God will put you back together in front of those who broke you...

I am a busy Metallicman. I am the CEO of my own couple of companies, and am doing all this other stuff; Like writing books, dealing with patents, raising a kid, dealing with real estate, and so on and so forth. But I am also the GM of an International company out of Dubai.

Oh, so this is what retirement is like eh?

Heh, heh.

Some people spend their retirement years playing golf. Others mow the grass. Still other sit on the porch and play with puzzles.

Not my generation. We are gonna work until the skin flakes off and our white bones are banging away at the keyboard.

Anyways, I want to talk a little bit about my role as GM.

As the GM I take care of the business, hire and fire people, take a lot of visiting clients out to factories and feed them, and take them to KTV’s and such. But also I am responsible for the overall financial success of the operation. Just like my role as CEO for my other companies.

Great, eh?

Not so fast.

Everything has it’s plusses and minuses. And one of my Customer Service staff was going to have a baby. So I was getting ready for that by hiring a temporary replacement. And I was interviewing various candidates. But wouldn’t you know it, my staff had an early birth.

One MONTH early.

Shit! I was unprepared.

Scramble time!

I could of handled it better, I know, but I dealt with it the best that I could, and hired a temp girl and had another customer service guy train her.

He wasn’t doing the best job though…

And sure as shit, things went wrong.

The girl; Christy made an error.

She transposed the wrong numbers on an order.

The order was for 100 glass shower enclosures, and 500 screw sets. With each shower enclosure costing around $400, and each screw set costing about $1.

If she did it right, the costs would have been (100 x $400) + (500 X $1), or around $4500 in total.

But she fucked up.

She ordered them backwards.

She placed an order with the factory for 500 x $400 = $20,000, and just 100 x $1 = 100 screw sets. The cost was $20,100.

The company loss was about $15,000 more or less.

And guess who was responsible for that loss?

The trainee? No.

The Trainer? No.

The Company? No.

I was, and so I took a hit on my salary and we ate noddles for a spell. And guys, that is one of the risks that you have to live with when you take the leading roles in business. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE.

It’s a story that I wish to relate today.

The real business world is not like the American government. If you fuck up, or your underlings mess up… the shit that has to be cleaned up is borne by the leadership. That’s the way it really works.

*sigh*

Today…

 

Women and Men

What would happen if chlorine wasn’t put in swimming pools?

Heres a story about no chlorine in a pool that I witnessed while living in my old hood.

My next door neighbors got their townhouse foreclosed on and had to move out. As soon as they left, the hillbilly neighbors across the alley rummaged through my former neighbor’s shed to see if they had left anything decent behind.

They found an inflatable swimming pool that was about 3 foot high, similar to the one below.

They immediately claimed it, blew it up and filled it with water in their back yard.

The prior owners must have taken the pump that went with the pool. The hillbilly neighbors did not bother to go buy one, nor any chemicals. I don’t know if they didn’t know any better or were simply too poor or too lazy.

The first few days, all was well with their newfound pool. Their son had a few friends over and they all had a grand old time playing in it. A few days in, we had a thunderstorm and that water turned murky.

Their kid didn’t have the common sense to stay out of it and still swam in it every day. That water quickly turned green with floating algae and I feared for his well being.

By the end of week 2, the water was dark and scary looking. It actually started to stink and I envisioned a dead animal had fallen in there from the smell of it. The kid finally got the hint and left it alone by this point. The lazy parents couldn’t be bothered to take it down, dump it or clean it. They simply left it there.

That nasty pool stayed up for over a month. It legit reeked like a dumpster full of rotting crabs on a hot summers day. The smell would slap me in the face whenever I had to go out to get in my car.

I finally called the county and they made them take it down.

What was the most unexpected knock you got on your door?

Have you ever caught your neighbor doing something that made you furious?

