you can do in video game industry, I ended up doing the most boring thing, basically middle management nobody likes and who doesn’t really contribute anything solid to the development.
Still, I love my job. I love what I do.
I’ve worked for big publishers,start-ups,on console titles and PC titles,web games and Facebook games (yes,I did).
Somewhere along the way, I published a book about Renaissance Italy, which… rated poorly on Douban because I pissed off a lot of people with my “white-lefty” sentiments. I’m not saying my book is any good. But judging from the comments left on my book page, obviously most of them never read it. They just came to give my book a 1 star (out of 5) because they don’t like how I talked about feminism…. and give out spoilers about Murder on the Orient Express.
Now I live in San Diego with my cat Jonesy.
I’m translating a book (which I should be working on right now instead of procrastinating on Quora). I continue to write my renaissance story (I don’t think my publisher would publish any more of that story, but I must finish it). I’m planning another story (in English).
My life so far has been pretty uneventful, especially compared to my parents and all my relatives. But perhaps I could write interesting and exciting stories, even if I myself would most likely live out my life in peace and solitude.
A book, my cat and San Diego city lights. This is my life now.
Back in the 80’s in my hometown, if a teenage girl got pregnant in our high school, she was immediately pulled out of school and they provided her with a home tutor. My mom was one of the tutors.
Mostly it was pretty basic, my mom would ignore the girl’s “condition” and the girls did their work. I should add that our town was insanely small, so my mom had known most of these kids since they were in preschool, so I imagine that it was super awkward.
During one of these tutoring sessions, one particular girl was prattling on about how she and the baby’s father were going to get married, he’s going to be a doctor, and they’ll be rich in no time. My mom is not one for flights of fancy, she is a firm believer in cold, hard reality, so she couldn’t keep quiet.
She very calmly explained how much money a baby can cost, then added in the prices of rent, utilities, food, a car & insurance, daycare, college tuition, and books. This girl did not believe her at all. My mom also let her know the failure rate of a teen marriage, as well as the adult rate. This girl obviously had never learned basic household management because she didn’t even know how to turn on the stove.
My mom never pushed the subject again, and the girl continued her lessons, until she delivered the baby. My mom never followed up with the girls, unless the school needed her to. Shortly after that, we moved to a different part of the state and mom took a job with a bank.
About 10 years ago, we were at a mall when this woman came over to my mom to say hello. My mom was confused and asked the woman who she was. It was the girl! She wanted to thank my mom for being honest with her about the harsh realities of life and had taken what she said to heart. The girl broke up with the boyfriend who got her pregnant, gave the baby up for adoption, finished high school, went to college, the medical school and now she’s an OB/GYN. She told my mom that no one had ever told her how the world works and how you have to pay for everything; she was kind of embarrassed when she said that she just always assumed that there would be food in the fridge because it had never been empty.
Now she was close to 40 and she had gotten married, was pregnant and was finally going to able to give her child the life that she couldn’t for her first (she did receive photos of the baby that she placed). My mom just looked baffled because she insisted that she hadn’t done anything special.
Walking through Cities of Europe in 700 AD: What would you have seen?
A recruiter got in touch with me through Linkedin regarding an opportunity to work for a luxury car brand. I gave her my number and asked her to call after 4 pm because I didn’t want to take the call at work.
She rang that evening, we went through my work history and I emailed her my CV. In the morning she rang back to say that the hiring manager liked my cv and wanted to schedule a phone interview.
The following day, I received a call from a gentleman who introduced himself as my interviewer. I went through my work history once again.
I answered his questions, gave examples to support my answers and explained the gap in my CV. I also asked questions about the role and the company.
“You have the skills and experience required, I like your attitude, you are very straightforward and assertive but I’m hesitant. If we hire you, once you get bored of the job you’ll probably leave just like you are doing with your current employer.”
It rubbed the wrong way and I thought it was very presumptuous of him to assume that I was leaving because I was bored. I was looking for new opportunities because I wanted to get out of a toxic workplace, I agreed to interview for the position because I already worked in the field. I had the skills and experience, they were also offering better pay and benefits.
He spoke to me for a few minutes and assumed to know the reasons I was leaving my then current employer, I guess in his entire career he never left a job for better opportunities.
“Thank you for considering me for the role but I’m no longer interested,” I said to him and ended the call.
Hiring managers are so full themselves they don’t even realise that sometimes people just leave bad bosses and toxic work environments. I can’t see myself working for someone who is so quick to jump to conclusions.
Breaded Steak Cutlets
2023 09 23 11 32
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds round steak
Salt
Pepper
Eggs
Water
Cracker crumbs
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
Instructions
Cut 1 1/2 pounds round steak into serving pieces, removing all fat. Cube with a tenderizing hammer and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dip each piece into 1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water. Dip into cracker crumbs and coat well. Fry in hot grease until brown on both sides. Drain.
Pour off grease and add 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce to pan and de-glaze pan.
Serve tomato sauce with cutlets.
Fed Predicts: Americans Will Run Out of Money By October 2023
https://youtu.be/MQSgLJfsepA
Confession of the Day
I have been married for 15 years. I have known my wife since I was 8. We have 3 daughters together. 17, 14, and 11.
I’m tired of feeling like I’m an outsider in my relationships with all of them. I’m just an ATM and taxi service to my kids. My wife hasn’t kissed me in 6 months. She has not said that she loves me in 1.5 years. No matter how much I communicate, try to plan anything or do anything it is always shot down, forgotten, or dismissed. I don’t get angry in don’t yell. I don’t get physical.
I like to splurge during birthdays and mothers Day. I throw parties and give gifts and try to show how much I love them. I get a lukewarm, thanks, and if I’m lucky, a side hug that lasts .0001 seconds.
This week was the breaking point. Father’s Day. I wake up to an empty house. Odd. No note, nothing was written on the calendar, and nothing said beforehand. I send a text, and I get back. “I took the girls out for a spa day, don’t wait up.” Then nothing, literally nothing. Dinner time comes around, and they get home. How their say was (it was fine). I ask what they would like for dinner. “Nothing we already ate at [one of my favorite restaurants].” Cool, whatever. There is no mention of it being fathers Day. No, I love you, how are you. Nothing.
Fast forward to Wednesday. Which was my birthday. Nothing. Literally again, nothing. I suggested plans. They get shot down. I suggested food. Nope, shot down. Ask about watching a movie they are all too busy (they just sat on their phones doing nothing).
Now to Thursday night. I’m in bed. My wife is next to me. She rolls over and says in a crappy tone. “Oh, your birthday was the other day. I guess you expect to have sex.” That broke something in me(best of my memory of how it went down)
I said “no I don’t expect sex. At this point, I don’t expect anything anymore.”
Her “what is that supposed to mean?”
So I started asking her questions
When was the last time we shared a kiss? (Like a week? Nope, it was in December, and it was during her parents’ holiday party)
When was the last time we had sex? (The beginning of the year? Nope, wrong it has been over a year. She was adamant that we did it in February. I was dealing with my moms health and her passing. So I said something like, “You may have had sex but it wasn’t with me.”)
When was the last time you said you love me? (“I say it all the time.” Not to me, check your messages/you don’t say it to me face to face. “Well, you should just know I do.”)
When was the last time we went on a date? (LONG pause)
Her: You’re being unfair.
Emotions turned on fully. I was crying and raising my voice at this point.
It asks her how? She can’t answer. I asked her how wanting any sign of love from anyone in the house is unfair. If expecting anything for my birthday or Father’s Day was unfair. (She got an oh shit look) Yeah, you forgot that as well. I’m not an ATM, I’m not a taxi service, I’m not a punching bag.
She asked why this was coming up “out of the blue.” It didn’t. I have tried to talk to my family and again get dismissed or ignored. I brought up examples. I got an “I didn’t know you were serious.” “I didn’t know it was such a big deal.”
I left saying something to the point of “If you want to pretend that I’m invisible and don’t exist fine, you don’t have to pretend anymore.”
I left the house at almost midnight. On Thursday/ Friday morning. Haven’t been home since. I’m not sure what to do now. I’m finally sober enough to think, but I don’t know what to do(first time drinking in over 15 years BTW, and i’m not going to drink anymore)
I love my family. But I can’t keep this up. I don’t know what more I can do. I think they would be happier without me. They already act like I don’t exist. I can’t be the one who is blamed for everything. If I truly am the problem then me not being there should fix it. I can’t do it anymore.
I have tried to be a good provider, a good partner, and a good dad. Never missed an event of our kids. Never prioritize work. I kept good hours so I could see them more. Took on more responsibility to better our life and future. But, it is never appreciated. It is never enough. I am never enough.
I only have one message from my wife “I’m sorry for making you feel that way. We all love you, and we are here for you when you want to come home and talk.” That is it. No other messages. No calls. Nothing from the kids. I feel like if they really wanted me there, they would try reaching out more. All of the kids have their own phone. I don’t know what she told them. I’m sure they heard me raise my voice. Me raising my voice would have definitely got their attention since i never do. I’m sure they heard me leave. I just don’t know.
I watched the grilling of the Commerce Secretary by Congress about Huawei.
The anger was thick. And the compensate measures were astounding. There was an open hostility and a degree of frustration on the “representatives” faces.
The Commerce Secretary recovered herself and exclaimed… “well, maybe I was “bushwhacked” by Huawei while in China, but China cannot make to scale.”
Not true.
But it is a hope. They wish to be true.
Let that sink in.
The USA threw EVERYTHING at China, discovered that it is resilient, and decided to “take a step back” and try to “compete”.
That competition is OVER.
Huawei’s actions were an open alert. China, and it’s national companies are immune, inoculated, from the USA, and far more powerful than anyone in Washington is willing to consider.
You can see it on their faces.
It is the realization that you just drove your car into a tree because you drank too much, and your girlfriend is dead. Now you are going to jail.
That was the expression.
A feeling of utter hopelessness.
It’s all over. The only thing left is global thermonuclear war, and the Pentagon already briefed these “Senators” on what that means…
…
The “Commerce Secretary”.
I have some words about this person.
This is the person who implemented the switch from manufacturing to service industry.
This is the person who assisted in the “hollowing out” of the United States.
This is the person who permitted the demise of unions.
This is the person who permitted to demise of company sponsored health care.
This is the person who allowed unemployment benefits to atrophy.
No grilling on those things.
Not so important, eh?
…
The United States is FUCKED.
We all have realized this, but slowly the Senators in Congress have gotten the message. And they do not like it. It’s a grim day at the start of a very grim century.
The only people who have anything to fear about in China include :-
Persons who have received funding from an organization perceived as favouring internal destabilization in China (WEF, NED for Instance)
Persons who are belonging to groups favouring Taiwanese Independence. Not everyone. Only members of specific Groups
Persons who are members of Falun Gong, offshoot groups of Falun Gong & specially funded groups of Falun Gong
Persons who encourage or organize protests without prior permission of authorities that call for counteractive measures instead of pro active measures
Persons who participate in above protests
Persons who spy on China or commit active treason against China
That’s it
That’s all
The above categories, these people will be dealt with brutally
Many of them will never be seen again and exiled to remote regions
However apart from that if you stand in the middle of the road in Beijing and scream “Xi Jingping is a Coward” in your loudest voice
A Cop will come, pull you to the side and ask you not to create a public ruckus and go on his way
If you continue, you will be fined 800 Yuan and spend 24 hours in detention for PUBLIC DISTURBANCE
At worse, there is an older law still in statutes where ridiculing the Supreme Leader carries 6 months to 2 years jail but it’s unlikely Xi will enforce it because according to Xi only Mao is the supreme leader
So insulting Mao in China is more serious than insulting Xi
If you keep talking nonsense, someone will investigate you to see if you belong to the above categories
If you dont, they will simply ignore you like they ignore a madman
If you do, you disappear
Li Keiqang is one man who criticized Xi in 2012
He was Xis premier for 10 years
Xi only cares about Corruption and how close you are to the West
He knows his power is very strong to fear criticism and challengers
Cracked Pepper Steak
cracked pepper steak step finished plate
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 (4 to 6 ounce) beef tenderloins, 1 inch thick
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brandy or dry red wine
Instructions
Combine pepper and rosemary in a large bowl. Coat both sides of the steaks with the mixture.
Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet until hot.
Add steaks and cook over medium to medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the center registers 160 degrees F (for medium). Remove the steaks from the skillet and cover to keep them warm.
Add brandy to skillet and bring to a boil over high heat, scraping particles from the bottom of the skillet. Boil for about 1 minute or until liquid is reduced by half. Spoon sauce over steaks.
I worked at a factory making furniture. Every night I would leave the gate with a wheelbarrow full of sawdust and every night the factory guard checked through the sawdust as I left, looking for what I might be stealing… but I was too cleaver, he never found anything!
After 20 years, the guard was retiring. He pulled me aside and said”Look, I know you’ve been stealing SOMETHING for the past 20 years and it’s driving me crazy not being able to catch you. I’m retiring and, I swear, I’ll not tell anyone – I just need to know… just what have you been stealing?“ “Wheelbarrows”, I said.
US pleads with China to re-purchase chips as chip supply chain collapses!
Welcome to VOC – Vision of China,In recent years,”In today’s episode, we delve into the United States’ supply chain crisis caused by the loss of chip orders to China. The China-US chip war, intensified by the launch of new Huawei smartphones, has raised concerns among American lawmakers.
Join us as we explore the implications of this conflict and its impact on the global semiconductor industry. Discover how U.S. sanctions against China’s semiconductor market may have unintended consequences, affecting not only the U.S. economy but also global stability. We discuss the challenges the United States faces as it strives to maintain its technological dominance and competitiveness.
Donald the Orange upended the supply chain with the cluster bomb dropped on Huawei.
That was pre-covid.
It caused a scramble within the industry as players stockpiled on existing supply, especially mainland corporations.
When covid and lockdowns hit, the canceled chip orders were diverted to domestic mainland players, only too glad for the padded security. The rumor is mainland orders hijacked the queue and tied up production for months or even years. Honda’s million vehicle swing in recent years is one of the unfortunate fallout victims.
As mainland production ramped up to sidestep the stop-gap measures, there appears to be a chip glut developing ex-China, with the economic downturn due to monetary contraction and rising rates squeezing demand, exacerbating the fracture in the fragile and temporal equilibrium.
It is hard to forecast such a market, especially with the growing fog of war surrounding mainland players who are going dark and playing among themselves as a matter of survival.
I don’t think TSMC, Glofo, Samsung, AMD, Nvidia and Intel will be able to retain their market share in the coming years.
The Reason why Men are Walking Away from Dating (Ep. 411)
When my husband and I got married, my cousin gave us what I perceived to be a very bizarre gift. He bought us a red toolbox filled with many tools. I have to admit that I just looked at it and thought to myself “What a weird gift for a wedding!”
Well, my husband and I have been married for over 34 years and I have to say that this turned out to be one of the best gifts that anybody ever gave us! We still use it regularly and if you think about it, it’s very expensive to buy a lot of tools. This ages well, it doesn’t go out of style, it doesn’t break and you don’t have to worry about if it matches your decor! How many wedding gifts can anyone say they still use regularly after 34 years?
The Terminator – all deleted Scenes
Confession of the Day
$300k in debt (no mortgage). $297,677.49 to be exact.
$215k law school debt, $40k graduate school debt, $25k credit cards, $11k car loan, and a personal loan.
After 5 years of deep denial- I think I’ve finally accepted how badly we fucked up. I feel like I’ve gone through the stages of grief multiple times this year.
We paid for very expensive degrees that didn’t need to be. We racked up a shit ton of credit card debt by spending money like entitled a**holes and not using a budget. I wish I could go back in time, slap 23 year old me (and my husband) and ask, repeatedly- what the hell are you doing??
We would go out to bars and dinners every weekend with friends. insert Discover card. We would regularly order takeout. insert Amex card. We went on yearly vacations. insert Jet Blue card. We financed furniture???? Not to mention we walked right into the “prestige” private school bullshit.
We ate that shit up.
And for what? To impress people? To prove that we’re worth something? All the above? It’s so normalized to be in debt as a millennial.
Everyone had credit cards, everyone was going out, everyone had student loans. We were super normal! You’re only young once- amiright?!
I found Dave last year, when I was hitting rock bottom. My debit card was getting declined at the gas station and the grocery store regularly.
After listening to The Ramsey Show for a couple weeks, I realized how screwed we were. I remember the first time he talked about the borrower being a slave to the lender.
That’s exactly how I felt.
I couldn’t breathe. I had a mental breakdown. I haven’t really been able to relax since. My husband and I spent all last year fighting about money and almost got divorced.
We’re on BS2 right now. We should bring in around $170k this year before side gigs. We have paid off $12k since June. We started FPU last week. We’re throwing everything at the debt. I’m working my ass off. Husband is working 65+ hrs a week and donating plasma.
We dropped more than half of our “friends.” It’s a humbling experience to say the least. My mother in law makes us dinners a couple days a week to help out.
Family and friends ask why we’re not having kids or buying a house yet. The whole situation is embarrassing, but we deserve it.
I don’t blame anyone but myself. I’m not expecting anyone to “forgive” or payoff our dumpster fire. We were extremely stupid and entitled, but we need to get out of this ourselves. I just need prayers that we can make it out of this. We will. Hopefully better than who we were before.
Just trying to “embrace the suck” and keep up the motivation.
Tony Soprano | A Conflicted Man
This is why the Sopranos is the best tv show ever.
I did the small-town-to-big-city move in 1998, for college. I lived in a dorm my first year here, and didn’t have a car. But, my second year, when I was just 19 year old, I got my first studio apartment and brought my car with me from my small hometown.
One of the biggest adjustments I remember was getting comfortable with parking my car on the street overnight. In my small hometown, everyone had driveways. Most people parked their cars in their back yard or garages. And all of the businesses had parking lots. There were only a few streets in my small hometown that had parallel parking spots on the sides of them, and those spots were huge, clearly marked, and largely optional. They were for people who didn’t want to walk about a block from the nearest parking lot, just in the downtown part of my hometown.
But here in Chicago, driveways for people’s houses are rare. Most people park on the street or, if they’re lucky, in a garage. Street parking doesn’t have marked spots. You just squeeze in where you can.
It took me a few weeks to get used to the idea of just leaving my car on the side of the street all of the time. I remember my first night with it here, waking up several times in the middle of the night to look out the window and confirm that it was still there. Sure, there were cars bumper-to-bumper on both sides of the street, and mine was a cheap car that no one would want to steal anyway. Still, it took me about two weeks to get completely comfortable with the concept of just leaving a car parallel parked on the street overnight.
It took a while to get used to driving down a street next to parked cars as well. In my small hometown, since most streets didn’t have parallel parking, you didn’t need to worry about clipping people’s mirrors when you drove past them, or them opening their doors as you drive past, or someone stepping out from between cars, in front of you while you’re driving. The sides of the streets in my small hometown were usually clear of everything.
But, here in Chicago, you can easily be driving 50+mph down a 4-lane street, inches away from parked cars on the side. It’s kind of weird if you’re not used to it.
Mandatory Paternity Test Law Passed – No More Paternity Fraud From Single Women
Just imagine, the strongest, toughest school bully, out of jealousy-turned-into-fury-then-to-desperation, mobilized all possible means, together with his allies, and wanted to kill his most challenging competitor.
At the high-time when he thought and believed he was to succeed and gonna to celebrate with champagne, and when some schoolmates are waiting to watch the tragedy of the competitor, while some other schoolmates are considering which side to take, and of course there are also others wishing for the competitor to survive, though inevitably with bruises and bumps……
All of the sudden, the competitor came back, with a beautiful, ace-trumping, and formidable hitback, standing even higher, better and firmer!
If you happened to be one in the school and witnessed all these, how would you feel?
Shocked, whoever you are, whichever side you are with, right?
China offers subsidies to their EVs in battery making and other areas, heavy subsidies in taxes and waivers to ensure that EVs are produced at a final cost that is 20% cheaper
This makes Chinese EVs deliver lower cost at better quality than many European EVs
Second complaint is that most of the world pays a premium for Chinese EV batteries but BYD and other players pay 45% lower costs for the same battery due to the fact that the batteries are made in China
This is alleged as unfair competition
They want either the batteries at lower costs or a 20% mark up on Chinese EVs that eliminates the subsidy effect
It’s Classic Protectionism 101
Soviet Style rather than Adam Smith
China didn’t do this
When Volkswagens and Citroens and Mercedes Benz and Toyota and Mitsubishi dominated the vehicle markets of China a decade or so ago:-
China didn’t impose extra tariffs on them nor make it unfair for them to import custom made parts by imposing 60–260% tariffs
China told BYD and SAIC and Great Wall to either make similar quality cars or go out of business because the customer needs the best
Thus these companies formed partnerships and purchased technology and leased technology and made a living with limited market share
Yet this competition helped them prepare a lead in EVs and dominate today
However the West isn’t prepared to do the same thing and ask Renault and Chevy and Volkswagen to COMPETE or go out of business
They want to protect their companies
Like US , Germany, France
They talked of free trade when their products were much superior and Asian nations imposed protectionism
Today when they are being left behind, they scream and yell and whine about tariffs and duties
China has many weapons here
China sells 61.5% of the EV Batteries in the world and 86% of EV Batteries today are made by Chinese players with only Tesla having it’s own supply chain and making it’s own battery for it’s own cars
If you want EVs – you need the Chinese Battery, Electric System and Motors and Chargers
The Chinese make the world’s best and most cost efficient products
Even Tesla battery technology is inferior to CATL and it’s latest batteries
It’s only in Autonomous driving that Tesla has an edge
So frankly China for the next 15 years at least can simply ban the export of batteries or impose a 80% tariff on EV exports and ensure European and US EVs simply can’t compete with ICEs
It throttles the EU green initiative
China loses the EU market but critically ensures Russia & Saudi gains a major leverage as EU and US become more dependent on Oil
That is one card
The Bigger card is
China can play it’s own protectionism
China has a huge market for European Cars with Eight Brands having their largest market in China
That’s 157,000 Jobs
China could simply ban the imports tomorrow and that would finish these companies revenue and share wise
Like the Iphone
Intel & Qualcomm openly said if China forced them to choose between the Chinese market and the Commerce Department restrictions, they would have to choose China for the sake of their US stockholders
If China banned Qualcomm entirely today and said “Okay. We will live with inferior phones but you B******* won’t sell or get a fifty cent piece from us”
Qualcomm would be brutally mauled
The Entire smartphone industry will be brutally mauled
The Entire Semiconductor industry will be brutally mauled
The Chinese are VERY PATIENT PEOPLE and they will play their cards very slowly
They thrive on competing
If China simply decides to close its markets to Foreigners except it’s Russian and Global South friends who will sell it all the Energy and Food it wants
Then most of the Tech firms will be brutally mauled
It was predicted that if Apple was banned entirely from China – $ 1.02 Trillion of it’s market share would never come back
The Total hit on the entire industry could touch $ 7–12 Trillion
Who will take up the slack?
India is expected to touch 40% of Chinas present market in 17–21 years (2040–2044)
Nobody else can take up even 3% of this slack
So China has a lot of Brahmastras to use
There will be no more Huaweis
Huawei was a blow
Nobody expected the West to be so brutally lawless and act like a mafia state , like a land with zero laws
Today China is ready
Every US attack has a party from China including the biggest Brahmastra
CUT OFF ACCESS TO PHARMA APIs & Cut off all components needed for Medical Equipment
Devalue US Debt by suddenly pegging an exchange rate of 2 Yuan to 1 USD. China will lose 17 Trillion Yuan and after the peg is removed the rate could reach 10–11 but US will lose 160 Trillion Yuan ($ 25 Trillion) , 8 times worse than the 2008 Crisis
Here’s Why They’re Coming For Russell Brand
Back when he was a hard-partying movie star, Russell Brand was the darling of the mainstream media.
But ever since the British comedian started turning hard against the establishment, exposing the mainstream narrative on COVID, the Ukraine War and empire, the knives have been out for him. And now we know how they plan to get him, with a series of questionable rape allegations emerging from anonymous sources in his distant past. Guest host Craig “Pasta” Jardula and Americans’
Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss why the establishment would have determined that Brand had to be disappeared from the discourse.
My dad is the best mechanic, I’ve seen him pull apart motors, transmissions, put them back together with no problem. Cars pull better, the knocking sound gone from the motor, take a test light and track down a short in a ticket making brake light system.
He can lay boards to a deck or floor and they fit perfectly everytime.
Make a brace for a wobbly door that hides from view, eyeball a fence line to be exactly lined up post to post. Watching my dad work is like watching an artist paint a masterpiece or craft a sculpture.
After school I would fly through my homework so I could start dinner and be ready when dad got home.
Some nights I would be doing my homework and trying to make dinner simultaneously and dad would come in. “Let’s have a look” or “let’s knock this out”.
But when I started junior high school, dad stopped helping with my homework, he started stirring the pot or watching the oven. He still watched me do my homework and was certainly right there but he didn’t offer to read or assist. Then I caught him.
One hot humid night I couldn’t sleep, my oxygen machine was drying my throat, but I’m sweating bad (I know not sexy for a girl but I have high metabolism) and I get up for some water.
Dad is sitting at the table with one of my school books. He jumped when he saw me, like he was stealing something or about to get in trouble.
He was saying sorry and mumbling about not having permission to go in my backpack.
I didn’t care it was just a school book and I have nothing to hide from my dad so being in my backpack was no big deal. But what he said next floored me; “I wanted to understand the lesson, I couldn’t understand what you were doing earlier and I hoped I could figure it out. I know I’m not very smart but I don’t want you to think less of me.”
I was shocked, me think less of the greatest person in my life, why would he, how could he ever think that?
This was when I started to learn of dad’s disability, he has severe dyslexia.
Now I know people will say that’s not a disability or several people have that but it’s the way it affects the individual.
My dad graduated high school on what is now considered a 9th grade level, and then just barely. He is a hands on learner, because he doesn’t trust himself to read and comprehend instructions, words plainly written on a page seem like a foreign language to him.
Numbers to a simple math equation would make him basically stop thinking and just have a blank mind. I was beginning to see why dad couldn’t balance the bank account, why he only had oral agreements with clients, and hated texting.
People had called him dumb, lazy and stupid until he believed it himself and he was afraid the person he admired most would think less of him.
Russell Brand – sinister demonetisation attempt by MP
Big major changes all over the collective West. Sheech!
I grew up and was mostly raised in “the inner city.” So that’s my experience with being poor. I don’t know what it’s like to live rural poor.
I don’t live there anymore. Right now I’m pretty comfortably middle-class.
One way that I am marked out as “different” compared to many of my peers, is that I am very, VERY cynical when it comes to the treatment of the poor. It is one of the few big things I am not really partisan or ideological over.
Poverty is a burden, and it’s a burden that most people will hate, despise, and pity you for carrying. This is regardless of party, race, color, or creed. I am amazed and saddened to know just how much easier life gets when you are not poor, and how much more people will like you.
Life really is pay-to-win. And with that realization, I see that my poverty was really nothing more than a hinderance. My life would’ve been much easier, in virtually every way, had I not been poor growing up. I see no glory in coming out of it, no special mindset for having been in it — other than cynicism. I can’t find any narrative for myself to have made the sheer unfairness of being born into poverty mean something. It just happened. Like getting hit by a bus.
Although, one way I suppose it’s affected me, is that I don’t hate or blame the poor for their poverty. This isn’t to say that some poor people don’t make disastrous choices. But I went to an expensive college. I’ve been around rich people. They make plenty of disastrous choices; they just have the money to mitigate the fallout. Humans make bad choices. The poor are expected to be superhumans and are blamed for failing.
*sigh*
Another way it has affected me is that it’s made me much less sympathetic to the middle-class, and I am middle-class. The middle-class complains endlessly, about everything. They are constantly sucking all of the air out of the room. Politicians dote on them regularly. Middle-class this, middle-class that. The middle-class even has this theory where they are the defenders of democracy and without them everything would fall apart. And on and on and on.
Let me tell you, the middle class is spoiled. The gulf between the poor and the “middle class” is so enormous it would make you cry if you lived it — as I have lived it. But the middle-class get to complain constantly about their property taxes (imagine owning property!) and how college scholarships don’t help them because they’re “at the cutoff” and blah blah blah.
And the poor? They get a swift kick and are told to “work harder.”
Sometimes you have to laugh…
4 Airplane Outburst More Terrifying Than Tiffany Gomas
JP MORGAN CEO SOUNDS ALARM – Dark Winter for Banks
Yesterday, speaking at an industry event organized by Barclays, CEO Jamie Dimon sounded the alarm on a slew of headwinds that will hit the U.S. economy hard in the next couple of months, and pointed to several risks that could deal heavy blows to consumers, investors, businesses and banks.
On Monday, he weighed in on how new regulation by the Fed will impact customers in the coming months. The changes will certainly not make them happy. Dimon explained how plans for new capital rules in the United States could damage the attractiveness of bank stocks, and make banking costs go even higher for consumers.
He argued that the Fed’s “’Basel III Endgame’ reforms” would make loans even more expensive, and would force banks to reduce the amount of money they lend, which could drive banking activities into less regulated sectors. Dimon stressed that more lenders could run into problems just like Silicon Valley Bank did this spring. “Any crisis that damages Americans’ trust in their banks damages all banks — a fact that was known even before this crisis,” he wrote. “Even when it is behind us, there will be repercussions from it for years to come,” he emphasized.
He also said that it is “a huge mistake” to think that the U.S. economy will boom “for years” given that there are so many risks out there. With interest rates still going up, conditions will become even more recessionary, and “you are going to see more people out there with problems”.
It is for that reason that JPMorgan has just reiterated its bearish stance on the stock market, urging its clients to stay defensively positioned. Analysts at the firm also adjusted the bank’s investment strategy in response to rising commodity prices and the potential spike in inflation. JPMorgan strategist Marko Kolanovic also noted that the increased potential for bank turbulence, an oil shock, and slowing growth is poised to send stocks back toward their 2022 lows, as reported by Bloomberg News.
We still have three more months to go before this year is done, and a lot more can happen in financial markets. One of the biggest concerns right now is the real estate sector. Warren Buffet’s investment partner and vice president of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger recently observed that hundreds of banks are exposed to commercial real estate loans that are at risk of going into default. He thinks there is trouble ahead for the U.S. commercial property market. “A lot of real estate isn’t so good anymore,” Munger said. “We have a lot of troubled office buildings, a lot of troubled shopping centers, a lot of troubled other properties. There’s a lot of agony out there.”
These are the very early chapters of this crisis. But when even the head of one of the biggest financial institutions on the planet is worried about growing risks, we should definitely brace for pain because much worse is yet to come. Although it may take a while for all the dominoes to fall, we won’t be able to avert a decline that is already in motion. The clock is ticking, and time is running out for the U.S. financial system.
They promoted meritocracy and hired thousands of people of ability
Including hiring 3 Colored Women in Texas well before the Civil Rights Act
It’s because THEY DIDN’T SANCTION THE USSR
They COMPETED
They used their resources and advantages and competed aggressively and took advantage of the fact that USSR had the worst leadership from 1966 onwards
That’s all they need to do
Compete and allow Economic forces to decide markets rather than the Congress or Politicians
Take Alipay and Wechat
Amazing Apps
If we bring Alipay and Wechat to India today, they will compete one on one with Phone Pe and Google Pay
That will lead to fierce competition and lead to one superior product evolving or a market resolution
Instead if we keep protecting US Apps from competition, the Chinese will build their apps and compete ferociously in their own markets and evolve their apps on a far superior level than US Apps as is already happening today
Chinese Apps like JD or Meituan or Alipay or Wechat or SHEIN are far superior to US equivalents and of course Tik Tok which has launched ecommerce functions in US
Meanwhile because of Chinese protectionism, Google wasn’t allowed in China and due to no direct one on one competition, Baidu has never reached the level of penetration and functionality of Google
The US today have a sense of entitlement that is unbelievable
Anyone develops some product that could compete with their licensing of core technology, and they invent some trumped up security threat and sanction the product and threaten anyone who uses that product
It may work against small players
Against China, a Nation of tremendous talent and intelligence plus a superb merit based system – It is a huge axe blow on your own feet
US has abandoned free economic forces and fair competition
That signs their death warrant
China had decide to embrace both. That means they will win.
Ultimately Economics is always the same
RESPECT THE ECONOMIC FORCES
The US must abandon all sanctions and go for free trade and competition with China including full access to each others markets.
Oh my gosh. I’m still getting over this one. I travel a lot on business and, when I do, I usually try to find someone to come in and house sit for me. Well, I met a woman whom I thought would be great for house sitting. Because she was going to be taking care of 3 dogs, 5 cats, and 4 horses, I told her that I’d pay her $150/day, which she agreed to.
I told her that she could sleep in the guest room (which is decorated very nicely with a new bed, sheets, blankets, etc. I showed her how to use the big screen tv, etc — and I told her that she could eat any food in the house with the exception of a certain coffee and also to please not do anything illegal on my property.
When she came over, I was very specific and left written instructions so she wouldn’t be confused. The specific rules were for the protection of my animals.
Feed the horses in the feeders and don’t move the feeders.
Fill up the water trough daily so they have fresh water and, because it was winter and freezing, make sure that the water de-icer was left on.
Put the dogs in the house before going out the gate, then go back and let them out. If you open the gate, the dogs will run out and you’ll have a difficult time getting them back.
Do not allow the cats to go out. They’re indoor cats and 1 is a female that I just adopted — she’s not spayed yet so under no circumstances can she go out.
She agreed to everything and I was happy that I’d found someone who could take care of my house and animals.
During my business trip, I called several times to make sure things were going ok and she said they were so I was happy that I didn’t have to worry about things.
When I returned from my trip, I was absolutely shocked. I walked into my house and couldn’t breathe. The house was completely filled with pot smoke. (And I have a BIG house). I thought she’d spent the entire time getting stoned. But that wasn’t all. She had gone through ALL my cupboards and closets and taken everything out and rearranged things. NOTHING was where it had been. All the furniture was changed around. My bedroom had been completely changed, including my bed — which she’d been sleeping in and had stained the bed and sheets — not sure with what but it was disgusting.
She had also thrown all the cats outside — because “cats don’t belong in the house.” I’m not sure what she’d done to the dogs, but they were terrified of her. I do know that she had left the gate open and they got out and it took her hours to find and get them back in. (I live in a rural area where people shoot stray dogs so they were in danger.)
I also found out that she’d just dumped the feed for the horses in a completely different area than where they were supposed to be fed AND it was where there was a lot of sand — so essentially the horses were eating feed mixed with sand (which can be deadly.) She’d pulled the de-icer out of the watering trough and pulled the plug so the trough was empty and the horses had no water.
The back of the remote control for the tv had disappeared — and I found it a month or so later hidden in the back of my closet. She’d ripped out plugs from my desktop computer and taken all the ink out of my printer.
I had a brand new washer and dryer. She pulled them out and the hoses and plugs were disconnected. I had a beautiful handmade wooden bowl was on my fireplace mantel. She took it off the mantel, took it into the bathroom and poured liquid soap into it, then put it into the shower so the wood had warped beyond saving. It was ruined.
I collect art and she’d moved all my pictures around and turned them upside down.
My best friend had died a few years before, and he had given me a ceramic angel before he passed. It had a lot of meaning for me and I loved it — it was so precious to me. It had disappeared. I found out later that she’d thrown it away — I found it in the trash in a bag of dirty cat litter.
Oh, and my coffee that I’d specifically asked her not to use (there were at least 5 other kinds there) — what she didn’t use, she dumped out in the trash.
There were a lot of other things that she’d done, but you get the idea. I was freaked out and horrified, and honestly, she scared me.
I asked her why she’d done all this and she said got belligerent and told me that she had every right to do it because it was HER house and she could have it any way she wanted to. She told me that my dogs were too spoiled and they deserved to be “trained”. Part of that training was making them sleep outside. (Imagine a Basset Hound being made to sleep outside with no shelter, in the middle of February when the temperatures were down to 0 degrees F.) The same with the cats. (Oh? and that female cat? Let’s just say that there are now two more kittens here. ::::sigh:::::)
When I asked why she’d say that she’d house sit if she didn’t want to follow my instructions, she said that she came from a family with 6 sisters and she was the youngest. She hated it when they told her what to do and so she ALWAYS did the OPPOSITE of what anyone “ordered” her to do.
Then she said that NOBODY orders her around. She got more and more angry and upset and I was actually afraid that she would become violent. She started screaming at me and daring me to call her a “F’ing C*** B****”. (Sorry, I don’t use that kind of language.)
I did pay her, because I just wanted her gone. I did tell her that she was never to set foot on my property again or I’d have her arrested. After she left and had given me back my keys, I noticed that one of the door keys was new so she’d obviously had extras made. The next day all the locks were changed, including the locks on the gates.
The next day the texts from her started. She told me that she’d thrown away my angel but I didn’t need anything from a dead friend and SHE’D be my new best friend. The texts continued to get creepier and creepier.
I responded that if she ever texted, called or tried to contact me again, I’d have her arrested for stalking. Then I blocked her. She totally freaked me out.
I haven’t seen her since. But I did get a new mattress. :::::shivers::::::
Combine garlic salt, chili powder, pepper and cinnamon. Use your fingers to press mixture onto both sides of each steak portion.
In a large skillet cook steaks in hot oil over medium heat to desired doneness, turning once. Allow 8 to 11 minutes for medium rare or 12 to 14 minutes for medium.
Transfer steaks to a serving platter, reserving drippings in the skillet. Keep warm.
For sauce, add white onion, leek and shallots to skillet. Cook and stir over low heat for 5 minutes or until onions are tender.
Add beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes more or until broth is slightly reduced.
When I was in my early teens, I built a “compost pile”. I collected some old bricks from a run down gas station near my school, dragged them home with my red rider wagon, and built up a nice rectangular box. It was around one yard (1 meter) by two yards and I would fill it with grass clippings, leaves, and kitchen organics that I collected.
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Occasionally I would throw in some lime (as we had a lot of old apples from our small orchard).
Oh, yeah. The compost generated heat. Heh heh.
Both my parents thought this was an “ok” project of mine. They neither encouraged me, or made fun of me.
I was just “eccentric” in their minds.
But, let me tell you all, by the next Spring, when I shoveled out the rich black earth it was awesome! Just amazing, and my (well, the “family”) garden really produced that year. I was so proud.
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A compost pile is a nice little side hobby that doesn’t take too much effort, but will greatly increase your garden yields immensely. And let me tell you all, it was a true joy to extract the rich black earth from the pile and transport it to the garden. Sure as shit!
Some guidelines…
Creating Your Compost Heap Location
One of the most important factors for starting a compost pile is its location. Choose an open, level area with good drainage. You do not want your compost to sit in standing water. An area with partial sun or shade is also ideal.
Too much sun can dry the pile out, while too much shade can keep it overly wet. Finally, choose a site that is easy for you to get to and avoid areas near dogs or other meat-eating animals.
Size
The recommended size for a compost pile is generally no smaller than 3 feet (1 m.) high and wide and no larger than 5 feet (1.5 m.). Anything smaller may not heat up efficiently and anything larger may hold too much water and become difficult to turn.
It is recommended to start your pile on bare ground rather than on asphalt or concrete, which could impede aeration and inhibit microbes. Placing a pallet underneath the pile is fine, however, if you prefer.
Adding Organic Materials
Many organic materials can be composted, but there are some items that you should keep out of your compost pile. These include: Meat, dairy, fat or oil products Carnivorous pet feces (e.g. dog, cat) Diseased plants, or weeds that have seeded Human waste Charcoal or coal ash (wood ash is ok though)
The key materials for composting are nitrogen/greens and carbon/browns.
When starting a compost pile, the recommended practice is to layer or alternate these greens and browns, the same way as you would for making lasagna.
Your bulkier organic materials do best in the first ground layer, so start with a layer of browns, such as twigs (less than ½ inch or 1.25 cm. in diameter) or straw, about 4 to 6 inches (10-12 cm.).
Next, add in some green materials, such as kitchen waste and grass clippings, again about 4 to 6 inches (10-12 cm.) thick.
Additionally, animal manure and fertilizers serve as activators that accelerate the heating of your pile and provide a nitrogen source for beneficial microbes.
Continue to add layers of nitrogen and carbon materials until you reach the top or run out. Lightly water each layer as it is added, firming it down but do not compact. Watering and Turning the Compost
Your compost pile should be moist, but not soggy.
Most of your water will come from rain, as well as the moisture in green materials, but you may need to water the pile yourself on occasion.
If the pile gets too wet, you can turn it more frequently to dry it, or add more brown materials to soak up excess moisture.
Once you turn the pile the first time, these materials will get mixed together and compost more efficiently. Keeping the compost pile turned on a frequent basis will help with aeration and speed up decomposition. Using these simple instructions for composting, you will be well on your way to creating the ideal compost for your garden.
A Healthy Demographics is when you have two young people to support an old person population wise
China will have healthy demographics at least until 2043 , twenty years from today
A Strained Demographics is when you have One Young Person to Support one Old Person
This will not happen in China as per today’s scenario but in the event of a worst case scenario will happen by 2070
That’s 50 years from today
Then by 2080 and 2090, things WILL BECOME BETTER FOR CHINA
Plus Chinas Strained Demographics which will last for 10–20 years will be compensated by strong rigorous healthcare and old age care due to a rich economy and mostly a developed economy by then
A Demographic collapse is when you have one young man supporting two dependents or more
That happens only during major war when young men die in large numbers
image 88
This is Japan
Note the difference?
THE LINES MERGE AND INTERSECT unlike Chinas, even under the worst case scenario
Japan left having healthy demographics by 1990
By 2033, Japan enters Demographic Collapse
It will take around 67 years for Japan to come out of this Collapse
image 87
Here is India
As you can see India will have healthy demographics by 2070 and will not be strained even by 2100 though it may head for straining by 2150 AD
Had India been sufficiently developed today ($ 10–12 Trillion GDP) with HDI of 80 and a 10% minimum share of global manufacturing, then we could have taken advantage of this demographics advantage and taken our economy to $ 40 Trillion or more
Yet the fact that we didn’t means we will perhaps always be third in GDP and 52nd in GDP per Capita
Yet how many talk of Japan?
Nobody
Believe me China is safe. Yet China would like to improve on the numbers to be in a better position
They way for that isn’t to make abortion illegal but rather to bring down housing costs and encourage migration of people to Tier 3/4 Cities and Rural outposts
Hi, Craig. Thanks for the very interesting question.
55 pounds less?
I’ve lived in the States. I think you’re severely underestimating the difference in weight.
The guy below is not just 55 pounds heavier than I am.
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My guess is he’s at least double, maybe triple my weight.
But yes. I’m sure he can completely destroy me, rip me asunder, and dish out critical hit after critical hit on my person.
Thankfully, I am rather fleet of foot, so at least I can get away before he completey destroys me. I’m willing to bet that even on foot, I’m faster than his scooter.
Call me quietly confident!
Classic Beef Burgundy
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Ingredients
1 (1 1/2 pound) round steak, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup dry red wine
1 small onion, quartered
1/2 pound small mushrooms
4 tablespoons unsalted margarine
3 cups sliced onion
2 cups diced carrots
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground marjoram
1/2 teaspoon thyme, crushed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
Combine beef, 3/4 cup wine and onion. Cover; refrigerate overnight.
Drain beef cubes; set aside. Strain and reserve liquid.
Sauté mushrooms in 3 tablespoons margarine until lightly browned; remove and set aside.
Add beef; cook until well browned. Remove and set aside.
Sauté sliced onion, carrots, parsley and garlic in remaining 1 tablespoon margarine until onions are tender.
Add meat, marjoram, thyme, pepper, bay leaf, marinade and 1 cup water. Cover and simmer 2 hours, or until meat is tender.
Dissolve flour in remaining 1/4 cup water; add to beef mixture.
Add mushrooms and cook until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes.
My small apartment complex has a fair number of children under 10 who play on the grounds.
One gal moved her brother, who was a lazy raging alcoholic, in with her. He would sit outside all day & early evening drinking until his sister got home from working. (Like she couldn’t smell the stale alcohol on him).
So that she wouldn’t throw out his alcohol, he would hide his half to full bottles around the property. Often this was in areas that the kids played in. When I would come across the bottles, I would just toss them in the trash but that didn’t deter him. I started getting concerned that the kids could find a bottle and drink the alcohol. The super spoke to him and his sister but she denied that there was a priblem
One of his favorite hidings places was by my garage. I was able to film him staggering, day drinking and hiding the bottle. I took the film to the police and sent a copy to the complex management company. Basically, the sister was told that he was not allowed on the property and that they will not be renewing her lease.
Well guess who was back 2 weeks ago living at the complex. I let the super know and he is handling it. I also went to each unit with kids, let them know what transpired and to teach their kids not to drink anything they find. I also showed them the video.
A few of the parents complained to the management company. Last Friday, they taped an eviction notice to the sister’s unit.
Now before anyone jumps down my throat about the brother being an alcoholic and needs help, I agree. However his sister is enabling him. He doesn’t work or receive government assistance so she is either giving him $$$ or he is stealing from the liquor store, which I doubt given how drunk he usually is
And a child getting sick, having organ damage or even dying, trump’s his need for a drink.
Three researchers were awarded the 2014 Nobel prize in Physics for inventing nothing other than the blue LED light. Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura were awarded the Nobel prize for inventing a diode that emitted blue light.
“How did three guys win one of the most prestigious awards in physics for inventing a light that shines blue?” Was the first thing that came to mind when I heard about this. I just didn’t equate something that sounded so simple to me with a Nobel prize. This is the same award that was awarded for the discovery of the wave nature of electrons, for the discovery of the neutron and for the discovery of the superconducting properties of ceramic materials. Well after I had done some research, I found it turns out their invention had far-reaching consequences in developing so many of the things we consider ordinary today.
This is how LEDs work:
LEDs are sandwiches of semiconductor materials. The layers are ‘doped’ with other elements, which provides some layers with extra electrons and others with a surplus of ‘holes’, where missing electrons leave behind a positive charge. When an electrical current is applied, the electrons and holes combine at the junctions between the layers and emit light as a result.
Green and red LED’s had been around since the 1950’s, but prior to their invention in the 1990’s, no one in the industry could figure out how to create a diode that emitted blue light. This was a significant obstacle because blue LED chips are used in white LED-based lights. Without a blue LED, the white LED-based lights that are so common today wouldn’t be nearly as common, if they existed at all.
White LED’s are important because they are used in the screens of our smartphones, tablets, computer screens and TV’s. LED lights were also vastly more efficient than any other light source invented before. One estimate believes that this invention could save up to 20% of the world’s power consumption.
So when taken into perspective and properly considered, the Japanese trio are in fact deserving of the prize. Their invention has been to the benefit of humanity and we are all better off because of it. This is also one of the few times the prize has been awarded for a practical invention.
If China says that it will do something, you can bet on it being done.
There’s no exceptions.
Additionally, China has the skills, the ability, the top-down funding, and resources necessary. So when a program or project is launched, you can guarantee that it will be be completed to the timeline, and that those who lead the project will dedicate their very lives to make it work.
This is not simply a pro-China advocacy. It’s a observation that any student of modern Geo-politics can easily make. Whether it is the development of nuclear weapons, the elimination of poverty, the reforestation of deserts, or easy access to healthcare, China has accomplished its promises and met its goals.
In regards to space; whether it is satellites, space-stations, vehicles, bases on the moon and Mars; robotic exploration spacecraft or systems that peer deep into Space, China is delivering. Step by step. All with very little “fanfare’, posturing, or political announcements.
China delivers.
You will notice that in this OPINION, that I am not mentioning the United States.
It seems to be the “knee jerk” reaction to somehow squeeze a mention about NASA, or Elon Musk, or some nonsense about lofty plans or goals about colonization of Mars or the Moon in the answers. What do I think about that?
Ah. An attempt to keep a fantasy alive. Lots and lots of talk. Much fluff. Promises galore. A lot of huffing and a puffing. Make sure you squeeze in a healthy does of “diversity”, and throw in some “patriotism” as well. Gotta politicize everything; something for the left, and something for the right.
All these other ideas are politicized concepts without much substance. They are dreams and hopes. Great things; dreams. Great things; hopes. But come on…they are not engineered solutions.
That costs money. That requires talent. That takes effort.
China’s Space ambitions consist of engineered solutions, with funding to match, and staged step-by-step goals of attainment. Let the other billionaires, and nations, “talk big” and promise so much incredible things.
China delivers.
That is all you need to know.
Why the Ruling Elite Is Anti-American | Constitution 101 Highlight
I never knew if the last occupant had left it behind but…we checked into a high-end Palm Springs Hotel several years ago. All was lovely. In the middle of the night, I heard a soft noise from the closet. When I checked on it, it was a mother cat and 4 newborn kittens in the closet. I was not expecting that!
I made sure that Mama & babies were okay. The next morning, I asked at the desk if someone had left a pregnant cat behind in our room? “No.”
The hotel people offered to take Mama & kittens away but I said, ”No.” I am an animal lover and figured that I could provide a better home than having them carted away!
We took Mama & the four —Enie, Menie, Miney, and Moe — home with us where they still rule today! What a great bit of memorabilia from our trip!
Confession of the Day
Hi, I am 21yo guy, who is obsessed with making money. In a span of 2years, I have tried plenty of businesses but none of them were successful. I literally have 0 friends, no social life and I barely sleep for 3-4hrs. At this point, the only thing that matters to me is money and I do feel sorry for myself because giving up is never an option, everything i like needs money.
I do have plenty of skills, such as making AI models, video editing and more but it seems each of it is useless.
I am here to find someone who’s on the same page, so we can exchange our ideas or collaborate to build generational wealth.
I feel so embarrassed when I see people with luxury life. It’s not like I hate them. It’s just that I am still not there.
Moreover, most of the people around me are useless. They have no plan for life, and all they care about is friends, partying, and girls. It feels terrible to live in such a place.
It’s not just money, dude. It’s more about what it can buy for us. We can literally have anything with money, and I have never been a guy who wants love, friends, and emotional attachments. I have seen people switch based on a person’s wealth. In the end, every damn thing leads to money. Whether it be love, comfort, friends, peace… literally everything
ALERT: ELITES LEAVE WASHINGTON? NUKE EVENT IN UKRAINE
Doom and gloom. But… what is going on? Some things to pander and think about.
So, let’s start out with the easy one. If you’re addressing more than one person (such as a married couple), it’s always “vous”. “Vous” is plural.
But for the rest of it, when addressing someone in the singular where “you” would be appropriate in English:
“Vous” is the polite form
“Tu” is the familiar form
In France, they take the distinction fairly seriously (except for teenagers and college students). The full set of rules in the form of flowchart can be found online, but the “Notes” version is:
Strangers are “vous”
People you know very well are “tu”. Your spouse, close work colleagues, little kids (Unless the little kid is a foreign prince or something), God, people like that. NOT the front desk staff, waiters/waitresses, shop clerks or baggage porters
And the golden rule:
When in doubt use “vous”.
Using “tu” inappropriately is like a stranger calling you “buddy” or “pal”. It’s just rude.
Once, while working at a local university we were running a woodchipper. One of the professors walked by and stuck his head into the shute. Immediately we hit the emergency off switch and pulled him away. He just looked at us confused and said he wanted to see how it worked. We had to explain that had their been any wood chips flying out at the time it would’ve stripped the flesh from his face. We then opened it up and showed him the working mechanisms. He wandered off quite happy. To this day I don’t think he had any idea how much danger he put himself in.
I’ve learned from past experiences that you generally don’t get paid back. Plus if you ask the person to sign a promissory note, they generally refuse. Also, any explanation that you provide turns into a debate.
For example, my lazy & unmotivated cousin (C)and his wife (W) asked me to dinner at their rental house. Basically, his spoiled money grubbing mother, who never worked a day in her life, convinced him that I would be thrilled to lend him $$$ for a deposit on a house. At the time, I was living in an apt that was nothing to write home about.
W- we are delighted that you joined us for dinner. It has been a long time since we were all together.
C- how is the job going?
Me – fine (realizing that something is up)
C we found a house we want to buy but don’t have enough $$$ for the deposit. Would you loan us $25,000
Me – no, why would I loan you that if I can only afford a basic apt.
W – well my husband is your favorite cousin
Me – yeah, so?
C – buying the house will be an investment for our future
Me – what about my future?
C – you owe us for everything my mom did for your mom when she had cancer
Me – she did shit for my mom, she actually showed up at my mom’s house with fabric for an outfit she wanted my mom to make her. And got pissed when my mom wouldn’t since she just had a major chemo treatment that morning.
Anyway this went on and on basically denigrating me & my mom but expecting me to loan them $$$. It only ended when I excused myself from the table and walked out. I was exhausted mentally from this and disappointed that they could treat me that way.
So now it is NO and I allow no discussion.
Stray kitten on the highway has a dangerous accident if it is not rescued in time!
I grew up across the street from a corrupt church & rectory and next door to the convent.
For example, 2 priests got 2 women pregnant — the women were ex-communicated but the priests got to preach each Sunday from the altar.
Or my parents weren’t allowed to baptize my brother at the church because the godmother had been seen by the monsignor wearing a red (whore color) leotard & tights under her coat. She was studying dance at Julliard. BTW, she was a graduate of the church’s school so if her values were sinful (they weren’t), the church only had to blame themselves.
The monsignor bought a new Cadillac every year yet the nuns, who worked at his school, often didn’t have enough to eat. My mom had a rotating “invite to dinner” with them so they received at least 1 wholesome meal each week.
I could spend hours on more examples but to answer the question.
At 14, I was an active member of the church, CYO, teen sports teams, etc. That Xmas, the CYO was decorating the rectory for the holidays along with the men’s and women’s auxiliary church groups. The monsignor is eying me very strangely and after awhile, he asks if I’m related to Manuel xxx. I state that he was my deceased grandfather. The 68 year old monsignor tore 14 year old me a new one, calling me every vile name that could be said to a female and that he wanted me out. That there was no way I could ever be a good Catholic given who my grandfather was.
(Evidently, the monsignor while studying at the seminary, had an argument with my grandfather who was a laborer there. So for nearly 50 years this vessel of catholic purity held a grudge against a man for a perceived slight.)
When he was done screaming and swearing at me, I calmly & loudly said that the monsignor could go fuk himself and walked out, leaving the church forever.
As a postscript, 16 years older, my mom asked me to get a priest to give her final councilling. She had days to live. My mom, who went to church almost daily, had been bedridden for 2 years and no priest (from across the street) never visited her. I went to the rectory and asked for a priest. Priest told me he was too busy to talk since he was late to his golf tee off time. That I could make an appointment in a couple of weeks since he might have some free time. He denied that it was his responsibility to find out who the sick we’re in his parish and pushed by me.
I called the archdiocese and got nowhere. So, given that I worked in Advertising for a major corporation, I called every personal contact that I had at every TV, radio, cable station and pitched a story of a corrupt parish. Once the archdiocese started getting calls from reporters for their comment on their story, they reacted. The priest was forced to leave his golf game and to go see my mom. I made sure to sit in on his sessions with my mom so that he had to treat her with compassion, not bitterness or rudeness or condescension.
I didn’t just leave this parish / church, I left this religion entirety. I have no tolerance for hypocrites.
On Thanksgiving in 2018, I was having over 30 people to dinner. It was my father-in-law’s last big family dinner. He had cancer; he died less than a month later, a week before Christmas.
I’d ordered a couple of long tables and linens to fit; and then decided to rent the whole shebang. I didn’t have settings for 30 people so I rented those too.
I thought the tables really did look beautiful. I had burnt orange tablecloths and deep red napkins. Festive.
I decided, the day before, that although I had candles, I also needed two centerpieces. If I just had one big one people couldn’t see each other. I wanted to keep them low.
I thought I’d get a dozen multicolored roses, divide them, and use them in two arrangements. I figured they’d be pretty without hitting everyone over the head with the whole fall colors thing.
I was running out when someone pulled up in a car and came to the door. He caught me right before I left. He had a big vase; with a lot of cellophane.
Inside were a dozen multi-colored roses.
They were from my mother. I’d invited her, but she wasn’t up to traveling; she lives 6 hours away. She’s 90.
She had no idea what I was planning to use as a centerpiece.
It was so preternatural. I called her and said,
“You’re not going to believe this…”
We laughed and laughed.
I divided them up. The next day, my FIL sat at one end of the joined tables and my husband at the other, surrounded by family. He ate well. We had a wonderful day.
As strange as it was, I felt happy my mother could still read my mind over so many years, and so many miles away.
Why is there such a big difference The ISS is crowded, but the CSS is like an Apple store
Only 100 years?! You bet, will be at least 1,000 years, or maybe, better back to the Stone Age!
And then, you might find one day, your country would have to import chips from China, and the products you use would be embedded with Chinese chips. LOL
The whole Western world, especially the nuclear powers, even later the Soviet Union, had blocked nuclear technology from entering into China back in the 1950s and 1960s. Then what?
The first Chinese nuclear test was conducted at Lop Nur on October 16, 1964. Then in less than 32 months, China detonated its first hydrogen bomb on June 14, 1967. Now, China’s nuclear arsenal is the world’s third largest, and China has, more importantly, also developed its nuclear technology for peaceful use, boasting the second largest number of nuclear power units in operation or under construction in the world.
China was officially barred from visiting the International Space Station (ISS) by the United States in 2011. Then what?
China is nearing its completion of the construction of its own space station -Tiangong, with many visits there already done by Chinese astronauts, three of them are right now flying over us in the station. With the ISS retiring sometime in 2030, China’s Tiangong will be the only space station in the world.
China has been under the tough blockade of Western military techonologies, especially high-end, advanced ones. Then what?
China has successfully tested several times of its hypersonic missiles, among the first nations who have achieved success in this most advanced weapon development.
Also, China has finished its third air-craft carrier, with a fully indigenous design, featuring a CATOBAR system and electromagnetic catapults, one of the most advanced in the world.
And China has its J-20, a twinjet all-weather stealth fighter aircraft with precision strike capability. The Y-20, a large military transport aircraft, the first cargo aircraft to use 3D printing technology to speed up its development and to lower its manufacturing cost.
Similar cases also include the tunnel boring machines, giant cranes, giant excavators, deep-sea drilling machines……You name it. Then what?
China has self developed all of them, not only meeting its own market needs, but also exporting them at a much more affordable price than their Western competitors. What’s more ironic is, some of them have been exported even to those countries who had previously blocked their techonologies into China!
So, in the short term, yes, China is sufferting from the heavy blow from the US, but in the long run, the US and its allies would not only lose the lion’s share of chip market here in China, but will have also to face a strong competitor in semi-conductors, or chips, or something alternative which have similar functions, in the not-too-far-away future, maybe in their own market, and also in the global market.
But during the process, the US would have dried up its influence as a banner-holder of liberal market economy, its credibility as the rule-setter who betrays its own rules, its reliability to its allies since all of them would have to suffer along with the US, and hence, its soft power in leading the world.
Nothing much to gain, but a lot to lose, yet, the US is determined to ride on the self-devastating road. The faster it runs, the quicker the fall of its hegemony.
All he needs to do is to simply tell the Pakistani Army
You are the real leaders of Pakistan. I won’t come your way. I won’t poke my nose in any reform
The Pakistan Army like Imran Khan or used to like him
Then he began to poke his nose into their business and they struck back
He believed he could mobilize the masses but unfortunately that didn’t work
Here is how the US and Chinese have divided Pakistan. That is the status quo
China invests in Pakistan and supplies weapons and builds stuff for Pakistan under the CPEC including the Gwadar port
US still retains control of the Senior Army Brass in Pakistan , now Generals and Lt Generals and Major Generals who once cut their teeth in Afghanistan with the Americans. This control is to ensure the Afghan mess doesn’t spill over into an Al Qaeda 2.0
Both sides prefer India and Pakistan to be opposed to each other. China because it forms a nice second front and US because India is not pliable yet and close to the Russians
Plus both US and China HATE Terrorism
China because it spoils Business and US because of 9/11
This is a Status Quo that all leaders of Pakistan must follow
The Army in real charge
The PM essentially a figurehead
The Armys corruption continue with out any issue
Imran threatened to disturb the status quo
Neither US nor China wanted that
China certainly likes the US to be involved in Pakistan and dont want Pakistan to become Ukraine 2.0 and depend on China for money and arms
So if Imran simply says he is ready to go back to the Status Quo and know his place
He can be PM happily again with the Armys blessings
They HATE Sharif, the army does
They liked Imran a lot
Trust me, if this was Sharif – he would have died in an accident long ago
China Grocery Shopping Is 100 Years In The FUTURE!
I don’t have cable since I refuse to pay the ridiculous costs. However, the approved company in my area, didn’t approve of my decision.
They started sending a salesperson to my home at dinner time, trying to sell me a plan. I explained to the guy that I was not interested and not to disturb me anymore. He comes back the next day. I ignore him. The next day I contact the cable company and explain that I’m not interested and to please remove me from their cold call list.
This works for a week and guess who is back. I choose to just ignore the pounding on my door. The next day, I checked with my local police as to what the town’s ordinance was. They explained that anyone going door to door in my town, have to register with them first and then be approved. I told them what was happening and what I had said to both the sales rep & his company. They check their records and he had never registered.
That night, around dinnertime, a cop parked around the corner from my home. Sure enough, the sales guy shows up and starts pounding the crap out of my front door. I call the police and tell them that I am concerned for my safety …that some strange man is attacking my front door. A cop shows up ASAP and actually catches the sales rep. As he is getting arrested for trespassing and soliciting without a license, I came outside.
Looking at the sales rep, I smirked and said “I told you I didn’t want cable”. Lol Needless to say, he never got approved in the town again.
And since his company felt the need to keep sending me promotional junk mail weekly, I shredded it but kept it. When I accumulated a sufficient quantity, I mixed some glitter in with it and sent it back to their VP of Sales. The next package went to the VP of Marketing. The last package, that seemed to do the trick, went to the CEO. Lol
This happened to a friend of mine. He’s a PhD in Mathematics and was working for Silicon Valley firm writing mostly encryption algorithms, but some firmware stuff as well. Very very well paid — but not the most social person in the world. Being around people causes him anxiety. This isn’t a minor thing for him — it’s a real pathology.
Anyway, He’s a Los Angeles guy — and hated living so far north. His employer worked with him and let him work remotely 4 out of 5 days a week — he would just need to show up for “face” time once a week. Basically show up Sunday, sleep in the company flat, drive home Monday.
That was grinding him down after a year. His employer dropped that down to once a month. After six months, this was still too much and he decided to turn in his resignation on the next “face” day.
He drove up there, spent the night in the company flat, got up to go to the office with his “notice” papers and his boss calls him in.
They’re laying him off. This means, he keeps the stock options he’s earned (would have lost them if he quit), he gets 3 years of paid medical insurance and a 3 year severance package per his contract.
He sent me a pic of himself after he got the news. The biggest sh*t eating grin I’ve ever seen on him —ever — in front of his “beater” pick up truck. .
You see China is 5000 Years Old and what the West and India define as Corruption is to them something very normal and very organized.
For years – Commissioners, Governors appointed by the Emperor to various posts have benefited from those posts by enriching themselves in the form of small “gifts” from Merchants, Traders etc. They call it Fragnant Grease or Hyeung Ya.
The Corruption is simply part of life. Difference is it never extends to harrass a Comon Man. If you are a Merchant – you pay a Small Commission for services you get from the Commissioner or the Governor but If you are a Farmer, Peasant etc – Nobody harrasses you or demands bribes from you.
In Short – There was a very organized system
Then Mao tried to break it
And he succeeded. He literally ordered thousands of executions of the Corrupt and stopped Corruption but also any fast progress.
The Chinese System was 5000 years old and its derailment was a big blow to the Chinese. They are born Speculators, Mahjong Gamblers, Believers in Hyeung Yah and its system etc. To suddenly impose Russian ideals on them was a Failure.
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Deng Xiaoping restored a Beautiful Version of it
Dengs version was Simple:-
The Condensed version for Dummies roughly translated to :-
Take your commissions, Enrich yourself – but if you compromise on the Quality and deceive the common man – I will kill your family and seven generations.
A Provincial who took 5% as a Gift from the Engineers and delivered a Quality Bridge that saved a lot of efforts and money for the State was rewarded and promoted.
A Provincial who took 5% as a Gift but delivered an Inferior bridge that cracked and collapsed disappeared with his family and was never seen or heard of again
It was a Beautiful Cold Blooded Brutally Efficient System that made China – Less Communist and more Chinese.
Even today CCP officials do a lot of things regarded as Corrupt in the West or India
→ They invest heavily in companies based on Insider Information and make Billions of Dollars or Millions of Dollars legally. They say this is justified because they have worked hard for the Country and deserve their rewards that their position brings to them.
→ The District Committees or Provincial Committees invest money in various ventures and share profits between their members upon its success that could be as high as 100 Million Yuan ($ 15–16 Million). They say this is justified because its their enterprise that enables them to make the money.
→ They buy 25% of cheap land and sell at massive profits (Around an Average of 317%) in just months after Land Auctions based on inside information. Many make Millions this way. They see it as absolutely fair after 30 years of Toiling work for the Country.
At the Same time
→ Not one of them makes a Dollar from any Foreign Investor in lieu of benefits.
→ Not one of them takes a single Yuan cut from any Money earmarked for Public Spending. If anyone does – He is a Dead Man!!!
→ Not one of them takes a Single Yuan and gives a Contract to a Favored Contractor whether its $ 10,000 or $ 10 Billion. Its always Black Box and Meritocracy when giving contracts. If anyone does – He is a Dead Man!!!!
→ Not one of them demands money to give Jobs to Chinese or business contracts to local chinese. Its always talent, talent and talent. If anyone does – He is a Dead Man!!!!
So Chinese who are 5000 years old always knew – Corruption is inevitable and SIMPLY ORGANIZED IT BEAUTIFULLY
Just like LKY Organized Prostitution and ended all the Crime related to it
Its the Oriental Way.
Its only Westerns who use Christian Definitions or Indians/Pakistanis who use Colonial Definitions and turned Corruption into a Raging Cancer that has destroyed most of the economy.
I was in a drugstore.
At the checkout, there was a Chinese woman in front of me who had loaded a whole shopping cart full of baby milk. The cashier told her that she could only buy a certain amount of it. So the woman unloaded her cart again and bought the prescribed maximum number. I don’t remember, maybe it was five boxes of milk.
When the Chinese woman was gone, the cashier shook her head and said to me: Always the same, they buy the whole store if they can.
I asked what was going on and she said that “they send the milk to China ” She said that this has been going on for years.
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The food industry has never adulterated as much as it does today because the goods go through many opaque channels. From adulterated olive oil to rotten meat, it’s all there.
But the worst thing done was to poison the very youngest:
It’s all about the Chinese Milk Scandal that was uncovered in 2008.
In China, nitrogen-containing synthetic resin bases, namely melamine, were mixed into milk products in order to feign a high protein content despite diluted milk.
Probably this happened unnoticed for years, because melamine is not sooo toxic.
But it was also used in infant formula in 2008 and led to kidney stones and massive kidney failure.
About 300,000 babies became ill and six infants died.
The company that caused this went out of business.
In 2010, milk products containing melamine were again discovered in southwest China.
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Since then, the Chinese no longer have confidence in their own baby food and buy it abroad. And in China they only buy foreign products.
The Chinese government tries to counteract.
The “Süddeutsche” (German Newspaper) says:
In Chinese supermarkets the shelves thin out. Everywhere in the country milk powder cans are sorted out on order of the authorities. The food supervisory authority has decreed that more than 1400 products may no longer be sold. That’s 60 percent of all varieties. In the future, only about 950 products from nearly 130 manufacturers will be allowed. The trust of the domestic population in Chinese milk is finally to be restored.
So far, however, this has not been achieved and the Chinese do not want Chinese goods.
Whoever can, has the milk sent to him.
2 of those responsible were executed in 2009.
Update:
I did not write this article to make you start to insult chinese people in general in the comments. Please stop that.
Coca Cola Steak
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Ingredients
1 pound round steak or veal cutlets
1 cup tomato sauce
1 Coca-Cola
1 medium onion, cut into rings
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into rings
Instructions
Salt, pepper and flour steak.
Put 1 tablespoon grease, steak, onion, bell pepper, tomato sauce and Coca Cola in skillet in this order.
Cover and cook for 30 to 45 minutes over low heat.
“I Demand A Full Russian Retreat!” – Zelensky At The United Nations
A few years ago, I was in a Timmies in “The Falls” where someone acted egregiously bad. I may have been wrong, but I pegged him as an American tourist.
Yes, Timmies has been slow with my order at times. The way to deal with it is to get someone’s attention and ask if you’ve been forgotten about.
Instead, this fellow wondered out loud why two people behind him had got coffee while he was still waiting for his tea, and why the guy with the shirt with the “Trainee” badge was just standing around and not helping.
Every society and, indeed, every sub society, has social norms that have to be followed. In Canada, we tend not to “call people out” on them, but don’t expect people to treat you with kindness and courtesy even if your faux pas is inadvertent.
One of the things that gets me is people who stand at the top or bottom of escalators. I start to suspect they’re from a place where escalators aren’t common, because to me it’s obvious that I should never obstruct one.
In New York City, it’s people who try to get on a subway train before people have had a chance to get off.
In Paris, it’s people who don’t say “hello” when they walk into a shop.
And, yeah, Americans are notorious everywhere for not speaking with their “inside voice”.
On the London Underground, do not try to engage anyone in idle conversation. Or in London as a whole for that matter. In Athens, feel free because everyone else is doing it.
In London, you line up. In Beijing, it’s everyone for themselves.
In Toronto, if you have the sniffles, feel free to blow discreetly into a tissue. In Seoul, don’t you dare!
The new cross strait integrated development zone is a huge opportunity for Taiwanese people.
ROC only exists in historical records, it is just a past tense like Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, etc. There is no such sovereign state in UN.
Now that France is the Fifth French Republic, does the First French Republic still exist?
Taiwan, during the Qing Dynasty, was Taiwan County, Fujian Province, under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province, and is now Taiwan Province.
A remarkable achievement from the mouth piece of Uncle Sam.
TOKYO—Huawei, China’s rival to Apple in smartphones and the world’s leading provider of telecoms infrastructure, is out to prove it isn’t just surviving Washington’s campaign to crush it, but is in the vanguard of Beijing’s drive for self-reliance in technology.
After the buzz around Huawei’s new high-speed smartphones, which appeared to show that China can swerve around U.S. efforts to block its access to cutting-edge technology, the company on Monday unveiled its latest tablets, smartwatches and earphones—supported by a homegrown challenger to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, global standards in wireless communication.
Initially dubbed “Greentooth,” a moniker ditched as too lighthearted, it was rebranded “NearLink,” a short-range wireless technology that the company says combines the best features of both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi—and works with both. The protocol offers low-power, lightweight connectivity akin to Bluetooth, simultaneously catering to high-speed, large transmission, and high-quality connectivity needs akin to Wi-Fi. NearLink switches between modes based on the situation, Huawei says.
Set against the backdrop of increasing U.S. restrictions, Beijing has doubled down on efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in critical technologies. Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited private firms including Huawei last month, urging them to pursue international excellence and gain a competitive edge in the market through technological and product improvements.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are both wireless communication technologies, enabling transmission of photos, documents and other data between compatible devices. Developing wireless communications tech requires expertise in multiple disciplines, including signal processing, wireless communication protocols and software development.
Apple has spent several years and billions of dollars trying, so far without success, to make its own wireless chip. The latest iPhone still depends on Qualcomm for that component.
Huawei holds tens of thousands of patents covering essential technologies for data transmission in phones. To access high-speed networks, handset manufacturers must obtain licenses from or cross-license with companies such as Qualcomm and Huawei.
From June 2021 to May 2023, Huawei trailed only Qualcomm in the number of wireless communication network technology patents it published, holding more than 8,000 more thanthird-placed Ericson, according to a recent ranking from IPR Daily, a China-based media outlet focused on intellectual property. Ericsson was the inventor of Bluetooth, which is now overseen by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, or Bluetooth SIG, the standards organization that licenses the technology to manufacturers.
In Huawei’s case, it had its access to several major global technology associations restricted following U.S. sanctions. Without full access, the company’s devices, including phones, tablets and laptops, could face limitations in using vital features such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Although it was later reinstated, it decided to develop its own technology, Huawei executive Wang Jun said in a 2021 interview with Chinese media.
Bluetooth SIG declined to comment on issues related to its members’ status. The Wi-Fi Alliance said at the time that it was complying with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s order by restricting Huawei’s involvement in certain activities, but it didn’t revoke its membership.
Huawei says NearLink uses less than half the power of Bluetooth, is six times faster, has 1/30th the latency or the time it takes for data to travel from one point to another, and supports 10 times the number of devices in a network.
NearLink technology was introduced in December 2021, with a focus on applications for cars. In August, Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business, announced its integration into the ecosystem of their self-developed operating system for consumer devices. As he delivered that presentation, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi icons typically seen on smartphones converged on the screen behind him into a green “NearLink” icon.
Yu said on Monday the technology found applications in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, industrial manufacturing and more, providing the interconnectivity for Huawei’s homegrown ecosystem. NearLink may prove vital as Huawei struggles to cope with the impact of sanctions that made it difficult to source the advanced chips needed to power its devices.
Yu didn’t introduce the latest high-speed handsets during Monday’s presentation, saying only that the company is working extra hours to meet demand.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at last week’s hearing of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee that while she was upset by the announcement of Huawei’s new smartphones, the U.S. couldn’t find evidence that the company is able to produce devices with advanced chips.
A report from Canadian semiconductor-information platform TechInsights said China’s biggest contract chip maker SMIC, made the core chip inside the device, but that it also contained memory components from South Korea’s SK Hynix.
China’s technological rise is intricately tied to its global ambitions, leveraging advancements to expand its geopolitical influence. One example is Beidou, a substitute for the U.S.’s satellite-based Global Positioning System. China has also set a domestic standard for a new way of designing chips, while global chip giants also formed a coalition to create them.
In September 2020, China formed an alliance for the country’s own short-range wireless technologies that now includes more than 300 companies and institutions—mostly domestic—including state-owned telecom carriers and makers of smart devices and cars such as Huawei, Oppo, and BYD.
Huawei remains the world’s largest seller of telecom equipment, according to market research firm Dell’Oro Group. It commands about a third of the global market, with sales about twice those of the second- and third-ranked suppliers, Nokia, and Ericsson, Dell’Oro Group says.
I supervise foster homes. A few years ago, one of my foster families had taken placement of a little boy named Chris. Chris was husky and socially awkward, but also impossible to dislike. He was mostly quiet – a real observer – but would sometimes come out and say the most outlandish comments. There were many times that Chris had me laughing to the point of tears, taken aback by his dry wit. Despite this engaging sense of humor, Chris had a rough start in life. He had never met his father and his mother had died of a drug overdose several years prior. Chris had bounced in and out of seven different foster homes by the time I met him. All of his younger siblings had been adopted and he saw them infrequently. When he did see them, Chris was prone to intense mood swings. It must have been incredibly difficult for him to watch his siblings grow up together while he waited for his “forever family.”
Shortly after his 11th birthday, Chris moved into the foster home that I supervised. The foster family was taken with Chris right away. They’d always wanted a child and they seemed to relish in acting out their dream of parenthood immediately. They spoiled Chris, taking him on expensive shopping trips and excursions. Their intentions were good. Knowing that Chris had experienced a lifetime of neglect in only 11 years, they seemed set on showering him with love and affection to make up for lost time. If Chris didn’t want to go to school, the foster parents would shrug and take him to the park. If he wanted to stay up all night and play video games, they happily allowed it. At first, this was fantastic – Chris was having a ball. When I would visit him, he seemed to be blossoming. The kid who had barely spoken a full sentence to me was suddenly bursting at the seams to tell me every detail of his day. When I expressed my concern that their lack of rules could be leading to problems down the road, the foster parents insisted that they had it under control. They said they loved Chris. They called him son. After about six months, an adoption date was set. Chris was so excited about picking out a suit and tie to wear to the courthouse.
The trouble started about three weeks before the adoption hearing. The foster parents had grown tired of the honeymoon stage. They’d realized it was time to start setting up boundaries that would help Chris grow into the fine young man we all knew he could be. Chris, who’d become accustomed to a house with no rules, responded as you might expect. He was confused and frustrated at the family’s sudden insistence on rule-setting.
One evening, the foster parents asked Chris to turn off the television and go to sleep. He refused. They threatened to ground him. He laughed. The foster parents began to yell, exasperated. Chris picked up his brand new cell phone and threw it into the television, destroying the screen. Both foster parents yelled louder, which only worsened Chris’ blow-up. He kicked the wall, denting it. He told the foster parents that he hated them and hated their house.
The foster parents called me, panicking. I reminded them that children who have experienced trauma sometimes struggle to regulate strong emotions. I explained that we all needed to work together in order to help Chris adjust to having rules put in place. I explained that although their intentions were good, Chris had been set up to fail. They calmed down and we set a meeting for the next day.
I went to their house first thing in the morning, ready to help them come up with a plan to support Chris. Chris had already gone off to school when I got there. The foster parents looked me straight in the eye and told me they wouldn’t be picking him up from school and would not be adopting him in a few weeks. I was shocked. They had professed love for this child for nearly a year at this point. I pleaded with them – offered every support I could think of. They would not budge. All of a sudden, they began listing every annoyance they had with Chris, going back to when they first met him. It was as if they’d been building up this list all this time, too afraid to admit to me that they’d had their misgivings from the start. I begged them to pick him up from school. The last thing I wanted was a caseworker showing up to whisk him away. He already hated school – this would only make him worry that every school day could end with his life being uprooted. They were too worn down, too guilty, and too upset.
I picked Chris up from school. When he got into my car, I could see that he knew what was happening. His round face was knotted in concern, his eyes filling with tears. He begged me with a desperation that I’ve never seen in a child. He wanted me to tell the parents he was sorry, that he would never mess up again if they agreed to keep him. I told him that it wasn’t his fault, that parents need to understand that all people make mistakes. I told him he deserved someone who would be patient with him. I drove Chris to a new foster home (a lovely set of people who, unfortunately, could only take him in for a few days due to their housing set up). When we got there, he didn’t want to go in. We sat on the front lawn for almost two hours. He was really quiet, just leaning back into the grass with his hands on his stomach.
Finally, as it started to get dark, he tapped me on the shoulder.
“I’m not going to get adopted, am I?” Chris’s voice was small, barely a whisper. Although I wanted to tell him this wasn’t true, I’ve learned never to make a promise I cannot 100% keep.
“What makes you say that, Chris?”
“I’m messed up. If I didn’t mess up so much, someone would love me. I’m a bad kid.” Chris looked at me with these big, brown eyes and I knew in my heart that he believed those words without a hint of doubt. In all that had happened to him, Chris had learned that he was unloveable. It was the most devastating moment of my career to look at a child whose grief was so deeply etched into his own sense of being. That’s a belief that I knew Chris would battle his entire life.
Some good did come from this horrible experience, however. Desperate to find a loving home for him, his caseworker contacted his maternal side of the family and explained what had happened. Up until this point, they’d staunchly refused to give even a hint of his dad’s name. After weeks of pleading, they finally gave us a name. Unfortunately, Chris’s dad had died years before – but he had a brother. This brother had never even known Chris existed, but he was thrilled. He and his husband had recently adopted a little girl and had been talking about opening up their home to a second child. It was serendipitous. Chris was not an easy kid – he was angry (rightfully so) and balked at rules. The family did not give up. They jumped through every hoop so that they could become foster parents to him. Chris was just adopted a few months ago and he seemed happier than I’ve ever seen him. It’s not perfect – Chris has many wounds to heal from – but I know he is in a place where he is loved and cherished as he deserves.
Why Is China Sending Over 300 Armoured Vehicles To Mali Coup Leaders?
During my senior year in High School, I was blossoming into a fine young man. I was a cultural icon of the time. I wore a “choke collar” around my neck, puffy sleeved and colorful nylon shirt, a big colorful belt buckle, and bell bottom jeans.
I had longish hair to my shoulders. Parted in the middle up top. It was light brown in color. Oh those were the days…
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I cruised around in my GTO (that I affectionately referred to as “the goat”) and alternated between Senior year in High school and my work life.
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Evenings were spent “hanging out”, going to “keggers” in the “bony dumps” (old abandoned strip mined areas) and popping “white crosses” (tiny white amphetamine pills used for weight reduction. We used to take four at a time.) and drinking beer (Miller in Pony bottles).
The “white cross” pills were tiny, tiny white wafers with a cross on one side. We popped them and got “the rush”, and then buzzed, we smoked the marijuana, and drank the beer while we cruised the roads though the countryside.
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Typically, we kept the trunk filled with ice, and the beer would be placed in the trunk to keep them cool. You would be amazed how long the ice would last, too. Easily into the middle of the next day.
Then we would fill up the trunk with more ice for the night’s activities.
Two dollars would fill up the gas tank.
I lived in the countryside. My city cousins spent far more time in bars and clubs, but that wasn’t really possible for me at the time. It wasn’t until I was older, that I started to frequent clubs and bars, and that type of lifestyle.
This falls well into my “room theory” of life. You live in one room, and then enter another room, and you life becomes a long series of rooms. Each one different from the rest. This “room” was my “Senior Year in High School prior to College” room. And come September, I entered my “Freshman year in college” room. New friends. New lifestyle. New place, and new everything.
What “room” are you in now, and what does your next “room” gonna look like?
Dazed and Confused (1993) | *First Time Watching* | Movie Reaction
There was a case in Prince Edward Island about 15 years ago where a lady was being sued because part of her house was on her neighbour’s property.
So she hired a surveyor – who told her her house was partly on her neighbour’s property.
So she didn’t pay him. The surveyor sued. He won. The court noted that when you hire an expert, you pay for their expertise and their informed opinion, not for the result you want.
But let me tell you something else. There was a mall in Northern Ontario. Three engineers over a period of thirty years were hired to investigate water leaks. They all said the water leaks were the result of the waterproofing being done improperly but the structure of the building was fine. A month after the third engineer pronounced the building “structurally sound”, part of it collapsed catastrophically, killing two people. The inquiry noted that the engineer had equipment to ultrasonically examine the steel beams, but didn’t use it. The forensic engineers hired after the collapse noted the steel connection that failed was 89% corroded (meaning the connection was 10 times stronger than it needed to be, but still failed). I’m assuming that’s the kind of inspection you were looking for.
America Finally Did It, The Fuse Has Been Lit!
I’m American and I’m disgusted with the corporate control of our domestic and foreign policies.
I will share with you one of the most moving acts of compassion I’ve witnessed.
When my youngest son, Luke, was 10 years old, he played football on a local rec-league team. One evening his team played against one of the big rival teams from a neighboring town. I was surprised at how many people were at this game. After all, these were young children playing.
At a crucial time in the game, my son got the football and was running for a touchdown. He zigged and zagged, dodging and evading players on the opposing team. His teammates did a remarkable job blocking, as well. Finally, there was only one opponent between my son and a touchdown, and one of Luke’s teammates (Mario) made a hard block, knocking the opposing player to the ground.
There was now nothing between the goal and my son, who ran all out, then, slowed, stopped, turned around, ran back to the boy writhing on the ground, and took a knee.
The crowd went wild. Spectators on my son’s team hurled horrific insults at my young son. People I had known for years said the most hateful things, glaring at my son, threatening him, shooting daggers at me.
I ran down onto the field to be with Luke. As I ran down the bleachers, people said hateful things to me about my son.
When I arrived at Lukes’ side, before I could ask if he was okay, Luke looked up at me and said, “Dad, I had to do it. I had to come back.”
“Okay,” I said.
Luke continued, “Mario hit that kid hard. Real hard. When he hit him, I heard a bone snap. I heard it! I knew he was hurt bad, and I knew if I scored, it would take more time for anyone to notice him, and he would be hurting in all that time.”
I nodded my head. I could barely see at this point, my eyes welling with tears, proud of my son.
Luke continued, “And I remembered that you always teach us that being a good sport is about more than winning, so I stopped and came back.”
He looked at me, his eyes wondering how I would react. I had never been prouder of him. I hugged him and told him how proud I was.
Luke was correct — the boy suffered a broken leg. He had to go to hospital.
This is one of the finest acts of compassion I ever witnessed. And a valuable lesson for me.
Have they threatened anyone? The way I see it US and the former colonials are scary! They come to South China Sea from as far away as 10 thousand miles away to pick a fight with China. I did not hear or see China travelling to English Channel or Florida coast to threaten the U.S.! Did you? Last I check And it is NATO wanting to expand to Asia not CCP expanding to Europe or North America!
So who is scary? To us you are scary. It wasn’t that long ago that the British force fed 100 million Chinese to get addicted to Opium and burn down the imperial palace in Beijing and stole Hong Kong for 156 years! And unsatisfied it cohort with the evil US to pay hoodlums an unemployed to pretend to protest for CNN as props. The U.S. and UK orchestrated a protest! The west is scary not China. You guys are spoiling for a fight. China just wants to do business?
What is so scary about a society wanting to do well for its people. Did they asked the world to be like them and adopt their Socialism with Chinese characteristics. They did not. They went further! The says that every nation should adopt what they see as best for them.
They think that Chinese political system may not be suitable for any nation. And that it is not exportable. The U.S. murdered 3 million to stop communism. The U.S. also murdered another 3 million in Iraq to bring democracy to them. And another 2 million to stop Talibanism in Afghanistan! Don’t you think US behaviour is more scary! I thinks so. And so does 87% of the world.
Where do you get “half” the world? You dream it up? You simply follow some lies from the media? No more than 5% of the world disagree with China. 87% disagree with the U.S. outright!
You know what us scary. You! Yes if there are 5% of the world thinking like you. So wrong, so ignorant and so naive. That is very scary!
My husband and his first wife went from Chicago to New York for a long weekend.
As they waited to cross a busy street, they heard two businessmen behind them discuss how they were going to get the better of someone they were doing a deal with—in St. Louis.
Their ears pricked up because his first wife was from St. Louis originally.
As they walked along the next street, they were able to hear and identify enough details to realize that these two men were going to trick her uncle by not disclosing certain information.
When they got to the hotel, his wife called her uncle—who verified that indeed he was in the middle of doing a deal with these two guys in New York!
So no deal happened then!
What are the chances?
China Warns US on Its Ridiculous Plan to Make 150 Nations Leave Belt and Road Initiative!
On the 9th of June 2021, USA introduced a bill, which passed by 68 votes to 32, known officially as the “US Innovation and Competition Act”. In Washington it is colloquially known simply as the “anti-China bill”. Part of USA’s Anti-China bill, USA has allocated over $300 Million every year, for 3 years, to media trash China.
I just WISH USA would stop their warmongering ways, and join China in uniting the World.
I was struggling for over a year looking for steady work. I finally landed a job unloading trailers at UPS. Contrary to popular belief, they didn’t pay very well.
Growing up, I hung out with some guys whose parents had money. This instilled a sense of undeserved entitlement and pretentiousness in me. Looking down on people who worked these, “sh*t jobs.”
Anyways, I had been down on my luck for a bit in more aspects than one, and one day after a long evening of working my tail off I went to a local McDonald’s (McDonald’s employees being one of those jobs/people I’d mocked). After pulling into the drive-thru I checked my bank account. $3.47. I was so, so hungry. I ordered a few things off of the dollar menu, and proceeded to pull up to the window. Thinking I kept the order minimal, I assumed I had enough. The lady there ran one card, declined. Now, somewhat frantic, I pulled my credit card out. Declined. I, embarrassed as all get out, asked the lady if she could take some things off of my order for me. She paused and looked at me for a moment. I don’t know if she could hear the despair in my voice or saw it in my body language, but she looked around before dropping those items back in the bag with a little extra and handed it right back to me. She wished me a good rest of my evening with a quiet smile.
I told her she didn’t have to do that, but she happily insisted. I thanked her as I pulled away from the window. I pulled out of the parking lot, and immediately broke down crying. An uncontrollable sobbing that I’d never felt before. After all of these years of frowning upon people like this lady, she was the one to help me when I just needed something to eat.
McDonald’s lady, wherever you may be, your small act of kindness changed my life.
The global shift away from the US dollar has increased tenfold since February 2022 compared to the previous 15 years, Stephen Jen, the CEO of Eurizon SLJ Capital Limited, told Die Welt on Thursday.
According to the former International Monetary Fund and Morgan Stanley economist, the majority of analysts are missing the trend because they evaluate the nominal value of central banks’ dollar holdings on the basis of data released by the IMF.
“However, if we take into account changes in the value of the dollar, then, according to our calculations, we’ll see that the dollar share in foreign reserves has lost about 11% since 2016,” Jen explained.
He argued that Washington’s decision to freeze Russia’s dollar reserves after the launch of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraen had been the decisive event.
“This has fueled fear and anxiety in Beijing, but also in other emerging countries,” he said, adding that holding reserves in US dollars had been always considered absolutely safe until the drastic move.
Jen explained that the BRICS countries had been increasingly focused on alternatives to the greenback.
According to the economist, since the BRICS group of emerging economies – which presently comprises Russia, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa, but is due to add six new members next year – the economic power of the union has multiplied. Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia will officially join the group in January 2024.
James Gandolfini’s Best Scene from The Sopranos
The range of emotions showcased here is amazing; anger, disgust, fear, sadness, joy, contempt, and lil’ compassion, all within three minutes. A master class for any actor.
Chinese Innovation Foils U.S. Tech War — Clifford A. Kiracofe
Washington calculated that it could restrain China’s technology advancement and thereby stay ahead of the China. However, it appears that this calculation was mistaken.
China’s rapid advances in technology will inevitably foil the United States-led Western technology war against China. Huawei unveiled its stunning new high tech Mate60 cell phone and timed the announcement with the visit of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Sending a message?
The Donald Trump administration launched an intensive trade war and a tech war against China. President Joe Biden continued Trump’s policies and ratcheted them up to a new level. Rather than engage in mutually beneficial trade relations and scientific and technological cooperation, Washington openly admits it seeks to contain and suppress China’s economic growth and development.
Playing this zero-sum game is a dead end for the United States. China is very well equipped in the pursuit of technological innovation. Fundamental to China’s tech progress is the human factor. For example, it is no secret that China every year produces far more STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math) students than does the U.S.
Tech war is economic war
Export controls and restrictions on technology development are nothing new in international commerce. During its colonial period, the North American colonies faced an array of trade restrictions and technology restrictions imposed by the British Empire. These were designed to prevent the colonies from becoming rivals to British manufactures. They also were a factor leading to the American Revolution and War of Independence.
In World War I, the United Kingdom enacted a “Trading with the Enemy Act” which created an export control regime deigned to deny Germany war related imports. After the U.S. entered the war, Congress passed its own Trading with the Enemy Act modeled on the British legislation. These wartime legislative measures were applied again during World War II.
After World War II, export controls on a multilateral basis were created by the West to restrict various exports to the Soviet Union and Communist bloc. The Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) was created at the beginning of the Cold War. The U.S. thus coordinates, in turn, with NATO allies, Australia, and Japan to restrict the export of sensitive technologies to designated countries.
So the Western use of export controls for the purposes of economic warfare is nothing new. But the revival of this mechanism intensively directed specifically against China is a key feature of the U.S.-led New Cold War. The technological encirclement and blockade of China, however, is not sustainable.
Washington miscalculates
Washington calculates that it could restrain China’s technology advancement and thereby stay ahead of the China. However, it appears that this calculation was mistaken.
Logically, because China’s population is four times larger than that of the United States, there would at some point be a larger pool of STEM trained specialists in China than in the U.S. This is so because of the continuous upgrading of higher education in China and the massive commitment to research and development.
Several years ago, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. released a study on the STEM issue. The university’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology reported that in 2000 the U.S. issued twice as many doctorates in STEM field as did China. But in 2007, China began outpacing U.S. universities. The report assessed that by 2025 China would produce twice as many STEM Ph.D. graduates.
Because the U.S. cannot compete with its own population base, Washington seeks to import specialists in STEM fields from India as one stop gap measure.
But Chinese innovation is very dynamic and advanced with great future potential. Therefore, it should have been no surprise that China would develop the necessary technology for state-of-the-art semiconductors. This national objective combines the growing pool of high-tech specialists with a large pool of skilled labor together with billions of yuan for investment.
It was not difficult to foresee that China, through innovation and targeted investment, would be able over time to produce the machines and industrial processes to fabricate advanced state-of-the-art semiconductors. This applies to Chinese semiconductor design capability as well.
Why did the Washington miscalculate?
An inter-agency task force on the Chinese semiconductor issue would have concluded that the attempt to block and limit Chinese advances is not sustainable and thus would fail.
Some critics of the administration point to the lack of competence in President Biden’s foreign policy team. They say that Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan are just not up to their jobs.
Be that as it may, it is possible that racial prejudice affects Washington’s assessments. There was a time after World War II when it was common to look down on “cheap” Japanese goods. But Japanese success in electronics and auto manufacture by the 1980s showed another story.
Anyone from the U.S., a tourist or an official who visits China’s National Museum in Beijing will see exhibits displaying many centuries of Chinese skill and innovation not only in art, such as ceramics and bronze, but also in inventions and technology. China’s history of science and technology goes back millennia.
What does the Huawei Mate60 portend?
Clearly, the advanced smartphone is a perception changer at a minimum. No doubt, it will be seen as a game changer as well. Other high-tech breakthroughs are in the news.
It is now reported that the Chinese firm SMIC has a 7 nanometer (nm) N+2 process semiconductor project that is produced entirely in China with no access to Western equipment and technologies. All of the core components in China’s EUV lithography machines are said to be ready and that the prototype is being tested.
On the day that the new Mate60 phone was announced it was sold out in one minute online. Huawei boosted production to 15-17 million units and beginning September 10 Chinese can purchase the smartphone in Huawei’s offline stores. The phone has a satellite capability.
As Chinese firms develop independent semiconductor design and fabrication capacity, U.S. firms inevitably will lose out on this vast export market. It seems logical that the more intense the anti-China trade and tech wars become the more Chinese consumers will turn to homegrown products other than those from the U.S.
The U.S. lifted a stone only to hit its own feet.
The U.S. politicians must come to their senses and adopt a China policy of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, cooperation, and mutual benefit. Washington’s belligerent and destabilizing foreign policy disrupts the international community, increases tensions, and can lead to a war which will harm the U.S. side in the end.
The Special Cat Looked Sadly Around At the People Passing by His Cage
Life was idyllic for Pinat until the inevitable struck. His beloved owner passed away, leaving the poor cat alone and vulnerable.
I had a cherry tree in my back yard. I was really looking forward to them. I got home from work and there were 6 or more kids in the tree, stuffing my cherries into all sorts of containers. I yelled and they all took off. It wasn’t possible to get to the remaining cherries. Some of them left containers in my yard. A mom showed up and yelled at me for not giving her back her Tupperware.
SMIC has been making 7nm custom GPUs for the past 2–3 years, mostly for crypto customers who couldn’t get in the TSMC queue.
This filled real market demand that other players didn’t, or couldn’t.
SMIC used this opportunity to refine its process, on the quiet.
Huawei, in the meantime, found willing partners to share talent and resources, in a concerted effort to save the high-tech industry on the mainland from American destruction through the threat of sanction.
How did Huawei et. al. find the tools necessary for chip design, especially the GPU? What black magic did Huawei use to improve the transistor geometry? How did they penetrate the Qualcomm 5g patent wall? I don’t know. Neither does my friend in TSMC. It’s a separate ecosystem now, and quite independent.
The fog of war has descended, but the outcome point to solidarity across the ranks, with competitors working together like they are part of a conglomerate.
The Chinese are capable of cooperation on unheard of scale, because of long history.
The Mate 60 Pro is merely a first step, lacking polish and maturity. What’s coming though, will be a deluge.
American reacts to: america – What they don’t show you
Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to america – What they don’t show you…
President Zelensky’s top aide has suggested that Beijing and New Delhi are unable to analyze the consequences of their moves China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
Beijing has demanded clarification from Kiev after Mikhail Podoliak, a top aide to Ukraenion President Vladimir Zelensky, suggested that authorities in China and India weren’t smart enough to figure out what the actual national interests of their countries were.
Podoliak characterized the two Asian countries as having “low intellectual potential,” in an interview with channel Vlast vs Vaschenko published Tuesday on YouTube. Speaking about the increasing cooperation of Beijing and New Delhi with Moscow amid the conflict in Ukraen, he claimed that China and India “don’t analyze the consequences of the steps they make.”
The aide accused China, India and also Türkiye of “earning money” on the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. The Chinese authorities believe that doing so is in their country’s national interests, but Beijing is better off distancing itself from Russia as it’s “an archaic nation that drags China into unnecessary conflicts,” he said.
1.) No matter how calm and focused a doctor sounds when delivering bad news, they take that shit home with them.
Now a neurologist has to deliver a lot of shit news. Pretty much, if you end up in my wife’s office, something out of the ordinary has gone wrong. Migraines are the least of her worries. She’s dealing with MS, Dementia, Strokes, Epilepsy, Gullien Barre, Neuropathy, Parkinson’s, Brain Tumors, and the mother fucker of all mother fuckers, ALS.
The last one is the worst for her. Because she knows. Almost right away, and can’t say anything. Because a lot of things mimic the symptoms of ALS on the surface, so the process of diagnosing it is not so much to look for ALS symptoms but to systematically rule everything else that it MIGHT be out. Which takes weeks. And weeks. During which the whole time, she knows. But she hopes. And hopes that one of these tests will show another culprit. You know. Like cancer. Yes. It’s a case where she would celebrate finding cancer. At least they can do something about that.
Can you imagine opening up the files of a brain scan and praying you’ll see tumors?
By the time she’s done and can deliver the worst of all hunks of shit news, it’s been weeks of anguish for her. And when she comes home, it’s time to let all the little petty shit from my day go, because it’s NOTHING.
2.) Care and feeding of your physician is essential to maintaining your physician’s health.
Seriously. How my wife managed to get to work before I arrived on scene to make coffee in the morning, I’ll never know. A doctor’s work is never done, once they get home, it’s time to catch up on charting, and if they have a complicated specialty like my wife (neurologist) those charts are extremely complicated.
You know though? It’s important work, so if I can help just a bit by taking care of dinner? Or cranking out coffee strong enough to wake a triceratops fossil? I’m good with that.
3.) It’s friggin EXPENSIVE being a doctor.
What most people know about being a doctor is that doctors make a lot of money.
Yeah. She has no complaints there (it’s probably not as much as you think, but it’s a damn good living)
But Board Certifications, Continuing Medical Education, Malpractice Insurance, about a Quarter Million in Student Loan debt from 10 years of school, this association fees, that one, fee, fee, fee, fee, fee, it’s no wonder the first thing I learned from my wife was “looking for a doctor? Find the cheapest rattiest set of scrubs, there they are!”
4.) They get into it to practice medicine and usually love that, but generally, find themselves buried in a ton of other crap
I mentioned charts. Not the half of it, although for pure volume of work and time spent, it’s just lovely.
They didn’t mind so much when they were marking up paper charts as they were examining you. Now it all has to be done in an Electronic Medical Records system, and there is apparently no such thing as a halfway decent EMR.
Want to see a doctor fly into a violent volcanic rage? Ask them how they feel about their EMR.
Then there’s just the pile of administrative shit. Especially if you’re running the practice which thank God mine doesn’t have to worry about. But there is always a shitton to do that has not a damn thing to do with healing.
I’m keeping count of the number of times mine laments for the carefree days of being a Starbucks barista.
5.) In my experience, they’re usually just genuinely good people.
Now, I’m biased, I admit it. And I suppose I only meet genuinely good-people doctors because I’m married to one who wouldn’t give someone who wasn’t a minute of her time.
And yes, there are some genuine pieces of shit in the profession, just like any other.
But the vast majority of the dozens of doctors I’ve met as a result of being married to one are just good solid people who usually get into the profession to make a real difference in people’s lives, and out of a genuine desire to do good.
As a citizen of PR China who knows a thing or two about history, I must say that I understand why they do that.
Because Republic of China was and is totally a coward.
Because of the good relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and USSR, during Cairo Conference, the US proposed to give the authority of Ryukyu (Okinawa) to China, also part of Japan’s authority, and invited China to garrison in Japan.
Chiang rejected it.
He rejected the proposal from the US to take over Ryukyu and part of Japan, because he wanted to be humble, and he was a mean character when massacring Chinese.
Above is the photo of surrender ceremony of Chinese war zone. Take a guess about who is the winning side.
The answer is the one on the left, eventhough he looked more humble.
On the left it’s He Yingqin, first degree admiral and 2nd place in Republic of China militray.
On the right it’s Asasaburo Kobayashi, Imperial Japanese Army lieutenant general.
They are not even at an equal level. From Japan side, it should be Yasuji Okamura, the commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army from November 1944 to the end of World War II, handed in the Instrument of Surrender.
In the negotiation conferece of surrender ceremony, ROC sent a lieutenant general, and Japan sent a major general. Not in equal position too.
According to Yasuji Okamura’s memoir:
About the ceremony decoration, ROC side initially wanted to have a round table, to avoid being aggressive. It was because of the US intervention, ROC eventually choose long table.
It was agreed when handing in the Instrument of Surrender, Asasaburo Kobayashi was supposed to salute to He Yingqin for 3 times, and He Yingqin didn’t salute back. This idea was probably from the US “suggestions”. However, when Asasaburo Kobayashi saluted for the 3rd time, General He stood up as a return to the salute.
It was not the same when the US and USSR accepting surrender from Germany and Japan. They both ordered Germany and Japan to redo everything they are not satisfied, until everything’s fine. After all, it was a world war, and they were the winners.
Whereas in China, He Yingqin had to lean forward and stretch his arms all the way to the cernter line of the table, which makes him handing in the paper to Japanese.
Everything Chiang did is to tell Japan that “we don’t want to you misunderstood us, and we are not aggressive at all”.
From Japan side, in their opinion, it was the US which defeated Japan, and China is of course just a weakass shit which survived only because the glory of the US.
I don’t blame Japanese for this. As a matter of fact, they do have reasons to think so.
After all, PR China never kicked Japan’s ass since 1949.
I blame Chiang Kai-Shek.
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) ‘Confirmation’ & Admiral Husband E. Kimmel’s famous historical quote
“I’ve seen this film so many times as a kid, because it’s really really good. But I always follow it up with the other one, Midway. I joined the US Navy, 89-93, I think these films helped inspire me to sign up. I actually got the USS Lexington AVT-16 as my first ship, I can not describe the chills and feelings I had when I first stepped on board the Lady Lex. I was a little choked up and teary eyed with pride. I had the pleasure of working in nearly every department of that ship for two years, Deck 1st div -Supply Captains Country -Engineering E div – and Air V2. The flight deck crash of October 89 was my first sea cruise. After decommissioning the Lex, the Navy sent me to the USS Normandy CG-60 and straight into war. True story. I got my US Navy Adventure for sure. I only got out to save a doomed marriage.”
I have 13 kids, I have always wanted a big family. I adopted one from China, she is deaf and the sweetest 5 year old ever. We adopted her when she was 3. We get a few racist remarks because we are black and she is Chinese, they think she needs a Chinese family to have a good life. She is happy with us, so nope!
She can’t talk because she is completely deaf and no hearing ads or a cochlear implant will help, she will be deaf forever, unless there is something invented in the future that helps. She is able to say mama because she reads our lips and tries to copy the shape our lips make and make sound, that’s the only word she can say.
She came home from school one day, since she can read lips really good, she is in a hearing school, but in a special class for deaf people or hard of hearing people.
She told her siblings who then told us, that her teacher told her she was “sick” in sign language, Because she is from china. In sign language, you can’t name a virus unless you finger spell it, my daughter is only 5 so it’s hard for her to put words together by spelling it out.
Her teacher was telling her that she brought Covid into this world and that she was sick with it because it started out in China. She was only 2 when Covid started, she didn’t even fully understand about Covid.
The teacher believed every Chinese person had Covid, no matter how old or young. Since my daughter had “Covid” She wasn’t allowed to go to lunch that day and eat, she wasn’t allowed to learn with the class, and she wasn’t allowed to go outside and play. When they were learning, she was sitting in a chair far away with a mask on. I didn’t call the police, but I called the school and got her fired and she might be going to court for a hate crime.
Watch Before it’s Deleted,This is my 3rd Attempt, Oprah & The Rock on Maui
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.
No. The guy with a rifle is not the scariest. That distinction belongs to the guy with a much more dangerous piece of equipment:
The humble radio. This is the guy that could pull down everything from a single mortar round up to and including a bombing run by a fully loaded B-52 to naval missiles to armored cavalry reinforcements. He can tell this support exactly where, what spot at what height in what position, needs a proper lesson in violence. He can tell artillery which direction to adjust their fire, he can warn pilots of infantry with MANPADS, he is the man in control of the tactical battlefield.
You have an ankle bracelet that monitors everyone and their movements?
How do you know people disappear?
Anyone you know who disappeared?
A Relative, Friend, Cousin, Girlfriend?
Even the Foreign Minister of China
He didn’t disappear. The Chinese openly said he was no longer minister.
The Defense Minister who apparently disappeared
Turns out he was in secret meetings with the Venezuelans and North Koreans and later in a Military facility taking treatment
People disappear in other places too
They commit crimes and flee
They are kidnapped and killed
They are murdered and bodies dumped
They fall sick and want recuperation from public life
In India or US, because the Public elects you, you have a public responsibility to inform them about your absence
In China, you only inform the party. Same as if you take medical leave from TCS, you don’t publish it on Twitter
1027 Men disappeared in the US and the West and remained missing for an average of 4 1/2 years
They were incarcerated against their will in Guantanamo and tortured and harrassed
No justification to this day
Its harder to disappear in China than it is in India or US
Your digital footprint is so strong and your records are almost everywhere and you have thousands of cameras recording all around you
What you need to know about PHARMACIES in THAILAND before you visit!
Thailand passed most western countries years ago when it comes to medicine, medical aid, medical treatment and certainly when it comes to quick access to medical professionals and advanced imaging systems. In fact, even in many countries in Latin America, a MRI scan is a walk-in compared to canada where it can take 6 months. Thailand in general is AMAZING!
I sometimes buy frozen food online, and the food always arrives in a large styrofoam shipping container.
The first time I got one, I didn’t know what to do with the box after I unpacked the food. I like to recycle all my cardboard boxes and plastic containers, but none of the facilities in my area would take styrofoam.
The styrofoam cooler was thick and sturdy, and it seemed a shame to throw it out after one use. So I chucked it into my garage. Every time I got another cooler, I put it in the garage.
A few years ago, my husband and I were moving, and I was cleaning out the garage. By then, I had amassed over a dozen of these styrofoam boxes. They were stacked up in three stacks, collectively about 4 to 5 feet wide and over 4 feet high. We had to get rid of these boxes before we could move.
I tried to find the containers a home. I looked online for a place within driving distance that would recycle styrofoam. No luck.
As a last ditch effort, I contacted the stores where I purchased my food asking if I could ship them back. They had no use for used shipping coolers.
I resigned myself to the fact that we would have to throw them out. As my husband and I were getting ready to take the boxes to the dump, I suddenly had an epiphany. I ran to the computer and did a search.
Yes! As I thought, there were people on eBay who would pay money for a used styrofoam cooler. I wouldn’t have to throw them away and they would get a second life.
So I listed all the coolers on eBay, and over several weeks, they all sold.
The strangest way I’ve made money was selling my trash on eBay.
Now every time I buy frozen food online, I immediately list the box for sale on eBay after I unpack the food. I get between $7 to $15 per box, plus the cost of shipping to the buyer. It’s not much, but it’s a nice little coupon towards my frozen food purchase.
TSMC lays off 60% of its U.S. factories,Workers demand a doubling of wages;Mate 60 pro
TSMC lays off 60% of its U.S. factories, Workers demand a doubling of wages;
Huawei orders completely lost.
A couple had come to the upscale restaurant, but the woman started screaming at the waitress, wanting her to be fired.
Does the customer always have the right? Does going to a restaurant give you the right to humiliate the people who work there? I hope not!
This is the story of a girl who worked as a waitress in a restaurant! The story was told by her, let’s listen:
“I was lucky to find a job at an upscale restaurant!
Even though I don’t hear very well with my left ear, and not at all with my right ear, I was given a chance to work here. I wear a hearing aid, so I can hear almost everything that is said to me very clearly.
But one day, an elderly couple came to have dinner.
Me: I’m glad you chose our restaurant! Are you ready to order? Wife: Call the manager, NOW!
Me: One moment. Maybe I can help you myself? Wife: No!
So, I had to go and call the manager.
Manager: Good evening! How can I assist you?
Wife: Why do your employees wear headphones? Are they listening to music? We pay a lot of money here, and believe me, we deserve perfect service! This is not acceptable!
Everyone in the restaurant froze.
Manager: Our waitstaff knows they are not allowed to wear headphones.
But if you notice anyone breaking this rule, please let me know. I guarantee that person will be fired!
Wife: Please. It’s her!
The woman pointed at me.
Manager: I’m sorry. Her behavior is beyond any limit. Wife: I agree!
Manager: I was talking about you! Your behavior is inappropriate! The waitress is wearing a hearing aid.
I kindly ask you to leave this restaurant and never come back!
The woman’s husband did not support her at all. The enraged woman left the restaurant in a fit of anger.
I would like to express my gratitude to all the people who defended me! Thank you!”
US phone and chip companies like Apple, Nvidia and Qualcomm don’t produce chips. They design the chips but outsource it to TSMC, Intel and Samsung to manufacture them. Fabless chip designers have been the in-thing for some decades already, popularised first by companies like Broadcom in the 90s.
Same for Huawei – they design it via subsidiary HiSilicon but don’t produce the chips themselves. They outsource it to TSMC and SMIC in particular. TSMC has been banned by the US Commerce from supporting Huawei and other Chinese companies.
Can the USA companies produce the chips themselves today? The answer is YES. It takes time to develop the volume manufacturing expertise all over again. It is a very complex business and it takes guts to put in the money to invest in R&D resources, mainly PhD-type technical talents and capital intensive wafer fabrication facilities and processing machines, packaging and test equipments. Unless you have deep pockets, this is not the business for everyone.
A high-end wafer fab today requires some $12B upfront capital investment. It also requires a whole long list of vertically integrated suppliers locally to support the wafer fab industry – only Asia has it as the cost is low. At the same time, you must have a flexible and disciplined team of technical personnel and production workers who can work 24/7 round the clock to make the business viable. One mistake out of 1000s of process steps can cause a total disruption to production schedules, customer order delivery slips and production scraps. Automation has its own challenges. Manufacturing yields can be impacted from batch to batch due to workmanship and process variations. Honestly, it is not a business for the faint-hearted investors and demanding customers who expect perfection.
USA has the science but not the art of high volume cost competitive manufacturing anymore. To think that the Biden Administration can bring back wafer fabrication industry back home even with the help of Samsung, Intel and TSMC, is a pipe dream. It will fail badly, very badly. Tens or hundreds of billions of dollars will be flushed down the drain when they realised they can’t make it work. Trust me, failure will be the end outcome and it is already full of production delays and major make or break problems between the investors and the government.
M*A*S*H Winchester looses his temper with a bureaucrat over abandoned baby
Unlike Frank, Charles wasn’t a bad person. He had a shield of arrogance, but he was a superior surgeon and a good-hearted individual. At worst, he was used to being removed from the suffering of the world, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about it. See the Christmas episode where he recounts a family tradition of giving candy and toys to the poor, but realizes that the value of the candy would provide a month’s worth of staple foods for starving orphans.
While at Treasure island in 1962, waiting to be seperated from active duty, in the Navy,i had a lot of free time to see San Francisco. I was and still am, a fan of jazz, so I ended up at a jazz club ( Jazz Workshop, Blackhawk, I don’t recall which one) mid afternoon one day. The bar was open, so I took a stool at the bar next to a well dressed guy. At his feet was a horn case. I ordered a beer and raised my glass to the stranger next to me, to which he responded with a raised glass and a few words.
We talked a little about what I was doing, why I was in San Francisco, where I called home, just a little chit-chat. He mentioned that he was a musician and said something about sitting in for the performances later on. We never did introduce ourselves, we just started talking.He finished his drink, picked up his horn case and bid me goodbye. The bartender asked if was ready for another beer and asked me how I came to know Miles. I replied by saying “Miles who?” Davis, he replied. You have been talking with him since you came in. I carried his Kind of Blue album with me all the years I spent aboard ship and never put his face and name together. Yup, jaw dropped, but as it turned out, it was best that I did not recognize him. We were just a couple strangers having a beer. I still play that LP today.Damn, that was 60 years ago and still fresh in my mind.
“We have alien bodies and the DNA to prove it” Mexican Congress | Redacted with Clayton Morris
You want alien bodies? Here they are. Ufologist Jaime Massaun rolled out two coffins holding “non-human” bodies in front of Mexico’s congress yesterday. He says these bodies are 1,000 years old and were fossilized in a mine. He also presented DNA evidence showing these bodies are not human.
Imagine a world where there are two ways to conduct commerce. One half of the world chooses one method, and the other half chooses another.
In the West, led by the United States, is a commerce system based on an extraction of wealth.
People work, and they labor. The government take a part of that labor in the form of taxes, fees, clauses, penalties, and regulations. Under that layer is another layer. These are the banking transfer fees, the interest and debt schedules and all the associated rules that one must abide by to use that system. Beneath that system, is a system of organizations. Where to use that organization or society, fees are extracted, prices are managed, and profits are massaged. Beneath that system is a system of businesses, that have their own fees, charges, and profit schedules, and then beneath that is the worker.
For a worker to labor and make money, all of the systems of wealth extraction gets paid first. What ever is left, goes to the worker. Who is then taxes on it, and uses it for his and her own purposes.
In the East, led by China, is a commerce system based on ownership.
If a person earns money though labor, that money is converted electronically into a value, and the mass amount of that value is accessible to the worker. No government, person, entity, organization can siphon income away from that value. It is against the law.
…
Now that is the “quick and dirty” overview. Both systems, have very, very complex subsystems of control and monitoring. Both systems have those that get rich and those that get poor. Both systems are independent of each other, and collaboration between the two systems is possible with “guardrails”.
But what about the question?
Why doesn’t China use “credit cards”?
Credit cards is a Western fabrication and means of wealth extraction. A person is not using money they earned. They are borrowing money from a bank and renting the use of it from the bank.
China uses a system of ownership. A person earns money, and it goes into a bank. Then the Chinese person uses a QR, and biometic scan to extract the money to buy something with it.
That being said, there are areas of overlap between the Western system and the Eastern system of commerce. For instance, you can get loans and mortgages inside of China, just like you can in the United States. The big difference is that the vast bulk of transactions differ substantially between the East and the West.
West = Wealth Extraction.
East = Ownership.
Geo-political manifestations
And it is the FUNDAMENTAL differences in systems why the rest of the world (such as Africa, for example) is turning towards China instead of working “with” the United States on massive Geopolitical ventures.
China. Africa sees results from China. They see dams, hospitals, road and rail. they see ports, and real tangible aid. The African nations OWN these properties, and these systems. They are tangible. They can be seen. They can be touched. they can be felt.
United States. Africa hears a lot of “flowery words” from the United States. Promises of this and that, and military weapons, and military bases. But no roads. No hospitals. No trains. No ports. An occasional plane-load of “greenbacks” that are delivered to the wealthy in a nations, but that is about it. Those African nations so entangled in agreements with the United States enter into debt with them. It’s all nice numbers on spreadsheets, and documents with many impressive signatures, but for the average person “on the street” there isn’t any change in lifestyle.
Meanwhile the entirety of the Global South, via the BRI, are investing in a “basket of currencies” one based on tangible commodities; hard physical items that can be touched, felt and measured.
While the West, led by the United States, are forcing a system of debt upon their allies and “friends”.
Let’s perform a sanity check.
If this description, one where the West and the East differ in means of fundamental commerce and economic theory, then it should manifest in a myriad of ways. Let’s look at home ownership.
Obviously, the nation that functions via wealth extraction will have the bulk of it’s citizenry in debt. While the nation that functions on an ownership basis would have the bulk of it’s citizenry invested in self ownership of properties.
Southern Biscuits
Southern Biscuits
Ingredients
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons Crisco
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon Crisco (for frying pan)
Instructions
Mix dry ingredients together.
Blend in the Crisco until the mixture is coarse and grainy.
Stir in the buttermilk with a fork. Do not over-mix.
Put out onto a floured board and knead just a few times. Pat out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter or glass. Flour the cutter. Do not handle the dough too much or it will get tough.
Using a heavy cast iron frying pan, place 1 tablespoon of Crisco in the pan and put the frying pan in the oven for about 7 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and place the biscuits in the pan. Turn each once in the oil and bake the biscuits at 500 degrees F for 10 minutes, or until light brown.
Kitten Abandoned In The Rain, Cold, Shrinking for Protect Herself – No one heeded his plea for help
My main “beef” with my parents was a simple one. At every opportunity for me to do something outside of the school narrative…
“Study hard. Get a good job, and you will be set for life with a good pension.”
…They pretty much sucked at helping me.
I asked my mother; “How do I buy land”? And she looked at me for a moment and answered…
“You just go and buy it.”
Gosh, Mom. That was so helpful.
NOT!
At that time, there wasn’t any Google about. No internet. Only a small town library, and neither the teachers or anyone would help me out. No one could answer my questions.
I’d ask my dad; “How do I buy stocks”?
He would chuckled. Then thought about it, and he answered…
“You just go and buy them.”
Gosh dad. That was so helpful.
NOT!
And it wasn’t just that.
I asked my dad, “How do I ask a girl out for a date”?
And his answer was…
“What, who’s the girl?”
And I would say, “No one you know. So how do I do it”?
And he would chuckle, and he said…
“Oh, you just go up to her and ask her if she wanted to go out with you.”
Wow! So very helpful.
NOT!
…
Do not make the same mistakes that my parents made. Take the time. Enunciate. Explain. Be empathic, and be kind and considerate.
It will make a BIG difference.
Todays…
How China Destroyed US Sanctions and Changed Microchip Forever!
The USA did not declare war on Huawei. They declared war on hundreds of thousands of motivated Chinese set to go starving on the streets, unless they pushed themselves…
What many people don’t know is Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei only owns roughly 1% of the company, and the employees own 99% of the company, so imagine a body of hundreds of thousands of supercharged and super-talented people giving their all, not only for survival of their families but also with a vengeance to prove that they can’t be suppressed and will fight back.
Huawei is a networking equipment maker which makes mobile phones. This means it knows the backend first, and then how to connect the network to its Frontend devices, including mobile phones.
Apple only focuses on Frontend consumer devices, and not connecting with backend devices because its focus is on the user experience.
Apple relies on Qualcomm for its 5G transceiver; Huawei designs its own 5G transceiver.
That is the difference.
Newborn kitten cries when she sees her mother lying motionless on her left side full of thorns
Newborn kitten cries when she sees her mother lying motionless on her left side full of thorns The mother cat and her cubs have an accident on a strange fruit full of thorns A mother cat crashes next to the fruit back.
We have seen the mother cat and her two young children lying here. kittens just a few days old swaddled around their mother. and cried out of voice when he saw his mother in trouble.
next to it is a fruit full of thorns. This cat family is pitiful.
when I thought the fruit from the other corner fell on the mother cat. but luckily the other fruit is just next to the mother cat and the kittens.
Maybe the mother cat was exhausted.
We are walking in a tropical forest. There are a lot of dry leaves here. I came across a family of cats in distress here.
The kittens were crying when they saw their mother lying motionless. The mother cat lies next to the thorny fruit weevil. I come closer to check and will help the cat family.
The kittens are quite small. Luckily this thorny fruit didn’t hit the kitten. The mother cat is very weak. it needs immediate care. I will help this poor meod family.
Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add sweet potato, water and vanilla extract; mix well.
In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff; fold into the sweet potato mixture.
Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; add to potato mixture.
Stir in pecans.
Pour into three greased 9-inch round cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 22 to 27 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks.
Frosting: Melt the butter in a saucepan; whisk in sugar, milk and egg yolks until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.
Remove from the heat; stir in the coconut, pecans and vanilla extract. Cool slightly.
Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with a third of the frosting.
When I was in high school, in my senior year, I had a co-op job as an electronic tech, and worked for a small business. The business was on Rt 11, in a business district leading into Bloomsburg Pa.
One afternoon, while at my bench, we heard a car accident occur outside our building. Apparently, a young man no older than me was speeding and decided to use the enter lane to pass people, and caught a young family getting read to turn off to the seasonal hamburger place next door to so (to the right when facing the highway)
Tye family was ok, but a group of workers from the welding/fabrication shop next to us (on the left) ran out to the car and attempted to pull the young driver out.
But he apparently had a broken neck… I will never forget seeing how his head moved, it just sort of flopped around on his shoulders. That was 43 years ago, and I still remember that part vividly.
A day or two later his sister dropped by and asked us if we had seen a ring of his that was missing. We did walk around the accident scene but never found it.
Because he broke his neck on his steering wheel, I started to wear my seatbelt while driving, long before there was a campaign to require it.
Don’t know if this was a thief or not, but a number of years ago there was a rise in fake “Utility Company Representatives” knocking on people’s doors. In many cases things went missing if these people were allowed into people’s homes (they worked in pairs).
At the time we were living in a duplex. The first floor level was about 6–8 inches higher than the level of the front porch. We had a Siberian Husky/German Shepherd mix (both sides of his parentage were pure blood pedigrees), and he was the best burglar alarm even invented. 60–70 lbs of solid muscle, the face of a wolf, and the most disconcerting part, 1 blue eye and one brown eye. Our storm door had a solid panel that went about halfway up the door. High enough that you couldn’t see the dog if he approached the door. The top was screened.
My wife answered the door and was faced with 2 “Utility Company Representatives” that were checking the water meters which were inside, down in the basement. Their trick was to gain entry, get the person who answered to accompany one down to the meter while the other one stayed in side the front door and “waited”, picking up anything they could find that might be valuable. Like wallets from purses. True to form, they wanted to come in and check the meter. My wife knows better and told them they couldn’t come in without some sort of ID. They started arguing that they had a legal right to inspect their hardware (they didn’t), and she kept telling them no and flicked the lock on the storm door.
Our ever faithful guard dog had walked over to the door while they were trying to talk their way in. When their tone started changing he got interested and decided to see who was talking to the boss-lady like that. He popped up on his hind legs which put his face not too far from level with the people on the porch, who suddenly decided they no longer had to gain entry, and said ‘someone else will contact you later’ as they left for greener pastures.
Best alarm system ever.
EDIT… Punctuation repairs (Thanks Ed), and I thought you all might like to see this buddy of mine. We lost him to The Bridge from cancer 29 years ago now, and still miss him every day. Sadly, we didn’t do a lot of picture taking back then, so my choice of pictures is limited.
He had the black and white Husky markings, and the longer snout and some brown from the Shepherd side. Check out his eyes, and imagine them staring at you through a screen door at eye level.
China and technology
The reason Trump thought that he could stop China from making DUV machines is because DUV machines encompass a lot of technologies.
If China is unable to produce any of these technologies then the DUV machines China purchased from ASML would be completely useless in a year or so. The parts need to be replaced. No parts, no working machine.
The light source breaks down all the time. The coating on the lenses only last for a few months. 1 year at most. All those machines that China bought from ASML for over $500 billion would become very expensive scrap metal.
But China managed to develop these core technologies. And it required the entire Chinese scientific community to do so.
But now that China has the core technologies, there is nothing the US can do to stop China from advancing. The US no longer controls Chinese chip industry.
This video explains just how intricate chip production is and how much leading edge technology is required to make on of these machines work.
The Sopranos || Get It Up
This should get more views, it’s such a perfect clean edit
Start buying them lavish gifts, like expensive vacations at 5-star luxury resorts, free airline flights to exotic destinations, Rolexes, things like that. Then buy their mom’s house and let mom continue to live there for free. Then donate the money for their kid’s education at an expensive university.
Okay, that’s an extreme case, but it works. Most famously, the first black mayors of Los Angeles and Detroit suspiciously became a lot more pro-business after they were elected than before, and that was just the result of freely given campaign contributions, invitations to nice dinners, and perks like the odd bottle of whisky that remain within the rules for gifts.
Take a look at Krysten Sinema, who got elected mostly because she had a massive team of young volunteers who saw her as a progressive. After she got elected, she started getting massive donations from pharmaceutical companies and, all of a sudden, she’s shifted a lot further to the right.
One of the reasons why this works is that running for office is incredibly expensive. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s first campaign cost $2 million, mostly spent on the Democratic primary. She was funded by a group who wanted someone more progressive, and now she’s elected to a safe Democratic seat, she will need less money going forward, but her $170,000 salary (seems a lot doesn’t it) still doesn’t pay for her New York rent, her Washington rent, and her student loans.
One of the best tricks plays on vanity. The politician writes a book, which gets published, and “friends” buy enough copies to make it a best seller. This is really sleazy, but it happens all the time, and it is in no way illegal. There are allegations that Hilary Clinton’s success in the futures market was a set up where a benefactor essentially ate losses and just passed on the gains.
This is why the rich are heavily into “charity”, showing how good they are by building college buildings and universities (with their name on them of course). It’s certainly cheaper than paying taxes for the same thing, that’s for sure. Andrew Carnegie started it with libraries, and is seen as a saint, but governments still had to maintain those (most are now over a century old, including one or two in my home town of Toronto) and the donors usually don’t pay for the upkeep.
I’ve already written about some shocking things I’ve come across in the states in another post, so I suppose this is part 2, but here we go:
Heard people going at it…you cannot imagine my shock as a person coming from a conservative area, one who hasn’t even seen her parents kissing, to witness such a thing. But while staying at a hotel, for the first time in my life, I heard two people going at it very loudly so that it was impossible to ignore them. I was so embarrassed and my husband was laughing at me for looking so shocked.
Serving water for free in restaurants. For a capitalist country like the states, I was surprised they didn’t benefit from this one thing that people will undoubtedly pay for. You certainly have to pay for water over here in restaurants.
Ice.. always. Continuing from the last point, water is always served with ice. Someone like me who can’t have very cold water had to specifically ask for it to be omitted.
Medical issues. I needed antibiotics during my visit because of an infection that I get frequently. Not having insurance as a simple visitor, we had to pay 400$ to see a doctor and get this simple prescription. Meanwhile back home, I got it for less than a dollar. So I swore to pack lots of meds next time I come over.
Vast spaces. Perhaps because I’ve been only to Buffalo, Niagara, and Oregon but there was always a ton of space between buildings. The markets were huge with vast parking lots. And the roads were very big for the most part.
Black people everywhere. In New York airport (JFK), almost all workers were black! That was a surprise because I always heard of the diversity in the states. But even later in Oregon, almost everyone was white.
Security at the airport. That one was quite funny. When you get scanned at the JFK airport, you have to stand in a certain cabin, face your right, raise your arms like a criminal, then they scan you. The woman worker shouted, “Put your arms up!” and I had no clue what she was talking about. She kept repeating then showed me the exact position and where to face. Then she said “Seems like you don’t travel often”. I wanted to say “Excuse me? I’ve been traveling since I was 4 but this doesn’t exist anywhere else I’ve been!”.
Coffee. That was no coffee. That was dirty water. Period. Lol. For real though, our definition of coffee in Egypt is Turkish coffee which is very heavy, dense, and intense in flavor.
Huge meals. Everyone said so before and yet I made the mistake of ordering an appetizer before the main dish, only to be surprised that the appetizer is so big that it’s a meal on its own. I felt so sad throwing half the food away as we were traveling and I couldn’t take it with me.
Reese’s everywhere. It was Reese’s heaven! All sort of sizes, shapes, and mixes. Like mixed with Cadbury, Oreos, and so on.
Credit card everywhere. I am not exaggerating when I tell you there hasn’t been a single place I’ve been to that doesn’t take credit.
Rich wildlife. Coming from a desert, it was so impressive to just casually come across deer and squirrels. And at some point, I saw a massive number of seals. I learned the hard way that they stink.
They use their attractions wisely. I’ve been to countries that don’t give enough attention to grand places that leave you in awe, meanwhile, the states try to give such attention to whatever place they feel people may like visiting. Whenever you go to an especially cool place, you’ll find stores near it selling stamps, mugs, and stickers with pictures of that attraction. I’ve seen that at Niagara Falls and the redwoods in California. Did I mention that I’d never seen such huge trees in my life?
The world’s third-largest contract semiconductor maker, GlobalFoundries, on Tuesday opened a $4-billion manufacturing plant in Singapore as part of a global expansion to help ease an industry supply crunch.
The new Singapore facility will produce an additional 450,000 wafers annually at full capacity by 2025 to 2026, general manager Tan Yew Kong told reporters, raising the city-state’s overall capacity to 1.5 million wafers each year.
The chips, usually used in smartphones and other mobile devices, are also increasingly in demand by automakers, especially for electric vehicles, adding to the pressure to raise production.
“The key megatrends of our industry — digitisation, connectivity, cloud computing — are all driving acceleration to a more connected and data-centric world,” GlobalFoundries president and chief executive Thomas Caulfield said at the launch.
“It demonstrates how central and critical the industry is to the world economy and how pervasive semiconductors are in enabling and enhancing all aspects of human life.”
Caulfield said that despite current economic headwinds, the company estimates the industry will double in the next decade.
“The catalyst for this growth will be AI (artificial intelligence),” he said.
The firm’s 23,000-square meter Singapore facility, which broke ground in 2021, will expand the global footprint of the company, which already has plants in the United States and Europe.
Singapore’s chip output currently makes up 11% of the global semiconductor market.
The global semiconductor market is predicted to experience a downturn of 10.3 percent this year but recover in 2024 and grow by 11.8%, according to estimates by the industry monitor World Semiconductor Trade Statistics.
Very often, the answer is no. Not only do intelligent people very often fail to realize how much smarter they are than everyone else, they also tend to overestimate other people’s intelligence even when they do. Let me tell you a little story.
Once upon a time, I was at a bar with some friends. The bar had an outdoor area where you could stand around and drink beer. There was a guy who thought it would be funny to ride past the bar repeatedly on an extremely loud moped. At certain times, he would stop, rev the moped so loud that nobody could hear themselves think, and begin whooping loudly. This same guy had been at it all day, not just by the bar, but riding up and down the streets and residential neighborhoods, screaming and hollering and bothering everyone he could with his moped.
I mentioned, casually, that I wouldn’t mind chucking my beer mug at his head if he were close enough. A friend of mine, whom we shall call Angus (not his real name), said, “Well, you should probably leave someone as unstable as that guy alone. He obviously has some serious emotional difficulties.”
Angus is a smart dude, but he misread the guy on the moped. The issue is that the guy on the moped was probably not suffering from some deep emotional trauma that had made him so obstreperous. Rather, Moped Guy’s thought process was, most likely, no more complicated than this: “YEAH! YEAH! LOUD! LOUD MOTHERFUCKER! YEAH LOOK AT IT MAN! YEAH! LOUD!”
The issue that Angus was having is that Angus, being an intelligent and empathetic individual, was trying to understand Moped Guy’s motivations and look at things from Moped Guy’s perspective. Angus was thinking to himself, “What would have to happen to me to get me to act that obnoxiously?” The thing is, intelligent people of high character, like Angus, are not moved to act like idiots unless they suffer something really bad, at which point a complicated emotional process leads to bad behavior. Angus’ miscalculation was that Moped Guy would have to have suffered some horrible trauma to act in the way he did. The big issue is that Angus did not account for Moped Guy’s stupidity, and forgot the simple fact that stupid people will act stupid without any suffering or instability. Dumb people just act dumb.
I have suffered from this problem myself. For the longest time, I did not realize that so much of human behavior was posturing, and did not realize how to read people correctly. I thought that, when someone talked to me about their interests, they were merely stating facts and not trying to talk to me about themselves. The vast majority of humans are so subjective that most of their communication is about themselves and not about things or ideas or even other people. Intelligent people have problems grasping that.
My father, as I may have said before, is an ER doctor.
One night, a case arrived to the hospital of a teen girl with what seemed like a regular fever. The team gave her the necessary meds and started running a few tests.
Her mother had rushed to the hospital with her and looked particularly nervous. The doctor asked her some typical questions such as when her daughter showed signs and so on, but she would have vague half-assed answers.
However, within a few hours, the girls fever was sky rocketing, and her blood pressure was getting very low, and for some reason she wasn’t responding to regular meds or fluids.
The mother looked very nervous then she timidly approached a nurse and told her “actually, I forgot to tell you something. My daughter just went through a liposuction a couple of days ago. I don’t know if these two things are related”.
Yet by the time this piece of information reached the doctors, the girl had already died. She was being treated for a regular fever until test results showed the real issue.
Turns out that the mother took her daughter, who was not even chubby to begin with, to undergo a liposuction. Given that the girl was underage, a parent’s approval is a must. Her father was completely against it but the mother went ahead and sneaked it with the daughter anyway.
And she was too scared of her husband knowing what she did so she didn’t want to let the secret out until she realized that the complications are more serious than she thought. But it was too late by then.
Lessons of the day:
1-Don’t put your child through unnecessary plastic surgery.
2-And don’t hold back information from the doctor for God’s sake.
Christopher Moltisanti – So Far (The Sopranos)
The most tragic character in fiction, even with all his flaws he will always be one of the greatest characters in the history of television…
The Chinese government is a lot lot lot more transparent than the western government on the economy. It is simple Chinese government don’t need to be popular it need to be effective!
The U.S. government need to and use their media to fool Americans and hoodwinked them so that Yanks will always be highly naive and ignorant. How do they do that? Western media are profit motivated so they are free to make money by writing what westerners like to hear. So they write or broadcast what westerners like to hear.
After conniving you that China is at fault, China is your enemy, China is backward, China is evil, China steal your technology, China cheats, China take your jobs…..What do you like to hear? China fail and U.S. is great, it is exceptional, its economy is still wonderful. Your technology is unmatched. So you media cohort with your government to fool you and guess what that is what you want!
Chinese government don’t face election and popularity contest every 2 years! You do! China says and report as it is and encourage or motivate its citizens that it needs to buck up and work harder. Hence all the superlatives such ad the U.S. is exceptional, Britain is Great, US is the mist innovative, Britain invents everything…
China don’t do that. To us Empty vessels makes the most noise! Western media are simply lying media that spread half truths, fake news, misinformation, fabrications. Demonising others to distract your people from your impending collapse.
I was studious, which resulted into me getting a scholarship in college. One of my friends asked me for some money (2500/-). He was my good friend, not best, and I was completely aware of his gambling and drinking habits.
