I watched a very interesting movie. It’s an American-Chinese joint venture. The movie is titled “Everything everywhere all at once“.

I watched it while taking the High Speed Train from Guangzhou to JiangXi.

It was fun.

It, like much of the modern Chinese contemporaneous movies, a visual feast. Artsy and curious.

It was about world-line travel.

Fictional. Funny, Visually appealing.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 American independent film written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who produced it with Anthony and Joe Russo and Jonathan Wang; the film incorporates elements from a number of genres and film mediums, including absurdist fiction, comedy-drama, surreal comedy, science fiction, fantasy, martial arts films, immigrant narrative, and animation.

Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Quan Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant who, while audited by the IRS, discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse. 

The film also stars Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., and James Hong in supporting roles.

The multi-verse as described in the movie has no similarity to what I understand the MWI to be. However, I always enjoy world-line travel movies.

The film explores philosophical themes such as existentialism, nihilism, surrealism, and absurdism, as well as themes such as neurodivergence, depression, generational trauma, and Asian American identity.

The film itself is brilliant. Even if absurd.

The MWI is real, and it is valid. However, the idea in the movie that consciousness is equally shared between the world-lines is a tad distorted. Instead the centering of consciousness on a given world-line is the actual REALITY within this universe.

At a tense meeting with IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdre, Waymond's body is taken over by Alpha-Waymond, a version of Waymond from the "Alphaverse." 

Alpha-Waymond explains to Evelyn that many parallel universes exist because every life choice creates a new alternative universe. 

In the Alphaverse, the late Alpha-Evelyn developed "verse-jumping" technology, which enables people to access the skills, memories, and bodies of their parallel selves by performing bizarre actions that are statistically unlikely. 

The multiverse is threatened by Jobu Tupaki (Alpha-Joy), whose mind was splintered after Alpha-Evelyn pushed her to verse-jump beyond her endurance; Jobu experiences all universes at once and can verse-jump and manipulate matter at will. 

She has created a black hole-like "Everything Bagel" topped with everything,[18] which appears as a toroid singularity[19] that could destroy the multiverse.

Evelyn is given verse-jumping technology to fight Jobu's minions, who converge on the IRS building. 

She discovers other universes in which she made different choices and flourished, such as becoming a kung fu master and film star; she also learns of Waymond's plans with the divorce papers. 

Alpha-Waymond believes that Evelyn, as the greatest "failure" of all Evelyns in the multiverse, has the untapped potential to defeat Jobu. 

Gong Gong is taken over by Alpha-Gong Gong, who instructs Evelyn to kill Joy to stop Jobu from using her to enter Evelyn's universe. 

Evelyn refuses and decides to face Jobu by gaining powers through repeated verse-jumping. 

Alpha-Gong Gong, convinced that Evelyn's mind has been compromised like Jobu's, sends soldiers after Evelyn. 

While they fight, Jobu locates and kills Alpha-Waymond in the Alphaverse. 

As Jobu confronts Evelyn in her universe, Evelyn's mind splinters, and she collapses.

Evelyn uncontrollably verse-jumps alongside Jobu across bizarre and diverse universes. 

Jobu reveals she does not want to fight at all, but that instead, she has been searching for an Evelyn who can see, as she does, that nothing matters, while killing the Evelyns that do not agree with her. 

She brings Evelyn to the Everything Bagel, explaining that she wants to use it to allow herself and Evelyn to truly die. 

Upon looking into the Bagel, Evelyn is initially persuaded, and behaves cruelly and nihilistically in her other universes, hurting those around her.

As Evelyn is about to enter the Bagel with Jobu, she pauses to listen to Waymond's pleas in her universe for everybody to stop fighting and to instead be kind, even when life does not make sense. 

Evelyn has an existentialist epiphany and decides to follow Waymond's absurdist[20] and humanist[21] advice, using her multiverse powers to fight with empathy[22] and bring happiness to those around her; in doing so, she repairs her damage in the other universes and neutralizes Alpha-Gong Gong and Jobu's fighters. 

In her home universe, Evelyn reconciles with Waymond, accepts Joy and Becky's relationship and tells Gong Gong of it, and talks with Deirdre after Waymond convinces Deirdre to let them redo their taxes. 

Jobu decides to enter the Bagel alone while, simultaneously in Evelyn's universe, Joy begs Evelyn to let her go. 

Evelyn tells Joy that even when nothing makes sense and even though she could be anywhere else in the multiverse, she would always want to be with Joy. 

Evelyn and the others save Jobu from the Bagel, and Evelyn and Joy embrace.

It is a fantasy. Which is still a fun illustration.

So that is OK, don’t you know.

But what does the audience get from this movie?

• That there is a multi-verse; and MWI.
• That you can travel between different world-lines.
• That the traveling consciousness can absorb simultaneous experiences that color the actions in the reality.

I personally view this movie as an entry bridge towards enlightenment of the true and really pertinent reality that we all experience.

World-line slides… shown in the movie.

The three key points above are all in alignment with MM’s MWI narrative.

Today…

Who is the most evil person you have ever met?

Edward. We called him Crazy Ed. At 12 years of age during a family reunion he grabbed his dad’s shotgun and started shooting. He got mad at his parents over some little crap. Shot his ma, pa, aunt and was chasing his uncle but ran out of shells. In a juvenile prison, this was the 1960s, he tried to poison a few people. And beat another thug with a broom half to death before they hauled him off. He was a polite, fairly polished, soft spoken youth. Looked like a mousy little accountant, glasses and all. He told people when he got he wanted to be a hit man for the mob. He enjoyed killing. I have no doubt that’s what really became of him.

The big problem

When being terminated from a job, have you ever warned the company of something important that only you knew how to do, and your advice has gone unheeded?

I was an IT director for a company that had been acquired by a much larger company. When I declined to move to their IT location half a continent away, I was laid off. by phone. (my whole group was effectively laid off because they moved my group’s functions to the parent companies group much larger group and they all refused the move).

This was not unexpected, but the knowledge transfer had not taken place yet between the groups. (it was just beginning)

I accepted the severance package and told them we needed to call my counterpart in the corporate group to make sure the transfer was done securely.

When they asked why, I said that as an IT directory I have all the adminstrator passwords and could literally shut down the business if I was upset about the termination. I want to make sure that any issues that come up will not be pointed back at me or my team.

They agreed to conference call with my counterpart so he could take the necessary steps to secure the system.

The call went like this:

Me: Hey! You need to change all the administrator passwords on our unix servers and close out some accounts:

Him: Why?

Me: My group and I just got terminated and you need to secure these servers to make sure everything stays copacetic. You need to terminate my accounts, all access, and those of my team laid off effective immediately to protect corporate and customer assets.

Him: <explodes>What Assh*t did that? We haven’t got anyone to manage those systems, There has been no knowledge transfer on what the systems are used for, <folornly>I’m screwed!

Big Boss: That would be me. Just do it.

Him: OK, OK. I am logging on to the servers. What is the command? Oh Sh*t, I can’t ask you can I….

Big Boss (to me): This is a surprise. Would you be willing to stick around for a couple of weeks….

Me: Sorry- Even though I don’t particularly have an issue about being laid off, Corporate Security Rules identify me now as disgruntled employee and I am not allowed access to secure systems or even the building spaces.

*Shock*

What is the most awkward conversation you have had with your parents?

I am going to win.

When I was about 17 years old, my dad walked in on me and my then-boyfriend having sex.

The house I lived in at the time was located directly across from my high school. I was enrolled in a lot of sports, as was my boyfriend. Our practices often didn’t start until a half an hour or so after school ended, so most days we had a little bit of time to, um, kill. This particular day, I thought my dad would be at work. We raced to my house, went to my bedroom, and went at it. A few minutes later, without warning, my dad did the thing he always did – knock, then immediately open the door. Seriously? What was the point of knocking? I’ll never understand.

So there I was. His precious baby, naked with a boy. I did the only thing I could think of, which was to do a little *roll* off the bed, and then a second *roll* to hide myself underneath my bed. Leaving my bare-bummed boyfriend to the nightmare above me.

The only words my dad said was, “get dressed.”

