One of the MANY kinds of music that I enjoy is “Trance”. This is a kind of melodic continuous beat, many times with a female vocalist signing her heart out.

I was listening to some Trance on you-tube, and thought about it… you know… the pace and the beat of the music lends itself well to porn. No shit!

So, on a lark, I went to one of the porn sites; xHampster, and spent a minute or two watching the video while the you-tube Trance music played. Sure as shit, I kid you not, the music and the melody absolutely matched the actions of the porn actors and actresses. LOL.

• Both the men and the woman busy in frenzied (erp) activity…
• The woman lost in organismic pleasure
• Periods of bliss

Like this tune…

30:20 Giuseppe Ottaviani & Lucid Blue – I Believe

…

I think that this is more than just a casual observation. It’s a reflection of the ties to emotional and mental biological attachments relative to our drives.

Sex is but one of our many, many drives.

…

How does the music you listen to reflect your interests and desires?

I mean if Trance can equate to porn, then what does Country & Western music equate to? What does Classic Rock equate to?

• Carry on my wayward son
• Stairway to Heaven
• Back in Black
• Black Magic Woman

It seems to me that David Lee Roth is always singing about prostitutes, and Van Halen roars out about cars…

Ah.

…but what about polkas?

… Vodka drunk aunties, with roses clenched in their teeth, and little kids running all over the stage, eh?

…

Music reflects our inner desires, and under certain conditions, they can enhance or suppress them.

Jazz.

Pop.

Banjo…

…

Todays…

NATO Planning for 3.5 MILLION to Serve if War With Russia Starts

World Hal Turner

In the event of a direct war with Russia, the NATO military bloc will utilize the 300 thousand troops already on the Border with Russia, in the first month.  “NATO will then “attract” up to 3.5 million troops” according to Admiral Rob Bauer, the head of the military committee of the North Atlantic Alliance, .

Where do they think they’re going to get those 3.5 Million troops?   Why, YOU – and your children — of course!  Ready to go fight and die for the armpit of eastern Europe, Ukraine?

Admiral Bauer noted that NATO’s new regional defense plans involve further reinforcement on the borders with Russia in case of a possible confrontation.

“If they attack, we must be ready. So we need more militaries at a high level of readiness, and that’s not something that can be done overnight. They will need training, weapons, ammunition, everything else. Therefore, we are talking about 300 thousand military personnel at a high level of readiness. In total, NATO countries, together with Finland and Sweden, have 3.5 million troops,” said Bauer.

Rattling sabers will not help. Sooner or later Russia will complete its plans for its new Northern Military District, and NATO knows about this.

NATO, the clown force defeated by horseback riders from Afghani caves.

Beef and Mushrooms

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/4 pounds sirloin steak, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (10 ounce) package sliced mushrooms
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen pearl onions
• 2 cups red wine
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Season steak with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.
3. Transfer steak to a bowl and set aside.
4. Add mushrooms and onions to the pan and cook until liquid has evaporated.
5. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, 5 to 6 minutes.
6. Stir in soup and 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil.
7. Add steak and its juices from the bowl and simmer, 2 minutes.
8. Divide into individual bowls and sprinkle with the parsley, if using.

Trump Latinos – Rich Men North Of Richmond “Official Video”

Everyone is raging about Washington DC.

Why is America losing the tech war with China?

America does not believe in fair competition, Tonya Harding is its role model.

What has the US done while China is improving?

…

NOTHING.

Just a whole lot of talk, blustering and promises…

China released new photolithography factory plan, U.S. restrictions will no longer be in effect.

Oh man this is a very wonderful news, hope it can be made soon and can’t wait to see US semiconductor companies close their doors one by one as no other market can absorb their products … I would say well done USA for digging your own grave yard, very well planned!

Have you ever been judged by someone solely based on the clothes you were wearing?

My first “real” marketing job, back in the 80’s, was working in the fragrance division of a world renowned fashion designer. 2x a year, I was given $2,000-$3,000 to go shopping at Bloomingdales buying up the competition’s newest products.

I learned that if I dressed down, jeans & tees, I could freely shop the dept without sales pressure. I could easily make a list of what I needed to buy Basically, I was ignored and when I tried to get help, I was ignored even more by the seasoned sales people. They would rather talk to each other than help me.

Eventually, a new or young sales clerk would take pity on me & ask if they could help me. I would hand them my list and watch the delight spread over their face as they mentally calculated their sizeable commission, especially as I pulled out the cash.