I wanted to say “No”, because I knew the importance of money at that moment of my life. I was aware of the fact that he will never return it, but I still lent him the money, which was obviously never returned.
It was my first breakup and I was leading a miserable life. There was this girl who was my junior and she started taking interest in me.
I was uncomfortable, but she was pretty. I wasn’t ready for a relationship and she kept pushing me. Again, I wanted to say “No”, but it could have hurt her feelings.
Unwillingly, I said Yes. And that relationship survived for a month only.
Don’t judge me, I was an immature teenager back then.
There were many incidents in my life where I desperately wanted to say “No”, but ended up saying otherwise. And in return, I paid a huge price, not monetarily, but emotionally and mentally.
But today, things have changed. I have changed for my own good. And I have learned the art of saying “No”. People call me rude, arrogant etc, but who cares about their opinion?
This is my life, these are my struggles. They will only give their absurd opinion which is never required. Sometimes people think that saying “NO” is hard because your image will get maligned or it will hurt other people.
My question is, what will you do with your false pride? Maybe momentarily you will hurt people by saying “No”, but in the long term it will save you from huge disappointment.
This is what I learned the hard way: How to say “No” to the face when/where I am hesitant/uncomfortable.
It comes with multiple benefits:
You don’t have to lie.
You don’t have to make excuses.
You don’t have to justify anything.
I refused to please others at the expense of my emotional well being. Even if it is saying “No” to thepeople who are used to hearing “Yes”.
Learn the art of saying “No”. Don’t lie, don’t make excuses, don’t over explain yourself. Just simply decline.
The Sopranos || Easier
“Man, thanks for this awesome work! This gives me power every time I rewatch it to deal with tough shit in evercold Moscow. I’d love to see more motivating sopranos vids from ya!”
When I first started High School, I had a guy that rode the bus with me every day, and made my life a living hell. His name was David R-. He was 18 years old and still in the tenth grade. He was bigger than me, and cussed like a sailor. He was mean and vicious, and he absolutely scared me to death.
I have vivid memories of him sitting behind me on the bus, slapping me in the back of the head as we rode home from school. It happened almost every day. This was 27 years ago and, back then, bullying was just a “common thing.” It was something you had to deal with. You had to learn to stand up for yourself and “be a man”. I would complain to the bus driver and the principal. Mr. Dave would get a good scolding, but he was right back at it the next day.
Well, after six months of this B/S, I’d finally had enough. I just snapped one day. I turned around and dove over the seat, and started pounding on him. Everyone went crazy. The driver slammed on the brakes, and brought the bus to a stop.
I was getting my tail kicked by this guy. He was bigger, faster and stronger, and the only thing I had on my side, was rage. We were up against the emergency exit, slugging it out, when, all of a sudden, the door just popped open, and we went tumbling into the street.
When we hit the pavement, Mr. Dave had his arm twisted behind his back. He landed on it, and I heard it snap like a piece of kindling. He pushed me off of him, and got up with a bone jutting out of his wrist. He was screaming his head off, and blood was pouring onto the asphalt.
Maybe I should have backed off at that point, but this guy had made my life hell for several months, and I wanted revenge. I twisted his broken arm behind his back, and took him down on the ground where I proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him. There were several cars that had stopped by this time, and it took two grown men to pull me off of him. It was the worst fight I’d ever had in my life, and it remains so to this day. My nose was busted and I had a black eye. Mr. Dave had a broken arm, a busted lip, two missing teeth, and a huge laceration across his forehead. They actually called an ambulance for him.
Both of us were suspended. Dave’s mother contacted my dad a few days later, and threatened to sue us. She wanted us to pay for Dave’s medical bills. However, I had a bus full of people, who absolutely hated Dave, and all of them were telling the principal about my six months of hell, and insisting that Dave had started the fight.
I was suspended for two weeks. I also got a month of detention, and couldn’t ride the bus for the rest of the year, but that was the end of my punishment. As far as I know, Dave never returned to school at all. I didn’t see him again for 15 years.
Then, right around 2005, I moved from Mississippi back to my hometown in Georgia. One day as I was walking out of a convenience store, I spotted my old high school bully picking up aluminum cans along the side of the road.
It totally shocked me, and I wasn’t absolutely sure that it was really him. After all, it had been 15 years. Still, I was PRETTY sure. So, I strolled over to the edge of the parking lot for a better look. Just as I walked up, he turned to stare at me, and I recognized him beyond a shadow of doubt. I’m not very good with names, but I rarely forget a face.
He looked terrible. His hair was long. He hadn’t shaved in several days. His clothes were torn and ragged, and he smelled like a wet dog. He was very thin and dirty, and half of his teeth appeared to be missing. He also had an old duffle bag slung across his shoulder, and I got the distinct impression that he was homeless.
“I’m sorry, you’re David R-, aren’t you?” I asked.
His eyes brightened for a moment, and he looked at me long and hard before responding. “Yeah, who are you?”
My first impulse was to tell him. I wanted to remind him of all those days that he had harassed the hell out of me, and then ask him if he remembered our little brawl and his trip to the hospital. Then I wanted to let him know how much money I had made the year before, and tell him all about the new job I had just started down in Atlanta. Instead, I just stood there, staring at him.
“I think we might have gone to school together,” I replied.
His eyes narrowed again, and he really studied my face. Still, I don’t think he had a clue who I was. Apparently, I had changed a lot in 15 years.
“What’s your name?” He finally asked.
I shook my head. “Not important”, I replied. I dug in my wallet, and pulled out a ten dollar bill. I held it out to him, and he took it. I said, “God bless”, and then slowly walked away.
A push-back against Western influence is reportedly prompting countries to reject the pro-Ukraen agenda. Zelensky during a UN General Assembly session.
Western officials have overestimated the willingness of neutral nations to join anti-Russia policies in support of Ukraen, according to The Wall Street Journal.
It’s clear that the West overall has been surprised by the pretty widespread reluctance by many of the countries in the so-called Global South… to come on board.
“animosity toward the US and Europe” in some parts of the world and the desire of rising powers, such as Brazil and South Africa, to “assert their independence”, the article said.
The WSJ detailed purported successes and failures of Western diplomacy to rally the support of neutral nations for what it called “a fair peace settlement for Ukraen” ahead of next week’s gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly.
Loozensky has been internationally promoting his “peace formula” with Western backing. It includes Ukraen regaining control over all former territories, war reparations from Russia, and a tribunal for the Russian leadership. Moscow has dismissed the Zelensky plan as being detached from reality.
My oldest son was driving a red Toyota 4×4 pick up . It was used but solid .
He worked at an auto parts store and had done a pretty good job of fixing it up . One weekend he did a tune up . Plugs , rotor , cap, plugs etc .. about a week later while I was working , he called and said it had statrting running rough then died.
At that point I had more money than time so we had it towed to a shop I had used before .
Next day shop calls me to tell me it jumped time and the engine was a complete loss .
Quoted me 2500 to rebuild .
Only paid 1500 for the truck .
I told them never mind and had it towed to the house .
Finally I was off work a few day and decided to check it out . Pulled the timing belt cover and checked the orientation of the cams to the crankshaft . It was perfect ! So at their point I’m a bit confused . Pop the distributor cap and noticed the rotor was on the wrong cylinder .
Come to find out my son forgot to put the holding screw back in the rotor and it had turned just a bit . This meant the timing was so far off it wouldn’t run .
Put the screw back in, cranked it up and it ran like a champ !
Drove it up to the shop and called out the boss .
Showed him and explained what was found .
His face turned 4 shades of red lol ! Come to find out the tech that looked at it got paid extra to do rebuilds and was condemning engines every chance he got !
Needless to say the tech got fired .3 hours of my time and I saved 2500$ and my son got his truck back .
As an Ordinary user of a smartphone, can you really tell the difference between the 3nm and the 7nm Chips?
You can’t
The difference is more from an engineering point of view and a design point of view than a commercial point of view
The Average customer doesn’t understand 3nm and 7nm.
There is Zero difference from the POV of a retail customer who doesn’t understand Semiconductor Design Or Power Consumption Efficiency (99.9% of the world’s retail customers)
Here are the top six parameters based on which people decide which Smartphones to buy :-
Price
Camera
Battery & Charging
Gaming
Color & Design
BRAND
Do you see ‘Performance’ anywhere?
No
Performance is impossible to gauge for a normal user
You need advanced tools that tech blogger guys from YT have
Sure you can see the difference between a 32 nm Laptop Chip and a 7 nm Smartphone Chip
However it becomes tougher as you come closer and closer to each successive process
Take the I7 vs Loongson 3AC6000
Assuming Loongson had Windows integration
An Average user could not distinguish the two apart unless by GPU performance or Memory superiority
Yet a professional with tools can see that the Loongson is performing only at 50% the rate of the I7
So the answer is YES
My guess is the 3/2nm Chips are redundant for modern smartphones. They are too advanced and unnecessary for the average retail user
Cost effective 7/5 nm Chips are the Uppermost limit for smartphones
The Iphone 15 vs Mate 60 is the best example
The greatest advantage of the Iphone 15 was the GPU of NVDIA according to retail users
Mate60 won with the Camera, Gestures, Satellite Calling, 5G speeds etc
Iphone won with the Graphics
Nobody mentions the A17 Chip except as part of the textbook spec comparison table
3/2 nm Chips will be pathbreaking for the NEXT GENERATION after the Smartphone like maybe Advanced AI systems etc
TSMC will find the 3nm process overkill
Yet if they keep at it, they may find it easier to progress to the next generation of communication technology
We have built a vacation home in a nearby province. Husband took on the contracting while maintaining his full-time police job – so proud of him!
I did not announce this; I dislike the comparison games people play and do not want to be perceived as bragging.
A good friend asked to see pictures at a reunion luncheon. As I flipped through pix on my phone, an acquaintance from long ago came up behind us.
She peered over our shoulders and exclaimed, “When you married that low-ranked cop, I knew you’d end up this way! How far you’ve fallen! How can you live like THAT!!”
The look on her face was not one of concern, but a sneer.
She was looking at a picture of the shed where building materials had been kept (that has since been removed).
*sigh*
*Note Some have asked about my response. I smiled, told her that it was the raw materials shed and went back to my conversation.
Why didn’t I snap back, go for her throat, etc?
Because that (and to embarrass me) is what she expected, what she wanted. She is in her element when someone defends herself or gets angry.
But she has never been able to handle a calm, non-defensive response.
My time in the Marines didn’t go at all as I expected; in fact, I was disappointed with almost all of it. However, I am grateful for these very disappointments. It took me a long time to come this viewpoint, but I am finally able to see the experience in a more wholistic way. As a Christian, I see it through the lens of Romans 8:28:
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (ESV)
When I was planning to go into the Marines, my father encouraged me as he always had. He thought I had sound judgment and that I had made a wise decision. It was a sickening shock for me to find out in the Marines that very few people, men or women, thought this way.
I was generally despised as a woman Aircraft Maintenance Officer. Women hadn’t been allowed into this MOS for very long. I was about the sixth woman to choose it. People thought women couldn’t understand machinery or aircraft.
I personally got ugly comments. One was a note passed to me in AMO school that read, “A woman is a life support system for a cunt.” I was very quiet back then and kept to myself a lot, but other Marines’ hatred for me was so great they went out of their way to humiliate me.
At some point I found out I could not be assigned to a deploying squadron; no women Marines could deploy back then. So this fact meant I would not be assigned to any unit that actually had aircraft, unless it was to a training squadron. My dream of going to a deploying squadron and to a carrier ended.
I was so miserable. I had no friends after a while. A woman captain I knew went to Germany, and a woman TBS classmate with whom I was also close had to take a medical discharge. I was lonely and frightened and made bad personal decisions as a result.
But when I was at my lowest point, I reached out to God in desperation, and He answered. It was the beginning of our relationship which continues to this day. It was about that time my EAS rolled around, so I was then set free from the Marine Corps.
In spite of the traumatic stuff and in addition to my now having God in my life, I did however benefit from my service.
I was able to work for Sikorsky Aircraft as a technical writer. I wrote repair manuals for the SH-60B helicopter when it first came out. The job included testing the manuals out on the helicopter by doing an R and R (remove and replace) of all the parts on it, including the engines, blades, and rotor head.
Being a Marine helped me get a job with the Texas Department of Public Safety as a security officer. Marines are highly respected in the Department, and there are a lot of them in it. To my surprise, many other members of the Department admired me for my Marine service and accepted me because of it. That had hardly ever happened before.
A huge benefit was that my husband, a highly decorated combat Marine, chose me to be his wife. He said that when he learned I was a Marine, he knew I could understand him like no other woman could. We got married six weeks after we met.
So my military service was a rough go, but it prepared me for the rough life I had ahead of me. But most importantly, God used it to bring me to Him and to my wonderful husband.
At so many levels… I was a small child in the 60’s. I remember on the news there was a symbol- a silhouette of a soldier walking – with a number in it, and that number was the number of casualties there had been that day. My cousin was in the 101st Airborne- it would take forever to hear anything so we both were encouraged and afraid when they mentioned the 101st.
Many people say the Gulf War was the first war played out on television. It wasn’t. It was Vietnam. I remember it so distinctly. It was terrifying. I asked my Dad what the war was for… he started to explain but in the end, he just said “There is never a good reason for war, and in the end, it won’t change anything anyway…” Looking back now, what did all that death and pain- on both sides- accomplish?
The city I lived in had a Marine base. Many of the kids I played with had dads who were “in country”, or mothers and fathers who worked at the base. I saw many of them saying goodbye because their lives had suddenly changed, either because their dad would not be coming home, or that he had come home and was now facing extended time in rehab. I remember playing in the stadium right in front of the entrance to the housing area for the base… when we saw a black car with a driver, an officer… and a chaplain… all the kids would run home in terror. Someone was about to get some bad news.
I was grateful that my Dad didn’t have to go to Vietnam. He was in the navy as the war started but I was a sick baby and he was discharged on compassionate grounds.
I remembering wearing a bracelet with the name of an MIA soldier… he didn’t come home, well, his remains didn’t come home, until the late 1970’s, I folded up his bracelet and sent it up to his family.
One of my dearest friends, “Sarge” Robert Hultgren, was a 2 tour vet- he campaigned tirelessly for the MIA and POW. “I can’t forget a single brother” he said. Sarge died several years, of Alzheimer’s Dementia. He forgot his daughter, his wife, his own name… but he thought he was in Vietnam. His PTSD pierced his soul so deeply it was too deep even for Dementia to wash away.
Sarge used to put up a bamboo Christmas Tree in front of Boston’s City Hall each Christmas. Lest we forget.
I remember standing on the front steps with my Mom when all the church bells and sirens from Fire Trucks and Civil Defense were sounding to say the war was over. But how could it be over? My friends were still waiting for their dads.
That next year at Memorial Day, the 1st World War vets marched, all snappily dressed and although old were orderly and looked dignified. The same was true of the World War 2 vets, the Korean War vets… then came the Vietnam vets. The looked slouched, and where people had cheered for the other men, they yelled things at the Vietnam Vets… Baby killer. Rapist. Bastards. WHy didn’t you just die there….
Some of the my friends were there watching their dads marching and they winced at the hatred. We had already seen it, protests at the gates of the base, “peace protesters” telling the small children there that their daddies were murderers and rapists. Who did they think they were to “peacefully” destroy these kids?
Neighbours of my grandparents, the place where we spent every spare minute, were a military family. One day when visiting them, the news came on the TV and they turned it off. “We don’t listen to that when we are here… this is our escape” said the lovely Mrs Wittman. Her husband was a senior military officer. This was the reason:
Lance Corporal Narvin O WIttman 26–9–1946 – 7–8–1967 Their son had died in Vietnam. When I went to see the “Wall”, I took a rubbing of his name. He didn’t even make it to 21.
It was years before we learned our lesson. It is this deep wound of guilt that led to Americans thanking Vets for their service… never again would we forget that it’s not the soldier’s fault when he does what his country asks him to do. I hope.
All those of my generation had the same experience… the pain and horror of Vietnam was all over the news, inescapable, imbedding itself in our psyche.
Thanks for your service… as my generation joins those who pass away, I just pray we as a human race never forget. We inflicted pain on those young men- draftees- and their families. For what?
The Sopranos || Lovely
Breaking bad is my all-time favorite show.. But this show is… its a masterpiece. I remember the first time i finished it. Had a feeling i need to watch it again right away…. They don’t make them like they used to before. What a great time it was for entertainment back then.
Southern Crusty Coconut Pie
IMG 0070
Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cups shredded coconut
1/4 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell
Instructions
Pour milk over coconut and set aside while creaming butter and sugar together.
Add eggs to creamed mixture and beat well.
Add milk, coconut and vanilla extract.
Pour into an unbaked pie shell.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until pie is golden brown and firm.
Chinese are not closed off from the world; more than 130M Chinese travel outside China annually, and they spend about US$250B annually on their travels, making them the single largest tourist group by nation, and the biggest spending one.
Just because you disagree with Chinese government policies, do not say that Chinese are closed off from the rest of the world. It is you who are out of touch with what is really going on.
Three mile island is / was a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. They had a leak of radiation in the late 1970’s and served as the back-drop for the story that I am about to relate today.
At 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979, one of the worst accidents in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry begins when a pressure valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island fails to close. Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings, and the core began to dangerously overheat.
The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant was built in 1974 on a sandbar on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River, just 10 miles downstream from the state capitol in Harrisburg. In 1978, a second state-of-the-art reactor began operating on Three Mile Island, which was lauded for generating affordable and reliable energy in a time of energy crises.
After the cooling water began to drain out of the broken pressure valve on the morning of March 28, 1979, emergency cooling pumps automatically went into operation. Left alone, these safety devices would have prevented the development of a larger crisis. However, human operators in the control room misread confusing and contradictory readings and shut off the emergency water system. The reactor was also shut down, but residual heat from the fission process was still being released. By early morning, the core had heated to over 4,000 degrees, just 1,000 degrees short of meltdown. In the meltdown scenario, the core melts, and deadly radiation drifts across the countryside, fatally sickening a potentially great number of people.
As the plant operators struggled to understand what had happened, the contaminated water was releasing radioactive gases throughout the plant. The radiation levels, though not immediately life-threatening, were dangerous, and the core cooked further as the contaminated water was contained and precautions were taken to protect the operators. Shortly after 8 a.m., word of the accident leaked to the outside world. The plant’s parent company, Metropolitan Edison, downplayed the crisis and claimed that no radiation had been detected off plant grounds, but the same day inspectors detected slightly increased levels of radiation nearby as a result of the contaminated water leak. Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh considered calling an evacuation.
Finally, at about 8 p.m., plant operators realized they needed to get water moving through the core again and restarted the pumps. The temperature began to drop, and pressure in the reactor was reduced. The reactor had come within less than an hour of a complete meltdown. More than half the core was destroyed or molten, but it had not broken its protective shell, and no radiation was escaping. The crisis was apparently over.
Two days later, however, on March 30, a bubble of highly flammable hydrogen gas was discovered within the reactor building. The bubble of gas was created two days before when exposed core materials reacted with super-heated steam. On March 28, some of this gas had exploded, releasing a small amount of radiation into the atmosphere. At that time, plant operators had not registered the explosion, which sounded like a ventilation door closing. After the radiation leak was discovered on March 30, residents were advised to stay indoors. Experts were uncertain if the hydrogen bubble would create further meltdown or possibly a giant explosion, and as a precaution Governor Thornburgh advised “pregnant women and pre-school age children to leave the area within a five-mile radius of the Three Mile Island facility until further notice.” This led to the panic the governor had hoped to avoid; within days, more than 100,000 people had fled surrounding towns.
On April 1, President Jimmy Carter arrived at Three Mile Island to inspect the plant. Carter, a trained nuclear engineer, had helped dismantle a damaged Canadian nuclear reactor while serving in the U.S. Navy. His visit achieved its aim of calming local residents and the nation. That afternoon, experts agreed that the hydrogen bubble was not in danger of exploding. Slowly, the hydrogen was bled from the system as the reactor cooled.
At the height of the crisis, plant workers were exposed to unhealthy levels of radiation, but no one outside Three Mile Island had their health adversely affected by the accident and no one died as a result of the accident. Nonetheless, the incident greatly eroded the public’s faith in nuclear power. The unharmed Unit-1 reactor at Three Mile Island, which was shut down during the crisis, did not resume operation until 1985. Cleanup continued on Unit-2 until 1990, but it was too damaged to be rendered usable again.
I, like most of my classmates, at meals at the school cafeteria, and drank a lot of beer in between our classes.
Now…
There was a scandal that occurred at that time.
You see, after the three mile island event, the local government ordered that all the cattle that was grazing on the grass near the plant be killed and no milk be produced, and no beef be sold.
But…
Yeah. You guessed it.
Not all the cattle was accounted for. Some couple of hundred of head couldn’t be found, accounted for or located. They just “disappeared”.
One week after the “scandal” our school announced a “all you can eat steak holiday” at all of our dorm cafeterias.
Yeah.
No shit.
And sure as shit, tons of beef, steaks and roasts galore.
…
In the four years that I attended the university, there was only ONE such event. And that was one week after the missing radioactive cattle couldn’t be accounted for.
…
Now, I (who read the local and state news) wouldn’t touch the meat at all. And my classmates relentlessly made fun of me.
Saying that I was the one losing out. I was truly the butt of jokes. I was considered “stupid”, an “idiot”, and just too caught up in “stuff that didn’t matter”.
While they, who lived on campus, and was isolated from ALL OUTSIDE NEWS, lived a very secluded and pampered existence. They had no idea what was going on “outside”.
Maybe I was the fool.
Maybe not.
Of the three classmates who made fun of me, and who ate that steaks, two of them got cancer and died. One in the 1990’s, and the other around 2004 or so. The last one Peter, was still kicking around on Linkedin about eight years ago.
No signs of cancer yet. Knock on wood.
…
Today…
Rustic Southern Sweet Potato Pie
2023 09 17 10 42
Ingredients
Filling
2 large yams
2 large sweet potatoes
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter (melted)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter
Dough
3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
Egg Wash
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
Filling: In a large pot, boil yams and potatoes for about one hour or until tender.
Drain water and let potatoes cool.
When cool enough to handle, peel skins off and place yams and potatoes in a ricer or potato masher.
In a bowl, combine yams and potatoes, sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and vanilla extract. Mix well.
Dough: Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it turns golden brown. When done, it should have a nutty-like aroma.
Remove from heat and let cool.
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and sugar, mixing well.
In another bowl, whisk together olive oil, vanilla extract, milk and melted butter.
Pour into the flour mixture and mix with a fork. Dough should hold together. If too crumbly, add ice water, a tablespoon at a time.
Cover and let sit for about a half an hour.
Assemble: On a floured surface, roll out dough to fit a 14-inch round or rectangular baking pan. Place dough on pan.
Spoon filling into the center of the dough, leaving about a 1 1/2-inch border. Gently fold the sides of the dough up and over some of the filling.
Egg Wash: Mix the egg and tablespoon of milk together with a fork.
Coat the bread with egg wash using a pasty brush.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Maduro displays Huawei phone at press conference
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The latest cellphone of Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei not only caused quite a stir in the consumer market, but also became the gift presented by the Chinese side to visiting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros.
When addressing a press conference at the Latin American country’s embassy in Beijing on Thursday, Maduro took out a foldable Huawei mobile phone, attracting a flurry of flashlights.
“It’s Huawei’s newest cellphone that uses the latest technologies, and you can use this phone to directly communicate via satellite,” he said.
He unfolded the new device, and the large screen that emerged showed a photo of President Xi Jinping shaking hands with Maduro.
“Take a look at this cellphone. How does it look? Look at the screen. It’s a very big screen,” Maduro said with great pride. “Look at this moment when an ideal becomes a reality!”
The Venezuelan leader did not conceal his confidence in the quality of made-in-China electronic devices.
“I want all my young friends to buy a good Huawei cellphone,” he said. “I believe this is the most secure cellphone I’ve ever used and I believe it won’t be tapped by any country.”
Source: chinadaily
Chairman of Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley, “Retiring” End of Month . . . Ukraine?
General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is “retiring” at the end of this month. Quite a number of Pentagon staff seem to think this has to do with the utter failure of the Ukraine situation. One Pentagon Officer said “rats are fleeing the sinking ship.”
In a signal as to how unscheduled this “retirement” actually seems to be, Milley told reporters he “doesn’t even know yet where he is going to live, quipping that he has told his wife “we can go to Dicks and get a tent. I’m good with that. We lived a tent before.”
On their face, such words do not give the impression this was a long-planned retirement and gives credence to the notion that something unexpected is forcing the General out. In many people’s minds, Ukraine losing to Russia is the obvious catalyst for Milley’s rather sudden departure.
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
I am not a fan of General Milley in any way. After the November, 2020 Presidential election, when Milley penned a letter – also signed by the rest of the Joint Chiefs – telling members of the armed forces they would serve Joe Biden, despite what I saw as clear and obvious election fraud which put Biden illegitimately into office, I thought Milley should have been gone right then and there. Instead of defending the actual vote which re-elected Trump, Milley embraced the illegitimate Biden “victory.” It made _me_ sick to my stomach.
Once Biden was in, the whole Ukraine thing flared back up. It had quieted down to nothing during the Administration of President Donald Trump, yet within weeks of Trump’s departure, war was back on the agenda in Ukraine.
That agenda reached its peak in February, 2022, when Russia, having tried every Diplomatic effort imaginable, had to send troops across the Ukraine Border to protect Russia from continued NATO expansion, and from the placing of American missiles on Ukraine soil.
So here we are, 19 months into the Russia Special Military Operation (SMO) to “de-militarize and de-Nazify” Ukraine, and Russia is winning big.
Even staunch NATO allies like Poland, see the writing on the wall. Just yesterday, the Poland President said “Ukraine entering NATO is out of the question now.”
The Ukraine fiasco is falling apart day-by-day and there is no saving it.
I suspect – but cannot prove – that Milley was among the Hawks pushing this Ukraine-Russia fiasco. Perhaps deluded by his own propaganda, Milley never seemed to realize that Ukraine never stood a chance against Russia.
Now that the Ukraine thing is falling apart, Milley is high-tailing it into retirement.
It was my neighbor. She shot a message to me, all capitalized: “DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THAT?!”
and then, she proceeded to tell me the story about our County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a delivery driver stated that he was unable to deliver a package due to a llama standing in the middle of the road and blocking the traffic.
A cop responded to the location and found said llama in the middle of the road, refusing to move. He finally found a way to sweet talk the llama into putting on a leash and to get it off the road way. If there wasn’t a picture, I’d refuse to believe it.
image 77
People! Keep your pets in the house!
Chinese Innovation Foils U.S. Tech War — Clifford A. Kiracofe
Washington calculated that it could restrain China’s technology advancement and thereby stay ahead of the China. However, it appears that this calculation was mistaken.
image 67
China’s rapid advances in technology will inevitably foil the United States-led Western technology war against China. Huawei unveiled its stunning new high tech Mate60 cell phone and timed the announcement with the visit of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Sending a message?
The Donald Trump administration launched an intensive trade war and a tech war against China. President Joe Biden continued Trump’s policies and ratcheted them up to a new level. Rather than engage in mutually beneficial trade relations and scientific and technological cooperation, Washington openly admits it seeks to contain and suppress China’s economic growth and development.
Playing this zero-sum game is a dead end for the United States. China is very well equipped in the pursuit of technological innovation. Fundamental to China’s tech progress is the human factor. For example, it is no secret that China every year produces far more STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math) students than does the U.S.
Tech war is economic war
Export controls and restrictions on technology development are nothing new in international commerce. During its colonial period, the North American colonies faced an array of trade restrictions and technology restrictions imposed by the British Empire. These were designed to prevent the colonies from becoming rivals to British manufactures. They also were a factor leading to the American Revolution and War of Independence.
In World War I, the United Kingdom enacted a “Trading with the Enemy Act” which created an export control regime deigned to deny Germany war related imports. After the U.S. entered the war, Congress passed its own Trading with the Enemy Act modeled on the British legislation. These wartime legislative measures were applied again during World War II.
After World War II, export controls on a multilateral basis were created by the West to restrict various exports to the Soviet Union and Communist bloc. The Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) was created at the beginning of the Cold War. The U.S. thus coordinates, in turn, with NATO allies, Australia, and Japan to restrict the export of sensitive technologies to designated countries.
So the Western use of export controls for the purposes of economic warfare is nothing new. But the revival of this mechanism intensively directed specifically against China is a key feature of the U.S.-led New Cold War. The technological encirclement and blockade of China, however, is not sustainable.
image 66
Washington miscalculates
Washington calculates that it could restrain China’s technology advancement and thereby stay ahead of the China. However, it appears that this calculation was mistaken.
Logically, because China’s population is four times larger than that of the United States, there would at some point be a larger pool of STEM trained specialists in China than in the U.S. This is so because of the continuous upgrading of higher education in China and the massive commitment to research and development.
Several years ago, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. released a study on the STEM issue. The university’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology reported that in 2000 the U.S. issued twice as many doctorates in STEM field as did China. But in 2007, China began outpacing U.S. universities. The report assessed that by 2025 China would produce twice as many STEM Ph.D. graduates.
Because the U.S. cannot compete with its own population base, Washington seeks to import specialists in STEM fields from India as one stop gap measure.
But Chinese innovation is very dynamic and advanced with great future potential. Therefore, it should have been no surprise that China would develop the necessary technology for state-of-the-art semiconductors. This national objective combines the growing pool of high-tech specialists with a large pool of skilled labor together with billions of yuan for investment.
It was not difficult to foresee that China, through innovation and targeted investment, would be able over time to produce the machines and industrial processes to fabricate advanced state-of-the-art semiconductors. This applies to Chinese semiconductor design capability as well.
Why did the Washington miscalculate?
An inter-agency task force on the Chinese semiconductor issue would have concluded that the attempt to block and limit Chinese advances is not sustainable and thus would fail.
Some critics of the administration point to the lack of competence in President Biden’s foreign policy team. They say that Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan are just not up to their jobs.
Be that as it may, it is possible that racial prejudice affects Washington’s assessments. There was a time after World War II when it was common to look down on “cheap” Japanese goods. But Japanese success in electronics and auto manufacture by the 1980s showed another story.
Anyone from the U.S., a tourist or an official who visits China’s National Museum in Beijing will see exhibits displaying many centuries of Chinese skill and innovation not only in art, such as ceramics and bronze, but also in inventions and technology. China’s history of science and technology goes back millennia.
image 65
File photo shows technicians of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) inspect the company’s facilities in Beijing. (Photo/Xinhua)
What does the Huawei Mate60 portend?
Clearly, the advanced smartphone is a perception changer at a minimum. No doubt, it will be seen as a game changer as well. Other high-tech breakthroughs are in the news.
It is now reported that the Chinese firm SMIC has a 7 nanometer (nm) N+2 process semiconductor project that is produced entirely in China with no access to Western equipment and technologies. All of the core components in China’s EUV lithography machines are said to be ready and that the prototype is being tested.
On the day that the new Mate60 phone was announced it was sold out in one minute online. Huawei boosted production to 15-17 million units and beginning September 10 Chinese can purchase the smartphone in Huawei’s offline stores. The phone has a satellite capability.
As Chinese firms develop independent semiconductor design and fabrication capacity, U.S. firms inevitably will lose out on this vast export market. It seems logical that the more intense the anti-China trade and tech wars become the more Chinese consumers will turn to homegrown products other than those from the U.S.
The U.S. lifted a stone only to hit its own feet.
The U.S. politicians must come to their senses and adopt a China policy of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, cooperation, and mutual benefit. Washington’s belligerent and destabilizing foreign policy disrupts the international community, increases tensions, and can lead to a war which will harm the U.S. side in the end.
As an American, I can answer this and feel no remorse for brutal honesty: because America sucks. There I said said it. The American Dream was a lie invented by Madison Avenue to sell Packards and cigarettes. Pick a developed (or hell, even a middle income) country and you’ll usually discover the US is usually worse at everything that matters. Healthcare, education, public transport, child mortality, infrastructure quality, violence, city layout, etc. Those are the most glaringly obvious. Here are some more that are more subtle, but you start to feel them the longer you’re away.
There is no community in the US. How many Americans can tell you they know the names of the neighbors? How many Americans would trust their kids walking to a mile to school or the grocery store? For Christ’s sake you can’t even send your kid to a public school without having to worry about a classmate shooting up the place.
Next, we’re even bad about about the thing we go on most about and claim the entire country was founded on…freedom itself. Want to build a house on a vacant lot? Your local NIMBYs will make sure the local government keeps that from happening. Want to walk down the street drinking a beer in any town or city (other than New Orleans or Austin)? Say hello to your arrest for public intoxication. As a general rule, free men choose and unfree men comply. And in the US today, you’re going to find yourself always complying.
And for the flag waving keyboard warriors who are currently furiously typing, “LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!” I’m already ahead of you and will be a citizen of Belize before the month is out.
Originally Answered: What is the differences between Huawei's version of 5G versus other companies? And why is Huawei ahead of everybody else in this technology? Did they steal it from US DARPA?
Three years old article , but still very good. Godfree Roberts always delivers -MM
…
It’s not Huawei’s version of 5G that is different: 5G standards are set by international agreement and Huawei and others must adhere to them.
It is Huawei’s implementation of 5G that sets it apart. It’s the lowest-cost provider and the only provider of end-to-end solutions for national telecoms: from servers to cell towers to handsets, all designed to perform perfectly with each other.
Unless it approves Huawei the US will be forced to integrate more costly, less functional, less compatible, less upgradeable components and pay twice as much, take twice as long and endure years of inferior service.
Huawei is literally unrivaled in enhanced mobile broadband. Only Huawei produces every element of a 5G system and assembles turnkey networks–from antennas to the power stations to chips–at scale and cost. It’s just what busy telcos want: one-stop shopping at a fraction of the cost of competitors. And Huawei manufactures its own stuff, too. Here’s one of their many production lines:
Much of the cost of implementing 5G (and much of its benefit) stems from the fact that it requires 5 times more cell sites than 4G. Cell sites are heavy and expensive to install because they need a crane operator to lift them into place and technicians in cherry-pickers to hook them up.
So Huawei shrunk cell sites’ dimensions by 50% and cut the weight of its 64T64R 5G base station to 70 pounds so two people can install them without expensive cranes.
Installation is expensive! The US needs to install 100,000 more cell sites, an investment that runs into billions. US corporations are reluctant to invest the necessary billions because they prefer to use their money for stock buybacks but China will spend $200 billion on 5G network construction by 2025.
Because electricity is expensive, Huawei also reduced the power requirements of their equipment, so it’s 30% more energy efficient than competitors and reduces connectivity cost-per-bit by 80-90% compared to 4G.
Huawei is also innovative: Apple, for example, uses 790 Huawei patents while Huawei uses 90 Apple patents. And Apple cannot ship 5G handsets until late 2020, a delay that postpones America’s full implementation to 2025–an eternity when competing with China, where 5G phones are working in Lhasa. (China is making trendy Monaco the first country on earth to be fully 5G operational).
The US and Apple are effectively out of the 5G race, but China, Russia and the EU are heavily committed to 5G. Germany’s Chancellor Merkel is a PhD scientist and her ministers and CEOs see 5G as a way to boost national productivity, a German obsession.
Even worse for the US is the fact that, by 2027, the first specs for 6G will be issued and 600 Huawei mathematicians and engineers have been working on them for almost a year.
In other words, except as a consumer of Chinese technology, America is becoming irrelevant in mobile telecommunications, an American invention, because it has no industrial policy and its CEOs are shortsighted, greedy and unpatriotic while China and Chinese CEOs are precisely the opposite.
2021 UPDATE: Tibet now has broader, faster 5G service than America’s leading technology cluster, the San Francisco Bay Area.
Yes, except for satellite calls, this phone is not much different from the latest iPhone or Galaxy.
It’s just a mobile phone. It’s not a hydrogen bomb, it’s not nuclear fusion, it’s not even a Mars landing.
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Why a mobile phone can attract huge attention.
This is because the appearance of this mobile phone represents the end of an era and the beginning of an era.
The power of the United States is so strong that all countries/businesses in the world must obey it. Americans say “Hey. You are not allowed to deal with this company, he is evil!” All companies can only obey. Because even if they are not American companies, their governments cannot protect them.
So before that, no country or company could withstand US sanctions.
In the past, a civilian enterprise that was comprehensively sanctioned by the United States could only go bankrupt, cease operations, be acquired, or shrink to a closed field to survive.
Originally everyone thought Huawei was the same. Without the support of American technology and global supply chain, this enterprise will suffocate to death.
However, the emergence of this mobile phone subverted everything.
It proves at least four key pieces of information
1. The Chinese government has become so powerful that it is not afraid of the United States and has enough power to protect its own companies.They even pranked Raimondo, saying she was the spokesperson of Huawei
2. American technology is not unique, and the Chinese can do it if they spend some time. Since the most complex semiconductor industry can do it, so can other industries.
3. China has built a complete semiconductor technology and industrial chain, and their country can stand shoulder to shoulder with the world. They sent a clear signal: cooperation, welcome; confrontation, come and try.
4. China’s market is huge. In extreme cases, they don’t need global trade, and they are enough to maintain world-class enterprises. If you don’t give me your market, you will lose mine too.
In short, the appearance of this mobile phone has sent a signal to all other countries in the world: when you feel that you don’t like the United States or are oppressed by the United States, we will give you a second choice.
Therefore, it is not just a mobile phone, but a historical milestone.
I believe I am living a good life. I have a fun job, and my own house, and cars I enjoy, in a great place. I also have a very nice family.
What makes it possible:
I live within my means;
my means are adequate;
they are adequate because I deliver something to be considered of value (I teach);
I am apparently not a monster, so people don’t run away from me;
I am surrounded by very nice people, in a very nice society.
And that may very well be the recipe for a good life.
So, be realistic, productive, and nice, in a nice place, and you should be ok. Not rich, perhaps, but a good life doesn’t need to mean you’re rich. In fact, a certain lack of ambition for riches may very well provide you with a more rewarding life than aggressive pursuit of riches, because people will still like you, and that’s a major part of having a nice life.
Here’s my not-rich-life, and it’s good enough for me.
This JUST Destroyed US Sanctions China’s Huawei Smile & America Shocked!
1,025 views Sep 5, 2023
Since 2019, the US government has imposed a series of sanctions on Huawei, alleging national security concerns and effectively cutting off the company from vital components and software. These sanctions have been a significant hurdle for Huawei, but the tech giant has proven its resilience and innovation time and again. The latest chapter in this saga brings us to the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, a flagship smartphone release that has garnered attention for potentially defying US sanctions. In today’s Video, we will delve deep into the intricate web of events, policies, and technological advancements that have allowed Huawei to seemingly outmaneuver US sanctions.
Huawei grant the United States a BACK DOOR to Ukraines Security Network for Trump to be able to prove Biden was corrupt in Ukraine
Huawei promptly refused
Trump then demanded something even stronger :-
Huawei would transfer all their patents and all their 4G Equipment Licenses and all their Network Equipment in US & Europe to an American Entity for a flat sum. Lock Stock and Barrel sale.
Huawei would manage 5G Networks and get a Operations Fee but the entire network would be controlled by the Americans or their companies
Otherwise Trump threatened to Bankrupt Huawei and destroy them
Huawei again said NO
The US always had their way in these things and Trump was very angry
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Huawei was hit with the worst sanctions for absolutely no reason whatsoever
The US refused to allow Huawei a chance to withdraw from Military contracts of the PLA in order to avoid the Sanctions
Huawei refused to sacrifice their Network and 5G patents in exchange to keep selling phones
It would have been the easier thing to do
Huawei was selling 216 Million Units a year of smartphones
These Restrictions took it to a mere 27 Million Units a year the following year
image 56
After Trump lost, Biden came to power and Huawei hoped for a peaceful return
Yet Apple lobbied ferociously to keep Huawei down as they saw their sales rising rapidly in Mainland China, their second largest market
Biden complied as he wanted China to follow his BIDEN DOCTRINE
So as you can see, Apple vs Huawei is not an Economic Or Technology War
It’s a Coercive Political War steeped in protectionism on behalf of Apple and on spurious and baseless charges made by Donald J Trump
Without an Economic issue or proper competition, how can Huawei and Apple ever compete?
Apple is protected so much it has forgotten to Innovate anymore
Huawei is being throttled and conspired against every second day
Unless 6000 US Politicians die and the Neo Cons and Insane Trumpers disappear – No American will allow Free Competition
American citizen living in Germany here.
I get asked often about how long I will stay in Germany and why Germany. I want to stay indefinitely and the reason why is precisely because the USA is not the best country in the world (there is no such thing). I am treated better and have more opportunities in Germany. Here are some things that I can do in Germany that I could not do in the USA.
I can go to the doctor without fear of bankruptcy, without having to argue with insurance companies, without receiving random medical bills at a later date.
I and my husband can have a child and get paid maternity and paternity leave.
I can go to university without taking on debt.
I get 30+ days of vacation each year that I am encouraged and expected to take.
I can feel secure in my job because they cannot fire me without cause. There is no such thing as so called “employment at will” laws.
I can raise kids who are bilingual in an environment that values bilingualism.
I can drink in public places. I can crack open a beer or wine on the sidewalk, in a park, on public transit, nearly everywhere.
I don’t have to worry about taking a bullet at my place of work (I’m a teacher). When I do have kids I won’t have to worry about them being shot in school either. In fact I don’t have to worry about guns at all because they just aren’t prolific here.
I don’t have to worry about CPS (Child Protective Services) being called or being arrested if I let my kids be independent and go do things by themselves. It’s considered normal for even a 6-year-old to walk to the bakery by themself, go to the park by themself, and to walk to school by themself… even in big cities.
I don’t have to leave a tip because I know that my servers are paid fair wages. My servers don’t push me out of a restaurant when I am finished eating. I can sit and enjoy a drink and conversation and I can let my server know when I am ready to leave.
I don’t have to worry so much about nudity. People here tend to have the perspective that it’s just a body and being nude is generally not illegal.
I don’t need to have a car to get just about anywhere. I can use public transit.
I have more freedom of movement. As a woman, I can walk around alone in a big city at 2 in the morning and feel safe. I experience far fewer (nearly zero) instances of street harassment.
I don’t have to tolerate religion being shoved in my face on a regular basis. Yes, people here can be religious too, but they nearly always keep it to themselves.
IS SHE A MAN?! | The Truth Of Barack & Michelle Obama… *MUST WATCH*
The stupidest thing the US government did was to try to stop Chinese progress in technology.
It didn’t work 30 years ago when the US tried to stop Chinese launches of satellites. It didn’t work when the US tried to stop Chinese machine tools, and hey, it didn’t work this time either.
Every single time the idiots in D.C. did this, China ended up with the majority of the world market for that industry.
You would think that since it didn’t work several times before, they would have stopped doing it but no. lawyers only know one thing. Try to screw you over.
So this time, it didn’t stop China either. Instead Huawei alone has a GPU that is as fast as Nvidia’s A100. I thought it would take at least a couple of years for China to catch up to the latest generation GPUs but no. China has caught up.
The only thing is that China can’t make enough. But once those new Chinese fabs that are slated to come online in the next year and the year after that. China will not only be making chips for China but also to the rest of the world.
Micron has already fired over ten thousand people, same for Intel, and AMD. Nvidia will be doing the same once their market share drops due to Chinese chips coming into production.
This is just the start.
US chip companies are going to lose more revenue because of US government sanctions. This isn’t just the Chinese market. After all the US is sanctioning about 1/4 of humanity right now.
No one knows if the US government is going to come after you. So everyone, ironically, including the Europeans are designing out US made components. No one wants their business to be interrupted because a US senator or President woke up and decided to sanction you.
The US simply can not be trusted to carry out normal business.
Business contracts are meaningless as the US government will sanction you for saying the wrong thing or not saying what the US orders you to say.
So US companies have not only lost the Chinese market, they are also going to lose the world market.
…
With the exception of the White nations and US lapdogs.
It won’t be the Indian century because Indian society does not meet the basic requirements for being a modern society.
A modern society does not discriminate against members of society simply on the basis of birth, because they believe human talent should be allowed to flourish regardless of anyone’s social background at birth.
Because of the Indian caste system, India does not do this, and caste discrimination continues. As Indian becomes more powerful and grows, more countries will become aware of the caste system, and this will form a glass ceiling for India’s growth.
The only way for India to deal with this problem is to meet it headfirst, and through a combination of social reform and legislation, make a clean break with the caste system.
China had a class system, and Mao challenged and broke the Chinese class system.
India needs its own Mao to shatter the caste system before it can become a modern state.
Niger Africa Has Beat The French Military – French Military Evacuating Niger
He stopped and froze, a bit concerned. He then points under the trees and says: “Tiger!”
I approach him and look. We were in the USA, what did he see there?
A big orange tabby cat!
His picture book at home doesn’t indicate scale, so tigers, ants or apples are all the same size. How could he have known what size a tiger really was?
Central American Parliament Votes In Favour Of China And Says This About Taiwan Being China’s Part
This is no different to Australia being a Commonwealth Country of UK. We function as a Republic, and we have our own Country … so to say the UK will invade Australia is absurd. The same applies to the Republic Of China (aka ROC Taiwan). ROC Taiwan is already a province of the People’s Republic of China (aka PRC Mainland China). Why would PRC China want to attack ROC Taiwan? It’s already a province of PRC China. The ROC Taiwan functions a Republic and has its own currency … just like Australia.
https://youtu.be/nJRuT88ApT4
Strawberry Cheesecake Chimichangas
Strawberry Cheesecake Chimichangas, a Tex-Mex favorite, features a delicious cheesecake filling wrapped in a flour tortilla, fried to perfection, then coated with cinnamon-sugar.
Divide the mixture evenly between 6 tortillas. Slather the filling in the lower third of each tortilla, fold the two sides of each tortilla toward the center and then roll the tortilla up like a burrito. Secure it with wooden picks.
Combine 1/3 cup sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon in a shallow bowl and set aside.
Line a large plate with paper towels.
In a deep saucepan place about 2 to 2 1/2 inches vegetable oil for frying and heat it over medium-high heat until it reaches 360 degrees F.
Fry the chimichangas until golden brown and crispy, about 2 to 3 minutes, and flip them as needed.
Remove the wooden picks.
Transfer the chimichangas to the paper towel-covered plate to drain for a minute, then roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Serve with sliced strawberries on top, if desired.
Huawei was once the world’s top smartphone vendor, shipping over 200m phones in 2018.
Last year, under a de-facto embargo by the US, it shipped 28m, an eight-, almost nine-fold decrease from its peak.
The volume has been cannibalized by Apple, Samsung, and other Chinese brands.
Apple, in particular, now sell more iPhones in Greater China than stateside, all thanks to Huawei’s demise.
That’s “national security” and “clean networks” for all you Apple fans.
How bad were the curbs applied on Huawei? Phone assemblers froze assembly lines overnight and refused to fulfill their contractual obligations, components on order were canceled, and design license agreements ripped up.
Huawei had no OS, a completely disrupted hardware supply chain, a deficient set of highly specialized software design tools and its CFO under house arrest in Canada.
It would not have surprised anyone had Huawei announced its withdrawal from the consumer device space.
Amazingly, Huawei the 5G telecoms champion sold off Honor, its sub-brand, and issued 4G phones under the Huawei brand, weathering a gut-wrenching revenue drop off a cliff.
It conducted an internal review of the entire supply chain, from its core telecoms equipment business to consumer devices, and began the painful and expensive task of de-Americanization. Any component that had even the hint of American IP was marked for domestic substitution. The process was completed for its telecoms equipment earlier, but the device side lacked two pieces—a capable GPU for AI-assisted gestures, payments and the camera, and a 5G modem, which was protected behind Qualcomm’s giant patent wall.
Huawei found hacks around EDA restrictions, and designed its own GPU.
It also introduced novel transistor geometries to boost the performance of 7nm to the 5nm node. It rapidly upgraded its inhouse Hongmeng OS to 4.0, turning it into a polished platform with large language AI and IOT capability baked in. Its software ecosystem is coming along nicely, and the platform is well beyond the market share needed to ensure survival.
To add icing on the cake, the flagship Huawei phone of 2023 can make satellite calls, showcasing its space comms tech maturity and the bandwidth/coverage of the Chinese commercial satellite network.
In field tests conducted by a Hong Kong user, the Mate 60 Pro matched the iPhone 14’s 5G network speed, demonstrating Huawei’s 5G modem was a match for Qualcomm’s implementation. Not a bad milestone for a first effort, eh?
Huawei had no need for GPS, Qualcomm’s 5G, LG’s OLED, Samsung’s storage, Micron’s memory, or even upstream chip design tools that were vulnerable to US sanction. In fact, even if we took the best in class features from Apple, Google and Samsung and put them into a hypothetical hybrid champion, the Mate 60 Pro can still stand shoulder to shoulder, because it has a couple of industry-first or performance leading features. It is truly worthy of a 2023 flagship designation, earned fair and square.
Huawei did all these in less than 4 years, a remarkable turnaround despite becoming a corporation targeted for destruction by the US government, probably a historic first.
Huawei is finding its mojo again on way firmer footing, and it will sell every Mate 60 pro the production lines can churn out this year.
Chinese do not really believe in propaganda, otherwise known as marketing.
What you mention are statistics. Statistics are routinely interpreted differently by governments in ways to suit their needs, but this does not make them lies. Western governments do this about inflation.
For example, when talking about inflation, the US government usually does not include gasoline prices. How much do Americans use automobiles for transportation? Would you say then that the US government is lying about inflation?
You see, when it comes to statistics, there is no such thing as objective truth.
There are just different ways of counting.
Internet DESTROYS Oprah, The Rock For FRAUD Maui ‘Fundraiser’
The Rock and Oprah are facing backlash after they tried to save face by “raising money” for Maui. The people of Hawaii aren’t buying it..
In 1986, a fire broke out in an apartment complex in Chicago. The fire was responsible for the death of two brothers and one of these brothers was believed to be a part of the Latin Kings gang. The police suspected a woman living in the building was responsible for the fire because he had a brother killed by a member of the Latin Kings.
The woman was brought in for questioning, but she denied being involved in the fire and instead pointed the finger at 18-year-old John Galvin, and two other boys.. The night of the fire, John had stayed at his grandmother’s house, and there was no evidence to say these boys had done it, but they were brought in for questioning anyway.
When they were brought in for questioning, the police used extreme tactics to get the boys to confess. After an intense interrogation, deceptive tactics and physical violence, John snapped and confessed to the fire.
He signed in a confession that himself, Arthur Almendarez and Francisco Nanez threw a bottle of gasoline at the building and then threw a lit cigarette into a pool of gasoline on the porch to light the fire. The Judge sentenced all three to life without parole.
After being in prison for 27 years, John was watching an episode of MythBusters where they attempted to light gasoline with a cigarette and they couldn’t get it to light, even after many attempts.
After waiting 8 years and many courtroom battles they were finally exonerated in 2022 after spending 35 years in prison.
Douglas Macgregor: UNITS GOT MASSACRED WHILE RETREATING.
I called the woman interviewing me “Tina”. Her name was not Tina. I did this on purpose.
I was being interviewed for an IT position with a very high end resort. From the moment I started interacting with this woman, I knew I wasn’t going to take the job even if it was offered. She was that unpleasant.
However, being the professional that I am, I figured I should at least complete the interview.
That was before she started talking down about her employees as if they were her personal servants. She was elitist beyond belief. She outright laughed in my face when I told her I had experience dealing with wealthy people. She generally made no effort to hide her disdain for “poor people” and told me that I would not be permitted to ever talk to the clients.
It was at some point during this conversation that I had Ron Swanson running through my head.
The woman in question was named Toni, but by the time she was done with my interview, I wanted to call her Satan.
So, at the end of my interview, I stood up, reached out my hand and said “Thank you for the interview, Tina. I’ll see myself out.”
I thought her face was going to explode. HOW DARE THIS PEASANT CALL ME BY THE WRONG NAME!!!!
Yeah, I nuked that bridge from orbit, but I have absolutely no desire to work for a person like that, nor anyone who would associate with her.
Living in CHINA: Culture Shock!
I briefly describe the experiences I’ve had and discuss the theme of convenience in Chinese culture.
Well, I’m a woman who works in Engineering. To say I’m familiar with this would be an understatement.
The ones who walk into my office and give me a high school level explanation of something, and I gesture to the books on the shelf behind me (either as a co-author or technical reviewer) while complimenting them on their grasp of the basics and offer a lend if they’d like to learn more in-depth.
Or the ones whom I helped with some 1950’s HVAC equipment nobody else could, who later swung by my office to thank me, shake my hand, and try to palm me a TWO DOLLAR TIP. ~blink blink~ I laughed and handed it back, helpfully explaining that my tastes run to 20 year old scotch, not Natty Light.
And the constantly being hit on at technical conferences, and when I politely thank them and say I’m already seeing someone, they go off on how I should enjoy my middle class life and tell me how much money they make. With those… I don’t tell them that I make significantly more than they do, they’re already too fragile in ego anyway.
He cried and hugged my leg for help, he had been starving for a long time… I couldn’t pass by!
Thank you so much for helping this sweet innocent defenseless kitten. Poor baby was probably traumatized by some heartless souls who painted him and heaven knows what else they did. You are an angel with such a beautiful loving soul. Thank goodness you saved him, took him to the vet for vaccines and an exam to make sure he was healthy. We, in the USA, have many people who are also cruel to animals,, so it is no different here. You are “The Power of One” to help these sweet beautiful animals.
About 18 months after marrying my husband who was a very fit manual worker, he collapsed in our field with what I thought was a heart attack. I gave him first aid until the ambulance arrived and he was blued and twoed to the main hospital. Turns out it wasn’t a heart attack but he had an aortic aneurysm and a leaking heart valve. He had emergency open heart surgery and was in hospital for quite a while. When he got home he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome (look it up, it interesting but too long to explain). As he was recovering I cared for him night and day. I never left his side. He slowly started to feel worse. After numerous trips to and from doctors and hospitals, he was diagnosed with leukaemia. I held his hand and wiped his brow as he had bone marrow extracted. He went through hell as you can imagine. Never once did it cross my mind to leave him let alone divorce him!
He started out on the road to recovery but I developed an almighty headache. The doctors treated me for migraine. Nothing touched the intense pain. I rubbed my head on the bedroom wall in absolute agony. I wore the paint and plaster from the wall down to the bare bricks. How much my poor husband did to try to help me. He rang an ambulance when I was at my worst but they refused to attend as “migraine wasn’t classed as an emergency”. He carried me to the car and drove me to hospital, worried out of his mind. I was given ct and mri scans and they discovered a giant aneurysm on my brain. I had emergency brain surgery. That man never left my side. I don’t think he thought of divorce either.
Twelve years later, we are still together, very much in love and we care for each other. Life is hard but we stick together through thick and thin!
China-U.S Clash: China DESTROY The Entire U.S Car Industry
In today’s video, we dive deep into the seismic shift in the global automotive and tech industries. China’s decision to restrict raw material exports has sent shockwaves across sectors, reshaping the landscape and posing significant challenges and opportunities for the U.S. Join us as we unravel the intricacies of this power play, its implications, and the potential paths forward. If you value staying updated on the latest geopolitical and economic trends, this is one discussion you won’t want to miss!
China doesn’t listen to what the US tells it to do; Japan does.
The Chinese currency, central bank, banking system and real estate market take their orders from one organization: the Party. When the Central Committee announces a policy decision, the decision is final. When the US told Japan to overvalue the yen to cut Japanese exports, Japan did. When the US complains about the yuan being valued lower than it should be, China ignores the US.
The US has military bases in Japan. It has no military bases in China.
China has 1.4B people; Japan had about 120M people.
China is dominant in all manufacturing sectors; in the 1990s Japan was dominant in automobiles and machine tools. China had not become significant yet.
China is one of the founding members of an increasingly important economic organization, BRICS. Japan did not have leadership in any international organizations.
China is the leading trading partner for 150+ countries.
What Happened to Millionaire’s Row in Pittsburgh?
US, Europe need China EV batteries to help own firms — Global Times
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There have been calls in the US and Europe to reduce China’s advantage in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. But China’s supply-chain advantage in this area has become so important for the global EV industry that giving up that edge could put a country’s development of its own EV sector at an obvious disadvantage.
Maybe that’s why UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said that her country won’t impose import restrictions on those products from China.
When asked whether the UK was overly reliant on China for its EV supply chain, Badenoch said on Monday, “At the moment, China is leading on this technology, so we wouldn’t be able to get to where we want to get to on net zero by completely stopping or banning Chinese products … You can’t exclude Chinese-made products from the battery ecosystem.”
Despite what Badenoch said, it doesn’t mean that Chinese-made EV batteries will not face any trade barriers when entering the UK market, given the “rule of origin” requirements for electric cars in the EU-UK post-Brexit trade deal. Under the deal, starting from next year, carmakers could face tariffs of 10 percent on EV exports to the EU if at least 45 percent of the value of an electric car’s components and 60 percent of its battery don’t come from the UK or EU.
Badenoch’s response was more like an attempt to consolidate carmakers’ confidence in the supply chain. It is no secret that the UK government has been looking for ways to boost its domestic EV and battery industries, but the problem is that it is struggling to attract such investment, especially from foreign companies, as the UK has lagged behind China and the US in terms of EV-related industries.
Under such circumstances, any negative signal to Chinese battery suppliers would constitute another source of risks to the development of the UK’s domestic EV industry. This is because Chinese companies account for more than half of the EV battery market and satisfy as much as 90 percent of demand for some battery materials, according to Bloomberg NEF.
Such economies of scale have allowed Chinese manufacturers to outperform US and European rivals, which is probably why when the US and European EV industries are still dependent on increasing subsidies, while Chinese manufacturers, especially those on the battery supply chains, have already shifted from being entirely subsidy-driven to being market-driven.
In this case, if a country really shuts Chinese batteries out over geopolitical reasons or fear of competition, then its domestic EV companies will probably face higher costs and slower development due to insufficient domestic supplies. The logic applies not just to the UK, but also Europe as a whole.
There are many concerns in the EU about excessive reliance on Chinese electric cars and components like batteries, with some following the geopolitical thinking of the US.
As a result, concerns are rising when it comes to Chinese electric cars and batteries entering the European market. For instance, last month, the EU’s Batteries Regulation entered into force, which stipulates how batteries are collected, reused and recycled to a high degree in Europe. This is seen as one of the newest thresholds for Chinese carmakers and batteries in going overseas.
Of course, it is reasonable for the EU to safeguard its own supply chain stability and economic development, but it should be advised that to achieve the goal of promoting EV development, the EU needs to follow rational voices that are based on the judgment as to whether it is conducive to promoting green development, rather than being derailed by protectionism or geopolitics that will only backfire.
Well, me – 3 or 4 times. The first time was as a new boy, middle of freshman year in high school, moved to West god help us Texas. I was a late bloomer, prepubertal, 100 pounds (maybe) soaking wet, 5 foot nothing tall.
The school was not what you call big, and PE was all four ages from frosh to senior, your schedule with academic classes being considered more important.
A senior kid, obviously bigger, started in as class had ended, we were dressed and waiting for the bell for the next class. “Your old man’s a stupid pig!” “Yeah,” I said. “P-I-G. Pride, Integrity, Guts.” Turned my back and walked out. Axxhole grabbed my shoulder, spun me around for a sucker punch to give me a black eye.
That was the last he landed. Did it not occur to dumb-dumb that a cop’s kid just MIGHT grow up learning self-defense? He missed the next three days of school. I had a shiner.
Word got around. That was the last anyone tried to bully me in high school.
I was going to school in Chicago, USA. I definitely didn’t have much money. At the time, I typically donated plasma weekly for my food allowance.
Walking to class and the train (tube) station weekly (this particular lecture was only once a week), I would pass a small eatery. Near the eatery, there was a homeless person with one leg sitting in a wheelchair with a collection cup. He would ask every time I’d pass by.
One week, the eatery was advertising a special: 1/4 chicken dinner, potatoes, green beans for $5. What a treat! I barely had $5 but decided to purchase on my way back to the train home.
I don’t remember exactly what the lecture was, but surely on gratitude or counting blessings. After, I bought the food. I passed the man in the wheelchair. While I didn’t have much, I did have a roof and some bread. I gave my food to the man. I explained I didn’t touch it yet and had planned it for my dinner. He thanked me and I started to walk away feeling like I maybe made a small difference in his day.
He called after me and I turned. He asked about a drink. I told him I didn’t purchase a drink. He told me it was $2. I told him I didn’t have $2 and I paid in change to purchase the meal. He stood up from his wheelchair on TWO legs. “Bullsh—”. He threw the food down on the ground next to my feet which spilled it. “Who buys a dinner without a drink?”
I walked away. I was embarrassed and hurt. I cried on the train ride home. I went home and ate the only food I had left for the week- some bread with peanut butter. I ignored him every week after that.
1930s USA – Fascinating Street Scenes of Vintage America [Colorized]
Nobody is your enemy. You are everyone’s enemy because you think you owned the world and that everyone must be submissive and subservient to you!
You who ask this question is your own enemy! China is not your enemy. China want to be strong and powerful so that you cannot threat them. That is simply a right thing to do. If you think China is only a friend if they lie down and let you walk all over them you are wrong. You are simply not clever.
China won’t and so is the rest of the world. Nobody likes a bully like the U.S. no one wants a self proclaimed world policeman that no one appoints. No want wants a trouble maker and a war monger.
Breaking Bad – TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT
Tuco was, BY FAR, the funniest dude on breaking bad, every time he takes a hit of meth, is pure entertainment.
Did knights have to be kind to peasants in medieval times?
Yes, especially if he wanted to get in your pants. (Although lower-class medieval women generally did not wear trousers.) So the Duke of Normandy was looking at his fortress. He saw a beautiful tanner’s daughter dipping animal skins into the water. She had lifted her skirt. The Duke liked what he saw. He sent a soldier to fetch her. She said she would go to the duke’s castle if she rode the soldier’s horse. The soldier agreed. She borrowed a pretty dress. Then she mounted the side saddle of the soldier’s horse. She and the Duke had sex and the future William the Conqueror, King of England was conceived.
I really liked this girl, she was funny, charismatic and helpful.
Until one day, I met a friend of hers and she was really pleased to meet her. Right after the other friend left, she said “look at her, if she gets a boyfriend before me, I’ll kill myself.”
I found this a rather odd thing to say but I shrugged it off, but it didn’t stop there.
Time and time again… she would smile in people’s faces and what she would say behind their backs was awful.
This had me feeling really sympathetic for people that called her a “friend”. It was also a wake up call like damn, what could she be saying behind my back.
We still talk but not much especially after I confronted her to tell her that what she was doing wasn’t cool. I’m in a place in my life where I’ve lost interest in her and honestly my respect for her too.
Don’t backbite your friends it’s not cool people, not cool at all.
The states have been different from all countries I’ve been to so far. I visited NewYork state then went all the way to Oregon. And I had some general impressions on both:
1- People are so friendly. In fact, too friendly for someone like me, lol.
Everyone chats with you like they’ve known you for a while. They ask “how are you today?” and answer in length something like “oh not doing my best given the weather but other that it’s all good” with a bunch of giggles and smiles.
Not to mention, the waiters constantly check on us, asking if we need something.
Having been raised in Kuwait, the small chat is usually kept to the very bare minimum. And how are yous are replied to with 2 words no more.
Not only that, but Americans also apologize furiously and sincerely for things that look very normal to me. People would apologize deeply that they couldn’t help you find something or that they had to do something that caused you a minute inconvenience.
I found it sweet but way too deep for interaction between strangers. But that’s just a matter of what I’m used to.
2- Traffic light for every lane.
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I had never seen or heard about this before I landed in the US. I would look up and there is 4-5 traffic lights for one street only ! My husband then explained to me that the right or left lanes can sometimes move when the others aren’t, hence each has their own traffic light.
In Kuwait there is usually one traffic light on each side of the street is all.
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3- Diversity in products.
You can ask my husband how my first visit to target then Walmart went. I was basically like a child in an enormous candy store.
There is a huge number of products suitable for everything.
I found hair products in huge numbers for each hair type. I found makeup shades with huge ranges. Given that back home, accepting diversity isn’t that big of a trend yet, I had to get myself some supplies.
4- Doing everything yourself.
Call me spoiled, but back home I never fill up my gas tank myself, or carry my luggage into an hotel, or check myself out of a supermarket without interacting with a cashier worker. But in the US, I had to it all myself.
However, the most shocking thing I had to do myself is this:
We finished eating in a restaurant, so I informed the waitress the I wanted my food for takeaway. So she came, left this carton on the table then walked away:
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If my husband hadn’t explained to me that this is normal there, I would’ve been pissed at the poor service and laziness. But it was just the norm as I had to do to pack my food into boxes in a couple of places after that.
5- Asking for a bag and a straw.
Being so environmentally conscious isn’t a big thing yet back home, so I was definitely taken by surprise that I have to go out of my way to ask for a bag or a straw for my drink. Most people didn’t get bags if they purchased few things and some had their own bags with them.
6- Interaction with the waiters.
When I went to restaurants with my husband in different countries, I never understood what he was doing. We’d want our cheque but he kept sitting there only to tell me that no one’s looking at us yet. So I would just raise a hand and shout “excuse me”.
Then I came to the US and I realized that service there is all about eye contact.
You close the menu, they see that and come pick it up and get your order. You need the cheque, you give them a look and they know that you need something and come right away.
Everyone in my family thought that’s hilarious. If I kept waiting for a waiter to look at me, I’d spend the night in a restaurant every week over here.
And of course, I was not used to tipping at all and forgot to do it all the time.
In fact, I had no clue how to tip when paying with a credit card until my husband showed me. You basically write the amount you want to tip on the receipt.
I still think that giving 20% of the receipt as a tip is way too much. But I guess I have to follow the norms because the system is very different over there.
7-Calories on the menu.
Everything on the menu has the calories written next to it. Thank you for ruining my chance to have a guilt-free dessert America ! Lol. I definitely see how it’s useful for others though.. just not to someone as obsessive as me.
8- Dogs everywhere.
I had a vague idea about this… but oh boy, I underestimated the size of it. There were dogs everywhere I went. The supermarkets, airports, houses, elevators and so on.
In the few hours I spent in the airport of San Francisco, I’ve seen more dogs than I see in Kuwait for weeks.
9- The bathrooms are shocking.
This has been mentioned by most people before for a reason. There is no squirter/ hose/ bidet. You only use toilet paper. I forgot that most of the time and therefore didn’t prepare for it so I had to keep wetting tissues before using the toilet.
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Also, I had no clue how to shower without drains on the floor. Back home, we have a drain in the bathroom. So even if you spilled a ton of water on the floor, you simply push it into the hole with a squeegee in the ground and you’re good.
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So my husband showed me that I have to shut the shower curtains tight- as I don’t have any at home. And that I should keep the towel very close to me to dry myself before leaving the shower and so on.
10- The houses are modest and not as fancy as I expected.
I had always thought that everyone in the US lived in a huge fancy house as shown in hollywood movies.
One time I even squabbled with my husband because he wanted to live in a house. I said “ I don’t want to have to clean all that much all the time !”. He explained to me again and again that it’s not that much bigger than an apartment but I wasn’t convinced.
And I wasn’t the only one. One of the things my family asked me is “does their house (my in-laws) look like the one from home alone?”.
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But to my surprise, houses can be as small as you want them to be. From the inside, when it’s a one-storey house, it looks exactly like an appartment.
So basically, they were like apartments sliced up into units, instead of being gathered in a building.
I am that person. I sunk money into a large deck, hot tub, atrium, in ground pool, 3 car detached garage, a third floor, 15kw solar array, an extra bath and a half, over size hot water system, built in BBQ, gardens, and all sorts of other amenities. All the stuff a realtor will tell you not to do because there would be little, if any, return on the money.
Some people don’t care about getting their investment back. I just wanted to live well with all the stuff I ever wanted. Been here 20 years now and I got my money’s worth. I’ve always known that eventually I’d be selling the place but I didn’t do it to make a profit. I’m getting too old (77) to take care of things and am going to have to downsize within the next few years, but the last two decades were worth the money. What good is money if you can’t enjoy it???
At the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa in August 2023, 40+ countries applied to join, and six nations were admitted.
China is already the leading economic power.
But these countries are not applying to join BRICS because China is the economic world power. They are applying to join because they are not satisfied with the current economic order as represented by the G7, and they want a system where they can be treated fairly as equals, instead of being dominated by a minority.
San Francisco Is So Bad That Construction Projects Are Being Cancelled
There is very little value enhancement due to market pricing or Brand pricing or Technology Pricing
Even a Boeing makes at the most a couple of million dollars commission to a Chinese Importer while earning nearly 100 Million Dollars to the US Economy
You see right?
No Nation on earth can export $ 564 Billion worth of goods to the USA
It’s estimated that at thrice the manufacturing potential today – India, Vietnam and Mexico combined can export $ 338 Billion worth of Goods by 2030
This that’s around $ 226 Billion of Exports but also around $ 700 Billion of final retail goods
That’s the amount that US players and entities will be deprived off if US entirely decouples from China EVEN IN 2030 with India, Vietnam and Mexico tripling their Industrial Output
Even then US Economy and it’s players will be deprived of $ 700 Billion Dollars which by 2030 could be around $ 1 Trillion with inflation
That’s a lot of jobs, lots of payments GONE
Meanwhile China?
China may lose around $ 564 Billion of Exports in decoupling
At 0.4% inflation
That’s $ 580 Billion vs $ 1 Trillion
So even in the worst case scenario of US entirely decoupling from China and India, Mexico and Vietnam tripling their Industrial output today – China would lose $ 580 Billion while US would lose a whopping $ 1 Trillion
At normal Industrial output for these three nations, US would lose $ 2.4 Trillion or nearly 4.5 times as much as China stands to lose as an economy
Same for EU
Same for ASEAN
Same for India
Its why Raimondo visits China
It’s why 27 Chinese entities were removed from a Blacklist recently
The Media has been spinning fiction and propaganda so far and China hasn’t cared
Now if China decides to take their revenge by drastically cutting off key exports of say $ 100 Billion, then US cannot source more than $ 30 Billion from other countries
China loses $ 100 Billion but US loses around $ 210 Billion of value to it’s economy
That’s 44% of the projected $ 470 Billion that the US Economy hopes to enhance itself this year at 1.8% growth
So Raimondo says
Please keep trading with us as usual. Ignore what we say in our media. Our contention with you is for the $ 10–15 Billion portion of our Trade, let’s keep the balance $ 685–690 Billion of Trade as normal
That’s why China doesn’t need to visit everybody and reassure anyone much
Everyone loses far far more by decoupling with China
So ultimately it creates a slow down globally where China albeit having very low growth still beats the rest of the world
He was part of a huge family of film financiers but his father was among the poorest members of the same family
He roomed in the same area as Bachchan and Amjad Khan and Shatruguan Sinha in 1970–1972
He eked out a living as a small time writer and selling shirtings and acting in small parts for various studios
Then in one day his life changed
He was WILLED almost 4 Acres of Land in Bombay in the mid 1970s and 14 Luxury Cars
A Very Wealthy marwari financier who was pissed off with his family, willed his entire estate to Sudhir solely because Sudhir drove him on his last journey as a favor
A Clear will naming Sudhir as the sole beneficiary of the mans will witnessed by a reputed doctor and by a famous producer
Obviously the Will was contested ferociously
Meanwhile Sudhir received a monthly rent of ₹ 210/- for each Unit of the Chawl due to rent ceiling and had to pay almost ₹40, 000/- in Taxes
He was cited for illegal construction in 1986 and warned to hand over the property to someone else in exchange for a ₹7 Lakh compensation
He leased out those 14 Cars for film shootings. The Courts allowed him these lease amounts as earnings but any sales sum would have to be placed in a separate account
For 31 years, Sudhir and his family saw an avalanche of litigation during which Sudhir sold his cars but had to put the money in a separate account
He refused to settle with anyone
Meanwhile he survived on handouts for his treatment for Pulmonary Something and struggled financially
In 2007, the Courts decided in his favor
They acknowledged that the Financier had clearly said all the earned wealth would go to Sudhir and it was not the courts business to interfere in why certain people made certain decisions
Sudhir was entitled to ₹ 46 Lakhs earned from the sale of the cars plus interest in the bank
Then he sold one car for ₹3.3 Crore to Vijay Mallya – a Vintage car
His financial position improved dramatically by 2009
Still the legality of the Chawl was pending
Sudhir died in 2014 , willing the Chawl to his son and daughter and wife equally
In 2019, the Courts decided that the Chawl belonged to Sudhir legally as Lalwani had paid a sum of money and legally purchased the land on which the Chawl was built
The Value of the Land?
Roughly ₹ 240 Crore
The State protested and used the Land ceiling in Mumbai and said No Individual could own 4 Acres of Land in that area single handedly
In 2021, the courts valued Sudhirs estimated ownership at 0.96 Acres per the 1976 standards
Thus Sudhirs share was estimated at around ₹59 Crore
The family finally got ₹46 Crore after all taxes by the State Government Or Local Corporation
Sudhir had been gone for a decade but still HE EARNED ALMOST ₹50 Crore cumulatively just by a single will and a moment of anger and indecision by this Marwari financier
Tariffs on China Backfire as American Companies Are Leaving US, Eyeing to Set in China!
The American government ought to consider if it would not be wiser to have a more friendly attitude to China instead of making enemies all the time.
Only 2000 Taiwanese are allowed to travel to the mainland every day
Around 120,000 Taiwanese are restricted from visiting the mainland
Mainlanders who visit Taiwan are literally spied on to the last minute of their visit and cannot spend overnight in Taiwan without an express permit
Taiwanese Researchers are forbidden from visiting the mainland anytime
In fact it’s a GODDAMN CRIME in Taiwan
If a person restricted to travel to the Mainland, goes anyway – he could be jailed!!!
Why do you think they have such rules or restrictions?
Why not boldly say “Any Taiwanese can visit the mainland if he wants”
After all MAINLAND has no such laws
Anyone can leave and spend 10 days in Taiwan and 30 days in US and 30 days in UK and 30 days in Spain and return back
Taiwan is the East Germany of Asia
It’s people are developing a pull to go to Mainland China which is now developing and growing faster than Taiwan outside numbers
The Vast Spaces, the vast Tier Two and Three Cities, the emerging railways, the cleaner crisper air and the boundless opportunity for more research and a huge scope of expansion
Against
The congested island, the crowded cities, the overkill saturation of US influence that is having a reverse effect on the Taiwanese and the fewer opportunities to expand or handle research
The Mainland is their home too
There will come a day when Nature wins and when ultimately the Chinese on both sides decide to unite to maximize their growth and development
Just like East and West Germany and the Berlin Wall Moment
Taiwan is a slave satellite to USA just like GDR was to USSR
Not to mention the Anti China wave in US is also affecting the Taiwanese in US as they very much look the same
So Why would China rock the boat by Invading Taiwan?
That’s what US and the West want today
To divert attention from the Ukrainian horrors that they are facing plus finding a divide between the Mainland and Taiwan
No need to invade even if Lai Wins
Even if Taiwan under US influence make some demented declaration of Independence
By simple Natural Economics, China will succeed in reunification
Richard Wolff on How Europe DESTROYED Itself in America’s War on China
Dying for America must surely be a good cause. Well done, EU. Do it for America. </sarcasm>
Originally Answered: What is the best case of “you just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you've witnessed?
I was that kid!
Let’s set the scene. It’s 1975. I’d just started at a state Grammar School, a short, weedy 11-year-old first-former.
For some reason, some mop-haired blond idiot of a fourth-former bully decided I was going to be this year’s soft target. Think Draco Malfoy. Similar looks, similar attitude. He took every opportunity to threaten me: “I’m gonna get you after school! You’re going home in an ambulance!”
The threats continued, day after day. I was starting to think he was all wind.
One day, he proved me wrong. Waiting until I was just out of sight of the school—the only smart thing he did—he and his retinue of about eight or so other idiots surrounded me in a wide ring, and he advanced with all the swaggering menace a half-grown young man can show a little kid.
I wasn’t going to talk my way out of this one.
Now, a little flashback. Ripple, ripple.
When I started this school, a few weeks prior, my Dad gave me a new case. It was made of ABS plastic, a relatively new material, and this briefcase—hinges, handles, the lot—was one single moulded piece, folding in the middle, with added locks. It looked smart. Grown-up. I was proud of it.
Ripple, ripple. We’re back.
That day, it was full of textbooks and homework. It weighed (it seemed to me) a metric tonne. Turned out, that was quite handy.
I was terrified, but that fear inspired me to something I could never imagine any other time. Like an Olympic hammer thrower, I started a turn. Imagine this, but with a scrawny 11-year-old and a heavy plastic briefcase:
image 45
As I completed the 360, I took aim.
>CRACK!< The far corner of the briefcase, with all its accumulated speed and weight, and at the full extent of my reach, crashed into the right temple of the bully. Instantly smacked him flat on the road.
I didn’t even stop to see if I’d knocked him out. I ran through the circle of his stunned former admirers, straight back to school, and into the Headmaster’s study. I described him, his friends, and what happened. They showed me three-year-outdated photos of kids. I commented that even if I’d not picked the right picture, he’d be easy to spot next day.
He was. Apparently, he turned up to school with an angry-looking, brightly coloured lump the size of a swan’s egg on his forehead.
He never made it to his first class. I gather this wasn’t his first offence—but with perfect proof attached to his face, the school had a cast-iron case to expel him on the spot.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome near the town of Tsiolkovsky in the Russian Far East’s Amur region to discuss a number of pressing issues, including those related to bilateral cooperation, as well as regional and global security.
The two leaders conducted negotiations on Wednesday both as part of their countries’ delegations and in a face-to-face format, in a meeting that lasted a total of about six hours.
“Thank you for inviting us, despite your tight schedule,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian President Vladimir Putin before the two started the tour of the Soyuz-2 space launch facility ahead of the negotiations.
and the Angara rockets, among other things. He notably left a short entry in the book of honorary guests of the cosmodrome, writing, “The glory of Russia, which gave birth to the first space explorers, will be immortal.
Putin, for his part, noted that the Vostochny Cosmodrome was an unusual venue for his meeting with Kim.
“We are proud of the development of our space industry, and this facility is new for us. I hope that you and your colleagues are interested in it,” the Russian president said.
He also recalled several memorable dates for North Korea
as the two met at the cosmodrome, located near the town of Tsiolkovsky in the Russian Far East’s Amur region.
“I am very glad to see you. Especially after such events took place: 75 years since the [Democratic People’s] Republic’s [of Korea (DPRK)] formation, the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War, and 75 years since the establishment of [Russia-North Korea] diplomatic relations,” the Russian head of state said.
Kim on North Korea’s ‘First Priority’
The North Korean leader called Pyongyang’s ties with Moscow his country’s top priority.
“Our friendship has deep roots, and the very first priority for our country now is relations with Russia,” Kim underlined, stressing that his visit is taking place “at a very important period.”
He signaled Pyongyang’s readiness to “further develop ties [with Russia],” adding, “We have always supported and support all the decisions by President Putin and those by the Russian government.”
Kim also expressed confidence that his meeting with Putin will raise bilateral relations between Moscow and Pyongyang to a new level, pledging that North Korea would always stand together with Russia in the “fight against imperialism
.”
In this vein, the North Korean leader pointed out that Russia “has risen for a sacred fight to protect its national sovereignty and safety against hegemonic forces.”
Productive Parleys
Speaking to Russian media after the Wednesday talks, Putin said he, in particular, held an open exchange of views on the situation in the Far East region.
“It is a good start, [and] very productive [one]. A very frank exchange of views took place on the situation in the region and on bilateral relations,” Putin emphasized, adding that he and Kim also discussed the development of bilateral relations in the field of agriculture. The statement came after the Russian head of state noted that Kim’s visit “is taking place in a truly comradely and friendly atmosphere.”
The North Korean leader, in turn, said during a gala dinner after the talks that high on the agenda was the situation in Europe and the Korean Peninsula.
“Comrade Putin and I just discussed in depth the military and political situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Europe and [we] arrived at a satisfactory consensus on further strengthening strategic and tactical cooperation, supporting solidarity in the struggle for the protection of the sovereign right of security, for creating guarantees of lasting peace in the region,” Kim underlined.
He expressed hope that his visit will serve as a catalyst to further bolster bonds between Pyongyang and Moscow.
image 23
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome on September 13, 2023.
“In conclusion, I would like to express my confidence that our [delegation’s] current visit will serve as an important moment in the further development and transformation of traditional friendly Russian-DPRK ties into unbreakable relations of strategic cooperation,” the North Korean leader stressed.
He said that such strengthening is in line with the countries’ interests, signaling Pyongyang’s intent to build long-term relations with Moscow.
Sign to Washington
Konstantin Asmolov of the Moscow-based Institute for China and Modern Asia Studies with the Russian Academy of Sciences has, meanwhile, told Sputnik that what matters most from the Putin-Kim meeting
is “the visible show of support” of Russia by the North Korean leader.
Asmolov pointed to Russia becoming the first country where Kim arrived after three years of self-isolation, which he said is “a rather important fact in itself.”
image 22
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives at the Vostochny Cosmodrome for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 13, 2023.
The expert suggested that the two most likely focused on changes in the geopolitical situation in the region during the closed-door talks, especially in light of emergence of regional alliances, such as the Washington-Tokyo-Seoul bloc, which was created amid “global turbulence.”
When asked if the US is alarmed about closer ties between Russia and the DPRK, Asmolov said that America just “pretends that they are terribly afraid of apocalyptic consequences from this relationship in order to justify the formation of an Asian NATO.”
Victor Teo, a Singapore-based political scientist who specializes in the international relations of the Indo-Pacific region, for his part suggested that the two discussed “strategic matters of common interest” during the face-to-face talks.
Asked about the signal Putin and Kim are sending to the West, the political scientist said that “one key message this meeting is sending is that despite the United States’ strength in the Asia-Pacific, Russia too has allies in the region.”
“I personally think that Russia and North Korea are already on good terms, and that while Western press reports have raised various concerns, the United States government understands that the DPRK has traditionally relied on the Soviet Union/Russia for help in various aspects. The US security establishment is therefore not all that concerned with Russia-DPRK interactions unless it involves sensitive military technology exchanges that the US does not wish for the DPRK to possess,” Teo pointed out.
Sea launch 1st by Chinese private entity!
image 52
China on Tuesday sent a sea-launched rocket into space from the waters surrounding Haiyang, a coastal city in the eastern province of Shandong, placing four satellites into planned orbit.
The commercial launch vehicle, CERES-1, blasted off at 5:34 p.m. (Beijing Time). The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center conducted the offshore mission.
The rocket maker Galactic Energy said it was the 9th flight and the first sea-based mission of the CERES-1 series. The launch also makes it the first Chinese private company to complete a liftoff from the sea.
image 51
Compared with a land-based launch, the sea launch is a new mode, having more flexibility, better adaptability, and more cost-effective services. Furthermore, flexible positioning of the launching and landing areas can ensure spent rocket stages. Other debris falls into the sea rather than on land close to populated areas.
These advantages give the rocket company the confidence to increase the frequency of sea launches in the future.
Aboard the CERES-1 rocket were four satellites Tianqi 21-24, developed by Guodian Gaoke, a Beijing-based commercial sci-tech firm, which are part of the Tianqi low-Earth orbit Internet of Things constellation.
The 38-satellite constellation will go into operation in 2024. It will provide global data services for application scenarios such as emergency communications, ecological environment monitoring, and tower detection.
He was a young man who ended up splattering his brains all over the side of the pavement in the UK. He was well known amongst the petrol head community in the UK for all the wrong reasons.
He was a young man who seemed hell bent on dying young and impressing other people and trolling others.
If I recall correctly (it;s been years) he crashes his car impaling himself in the face and losing an eye. He seemed unfazed by this and bought a high power motorbike and scared the shit out of people by riding recklessly. Within a year he crashes and ends up spreading his brain on the pavement.
I recall his GF’s mother said she was glad he was dead, she was glad because he kept taking her daughter for dangerous drives around various roads.
Originally Answered: What science photos are hard to believe but are indeed real?
The most amazing photo in science ever taken and the one so hard to believe, is this one:
image 50
This is a photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2012 of a tiny tiny section of night sky. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, it took 11 days of exposure to capture the light from these small dots. What is so mind-blowing about it is the fact that with the exception of four small objects, no dot of light in this photo is a star. They are all entire galaxies of stars, over 10,000 separate vast islands of stars spanning quadrillions of miles in size each. The dimmest dots actually represent galaxies that are over 12 billion light years from Earth. Because light travels at finite speed, it took over 12 BILLION YEARS for the light from those galaxies to arrive at Earth. Stare at the photo for a bit and realize the incredible vastness it represents! Look deep into the image to find those dim dots.
The Hubble team did something really cool. Using hard data of how far each galaxy in the above image was from Earth, they created an actual video simulation of what it would look like to fly INTO the galaxies in the Ultra Deep Field image above. Every dot in the video is an entire galaxy of stars passing you by. Here is that video. To really appreciate the Hubble Ultra Deep Field photo, click the video below to fly into that scene: (Note: At the speed of the video, it would take you trillions of years to fly at that speed through these galaxies in real time).
Scientists also looked deep into the blackness beyond the above galaxies and asked if there were even more galaxies to see, if the Hubble took an even longer exposure. A few years later, with upgraded camera software, Hubble took an even longer and closer view of the same above spot. Sure enough, called the “Extreme Ultra Deep Field”, it contained a slew of even fainter galaxies. Here is the result:
image 49
In all likelihood, there are even more fainter, more distant galaxies hiding in the above darkness, beyond Hubble’s ability to see.
OK, so the sky has lots of galaxies. Surely that is crazy to grasp but perhaps not so hard to believe. Well, to understand better what is so mind-blowing about the above photos, consider this image below:
image 20
So, just how much of the sky did the Hubble telescope photograph to capture those 10,000 galaxies in one shot? It is the answer that is impossible to believe. Look at the image above. See that tiny faint yellow square in the upper left center? THAT is the area of space the Hubble photographed. All of those 10,000 galaxies in the first image, stretching back in time almost to the beginning of the universe, came from inside that tiny yellow box. WHATTTTTT????? In fact, the space occupied by that image would fit into an area smaller than a grain of rice, held up to the night sky at arm’s length. Move it a millimeter to the right, left, up or down, and it will block 10,000 more galaxies, then another 10,000, then another and another and …. Imagine how many galaxies you can cover if you contemplate the entire night sky? WHOA!
Well, was this some kind of fluke? Perhaps Astronomers pointed the Hubble at a section of sky known to have lots of galaxies. In response, the Hubble took a dozen additional long-exposure photos of different parts of the sky over the years, also spanning no more distance than that tiny box above.
Here was the result of another such exposure:
image 21
This one, taken in 2018, is a time-exposure of another tiny part of the sky and found a whopping 15,000 galaxies in a single image. Called the Hubble Legacy Field, it used the upgraded cameras on Hubble. It reveals galaxies stretching almost to infinity. Again, look deep into it to understand its magnificence.
Here was another exposure from yet a third tiny part of the night sky, named simply the “Hubble Deep Field” (it was in fact, the first photo taken of them all):
image 48
As you can see, it is filled with over 3,000 galaxies (the black area at top right is a camera artifact).
For a final view, this one is a closeup of a cluster of galaxies, one of hundreds known to exist. Most of the objects in it are massive galaxies, clustered together by their mutual gravity. It is called MACS JO717 (objects with long cross-hatch lines are stars in our Milky Way).
image 47
In short, everywhere Hubble looked in its dozen+ photos, it saw galaxies of stars … thousands upon thousands of them. No one knew the night sky had that many islands of stars. Every Astronomer on Earth was blown away by the realization that when you look out at the night sky tonight, the darkness you see is not dark. It is FILLED with thousands upon millions upon billions of galaxies of stars, each containing hundreds of billions of suns and possibly trillions of planets of their own. In fact, latest surveys estimate that our visible universe contains over 2 TRILLION galaxies, stretching to distances that no one can even comprehend. That is an almost impossible number to contemplate and is so humbling to realize.
Modern computers can draw simulations of what 2 trillion galaxies might look like, if we could see just a tiny fraction of them from a distance. Here is one such simulation (called the Large Scale Structure of the Universe)
image 46
Each dot above would be a galaxy of billions of stars positioned by the computer in its correct spot in the night sky. WHOA!
To best understand this, choose just one tiny dot in the above image … anywhere. Do it now. Stare at it a bit. Then imagine that dot is our entire Milky Way galaxy. With our current technology, it would take humans 2 BILLION YEARS to cross just from one side of that tiny dot you picked out to the other side of that same dot. Really! Now, look around it in space. Imagine how vast is the universe when you contemplate traveling between these galaxies, between those tiny dots. We are just a tiny blob of protoplasm on a tiny planet orbiting one star out of septillions, in just one galaxy among trillions, in an impossibly immense space. That is why the Hubble photos of these galaxies have been voted by many scientists as the most amazing photos ever taken in science. I totally agree!
It is like allowing the U.S. have a long rope to hang itself. Every time the U.S. media and politicians look down and pretend that China grow slowly or China don’t grow. And that the U.S. grows when in effect it is in a technical recession, it allows China to zoom past them.
So westerners who repeat such lies are in fact helping Chi a and not hurting China at all. This situation helps China. It wants to hide its strength. Not behave obnoxiously like the U.S. boaditing and showing off.
One year. I arrived in Nov 1967 and worked Huey night maintenance at Bien Hoa airbase for the 118th Assault Helo Co. My first exposure to combat was when the VC attacked the base in the Tet offensive, Jan 1968.
In April 1968 I was assigned a crewchief slot with the 68th AHC, the TopTigers and by mid May, I’d lost three helicopters and 2 pilots to enemy action and a crash. By June I was flying with the Mustang gun platoon and by November, my year was over. But I still had a third year of total service obligation left and my unit was short experienced crewchiefs. So my CO asked if I would extend my tour six months and in return, at the end of the extension, the ARMY would grant me an “Early Out” thus forgiving my last half a year of service. And in a decision only a VN vet could understand, I decided my place was with my flying buddies and I signed up for the extra six months. I made three.
In March 1969 my gunship crashed and I was medevaced out of VN a 20 year old casualty of the war. Recovery took a year and the VA granted me 30% disability and a monthly check of $42 which today has increased to $560. The California VA also paid for my Engineering degree as well as college for my two daughters. These bennies were well worth the discomfort of my injuries.
Interestingly, extensions in VN was not unusual in my unit. Several of my fellow crewchiefs came home, realized how tedious stateside service was, and missed the camaraderie of their aircrew buddies. So in 1970 – 71, they returned to our old unit and to a man, regretted it. The buddies they’d known had been replaced and the unit espirit had changed as well. VN was winding down.
As for me, my service in VN is no doubt the most memorable time of my life. I’d accumulated approx. 1000 hrs in the air and managed to avoid doing anything that would haunt me later in life. As a result, I have no regrets and sleep very well at night. I guess I’m one of those boring VN vets that made a normal adjustment to civilian life.
Huawei Chips are no longer made in Taiwan!
After 1566 days, Huawei Kirin 9000s is back, and it’s now made in China.
The chip is released in HW Mate 60.
McConnell appears to freeze for more than 30 seconds during press conference
A few days ago, the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center of China and 360 Total Security Company jointly issued a report entitled “‘Empire of Hacking’: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency – Part I”.
The report details the CIA’s long history of leveraging its technological advantage to eavesdrop on or launch cyber-attacks against countries, businesses and institutions around the world.
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As the initiator of cyber warfare, the largest supplier of advanced cyber weapons, and the world’s largest cyber spy, what has the United States targeted in its cyber attacks? The answers mainly include: Personal privacy, communications industry, critical infrastructure, and core network facilities.
According to the U.S. Army Times, the U.S. Army has requested $16.6 billion for the fiscal year 2023 to support its network and IT departments. Approximately $9.8 billion will be used for military network modernization, and about $2 billion for offensive and defensive network construction, and research and development in the field of cybersecurity.
Internet technology originated in the U.S., making it the first country to plan and deploy cybersecurity issues. However, this first-mover advantage did not lead the U.S. to a path of inclusiveness, fairness, balance, and cooperation when formulating cyberspace strategies; but, rather, maintaining and protecting its existing hegemonic advantage.
In 2013, American whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the secret and comprehensive monitoring of the leaders of France, Germany and other European allies by the United States.
As the evidence shows, the U.S. is clearly the biggest threat to global cybersecurity. The “Hacker Empire” U.S.’s eavesdropping and cyber-attacks on other countries are fundamentally aimed at using digital hegemony to maintain its military and financial hegemony in the real world.
As the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson pointed out, cyberspace is not a battlefield or wrestling ground, still less should it be used as a tool to split the international community or contain and bring down other countries. A secure, stable, and prosperous cyberspace is of great significance to world peace and development.
They got made a prisoner. Usually interrogated, then sent to a POW camp.
True story. My mother lived in Kent during the Battle of Britain, she and her friends often watched the planes fighting.
One day, they saw a plane shot down. They knew it was a German Aircraft , and they saw the pilot bale out, and his parachute land in a field not far away. So they cycled over to the field. On the way, they met the local gamekeeper, on his bike, who had seen it too. He had his shotgun with him. They all went to the field. They saw the parachute laying in the field.
As they went across the field, the pilot stood up from behind some hay bales, with his hands up.
The gamekeeper pointed his shotgun at him.
The pilot shouted in English “ hallo! “ he pointed at his waist where he had a pistol “ I give you gun!”
And slowly pulled it out and threw it .
“ my leg hurts”
They went up to to him; and said “ sit down, it’s OK”
My mother was a nurse. she spoke some German, as she had an Austrian cousin. It turned out that he also spokequhite good English.
She had a look at his leg, it seemed his ankle was badly sprained.
The gamekeeper gave him a cigarette. They decided that they should take him to the farmhouse while they waited for the police. They helped him across the field and got him to the farm house .
Grandmother already had the kettle on so they had tea while the farmhand was sent to find the local policeman. About an hour later, he arrived, with two members of the local home guard in a car and the local doctor
Every one saluted each other; the doctor strapped up his ankle.
They all had some more tea , then the policeman said “” well sir, we have to take you to the police station, and wait for the Army to come and get you “
“Of course, thank you for the tea”.
And off they went.
Thé follow up is that in 1950, there was a knock on the door, and it was the pilot. He had spent the rest of the war as a POW in Scotland, then returned to Germany, and had got a job as a civil engineer, rebuilding Germany. He was visiting on business. He became a family friend.
Thousands of kids missing in Maui as walls go up to hide the truth | Redacted
It’s been 22 days since a massive fire destroyed the town of Lahaina on Maui… 2,000 homes incinerated, hundreds of people killed and all in an area largely owned and lived in by long time native islanders. What is really going on here? Why are drones being blocked, residents arrested when they try to return home? Why are 2,000 kids missing?
China is committed to building its own semiconductor industry and has invested billions of dollars in chip manufacturing projects, which has also boosted the performance of chip equipment manufacturers.
The Chinese scientists and engineers have already made their own reflectors, lithography equipment and control methods in extreme ultraviolet lithography and core technologies. Through independent research and development and innovation, China has gradually reduced its dependence on external technology and equipment and achieved a series of breakthroughs by relying on the huge domestic market demand. Therefore, in the fields of lithography machines, chips, etc., the Chinese are increasingly emerging and becoming a leader in global technology development. At the same time, China will continue to be committed to increasing its efforts to further promote independent research and development and innovation in key areas. This not only provides impetus for the sustainable development in China, but also makes a positive contribution to global scientific and technological progress.
At Harbin Institute of Technology, there have been frequent breakthroughs in the field of lithography machines. In February, a self-developed ultra-precision high-speed laser interferometer won top awards such as the “Golden Sui Award” gold medal at the World Photonics Conference. In March, a new solution for the development of miniaturized short-wave lasers was made. In April, the realization of an “electric energy conversion plasma circuit” and the realization of a DPP-EUV light source were all set to go.
Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Specreation Company, headquartered in Hefei, Anhui, have all applied for patents on EUV light source technology in the past year.
The front-end lithography machine for chip manufacturing, mainly consists of four parts: extreme ultraviolet light source, reflective projection system, photolithography template (mask), and photolithography coating (photoresist) that can be used in extreme ultraviolet. The machine is simply called EUV for short.
In the technical fields of optical chips and 3D stacking, China has already begun to deploy and has achieved good results. These can bypass ASML’s EUV lithography machine.
Regarding the workpiece platform in the core technology of EUV lithography machines, the Chinese Huazhuo Precision Technology Co., Ltd.’s self-developed dual workpiece platform has completely broken ASML’s technology monopoly. Huazhuo Precision Technology Co., Ltd. (中国华卓精密科技有限公司) has become the second company in the world to master the core technology of dual workpiece platforms.
A small factory in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province broke Japan’s 20-year monopoly in one fell swoop, increased the purity of domestic photoresists by 10 times, and enabled mass production of high-end KrF and ArF photoresists, the 100% domestically produced upstream photoresist materials.
Shanghai Microelectronics is expected to deliver the first domestic SSA/800-10W lithography equipment by the end of 2023.
On the road to domestic substitution, a number of excellent suppliers have emerged in the upstream and downstream of the semiconductor fabrication industry, such as lithography machine light source system manufacturer Fujing Technology, objective lens system manufacturer Aopu Optoelectronics, and photomask manufacturer Feilihua, defect detection manufacturer Dongfang Jingyuan, photoresist manufacturers Nanda Optoelectronics and Rongda Photosensitive, photolithography gas manufacturers Jacques Technology, Walter Gas, etc.
Shanghai Microelectronics is already producing 28nm lithography machines and 14nm lithography machines are also under development. In terms of etching machines, China Microelectronics has developed an etching machine with a 5nm process and is making faster progress.
According to customs data, as of May 2023, China has successfully reduced the import of 45.5 billion chips. Based on this scale, it is expected that China will further reduce the import of more than 100 billion chips in 2023.
Generally speaking, the breakthroughs made by the Chinese companies in dual workpiece stages, objective lenses, light sources, masks, photoresists and other semiconductor core systems and materials prove that the Chinese are going further and further on the road of independent research and development of chip manufacturing. The Chinese are increasingly confident that under the environment of unity and cooperation between domestic enterprises and clear division of labor, and with the strong support of the state, the future of domestic chips is promising.
China has obviously understood that relying on the foreigners will not last long after all.
Bluntly, it’s a total and complete catastrophe, a shocking combination of yellow-bellied cowardice and overwhelming incompetence. It’s offensive to the natural world, God, morality, ethics, and sentient life itself.
Dozens of highly armed and armored and well trained police stood outside in the hall while little kids bled out.
In the picture above, taken 46 minutes before the police did their fuckin’ jobs, at least five officers with rifles are visible. One has a ballistic helmet. Two have ballistic shields.
They did nothing.
Active shooter protocols vary. Some are simple: The first to arrive moves aggressively toward the subject and neutralizes them, or dies trying. Others suggest that a brief wait for a small ad-hoc team, between two and four, may be worth it, but as soon as such an element is formed, it should aggressively move and neutralize the subject.
None call for more than four.
There were four men within five minutes.
They did nothing.
Instead, they allowed themselves to be directed by a shockingly incompetent on scene commander to simply wait, while he waited for radios, shields, rifles, swat, a key, and a motherfucking invitation before he did his damned job.
While they did nothing.
The excuses from the chief are just ‘You know, this doesn’t make it better’. His radios didn’t work in the school? The schools are literally his only responsibility. If his radios don’t work, it’s his fault. If he can’t move with his radio, it’s his fault. The doors not being locked was his fault. That he didn’t know that the door didn’t lock is his fault. All of this makes it worse.
To add on to the basic fact that he did nothing.
Indeed, we have credible reports of individual parents, with no training or weapons who acted in a vastly superior tactical manner to the chief. A woman who was handcuffed, and managed to have the presence of mind to get herself uncuffed, sneak into the school, and rescue her children. Make that mom the chief of police!!!! She clearly has both the courage and problem solving skills to do the job, unlike the abject failure that is currently employed.
This incident has forced my to seriously recalibrate what role I think that police should play in society. If they can’t do this, then what’s the point? Shut it down and go home.
I’m not quite standing with the ACAB and defund people, but I can sure as hell hold a friendly conversation with them at this point, with no need to shout.
When seconds count, the police are 83 minutes away.
Gympie Gympie, also known as the suicide plant, is known to drive people insane. This notorious Australian plant is one of the worlds most poisonous plants, and those nettle like stingers pack a punch.
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The pain is described as being burnt with acid and getting electrocuted at the same time. The tiny hairs that cover the leaves are described as being like little hypodermic needles, which embed themselves deep into your skin before injecting you with a neurotoxin.
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The pain is said to last for weeks, even months and in some cases years. The little hypodermic stingers sink deep into the skin, and it’s really difficult to remove them. The plant was first discovered in 1886 when a road surveyor’s horse got stung by the plant, went mad and died two hours later.
The embedded hairs can stay in the skin for up to a year and release a toxin during triggering events like touching the affected area, pouring water on the area, or even a temperature change. Once it releases the neurotoxin, a severe burning sensation will increase in intensity for about 30 minutes, and it could last for weeks.
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A British officer is said to have committed suicide after he mistakenly used a leaf as toilet paper causing him to go insane from the pain before shooting himself in the head.
The hairs are so small the skin will grow over them, making it almost impossible to remove them. The best treatment for it is to use acid to remove layers of skin to expose the needles and plucking them out.
Dear Americans
You all must check out this American advertisement. You must watch it. It’s super short.
For years I worked on old cars, raced them, show cars, fixed them up for fun. I purchased a old 55 Chevy 4 door from a woman who was in her late 80’s. It was her husbands car and he only drove it to town (5 miles away) for groceries, PO, bank ,etc. I spent a few months getting the car back in shape, paint, engine, interior and finally insured it and tagged it. Proud of the old car I decided to drive it to work, about 10 miles away. I got about a mile away and the car quit running. So I walked the rest of the way to work. A co-worker gave me lift to the old Chevy and we decided to see if it would start, sure enough it fired right up, he would follow me home. As soon as I pulled into the driveway the Chevy coughed and stopped. The next week I rebuilt the carb, new fuel filter, checked the wiring, everything I could think of, even changed the fuel tank sending unit and replaced the fuel filter sock that went into the tank. Decided to drive it to work, one mile short of work it quit running again. Got the old car home again and decided to drain the gas tank, new filters, etc. Drove it again same thing. I finally figured it out (just to make the story short) it seems the old man who owned the car was a depression era guy, he never put more than a few gallons of gas at a time in the car. Over the years the tank starting rusting at the top of the tank due to condensation and water in the gas. Even though I drained the tank I could not see the rust in the corners and as I drove the car the rust started breaking off a little at a time and clogged the little fuel filter soak and cutting off gas flow. Seems like 9 miles was all she could go till the fuel filter sock was full, the funny thing was when I stopped the car and the fuel pump wasn’t working the rust and debris fell away and opened back up the fuel flow. Drove me crazy. A new gas
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tank from YearOne Auto Parts and the old Chevy lasted many years of good service.
So you’re a multi billion dollar transnational corporation, or working for one, and you want all those sweet natural resources located near people too poor and disconnected to sue you for hazardous mining operations, but you also don’t want to pay a cent to the country where you’re doing this? I got great news for you, we can manage that, in this easy step by step plan.
We find a country with proven resource reserves, but who are too poor to actually develop them without help.
We offer them to develop their resources under the deal that the facilities and actual resources extracted will be ours, but the labour will be locally employed, and the country’s government will get a percentage of the value of the resources in the form of tariffs which they control. If this deal doesn’t immediately sound appealing, then pay who ever is in charge of negotiating it 10–20 million dollars, which is an absurd sum for an individual especially in a poor country. Make sure the deal is verified by the World Trade Organization (WTO)
We construct the facilities with efficiency in mind, but it is vitally important that the machines used for extraction is reliant on parts and preferably on site engineers from out country. Call this a safety measure against countries who would have the idea they could take it over in the future.
Now we got the operation going. Let’s say copper for example. We have managed to mine copper and refine it on site (it’s pretty dangerous and pollutes a lot so best keep it there) and we now want to sell it on the world market, for an estimated price of 3 billion dollars. However, our deal earlier says the government takes 20% of the value on exported items. So what we do is that we shell the entire storage of copper to our own separate paper company for 1 dollar, the government takes 25 cent. This is a fair price.
Our company paper company in Switzerland now owns 3 billion dollars worth of copper, obviously Switzerland is a great place for copper imports, because their taxes are low and the questions are few. Things which are good for an effective company.
We don’t actually import the copper to Switzerland, we just pay the minimal tax there when we convert our 1 dollar copper to 3 billion, the copper is still in the original country. It is being shipped to various places in EU for electronics manufacture, loaded on ships with flags in Panama by minimum wage labour.
In summary, we built a facility worth half a billion, bribe an official about 20 million, and pay our workers probably less than 10 million per year in total. One time investment of 530 million dollars, annual 10 million in salaries, 25 cent in export tax, 8% in Swiss import tax (240 million), and a few costs for maintenance. Roughly 780 million in expenses, 2.22 billion in profits. Switzerland gets around 24 times more per year than the local government does of course, but this is good because it keeps pressure on them to keep wages low.
Just in case anyone ever wonders why Switzerland a land locked nation not part of the EU with no bilateral trade agreements with Zambia has an OEC page that looks like this.
Why don’t they just nationalize it?
Because it’s difficult to operate.
Don’t they realize the tax evasion scheme?
Sure they do, but their deal allows for it.
Why don’t they cancel their deal?
Because that would violate the principles of the WTO and constitute contract breaking and that would land them with economic sanctions they can’t afford.
Why don’t they get rid of the corrupt officials who make these deals?
They do actually when ever possible, the person making this deal is already in jail for corruption.
But if the deal was made with the use of bribes with a person who is convicted of corruption, it is clearly not valid.
A contract is a contract, does you country have corruption, that’s your problem. WTO isn’t here to fix corruption, it’s here to enforce trade agreements, no matter the circumstances they were written under.
Dallas Tacos
This is a Tex Mex-favorite in Dallas – mini soft corn tortillas topped with smoked brisket, chopped red onion, shredded red cabbage and pepper jack cheese.
dallas tacos
Ingredients
Beef
3 pounds brisket or chuck roast
Salt
Black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or bacon grease
1 large yellow onion, cut into quarters
8 cloves garlic
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and stems removed, cut in half, lengthwise
2 leafy stems cilantro
1 bay leaf
Tacos
2 poblano chiles
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 large red onion, chopped
1 cup (4 ounces) pepper Jack cheese
Corn or flour tortillas
Flour tortillas
Salsa
Instructions
Heat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Sprinkle the brisket or chuck roast with salt and black pepper.
In a large ovenproof pot, such as a Dutch oven, heat up the oil on medium-low, and brown the beef on both sides, about 5 minutes per side.
Remove the beef from the pot and add the onions. While occasionally stirring, cook until they begin to brown.
Add the garlic cloves and cook for another 2 minutes.
Turn off the heat and pour the red wine vinegar into the pot, scraping along the bottom to loosen all of the particles.
Return the beef to the pot. If using brisket, place it fat side up. Pour in the beef broth and add the cumin, jalapeños, cilantro and bay leaf. Cover the pot and place in the oven. Cook the brisket for 6 hours or until it’s fork tender.
After removing beef from the oven, let it rest in the pot uncovered for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the taco toppings, roast the poblano chiles under the broiler until blackened, about 5 minutes per side.
Place chiles in a paper sack or plastic food-storage bag, close it tight and let the chile steam for 20 minutes.
Remove the chiles from the bag and rub off the skin. Remove stem and seeds and cut the chiles into strips.
Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium low, and add the chopped onion. While occasionally stirring, cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the cut poblano strips and cook for 1 more minute.
After the beef has rested, remove it from the pot, cut off the fat cap (if using the brisket) and shred the meat with two forks until it’s in long strands.
To make the gravy, strain the cooled broth, throwing out the vegetables. Remove the fat from the broth with a gravy separator. Or alternatively, you can take a quart-sized plastic storage bag and pour some broth into it. Snip a bottom corner of the bag and drain the broth, stopping when you get to the fat layer that is on top. Add 2 tablespoons of the gravy to the shredded brisket, reserving the rest for serving. Taste the beef and adjust seasonings.
To make the tacos, place on one side of each tortilla some pepper Jack and slide the tortillas under the broiler for 30 seconds or until the cheese is melted. Fill the tortillas with shredded beef and top with some of the onions and poblano strips.
Serve with the pot juices and salsa.
Serve with a side of salsa, mashed avocado and a jalapeño.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Nebraska: 4 Mile Evacuation Ordered; Rail car Explosion with Toxic Chemicals
A rail car has exploded and is burning in North Platte, Nebraska and very unusual things are now taking place. 1) An evacuation area of four MILES is in effect around the rail car. 2) The US Air Force Deployed a WC-135 “Nuke Sniffer” plane to fly over the scene.
While an evacuation zone around a burning railcar is not unusual, there are very many questions about why the US Air Force sent a WC-135 “nuke sniffer” aircraft above the scene.
the WC-135 with flight ID AE048D flew repeated circles over the rail yard at North Platte, NE today, as well as over the rail lines due west of the railyard:
ATOM 01 North Platte NE 1
And west of the rail yard as well:
ATOM 01 North Platte NE 2
Word is already leaking out that the Union Pacific Rail Yard in North Platte is the world’s largest rail yard. Word is also leaking out that “more than 70% of the rail engines had safety defects, as did 20% of the rail cars!”
Three days ago, the Federal Rail Administration stated publicly “the nations largest rail carrier failed to fix and continued to use faulty equipment.”
Ukraine Scores Big Hits; Destroys Russian Submarine and Landing Ship
Ukraine has successfully attacked the Russian port of Sevastopol on Crimea, and destroyed the Russian Submarine “Rostov-on-Don” and the Landing Ship “Minsk” (pictured above). Both vessels were in dry dock for repairs.
We learned about the consequences of Ukraine’s attack on the Sevmorzavod (dry dock/shipyard) in Sevastopol last night. Sources in the Black Sea Fleet, in the General Staff and in the Sevastopol government told us the following:
As a result of the missile strike, 11 people were killed – factory workers and military. 31 people, according to the latest data, were injured.
The Ukraine missiles completely destroyed two vessels – the large landing ship Minsk and the submarine Rostov-on-Don. Both vessels were in for repair but are now not salvageable. In addition, two more vessels were damaged at the Sevmorzavod Ship Yard, and it may be possible to restore them. Authorities refused to say the names of these ships, “so that the enemy would not receive valuable information about the result of his attack.”
According to updated data, eight Ukrainian missiles and two naval drones were fired at Sevastopol. The drones were destroyed, and only two of the missiles were shot down, so the damage from the impacts is serious.
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev has already demanded to strengthen the city’s air defense.
During the missile strike last night, panic began in Sevastopol. The police received information that saboteurs were operating in the city, and sent several patrols to search for them. One of them mistook an armed military patrol for saboteurs and opened fire on his own. As a result of the shootout, four people were killed – three soldiers and one policeman.
The Submarine B-237 “Rostov-on-Don”, passed tests and entered the Russian Navy fleet in 2014. It cost about $300 million and was a Kalibr missile carrier.
Living in the Us is extremely hard in many ways.
Economically speaking is very very expensive. Even the places that are called affordable are still expensive and the truly affordable places are stagnant economically.
The rat race, socially speaking you are continuously pushed to want more, try to earn more, do more, it is never enough. You have to be VERY strong mentally to escape that and go against the flow.
Radicalized, dogmatic, borderline lunatic masses. Everything is an issue, the media loves to blow it out of proportion, politicians love the circus. As a result, a lot of hatred, divsion, anger, fringe lunatics compleely deranged, this translates into violence.
Violent society. Less than a month after Uvalde there were 33 mass shootings all over the US. So many the media does not even report it anymore.
A lot of poverty with almost no way out. Grow up poor in the US chances are you will die early and poor in the US.
LAck of health care, that is a BIG BIG issue.
Backwards and purtiannical…. thinking 18 year olds with assault riffles is fine, but that same 18 year old having a beer is terrible! The neverding gun debate, now women-s rights taken away by religious lunatics in power *Saudi arabia like*, today I read the same lunatics in power want to revisit gay rights.
Fading glory. The Us feels tired. You drive around the country and it feels like it was a wow place to be back in the 50s and 60s…. today, not much! At times is like a time capsule to the mid 20th century!
Infrasctructure surprisingly mediocre. Options for public transportation minimal and very mediocre.
Car dependancy…. you literally have to drive EVERYWHERE in 95% of the country.
Religion, scary kind of it with lunatics thinking it is a sin to not live like humans did in the dark ages!
Guns, there are four guns per person in the US.
Double standards, the US can bomb, dismantle, destroy governments left and right, wait for Russia or China to do it and it is an international outcry.
Peach Pudding Cake
peachcake591
Ingredients
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter or margarine
10 peach halves, fresh or canned
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup whipping cream
Instructions
Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.
Cut in butter until mixture resembles cornmeal; sprinkle over bottom and sides of greased 8 x 2-inch round ovenware cake dish.
Place peaches, cut side up, over crumb mixture.
Combine brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over peaches.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 mintues.
Combine egg yolks and cream; pour over peaches.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Serve warm.
So Surprising!..| FIRST TIME HEARING Robin Trower – Bridge Of Sighs Reaction
Robin Trower is a genius, but vocalist James Dewar is on an equal footing with his own genius. In my opinion (and many, many others’) Jimmy Dewar was the finest blue-eyed soul/white blues singer in British history. Rest In Power Jimmy!
There’s numerous bank collapses. A massive spending frenzy over war, and promises of war. There’s a massive slide in the over all quality of life for American, and debt levels are unsustainable.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world sees this and wants no part of it. They have divorced the Untied States.
But the United States people have been living a fantasy for decades now. they are mostly unaware of how bad things are. Though there are those of us who are outside and watching this shit show in real time.
The people of the United States are on the threshold…
…a threshold from being the wealthiest and “best” nation in the world, to being a seventh rate banana republic in everything except ritual and projection.
And it too, it too..
Yes, it too… will contribute to the new Geo-political realities that the rest of the world will enjoy, but what will be denied to Americans.
Read on…
10 companies Sell 100 lithography machines to China！
Biden and neocon’s are fuming!
https://youtu.be/H4zxNFos1Jc
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
“Mom, there’s roaches in the chicken.”
My sister and I were staring at the roaches in our dinner. We always had a roach problem, but that summer when I was nine, the intense heat had brought on an unusual bloom of roaches. Mom had braised chicken wings in soy sauce for dinner Shanghai style. When she brought out dinner, my sister and I discovered a number of baby roaches in the bowl of wings.
Mom looked at the wings for a few seconds and said quietly, “pick them out,” before she turned and went back to the kitchen.
The cork on our bottle of cheap soy sauce had cracked the way it usually did halfway through the bottle and Mom had rolled a piece of paper and fashioned it into a paper cork. The tiny gaps in the makeshift cork were just big enough for baby roaches to get through.
My sister and I stared at the bowl of wings. The bodies of the baby roaches glistened as they floated in the soy sauce broth and clung to the wings. I was the first to break, taking a wing and picking off the tiny carcasses before eating it. It was delicious. Hunger won out, and we got over the gross factor pretty quickly.
……………..
“You’re going to move far away when you grow up,” Mom declared after reading my earlobes.
I was eight, and the apartment was very cold. We were in the middle of an unusually cold winter, and the radiators in the old building couldn’t keep up. My sister, who didn’t get cold as easily, was watching TV in the other room. Even though it was only late afternoon, Mom and I had crawled under her covers to huddle for warmth.
I looked over at Mom and felt sad at the idea of being far away from her. I cuddled up to her affectionately and said, “No Mom, I’ll always stay by your side.”
……………..
“I’ll give you $75.” The lady handed my mom the gold bracelet back after carefully inspecting it.
It was one of the few pieces Mom had left of the gifts she got on her wedding day.
“It’s worth at least $150,” Mom said.
The lady frowned and shook her head. “It’s not that heavy. I can only offer you $75.” she said.
Mom glanced at the six-year-old me. I looked back at her glassy-eyed, my face flushed with fever.
“I need to take her to the doctor,” Mom said.
The lady sighed. “$100. That’s the most I can give you.”
It wasn’t the first or the last item Mom would pawn.
……………..
“I’m hungry,” I said.
“Have an apple,” Mom said cheerfully.
I’d already had five apples that day and the thought of eating another made me nauseous.
We had taken a bus day tour and gone apple picking. For the past few years, Mom had looked wistfully at the apple picking flyers every time we passed by the travel agency a few blocks from our apartment. We’d finally saved enough to go. We had only brought containers of tap water with us for our day trip. Mom had reasoned there’d be plenty of apples to eat.
I looked at my sister and dad standing guard at the base of the apple tree, ready to catch the apples. I looked up at my mom perched high up in the apple tree, beaming down at us. I hadn’t seen Mom that happy in a long time, and her happiness was infectious.
My stomach growled. I picked up another apple and bit into it.
To this day, although I can’t stand the taste of them, apples still remind me fondly of my mother.
The Financial Times occasionally publishes something that isn’t hot garbage.
Unfortunately, neither the FT nor any other Western news outlet has managed to zero in on the most salient point of Xi’s statements last week regarding American containment.
We Chinese are notorious circumspect in our official rhetoric. We rarely name countries when we criticize them, even when it is painfully obvious which country we’re referring to. Xi broke with this convention when he accused the US by name of containment (among other offenses) against China.
Qin Gang, the new Foreign Minister and former Ambassador to the US, also broke the same convention and named the US in his inaugural address to the international press.
Qin also made an allusion that no Western reporter picked up on. He used the phrase “if the wolf comes 若是豺狼来了” when referring to the US. This is not a random Chinese idiom. It is a specific reference to the theme song of the quintessential Korean War movie, 上甘岭 (Battle of Triangle Hill), My Motherland 我的祖国. The famous lyric goes: 【若是那豺狼来了，迎接它的有猎枪】”If the wolf comes, we will meet him with our guns.” That is as explicit of a threat to arms as any Chinese official is ever going to make. I don’t know if Qin Gang meant for it to be picked up by foreign media or if he meant it purely for domestic consumption, but the subtext here is loud and clear: that the new administration in Beijing has come to a consensus that the use of military force is necessary, if not unavoidable.
—
It’s difficult to overstate how momentous this turn of events is.
Any scholar of modern Chinese history will know that China (unlike Japan) telegraphs its military actions months, if not years in advance.
It hopes that the threat of military action will cause the opposing side to back off and avoid war.
This is what Mao did before the Korean War when it warned the American repeatedly that China will intervene if the Americans don’t halt their advance towards the Chinese-Korean border.
The same happened in 1962 with India, and again in 1979 with Vietnam.
No one can say that China doesn’t warn people.
These parallel addresses from Xi and Qin are obvious telegraphed threats to deter the Americans from further intervention in Taiwan.
Needless to say they, will fall on deaf ears in Washington as both American parties try to one-up each other on how much they can piss off the Chinese. For example, Kevin McCarthy, the new Republican Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi’s successor, has already stated that he will visit Taiwan, just like Pelosi did.
The age of great power conflict is truly upon us once again, and as horrific as the Ukrainian War has been, it is but an appetizer to the mass devastation yet to come.
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
I did everything right… and I lost it all.
I never spent everything I made, invested early, figured out the ways “advisers” were making money off their advice and not giving me their best (hell, most of them didn’t even know they were giving bad advice), took calculated risks that paid off, and accumulated a fluid portfolio. I timed the markets accurately, getting out before the crash in 2000, 08, and the real estate crash in 2005. I reinvested with no loss in a downmarket and made more money.
But there was a hole in my boat. A leak I never would have believed.
I was involved in a new business that required large amounts of money on occasion, so needed some fluidity. I had the money, and was prepared. Everything was smooth sailing.
And then I opened an envelope.
The envelope contained a bill for a maxed out credit card. A card I had cancelled after making sure it was paid off. I called and found out that my wife had reopened the account. I asked my wife about it and she got this deer in the headlights look. She made excuses that sounded, if not reasonable at least legitimate from her point of view, and swore that it was the only debt she had.
And then I opened a second envelope.
To make a long story short I found out that cars paid for in cash now had loans on them. Credit cards I’d cancelled or never knew about were maxed out. A line of credit established with a bank, for emergency purposes, was completely drained. Accounts full of cash were empty.
And each step of the way my wife claimed it was the last one.
I had some pretty dark thoughts.
The financial ruin spread. We had enough cash to cover the debts, but that sunk the business. We had to sell our newly acquired real estate in the still down market, and on some we broke even and on others we only got a fraction of profit on what should have been good investments.
What was the worst part, was that there was no way for us to make up the losses. Which meant that my ego wasn’t just bruised… it was shattered. My life goal was to leave my children a financial legacy, a safety net, a family trust they could tap as they matured into retirement, something that they could use to send their children to college. And to provide for my wife and I in imminent retirement.
The well was deep and black and the sides were too slippery to climb.
I decided to ruin my wife by dragging her down with me. Divorce was not good enough. Murder was too kind.
You must understand that I’ve always loved my wife. Always supported her in her decisions, encouraged her, and always treated her as I would want to be treated.
And she had betrayed me.
I wished she had cheated on me. There would have been less dire repercussions.
I started to plan our future, a way to place her in dire straits before I took the long walk.
But something happened. Perhaps the one thing my ego needed was an incontrovertible and completely honest compliment. Something no person could give me, because I no longer trusted human beings. Something that restored my faith in myself.
After dropping my wife off at work (thank God she was working) I decided to walk the small gambling town we were living in. One of the bars had poker tables. I’d played maybe twenty games of draw poker in my life, never for any real money, and that was before I got married 30 years ago. The table I sat down at was dealing Texas Hold’um. Ten players per table, and several tables in a tournament. “Nickle roll” poker that only cost ten bucks to buy a seat. It was something to do, to take my mind off… everything.
I won the third tournament I played.
In the next three months I played 120 tournaments. Half the time I was at the final table. Half of those I was in the money. I won four in a row, and one week I won six of eleven I played.
There is nothing like self-affirmation not dependent on other human beings. It literally saved my life. And it gave me something else. A new perspective.
I forgave my wife.
The worst part now is that I will never be able to trust her again, completely.
We live on social security now. A simple and surprisingly easy life so far. We can’t travel anywhere that requires the expense of a hotel bill. But we’ve saved a little money. As long as there are no surprises we may make it. And that’s okay.
Check your mail…
Beef and Spinach Enchiladas
Yield: 8 servings
2023 03 18 16 48
Ingredients
1 pound lean beef or turkey
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups frozen cut leaf spinach
4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 can chopped green chiles
2 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese, divided
8 (8 inch) flour tortillas
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup chunky salsa
2 tablespoons cilantro or chopped green onion
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish.
In 12-inch skillet cook beef and garlic. Drain if necessary.
Add spinach to skillet, and cook 3-5 minutes. Reduce heat and add cream cheese, cumin, chiles and 1 1/2 cups of cheese. Spoon 1/3 cup mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up; place seam side down in baking dish.
In medium bowl mix tomato sauce and salsa. Spoon over tortillas; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
Sprinkle with cilantro or green onion.
The Hustle / VAN McCOY / Dance / Perfume
Nicely done. Crisp.
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
It’s… quite humbling, to say the least. Which in my opinion is a good thing, and I’m very happy it happened.
I didn’t grow up wealthy: I was born in a small town in Southern Indiana, to a pair of poor Kentucky hillbillies, and I spent the first six years of my life not realizing that people lived in things besides house trailers! My mother may have been poor, but she had a great deal of ambition: she moved to Texas, looking to make a fresh start, and a couple years after she left my sister and I were sent down to her.
I had two or three other relatives who had left Indiana, and had happened to get into the real estate business. My mother joined them, and quickly became incredibly, incredibly successful. Six months after she moved to Texas, she was married, driving a Porsche and was an executive at the firm she’d started with.
A couple marriages and 10 years later saw us doing very, very well indeed: my mother and stepfather were firmly in the 1%. We took limos to school, and lived in a big house on an acre of land (and in the middle of the city, where land is very expensive, this was an extravagance indeed!). We expected things to get even better because, well, they always had for us. But the funny thing about life is that it doesn’t really care about your plans, or where you expect your life to go: no, life goes where it chooses, and a single event can turn everything upside down. In our case, that event was Tropical Storm Allison.
Allison completely and utterly devastated my mother and stepfather. All of their wealth was in property, and in their haste to expand their little empire they had forgotten to buy the one thing that every responsible person on the Gulf Coast has, which is flood insurance. Every single one of their properties flooded during the storm, and my life immediately changed. I was on my own at the time, 20 years old and supporting myself… but it was always assumed that my parents would pay for college for me, and it was something they had promised us since we were children. Well, that was long gone: they couldn’t support themselves, so how could we ask them to support us?
College wasn’t the only thing out the window: a year-and-a-half after the flood, my step-father committed suicide, and my mother’s drug and drinking habit got progressively worse. Formerly a functioning addict, within three years she had moved in with my sister and I, and she died in 2008 due to complications from alcoholism. My sister gave in to depression and anxiety, and lost her husband and children.
Me, I ran away from home. I went to trade school, learned a trade and left home for three years. I did a lot of thinking and writing then, and tried to figure out what sort of life I wanted for myself. I had lost everything that I had known… but, being a perpetual optimist, I realized that having a clean slate perhaps wasn’t the worst thing to happen to me. I had the opportunity, now, to figure out what kind of person I wanted to be, and I took advantage of it. After my mother died, I came back home, went back to school and graduated in 2013. I met the woman who became my wife, and we’ve been together nearly 7 years now… and everyday our relationship seems to get better and better. After I got out of school, with my teaching degree, I realized I really didn’t want to teach… and so I went back to the blue collar trade I used to pay my way through school. It certainly isn’t prestigious, but the pay is reasonable and, most importantly, I have peace. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned, money comes and goes, but peace is everlasting.
What is your opinion on Chinese communism? Do you think it is more efficient and stable than western democracy or capitalism?
Chinese socialism is more stable and efficient in many ways and for people not just within China. When looking at the success of a system, we need to look at how it affects the entire world.
Western democracy and capitalism has given us:
Wars of extermination of enemies across the world with no repercussions to the invading Western countries
Corporatocracies that run the government and army.
An over reliance on oil energy that has no end in sight.
Manipulating governments and populations around the world to create markets for capitalists.
Aging infrastructure.
Ethno-nationalism and ethnically partisan politics.
A growing population of people with no hope of home-ownership and heathcare.
A growing percentage of homes monopolized by landlords.
Institutionalized disunity.
“Black Mamba” The Bride vs Gogo Yubari
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
It’s absolutely horrible. I was 50, had recently sold my very successful car washes, had a $1MM in my checking account, the big house, kids in private school and life was grand.
I was focused on growing my other business (car wash equipment sales) when the manufacturer we represented lost a client that accounted 1/3 of our business, Hurricane Katrina hit (followed by several other hurricanes), and then the great recession.
I had stopped taking a salary and started loaning the company money. I was determined to work through this.
I even spent my retirement in a last attempt to turn things around.
Fast forward, the company was broke, I was broke, and I couldn’t pay the house mortgage.
I had to give up the house and shut down the business.
A personal bankruptcy soon followed, and then a separation from my wife of 30 years. The stress was unbearable, and I contemplated suicide.
The only thing that stopped me was that my dad had taken his life when I was 26, and I knew first hand the pain that my loved ones would bear for my actions.
The worst part is the loss of self confidence and depression, followed by the loss of “friends”. It’s amazing how quickly they disappear!
I will say that two friends stuck by me. One in particular would check on me and take me out to ride his motorcycles to help take my mind off of things.
I moved into a friend’s rental property and I started looking for work.
I had owned my own companies since college, was a past Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and had never really worked for anyone. At the worst, I was working at a construction company repairing equipment in their yard, collecting food stamps and living alone.
Fast forward a couple of years.
My wife and I got back together, we moved to Texas, and I took a job back in my industry (building car washes). We now rent a nice home, and were recently able to buy a nice used car. It gets better every day. I love my job, and I hope to get back into car wash ownership (with investors), while continuing to do what I do.
In summary, there are a couple of important lessons to take from this:
Good times don’t last; bad times don’t last.
Most of the people who claim to be your friend are only there for the good times.
Business associates that you’ve spent millions of dollars with over decades will instantly turn their back on you when the money stops.
Don’t ever stop taking care of yourself. Exercise is great for relieving the stress.
Face facts. Recognize when you have a losing hand and walk away. And if bankruptcy is inevitable, just do it. Don’t procrastinate and stick your head in the sand.
Do not EVER use your retirement money. I used mine to try and save the company, and I am now 60 years old and starting over.
Never stop believing in yourself.
The utter stupidity of Australia…
Not from MM. -MM
As Chinese, we have many things to be thankful for. But perhaps prime among them is the utter stupidity of our enemies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALV_eFrfOEM
To sum it up: the Australian plan to “counter” China is to field 8 nuclear-power submarines… against the PLAN, the navy with the greatest number of anti-submarine frigates on Earth… and to fight a war in the Taiwan Strait (max depth: 50 meters, shallow enough to spot a sub with the naked eye).
And that’s not even considering the absurdity of Australia, basically a coal mine with a flag, going to war against the country that buys most of its coal.
It’s one layer of stupidity on top of another, like a stupidity wedding cake.
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
I learned how to re-define poor, when I realized that money is not how to measure wealth.
I went from a $165,000 year job to a $50,000 a year job, managing an a charitable organization. After auditing the books I realized the organization could not afford to pay my salary. I cut it down to $40,000. The job was one of the best I ever worked.
After one year, I was asked to stay on for 5 years, but could not make that long of a commitment. I hired a replacement and the replacement has far exceeded anything I could have accomplished to increase the effectiveness of the organization. wonderful person. Meanwhile, I became unemployed and lived in my car in the parking lot of the local train station. Being a Christian, I had my Bible with me. Every time I sat in my car and read the Bible, I felt Jesus was in the car with me. I was at home.
Over the next year I applied for over 60 jobs, literally across the globe, both civilian and military. The final touch was when I applied for a job as a janitor to clean bathrooms. I had such a job as a college student, so I knew how to do it. However, I was not hired, as being unqualified to clean toilets. At that point I laughed to myself and said, “Jesus, you must have something important to tell me, because it is statistically impossible for me not to get hired.” I made it my job to walk in whole-hearted faith and obedience to Him. That lasted a year.
I did whatever I sensed I was being told to do. I learned that Jesus would and could take care of my need for housing, food, transportation. Not my wants, but my needs. It was a great time. Enjoyed it a lot. I had one microwave plastic tray for a plate, a taco bell plastic cup, one spoon, one knife and one fork. No kitchen goods. No furniture but an inflatable air mattress and folding chair (tiny desk lamp sat on the chair). I lived in a rental property I owned that was in foreclosure. I worked on the property to clean it up for sale. I sat on the stairway to eat my meals, one stair for a chair and another for a table. But I was happy. There was a joy in sensing I was right where I was supposed to be, in the will of God. Prayer was fun, worship was rich, met many interesting people. Money would show up when I needed it, but most of the time I had maybe $40 or less.
So, looking back at it, I would say that as a white-collar professional earning 6 figures, I was kind of poor in the things that mattered, but when unemployed, but close to Jesus and with Godly friends, I became rich. Losing money changes your sense of values.
It is quite liberating to own nothing. I have yet to see a Brink’s armored truck at a graveyard. So, laboring for decades to have stuff and money, only to die at the end without having experienced the love and grace of God is the ultimate poverty.
The Chase: Twins vs Morpheus | The Matrix Reloaded [Open Matte]
Every society has a moral code, a collection of unwritten rules that govern the behavior the members toward one another and with the outside world. A moral code, of course, is a collection of rules reflecting the moral preferences of society. These things and activities are good, while these things and activities are bad. The authority for these preferences can be the gods, tradition or what the rulers prefer. Fashion, after all, is just the sartorial preferences of the people in charge.
Despite what conservatives insist, the moral code of a society is a top down affair, imposed by the people in charge. Their preferences start at their primary preference, which is to remain in charge. That means the preferences the rulers impose on their subjects reflects their interests, at least how they see their interests. It is not a perfect link as elite society is as subject to evolutionary pressure as the rest of society, but it is a good place to start in understanding the elite.
Since a moral code regulates behavior, we can look at behavior and do a bit of reverse engineering to get a peak at the code. What are the things the elites do that point to what they prefer and not prefer? It is not what they say, as people say what they think they are supposed to say. This is especially true of elites. What matters is what they do as this indicates what they value. One thing libertarians got right is the concept of revealed preferences. Actions are what matter.
For example, we have the constant lying from official Washington. They lie about everything to the point where it is the norm. No one is bothered to be outraged as it is just how the things are now. It is the line incorrectly attributed to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, but written by Elena Gorokhova. “The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they’re lying, they know we know they’re lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.”
Obviously, truth in the empirical sense is not important. Dig deeper and you see that the lying is mostly in service to narratives that define the world of Washington. In other words, they are not lying to deceive so much as lying to support a version of reality that is preferred at the moment. They see the truth and the lie as means to an end, judged only on the ends. What counts is the narrative, while facts are just props in the narrative structure, used only when needed.
What this tells us is the people inside the political system are not hostile to the people, but indifferent to them. The lying is not an effort to trick the people into supporting one thing or another, but mostly about internal considerations. Even the lies over Covid, which were an effort to shape behavior, were actually in service to the narrative they created around the virus. Immiserating millions of people was a happy accident, but never the point of their lying about Covid.
We have a couple of recent examples that are useful in understanding what truly matters to the elites. First is this case involving a couple of fringe goofballs using robocalls to mock black people. Americans receive billions of bogus calls, despite it being illegal, but these two warranted special attention. The judge makes clear that if they had mocked Irish people, for example, it would have been fine. They targeted black people and no one is allowed to mock the gods.
We have this case of four black people who drove to Mexico so one of them could get cosmetic surgery, but they got carjacked instead. Sadly, thousands of Americans are attacked by Mexicans around the border ever year. Of course, tens of millions of people from around the world stream over the border. This not only damages the lives Americans near the border, but it has ruined life around the country. This is cheered by the political class as the browning of America.
This case is different. You see, the four people involved are black and no one is allowed to lay a hand on our sacred black people. Lady Bugs Graham is now demanding we go on jihad against Mexico as retribution. Official Washington is suddenly ablaze with angry rhetoric about what is happening south of the border. Mexicans kill white people every day in America, but when they killed a couple of black people, they crossed a line in elite moral code that must be addressed.
