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.
Well, as I type this up, it is CNY. This (today) is the first day of the new year, and I am in Wenzhou. It’s a standard fare of massive meals, lots and lots of drinking, and long bouts of lazing about.
The weather is cold out, but nothing like what I grew up with. Lots and lots of fireworks. Non-stop explosions and bangs. Day in, and day out, at all hours of the day and night. Very typical.
This is the first time that we are in Wenzhou since the COVID hit China. That was four years ago. My… a lot has happened.
I’ve been busy knocking these posts out, and now have a nice big backlog, but I will be altering my schedule and product mixes in the future.
I want to wish everyone a very nice and prosperous Year of the Dragon 2024.
This reminds me of the early 90’s when I had just started Nick’s Racing in Denver CO
As anybody who starts his own business knows, money was tight and everything would just need to hold out a bit longer. Every Saturday afternoon I went to the local mall/shopping-centre to buy whatever I needed for the week. Whilst there I often saw this 70’s Camaro in the lot and it amused me how the inside looked like a pig sty. But I did love the shape & one day… Dream on Nick you are living from week to week.
Fortunately lady luck and my craftmanship smiled on me, work came in so that I had to hire 2 more engine builders and I started to have disposable income and no time to spend it. The American dream, right ? One day I see this Camaro in the same lot with the bonnet (hood) open and a for sale sign on it. I bought this car for a ridiculously low amount and spent a whole day cleaning out all the junk this lady owner had accumulated in it. The first thing that hit me where the cigarette burn marks in the upholstery and the holes in the roof lining 😉
I had to redo the interior, the body had to be panel-beated and resprayed. The engine was going to be replaced with a 383 stroker anyways I just decided to redo the Electrics, as fixing this rats nest was not worth it. I fitted a Classic Air Air Con This car was trash- defined.
Luckily my 2 workers were foreigners also- Mexicans. We got on well and their friends and family did a lot of work on this car for good value. Considering this was basically a rebuild, using performance part where possible, and not a hot-rod build, it still took close to a year of getting it on the road again. This car must have gotten 0 maintenance from the day she got it to the day it expired in a parking lot.
And then I left back for Namibia and sold it to one of my guys who then gave it to his daughter once she needed wheels.
A young Kurt Russell worked together with Charles Bronson. During shooting, Russell found out it was Charles Bronson’s birthday. So he got his older co-star a gift. Bronson looked at it, took it… then walked out of the room, without saying a word. Russell was terrified, worried he had insulted the man.
A little while later, Russell was called to the dressing room of Bronson. Bronson was silent, looked down and said to the child actor: “No one has ever given me a birthday gift before…” Charles Bronson was the son of dirt poor immigrants. He had fourteen siblings, and worked in the mines as a child. Never finished schooling, never had a kind word, he was worked like a mule since the day he learned to walk.
Charles Bronson hadn’t known a lot of kindness in his life. It caught him off guard to receive some from his young co-star. He later gave Russell a skateboard on his own birthday to play with between takes. The two men remained lifelong friends.
Yes. Several. Mainly because I know what’s going on in their lives, and the students don’t. If the students knew what I knew, they’d cut those teachers a little slack.
One teacher in particular, with whom I worked seven years ago, stands out for me among all of the teacher sob stories I know.
To make a long story short, when she was in her 40s and had been teaching preschool for half of her life, her husband left her for a much younger woman. Around the same time, the school’s preschool program changed from full-time to just two days per week and, in order to stay full-time and keep her benefits, she was forced to become the school’s art teacher for all students in grades PreK-8 (ages 3–14).
She was good with the younger students, but had no idea how to control the middle schoolers. She hated teaching the older kids, but she had no choice. She was still more than a decade away from retirement and needed the health insurance, but she also couldn’t afford to go back to school or change careers or anything like that. She was trapped teaching students that she wasn’t trained to teach.
And they were merciless to her.
The art class existed primarily to give the “regular” teachers a planning period, but I, along with my coworkers, ended up sitting with our classes to the art room most days, because we could control the kids, and she couldn’t. The students treated her class like recess, and treated her with a level of disrespect you usually only see in the movies, right before the “savior” teacher swoops in and sets things right.
The students didn’t see how the teacher cried after school every day, alone in her classroom, before she composed herself enough to walk down the block to her apartment, where she probably cried some more, alone, throughout the evening and night.
I left that school after teaching there just one year. The school closed two years after I left. I hope she was able to find a full time position working with younger children. Middle schoolers can be just as cruel to their teachers as they are to each other.
The doctor, after an examination, sighed and said, ‘I’ve got some bad news. You have cancer, and you’d best put your affairs in order.’
The woman was shocked, but managed to compose herself and walk into the waiting room where her daughter had been waiting.
‘Well, daughter, we women celebrate when things are good, and we celebrate when things don’t go so well. In this case, things aren’t well. I have cancer. So, let’s head to the club and have a martini.’
After 3 or 4 martinis, the two were feeling a little less somber. There were some laughs and more martinis. They were eventually approached by some of the woman’s old friends, who were curious as to what the two were celebrating.
The woman told her friends they were drinking to her impending end, ‘I’ve been diagnosed with AIDS.’ The friends were aghast, gave the woman their condolences and beat a hasty retreat.
After the friends left, the woman’s daughter leaned over and whispered, ‘Momma, I thought you said you were dying of cancer, and you just told your friends you were dying of AIDS! Why did you do that??’
‘Because I don’t want any of those bitches sleeping with your father after I’m gone.’.
Top 8 rules
Ricotta Lasagna Swirls
Ingredients
Lasagna
8 lasagna noodles
2 pounds fresh spinach
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 pound ricotta cheese
Salt
Pepper
Sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Instructions
Lasagna: Cook and drain lasagna noodles.
Steam 2 pounds fresh spinach for 7 minutes, then chop. Mix spinach with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 pound ricotta cheese, salt and pepper.
Coat each noodle with 2 to 3 tablespoons of mixture along the entire length of the noodle. Roll up. Stand on end in a baking dish.
Sauce: Sauté garlic and onion.
Add tomato sauce, basil and oregano.
Pour sauce over noodles and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
Young Men Are Lonelier Than Ever (And It’s Getting Worse)
On this very day, Joe decides to eat out. He enters a restaurant, sits down, and has his order taken.
Just as the waitress arrives with his precariously balanced meal, someone knocks her aside. This causes an avalanche of food and drinks to tumble onto Joe in a non-majestic, yet sloppy manner.
Joe breathes in heavily and….
…asks if the waitress is alright, wipes himself to the best he can, and helps clean up a little without mumbling. Joe then comforts said waitress who is on the verge of crying, whilst assuring the seething and anxious manager that everything is all right.
If shit happens to you and it’s not your fault, then more shit happens yet you are still cool, you are mature in my eyes.
Mature people don’t cause more shit, or simply throw their shit away, even when shit is thrown at them.
It’s not that they don’t give a shit, but they deal with their shit appropriately.
Be like Joe and deal with your shit correctly.
China’s New AI Microchip Just Destroyed US Sanctions Forever!
Years ago, Patrick received a junk mail “fake cheque”- supposedly, if he were to send money to the company, he would then soon get more huge cheques like the one he’d just received.
The fake cheque was made out for $95,093.35. It even had an attached authorised signature.
Now, most people would see this as the junk & total scam that it obviously was. Most people would rip it up and just toss it in their bin. Most people would ignore it.
Most- but not Patrick.
Patrick was extremely broke at the time – he had only $200 in his bank account.
He had a good sense of humour and thought, “What would happen if I tried to lodge this into my bank account?” Fully expecting to get a laugh out of it from both himself and the bank teller, that’s exactly what Patrick did.
He went to lodge the cheque into his bank account.
As Patrick said, “I didn’t think I was sticking money into the machine.”
He so fully was expecting the cheque to bounce that he didn’t even endorse the back of it.
Time passes and Patrick forgets about it.
Ten days later though, he checks his bank account and to his amazement, $95,093.35 now sits in his bank account!
It turns out that the cheque actually matched 9 of the criteria that the bank required for a cheque to be valid – the words “non negotiable” that the junk company placed on the front did not negate the cheque whatsoever. It turned out that they had been successful in making the cheque look real – too real.
Additionally- the bank managed to miss their own legal deadline to notify Patrick that his cheque had bounced as a non-cash item.
“The excitement of that much money was off the scale,” he said. “It was an addiction. For two months I obsessed on whether I should take the money or give the money back. I put my bank on speed dial and dialed it every ten minutes. I worried constantly that it would go away.“
Patrick, being the good person that he is, did return the money 6-months later.
And, there you have it, Patrick Combs is the man who received a junk mail fake cheque in the post – and managed to cash it to the tune of $95,000+! That, I think, is very much gaming the system.
Yet the content was something I have known and understood and have been talking about for more than two years on Quora
Anyone who follows Scott Ritter, Brian Berletic, The Duran, IEarlGrey and those guys would find most of what Putin said to be nothing surprising, given that this was what most of them have been discussing for both these years 2022 and 2023
However for the Average Americans, this gave them the other point of view
You have had almost 66 Interviews of Zelensky over the last 24 months and you have seen almost 4000 articles covering Zelensky and Ukraine yet Putins POV and Russias POV has never been covered in the West
This Interview filled the gap
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
Putins explanation makes a lot of sense
He says the Invasion was the LAST RESORT
He says Russia carved out Ukraine under Lenin and later on post WWII, more territories from Germany & Poland & Hungary & Romania were added to Ukraine after USSR got them under Post WWII restructuring
He says Russians and Ukranians were the same people and every Ukranian had 3–4 relatives in Russia and vice versa
He says Ukranian Language is just one of five languages spoken in Ukraine along with Russian, Polish, Romanian and Hungarian in different parts of Ukraine
He says Russia and Ukraine had a friendship and a relationship post 1994 and most of Ukraine’s Trade was with Russia
He says how Ukraine in 2008 began to start idolizing NAZIs and established Neo Nazism and began persecuting Russian Speakers of Eastern Ukraine
He says how Ukraine in 2014 deposed Yanukovich after the West Deceived HIM openly. He talks of how Yanukovich was assured by Merkel and others including Obama of a peaceful conclusion to Maidan if he didn’t use the Military and the Police and how once Yanukovich agreed, they openly deceived him and allowed Maidan to depose him
He then talks of how Zelensky spoke of ending the Russian Language from 2019 onwards and how Zelensky spoke of military conquest of Donbass
He talks of how Russia repeatedly talked to Western Leaders for a peaceful re implementation of the Minsk II Accords that Zelensky broke openly and which the guarantors ignored
He talked of Airplanes over Donbass and forced action against Russian Speakers for 8 years from 2014–2022, all chronicled and presented to the UN and yet IGNORED by the West
It was in the end the ONLY WAY for Russia to secure it’s borders and help the Russian Speakers in Ukraine and Denazify Ukraine
Is Russia ready for Talks?
Yes. Putin confirms this.
He says it’s Zelensky who is not ready. Who in fact even decreed that any discussion on peace is in fact illegal.
Is Russia ready to sell Gas to Germany?
Yes. Putin says he still has pipelines that can supply Gas to Germans.
So he says why are Germans throttling their own industries by paying 4.25 times more for Piped LNG???
He literally openly says Scholz is either Insane or a Traitor to his own people
Putin talks of China & Russia
Putin says China is far more significant to the West because of their Population and their strong economy which even at 5% growth is DOUBLE AS FAST AS THE US
He exposes the China Bogey by citing how BRICS & SCO are both Consensus based organizations against NATO which is entirely US dominated
He gives an example of the Iraq War where France and Germany were openly muscled by George Junior Bush
He cites how Sanctions failed
He highlighted how Russia simply DEDOLLARIZED as did many other nations
He cited that 61 Nations have reduced USD holdings by 10% or more since 22/2/22
He cited that 70% of Russian Trade is settled in Yuan or Ruble now and only 19% in Euros and USD (4.8% in Emirati Dirham and 1.7% in South African Rand & HKD and the rest in other currencies)
He cites how the US lost its own place in the world thanks to the Sanctions and how everyone now wants their own financial secure system and an independence from the Dollar and a preference for their own local currency
He clarified why he retreated from Kiev
He was clear when he said, in Istanbul the Ukranians wanted Russians away from Kiev as a matter of faith and Putin complied
Yet again HE WAS DECEIVED
So the conclusions are clear now
First Putin doesn’t care what the West thinks anymore. He will do what is best for Russians in his opinion. He won’t trust the West again.
Second Putin will not end this SMO unless he gets what he wants. A Guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO and security for the Russian Speaking population in Ukraine.
Third, Putin will not initiate WWIII unless NATO attacks Russia. He made this clear. He will attack any NATO member if they attack Russia first.
Fourth, Putin says his Hypersonic Missile System is the most advanced in the world and the fact that he talks less about it means he is accurate
His final message to the Americans is WHY THEY ARE POKING THEIR NOSE IN UKRAINE WHEN THEY HAVE SO MANY TROUBLES OF THEIR OWN
It’s something that resonates with Donald Trump and his MAGA crowd
It would have been enlightening to many people
Not to me
This is essentially everything I have been saying for two years now.
When the kids were grown and gone, my wife and I considered getting a firearm for home protection. Two events finally pushed us to do it. The first event was my walking into a large drug buy in a gas station late at night in Miami. Lots of drugs, thugs, and guns. While they stood there looking at me. I said “Hey, I’m just here to get a receipt for the gas. The guy behind the counter (who was in on it), gave it to me and they let me walk out the door past a very confused lookout. Having a concealed weapon probably wouldn’t have done me any good that night. But it did reminded me that the world is a dangerous place.
The second event was back-to-back hurricanes, causing weeks of power outages with no cell or landline capability. The neighborhood was blocked in for a long time by fallen trees and debris. Even though we live only a mile or so from a precinct, there was no way to contact them or for them to quickly get into our neighborhood.
I asked my neighbor if I should be worried about looting. He responded, “everyone in this neighborhood is armed”, and everybody knows it. You are, aren’t you? A few weeks after the storm, I purchased my first gun.
I friend in law enforcement asked if I had a carry permit for it, reminding me that I lived within a 1000 feet of a school, restricting how I can transport the gun when off my property. Those restrictions (other than being on school property itself) are waived in my state if you have a carry permit.
I signed up for an approved NRA course that counted towards the permit, applied, and received one. Since then, I’ve purchased a few other guns, joined a gun club, and have had dozens of different firearm courses with a state LEO firearms trainer.
Like other “constitutional carry” states, Florida no longer requires a permit for concealed carry. But I keep mine current so I can carry reciprocally in other states.
Yes. This was back in the late ’90s. I had a customer come in with a Corolla. He only had one remote for the security system, but had just purchased another one and needed to have it programmed to the car. I told him that was a very quick and easy job, and I could literally do it while he stood there. I opened the driver’s door, turn the key to the on position and moved the driver seat all the way forward. The computer for the security system was under the driver’s seat on this car. You had to access the computer and push and hold a small button on the side of the computer to put it in programming mode, but it was much easier to access from the back seat. So I then got out and opened the rear driver side door, leaned in, and moved the floor mat to get better access to the computer under the seat. When I moved the floor mat, there was a syringe, a spoon, a lighter, and a bag of white powder that I will assume had to be heroin. I put the computer in program mode, hit the buttons on the remote, and heard the confirmation chirp from the front of the car to signal the new remote was programmed. I put the floor mat back, climbed out, and with a death stare, handed the customer his new remote and told him you’re all done, have a nice day. The guy’s face was white as a ghost, and I never saw him in the dealership again.
Having spent years working in a retail store, I saw so many decisions made by highly-paid executives in an office in another state that I knew instantly wouldn’t work out. And they didn’t.
I could write a book about the reasons for this, but mainly – either they don’t know because they don’t do the actual work, or they don’t believe the underlings who have tried to explain it to them.
I’ll give you an example:
So, I worked at a retail store that was part of a national chain separated into so many districts. I think our district had 10 or 12 stores. One quarter, I have no idea how, but somehow, one of the other stores in our district massively overspent their budget by like ten or fifteen grand. (I really wish I knew how, I bet it was a helluva story.) Probably someone got fired over that, but that didn’t solve the problem that they had a shortfall. (And no, firing the person responsible didn’t fix it either, because they then had to spend money to hire a new person to fill the role.)
So, somewhere up in the corporate office, a person whose name I don’t know had an idea to fix this problem. Since I don’t know who this person is, we’ll call them Bean Counter. I assume their job had something to do with accounting or finance.
So Bean Counter says, “Well, we can make up the shortfall by having every store in the district cut their budget by so much % for the remainder of the quarter.”
Bean Counter’s Boss ran the numbers and decided this was a grand idea. They may have even given Bean Counter a raise or promotion for such brilliant work. On paper, Bean Counter’s plan appeared to play out beautifully.
But this was around the beginning of December, just as the holiday rush was kicking into high gear.
Also, there are not a lot of ways to reduce spending on a store level, where budgets are already pretty tight. Management had very limited discretionary funding, and rarely went out and bought stuff for the store. Basically, the only way to really reduce spending by the amount Bean Counter wanted was to cut payroll hours….drastically.
So it’s the holidays and we’re working with a skeleton crew on every shift. One person at the register, one on the floor, and a manager who wasn’t *supposed* to get tied up with tasking.
And we’re busy, every day, because it’s the holidays, and we sell, among other things, a lot of tech items that are popular gifts. Sometimes we have 20 or 30 people in the store at once, and we can’t help them all. There is no “work harder” solution that allows one person on the floor to help 30 people at once. Even with the manager also helping customers on the floor, and “floating” between customers, they could realistically help maybe 10 people at a time.
Oh, and we weren’t supposed to get a line of more than 2 people at the register without opening a second till. HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, that couldn’t happen with only two other people in the store and both of them working the floor.
So we had people walking out, unhelped, constantly. We did our best, assuring people we’d be with them in a moment, apologizing for the delay, etc. Even so, some people just couldn’t wait and they left and, presumably, went to a competitor.
But Bean Counter and Bean Counter’s Boss weren’t in the store watching this every day. They were back in their nice little offices, smiling at their Excel sheets because they turned a line green.
You see, an Excel sheet can’t show you how much revenue you lost because you didn’t have enough employees to help your customers.
And even without knowing any of the numbers on the Excel sheet, I can tell you that we lost money. I’m going to give you a VERY conservative estimate here. I’ll assume some of the people who left wouldn’t have bought anything anyway. Let’s say only half the people who came in would have bought something. And let’s say that only twenty people walked out in an hour. (Most hours it was probably much more than that, but I’m giving you a conservative estimate.)
And let’s say that the average sale at that point was $20. That’s a really low number for this time of year (usually it was $40–60), but no one had time to upsell and pitch the customer add-ons, so we’ll say $20. That’s $200 an hour lost.
Employees like me and the floor person were making about $7.50 to $8 an hour. Let’s say everyone was getting $8 an hour. Having two more employees would have cost an additional $16 an hour but would have prevented at LEAST $200 in sales losses. (And again, the actual number is almost certainly much higher.)
The store was open from 8 AM to 9 PM, so 13 hours. By cutting two employees all day, the store saved $208 a day. They lost AT LEAST $2,600 a day in sales.
BUT Bean Counter’s plan looked good on paper, before, after, and during the last quarter. They got the district out of the red! We were no longer over budget! Problem solved!
Tesla primarily makes cars. And when regarded solely as an auto-maker – it is over valued.
Tesla pioneered electric vehicles and established a head start in that market. Newer entrants into that market (including Chinese manufacturers) are catching-up and offering products with similar utility and competitive prices. Tesla’s first-mover advantage is not being sustained. The company is taking too long to produce new models and is not iterating its current line-up fast enough. Where is the Roadster? Where is the new better battery tech? Why is the Cybertruck failing to match expectation?
The company presented itself to the stock market as more than a mere car maker. Rather it is a tech company which happens to make cars. It argued that it should be valued as such, and that initially convinced the market. However the various technical innovations it promised have yet to materialise. Self-driving has improved, but it is many, many years late. The robo-taxi idea seems to have evaporated – there are still safety issues and regulatory hurdles. It’s AI vision stack is a really impressive bit of technology – but it is not a product.
The company has a CEO problem. The CEO has a history of over promising and under delivering. Rather than finishing products and releasing them in a polished state, the CEO presents semi-baked ideas to the market in the conceptual stage, and then take years and years to materialise. The market is getting wise to this bait and switch strategy.
The CEO is distracted with other companies and is at best a part-time manager. The CEO has not been good at attracting and retaining the best staff. When the head of the AI project left, this should have been a warning sign. The CEO has not created a workplace culture that values attention to detail and quality. Instead the culture is gung-ho and reckless, which frequently ends up causing more damage than good.
The CEO seems to be having either a drugs and or mental health problem and has recently decided to become more politically active in support of various right and far-right political groups. In some companies this would not matter, but Tesla’s main market is selling vehicles to individuals and families who are aware of environmental issues and support the transition to greener energy. The far-right regard electric vehicles as a government imposed initiative to spoil their god-given right to drive a pick-up, full of firearms, while running over vaccine-users. – This makes Tesla vehicles less attractive to people who would have previously bought them. No one wants to own a vehicle which has become a repugnant political statement.
The CEO clearly regards Tesla has his personal piggy-bank and demands absurd amounts of compensation for his part-time and mercurial contribution. This naturally upsets shareholders.
AI Tool Deciphers Herculaneum Scroll, and It’s All About Pleasure!
A team of student researchers have combined 3D-mapping and AI to decipher a Greek scroll that was encased in ash during the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The philosophical musing reveals Greek thought on the complexities of “pleasure”.
In the ancient Greek world “pleasure” wasn’t just an occasional indulgence; it was an Olympic event of the senses. From lively symposiums colored with courtesans and entertainers, to dramatic theatrical productions and festivals, the pursuit of delight was as integral to Greek life as debating philosophy.
Now, offering new insights into pleasure across the ancient Aegean, where it wasn’t a guilty pleasure but a cultural cornerstone, a Greek philosopher’s thoughts regarding pleasure have been decoded by AI. And adding to the intrigue, the source material was an ancient papyrus scroll that was entombed in ash during the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Text from the Herculaneum scroll, which has been unseen for 2,000 years. (Vesuvius Challenge/Nature)
Fusing 3D-Mapping and AI
The team of student researchers, comprising Youssef Nader, Luke Farritor and Julian Schilliger, who used AI to decode the damaged papyrus scroll, have scooped the $700,000 grand prize in the Vesuvius Challenge grand prize Vesuvius Challenge. They received the illustrious award for being the first team to “recover 4 passages of 140 characters from a Herculaneum scroll”.
Essentially, the young team combined 3D-mapping applications and AI to successfully penetrate a lump of blackened volcanic rock that has encased a scroll for almost 2,000-years, since Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Known as the Herculaneum papyri, the new combination of technologies identified tiny patches of ink within the fused ash, revealing hitherto unseen musings of a Greek philosopher contemplating ‘pleasure.’
A Gigantic Boon for Philosophy
Not only did the winning team of the Vesuvius Challenge decipher more than “85 percent of the characters illustrated within four passages comprising 140 characters each,” but they included a further 11 columns of text, bringing their total to around 2000 interpreted characters.
The text discloses the personal thoughts of Philodemus, the philosopher-in-residence at the library which once housed the Herculaneum papyri. As such, Professor Michael McOsker from the University College London told New Scientist that the findings represent “a gigantic boon” to the understanding of philosophy in the ancient Greek world.
The ancient Greek text muses on how the scarcity and abundance of material items impacts the pleasure received from them. According to Philodemus, a philosopher of the Epicurean school, the enjoyment derived from food and other goods is closely tied to their availability. In line with Epicurean philosophy, which emphasizes pleasure as life’s primary objective, the scarcity or abundance of these commodities plays a crucial role in shaping our well-being.
Additionally, it was noted that in his two-millennium-old text, there seems to be a subtle attack at the Stoic school of philosophy, suggesting they have “nothing to contribute regarding pleasure.” While Epicureanism centers on the pursuit of pleasure and tranquility, considering them the ultimate goals in life, in contrast, Stoicism emphasizes virtue as the highest good, advocating for inner strength and moral excellence to navigate life’s challenges.
What this all means for modern researchers, is that they have fresh data pertaining to Greek ideas about the prioritization of pleasure and tranquility (Epicureanism), against virtue and inner resilience (Stoicism), being the key foundation for a fulfilling life.
It Cost What? This Has To Stop!
Having bagged the Vesuvius Challenge the team of students now plan “to scale up the 3D scanning and digital analysis techniques,” while at the same time keeping an eye on the costs of analysis. It might have read like the $700,000 prize was a big win, but not when we put that amount into perspective.
It cost the team $100 for every square centimeter of analyzed rock, which tallies to between $1 million and $5 million per scroll. This sounds within the realms of research budget, right? But when you then consider there are another “800 scrolls” lined up to be deciphered, that calculates to between 800 million and 4 billion USD.
Therefore, a lot of ancient philosophy will go undeciphered, and as such it will remain a mystery for future researchers to tackle when lower cost research methodologies are developed.
Top image: Left; One of the Herculaneum scrolls that are being deciphered. Right; Text from the Herculaneum scroll Source: Vesuvius Challenge
I had already submitted my resignation. On the last day, the bitch who had committed all the prior unfair labor practices was, of course, at it again. She had me covering for other people, and didn’t let me take any breaks all day. An hour before the end of my shift, when a co worker had come to relieve me from covering for her, she told me the same supervisor wanted me down in her office so she could talk to me.”Oh really? Well, first I am going to take my morning 15 minute break, then I am taking my half hour lunch, then I am taking my afternoon 15, which I am legally required to do. That will bring me up to quitting time, so she can WANT all she wants”, and left. Heard later than she couldn’t believe I had done it, and went screaming my name through all 6 floors of the building looking for me LOL
CHINA WARNING! We Will Show Our Swords Against AMERICA
This was back in the mid 90’s, I was working at a pizza place. A good friend of mine had signed a contract with a major league baseball team, and he was back in town after his first season in the minors. He stopped in to see me at work, when he left one of the waitresses asked who he was. I told her, she seemed interested and asked if I could introduce her to him. I said sure, me and this girl had become good friends since she started working at this place.
I introduce them, they start seeing each other and things seem good. At some point, she learned about the signing bonus that he had received when he signed his contract. It wasn’t a ton, but it was a decent amount. I heard her tell a co-worker that she had stopped taking her birth control, she wanted to get pregnant so, “I can get some of that money”. I told my friend that she said this, and he broke up with her that evening.
She knew I told him, and she did not like that. I go into work the next day, she’s already working and she wants to have a talk. We’re talking, she asked if I told him, I said, “Yep, that was me”. There’s some shouting, and at some point, she grabs me by the throat and his her fist drawn back. The assistant manager grabbed her, and dragged her away. She was sent home for the day. The manager comes in, and he wants to fire both of us. A few coworkers and the assistant manager defended me, as I hadn’t started this fight. She was fired that evening.
Side note: a few weeks later, she tried to run me over with her car. As you can clearly see, she was a very stable individual.
A sales associate was pushing a very large cardboard box, filled with some kind of clothes, along one of the main aisles in the store. It didn’t look very heavy, but it was clearly much too large for any one person to carry.
She had picked up a lot of speed, and she was kinda racing forward, bent over the box like she was going for the gold in Olympic box-pushing, when she reached a spot where the floor changed to carpet. The two types of flooring were separated by one of those very narrow metal bands, flat enough to where it wasn’t generally noticeable.
The box hit the metal band and came to a full – and very abrupt – stop, but the woman did not. She could have done the maneuver a thousand times and never repeated her trick, but she somehow flipped over herself and landed in the box she’d been pushing.
I didn’t laugh at first. I actually managed to control myself, but then I saw the look on her face. She looked like a startled cartoon, anime style, and I just couldn’t contain my laughter after that. I knew that it was so, so wrong, but she looked like she was okay physically.
I still think of her sometimes, and whenever that happens, I can’t help but laugh like an insane hyena.
Rigatoni with Steak Sauce
Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 (12 ounce) rib eye steaks
Salt and pepper
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 cup dry red wine
1 (26 ounce) jar marinara sauce
1 cup beef broth
16 ounces dried rigatoni pasta
3 ounces Parmesan, shaved
Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large frying pan over high heat. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper. Cook the steaks until they are brown but still rare in the center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a plate and set aside to cool completely.
Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the same pan. Sauté the onions and carrots until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes, with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Add the garlic and oregano, and sauté for 1 minute. Add the wine and simmer for 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and broth. Cover and simmer over medium low heat to allow the flavors to blend, about 10 minutes.
Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, trim off any fat from the steaks, then cut the steaks into bite size pieces and set aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the rigatoni and boil until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Drain the rigatoni.
Toss the rigatoni and reserved steak pieces and any accumulated juices from the steaks with the sauce to coat.
Transfer the pasta to bowls.
Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese shavings and serve.
Had a fella break into my house when on holiday in Brazil and a neighbour called the police and he was arrested in my house. She saw him break a small window to get in. Was big on the new consoles and computer games at the time, had all the latest. He’d taken suitcases from upstairs and filled them.
He told the policeman cockily he was going to come back and finish the job, he was a local heroin addict known to them.
When I came back from holiday I had to get a crime number, the policeman without giving a name gave me a massive clue who did it…off the record of course
.Not saying the two are related but I told a certain local person and the burglar was found tied to a lamppost naked a few days later in public view. I know a few locals had a vendetta against him so could have been anyone. A few months later the exact same happened to a teen who had been stealing cars locally and joyriding in them. I know the teen had to be cut free in public which must have seriously embarrassed him. An obnoxious fat kid who would gloat to folk who he had stole a car from.
Thought was a great way to deal with people who were getting away with petty crime and back out to do it again. Made the local papers as well which really would have rubbed it in.
This was when she was 17. She decided she wanted to make the big plunge and purchase a stereo system with the money she’d saved from various jobs. But she was nervous about being taken by nefarious sales people, so she asked her big brother (the guy with a house account at Groove-N-Tube… yeah I bought a lot of that stuff back then) to go with her to recommend what to purchase.
We arrive at what at the time was a big name electronics and appliance store (out of business now, no surprise). The sales person gloms onto us right away and his eyes are sparkling. He thinks he’s landed a couple (probably dating but maybe a young marriage), and he goes into his spiel. We walk through the store discussing the various things they have to offer. I ask some questions. My sister asks some questions. Salesperson totally ignores sis. Probably figures I’m the one wearing the pants in this decision. At one point, he totally turns his back on her while he discusses the attributes of a system. I could tell she was fuming but was too polite to say anything.
Finally, it’s time to make a decision. With his back still to my sister, he asks me: “So what can I pack up for you?”
I look him dead in the eye and say: “What are you asking me for? She’s the one buying it.”
He went white. Looked at my sister. She beamed at him and said: “I think I’ll buy something from a store that values all its customers.” And out she sailed.
By the time I went to college in West Texas, my pickpocketing days were well and truly behind me. I had seen the error of my ways, repented of my mischief, and was endeavoring to live an honest life again.
Little did I know that my new Lone Star country was home to one of the most absurd and illogical bits of fashion stupidity in history.
No, I’m not talking about chaps. Don’t even get me started on those.
I’m not entirely sure what it’s called, but I have heard it referred to as a “cowboy wallet.” The primary difference between it and a non-stupid wallet is that it is extra super-duper long.
This means that when you put it in the back pocket of your Wranglers, it sticks out the top like a pull-tab.
Are you effing serious, Texas? Why not just hang a sign saying FREE MONEY?
There may be a reader or two out there thinking, “no, I’d definitely notice if someone pulled my wallet. I’d feel it slide out!”
Trust me, you wouldn’t. It’s not any failure on your part, either. Pickpocketing is a bit like cheating at cards. When done properly, it has nothing to do with luck.
I had several friends in college who used these cowboy goodie-bags and I made sure to let them know the economic dangers of their rustic fashion. I had one friend named Logan with whom it became a running joke that I would pull his wallet pretty much every time I saw him. I’d obviously return it to him immediately, but even when he knew full well that I was going to do it, he was still powerless to stop me because it really is that easy.
So Quora, if you are the owner/carrier of a cowboy wallet and you happen to find yourself in a big city or, for that matter, pretty much anywhere besides your family’s ranch, I suggest that you consider either putting it in your inside jacket pocket or getting a different wallet. You would actually be better off taping your money to one of those flag-football belts than putting that thing in your back pocket, as you’d be more likely to notice when it got pulled.
The New York pickpocket rings (to the best of my knowledge) have all either become defunct or transitioned to more profitable ventures, and the city is now very safe. Nonetheless, wear one of those things around here and someone’s likely to flint you on principle.
McDonald’s most popular burger and the second most popular item on their menu (second only to their unique fries).
But have you ever stopped to wonder how it got its name?
You see, McDonald’s was originally founded by brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald.
They went by the nicknames Mac and Dick (forwhen Mac and Cheese just isn’t enough).
The “Big Mac” hit McDonald’s fast food restaurants in August 1968. However, before this, the executives at McDonald’s were struggling to come up with a name for this new super-sandwich.
The McDonald’s corporation tested out a couple of other names, including “The Aristocrat.”
Eventually, a secretary named Esther Glickstein (who was quite fond of co-founder Maurice), suggested the name “Big Mac”.
She admitted that the higher-ups initially laughed the name off when she first suggested it, but she got the last laugh when the name stuck!
But just imagine…
for one second…
if…
she had been more fond of Richard…
You could be enjoying a Big Dick, instead of a Big Mac.
My Girlfriend Asked For An Open Relationship, I Walked Out And Now I Laugh At Her Tears
I was general manager of a pregnancy resource center. It was a 501(c)(3) corporation, and we were completely dependent on donations. It was going broke when I took over. We got back to solvency within a year, without having to back off at all from the services we provided. In fact, we had grown quite a bit. There were 5 full time employees, and about 35 volunteers.
One day, right out of the blue, I was called to go to the office down the street of the chairman of our board of directors. When I got there, he and another board member summarily fired me. Before I left that office, the board chairman had written a glowing letter of recommendation for me.
Curious, I asked him why I was being let go. He said that the board had voted me out because I ran the place too much like a business and not enough like a charity. He had voted against firing me, but was outvoted. The reason they were going broke before hiring me was that no one in the place had any ability to manage money. So, making it more businesslike internally, without that being noticed by our clientele, just seemed wrong to them.
I’m not a waiter, but I will tell my experience. After work, a bunch of coworkers and I would go to the pub across the street. People came and left, as they got off work. We always ran a single tab. Someone would come, have one five dollar drink, and throw ten dollars into the middle of the table. The next person might have 3 $5 drinks, and throw in a twenty before leaving. Nobody wanted to risk stiffing their coworkers or the waitress.
The biggest problem was that at the end of the night, we often had a 35–40 percent tip.
Then a friend we used to work with, joined us for drinks, at first everything was fine, but after a few friday nights at the pub, he started to say. I don’t have any cash on me, just hand me the cash, and I will go put it all on my credit card.
Three weeks later, the waitress who had waited on us for years, sat down early in the evening, before our friend joined us and asked us if her service had slipped, because suddenly we had gone from 35–40 percent tips to exactly 10 percent the last few times. This was a few years ago in Canada, and 10–15 percent was the standard tip. It turns out our friend had been picking up our $300 for a $220 bill, and paying $242, with tip, and going home with $58 more than he came with, after drinking all night for free.
We said no, her service was still fabulous and suggested that she keep us on a group tab, and put him on a separate bill.
Our friend came and at the end of the evening went to grab the cash, and we said, no you have a separate bill.
He got all flustered, and we told him we didn’t want to see him for 6 months, until he learned his lesson.
Lionel Messi will go down in history as the man who united both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese football fans, both pro- and anti-establishment Hong Kong voters, and both its political elites and grassroots citizens, to have such seething hatred towards the same person.
I don’t think even bona fide war criminals like Tojo Hideki would be able to accomplish such a feat in the Sinosphere these days. There were people who paid thousands of HK dollars for a ticket, and traveled to Hong Kong all the way from Xinjiang and abroad, just for a glimpse of the legendary “king of football”. Instead, all they got was snubbed.
There’s no other way to put it. Messi messed up, big time.
Right now nobody really knows what’s going on, why he refused to fulfil his contract (of playing at least 45 minutes on the field), and why he behaved in such a cold and arrogant manner towards his fans in Hong Kong, to the extent that he didn’t even once smile or wave at them.
But judging from the fact that he did play ball in Riyadh, and that he said in an interview he will play again in Kobe, Japan later on, my gut feeling tells me this probably has to do with politics. And before some of you start going “but muh oppression/human rights”, remember that he didn’t protest being in Saudi Arabia.
It’s just too much of a coincidence. You see, right now Hong Kong is trying to pass a law known as “Article 23”. For those of you not from here, I’ll give you the rundown version: Hong Kong, which is part of the People’s Republic of China, has a constitutional duty to enact a law covering secession and subversion (pretty much every country and region in the world has this type of law, by the way).
This was supposed to have been done ages ago, but the anti-establishment, anti-China, right wing types pushed back against any discussion of it every single time. After the violent far right riots in 2019, the local government began to take national security more seriously, which is why western media, unsurprisingly, is trying to depict Article 23 as dystopic and totalitarian.
My instinct is that even if this whole ordeal in Hong Kong was not political at first (he could have just been a dick – not the most outlandish thing about footballers, honestly), Messi will make it political and milk all he can from it. He’s going to turn this thing into another Daryl Morey, NBA-China controversy, hijacking an entire sport for his own political virtue-signalling, and as a pledge of allegiance to both the United States and his home country of Argentina (which is currently being run by a far right neoliberal demagogue, who is trying to abolish the national currency in favour of the US dollar, outlaw abortions, and legalise the organ trade).
If nothing else, this would at least help him win over a few crowds in certain parts of the world where Sinophobia is politically correct. He might even run for political office on this far right platform after retiring from football. Who knows.
Again, I have to stress that this is all just speculation on my part. Nobody but Messi and those closest to him would know what’s really going on. I hope I’m proven wrong, and that the same shitshow that happened in Hong Kong would repeat itself in Japan, thus proving he wasn’t being disrespectful specifically towards the Chinese, and that he’s just a snobbish cunt to everyone. However, knowing how politicised football has become in recent years, I’m not counting on it.
I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to the real MVP on the field, Hong Kong singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang), for doing her best to cheer up an angry and disappointed crowd, and trying to give them something worth their money. She’s the queen 🫅.
Lionel Messi will go down in history as the man who united both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese football fans, both pro- and anti-establishment Hong Kong voters, and both its political elites and grassroots citizens, to have such seething hatred towards the same person.
I don’t think even bona fide war criminals like Tojo Hideki would be able to accomplish such a feat in the Sinosphere these days. There were people who paid thousands of HK dollars for a ticket, and traveled to Hong Kong all the way from Xinjiang and abroad, just for a glimpse of the legendary “king of football”. Instead, all they got was snubbed.
There’s no other way to put it. Messi messed up, big time.
Right now nobody really knows what’s going on, why he refused to fulfil his contract (of playing at least 45 minutes on the field), and why he behaved in such a cold and arrogant manner towards his fans in Hong Kong, to the extent that he didn’t even once smile or wave at them.
But judging from the fact that he did play ball in Riyadh, and that he said in an interview he will play again in Kobe, Japan later on, my gut feeling tells me this probably has to do with politics. And before some of you start going “but muh oppression/human rights”, remember that he didn’t protest being in Saudi Arabia.
It’s just too much of a coincidence. You see, right now Hong Kong is trying to pass a law known as “Article 23”. For those of you not from here, I’ll give you the rundown version: Hong Kong, which is part of the People’s Republic of China, has a constitutional duty to enact a law covering secession and subversion (pretty much every country and region in the world has this type of law, by the way).
This was supposed to have been done ages ago, but the anti-establishment, anti-China, right wing types pushed back against any discussion of it every single time. After the violent far right riots in 2019, the local government began to take national security more seriously, which is why western media, unsurprisingly, is trying to depict Article 23 as dystopic and totalitarian.
My instinct is that even if this whole ordeal in Hong Kong was not political at first (he could have just been a dick – not the most outlandish thing about footballers, honestly), Messi will make it political and milk all he can from it. He’s going to turn this thing into another Daryl Morey, NBA-China controversy, hijacking an entire sport for his own political virtue-signalling, and as a pledge of allegiance to both the United States and his home country of Argentina (which is currently being run by a far right neoliberal demagogue, who is trying to abolish the national currency in favour of the US dollar, outlaw abortions, and legalise the organ trade).
If nothing else, this would at least help him win over a few crowds in certain parts of the world where Sinophobia is politically correct. He might even run for political office on this far right platform after retiring from football. Who knows.
Again, I have to stress that this is all just speculation on my part. Nobody but Messi and those closest to him would know what’s really going on. I hope I’m proven wrong, and that the same shitshow that happened in Hong Kong would repeat itself in Japan, thus proving he wasn’t being disrespectful specifically towards the Chinese, and that he’s just a snobbish cunt to everyone. However, knowing how politicised football has become in recent years, I’m not counting on it.
I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to the real MVP on the field, Hong Kong singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang), for doing her best to cheer up an angry and disappointed crowd, and trying to give them something worth their money. She’s the queen 🫅.
Honestly, no way to be sure. On a Saturday night i was at a tavern having a few. I was supposed to leave and meet my Niece at another tavern. I wasted just enough time at the first place that my Niece and her friends decided to go to a different tavern. I was just about a mile down the road from the other tavern.
A whole load of police vehicles and emergency personnel trucks go flying by the first bar heading towards the other bar. A Shooting occurred at JB’s tavern; killing a bartender Named Jeff; who put himself between the gunman and his patrons.
The gunman did this because he was kicked out for harassing women. He went home shaved his head, dressed in camouflage, grabbed a rifle, and then finished his journey to insanity
He killed another man Rich; who I knew from my working in taverns. Jeff, I knew from school; he was a couple of years behind me. We weren’t best friends; but we both enjoyed playing poker. The killer also wounded like a dozen innocent people.
Luther Casteel was his name. I had to Google it because I was unsure of the spelling. He actually wounded 14 people and brought 4 weapons with him and a couple hundred rounds of ammunition.
I really cannot answer if my screwing around saved my life; but I believe that it saved my niece’s life.
Okay, this would have been cute if the guy wasn’t a huge piece of human garbage*. My crew and I were out to eat on Christmas Eve in Hawaii. One of the few places that was open was our hotel’s sushi restaurant. After eating a heroic amount of sushi, lard ass leaned back and explained, “that was so good. I’m famished!”
Read on for the rest of the story.
The flight attendant and I looked at each other and exchanged a glance. So, I casually said “How can you still be hungry after all that sushi?” He said “I’m not hungry, I’m famished.” I just said “famished is a synonym for starving.” He had to look it up. The n made some BS excuse.
Read on for my rant against this dumbass.
He was fucking stupid. His wife was pregnant with twins at the time. He was glad because he said twins would be easier than a single kid. Later, after they were born he would only talk about one of the. “Clair Bears” was what he called his daughter Clair. He rarely referred to her twin. We dubbed that one trash bag because it was obvious how he felt about his kids. He was just awful.
hong kong 香港 3/3 (if wong kar wai and wes anderson had a really bad short film as a baby)
My stepfather was an apartment building manager in Hollywood, California when I was a teen.
The modern building was large and well-kept. The one large ‘suite’ was a challenge to rent out because of the price and because it was just too luxurious for the neighborhood.
But the owner of the building found a tenant who exceeded her dreams: a young Arabian prince (a student?) who paid a hefty security fee and rental for a year upfront.
I rarely saw him and his entourage because they clubbed and partied until dawn.
When I did catch a glimpse, it was like watching a movie: a group of handsome, laughing young men dressed in flowing Arab robes, moving through the California sunshine.
When they left before the lease was up, the owner was told that the prince did not require rent and security deposit refunds.
The owner was delighted…until the suite was inspected.
The formerly white shag carpet had not been cleaned since the prince moved in, and much of it had a strange, dark tinge. The walls and ceilings were no longer pristine white either.
As the owner and my stepfather entered the massive livingroom, they discovered why the colors were so dingy.
The tenant had been using braziers ON THE CARPET to cook food, leaving greasy stains all over. Above, the ceiling was almost black from smoke. Mattresses had been dragged in from the bedrooms.
The kitchen was literally filled with spoiled food and dirty dishes and pans; the stove was caked all over with burned food. The refrigerator was a mold-filled, broken disaster.
The bathrooms were disgusting, and the owner backed quickly away and shut the doors because of the stench.
The 3 bedrooms had been used for pets (forbidden by the lease) – dogs and birds. Excrement and rotted food were everywhere.
Most cabinet and inside doors were damaged or missing. Old papers, clothes and other items as well as trash littered the apartment.
Reparing and refurbishing the suite took almost 6 months and cost way more than the substantial deposit and unused rent. A bill was forwarded to the prince’s lawyer and was paid promptly.
Note: In the interest of keeping this short, I have not written in detail about the destruction.
After being fed for two consecutive weeks, this beautiful stray cat became a part of the family.
I’ll tell you what happened to my dad, and you might understand. My dad owned part of the family business, he was the working partner in the business.
He worked 12–16 days, 7 days a week to make ends meet.
When I was 8 or 9 he had what was called at the time a nervous breakdown, he was in the hospital for months, and the business didn’t close.
He was out for two months, and my mom went in, evidently she had worked herself into a git, worrying about my dad, and the effect that only seeing him for an hour or two a day was having on the marriage.
My mother got a job. That wasn’t rare in the early 1960s , but it wasn’t common. My dad cut his hours to 10–12 hours a day 6 days a week. Still way too much, but now we took a yearly, week long camping vacation.
When I was 19 my dad had a heart attack, and they put the company up for sale.
When my dad got out of the hospital he was under strict orders not to work more than 40 hours a week. I dropped out of university to help run the family business, while they were selling it.
It took 4 years to sell the business.
My dads heart was never the same. He went to work for the new owners, working 36 hours a week, weekends off, for the first time in his life.
He retired at 65, and died before he was 66 .
That is why you don’t work at a job that stresses you out.
Ex-CIA: Biden is NOW a National Security risk for the world
Long before I even heard of a “Chicago pizza”, I would make these pizzas that my brother and I referred to as “swamp pizza”. What I would do is take a “off the shelf” pizza kit and raise the dough extra long. And instead of flattening it out in the standard pizza shape, I would use it to line a deep Pyrex dish.
I would then fill it with the sauce and cover it up with cheese. Sometimes I would add meat and mushrooms, and always I would cover with lots and lots of cheese.
It’s been decades since I made these little Swamp Pizzas. But every now and then, I get a hankering for a swamp pizza on a lazy afternoon, and a black and white vintage science fiction or film noir movie. I will tell you that it is perfect for spending a snowy Winter day alone.
Today…
Doggie story
“My dog gave her life to save my son.
Cindy, my dog, was six years old and she was the most home-loving and obedient dog. I loved her and she knew it. When my son was born, she was immediately very protective over him. She’d sit beside his pram for hours, popping her front legs up onto the pram every now and then to make sure he was ok.
My son was almost three years old. We lived near a busy road and we were super vigilant at always child-proofing the front door – without exception. My son, as young children can be, was into everything. We’d often find him in the kitchen at 4 am with a concoction of cereal, milk, dry dog food, eggs, etc all mixed up on the kitchen floor. He was that kind of child – into everything. He also watched everything we would do and try to mimic us in his own unique way, often with highly amusing consequences.
One morning, again around 4 am, he somehow managed to ‘escape’ through his bedroom window. To rewind a little, Cindy knew not to go outside (apart from the garden) without us. We could have left the front door open all day (when my son was visiting with grandparents) and she’d never venture out. She also knew that our son wasn’t allowed to go through the front door without us, evidenced by her pushing at him if he fiddled with the front door handle. She didn’t know that it was double locked. This day, she followed my son through the window.
At 5 am, the police woke us knocking on the door. Their words were – “your son was nearly killed but your dog copped it”. They then reiterated what the lorry driver had said…
He told them that he was driving along in the dark and in the distance, he could see something ‘light colored’ moving on the road. As he got closer, he could see a dog at the side of the road barking and barking at the ‘light colored’ something. At the last moment, he realized that this was a child and was about to swerve. He said he could see the dog, still barking and glancing between the truck and the child. While the driver was braking, the dog ran out into the road, jumped at the child’s back and threw him out of the path of the lorry and at the same time, the lorry hit the dog and killed her.
According to the police, the driver said that he’d never believe what he saw unless it was with his own eyes. He said that the dog definitely knew the danger which is why she was barking so anxiously. He said “that dog just saved that kid’s life and it knew what it was doing.”
That was 39 years ago and I still miss Cindy every day. She was a rough collie (a lassie dog) and I can understand why this breed was chosen for the movies.”
School Bus story
“I drive a school bus and have a 6 grader who I would like to talk about.
Last week he was talking about an elderly neighbor not leaving her house for weeks. I tried to explain how hard it could be for her to do things. On Tuesday I pulled up and he wasn’t at the stop waiting. I looked over and saw him shoveling her porch. I was early so I waited for him. The other kids asked why I waited. I said anyone helping someone deserves a few extra minutes. All the kids started asking him questions about his neighbor. The next day 7 children got on the bus with blankets, food and cards for the elderly woman. I delivered them after worked. Now everyday she stands on the porch and the whole bus waves good morning. I am so proud of him for stepping up and doing the right thing. He taught all the children something important. I smile with pride in my heart because of the extraordinary children I have on my bus.” .
A Secret Global Coup Has Happened!
Let’s say there are 10 people. 1 is a sociopath and 2 are brutish thugs. The sociopath will use the two thugs to keep the rest in line using violence. The other 7 people will be forced to work long and hard so that these 3 can live lives of pleasure and privilege. This is the story of human civilization ever since the agricultural revolution. Countries are people farms; most humans have become farm animals and are treated as such.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Leonard
Matthew Leonard, born on November 26, 1929, in Eutaw, Alabama, embodied the spirit of service from an early age. Raised in a segregated society, Leonard attended Ullman High School in Birmingham, Alabama. He was not only a student but also a Boy Scout, instilling in him the values of honor and duty.
As a teenager, Leonard took on a job at a local drugstore, earning a modest $15 per week. This hard-earned income was dedicated to helping his mother meet the family’s financial needs. Even in his youth, Leonard demonstrated a deep sense of responsibility and commitment to those he cared for.
In 1947, at the age of 18, Matthew Leonard enlisted in the U.S. Army, beginning a remarkable journey that would span nearly two decades. He dedicated himself to a life of service, embracing the challenges and responsibilities that came with it.
Leonard served as a drill sergeant and trained young recruits at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. But as the war in Vietnam broke out, Leonard’s wife said he struggled to watch those young recruits, who weren’t much older than his sons, go to war and die. So, even though he was close to retirement, he volunteered to deploy in the hope of making a difference.
On February 28, 1967, in the heart of Vietnam, Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Leonard, serving as the platoon sergeant for Company B of the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, demonstrated unparalleled bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.
Sgt. Leonard’s valorous journey unfolded near Suoi Da, Vietnam, where his platoon suddenly found themselves under a hail of enemy fire. The enemy, armed with small arms, automatic weapons, and hand grenades, vastly outnumbered Leonard’s platoon. Amid the chaos, the platoon’s commander and several key leaders were among the first to be wounded, thrusting Leonard into a position of leadership.