And it was super fun watching the scowls on those that wouldn’t help me, when they saw the size of my purchase. And yes, as I walked out, I said to each one of them “ you had your chance.” Lol

Are Europeans shocked when they first come to the United States?

There were only two things that shocked me when I came to the US.

• The complete lack of maintenance for the infrastructure. I thought Americans loved to drive? So why not spend some money on maintenance. I’ve seen more potholes in 6 days in the Usa, than in my entire life in the Netherlands
• The way police officers and other other uniformed people behaved. It already started on the airport at border security, all of the guys in uniform acted like they were the most important person in the world and we were just measly worms. Come on, I know you have a job to do, but why can’t you just try to be pollite? If Dutch police officers would behave like that, they would be considered unfit for the job.

What should we children do with a 91-year-old mother who needs care but refuses to move in with us, let anyone live with her and will not consider nursing home or assisted living?

You could try doing what my neighbor did 50 years ago. His mother was a stubborn woman from the old country. She won’t consider going to a nursing home having any help in her place etc. she fired several people as soon as they started. So he hired another person and they concocted this plan. He told his mother that this person wanted to rent a room from her and she would pay her every week. But that she was a bit hard up and couldn’t afford the full cost of the rent so in order to get a lower rent she was going to help around the house and other things that might need to be done. So every week the son gave the Aide an extra $50 and the Aide handed the mother the $50 and she gave it to her son to put in the bank. So the Aide started helping around the house and then slowly started with personal care. Pretty soon she was taking full care of the mother and the mother thought she was great and offered a bigger reduction in her “rent” and she told her son that she had a nice tenant who helped her “a little” and it was so much better than having an Aide messing around in her house plus she was earning an extra $50 a week!

What is the funniest loophole you have ever seen?

When I was in school, they held a robotics competition.

It was pretty simple, conceptually. You had to make a firefighting robot. It would have to navigate a maze, find a candle and put it out (fully automated, no remote control). I can’t remember the exact size but I think the robot had to be smaller than 1 foot in length, width, and height.

Scoring was as follows. You start with your time (how long it takes to search every room and put out the candle), and get deductions (bonus points) if your robot:

• Put out the candle with anything other than a fan (water, for instance)
• Searched every room, didn’t just stop at the one with the candle
• Could separate into parts to search rooms in parallel
• Was very efficient algorithmically (there were a few benchmarks for this)

Most entries looked like what you would expect, a bunch of sub-systems. Each one with a specific purpose. A Robot.

---

I entered a block of dry ice. It held a simple metal device attached to it.

It basically just had a spring-powered hammer to shatter it into little pieces when the start timer went (so that it would evaporate faster)

In seconds the entire maze was filled with a white fog and the candle was definitely out. I had the fastest time by a landslide even before you counted my deductions:

• Didn’t use a fan? Check
• Search every room? Check.
• Separate into parts to put out fires in parallel? Check

---

I think I could’ve been the only person in history to ever win a robotics competition without writing a single line of code or soldering a single wire.

But alas, the judges disqualified me by unanimous vote.

Aztec Death Whistle | The Scariest Sound You’ve Ever Heard

What children’s toys have been repurposed for something very un-childlike?

During the Iraq war, soldiers frequently used Silly String to help detect booby traps.

Specifically:

If you were entering a house, a perimeter, any at-risk area, you would stand near the areas, and spray Silly String around the room.

Wherever the string caught, seeming to hang in the air—was often a tripwire, that was designed to set off a bomb killing all in the immediate vicinity. (Source: Silly String Has a Real Purpose: Exposing Trip Wires. Ferro, Shaunacy)

Because Silly String is so light, it doesn’t set the wire off. And—you can get Silly String that glows in the dark and is bright. So it has become a popular request from soldiers in the field.

A woman in New Jersey, whose son was serving, even created a charity and collected 80,000 cans of the stuff to ship over to them.

New Zealand’s Capital City Is OVER

What’s the craziest thing you found in the middle of nowhere?

My parents used to fuss at me so bad about my adventures, mainly because I would bring junk home from the multiple dumpster areas. One in particular was located in the middle of nowhere, which is now a very nice neighborhood. Before this area boomed into what it is now, this particular set of dumpsters was literally rich people stuff from the surrounding lake homes. If Dad told me to take off the trash, I drove the extra few miles down the small road to go to these. Anyways, one day I hit mega jackpot!