Of course, anyone paying the least bit of attention could come up with a dozen such cases where elites are moved to action because an issue involves black people, but they are indifferent when it involves white people. Candace Owens is a millionaire because she tells white people they are good boys, very good boys. Even so, this Mexican case is threatening to change policy regarding Mexico. It is not just a show to signal their virtue to one another.
A century ago, Paris was gripped by something called negrophilia which is derived from the French négrophilie that means love of the negro. The beautiful people would collect African art and hang out at Jazz clubs. Much of it was driven by exposure to black troops from America and Africa during the war. The controlling factor was the desire of the avant-garde to feel trendy and separate from the bourgeoise. It was all superficial and eventually was replaced by new fads.
Today’s version is something more than a fad. It is not just a weapon to be used against the remaining white people. What we are seeing is antiwhite, but it is not necessarily hatred of whites that is the source of this new moral code. Instead, it seems to be a genuine worship of black people, as if they are magical beings. Our elites now think they will be judged by how well they take care of black people. Who will do the judging is never spoken, but that just adds to the mystery.
That last bit is important. Much of what we see from our elites fits the pattern of religiosity, but it lacks the explicit supernatural authority. They never say why they worship black people. They never point to an authority for this behavior. It is just assumed to be there at the center of things. Perhaps that is what gives it power in the minds of these people. Their moral code is now a mystery cult in which it is essential to not know why you embrace the moral code.
A million years ago in another context, John Derbyshire made the following observations about cults. “To those inside [a cult], it appears to be a structure of perfect logical integrity, founded on unassailable philosophical principles, while to those outside it seems to some degree nutty; to some other degree hysterical; and to some yet other degree a threat to liberty.” This sounds eerily accurate with regards to the worship of nonwhites by our ruling classes.
What we are seeing is the evolution of a cult of the elite, in which salvation is sought through the worship of that which symbolizes the antithesis of the West. This explains the extremism of these people. How can you be satisfactorily anti-Western? How can one be satisfactorily worshipful of black people? What is the outer limit of the rejection of biological reality? There is no answer to these things, so cult members keep looking for an even more extreme expression of these values.
Returning to where we have started, an objective examination of elite behavior reveals a bizarre moral code that is out of sync with reality. That gap between what they believe, their moral preferences, and reality, is the measure of their virtue. In other words, the way to understand elite behavior is to imagine a cult founded on the rejection of human reality and then that cult gains control of society. That is the condition of the West and it is probably not going to cure itself.
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
$350 Million to Zero in less than a year.
Over the course of a decade, I built an international business with 3.5K employees.
My partner was jailed in Europe for defrauding one of the countries out of $14 Million in tax-grants.
Many of our largest customers, concerned that we would have delivery problems, took production of the designs we completed for them, to other mfgs, and instead of receiving the full design fee and $ per part in mfg, we received only the design fee and a royalty based on the production volume that would now be accomplished elsewhere.
Our cost structure was based upon having the production volume, when that was reduced drastically, the company could no longer afford the employees and facilities throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.
It all started to collapse inward. Impossible to stop the run from our production facilties as more customers became concerned.
My company dropped $350 Million in sales, to Zero in less than a year.
I had been flying over 200K miles per year on business, and working 80 hour weeks. Tremendous stress.
When it was over, fewer friends, crazy debt, a lot of stress, but that subsided over time, and came to know who my true friends were.
Like I’ve always said, money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does buy the best form of misery. When you don’t have the money, life is much more difficult.
But I gained a lot of time to spend with my family. That was the true benefit of losing the company and $$$.
These China “Experts” need to be stopped
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
ĺIn 2006 I was married with two boys in private schools. I lived in a three-story house in one of the best suburbs in the city. I had a corporate yacht, drove a porsche 911, had been offered $20 million for my business two years earlier which I had declined. I owned around $4 million in real estate, flew first class on family holidays every year and took my eighty-odd staff on four-day conferences to five-star resorts every year. At thirty-nine, I was featured as sixty-fifth in our country’s richest under forty. I was the only child of a single parent migrant mum so I had experienced poverty and felt I had accomplished plenty—a classic, rags to riches story, life was good, but as they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
2009 following the GFC I had three staff left and had moved to a much smaller office. We were just keeping our heads above water trying to wait out the fallout when we became embroiled in a legal battle with a large multi-national who we funded our mortgages through, GE Money was itself experiencing problems due to the GFC and decided it would no longer pay us the monthly fees due.
We had to wait for the outcome of the court proceedings to start getting paid again and the company dragged it out for four years which saw the yacht, the car, the three remaining staff, and eventually the business go before we could get our day in court. Soon after, my marriage broke down and I relinquished the house to my wife without a fight, hoping she would be a good caretaker for the kids’ inheritance and keep it safe from creditors. The kids took the separation badly and my eldest son, who was in his mid teens, spiraled out of control with alcohol and drugs.
Thinking creditors would soon take whatever money was left, I rented a luxury apartment overlooking the harbour and locked myself away until the money ran out, waiting to hit rock bottom. I know now what I didn’t know then, that I was suffering from extreme depression. I stopped contacting people and would leave phone calls, mail, and emails unanswered. I hit the booze hard, as I sold off the remaining business assets to pay for rent and food. I kept thinking of ideas to start a new business but would keep putting it off, until four years later I had only $60,000 left.
While times were good I had given my mum a mobile phone and a cab charge card, as by that stage she was a pensioner and did not drive. They were the last things I reined in and it was hard to do, as mum would constantly tell me how proud she was of me and bragged to anyone who would listen about my success. Finally I plucked up enough courage to tell her I had to stop paying for both and in a series of unfortunate incidents mum started to show the first signs of dementia. Her decline was rather quick and it became obvious to me that she could no longer look after herself as the cleanliness of the house of my usually compulsively clean mother deteriorated rapidly.
Seeing my mum in such a state must have snapped me out of my depression because I moved in with her and began upgrading and cleaning the house. Within two years her conditioned had declined so much that I had become her full-time caretaker: cooking, cleaning, taking her to medical appointments and outings, but as her health further declined I could not keep up the level of care her condition now required, so I eventually found a good nursing home for her. I was again without a purpose but I was over the depression (mum’s final unintended—but most valuable—gift to me before entering the nursing home).
The solicitor helping me with mum’s paper work offered me a partnership to help him grow his business. My son had regained control over his life and both were now in universities. I had not spoken to my wife since the breakup. I was happy with the level of care mum was receiving and I was back on track working on growing a new business again, but I was soon to learn that falls from grace like that are not so easily forgiven.
The first sign that this was not a fresh start came ten months into the partnership when we tried to get an overdraft and it was declined due to the fact that I now had a bad credit rating. This put a strain on the partnership even though we had managed substantial growth. Then my partner received a call from child services: apparently they had assessed my income at $400,000 a year and I was suppose to be paying my wife child support for the last six odd years based on that level of income, even though my income was nil and I was living off of selling off assets. The debt was now over $90,000 and they wanted to garnishee my drawings from the business. In the same week the tax office called to say they wanted to garnishee my drawings for an outstanding tax debt of $50,000 from the sale of some of the real estate assets. A week after that phone call I received a message from my partner while at home:
“The locks on the premises at work have been changed, you can no longer operate the company bank accounts and I have removed you as a director and shareholder on the company register, don’t bother coming in. I would encourage you to fight me but I know you don’t have the money.”
I was devastated, but I was dertremined to get my life back on track. After applying for over a hundred jobs and getting knocked back, I was feeling like a failure and finding it hard not to fall back into the pit of depression. It was looming just on the horizon, beckoning for me to escape again into a drunken state of self pity. I felt like I was in a scene from the movie Trading Places.
One day one of my boys made the comment to me that I was the role model for him and his brother, implying they need to see how I handle situations so they can learn from it. While I didn’t answer them as I was acutely aware that I was at one of the lowest points of my life, it served to reminded me that wealth and health in this life come and go. When money is not an issue, honesty and integrity are easy to come by. How someone deals with adversity is the true indication of a person’s character. The legacy I want to leave them as a father has become the main motivation for me not to give up.
Discovering Quora and answering business questions was a Godsend as the reactions I was getting from answers kept reminding me that I still had a great deal of business acumen and skill.
I went into consulting and managed to pick up four regular clients and the odd, single session consulting job. While I loved the work, I was spending over 50% of my time chasing payments which I hated with a passion.
Around the same time I found myself dumping one evening on a good Russian friend. Her response resonated with me:
“There’s an old Russian saying that says ‘If you want to know which direction to head in, look at where you’ve been and where you are now—that should point you in the right direction.’”
That night I decided to get back into finance. Much had changed following the GFC and I now needed a credit licence to operate, and I needed an industry diploma to get the licence.
While I am not there yet, I have completed the diploma on line, have re-established old industry contacts, have sorted out the tax office debt. I have a solicitor working for me on the child support debt and I am trying to get the old company name back. I have to constantly fight to keep the depression from surfacing. Now in my 50s, this will be my final shot at rebuilding and I intend to make sure I don’t miss it. While I have relapsed for an evening on the odd occasion, every win is an inch forward and suppressing the feeling of failure and the resulting depression gets easier to manage with every step forward.
If all goes to plan, I should be able to open the doors of a new business with an old name in the next six weeks, but because things rarely ever go to plan so I’m giving myself until the end of this year.
When I look back, even as I write this, I find it easy to blame others, my circumstances, the economy anything but myself for my fall from grace. It takes years to face up to the fact that while many things may have contributed to my present situation but it was mainly my poor decisions that are to blame.
Hopefully when I am back there again, it will be as someone who is older, wiser, more experienced and certainly more humble than in the past.
Edit 14/9/19: I am overwhelmed by the support readers are showing. I never expected this answer to get so much attention and initially I was going through and acknowledging every comment and answering every question but this morning I woke up to over 1,000 notifications. Up-votes are near 5,000 and readership is approaching 90,000. It is both motivating and inspiring.
I want to thank everybody that has commented and up-voted this answer, and in particular those that have indicated a connection with my story by being in similar circumstances. To you I wish all the best for the future and say to you what I constantly say to myself, “though the mountain looks daunting, if you have climbed it before, there is no reason why you cant climb it again,” but let’s not focus on the climb, having fallen, been hurt and recovered, let’s instead remember the remarkable view from the top as we inch forward.
Edit 22/10 Over 14000 upvotes, hundreds of responses, 120 shares and approaching 250K views. I feel somewhat overwhelmed by the support of strangers and want to thank everyone that took the time to upvote and/or comment.
For those that have asked for an update here is where I am at;
I have been running around trying to reestablish old industry contacts and look for a mortgage funder. I have found 2 willing to support me.
Both I have done business with in the past and one has offered an office on the fringe of the city on a week to week basis and staff support costed out on an as needs basis. This is a huge help for a start up and I am grateful the relationship remained solid and for their faith in me.
The other has just been appointed as the CEO of a new funding company using block chain technology.
I have also been talking to two other people in the industry about a potential partnership. This has fallen through after weeks of discussions but fortunately I continued to progress as solo operator in case it fell through.
The tax office debt has been resolved and extinguished and I have caught up on 3 years tax returns.
I have found a government program that pays $1000 a month for a year to aid with a start up and provides a business coach for 3 months and I have enrolled into it. It’s not a lot but it’s going to be a huge help in those first 12 months.
Also this morning I received an offer for an interview for a senior role in a well-funded startup. It is just an interview which I will attend (like many before) but will continue to progress the business plan in the probable event I am not accepted for the role and will decide whether to take it if an offer is made. That decision will depend on how much more progress I have made toward my startup business, I have already invested a lot of time in progressing it forward.
I have researched trying to get the old name back, as there is some residual marketing value in the name (I used to spend $50K a month on advertising). My accountant is working on it. Unfortunately, although flattering, quite a few companies in finance decided to use the name the moment the trademark expired, but my accountant thinks it may be possible.
I negotiated a final settlement with the solicitor; it was nowhere near what it was worth, but I needed to close that chapter and move on.
Some obstacles still to overcome:
The child support case is ongoing. While the department acknowledges I was not earning $400,000 a year, they are relying on the fact that I am out of time to protest their decision. and I should have done it 5 years ago, so the debt stands. I explained that I was in a depression, but not having a doctor’s certificate to prove it according to them makes it just “hearsay”. I am appealing the decision.
I received a letter from the Department of Human services to say that since mum owns a house and she has now been in full-time care for over 12 months, under new laws that applied after 1/1/17 (she entered the nursing home on 1/9/17), anyone with a home in full-time care for over 12 months forgoes their pension. I have applied for a reverse mortgage against her home to help pay for her care, but it can only be a temporary solution, so I need to start earning enough money quickly to fund her care.
Thank you all again for your support. Whenever I feel I’m in over my head, I go back to this post and take the time to read all your uplifting comments, and 20 minutes of doing so recharges my resolve to see this through.
Hopefully the next edit will be the day I open the doors of the new business.
EDIT 17 December 2019
Well it’s nearly the end of the year. Reading all the comments on this thread has become my “go to” when I need a pick up; and again, thank you all for your kind words of support. This I hope will be my final update.
I mentioned in an earlier edit that I was going for a job interview. It turns out it was for a partnership role in a startup. I was offered the partnership and very excited mainly due to the caliber of the other 3 partners. As they say, the sum of the total skill and knowledge base in the partnership is more valuable than the sum of the individual parts. Exciting enough for me to walk away from my own startup as well as the government grant based on the strength and skillset of my potential partners .
The startup is what is know in the industry as a “Fintech”, a finance business that relies heavily on modern technology platforms. I am honored to be partnering with such high-caliber people and that they even see me as a colleague. To date, the company has been formed, a placeholder webpage has been developed, a pitch deck presentation is being worked on to take to venture capitalists, and an outline of the business model has been developed.
We start officially in February, and I am in the process of tying up loose ends.
To that extent the only two things left to clear up is mum’s pension to cover her care costs and the child support debt, which I continue to work on. There is also a Parliamentary inquiry into the child support system that I intend to make a submission to, while it won’t help me directly, I am sure it will help many who might end up in my situation in the future.
While this will be my last update on this thread. I continue to get wonderful comments from strangers all over the world who connect with my story, made more so by those of you who comment about being inspired by my plight. The fact is that every time I come back to this thread, it is your comments of support that have inspired me.
Why did the Australia. Government agree to the one sided AUKUS deal to buy American and British submarines?
The best person to answer that question is Former Australia’s PM Paul Keating
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmgxAoa1n-8
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What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
I grew up in paradise, 12 (13? I feel like I’m forgetting one) cars in the driveway; muscle cars, sports cars, you name it, at one point or other – if it was a cool car – one of em probably sat on our driveway.
We lived in a sprawling villa, approx 700 sqm, with 360° views – the sea, and the mountains. Paradise.
My father captained Sweden’s largest sailing vessel, she didn’t stay Swedish for long as she was soon under Spanish flag.
My mother ran a hotel painted by a local artist with palm trees and beach scenes in the front.
I went to private school and brought home pretty much any animal imaginable; ferrets, rabbits, chickens, dogs, horses… it didn’t matter, we had a family living in the tower who waited on us hand and foot.
I was known as the “spoiled kid” throughout in not just my class – but all classes, literally everyone knew who we were. Dad would pick me up in a different car every day, depending on his mood it might have been the wine red Monte Carlo that could barely traverse half our mountain village – it was so wide, or it could be the V12 XJS Jaguar; the top down, the dogs chilling in the back. Mum picked me up on her race horse a couple of times, she was retired (the horse, not mum).
We were a batshit family – on the surface, and at home.
I was always told I’d be a millionaire as I turned 18. I didn’t quite grasp that we were “rich” until the divorce started…
The divorce. Damn.
We lost it all, because my parents were “unable” to speak to each other if not through lawyers. Expensive lawyers. 10 years they didn’t speak, until I disappeared in a war zone for 10 days (that’s a story for another time). The divorce was known on the coast as the “circus show” and was quite a spectacle everytime they appeared in court.
Anyway, the sheer stress and depression that the hate caused made both parts take awful monetary decisions.
At 16, I was shipped off from my horses and paradise villa to an island not far off Gothenburg in Sweden.
I’d never lived in an apartment, the other kids quite literally thought I was telling fibs when I disclosed anything about my family… so I shut up, and began isolating myself.
Anyway, sure, I’m depressed and I dream of that house and I cry for my home… but, it’s not the riches I miss, it’s the happy go lucky times. I desperately want those rag times to come back. I wish we all were as happy as when we were rich.
So, how does it feel? Pretty shit.
Drunken Master II Fight Scene – Market Fight – ORIGINAL HK Soundtrack
Every war is a part of a larger story of relations between the nations that fought in the war and the war in Ukraine is not an exception. This war started a year ago, but it is part of the story that started in 2014. of course, that chapter was preceded by the aftermath of the Cold War. In the case of the neocons driving American policy, their portion of this story begins during the Trial of the 193. Like all stories, the war will end and what will follow are more chapters to close out this story arc.
Within the war itself there are chapters. In the case of Ukraine, the first chapters could be called the pre-awakening. Both the Russians and Ukrainians, assumed this would be a short affair ending in rounds of talks. The Europeans, in contrast, thought it would be a short affair as well, but instead ending in a Russian collapse. They had been assured by their American handlers that Russia was a hollow country. Once the sanctions hit them, the peasants would revolt.
Interestingly, all parties kept on believing their version of the plot even after it should have been clear they were wrong. The Russians kept pressing for negotiations, even after Ukraine told them Washington would not allow it. The Europeans kept pushing new sanctions packages, even after it was clear the Russian economy was not going to collapse and there would be no peasant revolt. For a few months last spring and summer, everyone stuck with the old script.
It appears that it was the Russians who were the first to realize that the script was wrong and that they needed to rethink things. The mobilization of reserves along with a reorganization of their military structure in Ukraine followed. The Russians figured out that this is a long war of attrition between Moscow and its allies versus the American Empire and its allies. What we have seen for the last six months is a slow, deliberate grind of the Ukrainians by the Russians.
We are about to see the final closing of one chapter of this war and the opening of a new chapter due to developments on the battlefield. The first and most important bit of news is the encirclement of a town called Bakhmut. If you look at this pro-Ukrainian deployment map, you see the line of contact in Ukraine. In this case, pro-Ukrainian does not mean pure propaganda. It simply relies primarily on Ukrainian sources to assemble the map and unit positions.
If you zoom into the area dead center of the line of contact, you will find the town called Bakhmut and see a large grouping of Ukrainian forces. They have been throwing everything they can into this town in order to hold it. The Russians now have the town surrounded, with tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops inside it. It appears that Zelensky has instructed the forces inside this cauldron to fight to the last man, much as he did last year with the Mariupol garrison.
There are two primary reason Zelensky and the general staff are sacrificing tens of thousands of men for this town. One reason is strategic. It is the keystone to this defense line in the Donbas. If it falls, the Ukrainians will have to fall back to their last line of defense east of the Dnieper River. That last defensive line is not as built up as the current defensive positions. The Ukrainians are buying as much time as they can in order to build up that new defense line.
The other reason for this massive sacrifice of men and machines is the general psychology of the war on the Ukrainian side. They have been told since the start that they just needed to hang on until the Russians crumbled. Then they were told to hang on until the West could provide wonder weapons. Now they are hanging on because they have no other option. For Zelensky, this war is about buying time while hoping for some change that will save him from his fate.
Another reason for the great turning of the page that is coming in this war relates to that waiting strategy of the Ukrainians. They are running out of supplies. Reports keep coming in from Ukrainian sources that they are out of ammunition. The reason they are out of ammunition is the West cannot get ammunition to them fast enough. The reason for that is the West is running out of ammunition as well. After a year of ground war, the Western warehouses are now empty.
The issue has become so critical that the people running foreign policy had Biden sign “a presidential waiver of some statutory requirements (Waiver) authorizing the use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to allow the Department of Defense (DoD) to more aggressively build the resiliency of America’s defense industrial base and secure its supply chains.” This is the first step in transitioning the economy to wartime, which means prioritizing defense over civilian items.
Something similar is afoot in Europe. What the West has come to realize is they were all wrong about the Russian economy. It has performed better over the last year than the European economies. They were also wrong about Russia’s standing in the world, particularly with other major powers like China and India. They have not been willing to go along with Washington’s war on Moscow. Eighty percent of the world’s population now supports the Russian side in this conflict.
Another piece of this is a bit of reality Western leaders have ignored for so long they stopped thinking about it. That is, the industrial base of the West no longer exists as a practical matter. Generations of offshoring and global supply chain management have left Western countries with a tiny manufacturing base. China now has more manufacturing capacity than the U.S. and Europe combined. Throw in Russia, Brazil and India and you see the problem.
The shape of the next chapter in this new global war is still unclear, but one storyline will be the looming political crisis in the West. The sanctions regime is simply unsustainable for Europe so it must come to an end. It cannot come to end until the war in the Ukraine has come to an end. The trouble is European political leaders have ruled out any end other than Ukrainian tanks rolling through Moscow. Europe has created an unsolvable problem for itself.
Another part of the story could be a change in China. For a long time the Chinese have viewed their relationship with Washington as purely economic. If they did good business with Washington, everything else solved itself. Beijing now sees that things have changed and so they are changing. All of the war talk over Taiwan has finally convinced the Chinese to adjust their position. Sino-American relations will no longer be about business, but about great power conflict.
Of course, all of this will be happening against the backdrop of a political class in Washington that looks like the shuffleboard courts in Boca. Everyone who wants to be Pericles in this war is too old to say the name clearly. Of course, Washington is full of potential Cleons among the younger generations of politicians, but none of them are bright enough to understand it. As this war enters the crisis chapters, the West is desperately short of men who are good in a crisis.
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
I would consider myself financially well off before the crash in 2008. Although most of my work history was medical, I had become a mortgage broker in 2003. I had gone through burn out and needed to do something a little more conducive to uplifting outcomes for a while. I enjoyed helping people obtain their dream. I swore I’d be upfront about the pitfalls to my clients, I’d educate them on the process, and I’d be diligent in bringing it all together in a timely fashion. I was able to purchase any thing I desired, eat out all the time, and work in my pajamas at home if I desired. Life was good, and actually the best ever.
Months before the crash we saw the bursting bubble on the horizon. However, denial still flowed through my veins, and many like myself were unprepared for the abrupt onset of the inability to complete loans. I had spent the majority of my savings months before on back surgery because I didn’t bother purchasing insurance. I didn’t think I needed it because l took my health for granted.
My life went like this…..
severe debilitating back pain from 2 herniated disks followed by surgery and recovery. Midway through my recovery the mortgage business CRASHES and BURNS!! No savings, no incoming work, unable to get processed loans closed, no money coming in. My father dies unexpectedly and I’m consumed with sadness. I sell all my belongings to move out of my “pending foreclosure” home, and to have something to live on as no one is hiring at the time. My car was repossessed, my credit cards were maxed and unpaid. I had an emergency total hysterectomy, and had to spend my savings on the surgery. Now there’s no money for rent so I move in with my 23 year old son and his two roommates. This was the most humiliating low point for me. I total my car I traded a tv and computer for. Since I had no money to purchase it, I bartered. I had no insurance so it was a total loss. My mother passed away. Now the reality hits I have no parents. Sadness overwhelms me along with feelings of no hope. I suffer a bit of a meltdown.
I go back to school to update my medical skills and retain licensure again. I sprain my ankle twice in 3 months, and desperately try to keep up with school while recovering….twice.
I obtain work but it’s 100 miles away. I found out I was older and less resilient then I used to be. I wasn’t able to handle the physical requirements of the job, or the 12 hour night shifts. I had a debilitating iron deficiency I was unaware of at the time, but it wreaked havoc on my physical and emotional abilities. Now no job and no place to live, as my son and his girlfriend had moved in together in a smaller place anticipating my move closer to work. I bought a dilapidated mobile home for $500 (I had to pay in payments as I didn’t have $500) in an old Florida senior park. It wasn’t ghetto, it just wasn’t like other retirement parks in the area with paved roads, swimming pools, club houses, etc. I still did not know the origin of my overwhelming lethargy (iron deficiency) and literally had no energy to move or rehab this home. My son and his friends gutted it for me and got my electric and water in place. However, no one had time to renovate it completely, and I had no money to do it. So I moved the few things I had left into this barren old place.
Seven years later I’m still tweaking things in my home, and decorating to my taste. My bills are minimal and I live within a budget. I pay cash for everything, including my car and furnishings. I’ve gone on to get my Bachelors and Masters degrees in my lifelong interest of Psychology. I do preventative healthcare, and have coverage for any medical expenses. I don’t buy new, always second hand. I buy disaster furnishings and make them into something I adore, far more than anything that’s new. I live simply and without stress of finances. I love where I live and my little home. I’ve learned more about life and myself since losing everything, than I did the 25 years before that. I feel grateful that the circumstances occurred the way they did for me to get to this place in time. I feel consistently happy about life. As hard as it was going through all the loss and changes it was for the best, definitely!!
The Ten Commandments – Moses’ Focus and Dedication
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
To put it in short, it feels like shit.
I’m writing this as a 14 year old, living in a pile of garbage compared to my life 2 years ago. Although I hate my life now, I’m not stupid. I’ve learned to appreciate every little small thing in life and I know that it could be a lot worse.
If we rewind back to 2011, my family was just getting back to our wealthy status after the financial crisis in 2008. Our net worth in 2011, was maybe $3 Million which doesn’t seem like a lot but it makes an incredible difference when you don’t have 100k. We were living in Dubai at the time and living a very good life. Good private schools for me and my little sister, fancy cars for my dad, expensive purses and clothing for my mom. And of course an amazing villa close to the beach.
In the summer of 2011 my family relocated to Canada, Toronto more specifically. This was due to my dad getting a very high paying job in Iraq(he is a banker). I wasn’t told about him moving to Iraq so I wouldn’t worry about him as a kid, but between mid 2011 and 2016 I saw my dad for maybe two months in total. I didn’t like the circumstance but my dad was pulling in close to $800k plus a $400k bonus every year so we would never had to struggle financially again. After I was told about the situation, stories of the 17 bodyguards my dad had with him came out, and it got me to thinking about how much my dad sacrificed for me, my mom and my sister. He was my hero. Every time he visited us he would play sports and video games with me all day, literally the best dad ever.
In late 2015 terrorism was getting to be a bigger problem in Iraq and my dad resigned from his job due to increased danger conditions. I was excited as this meant I would see him a lot now. After about three weeks of him being “retired” he got a job offer in London, England. A very good job, but not as well paying as the one in Iraq.
My family relocated to the UK at the end of December in 2015. Now my dad lived with us, and life was very good. He had a signing bonus that was very high, and we had a large amount of savings. A house of 5 Million British Pounds, a highly spec Range Rover with swaravski crystal detailing, elite private schools. We had money at the time, but couldn’t afford most of the things we had. My dad was overjoyed to finally be with us everyday and wanted to make sure we were relaxed and enjoyed life. So he spent crazy amounts of money on us, putting me and my sister in a school that costs nearly as much as Harvard. Buying a house we couldn’t afford, and cars(because me and him shared the love of cars) that cost as much as the house we live in today.
In mid 2016 my dad was sued for something he didn’t do, and it pretty much ruined his reputation. At that point he was different, always angry. Our savings were close to gone and the lawsuit caused my dad to give up his paycheck for the next 8 months in order to settle. He worked from 6am all the way until midnight at an attempt to get a raise in order to keep us safe financially. The raise didn’t come. He struggled to keep my sister and I in the same school which ate a lot of our savings. We moved to a smaller home, and he sold the cars except for one. A bmw x1 which was the first car he bought for my mom to learn how to drive on the tiny roads in the UK. By the end of 2016 my mom went to the train station to pick up my dad because he was coming home early from work. When the front door to the house opened all I could see was my mom in tears. My dad told us we need to have a family meeting.
He told us that we have to move. First my sister started to cry because she is young and didn’t understand our situation, she said she would miss her friends. My dad said that if we try to live another year here we would end up bankrupt. Then I started to cry because at the time I made some of the best friends I could ever ask for that I still keep in contact with on a daily basis to this day. My dad’s reputation was fucked, excuse my language. And work for him was becoming very difficult because of that. We were gonna move back to Canada, but to a place that has a low cost of living. I pretty much fell into a depression state. I tried to make the best of everything, but my parents were just tired.
I am probably one of the happiest people ever, I smile so much to the point where people think I’m crazy. But during the first 6 months I was a disaster, although I ended the school year with a 96% average. At this point I could sense that my dad was losing motivation so I decided to look for a job for him. I found one but it payed like shit. He got the job. His yearly salary is what we went through in less than one month before. My sister and I are in public schools which are complete garbage, and the people are mostly druggies and dumbasses. I haven’t seen my mom smile other than the times I make her laugh. And my dad seems to enjoy his job, although it’s what he was doing 20 years ago in terms of experience.
We saved enough money to put a downpayment on a house that costs less than the cars we used to have. My mom went back to college to get a degree so she can also help with our money problem. And soon I will do the same. I am just wishing my dad can find a job that fits his experience level and things can go back to normal.We have been living as cheaply as we can trying to make the best of things.
And the saddest part of all this is that I feel ashamed of it. It is a family secret and I cannot tell anyone, which is why I’m expressing my emotions on here. It really hurts when someone calls me poor, and I can’t defend myself because of a promise to my parents to keep our situation a secret. It really hurts to see your old friends living so lavishly spending thousands a week where you are unable to spend close to anything. It really hurts when all your friends are having a reunion to meet up and catch up with each other but you cant afford to fly out and stay in a hotel. It really hurts because my friends have started to catch on to why I’m the only one unable to visit and I don’t accept their offers to pay for me. It really hurts because my parents are very sensitive to this topic so I can’t talk to anyone about it. This whole situation hurts.
But I have learned to stop being a little bitch and man up. I am doing the best in school that I have ever done, 98% average this semester. While the people around me at school are busy doing and selling drugs, I am the only one mature enough to not want to ruin my future. I am the only one looking for legitimate ways to make extra money on the side so I don’t over whelm my parents. I am no longer depressed but I have the occasional sadness due to missing my old life. But this won’t be my situation for long. I know my dad will eventually find a better job and life will resume its norms. The only thing that motivates me now is the desire to never have this happen again in my life, the desire to learn from this mistake and be grateful for everything, the desire for my future kids to never have to experience what I did.
I guess you could say I am the boy who had no fear until he chased them.
Chicken and Sour Cream Enchiladas
sour cream chicken enchiladas 5 1
Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream, divided
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
8 ounces shredded Colby and Monterey jack cheese, divided
1 jar thick-n-chunky salsa, divided
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (optional)
12 (6- to 8-inch) corn or flour tortillas
Instructions
Mix one cup of sour cream, chicken, 1 cup of cheese, 1/4 cup salsa and cilantro together. Spoon about 1/4 cup of mixture into the center of each tortilla; roll up. Place, seam side down, in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Top with remaining salsa, cover.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Top with lettuce and tomato, if desired.
Serve with remaining cup of sour cream.
Makes 6 servings.
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
My answer will be a little different than the other answers because I am not “very poor” or even poor for that matter, but I can tell you what it’s like to go from wealthy to struggling.
My husband has a prestigious job which requires a certain license, I’m omitting for privacy. He has his own business utilizing this license. Up until 2 years ago, things were financially wonderful. We traveled the world first class. Would spend Valentines at the Eiffel Tower, Chinese New Year in China, St. Patrick’s in Ireland etc. Sometimes we would travel to some exotic country by ourselves, come home and repack then take off the next day to some other exotic locale with our kids and Nannies. All first class of course. Shopping- ridiculous… almost every weekend we would head to the designer stores and drop thousands. My closet is the size of a bedroom and looks like a Chanel / Louis Vuitton/ Hermès/ Louboutin/ Prada/ YSL/ Gucci boutique. Surprises were always fun too- one time we were supposed to leave for Hawaii the next Morning but I was upset with my husband and threatening not to go. His response was coming home with a very expensive bottle of wine and a green box. The wine was great but the $45,000 rose gold Rolex inside it was better. It is my 4th Rolex and my favorite. We bought our dream 6000 square foot house and redid everything exactly how we wanted it. My credit card bill would be anywhere between $17,000 to $50,000 a month, which he would happily pay. We laughed at how ridiculous it was. We had 3 nanny/ housekeepers and 2 private chefs… don’t forget the Driver. Cars- let’s see..: 3 Maserati’s , Ferrari ($400K), Bentley, Escalade, BMW, Mercedes, Range Rover, Limo, Customised Mercedes Limo bus, 2 extremely nice boats etc. We were treated as VIP’s everywhere we went because everyone knew we were big spenders and big tippers. That all being said, on a scale of 1–10 I would have rated my happiness at a 2 or 3. You see my husband is a complete Narcissist and living with him is indescribable.
Now that things which I can’t describe have hit his business and it has taken a major downfall, things have changed drastically financially. The man who used to drop $4000 on bottle service in Dubai bitches at me if I spend $4 on Starbucks to the point that if I do treat myself, I have to hide it. Cars have been sold, staff has been let go shopping and traveling stopped. The party ended. If I had to rate my happiness now after the money is gone on a scale of 1–10, I would say it’s a 2 or 3- Exactly the same as before. You see as cliche as it is , money doesn’t buy happiness. I’m no less happy than I was before. Do I miss it? Everyday. It atleast gave me something to look forward to but it didn’t bring me happiness. Crying in a Maserati over a miserable marriage is not any less miserable than crying in regular car. If you want happiness, invest in good people in your life. Money comes and money goes.
US vs. THEM
“I’ll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here. “I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs.” “I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking.” “Hey, wait a minute, there’s one guy holding out both puppets!”” – Bill Hicks
Anyone who frequents Twitter, Facebook, political blogs, economic blogs, or fake news mainstream media channels knows our world is driven by the “Us versus Them” narrative. It’s almost as if “they” are forcing us to choose sides and believe the other side is evil. Bill Hicks died in 1994, but his above quote is truer today then it was then. As the American Empire continues its long-term decline, the proles are manipulated through Bernaysian propaganda techniques, honed over the course of decades by the ruling oligarchs, to root for their assigned puppets.
Most people can’t discern they are being manipulated and duped by the Deep State controllers. The most terrifying outcome for these Deep State controllers would be for the masses to realize it is us versus them. But they don’t believe there is a chance in hell of this happening. Their arrogance is palatable.
Their hubris has reached astronomical levels as they blew up the world economy in 2008 and successfully managed to have the innocent victims bail them out to the tune of $700 billion, pillaged the wealth of the nation through their capture of the Federal Reserve (QE, ZIRP), rigged the financial markets in their favor through collusion, used the hundreds of billions in corporate tax cuts to buy back their stock and further pump the stock market, all while their corporate media mouthpieces mislead and misinform the proles.
There are differences between the parties, but they are mainly centered around social issues and disputes with little or no consequence to the long-term path of the country. The real ruling oligarchs essentially allow controlled opposition within each party to make it appear you have a legitimate choice at the ballot box. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There has been an unwritten agreement between the parties for decades where the Democrats pretend to be against war and the Republicans pretend to be against welfare. Meanwhile, spending on war and welfare relentlessly grows into the trillions, with no effort whatsoever from either party to even slow the rate of growth, let alone cut spending. The proliferation of the military industrial complex like a poisonous weed has been inexorable, as the corporate arms dealers place their facilities of death in the congressional districts of Democrats and Republicans. In addition, these corporate manufacturers of murder dole out “legal” payoffs to corrupt politicians of both parties in the form of political contributions. The Deep State knows bribes and well-paying jobs ensure no spineless congressman will ever vote against a defense spending increase.
Of course, the warfare/welfare state couldn’t grow to its immense size without financing from the Wall Street cabal and their feckless academic puppets at the Federal Reserve. The Too Big to Trust Wall Street banks, whose willful control fraud nearly wrecked the global economy in 2008, were rewarded by their Deep State patrons by getting bigger and more powerful as people on Main Street and senior citizen savers were thrown under the bus.
When these criminal bankers have their reckless bets blow up in their faces they are bailed out by the American taxpayers, but when the Fed rigs the system so they are guaranteed billions in risk free profits, they reward themselves with massive bonuses and lobby for a huge tax cut used to buy back their stock. With bank branches in every congressional district in every state, and bankers spreading protection money to greedy politicians across the land, no legislation damaging to the banking cartel is ever passed.
I’ve never been big on joining a group. I tend to believe Groucho Marx and his cynical line, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member”. The “Us vs. Them” narrative doesn’t connect with my view of the world. As a realistic libertarian I know libertarian ideals will never proliferate in a society of government dependency, willful ignorance of the masses, thousands of laws, and a weak-kneed populace afraid of freedom and liberty. The only true libertarian politician, Ron Paul, was only able to connect with about 5% of the voting public. There is no chance a candidate with a libertarian platform will ever win a national election. This country cannot be fixed through the ballot box. Bill Hicks somewhat foreshadowed the last election by referencing another famous cynic.
“I ascribe to Mark Twain’s theory that the last person who should be President is the one who wants it the most. The one who should be picked is the one who should be dragged kicking and screaming into the White House.”― Bill Hicks
Hillary Clinton wanted to be president so badly, she colluded with Barack Obama, Jim Comey, John Brennan, James Clapper, Loretta Lynch and numerous other Deep State sycophants to ensure her victory, by attempting to entrap Donald Trump in a concocted Russian collusion plot and subsequent post-election coup to cover for their traitorous plot. I wouldn’t say Donald Trump was dragged kicking and screaming into the White House, but when he ascended on the escalator at Trump Tower in June of 2015, I’m not convinced he believed he could win the presidency.
As the greatest self-promoter of our time, I think he believed a presidential run would be good for his brand, more revenue for his properties and more interest in his reality TV ventures. He was despised by the establishment within the Republican and Democrat parties. The vested interests controlling the media and levers of power in society scorned and ridiculed this brash uncouth outsider. In an upset for the ages, Trump tapped into a vein of rage and disgruntlement in flyover country and pockets within swing states, to win the presidency over Crooked Hillary and her Deep State backers.
I voted for Trump because he wasn’t Hillary. I hadn’t voted for a Republican since 2000, casting protest votes for Libertarian and Constitutional Party candidates along the way. I despise the establishment, so their hatred of Trump made me vote for him. His campaign stances against foreign wars and Federal Reserve reckless bubble blowing appealed to me. I don’t worship at the altar of the cult of personality. I judge men by their actions and not their words.
Trump’s first two years have been endlessly entertaining as he waged war against fake news CNN, establishment Republicans, the Deep State coup attempt, and Obama loving globalists. The Twitter in Chief has bypassed the fake news media and tweets relentlessly to his followers. He provokes outrage in his enemies and enthralls his worshipers. With millions in each camp it is difficult to find an unbiased assessment of narrative versus real accomplishments.
I’m happy he has been able to stop the relentless leftward progression of our Federal judiciary. Cutting regulations and rolling back environmental mandates has been a positive. Exiting the Paris Climate Agreement and TPP, forcing NATO members to pay their fair share, and renegotiating NAFTA were all needed. Ending the war on coal and approving pipelines will keep energy costs lower. His attempts to vet Muslims entering the country have been the right thing to do. Building a wall on our southern border is the right thing to do, but he should have gotten it done when he controlled both houses.
The use of tariffs to force China to renegotiate one sided trade deals as a negotiating tactic is a high-risk, high reward gamble. If his game of chicken is successful and he gets better terms from the Chicoms, while reversing the tariffs, it would be a huge win. If the Chinese refuse to yield for fear of losing face, and the tariff war accelerates, a global recession is a certainty. Who has the upper hand? Xi is essentially a dictator for life and doesn’t have to worry about elections or popularity polls. Dissent is crushed. A global recession and stock market crash would make Trump’s re-election in 2020 problematic.
I’m a big supporter of lower taxes. The Trump tax cuts were sold as beneficial to the middle class. That is a false narrative. The vast majority of the tax cut benefits went to mega-corporations and rich people. Middle class home owning families with children received little or no tax relief, as exemptions were eliminated and tax deductions capped. In many cases, taxes rose for working class Americans.
With corporate profits at all time highs, massive tax cuts put billions more into their coffers. They didn’t repatriate their overseas profits to a great extent. They didn’t go on a massive hiring spree. They didn’t invest in new facilities. They did buy back their own stock to help drive the stock market to stratospheric heights. So corporate executives gave themselves billions in bonuses, which were taxed at a much lower rate. This is considered winning in present day America.
The “Us vs. Them” issue rears its ugly head whenever Trump is held accountable for promises unkept, blatant failures, and his own version of fake news. Holding Trump to the same standards as Obama is considered traitorous by those who only root for their home team. Their standard response is that you are a Hillary sycophant or a turncoat to the home team. If you agree with a particular viewpoint or position of a liberal then you are a bad person and accused of being a lefty by Trump fanboys. Facts don’t matter to cheerleaders. Competing narratives rule the day. Truthfulness not required.
The refusal to distinguish between positive actions and negative actions when assessing the performance of what passes for our political leadership by the masses is why cynicism has become my standard response to everything I see, hear or read. The incessant level of lies permeating our society and its acceptance as the norm has led to moral decay and rampant criminality from the White House, to the halls of Congress, to corporate boardrooms, to corporate newsrooms, to government run classrooms, to the Vatican, and to households across the land. It’s interesting that one of our founding fathers reflected upon this detestable human trait over two hundred years ago.
“It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.”– Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine’s description of how moral mischief can ruin a society was written when less than 3 million people inhabited America. Consider his accurate assessment of humanity when over 300 million occupy these lands. The staggering number of corrupt prostituted sociopaths occupying positions of power within the government, corporations, media, military, churches, and academia has created a morally bankrupt empire of debt.
These sociopaths are not liberal or conservative. They are not Democrats or Republicans. They are not beholden to a country or community. They care not for their fellow man. They don’t care about future generations. They care about their own power, wealth and control over others. They have no conscience. They have no empathy. Right and wrong are meaningless in their unquenchable thirst for more. They will lie, steal and kill to achieve their goal of controlling everything and everyone in this world. This precisely describes virtually every politician in Washington DC, Wall Street banker, mega-corporation CEO, government agency head, MSM talking head, church leader, billionaire activist, and blood sucking advisor to the president.
The question pondered every day on blogs, social media, news channels, and in households around the country is whether Trump is one of Us or one of Them. The answer to that question will strongly impact the direction and intensity of the climactic years of this Fourth Turning. What I’ve noticed is the shunning of those who don’t take an all or nothing position regarding Trump. If you disagree with a decision, policy, or hiring decision by the man, you are accused by the pro-Trump team of being one of them (aka liberals, lefties, Hillary lovers).
If you don’t agree with everything Trump does or says, you are dead to the Trumpeteers. I don’t want to be Us or Them. I just want to be me. I will judge everyone by their actions and their results. I can agree with Trump on many issues, while also agreeing with Tulsi Gabbard, Rand Paul, Glenn Greenwald or Matt Taibbi on other issues. I don’t prescribe to the cult of personality school of thought. I didn’t believe the false narratives during the Bush or Obama years, and I won’t worship at the altar of the Trump narrative now.
Oda Mae Brown $4 million Dollars!
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
It’s horrific but life changing in a positive way as well. I grew up on small town Ohio then moved to New York City and married a multimillionaire that worked in the finance industry. He showered me with gifts, a “scavenger hunt” with high end jewelry and designer bags in his apartment at One UN Plaza (where Derek Jeter and Jocelyn Wildenstein lived among other famous people). On our honeymoon, we traveled around the world first landing on the Burj Al Arab via helicopter, then off to The Maldives and Tahiti in one of those hits over the water. I was madly in love.
I had an American Express Black Card (Centurian) that had no limit. I could walk into a store and buy pretty much whatever I wanted. The stores I used to walk into when I was broke and dream of even buying a simple dress we’re now falling all over me.
Not worrying about how the rent was going to be paid, or bills is bizarre. This was something I worried about for most of my life and now money was like nothing. It’s like a huge weight off of you.
We lived in penthouses in Soho,a home in the Hamptons, an apartment overlooking Central Park known as The Gossip Girl building. a multimillion dollar home in prestigious Locust Valley,
I always drove a BMW 750 and once a custom 760.
I shopped at Chanel, Fendi,and other high end stores.
So what happened? I was completely oblivious about finances mostly. I had access to the accounts but I wasn’t concerned about checking up on them and the money kept rolling in. Turns out we were spending as much as my husband made and after a few gaps in his employment we were now constantly stressed about how we would recover. We downsized, selling the Hamptons home,the Fifth Avenue apartment and stopped traveling. It wasn’t enough and toward the end of the marriage we were down to almost nothing. We are now divorcing, but not because of the money problem.
The differences?
Rich people truly do get treated differently. They get better service, perks, and many other things. Everyone treats you with respect, your calls get returned immediately, everyone wants to be your friend, no one questions any claim you make since you’re rich and could not possibly be lying about anything. I was taken aback by the instant credibility.
Once we separated and divorce proceedings began my husband stopped paying me any kind of support leaving me and our special needs daughter destitute. I often found myself without money for food
We still live in a fancy condo (me and my daughter) and I still have the BMW. This makes people assume of course that I have millions of dollars. I’m constantly making excuses for why I can’t pay bills.
Wealthy friends distance themselves. You stop being invited to parties and events.on the plus side people come out of the woodwork to offer support.
I had the humiliating task of making trips to the pawn shop to get loans against jewelry. Thank god I had it though. I pulled up in front of a pawn shop on a regular basis in my $150,000 car. I recently sold my Cartier engagement ring at auction. For 12 years this was my most valued possession,something I promised my daughter since she was a toddler, and now it’s gone.
I stress about money every day. My identity has been completely stripped from me. My 11 year old daughter has known nothing but wealth her entire life so this is very anxiety provoking for her.
What’s positive?
I don’t care about material things so much. It’s just stuff and much of it a waste of money. I look at money very differently.
My friends that left were never really my friends at all so I’ve lost nothing.
I’ve had a lot of personal growth. I was always empathetic but now even more and I’m extremely non judgemental. People make decisions that many people don’t understand, but I can relate to almost anything.
I’m much more aware of the struggles of homeless people and minorities.
I’ve taken inventory of the people in my life and “cut the fat”. I don’t need fake friends and I’m completely disinterested in ““the scene”.
The moral of the story: Wealth has nothing to do with you. People who have money and think they’re treated well and have tons of wealthy friends because they’re so wonderful are kidding themselves. Not that you are not a bad person, you could be the kindest, most generous person on the planet, but people are treating you that way because of the money. Maybe they think you can do something for them someday. Who knows. You would be absolutely stunned at the people who hit the road once you don’t have it anymore. Have more friends that don’t care. Be aware of people’s motives. Focous more on being the best person you can be rather than the newest designer bag. Money comes and goes.
For anyone that feels the need to comment, selling the house and car are complicated in a divorce. Yes, I have an excellent attorney. This is a process.
What we think of culture is a system and a system is a collection of rules for how interdependent group of items interact with one another. This results in the whole possessing a set of unique properties. An accounting system is a set of formal rules based on the accepted standards of accounting. The habits of the accounting department, the culture of the department, is an unwritten set of rules for governing the behavior of the people in the department.
Most of life is governed by the unwritten rules. You can see this in something as simple as driving a car. In the United States, the written rules of the road are the same from state to state, but the unwritten rules are quite different. In Texas, drivers will stand on the brakes to let someone merge into traffic, while in Massachusetts people regularly drive on the shoulder to prevent it. The driving culture in New England is different from the driving culture of other parts of America.
Cultural shifts, changes in those unwritten rules, happen when key players within the culture decide to violate those rules. Maybe it is self-interest that drives the change, or maybe it is simply the declining utility of the old rules, but important people begin to violate those unwritten rules. Because humans are social animals, the rest follow the lead of the important people and the culture changes. The fashion industry has counted on this reality since its inception.
A classic example of a cultural shift was Watergate. The sorts of shenanigans done by the Nixon people during the 1972 election were considered normal and then all of a sudden they were declared beyond the pale. Prior to that time, the FBI was prohibited from getting directly involved in politics. Then all of a sudden, they were plotting with the Washington Post to overthrow the president. Those unwritten rules of political conduct suddenly changed and Nixon was removed.
Another example from politics comes from the 1990’s. Current affairs programming followed a set of unwritten rules. It was supposed to be a calm exchange of views, hosted by a moderator who pretended to be objective. The Clintons showed up in Washington and this changed. All of a sudden Clinton people were flinging their pooh at the moderator and anyone else on stage. It did not take long before this became the new normal and now all shows are pooh flinging contests.
This week, Tucker Carlson is doing shows on the hidden surveillance tapes from the Capitol on January 6th. These tapes had been hidden from public view by the Democrats until the Republicans took control of the House. Kevin McCarthy, the new Speaker, let the production team of the Tucker Carlson Show review the 40,000 hours of footage and this week they are reporting on it. They also have permission to show clips of that hidden footage in their reporting.
So far, nothing earth shattering has been revealed. The guy who showed up wearing animal skins, the QAnon Shaman, is seen being given a guided tour by the police, who seem to be having a blast leading the guy around the building. The QAnon Shaman is now in prison, doing four years for allegedly leading a violent insurrection. He was not allowed to have access to this footage in his defense, because in America the accused are no longer entitled to defend themselves in court.
This is where you see one of those cultural shifts. Most people reading this remember when such a thing would be a massive scandal. The judge and the prosecutors would have been reviled as fascists for denying this man a right to a defense. Of course, the media would have been demanding the footage from the beginning. Instead, they are up in arms over Tucker having access to the material. They fear he may create a “dangerous narrative” using these tapes.
The media was always biased. We used to be more mature about this and accept that politics is about friends and enemies. In the colonial times, everyone knew the bias of the newspapers and thought nothing of it. Then all of a sudden there was a culture shift and we were supposed to pretend the media was neutral. They were the fourth estate, speaking truth to power. We have just experienced another culture shift. The media is totally corrupt, using power to obscure the truth.
Another example of the culture shift is in the tapes. Tucker showed a scene from the J6 show trial in Congress. One of the politicians showed a clip of Senator Josh Hawley running from the building like a little girl. It turns out that the video was heavily edited by the Democrats. Hawley was with a group of other pols being herded out by the police and he was the last guy to leave. In other words, the Congress doctored a video and presented it under oath to the public as fact.
Everyone has always accepted that politicians lie. The reason they lie is to get elected, avoid scandal, or avoid responsibility. In other words, self-interest. This is the nature of all human activity and everyone accepted it. Doctoring video and presenting it as fact in order to promote a crazy narrative is something different. In a prior age, the people involved would be facing criminal charges. After all, they charged Roger Clemens for lying to Congress not so long ago.
More importantly, they doctored video to make a sitting Senator look like a sissy and then used the hearing to broadcast it to the world. It appears they worked with the media to promote this lie. Ten years ago, this was so beyond the pale that no one would have considered it. Now all of a sudden, the culture controlling the House and Senate has changed and this is now the new normal. How long before they move onto assassinating one another?
None of this is startling for people on this side of the divide, but it underscores an important point about the current crisis. The corruption at the top is so deep and so pervasive that the time for reform has now passed. How can the system reform itself when the people running it are so thoroughly corrupt? How could a genuine reformer work with people who are so corrupt? How can you fix the rules when the culture has evolved to reject the very idea of rules?
In the fullness of time, the ape historians will look at the 1980’s as a time for choosing, when the political class struggled to redefine itself. They could have gone down the road of reform and prepared for the word after the Cold War. Instead they signed on with the Clintons and the road to perdition. That has led to the flowering of a culture of corruption at the top of the political order. That is why J6 terrified them. They have known this long before that protest.
Apparently someone has been uploading edited versions of their videos and even misused them to setup scammy sales…and then in the comments someone (most likely a Langley Boy himself) is trying to slander the Chinese by saying this was done on Chinese social media…
Given the CIA jerks seem to infiltrate Chinese social media to send out their BS, my guess is that such uploads are done by them to slander both the Duran team and the Chinese people!
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
When I was a baby, my parents had a big house with 2 maids, a cook, a nurse for the children, 2 gardeners, a gateman, and a driver. There were parties almost every night. I woke to the strains of Strauss waltzes as the maids polished the ballroom floors with mops on their feet. The house was so big that my mother’s parents and 2 couples who worked for my father lived with us.
Then my father moved away to Japan and my mother made do with a much smaller house for us four children and only the nurse, who was an excellent cook and saintly about working and teaching us how to be polite and kind. I was still only 2, so everything seemed fine to me.
From then on, our fortunes fluctuated depending on my father’s finances, from only enough money to buy one pound of beef for the 7 of us (my mother had another baby at 40 when I was 10), which meant I did the childcare, housework and the cooking until I was 18 and escaped to Brown on a full scholarship. My father ended up developing 1 square mile of Shanghai and 2 square miles of Beijing at the end of his life, but that money was stolen by his employee when he died.
My life since has been sometimes rich, sometimes so poor that I was living on $10 a week at the end of the month. Honestly, those fluctuations never affected my emotions. Money comes and goes, it does not mean anything as far as your self respect is concerned. Enjoy the good weather, activities that are available to you, friends, family. I now like to walk, read good books, watch Netflix, play bridge, get together with friends and especially with my brothers who were so good to their baby sister when I was young. I feel very fortunate.
China warns, guardrails are coming off
Confessions Of Dudes Who Used Unproven Techniques To Enlarge Their Manhood
1. So I’ve been using a penis pump for about 3 years now, and also using extenders (that keep your penis stretched for long periods of time), as well as manual exercises here and there.
It has worked for me…but very slowly and takes a lot of time. I have gained about an inch in girth, and a bit more than half an inch in length during these years. that’s unpumped and under normal conditions.
It takes a lot of time and effort, and honestly, if you are doing this for women or whatever, it won’t be worth it. It’s better to invest your time in that actual woman, hanging out, having sex, ect. But I like pumping, and women tend to dislike it, but some like it now and then.
Pumping does give your temporary gains, and those temporary gains can get more and more significant the more you pump. Those temporary gains are a blast to me. I know it’ll “deflate” back to normal in some hours, but it’s a blast while it’s large. it gets addictive, too. You try to chase that huge pump you had a few days ago, but your body just isn’t there sometimes. It’s like working out. Somedays you can run 10 miles and feel great, or your breaking personal lifting records. Somedays you can barely put a dent in your usual routine.
In my opinion, I think stretching is the most effective way to enlarge the penis. The issue is, manual stretches can give you some gains when you first start (some of those early games is just stretching the ligaments attached to your penis, bring it “out” more). but after that, it takes a lot more time to get more and more gains. So extenders are useful, you wear them under your clothes and such, but are uncomfortable, annoying, difficult to fit, and expensive.
2. When I was younger around 18-19 I was really insecure about my penis size, mostly because I watched A LOT of porn and thought that every girl could only get off with a mandingo sized dick. This obviously led to a lot of insecurity about my penis size which was average at around 5.5″. So one day I remember seeing one of those porn site ads “grow your penis up to 8″ in a month!” and figured what the hell a month is no time at all and I’ll have a monster dong in 4 weeks! So I went to the site and bought one, $120 if I remember correctly which was a lot of money for me at the time. I remember ordering and then canceling the order about twice out of fear, then I guess I finally said screw it, ordered it and walked away.
The next day I got the shipping update and I nervously began pacing around my parents house plotting how to get the big brown box from the mail box to my room unnoticed so no one would ask “whats in the box” and leave me red faced and stammering while coming up with something to say. Few days go by and the mail comes, I bolt out the door to the mailbox, grabbed the box, dropped about 3 envelopes on the ground and bolt back inside. The mail on the ground was a casualty of war and I left it behind.
Anyways so I had it in my hands, it was a bathmate or something like that, a water penis pump. I went to the shower and began pumping the shit out of my dick. Hurt like a son of a bitch, felt like I put my dick in a shopvac and my insides were being pulled out through my urethra. But I could tell my dick was getting bigger already so I suffered through the pain. 15 minutes later I pop the thing off and my god was my dick engorged! It was the dick of my dreams, little did I know the results only lasted a couple hours but in that time I had to of jerked it about 5 times, and stood in the mirror staring at it for another 30 minutes before it shrunk back down to a stub. So I pumped for a month and actually saw some result, was thicker mostly. I kept at it for maybe another 3-4 months consistently and kept an eye on my “gains” and to my surprise my dick was actually growing. But one day I got a little too cocky and over pumped and my dick started hurting along the right side and I was properly freaked out. I quit right then and there and threw the damn thing away after breaking it into tiny pieces so that it couldn’t be recognized. All in all, my dick did grow, it’s about 6.5″ now and slightly more girthy.
Would I do it again? Hell no, its not worth it. After my penis injury scare I realized that its more embarrassing having to go to the hospital and tell them that I broke my dick in a penis pump than it is to have a average sized dick. After I got laid for the first time at 20 (late bloomer) I realized dick size didn’t even matter to most women and if it did that they aren’t the type of person I would want a relationship with anyways. I now have more self confidence than I did but I don’t contribute any of that to my magnum dong.
3. Just this May, I was with a new girlfriend from university. We’d been together only three weeks but we’d had sex quite a number of times. While she was giving me oral sex, she told me that my penis was a lot smaller than the other guys she’s been with. Let me be clear that she was literally holding it while she said this.
Now I didn’t know how to take this. Stupid, insecure me being a hopeless romantic wanted to improve myself for my girlfriend. I’m fairly normal in terms of size, 5.75 long and 5 around, but I was seriously hurt by this comment.
I went online and found a website claiming to increase your size. These guys preached a technique called jelqing, and the idea is to grip your shaft from the base at around 50% erection and milk it. So I did this ‘jelqing’ for two weeks, following some regimen they had for beginners.
At the end of the second week, I woke up to find that I could no longer get hard. I assumed maybe I overworked it, whatever. This lasted for five days and I was panicking. The day I went to a clinic to find out what was wrong, I was finally getting erections again at about 30%. They referred me to a urologist and I explained to him what happened. He said to take a rest for 6 weeks, hopefully everything will be okay.
6 weeks passes and I still can’t achieve a full erection. My maximum was 70% and I was having weird symptoms with my member. I had developed a torsion of maybe 10 degrees, as in the head was rotated. Nothing too grotesque as I’ve seen other guys born with this naturally, but it just wasn’t straight anymore. The other symptom led to seaches online pointing to something called ‘hard flaccid,’ something not medically recognized as a real symptom. My penis would not go soft basically. It felt rubbery and stiff all the time, and it only relaxed to what I was used to if I was urinating or laying down on my back. It’s resistant to being moved and prevents me from getting an erection while standing up.
I saw two more urologists and two clinic doctors and told them what was going on. I made sure to be clear about the exact motions I made when I was trying this jelqing nonsense. One told me to have a cystoscopy done and the other said to take another 2 months rest. Cystoscopy came out clear. He still had no idea what was going on and said take a few months’ rest like the other doctor said.
Now, I’ve got another urologist appointment with the cystoscopy urologist in December after rest. He’s probably going to schedule me for a pelvic MRI but we have no idea what’s going on. There’s apparently no scar tissue, but my penis is stiff unless I’m resting on my back or after urinating.
Obviously my gf broke up the week after I had my issue. I don’t blame her for anything, it was my own insecurities that led me to my decision. I’m a young guy who didn’t know how to deal with the situation and I ended up doing something stupid. I’ve been majorly abstinent over the course of these four months or so. I didn’t touch anything down there until about two weeks ago. It’s been a challenge but I’m putting my health first.
Please be happy with what you have. Don’t let other people put you down and recognize that a good partner would accept you for who you are. Be secure in what you’ve been given. A small, working dick will always be better than a broken 7-inches.
4. Not enlargement but once tried a weird knock-off viagra bought online. Gave me the dongest of dongs for a good few hours but also made my vision go BLUE. Everything BLUE. Slept it off and woke up to normal vision.
Looked in the mirror — left pupil about twice the size of the right. That was 6 years ago. Left pupil still a constant 20% or so larger than the right to this day, so I guess I enlarged something…
5. I tried stamina-rx. I bought it from the gas station and was super anxious so I thought I’d give it a test run before the big show. Well about 30 minutes later I started sweating my ass off, my face was flushed, my heart starting beating out of my chest, and I got the worst stomach ache ever. I was only 18 and couldn’t tell my mom I was dying because of dick pills, so I laid on the floor and accepted that this was how I was going to die.
Oh and I never got any benefit either. All the side effects, on the brink of death with a soft dick. I did jelq for 2-3 years and that did help a lot but I took it too far and injured myself. I cut that shit out and just chilled on jacking willy so much.
6. Yeah they work, but it is very possible to overdo it and permanently damage yourself.
With a pump you can gain about an inch in girth and length before it becomes unnatural – thing is if you have a foreskin that will balloon when you thrust and you’ll end up stuck. Not the greatest thing in the world… especially if you unkindly wind up accidentally hitting cervix even without using any “enhancement.”
Now, you may think that knotting your GF or wife sounds fun, and it is. Thing is, it is her body and it is seriously not cool to be stuck in someone who is having instant regret.
That isn’t permanent, some people say it can be but I’m pretty sure they’re exaggerating. On the plus side, they make you super sensitive, and can be used on women as well… just don’t overdo it.
Tension machines take much much longer and have permanent results. Thing is, they can result in ED. Those are mostly recommended for medical applications – and they are effective. They suck for foreplay.
7. I used a pump about 3 times a week over the period of 4 or 5 months. I gained like a quarter inch in length. Also it stays a bit bigger when flaccid now which is kind of nice. The purpose was actually more to gain girth which didn’t happen at all.
The catch was that I got some minor stretch marks on my shaft. Not from the permanent growth, but from the swelling while pumping. I think I could have avoided them if I hadn’t pumped as hard. Some people also do things like wear condoms while pumping to keep the swelling down.
Anyway, the marks faded over time and they aren’t noticeable, so I don’t have too deep of regrets. But I don’t think I’d recommend it. You’re not going to go from small to average, or from average to big or anything. There’s more damage to be done than good.
Definitely DON’T TRY THIS!! I lost my ability to get and keep a normal erection at the age of 18 (I’m 25 now), lost almost all sensitivity in my penis. Fucked up my sexual life. I was struggling with suicidal thoughts for years. Doing therapy has helped but the stigma is still there.
I didn’t treat the problem at the time because of shame, lack of money and health insurance. How do you explain your parents and friends that you have ED for such a stupid accident??
The funny thing is that I initially came across those exercises (jelqing and stretching, the latter caused the worst damage) while searching how to straighten the curvature, not for an enlargement method. Even though I’m slightly below average, it wasn’t a big deal (no pun intended).
I needed to get this off my chest. Please, don’t make the same mistake I did. It’s not worth taking the risk
8. First off, they don’t work as people think they would. There’s usually stuff in it that increases the flow of blood, so your penis looks more swelled up. They also usually contain zinc, which makes you cum more. Some of the herbs make you last longer.
All of those three things is good for your self-confidence. And so, in a weird way, they so work! However, I cannot recommend it to anyone.
It’s way better to take your multi-vitamins, drink lots of water, exercise regularly, wear loose underwear and generally be aware of penile health. Manscaping is also a very solid option. It’ll not only make it look bigger, its more appealing to almost every woman I’ve ever met.
But the most important thing is to be happy about your dick. I’ve got an average (5 inch) penis, but I was convinced I couldn’t satisfy any woman ever. And honestly, when I was under that impression, it killed my self confidence and I couldn’t act sexy because I didn’t feel sexy.
So, fuck all the nonsense. Your dick is your dick. Most probably, it’s fine. If it is too short, learn how to go down on your partner. Treat that pussy like a temple. Get some toys. This is the 21st century my man, there’s a ton of options s available!
Confidence is more than the size of your dick. Read books, have opinions. Instead of wasting your money of those shitty pills, upgrade your wardrobe. Be happy with yourself. Women find that damn sexy.
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
I grew up in Australia, the youngest of 4 children and second-hand EVERYTHING was normal. We had a roof over our heads & adequate food to eat but no luxuries or extras at all.
I had my first child at 18 and I promised him, he would have more than I did.
My boyfriend and I started with nothing but with hard work and sacrifice we saved for our first home. We both had pretty average jobs but we saved hard and eventually bought a second home. By chance in the early 2000’s both houses (in different states) doubled in value. We bought a third apartment but we managed our rental properties ourselves and when a tenant did not pay their rent, it made things hard for us personally to make mortgage repayments.
We sold the apartment at a small profit to relieve some financial pressure. We bought another house and with a lot of hard work we had almost paid it off in about 8 years.
We decided to sell our home as both our children had finished school and were becoming financially independent. So we rented while we thought about what we wanted to do.
A ‘friend’ at work had told me about his new venture. He had purchased NRAS (National Rental Affordability Scheme) titles where as an investor, we could build a dwelling, rent it out to lower income bracket and the government would pay an extra 20% direct to us tax free (that was the gist of it anyway). It sounded great!
After 2 years of waiting, the plans had changed but it still seemed like a good idea so we invested our money. Basically, we get a loan to build. They do all the groundwork. At the end of build, we split things 50/50.
We built 2 duplex projects, a 5 unit and 6 unit dwellings over the period of 7 years. We didn’t take any profit, just rolled it over to next build. We invested over $200,000 of our own money and should have had profit exceeding $400,000.
It wasn’t in the millions but it was more money than I had ever had & I finally felt like I was successful and rich!
Then in April 2017 it all came crashing down. Along with 40 other investors we lost everything when the company went into liquidation. Administrators have taken everything in their fees, and unbeknownst to me, when my last property sold (in June 2016) the company didn’t pay $100,000 GST owed to Australian Taxation Office. So now they are chasing me for it and it goes up by thousands every month.
I feel like a failure. I feel stuck. I am ashamed that I have done this to my family.
But, my husband of 20 years has been my rock. Our relationship since this happened is the strongest it has ever been.
My children understand that things are hard at the moment and don’t have any financial expectations.
My parents have been so supportive and have never once said ‘ I told you so’. In fact, they told me a story about their own financial mistakes and how they overcome them.
I have love, I have my health, I have my family.
I’m going to be Ok.
TSMC restarts China factory
https://youtu.be/hq5XcA6vctM
AI ‘Bot hits Quora
I find the answers interesting. Detailed. But so very bland. No passion…
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What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
I can tell the experience of a friend. who married a woman who was multi-millionaire since birth. Saying that they were rich is an understatement. They only flew first or business class, he got a new Porsche or Mercedes every single year and they always lived in the best areas in Manhattan,
I remember when he and his wife moved to New York they hired an interior designer from Milan to do the decoration. They spent around a million dollars only with the renovation and furniture for the apartment.
They had it all, and not even in my dreams I would imagine that one day they would lose it all.
However, like many other stories, they didn’t lose it overnight, but little by little.
I never imagined they would lose all their money because apart of being filthy rich, they were really lucky.
My friend’s wife grew up being a millionaire. Annual trips to Aspen with her family, then summer in Europe and everything we imagine rich people do. I was lucky to enjoy some of these perks when I was invited to one of their vacation homes.
They had a lot of money but they didn’t work. After all, they never needed to do it. She received a monthly allowance from her family that I believe was around 700K to 1M per year so they would probably not bother to work 9 to 6 to make $100K more.
They lived this life for around 10 years. Then, they had some disagreement with their family and they stopped receiving the allowance. They lived by their savings for around 3 years. During those years they lived a very good life, but not so lavish as before. After 3 years, when they were about to start selling everything so they could have some money, her uncle died. He didn’t have any kids so she received a good sum of money that was sufficient for around 3 more years.
When their bank accounts were about to run dry again her mother passed away and she inherited, along with her brothers, around 4M each.
For most people, it would be sufficient for a lifetime, but they made very bad investments along with some poor decisions and I don’t know how, but they ended up losing everything in around 3 more years.
After losing all their money they started living with the money of a trust her parents left to her, Something around 5K per month. But they are on their 50s, they never worked and have no professional skills and they have to pay rent (as they don’t have a home), pay all their bills and above all, health insurance with that amount.
I saw them around 6 months ago and they were miserable. My friend developed a neurological disease due to the stress he endured in the last years. His wife was making all decisions as he wasn’t able to do it anymore. Unfortunately, he is so sick that he couldn’t work even if he wanted to.
I was really sad it happened to them because they were really nice people, It’s easy to judge them for never bothered to have a job or be wiser with their money, however, she was born in a different universe for most of us. What we see as a lavish lifestyle she sees as a regular day since birth.
I asked them if they needed anything and obviously what they need is their old lifestyle back. They moved to a modest apartment in a different state.
She told me that the biggest issue is that they don’t know how to live like that. She can’t imagine what’s like to do their own grocery shopping, and worst than that, go to Walmart with a shopping list. She said that if she spent a little more on things she like she might not have money for the supermarket next week.
I would not dare to say that this experience was humbling to them because they were always nice people, the difference is that they were nice people with lots of money. The only positive thing I believe this experience brought to them is that they are no longer superficial. They used to see everything like poverty, sorrow, and problems from a different perspective, and I used to see them through a mask that looked like they were using all the time
Now, for the first time, I was able to see who they really are. What are their emotions, their fears, their desires, and their regrets… For the first time in their lives they desire things, they no longer pull their credit card and immediately satisfy their desires and in that sense, they look like real people for me.
Every time I visited them over the years I always invited them for lunch, breakfast or coffee and even though I’m not wealthy I always offered to pay, and 6 months ago, when I saw them for the last time, I invited them to have a coffee at Starbucks and that was the first time in more than 15 years that they said thank you after I offered to pay for our breakfast.
It felt different. They don’t need to thank me for anything because during their life, just by inviting me to stay with them, they offered me much more than anything I’ve ever offered to them, but for the first time in their lives, they are learning to value every small good thing that life gives to them.
Thank you all for the upvotes and feedbacks to this story. In fact, I had two stories about the theme but Quora doesn’t allow to publish two answers for the same question, so, for those who are interested I’ll post the second story here.
In 2007 I was hired by a medium size tech company. The company had around 150 employees and they were growing fast. When I was hired they told me they would be moving to better offices in two months and they really did it. The new office was really impressive. Huge, very modern to the point it made the cover of a magazine.
My boss and her husband were the owners of the company. They were simply amazing. She was sweet, very polite and it was a pleasure to work for them. They were also very rich. In fact, she was so down to earth that it took me two months to realize that she was one of the owners of the company. It happened one day that we had a meeting with a client and she told me if I was OK to be squeezed on the back seat of her car, as another person was coming with us. I Imagined that she had one of those very small cars, but she showed up on a brand new convertible Porsche .
Little by little, we became acquainted. They invited me to have dinner one night and I was impressed by how rich they really were, They lived on a mansion, the land was so big that they had a tennis court, swimming pool and a stable with 5 horses on their land. He also was a motor enthusiast and had 9 cars. They owned a farm and a beach house in another city, even though we lived in one of the most beautiful beach cities in the world.
They made money fast because I was hired in 2007 and the company was founded in 2002 and it looked like they had a good lifestyle for some years.
They were amazing people, very humble, very calm and you would never say they had so much money just by talking to them.
I left the company by the end of 2007 because I received an offer to work in another place. I talked to them before accepting the offer, I explained my reasons and they were really supportive and told me that if I changed my mind the doors would be open.
By the end of 2008, a former colleague contacted me asking for a reference as he was leaving the company. I asked why he was leaving the company and the told me that the company had gone into receivership. Basically, they were impacted by the GFC.
They were so rich that I imagined that although the company had bankrupted they probably had a lot of savings.
I never heard from them again until 2017.
I had a health issue and I needed to see a specialist. When I got to the doctor, I was talking to the receptionist when I saw a sign with her name over her desk. (Let’s say Jennifer Parker – I’ll omit her real name). So I said to her. Hey Jennifer, what a coincidence, I had a boss with exactly the same name.
Then she told me that she was not Jennifer, that Jennifer was the other receptionist, that she worked Monday and Tuesday and Jenniffer Wednesday to Friday. I saw the doctor and two weeks later I came back for my return and when I arrived who I see working as a receptionist there? My former boss.
When she saw me she recognized me and told me that the other receptionist told what happened and when she saw my name she connected the dots.
She told me what happened to the company, basically was a problem with the contracts they made and as they weren’t able to get a new loan from the bank they could no longer keep the company and pay their debts. With that, they lost everything, not only the company but literally everything.
Their kids moved from private to public schools, they had all their cars, properties and assets confiscated and ended moving to a small apartment near the city. Her husband was able to get a new job (at nearly 60 years of age) and she had to go back to work to complement their income.
It was a huge surprise for me because you always expect that these things will happen to bad people, but never to nice people like them. They were honest, decent, hardworking, family oriented, and everybody in the office liked them.
Coincidentally I bumped into them again 3 months later in the mall. What surprised me the most is that they were able to go from a very rich to a very modest lifestyle without changing who they were. We sit together to have lunch in the food court and they were living like that was the life they always had. They were exactly the same people I met 10 years before, they were happy, making jokes with their kids (that were teenagers by then) and even when she told me what happened she didn’t do it with sadness.
I don’t know how they managed everything so well. Going through an experience like that could be very damaging, but it looks like they had a way to cope with everything.
It taught me a lesson that money can’t be trusted, life can be full of unexpected events with many things out of our control.
Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Gravy
1ba3d58fbd0b00ecc209e3db69fbb08d
Ingredients
Chili Gravy
2 tablespoons shortening
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons chili powder (Gebhardt if possible)
3 cups warm water
Salt to taste
Enchiladas
12 corn tortillas
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
4 cups grated cheese
Instructions
Lightly grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Chili Gravy: Melt shortening in skillet. Stir in flour, make a light roux. Add chili powder, water and salt. Cook until thick. The gravy will vary according to what brand of chili powder you use.
Enchiladas: Heat oil in skillet. Using kitchen tongs, dip each tortilla in hot oil until well softened (about 15 seconds). Hold tortilla up to drain. Using tongs dip tortillas in hot chili gravy. Place tortillas in pan, put a good pinch onions and cheese in the middle and roll the tortilla, placing the flop side down. Continue filling and rolling tortillas until pan is full. Pour more chili gravy on top of the enchiladas, sprinkle the top generously with more cheese and pop into a preheated oven to bake until cheese begins to bubble, about 10 minutes.
Serve immediately.
Can the U.S. mobilize 10 million troops to crush China?
The USA couldn’t mobilize a kegger let alone a military operation. Those days are over. Most of what is called “the United States States” is smoke and mirrors, magnified a million times by control of the social media via algorithm.
It’s difficult, you know, to discern which are accurate questions asked by sincere people, and question-’bots programmed to spew a narrative to the public in the form of questions.
Most of us ignore these questions. But every now and again, we feel compelled to stamp some truth on top of them to keep the audience in check.
Most people are unaware how formidable Asia is right now, and this ignorance is getting more profound with each passing minute. Soon, the lemmings will march in unison toward their death, and the West will be a snot-stained page in the history books.
What does it feel like to become poor after being wealthy?
I guess I can’t say I was “rich” (since my net worth was never really all that high) but I was a consistent $250k a year earner for about 3 years who once had over $100k in cash. Not bad for a single guy with no family obligations
I had worked for years in a fairly low-paying career (at least in the city I live in) that requires passion in order to be done well, and I had none. I settled for it, and anyone who knows me knows I am not a settler (probably why I have been single most of my life!) I could never get ahead. Was always living paycheck to paycheck. Knew I had to do something different if I was ever going to “make it” but had no idea what that was. I felt the job really gave me no transferable skills
In the fall of 2007, I stumbled upon something called “affiliate marketing” online. Basically, companies will pay you a commission (often 50–75%) if you can drive sales for them. Bounced around from method-to-method for a while, but finally stuck to something that I was confident would bring me some money. Maybe not life changing income, but for the time being, enough to maybe coverage my mortgage. (Which, come to think about it, WOULD BE life changing income for what I was making)
In one month, I wrote probably 300 articles and submitted them to what was at the time a very high-traffic article directory. Made $600. It was the most rewarding $600 I had ever made
Eventually, I had saved enough to feel comfortable buying traffic online, and that was a real game changer. Started making probably $12k per month, in addition to my job, which I was now REALLY starting to hate because I didn’t need it anymore. Or so I thought
Put in my resignation in February 2010. A week later, I got caught in Google Adwords’ war on affiliate marketers, and my account was banned. I wasn’t doing anything shady, but others had, and they basically just started blanket-banning many affiliates. And since they provided 95% of my traffic, I was up a creek with no paddle. Had to put my tail between my legs and ask for my job back. Fortunately, they never wanted me to leave in the first place
Took about 2.5 years, but I built it up again, using different methods. And this time, multiple traffic sources! I was ready to quit again. I wasn’t making great money, but it was a comfortable living, and I felt deep down this was what I had to do
Then, right as I had made the decision to officially quit, I hit a windfall. $45k in a month. And things changed
Now, just quitting and having freedom wasn’t enough. I wanted it all. Dream car, vacations, a much nicer place. And I got all those things. I eventually rented an apartment in one of the premier buildings in my city, bought a Porsche (albeit a used one at half of its original cost)
And needless to say, I quit my job
The $45k months lasted only a couple months, but I was still pulling in at least 3.5X what my job paid me. And while I don’t want to say I went crazy with the money (because I always knew I needed a cushion, being self-employed in a volatile business), I basically was living a dream life (at least for me). Friend calls me two weeks in advance to go Miami? Done. Fly to sporting events? No problem. Buying flashy sport coats that gave me lots of attention from females? Give me as many as I can get my hands on
I woke up pretty much every day with a smile on my face, thinking, “what more am I going to create today to pad my bank account? What new, exciting experiences will I undertake?” Sure, there were bumps in the road along the way, but I always seemed to find something even better, including one online campaign that was bringing me a consistent $30–60k a month. But there was a catch…
This income was EXTREMELY volatile. Online traffic sources were starting to be a real pain. I knew this particular gravy train wasn’t going to continue long-term. I knew I needed something more stable. And that’s where everything started to unravel
I had an opportunity to hire one of the real heavy hitters in my market to create my own product. The goal was to no longer be an affiliate and having to worry about a company stopping their affiliate program, or traffic sources not liking affiliates (namely Google). His price was steep ($6k a month) but I knew he knew his stuff, plus someone in my network had worked with him before and raved about him. He co-founded a company that did 8 figures a year, although to be honest, that wasn’t really even on my radar. I just wanted something where I didn’t have to sleep with one eye open
Had my family, even my ex-girlfriend pray that he would take me on. And he did
In July of 2015, the gravy train really started producing much less gravy. Still decent money, but not enough when you’re paying someone $6k a month, not to mention you know you’ll have to spend a lot of money on traffic to get a good return on investment. And mind you, our product was a couple months off schedule
Finally, a month later, it went online, and it was a money pit from the start. There were only a handful of days where I even made a small profit. I knew it would take time, but now, time wasn’t something I had a lot of. We made tweak after tweak, but nothing worked. I started having strong anxiety, and in March of 2016, I told my biz partner we needed to get this thing profitable soon, or else I was going to have to pull the plug. I didn’t want to give up on it (especially considering I had put just about everything I had into it). The only thing that was keeping me from totally going crazy was that the gravy train was still bringing me a solid income
Then April 6th happened
Had just returned from a much needed vacation to see my alma mater play in the college basketball Final Four (mind you, I was much more thrifty on this trip than the ones I had taken in years past). Got a call from the one remaining affiliate program that was bringing me income that it was over
And just about everything has been a downward spiral from there
Ended my lease on that beautiful apartment with bay views and floor-to-ceiling windows to move back to my 650 square foot condo with low ceilings and a horribly outdated kitchen. Sold the Porsche and didn’t even have a car for three months because I was too scared to put a down-payment. Had no idea what to do next. Tried to make my product work on my own (my former “partner” and I parted ways shortly after. Amicably, as I don’t blame him for what happened, although we don’t really talk anymore because my sub-conscious probably has some resentment toward him for this failing so miserably). For the most part, it just continued to bleed me dry, although I did find a way to squeeze about $3k a month in profit from it. My parents eventually took mercy on me and bought me a former rental car so I could drive for Uber and Lyft, an opportunity I am grateful for, but a dangerous job and somewhat degrading, considering my former life
I now suffer from nearly constant anxiety and depression. Depressed over what my life used to be like compared to what it is now, anxious about what the future holds. Savings are almost gone, piled up major credit card debt, I have no idea what job I could even do (trust me, the money I made online, just about anyone with half a brain could have done it) and whether anyone would even hire me with the way my emotional state is these days. But there is also anxiety about whether I can ever be happy again, especially if I don’t come close to making it back to where I was before. Will I ever get back my fun-loving, optimistic spirit? I just turned 40 in March, and would love to meet the woman of my dreams and start a family, but who of value would want to date a guy my age in my situation?
As I’m sure is the case with many others, going from high income to barely scraping by stripped me of most of my self-worth. I remember talking to a VERY successful friend of mine back in 2010 when I first started to make five figures a month. He said “man, you’re so much more confident now.” And I told him “I agree, but I don’t want just want to be that way because I’m a higher earner now.” This guy is a very positive person who has made millions in the personal development space, but even he said “I hate to say this, but that’s just the reality of being a male”
Most achievements we strive for are a letdown on some level, and yes, I would include being well-off in this. I wouldn’t say my life was amazing every single moment during those high-income days. But I will say, it came pretty close to being as good as I thought it would be. And to lose it makes you question whether you would have been better off never having it in the first place. I struggle with this a lot. I got to do so many things and make so many memories that I never would have been able to do had I not hit that income level. But at the same time, I am somewhat haunted by them. Every time I drive by that beautiful downtown apartment building making barely-above minimum wage driving Uber/Lyft (and answering the question “is this your full-time job” or “what do you do besides this” for the thousandth time) I get depressed. All the flaws in my current living space that I once ignored are now amplified. Sometimes I feel the only times I am happy at all are when I lose myself for a few minutes and go back and look at pictures of those times, and pretend for a bit that I’m still there
So that, in my experience, is what it’s like to go from being wealthy to being poor
We are over the transitional period. Over the next year or two, the dawning of understanding will creep into the collective minds of those that “lead” the West. How this will manifest can be anything, but I remain hopeful…
A scaling back of many policies.
Changes in the way that many things are done.
Some attempts (which will be failures) that will try to prevent the hemorrhaging of the Untied States.
However, I am often wrong, and I fail at least 50% of the time in my predictions. Though, I’m often quite correct on trend-lines. Outcomes. Not so well.
What outcomes?
Flipping the tables with global nuclear war.
Invasion of Mexico, Iran, or Taiwan.
Civil war in the United States
Who know what will happen. I don’t.
Have a great day.
Posted for the record.
Self explanatory.
Those of us who consume western msm are not delusional when we state there is an anti-China editorial policy in western newsrooms.
2023 03 14 14 46
Jason And The Argonauts (1963)
I always find with these stop-motion animation films that the wonderful Harryhausen creations always far out-act the human talent! Sadly, here is no different – Todd Armstrong in the title role and Nancy Novak as ” Medea” are as wooden as the Argo in this retelling of the ancient Greek myth.
It is still, however, an exciting action adventure though, with plenty of episodes to keep it moving along as Jason fights monsters and treachery to seek out the legendary Golden Fleece from the distant land of Colchis.
It’s got a decent enough, largely British, supporting cast with Honor Blackman standing out as his patron “Hera” and Nigel Green making for a wonderfully over-the-top “Hercules”, but the spoils definitely go to Talos, the Harpies and the skeleton battle is fabulous.
https://youtu.be/1c8NvctkSzs
What is the Chinese opinion of the United States of America? Do they hate us as much as we hate them? Is their dislike towards USA justified? If yes, why and if no, why not?
No
Not even half as much!
Chinese people thinks the U.S. system and policies are daft and don’t work. They don’t hate the country and certainly don’t hate the people. There is very few who are racist like some Americans.
The Chinese people sees Americans as good customer and America as huge market. The treat customers well. They will never be submissive and subservient to you as to them they are a far more mature and intelligent person. You can think what you want but that what they think about themselves.
They saw through the manipulation and cheating of the so call international rules based international order and so does most others. And they will certainly not allow it to perpetuate. Quite rightly so. They still hope you guys comes to your senses soon before you implode.
The Chinese are at least 3 full steps ahead of Americans in thinking and response. You can rant and rave if you want but frankly it is not beneficial to hate the Chinese or China or CCP. The U.S. will lose more. If China maybe they can it means 100% it can be done. China will be either your biggest customer or your biggest competitor that U.S. your choice.
Vietnam War: Racquel Welch 1967
Why doesn’t milk taste like real milk anymore? I just want milk that tastes like real milk.
Milk in America and Canada underwent a major deterioration in taste in the early 1970’s. In the UK and Europe it happened in about 1980.
Milk undergoes significant and irreversible biochemical changes once it is heated above 64.5˚C. And these changes are readily detected as a deterioration in the taste.
Prior to 1980 in the UK, and roughly the early 1970’s in North America, milk was commonly pasteurised by heating it to between 63˚C and 64˚C and holding it in that temperature bracket for 30 minutes. It was a protocol developed in 1906 by Public Health officials in Massachusetts, who were desperate to persuade people to drink pasteurised milk instead of raw milk. But bringing milk close to boiling meant the wonderful rich taste of the milk when raw was lost. So the public bought raw milk by choice.
With what must have been a considerable amount of research, they found that by heating milk above 63˚C but below 64˚C, and maintaining the temperature for 30 minutes, the pathogens were killed, but the rich taste of the milk was not damaged. After WWII it became the widespread approach to pasteurising milk.
But in the 1970’s a far faster method was developed, which was to heat the milk to 73˚C and run it through pipework for just 15 seconds. The pathogens they were concerned about were effectively killed off by this method. And though the wonderful rich taste of the milk was damaged, the industry was persuaded to switch over to the new approach by the great cost savings it brought.
And since that switch in the mid 1970’s the per capita consumption of milk in the USA has declined by over 40%.
In movies from the 1950’s and 1960’s you often see a glass of milk at the dinner table. Look at movies made since 1980 and a glass of milk is a very rare sight. If you have never tasted milk produced using the old protocol, then you do not know what you are missing.
My wife is a dairy farmer, and we pasteurise and bottle our milk for sale through shops across Scotland. (In Scotland milk sold to the public has to be pasteurised.) Ours is one of the very few dairy farms in Scotland using the old approach. We tried (once) heating the milk to 73˚C but hated the way the taste was dramatically altered, in our view, damaged. And so we stick to the slower, older method. But we have noticed that, should someone forget to turn off the heating elements at the wrong point, and the temperature of the milk in the big pasteurising vessel goes above 64.5˚C, it then develops a “sticky” quality. We studiously avoid this happening, as that stickiness means the vessel is suddenly a nightmare to clean.
As milk goes above 64.5˚C the proteins are increasingly denatured. And the denatured proteins then coagulate with the butterfat. And this seems to be what causes the stickiness. I presume it is also involved directly in the alteration of the flavour of the milk.
And so the vast majority of the population on both sides of the Atlantic have no experience these days of good old-fashioned drinking milk. And that’s a big pity.
Addendum: there’s an important topic that is related to all the above.
Crohn’s Disease has surged in the years since the HTST process was adopted, and it appears there is a direct link between the two topics. There is a very widespread disease amongst cows & cattle called Johnes Disease, and it is caused by the Mycobacterium avium subsp. tuberculosis, commonly referred to as MAP.
The bacteria, once introduced to a herd, is nearly impossible to get rid of, as it can survive in the cow pats in fields for years.
There is currently no treatment for Johnes Disease, which is a wasting illness of the digestive tract. The symptoms of Johnes Disease and Crohn’s Disease are identical. While it is a simple matter to demonstrate that Johnes Disease is caused by MAP, there are ethical barriers which make a similar determination of MAP and Crohn’s Disease impossible.
We can’t have two groups of healthy people, and expose the folk in one group to viable MAP, and see what happens. But there is an enormous body of circumstantial evidence pointing to Crohn’s Disease being caused by MAP. Some 10% of supermarket milk sold in the UK (for example) has been found to contain viable MAP, i.e., 10% of milk on those shelves just might cause Crohn’s Disease in people who consume it on a regular basis.
The older process of 63˚C for 30 minutes is actually 10 times more effective at killing off MAP than the typical HTST process. Longer exposure to high temperatures are needed it seems, and this is why the HTST approach is a poor process for milk pasteurisation.
China’s Fujian air wing is slowly taking shape
China’s Fujian air wing is slowly taking shape, possibly making it the first carrier worldwide capable of launching 5th-generation stealth fighters from its decks.
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Few days ago it was reported that China might be preparing to deploy a new stealth fighter or perhaps a stealth drone from its Fujian aircraft carrier, incrementally building the combat capabilities of its third carrier and flagship naval vessel.
It is noted that the J-31/ FC-31 will complement the J-15, China’s only carrier-based fighter. It also mentions that the J-31 will be used for air supremacy missions due to its stealth characteristics, while the J-15 will be limited to ground and sea attacks.
However, the report notes that both the J-31/FC-31 and the Fujian are still not combat-ready, with the J-31/FC-31 still undergoing ground tests and the Fujian expected to perform sea trials later this year.
China’s J-31/FC-31 has a 2,000-kilometer estimated range, maximum takeoff weight of 28 tons, an operational ceiling of 15 kilometers and a top speed of Mach 1.8 or 2,205 kilometers per hour.
FH-97A Loyal Wingman drone is an AI-powered unmanned stealth aircraft designed to complement the J-20 stealth fighter. Unlike other loyal wingman drones, the stealthy FH-97A has a 1,000-kilometer range with a six-hour maximum flight time.
The FH-97A is designed for air-to-air operations, noting that it has a front-mounted EOTS and internal weapons bay for six infrared air-to-air missiles. Apart from air-to-air roles, the report mentions that it can perform secondary missions such as surveillance, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) and electronic warfare. Considerations are being made to develop a carrier-based FH-97A variant featuring in-flight refueling capability.
Foreign agents and protests in Georgia
A classic color revolution to disrupt the southern border of Russia.
Burial Bundles with Painted Bodies in Fabric Found in Peru Pyramid
burial bundles
Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered a monumental temple site where they discovered unique human burials wrapped in fabrics printed with bizarre zoomorphic designs. These bundles contain the remains of deceased individuals, as well as various offerings and personal belongings wrapped in multiple layers of textiles, often with intricate designs and patterns. Found in tombs and caves, many burial bundles have been preserved for hundreds, or even thousands of years.
High Status Ancient Burials
PAP reports that within one burial mounds, archaeologists identified the wrapped remains of a young boy whose skull was “ intentionally deformed .” Wrapped in a three meters (9.84 ft) long cloth which was decorated with “totally unique zoomorphic representations,” the researchers reported that the boy was born into a “high-status family.”
Cranial deformation was a common practice in Peru. The process involved binding the heads of infants to create a flattened or elongated skull , often with the intention of denoting social status or cultural affiliation.
Łukasz Majchrzak is a bioarchaeologist focused on pre-Columbian cultures in Peru, specializing in health, diet, and lifestyle. Majchrzak, said the boy’s wraps were covered with “unique” zoomorphic representations, and similar fabrics have never been found anywhere in the Andes mountains to date.
Dyed
Dyed fabric found in a tomb at the top of the site, dated 772 -989 AD Photo: Łukasz Majchrzak
Painted And Wrapped for The Afterlife
The team of archaeologists were excavating what they describe as “a monumental temple” on the Cerro Colorado hill located near the city of Barranca in Peru, when they found the series of “unique tombs.” These were not ordinary burials because the people within the graves were painted and wrapped in high-quality fabrics.
Located near the coastal city of Barranca in Peru, Cerro Colorado is a famously red hill which is caused by high levels of iron oxide in the soil. With expansive panoramic views of the surrounding landscape, including the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains, this important archaeological site features a sunken plaza and an amphitheatre, which were utilized in the pre-Columbian era.
The recent excavations were conducted by a team of archaeologists from the Jagiellonian University and St Mark’s University, in the “Los valles de Barranca ” project. According to a report on Nauka W Polsce , four earthen mounds were excavated in 2022 and, amidst a monumental temple structure, four tombs were discovered containing painted human remains wrapped in high-quality fabrics that dated to 772 AD – 989 AD.
Peruvian
Cross-section of a Peruvian mummy bundle. Source: Juulijs / Adobe Stock
Unwrapping Ancient Burial Bundles
The above dating determined that the graves belonged to the Wari culture , whose legacy can be found at Castillo de Huarmey, located only 70 kilometres (43.5 miles) north of Barranca in the Huarmey district of Peru. Castillo de Huarmey is a 16th-century coastal fortress built by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro’s brother-in-law, Jerónimo de Aliaga. The castle is known for its unique blend of Spanish, Inca, and Chimú architectural styles and contains numerous well-preserved murals depicting daily life in the region, and a Wari mausoleum.
On two of the newly excavated pyramidal mounds, the monumental temple was found to have been constructed using dried red clay bricks and stone blocks. This discovery inspired a large-scale excavation of the site which revealed the burial bundles, also known as “fardos funerarios”.
example
An example of a Wari burial bundle (Public Domain)
Revitalizing Ancient Holy Sites
Research revealed that while the burials dated to between 772 AD and 989 AD, the temple complex itself was built between 2500 and 2200 BC. This dating is derived from two of the four structures, with the remaining two not yet excavated, so the site might prove to be even older.
Majchrzak explained that such settlements, with “imposing architecture,” were built in the Andes during the third millennium BC. As agriculture spread, as a result of increasing interactions with communities residing in the Amazon, later Andean cultures established burial necropolises in abandoned deeply-ancient places of worship, believing their ancestors were buried within the timeworn pyramids.
China and Saudi Arabia just dealt a CRUSHING blow to the U.S. Dollar
Buffalo Chicken & Pepper Grilled Cheese Sandwich
BuffaloGrilledChickenPic 570×766 1
Ingredients
2 tablespoons hot sauce
1 tablespoon Cabot Salted Butter, melted
1 cooked chicken breast, shredded (about 1 cup)
4 tablespoons Cabot Salted Butter, softened
8 (1/2 inch thick) slices LaBrea Bakery Take & Bake Garlic Loaf Bread or any garlic flavored bread
4 roasted red bell pepper quarters (about 1 cup drained, jarred or 1 fresh roasted red bell pepper)
4 ounces Cabot Pepper Jack, thinly sliced
Instructions
Heat Breville sandwich maker until green light switches on, or two sided electric grill.
In medium bowl, combine hot sauce and melted butter; add chicken and toss until well combined.
Working in batches, butter one side of each bread slice and place bread on sandwich maker, or electric grill, buttered side down.
Layer evenly with chicken, bell pepper and cheese.
Cover with remaining bread slice, buttered side up.
Close lid and cook for 3 minutes or until bread is golden crisp and cheese is melted. Alternatively, cook sandwiches in heavy skillet over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes per side.)
Fighting Off The Children Of The Hydra’s Teeth | Jason and the Argonauts
This reminds me of a scene from the 1960s movie “The Ugly American”.
2023 03 14 14 5sfd8
It says in Chinese: emergency relief, 1 set.
The photo is from Türkiye, and relevant information has been censored on the US platform.
Look at how it was “reported”…
2023 03 14 14 58
Then here comes the question: did the US military buy these materials or just “borrow” them from Syria? Shouldn’t there be a comprehensive public verification of the executors?
LOL.
Alastair Crooke
March 13, 2023
The West is too dysfunctional and weak now to fight on all fronts. Yet there can be no retreat without some de-legitimising humiliation of the West.
Just occasionally, a window is opened onto the truth of how the ‘system’ works. Momentarily, it stands naked in its degeneracy. We avert our eyes, yet, it is a revelation (though it shouldn’t be). For, we see clearly how tawdry has been the attire which clothed it. ‘Liberalism’s’ seeming success – almost wholly an ephemeral PR production – serves only to make its underlying internal contradictions more obvious; more ‘in your face’ – much less credible.
This unravelling speaks to a failure to satisfactorily resolve liberal modernity’s inherent contradictions. Or, rather its unravelling derives from thechoice to resolve a waning legitimacy, through an ever more totalistic and ideological reaching for hegemony.
One such window has been the sordid affair of the UK pandemic lockdowns – as revealed by a paper trail leak of 100,000 ministerial WhatsApp messages, managing the lockdown project.
What did they show (in the words here of pro-government leading political commentators)? An ugly picture of how a western Establishment interacts in adolescent sniping at each other, and in its utter disdain for the populace.
“It [lockdown] wasn’t about science, it was about politics. That was obvious as soon as the government began talking about following The Science – as if it were a fixed body of revealed truth … they were engaged in a deliberately misleading campaign of public coercion. The programme was designed to frighten – not inform – and to make doubt or scepticism appear morally irresponsible – which is precisely the opposite of what science does”.“The model for the monumental government programme in which sitting on a park bench, or meeting with extended family, became a criminal offence – was the nation at war. Horrifying levels of social isolation were deliberately designed to present the country as mobilised in a collective effort against a malign enemy. Much of this went way beyond what we generally regard as authoritarianism: even the East German Stasi did not forbid children from hugging their grandparents, or outlaw sexual relations between people who lived in different households. Every other consideration had to be relegated in a heroic national struggle against an invading army whose objective was to kill as many of us as possible. And this enemy was particularly insidious because it was invisible”.
Sherelle Jacobs:“We have been granted a rare glimpse of Power’s true nature away from the media gaze: how, in private, it schemes, swears, sulks and derides. On full display are all its dismal paradoxes: its fierce megalomania and constant seeking of reassurance from political aides; its tendency to groupthink and relentless sniping.“One feels a new cold solidarity with 1970s [Watergate] America in its horror at the “low-grade quality of mind” that characterised their political class. But perhaps the strongest parallel with Watergate is that … the state’s operations seem suffused with humdrum nihilism. It is there in the amused crusades to “scare the pants” off people. It is in the deadpan mocking of holidaymakers locked up in quarantine [hotels] (“hilarious”). It is in the remorseless dedication to “the narrative”. “How zealously the state threw themselves into implementing draconian measures, once it had decided at HQ that lockdowns were the correct populist call. We have come to learn how Hancock (Health Minister) conspired to “sit on” scientists, who he denounced as “wacky” or “loudmouth” for defying the official lines. We must digest the knowledge that civil servants insisted the “fear/guilt factor” was “vital” in “ramping up the messaging” during the dubious third lockdown. Just as unedifying is the revelation that, in the run up to this lockdown, politicians seized on a new variant as a tool to “roll the pitch with”. Perhaps most galling is Patrick Vallance’s (Scientific Adviser) advice that the Government should “suck up the media’s miserable interpretation of scientific data” to then “overdeliver” in an atmosphere of cranked up fear”.
“We see the PM appallingly served and briefed. Almost suspiciously so. At one stage, he is so in the dark about Covid’s fatality rate that he misinterprets a figure by a factor of one hundred. [Yet] the most revealing moment came in June 2020, when the mild-mannered Business Secretary, argued for certain rules to be advisory rather than compulsory. At this stage, Covid circulation had plummeted – deaths had fallen by 93 per cent from the peak: “Why is she against controlling the virus”, the minister complains. She is motivated by pure Conservative ideology! The Cabinet Secretary retorts [i.e., she is libertarian].“The Lockdown Files include thousands of attachments sent between ministers. When I first came across them, I hoped to find high-quality top-level secret briefings. Instead, ministers were sharing newspaper articles and graphs found on social media. The quality of this information was often poor, sometimes abysmal”.
The ‘Lockdown Files’ – as published in the UK by The Telegraph – expose a toxic culture where any minister or civil servant asking “awkward” questions knew they were liable to be briefed against, sidelined or ostracised. ‘Off the boil’ Members of Parliament thought to oppose lockdowns were placed on a secret Red List, and the then Health Secretary’s aide wrote, “these guys’ re-election hinges on us: We know what they want”.
But the Files reveal something even more chilling. What was the overall public response to the publication of the files? Plainly said: It is that a majority of the people are so numbed and passive – and so in lockstep – as the state inches them through a series of repeating emergencies towards a new kind of authoritarianism, that they don’t fuss greatly, or even notice much.
To be clear, the Lockdown episode is iconic of this new schema of control effected through hegemony, ideology and tech. Autonomy for the individual – and his or her search for a life, lived with meaning – now is displaced by its opposite: The instinct to subjugate and dominate, and to impose order on an inchoate and seemingly threatening world.
The surveillance-based liberal managerial state has, as Arta Moeini has written, ballooned into “a totalistic and aspiring globe-spanning Leviathan”, fraudulently disguised in the feel-good casing of liberal democracy – the key liberational elements of which, having been long replaced by their antonyms, in an Orwellian inversion.
To be clear: All the excesses of state power that occurred in the UK during the pandemic were permitted within the realms of the Western political system. The state may at any time suspend the rule of law for what it deems the greater good. The pandemic merely exposed the workings in extremis of liberal democracy – channelling Carl Schmitt’s notion of a “state of exception” being the source-code to state ‘sovereignty’ over the populace.
In this ethical vacuum, and with the capsize of societal meaning, western politicians can only snipe coarsely at one-another, Lord of the Rings-style, whilst hoping to surf whatever ‘the narrative’ and the media ‘play’ of the day can ‘up their level’ in the power matrix. To be blunt, in its lack of any deeper guiding principle, it is purely sociopathic.
However, in pushing the pendulum of the liberal schema so hard over towards the hegemony extremity, it has caused the other end to the spectrum of the overall liberal schema to catch fire: The demand to respect individual autonomy and freedom of expression. This antithesis is particularly apparent in the U.S.
Liberalism was conceived during the early French Revolution as a project of systemic liberation from oppressive social hierarchies, religion and cultural norms of the past, so that a new order of liberated individualism could come into being. Rousseau saw it as a radical clean break from the past – a disembedding of the individual from family, church and cultural norms, so that he or she could better evolve as a unitary component to a redeemed universal governance.
This was the meaning to liberalism in its early phase. However, the subsequent Reign of Terror and mass executions under the Jacobins signaled the schizophrenic connection between ‘liberation’ and the desire to force compliance on society. The persistent appeal of violent revolution versus imposed (Utopian) ‘redemption of humanity marks the two oppositional poles to the western psyche which today is being ‘resolved’ through the tilt to ‘hegemony’.
This inherent tension between the radical liberation of the individual and a conformist ‘world order’ was to be resolved via ‘new universal values’: Diversity, gender and equity – plus restitution awarded to the victims for earlier discrimination suffered. This ‘liquid modernity’ was thought to be ‘globally neutral’ (in a way that Enlightenment values were not), and therefore could underpin the western-led World Order.
The contradiction inherent to this was too evident: The Rest of World sees the ‘liberal’ order as an-all-too obvious device to prolong western power. They refuse its ‘missionary’ underside (this aspect was never present outside the Judeo-Christian Sphere), and the claim that the West should determine what values (whether Enlightenment or Woke) by which we all must live.
The non-West observes rather, a weakened West and no longer feels the need to offer fealty to a global ‘overlord’. The meta cycle of enforced westification (from Petrine Russia, Turkey, Egypt – and Iran) is over.
Its mystique, its thrall is gone, and though lockdown compliance in the UK (and Europe) was indeed achieved through ‘project fear’, the success came at the expense of public trust. To be plain: the authority of Authority in the West increasingly is distrusted – at home, as overseas.
The crisis of liberalism’ contradictions and waning authority deepens.
Carl Schmitt’s other two mantras were firstly, to keep power: ‘Use it’ (or lose it); and secondly, configure an ‘enemy’ as polarising and as ‘dark’ as possible in order to keep power – and to keep the masses fearful and compliant.
Hence, we have seen Biden – lacking an alternative – resorting to radical Manichaeism to bolster Authority against his domestic opponents in the U.S. (ironically casting them as enemies of ‘democracy’), whilst using the Ukraine war as the tool by which to cast the West’s war on Russia too, as an epic struggle between the Light and Dark. These Manichean ideological source-codes for now, dominate western liberalism.
But the West has put itself into a trap: ‘Going Manichean’ puts the West into an ideological straight-jacket. It is a crisis of the West’s own making. Put bluntly, Manichaeism is the antithesis to any negotiated solution, or off-ramp. Carl Schmitt was clear on this point: the intent of conjuring up the blackest of enmities, precisely was to preclude (liberal) negotiation: How could ‘virtue’ strike a bargain with ‘evil’?
The West is too dysfunctional and weak now to fight on all fronts. Yet there can be no retreat (without some de-legitimising humiliation of the West).
The West has gambled all on its fear-led, ‘emergency-crisis’ managed ‘control’ system to save itself. It’s hopes now are pinned on its ‘Beware! The big boss has gone angry-mad’ act; he might do anything’, which it hopes will cause the world to back-off.
But the Rest of World is not backing off – it is becoming more assertive.
Fewer believe what the western Élites say; fewer still trust their competence. The West has recklessly ‘placed its bet’; it may lose all.
Or, more dangerously, in a fit of anger, it may kick over others’ gaming tables.
Raquel Welch distracts soldiers in 1969’s 100 Rifles
https://youtu.be/tcyVLMfsZ_4
“Memes of the Floating World”: Artist Recreates Favorite Memes In Japanese Print Styles
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According to an artist: “It started as a Christmas gift to my wife, who loves the “Woman Yelling at Cat” meme, and has unfolded into an art project called “Memes of the Floating World.” In this strange dream world, classic Japanese woodblock print art and legends mash up with memes, dead and living, and internet lore from the past and present.
I don’t know where this project will take us next, but it’s sure to be at least a little bit dank. Official art prints are available only at Society6, so make sure you can bring the weirdness into your home. Thank you for taking a look!”
Avocado, Bacon and Ranch
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
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Ingredients
8 bacon slices
1/4 cup Ranch dressing
8 slices white or wheat bread
4 (1 ounce) slices Cheddar cheese
4 (1 ounce) slices Provolone cheese
1 large avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into 8 slices
Instructions
Prepare bacon according to package directions then drain and set aside.
Spread each slice of bread with 1/2 tablespoon of dressing. Top 4 of the bread slices with 1 slice of Cheddar cheese and 4 of the bread slices with 1 slice of Provolone. Top each Cheddar slice with 2 bacon slices and 2 avocado slices.
In a hot nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook the bread slices cheese side-up, over medium heat, until browned, about 4 to 7 minutes.
Press Provolone-topped bread slices and Cheddar-topped slices together.
Cut in half on the diagonal.
Serve immediately.
Do you think China will be thrown out into the cold by all Western countries?
China thrown out into the cold? I think the risk is more serious that the Western countries will be thrown out into the cold by the rest of the world, if things continue developing in the way as they do today. China is bigger than the whole west put together. And the forming camp that includes pretty much everyone else outside North America, Western and Central Europe, ANZ, Japan and S. Korea who aren’t interested at all in taking part in US-led sanctions, ideological, moral and cultural crusades is actually 80% of the world. The world is a very different place than a couple of decades ago…
The below graphic shows the most important trading partners by country in 2000 and in 2020…
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The US and the Western Allies would do much better if they wouldn’t push the rest of the world together into an anti-western coalition
EDIT: Following up on the comments about China being only a wobbly economy that is merely based on low cost manufacturing of poor quality “stuff”, and that is supposedly still very far behind the US and the west. I thought I would share a couple of interesting articles from the London-based The Guardian newspaper that will help to bust a few of these myths. I think it’s important that we don’t put our heads in the sand and have a clear picture about the reality
Statue of Kali
Why do people in the US see people who don’t own cars and use public transit as poor and low class?
I’m from the US. I live in a part of the country that does not have public transit. We don’t even have Uber yet if that tells you anything. To live in my town you need a car. Plain and simple. You can’t even get a job here unless you have a car or someone with a car who will bring you to work. It’s literally a question on applications: do you have reliable transportation? If your answer is no, forget working there. We don’t have grocery delivery unless you use Amazon. (Well, my grocery store will deliver to me, but it’s not something they advertise to the general public.) And the way that the town is laid out, you can not just walk to the store, the doctors office, your job, or anywhere really.
That being said, some parts of the US like New York City, do have public transit. It’s in need of updating and some pictures of it make me seriously question the cleanliness of it, but it exists. And I’ve never assumed that only poor or low class people use it!
I went to Singapore last year. In Singapore it is painfully expensive to put a car on the road. It’s not like paying US $20 here for a drivers license. No, you won’t put a car on the road in Singapore without a significant expense. But fret not, because Singapore has an extensive, modern, clean, and efficient public transit system. Bus lines and MRT will take you most anywhere you want to go, and you can easily find a taxi or a Grab driver.
I certainly don’t think people in Singapore using public transit are poor or low class! Far from it, even actor Chow Yun Fat who married a Singaporean woman, uses it. It’s convenient and affordable.
China is another country with efficient public transit in many locations. They have high speed trains and were one of the first in the world to use them. I don’t think people in China are poor or low class for using public transport.
What we should remember is that many countries have the infrastructure to support public transit, making car ownership an option rather than a necessity. Perhaps one day the U.S. will realize that they should invest in better infrastructure, making car ownership unnecessary for us as well.
"I've updated my 2020 manuscript and uploaded the first 5 paragraphs of each chapter to ChatGPT, with the instruction, "You are the senior editor at the New Yorker Magazine. Please edit this text to your magazine's high standards. The stylistic improvements were obvious, but the innate censorship was rather shocking!"
Something else is going on in the United States aside from a war against Russia, and a war against China…
And against the backdrop of a new global currency, a friendship bond between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the general collapse of America’s domestic society…
The banks throughout the United States are starting to close. They are running out of money. And it is a complex situation, but one that China and Russia has well anticipated.
Hal Turner is on this, but he’s often too much of a hysterical “sky is falling” kind of fellow.
But it is worrisome.
Today, I urge everyone NOT to get too caught up. If you have been following the MM advice, you should be well-prepped for anything that comes your way. Community. Family. Prudent. Reasonable and calm actions.
Affirmations.
Do them.
“Emergency All-Senators Briefing” Underway from White House – Banking Crisis Grows
The Biden regime is holding an all-senators briefing now after Feds announced rescue plan for Silicon Valley Bank, according to sources inside Washington, DC.
The briefing outlines the banking system is now in grave danger and unless government does something to restore confidence, an actual collapse can take place.
Skill of the Week: Shuffle a Deck of Cards
From the Art of manliness…
SOTW Shuffle Cards 3
An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world — having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we’ll be republishing one of the illustrated guides from our archives, so you can hone your manly know-how week by week.
I’m surprised by the number of men who don’t know how to shuffle a deck of cards. But you shouldn’t have to hand the deck to your grandpa for shuffling the next time you’re playing one of the six card games every man should know. Learn how to thoroughly shuffle a deck of cards just like Gramps, with a bit of flair to boot!
Anti-War Activist CONFRONTS Dem Leader Over Ukraine War
The Top 20 Things You Never Want To Say In Front of a Judge
by K.J. Adan
The last thing you want to do when you find yourself before a judge is make life more difficult for yourself by saying something rude or stupid. Even worse, lawyers are frequently before judges because it is their job, and they have a million opportunities to irritate these arbiters of justice.
Here are some things you should try to never say, and some actual examples of questions and responses you one hundred percent want to avoid repeating!
20. “Your Honour, have you read the material?”
Woe betide the attorney who embarrasses the judge in front of the court. That same judge is likely to tell you exactly in which orifice you can file your material.
19. “I intend to represent myself.”
Your judge knows that those who represent themselves have fools for clients. Your judge now thinks you are a fool, and is not looking forward to your amateur open mic night in her court.
18. Any and all swear words.
Yes, we’ve all heard it everywhere; nobody is immune. There is still a certain decorum in court. Do you want to be found in contempt? Because this is how you get found in contempt.
17. “Nobody told me!”
The judge knows that the clerk, officer, and/or your attorney did in fact tell you when to show up and what to bring. You are not a child. Be on time with your stuff.
16. “It might be hard for you to see this…”
Lawyer, please. Did you actually make a hand out or use a font the judge can’t view from the bench? Did you think you came here to play Pictionary? Bring items that can be easily read, period.
15. “You know/like/the thing of it is” etc.
Your verbal tic may not annoy the people who love you and have gotten used to it. For the judge, your attorney/client, the jury, and the court reporter, you are now perceived as the spawn of Satan and a broken record. Try incredibly hard to not be a verbal speed bump. You don’t want the judge to envision your head exploding each time you repeat yourself.
Now that we’ve learned the basics, let’s look at statements from actual court transcripts to further illustrate what NOT to do.
14. “The People have evidence that the life of the witness is in jeopardy, and it is reasonable to apprehend he will not be able to attend the trial if he is not alive at that time.”
This is an actual thing a prosecutor once said. In front of a judge. On record.
13. “Were you present when that picture was taken?”
They let anybody into law school these days!
12. “All my autopsies are performed on dead people.”
It’s unclear from the transcript if the coroner was being facetious or not.
11. “Upon my life, if your lordship come to that, I am every bit as well dressed as your lordship….Why, you come here in your working clothes and I come in mine.”
Yes, but he’s wearing a robe, and you are covered in brick-layer’s dust, sir.
10. “In this case, I have absolutely no case law to back up my position. I find myself in the predicament of the blind man in the nudist colony – I’ll just have to feel my way along.”
So…that really counts as two things not to say in front of a judge.
9. “I don’t steal chickens before witnesses.”
Said the defendant. Oops.
8. “I’m deaf, your honor; so deaf I really don’t believe I could possibly hear more than one side of the case.”
Well, that’s a novel excuse to get out of jury duty!
7. “And these stairs, did they also go up?”
Smart enough for law school, not smart enough for an interior design certificate.
6. “Yes, Kirk to Enterprise- Beam me up.”
Said the defendant after the judge asked if he would like to say anything before sentencing.
5. “The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?”
Maybe the lawyer was using dog years.
4. “When he went, had you gone and had she, if she wanted to and were able, for the time being excluding all the restraints on her not to go, gone also, would he have brought you, meaning you and she, with him to the station?”
OBJECTION: WTF?
3. “Did he kill you?”
Oh, well then, by all means, rest your case, counsel!
2. “I am not a thermometer, so I can’t tell you the speed limit.”
The witness probably thought that sounded really clever, too.
1. “I’ll kill your family.”
Defendant Denver Allen, when the judge denied his request for a new public defender. Basically never say anything Allen said to the judge to anyone.
Tomato-Parmesan Bisque
Tomato Bisque with Parmesan Croutons
Ingredients
1 quart milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 can tomato soup
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
Whipped cream
Instructions
Heat the milk. Blend butter and flour and slowly add to the hot milk stirring until smooth. Keep on low heat, stirring slowly, while adding the tomato soup, salt and pepper.
Just before serving, fold in the Parmesan cheese.
Garnish each serving of soup with a heaping tablespoon of whipped cream.
INCREDIBLE FINDS OF THE WWII / METAL DETECTING WW2 N250
ANOTHER BANK FAILURE: SIGNATURE BANK IN NEW YORK; SEIZED BY FDIC
Signature Bank in New York has been shut down by New York State Banking Regulators. It is one of at least twelve banks whose Thursday and Friday stock plunges made it clear the bank was in major trouble. Failed Silicon Valley Bank saw similar stock crashes before it, too, was seized by Banking Regulators, in what is now the second largest Bank Failure in U.S. History.
New York Banking Authorities confirm they have seized Signature Bank.
More info as it becomes available.
Several More banks expected to fail tonight and tomorrow . . . .
The Complete Guide of Mormon Missionary Positions
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons, believe in the importance of sexual purity and place a strong emphasis on marital fidelity. They teach that sexual activity should only occur within the bounds of marriage between a man and a woman and that any sexual activity outside of marriage, including premarital sex and homosexuality, is a sin. The church also teaches that marriage should be for life and that divorce should only be considered in extreme circumstances. Photographer Neil Dacosta has created the book of Mormon missionary positions together with art director Sara Phillips. The series shows two Mormon missionaries as they surrender to carnal same-sex lust while fully clothed. Please let us know in the comments below if this parody is in bad taste or Mormons shouldn’t be excluded from this site!
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Lessons from The Art of War: Good Leaders vs. Bad Leaders
Editor’s Note: The following is adapted from The Ultimate Art of War by Antony Cummins, in which the author offers a fresh translation as well as a distillation and commentary of Sun Tzu’s teachings. The excerpt below provides a short summary of the qualities that Sun Tzu thought made up bad leaders versus good leaders.
The Qualities of a Bad Leader
Sun Tzu lists the following five characteristics that, if found to dominate a leader’s personality, will bring the downfall of that leader’s army:
1. Recklessness. Leaders who move forward to fight at every opportunity and see all situations as reason for a battle will get their army killed in the end.
2. Over-Cautiousness. Leaders who always avoid fights, look for the way out and are preoccupied by a wish to return home safely will end up being cornered and captured, because the enemy will find a way to chase them into a trap.
3. Hot-Headedness. Leaders who are easily angered can be provoked into declaring war without a plan in place.
4. Vanity. Leaders who have a high self-esteem and a desire to preserve their noble reputation at all costs can be manipulated through character assassination and slander.
5. Excessive Compassion. Leaders who care too much about the welfare of their people can lose sight of their objectives. Hard as it may sound, you have to be prepared to accept a certain amount of collateral damage in a campaign. If the enemy suspects that you are trying to avoid incurring any casualties whatsoever, they may try to manipulate you by targeting civilians knowing that this will throw you into confusion.
The above five characteristics exist in all humans, but none of them should be dominant. Do not let your personality become an obvious target for the enemy.
War Tip: Do not be too quick to battle or too quick to retreat. Do not anger in haste or place too much importance on your personal honor. Learn to accept that there will be casualties in war.
The Qualities of a Good Leader
Sun Tzu [says] that an army must be commanded by a single person who makes each soldier feel as if they were being led personally by the hand. This is how to make the army work as one.
The perfect leader will have the following qualities:
1. Calmness. A good leader is neither angry nor forceful. “Power” is not “force” and an army cannot be kept together for long through intimidation. Therefore, remain calm most of the time and only show your teeth when it is really necessary.
2. Unpredictability. Do not make the obvious move, and avoid leaving a pattern in your past activities. The enemy should not be able to identify what you will do in the future from what you did in the past. Do not take predictable routes, change your camp position . . . keep the enemy guessing.
3. Inscrutability. You also need to be unreadable, so that even if an enemy spy succeeds in infiltrating your camp and observes you from close quarters they still cannot read your thoughts.
4. Self-Discipline. There is a difference between obedience, discipline, and self-discipline. Many people are obedient, some have discipline forced upon them, but few are self-disciplined. While others rest and relax, the good leader works and only rests when it is the correct time.
5. Secrecy. There is a delicate balance between keeping plans secret and involving your command team. Too much secrecy and the command team will be alienated; too little and plans will be leaked. It appears Sun Tzu prefers more secrecy and to keep his command team loyal in other ways.
6. Leading By Example. Always be there with your troops (but maybe not always at the front), be observable, and earn the respect of the soldiers by sharing their hardships. Sun Tzu uses various images here to back up his point that the commander is “with the troops.” The first image he gives is of the commander leading the troops up a ladder that is then kicked away, allowing for no return. Alternatively, the army is represented as a great herd of animals moving as one with the leader in the center directing them all in a way that cannot be predicted from the outside. Be with the troops in all dangerous situations, but remain unknown to the enemy.
7. Responsibility. As leader you must confidently assume responsibility for the whole force. Be at the center of everything and use your troops in the most efficient way with the best results.
War Tip: A perfect leader is calm, unpredictable, unreadable, self-disciplined, discreet, is in the thick of it with the troops and is in total command from the center.
I just arrived home from the supermarket where I went to top-off some preps and get some extra meat due to the banking troubles . . .
People in the store were completely, totally, oblivious to what is taking place in the Banking system. Not a care in the world.
The people on line behind me at the checkout noticed I had considerable amount of meat and they said “Got a lot of meat there.” I replied “Well, with the banks having troubles, I decided I would get some extra in case they all go under.” That raised eyebrows.
The guy’s wife said “Oh, you mean those California Banks; they’re not here, won’t affect us.”
I replied, “Silicon Valley Bank has a branch on Park Avenue in New York City for all the rich people. Yesterday, the bank had to call the New York City Police to forcibly remove those people because they wanted their money and the bank couldn’t give it to them. Plus, all the companies that had PAYROLL in Silicon Valley Bank, that money is gone. All the employee paychecks are no good. This is gonna spread so fast it will make our heads spin.”
The wife gave a worried look to the husband. I told them “The FDIC is at twelve other banks already, and it looks bad for them too. In fact, First Republic Bank looks like the next Domino to fall, probably tomorrow. God only knows how many more after that.”
The husband said “We haven’t seen anything about other banks on TV.” I replied “You won’t until it’s too late.”
Then I told them “Look, go to an ATM and get some cash out today. This way, if things go bad, you at least have money for food for a week or two til things settle down. If you don’t use it, you can put the money back in the bank, but it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.”
The husband nodded his head as if to say that’s a good idea.
Frankly, I cannot fathom that the ENTIRE system might collapse. It just makes no sense. There is no reason at all to smash the entire country to smithereens, and that’s exactly what would happen if the Banking system goes under.
I want to believe that cool heads will prevail and the system has enough back-stops built into it, to get through this. But I can’t help but feel that there is a much bigger, and very sinister plan, to force “the Great Reset” upon us all. And what better way to do that, than to smash the entire Banking System right now?
If this turns out to be some evil plan, there’s going to have to be reprisals against the people doing it. Brutal reprisals.
Piers Morgan Shocked When I Told Him the Truth About China!
FDIC Has Entered the Corporate HQ of Another Bank . . . FAILING FAST
This content WAS PREVIOUSLY for Subscribers Only, but since the London Daily Mail newspaper has now gone public, I have UNLOCKED this story.
According to sources in San Francisco, Bank Examiners, Auditors, and senior Executives from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have entered the corporate headquarters of FIRST REPUBLIC BANK in San Francisco. They arrived earlier and remain in the building at this late hour (1:29 AM EST).
According to an inside source:
“The FDIC is already on site at First Republic Bank trying to determine the best path forward to protect depositors. Things are moving way faster than expected given the accelerating bank run that has already reached a tipping point.”
More if I get it.
China: It’s Life Or Death With U.S As An “Attacking Wolf”
Orange Bisque
Orange Bisque not only looks orange, it tastes like an orange.
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Variation: To use fresh vegetables, cook 3 medium carrots, scraped, sliced or chopped, and 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces. When tender, use in place of the canned vegetables.
If using fresh ginger, peel a portion and mince enough for this recipe from the peeled portion. Wrap the remaining ginger in a plastic bag, then foil (or put in a freezer plastic bag) and store in freezer to grate off more as needed — from the frozen state. Otherwise, refrigerated ginger lasts only about a week.
1 (16 ounce) can cut sweet potatoes in light syrup, drained
1 cup orange juice
Shredded peel of 1 large orange
Salt and pepper to taste
Low-fat sour cream or plain yogurt to garnish
Thinly sliced green onions for garnish
Instructions
In a large saucepan, combine 1 cup of the broth with onion and ginger. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until onion is tender.
In a food processor or blender, puree the onion-ginger mixture with carrots, sweet potatoes and orange juice.
When smooth, return to the saucepan and stir in orange peel and as much broth as necessary to achieve the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
Reheat if desired to serve hot, or refrigerate to serve cold. Top with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and sprinkle with sliced green onions.
The 11 most devastating insults of all-time.
by Rosemary Ribner
I scoured the internet for the most rotten, nasty and devastating insults I could find and I’m not going to lie there were hundreds. It took me some time to whittle the list down to the top eleven but I’m sure you’ll agree that if someone said any of these to you – you’d be devastated.
Here we go!
No offense, but you make me want to staple my vagina shut.
This can be taken two ways. If said to a man, it could be a rejection of him in a sexual manner or that being near him means you never want to have children. If said to a woman, it means the latter.
I’m not saying you’re a whore, but you’ve had more seamen dumped into you than the Atlantic.
This one is obvious, the person receiving this one is a degenerate lacking morals and self-respect. Or a whore.
You’re as useful as Anne Frank’s drum set.
Since Anne Frank was hiding from the Nazi’s in concealed rooms for two years where noise would have meant death a drum set would have served no purpose.
I thought I said goodbye to you this morning when I flushed the toilet.
I’m pretty sure no explanation is needed.
You’re not the dumbest person on the planet, but you sure better hope he doesn’t die.
You would be a very close second.
Those aren’t acne scars, those are marks from the coat hanger.
A better way to tell someone that they are a failed abortion.
You’re so stupid you couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the directions were written on the heel.
I’m pretty sure this would make you the dumbest person in creation.
I hope your wife brings a date to your funeral.
I can feel the burn, can you?
I’d call you a cunt, but you have neither the warmth or the depth.
Shallow very shallow.
If you could suck your own dick, then you would finally suck at everything.
It’s almost a compliment but not quite!
If you were anymore inbred, you’d be a sandwich.
Inbred…in bread. Get it? Great insult for your Southern nemesis.
China Made The World’s Most Powerful Fighter Plane That Scares America
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https://youtu.be/CejaqYNyq1A
Beyond the Standard To-Do: 8 Lists You Should Be Keeping
Brett & Kate McKay • March 7, 2023
Nothing is as fatiguing as the continued hanging on of an uncompleted task. —William James
But beyond this kind of standard to-do list, there are eight other lists that are also beneficial to keep.
These lists expand the function that the standard to-do list already serves: clearing out your head and organizing your life so you can experience greater clarity and get more done.
Uncompleted tasks and unorganized thoughts — open loops — squat on your mental bandwidth. They become so much flotsam and jetsam bobbing around in your cognitive sea, sometimes sinking below the surface of consciousness, sometimes randomly rising into awareness. The fact that you don’t have a good grasp of what’s out there, and sense there are things you want to take action on but can’t remember what they are, makes you feel frazzled, fragmented, and out of sorts.
As the founder of the Getting Things Done system, David Allen, said on the AoM podcast: “Your head is a really crappy office.”
Instead of keeping all your open loops in a chaotic pile on your mental desk, file them into an external “office” by writing them down somewhere and organizing them into the following lists. You can keep these lists anywhere you like, whether in a paper or digital notebook. Their nature will make them easiest to find and access in that latter format, and while you can slot them in a well-organized “second brain,” simply using your phone’s notes app works perfectly well.
Beyond the Standard To-Do: 8 Lists You Should Keep
To Buy. You’re brushing your teeth and notice you need more toothpaste. You’re getting dressed and notice you need more socks. You’re making dinner and notice you need more pepper. You promise yourself you’ll remember these things the next time you make an Amazon order or run to the store, but, in reality, you’ve forgotten the low-inventory item five minutes later.
As soon as something you need to buy crosses your mind, write it down on a shopping list, organized by which outlet/business you’ll be purchasing it from.
To Watch/To Listen To/To Read. A co-worker mentions a show that sounds interesting. A friend sends you a podcast he recommends. Your brother suggests a book he thinks you’ll enjoy. But when you’re starting your commute to work, stepping on the treadmill to begin a run, or sitting on a plane, you can’t think of what to watch, listen to, or read. You don’t remember that a loved one gave you a good recommendation, or you do remember that they did, but can’t remember the name of the suggested movie/podcast/book.
Whether ideas for media to check out come from your social network or you stumble across them while browsing/consuming something else, write them down in separate To Watch, To Listen To, and To Read lists that you can easily cue up the next time you’re working out or washing dishes.
To Cook. You and your family have probably cooked a bunch of meals that everyone liked. But when it comes to that perennial question — “What should we have for dinner this week?” — everyone draws a blank. It’s hard to remember the meals that exist within your familial repertoire, so keep a list of them for easy reference.
To Eat. You’re driving around town, see a new restaurant that seems interesting, and make a mental note to dine there the next time you go out to eat. But by the time the weekend rolls around, the idea has evaporated from your mind. Keep a running list of restaurants to check out, so you don’t have to always default to your old standbys.
To Give. It’s your friend’s or spouse’s birthday next week, and you’re pondering what to give them as a gift. Though you rack your brain for an idea, nothing comes to mind. To prevent yourself from winding up in this pickle, write down ideas as they arise throughout the year, even if you’re months away from the occasion. The person may mention something they like, or you see an item while shopping for something else you think they’d dig. When a birthday, anniversary, or Christmas does finally roll around, you’ll only need to check your list of ideas to figure out what to get.
Another good list/note to keep is a rundown of a loved one’s favorite things — colors, foods, candies, brands — and their sizes in clothing and rings. These things are easy to forget and having a reference makes gift buying a lot easier.
To Talk About. This is a list of things to talk about with a friend, and it serves two purposes. The first is to help you remember to ask someone things you’ve been wondering about but keep forgetting to bring up. “What’s the latest on your lawsuit?” “Have you heard from Andy?” “Did you ever figure out what was causing that noise?” The second purpose is to enhance the conversation you have with someone the next time you get together. While it’s often supposed that it’s best to keep social interactions strictly spontaneous, a little intentional planning on the backend can actually make interactions much smoother, deeper, and more enjoyable. Before you get together with someone, make a list of questions you’d like to ask and good conversation topics to discuss.
You may, of course, want to make other lists based on your particular responsibilities and interests. For example, when we hear about a new trail, we add it to our “To Hike” list.
Move whatever things you can out of the crappy office that is your cranium and to an external file. The more lists you keep, the more organized you’ll feel and the more enjoyable, life-enriching action you’ll take.
Fed, Treasury, and FDIC Announce Actions to Backstop Banks
The U.S. government on Sunday sought to affirm confidence in the U.S. banking system by announcing protection for all depositors in Silicon Valley Bank.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen approved measures to resolve the failure of Silicon Valley Bank “in a manner that fully protects all depositors,” the Treasury said Sunday in a joint statement with the Fed and FDIC.
This means that deposits beyond the $250,000 limit on FDIC insurance will be available on Monday. The Treasury said the measures will not come at a cost to taxpayers.
In a joint statement by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, the government said:
Today we are taking decisive actions to protect the U.S. economy by strengthening public confidence in our banking system. This step will ensure that the U.S. banking system continues to perform its vital roles of protecting deposits and providing access to credit to households and businesses in a manner that promotes strong and sustainable economic growth.After receiving a recommendation from the boards of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, and consulting with the President, Secretary Yellen approved actions enabling the FDIC to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, in a manner that fully protects all depositors. Depositors will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13. No losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer.We are also announcing a similar systemic risk exception for Signature Bank, New York, New York, which was closed today by its state chartering authority. All depositors of this institution will be made whole. As with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer.Shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders will not be protected. Senior management has also been removed. Any losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund to support uninsured depositors will be recovered by a special assessment on banks, as required by law.Finally, the Federal Reserve Board on Sunday announced it will make available additional funding to eligible depository institutions to help assure banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors.The U.S. banking system remains resilient and on a solid foundation, in large part due to reforms that were made after the financial crisis that ensured better safeguards for the banking industry. Those reforms combined with today’s actions demonstrate our commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that depositors’ savings remain safe.
To support American businesses and households, the Federal Reserve Board on Sunday announced it will make available additional funding to eligible depository institutions to help assure banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors. This action will bolster the capacity of the banking system to safeguard deposits and ensure the ongoing provision of money and credit to the economy.The Federal Reserve is prepared to address any liquidity pressures that may arise.The financing will be made available through the creation of a new Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP), offering loans of up to one year in length to banks, savings associations, credit unions, and other eligible depository institutions pledging U.S. Treasuries, agency debt and mortgage-backed securities, and other qualifying assets as collateral. These assets will be valued at par. The BTFP will be an additional source of liquidity against high-quality securities, eliminating an institution’s need to quickly sell those securities in times of stress.With approval of the Treasury Secretary, the Department of the Treasury will make available up to $25 billion from the Exchange Stabilization Fund as a backstop for the BTFP. The Federal Reserve does not anticipate that it will be necessary to draw on these backstop funds.After receiving a recommendation from the boards of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve, Treasury Secretary Yellen, after consultation with the President, approved actions to enable the FDIC to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank in a manner that fully protects all depositors, both insured and uninsured. These actions will reduce stress across the financial system, support financial stability and minimize any impact on businesses, households, taxpayers, and the broader economy.The Board is carefully monitoring developments in financial markets. The capital and liquidity positions of the U.S. banking system are strong and the U.S. financial system is resilient.Depository institutions may obtain liquidity against a wide range of collateral through the discount window, which remains open and available. In addition, the discount window will apply the same margins used for the securities eligible for the BTFP, further increasing lendable value at the window.The Board is closely monitoring conditions across the financial system and is prepared to use its full range of tools to support households and businesses, and will take additional steps as appropriate.
Wonderful - this feels like a positive shift towards that multipolar future. I wonder what USA and its allies will do to fuck shit up again.
Posted by: irish al | Mar 10 2023 15:08 utc | 15
Big news going on with China and the Middle East. It’s a time of celebration and expectations for a great and glorious future.
Not well reported on American “media”, of course… It’s a blurb on “page 8”. LOL
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Let’s dance!
A Classic 70’s TV Show Dance Party
Mediated By China Iran And Saudi Arabia Restore Ties – There Are Winners And Losers
Archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to restore diplomatic relations, a dramatic breakthrough brokered by China after years of soaring tensions between the regional rivals.
The deal, which will see the two countries reopen embassies in each other’s capitals, was sealed during a meeting in China — a boost to Beijing’s efforts to rival the United States as a broker on the global stage.
The agreement also may put a dampener Israel's ongoing efforts to normalize relations with its Arab neighbors.
The talks were held because of a “shared desire to resolve the disagreements between them through dialogue and diplomacy, and in light of their brotherly ties,” according to a joint communique from Tehran, Riyadh and Beijing that was published by the Saudi Press Agency, the country’s official news agency.
The agreement followed intensive negotiations between Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, and Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State Musaad bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, according to the statement.
It added that the foreign ministers from both countries would “meet to implement this, arrange for the return of their ambassadors, and discuss means of enhancing bilateral relations.”
The joint statement by Saudi Arabia, Iran and China is here:
In response to the noble initiative of His Excellency President Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, of China’s support for developing good neighborly relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran;
And based on the agreement between His Excellency President Xi Jinping and the leaderships in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, whereby the People’s Republic of China would host and sponsor talks between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran;
Proceeding from their shared desire to resolve the disagreements between them through dialogue and diplomacy, and in light of their brotherly ties; ...
Congrats to China for nudging this deal forward and making it possible.
There are winners and losers in this.
The winners are:
Iran, which will now be even more able to break through the sanctions wall the U.S. has put up around it.
Saudi Arabia, which now will likely be able to end its disastrous and costly war on Yemen.
China, for outplaying the U.S. State Department by achieving this.
Iraq, Syria, Yemen as they will become more peaceful as the two middle powers influencing policies on their grounds end their rivalry.
The losers are:
Israel, because the chances for its attempts to get the U.S. into a war with Iran are now diminished. Its hoped for coalition with the Saudis will not come into being.