With remarkable composure, Leonard rallied his platoon to repel the initial enemy assault. He swiftly organized a defensive perimeter, redistributed ammunition, and bolstered the morale of his fellow soldiers. Even in the midst of battle, he exemplified unwavering leadership.
As the enemy’s assault intensified, Leonard’s selflessness and bravery shone brighter. When a wounded soldier found himself outside the safety of the defensive perimeter, Leonard risked his life to rescue him. It was during this act of heroism that Leonard himself was struck by a sniper’s bullet, shattering his hand.
Undeterred by his injuries, Leonard refused medical attention and continued to fight. He moved tirelessly from position to position, directing counterfire against the enemy, who had positioned a machine gun that threatened the entire perimeter.
Just as the situation seemed dire, Leonard’s own platoon’s machine gun malfunctioned, adding to the peril. Without hesitation, Leonard crawled to the malfunctioning weapon, determined to get it back into operation. During this critical moment, the enemy machine gun began strafing nearby soldiers, hitting Leonard’s gunner and others.
Summoning every ounce of his strength, Leonard rose to his feet and charged toward the enemy gun. Despite suffering multiple gunshot wounds, he managed to eliminate the enemy machine gun’s crew, silencing the threat.
Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Leonard’s indomitable spirit and unwavering commitment to his comrades and mission endured until the very end. Despite being gravely wounded, he propped himself against a tree and continued to return fire until he could no longer carry on.
His incredible sacrifice and valor were acknowledged with the Medal of Honor, a testament to the extraordinary dedication and courage he displayed in the face of adversity.
Poor Cat Left To Decompose While She Is Alive | Rescue Before And After
Back when I was a young teen (more moons ago than I can count) I worked as a law clerk during the summers at my father’s office in downtown Chicago. Mostly it was busy work, matching mail with files, pulling files for court and some light typing.
On occasion I would go with him to court when he argued cases before the industrial commission (work related accidents).
One of these cases involved an individual who claimed his shoulder injury was so bad he was permanently and totally disabled from working ever again. He was a Russian immigrant and so his lawyer had to use an interpreter to question him during the hearing.
What they didn’t know was that my father had been a Russian Interrogator for the Air Force during the Korean War, and spoke fluent Russian. He had been teaching me conversational Russian while I was growing up, so I was able to follow along for the most part.
When his lawyer asked the question : “Mr. Petrovitch, how high can you lift your right arm” their interpreter actually said “Raise your right hand a small amount and act as if you are in severe pain” to which the man raised his hand a little, groaned and grimaced, squinting his eyes.
On cross-examination, after a laundry list of standard questions (through the interpreter, of course) my dad said in fluent Russian “HANDS UP OR I’LL SHOOT!” The man immediately raised both arms and stretched them towards the ceiling, showing no limitations or pain behavior at all.
Of course the other lawyer started shouting his objections, the interpreter yelled at the petitioner (plaintiff) that he was stupid and the judge covered his face with his hands to try and stop laughing out loud.
Go to the school and demand the phone back immediately. Having a phone is not illegal. If they balk at giving it back and spew some nonsense about not allowing phones at school tell them your child doesn’t have his phone in class but you as his parent require that he carry it with him to be able to track him and reach him as needed. There are many tracking apps now. Calmly, Demand they hand over the phone immediately. If they do not, call the police right there from the school office to report a theft. Get the names and positions of everyone witnessing this. Tell the school that if you don’t get the phone by the next day you will be buying a new phone and your attorney will be in contact with the school regarding the school paying for the new phone plus the old phone plus the attorney’s bill. Ask when the next school board meeting is and suggest you will be attending to discuss the dismissal of all involved, on charges of petty larceny.
You Won’t Βelieve What Τhey Have In Stοre For Us Next..
Let me see if I got this correct. The tax payer now pays for Gov stores and also pays to fill those stores with food and other items again using tax payer money. Then the tax payer goes to buy the food in the Gov store and gets tax on top of that. Crazy times we are living in!
Prison food is not great. It is not served on fine china or plated to be visually pleasing to the eye.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are seldom served.
For five years I went twice a week to spend time with inmates as we worked together on a book project for at risk kids.
We were all volunteers for our community, as we sat on opposite sides of the table.
One evening when I entered the men’s dormitory, where we met, an inmate handed me a small cardboard box.
He said, “We do not have anything to give you to thank you for coming here and treating us with respect. We want you to know we appreciate your giving value to our lives by using our stories to help others.”
I felt humbled and astonished when I saw the contents of the box. It was a red apple, some popcorn, and another small edible item. On the side was a handwritten note with many signatures.
Anyone who has spent time in prison knows fresh fruit is like gold. A thank you in any form is not to be taken lightly.
Inmates sharing their food with an outsider is not common. Sharing food that is fresh and seldom served is momentous.
Their gifts were not only humane. They were risky. Giving gifts was not in the rule book. I looked over at the nearby guards who also chose to be humane that day and let me know they understood the importance of what was happening.
They looked at the hardened faces of the men in my class, whose softened eyes were asking permission. The guards nodded while I fought to keep back the tears.
In all my years of teaching and rendering service to others, I have never felt such gratitude for the priviege as I did that day.
Years later, seeing a red apple stirs my spirit and reminds me, humane and selfless acts still abound.
In unexpected places, gratitude can still civilize us when we least expect it, for both the giver and the recipient.
P.S. The book is available to be borrowed for free through Amazon Kdp select. It is titled, “Redirecting Kids for Success” Prison Prevention…for at risk kids grades 9-12.
Breaking! China just dealt a DEVASTATING blow to U.S. Dollar Dominance
Breaking news on this Monday out of China where we have new data on the dumping of U.S. treasuries and what this means for the U.S. dollar dominance. Saudi Arabia also dumping U.S. treasuries at an increased rate over the past few weeks. What is going on?
Xi changed nothing. You’ve been listening to Western propaganda garbage.
Nearly the entire Global South is behind China. More than 40 countries have expressed a wish to join China-led BRICS and SCO. More than 150 countries have signed up to the BRI and wish to receive Chinese assistance.
China has treated America, Britain and EU with utmost respect. The reverse, unfortunately, has not been true. China is sick and tired of their arrogance and Cold War mentality.
Why did the West change their attitude towards China? Riddle me this.
She’s lying. She has no idea what to do. What she’s trying to selli is the idea that she does.
Here’s the problem. Americans want fentanyl. Enough Americans want fentanyl as to make it worth the enormous risk of smuggling either it, or the raw materials to make it, into the United States. Capitalism 101. And there is no way to stop that. None. Every attempt we’ve ever made to stop drug use by prohibition has been not only an utter failure, but has caused us more trouble than the actual problem we were trying to fix.
There’s a deeper problem. Fentanyl is a symptom, not a cause. And that cause is the utter hopelessness and the lack of resources for the poor in the US. We’ve literally criminalized poverty. We have the weakest social safety net in the industrial world, and we’ve decided that a tax structure that makes it possible for a handful of men to amass fortunes that can buy them freedom from the law, is a good thing even if it leaves 20% of the country living below the poverty line in an information and resource vacuum that leaves most trapped.
Preying on the poor is hugely profitable, and the capitalists have risen to the task. We choose to look away and complain.
HarmonyOS 4.0 reaches over 60 million Huawei devices in less than 2 months
Hauwei unveiled HarmonyOS 4.0, the latest version of its operating system, on August 4. The new iteration brought several changes to the user interface, as well as new features and improvements. Huawei has been quickly rolling out the new software to eligible devices. Earlier this month, we reported that 10 million Huawei smartphones and tablets were already running HarmonyOS 4.0. And today, the company confirmed that the OS has now made its way to over 60 million devices.
Huawei announced 60 million installations of HarmonyOS 4 on Huawei smartphones and tablet devices at its Autumn 2023 Flagship Product Launch event today. The company said it added an average of 1.2 million new users each day. This is just after less than 2 months of the formal announcement of the software.
HarmonyOS 4.0 comes with several notable changes, including a variety of rich theme templates and stylized layout designs. You can select the colors of your app icons and set emoji wallpapers and home screens by choosing your favorite emoji.
It also lets you better manage your notifications by clustering them together and sorting them by importance. The notifications for the same app are now stacked into dynamic cards so you can see more information about each notification without having to open it. HarmonyOS 4.0 also lets you identify text and images by double-clicking and then long-pressing to select them.
Huawei had a busy day today. It launched half a dozen new products in China, including a Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design smartphone with satellite calling and a ceramic body. In addition, the company unveiled the FreeBuds Pro 3 as well as the Watch GT 4.
U.S Sanctions Failed As China’s Shenzhen Imports Integrated Circuits From All Around the World!
“We see the “US of Amurdikkka is fastly declining in to a third world company/country/corporation.” Fall Babylon fall, youve destroyed so many. Now enjoy the ride down, you’ll never rise again.”
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.
Well, as an American woman, I would recommend that China’s leaders maintain a strong and unyielding stance against the outright bully tactics of my country’s government. To be fair, the US isn’t the only country upping their anti-China sentiments but it is the country I am from so that is what I primarily speak of.
I would say to China, you have more than paid your dues and earned your right as a superpower in world affairs. Hold your heads proudly because you have every right to. There is no need to hide your strength anymore. It is time to let it be on display.
You are one of, if not the oldest country with 5000 years of continuous history. You don’t need to bow to anyone. You don’t need to apologize for being great. You don’t need to sell your technology to the US. You don’t need to accept blame for a virus that was not your fault. You don’t have to back off of your initiatives because other countries don’t approve. You don’t have to take acts of aggression from our spy planes flying in your airspace. You don’t have to tolerate the blatant disrespect to your consulate that was closed in our country. Your people don’t have to accept racism when they come to the US to attend college, work in research, or just visit as tourists.
Please don’t let anyone else push you around anymore. Never again. Let that be your motto from here on out.
Germany Freaks Out – China, PLEASE Buy Our Cars!
“As a European, I am so ashamed of our political class and what they have turned the Eurozone into. If the european project is just a facade for American hegemony, then let it die and this is extremely hard for me to say, because I see the eurozone and union as a great idea but ONLY if we have autonomy both strategically, economic and militarily. These two years have shown we have none of it and this is why I write this. It is mindbuggling/unbelievable stupid what is happening right now.”
Let me tell a story about a Clerk who worked with me who made me believe that The Godfather (Book) theory that The Simplest and most humble man can avenge himself against the most powerful of men with patience
We worked in a Branch where i was temporarily in charge of recovery. The branch was a Scale IV Branch but for some reason a Scale V AGM had been deputed to the branch for a temporary basis due to some shortage or something.
This Asst General Manager who had a chip on his block. You had a good natured thirty something old clerk who worked in the department and who was a pretty good guy. He owned a family business as well and would very often give us discounts. I went on many recovery missions with him and he was always a cheerful and happy go lucky type.
Our Old Branch Manager was a good man but once he retired – until his replacement came- this AGM was posted and he was a PRIG. He was angry at working in a Scale IV post and showed it on people.
Now our Clerk always went from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM to pick up his daughter, take her to the family business premise, drop her there, have tea and return. The lunch ended at 2:30 so he would always be around 45 minutes late which he would make up by working from 5:30 to 6:15 in the evening. He would help a lot of us.
This arrangement was unofficially agreed upon by the Old Branch Manager. The New Prig did not agree . He believed it was against Bank rules and decided to take the clerk on. Now the clerk requested the AGM to give him the time off but the AGM refused. He decided to run the department efficiently (Instead he made it highly inefficient). He refused to repair a water filter (Back then Aquaguards were rare) and calculated the cost of Pens and White Paper.
One day – the wife of the clerk came. The clerk was away for recovery and the peon took her straight to the AGM. She told the AGM that she had to go to her mother and requested that her husband pick up the child as usual. Back then there were no cellphones or SMS and the lady had come to the office for the first time. The AGM was preoccupied with something and forgot (I believe this. Others say he deliberately did what he did but i believe he was preoccupied)
Bottom line – the message was not conveyed. It was 2:50 PM or so when the Peon told the clerk that his wife had visited. The Clerk was puzzled and walked into the AGMs office but the AGM was not there. The Clerk shrugged and continued on with his work believing that his daughter had picked up the child. It was 4 PM when the brother of the Clerk called the Office and asked where the child was? The Clerk was stunned and believed the child would be with his wife but Myself and few others decided to ask the AGM (Bank Hierarchy especially PSU hierarchy is a big thing. Approaching an AGM when you are a Scale II officer is a scary prospect) but the Clerk was out of the doors.
The Good thing was that the Child was a clever girl and simply sat outside with the Watchman of the School and was relieved when the father picked her up. The Father brought her to the branch and he was hugely relieved.
What happened next was straight out of the Malayalam Movie Drivers License
The AGM who saw a child and commotion – shouted at the top of his voice. He abused the Clerk in the loudest words calling him inefficient and moron. The Clerk also raised his voice and talked about his wifes message and the AGM said “I am not your messenger or Postman”. By the time the others separated them – the Clerk had literally been abused in front of his girl who was watching the whole thing (She was in Class IV i think)
The Clerk silently took his daughter home burning with humiliation. The local association leader told him to stage a Dharna but the clerk refused. He told me “God will take care” and i thought it was the usual sentimental nonsense. He remained on his desk, never asked for any leave from the HC, did his work and we all presumed the issue was finished.
Then An Opportunity came
Back then there was no Core Banking. A Customer came with a Fixed Deposit Receipt for Rs. 6 Lakh and wanted Cash. The Officer in question looked at the register and saw that the FD number was not mentioned (No Computers also. Back then we had Ledgers where FD numbers would be mentioned and recorded). The Customer was known to the AGM though and the AGM told the Officer to go ahead and encash the FD.
However it was after Lunch and the normal officer was gone for the day. I am a law and recovery officer and have no role to play so there were no officers. The AGM promptly asked the Clerk to encash the FD and pay the cash (Highly irregular) and the Clerk said “Sir the FD number is not on the ledger”. The AGM arrogantly told him that the customer could not be made to wait and so the Clerk paid him.
Once the Customer was paid and left, the Officer returned the next day or so and searched in every register but could not find a trace of the FD record. He told the AGM and the AGM called the customer but the customer was gone (It was a honest explanation. The Customer did not cheat etc. He just was away somewhere else). The AGM was now sweating beads. The Clerk shrugged. “I am just a clerk. I follow instructions. You instructed me to encash the FD” – he said and pointed at a few of us as witnesses.
The Officer was told by the AGM to give a few days but the same evening the clerk told him “Sir…if you report this today then you are clear but if you take a few days then they may think you are also involved”. The Officer decided to not take chances and reported it.
What happened next was unbelievable. The Big Boss arrived personally and blasted the AGM. Then some people came to go through the ledgers and found Rs. 6 Lakh shortage (A Huge sum back then) and told the AGM he had to make the amount good or they would report to the cops. The AGM was shivering but nothing could be done. The cops arrived and took him to the station. Now the Clerk was a local and the cops were locals. The AGM was an outsider – so they sweated him, threatened him, took him to his house in a jeep in front of his wife and children, talked to his neighbors etc. I was asked to be there at the station as a lawyer and the cops took iron rods and torture devices in front of me. When i said “What the hell is this ??” – the SI laughed and said “Sir! We are not mad. This is just for getting him to talk”
The poor man stayed the entire day at the Station. The next day the Customer returned. He had presented an FD receipt for another branch of our bank so the number was not in our ledger. He gave the FD receipt of our branch and the ledger confirmed the number and everything was okay.
But the AGM was finished. He was humiliated in every way possible. He took leave for 4–5 days and asked for a Transfer
It was then that the clerk told me “Sir. On that day itself i saw that this FD receipt was from a different branch. Had he been a better man – i would have told him then and there. I would have told the customer itself. None of this would have happened”
I told him he had been too cruel but he said “There is nothing worse than being yelled at in front of your child for no fault of your own”.
The AGM who was destined to become CMD – resigned from the bank unable to bear the humiliation of the incident (Though it lasted exactly for 14 – 15 hours after which it was all over). He joined Madura Courts and his career was never the same. He later began to sell Reuters Screens on a commission basis.
The Moral of the Story is – Humiliation by your boss unjustly will always come back to bite the boss. This Clerk who was such a good man that when i was transfered – he travelled in a lorry with my furniture to ensure that the local packers dont take me for a ride. Yet he never forgot his humiliation and destroyed the life of the AGM.
If you are a Boss – Never humiliate your underlings. Call them separately and tick them off but never in front of others. Easiest way to make enemies.
True for all fields.
Pizzeria Uno Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
This is a clone recipe of the best Chicago-style pizza you will ever eat!
Servings: 8
Pan Dough 1 cup warm tap water (110-115 degrees F) 1/4 ounce active dry yeast 3 1/2 cups flour 1/2 cup course ground cornmeal 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Pizza Topping 1 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced thin 1 pound Italian sausage, removed from the casing and crumbled 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 5 fresh basil leaves, chopped fine 4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast with a fork.
Add 1 cup of flour, all of the cornmeal, salt, and vegetable oil, and mix well with a spoon.
Continue stirring in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Flour your hands and the work surface and knead the ball of dough until it is no longer sticky.
Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl, sealed with plastic wrap, for 45-60 minutes in a warm place, until it has doubled in size.
Punch it down and knead it briefly.
Press it into an oiled 15-inch deep dish pizza pan until it comes 2 inches up the sides and is even on the bottom of the pan.
Let the dough rise 15-20 minutes before filling.
Heat the oven to 500 degrees F.
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.
Cook the sausage until it is no longer pink and drain the excess fat.
When the dough has finished its second rising, lay the cheese over the dough shell.
Distribute the sausage and garlic over the cheese.
Top with the tomatoes.
Sprinkle on the seasonings and Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes at 500 degrees F, then lower the temperature to 400 degreesF and finish baking for 25-35 minutes longer.
Lift up a section of the crust from time to time with a spatula to check its color. The crust will be golden brown when done.
Serve immediately.
Cat Sisters Meet After 9 Months Apart – Do They Recognize Each Other?
The Ukraine War was one of the worst miscalculations of the West and the Stupidest
The aim was to
Weaken Russia and destroy it Economically
Weaken Russia Globally and make it a Pariah
Give China a strong message and frighten China into following the Biden Doctrine
What’s happened is:-
A resurgent Russia that has something to fight for at last and has grown stronger every day
A Russo Sino Alliance that is fast becoming a nice power bloc with many nations with resources and heavy sanctions now drifting to them
Loss of Confidence in the West by 80% of the world and belief in a Multipolar world
Waning Western impact of Sanctions
Ensure China knows it’s War and prepare for it instead of catching them off guard
Today, Ukraine has been brutalized badly
It has lost 33.7% of pre SMO population as Refugees or now Russian Citizens in the Donors region and Kherson and Zaprozhye
It has lost its entire production capacity and it’s own weapon reserves have been brutally depleted and it relies on western arms and money which is dwindling every day
The West has spent $ 130 Billion so far on Ukraine and most of this money has been salted away due to severe corruption
Ukraine is sending more and more men to die
Russia meanwhile is happy with it’s grind and move strategy, minimizing casualties and enjoying the growth of their own industries in the MI complex
Scenario 1:-
The West want to FREEZE the conflict
Russia said No
Maybe Russia would be incentivized to do so like say offer to remove sanctions on Russia or maybe persuade China to convince Russia
Bleak chance of this happening
Scenario 2:-
Ukraine is destroyed
Russia decides to move from SMO to war and start hitting and destroying Ukraine like US did to Iraq or Afghanistan
Zelensky would flee and most leaders would flee then and Ukraine would capitulate
Timeline: 2025 March or April
Biden will not be President. He may not even be nominated as the Democratic candidate, so he will vindictively carry this till 19/1/25
Scenario 3:-
Trump is elected
Trump only has one term left and knows once he is elected, he has no more fears and no need to worry about voters again
He may make a deal and force Zelensky to surrender and make a deal with Russia and China
Unlike 2016, he won’t have the fear now because he can’t stand for any more elections
Scenario 4:-
The famous BAKYAN scenario
Poland moves into West Ukraine on invitation from Ukraine and forms a protectorate for West Ukraine
Central & remaining Ukraine is given security guarantees akin to Article V by Poland (Proxy by USA) and formally remains as the NEW UKRAINE
Donbass, Zaprozhye, Kherson are abandoned by Ukraine and Poland but not recognized by the West or UN as part of Russia and only as break away republics
However in reality, those territories will never return to Ukraine again along with Crimea for a long time
Russia will declare a cease fire to avoid clashing with Poland, a Nato power
Zelensky will be mostly arrested due to corruption and replaced by someone else
Timeline :- 30/6/2024 , a clean 4–5 months before the US Elections
The Destruction of Los Angeles | 2012 (John Cusack, Morgan Lily, Liam James)
I have not, but an interesting backfire happened with a close friend’s father, George.
Meet George, he is a PhD Astrophysicist and works in a very specialized field for the United States Department of Defense through a Defense Contractor. He has developed a number of unique solutions over his career that solved some very big problems for some very expensive black projects.
After over 30 years on the job he had moved to the top of his career path, he led a sizable group of physicists and engineers, but was not in management. Following a reorganization, George and his band of merry eggheads found themselves under a manager that had very little experience managing. When budget cuts came down, the green manager started reviewing the personnel files and, unsurprisingly, George was the highest paid person in the department. George was given the option to take an early retirement or be laid off. He was getting close to full retirement age and taking early retirement took a large chunk out of the pension he was counting on. He even offered to give up salary or work part time to address the budget needs. The manager would hear nothing of it.
Once George’s retirement was announced, a number the physicists and engineers approached the manager to warn him that there were solutions that only George fully understood and if there became a need to update or change some of the solutions, they may not be able to do it. George gracefully retired from the company and headed off to teach at the local university. About a year later, he heard from a number of his former team that there had been layoffs and terminations from the team by the same manager. A contract had come in to the company to modify one of George’s unique solutions and the remaining team was unable to make it work. The manager was under the gun to deliver and when it wasn’t working, he was accusing the team of being lazy and incompetent.
Not too long after, the Manager contacted George and asked him if he would come back on a short-term basis, George declined because he was happy teaching at the university. The manager continued to pester George until he finally agreed to come into the office to talk about what it would take to bring him back. George told the manager that he would come with his terms and that the meeting had to include the HR Director and the department Director.
George’s terms:
The company take back his early retirement and bridge his service so he could reach full retirement. (The manager groaned, but grudgingly agreed.)
Any of the team that was fired or forced to resign would be offered the option to come back. (The manager was furious, but George demanded that he had to have his team to be successful, so the manager agreed)
He become the manager of the department. (The manager threw up his hands and said it would never happen, there was only one manager of the department.)
The department director agreed to George’s last term.
We have A guardian Angel his name is Harry Kim.
Kathryn Janeway was a mother figure to almost ALL the crew … the clear exceptions being her first and second officers … but she ESPECIALLY was so to Harry Kim.
Oh my god, no. God, no… no no… I’d rather they stay dead.
Jesus, the mere thought of it gives me anxiety and stress.
My father died very suddenly last year. It was like my aunt talked to him on Friday, and he died of a heart attack on Sunday in his house.
For a few months, I kept thinking if I had any regrets. If I knew he would die, what would I say to him, or what would I want to do with him?
I came up with nothing.
It’s not like I don’t have anything to say. In fact, I have a LOT to say, so much so that I had therapy for years so that I could process and perhaps recover from all that childhood trauma from his abuse and neglect.
Would I say that to him? No. Because he wouldn’t listen. Not only he wouldn’t listen, he would turn it around and make it my fault. He would make me feel that I somehow wronged him, that I should feel guilty and ashamed and beg him for forgiveness and ask him how I can make it better. He’s an emotional manipulator, and he will never change. Not even in death.
He had, in his own domineering kind of way, made some attempt to mend our relationship after his 3rd wife died. But I couldn’t help but think he was doing that not because he genuinely wanted to fix our father-daughter relationship but because he did the mental calculation and realized with his wife dead, I was the only person who would take care of him if he couldn’t care for himself. It’s all about him. Never about me.
After he died, I wondered if he’d come back and haunt me or if he would come visit me in my dreams. Not that I believe in such things, but my aunt said her father (my grandpa) had visited her several times. And I thought, “Oh, you want to come and haunt me? Go ahead. I have something I want to scream at you. So come and haunt me and see how it ends for you, Dad.”
I’ve never even dreamed of him once since he died.
Having him back to life for 24 hours is not going to change anything between us.
The same goes for my mom, who ran off with some artist when I was 18 months old. The same goes for my grandma, who had raised and abused me…
You all better stay the fuck dead because you ain’t gonna like what I have to say to you.
Quit Your Job In 2023, This is my way out
No more 9 to 5 job for me. Do you also struggle with not having time for more valuable things in life than your work, do you spend too much time working for others? Are you feeling frustrated and stressed about not having time to live your life to the fullest, this is my story of how I realized my dream of living a simpler and less stressful life by quitting my job and stopped working for others.
In the ever-evolving landscape of the global smartphone industry, Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, once relied heavily on Qualcomm chips to power its devices. However, recent years have witnessed a significant shift in Huawei’s chipset strategy as it began to develop its own chipsets and reduce its dependence on Qualcomm. This change in course raised questions and curiosity in the tech world. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the reasons behind Huawei’s decision to distance itself from Qualcomm chips, explore the challenges and opportunities that this shift presents, and assess the implications for both Huawei and the larger smartphone ecosystem.
1: The Historical Nexus
1.1. Qualcomm’s Dominance
A brief overview of Qualcomm’s leading position in the semiconductor industry.
Huawei’s early partnership with Qualcomm and the Snapdragon chipset series.
1.2. Huawei’s Ascendancy
Huawei’s rise to global prominence as a smartphone manufacturer.
The integral role of Qualcomm chips in Huawei’s international success.
2: Huawei’s Push for In-House Chip Development
2.1. The Emergence of HiSilicon
The birth of Huawei’s semiconductor subsidiary, HiSilicon.
The strategic importance of in-house chip development.
2.2. The Rise of the Kirin Chipsets
Introduction to Huawei’s Kirin chipset series.
Technological advancements and innovations in Kirin chips.
2.3. The Competitive Edge
How HiSilicon’s chip development aligns with Huawei’s long-term goals.
The advantages of vertical integration and control over chip design.
3: U.S. Sanctions and Supply Chain Stumbles
3.1. The Unfolding U.S. Sanctions Saga
An examination of the U.S. sanctions imposed on Huawei.
How these sanctions impacted Huawei’s access to critical technologies, including Qualcomm chips.
3.2. Vulnerabilities in the Supply Chain
The precariousness of relying on foreign suppliers for critical components.
The central role of chipsets as a strategic resource in the smartphone industry.
4: HarmonyOS and Huawei’s Ambitious Vision
4.1. Huawei’s Vision for HarmonyOS
Introduction to HarmonyOS, Huawei’s proprietary operating system.
The strategic significance of developing an Android alternative.
4.2. A Unified Ecosystem
How HarmonyOS aims to provide a seamless user experience across devices.
The role of chipset compatibility in achieving the HarmonyOS vision.
5: Implications and Challenges
5.1. Disrupting the Smartphone Market
How Huawei’s departure from Qualcomm chips impacts the competitive landscape.
Implications for consumers, industry players, and market dynamics.
5.2. Pursuing Technological Self-Reliance
The broader implications of Huawei’s commitment to technological self-reliance.
Lessons for other tech giants facing similar geopolitical challenges.
5.3. The Road Ahead
The technological and market challenges Huawei faces in developing its own chipsets.
The importance of innovation, research, and development in overcoming these hurdles.
6: Consumer Perceptions and the Future Outlook
6.1. Consumer Reactions and Preferences
How Huawei’s decision to utilize its chipsets is perceived by consumers.
Factors influencing consumer preferences in the realm of smartphones.
6.2. Shaping the Future of Huawei Smartphones
Prospects for Huawei’s smartphone business in the absence of Qualcomm chips.
The role of design, innovation, software, and competitive pricing in defining Huawei’s future offerings.
Conclusion
The divergence of Huawei from Qualcomm chips signifies a monumental shift in strategy with far-reaching implications. While the impact of U.S. sanctions and supply chain disruptions are undeniable catalysts for this transition, Huawei’s investments in in-house chipset development and the vision of HarmonyOS underscore its unwavering commitment to technological self-sufficiency and innovation. As we conclude this article, we gain a comprehensive understanding of the complex factors influencing Huawei’s strategic decision and what the future holds for one of the world’s foremost smartphone manufacturers.
INDIAN NEWS is Cheap Western Propaganda
The Indian news channels like WION and ANI (Asean News International) have become cheap propaganda outlets for the Western Colonial Masters that have always ruled over the Indian population. This video shows beyond any doubt that India News is part of the Anti China propaganda network set up by American Politicians and Main Stream Media. It is no secret as they admit to it in this video that they have joined this movement of hate against China.
A young German soldier during WWII was ordered to check the house for Jews. After minutes of searching, he declares the house clear.
His commanding officer is unconvinced. “Schauen Sie in den Dachboden,” he orders. Check the attic.
“Die Luke ist offen! Die würden sich nicht dort verstecken!” The young soldier says. The attic door is wide open! Surely they wouldn’t hide there!
His commander shakes his head. “Schauen Sie trotzdem nach.” Go check anyway.
The soldier climbs the ladder. As he peers into the darkness, he sees at least a dozen Jews hiding in the attic. All women and children.
Their terrified faces look back at him. Nobody dares to move. The young soldier turns and shouts to his commander.
“Alles klar!” All clear.
The soldier closes the trapdoor, leaving the Jews in the dark. He will never see them again.
Decades later, one of the young children in the attic will recall the anonymous soldier’s kindness. Every single person in the attic survives the war. Many attribute their lives to the young man.
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a remarkable aircraft that could fly at speeds over Mach 3.2 and at altitudes up to 85,000 feet. It was the fastest manned aircraft ever flown and still holds many speed, altitude, and distance records for a manned aircraft.
Flying in such an extreme environment required special training and equipment for the pilots. The pilots of the SR-71 wore full-pressure suits that resembled those worn by astronauts. The suits protected them from low pressure, low temperature, and lack of oxygen at high altitudes. They also provided protection in case of an emergency ejection.
The pilots also had to cope with the high g-forces and acceleration that resulted from flying at such high speeds. The SR-71 could accelerate from Mach 1 to Mach 3 in less than 15 minutes, which put a lot of stress on the human body. The pilots had to undergo rigorous physical training and medical examinations to ensure they were fit for the mission. They also had to use special techniques to breathe and move their limbs during high-g maneuvers.
The pilots also experienced a unique sensation of speed when flying the SR-71. They could see the curvature of the Earth and the stars in broad daylight. They could also see the shock waves forming around the aircraft as it broke the sound barrier. The SR-71 flew so fast that it could outrun any missile or enemy aircraft that tried to intercept it. The pilots had to rely on their instruments and their instincts to navigate and control the aircraft.
Hang on, this is VERY strange!
This is the equivalent of China recognizing Puerto Rico as a sovereign nation….
My ex husband and I got married at Gretna Green with just 2 friends for witnesses. On the day after the wedding on the car journey home, we were passing a field of higland cows (ginger and hairy like me apparently) and said in an insulting tone, “oh look Sarah, there’s your relations”. I immediately fired back with “yes, but only through marriage”…. friends were in stitches, he never even cracked a smile. He had no sense of humour and had been trying to belittle me in front of people as he did the entire 9 years I was with him…
Another time when I was about 25 or so, at a neighbours bbq, I approached a small group of people listening to one guy in his late 50′s or so telling sexist joke after sexist joke. At the end of each joke all the men laughed loudly and the women kind of awkwardly. I had always found this guy a bit of a chauvinist and quite ‘sleazy’ so stepped in with my own joke… Mrs Smith went to hospital to give birth. After the baby was born the doctor said to her “I’m really sorry Mrs Smith but your baby is a hermaphrodite”. “A what?” asked Mrs Smith. “A hermaphrodite, it has features of both sexes” said the doctor. Mrs Smith gasps and says “Oh my god….it has a penis AND a brain!”. The women in the group all belly laughed but the sleaze not so much
A well-told lie is worth a thousand facts. The debt-trap narrative is a lie, a powerful one.
There are three main fallacies in the West’s hype about China’s “debt trap theory”: First, in terms of debt causes, countries in debt distress today often fall into debt traps before the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Second, in terms of debt ownership, most of these countries’ debt is owed to Western or pro-Western institutions, not China. Studies show that 80 per cent of Sri Lanka’s external debt, 70 per cent of Pakistan’s and 77 per cent of Zambia’s external debt is owned by Western private and public institutions.
Third, in terms of the nature of debt, Western loans tend to be short-term with high interest rates, leading to unsustainable debt cycles, while Chinese lending to developing countries is long-term, low-interest credit that helps improve infrastructure.
The characteristics of China’s BRI financing is that it breaks through the traditional model, with no political conditions attached, and the forms of financing are pragmatic and diverse; The Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank both emphasize debt sustainability, with commercial needs flexibly integrated with national strategies.
The irresponsible monetary policy of the United States is the real reason for the concentrated outbreak of debt problems in developing countries. The United States first implemented an ultra-loose monetary policy, allowing low-interest dollars to pour into Africa and emerging market countries, and then aggressively raised interest rates to attract dollars back to the United States, resulting in insufficient liquidity in developing countries.
Since China is not the largest creditor of developing countries, why does the West hype the “China debt trap theory”? The answer is that China’s “Belt and Road” initiative helps developing countries improve their economic capability. Once these countries achieve independent economic development, they do not have to rely on borrowing money from Western developed countries to maintain production and life, which is equivalent to cutting off a financial route for Western countries.
How I See the USA After 14 Years of Living Abroad & Expat Life
After 14 years of living abroad and enjoying expat life, I wanted to talk a bit about how I see the US now… This week, we’ll be taking a look at the USA through an Expat lens… Is the U.S. truly the “leader of the free world”, or is that just a perception we’ve grown accustomed to? One of many topics that are worth thinking about is the education system. Does it really prepare us for life, or is it more about scoring high on tests?
What about healthcare access? Is it as straightforward as it seems, or are there nuances we’re missing when comparing American Healthcare with European Healthcare? Another important factor to consider is safety and quality of life, is the U.S. the gold standard, or are there elements of community and culture that we’re overlooking in comparison with overseas?
We’ll also touch on the topic of zoning. Is it just a mundane urban planning concept, or does it have deeper implications for our lifestyle and mobility? Finally, we’ll take a look at the geographical isolation of North America. Is it just a geographical fact, or could it be shaping our understanding of the world in ways we don’t realize? There’s a lot to unpack, and these are the conversations that need to be had.
In this expat podcast episode of Not Your Average Globetrotter, hosted by me, Rafael Di Furia, I’ll share how I view the US and American culture and lifestyle in comparison with the culture and lifestyle in Europe and elsewhere having been abroad for more than 14 years, questioning everything from its global leadership role and education system to healthcare access, safety standards, connections in local communities, cultural rituals, and the implications of its geographical isolation.
My husband and I entered an elevator in a hotel in Vegas, headed to the lobby and extraordinarily tall black man was already in there. I smiled and tried not to stare because he was simply that enormous.
Husband, a sports fanatic, asked the giant of he’d ever played basketball and the giant responded that yeah, he’d played some ball in his day and DH told the giant that if he hadn’t, he would have missed an opportunity. The giant chuckled and sort of shook his head.
When we arrived in the lobby, we all kind of nodded and smiled and went out separate ways. I asked DH what his little exchange was all about.
The giant was Shaquille O’Neill, the Shaq Attack. My husband told Shaq that he would have missed an opportunity if he hadn’t played basketball.
I told a story about a kid threatening to kill himself. Let me explain.
I didn’t think I was going to get the job. Not in a “I don’t believe in myself” kind of way, I mean in a “I have direct evidence” kind of way. A meeting I’d had fell through, so I showed up for my interview super early. This meant I was sitting there in the lobby when the head of the special education department opened the door, profusely shook another woman’s hand, and said:
“You are exactly what we’re looking for. We’ll send out an offer to you as soon as we’re done with today’s interviews.” Then she looked up and saw me waiting. “Oh, you’re here early, come on it.”
So I walked in knowing I was wasting my time, but I was already there and decided to have fun with it. I told jokes. I made fun of the number of people they had in the room to interview me (7!). I was as casual as possible and answered every question off the cuff instead of trying to think of an answer they wanted to hear. Then they asked me one of those awful, super generic questions you always get when you work with kids, something along the lines of “What was your moment when you realized you knew you were supposed to be a teacher?”
I have no patience for those questions, and find them to be really performative and all about showing how generically kind and sensitive you are. For a job I thought I was going to get I might have played along and told an exaggerated story about teaching a kid to read or something. I didn’t do that.
Instead I told them about one of my students in the Emotional Disorder class I was teaching at a middle school. The little guy had a severe anxiety disorder, and we were trying to support him while also ignoring attention seeking behaviors. So when he started yelling I escorted him to the quiet break area. When he started shouting he needed to go to the hospital I assured him I would check in on him to make sure he was ok. And when he started screaming that he was going to kill himself I pointed out there was nothing in the area he could use to do it, and if he decided to bang his head against the wall it would probably just really hurt. Two minutes later he poked his head out and calmly asked if he could do his math work, and I realized that some of the interventions I was using were actually working. It was a pretty cool feeling. Everyone in the room was silent, and more than a few looked really freaked out. No worries, I already knew they gave the job to someone else, and went on my way.
They offered me the job that evening. Apparently they had an elementary school moderate/severe class with a lot of difficult behaviors, and my story had convinced them immediately that I could handle it. Oh, and that other woman I saw getting offered a job? She was a speech therapist, and not a teacher at all. Looks like we both crushed our interviews.
We had 4,000 employees and had been the world leader in our field for about 10 years at this time.
We were not the price setter, though. But we did very well and had a reasonable operating margin, enough to satisfy our corporate owners and shareholders.
Then we got a new president, an American B-school graduate. He came from Stanford, as I recall.
After some time he declared to us in the sales department (about 90 people), operating worldwide.
Raise all prices 15 percent
Go back on all orders in house and negotiate a 15 percent higher price.
I tried.
We all tried.
We suffered, badly.
No new orders for nine (9) months.
The customers with orders in place said a flat “are you out of your fr…..g mind?”
Our build cycle, order to delivery, was about 18 months.
Nine months later the factories started to look empty and were laying off staff, weekly — NO NEW ORDERS.
“Biggest boss” at our owning company got wind of this and came to town.
Our president was fired the same day and we all in sales got new instructions.
“Forget all orders about price increases — go sell as competitively as you can.”
It took about two years for the company to regain its world-leading position.
By that time, I and just about half of our previous sales organization were gone, replaced by eager young souls.
The “American Dream” Is A Big Lie
I talk about how the “American Dream” is a big lie. Too many people around the world are victims to debt, consumerism, and care too much about what other people think. I give my all knowing wisdom via Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
During every “generational turning” certain things happen. For instance, we had the “black knight” in Donald Trump, and the regression of the ruling class. Here, this song and what is happening is one such event contributor. ..
…
Uh oh. I am worried.
Look at this…
Yes. I am obese, and it is so DISTURBING.
Whoa!
I absolutely must lose weight, and God Damn it! I am going to make it happen. Starting right now. All food portions are “jail standards”.
One spoon full of corn. Three pieces of lettuce, and a few slices of meat for a meal.
A group of guys (Italian) had a sumptuous meal in an Albanian restaurant.
After the meal the guys stepped out of the restaurant for a smoke. And in the blink of an eye, they disappeared in the dark of the night. They ran away without paying…..the tourists “dined and dashed.”
The restaurant manager came looking for them, but it was too late. Dismayed, the manager wrote an email to the Italian Embassy in Albania. He cited the details of the four men who ate at the restaurant and ran away without paying the bill. Adding that the four Italians even complimented the food.
Such a small incident of some 100 euros, it happens everywhere…big deal!
What Next?
The matter was escalated to the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Next, came the orders from the — PM of Italy. Meloni instructed the Italian ambassador to pay the bill for the tourists, stating, “Go and pay the bill for these idiots,
Italy’s embassy in Albania paid the bill on behalf of its citizens and wrote an apology note along with it. The amount totaled around €80 or Rs 7,245.
Francesco Lollobrigida, Italy’s agriculture minister:
“Paying the bill was a matter of pride.” “A few dishonest individuals cannot embarrass a nation of decent people.”
Black Americans React To Viral Off-The-Grid Farmer Oliver Anthony Protest Song | BREAKS INTERNET🔥
They want to divide us, but this country is uniting us. God bless Oliver Anthony
1988. BBC television show That’s Life arranged for a certain Nicholas Winton to attend a presentation about the Holocaust.
The host brought the attention to a woman beside him, who revealed that he had saved her life when she was a child.
The host asked the audience if there’s any more people Winton had saved, and practically everyone around him stood up.
Winton hadn’t known they were going to be there. Surprised, he stood up and took in the happy, grateful faces around him.
It brought tears to his eyes.
1938. Winton, a 29-year-old British stockbroker, used his vacation time to travel to Czechoslovakia. There he learned of Jews who were trying to get their children out because war was brewing.
He returned to London and with the help of others, organised Kindertransports – trains to carry the children to safety in Britain.
He negotiated with Nazi officials to allow the children to depart with just a single document.
He persuaded British officials to accept the children, found foster families, and arranged for Jewish humanitarian organizations to pay fees and support the operation.
Parents of the children assembled at train stations in Prague and Vienna to say emotional goodbyes, knowing they would never see their children again.
Over 10 months, Winton and his associates oversaw eight Kindertransports that carried 669 children to safety.
When WWII broke out, his office was closed down. Sadly, one last train of 250 children was trapped and unable to depart. None of those children left behind were reported to have survived.
He didn’t tell his family about what he had done, until his wife found his scrapbook in 1988 with all the children’s names and photos.
Winton with one of the children he saved
Winton with a grandchild of one of the people he had saved
In a hundred years, in 2123, there will be none of us, not even our relatives and friends.
Strangers will live in our homes that we built with a lot of effort and failure. They will have all the stuff we have or throw it in the dumpster. Even the car, for which we spent a fortune, will be lying somewhere in a dump, Our descendants will not remember us and only a few will know who we were. Who among us knows their great-grandfather?
After death, they will remember us for a few more years, then we will be just a portrait on someone’s bookshelf (if at all). A few years later our photos and actions will be forgotten. We will not live in the memories of anyone anymore. If you just stopped to think about it one day, you might understand how pointless it is to walk for more and more.
If we thought and understood that we are just a dot in the history of mankind, let alone the earth or the universe, we would certainly look at our lives and other people differently.
We always striving for more and more and no time for what really matters…. the moments and the relationships. If we thought about and spent more time HERE AND NOW, we would really enjoy life.
We would enjoy walks we never had time for. We would love a hug. We would enjoy kisses from our children. In the moments that really count, but we ran out of time. Those would certainly be the most beautiful and best moments to remember and imprinted deep within ourselves. This is how we would fill our lives with joy. And now we fill it with greed, intolerance and hate.
After Robins Williams’s death from suicide after years of battling depression was reported, it drove a 200% spike in the number of calls to the Suicide Prevention Hotline. The day after his death, 13,000 calls were made to the hotline, numbers never before seen. Due to the increase only 53% of those calls were able to be answered, which also drove up the number of suicides to an above-average rate.
In 2010, Ozzy Osborn had his genome sequenced to try and understand how it was possible to be still living after decades of abusing his body. He had abused his body beyond any measurable scale it was always a wonder to him how he managed it. Researchers found that he had mutations related to addiction, and metabolism, from his Neanderthal ancestors.
The researchers also discovered he had several hundred thousand genetic variants that have never been seen before. These mutations were also one of the reasons he never woke up hungover or sick after heavy weeks of drinking and taking drugs. If Ozzy wasn’t such a freak of nature he probably would have died years ago.
“It’s Not Natural” – Why Are 20% of Kids Suddenly LGBTQ?
I worked for a tech company a few years ago that had the most questionable cost-cutting strategy I have ever seen. Their policy, was simply to remove all purchasing restrictions, and give employees whatever they wanted. Essentially any work related purchase we wanted under $10,000 was self-approved: no asking our supervisor or manager — no approval process at all!
If we wanted a new desk, or an executive chair; we called facilities and it appeared. If we wanted a fast computer with three monitors, we called IT, and it appeared. Software, supplies, whatever – we got it. We got exactly what we wanted, the model/brand we specifically requested.
This seemed like the most insane policy I ever heard of, and looking around the office one could find a few examples of people that appeared to take advantage of it.
The company also had an interesting coffee room policy: gourmet coffee, tea, and cappuccino free. Soda machine had all sodas and energy drinks for 5 cents, and there was a cup full of nickels at the side of the machine – so essentially everything was free.
So what was the effect of this? Well first of all the company had the happiest employees I have ever seen! Morale and loyalty was through the roof. People loved working there. People worked harder, and enjoyed coming to work.
One day during a company outing I cornered the CEO and asked him about the policies, he said this…
When we implemented the purchase policy, we instantly saved $500,000 a year in labor costs, since we no longer had to pay all the people to manage and maintain purchasing approvals. We saved even more in indirect man-hours, as individual department heads didn’t use any time on them either. Half a million a year buys a lot of extra equipment.
We tracked expenditures, and for the first three years we lost a little, but not much. The next five years, we actually spent less than we saved in reduced labor. Over all it saves the company money, and gives employees whatever they think they need to be most productive. Win/Win
Then I asked him about the cafeteria, and he smiled and said “the more caffeine people drink, the more productive they are. It pays for itself a hundred times over”
This was the most brilliant, and out of the box thinking I have ever seen in Management.
Years later the company had some hard times, like many tech companies, and they only needed to ask employees to help – not change the policy. People loved the company, and when belt-tightening was needed, they self-sacrificed.
I don’t work there anymore, but it’s still a brilliant business model.
HOLY MOLY!!! Country artist BREAKS THE INTERNET with powerful song!
Sun came out with Java, a language that was “compile once, run anywhere!”
Microsoft thought that sounded good, so they jumped on board and even came out with an IDE just for Java.
Microsoft made the Windows Java Virtual Machine (JVM), but it didn’t support remote method invocation (RMI) or Java Native Interface (JNI). They also made changes so Java programs would run faster on Windows and added platform-specific commands for Windows.
Sun cried “foul!” and said Microsoft was ruining the whole concept of Java—”compile once, run anywhere!”
Sun sued Microsoft.
Microsoft got mad, took its toys and went home (they stopped supporting Java out of the box).
Microsoft still liked the idea of “compile once, run anywhere!” so they got Anders Hejlsberg to create a new language to compete with it.
Hejlsberg gave birth to C#.
Curiously, though Microsoft like the idea of “compile once, run anywhere!”, they only wanted C# to work on Microsoft operating systems. So C# was a Windows-only technology.
Predictably, though C# was superior to Java in some ways, Java became the cross-platform King (Java still ran on Windows, but users to install the JRE themselves).
Satya Nadella, now head of Microsoft, isn’t a dummy and knew C# had to be available on all operating systems to be successful. He started a movement to create compatible Common Language Runtimes (the thing that makes C# programs work) for all major operating systems. You know, like Java did.
The CLR is available for nearly all operating systems now, though Windows generally gets new improvements first.
Java is still the cross-platform King. It’s unlikely that C# will ever catch up.
Clear?
First time hearing Oliver Anthony- “Rich Men North Of Richmond” *REACTION*
All these hikes from the FED is to absorb USD from the market, in order to control the inflation and support US treasury.
10 year US treasury is now 4.7% interest rate, which is already higher than at least half of the ways to invest, and it’s much more safe.
By having less money freely in the market, the commodity prices will decline, and causing the products in terminal market to become lower.
Because of the theory of impossible trinity, no country can achive free capital flows, independent monetary policy, and fixed exchange rate at the same time.
2 out of 3 is the best.
To most of the US allies, they have to at least choose free capital flows.
It means that when the FED decided to raise the interest rate, they have to raise it too. Otherwise, capitals within their territory would flee out to the US, because there is a higher return in the US.
Usually, capital exists in the form of properties, such as real estate. When the investors withdrawing their capital from a country, it means a mass selling of properties, which will cause:
property price to go down, which causes the market panic.
foreign reserves got drained.
FDI should always be exchanged into local currency first. When investors want to leave, they would have to exchange their local currency back into USD.
The government must have enough USD in reserve, or else the exchange rate of local currency would crush.
It’s also how the 97 Financial Crisis began and how the US usual harvest the world.
Hong Kong got away from sniping, because Beijing spread the words that it will back HK up with its USD reserve if necessary. Eventually Beijing didn’t do that, but the market got appeased when hearing Beijing said so.
Back to the trinity, China chooses to give up on free capital flows.
It may cause troubles for certain possible investors, because they may be worried to not getting their investment back, but it also limits the abilities of international bankers to harvest China.
Along the years, large corporations know that they can move in or out their money responsibly, which means with proper reasons. So they are not worried about their properties got confiscated by Chinese government.
Some investors choose HK as intermedia to invest in China, because it’s common law in HK and everything they care about remains the same as before 1997.
So Beijing has full control within China’s territory, and is not worried about capital fleeing out.
The top priority of Biden Administration is to get the inflation under control.
It doesn’t matter of peoples’ living standard got improved, but the inflation number directly effects voters stance next year. However, high interest rate suppresses market activities, since it drains money from the market, and companies wouldn’t be able to finance.
Meanwhile in China, the top priority is to stimulate the market.
Lower interest would encourage more people to invest, since there is cheap money in the market, which is good for entrepreneurs or cooperations to expand their production.
Still, this can be interpreted very differently, based on different political stance and/or financial/economical knowledge.
China may be showing the world about its confidence, or it could well be that China is bluffing.
Still, people lie, but capital doesn’t.
We will see which this is by monitoring the investors’ moves.
Ugh. It’s been an exciting last couple of days, eh?
As of the 1MAR22, the military movement map is on schedule. Anyone who says that it is going slowly is overly influenced by Western propiganda. It’s going to schedule and meeting all of its objectives. There are no problems here.
I am seeing pincer movements, and the creation of pockets and cauldrons (black lines.). You can observe them on the map above.
Like many of you, I have been spending a great deal of time keeping up with coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There’s so much bullshit out there, and much of it is in the English speaking press. It’s really awful.
If you have been taking-in the Western propaganda, you might have all sorts of distorted views and illusions about what is going on. Such as this…
"I am very upset with the Russians for choosing to invade the whole country, because now a line has been crossed that will never, ever be able to be uncrossed. From here on out, there will be endless wars and rumors of wars, and countless numbers of people are going to die. In the future, some historians may look back and determine that the coming Chinese invasion of Taiwan was the start of World War III, and others may point to the coming conflict between Israel and Iran. But to me, February 23rd, 2022 was the start of World War III, and nothing will ever be the same again."
It demanded that both NATO and the United States abide to the treaties that they signed. In particular three treaties were specified. All three were in blatent violation.
The ultimation was totally ignored by the American press, and the American leadership.
Since most of you have been closely following news coverage of the war, I am not going to rehash the basic facts here. The Russians are winning victory after victory, and it appears that the battle for Ukraine could be over in a matter of weeks.
The following are some observations about the new World War (cold or hot, it doesn’t matter) which just started in Ukraine…
#1The United States launched it’s long awaited World War III.
