Yesterday, I took the family to a theme park in Southern Zhuhai. It’s the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom. We paid 3500 rmb (roughly $500) for two days with hotel, and two buffet meals. (For us three.)

Now, you must know, everything in China is HUGE.

Not Texas huge.

“Universe” huge.

The facility included FIVE theme parks. Each with it’s own hotel, and passes to each one. Each theme park is “Disney Park” in size. So it is an ENORMOUS complex.

Just mind-mindbogglingly large.

When you buy the tickets, the ticket seller will warn you to take one day per theme. Other than that you are wasting your time.

And there is no way you can do more than that! Lordy!

We chose to concentrate on the “Penguin life park”, and the “spaceship future” park. Both were fun and cool, and my little girl enjoyed every second of the excitement.

My little girl loved it!

Animals. Excitement. Bright colors. Rides. Many playgrounds.

And the hotel room was super kid friendly.

We stayed at the Circus hotel, and she had her own bed that looked like a lions cage on wheels, had her own kid-sized robe and slipper. The television only played kids shows, and the commode was kid friendly with a kid style insert. The shower had a kid sized lower tier.

Well thought out.

The only problem was that on the last day I caught a “bug” and spent the entire day vomiting and spending time on the shitter. I had water-cannon high volume vomiting.

36 times. Thirty Six vomits!

Each time I just emptied out.

Wholly crap!

Then went home to sleep. And sleep I did. Like the dead.

But I am up now, and shaky but functional. I am taking medicines and it all seems to work. I am drinking coffee and I am able to hold it down. So that’s good. Right?

It reminds me that I am still alive and functional. Yay!

Ah. Today…

What one sentence can change a life?

“Man, I’ve another 50 years of this shit…”

That one sentence was spoken by myself, to myself, in my car, as I pulled up outside my house, February 3rd 2016.

I have suffered from depression for 35 years. I can go months, sometimes years, without an episode, but in 2013 my wife, my soul mate, my best friend, left me after 15 years, which plunged me into the worst episode of my life.

Now, whilst depression is a living hell at times, I never actually feel sorry for myself. It’s a different emotion altogether, as anyone who suffers the same will testify. But this particular day, I was feeling sorry for myself. My business had gone to the wall in the first 12 months of separation. In the second 12 months I was struggling to pay the bills. By the end of year 3 I had £2 in the bank, was in desperate arrears with my mortgage and my new business was bringing in barely £200 a week.

I pulled up outside my house at 5pm, knowing the rest of the night would, yet again, be spent sat alone, in the cold, with the constant memories of my wife and children walking around the house, ghosts of their laughter echoing around, heart and mind being tormented by all that had gone before. There was little food in the cupboard. No credit for gas on the meter and low credit for electricity on that meter.

And this was the lowest point, it was 3 years of decline to this moment. I had no way of getting out of the mess I was in. No way I could figure, anyway. For the first time, this time I felt sorry for myself and literally said out loud, “man, I’ve another 50 years of this shit.”

That was the moment everything changed. I turned the engine off and lit a rare cigarette. I continued to talk to myself in the car – partly out loud, partly in my head. The conversation (with myself) went along these lines…

“50 years… ha, great… and I’m 50 years old next year (2017). Well, hang on… if I’m 50 next year, then I am only half way through my life. If I do live to be 100 – and why not ? – then next year, my 50th birthday, is the start of part 2. Mmmm… well if that’s the case then :

1 – I don’t need to buy a house – already bought one, only 5 years off completion (if I can find a way to keep the reposession order at bay). In 5 years, I will have property worth £130,000. Fully paid up. Hey, imagine if I had that when I was 5 years old, how cool that would have been for a start in life !

2 – I don’t have to go to school for 15 years – I’ve done that, I’ve got an education, done college, done university… I’ve got a head start !

3 – I don’t have to get married and have children – I have 3 wonderful children who are doing well and I’ve had the snip, so no need to have any more… no stress and strain of raising babies. Ace !

4 – I don’t need to buy a car or learn to drive – already sorted.

5 – I don’t need to worry about making friends or being popular or liked – I have a fantastic circle of friends who love me and I love them.

6 – I don’t have to worry about my parents leaving me, I already have had the sadness of losing them.

7 – I don’t need to worry about a job. I have the potential in my new business to make a comfortable living, if and when I am mentally strong enough to fully apply myself.

… and so on and so forth…”

Now I am having this conversation with myself in my car and I can literally feel the stress, the pain, the depression leaving my body. I am getting genuinely excited at the way my mind is working. I go into the house and continue this conversation whilst making a coffee. I get a notepad and make notes of what I am saying. Every note, every little idea, is scribbled down so as not to be forgotten.

As the evening progresses, I find myself going through each room in the house, removing any trace of my wife’s existance. Every memory gets either boxed up for the children to enjoy in the future, or goes in the bin. The kitchen gets emptied – I keep 3 cups, 3 plates, 3 knives, forks etc, for me and the 2 youngest children when they visit. The rest of the clutter gets binned. The living room is re-arranged. The bedroom is rearranged. The bathroom is rearranged. This carries on through to maybe 5am…

… For the first time in 3 years, I go to bed with an exhausted smile and wake up a few hours later with that same smile. I carry on where I left off. I borrow a couple of hundred pounds off my brother to get rid of furniture and replace with cheap “get by for a while” furniture, that has no trace of my marriage attached to it. I carry on writing notes.