The United States for having been outplayed on its traditional ‘home grounds’ in the Middle East.
Anti-Iran hawks everywhere.
The Emirates for losing at least some of the sanction busting trade with Iran to Saudi Arabia.
Tensions between Sunni Muslim powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Iran, which is majority Shiite, have dominated the region for decades.
The two countries have been locked in an intensifying struggle for dominance, their rivalry exacerbated by proxy conflicts, including the war in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and the site of its two holiest cities, has historically seen itself as the leader of the Muslim world. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 shook Saudi Arabia and other Gulf kingdoms, which saw the regime in Tehran as a rival.
While tensions brewed for years, Saudi Arabia broke off ties in 2016 after protesters stormed Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran and set fire to the embassy in Tehran.
Days earlier, Saudi Arabia had executed the prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
“Clearing up the misunderstandings and looking to the future in Tehran-Riyadh relations will definitely lead to the development of regional stability and security and the increase of cooperation between the countries of the Persian Gulf and the Islamic world to manage the existing challenges,” Shamkhani said Friday after signing the deal, according to Press TV.
In 2016 I describe the killing of Nimr al-Nimr as a smart move in the sense of Saudi domestic realpolitik. But I also said that it would lead to escalating costs in Saudi Arabia’s regional policies, predominantly in Yemen. That indeed proved to be the case.
Reviving relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran will make a lot of new things possible.
That Iran and Saudi Arabia accepted China’s mediation is a recognition of Beijing’s new standing in world policies. That alone is enough reason for the White House to hate the deal.
Posted by b on March 10, 2023 at 14:17 UTC | Permalink
People are noticing
Probably sound like a broken record, yet the pace of events & consequential change over the past twelve months is astounding. The closest I lived through in rapt attention would be GDR inadvertently nullifying the Berlin Wall/Border controls & all that promptly followed on like an avalanche.
Appears, even so, to be picking up steam now with China becoming an open active player ... 'interesting times' indeed.
Grins, of the Cheshire kind. :)) Peace. Still Steel
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 10 2023 16:14 utc | 41
Dad Builds Incredible Tree House In His Garden For Kids For Just $150
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Dad Joe Rackley has created something truly special for his two daughters after building them an incredible greenhouse during lockdown.
Joe, from Watford (Hertfordshire, England), started the project on April 1, so they would have a place to play while schools were closed. And it’s fair to say the 43-year old succeeded – with his three-year-old daughter describing it as “heaven”. Perhaps more impressively, TV and film prop maker pulled it all off for just £120 (US$150) – and the first step was finding wood.
“Went foraging for pallets last week,” Joe posted on his Instagram on March 31. “Tabi is gonna get a free wood Wendy house!”
The Biden, Obama, Clinton, Nuland, Powers axis has absolutely FUBARed US foreign policy and national security. Even worse, the toxic rhetoric to demonize Trump voting conservatives has been so alienating that the same folks that marched off to war to avenge the 9-11 attacks are now praying for a nuclear 9-11.
Posted by: Elmer Fudd | Mar 10 2023 16:24 utc | 42
Cheesy Lasagna Soup
Lasagna in a bowl, chock full of what you love in regular lasagna, with the added ‘Florentine’ touch of spinach!
Cheesy Lasagna Soup Bowl2 768×1152 1
Ingredients
1 pound bulk sweet (mild) Italian sausage
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes (optional)
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
4 cups (32 ounces) chicken stock
1 to 2 cups water
8 ounces lasagna noodles (not no-boil), broken into 1 to 2 inch pieces
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, plus additional for serving
1/2 cup (2 ounces) Wisconsin parmesan cheese, shredded
Instructions
Heat Dutch oven or large pot over high heat. Brown sausage for 5 minutes, breaking up as it cooks.
Add onions; cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until onions are softened and sausage is cooked through.
Add garlic and red chile flakes; cook for 1 minute.
Add crushed tomatoes, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon.
Add stock, 1 cup water, lasagna noodles, basil and pepper. Bring to boil.
Reduce heat to medium-high; cook at a gentle boil for 10 to 12 minutes, until noodles are cooked through, stirring occasionally to prevent noodles from sticking to pot.
Stir in spinach. Add salt to taste. If soup is too thick, add additional 1 cup water. Remove from heat.
To serve, divide mozzarella among 6 serving bowls. Ladle soup over cheese. Top with spoonsful of ricotta, parmesan and additional basil.
People are noticing
Touch any Saudi assets and the petrodollar explodes into flames and dies as it will turn to yuan and other currencies, plus the Saudis can reciprocate against dollar assets.
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 10 2023 16:59 utc | 57
Soul Train Line Let It Whip – Dazz Band
The Japanese Mini Truck Garden Contest Is A Whole New Genre In Landscaping
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The Kei Truck, or kei-tora for short, is a tiny but practical vehicle that originated in Japan. Although these days it’s widely used throughout Asia and other parts of the world, in Japan you’ll often see them used in the construction and agriculture industries as they can maneuver through small side streets and easily park. And in a more recent turn of events, apparently they’re also used as a canvas for gardening contests.
The Kei Truck Garden Contest is an annual event sponsored by the Japan Federation of Landscape Contractors. Numerous landscaping contractors from around Japan participate by arriving on site with their mini trucks and then spending several hours transforming the cargo bed into a garden
First time ever I agree with anti-Iran lobbyist Mark Dubowitz:
Saudi Arabia and Iran Agree to Re-establish Ties in Talks Hosted by ChinaMark Dubowitz, the chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute, described the renewed Iran-Saudi ties resulting from Chinese mediation as “a lose, lose, lose for American interests.”
Posted by: b | Mar 10 2023 17:16 utc | 64
Sweet Red Pepper and Crab Bisque
The addition of red bell pepper adds color and flavor to the traditional smooth richness of bisque. Serve this soup with brunch or as a main course, with green salad and crusty bread. You can make the bisque up to two days ahead; cover and refrigerate it after pureeing.
8fe741759592ec0c30c6905b93146604
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons Old Bay or other seafood spice blend
3 cups fish stock or bottled clam juice
1/2 cup diced peeled russet potato
1/2 cup Half-and-Half or skim evaporated milk
1 pound crabmeat
Instructions
Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, and seasoning. Cover; cook 10 minutes, stirring twice.
Add stock and potato; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover partially, and simmer until potato is very tender, about 30 minutes.
Working in batches, puree soup in blender. Return soup to saucepan. Add Half-and-Half; bring to a simmer. Mix in crab. Season to taste. Cover; let stand 1 minute.
Ladle into bowls.
People are noticing
I don’t know, for the first time in 25 years I have the feeling this dystopian, neoliberal, globalist nightmare “Pax Americana” is coming to an end. Now I’m imagining Neocons in whatever dark place they come from, stripped of power, laughing maniacally and ranting with nobody listening. I suppose the decaying body is still capable to lash out and cause hurt, but the beast is getting given plenty of good whacks.
Posted by: Bristolian | Mar 10 2023 18:53 utc | 87
HUGE China brokered deal, Iran & Saudi Arabia restore diplomatic ties
Here’s some stuff that you just won’t find in the American and Western “news”. If you read that “news” you would be convinced that Russia is alone, China is a pariah, and America is roaring into life with fantastic employment, great prosperity and excellent news for the future. LOL.
Pro Tip: Do NOT read Western “news”. It’s all lies.
Here. Instead, let’s cook some food. Read about Cats. Learn some things that the United States media is NOT reporting on, and let’s also include some items to ponder…
Catkins
Although we had our previous cat for 18 years, she was never cuddly. Catkins would allow a few pats or scritches, but only on her timetable, and on her terms.
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After she went to kitty Valhalla, we were terribly sad. But we finally decided to offer a home to a rescue cat. We only saw a picture, and heard her sad story: her first humans were cat hoarders, and both died of Covid in one week. Her next set of humans had a cat, and she hated that cat…maybe too many cats vying for food and attention in her previous home.
So we took her without ever meeting her. And she is a joy! After an initial period of shyness, she has blossomed: she purrs and cuddles all day long. And at night, nothing makes her happier than cuddling in the bed with us. There is nothing more soothing than the sound of a purring cat in the darkness, her warm, furry body pressed against you.
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Ham and Cheese Tortilla Roll-Ups
You have ever-so-easy Southwest flavor going when you make a creamy cheese and corn filling that you wrap up with ham slices and flour tortillas.
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Ingredients
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (6 ounces)
1/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/4 cup sour cream
1 can (11 ounces) vacuum-packed whole kernel corn or whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained
1 package (8.2 oz) Old El Paso™ Flour Tortillas for Soft Tacos and Fajitas (10 Count)
10 slices (1 ounce each) deli fully cooked ham
Cilantro sprig, if desired
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‘The dollar is our currency, but it is your problem’
If both Biden’s economic policy scenarios prove correct, Indonesia will face flight of foreign capital which in the short term will depreciate rupiah.
Imports of raw materials, equipment and machinery will shrink, which will further affect production capacity.
However, if the US real sector quickly recovers and grows, Indonesia can seize export opportunities and offset the pressure on the rupiah’s depreciation.
Also, Indonesian products can fill the role Chinese products that are subject to high tariffs.
Indonesia’s non-oil and gas export share to the US ranks second after China.
In another scenario, Chinese products that should be destined for the US will be transferred to other countries, including Indonesia.
Indonesia’s imports from China rank the highest.
As a consequence, the trade deficit with China will be enlarged, which may not be covered by an increase in the trade surplus from the US.
Within the above logic flow, strengthening trade between countries in the same region has the potential to be increased, through ASEAN for example.
The agreement on the use of local currency is the basis for economic growth and regional stabilization without too much dependence on the US dollar.
Furthermore, the diversification of export destination countries deserves attention.
The expansion of the export market deserves to be directed outside the traditional countries that have existed so far.
North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America are wide open to become potential markets for Indonesian products.
In a broader scope, if Indonesia remains willing to play in the international market, increasing competitiveness is nonnegotiable.
The increase in exports should not only be triggered by the weakening of the domestic currency, but must be also supported by the intrinsic superiority of its export products.
Strengthening the domestic market appears to be the safest solution to various sources of external turmoil.
Domestic consumers must be protected so that their purchasing power remains strong and they are able to absorb domestic production, instead of consuming more expensive imported products.
The four options above unfortunately are difficult to realize anytime soon.
Perhaps the 61st US treasury secretary, John Connally, was right when said, “The dollar is our currency, but it is your problem.”
Owning your very own private island
I have one, lol. It’s a little 1.5 acre island in a freshwater lake in Ontario. We have a summer cottage on it. On the mainland, which is not far away, we own a deeded access road, a parking area and a dock.
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The island has electricity and phone – installed back in the 1970’s when utility companies would do it for no charge. Today it would be prohibitive.
The downside is not being able to use the cottage year round. The ice is not reliable in winter, and our utility water comes out of the lake (we have no well), so we have to close up in November and reopen mid April or so. The plumbing has to be totally drained, everything packed away, removed and shut off. It’s quite an operation. We’ve had burst pipes many times from water not thoroughly drained from low spots.
We have neighbours on the next island in the bay who stayed all winter due to Covid (normally they are here in the summer, and travel all winter). They actually own a small hovercraft so they can zip over across the ice to the mainland for groceries etc. no matter how sponge like the surface is.
Everything has to come over in our sad little beat up 14 foot aluminum row boat, which is a giant pain in the butt at times. Every appliance (and we’ve replaced all of them in the 34 years we’ve owned it). A new steel roof. Lumber for a sleeping cabin. Replacement beds. Groceries. Drinking water. You name it. Back and forth trips lugging loads. And the old stuff and garbage brought back to the main shore. I’m getting too old to drag old mattresses out of a boat, up the hill and into a van. We often have to enlist neighbours to help.
You need anything fixed beyond DIY, you have to go get the tradesperson and all their stuff, and take them back.
Still, I love it. Love the privacy and the critters. Now that I’m retired, I’m here 5 or 6 months of the year. My children grew up here. We do Canadian Thanksgiving here. Picture taken in late fall when we were closing up and getting snowed on.
The United States cannot count on its ally, the Republic of Korea, for support
The visit to Asia by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) exposed one reality that many people did not realize: The United States cannot count on its ally, the Republic of Korea, for support if war breaks out in the Taiwan Straits.
The visit to Asia by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) exposed one reality that many people did not realize: The United States cannot count on its ally, the Republic of Korea, for support if war breaks out in the Taiwan Straits.
The United States, as Pelosi’s visit demonstrated conclusively, could not base forces in South Korea for action anywhere in the region for any purpose other than the defense of South Korea. U.S. forces would have to rely on their bases in Japan and Guam from which to defend Taiwan against invasion by China from the mainland.
That shocking fact became evident when Pelosi visited South Korea after her big day in Taiwan. No South Korean delegation was on hand to greet her at the airport, as might have been expected, and President Yoon Suk-yeol managed to be on vacation during her visit, though he did find time to chat with her for 40 minutes on the phone before she and her entourage, including five other members of Congress, went to the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.
Perhaps Yoon may have been smart not to see her, considering that his foes in the Minjoo, or Democratic Party, still dominate the National Assembly and oppose much of what he’s doing to repair U.S.-Korea relations, which were severely compromised during the presidency of his progressive predecessor, Moon Jae-in. Pelosi, after all, is a leader of the Democratic Party in the U.S. — not quite the equivalent of Korea’s Democratic Party but definitely not conservative. Thus it may have been a good idea for Korea, on an official level, to have treated her visit coolly.
In that spirit, Pelosi was told in advance not to say a word about Taiwan or the dangerous military exercises that China’s President Xi Jinping ordered in retaliation for her refusal to bow to warnings not to visit the independent island state. That’s regrettable, since she and Yoon could have talked about what Taiwan needs to stand up to China.
Tiny Taiwan, population 23.5 million, will have to acquire more and better arms for defense against China, population 1.4 billion, and the United States will have to strengthen its commitment to defend Taiwan. Also, Taiwan will have to unify its own people more effectively, weeding out pro-China elements who would betray the island’s independence.
All that should be clear from the nature of the exercises in which China showed off its rising military might perilously close to Taiwan’s shores. Theoretically, it should be possible for South Korea, a major manufacturer and exporter of arms, to deluge Taiwan with weapons ranging from rifles to tanks — though South Korea’s concerns about China would seem to rule out such business with Taiwan.
The differences between the United States and South Korea on Taiwan and China are disturbing when you consider the importance of U.S. bases in Korea. Camp Humphreys, 40 miles south of Seoul, is America’s biggest overseas base, the home of most of the 28,500 U.S. troops in Korea. Nearby Osan Air Base is home of the Seventh U.S. Air Force, next in importance to the U.S. base at Kadena, home of the Fifth U.S. Air Force on Okinawa, the southernmost Japanese prefecture.
American commanders over the years have told me that U.S. forces in Korea could be deployed elsewhere as needed, but Pelosi’s visit shows that’s not the case.
South Korea wants nothing to do with the defense of Taiwan against China
Meet Marianne Bachmeier, Germany’s ‘Revenge Mother’ Who Shot Her Child’s Killer In The Middle Of His Trial
By Natasha Ishak | Checked By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published February 1, 2021
Updated June 22, 2021
In March 1981, Marianne Bachmeier opened fire in a crowded courtroom and killed Klaus Grabowski — the man on trial for murdering her 7-year-old daughter.
On March 6, 1981, Marianne Bachmeier opened fire in a crowded courthouse in what was then known as West Germany. Her target was a 35-year-old sex offender on trial for her daughter’s murder, and he died after taking six of her bullets.
Marianne Bachmeier was sentenced to six years in prison after shooting her daughter’s rapist and killer in a courtroom.
Forty years later, the case is still remembered. German news outlet NDRdescribed it as “the most spectacular case of vigilante justice in German post-war history.”
Marianne Bachmeier’s Daughter Anna Bachmeier Is Murdered In Cold Blood
Patrick PIEL/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesBachmeier’s case divided public opinion: was the shooting an act of justice or was it dangerous vigilantism?
Before she was christened as Germany’s “Revenge Mother,” Marianne Bachmeier was a struggling single mom who ran a pub and in 1970s Lübeck, a city in what was then West Germany. She lived with her third child, Anna. Her two older children had been given up for adoption.
Anna was described as a “happy, open-minded child,” but tragedy struck when she was found dead on May 5, 1980.
According to NDR, the seven-year-old had skipped school after an argument with her mother that fateful day and somehow found herself in the hands of her 35-year-old neighbor, a local butcher named Klaus Grabowski who already had a criminal record involving child molestation.
Investigators later learned that Grabowski had kept Anna at his home for hours before he strangled her with pantyhose. Whether or not he sexually assaulted her remains unknown. He then stashed the child’s body in a cardboard box and left it on the bank of a nearby canal.
Grabowski was arrested that same evening after his fiancé alerted the police. Grabowski confessed to the murder but denied that he abused the child. Instead, Grabowski gave a strange and disturbing story.
The killer claimed that he strangled the little girl after she tried to blackmail him. According to Grabowski, Anna tried to seduce him and threatened to tell her mother that he had molested her if he didn’t give her money.
Marianne Bachmeier was incensed by this story and a year later, when Grabowski headed to trial for the murder, she had her revenge.
Germany’s ‘Revenge Mother’ Shoots Grabowski Six Times
klaus-grabowski
Grabowski’s trial was likely a heartache for Bachmeier. His defense attorneys claimed he had acted out of a hormonal imbalance that was caused by hormone therapy he received after being voluntarily castrated years earlier.
At the time, sex offenders in Germany often underwent castration to prevent recidivism, though this wasn’t the case for Grabowski.
On the third day of the trial in Lübeck district court, Marianne Bachmeier grabbed a .22-caliber Beretta pistol from her purse and pulled the trigger eight times. Six of the shots hit Grabowski, and he died on the courtroom floor.
Witnesses alleged that Bachmeier made incriminating remarks after she shot Grabowski. According to Judge Guenther Kroeger, who spoke to Bachmeier after she shot Grabowski in the back, she heard the grieving mother say, “I wanted to kill him.”
Bachmeier allegedly remarked “I hope he’s dead” after killing Grabowski.
Bachmeier allegedly continued, “He killed my daughter… I wanted to shoot him in the face but I shot him in the back… I hope he’s dead.” Two policemen also claimed to have heard Bachmeier call Grabowski a “pig” after she shot him.
The mother of the victim soon found herself on trial for murder herself.
During her trial, Bachmeier testified that she shot Grabowski in a dream and saw visions of her daughter in the courtroom. A doctor who examined her said that Bachmeier was asked for a handwriting sample, and in response, she wrote: “I did it for you, Anna.”
She then decorated the sample with seven hearts, perhaps one for each year of Anna’s life.
“I heard he wanted to make a statement,” Bachmeier later said, referring to Grabowski’s claims that her seven-year-old was trying to blackmail him. “I thought, now comes the next lie about this victim who was my child.”
Her Sentence Divides The Country
Marianne Bachmeier now found herself at the center of a public maelstrom. Her trial received international attention for her ruthless act of vigilantism.
The weekly German magazine Stern ran a series of articles about the trial, digging into Bachmeier’s life as a working single mother who had a very rough start in life. Bachmeier reportedly sold her story to the magazine for roughly $158,000 to cover her legal expenses during the trial.
The magazine received an overwhelming response from readers. Was Marianne Bachmeier a distraught mother simply trying to avenge the brutal death of her child, or did her act of vigilantism make her a cold-blooded killer herself? Many expressed sympathy toward her motives but condemned her actions nonetheless.
In addition to the case’s ethical conundrum, there was also a legal debate about whether the shooting was premeditated or not and whether it was murder or manslaughter. Different rulings carried different punishments. Decades later, a friend featured in a documentary about the case claimed to have witnessed Bachmeier perform target practice with a gun in her pub cellar before the shooting.
The court ultimately convicted Bachmeier of premeditated manslaughter and sentenced her to six years behind bars in 1983.
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According to a survey by the Allensbach Institute, a majority of 28 percent of Germans deemed her six-year sentencing as an appropriate penalty for her actions. Another 27 percent considered the sentence too heavy while 25 percent viewed it as too light.
In June 1985, Marianne Bachmeier was released from prison after serving only half of her sentence.
She moved to Nigeria, where she married and remained until the 1990s.
After she divorced her husband, Bachmeier relocated to Sicily where she stayed until she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, upon which she returned to a now-unified Germany.
With precious little time left, Bachmeier requested Lukas Maria Böhmer, a reporter for NDR, to film her last weeks alive.
She died on Sept. 17, 1996, at the age of 46. She was buried next to her daughter, Anna.
The FBI and other US security agencies secretly control American social media giants, Russia’s foreign ministry has alleged. The claim follows a recent interview with Mark Zuckerberg, in which the Facebook CEO supposedly acknowledged such influence.
On Friday, spokesperson Maria Zakharova published a post on her Telegram channel devoted to Zuckerberg’s recent appearance on The Joe Rogan podcast. According to the Russian diplomat, Facebook’s first-in-command recounted how FBI operatives had visited him ahead of the 2020 US presidential elections, which ended in victory for Joe Biden, asking him to suppress stories revolving around the “unseemly contents” of Hunter Biden’s laptop on his platforms.
“The men in black ‘convinced’ Mark Zuckerberg… that these were all Russian fakes,” Zakharova added, referencing the podcast.
She went on to surmise that this kind of “excuse for censorship” was sufficient to have made Facebook’s CEO comply with the request. The subsequent suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story “helped pronounce Biden senior as the winner in the election,” Zakharova noted, remarking that many Americans are still unconvinced.
The diplomat went on to argue that, with the laptop story turning out to be true and with Zuckerberg’s revelations to Rogan, “the world has learned that the US social media played a decisive role in this performance.” She added that the suspension of then-President Trump’s accounts by the main social media platforms just goes to show that the US authorities collude with the “internet monopolies.”
Zakharova concluded that all this proves that the “FBI and other American security services manually control digital giants,” with social media platforms’ leadership only too happy to “participate in dirty political games in Washington.” The senior diplomat also made the claim that “there are no democratic standards in the American electoral system: neither in theory nor in practice.”
Lessons in life
As I approached retirement age, I learned an important lesson from two people.
First Lesson. . .
Mary, a teacher friend, retired 5 years before I did. For the last several years before retirement, Mary spoke of where she and her husband planned to travel as soon as they retired. They had it all mapped out.
Mary was in perfect health for her age as was her husband. They retired on schedule but rarely left their house.
With no prior warning, Mary’s husband suffered a heart attack. It left him very much diminished. He wasn’t bedridden or an invalid but they would never travel. She could still travel but couldn’t leave her husband.
I saw her at JC Pennys at the mall one day. Her advice was. . .don’t wait. If you wait to check things off your bucket list, it may never happen.
Second Lesson. . .
This one is personal. My sister retired after 33 years of teaching. She loved to teach. In fact she loved to teach so much she taught preschool in a rather disadvantaged area perhaps 30 minutes from where she and her husband lived.
The summer that led into her 3rd year of teaching preschool, her list of incoming students included a three-year-old boy who was deaf. She spent the rest of the summer learning sign language for the sole purpose of communicating with this little fellow.
It was April of that school year that I drove 450 miles to spend time with her during school break. She was in perfect health.
By the end of the month, she was in surgery to remove a rapidly-growing, unforgiving type of brain cancer. November of that year she died. She was 61.
I’d always wanted to travel abroad. I had renewed my passport 4 times since I was 28 and never used it. With those 2 lessons in mind, my daughter and I traveled to the UK the following year then Italy then France and Switzerland then Ottawa and Montreal then back to England.We plan to travel to Vancouver, British Columbia next spring.
It took the advice of my colleague and the death of my sister to jar me into action. So you often hear those words “don’t wait because it may be too late”. Well, don’t wait because it may be too late.
Here we are. My sister and I ready for our first day of school. Mother was always busy at the sewing machine sewing identical dresses for us.We had identical lunch boxes as well.
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Why South Korea’s largest labor groups oppose military drills with US
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South Korea’s two biggest labor umbrella groups have called for the immediate suspension of the country’s ongoing joint military exercise with the United States, calling it a dangerous act that increases the risk of conflict with North Korea.
In front of the War Memorial of Korea, Tuesday, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions criticized President Yoon Suk-yeol for the resumption of the two allies’ first full-scale field trainings in five years.
“We denounce the Yoon administration for being trapped in a swamp of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, a byproduct of the Cold War of the 20th century, and making the wrong moves for the peace, diplomacy and economy of the Korean Peninsula,” they said in a joint statement. “North Korea is one of us, with which the South should work together to put an end to the era of conflict and division and to open the era of self-reliance and peaceful unification.”
The messages promoted during an Aug. 13 rally in Seoul by the KCTU, which advocates for labor rights as well as democracy, national sovereignty and peaceful unification, were stronger and more direct: “Renounce the South Korea-U.S. alliance” and “Abolish conscription.”
Those who are not familiar with how South Korea’s progressive movement has developed over the last decades may find it difficult to understand why labor groups might raise their voices about this issue.
The progressive National Liberation (NL) faction, which emerged as a powerful force in the democratic movement in the 1980s, developed tendencies toward nationalism and anti-U.S. sentiments, the vestiges of which still have a formidable influence on liberal politics in Korea, particular of that generation, according to experts.
“The NL believes that the U.S. was responsible for Korea’s division, and views the country as a barrier to its unification,” Cho Jin-man, an associate professor of politics and international relations at Duksung Women’s University, told The Korea Times. “Such thoughts were developed in the 1980s, and they still adhere to the beliefs.”
To put it simply, he said, the NL and the PD (People’s Democracy) factions were the two main pillars of South Korea’s progressive camp. While the PD faction focused more on issues such as workers’ rights, it shared much of the NL’s nationalistic views over the relationship with North Korea and the U.S.
On July 2, 1961, Ernest Hemingway got out of bed around 7 a.m., unlocked the gun cabinet in his Ketchum, Idaho home using the key his wife had tried to hide from him, grabbed the double-barreled shotgun that he used to hunt pigeons, and shot himself in the forehead.
Depression
Though newspapers initially reported his death as an accident, and Hemingway’s wife even claimed that the gun had gone off while he was cleaning it, the writer’s death was eventually revealed to have been a suicide — which had come after a long struggle with depression.
Years later, Hemingway’s wife Mary said: “No, he shot himself. Shot himself. Just that. And nothing else.”
Russia Halts a Natural Gas Shipment to Japan Over Payment Issues
The article "dances" around who that Asian nation is. You have to go elsewhere to get the information. So who is this "Asian" nation?
Sakhalin Energy ships carbon-neutral cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan's Toho Gas.
Oh.
Japan will not pay Russia in Gold, or Rubles or Yuan. They insist on using the USD. -MM
Russia’s Sakhalin Energy halted a shipment of liquefied natural gas to an Asian buyer, a report said.
It’s the first time gas has been witheld from an Asian buyer, a move could result in blackouts.
It will have spillover effects in Europe as it gears up for its own energy crisis in the coming months.
Russia halted a shipment of liquefied natural gas to an Asian customer over payment issues to its new energy operator, Sakhalin Energy. It’s the first sign that Russia is beginning to withhold natural gas from Asian customers over its energy operations, threatening to throw some of its biggest Asian clients into blackouts this winter.
Two traders familiar with the matter said Sakhalin Energy withheld a cargo of LNG to an Asian buyer on the grounds of payment and a delay in signing a revised contract, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Russia has offered those revised contracts to Asian customers since setting up Sakhalin Energy, a new corporation created to transfer ownership of Russia’s oldest LNG facility from a Bermudan to a Russian entity.
The revisions ask LNG buyers to pay with currencies other than the US dollar if western sanctions result in payment issues. But most Asian customers have avoided signing so far, Bloomberg reported.
Withholding fuel from Asian buyers could spell trouble for North East Asia, which has been snapping up LNG in preparation for winter. Japan, Sakhalin’s top buyer, is particularly vulnerable to blackouts this winter if shipments are cut, as it sources around 9% of its natural gas from Sakhalin.
That could also have spillover effects to Europe, as Asian customers may eat away at fuel supplies from non-Russian suppliers, which are already strapped for supply as Europe gears up for its own energy crunch this winter.
“Without Sakhalin, North East Asia will have to drag more cargoes away from Europe, intensifying the scramble for gas between Asia and Europe heading into winter that could send LNG prices to unprecedented levels,” energy analyst Saul Kavonic told Bloomberg.
I received this message a couple of weeks ago and almost shit my pants when it came in.
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I was frantic for a couple of days about it and went to the police with the message.
2 days after I went to the police they turned up at my front door and escorted me to my elderly neighbours house. The poor man was so embarrassed and was holding out $60 for me and just saying sorry repeatedly. He had sent me the message as a thank you but worded it very badly.
I had seen him at the shops and he went through the self service checkout. He scanned his items and tapped his card but the transaction didn’t go through. He didn’t notice and packed his groceries on his walker and left the store.
I noticed when I went to the same checkout that his payment didn’t go through. It was only $60 so I plaid it for him and said nothing to him.
Unbeknownst to me the security had picked him up outside about not paying and the girl at the front desk also came and talked to me. I told her I paid it because he was my neighbour and not great with technology. Meanwhile in the security office they showed my neighbour the footage and that I had paid his bill for him.
As English is not his first language and technology is not his friend. His message of thanks came across as a little threatening. He has my number in case of an emergency but I obviously never saved his number in my phone.
We all had a good laugh about the incident and we went over and cooked a BBQ at his house and had lunch with him. I slipped the $60 he gave me back into the tea pot I know he keeps his cash in because I never expected him to pay me back. And because I felt so bad about getting police involved.
Guo Zhengliang, chips above 14nm are China’s No. 1 in the world, and foreign manufacturing cannot beat China
Guo Zhengliang: 14nm chips have become the development goals of various countries. European and American countries have formulated corresponding chip subsidy plans, in order to build a stronger chip industry and master more chip production capacity.
China is also stepping up its layout in the chip field. At present, the mainland’s most technologically advanced chip manufacturers have mastered the mass production capacity of 14nm chips. Guo Zhengliang, a Taiwanese expert and scholar, said that China’s chips above 14nm are number one in the world, and foreign manufacturers can’t beat them.
What does Guo Zhengliang’s speech show? How can China’s mature process chips continue to move forward?
Guo Zhengliang’s insights on China’s 14nm chips
In the field of chip manufacturing, countries and regions will formulate different development goals according to the process conditions they master. Some companies have broken through the high-end chip manufacturing process and stepped up their layout in the chip industry of 7nm and below. Just like Samsung has achieved mass production of 3nm chips and completed shipments.
In the future, Samsung will further sprint to the more advanced 2nm, pushing the human chip technology to a new height.
However, since the production of high-end chips requires the use of EUV lithography machines, this top-level semiconductor manufacturing equipment comes from ASML. The mainland chip manufacturer SMIC has purchased EUV lithography machines, but ASML cannot break the rules, resulting in EUV lithography machines cannot be freely shipped.
Other manufacturers that can successfully purchase EUV lithography machines have basically entered the 7nm, 5nm and other process categories, or use EUV lithography machines to achieve high-end chip production. Although there is no EUV lithography machine, other DUV lithography machines are not affected, and DUV lithography machines are sufficient to support most chip production, such as 14nm.
Don’t underestimate 14nm, there are only a handful of companies that master the global 14nm process technology. For 7nm below 14nm, only TSMC and Samsung have broken through mass production technology.
Therefore, 14nm is placed in the global chip industry and is a process that can meet the needs of a large number of customers. SMIC has achieved 14nm mass production, and the yield has reached the industry standard.
Regarding the development of 14nm in China, Guo Zhengliang, a Taiwanese expert and scholar, expressed his opinion that the mainland is already the world’s first in terms of 14nm and above. Because it is relatively cheap, foreign manufacturing cannot beat China.
In Guo Zhengliang’s view, the mainland has a leading edge in 14nm, and even ranks first in the world. What does this statement alone show?
First of all, Guo Zhengliang is optimistic about the development of the mainland in the 14nm field, which has a price advantage compared with foreign countries. Cheaper prices can attract more customers’ attention and get more order resources.
Secondly, Guo Zhengliang pointed out the advantages of mainland chips in the field of mature technology. 14nm belongs to the category of mature technology, which is more advanced than 28nm and 22nm. It is the focus of market demand for low-end chips in the industry.
Perhaps as you have seen, the mid-to-low-end chip market to which mature processes belong, the mainland already has a corresponding layout, and has also mastered 28nm and other process supply chain technologies. As for whether it can reach the world number one that Guo Zhengliang said in the global supply chain, I am afraid it will take more time to verify and get a more accurate answer.
At least before everything is finally broken, we need to be down-to-earth and objectively treat various evaluations in order to find a suitable direction for ourselves.
How can China’s mature process chips continue to move forward?
There is still room for improvement in high-end chips in mainland China, and EUV lithography machines are required to make 7nm and 5nm chips. At present, everyone knows the shipment status of EUV lithography machines, so focusing on the field of mature process chips is actually in line with the needs of industrial development. So how does China’s mature process chips continue to move forward?
The first is to achieve capacity support.
More than 80% of the chips on the market are built with mature technology. High-end chips of 7nm and below are mainly used in smartphones, tablets and computers.
These electronic products cannot represent the global market demand, nor can they concentrate all chip production capacity. Therefore, in terms of developing mature processes, we should achieve capacity support, and use more capacity to supply the required market to meet the scene areas with greater demand.
For example, domestic manufacturers can use 28nm and 14nm in emerging fields. Based on the development of traditional industries, they must also take into account market needs.
Secondly, protect technical talents.
With the development of China’s integrated circuit industry, the demand for talents has become higher and higher. It is expected that there will be a talent gap of 200,000 in the future, which means that many chip companies and positions in the integrated circuit field will face vacancies.
Therefore, ensuring technical talents has become an important matter for the development of mature process chips. So how can these talent gaps be filled? It may require the joint efforts of major universities and enterprises. Schools set up professional courses, enterprises provide employment platforms, and if necessary, school-enterprise cooperation may be carried out.
In general, China’s mature chip manufacturing process needs to make breakthroughs in many aspects, such as production capacity support, talent guarantee and even supply chain cooperation, etc., and must maintain a consistent pace of progress.
Summarize
Guo Zhengliang gave a good evaluation of 14nm in mainland China, but we should also know that 14nm is not the end, but a new starting point. The road of Chinese chips will continue to move forward.
I believe that in the near future, we will see different Chinese chips, high-spirited and confident.
Being too smart
My IQ is 145 and I very, very nearly screwed up everything. You know, if you’re smart, you have a couple of challenges others do not. I was misunderstood, I over analyzed other kids behaviour, didn’t blend in naturally and the worst: I never learned how to work hard, because everything was so easy.
Until around age 12, I never needed to lift a finger for anything at school. Then in high school, some things suddenly took studying. Not much, but for someone not used to lift a finger, that was hard.
Long story short, I was nearly 30 years old when I finally graduated from university. Even in the Netherlands, where people used to take their time to study, that was kinda extreme. If I hadn’t finally gotten my shit together in my late twenties, I would probably be working a job way below my potential now. And be very unhappy or depressed.
Fortunately, I realized in time that I had to step up my game, and fortunately, I got hired in a job that turned out to be perfect for me. I was very lucky the way things turned out. I am in a good place now. Good job, good salary, own two rental properties and most importantly I have a beautiful stable family.
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I know there are many high-IQ people like me out there who weren’t as lucky, and live average or even miserable lives despite their intelligence. Life can be really unfair. It’s really very easy to screw life up, even when you have a high IQ. Especially when you have a high IQ.
US media ignored major anti-US military protest in South Korea – Responsible Statecraft
In America these days, almost any information about North Korea, be it rumor, fake news, or just plain silly, becomes fodder for the mainstream media. From TMZ to The Guardian, reporters know there is an insatiable appetite for anything that puts Kim and his regime in a bad or crazy light.
But when it comes to South Korea, which hosts 28,500 American ground troops and the Pentagon’s largest military base outside of North America, U.S. media coverage is, shall we say, highly selective. That was made resoundingly clear on August 14, when Seoul was the scene for the largest public demonstration in decades against the U.S. military presence in South Korea.
Amazingly, not a word about the protest appeared in the U.S. media.
That Saturday, thousands of people chanting “this land is not a U.S. war base” demonstrated against Ulchi Freedom Shield, the first large-scale military exercises between U.S. and South Korean forces since 2017. The protests were organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), South Korea’s second-largest labor federation. They were joined by a range of progressive allies, including People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), an influential citizen’s group founded in 1994.
“At a time when military tensions on the Korean Peninsula are escalating and there is no clue for inter-Korean dialogue, we are concerned that an aggressive large-scale military exercise will exacerbate the situation,” PSPD declared. “We once again urge the US and ROK governments to suspend the ROK-US joint military exercise and make efforts to create conditions for dialogue.” At the demonstration, protesters took direct aim at the heart of U.S. policy in Korea, with signs that read “No war rehearsal, No U.S.” and “No Korea-U.S.-Japan military cooperation.”
Outside of the Korean press, the only outlets to cover this massive showing against militarism were Iran’s Press TV and China’s CGTN, which provided extensive video of the mobilization. The single print story on the march appeared in Xinhua, China’s daily wire service. Neither the New York Times or the Washington Post, which often set the pace for U.S. press coverage of Asia, deemed the demonstration newsworthy.
Hypocrisy? Yes. As I put it in a sardonic tweet, “Every rumor, fake news, intelligence leak or eyebrow twitch about Kim Jong Un and North Korea gets star treatment in the US media.” Yet, when “thousands of SOUTH KOREANS” march in Seoul against US-ROK war games, “NOT ONE PEEP.” The contrast seemed to hit a nerve: by the weekend, nearly 6,000 Twitter users had “liked” my post and over 2,000 had retweeted it.
The contradictions were evident on Twitter itself. As it often does with countries we’re not supposed to like, it slapped a label on one of my posts about the demonstration, urging users to “stay informed” because “this Tweet links to a Iran state-affiliated media website.” With that warning, Twitter was effectively delegitimizing my own coverage of the demonstration.
To be fair, political rallies on the left and right are a common occurrence in South Korea; obviously, editors and reporters must make choices about what to cover. But in a country where a majority of its citizens support the presence of U.S. forces and a U.S. general has operational control over their army in times of war, a rally of several thousand citizens openly calling for a U.S. troop withdrawal is certainly newsworthy.
At the same time, the drills have been a hot topic for years. In 2018, with much of Washington opposed, they were downgraded to computerized simulations as a way to build trust during the denuclearization talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un. Those talks collapsed in 2019, primarily over Trump’s refusal to lift U.S. sanctions in return for a partial shut down of the North’s nuclear infrastructure.
This year, with North Korea regularly testing its long-range missiles, the new presidents in Washington and Seoul, Joe Biden and Yoon Suk Yeol, decided to resume the real-life exercises. The air, land, and sea drills, which in the past have mobilized around 50,000 South Korean and 17,500 U.S. soldiers, began on August 22 and wind up on September 1.
Sadly, the discrepancies in coverage reflect old patterns going back to the early days of the Cold War.
Editorial staffs of major U.S. newspapers and cable news shows (and now, Twitter’s upstart crew) are steeped in Cold War mythologies about the Korean War and largely reflect the viewpoint of Washington’s national security community. Currently, both parties see in the North a determined and dangerous long-term foe, and in the South a reluctant ally torn between loyalty to the United States and its expansive economic ties with China, America’s new nemesis. In this world, there is little room for coverage of South Korean trade unionists, leftists, and progressives who stand against the American consensus.
That mindset was recently on display at the Post when it praised South Koreans for electing Yoon, an inexperienced conservative hawk who said during his campaign that he might consider a pre-emptive strike on North Korea “to protect peace” on the peninsula. “South Korea makes a welcome turn toward the U.S. — just when it is really needed,” the headline crowed. The Post editorial also took a nasty swipe at former President Moon Jae-in, parroting right-wing talking points that he had “consciously” played down North Korea’s human rights record and “balked” at adding new batteries to the American THAAD missile deployment that has drawn Beijing’s ire.
For America’s papers of record, the failure to cover South Korea’s progressive left also reflects a failure of nerve. The KCTU and People’s Solidarity that organized this month’s antiwar demonstration have deep roots in the democratic movement of the late 1980s, when years of struggle culminated in the massive demonstrations of 1987 that forced the pro-U.S. generals who had ruled the South for 26 years to step aside. During that tumultuous era, both the Times and the Post offered extensive (and often outstanding) coverage of dissidents and government repression. But in recent years, they have been far more interested in covering North Korean defectors and warning the public (repeatedly) about a possible underground nuclear test than exploring the complex internal politics of South Korea.
Ironically, these papers are better prepared now to cover Korea than any time in the past 40 years. Since 2020, they have built large bureaus in South Korea and relocated their Asian news hubs from Hong Kong to Seoul, giving them an opportunity for first-class coverage of perhaps the most dynamic country in Asia. “Looking at a five, 10, 20 year horizon, [Seoul] just feels like it’s right in the middle of the action,” Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, the Times’sinternational president, recently told the Korea Joongang Daily.
But in this coverage, the opinions and views of all Koreans need to be heard. That is particularly true when dealing with an issue as critical as the U.S.-Korean alliance, which President Biden has called “a linchpin of peace, stability, and prosperity” but many Koreans now view as a barrier to their country’s future.
Today I was asked if I am any good with phones by an elderly man as he was trying to open a picture message that his granddaughter had sent.
After putting Sienna in her pram, I took a look at his phone which was a really old Nokia. As he didn’t have a smart phone I told him that he wouldn’t be able to view it. He was gutted and went on to tell me that it was a photo of his granddaughter and her new baby who he hadn’t seen yet as they live in Buxton.
So, I forwarded the message to my phone and eventually managed to open the picture. He was so emotional seeing his great granddaughter for the first time and you could see his love for them both through his teary eyes.
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The man insisted on giving me £20 to treat my daughter to a toy as a thank you for helping him which I insisted I didn’t want, but he was having none of it. So, I asked him to wait there and I went to boots and printed the photo for him and ended up buying a frame for it too.
When I returned with the framed photo, he was so happy, literally overwhelmed.
This just made my day to make someone so happy. ❤️
US Coast Guard vessel unable to enter Solomon Islands port to refuel
Why travel half the world to patrol fishing using coast guard vessel? Where is the US coast line?
A US Coast Guard vessel was unable to enter the Solomon Islands for a routine port call because the local government did not respond to a request for it to refuel and provision, according to a US official.
Key points:
The US Coast Guard says the ship was unable to make a scheduled routine port call at Honiara
The British Navy declined to say if one of its vessels was also declined port access
Solomon Islands has had a tense relationship with the US and its allies since its recent security pact with China was announced
The USCGC Oliver Henry was on patrol for illegal fishing in the South Pacific when it failed to obtain entry to refuel at Honiara, the Solomon Islands capital, the official from the US Coast Guard said.
The US vessel was diverted to Papua New Guinea instead.
It was scheduled for a routine logistics port call at Solomon Islands, according to a public affairs officer for the US Coast Guard in Hawaii.
“The Government of the Solomon Islands did not respond to the US Government’s request for diplomatic clearance for the vessel to refuel and provision in Honiara,” they said.
We know that as early as the last century, many Chinese regarded going abroad as a matter of honoring their ancestors. If the children of the family worked and developed in the United States or in a foreign country, they felt that they would have a special face in front of their relatives and friends.
But after entering this century, this sense of pride seems to have vanished.
Most people no longer regard going abroad as a craze, nor do they feel that going abroad will honor their ancestors.
On the contrary, many people are no longer obsessed with going abroad, and they prefer to work and develop at home. On the contrary, some foreign friends, after seeing the environment in China, rushed to China frantically, hoping to get a Chinese green card and work and settle here.
It may be rare in third- and fourth-tier cities, but if you go to first- and second-tier cities, you will find that there are many foreigners around you, who go to get off work, go shopping, etc. with you.
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For example, in Guangzhou, China, there are nearly 300,000 black people, and in Shanghai, there are about 400,000 Japanese immigrants.
At the same time, in some developed cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen, there are many foreigners who immigrated to China from the United States.
These people choose China because they feel that the pace of life in China is unhurried, the environment is livable, and the country’s development prospects are bright.
However, look at some people who tried their best to immigrate to the United States. How are they doing now?
Have they lived their dream of prosperity and wealth as they wished?
The fact is very distressing, because after they arrived in the United States, their jobs were mediocre, their economic income was mediocre, and their living environment was even worse.
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According to statistics, most of the 4.5 million Chinese in the United States gather in Chinatown.
A long time ago, there was a person named “Queen Snakehead” in Fujian.
She specialized in the smuggling business, mainly helping mainlanders to smuggle to the United States.
You must know that it is very difficult for these people who entered the United States through illegal means to settle and find work in the United States.
Because most people think that as long as they come to the United States, they can have a good life and live a good life, but because it is illegal to smuggle to the United States, they can only do some scattered jobs in the United States.
I work here today, and I might be working in another place tomorrow. If you encounter a boss with bad behavior, you may give him a day of work for nothing without a penny of wages.
However, the welfare treatment of the poor in the United States is ok, and relief food is distributed every day.
Therefore, in places where relief food is distributed in the United States, Chinese people are often seen.
In order to attract more Chinese to join the United States, the United States stipulated that citizens who became American citizens did not need to cancel their original nationality, so many people had dual citizenship at that time.
But this is a unilateral regulation by the United States, and China will never allow people who step on two boats to act recklessly.
China stipulates that Chinese nationality will be cancelled if Chinese nationals possess other nationalities.
Today, the United States has announced that it will deport 200,000 Chinese who do not have American nationality, but these Chinese no longer hold Chinese nationality.
So after the 200,000 Chinese were expelled from the United States, what should they do?
Well, the reader should recognize that Thailand is an excellent holiday destination. It is where many people go to relax and have fun. As such, the reader should be advised, there are many traps or things to look out for. These things can range from a (near mafia like) arrangement of Tuk Tuk drivers and their system of fleecing tourists, to places where locals dare not tread. Here, I would like to place some warnings to the interested reader…
[2] Khao San Road
Hopping off the plane and heading straight to Khao San is a great idea if you are young, white, and into tie-dyes. (LOL!) You won’t find too many locals there. It is it’s own little enclave that caters to a youthful Western European clientelle. As such, be prepared to be surrounded by the youth of today (with a handful of older folks trying to navigate the clutter) from the Western side of the globe.
To quote;
“The last time I went out clubbing in Khao San the ladies were quite impressed with me because I was wearing shoes with laces. My competition for the fairer sex was a young, bearded pot-bellied boy who was interested in feeling out the clubs with bare feet — a low bar for the love scene. On a positive note he was giving out free hugs to people who couldn’t dodge his outstretched arms.”
-Ronald Tagra
Khao San is an iconic place with cheap beer and lots of “exotic” white people to hang out with. Yeah, just what you want. Leave what you know and experience what you know in a new location.
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It is a tourist trap where the only authentic experience you will have is your hangover. The buckets of red bull and piss are a smashing way for you to get the type of “real” Oriental hangover you’ve always been looking for and the type of morning you’ll always regret. It is also a great place if you want to get on the piss with your friends and enjoy your youth in a slightly different locale than back home.
However, really, if you wanted to just hang out at the same places with the same people, why bother coming to a foreign country? Best to stay in the motherland than to come out to Khao San.
“I remember when I first started coming here, even on Khao San Road, I would see sour looking farang women sitting around looking disapprovingly at the effortlessly beautiful local girls, and I would think to myself “Why did you come here, white woman? This place is not for you – go home!””
Many female social justice warrior types are absolutely appalled by the fact that men would go to tropical Thailand and engage in sex with women at bars. They hate this.
In their mind, of course, there is nothing wrong if [1] the wife blows up to the size of an elephant, [2] stops providing sex, and [3] takes all the money her husband makes because they are MARRIED.
What is wrong (in their minds) is that the husband wants to spend some time drinking, having sex with young cute and attractive slim girls, being treated like a MAN, and spending the money he earned on doing so.
Indeed! How disgusting! Imagine that!
Here are some excerpts from an article written by a SJW. She covers the various stereotypical male types that she has observed on one of her trips to Thailand, and spins her take on it. Ohhh, the bitterness, disgust and envy drips from her pen;
“The Angry and Divorced Forty-Something Seeking a ‘Proper Woman’ This city is full of once-burnt divorced men who were either so shattered by their previous marriages — or so disenchanted by the era of leftist feminism — that they felt compelled to move thousands of miles east to find a ‘proper woman’. And by proper woman, I mean one straight out of the 1940s. “Just let me be a man, while you do my washing, take control of the kitchen and don’t ask too many questions.” Not much to ask. These men tend to shack up with the financially destitute, or the professionally prostitute — whatever improves their chances of exerting total dominance over them in the long run. With these couples, it seems true love simply equals “You’ll never leave me while I send your parents and buffalos 20% of my retirement fund.”
Oh, she just doesn’t get it. Does she? She thinks that it is the failure of the man in his marriage that “drove” him to move to Thailand.
Really, that is what she thinks.
But, it’s not. Nah, but you can’t tell her anything. She knows what’s right. She knows everything. She’s a woman. She doesn’t make mistakes. Right?
She ends her diatribe with her solution to all the men who want to be left alone and to live their own lives, THEIR WAY…
“So, what’s the solution? Ideas on a postcard, please.
My vote goes to mass deportation…”
Advice for Americans who need an address
When I lived stateside and was down on my luck I suddenly found myself living in my car with only my clothes to my name.
How did this happen?
Well, my wife had found a lover, one day I came home early from work and he was in my house and she wasn’t, so I had him arrested for breaking and entering!
Actually, this is an exceptionally hilarious story that I’ll save for another post…
Anyway, I promptly left the house and went to a hotel.
Because my wife was angry at what I’d done to her lover she blocked our bank accounts.
I filed for divorce, but she hired a really good lawyer and the judge gave her everything. I got nothing but the car.
Two weeks later I was laid off from a long-term and well-paying job, but because of the divorce I had very little money saved.
So, suddenly I had a really big problem, but there was no one who could really help me, not even my family.
I didn’t have enough money to get an apartment, so I started to sleep in my car.
I knew that what I really needed was a permanent address, but in my sudden new position in life there was no way I could get one.
Here’s what I did …
I went to a post office (PO) box rental company and rented a box.
Instead of putting down my address as “Box 12” when I was filling out a form, I put down “Unit 12”.
Not once did I ever get a complaint from the mailbox company or the post office.
All my mail arrived without a problem, including government mail.
It’s a really good way to maintain a permanent address if you’re moving around a lot or are temporarily living in your car.
It can even help you to improve your credit rating because it appears like you’re in a stable location for a period of time.
The other thing that I did was I got a gym membership. I’d go to the gym every day to take a shower.
The PO box cost me about $35 dollars a month, and the gym membership was about the same.
So, for less than three dollars a day I was able to stay clean and appear, at least on paper and to everyone else, to be stable.
I lived in my car for eight months before I was able to find a job and then another four months before I was able to save up enough money for first and last month’s rent and get myself into a small apartment.
Would you believe that no one ever found me out? It’s true! No one ever knew!
One of the first things I did after I got my PO box address was to try and get credit.
Of course I was declined, but the address went on my credit rating nonetheless.
I am absolutely sure that the apartment rental agency that I applied to wouldn’t have approved my rental application had I not tried to use the PO box’s address as my own to get credit a year earlier.
To them it looked like I had lived for a year at my previous address and simply chose not to renew my lease. I even said as much when I was filling out my application.
During that year I spent another ten dollars a week at the laundromat to keep my clothes clean, including the cost for laundry detergent.
Toothpaste, soap and other incidentals cost me around thirty dollars a month.
So basically my rent, water, electricity, laundry and personal grooming cost me about $150 a month, five dollars a day.
During the time that I wasn’t working I’d go to various public parks around town and remove soda pop and beer cans from the garbage cans.
When I had filled up the trunk of my car and then some, I went to the supermarket and put the cans in the recycling machines out front.
I got a nickel for two cans and two cents for a single can.
I was actually able to collect enough cans to pay the five dollars a day for my upkeep and also put two gallons of gas in my car so that I could drive around the next day.
Incredibly, I was also able to collect enough cans to buy a liter of water and a package of Tang (powdered orange-flavored drink) every day.
There was even enough left over for a Hostess dessert pie for breakfast, a 7-Eleven microwaveable burrito for lunch and some bread, ham, cheese and fruit for dinner!
My food expenses were about seven dollars a day and it was about the same for gasoline.
So, I lived on a budget of $20 dollars a day for nine months.
Somehow, and I have no idea how, I was able to collect between 400 and 500 cans a day—and I survived!
I have no shame in it, nor in sharing it; it wasn’t my fault to begin with, but in no way was I going to give up. I’m too proud.
Sure, I could have sold my car to rent an apartment, but then how would I get to work or find a job?
By bus? Not so practical in San Diego.
So I did what I did in the way that I did it.
Today, I have a house on the beach and I will buy a second one soon. I have a new wife whom I love and who loves me and we have a wonderful son together.
I’ve worked for 11 years at the same company, so my life is stable once again.
But I’ll never forget that year; it was a true life lesson.
And you know what?
It wasn’t so bad living in my car collecting cans so that I could get through the day!
Get a PO box, get a gym membership, maintain a prepaid cellular line so people can call you, try to get credit, do what you need to do to find the $20 to $30 dollars a day you need and in the end you’ll be just fine!
Good luck!
Cheers!
Biden targets Amish farmer with armed raid and $300,000 fine…
Biden admin targets Amish farmer | Tucker Carlson
Miller’s Organic Farm is located in the remote Amish village of Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania. The farm supplies everything from grass-fed beef and cheese, to raw milk and organic eggs, to dairy from grass-fed water buffalo and all types of produce, all to roughly 4,000 private food club members who pay top dollar for high quality whole food.
The private food club members appreciate their freedom to get food from an independent farmer that isn’t processing his meat and dairy at U.S. Department of Agriculture facilities, which mandates that food be prepared in ways that Miller’s Organic Farm believe make it less nutritious.
Amos Miller, the farm’s owner, contends that he’s preparing food the way God intended — but the U.S. government doesn’t see things that way. They recently sent armed federal agents to the farm and demanded he cease operations. The government is also looking to issue more than $300,000 in fines — a request so steep, it would put the farm out of business.
There’s this farmer named Amos Miller and he’s been farming for 25 years. No electricity, no fertilizer, no gasoline. He has really, really impressive crop yields using only the only the oldest of methods, totally organic. He has milk, he has beef, he has different types of sheep. He has chicken, all types of vegetables. And he has a private buyers club of about 4,000 people all across the country that pay him top dollar for his food.
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And the government doesn’t like this idea of a private buyers club. They have raided his farm with armed federal agents and they have said he needs to stop selling his meat until he gets regulated by the federal agencies whose job it is to, you know, regulate food. And he says, “you know, the way you guys regulate it, it kind of hurts the nutrition of the food — you know, you wash it in these things, you’ve given these vaccines and the cows get all types of medicine, I don’t do any of that. So I think going through your regulatory process will actually hurt the quality of my food and that’s what I’m being paid top dollar for, it is this high quality food.
So they are fining him hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they’ve actually sent armed federal agents there to take inventory of his meat, of his dairy, and they visit him to make sure that he’s not selling anything and that he’s not ramping up his production in any way. So that’s where he is now. He’s figuring out how to fight the federal government, what he’s going to do. And you know, he’s been put in this really tight spot along with the people who, you know, look to him for this food. They’re not getting their meat and dairy right now because of the government.
This is Texas
One evening my next door neighbor’s 12-yr-old daughter called me and said she was home alone and scared because some man was walking around her home peering into the windows. We lived on a cul-de-sac of about a dozen homes all on small acreages. From my kitchen I could clearly see a man standing under the neighbor’s car port looking into a window.
I called my dogs to my side. One was a 120 lb Doberman and the other a 65 lb Weimaraner. They accompanied me out the door to the low rail fence between our properties. I challenged the man on what he was doing. He stuttered he was looking for a friend’s house. When I asked what his friend’s name was, he said a name I did not recognize belonging to anyone on the street. My dogs were quietly standing next to me during this time intently focused on the man.
I told the man to leave or I’d turn the dogs loose. Either the guy was drunk or on drugs or just plain stupid because he proceeded to angrily argue with me. I had never asked my dogs to attack someone and they weren’t trained to do so. But both dogs leaped the fence and emitted nasty guttural growls pinning the man against the wall of the home. Surprised the hell out of me! Him too. They were crouched down ready to make minced meat out of him. His voice went up three octaves screaming to call the dogs off. I honestly didn’t know if they’d listen to me. I ended up having to climb the fence and grabbing them by their collars. Either one could’ve easily pulled loose and I warned the guy I might not be able to hold them.
He took off down the driveway cursing me over his shoulder. I noticed that instead of turning left back toward the highway he ran right deeper into the cul-de-sac. Running back to my house I called a neighbor whom I knew carried a shotgun in his pickup. (This was Texas after all.) Last I saw was him being escorted down the road with his hands up. My pups got extra treats that night!
Geopolitical tectonic plates shifting, six months on
14205 Views August 24, 2022
by Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and widely cross-posted
Six months after the start of the Special Military Operation (SMO) by Russia in Ukraine, the geopolitical tectonic plates of the 21st century have been dislocated at astonishing speed and depth – with immense historical repercussions already at hand. To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, this is the way the (new) world begins, not with a whimper but a bang.
The vile assassination of Darya Dugina – de facto terrorism at the gates of Moscow – may have fatefully coincided with the six-month intersection point, but that won’t change the dynamics of the current, work-in-progress historical drive.
The FSB may have cracked the case in a little over 24 hours, designating the perpetrator as a neo-Nazi Azov operative instrumentalized by the SBU, itself a mere tool of the CIA/MI6 combo de facto ruling Kiev.
The Azov operative is just a patsy. The FSB will never reveal in public the intel it has amassed on those that issued the orders – and how they will be dealt with.
One Ilya Ponomaryov, an anti-Kremlin minor character granted Ukrainian citizenship, boasted he was in contact with the outfit that prepared the hit on the Dugin family. No one took him seriously.
What’s manifestly serious is how oligarchy-connected organized crime factions in Russia would have a motive to eliminate Dugin as a Christian Orthodox nationalist philosopher who, according to them, may have influenced the Kremlin’s pivot to Asia (he didn’t).
But most of all, these organized crime factions blamed Dugin for a concerted Kremlin offensive against the disproportional power of Jewish oligarchs in Russia. So these actors would have the motive and the local base/intel to mount such a coup.
If that’s the case that spells out a Mossad operation – in many aspects a more solid proposition than CIA/MI6. What’s certain is that the FSB will keep their cards very close to their chest – and retribution will be swift, precise and invisible.
The straw that broke the camel’s back
Instead of delivering a serious blow to Russia in relation to the dynamics of the SMO, the assassination of Darya Dugina only exposed the perpetrators as tawdry operatives of a Moronic Murder Inc.
An IED cannot kill a philosopher – or his daughter. In an essential essay Dugin himself explained how the real war – Russia against the collective West led by the United States – is a war of ideas. And an existential war.
Dugin – correctly – defines the US as a “thalassocracy”, heir to “Britannia rules the waves”; yet now the geopolitical tectonic plates are spelling out a new order: The Return of the Heartland.
Putin himself first spelled it out at the Munich Security Conference in 2007. Xi Jinping started to make it happen when he launched the New Silk Roads in 2013. The Empire struck back with Maidan in 2014. Russia counter-attacked coming to the aid of Syria in 2015.
The Empire doubled down on Ukraine, with NATO weaponizing it non-stop for eight years. At the end of 2021, Moscow invited Washington for a serious dialogue on “indivisibility of security” in Europe. That was dismissed with a non-response response.
Moscow took no time to confirm a trifecta was in the works: an imminent Kiev blitzkrieg against Donbass; Ukraine flirting with acquiring nuclear weapons; and the work of US bioweapon labs. That was the straw that broke the New Silk Road camel’s back.
A consistent analysis of Putin’s public interventions these past few months reveals that the Kremlin – as well as Security Council Yoda Nikolai Patrushev – fully realize how the politico/media goons and shock troops of the collective West are dictated by the rulers of what Michael Hudson defines as the FIRE system (financialization, insurance, real estate), a de facto banking Mafia.
As a direct consequence, they also realize how collective West public opinion is absolutely clueless, Plato cave-style, of their total captivity by the FIRE rulers, who cannot possibly tolerate any alternative narrative.
So Putin, Patrushev, Medvedev will never presume that a senile teleprompter reader in the White House or a cokehead comedian in Kiev “rule” anything. The sinister Great Reset impersonator of a Bond villain, Klaus “Davos” Schwab, and his psychotic historian sidekick Yuval Harari at least spell out their “program”: global depopulation, with those that remain drugged to oblivion.
As the US rules global pop culture, it’s fitting to borrow from what Walter White/Heisenberg, an average American channeling his inner Scarface, states in Breaking Bad: “I’m in the Empire business”. And the Empire business is to exercise raw power – then maintained with ruthlessness by all means necessary.
Russia broke the spell. But Moscow’s strategy is way more sophisticated than leveling Kiev with hypersonic business cards, something that could have been done at any moment starting six months ago, in a flash.
What Moscow is doing is talking to virtually the whole Global South, bilaterally or to groups of actors, explaining how the world-system is changing right before our eyes, with the key actors of the future configured as BRI, SCO, EAEU, BRICS+, the Greater Eurasia Partnership.
And what we see is vast swathes of the Global South – or 85% of the world’s population – slowly but surely becoming ready to engage in expelling the FIRE Mafia from their national horizons, and ultimately taking them down: a long, tortuous battle that will imply multiple setbacks.
The facts on the ground
On the ground in soon-to-be rump Ukraine, Khinzal hypersonic business cards – launched from Tu-22M3 bombers or Mig-31 interceptors – will continue to be distributed.
Piles of HIMARS will continue to be captured. TOS 1A Heavy Flamethrowers will keep sending invitations to the Gates of Hell. Crimean Air Defense will continue to intercept all sorts of small drones with IEDs attached: terrorism by local SBU cells, which will be eventually smashed.
Using essentially a phenomenal artillery barrage – cheap and mass-produced – Russia will annex the full, very valuable Donbass, in terms of land, natural resources and industrial power. And then on to Nikolaev, Odessa, and Kharkov.
Geoeconomically, Russia can afford to sell its oil with fat discounts to any Global South customer, not to mention strategic partners China and India. Cost of extraction reaches a maximum of $15 per barrel, with a national budget based on $40-45 for a barrel of Urals.
A new Russian benchmark is imminent, as well as oil in rubles following the wildly successful gas for rubles.
The assassination of Darya Dugina provoked endless speculation on the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense finally breaking their discipline. That’s not going to happen. The advances along the enormous 1,800-mile front are relentless, highly systematic and inserted in a Greater Strategic Picture.
A key vector is whether Russia stands a chance of winning the information war with the collective West. That will never happen inside NATOstan – even as success after success is ramping up across the Global South.
As Glenn Diesen has masterfully demonstrated, in detail, in his latest book, Russophobia , the collective West is viscerally, almost genetically impervious to admitting any social, cultural, historical merits by Russia.
And that will extrapolate to the irrationality stratosphere, as the grinding down and de facto demilitarization of the imperial proxy army in Ukraine is driving the Empire’s handlers and its vassals literally nuts.
The Global South though should never lose sight of the “Empire business”. The Empire of Lies excels in producing chaos and plunder, always supported by extortion, bribery of comprador elites, assassinations, and all that supervised by the humongous FIRE financial might. Every trick in the Divide and Rule book – and especially outside of the book – should be expected, at any moment. Never underestimate a bitter, wounded, deeply humiliated Declining Empire.
So fasten your seat belts: that will be the tense dynamic all the way to the 2030s. But before that, all along the watchtower, get ready for the arrival of General Winter, as his riders are fast approaching, the wind will begin to howl, and Europe will be freezing in the dead of a dark night as the FIRE Mafia puff their cigars.
Don’t mess with the kitty!
A man absolutely hated his wife’s cat and decided to get rid of him one day by driving him 20 blocks from his home and leaving him at the park. As he was getting home, the cat was walking up the driveway. The next day he decided to drive the cat 40 blocks away. He put the beast out and headed home. Driving back up his driveway, there was the cat! He kept taking the cat further and further and the cat would always beat him home.
At last, he decided to drive a few miles away, turn right, then left, past the bridge, then right again, and another right until he reached what he thought was a safe distance from his home and left the cat there. Hours later the man calls home to his wife:
“Jen, is the cat there?” “Yes”, the wife answers, “why do you ask?”
Frustrated, the man answered,
“Put that son of a bitch on the phone, I’m lost and need directions!”
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Chinese Gaokou
In China, the gaokao is one of the most stressful periods of a high school student’s life.
It is known to single-handedly decide your future job opportunities and social status within society.
Study!
Compared to other college entrance exams in countries like Korea or India, you would think that the test is mostly based off of memorizing and using those “tricks” that are taught at special cram schools.
But some of those questions are actually incredibly thoughtful and creativity oriented.
Take a look:
Topic: Roads Based on the three given uses of ‘road’, write an essay. 1. “The Earth had no roads to begin with, but when many men passed one way, a road was made.” —Lu Hsun (Lu Xun) 2. There is no such thing as a road that dare not to be walked, only people who dare not to walk it. 3. You may take the wrong road sometimes, but if you keep walking, it will become a brand new road. (From Fujian)
Topic: Do butterfly wings have colors? “A teacher asked the students to look at butterflies under a microscope. At first, they thought the butterflies were colorful, but when they looked at them closely, they realized that they were actually colorless.” Based on this story, write an essay. (From Anhui)
The containers for milk are always square boxes; containers for mineral water are always round bottles; round wine bottle are usually placed in square boxes. Write a composition on the subtle philosophy of the round and square.
Who do you think is the most glamorous person? A biotechnologist who led his company in international research, an ordinary welder who gained international fame through his work, or a photographer complimented widely for a series of photos?
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Chinese Laser
Many things are made in China that are against the law in the United States. They are either too powerful, too cheap (competition issues), use materials that are judged as "bad" or just are unregulated and thus are considered to be dangerous. -MM
“Ask her if it’s powerful.” I said to my co-worker. He spoke in Mandarin to the woman at the market stall, and she casually pushed a button on the black baton.
A bright blue rod immediately connected the object to a cinder block wall across the street. Without saying a word, she casually pulled a cigarette from the pack on the counter, put it in her mouth, leaned forward, and lit the tip of her cancer-stick in the laser’s light beam.
“I don’t care what it costs. Tell her yes.” After some negotiating (because I think she understood “I don’t care what it costs.” but I did care) and $60, I got a Jedi-light-saber set-shit-on-fire mobile death ray.
To prevent any accidental/catastrophic airline excitement, I disassembled it into a few pieces and put some bits in my checked bag and the rest in my carry-on bag.
Not that practical for daily use, and despite the look of the packaging – definitely NOT for kids, but absolutely fun.
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World War 3 for dummies
June 18, 2022
By Gaius Baltar for the Saker Blog
Some knowledgeable people, apparently including the Pope, are beginning to suspect that there may be more going on in the world than just the war in the Ukraine. They say that World War 3 has already started and things will get worse from now on. This can be difficult to determine while we are participating in the unfolding events and do not have the benefit of the historical perspective. It is doubtful that people back in 1939 realized that they were looking at the start of a major worldwide conflict, although some may have suspected it.
The current global situation is in many ways like a giant jigsaw puzzle where the general public only sees a tiny part of the complete picture. Most don’t even realize that there may be more pieces and don’t even ask these simple questions: Why is all this happening and why is it happening now?
Things are more complicated than most people realize. What they see is the evil wizard Vladimir Saruman Putin invading innocent Ukraine with his orc army – for absolutely no reason. This is a simplistic view, to say the least because nothing happens without a reason. Let’s put things in perspective and see what is really going on – and why the world is going crazy before our eyes. Let’s see what World War 3 is all about.
The pressure cooker
The West (which we can define here as the US and the EU and a few more) has been maintaining pressure on the entire world for decades. This does not only apply to countries outside the West, but also to Western countries which strayed from the diktats of the West’s rulers. This pressure has been discussed widely and attributed to all kinds of motives, including neocolonialism, forced financial hegemony, and so forth. What is interesting, particularly during the last 20 years, is which countries have been pressured and what they do not have in common.
Among the pressured countries we find Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Libya, Syria, Serbia, Thailand, and Iran to mention a few. There have also been recent additions, including India and Hungary. In order to understand why they have been pressured, we need to find out what they have in common. That’s not easy since they are extremely different in most ways. There are democracies and non-democracies, conservative and communist governments, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist countries, and so on. Still, many of them are very clearly allied. One must ask why conservative and religious countries such as Russia or Iran would ally themselves with Godless communists in Cuba and Venezuela.
What all these countries have in common is their desire to run their own affairs; to be independent countries. This is unforgivable in the eyes of the West and must be tackled by any means necessary, including economic sanctions, color revolutions, and outright military aggression.
The West and its NATO military arm had surrounded Russia with hostile countries and military bases, armed and manipulated Ukraine to be used as a hammer against it, and employed sanctions and threats. The same thing was and is happening in Asia where China is being surrounded by all means available. The same applies to all the Independents mentioned above to some extent. In the past 10 years or so the pressure has increased massively on the Independents and it reached almost a fever pitch in the year before the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.
During the year before the Ukraine war, the US sent its diplomats around the world to tune up the pressure. They were like a traveling circus or a rock band on a tour, but instead of entertainment, they delivered threats: buy this from us and do what we tell you or there will be consequences. The urgency was absolute and palpable, but then came the Ukraine war and the pressure went up to 11. During the first month of the war, the entire West’s diplomatic corps was fully engaged in threats against the ‘rest of the world’ to engineer the isolation of Russia. This didn’t work, which resulted in panic in political and diplomatic circles in the US and Europe.
All this pressure through the years, and all the fear and panic when it didn’t work, are clearly related to the events in the Ukraine. They are a part of the same ‘syndrome’ and have the same cause.
The debt dimension
There have been many explanations for what is going on and the most common is the fight between two possible futures; a multipolar world where there are several power centers in the world, and a unipolar world where the West governs the world. This is correct as far as it goes, but there is another reason which explains why this is happening now and all the urgency and panic in the West.
Recently the New Zealand tech guru Kim Dotcom tweeted a thread about the debt situation in the US. According to him all debt and unfunded liabilities of the US exceed the total value of the entire country, including the land. This situation is not unique to the US. Most countries in the West have debt that can only be paid back by selling the entire country and everything it contains. On top of that, most non-western countries are buried in dollar-denominated debt and are practically owned by the same financiers who own the West.
During the last few decades, the economy of the US and Europe has been falsified on a level that is difficult to believe. We in the West have been living far beyond our means and our currencies have been massively overvalued. We have been able to do this through two mechanisms:
The first one is the reserve status of the dollar and the semi-reserve status of the euro which have enabled the West to export digital money and receive goods in return. This has created enormous financial power for the West and enabled it to function as a parasite on the world economy. We have been getting a lot of goods for free, to put it mildly.
The second falsification mechanism is the increase in debt to a level where we have essentially pawned everything we own, including our houses and lands, to keep up our living standards. We own nothing now when the debt has been subtracted. The debt has long since become unserviceable – far beyond our ability to pay interests on – which explains why the interest rates in the West are in the neighborhood of zero. Any increase would make the debt unserviceable and we would all go formally bankrupt in a day.
On top of all this, the falsification has created artificially strong currencies in the West which has boosted their purchasing power for goods priced in non-western currencies. These mechanisms have also enabled the West to run bloated and dysfunctional service economies where inefficiencies are beyond belief. We have giant groups of people in our economies that not only create no value but destroy value systematically. What maintains the West’s standard of living now is a small minority of productive people, constant debt increase, and parasitism of the rest of the world.
The people who own all this debt actually own everything we think we own. We in the West own nothing at this point – we only think we do. But who are our real owners? We know more or less who they are because they meet every year at the World Economic Forum in Davos along with the western political elites who they also happen to own.
It is clear that our owners have been getting increasingly worried, and their worries have been increasing in sync with the increased pressure applied by the West on the rest of the world, particularly the Independents. During the last Davos meeting, the mood was bleak and panicked at the same time, much like the panic among the western political elites when the isolation of Russia failed.
What is about to happen
The panic of our owners and their politicians is understandable because we have come to the end of the line. We can no longer keep up our living standards by debt increase and parasitism. The debt is reaching beyond what we own as collateral and our currencies are about to become worthless. We will no longer be able to get free stuff from the rest of the world, or pay back our debt – let alone pay interest on it. The entire West is about to go bankrupt and our standard of living is about to go down by a massive percentage. This is what has our owners panicked and they see only two scenarios:
In the first scenario most countries in the West, and everything and everyone within them, declare bankruptcy and erase the debt by diktat – which sovereign states are able to do. This will also erase the wealth and political power of our owners.
In the second scenario, our owners take over the collateral during the bankruptcy. The collateral is us and everything we own.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out which scenario was chosen. The plan for the second scenario is ready and being implemented as we speak. It is called ‘The Great Reset’ and was constructed by the people behind the World Economic Forum. This plan is not a secret and can be examined to a certain degree on the WEF website.
The Great Reset is a mechanism for the seizing of all debt collateral which includes your assets, the assets of your city or municipality, the assets of your state, and most corporate assets not already held by our owners.
This asset seizure mechanism has several components, but the most important are the following four:
Abolishment of sovereignty: A sovereign (independent) country is a dangerous country because it can choose to default on its debt. The decrease in sovereignty has been a priority for our owners and various schemes have been attempted such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The most successful scheme is undoubtedly the European Union itself.
The down-tuning of the economy: The western economy (and indeed the global economy) must be tuned down by a very significant percentage. This down-tuning is necessary because the western economy is massively falsified now and must be taken down to its real level – which may be as low as half of what it is now – or more. The slow takedown has also the purpose of avoiding a sudden crash that would cause massive social unrest which would be a threat to our owners. A controlled takedown is therefore preferable to an uncontrolled crash. This controlled takedown is already happening and has been going on for quite some time. Many examples can be mentioned of this takedown, including the EU and US energy policy which is designed to sabotage the western economy, and the obvious attempts at demand destruction during and after the epidemic, including the fairly bizarre logistical problems which suddenly came out of nowhere.
Asset harvesting (you will own nothing and be ‘happy’): All assets that can be considered to be collateral to our private and collective/public debt will be taken over. This is a clearly stated aim of the Great Reset but it is less clear how this would be carried out. Total control of western governments (and indeed all governments) would seem to be necessary for this. That precondition is closer than one might think because most western governments seem to be beholden to Davos at this point. The process will be sold as necessary social restructuring because of an economic crisis and global warming and will result in a massive decrease in living standards for regular people, although not the elites.
Oppression: A great many people will not like this and an uprising is a likely response, even if the takedown is done gradually. To prevent this from happening, a social control mechanism is being implemented which will erase personal freedom, the freedom of speech, and privacy. It will also create absolute dependence of the individual on the state. This must be done before the economic takedown can be completed or there will be a revolution. This mechanism is already being implemented enthusiastically in the West as anybody with eyes and ears can see.
Russia, China, and other Independents
How do Russia and China, and the war in Ukraine, factor into all of this? Why all the pressure from the West throughout the years and why all this panic now? Part of the reason for the pressure on the Independents, particularly Russia and China, is simply that they have resisted western hegemony. That is enough for getting on the West’s naughty list. But why the increased pressure in recent years?
The reason is that Russia and China cannot be subjugated through bankruptcy and their assets harvested. They do not have much debt in western currencies which means that the people who own the West through debt do not currently own Russia and China (like they own the West and the indebted ‘third world’) and cannot acquire them through debt. The only way to acquire them is through regime change. Their governments must be weakened by any means, including economic sanctions and military means if necessary -thus the use of Ukraine as a battering ram for Russia and Taiwan for China.
Subjugating Russia and China is an existential issue for our Davos owners because when they take the western economy down, everything else must go down too. If the western economy is taken down and a large economic block doesn’t participate in the downfall, it will be a disaster for the West. The new block will gain massive economic power, and possibly unipolar hegemony of sorts, while the West descends into a feudal Dark Age and irrelevance. Therefore the entire world must go down for the Great Reset to work. Russia and China must be subjugated by any means, as well as India and other stubborn nations.
This is what has fueled the situation we now find ourselves in and will fuel the continuation of World War 3. The western owner-elites are going to war to keep their wealth and power. Everyone who resists must be subjugated so they can follow the West into the planned Great Reset Dark Age.
The reason for the current panic among western elites is that the Ukraine project isn’t going as planned. Instead of Russia being bled on the battlefield, it is Ukraine and the West that bleed. Instead of the Russian economy crashing resulting in Putin’s replacement by a Davos-compatible leader, it is the West’s economy that is crashing. Instead of Russia being isolated, it is the West that is being increasingly isolated. Noting is working, and to top it all off, Europe has given the Russians the means and motive to destroy the European economy by partly shutting down its industry. Without Russian resources, there is no European industry, and without industry, there are no taxes for paying for unemployment benefits, pensions, all the refugees, and pretty much everything else which holds European societies together. The Russians now have the ability to engineer an uncontrolled crash in Europe which is not what Davos planned. An uncontrolled crash might see Davos’s heads roll, literally, and that is causing fear and panic in elite circles. The only solution for them is to move on with World War 3 and hope for the best.
What to do
The Great Reset of the world economy is the direct cause of World War 3 – assuming that is what is going on. What can be done about this? From inside the West, little can be done. The only way is to somehow remove Davos from the equation, but that is most likely not going to happen for two reasons: The first one is that the Davos great resetters are too entwined in the western economy and politics. Davos is like an octopus with its arms and suckers inside every country’s elite circles, media, and government. They are too entrenched to be easily removed. The second reason is that the western population is too brainwashed and ignorant. The level of their brainwashing is such that a large part of them actually want to become poor – although they use the word ‘green’ for ‘poor’ because it sounds better. There are, however, some indications that there may be divisions within western elites. Some of them, particularly within the US, may be resisting the primarily Europe-designed Great Reset – but whether this opposition is real or effective remains to be seen.
However, outside the West, there are certain measures that can be taken and must be taken. Some of those measures are drastic and some of them are being done as we speak. Among the measures are the following:
The Independents, led by Russia, China, and India, must create a block to isolate themselves from the radioactive West. This isolation must not only be economic, but also political and social. Their economic systems must be divorced from the West and made autonomous. Their cultures and history must be defended against western influences and revisionism. This process appears to be underway.
The Independents must immediately ban all western sponsored institutions and NGOs in their countries, regardless of whether they are sponsored by western states or individuals. Furthermore, they must ban all media receiving western sponsorship and strip every school and university of western sponsorship and influence.
They must leave all international institutions up to and possibly including the United Nations because all international bodies are controlled by the West. They must then replace them with new institutions within their block.
They must, at some point, declare the dollar and the euro currencies non grata. That means that they should declare default on all debts denominated in these currencies, but not other debts. This will most likely come at a later stage but is inevitable.
This will create a situation where the West will descend into darkness without pulling others down with it – if we manage to escape the nuclear fire.
What are the strangest things that octopuses do?
They ride on dolphins.
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Now you might think that this is very amusing.
And that dolphins are so friendly and let others ride.
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But dolphins like to eat octopuses.
And this one had no chance of getting away.
So he did the smart thing.
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As long as he sits on the dolphin, the dolphin cannot eat him.
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I have no idea how THAT turned out.
But he deserved to get away with it.
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Ignoring the US ban, Dutch ASML delivered 23 lithography machines to China!
Well, duh! The only customer it has is China. When the United States just decided to make "pronouncements" on what companies, and nations can and cannot do, they did so with no consideration of the impact. ASML was facing bankruptcy if it obeyed the United States "sanctions". So they went ahead and defied the USA. -MM
2022-08-27 13:34 HKT
Speaking of chips, there is a device that has to be mentioned, that is, a lithography machine.
When it comes to lithography machines, the Dutch company ASML is another name that has to be mentioned. Because it is the only one with the most advanced lithography machine in the world.
EUV lithography machines have always been regarded as indispensable equipment for advanced chips, and under the control of Americans, ASML cannot freely ship EUV lithography machines.
Who wants to buy?
Who do you sell to?
Without an American nod, ASML cannot sell a single lithography machine. ALl their customers are in China.
ASML was originally a Dutch company, but under the coercion and inducement of the United States, it had no choice but to move its headquarters to the United States.
And after the U.S. revised chip rules, even DUV lithography machines that produce mature chips have been restricted from shipping. Although DUV lithography machines produced in other countries can still be shipped normally.
However, DUV lithography machines produced in the United States are strictly prohibited from being sold to any country or company, especially China, without a license.
But in the first quarter of this year, ASML delivered a total of 23 DUV lithography machines to domestic manufacturers.
Although these DUV lithography machines are most likely manufactured in factories from non-US regions, but so many are delivered at once, is ASML really easy to explain on the American side?
The entry of 23 DUV lithography machines will obviously help the production of domestic chips. First of all, we can intuitively see that in the first half of this year, the number of imported chips in China decreased by 29 billion, which greatly reduced the dependence of Chinese enterprises on imported chips.
The United States is naturally unhappy, but ASML’s attitude this time is very tough.
They said that China is an important part of the global chip industry chain.
If cooperation with China is stopped, the world semiconductor supply chain will face the risk of disruption.
ASML is in a hurry and speaks very clearly. On the one hand, there is now a shortage of chips in the world, which has already affected the production of semiconductor equipment.
If China’s production capacity cannot be released, it is estimated that few in the world’s semiconductor industry will survive for another two years.
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On the other hand, ASML itself is also facing a serious impact on the supply of raw materials, and it urgently needs to deepen its cooperation with China.
The production of lithography machines requires a raw material called “neon gas”. 20% of ASML’s neon gas comes from Russia and Ukraine, but due to local American law, ASML was “cut off” from this source of supply.
And it happens that China can provide neon gas, and the monthly output of domestic integrated circuits can exceed 30 billion, both of which are urgently needed by ASML.
Of course, there is another aspect, that is, ASML does not want the Chinese market to change from a big customer to a rival.
Just like Huawei did to Qualcomm before.
ASML does not want to force China out of the second ASML because of the selfish desires of the United States.
Now the EUV lithography machine is unique to itself, but who can guarantee the future?
Before the emergence of Kirin chips, did anyone think that China also has the ability to develop high-end chips?
You know, our localized semiconductor supply chain has made a lot of progress.
Domestic lithography machines now occupy the mainstream of the domestic market. Although the technology ceiling is definitely not as good as ASML, not all semiconductor equipment needs such good chips. The mainstream of the market is still dominated by mature process chips.
Therefore, for ASML, instead of being controlled by the United States and then disappearing into the so-called “price”, it is better to just face it, and maybe there is a way to survive.
Imagine That!
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My ancestors hail from the Vologda region in the Russian North. When I visited my grandparents in summer, it usually took me a week to get used to their dialect of the Russian language.
Little did I know that a person from India who knows Sanskrit would need about that much time to understand the dialect without a translator.
A professor from India, who arrived in Vologda, almost immediately turned down his translator’s services. “I can understand Vologda dielect,” he said, “because they speak corrupted Sanskrit.”
It turns out, the entire area of Vologda is linked to Sanskrit and Indian culture.
The region is located at the confluence of the river Dvina (“divine, sacred” in Sanskrit) and its tributary Sukhona (“easy to cross” in Sanskrit). Other rivers with Sanskrit names in the region: Vel (border, riverbank); Valgu (nice lovely); Indu (a drop); Lal (play, overflow); Padma (flower of a water lily, lotus).
Vologda lace knitting is world famous. Little did I know that my female ancestors knitted Indian patterns.
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Vologda ethnographer Svetlana Zharnikova accompanied an Indian folk band on a trip down the Sukhona river.
The head of the ensemble, Ms. Mihra, was shocked by the ornaments in Vologda national costumes. “These,” she would exclaim enthusiastically, “are native to Rajasthan, and this one is from Aris, and these ornaments are what we have in Bengal.”
It turned out that even the technology of embroidery of ornaments is called the same in the Vologda region and in India. Our craftswomen call embossed smooth surface “chekan”, and Indians call it “chikan”.
However, not just the Vologda dialect, but the Russian language sounds very similar to Sanskrit.
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In the 1960s, the Indian specialist in Sanskrit Durga Prasad Shastri visited Russia. After two weeks, he told his translator Mr. Gusev, “Stop translating! I understand what you are saying. You are speaking here some altered form of Sanskrit!”
Having returned to India, he published an article on the similarities of the Russian and Sanskrit languages. Here is a quote from the article:
“If I were asked which two languages of the world are most similar to each other, I would answer without any hesitation: Russian and Sanskrit. And not because some words are similar. Common words can be found in Latin, German, Sanskrit, Persian and Russian. What surprising is that the word structure, style, syntax and even grammar rules are too similar in the two languages to be a coincidence.
“When I was in Moscow, they gave me the keys to a room 234 at the hotel and said “dwesti tridsat chetire ”. In bewilderment, I could not understand whether I was in Moscow or in Benares two thousand years ago. In Sanskrit, 234 is “dwishata tridasha chatwari.”
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the researcher of the origins of the Indians, published his book “The Arctic Home in the Vedas” in 1903.
According to Tilak, sacred books, the Vedas, written more than three thousand years ago, “tell about life of the distant ancestors near the Arctic Ocean. They describe endless summer days and winter nights, the North Star and the northern lights.”
Nike and Adidas are blaming COVID for low China sales, but the numbers don’t add up – SupChina
Note: the real reason is Chinese consumers turn away from the US firms due to their boycott of Xinjiang cotton, etc
Adidas has posted healthy revenue gains in its other combined markets in the first half of the year, but the company’s revenue in China dropped by 35% year-on-year, with net sales decreasing from $2.4 billion to $1.7 billion.
In the first quarter, Nike reported a 55% reduction in its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in China — from $691 million to $311 million.
Weak China numbers have prompted Adidas to cut its growth outlook for the rest of 2022. In the company’s latest earnings report, Adidas CEO Kasper Rørsted explained that the company’s recovery in the Chinese market was slower than expected because of COVID-related closures.
I say BULLSHIT. Stores are all open in China during the lockdowns, and severe lockdowns, for the most part last under ten days. -MM
In an earnings call on June 27, Nike’s Chief Financial Officer explained that the company’s reduced earnings followed the region’s most widespread COVID disruption since 2020, which impacted over 100 cities and over 60% of the company’s business in China.
But their Chinese counterparts seem to be weathering the lockdowns just fine. Li-Ning 李宁, one of China’s leading homegrown sportswear brands, posted 12.4 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) in revenue for the first half of 2022, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%. Anta 安踏 reported double digit sales growth in the first quarter of 2022, both for its flagship brand as well as the China-based subsidiary of the Italian FILA brand, which it owns. And Xtep 特步 reported a year-on year increase in revenue of over 35% in the second quarter.
On the sharp end of a ‘national tide’
Although it identified COVID as the main culprit, Adidas has acknowledged that it may need to get more in touch with Chinese consumers. In an interview with the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, CEO Rørsted conceded that Adidas had failed to sufficiently understand the Chinese market.
Following Rørsted’s comments, the topic “Adidas CEO admits to making mistakes in China” (#阿迪CEO承认在中国犯了错误#) began trending on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform. Major media like the nationalistic Guancha.cn website picked up the hashtag, garnering thousands of likes and leading hundreds of Chinese netizens to pile on in the comments, many of whom saw Adidas’ difficulties in China as directly tied to its past statements about avoiding the use of cotton from Xinjiang.
Nike and Adidas were both the targets of a boycott campaign in China in April 2021, led by state media, after they announced they would avoid using cotton sourced in Xinjiang due to allegations of forced labor in the region. This caused a surge in demand for sportswear produced by domestic companies amid a burst of nationalism from Chinese consumers.
While the boycott and social media criticism of Western brands eventually faded, they are clearly still suffering from residual negative sentiment in China. This will flare up during bouts of intense nationalism, such as U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan. Western brands’ popularity is likely to wane amid the “national tide” or “national fashion” — (国潮 guócháo), which emphasizes Chinese culture and support for domestic businesses. Over the longer term, guochao may only become more prominent given its popularity among China’s youth.
Quality and price
There are certain steps Western sportswear companies can take to try and bring their China sales back up to where they once were, according to Allison Malmsten, Marketing Director at Daxue Consulting, a Shanghai-based market research and consulting firm. “First, they have to show that they are willing to localize more, perhaps by working with local brands, athletes, and designers,” she told SupChina. “They should also be leveraging digital strategies and engaging with the community more.”
“Second, they cannot allow their quality to decline,” Malmsten added, explaining that some Chinese netizens have complained that the quality of Adidas’ products has slipped since they moved production from China to Vietnam over the last decade.
Other factors besides nationalism and a failure to localize are likely at play in Nike and Adidas’ struggles in China. The country’s economy is suffering due to a variety of factors, from a collapsing housing bubble to record youth unemployment and a rural banking crisis. As financial woes mount, Chinese consumers may simply be opting to buy fewer expensive Western brands when local competitors offer similar products at cheaper prices. Although the Chinese brands have plenty of high-end products, they also sell a greater range of low-cost items.
Amid an economic downturn and a rise in nationalism that may be generational, the easy money may be over for Nike and Adidas in China.
Chinese Tomato Egg-Drop soup
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Bowls of tomato egg drop soup are commonly seen on tables in Chinese households, especially in the summertime when tomatoes are plentiful.
Tomatoes and eggs just go together, and many food cultures know it. Just think of Shakshuka in the Middle East, “Eggs in Purgatory” in Southern Italy, and another Chinese classic, stir-fried tomato and eggs.
If the thought of making soup in the middle of summer has you scratching your head, read on!
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Tomato Egg Drop Soup: A Summer Staple
Having soup in the summer is unthinkable to many. But if you let me take you back to the many hot summers I spent in Shanghai, you’ll find out why people in those days did exactly that.
Summers in Shanghai can be hot and humid. Before the age of A/C, the only relief from the heat might be an occasional splurge on a red bean ice pop, a palm fan, cold mung bean soup (there is that “soup” word again), a cup of cool water, or some melon.
In the narrow alleys of densely populated, low residential buildings, there was not a leaf or patch of grass to be found. We had to pour water on the building walls to cool them down towards the end of the day, because by then, it was a lot cooler outside than inside.
Most families ate outside, and some kids even slept outside on makeshift beds. We all had a soup on the dining table, rotating from tomato egg drop soup (most popular) to tomato potato soup, and potato with xian cai (Chinese preserved mustard greens). Soups were usually made in late morning and allowed to cool for lunch and dinner.
These soups replenished our bodies with water and salt (along with vitamins and protein), and since the heat meant lower appetites, it was easier to eat.
Serve Hot or At Room Temperature
When we ate this soup in the old days, it was served at room temperature, rather than piping hot.
That said, serve this soup at whatever your preferred temperature is. Now that I can sit in comfortable air conditioning, I’ll serve it warm or hot.
It doesn’t get much simpler than this recipe, but the flavors are really delicious. The eggs in chicken stock create a rich flavor that contrasts with the tart tomatoes. Scallions and cilantro can be added for brightness, and you have a soup that’s the perfect accompaniment to any meal.
Tomato Egg Drop Soup Recipe Instructions
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Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a soup pot or wok over medium low heat. Add the tomato chunks and stir-fry for 5 minutes until the tomatoes are softened and start to fall apart.
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Add in 1 cup chicken stock, 2 cups water, 2 teaspoons light soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper and salt to taste.
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Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat so that the soup is simmering with the lid on.
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Now quickly beat the egg in a small bowl and prepare the cornstarch slurry in a separate bowl.
Use a ladle to slowly swirl the soup in a whirlpool motion. Keep swirling as you pour in the cornstarch slurry until well incorporated.
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Now pour a thin stream of egg into the middle of the whirlpool as you slowly swirl the soup. This is how you get that pretty egg drop effect.
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Serve hot or at room temperature. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro, if using.
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Cheers as Liz Truss says she’s ready to press nuclear button and unleash ‘global annihilation’
Liz Truss has said she would be “ready” to use the UK’s nuclear arsenal if she was to become prime minister.
The Tory leadership frontrunner said she would be willing to press the nuclear button, even if it meant “global annihilation”.
Speaking at a hustings event in Birmingham, Truss spoke with Times Radio host John Pienaar, who said it would make him feel “physically sick” if he was faced with the decision.
Truss said the duty was an “important duty of the prime minister”, and received a round of applause after saying she would have no problem ordering the use of the UK’s nuclear arsenal if necessary.
Pienaar told her: “One of the first things that will happen when and if you become prime minister, you’ll be ushered into a room, a very private room at Number 10, and there will be laid out in front of you what are called the letters of last resort.”
Visiting India was my entire “bucket list.”
By the time I reached 60 years old, I abandoned any dream of seeing India.
In 2014, we were among 15,000 people stuck at the Dallas airport overnight, due to cancellations, trying to get home to Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. We were in line to speak with a customer service person when I noticed a young Indian woman behind me, looking quite concerned and anxious. I struck up a conversation with her and learned that she was an astronomer visiting the U.S. for the first time and scheduled to give a talk at the VLA (“Very Large Array”) the following afternoon.
We took her under our wing. That evening, we gave her the only cot we could find so that she could sleep comfortably. Though American Airlines said she couldn’t fly out until the next evening, my wife complained repeatedly and got her a flight the next morning. When my wife managed to get a second seat on that flight, she insisted that I accompany the young woman to be sure she got to NM safely (My wife got a flight an hour later).
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After dropping her off with the people who were waiting for her, I gave her a big hug and told this awesome young woman, whom we had come to know pretty well by now, “My family just grew by one.” The three of us became Facebook friends. The former head of the VLA arranged a ‘professional tour’ of the VLA and took us to dinner to thank us. The young Indian woman visited our home before leaving New Mexico. She began referring to us as her “American parents.”
By the end of 2014, she announced her marriage engagement and requested that her “American parents” attend her March 2015 wedding in Kolkata, India. Not as guests, but as part of her wedding party! We flew to India. Her family put us up in a “service apartment” and delivered homemade food daily.
After a week in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) for this memorable wedding, we flew to Jaipur for a week and then nearly a week in Delhi. I finally got to visit India… all because I helped a stranded young lady at an airport.
Two Indian Quora friends wanted to hear all about our trip to India so, two days after we returned, I wrote a modest travelogue with photos.
By the end of 2015, more than 100,000 Indians read what I wrote! (Today, that number has grown to nearly 700,000!) Since then, my “international family” has grown. I have made many close online friends in India …mostly young people through Quora and Facebook. They are Hindu, Muslim, Sindhi, Sikh, and Jain. In most cases, our early interactions involved discussing differences in cultures and religion. Eventually, some of them began sharing their lives and situations and asking for my advice. I did my very best to help. They began calling me “Baapu”, “Baba”, “Touji”, “Papa Rick”, “Dad” and “Angel Paa” (Her dad is “Paa”… I’m “Angel Paa”) <3.
In 2017, we returned to India for 33 days. More than a dozen of my “unofficially-adopted” Indian sons and daughters insisted that we stay in their homes. We wound up staying with five of them in Jaipur, Kota, Ujjain, Indore, and Amravati. They are the sons and daughters of my heart. I tell my American friends that we were not in India as tourists this time… we were there to meet family.
When I retired and wrote, “MiXED NUTS or What I’ve Learned Practicing Psychotherapy” I was pretty much convinced that it would be my fourth and last book. Then this whole connection with India and young Indians happened. The story took too long to tell verbally or in a blog so, in 2018, I wrote a book describing this entire experience, including what it was like to meet and spend a week with each of five Indian families. Released internationally in February 2018, it’s called, “American Baapu: India Through My Eyes”. I even found an Indian publisher so that Indians could buy copies they could afford. This was important because that book is my “love letter” to the people of India.
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When I was writing, “American Baapu”, I was faced with the problem of who would write the Foreword of my book. The Foreword is where an expert tells the readers something positive about the author including why they should read the book. Where would I find an “expert” on such an experience? One of my Indian “daughters” suggested that she and the others could each write why they call me “Baapu”, “Angel Paa”, “Dad”, etc. After much thought, I agreed and that became the Foreword of my book. Eight young people in India wrote personal reflections that still make me teary.
UPDATE: We returned to India in early 2019! This time, our seven-week itinerary included Bangalore, Pune, Indore, Ujjain, Jaipur, Aurangabad, and Delhi. Same arrangement. In most cases, staying with people who have become our family and who have made us a part of their family. <3
Aurangabad was a surprise. I had no idea it had such a large Muslim population. Our “international family” grew. The Muslims of India are just Indians who attend a different church. We found the same warmth and inclusiveness we got from our Hindu families. I even returned home with five topis! (Muslim caps).
That little travelogue I wrote online in 2015 has now been read by more than 700,000 Indians! I drum for two kirtan bands in Santa Fe. I put contemporary, danceable, western-style rhythms to traditional kirtan music wearing an Indian kurta or a Modi jacket, most of which were gifts from my Indian sons and daughters.
We helped a young woman stranded in an airport… something anyone might have done. As a result, I fulfilled my lifelong dream of visiting India and my family continues to grow with each passing month.
For a sample chapter of ”American Baapu” join my Quora blog/space at: India Through My Eyes
You just can’t make this stuff up. It’s so surreal.
Here we will review what’s going on with the “Taiwan Issue”, and cover some other article in geopolitics, society and culture. For after all, this is a historical time. Historians will look back at this moment in time as “the great change”, it represents the start of the “big after”…
U.S. Congressional delegation arrives in Taiwan for two-day visit
Taipei, Aug. 14 (CNA) A U.S. Congressional delegation led by Democratic Senator Ed Markey arrived in Taiwan on Sunday for a two-day visit that will involve meetings with top-level Taiwanese officials.
In a press release, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said the other members of the delegation are representatives John Garamendi (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Don Beyer (D-VA) and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-AS).
Their two-day visit is part of a larger visit to the Asia-Pacific region, the AIT said, and will include meetings with senior Taiwan leaders to “discuss U.S.-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains, climate change, and other significant issues of mutual interest.”
In a statement, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) welcomed the bipartisan and bicameral delegation, which it said demonstrated the United States’ firm support amid China’s recent escalation of regional tensions.
During the delegation’s visit, the U.S. lawmakers will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), attend a banquet with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and visit the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee to discuss Taiwan-U.S. security and economic relations, MOFA said.
Meanwhile, Presidential Office Spokesperson Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said that the visit “once again demonstrated the U.S. Congress’ resolute support for Taiwan,” as well as its commitment to working with democratic partners to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region.
The delegation’s trip comes less than two weeks after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded a 19-hour visit to the island on Aug. 3, the first visit by a sitting U.S. House speaker since 1997.
In an apparent response to that trip, Beijing launched an unprecedented set of live-fire military drills in six maritime zones encircling Taiwan from Aug. 4. to Aug. 7
Food doesn’t just magically show up at the grocery store. If farmers and ranchers do not produce it, we do not eat. I know that I have been writing about the rapidly growing global food crisis a lot lately, but that is because this really is a big deal. All over the globe, agricultural production is going to be below expectations in 2022. As a result, those of us that live in wealthy countries will pay much more for food in 2023, while many of those that live in poor countries will either deeply suffer or die. In fact, children are already dropping dead from starvation in large numbers in some parts of Africa, but most Americans haven’t heard about this because they aren’t showing it on the news.
Of course this isn’t just a crisis for poor countries on the other side of the planet.
Here in the United States, the food that is not being grown in 2022 will cause immense economic pain in 2023.
There are 17 western states that collectively produce almost half of our food, and right now those 17 states are being absolutely devastated by the worst multi-year megadrought in 1,200 years…
The 17 states including and north of Texas, up along the Central Plains to North Dakota and west to California are vital to the U.S. agricultural sector, supporting nearly half of the nation’s $364 billion production by value. This includes 74% of beef cattle, responsible (in total) for 18% of U.S. agricultural production by value; 50% of dairy production, responsible (in total) for 11% of U.S. agricultural production by value, over 80% of wheat production by value and over 70% of vegetable, fruit and tree nut production by value. Drought conditions, which have persisted well into 2022, put production of these commodities at risk, along with the stability of farms, ranches and local economies reliant on crops, livestock and downstream products and services for income.
The American Farm Bureau Federation wanted to know how farmers in that half of the nation are faring during this drought, and so they conducted a survey.
And what they discovered is extremely alarming. Here is one example…
This year’s drought conditions are taking a harder toll than last year’s, as 37% of farmers said they are plowing through and killing existing crops that won’t reach maturity because of dry conditions.
Do you understand what that is saying?
37 percent of all farmers in the western half of the country are killing their own crops because those crops won’t even reach maturity because of the endless drought.
I was absolutely floored when I first saw that figure.
And that same survey also found that staggering numbers of ranchers in some western states have been selling off their cattle…
Farmers in Texas are being forced to sell off their cattle herds earlier than normal due to extreme drought — as water sources dry out and grass burns up. Farmers in the Lone Star state reported the largest reduction in herd size, down 50%, followed by New Mexico and Oregon at 43% and 41% respectively.
The cattle that are being slaughtered now are helping to stabilize short-term beef prices.
But in the long run we will see a much smaller cattle population and far higher beef prices.
Thanks to the unending economic symptoms of the pandemic and 2022’s inflation double-punch, average beef prices are currently about twice what they were in 2019. Add in the deepening widespread drought, a shortage of hay and feed, skyrocketing prices, transport costs, and various other metrics, some Southwest Oklahoma beef producers suggest cheap ground beef could eventually top $50 per pound.
Could you imagine paying 50 dollars for a pound of ground beef?
Even now, we are being told that U.S. consumers are increasingly switching to chicken…
Inflation-weary shoppers are pulling back on buying pricey steaks and switching to cheaper chicken at the grocery store.Tyson (TSN), the meat processing giant, said Monday that “demand for chicken is extremely strong,” while demand for its higher-priced cuts of beef has softened.
Of course it isn’t just the United States that is moving into unprecedented territory.
We just learned that there will be crop losses in France of up to 35 percent…
France’s fruit and vegetable crops have fallen by nearly 35% due to the extreme drought this summer, Jacques Rouchausse, president of the French national association of vegetable producers, Legumes de France, said on Tuesday.“We have losses on the yields. For the moment, we estimate that these losses are between 25% and 35 percent. We have to stress that if we want food sovereignty, if we want food security, we really have to find ways to continue producing on our territory,” Rouchausse said on air of Radio Franceinfo.
Yesterday, I discussed the fact that there will be crop losses in the UK of up to 50 percent in some cases.
And in Italy, it is being reported that there will be crop losses of up to 80 percent in certain areas.
As global food supplies get tighter and tighter, the wealthy countries will have enough money to import the food that they need.
But what will the poorer countries do?
At this point, tens of millions of Africans are already dealing with severe food shortages…
Drought is gripping the Horn of Africa, leaving some 26 million people facing food shortages in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia over the next six months. More than 7 million livestock animals have already been wiped out. Across East Africa as a whole, some 50 million people are facing acute food insecurity.
This is a crisis that isn’t going away.
Not too long ago, UN Secretary General António Guterres openly admitted that it is likely that there will be “multiple famines” in 2023…
In a video message to the meeting, UN chief António Guterres commended the partners for joining forces at what he called “this critical moment”, noting that the number of people who are severely food insecure has doubled in the last two years.“We face a real risk of multiple famines this year. And next year could be even worse. But we can avoid this catastrophe if we act now,” said Mr. Guterres.
Of course this is exactly what I have been saying for years.
Global famine is coming. There is no way to avoid it, and it is going to turn the entire global economy upside down.
When you know that a global famine is coming, the prudent thing to do is to get prepared. So I hope that all of you are taking action while there is still time to do so.
Cheeseburger Mac Soup
All your favorite cheeseburger flavors in this creamy soup topped with chopped dill pickles.
1 can (15 oz) Muir Glen™ organic diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups milk
2 cups water
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
2 cups shredded American cheese (8 oz)
1/2 cup chopped dill pickles
Steps
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In 4-quart Dutch oven or saucepan, cook beef, onion, garlic and pepper over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink; drain.
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Stir in sauce mix (from Hamburger Helper™ box), tomatoes, milk, water, ketchup and mustard. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.
Stir in uncooked pasta (from Hamburger Helper™ box) and cheese. Cover; cook 15 minutes longer, stirring occasionally or until thoroughly heated. Top with pickles.
Taiwan will be reunified with China just like HK and Macao have been.
Taiwan will keep it’s own governance system.
Taiwan is not permitted to possess political parties that promote separatist movements. They must be disbanded, and then banned.
Taiwan will have complete access to the great resources of the mainland China.
Taiwanese citizens get automatic citizenship and all residency documents will automatically be converted to regional “household registers”.
Taiwan will have significant representation in the Chinese government.
China will not hurt, harm, or attack any Taiwanese citizen, as they are Chinese citizens, UNLESS they are working in behalf of a foreign government.
There can be ZERO foreign interference.
If there is foreign interference, China will go to war against that foreign nation and all forces, and “tricks” at it’s disposal will be used. There will be no restraint.
Any foreign interference suggesting, funding, supplying or actuating interference in the reunification process is a war-generating “red line”.
The foreign government will be viewed as the enemy of the reunification process. Not the Taiwanese people.
And much, much more. Of course, it’s not being reported in the Western “news”, but China has made the situation very EXPLICITLY clear.
Here are two examples, and there are many more alikes if you need.
In Linyi City, east China’s Shandong Province, policeman Zeng Chang was on duty at a local primary school at 8 a.m before class today (Sept. 28). He noticed a schoolgirl standing next to the entrance for a while, seeming helpless. So he went over to see what was bothering the little girl, and found out that she got up late and her mom didn’t have enough time to tie her hair up.
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And the girl asked Zeng, “ Uncle Policeman, would you please help tie my hair up?”
Then that’s what we can see in the video: Zeng did it, skillfully, for her. And she then went into the school.
I can only find the video for the story in Chinese for you. “警察叔叔，你能帮我扎一下头发吗？”
Also in the link, there is another similar story, but happened a bit earlier in another province.
In Haining City, east China’s Zhejiang Province on September 19, policeman Shen Ren told fairy tales to a 4-year-old girl, who was unexpectedly locked out of her home.
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Shen and his colleagues then contacted the parents and kept her company as she waited. To relieve her stress, Shen read her four storybooks until her parents returned.
And actually, when my son was little and we often told him whenever he met any problems outside without us, the first one to seek for help should be the police.
So, if all parents are willing to trust their kids to the police, do you think we’ll be afraid of them? I think, only those with hidden reasons would be.
Will Catastrophic Crop Losses In 2022 Lead To Unprecedented Shortages In 2023?
Crops are failing all over the globe this summer, but most people don’t even know that this is happening because the big television news channels aren’t talking much about it. Instead, they remain intensely focused on politics day after day. Without a doubt, the political realm is important, but there should also be plenty of time to discuss a raging global crisis which is going to deeply affect all of us. The food that is not being grown this year is not going to be on our plates next year, but the vast majority of the population doesn’t understand this. They see plenty of food in the stores now and they just assume that everything is going to be okay.
Unfortunately, everything is not going to be okay. Over in the UK, a major British news source is warning of “widespread crop failures across England”…
Experts have warned of widespread crop failures across England, as charities and farmers criticised water companies for dithering over hosepipe bans despite drought being declared across much of the country.
So what sort of losses are we talking about?
Well, it is now being projected that losses could reach up to 50 percent for a wide variety of crops…
Half of the potato crop is expected to fail as it cannot be irrigated, and even crops that are usually drought-tolerant, such as maize, have been failing.The group was told “irrigation options are diminishing with reservoirs being emptied fast”, and losses of 10-50% are expected for crops including carrots, onions, sugar beet, apples and hops. Milk production is also down nationally because of a lack of food for cows, and wildfires are putting large areas of farmland at risk.
The British are assuming that they will just get enough food to feed their population from someone else.
But that is what everyone else is assuming too.
As global food supplies get tighter and tighter, the wealthy countries will buy up food at elevated prices, and many poor countries will be left out and will suffer tremendously.
In Italy, farmers in some parts of the country have lost up to 80% of their harvest this year due to severe weather anomalies, the Coldretti farming association said Thursday.
So where will Italy get enough food to feed their population?
Just like the British, the plan to get it from someone else.
But who is the someone else going to be?
Here in the United States, agricultural production is going to be way below expectations because of the endless drought that is plaguing about half the country.
Just yesterday, I wrote an article about how tomato production is being absolutely devastated in the state of California.
It is being reported that tomato paste prices have already increased by up to 80 percent, and we are being warned that if rain doesn’t come soon there simply will not be enough tomatoes to meet demand.
That means that there won’t be enough spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce to go around.
For a lot of my readers, that statement is really going to hit home.
Over in Texas, the cotton crop is going to be bitterly disappointing this year…
US cotton prices continued to surge above the boom days of 2010-11 after a massive crop estimate cut by the USDA, shocking Wall Street analysts and traders, due primarily to a megadrought scorching farmland of Texas, according to Bloomberg.Futures in New York for December delivery were up 4.5% to $1.1359 a pound and up more than 21% this month.
Normally, there would be vast fields of cotton being grown all over the state at this time of the summer.
Last Friday, the USDA’s bigger-than-expected cut to domestic cotton crop stunned many on Wall Street. Crop output plunged to 12.57 million bales, the lowest in a decade. The cut also pushed down the US from the world’s third-largest producer to the world’s fourth.Barbera said the western Texas region (around Lubbock and Lamesa), the epicenter of America’s cotton-growing belt, has “literally nothing” in fields that are just desert sand. He said fields that had drip irrigation were harvestable, but ones that weren’t weren’t salvageable.
So are we going to experience a shortage of cotton in 2023?
If so, that would be really bad news. Cotton is used in thousands of different products.
Without enough water, we cannot grow the things that we need.
I don’t know why this is so hard for people to grasp.
And the truth is that our entire way of life depends on sufficient supplies of fresh water. Right now, there are seven western states that are facing the prospect of emergency water restrictions in the months ahead because the Colorado River is rapidly drying up…
Two months ago, federal officials took the unprecedented step of telling the seven states that depend on Colorado River water to prepare for emergency cuts next year to prevent reservoirs from dropping to dangerously low levels.The states and managers of affected water agencies were told to come up with plans to reduce water use drastically, by 2 million to 4 million acre-feet, by mid-August. After weeks of negotiations, which some participants say have at times grown tense and acrimonious, the parties have yet to reach an agreement.
Nobody wants to give up their water.
In the end, all of those states are going to have to make severe sacrifices. At a minimum, the amount of water being taken from the Colorado River needs to be reduced by 2 million acre-feet, and that is an amount of water that is four times greater than the entire city of Los Angeles uses in an entire year…
The latest round of closed-door talks occurred Thursday in Denver. Participants said they wouldn’t publicly discuss the offers of water reductions made, but they acknowledged those offers have amounted to far less than 2 million acre-feet. For comparison, the total annual water use of Los Angeles is nearly 500,000 acre-feet.
Needless to say, this is going to affect agriculture in a major way.
Farmers and ranchers use a tremendous amount of water, and they are about to be hit with restrictions that will be extraordinarily painful.
Everything that I have discussed in this article is happening in the context of a horrifying global food crisis that is getting worse with each passing month.
On Sunday, carnivore diet guru Dr. Shawn Baker tweeted a photo of a bag of cheddar cheese puffs, only instead of being made of corn meal these snack foods were chock-full of insect protein.The snack item from Canadian brand Actually Foods states the puffs are “powered by crickets” to the tune of 10 grams of protein per serving.The ingredients label on the back of the bag indicates “organic cricket flour” was used in the puffs’ production, and an allergy warning on the back of the bag also cautions, “People who are allergic to shellfish may also be allergic to crickets.”
Unfortunately, the truth is that they can’t make enough “cricket puffs” to rescue us from the “perfect storm” that has hit global food production.
There simply is not going to be enough food for everyone in 2023, and it will be the poorest countries that will suffer the most.
Lenochka
Lenochka
She was so little and exhausted, that she forgot her last name. She lost a whole family; mother, grandmother, elder brother…
A special group of skinny girls found her – they were going from apartment to apartment during a terrible blockade winter looking for children whose parents had died or were dying…
This is how they discovered Lenochka and could evacuate her. She didn’t remember being carried across the ice with other children in a shaking truck, she didn’t remember getting to the orphanage; she was little. Like a skinny midget with a big head on a thin neck…
And she refused to eat anymore. This is what happens with dystrophy. She was laying in bed or sitting in a chair by the stove. She was getting hot. And she kept her mouth shut. They thought Lenochka would die. Many children died already during the evacuation; severe exhaustion and no strength to live and eat. And to play. And to breathe…
One-legged topper, war veteran uncle Kolja, about twenty years old, unpacked a doll from an old towel. Somehow he cut it, folded it, sewn it and it became an ugly doll. He drew the doll’s eyes and mouth with an indelible pencil. And a crooked nose.
He gave a doll to Lenochka and seriously said:
"You, Lenochka, cradle the doll. And teach her to eat well! You are now a mommy doll. Take good care of her. "
And this Lenochka suddenly grabbed a doll and pressed it together. She began to pet her with thin hands. At dinner, she fed the doll porridge and whispered something loving to her. And in the end, she ate porridge and a piece of bread herself…
And so Lenochka slept with the doll and warmed her by the stove, hugged her, and got upset because of her. Because of an ugly doll made of an old towel with painted eyes …
The girl has survived.
Because she couldn’t die; she had to take care of the doll, you know?
HAVING SOMEONE TO TAKE CARE OF IS A HUGE LIFE FOR SOME PEOPLE.
For people like this girl was. Who later became a nurse and lived a long life. And her hands were always busy.
And she had a heart full of love.
Ukraine Artillery Hits Reactor Cooling System and Nuke Waste Containers
Despite over a week of warnings from Russia that Ukrainian forces were deliberately targeting the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and could cause a disaster, Ukraine continued firing. Today, artillery shells hit the cooling system for a reactor, and hit containers with nuclear waste.
This report is published at 5:08 PM eastern US time. The attack took place about 3 hours ago.
It is not yet known (to me) if there is any reactor trouble or radiation leak from either the reactor cooling system or the nuclear waste storage containers.
One-Pot Philly Cheese Steak Mac and Cheese
The classic Philly cheese steak flavor really hit the mark in this hearty dinner. It’s a one-pot wonder that you only have to travel to your pantry to make!
One-Pot Philly Cheese Steak Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Progresso™ plain panko crispy bread crumbs
1 lb extra-lean (at least 90%) ground beef
2 cups thinly sliced onions
2 medium green bell peppers, cut in thin bite-size strips
4 teaspoons Montreal steak grill seasoning
4 cups water
1 lb uncooked elbow macaroni
1 package (16 oz) Kraft™ Velveeta™ cheese, cut into cubes
1 cup shredded provolone and mozzarella cheese blend (4 oz)
Steps
1
In 5-quart Dutch oven, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium heat. Add bread crumbs; cook and stir 2 to 5 minutes or until toasted. Transfer to small bowl, and wipe out pan.
2
In same Dutch oven, melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. Add beef, onions, bell peppers and grill seasoning; cook 6 to 8 minutes or until beef is cooked through and onions are tender. Pour mixture into large bowl; cover with foil to keep warm.
3
Stir water and macaroni into Dutch oven; heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 4 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until macaroni is cooked through. Do not drain.
4
Stir beef mixture into macaroni mixture; cook and stir 1 minute to heat through. Remove from heat; stir in cheese cubes until melted. Top with shredded cheese blend. Cover and let stand 3 to 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Top with toasted bread crumbs.
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A “Housing Recession” Is Here, And It Isn’t Going To Be Fun…
Our concerns about the housing market have been confirmed. This week, the corporate news is full of headlines about the new “housing recession” that has officially arrived, but this shouldn’t surprise any of us. We were warned over and over again that if the Federal Reserve aggressively hiked interest rates that it would absolutely crush the housing market. In so many ways, what we are currently witnessing seems so similar to 2008. After a period of very rapid growth, home prices all over the nation are starting to fall. Meanwhile, much higher mortgage rates are pushing millions of potential homebuyers out of the market and home builders are starting to panic. If nothing is done, it won’t be too long before large numbers of Americans are once again underwater on their mortgages and this crisis starts to reverberate on Wall Street.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which measures the pulse of the single-family housing market, fell for the eighth consecutive month to 49, marking the worst stretch for the housing market since the 2008 financial crisis.
8 months in a row.
Needless to say, that is clearly a trend.
And if you want to thank someone for this, you can thank officials at the Federal Reserve, because they have pushed us into yet another “housing recession”…
“Tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve and persistently elevated construction costs have brought on a housing recession,” NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz said.
The only way out of this mess is lower interest rates.
But Fed officials aren’t going to reduce rates.
Instead, they are going to keep hiking them, and that means much more doom and gloom for the housing market in the months ahead.
Looking more deeply at the numbers that were just released, I am particularly alarmed by what has happened to buyer traffic…
Of the index’s three components, current sales conditions dropped 7 points to 57, sales expectations in the next six months fell 2 points to 47 and buyer traffic fell 5 points to 32.Despite higher costs for land, labor and materials, about 1 in 5 builders in August reported lowering prices in the past month in an effort to increase sales or limit cancellations. The average drop reported was 5%.
A very low level of buyer traffic indicates that sales will be depressingly low during the weeks and months to come.
So if you are trying to sell a house right now, that is really bad news.
And for homebuilders the outlook is downright apocalyptic.
Those that build homes have to make plans far in advance. If they guess right, they can be rewarded handsomely. But if they guess wrong, the pain can be immense.
Unfortunately, homebuilders are being hit by a double whammy right now. Input costs have been going higher and higher, and meanwhile home prices overall are about to steadily fall all over the nation thanks to much higher mortgage rates.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage climbed to 5.22% for the week ending Aug. 11, according to recent data from mortgage lender Freddie Mac. That is significantly higher than just one year ago when rates stood at 2.86%.
We really need mortgage rates to start coming back down.
But thanks to the Fed they are just going to keep going up.
Buying a home in the United States has never been more unaffordable than it is right now, and it is only going to get worse as we head toward 2023.
Many Americans that would like to buy a home are currently choosing to rent instead, but rent prices are also becoming less affordable.
As I discussed yesterday, the median monthly rent in the United States has now risen above $2,000 a month for the very first time.
I was stunned when I first read that.
I can still remember renting a nice apartment for $300 a month many years ago.
There is no way that rents should be as high as they are now.
The greed that we are seeing in the industry has gotten completely out of hand. According to one recent survey, almost 60 percent of all renters have had their rent payments increased over the past year…
If you are feeling the pinch of higher rents, you’re not alone.Nearly 60% of renters saw a rent increase during the past year, while just 38% said they saw their income increase, according to a study from Freddie Mac. And renters were less likely than all employed respondents to have gotten a raise. As a result, nearly 1 in 5 who experienced a rent increase said they are now “extremely likely” to miss a payment.
This is going to end quite badly.
As the U.S. economy slows down, millions of people will ultimately lose their jobs.
And a lot of those people that are no longer working will eventually lose their homes.
Do you remember the tremendous suffering that we witnessed during 2008 and 2009? Well, as I have been persistently warning, we are going to see it happen again.
Whenever the housing market crashes, there are countless people that have their lives turned upside down as a result.
So much of the pain that is coming could have been avoided if our leaders had made much different decisions.
But that didn’t happen, and so now a “housing recession” is here.
And it isn’t going to be fun at all.
What do poor people in China eat?
From Quora. Worthy of a post. -MM
A few days ago, I was surfing the Internet and there is a video that caught my eyes. It is a video that uploaded in bilibilli and named Take a look at a restaurant for poor people living in Shenzhen.
And then I found that people filmed this type of video a lot on this website. I checked out a few videos. These videos are all in Chinese. So, here, I’ll show you guys what do poor people in China eat in my words with some screenshots from those videos.
This video producer chooses the cheapest restaurant on a Dianping app (similar to YELP). That is a Henan province noodle restaurant.
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Apart from this, another vlogger also explored a very cheap cafeteria in Shenzhen, merely priced 15 RMB per person. The following pictures are some dishes in this buffet. To be honest, it is not too much to ask for three times as much(said by the producer).
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Isn’t it unbelievable?! It’s only 15 yuan for this much food.
However, that is not cheap enough. Have you ever had noodles for 3 yuan a bowl? In Shenzhen, there is a place that people do daily-wage jobs and the restaurants here sell noodles for only 3 yuan.
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The definition of poor people in this answer may differ from the typical concept. These people have jobs in a metropolis city but depending on selling off their physical power for a low pay, maybe 100 yuan a day.
Fortunately, they can enjoy the food at a vey low cost in China.
And FYI, if you are interested in what do Chinese people eat for breakfast, you can watch this video.
Here is the link:
People Are Going To Go Absolutely Insane When Food Prices Double Or Triple From Current Levels
If you think that people are getting pretty crazy now, just wait until the cost of food skyrockets to levels that hardly anyone ever anticipated. Most people don’t realize this, but to a very large degree we are still eating the food that was grown in 2021. Unfortunately for all of us, far less food is being grown in 2022 than originally projected, and that is going to cause immense global stress in 2023. Nightmarish droughts are absolutely devastating crops in the United States and Europe, the major war that is happening on the other side of the globe is greatly restricting the flow of agricultural goods from Ukraine, and the fact that some fertilizers have now more than quadrupled in price is deeply affecting farmers all over the planet. In 2023, there is going to be a lot less food to go around, and we are all going to pay a lot more for it. Needless to say, this is not good news.
Of course the cost of living has already gotten completely out of control. According to Zero Hedge, the median rent in the United States has now surpassed $2,000 a month for the very first time…
The cost of rent in the U.S. is moving higher at the highest pace in three decades, the report notes, blowing past a median of $2,000 per month for the first time ever. Rents are now above where they were prior to the pandemic in most major cities.Areas just outside cities, which saw a large influx of new renters during the pandemic, have seen their rents rise disproportionately higher. People returning to large cities, post-pandemic, have also not helped prices cool off.
Who can afford to pay $2,000 a month for rent?
According to the Social Security Administration, the median yearly income for U.S. workers in 2020 was just $34,612.04.
No wonder most families need to have more than one income just to survive these days.
This is what I mean when I say that our standard of living is being systematically destroyed.
Many people have to work as hard as they possibly can just to pay the bills each month.
Yes, the top 10 percent are still doing well, but the vast majority of the country is really struggling.
And that is why the soaring price of food is such a big deal right now. The latest numbers that we just got from the government tell us that the cost of “food at home” has been rising at the fastest rate since 1979…
The food-at-home index, which represents food purchased in places like grocery stores for consumption at home, jumped by an annual 13.1 percent, which is the fastest pace since March 1979.“Consumers are getting a break at the gas pump, but not at the grocery store,” Bankrate Chief Financial Analyst Greg McBride told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. “Food prices, and especially costs for food at home, continue to soar, rising at the fastest pace in more than 43 years.”
But the truth is that we haven’t seen anything yet.
What we see at the grocery store right now is largely a reflection of what happened last year.
Let me give you an example that illustrates what I am talking about.
In the last few days, the mainstream media has been buzzing about the fact that there is now a potato shortage in Idaho. But what most people don’t realize is that this shortage was caused by a tremendous heat wave that happened last summer…
Idaho has a potato shortage. If you haven’t heard about it already or noticed fewer and fewer potatoes in your grocery store’s produce section, you will soon.So, what’s the problem? The weather. Not this year’s weather, mind you. It’s the weather from over a year ago that’s to blame.“I’m not sure if you remember last June, but we had some just unbelievably hot temperatures here in Idaho. It did a number on our potato crop,” said Jamey Higham, president and CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission. “And so, our yields were significantly down last year.”
So did you catch that?
A bad harvest in 2021 is now being felt in the latter stages of 2022.
Looking ahead, what our farmers are experiencing right now will be felt very keenly in 2023.
“Last year [fertilizer] was around $270 per ton and now it’s over $1,400 per ton,” Meagan Kaiser, of Kaiser Family Farms and farmer-director of the United Soybean Board, told NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt.”“It’s scary. It turns my stomach a little bit to think about the amount of risk that our family farm is taking right now.”Farmers are finding themselves forced to pass some of those costs along to customers, resulting in higher grocery prices.
When those cost increases get passed along to us in 2023, a lot of people are going to be screaming bloody murder.
But at least we will have food to eat. On the other side of the globe, there simply will not be enough food for everyone.
For years, I have been trying to explain that global famines would inevitably be coming, but I still don’t think that it is sinking in for many people out there.
And of course famine is just one of the elements of “the perfect storm” that we are now facing. Recently, Egon von Greyerz listed some of the other major elements…
Debts at levels that can never be repaid – sovereign, corporate & private
Epic global bubbles in stocks, bonds & property – all about to collapse
Major geopolitical conflicts with no desire for peace – major wars likely
Energy imbalances and shortages, most self inflicted
Food shortages leading to major famine and civil unrest
Inflation, leading to hyperinflation & global poverty
We have got a giant mess on our hands.
And conditions are going to get worse and worse and worse in the months ahead.
As things deteriorate, a lot of people out there are going to go completely nuts.
In fact, a lot of people are already going completely nuts. Let me give you an example that just happened…
An unidentified man reportedly set his car on fire by driving into a U.S. Capitol barricade early Sunday morning. He then got out of his car and began firing a weapon indiscriminately before shooting himself, police say.U.S. Capitol police say officers immediately responded when they heard the sound of gunfire at roughly 4 a.m. There were no reported injuries aside from the driver.
The only reason you would do something like that is if you have lost all hope.
And in the months and years ahead, much of the general population will lose all hope.
Let us endeavor to be beacons of hope, because hope will be greatly needed during the times that are in front of us.
The biggest regret of a cat owner
My biggest regret as a cat owner is that I used to board my cat with one of those “cat hotels” in a big chain store.
When I first got Jonesy, I was traveling a LOT.
At the time, I thought cats are independent animals, and they can live happily without their owners around all the time.
So when I was out on business trips, I left Jonesy with “cat hotel”. Until one time, when the clerk told me that they were unable to get Jonesy out of his “cottage”, and they led me back to the so-called “hotel”.
It’s not a fucking hotel. It’s not even a motel. It’s the fucking shelter cages!
When Jonesy recognize me, he grabbed me, with all his little claws. And I was heartbroken.
Jonesy was a shelter cat when I adopted him.
And all those times I traveled, he must have thought I abandoned him and he’s back to the shelter.
I never board my cats with those fucking chain stores again.
Now when I travel, I hire a sitter. She’s super nice. She came to my place once a day, clean the litter box, replenish the food and water.
I still feel horrible for doing that to Jonesy the poor boy.
Please don’t board your cats with those big chain stores. Find a sitter, or find a reliable family-owned cat foster place.
Jonesy
Friendship
Friendship
This is maybe not your usual friendship. I was 22 years old, and that man was 65 years old. He was my real friend, the best friend I ever had and I took him for granted.
To avoid any doubt, no, there never been any sexual activity involved. (If you have doubt in your mind, please be considerate enough not to leave rude comments, we are talking about a person who has passed away)
We met online when I was looking for a job, he hired me as his marketing manager for his business. I worked for him for 2 years but unfortunately the business didn’t take off, but the friendship remained.
He took me under his wing, he taught me about life, I accepted my bipolar outbreak every now and then. He supported my dreams, helped me financially, and was always there for me. He was my safety net. I moved to his place to save money as I wasn’t able to afford rent, I’ve been his roommate for 7 years.
Last year he fell off his motorbike and needed operation, he went home to UK and after a few months, he still needed some help. While he was waiting for his recovery, he caught Covid-19. A month after, he passed away in his sleep.
I called him and video chatted with him while he was in Covid ward. Everyday I checked up on him. Due to time difference, I called 3 times a day – when I woke up, when he was alert and before I went to sleep. I could only speak with him once a day but I called the nurses just to get an update.
I told him that I didn’t want to live in a world where he’s not in it. He said he knew and he will be okay. Every single day I checked up on him as I was the only person who ever called him. Never once did he say his goodbye and I didn’t want to say goodbye to him.
I promised him that I would call, but on 6 May 2020, the hospital was busy. I called the hospital 3 times a day, every day, to check up on him. They said that they will call me the next day. 2 hours later, they did call me and informed me how sorry they were that my granddad passed away in his sleep.
This picture was taken 8 years ago, a few weeks after we met. And I don’t have any other pictures of us together. I thought we had time.
You can’t choose your family, but this is the only family that I ever chose. Who thought a 22 years old Indonesian can be a best friend with a 65 years old British man?
RIP, Grandpa.
I miss you every single day, you took a huge part of me when you died.
Nigel
Three Kittens
My wife passed away last summer (not from Covid), right after things had pretty much been locked down.
We had been married over 40 years, during which we had a dog, and then two cats. The last cat died several years ago. My wife never wanted to get another, because she was afraid the cat would outlive us.
During her last couple of months, when she knew she didn’t have much time left, I let her know that after she was gone I wanted to adopt a kitten to keep me company. Actually two, so they could keep themselves company when I was working. (Even though I am 74, I still work full-time and have no plans on retiring.) She was okay with that.
So a few days after my wife passed, a friend took me to a pet adoption center. Since we had only had black and white (“tuxedo”) cats before, I was planning on getting something different. But there were three black kittens (one with white paws) in a cage who got our eye, and they were put in a small room for us to play with. They were about ten weeks old.
I immediately knew these were the ones. I couldn’t leave one behind, so I adopted all three. Two brothers and a sister.
Here they are, just after I brought them home:
Three kittens
Here they are again, five months later. This how I wake up in the morning now.
Wake up!
They just had their one-year birthday a couple of weeks ago. I am so glad I have them to keep me company. I never realized three kitties from the same litter could grow up to have completely different personalities.
I’ve been working from home for over a year now, and will probably continue doing so for a while longer. If I do starting going back into work, I’ll know they’ll look after each other during the day, and I’ll look forward to coming home to them in the evening.
Kaymakli Underground City
The year is 1963, a Turkish man is renovating his basement when he finds a strange old stone wall, which he promptly breaks through.
What he found was a large pitch-black dank space, a cold void behind the wall. Armed with a torch, our intrepid home renovator crawled through the hole and found a series of barrel roofed rooms, that had been carved from the volcanic bedrock.
Those first mysterious rooms turned out to be just a small section of what was actually an ancient labyrinth of living spaces, communal areas and tunnel networks, comprising 13 levels the deepest being 85 metres underground. This ancient place was large enough to house 20,000 people, a massive forgotten underground city.
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Complete with multiple wells fed from an almost unlimited source of water having vast aquifers aka subterranean lakes, directly beneath the city.
Having explored the nearest rooms and tunnels, our renovator eventually reached a narrow passageway blocked by a huge circular stone, similar to a giant millstone, only this one seemed to have been intentionally rolled into place to block further progress into the subterranean city.
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Imagine setting out to renovate your basement, perhaps intending to create your own Man Cave, but instead, you discover an ancient underground city, right beneath your house.
This is just one of several ancient underground cities that have since been discovered in this region, Kaymakli Underground City being another fantastic example, Derinkuyu and Kaymakli are linked by a well-built tunnel, many miles long.
While no exact age has been established, these large underground cities are thought to have been first built at least 2,800 years ago. But potentially the first caves in the soft volcanic bedrock could have been inhabited far earlier.
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What is certain, is that for more than a thousand years various cultures lived in these underground cities, including early Indo-Europeans, then Greek-speaking people, then the Romans interacted with these underground civilisations, then early Christians sheltered here, they expanded the city and built underground churches, chapels and even schools.
Later during the age of the Byzantine Empire, these two cities were linked together by miles of tunnels and became a thriving hidden society, a safe haven for many thousands when the Muslim Arabs raided, and later when Mongol and Steppe tribes pillaged these regions, they likely had no idea that thriving cities with vast populations were directly beneath the hooves of their steeds.
While some of these strange ancient cities built beneath the earth continued to be used until the 14th century, they were all abandoned and forgotten in the following centuries. Yet some of these cities show evidence of being briefly used since then, by Jewish and Christian groups as sanctuaries during times of horrific persecution, as recently as two hundred years ago.
How to lose with dignity.
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This is Ray Reardon.
He’s a former professional snooker player who pretty much dominated the game in the 1970s when he won the World Championship six times.
He didn’t win all the time of course particularly in his later years when his form started to fail and younger players came along.
The point is whatever the result of the match he always had a huge smile on his face. When he lost and his opponent had potted the final ball, he’d get out of his seat immediately and go over to his opponent with a wide smile on his face to shake his hand, congratulate him warmly and put his arm around his shoulders as they left the auditorium together.
I once saw him interviewed when he was asked why he had such a big smile on his face even when he’d lost. The interviewer actually said to him…
“Don’t you mind losing?” (not a great question to ask a professional sports person!).
His response was…
“Actually I hate losing more than you would know. The point is I love this sport and I see it as part of my role to promote the game and show it in a good light whenever I can. And I can't do that with an angry, upset look on my face. Snooker is bigger and more important than I am!”
Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is how to lose with dignity.
My sweet Itty bitty.
This beautiful girl is Itty bitty.
Itty bitty found me in a dope house. She was almost 3 weeks old, eyes swelled shut with infection, so starved she had no muscle left on her at all. Someone had hurt her throat so she couldn’t even meow. She broke my heart. I thought I was bringing her home to die because she was so far gone.
She held onto my shirt the whole ride home.
I was determined to at least give her a full belly and a warm place with lots of love the time she had left.
Washington’s behavior on the world stage risks direct conflict between the nuclear states, the Russian embassy in the US has warned.
“Today, the United States continues to act with no regard to other countries’ security and interests, which contributes to an increase in nuclear risks,” the embassy said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
“The [US’] steps to further engage in a hybrid confrontation with Russia in the context of the Ukrainian crisis are fraught with unpredictable escalation and a direct military clash of nuclear powers.”
The embassy noted that Washington has recently withdrawn from two key arms control agreements, the 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which banned certain classes of land-based missiles, and the 1992 Treaty on Open Skies, which allowed for surveillance flights over each other’s territories.
The embassy urged the US to “take a closer look at its own nuclear policy instead of making unfounded accusations against the countries whose worldviews do not coincide with the American ones.”
“Our country faithfully fulfills its obligations as a nuclear-weapon state and makes every effort to reduce nuclear risks,” the diplomats said.
The statement comes after the US accused Moscow of using the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine as cover for its soldiers. The plant, the largest in Europe, was seized by Russian troops during the early stages of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, which was launched in late February. It continues to operate with Ukrainian personnel under Russian control.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Russia’s action at the facility “the height of irresponsibility.” Russia and Ukraine, meanwhile, have been accusing each other of shelling the plant. According to Moscow, artillery fire by Ukrainians forces caused several fires and partial power outages this month.