Everyone knew that this was coming in one form or the other. Whether it is via the Fourth Turning, or the Deagal Report, or any Prepper websites, it happened to schedule and on time. No surprises there.
And it was birthed directly by United States and NATO action. Make no mistake there, either.
For a roll of the die, it could have been China. In any event, it pushed Russia into a corner using the "Cuba Missile Crisis" technique, and Russia had to respond.
The United States is following the road map written decades ago and will not accept peer competitors from Asia.
#2The propaganda is that it’s all Russia’s fault.
Of course. That's the standard American "play book". You omit any semblance of the truth, and then propagate the lie-based narrative. All the shrills and 'bots are fully mobilized. And it is outrageous.
#3The conflict between the West and Asia will continue until one side or the other is totally defeated.
This is an all-or-nothing, winner-take-all, situation.
Certainly, the neocons in Washington, DC anticipate a long-drawn-out war of attrition; a quagmire in Ukraine, and a leashing of the EU, my personal opinion says otherwise. Once Russia suppressed the Ukraine threat, the USA will push for another military action. They will not allow things to subside.
#4 Nuclear Detonations are likely.
Both sides are armed with nuclear weapons, and it is just a matter of time before somebody decides to use them. However, the Asian leadership has gamed everything here. Nothing is unexpected.
Remember, both America and Europe are undefended.
While both China and Russia ahve ABM technology that can shoot down any ICBM, SLBM, and cruise missiles sent to them.
#5 The stakes are well understood and public.
As he launched the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin warned other countries that he could use nuclear weapons against them if they attempted to intervene. Which is why you are not seeing any direct military movement from NATO or nearby nations right now.
The action is covert, and hybrid. But not kenetic.
#5Everyone is lying.
The Biden administration, the Ukrainians and the Russians all lied to everyone over and over again. The matter is simple; no one is respected, no one deserves the truth, and thus the true reality is to find the nation with the highest likelihood of truthful information.
Since the United States is constantly at war, and constantly provoking wars, it is very easy to see what it actually is. This is true even though the American public has been dumbed down to the point of brainless zombie NPC.
Russia, on the other hand, is clearly in a worrisome situation. America almost got into nuclear war over a similiar situation in 1962.
And the Ukraine, is, like all the West, a puppet government doing the work desired by others. Like Australia. Like Japan. Like Canada. Mindless puppets.
#6There are no diplomatic solutions.
The posturing by the United States, and the EU / NATO against Russia and China has been aggressive, "in-your-face", rude, arrogant, and bombastic.
Anyone who berates Asia for not being diplomatic is an uninformed idiot.
All you need to do is replay the Anchorage Alaska meeting in early April 2021 between the USA and China.
Russia clearly laid down the "Red Lines". The United States and NATO decided to ignore them. What is happening is the consequece of that decision.
#7The EU, NATO, and the United States are all conducting acts of war.
Personal sanctions against heads of state and individuals who work in government are de facto acts of war.
Expect retaliation at some time. And remember, again, boys and girls, time is on the side of Asia. The West is on a clock that speeds up faster as energy, food, and commodities become scarse.
#8 The United States / EU are especially weak.
The West have no real defenses to handle an aggressive, peer-capable war. This is on all fronts, in every way. Whether it is cyber, bioweapon, social "color revolution", trade, financial, or military / technical.
It takes fighters; people with merit driven skills to operate and engage in real war. World War III will not be fought inside bunkers with office workers pressing buttons. It will be fought by, and won by, organized and motivated fighters who are led by experienced merit promoted generals.
#9Russia and China can both inflict terrible pain.
Russia and China are unified. Make no mistake about that. The Russians have more than 1,000 different ways of making the West feel pain, and they are not afraid to play dirty.
#10Ukraine is a puppet vassal state.
I think that Volodymyr Zelensky is a piss-poor head of state. However, he's not the exception, he's the rule. He's a clone, with Scott Morrison, Joe Biden, and any of the EU clowns equally ill-infomed and technically powerless.
#11Game over for the Ukraine.
Zelensky pushed all of his chips into the middle of the table when the Russians knew full well that he wasn’t holding any cards. Now he is going to lose his entire country.
#12 The United States is a coward, bully.
It appears that Zelensky actually believed that the United States and other western powers would come to his aid if the Russians invaded. After what we have witnessed over the past year, that was an incredibly foolish thing to believe. The United States cases jack-shit about the rest of the world. It only cares about it's elite. No one else.
#13 The Western push followed plan “B”.
The war against China failed. The blocking of the BRI failed. So Plan "B" was put into play; Force Russia into a war.
The so-called "diplomatic solution" was [1] the placement of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and [2] it becomes a member of NATO. With [3] Russia backing down peacefully. [4] No one makes a big deal about the "Russian Red Lines", they are ignored and they disappear.
That was the "diplomatic solution" that all the West are lamenting about.
Diplomatic solution = Nuclear weapons in a NATO Ukraine.
War solution = Russia ejects the minion government of Ukraine.
From the point of view of the collective West; it was a win-win. No matter what Russia did, the plan would run it's course.
#14Theisolation of Russia will fail.
At this stage, the Biden administration will try to turn the rest of the world against the Russians and will try to suffocate the life out of them economically.
That isn’t going to work, because Russia is very self-sufficient when it comes to food, energy and other essentials, and Putin has also signed very extensive trade agreements with China.
#15All of this is well-panned and well thought out.
Putin would have made this move if he didn’t have an understanding with China behind the scenes. The Chinese are allowing the Russians to invade Ukraine.
This is all part of a grander plan.
The crazy United States monster is going to try to eat up Asia, one way or the other. If not Russia, it will be China. The nations have banded together for mutual protection.
#16Taiwan
Now that the Chinese have seen how weakly the western powers have responded to the invasion of Ukraine, we can see how they might think about the reunification issue with Taiwan.
It does NOT mean that it emboldens the Chinese to take action. They are following their own, well-thought-out timetable. And for them, Ukraine means nothing. It changes nothing.
No. Instead, it alerts the separatist political factions inside Taiwan of the hopelessness of their objectives. As well as the pitiful support that they would actually get from the United States. Now they know what will happen with an alliance with the United States.
To this end, an urgent flight with American government officials are flying (have flown) to Taiwan to assure them that “America will support them against mainland China. Now, you must realize that this is a provocation, and it is very dangerous for the United States to do this. Know your history. video 6MB
#17Ukraine
It will be restructured, and rules will be put in place so that [1] color revolutions can never reoccur ever again, [2] NGOs / CIA are kept out, [3] and it will be a neutral and demilitarized nation.
#18Food and minerals
The Western "leadership" have no clear idea how actual physical things work. Those cell-phones are made in China, and have batteries made from minerals mined in Russia.
The USA placed sanctions on everything except what they need. But you know that Russia could easily say "fuck you" to them at the right moment, and not ship anything to them.
The global food crisis has just continued to get worse as global food supplies have continued to get tighter and tighter. Normally, Russia and Ukraine export vast quantities of food to the rest of the world, but the war is going to change that. We really are facing a horrifying breakdown of our food and energy systems, and that is going to affect every man, woman and child in the collective West.
This war is going to make the global food crisis much worse.
#19Energy
The global energy crisis is going to get a whole lot worse. Russia exports a tremendous amount of energy, and European nations gobble it up like addicts. This conflict threatens to dislocate the flow of global energy to a degree that we haven’t seen since World War II.
Already, the collective West are already facing the worst energy crisis since the 1970s before the war broke out, and Russia is one of the most important energy producers on the entire globe. As energy markets are thrown into further turmoil, energy prices will go to unprecedented heights.
This war is going to make the global energy crisis much worse.
It will start with abnormally high energy prices, and then spiral into uncontrolable inflation. Then, it will get really bad...
#20China & Russia financial transfers
SWIFT is going the way of the Doo-Doo Bird. And with the death of SWIFT will be a new reality where if you want things from China, you will have to pay using their system, and it requires to be backed up with gold reserves. The trouble is, the USA doesn't have any gold any longer.
#21US Military is in sad shape.
The U.S. military is in the worst condition that I have ever seen in my entire lifetime. At this point, the U.S. military is not at all prepared to fight the Russians or anyone else for that matter.
#22Russians are Ruthless.
Many people out there love to criticize President Trump, but even he understood that you don’t mess with the Russians. Unless they are messing with you, the best thing to do with the Russians is to just leave them alone.
All throughout history, those that have chosen to pick a fight with Russia have ended up regretting it. The Russians will do whatever it takes to win, and they are absolutely ruthless.
#23 Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is a no-show
It appears that UkrainePresident Volodymyr Zelensky is either extremely courageous or he is flat out lying to us. If he is still in Ukraine, and that is a big if, then I have to applaud his courage and bravery.
So many others would have fled in the face of a Russian invasion, but if he has chosen to stay and fight then his people are right to regard him as a hero.
But if he has already left Ukraine and is just acting as if he has stayed behind to fight, then that is the opposite of courage.
It is odd that the Russians haven’t been able to find Zelensky yet, because they have definitely been hunting for him.
*Update*
Zelensky fled to Poland. He abandoned his country and refused to negotiate with the Russians. Instead, he is staying in the United States Embassy. U.S. Embassy Warsaw Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31 00-540 Warsaw Poland
#24Begging for American Involvment
Zelensky is trying really hard to drag western powers into the war. He is begging Joe Biden to establish a “no-fly zone” over Ukraine, but Biden understands that this would mean direct military conflict with the Russians.
#25Polish and EU fighter jets
The EU has announced that they will be providing fighter jets to Ukraine. This is an extremely dangerous thing to do, because Putin has warned that those that provide military equipment to Ukraine will be targeted as enemies.
This is a lie.
Yesterday's blazing headlines about European countries deciding to "give" fighter jets to Ukraine, to be based at an airfield in Poland, has completely fallen apart. As of this morning, NO country will be giving ANY fighter jets to the Ukraine.
It's official - Europe won't transfer fighter planes to Ukraine.
Poland decided not to, and Slovakian defense ministry spokesperson confirms just now: “Slovakia will not provide fighter jets to Ukraine."
Yesterday, shortly after the spectacular claim by Ukraine, one of the countries, Bulgaria, flatly denied it saying they don't have enough planes to defend their own country, never mind giving some to another country.
So once again, a spectacular claim by "officials" turns out to be an outright lie.
#26 NATO injection into the Ukraine
I don’t know why the EU believes that fighter jets will make much of a difference, because most of the military airfields under Ukraine’s control have already been destroyed. They would have to be based inside NATO and then fly into the Ukraine. In effect; an unofficial NATO incursion into war.
#27 Nuclear safties are OFF
The entire world was shocked when Putin put his strategic nuclear forces on alert over the weekend. Putin definitely escalated things dramatically by making this move, but hopefully it will get people to understand that we really could end up with a nuclear war at the end of all this.
I was scratching my head with the moronic idiocy of the Western "leadership". The words "Duh!", and "Ya think!" come to mind.
#28CIPS
Now that western powers have weaponized SWIFT, I think that there will be a mass exodus to China’s version. Most people have not even heard of CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System) until now, but this crisis is going to make it a lot more prominent. Not just Russia, either. But most of the globe.
#29Stalling at the “Peace Talks”
I would love it if the “peace talks” between Russia and Ukraine brought an end to the shooting. Unfortunately, to me it appears that Ukraine is simply using those talks as a stalling tactic. Zelensky still seems to think that western powers can be dragged into the conflict, and so he is trying to buy as much time as possible.
#30 If not NATO then, the EU.
When Zelensky signed an application for Ukraine to become a member of the European Union on Monday, that was another clear sign that he has no intention of turning Ukraine into a “neutral country” like the Russians are demanding.
#31 The Ukraine as it exists now is over
Dead man walking. If Zelensky cannot get anyone to come help Ukraine, he will lose this war.
#32 A United Asia
Russia is not isolated. China is not isolated. Together they represent the bulk of argultural products, mineral resources, technology, and manufacturing. Throw in a pro-Russia and Pro-China Africa, and you see a very mighty powerful block.
Meanwhiile, the West can play with their spreadsheets, their fianancial advisors, diversity experts and serve fast food to each other. The future of the world depends on Asia.
#33Western Priorities
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.”
#34 Russia and China are as one
A major narrative being promoted out of the propaganda mills is that "Russia tricked China", and that "China is now worried". Both ideas are totally false bullshit. The Chinese media does not reflect those opinions, and the people on "the street" do not feel that way at all. Inside China the over all feeling is that Russia is defending itself against the USA / NATO alliance, and that it needs to do so.
#35 Russia eliminated all the pricy expensive weapons systems in one day
The Russian attack began, as predicted, mostly by strikes with standoff weapons. 24 hour hours later the Ukrainian air force and navy ceased to exist. In this initial phase, few Ukrainian units were directly engaged.
All of those very expensive fighter aircraft, electonic systems, high-technology weapons provided to the Ukraine by the United States (it has been the fourth largest recipient of American weapons) became useless slag in 24 hours.
#36 The United States won the propaganda war
On the informational war, the West gave Russia a thorough thrashing: RT and Sputnik are banned everywhere, absolutely insane rumors are circulating (see example below), I know for fact that some US colleges have banned their computers from accessing any .ru or .su websites – yes entire domain names are being shut down – Russian diplomats get assaulted (in one of the 3Bs statelets if I remember correctly).
The western PSYOP onslaught is so powerful that even some people in Russia are fearful and sincerely worry “what will happen to us next?!”.
Western IT companies are disconnecting, throttling, while “private” western crackers are unleashing DDoS attack on pretty much all the main Russian websites, not only informational ones, but also those who are used to run the civilian infrastructure of Russia. I am not impressed by how much (or little) Russian PR people did to prepare for this which was easy to see coming. Here, again, the West so far is winning, but a huge margin.
The western society is displaying its hatred of all things Russian in every way it can: hundereds and maybe thousands of students are summarily expelled from western colleges (which used to be bastions of freedom). In a Swiss city a child was beat up in school for being an “evil Russian”. Artists are expelled, others pressured to condemn their own country and president, western presstitutes and politicians unceasingly vomit at Russia, Russians and everything Russian!
I have two videos that cover this particular subject that I want to present. The first is a pretty good, and short overview of just how absurd the fake news actually is. Its from RT and its banned in the West. Imagine that! Keep Americans and Europeans ignorant. video 27MB
The second video is about how the “news” reports are presented to the American public. It’s funny, but keep in mind, this is actually what happened. Its no wonder that Americans (and Brits) have no idea about how FUCKED they actually are. video 6MB
#37 Much of the situation is hidden
All of the "armchair generals", "talking heads", and "political analyists" are working with public dialog to base their impressions upon.
The US government controls that dialog.
Thus, as a matter of course (like an iceberg) 90% of the real issues are hidden.
There's things going on that are not being reported. So all these "experts" are living in an echo-chamber of ignorance.
#38 Life in the West is forever changed
If you live in the West, and you believe that your life will continue on as normal because the war between Russia and Ukraine is on the other side of the globe, you should think again.
The United States and the EU are consumer-driven societies. What happens when all products are cut off, inflation goes ballistic, and raw materials foodstuffs, and energy are denied to you?
Thos electric cars all use batteries. In two years they will need to be replaced. And Russia and China controls the materials and the manufacture of those batteries.
60% of Americans are on life-sustaining medicines. And 90% of the medicines are made in China. What then? No prosac, viagra, blood-pressure, cancer, or pain medicine...
America will become a zoo.
#39 Inside of America there is a growing division of opinion
There are cracks in the Ukraine narrative. The American Conservative websites and media are starting to question why Biden went after Russia when they view China as the threat. To this end they are posting videos and narratives in suppor that the United States intentionally decided to engage Russia in war.
The most stunning was from Hall Turner who posted a video regarding the true situation.
#40 The Deagel Report is still profoundly accurate
#41 The Generational Theory and the Fourth Turning is all on schedule
Everything as predicted is falling in place along the generational time-table. Nothing strage indicated a deviation or that this period of time will be an exception. It's all happening now.
#42 The recent American deligations to Taiwan suggest the USA is opening a second front
Anticipate a crossing of China's "Red Lines", and a harsh reaction. I suspect sometime soon. Probably this year.
China tends to perform tit-for-tat actions. You destroy their VTOL carrier, and they destory yours. Etc. But somehow, I think that China might need to just cleans the Pacific of US Naval forces and their bases completely.
#43 Germany’s economy is set for wide-scale collapse
Russia has targeted the German automotive industry. This is the largest employer in Germany. Already two ships (HERE and HERE) loaded with German automobiles have sunk in the last week.
And the Industry itself is laying off workers due to the inability to acquire parts.
#44 Bioweapons
15 bioweapons facilities set up by the United States and run by the United States were in place on the Russian border.
During the initial salvo, every single one was hit with large thermobaric weapons. Most of them were absolutely and completely incenerated. None of this is reported anywhere in the West.
In spook language; this means that something was up BIG TIME.
#45 In spook circles it is believed that Putin prevented a NATO attack
Speaking of spook stuff…
Not published. Just unattributed raw intel.
But apparently Putin "jumped the gun" and prevented a nuclear attack that was to launch in the Summer of 2022.
Only one week (actually some reports say days) NATO and USA nuclear weapons would have been in position in the Ukraine by 9MAR22.
If so, then it would have been too late for Putin to stop the West. Doing so woould mean direct confrontation with NATO and American miltiary forces inside of the Ukraine.
#46 Many in the West assume that the entire world is collapsing
It is not. That's just an illusion.
Many Americans are angry, and the over all opinion is that the entire world is going to Hell.
That is not correct.
Only the West is falling towards Hell. Not the East. Of course, no one knows this because the news media never reports on what the rest of the world is like.
So yeah. Energy shortages, food shortages, high inflation, and decay are going to erupt all over the United States and their proxy nations. But not inside of Russia, the breadbasket of the world, and not inside of China, the manufacturer for the world.
Of course, those in Russia and China will continue to eat well.
Let’s start by taking a look at the impact that this war will have on food supplies. Even the Washington Post is admitting that the war in Ukraine will likely “push U.S. food prices even higher”…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could push U.S. food prices even higher, as the region is one of the world’s largest producers of wheat and some vegetable oils. And the disruptions could drag on for months or even years, as crop production in the area could be halted and take a long time to restart.This new inflation shock comes at a time when global markets remain extremely strained because of pandemic-related disruptions. The price changes impacted commodity prices in recent days and could flow through to higher costs at grocery stores and restaurants soon.
Food prices have already been rising very aggressively all over the world, and this has pushed millions upon millions of poor people at the bottom of the economic food chain into hunger.
But now this war threatens to push this crisis to a dangerous new level, because Russia and Ukraine typically produce “nearly a quarter of the world’s wheat”…
Russia and Ukraine together produce nearly a quarter of the world’s wheat, feeding billions of people in the form of bread, pasta and packaged foods. The countries are also key suppliers of barley, sunflower seed oil and corn, among other products.
So if exports from those two warring nations are reduced or completely cut off, how is the West possibly going to replace that output?
Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of both corn and wheat. It is also the world’s largest exporter of sunflower seed oil, an important component of the world’s vegetable oil supply. Together, Russia and Ukraine supply 29 percent of all wheat exports and 75 percent of global exports of sunflower oil, said Kelly Goughary, senior research analyst Gro-Intelligence, an agriculture data platform.
This isn’t just bad.
This is really bad.
The global agricultural production is going to be down all over the globe in 2022 because fertilizer prices have started to spiral out of control. In fact, in Africa alone it is being projected that enough food to feed 100 million people will not be grown this year because of the outrageous cost of fertilizer.
Russia is a key global player in natural gas, a major input to fertilizer production. Higher gas prices, and supply cuts, will further drive fertilizer prices higher. Russia is one of the biggest exporters of the three major groups of fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Physical supply cuts could further inflate fertilizer prices.
That is one of the biggest understatements that I have heard in a long time.
Even before the war erupted, some types of fertilizer had doubled in price, some had tripled in price and some had actually quadrupled in price.
In the trade channels there’s some alarmist talk about American grown food. One industry insider told me about fertilizer prices. He warned that many farmers all over the U.S. simply will not be able to grow corn this year because it will not be profitable due to soaring fertilizer prices.
And now fertilizer prices are likely to go much higher.
This really is a nightmare.
Six months down the road, we are likely to see food riots all over the West.
Meanwhile, the global energy crisis is entering a very alarming new chapter.
According to USA Today, 30 percent of all natural gas that Europe uses is provided by Russia…
Russia accounts for more than 30% of Europe’s gas for home heating, industry and generating electricity, and other potential supply sources are not adequately prepared to bridge the gap if Russian gas is curtailed, Rystad Energy analysts say.
Europe is absolutely addicted to Russian gas, and without it normal life in many European cities would rapidly come to a grinding halt.
There are some that are suggesting that imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States could help while the war is raging…
Supplies of liquefied natural gas brought by ship from the U.S. has helped relieve some of Europe’s gas shortage this winter, but it’s expensive.Meanwhile, natural gas prices in the U.S. are approximately 60% higher than a year ago, according to Rystad.
Sadly, natural gas prices all over the globe are going to continue to go higher.
As will propane prices.
As will coal prices.
And the price of oil will soon leave the $100 per barrel threshold in the rear view mirror for good.
Joe Biden is publicly saying that he will do all that he can to keep the price of gasoline down, but meanwhile his administration is working extremely hard “to freeze new oil and gas drilling leases”… by kingly decree.
As oil prices continue to rocket, now further helped along by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration is still fighting tooth and nail to freeze new oil and gas drilling leases – even after a court ruled against the administration for using a metric to estimate “the societal cost of carbon emissions” to justify their move.Despite the court’s ruling, Biden’s administration has stopped new leases and permits for federal oil and gas drilling, MSN reported this week.
So when you are soon paying seventeen dollars for a gallon of gasoline, just remember who did this to you.
The United States “leadership”.
Conclusion
Everything is changing, and the months ahead are going to be extremely challenging.
I think that Mike Adams summed up the current state of affairs very well when he warned that the United States and the collective West are heading for a “total collapse”…
In all, these factors combine (food, war, fuel, inflation, currency, etc.) to create a total collapse of the world we once knew.
Forget about affordable food or just-in-time delivery of anything.
The world is about to become extremely inconvenient, expensive and broken.
The supply chain disruptions will get FAR worse from here forward, and crime is going to absolutely skyrocket out of sheer desperation.
Expect to see flash mobs looting grocery stores in broad daylight. Carjackings will skyrocket. Home invasions will become commonplace, even outside the cities as looting gangs hit suburbs.
So many of the things that myself and others have been warning about for so many years are starting to come to pass right in front of our eyes.
The collective West is really heading into a nightmarish breakdown of society, and everyone (state side and in Europe) will be shaken to the core as it happens.
This is truly a sad day, because this didn’t have to happen. But, it did, just like the remote viewers of 2025 predicted, and like the Fourth Turning predicted. The United States is on a bobsled heading straight into the firey gates of Hell.
There is nothing more than can be done, because World War III has already started. And it’s really going to hurt the United States and Europe really hard. Things are set up to start getting really bad. I anticipate checking the boxes on lists that Xi Peng and Putin created.
From this point forward, global events are going to escalate rapidly. I would encourage all of you to prepare accordingly.
…
The end of the world did not occur yet, and the sky is not yet falling. What you can do is enjoy what you have available to your right now.
That means, to eat well. Life is too short not to eat well.
To close this article, I would like to suggest a very nice pan-fried steak…
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 a lot of talk about IC chip (integrated ciruit) chip manufacture, and the need for the United States to keep the Taiwan factories “out of the hands” of the evil vile Chinese. Now, listen to me. It’s a distraction.
It’s a fabricrated illusion.
Why?
Because most of the world IC chips are made inside of China and used on Chinese products.
The very high-end stuff, the stuff that everyone is worried about is made from a Chinese factory in Taiwan, and it exports those high-end chips to the United States, and Korea / Japan for special applications.
It does not export those chips to China. That is an export restriction placed by the United States. America wants those high end IC chips for it’s own weapons systems, tanks and weapons systems.
Shutting down the Taiwan operations will not make any difference in the production of automobiles, cell phones, televisons or computer systems. So please just keep that in mind.
Or, let me put it to you in a different way.
The Chinese lead the world in Artifical Intelligence and robotics. Yet, they do not use these “high end” IC chips. Why? Because they don’t need to. Oh, maybe sometime in the future they will need to, but not right now.
Where are these high technology chips being used?
That is where you must start to fully grasp what is going on with this particular issue.
"Challenges also come in the form of advances in brain-like neuromorphic chips and the roll-out of 5G networks enabling IoT connected devices."
My understanding, for IoT, many chips do not need advanced process technologies,”
“For sensors, mature processes and 8-inch fabs are adequate.”
-Jackson Hu, former chief executive of UMC
Most cell phones are made in China, and they cannot use Taiwan high-end chip manufacture. (As decreed by the God-almighty United States.) So what are these chips good for?
Not for televisions. Most are made in China.
Not for automotive electronics. Most are made in China.
Not for AI and Robots. Most are made in China.
Not for IoT. Most are made in China.
Not for cellphones. Most are made in China.
Not for bitcoin mining. Most are made in China.
Not for computers. Most are made in China.
So what are they used in?
They are used for American missiles. They are used for American top-secret aircraft. They are used for American avionics, submarines, and warships.
And thus, if China takes over Taiwan, a MASSIVE technology resource for the American military-Industrial cabal would be eliminated, and China would gain a production capabiity, while the United States would completely lose all access.
That’s why.
Chinese girl – handsome in blue
This is a fine “handsome” woman that would make a fine wife, and I’m sure a great mother. She looks smart, intelligent, capable, and oh so very sexy. She’s in her living room, and this is all very typical, don’t you know.
And, at this point, let me interject some actual news from the United States that will help put everything into clear perspective. While China (and Russia)a re capable, traditional and trying to avoid conflict; the madhouse that the United States has become is going from insane to downright evil…
SHOP SAFE would force pretty much any online service that allows people to buy and sell items to institute a draconian trademark protection system. If they don’t, they risk crushing liability for the actions of their users.
Government wants the corporatocracy because it can use legions of Useful Idiots to report and deplatform anyone but the safe big companies which censor in order to preserve revenue.
Chinese girl with an arrow
She’s probably an employee at the factory. This is pretty much what the office gals look like in China. Only it depends on what industry that you are in. If you are in banking or hi-tech, the women would pretty much wear short-short black skirts, impossibly high heels and these cute waist jackets that opens up wide to display a nice colored top underneith.
Let’s start chatting about IC chips, fabricration, use and China. We begin this exploration by article number one. In it, regardless to the efforts by both the Trump and Biden administrations, the Chinese IC chip manufacturing industry profits have soared to amazing heights.
According the the United States media, the tariffs and sanctions, and restrictions should have hurt, harmed and even destroyed the Chiense industry. It did not such thing. Not at all…
[1] China’s top chipmaker’s profits soar despite US sanctions
SMIC’s all-time high revenue came as sales were propelled by worldwide demand
China’s largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), has reported record revenue and a surge in profit last year amid a global chip shortage and strong demand.
According to its annual financial report published on Thursday, sales for calendar 2021 were up 39% on the year, at a record $5.4 billion.
Profit from operations for the year stood at $1.4 billion, which is a roughly four-fold increase from 2020.
That record performance came despite SMIC being hit with US sanctions, which the company said has had a major impact on its advanced technology development.
“The global shortage of chips and the strong demand for local and indigenous manufacturing brought the Company a rare opportunity, while the restrictions of the ‘Entity List’ set many obstacles to the Company’s development,” the chipmaker said in a statement.
SMIC is a competitor to the likes of Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung, but the Chinese firm’s technology is several generations behind.
The world’s two largest economies, US and China, have been racing to dominate in key technologies, including semiconductors.
China is significantly behind the United States in chip development, with SMIC aiming to wean itself off foreign technology.
Governments across the world are making efforts to bolster domestic chip production, after a global component shortage hurt the auto and electronics industries.
…
So they say. China is raking in the money.
Just what is the status of Chinese IC chip manufacture of design dominance? Not from the USA Western propaganda mills, but from industry sources…
Chinese girl in a swimsuit
Personally, I think that she looks good in this snow dot print. Though, I have to tell you all, the back looks really impossible to tie up. She’d certainly need a friend or two to help her out, don’t you think?
The $30 million grant program, which closed applications Monday and will begin in May, will provide funds to nonprofits and local governments to help make drug use safer for addicts. Included in the grant, which is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, are funds for “smoking kits/supplies.” A spokesman for the agency told the Washington Free Beacon that these kits will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and “any illicit substance.”HHS said the kits aim to reduce the risk of infection when smoking substances with glass pipes, which can lead to infections through cuts and sores. Applicants for the grants are prioritized if they treat a majority of “underserved communities,” including African Americans and “LGBTQ+ persons,” as established under President Joe Biden’s executive order on “advancing racial equity.”
The comedy comes full circle.
[2] China chip output grew 33% in 2021
China’s integrated circuit (IC) output grew over 33% in 2021, double the growth rate in 2020, reports the South China Morning Post. The country produced 359.4 billion ICs in 2021, from both local companies and foreign-owned factories, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It marked a significant acceleration from 2020, when China’s IC output rose 16.2% to 261.3 billion units.
While the official data did not provide a breakdown by technology node—China is unable to produce the most advanced ICs—or by company, it highlighted the country’s efforts to boost output amid a protracted chip shortage and Beijing’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency.
The growth in output also provides fresh evidence that Beijing’s efforts to maintain China’s integration with global supply chains is paying off. A report issued by the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) earlier this month forecast that China’s semiconductor industry could account for 17.4% of global sales by 2024, up from 9% in 2020, if its current momentum is maintained.
Chinese girl – dancing
Everyone in China loves to dance. From little kids, to 90 year old grandmothers. Everyone dances, and shakes and sings. It’s all part of the culture, and no one cares if you are good, or bad. They only care that you are having a good time while you are doing it.
“It’ll be recurring fountain of revenue. It might not be that much initially, but it’ll be recurring — if they can — if they can get every person required at an annual vaccine, that is a recurring return of money going into their company.”
American industry has been destroyed so thoroughly by taxes, unions, regulations, and imposed costs like affirmative action that it has one business model left: get everyone to sign up for a recurring subscription.
They wanted us all to get flu shots for years, although that seemed to make people more likely to get the flu. The FDA was too willing to play along because FDA bureaucrats take Big Pharma money on a regular basis:
In the cool refuge of the conference room, advisers politely questioned company scientists and complimented their work. By day’s end, the panel voted seven to one to approve.
FDA, as usual, later signed off.
The drug, ticagrelor, marketed under the name Brilinta, sold rapidly, emerging as a billion-dollar blockbuster. It cuts risk of death from vascular causes, heart attacks, and strokes modestly more than its chief competitor—and currently costs 25 times as much.
Before the Brilinta vote, the agency mentioned no financial conflicts among the voting panelists, who included four physicians. As Brilinta’s sales took off later, however, AstraZeneca and firms selling or developing similar cardiovascular therapies showered the four with money for travel and advice.
For example, those companies paid or reimbursed cardiologist Jonathan Halperin of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City more than $200,000 for accommodations, honoraria, and consulting from 2013 to 2016.
During that period, for example, AstraZeneca says it paid Halperin more than $11,000 in expenses and fees for work on an advisory board, service on a data monitoring committee for a clinical trial of Brilinta led by the University of California, San Francisco, and for his service chairing the data monitoring committee for an AstraZeneca-sponsored multimillion-dollar clinical trial of Brilinta led by Duke University.
Voters love the idea of regulations; lawyers laugh at it. They know that when you give government a power, it gets sold to the highest bidder, whether that is CAIR, CCP, ADL, or AstraZeneca. The voters defeat themselves as usual.
[3] China’s IC industry speeds up advanced chip production: Expert
China’s integrated circuit (IC) industry is transforming from high-speed to high-quality development as more advanced homegrown chip-making processes make inroads across the whole industry chain, an expert said.
In an article published earlier this month at Guancha.cn, a Shanghai-based online news and comments aggregator, Dr. Bao Yungang, vice director of the Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), noted that China’s 14 nm and 28 nm chip-making processes are gaining ground and being used for many applications in various fields.
The country’s 14 nm process has navigated many technology difficulties with significant improvements to manufacturing techniques, packaging technologies and key equipment materials, said Bao.
He added that the 14 nm node is the most widely applied chip-making process in fields like high-end consumer electronics, high-speed computing, artificial intelligence and automobiles.
According to statistics, the global semiconductor market made around $200 billion in sales in the first half of 2019. The 14 nm chip-making process accounted for 65% of those sales.
Bao said China now has the capacity to mass produce 28 nm chips as it made important headway in developing some of the critical equipment and materials.
The 28 nm is the dividing line between low-to-mid range and mid-to-high end IC manufacturing, he explained.
Besides chips for central processing units, graphics processing units and artificial intelligence, other mainstream industrial products such as televisions, air conditioners, automobiles, high-speed trains, satellites, industrial robots, elevators and drones are the most common applications for the 28 nm technology process, Bao added.
“China urgently needs to move toward mid-to-high end chip production, and being able to produce 28 nm chips means that it can meet most of the demand for chips without relying on other countries,” said he.
In 2019, IC capacity for leading-edge (<10 nm) processes accounted for only 4.4% of the installed capacity across the industry, while processes above 28 nm accounted for 52% of the overall share, according to the IC Insights’ Global Wafer Capacity 2020-2024.
While the 14 nm and 28 nm chip-making process can meet much of domestic demand, China is eagerly promoting more cutting-edge processes to gradually break away from overseas reliance.
Wen Xiaojun, head of the Electronic Information Institute at the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID), last month told China’s news portal huanqiu.com that the homegrown 14nm chip-making process is likely to be mass produced by next year.
As the world’s largest semiconductor market, China has been spending aggressively in semiconductor investment, acquisition, and talent recruitment to bolster the chip manufacturing industry and make it equal to those of the world’s top foundries.
A report by Goldman Sachs last year predicted that China may be capable of producing 7nm chips by 2023.
Given the dynamics of the chip production sector, domestic communication operators, equipment suppliers and communication service providers should explore new ways of service while innovating appliance architecture to gain trust from customers and boost technological improvement, noted Bao.
Bao believes that the key for new breakthroughs is to better integrate into the global innovation and collaboration system as the IC industry is truly a global industry and no country should be isolated from the industry chain.
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Keep in mind that all these new technical breakthroughs are coming from factories and hard working gals like this gal here…
The identity of the foreign power has never been revealed, although it is widely speculated to have been France. Investigators say the Toebbes contacted a friendly foreign power, rather than an adversary, with the information.Diana Toebbe said her husband only wanted to flee the country because she hated Donald Trump, a court has been told.
One wonders what their Reddit usernames were.
[4] Market size of the integrated circuit (IC) design industry in China from 2016 to 2020 with an estimate for 2021
It appears that the “Trump and Biden trade wars” had zero effect.
[5] China makes breakthrough in a key step in chip manufacturing
A Chinese company has announced the successful production of an ion implantation machine made entirely with local technologies, marking a breakthrough in a key aspect of chip manufacturing, Xinhua reported on March 17.
China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, which announced the breakthrough, said on Wednesday that its products include ion implanters for medium-beam, high-beam, high-energy, specialty applications, and third-generation semiconductors, covering process segments up to 28nm.
An ion implantation machine is a type of high-pressure mini-accelerator that is widely used in the chip manufacturing process.
It is used for ion implantation of semiconductor materials, large-scale integrated circuits, and devices by obtaining the required ions from an ion source and accelerating it to obtain an ion beam stream of several hundred kilo electron volts energy.
In addition, it can also be used for surface modification of metallic materials and film making.
Ion implantation machines are widely used in doping processes and can meet the requirements of the shallow junction, low temperature, and precise control, and are essential equipment in integrated circuit manufacturing processes.
Last June, China Electronics Technology Group announced the successful development of a million-volt high-energy ion implantation machine with independent intellectual property rights, breaking a decade-long blockade of the technology by other countries.
As essential core equipment in chip manufacturing, China’s ion implantation machines rely heavily on foreign countries, especially the development of extremely difficult million-volt high-energy particle implantation machines.
At present, the most advanced international ion implantation machine is the PRHEI6Me produced by the German chip company Prima, which is the only 6-million-volt high-energy ion implantation machine in the world, and the only 6-million-volt high-energy ion implantation machine in the world that has been successfully commercialized.
Chinese girl – lovely in red
In all this craziness, let’s take a second to appreciate who the heck we are talking about when we are discussing technology, and it’s applications in our lives. As most people are not flying military jets, shooting hellfire missiles, or swimming deep under the sea in submarines. So who are these Chiense who build and use these IC ships?
China is looking to boost research into what it calls “frontier technology” as it competes with the U.S. for supremacy in the latest innovations.
In its 14th five-year plan, China laid out seven technology areas it will focus research on including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and space.
Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday that China would increase research and development spending by more than 7% per year between 2021 and 2025, in pursuit of “major breakthroughs” in technology.
GUANGZHOU, China — China is looking to boost research into what it calls “frontier technology” including quantum computing and semiconductors, as it competes with the U.S. for supremacy in the latest innovations.
In its five-year development plan, the 14th of its kind, Beijing said it would make “science and technology self-reliance and self-improvement a strategic pillar for national development,” according to a CNBC translation.
As such, China has concentrated on boosting its domestic expertise in areas it sees as strategically important, such as semiconductors. And now it has laid out seven “frontier technologies” that it will prioritize not just for the next five years, but beyond too.
1) Artificial intelligence (AI)
China plans to focus on specialized chip development for AI applications and developing so-called open source algorithms. Open source technology is usually developed by one entity and licensed by other companies.
There will also be an emphasis on machine learning in areas such as decision making. Machine learning is the development of AI programs trained on vast amounts of data. The program “learns” as it is fed more data.
AI has been a key field for Chinese companies and the central government over the last few years. Major companies such as Alibaba and Baidu have been investing in the technology.
The problem is the complexity of the semiconductor supply chain. Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung are the two most advanced chip manufacturers but they rely on tools from the U.S. and Europe.
Washington has put SMIC, China’s biggest chip manufacturer, on an export blacklist called the Entity List. SMIC cannot get its hands on American technology. And the U.S. has reportedly pushed to stop Dutch company ASML from shipping a key tool that could help SMIC catch up to rivals.
Since China doesn’t have the companies that can design and make the tools that its chip manufacturers require, it relies on companies from other countries. This is something China wants to change.
In its five-year plan, China says it will focus on research and development in integrated circuit design tools, key equipment and key materials.
Chips are incredibly important because they go into many of the devices we use such as smartphones but are also important for other industries.
4) Brain science
China plans to research areas such as how to stop diseases of the brain.
But it also says that it plans to look into “brain-inspired computing” as well as “brain-computer fusion technology,” according to a CNBC translation. The five-year plan did not elaborate on what that could look like.
China laid out seven “frontier” technologies in its 14th Five Year Plan. These are areas that China will focus research on and include semiconductors and brain-computer fusion.
However, such work is already underway in the U.S. at Elon Musk’s company Neuralink. Musk is working on implantable brain-chip interfaces to connect humans and computers.
5) Genomics and biotechnology
With the outbreak of the coronavirus last year, biotechnology has grown in importance.
China says it will focus on “innovative vaccines” and “research on biological security.”
6) Clinical medicine and health
China’s research will concentrate on understanding the progression of cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic diseases.
The government also says that it will research some “cutting-edge” treatment technologies such as regenerative medicine. This involves medicine that can regrow or repair damaged cells, tissues and organs.
China says it will also be looking at key technologies in the prevention and treatment of major transmissible diseases.
7) Deep space, deep earth, deep sea and polar research
Space exploration has been a top priority for China recently. Beijing said it will focus on research into the “origin and evolution of the universe,” exploration of Mars as well as deep sea and polar research.
In December, a Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth carrying rocks from the moon. It was the first time China has launched a spacecraft from an extraterrestrial body and the first time it has collected moon samples.
[7] Chinese chipmaker SMIC makes breakthrough in ‘7nm-like process’
Innosilicon, a Chinese company focusing on customized chip design services, announced it has completed a chip tape-out and testing based on the FinFET N+1 technology of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest chipmaker.
A tape-out is the final phase of a chip design process before they are sent for manufacturing.
FinFET N+1, SMIC’s next-generation chip foundry node, is very similar to the advanced 7nm process used by other world leading chipmakers, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung in terms of performance, although it’s still 35 percent inferior, according to SMIC co-CEO Liang Mengsong.
Moreover, the N+1 foundry node may enable SMIC to break its reliance on top-level Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) machine made by Dutch microchip machine maker ASML, according to Liang. ASML is subject to U.S. export control as its products contain American technology.
Innosilicon said on its website that all the IPs are homegrown, and its functionality passed the test in one go following months of collaborative efforts with SMIC, paving the way for volume production of the latest manufacturing node.
The news has been taken as a major breakthrough by SMIC in its home-grown chip manufacturing process, sending its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange 12.7 percent higher on Monday.
However, a tape-out success only means the technology meets performance targets in the lab. It still takes a lot of data support and repeated testing before it could be put into mass production, which could take a few months to several years, according to chip experts.
Critical time
The N+1 tape-out breakthrough came on the heels of SMIC’s falling onto the U.S.’ export sanctions list, as the latter has been relentlessly cracking down on Chinese high-tech firms.
The chipmaker acknowledged earlier this month that some of its suppliers had been restricted by U.S. export controls, and given the uncertainties in U.S. equipment supplies, its business may be affected.
The U.S. sanctions may disrupt SMIC’s next moves, including purchases of manufacturing equipment and raw materials, but the short-term impact would not be much given the Chinese firm’s inventories, said Ma Jihua, a veteran analyst in the high-tech sector.
Despite being years behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, SMIC is catching up, based on its reinvention of mature technologies, Ma noted. In comparison, the chip technology used by TSMC has gradually neared its limits.
TSMC is accelerating mass production of the 5-nm process. The higher version of the 5-nm chips will enter mass production in 2021. Its 3-nm process will be in mass production by the second half of 2022.
[8] Chinese firm to deliver 28nm chip manufacturing machine in 2021-2022: reports
Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE) will deliver the first domestic 28nm lithography machine between 2021 to 2022, helping narrowing the gap with the world’s chip-making technology, industry websites said.
The move is a leapfrog breakthrough for China’s semiconductor industry, according to domestic technology website mydrivers.com. Industry website icsmart.cn also reported it is good news for China’s semiconductor industry chain.
The US crackdowns on ZTE and Huawei awakened Chinese companies to explore self-developed lithography equipment, which has underscored the urgency and significance of China to develop advanced chip making ability in a bid to avoid being squeezed by the US amid an escalating tech war.
Xiang Ligang, a veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday that once SMEE has the ability to deliver 28nm lithography equipment, it will have the opportunity to move forward to 14nm and 7nm lithography equipment, noting that the breakthrough helps the company “accumulate experience” to manufacture high-end chip-making equipment.
The whole world could take part in the chip-making industry instead of a particular country or particular company, so progress by any single company is valuable, Xiang noted.
Founded in 2002, SMEE is one of the advanced lithography machine makers in China and accounts for about 80 percent of the domestic market share, industry websites said.
Lithography machines are one of the core pieces of equipment in chip manufacturing. Netherlands-based chip equipment maker Advanced Semiconductor Material Lithography (ASML) remained a global team in churning out high-end lithography machines, followed by Nikon and Cano.
Liu Kun, a Beijing-based semiconductor industry analyst noted that even if the core component of the 28nm lithography equipment may not be made in China, it would be a breakthrough for the Chinese company to package such equipment.
It may take three to five years for companies like Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) to make the 28nm equipment by itself and there is still a long way to go, but Chinese companies are ramping up efforts, according to Liu.
China is accelerating its efforts to advance its domestic semiconductor industry, amid ongoing trade tensions with the West, in hopes of becoming more self-sufficient.
The country is still behind in IC technology and is nowhere close to being self-reliant, but it is making noticeable progress. Until recently, China’s domestic chipmakers were stuck with mature foundry processes with no presence in memory. Recently, though, a China-based foundry entered the 14nm finFET market, with 7nm in R&D. China also is expanding into memory. And in the fab equipment sector, China is developing its own extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system, which is a technology that patterns the most advanced features in chips.
It’s unlikely that China will develop its own EUV system in the near term. And for that matter, the nation’s foundry and memory efforts are modest, at least for now. And China won’t overtake multinational chipmakers anytime soon.
Nonetheless, it is developing its domestic IC industry for several reasons. For one thing, China imports most of its chips from foreign suppliers, creating an enormous trade gap. China has a sizeable IC industry, but it isn’t large enough to close the gap. In response, the nation is pouring billions of dollars into its IC sector with plans to manufacture more of its own chips. Simply put, it wants to become less dependent on foreign suppliers.
China recently accelerated those efforts, especially when the U.S. launched a multi-prong trade war with the nation. In just one example, the U.S. has made it more difficult for Huawei to obtain U.S. chips and software. And recently, the U.S. blocked ASML from shipping an EUV scanner to SMIC, China’s largest foundry vendor. China sees these and other actions as a way to hamper its growth, prompting it to speed up the development of its own technologies.
Meanwhile, the U.S. says its trade-related actions are justified, claiming that China is engaged in unfair trade practices and has failed to protect U.S. intellectual-property. China dismisses those claims. Nonetheless, the industry needs to keep an eye on the trade issues as well as China’s progress in semiconductors. They include:
SMIC is shipping 14nm finFETs, with a 7nm-like process in R&D.
Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) recently entered the 3D NAND market with a 64-layer device. A 128-layer technology is in R&D.
ChangXin Memory Technology (CXMT) is shipping its first product, a 19nm DRAM line.
China is expanding into compound semis, including gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC).
China’s OSATs are developing more advanced packages.
This all sounds impressive, but China is still trailing. “China is spending like crazy. China’s strategy is to be a player in semiconductor manufacturing. It comes from wanting to have a bigger share of its domestic manufacturing capabilities, as well as for security considerations,” said Risto Puhakka, president of VLSI Research. “But China’s share in memory is small. On the logic side, they are behind TSMC. China is far from being self-sufficient from any reasonable aspect.”
Those aren’t the only issues. “There are still many challenges for China, including the need for more talent and IP in semiconductor manufacturing, and the need to further narrow the gap in the leading process technologies,” said Leo Pang, chief product officer at D2S. “The top challenge is the tension between the U.S. and Chinese governments, which is causing uncertainty in the supply of manufacturing equipment and EDA software.”
China’s strategy
China has been involved in the IC industry for decades. In the 1980s, it had several state-run chipmakers with outdated technology. So at the time, China introduced several initiatives to modernize its IC industry. With help from foreign concerns, the country launched several chip ventures in the 1980s and 1990s.
Still, China found itself behind the West in semiconductor technology for several reasons. At the time, the West implemented strict export controls on China. Equipment vendors were prohibited from shipping the most advanced tools to China.
Then in 2000, China launched two new and modern domestic foundry vendors — Grace and SMIC. By then the export controls were relaxed in China. Equipment vendors simply required a license to ship tools to China.
Around that time, China became a large manufacturing base with low labor rates. Demand for chips skyrocketed. Over time, the nation became the world’s largest market for chips.
Starting in the late 2000s, multinational chipmakers began building fabs in China to gain access to the market. Intel, Samsung and SK Hynix built memory fabs in China. TSMC and UMC built foundry fabs there.
By 2014, China consumed $77 billion worth of chips, according to IC Insights, but it imported most of them. Plus, China only manufactured 15.1% of those chips, according to IC Insights. The rest were manufactured outside of China.
In response, and armed with billions of dollars in funding, the Chinese government unveiled a new plan in 2014. The goal was to accelerate China’s efforts in 14nm finFETs, memory and packaging.
Then, in 2015, China launched another initiative, dubbed “Made in China 2025.” The goal is to increase the domestic content of components in 10 areas — IT, robotics, aerospace, shipping, railways, electric vehicles, power equipment, materials, medicine and machinery. In addition, China hopes to become more self-sufficient in ICs and wants to increase its domestic production to 70% by 2025, according to IC Insights.
In 2019, China consumed $125 billion worth of chips, according to IC Insights, but it still imports most of them. China only manufactured 15.7% of those chips, so it’s unlikely the country will reach its production targets by 2025.
China faces other challenges, as well, particularly a shortage of technical talent. “China is still seeking more talent in semiconductor manufacturing,” D2S’ Pang observed. “That is mainly because China is building a dozen new fabs. It has already recruited thousands, if not tens of thousands, of experienced semiconductor engineers from fabs in Taiwan, Korea, Japan and even the U.S. by paying them with very attractive compensation packages.”
On the bright side, China made a quick recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year. In the first half of 2020, chip and equipment demand were strong in China and elsewhere. “200mm capacity has continued to be running full with a wide range of end applications. In the 300mm area, this has been a similar situation over this past year,” said Walter Ng, vice president of business development at UMC.
Others see similar trends. “China semiconductor test and packaging markets have been resilient throughout the Covid-19 period,” said Amy Leong, senior vice president at FormFactor. “The demand remains solid, fueled by the combination of the momentum built over the last few years from the ‘Made in China 2025’ initiative, and the recent ‘panic build/buy’ amid China-U.S. tensions. With this said, we are seeing an increasing level of demand uncertainties in China as the fear of a global economic recession mounts.”
The mood is also tense. Starting in 2018, the U.S. launched a trade war with China, slapping tariffs on Chinese-made goods. China has retaliated.
The trade war is escalating. Last year, the U.S. added Huawei and its internal chip unit, HiSilicon, to the “entity list,” saying the companies pose as a security risk. To do business with Huawei, a U.S. company must obtain a license from the U.S. government. Many U.S. vendors have been denied, which impacts their bottom lines.
Then, earlier this year, the U.S. expanded the definition of a “military end user” in China. This is designed to prevent China’s military from obtaining any U.S. technology.
In May, the U.S. moved to stem the flow of chips to Huawei from overseas fabs. “Going forward, an overseas fab must halt sales to Huawei if it meets the following three conditions: A) fab uses U.S. equipment or software to make chips; B) the chip is designed by Huawei; and C) the chipmaker has knowledge the item produced is destined for Huawei,” said Paul Gallant, an analyst with Cowen. “(This requires) foreign chipmakers using U.S. equipment to get a license before selling chips to Huawei. But the language of the new rule may not actually ban such sales. On the upside, the new rule only covers chips actually designed by HiSilicon, not all chips made by overseas fabs being sold to Huawei.”
At some point, TSMC may halt new orders to Huawei. It’s unclear how this will all play out. The rules are fuzzy and could change overnight.
Foundry, EUV efforts
Even before the trade war, China was in the midst of a major fab expansion program. In 2017 and 2018, China had 18 fabs under construction, according to SEMI’s “World Fab Forecast Report.” Eventually, these fabs were built.
China currently has 3 fabs under construction, according to SEMI. “Two of those fabs are for foundry. One is 8-inch and another is 12-inch. There is another one for memory (12-inch). Still on the drawing board are 7 more,” said Christian Dieseldorff, an analyst at SEMI.
The foundry industry makes up a large percentage of China’s fab capacity. China’s foundry industry is split into two categories—domestic and multinational vendors.
TSMC and UMC are among the multinationals. TSMC operates a 200mm fab in Shanghai. In 2018, TSMC began shipping 16nm finFETs in another fab in Nanjing.