Well, over the next 2 -3 months, remarkable changes happen. By the end of the 3rd month, at my medical check up, I am taken off my blood pressure tablets, my BP being normal for the first time in 3 years. The following month, after slowly cutting back, I am off my anti-depressants, also for the first time in 3 years, the longest I have been there in my life. I have lost over a stone in fat. My business is taking off as I am able to focus on it and money is coming in again.

By November, 9 months on, I have cleared my debts and I have £4,000 saved. My friends tell me I have a “happy house”. That they feel the positive juju the second they come in the door. They want to know (part jokingly, and part enviously) why I now walk round with a permanent smile, like a village idiot. More than anything though, they are genuinely delighted that they have got “me” back.

But let’s go back to Part 2.

The whole trigger for this was the realisation that if I live to be 100, I am only halfway through my life. So I started adding to the notes I had already started. This time, not marking down things I didn’t have to go through, but things that I am going to do. Each page of things to do is broken down into what I need to do to get there. There are wild things that I may not be skilled enough to do, like publish a novel. I may never be as good as Jimi Hendrix on the guitar. But what is there to stop me doing the best I can do with both ? Then there are totally achievable goals, like buying a campervan and spending 3 months on the road, enjoying life and writing that novel ? Getting married again, now that my heart is mending and I am meeting lovely ladies again – why not ? Decorating and renovating the house. Expanding the business. Getting fit. Losing a bit more weight. Learning to fly a plane. Doing a new degree in something I really enjoy. So many places to visit, to enjoy, to experience.

It’s all there and it’s all ahead of me and I know it’s all down to me. But most importantly, after the 9 months that have just gone by and how my life has already changed so much, I know it’s totally achievable !

So… “man, I’ve another 50 years of this shit” is the single, most important sentence that has changed my life, hopefully forever. Because I’m proving it wrong. And life has rarely felt better.

(I have missed out a section about a girl, I’ll call her “W”, who added a lot of fuel to this fire right at the beginning. She may read this and/or some people may know her, so I shouldn’t mention her by name. But, without knowing it, she made me want to be a better person (thanks Jack Nicholson) too. We never dated, or anything like that… but she is one of the most beautiful souls I have come across. Thank you “W” for your inspiration.)

Best wishes all of you reading this. I wish you a long and happy life.

Rob.

Chicken Gyros with Dill Sauce

Chicken Gyros with Dill Sauce is a traditional Greek sandwich.

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon + 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 4 fresh pita bread rounds, heated
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In small bowl blend together yogurt, 2 tablespoons dill, garlic and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken with oregano, 1 teaspoon dill, salt and pepper. Sauté until browned and cooked through, about about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet and sauté onions until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
3. Return chicken and any juices to skillet. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Stir until heated through, about 2 minutes.
4. Top pita rounds with chicken mixture. Spoon dill sauce over chicken and serve. This sandwich is folded in half and eaten. Pass the extra sauce, as desired.

Doomed by decoupling

The West falls further behind

Godfree Roberts

We are decoupling from China and, a fortiori, from its technology and the 130 countries in its currency, trade and defense alliances. Highlights from 2023 suggest that we far behind and the gap is widening.

Economy

In 2023, China’s economy grew by $1.6 trillion, more than the rest of the world’s combined – while the USA borrowed $3 trillion to fund $300 billion GDP growth. Real wages grew 4.7% and demographics will remain healthy through 2043. 21 million tourists flew during Golden Week and spent $3 billion in Xinjiang alone. Hangzhou hosted more athletes at the Asian Games than the Olympics and domestic brands Anta and Li-Ning outsold Nike and Adidas.

Research

Young Science became the world’s #3 journal and is rapidly overtaking incumbent leaders Nature and Science. With a $228 billion corporate R&D budget, 3 million Chinese scientists applied for almost as many patents as the rest of the world combined, and utterly dominated the top 1% of most influential papers. Huawei’s R&D budget alone is larger than the US CHIPS and Science Act.

Health

Researchers there cured thalassemia, reversed autism and aging, provided Covid immunization with a dry powder aerosol, curednasopharyngeal cancer, constipation, atherosclerosis and improved Alzheimer’s memory and functionality. They grew human kidneys in pig embryos and oversaw the first live birth of chimeric monkeys

Hard Tech

Scientists created the first graphene semiconductor, while Betavolt began shipping an atomic energy battery that powers consumer devices for 99 years.

Huawei mastered 7nm chip production (Intel still has not), replaced WiFi with 6x faster NearLink, took Apple’s #1 spot in the world’s largest market with a phone using 90% domestic components. Chinese chip foundries bought 62% of machinery equipment domestically this year, vs. 47% last year, and produced the first integrated neuro-memristor and the first 232 layer flash memory. Researchers set a record for high-rate quantum key distribution, showed off the first ambient superionic hydride ion conductor, the first primate brain-computer interface and an integrated neuro-memristor chip that will make circuit boards obsolete.

Macro inventions included the first waterless nuclear reactor, the most powerful solid-fuel rocket, the first liquid oxygen/methane rocket (it lifted 6 tonnes into sun-synchronous orbit), the world’s only Mach 30 wind tunnel, lasers generating high-energy beams indefinitely, and the first high-orbit Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite for 24×7 weather observation.