I did not go to practice that day. Instead, I had to have dinner with my dad, alone. I couldn’t even look him in the eye. I was mortified.

We tried to have small talk???? “How was your day?” “Fine, yours?”

Worst. Day. Of. My. Life.

Cajun Style Cube Steaks

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
• 4 (4 ounce) beef cube steaks
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 (15 ounce) can no salt added tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning
• 2 cups hot cooked brown rice

Instructions

1. Place foil grilling bag on cookie sheet. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour in bag.
2. Arrange steaks in single layer on top of flour; top with pepper and onion.
3. In a small bowl stir together tomato sauce, Cajun seasonings, and remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Spread evenly over steaks and vegetables. Seal bag by double folding open end, leaving room for expansion.
4. Coat grill rack with nonstick cooking spray. Heat grill to medium indirect heat.
5. Slide bag from cookie sheet onto grill rack. Cover and grill for 35 minutes.
6. Remove bag from grill. Use kitchen shears to carefully cut open bag.
7. Fold back top for steam to escape.
8. Spoon steaks and vegetables over rice.

Credentialism

Do people who visit your house care if it’s straightened up or not?

We had a a couple of very dear and long- time friends coming over to watch a DVD a few evenings ago. I went into the living room to make sure the sofas were clear of books, newspapers, knitting etc, but there was still some clutter around. The odd grandkids’s toys sitting in a corner. A laptop my husband was fixing for someone In bits on the coffee table. I said to my husband “ Oh, it looks OK. It’s only Angela and Colin coming.” Then I thought that’s a horrible thing to say! But then it occurred to me – it was, in fact, a great compliment. They were like family. I don’t do a big tidy up, making it pristine, if my daughter is coming with her children. Like them, Angela and Colin are part of our lives. It’s clean and comfortable, but it doesn’t have to be “ visitor ready.” When they arrived I told them what has gone through my mind, and they agreed – they would feel the same about us.

Newlywed Has MELTDOWN After Husband Gathers Proof Of Her Cheating For Their “At Fault” Divorce State

All these stories are so sad. But this one seems to be really authentic. The human situation sucks. Ugh. I am sorry for all three people.

What is your opinion of the USA compared to other countries like Japan, China, and Australia? Why is this your opinion? What makes the USA different from these other countries in terms of culture, economy, government, etc.?

USA and Australia are clearly stolen nations or stolen continents after barbaric and phenomenally cruel slaughter of natives living in their land for centuries. These lands don’t belong to the present inhabitants and it must remind all humans in earth of what savagery and imperialism occurred during the 1600–1900 where rampant European colonialism and aggression happened throughout the world.

Australia and the Americas have to be seen as naked aggression and raped of land and destruction and real genocide whatever culture is a 200–300 years old remnants of these atrocities.

China and Japan has long history spanning thousands of years. It possesses history and philosophy of life and both nations were helped by Confucianism and its ethics of discipline, hardworking, respect for the elders and authorities and constant learning and meritocracy. Both are highly educated and very successful societies. For a while Japan was infatuated with western style colonialism. Not the Chinese as it sees that is wrong to steal other people land.

Nations that grew out of stealing land that belong to others naturally sees themselves entitled. Dominate its regions. The U.S. Latin America and Caribbean while Australia the Islanders and thinks they have a right to command South China Sea too. That to me is clearly wrong and high handed with a tinge of colonialism.

Both Australia and the U.S. benefits from the so called international rules based order that favours the west at the expense of the developing world. But that privilege is being stripped away bit by bit. And truly free competition is beyond them. Hence the huffs and puffs.

09 Things you should avoid at any cost

1. Never try to learn so many things at one time.
2. Never accept disrespect from anyone. No matter how close he/she is. Nothing is more important than self respect.
3. Never waste your time for anyone.If they really don’t care for you.
4. Never advice to people, who don’t value your advice or not interested in your advice.
5. Never fall in love before accomplishing the goal.
6. Never judge a person without knowing them.
7. Never demotivate anyone.
8. Never give to much importance to them who are not interested in you.
9. Never think you cannot do anything .

Men will choose the waitress that gives him peace

What steps should be taken by both the U.S. and China to ensure a stable and mutually beneficial relationship going forward?

Only one word RESPECT. Without respect US will always think their way is always the right way. China is not trying to change the U.S. liberal democracy. That is the U.S. way the U.S. sees fit for the U.S. it is the U.S. that insist China must not practice Socialism with Chinese characteristics! There lies the problem.

As long as one thinks and believed that they and only they knows best no relationship can work. The U.S. must know that to each it’s own. And one man’s meat is another man’s poison. I dare say the problem in the entire 100 years passed us that the U.S. wanted every nation on earth to be submissive and subservient to them!

China is very mature. China wants a rich and prosperous USA to sell to and to go for holidays. It doesn’t want to change a thing. The U.S. wants to weaken China. It wants China to be split into a 100 bite size nation for the U.S. to chew on it! It sees itself as the standard, the authority and the god ordained nation to rule the world.

That disrespect cannot go on. It gets no where. A 5000 years responsible civilisation cannot accept a 247 years old rogue stolen nation of cowboys telling them what to do.

This is HOW MUCH My Vending Machines Made in 365 Days!

Was attacking Gaza a wrong decision? Will Israel now be on the backfoot across the world? Will people forget the massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas after seeing the Gaza attack?

I have taken a while to collect my thoughts. Some things need to be said.

This will be a disturbing post. So let’s cling precariously to reason. Please.

Two things are obvious here. The first is that the actions by Hamas rip a new gash in the face of humanity. No thinking person can deny this. Generally reliable news agencies like Reuters [1] report:

“We’ve seen dismembered bodies with their arms and feet chopped off, people that were beheaded, a child that was beheaded,” a reserve warrant officer identified only by her first name of Avigayil told reporters.

She said multiple cases of rape were found by forensic examination of the bodies, which have been stored in refrigerated containers.

A large number of international journalists have viewed graphic footage [2] that documents these atrocities:

Other sequences showed a militant with an agricultural tool hacking at the head of a man lying on the ground, gunmen killing wounded female Israeli soldiers and a jubilant Hamas fighter calling his family: “I killed 10 Jews with my own hands. I’m using the dead Jewish woman’s phone to call you now.”

Only a really crazy conspiracy theorist with his underpants on his head would doubt that these terrible things are absolutely, shockingly real.∗

But there is one more thing …

The other obvious thing

Hamas planned this attack meticulously over months—almost certainly with Iranian support.

[3] Israeli intelligence failed comprehensively. But no, these are not that obvious, other thing. The second thing is the answer to the question “Why?”

One answer is “Because Hamas hate Israel, hate Jewish people, and want to erase Israel from the face of the Earth, as they have often declared”. This is almost certainly true, but it is too glib. It is not the answer. If you follow this reasoning, then Hamas are like a fox in a henhouse—ripping away until no living thing is left alive.

The problem with this glib answer is that it doesn’t make complete sense. Yes, of course those who killed 1400 Israelis and kidnapped many more did so with almost indescribable savagery. Yes, of course they went out of their way to document the bloodshed and atrocities. And yes, of course, this is a new low—by even the lowest imaginable standard.

But this is far less than half the story. Those who set up this atrocity surely knew how Israel would respond. They could predict that Israel would pummel Gaza. They invited a blockade, and an invasion by the Israeli army. So the correct answer to that “Why?” question is …

This is all going according to script

Hamas knew that this would result in a huge number of deaths of their own people in Gaza.

Hamas are hoping that thousands—or even tens of thousands—of their own people will die. They have planned for a bloody fight in Gaza, with civilians all around. They want this. They want large numbers of children to die in Gaza. This is part of the plan.

At least thirty Israeli children died. By 24 October 2023, two thousand three hundred and sixty children had died and over five thousand had been injured in Gaza. [4] This is precisely what Hamas want. It is part of their plan. It is surely what they predicted. They are malevolent—but they are not stupid. So then, why did they do this?

Why?