Since these were so remote, nobody ever really used them and they were not picked through. I can tell you we had pickers in the others, because one day I threw a bag in and the dumpster said “hey watch it!”. That was quite the surprise. On this day the stars aligned for me though. As I was emptying Dad’s old truck, my eyes happened to see what I couldn’t believe….a nearly new VCR. Back then dad said he wouldn’t buy one they were just too expensive. This was back in the late 80s when VCRs were literally thousands of dollars, and this one was top of the line too! Somebody must have gotten angry at it, as I could tell it had been bashed. It was lying in a pile of stuff, deep down inside. So I pull the trusty truck up to the door where I could crawl inside. Low and behold it gets even better! Under it was a fairly new Sears stereo system…..like WHAT!!!! This was thousands of dollars of stuff here, and me being 17 I was just overcome with emotion. The cabinet was smashed as someone had just tossed it all in. I didn’t care I was in heaven. I retrieved my prizes and headed home. I was beside myself. When I pulled up to the house, I was so excited I could barely speak. Dad was skeptical. I admit the stuff had been scratched and damaged, but it was complete!

I understand why someone threw it out. The VCR ate tapes more than it played them. At 17 though, my skills as a repair person were developing. What happened was the rubber was not staying on the wheel that drove the tape, it was slipping. Gluing the rubber to the wheel solved the problem. The stereo was way more complicated to fix. It only had one side that was working, the left channel. The right was dead. It took me some time to figure it all out, but with help from the neighbor down the street (who had a Commodore 64 controlling his whole house) we were able to get it repaired. It was a burned up circuit on the board. I held on to that stereo and VCR for years, until it became totally obsolete and I finally placed it for recycling. My roommate for college was utterly shocked with the electronics I had. He couldn’t figure out how someone who barely worked could afford such high end stuff. He was even more miffed when I said I literally got it for free. I was always scared he was going to steal it too.

What was the most satisfying lie you caught someone in?

I ran a company for years and I told my employees that I expected them at work every day unless they were truly sick or had something that had to me taken care of.

I paid well and took good care of my people. One day, a guy named Tommy called in sick. Later in the day, I had to go look at a job on a part of town I’d never been in. As I drove, there was a group of guys in a yard drinking beer. Tommy was there with them. I waved as I drove by, and the look on his face was priceless.

I had a car phone which was rare back then. Tommy called after a bit and I told him his check would be ready on Friday.

Later, his wife called and asked me to give him one more chance that this was the best job he’d ever had and that their family was more secure than they’d ever been.

I let him come to a staff meeting and stand up and tell everyone what he’d done. I passed out slips of paper to everyone and let them vote. Stay or fired. They wrote, folded the papers and put them in a hat as it went around.

Most voted to let him stay. I did and he was a great employee from then on. I think it made a strong impression on all of the crews and I’m glad I gave him another chance. If his wife had not called, he would never have gotten the second chance.

Shopping at One of the Last Open Kmart’s Before it Closes Forever! Westwood NJ

Signs of America.

When my mother started to suffer from dementia.

I was in that position. It’s not an uncommon position to be in.

My mother was living alone and had early dementia. While not 91, she needed help and someone to talk with. And she was slowly losing it. She was in her late 70’s and had cancer. She lived in a big “Manor” house about an hours drive out of Pittsburgh, PA.

My sister lived the next town over and didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Instead, she wanted to put her in a care-home for aged people, and then take over her estate. Which was really selfish, and rude, but her husband was / is a self-centered bastard, so what can you expect.

My other sister lived a five hour drive away, and while she wanted to do something, it really wasn’t possible. She had her own business, and was busy. She could visit maybe once a month, but that was it.

My younger brother lived in Colorado, had his own business and couldn’t do anything.

And I, well, I was living in Boston, MA at the time. I was working as the VP of an International automotive electronics company, and I (as the oldest) was faced with the task on what to to. My brother and older sister discussed the matter with me and none of us wanted to put here in a “home”. So it was really up to me.

I quit my job.

Packed up all my belongings, and moved into the “Carriage House” (a caretaker building) on the property. Technically, I didn’t live in the house, but I was with her every day. We shared meals together. I took care of the property, and drove her to her medical appointments and kept an eye on her.

I did this for three years.

Then on Easter day, she got really tired. She couldn’t eat dinner with all of us. Instead she just sat in the kitchen, unable to move. We ate, and talked and then we carefully helped her to the couch in the TV room.