The country installed 80 million kW of PV and PV generated 300 billion kWh nationwide, 30% above 2022. CATL’s EV batteries get 400 km on 15 min. charge and 700 km. on a regular charge at all temperatures. In addition to installing 290,000 industrial robots – more than the rest of the world combined – it put AESA radars on $8,000 farm drones (only four countries can make them – for fighter jets). Its 800 million 5G subscribers are served by 3.2 million base stations and integrated 5G industry applications into 67 economic categories with 100,000 application cases. Tibet’s 5G service surpassed California’s.

Environment

In the wilderness that covers 42% of China’s landmass, conservationists counted 70,000 Tibetan antelopes, 3,400 Przewalski’s gazelles, 5,000 golden snub-nosed monkeys and 1200 Snow Leopards…

What’s a red flag that you ignored in a significant other, only to realize it was a big deal later?

I dated a lady, who was already dating someone else. Except I didn’t know this when she asked me out. They weren’t living together, so it wasn’t something that jumped out at you.

It was only on our 4th date, that the guy got suspicious , and followed her to our restaurant, and caused a scene that I had a clue. She dumped the guy, in the restaurant, and made it seem like it was no big deal, as they were a short term casual couple.

I found out from her best friend about a month later, that they had been seeing each other regularly for a year. But I was hooked by then.

After 9 months she asked me,to ask her, to marry me. Yes, I know, confusing right?

I said I needed to think about it. Immediately, she was busy on Friday nights, but still up for Saturdays. She said it was work related.

I recognized the pattern and decided not to follow her to whatever restaurant and bar she was going to. I didn’t need to have a big fight in public. Instead I waited until the next day, and lied to her, and told her I had followed her. She said, well I guess thats it then. Why does everyone follow me?

Implying that I wouldn’t have just been the second person to follow her.

She was right, that was it. Once a cheater, always a cheater, even if they aren’t married or living together.

Wife Started Behaving Like A F**inist And Is Now Having A MELTDOWN That Her Marriage Is IMPLODING

https://youtu.be/CM8100c-xxg

How has China’s growth model based on debt-fueled investment and land sales become difficult to sustain?

It is not though!

Chinese people are prolific savers. And Chinese as you know are the most practical and pragmatic people on planet earth. They are the opposite of American people who are one of the most wasteful nation on planet earth. And worst the U.S. as a nation and your archaic political system allows wasteful and unaudited spending.

China and Chinese are just the opposite.

Chinese people save 36% of their income, the highest on earth and the US barely save at all. That is a very big difference. The U.S. cannot depend on domestic savings, China can and they do. China saved more the entire UK GDP each year! China used that to fuel the Chinese economy by building up infrastructures and invest in R&D. Hence China is now totally independent innovatively and scientifically.

I know when a person like you who ask such a question you are already fooled by your western media that China is unsustainable but the fact is just the opposite. The U.S. is mightily unsustainable and China is the lowest geared economy. And its real tangible investment are paying off well!

The U.S. infrastructure is dilapidating and you guys burnt cash like there is no tomorrow! 5 trillion in Iraq, 5 trillion in Vietnam, 3 trillion in Afghanistan. And probably 10 trillion in Ukraine by the time this shit ended. Burning cash sending armadas around the world and keeping 800 plus military bases around the world! Your investment is not getting any returns.

China build more high speed railway, solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric power stations then the rest of the world put together!

So grow up Mr. Questioner and Americans and brain dead westerners. China is great and dandy. The U.S. is without doubt collapsing before your eyes. If you open yours!

THIS AMERICAN INSULTS THE ENTIRE AFRICAN CONTINENT. IS THIS HOW A/AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT AFRICANS?

https://youtu.be/1qeRW-SbsPg

Would the Tiananmen Square Massacre have happened if China had a Second Amendment?

The problem is, there was no massacre.

Tiananmen, and the never-ending western media narrative telling outright lies for decades without giving the Chinese the opportunity to set out the facts is the primary motivation for the Great Firewall, and strict Chinese censorship.

A poor and relatively backward China would have been at constant risk of implosion had external forces been able to spread lies as propaganda to bring down the government in Beijing, using Tiananmen as the rallying point.

Unfortunately, the truth is way more mundane.

The students were persuaded to go home before first light, and most of the soldiers deployed to the square were involved in area cleaning on June 4th and 5th.

In sum, the Tiananmen PROTESTS (which lasted for months centered around June 4th) resulted in the deaths of several hundred, with an abnormally high percentage being uniformed personnel. It was at best, a sustained social disturbance.

The Chinese are not stupid, or disrespectful people. No leader will order a massacre at Tiananmen, with the portrait of Mao overlooking the square. The Long March generation had given their lives to free the people from oppression, and it would have been heresy to mow down the hope of the nation under the watchful eyes of Mao.

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Dmitry Orlov: Russia and China Melding in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape

https://youtu.be/sdkloQ5dycI

What’s the most unprofessional thing a doctor has said to you?

This happened, not to me, but to my younger sister (who’s 16 at the moment). [Too bad I wasn’t with her back then…]

Some Background Details (they’re important in the story): My sister is a beautiful, talented and intelligent girl. She got double promotion in her 6th year so now she’s the youngest in her class. For some time now (around 2–3 years… Whoa, that’s actually a lot!), she has been complaining about her vision. She says that whenever she opens her eyes, everything just constantly keeps morphing and changing forms .

We took her to 3 opthalmologists. None of them could determine the cause of her wavy vision and so they diagnosed it as psychological and referred her to a psychologist who was very well-known (and well-paid) in our area.