They knew that Benjamin Netanyahu would have no choice but to retaliate not just in kind, but on a vast scale. They knew that had he said something like:

We will not descend to their level. We will hunt down every single one of these terrorists, but we will do this in our own time. Not one will escape. We will move mountains to preserve international law, and protect innocent civilians …

… then he would have been labelled ‘weak’. He would have been out on his arse. The atrocities were so bad that people would have demanded an immediate military response from his successor. This is the main reason why the atrocities were quite deliberately so atrocious.

So thousands of children are dead, and thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians of all ages will still die. Quite according to the script that Hamas has laid out. They don’t care. In fact, it’s precisely part of the plan.

Now you asked:

Will people forget the massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas after seeing the Gaza attack?

No, of course not

That day will live in infamy. But it won’t matter.

Because the countries around Israel will also never, ever forget the vastly greater number of children who died. They will never forget Israel’s response. And here’s the truly terrible thing.

For every one who died, several more will spring up, their heart filled with hate for Israel. There are about two million people [5] packed into the Gaza strip. It’s like a vast kindergarten—and from this kindergarten, hundreds of thousands of people will emerge, and none of them will forget Israel’s actions.

Israel is running things entirely according to Hamas’ script. And when they deviate, they do so in the wrong direction …

A bonus for Hamas

Israel has even provided a few unanticipated bonuses that make things worse. For example, Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan has accused the Secretary General of the UN as follows:

[6] The UN Secretary-General, who shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women, and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN. I call on him to resign immediately. There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people. There are simply no words.

This was in response to his speech on 24 October, [7] that went as follows:

I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel.

Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.

All hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and without conditions. I respectfully note the presence among us of members of their families.

Excellencies,

It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum.

The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.

They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.

But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

Another perhaps unexpected bonus for Hamas is how Israel has cut off supplies…

Fuel

By far the most important supply Israel has cut off is fuel. No, not water. Not food. Fuel. [8]

This is because the hospitals with their thousands of bomb-injured and crushed people need fuel to run. And water cannot be pumped (or even desalinated) without fuel. Oh yes. The Israelis also supply one third of the water to Gaza. And this has been cut off, too.

They are allowing a few percent of the supplies needed. This will result in multiple deaths, particularly of vulnerable people—the elderly, and children, and the sick.

The most disturbing bit

In the video clip associated with this post, the Israeli defence minister describes Palestinians as ‘human animals’—and says that this justifies cutting off food, fuel and water.

Israeli defence minister orders ‘complete siege’ on Gaza “We are fighting against human animals”.

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2023/10/9/israeli-defence-minister-orders-complete-siege-on-gaza

This is from the international playbook [9] of dehumanisation:

During the Holocaust, Nazis referred to Jews as rats. Hutus involved in the Rwanda genocide called Tutsis cockroaches. Slave owners throughout history considered slaves subhuman animals.

In summary

So this is the way I see it. Israel has provided a knee-jerk response.

In consequence, their entire state may not survive. This will likely take a few decades to play out—but I think Israel has just signed its own death warrant in the blood of thousands upon thousands of the sick, the elderly, and children.

This is precisely what Hamas scripted. Israel has simply followed the script.

I find this all tragic beyond words.

My 2c, Dr Jo.

---

∗

It’s sad we even need to say this. But already the conspiracy nutters are out there in force.

Image was generated by Poe/StableDiffusion in response to the prompt “a fox in a henhouse with lots of feathers and blood”.

The 5 real reasons why guys are lonely today

This is really surprisingly good.

Are Singaporeans considered to be native English speakers?

Based on my observations after having lived in most of the Anglosphere and in West Europe, I feel that many of the people from said countries would not consider Singaporeans “Native English Speakers”.

Which is pure snobbery, in my opinion.
I guess they see themselves as the gatekeepers of who can or cannot be a native English speaker.

I have been to Singapore several times, and in the early part of my career, I was even seconded there.

While it’s true that there are many Singaporeans who grew up in a Chinese-speaking (or Malay-speaking, Tamil-speaking) household and might not have reached the level one would expect from a native English speaker, I also came across many Singaporeans (admittedly, I only worked with Chinese Singaporeans during my time there), the young ones, especially, who could only speak English.

Sure, they’re ethnically Chinese, but their Chinese is…. below even the rudimentary level.
Like, if you ask them something very simple and basic like “Can you state the four cardinal directions in Mandarin?”… they can’t.

If they can’t even do something as simple and basic as that in Chinese, and their main language, the one they’ve been using since birth, is English – then how are they not native English speakers?

If you don’t consider them native English speakers – then the question becomes: So, what is their native language?

They can’t, or, to be generous, barely, speak or read Chinese.
The only language they know is English.

Shouldn’t that, by definition, make them native English speakers?

Or is it really possible for someone to not be a native speaker of any language?

I would definitely consider this demographic of Singaporeans native English speakers, but, you know, I’m not one of the “gatekeepers” mentioned above, so my opinion might count for nothing.

What was your worst moment in the bathroom?

Taking my morning shower, I felt a twinge of stomach pain. “Man, I’m really hungry!” I thought. “I’ve got to hurry up this shower and get some breakfast.”

Then I started to feel a little light-headed. I put my hand out and braced myself against the shower wall. I felt even more faint. “I could pass out and fall in here,” I thought. “I’d better get out.”

So I did, and as I was toweling off, I started to feel nauseated. I went to the toilet and threw up—blood! Holy shit! I called to my wife, “I’m vomiting blood.” She came and took a look; “You sure are!” It wasn’t a whole lot, about 30 ml of bright red blood and mucus, but it was scary as hell. I was hoping it was only an ulcer or something, but I couldn’t help thinking cancer, especially since a friend of mine had recently died of stomach cancer. It was mid-January and my daughter’s wedding was coming up in April. “I’m not going to make it to Nicole’s wedding,” I said to my wife.

The nausea passed. I finished drying off, laid down in bed, and fell asleep for 2 hours. When I woke up, I threw up more blood.

It turned out that it was in fact cancer. I had a rare type called GIST—gastrointestinal stromal tumor. There was a tumor in my upper stomach exactly the size of a billiard ball. But I’m writing this 7 years later. I lost very little stomach to the surgeon—only an area a little larger than a (U.S.) silver dollar—and I was eating at a fine Italian restaurant in Houston five days after the surgery, everything from red wine to tiramisu. I danced with my daughter at her wedding and I’m a grandfather now. I’ve been fine and very healthy since that surgery. Scared the hell out of me in 2010, though.

I hope never to have another bathroom experience as bad as that one.

Baby Poo

Huawei and Meituan announce collaboration to develop HarmonyOS ecosystem

Huawei and Meituan announced a comprehensive partnership to innovate industries, apply technologies, and develop businesses using HarmonyOS. Huawei will fully back Meituan in launching the development of native applications for HarmonyOS.

The announcement comes on the heels of Huawei’s HarmonyOS Next is expected to ditch Android app support as early as 2024. Several of Huawei’s self-developed OS concept stocks rocketed and hit the daily limit after the news was released, according to ChinaDaily.

Huawei partners with Meituan for HarmonyOS ecosystem

Meituan is a Chinese tech giant that offers a wide range of services, including food delivery, online grocery shopping, and ride-hailing. It is one of the most popular apps in China, with over 600 million active users.

Huawei’s confidence in its alternative ecosystem strategy on the mainland received a boost in late August when the company launched its Mate 60 Pro smartphone, its first 5G handset since the Mate 40 series was released in October 2020.

The Mate 60 Pro was met with strong public support, and Huawei became mainland China’s fastest-growing smartphone vendor in the third quarter of 2023.

Recently, multiple job applications in China have announced the launch of HarmonyOS app development. For example, 同程旅行_旅游_旅游线路_旅行_出国旅游_自驾游_周边游_旅游网站 (formerly known as Tongcheng) announced the launch of HarmonyOS native version App development, with plans to complete core version development by the end of 2023.

In addition, a number of internet giants, including Meituan, have listed several job openings related to HarmonyOS. For instance, Meituan publicized a variety of HarmonyOS-centric roles, such as Senior HarmonyOS Engineer and HarmonyOS Infrastructure Engineer.

According to data, as of August 2023, the HarmonyOS ecosystem boasted over 700 million devices and was supported by more than 2.2 million developers actively contributing to its development. By October 30th, the number of devices upgraded to HarmonyOS 4 had surpassed the hundred million mark.