UMC is manufacturing chips in a 200mm fab in Suzhou. UMC also has a new 300mm foundry venture in Xiamen, which is shipping 40nm and 28nm.
Meanwhile, China’s domestic foundry vendors, such as ASMC, CS Micro and the Huahong Group, all focus on mature processes. On the leading edge, startup HSMC is developing 14nm and 7nm in R&D.
SMIC, China’s most advanced foundry company, is the world’s fifth largest foundry vendor, behind TSMC, Samsung, GlobalFoundries and UMC, according to TrendForce.
Up until last year, SMIC’s most advanced process was a 28nm planar technology. In comparison, TSMC introduced 28nm a decade ago. Today, TSMC is ramping up 5nm with 3nm in R&D.
This is a sore spot for the Chinese government. Because China is behind, Chinese OEMs must obtain their most advanced chips from foreign suppliers.
On the other hand, there isn’t a gap for mature processes in China. “The technology node gap is not an issue for most fabs, since the majority of chips used in IoT and automotive applications do not require leading-edge nodes,” D2S’ Pang said.
Nonetheless, SMIC is trying to develop advanced processes. In 2015, SMIC, Huawei, Imec and Qualcomm formed a joint R&D chip technology venture in China with plans to develop a 14nm finFET process.
This is a big step. “Moving to finFETs at 14nm is not easy. Everybody struggled with it,” VLSI Research’s Puhakka said. “So did SMIC. It’s difficult what they are trying to do.”
Still, that move is essential to continue scaling. At 20nm, traditional planar transistors run out of steam. This is why in 2011 Intel moved to finFET transistors at 22nm. FinFETs are faster with lower power than planar transistors, but they are also harder and more expensive to manufacture.
Later, GlobalFoundries, Samsung, TSMC and UMC moved to finFETs at 16nm/14nm. (Intel’s 22nm process is roughly equivalent to 16nm/14nm from the foundries.)
Finally, after years of R&D, SMIC in 2019 reached a milestone by shipping China’s first 14nm finFETs. Today, 14nm represents a tiny percentage of SMIC’s sales. “Our customers’ feedback on 14nm is positive. Our 14nm is covering both communications and automotive sectors with applications including low-end application processors, baseband and consumer-related products,” said Zhao Haijun and Liang Mong Song, SMIC’s co-CEOs, in a conference call.
Still, SMIC is late to the party. For example, the application processor is the most advanced chip in a smartphone. Today’s smartphones incorporate application processors based on 7nm. Most other chips in smartphones, such as image sensors and RF, are based on mature nodes.
And 14nm isn’t cost-competitive for the most advanced application processors. “SMIC is starting to do 14nm. But if you look at smartphones, the designs are at 7nm,” said Handel Jones, chief executive of IBS. “If you look at the transistor costs at 7nm, a billion transistors cost from $2.67 to $2.68. A billion transistors at 14nm cost about $3.88. So you have a big cost difference.”
14nm is viable in other markets, though. “14nm technology can be used for low-end 4G and 5G smartphones, but not for mainstream or high-end smartphones. 14nm can be used for 5G infrastructure applications with the appropriate processor and system architectures,” Jones said.
Now, with funding from the government, SMIC is developing 12nm finFETs and what it calls “N+1.” 12nm is a scaled down version of 14nm. Slated by year’s end, N+1 is billed as a 7nm technology.
N+1 isn’t quite what it seems. “SMIC’s N+1 is equivalent to Samsung’s 8nm, which is slightly better than TSMC’s 10nm,” said Samuel Wang, an analyst at Gartner. “SMIC’s N+1 is unlikely for this year. 12nm may become production ready by the end of 2020.”
Once again, SMIC may miss the market window. By the time it ships 8nm in 2021, smartphone OEMs will move to 5nm for the application processor.
That’s not the only issue. SMIC could manufacture 8nm or 7nm using existing fab equipment. Beyond that, the current lithography equipment runs out of steam. So beyond 7nm, chipmakers require EUV, a next-generation lithography technology.
However, the U.S. recently blocked ASML from shipping its EUV scanners to SMIC. If SMIC can’t obtain EUV, the company is stuck at 8nm/7nm. “The U.S. blocked the EUV sale to SMIC (last year) under the Wassenaar agreement. I can’t envision a EUV shipment to China in the foreseeable future. But with 14nm just over 1% of SMIC’s sales, they don’t need EUV technology for a few years,” said Krish Sankar, an analyst at Cowen and Co.
At some point, though, China wants to go beyond 7nm. This is why China is working on its own EUV technology. China hasn’t developed a full-blown EUV scanner—it may never develop one. But work is underway in the arena. The EUV subsystems are being developed at several research institutes. For example, the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) last year described the development of EUV driven by a kilowatt laser. In 2020, researchers from the Institute of Microelectronics of the CAS published a paper on “EUV multilayer defect characterization via cycle-consistent learning.”
“There is a lot of research being done around different components of EUV,” VLSI Research’s Puhakka said. “I don’t think they have advanced to have a manufacturable EUV tool. Developing its own EUV will be a long process. I won’t say never, but it’s a long and hard road.”
Others agreed. “I assume that we see only part of what China is doing. It’s like an iceberg, most is hidden from view. Their academicians publish papers on EUV technology, but the work that I have seen has been mostly theoretical. I assume that there is some underlying hardware,” said Harry Levinson, principal at HJL Lithography.
Memory, non-memory efforts
China, meanwhile, has a huge trade gap in memory, namely DRAM and NAND flash. DRAM is used for main memory in systems, while NAND is used for storage.
China imports most of its memory. Intel, Samsung and SK Hynix operate memory fabs in China, which produce chips for both the domestic and international markets.
To reduce its dependence here, China is developing its domestic memory industry. In 2016, YMTC emerged with plans to enter the 3D NAND business. And CXMT is currently ramping up China’s first home-grown DRAMs.
Both are competitive markets, especially NAND. 3D NAND is the successor to planar NAND flash memory. Unlike planar NAND, which is a 2D structure, 3D NAND resembles a vertical skyscraper in which horizontal layers of memory cells are stacked and then connected using tiny vertical channels.
3D NAND is quantified by the number of layers stacked in a device. As more layers are added, the bit density increases in systems. But the manufacturing challenges escalate as you add more layers.
“There are two big challenges in scaling 3D NAND,” said Rick Gottscho, executive vice president and CTO at Lam Research. “One is the stress in the films that builds up as you deposit more and more layers, which can warp the wafer and distort the patterns. Then, when you go double deck or triple deck, alignment becomes a bigger challenge.”
Meanwhile, YMTC appears to have overcome some of those challenges. Last year, YMTC shipped its first product–a 64-layer 3D NAND device. Now, YMTC is sampling a 128-layer 3D technology.
The company is behind. In comparison, multinational vendors are shipping 92-/96-layer 3D NAND devices. They are also ramping up 112-/128-layer products.
Still, YMTC could become a factor, at least in China. YMTC’s chips are being incorporated in USB cards and SSDs from China-based companies. If Chinese OEMs adopt YMTC’s technology, “it could become a disruptive situation in NAND market share,” said Jeongdong Choe, an analyst with TechInsights.
To be sure, though, China has a long way to go in memory before it becomes a major competitor. “IC Insights remains extremely skeptical whether the country can develop a large competitive indigenous memory industry even over the next 10 years that comes anywhere close to meeting its memory IC needs,” said Bill McClean, president of IC Insights.
The same is true for analog, logic, mixed-signal and RF. “It will take decades for Chinese companies to become competitive in the non-memory IC product segments,” McClean said.
Meanwhile, several China-based GaN and SiC vendors have emerged in China. They appear to be foundry vendors and materials suppliers, but clearly, China is behind in the arena. GaN is used for power semis and RF, while SiC is targeted for power devices.
“The Chinese market represents a significant opportunity in the global power electronics industry, mainly in the automotive and consumer segments,” said Ahmed Ben Slimane, technology and market analyst at Yole Développement. “Driven by the electric-vehicle/hybrid-electric vehicle applications, SiC devices started to be adopted by leading Chinese car makers, such as BYD in its Han EV model. In the power GaN industry, the Chinese smartphone OEMs, such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo have opted for GaN in fast charger technology. Driven by strong system makers in China, Chinese wafer and device players are certainly well-positioned in terms of cost-competitiveness and increasing quality given the current context of the U.S.-China conflict.”
This in turn is fueling the development of the ecosystem. “Following the emergence of wideband-gap semiconductors in the power electronics market, China is indeed pushing for innovative technologies and it has started building up its domestic value chain,” said Ezgi Dogmus, technology and market analyst at Yole Développement. “In the Chinese power SiC ecosystem, we see various players getting involved at wafer, epiwafer and device level. This includes players such as Tankeblue and SICC in wafers, Epiworld and TYSiC in epiwafer and Sanan IC in the foundry businesses. Regarding the power GaN market, starting from 2019, we have witnessed entry of competitive GaN device manufacturers such as Innoscience and various system integrators in the domain of fast chargers.”
Packaging plans
China also has big plans in packaging. JCET is China’s largest packaging house. It has several other OSATs as well.
“China’s OSAT technology is quite current to the mainstream industry capability, perceived as a much narrower technology gap compared to front-end wafer fabrication technology. They are capable of supporting nearly all popular package types,” FormFactor’s Leong said. “The emerging 2.5D/3D heterogeneous integration technology is still under development in China, noticeably behind the industry leaders like TSMC, Intel and Samsung.”
Potentially, though, advanced packaging is where China could close the gap. This is not just in packaging, but in semiconductor technology.
Today, for advanced designs, the industry typically develops an ASIC using chip scaling. This is where you shrink different functions at each node and pack them onto a monolithic die. But this approach is becoming more expensive at each node.
The industry is looking for new approaches. Another way to develop a system-level design is to assemble complex dies in an advanced package. “As Moore’s Law slows down, heterogeneous integration with advanced packaging technology represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for China to catch up in semiconductors,” Leong said.
…
Ah. Here’s a fine screen capture for your consideration. Remember that when we study any issue we must look at EVERYTHING, not just certain parts of the issue. Here is a picture from one of the videos above. Know the people who you are talkign about. Understand the context about what you are discussing.
[10] Lithography machine making technology breakthrough again! 14 nm to 9 nm
by:Transon 2021-01-08
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High-tech enterprises in China is limited by North America after strengthened the demand for domestic supply, for the development of Chinese industry brought $300 billion of investment opportunities. At present, China has nearly 2000 chip design related enterprises, mainly include huawei, purple light show sharp, in accordance with the science and technology, the Chinese chip companies account for 13% of the global chip sales. And pay attention to below there will be a breakthrough, recent Chinese chip is ushered in the three big good news.
Point 1…China is building everything from scratch. China’s memory chip production will amount to 5% of the global accounted in the past five years due to suffer shortage of memory chips, set off an upsurge of memory chips development in China. This year, after unremitting efforts, China continuously made new breakthrough in the field of memory chips. According to Japanese media reports, China’s emerging chip industry production is expected to be at the end of 2020 account for about 5% of the global memory chip output, which accounts for almost zero than last year.
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It is understood that in September this year the Chinese semiconductor companies purple light group, the Yangtze river storage has begun to independent research and development of 64 layer 3 d NAND flash memory chips for mass production. And according to its expected by the end of next year, the investment of $24 billion production of the new factory in wuhan will be increased by two times, reached 60000 pieces per month, accounted for 5% of global production. At the same time, xin long stored in hefei factory built by investing $8 billion production of DRAM chips will be increased by three times, reached 40000 pieces per month, 3% of the world production of DRAM.
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At present, the global production of NAND flash memory and DRAM chips are about 1. 3 million pieces per month. The two markets are dominated by the United States, South Korea and Japan’s manufacturers, such as samsung electronics, SK hynix, micron technology. Though, the Yangtze river and long xin storage added up to 100000 pieces of monthly shipments for big companies seem trivial, but, after the two markets in China are & quot; Zero production & quot; , 100000 pieces of this means that China’s efforts to promote technical self-sufficiency is a major breakthrough, is also a key to break the monopoly of America, Japan.
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Point 2,Chinese 14 nm to 9 nm, domestic printing machine making technology breakthrough again!
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in the general case, chip production process including two link, a link is a design, a link is made. In chip design link in our country, including well-known Chinese technology companies such as huawei haisi have developed 7 nm technological process of the chip, but it still chip manufacturing is the largest Chinese companies, after all is used for manufacturing chip lithography machine is a big problem. In consciousness to the chip manufacturing process after the disadvantages restricted to people will produce a chain, China started in the field of domestic printing machine for the huge investment, and heard the good news.
Now, some time ago, China’s independent research and development of 14 nm lithography has passed the preliminary acceptance and review panel, and after 14 nm process technology, a news came again, domestic printing machine again to achieve the new breakthrough. According to media reports, wuhan photoelectric GanZongSong team at the national center for research, has successfully developed 9 nm technology process of lithography. It is worth mentioning that, unlike traditional lithography machine, the domestic printing machine using two laser beam breakthrough the limitation of the diffraction limit, and this is technology with independent property rights in China.
Of course, it also means that domestic lithography technology difficulty has been breached, breaking the foreign technology blockade of China for a long time and limits, but even if the current domestic lithography breakthrough in 9 nm process technology, and with the Netherlands ASML have 7 nm technology process than there are still some gaps. But of course it is an important milestone in the history of the development of Chinese chip, once the domestic printing machine to realize mass production, we can see the future can break ASML monopoly.
Point 3, China’s semiconductor realize new breakthrough: successful foray into the world’s first 5 nm chip process production line. In addition, in addition to the lithography, etching machine is an indispensable step in the process of semiconductor. We have learned, lithography, etching machine and MOCVD equipment, known as the semiconductor technology along with all the three key equipment. Etching machine as a key equipment in the chip manufacturing, used for micro sculpture on the chip, to a certain extent determines the highest level chip manufacturing. However, little is known, our country domestic etching machines the world had a commanding lead.
Now, according to Moore’s law, the development of Taiwan semiconductor chip process has been developed from 14 nm to 5 nm, and will go into mass production node, and chip process constantly evolving, machining accuracy requirements for equipment also will increase. It is worth mentioning that it has been verified by TSMC, micro semiconductor self-developed 5 nm in plasma etching machine, excellent performance, will be used in the world’s first 5 nm chip process production line.
And micro 5 nm semiconductor etching machine successfully into the supply chain, TSMC means created yet another milestone in China’s semiconductor devices. As you can see, more and more evidence that China’s chip manufacturing is entering a new era, though, is now a line with the world level chip industry in China is still there is a certain gap, but we still should believe: the resistance and long, line will come.
Chip manufacturing has always been the biggest shortcoming of the domestic semiconductor industry, and most of the chips we use, about 50% are purchased from the United States at high prices. According to statistics, from 2019 to 2020, Chinese chips The total amount of imports exceeds 300 billion, accounting for about 40% of the global semiconductor consumer market, far exceeding oil!
However, the old American, who has made a lot of money from the Chinese market, hates the rise of domestic high-tech companies such as Huawei. Industrial channels have caused Huawei HiSkong to have top-notch chip design skills, but it is useless.
The reason why we are trapped in the chip ban is largely due to the lack of EUV lithography equipment. However, ASML, the only Dutch giant that can produce EUV equipment in the world, is restricted by “export control” due to the American technology accessories contained in its production line, so that it has never been able to sell the equipment to us.
After Huawei was cut off, Ren Zhengfei visited the Chinese Academy of Sciences for help. The two sides reached a clear consensus: The key to breaking the ice of domestic chips is the EUV lithography machine.
In order to realize the rise of “China Core”, the Chinese Academy of Sciences took the initiative to take over the task and established a special EUV core technology research team, which is bound to complete the breakthrough in the shortest time.
Unexpectedly, when ASML learned that we were going to develop EUV on our own, they would sneer and say: Even if they give Chinese drawings, they will make them. Although engineering academician Wu Hanming also said: EUV is the crystallization of global wisdom, it is very unrealistic for us to research and develop on our own.
However, in the face of Lao Mei’s bottom-line suppression, we who are “stucked” have no room to “retire” at all. More importantly, the development of EUV is not only to clear the obstacles on the road to localization of chips, but also to safeguard the dignity of the nation!
Therefore, any doubts and ridicules cannot obliterate the determination of Chinese scientists to break through the EUV monopoly.
Sure enough, the good news came soon. Huazhuo Precision Technology took the lead and independently developed a dual-stage system, one of the core technologies of EUV, and became the second company in the world to master this technology after ASML.
Witnessing China’s R&D progress in the field of lithography, ASML, which once poured cold water, also immediately changed its tune. Not only did it show its favor to the Chinese market five times, it even began to “snatch”, saying: If the United States continues sanctions, China will be alone within 15 years. Created EUV lithography machine.
However, ASML obviously still underestimated the perseverance and strength of Chinese scientists, and never expected it to be so fast. In just one year, China’s EUV lithography machine was about to land.
In addition to the dual work stage system, EUV equipment has two core technologies, namely the light source and the optical lens.
In terms of light sources, the scientific research team led by Professor Tang Chuanxiang of Tsinghua University successfully explored a new type of particle accelerator light source “steady-state micro-bunching” in February this year. Ultraviolet light is the working light source of EUV. What’s more commendable is that China’s independent light source technology is not only suitable for EUV, but also has a wider range of application scenarios.
Only less than 6 months later, CCTV reported great news related to optical lenses.
The first domestic high-energy radiation light source equipment independently developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences has officially completed the installation and application.
At the same time, the linear Lloyd lens coating device and nano-focusing lens coating device developed by Zhongke Kemei have also been put into use.
These two devices combined with high-radiation light source equipment can almost meet the physical lens technology of all process requirements, including Zeiss lenses.
This means that the three core technologies of EUV lithography machines have all been broken, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has also fulfilled its promise.
Although EUV claims to have more than 100,000 precision parts, it has not yet broken through, but can it be more aircraft carriers? This is not a big problem for the huge Chinese manufacturing market.
Looking back over the past seventy years, under the blockade of the West, China’s scientific and technological development road has been very bumpy, but it has never stopped.
One by one, the first achievements are coming.
One super project has won the world, and scientific breakthroughs have benefited mankind. “Turning in circles, competing with hundreds of rivers” is the most appropriate description of China’s science and technology. What is the point of a small EUV lithography machine?
Chinese girl in a nice dress
And yes she is, and yes it is. I do love how this dress just hugs her body.
Not that it really pertains to this particular article, but there's all sorts of strange things going on right now. To this end, I would like to throw out this bit of intel to you all to mull over. I don't know if it is true or not. But it is thought-provoking.
Bill Gates is already on recent record as saying the next plandemic could be smallpox and HIV. Great foreshadowing in the BLPM.
American medical company Merck was recently caught with about 15 vials of smallpox, when it is supposed to be only kept in two high security L-4 biolabs, one in the US and one in Russia. Merck is a proven bioweapon producer.
Luc Montagnier said before he died that if you get the third GMO mRNA shot, to get tested for HIV.
Be Happy!
Take a note that you must accept life as it is, and not as you want it to be. Enjoy life, and savor it. it will be over soon enough. So just enjoy it and accept it as it is. Stop trying to swim upsteam. Embrace it. Live it.
I wrote this little piece for the next time I see some “article” about Taiwan and IC chip fabricration in terms of mainland China. The “news” has this ability to omit things, take things out of context and then just hammer lies over and over and over so that the public gets and entirely distorted picture of reality.
Remember…
The only electronics systems that NEED the high-end fabricration technologies inside of Taiwan right now are the American military industrial complex. China doesn’t use them. So they don’t need them.
That’s right.
The only ones all fixiated in a war with China over Taiwan are the Taiwanese oligarchy, and the American military industrial complex.
Don’t get caught up in the distrations.
Live life on YOUR terms.
And as far as the United States (the instigator of all these nuisance distractions) is concerned, well this link tells you all you need to know about it’s health and functionability…
TSA has argued the arrest warrant, a Form I-200 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to notify of immigration violations, works because it is a federal form.But instead of being used to welcome illegal immigrants through TSA checkpoints, critics believe it should be a deportation trigger. These words are at the top of the form: “Warrant for arrest of alien.”
It is just comedic travesty at this point. But it’s going to end. You can be rest assured of that.
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 one of my personal stories. It’s a true one, as all my writings are. And it relates to an adventure that I had back in the late 1990’s when I lived in Massachusetts. And at that time, I was able to buy a farm (in Zambia, Africa), staff it, and set it in motion using the pitiful amount of money that I collected and saved from my “day job” as an engineer.
This is the story of that adventure.
Some background
At that time in my life, I was living with a girlfriend in Wrentham, Massachusetts. She was African-African. Meaning, of course, that she was not a hyphenated African-American woman, but a real, honest to goodness traditional (and lovely) African woman.
She was a traditional, conservative, family-oriented girl, and we both “hit it off” and got together great! In short order, don’t you know. We were living together.
She was a lovely woman, and both of my parents absolutely LOVED her. She was kind, sweet, intelligent, and practical. She also had a “rocking” body. She had the most beautiful eyes and lips that I have ever experienced, and her skin was so soft… as were other parts of her magnificence.
And she could cook. OMG! Could she cook!!!!
I have never tasted steak the way she made the steaks. They were absolutely amazing.
And she treated me like a king, too. Formal sit down meals, and she would dress up just to be at home. Multiple healthy dishes. Real meats, with breads, cooked fresh vegetables, and desserts. Almost every day.
Saturdays were the day of house cleaning, and she kept our place spotless. My God!
We lived in a little cabin on Lake Pearl. It was rumored to have once been the home of Helen Keller. But I don’t know this for sure.
It was a rural and rustic location. It greatly resembled a scene from the movie “On Golden Pond”, and my many cats loved that environment. And you all should know, that Massachusetts is very, very beautiful.
We lived outside the town, and it was a little cul-de-sac that ended on a hillside bluff that overlooked the lake. It was tucked away and secluded. It was very woodsy.
We had a wood burning stove, an open kitchen, a little bedroom, and a great view of the lake. It was one of the most memorable places that I have ever lived, and to this day, when I remember those days, they are filled with the fondest memories. I consider those days… my “salad days”.
How it came about
We were eating in a diner, as we tended to do when we were washing our clothes in the local laundromat. The diner was down the road in Plainville, it was named “Don’s Diner” and my regular meal at the time was country fried steak and eggs.
The meal was something like this. And I would eat it with a nice cup of coffee. (My girlfriend really hated my habit of standing up to leave, and then (while standing) take a final sip of coffee. She thought it wasn’t gentlemanly.)
And of course, the food… well, it was delicious.
At the time, we were talking about (one of her) older sisters back in Zambia. Her (sister’s) son had just graduated from an agricultural college and was looking for work. He got great grades and had a real “nack” for farming and animal husbandry.
So we go on chatting away, and somehow the idea materialized that we could set up an egg farm. Her family had some land growing fallow, and he had the knowledge, and her other relatives had connections and all told, it looked promising. He could raise chickens and sell the eggs to the supermarkets and small stores in and around Lusaka, Zambia.
What was involved.
At that time, the United States dollar could buy a lot in Zambia. 1 USD was equal to about 6000 Zambian Kwacha. Today the value is around 20.
For a handful of dollars you could buy a bunch of apartments, buildings and land, and labor rates were insanely low.
So what I did was invested around $20,000 USD. (In gradual installments over time.) And ended up buying some land, hiring people to build some basic buildings and structures and allowing the relatives to set everything up. In this role, I was the financial partner, while my girlfriends’ family handled operations and marketing.
And that’s the way life is.
When you see an opportunity, you take it with the resources you have, and give it all that you can. You try to be realistic, and hopeful, but you realize that many things can go wrong.
Getting it set up.
When you go into these kinds of ventures, you either commit fully or you walk away from it. You cannot be timid. You must commit.
As they say…
Consider a plate of ham and eggs. The Chicken was involved, but the pig was committed.
And so, I did my part, and provided the funding and watched the budget.
The entire system came together rather quickly and about 8 to 9 months later, we had a fully functional chicken egg farm (not for meat), we produced eggs and sold them. We had customers and some were large chain supermarkets.
Now, of course, the profit was small, and miniscule, however we plowed the profits back into the enterprise, and the operation grew and grew again.
And collapse.
Then something happened.
After about two years of operations…
No word or reports from our budding, young operations director. All was quiet, and we didn’t know what was going on.
One full month passed by.
When the family went over to investigate, they found the farm abandoned and the chickens starting to die off, and everything locked up and abandoned.
What we discovered, was that our young operations manager was pocketing the profits, taking the investment moneys and pocketing all the profits and running up enormous bills.
Then he skipped town and went to South Africa.
!!!
We tried to hunt him down. We tried to resolve things, and tried to keep the venture alone, but without him, and his skill set and everything else, we were forced to abandon the entire project.
We gave up hunting for him, and wrote the entire project off as a big failure and a lesson learned.
Lessons learned.
The big thing, and the big lesson, is that you really are taking a risk when you put a young person in charge of your operations without vetting them. And the employment of a relative is perhaps a compounding mistake that can make things go from bad to worse.
I hate to say this, but it is true. Many, but not all, young people seem to believe that there is an endless stream of opportunities ahead of them in life, and that they can jump from one to the other without consequence.
If they are in the right place at the right time, they do not appreciate the great nugget of opportunity that they have so early on in their life. They seem to believe that it is just one of a long series of gold nuggets.
Us older folk realize the truth.
Maybe other opportunities came his way, but chances are that they didn’t. He had one great break early on, and like a typical 20-year-old, blew it all on the belief that bigger and greater things were in his future.
Like a shooting star, he shined bright and then dimmed into obscurity.
For me, I learned a lot.
Seriously I did.
And in the decades that followed, the many lessons continued. Many were quite painful. Almost all were financial failures, but I did end up meeting interesting people, going to strange new lands and experiencing life in broad brush strokes.
This article is all about what America is today, and how it compares to the rest of the world. And for centuries there has been this non-stop promotion of the idea that “Americans have a far better life than anyone else in the world”. And Americans believe this. It is at best an exaggeration, and at worst a violent canard. As all the rest of the world is kept hidden from them.
My first exposure to this reality occurred when I started work related international travel back in the late 1980’s.
I was amazed that my colleagues in Australia were doing far, far, FAR better than I was. They had better medical, better housing, lived in a better city, had a better salary, free company car, much, much better employee perks and so on and so forth.
At that time I was living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I loved it. I loved the deep South, and the local foods were just wonderful.
I was living in a mobile home, as I didn’t have enough money to afford a proper brick and mortar home.
And when I met my colleagues from across the world I was astounded.I was working in Sydney, Australia at the time. And Australia is indeed very beautiful.
Not one of them had experienced a layoff, a company restructuring, or a slash and fire “resizing”. They never had to scramble to earn money, only to be unemployed without notice. And so they saved their money. It was easy to do since they weren’t taxed as severely as us Americans were.
Not to mention that they had a kind of lifestyle that I couldn’t even dream about. Like company beer in the office refrigerators. Nude pictures of girlfriends on their desks. Girlie calendars on the walls, the ability to wear tee-shits and jeans to work instead of the shirt and tie ensemble that I had grown accustomed to.
They could smoke at their desks, drink alcohol during lunch, got free coffee and snacks at their office, and were permitted to speak without having to use politically correct language.
I had to beg to take my yearly one week vacation, and it had to be justified in a form, with approvals from my boss and the group VP. While my equivalent; a project design engineer named Richard got an eight week vacation every year, that accrues over time. He (at that time) now was planning a trip around the world with his five months of accrued vacation.
You know, I would tell my colleagues back in the States about what it was like, and they would give me a “knowing look”, nod their heads politely and tell me “well you know the grass is always greener somewhere else“.
They didn’t “get it”. Things were not just different. They were BETTER. And not just a little bit better, either, but a heck of a lot better.
If an Australian was laid off, something that rarely happened, they got like 80% of their salary for (potentially) years afterwards. Which made a $98 / week Mississippi unemployment allotment for 36 weeks look like “spare change”.
But you would never hear about that in America don’t you know. Everybody “knows” that America is free™, exceptional™, and has democracy™.
Woo woo!
I will tell you that the rest of the world has changed since the 1980's. My understanding of Australia is that during the Bill Clinton and the Barrack Obama years, the Australians embraced American culture. And has since adopted a zero tolerance for cigarettes, a new "woke" society, and all sorts of restrictions on lifestyle and behavior. No where is that more evident than with the current Morrison regime. Australia has turned into a "mini" America.
And since no one is aware of what the world is like outside of America, you end up seeing remarks like this yahoo from my morning feed…
Curious how his job title is “institutional skeptic” instead of “unemployed loser troll”.
Ah. I am so sure that he is doing well, and so very happy to be living in the “land of the free” with all of his delicious and scrumptious democracy™.
What irritates me is his absolute ignorance.
But one day, when he reaches his mid 40’s he’s going to wake up and realize that he’s been living a lie.
There are truths and then there are truths.
The truth is there, but unless you LEAVE the United States you will never see it. Because Americans are trapped in a prison; a cage full of fear of the dark, dark world outside.
And you cannot rely on the internet. All American internet is enraptured with painting the forever picture and image of America is the greatest! And (put the current villainized nation name here) is the absolute worst and they must be destroyed ruthlessly!
(Sigh)
Now for centuries the United States has changed into the corrupted, mess of a monster that it is today. And it is a monster.
When it was first created back in 1776, it was a Republic for freedom! That lasted about 18 years. The wealthy at that time seized control of the nation and changed it into a democracy so that it would be mob rule where their manipulations would be able to control the mobs.
That’s a fact Jack.
And of course, just as Mr. Hamilton, and other other founders warned, it became an oligarchy. Which is the historical norm.
Republics tend to turn into democracies as that the only way that the wealthy can control the society, and it is in the very nature of man to do so.
And America, which somehow managed to pass by the pitchforks and lynching stage became a full-on military empire. It is the largest military empire in history. Not just in destructive ability, but in spending, global reach, technology, active participative wars, and casualty figures.
And as a military empire, it converted the American population into debt serfs to service the oligarchy. As it is the nature of all military empires.
All of them.
Don’t believe me? Name one military empire that didn’t abuse their civilian population in this manner.
The entire structure of the United States was revamped into a zillion tiny, tiny hands in your wallets, zero legal protections, or Rights, and a two tied justice system. One which served the oligarchy and their minions, while the other, a very harsh and fierce one that served their slave serfs.
The oligarchy spent the time and resources necessary to try to expand their influence and their accumulation of wealth. They set up wealth generation activities everywhere, and became near God-like in their fantastic accumulations of power. And they performed scorched earth activities on those that served them.
They addicted the entire nation of China in the start of the last century where everyone was addicted to opium. This persisted until the Boxer rebellion where China put it’s collective feet down and threw the bastards out.
America today now resembles the shambles of what China was once the oligarchy looted, raped and abused it. And what you see in America today is all the evidence that you need to see that CHANGE must occur. Because America is in the toilet right now and it is getting worse.
America needs…
…requires…
…CHANGE.
And here we take a look at the massive decay inside of America today. There is nothing outside of America that resembles this. The closest, perhaps, is 1950’s Calcutta.
You should watch some of the videos on YouTube showing what life is like now in various American cities. It’s really much worse than anything that has ever happened in the entire history of the world.
It’s definitely much worse than anything that is going on in the third world.
Here’s a recent drive through Philadelphia.
It’s a rough scene. Worse than anything we saw in San Francisco, pre-covid.
CharlieBo313 is a black guy on YouTube who goes through various black hoods and projects across the country and talks to people.
Here’s a video compilation of all the blacks that pulled out guns on camera when he was in Chicago.
That one is just short. You watch that video and you get nervous, like them niggas about to jump out the screen at you.
That is some straight up hardcore jungle stuff right there.
Not one of them was worried about being on video, and if you watch these videos, you’ll see a bunch of them shouting out their links. They are not afraid of anything. There is no law that can contain them. No police that they need to answer to. No leaders of government that can restrain them.
This is utter and complete lawlessness, right in the middle of all of our cities, and the media just isn’t talking about any of it.
Here’s a hood in Birmingham, Alabama. Short video. They’re all shouting out their Facebooks and Instagrams.
Just watch these blacks. These blacks are hardcore.
Now, imagine that they were unleashed from these areas onto white-collar suburbia.
Just this week, CharlieBo went to Ohio and posted a video from Toledo. I’m excited to see his videos in Columbus hoods, and maybe I can show some people from where I’m from what is about to be unleashed on them.
This is literally a situation like in The Lord of the Rings, where Sauron gathers his hordes in Mordor and prepares to unleash them. They have taken any restraints off of these urban ethnic blacks, and now they’re pumping them up. Enough of these youths just want to loot and burn and kill and rape that if they get unleashed on the rest of society, there is going to be no ability to contain the mayhem.
(Of course, the military will probably come in and contain it, then you’ll end up permanently occupied by the military.)
Obviously, it’s easy to say something like “Iraq is safer than Chicago,” or some other slogan. But I think people don’t understand really just how bad these American cities are getting, primarily because it isn’t really on the media.
The media sometimes gives statistics about shootings or violent crimes, but they very rarely show the actual footage. This stuff is just unbelievable. Truly.
The really unbelievable part is that most of this has developed since the beginning of the pandemic. Before that, it was mostly isolated to violent areas of Chicago, or drug-riddled areas of California. But with the pandemic taking over the economy and putting many people on drugs, and the cops pulling out of black neighborhoods as a result of BLM, it’s now just completely outrageous all across the country.
No serious country would allow this to happen, and no other country on earth allows this to happen. You can think of third world countries as being poor and dangerous, but the reality is, if you went there, you would mostly feel safe, and you absolutely would not see scenes of drug addicts shooting up and walking around naked on main throughways.
If a third world country had a scene of these blacks with their guns out like this, they would have them isolated by cops, to ensure the safety of the rest of the population.
The United States has already descended into hell, and they are hiding this fact from normal, middle class people by pumping them with fear about leaving their homes, restricting their movement, and refusing to show what is happening on TV.
You literally have no idea how bad things really are.
None.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
It’s everywhere. It’s not confined to the cities. Here’s some of the rural sections of America….
No jobs. No careers. No hope.
Living off drugs, both illegal and prescribed.
Getting by. Some robbing others. Some bartering. Some just making do.
This society is NOT one worth preserving. It needs to be destroyed and replaced with something better. Anything better. And it needs to happen soon.
And yet, some decry… “that’s not MY America. It’s not all THAT bad.”
So for fair balance, here’s some further pictures of what America is for the 85% of the bulk of Americans…
Shut down malls…
More deserted malls…
Yes. Many small towns collapsed as the local stores couldn’t compete against the malls. And thus not only did the small towns die, but when the malls died, there was nothing left. People stayed in their homes.
Of course, there would be hope if there was some industry. But industry in America is few and far between. Most left the Untied States and “off shored” for larger profits.
The fact is that America; The United States is dying and it is in it’s last death throes. It is collapsing from many many ills, and the leadership are like the band playing happy music as the ship Titanic sinks into the cold wet sea.
It is almost at the point where the death rattles and the death spasms will occur.
That’s the frightening part.
That’s when the urban youth start to get hungry and leave their urban enclaves. That’s when supply lines and retail stores break down. That’s when the military desperately lashes out to other nations. That’s when unpredictable events start to occur with regularity.
That’s when you and yours have best be prepared.
Be part of your community.
Be a helpful understanding Rufus.
Have a skill that makes you useful.
Have a supply of food, a garden, and wood / coal.
Know and be part of a community watch / militia / police.
Have a bicycle.
Take care. Do your affirmations. And control your life.
Do not be afraid of what MIGHT occur. You are in control of what is going on right NOW. Make it worth while, and if you handle your life well now, then any problems that MIGHT occur in the future can be well taken cared for.
Oh, and what do I mean about being a Rufus? I mean this…
For those nations that want to grow and be prosperous, successful and maintain healthy happy families… be like China. Don’t follow the evil, greedy, selfish model that the United States presents. It will take you in, and strangle you until you are just a crusty old hulk.
Be the Rufus.
Make a difference.
Think on your own personal lives, friends, and community. Together we are STRONG.
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.
Earth is a Prison Planet. There are systems within systems, within systems to control the inmates. It’s a big subject and I have covered it elsewhere. If you want to learn all the details, then you can browse around here on MM. But for now, I want to discuss one of the control mechanisms.
It’s the “forgive and forget” control mechanism.
I can tell you that criminals inside the United States use this method all the time to reduce their sentences, get away with crimes, and conduct “damage control” to lessen the impacts of their crimes to others.
I’ve explained this many, many times over.
If you can convince your victim to forgive you, then there is a great chance that they will not press charges or file a report on you. And thus you, as a criminal, can continue repeating your crimes over and over. All you need to do is follow the simple formula;
Hurt a person.
Have someone else convince them to “forgive you” and then “forget about the event”.
Repeat. And hurt a different person.
That is precisely why the police routinely look at first time offenders with an eye towards how many prior crimes they committed, but were not caught in.
It’s not just felony activity. It’s about everything. Thoughts, feelings and behaviors are all connected.
It’s a nice trite saying that is used to control you.
Learn this fact; children learn from their mistakes. A child that falls off a chair, then a ladder, then a table will stop accidentally falling down because it HURTS. But what if you mind-wipe the memories, and forget what it was like when you fell down? Well, the child would repeat again, and again, and again over and over.
If you are in a bad relationship, after a long string of bad relationships, you need to stop “forgiving and forgetting”; bone up. Grow a spine and learn from your mistakes.
And for the really brainwashed out there in internet land…
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my happiness index here…
This article is not for everyone. If you are just doing fine and don't think you will ever face losing a source of income or intermittent food supply then you can ignore this article.
But for 90% of the MM readership, you all should at least read it.
I generated this article after noting that a number of my friends back in the United States, as well as a number of MM participants were having trouble.
Serious, serious trouble.
While not life and death situations, they did involve discomfort. Because people, you have no idea what it is like when you haven’t eaten a decent meal in a few weeks. This is real starvation. And not a good situation to be in.
And so I just cannot post anything else until I get my thoughts “off my chest” and onto MM.
Introduction
One of the things that has happened to me, time and time again in the United States was massive layoffs without notice on or right before the holidays. Last total was around five on Christmas Eve. And because we were living paycheck to paycheck (with no savings), and no secondary sources of income we were often thrown into uncomfortable situations.
Like being out of food, or running out of food, and having to wait weeks (or sometimes months) for the local government agencies to provide us support and assistance.
And being a “white collar” professional, as soon as we obtained food stamps, monetary awards or help, the first thing that we would do is try to replicate our habits. When we would get money, we would go to a fast food restaurant or a local diner.
And when we would get food stamps we treated it as “play money” and bought the more expensive frozen food, and snacks that we normally wouldn’t buy.
These latent responses to a catastrophic situation were not good for us.
But you know, we learned and adapted. And here are some of my tricks to make sure that this kind of situation would never occur again.
Basics
Let’s get started.
[1] The woman is in charge of household finance and meals / food.
This is the first and most important aspect of this entire post. Listen up!
Call me an old fashioned man, or whatever you want. But the most important thing that you can do is put the “woman of the house” in charge of finance, and meals.
She will budget the meals, and the finances, and do a very good job at it.
And the ONLY reason why I did not implement this very simple change earlier in my life because I was far too egotistical, and taken in by the progressive “everyone is equal” beliefs.
Men and women are NOT equal. We each have certain strengths and weaknesses. And women are natural financiers, and managers.
Do not waste that resource.
If you want to forever prevent this kind of situation from ever happening again, then learn how to delegate.
The woman (whether working in a career or not) should ALWAYS be in charge of the finances and the meals.
Period.
This is the first, biggest and most important change to your life that will really seriously prevent these kinds of emergencies from ever happening ever again.
Oh, and one more thing. Don’t ever disagree with her (his, if there are gender issues) on the allocations. Creating this kind of division of responsibility should be automatic, painless and should be the last thing to contribute to family strife.
[2] An emphasis on healthy food.
The second thing, also of equal importance is that the domestic management must be such that well budgeted meals, both tasty and healthy be emphasized. This will occur automatically (in my experience) but it does need to be spelled out specifically so all will agree to it.
I am advocating, good healthy simple food. With an occasional restaurant visit or special “date” or event to improve your quality of life.
Expensive gourmet chain coffees are out. So is ice cream. This should be dedicated for special events. Not regular meals as dessert. No snacks. Zero Doritos, and potato chips, pretzels, and and fried pork skins.
Zero.
Am I clear on this?
The idea is that you can still have these things, but in moderation and only on special occasions. If you want to have snacks then opt for the far cheaper salted peanuts than a bag of Doritos.
Let’s look at the third element of “the basics”.
[3] Grocery budget must be heavy on staples, fruits, and vegetables.
Oh, you have heard that before.
Right?
But I am going to really underline this point. If you break down the costs for groceries you will find that staples such as rice, potatoes, flour, and eggs are very surprisingly cheap.
You can buy huge bags of the items for very little, and they alone can make very bland and tasteless meals for a long long time. Of which you can convert into very tasty meals with some salt, and some other seasonings.
For instance, in America we used to just eat rice with soy sauce.
In China they think this is insane.
Here's a try. Take some soy sauce, olive oil, cooking wine, and vinegar. Mix it together, add salt and pepper.
Then cut up tomatoes and onions.
Mix together with the sauces and eat over the rice.
Not a gourmet meal, but it tastes fresh, and will not be all that terrible.ANd it will fill you up. Total cost is probably under 10 cents.
Vegetables are also very cheap. But you will need to be able to buy them twice a week as they perish easily. Fruit tends to be expensive. I argue that everyone should have some fruit in the house (it helps you shit and aids in digestion) but you don’t need to buy the most expensive fruit. Get whatever is on sale, and cheap. In the Summer like now, peaches are cheap. So is watermelon.
Less than 5% of the weekly grocery budget should go to condiments, and frozen food.
…
Didn’t quite “get it” did you? Let me repeat.
Less than 5% of the weekly grocery budget should go to condiments, and frozen food.
Yah. If you are not following this rule you are setting yourself up for trouble. You as a man, or as a woman have a responsibility to your family and your beloved pets. You need to proved for them. You NEED to manage your grocery shopping.
So let me repeat.
Less than 5% of the weekly grocery budget should go to condiments, and frozen food. The rest goes to staples, vegetables, and fruit (On sale).
[4] Start building a larder
You do not need to be a Prepper or a Mormon to start having a “Larder”. A larder is a long term storage of foodstuff and elements that enable that your family will have food during the ups and downs of economic uncertainty. If you start small, but religiously contribute to it, after six months you should have a very sizable larder that you can use to make good, tasty and delicious meals.
A larder should be in the coolest part of your house. Preferably a cellar, basement or garage. It should store staples and cans. You should make sure that you have mouse traps nearby as they tend to attract rodents. If you are doing better, you can add a deep freezer; just make sure that it is new and reliable. Do not skimp and get a used one. All it takes is one breakdown that will ruin your entire stock of frozen supplies.
[5] Know your local resources for food.
You don’t need to go to chain supermarkets for food. You can go to old food warehouses, enormous structures that contain out of date cans and boxes.They sell out of date products. Almost all the canned goods are fine. Boxed goods are hit and miss. Be careful. So what if the cans are dinged. Just makes sure they are not broken.
You can also go to bakery outlets, and look at their end of day specials. You can go to local farmers’ markets and scoot into grocery stores at the end of the day for the best prices.
Better yet talk to the owners and managers. Know them on a personal basis. You might be surprised. I know that Panera Bread gives its end of the day bread out to local organizations and people that need it instead of throwing them away. Just communicate. Build relationships. Contribute to your community. Be local.
The same thing goes for local small farmers and such. You would be amazed at the prices you can get at a local egg farm, or the milk at a diary at the farm. You just need to get up, find out where they are and visit them. Talk to the people. Know them personally. Become a customer, and when times get hard, you might be surprised the help you will get back in return.
[6] Know your emergency services
We are surrounded with Rufus’s. We just are so busy dealing with our day to day lives that we do not realize that there are all sorts of emergency services all around us. Many are in “the Yellow Pages” or whatever constitutes for them on the internet. All are run by Rufus’s. These vary from all sorts of services and can include…
County social services
Private social services
Religious (Catholic, etc.) social services
Food banks
Volunteer organizations
Salvation Army
Animal Shelters
[7] Contribute your skill sets to others
I once had a long time high school friend who suddenly started having really strange cramps and pains. But he was poor, living on the edge of poverty and couldn’t afford a doctor’s visit, and since he worked (and owned a house) he could not qualify for free medical care.
So he asked me what to do, and I reminded him that he used to be the groundskeeper for a local doctor a few towns away.
I told him that what did he have to lose, but to go up and ask him for help.
And you know what? He did exactly that.
Surprised me. No Shit!
Most people never listen to MM. They just want sympathy. Not real help and advice.
But sure as shit he called him up and visited him at his house. The doctor was so happy to see him, and was more than willing to look at him. He did it for free, and then wrote some prescriptions for him. Called them into the pharmacy and paid for them himself.
You never know.
It never, ever hurts to ask.
You might be surprised at the response.
Be part of the community. Smile. Be kind and helpful. Contribute what you can. And when you need help, the community will give it back to you.
Valuable skills that you can contribute to society (just connect with any local social service and tell them that you want to offer free support to those in need) include
Medical profession
Machining, metal fabrication
Mechanic work / shop repair
Handyman
Electrician
Plumbing
Translations Services
Teaching
And even more! And if the first social service isn’t interested, just go down the line until you too are hooked into a local community participating and helping those in need nearby.
[8] Local options
I knew a man who gave free gasoline to various social service organizations and vouchers to those in need. I also knew individuals who did this out of their own wallets. I also know that there are large networks of Rufus’s that lie hidden all around you.
What you need to do is start getting out and talking to the people. Go to the fishermen and where they unload their daily catches. You will probably end up with a garbage bag full of fish. Take it home. Freeze most. Cut off the heads and give to your cats. They will forever love you for that.
Offer them a few bucks (dollars) for some fresh fish Put them in a plastic bag and carry them home. Or whatever is local to your area.
In Pennsylvania there were orchard farms full of trees with apples, pears, plums, and nuts. Walnuts, chestnuts, and others. There’s blueberry farms, strawberry farms. Pecan orchards, and many more. There’s catfish farms in the deep south, and shrimp harvesting in the gulf. Shellfish collectors all over the coast, and everything in between.
We need to start thinking like our grandparents instead of adapting our new reality to that of what we have grown accustomed to having.
[9] Soup Kitchens
I have eaten at numerous soup kitchens. The very first one that I went to was located in New Iberia Louisiana, and I was surprised by the great diversity of people there.
Sure there were some “riff raff”, but there were single mothers with children, a group of marines that lost their money in a game of poker and got stranded, some folk laid off and in between jobs, and others dealing with all sorts of issues.
There is a soup kitchen in just about every American city, and the larger the city the more numbers the kitchens. You must be aware of the operating times. Some only operate between 11:00am and 2:00pm, while others operate at 5:00pm to 6:00pm. You come early and if you are in a distressed neighborhood be safe, careful and come early.
The meals are good, solid fare.
Not just a big tureen of soup as depicted in the movies. But rather a full meal with a main dish, vegetables on the side, bread, a soup, a dessert, and a drink. It’s often cooked by volunteers, who come out and devote their time and energy to make good tasty meals for those in need.
Rufus’s all.
Old and young.
If you are in a situation, maybe between jobs. On unemployment. On food stamps, or just worried about the job situation, you need to seek the local soup kitchen out, and start supplementing your meals.
Once a week at least.
That one meal will expand your home food bank by 1/7 automatically. And it will connect you to others.
Then, maybe… maybe ask if you can volunteer.
You will get a free meal out of it in exchange for work and you will be helping others. It’s a win – win!
[10] Stop eating out American style
Telling that to an American will result in blank stares. But it is true. Same with Starbucks coffee, donuts, and all the rest. We all know about how unhealthy these foods in restaurants actually are, but it’s more than that. They are expensive. And they tear up your body.
I’m in my mid to late 60’s. Do I look my age?
It’s because I haven’t eaten American style fast food in over 15 years. Sure, I have an occasional coffee or a “Subway” or a real hamburger at Burger King, but that is about it. They are rare events.
I eat real food, either in a restaurant or prepared at home.
And I can see the difference in my photographs.
My food is free of GMO’s, hyper-processed ingredients, is almost always fresh and certainly rarely deep fried or heavily salted.
When you are under heavy stress, what you eat makes a big difference in your ability to handle that stress. Eat fresh food, made by a talented loving spouse using real fresh ingredients.
Eat out, but when you do limit it to once a week, and be selective in where you go. Make it memorable.
That means tasty and full of meaningful communication.
[11] Cut out all soda
Growing up in the 1960’s and 1970’s we have become accustomed to eating everything with a soda or a coffee. A coffee is ok, but a soda is not.
I could go into all the reasons why carbonated surgery drinks (regardless of the price) is not good for you, but if you want to break this cycle, then you must break those bad dangerous habits. And soda is one of them.
Start adding red wine to your meals. Cut down on the beer. I am not saying that you need to get sloshed, but at least one or two glasses with every meal will really spice up the meal, make the time desirable for talking instead of playing on the computer and watching television and help your heart. Sure, a bottle costs the same as a McDonald’s number one meal. But it’s an investment that will pay off.
Oh, and make sure that it is real wine. It need not be expensive, but must be real.
[12] A garden (Long term planning)
Sure you can have a garden. Most American homes have yards. But even if you are in an urban environment, a porch with some tomato plants can make a big difference in your access to fresh vegetables.
[13] Fruit and nut bearing trees (Really Long term planning)
If you have a yard, you can also have fruit and nut bearing trees. They produce every years, and sure it can be a pain in the ass to harvest, but one tree will give you bales and bales of apples, or sacks and sacks of nuts. Just because your job is secure now does not mean that it will always be secure. And then what are you going to do with all those apples, oranges, bananas, or walnuts? Humm…
[14] Home canning and harvesting(Long term planning)
If you have a garden you can also can your excess. You can make preserves. You can make apple butter. You can make hot vegetable mix. You can make pickles. You can make homemade salsa. You can make and can re-fried beans. You can make all sorts of things, and once you get started you will never be hungry ever again.
Conclusion
I know many of you will be “rolling your eyes” at my crazy old fashioned ideas and suggestions regarding food and local social services. But please listen to me. I do know what I am talking about.
I just want to put it forth, and posit that in order for us to adapt and survive, we need to be a Rufus. We need to know all the Rufus organizations around us and we need to contribute to the community in whatever means we have. If you are in this situation now, please take heed of my advice, and try to implement some of these suggestions. Not all of them are perfect and ideal for your situation, but you can be rest assured that they will serve to help you during times of need.
Listen to me, not eating for a few weeks really sucks. And if you are in the United States there is absolutely no reason for this to occur.
Stop letting your fears or ideas of what might wait behind that heavy bolted door stop you from stepping inside. Do not let any Hollywood notions of what a Soup Kitchen is stop you from grabbing a healthy meal, and stop listening to the non-stop 24-7 consumer nonsense blasted at you and your family.
Eggs are cheap. Really cheap. Potatoes and onions are cheap. Do you want a good filling meal for under $1 USD?
Try cooking sliced potatoes and onions together with salt and pepper, and then add two eggs, and two (cheapest brand) chicken hotdogs from the freezer. You will be full, you will be fine, and your stomach won’t be growling.