Let’s call the psychologist Sarah. So here goes:

(My sister comes in and sits down. Sarah regards my sister condescendingly then proceeds to give her a complacent smirk as if she had just found the answer to all the problems in the universe)

Sarah: “You’re not a very good student are you?”

5 remarks popped into my sister’s head at that very moment:

1. WTF?!
2. Is this the first question you ask your patient?
3. I’m top of my class even after my double promotion.
4. You’re not a very good doctor are you?
5. Lady, you just ruined your reputation in less than 10 seconds.

But instead she replied with a simple “I’m moderately good.”

Sarah: “You know, it won’t do you any good to lie.”

By this point, my sister is so shocked she doesn’t even say anything.

Sarah: “Please stand outside for a moment. I’d like to speak to your mother privately.”

My sister just walks out (still unable to process such level of vanity in an adult).

Sarah: “Your daughter is quite obviously making the whole thing up about her vision. And as her parent, it is your responsibility to make sure she studies all day. She gets an F in her tests and at best a D, am I right?”

It took my mother all of her willpower to not get up and slap her full across the face. She quietly thanked the doctor and left, making sure to slam the door especially loudly on her way out.

P.S. After much more research and diagnosis in another country (Australia), it turns out my sister’s wavy vision was due to ocular migraine. It hasn’t got much better yet but baby steps lead the way. 🙂

INVESTIGATORS REVEAL JIMMY LAI MONEY TRAIL

Huge amounts of international money flowed into the bank accounts of Jimmy Lai—and large sums of cash went out to anti-China groups, a court heard yesterday.

The tabloid publisher received HK$2.945 billion in his nine bank accounts in recent years, with deposits coming from the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere. The money is said to have derived “from overseas securities trading”.

But the money didn’t sit there.

Who got the cash?

Chunks of finance went out to multiple China-hostile political groups in Hong Kong, the US, and the UK, the prosecution said, providing a detailed report from financial investigators.

Jimmy Lai’s lawyer Steven Kwan Man-wai did not dispute the information.

Local recipients included the Hong Kong Democratic Party, the Civic Party, the Labour Party, the League of Social Democrats, the court was told.

A wildly critical UK group called Hong Kong Watch, whose members include Benedict Rogers and former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten, received HK$202,000.

Paul Wolfowitz, former US deputy secretary of defence, was sent HK$1.76 million in payments from 2013 onwards, the court heard. Money also went to a right-wing think tank called the American Enterprise Institute.

Cash also went to a group called the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, organizers of an annual meeting to keep the “Tiananmen Square massacre” story, debunked by Julian Assange and others, alive.

The biggest individual recipient named yesterday was Cardinal Joseph Zen, a retired Hong Kong churchman who has fallen out with his colleagues, including Pope Francis, over his relentless China-bashing. The churchman received HK$3.5 million in 2017, the prosecution said.

The court heard earlier that large sums of money from Jimmy Lai’s funds (held by various entities) were paid to media companies, including the publishers of the Washington Post, the Nikkei Weekly, the UK Guardian, and media groups in India.

Jimmy Lai, 76, is on trial for sedition and collusion, offences illegal worldwide. His colleagues and associates have pleaded guilty in related hearings. The trial continues.

Baltic Sea Anomaly, Atlantis, and Underwater Alien Bases | Mysteries of the Ocean Pt 1

https://youtu.be/tgqAt6YN1jE

Why do so many couples still get married when the divorce rate is so high?

I can tell you why I took the plunge.

She was gorgeous.

I wanted to have sex.

We were both young and stupid.

Oh, and movies said we’d “live happily ever after.”

And we did, through the honeymoon. Then reality struck.

We suddenly discovered that, well, we’re very different. In just about everything.

And that caused us to clash and occasionally me to wonder, “What the hell is wrong with her?”

And my wife to wonder that about me, only way more often.

Through years of building businesses, raising kids, paying bills. And occasional sleepless nights, sickness and clashes it would have been easy to walk away.

To think, “Well, I guess it’s not meant to be.”

But we just chose not to. We chose to make it “happily ever after.” Period.

So when we didn’t have the happy part we still had the ever after part. And it was going to be a long ever after.

So we might as well put the happy part back in. And we did.

Last week my wife was gone baby sitting our grandson. I was home alone.

No, that’s never a good thing in so many ways.

She came home on Friday evening so we had a late dinner and watched a movie.

As we enjoyed a glass of wine, I thought, “Ah, life is good again. Just the way it’s meant to be.”

I turned to her and said, “I’m glad you can babysit. But I’m really glad you’re home.”

“Yeah, it feels good to be home too. Though I miss my baby,” she responded.

“I know, I’m having to compete with your new boyfriend. But I do have to say, he’s really cute.”

We laughed.

And proceeded to live happily ever after for another evening.

And later, well, never mind.

You get married for the wrong reasons. Then build a marriage for the right ones.

What path in life did you go down that, as a child, you never would have expected?

I was failing grade 8 Math and English, and barely passing Science. My parents ran into my Math teacher at a social event, turned out they had distant common friends.

She made it a point to tell them I wasn’t going to get anywhere in life. She suggested they find me a trade, I might do well as an electrician or a plumber (nothing wrong with these professions, except she used it in a derogatory way, as studying is beyond my capabilities).

Ms. Farhana was a real jerk.