The connection between “body count” and “cheating while married to a man”

There is a correlation. And it is surprising.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ezzHKvQaluI?feature=share

What was your “I didn’t judge, but I did smile” experience?

I was at a 7–11 today. I was standing in line, waiting to go. It was 6:30 PM, I was on my way home from my after-work-workout.

I get a tap on my shoulder,

“Yes?”

Behind me, a middle aged, 45ish aged woman, attractive, curvy, in a tight fitting outfit, with makeup on, high heels, smelling of perfume says,

“Would you mind if I went ahead of you? I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

I said, “Sure – np!” I had nowhere to be. And she asked nicely.

A moment later, a customer at one of the two working registers walks off and the cashier waves her forward.

She, with her hands full of items, walks forward dumps them on the counter.

I really wasn’t trying to spy, but I couldn’t help but notice.

It was a bar of soap. A bottle of wine. A candy bar.

And 4 sets of condom 3-packs. Someone had a big night planned.

I didn’t judge. But I did smile.

Who the fuck is this guy?

How was the cleaning up of the First World War battlefields done?

They are still slowly trying to clean it up. The areas that were too dangerous are called Red Zones. Restrictions within the Zone Rouge still exist today. After the war, the French government declared a 460-square-mile area unfit for human habitation or development. It stretches roughly from Nancy through Verdun and onto Lille, with various non-contiguous zones so riddled with unexploded shells (many of them gas shells), grenades, ammunition, and human and animal remains that it was simply too dangerous to enter.

In the 1920s and ’30s, the government oversaw the planting of 36 million trees, mostly pine and spruce, in part of the Zone Rouge. This the Verdun forest.

The Department du Deminage, was created after the war. Over the decades, it has helped to reduce the extent of the Zone Rouge, destroying hundreds of thousands of munitions and chemical shells, and has returned some land to civilian and agricultural use. They calculate that they have 300 years work ahead of them before they have cleared the whole battlefield. French farmers collect a huge amount of unexploded ordnance, barbed wire, shrapnel, and bullets every year. It is called the “Iron Harvest.”

Some areas remain entirely off-limits, the soil so full of arsenic that 99 percent of all plants die. There is still the ever-present threat of unexploded shells. There are many ghost villages that were left abandoned after the war, deemed beyond repair. The bodies of roughly 80,000 soldiers whose bodies were never recovered are still there. The bomb depressions are still there.

Damn good advice

Why do people choose receiving money over sticking to their moral principles?

Moral principles don’t help you eat. Money does.

I mean, that’s the simple, and charitable, way to put it.

The more complex answer is…less charitable.

Most people don’t have moral principles. They have a general set of guidelines they absorb from the society around them without really questioning too much. These guidelines are tribal in nature, and as often as not are more about marking in-groups and out-groups than about a coherent, consistent set of morals.

A great many people want to think of themselves as “good,” but aren’t particularly interested in thinking a lot about it, and particularly aren’t interested in sacrificing comfort or lifestyle for it.

And given that what passes for morality in many folks is actually a set of tribal signifiers, they most definitely aren’t willing to give up social standing for it.

In fact, I’ll wager you that more than a few people who truly consider themselves moral, scrupulous people willing to give up money for morals, will still toss their values aside the moment they involve loss of social standing.

We are social creatures. We need the support and approval of the people around us to survive. Not just in the sense of an income stream to keep ourselves fed and a roof overhead, but in the sense of a social group—without that, we suffer.

So yeah, confronted with social censure for not adopting the opinion of the people around them, most folks absolutely will surrender their values. Confronted with losing money for not adopting the opinion of the people around them, most folks absolutely will surrender their values. If you’re reading this, odds are pretty good you’re one social smear campaign or a few hungry days away from letting go of what you imagine to be your most cherished moral principles.

Men over the age of 30

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

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

Ooh yes this brings back the memories from the early 1980s.

A bunch of us went to the next town for a few drinks and a laugh. I seem to recall one of the lads (not me) was getting married so for reasons that won’t become apparent we trooped off to a bigger town 10 miles away instead of our own little town.

We walked into a quiet little pub, grabbed some drinks and sat down on a round table which perfectly suited our group of seven.

The pub was totally empty apart from us and the barman. It was very early in the evening.

A group of three guys walked in and one of them looked very angry. Big and mean he was too. They walked straight over to us and the angry guy looked directly at me.

Angry – You! You’re a big cunt. Let’s have a fight now. Outside!

Me – No thanks mate. We’re here on a lads’ night out and don’t want any aggro.

The lads – Nah come on mate. We just want a drink. Blah blah blah.

Angry – Come on you cunt. Let’s fucking fight now.

By now he’d walked around to my side of the round table. He was a big and very tough-looking guy and I really didn’t want a punch in the mouth off him. I was probably the biggest in our group at 1.90 metres and 110 kg but even so, I didn’t want to fight this big lummox.

Me – Listen mate…

Angry punched me in the side of the face so hard I thought my head had come off. Blood spurted out but no teeth. It hurt a lot and I just held my face thinking “what the hell do I do now?”

I didn’t have to do anything. Andy, who is a very slender and weedy and very sweet young friend of mine stood up.

Andy – No-one hits my mate. Big mistake.

Angry – Oh yeah. What you going to do about it you strip of piss?

Andy sent him sprawling across the next table with one perfect punch to the face. Angry got up and together with his two mates left the pub without another word being said.

The barman walked over and spoke to Andy.

Barman – Wow. That guy you just floored is the hardest guy in town!

Me – Not any more he isn’t. Cheers Andy.

My face hurt for ages but thankfully no serious damage. Andy was our new top mate of the group.

That is how a star is born

What is the lamest “benefit” you’ve been offered by an employer?

I was offered a $500/month truck allowance, by my employer, to use my own vehicle on service calls. I bought a used truck, for that purpose. I had to carry a $1 million liability insurance policy, due to some customer’s requirements, in order to drive on their property, too. Then, he changed the number to $250. I told him that wasn’t what he had originally told me. That Friday, he gave me a note, as I left to do service calls, and said to think about it. All it had on it was “$350”. Monday morning, I showed up early, and loaded EVERYTHING that belonged to me into my truck. When he showed up, I gave him my building keys. He wanted to know what was going on, and I said “I’m gone.” When he asked if that was how I negotiated, my reply was “I don’t negotiate with liars.”

I sent postcards to the customers I did work for, telling that I was no longer with that company, but was available to keep their equipment running. I was the ONLY one at that company who knew how the stuff worked, and all the repair business went to me. The company had to down-size, and then sold out to a competitor, so my old boss went from owning his own business, to being just another employee.

Too late! The U.S. allows South Korea to produce chips in China, and China is not doing it!

Too late for South Korea, the China ship has sailed.

https://youtu.be/9aoR1HzRTCA

What was the most obnoxious thing you’ve seen done?

On a regular basis? Taking a giant gas guzzling car and lifting it to make it even less fuel efficient.

The trucks you see here in America are so obnoxiously big and with callous disregard for global warming. It’s crazy when you drive around here in Florida: 70% or more of the cars are SUVs or Trucks. Literally, 70% or more.

It’s definitely a cultural thing but I wish it would go away. The guys in these lifted trucks are almost always the hyper aggressive drivers the push up behind you and lay on the horn and then flick you off as they go by.

But then, a few minutes later, I’ll see one of them pulled over by a cop. That’s always the most gratifying feeling.

US Supreme Court Tackles Game-Changing Social Media Censorship Case!

This is a huge issue.

Why did the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor when they knew they couldn’t take on the United States?

Well that’s exactly the thing. The point of attacking the harbor was so they could take on America. There are two reasons that Japan carried out the attack.