My husband and I rented a small apartment that was the middle floor of a house. It was a small house. Maybe 800 sq feet each apartment. The upstairs and downstairs were too other “apartments”. There was a young couple downstairs around our ages, maybe a little younger. We were mid 20’s and both working full time. A single guy lived upstairs who was a divorced cop. The guy downstairs decides he wants a DRUM set. Yes, it was like it was right in the middle of our room! We talked to the landlord and he agreed not to play after 9 pm. The nerve of some people! If Ringo Starr himself lived there, it would have been annoying! We had to get up at 6–6:30 every morning. I wouldn’t consider having a drum set unless I had my own house. Years later, I move into the lowest level of a 3 story condo in another state. Nice and quiet, a sweet older woman lived alone above me. Above her was a young man. He starts, believe it or not, playing DRUMS! Sometimes at 1 am on Monday morning. I pounded on his door on one of those nights and let him have an earful! He eventually moved moved out months later. The poor woman who lived above me was a nervous wreck about it and was afraid to say anything. We did have an HOA and of course, there was a noise ordinance.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 packages quick-rise dry yeast
• 2 cups tepid water (90 degrees F)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

Filling

• 1/3 pound sliced Mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups canned plum tomatoes, drained and squished
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• Salt, to taste
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Crust

1. Dissolve yeast in water.
2. Add oils, cornmeal, and 3 cups of the flour. Beat for 10 minutes with a mixer.
3. Mix in the additional 2 1/2 cups flour.
4. Knead for several minutes.
5. Pour the dough onto a plastic countertop and cover with a very large metal bowl. Allow to rise until double in bulk.
6. Punch down and allow to rise again.
7. Punch down a second time and you are ready to make pizza.
8. Oil round cake pans with olive oil. Put a bit of dough in each and push it out to the edges, using your fingers. Put in enough dough so that you can run the crust right up the side of the pan. Make it about 1/8 inch thick throughout the pan.

Filling

1. Place the cheese in tile-like layers on the bottom of the pie.
2. Put in the tomatoes and the basil, oregano, garlic, and salt, reserving the Parmesan cheese for the top.
3. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top.
4. Drizzle the olive oil over the top of the pie and you are ready to bake at 475 degrees F until the top is golden and gooey and the crust a light golden brown. This should take about 35 or 40 minutes.

Notes

Additional variations:

Before you put on the Parmesan cheese and olive oil drizzle you might like to add Italian sausage, yellow onions, peeled and diced, pepperoni, sliced thin, mushrooms, sliced, green sweet bell peppers, cored and sliced thin.

Seven Mary Three – Cumbersome

I love this. The name comes from CHIPS.

When you were invited to someone’s home, what surprised you there (behaviour, decor, etc.)?

Back when I was in high school I was invited over to one of my classmate’s house to help him with some school related stuff. Now, out of complete honesty, he wasn’t really that good of a friend. I was feeling sorry for him because he was struggling so bad. And to be frank, he smelled. It wasn’t a body odor type of deal, but it was more like musty cigarette smokey and funk mixed together. So now you get the picture why he wasn’t a “close” friend. My teacher had asked me to help, and me being the nice kid I obliged. How bad could it be?

He lived with his parents in an ancient doublewide trailer at the end of a dirt road. Picture 1970s with the funky brown and orange glass everywhere. This was the early 1990s. As I got out of my car and walk to the door, that funky cigarette smell hits me pretty hard. Wow these were true hippies from the past! He opened the door and what greeted me next sent shivers down my spine. The sheer scale of garbage piled up on the walls was incomprehensible. I enter and he says sorry for the house being a little messy. A little messy?? Um, this is a full on trash dump! Complete with flies, roaches, and yes mice. I was in too much shock to say much, plus I was having trouble breathing. The sheer scale of filth was just overwhelming. I glanced over to the kitchen and saw moldy fish bones in takeaway boxes. These were piled on top of refuse of all sorts of open cans and bottles. Every corner I turned to had some sort of something rotting away. He said let’s go to my room where we can work and not disturb my dad, he works 3rd shift.