For comparison, one Burger King Meal will equal about eight of these healthier and easy to make meals.
Then start giving back to your community.
After a good six months on this program you will find your health is better, your weight is lower, your stress is down, and you will be part of a community which will greatly improve your life. If you are not good at interacting with people, turn to our spouse…
…you are never alone.
And their (her) abilities in networking and making friends will astound you. My experience has proven this point time and time again.
And remember, everything is temporary.
The bad will end.
But now, if you are in this particular situation, know that this is just the start of some really good things.
It’s a crazy life that we live. Just ride with it. Seek the Rufus’s they are everywhere.
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.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Well, It has been a year, but I finally got my house back from the clutches of some evil fiends that used it, stole it, abused it, and seemingly got away with their crimes. But do not be so sure that what appears on the surface is what actually going on.
Here we are going to use this example to discuss some pretty complex issues. And it know that it is going to upset a few people in the process.
Background
About the background of this particular issue. Let it be well understood that I have discussed this elsewhere on MM, but will recap a summary here.
When the Coronavirus hit China during CNY (Chinese New Year) in 2020, China went DEFCON ONE and locked the entire nation down. It was solid, and all life, business and everything stopped. Cities that had thousands, if not millions of workers emptied out. The workers went home. And they closed their rental agreements in the homes that they were renting out in the cities.
People like MM, here, who own multiple properties suddenly found all of our tenants leaving. Our apartments going empty, and our secondary sources of income dropping to zero.
Well, suddenly we are approached by a large “reputable” company that rents out houses like ours. They are nationwide, enormous in size, and offered to rend our house out within one month at a premium price. Honestly, at the time, we didn’t believe it. It sounded too good to be true. But we figured, what did we have to lose?
And sure enough, two weeks later, we got a tenant who will pay full rent of 7000/month, locked into a one year contract, and would move in as soon as we repainted the interior, bought new furniture, bought a new television, refrigerator and washing machine.
So we signed the contract, and bought the furniture. And they moved in.
But there was something strange. Instead of the 7000/month payment, they only paid 3000. Why was this?
Seems pretty strange huh?
Yes. It did seem strange.
And then one week later the offices didn’t answer our phones calls. The sales representatives all over the nation went silent. And we discovered that the owner and the executives stole billions of RMB, or hundreds of millions of US dollars and went into hiding.
That left us homeowners with unpaid house rent. Renters who are now “deadbeats” living in our homes, and locked into a year contract (or longer. Some up to 3 years.)
Outcome of all this
Well, long story short.
We followed up with legal action that resulted in nothing. The courts ruled in favor of the tenants, and told us to take a lawsuit against the company, which no longer exists, and who’s owners have new identities and living out of the country in luxurious mansions with bodyguards.
We lost, all told perhaps 200,000 which was lost income from rent, and the attorney and filing costs. This is a lot of money from MM, and the entire year of 2020, MM personal lifestyle (personally and family) was severely contracted.
The guy who ran off was killed. Rather quickly. Suddenly and with zero emotion. The assassins even went out and ate noodles afterwards.
And after a terms of the contact, we went people over to open the door to our house and tidy it up so that we can get new tenants…
And this is what we found.
Click on the picture to view the video.
You can download and watch the video HERE, or get a zipped file HERE.
What was the sum total of damage?
These jackasses skipped town, leaving me with sewer, water, electricity,maintenance, security, and management fees that had accrued.
They stole the new television, the new washing machine, and the new coffee table. The new furniture, as you can see are completely destroyed.
The ruins that they left behind and all the junk needs to be hauled off, the damage repaired, and the apartment repainted, and new replacement furniture obtained.
Perhaps 50,000.
Total cost of this fiasco all told?
250,000 RMB
We would have been far better off just locking up the house and not renting it out.
What are my options?
From here what shall I do?
[1] Move on, and forget.
This is what I want to do.
Bad people, base their activity on sensible people moving forward with their lives. They take advantage of this and use it for their own personal gain.
Sensible people don't want to have anything to do with these bad people. As the more you get involved with them, like a "tar baby", the more shit sticks to you.
So sensible people just move on with their lives. And bad people keep on being bad.
Not a good thing. But sometimes' it's best to turn a bad thing into an expensive lesson.
[2] Forgive, then forget.
Ah. This is the Christian thing to do.
This is the Christian thing to do, right?
This is also the thing that evil psychopathic personalities, corrupt bureaucracies, and the habitually evil want. they want you to keep on being the victim. They want to hurt others, gain personally, and then be immune from any kinds of retribution, payback, karma or consequences.
Forgiveness appears to be the "right" thing to do.
However, evil people rely on it to continue their malevolent actions, and those that forgive get entangled (in a quantum sense) so that more bad actions are attracted to them personally.
Not a good thing.
[3] Pay the money to hunt them down and hurt them.
This is a real option available to me.
I can have the entire family killed for 33,000 RMB. But is it worth it?
Or, alternatively, I can go after them myself. It might seem that I might save some money, but it will actually cost more in the long run, distract from my life, and really be a pain in the ass to do.
Not a good thing.
But you know, it's just money. It's only things. It could have been a lot worse. And by being on this world-line path that has this kind of event instead of nuclear war, I'd take this world-line over it any day.
So keep in mind that this is the real world. Not Hollywood. You don't just off some bad evil people because they busted up your house. It's not worth my time, my money, my thoughts, and my efforts.
Phooey! On this option.
[4] Use my MM abilities to send them to the cornfield
This is a pain in the ass to do, but it will achieve my goals.
I suppose that all consciousnesses are neutral and good. But many have actions that don't really seem to indicate this.
Would any "teaching" efforts on my part prevent them from hurting others?
Would it help them learn from personal consequences?
Is it my role, even though they entered my life, is it MY ROLE to teach them anything?
By doing and taking the action to actually "send them to the cornfield", it will entangle me further with their vile nature... unless I take specific actions to prevent that kind of entanglement.
And what I am actually going to do…
I just want [1] the bad people to stay away from us, but also [2] do not want them to hurt others. So which of the four actions listed above will accomplish this goal?
What do you think?
…
Yup.
They are going to the cornfield.
I hope that the butt spanking will be sufficient to prevent their evil, vile and destructive behaviors from affecting anyone else. And maybe, just maybe they will start to contribute to society instead of being a big drain on it.
It is done.
And I am sorry for busting up your illusions on MM being a good, kind gentle soul. Sometimes you have to put a rabid dog down. And someone has to pick up the gun and do it. As distasteful as it is.
And I guess it's me simply because there is no one else willing and available to handle this distasteful matter.
I am just the last one in a long, line of others that either [1] looked the other way, or [2] forgave and forgot.
And because no one else had the strength to put the crazed rabid dog down, it arrived on my door-step.
And now, it's up to me. The ball has dropped. And I am the one picking it up.
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.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
When I lived in Massachusetts, I noticed just how different it was from either New York, or Pennsylvania. Massachusetts had bigger homes… huge multi-generational homes. It had large beautiful cemeteries… not the spare plot of earth where you would toss the diseased into like the state of Indiana, and it had statues, and carvings, and character.
After learning about local history, and lore, I came to the realization that the people who lived in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and similar adjacent states all were founded by people who cared about their environment and their society.
And in many ways, that still exists in Massachusetts.
In those days, people would have picnics in cemeteries. (When was the last time you and your family had a picnic in a cemetery?) And went out for a stroll down the roads and lanes near your house at twilight? They, the people who lived there, designed the environment to be one that was aesthetically and socially appealing. Large lush and deep dark shady trees adorned the roads. Mailboxes, fences, and stairways were designed for beauty and appearance. Instead of the raw brutalist minimalism that had corrupted America since the psychopathic oligarchy took control in 1910.
Back in the day, say after the American Civil War, paintings depicted real art; real beauty. Buildings showed elements of interest and were designed for multi-generational families, and monies were allocated to those purposes. Parks were constantly created, maintained, and expanded upon. Statues were erected, and monuments created.
“The Royal Opera House In Valletta, Malta (1911). Built In 1866, It Was Destroyed In World War II From A Direct Hit By Luftwaffe Bombers”
All of these things are currently happening in China today because the government recognizes that to have a happy citizenry, you must create a healthy and happy environment to live in.
These things are NOT happening in America because America has devolved into a two class society. The oligarchy class of the 0.0001% live in isolated communities and live lavish and exorbitant lives. While the rest serve them in a very stratified existence. From their point of view (the ruling class), as long as the serf-sheeple are content enough not to revolt, who needs to provide them a good and healthy environment to live in. Rather to milk them dry while they are distracted in various political battles, and foreign wars.
And that’s the way it is.
Today we are going to look at the loss of these beautiful buildings and structure. We will not focus on the American progressive movement, and the American rise of the psychopaths. But rather we will simply morn the loss of buildings and structures as “works of art” in their own way. I hope you enjoy this post.
“The Original Neue Elbbrücke Bridge From 1887-1959 In Hamburg, Germany”
When I lived in Indiana I saw outdoor ice skating rinks that had been turned into open air garbage dumps, public swimming pools that had been cemented in, statutes what had been torn down and now all that existed was a plot of land with a pedestal and a bunch of old tangle weeds.
I saw housing complexes going up in areas that was fenced off “for posterity so that others can enjoy the beauty of old growth forests”, and I saw housing developments bull-dosing beautiful meandering streams, brooks and low rolling hills.
I also saw a parking lot where an old local swimming hole used to exist.
When the society becomes that of a money grabbing venture by the most evil psychopaths in society, there is no room for anyone else, beauty, or society.
““It’s Not Possible To Take Such A Photograph Anymore, As The Buildings Outside Block The Sun Rays.” Grand Central, NYC (1929)”
Indiana was an eye-opening experience for me. I used to visit the local libraries and go into the local history section and research the area where I lived. So much history.
While today it is flat and filled with soy beans and corn fields as far as the eye can see.
But you know, back when the “white settlers” were moving Westward, the land was mostly wooded with large and expansive old-growth forests, fine babbling brooks and tall wide based trees covered in deep plush mosses.
Not today. Indiana is a farming state. It’s changed, but not every change is for the best.
“Lost And Rediscovered”
So there is some hope.
One of the things that I lament about China, but I never talk about, is how the old is all being displaced with the new. yeah. I like the new malls, the clean and efficient public works and all the rest. But I believe that some attention must be made to preserve the past.
“The Hotel Netherland (NYC) Photographed In 1905 And Later Demolished In 1927”
Surely, China is trying.
Tree are being planted, parks are being established everywhere, and there are local committees all over the place dedicated to preserving the past. Some ancient and historical sites are going under.
If not, then are being renewed in some “architectural improvements” for the best of society. You know, maybe the ruins have their own beauty, maybe?
“Built In 1504, Demolished In 1910. What Was The Oldest House In Hamburg, Germany”
California was a land of forests that were actually nothing more than “Christmas trees on gravel”, and if you all have ever been to CA, you will know what I am talking about. however, there is some serous history in Northern California near Chico and the areas near San Francisco. The entire Pacific North West is dotted with character, and you can see it in the movies “Labyrinth“, “First Blood (a Rambo movie)” and “The Goonies“. You can see that it resembles Pennsylvania is so many ways, that I automatically became attracted and attached to it.
“The Elisabeth Bridge Built In 1903 Budapest, Hungary. It Was The Longest Single-Span Bridge In The World At The Time And An Engineering Marvel. Following The Retreat Of German Forces From The City In Ww2, It Was Blown Up In The Morning Of January 18, 1945. Replaced In 1964 By A Modernist Bridge”
They had a museum, and in it was a full length ball-gown all made from a woman’s hair. I have never forgotten about it. I well remember going into the renovated Victorian style building and gawking at the dress while licking some frozen yogurt from TCBY. But that was on another world line and on this one people eat ice cream more than yogurt cones.
“Medieval Town Of Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany. Once One Of The Most Picturesque And Pristine Late Medieval Towns In Europe. Destroyed On March 22nd, 1945, One Month Before The War’s End”
You know, when you are in a place, it is the environment that makes it special. The people, the smells, and the style of the local architecture all contribute to the ambience. It’s what makes events special.
I can relate to you special time that I have had singing with a girl on the pier in Salem Massachusetts after we had pizza and wine in a local restaurant (with red checkered tablecloths) and a candle in an old wine bottle. Or chilling out in the cemetery next to my university in Syracuse New York, or grabbing a hot dog in an obscure diner on a side alley in Philadelphia (maybe I should have gotten a Philly cheese steak sandwich).
The point is that if everything is nothing but white bland boxes or McMansions you miss out in life and special experiences that enhance the senses.
“Cincinnati Public Library 1871-1955”
When I lived in Indiana I was surprised how plain and sterile everything was. Restaurants, aside from well established chains were just empty rooms with the cheapest plastic chairs and the barest tables. The food was the cheapest to make and the most expensive to sell. Iced tea came in a huge tureen and provided sugarless without lemon, mint twig or orange, and provided in the a really bland way. It was like eating in a school or hospital cafeteria.
Seriously.
“The Saltair Pavilion 1900-1925”
People you all need to look at things from a aesthetic perspective; one of pleasure and beauty instead of just one of profit. Why are water holes from the last century filled in or cemented over? Because no one could profit from them? That’s fucking sick! Seriously. Your society is demented if it allows them to be destroyed simply become someone cannot profit from them.
Don’t understand. I task you. Go to the local historical society and research where all the old (free) water holes were. Get the locations on a map (easy to do int he library) and go search them look. Look at what they are like today.
Replaced with tiny little hands grasping and clutching at your wallet. This is not a society. It is a concentration slave camp.
“Warsaw, Poland 1939. No Need To Say What Happened Here. Truly A Tragic Loss”
And you know what is supremely frustrating to me? It’s that no one else notices. They just accept it as a “good thing” and as “progress”. They do not see that taking something that is free and turning it into something that someone can profit from is EVIL. They fail to see this.
They are the one’s with a head problem.
One hundred years ago homes were quite different. People lived in multi-generation homes. The grandparents, the uncles and aunties and their kids, and you and your family all lived int he same house. Each family had a suite of rooms which consisted of a bedroom or two, a living area, a bath and a kitchen and a porch.
They didn’t need to mow grass. They had the lawns planted in clover.
They didn’t have or need air conditioning. They had high ceilings with above the door transoms, and large spacious deep porches with swings, swing gliders and porch swings and big enormous thick trees that shaded the entire home form the relentless sun in the Summer.
Not today.
The design of homes is such that the owners NEED to purchase systems that they must pay for weekly or monthly to maintain a comfortable standard of living.
Now, of course, these homes are now considered to be mansions. After all they have multiple bedrooms, and living rooms, but really are they any different from McMansion’s?
In those days they didn’t have wall to wall carpeting. They had real hardwood floors. They didn’t have air conditioning. they used fans, and high vaulted ceilings to direct the hot air outward. They didn’t have refrigerators, they had cold cellars, and other systems that sound so primitive, but in all functionality work just as well today as they did back then.
A cold cellar would store vegetables and fruit for up to a week. So does a refrigerator. A high ceiling room can keep only slightly warmer than an air conditioned room set at 75 degrees F in the Summer. A house with windows open allows for the early morning and evening breezes to clean out the bad odors and smells that accumulate. Today we must use a selection of detergents to scrub the rooms to maintain a pleasant environment.
To live in the “old way” is to live cheaper, but only take a minor hit in benefit. Unless you like to keep your air conditioner set to freezing, there is no benefit in having a A/C unit unless you have enough disposable income to afford the monthly electrical bills.
And yeah. I get it. When the weather is super hot and humid, having an air conditioner does make all the difference. My point is this; how many days per year do you need to run it?
“The Late 3rd Century Tetrapylon Of Ancient Palmyra, Syria. Deliberately Destroyed By Isis, 2017”
If you have the money, and the ability, then go ahead use and have all the modern conveniences. I have, after all, spent many years designing these appliances. So it’s all up to you. But I want to underline that there is a very special characteristic of a home with a big wide porch and a nice sliding glider.
“Times Square (1919) Before All The Renovations And Billboards”
When I was 16 years old and working, one fine old lady came up to me and told me that her granddaughter really had a shine to me. She was 14 years old and the woman (Her name was “Auntie Gay”) arranged a date.
She had this big old Victorian home on one of the broad streets in East Brady, PA, and it was near the Captain Brady mansion. She invited me in, and made us some nice lemonade, and allowed us to drink it on the porch on a nice glider there. She left us alone, but we were not allowed off the porch. We were permitted to hold hands but when I tried to kiss her, the porch light went on.
I look back now. It was really charming.
“The Old Dutch House In Bristol, England. It Was Constructed In 1676 But Was Destroyed During The Bristol Blitz Of 1940 By The Luftwaffe”
She had this enormous kitchen with floor to ceiling cupboard that reached to the sky and two doors in it. One led to a pantry with was bigger than my bedroom (well, almost heh, heh) and another lead downstairs into the cold cellar. Where it was dark, damp, cool and gloomy. She had a thousand glass jars of all sorts of preserves and stored food there, as well as baskets of herbs and other items such as tree bark and Lord knows what.
“The Original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel In NYC, Demolished In 1929 To Serve As The Site For The Empire State Building”
The thing that I remember most about that house was the huge entryway. Once you existed the inner alcove and entered the house, you were in this large room, and in the middle of it was a circular table. Sitting in the middle of the table upon a lace table cloth was this wonderful Tiffany lamp. It was a beautiful work of art. I really admired it.
I have always admired the details in home and building design, and while I am a big fan of the Victorian style homes, I have to admit that I actually love those wonderful “Craftsman Houses” that become popular briefly before World War II.
These are truly works of art, and are quite adorable. Oh, to be a young boy growing up in either a Victorian or a Craftsman style home would have truly have been a wonderful experience. I can well imagine hanging out in a nook or two with my cat, and reading comic books while munching on a leftover chicken salad sandwich.
Such was my childhood dreams.
But I digress.
Why don’t we design buildings, parks, venues, environments for people to live in? Why does America seem to be nothing more than a bunch of hastily and cheaply produced boxes for people to rush from container one to container two? Why that’s exactly what it seems like. It really does.
“Bowhead House, Edinburgh, Scotland. Built In The Early 1500s, It Was Demolished In 1878. Many Locals Mourned The Loss, Having Regarded The House As One Of The Most Distinctive Relics Of The Old City”
To some people holding on to the old is a relic of the past, and to some degree I can actually see that. Change is how we grow. But that is not what I am talking about here. I am talking about taking things that work, things that are beautiful, things that make life pleasant and replacing them with the bland, the cheap, the simple and the ugly with no consideration what so ever to the people who live around those places.
it’s like the entire concept of American suburbia. It’s just a landscape of little boxes filled with little people doing little things.
“Sibley Breaker, Pennsylvania, Built In 1886 And Destroyed By Fire In 1906”
Here is some images of appreciation to the past.
Here are some thoughts and images that I have found that inspires me, and stirs the porridge in my soul. All credit to the wonderful and skilled architects and craftsmen who built these structures. And you too can enjoy them with me.
And yeah, It’s just a park in a city. One that is now just mile and miles and miles of ruin. But before the psychopathic oligarchy took over, it was a place of commerce, and a place where people lived, made a living for themselves and their families and thrived.
The Hippodrome stood on 6th Avenue in New York City from 1905 to 1939. It was one of the largest theaters of its time, with a seating capacity of over 5,000.
I suppose that you can argue that it’s just fashion. Buildings come and go and its similar to fashion. The building styles change as the generations cycles.
I understand that.
The Old Metropolitan Opera House was built in 1883 in New York City. First home of the Metropolitan Opera Company, it was demolished in 1967, and performances were moved to Lincoln Center.
The thing is, and this is my point, is that for the last one hundred years, America has dominated the world.
And as the leader, it has influenced the rest of the world.
And the influences are driven downwards from Washington DC.
And since Washington DC has become to focal point for all the global psychopaths in the world, they have, in turn, influenced the entire planet.
And the ruins that you see in the West are but the debris from their carnage.
Chorley Park was the fourth Government House constructed in the early 20th century in Toronto. The birthplace of Toronto alderman John Hallam, it was bought by the city in 1960 and eventually demolished in 1961.
Many of the great building, the most impressive buildings, and the important building were all torn down in America between 1958 and 1965. Why?
Here’s one of the casualties…
The Schiller Theater Building (later known as the Garrick Theater) was built in Chicago in 1891 and was one of the tallest buildings in the city at the time. Inside was a 1,300-seat theater, which was razed in 1961.
Here’s another…
The Chicago Federal Building had a stunning post office and courthouse. The building was demolished in 1965, when it was replaced with the Kluczynski Federal Building.
The renovations towards the “new America” seemed to happen in waves. The 1960 (plus or minus a few years) seems to have a great affect on me personally, but the rapid destruction of American buildings had a second wave afterwards that hit around 1970 or so.
I wonder if this is a consequence of human herd behaviors.
The Old Toronto Star Building was built in 1929 and stood at 288 feet tall, an impressive feat at the time. It was torn down in 1972.
Here’s another casualty from that particular time, the Singer building. As an aside you all might know that I used to hang around with, and party with, Susan Singer the multi-Billionaire heiress to the Singer fortune. She was a nice girl. She was always worrying about how thick her ankles were though. Her ankles were just fine, and she was attractive, and nice.
But you know, that’s life. Its a really strange quirk she had, but I suppose she would tell you all that I was pretty much a weird dude in school as well. LOL.
Conclusion
I like to believe that change is a good thing. That is how we grow.
But I think that change FOR THE BETTER is and should always be welcome. While change for the worse should be avoided at all costs.
When we have a situation where profits for a tiny, tiny small minority governs the shape, appearance and structure of society, eventually that society will break down and collapse.
First you will see minor things disappear.
Then others will vanish with great rapidity. Until all that is left is the barely functional, most expensive, and of questionable utility for the people and the society to use.
And isn’t that what we see today in America?
The ONLY way that this is going to change is to [1] change the structure of the government so that psychopaths no longer can get into positions of control, and [2] Remove all the psychopathic personalities present int he Untied States today.
Which both seem to be quite unlikely.
Therefore…
It’s time to have a picnic and enjoy some companionship, some fine picnic food, and some frosty beers, or a few bottles of red wine. Life is too short to worry about things that you cannot control.
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.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
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.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
I have discussed in previous posts that I had a studio and that I painted in oils. I like to think that I was “good”, but not great. Never the less, it was a love of mine, and when I was “retired”, I lost everything. Here in this post / article, I preserve for eternity (well, at least for a while) some photos of my life prior to my “retirement”. Just some photos of my studio, and some of my paintings in various stages of creation. Sorry, but I really do not have any completed and finished paintings that I can show.
I dredged up these photos from an old email account.
I was surprised that they still existed. And in them I saw photos of family members now dead, and friends now dead, and my beloved pets as well. Now all dead. I saw pictures of my furniture, my homes, my cars, and my belongings. Now all long gone. I saw pictures of my art. Important to me. Now, forever discarded or sold off to others somewhere.
Please enjoy.
This first photo is of my den / office.
Most of these pictures come from my life in Erie Pennsylvania rather than my house in Arkansas. I wasn't in Arkansas long enough to acquire enough photographs. I was only there for a few months.
The strange thing about my entire retirement was that I had lived in Pennsylvania for years, then met a girl. Got a job in Arkansas. Moved there, and then six months later, I was arrested, imprisoned, lost everything and retired in the ADC Pine Bluff Diagnostic facility by some MAJestic staff out of Washington DC. It all happened in a short period of time. Months really.
But that's how it works. The "retirement" happens in an incarceration-friendly state. It was critical to get me out of the "mid-West" or East, and down to the hard "Bible Belt" where they could do what they wished without thought or opposition.
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Of course, today, my life is much more minimalist. Spartan, actually. I don’t have any books really. Just what I read on the internet.
But in those days, I had amassed an enormous volume of books. I had books upon books, upon books. And I loved every single one of them.
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Here’s a picture of one of my last works prior to my arrest and incarceration. I really liked it, and I planned to leave this under-paining and then begin with the glazes. Adding color and depth to the painting. Typically this period would take months. The first thing I would do is make up a sketch.
This could be in a book, or more often than not using pencil or charcoal on the canvas. Then I might experiment with some oils. Kind of roughing out the image that was developing on the canvas. I called this a pre- pre-under-painting. Then from that, I would lay out the under-painting.
This next picture is a of a under-painting before I began the real painting.
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You can see my pallet on the lower edge of the image, and my brushes and oils.
I really wish that I could have been allowed to finish this painting before it was destroyed. It spoke to me.
Here’s a clearer view…
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It’s not that I want to relive the past, but I have gotten some emails from jack-asses that think that I make up everything that I write about. They say things like “no one can be doing all the things that you claim to have done”, and other nonsensical insults along those lines.
Life is what you make of it.
My love was art, literature and poetry. My background has always been technology and the sciences. And my dream has always been directed to space and working with extraterrestrials. I lived that reality.
What’s so hard to believe about that?
Sadly few of my art work survives. All I have are a precious few photos. Here’s another one. Also an under painting. As most of my surviving photos just (by coincidence) are of my under painting efforts.
Unfortunately I have no photos of any of my finished paintings.
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Life is funny. My life now does not resemble anything at all like what it used to be. Still… but still, I do really miss painting.
Here is another under-painting. Yes. I did paint in color. It’s only that all my photos are of the under paintings.
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When I remember the police telling me that “you could paint houses”, not seeing that my strength was in the figurative forms, it just showed a callous disregard to my inclinations and talents. But they didn’t care. Their job was to get a conviction, and who cared what happened to me. Right?
A long as the world is safe from people like me.
People, you see my life, and what I did. Where in God’s name could I possibly squeeze in the time to be a sick predatory fuck like I was accused of being?
My hobbies took time. They were all consuming. They were my life.
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Life. You know. Life.
I look at my life today, and I am happy. I eat well, I have a generally low stress life (aside from the HATE CHINA bullshit that saturates the American “news” media) and what I do and how I live my life. Going through my old photos was a glance into what I was and in many cases, I no longer can relate to it. I look much different. In fact, I look older than I am today. I more resemble photos taken thirty years ago than those taken twenty. The life in the USA was not good to me.
It really wasn’t. And when I tried to live a quiet and unassuming life, sure as shit, someone or something would have to do something about it. An artist! A Painter! A rocket scientist! Nope. Not on my watch!
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The PTB, or the oligarchy have constructed a massive concentration camp. Everything is all about money, and if you are not contributing to make THEM richer, then you are threat to them. This is a top-down leadership.
Look around you.
Really look.
If you compare your life inside the United States with the life outside it, you can see. You can really see, just how “wonderful” you life actually is. Today, we have Federal, State, and Local governments that Americans must deal with. In addition there are County government, and an enormous number of Federal agencies, from ABC to ZZZ that you must deal with. Billions of dollars fund these minions whose sole purpose is to squeeze every last cent from you.
As one commenter stated so clearly, it’s all top driven. While the wealthy run off with handfuls of cash and bales of money, those under them end grab every iota of power and money…
…the crumbs that remain. Soon, it will be the lowest janitors and street sweepers taking the pencils, and paperclips out of the offices. It’s every man for himself.
It’s a free-for-all.
That is America today.
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These photos are just old dusty memories of a time that was seized from me. It’s like a room that I lived in before I walked down the hallway to another room. If I get the inclination, I will once again, pick up a brush and start painting again. Just as long as I am not accused of being an “evil predator” for my depictions of “devil worship“.
The following is a conceptual sketch.
I used to make up conceptional sketches before I would work out my under-paintings. Then I would flush out the painting using layers of semi-transparent glaze. This work (for reasons that I am unable to fathom) was considered to be a “classic example of the manifestation of the devil and his demons”.
I think (personally that it is a stretch, and I wasn’t thinking anything about demons or Satan when I was painting it. Instead I was thinking of higher callings, relationships, and the spiritual side of our beings.
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I only wish that I could provide pictures of fully completed paintings. But let it be known that I am a so-so artist, but not an expert or a professional at it. Each painting would take perhaps 400 hours of work. And it was an enjoyment and a pastime that I loved.
When I dug up these pictures I found long lost images of my dad right before he died, and my mother right before she died. I also found pictures of my cat Coco before he died.
When I was seized and hauled off to Jail to wait until my trial (it took two years), “friends” took care of my belongings. My father tried his best, but he made many mistakes. Friends took care of the rest. And after I exited Prison, nothing was found of my belongings except a WTF suitcase full of WTF items.
Anyways, I found some pictures of my cat.
When I was seized and taken to jail, a friend took care of him. He did well, and he told me that Coco was “concerned” for me.
Four months after I was arrested, my friend was taken to the hospital with a brain tumor and died within a week. Coco disappeared. I assumed that he died. If he’s still alive, he would be a very ancient kitty indeed.
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He was a little different cat compared to all the other kitties that I had. Instead of cuddling up with me, he thought he was a dog. He liked to play, He would play fetch, and those stop and action games you play with dogs. He would also roll over and let me rub his belly. He like to hang out on the porch and laze about.
Being a black cat and all, of course the Police and DA associated him with Witchcraft. When in truth I could care less what color he was. It wasn’t his fault that he was black.
He used to go out and go out bird hunting. he would always come back with birds and mice that he would put on the porch for us to be proud of. He was one heck of a hunting-cat. he was a great mouser. That’s for certain. He was a warrior kitty. Maybe I should have gotten him a suit of armor.
What do you think?
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Or maybe this…
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But alas that never materialized. Coco went off, I believe to Kitty Heaven, and my dog Buddy…
Well, he was carted off to the doggie slammer.
He was sent to the local shelter; kennel because my friend(s) didn’t have any room for him. (!) I guess I can sort of understand if you are renting a place and it is against your lease to have pets, or if you are so poor that a bag of Puppy-Crunchies might cause you to go into bankruptcy.
Anyways I don’t know what became of the dog. Maybe he ended up as some kind of Frankenstein’s Monster like a frankenpuppy.
I have been told by others, often well-meaning, that I should not get all caught up and concerned about my pets. “They are only animals” I am told. That I am better off with out them. That I don’t need their problems, their expense, and their hassles. Instead I should devote all my energies to rebuilding my life (at 60!) and making money.
Don’t you know…
So I think that they are wrong. These little guys were just great and a significant part of my life. And I just wish that nothing bad came of them. And when I was in Prison and I mentioned my concerns about them, most people understood. But there were some… some really sick fucks… who took my weakness and remorse to poke at me and fill my mind with “what if” horrors that they could have gone through…
…frankenpuppy.
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Of course, I really doubt that anything bad or unusual happened to them. There is about a 50/50 chance that Buddy was readopted. He was a real charmer. And Coco, well, he probably expired on one of his hunting expeditions.
Anyways, one of the last paintings that I was working on prior to my arrest and jailing was this paining of this gal in a tub. When I started this under painting, I felt that I was finally “entering my stride”. I had already some great ideas about how I was going to pattern the drapes, and the glazes that I would use on the skin for tones and shading.
Of course, you can argue that my work was still very amateurish, but I think that I was on the verge of creating some very nice works.
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Anyways, this a photographic record of the few remaining photographs of my life prior to my retirement.
I believe that we all have stories to tell. And while it might seem interesting or boring to you, you have to realize that everyone has a story to tell. That everyone has adventures in their lives and that if we find out the real and true story; the whole story, then we would have a much better understanding about how our world works and what powers this reality of ours.
I wish that I spent time with my grandparents and sat down and listened to their stories. I did manage to listen to some family stories from my parents, and they were interesting object lessons and curious adventures of what can happen in certain situations. I think we owe it to each other to listen. Just listen to others. And learn.
Learn.
Things are not that simplistic black and white narrative that we read about on the internet. It’s actually very complex and multi-faceted. It is up to us to learn the whole and entire story before we make judgements on others. Listen to others.
Learn from them.
Do you want more?
I have more interesting articles in my Art 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.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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There is this myth within America that the American military is so strong, and so powerful that it is invincible. This is a belief that is fueled by near endless stories and movies about the “lone wolf” Rambo’s that single-handedly kill off a battalion of bad guys, and movies about the American experiences in recent wars such as the war in Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen to name a few. All of which show brave fighters using high end weapons and tactics to blow up mud huts and patrol the barren wastes.
War isn’t a movie.
Nor is it the zombie apocalypse.
War is evil and ugly. It is full of back-stabbing betrayals, sneaky underhand moves, and pure horror. It is not something that you sing glorious songs with as your march to fight the evil communists. It is instead, something to be avoided at all costs.
Most Americans are unaware of history, and they are certainly unaware of the many, many American losses that the military experienced when fighting wars. Which is sad and worrisome. We need to remember history, so that we can learn from it. So that we can avoid trouble and problems and events that might result in catastrophic collapse of our government, our society and our very lives.
The following is one such story and one such tale. It is worth a read, and perhaps the reader should take some notes along the way.
The following is a reprint of “Fetterman Massacre on the Bozeman Trail” and it was written by David A. Norris and found on The Warfare History Network. All credit to the origional author. It has been edited to fit this venue, aside from that it has been left intact. Some terms such as “wood train” have been replaced with the more colloquial “wagon train” for ease of reading and understanding.
The Sioux and their allies lured Captain William Fetterman’s patrol at Fort Phil Kearny into a deadly trap in the winter of 1866 in retaliation for trespassing on treaty lands.
By David A. Norris
The U.S. cavalrymen posted at Fort Laramie in the Dakota Territory on Christmas Day 1866 celebrated the holiday with a full dress garrison ball despite subzero temperatures and more than a foot of snow on the ground. While Captain David S. Gordon of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry was mulling over whom he would choose as his next dance partner at 11 pm, a stranger wearing a heavy buffalo overcoat, pants, gauntlets, and cap burst into the ballroom.
Scout John “Portugee” Philips contrasted sharply with the soldiers in their military dress uniforms and the women in their Victorian finery. Brig. Gen. Innis Palmer summoned Gordon to the post headquarters and handed him the dispatch that Philips had carried for four days on his 236-mile ride during which he endured blizzard conditions. The dispatch from Colonel Henry B. Carrington at Fort Phil Kearny stated that three officers, 92 men, and two citizens had been massacred four days earlier near the fort. The utter destruction of the detachment, commanded by Captain William J. Fetterman, was the worst disaster to befall the U.S. Army up to that point in the Indian Wars of the 19th century.
Fort Phil Kearny sat precariously on land that was ceded by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Signed by the United States and eight Indian nations, the treaty set aside parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming as exclusively Indian land. The U.S. Army was permitted to build forts within the treaty lands; other white intruders were forbidden.
Peace lasted until August 19, 1854, when Lieutenant John Lawrence Grattan led 30 soldiers into a Brule and Oglala Sioux village. Grattan was there because a settler complained that a Sioux named High Forehead had stolen a cow. High Forehead had simply butchered a cow whose owner had abandoned the animal because it was lame. The lieutenant’s aggressive manner ignited a quick battle in which Grattan and all of his men were killed. The incident, called the Grattan Massacre by the Army and settlers, sparked the First Sioux War.
Fighting ended in 1856. A few years of relative peace followed, although white buffalo hunters and trappers poached within the treaty lands. Conflict flared again after a promising gold strike at Alder Gulch in 1862 spurred the creation of the legendary Montana boom town of Virginia City. Despite the bloodshed in the East during the second year of the Civil War, the temptation of quick riches lured a veritable stampede of gold seekers toward Virginia City.
Avoiding the Laramie Treaty lands required long detours for travelers. Seeking a quicker path to the gold fields, frontiersmen John M. Bozeman and John Jacobs blazed a route known as the Bozeman Trail in 1863. Leaving the Oregon Trail near the North Platte River northwest of Fort Laramie, the 680-mile-long Bozeman Trail was the shortest possible route to the gold mines.
But the Bozeman Trail crossed the Powder and Tongue Rivers, slashing through the heart of the lands set aside for the Indians after the 1851 treaty. These were the richest hunting grounds left to the tribes. Deer, elk, and mountain sheep were plentiful. Wagon trains disrupted the hunting, and draft animals and livestock ate up great swaths of grassland. The Indians attacked most of the wagon trains that cut through the treaty lands.
Retaliating for an 1862 uprising in Minnesota, Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully campaigned against the Sioux in 1863 and 1864. In 1864 Sully’s 4,000 troops destroyed tipis, horses, clothing, blankets, and food supplies. As a result, the Sioux were left to face the harsh winter empty handed. Several hundred miles away, Union volunteer troops killed 150 people in an unprovoked attack on a Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapaho village at Sand Creek in the Colorado Territory on November 29, 1864.
The Sully expeditions and Sand Creek Massacre pushed Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe bands into the North Platte River country. They had ample opportunity for revenge by attacking wagon trains on the busy emigrant routes. In August 1865, Brig. Gen. Patrick E. Connor began building Fort Reno inside the Laramie Treaty lands to protect Montana-bound wagon trains on the Bozeman Trail.
Major General Philip St. George Cooke took command of the Department of the Platte in 1866. Cooke, who was the father-in-law of the late Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, was a veteran of the Indian Wars. Cooke had served as a cavalry commander during the Peninsula Campaign and Seven Days Battles, but the awkwardness of his ties to Stuart compelled him to resign active service. After the war President Andrew Johnson nominated Cooke for appointment to the brevet grade of major general in the Regular Army.
Cooke’s General Orders No. 33, issued on March 10, authorized construction of two more posts along the Bozeman Trail. The order also designated the trail’s section of the Department of the Platte as the Mountain District. Command of the new district went to Carrington, who had been a successful lawyer in Ohio before the Civil War. Although appointed colonel of the new 18th U.S. Infantry, Carrington did not serve in the field. He wound up being transferred from one administrative duty to another during the war.
Carrington arrived at Fort Reno in June with 700 men of the 18th U.S. Infantry. Approximately 500 of them were new recruits, and there were only a dozen officers with them. He soon chose a site on Big Piney Creek, a tributary of the Powder River, which became Fort Phil Kearny. Carrington also chose a site overlooking the Bighorn River in Montana to build a third post on the trail, Fort C.F. Smith.
Not to be confused with Fort Kearny in the Nebraska Territory, which was established in 1848 and named for the famous frontier officer Brig. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny, the new post was named for Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny, who was killed in action at the Battle of Chantilly on September 1, 1862.
Fort Phil Kearny was the largest of the Bozeman Trail posts. The original stockade was built of foot-thick logs, each 11 feet long and buried three feet into the ground. The original log walls, 600 feet by 800 feet long, enclosed more than 11 acres and about 40 buildings. Two sawmills, one water powered and the other equipped with a steam boiler, cut timbers and boards. At least 11 soldiers and civilians brought their wives; there were nearly a dozen children as well. Carrington’s household included his wife, two sons, and an African American butler.
The fort’s artillery consisted of a 12-pounder field howitzer and three mountain howitzers. Designed to fire standard 12-pounder ammunition, the mountain howitzer had a brass barrel only 39 inches long. The little guns could be dismantled and carried on a pair of mules, with another mule carrying ammunition and gunner’s implements.
Carrington sited the fort inside the “V” formed by the junction of Big Piney and Little Piney Creeks. Between the streams rose a ridge, which Carrington called the Sullivant Hills, after his wife’s family. To the north, the Sullivant Hills descended into the valley of Big Piney Creek. Beyond the Big Piney to the north rose the heights of Lodge Trail Ridge. The Bozeman Trail ran close to the northern wall of the fort. It skirted around the eastern edges of Lodge Trail Ridge, and then ran north and west toward the valley of Peno Creek. The fort stood on a commanding position with little cover offered to potential attackers. Carrington established a signal station on a rise called Pilot Hill just south of Little Piney Creek.
During the journey from Fort Phil Kearny, Carrington had met Brule Sioux chief Standing Elk. Although his people sought peace, there were Miniconjou and Oglala bands in the Powder River country that had not consented to the treaty agreements signed at Fort Laramie, Standing Elk told Carrington. He also informed Carrington that the Cheyenne and Arapaho supported the hostile Sioux.
Among the leaders seeking to eject the soldiers from their lands was 44-year-old Oglala Sioux Chief Red Cloud. Red Cloud’s band had moved in the 1830s into the North Platte River valley near the new trading post of Fort Laramie. Red Cloud gained fighting experience and an increasing degree of respect as he took part in raids and battles against Crows, Pawnees, Utes, and Shoshones. He became a chief through his proven leadership in numerous clashes, rather than from a hereditary claim.
To Red Cloud and his allies, the arrival of hundreds of soldiers working on new forts indicated that the whites meant to seize these lands. Although the land technically belonged to the Crow Indians, the Sioux had taken control of them given that they were rich in buffalo.
Red Cloud was determined not to let the summer pass without taking action. Cheyenne Chief Two Moons stated years later that he and some companions visited Fort Phil Kearny during the summer of 1866. As they scanned the fort’s defenses, they talked with the legendary mountain man and army scout Jim Bridger, who was an old acquaintance. Bridger pointed out the fort’s four guns, and Two Moons was well aware of the deadly case shot they fired. The Cheyenne scouts believed that an attack on the fort, which was well protected by the guns, would be doomed to failure.
Even without firsthand intelligence from Two Moons, Red Cloud was unlikely to try launching a direct assault on a sturdy log stockade bolstered with artillery. It was much more practical to attack isolated messengers, supply trains, livestock tenders, and hunters outside the range of the fort’s guns.
The fort’s need for fresh timber was its weakness. The closest suitable woodland was about four miles west of the fort at Piney Island where there was a stand of pines 90 feet tall surrounded by tributaries of Piney Creek. On most days, at least a couple of dozen wagons with civilian teamsters rolled along a road south of the Sullivant Hills to Piney Island. Even heavily escorted trains faced ambushes, and the timber cutters worked in constant peril. Log blockhouses protected the two timber camps. Even when the soldiers were barricaded in the blockhouses, Indians could shoot them by firing through the loopholes.
A war party slipped close to the fort on July 17 and made off with some of the Army’s livestock. Two soldiers were killed and three wounded in the subsequent pursuit. Another soldier was killed a week later when several hundred warriors blocked a wagon train coming from Fort Reno. A relief party from Fort Phil Kearny, with a mountain howitzer, drove off the attackers.
The Indians attacked eight other wagon trains in the second half of July. Over the next few months, Carrington reported 51 skirmishes in which Red Cloud’s men probed the fort’s defenses. Between August and mid-December 1866, the Indians killed more than 70 soldiers and civilians around Fort Phil Kearny. Raiding parties rode off with approximately 700 government horses, mules, and cattle.
Lone hunters or travelers were in special peril. Ridgeway Glover, an artist-correspondent for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, disappeared after ignoring frequent warnings against leaving the post alone. His body was found, decapitated and scalped, on September 17. Glover had been taking photos of the fort and the area for the newspaper. No trace was found of his camera, nor of the only photographs ever taken at Fort Phil Kearny.
Red Cloud’s campaign attracted hundreds of new allies during the summer and fall of 1866. To the U.S. Army soldiers, Red Cloud was the commanding general of an enemy army. In reality, his authority was more complicated, holding some sway over a loose alliance of essentially independent Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho bands. By and large, his reputation as a successful war leader kept 2,000 warriors following the broad outlines of his strategy during the fighting in 1866.
Amid the growing harassment by Red Cloud’s mounted warriors, Carrington had no cavalry at Fort Phil Kearny. He had to improvise with mounted infantry, but few of the men were experienced riders. In any case, all three forts were short of serviceable horses.
Most of Carrington’s men carried single-shot, muzzle-loading Springfield rifled muskets, and some mounted soldiers lacked revolvers. A number of the Sioux and Cheyenne had obtained repeating rifles or revolvers from Indian traders or by capture.
Cooke notified Carrington on August 11 that two companies of the 2nd Cavalry were going to join him. Company C of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, which was led by Lieutenant Horatio Bingham, was the only one that arrived. Company C did not arrive until November 3. “Be very cautious,” warned Cooke. “Don’t undertake unnecessary, risky detachments.”
Arriving with Bingham was Captain William J. Fetterman of the 18th Infantry. Fetterman’s background is obscure, but he was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the same regiment back in May 1861. In contrast with his colonel, Fetterman had an active combat career during the Civil War and was brevetted lieutenant colonel for his services during the Atlanta Campaign.
At least 10 of the other infantry officers who served at the fort also had received one or more brevet promotions for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War. Some officers chafed under the colonel’s orders that allowed only measured reactions. “I can take 80 men and go to Tongue River,” Fetterman told Carrington. The old scout Jim Bridger heard the young officer’s brash statement. “Your men who fought down South are crazy!” Bridger said in astonishment. “They don’t know anything about fighting Indians.”
Bridger had heard ominous news from some Crow warriors, whose people were yet at peace with both sides in the simmering conflict. They told Bridger it took half a day for them to ride through the camps of Red Cloud and his allies. Red Cloud tried to persuade the Crow to join him. He told the Crow that he intended by wintertime to starve the soldiers out of their forts and kill them.
Red Cloud carried out a sharp attack on a wood train two miles from the fort on December 6, 1866. Carrington sent Fetterman 35 cavalrymen and some mounted infantry to drive away the Indians and pursue them along their expected route of withdrawal through the Sullivant Hills. Meanwhile, Carrington intended to close in behind the Indians with 25 mounted infantrymen. It was the first time the colonel had ridden into action.
Carrington’s plans failed when the band of 100 warriors, who seemed to be fleeing, suddenly turned around and attacked. They surrounded Carrington’s party for several anxious minutes. Under heavy pressure, the Plains Indians routed the soldiers. They killed two men and mortally wounded another. As a result, Carrington became more cautious than ever. His garrison at Fort Phil Kearny numbered only 350 men. What is more, their supply of ammunition was down to about 45 rounds per man by mid-December.
The Plains tribes were greatly pleased with their performance in the December 6 action. Based on their success, the tribes agreed to combine for a new attempt to lure a larger party of soldiers away from the fort, and then surround and annihilate them.
Several dozen of Red Cloud’s riders again attacked a wood train on December 19. As Carrington feared, the raiders intended to lure a relief force into range of several hundred warriors hidden nearby. Captain James Powell led the fort’s response that day. Powell, who enlisted back in 1848, had years of experience in the antebellum dragoons and cavalry on the frontier. The old frontier hand drove off the attackers but did not follow them.
With the attacks on his isolated garrison growing more dangerous, Carrington decided to halt the wood-cutting expeditions. The wagon train ordered to go out on December 21 was to be the last until the spring of 1867.
On the night before the final wagon train, Captain Frederick H. Brown was awaiting transfer to Fort Laramie. “The night before the [massacre] he made a call with spurs fastened in the buttonholes of his coat, leggings wrapped, and two revolvers accessible,” recalled Margaret Carrington, the captain’s first wife. Brown said that he was ready for action “by day and night and must have one scalp before leaving,” she wrote.
December 21 also was the date Red Cloud had chosen for his most ambitious operation yet. His plan called for an initial attack on the wagon train to be followed up with an ambush of the relief party that he expected to be sent from the fort. To lure the relief party into the ambush, Red Cloud’s raiders would ride past the Sullivant Hills and Lodge Trail Ridge. Across the ridge, the ground sloped down to a narrow plain around Peno Creek and its small tributary streams. Hundreds of warriors would lie hidden in the grasses and brush of the bottom lands waiting to fall upon their pursuers.
The wagon train, with 30 soldiers and 65 armed civilian teamsters escorting 35 wagons departed at 10 am on December 21. They rolled under bright blue skies on a bitingly cold day. One hour after the wagons passed through the fort’s gate, signals from Pilot Hill warned that the train was under attack.
Inside Fort Phil Kearny, Captain Powell prepared to lead a relief force to the wagons. Citing seniority, though, Fetterman went to Carrington and demanded command of the expedition. Fetterman had attained his captaincy in 1861, nearly three years before Powell reached that rank.
Carrington acquiesced to Fetterman’s demand. He placed Fetterman in command of three officers and 77 men. With them went civilian volunteers James Wheatley and Isaac Fisher. As civilian employees of the quartermaster department, both volunteers were armed with Henry repeating rifles. These breech-loading, lever-action rifles held 16 metallic cartridges.
The soldiers numbered 49 men from the 18th Infantry and 27 from the 2nd Cavalry. Lieutenant George W. Grummond and Captain Brown joined Fetterman. It would be Brown’s last chance to fight the Indians before he departed for Fort Laramie. Although an infantry officer, Grummond was placed in charge of the horsemen, as Bingham’s death left no cavalry officers at the fort.
Carrington stated afterward that his orders to Fetterman were as follows: “Support the wagon train, relieve it, and report to me. Do not engage or pursue Indians at its expense; under no circumstances pursue over the Ridge, namely, Lodge Trail Ridge, as per map in your possession.”
Grummond’s orders were to obey Fetterman’s commands and to stay with him. Some witnesses later confirmed hearing the orders, but others did not.
Fetterman left the fort about 11:15 am, leading the 49 infantrymen. Serviceable mounts were too few to accommodate that many soldiers, so they marched out on foot. Captain Brown could ride with them only because he had borrowed Calico, a pony belonging to Colonel Carrington’s son Jimmy. Grummond led the horsemen out a few minutes later.
As no medical officers accompanied the wagon train or Fetterman’s patrol, Carrington summoned C.M. Hines, an assistant surgeon under contract to the U.S. Army. The colonel ordered Hines to accompany the wagon train and to treat any casualties he found. Moreover, he was to catch up with Fetterman if possible. Shortly after Hines departed, the Pilot Hill station signaled that the attack on the wood train was over, and the wagons had resumed their trip to the timbering site.
Although Red Cloud was not present, the looming battle was the result of his successful months-long campaign against the three Bozeman Trail forts. Fetterman’s orders were to march south of the Sullivant Hills to the wagon train. With the wagon train no longer under attack, Fetterman focused on the handful of mounted warriors who taunted the soldiers. Among the decoys were a number of highly respected warriors of the Northern Plains tribes, such as Morning Star, Crazy Horse, Black Shield, Big Nose, and White Bull. Some of the chiefs had extensive experience. For example, Cheyenne Chief Morning Star (known as Dull Knife to the U.S. Army soldiers) was a veteran of four decades of raiding and warfare. These great warriors would become famous in the final years of the Sioux Wars.
Believing that he outnumbered his enemies, Fetterman followed them past the eastern slopes of the hills. The warriors plodded slowly along toward Lodge Trail Ridge, rather than galloping away from the slow-moving foot soldiers. Crazy Horse even dismounted and performed an elaborate pantomime of a man tending to his bridle. Crazy Horse and his riders slowly disappeared beyond the ridge.
Fetterman marched to the Bozeman Trail itself and turned left to follow the road west along icy Peno Creek. In a short time, Fetterman could no longer be seen by lookouts from the fort. None of his men was ever seen alive again by their fellow soldiers. What unfolded next can be pieced together only from evidence found on the battlefield, stories related years later during interviews with Indian participants, and archaeological finds made many decades afterward.
Grummond and the cavalry, with Wheatley and Fisher, rode ahead of the infantry. They opened fire, bringing down a few Indian riders. The decoys crossed the frozen ford of Peno Creek. They formed two groups and rode away from each other, but then turned and crossed their paths. Nearly 2,000 hidden Sioux and Cheyenne recognized this as the prearranged signal to unleash their ambush. Scores of warriors rose up from concealed positions in the grass and brush and let loose a barrage of arrows. They were soon joined by hundreds of other warriors.