1. The Paper tiger

The Japanese referred to America as a “paper tiger.” What they meant by this was that their military was all bark and no bite, and if the fleet was destroyed there was no way America could come back. What the Japanese underestimated was America’s production capabilities. America was at the time of 1941 one of the largest and most efficient producers of the world, and while FDR was of the intention to stay out of the war, the factories of the United States were churning out tanks, rifles, planes, and ammo to the Soviets fighting the Wehrmacht in the Europe, and Britain fighting the blitz, the Italians and Germans in North Africa, and the Japanese in Burma, China, and Australia. US Shipyards were just as impressive, with destroyers and merchant marine ships built by the hundreds, sold to Britain to protect against the u boats tearing up the Atlantic trade. Japan made the mistake of underestimating the capabilities of US industry. When the US declared war on Japan in retaliation, production went towards building their own military, including the navy. The US navy numbered in the thousands, from the dozens of capital ships to the hundreds of destroyers and submarines, and all of the auxiliary ships and escorts included. In addition, right after the attack the navy raised most of the sunken ships in the harbor. Of the eight battleships we lost, five were raised and went back into the fight, one of them sunk on refloating, and only two of them remain there, USS Arizona and USS Utah. Pearl Harbor remains one of the greatest tragedies in US history, but because of America’s industrial might, it was not the end.

2. The target

From a tactical perspective, another reason for Japan’s attack was what they believed they would destroy and how it would impact the fleet. The Japanese’ main target was not the many battleships and destroyers that were stationed in Pearl Harbor, not the oil tanks, command, or airfields- These were very significant, and their destruction was all devastating to our efforts in getting in the fight, but the most important targets were but one part of the navy:

The US Carriers

It is often said by historians that Pearl Harbor was the end of the days of mighty battleships and battlecruisers and the dawn of the carrier. The six Japanese carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Zuikaku, and Shokaku, were the most important part of the Japanese fleet, and carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese knew that the US would only have a chance against the Japanese carriers with the carriers of their own. Therefore, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor believing that the US carriers were there. Fortunately for the US, and the Allies as a whole, the carriers were at sea, safe from the carnage. As a matter of fact, the battleship USS Utah was painted to look like a carrier from the sky, to train US dive bombers, and because of this saw some of the heaviest bombardment of all of the ships, being one of the ships unable to be raised from the bottom. The assessment that the US carriers were essential to the US staying in the fight proved correct. The US launched the Doolittle raid the following year, striking Tokyo for the first of many times in the war from the carrier USS Hornet. The Shoho was destroyed in the following battle of Coral Sea at the cost of the carrier Lexington, but where we really see the tide turn in the Pacific is Midway. The carriers USS Hornet, USS Enterprise, and USS Yorktown crippled the Japanese fleet by destroying Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu. This would not have happened if it wasn’t for the stroke of luck we had with our carriers out at sea when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor.

Admiral Yamamoto, the brilliant Japanese commander who was behind the attack, which I should say despite its failure to knock out America was still a well planned and impressive attack, astutely believed that a drawn out war with the United States would end in defeat, and despite his best efforts to prevent a drawn out war, he was correct. In the film portrayal of Yamamoto in Tora! Tora! Tora! He is quoted for saying:

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolve.”

Yamamoto was killed in April of 1943, and with the carrier might have Japan gone as well, the rising sun was doomed to set.

Men are GIVING UP on Women and their hypergamy

There is such a serious problem with RELATIONSHIPS in the West.

https://youtu.be/BeP7Ff1JXsA

In business, has your boss ever tried to fire you, only to be fired by their boss instead?

Not me, but my wife.

Her department acquired a new department head, a newly promoted V.P.

One of his first actions was to identify all of the highest paid (and most productive) managers and terminate them as a cost cutting measure. At that point managers at my wife’s level were considered “at will” employees and, as such, could be terminated at any time with or without cause.

In any case, the V.P. then proceeded to fill the vacant management positions with much lower paid and less qualified staff. All of this happened within a matter of hours on a Friday afternoon. My wife was understandably quite distressed when she got home that evening.

Over the weekend, though, my wife received a call from the executive V.P. who oversaw her department. He called from his home in Southern France late in the evening so he could speak to my wife in the mid afternoon here in SoCal. He asked her to please report to work as usual on Monday morning.

When she got to work on Monday everything was back to normal and the new department head was gone. Fired for incompetence.

My wife stayed with the company more than a dozen years after that. She was eventually terminated permanently after her department had been sold to a different company. This time, though, she received a rather generous golden handshake — 32 weeks severance pay — as she left for the last time.

This is why men are no longer approaching women; Top 10 reasons WHY

I never experienced unconditional love until I got a dog.

How likely is it that China and Russia will continue to strengthen their partnership in the future?

Very likely. Their recent MOU to develop semiconductor lithography, naval shipbuilding, marine nuclear reactors are just another episode in that relationship. The glue that binds them is energy and technology. China needs energy and Russia needs technology. Trade between both countries are growing exponentially, currently at about 40% per year. Russia recently announced it would allow China to build a container port in Vladivostok, another indication China is preparing to use the Arctic belt road via northern Russia.

My opinion: There could be a day when Russia buys warships from China. It has already begun with Russia buying a Chinese frigate. It could also be possible that Russia and China will jointly develop gen 6 and gen 7 fighters and bombers, reducing non-recurring costs. Russia needs ‘China speed.’ China needs Russia’s energy from oil/gas to uranium. It is also likely that Russia and China will standardize military calibers and weapons between them so interchangeability and user knowledge will be compatible between both countries. The SCO makes the case for this standardization to increase to SCO members.

Both are BRICS and SCO members and both organizations are growing which gives them more world influence.

Have you ever accidentally found out that you were about to be fired?

It wasn’t exactly on accident. I worked in the office of a commercial laundry business and they asked me to come in on a Saturday to mail out the monthly bills. During the time I was there the assistant manager came in and started hitting on me. He kept urging me to “go in the back and make out”. I refused and soon one of the drivers came in and he had to go talk to the driver. I finished up with the bills and went home. I told my boyfriend “Well, I don’t think I will be working there very ling”. Sure enough the next Tuesday I was let go for some “bookkeeping errors” that weren’t errors and I had been doing them for months without any problems.

What men and women want

Creole Meatloaf and Macaroni

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 onion, minced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
• 1 1/4 cups elbow or broken macaroni
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups meat loaf, cubed*
• Seasoned salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Cook onion and green bell pepper in butter for 2 or 3 minutes.
2. Add next four ingredients and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and simmer, covered, about 1/2 hour, stirring frequently.
3. Add meat loaf and seasoned salt and pepper to taste. Heat through.

Notes

* Use leftover meat loaf.

What will these snowflakes do when things get REALLY tough? We haven’t even started yet.

Welcome to MY LIFE. Ugh!

What were the benefits of the feudal system in Europe in the middle ages?

For a serf: It sure beats being a slave. You are treated as a human being, you have your law-encoded rights and responsibilities, your taxes usually were reasonable and your lord had the responsibility to protect you and provide a free access to the castle. He also had the responsibility to provide you work and livelihood, and if he abused you, you had the legal right to flee to a town.

For a freeman (franklin or yeoman): You had the right to your life, body and livelihood, you could freely carry weapons outside a town, you did not pay rent to a lord and you could choose your profession. And should things go sour, you could freely move to a town.

For a town dweller: Towns were semi-independent domains who often were subordinate to the king alone, and while working can give you living, trade will make you wealthy. Townspeople usually were richer than countrypeople, and towns were bastions of freedom.

For a clergyman: You are the subject of the Mother Church and Father Pope alone, and nobody else. You are no more a subject of the lord, the king or the emperor. You will learn how to read and write, and you are free to pursuit your intellectual tendencies. If you join the Cistercian order, there are good chances you become a great engineer.

For a civil servant: You are the subject of the King alone, and nobody else. Same as with the church on intellectual pursuits, but you also may marry and have kids.

For a nobleman: You are first and foremost a soldier. You practice martial arts and train for war, military skills, leadership skills, equestrian skills and anything needed to serve in arms. You are exempt of taxes because upkeeping a military lifestyle is expensive. Your life is likely to be violent, nasty, brutish and mercifully short, but you might become a knight and a lord one day if you avoid that.

For a lord: You are a semi-independent ruler of your domain, and you are the lord and the hidalgo. You owe allegiance to the King alone, and you either pay it in taxes or serve 30 days in his service. Your main profession is to be the supervisor of the peasants who work on your estate, and maintain the balance between overworking them and providing them decent livelihood. Sorry, no ius primae noctis – that is an Age of Enlightment myth.