Russia initiated a UN Security Council meeting last week regarding the situation around the Zaporozhye power plant. Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia said that Moscow supports the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the facility as quickly as possible.
Finland: Everyman’s rights.
There are some in other countries, but ours are quite extensive. You can fish, pick berries/mushrooms/etc., even hunt and stay overnight no matter who owns the land. This is all free (you are being scammed if someone asks you money for this alone).You just need to be very careful not to do any harm to the nature and its animals! Pick up your thrash and do not cause any ruckus during your stay.
These rights are based on the belief that everyone should be able to enjoy nature and that it really doesn’t “belong” solely to anyone.
Finland: Everyman’s rights.
A pickled-onion picker-upperer
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It was in a Cats’ Protection League shop in Portobello, staffed by three elderly, very refined Edinburgh ladies. The conversation wen t like this:
Me: “How much do you want for the pickled-onion picker-upperer?”
They: “Oh, is *that* what it is? We were wondering.”
Me: “Yes, it’s a pickled-onion picker-upperer.”
At that point, one of these very nice, refined old ladies picked the thing up and flexed the claw thoughtfully. “Or”, she said, “you could use it for pinching men’s bottoms in pubs.”
Deluxe Pizza Goulash
Love pizza? Trade the crust for noodles in this easy family-pleasing skillet dinner with everything in it—pepperoni, ground beef, mozzarella and more.
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Ingredients
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (8 oz)
1/2 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1 package (3.5 oz) sliced pepperoni
1 jar (4.5 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained
2 cans (15 oz each) pizza sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
Steps
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Cook and drain macaroni as directed on package.
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Meanwhile, in 12-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in macaroni, pepperoni, mushrooms and pizza sauce.
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Cover and cook over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until hot. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand 2 to 3 minutes or until cheese is melted.
A Rufus Kitty-cat
There is a feral cat that lives in an abandoned home next to me. I feed him everyday which is easy to do as he’s usually alone. One day out of nowhere he pops up with a pretty white and gray cat. Unlike him, she was super friendly and loved being held and pet. I think he brought her so that I can help him save her from the streets as she was more than likely abandoned by her family. I ended up finding her a home.
Him, he won’t let me touch him, but he’s met another girlfriend and he brings her over a lot.
Rufus kitty
She’s the one eating. She hisses at me a lot, so it’s hard to pet her!
I remember when I was a little child. Would you believe that I would climb out of my crib and stand on the edge, and then stand there for a moment or two before I fell and landed on my head?
Yeah. Good times.
I was normal. Not an exception.
In this post we will continue with the onslaught of major global changes that are all in full swing RIGHT here and RIGHT now. Whoa! Things are moving hot heavy.
China to restrict visas for US officials
The tit-for-tat move comes after Washington placed similar restrictions on the Chinese, citing “human rights abuses”
China has decided to restrict visas for a number of US officials in response to similar measures introduced by Washington earlier this month over alleged human rights abuses.
"The Chinese side decided to impose retaliatory visa restrictions on certain US officials who spread lies on the issue of human rights, imposed sanctions against China and harmed China's interests," stated Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Thursday. Wang said the move was made "to protect the sovereignty, security and development interests of the PRC.
The spokesperson claims that the US used, what he called, the false pretext of human rights issues to [1] interfere in the internal affairs of China, [2] discredit Beijing, and [3] put pressure on Chinese officials. Wang stated that such actions are a serious violation of the basic principles of international law and international relations.
China’s foreign ministry has so far not confirmed which exact officials will fall under these new restrictions, but the spokesperson said that those who invented the “lies” surrounding the issue of human rights and harmed China’s national interests already know who they are themselves.
The announcement comes after The US State Department imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials who Washington claims are responsible for the intimidation and harassment of human rights activists and dissidents in China and around the world.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited the alleged “genocide” of Uighur muslims and repression of dissidents in Hong Kong and Tibet, saying the US …
“rejects efforts by [People’s Republic of China] officials to harass, intimidate, surveil and abduct members of ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who seek safety abroad, and US citizens, who speak out on behalf of these vulnerable populations."
The US urged China to…
“end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, repressive policies in Tibet, crackdown on fundamental freedoms in Kong Kong,” and other abuses elsewhere.
Do you take ownership, and responsibility for your community? Or, are you going to stand by and do nothing? The future belongs to the unselfish, the members of a community that participate. video 3MB
Singapore appears to embrace the West
Remark by a Singapore friend :
Lee Hsien Loong is that piece of shit who betrayed his father and his siblings by colluding with the enemy — racist UMNO — which gleefully kicked Singapore (the little red dot on the map) out of the Malaysian Federation and caused LKY so much tears and grief!
When LKY was Singapore’s PM, he made it clear to Washington that US troops will never be allowed to make use of Singapore as a military base or a staging post in the event of a war between America and China.
Yet, the spineless HS Loong is now running head over heels to lick Yankee Joe Biden’s boots before the world press! How low and despicable can anybody get?
Poland wants to cut-up Ukraine and sever ties with Russia
Medvedev for more than the past week has leveled consistent criticism that Washington is a “puppeteer” behind modern Poland.
Earlier in the month The Washington Examiner related Medvedev’s words as posted in an essay to social media channels as follows:
The essay, posted on Medvedev's Telegram channel, claimed that Poland and Russia have a long and "common history" that destines them to work together but that the Poles had been led astray by the U.S., "their puppeteers from across the ocean with clear signs of senile insanity."
This had been followed by Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreev just days ago saying it’s a possibility that Moscow might be forced to shutter its embassy in Warsaw in response to Polish authorities moving to expel 45 Russian diplomats who stand accused of spying, or are at least under suspicion, with the Ukraine war ongoing.
In particular Medvedev’s newest comments take aim at Poland’s reneging on crucial gas contracts…
“In 2020, Warsaw imported up to 10 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, but now it intends to abandon previous contracts. The volume of gas supplies from Russia to Poland this year has already decreased by 13% compared to last year,” Medvedev explained. “Reverse supplies of the same Russian gas have been proposed as a replacement from Germany, as well as imports of LNG from Qatar, Norway and the United States. Economic benefits have fallen victim to bad political decisions.”
They keep promising us that things will start getting better. When will that actually happen? Once winter was over, the supply chain crisis was supposed to be on the way out. Instead, as you will see below, even CNN is being forced to admit that it is getting even worse. The war in Ukraine and a new wave of COVID lockdowns in China are being blamed, but those are only two pieces of the puzzle. The truth is that we are now in the third year of this epic supply chain crisis, and there is no end in sight.
‘You go to a store, you don’t have bread. We’re like a third world country. They don’t have things. You go to buy something at Tiffany, you go to buy something at a hardware store — high, low — they don’t have product.’
Of course Trump is 100 percent correct.
Throughout our entire economy, there are shortages, delays and backlogs.
Trump himself has been personally affected by this. In fact, in the interview he appeared to refer to a wait of “nine months” for something that he had ordered…
‘They say — even me, when I order things, like for furnishings, for a building or something — they say it’s going to take nine months to get it,’ Trump said. ‘Used to be like, same day service.’
Prior to 2020, most Americans never would have imagined that this sort of supply chain crisis could be possible.
But here we are.
And according to CNN, experts are openly admitting that our supply chain problems are now “getting worse”…
Problems with global supply chains were supposed to be getting better by now. Instead, experts say they are getting worse.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which cut off exports from Ukraine and put Russian businesses under sanction, has set off a series of new supply-chain bottlenecks. So has a surge in Covid cases in China, which has led to temporary lockdowns in parts of the country.
So when will things finally start getting better?
When the war in Ukraine ends?
I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.
When the COVID pandemic is over?
If you are waiting for that to happen, you are going to be waiting for an awfully long time.
And what is going to happen if another major “black swan event” comes along?
We are so vulnerable right now, and we should have never allowed ourselves to become so deeply dependent on other nations.
For example, once upon a time the U.S. had a dominant position in global computer chip manufacturing. But now the vast majority of our chips come from overseas, and the war in Ukraine is threatening to take the chip shortage to an entirely new level…
Ukraine and Russia don’t produce computer chips used by global automakers. But Ukraine is the world’s leading source of neon, a gas needed for the lasers used in the chip-making process. While some chipmakers have stockpiled neon ahead of the fighting, there are concerns about the long-term availability of the gas.“People expected the semiconductor shortage to continue. But nobody predicted Ukraine,” said Bernard Swiecki, director of research at the Center for Automotive Research, a Michigan think tank.
The chip shortage is already affecting almost every industry in America to at least a certain degree, and now we are being told that it could get a lot worse in the months ahead.
That is really bad news.
As shortages intensify, that is going to make our raging inflation crisis even more severe as well. There is way too much money chasing way too few goods and services, and that will remain the case for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, economists with Bloomberg are warning that the average American should budget an extra $5,200 this year for higher prices – or an extra $433 every month.Economists Andrew Husby and Anna Wong write that households can expect to pay thousands more in 2022 for the same basket of goods and services they used last year.
And with each passing month, money will just get tighter and tighter for hard working American families. In fact, one survey has found that 20 percent of all U.S. workers are now completely running out of money between paychecks…
Now, workers are running out of money faster, Salary Finance found.Roughly 20% of employees regularly run out of money between paychecks, up from 15% last year, according to the survey of more than 3,000 working adults in February.
Making ends meet is going to become increasingly painful, and the shortages and the price hikes are just going to intensify in the months ahead.
Some of the things that we will soon see will be absolutely unprecedented. For example, one of Steve Quayle’s readers says that the price of eggs is about to double at her local store…
I know I sent an email out to you both in regard to the warnings I was given by several different store managers. Well I have another one. Yesterday the store manager at Price Less Foods told me that the price of eggs will be doubling and there will be a massive shortage of eggs. I am lucky to live in an area where I can purchase fresh eggs from several different people who have chickens, not everyone can.
We are being hit by so many things at once, and the American people are becoming quite restless.
Just this week, a new survey found that just 33 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the economy.
In April 2021, 52 percent of Americans approved of his handling of the economy.
So much has changed over the past year, and a lot of people out there think that things can’t possibly get any worse than they are right now.
But they will, because the truth is that we are only in the very early chapters of this nightmare.
Vicki says…
The shooting war has been won by Russia.The economic war is reaching the same ending, at a bit slower pace.Not that any of this is apparent in the US news reporting.
China in Africa
Business, factories, labor and economy are far better than selling F-35 fighter jets and bombs to African dictators. Don’t you think? video 81MB
Sanctionistas go shopping for rubles
2022-03-26
As the situation stands today:
1. Russia has announced that since the US and the EU have defaulted on their US dollar and euro obligations, respectively, by freezing Russian reserves, Russia will now only sell natural gas for rubles.
2. There is no other source of sufficient quantities of natural gas available; thus, the EU has no choice but to continue importing natural gas from Russia.
3. The EU has to keep the gas flowing or it will be unable to make it through next winter without shutting down all industrial production or letting the housing stock go unheated.
How will the EU get the required quantities of rubles? Good question!
The following comprehensive analysis (credit: “adventurist”) answers it pretty well.
So cute, but true. Show some appreciation for all sides and help others as only you know how. Let others laugh and make fun. You are unique. Be the best that you can be and always be the Rufus. video 8MB
Lots of startling changes yesterday. Russia announced, apparently, a gold-backed or gold-related ruble. I haven’t had time to think about all the implications. Information is hard to come by, because the US blocks Russian news in order to control the Ukraine narrative and war propaganda. The Bretton Woods system collapsed when the West seized Russian central bank reserves, and it seems that the gold ruble adds to the end of the US dollar as world reserve currency under Bretton Woods. The implications could be vast, and the Washington idiots might very well wish they had left the Russians alone. I told them over and over that Russia had had enough of them, but the arrogant idiots didn’t listen. The sanctions, it seems, have brought about regime change in the West, reducing its power and influence.
Another big development is that apparently Ukraine has agreed to be a neutral country, no NATO, no foreign bases, no nuclear weapons, and accepts eastern Ukraine gong its own way. We will see if US puppet Zelensky is permitted to sign what Ukraine has agreed. Meanwhile, Russia has stopped its assault on Kiev, and is focused on clearing the remaining Nazi militias out of the Donbass region. I think the low-intelligence governments in Poland and Romania will get the message, and the US missile bases in those countries will be closed before too long.
These are major developments with many large implications. The World Economic Forum’s “reset” has likely been replaced by a Russian-Chinese reset.
The US ran on arrogance for so long that it has hollowed itself out. The Western world’s fate is unclear. It seems no one in intellectual, business, or political leadership positions believes in freedom and civil liberty. The US certainly is busy at work cancelling itself:
Present generations of Americans will not recognize their country. Rivers, mountains, streets, schools, public spaces, even towns are losing their names and acquiring new politically correct names. Normally, this is what outside conquerors do to a country, but we are doing it to ourselves. A country that destroys its own monuments and history is lost.
My conclusion is that the days of the West are over. The West is drowning in accumulated mistakes and degeneracy. The moral fiber in the leadership ranks is gone
MM describes a local BBQ / Seafood place
Good place for some cheap food. You can eat your fill for under $15 USD. I go though the show and tell here. Enjoy video 110MB
Ukraine: US Biowarfare Labs Developed Disease Delivering Drones (DDD?)
It’s not just used in China, apparently.
Documents and other evidence from US funded laboratories in Ukraine suggest that Kiev was planning to use drones to deploy pathogens against the Donbass as well as Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
Moscow has also identified specific US officials involved in the development of bioweapons in Ukraine.
Of particular interest to Russian investigators are “documents testifying to the plans of the Kiev regime to use unmanned aerial vehicles capable of carrying and spraying deadly substances,” military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said during a briefing.
Facts in the possession of the Russian military “prove that the Kiev regime was seriously considering the possibility of using biological weapons against the population of the Donbass and the Russian Federation,” Konashenkov added.
Russia has also identified “specific officials who took part in the creation of components of biological weapons,” the general added. He did not name any of them, however, saying only they were “the heads of divisions and employees of the US Department of Defense, as well as its main contractors.”
Een US biolab met een vreemde verzameling, Rusisch DNA.Drones om muggen die besmet zijn los te laten.https://t.co/iEcQu7TrhG— Petr@ (@Nomediocre_P) March 1, 2022
These campaigns were “directly related to the son of the current US president, Hunter Biden,” Konashenkov added, citing investigations in the Western media. Last week, the Daily Mail published emails showing Biden’s ties to the Pentagon contractor Metabiota, which specialized in researching pandemic causing pathogens that could be used as bioweapons.
Among other things, 🧵reports Ukraine documents on drones transporting biolab substances:"Regarding biological weapons laboratories, the documents that reveal the plans of the Ukrainian regime to use drones to transport and disperse substances are particularly interesting."— Pipers Creek (@piperscreekway) March 30, 2022
Hunter Biden’s involvement in the US funding of Ukrainian biolabs was brought up by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, in a briefing last Thursday.
The results of the further analysis of documents and other evidence obtained from Ukrainian biolabs will be shared in more detail “in the near future at a special briefing,” Konashenkov promised.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu Detected In Five More US States
An outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu is quickly spreading across the U.S. The risk to humans is low, but bird flu could wreak havoc in the nation’s poultry industry ahead of Easter.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on Wednesday that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in five new states.
A non-commercial, mixed-species backyard flock (non-poultry) in Berkshire County, Massachusetts;
A non-commercial, mixed-species backyard flock (non-poultry) in Johnson County, Wyoming;
A commercial poultry flock in Johnston County, North Carolina;
A non-commercial, backyard chicken flock (non-poultry) in Franklin County, Ohio;
And a backyard chicken flock (poultry) in Kidder County, North Dakota.
According to Bloomberg, USDA data shows the bird flu has been found in 23 states in flocks totaling about 17 million birds up and down Mid-Atlantic and Northeast and across the Midwest.
Russia’s independent sociological research organization Levada Center’s poll conducted between March 24-30 showed that Russian public’s support for the actions of their president rose by more than 10% compared to the figures in January or February. It was 69% in January and 71% in February.
It happened to me also. But I did elict a ton load of sympathy from all the attractive chicks in the jewlery store when I returned the ring. Don’t you know.
Regime-ology is a new field of study so the practitioners are still working out the tools and methods for interpreting regime activity. Unlike Kremlinology, on which regime-ology is modeled, the focus is not on a hierarchical structure. The Soviet empire was run by a vertical organization that operated like a corporation. The American empire is a horizontal organization modeled on the Mafia. It is a collection of elite gangster organizations jostling for power within the elite.
With Kremlinology, events could be interpreted as either a signal from the party elite or representing internal party changes. If someone disappeared from the public eye, it meant he had fallen out of favor with the party leaders. If party media reported something hanky about a party member, it was assumed to have been done with the permission of the party leaders to prepare the public for a change. The target was being shaped as a scoundrel so he could be denounced.
Regime-ology is a bit more complicated. If someone disappears for a while, it could mean nothing more than he is having a blood transfusion at one of Google’s secret rejuvenation centers. On the other hand, disparaging information about an oligarch in regime media could simply mean that one mob family is unhappy with another mob family and this is how they are communicating it. Using the media promotes the interests of the gangster class and delivers the message.
That is probably how to interpret the sudden interest by regime media in the famous Hunter Biden laptop from two years ago. For those not interested, this was the laptop that President Biden’s drug-addled son abandoned at a Delaware computer shop, which contained a trove of embarrassing information about the family. In addition to thousands of naked selfies and pics of Hunter smoking crack and meth with prostitutes, it had details of the Biden family criminal dealings.
Regime media dutifully covered this up by declaring it Russian propaganda and going as far as to imply it was a Trump campaign dirty trick. The New York Post, which was the first to report the laptop story, came under withering assault from the Silicon Valley crime families until they dropped the story. Facebook started banning people from their site for mentioning the story. Like the people air brushed from official photos in the Soviet Union, this story was erased from public view.
This is nothing new. The power of regime media is in what they can make the public ignore and this was a typical example. They do this by framing the issue as good guys versus bad guys, which is catnip for the American moralizer. Then they declare the thing to be ignored as the black hat and let the moralizers do the rest. Anyone mentioning the laptop on-line or even in private conversation was declared a crazy QAnon conspiracy theorist by others in their circle.
For no reason at all, the laptop story is back. First the intel community told the New York Times to admit they lied two years ago about it being fake. They did not mention that it was the intel community that lied, of course. Then the Washington Post was told to write about the Biden family’s criminal dealings that were on the laptop. The Post is the official organ of the intelligence community. You will recall that the Post was instrumental in the Russian collusion hoax in 2016.
Even more interesting, the scandal ridden outlet CNN has been given the green light to unleash their nutters on the story. This is a story posted by Dean Obeidallah, a former circus clown and far-left conspiracy theorist. In addition to being a conspiracy hub, CNN is also a popular landing spot for disgraced members of the intel community. Andrew McCabe and Josh Campbell landed there after being forced out of their jobs. The FBI uses CNN to control the Antifa/BLM community.
Taken together, this new interest in the Hunter Biden laptop story suggests the intel community is unhappy with the Biden crime family. It could be a warning shot about the recent rantings by Biden in Poland. This has created huge problems for the foreign policy gangsters running the war with Russia. They have been forced to spend their time telling European leaders that Biden should be ignored. This is not a good look for the Global American Empire in the middle of a crisis.
One way to look at this is that they are preparing the way for Biden to be removed from office this year. The plan was for him to pretend to be in charge through the midterm then hand things off to strong diverse female. Team Biden has been making plans for him to run again in 2024, while he is clearly in rapid decline. The Hunter Biden story could be the leverage to force Team Biden to stick to the deal. He takes the blame for the midterms, retires for health reasons and the laptop disappears.
On the other hand, this could be the start of a plot to hang the Ukraine debacle on Biden and his crooked son. The regime media is being told to sell the Ukraine war as a smashing success, but that can only go on for another month. Reality in the ground says the Russians are slowly grinding up the Ukrainian army. In a month, there will be little of it left in the east. Whether it is by force or by negotiations, the Russians will get the terms they laid out last month.
Then there are the economic sanctions. This is proving to be a disaster for the Global American Empire. The Germans just cut a deal with the Russians to buy gas in rubles, even through both sides are pretending otherwise. The Germans will buy the gas in Euros from Gazprom, which will then convert them immediately into rubles at the agreed upon exchange rate. This is de facto acceptance by Germany that they will buy gas from Russia in rubles. The rest of Europe will now follow.
What we could be seeing here is Afghanistan 2.0. The military industrial complex, the intel community and the foreign policy establishment opposed the withdraw from Afghanistan, but team Biden insisted on it. They let Afghanistan collapse and then let Team Biden take the blame for it. Notice that no one actually responsible in the military, intelligence of foreign policy realm was fired. We could be seeing the same thing afoot with the looming Ukraine disaster.
Again, regime-ology is a new field. We do not know what we do not know, so we are left to our imaginations. Maybe Hunter Biden is so mobbed up that even the thoroughly corrupt FBI has to acknowledge it. Maybe this is a feint to distract from something much worse that is in the wind. All we can know is that Hunter Biden will never be charged and we will never know the truth about the Biden family corruption. In a gangster state like America, those things are handled internally.
Margaret Flowers: You’re listening to Clearing the FOG, speaking truth to expose the forces of greed, with Margaret Flowers. And now I turn to my guest, Michael Hudson. Michael is the president of the Institute for the Study of Long-term, Economic Trends, ISLET. He’s a Wall Street financial analyst and a distinguished research professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, in Kansas City. He’s also the author of numerous books and recently updated his book, “Super Imperialism: The economic strategy of American Empire.” Thank you for taking time to speak with me today, Michael.
Michael Hudson: Well, thanks for having me on Margaret.
MF: You’ve talked a lot and written a lot about dollar hegemony and what’s happening now with de-dollarization. Can you start out by explaining to my listeners what dollar hegemony is and how it has benefited the wealthy class in the United States?
MH: Dollar hegemony seems to be the position that has just ended as of this week very abruptly. Dollar hegemony was when America’s war in Vietnam and the military spending of the 1960s and 70s drove the United States off gold. The entire US balance of payments deficit was military spending, and it began to run down the gold supply. So, in 1971, President Nixon took the dollar off gold. Well, everybody thought America has been controlling the world economy since World War I by having most of the gold and by being the creditor to the world. And they thought what is going to happen now that the United States is running a deficit, instead of being a creditor.
Well, what happened was that, as I’ve described in Super Imperialism, when the United States went off gold, foreign central banks didn’t have anything to buy with their dollars that were flowing into their countries – again, mainly from the US military deficit but also from the investment takeovers. And they found that these dollars came in, the only thing they could do would be to recycle them to the United States. And what do central banks hold? They don’t buy property, usually, back then they didn’t. They buy Treasury bonds. And so, the United States would be spending dollars abroad and foreign central banks didn’t really have anything to do but send it right back to buy treasury bonds to finance not only the balance of payments deficit, but also the budget deficit that was largely military in character. So, dollar hegemony was the system where foreign central banks keep their monetary and international savings reserves in dollars and the dollars are used to finance the military bases around the world, almost eight hundred military bases surrounding them. So, basically central banks have to keep their savings by weaponizing them, by militarizing them, by lending them to the United States, to keep spending abroad.
This gave America a free ride. Imagine if you went to the grocery store and you just paid by giving them an IOU. And then the next week you want to buy more groceries and you give them another IOU. And they say, wait a minute, you have an IOU before and you say, well just use the IOU to pay the milk company that delivers, or the farmers that deliver. You can use this as your money and just you’ll as a customer, keep writing IOU’s and you never have to pay anything because your IOU is other people’s money. Well, that’s what dollar hegemony was, and it was a free ride. And it all ended last Wednesday when the United States grabbed Russia’s reserves having grabbed Afghanistan’s foreign reserves and Venezuela’s foreign reserves and those of other countries.
And all of a sudden, this means that other countries can no longer safely hold their reserves by sending their money back, depositing them in US banks or buying US Treasury Securities, or having other US investments because they could simply be grabbed as happened to Russia. So, all of a sudden this last week, you’re seeing the world economy fracture into two parts, a dollarized part and other countries that do not follow the neoliberal policies that the United States insists that its allies follow. We’re seeing the birth of a new dual World economy.
MF: Wow, there’s a lot to unpack there. So, are we seeing then other countries starting to disinvest in US dollars? You’ve written about how the treasury bonds that these central banks buy up have been basically funding our domestic economy. Are they starting to shed those bonds or what’s happening?
MH: No, they haven’t been funding our domestic economy because the Federal Reserve can create its own money to fund the domestic economy. We don’t need to borrow from foreign countries to fund our economy. We can print it ourselves. What the dollar hegemony does is fund the balance of payments deficit. It funds our spending in other economies, our spending abroad. It doesn’t help our economy, but it does help us get a free ride from other countries. The more dollars we spend in making a military base, all these military expenditures get turned over to the local Central Bank that turns and sends them back to the Federal Reserve or deposits them in US bank accounts. So, it’s the international free ride we get, not a domestic free ride.
MF: Okay. So are we seeing countries now, since this past week, starting to move their assets back to repatriate them because I know for Afghanistan, a big problem is that most of the government’s money was outside of the country and that has been used as a weapon against Afghanistan by seizing those assets and not allowing the Central Bank of Afghanistan to have them. Are we starting to see other countries repatriating their money and gold?
MH: Well, figures are only available at the end of each month, reported at the end of each month and then there’s a two-month delay, so we don’t have any idea what’s happening. But I’ve been talking to people all over the world in the last few days and the consensus is that everybody is now deciding the only place, certainly if you’re China or Russia or Kazakhstan or you’re in the Eurasian orbit, South Asia, East Asia, you realize, wait a minute, if all we have to do is something like Allende did in Chile or all we have to do is refuse to sell off our industry to American investors and they can treat us like they’ve treated Venezuela. So you can imagine that everybody’s watching this and there’s an expectation that as a result of the war in Ukraine, that’s really America’s NATO war, that this is going to create a balance-of-payments crisis throughout the whole Global South as their energy prices go up, oil prices soar, food prices are going to soar and this is going to make it impossible for them to pay their foreign debts unless they go without food and energy. Obviously, this is a political crisis. That is, the only result can be to split the world in two.
MF: You’ve been writing about this happening. You’ve written that the de-dollarization has been happening relatively quickly in recent years. So, are we now we’re now just seeing the end result of that? I mean, people said it could happen quickly. Is that exactly what we’re seeing right now?
MH: Yes, and nobody expected that it would happen this quickly. Nobody expected that it would be the United States itself that ends de-dollarization. People thought that, well, most of the sales of my book describing this super imperialism were bought by the Defense Department and they looked at it as a how -to-do-it book. And I was brought down to the White House and the Defense Department to explain to them how imperialism works.
I had expected that maybe China, Russia, and other countries would say, “We don’t want to give America free rides.” And yet it was the United States itself that broke all of this, by grabbing Russia’s reserves right after it grabbed Afghanistan’s and Venezuela’s reserves.
Nothing like this has happened in modern history, even in the 19th century wars. In the Crimean War in the mid-19th century, Russia, England and Germany, everybody kept paying the debts to the countries they were fighting against because the idea is that debts were sacrosanct. And now, all of a sudden, not only are debts are not sacrosanct, but countries can just grab foreign savings. I guess the problem began after the Shah of Iran fell and the United States grabbed Iran’s money and refused to let it pay its bond holders and started the whole war against Iran for trying to take control of its own oil resources. So, all of a sudden, the United States grabbing this has ended what everybody thought was an immutable morality.
MF: So that was in 1979 that the Shah fell in Iran and, and over the last number of decades, the United States has been increasingly using economic warfare against countries through what people call sanctions, but they’re actually, illegal unilateral coercive measures, has that been kind of driving and setting the stage for what is happening today?
MH: Yes, the International Monetary Fund has operated, basically, as an arm of the Defense Department. It’s been bailing out dictatorships, bailing out Ukraine, lending money to countries whose client oligarchies America wants to support, and not lending any money to countries that America doesn’t want to support, like Venezuela. So, its job is basically to promote neoliberal policies, and to insist that other countries balance their payments by undergoing a class war against labor.
The conditionality that the IMF insists upon for foreign borrowing is that countries devalue their currency and lower their wage rates and pass anti-labor legislation. Well, when you lower the currency’s exchange rate, what do you really lower? Food prices are set in dollars internationally, raw materials prices are, and prices for machinery and many goods. The only economic variable devalued is domestic labor (and domestic rents). The IMF has been using this kind of junk-economic free-trade policy as a means of keeping the wage rates in the Global South down. You could say it’s a financialization of an ultimately military conflict to promote neoliberal ideology.
MF: And you mentioned the lowering wages and things like that. And this is actually done because it’s favorable to US investors and US business, right? I mean, the World Bank actually has an index, the cost of doing business index, that helps inform large corporations about laws that countries pass that make them more favorable to businesses to come in.
MH: It’s even worse than that. The central aim of the World Bank is to prevent other countries from growing their own food. That is the prime directive. It will only make loans for countries to earn foreign currency and it has insisted ever since about 1950 that countries that borrow from it must shift their agriculture to plantation export crops to grow tropical crops that cannot be grown in the United States for environmental and weather reasons. And the countries must not grow their own food and must not undertake Land Reform or small family-based farming. So, it insisted on foreign-owned agribusiness in large plantation agriculture. And what that means is that countries that have borrowed for agricultural loans have not been loans to produce their own food. It’s been to compete with each other producing tropical export crops while being increasingly dependent on the United States for their food supplies, and for their grain. And that’s part of the corner they painted them into that is going to be creating such a world famine this summer.
MF: I definitely want to get into that as well as the energy situation and the climate crisis, but before we do that, I just want you to comment quickly on how this has also been driving countries to seek alternatives. The United States removed Russia from the SWIFT system, which is the international mechanism for doing trading and finance. It threatened China if they didn’t denounce what was happening with Russia and Ukraine to kick them out of the SWIFT system. So, this hubris of the United States is also kind of driving countries away to seek other alternatives, right?
MH: That’s the whole point. Well, fortunately they’ve been threatening to kick Russia out of SWIFT for the last two years. And so, Russia and China have been putting in place an alternative system. So, they almost pretty smoothly are shifting over to using their own currency with each other instead of using the dollar. And that’s part of what has ended the dollar standard and ended dollar hegemony.
If the way you have dollar hegemony is to have other countries deposit your money in your banks and handle their oil trade with each other by financing it in dollars, but all of a sudden you grab all their dollars and you don’t let them use US banks to pay for their oil and their trade with each other, then they’re going to shift to a different system. And that’s exactly what has ended the dollar hegemony, as you just pointed out.
MF: So, let’s get a little bit into where things are headed with this new situation, a rapidly changing situation. It may be hard to say what’s happening, but you talked about a food crisis this summer. Can you talk a little bit about more about that and does the conflict in Ukraine feed into that?
MH: Well, as President Putin and Lavrov have said, the fighting in Ukraine isn’t really over Ukraine at all. It’s a fight over what shape the world will take and whether the world will be unipolar or, as it now appears, multipolar. The US, for the last year before it began to escalate attacks on the Russian-speaking Ukraine, was trying to block Europe from, and especially Germany, from buying Russia gas and oil.
There are three pillars of American foreign policy that base American power. The first pillar is the oil industry. That’s the most powerful industry next to banking in the United States. And United States throughout the 20th century, along with Britain and France, have controlled the world oil trade.
That has benefited the United States in two ways. Number one, we are a major oil exporter because we have a big oil and gas industry. But, number two, our US companies control the foreign oil trade. So that if some country, say Chile or Venezuela, does something that the United States doesn’t like, like growing their own food or pursuing a socialist policy, the United States can simply cut off their oil and sanction them. Without oil, they don’t have energy to drive the cars or power their factories or drive their GDP.
So, the American war in Ukraine is really a war against Germany. Russia is not the enemy. Germany and Europe are the enemy and the United States made it very clear. This is a war to lock in our allies so they cannot trade with Russia. They cannot buy Russian oil. They must be dependent on American oil for which they will have to pay three or four times as much. They will have to be dependent on American liquefied natural gas for fertilizer. If they don’t buy American gas for fertilizer, and we don’t let them buy from Russia, then they cannot put fertilizer on the land and the crop yield will fall by about 50% without fertilizer.
So, the, the war in Ukraine was to make Russia look so bad by defending itself against the attacks by the Ukrainian right wing in the Russian-speaking areas that the US has said, look at how bad Russia is. You’ve got to forego buying oil and gas or grain or titanium or palladium or anything else from Russia.
And so, the effect of this war has been to lock the NATO countries into dependency on the United States because the great fear of the United States in the last few years is that as America is de-industrializing, these countries are looking to the part of the world that’s growing, China, Central Asia, Russia, South Asia. And the United States feared losing control of its satellites mainly in NATO, but also in South America. So, it sanctioned and blocked their ability to buy non-US energy. They’re blocking their ability to buy non-US food, blocking their ability to invest in or use their surplus to get prosperous by investing in China, Russia, or Eurasia.
So, this is basically a war of America to lock in its allies. Well, the result is that oil prices, now that you can’t get Russian oil, are going to go way, way up, and that is going to create a crisis for many of the Global South countries that are oil deficit countries. The fertilizer companies in Germany have already been closing down because they say, without Russian gas, we make our fertilizer out of gas, and if we can’t get Russian gas, we can’t produce the fertilizer that. So, world fertilizer prices are going way up.
Russia is the largest grain exporter. And now that grain exports are being blocked by the sanctions, the question is, what are North Africa and the Near East going to do that have been depending very largely on Russian grain exports? Their food prices are going to go way up.
You can imagine just from seeing what’s happening in the United States when gas prices go up here, food prices go up here, not only does it put a squeeze on individual family budgets, but throughout the world, it puts the squeeze on the balance of payments of other countries. And so, they’re desperate. How are they going to pay the higher prices unless they borrow even more money from US banks? And of course, that’s another arm of US policy. The US banks hope to make a killing in making loans at rising interest rates to third world countries.
And of course, arms exports. NATO in the last few days has agreed to make American arms exports to increase their purchase of arms. So, the stock market has been soaring in the last few days. They say this, the world famine, the world crisis is a bonanza for Wall Street. The oil company stocks are going way up, the military, industrial stocks, Boeing Raytheon way up, the bank stocks. This is America’s great power grab, and it realizes, when it can create a crisis and tell the Global South or poor countries your money or your life. This is how most of the great property grabs and conquests have been made throughout history.
MF: And just this week at the NATO meetings, President Biden basically said food prices are going to go up in the United States and Europe as a result of what’s happening. And that’s just the price we have to pay.
MH: Well, what he should have said, this is the price they have to pay us. That’s how the stock market took it. When he said this is the price we have to pay, this is the price consumers have to pay to the American oil companies, to the American Agricultural food distribution companies. It’s the price other countries have to pay to the United States.
This is to say to the rest of the world, you know, we’ve got you completely, I don’t know how to put it, what phrase to use, but you don’t have any choice, your money or your life. We’ve got you trapped. And he’s crowing over the fact that this resulting inflation is exactly what was intended by the war in Ukraine that has led to the isolation of Russia and other countries following a non-US policy.
MF: But more and more countries in Latin America, in Africa, are turning to countries like China for partnerships, for investment. Do you see a point coming where there is just this real shunning of the United States and turning to these alternatives?
MH: That is exactly what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen is, China’s investment is very different from US investment. US and European investment will give financial investments to countries at interest that the whole country is liable for to repay. China’s investment is taking place by means of the Belt and Road Initiative and direct capital investment in developing ports, infrastructure and railways. And instead of having a general financial claim against these countries, China has an equity claim, a property claim backed by the physical means of production that it puts in place.
Well, this summer, when countries say they cannot afford to pay their foreign debts, the United States has as a backup plan, okay, let’s write down everybody’s debts, government debts, to each other so that governments can pay the private bond holders and the banks. And they’re going to try to, essentially the US will forgive its debts so that Latin America can pay Chase Manhattan Bank and Citibank and the bondholders. And China is going to say, wait a minute, we don’t have any financial claim against these countries. We didn’t lend them dollars. We didn’t lend them our foreign currency at all. We built assets there and the assets are still in place. There’s no problem there.
So, the question is, whose debts are going to be written down to whom? And all of this is going to lead to, as you can imagine, destabilization. The United States is probably going to try to push regime change on countries that try to trade with China as it’s already threatened China with. And the more sanctions the United States imposes on Latin America, Africa and the Near East and South Asia, they will be creating a crisis, but the crisis will lead the rest of the world to treat the United States in the same way that Russia and China are treating the United States as just the enemy threatening the entire world with their neoliberal power grab. So, the United States in a way is isolating itself from the rest of the world by declaring war on it.
MF: And I think that’s not going to be good for us here at home in the United States. You’ve talked about the way that the current economy has been structured. You’ve also raised a lot of concern about the climate crisis. And of course, we have the recent IPCC report basically saying that we’re way behind in taking action to even adapt to the climate crisis or the warming that we’re going to be experiencing. So now in this new situation, how do you see that impacting the climate crisis?
MH: Here’s what Biden said, in effect: “We’re way behind in the pace of global warming.” American policy is based on increasing and accelerating global warming. That has been a central point of US policy ever since I joined the Hudson Institute in the 1970s. The United States is opposing any attempt at trying to prevent global warming because you can imagine what would happen if other countries go to solar energy and renewable energy. That will reduce their dependency on the US oil industry. If you look at American policy, it is being run basically by the oil industry to establish dependence of other countries on oil. Then obviously the last thing the United States is ever going to do is prevent global warming. So, if we’re behind in global warming, it’s that the sea level is not rising fast enough. The world is not getting hot fast enough not to lock in foreign reliance on America’s oil.
And I think you’ve seen what in the last few weeks, what President Biden has said, the fuel of the future is coal and oil. Right now, he’s in Poland. I think he’s suggesting that Polish coal, which is one of its major products, should be used in Europe instead of Russian gas. So, American foreign policy is based on the accelerated use of coal and oil, not renewable energy.
Now, that’s why I think the environmental movement should become an anti-war movement and the movement against this neoliberal dollar hegemony. You’re not going to avoid global warming unless you stop the dominance of American foreign policy by the oil industry.
MF: I think we’ve been seeing that shift over the last few years where the climate movement is starting to understand we can’t address this crisis without addressing the US military. So just in the last minutes that I have with you, what do you have to say to the listeners about where this is going for us materially as people living in the United States, a country that has been showing itself to be a failing state? The Covid-19 pandemic, I think, has really exposed that in so many ways, the financial insecurity that people are facing, housing, education, health care, all of the failures of the government to meet the basic needs of the people. How do you think that’s going to change with this new situation?
MH: Well, the United States has been getting a free ride internationally. So, much of the prosperity here has been the result of our not having to pay for our own military spending, not having to pay for many of the foreign investments that we’ve got that supply the US with low priced foreign raw materials. All that is being ended by President Biden’s policy, which, of course, the Republicans support just as much as the Democrats.
So, there’s really a political movement that is ending up impoverishing, I’d say, 99% of Americans. While the Federal Reserve saves the stock and bond market for the 1%, there’s going to be a huge squeeze that’s going to force, I think, most American families into debt leading to probably a close down of a lot of businesses just as you had the Covid crisis closing down a lot of businesses. You’re going to have the rising fuel prices, the rising food prices utterly force families into default and an inability to be self-supporting without either running into debt or selling their homes and becoming renters.
MF: And that’s a whole other problem with the buying up of the housing in the United States by these investment corporations so that they can then control those rent prices. It sounds like difficult days are ahead.
MH: Yes. Well, and nobody can really ,it’s really Uncharted Territory because nobody thought there was an alternative. The economic view was as Margaret Thatcher said, “There is no alternative.” Well, now, America’s forced the world to find its own alternative.
MF: Well, thank you for sharing that wisdom with me. I encourage people to continue to follow you and read your books and follow your writing. Where’s the best place to find you?
MH: I have a website: Michael-Hudson.com. And I’m on Patreon. I post my articles on the website and on Patreon.
MF: Well, thank you so much for taking time to speak with me today, and for the important work that you’re doing.
MH: Well, I’m awfully glad we had to talk about this, Margaret.
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Crushed ideas and hopes
It happens to the best made plans of mice and men.
It is not going to happen.
The ISS Space Station
A highly anticipated change of command ceremony between the United States and Russia has taken place on the International Space Station.
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Despite mounting tensions between the two countries, NASA has repeatedly reaffirmed that it continues to work closely with Russian space agency Roscosmos.
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Eyes have been on the ISS since war broke out in Ukraine but tensions on the earth did not reach into space.
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Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov in his handover address affirmed those on the space station were “one crew”.
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“I think ISS is like (a) symbol of the friendship and cooperations and like symbol of future of exploration of space,” he said.
The Media Is The Number One Cause Of War Since 1898
In 1895, a 32-year old entrepreneur in New York City bought a failing newspaper and hatched a bold plan to turn it around.
The newspaper industry was cutthroat, especially in New York. There were at least 16 other daily newspapers in circulation, and there was fierce competition for readers’ attention.
But the young entrepreneur had an idea: thrill readers with tales of death, destruction, and brutality in the Cuban War for Independence against Spain.
Cuba was a Spanish colony at the time, but revolutionary forces had been fighting for independence for several years. Few people in the US really cared about Cuba. But the new publisher vowed to make them care.
His name was William Randolph Hearst. And his paper, the New York Morning Journal, constantly thrust Cuba in his readers’ faces.
Their stories were full-blown sensationalism. By early 1898, Hearst’s Journal was printing outright fabrications of atrocities committed by Spanish troops in Cuba, in an effort to whip up public support for the United States to join the war.
The government played along. While ‘war crimes’ did not yet exist, US President William McKinley escalated tensions by accusing Spain of atrocities, saying in a speech that “the civilized code of warfare has been disregarded.”
Then, on February 15, 1898, a US naval vessel known as the Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor off the coast of Cuba. 268 sailors died.
Several investigations were conducted, and to this day there is still nothing conclusive explaining how the explosion took place. It’s entirely possible that the explosion was caused by the Maine’s on-board fuel.
But Hearst (along with many other papers) jumped to publish stories claiming the Maine was sunk by a Spanish torpedo, and they continued agitating for the US to join the war.
Thanks to the effective media propaganda, most Americans were in favor of war. The newspapers had cast Spain as the evil aggressor, and its commanding general, Valeriano Weyler, was routinely called a “butcher”.
The newspapers told Americans that the fight against Spain was a necessary one… that it was a matter of moral righteousness— a crusade of good against evil.
They finally got their wish in April 1898 when the Spanish-American War broke out.
There are a lot of similarities with the media today.
The level of trust in the media is already laughably low. There was the obvious Hunter Biden laptop coverup, which most mainstream media refused to even mention during the US Presidential election in 2020.
Then there were the outright lies in the Russia collusion hoax, for which the New York Times was even awarded the ‘esteemed’ Pulitzer Prize.
(Coincidentally, the Pulitzer is named after Joseph Pulitzer, a newspaper publisher who also fabricated lies in the late 1800s and agitated for war against Spain.)
Then there’s the case of Biden appointee Tracy Stone-Manning, who was nominated last year to head up the federal government’s Bureau of Land Management.
Stone-Manning is a former eco-terrorist who participated in violent campaigns against forestry workers in her youth.
This isn’t some wild conspiracy theory; Stone-Manning has admitted to wrongdoing, including sending violent threats to the US federal Forestry Service. She ultimately avoided prosecution and saved herself by ratting out her associates.
But a recent Freedom of Information Act request revealed that NBC News colluded with the Biden Administration to go easy on Tracy Stone-Manning during her confirmation hearing, and whitewash over her terrorist history.
This is pretty incredible…
Think about the media circus a few years ago when US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexually assaulting someone when he was a teenager.
There was no promise from NBC News (and other mainstream propagandists) to go easy on the allegations against Justice Kavanaugh that went back 30+ years.
Instead, they smeared his name and deemed him guilty.
It’s also noteworthy that, during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, several protestors stormed the Capital and physically accosted United States Senators in order to prevent the Constitutional voting process from occurring.
Yet NBC News declined to label those protestors ‘domestic terrorists’, or to claim that democracy was ‘under attack’ because they had criminally trespassed into the Capitol.
This is the same media which acted as the government mouthpiece during COVID, justifying the public health dictatorship that took over the world.
This is the same media which watched cities burn in 2020 and said the protests were “mostly peaceful”.
And, yes, this is the same media that has routinely pushed America into war. It wasn’t just Spain in 1898.
The United States joined the Vietnam War based on a Gulf of Tonkin skirmish with the North Vietnamese which never actually occurred. But the Johnson administration and intelligence sources said it happened, so the media reported it as fact.
Then there were those supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, which the media dutifully reported without question and helped push the US into war back in 2003.
Today many in the media are calling for an escalation against Russia. They want a no-fly zone. They cheer the President’s dementia-ridden foreign policy and praise him for impromptu comments that only escalate tensions.
Most of all, they force feed the war in Ukraine, 24/7, as if that’s supposed to be our #1 priority.
Forget about the economy, rising prices, and supply chain dysfunction… and forget about conflict anywhere else in the world. We’re only allowed to care about Ukraine and Putin.
Historically speaking, it is not far-fetched to think the media could help push the world into a major war… and one with potential nuclear ramifications.
It’s not inevitable, but we are closer today than any other time since at least 1962— and certainly closer than even a week ago.
That’s why it is more important than ever to be prepared for whatever the world has in store for us.
And that means crafting a rock solid Plan B to make sure you can respond from a position of strength, whatever crisis comes next.
Washington’s top diplomat in Taipei attacks Beijing for “destabilizing” the region and threatening “all democracies”
The head of the de facto US embassy in Taiwan has accused China of “provocative” military moves near the island. Sandra Oudkirk claimed that Beijing has undermined regional peace while vowing to “strengthen” security ties with Taipei.
Oudkirk – who directs the American Institute in Taiwan, the unofficial US embassy – castigated Beijing during a speech at the local American Chamber of Commerce, on Wednesday, singling out its policies toward Taipei.
“The [People’s Republic of China’s] increasingly aggressive behavior is nowhere more evident than in relation to Taiwan, where the PRC has continued to exert military, diplomatic, and economic pressure,” she said, adding that “provocative military activities” near Taiwan are “destabilizing, risk miscalculation, and undermine regional peace and stability.”
Continued efforts by Beijing to choke Taiwan’s international space, pressure its friends, and interfere in Taiwan’s democratic system represent a threat to all democracies.
With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in attendance at the event, Oudkirk went on to voice “deep concerns” over “China’s alignment with Russia” following Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, appearing to draw parallels between the conflict in Eastern Europe and tensions between Taiwan and the mainland.
“China is already on the wrong side of history when it comes to Ukraine and the aggression being committed by Russia,” she said, echoing previous comments from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Though US officials have pressured Beijing to sever its ties with Russia and join a punitive sanctions campaign, China has so far refused to budge, maintaining a neutral stance toward the conflict while urging for diplomacy and an end to the fighting.
Oudkirk said Washington would continue to “strengthen Taiwan’s role as a regional security partner” – part of the Joe Biden administration’s increased outreach to the island. Late last year, the president declared that the US is “committed” to defending Taiwan from any potential Chinese attack, in what appeared to be a break with a long-standing policy of ‘strategic ambiguity.’ White House officials soon walked back his comments, however.
The United States has also approved a number of arms sales to Taiwan in recent months, and continues to sail warships through the contested Taiwan Strait on a near-monthly basis despite repeated warnings from Beijing to stay out of its “internal affairs.” China considers Taiwan to be its sovereign territory, though the island has long been self-governed and refers to itself as the Republic of China.
Founded as a non-profit corporation, the American Institute in Taiwan now serves as the informal US embassy and has received most of its funding from the State Department since the United States ended diplomatic recognition of Taipei with the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. Currently, only a handful of nations recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country, among them Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti and the Vatican City.
How America is viewed by the rest of the world
pay attention. This is what the next 100 years will be like… video 6MB
TRAPPED!!! AMERICAN AND UK MILITARY “ADVISORS”, PLUS FRANCE INTEL OPERATIVES WITH AZOV NAZIS IN MARIUPOL – NOW TRAPPED BY RUSSIAN FORCES
Shot down. Americans, UK, and French “advisors” were killed. The Help was brought down by an American supplied anti-aircraft missile.
At present, whatever remains of Ukrainian Army AZOV Regiment (the Actual NAZI Regiment) is holed-up inside the vast Azovstal Industrial Area in Mariupol, Ukraine. The group totaling 20 — of US andUK military advisors as well as several Ukrainian SBU (secret police) advisors—is holed up, together with Azov fighters.
Despite being offered several prior chances to evacuate Mariupol, they chose to stay. Now, they are too late to evacuate as Russian forces pummel that area to De-Nazify it.
Overnight, Ukraine sent two military helicopters to Mariupol to try to rescue the trapped US, UK, and Ukrainian Secret Police persons. Both those helicopters landed without incident, but when they took off, both were SHOT DOWN.
One of those helicopters had 17 aboard, 15 of whom died when the chopper was hit and crashed into the earth. The two survivors have been taken prisoner by Russian forces.
The second helicopter was hit several kilometers off the coast of Mariupol, and fell into the Sea of Azov. Rescue craft were sent, but no word yet on finding anything or anyone in the water.
One of the Mi-8 helicopters was shot down by . . . . . . . An American STINGER anti-aircraft, man-launched missile, supplied to Ukraine by the United States and later captured from the Ukrainian forces by Russian forces.
MORE!
From the helicopter that crashed into the earth, COVERT INTEL SOURCES now tell me, the bodies of two French Intelligence operatives, allegedly with DGSE credentials, were also said to have been recovered.
If true, this would explain French President Macron’s desperate attempts to have a French-led evacuation out of Mariupol last week! Macron’s requests to Putin were declined. If French Intelligence Agents were embedded with AZOV NAZI troops, then this is a massive PR problem for both France and for NATO.
HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION
At some point, the presence of foreign military “Advisors” and foreign Intelligence “operatives” is going to transform this from a Ukraine-Russia conflict, to a NATO-Russia conflict. Once that threshold is officially crossed (and it is solely up to Russia to decide) then war is upon us all.
A bunch of US and British military men being present right on the front line would confirm not only how intricately involved with Azov the NATO countries are, but the fact that Ukraine is a US puppet state being used to wage a proxy war on Russia.
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Grandma’s Favorite Cabbage Rolls
Cabbage Rolls
No one knows good old-fashioned home cooking like Grandma, which is why this recipe for cabbage rolls is one of the best there is, period. Made with ground beef, onion, white rice and seasonings, Grandma’s Favorite Cabbage Rolls are sure to make your mouth water.
Top ’em off with a homemade sauce of tomato, brown sugar, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce and you’ll have yourself a winning dinner the whole family will love.
Even the pickiest of eaters will gobble up these delicious old fashioned cabbage rolls! Plus, this recipe is a favorite of Grandma’s because it only costs a few dollars to make. It’s one of our favorite budget-friendly recipes, and we think it will be one of yours, too.
Core head of cabbage by cutting around the core and removing as much as possible. Boil large pot of water (fill pot only 1/4 or 1/2 full — when boiling put cabbage into water and cover with top. Leave cabbage in water and every so often as leaves loosen up remove leaves and place in collander in sink to cool — when all leaves are removed turn off water and throw away — (if you have any little pieces of cabbage left at end of core, you can save them to place on top of leaves if you would like.
In a large bowl mix cooked rice, ground meat, onion, garlic, raw eggs 1/2 can tomato sauce and oregano and a little pinch of kosher salt. Mix well with your hands –.
Spray 9 X 13 inch pans with Pam. Take cabbage leaves and fill with 1/4 to 1/2 cup meat mixture (depending on how big hour leaves are). Place with seam side down in pans — Turn oven on 350 degrees. Make up sauce (depending on how many rolls you get from your cabbage and how much sauce you want,you can use between 4 to 6 cans of diced or stewed tomatoes for your sauce), if you like cabbage rolls to have more sauce, you can add a little tomato juice to your sauce. Pour sauce over top of rolls. Sprinkle with kosher salt over top of rolls.
Bake uncovered to 2 1/2 hours or until browned on top, you may need to add a tomato juice to them once in a while so they do not dry out –.
Freezes well.
Vaccine Schedule for the United States
Interesting.
Covid Vaccine schedule for American children
Fine Chinese Girl
Here’s yet another fine Chinese woman. They are all over China, don’t you know. Of course, if you believe the Western narrative, China has no girls or women. They have been all killed as the result of the one-baby policy. LOL. Only an idiot would believe that bullshit. What bullshit are you believing out of the American / UK “news” today? Eh? Video 2MB
China warns of ‘worst consequences’ over Taiwan
Beijing says nothing will stand in the way of “national reunification” with Taipei
China has warned that no foreign powers or militaries will succeed in interfering with Taiwan, cautioning that any country attempting to offer military support to Taipei will face “consequences.”
“The Taiwan question is a purely internal affair of China,” Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Tan Kefei told reporters on Friday.
“No one and no force can stop” Beijing from a “complete national reunification” with Taiwan, Tan said, adding that anyone who tries to do so, “will suffer the worst consequences in the end.”
Tan said the Chinese military stood ready to thwart any outside interference on the matter. His statement came days after Australia’s defense minister, Peter Dutton, argued that it would be “inconceivable” for Canberra not to join with the US should Washington decide to defend Taiwan.
Kiev claims NATO will defend arms convoys to Ukraine against Russia
Dutton later softened his language, saying on Sunday that the Australian response would be based on “our country’s best interests.”
Last month, Australia accused a Chinese warship of pointing a laser at one of its surveillance planes. Beijing said the allegation was “false.”
While the government in Beijing insists Taiwan is part of China’s territory, the US has typically taken a non-committal position, unofficially supporting Taiwanese independence and supplying weapons to Taipei, while at the same time acknowledging China’s claim to the island.
Here’s the official U.S. narrative as echoed by the mainstream media: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked, Putin’s three-day blitzkrieg of Kyiv has failed, Russian forces are bogged down and valiant Ukrainian troops are putting up a powerful defense and regaining lost ground with the help of weapons from NATO.
In this version, President Zelenskyy is the new Churchill rallying patriots against an evil dictator. All of that is either entirely or mostly false.
Here’s the real story: Russia’s invasion is the end result of 14 years of provocation by the West, including repeated declarations that Ukraine will join NATO and a U.S.-backed coup d’état in 2014 that displaced a pro-Russian president.
Russia never planned a blitzkrieg on Kyiv. That’s a Western invention intended to make Putin look like a failure. In fact, Russia is slowly and methodically taking territory in the south and east of Ukraine in order to control the seacoasts, eliminate pro-fascist elements in Mariupol and establish pro-Russian autonomous zones in Donbas.
1/ Big Arrow War—a primer. For all those scratching their heads in confusion, or dusting off their dress uniforms for the Ukrainian victory parade in Kiev, over the news about Russia’s “strategic shift”, you might want to re-familiarize yourself with basic military concepts.2/ Maneuver warfare is a good place to start. Understand Russia started its “special military operation” with a severe manpower deficit—200,000 attackers to some 600,000 defenders (or more). Classic attritional conflict was never an option. Russian victory required maneuver.
3/ Maneuver war is more psychological than physical and focuses more on the operational than on the tactical level. Maneuver is relational movement—how you deploy and move your forces in relation to your opponent. Russian maneuver in the first phase of its operation support this.4/ The Russians needed to shape the battlefield to their advantage. In order to do this, they needed to control how Ukraine employed it’s numerically superior forces, while distributing their own smaller combat power to best accomplish this objective.5/ Land Bridge. Strategically, to facilitate the ability to maneuver between the southern, central, and northern fronts, Russia needed to secure a land bridge between Crimea and Russia. The seizure of the coastal city of Mariupol was critical to this effort. Russia has accomplished this task.6/ Control. While this complex operation unfolded, Russia needed to keep Ukraine from maneuvering its numerically superior forces in a manner that disrupted the Mariupol operation. This entailed the use of several strategic supporting operations—feints, fixing operations, and deep attack.7/ Feint warfare. The concept of a feint is simple—a military force either is seen as preparing to attack a given location, or actually conducts an attack, for the purpose of deceiving an opponent into committing resources in response to the perceived or actual actions.8/ Example of use. The use of the feint played a major role in Desert Storm, where Marine Amphibious forces threatened the Kuwaiti coast, forcing Iraq to defend against an attack that never came, and where the 1st Cavalry Division actually attacked Wadi Al Batin to pin down the Republican Guard.9/ Ukraine use of a feint. The Russians made extensive use of the feint in Ukraine, with Amphibious forces off Odessa freezing Ukrainian forces there, and a major feint attack toward Kiev compelling Ukraine to reinforce their forces there. Ukraine was never able to reinforce their forces in the east.10/ Fixing operations were also critical. Ukraine had assembled some 60,000-100,000 troops in the east, opposite Donbas. Russia carried out a broad fixing attack designed to keep these forces fully engaged and unable to maneuver in respect to other Russian operations.11/ History. During Desert Storm, two Marine Divisions were ordered to carry out similar fixing attacks against Iraqi forces deployed along the Kuwaiti-Saudi border, tying down significant numbers of men and material that could not be used to counter the main US attack out west.12/ Pinned Down. The Russian fixing attack pinned the main Ukrainian concentration of forces in the east, and drove them away from Mariupol, which was invested and reduced. Supporting operations out of Crimea against Kherson expanded the Russian land bridge. This phase is now complete.13/ Strategic Deep Attacks. Russia also engaged in a campaign of strategic deep attack designed to disrupt and destroy Ukrainian logistics, command & control, and air power and long-range fire support. Ukraine is running out of fuel and ammo, cannot coordinate maneuver, and has no meaningful Air Force.14/ Redeployments. Russia is redeploying some of its premier units from where they had been engaged in feint operations in northern Kiev to where they can support the next phase of the operation, namely the liberation of the Donbas and the destruction of the main Ukrainian force in the east.15/ This is classic maneuver warfare. Russia will now hold Ukraine in the north and south while its main forces, reinforced by the northern units, Marines, and forces freed up by the capture of Mariupol, seek to envelope and destroy 60,000 Ukrainian forces in the east.16/ This is Big Arrow War at its finest, something Americans used to know but forgot in the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan and Iraq. It also explains how 200,000 Russians have been able to defeat 600,000 Ukrainians. Thus ends the primer on maneuver warfare, Russian style.
Rufus Kind action
When the time comes, what are you going to do? Be a spectator, or take action. Your actions determine your sentience. Service-to-yourself, or service-for-others. And please don’t be a NPC service-to-another. Your actions, in this life, are a reflection of who you are. It’s binary. White or black. There is no gray area. video 3MB
Chinese community in action
This would never happen in the United States. In the USA, most people whould be inside their cars watching on as spectators. Maybe taking videos. With some slamming on their horns making noises. video 3MB
Rufus Immediate action
You don’t know when there will be a calling, but it will happen. Are your ready for it? Or will you pretend that nothing is going on? Will you sit by passively and allow others to become service-to-others sentience, while you are firmly and affixed as a service-to-self selfish, alone, greedy and “independent” asshole? video 9MB
How a Rufus Community Operates
Everyone in the community works together as one organism. If they “feel” something is wrong, they talk to others, they investigate, and they get help. In this case, we have gas station attendents, bus drivers, and construction workers working with the polcie to prevent a child abduction. video 14MB
Rufus reminder
When the world is treating others unkindly, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to reset things. Do not wait for others to take action. Do not wait for the police, fire or medical care to come. Do not wait for others, or watch while doing nothing. You were not born to be a spectator. You were born to be a participant. So act the part. God damn it! video 13MB
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Scene From By Dawns Early Light – HBO – Nuclear War – World War 3 Movie
An end of the world movie that involves nuclear launches. This is a 30-minute segment, and it is chilling how much it matches what is going on RIGHT NOW.
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.
Lots of stuff going on. Generally, the world feels strange. Like it’s the “calm before the storm”, or that there is some kind of huge under-current going on that we all can feel, but cannot vocalize. Yeah. In all of this unusualness, I am throwing out some articles, thoughts, impressions and stuff that should assist one in treading water during this great period of geopolitical upheaval.
US General
The big news is the capture of an American army general leading the Nazi Asov batallion in Ukraine. Obviously this nation was a NATO outpost in all ways and forms except “official”. We will cover this and the implications that it has for everyone later on in the body of this article.
Music, Girls, China, and other stuff
I mix up content in these articles. If I do not, then the articles and the venure is flagged for interruption, shadow banning, and other internet manipulations. Tired of trolls, add some food-related content to your articles. Watch them flee!
Trolls thwarted by content mixing
I will continue to proceed tracing the changes along with a mish-mash of other subjects. Why you might ask. Well, guys, I can positively affirm that I have 100% success in throwing off the trolls and DDOS attacks, and ‘bots since I have incorporated this methodology.
It breaks apart whatever system is in place. Whether it is a computer algorithm that matches trolls with targets, or whether it just the simple minds of trolls, is unknown. All I know is that it works. And that is just hunky-dory for me.
I hope you enjoy this article. Have fun.
Why US’ ‘sanctions threat’ to India is counter-productive on the China front
Not just against Russia, but it’s China as well. It’s not in India’s best interests.
Large scale models are simply diabolical. Models of any scale can play with your imagination, but you always know what’s real and what’s fake. When that train, plane, or car model is, say, 14 inches long–normal scale model size, more or less–your mind quickly adapts to the concept because it knows this is a model. And your mind deposits what you’re seeing into its familiar, convenient file folder called “scale models.”
But when the scale is large, your cognition wavers on the real vs. fake question. When your logical mind and eye look at a 1:2 (or 1/2, half) scale model, it will register the model as fake–but not as rapidly as with smaller scale models. It takes a second, and in that second your mind falls into an uncanny valley of questioning.
Half scale models of large objects like tanks, trucks, and cars are not common, as Fred Heim himself admits. Full scale (1:1) is common, but only with small items like guns.
Check this out…
Fred Heim Scale Model
This half-scale Peterbilt truck was Fred Heim’s first large scale model. Frame is aluminum, sides are powder coated mahogany. Since half-sized truck parts are in short supply (as in: non-existent), Heim had to make practically everything by scratch.
Without Heim and the garage acting as measuring devices, this Peterbilt could easily be mistaken for the real thing.
Pretty Chinese girl
Robust with an EMORMOUS and inviting smile. (I tell you over and over. It’s your SMILE that opens up opportunities for you.) What’s not to love? And her outfit is nice, eh? video 5MB
Sanctions against Russia hit a brick wall
A country with huge natural resources and agriculture sector with the military ability to deter the temptation of the United States preemptive strike will be the last man stand in this NATO expansionism saga.
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Putin should have realised by now his power to sanction the west is more powerful than western ability to sanction his country.
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2022 will be remembered as a historic turning point of the United States losing their notorious sanction power against Russia, and suffered greatly from their victim (Russia) counter sanction policy.
Yes. Mongolia is a very nice, if cold area. Nice people, and a beautiful landscape. video 5MB
Meet Nancy Kovack, Forgotten Siren of the Sixties
Nancy Kovack
Nancy Kovack is long retired, no need to act anymore, and firmly married to conductor Zubin Mehta. But in her day, she graced both the big screen and the cathode ray screen with her elegantly sleek looks reminiscent of Honor Blackman.
Nancy Kovack is also the one who got away. With big-star quality looks and acting chops, she was destined for greatness. Instead, she chose a different path.
The first the world saw of Nancy Kovack was in 1955, as the 19-year-old Queen of the Romeo Peach Pie Festival, in Michigan. She was tasked with distributing 50 peach pies around the U.S. to various luminaries. One pie that she delivered went to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
After that, Kovack made the usual round of Sixties-era TV shows: Love, American Style, Bewitched, Mannix, I Spy. If a casting director ever needed a beautiful face and a refined look, Kovack led the way in their Rolodex.
To compound matters–and it’s here where the faint-of-heart should clutch their pearls and avert their gaze–Miss Kovack owned a fantastically voluptuous body.
Nancy Kovack
Directly or indirectly, it’s Mehta we have to blame for taking Nancy off the screen and out of circulation. After her marriage to him in 1969, her filmography drops off to only five or six more credits before disappearing altogether in 1976.
While it seems crazy that Zubie would cheat on Kovack, cheat he did. In 1991, when Mehta was 55 years old (and Kovack about the same age), Mehta fathered a child in Israel.
An article in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency relates the rumor of “a smattering of illegitimate children from various affairs.” Mehta admits to just that one boy.
Now 86, Nancy Kovack-Mehta and her husband Zubin Mehta live in Los Angeles, where he is Conductor Emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Nancy Kovack
No choice but to pay in rubber, rmb or gold.
Meanwhile on the geopolitical scene we have the USA sanctioning the entire globe (except for itself and its toadies).
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There are few options. Not many choices. German politician warns that boycotting Russian gas could lead to mass poverty.
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The right mentality is a win-win mentality. The world should move away from the United States desire to control and make easy money from being a parasites to all none western nations resources, labours, and low end economy (allowed by the crusaders) .
Everybody needs to learn to work hard, study hard and trade with each other from a win win, mutual prosperity economic model.
Life is not that difficult if capitalism with Western characteristics that allow 0.1% to control the livelihood of the 99.9% are destroyed.
Basic human rights such as housing, public transport, water, electricity, Internet, food, Medicare etc should become affordable that ensure every citizen with a job are able to enjoy.
The aging, and young, and the sick and handicap should be taken care of.
Notorious Capitalism with looting DNA is coming to an end.
-A Chinese perspective from <redacted>
Springtime as painted by a few unknown Russian Painters
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This next one really appeals to me…
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And this one … well, you can just smell the fresh spring air…
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Robin Trower “Too Rolling Stoned”
Robin Trower is a blues guitarist who came into the public light in the 1970s. He’s still going strong and has many followers.
Trower is 75 and still touring. And still playin' smokin' guitar. One of the greats, and under appreciated. His original bass man James Dewar had such a great voice. Sadly he's gone. You have to check out several of his other tracks. Bridge of Sighs is so good. (Most people have no idea what the song is about.) And of course Day of the Eagle.
-Zabbo Daborba
I (MM, don’t you know) was introduced to him back in 1976 when I smoked a joint of “Thai-stick” in the High School parking lot with a friend. We got high, and my first exposure to Robin Trower was the song “Too Rolling Stoned”. I’ve been a fan ever since.
Honestly, I really don’t listen to him very much these days. As I prefer Chinese pop music, and American Country and Western music. But that’s just me.
Anyways, here’s two You-tube videos of the song “Too Rolling Stoned”.
All the theory in the world doesn’t prevent you from being schooled by one of the great masters... Robin is about the most underrated rock guitarists ever.
-Eddie
The first is the entire song observed by a music critic. He is now a Robin Trower fan. The look on his face, as he jams to the music is priceless.
The second, is a breakdown of his musical style (of the exact same song in a different video clip). Very interesting. You do not need to know the technical details to appreciate what he has to say. This study is done by someone who has never listened to Robin Trower before. Indeed, it seems like Michael has just turned into a fan, and Robin Trower is growing a fan base just by being alive.
Michael, Welcome to the land of Trower.
I'm 62 years old and a guitar player. I'm self-taught and first picked up the guitar and started teaching myself from cheat books and 45 records when I was around 8 years old.
my first live performance was 1966/67 in front of my class in 4th grade with two other friends.
I've played in cover bands all my life. Still do.
I've covered Trower on and off over the years since the mid-'70s when I first heard him myself.
I learned his "Day of the Eagle" classic hit from a 33rpm album (Live from Winterland} around 1974/75. Watching and learning from guitarist is just part of my DNA.
I love watching you and learning, watching you unpack "Too Rolling Stone" from Trower on video was a treat for me, Trower in the wild no less, (Live), this has truly made my day.
Your expressions in this video at times are priceless.
You kind of started with a mild approach towards the whole "Trower" thing at the beginning, and I giggled at that. and as you listened and dissected not only the song but his body movements, the Wha Wha approach, then Robin hits what I call his Jazz "Drop dead chords", modulates up a half step, then the typical shifting of gears into "Trower mode" I call it, and drops the tempo of the song to a slow blues groove that he's typically and noted for.
Such phrasings are his signature style, the look on your face and reaction was better than that first cup of coffee I was drinking for this morning.
I said out loud with a big belly laugh, "Welcome to the land of Trower teacher". my wife wanted to know who the heck I was talking to. hahha.
I say all this as someone who has done the same thing while learning Trower songs, only without YouTube video's which are worth their weight in gold themselves.
Starting and stopping a song on a vinyl record over and over is something you just have had to live through to get.
Anyway. Thank you for staying with us and continuing in sharing your passion which is also our passion. and for exploring Robin Trower. I hope you look into other great songs of his like: "Day of the Eagle" or Bridge of Sighs". any of his tunes are worthy of time.
- Charles Harshbarger
What do you think of Robin Trowers blues?
Vietnam girls drinking beer during a factory lunch
A common enough scene all over South-East Asia. It’s nice to see people enjoying freedom, instead of that pretend socially-acceptable corporate-system freedom™ that is so prevalent in the West. video 5MB
Why Propaganda is Vital In Upholding The Illusion of a Democracy
“Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to public opinion. This is the weak point of our defenses, and the part to which the enemies of the system will direct all their attacks. Opinion can be so perverted as to cause the false to seem true; the enemy, a friend, and the friend, an enemy; the best interests of the nation to appear insignificant, and the trifles of moment; in a word, the right the wrong, the wrong the right. In a country where opinion has sway, to seize upon it, is to seize upon power. As it is a rule of humanity that the upright and well-intentioned are comparatively passive, while the designing, dishonest, and selfish are the most untiring in their efforts, the danger of public opinion’s getting a false direction is four-fold, since few men think for themselves.”
-James Fenimore Cooper
Democracy is something that has been completely taken for granted here in the West. There is an ongoing triumph over past laurels, without paying heed to the road we have strayed from.
We criticize others for failing to uphold a standard we consider ourselves the leaders of, but democracy is not something simply “acquired” and subsequently “retained,” it is not a “possession.” This is because a system of democracy is at every moment of its existence defined by the character of its citizenry. Democracy only exists if it is upheld, and if a citizenry fails to do so, it renders itself defenseless to an ever-creeping tyranny.
For such a “creeping tyranny,” control is conditional to whether the citizenry is satisfied with an ever-growing “illusion of democracy.” Such a construct needs to give its subjects the impression that they have “free choice” in what shapes their future and their way of life, including: who will be their “friends” and who will be their “foes.”
And thus, War has always depended on a reliable system to spread its propaganda.
The Arthashastra written by Chankya (350-283 BCE) who was chief advisor to the Emperor Chandragupta (the first ruler of the Mauryan Empire) discusses propaganda and how to disperse and apply it in warfare. It is one of the oldest accounts of the essentialism of propaganda in warfare.
Propaganda is vital in times of war because it is absolutely imperative that the people, who often need to make the greatest sacrifices and suffer the most, believe that such a war is justified.
Security
As such, they will believe that such a war will provide them security. To the degree that they believe this to be true, the greater the degree of sacrifice and suffering they are willing to submit themselves for said “promised security”.
Enemy is not human
It is crucial that when the people look at the “enemy” they see something sub-human, for if they recognise that said “enemy” has in fact humanity, the jig is up so to speak.
And thus we are bombarded day after day, hour after hour of reminders as to why the “enemy” is not human like us, not compassionate like us, not patient, just and wise like us.
No doubt, war has been a necessary response when tyranny has formed an army to fight for its cause, but I would put forth that most wars have been rather unnecessary and downright manipulated for the design of a small group of people.
During WWI, on Dec 25th 1914, something rather unexpected occurred and a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front took place between the French/British soldiers and the German soldiers. Some even ventured into “no man’s land”, given its name since none left it alive, to mingle with the “enemy” and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps. A game of football took place as well. It is said that these truces were not unique to the Christmas period but that they were much more widespread during the holiday season.
These fraternisations would understandably make it quite difficult to return to combat against one another…for no apparently good reason. Some units needed to be relocated since they had developed friendships with the opposing side and now refused to fight them.
The lesson was quickly learned and propaganda was heavily pumped down the throats of the Allied countries, and by the course of just a few years, they no longer viewed the Germans as human.
American infrastructure
This is not one isolated incident. It’s everywhere. The money is being used in wars, and in the wallets of the wealthy. Not on the American citizenry. video 1MB
A beautiful girl in Hong Kong
Beautiful girls are everywhere. I have to tell you that I really like how clean and crisp that this girl looks as she hangs out in Mong Kok. video 5MB
The Battle For Your Mind
“Politicians, Priests, and psychiatrists often face the same problem: how to find the most rapid and permanent means of changing a man’s belief…The problem of the doctor and his nervously ill patient, and that of the religious leader who sets out to gain and hold new converts, has now become the problem of whole groups of nations, who wish not only to confirm certain political beliefs within their boundaries, but to proselytize the outside world.”
– William Sargant “Battle of the Mind”
Mass propaganda is the very reason why in this so-called “age of information”, we are more confused and divided from each other than ever…
It had been commonly thought in the past, and not without basis, that tyranny could only exist on the condition that the people were kept illiterate and ignorant of their oppression. To recognise that one was “oppressed” meant they must first have an idea of what was “freedom”, and if one were allowed the “privilege” to learn how to read, this discovery was inevitable.
If education of the masses could turn the majority of a population literate, it was thought that the higher ideas, the sort of “dangerous ideas” that Mustapha Mond for instance expresses in “The Brave New World”, would quickly organise the masses and revolution against their “controllers” would be inevitable. In other words, knowledge is freedom, and you cannot enslave those who learn how to “think”.
However, it hasn’t exactly played out that way has it?
The greater majority of us are free to read whatever we wish to, in terms of the once “forbidden books”, such as those listed by The Index Librorum Prohibitorum. We can read any of the writings that were banned in “The Brave New World”, notably the works of Shakespeare which were named as absolutely dangerous forms of “knowledge”.
We are now very much free to “educate” ourselves on the very “ideas” that were recognised by tyrants of the past as the “antidote” to a life of slavery. And yet, today, there is a fear of that very thing, that to “know” will label you an outcast from a “healthy” society. That the simple desire to know is the beginning of rebellion.
It is recognised, albeit superficially, that who controls the past, controls the present and thereby the future. George Orwell’s book “1984”, hammers this as the essential feature that allows the Big Brother apparatus to maintain absolute control over fear, perception and loyalty to the Party cause, and yet despite its popularity, there still remains today a lack of interest in actually informing oneself about the past.
What does it matter anyway, if the past is controlled and rewritten to suit the present? As the Big Brother interrogator O’Brien states to Winston, “We, the Party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not? [And thus, are free to rewrite it as we choose…]”
Of course, we are not in the same situation as Winston…we are much better off. We can study and learn about the “past” if we so desire, unfortunately, it is a choice that many take for granted. And thus, by our failure to ask the right questions and seek the appropriate answers, we find ourselves increasingly in the unsettling position of a Winston…we are enslaved by the very lack of our own will.
In Orwell’s “1984”, there are three main super states in the world: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia that are in one combination or another constantly at war with each other and have been so for the last 25 years.
In the case of Winston, he has only known Oceania (the British commonwealths and U.S.), he knows essentially nothing of either Eurasia or Eastasia, except that sometimes Oceania is at war with Eurasia and sometimes it is at war with Eastasia. In fact, even this memory, that the enemy is not constant, is not something Winston is supposed to recollect or acknowledge. Just by doing this very thing, he is committing a “thoughtcrime”.
Winston’s experience begs the questions, if one were born into a fascist, totalitarian state would they know it? Of course, the state itself would not describe itself as such. How would you be able to compare your “freedom” with the “oppression” of the enemy, when all you were given was what the state chose to give to you?
How do you know that what has come to shape your convictions, your beliefs, your fears really belong to you, and were not placed there by another?
We are all very sensitive to this unsettling question because ironically, that has also been placed in us. It was what started this whole business of “mind control”, you see, it had to be done…for our “protection”.
Chinese girl inside of her apartment
Yeah. This is all pretty typical. The homes are clean cool, spotless. If they have pets, they might keep them locked up in their cages for a while while the owners are busy doing other things. And dancing in the living room is normal. video 4MB
Warfare in the 21st Century
For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the pinnacle of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the pinnacle of skill.
– Sun Tzu
There are many different forms of warfare, but namely there is warfare that exists in the physical domain of aggression vs defense and warfare that exists in the mental domain of ideas.
The majority of tyrants from the ancient times to present day, have always had a network of powerful people behind them (whether they were aware of it or not) that opened up a path for them to sit on the throne so to speak. For example, we now know that there was a very direct support of Hitler coming from the Bank of England amongst other very influential institutions. That is, Hitler did not arise to power ‘naturally’ or by his mere merit.
The desperation of that economic environment in Germany was predictably formulated as a direct consequence of the Treaty of Versailles which was essentially a death sentence to the German people. And Hitler who had started to make a small name for himself was selected and endorsed as the ‘face’ of what had already been decided would be the fate of Germany.
Wars have almost always been the result of funding and organising from powerful groups with geopolitical interests, often of empire, who create an environment of disinformation and desperation amongst the people through economic and military warfare along with color revolutions.
However, once there was the creation of nuclear bombs, geopolitical warfare was changed forever.
Though we still use much of the same old strategies today, war is ever more located on the plane of ideas, and along with this the ever increasing focus on the manipulation of information and the populace’s perspective of who is good and who is bad.
The war that needs to be fought against the present tyranny is thus increasingly a mental war. In the case of the populace, all together they hold more power than they realise. The real crisis of today’s western thinking is that the people have forgotten how to think. Attention spans have gone down drastically along with a functional vocabulary. People are becoming more and more dominated by image based messages rather than content that requires more than a 10 minute attention span. Articles in the news keep getting shorter and shorter because people seemingly cannot be bothered with too much reading. Along with the serious decline in reading in replacement for quick entertainment (more successful than any book burning in history), people no longer bother to work for a comprehensive viewpoint. Information becomes an annoying barrage of ad campaigns, each yelling louder and more frequently than the other.
The solutions to our problems such as the oncoming economic collapse (in case you haven’t noticed we are doing everything the same as pre-2008), have their solutions in what Russia and China are presenting.
The initiation of war has almost always been presented as a false ‘necessity’, that is in response to the dominating geopolitical ‘balance’, which is basically meant to service the present system of empire, and the erroneous belief in zero sum game.
However, the idea that humans exist in a zero sum game, doomed to battle forever over a diminishing return of resources, was disproven time and again in modern history through the application of successful principles of national political economy. Notable examples of which include Colbert’s dirigisme of France’s 17th century (later revived during the presidency of Charles De Gaulle), the Hamiltonian system of America as exemplified by Abraham Lincoln’s Greenbacks, FDR’s New Deal, and JFK’s space program as well as its most recent expression of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
This system understands that fast money is parasitical and acts in direct opposition to the long-term investments required for projects that will revolutionise a nation’s infrastructure, including science-driver programs.
That debt for such long-term projects is not qualitatively the same as the present debt we see accruing today, and that debt towards investing for the future will always yield a higher return than the cost over time. This is why debt towards long-term investment on infrastructure and science driver projects, such as space exploration, will always be sustainable with a massive return quantitatively and qualitatively. Whereas, the gambling of fast money will very predictably lead to a collapse as was clearly indicated by the 2008 financial crisis, and which insanely has yet to be addressed with a serious bank reform.
The higher battle ground is being fought on the plane of ideas and which proposed ‘new system’ will replace the current collapsing one we are presently in. On the one side the hegemonic rule of a one world government who thinks that they can use force and oppression to rule and on the other side a multi-polar system of cooperating nation states committed to progress that will offer a real qualitative return for the future.
Little girl wants a father
Her mother is a single mom. She doesn’t have a father. She wants a photo with this stranger on the bus as she thinks that this is what her father must look like. video 5MB
Chinese girl getting ready to cook
Pretty girl. Food. Cooking…. Sheech! Oh so sexy. video 2MB
Speaking of cooking and food, let’s talk about some Chicken Fried Steak. Personally, I love it with two over-easy eggs and rye toast (with a freshly brewed cup of coffee) don’t you know…
Chicken Fried Steak with Creamy Gravy Recipe
Chicken Fried Steak
Steaks are a familiar dish on the dining table. Some people prefer their steaks roasted, and others prefer it prepared inside the oven like the classic oven-baked steak and potatoes. However, to some, steaks are a traditional culinary staple. The Southerners in America have a secret recipe, the chicken fried steak recipe. In this Southern cuisine, the steaks are deep-fried in a pan and served with creamy gravy.
But why is it called chicken fried steak when there’s no chicken? Well, the steak is cooked in a similar way to fried chicken, hence the dish’s name. This dish is made with a piece of tender beef steak that’s breaded with eggs, pan-fried, then topped with some creamy gravy.
There is nothing like this steak. People love serving it, and everyone loves to eat it! The best chicken fried steak is the one that’s cooked to golden perfection and topped with the most flavorful and creamy gravy. Using this recipe, the only difficult thing that comes is deciding whether to prepare it for lunch or dinner.
Skip the usual roasted steak. Prepare a fried steak that’s topped with creamy and flavorful gravy instead.
Use a meat mallet, rubber mallet, or rolling pin to flatten and thin out the steaks until they are less than ¼ inches thick. Season each steak with a pinch of salt.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees F.
Put a wire rack over a baking sheet, and set it aside. Prepare two shallow baking dishes.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. In another bowl, mix the salt, garlic powder, cayenne, and flour.
Dredge the steak in the flour mix one by one. Using your hands, press each side of the steak onto the flour mix.
Shake off the excess and dip the steak in the egg wash, coating every side. Repeat the process until all sides are well covered and coated. Set aside.
In a large pan, pour oil until it reaches ¼ inches deep for frying. Heat the oil until the oil sizzles when flour is dropped into it.
Lay the prepared steak one by one into the oil and cover the steak with oil. Fry for about 2 minutes until the edges turn golden brown.
When done, remove the steaks using a slotted spatula, and place them on the wire rack in the oven to keep warm.
Strain off any excess oil to get the drippings.
Gravy
Turn off the heat in the pan and pour out all but 3 tablespoons of oil and fat from the pan.
Whisk in 3 tablespoons of flour and stir constantly on medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the mixture turns light brown.
Slowly add the cream and milk, whisking continuously until the desired consistency is reached.
Season the gravy with a pinch of salt and pepper. Adjust accordingly.
Serve over the steak with eggs and mixed vegetables. Garnish.
Chicken Fried Steak
The Art of Doublethink
“WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”
George Orwell’s “1984” (Big Brother Mantra)
A truly immersive system of propaganda, which necessarily will be full of contradictions to the truth, absolutely requires that its subjects are compliant with “doublethink,” that is, the ability to accept two contradictory thoughts in your mind without acknowledging that they are in fact opposites.
Orwell identifies this under two forms of “doublethink”, which are “crimestop” and “blackwhite”. “Crimestop” meaning the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of a dangerous thought.
Orwell further states
“It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments…and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop in short, means protective stupidity.”
“Blackwhite”, is the act of contradiction of plain facts, applied to an opponent. And when applied to the Party, it is the willingness to say black is white when the Party discipline demands it so.
As Orwell describes it
“it means the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past…The alteration of the past is necessary for two reasons…The subsidiary reason is that…he must be cut off from the past, just as he must be cut off from foreign countries, because it is necessary for him to believe that he is better off… [the precautionary reason] by far the more important reason for the readjustment of the past is the need to safeguard the infallibility of the Party.”
Orwell continues
“The splitting of the intelligence which the Party requires of its members, and which is more easily achieved in an atmosphere of war, is now almost universal, but the higher up the ranks one goes, the more marked it becomes. It is precisely in the Inner Party that war hysteria and hatred of the enemy are strongest.”
That is, it is the Inner Party members who are the most indoctrinated, the best at inducing “mind control” or “doublethink” on themselves, and at the same time believe that it is the best and right thing to do.
Orwell describes “doublethink” thus:
“The process has to be conscious , or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence guilt…To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink.”
What many fail to grasp when reading “1984” is that Orwell is not only the character Winston, he is also the character O’Brien. He is the Outer Party member-turned-revolutionary, and he is the Inner Party disciplinarian.
He is simultaneously the tormentor-programmer as well as the tormented-programmed.
Winston eventually breaks and releases the one thing that kept him human, his love and loyalty to Julia. In the end, an announcement is made that Oceania is ever nearer to winning the war and Winston looks up at a large poster of Big Brother and cries gin-filled tears of joy and relief, for he had finally come to love Big Brother.
He had become O’Brien.
Chinese girl in a Japanese sushi restaurant
These restaurants are very popular in China. Asian people do love their seafood. And China is no exception. You can see the little sushi dishes going round and round on the railroad tracks behind her. If you ever decide to go, might I suggest the warm saki with it. Yum! video 3MB
Thailand / Cambodia lunch time
A great view of a normal day in the rural inland areas outside of China and in the more impovershed South East Asian nations. The United States wants to give billions of dollars to the rulers of these nations to build American miltiary bases, and start importing all sort of weapons there.
These nations said “No!”.
Instead, the nations elected to go with China who are building trains, roads, hospitals, clinics, and setting up industry in these remote and tranquil rural areas. Sure, the Western propaganda is promoting the idea of “you’ll be sorry” for building those hopsitals, high speed trains, roads, tunnels, bridges, social and community centers, and communication infrastructure. But you know, it sure beats having the wealthy get wealthier while the people live in poverty next to American bases ready to shoot up villages, sheep and cabbage patches.
Our most base fears, desires and obsessions. The voice that whispers in our ears telling us not to believe in anything genuine or honest, that the world we live in will ultimately destroy itself and thus it is all about looking out for number one. That it is our fate to be the playthings of higher powers.
This is the voice of a prisoner of Plato’s cave, neck shackled and looking at only shadows on a wall. This is not reality. This is the voice of someone who has been enslaved for most of their life. The voice of someone who has become so disempowered that they wholly accept whatever ugly condition is imposed upon them and will even work to defend it as necessary.
There is a way out of all of this, but you will have to become an optimist in order to see the solution.
“We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
– Abraham Lincoln
Chinese girl on the street
Thin. Leggy with a nice Guicci purse. Very typical. video 3MB
Rural girls on a boat somewhere on the Laos-China border
It’s poor right now, but these times are changing. The Chinese BRI are bringing money, health and education to millions of people in South East Asia. video
China 1973
As strange as it seems, this is how many Americans and their leadership believe what China is today.
Yeah. It’s strange. But there you have it. Look at the pictures from fifty years ago, and you can easily see that this is the image that the Main Stram Media are busy promoting as to what China is. video 5MB
Rainbow – L. A. Connection (Live) HD
When I was attending university, I took a heavy course load. Seriously, 21 credits of all technical subjects is rough. Aerospace-Mechanical Engineering. And while my friends would half-heartedly attend class, and then party on, I would tromp through the Syracuse snow to go to class, and then study in the Law Library until it closed at 2am.
I had a grueling schedule. Up at six in the morning. Then, 200 push-ups, and a three-mile run, then to the house where I lived. Then it’s a nice Northern European breakfast of toast and coffee, followed by a bus ride to the campus where I would attend school. (When I wasn’t riding my motorcycle, that is.)
And even at that, I had my failures. For instance, I completely failed my “mechanics of deformable bodies” class and had to take it two times. Though, on the second time, I aced the class.
It’s called life.
You move forward, and fall on your face. Then you get up. You dust yourself off, and then try again.
If you are thick-headed like MM here, you might have to go through twenty or thirty times before you get it right.
Anyway, it was stressful. Aside from my weight-lifting, and drinking with my close group of friends, I didn’t really have much in the way of escape. I think all of us fall into this routine cycle from time to time. We work towards a goal, and we sacrifice other things to make it there. It doesn’t matter what it is, really. We push ourselves. And, you know, it’s stressful.
This video is one of the songs that I used to listen to, and do push-ups to, when I was a student attending university. I hope you enjoy my little snapshot into my life at that time.
Warning, it’s 70s era hard rock and the video is of 1970s quality. Just imagine me doing push-ups to this music, getting ready to be a Naval Aviator in a few months. Totally motivated. I had a nice body when I was in my early 20’s. I should have been using it in more sexual persuits, but at that time, I was a goal-oriented fellow, and sex with pretty girls was not on the agenda.
I missed out on a lot of fun. I’ll tell you what.
Again. Such is life.
Girl in white halter
She’s made a big impression on Douxing. Partly becuase of her following and partly for her fish shaped body. video 3MB
Be the Rufus
The answer to help you go through this period of change is to always be the Rufus. video 243MB
Western society controls us by fear
Its fear of change. It’s fear of the unknown. It’s fear of what others think. It’s fear of rejection. Don’t be afraid. Make your move. If they don’t like it, let them howl.
Numerous reports are now circulating claiming that United States Army Major General Roger L. Cloutier has been CAPTURED by Russian forces in or around Mariupol, Ukraine where, the reports claim, he was helping the AZOV Battalion which is Ukraine’s official NAZI unit.
US Army General captured leading Nazis against Russians in Ukraine.
According to Wikipedia, Major General Roger L. Cloutier:
Roger L. Cloutier Jr. is a United States Armylieutenant general who serves as the Commander of the Allied Land Command. Previously, he served as the Commander of the United States Army Africa.Allied Land Command (LANDCOM) formerly Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe (LANDSOUTHEAST) is the standing headquarters for NATO land forces which may be assigned as necessary. The Commander LANDCOM is the prime land warfare advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, it provides the core of the headquarters responsible for the conduct of land operations. The command is based at Şirinyer (Buca), İzmir in Turkey.
Email to the Pentagon sent several HOURS ago, has gone unanswered which, from a media perspective, is very unusual. If this report was false, the Pentagon would deny it immediately. They have NOT denied it. But no official answer has come from the Pentagon either way as of 6:10 PM EDT Monday.
UPDATE 10:49 PM EDT, TUESDAY APRIL 5 —
I received an email tonight after my radio show, telling me that the Wikipedia page for General Roger L. Cloutier has been changed to say he DIED on March 28. The images below were sent to me with that email:
Screenshot 20220405 004924
And…
Screenshot 20220405 001125
MM Notes
Everything that the Russians have dealt with in Ukraine, and all the systems that they are encountering is now present in Taiwan. Taiwan is a carbon copy of Ukraine.
All of this is going to create some very NASTY lashback from Asia.
Do not be afraid of change!
All the Western news is so filled with fear, and of course, here on MM, I also point out the various directions where the world can turn. But know this;
The primary driver for the world collapse are elites in the West (United States).
Their plans negate the influence of the collective East because their egos cannot admit that they are large, powerful, and smart.
This is dangerous as all their actions are now hurting the West, and we are just now collectively “watching the boat fill with water” in real time.
The East are lead with merit driven leaders who are determined and serious.
The East also has the backing of The Domain.
While there could be WMB detonations (keep in mind that The Domain did NOT stop any of the multiple bioweapon attacks), it will be geographically limited. It will not go full-on MAD.
The Deagal Report of the remote viewing of 2025 is approaching 100% validity.
The impression that I am getting from The Commander, is that in ten years, we all will collectively look back on this time and say “Phew! We just narrowly missed THE BIG ONE.” That’s the impression that I have, but I can be wrong.
And I want to tell everyone, the glimpses that I have of the future are not distopian.
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.
There’s quite a bit going on in the world today. And if you listen to the “news”, well, it’s all very frightening. It just seems like the entire world is going to shit. Well, it seems that way, but don’t be so sure that that is the case. Actually, the people in control are actually very smart, and they live in Asia.
But the USA, well, it’s going to Hell in a handbasket.
Here we are just going to throw out some representative articles about the global Geo-political situation mixed up with other tidbits of a MM interest. I hope that you enjoy this adventure.
Rufus gets wet
You have to stop being a spectator and start participating in life. Stop watching and start doing. Here is what happens when you make that change. you become a Rufus, and your entire life changes. video 2MB
American Consumers Ditch Brand Names For Generic Food As Inflation, Shortages Hit Supermarkets
U.S. consumers’ loyalty to brand names at supermarkets is quickly evolving as they try new grocery products amid snarled supply chains and high inflation.
Top food companies like Kraft Heinz Co. and Kellogg Co. are at dire risk of losing market share as supermarket operators grapple with shortages and fill empty store shelves with lower-cost brands, industry insiders told WSJ.
American households are money-conscious more than ever as inflation hits four-decade highs and takes a bite out of their monthly spending budgets. Some consumers have broken ranks of years and years of brand loyalty only to buy whatever is on the shelf, often generic brands.
“We see people make more choices on items because they are available,” said Tony Sarsam, chief executive officer of grocery chain SpartanNash Co.
Sarsam said SpartanNash had reduced shelf space for food products from major brands because of shortages, allowing it to expand room for local brands, which had more dependable supply.
Private-label consulting company Daymon Worldwide Inc. conducted a survey between May 2020 and August 2021 and found 70% of U.S. consumers bought new or tried different brands in a post-pandemic world. This means brand loyalty could be collapsing as consumers buy what is available and the cheapest.
Even though consumers generally buy familiar brands, industry analysts show high inflation and belt-tightening by households have forced many to find a better deal to make their dollars go further, even if that means buying generic brands.
84.51 LLC, a data analysis business of supermarket giant Kroger Co., also confirms consumers are switching to low-cost brands.
Kroger’s 84.51 said that 90% of consumers are willing to try another brand if their primary brand is unavailable.
WSJ spoke with one consumer in Fort Lauderdale who has been, like many other Americans, trying out new brands because the ones they wanted were out of stock or because prices were too high.
The days of supermarkets carrying only top-shelf brands could be over as shortages and inflation open new opportunities for food companies that can deliver low-cost products.
The shift in shopping behavior is a significant warning for major brands as supermarkets are desperately trying to fill shelf space amid shortages. People are more inclined to try new brands, and many seek low-cost ones.
“There hasn’t been a lot of customer resistance,” said Jonathan Weis, chief executive of Weis Markets Inc., referring to consumers trying generic brands. “They’d rather get orange juice than no orange juice,” he added.
Your comments please.
Old-Fashioned Tangy Cabbage
Here’s something fun and super easy to make.
When was the last time that you had a side of cabbage with your meal? Probably in ages. I’ll tell you what, you are not going to get this in a restrurant as you will have to make it yourself. There is not a single fast-food establishment that will serve this great dish. But don’t worry. It’s delicious and easy to make.
Old Fashioned Tangy Cabbage
Old-Fashioned Tangy Cabbage is the perfect go-along for almost any main dish. It’s a simply delicious combination of cabbage and apples, simmered in cider and a few other great seasonings, too!
Your comments please.
What You’ll Need
1 green cabbage, shredded (about 12 cups)
2 red apples, cored, seeds removed, and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
What to Do
In a soup pot, combine all ingredients.
Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium, and cook 25 to 30 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and cabbage is tender.
People have hardships
Oh, yes they do, and a Rufus is aware of them. This is becuase a Rufus has experienced them himor herself. We know. We understand, and we are there to help. Be the helping-hand Rufus. Show empathy and understanding. video
Your comments please.
The United States should have heeded Lee Hsien Loong’s advice.
By Global Times Published: Apr 01, 2022 12:21 AM
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Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is on an eight-day visit to the US. Lee mentioned many times the solidarity and cooperation of the international community.
He reminded Washington that if the US cuts off China, “the price is very high.”
He also emphasized that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework should be built “on a win-win basis,” and “as a way to engage the region and not just on strategic or security and potentially hostile basis.”
This is not the first time that Lee raised kind reminder to Washington.
He has expressed similar views many times before, including describing the two superpowers, China and the US, as “conjoined twins,” and warning that clash between the two powers would be a disaster for the world.
In addition, Lee has many times expressed the attitude that Singapore cannot take sides.
Singapore is one of the US’ closest partners in Southeast Asia, though not a formal treaty ally. Former US president Barack Obama once said Singapore is an anchor for the US presence in the region. At the same time, Singapore has significant influence in ASEAN. Therefore, Lee’s remarks are sincere to Washington and representative and symbolic in ASEAN.
“When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” This phrase is being brought up more and more frequently today, which reflects a sense of realistic anxiety. ASEAN countries are reluctant to be forced to take sides between China and the US, and they are more worried about becoming a wrestling ring in the game of major powers.
Singapore can be regarded as one of the countries that have achieved a relatively good balance between China and the US.
But with the promotion of the US’ strategic containment against China, it has become more and more difficult to maintain this balance. It is noticeable that when Lee made objective remarks on China-US ties this time, he was labeled a “Beijing whisperer.”
But in any case, even if the US covers its ears, wears a blindfold and exerts brute force, it still cannot change the reality that the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy is unpopular in the region.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi recently said publicly that the US needs a stronger economic agenda for the Asia-Pacific region, as opposed to its current focus on security issues. “What the people want is prosperity, not only security… our people will ask what is the meaning of developing the concept if [‘the Indo-Pacific strategy’] doesn’t bring economic benefits for the people,” she noted. ASEAN countries are generally aware that the US only wants to create a “bridgehead” against China in the region.
For a while in the past, some countries believed that if they made enough concessions, the US could provide enough support to them. However, it has been proven time and again that US promises are like window paper.
Washington’s “America First” agenda, which only cares about itself and not others, has made some countries suffer and made others more alert. Singapore had actively embraced the US-sponsored Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but it ended in vain, with the US withdrawing from the agreement. Today, the US is trying to promote another NATO in the Asia-Pacific and expand NATO to the region, embedding more risks of conflict in the region.
As a country embedded in globalization, Singapore cannot afford a geopolitical confrontation between major powers and attaches particular importance to the security and stability of its surrounding environment. Thus, it is extraordinarily sensitive to geopolitical risks and has a forward-looking judgment on the situation. In the past two years, Singaporean politicians have warned on various occasions that the Asia-Pacific region is moving in a very dangerous direction and have repeatedly expressed their call for the US to accept China’s rise, and that they “don’t wish to be forced into making invidious choices,” while stressing that this is also in the fundamental interests of the US. Such voices of reason, however, are often ignored by Washington.
An unavoidable reality is that though the US wants to weave a tight net to besiege China, the net cannot withstand scrutiny. Be it the Five Eyes alliance, Quad or AUKUS, none of the members are ASEAN countries. Public opinion has noticed that at the press conference after US President Joe Biden met with Lee Hsien Loong, Biden mentioned the Indo-Pacific six times, but Lee hardly used this term which is an American concept that carries strong bloc politics, and chose “Asia Pacific,” a clear indication of a gap with the US’ stance.
A just cause has many helpers while an unjust one finds few followers. No force can run counter to the trends and hearts and minds. Even though Washington can continue to fool the public opinion, it cannot fill up the hollowing out of the Indo-Pacific strategy. If Washington cannot even listen to the advice of Singapore, a close ally, reality will teach it a profound lesson.
Barry White
He has been such an inspiration in my life. Seriously. Most especially his later stuff. And unfortunately he died young. Be that kind of inspiration.
Learning about China by looking at the Chinese girls here
This is a great and a fun way to get a snapshot of another nation. You take a look at the society, and in this case, you look at the women and girls there. Of course, if all you do is watch American “mainstream media” you might think that Chinese girls are flat-chested, thin waifs that tremble becuse they are overwhelmed by the great mass of horny menfolk (due to the one child policy). Of course, it’s a massive lie, but heck. If you want to be stupid, stay that way. I just don’t give a fuck. Here’s what Chinese girls really look like. Video.
Do these girls look like they are downtrodden, helpless, thin, look like little girls desirous of American democracy?
Model Trains
About twenty five years ago I subscribed to a HO scale catalog. This was sort of my dream book. There, I would leaf through the pages in this 30mm thick (one inch think… telephone sized book) catalog with all sorts of glossy images of toy trains and homes, and buildings.
Farm supply building.
Its not that I actively had a HO layout or was involved in this hobby. Instead, it was a fantasy that I employed to relax with.
I would go to the bathroom, and take a nice dump while I would leaf though the pages. There, I would imagine the model layouts that I could construct, were I to have thousands of dollars in disposible income. Alas, it never happened, but it was a nice escape.
Though, for me, instead of visualizing trains, and train lines, I actually visualized building towns, bridges, farms, and tiny, tiny communities. All peopled with tiny, tiny people.
Used Book Store.
You can visit their web page here, and get lost in the latest in cool minitures and tiny, tiny people.
Barber Shop.
Of course, there are locomotives and train cars galore.
Box car.
Did you ever have a train set growing up? How old were you and what kind was it?
Chinese patriotism
The big lie parroted and regurgitated thoughout the Western media is that the Chinese are downtrodden, unhappy and yearning for democracy. All that needs to happen is a “regime change” and then the United States can come on into China and fix things the “American Way”. It’s a big bunch of sloppy, juicy bullshit. The Chinese approval ratings for the Communist Party are around 98%.
Here’s some glimpses of just how overwhelmingly patriotic the Chinese are about their Communist Government. video 74MB
The United States is supposed to be the beacon for the world. Why isn’t this level of patriotism experienced inside the ‘States?
Inside Info: Israeli Pay Sheet for Internet TROLLS
Israel pays people to be Internet TROLLS, and to intentionally “steer” Internet conversations and information in a pro-Israel direction. The pay sheet below shows what these TROLLS are being paid to do:
Paid Troll.
So while YOU are out on the net, perusing public opinion about issues and news, these folks seem to be out there intentionally steering content to achieve THEIR goals.
They don’t have to tell the truth. They don’t have to actually believe what they’re posting. They get paid to post.
Remember that as you peruse the Internet. There are people and groups and entities deliberately manipulating what you read to manipulate YOUR opinion and views.
As I have clearly stated, the algorithms that decide which websites to harrass are totally flummoxed by the MM systems of multiple subjects covering a wide variety of topics.
Australia’s big new move on China: Major announcement expected
A major announcement is expected to be made in response to a controversial decision involving China and a crucial Australian site. It appears the Australia is going to place a massive American logistics base near Darwin port, or break their contract with the Chinese. Why would they do such a thing?
The door has been left open to building a new port facility in Darwin port amid concerns over a Chinese company leasing the existing port.
A Defence review found there was no national security grounds to recommend the Morrison government to overturn the port’s 99-year agreement with China’s Landbridge Group.
Buried in a media release from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was the inclusion of $1.5bn for “new port infrastructure” in Darwin.
Asked if it was for a new Darwin port, to be announced as an election commitment, Defence Minister Peter Dutton did not rule it out.
“There's a massive commitment from the government into the Northern Territory and that does look at port development and ways in which we might be able to look at support through contracts in defence for example,” Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra.
It seems “new” and fancy. When really, it’s a flavor experiment that is really a fun thing to make up on a nice lazy weekend.
Italian Style Sourdough Melt
Sourdough bread adds a special artisan touch to this easy Italian Style Sourdough Melt. Inspired by a famous San Francisco sourdough bread, this sandwich is easily made at home.
What You’ll Need
2 tablespoons pesto
4 slices sourdough bread
1/4 pound sliced deli ham
1/4 pound sliced deli salami
1 tomato, sliced
4 slices provolone cheese
What to Do
Spread pesto evenly over one side of each bread slice. Equally divide the ham, salami, tomato, and provolone cheese on two slices of the bread.
Heat sandwiches open-faced in a toaster oven, or on a baking sheet in a 350 degree F. oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Top with remaining 2 slices of bread, and serve.
MM discusses public services
It’s a nice walk around near my house. I just chat some about public services, streets, easy transportation access. Maintenance. Public toilets. Trash pickup. Etc.
Do you like my walk abouts? If so, then tell me your thoughts.
The Euro-weenies to order China to sanction Russia
The European Union and China will hold a virtual summit today. Before the summit started Brussels has strewn rumors that it would pressure China to not support Russia. That’s not going to happen. As of 4FED22, Russia and China are one single nation; a United Asia.
China is of course rejecting any pressure and retaliates by pointing out Europe’s weak strategic autonomy:
Hours before the China-EU leaders' meetings on Friday, Chinese analysts warned that China-EU relations cannot be kidnapped by the Ukraine crisis, and Europe should no longer be abducted by the US in foreign policy, as it will greatly undermine the EU's own interests, making it difficult to ensure economic recovery and people's livelihood, and runs counter to Europe's aim of pursuing strategic independence. ...As the Russia-Ukraine conflict stretches to over a month, Europe has sustained great pressure resulting from sanctions against Russia and its over-reliance on US-led NATO security structure."The EU is now kidnapped by the US on security, but that does not conform to the strategic independence EU has pursued," [Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies] said.To avoid being caught in hot water again, the EU must take control of its own destiny. And developing ties with China provides the EU an opportunity to develop in a more balanced and comprehensive way in the long term, he said.
Its reliance on the U.S./NATO is Europe’s core strategic weakness. The U.S. has used it to infiltrate Europe’s decision making structures.
How could EU possibly consider that they have any persuasive power to dictate to China? The truth is easy to see. China shall satisfy its national interests. Nothing more, and nothing less. Meanwhile, the EU will satisfy its master’s interests; The Unittied States.
These bucco’s are all a bunch of hallucinating fruit-cases.
I am not at all exaggerating. This is the absolute definition of insanity. When you have repeatable experiences that has time and time again, proven a repeatable result, and yet, a person (or organization) insists on a different result. Sheech! Didn’t China reject Europe’s requests of abandoning Russia multiple times in the past?
>The recent failed attempt by 3 Ukrainian helicopters to evacuate troops from Mariupol was a desperate mission with very low chances of success. This raises the question why would Ukraine risk what little is left of its airforce for something so suicidal?
>Macron started spamming Putin with calls, demanding permission to carry out a "humanitarian evacuation" in Mariupol with the help of French, Greek forces.
>The head of the French military intelligence is getting fired for "failures" to "proper assess" the situation in Ukraine.So we have:
>.ua suicide mission to evacuate someone>Macron shitting bricks and begging Putin>Head of French military intelligence getting sacked
Further sources indicate the presence of two #France intelligence #DGSE operatives (both said to be dead) on board the crashed helicopter. This would explain #Macron's desperate please to #Putin as of late to organize a French-led evacuation from #Mariupol#MARIUPOL—With respect to the 2nd chopper shot down, it fell several kilometres off the coast of Mariupol, in the #Azov sea. The location is currently being investigated.#MARIUPOL—Sources indicate that, at #Azovstal, a group totaling 20—of #US (#American) & #UK (#British) military advisors of #Azov defenders, as well as several UK #SBU (#Ukraine|ian secrete police) advisors—is holed up, together with Azov fighters. They were too late to evacuate.
You get this great item of clothing on the internet, and you can’t wait until it arrives. You check the size and and put it on, and this is what happens…
Not quite ideal.
Women can add their thoughts.
Secrets
Everyone has a story to tell. Some are good, and some are not so good. But that’s life. It’s what makes us human. Here’s a story from a man that holds a secret inside that he can never let out.
A while back, I was cheating on my wife with a coworker. It went on for months, and I never really cared for the woman I was cheating with. She was super hot, though.
After a while my coworker started getting really crazy and threatening to tell my wife (whom I had a child with and a baby on the way) about everything. Obviously, I kept trying to cut things off because I realized I was making a mistake.
She lost it one night and was freaking out and texting me telling me she was going to come to my house, and a drunk driver hit her. She died instantly.
No one knows I was having an affair, and my family went to her funeral.
Some secrets are left buried. There’s no need to tell anyone about this, and there’s no justifiable reason to do so.
Oh Hell no!
Yikes!
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Your comments.
Why Chinese audiences don’t love Hollywood blockbusters any more?
A new change By Chen XiPublished: Mar 30, 2022 07:24 PM
March is coming to an end, but the three highly anticipated foreign language films The Batman, Moonfall and Uncharted have failed to inject new life into the current stagnant Chinese mainland box office.
As of Wednesday, the total box office of the three films has not been able to surpass the 300 million yuan ($47 million) mark, with The Batman, Moonfall and Uncharted grossing 117 million yuan, 74.68 million yuan and 90.31 million yuan respectively, according to China’s ticketing platform Maoyan.
The current surge in COVID-19 cases nationally has probably been a large barrier preventing them from maximizing their box office as Maoyan shows that as of Tuesday only 46.8 percent of mainland theaters are open.
Pessimistic outlook
China’s Qingming Festival holiday is set to kick off in the beginning of April. In recent years, more small and medium-budget domestic films have chosen to debut during this time because, unlike the Spring Festival, they do not have to worry about competing against big blockbusters.
For example, Sister took home 860 million yuan when it was released during the Qingming Festival period in 2021, driving the overall box office of this period to a record high.
However, due to the current COVID-19 outbreak in China, four domestic films that were set to debut during the Qingming Festival have delayed their release dates. This has allowed two foreign language films Escape Room: Tournament of Champions and Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania to take the lead in the schedule, although they may find the Chinese film market a tough nut to crack, according to a report from Maoyan on Wednesday.
The report noted that more domestic films are likely to be released in April only after the outbreak is brought under control.
Looking at the overall schedule, only one to two foreign language movies are set to be released each week throughout April in the mainland film market, including the highly anticipated The Secrets of Dumbledore, US action thriller film Ambulance and Indian blockbuster Drishyam.
Inevitable trend
Chinese film observers, however, say that the COVID-19 pandemic has only been a “catalyst” and that it is inevitable for Chinese audiences to eventually lose interest in Hollywood movies.
According to industry insiders, there are many reasons behind this trend.
First of all, Hollywood has been producing fewer original stories in recent years as the industrialization of Hollywood has caused it to focus more on movie franchises, comic book adaptations and visual effects blockbusters, Shi Wenxue, a film critic based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
“Whether it is The Batman or Spider-Man, Hollywood only captivates audiences through nostalgia without any creative expression about the current international situation and the impact of the pandemic on human beings,” he added.
Shi is not the only one to think this way.
The hashtag “Why does the Chinese audience dislike watching Hollywood movies?” began trending on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo recently. Some netizens said they feel the main reason is that Hollywood has indeed become too commercialized, producing routine “fast-food”-like movies without any innovation by assembly line, and that the current Hollywood output is incomparable with past classics such as The Godfather, Forrest Gump and Avatar.
Shi Chuan, vice chairman of the Shanghai Film Association, told the Global Times on Wednesday that films from other countries, especially those made in Japan, South Korea and India, also pose a threat to Hollywood movies in China.
“Movies like Japanese film Shoplifters and Indian blockbuster Dangal achieved huge success in the Chinese film market, as the stories from neighboring countries resonate more with Chinese audiences. This shows that only good stories can hit people’s hearts,” he said.
He added that in the past, when the China’s economy was lagging behind the rest of the world, people only had access to simple means of entertainment, and so were naturally attracted to the technology and culture of economically developed regions. However, now that Chinese audiences are more open-minded and confident, their taste in movies has improved.
The huge successes of Wolf Warrior 2, The Wandering Earth and The Battle at Lake Changjin prove that the Chinese film market has been rapidly developing.
“We create our own heroes and most of them are adapted from real historical stories, which makes them more convincing.”
In 2020, China surpassed North America to become the world’s largest film market in terms of box office.
Shi pointed out that a deeply rooted reason for the decline may also stem from Chinese audiences questioning the US-centric ideology on display in Hollywood films, which tend to be about the American Dream or portray the ideological embodiment of US hegemony.
“Chinese no longer believe in US heroes in their stories. In the current international context, we don’t seem to need this kind of salvation, let alone fully identify with what they value,” he said.
The policy was adopted by NFL owners during their annual meeting on March 28 and requires all 32 NFL teams to hire an offensive assistant coach who is “a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority,” regardless of whether or not the team already has a coach who satisfies those requirements among their staff.
In the Clinton 1990s, the wisdom circulated that White America was getting replaced and therefore, business needed to cater to the New Americans.
Various comically condescending attempts followed, after which point they finally hit on a solution of sorts: continue affirmative action but through private industry.
To be part of the goodthinker club in the coastal cosmopolitan metroplexes where the executives, publicists, journalists, and investors live, therefore, it seemed like a logical rationalization from precedent to start with more of these programs, even though it is steadily driving away their core audience.
It is one hell of a piss-boor business model.
The curse of the white cat.
The curse of the white cat.
White cat owners please chime in.
Why it is important to not use cheap measuring tapes
This is shocking!
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It gives “China” a bad name. Though, actually the white tape looks to be from Vietnam.
My son was very troubled. VERY troubled. If you have seen the movie “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, it will really help to understand what I’m talking about, because I swear to God when I watched that film I thought I was watching a documentary of my life, I felt like the writer must have had cameras hidden in my damn house, that’s how accurate it was. The only difference is that in the movie, the boy appears normal to his father and only reveals his true nature to his mother, with my son he didn’t have that mask. His insane behavior was the same with everyone.
From the day he was born, my son just came out wrong. He was planned, my wife and I tried to get pregnant and were ecstatic when he was born. He was wanted and loved. We showered affection on him and really tried to give him a happy childhood. But from the day we brought him home from the hospital, he was miserable. He cried for 13 months straight. I’m not exaggerating, 13 months without a break, he cried until he had no voice left and kept crying, you could see his little face scrunched up and no sound coming out, totally hoarse. There were times he would literally be crying in his sleep, I’ve never seen or heard of any other kid able to do that. We brought him to doctors, specialists, tried changing his diet, held him, rocked him, toys, swaddling, music, mobiles, everything we could think of. Nothing worked. 13 months of grating, grinding, no sleep hell.
Once he got over the crying stage, we thought we were out of the woods. But it quickly became clear that for some unknown reason, he was just angry at being alive. I never saw that kid have a genuine, joyous smile once in the time I knew him. I saw him grin a vicious, horrible grin many times, taking a perverse pleasure from causing pain or suffering or breaking a rule, but a smile from real pleasure at something nice? No, never. Not once. He had no interest in anything positive; he was fueled by hate, and everything he did was bent toward that.
As soon as he could walk, his mission in life was to destroy things. He would break or try to break anything that came in his range, smash it, chew it, throw it in the toilet, whatever he could. After a while he figured out how to get his diaper off and took great pleasure in shitting and pissing anywhere he could. After a while he figured out he could hide it, and started pissing and shitting in places we wouldn’t find right away, grinding it into carpets making it even more of a problem to clean and making the house stink. When he got older, (ages 9-15) he would piss and shit in our bed, until we got a lock on our door and he wasn’t able to get in anymore; then he’d just take a dump in the hallway in front of our room. That biological warfare started around a 2 and a half years old and he never grew out of it.
I’ll try to speed it up as I could literally go on for days about this stuff, but as he grew older, he became more and more unmanageable. He would bite, kick, scream, scratch and spit at anyone trying to do anything with him. He was kicked out of school twice before he was 9, then let him back in and then kicked him out for good, he had to change schools. The next one put him in a special class that kept him away from the other students. We had to install a door and lock on the kitchen because he would steal knives and use them to gouge the walls/furniture or chase people with them. When he was 10, he stabbed me pretty good in the hip and ass, I still have the scars. As he grew older, he grew darker. He moved into setting things on fire, and torturing local animals. There was a stray dog that hung out around the park near our house, my son blinded it in one eye with a BBQ fork. He would dip cat’s tails in gasoline and light them on fire. He became a violent, stinking, vicious beast that lived in our house. We couldn’t do anything with him.
YES, we had the kid in fucking therapy. He saw a psychiatrist twice a week, and had god knows how many different medications prescribed to him over the years. Nothing worked. Therapy didn’t work. Meds didn’t work. Nothing fucking worked. He was like a poison cloud of hate and fury lashing out at anything in his reach.
When my son was 16, my wife got pregnant again. I can’t tell you how different our reaction was. Instead of joy, we felt horror. This pregnancy had not been planned, and we really were at a loss over what to do. My son had been such an unending nightmare for 16 years, we couldn’t take the idea of starting again from the beginning. We talked a lot about terminating, but a) access to abortion was not as easy in those days as it is now, and b) my wife was very against it. We talked about many options. In the end, we decided that my wife would have the baby, and if it turned out evil we would put it up for adoption. We knew we just couldn’t do it again with another child like our son.
We had a daughter. She was normal. Suddenly we saw what our lives should have been like the whole time, how things would have been had our son not been himself. She laughed at things. She breast fed without biting (she didn’t have teeth yet anyway, but you could tell she was just trying to eat, not tear her mom’s breast off). After 4 months she was sleeping through the night. She was happy. She was NORMAL. I can’t describe the relief and happiness that we both felt, I don’t have the words for it.
This where I believe I may have started really pulling back from my son. Up until that time, whatever mistakes I made, I had always tried to do the best for my son, I am convinced of that. I tried to help him and love him and care for him, I really tried. But when my daughter was born, my wife and I both instinctively just turned toward her. She became our focus, not from malice, but just because she was so much EASIER. She was so happy and sweet, every moment we were with her was like magic. I understand this was wrong, but we honestly couldn’t help it. I don’t have a better explanation than that.
My son hadn’t given a shit about my wife being pregnant, I honestly don’t know if he really understood it, but when we brought our daughter home he started acting out even more. I didn’t think it was possible, but he took it up another notch. At this time he was 17, and we were having blow-out screaming matches daily. Usually after we fought, he would storm out of the house and disappear for hours at a time, or come back the next morning. It was a relief. I started to actually look forward to our fights because it would get him away from us for a while.
After the birth of our daughter, my relationship with my son was almost entirely gone, our only real interactions were screaming at each other. My wife was even worse with him, she just had nothing left. By that time, if our son even came in to the same room as her, she would just stop whatever she was doing and start screaming “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY! GET THE FUCK OUT!” until he left. He started spending more and more time out of the house, which was a blessing for us. I have no idea what he got up to out in the world, but we were just happy it wasn’t being inflicted on us.
As a consequence of our son’s behavior, we had invested heavily in locks around our house. All of the cheap, thin interior doors in our home had been replaced with think, dense wood doors that couldn’t be kicked through, equipped with keyed locks that my wife and I carried keys to. I know it sounds extreme, but locks and heavy doors were the best way we had found to create safe spaces from him. I was not locking my son in rooms like a prisoner, he had free reign of the house and could come and go as he pleased. My wife and I would lock OURSELVES in rooms to protect ourselves from him, if anything WE were the prisoners in our own home.
On the day in question, I had fought with my son in the morning and he had left the house in a rage. My wife and I were enjoying some peace and quiet in the kitchen while our daughter napped in our bedroom. And then my daughter began crying. Any parent who has young children can tell you, you get used to your child’s cries and you can tell after a while what they need, they cry differently if they are hungry, or need changing, or are just restless and want to be held. Babies can communicate pretty well before they can speak. This cry was none of those things. This cry was terror. The second we heard it my wife and I were both up out of our chairs and running to the room. The door was locked of course, and it took a few seconds to get the right key and get it open.
My son was in the room. We lived in a bungalow, and the bastard had climbed in the window to get to her. He was standing over her crib with a steak knife in his hand. I have no idea where he got it, it wasn’t one of ours; we controlled our knives very carefully and always kept them in locked drawers. I think he may have stolen it from one of our neighbor’s houses. He had broken her skin twice already, once in the belly area and once on her arm. I could see blood running down. When I entered the room he was dragging the back of the knife down her face, not cutting, almost tickling her with it, teasing her while she screamed. He looked up at us and smiled.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was already moving, running to put myself between them. I didn’t think about it, I just moved instinctively. Even with that, my wife got there faster, it was like a movie on fast forward, she got to our son and bashed his hand away, knocking the knife across the room and then shoved him with her whole body weight, so hard that he flew away from the crib and bounced off the wall. I picked up my daughter and held her while my wife screened us. I could see her shaking, almost convulsing. I can remember the smell of the room, the sound of my daughter screaming and wailing. The look on my son’s face as he stood there. Just nothing. Blank, dead, there was nothing in his eyes, no emotion. He looked like an alien to me. I watched my wife take a step toward him. I could have reached out and stopped her, but I didn’t. She stepped forward again, very close to him. I could have stopped her again. But I didn’t. She waited, looking at him for maybe 3 to 5 seconds without moving. And then she punched him in the face.
Now until this point, you may have been picturing my wife as a typical woman, small frame, dainty, delicate. This is not the case. My wife does have a small frame, but dainty and delicate she is not, never has been since I’ve known her. Since her early teens, my wife has been a boxer. MMA didn’t exist back then, but karate and boxing were big in those days, and my wife was a VERY talented amateur. She was about 130 pounds, she carried a lot of muscle and she knew how to punch. I had 70 pounds on her back then, and I have no doubt that in a real fight between me and her she could have and would have pounded me flat. Neither of us had ever laid a hand on our son in anger before, but something broke in her that day, and all the years of anger and pain and sorrow and frustration just came pouring out. When she hit him his head snapped back and blood started pouring out of his nose. He hardly reacted, he just looked at her with this shocked expression like he didn’t know how to process what had just happened. She waited another second. And then she hit him again.
I could have reached out and stopped her. I could have dragged her out of the room, taken her away, calmed her. I didn’t. I just stood there and watched while she systematically started to pound him to a pulp. Every time he brought his hands to cover one part she would blast him somewhere else, body, head, body, head, over and over. He started screaming, crying out, yelling for her to stop. It’s the most genuine reaction I’d ever seen him have to anything in his whole life. But she wasn’t stopping. I watched her ramping up, hitting harder, faster, working him like a heavy bag. He tried to swing at her and she slipped him easily. She was on auto pilot, sinking down into her training. I stood there watching for a minute. Then I turned my back on them and took my daughter out of the room.
I brought my daughter to the kitchen and gave her a bath in the sink. I found that he had cut her a third time on the sole of her foot. All the cuts were superficial. I cleaned her up and held her until she calmed. I put Polysporin and Band-Aids on her cuts. In our bedroom, I could hear my son screaming, calling my wife horrible names, telling her he would cut her head off and fuck her corpse. After a while, I didn’t hear him saying anything anymore, didn’t even hear him crying out. I assumed that he must have been knocked out. But I could still hear her beating him.
That went on for a long time. Long enough for my daughter to drift off to sleep in my arms. I just sat at the kitchen table waiting for her to finish. Finally she came out and sat down across from me. Her hands were swollen and red. Her face and arms were splattered with blood. Her chest was heaving. We just stared at each other without saying anything. After a while I asked her “Is he dead?” She looked back at me and answered “I fucking hope so”. I nodded. That was all there was to say about that. I understood how she felt perfectly. I felt the same. I didn’t know what to do, so we just sat there waiting silently. Eventually my wife started crying and went to go take a shower. I just stayed where I was holding our daughter.
After a long while, I heard moaning and sobbing coming from our room. It turned out that my son wasn’t dead. I went in to see how bad it was, and it was… pretty bad. I’ve never seen a more merciless beating laid onto anyone, before or since. He was lying on the floor, rolling around with blood leaking out of his face, lying in a pool of vomit. His nose was squashed flat out across his face, both of his eyes were completely swollen shut and starting to blacken already. I could see that a couple of his fingers were bent out at weird angles and he had pissed his pants. I think he must have been missing teeth, but I couldn’t see any on the floor and I couldn’t see inside his mouth, his lips were all puffed up and swollen. From talking to my wife about it later, I know now that she had systematically beaten every part of his body, focusing heavily on his legs. She told me she kicked him in the groin repeatedly until her legs got tired, and had kept beating his body long after he had passed out.
When my wife came out of the shower, I still didn’t know what to do about our son. I didn’t know whether to call the police or an ambulance, take him to the hospital myself, I honestly didn’t have any idea what to do. After a while I realized that I simply didn’t care what happened to him anymore, and we decided to just let him live or die on his own. There was an in-law suite in the basement that we had never really used, and my wife, my daughter and I just moved down there. We simply ceded the top floor of the house to my son and locked everything down, separated our lives entirely. There was plenty of food in the upstairs cabinets, enough for a couple weeks or more, he had a washroom and bedrooms to use. We had a washroom in the basement, a small kitchenette, and a separate entrance so we just stopped going upstairs. We just decided we were done with him. I figured we’d let his food run out and see what happened.
Over the next week we could hear him moving around upstairs sometimes. I think he just spent most of time lying in bed recovering. I went to work, watching on high alert in case he attacked me in the driveway, but he never did. My wife stayed home with our daughter. She was never out of our sight. One night we heard him going ballistic, smashing things and banging. We didn’t respond. He never tried to get downstairs or get near us though. I think he was afraid that if he got near us again, my wife might finish the job on him. After three weeks down in the basement, we hadn’t heard anything from up above for a few days, and I ventured upstairs to the main floor of the house.
The place was demolished, and there was no sign of my son. He was gone. It took months to repair the damage he had done and get the main floor back to normal again. There was food and shit smeared all over the walls and broken glass on the floor, big holes in the dry wall, he had ripped the place apart. He tore up the linoleum in a corner of the kitchen and emptied an entire foam fire extinguisher into the living room. I feel thankful that he didn’t burn the house down with us in it, I’m honestly not sure why he didn’t, the kid wasn’t shy about lighting things on fire. After that, I lived in fear every day that he would come back, that he would ambush us out of the blue and try to kill us. We moved house about 3 years later and I finally stopped being afraid that he would show up again, as now he had no idea where we were. I finally felt safe from him.
All this happened a long time ago. My son was born in the spring of 1971, my daughter was born in ’88. I’m an old man now, I’ll be 70 this year and my wife passed from cancer in 2016. My daughter is 31 now, I moved in with her and her husband after my wife passed. I’ve got two granddaughters and they are the joy of my life. I see a therapist a couple times a month to talk about all this. I don’t know where my son is. The last time I saw him was when he was lying on the floor of our bedroom, bleeding and smashed. I haven’t heard from him since he left, more than 30 years now. I don’t want to.
I carry a lot of guilt from that time, and a lot of conflicted emotions. I didn’t beat him myself, but I allowed him to be beaten, and I thought he deserved it. I was happy it happened. I didn’t try to kill him, but I would have been happy if he died. I will say that I do hope he was able to overcome his demons and go live a normal life somewhere. If he wasn’t able to do that, if he stayed the way he was, then I truly do hope someone out there killed him. When I knew him he was a rabid dog, and whichever way it went I just hope he isn’t still out there hurting anyone else.
…
This entire write up has shooken me. As someone who was married to a mentally ill person, I could very much relate to the situation that I found myself in when her personality went Dr Jekkle and Mr Hyde. Comments?
MM commentary
I’m sure that he moved into politics, and is probably in a great position of power inside Washington DC today.
A great deal on a “fixer Upper”.
A great deal on a “fixer Upper”.
It looks like a lot of work, don’t you know.
‘Tattooed Lady”, Rory Gallagher performs live at Rockpalast (1977)
When asked how it felt to be the greatest guitar player in the world, Jimi Hendrex responded “Ask Rory Gallagher”. Please enjoy this section of one of the guitar greats from my youth.
This ornament has a hole for a light to poke through so it mimics the lit lighter from Die Hard.
Die Hard is a classic Christmas movie. Don’t you think?
Die Hard Christmas.
Remember to be the Rufus
It defines your sentience. When the going gets tough, the survivors are those that are members in a community. The idea that the lone-wolf can win and survive is just a Hollysood fantasy. History celarly tells us otherwise. Be that Rufus. video.
The alarm bells are ringing. Are you going to step up to the plate and participate in life, or are you going to still stand by and be a spectator? Be a Rufus. video 2MB
“Russia is Succeeding Wildly in its Objectives!” Scott Ritter on the War in Ukraine
Outstanding interview! Read this and get a fresh perspective. -MM
Transcript – Interview with Scott Ritter, March 23, 2022
Global Research: The last time you were on the show, about a month before Russia authorized a military incursion into Ukraine you mentioned that if it did happen it would not be trying to occupy the country. It would be in your words “lancing the boil.” An attempt to demilitarize and destroy Ukraine as a modern nation-state. It seems based on mainstream media coverage that it is in fact trying to occupy the country. Millions of Ukrainians are literally leaving the country as we speak, and this is not an operation that would end in days. It’s now approaching a month. Several Russian soldiers have been killed. They seem to be bogged down outside of cities. Certainly NATO is not yet going to engage them it’s true. Russia isn’t succeeding, no doubt due in part, it seems, to the resistance of the Ukrainian soldiers.
So let me ask you if you’ve changed your mind about what you said two months ago. I mean, did you err in your assessment of the Russian logistics in the situation?
Scott Ritter: NO! I’m a hundred percent correct! I mean, the fact of the matter is Russia isn’t occupying Ukraine!
Ukraine is a nation of forty one million people. Now, they say ten million of those are displaced, some internally some have fled. That still leaves thirty million people occupying expansive areas of terrain, including cities such as Kiev where you have over three million people. Russia came in with two hundred thousand troops. Military math just simply says no, you’re not occupying Ukraine with two hundred thousand troops!
So, let’s just stop that kind of nonsense right off the bat! This is politicized rhetoric, what people say, that Russia is trying to occu – because what you’ve done now is create a straw man that says therefore Russia has failed in its objectives!
Russia is succeeding wildly in its objectives! I don’t have to speculate. Russia has stated what its objectives are! There are two military objectives that will lead to one political objective.
The first military objective is de-Nazification. That is, the absolute destruction, liquidation, annihilation of the neo-Nazi and ultra-right wing nationalist military formations and the political parties that sustain them, along with any legislation that empowers them.
For instance, legislation passed in January of 2021 which made Stepan Bandera, a right wing Nazi supporting, Jew killing Ukrainian nationalist, elevated him to the status of national hero! And then went around – they passed additional legislation which named streets after him, named boulevards, named places, raised monuments and then also brought back into the mainstream people of his ilk. Nazis, people who had enlisted and served in Waffen SS units during World War II. People who had served in Einsatzgruppen that killed Jews during World War II. These people are now rehabilitated, and their names are put up in places of honour!
The Russians want to eliminate this. They want legislation passed in Ukraine which de-legitimizes Nazis instead of praising Nazis.
The Russians are doing very well on this front! They’re in the process of finishing off the last Nazi defenders of the city of Mariupol. This is where the Azov battalion, now a regiment, was headquartered. These are right-wing neo-Nazi extremists, many of whom have swastikas and other Nazi symbols tattooed on their bodies. This is where they tormented the Russian speaking population for the past eight years! They are now in the process of being killed, or captured by the Russians.
That is what de-Nazification looks like. Similar de-Nazification processes are taking place elsewhere in Ukraine anywhere where the Russian forces find a neo-Nazi national unit of Ukrainian army. So anybody who thinks that the Nazis are doing well against the Russians, think again!
The second is de-militarization! This means that Russia is going to dismantle the NATO army that had been built in Ukraine. A lot of people don’t realize that there were 260,000 active duty Ukrainian military personnel, most of whom have been trained by NATO in the past eight years to NATO standards. That means that Ukrainian military units were inter-operable with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. You could take a battalion, a NATO trained Ukrainian troops, and place them under NATO command and they would perform well.
This isn’t theory. This is reality. Ukrainian troops participated in numerous NATO-led operations around the world and in Europe. So, Russia has said that this – the existence of a NATO proxy-force is unacceptable, and that its goal is to de-militarize Ukraine.
Now, this could be done peacefully with Ukrainian soldiers staying in their barracks, while the Russians dismantled and removed from Ukraine all NATO provided equipment and oversaw the reorganization of Ukrainian military in a manner which made it no longer a de-facto proxy of NATO. Or if they wanted to resist, Russia would destroy them.
Now Russia came in a little soft handed early on. They didn’t bomb the barracks. They went out of their way to avoid unnecessary deaths among the Ukrainian troops. But the Ukrainians decided to fight!
Lets be clear here. This is a big army: 260,000 active duty, 310,000 reservists and security forces. Normally in the military if you want to launch an offensive operation, you want a three-to-one advantage. That is, for every single defender, you want three of your own troops. Russia went into Ukraine with a three to one disadvantage! Meaning for every single Russian, there were three Ukrainians. And yet, Russia is winning on the battlefield. They are advancing at a rate faster than the German army advanced during the Blitzkrieg of World War II! They are engaging the Ukrainian forces on large scale combat operations the likes of which have not been seen in Europe since World War II. And they are prevailing.
They are in the process of entrapping 60-100 thousand Ukrainian troops in Eastern Ukraine, one of the largest bedlam development cauldron type operations seen since World War II. They are doing the same around Kiev. And they are doing the same in the area of Odessa.
A lot of people will look at video-tapes that have been put out on YouTube and elsewhere showing destroyed Russian columns, dead Russian troops. This is war on a scale that people can’t imagine! It’s well beyond anything the United States and its allies undertook in Iraq and Afghanistan. When you have war on this level, there will be tactical setbacks.
Ukrainians who are extremely hard fighting, well-trained, well equipped groups are capable of limited combat success. And they are enjoying limited combat success on the battlefield. There is multiple occasions where they had defeated the Russians. Where they have inflicted serious casualties on the Russians. But from an operational and strategic stand-point, the Russians are winning and winning decisively. Ukrainians cannot sustain their defence. They lacked a logistical depth. They’re running out of gas. They’re running out of ammunition. They’re running out of food and water. Their troops are worn out, worn down, and are rapidly disintegrating as we speak. As we speak!
The Ukrainian defences in Eastern Ukraine are collapsing. They’re starting a panicked retreat westward. They’re going to be cut off by the Russians, and probably killed by the Russians if they don’t surrender to the Russians. So no, the Russians are doing quite well. People are…
GR: Did you say the Russians, I mean, put on your military and analyst glasses for a moment. Is Russia going to prevail? And how far away is the victory? IS it weeks away, or…
SR: Russia will prevail. And I believe that Russia is closer to victory than they were starting this conflict. Meaning that Ukrainian military is collapsing as we speak, and the ability for Ukraine to sustain large scale resistance is diminishing if not being eliminated.
This war’s over! It’s all over but the shouting! That’s all just a statement of fact.
GR: If you’re right about this, then what do you make of the role of Zelensky in this situation? Because he’s been speaking to governments around the world, and he’s a national hero and everything. But dies he think that he can still win this? The forces will, you know, “close the sky” and all the other things? Or is there something more going on in terms of seeing the writing on the wall as it were?
SR: Well, Zelensky knows what the outcome of this will be.
Think about it for a second. Every time he says, “if you just close the skies, if you just give us a no-fly-zone, we can win!” But what’s he really saying? That the Russians are winning the war! Okay? I mean there’s no other way of interpreting that!
GR: Yeah…
SR: He’s not saying, “hey, don’t worry about not closing the skies because we’re doing pretty well on the battlefield. We’re going to win this thing!” He’s saying that if you don’t close the skies, we have lost this war!
GR: Ahhh! Okay…
SR: And that’s exactly what’s happening. Because NATO is not going to close down the skies, and Ukraine is losing the war. He knows this. His generals know this. His troops know this. This is why at every single chance, everybody involved in the Ukrainian resistance is demanding a no-fly-zone because without this, they’re doomed, and they know it!