I was the shiest kid around and bullied throughout my childhood. However, I was embarrassed enough by that incident that I mustered up my courage and asked the neighbour’s daughter to tutor me. She started from basic and built up from there.

I passed grade 8 Math. Barely, but I passed it.

She kept tutoring me and I did average in grade 9.

My grade 10 Math teacher had a baby. He lived in the neighbourhood so I decided to ring his doorbell to wish him well. He invited me in for cake. Zee never says no to cake. He told me I could be his best student if I just tried harder.

I knew he was giving me an empty compliment, but a part of me thought I could.

So I asked him to help me after school. He said yes.

I got lucked out with a really kick-ass, but slightly racist, grade 11 Chemistry teacher. He broke things down to just Math. I overlooked his passive aggressive micro-aggressions and had him help me. Everything made sense.

I took Finite Math in highschool. The teacher had a bit of a gambling problem, but man did he know his probabilities.

Suddenly Math was fun.

There is a goat behind one of three doors and you pick a door. I open one of the doors you didn’t pick, do you change your answer? (Hint: yes)

I made up different problems with him. I learned Texas Hold’em. We talked about probabilities of different hands.

In grade 12 Advanced Math I got almost perfect, the highest mark anyone has gotten up until that point in that school’s history.

I took Math tests for fun and did well enough at the University of Waterloo’s Descartes test that I got in with scholarship even though my overall marks weren’t that high.

I decided to major in Math (and Computer Science). I finished the first year in Dean’s list, primarily because of kicking ass in Math. I tutored Calculus, Algebra, and Combinatorics and Optimization to pay bills.

Screw you Ms. Farhana, you were wrong.

I graduated and went to work for Microsoft and then Amazon due to my strength in Math.

I decided to run for a local office and despite not knowing anyone, turned campaigning into a Math problem. I reached out to others in the office and asked them for advice. I took their advice seriously.

Heck I read a book, tracked down its author (two-time mayor of a Michigan municipality) and emailed him for advice. He replied and agreed to mentor me remotely.

I won the election.

I started a business. I sucked at it. I ran into someone at a dinner who ran an agency. I asked him for help. He agreed. Eventually we ran a campaign for Nissan.

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As a child I never thought I could learn that everyone had something to teach me, outright ask them to teach me, and benefit from this skill so incredibly.

“The Worst Thing Ever”

it was seriously the worst thing ever. I walked into my house and saw my mom hanging from the ceiling fan.

I can’t even put into words how messed up it was. It felt like my whole world just fell apart. I still can’t wrap my head around it. It’s like I’m stuck in some kind of freaky….

I can’t even put into words how messed up it was. It felt like my whole world just fell apart. I still can’t wrap my head around it. It’s like I’m stuck in some kind of freaky dream.

 I just wish I could go back in time and stop it from happening. But I know that’s not possible. All I can do now is try to move on and remember her in the best way I can. 

The most devastating experience of my life was witnessing my mother’s passing. The sight of her lifeless body on the floor left me feeling as though I had lost not only her, but also myself and my entire world. 

Despite my desperate desire to help her, she passed away before my eyes, leaving me feeling helpless and hopeless. 

However, as time passed, I came to the realization that I must strive to make her proud by doing my best to secure a successful future. This tragedy has left an indelible mark on my life, but I am determined to honor my mother’s memory by achieving my goals.

Related…

DESPERATE WOMAN RESCUED FROM HANGING HERSELF TO DEATH

Information from reliable source to YIRIMAMBO ADVOCACY GROUP UPPER WEST REGION

indicate that a woman from East District information gathered from Wa East district in the Upper West region indicate that a married woman with six children who allegedly wanted to hang herself to death is battling with problems.

It has been fetched but obvious that she can not do anything else for survival nor her mother to care for her family. It is noted that she is a sickler and her mother a stroke patience.

Despite her poor health condition, she and the husband that are taking care of the family. She is always carrying her mother here and there to help her in movement because of that she can’t do any work for money.

Notwithstanding to this, sometimes it is difficult for them to get even food to eat or clothes to wear and medicines for themselves.

Even though the father with six children, is a farmer but is not easy for him taking care of all of them, he brings only what he gets from the farm and that is all which is not always enough but they have been managing.

So she always sit idle thinking that all these problems cannot be solved and she has been saying which she has always been saying to people.
*Ending Her Life By Committing Suicide*
On the 31st July, 2019 at about 4-5:00 in the evening, a woman which is about 45years- old by name with-held with six Chlidren, from Ducie in the Wa East district of the Upper West region went out with a rope in a black 

polythene bag thinking that nobody have seen her but one of her children who was inside another room before she went out into the bush quickly went to inform some good Samaritans in the community and they also quickly traced this woman to the bush and before they got there she has already tied the rope on top of a tree trying to climb another piece of a tree before she can put her neck on the rope. Then the people who followed her as good Samaritans shouted on her and quickly rushed to save her without doing that.

So on this note we are pleading that if any member can help us with either food stuffs or clothes for these people and health support for them as well, if possible so that we will also try to help this woman with counselling and the materials support from you.

But for now she is a little bit OK with her situation.


With the intervention of yirimambo for the first place with our advice and counseling than before.

SOURCE YIRIMAMBO ADVOCACY GROUP UPPER WEST

Be the RUFUS!

We are a community.

My post on community… on Quora.

What is a Chinese Expert?

I really do not think that this creature exists.