For a King: Think positively. You do not have the same absolute power as the sultans and czars in despotism, but neither you will face the same chances of getting assassinated or ousted or mutilated as they experience, and you do not need to kill your little brothers to ensure the throne. It is a good idea to run the country as a family enterprise – give important tasks to your younger siblings – and use the most talented of the lords as civil servants. Just maintain the balance between Church, Lords and Commoners, and you will do just fine.

What sounds extremely wrong, but is actually correct?

1. Hard-work alone won’t guarantee success — some poor people work harder than all of us.
2. If you are an adult — your life situation is your responsibility. You made the choices, you face the consequences.
3. If you want love or approval from someone — you must be okay without it.
4. Your brain is evolved to keep you safe yet miserable — not happy and content.
5. Money is hard to earn — you are desperate and miserable because you won’t have patience.
6. People can be toxic even when they love you — you have to live for yourself.
7. Negative people don’t have any ill intent— they are just running on autopilot.
8. Pain is necessary for growth — there is no way around pain.

Female Comedian EXPOSES The Truth About Dating In Her 30’s After Riding The HOTDOG CAROUSEL in 20’s

“I haven’t even met this man, and I am mad at him” – Truer words have never been spoken about female nature.

What are the most common regrets that people have once they grow old?

If you are asking me personally, what is my biggest regret, I would have to say that I regret not taking more pictures of things I did when I was younger, and not documenting the adventures I had.

I find that after 50+ years on this earth, I remember bits and pieces of my life, but there are big chunks of my life that I cannot recall, so having more pictures of those events and having a documented record of those activities would be something that would truly bring me joy, being able to remember more of the life I lived.

What’s the most questionable cost-cutting move you’ve seen an employer make?

My international company failed to have routine office supplies at our US location. Entirely. No office supplies.

So one day I needed a new pen. There were, of course, none. But rather than going out and buying my own at a local store, I decided to order one just to be ornery.

So I filled out the formal requisition form for one pen. I justified it (I wrote stuff and my old pen was empty), then used the proper channels to submit the requisition. The form:

1. Traveled from my California office to the main US branch office in Boston.
2. Boston routed the form to their home branch office in London.
3. London sent the form to the main International headquarters in Paris.
4. Paris approved the req. then…
5. Cut out one layer of bureaucracy by sending the approved form direct to Boston (the Paris and London offices hated each other)
6. Boston sent the approved req. back to my office.
7. I was then able to go out and buy one pen at corporate expense from the local store.

I was tempted to ask for a sheet of paper next, but Boston eventually decided to fund a small office supply in our location.

Oh. The Internet was around, but I should add that the original requisition form was hard copy. A piece of paper. That form physically travelled from California to Boston to London to Paris back to Boston then back to my office before I bought my pen.

Can you suggest any reasons why the sources of the Nile remained unknown until late in the nineteenth century?

Absolutely!

This is what the Nile looks like when it goes through Sudan

This is The Sudd. It’s Arabic for “barrier”. It’s also part of the Nile. It’s also much bigger than what you see here. It’s not much better even when it floods. Imagine you’re an explorer in, well, any time really and you come across this. The Ancient Egyptians tried to navigate past it for centuries. They utterly failed. Then the Romans decided to have a go at it. They failed too. Europeans tried in the 19th century. They had no better luck.

And where there’s swamp, there’s malaria. Good luck with that.

Europeans only found the source because they decided to avoid it entirely and attack it from the other direction, exploring into Central Africa. That’s not much easier.

Richard Burton decided to make a go of it. He started in lovely civilized Zanzibar and worked his way overland until he found Lake Tanganyika. “Eureka” he exclaimed, “I have found the source of the Nile”.

However, the guy he brought along with him, John Speke, told him he was nuts. Tanganyika was too low and too small to account for the fact that the Nile never ran dry. Burton told him was an idiot and they returned to England triumph…. no, wait, the scientific community wasn’t convinced.

So Speke got to go on his own expedition. He turned north instead and found the much larger and much bigger Lake Victoria.

He returned to England well, not triumphant, but with enough good data to get funding for another expedition to try to make it to the Sudd and not only did he do that, he found another source of the river that met up in the Sudd, what we now call the “White Nile” as opposed to the larger source flowing out of Lake Victoria, the “Blue Nile”.

So, Speke gets the credit, literally for “connecting the dots”.

As a disabled person what is the cruelest thing said to you?

Image: Me sitting on my porch at my home in the Central Valley of California.

Well as a disabled person, I am legally blind the cruelest thing, in my opinion, was not said with words.

Deeds speak out loud and clear.

I took a class on a subject of interest to me.

The teacher with a happy smile in her voice told me she had a special place in class for people like me.

It was the back corner, furthest away from all of the others in the class.

Total isolation. I could hear the other members of the class, I could see the shadows o of the other members of the class.

When the class had a pot luck of snacks at the last week of class, somehow I didn’t get the e-mail to ask me to take in something. So I didn’t.

Then no-one actually told me directly that there were snacks available nor did they come over and tell me about the pot-uck offerings.

Though they did make quite a bit of a racket, going back and too to the snacks tables and telling each other who had brought which items.

Another classmate came to the class in about the second week and was sat close by in the same corner. She only attended one week and disappeared. She was profoundly deaf. We could chat okay as she could lip read. But as for interacting with the class it was difficult.

Me being bloody minded as I am, finished the class. I paid good money so I wasn’t going to surrender to unspoken insults.

Biden Angry, Calls Xi ‘Dictator’, US Business Applauds Xi; US Isolated UN SC; Sullivan Sleepless

Very good, and clearly explains the Geo-political situation today.

What are some of the funniest “got fired” stories?

I was fired on the day I was going to hand in my resignation.

I hated the company: boss played favorites, personnel feedback was nonexistent, and they were very stingy with vacation time, even if you earned the days.

The third point I found out too late. After earning 10 days of personal time, I requested for time off six months ahead. Not only was it declined, I also got a stern talking-to by the same boss who played favorites.

I was so pissed off that I started looking for a job that very same night.

Within two weeks, I got an offer from a company I interviewed the previous year who kept my résumé in the active bin.

I moved my vacation date to the next month, upped the number of days, and got a business class ticket. I printed a resignation letter once I signed the offer at the new job.

The next day, I cared not an iota at work. I was just waiting for 5:00 so that I can hand in my two weeks.

4:30pm came and I got an email from the boss. I was being let go. They didn’t really say why (not that I cared) but they were going to give me a full month’s pay to help me find a new job.

i cleared out my desk, gave a quick thanks to my boss (co-workers have left at this point), and screamed when I got to my car.

I got the final pay the week after, then collected unemployment for a few weeks, and had a bloody fantastic time on vacation.

What is the least intelligent thing you’ve ever seen a tourist do?

Growing up in Florida, we used to play at the beach almost every day. At least once or twice a week, we’d be building sandcastles, or kicking the surf when we’d watch a tourist with wide eyes knowing what’s to come…

I’m an empath, and often tried to warn them. As a pudgy six year old however; I wasn’t usually fast enough. By the time I’d be close enough to yell “don’t touch that!!”, the elderly tourist or drunk college kid was already screaming in agonizing pain! The Portuguese man o’ war looks like a shiny blue balloon, or plastic grocery bag. The venom is insanely painful. I watched about a dozen people pee on each other by the time I was 8.

What’s something a poor kid would understand, but would utterly confuse a rich kid?

• Pretending you are not hungry when going to an expensive restaurant with friends, because you can’t actually afford to order food there.
• Acting like you don’t like after-school sports, because you have to bolt to your after-school job, so you have lunch money and bus fares.
• Pretending that family commitments prevent you from going on the school trip. You know there’s no way you can pay for it.
• Declining invitations to weddings because you don’t have proper clothes to wear and because you have no way of getting there either.
• Spending an extra hour in the supermarket so you can make the best choices with the $28 you have for food for a full week.
• Listening with horror as co-workers trash the boss who only gave each a $20 gift Visa card. You, on the other hand, are silent and also excited beyond words – you plan to get much needed shoes, a winter coat, and a backpack at the Goodwill store.
• Having teeth pulled, which should instead be filled and capped, because it costs one-tenth this way.
• Talking to supervisors in chain food stores to find out what they do with damaged food. (Poor people know these stores often have a place where you can go to collect it.)
• Adding water to the quart bottle of milk to stretch it.
• Taking home unused sugar packets, tea bags and napkins from the fast food place and feeling grateful for them.