GR: What about the sanctions aspect of it. I mean, are they going to wear down the Russian public over time? Or will the boomerang effect of the sanctions wear down the US, Canada, and the EU first? How do you see that the sanctions aspect playing out?
SR: Well, let’s look at this strategically for a second. Joe Biden looked Vladimir Putin in the eye last June and threatened him with massive sanctions should he act on Ukraine. Sanctions like you’ve never seen before! Alright, now Putin as soon as he got done changing his pants and everything because I’m sure that just scared him to death. He had months to sit down with his inner circle and say, “how do we prepare for this?” Nothing the U.S. and its allies are doing has taken the Russians by surprise. NOTHING! They anticipated EVERYTHING! And they have a plan in response.
As for instance today, when the sanctions came out, remember Russia had 650 billion dollars in sovereign fund in reserves – foreign reserves, gold reserves – and half of that was dispersed in banks around the world. And people went, “why would you do that?” Because the West is going to freeze them, which the West did. And the answer is because Russia was setting the West up for a trap, which was sprung today.
2022 04 02 18 41
Today, Vladimir Putin gave a speech in which he said the following: “Because you froze our assets illegally, you have defaulted on every obligation you have in regard to Russia. Therefore, Russia will not only never again accept foreign currency, you know, for payment for Russian services or goods, we are going to demand from this moment on that all nations that are on the non-friendly list that is everybody who sanctioned them must now pay in Russian Rubles for natural gas.
Okay Europe cannot survive! One of the big things that came out of this economic sanctions was that the United States had been promising Europe, “Don’t worry about Russia gas! We have a plan B! We will be able to bring together resources and make sure that you have the gas you need!”
Well, there is no plan B. There aren’t the resources available. There’s not enough gas. And Europe will shut down immediately.
Now, Russia hasn’t shut off the pipelines. Because Russia was laying a trap. Russia now has confirmed that Europe is addicted. Germany has admitted right now that if Russia turns off the gas pipelines, Germany won’t have any gas for next winter. It’s over! All she wrote! Their economy will collapse! The French economy will collapse! Every economy in Europe will collapse! And there will be a rebounding effect in Canada and the United States.
So now, Europe is in the difficult position of if they want to keep the gas going, that they must keep going in order to survive, they’ve got to pay in Russian Rubles. Take a look at what’s happened to the Russian Ruble just today! IT’s rebounding! Everbody said the Ruble is collapsing. No! It’s the dollar that’s collapsing right now! Because the Russians have laid a trap. They set the trap. And this is just the first of many! The Russians have many other traps out there that they have set, and they can initiate at a time of their choosing. So, the notion that the sanctions…
Look, the sanctions are hurting Russians right now. There’s no doubt about that. But the sanctions also liberated Putin for the first time since he took power to be able to divorce Russia from the Western economy. And in doing so, eliminate in totality any leverage the West had over Russian domestic political affairs. The West used to be able to threaten sanctions. And the Russians are saying, “gosh, maybe we don’t want to do that so we’ll…” The West no longer has – the West has sanctioned everything. It’s over!
Putin has said, “thank you very much! Thank you! You’ve done me a big favour! The first thing you’ve done by freezing all the assets is that you have disembowelled the oligarchs!” You know that corrupt class of Russian businessmen that came to life during Boris Yeltsin’s ten years as a president. That Putin inherited!
Putin was able to neuter them politically by telling them that if they get involved in domestic politics he will destroy them, and he did. Several of them have been forced to flee to London and elsewhere because Putin will put them in jail for life.
The others that remained were able to retain their riches and continue to get rich, but they were not allowed to be involved in politics. But their existence has always been a thorn in Putin’s side. He doesn’t like them. He doesn’t want them. And he hates the fact that he needed them.
But now that the West has gone in and seized all their assets, they’re bankrupt and broke! And guess what! Putin doesn’t want them now! He’s told them to get the heck out of Russia! HE has no use for them! Go live where you wanted to live over there! You’re no longer welcome here!
The other thing that’s happened is about 20 percent of the Russian population that was relatively apolitical, who tended to vote for the status quo, meaning vote for Putin would have turned on Putin had Putin initiated a divorce with the West. These are the Russian middle class whose economic well-being had become so intertwined with the West that there could be no thought of breaking with the West. If any move by Russia, by Putin, by anybody, to do so would have caused a backlash that any democracy, and Russia is a democracy, would have cost the incumbent the vote. Putin would have been voted out.
But now that the West has sanctioned Russia, it is not Putin that has made the divorce, it’s the West!
Putin is now applying shock therapy to these people, seeking to rapidly reinstate their middle class status, by pivoting eastward to China, to India, to elsewhere, to recapitalize the Russian economy. And now that he has made gas based upon the Ruble standard, those Rubles that these Russians had in the bank that last week were worth nothing, they’re worth twice as much today! And this time next week, they’ll double in value again! And the middle class is going to forget the West ever existed.
GR: Amazing analysis! Scott Ritter, it’s been a pleasure hearing your unique take on this situation. We thank you so much for your time!
SR: Thanks for having me!
Do you think that Scott is right?
The United States spending tax dollars
So true.
Don’t Rely on fate
It is up to YOU, no one else, to adjust to change, and make and forge a great wonderful life to live in. That means control of your thoughts, and control over your actions. Don’t rely on others. Don’t rely on fate. Don’t pretend that somehow space aliens are going to come down and prevent a nuclear war. (They sure as fuck didn’t stop any of the bioweapons attacks, and pretending that Bioweapon World War III isn’t in process; it’s a “pandemic”, is just a childhood fantasy.) Stop living childish dreams. Now is your time. NOW IS YOUR TIME. Make a difference today.
You have to do kind, just and maningful things. Sure, it’s nice to watch heroes in action, but just smiling, buying a cup of coffee for a co-worker, inviditng a co-worker to your home for cards, or volunteering at an animal shelter are all fine Rufus actions. Make a difference. Now is that time. video 6MB
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.
It’s now three weeks since both Blinkedin and Biden held face-to-face meetings DEMANDING that China needs to immediately start sanctioning Russia and stop being their friend, or else immediate and severe consequences would occur.
China refused and said NO!
And as far as I can see, there are only two events that occured that could be considered as “immediate and severe” repercussions.
[1] Coronavirus outbreaks. Simultaneous COVID outbreaks hitting major cities throughout China. Resulting in lock-downs and quarantine measures.
[2] The crash of a Chinese domestic airliner. It was an American Boeing craft and it drove straight towards the ground with throttles set at full.
Let’s look at the big picture…
There are events going on that are CLEAR. The United States has provoked Russia, and is now engaging in war against Russia in all ways; including kinetic via proxy.
What is also CLEAR is that the clock is ticking, and the timetable is in place. First, one Asian nation and then the other. First it is Russia, then China. Everything is following towards the strategies mapped out by RAND. This is publically known as a “pivot to Asia” (once Russia is suppressed.)
The RAND plan specifies a 2025 conflict conclusion with China.
It will be initiated by a provocation (a “Red Line” crossing) with Taiwan. And America will benefit substantially while China will be a quivering wreck, and ripe for CIA sponsored “regime change” via “color revolution”.
RAND details a 1-2 year war with China aimed at [1] destroying its trade network, [2] destroying its resource access, [3] collapsing its economy, and of course, [4] regime change.
The United States still seems to be following this plan. I see no evidence otherwise.
The window of opportunity for realizing these 2016 plans was originally given as ending in 2025; that may be much sooner now. Perhaps moved up to just before the November midterm elections, for the added “rally around the President” domestic effect.
I am not at all saying the US is destined to succeed, but it would be foolish not to note their telegraphed plans, and foolish to dismiss either their destructive power or their desperation.
What we can note is that both China and Russia have taken these telegraphed plans to heart, and have substantially and systemically disassembled all their components.
Let’s take a look at what has transpired since Obama funded this plan, four years of Trump, and now into the second year of the Biden administration…
[1] Destroying China’s trade network.
The Chinese BRI is continuing to plan.
The interruptions in SE Asia have all failed.
The “Color Revolutions” in Kazakhstan were prevented.
The “Color Revolutions” in Belarus were prevented.
The USD is substantially weakened and there are now other trade currencies.
There ARE interruptions in American domestic trade.
[2] Destroying China’s resource access.
Agreements between Russia for resources.
Agreements with South America and Latin America for resources.
Agreements with Africa for resources.
They are interruptions for America, and the EU for resource access.
[3] Collapsing China’s economy.
After attempts at inducing famine in China, China recovered.
New rules and controls have been implemented.
China is at DEFCON 2, and carefully monitoring everything.
USD entry into China is tightly controlled.
Both the American and EU economy is under collapse.
[4] Regime change inside of China.
COVID bioweapon attack failed.
Color revolutions in HK were suppressed.
Color revolutions in Tibet were suppressed.
Color revolutions in Xinjiang (Uighur) were suppressed.
The Chinese are more patriotic than ever. With near 95% approval.
Unrest in the United States is growing, with massive inflation.
Obviously, the plans to seize and destroy China have failed.
However, this fact appears to be ignored by the American “leadership”. In fact, President Biden has “doubled down” and is proceeding as if everything is still on track and to plan
So what is also CLEAR is that the United States is not adjusting its strategy in regard to it’s plans for global domination, given its failures. That is suggestive of many things. But most notably, that “no one is at the helm”. The leadership; the Captain is absent.
Instead of adjusting leadership strategies as events change (known as “structural leadership”), it appears that the actual “Leadership” are continuing to follow the previously approved script in every detail. They are doing so mindlessly, or (as we used to say in the United States) “on automatic pilot”.
This is unusual, disturbing, and problematic.
On one hand, it means that the actions of the United States are easily predicted. Russia and China can well anticipate, plan, and modify the events, in effect, tailoring the outcomes.
On the other hand, it means that the worst case scenarios as defined by the RAND study will manifest. Now, the RAND study assumed that political realities would limit nuclear MAD responses, what I see at this time is that the nuclear MAD reality is a real objective outcome.
Bummer.
Ok, as is my preference, we will provide elements of Geo-political news, interspersed with other subjects. I have to tell you all, troll attacks, and ‘bot attacks have dropped to zero. It works like a charm.
Chinese Girl in a store
Yes. This is pretty much how girls in China are, and what stores in China look like. video 3.6MB
She’s really nice. Don’t you think?
A Polish general has an eye on Kaliningrad.
“Warsaw should seek to “claim” the Kaliningrad region from Russia, General Waldemar Skrzypczak has said.
The region has been “under Russian occupation since 1945,” the ex-commander of the Polish Land Forces claimed on the TV show ‘Super Express’ on Friday.
“It might be worth asking for it, as it used to be with the Regained Territories,” Skrzypczak said, referring to the Eastern German territories incorporated into Poland after the defeat of Nazi Germany. “It might be worth asking for this Kaliningrad region, which, in my opinion, is part of the territory of Poland.””
That would be pretty difficult, as the United States has sanctioned Russia and is waging war with them. Poland is one of the proxies involved in this effort.
The United States DEMANDS that China obey sanctions against Russia
I came across this excellent TASS article summarizing the 4 February 2022 Russia/China Joint Declaration. It’s a helpful reminder, on just how far-reaching the Declaration is and the principles it’s based upon. These are some the many, many key paragraphs, although there are more:
"This declaration formalizes the de facto established union of Russia and China. We have been talking a great deal about strategic interaction. This is a real embodiment of this interaction," Maslov said.He stressed that in their joint statement Russia and China described the principles they would rely on in developing global cooperation."These principles are absolutely not new ones," he remarked. "In fact, the statement heralds a return to the original UN principles that were laid down back in the 1940s and 1950s."The expert believes that the document is a clear sign the countries "share common values, a common understanding of democracy and the idea of the national nature of this democracy, pool together many international projects, the EAEU and the One Belt-One Road and also discuss interaction in the Arctic."Maslov stressed that the security issues mentioned in the statement were the most important of all. "A whole list of new types of security was determined there, including cybersecurity, on which the countries will cooperate," he said.
Given the rejection by the West of everything Russian and Chinese, it actually seems probable that the Declaration went unread by American “high officials”, meaning Blinken, Austin and Sullivan, since they already had formalized their escalation plans.
They are still following their check-lists and scripts.
But the reality is something very different. Russia and China have unified. They are as one singular nation, and they coordinate as one singular nation.
It’s not just a treaty. It is the de facto union of Russia and China together.
It is the formation of a new POWER BLOCK.
It is equivalent to when the 13 American states formed the “United States” of America in 1776. It is equivalent to when the European Union was formed, and NATO was created. It is really, really BIG news.
Therefore…
Sanction demands by the United States is an automatic NO!
This new arrangement renders the RAND plans out-of-date and inert.
The lack of strategy, reaction, or modification to this change is, as I have stated early, suggestive of brainless abeyance to decade-old obsolete plans, goals and strategies.
Zhuhai, China
This is where MM lives. Morning near my home. Zhuhai, China. video 6 MB
The world doesn’t understand.
The reality is that there is a massive block that has formed.
An Asian block.
Now you can also include India to this block. This is substantive. As just about the entire Asian group is now unified.
Don’t allow the nation’s shown in white fool you. They are all aligned by one of the major powers in Asia on multiple levels.
President Biden told the 82nd airborne that they’re going to Ukraine
"... and you're going to see when you're there (Ukraine)...."
Imagine President Trump had inexplicably told U.S. troops they were deploying to fight Russia. Really imagine it! All we’d be hearing is that he’s mentally unfit and must be removed under the 25th Amendment.
Joe Biden did exactly that (same thing) today.
Are you being the best you can be?
Rufus is all about being the best that you can be to your own standards. You don’t blame others. You take control over your life. You adapt. You see things as they are, and not as you want them to be. Be the Rufus. Make your parents proud. video 10MB
China and Russia announcement
Rumor has it that Russia and China are going to make a ‘religious announcement’ for the markets, sometime around Monday 28-3, to the 1st of April.
This link to a ruble/gold/oil based currency system may explain why the Saudis, etc, have been so detached from the US of late, not taking phone calls, etc.
There is huge panic going on in the West, at the moment, this cannot be denied.
This girl lives in my town. She’s nice and fun. Yeah, and this is what China is like. video 3MB
Cheese Ball
Do you remember seeing a cheese ball on your grandparents’ Thanksgiving table and wondering what it was? We have good news: Cheese balls are delicious, easy to make, and perfectly delicious all season long, not just at the holidays.
Delicious Cheese Ball
Here’s what you do; you by some crackers, make a cheese ball, and get a case of beer. Then you get on your phone and call folks over to chat, play cards, or a board game, or watch a movie. What’s not to love?
Chinese second grade military training
Cool video. Everyone in China participates. Everyone has a role, and many skills are learned early on. video 11MB
City Chicken
City Chicken (aka, Fake Chicken) is a traditional Polish-American dish that is beloved by many. The most curious thing about this dish is that it doesn’t actually contain any chicken. Rather, your featured protein here is actually pork and/or veal. So, why is it be called a “City Chicken” in the first place?
City Chicken 1
What is City Chicken?
City Chicken is a traditional dish of Polish-American heritage and it has a very interesting story of origin.
Apparently, during the time of the Great Depression, the chicken was scarce and way more expensive than other cuts of meat, like pork or veal.
It’s believed that this dish originated among Polish immigrants who decided to place pieces of pork and veal on skewers and then bread and fry them so it would resemble chicken legs (leave it to my people). This dish is also known as ‘fake chicken’ for obvious reasons, and it has been very popular in many states throughout the US.
In fact, a lot of Polish restaurants carry it on their menu. Being born and raised in Pittsburgh, I can assure you that this dish didn’t come from the old land. Actually, its a United States creation found in the Polish-AMerican communities in the Great Lakes region.
I beleive that it is now the time to embrace this tradition and on occasion serve fake chicken to your friends and family.
City Chicken 4
What Kind of Meat is Best for City Chicken
Traditionally City Chicken involves pork and veal. You can put 2 cubes of each on a skewer or two pork pieces and one veal in the middle or vice versa (get creative).
Nowadays the veal is more expensive than pork and chicken, and it can be difficult to find cut into cubes. So, if you choose to just use pork, rest assured that your city chicken will still be super delicious.
I highly recommend to use pork tenderloin and cut it into cubes. It’s very tender and cooks super quick. Any other cut of pork could become dry or chewy.
What else is needed to make this dish
This is a very simple dish. To make city chicken you’ll need:
Pork and/or veal;
Wooden skewers;
Ingredients for breading:
Flour,
Egg,
Bread Crumbs;
Seasoning:
Ideally seasoned salt (but if you don’t have it, just use regular kosher salt),
Pepper; and
Cooking (light) oil for frying.
How to Make “Fake Chicken”
To make the City Chicken you’ll need to follow a few simple steps. For exact measurements and instructions please scroll down to the printable recipe card.
Assemble the skewers: cut your meat into 1.5-inch squares and add 2 or 3 pieces onto a wooden skewer (cut off the skewers to fit the meat); season the meat on each side and prepare for breading.
Breading: prepare 3 prep-dishes: one for flour, one for beaten eggs and one for breadcrumbs. Starting with the flour, cover the meat on each side (shaking off the excess), then place it into the egg mixture and cover on each side. Then finish it up by rolling it in breadcrumbs, on each side. Continue with all the remaining skewers.
Frying: heat up your cast iron (or another heavy pan) skillet. Add cooking oil. Once the oil is hot, add breaded skewers into the skillet (don’t overcrowd them, cook in batches if needed). Fry the skewers on each side until golden brown and then transfer to a 350 F hot oven to finish up cooking (covered for 20 minutes and uncovered for 5 minutes). Serve and enjoy!
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What to serve with City Chicken
Some people prefer to eat City Chicken without any additions but some have their toppings preferences. Among the most popular is a homemade gravy. If this is you, check this recipe for a super easy gravy.
Here are some online suggestions for what to serve Fake Chicken with:
Look at the picture. The tablecloth, the purse on the credenza; the style of the credenza. Look at the jars of condiments. The solid panel door, the off white walls, with the white trim. Look at the kitchen. How many of these images and scenes can be found in a modern home.
A beautiful Chinese girl
Chinese people, men and women, tend to be slim due to the diet and living within an active society. Dancing, singing and social activities are normal, and encouraged. Thus, they treasure their bodies and they tream them well. Such as with this woman. video 4MB
Australia gives “cold shoulder” to China
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flatly rejected suggestions he should have met with China’s new ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, arguing that doing so would have been a “demonstration of weakness”.
And Mr Morrison said there was great concern across the “Pacific family” about a security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands that could lead to a potential base for Chinese naval vessels on Australia’s doorstep, over which Canberra, Washington and Wellington have all expressed concern.
He pointedly noted that Australia respected the Pacific islands’ sovereignty and that Australia “haven’t sought to influence them, or interfere with them in any way”.
I have constantly stated that (by law) EVERYONE inside of China MUST take military training. There are NO exceptions.
It starts in Kindergarden, with marching and basic disipline taught in first and second grade. Weapon assembly and dissassembly and mortar training by third grade. Small arms and squad tactics perfected by sixth grade.
Fine and dandy. But I haven’t spent much time discussing Middle School.
While many operations are coed, there are “fast track” programs for exceptional students. These are usually “Pioneers”, but there are others as well. Here’s a group of 9th grade GIRLS undergoing training in small arms training in live-fire environments.
It’s from Ebony. You can shake your “groove thang” right here.
OIP C.4rWOmQOXJA WNJTxd9KJzwHaEB
This link is indian punchline from today… a quote
"The takeaway from the US President Joe Biden’s European tour on March 25-26 is measly. Dissenting voices are rising in Europe as western sanctions against Russia start backfiring with price hikes and shortages of fuel and electricity. And this is only the beginning, as Moscow is yet to announce any retaliatory measures as such.
SIMPLETON’S PRIMER ON THE LONG WAR THE US AIMS TO WAGE AGAINST RUSSIA
“National Security Adviser Sullivan (above) said: “The president will join our partners in imposing further sanctions on Russia and tightening the existing sanctions to crack down on evasion and ensure robust enforcement… This war will not end easily or rapidly…[Biden’s trip] will send a powerful message that we are prepared and committed to this for as long as it takes”.
The US declaration that “this war will not end easily or rapidly”, and that the US and its allies “are prepared and committed to this for as long as it takes” cancels whatever negotiations or terms Zelensky claims to have announced on Ukrainian television for an end to the war.”
Personally, I find this girl to be a fine looking woman, and would most certainly make a fine girlfriend. video 7MB
She’s a nice girl, don’t you think?
China says everyone knows who is to blame for the Ukraine war
The US and UK planned the Ukrainian war for years, while simultaneously trying to force a “quagmire” for Russia in Syria (another war deliberately created by NATO countries: the US, UK, and France). But it’s looking like NATO’s planned proxy war in Ukraine is backfiring on the West spectacularly, with the West, not Russia, becoming ostracized from the international community as a result.
Over the years leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the West pre-emptively applied wave after wave of sanctions on Russia, to make Russia as weak and vulnerable as possible in preparation for this eventuality. Western governments and media worked hard to pre-condition Western publics into assuming that any of the very-true reports of rampant Nazism in Ukraine, including in Ukraine’s government that’s led by a Jew, were “Russian disinformation”, when that narrative was actually the West’s disinformation against Russia to conceal the Nazi problem in Ukraine, while Western governments were training and arming Ukraine’s Nazis.
Western governments also planned 1,001 false stories to feed through our media, and ways to cynically frame Russia not accomplishing in 30 days in Ukraine what NATO collectively couldn’t after 20 years in Afghanistan, which was and is a far, far weaker, worse-equipped, worse-trained country than Ukraine (not to mention NATO is flooding advanced arms to Ukraine). The West even tried to frame war in Ukraine as unique atrocious on the basis that it was blonde-haired, blue-eyed white people who were being killed, instead of those apparently-lesser Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians, Libyans, and Palestinians, and Yemenis.
The West plotted ways to threaten and incentivise key international market players to pressure them to conform to Western demands of solidarity against Russia. They planned a mountain of the most extreme sanctions against Russia with the aim being to completely destroy its economy and topple Putin. The West also prepared how they would apply widespread collective punishment (which is illegal under international law) against Russians in sporting, music, video gaming, and in seizing their assets in Western countries.
But what they didn’t plan for was the world to see through the charade, lay significant blame for the war in Ukraine on NATO, and refuse to support the West’s measures against Russia but instead stick by Russia, resulting in the West itself becoming isolated from the international community in a way that hasn’t happened before, despite the West’s many previous much more destructive wars.
A lot can still change, and the West is going to become more desperate, apply more pressure, and become more aggressive as its goals behind creating the Ukraine war fail to materialize. But, at least so far, things have very much not been going according to NATO’s plan.
Best Tweet ever
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The Narrative is that China is just an army of conscripts…
Untrained, poor, poorly motivated, starving and using cheap poor quality hand-me-down Russian weapon systems.
All bullshit.
China is a heavy and serious military force. video 2MB
Seven girls a dancing
Welcome to China. You see these kinds of things going on all the time. video 11MB
1983 Movie “The Day After” Shows How Fast a War with Russia can Escalate to ICBM Nukes – Watch it free in the story below
This two hour made-for-TV-movie was produced by the ABC Television Network and broadcast in 1983. I well remember when it came on. It scared the living daylights out of me.
To put the time period in perspective, in the early 1980’s Ronald Reagan had become President and he wasn’t taking any shit from the Soviets. He referred to them as “An Evil Empire” (Here) and joked publicly during a radio show “mic check” that “I have just signed Legislation outlawing the Soviet Union, We begin bombing in five minutes.”(Here)
The left-wing went absolutely nuts over Reagan dealing so forcefully with them and many feared the tough stance would result in actual nuclear war.
When ABC-TV made this movie, the special effects were not nearly what they have become nowadays. Frankly, the special effects wouldn’t even make it into a “b” horror movie nowadays. But back then, it was horrifying to the general public.
In the first 32 minutes, you get to see regular Americans living regular lives, while TV news broadcasts report escalating tensions between the US/NATO and the Soviet Union.
Large numbers of Soviet Troops began massing on the border of East Germany. The next half hour sees the borders of the Soviet Union sealed, aircraft strikes by the Soviets upon western targets, and then-within hours (in the show) invasion troops cross into NATO terrirtory.
Tactical nukes had to be used to try to slow down the Soviets. They failed.
As a result of tactical nukes being used, NATO HQ in Brussels takes a Soviet Nuke hit, and within a few more minutes, the ICBM’s are coming out of their silos. In movie time, the whole thing kicked off within 48 hours!
That’s the takeaway you should pay attention to — how fast it all escalated.
Because right now, the way things are going with Ukraine, NATO’s meddling is taking us in precisely the same direction and when it goes, it’s gonna go off FAST. People will be utterly blind-sided.
So watch and see the very real similarities between the movie version of events, and wht is actually taking place right now.
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.
This is a sitrep for the Russian / Ukranian / Western collapse in coils as of early march 2022. It’s a bit all over the place. It includes fighting updates, control of the media narrative, pretty Chinese girls, jokes from Satan himself and hamburgers. Hamburgers too. Lots and lots, and lots of hamburgers. I hope that you will like it.
We start off with some food porn; the lovely hamburger.
In fact, I will go as far as to proudly state that this article has been brought to you by the lovely hamburger (Well, in this case a cheeseburger.) and I hope that you too end up appreciating the news with a flavor for excitement!
One of the residents of one of the new Republics.
This explains so much! Guy is from one of the new provences, the LDR or the NDR (not specified) that is joyous about Russia stopping the Ukrine shelling of their homes.
“Now I am constantly among the fighters. Many of my colleagues talk about the progress of the liberation of Donbass and Ukraine, so I focus on something else: I talk about the mood of our guys.I don’t need to say that they are all on the upswing, their morale is high and they are ready to carry out the tasks assigned to them. What is important is that none of them has any bitterness or desire to fight for the sake of war.For everyone, this battle is a battle for freedom. There are many, many young men in the ranks today from among those who have a home in the territories yet to be liberated. Can this be an invasion? It’s a homecoming, as they themselves say.There are many volunteers who come without summons, at the call of the heart. And regardless of age, civilian occupation, place of residence – they are all united by the desire to liberate the Republic and Ukraine from Nazism.This is not a war for the sake of war, this is a war in the name of peace, and the civilians of Ukraine are not enemies to these guys.”
Comic of the year!
1646066453854
American “news”
Heh. Heh.
"Want some comedy? Go take a look at the front page of the Drudge Report. I’ve never seen such mass propaganda in my life. How do they possibly retain a shred of creditability on anything after this. The desperation reeks."
Yeah. The American “news” is all full about the mistake Russia made and how it is now in a disastrous quagmire. Oh No! Here’s the top, highest promoted links on the Drudge Report today. Nothing is balanced. Nothing is accurate. Nothing is a view about the entire situation. It’s all emotionally driven bullshit…
LIONHEART ZELENSKY...
Yeah. The proud, brave man who is taking on Russia all by himself.
'I NEED AMMO'...Oh. Right. So the reason behind the Russian incursion is to disarm the Ukraine. And that is what the West does not want at all. They want an armed Ukraine, and a long quagmire.
UKRAINIANS RALLY TO DEFEND...Brave Ukrainians ready to die for their homeland. Actually, the truth is more like Russia stepping in and stabilizing a very unstable place. Anyone who lays down weapons can continue their lives, and return to their roles once the situation stabilizes.
But the truth remains the same; the louder the shrilling, the more obvious the defeat of Western forces is. Indeed. The more vicious the propaganda gets, the more likely it is that NATO is loosing badly on the ground. Popcorn time.
While in the United States
Yah. It’s a completely different reality. Far removed. Living life. Just bombing the rest of the world to pieces and provoking wars left and right. But in the meantime, just enjoying life. video 4MB
For youse newcomers to MM…
I sprinkle content all over the place. You have to see the big picture, and realize that everythign is connected. When you see the big picture, and break up content MM style, you disable the vault 7 influences imbedded inside of all Western electronic media. Your mind adapts quicker than the vault 7 influence.
Additionally, it serves as an easy check to see if someone ACTUALLY read the article. Hit and run commenters don’t. And if you read the articles, and not comment on the food, pretty girls, or side ventures, then I know that you haven’t read the article. Like this joker…
By Dmitry Orlov and posted with the author’s permission.
Last Thursday I reposed my “top ten signs that Russia has invaded the Ukraine” from 8 years ago when the Ukrainian regime change and civil war first started and the West continuously made claims that Russia had invaded. Well, last Thursday Russia did indeed invade.
Russia had the full legal right to invade the Ukraine from several perspectives: to defend its allies in Donetsk and Lugansk;
to defend itself against Ukrainian WMDs, which the Ukrainian president threatened to start producing at the Munich Security Conference;
and to stop NATO from continuing its advance toward Russian borders in violation of its previous commitment of “not an inch to the east.”
Russia exercised its right of self-defense under article 51 of part 7 of the UN Charter.
The Ukraine had forfeited its right to territorial integrity under the 1970 UN Declaration by refusing to honor the rights of its Russian-speaking population.
It also refused to renew its Friendship Treaty with Russia and therefore no longer had a defined border with Russia that Russia was obligated to honor.
From a strictly legalistic perspective, claims that “Russia violated the Ukraine’s territorial integrity” or that this is “an act of Russian aggression” is just pure twaddle.
From a moral perspective, the fact that the entire international community idly stood by and ineffectually discussed politics for eight years during which the civilian population of Donetsk and Lugansk was continuously shelled by the Ukrainian “anti-terrorist operation” is utterly shameful.
Shameful.
People who are now speaking out against Russia’s military action in the Ukraine need to answer a simple question: Where have you been for the last eight years while [1] the carnage in Donetsk and Lugansk was going on, while [2] people were being burned alive in Odessa, [3] while the Ukrainian government organized terrorist operations on Russian territory and [4] while the entire Ukrainian population has been forced to kowtow to Americans and to speak Ukrainian, most often against its will?
If your answer is “I didn’t know” then you have forfeited your right to an informed opinion on what’s happening there now. Please keep that in mind and act accordingly.
Now I will go through the 10 predictions I made 8 years ago and see how well they held up in light of events that have unfolded for the past three days.
A reasonable expectation would be that I got them completely wrong; if not, then that’s something of a minor miracle. Please keep that in mind also.
1. Ukrainian artillery fell silent almost immediately. They are no longer shelling residential districts of Donetsk and Lugansk. This is because their locations had been pinpointed prior to the operation, and by Thursday afternoon they were completely wiped out using air attacks, artillery and ground-based rocket fire, as the first order of business. Local residents are overjoyed that their horrible ordeal is finally at an end.
Not quite true. Donetsk and Lugansk is still being shelled sporadically, although most of the firing has been suppressed and as more and more territory is being liberated from the Ukrainian forces by the Donbass militia (with Russian forces playing a supporting role). At the same time, new possibilities for civilian carnage are resulting from the fact that the Ukraine’s Nazi battalions, under guidance from their US/NATO minders, are hiding heavy weapons in residential districts and using civilians as human shields.
2. The look of military activity on the ground in Donetsk and Lugansk has changed dramatically. Whereas before it involved small groups of resistance fighters, the Russians operate in battalions of 400 men and dozens of armored vehicles, followed by convoys of support vehicles (tanker trucks, communications, field kitchens, field hospitals and so on). The flow of vehicles in and out is non-stop, plainly visible on air reconnaissance and satellite photos. Add to that the relentless radio chatter, all in Russian, which anyone who wants to can intercept, and the operation becomes impossible to hide.
This is obviously the case. No sane person would now say that there are no Russian forces in the Ukraine. They made their presence about as obvious as they possibly could and the sight of endless columns of Russian military vehicles rolling unhindered through the Ukrainian countryside appears to be effecting a sea change in the mindset of the Ukraine’s population. Throughout history, it has always been quick to switch allegiances as circumstances and battle lines shifted, and this time will probably be no exception.
3. The Ukrainian military has promptly vanished. Soldiers and officers alike have taken off their uniforms, abandoned their weapons, and are doing their best to blend in with the locals. Nobody thought the odds of the Ukrainian army against the Russians were any good. Ukraine’s only military victory against Russia was at the battle of Konotop in 1659, but at the time Ukraine was allied with the mighty Khanate of Crimea, and, you may have noticed, Crimea is not on Ukraine’s side this time around.
Again, not entirely true. It turns out that there is a hardened Nazi embedded with each and every detachment of Ukrainian forces whose job is to shoot those who try to surrender. Nevertheless, some unknown number of Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered, signed a promise to no longer fight against the Russian army, and have been given some food and sent home. In all, the Ukrainian military is turning out to be no different from other NATO-organized, NATO-trained forces, be they in Afghanistan, Georgia, Iraq or elsewhere. All of them immediately turn out to be completely useless as soon as a real military force arrives on the scene, be it the Russians, the Taliban or the Islamic Caliphate. Also notable is the fact that the large quantities of weapons recently supplied to the Ukraine by the US have been shown to be completely useless. The Javelin anti-tank missiles, which helped line the pockets of some of the Pentagon’s top brass, have been worse than useless: by the time they can be set up to fire there is generally nobody left alive to fire them, so the soldiers don’t even bother with them.
4. There are Russian checkpoints everywhere. Local civilians are allowed through, but anyone associated with a government, foreign or domestic, is detained for questioning. A filtration system has been set up to return demobilized Ukrainian army draftees to their native regions, while the volunteers and the officers are shunted to pretrial detention centers, to determine whether they had ordered war crimes to be committed.
Not true at all. The Russian troops are not engaging with the civilians in any way, scrupulously avoiding residential districts and doing their best to see that the delivery of electricity, water and other essentials is not disrupted. As far as denazification, I am still not sure what the plan is, but my hunch at the moment is that this will be left up to the Ukrainians themselves. There is a good chance that once they realize what the Nazis and their Western masters have been doing to their country, they will do their best to round up the Nazis and hang them on streetlights. The Nazis will see this coming (some already do) and will run away to Poland or Slovenia or points further west.
5. Most of Ukraine’s border crossings are by now under Russian control. Some have been reinforced with air defense and artillery systems and tank battalions, to dissuade NATO forces from attempting to stage an invasion. Civilians and humanitarian goods are allowed through. Businessmen are allowed through once they fill out the required forms (which are in Russian).
The Ukrainian border guards along the Russian border have abandoned their posts. Some of them walked over to the Russian side and surrendered. The Russian and Belorussian borders are under control from the Russian and Belorussian sides. The western border crossings are crowded from all the people flying to flee.
6. Russia has imposed a no-fly zone over all of Ukraine. All civilian flights have been cancelled. There is quite a crowd of US State Department staffers, CIA and Mossad agents, and Western NGO people stuck at Borispol airport in Kiev. Some are nervously calling everyone they know on their satellite phones. Western politicians are demanding that they be evacuated immediately, but Russian authorities want to hold onto them until their possible complicity in war crimes has been determined.
Flight radar shows zero flights over all of the Ukraine. In fact, air traffic has been disrupted over much of Europe, with many airspaces closed and lots of new restrictions on traffic. Many vacationers, especially those from the Ukraine, are stuck wherever they are. The ones in Egypt are lucky: the Egyptian government is paying for their hotel stays while they are stuck there. The Westerners, on the other hand, having learned their lesson from the fiasco in Afghanistan, fled the Ukraine ahead of time. Since there is a long list of places for them to get the hell out of before their luck runs out, it’s good that they are getting the knack of it.
7. The usual Ukrainian talking heads, such as president Poroshenko, PM Yatsenyuk and others, are no longer available to be interviewed by Western media. Nobody quite knows where they are. There are rumors that they have already fled the country. Crowds have stormed their abandoned residences, and were amazed to discover that they were all outfitted with solid gold toilets. Nor are the Ukrainian oligarchs anywhere to be found, except for the warlord Igor Kolomoisky, who was found in his residence, abandoned by his henchmen, dead from a heart attack. (Contributed by the Saker.)
The number one Ukrainian talking head, the president-cum-comedian Zelensky, is hiding in a bunker in Lvov, Führer-like, surrounded by his Nazi henchmen. His jumbled missives to the faithful appear to have been prerecorded. At the same time, the information war is proceeding apace, with numerous new fake news items arriving daily, too many to keep track of. The real fun will start when the TV channels in Kiev get denazified and Ukrainians stir from their eight-year stupor, figure a few things out for themselves and become extremely angry at those who have been lying to them for eight long years.
8. Some of the over 800,000 Ukrainian refugees are starting to stream back in from Russia. They were living in tent cities, many of them in the nearby Rostov region, but with the winter coming they are eager to get back home, now that the shelling is over. Along with them, construction crews, cement trucks and flatbeds stacked with pipe, cable and rebar are streaming in, to repair the damage from the shelling.
This is yet to start happening. It will be a slow process, given that the number of refugees now, eight years later, is in the millions and scattered over numerous Russian regions.
9. There is all sorts of intense diplomatic and military activity around the world, especially in Europe and the US. Military forces are on highest alert, diplomats are jetting around and holding conferences. President Obama just held a press conference to announce that “We don’t have a strategy on Ukraine yet.” His military advisers tell him that his usual strategy of “bomb a little and see what happens” is not likely to be helpful in this instance.
This is definitely the case. The goal for Western leaders now is to look purposeful and strong while doing nothing of consequence. They keep talking about cutting Russia off from SWIFT bank messaging system, but keep recoiling in horror when they realize what they will mean for their energy prices (which are already dangerously high). The Russian posture vis-à-vis Western sanctions seems to be “Bring them on; we are ready!” Apparently, eight years have been enough for Russia to thoroughly prepare for this event.
10. Kiev has surrendered. There are Russian tanks on the Maidan Square. Russian infantry is mopping up the remains of Ukraine’s National Guard. A curfew has indeed been imposed. The operation to take Kiev resembled “Shock and Awe” in Baghdad: a few loud bangs and then a whimper.
Russian tanks are unlikely to enter the city center; they are concentrated on destroying military installations, demobilizing the Ukrainian military and destroying the Nazi battalions. There is indeed a curfew in effect in Kiev.
One more significant development worth mentioning: Russian forces are taking charge of the Ukraine’s nuclear installations, including the one at Chernobyl, which is now under joint Russian/Ukrainian control. This will reduce the chance that the Ukrainian Nazis will try to blow up one of them on their merry way to hell. The Ukraine has 15 nuclear reactors, and since it is virtually out of other sources of energy it has been running all of them flat out. Two of them went off-line recently because of technical issues. Russia is working very hard to make Chernobyl 2.0 less of a possibility.
I am not sure what grade I should give myself for my predictions. Russia’s political and military planners have turned out to be quite a bit smarter than me, but this is not at all a surprise. After all, they have all of the intellectual resources of a huge, powerful country whereas I am just a guy with an office chair and a laptop.
Do I care to make some more predictions about the Ukraine?
Sure, why not!
1. Donetsk and Lugansk regions will continue on their path of closer and closer integration into the Russian Federation. They are already part of the Russian currency space, their educational systems are integrated with Russia’s (same standards and procedures), their defense systems are fully integrated and diplomatically they act as a well-synchronized unit.
2. An area further west, probably encompassing the entire basin of Dnieper River and the Black Sea littoral, from the Belorussian to the Romanian border, will be part of a Russian zone. The regions within this zone will be given political autonomy within a general security and economic framework linked to Russia. The rough outlines of this area can be determined from the following language map. The areas in red and orange—is Russian-speaking and is naturally part of the Russian zone. The only two exceptions will be a Carpatho-Russian enclave (in purple) which will need to be administered separately and a Hungarian enclave (in green) that might as well be absorbed into Hungary.
3. Further west will lie a zone that will be wrapped in fancy paper with ribbons and bows and presented as an extra-special present to the EU to love to cherish and to suffer migraines and aneurisms over. Roughly speaking, the yellow area is Ukrainian-speaking and is an all-you-can-eat (please don’t choke) buffet for the West. It has relatively poor soil and high incidence of iodine deficiency and imbecility in the general population. It is also where Ukrainian nationalism comes from and where the current Ukrainian Nazi plague originated. The Russian stance should be (if I may be so bold as to recommend what the Russian government should do) along the lines of “If you like your Ukrainian Nazis, you can have your Ukrainian Nazis.”
Why the Chinese system works
Here we have a son who has a mental issue. He left home 11 years ago. But in China, everyone is monitored, and it is the duty, the requirement; the responsibility of each local govenrment to know who is in their jurisdiction. So they found this young man. And they used AI to find out who he was, and contacted his family. In this video, the mother and his sister comes to get him and take him home. It is not right for him to live hand-to-mouth on the streets alone.
I argue that it is better to drive a distressed automobile but eat extraordinarily well, than you drive a nice car and live off fast food. And you can take that opinion of mine “to the bank“.
Love her belly
I like this girl’s belly. It is appealing. Like a milkshake. video 5MB
Taiwan Leadership argues for a change in alliances
Well, it is obvious to us here, but hidden from the rest of the world. The United States does not care about you or your country, and will abandon you and leave to to rot if it is to their advantage.
Well, it looks like people in Taiwan are watching the events and wondering “what about us”?
Former Taiwan Vice President from the pro Independence Party 民进党 (The people progressive party) openly criticized her own party and current president. She now promotes discarding alignment with America, and a military buildup. She now is endorsing reunification with China. Wow.
This is obvious to me, but not so for the rest of the world.
‘Never forget the real threat to world’: Amid Ukraine crisis, the Chinese embassy in Russia slams the United States. Among the 248 Armed conflicts that occurred in 153 regions across the world from 1945 to 2001, 201 were initiated by the US, accounting for 81% of the total number.
It’s all about community. Participate. Make the world a better place. Be like the Chinese. video 6MB
Austrian Minister of Defence, Klaudier Tanner
According to SD, this might be the person who would launch World War III. Whether it is soon, or far off. This is the face of the person to initiated the nuclear conflagration.
Austrian Minister of Defense, Klaudier Tanner.
Satan has some advice to Americans / EU
Taxi Driver gives a ride for free
He’s a true Rufus. He sees a young girl carrying a baby all alone,a nd stope and gives them a free ride. What a Rufus! video 6MB
Now, let’s talk hamburgers.
This piece of work really speaks to me. You know…
Hamburgers for all.
What do the Chinese think?
Maybe a tiny percentage of netizens are very interested in the situation in Ukraine, following it constantly, but I’d say majority (95%, I guess ?) of Chinese just get on with their life and feel grateful that they can live in a contry where NATO/US & its 5-eyes allies can not come and bomb it.MSM/some people keep on posting this or that about Chinese/China’s stands on the on-going situation between Russia and Ukraine, it sometimes seems to me like a part of the Western psyop to drive a wedge between Russia and China and their supporters/sympathisers.
-Lulu
Russian SWIFT cutoff
According to the Russian National SWIFT Association, Russia has the second-largest number of users after the US, with some 300 Russian financial institutions in the system, more than half of Russia’s financial institutions.
This is not the first time US, EU banned Russia from SWIFT. So Putin is not caught by surprise.
Russia is the world second largest exporter of resources, so, by imposing sanction on Russia from using SWIFT (yet again), it will force the world hungry for Russian resources to trade through China in RMB.
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Only this time, the Chinese RMB international transaction system is established and ready to welcome the world with confidence.
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As a result, we can expect the continue rising in value of rmb, this will attract more and more investors using rmb as reserve currency, and will speed up the replacement of US dollar to rmb worldwide.
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There is always good reason behind an inevitable empire collapsed:
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US regimes are basically run by elderly who born in the 1930s and 40s, these are out of touch extreme supremacists. They are self centred, know no consequences, one leg already in the coffin; truly ugly, old folks. Their stupidly and aggression will send their country into poverty, backwardness, and disintegration. Well, it already has, but so far the decay has been hidden from prublic view.
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As the Chinese word 危机 (crisis) suggests; 危 is for danger, and 机 is for opportunity.
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So each time the West creates a crisis for China and others, China will identify the opportunities to turn the crisis into opportunity and make herself stronger.
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Each time, US and Europe push and promote aggression against China, they are actually helping to create an enemy that they cannot defeat.
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Welcome to the coming new world order with more fairness, equality, and freedom from the nasty; nasty American-lead unipolar global dictatorship.
China’s Xinghua News journalist reporting from Ukraine and Belarus
– Feb. 28th around 8: 30 local time, the same Chinese businessman of yesterday’s vido I posted, who lives in Kiev suburb, tells Xinhua News that the suburb of Kiev is quiet. It’s safe to stay at home. He also says there’s only one TV channel in Ukraine right now only reporting the war: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Ea411h7GX?spm_id_from=333.999.0.0;
No, it is not the image of a “great and wonderful white shinging building on the hill”, but rather a corrupt, third world nation that is falling down into black hole of decay and internal rot at all levels. video 51MB
Why I think that America has been taken over by Satan…
Think Hamburgers
This lass certainly does.
I thought we were reasonably free of Trump and I ignore most of his utterings. But this one – it got to me.
TRUMP: “Under Bush, Russia invaded Georgia. Under Obama, Russia took Crimea. Under Biden, Russia invaded Ukraine.”“I stand as the only president of the twenty-first century on who’s watch Russia did not invade another country.”
America’s brutalist belief system
No wonder, the bully still thinks it’s 20 years old, muscular and tough. When instead, it’s an old seniale man, with a walker. video 3MB
From the attack dogs’ own mouths—how stupid can these people be?
Why I think that America has been taken over by Satan…
Remember that China trains EVERYONE to fight
Here’s rifle training in middle school. I wonder what the American school kids learn in schools today. video 3MB
Berated about my love for ladies
Yeah. Trolls hate me putting up pictures of pretty ladies. Oh, boy oh boy! Do they hate it. It drives them bonker-crazy! But no one has yet to complain about my love for hamburgers.
Here we have a vintage lass hold a fine burger in her hands. Now, what’s wrong about that? Whoops! Mind the nipple flash. I think that it must be a “wardrobe malfunction”.
Military sitrep overview – Ukraine
At the operational level there have been mistakes such as about convoys undefended. At the strategic level things are very much on track. Russian procedure on clearing towns is excellent and was used extensively in Syria.
Step 1 approach the town and assess the chance of their surrender Step 2 surround the town, cutting off resupply. Step 3 based on initial recon begin with very targeted strikes weakening defenses Step 4 send in probes to gain a clearer picture of internal defenses Step 5 begin degrading them Step 6 open humanitarian corridors Step 7 begin probing attacks from different sides 24/7 to disturb and confuse and sleep deprive (your troops can rest) Step 8 when defenses are sufficiently weakened invade
Chinese Term ‘Wuxin Gongzuo’: Can’t Focus on Work Due to Russia-Ukraine Crisis
Chinese netizens are so focused on the Russian attack on Ukraine that nobody can focus on work (wuxin gongzuo). From HERE.
2022 03 01 15 20
A comment
The Grand Chessboard reveals all.
The purpose of NATO is...
keep Germany down in Europe,
keep the USA in control of Europe,
keep the Russians out.
With the combined factors of;
Russia’s rise and dedollarise;
China’s rise militarily and economically;
Germany’s pending approval of NS2 to increase Germany’s economic strength; Germany being the dominant economy and country in EU;
America had to find a way to scare EU and tighten America’s stranglehold on the EU.
What better way than to provoke a war in a part of Europe not exactly vital to EU?
Ukraine is going exactly to plan: it’s a win win for USA and Russia.
Russia knows its LNG sales to other countries, like Japan, will not be targeted. Can you imagine what will happen to Japan if LNG from Sakhalin is removed? The depressive effects will spark a global depression.
You can bet China is studying this Ukraine conflict very intently.
We have reached an inflection point.
The world will shift to a path different from the hegemon’s choosing. Whatever deity you choose to praise, do thank him/her for your salvation.
-Grune
Pretty girl
Here’s one of the popular girls on Douxing in China. She’s impressive. video 3MB
How about some hamburgers?
While all sorts of crazy stuff is going on in the United States, the rest of the world is fine and following plans. So don’t get too worked up about it. how about enjoying a fine hamburger instead.
Elon Musk deploys SpaceX’s Starlink Internet satellites over Ukraine after request from vice PM | Euronews
There seems to be an obvious connection between the United States military / government and Elon Musk. From the attack on the Chinese Space Station to this, it’s obviously suspicious.
Nice view. She’s a strutting down the street don’t you know. video 3MB
Oh, and don’t forget about the fries!
Sheech! I am so accustomed about eating hamburgers with french fries that I forgot how to eat a burger without them. Usually, I try to substitute potato chips, or potato salad instead.
Americans, Brits and Europeans should stop clapping with glee…
This is the latest comment from Aaron Hawkins (Storm Clouds Gathering):
“ As this war heats up you will see many cheering for one flag or the other; promoting escalations and retaliations. This is a trap.
Who exactly benefits from a major war that sends millions of young, fighting age men and women to slaughter each other in Eurasia (at the precise moment when civil disobedience with teeth was beginning to spread)?
And what do you suppose is about to happen to the monetary system now that Russia is being cut from SWIFT?
Did you consider the fact that not only does Europe depend heavily on Russian gas (that the U.S. cannot even come close to replacing), but Russia and Ukraine also happen to be the world’s two largest wheat exporters comprising approximately 30% of global production?
All of Ukraine’s exports have been halted, and with Russia cut off from the western banking system all future customers will have to work outside the dollar.
Even if the physical war were to be contained to Ukraine (spoiler alert: it won’t), the consequences of the cyber and economic warfare already underway will be devastating. Western leaders are setting their populations up for much more than just parabolic price increases. Widespread shortages and famine are on the horizon. This will not be a short term phenomenon."
Five days into the war and the first inkling of truth is presented to Americans
Watch Yevhen Karas the leader of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi terror gang C14’s speech from Kiev earlier this month. Straight from the horses’ mouth, he dispels the many narratives pushed by the Western governments, the mainstream media and the State Department.
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He claims:
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– Ukraine is being armed as pawns of the West because “we have fun killing”
– “We have started a war”
– “We have the most Javelins on the European continent”
– The European family has already collapsed
– Maidan would’ve been a “gay parade” if not for Nazi influence
America is pushing all this warfare
Keep in mind the ugly face of what he Hell that everyone is dealing with right now. The United States is NOT a happy, safe, and healthy nation right now. video 3MB
Now that’s a serious whopper!
Wow!
Great Video Speech regarding Ukraine & Russia 2014
Well, worth the watch. I watched it, was going to record it, and then Boom! No longer available in my region. Sigh! I urge everyone to watch it.
Do people seriously imagine Russia simply blundered into the Ukraine not knowing what the west would do?
You may be surprised to hear that the world is actually still spinning. All we have to deal with is the mighty Wurlitzer which is an old-style pipe organ for theaters, and also a propaganda instrument.
Allow me a moment to explain:
In 1967 the magazine Ramparts ran an exposé revealing that the Central Intelligence Agency had been secretly funding and managing a wide range of citizen front groups intended to counter communist influence around the world.
In addition to embarrassing prominent individuals caught up, wittingly or unwittingly, in the secret superpower struggle for hearts and minds, the revelations of 1967 were one of the worst operational disasters in the history of American intelligence and presaged a series of public scandals from which the CIA’s reputation has arguably never recovered.CIA official Frank Wisner called the operation his “mighty Wurlitzer,” on which he could play any propaganda tune.
Hugh Wilford provides the first comprehensive account of the clandestine relationship between the CIA and its front organizations.
Using an unprecedented wealth of sources, he traces the rise and fall of America’s Cold War front network from its origins in the 1940s to its Third World expansion during the 1950s and ultimate collapse in the 1960s.Covering the intelligence officers who masterminded the CIA’s fronts as well as the involved citizen groups—émigrés, labor, intellectuals, artists, students, women, Catholics, African Americans, and journalists—Wilford provides a surprising analysis of Cold War society that contains valuable lessons for our own age of global conflict.
Now, the Mighty Wurlitzer, exposed during the cold war, has never ended.
We see it in full swing now.
Here are a few snippets, a few items from memory (it has to be from memory as most of the Russian sites are still down, or up or down, in a relentless cyber propaganda war and this cannot be meticulously linked to source).
And you know what, the Ukraine inherited its own theater and mighty Wurlitzer, where they are designing and producing for the common man, theater productions for this current time.
Excepting now, it is all done in studio with breathless journalists playing war and running around in front of green screens.
So, while the tinny and discordant theater music sometimes drowns out even our own ability to think (it is torture, you know!) let’s look at a few realities.
Sanctions. Big Big Headlines – Russia is sanctioned for this or that and for basically everything, even Vodka. The latest is SWIFT (but only for a few banks). Take a good look at the sanctions. It is paper production for the purpose of paper production. The German sanctions on Russian banks for example have fine print. (They all have). They’re sanctioning Russia from hell, but of course, this does not apply to gas or oil payments. Those will continue, says the fine print.
Sanctions on Russia are now the latest fashion accessory. The one that can play that Wurlitzer the loudest is the one who wins. So what happens if they don’t win? What happens if they are busy shooting themselves in the heart, and not even in the foot?. What happens if the fervor to punish Russia simply accelerates their own demise?
Russia is decoupling as fast as what the West is sanctioning. A headline that comes to mind is: “European Commission: The disconnection of a number of banks from SWIFT “will actually block Russian exports and imports”.
No Einstein, it will hasten de-dollarization.
How about a plate of double cheeseburgers?
I could easily eat all of them up. WHat they do need is a fine strawberry milkshake, don’t you know.
Chinese girl
Let’s take a look at this fine Chinese lass. Here she is inside of her house. I’ll bet she is fun to be with. video 1MB
America’s Anti-Russian “news”…
This morning from Medvedev:
‘Final review’ of Russia’s relations with West now possible – former president
Dmitry Medvedev has dubbed European organizations “meaningless almshouses”.
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Western sanctions could be an “excellent reason for a final review” of Russia’s relations with the nations that have imposed the restrictions, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former president, Dmitry Medvedev, said on Saturday.
Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, which was launched on February 24, has prompted outrage in the West and a new wave of harsh sanctions against Russia. In a lengthy post on the Russian social network VK, Medvedev called the restrictions “a myth, a figment, a figure of speech.”
“Sanctions could be an excellent reason for the final review of all relations with those states that have introduced them. Including interruption of the dialogue on strategic stability,” Medvedev wrote.
[sidebar] Take another look at that sentence – why now? It is because most of the western world do not have answers to Russia on strategic stability, so they decided to play that Wurlitzer pretty loud to attempt to hide their inability).
He added that in principle, it is possible “to renounce everything,” including the New START Treaty.
“Yes, and diplomatic relations, in principle, are not particularly needed. It’s time to close the embassies with barn locks. And to continue contacts by examining each other only through binoculars and weapons’ optical systems,” Medvedev said.
Commenting on the decision by the Council of Europe and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to suspend Russia’s membership, the former president said that while this is a “flagrant injustice,” it could still be considered as a good reason “to finally slam the door and forget about these meaningless almshouses forever.”
This development could also be used to “restore a number of important institutions for prevention of especially serious crimes in the country,” he said, such as the “death penalty for the most dangerous criminals, which, by the way, is being actively used in the United States and China.”
He has no assets abroad and to the UK sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote:
“Neither Putin, nor Lavrov have accounts neither in Britain nor anywhere abroad. Maybe the kingdom’s government got something frozen off rather than it froze something?”
We are in a new world.
A few more:
Russia has just suspended cooperation with NASA on the international space station .. including the launch team which will not be available to the US. Russia will work with China.
Zap!
Are there any US astronauts there at the moment? I don’t know, but Elon Musk will have to get them home.
Let’s take a look at few more of Mr Putin’s actions these last days.
Russia’s President Meeting (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67851) with Security Council permanent members
💬 Vladimir Putin: According to available information, and this is confirmed by objective monitoring – we are seeing this; Banderites and neo-Nazis are putting up heavy weapons, including MLRS, right in the central districts of large cities, including Kiev and Kharkov. They plan to force return fire by Russian strike systems vs residential quarters. They are acting in the same way terrorists act all over the world – using people as shields.
It is known for a fact that all this is being done on the recommendations of foreign consultants, primarily American advisors.
❗️ Once again, I am appealing to the military of the armed forces of Ukraine. Do not allow neo-Nazis and Banderites to use your children, wives and elders as a live shield. Take power into your own hands. It seems it will be easier for us to come to terms with you than with this gang of drug addicts & neo-Nazis that have settled in Kiev and that have taken the Ukrainian people.
President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation (https://is.gd/m8pf2L) with President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The Presidents discussed developments related to the special military operation designed to protect peaceful civilians in Donbass as well as Ukraine’s demilitarisation and denazification.
☝️ Shavkat Mirziyoyev expressed understanding of Russia’s actions.
The Presidents also touched upon certain current issues on the bilateral agenda. They reaffirmed their shared intention to continue the development of the Russian-Uzbek strategic partnership with a focus on implementing specific trade, economic, and humanitarian projects.
President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation (https://is.gd/322XIF) with President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping.
The President of Russia gave the President of China a detailed account of the reasons behind the recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic and the start of a special military operation to protect civilians from genocide and ensure the demilitarisation and denazification of the Ukrainian state. Vladimir Putin also noted that considering the signals received from Kiev he was ready to send a delegation to Minsk to hold talks with representatives of Ukraine.
☝️ Xi Jinping stressed that he respected the actions of the Russian leadership in the current crisis.
The two Leaders assessed the current international situation from a common perspective. They reaffirmed a mutual readiness to closely cooperate and support each other further at the UN and in other multilateral platforms.
Held at Kyrgyzstan’s initiative, the telephone conversation (https://is.gd/Ppnjou) between President Vladimir Putin and President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov focused on the situation with the special military operation carried out by Russia in Ukraine.
☝️ Sadyr Japarov said that Kiev was responsible for derailing the Minsk agreements and expressed his support for Russia’s decisive actions to protect civilians in Donbass. Vladimir Putin thanked the President of Kyrgyzstan for his principled solidarity.
The two Presidents reaffirmed their mutual commitment to strengthening the strategic partnership and allied relations between Russia and Kyrgyzstan in all areas.
President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation (https://is.gd/oACYDq) with Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.
The Parties continued their exchange of views on the practical aspects of the implementation of the agreements documented by the November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021, tripartite statements by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on Nagorno-Karabakh, including efforts to ensure stability and security on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Some items on the current bilateral agenda were also touched upon.
The Ukraine is dancing to the music of the Mighty Wurlitzer. Don’t you do that too! Turn the music off. Zone B is way behind Zone A in playing the organ, but way ahead in creating a life friendly to human people, for this planet.Margarita Simonyan focused on the 5th and 6th columns with a devasting phrase:
“If you are now ashamed that you are Russian, do not worry, you are not Russian,” she wrote in her Telegram channel.
And in the event that you are worried about China, they just posted this from their Russian embassy. They truly understand that this time it is Russia, but for the throw of a set of dice, or a different tune on the Wurlitzer, it could have been China.
Captures
USA’s and UK’s “lethal aid” To Ukraine captured by DPR and Russian forces. SMAW-D & NLAW
It’s all so easy to get caught up. Don’t. Sit down. Settle down and enjoy life more.
Serious considerations
I imagine at this point President Putin has convened a Stavka and he and the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces are now looking at all thinkable and unthinkable situations that could evolve that would impact the safety and security of the Russian people.
The President of the Russian Federation has to prepare the State apparatus for:
1. Sustained war against Russia
2. Explain to the people what they must do and why they must do it
3. Insure all civil defense structures are ready to house and feed the masses
4. Speak with the clergy to address all military personnel and give them the spiritual confidence to fight hard
5. Seek allies including China and make them all realize they will have to engage their forces now or perish
Russia waited too long and now she will saddle up and ride as fast as possible to meet the enemy head on and at full speed. The time for principled diplomacy has ended; the shashka has been unsheathed and it will cut the beast a thousand times and stab it in its dark heart until it is dead.
The feat of the Russian special forces opened the way to Kiev –
The Russian army entered Kiev on Friday. This happened only on the second day after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, which means that what is happening can be assessed as a grandiose success. However, there is reason to believe that the entire plan of the operation hung in the balance – and everything turned out successfully only thanks to the real feat of the special forces soldiers.
The most important event took place in the north of Ukraine, in the region of Kiev. It was there, at the Gostomel airport, on February 24, that several helicopters landed with Spetsnaz commandos. https://youtu.be/rorZDGkcd54
In the video, several people, without fussing, set up a firing position on one of the outskirts of the giant Gostomel airfield to the sound of automatic bursts. The pathos of the plot was powerful and straightforward – Russian troops, just a few hours after the start of the operation, found themselves on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital. It was unthinkable to imagine something like this the day before.
The Antonov airfield (officially called Gostomel a few years ago) is the “home” airfield of the famous Antonov company. This is an airfield with a huge runway (three and a half thousand meters), covering hundreds of hectares. It operates and is equipped with everything necessary for the takeoff and landing of heavy military transport aircraft.
From a military point of view, Gostomel has a number of advantages over other Kiev airfields (Zhulyany and Boryspil). First of all, it is not used as often, it has much less staff and people in general. It is located on the right bank of the Dnieper, where the main administrative buildings of Kiev are located. It is closest to the city center. And most importantly, it is closest to the Belarusian border (only about 60-70 km), from where the Russian landing force advanced.
Apparently, special forces helicopters covered this distance over the Dnieper, which in these places, from the Belarusian-Ukrainian border to Kiev, is extremely wide. The instant appearance of a division of the Russian Airborne Forces twenty kilometers from the center of the Ukrainian capital means a knife at the heart of the Kiev regime.
Of course, the significance of what was happening was instantly understood in the Kiev military leadership. Throughout the night of February 25, there were reports of an intense battle was going on in the vicinity of Gostomel. The British Minister of Defense even announced that – “the Russian landing near Kiev failed, Russia lost hundreds of fighters.”
However, on the morning of February 25, it turned out that the skirmish in Gostomel did not subside at all – as it should have happened if the special forces had really been destroyed. On the contrary, it intensified. And in the neighborhood of Gostomel, other battles suddenly began. And there were reports of completely different tanks – Russian combat vehicles were found near the village of Vorzel, ten kilometers from the airfield.
It was, apparently, a special aid group made her way all night to the special forces soldiers surrounded at the airfield – and finally released it. Following which, there were reports of other combat groups of the Russian army approaching Kiev.
And a little later came the official message.
“On February 24, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a successful landing operation in the area of the Gostomel airfield in the suburbs of Kiev. During the capture of the airfield, more than 200 nationalists from the special units of Ukraine were killed,” said the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov. Later it was stated that Russian troops completely blocked Kiev from the west.
We have before us an example of exceptional valor and military skill, shown to all of us in what is called real time.
You must realize why America is pushing this war against Asia…
Fight, fight, fight is all about distract, distract, and distract. The true face of what America is, is NOT pretty. I wonder why these images are not shown on CNN, BBC or FOX “news”? video
It’s about how you look at things
The end of SWIFT
China’s Cross-Border International Payments System will give Russia a lifeline and accelerate the de-dollarization of the world.
French sea police have seized a ship in the Channel that authorities suspect belongs to a Russian company in one of the first visible displays of the West enforcing sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The cargo vessel transporting cars, which was headed for St Petersburg, is “strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by the sanctions”, said Capt Veronique Magnin, of the French Maritime Prefecture. The ship was diverted to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France between 3am and 4am local time, Magnin said, adding that checks were being carried out by customs officials and that the ship’s crew was “being cooperative”.
The US Treasury Department has issued blocking sanctions against the vessel saying it was owned by a subsidiary of Russian lender Promsvyazbank, one of the Russian entities hit by US sanctions.
The bank’s CEO, Pyotr Fradkov, is the son of Mikhail Fradkov, a former head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, who also served as prime minister under Vladimir Putin. Pyotr Fradkov was himself included in the latest round of US sanctions. Promsvyazbank, in a comment sent to Reuters, said its subsidiary no longer owns the Baltic Leader, and that it was bought by a different entity before the sanctions were imposed.
The Russian embassy in France is seeking an explanation from authorities over the seizure, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted the embassy as saying. The embassy also said the ship’s crew had been allowed to come ashore and move freely about the port.
The United States, European Union, and other Western states this week imposed extensive new financial and trade sanctions on Russia after it sent military forces into neighbouring Ukraine. The US Treasury said Promsvyazbank was put under sanctions “for operating or having operated in the defence and related materiel and financial services sectors of the Russian Federation economy.” It was also targeted by EU sanctions.
MM comments on this article
French sea police have seized a ship
The US Treasury Department has issued blocking sanctions
The Russian embassy in France is seeking an explanation
Ergo; France is a proxy nation taking orders from the United States.
It’s about how you look at things
Just focus on what is in front of you. One fry at a time.
Chinese girl on a bed
It’s pretty typical. yah. Nice smile. Like she ate a bird. LOL
From everything we see in the news lately about all the attacks against Russia,we may actually be heading for WW3 after all.
If the EU does provide military aircraft to Ukraine, and they allow them to based in NATO countries next door…
…then they emerge from their safe bases in NATO and fly out and attack Russian forces and then scurry back across the border.
There is no way Russia will tolerate that.
What they will do is that they will go across those borders and destroy all those bases, and the weapons there.
If that brings war between Russia and NATO then Europe needs to be sure they have enough nuclear bomb shelters around, because they are going to need them.
I saw on RT that Russia was going to start evacuating their citizens from the EU.
Now just what do we think that says… eh?
An important tweet
I think that Richard Moore, the chief of MI6, certainly revealed a lot when he tweeted this…
“With the tragedy and destruction unfolding so distressingly in Ukraine, we should remember the values and hard won freedoms that distinguish us from Putin, none more than LGBT+ rights. So let’s resume our series of tweets to mark #LGBTHM2022.”
Peter Mann Comments
Not everyone knows the details and background of events happening halfway around the world, even for well educated and smart people. If they sit there and watch the mainstream news, they will obviously be victims to pervasive and well coordinated propaganda.
Confirmation bias is a strong force.
If you’re not careful, whatever you hear first becomes the truth regardless of facts. Even very smart people may be susceptible. Sometimes, arguments ensue. The first part of the comment relates to finding the truth, the second part more specifically on the current armed conflict, with a small prediction for the end game.
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No need to argue. Challenge the seeker of truth to find out.
Here is a short clip from Brian Berlectic, an ex-Marine who has been living in Thailand and has done very good work showing his viewers the sources of his information, usually directly from the liar’s mouth. This is very similar to I. F. Stone, who exposed the liars by meticulously digging through information provided by the liars. My first exposure to I. F. Stone was his “The Hidden History of the Korean War.” It is important to know who the liars are, and then never trust anything they say.
How to learn the truth? Stay smart, read widely, read beyond the superficial, read between the lines, read the fine print, learn about the writer/speaker and his organization, get into the head of the author, be careful of false narratives, reject insidious adjectives, learn about deliberate omissions and obfuscations, look in the mirror, question everything, including your own beliefs.
Liars are not hard to expose, yet people prefer to believe in liars who are known to do nothing but lie. Ask yourself why. It’s very difficult if not impossible for a hypocrite to admit that he or she is a hypocrite. Americans like to elect them for a good reason.
Here is a clip from an Ukrainian girl Masha who is from Donetsk in the Donbass, about 20 kms from the war zone. She speaks almost perfect Chinese and works as a translator for Chinese businessmen in Kyiv. Her family has been living in the shadow of war for the past 8 years. Masha has done vlogs showing the bombed out areas. American poison has been creating hell for some Ukrainians but the hypocrites do not see it. Who paid for the poison? The American people of course.
There has always been a solution for peace; it’s known as Minsk II. But it’s another lie just like Camp David and Oslo. The Palestinians are weak and divided, so they will suffer what they must. But Russia is the largest country in the world with the most nuclear arms. Its people have destroyed Napoleon’s previously invincible Grande Armee and single-handedly killed over a million German soldiers who dared to invade their country. American lies of how they have saved the world from the Nazis are laughable for people who have read history beyond American propaganda. Why should anyone be so delusional as to believe that the Russians will sit there and be bullied into submission without a fight? The stupidity of these tiny European chihuahua countries like Georgia and Lithuania are so poisoned by the American lie that they really think they want to goad Russia into war. And when they have it, where is their protector overlord?
Ukraine is of course a basketcase. It is just a puppet government installed by the hegemon, and its comedian head of state has been following the American script of forcing Russia into war. All that suits America of course. This war would not have happened if America wanted peace. The war would be easy to avert and it’s not by America imposing the mother of all sanctions on Putin (the false narrative around which the political partisans are fighting; American mainstream media has become a farce). America only has to agree to let Ukraine be a non-military zone. How hard is that? How evil is Russia’s request? Russia’s position has been very clear from Day One. If America won’t agree, then Russia will turn Ukraine into a NMZ. For some reason, many pundits refused to see it. But America does not want peace. America wants wars that Russia will be fighting with its European neighbors. It will let America put its European vassals on a short leash, get Russia and Europe to destroy each other’s economy, and create bad blood for Russia and its neighbors while providing a lot of good propaganda for America, allowing the Empire to maintain its hegemony. It is nefarious as hell. And of course, the morons of America will suddenly decide that the lying politicians and lying mainstream media are telling righteous truths. Evil Russia has out of the blues invaded Ukraine without provocation. The stock market goes up because oil goes up and the Military Industrial Complex expects big contracts. The hegemon wins again, thanks to the Ukrainian Neo-Nazis acting as America’s attack dogs.
Once you cut through the bullshit and understand what’s going on, it’s easy to predict what will happen.
These people and countries acting as attack dogs for the empire must therefore be taught an unforgettable lesson. If you don’t put down the rabid dogs, they will get up and bite you again. Therefore, Russia will not take half measures. They will not stop unless the surrender is total, and punishment for the miscreants dealt out accordingly. Otherwise, this operation will be for naught.
Why argue? There is no morality in politics. If anyone believes there is, then they’re fools. Show me a country willing to crusade for the Palestinians and I’ll show you a moral politician. In geopolitics, one does not own anything one cannot defend. The rest is bullshit and balderdash.
For the same reason, I wrote two years ago that a golden opportunity presented itself for China to summarily reunify with Taiwan without bloodshed. I suspect a well planned operation at the golden moment will only take hours, certainly less than a day. The sooner it happens, the less mayhem America can cause with its poison, paid by American taxpayers of course. The American people will starve and die on the street, but they love a good war, and will spend any amount of money to fight the Russians to the last Ukrainian. How happy they will be to see the Chinese fighting the Chinese!
Wow! Since I have incorporated my mix up of multiple subjects in articles, there was a near collapse in troll activity on MM. Of course, youse guys wouldn’t be aware of what’s going on as I don’t publish the majority of comments. But yeah. It’s all way, way down. It drives the algorithms crazy. They cannot handle dialog and it causes them to go zoomy! Whether a person or a ‘bot. They cannot handle mixed content in an article.
Quick update from the talks in Belarus:
Russians and Ukranians are trying to discuss how to end the conflict. The dude in the cap from Ukraine at the talks demands the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the Crimea and Donbass. Russia wants the end of NATO encroachment.
So don’t expect anything from these negotiations.
You will note that the Ukrainian negotiators all have their iPhones laid out on the table so that the US curators can hear every word.
Shooting at residential buildings, distributing weapons and hunting for "saboteurs" - in war, all means are good
Valentin ALFIMOV
Due to the fact that Ukrainian troops hide their equipment in cities, shells fly right into residential buildings.
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THE PEOPLE ARE THE BEST PROTECTION
“Ukrainian nationalists place armored vehicles and artillery in residential areas of cities, using the population as a “human shield,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
It turns out, indeed, that the Ukrainian warriors showed the world “innovative tactics” of combat. With a 100% guarantee, they learned how to take their technique out of the blow. Everything is very simple: you just need to brazenly stick a gun or “Grad” at the school, kindergarten or just under the windows of residential buildings. In other words, hide behind civilians:
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Here in the residential quarter of Severodonetsk, right at the school stadium, there is a calculation of 3 howitzers, a kindergarten was left behind the scenes. Ammunition is laid out next to each, the fighters are at the ready.
In a residential area of Severodonetsk, right at the school stadium, the Armed Forces of Ukraine deployed a crew of 3 howitzers
Here is a military truck on the steps of the Odessa Opera House (an architectural monument, by the way) hiding from Russian intelligence right under the roof.
Military truck on the steps of the Odessa Opera House
Here is a self-propelled gun of the 92nd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine rested its caterpillars on the balconies of house No. 308 in the Solnechny microdistrict of Kharkov.
And there are hundreds of such photos and videos now. The residents of the cities are starting to lose their nerves – in the same Severodonetsk, people went out into the yard to drive away the Ukrainian armored personnel carrier with the words to the soldiers “get out of here, we have a full basement of children.”
But Mariupol is especially affected by this , which was turned into a fortress by the nationalists of the Azov Regiment and the Right Sector (both banned in Russia). They placed mortar crews right on the roofs of high-rise buildings!
In Severodonetsk, people are trying to drive Ukrainian armored personnel carriers away from their homes
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IN YOUR OWN EYE THE LOGS DO NOT SEE
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Due to the fact that Ukrainian troops hide their equipment in cities, shells fly right into residential buildings. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that a Ukrainian Buk missile hit a residential building in Kyiv.
The most striking example is the “Russian missile attack” on a high-rise building in Kyiv – the Zhuliany district. “The Russian aggressor is shooting at residential buildings!” – the news rushed through the Ukrainian propaganda channels and networks.
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The Russian Defense Ministry found out: “At night, there was a failure in the missile guidance system of the Ukrainian Buk-M1 air defense system and the missile hit the corner of a residential building.” And in general, “the Russian army does not strike at cities.” He doesn’t even hit the barracks, so that there are no big casualties. Only at military air bases and warehouses.
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A little later, local residents confirmed that the rocket came from where the Ukrainian units are stationed.
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Under such pressure, even the command of the Ukrainian army surrendered, they admitted that it was their missile.
But the NATO and Ukrainian media are already silent about this. The culprit has been found, but it has already been hammered into people’s heads – “Russians are hitting home.”
The icing on the cake of Ukrainian war tactics was the massive distribution of weapons. Anyone. Who wants. From trucks, machine guns are dumped on the asphalt like potatoes. Come, take it. Kiev set the trend, Kharkiv, Zaporozhye, Odessa joined a little later…
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“Political studies” for Ukrainian women and children
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From the armed people they form detachments of “territorial self-defense”, as under Makhno. These gangs have already begun arbitrariness and looting on the streets. Approximately every first one is seen as a spy. If they notice two, it’s definitely a sabotage group.
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So in Kyiv, a truck of the Ukrainian army and an anti-aircraft gun, which were driving to a shelter, were mistaken for Russian spies and opened fire on them.
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The crew of the truck fell down, and the anti-aircraft gun managed to leave, crushing a civilian car in a panic. A little later, the deputies of the Rada identified all the dead and confirmed that they were all Ukrainian soldiers. But this was already after the crowd had had time to mock the corpses: “So you, Russian saboteurs.”
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In Kyiv, the Strela-10 air defense system ran over a car driving along the road
In the same Kyiv, a family of five people who tried to leave the city were shot right in the car. They were also mistaken for saboteurs. Parents and one child died. Two more children are in critical condition in the hospital.
A family of five was shot dead in a car in Kyiv
The Nazis went wild – in order to get to Kyiv, they demand to correctly pronounce the word “Palyanitsya”. Russian-speaking Ukrainians can easily get shot for just mispronunciation.
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Women with children are trained for the same. “Political classes” are held right in the courtyards, where employees of the Security Service of Ukraine explain to residents: “Whoever has personal weapons at home, you can calmly use them to kill. Quietly, carefully from around the corner – and then dump.
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And the apotheosis of all this was the statement by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine that it was releasing prisoners and distributing weapons to them. Ukraine is rapidly sinking into the Makhnovshchina..
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ACTORS GOT PRISONERS
In general, the fight against saboteurs has been raised to an absolute level, Everyone is looking for them and everything is under suspicion. And they do catch! Packs!
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So in Ukraine, more and more fakes with Russian “captives” are being launched. They are crushed in two counts. But the enthusiasm does not subside.
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So on one video, allegedly a Russian prisoner sits under a yellow-blue flag and lows through force: “Glory to Ukraine.” Only the director of this production grinned like a fool: this “Russian prisoner” turned out to be Panasyuk Yaroslav Fedorovich from Ternopil, a participant in the punitive war in the Donbass. His proud profile has already flashed on Facebook.
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Allegedly, the “Russian prisoner” turned out to be Yaroslav Panasyuk from Ternopil, a participant in the punitive war in the Donbass
Another guy in the video. Users found out that he did not come from Russia, but lives in Kyiv. “Warrior” happened to be handed over by a girl – she already posted pictures with him on her page and never deleted it.
The detainee allegedly “OMON” from Novokuznetsk, turned out to be a member of the military-patriotic club from the Ukrainian Nikolaev.
In the area of the city of Gostoml, where the Russian Airborne Forces fought a hard battle for the airport, the Ukrainians shot down a Ka-52 helicopter, a local resident, Mikhail Pavlushenko, approached him. It was then that the SBU officers took him! And they managed to show in the news to report – “Russian pilot in captivity!”. Only later did it become clear that he was an archpriest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. But at least someone is already interested.
Archpriest Mikhail Pavlushenko was passed off by the Ukrainian media as a “Russian pilot”.
Meanwhile, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko addressed the population and reassured them that there were no Russian troops in the capital. And why then does the hunt for saboteurs among the civilian population continue?
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U.S. GOVERNMENT ISSUES NUCLEAR BLAST SURVIVAL INSTRUCTIONS
It’s certainly curious timing.
USG Issues NuclearBlastSurvivalInstructions large
Hamburger thoughts on a nice sunny day
Ah. But it’s all postering. There is not way that any serious concerns are given to Americans about Nuclear War. It’s all a game of “Chicken”.
Let’s think (instead) about a delicious hamburger!
The evil communists!
Ever since Trump it’s all been a big war against “evil communists”, but sheech! What changed? China is doing well now. Russia is doing well now. The West is turning into a shit hole. video
The 10 Rules of Ikigai
They are:
1. Stay active and don’t retire.
2. Take it slow.
3. Don’t fill your stomach.
4. Surround yourself with good friends.
5. Get in shape for your next birthday.
6. Smile.
7. Reconnect with nature.
8. Give thanks.
9. Live in the moment.
10. Uncover and Follow your Ikigai.
2022 03 01 15 53
Slowing life down is a mindful and deliberate choice. While not always an easy one, it leads to a greater appreciation for life and a greater level of happiness.
ZIRCON Hypersonic Nuclear Missiles (Land Attack Missile Version) have been loaded onto tracked, Road-Mobile Launchers, and are presently on rail cars being moved publicly inside Russia.
Prototypes were test-launched from a Tu-22M3 bomber in 2012–2013.
Launches from a ground-based platform followed in 2015, with first success achieved in 2016.
In April 2017, it was reported Zircon had reached a speed of Mach 8 (6,100 mph; 9,800 km/h; 2,700 m/s) during a flight test. Zircon was again test-fired on 3 June 2017, almost a year earlier than had been announced by Russian officials.
In November 2017, Colonel General Viktor Bondarev stated that the missile was already in service. Another flight test reportedly occurred on 10 December 2018, during which the missile demonstrated that it could attain a speed of Mach 8.
On 20 February 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the missile is capable of accelerating up to Mach 9 and destroying both sea and land targets within 1,000 km (540 nmi; 620 mi). By the year’s end, on 24 December 2019, Putin stated that Zircon’s land-based version was in development.
Warhead
> 300 HE , > 200 kt tnw nuclear
INVISIBLE TO RADAR
Zircon can travel at a speed of Mach 8 – Mach 9 (6,100–6,900 mph; 9,800–11,000 km/h; 2.7–3.1 km/s). This has led to concerns that it could penetrate existing defense systems. Because it flies at hypersonic speeds within the atmosphere, the air pressure in front of it forms a plasma cloud as it moves, absorbing radio waves and making it practically invisible to active radar systems (Plasma stealth).
The final section of the missile’s trajectory will be overcome in under 10 seconds. As such, the enemy does not have time to carry out all the necessary procedures needed to even TRY to intercept it. Moreover, the Zircon exchanges information in flight and can be controlled by commands if necessary to alter course of change target.
Missiles like this could, in theory, be fired from Russia, and hit the Capital cities of NATO member countries bordering Russia.
You know, the Capital cities of countries participating in ejecting Russia from the SWIFT banking system; or other countries supplying weapons or now fighter jets to Ukraine, to be used fighting Russia. It would happen so fast, and with such Stealth, that the countries being targeted wouldn’t even know the missiles were coming until their Capitals got hit and blown up.
The 200 kiloton warheads would obliterate the cities that were hit. In comparison, the USA blasted Hiroshima with a 15Kiloton warhead.
UPDATE 6:30 AM EST —
From Russian Ministry of Defense: “In accordance with the order of the President, the duty of the command posts of the Strategic Missile (nuclear) Forces, the Northern and Pacific Fleets, and the Long-Range Aviation Command have begun combat duty with reinforced personnel.”
This means that the order Putin gave earlier, to get them ready, is now being fulfilled and they’re operating in a high alert/readiness mode. Nukes will be armed and prepared & ready to strike — if order given.
7:18 AM EST–
Russia’s top military command has ordered heavy strategic bomber flights in effort to block US and EU military aid from getting to Ukraine, per a defense statement. Russia has tried to “fully destroy” Ukraine’s airfields with missile attacks, per Ukraine MoD -Foreign Policy.
UPDATE 7:22 AM EST —
The “masses, who are asses” (in Kiev) are lining up at . . . Supermarkets . . . . trying to buy food. As usual, the overwhelming majority of the general public are so utterly stupid, they make absolutely ZERO plans and take absolutely no action to protect themselves,, even though they’re in Day 4 of an actual shooting war. Don’t be like these morons – get your preps right now. Don’t wait.
When the missiles start flying, you don’t want to be like these people. Oh, and if the missiles start flying, credit/debit cards won’t work because all the computers and communications lines will be out. No way to get authorization for any purchases. So you’d better have cash money in your possession before all hell breaks loose!
UPDATE 7:26 AM EST —
Russian Ministry of Defense — Russian Air Force has gained air supremacy over the entire territory of Ukraine as of this morning.
"There were unacceptable statements about possible conflict situations and even confrontations and clashes between NATO and Russa. I will not name the authors of these statements, although it was the British foreign secretary"
Kiss of Death?
SWISS DEFENCE MINISTER SAYS “WE HAVE CONCLUDED USE OF RUSSIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS RELATIVELY UNLIKELY, POPULATION SHOULD NOT BE AFRAID”
(HT REMARK: When government tells you things are safe, that’s when you panic)
Deliveries of Germany's weapons to Ukraine make us wonder if the process of denazification was completed in Germany itself
- Russian Foreign Ministry
UH OH!
3:00 PM EST —
BIDEN SAYS AMERICANS SHOULD NOT BE WORRIED ABOUT NUCLEAR WAR
The US State Department said that Washington stands for the defense of the principle of non-nuclear war and does not see the need to increase the level of readiness of its deterrence forces.
Russia has not shown any interest in some sort of deconfliction mechanism with the United States over the Ukraine invasion, Pentagon says.
UKRAINE NEWS@kuringechuwa· At the moment, military pilots from Ukraine are in Poland. Today they receive 29 Polish MiG-29s. With full weapons and electronics.
(HT Remark: So Poland has now become a defacto Ukrainian military base. This won't end well. I suspect the very MOMENT those planes take off, Russian fighter jets and surface-to-air-missile batteries will be ordered to target them all and destroy them all as soon as they cross into Ukraine air space.)
No one in government seems to grasp that It’s all bait.
That’s why it’s the OLD Russian tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, trucks and stuff in Ukraine. I suspect it will only be Two or three more days.
Putin will act. He warned everyone publicly. He meant what he said. He WILL act.
I suspect Poland first.
Then US/UK. — Especially the UK. I think they’ve been severe trouble makers around the world for decades and I personally believe they need to get absolutely crushed by Russia. Mercilessly crushed! It will not surprise me at all if the very first UK strike is against the CITY of LONDON within London itself. That’s where all the contracts are. That’s where all the global financial shenanigans get decided. I hope they glow.
Possibly Germany after that, it seems, from the “de-Nazification” comment reported on this page earlier today.
4:53 PM EST —
Looks like the ground war in Ukraine is about to turn much darker. Putin is sending a 17-mile long convoy of artillery and tanks towards Kyiv with intense helicopter support and fighter jets all over it to take out any attackers.
Programming the Retards Has Begun:
2022 03 01 15 14
Could A Small Nuclear War Reverse Global Warming?
Ukraine Armed Forces says that if necessary, the planes they’re getting from other NATO countries “will be able to be based on Polish airfields from which Ukrainian pilots will perform combat missions”
BEING SUPPLIED TO UKRAINE, TODAY:
Bulgaria (MiG-29) – 16
Bulgaria (Su-25) – 14
Poland (MiG-29) – 28
Slovakia (MiG-29) – 12
Tomorrow Finland will begin a Parliamentary Discussion to join the NATO Alliance, this could take weeks or only a few hours it just depends on how the Finnish Government is feeling, NATO has already said Finland can be admitted to the Alliance within 24 Hours after a decision.
This will result in only one of two outcomes…
EITHER
[1] Putin feels the overwhelming pressure on his border, takes a win, and slowly works to try and repair the extreme damage that’s been done to his economy…
OR
[2] He’s decided that Russia will no longer cow to the threats posed by NATO and decides everything to the west of his border will be reduced to ashes.
It’s a terribly risky strategy being run by the Europeans…they’ll either wind up looking like heroes and saviors…or like nothing at all and with no one to care.
China nurtures it’s best and brightest
Meanwhile the USA does the exact opposite. School selection is determiend by lottery with attendence optional. Sheech! And all these people are armed with guns! video 3MB
Open letter to TV watching western armchair generals
Your entire life you have been trained to see a successful military operations like so:
Begin by bombing the shit of the “hadjis” or “sand niggers” with bombs and missiles, then flatten their town à la Fallujah, then move in with heavy armor and shoot everything which still moves or breathes.
Then distribute chewing-gums to a few kids while on video.
Then take the city center, drop a statue in front your embedded presstitutes, and then declare victory.
Then, after declaring victory, stay another 20 years or so (Blinken was clearly projecting!), ruin it completely, then leave it again and declare another brilliant victory.
And don’t forget to declare urbi at orbi that you reserve the “right” to bomb the shit out of them anytime you deem it is needed. And fuck their sovereignty or anybody else’s while we are at it!
Lastly, once home, don’t forget to “thank” your “veterans” for their “service”.
I get it.
Now YOU try, please!!
Now, in spite of this conditioning, please at least try to understand the following points:
First, the Russians do not see Ukrainian as Hadjis but as their own brothers.
Second many/most LDNR soliders have relatives in the Nazi occupied Ukraine.
Third, yes, Russia can turn any Ukrainian city into Fallujah, but who do you think will then have to pay for its reconstruction?
Fourth, please understand that the double goals of 1) denazification and 2) disarmament implies that any person which is not a Nazi or is not armed and hostile is not, repeat, NOT the target of the Russian armed forces.
Fifth, the Ukie military was 80% defeated on Day 1. Get that? It was gone as a coherent fighting force. THAT is why they are blowing up bridges, distributing weapons and releasing convicted criminals. NOT because they are winning! I mean – how stupid are you if you believe that? Ukie stupid?
Seriously?
Right now you are the object of probably the biggest PSYOP operation in history. If you realize that and treat these PSYOPs as you should, that is as “informational warfare from the bad guys” you will be able to tell your kind and grandkids “I never believed that crap”. Good for you!
But if you don’t, well then, just don’t tell too much about you in 2022 to your kind and grandkids, save yourself the ridicule and embarrassment…
That’s it. My very last attempt to wake you up. From now on, I will pretend like you don’t exist and instantly ban any comments parroting kind of self-evident nonsense.
Now I will quietly leave your room, switch off the lights, and let you watch your TVs.
Andrei
How is Chinese media reacting to growing tensions in Ukraine? How are Chinese citizens talking about this on social media?
During the last few days, all the western embassies in China have been releasing a flurry of statements, like never before, with the aim of pressuring the government to distance itself from Russia, and to affect Chinese public opinion on the issue. However, on social media people have been mocking this campaign and questioning why this seems so coordinated, lots of jokes and memes have arisen.
Overall, Chinese people do not see a need to comment on a conflict that isn’t theirs. Until recently, everyone understood this as a western attack on Russia, and now the discussion is about why the west feels the need to play out their conflict on Chinese social media.
I saw one comment saying that the west ‘thinks we can’t see international news because of the firewall, that’s not true’. Above all, China does not want to be involved in any kind of war and always believes in doing everything to avoid war. While the Chinese government maintains that position, the Chinese people will not feel the need to react to these kinds of conflicts.
Hamburger / cheeseburger thoughts
The Winter Olympics are now over, how do Chinese people feel about how the games went?
I think people are feeling a bit empty now that it’s all over, it was a highly successful event. It has awakened, for the first time, a huge interest in winter sports and people are buying the gear.
China performed well, winning 15 gold medals, placing them in 3rd place [above the US]. This success has been the number one tendency everyday on Chinese social media as people have been able to interact with the games virtually but without disrupting everyday life because the whole games took place within the physical bubble created within Beijing.
The Digital Yuan, a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) was adopted in a big way for the time during these games. What is it like to experience the birth of this CBDC?
The Digital Yuan was used during the games but it was not the only form of payment permitted. It is a long way from mass adoption within China, it’s being used in some zones where there are trial runs, but not on a mass scale.
China already has multiple venues for digital payments for everything, the country never really saw bank cards, it jumped from a cash economy straight to digital payment through phones etc.
WeChat and Alipay are the most prominent ways to make payments within China, so the government will have to work to promote this CBDC, which is basically a cryptocurrency, and change the habits of consumers.
China banned private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin firstly for environmental reasons. The country has strict goals for carbon reduction and mining Bitcoin is extremely harmful.
The CBDC was launched with international commerce, rather than domestic commerce, in mind. It is being launched as an alternative to the US dollar, it is very far away from achieving that, but existing as an alternative option to USD for international trade is the aim and so the US sees this as a great threat because they use the power of the dollar to enforce sanctions. For example, the US was able to sanction European companies that were trading with Iran because the trade was in dollars.
Pretty girl in a red halter
I always liked halters. Most women don’t however. They tend to keep sliding down, and so you’ve got to tug and tug and tug to keep them up high. Sheech! video
PM Comments;
Art of War, Sun Tzu. America harms Russia without suffering a single casualty. America doesn’t care about Ukraine. Its just an attack dog.
In a real fight, the attack dogs die first.
But the attack dogs can bite and harm Russia.
What about America having to spend billions to arm Ukraine so the attack dogs will have teeth? Money is nothing to America.
They print their trillions, which come from the people’s debt, while the money created goes to the elite-owned Military Industrial Propaganda Complex. Which a part of which supports the political/technology/media structure which keeps the country in perpetual war and provides unlimited budgets for war. It’s a perfect cyclical economy that supports the capitalist Big Lie that a number on a ledger created out of thin air represents wealth.
Not only that, but the rest of the world eventually helps to pay for the war budget because the USD is the worlds reserve currency.
Anyone who disagrees will be starved or bombed to the Stone Age, except for China and Russia who can defend themselves.
America prints trillions and the world suffers from inflation, not just America.
The elites don’t pay for inflation, as their property holdings will increase in value, the people who pay for groceries, rent, and daily necessities suffer from inflation but who cares.
Not only that, but distant wars actually help the American war-based economy and cause the US Dollar to rise in value against its profligate printing.
In war zones, people tend to hoard US Dollars, taking US Dollars out of circulation.
America also makes it hard for US Dollars to be repatriated.
So the hegemon wins when you are forced to fight a war against your brethren who have been turned into attack dogs for the empire; you’re also paying for it. This is a good lesson for China to not find itself in such a poor strategic situation.
What can Russia hope to achieve from this unwanted war? Russia must from now on be much more influential in the affairs of Ukraine.
All de-Russification must be reversed, including the separation of the Orthodox Church.
The Russian language will be one of the official languages to be taught at schools.
The Neo-Nazis will be deligitimized and their crimes duly prosecuted.
Ukraine must have a treaty with Russia and be a member of the federation.
Foreign media and NGOs must be licensed (actually best simply kicked out and kept out, as they are mostly disinformation agents and spies.—TGP)
There will be Russian bases. Then we’ll have peace.
Alternatively, Russia will employ FOABs (enormous bombs short of nuclear—TGP) which will kill everything within a 300m radius. It will be cruel, but such is war. Learn from Sun Tzu, do not get yourself in that situation.
Hopefully, the Ukraine side will finally come to its senses. When Russia succeeds in their operation, it will be the turn of the three Baltic states to shake in their boots, NATO or no NATO.
—PM
It’s about how you look at things
Conclusion
Look at the big picture, and then relax. The war in the Ukraine is not a sporting event. Rather it’s a catalist forcing the world to choose sides. The aftermath will be a bio-polar world rather than a uni-polar world, and those that stick with the USA are going to be in trouble.
Big picture so far:
[1] Europe threw itself off the cliff. It is Officially Game Over. All that’s left is the autopsy.
RT & news blocked,
Cultural, sports & local-carriers air travel to Russia blocked,
A separation from financial infrastructure,
Open hostility evident through support of Nazis in PsyOps and ostensible but meaningless arms.
Everything calculated for a generational rupture and impotent group-hate shriek at Russia..
Predictable results:
A near-term loss of existential 50% petroleum products,
A loss of 40%+ grain products and the withering away of Europe.
Pity. European cost of living will be Biblical come next Dark Winter.. And an exodus to Russia and other sane points likely beforehand.
[2] The “WW3 OR Sanctions” threat by Biden was actually directed at EU. It was the trigger to get the loons to leap off the cliff. How will Russia punish the deceitful USA piper, which has now wrecked the western peninsula of Asia for the next 3+ generations?
US squats, toad-like, pretending to be the whistling innocent bystander at the scene of the epic European ritual suicide. It is in the role of Annatar during the Fall of Númenor – urging the fool King Ar-Pharazôn to sail on the gods themselves.. the Sundering and drowning of Númenor itself is next on the playlist. Someone should send that memo to the AZE; Europe and Anglo-lands are now forever chained together.. https://youtu.be/nL_DcMu2KpU
[3] I saw this amusing movie with Clint Eastwood decades ago, “Every Which Way but Loose (1978).” The operative mission regarding Russia is now, “Weaken Them Every Which Way Possible.” And to destroy the gutless Europeans simultaneously is a bonus treat at the Bonfire of the Vanities.
So current calculations focus on the DAILY $700-750 million Russian export earnings. Much of these daily earnings is to Europe. They do not have time for a war of attrition this time.. It is a cold shut-down.
In part, the group hate and hysteria campaign is to “psych themselves” and convince the sane in West it’s a necessary cost, to hurt themselves to hurt Russia. Cut off your damn nose Frenchie, we have excellent plastic surgeons in the Bayou.
[4] There is no nuclear war on the current cards (Phew!). According to the Kremlin, their action yesterday was in reaction to words from Perfide Albion. They have since been put in their tiny place. Deconfliction is on between Americans and Russians. The relevant issue is the suiciding of Europe, not the longed-for first strike.
[5] China (& India) sit pretty. A 500-year Beast is making a dramatic exit from the stage. Pfizer is doubly doomed – folks are so excited in Zone B, there is no need even for Viagra anymore. What support Russia needs, be it diplomatic, financial, new business arrangements (buying that grain and extra gas), lighting a million candles, are quietly being made.
Half-cocked Korean Rocketman rattled off missiles in his no-longer-pudgy fist, to help the loonies focus fully on their Death March in the heavenly rich black soil of Novorussiya.
Indeed, this is the Last March of the Russia Haters, in commiseration with the Last of the Mohicans. And both shall soon be in the museum with the Dodo. An ongoing flood of Ukie refugees is the cherry on top. So Russia extracted the necessary concessions from Zone B partners to wield the brass knucklers on behalf of mankind.
It has the depth of support in Asia to see to the necessary dirty task.
Maybe all-in-all, maybe things will go “tits up”, or maybe not. What I do know is that now is the time to relax, regroup, and plow forward in new and exciting directions. Eat some delicious food. have a good time. Play with friends, and by all means; be the Rufus.
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.
During change, somethings die, while other trends are birthed. New starts, and new understandings flavor the lives and lifestyles of the survivors of the change.
I have long argued that many of the on-going bad elements that we have long endured are now starting to come to an end. It’s all about time and good riddance.
I just banned a jackass because a newcomer just simply PISSED ME OFF. I suppose that his voracious reading of my articles should have pleased me, but it did not. I don’t like to hear things like…
"What do these girls have to do with the article title? –It’s just more juvenile objectification of women, and a form of trolling."
I love women. Somehow that’s wrong? What’s the matter with you? And, by the way, how can I troll my own venue?
Don’t go a pulling that SJW shit with me bucko.
I don’t like, nor appreciates these mindless comments, as well as endless snipes, and swipes at myself and what I am doing here. Such as…
(On the subject of trolls and their behaviors) I stated; “They can take your nice happy and calm, pleasant day, and turn it into a sad stormy day of worry and distress.”
"If this is the case, then I submit that you have ego issues and need to learn to master your emotions."
So, then Trolls make everyone happy. And of course, if you disagree then you have a brused ego?
As well as a long steam of other silly bullshit such as…
Please accept my apologies, as I had to redact large portions of this section. It is not proper that I speak so freely about this at this time.
It cannot be “redacted” if it was never published.
Of course it’s published, you dunderhead. It’s published on the internet, and it’s published in book form. Haven’t read the main index? Obviously not. You can’t possibly be this moronic, this stupid, this foolish, this much of a simpleton.
You know, I waited two full days. Hoping that some other MM influencers would come to my defense, but no one did. I guess I must have expected too much.
“All MAJestic members, are service to others sentience.”
I doubt that far more than I doubt your story.
Sheech!
I don’t like getting up in the morning and checking my feeds to read comments about my life by a jackass. Do you? Do you feel better about yourself by reading those things? Do you think that this “individual” has improved your life, or helped you to understand the dialog or text better?
Rufus he is not.
I will argue that this individual is more sophisticated than most of the trolls and jerk-offs that I encounter. So it took me two entire days before I erased his presence. I will say one thing though, he was plowing though my articles at a prodigious rate.
He sure must have had [1] a lot of time on his hands, and [2] enjoyed the free stuff without appreciation of the effort it represents. Both high-swater-marks of trolling.
So he’s gone. Bye bye.
Well, for youse guys that is. I still have to manually erase him out. If he persists then I’ll give him some things to work out. There’s nothing quite like a cornfield to really occupy your time and give you a dose of “humble pie”.
How about this for a new world-line template?
A template map of the cornfield.
Anyways, on to this article…
This article here is just a mish-mash of stuff that I have lying around and cluttering up my thought streams. It’s all over the place, and that’s fine. I just want to put some things down on paper and then move forward.
First up is a …
Pretty girl and her car
Here’s a photo taken some time around the 1940s. My guess is that she just bought the new car and was proudly photographed near it, being all “dolled up” and all. Looks to be early winter. Maybe Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio or New York.
She’s wearing a fox stole, white gloves, to match her white hat, and a black skirt outfit. The image takes me to a time and a place far away from here. That was not the reason for the photo (in the first place) but it is why I so admire it so.
When white gloves were an everyday fashion accessory for women.
She’s lovely.
Right?
Yes she is. She really is.
Here’s a beautiful Chinese girl…
She’s one of my favorites, don’t you know. (Actually, I think you all do know.) I think she is lovely.
Yeah. Maybe I am. You all got a problem with that? She’s beautiful. She’s pretty. She’s awesome and when I see her in the video it takes me away to calmer and sweeter states of being. And I love that feeling. I love the images and feelings that she generates inside of me.
The video is an object. But she is a teleporter to a new mental state. She carries me away.
Like a beautiful cat pal. Or, a nice hot fudge sundae. Or, a freshly baked fudge brownie with some nice delicious vanilla icecream on top.
Hot fudge brownie with ice cream on top.
Now, let’s go to something contemporaneous.
I mean, the United States does this all the time, but China (somehow) is a very bad entity for soing so. Right?
Is it legal for the Chinese government to build artificial islands, airfields, and deploy troops in the South China Sea islands?
It is often claimed that China is breaking international law by building artificial islands in the South China Sea and that it is illegal to militarise those islands.
The short answer is that it is “not illegal” to build an artificial island if it does not conflict with some other nations legal rights that might be defined under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), or other international agreements of which both China and the other nation was a signatory.
Building airfields and deploying troops on those islands is also “not illegal” if you are entitled to build and occupy the islands.
An analogous question might be “Is it legal for warships and aircraft carriers to cast anchor in International waters?”. An anchored aircraft carrier is an artificial island with an airfield and a military presence.
The UNCLOS offers a general protection to a nations territorial waters and exclusive economic zones that extend from baselines derived from recognised land territory’s baselines. However outside those boundaries, in the high seas, any nation is free to construct artificial islands and erect installations that are not otherwise restricted under international law.
The territorial sea extends to a limit of 12 nautical miles from the baseline of a coastal State. Within this zone, the coastal State exercises full sovereignty over the air space above the sea and over the seabed and subsoil. There is also a contagious zone of an additional 12 nautical miles that grants certain rights of legal enforcement.
The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends no more than 200 nautical miles (370 Km) from the territorial sea baseline and grants exclusive rights to marine resources, including the “exclusive” right to establish artificial islands, structures and installations.
Where zones intersect the zones of other states, the zones default to the median point between the respective baselines.
To be clear, artificial islands cannot acquire territorial rights on their own; they at best obtain a safety exclusion zone. So a nation cannot extend their territorial claims by constructing or extending islands anywhere. Smaller natural islands may be entitled a 12 nautical mile territorial claim but not a 200 nautical mile zones.
Having said that, two or more nations could be in dispute over every aspect outlined above or could be in dispute with the interpretation of international law applying to particular cases. And various interpretations of definitions and determinations could lead to quite different outcomes.
I am not commenting specifically on which islands could or could not be considered legally or illegally constructed or the selective outrage at China’s activities in the area to the exclusion of all others. But consider the following:
In the application of the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling on the status of Taiping Island, currently occupied by the Taiwan, which regards the largest island in the Spratly archipelago as a “rock” with limited maritime rights, and allows the Philippines to extend its EEZ at least as far as the island.
Taiwan, however, has a reasonable case to reject the ruling, and in any event continues to claim full maritime rights.
The Peoples Republic of China, with an overlapping claim to Taiping island can also dispute the ruling, even make a reasonable claim not to be bound by it, and therefore argue the legality of the establishment of an artificial island within Taiping Island’s claimed EEZ at Mischief Reef less than 80 nautical miles from Taiping Island.
And a very nice follow-up commentary…
It’s a well stated commentary rather than a rebuttal.
Answering a lie is to perpetuate it. If you gather all your information about China from the West, you will not get a smidgen of truth. China is not in the habit of engaging in tongue jousting. They simply defend their rights — bloviate all you want but I dare you to touch my cheese. I think they have good reasons to do so, as they are not adept at lying, and the West is a cesspool of lies populated by lying maggots who consume bullshit and regurgitate bullshit and know nothing but bullshit.
Here are a few facts that can be found if one makes a bit of effort and look underneath the superficial scum. I read these on the same day the Hague Arbitration Court came out with its decision. I think it’s by a female blogger who seemed to have some knowledge on the issues. The truth is therefore not arcane or hidden, it’s just never spoken in the Western lying machine. I’m doing this from memory but you’re welcome to check. The truth is out there.
1. The issue of the South China Sea (SCS) is not UNCLOS but sovereignty. There is overlap of course, but they are two very different issues. To talk only about UNCLOS but not China’s sovereignty claim is Big Lie Number 1. The Nine Dash Lines is China’s claim of sovereignty of the area of the SCS within those lines including all its islands and EEZ. It is a successor claim from the Republic of China (which is why Taiwan, still run by the government of the ROC, must maintain the same claim), as it was not contested by the victorious allies of the Second World War, and was recorded on maps of the era (published by the West). The PRC, which is the globally and UN accepted government of China, has a duty to defend this claim.
2. One must defend one’s sovereignty and negotiate for peaceful borders, not rely on third parties to decide your rights, especially not by those which have no jurisdiction and no teeth. The lesson of Munich comes to mind, when France, UK, and Italy decided to cede Czech Republic’s Sudetenland to Germany. That is what happens to countries which cannot defend their sovereignty. The meme that China is the big bully encroaching on its neighbors is laughable. It is Big Lie Number 2. Except for India, China has in fact negotiated stable land borders with all its neighbors including Vietnam and Russia, considering both these countries had land wars with China in recent decades. Even Bhutan, a de facto protectorate of India which had been prevented from reaching a border agreement with China, appears ready to defy its overlord in the near future.
3. The Nine Dash Lines and UNCLOS do have overlaps. It is not strange, as almost all neighbors sharing a coastline or are island nations have UNCLOS claims that overlap. UNCLOS has a suggestion for how to settle these disputes. Negotiate or arbitrate. Arbitration is however not a court of law, where one party can sue another based on the jurisdiction and laws of where the court is located. Even this jurisdiction must have some basis of prior agreement or when none is available, some basis in law. It does not get decided by one party of a dispute. Anyone who has any experience in arbitration (a mechanism actually used by many international companies doing business in China) understands that arbitration must be agreed to by both parties of a dispute. They must also agree to the quasi-judiciary organization that holds the hearing and makes the adjudication, share in the costs, and accept the decision with no further recourse. Since China never agreed to the arbitration initiated by the Philippines, never agreed to the jurisdiction of the court, never participated in the hearing, and never paid any costs relating to the one-sided arbitration, it was just a farce and a circus. To answer any questions coming from this comedy is to give substance to fart.
With the internet, everyone can have a voice and an opinion. I’ll readily admit that I have no real legal expertise. I have however quite a bit of experience working with top lawyers in Canada on both litigation and quasi-judiciary (Broadcast Commission) matters for well over ten years. For several years, I was also a court appointed receiver manager for the national television station I built. So I’m not speaking out of a vacuum. In fact, some of the cases I was involved in became landmark cases, causing the government to make real changes. While I’m no expert on UNCLOS or sovereignty claims, I usually apply whatever legal ideas I can understand and in most parts commonsense.
.
As I like to say, the First Law of Economics is “you do not own anything you cannot defend.” That is the meaning of sovereignty, the rest is bullshit and balderdash.
A beach beauty….
Looks like the 1960s. I can easily see myself (as a young boy) wearing the same clothes (as those two boys wore) as the folk in the picture. I can see myself there. Enjoying the sun. Listening to the waves crash, and enjoying the late afternoon sun as the beach gets deserted. Nice times.
I see the woman in the back is holding either a set of binoculars, or a purse. It’s difficult to see what it is. I don’t think that it is a purse. She’s also wearing a sleeveless top over her stunning green one-piece swimsuit.
Judging from the cars in the background, I would guess 1963, maybe 1965.
Family outing.
I do love these old photos.
It makes me want to crawl up into some old dusty attic and explore. Who know what I’ll find. Maybe a 1950 Lionel train set, a metal closet with all sorts of 1950’s womans’ hats, or a mason jar full of old pennies, buttons and indian arrow heads.
A beautiful girl showing off a nice pair of jeans
Actually I really like these jeans because they are warm. Today is frosty cold, and I am shivering while I type this. Normally Zhuhai is around 30°C (86° F) and 80% RH. But over the last few weeks it has been cold. 7°C (44°F) and spitting cold drizzle rain. Keep in mind that the homes here in the tropics are not heated. THus her outfit looks mighty appealing to me.
It was US & NATO military expansion and deployment to Russia border that caused the current Russia – Ukraine drama. However, the United States aggression against Russia can not be effective as long as Russia has the support of China.
So, in the past weeks, there are so many imaginary articles and news that link China to the conflict.
Below are 13 links and their headlines from the western media + a piece from the Global Times explaining the Western efforts to smear China. It’s the “Smear China campaign”.
First up, the United States overt propaganda mill; VOA…
China Eyes Risks and Rewards of US-Russia Standoff Over Ukraine
As I have often stated that everyone in China gets military training. It starts in first grade, and it really appeals to me. With disipline and organization, self esteem follows naturally.
This next Chinese girl is short and so very cute. I just want to run around with her in the wide forest and drink hot coco with her, and eat some buttered cinnamon toast. video 5MB
From my dad’s generation…
This next phot comes from the 1950’s somewhere in the United States. It’s a couple “making out” (i.e. “smooching”) in the back seat of a station wagon. Notice how the rear window opens up and is held up with a nice strut.
I’ll bet that they were playing some fine 1950s music. Maybe some Fats Domino, Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, or Bobby Darin. Good times.
Young Love.
Those days are gone. But, you know, there are new days here that we can enjoy in a similiar manner.
Have you ever thought about a fine coffeecake and a cup of coffee?
Coffeecake
China High Speed Train
China started making, designing and building their own domestic trains at the same time that the United States announced that it would build a High Speed Train network starting in California. Today, they are all over China and a normal everyday sight. Meanwhile 15 miles of track has been laid down in California. No trains. No stations. America has bumpkis.
I actually really like the display console behind her. It’s go these glass cabinets that you can display your treasures inside. Whether it is these cute collectable dolls, or dishes, artwork, or brick-a-brack. I really like it. Of course, I would stain it a dark brown instead of the light color but that’s just me.
You’ll notice that she has a fine oval face. Oval faces really fit the Chinese face and with a nice long black hair, it’s a super nice effect.
If it wasn’t for the styles of the automobiles, you would say that this is pretty much contemporaneous America. Most of America hasn’t changed much. Sure, theres some cell phone and all that, but the Untied States has been spending it’s money destroying mud huts, strafing cows, and bombing cabbage patches. Very little remains for domestic improvements and infrastructure.
And it hasn’t happened yet either, no matter the promises that President Biden made. The federal budget is all about more machines of war, and more efforts to “contain” China.
Philadelphia, 1957
Some pictures of cats
Why not? Right?
I do love my relationships with the kitties and they always really mellow out the place and terrorize the rats and mice. I am a strong believer that every household needs a good mouser.
This cat here reminds me of my first childhood cat; Sedwick. We called his “Sedgie”. He died a ripe old age when I was living in Indiana. He was a good cat.
Sedwick clone.
Cycles of life
So much truth here… perhaps the reason why everyone in China gets military training. Learns how to shoot, fight, and endure.
China understands. Build strong little soldiers for a stong unified nation. This is how it is done. Training starts in first grade. video 3MB
The start of the Playboy Empire
He was a man who had a dream. Then he followed his dream and it took him to many interesting places, along with attractive and interesting people. In this photo below he is in England in 1966. Ah. The “swinging 60s”.
Playboy editor and tycoon Hugh Hefner is greeted by a group of bunny girls from his Playboy Clubs, upon his arrival at London Airport, 1966. (Photo by Dove/Getty Images)
Here’s the cover for the August issue of Playboy in 1966…
Playboy cover.
And a glimpse of what it looked like on the inside… this is the September 1966 issue…
Index page.
And what the advertisements were like. This is the back side of the magazine. Each issue seemed to have either a cigarette ad, or a alcohol advertisement of one sort or the other…
Advertisement.
My guess is that the men-folk would keep the playboy magazines in the bathroom on a low stool with other magazines, and then flip the cover over so that the Mrs’s wouldn’t notice (too much). Thus predominantly displaying the cigaretter or booze ad inside the privacy of the “man’s” bathroom.
You know, to fight those evil Japanese! Those horrible Germans, and those pesky Communists! We MUST spread freedom™ and democracy™ to the world, don’t you know!
A group poses for a picture at Pier 86, on 46th Street.
This kid below has some wisdom to share…
You can do anything you set your mind to…
This kid is going places. He’s right. I hope, I sincerely hope, that school teachers, and peers don’t beat this inner strength out of him. video 50MB
Russia Has Just Issued An Ultimatum To Ukraine, And The Conditions For War Are Now Set
This is not a game. As this crisis has been unfolding in Ukraine, I have been seeing people all over the Internet cheer for either side like they would cheer for their favorite football teams. But these people don’t understand what is at stake. If World War III erupts in Ukraine, it will very likely lead to nuclear war between the United States and Russia down the road. So we should all be deeply grieved over what is happening, because we are getting really close to a point of no return.
One of the good things about the Trump years was that President Trump was not interested in messing with Russia. So the status quo in Ukraine was respected by both sides for four years, and there was relative peace in the region.
But then Joe Biden took power, and he has surrounded himself with an all-star team of warmongers. National security adviser Jake Sullivan, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are all card-carrying members of the War Party, and they don’t seem interested in finding a way to have peace with Russia at all.
After having his security concerns mocked and laughed at for the past year, Vladimir Putin finally admitted that negotiations are at “a dead end” on Monday. It would have been so easy to negotiate a peaceful solution with the Russians that would have kept Russia out of Ukraine, but that isn’t what the War Party wanted.
Now Putin has run out of patience, and on Monday he greatly escalated the crisis by formally recognizing the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and by announcing that he would be sending troops into the two separatist republics…
Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent on Monday and ordered the Russian army to launch what Moscow called a peacekeeping operation in the area, upping the ante in a crisis the West fears could unleash a major war. Putin told Russia’s defense ministry to deploy troops into the two breakaway regions to “keep the peace” in a decree issued shortly after he announced recognition for Russia-backed separatists there, drawing US and European vows of new sanctions.
I think that Putin wanted to make a move before the Ukrainians did. According to one Russian official, there were “almost 60K Ukrainian military personnel concentrated near the borders of the Republics of Lugansk & Donetsk”, and I think that Putin decided that the only way to keep Ukraine from overrunning the two republics was to move his own forces in first.
Hopefully that actually works.
Hopefully the Russians will stay in Donetsk and Luhansk, and hopefully the Ukrainians will stay on their side.
Ukraine crisis assets Showing the area of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine
If that is the end result, there may still be hope of defusing the situation.
But I wouldn’t count on it.
Putin sounds like a man that is convinced that war is coming. The following comes from a very rough translation of his speech on Monday…
“from those who took power in kiev we demand to stop any and all military actions against donbass. otherwise, the consequences will be on ukraine. i count on the support of all patriotic forces in russia.”
Russia has essentially issued an ultimatum to Ukraine.
If Ukraine invades Donetsk and Luhansk, the Russians will invade Ukraine.
Of course some western media sources are actually using the term “invasion” to describe Russian troop movements into the separatist republics.
If you have bought into that propaganda, let me ask you a question. Do the people in this video look like they have just been “invaded”?…
Twitter can be a horrible place at times, but tonight’s decision by President Putin to recognise the Donbass republics is the news people there have been looking forward to for 8 years. I’ll sign off tonight with this video from Lenin Square in Donetsk. #Donbasspic.twitter.com/l8YJVF84tf— Dean O’Brien (@DeanoBeano1) February 21, 2022
This would be a good opportunity for both sides to take a deep breath and start backing down.
But that isn’t going to happen.
Western leaders continue to use extremely harsh rhetoric and they continue to insist that a full-blown invasion of Ukraine is imminent. The following is what Jake Sullivan just told the Today Show…
“We believe that any military operation of the size, scope and magnitude of what we believe the Russians are planning will be extremely violent. It will cost the lives of Ukrainians and Russians, civilians and military personnel alike,” Sullivan said during an appearance on NBC’s “Today.”“But we also have intelligence to suggest that there will be an even greater form of brutality because this will not simply be some conventional war between two armies,” he added. “It will be a war waged by Russia on the Ukrainian people to repress them, to crush them, to harm them.”
And another U.S. official is alleging that Russia has a list of people that they will be specifically targeting once the invasion has been completed…
“Disturbing information recently obtained by the United States that indicates that human rights violations and abuses in the aftermath of a further invasion are being planned,” Ambassador Bathsheba Nell Crocker, the US Representative to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, alleges in a letter to Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.“These acts, which in past Russian operations have included targeted killings, kidnappings/forced disappearances, unjust detentions, and the use of torture, would likely target those who oppose Russian actions, including Russian and Belarusian dissidents in exile in Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists, and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons,” reads the letter, which was first reported by The Washington Post and obtained by CNN.
So Russia plans to violently round up dissidents, activists and anyone else that is opposed to their rule?
Oh, you mean that it will be kind of like what just happened in Canada with the full approval of the U.S. government?
If the Biden administration actually cared about human rights, they would be condemning the horrific brutality that we just witnessed in Ottawa.
But of course that will never happen.
Let’s watch and see what happens over in Ukraine during the next several days. One very alarming sign is that the Russians have just closed off much of the airspace over the Sea of Azov…
Russia’s Aeronautical Information Center issued a NOTAM (a Notice to Airmen) on Sunday which will close most of the airspace over the Sea of Azov starting at midnight between Sunday and Monday, as the US continued to warn that Russia intends to invade Ukraine.
I don’t think that this indicates that a full-blown invasion of Ukraine is imminent.
But at this point the conditions for war have been clearly set.
If Ukraine invades Donetsk and Luhansk now, the Russians have made it exceedingly clear that they will invade Ukraine.
So this actually puts a lot of power into the hands of the War Party in Washington.
Joe Biden and his all-star team of warmongers now know exactly what it will take to spark a war.
Will they decide to pull the trigger?
Let us hope not, because once World War III begins nothing will ever be the same again.
Nice Chinese girl
With nice S-shaped body and a rocking red sweater. I like this build. I’ll bet you that she has that kind of smoth “baby bottom” stomach. You know, when you are thin and you feel comfortable in you clothing, and in your skin, everything fits you wonderfully. Like this gal.
Do you know what I haven’t had in a while? Yes. That’s right. Home made Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy.
Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy.
If you have memories of eating the microwave meal version of Salisbury steak, don’t be scared off by this retro favorite. The home-cooked steak pairs excellently with a creamy sauce and when seasoned to perfection redefines what people loved about this classic in the first place. Take a second chance with this meal and it will be your new all-time favorite. It certainly is mine.
And for youse guys who wants to cook this bad boy up, well…
All behaviors are monitored by AI. Troll behaviors are observed and then the police come by and evaluate the criminal to set up treatment and punishment on a individual to individual basis.
That is why China is a nation of Rufus’s and many Trolls find themselves spending substantial time in work camps, and re-programming facilities.
Here’s what the world looks like when you imprison the mentally ill, and criminal in society… it becomes a paradise.
The Monday Taki post is up. The subject of it and today’s post is the new way to look at the system ruling over us. Of course, Sunday Thoughts is up behind the green door for those needing audio stimulation. Much of it is about the situation in Europe and the evolving Canadian dictatorship.
One of the problems with the Opposite Rule of Liberalism is that it relies on the old Left-Right dichotomy of American politics. This framing persists despite the fact that it is a vestige of a bygone era that no longer works today.
Democrats = Liberals
Republicans = Conservatives
It no longer exists.
The political divide is now between those who adhere to the basket of ideas called Western liberalism and those who defend the post-Marxist managerial state. The latter group is made up almost entirely of members of the ruling class.
The Haves = The post-Marxist managerial state.
The Have-nots = Western liberalism
In other words, we now live in a world divided by those in the system of control that hovers over the West and those who live under it. The Dirt People versus Cloud People framing is a much more honest, if a bit sarcastic, framework for the world.
Cloud People = Rulers
Dirt People = Serf / slaves
The ruling system is like a miasma that hangs over society, infecting the minds of the people and their relations with one another. We can see the elites at the top, just barely, but the system they control is all around us.
A big part of what ails society is this sense that things are not as they seem, but it is hard to get a read on why.
That noxious miasma that lingers in every aspect of society often leads people to doubt their own senses. Their experience tells them things about the world and people in it, but everywhere they look they are getting messages telling them that what they think they see is not true.
Instead, they are to believe something that is often the opposite of what they experience.
This is where the Opposite Rule continues to work. Those who are aware of the contradictions of daily existence can apply the rule to the information stream that comes from the system, filling the area around them. Whatever is in the air at the moment, start from some version of the opposite, and the truth will be near. The Opposite Rule of Liberalism is best restated as the Opposite Rule of Managerialism. This organic, self-aware system that rules over us is the opposite of truth.
A useful example comes from the daily barrage of “information” from the system about the crisis in Ukraine.
Here is a story from the New York Times headlined, “Russia has been laying groundwork online for a ‘false flag’ operation, misinformation researchers say.” Note that this story is not behind the usual paywall, as they want wide circulation of it. Note also that the writer is one of the infants they employ to copy and paste material into “news reports.”
This news report starts with a news report from a European based group called European Expert Association, which is described as “a research group that focuses on security in Ukraine.”
When you take a look at who these people are, it becomes obvious that they are Ukrainian activists.
These are not neutral observers searching for the truth about the crisis. More important, when you look at their resumes you see all the familiar NGO’s that are pushing for war with Russia.
NGO = CIA funded Neocon organization.
Of course, this is the New York Times, the first draft of history and the leader in the American news media. They do not just take this at face value. They hand it to a group called the Global Disinformation Index, a nonprofit “research” group. These are the go-to guys for the Times reports on misinformation and disinformation.
To the shock of no one in the Times offices, the researchers at Global Disinformation Index confirmed everything said the European Expert Association.
The reason the Times was not surprised by what they heard back from the Global Disinformation Index is the person running it is Anne Applebaum. She is a notorious warmonger and neoconservative.
Anne Applebaum.
Here she is advocating for the liquidation of the Afghanis and the Syrians as a “solution” to those problems. Applebaum is a big believer in what Stalin supposedly said about people causing problems for the regime. No man, no problem. Applebaum just scales it up.
Her partner in this enterprise is a Ukrainian activist named Peter Pomerantsev, who is probably on the payroll of a Western intelligence service. His biography does not pass the laugh test. His role in life has been to seed Western media with anti-Russian information dressed up as Ukrainian nationalism. The rest of the staff of the Global Disinformation Index all have an axe to grind with some enemy of the neocons, past, present or in the future.
Peter Pomerantsev.
The point of this walk through the swamps behind the ministry of disinformation is to illustrate how the new rule works;
If a media outlet is claiming to root out disinformation, you can be sure they are not doing that.
Instead, start with the assumption that they are waging a disinformation campaign.
That is what you see in the New York Times story and any story containing the words “Global Disinformation Index.”
Then you can begin to figure out what is really going on with the story.
Of course, the entirely new obsession with misinformation and disinformation by government and mass media is a big lie. Since forever, people have known that governments lie all the time.
They have known that the media is partisan, a form of activism more often than not. Yet suddenly we are being told that the media and the government are now declaring war in false information.
Since they are the only possible source of disinformation, this means war on themselves.
The big lie, for those unfamiliar, is a lie so colossal that no one would believe that someone could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. This is now the default tactic of the managerial state.
They tell us that Eskimo truckers protesting vaccine rules are white supremacists.
These outlandish whoppers are then signed off on by new experts who sagely tell us the moon is made of cheese.
Unlike normal propaganda techniques, this new tactic is not to further a cause, although it can be used that way as we see with Ukraine. The neocons are simply taking advantage of a defense mechanism that has evolved since the Cold War.
By flooding the zone with outlandish nonsense, the system prevents cogent analysis of what it is doing or contradicting it in any way.
It is a form of menticide to paralyze the people by suspending them in a solution of false narratives.
The concept of "menticide" indicates an organized system of judicial perversion and psychological intervention, in which a powerful tyrant transfers his own thoughts and words into the minds and mouths of the victims he plans to destroy or to use for his own propaganda.
-menticide
This is the utility of the Opposite Rule.
It helps clarify the new relationship between the leviathan and the people.
Rulers = leviathan
People = serf / slaves
Instead of viewing society as a hierarchical structure that is responsive to the will of the people, you see that it is an adversarial relationship between a ruling organism and the people.
This ruling organism is the vast administrative state made up of government, corporations, the academy, non-profits and the mass media.
It is a fully integrated organism.
The endless waves of information, mostly false information, is its primary defense mechanism against what it sees as a threat.
That threat is the people over whom it hovers like a noxious cloud.
The point of the false information is to keep the people in a fog of confusion about who really rules over them.
You cannot rebel against that which you are not even sure exists.
Menticide is the primary defense mechanism of this system of social control we call managerialism.
A nice night in the city
Isn’t she just great? Well, I love her.
One of my favorite things to do is get dressed up a tad and go out for a night in the city. Though it’s mostly a nice meal in a restrurant, followed by a coffee and a snack at one of the bars or coffee houses, I would love to go out and feel the night city air. Great times.
Superior or roughly comparable (depending on who your read) to all the American fighter aircraft. 100% Chinese designed. 100% Chinese avionics. 100% Chinese engines.
According To The ‘Big Mac Index’, China’s Yuan Is 34% Under-Valued
The Big Mac was created in 1967 by Jim Delligati, a McDonald’s franchise owner in Pennsylvania. It was launched throughout the U.S. the following year, and today you can buy one in more than 70 countries. However, as Visual Capitalist’s Jenna Ross details below, the price you pay will vary based on where you are, as evidenced by the Big Mac Index.
What Does the Big Mac Index Show?
The Big Mac Index was invented by The Economist in 1986. It is intended to be a lighthearted way to demonstrate the concept of purchasing power parity. In other words, it helps illustrate the idea that market exchange rates between countries may be “out of whack” when compared to the cost of buying the same basket of goods and services in those places.
Given that McDonald’s is one of the biggest companies in the world and the Big Mac is widely available globally, it means that the famous burger can be used as a basic goods comparison between most countries. It also has the advantage of having the same inputs and distribution system, with a few minor modifications (like chicken patties in India instead of beef).
Using the price of a Big Mac in two countries, the index can give an indication as to whether a currency may be over or undervalued. For example, a Big Mac costs ¥24.40 in China and $5.81 in the United States. By comparing the implied exchange rate to the actual exchange rate, we can see whether the Yuan is over or undervalued.
According to the Big Mac Index, the Yuan is undervalued by 34%.
Beyond currency misalignment, the index has other uses. For instance, it shows inflation in burger prices over time. If we compare the price of a Big Mac across countries in the same currency—such as the U.S. dollar—we are also able to see where burgers are cheaper or relatively more expensive.
Burger Costs Around the World
Big Mac prices have been converted from local currency to U.S. dollars based on the actual exchange rate in effect at the time.
Switzerland takes the cake for the priciest Big Mac, followed closely behind by Norway.
Both countries have relatively high price levels but also enjoy higher wages when compared to other OECD countries.
Venezuela has seen the largest jump in burger prices, with the cost of a Big Mac climbing nearly 250% since 2004. The country has been plagued by hyperinflation for years, so it’s no surprise to see large price swings in the country’s data.
While it appears that the price of a Big Mac has decreased in Turkey, this is because the prices are shown in U.S. dollars. The new Turkish lira has depreciated against the U.S. dollar more than 90% since it was introduced in 2005.
Finally, it’s worth noting that Russia has the cheapest Big Mac, reflecting the country’s lower price levels. Labor costs in Russia are roughly a third of those in Switzerland.
The Limitations of Burgernomics
The Big Mac Index is useful for a number of reasons. Investors can use it to measure inflation over time, and compare this to official records. This can help them value bonds and other securities that are sensitive to inflation. The Big Mac Index also indicates whether a currency may be over or undervalued, and investors can place foreign exchange trades accordingly.
Of course, the index does have shortcomings. Here are some that economists have noted.
Non-traded services can have different prices across countries. The price of a Big Mac will be influenced by the costs of things like labor, but this is not a reflection of relative currency values. The Economist now releases a GDP-adjusted version of the Big Mac Index to help address this criticism.
McDonald’s is not in every country in the world. This means the geographic reach of the Big Mac Index has some limitations, particularly in Africa.
The index lacks diversity. The index is made up of one item: the Big Mac. Because of this, it lacks the diversity of other economic metrics such as the Consumer Price Index.
Despite all of these limitations, the Big Mac Index does act as a good starting place for understanding purchasing power parity. Through the simplicity of burgers, complex economic theory is easier to digest.
Walking the rails in the countryside.
Gosh! I’ll bet this woman is so much fun!
She’s one of my favorites and she’s on the tracks. I used to do this don’t you know. We had all these traintracks that ran in and out and though the countryside in Western Pennsylvania. I would go hiking with my friends (when I was a boy) and often we would try walkign on top of the rails. Just like this girl does. So nice. Good memories.
How about taking a little short walk down some tracks alone with your cell phone set to OFF.
A reminder of how unified the Chinese are
This is a clip from a movie. It depicts a true event where (during the Korean war) no matter how many times the American military destroyed the bridges, the Chinese rebuilt them and kept on moving forward. True story. Remember that.
I really like her lipstick. Personally, I think that many women look great wearing lipstick, but the color and texture selection is critical. Not every color and texture fits every woman. In this case, this red sade really complements her skin complexion and her hair color. Don’t you think?
Do you all know what really pisses off a lot of Trolls?
It’s one of the first things that Trolls disparage.
It’s off-subject meandering. Whether pretty girls. Food. Cats. Personal stories, and all the rest.
It drives them bonkers.
It’s rambling trains of thought. They are unable (due to some kind of mental block, or mental illness) focus on wide-ranging topics. They can handle a singular topic, and get involved in it, but they really, REALLY hate meandering expressions of thoughts, images, senses and pictures of another life in it’s great complexity.
They cannot handle articles like this.
Their tiny minds cannot handle it.
You all know, that I am going to continue on my meandering adventures, for most healthy people can easily handle my topics and how they are presented. I hope that you too (my dear reader) understand why I structure MM the way I do.
There’s an order and a reason behind the “madness”.
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.
Here’s a nice look at some of the meals that my mother used to make for us kids when we were young. And we will also chat some about family meals eaten together.
I can tell you, with my first-hand experience that as we grew up and moved away from home, these delicious home cooked meals were replaced by fast food, and restaurant set meals. In truth, for decades I lived off of a mixture of fast food, easy to prepare cheap foods at home (spaghetti, hamburger, chicken) and restaurant staples.
I argue that many people still live this kind of pitiful life; not getting to live a life filled with delicious and tasty, healthy food.
This article looks at what my family used to cook for me that no longer exists in the diets of most Americans today. How many families in America today have sit-down family meals with lamb-chops, fresh fish, or a rump roast?
I personally beleive that once you start taking the time to eat well planned, healthy meals at home, your life and your families lives will become better and greater in every way possible.
The Real Benefit of Family Dinners
The importance of regular family dinners has been a hot topic in the world of sociology and family studies, and you’ve probably seen many articles these last few years touting their benefits. It’s been argued that family dinners do everything from decrease obesity to lower your children’s risk for teen pregnancy, crime, and drug use. It seemed as though family dinners were a silver bullet in preventing your kids from becoming deadbeats, and a failure to regularly sup together pretty much destined your child for a life on skid-row.
However, when researchers recently took a closer look at the supposed benefits of family dinners, what they found was that a lot of them could be chalked up to correlation rather than causation. That is, parents who had a strong marriage, better relationships with their kids, and set more guidelines for them, were more likely to have family dinners, and more likely to have well-adjusted children. It is these other factors, rather than the dinners themselves, that account for this effect.
The study’s authors concluded that while family dinners alone won’t prevent your kids from turning into cigarette smoking, teen mom juvies, the ritual can serve as a valuable part of a set of family habits, routines, and practices that contribute to a child’s overall well-being.
One clear benefit of family dinners that they found held up, even when controlling for the other factors, was a significant reduction in adolescent depression.
So consider family dinners to be another tool in your goal of building a positive family culture.
Their real benefit is the chance they provide for your family to slow down, get together face-to-face, talk without distractions, cement your values, create a feeling of support, and build loving bonds.
These benefits accrue to families who not only try to regularly have dinner (or another meal) together, but who approach these chances to break bread in an intentional way.
Let’s look at some of the tasty reasons why dinners whould be cooked at home.
Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin.
Roasts have existed for centuries, but the simplest versions are often to be the best. This double pork combo features a rich and luscious tenderloin wrapped in crispy, salty bacon that will leave your mouth watering. Just make sure to cook up some extra portions, as you know everyone will want seconds of this classic dish.
Stews have existed through time as some of the most durable, family-favorite dinners.
This recipe allows you to whip up a pot of this classic dish that could feed an army and explore the original flavors that made stew such an appealing dinner.
By adding in some dumplings, you can guarantee this meal will stick to your ribs and keep you well-fed.
Instant Pot Pot Roast and Potatoes
Instant Pot Pot Roast and Potatoes.
Instant Pots have been a kitchen blessing, and they can make cooking classic recipes a whole lot easier.
This quick and easy pot roast will make you see this dish in a new light and fill in any craving you have for a meat-and-potatoes meal. After just one bite, you might find your new weekday meal.
I must tell youse guys that I ate a lot of this when I was growing up. Pot roasts were my absolute favorite, and I just loved the potates, and we ate them with a full salad, at least two vegitable sides and a pile of sliced bread. Good eating, and long neglected.
Instant Pot Pot Roast and Potatoes.
Boneless Leg of Lamb with Parsley Mint Chimichurri
Boneless Leg of Lamb with Parsley Mint Chimichurri.
This retro recipe takes a twist on the classic lamb and mint jelly formula by turning the jelly into a mint chimichurri. This recipe is sophisticated enough to serve at any dinner party and can be easy enough to make any day of the week. If you haven’t given lamb a shot, this should be your gateway in.
Boneless Leg of Lamb with Parsley Mint Chimichurri.
Double-Crust Chicken Pot Pie
Double-Crust Chicken Pot Pie.
Pot pies are instant classics, but very few home cooks tend to make them these days. Why not explore the past with this classic recipe that takes all the flavors of this vintage dish and makes it easy to fix up at home?
This easy-to-concoct meal is a great way to start more comfortable working with pastries, and if you don’t feel confident in your abilities, you can use store-bought dough to save some time.
Double-Crust Chicken Pot Pie.
Corned Beef Hash
Corned Beef Hash.
You may have seen canned corned beef hash for sale at stores or watched your grandparents eat it, but nothing compares to making it at home. With one bite, you’ll remember why this dish became such a staple that has survived through the years. Just make sure to pace yourself, as you’ll want to gobble everything you make up in one go.
Herb-Crusted Grilled Lamb Chops
Herb-Crusted Grilled Lamb Chops.
Rediscover why lamb chops were such a hit by grilling up the perfect lamb with an herb crust that could please any palate. The deep flavor combinations can’t compare to any other boring lamb you’ve had in the past, and the herbs liven up this retro dish for the new era.
I have to tell youse guys, I really ate well as a kid. What the Hell went so wrong? My mother really knew how to cook and budget great meals for us kids. But then, somehow, I ended up living off of spaghetti and hamburger. Man, oh man!
Herb-Crusted Grilled Lamb Chops.
But the kids don’t want to sit at supper…
Well, then your family must be too far gone.