According to the Western / American “news” media, a Chinese Expert is…

• A person who accepts American government funding to say bad things about China.
• Is associated, or was associated, with American mainstream media.
• Has, in their possession, photos of the “expert” with American political personages.

According to the Chinese, a Chinese Expert is a graded, stratified tier system based on experience.

• Top Tier

Born in China. Studied Chinese history with exemplary grades. Works on behalf of the Chinese people, and puts the people of China first. Many members of the CCP fit this role, as do many Pioneers, and an entire subculture of Chinese that support the “Chinese Dream”.

• Old Hand

Has lived in China for a significant period of time. Understands the various societies, and cultures of China. Is married to, or was part of, a Chinese family. Works on behalf on the greater good for all, but of course, his / her Chinese family and Chinese friends come first. This person is also known as a Chinese wanna-be. And this person supports, and praises, “The Chinese Dream”.

• Enthusiast

This person, may or many not have lived in China. But has totally embraced the Chinese culture, society and means. This includes certain individuals out of Singapore, Vietnam, and other places around the globe. Maybe they aren’t an “expert” in a classical sense, but they are certainly enthusiastic for the Chinese dream. These people are perhaps known an “fanboi.”

At best, I (personally) am considered a “China Old Hand”.

I don’t know everything, but I know enough.

…

What is “The Chinese Dream”?

Last weekend, my family and a few friends, went to visit an organizational youth meet in Zhuhai. This group (and there are thousands throughout China), teach independence, pride, self-confidence, and acceptance as part of “The Chinese Dream”. It was astounding.

It’s 100% voluntary. The kids pay a small membership fee.

Really. Amazing.

You will never see anything else like this anywhere. Watch how accepted and inclusive my daughter was taken in. It was like she was “absorbed by the hive”. LOL

“Resistance is futile”. -The Borg

https://youtu.be/vVcosfCqwNA

There is a great sense of belonging, and acceptance that I have NEVER experienced anywhere else.

Belonging.

B-E-L-O-N-G-I-N-G

Belonging as PART of a COMMUNITY.

No “lone wolf” bullshit.

…

It’s stuff like this why I LOVE LOVE LOVE China so much.

EDIT 22JAN23

1.3K views. Only 30 “thumbs up”.

I guess you all have bought into the Western propagandized lie that you can be the “lone wolf”. That you can be another “Die Hard” type; another Rambo. Another Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. Maybe a “Professional career woman”… and all that.

That is a lie.

As many are waking up to the reality that humans are social creatures.

We need to be part of society. We need to belong.

Watch my little 2 minute video. (above)

Belonging is valuable.

 

What made you think, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” when someone sat next to you on an airplane?

We were on a flight to the U.S. from Thailand where we live.

In Taiwan, a disheveled man of around 30 sat down next to me, reeking of weed. After takeoff, he pulled down the tray and filled it with candy bars, nuts, fruit juice and oranges from his camouflage jacket. He turned to me and said, “You can’t trust airline food.”

But when lunch was served, he smashed his food stash under the food tray he was given and ate everything, including the garnish.

Afterwards he wanted to talk and kept pestering me with, “Hey. Hey!!”

He asked where we were from, and upon hearing “Bangkok” he began raving about ‘Thai sticks’, Thai marijuana. Then he asked my Thai husband if he would help him start importing weed to the U.S.

Husband stared at him really coldly and told the man that he was a Royal Thai police officer so “No.” The idiot’s response: “ Listen, I know all Thai cops are corrupt. We could make a load.”

Husband put headphones on and ignored him. I asked the pothead if he was out of his mind. He shrugged, laughed and said husband would change his mind, for sure.

Luckily, he made a friend elsewhere and moved.

But he wasn’t finished with us.

As we lined up for Customs, he got right behind us. As the agent checked our bags, he kept saying loudly, “They’re from Thailand. Great weed there! Oh, look! That’s a weed pipe!” (It was a replica of a silver opium pipe, a decorative item – a gift) “Listen! I still wanna import from you guys!!”

Another agent picked up his bags and escorted him to a separate office, and we never saw him again.

My MM video about pollution in China

https://youtu.be/1vpQCefbArY

Why is the United States afraid of China?

It’s entirely IDEOLOGICAL

The United States and it’s entire existence is based on the WEALTH OF NATIONS

The inherent belief that Core Capitalism is the only system to deliver maximum benefits to an economy and stability to the economy & a system of the people is the only way to deliver a system with full global peace

That the world will be fully peaceful when every nation is governed by its people AKA is a democracy built on Western ideals

---

This was a very correct analysis that the US followed for almost a hundred and ten years from 1880–1990

Unfortunately this ideology got corrupted post 1990 when:-

• US Democracy slowly became more and more partisan
• US Leaders became slowly worse and worse and essentially corrupt demagogues
• The US capitalism model deteriorated to an Oligarchy ‘Support the top 1%’ model that is sinking the states
• The US model became all about speculation and less about actual progress and growth

Yet today’s US leaders religiously believe this is the winning model that every nation must adopt and regards any nation that is different as a ‘Flawed Nation’

---

Chinas Economic Ideology unlike the USA has always changed to suit changing times

From Deeply Socialist under Mao Tse Tung where the focus was on Education and Equality and Food Production and Stability

To Gradual Mixed Economy under Deng Xiaoping & Jiang Zimin where the focus shifted to Industrialization