A few Indians, emboldened enough to ride headlong among the solders, were shot dead. Wheatley and Fisher dismounted, and a few cavalrymen joined them. The two civilians, who took cover behind some large rocks and a few dead ponies, cut down warriors and their mounts with their Henry repeating rifles.
The rest of the cavalrymen made for a nearby ridge topped with rocks and boulders. Grummond never made it to the ridge. With the hilt of his saber tightly gripped in his hand, Grummond was shot and killed in the roadway of the Bozeman Trail.
A short distance behind the cavalry, Fetterman led the infantry back toward high ground, where they sought cover amid a collection of boulders on the rocky slope. Captain Brown dismounted and, after sending away his borrowed pony, joined Fetterman. Among the rocks, Fetterman’s men reloaded and fired again, their volume of fire growing weaker as the Indians picked them off one by one.
For a few minutes, Wheatley and Fisher fended off their attackers with the Henry repeaters. Soldiers inspecting the battlefield later counted 60 splashes of blood scattered on the frozen ground, giving mute testimony of the effectiveness of the Henry rifles. When their ammunition ran out, they were quickly overwhelmed and slain.
So many Sioux and Cheyenne surrounded Fetterman that many arrows missed soldiers, and flew on to hit Indians on the other side of the dwindling band. Within 20 minutes, the Indians had slain the last of the soldiers. It was obvious that desperate hand-to-hand fighting had occurred given that some of the men were obviously slain by war clubs and lances in the final moments of their doomed stand.
Carrington reported that Brown and Fetterman shot each other rather than fall prisoner. It seems possible, however, that Brown shot himself. But a post surgeon named Samuel M. Horton found that Fetterman died of violent slash wounds to his chest and throat. This matches the account of Oglala leader American Horse, who told of knocking Fetterman down and killing him with a knife.
Atop their ridge, the last of Grummond’s cavalrymen struggled across the icy surface until they found good cover amid a cluster of boulders. To the south, they saw a virtual sea of enemies. There was no chance of anyone getting back to the fort. Their horses driven away, the troopers fired into the mass of warriors pressing in on them. It was only a few minutes until the last soldier was cut down.
A barking dog that had belonged to one of the dead soldiers broke the silence. “All are dead but the dog,” said one of the victors. “Let him carry the news to the fort.” But another warrior was against letting the dog get away, so he killed it with an arrow.
Back at Fort Phil Kearny, it was just before noon when the garrison heard gunfire. “A few shots were followed by constant shots, not to be counted,” wrote Carrington. Hines soon returned with chilling news. He had been able to ride only as far as a hill some distance from the fort. He hurried back when he saw only a vast array of Sioux and Cheyenne and no trace of Fetterman’s men.
Carrington ordered 75 men under Captain Tenedor Ten Eyck to relieve the embattled detachment. Moments after Ten Eyck left the fort, the colonel dispatched 40 more men to join them. Most of Ten Eyck’s men marched on foot. When they reached the Big Piney, they had to remove their shoes and stockings to ford the ice-covered stream.
Carrington then sent an ambulance and two wagons with a few crates of ammunition to follow Ten Eyck. Forty armed teamsters accompanied them. A quick count found only 119 men left in the fort, including civilian employees and some prisoners who were released from the jail.
About three miles from the fort, Ten Eyck halted on high ground to the right of the road rather than pressing on to rescue Fetterman. This prudent step later brought denunciations and accusations of cowardice down on Ten Eyck. Neither boldness nor caution would have made the slightest difference. All of Fetterman’s 80 men were already dead before Ten Eyck’s men stepped out of the fort.
From the heights, Ten Eyck’s troopers could see only the vast Indian forces, celebrating their victory. Neither the victors nor the small army detachment moved to attack, and the Sioux and Cheyenne drifted away to the west. There would be no more fighting that day.
Moving down into the valley, Ten Eyck’s men walked into the grim horror of the silent battlefield. Following age-old custom, the victorious warriors had slashed and mutilated the dead. Everywhere the soldiers turned in the freezing wintry air they saw corpses, severed body parts, and pools of blood.
Civilian teamster Finn Burnett, one of the men who retrieved the slain soldiers, noted one exception to the violent mutilations of the dead. The body of Bugler Adolph Metzger was left untouched after his death. Near the German-born soldier’s lifeless body was his bugle. Crumpled and battered, the bugle had served Metzger as a war club in his last moments. Burnett said he found Metzger’s corpse covered with a Sioux buffalo robe, left behind as a mark of respect for his courage.
Eighty-one men from the fort and a handful of their mounts, including Jimmy Carrington’s pony Calico, lay dead. Among the slaughtered corpses of the soldiers and their dead horses was only one survivor, a cavalry mount named Dapple Dave. A dozen arrows had plunged deeply into the dying horse. The final shot of the day echoed over the bleak landscape when Ten Eyck ordered a soldier to shoot the suffering animal.
Only half a dozen soldiers bore evidence of gunshot wounds. Nearly all of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho in the battle were armed with traditional weapons, such as bows, lances, and clubs. By one estimate, nearly 40,000 arrows were loosed in the approximately 40-minute-long battle. Red Cloud’s exact losses are unknown; however, interviews with the participants in later years indicate about 60 dead and 300 wounded.
Ten Eyck’s three wagons were able to bear only about half the dead; the rest of the slain remained frozen where they fell until they could be retrieved the next day. When the macabre procession reached Fort Phil Kearny, the state of the dead shocked and horrified everyone. The wagon loads of bodies reminded Hines of “hogs brought to market.” Young Jimmy Carrington would have nightmares for many years afterward when his dreams took him back to that grim evening.
Oddly enough, the wood cutters had reached Piney Island in peace, out of hearing range of the desperate battle on Lodge Trail Ridge. They returned safely to the fort and added their numbers to the garrison. Bracing for a potential all-out assault that might overwhelm the fort, soldiers formed wagon boxes into three concentric rings surrounding the magazine. All of the women and children were ordered to stay by the magazine. If the fort was overrun, Carrington himself would touch off the Army’s gunpowder to prevent the families from being taken prisoner.
Carrington dashed off messages and distributed them to several couriers in the hope that at least one would get through. Philips, a native of the Portuguese-owned Azores, rode 236 miles to the nearest telegraph station. Pushing on to Fort Laramie, he interrupted the post’s Christmas ball with news of the destruction of Fetterman’s command. Philips’ harsh four-day trek through sub-zero temperatures and as much as five feet of snow became a legend on the plains. It took 16 days for reinforcements from Fort Laramie to push their way through the deep snow and ice to Fort Phil Kearny; nevertheless, help did arrive before any attacks were made on the fort.
The slaughter of Fetterman’s force was the army’s worst disaster in the Indian Wars since Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair’s army was mauled by the tribes of the Western Confederacy at the Battle of the Wabash on November 4, 1791. It was easy enough for the War Department and the general public to decide that the Bozeman Trail was not worth its cost in blood. At any rate, the new Union Pacific Railroad would soon swiftly carry thousands of passengers closer to the gold fields. A new agreement, the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, gave the Sioux a large reservation that included the Black Hills of South Dakota. In keeping with this agreement, the U.S. Army abandoned its Bozeman Trail forts and closed the route to white travelers.
On July 31, 1868, the U.S. government withdrew the last troops from the treaty lands. The 120 men were buried in the post graveyard of Fort Phil Kearny. Carrington’s carefully built fort on the Little Piney was destroyed by fire. Whether the fire was set by a departing soldier or by one of the victors of Red Cloud’s war is unknown.
Peace lasted only until a gold strike in the Black Hills in 1874 brought another wave of miners and settlers through the Powder River country. This wave was even greater than the previous one. But the immediate aftermath of the Fetterman Fight and the subsequent negotiations meant that Red Cloud’s war was a rare victory for the Plains Indians in the long struggle to protect their lands and way of life from white encroachment.
Was Fetterman an arrogant and reckless officer, or simply a confident commander who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time? He had been popular with his men, who found him brave, competent, and considerate of their well-being. The U.S. Army honored him by naming a new post, Fort Fetterman, after him in 1867. Conflicting views of Fetterman appeared after press reports in the East sought to assign blame. In the wake of the reports, political infighting engulfed the U.S. Army high command.
Cooke removed Carrington from his post few days after the battle. Carrington faced trouble from some of his former subordinates who admired Fetterman much more than they did him. His superiors proved to be even more serious adversaries. It was plain that Fort Phil Kearny was undermanned and that the Army was grossly negligent in failing to provide the endangered outpost with enough horses, modern weapons, and sufficient ammunition. As a result, Cooke and some other high-ranking officers tried to deflect blame by citing Carrington as incompetent.
Carrington in his defense painted Fetterman as an irresponsible hothead whose rash decisions doomed his men. Carrington would state time and again that he had forbidden Fetterman to cross Lodge Trail Ridge, and that the captain’s direct disobedience of orders was the cause of the catastrophe. Carrington was officially exonerated. Yet his report was suppressed for years, and he never held active command again before his retirement in 1870.
Carrington was married to two writers whose work permanently tinted the perception of the Fetterman fight. His first wife Margaret wrote of the family’s life on the frontier in the 1868 book, Absaraka, Home of the Crows. After Margaret’s death in 1870, Carrington married Frances Grummond, the widow of Lieutenant Grummond who died in the ambush. Frances Carrington’s 1910 book, Army Life on the Plains, also included the story of the 1866 battle. Both women relayed the impressions of their husband, and they helped shape the enduring image of Fetterman as irresponsible and disobedient.
Lurid accounts in the Victorian press led to the battle being labeled as “the Fetterman Massacre” and the “Fort Phil Kearny Massacre” for many years. The Sioux called it the Battle of the Hundred Slain, from a prophecy that before the clash foretold the death of 100 soldiers. The fateful clash that had unfolded on December 21, 1866, had the distinction of being the worst disaster to befall the U.S. Army during the Indian Wars since 1791. It was eclipsed a decade later by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876.
Conclusion
As interesting as this story is, perhaps some additional thoughts can be compiled.
Your army, with most of your military forces is swarmed and obliterated by a substantially larger force. No one survived. The enemy is known to kill and torture, and enslave captives. You are in the “fort” along with 80 others. Can you imagine the stark terror you must feel knowing that at any moment you all could be overwhelmed, and destroyed?
As I have stated earlier, war is not something that you should wish for or want. This promotion for war is all over the American media. And also over the Indian media as a prelude for war with China. It is a scary time as the leadership are stark raving mad thinking that Hell on Earth will not be unleashed.
India is set to fight a proxy war with China for American interests.
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In 2016, Carol Highsmith got a cease-and-desist letter from Getty Images threatening to take her to court if she didn’t take down a photograph (shown above) she’d put up on her website.
This was strange—because she’d taken the photograph herself, and she’d put it in the public domain.
A few years before, Highsmith had donated 100,000 of her photographs to the Library of Congress so that they could be used royalty-free by anyone who wanted.
The Library of Congress saw it as “one of the greatest acts of generosity in the history of the Library”…
… and Getty Images, it seems, saw it as one of the greatest acts of a total sucker in the history of getting rich off of somebody else’s work.
They copyrighted 18,755 of Highsmith’s public domain photographs and started sending people cease-and-desist letters for using them—including Highsmith herself. Highsmith, full of righteous fury, took them to court for $1 billion. But the truly messed up part of this story is that it doesn’t have a happy ending.
The court ruled in Getty’s favor, saying: “Public domain works are regularly commercialized, and the original authors hold no power to stop this.”[REF] In other words, even though Highsmith’s donation had given everyone the legal right to use her photographs for free, it didn’t stop Getty from threatening people into paying them money for them, anyway. (They still conceded that the letter sent to Highsmith was a mistake, but they got off with a slap on the wrist at the most.)
Anyone who wants to can go around demanding that people pay them for things that are in the public domain all that they want. Nobody actually has to pay them—but they’re under no obligation to tell anyone that fact.
What the fuck is going on here?
Well, you probably guessed it. You see, when an American does something nice, and tries to make the world a better place by offering things for free, or cheaply, or giving destitute people free haircuts, there is some evil son-of-a-bitch that is going to either have it stopped, and / or try to profit from it.
America has become a land of the “dog eat dog”, and this single-minded selfish behavior has resulted in the terrible America that exists today.
I do wish that I could say that this is a singular instance, but it’s not.
It’s the norm.
Inefficiency or fraud?
When you give money to an agency, you know like “Save the Children”, or “The Salvation Army”, or “Toys for Tots” you believe that most of what you will give will go straight to the charity’s good works. If, for instance, you gave $100 to an agency that helped homeless people living on the street, you should reasonably expect at least $90 out of the $100 to go towards helping people.
Unfortunately that is not the case.
For all their nice commercials and “feel-good” slogans, many of today’s largest American nonprofit organizations are extremely inefficient.
In fact, I argue that they are so inefficient that it is suggestive of something else. I argue that they are for-profit organizations that use the cover of “helping the needy” to swindle millions of dollars from people like you and I.
They are inefficient simply because they dedicate the majority of their resources to other aspects of their organization. Leaving little left over in the way of resources for their actual causes.
I know, I know, every organization has overhead costs, but a staggering number of charities today are way, way off the “deep end” in this regard.
At one time, the American Cancer Society spent only 26 percent of its national multibillion-dollar budget on actual medical research, allotting the other three-fourths to “operating expenses.”
American Cancer Society
26% - Medical Research
74% - Salaries, overhead, office furniture, "training sessions" in Los Vegas.
In 2005, the Phoenix New Times reported that the Arizona branch of the organization spent a gasp-inducing 95 percent on overhead costs. Yes, that is correct, and that meant that they left actual cancer victims “only the crumbs.”
Phoenix Arizona branch - American Cancer Society - 2005
05% - Money to people with cancer.
95% - Salaries, offices, cars, and other "incidentals" of the owners.
At the Arizona branch, the nonprofit spends 22 times as much on paying employees, maintaining the offices, and keeping the coffee machine running than on the cancer victims they are supposedly aiming to save.
Consider another cancer support organization…
A peer organization of the American Cancer Society, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, is also a mechanism to swindle money for personal profit. Still, the foundation, which organizes the annual Breast Cancer 3-Day walking events nationally, can only manage to put forward 13 cents to its cause for every dollar it raises. Those 3-Day t-shirts must be some pretty high quality cotton.
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
13% - Helping people with cancer
87% - Salaries, bonuses, trips, office, coffee, etc.
Of course, inefficiency is hardly limited to cancer-fighting organizations. The Greenpeace Fund—widely known for its environmental and conservation goals—is among the least efficient of environmental charities. It commits upwards of 82 percent of its fundraising to overhead costs. Costly tree-hugging.
The Greenpeace Fund
18% - Goes to helping the environment.
82% - Salaries, bonuses, office, trips, and nice furnishings.
Several groups assess and rate nonprofits’ efficiency, equipping donors with the tools to pick their charities. Charity Navigator, one such group, ranks charities based on a five-star rating scale of efficiency and publishes data on the breakdown of nonprofits’ organizational spending.
Charity Navigator bestows only one star upon the American Cancer Society, while the marginally more efficient Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation wins three stars. The popular March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation wins a two-star efficiency rating for spending 82 cents of every dollar it raises on overhead costs.
March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation
18% - Helps families with children that have birth defects.
82% - Salaries, bonuses, overhead, offices
Americans, for all their supposed generosity, are not discerning enough when it comes to giving. They pour money into organizations like the American Cancer Society and the March of Dimes, because these organizations appeal to people’s publicity sensitivities.
Too many worthy and efficient nonprofits are pushed aside by massive money-eating charities because wealthy donors prefer to go to galas than to actually do something noteworthy and good.
Traditionally, the reasons to contribute to the health of society were fairly banal: [1] general compassion for others; [2] feeling good about yourself as you lie in bed at night pondering your life; [3] political gains; and [4] the occasional tax deduction.
But now, the charity culture has taken on new form.
In the new fundraising world, the strategy is making amusements. Charitable organizations attract philanthropists through “fun” incentives. Nonprofits organize events throughout the year that are booked as good times: the American Cancer Society puts on the Relay for Life event, and the March of Dimes Foundation organizes its famed annual walk to save premature babies— with its measly 18 cents per dollar raised.
Few people ask whether their money is being used wisely, but these events are wildly successful: Americans from a wide variety of demographics and socioeconomic networks turn up in droves. People are attracted to organizations like the American Cancer Society because they are glamorous and glitzy. The nonprofits pull in donors with promises of celebrity appearances and festive awareness-raising parties.
Although this trend of glamorous charity seems fantastic for the world of nonprofits, or at least innocuous, it is actually calamitous, because insincere philanthropy enables quasi-fraudulent inefficient charities.
We have people who donate their belongings for public consumption, and some greedy SOB tries to profit from it. We have charities that are supposed to help people, and then they run up huge enormous expenses with little to show for the very people that they are supposed to help.
When I lived in Indiana, I used to walk among the few remaining strands of trees that were not taken over by farm fields, and housing developments. My wife and I would walk on these shallow paths up and down the ravines, in and out through the wooded glades, and up and down the various streams.
I will never forget this one event.
It is was in Marion, Indiana. There was a new housing complex going up, and they were bull-dozing all the trees and virginal forests to make way for flat spaces to build roads and single story wood-frame buildings upon. We had just gotten out of a particularly dense section of the forest, when suddenly we encountered a pile of dirt and up-rooted trees. We had to climb over the mess to continue in the woods…
…and there I saw it.
It was a bent metal sign, on a metal post that was partially standing when the bulldozer plowed into it.
The sign was telling.
This land is donated by the XXXXXXX family to the City of Marion, Indiana on 1972 so that it may remain pristine and virginal to the end of time. May you and your children and their children forever have access to this area. Remember that the Lord is everywhere and the best way to see his good works is to experience it first hand. These lands are for you and your children to enjoy forever.
We went back down the path two weeks later. The sign was gone, and a construction team was laying down some asphalt where it used to be.
Suckers!
In America today, you get the over all impression that if you are not “on the hustle” then you are a fool and a rube and that you deserved to be swindled. Ah. many a good person has fallen for this contemporaneous belief, and it is wrong. It is really, really wrong.
You are not a fool for trying to help others.
It’s not you.
You are a victim of someone else to misrepresented themselves, their organization and their role in society. They themselves, have created a for-profit model this is vacuuming up money from everyone so that they can maintain their nice and lavish lifestyles.
In 2014, the March of Dimes received $196 million in revenue, with the majority ($187 million) from contributions, fundraising events, and grants (the other $9 million came from investment income, program services and other sources).
$96 million (49%) was spent on salaries, pensions, employee benefits, and payroll taxes. 129 individuals received more than $100,000 in compensation. 60 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation. 10 executives (President, Executive VP, Asst Secretary, Asst Treasurer, Medical Director and five Senior VP’s) received a collective $3.3 million (ranging from $255,000 to $510,000).
-Where does your $1 to March of Dimes go?
But, that is not all…
As I have ranted about this in other posts. I have argued that America is a nation where the common man dies a death by a million small paper-cuts. Whether it is an endless stream of taxes or fees, to all sorts of other “charges”, it is near impossible for the average American to save up any money at all.
Not that it matters to me. I don’t live there any longer.
But what about this comeuppance?
Ah.
Well, you see, our universe, and our reality is based upon thought. Right? And while we occupy a given particular world-line alone, it’s actually not an isolated world-line. It is instead connected to an “ocean” of other world-lines that are all inner-connected and wired up together.
And behaviors, and thoughts, and manifested emotions all tug on these interconnections in all sorts of ways.
You can call them as waves, as radiation, as fluxes within the universal void, as dark-matter or anything else you might want to refer them as. The point is that thoughts of others, not on your particular world-line, at any given moment, affects your world-line. It affects the templates. It affects the baseline. It affects how the paths, the arrows of time, are followed, and the rules for slides. It affects everything.
Well…
If you think good thoughts, and do good things, you can be assured that the universe will somehow bend to your advantage.
And..
If you think bad thoughts, and do bad hurtful and spiteful things, you can expect that the universe would also bend to your thoughts and create situations that would be very uncomfortable for you.
And…
If you use people, treat them as dupes all on the promise that you are "helping people" then you can be rest assured that this will have an equally hurtful effect upon your life.
So, while I cannot predict what will happen in each individual case, I can pretty much confirm that bad people will get to experience some bad things. And good people, will get to experience some good things, and greedy people will get to experience A GREAT LOSS OF MONEY AND STANDARD OF LIVING.
It’s the way the universe works.
And the oligarchy…
Well you can run, and you can hide, but the universe has a way of sniffing you out. You will most certainly get your comeuppance.
Do you want more?
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have more in 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.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Have you ever wondered why some people become filthy rich while others remain poor for their entire lives? Ah, well if you haven’t you should of. It pretty much explains the nature of the universe, don’t you know.
Here we are going to look at a a “successful” loser.
We are going to tear his life apart, dissect it and study it. For we want to know how a person who was such a terrible General, so much that everyone realized it, that he still continued and was able to maintain his position without troubles of demotion. Why do some absolutely awful people get into such powerful positions?
…
No. This isn’t a rehash of the “Peter Principle”.
In the 1969 book, "The Peter Principle," authors Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull wrote that workers in a hierarchical structure get promoted to the level at which they are incompetent and stay at that level for the rest of their careers.
Well, I don’t have the answer to that question. It’s a complex one and involved many factors, but we can look at certain people. We can study them. And they we can see what we would do different if we were in their shoes. We must realize that we are not perfect, and that we have faults.
And the true man (or woman) in control of their life is one that knows their faults and compensates for them.
Introduction
Why did the South lose the Civil War? That question has produced many books, lectures, and heated discussions from both historians and Civil War buffs. Now, it is my personal belief that all it takes is one bad leader to totally destroy a nation and lose a war. Indeed, the tales of all those cities that misjudged Genghis Khan can so very clearly illustrate this. Now, as far as the American Civil War goes, one of the many answers that could be given can be summarized in two words: Braxton Bragg.
Bragg achieved the rank of full general in the American Civil War.
With a military background, he quickly rose through the ranks after his adopted state of Louisiana seceded. (He was originally from North Carolina.) Early on, he led a group of volunteers in capturing a federal arsenal in Baton Rouge. During the first year of the war, he proved to be an apt troop trainer. He later became a corps commander under General Albert Sidney Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh. After Johnston was killed at Shiloh, he was succeeded by P. G. T. Beauregard. When Beauregard left his command for health reasons, Bragg inherited the leadership of the Army of Tennessee, which would be the primary Confederate military force in the western theater of the war.
Most people will not turn down a promotion, especially if it comes with greater pay and prestige—even if they know they are unqualified for the position.
Skilled in training troops and having earned praise for his leadership in early battles, Bragg seemed worthy of his rise in the ranks.
A terrible General
Yet, despite the early signs of success, General Bragg became a strong contender for the title of “worst high-ranking Confederate general.”
There is certainly no shortage of grist for the mill when making the case against Bragg. Quite a few of his fellow commanders, most of whom served under him, were contemptuous of his leadership.
Artillery officer E.P. Alexander said that Bragg was “simply muddle headed.”
On several occasions generals in his army sent letters to President Jefferson Davis asking that Bragg be sacked.
General Frank Cheatham, after the Battle of Stones River, vowed never to serve under Bragg again.
After that same battle, General John C. Breckinridge, seething over a failed charge Bragg had forced him to make, challenged Bragg to a duel.
Even General Forrest was infurated
Nathan Bedford Forrest was never known as a commander easy to work alongside, but his greatest outburst against a commander came after the Battle of Chickamauga. Having won a great battle, arguably in spite of his own actions, Bragg refused to follow up his victory with further pursuit of the Union Army. This was too much for Forrest. After nearly begging Bragg for the chance to put his cavalry on the heels of the Union troops, Forrest turned from supplicant to accuser. Forrest said, “You have played the part of a damned scoundrel, and are a coward, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it.” He then told Bragg that he would never obey any orders from him.
Historians hated him…
Historians have not been gentle with Bragg either.
David Donald said Bragg was “tense, punctilious, arrogant, a martinet, and a dawdler.”
T. Harry Williams said Bragg “lacked the determination to carry through his purpose.”
Douglas Southall Freeman, after comparing Bragg with Robert E. Lee, pondered, “How different might have been the fate of Bragg and perhaps the Confederacy if that officer had learned . . . from Lee.”
James McPherson said that it was “bumblers like Bragg” who lost the war in the west.
Bruce Catton, with a little more balance in his observation, said, “Braxton Bragg was as baffling a mixture of ability and sheer incompetence as the Confederacy could produce.”
Biography
Even Bragg’s biographers were critical. Grady McWhiney said Bragg had “failed as a field commander,” that he had “no real taste for combat,” that he had no ability to inspire confidence in other commanders, that he was “notoriously inept at getting along with people he disliked,” and that he had failed to learn from his mistakes. To make matters worse, McWhiney noted that Bragg was “not lucky.”
The first volume of McWhiney’s biography, Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat, was published in 1969.
It was 1991 before the second volume appeared, and it was authored by one of McWhiney’s graduate students, Judith Lee Hallock.
This prompted another historian to speculate that McWhiney had found his subject “so nauseous that he abandoned the project.” Hallock disagreed, but she had her own criticisms of Bragg. She thinks his worst problem was his inability to establish and maintain group solidarity within his army. After noting other such problems as Bragg’s not being able to distinguish friends from enemies, not recognizing the abilities of his subordinates, and being a poor judge of character, she summed up his faults with this: “He could manage everything but people.”
Private Sam Watkins, in his outstanding memoir of Confederate service titled Company Aytch, expressed continual grumbling from himself and others about his service under Bragg. He said…
“None of Bragg’s soldiers ever loved him. They had no faith in his ability as a general. He was looked upon as a merciless tyrant.”
What was Bragg’s problem?
The answers and speculations are many. His health didn’t help his leadership duties. Migraine headaches, boils, and dyspepsia plagued him, especially in times of overwork and stress. He also suffered from rheumatism and nervousness.
Besides the responsibilities of leadership, Bragg was personally prone to drive himself relentlessly in his work. One general said he was “the most laborious of commanders, devoting every moment to the discharge of his duties.”
Bragg likely had psychosomatic problems as well. McWhiney said that at times Bragg “lost touch with reality.”
Compounding all this was his use of calomel, a mercury-based purgative, which had severe side effects. It is also possible that his physicians prescribed opium to Bragg for his ailments. That might explain some of his tendencies to lose track of what he was doing in the midst of a battle.
Halleck said it might also explain his paranoia toward fellow officers.
Grady McWhiney also attributes Bragg’s failures to his penchant for frontal attacks.
This was a topic that McWhiney developed more fully in his book Attack and Die and then repeated in his biography. Southern commanders were obsessed with frontal attacks, which were based on military tactics from previous wars.
Civil War weaponry had made such attacks extremely costly in terms of casualty counts. But if this line of argument is taken, it begs the question of why Bragg was unsuccessful when the same tactics were used by almost every other general in both Northern and Southern armies.
The Theater of War
Since Bragg’s command was in the western theater of the war, most of his battles were in Tennessee. In contrast with Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia which spent much of the war in a confined region of Virginia, the Army of Tennessee, Bragg’s command, covered a wider area and suffered from greater hardships in terms of supply and support from the Confederate government. Bragg was given a near impossible task in defending Tennessee and the western Confederacy.
Consider also the size of the armies of the Civil War.
George Washington led about 15,000 men at the most during his years in the American War for Independence. Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans with less than 6000 men. Bragg and other full generals were commanding armies four times the size of Washington’s army and ten times the size of Jackson’s.
Bragg is usually given high marks by the historians for his ability to organize and supply his troops. His West Point education and experience in the Mexican-American War had equipped him for leadership. But the logistics and demands of leading an army of such size was beyond even most trained military officers.
Primarily, it was battlefield actions that unhinged Bragg.
Bragg tended to lose his grip on the reality of what was happening in the proverbial “fog of battle.” He judged victories as defeats and defeats as victories. He was indecisive when decisiveness was needed and was decisive when discretion was needed. He exasperated his commanders, lashed out at them at the wrong times, closed his ears to their counsel, and generally destroyed any chances of coherent, unified leadership.
Wins and Losses…
Bragg failed in the western campaign.
He lost Stones River and Perryville and abandoned Chattanooga.
He failed to follow the unexpected and decisive victory at Chickamauga and was not able to hold the seemingly unconquerable defensive position on Lookout Mountain. But then what commander in the west did succeed?
Albert Sidney Johnston lost his life and the Battle of Shiloh.
John Pemberton lost Vicksburg.
John B. Hood abandoned Atlanta and went on to destroy the Army of Tennessee in his epic failures at Franklin and Nashville.
Joseph E. Johnston was perhaps the best commander in the west, but his record was one of strong defenses followed by skilled retreats.
Was Bragg a total failure?
That question calls for a lot of reflection that goes beyond the complaints of his subordinates.
History has not been kind to him.
It is hard to imagine fans of the Confederacy decorating their walls with pictures of Bragg or naming their sons “Braxton” in his honor. To a large degree, McWhiney was on target when he said that Bragg was simply just not lucky.
Conclusion
It’s easy for us, sitting in our comfortable chairs, to judge a man for his deeds or misdeeds over a hundred years ago. But that is not what we are doing here. We are trying to learn from his mistakes, and in so doing, imagine what we would have done differently were we to be in his place.
Here is a man that was very good in military logistics, and was promoted over and over again for various reasons. Eventually reaching the rank of General.
And in that role, he was a failure.
This could happen to anyone, and everyone. Just because you can fix a race car engine, does not mean that you have the ability to be a race car driver. Or if you are a wonderful cook, that you can create and expand a large chain of fast food restaurants. Or, more contemporaneously, if you are quite adept at building casinos and golf courses, you might not be qualified to lead a nation as big as the United States.
Which is a law, I believe that is missing in Robert Greene’s “48 Laws of Power”, which should be “know your limits, and know your strengths”.
To be successful you need to build up, or compile a small group of people that have strengths to complement your weaknesses. If you are strong in organization, but weak in finance, you need to find a strong finance person to work with. And if you are and the finance person are weak in Sales, perhaps you should consider adding a strong and experienced salesman to your group.
This is what Ronald Regan did when he was President of the United States, he staffed competent people, and then managed them. This is what Xi Peng is doing today.
Do not believe that you know everything and that your decisions are always ideal. That is a fantasy.
The idea that one lone person can do it all, and be the ultimate best is a uniquely American fantasy. It is false. Don’t ever believe that you are in your role or position because you are somehow “special” or that “God granted you that position”. Instead look at what you need to make your situation a success, and realize too that your weakness can absolutely kill any prior “good” work that you have accomplished.
Do not fall into the narcissistic trap of self-superiority. Do not believe that you, and only you, knows how to do things. That is an illusion.
Work as part of a team toward well-defined and common goals. You will succeed.
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my SHTF 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.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Right now, in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, many people are frustrated, afraid and sit by watching their life seemingly crumble around them. Maybe they lost their jobs, or are watching their investments fall, or perhaps something else is going wrong. Maybe they have the illness, or some other calamity. I have written that no matter how bad things are, there is always an “out”, a “hope” a chance to get it back. Here is one such story…
From Millionaire to Car Detailer.
The global financial crisis destroyed me in 2008. The years
immediately after were some of the worst years of my life. I lost
everything; or at least I thought I did.
As it turns out, I didn’t lose much at all (assuming you don’t count
approximately $3 million in real estate equity and a couple of hundred
thousand dollars in cash, as “much”).
I was in Vegas when Lehman Brothers folded… It was my birthday … and
it was the first time I’d ever lost big there. I should have known
something wicked was coming, but I didn’t. So when my consulting
contract didn’t get renewed, I didn’t panic. I kept doing business as
usual. When my tenants defaulted on rent, I kept paying mortgages. A
year later, I still had $50,000 plus in the bank … enough of a cushion.
I suppose at this time I should make you aware that I was not exactly
a low-profile person. I was (and am) in luxury goods and hospitality,
and I consulted with companies catering to high-net worth individuals. I
helped them design sales and business strategies to keep their clients
happy in the short and long term. Needless to say, the luxury sector was
massacred, and is still clawing its way out of the muck and mire, at
least in the United States.
So, with enough money to float for six to ten months, I kept looking for work in my field.
And looking, and looking … nothing.
Any kind of business consulting … nothing. (Six more months go by).
Any kind of sales … nothing. (Six more months … This was where it got scary).
Bear in mind that up until this point, I had never even gone a month without a job since I was 12 years old.
My confidence was shot – I mean decimated. I was a shell of the man I had been only two years previously.
I had the stink of failure all over me.
A friend of mine owned a couple of car-washes. He offered me a job.
It was outside work, taking orders when people drove in to the wash.
“Would you like the undercarriage done?”
It was winter in Colorado.
I declined.
I was sharing a huge house at the time with my best buddy and his new
girlfriend, who became his fiancé, and we were ALL broke. It was
brutal. I don’t think I would have made it without them. I was depressed
and miserable. I’m lucky they didn’t bury me in a snow bank and leave
me there. I’m sure there were times they wanted to.
“Cocky” doesn’t do failure well.
My buddy with the car-wash called again a few weeks later. I said no
again. Not just because of the embarrassment. Not just because of the
cold weather and the elements, or standing on my feet for 10 hours a day
on concrete without Wi-Fi.
It was because of my father.
Almost every good father has a catch phrase that he uses to motivate
his sons to do better than he did. Typically, it’s the threat of being
stuck doing any minimum-wage job that no teenager from the Gekko era
would ever aspire to. For some reason, the example that my father chose
was “car wash”. We’d go through Towne Auto Wash after Little League and
he’d always point to that guy who asks, “Do you want a regular wash, or
deluxe?” and then hands you that little piece of paper.
“Mickey” He’d say. “You have to save some money/get better
grades/quit chasing girls/do your homework. You don’t want to end up
like that guy, working in a car-wash, do you?” The last time I heard the
speech was around 1996. The words, however, hung in the air for years
to come.
So, you can see my quandary. To me, working in a car-wash was the
ultimate admission of failure. Not losing all my assets. Not selling my
watches and cars. Not letting go of a few rugs and some art.
I was living with friends, driving a 17-year-old car, had less than
$200 in the bank with no idea where the next $200 was coming from, and I
was worried about being seen as a failure.
A little deluded?
Perhaps, but reality kicked in when I didn’t have money for a niece’s birthday present.
So I called my friend back and asked if I could still have the job at
the car-wash. My utter failure as a human being was complete, my
humiliation final -or so I thought.
On my third day of dragging myself in to work, the raven-haired
stunner that I’d hired as my assistant five years previous pulled in –
driving a brand new Lexus.
NOW my humiliation was complete.
There was nowhere to run, no place to hide.
And yet … just as I was about to die from shame, something happened
that literally changed my life. She smiled, jumped out of her car,
pointed her Louboutins right at me, ran over and gave me a hug. We
chatted for about 10 minutes while her car was getting done. She said
she was happy to see me, that I’d been a great boss, and that she was
glad I was working. “Sooooo many” of her friends(able-bodied
twenty-somethings) were unemployed, and at least I wasn’t trapped behind
a desk.
I realized that I’d been beating myself up needlessly, and saw how lucky I truly was.
In that instant, I decided that instead of just showing up until I
could find something better, I would use all my skills to increase my
friend’s business, and I did. Over the next few months, something
amazing happened to me. Something I never saw coming, and something that
impacted my life and made me a better man.
I saw hundreds of people every day and none of them thought I was a
failure, and it energized me. I smiled. They smiled back. I was happy
and engaging, and I sold about a gazillion deluxe washes. But also, my
worst fear morphed into something I started to look forward to. I got my
confidence back, and it was obvious. I saw DOZENS of people I knew –
clients, old customers, friends I’d lost touch with, and every single
one of them said something positive.
They respected me.
They held me in higher esteem for seeing me in the cold, wearing a
red nylon jacket with a car wash logo on it. Nobody made fun of me or
called me names. Nobody laughed.
There was even an article in a local lifestyle magazine about me.
They respected me for doing what had to be done (I’m sure a few were
secretly happy that I’d been taken down a few pegs … but hey, we’re all
human, right?)
The truth of my situation was laid bare for the world to see …
there’s no way to spin a story when you are asking people if they want
the basic or deluxe wash. There’s no amount of charm of polish or
bullshit that can hide the truth.
I was working in a car wash – and nobody thought I was a failure. Not even my father.
Then, about 6 months later, one of my old clients called. He needed
some help setting up a new luxury club. We put a deal together and when I
resigned from the car-wash, my friend was genuinely sad, saying I was
the best employee he’d ever had.
I approached that new consulting contract with a vigor and zest for
life I hadn’t felt for years! A few months after that, another contract
took me to Asia, and I’ve been consulting over here ever since.
So, my worst fear turned out to be my salvation.
It gave me confidence, paid my bills for a while and put me in a
position to move my company to Asia and have access to an abundance of
new cultures and growing markets.
Sure, I’m not quite back to where I was that day 9 years ago in
Vegas, but I have a red nylon jacket with a car wash logo on it that
reminds me that for my version of success, I don’t have to be.”
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.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Human history has been quite violent. From devastating pandemics to consistent war, our ancestors saw more action in a single week than most of us will see in our lifetimes.
We, living in our safe societies, has assumed that civilized safety is the norm. We are wrong. It isn’t. Violence is the norm.
Even if we have the numbers, it’s still difficult to imagine exactly how violent some of our history has been. Our most tumultuous times are now only remembered as statistics, even if they were a living nightmare for anyone unlucky enough to be there.
Consider the horrors during the collapse of society.
Here we discuss collapse scenarios and their stories. We look at historical events, and use them to predict future events. And, contrary to what we might want to believe, all nations eventually collapse. They do. This includes the largest empires on the face of the globe. Yes. This includes America.
Once they collapse, the survivors are either assimilated into other collectives, die off completely, or form new associations. Here, we look at the collapse of nations, empires and communities and what has happened during the events. These are just seemingly random reminders that the collapse of any society is possible and is often quite ugly.
This post…
This post is a compilation of musings that I have had for some time…
I have been wondering what it must have been for the people who were living in their nice stable societies when suddenly their entire world turned upside down. I wonder just how they felt when seemingly overnight, their entire life came crashing down.
America has NEVER experienced this.
Oh, some of the cities in the Southern States experienced this during the American Civil War, but they still were able to keep their English language, their history, and the deeds to their land. The people of Maine, for instance didn’t have the same experience that the citizens of Georgia or Alabama had to endure.
Nope. I’m talking about losing everything, and being grateful that you are still alive in a world that no longer speaks your language, where you are suddenly a third class slave, and every day is wracked with pain and agony.
America has never experienced THIS.
I say this because the collapse of the United States empire is probably going to be quite spectacular. It’s collapse will rival the fall of Asia before the great Mongol hordes.
The collapse of the United States is going to be spectacular.
I am going to concentrate on both Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun for illustration. There are many examples that I can use, but rather than get involved in other places and times, we’re going to keep things simple. Perhaps I can compare collapses using other nations and other times such as the Soviet Union, or the Comanche nation later on.
Most of this discussion revolves around the changes made by Genghis Khan.
Disclaimer
I cannot read tea leaves and have no way to predict the future aside from paying attending to trends in human behaviors. I have no special abilities in this regard. What I know about the MWI provides me with very little insight on our apparent future. Just my own part within it.
My advice to everyone is simple.
Strengthen your relationships with your neighbors. Make yourself known. Know people in town by their first names and be welcoming to all your local neighbors.
Don't get too caught up with the news.
Observe prudence in stockpiling food, and basic necessities. Live in a rural area if possible. Keep positive thoughts for they will affect your surroundings.
I am not promoting anything, just simply discussing what happened in the past, and raising the alarm that it could very well happen again.
…
Oh good God, no!
…
Do not be under the impression that you and your children will always be able to get a Moca-frappe coffee at Starbucks. Times change. Sometimes they evolve peacefully and sometimes they collapse all together violently.
Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun.
Let’s look at history.
Both of these rulers are similar in that they both seized well-established societies and communities. And those communities had become soft, complaisant and easy targets for a more aggressive society.
Genghis Khan (born Temüjin, c. 1162 – August 18, 1227) was the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia.After founding the Empire and being proclaimed Genghis Khan, he launched the Mongol invasions that conquered most of Eurasia.
- Genghis Khan - Wikipedia
Both Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun utilized superior military forces.
For the cities and cultivated places in the Mongols’ path, they were a natural disaster on the order of an asteroid collision.
Like the Huns and the Scythians before them, they came from the steppe grasslands of central Asia, which produced their great resource of horses and draft animals. After Genghis Khan united a number of Mongol tribes into a single horde under his command in the early thirteenth century, they descended on cities in China, India, Afghanistan, Persia, Turkestan, and Russia. Between 1211 and 1223, they wasted dozens of cities and wiped out more than 18.4 million people in China and environs alone.
-Brandon Christenson
These forces were trained and promoted through merit. They were lead by officers who obtained their positions through merit. In total these experts moved forward to conquer cities and nations. Nations, mind you, that had grown soft by a life of ease, internal political squabbling, and a digression away from meritorious behaviors.
Why is this important?
Attila the Hun = Russian Prototype = 450 AD
Ghenghis Khan = Chinese Prototype = 1200 AD
The time difference between the two is roughly 750 years.
So if you add 750 years to the time of Ghenghis Khan you end up with 1950. And in 1950 the largest nations in the world were China, Russia and the United States.
Using this rough calculation we can see that the decades following this date are significant for catastrophic changes in well-established nations.
China departure from pure communism to commercial socialism = 1970’s.
Russia departure from pure communism to democratic socialism = 1990’s.
American departure from oligarchical rule via democracy to a new form … 2020’s or so…
Every indicator is “red lining” and pointing to a massive reorganization of the United States. It may be voluntary, or it can be forced through catastrophic events. It might be initiated by the citizens themselves, or it can be aggravated through outside influences.
Though, reading the comments on social media, tells me that America is ripe for yet another fight. Ready to battle the world, Russia and China, for "democracy".
Totally oblivious to the consequences of global thermonuclear war.
What ever the cause, the developments, the reasoning, the mechanism or the intent… there WILL be changes coming to America in the 2020 decade. Here we discuss what it was like when the changes were brought forth suddenly to communities, cities and villages, in the past.
Please note all of these changes could have been prevented.
In every case it was the leadership of those cities, nation-states, and communities that “opened the door” for the rapid disintegration of their cultures, societies and lifestyles. In all cases, they misjudged the Huns, the Mongols, Attila, Ghenghis Khan, and their strengths. They viewed themselves technically, socially, spiritually, and culturally superior to the Asian horde.
They mistakenly believed that their previous national accomplishments, public structures, military campaigns, social importance, cultures and the arts were strong enough to withstand assault from outside threats.
They sat fat and comfortable in their capital cities, enjoying their concubines, eating lavish meals and trusting that things would forever continue on that path.
It was the national leadership that caused the destruction of their cities.
Leadership through merit
One of the most amazing things about the Mongols is that they had such exceptional leadership, even though they didn’t have much in the way of formal education.
The tactics and strategies employed by Genghis Khan and his greatest general, Subutai, were revolutionary, and at the time almost unstoppable.
Genghis created a meritocracy where the strongest and most talented rose to the top, and managed to unify the fighting Mongol tribes under his rule.
Leadership through merit creates a dangerous power.
General Subutai was able to simultaneously control two large armies, hundreds of miles away from each other. Pretty amazing in a time where communication was via horseback.
He was no slouch.
General Subutai won sixty five (65x) pitched battles, and masterminded over 20 military campaigns.
Leadership though merit will win over popularity or wealth every time.
The collapse of cities before Genghis Khan
We start our study by looking at some tales of cities that fell before the might of the Mongol hordes.
Now, empires, nations and civilizations don’t typically collapse due to war alone. It is often a combination of factors. Of which, war and violence is the most spectacular attribute.
Social collapse.
Political collapse.
Economic collapse.
Ethical collapse.
Physical collapse of infrastructure.
So, when Genghis Khan took over Asia, he did so not only with his superior forces, but through the knowledge that the cities were ripe for looting.
The cities were soft. Their people have become soft. Their rulers… soft.
Their leadership was weak, and their military, while in numerous cases quite state-of-the-art, lost their ability to adequately assess threats, and dangers and take strategic action. They were led by weaklings, political appointees or nepotism.
They were not led through merit.
The cities started to adopt unhealthy behaviors and strange mannerisms. These in turn, isolated them from the surrounding communities. They began to get the reputation as a “loony bin” or place where people live “within their own bubble”. Today, even still, we refer to some of these cities such as Babylon, as a place of degradation.
The collapse of a nation is caused by a combination of factors. Often, it is a superior culture or society confronts a stable but “soft” culture.
Most military historians judge that no European force could have stopped the disciplined and innovative Mongolian armies. “Employed against the Mongol invaders of Europe, knightly warfare failed even more disastrously for the Poles at Legnica and the Hungarians at Mohi in 1241”
-Stephen Hicks
You see the events around Genghis Khan are archetypal for the human condition.
Societies migrate from the K-reproductive strategy towards the r-reproductive strategy. Other societies do not, and then we have a situation where a K-reproductive strategy civilization encounters a r-reproductive society.
Blood is thus shed.
Humans get comfortable, they get fat and lazy, and leaner, and meaner people confront them and take everything from them. The tough, the strong, and the aggressive takes from the weak and meek.
“The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take all they possess, to see those they love in tears, to ride their horses, and to hold their wives and daughters in his arms.”
-Genghis Khan.
While this historical example (Genghis Khan) is actually referring to the physical seizure and physical destruction of people, place and things, we are referring to a far wider scope of assault.
This can be military, as we have mentioned. It can be economic. It can be cultural. It can be sociological, and it can be ideological.
And, it can certainly be a combination of the above.
The Mongol were masterful at spreading fear and hate throughout Asia, people feared them, and therefore hated them.
They would rape and pillage entire villages, and torture their victims for fun.
Nobles would get it the worst.
Spilling noble blood was considered a crime, so they simply crushed them to death, which took many hours. Mongols would literally dine on top of them, making merry to the sounds of their screams from underneath. The sounds of bodies squelching, and bones snapping didn’t faze them.
But rumors of this execution method struck terror.
Fear made them even more powerful, and more feared, as people often chose to surrender and pay tribute rather than risk fighting them.
They cultivated the illusion to sow fear into their enemies. And, you know, everyone who wasn’t a Mongol was their enemy.
Mongols also ate meat tenderized by being sat on beneath their saddles on long journeys; marmot steeped in sour milk; curds dried in the sun; roots, dogs, rats—almost anything, according to several observers. Marco Polo, who traveled among them in the years 1275-92, wrote that they ate hamsters, which were plentiful on the steppes.
A Franciscan friar who in 1245 went to seek out the Great Khan in the hope of persuading him to become a Christian reported that, during a siege of a Chinese city, a Mongol army ran out of food and ate one of every ten of its own soldiers.
Mediterranean people who knew the Mongols only by reputation believed they were creatures with dogs’ heads who lived on human flesh.
Other Mongol facts: On their treeless steppes, they tended to get hit by lightning a lot.
Thunder terrified them. They wore armor made of scales of iron sewn to garments of thick hide, and iron helmets that sometimes came to a point on top.
Their swords were short and sometimes curved.
The notches in their arrows were too narrow to fit the wider bowstrings of the Western people they fought, so that the arrows could not be picked up and shot back at them.
Mongol bows, made of layers of horn and sinew on a wooden frame, took two men to string. Warriors carried them strung, in holsterlike cases at their belts.
Mongols had no words for “right” and “left,” but called them “west” and “east,” respectively.
When anyone begged from them, they replied, “Go, with God’s curse, for if he loved you as he loves me, he would have provided for you.”
-The New Yorker
Human nature & Poland
Why do humans tend to get weak and soft? It’s in our nature. It’s called the r/K theory, and it’s worth a read. (Opens up in a separate tab.)
An anecdote from my most-recent visit there (Poland), which was three years ago. I was in the historic downtown of one of the smaller cities. My brother-in-law and I were at an outdoor table of a restaurant.
Next to us were two men, maybe mid-twenties. They discussed something. One of them was passionate about the subject and the other was listening.
For the first time ever in all of my visits to Poland, I felt that my SMV is behind the curve there. Age does its thing, of course, but that wasn’t it. Rather, after twenty years of my regular visits, I felt that… the young men there suddenly looked taller, better dressed, more intelligent, less awed by a shiny foreigner, more ready to give you that piercing look like they can make it hurt.
They are healthy people who see the same global war on Whites that I do, encircling their country.
The difference between me and them, is that I as a sort-of American represented a conquered people and they represented free men. What a difference that makes.
-PA "A Normal Country"
“Normal country.” Ordinary people in a normal country aren’t going to be defensive or get in your face. Nor will they hem-and-haw like a normie-cuckservative who watches his words lest a non-lie slips out. What they will do, is patiently and politely tell you the simple truth because they are not ashamed of anything.
This is why Poland is so unusual to Western observers. It is a normal country in which men are masculine and women are feminine. Peter Sweden’s flattering comment about Poles should be as banal as an observation that the people there have two arms and two legs each. Yet it’s a startling observation because proper masculinity and femininity are under attack. Under these circumstances, Poland is paradoxically an extraordinary normal country. And so be it.
When people move away from “normal”, they become soft and easy prey for the rest of the wild dangerous world…
Here’s a shout out for Mr. Putin. You all might want to compare him to his American equivalent; Barrack Obama.
An important note
It is so very easy to get all caught up in history; dates, places and names. It can become so confusing if you are coming flush without any context to put the information into perspective.
Here, I am going to throw out some stories, history and details related to events and leaders of the past. This includes various generals, and leaders and the actions that they took. When names are given, it’s pretty much assumed that they are a ranking general.
There will be figures thrown about… 100,000 killed, 5000 ships sunk, 350,000 civilians slaughtered, etc. These are enormous figures and it is very difficult to put into perspective.
To keep things reasonable, consider that when figures such as these are mentioned, assume them to mean 95% of the people were killed, or 98% of the city was slaughtered. Or 100% of the ships were sunk.
Please do not get too caught up in the details.
It’s easy to get bogged down. Just read and learn that our past is a violent one, and enormous groups of people were caught up in very difficult times where survival was a rarity.
When a city was sacked our under siege, the surrounding environment was completely picked clean. The Mongols would forage for food, livestock and property. Homes, villages and communities were emptied. Roving band of marauders would attack individual communities and young boys would be set forth to learn how to sack a household on their own.
The Mongols were like a plague of locusts eating and destroying everything in their path.
Speaking of Mohi…
Do not underestimate the dangerous
The Battle of Mohi was one of the most devastating battles in European history.
The Battle of Mohi, or Battle of the Sajó River, (on April 11, 1241) was the main battle between the Mongols under Subutai and the Kingdom of Hungary under Béla IV during the Mongol invasion of Europe.
It took place at Muhi or Mohi, southwest of the Sajó River.
Mongol use of heavy machinery demonstrated how military engineering could be put to effective and strategic use.
After the invasion, Hungary lay in ruins.
Nearly half of the inhabited places had been destroyed by the invading armies.
Around a quarter of the population was lost, mostly in lowland areas, especially in the Great Hungarian Plain, where there were hardly any survivors; in the southern reaches of the Hungarian plain in the area now called the Banat, and in southern Transylvania.
- Battle of Mohi - New World Encyclopedia
25% of Hungary’s population was wiped out by after the Mongol incursions.