And you are just a limp-wristed pale shadow of a parent. You must provide rules, and guidelines and routines. Your children will grow to respect them, and after a month, they will learn to love them.
Ugh.
Sounds like me. So don’t get too offended. I’m talking about myself here.
Electronic media is a terrible seduction.
How to get the kids “on board”…
Yeah. It’s tough to pry them away from games, social media, and movies. But here’s some (lame) idea to get them interested.
[1] Teach them how to prepare their favorite food, and make a meal out of it. Then you make it formal and strat the ritualization of it.
[2] When you make their favorite food, make sure it is always formalized and ritualized. Make it special. There are different ways to make it special. Everyone is different. When I lived in the monastery, there was a bell that was rung. But it could be anything that fits your life, and your home.
[3] Always have delicious desserts. Let the children know that after they eat, they will have a very tasty dessert.
[4] Kids are easily distracted. So make sure that all distractions are switched to “off”.
How to Get the Most Out of Family Meal Times
Ritual. Strive for consistency. Try to make family dinner a sacrosanct ritual. Whenever you can, schedule your work and activities around this immovable block. Sometimes very busy high-powered executives will come home from work, eat dinner with the family, and then go back to work later. They do what they can not to miss it.
What’s great about prioritizing family dinners is that it gives you a goal to shoot for. If you know the wife and kids won’t be sitting down together and will just be fending for themselves, it’s tempting to rationalize continuing to plow through your work. But if you’re expected to be at the table, it’s easier to break away from what you’re doing and get home.
Don’t beat yourself up if you have to forgo your family dinner sometimes. Research indicates that children who have dinner with their family atleast three times a week enjoy the benefits of family dinners. So just try to be as consistent with it as you can.
Any meal will do. It doesn’t actually have to be dinner. Many families today have schedules that make it hard to get everyone home for dinnertime. Dad or Mom works late, and one kid has soccer practice at 6PM while the other kid has a piano recital on the other side of town at 7. It only gets worse as the kids get older. I remember when I got into high school, I was barely ever home for family dinner due to football, work, or student council.
Sometimes the solution is a much-needed simplification of our schedules, but it’s just not always possible to get everyone to the table at 6:00. Because of this, many families simply give up altogether on the idea of regularly sharing a meal.
But research shows that when it comes to the benefits of breaking bread as a family, there’s nothing magical about doing it at dinnertime. It’s just as beneficial to sit down together for other meals — breakfast, lunch, even dessert! The key is that you’re together as a family on a regular basis (food helps in this by adding a level of comfort, texture, and enjoyment).
Maybe evenings are crazy for your family, but mornings not so much. Make family breakfast your thing. Let’s say mornings and evenings are bad, but things are pretty chill right before bedtime. Make time for a pre-bed snack as a family. It could be cookies and milk, or if you’re paleo, try some coconut blueberry balls. The important thing is that you get together with your family on a regular basis for some quality conversation and bonding time.
So instead of thinking about making the most of family dinnertime, think of it as getting the most of family meal times.
Teach them the love of cooking. Get your kids involved with making the meal. Kids love to help out with cooking. And letting them do so will help them forge a better appreciation of food and teach them a valuable skill in self-reliance that will really come in handy once they head out on their own. Plus, it gives you a chance to start talking to your kids before you even get to the table.
Take-out (or dining out) is a-okay sometimes. Home cooking is ideal for reasons of both health and cost, but there are always going to be times where you or your wife don’t have time to make a meal from scratch. That’s okay – remember, the important thing is just making the time to sit down together. Getting take-out or going to a restaurant can actually be more relaxing for everyone, and the latter is a lot of fun for the kids.
No TV, cellphones, or tablets. The purpose of family meal times is to strengthen the familial bond. You can’t do that when you’re all silently staring at the TV or while everyone has their eyes glued to their phone. Make it an ironclad rule: no electronic devices at the table.
Play music in the background. This is something we do in our house sometimes. We often play big band or classical tunes, and I try to teach Gus the sounds of the different instruments. If we’re eating Mexican food, I’ll put on some rock en español — Maná and Juanes are two of our favorites. If Kate’s the DJ, it’s often the Guster channel on Pandora. Some quiet background music adds to the atmosphere and just makes the occasion feel a little more special and fun.
Say grace. Saying grace before a meal teaches your kids the importance of gratitude and what a blessing it is to simply have food on their plates. It also teaches delayed gratification – it can be hard for kids to even wait a minute before digging in! If you’re religious, saying grace reaffirms your family’s religious identity as well.
Practice the 10-50-1 Rule. To get the most out of family meal times, you need to get your family talking. And not just about whether the food is too spicy (research has found that most conversation at family meals centers on the quality of the food!). In his book, The Secrets of Happy Families, author Bruce Feiler shares a guideline he uses for family meal times: the 10-50-1 Rule.
Aim for 10 minutes of quality talk. Researchers have found that’s about the average amount of quality talk time an average meal yields, so it’s a good minimum goal. It’s not much, but a little bit each day on a sustained basis really adds up over the long haul.
Let your kid speak 50 percent of the time. Research shows that adults usually hold the floor for 2/3 of that 10-minute conversation time. There are benefits for kids in overhearing adult conversations, but you want to hear what they have to say, too.
Teach your kids 1 new word every meal. Studies indicate that kids who have regular family meal times have larger vocabularies than kids who don’t. But holding regular family dinners won’t magically teach kids new words. Be intentional about it like Bruce is. At every dinner he teaches his kids one new word by playing different games. For example, he’ll throw out a word like “fruit” and then have everyone come up with as many related words as possible. Another game he’ll do is to bring a newspaper to the table and have everyone find a word they don’t know, try to figure out what the word means, and discuss it with the rest of the family.
Conversation. Get good conversation going. If you want to have at least ten minutes of quality talk at each meal, and you want your kids to do half of the talking, you’re going to have to ask them questions. Sometimes kids will give you one-word or non-answers, but just keep trying to elicit a response from different angles. Don’t just ask, “How was your day?” Ask them to tell you one thing they learned that day or what the best part of their day was so far. Ask them if they saw or read anything interesting. As they get older, bring up current events and ask for their opinions on them.
History. Talk about your family history. Psychologist Marshall Duke and his colleague Robyn Fivush found that children who know about their family’s history have a stronger sense of control over their lives, higher self-esteem, and feel more connected to their families than children who don’t know their family’s history. In fact, they discovered that the best single predictor of a child’s emotional health and happiness was their ability to answer questions about their family history, such as:
Do you know where your grandparents grew up?
Do you know where your mom and dad went to high school?
Do you know where your parents met?
Do you know of an illness or something really terrible that happened in your family?
Do you know what went on when you were being born?
Duke and Fivush believe that knowledge of his or her personal family history provides a child with a strong “intergenerational self,” which makes them feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves.
As they hear stories of family struggles and triumphs, kids learn about family narratives that instill resilience.
According to Duke, the most powerful narrative for building resilience in children is the oscillating narrative.
It’s basically the story of continual ups and downs in your family, where, despite what happened, the family always stuck together.
How empowering and inspiring is that for a kid who’s going through a tough time?
Knowing that great-great-great grandpa managed to create a thriving business even after suffering hardship and the death of family members along a wagon trail in the middle of nowhere can help a kid understand that life will be okay even if he doesn’t get into his college of choice.
If grandpa thrived during adversity, he can thrive, too.
No children?
No problem.
Dinners are a time to build your relationship, talk and discuss and make special moments over food and drink. You can make it very special. And that is wonderful.
Enjoy your time together.
Make the dinner a little romantic and memorable Apart from making a great dinner, here are some tips that you must know if you want to make this night memorable.
1. Choose the right drinks
A romantic dinner is not complete without drinks – but your choice of beverages depends on your dishes.
A steak dinner can be paired with an earthy red wine.
You could serve a crisp, chilled white wine if you decided on chicken.
Whatever your decision, make sure you have a bottle opener handy, you don’t want to be caught without one.
If you’re not into alcohol, pick up some fruity, fizzy drinks to go with your date night meals. LIke orange juice, or a nice tea. Or, a well made coffee.
Be sure to have your date’s favorite drinks on hand for after dinner – so stock up on beers, whiskey, or gin. And if it is to be served cola,, make sure that it’s really cold.
Their favorite drink will go well with dessert.
2. Choose easy, simple recipes
When people are trying to find out how to make a romantic dinner, they probably forget that the most romantic dinner recipes are a piece of cake.
You don’t want to worry about too many aspects, complicated sauces, and preparations. Choose a dish that is easy to make with only a few ingredients. Remember this one tip as one of the most important romantic dinner ideas. Else you would be thrown in for a loop!
In a pinch, you can buy a premade instant pizza, and toss a bunch of extra pepperoni and globs of cheese on top of it. Think “adaptation” and “improvement”. You are striving for an event. Not particuliarly a meal.
3. Create the perfect setting
When you are looking up romantic dinner date ideas and trying to figure out how to plan a romantic dinner, you might think of recipes and ingredients.
But here’s the thing – you want to create the entire package. That means food, drinks, and the most important of all – the setting! It could be anything from a home-made special moment, to a plain tablecloth and a candle. Just try to make the dinner a little special.
A special and relaxed atmosphere is the perfect backdrop for a romantic dinner.
4. Relax and enjoy the meal and the company
Don’t forget to sit back, relax, and relish the romantic dinner. If something goes wrong with the food, let it. You don’t want to be stressing over everything so much that you forget to enjoy the experience. It’s all about the conversation and the food.
5. Talk about the good things
Nothing really serious, or anger generating.
You can spend some time reminiscing about the good times, especially if you both have had very little time together recently. So just keep it light and easy. Nothing serious. It’s a time of relaxation and rest.
6. Do not exert yourself too much
As much as you want to make this special, make sure you are not too tired by the end of all of it. Take time to rest and feel good about the night.
7. Dress up
Even if you are both staying home, dress up nicely for each other. You will feel so much better when you put on nice clothes and sit with each other. Guys, maybe you wear a T-shirt all the time, but what’s the harm of thowing on a blazer over it?
I well remember my Zambian (African) girlfriend, who would dress up for every meal. It did not matter if it was at home or outside. Nice outfit. Hair done. Perfume. And ladies, let me tell you what, it’s hard to compete against THAT.
8. Take photos together
Take out some time to take photos of each other, of the food, and together. Pictures are a great way to create memories, and you can always look back on them and relive these moments.
I put mine in a ton load of folders.
Don’t be like MM here. Organize better. My filing system is a shambles. Ugh!
9. Try something new
Make it a point to try something new. It could be a new cuisine, drink, or dish. New experiences with the one you love are a great way to bond. Even the shitty events, and the meals and places that didn’t work out are bonds and stories that we share and remember.
10. Get rid of distractions
Again. No distractions. Put your phone, laptops, and other gadgets away. Put away anything that distracts you and your partner, and spend time only with each other.
I will tell you that even I, almighty MM, slip up and forget this rule from time to time. And my wife, Mrs. MM hits me on the head (as she’s the only pne premitted to do this) and stops me from getting sucked into the information overload vortex.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my Food Index associated with my Happiness Index here…
Here’s a nice look at some of the meals that my mother used to make for us kids when we were young. As we grew up and moved away from home, these delicious home cooked meals were replaced by fast food, and restaurant set meals.
Sigh.
What began as an occasional trip once or twice to “Big Boy”, became a weekly event in the late 1970’s, and almost daily after the early 1980’s. That coiencided with the absolutely frenzied rise of McDonald’s and Burger King franchises.
In those days, McDonalds’ used to have the words “Over XXXX customers sold”.
Thousands became Millions.
Millions became Billions.
Billions became, “Billions and Billions”.
And everyone was living this sort of frenzied, fast-paced lifestle.
In truth, for decades I lived off of a mixture of fast food, easy to prepare cheap foods at home (spaghetti, hamburger, chicken) and restaurant staples.
I argue that many people still live this kind of pitiful life; not getting to live a life filled with delicious and tasty, healthy food.
This article looks at what my family used to cook for me that no longer exists in the diets of most Americans today. It’s not what I used to make to eat, or what my first and second wives made for me to eat. It’s what my parents, and my grandparents made for me to eat.
We start off with something that doesn’t seem to be that popular any more. Perhaps it’s becuase no one knows how to make it right. I am referring to meatloaf.
Meatloaf?
Yeah. Sure. Meatloaf.
You do NOT use the cheapest cuts of meat, and throw everything into it. You do not live in a school cafeteria. No. You should use quality ingredients, and keep things simple.
Classic Meatloaf
Delicious meatloaf.
Even if you have nightmares of cafeteria meatloaf, giving this classic another shot can make you realize why this staple was such a hit. This throwback recipe brings everything home and reminds you of all the rich flavors of beef, tomatoes, and that iconic meatloaf texture.
Just like it is easy to use the cheapest ground meat, the cheapest left over bread, and the near-expiration-date ingredients, don’t. Take the time and use good, healthy ingredients, and present it in a fine loving way that it deserves. Your family will love you for it.
Cooked tomatoes, peppers, and onions instead of store bought ketchup.
Ground beef instead of ground chuck.
Go easy on the bread crumbs.
I like to eat it with sliced bread and (real salted) butter, mashed potatoes, and corn, peas, or some other well steamed vegitable.
Southern-Style Cornmeal Catfish with Tomato Gravy
Southern-Style Cornmeal Catfish with Tomato Gravy.
Fried fish has always come across tables as a dinner standard, but it gets harder and harder to find fried catfish on the menu at most dinners.
This recipe will make you remember why this economical fish was such a favorite, and it will evoke memories of fish fries and summer days. With a crispy cornmeal crust and an easy frying technique, this recipe is achievable for any home cook.
The best and most important thing to remember is to debone it, and serve deep fried, breaded filets.
Tasty catfish.
It goes really good with pickled tomatoes, Southern “hushpuppies”, french fried potatoes and really icy cold beer. Don’t you know?
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and Dumplings.
Whether you grew up in the North or the South, you’ve likely tried some variant of this classic dish that has stretched far and wide across America. The tender, chewy dumplings provide a perfect textural pairing with the moist chicken. It all gets coated in a down-home gravy that whips up nostalgia in an instant. For a trip down memory lane, bring this classic to a table near you.
And don’t forget the wide sturdy spoon to gather the great amount of broth. I always liked to eat it with salt and some sprinkled cheddar cheese. But that’s jsut me.
Classic Green Bean Casserole
Classic Green Bean Casserole.
Everyone remembers their first green bean casserole, likely made with cream of mushroom soup and fried onion straws. Even if you eventually burnt out on this dish as a kid, now is the perfect time to explore the casserole again.
By mixing up the ingredients, you can avoid any traumatic memories of canned green beans and use only the freshest produce to make this dish pop.
Try using green beans, AND asparagus, with some real sauteed mushrooms.
That’s the real secret. Get fresh ingredients and let it cook for a good long time so that all the savory flavors mix and become outrageously delicious.
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Brown Butter Honey-Glazed Carrots
Brown Butter Honey-Glazed Carrots.
Sometimes, simplicity brings out the best flavors from quality ingredients. This old-fashioned recipe takes that mentality to heart by pairing fresh carrots with a sweet and rich honey butter glaze. You’ll not only evoke generations past, but you’ll also whip up a new family favorite everyone can love that costs little time and money to prepare. To round out your dinner, this should prove an instant favorite.
Healthy food, cooked properly, is the key to great family happiness.
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This is not a stand-alone meal, but rather a dish that acts as a side ot other food entres.
Honey-Glazed Ham and Cheddar Muffins
Honey-Glazed Ham and Cheddar Muffins.
When you imagine an old-fashioned Sunday meal, each table spread probably includes a baked ham and bread offered up for everyone. This take on a classic refines what everyone loved about a night at home on the weekend by featuring a delectable honey-glazed ham. Paired with the fluffy cheddar muffins, each bite of ham will be a taste of heaven.
The secret is that the cheddar cheese, and honey-glazed ham mix together scrumpiously.
Hamburg Steaks
Hamburg Steak.
You probably haven’t thought about Hamburg steaks in quite some time, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t take a crack at this once-popular staple. They’re easier to make than traditional steaks on the grill. And each portion packs in so much flavor, you’ll wonder why you never tried this recipe sooner.
I find that the secret is to let the steaks cook a nice long time at lower heat in a deep savory broth. You can add garlic, onions, and mushrooms to really kick out that flavor.
Hamburg Steaks cooking in a long savory broth / sauce.
Sunday Chili
Sunday Chili.
It’s harder to find Sunday Chili on home menus nowadays. This classic not only provides a cumin kick to liven up any night, and one big pot could last for days. With easy-to-find ingredients and little prep work, this dish deserves a revival.
Keep in mind that it goes really well with rice, and lots of cheese. When I was younger, I would crunch up crackers and eat with it, but I discovered that if you pair this with garlic bread you will have an absolutely satisfying meal.
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Oh, and by the way, this meal goes great with an icy cold beer or two.
Root Beer-Glazed Ham
Root Beer-Glazed Ham.
In the ’50s and ’60s, home cooks paired novel items in ways you might never have expected. While many of these recipes deserve to have died out, some deserve a second chance.
For instance, root beer-glazed ham stood out from the crowd by providing that sugary bite usually drawn from a honey glaze.
And the acidity of the soda helps tenderize the meat, making for one delectable ham. If you’ve only heard rumors of this dish, now is the best time to give this recipe a shot!
I can tell you that this goes great with a table “spread”.
You lay out sliced lettice (all fresh and washed completely), sliced tomatoes (I add salt and olive oil to the slices), some thin sliced onions (the restrurants all trend is to have these super thick onion slices, I like mine paper thin), and fresh hot baked bread. Add some pickles, cheeses (a selection in sandwich slices), and some marinated olives, marinated peppers.
Ah, some marinated olives.
Oh and don’t forget a fine selection of condiments…
Horseradish
Wasabi
Sweet salad dressing.
Mayonaise.
Ketchup.
Sweet butter chips (sliced pickles)
Dill pickles (spear shape)
Olive oil.
Butter.
vinegar.
Salt and pepper.
Hot mix
Hot mix.
Keep the bread warm, and the ham hot.
The tomatoes should always sit in warm water for a few minutes to push out the flavor and punch them into a state of mouth watering organism. then slice them and add salt and olive oil, and then place on their own plate.
Then you make yourself a fine sandwich and eat it with wine, and some great conversation.
Some thoughts
If you get on the internet and search for food, you will come up with all kinds of articles on the recipes on how to make the food. You might even come across some diet guru that is trying to get you to invest in “their plan”. (A subject in itself.) But you will hardly ever find articles on the joys of eating the food everyone prepares.
I don’t like that.
Food is a very important part of our lives.
It is more than just nutrition, it is a social venue. One, that is terribly neglected in modern Wester society.
And here, here, I argue that it shouldn’t be that way. I argue that food should be a major part of your life, and well planned healthy meals should be the stable from which everything else is derived.
And that’s where the family comes in.
[1] Savings
You will find and discover that a singular weekly meal might cost just slightly less than a restaurant meal, but the time it took to make it was problematic. Ingredient costs alone might equal that of a mid-range restrurant meal. And yet, it might take you an hour or more to make.
Don’t freak out.
Buy in bulk, and plan the meals a week in advance. Like adults do; like people who are in control of their lives do.
Of course, all families are different, which is why I strongly advocate a very traditional division of labor for the family and disparage the idea of a home with two people working for others. One person stays home and take on all the domestic issues and controls the money. The other earns the money, and handles maintence and repairs.
Now, if you plan on five such meals a week, and budget accordingly, you will discover a substantial savings in money, and an improvement in your family communication. And these particular changes will really positively affect your life.
This will be true EVEN if you subtract the secondary source of income. (And all the other expenses that come with it.)
[2] Social
We are social creatures. Every opportunity for us to share times with others in a neutral to positive way should be embraced and nurtured.
No one ever told you this.
Well, maybe it’s becuase they don’t appreciate things as they used to be.
Eating food historically is a social and cultural construct that helps us connect with each others. In England, this resulted in pubs. In China this resulted in those big private meal rooms.
Unfortunately, one of the very first social reengineering efforts in the United States was to destroy this social activity and replace it with a for-profit, fast and isolated eating format. Two hour lunch hours were reduced to thirty minutes, and in some cases only fifteen minutes (at work). Car drive-throughs in fast food chains popped up everywhere, and even table sizes shrank. All facilitating a most lonely singular existence of socially disconnected loners.
Eating alone in the car.
Listening to talk radio.
Not to each other. Not savoring the flavors.
Instead, isolated, and shoving cheap, mass-produced animal feed to keep them toiling in companies, and manipulated in every singular manner possible.
So think in terms of fine sit-down ritualized meals.
No, this meal-time is not an event for horse-play and arguments. It’s a time of kindness and shared emotions. Be positive. Be kind. Be uplifting. Say good and nice things. Make the other people want to share more meals with you.
Your life will improve.
[3] Health
Healthy foods prepared with care and affection, and served in a fine healthy environment will certainly help improve your over all health, general well-being and happiness.
It will.
You will live longer, and have a much better overall quality of life too boot.
How to use this article
It is my hope that you will go through the various food items I have shown herein and pick one. Then search the internet for a recipe for it, and then gather the materials and make it.
But it’s more than that.
Record your costs in a notebook. Record how long it took you to make it, and then have a formal sit down meal with your family or friends and record (in the notebook) how it went.
Then compare that to the “normal” everyday meals that you have been eating over the last month or so.
Conclusions
You will find that the mixture of cooking, delicious food, fellowship over a meal and the cost savings are far superior to what you (most probably) have been living off of for the last few months.
You will.
A social life will emerge.
A closer and better relationship with your family will occur.
You will make new friends, and will be healthier and happier.
And if so, I encourage you to keep it up. Start small and simple. Mix it up some. And have a great time with it. Enjoy life. (If everything goes well…) This one will be your last.
Oh, and don’t forget an after-dinner dessert and coffee (or whatever beverage that appeals to you). It’s stuff that magic memories are made out of.
An after dinner dessert and coffee.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my Food Index associated with my Happiness Index here…
I come from a generation that had phones that were stuck on walls, and the idea of a cell phone was a science fiction adventure on Star Trek. In fact, our house had a rotary dial phone that was stuck on the wall in the kitchen.
It was yellow.
It fit in the orange decour with the olive colored refrigerator, and stove, and the red countertops.
Back in those days, I didn’t use the phone often. My sister was the one hogging up the phone all the time.
Oh, did she have a gift for chatting away. It got to be so bad that my father bought an extra one for her to use so that “she would get out of our hair” in the kitchen all the time.
She treated the telephone as her own private kingdom. Outside our local township, the phone rates were extremely enormous (this was before the breakup of “Ma Bell”) and to call a girlfriend in Pittsburgh (around a 2-hour drive away) would cost me more than what I could make a week in the mines and the grocery store combined.
So it was special.
Indeed, the two most important items in the household were the telephone and the television.
We got five channels on the television!
We were fortunate.
In Pittsburgh, my grandparents were lucky to get two. Or course, as a growing boy, the refrigerator and microwave fought for those top spots.
I must have eaten my weight in food many times a week. I was always scrounging in the ‘fridge for some leftover pot roast to make up a sandwich with cheese and microwave it in the “microwave oven” as we called it then.
A growing boy.
Then later, when I was around 16 years old or so, I discovered girls, FM music, cars and alcohol.
Not all at once, mind you, but all within months of each other. (Truth be told, I had an interest in the old throwaway Playboy magazines that I scrounged in the garbage cans since I was five years old, but it wasn’t until when I hit 16 did everything “come together”.)
My life has never been the same since.
You know, or should rightfully assume, I was a pretty groovy guy.
I had bell bottom pants, a choker necklace, a MIA braclet, and a big belt buckle with my astrological sign on the front. I had longish hair, and rockstar shoes.
I was the guy in the purple shirt. LOL.
Anyways, if we wanted to place a telephone call from outside our home, we would use these tiny little rooms called “phone booths”.
And they would frequently have this big yellow book inside. Where you could find the telephone numbers of everyone in the city that you were calling from.
A phone booth.
And if you were attending college, or were in a Navy barracks, you would use the line-up of phones at the end of the hallway.
Privacy was obtained by these little foot-sized dividers to provide the illusion of privacy.
They didn’t do anything more than that and often had graffiti on them colored by bored college students.
Rack of phones in a college dorm.
Times came and went. I began my teens with “muscle cars” and boy oh boy do I miss my GTO, but things merged in the haze of the 1970s.
We still drove those cars around, but we were starting to complain about the high cost of gas, and we were all afraid that it would break the $1 gallon ceiling.
1970 Dodge Charger.
Ah… When cars were cars!
When you went into a turn in these babies, boy oh boy could you feel it.
It was a time when people would take off all their clothes and go a “streaking” in public areas. It was a time whenpeople asked if President Jimmy Carter dropped acid, and if the cost of coffee would go back to being five cents a cup.
As time moved on, my GTO was replaced by an AMC Pacer (due to finances) and then that too was replaced with a 1974 Dodge tradesman minivan. I was so hip and so cool.
Dodge van.
My van was carpeted in lime green shag carpeting, and had a couple of sky roofs. I was proud of my pumped up shocks on it, and the state-of-the-art cassette player with FM radio!
No phone though.
I had a CB.
CB Radios
Mention ‘CB Radio’ to most people and they will instantly mime holding a mic and spew phrases like ‘breaker-breaker-9’, ‘big 10-4 rubber duck’ in a bad US accent or even start singing the theme tune to ‘Convoy’. Interestingly for a craze that burned out over 30 years ago, the social and linguistic paraphernalia of the CB world continues to live on strongly even today.
The CB radio was invented in 1945 by Al Gross, the inventor of the walkie-talkie and owner of the Citizens Radio Corporation.
The radio became popular with small businesses and blue collar workers like carpenters, plumbers, and electricians who used the radio as a tool to communicate with coworkers.
By 1960, the costs to produce the 23 channel radio were low enough that everyday Joes could afford to buy one.
By 1973, coinciding with the onset of the oil crisis, the CB Radio craze erupted.
FCC opens up CB radio channels to the public
When Al Gross invented the CB radio in 1945, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) quickly opened up radio services for personal users of the radio.
Most countries have similar radio services. In the United States, Citizen’s Band Radios operate on the 27-Mhz band whereas in Canada it is known as General Radio Services and operates on the 26 Mhz and 28 Mhz bands.
CB Radio.
Unlike amateur radio, CB radio does not require a license (although at one time, they did require a license to operate). CB radio channels are shared by many users at the same time and other stations must listen and wait for the shared channel to be available.
By the 1960’s, the CB radio was popular with businesses and radio hobbyists. By the late 1960’s, advancements in solid state electronics allowed the size of the radio to be greatly reduced as well as the cost.
Suddenly, the general public had access to a communications medium that previously had only been available to specialists. CB radio clubs were formed and hobbyists developed their own unique CB slang language along with 10-codes similar to the codes used by emergency services.
The CB Radio Craze
By 1973, the oil crisis caused the cost of gasoline to skyrocket and shortages quickly developed. In response, the United States government issued a 55 MPH nationwide speed limit.
This caused an angry fury in the ‘States. “How dare the government tell us how to drive!”.
Smokey and the Bandit.
Drivers quickly learned that CB radios could be used to communicate with other drivers to inform them of gas stations that had gas and to notify speeders where police (smokeys) had speed traps set up.
The CB radio became so popular, by 1977 additional channels were opened up and 40 channel radios were introduced to the market.
Newsworthy events related to CB radios further added to the excitement. Truck drivers used the radios to organize convoys ( huge lines of trucks that travelled down the nation’s highways).
In several instances, blockades were organized using CB Radios where trucks would fill all available highway lanes in protest of the high gas prices and new trucking regulations.
CB Radios began to play prominent roles in movies such as Smokey and the Bandit and Movin’ On. Novelty songs about the new electronic toy, such as CW McCall’s Convoy and Cletus Maggard’s White Knight (see lyrics below), were played regularly on the radio.
Smokey and the Bandit
During the CB radio craze, citizens of Great Britain began illegally using American made CBs.
We deserve to live like Americans they demanded! The British government told its citizens that the CB radio would never be legalized on the 27 Mhz wavelength and instead, proposed a different technology on the 860 Mhz “open channel” instead.
The citizens of the United Kingdom took to the streets in high profile public demonstrations and UK government officials bent to the will of the people. Al Gross made the first British ceremonial CB radio call from Trafalgar Square in London.
Later the United Kingdom added more than 40 channels giving UK citizens 80 CB radio channels to work with.
Handles
Years prior, CB radios required a licensed to operate. The license cost about $20 in the early 1970’s and was reduced to $4 in the late 1970’s.
In addition, there were many rules and regulations concerning antenna height, distance restrictions, allowable transmitter power, and call sign rules. People ignored the laws and to hide their identity, developed “handles” or fake names to identify themselves on the radio.
After the FCC started receiving over 1,000,000 license applications a month, the license requirement was dropped entirely but as the culture had already developed, people continued using handles such as “Big Mama” or “Timberwolf” to identify themselves while on the air. Some famous celebrity handles include:
Betty Ford, a former First Lady of the United States, whose CB handle was “First Mama”.
Voice actor Mel Blanc , an active CB Radio operator, often used the CB handles Bugs or Daffy and talked over the air in the Los Angeles area using his many voices.
Channels
Channels evolved to fill specific purposes. For instance, channel 9 was kept open for emergency use and channel 19 was used for highway communication west of the Mississippi River.
Eventually channel 19 became the “trucker’s channel” and was used for highway communication all over the United States.
In the early days of the CB radio craze, channel 11 was used solely for the purpose of initiating communications (after which the two radio callers switched to a mutually agreed upon channel).
Towns that were close together often adopted a specific channel as their “home” channel so that they could communicate with each other.
Talking the Talk
CD etiquette developed and evolved during the craze. CB radios were intended to be used to warn other drivers of Smokeys up the road or to report roadside emergencies.
Chit chatting with other CB radio users is ok but it is not considered courteous to hold up a channel for more than a few minutes. Cursing is also frowned upon. It is common for CB radio operators to use hidden code or unique slang to communicate.
For instance, when giving a warning that a police officer is running a hidden speedtrap, they might say “smokey in the bush” or to warn truckers to watch out for a broken down school bus they might say “watch out for the kiddy car at mile marker 200″.
Many of the CB slang from the 1970’s hung around and became slang that continued to be used outside the realm of CB radio communications. Below is a large list of CB radio slang used during the 1970’s CB radio craze.
CD Radio slang from a to z
ACE – an important or well known CB radio operator
Apple – a person who is addicted to the CB radio
AF -Audio Frequency
Afterburner – Linear amplifier
ALERT – Affiliated League of Emergency Radio Teams
All the good numbers – good luck and best wishes to all
Alligator – shredded tread from the tires of an 18 wheeler truck
Amigo – friend or good buddy
ANL – Automatic noise limiter
Ankle biter- a little kid
Antenna Farm- a CB radio ase station with many antennas strung up in the air
Antler Alley – an area known for deer crossings
Appliance Operator – degrading term for a non-technical person who barely knows how to turn on their radio
AM -Amplitude Modulation
Ancient Mariner – someone who uses AM radio
Baby Bear – a rookie police officer
Backdoor – vehicle behind the one who is ahead of it.
Backdoor closed – the rear of a convey with trucks stacked across the lanes to keep the Smokeys out
Back em up – slow down or reduce speed
Back off the hammer – slow down or reduce speed
Backslide – return trip from a trucker’s run
Bad scene – a crowded CB radio channel
Ballet Dancer – a CB radio antenna that sways and bends in the wind
Base Station – a CB radio installed at a fixed location such as a house
Beast -a very good CB radio rig
Beam – Directional Antenna
Bean House Bull – trucker conversation carried on at a truck stop
Bear Bait – a speeding car
Bear Cage- police station or jail cell
Bear Cave – police station
Bearmobile – police car
Bear Trap – stationary police car running a radar trap
Bear in the air- police in their helicopter
Bear – police officer
Beat the bushes – driving ahead of the other truckers in an effort to draw the police out of hiding
Beaver – good looking female
Beaver Bear – female police officer
Beaver Fever – missing the wife or girlfriend
Beaver Palace – a club or bar known for loose female patrons
Beaver Patrol – looking for a good looking woman to spend time with
Big Charlie or Big Daddy – the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Big Mack – Mack truck
Big Slab – freeway or highway
Big 10-4- hearty agreement.
Bit on the seat of the britches – pulled over and issued a speeding ticket
Black and White – police car
Black Ice – patch of iced over blacktop road
Bleeding/Bleedover – strong signals from a base station on another channel that interferes with another channel’s reception
Blew my doors off – car passed by at high speed
Blue Slip- speeding ticket
Boast Toastie – CB expert
Boat Anchor – an old, broken radio that can no longer be repaired
Bodacious- Awesome
Boy Scouts – State Police
Box -Tractor Trailer
Break (or breaker, break for) – request to use the channel
Breaking Up – CB radio reception is poor
Breaking the “˜ol needle – very strong CB radio signal
Bring it back – answer the question that was posed
Brown paper bag – unmarked Police car
Bubble gum machine- police car with flashing lights
Bucket Mouth – obnoxious radio operator or someone who cusses a lot on the air
Bug Out – signing off or leaving the radio channel
Bumper Lane – the left most passing lane
Button Pusher – another CB radio operator who is trying to breakup your communication with another station by keying the microphone
Camera -police radar
Candy Man – Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Casa – house
Cash Register – toll booth
Catch you on the flip-flop – will talk to you on my return trip
Channel 25 – the telephone
Charlie – Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Chew and choke – Restaurant or truck stop eatery
Checking My Eyelinds For Pin Holes – I am tired or sleepy
Check the seatcovers – look at that passengers in the passing car
Chicken Coup – weigh station
Chicken Coup is Clean – weigh station is closed.
Chicken Inspector – weigh station inspector
Chopped Top- a very short antenna
Christmas Card – speeding ticket
Chrome Dome – a mobile radio with a dome antenna on top of the car
Clean Cat – a unmodified CB radio
Clean Shot – the road ahead is free of obstructions, construction, and police
Cleaner channel – CB radio channel with less traffic on it
Clear – Final transmission “This is 505 and I’m clear”
Clear after you – you are ending transmission after the other person finishes signing off
Coffee Bean – Waiter or waitress
Cold Rig – 18-wheeler pulling a refrigerated trailer
Collect Call – call for a specific CB radio operator
Colorado Kool Aid – beer
Come again – repeat your last transmission
Come Back – answer my call
Comic Book -truckers log book
Coming in Loud ‘n Proud – loud and clear signal
Concrete Blonde – prostitute
Convoy – 2 or more vehicles traveling the same route in a row
Cooking – driving
Cooking Good – reached desired speed.
Copy – receiving a message
Copying the mail – listening to the communications on the channel
County Mountie – county police or sheriff
Covered Up – transmission was blocked by interference
Crack ’em Up – traffic accident
Cradle Baby – radio operator who is afraid to ask someone to stand by
Cup of Mud – cup of coffee
Cut Out – leaving the channel
Cut Some Z’s – get some sleep
Cut The Coax – turn off the radio
Daddy-O – Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Dead Pedal – slow moving car or truck
Dead Key – keying the mike without talking
Decoy – empty or unmanned police car
Diesel Digit – cchannel 19
Diesel Juice – truck fuel
Dime Channel – channel 10
Dirty Side – Eastern Seaboard
Dixie Cup- female operator with southern accent
Doing the Five-Five- traveling at 55mph
Doin’ it to it – Full speed
Doing our thing in the left-hand lane – full speed in the passing or left-hand lane
Do it to me – answer back
Do you copy? – Do you understand?
Don’t Tense – calm down
Don’t Feed The Bears – don’t get a ticket
Double key – two radio operators talking at the same time
Double L – telephone call
Double Nickel – 55mph (the speed limit during the 1970’s CB radio craze)
Down “˜n Out or Down and gone – signing off
Down and on the side – through talking but will continue listening
Drag Your Feet – wait a few seconds before transmitting to see if someone else wants to break in
Dream Weaver – sleepy driver who is weaving across the lanes
Dress For Sale – prostitute or dressed like a prostitute
Drop Out – fading signal
Drop Stop Destination – where freight will be dropped off
Drop the Hammer – drive fast
Dropped it off the shoulder – ran off the shoulder of the road
Dusted your britches – keyed up at the same time
Dusted my britches – passed me very fast
Dusted Your Ears- transmission interrupted
DX – Long Distance
Eager beaver – anxious young woman
Ears ON – CB radio turned ON
Eights or Eighty-eights – love and kisses
Eights and other good numbers – love and kisses, and best wishes
Eighty-eight’s around the house – good luck and best wishes to you and yours
Eyeball- Personal meeting
Everybody must be walking the dog – all channels are busy
Evil Knievel – motorcycle policeman
Fake brake – driver riding with his foot on the brake
Fat load – overweight or big truck load
Feed The Bears – paying a speeding fine
Fender bender – traffic accident
Fifty Dollar Lane – passing lane
First Sargent – wife
Flag waver – highway repair crew
Flaps down – slow down
Flappers -ears
Flip flop – return trip
Flip-Flopping Bears – police reversing direction or turning around
Flop it – turn around
Flop box – motel or room in truck stop
FM – Frequency Modulation
Follow the stripes home – have a safe trip
Footwarmer – Linear amplifier
Forty weight – coffee
Four Wheeler – cCar
Four lane parking lot – highway with traffic backed up
Four legged go-go dancers – ugly women
Fox – pretty female
Fox Charile Charlie – FCC
Fox hunt – FCC hunting for illegal operators
Fox jaws – Ffemale with nice voice, but not necessarily a body to match
Free Ride – prostitute
Freight Box – trailer for the truck
Friendly Candy Company – FCC
Front Door – the lead in a convoy
Full of vitamins – running all out
Full Bore – driving fast as you can
Full Throttle – driving fast as the truck will let you
Funny Candy Company – FCC
Funny channels – channels that are outside the legal band
Gallon – 1000 watts of power
Garbage – too much small talk on a channel
Gas Jockey – gas station attendant
Gear – overnight bag or supplies
Get horizontal – go to sleep
Get Trucking – start driving
Girlie Bear – female police officer
Give me a shout – call me on the radio
Glory Card – Class D License
Go Breaker – OK to go ahead and break into the channel
Go Ahead – your turn to talk or reply
Go Juice – truck fuel
Go to channel 41 – a joke to get someone off the radio (there is no channel 41)
Going Horizontal – going to sleep
Gone – leaving the channel
Gone 10-7 – permanently dead
Good Buddy – friend (modern day means homosexual)
Goon Squad – persons who do not share the channel
Got my shoes on – Switched the linear ON
Got your ears on? – are you listening on this channel
Got my eyeballs peeled – looking hard
Got my foot in it – speeding up
Go to 100 – go to the bathroom
Green Stamps – cash money
Green Stamp Collector – police with radar
Green Stamp lane – passing lane
Green Stamp Road – toll road.
Grease monkey – mechanic
Greasy Spoon – restaurant with bad food
Ground Clouds – fFog
Gypsy – trucker who drives for an independent company
Hack – taxi cab
Hag Feast – group of female CB radio operators on the channel
Haircut palace – bridge or overpass with low clearance
Hairpin – sharp curve
Hamburger helper – Linear Amp
Hammer – gas pedal
Hammer Off – slow down
Hammer Down – speed up
Hang it in your ear – that was a stupid comment
Handle – CB radio code name
Hay Shaker – truck transporting a mobile home
Heading for a hole – about to head into a low spot where radio transmission may not be possible
Heater – Linear amplifier
Hell bent for leather – driving fast
Hiding in the grass – police parked on a median strip
Hiding in the bushes, sitting under the leaves – hidden police car
Highball – drive non-stop to the destination
High Rise – large bridge or overpass
Hippie Chippie – female hitchhiker
Hip Pocket – glove box
Hit the cobblestones – hit the road
Hog – Harley Davidson
Home Twenty – location of your home
How tall are you? – How tall is your truck?
Hundred mile coffee – very strong coffee
Ice Box – Refrigerated trailer.
Idiot Box – TV set
In a short – soon
In a short-short – very soon
In the mud – noise on the channel
In the Pokey with Smokey – arrested
Jack – good friend
Jack Rabbit – police officers
Jam – deliberately interfere with another station.
Japanese toy – CB
Jargon – CB lingo
Jaw Jacking – talking, talking needlessly
Jewelry – lights on a rig
Jingle – call on the telephone
Johnny Law – police officer
Juke Joint – small or out-of-the-way place to eat
Jump Down – switch to a lower channel
Jump Up – switch to a higher channel
Keep “˜em Between the Ditches – have a safe trip
Keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down – drive safely
Keep the wheels spinning – drive safely
Keep your noise between the ditches and smokey out of your britches – drive carefully, lookout for police
Keying the mike – activating the microphone without speaking
Kicker – Linear amplifier
Kiddie car – school bus
Knock the stack out – speed up
Knuckle Buster – fight
Kojak – police officer
Kojak with a Kodak – policeman with a radar
Lady Bear – female police officer
Lady Breaker – Ffemale CB operator asking for a break.
Lame – broken down vehicle
Land Line – telephone
Land Yacht – mobile home or camper
Lane Flipper – car or truck that keeps changing lanes
Lane Lover – driver who will not get out of the lane
Latrine Lips – radio operator who cusses
Let the channel roll – it’s ok to break in and request use of the channel
Legal Beagle – person who always follows the rules
Lettuce – money
Lights green, bring on the machine – road is clear of police and other slowdowns
Linear – RF amplifier
Little Bear – local police officer
Little Beaver – daughter
Little Bit – prostitute
Little Brother – friend
Local Bear – local police officer
Local Yokel – small town police officer
Log some Z’s – get some sleep
Loot Limo – armored car
M20 – place to meet
Magic Mile – the end of a trip
Mama – girlfriend or wife
Mama Bear – female police officer
Man in White – doctor
Mashing the mike – keying the mike (usually without talking)
Meatwagon – ambulance.
Modulate – talk
Modulating – talking
Money Bus – armored truck
Motion Lotion – fuel
Motorcycle Mama – woman riding on a motorcycle
Muck Truck – cement truck
Nap Trap – hotel or other place to sleep
Negative – no
Negative Copy – did not hear
Neon, Freon, Ion Jockey – truck driver with many lights on his rig
Nightcrawlers – many police in the area
Niner – channel 9
Ninety Weight – alcohol
Oil burner – diesel truck
On the by or on the standby – listening but not talking.
One foot on the floor, one hanging out the door, and she just won’t do no more – driving as fast as I can
Other Half – girlfriend or wife
Out – through transmitting
Over – your turn to transmit
Over modulation – talking so loud that audio is distorted
Pack it in – ending transmission
Pair of sevens – no contact or answer
Papa Bear – state trooper with CB radio
Paper hanger – police giving ticket
Parking Lot – traffic jam
Pavement Princess – prostitute
Peanut butter in his ears – is not listening
Pedal to the metal – drive fast
Peeling Off – getting of the freeway
Plain Wrapper – unmarked police car
Play Dead – stand by
Picture taking machine – radar
Pit Stop – stop for a bathroom break
Popcorn – hal
Porcupine – cr with a lot of antennas on it
Pounding the pavement – waking
Press some sheets – slep
Pull the hammer back – slow down
Pull the plug – signoff and turn the radio off
Put an eyeball on him – saw or see
Put it on the floor and looking for some more – trying to drive as fast as possible
QSL Card – Personalized postcard sent to confirm a conversation
QSK – break
QRM – nise or interference
Q-R-Mary – nose or interference
QSY – changing channels/frequency.
QRT – signing off
QRX – wait
QSB – nise
QSO – conversation
QTH – location
Quasar – female
Radio Runt – child breaking in on a channel.
Rain Locker – shower
Rake the leaves – last vehicle in a convoy
Ratchet-Jaw – non-stop talker
REACT – Radio Emergency Associated Citizens Teams
Rebound – return trip
Red Lighted – pulled over by police
REST – Radio Emergency Safety Teams
RF – Radio Frequency
Road Jockey – truck driver
Road Ranger – police officer
Rock – slang for crystal
Rockin’ chair – car in the middle of a convoy
Roger – O.K.
Roller Skate – car
Rolling – driving
Rolling Bears – police officers driving
Rugrats – children
Rubberneckers – onlookers
Running Barefoot – using a radio at the legal output
Running on rags – driving a vehicle with little to no tread on the tires.
Running Shotgun – driving partner
San Quentin Jailbait – under age female hitch hiker
Seatcover – good looking female
Shaking the windows – loud and clear reception
Shim – illegally amplified transmitter
Shoot the breeze – casual conversation
Shovelling coal – speeding up
Show-off lane – passing lane
Skip – atmospheric conditions that cause signals to travel much farther than they normally would
Skippers – radio operators talking long distance
Sidedoor – oassing lane
Sitting in the saddle – middle truck in a convoy
“S” Meter – meter on your radio which which indicates the signal strength
Smokey – State Police
Smokey Bear – State Police
Smokey report – police location report
Smokey Dozing – police sitting in a parked car
Smokey’s thick – police are everywhere
Smokey with a camera – police with radar
Smokey with ears – policeman with CB radio in their car
Somebody stepped on you – someone transmitted while you were talking
Splatter – bleedover from another channel
Squelch – control on radio which silences the speaker until a signal of a certain strength breaks through it
Three’s and eights – signing off, best wishes
Thin – very weak signal
Twelves – I have company present
Twenty – Location
Two Stool beaver – very fat woman
Uncle Charlie – FCC
Walking on you – someone talking over you
Wall-to-wall and treetop tall – strong, clear signal
Wall-to-wall and ten feet tall – strong clear signal
Warden – girlfriend or wife
Watch the pavement – drive safely
Water hole – truck stop
Wear your bumper out – following too close
Wearing socks – has linear amplifier
What am I putting on you? – how strong is my signal
What’s your twenty? – what is your location
Whip – long cb antenna
Who do you pull for? – who do you work for?
Wooly Bear – female
Z’s – Sleep
In addition to CB radio slang, CB radio operators used a series of “10 codes” similar to the codes used by emergency radio operators.
The Complete CB 10 codes
10-1 Receiving Poorly
10-2 Receiving Well
10-3 Stop Transmitting
10-4 Ok, Message Received
10-5 Relay Message
10-6 Busy, Stand By
10-7 Out of Service, Leaving Air
10-8 In Service, subject to call
10-9 Repeat Message
10-10 Transmission Completed, Standing By
10-11 Talking too Rapidly
10-12 Visitors Present
10-13 Advise weather/road conditions
10-16 Make Pickup at…
10-17 Urgent Business
10-18 Anything for us?
10-19 Nothing for you, return to base
10-20 My Location is ……… or What’s your Location?
10-21 Call by Telephone
10-22 Report in Person too ……
10-23 Stand by
10-24 Completed last assignment
10-25 Can you Contact …….
10-26 Disregard Last Information/Cancel Last Message/Ignore
10-27 I am moving to Channel ……
10-28 Identify your station
10-29 Time is up for contact
10-30 Does not conform to FCC Rules
10-32 I will give you a radio check
10-33 Emergency Traffic at this station
10-34 Trouble at this station, help needed
10-35 Confidential Information
10-36 Correct Time is ………
10-38 Ambulance needed at ………
10-39 Your message delivered
10-41 Please tune to channel ……..
10-42 Traffic Accident at ……….
10-43 Traffic tie-up at ………
10-44 I have a message for you
10-45 All units within range please report
10-50 Break Channel
10-62 Unable to copy, use phone
10-62sl unable to copy on AM, use Sideband – Lower (not an official code)
10-62su unable to copy on AM, use Sideband – Upper (not an official code)
10-65 Awaiting your next message/assignment
10-67 All units comply
10-70 Fire at …….
10-73 Speed Trap at …………
10-75 You are causing interference
10-77 Negative Contact
10-84 My telephone number is ………
10-85 My address is ………..
10-91 Talk closer to the mike
10-92 Your transmitter is out of adjustment
10-93 Check my frequency on this channel
10-94 Please give me a long count
10-95 Transmit dead carrier for 5 sec.
10-99 Mission completed, all units secure
10-100 Need to take a break
10-200 Police needed at ……….
How to operate a CB radio
There it an etiquette that CB radio operators follow in order to be “polite” and courteous to the other CB radio users. The following rules should always be followed.
When two or more people are talking on a channel they are said to “own the channel”. FCC regulations require they give other users an opportunity to use the channel so they should not hold the channel hostage for more than several minutes.
CB radio users should not “step on” other units. “Step on” means to transmit at the same time another radio operator is transmitting. They should also never key over someone else.
If you hear one unit break for another unit, give some time for the unit to respond before you say anything yourself. It may take a radio user time to grab the mic or get from the kitchen to the living room radio unit.
After your break has been acknowledged, keep the next transmission short. For example, a break might go something like this: “Break one-nine for Super Trooper. Super Trooper, do you have your ears on?”. if Super Trooper does not answer after a minute or so, it is nice to acknowledge that you are finished by saying something like “thanks for the break”.
If you are carrying on a conversation and someone “walks over” you, you have one of two options. You can ask the person you were speaking to to repeat. For example, “10-9, you were stepped on. Please repeat”. Alternatively, you can hand the channel over to the breaker.
If your break is not acknowledged, wait several minutes before attempting to contact them again.
Enough of the CB craze in the 1970s in the USA…
Of course, today is quite different. There are all sorts of systems competing for our telecommunication needs. They vary from Skype to zoom, and everything in between.
Dilbert.
But I live in China, and EVERYONE uses WeChat.
Man oh man!
WeChat is far more than I ever realized it was, and I have to tell you all that I am just blown away by some of the many features and functions that it has. And you all must realize that I have been using it for many, many years.
Over a decade.
So whether you have the APP, or are considering the APP, check out this “discovery tour” of WeChat.
First off, it’s a handy communication platform.
Duh! In fact, I will tell you that it is an all-in-one phone, instant messaging, video conference, and teleconference package.
All for free.
No costs to use.
You see, in China, the government has decreed that communication is a basic right and need. It should not be part of a for-profit model.
Sure, in the “old days” you used to have to pay for landlines, and maintenance, but now, since the infrastructure is in place, the costs to use this (and other applications) this APP is free to communicate with.
While my cell-phone certainly has telephony (telephone access), I find that it is often far easier to just communicate back and forth with people using WeChat.
You just select your contact… and you can call, text, video immediately with zero charges anywhere in the world…
Connect with your friends.
But it’s more than that. You see you can have family, business, or friends groupings.
And while I am sure that it is available on other APP platforms, it’s just so deliciously easy to use on WeChat. You set up a group call, a group chat, a group message board, or a group video. Oh, and did I say that it’s all free?
The WeChat group chat, text, phone, or video are all so very easy to set up and use. It’s almost instinctive.
Now, these two aspects of the entire WeChat platform are reason enough to have it on your phone. If that’s all that you ever use your phone for, then it is most certainly worth it.
But there’s so much more.
You see, there’s all kinds of things that you can do when you are chatting on the phone using WeChat. It’s more than just chatting away.
You can text while chatting, video while chatting, translate things while chatting, read a text in Icelandic and have it instantly translated into English.
You can point your phone at a strange road sign in Afghanistan and have it instantly translated, and if you are unable to see the translation, it will read the translation out to you in English for you.
Translate Text
Sometimes you will get messages in Chinese and, unless you can read Chinese characters fluently, this can be a problem.
So, WeChat has added this feature that will translate messages for you. Press and hold on the message you want to translate and then select the right arrow and then press ‘Translate’ and it will automatically translate the message.
So there’s a message.
You click on it, and select translate.
Translate.
And low and behold, it will translate to your assigned default language on your phone. Pretty cool. I will tell you that living inside of China, I use this feature extensively. But also when I travel to Thailand, Japan, Korea, or Saudi Arabia it most certainly comes in handy.
Scan
One of the most used applications inside of China is the scan function. You scan for everything. You scan to enter buildings.
You scan to pay.
You scan to get information.
You scan to visit internet and government websites. All you need to is go to the top of the APP and click on Scan QR Code…
.
And then scan the code. It’s just like this…
Scan the QR code.
Now…
Here’s a power tip.
Scan and Translate
Can’t read the instructions or menus in China?
China’s most popular social platform offers AR-based real-time translation.
This feature can be accessed from the scan feature in the upright corner, which is regularly used to scan QR codes.
To use the real-time translator, simply capture an image of anything with either Chinese or English text in it, operating on a point and translate model.
First, go to the + sign > Scan > Translate, Then take a photo to translate or select a photo from your gallery. Finally, wait for the text to be translated and understand the text in English.
The default is on the lower left. It will scan the QR code. However, if you click on “Translate”, something else happens… [1] You are prompted to take a photo.
Take a photo.
[2] It is translated for you.
Currently, WeChat Translate only supports Chinese and English, it works similarly to the Waygo App, which was designed to help non-Chinese speakers translate food menus and signs. An indication that WeChat wants to appeal to foreign users and tourists living in China.
WeChat’s trend of taking successful features from apps and integrating the technology into their platform shows their ambition to grow and compete with US tech giants: Google, Snapchat and Instagram.
However, WeChat still has a long way to go to reach the levels of Google Translate augmented reality feature, which now supports 30 languages.
Translate Image Text
“Translate Image Text” is another cool hidden feature that you will want to know. Instead of scanning and translating, you can now choose any image that you have in either your phone gallery or chat and long-press until the menu appears with the option of translate image to text. [1] Pull up the image. [2] Long press until the menu comes up. [3] Translate. Now, all this is really cool, but that all isn’t the really great stuff. Let’s get to some of the really cool things…
Voice messages to text
I use this all the time. It’s a dictation feature on the text messaging section of WeChat. You just click on the button and dictate. What you speak is automatically converted from voice to text, and you can send the message so easily. It sure beats the singular thumb method of typing on a little screen.
This voice input function allows users to speak into WeChat and immediately convert their words into text. All you have to do is to long-press the voice message button, say what you want to be translated to text and just before letting go, swipe up and right and let go when you reach the bubble on the right side.
WeChat voice to text feature.
Shazam
Want to find the name for that TV show you’re watching? Under the Shake feature you can also select ‘TV show’ and, when you shake, WeChat will act like Shazam and tell you the name of the TV show you’re watching.
What’s that show, or that song?
It is also useful for Douxing videos, music and many other things. This is a great way to identify music you like on a video. Because when the answer comes up, a link is provided to the QQ application that allows you to put that particular song in your play list.
More, more and MORE!
There is so much more that you can do. From sharing videos to creating facebook like environments, to group collaborating to dressing up and editing presentations.
It’s an all inclusive complete platform. But I am really not up to go through all the nuiances of it. Others have, and they have been doing a better job than I.
Let me just say that time has changes, and the advances in technology are truly wonderful.
Let’s appreciate what they are and use them to the fullest, so that we can benefit from their use.
Becuase sooner or later they will go away and be replaced with something different. And you will long for the days that you have RIGHT NOW.
Enjoy what you have and eat it all up!
It’s a new world
As some of these meme’s attest to… Great cat, by the way. Some of these are just funny… I suppose there are many more… As I said. Some are really spot on…
Well all this talk about communicaiton makes me hungry…
Maybe something simple delicious and easy to make. Maybe something a little bit like this…
An easy to make, healthy and delicious meal.
It’s better than fast food, I’ll tell you what. However, if you really are in the mood, why not make a home made pizza? It’s not all that hard, and it’s cheap. If you make the dough from scratch a entire pizza is only a few dollars tops. Maybe something like this…
Homemade pizza.
Of course, while you are a smunching, you can go forth and invite some friends over to your porch and “shoot the breeze”… you know, talk a bit. It doesn’t matter what you talk about. Just chat. Everyone has things to say. Just listen. Maybe you can impress them with your local knowledge. Maybe something like this… .
Maybe if they are some neighborhood kids, you can teach them how to whittle, or something similiar.
Most kids these days need some real uncle-like behaviors in their neighborhoods.
Don’t wait for others to take action.
You go ahead and do it yourself. Whittle.
Whittling.
Just take the time and make friends.
Whittling.
.
And you know, it doesn’t hurt to smoke a cigarette, drink a beer, or share a pizza with some neighborhood friends.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my Happiness Index here… Life & Happiness .
Articles & Links
Master Index . You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Here’s a “master list” of heirloom tomatoes that I have collected off the internet. I have extracted the data from heavy advertisement saturated websites, and other pay-wall blocked for-profit venues. Whether or not you enjoy heirloom tomatoes, I hope that this list will be beneficial to you.
What is a Heirloom Tomato…
An heirloom tomato (also called heritage tomato in the UK) is an open-pollinated, non-hybrid heirloom cultivar of tomato. They are classified as: family heirlooms, commercial heirlooms, mystery heirlooms, or created heirlooms. They usually have a shorter shelf life and are less disease resistant than hybrids. They are grown for a variety of reasons: for food, historical interest, access to wider varieties, and by people who wish to save seeds from year to year, as well as for their taste.
I wish that I was as talented as some of the women that I know. They have a real understanding, or a “feel” on how food comes together and mates with other foods. And they have this kind of innate ability that I seem so very clumsy with. And they seem to know which is the right tomato for the right application.
Never the less, I do know that I like to eat. I know that when I go to a store, I like to smell the produce, and if I am growing things, I am always smelling the tomatoes on the vine. There’s a real connection between scent and taste. Seriously.
Here’s some pictures to illustrate what you can do with heirloom tomatoes…
The best thing about heirloom tomatoes is the taste.
I strongly argue that the best thing to do with heirloom tomatoes is to eat them. After all, they are so very delicious.
Tomatoes are meant to be eaten.
Not a full sandwich, but tasty never the less…
Good eating.
A recipe
Here’s a great heirloom tomato sandwich recipe. Yum!
A very delicious heirloom tomato sandwich.
And the details…
A story…
When I was around 12 years old, I was given free reign in the family garden, and there, every day I would how the ground, pull the weeds, water the plants and so forth. I developed a real love for the plants. With tomatoes, and zucchini being my favorites. Peppers and cucumbers grew too slowly for my tastes, while onions and carrots remained hidden under the ground.
There, every day during the middle to late summer I would pick my tomatoes and was amazed at the enormous big bounty and delicious flavor that they provided.
I remember my mother coming in to the kitchen one day and asking what “the heck” I was doing. Why, I had made a thick, fresh, tomato sandwich with mayonnaise, salt and pepper on plain white (store bought) bread. And I was busily smunching down on it over the sink, with the tomato drippings falling into the sink. I guess she must have thought me to be so silly.
But it was glorious.
And I still remember that day. I still remember how great it tasted. I still remember how wonderful it was.
In China…
Chinese stir fry tomatoes and eggs 番茄炒蛋.
One of the top favorite foods is this dish called eggs and tomatoes. It’s not prepared American style, where you simply scramble the tomatoes in with the eggs. No NO. Instead, there is a certain procedure and the results are glorious.
Because of the many different regions in China, defining a Chinese national dish is nearly impossible. But if you ask Chinese people their favorite childhood dish, stir fried tomatoes and eggs is THE ONE that everyone will agree on!
There’re a few variations of this dish. I sometimes stir fry the tomatoes with tofu or beef.
You won’t find this dish in American-Chinese restaurants often, but it’s definitely a staple dish served with rice at home.
Hint: In China, just about every restaurant will serve this dish on the menu.
If you are just starting to learn how to cook in a wok, this is a great recipe for a beginner.
Back in Guangzhou, China, there’re fresh fruits and vegetables all year long and tomatoes are in season most of the time. My mom usually doesn’t add ketchup to this dish, but I do that when tomatoes are out of season in Cleveland. This helps enrich the flavor of the tomato sauce and enhance the color of the dish.
Here’re a few things to know when cooking this dish:
Tomatoes must be fresh, ripe and soft. Ripe tomatoes make the sauce flavorful and juicy.
Pealing off the tomato skin will help soften the flesh and make them melt in your mouth.
The determinate tomatoes come from the Beaverlodge Research Center in Canada. With only 54 days to reach maturity, the tomatoes are suitable for colder environments.
As a result of the Dwarf Tomato Project, the determinate tomatoes have a hybrid profile. They are a cross between Roza Vetrov and Anna Banana Russian. The tomatoes have a balanced sweet flavor.
Developed by the Dwarf Tomato Project, the determinate tomatoes are a cross between Dwarf Wild Fred and Brad’s Black Heart. They have a purple-black color.
Probably originating from Germany, the indeterminate tomatoes have red beefsteak fruits which can grow up to 1.5 pounds. Double fruit is common with the low acidity tomatoes.
These pink determinate tomatoes have a balanced flavor. They are a cross between Budai Torpe and Stump and one of the results of the Dwarf Tomato Project.
The indeterminate tomatoes were gifted in 1989’s Siberia by a man called Sasha. They have been seen as one of the best early producing tomatoes in the world.
There are many things that you can do with tomatoes. For instance, you can…
Juggle them.
Play fetch with them with your loyal dog.
Use them as table top decorations.
Use them in sauces.
Use them in salads.
Use them in stews.
Play catch with them.
Show them off to your friends.
And trade them for other delicious foodstuffs.
But in my humble opinion, I believe the best thing that you can do with a heirloom tomato is to eat it.
Eating tomatoes.
Conclusion
Tomatoes are delicious. Heirloom tomatoes are even more so. Please take a moment and make yourself up a fine tomato sandwich and savor the moment. Don’t let this moment pass you by.
Although I couldn’t resist giving it a fancy name, it’s nothing more than a fancy tomato sandwich. I’m using heirloom tomatoes, because they taste better than hybrid versions, and they are everywhere right now from farmers markets to local grocery stores.
If you are interested in learning more about heirloom tomatoes, and perhaps even growing some, I recommend The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table by Amy Goldman, and Seed Savers, a non-profit organization that sells all kinds of heirloom seeds, including some beautiful tomato varieties.
This Napoleon is really nothing more than puff pastry, tomatoes, herbed goat cheese and jam. That’s it. Pretty simple, right?
Heirloom Tomato & Goat Cheese Napoleon
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
4 ounces soft, fresh goat cheese
2 tablespoons cream (or half and half)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato jam (or apricot or other light colored jam)
1-1/2 pounds heirloom or vine-ripened tomatoes, cored and sliced 1/3-inch thick
Method
1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.
2. Unfold puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut along the fold lines into three strips. Place on baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Cut in half with a serrated knife, creating a top and bottom.
3. Stir the cream, herbs and pepper into the goat cheese.
4. Spread the goat cheese on the top and bottom of two of the puff pastries. (The third top and bottom will become the middle layer of the other two.)
5. Spread the middle layer with the jam (just 1 side of each, it doesn’t matter if you do the inside or the outside.)
6. Layer 1/4 of the sliced tomatoes on each of the two bottom halves with the goat cheese. Top each with the jam smeared layer. Layer with the remaining tomatoes and place the tops on. Cut into thirds, crosswise, to create six pieces and serve.
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my Food Index here…
If you have been paying a little attention at the International scene, you will be aware that China “clamped down” on the for-profit school model that was working inside of China. By the singular ‘stroke of a pen”, many Chinese billionaires suddenly lost a ton-load of money. And the West (read: America and the UK) are all in Shock. “What are they thinking” they holler.
They don’t “get it”. They do not understand. They think that making billions of dollars in profits is a sign of success and vibrancy. But no. It is not.
Again, China is showing the world, that it’s primary role is to take care of it’s citizens first. And if a few billionaires are crushed in the process, then so be it.
China’s hammer blow to private education shows it will do whatever it takes to meet its goals
Perceived as promoting inequality and a hindrance to birth rates, tutoring in China has suddenly been transformed into a non-profit industry. It’s a ruthless reminder that Xi Jinping will always put the needs of society first.
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In a spectacular display of government authority, China has, with the stroke of a pen, demolished its $120-billion private education industry by forcing it to reform into a non-profit initiative.
The move has cost at least one billionaire his fortune.
It follows a number of crackdowns waged by Beijing against various sectors of the economy which were deemed to contravene the national interest. The ruthlessness of such sudden decision-making has undoubtedly shocked Western observers and capitalist advocates, yet its purpose appears to be twofold.
As highlighted by Reuters, Beijing is dismantling a sector which is not only exacerbating the inequality of education among rich and poor, but is also increasingly perceived as an obstacle to the country’s fertility rates.
So now the hammer has come down on it as a social disruption. It shows that Beijing is prepared to do whatever it takes to meet its national goals, and is another example of how the Chinese Communist Party’s authority has stiffened against the creeping liberalization which the West once welcomed.
Education is of exceptional importance in east Asian societies, and is often considered a determining factor in a family’s status. Parents invest heavily in their children’s future, and as a result the systems in these countries often turn out to be extremely competitive, resulting in an intense commitment towards extra-curricular and out-of-school private study.
This has sparked the development of a huge private education and tutoring sector, with parents investing vast amounts of money to ensure that their children can be among the very best. It is admirable yet strenuous, and it inevitably has a knock-on effect on fertility rates, as each child effectively becomes a massive investment.
The example of neighboring South Korea, which is fully developed, illustrates how in a capitalist society, the zealous over-competitiveness of the education system is having negative effects on society. High-school-age children typically go to school, only to attend private ‘Hagwon’ classes afterwards, which often offer miserable working conditions for the teachers involved.
As a country that is developing fast, China has increasingly been heading in the same direction. Despite being a communist state, this has created a growing urban-rural divide, where the wealthy children of cities such as Shanghai are able to afford these educational boosters, but the poorer children of the provinces are left behind.
This is an obstacle for future growth.
Beijing also now sees this arrangement as dragging down its birth rate, which has become a national priority. A new white paper called for extensive reforms to enable people to be able to afford more children, including in education and healthcare.
As a result, Beijing has clamped down hard on this sector by instantaneously transforming it into a non-profit, sending shares plunging. The goal is not to end tutoring, but to make it more affordable and accessible to all, so the vices of inequality and capitalism cannot strangle society.
It’s a stark reminder that although China embraces market economics, it is nonetheless still a communist – state and under Xi Jinping, it is in many ways hardening its resolve to be so.
And this is, of course, precisely why the West does not like Xi.
The CPC chairman has reversed the trajectory of liberalisation in society, which Western observers once hoped would see China ‘evolve’ into a democracy. Instead, Xi has centralized and consolidated CPC rule.
His strategy is not so much tyranny, as has been caricatured, but based on an increasing belief that if China’s problems are to be overcome, the political will invested into it needs to more resolute.
The education saga helps explain why.
If the private education system was simply allowed to spiral out of control as a capitalist initiative – which is acceptable from a Western point of view – it would become an obstacle for the country’s other socio-economic goals and development.
Increasingly, we see this kind of ruthlessness shape Xi’s leadership of the country – such as at the start of the pandemic, when he imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, which was condemned by the West at the time, yet ultimately paid off.
Although the uncompromising nature of the Xi era has put China on a collision course with the West, it nonetheless may be what the country truly needs to move forward.
Many of his actions are arguably ‘necessary evils’ in the pursuit of a longer strategy, even if one believes they are morally troubling or even unacceptable.
The South Korean model of education is a warning sign of what can happen if an over-competitive educational culture is superseded by the demands of profit. Xi has just made sure this will not happen in China. It shows how the state is continuing to dominate Chinese society and drive forward its vision for the future, even if it means culling billionaires along that road.
Here’s some comments at the end of the article.
Tutoring, healing, feeding humans, providing water and energy should be non profit. Why?
Why should someone profit by providing basic services?
Tell me why?
Remark, non profit does not mean low wages nor free... it could mean efficient, fair, good and appreciated by customers, who would choose the best for them.
Hear! Hear!
Well I agree with the Chinese President because he believes that every child should have equal opportunity at the educational level.
A poor family cannot afford expensive private tutoring maybe leaving the child from that poor family at a disadvantage when it comes to performance in exams, and the opportunity for a place at university.
This is the best way to produce the best talent and China as a country will benefit in the future because of this policy.
I have always believed that countries should provide free education based on ability especially in science, technology, maths and medicine. Let them pay for their airy fairy degrees themselves. This is exactly what farmers have done forever, cultivate for best yield.
A brilliant management move by China.
As it will stop a lot of inequalities, people will blend better with 0ne streamline education, much of one class people, unlike in many countries private schools with troublesome, violent separate races, of different castes. And private schools tend to stretch the boundaries with different courses, subjects and outlandish thinking---not good for a society.
So much better to have one good public system only- let China show the way. The benefits for all people are ENORMOUS. I bet more than half of the people in the world will applaud 'the one education system.'
The corrosive capitalist mindset will surely turn China into a failed state like the US. It is a relief to see China protect itself and its people from the cancer that will subvert China and lead to its fall.
Keeping an eye on the pro-West cabals inside China will protect it from suffering the same fate as the Soviet Union. Learn from History!
American and Western media are shocked!
And you can tell how they just don’t have a clue as to what is going on. Reading it, it sounds so “breathless”, “gasping”, “exasperated”, and “frustrated”. Read this article from HERE.
Jeeze! Get a fucking life woman.
I highlighted the “kill words and phrases“.
Can you possibly tell me that this wasn’t processed through AI to develop a thoroughly negative impression of China? And this is just one example of how Americans are manipulated to hate and demonize China.
Check it out. Learn something.
China is extending its regulatory storm from tech to education
Just as China’s regulatory storm against big tech came abruptly and brutally, Beijing’s deepening crackdown on private education companies is plunging the entire sector into an existential crisis.
China’s State Council and the Party’s central committee have jointly issueda set of rules(link in Chinese) aimed at curtailing the sprawling sector that has flourished thanks to massive funding from global investors and ever increasing spending from families fighting to help their children gain a better footing in life. After years of high growth, the size of the after-school tutoring sector has reached upwards of $100 billion, of which online tutoring services account for around $40 billion.
“The timing is also interesting as it coincides with the crackdown on the tech companies, and further confirms the intention of the government to regain control [of] and restructure the economy,” said Henry Gao, an associate professor of law at Singapore Management University, referring to Beijing’s sweeping regulatory overhaul of tech companies including Alibaba and Tencent, which have either been fined for monopolistic practices, ordered to give up their exclusive rights in certain sectors, or, in the case of Didi, have fallen afoul of national security rules.
China’s “double reduction” policy
The rules, released over the weekend, aim to ease homework and after-school study hours for students, which the policy dubbed the “double reduction.” They stipulate that companies teaching subjects covered in primary and middle school, which are compulsory in China, should register as “nonprofit institutions,” essentially banning them from making returns for investors. No new private tutoring firms can register, while online education platforms also need to seek new approval from regulators despite their previous credentials.
Meanwhile, companies are also banned from raising capital, going public, or allowing foreign investors to hold stakes in the firms, posing a major legal puzzle for funds like US firm Tiger Global and Singapore state fund Temasek that have invested billions in the sector. In a further blow to China’s ed-tech startups, the rules also say that the education department should push for free online tutoring services across the country.
The companies are also banned from teaching on public holidays or weekends.
Double-digit reductions in Chinese stocks
The looming rules, first reported by Bloomberg last Friday (July 23), immediately led to a sell-off last week in US-listed veteran education players such as New Oriental Education & Technology and TAL Education. In trading in Hong Kong today, where Oriental floated a secondary listing last year, shares of the company plunged 47% today. Meanwhile, Larry Chen, the former schoolteacher who founded Gaotu Techedu, a major online education player, fell out of the ranks of China’s billionaires.
Major education companies have been quick to say they will comply with the new government rules. New Oriental, the largest Chinese player in this space, said that the new regulations will “have material adverse impact” on after-school tutoring services, a sentiment echoed by TAL.
The regulatory developments also spurred a broader $2 billion selloff in Chinese stocks, as the bar on foreign investment for education firms coupled with the crackdown on foreign IPOs after ride-hailing giant Didi confirmed to foreign investors just how exposed their investments are from China’s regulatory actions. Social media and gaming Tencent was down 7.7% in Hong Kong today after China told it to unwind its monopoly on exclusive music licensing rights, while food delivery giant Meitu was down nearly 14% after Chinese regulators today ordered better protections for delivery workers.
Why is China cracking down on education?
While the harshness of the new measures is surprising, the fact that they were coming wasn’t. In March, president Xi Jinping called after-school tutoring services a “social problem,” and in May he again lashed out at the industry’s “disorderly development.” Following Xi’s criticism of the sector, authorities set up a dedicated department to supervise it, including examining tutor qualifications and fees, as well as imposing a ban on teaching preschoolers primary school materials.
In addition to Beijing’s desire to put the brakes on tech sectors that it believes expanded too chaotically, the turn to education indicates the government’s worries about China’s dropping birth rate. One of the major purposes of the new rules is to “effectively ease the anxieties of parents,” as well as reduce family spending on education, according to the government document. A major obstacle for Chinese citizens to have more than one child is the sheer cost of doing so, and in particular the difficulty of securing a quality education, which authorities promised to address in May, when introducing the third-child policy.
One Chinese teacher Quartz spoke to noted that it may be middle-class families who feel this policy the most, given they are most likely to push their kids into tutoring. Affluent families, after all, can still engage private tutors or send their children abroad to elite schools.
“The new rules will benefit those who are in the grassroots class that don’t have much time or energy to supervise children’s studies,” said the teacher. “But for people like us who are in the middle-class bracket, we will be hit the hardest.”
The next target of China’s infinite crackdown
The new rules are yet another razor-sharp warning to global investors that high returns from investment in China Inc can turn into huge losses overnight.
Yuanfudao, one of China’s largest online tutoring service startups, raised $2.2 billion in two funding rounds partly led by Tencent in October, pushing its valuation to over $15.5 billion. But now it is unclear what will happen to the stakes held by investment firms, especially foreign ones, after the new rules dashed hopes of cashing out through upcoming IPOs.
“This incident highlights the crucial importance for global investors to have people who understand China, who can decipher investment risks from minor nuances in mundane government documents…Any company that wish to operate in China should put China’s regulatory uncertainties as the biggest risk factor,” said Gao, the professor.
The education sector is not the only one that needs to worry about government scrutiny, however.
On Weibo, many commentators have pointed at the housing market, whose skyrocketing prices have been cited often by citizens as a major difficulty to having children, as the next target of crackdown. In an analysis, Chinese financial columnist Jin Lun argues that any industry that is seen as contributing to people delaying having children will be a potential target. “High housing prices will also be cracked down as an ‘enemy’ that has been weighing down the birth rate. While the industry will continue to exist to meet demand, there is basically no hope of continuing to see housing prices rise,” wrote Jin.
Conclusion
This little article combines two other articles. The first was one from RT written by a long time Chinese observer. He describes what is going on and why. China is trying to avoid the “death traps that has so violently polluted the West.
The second article is how the event is “reported” in the American “news”. In this case MSM. It’ reads like a breathless hysterical document, and when you highlight the “Kill Phrases and words” the enormous density of them is strongly suggestive of AI processing.
How American “news” is written.
And as I have reported in the past, the “millions of dollars” to “control the anti-China” narrative funded by neocons is pretty relentless. This is just one such example. Can you possibly imagine what others might be?
Currently, Western Media is mostly inundated with lies about China since it's being demonized as the Enemy du Jour by the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals, so much of what's published is rubbish.
...Chinese media has much greater credibility. I'll close by saying this older publication detailing China's national plan for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as promoted by the UN contains the underlying rationale for many of China's policies.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 26 2021 20:32 utc
Meanwhile, in China, all is good.
I took some videos today. Enjoy. It’s a video (in five parts) of me walking out of my house, down the street, and getting a breakfast at Burger King. It’s everyday MM, but it will give you all a glimpse of what the “real” China is like.
I was in China teaching English in universities and to private students for much of the last fifteen years. I tried to go to a different province every year in an effort to understand China better. My subject was Oral English, and so my classes were entirely conversation.
Some things I saw:
1) Chinese generally are intensely patriotic although they may disagree with certain aspects of Chinese systems.
2) Class leaders and local leaders are ELECTED. Higher level leaders are selected by committees.
3) Chinese fashion looks longingly Westward, imitating hip-hop and clothing and even playing some latest Western hits to attract people into stores.
4) China has 95% eliminated paper and coin currency.
5) Chinese somehow think Western faces are more beautiful. Nose and eye jobs are common. I tell them their features are considered beautiful in the West. They are unfazed.
6) A mask is commonly worn for issues like a big pimple, a cough, or heavy pollution.
7) People generally follow rules without a problem, except when they don't. Cheating happens.
8) China has large land masses of designated minority areas with nominal or actual autonomous government. The population in these areas is not large, however.
9) Many many of those pushing their children in after school programs are hoping their children can go study abroad, and even maybe move abroad eventually.
10) Chinese by and large don't know how high their standard of living is compared to other areas. The world ranking don't actually compare cost of living. With good public transportation, well-planned neighborhoods, cheap medical care and top notch education, I admire China.
Posted by: HelenB | Jul 26 2021 23:19 utc | 63
China resembles the America that I grew up in.
What America was.
Not the America of today, a land ruled by psychopaths, serviced by zombie-serfs and slaves, and decay all around.
This situation, where the stark difference is a “bitch slap” to the American government, the American leadership, and the American structure is too alarming. And the evil, corrupt leadership dos not like it one single bit.
America used to be a land with factories. Real. Honest to goodness factories. Places where things, parts were fabricated and made. Like this…
America used to have real factories.
Today, America has precious few factories. Most of what constitutes as a factory (on the government listings) are best described as “design centers”, and “corporate headquarters”. The buildings look nice, and it’s all so shiny, new and clean. But, it’s a land of cubicles, and accountants. Of lawyers, and Human Resources. It’s staffed by finance and marketing types. Very few actual engineers or workers.
Anyways…
You have heard it all before. Haven’t you?
It just makes me want to get with a beloved pet, a cat and just hang out or snuggle.
Just some pictures of people snuggling with their cats…
Snuggle 1.
Snuggle 2.
Snuggle 3.
Snuggle 4.
Snuggle 5.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my New Beginnings index here..
Yeah. It’s pretty silly. According to the MSM (American Main Stream Media) all those expats who talk about China, and show videos about China are lying. The real “truth” (they say) is that China is evil and dirty and nasty. So they warn their audiences to ignore anyone who is saying anything good about China.
"Some vloggers are suspected of co-operating with state-owned outlets to spread China's rhetoric to the world. But it's far from clear what really motivates them, or how effective this strategy is."
What strategy? We just film our lives and talk about our experiences. And those that don’t like it can howl all they want to.
It’s all so silly.
My Life
The following are some videos that I have taken as I live my life in Zhuhai, China. And I’ll just let you watch the videos and come to your own conclusions. This is what my life in China looks like.
I am not…
"...co-operating with state-owned outlets to spread China's rhetoric to the world."
I have spent 40 years in the United States, and 20 years in China. And I can tell you that my quality of life within China is SUBSTANTIALLY better than anything that the United States has.
And my videos show this.
It is so spellbindingly better, that I just cannot contain myself. All those things that I hated about America, but lived with, simply because I was told “there isn’t anything better” was a big fat lie.
And I am gonna shove that lie back in your faces.
A nice fish meal
Here’s one of my meals that I eat in China. This is a fish. It’s very tender, fresh, and tasty with all kinds of seasonings. I never had anything like this in the United States. At best I would get a small brook trout, or a river fish full of bones. But more often than not, it would be some kind of dethawed, deboned fish that was deep fried.
This is fresh fish. So tender. Cooked in spices and sauce. Eaten well with rice, and delicious vegetables.
Click on the picture to see the video.
Riding a Bus in Zhuhai China
Here’s a video that I took on a weekend when I rode a bus. It’s just a typical bus in China. Notice how quiet it is? Yes, all buses in China are electric and quiet. Notice the great air conditioning. Notice the relaxed atmosphere, and even though Coronavirus is pretty much under control, everyone is still wearing masks.
Lover’s Road
This is the road in front of my house. It’s called “Lover’s Road”, and many couples walk up and down it. I filmed it while riding a bus, and you can see one of the town bus stops in the front of the picture here.
Local Wines
I am not a “wine connoisseur” like you might find in the higher class circles of society. I just know my wines because I drink a substantial amount of wine all the time. Not the super expensive stuff. Just the low to mid quality stuff. And You could say that I am an expert on it. Not like there are “experts” who own a Ferrari, but rather “experts” because they work on the Ferrari’s.
Definition - What does WineConnoisseur mean? A wineconnoisseur is an individual who has deep knowledge of the subject of wine. This knowledge goes beyond knowing how to taste wine or having a deep appreciation. A seasoned connoisseur will, for instance, have the ability to assess a young wine and know its aging potential.What is a Wine Connoisseur? - Definition from WineFrog
A school for one year old babies
In China, education starts early. Here is a school for toddlers up to three years old. The prices tend to be prohibitive for MM (personally), but I do like their programs and the subjects they teach and the general positive atmosphere. Click on the picture to watch the video.
Hunan Beef
I do enjoy a nice Hunan beef. This meat is cooked in tender little bite sizes and smothered in hot peppers which gives it that distinctive spicy flavor. I personally like it a lot.
Night time bus ride
This is the Jida city center area at around 8:00 pm at night. Jida is a section of Zhuhai where I happen to live. This video kind of shows what it is like at night. Notice all the people that are out. China is very, very safe. I personally believe that it is the safest nation on the planet.
Hunan Cauliflower
The best cauliflower is made Hunan style. It is cooked in bacon, with leeks, garlic, and spices. Very, very delicious.
A “birds eye view” of Jida in Zhuhai
This video is from Douxing. Also known as TicTok which is it’s “pale shadow” version available out in the West.
I live off to the left. This area is now being completely demolished. The road is being torn up and made into a nice lawn with walking paths. And there is a tunnel under construction that will go under this little hill and bypass all the traffic away from this park.
In fact, the entire sea coast is nothing but new construction for parks, malls, and scenic areas. In my entire time in the United States I have never, and I do mean NEVER, seen such an emphasis in parks, and human friendly free areas. In fact, the only thing that anyone ever cared for through my entire childhood was tearing down things to make money-making parking lots, and the like.
Outside of a mall at 6:00pm
This is the outside of one of the many malls in Zhuhai. The noise is the speaker telling people to line up and go through the temp checks, the QR location verification, the facial scanning, and the mask wearing prior to entering the mall.
To the right is a pile of construction machinery. They are a digging deep down. I suspect that it is part of the new Zhuhai to Zhongshan high speed rail, that will go underground in this section of the city. But I do not know for sure.
Notice the people. Do they seem like they are starving, and clamoring for “rescue” for the “American way of life”, and democracy™ and freedom™?
Cheaper than a cheap American “Value Meal” at Burger King
I eat very well in China. The food is good, tasty, prepared with care. There are no GMO’s. The establishments are sanitary, and clean, and the prices are cheap. Or said better, not exorbitant.
You see, the Chinese government believes that to serve the people best, they need to have affordable housing, affordable food, affordable medical care, and reasonable and affordable transportation. Which is quite unlike what is provided in America; the “for profit nation” where there is always a thousand tiny, tiny hands in your wallet. Check out the video…
And now for something different…
The USA has been probing Chinese defenses for years now. And China has “taken it on the chin”. But the latest bullshit about violating airspace and flying into Taiwan is pretty fucking ballsy and very dangerous. This next video is a depiction of an event that actually happened earlier this year (2021). Of course, you would never see this ever in the United States media.
Meanwhile in the United States…
My A#1 top posts are hard-running stuff on my SHTF indexes. Sure I get periodic hits on my KTV indexes, and some surprises out of the blue here and there. But the longest and most reliable source of new visitors are the SHTF articles. And the vast majority of the visitors come from America, and to a lessor extent Europe.
This video pretty much illustrates what Americans are “looking forward to”, and I am sure that it scares the living Dejesus out of them.
Putting it all together
I am absolutely convinced that American has been plundered by psychopathic personalities that took control of the government and “ran it into the ground”. They converted free citizens to a mixture of debit serfs, and slaves, and they are now scraping the bottom of the barrel (figuratively). The endless spending on go-nowhere wars, the lack of infrastructure repair, the decline in education, and the rise of radical utopians, have all contributed to a dangerous slew of events.
What would normally occur at this juncture in time is that the people would rise up (one way or the other) and kill the leadership and start over fresh.
But the evil psychopaths in Washington DC know history, they might be evil, but they are not ignorant. So they have made it especially difficult for internal domestic resurrection. The only options that now lie available to them are;
Start World War III and direct the domestic anger outward to a figurehead. (Which is either China or Russia).
Or, a peaceful restructuring of the government like what happened with the Soviet Union to Russia.
What I am seeing is that Biden is trying to move America towards the second option, while there are enormously powerful self-interests inside of America that are pushing for the first option; World War III.
It’s a scary time for certain.
Discomfort is what happens as the population waltzes towards disaster. It happens each and every time. Consider the years leading up to the first American Civil War…
William J. Cooper has written a magnificently researched account of the political atmosphere that prevailed in the United States immediately after the election of Abraham Lincoln and through the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter.
What individual elements made up the call to arms on both sides of the Mason Dixon line?
Which persons were conciliatory and which were belligerent?
What contribution did the nuances of the several political parties play in the mood of the population?
Was the Civil War inevitable no matter what action was taken by Lincoln?
Many eminent American Civil War historians tend to move quickly throughout the three year period preceding the onset of the War, as they move on the War itself, however Wm. Cooper's work has has been devoted entirely to a study of this critical era, and provides significant insight as to the period's ultimate result-- namely, the War itself.
Cooper has devoted much effort to a study of the era's significant and influential caste of characters, including an newspaper editor, abolitionists, radical Republicans,, members of both houses of Congress,and each of the Presidents---both sitting and newly -elected..
-Amazon reviews of "We Have the War Upon Us: The Onset of the Civil War, November 1860-April 1861" by Cooper, William J. (2012) Hardcover
Examining the three prior Fourth Turnings may give us a window into where we stand and what may happen in the coming year.
We are in the thirteenth year of this Crisis. (The eleven-year anniversary was in September 2019.) Here we look at the three previous events.
The American Revolution Crisis
The Civil War Crisis
The Great Depression/World War II Crisis
A comparison of the last three “Fourth Turnings” in the United States. Full-scale war is shown in black. The vertical line running through them is 2019 when I made the graphic, and the comparative date in the previous turnings. .
You can see that in both the American Revolution crisis and the Civil War crisis, the wars took place BEFORE the target crisis date. And the events of World War II were immediately afterwards. .
If this was The Revolutionary War, we would be in the thick of it, right now and celebrating American independence. If we compare to the Civil war, you move the line over two years (2021) and you discover that we are in the middle of the “reconstruction period”. And if you compare to World War II, you would find that we are right before Pearl Harbor bombing and the destruction of the Pacific Fleet. .
Taking note of “The Fourth Turning” and the Strauss and Howe generational theory of predictive behavior in America, we note that their dates are close but seem to be off by a few years. In our case, the “Crisis catalyst” did not occur in 2005 as predicted. It occurred in 2008 with the Wall Street “too big to fail” debacle. That is three years later.Adjusting the Strauss and Howe dates to account for the delay in the catalyst, messes things up a bit. They predicted…
If the Crisis catalyst comes on schedule, around the year 2005, then the climax will be due around 2020, the resolution around 2026. What will America be like as it exits the Fourth Turning? History offers no guarantees. Obviously, things could go horribly wrong—the possibilities ranging from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to high-tech dictatorship. We should not assume that Providence will always exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total ruin. Since Vietnam, many Americans suppose they know what it means to lose a war. Losing in the next Fourth Turning, however, could mean something incomparably worse. It could mean a lasting defeat from which our national innocence—and perhaps even our nation—might never recover. As many Americans know from their own ancestral backgrounds, history provides numerous examples of societies that have been wiped off the map, ground into submission, or beaten so badly they revert to barbarism.
There is a nice graphic that I composed for your purposes of planning out the next few years. I hope that it is helpful. Adding three years, gives us…
“Crisis catalyst” in 2008.
Climax in 2023.
Resolution in 2029.
.
But is that correct? Maybe it is really wrong…
Of course, you could argue the 2020 was the “climax” simply because it was one Hell of a shitty year. But you all know, it was a shitty year for everyone on the globe. Not just Americans. I argue that it was just foreplay for bigger stuff to come.
And it makes sense if you argue that 2020 was the climax. After all, if you include the “not ever reported” bio-weapons attacks as war, then the actual map looks like this…
But none of that matters. We are in the “thick of it” right now. We are smack dab in the middle of it.
We are in the middle of it right now.
Seriously, just because no one is reporting on what is actually going one doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. America carpet bombed China with eight (8x) strains of biological weapons from 2016 through to 2019 (John Bolton plan to create starvation), and three strains of human-lethal bio-weapons in 2020. Not to mention all the other “hybrid-war” activities that they were involved in.
We are not out of the danger zone.
But I think that we are gliding in and on the hot zone.
Therefore, we are living in the tranquil period that America was in right before World War II. We cannot be passive about it. We must all conduct our affirmation prayers, and make sure that the nightmare that is being set up is contained to an area outside of our personal lives.
And with this in mind, now we can see why it is important for the American (and British) “news” to demonize China. As the dream of a long drawn out war in far-away distant lands, safe and protected is an ignorant “pipe dream”. But that is why us “bloggers” and expats in China are all disparaged.
We upset the narrative that nuclear war is a good thing.
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…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
One of the problems with a social media “echo chamber” is that you are unable to compare things.
That’s what an “echo chamber” is.
It’s talk and “news” about what you want to hear, and fences and barriers to what you do not want to hear.
You listen (day in, and day out) all about how great you are, and how bad everyone else is. And you know, there are no REAL comparisons. Just “rah, rah for us“. And those “other guys…” Well, “they are bad because of [place reason here].”
It’s a problem with all social media. And all these efforts to get rid of “hate” and other opinions that might offend tends to further strengthen the walls that surround these echo chambers. Eventually, all you and your friends within the chambers here is what you want to hear.
Well, we are going to make some comparisons to illustrate the dangers of echo chambers. Whether it is alt-right, or alt-left. And we are going to do it using something neutral.
Let’s look at school lunches.
We will start with a nation that is doing it right. We are going to talk about France. On a scale of 0 to 10, I rate them a 9. Why a 9? Well, they used to serve wine with the school lunches, don’t you know. But stopped doing so in the 1970’s.
Many parents would place one alcoholic drink of their choice in the child’s basket to take to school. Often half a litre of wine, cider, or beer depending on the region. Where there were cases of head teachers disallowing the drink be given to children, it’s said that some parents encouraged the children to drink their wine before they go to school, over breakfast.
...
As recent as it may seem, it was only in September 1981, shortly after the election of François Mitterrand, that alcoholic drinks were banned from high schools once and for all, when water became the only drink encouraged at the table. “In canteens and school restaurants, no alcoholic beverages are to be served, even if water is cut off,” said Alain Savary, Minister of National Education at the time.
-Culture Trip
So it’s a 9, not a 10.
France used to allowschoolchildren to sup wine in betweenlessons, which is almost unbelievable compared to today’ssociety. In fact, before the 1950s, Frenchchildrenwere not only allowed to drinkwine, beer or cider inthe canteen, but they were encouragedto do so.
-Why French Schoolchildren UsedToDrinkWineBetweenL…
France
Maybe no one is drinking wine, but they do actually have nice lunches and a generous amount of time to enjoy and savor them.
School lunch in France at a country school.
Eventhe approach to lunch is different. For instance, a typical school lunch inFranceincludes“courses”,including an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert, accompaniedby water or milk. On any given day, a French school lunch could include: A TypicalSchoolLunch in France. Fresh bread and salad; Veal scallops or baked fishwithlemonsauce
-French vs American SchoolLunches - BistroChic
French school lunches are very different from those in most other countries, especially those in the U.S.
French children are in school all day, even in the maternelle (roughly equivalent to U.S. kindergarden) and in the pre-school before that. Education covers life at large, including nutrition and meals.
For the French, learning how to eat a meal and appreciate diverse foods is like learning how to read, write and do arithmetic. It’s not an after-thought, or a thing that you must do as you rush from task to task, as is done in America today.
Another typical French elementary school meal.
Lunch is the main meal of the day for children. In French schools this meal has four courses:
Vegetable starter: leafy green salad or sliced or grated vegetables.
The warm main dish, which includes a vegetable side dish.
Cheese course.
Dessert is fresh fruit four times a week with a sweet treat on the fifth day.
The Ministry of National Education requires that the children sit at the lunch table for at least 30 minutes, in order to eat a civilized meal.
The municipal government is responsible for operating the cantine, now more appropriately called the restaurant scolaire, and adhering to the national nutritional requirements which include:
Within any four-week period (20 meals), only a maximum of four main dishes and three desserts can be high fat.
Similarly, fried food is limited to four meals per month, likely the same four high-fat main dishes.
Ketchup can only be served once per week, typically with the once-per-week fries, and only a limited amount provided with the meal. Many school simply don’t serve the high-sugar high-salt ketchup at all.
No sweetened and flavored milk, water is served.
No daily menu may be repeated within a month.
The municipal government can set prices within the constraints of the national law’s maximum limit and sliding scale.
The result is that, on average, a school lunch costs something like €2.30–2.80. The very wealthiest families might pay €5.40 per meal while those with the lowest of incomes pay €0.15 and free meals are available for those who can’t pay.
A typical lunch meal at a school in France.
American expats have been commenting on how different the rest of the world is compared to America “the best nation”. And they are very angry at being so “hood winked” and lied to.
Growing up, I never really paid attention to the nutritional content in my school’s lunch program. But now, after having children of my own, I’m concerned about what food they are eating at daycare, and eventually, what they will be eating in their elementary school.The US standards for school food are extremely low. Much lower than that of some European countries, particularly France.Let’s just say if there was a World Cup for school lunch nutrition, France would be kicking our tails right now! When you compare French and American school lunches, it is quite apparent why childhood obesity rates are growing in the US.
American schools serve lunches that consist of highly processed foods, loaded with sodium, calories, saturated fat, preservatives, etc. And very little of what they serve even resembles real food.
Typical French elementary school lunch.
I walked into the dining room to see tables of four already set—silverware, silver breadbasket, off-white ceramic plates, cloth napkins, clear glasses, and water pitchers laid out ready for lunch. I was standing inside my children's public elementary school cafeteria, or "cantine" as the French call it, in our local town near Annecy, France. As part of my research into why French kids are better able to support healthy weight, the local city council gave me a tour of the public school's cantine and kitchen and let me ask any question that came to mind.
There are many theories as to why French people, and French children in particular, do not suffer from weight problems, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension like their American counterparts. Eating moderate quantities of fresh and freshly prepared food at set times of the day is definitely one of the most convincing reasons why. Daily exercise, in the form of three recess periods (two 15-minute and one 60-minute recess every day) and walking or biking to and from school, is another.
So what do French kids eat at school?
Menus are set up two months in advance by the cantine management staff and then sent to a certified dietitian who makes small "corrections." The dietitian might take out a small chocolate éclair and replace it with a kiwi for dessert if she thinks there's too much sugar that week. Or she may modify suggested menus by adding more or fewer carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, or protein to keep the balance right.
Almost all foods are prepared right in the kitchen; they're not ready-made frozen. This means mashed potatoes, most desserts, salads, soups, and certainly the main dishes are prepared daily. Treats are included—the occasional slice of tart, a dollop of ice cream, a delicacy from the local pastry shop. (Check out these photos of a school lunch being prepared on premises.)
Of note: French elementary school students don't go to school on Wednesdays, so that's why there are only four meals.
Another plus for France. Wednesdays are off.
Conversely, in France all school lunches are freshly prepared with real food, not prepackaged. Even the approach to lunch is different. For instance, a typical school lunch in France includes “courses”, including an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert, accompanied by water or milk. On any given day, a French school lunch could include:
A Typical School Lunch in France…
Fresh bread and salad
Veal scallops or baked fish with lemon sauce
Fruit and yogurt
Water or white milk
Compare that to…
A Typical School Lunch in the US…
Frozen cheesey bread
Frozen chicken fingers or fish sticks and fries
Fried apples or chocolate pudding
Flavored milk, juice, or soda
Furthermore, a typical school lunch in France lasts about an hour, reinforcing the French tradition of eating slowly and savoring your food.
In the US, children get roughly 20 minutes to finish their meal and socialize with friends, reinforcing the habit of eating fast and not really recognizing what your eating, let along the signs that you’re full.
French elementary school lunch.
Obviously, school lunch programs are not only to blame for childhood obesity rates and unhealthy childhood eating habits.
Children learn from their family and friends and even from television what is “good” and what is “bad” in regard to food and nutrition.
Still, what they learn in school and from their classmates about nutrition can stay with them for the rest of their lives…
Americans in Walmart.
In elementary and high school, my family could never really afford the daily school-provided lunches, which included sloppy joes, French fries, and chicken fingers. At the time, I really wished that I could afford the hot lunch so that I could be like everyone else.But what I realize now is how lucky I am that I did NOT eat those lunches.Instead, I would brown bag my lunch with a salad or a sandwich and whatever fruit or dessert we had in the house. By doing this, I not only saved money, but I learned the basics of healthy eating at a very young age and how to differentiate processed food from real, nutritious food.Fast forward 50 years and I am nearly disgusted to think about what was served to my classmates back then, and even more disgusted that they still serve such unhealthy food in schools today.I understand that American schools and districts have certain policies about food and that any food is better than none for kids whose parents can’t afford to feed them. But there’s no reason why we can’t serve our children healthy and real food.
From preschool through highschool, the meals served at school cafeterias (les cantines) in France usually consist of five-course meals. An appetizer, main dish, salad or vegetable, cheese or yogurt and dessert. Bread may or may not be an option depending on the meal. (Pictured above is a school lunch from a high school).
"All our fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat are sourced locally, some of them from local farms," according to Dany Cahuzac, the city counselor in charge of school matters, including the cantine. The local bakery delivers bread, a staple of every French meal, every morning. And every two days, there is at least one organic item on the menu. Once a month, an entirely organic meal is served. The only drink offered at lunchtime is filtered tap water, served in glass pitchers.
If you’re not from France, you might be surprised to learn that the cafeteria meals in French schools are normal meals a French family might serve at home. French fries are also a popular food item in France but is not served more than once or twice a week as part of a school lunch.
Consider the CBS News story “Why my child will be your child’s boss”, which explained how Swiss school children are regularly taken into the forest and allowed — no, required — to use saws.
Or the Lenore Skenzay’s book Free-Range Kids describes how a U.S. high school principal threatened to suspend a group of seniors (that is, 18 years old, in their final year of school) for the “dangerous act” of riding their bicycles to school, and a group of parents protested because their 17- and 18-year old children were sent home from school on a train without an adult supervisor.
Meanwhile Swiss children as young as three are given saws to play with, and their kindergarten system advises parents to let 4- and 5-year-old children walk to school alone.
As the children come streaming into the cantine, they sit down at tables of four that are already set and wait for older student volunteers to bring the first course to their table. The child who sits in the designated "red" chair is the only one who is allowed to get up to fetch more water in the pitcher, extra bread for the breadbasket, or to ask for extra food for the table. After finishing the first course (often a salad), volunteers bring the main course platter to the table and the children serve themselves. A cheese course follows (often a yogurt or small piece of Camembert, for example), and then dessert (more often than not, fresh fruit).
"Eating a balanced meal while sitting down calmly is important in the development of a healthy child," adds Cahuzac. "It helps them to digest food properly, avoid stomachaches, and avoid sapped energy levels in the afternoon."
Then there are American school lunches and the concept of ketchup as a vegetable and frozen pizza as a vegetable.
Ronald Reagan’s FY1982 budget proposed US$57 billion in spending cuts, This budget was modified and passed as the Gramm-Latta Budget, cutting US$1 billion from the school lunch program while significantly increasing military spending.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture or USDA was then tasked with the impossible task of maintaining nutritional requirements for school lunches despite the loss of a billion dollars in funding.
On September 3, 1981, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced a joint proposal by the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration to reclassify ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables.
Public outrage led to the eventual retirement of this specific proposal. However…
By 2011, USDA standards accepted just two tablespoons or 30 ml of tomato paste as counting for a full serving of vegetables. This allows a slice of cheese and meat pizza to also count as a full serving of vegetables.
Under American rules, this counts as a serving of salad.
The USDA wanted to change this to require at least a half-cup or 118 ml of tomato paste before counting it as a full serving of vegetables, also requiring more green vegetables and limiting the amount of potatoes served to one cup per week and thus significantly cutting back on the amount of French fries.
But…
The U.S. Congress would have nothing to do with that healthy nonsense, and quickly passed a bill barring the USDA from changing its existing nutritional guidelines.
This was an enormous victory for manufacturers of pre-processed French fries and frozen pizza!
The American Frozen Food Institute is a trade association that lobbied heavily and successfully on behalf of frozen pizza manufacturers including ConAgra and Schwan Food Company, and French fry manufacturers McCain Foods Ltd and J.R. Simplot Company, the last of which was already a supplier to McDonald’s.
Typical Americans.
Meanwhile the actual French people, including their school children, eat only a tiny fraction of the amount of “French fries” consumed by their American equivalents.
So what DO American school children eat?
United States
I suppose that this picture is the IDEAL American lunch meal…
The ideal consists of processed meat, pre-processed instant potatoes with sugar-laden ketchup, a sugar cookie, dessert of canned fruit in a sugar sauce, and a serving of vegetables.
The IDEAL, that is.
American schoolchildren, in general, aren’t as accustomed to eating the same fresh, healthy meals as some of their global neighbors. In the photo series above, the American meal includes chicken nuggets, peas, mixed fruit, mashed potatoes, and a cookie. While that satisfies certain federal guidelines for nutrition, there’s plenty here (preservatives, processed sugar) that’s less than ideal.
Still, the meal doesn’t look that bad.
Of course, as anyone who went to US public schools knows, the meals are rarely this aesthetically appealing.
For an explanation of the #ThanksMichelleObama hashtag, read this piece by Vox’s Libby Nelson.
Throughout the United States, the classic milk carton of white milk is served to the children; The classic milk carton.
"Unfortunately, the variety served at the schools my children went to in the U.S. was usually a rotating menu of burgers, burritos, and tacos. Some middle schools and high schools in California even served McDonald’s."
Because healthy eating, particularly for kids, is one of the Michelle Obama’s signature issues, it makes sense that she’d be associated with changes to the federal school lunch program.
But those changes actually started with Congress and were put into place by the US Department of Agriculture.
An “improved” lunch meal served to American Children in the United States. Milk, vegetable, meat. Viola!
The regulations from the US Department of Agriculture require school lunches to meet higher nutritional standards. Which is a good thing.
Meals are now supposed to have more whole grains, less meat and less sodium than in the past, and they have to include at least one fruit or vegetable.
Schools also have to offer a wide variety of vegetables — in one week, they have to offer starches (such as potatoes), dark green vegetables (spinach, kale, and other greens), red or orange vegetables (such as carrots or beets), and beans or peas.
If students refuse to put a vegetable or fruit on their tray, the school isn’t reimbursed for that meal.
Thus it results in all sorts of strange looking meals…
Anybody who went to school can tell you that gross-looking school lunches aren’t new. But the new school lunch guidelines sound like they should lead to healthy, whole-grain rich meals — not the pizza, chicken nuggets, and hamburgers that were mainstays of school lunches in the past.
But…
But…
Why hasn’t it worked out that way?
Partly it’s because school lunches need to be cheap.
When California began a pilot program of serving fresh, local food one day a week, one district learned that two free-range chicken drumsticks for a high school student would cost 80 cents, more than the 60 cents they’re supposed to spend on an entree.
Healthier meals also require equipment that school kitchens, set up to reheat and serve batches of processed foods, sometimes don’t have.
That's correct, boys and girls, the modern schools have kitchens that do not make and cook food. they are designed to reheat pre-processed synthetic food elements.
Districts are also allowed to make agreements with food companies to turn the raw ingredients they get from the US Department of Agriculture into processed foods…
… ensuring they have a constant supply of chicken nuggets.
Schools didn’t stop offering pizza at lunch, a study in the journal Childhood Obesity found: they just started offering healthier pizza, whatever “healthier pizza” means. (It probably doesn’t taste as good.)
Does anyone know what a “healthier pizza” is?
A “healthier pizza” meal in an American elementary school.
Why American school vending machines are empty
Why are the kids emptying out the vending machines, and throwing away their lunches?
#ThanksMichelleObama is almost accurate here, if you can imagine Michelle Obama standing in for the US Department of Agriculture. (It is part of the executive branch!)
For the first time, the USDA now regulates foods that schools sell outside of the school lunch program — the sweet, salty snacks in vending machines and a la carte lines.
A fine American school lunch of Doritos with salsa, plain rice and milk. Yum! And people wonder why I am not sending my Children to America for an education!
American students are used to eat a lot of unhealthy food during the school day.
In the 2005 school year, the USDA says, students drank 452 million sodas, 26 million diet sodas, and 864 million fruit drinks. They ate 763 million candy bars and 1.4 billion desserts.
On average, high school students who ate those foods consumed an extra 277 calories a day, the majority of them empty calories from foods without much nutritional value.
To compensate, we can see the great healthy meals that are offered in the American school dining halls…
Delicious salt and fat laden hot dog, ketchup (it’s a vegetable don’t you know), a small tomato, apple and milk. Yum!
But beginning this school year, everything sold in schools — even outside the national school lunch program — has to meet nutrition guidelines.
Snacks must be under 200 calories, and foods must have some nutritional value — rich in whole grains, or have fruit, vegetables, protein, or dairy as a main ingredient, or contain 10 percent of the recommended daily value of important nutrients.
Sounds good.
But when you have a central bureaucracy dictating everything and bureaucrats deciding adaptation of policy guidelines, along with the toxic influences of big-food, big-education, and big-unions you end up getting what we see here.
So it’s not just Michelle Obama to blame — in fact, technically, she had nothing to do with the regulations.
But that’s the way America is today.
And that is why we see Americans are they are today.
The 2006 cult comedy Idiocracy is having its moment in the sun. Written and directed by Mike Judge, creator of “Beavis & Butthead,” Idiocracy envisions a future corporate American wasteland where Costco is as large as a small city, the food pyramid consists entirely of fast food, and the president of the United States (Terry Crews) is a five-time "Ultimate Smackdown" professional wrestling champion and ex-porn star.
“So you’re smart, huh?” President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho says to hapless time traveler Joe “Not Sure” Bauers (Luke Wilson), an Average Joe chagrined to discover he’s now the smartest man in the country. “I thought your head would be bigger,” Camacho bellows. “Looks like a peanut!”
Donald Trump's political ascendancy has made Idiocracy seem like prophecy. (Or, per a viral tweet by the film’s screenwriter, a “documentary.”)
As satire, however, Idiocracy is uneven, precisely because recent events have already exceeded its most trenchant bits of lunacy. In the fictional Idiocracy future, Congress is full of idiots who do nothing but yell, “You’re a dick!” at the president.
But those antics pale in comparison to stunts pulled by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump, a billionaire real-estate developer and reality TV show star whose foreign policy proposals include telling China, Listen, you motherfuckers, we’re going to tax you 25 percent!
In 2009, Trump purchased the rights to pro-wrestling show “Monday Night Raw” and then sold them back to the previous owner “for twice the price,” according to the World Wrestling Entertainment website. “Since then, the WWE Hall of Famer [has] focused on his ever-expanding real estate empire, his Emmy-nominated reality television show ‘The Apprentice’ and running for president of the United States.”
Mike Judge may be a funny guy, but his mind isn’t exactly subtle. A decade ago when Idiocracy was released, he was already treading well-worn ground by envisioning a future where being unable to pay debts is a crime (see: the return of debtor’s prison), the Violence Channel dominates the networks (see: all of cable), and a plotless film about a farting white ass wins Best Screenplay at the Academy Awards (see: Swiss Army Man, starring Daniel Radcliffe as a farting corpse).
To be sure, there is more than a grain of truth in Judge’s worry that educated people sound like “fags” to a population that speaks “a hybrid of hillbilly, valley girl, inner-city slang, and various grunts.”
But in order to get the laughs, he went for low-hanging fruit, using eugenics as a plot device, romanticizing the effects of social engineering and coming perilously close to validating the dubious notion of IQ as a social sorting tool.
The film opens with a voiceover explaining that rampant breeding among the dimwitted has undone civilization. After 500 years of exponential idiocy, corporate America has responded by catering to the lowest common denominator.
Thus, future Starbucks offers hand jobs.
Fuddruckers has become Buttfuckers. Fox News is anchored by pro-wrestlers. Costco gives out law degrees. And the company behind the energy drink Brawndo owns the FDA, FCC and USDA.
But the film got the power dynamic backward, thereby softballing its critique. As Adam Johnson pointed out on AlterNet, it decided to highlight “the problem—in this case political ignorance—without addressing its primary culprit: the consolidation of media into large corporations, a PR-fueled think tank industry fed by billionaires designed to promote toxic right-wing canards… and a decades-long corporate assault on K-12 and postsecondary education.”
In my opinion, Idiocracy is one of the great science-fiction films of the past decade. When most people think of science-fiction it’s an action packed Star Wars or Star Trek style space opera with space ships, robots, lasers and lots of action. While these films can be extremely entertaining, the actual “science” part of the equation is somewhat lacking. In my opinion the the most interesting science-fiction films are those based on an event or series of events occurring on Earth and the impact of these events on society.
What makes this form of science-fiction particularly interesting is that a memorable world is set up to allow the film to provide an insight on our current society.
Idiocracy vividly creates a future version of a polluted America where a handful of corporations seemingly run all commerce and social services, advertising is all pervasive and the media is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. Idiocracy is a very funny film, but also one that asks a lot of uncomfortable questions about where society is heading…
U.K. school lunch
Now for comparison purposes let’s look at one of the “five eye” nations. This is the United Kingdom. You see, the group of five nations share culture, intelligence, society and other aspects of life with some minor differences (as long as it is permitted by the Untied States leadership).
These nations are;
United States
Canada
UK
Australia
New Zealand
So you would assume that these nations would have a similar lunch menu, but exercise some degree of autonomy in it’s selection…
And that is exactly what happened.
UK Lunch in schools.
A fine copy of American lunches, only with greater portion sizes, less sugars, and less salt. I am going to go out on a limp and say that the UK is on the right path, and following the right direction. No it’s not perfect. But they are trying. They do care.
Other nations have been revamping their school food programs with more nutritious, sustainable food for the better part of the past decade.
Years before Jamie Oliver did his thing, East Ayrshire, Scotland launched a pilot program called Hungry for Success. That program went far beyond boosting nutrition. It also focused on nutrition education; trained cooks; put organic, local food in school meals; and made the cafeteria a cooler place to hang out.
So how’d it go over? A Worldwatch Institute report says 67 percent of the town’s children said school meals tasted better.
It was later adopted nationwide, and elements of the program were later picked up by the UK.
Granted it is much better than what is offered in the Untied States, but it is still heavily laden with salts, sugars and other unhealthy elements and typically devoid of fruits and raw vegetables.
Let’s look at Japan.
Japan
In response to growing obesity rates among children, Japan passed The Basic Law of Shokuiku in 2005. It requires kids to get nutrition and food origin education at all public schools.
Japanese school lunch.
Fittingly for a country with its own rich traditional cuisine, Japan takes its catered elementary school lunches very seriously.
More than just a meal, lunchtime is considered on par with school lessons in its educational importance. It also helps create a bond between schoolmates in a way that perhaps only sharing a meal can do.
Tokyo school lunches are planned by the school’s nutritionist and cooked onsite by a group of staff hired specifically for that task. They prepare big pots of soup and rice and such, which the students on lunch duty retrieve from the kitchen, wheel into the classroom on a big trolley and then dish out to their classmates—it’s a bit like a portable canteen. Outside Tokyo, school lunch centers will make and distribute the food to schools.
Japanese school lunch.
The students on lunch duty dress for the part, in a white kitchen cap and a long white smock-style apron. They also don a regular, flu-use medical mask. As the other students pass by with their trays they accept a bowl of each dish from the lunch-duty kids and take them back to their desks.
Utensils are also provided.
When the children return to their seats, they place their tray on the luncheon mat that they have brought from home and laid out on their desk. Also on the desk should be a pocket pack of tissues, a small hand towel and a cup. Students bring these items from home daily in a little bag that they usually hang off the side of their backpacks. Recently some schools are asking students to bring a toothbrush, too, for a post-lunch brush-up. Teachers eat the same kyuushoku catered lunch at their desks along with the students.
So what do they eat?
Most often rice, soup, a salad and a meat or fish dish.
A 200-milliliter bottle of milk is included daily, but once or twice a month coffee milk or a yogurt drink is served instead.
Japanese school lunches.
The rice dish is rarely plain white rice. Instead it will have something such as mushrooms or wakame kelp mixed through it. It also gets served as fried rice or pilaf. Occasionally the kids get noodles instead. Bread appears as the staple about once a month and almost certainly is sweet. Dessert is served once or twice a week, most often as a piece of fruit, but occasionally as a jelly or pudding.
The soup is most often miso soup, but a variety of soups are served, including other Japanese soups, such as the clear sumashi jiru, as well as Western-style pumpkin soup and Chinese-style egg soup, which make regular, monthly appearances.
Salads appear most days and come in a wide variety—wakame salad, bean sprout salad, French salad, potato salad—but all ingredients, even cucumber, are cooked to prevent an outbreak of stomach virus.
Meat dishes are often served atop rice as a donburi.
Fish is the main dish on average about once a week.
Typical Japanese school lunch.
This is a rough guide, though, as the menu and the frequency of each type of dish differ according to the menu plan arranged by each school’s nutritionist.
The meals often reflect various festive events—both Japanese ones, with pumpkin served at the winter solstice, for example—and non-native ones, such as with a chocolate dessert on Valentine’s Day.
Parents pay for their children’s school lunches, but they don’t pay much; about ¥250 a meal in first and second grade, just under ¥300 in fifth and sixth grade, and midway between those in the middle years.
In line with broader Japanese society, schools here have become very aware of food allergies. The school entrance paperwork will include your child’s allergy information. Schools will likely cater for an allergic child by preparing her lunch without the allergic ingredients and placing it upon the kyuushoku trolley with her name on it.
Japan’s school-lunch system is said to have begun in Yamagata prefecture’s Tsuruoka city in 1889 when a priest-run elementary school served rice balls, grilled fish and pickles to students too poor to bring lunch to school. The move was widely recognized as a good thing, and schools across the nation began to follow suit.
The school lunch system teaches children etiquette, serving and clearing up skills, and aims to teach them to make healthy food choices and positive lifelong eating habits.
Japanese school lunch.
Since it also aims to have students try a wide range of food, teachers have traditionally encouraged them to eat all the food served to them.
Anecdotal accounts from sempai moms include a teacher insisting a student complete his lunch and him sitting there in front of it all the way through the post-lunch playtime and into the next lesson. Even back then the strictness to which the “please eat everything” rule was enforced varied according to the teacher, and today—in line with a shift in wider social values—such an extreme example is unlikely to be found.
Ideally, sharing a meal should be an enjoyable experience that unites a class by helping classmates get to know each other more intimately and understand one another better.
When Japanese parents reminisce together about their own elementary school days, talk of school lunches invariably emerges and, although spoken of fondly, the tastelessness of the dishes is usually the main topic.
It is a palpable bond for them.
Today’s school lunches have improved in taste, with both teachers and students praising them. It is amazing what happens when parents, and local administrators work side by side and maintain tradition and healthy care for the future of society.
And let’s look at China…
China
In China, the kids eat well, healthy food. The portions tend to be gargantuan. Seriously, but you are not going to get fat on rice, vegetables and fish, are you?
Chinese school lunch.
Chinese school lunch. Notice that the portions are enormous!
Dave took his China images at a college cafeteria in Chengdu. It was school holidays and the campus was nearly deserted, but the cafeteria appeared fully operational. And we were astounded to find at least 30 items -- not including mantou (steamed bread) and rice -- on offer.Fifteen yuan (a little over two US dollars) bought us the two meals above. With rice and mantou it was far more than we could eat. Mantou (which got hard as soon as it began to lose its heat in the unheated cafeteria) excepted the dishes were all quite good, delicious even. The stir-fried egg and tomato -- slightly sweet and very flavorful -- cauliflower (perfectly crisp-tender and touched with chili heat) and the baby bok choy (also perfectly done, tangled with tender strips of pork) were the stand-outs.If I were in Chengdu and keeping to a very strict budget I'd be frequenting university dining halls. Think of it -- a day's worth of well-prepared and decently healthy meals for about U$3.
The Global Times ran a nice photo collage on the meals that children eat throughout China it’s a pretty good essay. From the article, (and all credit to the writer)…
Brazil School Lunch
And Brazil…
Brazil’s school feeding program, the second largest in the world feeds 42 million of the country’s school children. Part of Brazil’s Zero Hunger Program, the school lunch program has not only helped reduce child hunger and malnutrition, but it has also started to change how children relate to and understand food, while promoting local agriculture.
Brazil’s constitution requires that 30 percent of the ingredients for school meals be sourced from local, family farms. In so doing, the country has helped some four million of the country’s small farmers and promoted rural development.
As do many countries around the world, Brazil has the double burden of malnutrition and obesity. Poor kids without access to sufficient, nutritious food have a growing access to junk food, and, as a result, obesity is on the rise. Public schools in Brazil are trying to tackle the problem—one of their most effective tools is school gardens. Kids grow their own food and decide what produce to use for their daily school meals, all while building a better understanding of their food and what it means to eat healthy.
Brazil school lunch.
The Brazil lunch program has been praised the world over. Here’s some “take-a-ways” from The Tyee…
Lesson 1: Delegate decision-making power to local governments
For most of its history, Brazil’s school feeding program was run from the capital, Brasilia. A federal agency bought the food and distributed it using large food service companies. Menus were more or less the same across the country.
Then, in the mid-1990s, the federal government decentralized the program. It provided dedicated funding to states based on the number of students. State education departments control this account, and the purchasing of food. But school cooks and principals get to craft menus (according to state guidelines and with help from state nutritionists) and report back to the state on the quality of food received.
In the state of Paraná in southern Brazil, local producers have begun to enrich their bread with vegetables, including beets, carrots and cassava, a tuber native to South America and an important part of the traditional diet in the region.
“We want to rescue traditional and healthier eating habits,” explained Andrea Bruginski, co-ordinator of student food and nutrition for the state’s education department. “Cassava, for example, is a traditional food that also offers more fibre, more vitamin B and complex carbohydrates.”
“Different schools have different menu requirements, depending on what grows in the region, depending on what the culture of the school is like, depending on what students are used it,” said Bruginski. “For us as nutritionists, we feel students should be familiar and comfortable with what they’re eating.”
Brazil school lunches compared to American school lunches.
Lesson 2: Craft policies to support small farmers
Brazil has a long history of agrarian activism rooted in the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) — Landless Workers’ Movement — that emerged in the 1970s to fight for the rights of rural families pushed off their land during years of military dictatorship. The movement is known for bold direct actions, like the massive demonstrations it has organized, but it’s also an effective political force.
In the mid-1990s, it pushed to ensure small farmers could benefit from agricultural policies — like loans, insurance, price stabilization and market access — already enjoyed by big agribusinesses. The government responded with the National Program to Strengthen Family Agriculture — and created a separate ministry for small-scale farming, the Ministry of Agrarian Development. The ministry and the MST were crucial stakeholders in drafting the law mandating 30 per cent local purchasing.
The law has provided an incentive for farmers to organize in co-operatives so they can meet schools’ demands for large quantities of high quality produce.
The AOPA co-operative in Paraná sold about $2 million worth of produce to 382 schools in the state this year. The co-op works with 400 farmers in Paraná and three neighboring states.
Brazil school lunch. This is a vegetarian meal that is provided to elementary school students.
José Antônio da Silva Marfil, the co-op director, told me it has been able to “expand and access more and more opportunities” because of the new demand from schools. The co-op has been able to build new cold storage facilities at its warehouse, and the office now employs a full-time staff of five, including two administrators, two bookkeepers and a floor manager — the people who “make the wheels go ’round.”
“What’s important is that the administrative organization is polished,” Marfil told me. “That’s what makes us work.”
Lesson 3: Regional and local government commitment means more success
Although the PNAE is a national program, state and municipal governments are responsible for implementing it. All states are expected to supplement funding for food (which they do, to varying degrees). Some municipal governments also contribute. State education departments are responsible for food purchasing and maintaining cafeteria infrastructure.
So the program’s level of success depends heavily on how much state and municipal governments consider student nutrition a priority.
In Paraná, for instance, state officials can brag about having one of the highest rates of local food purchasing in the country (40 per cent of food served to students is from local farmers and processors) and one of the highest rates of organic food purchasing. In 2011, they delivered nine tonnes of organic produce to schools; now they deliver 2,414 tonnes.
Brazil school lunch.
Buying local required a big shift on the part of farmers, nutritionists and school administrators here. The two biggest challenges for farmers who wanted to participate in the program were getting through the application process (which consists of about 28 different forms) and then figuring out distribution logistics. Although non-perishable items go to a central warehouse, perishables must be delivered by the producer directly to schools once or twice per week.
In response, program administrators tried to simplify the process. They revamped regional boundaries to better match participating farmers with schools near them. They created YouTube videos to walk farmers through the application process. And they adjusted produce prices monthly, instead of annually, to better reflect market rates.
Lesson 4: Change can be slow, but will pay off
Brazil’s legislature passed the 30-per-cent local law in 2009. Implementing it required a major logistical shift for state education departments that were used to working with large food manufacturers and distributors. Farmers had to become accustomed to the paperwork required to do business with the state.
Even in states where progress has been slower, the school food program is having positive effects. Bahia, in northeastern Brazil, has not met the legislated goal of purchasing 30 per cent of food from family farmers — last year, it was around 20 per cent. But the year before it, it was only six per cent.
Eleneiole Alves Cordeiro is the manager of a farmers’ co-op in Bahia, Arco Sertão Central, that launched three years ago and now has 47 members producing everything from cassava and papaya to bread and the tapioca crackers that are so popular in the region. She said that although the prices offered by the state government through the program are too low, “it is opening doors for our product, spreading our products and interests in different markets.”
And this exposure is proving that small agriculture can produce good quality processed products — the kind of value-added products that can make farming more profitable.
“This spread, this growth, is breaking a paradigm… the stereotype that people believe that family agriculture does not have good products,” said Cordeiro. “That’s a lie. We know we are able and capable of producing quality products, good, dignified products that can contribute to the school feeding program.”
Lesson 5: There must be broad public support
When Brazil created its national student nutrition program in 1954, it was out of dire necessity. At the time, more than half the children in the country suffered from malnutrition. Much of the food used in the program was a commodity donated by USAID and other wealthy countries. For much of its history, the focus was on feeding kids, not feeding kids well, according to Daniel Silva Balaban, director of the World Food Program’s Center of Excellence Against Hunger.
Brazil school lunch.
Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began reforming the national school meal program in the early 2000s as part of a much broader vision for food security known as Fome Zero (Zero Hunger).
By then, Brazil had become an economic powerhouse. Industrial agriculture was booming and there was a rising middle class, but many Brazilians, particularly in rural areas, weren’t seeing much improvement in quality of life. Hunger, although not as prevalent, was still a big problem. People were hungry for change — hungry for a more equitable distribution of resources.
Taiwan (elementary school)
School lunch in Taiwan.
On the left: mushroom and minced pork, in the middle: Chinese chives stir fry with tempura, on the right: eggplant (probably stirfry), soup with radish and pork, and steamed white rice.
Singapore
Singapore school lunch.
The Singaporean school lunch looks very appetizing with the colorful plate. Singapore, a multicultural society where diverse cultures, languages and religions coexist, has its strength when it comes to food choices and quality. Although Marina Bay Sands is often recognized as the city’s modern landmark, Singapore is also known for its delicious street food.
People buy meals from outside food courts, and Singaporean students enjoy their lunches in the same way. Students in a Singaporean school go to a tuckshop, a collection of different stalls rented to a private cook, and choose between Singaporean and Western food.
Spain
From Medideas… Titled “School Lunch in Spain vs. School Lunch in the US” (all credit to the author)…
My memories of cafeteria food from public school in North Carolina are less than glamorous. I recall plenty of fish sticks, powdered mashed potatoes, questionable ground beef, and the occasional cup of bright green sherbet.
But at Colegio Santa María del Bosque, lunchtime is a very different experience. Every meal consists of two courses, served family-style in huge metal bowls.
Some aspects of school lunches in Spain are similar: the never-ending noise, the barely contained chaos, and the long tables reminiscent of those I used to sit at as a student. However, at lunchtime in Spain, there are no lines, no trays, and definitely no neon dessert.
Not to mention the fact that a team of sweet, smiling women prepares and serves the food. Indeed, these women take pride in feeding the army of kids and teachers that descends upon them each day; a far cry from the perpetually grumpy lunch ladies of my childhood.
What Are Spanish School Lunches Like?
On my very first day of school, I sat down with the other teachers at a table across the room from our students. I was entirely unsure of what to expect, as it was my first school lunch in Spain.
Within a few minutes, one of the lunch ladies brought out a heaping dish of paella: steaming yellow rice dotted with carrots, peas, potatoes, and tender pieces of bacalao (cod).
Of course, this wasn’t the same as the version I’d eaten in Barcelona at a touristy waterfront café; no cast iron skillet, no plump prawns, no mussels or clams, or sprigs of parsley. And I’m sure it bears little resemblance to the authentic delicacy you can only truly taste in Valencia, where the dish originated.
But on my first day of teaching, after trying to keep a group of exuberant eight-year-olds under control for an hour, this paella could not have tasted any better.
Typical School Lunches in Spain
In the months that have passed since that first day, school meals in Spain have rarely been disappointing. Generally, I enjoyed the food laid in front of me each afternoon. I have feasted on the simplest “tortilla española” in all its greasy delight; and warmed my soul with “solferino” and “crema de calabaza”, thick and hearty vegetable soups. I have stuffed myself with salty slabs of thinly sliced pork atop lettuce and tomatoes drowning in vinegar and olive oil.
I have been introduced to “cocido”, the classic “madrileño” comfort food consisting of broth, noodles, stewed chickpeas, garlicky cabbage, various meats, and chunks of pure fat. And I have ended every meal with a piece of fresh fruit: apples, bananas, mandarin oranges, plump green grapes, and slices of juicy melon.
This alone is enough to forever cement in my mind the superiority of school lunch in Spain. Who needs powdered chocolate pudding when you’ve got good old-fashioned produce?
The Not-So-Great Side of School Lunch in Spain
Of course, there have been a couple of dishes that even I—a fairly adventurous and open-minded eater—have regarded with suspicion. Hard-boiled eggs covered in mayonnaise? Maybe not.
Pasta salad with tuna and black olives? Not my personal favorite.
And there’s no doubt that one would enjoy some of the typical Spanish dishes at my school more if they didn’t prepare them in industrial-sized batches. However, I am determined to give all of it a try, at least once.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from my time in the comedor (cafeteria), it’s that sometimes the most delicious and satisfying meals are truly found in the most unexpected of places. Namely, on plastic plates at a kid-sized table in an underground room filled with dozens of shouting children. ¡Buen provecho!
Today I want to talk a little about the steps students go through to eat at school. As you can see in the top picture, the students are all lined up to receive a bowl of rice soup from one of the serving ladies. What makes this a little different to Western countries is that the students will “wai’ and say thank you before they take the bowl of food. This is ingrained into the students. They must always “wai” first before receiving anything.
Thailand school lunch.
Other schools, particularly the secondary schools, are a little different to us. They might have lots of little stalls in the canteen and the students can choose what they want to eat every day. At my school, the menu is set and there is a four week rotation. In total we have 20 meals which I will tell you more about later. So, the students all eat the same. No-one brings food in from home. By far the majority are Buddhists and maybe only a handful are Muslims.
On most days, there will be a tray of condiments which the students will use to make their meal more tastier. In some ways you have to be a bit of a scientist to get the proportions right of sweet, sour and spicy. But the students know what they are doing and some like adding chili until the soup runs red. Actually, this is one of the good things about eating noodle soups in Thailand. What the vendor will give you is bland and not spicy at all. It is then up to you to add the different sauces to your own satisfaction. I will go into more detail another day.
Back in the classroom, the students wait for their friends to sit down. We now have too many students and it is easier for everyone to eat their lunch in the classroom. Once everyone is sitting down, the students will then say a kind of grace. This is not really religious but more ethical. It is reminding them that they should eat properly and that they should be grateful to the people who provided them with the food. The following translation of the grace was done by Gor when he was my Primary 6 student a number of years ago.
“During the time that we eat lunch, don’t speak or say things that aren’t good. Don’t make a noise. Take enough food for only one mouthful. Chew the food into little pieces so that you can digest the food properly. Before you get up from your seat, clean up your desk. Put the plate or a bowl orderly into the enameled basin. You mustn’t waste any food. You must eat it all. There are many starving children in the world. Pity all of the children that don’t have anything to eat. All of the food has a worth. When you eat food you must have good manners. Don’t chew the food loudly. Don’t talk when you are eating and don’t say something that is bad. Don’t laugh when you are eating. Thank you to our teachers that take care of us and all of the cooks that make us the food we eat. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.”
After that they then start eating. Everything is done very orderly and the students eat quietly. When they have finished, they put any waste food in a plastic bucket and their plates in an enamel bowl. Students who are on duty for that day will clean the classroom and then take the dirty plates and waste food down to the kitchen. Waste food is later fed to the stray dogs.
Thailand school lunch.
The plates are washed by the kitchen staff. However, the spoons and forks (they don’t use knives or chopsticks) are washed by the students on duty. After they have finished eating, many of the students then go to brush their teeth.
This is what the students eat over a four week period. There are actually three different menus: kindergarten, junior school and senior school. As there are some repeats I will just give you the menu for the older students. Not everyone eats the same thing at the same time. There are 1,800 students (and one small kitchen) so not everyone can have a rice based meal at the same time. So, half of the school have rice while the other half have some kind of soup.
Lunch usually consists of soup and a main course. Usually, there is a salad or some sort of fruit along with something sweet for dessert. There is always tea and water with sweet syrup on tap and cacao if sweet buns are for lunch.
Most of the kids eat at the school canteen (cafeteria). It’s convenient and cheaper for many parents.
Finland
In the beginning of the 20th century Finland developed an incredible social innovation: free school meals. Many of its other national success stories have been made possible thanks to our education and school meal system. Its goal is to make the world’s best school meals even better and help others in their work.
During 70 years, Finland has come a long way to become the international forerunner we are today. There is now a versatile and unique food education agenda that has grown around the school lunch. The basis has still remained the same: to each equally, during every school day.
Potatoes and sausage bites with gravy, rice & corn tuna salad, Iceberg lettuce with tangerines and dressing. Served with a slice of bread, butter and skim or low fat milk.
The Finnish government (like most European nations) provides children with free school lunch. Finnish children have been receiving free food for over 60 years, and some cities extend free food service to people who can’t afford for the adequate nutrition intakes.
Food is very important for child development mentally and physically, and Finland obviously knows how to take a wholesome care of citizens. There is no wonder Finnish kids exceed academically among those in other countries. In general, the winter in Finland may be colder than your cities, but those people are big-hearted.
South Korea
School lunch in South Korea.
The Korean lunch looks very healthy, as expected. Korean people are very health-conscious, and this well-balanced lunch explains it well. The menu contains raw vegetables, spicy marinated pork, soup and rice. At a Korean restaurant, you are often served with Banchan, small dishes of food in the middle of a table to share. This lunch reflects the idea of Banchan: small portions of everything.
Sweden
Swedish school lunch.
Swedish lunch is typically served with a warm main dish, like a stew with potatoes, with a side dish. The side dish contains “knäckebröd,” the famous Swedish crispy bread, and salad or cooked vegetables. Students can choose to drink water, milk or lingonberry juice, which is known as mountain cranberries or partridge berries in North America. Swedish students get more than 2000 school lunches during their years of compulsory education.
Ukraine
Malaysia
To get his Malaysia photographs Dave talked his way into the cafeteria at an elementary school in Brickfields, more popularly known as one of Kuala Lumpur’s Little Indias. I didn’t accompany him on this adventure, and Dave didn’t taste the food; he remembers each lunch costing around 2 ringgit, or about 60 US cents.
The meals look decent enough, though the roti — which Dave notes wasn’t freshly made (he did arrive close to the end of lunch hour) may be a bit tired. A bowl of asam laksa makes for a fairly well-rounded meal … but candy bars and super-sweet pink drinks?
Both of these lunches say much about what figures large in the local cuisine. In Sichuan, as we found at humble restaurants in Chengdu, rice (or other starch) is still an important part of the meal, and is eaten in great quantities. Vegetables too — not just because they’re cheap, but because Sichuanese love them (and do wonderful things with them). Chilies are present in decent quantities in two out of four dishes, and when there’s meat it’s pork.
In Malaysia eating chilies from an early age is a given, and strong flavors too (but not alot of vegetables). How many American kids would opt to eat a spicy, fish-based noodle soup if they had a choice? And the Malaysian palate, viewed through these two randomly chosen school lunches at least, is truly multi-cultural — a southern Indian bread and a noodle soup with Malay and Chinese culinary roots.
Italy
Conclusions
Yeah. It appears that the United States has the unhealthiest meals for its’ children, managed in such a way to allow for massive graft and corruption, and distant unmonitored control.
The idea that there are “nutrition experts” concocting the meals at American schools is ludicrous.
What we see when you step out of the United States Pro-America “echo chamber” is a world where America appears pathetically inept, to a point of being cruel. And we can see this.
Obviously since this has been going on for decades and any efforts to change the system has failed. It appears that the entire system is beyond redemption and must be scrapped and changes implemented on the local level with no external influences or input.
The only way that this type of innate and obvious criminal activity can be allowed to continue for so long, with so little change, implies that the leadership controlling these system are themselves corrupt, corrupted, or being lead by greedy psychopaths.
There is no way that a reheated salt and fat laden hotdog with a dab of sugar-saturated ketchup qualifies for a “healthy nutritious” meal.
And when you see enormously obese Americans riding government supplied electric carts to buy 24-packs of soda, you can rest assured that the American leadership wants this situation;
They planned for it, and they created it. It’s intentional. It is impossible for this condition; this situation to be accidental.
The only way out…
…is to nuke from orbit.
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Yeah, I get it. Donald Trump is running against Biden. It’s neck to neck,and coronavirus is ravishing America, and soon global warming (or is it cooling) is going to destroy the world as we know it. We must do something! Everyone screeches! And of course we have the underlying themes of “China is evil, bat eating, monsters”, and America must get involved in the Middle East, with Turkey and fight Iran, or some other such nonsense. And of course, a few billions of dollars in a train line that will connect Alaska with California is being considered as long as the right “palms are being greased”. Yawn.