To a Ruthless Capitalist Mindset under Hu Jintao where the focus was growth, growth and growth

To the Common Prosperity Mindset under Xi Jingping focusing on reducing Income inequality, spreading development across all sections of the economy and a sort of hybrid model of socialism within capitalism

It is diametric opposite to the US and it’s Ruthless Capitalism Ideology

US maximizes emphasis on Speculation

China hates Speculation

US prefers to capitalize everything to the maximum

China prefers a strong sense of control on excess capitalism

US prefers coalescing smaller entities into a handful of monopolies

China prefers mushrooming of smaller entities and competition deciding which is the best

---

Chinas One Party System is also diametrically opposite to the Multiple faction democracy that the US endorses and the West supports

The US believes that one person for too long loses the incentive to serve the people and becomes a dictator

Yet China believes a group of able people can serve the people the best and prevent unworthy individuals from coming to power who can ruin a well established system of governance

---

The US has always believed that ultimately China will shed it’s different ways and join the US in their perfect model (that they don’t realize they have fully corrupted)

It’s what made Gordon Chang & Peter Zeihan such celebrities

The US has always believed that China would face a massive setback like the USSR did (Or was suckered into triggering a setback like my friend Hoàng Phan establishes in his answers)

They estimated this to happen between 2005–2008

Didnt Happen

Instead China moved from strength to strength to strength over time and successfully endured every US action against it, from the Wolf Sanctions of 2011 to the Raimondo Sanctions of 2022

The US may trigger a wave of propaganda against China but the purpose of this is to STOP THEIR OWN PEOPLE FROM QUESTIONING AS TO HOW CHINA NOT ONLY SURVIVES TODAY BUT THRIVES FOLLOWING DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

---

As China moves ahead without the seeming collapse, the US are seeing their two hundred year old belief and ideology (Again which they don’t realize they have corrupted already) getting shattered by China

And slowly seeing others start to adopt a similar stance from Turkiye to Serbia to Vietnam to Singapore

The US is beginning to wonder if indeed it’s ideology was flawed and whether it’s gods and idols are false

And that terrifies them

They don’t realize that it is THEY who have completely corrupted a nice good solid system that was giving them the position of world leader and global trust for decades

It is they who have become Satanic Hegemons from Global Leaders

---

As for China, China is on the right track so far

They MUSTN’T MAKE THE MISTAKE THAT US DID

They mustn’t allow ideology and hegemony to corrupt them the way US was corrupted under Bush Junior, Clinton and so on

They must ensure they keep refreshing their system so that it best helps the people of China

Pepe Escobar: China Issues DEVASTATING Warning to Neocons as Putin and Xi Make History

https://youtu.be/Qozaq6KAvPs

Have you ever seen something so surprising that you were momentarily stunned? What was it?

I was on the beach late one night looking at the moon and the waves.

Out of the corner of my eye along the south end of the beach – I saw something super weird.

What is that?

I squinted, trying to figure it out – it was too far away – but it had to be really huge.

What the heck?

Well, I couldn’t sit there idly looking at the moon and listening to the surf anymore – I needed to figure out what that thing was over there on the beach.

So, I started walking… is it a car? What is that thing? How is it on the beach? Nobody in their right mind would drive a VW bug on a beach like ours… at night…

Closer and closer I walked and larger and larger it looked.

It was a leatherback sea turtle. Digging a hole in the sand.

I was utterly flabbergasted.

I didn’t make a sound, I just stood there, awestruck: feeling truly blessed in the moment to be near such a magnificent being.

I had never been so close to such a large animal in the wild before.

She was utterly oblivious to me – she was on a mission.

I stood beside her as she dug: I definitely got a sand bath that night. She flipped the sand until she was happy with her nest and began to fill it with eggs.

It took a long time.

I couldn’t stay until she was completely finished.

I’m pretty sure it took most of the rest of the night. I left around 0300 and she wasn’t done.

I’ve since swum with green turtles, who are dwarfed in comparison. But nothing has engendered that kind of awe before or since. Stunned is the right word for something which leaves your mouth hanging and your words lost.

Cheese and Honey Pie

Ingredients

Sesame Seed Pastry

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions

1. Sesame Seed Pastry: Mix all ingredients until blended; press firmly and evenly against bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate.
2. Bake at 475 degrees F for 5 minutes.
3. Filling: Beat cream cheese in large mixer bowl on medium speed until creamy. Add remaining ingredients; beat until light and fluffy. Pour into baked pie shell.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F until firm, 40 to 50 minutes.
5. Refrigerate until serving time.

Yields 10 to 12 servings.

Done with the bullshit

I had a thought today that I wanted to share with you all, this is my response to a Reddit post I saw about how corrupt and outdated representative democracy is.