These are my memories of being poor. Although I am no longer poor, these memories keep me grateful, and, more importantly, I will always understand the behavior of those whose actions are continually checked by empty pockets.

During WW2, were there places where troops were stationed that never saw any action?

Quite a few places, including Iceland.

After Denmark surrendered to the Nazis in April 1940 the status of Iceland was ambiguous. Although Iceland was an independent state, it’s ‘personal union’ with Demark, and dependence on Denmark for its defence and foreign relations, potentially meant it could be occupied by Germany. Its strategic location astride Britain’s Atlantic supply route to the United States made it vital to the United Kingdom’s security.

Britain invited Iceland to join the war as any and, when they rejected this, plans were made to occupy the island. Four Royal Navy ships led by HMS Berwick (above) deposited 745 Royal Marines in Iceland who met no resistance from the Icelandic police force, who were the only permanent armed presence on the island.

Iceland was occupied first by a British Division, then by elements of two Canadian Divisions and then by a brigade of US Marines. The latter arrived in June 1941, a whole six months before the United States officially join the war. This was one of Roosevelt’s most partisan decisions and greatly helped the British war effort as the Canadians could be sent to Britain, where eventually they would take part in the Dieppe raid and the battle for Normandy. Roosevelt sent the Marines as, being part of the US Navy, they were under his direct control, whereas sending the US Army would have required the approval of Congress, which was uncertain. The occupation of Iceland was not always popular with the locals, but one benefit of it was the construction of Rejkjavik airport.

Although planes and ships based in Iceland saw action, the garrison itself saw no action. There were, however, casualties as a result of the Icelandic climate and terrain. A five man patrol of the Kings Own Yorkshire Infantry were lost to the elements, for example. Despite the cold though, there were definitely worse places to spend the Second World.

NOTE

A lot of people have asked why the US Army couldn’t be deployed before war broke out. The answer is complicated, but it’s due to a policy decision rather than an act of the Constitution. Here are the details:

“At the same time, the War Plans Division raised inquiry concerning the effect of the legal restrictions that prohibited the National Guard, members of the Reserve, and men drafted under the Selective Service Act from serving outside the Western Hemisphere and which limited their terms of military service to a period of twelve months. For purposes of naval defense the President had placed the Atlantic frontier of the western world, quite arbitrarily, along the 26th meridian, which excluded the whole of Iceland. [25] The question was one of policy, not geography; and if policy for the moment dictated a course of exclusion, circumstances at any future time might well prescribe a change in policy. Whatever concern was felt during these first days in June seems to have arisen over the time limit rather than the controversial geographical restriction. On this basis it was entirely rational for the Chief of Coast Artillery to observe that selectees would have to be used in constituting the harbor defense regiment proposed as part of the Iceland garrison. In any event the problems posed by the legal restrictions did not seem insuperable as long as the 1st Division was being considered for the nucleus of the force. Although 75 percent of the officers of that division had been drawn from the Reserve, it was presumed that most of them would volunteer for duty in Iceland. The problem, in this respect, was considered to be one of maintaining secrecy. As for enlisted men, only a “small percentage” of them were selectees, and only about 10 percent of the men of the two antiaircraft regiments-the 61st and 68th-were subject to the restrictions written into the Selective Service and National Defense Acts. “

What is the nastiest thing you’ve done for revenge?

We were once renting a house and saving money towards a down payment to buy, when the owner came and told us he had to sell and had already and we had to be out by the end of the week. We refused since our lease guaranteed us 30 days. The new owner said that lease was void and had our utilities turned off. So as a goodbye gift, we went to the store and bought some old fish and 10 cans of cat food. There was a fireplace in the basement built of brick and had come separated from the back wall. We dropped the fish behind that. The cans of cat food, we opened and placed in crawl spaces throughout both floors of the house.

What does it mean when women play with their hair while looking at you?

Well, according to my ex girlfriend of 40 years ago, I am blind, because I didn’t notice that the hostess, had sat down next to me, leaned in close to talk in a loud room, laughed at my jokes (hey, I’m funny) and played with her hair.

My girlfriend said it was so obvious she was about to throw up. Guys are oblivious.

Why was Steve Jobs so much richer than Steve Wozniak even though they founded Apple together?

Steve Jobs sold all but one of his stocks in Apple when he left in 1985, when Apple stock was at an all time low. He founded NeXT and was the majority owner when Apple bought the company, though at that point he was almost out of money, on the brink of bankruptcy. He also bought Pixar and it has been rolling out blockbusters every other year for 20 years. He also invested in other companies. Toy Story alone made Steve Jobs a billionaire because Pixar was publicly traded company.

Woz on the other hand gave away a lot of his stock. He financed more than a few huge rock concerts that lost a lot of money. He started a company making remote controls that failed and lost money. He got divorced more than a few times. He helps old Apple employees that are out of luck and deal with sickness. He gives away a lot of his money. But you don’t need to worry about him, he still has a lot and he is according to everyone who actually knows him, a super nice guy. He was never in it to have money, he just wanted a computer that he could fiddle with.

China Warns US “Don’t Try THIS” As Biden Prepares To Hug Xi

What kind of cooperation between the United States and China on nuclear disarmament is feasible?

Very simple.

Just develop the smart bombs to change the equation from MAD to MGD – i.e., from the “old-fashion-not-so-accurate assured” to the “IoT-satellite-guided guaranteed” way of mass destructure.

These are the AI-enabled hypersonic bombs that cannot be defended against and only a few hundred launched from a control center are needed to completely annihilate the entire country the size of Russia, China or the U.S. Then the 5,000-plus warheads in the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the U.S. would become redundant and useless.

Even the triad security concept of land, air and sea delivery system becomes redundant. No need for those expensive bombers and subsmarines to deliver nuclear warheads as backup when those smart ICBMs can do the job.

The calculus for disarmament becomes very straightforward and simple.

War can be so simple when you know its guaranteed and forever.

And isn’t it why Biden is trying to deny China our advanced chips?

Have you ever experienced karma in real life?

We were in a beautiful relationship for about 3 years. And then suddenly she over texts, broke up with me. No explanation given. Like every other guy, I cried, pleaded for just one reason, and all she said was it’s over, I don’t want to be with you. She has changed her college a month before the break up. And like I suspected she fell out of love with me because there is new guy who approached her. Quite similar to everyone’s love story. Lol

Anyway, I was literally shattered, and broken. I couldn’t believe the girl I thought to be my future left me in such a dire condition.

It’s been three years since she is gone. Yesterday, I got a phone call from her at 2am. Basic points from the calls were:

1. She was unhappy, crying profusely over the phone. She said she don’t have anyone to trust and talk to, except me. And yes, I talked to her because pretty much I loved her too much.
2. She said the guy cheated her, and when asked him for a breakup, he said he will going to kill her, he abused and hit her off. And she thought everybody will leave silently like me.
3. I asked her to do a police complain, she said, she doesn’t want her parents to know, she is stucked.
4. After few minutes on call, she was laughing, talking to me as if we were never separated, I was wondering how easy the things are for girls.
5. Then she told me even before her father and brother, I am the person she trust and respect the most. I was flattered but I knew, it’s no more important.
6. I was again at ground zero, I felt happy talking to her, but the wounds were yet fresh.
7. I tried not to make her feel bad and bid her bye.

Today I Changed my phone number, and email id!

I do love her a lot, still? Yes. But I cannot give her the power to destroy me again.

The lonely chapter

Have you ever caught on to someone trying to scam you before it was too late?

One day, I had a woman come into my checkout line and wanted to buy ALL the $1.00 Bic cigarette lighters at the checkout stand.