Well, sit back.
“Pop a top” off your favorite ice cold beverage (if it’s wine it can be room temperature), and put on some easy tunes in the background.
We are going to discuss some really nice (and unappreciated) subjects right now. We are gonna talk about pies.
Pies.
Yup.
Pies.
Delicious, and tasty pies. You know, those things that are so delicious that most Americans now only get to sample a mere few times a month. Pies.
Wondrous.
Delicious.
Pies.
Almost every culture around the world has their own variation of a pie, whether it’s handheld or baked in a pan. Historically, pies have been favored not only for their delicious flavors but their ability to preserve their fillings for extended periods of time. This was especially useful not only during the winter but for long sea voyages as well.
In some places, pie underwent various transformations in public opinion, running the gamut from being praised to being considered deadly. But ultimately, pie has come out on top and is often brought out as a favorite treat during holidays.
The very first pies were primarily filled with meat, more often than not a type of bird. But before long, pies had conquered every flavor from savory to sweet. They now come in every imaginable shape and size and have transformed in every culture that they’ve come into contact with, creating a worldwide range of pies that is changing and coming up with new combinations of flavors every day. This is the long history of pie explained.
Memories…
An Australian or New Zealand meat pie is a hand-sized meat pie containing diced or minced meat and gravy, sometimes with onion, mushrooms, or cheese and often consumed as a takeaway food snack. The meat pie is considered iconic in Australia and New Zealand. It was described by former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr in 2003 as Australia's "national dish". New Zealanders regard the meat pie as a part of New Zealand cuisine, and it forms part of the New Zealand national identity.
-Wikipedia
The one thing that I will forever remember is the delicious “meat pie” that I used to get in Australia. There was this woman who would drive over an sell these “meat pies” to any one in the office. These were so delicious and she carried three different types and kinds that she manufactured at home in her kitchen.
Delicious home made Australian meat pie. One of the best things about Australia. You haven’t lived until you had a fresh home-made Australian meat pie.
She was my “meat pie lady”. And Lordy, I was her meat pie man.
Australian meat pie.
If you have never tried one, then you are truly missing out of one of the great pleasures in life. How Australians can keep such a wondrous thing so secret is beyond me. It has to be one of my most favorite things about Australia, and believe you me, I have many, many things that I love about Australia.
Traditionally, Aussie Meat Pies are made with beef sirloin, minced quite small along with other vegetables such as onions, carrots and mushrooms. (Although some Aussie Meat Pie are just onions and beef.) For our recipe, we went with beef loin choice sirloin tips – keeping the beef in larger chunks for cooking.
-Aussie Meat Pies - A Family Feast
So why is this important?
Well, have you read the “news” lately? It’s all full of doom and gloom. The world is apparently falling apart at the seams, and “something must be done!”. But not to worry, there is a hero on the sidelines that will set everything right. Everyone must just obey him and the world will be good again.
Does all this “news” make your life better in some way? Do you feel like you are happier, more energized, and in complete control of our world and the world around you?
Well, I will have to keep the last article in mind the next time that I have a heart attack. I’ll get the cute EMS chick and tell her to have sex with me right then on the spot. You know! For humanity!
Today, where I live, it’s raining.
The rain is falling down in a light drizzle.
The neighborhood kitty-cats are are chillin’ out and look at each other between the hedges, the shrubs and the bushes. maybe something along the lines of this…
Cats being cats.
And you know what?
Do you think that they care anything at all about all this “news” going on? Do you think that they give a damn, or care a “rat’s ass” about anything going on in Washington DC? Do you think they care what is going on with the NFL, or Donald Trump? Nope.
They do not.
Nor does the rest of the world either.
And the rain still gently falls…
…
It’s days and times like this that are perfect to go into a nice local diner and get yourself a nice cup of coffee. No. I am not talking about the Starbucks franchise where you pay just under $10 for a coffee. I am talking about sitting at a counter, getting a nice cup of ‘Joe and a slice of pie (with a scoop of ice cream) for half that amount.
Nothing goes better with coffee than a nice freshly baked pie.
So what defines a pie?
A pie is considered to be any sort of pastry shell that has a filling, either meat or sweet, and is covered with a top crust.
Simple, eh?
The top crust is an essential component in traditional pies, for according to Everything Pies, without the top crust, the pastry simply becomes a tart. (A tart is a pie without a top? Who would of known?)
A delicious American meat pie. It’s not just Australians that get to enjoy this wonderful treat, don’t you know.
While a tart may be considered a subset of a pie, most American pies would be considered tarts in England. This discrepancy emerged when pies transformed in their travels to America.
The word "pie" started being used in Medieval Latin around 1300. It's likely related to "pia," meaning "pastry," and is also believed to be connected with the word "pica," which refers to magpies. This connection is thought to be because of the birds' habit of collecting random objects, often like the ingredients that went into pies.
-Online Etymology Dictionary
While purists will maintain strict definitions of what counts as a pie or not, almost every culture has a version of a pie, especially ones that are handheld and portable.
Pies around the world
Rightly so, pies have proliferated around the world. While the form may vary across cultures, there seems to be a consistent urge across the globe to fill pastry shells with some sort of savory or sweet filling.
American Blueberry pie.
Hand pies are especially prolific, because who wouldn’t want a pie that’s portable?
While most hand pies have a semilunar shape, they can be found in all shapes and sizes around the world. Most hand pies are smaller versions of traditional meat pies, but no two are entirely alike.
Empanadas and Jamaican patties are arguably the most popular hand pies in the world, but spanakopitas and samosas come in at a close second.
-The Takeout
Bastilla, also known as pastilla, is an example of a Moroccan meat pie that brings together the two ends of the pie spectrum, sweet and savory, into a rich blend of poultry, cinnamon, almonds, and sugar.
Even pizza masquerades as a pie. But no matter where one travels, pies have surely gotten there first.
Hieroglyphic pie recipes
The earliest known dish resembling a pie comes from the Neolithic period in ancient Egypt, as far back as between roughly 9500 BCE and 2000 BCE.
I can well imagine some Ancient Egyptians chillin’ out under the trees, and smunching on a fine pie. (In those days, Egypt was not a desert. It was forested with woodlands, wet lands, and a great diversity of wildlife. All under a bright blue sky.)
According to the BBC, one example of an ancient Egyptian pie was made out of barley, oats, rye, or wheat and filled with honey. The crust is thought to have been rather dense, and since the crusts of some of the early pies weren’t meant to be eaten, it’s possible that this crust was meant to hold the filling rather than be eaten itself, similar to a bread bowl.
Well…
That’s what they think, eh?
According to What’s Cooking America, drawings of pies that used fruits and honey can also be found on the walls of the tomb of Ramses II, who ruled from 1304 to 1237 BCE. And who would of known that Ramses the Great was a pie lover?
Ancient Egyptians also made classic meat pies as well, with a chicken pie recipe being found carved in hieroglyphs on a tablet. The first recorded use of yeast occurred around roughly 2600 BCE, so it’s likely that they were making bread-filled pastries around the same time.
Chicken and dumplings couldn’t have been far behind…
Feteer meshaltet is thought to have appeared in a semilunar form at one point as well, and it’s believed that the semilunar feteer meshaltet traveled to France, where it transformed into the croissant. Probably brought over by some of those French Soldiers that were busily conquering Egypt for the Great French Empire.
You know, back then France had to conduct these “police actions” in the middle East, or else they might suffer the fate of… (well, no one really knows what they would suffer from…)… but they had to do it… for the children (don’t you know) and for other reasons that I just cannot say because of “national security”.
You know the drill.
Feteer meshaltet
Pies for all of history
From ancient Egypt, pies made their way into ancient Greece by the fifth century BCE.
According to Visit Greece, pies were part of the everyday diet of ancient Greeks. They loved their pies. It was almost a national obsession. Greeks and pies were inseparable. You know, like olive oil and wine.
And every city and village, whether on the mainland or on an island, has their own version of a pie, with different fillings, sizes, and shapes.
According to Cycladia, the Northwestern region of Epirus is the most famous region for Greek pies, likely due to its high population of sheep, which produce a wide variety of cheese, and its plethora of herbs and vegetation. Spanakopita is likely the most famous Greek pie, known for its savory spinach and cheese layers.
Spanakopita a traditional Greek pie.
The Greek poet Philoxenus writes in his poem “The Banquet” of the hosts of a party serving a pastry made with honey and milk that was baked like a pie. Pies are even mentioned in the plays of Aristophanes, with multiple descriptions of small pastries filled with fruit.
Well, the Romans had some ideas. And they believed that debauchery is best served with delicious pies, members of the opposite sex, and lots and lots of wine. And maybe some surprises…
And so, the Romans took the concept from the Greeks and made their pastry shells specifically for encasing and preserving the taste of the filling, rather than to be eaten. It was this version of the pie that made its way through Europe and to Britain.
History and Pies
I know, I know. I get it.
Why would anyone give a care or concern about early pie design? Who care what the Egyptians, the Greeks or the Romans ate? Why does it matter now? After all, this is the “most important time in history” don’t you know. We have been told this over and over and over. How America is so wonderful, and if it wasn’t for the great works of America, China and Europe would be nothing.
Well…
Maybe. Maybe not.
The rest of the world aren’t some kind of pale shadow that sit in the dark recesses of the curtains and await for the latest news out of Washington DC. The rest of the world just doesn’t care. It just doesn’t care.
And you shouldn’t either.
So I am gonna illustrate why you should care more about what the ancient Greeks ate and drank than what the “news” out of Washington DC says…
Ohhh. So much strife. So much bad news. So much SHIT being piled up upon you all in big smouldering piles.
Is the news actually real?
See all these “reporters” who are monitoring and reporting on the horrible abuse of the poor defenseless freedom-loving pro-democracy protestors. You can see just how ugly and terrible the HK police is, now can’t you?
I argue that all “news” is fake and intentional manipulation.
I also argue that there is no longer any “alternative” sources for news and opinion. They are all controlled by the government. Yes, that mans not only the “mainstream press”, but also the Alt-Right and the Alt-Left press. To see just how insane this all is, you need to step out of your environment and look in. You know, like an outsider would.
Let’s try this exercise, shall we.
Let’s step out side and look in.
Let’s look at what the Indian Press is reporting on. As I have, for the longest time been preaching that the American CIA under Mike Pompeo controls the Indian press, and Indian “news”. So what is the Indian press reporting on…
Yeah. The “war drums” are beating really loudly in India.
Bet you weren’t aware of that, were you? That’s because the news is for Indian consumption, not for American, Chinese, or Russian consumption. The Indian news is to direct the mood, and motivations of Indians for easy control by their government.
Just like it is for the American news media. It is for control of the American population. It is not the “truth”.
Makes me want to chill out and have a pie.
When the world seems out of control, it’s a sign that you all need to go ahead, sit down and have nice delicious pie.
And that is the truth.
You see…
The entire world is trying to twist you, turn you, manipulate you. It is trying to fleece you with a billion tiny hands on your wallet, and using your emotions to force you to do things and move in certain predetermined ways. The ruling oligarchy knows this, and they are not concerned. They know that it’s all bullshit.
So what happens when…
…when you are so caught up in the pains of “modern life” that you don’t know what to do? Well, the answer is simple.
You go out and get a pie.
When the world seems out of control, and everything is hard, harsh and gloomy, you can always count on a fine cup of coffee and a fresh pie.
And pies…
Well, it doesn’t need to be a pie. It can be a ice-cold butterscotch milkshake. It can be a few hours fishing. It can be a bicycle ride down the quiet residential streets of your community. It can be carving some wood. It can be a nice quiet ride in a canoe. It can be just chilling our with your dog under your tree in the back yard, with a ice cold frosty beer in your hand.
It can be anything.
And for me…
…on this rainy day, it’s pies.
Pies get medieval
In medieval Britain, pies were primarily filled with meat, and the pastry shells weren’t necessarily eaten, like in Rome. The biggest appeal of pies was their ability to conserve space and preserve food for a longer time, especially on long sea voyages. These pies also had significantly more crust than filling and were known as “pyes.”
According to Slate, the pie crust was solely functional and was intended to be a hard shell that had to be broken open to get at the delicious filling inside. The crust was made to be incredibly thick so that it was able to withstand being baked over a fire for several hours. And funnily enough, the pie crusts themselves were referred to as “cofyns,” which just means “box.” This especially emphasizes the pie’s ability to store food, since the thick crust also helped keep food fresh for longer.
Of course, the need to make an easy food that is portable remains to this day. In the more remote and mountainous areas of China, the food still has to be transported up the mountainsides and through inhospitable terrain. It is important that the food be easy to eat with one hand while the other hand holds the ladder… (Click for the movie to pop up in a different tab.)
During this time, the most common filling was crow, and it’s rumored that the feet were used as handles. Birds in general were often used as filling, and songbirds especially were considered a delicacy. But according to Pie: A Global History by Janet Clarkson, it’s not clear exactly what the recipes for medieval pie crusts were. Medieval cookbooks weren’t intended to be instruction manuals and were instead more for those who were tasked with provisioning the kitchen, rather than the cooks themselves. And since pies were so commonplace, almost every cook knew how to make the crust in their sleep.
Eating crow is a colloquial idiom, used in some English-speaking countries, that means humiliation by admitting having been proven wrong after taking a strong position.
The crow is a carrion-eater that is presumably repulsive to eat in the same way that being proven wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow . The exact origin of the idiom is unknown, but it probably began with an American story published around 1850 about a dim-witted New York farmer.
-Eating crow - Wikipedia
Breaking out of the pie shell
Medieval pies sometimes included dinner and a show. Known as animated pies, a large crust would be baked over a wooden scaffolding with a hole in the bottom, from which the cook would afterward seal in live birds and a cooked pie. This way, when the top crust was cut open, the live birds would fly out of the outer pie. This custom is still referenced today in the nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence.” Live birds weren’t the only things that burst out of pies. According to What’s Cooking America, other small animals, such as turtles, rabbits, and frogs, were also frequently incorporated.
Never a dull moment, don’t ya know.
Sometimes, people would also pop out for entertainment. One such person was Jeffrey Hudson, who was known for his small stature, reportedly standing only 18 inches tall at age seven. According to The Vintage News, when Hudson was seven, he was presented to King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria in London, bursting through the crust of a pie dressed in knight’s armor. Queen Henrietta was so amused by Hudson’s small stature that she took him on as her court dwarf.
What an honor! Wouldn’t you just love to be the royal court dwarf?
While there were some versions of sweet pies, in medieval Britain, they were distinguished from meat pies as tarts. And since sugar was expensive and rare, it wasn’t commonly used as an ingredient, so medieval sweet pies might not be considered sweet to a modern palette.
Personally, I would find them rather disgusting.
The queen always tries first
While Elizabeth I isn’t necessarily remembered for her role in the legacy of pie, she’s actually involved in the story of what’s thought to be the world’s first cherry pie. According to the BBC, the first cherry pie was reportedly baked for Elizabeth, although no one knows whether or not she enjoyed it.
When was the last time that you had a fine and delicious cherry pie? For me, it was far too long ago. Sigh.
During the 16th century, pies also continued the tradition of having appearances in plays. A pie plays a pivotal role in William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, becoming a literal coffin for Chiron and Demetrius after they brutalize Titus’ children. Titus not only kills Chiron and Demetrius and bakes them into a pie, but he goes on to serve that pie to their mother before murdering her as well.
Pies were also a popular snack for people in the upper classes to eat while watching the plays of Shakespeare. According to The Star, those who sat in the gallery often enjoyed meat pies in addition to crabs and dried figs. People in lower classes who watched from the yard snacked on oysters instead.
And, yes. No wonder there was a problem with over-population in the lower classes. heh heh.
Pies travel the Atlantic
As the British invaded and colonized North America, they brought pies along with them. I always envisioned that the reason that the British wore coats of red, was to cover up the pie stains that they would have from their massive intakes of delicious and wondrous pies.
While the popularity of pies wouldn’t explode until the 1800s, colonists often made pies in order to preserve the foods that were used for filling, which would keep during the winter months. According to Time Magazine, despite the fact that apple pie is considered to be quintessentially American, even that came over from England. And until sugar became included in the recipe, it was a far cry from the sweet treat known today.
Mark Twain, also known as Samuel Clemens, was reportedly a big fan of pies, and when he visited Europe, he apparently disparaged the food he encountered, longing instead for the many different kinds of pie to be found back home in the United States.
Mark twain on censorship.
According to Slate, it was during their travel to America that the difference between tarts and pies became lost to the Americans. It was also around this time that sweet pies began to be more popular. With the establishment of sugar colonies in the Caribbean, sugar became much more common than it had previously been. And thus…
The rise of sweet pies
During their occupation and colonization of the Caribbean, the British established hundreds of sugar colonies that were kept running by the enslaved people kidnapped from Africa. On most of the islands, upwards of 80 percent of the population was enslaved. And you know why they needed to do it. It was “for the children”, and while the records are either missing or sealed, we know that it was because of “national security”.
The spread of sugar plantations led to the proliferation of sugar across Europe and North America, demonstrative in the rise of sweet pies. According to Pie: A Global History by Janet Clarkson, while fruit wasn’t entirely absent from pie recipes before the inclusion of sugar, it was rarely the primary ingredient. Most pies were made of a mixture of meats and the newly acquired sugar from the slave plantations.
America became a new world full of wondrous delights and fun and frolic.
By the Victorian era, mince pies, made of an assortment of dried fruits and spices, were also a common sugary treat, and soon, “mincemeat” didn’t even have to include meat. And recipe books began including meat-free versions alongside traditional meat pie recipes, allowing for the proliferation of hundreds of different types of pies. With the spread of dairy and eggs, cream pies also rose in popularity alongside fruit pies.
The criticism of pies
As pie became more popular, it also came under attack in the mid-1800s. According to the Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Magazine published an attack on pies in 1866, which hyperbolically claimed that, “Pie in countless varieties waits upon us through life. Pie kills us finally.” Claiming that the dough of pie crusts was indigestible, dietary reformers continually tried to steer people away from eating pies.
Why “there ought to be a law”…
According to The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, dietary reformers claimed to be interested in the science of nutrition, but a lot of their attacks seemed to be geared toward immigrants and low-income people. Claiming that if people changed what they ate, then the American spirit wouldn’t be weighed down by so much dough, people like Sarah Tyson Rore, food editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, made sure to frequently warn people about how pies took too much energy to digest. I am sure that she had the “best interests” of the people in mind.
Don’t you?
You all don’t want that insatiable “American spirit” to die and drown out under a gluttony of pies.
The Century Cookbook, published in 1895, decided to include the comment that, “The American pie is perhaps the most ridiculed of dishes. […] The mince pie, probably the most indigestible of all, is the one universally accepted as a treat, and seldom refused by the scoffer.”
According to Smithsonian Magazine, some even believed that eating pie was a cause of divorce, like alcoholism.
Eating a pie was the first step towards alcoholism.
Eating a pie was the first step to a divorce.
Eating a pie, and suddenly the women would want to smoke cigarettes.
Eating a pie, and before you know it, woman’s ankles will be exposed to the public!
But with the outbreak of World War I, eating pie became a patriotic activity. Pies became a symbol of that which soldiers missed while they were off fighting in foreign countries. This association with patriotism would continue.
Eat a pie and fight the evil German horde!
The easiest people to manipulate are those that believe that they are avoiding manipulation by reading “alternative media” like Alt-Right or Alt-Left publications.
The alternating popularity of pie
According to Slate, during the Great Depression, Ritz crackers began including recipes for “mock apple pie” on the backs of their boxes. Made with the times in mind, the recipe suggested soaking the crackers in vanilla, lemon, and cinnamon to be used instead of real apple filling, since apples were in short supply and too expensive to indulge in.
1936 advertisement for Ritz Crackers.
By the mid-20th century, however, the popularity of pies began to rise again as canned fruit and instant pudding mixes made it easier to make filling. Ready-made pie crusts also drastically simplified the pie-making process, and with the spread of home refrigeration, chilled pie recipes also became increasingly common.
But, according to The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, simultaneously, the amount of pies being made started to dip as a result of urbanization and industrialization. As more and more women joined the workforce, the act of making a pie every week was too laborious an activity, so it started to become more of an occasional undertaking for special occasions. Like Christmas and Thanksgiving.
All the same, pies continued to persevere as a symbol of America. According to Smithsonian Magazine, when Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev went to New York City in 1960, someone sent an apple pie to his Park Avenue address. The American pie was meant to represent all the layers that America had, while “the Communist pie is nothing but crust.”
Communist China meat baozi. It’s a small palm sized pie that is steam and served piping hot and full of delicious and tasty juices.
After being called “an American evil” and an “unmoral food [sic]” by Kate Masterson in The New York Times in 1902, pies have remained a classic of not only American cuisine but of cuisines around the world.
Back in the day, having a pie thrown in your face was considered the height of comedy.
Pies have even become punnily associated with Pi Day, celebrated on March 14 due to its resemblance to the mathematical number.
But it seems that the exact definition of a pie still eludes us. According to Slate, Emily Elsen, founder of the pie shop “Four and Twenty Blackbirds,” her European customers call her pies “cakes,” and the debate of pies vs. tarts seems endless.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, the phrase “as American as apple pie” didn’t appear until 1924, when it was used in an advertisement for men’s suits. But no one culture has a monopoly on pies. Pies have transformed in every culture they’ve engaged with, and even if no one can determine exactly what counts as a pie, few will pass up a free slice.
And why this matters…
It seems like everyone, around the world, loves a good pie.
They are made everywhere, and if there is an argument between two people, the surest way to stop the argument is to offer them a free slice of pizza pie.
But you don’t have to do that, don’t you know.
You don’t have to wait until there is conflict or arguments or turmoil, or strife to take action. You can go out right now and get yourself a fine tasty pie. And what’s stopping you? When was the last time you went into a diner and got a slice of pie? Or is the only pie that you eat from McDonalds?
What is stopping you?
Stop waiting. Start doing.
And …
And…
Why eat it alone? Why not ask that cute chick out for a free slice of pie and a cup of coffee, or your friends, or maybe you next door neighbor? Why not? What’s stopping you from driving over to your grandmothers house, and telling her that you want to take her out to get a fresh hot pie and a cup of coffee. Why not?
No.
You are not going to do it, are you?
You like the pre-birth world-line template that you are on right now, and doing something like this is way out of your character. Isn’t it?
Admit it.
isn’t it?
Or…
Maybe you have something better to do. Maybe the grass needs to be mowed, or the “news” is on and there is some urgent breaking news about the President! Or maybe there will be a hurricane, a tornado, or global warming (or cooling) will come forth and crush your life. Ya gotta be prepared. Don’t you know.
Look out the window.
It’s beautiful out there.
Beautiful.
There’s a beautiful world out there. Maybe you need to go forth and enjoy it some.
And…
Well, for me the drizzle ended. It’s in the evening, and the sun is starting to dusk out. People are going out and relaxing. Some school kids are playing basketball out, and I can see a few couples strolling along the beach with their dog. I hear the school kids playing outside my building. It’s nice.
In fact, this time of the day is my favorite (well, one of my favorites). It’s when things start to get cooler and a nice breeze kicks up. The lights offer a rosy yellow gold glow to the deepening blue of the sky and the deep shades of the lush trees are soft, deep and dark.
At this time of the day, I usually toss the trash out.
Yeah, I know. Boring, eh?
Then we either go out to eat, or stay in. Not that I am hungry right now, but a fine glass of wine and some delicious food is always welcome. And that is what it is all about, isn’t it.
I can see some folk eating Shao Kao next door. This is the Chinese version of BBQ. You can smell the chicken cooking, and the hot peppers (yeah, it’s a thing. You put the hot peppers on a stick and you cook them. They lose about half of their hot spiciness, and get a little sweet.) The guys are starting to have a few beers with their meal. Nice.
You know.
All around the world we are the same.
The Chinese aren’t that evil bat-soup slurping group of evil heathen, and Americans are not pristine knights in white satin doing the good work of Jesus. We are just people. Living life. Having fun. Making friends. Enjoying the moments together.
I like to believe that there is a woman for every man, and many people that share the same interests that we all hold inside…
So…
What’s stopping YOU?
Is it that you don’t think that you want to meet other people, other gals, or do other things? Is it because you are so caught up in your own easy and comfortable routines? Is it because that that you are so addicted to the news media that you NEED to stay inside to “get your fix” on the latest “news” and pronouncements?
Well…
That’s all a lie. It’s a nice comfortable lie that sticks you all to the pre-birth world-line template like a fly stuck on fly-paper. If you all really want your dreams and wishes to manifest, you all will need to break off and out of that artificial environment that has entrapped you.
And this environment is complex. It involves many things…
Your habits, that prevent you from deviation off your world-line trajectory.
The “news” that constantly programs and reprograms your mind.
Your friends and associations that repeat the “news”.
The music you listen to and the movies you watch.
And these are the things that await you once you become self-actuated…
Pretty Girls
Whether you are in a relationship now or not, everyone deserves to have more friends. They add color and depth to our life. As well as maybe helping to point out the “door handles” that lie upon the “hallway of life”. Click to see the movie in a different tab.
And or , maybe someone like this…
Click on the picture (like the above) to see the movie in a different tab.
The thing about all this is that our universe is the most colorful, exciting and wonderful when we are interacting with others. With other people. Not with other things. So that illusion that you can conduct business from behind a computer monitor, or have a Zoom chat instead of a face-to-face meeting is pretty much a lie. Real people interact in time-honed interpersonal ways.
So self-actuate.
Go forth and interact with others.
And maybe you have “had it” with people! I am one person who absolutely understands. But what about our other friends, or pets; our dogs and cats in our lives. You know…. Like this…
Click to see the movie in a different tab.
Or maybe your life has become a little too predictable, too stale. Too boring. maybe you need to go to a KTV and liven things up. Maybe something like this… You know, more my speed. Heh. Heh.
(Taken outside one of the KTV rooms. Click to see the movie in a different tab.)
Or like this on the inside.
Here’s a chick singing Gee Gee Gee, LOL. Yeah. It’s all sort of like this.
Or perhaps you are not American, and your idea of social interaction and belonging is different. that is not a problem. No matter how you feel, and no matter how you express yourself, you all should do it and do it your way. Do things your way, and on your terms. Just do it.
Here’s from the Samoan Islands. Grand. Just Grand.
I do miss my friends there. I really do. There are some really fine, fine folk in American Samoa. I’ll tell you what.
I guess that the point that I am trying to make is that life is about experiencing the adventure of it. But by the nature of our consciousness and our reality, it is so very easy to get fixed and comfortable on a life-line vector that is fine and comfortable.
I think that the greatest amount of fun might happen when you do something different.
Not drastically different mind you, but different enough.
Like getting a pie and a cup of coffee in a diner or a local restaurant. Not a fast food “joint”.
It’s your life, and your choices. You choose. You flick the new “switches” and set your world-line vector to new directions and buckle up your seatbelt. Because the moment you start to deviate off of your comfort zone, you SLIDE to new realities, and then…
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I have been trying to tell people that China is not what they think it is. I have been trying to explain that the American government propaganda machine is large, dangerous and paints a seriously distorted view of the rest of the world. And… well, it falls on deaf ears. So, here instead, is the impressions of a person visiting China for the first time in over a decade. His impressions are pristine, real, and worth the read. Check it out.
Chengdu is a Tier #2 city within China. It is not as modern as other Chinese cities, being in the “heartland”.
Vi and I have just returned from Chengdu, a Chinese village of seventeen million and the gateway to Tibet. Since China is of some interest to the US these days, I thought a description of sorts, actually more in the nature of a disordered travelogue, might be of interest. I hadn’t been to the country for twelve years and, before that, not since living in Taiwan in the mid-Seventies.
Each time, the changes were astonishing.
Herewith some notes:
A
caveat: we never got more than three hundred miles from the city and do
not pretend to describe the country beyond what we saw.
Despite Trump’s trade war we had no problems in getting visas in Guadalajara or getting through customs in Chengdu. Nobody showed us the slightest hostility.
Chengdu parkway.
Although China is assuredly a dictatorship and vigorously represses dissent, we saw virtually no police.
A friend who lived in Chengdu for several years until recently asserts that there is close to zero street crime. (White collar crime is a very different matter, he said, and seems built into Chinese culture. There are books on this.)
China is often described as a developing country.
Well, sort of.
Chengdu is decidedly of the First World, modern, muscular, appearing to have been recently built because it was.
The downtown is beautiful, at least as cities go, and livable. In many hours of walking aimlessly we encountered everything from elegant high-end stores selling upscale Western bands to noodle shops.
It is not a poor city.
The downtown is beautiful, at least as cities go, and livable.
A considerable number of people wear worn clothes and clearly are not overly prosperous, but nobody looked hungry and most appeared middle class.
We saw no beggars or homeless people of the sort common in the US. Whether this is because there aren’t any, or because the government doesn’t allow them on the streets, I do not know.
For anyone who knows what China was before Deng Xiaoping took over in 1978, after Mao made his greatest contribution to his country…
… he died…
… the growth of prosperity astounds.
Many criticisms may be made of the Chinese government, some of them valid, but no other government has lifted so many people out of poverty so fast.
Downtown tower in the enormous downtown city center.
When I
lived in Taiwan, I wondered why the Chinese, especially the
mainlanders, were so backward. They seemed to have been so almost
forever, certainly since well before Legation days. At the time Taiwan
had a Five Year Plan for development, but so did all sorts of dirtball
counties, mostly consisting of a patch of jungle, a colonel, and a
torture chamber.
I noted, though, if the reader will forgive me a digression: Taiwan was actually meeting its Plan. In the Third World of the time, this was a novel idea. The Jin Shan reactors were going in, the new port, the steel mill, the highway. I interviewed the head of the nuclear program for the Far Eastern Economic Review–Harvard guy. Other officials were from MIT.
Idi Amin they were not.
Young and dumb as I was…
…the two being barely distinguishable…
…I thought Hong Kong looked like Manhattan with slanted eyes, hardball financial turf, and I knew Taiwanese students in America were excelling in science courses.
I concluded that Mousy Dung was the greatest American patriot who ever lived since, if he ever stopped holding these people back, what has happened might.
But back to Chengdu.
Chengdu Apartment buildings.
A
perfectly stunning number of clusters of apartment buildings like these
swarm on the horizon. The only round–eye I met who lived in one said
that her apartment was quite nice.
The
first thing we noticed in the city was the enormous scale of everything.
Buildings downtown were huge. The elevated highways everywhere were
huge. The numbers of people were huge. There were literally hundreds of
hugely tall apartment buildings. The principle seemed to be that if you
have too many people to spread them out, stack them up. Said a Chinese
guide we hired, they weren’t there twenty years ago.
Chengdu skyline.
Conspicuous to both Violeta and me was evidence of Intelligent Design.
Chengdu clearly did not evolve randomly as cities do in the West. Somebody thought about things beforehand.
The overhead highways kept heavy traffic flowing.
Very wide sidewalks downtown made pedestrianism pleasant. The subway was nothing special but well designed to be easy to use even if you don’t know how. (Well, it does have sliding glass doors to keep you away from the tracks until the train comes. This way, you can’t throw things onto the tracks, such as your mother-in-law.)
Chengdu nature integrated apartments.
A characteristic of the Chinese is that there are lots of them.
In a country that thinks it is communist, or pretends it is to save face in case you notice that it isn’t, you might expect horrible architecture. You know, like the awful Stalin Gothic of Moscow.
Or Franco’s mausoleum that looks to have been designed by someone channeling Albert Speer.
Actually no.
(Except maybe sorta for the huge apartment buildings, mentioned above, that cluster together in sometimes groups of twelve that could hold the population of Guatemala).
Thing is, the Chinese have a well-developed aesthetic sense, at least in the visual realm (not so hot musically, and Beijing opera is a crime against humanity).
Somebody, which means the government, said that considerable green space would be left, and it was.
Plants are everywhere. It’s a green revolution that began two decades ago.
Planters with (unsurprisingly) plants in them are everywhere, and patches of what look like manicured forest. The result is curious. You can sit in cool shady woods a few yards from an enormous overhead highway.
Like most Chinese cities, except the Westernized cities, plants are everywhere. Not only planted, but maintained by an army of caretakers.
Communism, which China once had, pretty much forbids religion, so I wondered what we would find in the faith line.
Buddhists.
We visited Buddhist temples, meticulously maintained, with worshipers, mostly women, obviously worshiping.
How was this, I asked my round-eyed friend.
Well, he said, Christianity was strongly disapproved as being Western, but the government was nervous about public reaction to a crackdown on Buddhism. So they decided that Buddhism wasn’t a religion, see, but Chinese culture, and thus OK.
I don’t know whether this is true, but thought it a nicely practical waffle.
Living in an apartment within the Chengdu city.
Huge.
Here we go again. Chengdu has what it says is the world’s largest building, 1.5 million square meters.
This is the Global Center.
It is the damndest thing I have ever seen, maybe.
The Chengdu Global Center.
I suspect it was built to overcome an international short-man’s complex.
I bet it did, too.
It was like going into the VAB at Canaveral, unlimited space, with hotels, stores, offices, wide open space. But–the aesthetic thing again–it was wonderfully colorful and just–“gorgeous” comes to mind.
It was not designed by corporate in New Jersey.
Inside of the Chengdu Global Center. There is more than just a mall here. There is a complete Disney-land style park, and water park, and amusement park as well.
To prove that China has reached American levels of mild lunacy: we passed an Alienware store–high-end gaming computers–with a crowd of Chinese looking at a screen on which, somewhere, a video game was being played. The announcer sounded as excited as a Latin American covering a hotly contested soccer match:
“Womenhau…
wangjile!..wangjile!
mijyou!MIJYOU!
woshrhenhau!..YANGGWEIDZE….”
in a rising shriek.
I couldn’t understand a word of it, but the involvement reminded me of when Mexico beat Germany in the World Cup.
More traditional, in the suburbs. Good food, nice people. Shamelessly showing off, I dredged up the decaying corpse of my ancient Mandarin, “Ching ni, geiwo liang ping pijyou, hau bu hou.”
Ordering beer is the main purpose of any language.
Conclusion
Check out the site at the link above. Give them some visitor hits, ok? Great stuff, don’t ya all think?
I went to Chengdu back in 2013, and yeah. That’s what it’s like. Pretty much. But for me, I have become accustomed to all this stuff, and like most Chinese, I don’t really think too much about it.
But, to someone who hasn’t a clue as to what a “working-class” City in China looks like, it’s pretty much a surprise. Most Americans get the picture of Detroit, or Baltimore, or a Kerr-McGee plant in Trona, California.
Home for sale in Trona.
You see, while America was squandering trillions of dollars blowing up mud huts, and shooting goat herders with ultra-expensive weapons systems, the rest of the world was spending the money on domestic needs. China has taken that money and invested it in people, families, culture and society.
And you can see the result.
Sure beats a smouldering hole in the desert floor!
All you need to do is turn of the American propaganda box, and get an airline ticket and visit for yourself. Use your own two eyes. Check it all out, and come to your own conclusions.
Fred has other posts on his impressions. I will include them in this series.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. If you want to see others of a similar nature, please check out my Happiness Index. Here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Here is a great selection of fantastic, easy to make, and fun family sit-down meals for dinner. This post discusses “real” American food. Not “American fast food”, which it seems (to everyone outside of the USA) is what Americans eat all the time. We do not. We eat something else, something all together different. We eat tasty, aromatic and tasty delicious food. Don’t you know.
Hey! It’s true!
In our homes, with our families, we “break bread” with love, happiness, care and concern. We eat healthy, fine and delicious food. We share the events of the day, and we laugh and cry as the day’s events are presented. We are not alone. We are part of a bigger identity.
Fast food does not represent America. It is an off-shoot of the “modern” progressive-reality that was thrust upon the shoulders of America. We have been dealing with it since 1913, and it’s only been recently that we have decided to shake it off.
It's like coffee. Most Americans do not drink Starbucks coffee daily. Many do, but not most. Coffee is a deeply personal thing with most Americans.
American food, like coffee is a very unique and special treat. Something that does NOT resemble the monetized versions available to the rest of the world.
Surprise!
Here we talk about “dinner time”. That most special and sacred time of the day for many (but not all) Americans. It was the time when a family would take off their soiled work clothes, put aside their school book bags, and sit down together for a fine, nutritious meal. One that was (traditionally) cooked with care and love by the woman of the house.
Delicious meal at dinner time, where the entire family comes together to share the events of the day and spend happy times together.
Ah, but times have changed. Oh, maybe so. But not inherently. Americans are still Americans. You cannot change who we are on the inside. We are social beings that value our time together with loved ones. Most especially with our families.
Americans are still capable of love for their families.
Yes. I do know all about the injection of “modern progressiveness” into the American culture back in 1913. I am quite cognizant on how it altered and deformed American cultures and resulted in almost all of the problems that America experiences today.
Yes. I know.
How many Americans eat dinner. They eat alone, mostly fast food, or easily prepared meals, staring in front of a televisions set or computer screen.
I know, it used to be, back in the days leading up to the 1970’s and the destruction of the American family, everyone would have a “sit down” “typical” American meal. (The link opens up in another tab.)
I also know how this tradition pretty much was under assault, and how the death blow smashed it to pieces in the 1970’s. Ah, yes, you can thank President Wilson for that as well. The Federal Reserve put a death-grip strangle hold on the American family.
This is the world that all that modern progressiveness wrought.
This is the world that all that modern progressiveness wrought. It starts at youth. It consists of eating cheap, easy to make meals, in front of mindless electronic media.
This tradition pretty much ended during the 1970’s when families had to split apart to earn enough to make ends meet. Thus, a progressive (or “enlightened”) reality took hold; also known as “everyone forage for themselves”, or “meals by yellow-sticky notes on the refrigerator”.
It goes by other terms as well, as (the) fast-food television binge, or the creation of “easy and cheap meals”.
It’s what living a “progressive” life is all about. It’s about money. It’s about making ends meet. It’s about keeping up with the Joneses. It’s about living a life that matches the expectations shown in television, movies, and social media.
it’s all one big lie.
If we’re too busy to have dinner as a family regularly, we may want to re-examine our priorities.
We probably are too busy. Period.
While our smartphones and devices have brought us closer to the rest of humanity, it is the family that will stick with us through thick and thin.
It is simply amazing that something as simple as eating together as a family may bring manifold benefits to all family members. Family meals are for nourishment, comfort and support. As we nourish our body, we nourish our family relationships.
After all, food is better eaten with the people we love!
- Eating together helps families bond
It’s sad.
Oh you don’t know what I am talking about, eh? You think it’s an accident that tomatoes today taste like cardboard and are filled with water? You think it was an accident, or just the way it’s always been. Oh no. It’s what happens when modern, progressive scientists re-engineer society to make it “better”.
Click on the link (it opens up in a different tab) for easy browsing…
Here’s a picture of the “modern, progressive lifestyle” that many Americans have had to confront. Sad…
It’s how NOT to raise a family.
How not to raise a family. Mother is not cooking delicious meals. She is working at home and teaching her daughter to do the same. Father is scrounging in the kitchen and teaching his son to forage. No family togetherness. No family group discussions. No sharing, and no joy. It’s stress. It’s the progressive lifestyle you all!
All these progressives, with their modern (well meaning intentions) have totally wrecked the world. Look at the pollution. Look at the family life. Look at what it takes to get ahead. It’s not an accident people!
Ahhh!
How NOT to eat a family meal. You face each other, not electronic media. You share the time, and you talk to each other. This kind of life, where everyone is off and alone in their own individual worlds is a progressive lie brought forth by President Wilson.
However, do not be distressed. A rising percentage of Americans are revitalizing the old-fashioned “sit down” formal dinner time meals. It’s making a much needed comeback. And I, I for one, think that this trend is glorious!
What is better than delicious food? What is better than fine tasty drink and friends and family to share the day’s events with? Heck! It sure beats looking that the latest posts on Facebook, watching a cat video on You-tube, or reading the “news” on your Google feed.
Yeppur!
It’s people. It”s feeling. It’s emotions. It’s sharing our life with others, and that is absolutely wonderful.
Family meals done right…
Family meals done right. Both parents are present. Everyone is smiling and talking and fine love-cooked food is presented in happy friendliness.
This is great, and people (!) this post discusses what they would be eating during all of this.
My in-laws
It has gradually dawned on me that no one (outside of the United States) has any idea what Americans eat. They think, and they really do believe this, that all that Americans eat are hamburgers and Pizza.
You laugh.
But, it’s true!
While there is a certain degree in truth to that, it’s not actually true. When I was growing up, we rarely had pizza or hamburgers. That was something that was reserved to eat “outside” of the home. Or, alternatively, something we would have at a Cub Scout cookout, or at a baseball game. It wasn’t a formal sit down meal food.
Home cooked food was tastier, healthier, cheaper, and was served in a communal setting where we all faced each other. We weren’t staring into a television set, a laptop, or a cell phone. We faced each other.
Face to face.
With delicious food, with the fine aromas wafting towards us.
American style dinner done right! The entire family is together, sharing a fine home-cooked meal and being together.
Now, I am in China.
My in-laws know nothing about the American household lifestyle. All they know is what they watch on the television show “Friends”, or The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
But, you know, my family was more like Mayberry RFD than Cheers.
This has come down to the point where my father-in-law brought groceries home from the market today. He passed them on to the women folk to cook, and he proudly displayed a McDonalds bag with a cold chicken sandwich and wilted french-fries for me to consume. He beamed with pride. (Obviously “virtue signalling” to me that he cared about me and my culture.)
Ugh!
Central Perk. The six main protagonists frequently visited Central Perk throughout the series. It is situated in New York City’s Greenwich Village, in the same apartment block as Monica’s apartment. It was where they spent much of their free time conversing. There are 97 steps away from Chandler and Joey’s apartment as Joey counts in The One With George Stephanopoulos.
Ah! Is that how the rest of the world thinks of Americans? As some kind of comic book character. One devoid of emotion, a crisply packaged collection of cheap food in bright colorful plastic wrappings?
He was so proud, and he wanted to show me how he was thinking of me and supportive of me. Thank’s Pop. But, you know, I do like other things…
And thus this post came into being.
The meals
“The table is where we mark milestones, divulge dreams, bury hatchets, make deals, give thanks, plan vacations and tell jokes. It’s also where children learn the lessons that families teach: Manners, co-operation, communication, self-control values. Following directions. Sitting still. Taking turns. It’s where we make up and make merry. It’s where we live, between bites.”
-Eating together helps families bond
So, here’s a list of some fine and delicious American food.
Please take note that different families make things differently. Some will have different sides and fixings, while others might want to add some regional fare. Thus, this list is JUST a guideline, and it is NOT complete.
Family meals are very special. They help build the family togetherness, and provide a safe place for community, family and love.
Finally, one more thing. Eating food is a social event. It is meant to be shared with friends and family. These people are the most important people in our (individual) world. Treat them special. Enjoy a fine meal with them and share the time with a fellowship of togetherness and happy discussion.
My friends Dana and John perfectly practice what the Rev. Jack King referred to as "scruffy hospitality." Their kitchen is small. The wood cabinets are dark and a few decades old. Spices and jars for sugar and flour line the countertops because there's nowhere else to put them. A tall, round table shoved in a corner has mismatched bar stools crammed around it.
The sliding glass doors in the kitchen lead to a back deck with a well-used chiminea, an outdoor table and a large variety of chairs and cushions, many of them bought at yard sales. We circle the chairs around the chiminea on weekend nights during all four seasons, whenever Dana and John put out a simple call out through text or Facebook that says, "Fire tonight!"
There will always be food, but like the bar stools and deck chairs, the food is mismatched. Our hosts provide some food; John may have the urge to make jalapeño poppers or Dana may put together some version of salsa with whatever's fresh from the garden, but there's not a formally prepared meal. Everyone just brings something. It's perfectly acceptable — encouraged even — to bring odds and ends of foods that need to get used up. I often bring wedges of cheese that have already been cut into or half a baguette to slice up and toast to dip in hummus. Everyone brings a little something to drink. And it's a glorious feast.
This kitchen and deck won't be featured in Better Homes and Gardens anytime soon, but maybe they should be. They are two of the most hospitable spaces I know. By opening up their home as-is, Dana and John are the most gracious hosts I know. I almost wrote "by opening up their home with its imperfections," but that's not accurate.
Their home is perfect — just like it is.
-Mother Nature Network
Now, to the meals…
Steak
The thing about steak is that you can get it all over the world. From Thailand, to China, to Argentina, to Singapore. It is a global meal. It’s also on the expensive side. So, most American families only eat steak on special occasions.
Typically is it grilled on an outside grill. This will be true if it is hot out like in July, or in the dead of Winter. It will also be cooked to perfection by the Man of the House.
A delicious American steak meal with baked potatoes and melted (fully salted) butter. I do love the XO/ VSOP in the glass with ice in the background. Ah, now this is what I call a fine family dinner.
There are all sorts of cuts of steak that can be chosen. My family would often cook porterhouse, T-bone or Filet Minion. Sides would often consist of corn, a salad, (baked) potatoes, and rolls.
American-style Spaghetti Meal
This is one of the most popular American family meals in America. It is cheap, easy to make, and delicious.
American style spaghetti dinner meal.
It often consists of home-made meatballs, on a spaghetti sauce that is made all day in a big tureen on the stove. Sides include salad, garlic bread, a vegetable (corn, greens, green beans, or broccoli), and (of course) graded Parmesan cheese.
Baked Lasagna
This meal is related to the spaghetti meal in that they both originated from Italian American families. Lasagna takes more work to make, and thus is not as common, though it is always very popular.
Baked Lasagna that is often served in American homes for dinner.
It’s a delicious meal that is a cross between wide noodles, meat, cheese and all sorts of spices within a very tasty delicious sauce. Oh, and it does go well with a fine bottle of wine and some nice crunchy Italian bread.
Fried Catfish
This meal is regional to the “Deep South”. It is commonly found in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. The fish is cut in fillets, breaded, and deep fried. It is eaten in generous quantities. Along with sides of okra, corn, picked tomatoes, Cole slaw and hush puppies (a kind of deep fried bread).
Deep fried catfish meal with a side of cole slaw and sauce.
I had no idea it existed until I moved to Mississippi. Then I immediately fell in love with it. Well, it and the “Southern style” mint sweetened iced tea.
(Baked) Friday Fish
As a Catholic, I was raised to have fish on Fridays. Thus, every Friday, without exception, we would eat fish. This changed in the 1970’s when the Catholic church embraced a more “progressive” rule to keep up with the times. Instead of eating fish, the Catholic church-goes would fill their minds with good happy and positive things.
Yeah. I’m sure it worked… for a week or two.
In general, the fish would be obtained from the frozen section in the local supermarket. Most Americans do not live on the Ocean, and thus have (out of necessity) obtain frozen deep-sea fish. (Or go fishing in the rivers and lakes.)
Baked fish done American style for a wonderful American dinner meal.
The fish would be baked in the oven, and served with a lemon squeeze. Sides would often consist of rice, asparagus, broccoli or peas.
One more thing. American fish are usually de-boned. It is a very rare thing to serve fish with the bones still in place.
Pork Roast
This is a fine wonderful meal that is generally common on the weekends because it takes some time to cook. In general, it is cooked for a long time so that the meat is tender and delicious.
American style baked pork roast.
It is often served with mashed potatoes, or rice. Sides would include salad, vegetables such as corn, green beans, and cauliflower. Bread and butter would tend to round out the meal.
Pork Chops
Pork chops are a MAJOR American love. Just about every American loves this iconic dish. (Unless you are one of those progressive Marxists that only eat tofu, and avocado milkshakes in Starbucks in the upscale sections of the American metropolis network.)
I started my first love of pork-chops when I was a toddler. My parents would often give me a bone or two to gum while I sat in the highchair. Ah. Good times. Good times.
American style pork chops meal.
it is often served with apple sauce, a salad, and some rice or scalloped potatoes. Delicious!
The first time that my Chinese wife tasted American style pork chops was in Pago Pago in American Samoa. She fell in love with the dish. She never tasted anything so absolutely delicious. In many ways it is similar to the Chinese cooked pork, but is cooked thin, almost like bacon. Yum!
A fantastic dinner plate of thin well cooked American style pork chops along with some wonderful mashed potatoes.
Baked Whole Chicken meal
Everyone, all over the world, enjoys eating chicken.
Studies have shown time and again that eating together has many benefits beyond nutritional purposes for everyone concerned, especially for our teens and tweens.
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, New York, reported that children who eat at least five times a week with their family are at lower risk of developing poor eating habits, weight problems or alcohol and substance dependencies, and tend to perform better academically than their peers who frequently eat alone or away from home.
In addition, the more frequent teens have dinner with their parents, the more likely they are to report talking to their parents about what’s going on in their lives.
According to research by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, teens who eat at the family table more often are more likely to show fewer signs of depression and feel that their family is more supportive, compared with teens who dine less often at home.
You are probably convinced now that having dinner together as a family is a good thing for your teens and tweens. It is, in fact, life-changing!
-Eating together helps families bond
This is a baked whole chicken meal.
It is pretty much common all over the world, though there are regional differences. My father’s mother would cook it with bacon on top in the oven. While my mother’s mother would cook it in a pan of water and cook until all the water evaporated. Leaving it crunchy on the outside but super tender inside.
It can be served with just about anything. In my family it is usually served with apple sauce, a tomato salad, rolls, and rice.
American style baked whole chicken.
Americans usually remove the head, and the feet before serving. This differs substantially from what you would find, say, in China where everything is served intact.
Turkey Meal
Of course, the Thanksgiving meal is famous around the world. Not so much for the history behind it, or the use during Thanksgiving or Christmas, but rather for the enormous size of the bird that accompanies the meal.
Cooking together as a family. There is nothing finer than including your family in things that everyone loves. Teach your children how to cook and enjoy delicious food.
The dinner table is the best place to tell stories, and kids who know their family stories are more resilient and feel better about themselves. Most inspiring are lemonade-from-lemon stories, stories about adversity where a lesson is learned, or negative events that transform into something good.
Stories help us make sense of the world, and they help kids connect to something bigger than themselves. Tell stories about yourself and other family members when they were the same age as your children. Tell stories about romance, first jobs, immigration, how names were chosen, a childhood pet, a favorite recipe or kitchen disaster.
-Parenting
Of course, in America we would have a fine central meal that would revolve around the main turkey bird. It would be a baked, roasted or cooked turkey with all the traditional fixings of mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and steamed cabbage and the like.
But, here, we are going to address the “other” turkey meals that the family eats during the rest of the week.
Hot turkey sandwich.
This can be anything from turkey soup, to hot turkey sandwiches, to turkey casseroles. In my family, we would always have hot turkey sandwiches on plain white bread with turkey gravy over everything and the rest of the vegetables as sides.
If you are very busy, a hot chicken sandwich is perhaps the simplest of meals to make. You get some frozen french fries, a bottle or can of instant chicken gravy and some chicken breasts with a loaf of white bread.
You pop the french fries in the oven.
You cook up the chicken on the skillet or in boiling water.
You microwave the gravy.
Then make sandwiches and pour the gravy over everything. Super simple, and very special. The kids will love it!
Oh, don’t forget the gravy over the french fries. It’s what completes the meal. Outstanding!
Chicken legs
This is a “stand alone meal”. It’s super easy to make, and lends itself for a quick meal for the working man, or friends to enjoy over some icy cold beers.
You just take a package of frozen chicken legs. You put it on a tray and pop it in the oven. Before you know it, you’ve got tons of baked chicken legs that you can eat with just about any side. It’s quick, fast and super easy.
Delicious American style baked chicken legs.
You can add honey, or bread crumbs or any other treatments (such as bacon) to make the taste really “pop” out. Try it.
Chicken wings
You can also cook chicken wings the same way as you cook the chicken legs. Only in America there is an added dip that is often used. It is typically dipped in Ranch or Blue Cheese salad dressing for the most wondrous taste.
Rituals like dinner, which punctuate a world that often feels frenzied and out of control, are good for adults, too. Knowing that one part of your day is going to unfold in basically the same way, day after day, is comforting.
So, I'm ringing the dinner bell and inviting you and your family to come to the table. Dinner is more than a feeding station. Food will bring the family to the table, but it's the conversation and stories that keeps us there. In an hour, you can create comfort, fun, play and meaningful conversation—one meal at a time.
- Anne K. Fishel, Ph.D., author of "Home for Dinner: Mixing Food, Fun and Conversation for a Happier Family and Healthier Kids,"
Baked American style chicken wings served with a fine ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping.
Meat Loaf
Dinner is the best indicator of how kids will fare in adolescence. The more frequently kids eat dinner with their families, the better they do in school, and the less likely they are to become sexually active, suffer depression, get involved with drugs or alcohol, or consider suicide.
Why?
Maybe because families who eat together talk more, which helps them stay connected and build better relationships. Also, it could be because parents who show up to eat with their teens and tweens are more likely to express their love constructively in other ways, in the form of both attention and supervision.
Maybe because families who offer kids more structure are more likely to keep kids attending to their homework as well as out of trouble. Maybe because dinner transforms individual family members into a “group”, which gives parents more clout to rival the power of the peer group.
Or maybe because children, even more than the rest of us, need something to count on every day – the tangible security of belonging and being nurtured that is represented by the ritual of sharing food with those we love.
To quote clinical psychologist and parenting coach Dr Laura Markham: “Whatever the reason, family dinner is a pretty easy insurance policy to build into our home life.”
-Eating together helps families bond
There are few things as iconic as American meatloaf. It’s as American as baseball, apple pie, and keg parties. It is a rare person, indeed, who has never had a meatloaf dinner.
Very few things beat a fine delicious meatloaf dinner. In fact it is great with beer. Try it!
Meatloaf is a very simple meal that is made out of ground beef, eggs, bread and ketchup. You mix the entire mess together and pop it into the oven and let it cook. Then take it out and eat with mashed potatoes, peas and carrots and some bread. Yum!
Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwich
Now, this meal isn’t so much a dinner meal as it is an iconic American lunch meal. And, make no mistake. It is iconic.
A fine and delicious, easy to prepare meal- tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.
Among the most lasting and powerful traditions in family life is one that seems to have more influence than almost any other – the family meal. Recalling your favorite family experiences usually leads to thinking of such times as the weekly Sunday meal, family mealtimes during Thanksgiving or other holidays, or a Saturday morning breakfast with Mom or Dad.
Why are family meals so powerful?
Sharing a family meal provides an experience that touches all of our senses – sight, touch, taste, smell and listening to warm laughter or good conversation. Family meals help provide a regular, consistent opportunity to create a shared experience that is meaningful and offers a sense of belonging to all. Research has shown that regular and meaningful family meals offer a large variety of benefits to children and parents.
- The Big Benefits of Family Meals
Eating a nice bowl of tomato soup and dipping a really nice grilled cheese sandwich into the soup is a far wonderful thing to do. My memories of this most fantastic and simple meal have always been pleasant. They have been about friends and family and home.
American style tomato soup with a fine grilled cheese sandwich.
In general you cannot get a tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich outside of the household environment. So my memories are, of course, about family and friends.
Chicken Noodle Soup
Scruffy hospitality means you’re not waiting for everything in your house to be in order before you host and serve friends in your home. Scruffy hospitality means you hunger more for good conversation and serving a simple meal of what you have, not what you don’t have. Scruffy hospitality means you’re more interested in quality conversation than the impression your home or lawn makes. If we only share meals with friends when we’re excellent, we aren’t truly sharing life together.
-MNN
Now, chicken noodle soup is a global food. Heck! You can even find it in China. Though it is made slightly different. I personally like the American version and I particularly like it with chicken breast, fresh celery, and delicious large carrots cut at an angle.
Delicious chicken noodle soup with egg noodles.
We would make the soup in a large tureen on the stove, and then cook the noodles separately. (Sometimes we would cook rice.) Though, always separately. Egg noodles were always the noodles of choice. In particular Klusky’s noodles.
We would then eat it with white bread and butter.
Eggs and bacon
This meal is actually known as “bacon and eggs”. It’s a (for certain) breakfast meal, but it is so easy to make and cheap that it can be made at any time. It’s just fantastic as a dinner if need be. You just MUST makes sure that the bacon is crunchy crisp. Wimpy and fatty bacon isn’t bacon, it’s something obscene. Ugh!
A nice bacon and eggs meal showing bacon cooked properly, toast that is toasted properly and “sunny side up” eggs. Delicious!
Family meals offer the opportunity to connect with each other, communicate about family happenings, and give each other time and attention. While families are encouraged to share meals, not every meal has to be a sit-down dinner extravaganza. The most important thing about family meals is to make them frequent, fun and family-centered.
Couples or families will benefit more from family meals if they occur more frequently during the week. Typically, research suggests that more than half of families with children in the United States share a meal five or more times a week. A concern, however, is that 30 percent to 35 percent of families often eat less than three meals a week together, which means less time for connecting and communicating. Changes in family life, such as the increase in dual-earner families and the rise in single-parent families, may make eating together frequently more difficult for families. Families, however, should try to set aside regular and consistent family meal opportunities to eat together as often as possible.
Fun also is part of the recipe for a happy family mealtime. Parents and other adults should try to avoid making mealtime a disciplinary occasion when children are reprimanded or given lectures. Instead, save such conversations for a time away from the dinner table, and focus instead on being together in a positive way.
A family-centered mealtime means limiting distractions, especially the TV or computer. Turn such things off at mealtime and use strategies to engage each family member in conversation.
- The Big Benefits of Family Meals
Enjoy the time with your children. Teach them the joys of cooking, as well as the fun of eating together. Make it fun. Make games of food prep. make planning meals and buying groceries and adventure. Teach them budgets planning and how to select things at a grocery sore. Show them how different spices work together. You can do this!–
Eating “Mexican”
Now, I do hope that no one is offended. But, you know, I didn’t have my first burrito and taco until after I left the Navy.
I had no idea how delicious Mexican food was until later when I was training for my role within MAJestic at the China Lake Naval Weapons Center outside of Ridgecrest, California. There, I fell in love with a restaurant chain known as “Del Taco”. Later on, when in Corpus Christi, Texas I ended up getting my first tastes of authentic Mexican food.
I never looked back.
A wonderful and delicious burrito with sides of rice, refried beans and a mysterious but delicious salad.
Now there are so many different kinds of “Mexican food”, that it would take a complete website to even start to list them all. For now, just realize that, for me, we would just (in general) say “let’s eat Mexican”. And we would go procure some refried beans (don’t know how to make ours from scratch), some wraps, salsa, and make up burritos or taquitos.
Tacos and fixins’
In a more traditional Spanish, Mexican or SA (Spanish-American) family, the meals are communal with multiple plates where a person can build and construct their own dinner creations. There might be a plate of cut up tomatoes, one of peppers, a bowl of rice, and one of ground beef, and another bowl of cut up lettuce.
These meals are all very easy to make and fun to eat, not to mention very delicious.
A fine Mexican themed spread for the family.
“Families should be encouraged to make the family meal more of a priority and to try to have at least four family meals per week. It is often easiest for families to eat dinner together, but other mealtimes work as well. Meals can be simple with shared mealtime responsibility among family members.
Teaching children the enjoyment of cooking and having them involved in mealtime preparation develop skills they can use for a lifetime. Shared meals can also be extended to friends and neighbors to build a stronger sense of community and help with meal preparation.
… Regular family meals are key components of family life that may make a difference in the lives of children and parents.”
-Story, M., and Neumark-Sztainer, D. A perspective on family meals: Do they matter? Nutrition Today, 40 (6), 261-266; 2005 .
Oh, and don’t forget the special corn spread that make eating an ear of corn, super special!!!
Mexican corn spread for eating the corn in a very special delicious way.
“Backyard” Hamburgers
Of course, you can always get a hamburger at any millions of chain fast food restaurants. But we are not talking about that here. We are talking about the family ritual of making home-made hamburgers for family consumption.
Fine delicious home-cooked and home-grilled hamburgers in the back yard is a staple of American family life.
Making your own hamburgers is very American. It’s a tradition and it is reserved for special occasions. In other words, it’s not a typical dinner meal. Instead it is a meal that is used to meals with extended-family and friends. Thus, it is usually cooked and takes place on weekends and holidays.
Home made – backyard grilled – hamburgers do not resemble fast food hamburgers. They are completely different all together.
You know, hamburgers are not a typical American dinner meal. They are reserved for lunches or other special occasions. However, when the occasion calls for it, home-made hamburgers just cannot be beat. Go “home style” nothing else ever comes close.
Hotdogs (With Sauerkraut)
This is a very simple but unique meal. You simply buy a package of hotdogs and a can of sauerkraut. You put the hotdogs in the bottom of a pan, and cover them with the can of sauerkraut. They cook easily and quickly. Then for dinner you eat kraut-dogs with mustard and perhaps horseradish.
This is a very simple but unique meal. You simply buy a package of hotdogs and a can of sauerkraut.
If you have young kids, nothing will make them happier than a meal of hotdogs. You know, you don’t need to have baked beans with it, but if you wanted to you could add some black beans, and some cut up onions as well. Make it a special meal. Your family will love you for it.
Kraut-dog with fine delicious mustard. Your kids would love you for this wonderful meal. You can serve scalloped potatoes, potato salad or corn. Oh, and don’t forget the beer. Make sure it is icy and chilled.
If you’re not into health or family, consider that eating home-cooked meals is also cheaper.
A sample estimate finds that a family of 4 could save nearly $40 a week, per person, by simply shifting meals into the house. You’ll be saving money while your kid is getting Bs and not picking up a drug habit. That’s a win all around.
But the best part about getting together for dinner is that it becomes ingrained in a family’s tradition if you start the habit early. While eating with a little kid may feel chaotic and not very beneficial, know that every dinner at the table removes you even further from a dystopian hellscape. And that can only be a good thing.
-Fatherly
Sauerkraut gets a bad rap! Condiments for hot dogs go deep and wide, but generally sauerkraut gets overlooked. Is it preparation, is it the word “sauer” gets misconstrued?
“Home made” Pizza
Yes. Pizza is not a normal dinner meal. That is, of course, except when it is a home-made, home style pizza. Oh yeah baby!
What to do when your 8-year old nephew comes to visit? Make pizza, of course! It’s not just eating dinner that can be a social event, but also cooking the dinner can be an adventure as well.
My mother, God bless her soul, bought me a cookbook when I was younger, and one of the first things that I did was learn how to make pizzas from scratch.
I experimented on the bread dough. I experimented on the sauce. I experimented on the cheese and the toppings. I even discovered that broccoli (cut up very fine and added to the sauce) was an amazing complement to a fine well-made home-style pizza.
Making real pizzeria style pizza at home has always been very tough to do. The reason has been it’s not possible to get a home oven to the same temperature as a commercial pizza oven, but that doesn’t matter. There are all sorts of tricks to make really delicious pizzas using a normal typical household stove.
Oh, do what we do in my family. We make the dough, the sauce and the topping and freeze them. Then pull them out and allow them to defrost and throw together a really quick meal. Delicious.
Roast Mutton
When I first had kids, I ended up entertaining a lot less, partly because of the mess in the house that I no longer had time to deal with.
Then one day, a woman I very much admired said something so simple. She said whenever someone was coming to her home — a home with five children in it — and she started to worry about how her home looked, she would stop and think: "Are they coming to see me, or are they coming to see my home?" It occurred to her that someone who would have a problem with her home looking like a family of seven lived in it wasn't really someone's opinion she cared about.
I'd love to say I embraced that wisdom immediately, but I didn't. Slowly, though, I have let go of some of the crazy things I believed must happen before people entered my front door. The first thing I let go was the upstairs. Over the years, I've became more relaxed.
Next, I didn't dust. Nobody said a word, and they came back again.
I didn't plan the entire meal around foods I could prepare ahead of time so my kitchen could be spotless when my guests arrived. Friends jumped in the kitchen and helped me finish making dinner, and we had fun.
-Mother Nature Network
Mutton? Yes, you bet. No, it’s not an overly common meat in the United States. When I was growing up, we ate i maybe about four times a year. But still, it’s a find meat and lends itself to some very delicious meals.
Delicious lamb chops. It’s outrageously delicious. Ask the butcher to trim the fat cap (the thick sheet of fat on the outside of each rack) but to leave a thin layer of fat. Some butchers like to “French” the ribs, trimming away the meat between the rib ends to leave the bone exposed, but this meat is tasty and should be left in place. Ask the butcher to cut between the ribs to make a total of 16 single-rib chops.
One of the most important things any dad can do for his kids is to show up for dinner. It really is that simple.
Research from the Journal of Adolescent Healthshows that the more frequent the family dinners, the higher the positive impact they have. “When clients ask me what the most important aspect of family meals are I answer, ‘Making them happen!’” says pediatric dietitian Melanie Silverman. “These meals provide the structure and sense of community that young children need and crave during their development.”
The benefits are well documented.
First, there’s the educational component. Research published in New Directions for Child and Adolescent Developmentfound that mealtime conversation boosts vocabulary even more than books. According to the findings, children between the ages of three and five learned some 1,000 rare words at the dinner table compared to the 143 rare words from parents reading storybooks aloud.
-Fatherly
Curried mutton over rice. This simple meal was one of my favorites growing up as a child. My mother would make it and give us some chutney to add as a topping to it. I loved it.
Pigs in a blanket (Stuffed Cabbage)
This is a very common “American” food, even though it originated outside of the States. Most American families have learned how to make this tasty and delicious meal. Being from Pittsburgh, everyone made and ate this most wonderful of foods.
No summer cookout is complete without a tray of stuffed cabbages! Tender cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, seasoned ground meats and a rich tomato sauce make this the perfect summer comfort food. Plus these freeze beautifully!
This dish, God this dish brings back so many childhood memories that I literally sat here for 30 minutes in a daze just remembering some of them. Like there was the time we were harvesting cabbages from our garden and we each got to pick a single plant that we were in charge of to take care of. Whoever grew the biggest cabbage won. The prize was Mom would cook our favorite dessert to go with her famous stuffed cabbages. That summer I ended up winning. This cabbage was so huge that I couldn’t lift it. I know I have a picture of me trying to hold it on my lap. I’ll dig it out to share the pic once my arm is better.
Then there are the countless memories where our kitchen was soooooooooooooo hot (we didn’t have AC growing up and we only had window fans) and Mom had 3 large canning pots on the stove with boiling water making hundreds of stuffed cabbages. I can still remember that hot cabbage smell and hot/wet air in the kitchen. Dad would use the tongs to pull out the leaves, put them in the colander and my Mom, sister and I would each trim the stems.
- Mom’s Classic Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Where I come from Pigs in a Blanket are cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and meat. You may also know them Halupkies. Traditionally these cabbage leaves are stuffed with rice and ground pork, beef or a combination of both meats.
Pittsburgh, a melting pot of nationalities, drew a large percentage of its population from Central European, Eastern European, and Balkan countries, and those influences can be seen in local cuisines that are still popular today. One traditional dish that has remained popular over the last century and is still a staple at many Pittsburgh area dinner tables is the famous stuffed cabbage.
The stuffed cabbage roll (also known as pigs in a blanket) is a dish consisting of a mixture of beef, rice, and seasonings, hand wrapped in cooked cabbage leaves, and topped with a tomato sauce. Many in the area still refer to the “hunky handgranades” by their ethinic names: Golabki (Poland), Holubky (Czech Republic and Slovakia), Golubtsy (Russia) Balandėliai (Lithuania) , Halubcy (Belarus), Holubtsi (Ukraine).
-Conrad Catering
Yeah, I know that this is a regional from from Pittsburgh, but this is my blog and I am the one writing this. If you don’t like it, then you can write your own blog.
I happen to like these stuffed cabbage rolls, and yes, they are referred to a “pigs in a blanket”, not the hotdogs wrapped in the Pillsbury instant roll dough.
Now depending on where you grew up or even what your background is you either called these Stuffed Cabbages, Pigs in a Blanket or Halupkies. The only real ingredient difference I’ve found between these is the use of either all beef or the omittance of rice and usage of potatoes instead.
Hey! And here’s a recipe for you all. See how easy it is to make!
Pigs In A Blanket (cabbage rolls) #SundaySupper
Oh and while I am at it, let’s take a look at how families work… the division of labor and how you can eat delicious meals all the time and not be stressed out over it. Yes, there is a way.
It’s called having a “traditional conservative family“, as opposed to a “progressive modern contemporaneous family”. You can read my propaganda on this issue and the importance in parenting and family budgeting. The link below opens up in a separate tab for later reading for you all.
Hey! If you love your children enough. Spend TIME with them. You can always make more money, but you can never make more time.
Stuffed peppers
This meal is similar to the stuffed cabbage, only they are stuffed in peppers and use a slightly different mix of spices. Never the less, they too are easy to make and super delicious.
Stuffed Bell Peppers are easy to make and everyone loves them! We fill these with a mixture of beef and sausage but you can use one or the other (or even ground turkey if you prefer) and I sometimes replace the rice with Cauliflower Rice. While I used green peppers in this recipe, any color bell pepper (red/yellow/orange) will work just fine.
When choosing the color of pepper for your Stuffed Peppers recipe, it will depend on your personal taste preference. Green peppers are a bit more zesty and definitely less sweet than red, yellow or orange. Green peppers in this recipe really compliment the flavors in the beef, sausage, tomato-rice mixture.
One of the cool things with many home-made American foods is that they lend themselves to batch creation, and then freezing for later for a quick and easy delicious healthy family sit-down meal.
“The truth is that our weeknights are pretty packed with sports practice, piano lessons, and homework, along with what can seem like the never-ending demands of my job,” says Sun Basket’s executive chef, Justine Kelly.
“It’s challenging, but I make a point to have dinner with my daughter every night. Also, one thing we always make time for is Sunday supper at my sister’s house. My parents come and my daughter gets to spend time with her cousins. It’s a highlight of our week.”
-Fatherly
There are few things finer than spending time with family and food. You can spend it with friends and pets as well. The smells, the creativity, and the environment together is far better than a movie, or a video game. Food and friendships equal paradise. make sure that you get your children involved early on.
Yes, you definitely can freeze
Stuffed Peppers and they are a great make-ahead meal! You will need to
bake them first, then you can either freeze them individually or
together in a baking dish. To re-heat, simply thaw in the fridge
overnight and bake in a 350°F oven until heated through.
Delicious and wonderful city chicken being cooked on a skillet. It’s a fine and wonderful meal that is cheap, easy to make and delicious. It also goes great with just about any vegetable side dish. Oh, and do not forget the nice frosty beer.
If you grew up in the North or Midwest regions of the country, you may be familiar with a dish called City Chicken, either as a mainstay in your weeknight supper rotations or a favorite comfort food.
For many people it is a mystery. No one ever really understands what it was, why it had that name, and why they couldn’t find any recipes for it in cookbooks.
You won’t find a recipe for City Chicken in the poultry section of a cookbook because, well, it isn’t poultry.
Known as a Depression Era recipe, cubes of veal and pork are threaded onto a skewer in order to create a faux drumstick. Seasoned and breaded, then fried or baked, this was a popular and delicious way to “fake” a poultry dinner.
I love this photo. Cooking in the kitchen with friends and family. The dinner meal is an ideal opportunity for friends and family to get together and share fun, talk and drink.
But why would you have to fake chicken?
Prior to the 1940’s, everyone wanted a chicken on the dinner table, yet surprisingly it was very expensive, even more so than pork and veal. Thus, we have the invention of “fake” chicken. Also known by the more common name of “city chicken”.
With roots in both Pittsburgh and Cleveland, where Polish and Ukrainian immigrant communities have strong presences (and found more scarcely in other Great Lakes-area cities like Detroit and Buffalo), city chicken got its start in the Depression era, when chicken was scarce and more expensive. Made then with pork, veal, or a combination of the two, the meats were cubed and then threaded onto skewers, then breaded to create a drumstick-like shape to better resemble chicken.
-Eater
Delicious city chicken. It goes great with rice, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, or a fine spinach or maybe some cabbage. Oh, and don’t you dare forget that nice icy beer. Eh?
Spend time with friends.
Eat well.
Talk, laugh. Drink.
Enjoy your moments together.
Hygge is the idea that helps Denmark regularly rate as one of the happiest countries in the world — Danes have regularly been some of the most joyful in the world for over 40 years that the U.S. has been studying them — despite long, dark winters.
Loosely translated at "togetherness," and "coziness," though it's not a physical state, it's a mental one. According to VisitDenmark (the country's official tourism site): "The warm glow of candlelight is hygge. Friends and family — that’s hygge too. And let’s not forget the eating and drinking — preferably sitting around the table for hours on end discussing the big and small things in life." Hygge's high season is winter, and Christmas lights, candles galore, and other manifestations of warmth and light, including warm alcoholic beverages, are key to the concept.
Still a little confused and wondering how you could cultivate hygge in your life? This Danish NPR commenter sums up some specifics: "Hygge is a deep sense of cosy that can originate from many different sources. Here is a good example from my life : a cloudy winter Sunday morning at the country house, fire in the stove and 20 candles lit to dispel the gloom. My husband, puppy and I curled up on our sheepskins wearing felt slippers, warm snuggly clothes and hands clasped around hot mugs of tea. A full day ahead with long walks on the cold beach, back for pancake lunch, reading, more snuggling, etc.
This is a very hyggligt day." Now that sounds do-able, doesn't it?
- 7 cultural concepts we don't have in the U.S.
A fine young budding master chef. Check out all the things he is learning. Check out that he is in the kitchen with family. Check out how intent he is on what he is doing. Not only that! But, he will be able to eat his creation. How absolutely wonderful!
Chili
Ah. Chili. My mother always would make a big stiff tureen of chili on the stove in the Winter. Then when anyone would come over to visit, we would make up a fresh pot of coffee and give them a bowl of chili and some rice.
Delicious and wonderful home cooked, home made, chili with love. It is one of the most popular American foods and can be found all over the United States. You can find chili in California, in Texas, and in Massachusetts. Chili is a very popular meal that also lends itself to other meals as well.
Over the years I have developed my very own versions of this simple and delicious food. In fact, it is super easy to make in China. You just use a Hunan spice packet for the Chili mix.
In general, I like to eat it over white rice. Though, I do have friends that prefer Doritos, or other kinds of chips. They also like to add graded yellow or cheddar cheese on top. While I like to crunch up saltines and cheese. I will tell you what, it is fantastic with icy cold beer. It is a fantastic meal.
Delicious and wonderful home cooked, home made, chili with love. It is one of the most popular American foods and can be found all over the United States. You can find chili in California, in Texas, and in Massachusetts. Chili is a very popular meal that also lends itself to other meals as well. Oh, and never forget that chili goes good with an icy cold beer. Make sure that the chili is hot, and the beer is cold. For it is a cold bowl of chili when love let’s you down. Don’t you know.
Oh, and you can also have fresh ears of corn on the side, maybe a salad or even Oreo cookies if you would like.
“When adults are talking, putting their napkins in their laps, and eating a variety of foods, they are teaching the young children at the table how to be human,” says Silverman.
“Meals are a multi-sensory classroom with emotional, physical, and developmental benefits.” The most important part of the puzzle? To simply make family meal-time happen.
-Fatherly
Chili can be made using a wide range of ingredients. You can even make an all vegetarian chili if you wish. Personally, I just can’t see the point. As humans are carnivorous creatures as designed by God. But there you have it. If you want to do your thang – go ahead. I’m not judging. Just saying.
Stuffed Pork-chops
You know that pork-chops are great. How about stuffed pork-chops? OMG!
The chops are typically made with pork chops that are 1 1/4- to 2-inches thick. Look for chops that are already secured with twine or toothpicks that prevent the stuffing from falling out. All you have to do is pick them up, bring them home and preheat your oven or grill to cook up delicious stuffed pork chops. Baked or Roasted Stuffed Pork Chops.
-How to Cook Stuffed Pork Chops From a Grocery Store
It’s exactly like you would expect. It’s a thicker cut of pork chops. Only you slice the chops and in that slice you stuff it with stuff. Usually, right out of the (store bought) box of stuffing.
Who doesn’t like pork? Well, aside from the religious, and those on the fringe? Savory and delicious tasty home made American-style pork chops. It’s a very easy and delicious meal that anyone can make.
This is a nice little meal that I discovered while I was in High School. A girl that I was handing out with at the time introduced me to a little “hole in the wall” establishment off a side street in Butler, PA. I immediately fell in love with them.
You know the type of place—where the big loud guy behind the counter works fast and furious, takes your order (you better know what you want!) and barks back “Sausage, Peppers, and Onions!” to the guys on the line, and within minutes you have a huge roll in your hands, loaded with more sausage and peppers with onions than you think you can possibly eat.
But eat you do, because that sausage and peppers with onions are so so good. And then you have a food coma for the rest of the afternoon, and you eat steamed broccoli for dinner because after that lunch, you just don’t need much for dinner. Yum!
Here is a most delicious Italian sausage meal. The sausage is slow cooked in a crock pot for four hours or so with Italian spaghetti sauce, some peppers and onions, and then removed and placed on a freshly baked hard roll. It i a most excellent family lunch, but makes a wonder dinner when paired with a bowl of creamy soup. Yum!
Funny thing, though. My mother never made them. She did not like sweet Italian sausages. She never could see the point of it. Why buy sweet Italian sausages when you could buy kielbasi instead?
Well, I disagreed. I happen to love this meal.
What Kind of Sausage and Peppers to Use?
This dish is typically made with a several different colors of bell peppers—usually one green, one red, and one either yellow, orange, or purple. That said, use whatever color bell peppers you like! If you don’t like a color, skip it and just use more of another color.
As for sausages, in this recipe we are using a combination of sweet and hot Italian sausages, but if you want a milder dish, use only the sweet sausages and reduce the amount of chili pepper flakes in the recipe. Likewise, if you would like it spicier, use all hot sausages and/or bump up the amount of chili pepper flakes.
How to Store, Keep, and Freeze
Once cooked, the sausage, peppers, and onions will easily keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge, but you can also freeze it for up to 3 months. Just defrost it in the fridge overnight and reheat in a saucepan over low heat, or pop it in a saucepan with a little bit of water or oil, over low heat, until completely warmed through.
-simplyrecipes.com
A very fantastic and tasty Italian sausage sandwich on a fine fresh hard crunchy roll and is best served hot. You do want to drink and wash it down with a nice icy beer. A local beer is always best. Don’t you know.
Four Steps to Make the Most of a Meal
Being there may be the most important part of family meal-time, but there are still a few things you can do to make the conversation all the more fruitful.
1. Have a ritual.
Answer the same question every evening when you sit down to eat to give your kid something to prepare for and see how the answers shift over time with their changing perspective. A few examples: “What are you thankful for?” or “What were the peak (best part) and pit (worst part) of your day?”
2. Play games.
Challenge your kids and encourage fun and creativity by asking them questions like, “What were the three craziest things you saw today?” or “If you were an animal, which would you want to be and why?”
3. Skip the TV dinner.
Do your best to turn off the TV, put phones away, and negate any distractions that can take away from your time to talk. “Family meals should be pleasant, fun, and technology free to optimize the experience,” Silverman says.
4. Get everyone involved.
This is a time where the whole family chips in to come together. Ask your kids to wash veggies or set the table. “I’m a big fan of teaching children to cook,” Silverman says. “Their own home kitchen is the perfect place to start learning how to prepare healthy meals.” One of the easiest ways to teach them skills in the kitchen is for them to try their hand (with adult supervision) at one of the healthy, ready-to-make meals from Sun Basket.
-Fatherly
Such a satisfying combo! Italian sausages cooked with bell peppers, sweet onions, crushed tomatoes, and garlic. Served on a hoagie roll or over pasta or polenta. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Sausage and peppers with onions. This is one of those classic Italian-American street food, lunch cart dishes.
Oh, yes. Do not forget.
Food cooked, is food to eat. Don’t stand there yapping! Make yourself a sandwich and pour yourself a beer. have a good time you all!
Another fine example of a home-made-Italian sausage sandwich. I’ll bet you won’ be able to get this in a fast food restaurant.
Beef Tips and Rice
And no, it’s not Chinese.
This is one of those wonderful meals that I will always treasure. For some reason, and I do not know why, I always remember the relaxing time after I ate this meal. When we are all sitting at the table talking and enjoying our after-dinner coffee in demitasse cups..
Delicious and wonderful beef tips and rice. The perfect meal for a fine active household. It actually goes great with iced tea. Did you know that?
Around the south, just about all the local mom-and-pop style
restaurants feature Beef Tips with Rice and Gravy on their menu. It’s
an old diner favorite that is also usually one of the cheaper menu
choices because it can take a somewhat tougher cut of beef, slow simmer
it to make it tender and, then serve it up with a large portion of rice
and gray to cut costs.
Some people like to eat the beef tips and rice in a soup bowl, or a shallow bowl. I, myself, think that a fine dinner plate is the best. But, it’s all up to you all.
Its so versatile in that it tastes great when served over rice, over mashed potatoes or, even over noodles.
Busy family hints...
Here’s a really simple recipe that just needs about an hour to slow simmer before its ready to serve. You can take advantage of some cheaper cuts of beef anytime you find them on sale and, whip up some great Southern comfort food that can be served with rice, mashed potatoes or even noodles. It’s your choice.
Stew beef works very well for this recipe or, you can use eye of round steak like we did. You can even go all out and make it with a finer cut like Ribeye steak. The really great part is, whatever you find on sale, can probably be used to make our Beef Tips. Buy it while its on sale, freeze it and have it ready for a quick and easy lunch, dinner or Sunday dinner. I think you’ll like it about any time of the day.
-Taste of Southern
It certainly looks like a Chinese dish. Perhaps it is because many Chinese dishes follow the same formula. Except that they use a different sauce, different selection of spices and a different cut of meat. Thus this dish is a uniquely American dish and it is deserving of your attention as a wonderful entree to provide to your friends and family.
Salisbury steak
For the longest time my mother would make Salisbury steaks and they would be tough. They would be chewy and needed to be cut into tiny cubes to digest.
Then, I met a girl from Zambia.
Again, it might seem like this Salisbury steak meal is Chinese. But no. It’s not. It’s as American as Football cheer-leading squads and Saturday nights in the GTO. It’s different in that the gravy, the meat and the way of cooking the meal differs substantially from what is present in China. That’s neither good nor bad, it’s just the way it is. Live the difference!
When we lived together, she was able to make the most delicious Salisbury steaks that I have ever eaten. They were nothing sort of amazing. She said that there was nothing to it, but I disagree. Some people just have a natural affinity and skill at certain things, and she was just amazing in the kitchen.
"One of the simplest and most effective ways for parents to be engaged in their teens' lives is by having frequent family dinners,"
- Joseph Califano Jr., chairman and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA).
Salisbury steak can be served on a bed of rice, or with noodles. Heck, you can even serve it with potatoes, whether mashed or in any of the other delicious forms possible.
You might wonder just how a family can afford all this. Well, it’s no mystery. You can EASILY afford these meals provided you set your familial household to operate traditionally. It’s not at all what is promoted in the mainstream media, and perhaps it’s time to take a good hard long look at the assumptions that our parents made, and the sacrifices they made to become “progressive” and “enlightened”.
You can click on the link below. It opens up into a new fresh tab so that your browsing in this article will not be interrupted.
Shepard’s Pie
Now my first experience with “Shepard’s Pie” was in the school cafeteria. My mother tended not to make it at home. She felt that it was too simple a dish to make. More plebeian, I would guess.
A fine Shepard’s pie. Nope. You will not find this in a fast food restaurant. Though, you could possibly discover it in a British or Irish pub.
Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings is a family favorite meal that is both comforting and delicious! Chicken and dumplings is a dish that consists of a chicken cooked in water, with the resulting chicken broth being used to cook the dumplings by boiling. A dumpling—in this context—is a biscuit dough, which is a mixture of flour, shortening, and liquid. The dumplings are either rolled out flat, dropped or formed into a ball.
Chicken and Dumplings. A fine, fine American meal.
This chicken and dumplings recipe is created from scratch including the tender dumplings and juicy chicken in an easy homemade broth. Combine chicken, onion, carrots and celery in a large pot. Season to taste.
EATING AT HOME SAVES MONEY.
In 2007, the average household spent $3,465 on meals at home, and $2,668 on meals away from home, according to the national Consumer Expenditure Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Per meal, that’s about $8 per meal outside of the home, and only about $4.50 per each meal made in your own kitchen.
- 9 Scientifically Proven Reasons to Eat Dinner as a Family
Potatoes with onions and eggs
Eating family dinners is associated with healthy dietary food patterns. A 2000 survey found that the nine to 14-year-olds who ate dinner with their families most frequently consumed more fruits and vegetables and less soda and fried foods. Their diets also had higher amounts of many key nutrients, like calcium, iron, and fiber. Matthew W. Gillman, MD, the survey’s lead researcher, noted that family dinners allow for both "discussions of nutrition [and] provision of healthful foods."
- 9 Scientifically Proven Reasons to Eat Dinner as a Family
This meal is representative of a very simple meal that I once cooked for a friend. She had to work and we offered to baby-sit her kids for her. The thing was that the poor kids weren’t eating right. They didn’t eat all day. And there was nothing in the kitchen. I mean, the entire kitchen was empty except for some onions, potatoes and a few eggs.
Here’s what you do.
Potatoes and onions, a very fast and super cheap meal to make in a pinch.
You cut up the potatoes and the onions. Put in in a skillet with salt, pepper and butter. let it cook. The house will be filled with this wondrous aroma. Then you remove the potatoes and onions. And cook the eggs int he same pan. The kids will love it.
Meals need not be expensive. You just need to be a little creative.
Round Steak
Easy Crock Pot Round Steak recipe is quick to throw together, cooks all
day and produces a delicious beef and gravy dinner waiting for you when
you get home.
A fine and delicious round steak. There are so many ways to cook this steak. It is up to the family cook to pick one and see how it turns out. In any event, this meal is most certainly a pleaser. Everyone will enjoy the meal.
As my parents were partially of Polish decent and from Pittsburgh, the idea of eating perogies was as natural as learning how to put on socks. We all ate this most wonderful of meals.
Though my relatives always made perogies out of meats, vegetables and fruits, personally I never got a chance to eat the sweet versions. My siblings and my cousins always gobbled up the fruit versions. Leaving me with the more “unpopular” perogies.
A perogie is a Polish-American version of a Chinese dumpling. Only it is often filled with mashed potatoes, and cheese, and fried with onions in the Shanghai style.
No worries though. They now have ballooned up to the size of whales. While I have maintained my thin and trim lines. LOL.
Ravioli is a traditional Italian pasta dish made by stuffing rounds or squares of pasta dough with a filling, creating a sort of pasta “pillow.”.
Ravioli is a traditional Italian pasta dish made by stuffing rounds or squares of pasta dough with a filling, creating a sort of pasta "pillow.". The dish is wildly popular outside of Italy, and can be readily found in fresh and frozen form in most Western supermarkets.
-Wise Geek
Ravioli is a traditional Italian pasta dish made by stuffing rounds or squares of pasta dough with a filling, creating a sort of pasta “pillow.”. The dish is popular outside of Italy, and can be readily found in fresh and frozen form in most Western supermarkets.
Beef Stroganoff
Beef Stroganoff. My mother used to make this with egg noodles. As did all my aunties. It’s a Pittsburgh thing, I guess.
This wonderful meal consists of juicy beef smothered in a creamy mushroom and onion gravy. Beef Stroganoff is a crowd favourite that tastes like a slow cooked stew but is on the table in 30 minutes! Beef Stroganoff – a timeless retro classic!!
Beef Stroganoff. Juicy beef smothered in a creamy mushroom and onion gravy. Beef Stroganoff is a crowd favorite that tastes like a slow cooked stew but is on the table in 30 minutes! Beef Stroganoff – a timeless retro classic!!
If you have a demanding job, finding time to eat with your family may actually leave you feeling less stressed. In 2008, researchers at Brigham Young University conducted a study of IBM employees and found that sitting down to a family meal helped working moms reduce the tension and strain from long hours at the office.
- 9 Scientifically Proven Reasons to Eat Dinner as a Family
Cold-cut Spread
This isn’t really a dinner so much as it is a tradition. What we would do at my mother’s family and with her parents and relatives would be to have a “cold cut spread”. It’s just simply a layout allowing the person to make their own sandwiches at will.
This is also known as a “cold platter”. It is a very cheap and easy way to make a meal spread without any cooking.
Sandwich spreads are some of the best make ahead meals. When your family is in and out of the house, eating at different times and with different appetites, having these delicious and nutritious spreads in the fridge is like money in the bank. And make-ahead sandwich spreads are the perfect answer to feeding your family when it’s just too hot to cook.
Turkey, ham and salami cold cuts are all at home on a sandwich—but these deli meats can be used in many other ways. We like to add thin strips of salami to pasta carbonara and cheesy frittata, smoked turkey to spaghetti and thinly-sliced chicken to spinach salad. One of our favorite deli meats is high quality pastrami—there are few sandwiches more delicious (or iconic) than a Reuben. Piled high on rye bread with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing, it’s a New York deli classic.
The average restaurant meal has as much as 60% more calories than a homemade meal. Combine the fact that portions served in restaurants are continuing to expand with that fact that when we’re presented with more food, we’re more likely to eat more food, and it becomes clear that eating at home is simply healthier. When families eat together, young children are less likely to be overweight or obese because these children are eat regular, nutritious, home cooked meals, and also help in making or serving those meals.
- 9 Scientifically Proven Reasons to Eat Dinner as a Family
Sausage and (Hominy) Grits
A favorite of my mother. She would routinely cook this meal on every Tuesday once she settled into retirement. It’s a thing that she loved to do, but which I had no inking of why.
This is a full meal ready to go. The underrated hominy takes in the flavor of the roasted sausages; spinach cooked with garlic and chili flakes makes a perfect green addition to the plate. Seconds, please!
Research examining 5,000 teenagers has shown that when children eat with their parents regularly, they are more likely to be emotionally strong and have better mental health.
Teens who ate regular family meals were also more likely to be adjusted, have good manners and communication skills.
This effect is not restricted to the children - mothers who ate with their families often were also found to be happier and less stressed as compared to mothers who did not.
- 9 Scientifically Proven Reasons to Eat Dinner as a Family
Kielbasa
Nothing says Pittsburgh better than Kielbasa.
Polish kielbasa is traditionally made from ground pork. Some commercial variations of kielbasa are made from ground turkey, but these aren’t authentic. Garlic, along with pimentos and ground cloves, are the predominant seasonings.
What sets kielbasa apart from other members of the sausage family is its coarse texture, heady garlic flavor and classic Polish preparation – it’s traditionally not smoked or lightly smoked at best. Smoked sausage, on the other hand, is cooked and then smoked. Often, artificial smoke “flavors” are added as well. Because they’re fully cooked, you can eat smoked sausages cold or warmed. Other varieties include Italian mortadella, Cajun andouille, German bratwurst, bologna and hot dogs. Smoked sausage can be made from ground pork, turkey, beef or a combination of meats — and they can include any variation of seasonings.
Serve kielbasa warm, grilled or boiled, along with other traditional Polish sides such as pierogies — potato dumplings — pickled cucumbers and buckwheat groats. You can also cook kielbasa with eggs, use it for sandwiches, include in soups, stews and casseroles or serve with a side of vegetables.
Gumbo
Nothing says Southern Louisiana food like gumbo: A thick stew-like soup of meat, okra, and Creole and Cajun seasonings. But its history—and even its essential ingredients and method of preparation—is widely disputed.
A most delicious seafood gumbo. This is the food of New Iberia, you all. It is outstanding and wonderful. You have not lived until you have eaten some seafood gumbo.
Historians generally agree that its existence is first documented at the beginning of the 19th century. And the thickeners commonly used in many gumbo recipes (filé powder, okra, and gumbo roux—don’t worry, we explain all of these) give clues to its Choctaw Native American, West African, and French roots.
Regardless of its disputed origins and the myriad ways it’s prepared, it’s an essential, treasured part of New Orleans, Louisiana Creole and Cajun culture, and we’re here to break it down for you: what gumbo is, what ingredients to use, and how to make different types, from sausage to chicken to seafood gumbo.
Gumbo is a stew popular in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the official state cuisine. Gumbo consists primarily of a strongly-flavored stock, meat or shellfish, a thickener, and what Louisianians call the "Holy Trinity" of vegetables, namely celery, bell peppers, and onions. Gumbo is often categorized by the type of thickener used, whether okra or filé powder.
-Wikipedia
A most excellent dish, seafood gumbo has the makings of great times. All you need to do is add friends, beer and some fine music. Just bring yourself. And… of course… be yourself.
While both gumbo and jambalaya are mainstays of Cajun and Creole cooking, they’re both distinct dishes with different methods of prep. While gumbo is typically enjoyed as a rich, flavorful soup, sometimes served spooned over rice, jambalaya is similar to Spanish paella:
The rice is usually cooked with the protein (usually some mix of chicken, seafood, and/or sausage) along with the stock, seasonings, and veggies in one large ready-to-serve skillet. Creole Jambalaya may include tomatoes, while Cajun typically does not.
Studies have proven that there’s a significant link between family dinners and academic performance.
A report by CASA found that teens who have between five and seven family dinners per week were twice as likely to report receiving mostly A’s and B’s in school, compared to those teens who have fewer than three family dinners per week.
In addition, only 9% of teens who ate frequently with their families did poorly in school, according to the report.
- 9 Scientifically Proven Reasons to Eat Dinner as a Family
Many people would eat Gumbo as a stand alone dish, I would prefer to eat it as a soup with a fine sandwich nearby (and an icy beer). I have a write up or post about this. It is below. You can click on it and it will open up in another tab so that this article can be finished.
Hey! Here’s a great bowl of gumbo. Wouldn’t you just love to have one yourself?
A bowl of fine delicious gumbo with shrimp and okra. Yum!
Gumbo is usually distinguished by what is used to thicken
it—typically okra, filé powder, a roux, or some combination of the
three. The name “gumbo” is also speculated to come from the name of the
traditional bases: either from the word kingombo, a West African Bantu
word for okra, or from kombo, the Choctaw Native American word for filé
powder, an essential spice.
Filé powder: Filé
powder is dried crushed leaves from Sassafras, a plant native to the
Southeastern U.S. The powder is usually added at the end of the recipe
to thicken and season the gumbo and can usually be found in a
well-stocked supermarket or spice store.
Okra:
Used either fresh or dried, okra is one of the most common thickening
agents of gumbo and gives it its distinctive taste and flavor—it’d be
difficult to find a recipe for gumbo that doesn’t make copious use of
okra. Traditionally, when okra is out of season, dried okra can be used
instead.
Shrimp and okra gumbo, showing and illustrating how the okra is to be cut and added to this fine, and tasty gumbo dish.
Roux: Derived from French cooking, gumbo roux is much darker than the mildly toasted roux used in classical French cuisine. It’s made by toasting flour in fat such as butter until it’s golden brown, but many gumbo roux recipes call for a roux that is “chocolate-colored,” “mahogany,” or even “close to burnt”, and they’re typically made with oil instead of butter.
Some gumbo roux that can be obtained off the internet. Thus providing delicious Gumbo just about anywhere in the world.
“Holy Trinity”: Similar to mirepoix, (carrot, onion,
and celery) the “Holy Trinity” is the base of much of Creole and Cajun
cooking—bell pepper, onions, and celery is used to start many gumbo
recipes. Depending on the recipe, shallots, garlic, and parsley can also
be included in this essential blend.
The Trinity that is used in Gumbo.
Oh my Goodness! This is a long post!
I am so, so very sorry. However, I will have to wrap up this post leaving out so many, many delicious dinner suggestions.
For the purposes of brevity, let’s tack on the following as “honorable mentions”. All of which are delicious and deserving of their own place in the spot-light.
Clam bake
Cobb Salad
Baked Ham
Oyster Stew
Deviled Crabs
Deviled eggs
Pulled Chicken
Lox and bagels
Shrimp
Jambalaya
Baked Turkey
Family participation. Cooked and served with love and attention. No television. No cell phones. No games. No apps. Just people.
Conclusion
Talking. Eating. Being together. What’s not to love?
Eating meals together has the potential to strengthen family bonds as it provides a daily time for the whole family to be together.
For younger children, routine family meals can provide a sense of security and a feeling of belonging in the family.
Older children and teenagers, too, prefer eating together as a family. In a recent Columbia University study, 71% of teenagers said they consider talking, catching-up, and spending time with family members as the best part of family dinners.
- 9 Scientifically Proven Reasons to Eat Dinner as a Family
Meals are to be shared. Share some food with others. It’s not expensive, but the time and the friendships are the most valuable things that you can have. Share your food. Share your time. Share your life.
With others.
This kitchen may not be picture-perfect, but it’s the perfect place for an authentic evening. (Special tanks to the Mother Nature Network).
A life lived alone is a life unlived.
Meals are to be shared. Share some food with others. It’s not expensive, but the time and the friendships are the most valuable things that you can have. Share your food. Share your time. Share your life.
Oh, yeah!
A family DOES NOT NEED two incomes. Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, is more important than spending time together. Live cheaper. Live frugally. Spend more time together. One person budgets and tends to the family. The other member labors and gives everything to the family. This system works.
Give it a whirl. You might be surprised how well it works out.
For you other expats out there…
This post is designed for you to show your relatives what “American food” is, and what it is not.
This is NOT American food…
All Americans have eaten a McDonald’s meal, but fast food is not family meal fare. It is not healthy and does not lend itself for communal meals and togetherness.
American “fast food” is a progressive invention to assist the “modern enlightened” person to cope in a stress-filled automated reality where the needs of the group come before the needs of the individual.
Tired of having to work two jobs to make ends meet. Well welcome to the new modern progressive reality ushered in by Wilson and FDR.
Background Links
Here are some links on related subjects that covers this specific subject in much more detail.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are
some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you
might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up
in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society
within communist China. As there are some really stark differences
between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have
broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones
actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little
different, in subtle ways.
Funny Pictures
Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.
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You can go all over the internet and find all sorts of advice on how to keep your love and life alive. Here is mine. I argue, quite convincingly, I must add, that happiness can be had by any couple that enjoys fine food and drink.
There is an old saying that goes a little like this…
“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
Oh, it might not be all that popular in today’s progressive reality of gender-less, role-less, lifestyle. But it is a very strong truth. If you want to keep a family strong, tight, and together, make sure that everyone is fed with delicious home-cooked delicious food.
You know, there is something very special about home-cooked, home-made food. Now, certainly, it all doesn’t have to be made from scratch. What is important is the care and attention that goes into the food preparation. Then, once the meal is made, it can be shared together with your loved ones at a table.
In traditional conservative households, the meal is the MOST important event of the day. It is a time where family members can relax, talk about their day and life. It is a time where you can share experiences, stories, laugh, cry and just have fun all within a safe protective environment. The most important caretaker of this ritual is the housewife. For she is the rock, the anchor from the the family revolves around.
Let everyone else play their games on their phones. Let them grab a burger at the local drive through. Let them steal bites while they are playing a game on the computer or watching the news. That is their life. Not yours. You and your loved ones can enjoy a meal together in peace.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, keeps a family together than delicious food shared together without interruption.
After nearly fifty years of traditional housewife bashing by Hollywood, and the mainstream media, the idea of traditional roles and life is frowned upon as a throw-back to “The Handmaids Tale”. Well this article is the rare, rare push-back to that well known and well-understood narrative. It describes the joys of delicious food, and praises those rare special people who put all their heart and energy into cooking delicious nutritious foods for their loved ones.
The meal
The most important meal, is of course, dinner. But here, we are going to concentrate on the second most important meal. Lunch.
And, of course, this entire article implies that the family members will somehow work out an arrangement whereas they can share a mid-noon meal together (and if possible) a siesta afterwards. It’s not always possible in today’s world. However, with some planning and preparation, it can be part of your life as well.
Of course, there are many meals that can be used for lunch.
I like steak and wine myself, but here we will concentrate on the most fundamental of American meals; the delicious soup, sandwich and icy cold beer. Ah, who doesn’t like beer? Who doesn’t like a thick and hearty delicious soup? And, for goodness sakes, who doesn’t enjoy a wonderful well prepared sandwich?
I met a few on the internet. They are ugly sad souls indeed.
Pepperoni pizza grilled cheese sandwich with homemade tomato soup. When my Mrs makes this up for me, I get all twitter-pated towards her. She goes to all this effort, and it is so very delicious. Such care and attention, what a wonder! Food is a way for people can express their love for each other.
Now, you do not need to make the soup from scratch.
Many times, the Mrs. would simply get a can of Campbell’s (creamy) soup, add milk or creme instead of water, and thicken it up with cheese and crunched up crackers. Oh, I so do love a thick soup. Especially something like creme of broccoli or celery.
I never really appreciated thick hearty creme soups until I was well into my 30’s. But, once I was bitten, I couldn’t get enough of this wondrous, tasty and delicious food.
Campbell’s soup can be obtained in China. However the American favorites aren’t all that popular. Instead, other favors are more popular like Borst, and clam chowder. The wife loves to take the can and embellishes upon it. Like adding rice to tomato soup, or thickening the creme soups into hearty delicious masterpieces.
Now, buying fresh bread is pretty hit and miss here in China. If possible, we will buy a loaf of fresh french or Italian bread if possible, and then use it. However, many times we are stuck with the various flavors of sliced white bread.
No matter. The creative can certainly work out a great sandwich out of it. It could be a “Dagwood” with everything, to a simple grilled cheese. No matter what, I personally enjoy all sandwiches with a tomato somewhere hiding between the layers of meat and cheese.
A bowl of delicious creme of broccoli soup. I love to eat it “extra” thick with yellow cheese (cheddar) and saltines. It is so hearty and very, very tasty. You can make it from scratch, oh the person who can do this is a master chef indeed. Or you can “cheat” and use an embellished can of commercially available soup.
Delicious Soups and Sandwiches
I think that it is a shame that many people in the United States today has forgotten the importance of soup and sandwiches made “home style”. Americans have grown up to accept high-caloric fast food alternatives as the preferred ways and means to enjoy lunches.
Most of the food that you can buy at a diner can be made at home for a mere fraction of the cost. It enable you to save money, and yet provide home-cooked, delicious foods for you and your loved ones, made exactly how you all like them. When you are saving such money, you often do not NEED to have a second source of income to support your accustomed lifestyle.
By eating healthy, with carefully prepared meals by those that you love and trust, you can not only lose weight, but eat better and spend quality time together. Gals, listen to me. No man will leave a woman who is a fantastic cook. We’d have to be out of our mind.
Seriously. Name one man who does not like to eat. Name one.
Of course, that’s coming from a traditional old stogie like myself. I cannot tell you what Justin Berber, Bill Clinton, or Ellen DeGeneres would do.
My wife constantly surprises me. She has made an all vegetable sandwich for me, and I could not tell that there wasn’t any meat in it. Seriously. All the vegetables were cooked. It was so very delicious, and she used just the right amount of seasoning as well. Amazing!
There are so many ways to make the soup and sandwich meal special. Personally, I think that tomato selection plays an important role. I also think that the selection of the type of onions (if you use them) are critical. Red onions taste differently than white or yellow onions.
The bread selection is important. Potato bread makes for great grilled sandwiches with melted cheese, but the Italian and French loaves with big air pockets add a special kind of taste that really emphasizes the meats.
Thin sliced roast beef with cheeses condiments and sliced rye bread for sandwiches. Careful budgeting, and control of the budget has enabled housewives over the centuries to provide delicious and tasty healthy meals for their families. By careful budgeting, the household can be eating wonderful, carefully prepared nutritious meals every single day. The children would love to come home for lunch instead of eating the government-approved Michelle-Obama lunch menus.
There are so very many ways to make sandwiches. You can go all vegetarian, or go lean on the meats, and go heavy on the delicious vegetables. You can lightly cook the vegetables, and melt cheese. You can add eggs, tuna, sausage, meat spreads, peanut butter, or just anything that you heart desires. Let the chef of the house decide. You will not be disappointed.
I suppose that everyone has their own tastes when it comes to sauces. I have taken to using a oil and mayonnaise mix with a tad of yellow mustard on most sandwiches, but the wife loves to mix it up with blue-cheese dressing, and such exotic (for here in China, at least) such things as French, Russian and Thousand Island dressing.
Plain old mayonnaise or Miracle Whip can make even a bad sandwich serviceable. But with a little extra work, that mayo can be great. Consider mixing in any of the following concoctions:
Pesto mayo (Tablespoon of pesto per half cup of mayo)
Curry mayo (1/2 tablespoon of curry powder per half cup)
Fry sauce (ketchup and mayo)
Thousand island (French dressing, pickle relish, mayo)
Sriracha hot sauce mayo (Sriracha to taste, plus mayo)
Brown mustard mayo (2 tablespoons per half cup)
Mayo and cajun seasoning (Teaspoon per half cup)
-WikiHow
I wouldn’t even know how to get started making this wonderful Polish meal, but my wife would. She seems to know just about everything when it comes to cooking. I could find a picture on the internet, and she would busy herself trying to replicate it for me. That is awesome!
Primal Urges
Being fed well,as well as all the care that goes in the preparation of food is primal. It is our most basic of human instincts. From the moment we are born, we associate love, nurturing, care and concern with food. The nourishment that we get from our mothers makes a lasting impression on us, and shapes who we are today.
These primal urges stay with us all our life.
It impacts our interests, our relationships with family and loved ones. It determines the kind of occupation we would have, and our security within that occupation. In fact, if I were to be so bold, it is how we are cared for by our parents, most especially our mother, that determines how well adjusted we will be as an adult, and how substantive our relationships would be.
You need to understand that guys are simple. When we want a sandwich, we make one from what ever is on hand, then we eat it. Very little care and concern goes into it. However, a woman is quite different. She knows how to make special and wholesome delicious food. She will take the time to pick the ingredients. She will take the time to trim and prepare the meal. She will make the meal perfect. Those little details will keep her man running to her everyday without fail.
Food, and nutrition, was provided to us from our loved ones at our earliest age. It is encoded in our genetic makeup to love those that serve, feed and nurture us. It is this nature, this most basic and primal of biological urges, that the traditional family structure is based upon.
The mother, the primary source of nutrition, love, and education, of the children would be responsible for their well being. The husband of the house would go forth and earn, provide, and support the family. Given the contentious history of the world, he would also protect it and defend it from others.
Then after a tough day, he would come home. He would give all of his earning to his wife who would use the money, budget it, invest it, and use it for the family. As such, he would find the hearth warm. The children happy, and relaxed. He would find a delicious meal waiting for him, and a loving family that appreciates him. Know your history.
People, you cannot replace a delicious home-cooked meal by a careful, loving housewife with a restaurant meal. You simply cannot. Where can you obtain this kind of burger? Only at home, by a careful, and cost conscious, nutrition minded housewife. Why do you think that everyone was so thin in America prior to the 1970’s? Why? I’ll tell you why. They ate healthy well-cared for and planned delicious meals made by someone with love. That is why. Not the pig-trough dishes heavy on fats, starches, and GMO’s, not to mention the piles of sugar, currently served in restaurants all over the USA. The well-meaning, but ignorant progressives seriously messed up the nation. You can see the damage everywhere. All you need to do is know your history and look around.
This all being said, let’s get back to the matter at hand. That is delicious food and wondrous icy cold beer.
It’s the Details that make the difference
I argue that when a loving wife makes up a carefully prepared meal for her man, that he appreciates it far more that he is able to tell her. No, this is not some scene from Jackie Gleason, or All in the Family. This is the real world, not some kind of Hollywood fantasy.
Men, I do not care who or where, appreciate food. They appreciate how it is made. They appreciate how it tastes. They appreciate the care and concern that goes into it. they appreciate the love and affection. Indeed, when a wife takes the time to prepare food for her family; her children, and her man, it is a special time.
It always has been.
America has changed substantially in many, many ways from what it was first established as. Traditionalists, and conservatives lament these changes. While progressive socialists embrace the changes. They love the idea of there not being any genders, no rules, no roles. They enjoy the idea where everyone is equal. Anyone who disagrees with them are deplorable Nazi’s. So they say. Meanwhile, us “normal’s” just live our life. Nod our head, and say to ourselves “oh, they’ll find out. Eventually.”
That goes double if there is a nice table spread set forth before the man. I will tell you, it is hard to turn your back on any woman who lays out an excellent table spread. Who treats her man as the king of the house. Who lays out a great table cloth, with sliced bread and butter, fine tasty food, an a icy cold beverage, and then joins the man for conversation.
One of the things that my wife likes to do for me is to make sure that my beer is frosty cold. She not only gets the glass pre-chilled, but she takes ices cubes and smashes them with a hammer into slivers, and then fills the glass with them. The beer is then poured into the icy glass for me to enjoy. Listen people, ain’t no other woman, in this entire world, would take the time or give the attention to ME than my wife does. That is one of the very many, many special things about her.
A grilled cheese sandwich is easy to make, and there are all sorts of ways to make it special. Like adding some peppers, or ham, or maybe a tomato, or some garlic inside. It’s all up to the housewife. Oh, and by the way, show your appreciation for the time, the effort, and the care that was taken to make these most delicious works of art. She would really appreciate it.
When you come across a woman who is smart, attractive and so detail minded for her man and her family, you would be an absolute fool to leave her. You know, people change over time. Your body changes, you put on weight. You get white hair, and things start to sag. But you know what, it is that forever level of attention that keep us guys coming back for more.
The Importance of a Strong Wife
I cannot state just how important it is to have a fine, caring and loving wife waiting for you when you come home from work. This isn’t the 1950’s where one you obtained a job, you were set for life. Today in America you can be hired and fired at will with zero notice. As such the bosses treat you like shit because they know that you cannot do anything about it.
And they WILL treat you like shit. Everything from being berated in front of your peers in a meeting, to getting a 360 degree review, to looking at his watch when it is time for you to leave for home. Men, real men, do not take this kind of abuse. But in America, the nation of Beta-males, do.
Oh, yeah. The world is a rough place. We’ve got megalomaniac bosses, HR with rules and regulations thicker than an old telephone book, and all sorts of requirements from blood drives, to free-overtime.
But you know what, when I come home, and my wife treats me like a king… well… I feel like I can take on the world for MY FAMILY. It’s like the character Uriah Heep. His home was his castle…literally. (There was even a rock group named after him. Remember the song “Easy Livin’?)
Uriah Heep – Easy Livin’Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. It has had the same lineup since 2013: lead and rhythm guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, lead vocalist Bernie Shaw, drummer Russell Gilbrook and bassist Davey Rimmer. Of the current lineup, Box is the only remaining original member. Throughout many lineup changes, the band has included many notable musicians, such as vocalists David Byron, John Lawton, John Sloman, Peter Goalby and Steff Fontaine, bassists Gary Thain, Trevor Bolder, John Wetton, Bob Daisley and John Jowitt, drummers Nigel Olsson, Lee Kerslake and Chris Slade, and keyboardists Ken Hensley and John Sinclair.
A real man, comes home to a genuine wife who treats him like a king.
I think that all men appreciate a good caring, loving woman. I think that he would be crazy not to. And even though Hollywood, and the mainstream media has ridiculed the traditional lifestyle to the point where it isn’t even considered, it is the ONLY household arrangement that has lasted for thousands of years and transcends cultures.
It is NOT a scene from the science fiction movie “The Handmaids Tale”. This reality has NEVER existed. Though with all the relentless media hype it sure seems lit it must have somewhere… but nah. It never did.
The science fiction movie titled “The Handmaids Tale” depicted women in traditional conservative roles as mindless zombie robots manipulated to do the bidding of the males in the community. It is a truly horrific movie and served the feminist movement in the United States quite well though promotion of a nonsensical narrative.
Listen up! You can say this or that, but the fact remains.
All men appreciate a good, caring woman is one who is an excellent cook. While there are all kinds of people, I have found that those women who love their family go out of their way to provide for them in the best way that they know how.
People, there is a bond that is strengthened over food.
The entire family appreciates a wife that can cook and cook well. We look forward to her creations and love to spend the time at the dinner table with her.
Of course, not everyone wants to recognize this fact.
There are, however, those who have lived in dysfunctional families, progressive families, or neutral-gender families that all tend to be very confused about roles and responsibilities.
They don’t apply themselves to their relations, and relationships. They feel that they don’t need to do so. They believe that roles are restrictive. They feel that responsibilities stifle their freedom. They believe that anyone who isn’t as open-minded and progressive as them are manipulated waifs that need to be liberated.
Instead they have their head in the clouds like they could be another Bill Gates, or a feminist version of Joan of Arc. In their mind, they can be anything.
It is fine to be who ever you want. Just remember that there are trade-offs to what ever path you take. If you do not want a traditional conservative lifestyle, then you can expect a very lonely life when you get older. Men will not partner up with older single women who do not give him the respect that attractive young females do.
Good for them.
They will find out that as they march this road all alone, that it starts to get very lonely. People need each other. We form families and love-strengthened bonds.
When they hit their 40’s childless, alone, with only their pets for company, let’s see how well they fare when no one visits them in the hospital when they are diagnosed with cancer. Let’s see how joyous their holidays are. Let’s see how much appreciation their companies and employers give to them for their “sacrifice”. Let’s see.
So they can drink their expensive Starbucks coffee alone inside. They can play on their iphone. They can check out the latest on social media.
Meanwhile you and I are going to spend time with our loved ones eating delicious food, talking about the things that matter to us, and enjoying each other’s company.
Now, wouldn’t you love to drink a beer with this wonderful melted sandwich? I know I would. And that is the point of all this. Food is meant to be shared. It evokes thoughts and memories of love, care and nurturing. That is why meals with family are so very important.
In praise of the great
You know, you do not need to inject the meals with tons of sugar to make them delicious. (I once had a girlfriend that used to do this. I didn’t care too much for the sugar-laden cooking.) Personally, I prefer simple and clean ingredients with light seasoning.
Which brings me back around to the delicious lunch meal of soup and sandwich. (Yeah, you all were probably wondering when I’d get back around to it.)
Oh it sounds so easy. Just a simple sandwich with baloney, mayo on white bread and a can of soup. But it’s not. Those are only the very basics. A woman, a skilled and knowledgeable woman can transform those basic materials into something marvelous and special. In the picture above you have three kinds of cheese melted on rye toast with tomato. Wow! And take a gander at that soup eh? This is amazing.
When I was a young boy, for a while I carried a lunch box. And inside that lunch box, my mother would prepare for me a soup (inside the thermos), a delicious sandwich inside a paper bag, and a piece of fruit. This varied from a apple to a banana and everything in between. And yes, it was easy enough to get candy and soda at school, we always ate our healthy lunches during lunch break.
Of course, I am from a different generation. Baloney was a staple, as was olive loaf, Braunschweiger, and peanut butter.
Oh, the Reuben! A powerful punch of salty sourness that comes courtesy of tasty corned beef, Swiss cheese, Russian dressing and sauerkraut. With so much overpowering flavor coming from your sandwich, it’s important to make a beer selection that serves as a balancing tray for the Reuben.
A real talented woman can make the most amazing dishes. You see, a woman has the ability to put everything into anything she does. If she loves you and her family, she will give you everything. She will provide for you. She will prop you up when you collapse, and she will keep your well-fed and strong. She will make fine delicious food for you. She will never let your down.
Not, like progressive women do. Don’t believe me? Facts don’t lie.
This is a chart of the divorce rate in the United States over time. You can clearly see that the SJW feminist movement during the 1970’s played a major role in the divorce rate in America and the reduction on parental education for the children. This was coincidentally ALSO the time when the majority of American households migrated away from traditional conservative family arrangements to progressive arrangements wither there are no rule, no role, and no responsibilities. What is truly sad about this is that most Americans today, having been raised in families after 1975, have no idea how wonderful a traditional conservative family arrangement could be.
China
Of course, long time readers of this blog will know that I live in China. China is a conservative paradise. It is a place where Chinese traditions are enjoyed, appreciated, and protected from progressive liberal influences. In fact, if you even try to pull any SJW, or progressive moves, the government will come and arrest you. Next stop? Re-education center to strip-mine all that evil progressive thought out of your mind.
One of the things that I miss the most about the awesome American culture is the wonderful food. How about some awesome and genuine American food? Right? Am I right or am I right? Maybe something along the lines of this…
What is better than a delicious Ruben sandwich? I like it served with thousand island dressing, and then I love to dip it in the dressing when I eat it. You know, the secret in making a good Ruben is avoiding having the bread get soggy. You can do this by enclosing the sauerkraut with the meat, and toasting the bread properly.
Eating American food, in a solid conservative culture is glorious. Ah, you’ve got to love China.
Here is a traditional, and typical, Chinese housewife.
In traditional societies, such as China, and America 50-years ago, the household is run traditionally. The man, as the head of the household, would go work and earn money and give all the money to the wife to budget. The wife, would be in-charge of finance, budgeting, and all domestic matters including raising the children and educating them.
Vintage American advertisement depicting an American housewife cooking for her family. This is sadly no longer part of the American cultural scene. However, in nations that do not engage in non-stop wars, they still do maintain traditional roles. This means that his scene, with minor cultural differences, can be seen all over China.
This relic still exists in China, though it has been modified to some degree by the necessities of modern life. For in China, multi-generational households run traditional, and conservative is the norm.
Here we have a housewife showing show she cooks delicious and nutritious meals for her family. So that when the husband gets home from work, and the children come home from school, this is what they can look forward to eating…
Anyways, and the big point that I would like to underline is very simple. Food is the way to people’s heart. Maybe the world has treated you poorly. Maybe you have problems. Maybe you are lonely. Maybe nothing is going well…
Share a meal with a friend.
If you can make it yourself, do so. It will cost less and you will be able to enjoy it within the privacy of your own home. Oh, and don’t skimp on the beer. There is nothing worse than cheap beer. Get the good stuff and enjoy it with your friends.
Here’s a steak grilled cheese to get you inspired.
Delicious steak grilled cheese sandwich. It goes great with a nice hot creamy soup and icy frosty beer. After a hard day at work, wouldn’t you just love to come home to a loving family and this waiting for you at the table? Most men would.
Conclusion
The truth and the fact is that most men that I know would be willing to give 100% of everything that he earns, if his wife uses it to make a solid, well taken cared for, household. FACT.
It is the progressive liberal socialist reality that says otherwise. In that reality it is one where there are no roles, no rules, and no structure. People come together, or not. Build a family or not. Divorce and find others, or not. It just doesn’t matter. There is no glue, or any thing of substance to keep the family together.
I urge everyone to revisit a traditional family arrangement. It will mean less income, but a much… much higher standard of living.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
Posts about the Changes in America
America is going through a period of change. Change is good… that is, after it occurs. Often however, there are large periods of discomfort as the period of adjustment takes place. Here are some posts that discuss this issue.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
Articles & Links
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Credit to Rush Limbaugh who gave me the inspiration to write this. This was inspired by his invaluable writings in his Rush Revere series of children’s books . Please enjoy.
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters. A parable is a type of analogy. -Wikipedia
This is the story about Moma and her amazing soup.
You see, while everyone else was making chicken soup the “old fashioned way”, Moma did things differently. About two hundred years ago, a woman named Moma, came up with a new and radically different way to make soup.
She called her soup “Chicken Soup”.
It was a simple name for a simple soup. While other cooks, chefs and cooking experts were calling their soups by regal names, Moma wanted a simple name for the soup.
As well as a simple name for her.
When a reporter asked her what to call her, an expert? A culinarian? A commis chef, or a chef de cuisine? She just replied, “Just call me a Cook”.
As far as the soup went, it was just as simple. She kept it clean and uncomplicated. However, the ingredients had to be well cleaned, they needed to be carefully cut, and the proportions of the ingredients needed to be consistent. There were three major ingredients and they all had to be in perfect balance. Otherwise the soup would fail.
Other people laughed.
They said her “great experiment with chicken soup” would never make it. Even one of her biggest supporters, her brother, said “Heh. Chicken soup… if you can keep it.”
Moma’s chicken soup became famous because the primary ingredients were simple, clean, small and well maintained. Everything was clear and the rules were followed by the chef to the letter.
The Secret
You see, while everyone else was making chicken soup the “old fashioned way”, you know throwing everything into the pot all at once and letting it blend together. Moma did things differently. She only used a limited number of ingredients. Of those ingredients, she would only add celery, carrots, cut up chicken breast and bullion.
That was it.
Nothing else, and no complex preparations or arrangements of food were required.
You see, Moma believed in balance. The celery balanced the carrots. The carrots balanced the chicken, and the chicken balanced the celery. As long as the roles of each item were clear, the soup became balanced and quite tasty.
Everyone else, however, believed that all soups should be representative of all the vegetables available. They threw in potatoes, squash, rutabagas and just about every other vegetable into their soup. These “soup purists” claimed that by doing so they made the soup more delicious. They claimed that the diversity of elements made it better, more improved and healthier.
They even wrote a poem about it.
“Give me your discarded vegetables, your unneeded leaves, Your huddled unusables yearning to be cooked freely, The wretched refuse of your teeming garden. Send these, the tasteless, the foul, the ugly, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden broth.” ― Do-well Good-biddy-body
But Moma would have none of that.
She believed that the best things in life came to those that worked hard and deserved a place at her table. To them, she would give them the best that she could make. She used only the best ingredients, perfectly selected, and cut and simmered under her watchful eye.
“Let others eat their soup”, she would proclaim. “If we do everything like everyone else, we will be just like them.”
And so it was.
Time passed
Time passed on and Moma died.
There was nothing sinister or scandalous about her death. It was natural. She lived a long and just life, and when the angel of death came for her, she welcomed it with open arms.
Knowing full well that her death was fast approaching, she explicitly warned about the dangers of changing her soup.
She warned about what could possibly happen and go wrong. She discussed her reasoning as to why the ingredients were as she specified. She explicitly delineated how it should be cooked and how it should be served.
She did so in a special document called the “Fed-Well Papers“. Here she explained everything so that people can well understand why things were made the way there were.
Her family, in her memory (as well as in her will) decided to maintain the family tradition. They would keep everything the same. Especially the name of the soup “Moma’s Chicken Soup”.
The first change
That was all well and good. It’s just that they only needed to make just a few little changes to it. You know, Itsy-bitsy changes. To make it better, don’t ya know.
Little ones. Not big ones.
You see, what happened was a fresh-faced family member, straight out of school with a freshly minted MBA decided to change the ingredients. He knew that he could do so. As he was taught so many new and progressive ideas at the university that he attended.
So, what he did was take people who liked other soups and arranged blind-test studies with them. Blindfolded, they would taste different soups and they would rate the taste.
Since they all came from backgrounds that did not like chicken soup to begin with, he knew that whatever they would select would tell him how best to change his soup to appeal to these outliers.
The results when tabulated provided all the ammunition he needed to convince the rest of the family that Moma’s chicken soup needed to change. It needed to change, he argued, to include more people eating it.
It needed to be more attractive to others, and thus more diverse.
He would pound on the family table and accuse the others of being close-minded, bigoted, and hicks. He called them “deplorable” for clinging to their chicken soup.
They reluctantly agreed, though truth be told, there was money that changed hands, and other methods of persuasion were used to convince the more recalcitrant family members.
The first change was to allow roots, leaves and stems in the soup.
You see, one of the more intellectual family members was taught in school that roots, stems, and leaves contain flavoroids. These chemicals can be used to greatly enhance the taste of the soup. Or at least the theory went.
After all, many other cooks were also doing this in their kitchens. It was only natural for it to be applied to Moma’s Chicken Soup. The other kitchens were progressive. They were “hip” to the “new tastes” that all the youth were professing as extraordinary.
So around twelve years after Moma passed on, they started to add the roots, stems and leaves from the celery, and carrots into the soup.
It was a rousing success!
Everyone was talking about the new “improved” soup. Now better! Now More Nutritious! Now better in every way.
On the television there would be discussion panels of “experts” absolutely raving about how wonderful the “new and improved” chicken soup was. They would hold their spoons up high in the air and talk about about how free and gay they felt. They would praise the soup calling it “LGBT friendly”.
LGBT = Large Garden Bits and Twigs.
A “Living Broth”
People outside the family, and everyone inside the community started to talk about how the soup was a “living broth” and that it was meant to change and evolve with the times.
The idea of a set fixed way of doing things was considered old fashioned, out of touch with reality, and outmoded. Only old grizzly stogies, and women straight out of the “Handy-cooks tale” would eat traditional “old fashioned” and obsolete soup.
The universities and cooking schools gleefully taught this philosophy. In fact, only those cooks that agreed with the idea of a “living broth” could ever be permitted to graduate from college. The others; the traditionalists, were set apart and scorned at the university.
Often at the universities would be set aside “broth free” areas where people could be themselves without the worry of seeing someone eat a traditional soup.
More time passed
Of course, if you make one little change, one little tweak, here and there eventually everything would be at the pinnacle of perfection.
Moves were taken to add more and more different kinds of vegetables into the soup.
The first to be added were tomatoes. As it was thought that nothing looked fresher and “farm fresh” than photos of tomatoes with carrots and celery.
Then came potatoes.
Then apples. After all, tomato is a fruit, so apples are the logical choice for the soup.
Soon, everything was added to the soup pot. This included mushrooms, bean sprouts, cauliflower, sweet peas, sweet potatoes, and beans. In fact, all kinds of beans were accepted into the soup.
It was to make the soup full of protein.
Factions of believers
All these changes necessitated some intervention. As there became different factions of soup lovers. Some thought that the soup should contain more potatoes, while others believed that the soup needed to have bananas and pineapple added to it.
They argued that since pineapple made pizza better that it would do miracles to chicken soup.
There was a faction of “root purists” that believed that the only vegetables that should be used are those that were roots like ginger, potatoes, garlic and onions.
There was a faction that demanded against “dietary appropriation” which consisted of vegetables that were used in other foods. They thought that the best chicken soup was one made out of water with no ingredients at all. These purists believed that “every food had it’s place” in society.
To make sure that the soup would remain pure to all factions, various regulatory agencies were established.
ATF – All Tasty Flavors
NSA – No Salt Agency
IRS – Increased Regulation Society
DHS – Department of Healthy Soup
Vegetarians get all upset
All of these additions made Moma’s soup a big hit with the vegetarian crowd. they loved the convenience of having all their favorite vegetables all mixed together and easy to eat all at once.
The only problem was the chicken.
Vegetarians did not like to eat meat.
They looked at all the rest of the soups that others were eating. They saw that the vast majority of them did not include chicken. They saw how happy and healthy these people were eating these chickenless soups.
They looked at potato soup, and red bean soup. They looked at split pea soup and cream of turnip soup. They looked at rutabaga and nutmeg soups.
Their argument was rather simple. It went something like this; If all these other soups don’t have chicken, then why does chicken soup contain chicken? It was a question that they asked over and over again. They asked it so many times that people started to automatically ask it themselves.
“Why does any soup need a chicken?” They asked.
So they started a “ban the chicken” campaign. This “chicken ban” effort was very popular in the cities. Where violence against chicken was very common. The idea was that if you ban chicken from the soup, the chickens living in the urban areas would be safer from the urban cooks.
The vegetarians were smart. They knew that they could not ban the chicken outright. So they tired to ban it in all sorts of ways. they came up with ideas from taxing the chicken, to removing certain parts of the chicken and forbidding their use in the soup.
Assault Chicken Ban
Whenever a chicken got into a fight with another chicken, it was recorded on social media and promoted on the internet. The buzz word was “assault chicken“. By constantly harping on this term the vegetarians were able to rouse up twitter mobs to demand that Momas soup ban the chicken.
Of course, a "twitter mob" is an artificial construct. It is just a bunch of fake robots (or 'bots) that are used to give the illusion of popular support. You can buy armies of 'bots to make you look popular. It just costs a few thousands of dollars.
They worked at this and worked on this. They would say such things as “You don’t need an assault chicken to make a good soup.” Or, “why would anyone need to have a chicken in their soup?”
They rallied against certain breeds of chicken. For instance, chickens that were good egg-layers. Calling them “High Capacity Chickens“. They would get on television and say such things as “Why would anyone need to eat more than one egg?“.
In fact, there was one “assault chicken”, a fellow named “A.K.” that was particularly famous. During one newscast he took on forty seven other chickens and bested them all. Thus making the rousing nationwide slogan “Ban the AK-47“.
They rallied against inexpensive chicken breeds as well. The vegetarians were particularly incensed about these breeds. They did not like the fact that people would eat them on Saturday nights at BBQ’s with beer. Calling them “Saturday Night Specials“.
They rallied against new technology as well. As some chickens were spouting plastic ID tags instead of metal ID tags that had been used in the past. These plastic tabs would be applied by a tool that would lock the tag in place. It looked like an ugly pair of pliers, and was called a “G-lock”. Thus the anti-chicken crusade for “Ban the Glock“.
They rallied against stupid chickens. You know the kind, the really stupid ones. The “ding bat” chickens. These were the super stupid chickens. The ones that would bump against the fences inside the chicken stockade. They called these bans “Bump Stock Bans“.
They started to refer to the ways to obtain chickens as “loopholes”. Thus making it sound bad and sinister. For instance, there was the infamous “County Fair Loophole” where people could buy chickens at County Fairs. As well as the popular pastime of sharing chickens between family members. This became known as the “Chicken Transfer Loophole“.
All of this was promoted terribly as if it was something wrong, or evil, and that only a very evil and criminal person would ever handle a chicken let alone eat one in a soup. Because of this people started to get the idea that touching a chicken, or even looking at a chicken was a sinister and vile thing to do.
Every Election cycle
Without fail, every time there was a new major in town, there was a chicken incident” within the first six months of his term of office. He would thus get on the “soapbox” and loudly proclaim that he would need to ban chickens for the public good.
In the first six months of Major Bumba, there was a major chicken incident. Then in the first six months of Major Turnipon, there was another chicken incident. All of which would come with 24-7 non-stop wailing and gnashing of teeth of the “chicken tragedy”.
The news would focus on a crying infant, holding a spoon, and wailing about the horrible, horrible chicken. It would focus on school classrooms that took anti-chicken polls and went door to door convincing people of the dangers of chicken in soup.
One such student, a young Mr. Smog, became the picture boy for the anti-chicken in soup crusade. Now, even though he wasn’t the brightest student in the school, he somehow managed to get accepted at one of the top culinary schools in the country. He and others of his generation, such as Able Oscar-Charlie, were now poised to bring in a new way of cooking chicken soup. They called it “The New Broth Deal”.
Of course, the Major would participate as well. He would make a scene about it with him crying on the television or discussing going “nuclear” against cooks that use chicken in Moma’s soup.
Bumper stickers started to be seen on every other car saying such things as “Ban the chicken“, and “A chicken does not make a good soup”
The Ending of the Story
Once the system was put in place, it was only a matter of time before Moma’s soup banned the chicken. The vegetarian calls for banning the chicken never let up. It was wishful thinking, on the part of traditionalists, that the assault on the chicken would somehow disappear. It never did.
Thus, let it be well understood, the ban did eventually happen.
And all those traditionalists, who said that they would have “to pull their spoon from their dead cold hands” stood by and did nothing. They were just full of hot air and bluster. When push came to shove, they went into their kitchens, slammed the door, and hid in fear.
Huge cauldrons of soup were dumped in the sewers with great fanfare. The CIA (Cook Investigative Agency) police and their armed shock troops patrolled the streets looking for violations of the ban.
Oh, the soup is still made today. Don’t ya know.
And yes, it’s still called “Moma’s Chicken Soup”, but it isn’t the same as what it was when it was first made. Though that no longer matters. No one today remembers what the original chicken soup tasted like.
No one remembers.
It’s not taught in school. The way things are is considered to be normal, and the way that they have always been.
Instead, everyone is still concentrating on improving the chicken-less soup. With the latest additions include such things as pine needles, walnuts, succotash, okra and dirt. The promotions include smiling school children, proudly holding up their bowls of soup to an adoring mainstream media.
Moma’s chicken soup today. It is progressive. It is diverse. It is LGBT friendly. It is pro-vegetarian and anti-chicken.
And Moma…
Well, there’s been all sorts of earthquakes in the vicinity of her tombstone. It’s like a giant is rolling over and over under the ground.
Conclusion
Yes. America is still called a “Constitutional Republic” when it is actually an oligarchy today. And when the Constitution was first signed, only the male heads of families were able to vote, and their vote only would go to their federal Congressman.
There were not two political parties with the same objectives, and the same funding sources, but different talking points.
Today, you have everyone voting. In fact, the donkey-party wants children and all the non-citizens to vote. As such, it is no longer a benefit to be an American citizen. Any citizen, of any country, in any part of the world can vote.
After all, when 100% of the world can control the actions of 4.34% of the population, you have virtually zero control over your life.
Population of the world, broken down by nations. Here you can see that the United States hold 4.34% of the world’s population. With the Democrats wanting non-citizens to vote in American elections, it means that virtually Americans will have no control over their governance. Instead their vote would be equal to a voter in Argentina.
It is a liability.
Americans are taxed to fight (presently) seven wars (and many, many other skirmishes) for rich oligarchs that aren’t even US Citizens. We are taxed and taxed, but don’t get any of the social welfare benefits. They just farm us like animals, and use us like farm animals.
In fact, the USA is so messed up right now that it is IMPOSSIBLE to revert back to the way it was intended to be. There are only two courses of action available. They are [1] continue on the path as is, and permit more laws, more taxes, more regulation, and more corruption to fight more wars, and allow more progressive ideology, or [2] “nuke everything from orbit” and start fresh all over again.
"Nuke It From Orbit" is a popular catchphrase used in discussion forums to express one's extreme disapproval of a particular image or link posted by someone else. In other words, when "killing it with fire" isn't nearly effective enough, "nuking it from orbit" is your last resort …because it's the only way to be sure.
"Nuke the entire site from orbit--it's the only way to be sure" is a quote taken from the 1986 sci-fi film Aliens in which Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) decides that nothing is worth saving and that the only sure way to destroy all of the aliens is to nuke their habitat from the orbit.
Americans complaining about their Rights, as viewed by the progressive liberal elite in the urban centers.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some
other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might
like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in
America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society
within communist China. As there are some really stark differences
between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken
apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions
as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are
reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly
impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal
library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come
and enjoy a read or two as well.
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
to use drones to transport and disperse substances are particularly interesting."
— Pipers Creek (@piperscreekway) 
Fred Heim Scale Model
Pretty cool. I will tell you that living inside of China, I use this feature extensively. But also when I travel to Thailand, Japan, Korea, or Saudi Arabia it most certainly comes in handy.
The default is on the lower left. It will scan the QR code. However, if you click on “Translate”, something else happens… [1] You are prompted to take a photo.
Now, all this is really cool, but that all isn’t the really great stuff. Let’s get to some of the really cool things…
Great cat, by the way. 
Some of these are just funny… 
I suppose there are many more… 
As I said. Some are really spot on… 
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