Half of all livable places had crumbled, smashed to bits by hordes of Mongols. Losses were heavy on both sides, but the Europeans suffered most. This was the most important major battle of the war between Hungary and the Mongolians.
After this major battle, Hungary was pretty much disarmed.
No armies remained to fight the Mongolians. Those few Hungarian survivors fled the area as fast as they could, leaving the cities. towns and villages undefended.
What followed was a tidal wave of death and destruction, as Mongol hordes rampaged through Hungary destroying cities, towns, communities, hamlets and habitations as they went.
It is terribly bad.
It made Hitler’s scorched earth policy look like a “walk in the park”.
Bela IV, the King of Hungary, actually had to run to his archenemy, Duke Frederick, for safety. Frederick extorted him for as much as possible, including three of his countries.
He was a coward, but he lived on…
And his nation was remade in the image of the conquering Mongol armies.
What must it have been like… I wonder…
Looting of a Gallo-Roman Villa, Painting by Georges Rochegrosse
We begin our study into this historical trend by looking at a fine painting by Georges Rochegrosse. It is titled “Looting of a Gallo-Roman Villa”, and it’s wonderful.
Let this painting tell the story of what to expect when a nation is ruled by the soft, corrupt and effeminate. Here we have a scene somewhere in the wealthy sections of the Roman empire.
Members of Genghis Khan’s armies have moved upon the villa. They killed the soft, fat and chubby wealthy owner, and took possession of his wives, sons, daughters and slaves.
The reader should never be under the impression that humanity has moved away from this reality. Technology has changed, but human nature has not.
Human nature has NOT changed.
The Nature of the society with advantage
In a nomadic society, you can’t afford to have slackers. There’s just too much work to be done. So that means it there’s no room for anyone who can’t make him or herself useful, women and children included.
This includes everyone, and if slaves cannot do what they are told, they are killed immediately.
Genghis Khan believed in being rewarded for hard work, and operated on a meritocracy over a nepotistic system. Many of his highest ranking officers and generals had earned their way to those positions, instead of simply being born to a particular family.
-Factinate
It’s not just the men folk. It’s everyone in the entire community.
According to the University of Victoria, Mongolian women were not only expected to shoulder a lot of the responsibility, they were also expected to do a lot of the heavy lifting.
This differs substantially from the lifestyle of the wives and women of the lands that they conquered.
While all women had to “earn their keep” in the households, the more “advanced the society”, the weaker and softer the women became. Rather than be tough, handling the daily chores, raising the children and supporting their men, they chose a life of ease and sloth.
As such, when SHTF back “in the day”, there was little that they could do aside from submit to their conquerors. The women quickly learned their role in the new society or were killed. There were no other options.
It must have been very difficult for the pampered women of the aristocratic classes…
Women who worked were not at all admired or esteemed.
Compared to their counterparts in ancient Greece, Roman wives of the upper classes were shocking in their visibility in public. Married women appeared in public, with their husbands, or with a retinue of attendants.
They went shopping, attended festivals, sacrifices, games, and entertainment. They acted as hostesses and dined out. They attended women-only social events.
Aristocratic women spent a great deal of time on personal grooming and beauty preparations.
- Women in Ancient Rome: Women's Daily Life and Work
A superior culture is one where everyone has a role, and works to the best of their ability. Leadership and success is determined by merit.
Using Merit and Ability to control the weak and meek
Genghis Khan amassed the largest contiguous empire the world had yet seen. Only the British Empire, when it included both Canada and Australia, would be larger.
Unlike Alexander the great, the Caesars or the Persian emperors, Genghis Khan’s idea of conquest was not to occupy and rule another people, but rather to rape, pillage and destroy everything in his path.
We was a warlord of destruction.
Genghis Khan was a man of reason. He let the people in the Mongol Empire live a happy life as long as they followed his rules. However, Genghis Khan cruelly punished everyone who tried to break those rules. For example, when the governor of one of the cities in the Khwarazmian Empire took over Genghis Khan's trade caravan and killed all the traders, Genghis Khan went berserker. He sent 100,000 Mongols to the Khwarazmian Empire and killed thousands of people, including the governor. Genghis Khan poured molten silver into the governor's eyes and mouth until the poor guy roasted from the inside. That was a clear sign that anyone, stupid enough to harm the Mongol Empire, would have to face devastating consequences. History shows that spreading fear worked perfectly in Genghis Khan's favor. He still needed to invade some rebellious places from time to time, but for the most of the time, people in The Mongol Empire behaved really well.
-The Richest
He purged the lands of all human opposition, all human constructions, all human education and learning, and all human influence.
Then he remade it in his own image.
Worse was to come in 1221 — ‘a year to live in infamy’. While Genghis’s other armies had been busy in the east, threatening Tbilisi in Georgia and terrifying the Christian world, Tolui, one of Genghis’s equally reprehensible sons, took Merv (in modern-day Turkmenistan), then one of the largest cities in the world.
Promised safety, the citizens surrendered and emerged from behind their walls.
Tolui looked at the mass of people placed in front of him.
He ‘surveyed the masses dolefully gathered with their possessions, mounted a golden chair and ordered mass executions to commence’. They took four days and nights to complete. Genghis’s rotten fruit did not fall far from the tree.
Terror — and the certainty of its visitation — was a major weapon in Genghis’s arsenal: decapitated women, children and even cats and dogs were reputedly displayed. But while the butchery was indeed immense, it is worth questioning its extent on occasion: a depopulated city had little economic value, and imported colonisers could make up only so much of the shortfall.
- Was Genghis Khan the cruellest man who ever lived?
His total disregard for human life led to him being utterly feared throughout virtually the entire Eurasian land mass.
When George Curzon visited the ruined city of Merv in 1888, the vision of its decay overwhelmed him. “In the midst of an absolute wilderness of crumbling brick and clay,” the future viceroy of India wrote, “the spectacle of walls, towers, ramparts and domes, stretching in bewildering confusion to the horizon, reminds us that we are in the centre of bygone greatness.”
In its 12th-century pomp, Merv straddled the prosperous trade routes of the Silk Road. It was a capital of the Seljuk sultanate that extended from central Asia to the Mediterranean. According to some estimates, Merv was the biggest city in the world in AD1200, with a population of more than half a million people.
But only decades later, the city was effectively razed by the armies of Genghis Khan in a grisly conquest that resulted – if contemporary accounts are to be believed – in 700,000 deaths.
A trader arriving from Bukhara to the north-east or from Nishapur to the south-west would once have been relieved at the sight of Merv. Crisscrossed by canals and bridges, full of gardens and orchards, medieval Merv and its surrounding oasis were green and richly cultivated, a welcome reprieve from the bleakness of the Karakum desert.
The city’s enclosing walls ran in an oblong circuit of five miles, interrupted by strong towers and four main gates. Its streets were mostly narrow and winding, crowded with closely built houses and occasional larger structures: mosques, schools, libraries and bathhouses.
The citadel of the Seljuk sultans – replete with a palace, gardens and administrative buildings – loomed over the north-eastern part of Merv. Many different polities chose to make Merv the seat from which to rule Khurasan, a region that included eastern Iran and parts of modern-day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
“For its cleanliness, its good streets, the divisions of its buildings and quarters among the rivers … their city [Merv] is superior to the rest of the cities of Khurasan,” wrote the 10th-century Persian geographer and traveller al-Istakhri. “Its markets are good.”
Reaching Merv, the visiting trader might lead his pack-animals into the open courtyard of a two-storey caravanserai (an inn with a courtyard for travellers), where he would jostle for space with other merchants from as far as India, Iraq and western China. Or he could go straight to one of Merv’s large markets, convened outside the gates of the town or sometimes near its major mosques. The smoke of potters’ kilns and steel-making furnaces (Merv was famous for its crucible steel) would have hung over the surrounding industrial suburbs.
If the trader was feeling hot, he might step inside the icehouse on the city outskirts; a tall conical building where residents accumulated snow during the winter and which they used like a vast mud-brick fridge. Maybe he paid a visit to a member of the city’s elite who lived in a koshk (a fortress-like home outside the walls removed from the dust and noise of the city).
If he followed the route of the Majan canal, which ran up the middle of the city, past the workshops of embroiderers and weavers, he would reach both Merv’s central mosque and the adjacent monument, the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar. Built in AD1157 to honour the long-ruling Seljuk sultan, the mausoleum was a large, square-shaped building rung with fine arches, capped by a dome sheathed in turquoise-glazed tile. The dome was so intensely blue that according to the Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, who visited Merv in the 13th century, “It could be seen from a day’s journey away.”
The city was known as Marv-i-Shahijan or “Merv the Great”, the largest and most famous of a succession of towns in the Merv oasis. In fact, the city sat alongside an earlier incarnation of Merv just to the east, known as Gyaur-kala (“fortress of the pagans”).
Gyaur-kala flourished under the Sassanid kings of Persia from the third to the seventh centuries AD. Archaeologists have found evidence in this older Merv of a cosmopolitan urban society, boasting communities of Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Manicheans, Christians and Jews. Under Muslim rule from the seventh century onwards, the locus of urban activity shifted west across the Razik canal to what would become Marv-i-Shahijan (also known as Sultan-kala, “fortress of the sultan”). Many of Gyaur-kala’s structures were probably cannibalised for material in the construction of the new Merv, and industrial workshops, kilns and furnaces sprung up amid its ruins.
Merv was famous for its exports, especially its textiles. “From this country is derived much silk as well as cotton of a superior quality under the name of Merv cotton, which is extremely soft,” noted the 12th-century Arab geographer al-Idrisi. Robes and turbans made from Merv cloth were popular around the Islamic world.
So too were Merv’s much-loved melons. “The fruits of Merv are finer than those of any other place,” wrote Ibn Hawqal, a 10th-century Arab chronicler, “and in no other city are to be seen such palaces and groves, and gardens and streams.”
Merv had such a strong reputation for commerce and the pursuit of wealth that the 14th-century Egyptian scribe al-Nuwayri described the city’s chief characteristic as “miserliness”.
But Merv under the Seljuks was also a city of learning and culture. It produced notable poets, mathematicians, astronomers, physicians, musicians and physicists. The polymath Umar Khayyam is known to have spent several years working at the astronomical observatory in Merv. “Of all the countries of Iran,” al-Istakhri wrote of Merv, “these people were noted for their talents and education.” Yaqut al-Hamawi counted at least 10 significant libraries in the city, including one attached to a major mosque that contained 12,000 volumes.
No conquest was as traumatic as its pillage by the Mongols in 1221. Yaqut al-Hamawi was forced to flee the libraries of Merv as the armies of Genghis Khan’s son Tolui advanced upon the city.
“Verily, but for the Mongols I would have stayed and lived and died there, and hardly could I tear myself away,” he wrote sadly. The Mongols laid siege for six days before the city surrendered, prompting one of the worst massacres of the age.
According to the Arab historian Ibn al-Athir, who based his account on the reports of refugees from Merv: “Genghis Khan sat on a golden throne and ordered the troops who had been seized should be brought before him. When they were in front of him, they were executed and the people looked on and wept. When it came to the common people, they separated men, women, children and possessions. It was a memorable day for shrieking and weeping and wailing. They took the wealthy people and beat them and tortured them with all sorts of cruelties in the search for wealth … Then they set fire to the city and burned the tomb of Sultan Sanjar and dug up his grave looking for money. They said, ‘These people have resisted us’ so they killed them all. Then Genghis Khan ordered that the dead should be counted and there were around 700,000 corpses.”
- Lost cities #5: how the magnificent city of Merv was razed – and never recovered
This level of fear is difficult to imagine. As we sit in our comfortable, well furnished homes, and our nice new iPhones and brand new pickup trucks. It seems so far away. Like that war that American are fight for off in west-bumfuck-istan. Something you read about, but don’t really get too concerned about.
The closest thing that approaches this level of fear is a full-scale global thermonuclear war with hyper-velocity MIRV’s targeting the cities within driving distance from your home.
Americans need to wake up to what REAL fear is like before it is too late.
On a personal level…
There have been many, many sad events associated with invasion, war and conflict. Let’s not forget that everything is on a personal level.
War is deeply personal.
It is on a visceral level, where once the society collapses, the military fails, and the rulers flee, it is the individual families that must confront their new fates.
Imagine that the menfolk are off in the local militia fighting off the Mongol horde. The ladies are at the farm. It’s quiet. The rooster is starting to crow, and then suddenly…
About this picture…
It’s just a small story besides great catastrophes and tragedies, but the most memorable thing I have ever learned about is the small family that burned in their own oven while - probably - were trying to hide from Mongol invaders.
Their village - which was destroyed and burned - was dated to be from the 13. century which is the time of the Mongol invasion (1241–42 in Hungary).
Most people could probably escape their settlement as archaeologist only found one other body in a ditch, but they were not that lucky. In the burned house they found an 8–10 years old girl, a 10–11 years old boy, and a 20–30 years old young woman in the oven of the house.
Someone probably ignited their house and as they couldn’t escape they hid in the oven in desperation. They died with their hand protecting their face, probably from the smoke, the boy was holding onto a kitchen tool which he perhaps wanted to use earlier to protect themselves.
-Quora
They used strategy, always doing something new and unexpected.
A single battle can be the turning point in a war, partly due to this psychological warfare.
In the Batlle of Legnica the Mongolians are estimated to have been fighting a force twice its size with a variety of soldiers, including the famed Knights Templar.
A European coalition formed to try and stop the Mongols from entering Europe. The safety of Europe depended on this battle. Partway through the battle the Mongolian forces and began to retreat, and Polish forces charged in, reserves were also sent in to capitalize on this opportunity.
Little did they know, they had fallen for one of Genghis Khan’s most famous tactics, the feigned retreat. The Mongols used feigned retreats to separate the knights from the European infantry, and fight them separately.
As a result the Polish forces were decimated.
Dead horses, men and blood were everywhere. The survivors fled. Leading vast areas of Poland undefended.
The people outside of the cities, in the small towns and villages, often unaware of what was going on, were often surprised by local raiding parties of Mongols. The raids would happen unexpectedly and were often quite brutal and nasty.
They were often killed, or burned alive in their homes.
The Mongols Lied, and failed to keep agreements.
And, aside from that, they also were terrible at keeping promises…
Subutai led an army of 20,000 Mongols against a Russian army 4 times its size.
The Mongol rear guard was defeated early in the battle, and so the rest of the horde was forced to retreat. Mstislav the Bold chased down the retreating Mongols with victory in his eyes. His army spread out as they attempted to catch them, a chase which lasted many days. Mstislav spotted Mongols in formation along the Kalka River, and attacked without waiting for reinforcements. With his army in disarray, Mstislav was forced to retreat back to a fortified camp.
He had fallen for a feigned retreat.
Mstislave surrendered to Subutai with the agreement that neither he, nor any of his men would be harmed. They were all slaughtered upon leaving the camp. Luckily, Mstislav managed to escape. Mstislav the Bold, boldly ran away.
-ESKify
Entire communities were wiped off the face of the Earth. Their leadership, grown fat, complaisant and happy over the decades of a life of leisure, were not at all equipped to deal with fierce, aggressive humans.
Consider Hungary.
This was one of the most devastating battles in European history. 25% of Hungary’s population was wiped out by after the Mongol incursions.
Half of all liveable places had crumbled, smashed to bits by hordes of Mongols. Losses were heavy on both sides, but the Europeans suffered most. This was the most major battle of the war between Hungary and the Mongolians.
-ESKify
Lets look at what happened to some of the various cities that decided to stand up and defy the Mongol armies.
Kaifeng, 1232-33.
Kaifeng was the capital city of the Jurchen Jin dynasty of northern China.
Mongol Siege of Kaifeng, (1232–33). A Mongol army commanded by Subedei captured the northern Chinese Jin dynasty capital, Kaifeng, overcoming defenders equipped with gunpowder bombs. The Jin emperor committed suicide, handing control of Jin territories in northern China to the recently elected Mongol khan, Ogödei.
- Mongol Siege of Kaifeng | Summary | Britannica
At the time of the Mongol siege of Kaifeng, China was roughly divided between three empires, the Xi Xia, the Jurchen Jin, and the Song.
The Jurchen Jin were the predecessors of the Manchus in northern China and they had been at war with the Mongols for about 20 years before Kaifeng actually became a target of Mongol ambitions.
One of the first major cities to be attacked by Mongol armies, Kaifeng was also one of the longest-lasting sieges, as its garrisons used firebombs, gunpowder, and the resources of the entire Jurchen Jin empire to fend off the assault.
The Mongols had learned well from their Chinese prisoners how to conduct sieges.
They built a 54-mile-long wooden wall of contravallation to hem in Kaifeng’s one million frightened inhabitants.
Contravallation definition, a more or less continuous chain of redoubts and breastworks raised by besiegers outside the line of circumvallation of a besieged place to protect the besiegers from attacks from the outside, as by a relieving force.
- Contravallation | Definition of Contravallation
In addition to the almost 150,000 Mongols conducting the siege, the Song sent 300,000 troops to help finish off their Jin enemies. For six days, the Mongol and Song armies assaulted Kaifeng’s wall but took thousands of casualties from a dreaded weapon called a ho pao, a long bamboo tube filled with incendiaries that could be lit with a fuse or thrown into siege engines from holes in the walls to explode with such force that it left craters in the ground and burned everyone in the immediate vicinity.
Thousands of Mongol and Song Chinese troops died in assaults against Kaifeng’s stout walls.
It was clear to Subedei that a long siege was needed to reduce the Jin capital. Plague soon broke out in Kaifeng, and Subedei withdrew his forces to let the disease destroy his enemies while the Mongol and Song armies remained plague-free.
Within a month, the Jin emperor committed suicide. Soon afterwards the Mongol and Song armies broke into Kaifeng and began massacring the population.
Ogedei ordered the massacre to be stopped and aid brought to the suffering people. Subedei wanted to massacre the entire Jin population and turn the farmland into grazing fields for Mongol horses, but Ogedei overruled him.
Ogedei’s Chinese advisers had convinced him that the Jin population would provide lucrative taxes, craftsmen, and soldiers for future Mongol conquests. The Jin held out until 1234 before being overwhelmed by the combined Mongol and Song forces, ending the Jin dynasty forever.
XiXia, the capital of Zhongxing
The Xi Xia capital of Zhongxing presented a new problem for the Mongols, who had little experience in siege warfare.
In an earlier siege of the walled city of Volohai, the Mongols had attempted a series of suicidal assaults with scaling ladders that failed, and they suffered heavy casualties in the fighting.
Genghis offered to lift the siege of the city provided the residents gave the Mongols 1,000 cats and 10,000 swallows in cages. The puzzled citizens of Volohai quickly granted the request—and just as quickly lived to regret it when the animals fled back into the city with tufts of flaming wool tied to each of them by the Mongols.
Soon, the whole city was ablaze. While the defenders were occupied with putting out the fire, the Mongols scaled the now undefended walls and massacred the inhabitants.
Genghis did not want to face a similar costly assault of the walls of Zhongxing.
Instead, he decided to break the dikes on the Huang River and flood the city below.
The plan backfired, however, when the Mongol camp itself was flooded and hundreds of troops were swept away by the raging waters.
To make matters worse, the move left two feet of standing water for miles around the city, in effect creating a ready-made moat.
The Mongols retreated into the surrounding hills but returned in force in 1210. Xi Xia Emperor Li Anquan, not wishing to face another siege, agreed to give his daughter Chaka to Genghis Khan as a wife and to pay tribute to the Mongols as a vassal state.
Genghis demanded and received another 1,000 young men and women, 3,000 horses, and vast quantities of gold, jewelry, and silk.
The Xi Xia later rebelled in 1218 and 1223 because they tired of providing the Mongols with so many men to fight in their wars of conquest, but these rebellions were brutally put down.
-Warfare History Network
Hangzhou (Lin’an), 1276.
Lin’an, or Hangzhou, was the capital city of the Song dynasty, which ruled over the much wealthier, much more powerful southern part of China.
Thesiegelastedfiveyears, butafullblockadewasnotwonforthree. Afterthecity'ssurrenderin 1273, theSongcourtwasindisarrayanddecidedtosendoutaforceof 130,000 mentomeettheMongols, butlostdecisively. TheMongolstookHangzhouin 1276 andcleanedupSongloyalistsinthenextfewyears.
- How did the mighty China lose to Mongols? : AskHistorians
The long campaign to conquer all of China went through Song lands, and the Mongols had an incredibly tough time making their way to Hangzhou.
The capital city of the wealthiest polity in China, Lin’an was also one of the largest in the world and housed merchants (and their religious sites) from all over Asia.
In this international city, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism all competed for the hearts and minds (and money) of Hangzhou’s citizens.
The city of Hangzhou refused an offer to surrender peacefully and the Mongols had to fight their way in.
The siege of Hangzhou is less famous than many of the Mongols’ other sieges, despite the splendor of Hangzhou, because the royal family, headed by a child and run by a widowed empress – gave up and surrendered rather quickly.
Of course, once it was occupied it was burned to the ground. As usual, the Mongols massacred the city’s inhabitants.
Xiangyang, 1267-73.
The Song dynasty was by far the most powerful enemy that the Mongols faced in their conquest of Eurasia. It was larger, wealthier, more populated, and had a better educated populace than any other polity in the world at the time.
OncetheMongolforcesoccupied Xiangyang, theycouldtravelbyshipsdowntheHanriverintotheYangtzeriver. AftertheBattleof Xiangyang, Chinacouldnotenjoytheprotectionofnaturalbarriersanymoreandsoitcollapsedinjustafewyears.
- Battle of Xiangyang - Wikipedia
The siege of Xiangyang, which lasted six years, was actually a siege of the twin cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng, which were both heavily fortified and served as the gateway to Song lands.
In battle, a historian wrote, “the Mongols made the fullest use of the terror inspired by their physique, their ugliness, and their stench.” Mongols were narrow-waisted and small-footed, with big heads. They shaved their hair short on the backs and tops of their heads and left it long at the sides. Custom forbade them from ever washing their clothes. Also contributing to their smell might have been their diet, which at certain times of the year was mainly mare’s milk. On marches when there wasn’t time to milk, Mongol riders would open a vein in their horses’ necks and drink the blood, either straight or from a pouch. Mongols were especially fond of fermented mare’s milk, called kumis. Many Mongol nobles died young from drunkenness. After victories, Mongols sometimes celebrated by drinking kumis while sitting on benches made of planks tied to the backs of their prisoners.
-The New Yorker
The Mongols had unsuccessfully laid siege to Xiangyang before, and gave up in order to conquer Russia and the entire Middle East instead.
Mongol generals brought engineers from the Middle East to oversee the building and use of new trebuchets that eventually gave the invaders their victory over Xiangyang’s defenders.
With the fall of the twin cities, Mongols were free to overrun the rest of the Song dynasty’s territory. Most historians consider the sacking of Xiangyang to be the official end of the southern Song dynasty, and with it the cultural and economic power of old China.
Routing the Jin
In 1210, an emissary of the newly installed Jin emperor, Prince Wei, appeared before Genghis and demanded his submission and a tribute paid to the Jin.
An infuriated Genghis answered that it was the Jin who needed to pay tribute to him; he spat on the ground as a gesture of defiance. With his flank secured by the conquest of Xi Xia, Genghis was ready to attack the mighty Jin Dynasty.
In 1211, 30,000 Mongol troops under Genghis’s greatest general, Subedei, assaulted the Great Wall. The Mongols brought up groups of archers who cleared an area of wall while other Mongols scaled the wall with ladders and took possession of sections of it. The Jin rushed in reinforcements and recaptured the lost sections of the Great Wall. Thousands died on both sides as the fighting continued back and forth for several days.
The Jin brought most of their army to back up the forces defending the Great Wall. What the Jin didn’t know was that Subedei’s attack was merely a diversion.
Some 200 miles to the west, Genghis and a force of 90,000 Mongols were crossing the Great Wall at its end in the Gobi Desert. The Onguts, a tribe similar to the Mongols, were supposed to be guarding the western end of the Great Wall for the Chin, but they defected to Genghis and allowed the Mongols to cross into China unmolested.
After Genghis’s cavalry poured into China, Subedei’s force broke off its attack and crossed over into China from the end of the Great Wall as well.
The Jin forces were now out of position and moved to cut off the Mongols from Beijing. Genghis’s cavalry caught close to 200,000 Jin troops on open ground near Badger Pass, where the Jin hoped to block the Mongols from advancing any farther.
The Jin formed for battle with the pike phalanxes and crossbowmen in the middle and armored heavy cavalry on the flanks. The outnumbered Mongol heavy cavalry engaged in a hotly contested battle on the flanks with the Jin cavalry as the densely packed Jin phalanxes and their crossbowmen held off the Mongol horse archers.
Suddenly, Subedei’s remaining 27,000 Mongols (3,000 had died at the Great Wall) showed up on the battlefield on the flanks and rear of the Jin army. The rout was on.
After the Jin cavalry was defeated, the Jin pikemen, half of whom were militia conscripts, broke and ran. They were cut down by the Mongol cavalry or trampled by their own terrified horsemen.
Bodies stacked “like rotten logs” littered the ground for more than 30 miles. Genghis then separated his army into three forces that burned, pillaged, raped, and murdered the populations of 90 cities over the next six months.
Despite the awful destruction, the Jin would not surrender. Genghis became frustrated by the enormous size and scope of a nation-state like the Jin.
He entered into negotiations with the emperor and agreed not to attack any more cities. The Mongols had already captured well over 100,000 Chinese prisoners; to make a negotiating point, Genghis had them executed.
Beijing
In response to the losses due to the invasion by Genghis Khan, the Jin moved their capital farther south, from Beijing to Kaifeng, and began rebuilding their armies.
Genghis was angered by the move, which he considered a betrayal of trust, and looked for an opportunity to attack the Jin again.
In the spring of 1213, the Jin attacked the Mongol-allied Khitan tribe in Manchuria.
Genghis came to the aid of his Khitan allies and attacked the Jin armies in Manchuria, which fell back to their fortifications at Nankuo Pass.
The Mongols were blocked from attacking Beijing by the well-fortified Jin positions at the pass and by the eastern sections of the Great Wall. The Mongols headed into the pass and then retreated. It was all a ruse.
The Jin forces hurried to trap the fleeing Mongols, recklessly leaving their fortified positions to pursue them.
The Mongols led the Jin forces into their own trap and destroyed most of the Jin army.
Those Jin troops that had not pursued the Mongols fled their fortified positions and retreated to the Great Wall, with the Mongols in hot pursuit.
The Mongols caught and destroyed the remaining Jin troops as they tried frantically to retreat through the Great Wall. The Mongols then passed through the open gates of the Great Wall.
The Mongols began besieging the more than one million residents of Beijing. Beijing was a tough nut to crack, with walls and moats that extended more than nine miles around the city, and was watched over by 900 towers.
The city’s defenders had double and triple crossbow ballistae and trebuchet catapults that fired clay pots filled with naphtha-like incendiaries that exploded and set on fire whatever they hit.
The Jin also introduced one of the first poison gas weapons in history, firing projectiles bound in wax and paper of 70 pounds of dried human waste, ground-up poisonous herbs, roots, and beetles packed in gunpowder.
The projectiles were lit with a fuse and fired from a trebuchet, creating a deadly cloud of toxic fumes that killed or disabled anyone unfortunate enough to breathe in the poisonous dust.
The Jin also had clay-pot firebombs filled with incendiaries to throw from the walls and hot oil to pour down on attackers.
The Mongols launched attacks against the walls with ladders, but lost dozens of men to the incendiaries and the hot oil.
The Mongols then forced Jin prisoners to build and push forward siege engines and serve as human shields for the attackers. Jin soldiers would recognize family and friends among the captives and hold their fire.
Many Jin prisoners were killed from missed crossbow fire aimed at the Mongols and from the bombs used to burn down the siege engines before they could get into the city.
The Mongols and their Chinese human shields dug trenches covered by cowhide up to the walls to undermine them, but the Jin dropped firebombs from chains onto the trenches that exploded with such force that they left only smoldering craters and no intact human remains.
The siege dragged on for a year as starvation and disease began killing people on both sides of the walls, but the defenders, with more than a million people to feed, had the worst of it.
Two Jin relief columns loaded down with food were intercepted by the Mongols, and some defenders in Beijing turned to cannibalism to survive.
In June 1215, the Jin commander escaped to Kaifeng, where he was executed by the emperor for leaving his post.
The desperate people of Beijing then opened the gates of the city to the Mongols, who ransacked the city and massacred thousands in revenge for their ordeal. The city was set on fire. Thousands of girls ran to the city’s steepest walls and threw themselves to their deaths to escape the flames and the unwanted amorous attention of the Mongols.
A year later, the ambassador of Khwarezm described seeing mountains of bones inside and outside of what had been the greatest city in the world.
Moscow, 1382.
By 1382, Mongol power in Russia had waned considerably.
So much so, in fact, that Moscow’s rulers felt confident enough to challenge the authority of the Golden Horde on the field of battle.
After a string of light victories against Mongol cavalry earlier in the year, the Mongols showed up with a large force on the doorstep of Moscow, promising to spare its inhabitants if it surrendered.
The poor fools in Moscow believed the Mongols, and 24,000 people were slaughtered as the Mongols sacked the city once again.
The siege of Moscow (one of many) reasserted Mongol control over Russia for nearly 100 more years before the Russians were finally able throw off the infamous yoke of the Golden Horde.
When the Mongols invaded the Russian town of Yaroslavl in 1238, almost nobody was spared.
Hundreds were slaughtered brutally and dumped into mass graves as the town was completely sacked. Nearly 800 years later, researchers have given us a chilling glimpse of the victims left behind.
After the slaughter, Mongol raiders buried the dead in pits by the dozens with no markers to distinguish who these poor victims even were, wrote LiveScience.
But one pit of the dead in particular stood out after scientists of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology began genetically analyzing three of its 15 corpses.
Researchers found that the three murdered townsfolk buried together in the dirt were a woman, her daughter, and her grandson.
Moscow’s research team found that the eldest of the three corpses was at least 55 years old before she died. Her daughter was between 30 and 40, while her grandson was younger than 20.
They were buried in one of nine pits found at Yaroslavl, which altogether held more than 300 bodies.
- Researchers Uncover Horrors Of Russian ‘City Drowned In Blood’ By The Mongols In 1238
As for Yaroslavl as a whole, Mongols led by Genghis Khan’s grandson Batu Khan destroyed the town not long after advancing into Russia.
Nonetheless, enough buildings and artifacts survived to tell us a little something about the area, namely that it was a wealthy one. Scientists determined this by noting the tooth decay present in the three bodies in question and noting that the honey and sugar that could cause this were only available to those with substantial means at the time.
Beyond the three generations of one family left slaughtered in a pit, the scene at Yaroslavl showed just how brutal its conquest was. Batu Khan invaded towns like Yaroslavl with utter indifference, ultimately taking more than a dozen places in present-day Russia.
In just five years, he wiped out seven percent of Russia’s population.
When the Russian Grand Prince refused to submit to the Mongols, Genghis Khan’s grandson simply burned the capital city to the ground — with the royal family and every inhabitant inside.
- Researchers Uncover Horrors Of Russian ‘City Drowned In Blood’ By The Mongols In 1238
The brutality that has made the conquest of Yaroslavl unforgettable for many Russians was certainly on display in the way the victims’ bodies were treated after death.
Prior analysis suggested that the three family members, for example, were buried in February 1238. But recent evidence in the form of preserved maggots in their remains indicated otherwise. In fact, new evidence shows that the bodies were probably decomposing in the open air for months before they were buried.
“These people were killed, and their bodies remained lying in the snow for a fairly long time,” Engovatova said.
“In April or May, flies started to multiply on the remains, and in late May or early June, they were buried in a pit on the homestead, which is where they probably had lived.”
Fittingly, Engovatova described Yaroslavl after the attack as a “city drowned in blood.”
The skeletons of the three family members as well as the remains of the other victims — including punctured, broken, and burned bones in the hundreds of buried bodies — certainly suggest that to be true.
- Researchers Uncover Horrors Of Russian ‘City Drowned In Blood’ By The Mongols In 1238
Kiev, 1240.
There is a convincing argument to be made that during the medieval era in Europe, the Slavic world’s cultural, political, and economic epicenter was Kiev rather than Moscow or Warsaw.
The Mongols had so many oxen and cattle that they were able to carry all kinds of stuff with them—entire houses, and even temples—on giant carts. Observers said the number of Mongol horses was beyond counting, every warrior possessing many remounts.
Mongols spent so much time on horseback that they grew up bowlegged. If a Mongol had to move any distance farther than a hundred paces, he jumped on a horse and rode. A contemporary Russian annal describes the Mongol army approaching the walls of Kiev:
“The rattling of their innumerable carts, the bellowing of camels and cattle, the neighing of horses, and the wild battle-cry, were so overwhelming as to render inaudible the conversation of the people inside the city.”
Of necessity, the Mongols did most of their conquering and plundering during the warmer seasons, when there was sufficient grass for their herds.
-The New Yorker
When the Mongols invaded Europe and plundered Kiev in 1240, the collapse of Kiev indeed proved crucial to the invading army’s success in pillaging Europe’s surprisingly defenseless countryside.
Unlike China, which had a densely populated countryside and a few well-fortified cities, or the Middle East, which had virtually no countryside and many well-fortified urban areas, Europe was comparatively rural, or semi-rural .
This meant that small urban areas like Kiev fell easily to the Mongol hordes, but it also made it harder for Mongol administrators to govern and tougher for the Mongol military to plunder, siege, and demoralize the populace.
None of this stopped the Mongols from wreaking havoc on eastern Europe, of course, but it does help to explain, in part, why khanates in Europe did not share the successes of their contemporaries in the Middle East, western India, and China.
Oh, by the way, the Mongols slaughtered 48,000 of the 50,000 people living in Kiev when the city’s defenses collapsed.
Baghdad, 1258.
The fall of Baghdad was in a class of it’s own.
(General) Tamerlane’s thing was building pyramids out of heads.
When his forces took Baghdad, he spared almost no one, and ordered that each of his ninety thousand soldiers bring him a head (some sources say two) or lose his own life.
The thousands of heads were piled into towers.
Tamerlane also said not to destroy hospitals and mosques, a small concession by a Muslim to the former capital of his faith.
Nonetheless, thanks to him and to Hulagu, almost no architecture from the golden days of Harun al-Rashid has survived.
Baghdad would not be a city of any consequence for another five hundred years, until its strategic location and Iraq’s oil attracted the attention of world powers.
Many Muslims believe that the Mongol destruction of Baghdad and of the caliphate was the worst misfortune ever to befall Islam. With it, the faith’s first period of flowering came to a decisive close (though its actual decline had, of course, begun earlier).
Historical speculations about what might have been if the disaster had never occurred go in various directions, some tending toward the wild.
A book on Arab cultural identity published in the nineteen-fifties quoted a high official in the Syrian government who said that if the Mongols hadn’t destroyed the libraries of Baghdad, Arab science would have produced the atom bomb long before the West.
Recently, when TV stations everywhere were replaying the video of a U.S. marine shooting a wounded prisoner in a mosque in Falluja, a newspaper story about Arab reaction to the incident said that a retired army officer in Cairo said that the Americans were “acting like Genghis Khan.” He had the wrong Mongol, but his drift was ancient and familiar.
-The New Yorker
Baghdad was the technological, cultural, and societal center of the civilized world.
As happens with most golden eras, Baghdad’s quickly ended.
A century after Harun al-Rashid, the city’s influence and glory had declined. Political changes made the caliph less powerful, limiting his temporal domain to Baghdad and nearest regions, though Sunni Muslims in other places still accepted his spiritual authority. The city remained a center of wealth and commerce, and an imposing sight architecturally.
A Spanish pilgrim, Ibn Jubayr, who visited Baghdad in 1184, wrote, “The Tigris . . . runs between its eastern and its western parts . . . like a string of pearls between two breasts.” He noted the beauty of the caliph’s palace reflected in the water.
Caliph Mustasim, the thirty-seventh in the Abbassid line, who became caliph in 1242, had confidence that his house would reign until Resurrection Day. Rumors of the approach of the Mongol army in 1257 did not worry him. During the reign of his father, the armies of the caliph had been among a very few opponents to defeat and turn back the Mongols.
From deep in Mongolia (General) Hulagu set out in 1253, marching westward at the head of a large force that included siege-engine experts of several nationalities.
His trebuchets could hurl huge rocks, and smaller stones covered in flaming naphtha, and his arbalesters could shoot bolts dipped in burning pitch a distance of twenty-five hundred paces.
Hulagu’s brother Mongke Khan told him to subdue the people he encountered as he continued all the way to Egypt, being kind to those who submitted and killing or enslaving the rest.
The Mongols took eighteen months crossing Asia as far as Afghanistan.
There and in the mountains of Persia they stopped to conquer the Assassins, an extreme Shiite sect that terrorized neighboring rulers by sending young men on suicide missions to kill them. The young men were drugged with hashish (source of the word “assassin”) and were told that when they died they would immediately go to Paradise, where women and other pleasures awaited.
In no-quarter sieges, Hulagu battered the Assassins out of their mountain fortresses with his heavy weapons, and then destroyed them root and branch.
Later historians agreed that in this, at least, he did the world a favor.
By 1257, Hulagu had reached western Persia.
From there he sent emissaries to the caliph telling him to raze the walls of Baghdad and fill in the moat and come in person to make obeisance to Hulagu.
The caliph replied that with all of Islam ready to defend him, he did not fear.
He advised Hulagu to go back where he came from.
The Mongol army had recently received reinforcements from other Mongol hordes, and a contingent of Christian cavalry from Georgia.
Perhaps the Mongols had eight hundred and fifty thousand soldiers; certainly they had more than a hundred thousand.
In November of 1257, they marched on toward Baghdad, dividing as they approached so that their forces would surround the city. The caliph sent an army to stop those approaching from the west, and repulsed them in an early battle.
In the next encounter, the Mongols broke some dikes and flooded the ground behind the caliph’s army, and slaughtered or drowned them all.
Mustasim, the caliph, was not of a character equal to such large problems. He is described as a weak, vacillating layabout who liked to drink sherbet and keep company with musicians and clowns.
Worse, from a strategic point of view, Mustasim had recently angered the Shiites by various insults and offenses, such as throwing the poem of a famous Shiite poet in the river.
Now vengeful Shiites volunteered help to the Mongols in Mosul and other places along their march.
The caliph’s vizier, or chief minister, was himself a Shiite of uncertain loyalty. Islamic opinion afterward held that the vizier, al-Alkamzi, vilely betrayed the caliph and conspired with the Mongols; an exhortation in Muslim school books used to say, “Let him be cursed of God who curses not al-Alkamzi.”
As fighting began, Hulagu, acknowledging the importance of Shiite support, prudently posted guard detachments of a hundred Mongol horsemen at the most sacred Shiite shrines in Najef and Karbala.
On January 29, 1258, Hulagu’s forces took up a position on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad and began a bombardment.
Soon they had breached the outer wall.
The caliph, who had been advised against escaping by his vizier, offered to negotiate. Hulagu, with the city practically in his hands, refused.
The upshot was that the caliph and his retinue came out of the city, the remainder of his army followed, they laid down their arms, and the Mongols killed almost everybody.
Hulagu told Baghdad’s Christians to stay in a church, which he put off-limits to his soldiers. Then, for a period of seven days, the Mongols sacked the city, killing (depending on the source) two hundred thousand, or eight hundred thousand, or more than a million.
The Mongols’ Georgian Christian allies were said to have particularly distinguished themselves in slaughter.
Plunderers threw away their swords and filled their scabbards with gold. Silver and jewels and gold piled up in great heaps around Hulagu’s tent.
Fire consumed the caliph’s palace, and the smoke from its beams of aloe wood, sandalwood, and ebony filled the air with fragrance for a distance of a hundred li. (A li equalled five hundred bow lengths—a hundred li was maybe thirty miles.)
So many books from Baghdad’s libraries were flung into the Tigris that a horse could walk across on them. The river ran black with scholars’ ink and red with the blood of martyrs.
The stories of what Hulagu did to the caliph vary.
One says that Hulagu toyed with him a while, dining with him and discussing theology and pretending to be his guest. A famous account describes how Hulagu imprisoned the caliph in a roomful of treasure and brought him gold on a tray instead of food. The caliph protested that he could not eat gold, and Hulagu asked him why he hadn’t used his money to strengthen his army and defend against the Mongols. The caliph said, “That was the will of God.” Hulagu replied, “What will happen to you is the will of God, also,” leaving him among the treasure to starve.
Many sources agree that there was fear of an earthquake or other shock to nature occurring if the caliph’s sacred blood was spilled. Learned Shiites advised Hulagu that no catastrophes had followed the bloody deaths of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, or the Shiite saint Hosein, so he should go ahead.
To be safe, Hulagu had the caliph wrapped in a carpet and then trodden to death by horses.
He also killed all the caliph’s family, except for his youngest son and a daughter. The daughter was shipped off to Mongolia to be a slave in the harem of Mongke Khan.
-The New Yorker
The Mongols took all of 12 days to destroy several centuries worth of cultural, political, and scientific achievements. All was left in ruin…
Hulagu left three thousand Mongols in Baghdad to rebuild it, but they did not accomplish much.
Decades later, it was still mostly a ruin.
Some irrigation systems that the Mongol army destroyed were not repaired until Iraq began to get money from its oil in the twentieth century. Mongols had no real talent for building, anyway.
Plague and famine and disintegration followed the Mongol incursion. Places they conquered sometimes had to be re-subdued.
The city of Mosul, which had submitted almost eagerly to Mongol rule at first, changed its attitude afterward, when a new malik, or prince, came to power there. Under his leadership the inhabitants of Mosul—Kurds, Arabs, and some tribal people—rebelled and forted themselves up behind the city walls, and the Mongols put them under siege.
During one attack, a number of Mongol soldiers climbed over Mosul’s walls, only to be surrounded and killed to a man. The defenders then cut off the Mongols’ heads, put the heads in a catapult, and fired them back at the Mongols outside.
This effrontery brought out Hulagu’s sternest side.
After his forces finally took the city, he ordered the malik to be brought to him. Then he had the malik fastened tightly inside a fresh sheepskin and left in the sun, where vermin ate him alive for a month until he died.
-The New Yorker
Aleppo, 1260.
In 1219 Genghis Khan went to war against the Khwarezm Empire in present-day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
The sultan there had agreed to a trade treaty, but when the first caravan arrived its goods were stolen and its merchants were killed.
The sultan then murdered some of Genghis Khan’s ambassadors.
Despite once again being outnumbered, the Mongol horde swept through one Khwarezm city after another, including Bukhara, Samarkand and Urgench.
Skilled workers such as carpenters and jewelers were usually saved, while aristocrats and resisting soldiers were killed. Unskilled workers, meanwhile, were often used as human shields during the next assault.
No one knows with any certainty how many people died during Genghis Khan’s wars, in part because the Mongols propagated their vicious image as a way of spreading terror.
-History.com
The Mongol siege of Aleppo wasn’t all that noteworthy, and the city itself wasn’t all that important to any of the players involved in the Mongol conquest of the caliphate, but Aleppo is today a famous city (notwithstanding former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson’s famous gaffe) for all the wrong reasons.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Aleppo fell to the Mongols in six days, and like most of the Muslim cities that were conquered by the Mongol hordes, Aleppo’s citizens were callously slaughtered.
The Great Mosque of Aleppo, one of the few bright spots in the city’s long, mostly sad history, was also razed. (The Mongol general who led the siege, Hulagu Khan, executed some his local ally’s leaders, who were Christian, for this travesty.)
Bukhara, 1220.
Located along the Silk Road, Bukhara was at the time of the Mongol invasion of Persia a flourishing center of intellectual and commercial activity, and not just throughout Persia but the whole Muslim world.
Scholars, merchants, and mercenaries from Bukhara were famed as far away as China and Germany.
It is estimated that 30,000 people died after the Mongols conquered Bukhara, a result of most of the city surrendering but not the garrison.
Thirty thousand was a “moderate” number of people to be killed for Bukhara’s equally moderate resistance to the Mongol hordes.
The Mongol invasion of Persia, which was ruled by the Khwarazmian dynasty at the time, happened just as the empire was emerging from expansionary conquests of its own. This meant that the Khwarazmians, while technically governing Persia, had little actual power in the region, and the resistance to the marauding Mongols highlights Persian weakness well.
Samarkand, 1220.
... his armies moved west and targeted Persia in 1219, where the Sultan had, in an act of extreme foolhardiness, deliberately provoked Genghis by shaving off the beards of two of his ambassadors and killing a third.
Samarkand, that glorious city on the Silk Road, fell in 1220, despite the defenders’ super-weapon of two dozen war elephants.
McLynn dismisses the oft-quoted figure of 50,000 killed there in a single day (note the limited time span), but admits ‘it is clear that the death toll was terrific and unacceptable’.
-Spectator
Samarkand, the makeshift, emergency capital city of the Khwarazmian dynasty, was much larger than Bukhara and much better fortified. (Samarkand, was made a legitimate, non-emergency capital by Tamerlane 150 years after the Mongol siege and conquest.)
The Mongols used prisoners as body shields during the assault, and pulled off a brilliant tactical stunt when they collectively feigned retreat, drawing out the Persian garrison, only to turn on the careless attackers and slaughter them in the open field of battle.
Due to the fame of Samarkand far and wide, Genghis Khan spared the inhabitants of the city but did loot it and conscripted another estimated 60,000 for military service or craftsmanship. This left Samarkand, glorious from the time of Alexander the Great, empty of people and empty of riches.
Lahore, 1241.
Lahore is today the largest city in the Punjabi world, and one of the most important cities in all of Pakistan.
In 1241, when the Mongols laid siege to it for the first time, Lahore had already been abandoned for Delhi by elites who were worried about the unrest caused by the Mongol invasions in neighboring countries.
When Persia fell, for example, some of the Khwarazmian dynasty’s elite fled to Lahore, where they conquered the city and tried to establish a new dynasty.
The locals retook Lahore from the fleeing Persians, but this confusion only weakened the city and by the time the Mongol horde arrived in 1241, Lahore was ripe for the plucking.
The Mongols soon lost the city to yet another reconquest by the locals, but this back-and-forth between the marauding Mongols and the local elites rendered Lahore, once a prominent center of Islamic education and culture, a frontier urban area, fit only for fighting and brusque commerce with non-urban peoples.
Lahore’s frontier status, while bad for this once-prestigious city, enable the Indian subcontinent to largely avoid the fate of China, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
Genghis Khan Diverted A River Through An Enemy’s Birthplace To Erase It Off The Map
When Genghis Khan found the Muslim kingdom of Khwarezmia, he did
something unusual: He took the peaceful route. A group of diplomats were
sent to the city, hoping to establish a trade route and diplomatic
ties.
The governor of Khwarezmia, though, didn’t trust them. He thought the
diplomats were part of a Mongolian conspiracy and had them executed. He
killed the next group they sent, too.
Genghis Khan was furious. He had tried to be nice, and he’d been
repaid with dead diplomats. He set up an army of 200,000 soldiers,
attacked, and completely destroyed Khwarezmia.
Even after he’d won, Khan sent two armies to burn down every castle,
town, and farm they found to make sure that no hint of Khwarezmia
survived. According to one story, he even diverted a river to run
through the emperor’s birthplace, just to make sure it would never
appear on a map again.
Genghis Khan Erased A Kingdom From History For Not Helping Him
When Genghis Khan attacked Khwarezmia, he asked the conquered kingdom of Xi Xia to send him troops. They refused. Xi Xia tried to take a bold stand against their oppressor, and they quickly regretted it. The Mongolian army swarmed through Xi Xia, destroying everything that they found. They systematically exterminated every member of the population.
They hadn’t written down their own stories, so the only records of their existence came from neighboring countries. Their language wasn’t recovered for more than 700 years. It took until the mid-20th century for archaeologists to unearth stones that had their writing on them. In the meantime, every word they had spoken was forgotten.
Genghis Khan died during the battle, most likely from being thrown from his horse. Still, the Mongolian army carried out his work. They slaughtered every person they found, even after their leader was dead and their enemy had surrendered.
The Yuan Dynasty
In 1251, Mongke was elected Great Khan and decided to intensify the war with the Song Dynasty.
In 1253, some 100,000 Mongols and their Chinese allies captured Dali and Yunnan and crossed through Laos to attack the Song Empire’s southern flank.
The next year, the Mongols clashed with more than 100,000 Song troops and 1,000 war elephants near the Laotian border. The Mongol horses would not charge the elephants, so the Mongols dismounted and fired flaming arrows to kill or enrage the great animals, which became uncontrollable and randomly killed men on both sides.
The battle degenerated into a chaotic hand-to-hand battle.
Both armies virtually annihilated each other, and the Mongols withdrew into Laos with only 20,000 men.
In 1257, Mongke made the mistake of invading Da Viet (North Vietnam) and lost most of the rest of his men and horses to disease in the intense tropical conditions.
In 1258, Mongke pulled together 300,000 Mongol and Chinese soldiers to face a massive army of over 400,000 Song Chinese troops under General Wang Jian in Sichuan.
In 1259, the two sides met at the Battle of Diaoyucheng. During the battle, Mongke collapsed and died from cholera and dysentery. The battle ended in stalemate, with more than 100,000 dead on both sides, including Wang Jian.
The new commanding Song general, Jia Sidao, collaborated with Genghis Khan’s grandson, Prince Kublai, and worked out a deal whereby the Song army would occupy Sichuan under Mongol authority.
The Death of Genghis, the Ascension of Ogedei
Despite the overwhelming victories, the Mongols were trapped in a long war of attrition in China.
Rather than finish the conquest of the Jin, Genghis became sidetracked in 1217 in the destruction of Khwarezm (Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan), an Islamic holocaust in which more than a million people were massacred by the Mongols.
During the campaign to conquer Khwarezm, the Mongols brought in thousands of Chinese engineers, siege engines, and crews to help reduce Islamic fortifications.
In 1223, Genghis turned his attention back on the Jin.
He sent a trusted general, Mukhulai, with 100,000 troops to attack Chang’an, which was defended by 200,000 Jin troops. Mukhulai became ill and died. As soon as this happened, the Xi Xia troops abandoned the Mongol army, which in turn caused the siege to be abandoned.
Genghis then hunted down and killed the Xi Xia troops who had deserted his army.
Genghis himself died in 1227, probably from typhus, while planning yet another massive invasion of Jin.
His son, Ogedei, ascended the throne and sent envoys to the Jin, who promptly had them executed. Meanwhile, Subedei was to conduct one last effort to conquer the Jin in 1231. The Jin armies all faced north to prevent Subedei’s 120,000 Mongols from crossing the Yellow River. Subudei sent a general named Tuli with 30,000 Mongols on an arduous journey across the western Chinese mountains of Sichuan and through Song territory into southern Jin territory.
The Jin panicked, thinking the Mongol force was much bigger than it was.
The Jin repositioned the majority of their troops to the south and began pursuing the Mongols with a massive force of over 300,000 men. The Mongols retreated as planned into the Sichuan Mountains as the huge Jin army followed them.
The Mongols fought a tenacious rearguard action with their archers in the rough mountain terrain, killing thousands of pursuing Jin. The Mongols led the Jin higher and deeper into the snow-covered mountains, where additional thousands froze to death or fell off the icy trails.