We put on a rental movie, and watched it together. She closed her eyes and went to sleep. Everyone else left, and that night, I sat beside her writing e-mails to my girlfriend in China.

She never woke up.

And I, well, I sat beside her all night, and into the next afternoon. Hospice came. We moved her into a bed in the TV room. She laid there.

And I sat beside her.

I was there beside her as she passed on.

…

You can either be a man and take responsibility for your family, or not. I took responsibility, and those three years with my mother were very special to me. Treasures. Really.

After she passed on, a new chapter opened up in my life.

And that is what life is all about…

高速道路に捨てられた子猫、不器用な女性が持ち帰る | とても幸せでした

https://youtu.be/WynzVlff9iQ

How much will Apple, Qualcomm, and other U.S. tech companies have to lower their costs in order to compete with Chinese tech companies?

Lowering costs?

That’s not the US Style isn’t it?

When has a Company in US ever lowered its retail costs to compete fairly?

The Answer is NEVER

At least not since the 1970s

---

Japanese cars and steel threatened to swamp out the US overpriced cars in the 1980s

You had the PLAZA ACCORDS to destroy the Japanese export market for two decades

Tik Tok has a huge market in US and threatens every Big Tech Giant and their applications

It became a National security threat

…

Huawei became a major competition for Apple globally and looked poised with their innovation to eclipse Apple by 2025

It became a National Security Threat and was hit with every commercial sanction in the book

…

Chinese Electric vehicles threaten to dominate the world market by 2025

Bang!!!! European Parliament decides to look into anti dumping and raise tariffs. After all, it became a National Security Threat.

---

The fact is these guys haven’t properly competed with any rival for more than five decades

I mean the West of course

They have a four way formula to keep skirting around competition:-

• Powerful Brand Image and Billions of Dollars in advertising and marketing
• Powerful Lobby Groups in US and powerful political forces to throttle any competition outside the Western Bloc plus Japan using the ‘National Security Threat’
• Political manouvering to use Tariffs, Sanctions and vague Export controls to throttle foreign competition
• Outright buying up of opposition through voluntary or involuntary acquisitions

In short ‘BULLYBOY TACTICS’

India does the exact same thing, so do most democracies these days

Dr Singh wanted multiple entities to set up mobile services in India to develop fair competition and lowering the prices

33 to be exact

Instead we set up mock bribery charges and wiped out the entire plan and established a Cartel

---

So the US and it’s lackeys will never play fair economics

They will talk about it of course until kingdom come

Tomorrow if China decides to ban Iphones for 50 people, they will shriek and scream about ‘Laissez Faire’ and ‘Free market’

Yet these demented fools will never see that they are doing worse. They have been brainwashed into believing they are the good guys.

---

The only way to defeat them is the Chinese way which involves simply innovating, lowering costs and establishing markets wherever possible in the Global South especially BRI countries where Chinas influence exceeds the West and their influence

And slowly keep your cards close to your chest and use some of the same protection tactics that the West adopts and cut off their products from your market threatening a SCORCHED EARTH POLICY.

Or have you forgotten what and how the United States treated Huawei?

8 Forgotten Restaurant Chains We Need Back!

If the US dumps chips in the Chinese market at very low prices, how will the Chinese government react?

My wife works for a big logistics company in China. When the US sanctions hit, DHL withheld some Huawei equipments in their European warehouses for American investigation. This totally set Huawei off and prompted the company to look for domestic alternatives. My wife says their service is worse and more expensive than DHL, in fact totally incomparable in Europe, but after the episode Huawei was just never going to trust DHL again. Thanks to the money Huawei keep throwing their way these past few years, they’ve been able to grow and expand in Europe, becoming more respectable. At this very monent she’s on a business trip in Europe to open a new office for their newly acquired Dutch subsidiary and the inauguration of a new cargo airline.

This is just one very narrow and personal peek into the consequences of the trade war, but I think it’s a window into other areas like chips as well.

American chips were good and cheap and flooded the Chinese market before the tech war, in fact they still do, so Chinese domestic chip makers just couldn’t grow. In 1997 Chinese ministry of education downright cut the semiconductor major in universities, probably believing such majors to be unnecessary since cheap American chips are readily available and Chinese companies just weren’t making them so graduates couldn’t find jobs.