I will start with what I think to be the main problems of representative democracy

1. The elected body of legislators is not a representative sample of the population, looking at the legislature, you’d think the vast majority of the country was white male lawyers that are either Republicans or Democrats. This is very far from the truth, and many voters do not properly identify either Republican or Democrat and their interests oftentimes scope over topics from both parties. Most of the time when people vote they’re just picking the lesser of two evils, and are not in any way completely satisfied with what other party is doing.
2. Scope of power does not match scope of accountability, legislators may pass laws that impact people that could not vote for or against them. Unless you count propositions in places like california, legislators are able to pass pretty much whatever law they want that impact sometimes tens of millions of people and are in no way accountable to the laws that they pass. The people have no say in the laws that legislators have passed. This very often leads to a corrupt system of the government being able to do whatever it wants and the people having no say in what the government does.
3. Job security for elected officials is more dependent on fundraising than on whether the politician is acting in his or her constituents’ best interests. This blows the system wide open for large corporations and billionaires to buy off politicians that represent their best interests as opposed to the people.
4. Lobbying undermines democracy. Lobbying is a mechanism for powerful groups to influence laws and regulations at the expense of the public interest. This results in outside influence, unfair competition and policy capture, to the detriment of effective policymaking. This effectively allows billionaires and big corporations to buy our government and politicians that act in their best interests rather than the interests of the people.
5. The voting system and general layout of government was designed before it was possible to quickly communicate long distances, so it ignores the possibility of citizens directly participating.
6. Mass media cannot be trusted to provide accurate information and is very often bias. Mass media often feeds lies and propaganda to the electorate and the electorate is not currently equipped to ensure a representative democracy is acting in the best interest of the people.
7. The electoral college needs to go, it is not based on popular vote, and it is based on a winner takes all system which is easily susceptible to corruption and allows political candidates to be elected by losing the popular vote. Under the system if you want to vote for your states of losing party don’t even bother voting.
8. There aren’t enough representatives to accurately represent the people if we’re going to keep our system of representative democracy and not throw out the entire thing. I think the amount of Representatives should be raised to 936, and the amount of Representative districts should also be increased.
9. It’s very hard to remove corrupt politicians from power. The people should be able to impeach corrupt politicians, the system was not designed to have politicians serving for 30 or 40 years. We need term limits, I think a term limit of 6 years for senators and representatives is perfectly fair, and I think a term limit of 10 years for supreme Court justices is also perfectly fair. This would allow the government to be more in touch with what people want by constantly switching out people every couple of years.
10. The Monopoly of power that both conservatives and liberals have over the government in their respected Republican and Democratic parties. We need more political parties to better represent the people, it is not the case that people simply think one way or the other there should be five political parties written directly into the Constitution. The government should operate in a European style model of a political coalition if it wants to get anything done, in other words political parties are forced to make concessions and are forced to work with other political parties to pass laws.

So what do I things should be done to fix things? I’ll tell you

1. Abolish Congress and the supreme Court, and implement a system of direct democracy where every 6 months every single issue that the supreme Court and Congress would have looked at are voted on directly by the people in the form of propositions. Now I know that if we implemented elections twice a year every June and December people will be voting on about 100 different issues, and that’s fine, people’s voices need to be heard and it is a much better system of asking people what they think of certain issues rather than allowing an out-of-touch government to make these decisions for people instead.
2. Like I said on my previous point, it needs to be a government for the people by the people. This is why representative democracy is an outdated and obsolete relic of the past. In representative democracy legislators are able to pass whatever laws they please and are not accountable to the people.
3. We need to make lobbying illegal and if we are going to have a political coalition system the people need to be the ones electing politicians not billionaires and big corporations. Money should not be a part of politics. Making money part of politics undermines democracy
4. Like I said before lobbying undermines democracy and it needs to be banned 🚫. Lobby groups do absolutely nothing for the government except give special interest groups political power that they shouldn’t have and allow the special interest groups to have a voice in our country and our politics and it allows them to buy politicians.
5. We need to switch to a ranked choice voting system, as opposed to an instant runoff system. The electoral college needs to go, even if that means amending the Constitution to get rid of it.
6. Mass media should not have a say in our government, as they cannot be trusted to provide accurate information. I think we should have a system of fake news laws that holds these mass media companies accountable for publishing bias or false information
7. Like I said the electoral college needs to go. Even if that means amending the Constitution get rid of it. We need a ranked choice popular voting system. This would make it so everybody’s voice is heard, and it would allow new political parties to come to the table and it would break up the Monopoly of power that Republicans and Democrats have over the government.
8. I don’t even think we should keep our system of Representative democracy, but if it needs to stay we need to double the amount of Representatives to 936. This wasn’t even my idea this was the idea of YouTuber Mathew Beat.
9. We need term limits for politicians. Once a corrupt politician like Mitch McConnell is in power it’s almost impossible to get rid of them. And it should be up to the entire country to elect politicians not just their state. Term limits would allow new people to come to the table and new ideas to spread and it would allow for more political parties to have seats. Every political party no matter how extremist should be able to have its voice heard.
10. We need to switch to a political coalition system. Everybody should be able to have their voice heard no matter what side of the political spectrum they sit on. There should be five major political parties and many smaller political parties even if those political parties only get 1–5% of the vote. These political parties should be: the nationalist, the conservatives, the liberals, the acella party (progressive party), and the green party. Many smaller political parties such as: the Socialist party, the fascist party, the libertarian party, etc should also get a say. If we have 936 representatives, even if the fascist party only got 2% of the vote, they would still get 19 seats. This would actually heavily benefit minority political parties and give them a lot of power. Let’s say for example that 20% of the population identifies as nationalist, and 22% of the population identify as conservative. This does not add up to 51%, it adds up to 42%, this would still require an additional 9% of the vote for the nationalist and conservatives to get anything passed and they would have to make deals with the smaller political parties to get up to 51%.

These are just my thoughts about our whole busted political system, let me know what you think

2024 Taiwan Election Reveals Shocking TRUTH About USA and China

https://youtu.be/XKiM2rVZMYg