The Mongols circled back through the mountain passes and destroyed the Jin baggage trains, adding starvation to the woes the Jin troops were already enduring.
Once Subedei had the main Jin army trapped in the mountains of Sichuan, he moved his 120,000 Mongols across the Yellow River against the much smaller Jin forces.
The Jin belatedly realized their mistake and began desperately trying to get their main army out of the mountains to defend the capital.
The Jin retreat turned into a rout as Tuli’s and Subedei’s forces massacred the entire Jin army without mercy on the open ground within sight of Kaifeng.
A Five-Year Siege of the twin fortress cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng.
In 1265, a Chinese allied naval force destroyed 100 Song ships in a river battle, and Mongol troops defeated the isolated Song army to regain control of part of Sichuan.
The key to conquering the Song was capturing the twin fortress cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng.
Both cities had thick walls with wide moats protecting the convergence of the Han and Yellow Rivers.
In 1268, the Mongols built fortifications downriver from Xiangyang on the Han River to cut off resupply of the city by ship. Never the less, most Song ships were able to run by the Mongol forts and resupply Xiangyang and Fancheng.
Chinese ships allied with the Mongols were brought in to block the passage between the Mongol forts. More than 20 miles of siege lines were built around Xiangyang and Fancheng on both sides of the Han River.
The Mongols and their Chinese engineers set up trebuchets and began firing incendiary clay bombs and exploding biochemical projectiles they had learned from the Jin at the siege of Beijing in 1215.
The Song fired incendiary bombs and biochemical projectiles at the Mongols as well, causing great destruction and loss of life on both sides. The Mongols had to pull back after their wooden siege walls and trebuchets caught fire from the bombardments, leaving the Mongols with no cover, while the Song defenders took shelter behind the twin cities’ stout rock and masonry walls.
In 1269, Kublai Khan sent another 20,000 troops to replace those in the previous year’s fighting. More than 3,000 Song ships attacked the Mongol forts on the Han River in an effort to break the blockade, but 500 ships were sunk by Kublai Khan’s brilliant admiral Liu Cheng, who had defected to the Mongols.
Mongol and Chinese troops clambered aboard the Song vessels and beheaded hundreds of Song soldiers and sailors.
The besieged Song tried several unsuccessful attempts to break out but were defeated each time with thousands of casualties.
In 1271, 100 Song ships successfully broke through a boom across the Han River to bring 3,000 soldiers and much-needed supplies to reinforce Xiangyang.
The siege dragged on with no real advantage for either side until Kublai Khan decided to send a Muslim engineer captured during the siege of Baghdad to China to build a giant 40-ton trebuchet that could hurl 220-pound projectiles more than 600 feet to breach the cities’ walls.
After a few days, a breach was opened and Mongol troops stormed through to meet the Chinese defenders.
For days, men fought and died in the vicious battle at the breach.
The Song were able to throw more soldiers into Fancheng to defend the breach from a pontoon bridge that connected Xiangyang across the Han River.
The Mongols called off the assault on the breach and used their giant trebuchet to widen the breach and destroy the pontoon bridge. Incendiary bombs fired from the trebuchet struck the bridge and consumed it.
With Fancheng cut off from reinforcements, the Mongols assaulted the widened breach. The disheartened defenders held on for several hours before resistance broke and the Mongols poured into the city and began massacring the inhabitants.
The Mongols took the last 3,000 Song soldiers and 7,000 inhabitants to the walls facing Xiangyang and in full view slit the prisoners’ throats and threw them off the wall.
The Mongols then dismantled their giant trebuchet and repositioned it across the river facing Xiangyang. The first shot from the trebuchet forced a tower to collapse in a great crash as the Song inhabitants screamed in terror.
Kublai Khan offered to spare the inhabitants and to reward the Song commander if he would surrender the city.
Xiangyang was surrendered and the Song heartland was open to the Mongols. The siege had lasted from 1268 to 1273.
The impregnable fortress of Yang-lo.
In 1274, the Mongols headed down the Han River, bypassing Song fortresses and emerging onto the flood plains of the Yangtze River. The Mongols now faced the impregnable fortress of Yang-lo.
The Mongols sacrificed several thousand Chinese troops on a frontal attack on Yang-lo while most of the Mongol army, carrying a number of ships, bypassed the fort and crossed the river upstream.
Then the Mongol and Chinese fleet came down the Yangtze and attacked the Song fleet from both front and behind. The Song boats were packed so close together on the river that incendiary bombs fired from Mongol catapults set much of the Song fleet on fire.
Thousands perished in the flames.
Fortress Yang-lo and the 100,000 cut-off Song troops surrendered the next day.
Genghis Khan Exterminated 1.7 Million People To Avenge One Person
The marriages might have been strategic alliances, but that didn’t
mean there wasn’t any love involved. One of Genghis Khan’s daughters
loved her husband, a man name Toquchar. Genghis Khan loved him, too, as
his favorite son-in-law.
When Toquchar was killed by an archer from Nishapur, his wife demanded vengeance.
Genghis Khan’s troops attacked Nishapur and slaughtered every person
there. By some estimates, 1,748,000 people were killed. Other historians
dispute that number, but there’s no doubt that his armies killed
everyone they found.
Women, children, babies, and even dogs and cats were tracked down and murdered.
Then they were beheaded, and their skulls were piled into pyramids—a request by Genghis Khan’s daughter to ensure that no one got away with a simple wounding.
Acts of Desperation
In 1275, Jia Sidao set out from the capital of Hangzhou at the head of 100,000 Song troops and another fleet of 2,500 ships in a last-ditch effort to stop the Mongol juggernaut.
A massive cavalry and infantry battle took place on both sides of the river. The Mongols and their Chinese allies pushed back the Song army and boarded their ships from both ends of the river, beheading thousands of Song troops and capturing 2,000 ships.
It was another overwhelming victory for the Mongols.
Jia Sidao was later assassinated by a Song officer.
On February 21, 1276, the boy emperor Zhao Xian came out of Hangzhou, bowed toward the north in obeisance to Kublai Khan, and turned over the capital and the rest of the Song Empire to the Mongols.
The Mongol conquest of China had taken 74 years and claimed the lives of as many as 25 million Chinese from war, plague, and famine.
As much as Mongolians love Genghis Khan, Iranians hate him. And there is a legit reason for that. The Khwarazmian Empire was located in the territory of Iran, and it was a very powerful dynasty up until the Mongol Empire invaded it.
In just a few years, the Mongols with Genghis Khan ahead of them, entirely destroyed and conquered the Khwarazmian Empire. Scholars estimate that during the wars, Genghis Khan butchered around 3/4 of the Iranians. That is one of the biggest genocides in history, and estimations show that the population of Iranians only reached its pre-Mongols level in the mid-20th century.
Oh yes, it took Iranians 700 years to heal their deep wounds left by Genghis Khan. Even today, Iranians have a saying "it's as if the Mongols have attacked," which means that something chaotic and brutal has happened. Thanks to Genghis Khan, Iranians will never forgive Mongols their crimes.
-The Richest
Ramifications
The ramifications of the Mongol conquest of China were felt for some time. The Ming, who overthrew the Mongols in 1368, became obsessed with improving and lengthening the Great Wall to close to 5,000 miles (including walls that backed up walls) to prevent another Mongol invasion of China.
This was the ancient version of The Maginot Line. A very costly and enormous albatross.
The Great Wall as it existed from the time of the Ming Dynasty was an expensive reaction to the Mongol conquest of China. In the end, the improved Great Wall did not save China.
In 1644, a Mongol-like nation, the Manchu, conquered China and ruled the unhappy nation until 1911.
Re-population of conquered lands.
The Mongols completely repopulated Asia in their own image.
Incursions into Southeast Asia were largely successful, most factions agreed to pay tribute, and only the Invasions into Vietnam and Java failed.
Europe was devastated by the Mongols. They destroyed near enough every major Russian city, and invaded Volga Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary. If rumours spread that the Mongols were coming, then it would cause a mass panic, and some would run to safety.
There was no guaranteed way to defeat the Mongol hordes, they continuously defeated much larger armies, so numerical strength couldn’t protect you.
Mongol conquests would leave once populous and flourishing areas as wastelands, with little to no people, those remaining would be slaves.
-ESKify
They used their abilities, and fear of the meek, to seize control.
The Mongol were masterful at spreading fear and hate throughout Asia, people feared them, and therefore hated them.
They would rape and pillage entire villages, and torture their victims for fun. Nobles would get it the worst. Spilling noble blood was considered a crime, so they simply crushed them to death, which took many hours.
Mongols would literally dine on top of them, making merry to the sounds of their screams from underneath. The sounds of bodies squelching, and bones snapping didn’t faze them.
But rumours of this execution method struck terror. Fear made them powerful, as people often chose to surrender and pay tribute rather than risk fighting them.
-ESKify
Women, gold, horses, and other objects were considered spoils of war, which meant soldiers got to do pretty much whatever they wanted to do with them. Now, you don’t have to stretch your imagination too much to figure out what that means.
Do you?
Amassing large harems was an important occupation of the khans. Genghis Khan was said to have had five hundred wives and concubines. When the Mongols overran a place, their captains took some of the women and passed along the more beautiful ones to their superiors, who passed the more beautiful to their superiors, and so on all the way to the khan, who could choose among the pulchritude of a continent. Genghis Khan had scores of children, as did other khans and nobles descended from him for centuries in the Genghis Khanite line.
Recently, a geneticist at Oxford University, Dr. Chris Tyler-Smith, and geneticists from China and central Asia took blood samples from populations living in regions near the former Mongol empire, and they studied the Y chromosomes. These are useful in establishing lineage because Y chromosomes continue from father to son. Dr. Tyler-Smith and his colleagues found that an anomalously large number of the Y chromosomes carried a genetic signature indicating descent from a single common ancestor about a thousand years ago. The scientists theorized that the ancestor was Genghis Khan (or, more exactly, an eleventh-century ancestor of Genghis Khan). About eight per cent of all males in the region studied, or sixteen million men, possess this chromosome signature. That’s a half per cent of the world’s entire male population. It is possible, therefore, that more than thirty-two million people in the world today are descended from Genghis Khan.
-The New Yorker
On the other hand, if you were lucky enough to be super-extra
beautiful, you could be forcibly entered into one of Genghis Khan’s
weird beauty pageants.
Genghis Khan had so much power that he could do whatever he wanted. For instance, when Genghis occupied some new area, he would kill or enslave all the men and share all the women amongst his tribe.
Genghis Khan would even make beauty contests of captured women to decide which woman is the most beautiful one. Yeah, he was having his Miss Universe competition before it was cool.
So, the queen of those beauty competitions would win the privilege to become one of many Genghis Khan's women. Rest of the Mongolian army would share all the other contestants.
-The Richest
According to Ancient Origins, once Genghis’ soldiers were done with the pillaging and the abusing, they brought Genghis himself the most beautiful women they’d encountered.
I’m sure that Genghis appreciated the sentiment.
Girls in Mongolia seem to be a mystery to all but those who have visited these rare lands. These unique girls offer Asian features with larger bodies than most expect.
I was baffled by the women I encountered in Mongolia.
I’d never seen such tall, curvy Asians (well, Indonesian girls are curvy) in all of my travels throughout the region. There was truly something different about the Mongolian girls.
After meeting, greeting, and mating with some of these fine specimens, it finally clicked – these gals were direct descendants of Genghis Khan. I was balls deep in warrior genes, and I can’t lie – the thought of having myself a warrior-blooded baby certainly went through my mind.
-Life around Asia
These women alone would be spared from the antics of the conquering
army so they could be paraded in front of the man himself. The winner
got the honor of becoming one of Genghis Khan’s many wives, which was
probably preferable to ending up as the loser, though Ancient Origins
doesn’t say what happened to them.
First and foremost, these girls were definitely Asian. Their features were dainty and stunning. However, Mongolian girls did not remind me of Thai girls or Indonesian girls much. They seemed to have a unique mixture to them.
I’d say many of the girls looked maybe 75% Asian with a mixture of Slavic genes, too.
It was incredibly unique and quite sexy. Some guys said they weren’t too into the look, but I loved it! Think a girl who is 2/3rds Asian and a third Russian. How could that not be sexy?!
-Life around Asia
Evidently, though, women who Genghis deemed not to be up to his
standards of beauty were sent off with the soldiers to be abused and
then discarded. So yeah, great to be a woman in peacetime Mongolia but
when Genghis comes to town you might just want to emigrate to China.
0.5 Percent of all men alive today are believed to have a genetic relation with Genghis Khan. It is estimated that his descendants are 8 percent of men in Asia.
-My Interesting Facts
The fate of the civilians.
Although Genghis Khan restricted the use of torture, Mongol executions were often extremely grisly.
When Guyuk Khan suspected that the powerful courtier Fatima had poisoned his brother, Guyuk had her tortured into confessing before “her upper and lower orifices were sewn up and she was rolled up in a sheet of felt and thrown into the river.”
The Mongols traditionally had a taboo against shedding royal blood, so another favorite method of execution was crushing.
The Abbasid Caliph al-Musta’sim was rolled up in a carpet and trampled to death by stampeding horses.
After the Battle of the Kalka River, captured Russian princes were shoved under some floorboards and crushed as the Mongols held their victory feast on top of them.
Genghis himself ordered that a captured Tangut ruler be renamed Shidurqu (“Loyal”) before he was crushed, so that his spirit would be forced to serve the Mongols in the afterlife.
He was lucky compared to the Persian noble who was covered in sheep fat, wrapped in felt, and left tied up in the hot sun to meet his fate.
Genghis Khan’s Legacy
Perhaps the greatest legacy a conqueror can leave is his progeny.
Genghis Khan wasn’t an especially gracious winner — after he was
done with the conquering, he enjoyed abducting his enemies’ wives and
either romancing them or brutalizing them, depending on how cool they
were with being abducted by Genghis Khan.
In fact in one of his most famous quotes he waxed poetic about the joys of the post-conquering aftermath:
"The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters."
Nice guy, that Genghis.
He wasn’t always content to romance just one woman at a time, either.
According to Ancient Origins, his army commanders were all super-impressed with his manliness because he frequently spent his evenings with multiple women. I mean, that was his role; to repopulate the conquered (now depopulated) lands in his image (literally).
While broad shoulders aren’t exactly a good trait on women, the women in Mongolia didn’t get the short end of the stick in other ways.
In fact, I found some of the biggest Asian tits in the world to be in Mongolia. It was fantastic for me, as I’m a boobs man!
There are a number of rain-thin Mongolian girls that have big, natural racks. I was thoroughly impressed. In fact, outside of Indonesia, I haven’t seen bigger tits in an Asian country. The asses here aren’t as amazing as the boobs, but there still above average for Asia.
-Life around Asia
A stronger genetic pool…
He wasn’t that into birth control, either, in fact by modern estimates Genghis Khan has roughly 16 million descendants.
Now, the study that put forth this hypothesis can’t actually prove that
the individual they identified is Genghis Khan, since no one knows
where the Mongol leader is buried and therefore they can’t recover any
of his DNA.
But this person lived roughly 1,000 years ago in the Mongol Empire
and must have had access to a lot of women, and there really aren’t
that many people from history that fit that description, so the
assumption is pretty sound.
When we look at what Genghis Khan achieved with the Mongol Empire, we cannot help but appreciate his mastermind as a warlord. It surely looks like Genghis Khan had three dragons with him just like Khaleesi.
I cannot find any other explanation of Genghis Khan's success. I mean, he defeated Jin Dynasty's one million troops with only 90,000 Mongolians by his side.
Yes, Genghis Khan managed to win a war with ten times fewer troops than his opponent's army. On top of that, he was invading China, so he had to overcome all the "little" problems such as the Great Wall of China. Genghis Khan with his army had destroyed over 500,000 of Chinese troop before getting control of Northern China and Beijing.
The rest of the Chinese army had to surrender to the power of Genghis Khan. Destroying Jin Dynasty is only one of many examples of how great of a warlord Genghis Khan was. Also, he had some brutal and loyal men by his side, and let’s not rule out the dragon theory.
-The Richest
Anyways, ol’ Genghis Khan was quite the fellow, and he really wanted
to make good in the (now decimated) lands that he conquered. Because of
this, and the history of his people, the women of Mongolia are what they
are today.
I am an American Structural Engineer and spent approximately 1-1/2 years working in Mongolia, and living in UB. I have since moved on to another project in Cape Town, SA, however wanted to comment on perhaps the most accurate article I have read in relation to Mongolian women.
I have additionally worked in several other Asian counties to include Singapore, Hong Kong, China, etc. I hope that you will agree that you cannot even “basically” compare the contemporary Mongolian woman to any other Asians.
BTW, forget the “Asian Height Charts by Country” seen all over the internet – not even close. For example, China, S. Korean and even Japanese women are calculated taller in stature than Mongolian ladies – Not eve close!
When I strolled through Sukhbaatar Square on warm days, it was not uncommon for me to see several Mongolian women 5′7″, 5′8″ even up to 5′10″. What stands out just as much, is that these ladies have shapes and many pronounced bust-lines; mainly due to diet (meat/dairy).
They appear physically to be much stronger built than other Asians. The best way I can explain it, Mongolian women have physical shapes closer to Russian women than they do other Asians.
Another distinguishing factor, many Chinese, Japanese women have very small hands and feet – not Mongolian women who have larger hands/feet. Consider this, for a country of just over 3 million people, Nearly 50% of all top Asian fashion models are from Mongolia.
Battsetseg Turbat for example has been in many famous American commercials to include Budweiser and Apple. This is what surprised me most when I first stepped off the plane upon my arrival to UB. Mongolian women’s height can be deceiving when viewing online photos – the reason is that they have voluptuous shapes to accompany their height.
An additional quality is personality. Mongolian women have big personalities, laugh loudly and not afraid to approach someone they may wish to meet. Additionally, Mongolian women when affronted, do not shy away as do other Asians, however will meet the confrontation head-on 100%. What I have also noticed, when in other parts of Asia, women will almost always give way when an American woman is walking down the sidewalk toward them.
Not in UB – A Mongolian woman will expect the American woman to step aside most every time.
In relation to toughness, Mongolia are second to none.
In fact, Mongolian women have very little respect for American women, thinking them soft and spoiled (their words not mine).
All Mongolian women are excellent horsemen, whether raised in the Ger District or city. They are like the land they inhabit, resilient and everlasting.
I remember taking a walk around Sukhbaatar Square with a Mongolian lady I befriended to just enjoy the day . It was in November last year and nearly freezing. I remember she was wearing heels, barely covered up and seemed fine. I was layered to the hilt, still shivering although looked like the Michelin tire man with all my garb.
She must have noticed I was freezing as suggested we walk to Millie’s Espresso to have lunch, drink something warm and relax. These women impressed me as they were able to balance their hardiness with their femininity.
You are correct, there is a slight mix of Slav in most Mongolian ladies, however, does not distract from their Asian appearance. I do not know if I will ever return to Mongolia, however, the Mongolian ladies will have my respect and admiration for life.
-Life Around Asia
Conclusion
We can learn a lot from the terrors of the past.
Genghis Khan devastated urban areas, cities, towns and villages and laid waste to entire swaths of land. This mass devastation would continue in other ways at other times. Whether it is the plagues that devastated Europe, or the World Wars that followed afterwards, entire well-established civilizations completely collapsed and the survivors had to pick up the pieces and start all over again.
In the case of many human-wrought changes, it is a situation where a strong and powerful person becomes a leader and assimilates (often violently) other weaker communities. It’s human nature.
It’s the human condition.
Human nature is such that communities form, thrive, expand, get lazy and then collapse. Other humans, often more skilled, with abilities, and positions through merit exploit the vulnerabilities of the older community.
This event is often very uncomfortable and often results in open warfare, with the NEWEST and MOST DANGEROUS WEAPONS of the time.
They WILL be used.
The strife might take different forms and last for a period of time, but in all cases… the human group managed through merit and ability will overcome the civilization that has become complaisant, lazy and slothful.
I used the Mongol takeover of Asia as an example, but the fall of America will be on a similar scale. It will not be sudden. It will not be uniform and homogeneous. But it will eventually be complete and the changes will be stunning.
The world of the weak, corrupted, and confused will be purged, and a new world will manifest.
It will be reshaped by the strong.
It will be reshaped using the modern technologies of the time.
To understand our future, you must understand our past.
And NEVER, ever think that the unthinkable could never happen. You will often be surprised with how evil, out of touch, or selfish humans can become. It is our very nature.
SHTF and Related Index
Some prepper humor…
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.
I believe that it is time for all Americans to take a serious re-look at what America stands for; our “democracy”, and our way of life as it exists today. Is it really all that great?
Is America living up to the grand ideals set forth in the “Great Experiment of 1776”?
Or, it is just going to be yet another big mistake heading towards the “great collapse” of society?
I think that a serious reappraisal of [1] what America is, [2] what notions it is founded upon, and [3] how it is structured needs to be re-thought out. It is time to take a good long hard look at [4] what America has become, and [5] how we got here. And [6] what needs to change once [7] corrective measures have been put in place.
I ask this.
Really, is democracy; “rule by popularity” ideal for Americans?
Can the Constitution be protected from “well meaning”, or “the greedy”, or “evil” such as President Wilson, or FDR, or Obama from rewriting and re-interpreting it to fit their various nefarious ends?
Well, can it?
Because if we cannot, using the current governmental structure, then we must change it into something different.
Indeed, simply hoping that our progeny will be “ever vigilant” is just wishful thinking, and history has proven, for certain, that it does not work. And at that, we must well understand that it will NEVER WORK in the future.
What’s going to stop another Wilson, another FDR, another Obama, another Bush from rewriting the Constitution, or reinterpreting it to fit their nefarious ends? What’s it going to take?
What is it going to take?
But my thoughts are this matter are perhaps a little too harsh to the general American public. No one wants to hear that a democracy is flawed, or rather so flawed that America will collapse upon itself within a decade. No one wants to hear this.
Americans have a Pavlovian response to the phrase “freedom and democracy,” and it’s no surprise that so many of them are rooting for the protesters in Hong Kong.
-World Affairs Blog
Well, others, better word-smiths than myself have some things to say about this subject. One of the best comes from Mr. Noonan in his article titled “A Clean Break“. He wrote this article on 29 September 2019, and I personally think that it is brilliant. He isn’t so prone to offending people as I am.
For I earnestly believe that America has neither "democracy" nor "freedom". We just parrot the words without talking a good look around us at what America has devolved into.
Here I present it for your viewing pleasure.
This article is copied as written without much editing aside from some paragraph formatting and the fonts used in this template.
I added some "pull away" text for highlighting and maybe interjected on or two personal comments along the way (though you will be able to easily see that they are from your's truly.)
I have added my own pictures to help illustrate some of his fine points.
After reading the article, I would suggest the reader go to his original article and read some of his other works. This fellow is brilliant and a word-smith.
All credit to the author Mr. Noonan writing in Blogs for Victory.
As the last few weeks have played out in politics, it has forced me to do a complete re-assessment of how I’ve looked at the world for my entire adult life.
To be sure, this reconsideration has been ongoing for about a decade, or maybe a little more, but it has really crystalized out recently. It is time for a complete, clean break with what went before and to chart a new path forward.
He was merely the recipient of what people in his position routinely receive: a special deal which allows him to be very rich for little or no effort.
This way his life can be devoted to what really matters: hanging around with other rich people, attending conferences and galas and generally having a swell time.
And if he decided to follow in Daddy’s political footsteps, the way would be cleared for him in some safe (Congressional) seat.
If you start looking into it – as Matt and I did in our 2007 book, Caucus of Corruption – you just see that it is everywhere. In that book, for political reasons, we concentrated on the Democrat side of the aisle (given that our goal was to show the absurdity of the Democrats 2006 campaign against a so-called “GOP culture of corruption”), but we could easily have written it about politics, in general.
Corruption is everywhere in the United States.
What it really shows is that people who go into politics – with a few very rare exceptions – are in it for themselves.
The advent of legalized corruption launched by the Supreme Court empowers the superrich to fund their own presidential and congressional campaigns as pet projects, to foster pet policies, and to represent pet political enclaves. You have a billion, or even several hundred million, then purchase a candidate from the endless reserve bench of minor politicians and make him or her a star, a mouthpiece for any cause or purpose however questionable, and that candidate will mouth your script in endless political debates and through as many television spots as you are willing to pay for. All legal now.To compound the political felony, much, if not most, campaign financing is now carried out in secret, so that everyday citizens have a decreasing ability to determine to whom their elected officials are beholden and to whom they must now give special access. As recently as the 2014 election, the facts documented this government of influence by secrecy: “More than half of the general election advertising aired by outside groups in the battle for control of Congress,” according to the New York Times, “has come from organizations that disclose little or nothing about their donors, a flood of secret money that is now at the center of a debate over the line between free speech and corruption.”Of this handful, the largest by far is WPP (originally called Wire and Plastic Products; is there a metaphor here?), which has its headquarters in London and more than 150,000 employees in 2,500 offices spread around 107 countries. It, together with one or two conglomerating competitors, represents a fourth branch of government, vacuuming up former senators and House members and their spouses and families, key committee staff, former senior administration officials of both parties and several administrations, and ambassadors, diplomats, and retired senior military officers.WPP has swallowed giant public relations, advertising, and lobbying outfits such as Hill & Knowlton and BursonMarsteller, along with dozens of smaller members of the highly lucrative special interest and influence-manipulation world. Close behind WPP is the Orwellian-named Omnicom Group and another converger vaguely called the Interpublic Group of Companies. According to Mr. Edsall, WPP had billings last year of $72.3 billion, larger than the budgets of quite a number of countries.
– From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption
Corruption is part of democracy.
They want power and money and attention and fame and praise and so they go into politics – and almost invariably, if they are even modestly successful at winning office, wind up richer than they did when they started.
And it has been going on for a long time, folks; throughout all the Western democracies.
There are, I believe, some who still deny that England is governed by an oligarchy.
It is quite enough for me to know that a man might have gone to sleep some thirty years ago over the day’s newspaper and woke up last week over the later newspaper, and fancied he was reading about the same people.
In one paper he would have found a Lord Robert Cecil, a Mr. Gladstone, a Mr. Lyttleton, a Churchill, a Chamberlain, a Trevelyan, an Acland.
In the other paper he would find a Lord Robert Cecil, a Mr. Gladstone, a Mr. Lyttleton, a Churchill, a Chamberlain, a Trevelyan, an Acland.
If this is not being governed by families I cannot imagine what it is. I suppose it is being governed by extraordinary democratic coincidences.
…extraordinary democratic coincidences.
Funny, huh? How people from the same family can keep winding up on top. Either they are families of geniuses, or someone is making things happen.
What are the odds that the son of an American Senator would be just the person an oil company needs to pay $50,000.00 a month to?
But, it just keeps happening and happening because, well, that’s just the way it is. And it wouldn’t be so bad if they were at least any good at being an oligarchy!
But they aren’t.
Back in Chesterton’s day, there was the cold, hard reality that Winston Churchill was at least as talented as his father, Randolph. There was something there – there was, that is, a justification for Winston getting a leg up (and he did) to enter politics based on his father’s previous efforts.
These days, you get to benefit even if the previous person in line was a complete, rotten failure. And rotten failure is all we’ve gotten – and I’m getting very ecumenical in that, by the way. I’m not excusing anyone on partisan grounds any longer.
To be sure, the Republicans I voted for in the past were at least better than the Democrats I voted against (with the exception of McCain: knowing that I’m the co-author of Worst President, please understand that I believe McCain would have been even worse than Obama proved to be).
But they were only better in degree, not in kind.
Republicans are corrupt.
I mean, let’s face some cold, hard facts here: President Bush the Younger was re-elected with 51% of the vote in 2004 and came into his second term with high approval ratings and a Republican Congress.
With all this, he couldn’t even manage to de-fund Planned Parenthood or NPR!
It could have been done, easily, in a budget reconciliation between House and Senate and there would have been nothing the Democrats could have done about it.
On a more personal level, how can public service be promoted as an ideal to young people when this sewer corrupts our Republic? At this point in early twenty-first-century America, the greatest service our nation’s young people could provide is to lead an army of outraged young Americans armed with brooms on a crusade to sweep out the rascals and rid our capital of the money changers, rent seekers, revolving door dancers, and special interest deal makers and power brokers and send them back home to make an honest living, that is, if they still remember how to do so.Our ancestors did not depart Europe and elsewhere to seek freedom and self-government alone. They came to these shores to escape social and political systems that were corrosive and corrupt. Two and a quarter centuries later, we are returning to those European practices. We are in danger of becoming a different kind of nation, one our founders would not recognize and would deplore.In addition to the rise of the national security state, and the concentration of wealth and power in America, no development in modern times sets us apart more from the nation originally bequeathed to us than the rise of the special interest state.There is a Gresham’s law related to the republican ideal. Bad politics drives out good politics. Legalized corruption drives men and women of stature, honor, and dignity out of the halls of government. Self-respecting individuals cannot long tolerate a system of election and reelection so dependent on cultivating the favor of those known to expect access in return. Such a system is corrosive to the soul.
– From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption
This was “better” than a President Kerry who probably would have increased PP funding, but not really better in that the taxes of pro-life Americans were still going to fund something they consider abhorrent…and which Bush and the entire GOP campaigned on getting rid of.
I know some will say that this is just our GOP screwing it’s base and that the Democrats don’t do that. But, they do.
Democrats are corrupt.
Obama was elected in 2008 with 53% of the vote and came into office with a Democrat Congress and a filibuster-proof Senate majority…and he couldn’t even get the single payer health system Democrats say they want.
It would have been easy.
The GOP could have done nothing to stop it. Enact a 10% payroll tax to fund it and just start passing out the cash to people who need health care.
A former senator from Colorado, Gary Hart, has written an extremely powerful and accurate critique of the unfathomably corrupt and crony state of the U.S. government in 2015. It covers several very important angles, including how appalled and disgusted our founders would be at the current state of affairs. How a once great republic has devolved into a thieving oligarchy in which the pursuit of money at power at the expense of the public good has been elevated into something that’s not just tolerated, but actually celebrated and encouraged amongst an ethics deprived status quo.
-Liberty Blitzkreig
That you and I know it would have been a disaster is neither here nor there – our side had lost the election and the Democrats won all the power they could possibly need to make all Democrat dreams come true…and they couldn’t do something like that.
They instead wound up with the abomination known as Obamacare which even if it had worked as planned would still have left millions out in the cold and cost like the devil – but they couldn’t even write something that worked!
Meanwhile, not only did Obama not end the wars they campaigned against in 2008, he started new one’s…
droning the living sh** out of every poor, brown skinned person they could target (well, those they weren’t letting in as unvetted refugees, that is).
A public works bonanza that didn’t create any public works.
A slew of new spending which improved nothing.
This is what the Democrat voters get for investing their time and effort? Yep – in other words, nothing: but lots and lots for whomever is the crony. Democrat cronies made out like bandits. But your average purple-haired Democrat wanting more safe spaces? Not much.
By that standard, can anyone seriously doubt that our republic, our government, is corrupt? There have been Teapot Domes and financial scandals of one kind or another throughout our nation’s history. There has never been a time, however, when the government of the United States was so perversely and systematically dedicated to special interests, earmarks, side deals, log-rolling, vote-trading, and sweetheart deals of one kind or another.What brought us to this? A sinister system combining staggering campaign costs, political contributions, political action committees, special interest payments for access, and, most of all, the rise of the lobbying class.Worst of all, the army of lobbyists that started relatively small in the mid-twentieth century has now grown to big battalions of law firms and lobbying firms of the right, left, and an amalgam of both. And that gargantuan, if not reptilian, industry now takes on board former members of the House and the Senate and their personal and committee staffs. And they are all getting fabulously rich.Frustrated, irate discussions of this legalized corruption are met in the Washington media with a shrug. So what? Didn’t we just have dinner with that lobbyist for the banking industry, or the teachers’ union, or the airline industry at that well-known journalist’s house only two nights ago? Fine lady, and she used to be the chairman of one of those powerful committees. I gather she is using her Rolodex rather skillfully on behalf of her new clients. Illegal? Not at all. Just smart . . . and so charming.There is little wonder that Americans of the right and many in the middle are apoplectic at their government and absolutely, and rightly, convinced that the game of government is rigged in favor of the elite and the powerful. Occupiers see even more wealth rising to the top at the expense of the poor and the middle class. And Tea Partiers believe their tax dollars are going to well-organized welfare parasites and government bureaucrats.
– From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption
And as far as the social disintegration we’ve seen over the past 60 years – we’ve been blinded by the Democrats pushing the disintegration that we haven’t noticed the Republicans letting them do it.
And when they have power to roll it back, doing nothing of the sort.
The Administrative state and its regulators, a creation of previous congress’s, have grown into a bureaucracy so entrenched that worker’s can’t even be fired. They lurk in the darkness of their own regulations and use their powers to punish those who fail to comply. Regulators are great for making and executing rules and regulations, and taxing, but not so good at designing those regulations to advance unproven political theories, that most often come undone.
The unrealized dangers of delegating rules and regulations making, is that Congress removes itself from accountability. Legislators govern by theory, proposing ideas that are then delegated to an agency charged to “make” it work. To ensure their schemes work, Congress politicized the Federal judicial benches, including the Supreme Court, to support their legislative agenda regardless of the unconstitutionality, through judicial activism. Judges don’t make laws!
- Why Should We Accept Corrupt Government?
Their actions are disgusting.
And now we see in the Epstein case the reason why it might have all been allowed to happen: Lord only knows how many of the high and mighty are caught in that web…
…but what better way to get out from under that rock than by making the rock legal?
By making you, a normal person, the bad guy if you point out some of the disgusting actions?
Illegal immigration to provide votes for Democrats and cheap labor for Republicans.
Wars which don’t end in victory or defeat.
Enforcing immorality against popular wishes.
Providing government sinecures to anyone who will toe the line – and who won’t be got rid of no matter how corrupt or stupid they prove.
Accepting money from foreign entities who want the United States destroyed.
Both sides, all the time – and on top of being this stupidly destructive, raking it in for themselves, their families and their friends. It is time to bring an end to all that. By peaceful means if possible but, ultimately, by any means necessary.
Our peaceful means are “President Trump”.
President Trump is the hero of the common man.
Trump isn’t part of the system, you see.
Dimwits look at his billions and go, “he must be one of them”. But, the bottom line is that he’s not.
He’ll hang out with them. Be friends with them. But he never was of them. He made his own way and got his pile of money…and then looked around and saw, from the 1980’s, what was happening to his country and started to wonder why, and if there were anything he could do about it?
He essentially first let Bill Clinton have his chance.
Then Bush the Younger.
Then even Obama.
But he found out something – it didn’t matter who was in charge, they were all in on it, together. That is, regardless of stated political philosophy, the primary goal of nearly everyone in politics was personal enrichment and making sure no outsider pushed his or her way in.
Trump decided to push his way in.
And now he’s there – and outside of a precious few (Cruz, Paul…and, oddly, McConnell), he’s nearly alone fighting for one thing: us.
The United States of America.
We, the people.
And everyone inside is furious and terrified and so are lashing back as much as they can hoping that something, anything will turn up to get rid of Trump.
And, make no mistake about it, they are already planning on punishing us for electing Trump. They don’t propose to allow this sort of thing to happen again.
And, make no mistake about it, they are already planning on punishing us for electing Trump. They don’t propose to allow this sort of thing to happen again.
The “big con game” is up.
I’ve mostly stopped arguing with liberals these days – first off, it is pointless but, secondly, I’m starting to pity them; nearly as much as I pity that shrinking number on the right who still stand aloof from Trump: they simply can’t shake free from the line they’ve been fed.
And none of us can get high and mighty about that: to one degree or another, all of us were suckered at one time or another.
All of us believed in some aspect of the con being used to keep us confused, frightened and divided while the Ruling Class stays fat and happy.
All of us. Including myself.
But for those of us who have awakened from the con, it is time for a clean break – a refusal to accept that anything over the past 60 years was any good…a desire, that is, to move forward in an entirely new way, unshackled to whatever we might have said or done in the past.
We can see what happened; we can see what needs to be done – we can’t trip ourselves up (nor allow our opponents to slow us down) by fussing over what views we might have expressed previously.
Our desire is a Constitutional Republic of free people – our means of getting there must be “whatever works”, not adherence to a dogma which might, upon review, only have been a means whereby the con artists kept us in line in the past.
I, for one, will only defend what I find defensible and will attack whatever I see as wrong.
We still have a magnificent window to win this thing and fix our nation – naturally, the first requirement is protecting President Trump.
We need a complete review of EVERYTHING and ask “is it good”
But the next step is just as important: a complete review of everything and asking the question, “Is this good?”.
We’ve already learned that so-called “Free Trade” wasn’t what many of us thought it was – take that as your template and ask yourself, “is this thing I’ve adhered to really in the interests of a free people? Or is it something which only serves the well-connected?”.
As Lincoln once said, it is time to think anew and act anew: not to create something different (nothing can be more magnificent than the United States, as far as human effort allows), but to recreate what we had, but even better than before.
And if that mission requires us to knock a few off their pedestals, then that’s just what will have to happen.
The problems of government are systemic. The reason for government should be a primary concern of anyone wanting a better government but this cannot be accomplished with people of socialist persuasion who scream, yell and interrupt other speakers in an effort to kill free speech.
Trump has thrown a wrench into the gears of socialisms advancement. Socialists are reeling in confusion but don’t count on them staying there. A revolution is coming. The question is, who’s going to lead it, them or us?
- Why Should We Accept Corrupt Government?
SHTF Related Index
This is a collection of my posts related to prepping, SHTF (Shit Hit The Fan), CWII (American Civil War 2), Fourth Turning (Strauss–Howe generational theory)
and other posts related to the very sad and sorry tatters that America
is today. Actually, I am a little stunned that I have written so much
about these matters. But America today is very ill and there are things
that really should be said.
Here are the posts.
SHTF and Related Index
Some prepper humor…
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.
America is no longer a nation. It might still be the remains of a once great empire, sort of like Rome was after the Vandals sacked it, but as a functioning nation, it is no longer.
When you cannot enforce a border, enforce laws, and prosecute criminals, you no longer have a nation.
History doesn’t like vacuums anymore than nature does, and what we’re facing is a vacuum of authority that the USA has never experienced before. That’s the final consequence of a society in which anything goes and nothing matters.
Better check what you believe and who you believe in the days ahead, and recalibrate accordingly. This ain’t no foolin’ around.
-Kunsler
Here is an article written by Gordon Wysong titled “Will we ever prosecute?”. He makes the point that if the worst criminals can walk free, then (regardless of all the lesser crimes that are prosecuted) the nation does not enforce laws. And if laws are not enforced, there is no nation. For a nation without laws is pure anarchy.
It is presented as written, with little editing aside from the blogger-template on word-press. Any photos and commentary are set apart so that the reader can realize that it is not part of the article but rather designed to supplement it.
Links to other related articles are embedded in the text. You can click on them and they will open up in a new tab. That way you will not need to interrupt your reading of this article.
Enjoy.
Imagine that the local cops know that a gang member, named William, broke into the pawn shop and stole guns, jewelry, and money.
William’s fingerprints, film image, and DNA add to the hard evidence log. The owner knows it; the prosecutor knows it; William’s gang associates know it. But he is not arrested.
Nearby shopkeepers and neighborhood mothers are asking why he is walking the street. No one explains it; mum’s the word.
Could it be there is a grand plan to take out the gang’s leaders? No one knows; mum’s the word.
Shopkeepers and residents are about to give up and start moving away from the area, and no one asks them to stay the course.
Fast forward to today.
Fast-forward to today’s still vocal Obama gang. Why no indictments? Mum’s the word. Can anyone hold to the faith in American justice? Those who support the rule of law feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football.
It’s coming — oh, wait, it’s coming…oh, wait…
Without doubt, a criminal cabal is an extraordinarily complex organization, and understanding who did what, why, when, and how is a challenge to the mental faculties of anyone. But, what happens if the full scope of activities is never clear?
Does everyone get off? Does complexity confer immunity?
Is our government that incompetent?
In engineering, there is no perfect answer to anything, so changes are made incrementally, addressing the problems as they are recognized. Each step brings a clearer view of remaining problems, which are then addressed, each in its turn.
The completed project is still flawed, but the solution is practical and productive.
So it should be with a grandiose scheme like the Russia Hoax. The ringleaders don’t have to be handled with kid gloves. They don’t even have to be handled at all. Just start with the low-hanging fruit, and get as far (up the tree) as possible.
Those
old enough to remember My Lai, Vietnam, know that Lt. Calley and Cpt.
Medina were not alone in their actions. However, their prosecution
forever changed the game of passing the buck on war crimes.
So, too, can rabid prosecution of bit players in the Russian Hoax forever change the landscape in plots involving treason.
Those who would participate at the lower levels must know they are subject to prosecution, so they remain circumspect in such a re-enactment of the coup attempt. This would be the Achilles heel of another cabal — those who are intimidated by the prospect of prison. Those who realize they don’t have sufficient rank to escape punishment will be loath to participate in such a scheme. Without them, there will be no operational viability to an unlawful coup.
Admittedly,
there are always problems in pursuing a criminal case. It must be so
under our Constitution, but it cannot be impossible!
Prosecution should not be impossible.
Prosecutors don’t get all the information, but at a certain point, for each criminal, evidence accumulates that there is a real and provable crime.
It may not include every transgression of that person, nor is it the magic revelation, untangling the Gordian knot of the conspirators. It is a simple criminal act.
It is what it appears, and it need not be put in the context of the big picture — it is as plain as the nose on your face.
That stage is the stimulus for a prosecutor. It is the time to move. If the DOJ acts, many of the sins can never be prosecuted, because the prosecution of their lesser crimes may foreclose pursuit of other crimes under double jeopardy protection.
However, failure to move puts evidence and witnesses at risk of being lost. This point has passed for so many of the coup conspirators that it seems there will be no justice for many of them, like Lois Lerner.
Why?
Why no action yet?
A full recounting of all that is already known would be tedious, and to expound on the criminal conduct yet again seems shrill. It is not necessary to understand the intertwining of all the crimes before simply bringing the charges that are facially obvious.
But the deferral of prosecution, for whatever reason it is done, allows many of the cabal to walk free when they shouldn’t.
In fact, the indication is that they are continuing the very conduct for which they should be prosecuted.
Why
has McCabe not been charged with lying to the FBI, lying under
oath? Nothing more is needed to start the dominos falling. Who will
step forward to exonerate him? No one can, and no one will. That
omission — of a vigorously supported defense — will send a message to
the others in the coup conspiracy.
Why
has Samantha Power not been indicted for violating national security
requirements in unmasking or transferring her unmasking authority to
others? It doesn’t pass the smell test that she is too important to be
prosecuted.
Why
is Huma Abedin strolling around, free as a bird? She forwarded
classified emails to Anthony Weiner’s laptop. What else is needed to
demonstrate a crime?
Did Strzok do anything? Did Page? Which one lied to Congress? Their contradictory accounts mean at least one is a perjurer. Sure, there is more “there” there, but it isn’t necessary to keelhaul them; just send them to jail, and send others a message.
Listing all the cabal members, who are quite obviously criminal, is not easy — in fact, it is not doable.
It need not be the aim. A public that finds this whole thing partisan or tedious will not be easily impressed if a 2,000-count indictment naming 43 people is suddenly dropped. Bringing along the public is certainly part of sending the message for future conspirators.
It probably is better done gradually.
Suggested Action
Removing the context and simply prosecuting crimes is the method to educate both today’s and tomorrow’s citizens.
Selecting
single actors, and naming obvious crimes, will have a chance to
convince even skeptical partisans that something is wrong. The lack of
support from other participants will indeed remove most doubt.
The
full scope of what has gone on will never be known, but the lessons for
future participants in such a scheme is essential. The next time, the
prosecution will be more severe, more certain, and more
expedient. Protecting the Constitution is more important than perfect
justice. Some miscreants will escape, but they will never sleep well
again. The lesson must be taught.
A
DOJ that fails to move loses its credibility and its honor. The
foundation of the Republic is placed at risk. Without the rule of law,
what do we have?
At some point, deferral of prosecution is dereliction or abetting. Has it reached that point?
I argue that it has.
Watergate prosecuted Nixon within months. The prosecution of the assassination of Lincoln, and Reagan took months.
It's almost four years and there are ZERO prosecutions. ZERO.
Therefore, I argue that the United States is no longer a nation. Forget about being a nation that follows the Constitution. Rather, I argue that it is not longer a nation in the crudest, simplest, and most primitive terms. What it is is up for debate. But, a nation... no it is not.
Comment by John Paul Roberts
Trump is so far over his head in Washington waters that he is incapable of realizing that the criminal George W. Bush and Obama regimes put powers in the hands of the president that enable him to destroy the plotters of the coup against him. Instead, Trump “distances himself from Giuliani.”
In other words, his enemies have Trump on the run. Has it ever occurred to Trump that every real whistle-blower, people protected by statutory federal law, was completely destroyed by the executive branch, and no one said a word? Yet, here is Trump twisting in the wind on the basis of an unknown CIA agent who orchestrated the whistleblower complaint with Democrat House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff. In US law there is no such thing as an unknown whistleblower, much less one that has more power than the president of the United States.
We are going to lose a president, who intended to mend America and restore peace, and our country along with him, because American peace and prosperity does not comply with the agendas of the elite who rule us.
The American people are so stupid, having demonstrated their unlimited capability for utter and total stupidity by buying in to the Gulf of Tonkin, 9/11, Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction,” “Assad’s use of chemical weapons,” “Iranian nukes,” “Russian invasions,” “Russiagate,” ad infinitum, that the Deep State and their media whores take for granted that the dumbshit Americans will equally accept the latest lie.
America is already in the trash bin of history. Most other countries will say, “good riddance.”
- Trump Is History and So Is the USA
This is a collection of my posts related to prepping, SHTF (Shit Hit The Fan), CWII (American Civil War 2), Fourth Turning (Strauss–Howe generational theory)
and other posts related to the very sad and sorry tatters that America
is today. Actually, I am a little stunned that I have written so much
about these matters. But America today is very ill and there are things
that really should be said.
Here are the posts.
SHTF and Related Index
Some prepper humor…
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.
This is a little poem that I composed years back. As I recall, I was waiting at an airport for a connecting flight on the way home from a very long and difficult trip. I just started writing and this poem popped out. Enjoy.
My Kitten Knows
My kitten knows.
Quiet She, but can see...
Things inside.
Things I must hide...
From others who dare not know the truth about me.
Feelings inside that stay.
And feelings inside that say...
How I care about you.
And all you do...
For sometime when we can play.
How it will happen I dare not say.
No one knows my secret raw...
How I broke the sacred law...
And fell in love...
With one so pretty.
No one knows...
Except my kitty.
For here I am.
Alone.
In the dark.
Thinking of you and the mark...
... you made on my heart.
Dear. Let's not stay apart...
...too much longer.
And when you see a kitten near...
Please, please remember me dear...
For feelings we so boldly hold...
Are shared with cats that know them cold.
As I recall, I read this poem at a poetry recital in Boston sometime in the late 1990’s. The beatnick wanna-bes and the cute girls in the sheepherder clothing all did seem to dig it. As did the lesbian couples, and the lone chain-smoking bongo-drum player.
I wrote up a ton load of poems. All lost amongst the debris of time. This is the only one that I remember, and the only one that I wish to share at this moment in time. If there is one things that I would like to be remembered for, it would be for my love of wine, my love of friends and companions, and my passion for poetry.
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.
GUANGZHOU, China — China is looking to boost research into what it calls “frontier technology” including quantum computing and semiconductors, as it competes with the U.S. for supremacy in the latest innovations.
In its five-year development plan, the 14th of its kind, Beijing said it would make “science and technology self-reliance and self-improvement a strategic pillar for national development,” according to a CNBC translation.
Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday that China would increase research and development spending by more than 7% per year between 2021 and 2025, in pursuit of “major breakthroughs” in technology.
China’s technology champions such as Huawei and SMIC have been targeted by U.S. sanctions as tensions between Beijing and Washington have ramped up in the past few years.
As such, China has concentrated on boosting its domestic expertise in areas it sees as strategically important, such as semiconductors. And now it has laid out seven “frontier technologies” that it will prioritize not just for the next five years, but beyond too.
1) Artificial intelligence (AI)
China plans to focus on specialized chip development for AI applications and developing so-called open source algorithms. Open source technology is usually developed by one entity and licensed by other companies.
There will also be an emphasis on machine learning in areas such as decision making. Machine learning is the development of AI programs trained on vast amounts of data. The program “learns” as it is fed more data.
AI has been a key field for Chinese companies and the central government over the last few years. Major companies such as Alibaba and Baidu have been investing in the technology.
China and the U.S. are competing for AI dominance. A group of experts chaired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said China could soon replace the U.S. as the world’s “AI superpower.”
2) Quantum information
This is category of technology involves quantum computing. This is a totally different concept from the computers we use today and holds the promise of being able to aid in ambitious feats such as the creation of new medicine.
Quantum computing is seen as another area of competition between the U.S. and China.
3) Integrated circuits or semiconductors
Semiconductors are a critical area for China and one it has invested a lot in over the past few years but the country has struggled to catch up to the U.S., Taiwan and South Korea.
The problem is the complexity of the semiconductor supply chain. Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung are the two most advanced chip manufacturers but they rely on tools from the U.S. and Europe.
Washington has put SMIC, China’s biggest chip manufacturer, on an export blacklist called the Entity List. SMIC cannot get its hands on American technology. And the U.S. has reportedly pushed to stop Dutch company ASML from shipping a key tool that could help SMIC catch up to rivals.
Since China doesn’t have the companies that can design and make the tools that its chip manufacturers require, it relies on companies from other countries. This is something China wants to change.
In its five-year plan, China says it will focus on research and development in integrated circuit design tools, key equipment and key materials.
Chips are incredibly important because they go into many of the devices we use such as smartphones but are also important for other industries.
4) Brain science
China plans to research areas such as how to stop diseases of the brain.
But it also says that it plans to look into “brain-inspired computing” as well as “brain-computer fusion technology,” according to a CNBC translation. The five-year plan did not elaborate on what that could look like.
However, such work is already underway in the U.S. at Elon Musk’s company Neuralink. Musk is working on implantable brain-chip interfaces to connect humans and computers.
5) Genomics and biotechnology
With the outbreak of the coronavirus last year, biotechnology has grown in importance.
China says it will focus on “innovative vaccines” and “research on biological security.”
6) Clinical medicine and health
China’s research will concentrate on understanding the progression of cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic diseases.
The government also says that it will research some “cutting-edge” treatment technologies such as regenerative medicine. This involves medicine that can regrow or repair damaged cells, tissues and organs.
China says it will also be looking at key technologies in the prevention and treatment of major transmissible diseases.
7) Deep space, deep earth, deep sea and polar research
Space exploration has been a top priority for China recently. Beijing said it will focus on research into the “origin and evolution of the universe,” exploration of Mars as well as deep sea and polar research.
In December, a Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth carrying rocks from the moon. It was the first time China has launched a spacecraft from an extraterrestrial body and the first time it has collected moon samples.
And in July, China launched a mission to Mars called Tianwen -1.
— CNBC’s Iris Wang contributed to this report.