The chip war has changed that. Now semiconductor is the hottest major in China and new Chinese engineers are filling up new Chinese chip start ups. If the US drops the sanctions and flood the Chinese market again now, it will still have tarnished its reputation as a reliable supplier, and we have an entire nation, if not more, wary of the potential of American political untrustworthiness disrupting supply lines. Just like Huawei refuses to use DHL despite its service being better and cheaper, allowing for my wife’s company to grow and maybe one day take on DHL, some Chinese companies will just not trust American chips again, despite them being cheap or not, leaving room for domestic chip business to grow.

Cambodian Girl Surprises Me With Kindness in Phnom Penh

Fun and interesting video.

https://youtu.be/uXv6qrcGGhw

Have you ever witnessed an objection at a wedding?

As an attorney, I had someone served with an involuntary bankruptcy at his wedding.

He had refused to pay both child and spousal support for years. He worked for his daddy and claimed he wasn’t making any money. Almost everything he owned was in someone else’s name, except for the house.

He drove expensive cars, had a boat, a couple of quads and dressed in very upscale clothing.

He would eat at the finest restaurants and travel all over the world.

Yet his ex-wife could hardly put food on the table for herself and her children, who were his children also.

I filed an involuntary bankruptcy against him to get the equity in the house to pay for the support.

He kept dodging my process server. His car would be at his work, but they would claim he was not there. Same at home, his car would be there, but his girlfriend would claim he was not home.

I spent about six months trying to get him served, when his children (the ones he refused to support) got an invitation to his wedding.

I had my process server dress as a delivery lady, with a big gift-wrapped box. Someone at the door said they would take the gift, but the process server told them that the gift was so special, it had to be delivered to the man personally.

He came to the door, the process server opened the box and, “Mr. So-and-so, you have been served.” He blew a cork and started screaming at the process server using every cuss word you could imagine.

I found out later that he was served just as the wedding was about to start.

During one of the court proceedings, he told the judge that I ruined his wedding and his honeymoon, to which I replied that was OK because he had ruined his children’s lives.

Daddy came up with the money for the back support and my attorney fees. I also got a lien on the house for all future support payments. I then dismissed the bankruptcy.

I really dislike anyone who will not support their own children, especially when they have the ability to do so.

I consider this to be one of my finest cases.

Shanghai Has Changed Forever Since The Lockdown

A dated video. But gives you an idea bout the feeling at that time.

What is the most British thing ever?

I arrived at a very old and very prestigious school for a job interview as a teacher. The first thing I thought upon arrival was “Oh my God! This place is way outside my comfort zone.” It looked just so venerable and posh. Much of the building was Tudor (1547ish) and extensively re-modelled in Victorian gothic. It was imposing and intimidating as a potential workplace.

But then I walked into the school office and Reception and there on the Reception desk was a letter “In-Tray” with a huge ginger Tom Cat curled up alseep in it. I thought that “only in a very old, very British, very eccentric school that was very sure of itself would a cat be sleeping in the Reception Desk in-tray.”

The cat was called Henry and he had the run of the whole school and everyone loved him.

Anyway, I got the job and was ringing round various companies to acquire new equipment for my Technology lab. One company I wished to use had no supply contract with the school and so I was asked by their representative on the phone to set up a credit account. The conversation went like this:

“We will need some business credentials for your company in order to set up the credit account”

“Yes of course; what do you need to know?”

“Firstly, how long has your business be operating?”

“Four hundred and seventy-five years”

“Ah. I don’t think there will be any problem setting you up with a credit account”.

The De-Civilization of America | Victor Davis Hanson

A calm voice of reality.

What did you find out about your teacher that shocked you?

When I was in 3rd grade, there was a class bully by the name of Chris. My cousin Ryan was also in the class, and we were buddies. One day Chris decided to pick on my cousin. Incensed, I punched Chris in the face and knocked him clean out of his chair.

Horrified by what I had done, I quickly turned to see if the teacher had seen. She hadn’t. She had her back to the class writing on the chalk board and had missed the whole thing. I was so relieved. I attended a private school that employed corporal punishment and I was so sure I was going to get paddled.

I found out years later from my parents that she had actually seen the whole thing and had quickly turned to the board to hide her huge smile. She had been aching to punch Chris herself for months.

Chris never bothered me or my cousin again.

Constitution 101 | Lecture 1

Learn the meaning of the Constitution and the principles of American government in this new version of Hillsdale’s most popular course. Visit hillsdale.edu/con101 to begin your course today.

What was the strangest thing you found cleaning out your parents’ house after they died?