Between the two sets of lighters, she was purchasing about 35–40 lighters.

I was then ringing up all the rest of the completely full shopping cart of stuff she got in line with. At the end, she then handed me a bunch of coupons.

I was already on guard because buying so many lighters was very unusual. I looked at the coupons and there was a whole stack of them that were for $4.00 off of a $6.00 Lady’s Bic shaver.

She never purchased any shavers, and I told her these coupons could not be used, as she did not have the item.

She said they were for the lighters. I told her, “No, this is for 4 dollars off the shaver, not the lighters.”

She insisted that it would accept, and scan for, the lighters, too. I agreed. I told her I knew it would, but it was because of an error in the coupon codes, and it was not deliberate. We had been made aware of the error and did not accept it.
She persisted in telling me that if it scanned, we had to accept it.

“No, Ma’am,” I said. “The coupon has to be for the item the coupon is for, not something else.”

What she was attempting to do was get 4 dollars off a 1 dollar item, giving her a negative 3 dollar balance with every lighter purchased. With about 40 lighters, that would leave her total at -120.00 dollars, which then got balanced out with all the rest of the items in her cart. Had I not paid attention to the actual coupons and just blindly started scanning them, not only would she gotten 40 dollars’ worth of lighters free, she would have gotten over 120 dollars’ worth of other merchandise completely free without paying a single cent.

I told her that what she was attempting was theft. She got irate and claimed it was not theft because she was not trying to take the items out without purchasing them. I told her that was exactly what she was doing by running what she knew to be a scam.

She then did not want to buy any of it, and wanted me to void off all the items.

That is when I got rather devilish myself. I told her quietly that no, she was going to buy everything rung up, as-is, without the scam, or that I would be calling the police for her to be charged with theft of well over 180 dollars’ worth of merchandise.

Either she got charged with theft, or bought what she wanted to buy at the correct total.
But, it was not getting voided.

She bought it all.

I never saw her in the store again.
Before that, she had been a semi-regular customer, always holding up the checkout as she constantly scammed coupons for far more than what the coupons were supposed to allow.

Good riddance.

Why is it hard to make new friends?

can’t do the 15th,” John said. “Can we push it back two weeks?” I looked at my calendar, trying to align the dates with our friend Derrick. Then, after finding a great window, John came back with another complication. I rubbed my temples in frustration.

I’m 40 and most of my friends are married and buried in toddlers. They also live in other cities. I try to arrange a trip each year, but coordinating it feels like pushing a boulder up a mountain. Beyond the scheduling conflicts, I’m in competition for their PTO with grandparents and extended family.

As a kid, it was all so simple. The only prerequisite for new friends was the spirit of play. If the other person was down, and nice, they became friends. In college, it was all about who I partied with and saw the most frequently. Everyone was so social. Then, this blur of obligations pulled us all apart.

As social primates, friendships are central to our health and happiness. Yet so many of us are painfully lonely and it isn’t entirely our fault. Since the 1950s, sociologist have asserted that modern life makes it difficult to meet the three conditions for close friendships: proximity, repeated and unplanned interactions, and an environment that encourages people to confide in each other.

Which is why it feels so forced to be planning hangout trips months in advance. It feels like I’m scrambling to keep legacy friendships on life support. I can scarcely plan to meet for dinner with people without complications.

In school and college, it was so easy because there was endless time for socializing, and we were all on top of each other in dorms and classrooms. And, we didn’t have real bills and adult problems. So how can we make more friends as adults?

Converting new friends

Per one study, it takes 40–60 hours within the first six weeks of meeting someone to turn them from an acquaintance into a casual friend. It takes another 80 to 100 hours to elevate them to true friend status. Which feels like a ton of time as a career driven person. But these connections can be built up over longer stretches.

The obvious answer for me was work, back when I had an office job. But the people at my office weren’t necessarily the people I wanted to spend my time with. Sometimes, we just have to work with what is in front of us. It can even boost competency. Researchers found that doctor coworkers who became friends, performed better at their job. A personal connection and trust can boost performance in team environments.

In March of 2020, four teens were stuck on a boat in Cuba. They’d intended to fly back to the Netherlands. Then the pandemic struck and they decided to sail home. The intensity of spending weeks on the boat together, working to navigate as a team, turned them all from strangers into close friends. One friend said, “Being around someone 24 hours a day, you tell them everything. You don’t do that when you are home.”

My friend, who went to prison in his early 20s after being caught up with a bad crowd, said the same thing happened during his five year stint. Today, he is doing fine and in his late 40s, but is still friends with his former cellmates.

The challenge is that we apply more filtering mechanisms with age. We often filter people out by political views, social class, and do so without realizing it. It’s useful to be attuned to what you want in a friend, but beware of letting this turn into snobbish gatekeeping.

Getting a grip on potential friends

One study used Christmas cards in Western society to approximate social networks and estimated each of us have around 121 acquaintances. Other studies have found wide variances from this number. But it is exceedingly rare for anyone to have zero acquaintances.

These acquaintances are potential friends and not to be dismissed. Weak ties, as sociologists call it, are still great for mental wellbeing even if it is just a brief conversation. Today, I found out my beloved gym of seven years is closing. The owner, Joe, let me in for a final workout, even though the lights were off and they were cleaning up. We found time to chat about life and his decision to quit. I’ve always enjoyed talking to him so we exchanged phone numbers to potentially hang out. The other option is to reconnect with older friends you haven’t spoken to in years.

Accept that rekindling friendships is just more work in adulthood. Remember when your buddy got their first girlfriend or boyfriend and stopped hanging out? That’s everyone now. If you have a partner, it’s worth thinking through which potential friend has a partner who would vibe with them.

Also, practicing “self-disclosure”, or opening up about your life, is proven to boost connections with people. One study found three great insights about disclosing. One, people who give more intimate disclosures tend to be more liked than those who don’t. Two, people disclose more to those they like. And three, people like you more after you disclose. This comes with a caveat: don’t make it too personal, too soon. Avoid mud slinging from your divorce and giving play-by-plays from the bedroom.

The importance of maximizing time

My buddy has two kids and said he has one hour of total free time each weekday, and that when he finally gets that hour, he is desperate to decompress and have some time alone. Yet he also wishes we hung out more. This is a common theme around the country. People are lonely and crave more connection. Operate with this assumption, rather than starting from the assumption of someone judging or not liking you.

Remember to think about the places you frequent, and the potential friends you could make and maintain through those interactions. List out a few acquaintances and consider upgrading them. The key with any of these people is to also do things outside the place you regularly see them.

If you don’t see people on a regular basis, consider joining a club or taking up a hobby that involves other people. Then, get to work. Initiating doesn’t have to be heavy. Just something as simple as, “We should hang out some time.”

Lastly, be real and have conversations. Don’t spend 45 minutes talking about the weather. Vulnerability has a mutually boosting likability effect. You’ll both be happier in the end.

Planning for changes

What are some unwritten social rules everyone should know?

“You look tired” is not a compliment.

Don’t say “I’m fine” if you’re not fine.

Don’t ask “how are you?” unless you want to know.

Don’t say “I am here if you need anything” when being more specific will truly help. “I am coming over tomorrow to drop off some soup” is way better.

Don’t glance over someone’s shoulder when they are in the middle of a story that matters to them.

Don’t look at your phone at all when you are spending time with someone.

On a plane if your seat is tight don’t recline it. Also, let the person squeezed in the middle seat use both arm rests.

Be extra nice if someone is serving you: giving you a manicure, bringing you food, preparing you a drink. Also please don’t hit on them. They are not charmed. They are serving you.

If anyone says “you hurt my feelings” the only correct response is “I am listening.” Not “I didn’t intend that” or “I was joking” or “wow you are sensitive.”

If you can make someone’s day a bit smoother, please do.

People want to feel heard more than they want advice.

People want to feel seen more than they want to be fixed.

People want to be sincerely complimented more than they want constructive criticism.

Say thank you a lot. Say it all the time. Add why you are saying it. “You always get my coffee just right. Thank you.” “You make my day sunnier. Thank you.” Thank you for reading, sharing and commenting on what I write. It encourages me. It makes my day.

American Couple React “America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better”