Two things – not necessarily strange, just quirky. My father died quite unexpectedly of an aneurysm over a decade ago. He had a terrific sense of humor, and an awful gold and tan plaid sports jacket from the 70s. My mom had begged him to get rid of it for years, but no. He even wore it to my best friend’s wedding, insisting she’d find it funny. She did. When I got to it in the closet, I wasn’t sure I could give it away, but I checked the pockets anyway. Each pocket held 13 crisp $100 bills – $3900 total.

The other item was inside a puzzle box I had given him many years prior. It was the kind where you had to tap on one section, twist another, etc. in a specific order to get it open. I heard something inside when I shook it. Took me almost an hour to get it open to find his neatly written recipe for barbecue sauce.

Gosh, I miss him!

9 Things Your Cat Does for You Without You Knowing

What’s something a doctor did to you that you won’t ever forget?

I am disabled and I see a psychiatrist, as required by disability.

My doctor was the only one in town who accepted medicare/medicaid. He accepted me as his patient when I went for my first appointment. We got on well right away. Over the years, he has helped me along my journey to better mental health. I have had to change medications quite a few times. Sometimes they stopped working. Sometimes the side effects were too bad, or they didn’t help at all. Each time, he listened to me describe my thoughts on the medications. He worked with me and offered different solutions in order to find the best fit for me. I sincerely like and respect my psychiatrist.

I had an appointment one afternoon, and at the end of our session, he told me that he wasn’t going to be accepting medicare/medicaid patients any more. My heart sank, because this meant either forking over cash, or driving to another town to see a psychiatrist.

Then he told me that he had decided to keep a handful of his medicare/medicaid patients and see them pro-bono. He said that I was one of those patients.

So now I have a doctor who sees me regularly, fills out paper work to the satisfaction of disability people, and prescribes my medications and monitors how they are working for me. And he does it without charging me a dime.

My income is small. This is an enormous benefit to me. I can’t thank him enough. I’m proud to know a charitable person who silently helps people with no expectation of gaining anything from it. If my situation changes, I will be glad to start paying him to see me, even if it hurts my pocketbook.

1980s Things That Are Not Socially Acceptable Today

https://youtu.be/Apmq2Ktyd1I

What did you find out about your teacher that shocked you?

My 8th grade PE teacher was tall, black, muscular, and pretty terrifying. His wife came by class one day; she was white, plump, mid height, and sweet. I’d never seen a mixed race couple before and was a little shocked. (It wasn’t that I didn’t like the idea; I had zero exposure to mixed race anything in a nearly all white neighborhood.) What was more shocking was she took none of his shit. He barked at her like he barked at us and she told him to settle down. She instantly became my hero. They loved each other a lot, that was obvious. I never thought twice about mixed race couples again.

I was at McDonald’s and I noticed that customers were choosing to wait in line to order with the cashier, instead of using the available kiosks. Why do you think that is?

Yep. Our local McDonalds recently completed their renovation, which includes the new kiosks. I walked in and noticed the kiosks, but went straight to the cash register.

The manager asked me to please use the kiosk. I said no thank you. She said, we’re trying to get all of our customers to use them. Again, I said no thanks. She got really huffy and stopped what she was doing at the french fry station and turned to me and said, why won’t you use them?

I said, “I didn’t come here this morning to do your job. You want me to take an order, then pay me.” That stopped her. She came and took my order.

While she was taking my order I explained, “To use your kiosk, I have to make multiple selections, and each one requires that I choose between many options. I don’t want to do that. I just want a breakfast sandwich and a coffee. I can tell you that in one simple sentence. I don’t have to pick through multiple screens of options of things I don’t want.”

That’s why you won’t ever see me at the kiosk.

“We Can’t Be Afraid Of Nuclear War!” Says Sean Penn

The world is populated by idiots.

EU may become as hooked on China batteries as it was on Russian energy

EU could become as dependent on China for lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells by 2030 as it was on Russia for energy before the Ukrosia war unless it takes strong measures.

Worried by China’s growing global assertiveness and economic weight, the leaders will discuss the European Commission’s proposals to reduce the risk of Europe being too dependent on China and the need diversify towards Africa and Latin America.

While the EU has a strong position in the intermediate and assembly phases of making electrolysers, with a more than 50% global market share, it relies heavily on China for fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries crucial for electric vehicles.

According to the European Commission, in 2021, the year before Ukrosia war, the EU took more than 40% of its total gas consumption, 27% of oil imports and 46% of coal imports from Russia.

Ending most energy purchases from Russia caused an energy price shock in the EU and a surge in consumer inflation, forcing the European Central Bank to sharply raise interest rates in a move that has curbed economic growth.

Lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells were not the only area of EU vulnerability.

A similar scenario could unfold in the digital-tech space. Forecasts suggest that the demand for digital devices such as sensors, drones, data servers, storage equipment and data transmission networks will rise sharply in this decade.

The EU has a relatively strong position in the latter, but it shows significant weaknesses in the other areas.

By 2030, this foreign dependency could seriously hinder the productivity gains that the European industry and service sector urgently require and could impede the modernization of agriculture systems essential to addressing climate change.

China Ignores the US & Deepens its Ties with Russia!

China Creates world’s most powerful RADAR Chip

Article HERE
Amid US tech sanctions, Chinese scientists say they made the world’s most powerful radar chip

New semiconductor performs at orders of magnitude higher than similar power-amplifying chips in most existing radar systems, says Chinese team

It uses gallium nitride despite export bans by the US government blocking high powered gallium-based semiconductors to China

A research team with a major Chinese defence company says it has built a radar chip with a record power output using semiconductor technology that is the subject of strict US sanctions.
The finger-sized chip can generate radar signals with peak power reaching 2.4 kilowatts. It is one or two orders of magnitude higher than the performance of similar power-amplifying chips in most existing radar systems.

This after China banns the export of Gallium to NATO countries.

INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Sep 20 2023 20:28 utc | 29

Expats Share Their American Trauma After Living Abroad

Americans has PTSD.

Why is China a threat to the United States?

American foreign policy is based around “security”. But our notion of “security” does not distinguish between a possible threat and an actual threat. If it could possibly be a threat, then we treat it as if it’s threatening us right now. We dominate the North American continent; that’s not secure enough, so we establish military bases in Europe; that’s not secure enough, so more bases in Asia; that’s not secure enough, so take over space. In fifty years, we’ll probably be trying to colonize Mars to forestall the “threat” of somebody else getting to it first (that’s a little joke). To get an idea of how American foreign policy works, imagine a psychopathic Uncle Sam, staring at some small country with creepy twitching eyes, and saying, “You’re threatening me” while reaching for a knife.

There is a thing called nuclear primacy. Suppose that you can attack another country with nuclear weapons and destroy the whole country without the possibility of retaliation. The United States can do this to any nation on the planet, except for Russia. If Russia’s arsenal degrades to the point where it can no longer retaliate, then the United States has nuclear primacy, meaning the ability to destroy anyone without consequence. Total impunity.

There is another thing called full spectrum dominance, which is similar to nuclear primacy, except for every single dimension of warfare, not just nuclear weapons. Domination of land, air, sea, cyber warfare, everything. The United States has this over most other countries. There are a few exceptions, though. China is one. The stated intention of American military policy is to achieve full spectrum dominance over any possible opponent. Total control.

When Washington describes China as a threat, they mean that China may one day be a country that the United States can’t dominate completely with zero consequences. The chances of this are quite small and remote, but higher than zero. That makes China a “threat”, in the way that Washington uses the word. So we have to remove the “threat” by ham-stringing China, preferably by partitioning them.

Which brings me to my next point: divide-and-rule is a strategy as old as empire. Western countries excel at it. The idea is to take someone else’s country and break it apart into many smaller countries. We call this “partitioning”. Partitioning weakens your enemy by destroying their unity. But partition is a nasty, aggressive word, and Washington likes to frame all of its actions as just and defensive. So instead of partitioning, we say we’re “decolonizing” other countries. We don’t want to dominate Russia and China by partitioning them. No, see, they’re the evil imperialists, so we’re going to decolonize them, tee-hee! We’re the good guys!

This last requires a lot of propaganda to frame our enemies as “colonizers”. So we take lands that have been Chinese for centuries and claim that the Chinese are evil colonizers for having those lands. Of course, we’re also evil colonizers, but that’s okay because I started with a land acknowledgment. This is also why you hear Western intellectuals say things like, “China has never been truly unified” and “There is no continuous Chinese civilization”. This is manufacturing a justification for partitioning China a few decades down the line. Or perhaps sooner than that…

What I fear is that American hubris will suck us into a Thucydides trap. What if we decide that it’s intolerable for us not to control the world? What if we decide that World War Three is a better option? Because those are the only two options Washington sees as viable: total domination, or apocalypse.

Don’t get me wrong, by the way. I love my country. But the America I love is 4th of July parades, cookouts, and deer jerky. The America that glasses a small Middle Eastern country so some guy at Raytheon can get a new yacht — that America I don’t love.

Record Treasury Dump

If ASML cannot sell to China, how did they sell a huge order in September?

It’s very complicated

It seems the Dutch Government has forbidden ASML to sell EUVs to SMIC from 1/9/23

Yet orders placed until 23:59 on 31/8/23 can be shipped and fulfilled.

So technically ASML can ship orders to SMIC upto the time the last order placed on 31/8/23 is fulfilled

That’s for 21 EUV Machines & 1850 DUV Machines

In September, ASML has delivered 4 EUV Machines & 390 DUV Machines

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Meanwhile there is another legal complication

SMIC has now introduced a Distributor company who can buy EUVs from ASML and simply sell them to SMIC for a 10% commission (10% is just an example)

Now the Dutch order said only SMIC was forbidden from receiving ASML EUVs so ASML has also accepted 8 more orders for EUVs from this distributor

Technically Dutch Govt cannot specifically forbid ASML from selling to China as a whole as that is a major WTO violation

So they can only blacklist importers

So China can keep bringing up new distributors and placing orders and ASML is happy because TSMC has cancelled 24 Machines recently and i am sure China offered full price for the machines

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Ultimately MONEY TALKS

Once again the US is furious but again it’s all about the legalese now

SMIC is forbidden so an agency buys and sells to SMIC

The Dutch look the other way of course

ASML is delighted because they sell more machines

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My guess is this new agency will be blacklisted soon and they will incorporate more laws to prevent such measures

Yet that gets China another 8 machines plus a further 24 machines which I bet China will place as they are already in process

This means SMIC technically can make 7 nm and 5 nm Chips in decent quantities at least till 2026/2027

By then they should crack some breakthrough

So China has gained TIME and the Dutch have put business ahead of stupidity

Just like NVDIA and Intel just sold products to China which were slightly off the specs in huge numbers

Economics is ultimately invincible

Reality

Beef Medallions with Cognac Sauce

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup chopped shallots
• 1 teaspoon (packed) brown sugar
• 1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1/2 cup canned beef broth
• 1/2 cup Cognac or brandy
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 2 (4 to 5 ounce) beef tenderloin steaks (each about 1 inch thick)
• Fresh Chives

Instructions

1. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add shallots and sauté until tender, about 4 minutes.
3. Add brown sugar; stir 1 minute.
4. Add chicken broth, beef broth and Cognac. Simmer until sauce is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 20 minutes.
5. Add cream. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.)
6. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper.
7. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat.
8. Add steaks; cook to desired doneness, about 4 minutes per side for rare.
9. Transfer steaks to plates.
10. Add sauce to skillet; bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits.
11. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
12. Slice steaks; fan slices on plates.
13. Top with sauce and garnish with chives.

Notes

Serve Cabernet Sauvignon with the steaks.

The cost of living in Chiang Mai, Thailand 2023. Retire in Thailand affordably – live in Chiang Mai!

The rest of the world is a great IMPROVEMENT over that of the “good ol’ USA”.

What is the smallest thing a person ever did for you that impacted your life?

When my daughters were babies/toddlers, I/we used to have to walk to the supermarket and back to get our groceries for the week. Most of the time, this went alright. It was a bit of a juggling act and it always stressed me out on the way home, but it was also nice to get out with them without my then husband.

Anyhow, one day we’re really struggling to get home. My oldest didn’t want to walk and I couldn’t carry them both and the bags etc, so we’re doing everything the hardest way possible. The only way possible. Then a lady, a bit older than myself, stopped me and told me to ‘wait right there please”. I was completely confused, but thought maybe she was going to get her car or something? Who knew. I was exhausted, my kids were too, so we waited and I thought I was an idiot for waiting.

Then she came back, with a double stroller. Not some glamorous kind, nothing with all the bells and whistles and not brand new, but one that I could use as a buggy or as a stoller. I could put one of my kids in it and still have room behind them for bags, or put both kids in.. or neither kid and lay the front seat down. Anyways, it was perfect for us and I could’ve cried and kissed that lady. She kept saying she didn’t need it anymore and it wasn’t a big deal, but it was a huge deal for us. I offered to pay her or do something, but she wouldn’t hear of it. I’ll never forget her generosity or how much she helped us.

RUSSIAN SUPERMARKET TOUR! 🇷🇺 0,2$ BREAD and 0,2$ POTATO