We pass a bathroom with a bath tub where I could see the thick line of scum against the lime green. Dear Lord was anything ever cleaned in here since 1970? I dared not even think about the toilet. As we entered his room, it was smelly and musty but not much trash. His brown carpet was worn through, and the plywood flood under it was dirty and coming apart. He showed me his work, but I couldn’t concentrate. I kept feeling like fleas and roaches were getting into every pore of my body. I finally snap.

“I’m sorry bro, I am having a real issue breathing I need to get out of here ok?”. And with that I make my way back outside. He follows me bringing his stuff. My lord that stench just won’t go away! It is all over me in my clothes in my skin in my hair (when I had hair). I could tell he was quite embarrassed about the whole ordeal. I really felt bad for him, because he was a nice guy, but I could tell his parents obviously didn’t care about much of anything other than getting smokes and pot. I finally pieced together the funk as I saw several large bongs scattered about the tables.

It took me forever to get that smell out of my car! I wound up helping him at my place in our back shed. It was the safest for all of my family. Mom brought us lunch and snacks, and I actually enjoyed the time out there helping him get the project done. He got a good grade on it too. But I just couldn’t quite bring myself to ask him to hang out, I mean if he showered more than a few times a week it might have been possible. That by far was the absolute filthiest home I have ever been inside to this day. It is still there too, though his parents have passed away. It sits quietly as the horrors inside are locked up for good. He refuses to go inside, opting instead to live in a small shed in the back. I still keep in touch with him today, and his hygiene is much improved.

BANGER!| FIRST TIME HEARING Seven Mary Three – Cumbersome REACTION

I love that their little boy joins them.

Have you ever caught your neighbor doing something that made you furious?

Our only neighbor and I rented a backhoe and small dozer to trade as we both were rebuilding old (1890s mine) and hunting cabin (his) houses. Our lot was 3/4 acre and theirs was 3.5 acres. I got home from work one day and hear the dozer running. Good thing was my thought until I wandered uphill and he is pushing an old stone wall towards our house. We already were dealing with water problems from their septic and had just gotten an offer on our place. He sees me and stops the machine. While we are talking his buddy, a licensed HVAC contractor, uses spray paint on the ground to mark something 10′ long by 2.5′ wide. In that area due to his lot size the heater fuel tank (propane) must be 75′ from any property line. I mention that to neighbor and contractor trying hard to keep it neighborly. No dice, that is the fuel tank location. I get sheets with applicable codes for the septic leak, fuel tank siting and house offsets required. 600sq’ hunting cabin is now 2 floors, 2100sq’ and 50′ off our shared property line.

Hand them a copy and mention the house inspector is coming in soon, please do not screw up our sale. Inspector arrives, puts a 6″ wide red painted mark along the property line that bisects the tank. He then goes to township office with his findings. Neighbor comes home to red tagged house, furious wife and a phone number to call. He calls it and learns a court hearing has been set and bring his HVAC contractor. Around 10pm he and contractor are on my front deck raising hell. Hand them another set of the maps with offsets and slam door. Probably 10 days later the hearing occurs. Neighbor is walking thin line of not knowing exactly all the rules. Judge is not sympathetic and finally says to HVAC man, “Stop interrupting, I’ll deal with you next.” Neighbors cannot move back into structure until all permits are pulled, house plans are filed, every thing is inspected, all setbacks are adhered to, etc…

Judge turns to Contractor, “You were there when rock wall was being pushed and knew the one homeowner believed he was moving the property line?” Yes. “You read the setback requirements?” Yes. “You installed a heating system, fuel pipe and tank on the property?” Yes, but he has an explanation and starts naming his license courses and Judge stops him cold. His license is suspended for one year. That did not have to happen. The 2 showed up on my front deck again screeching in all directions quite drunk.

She Was Crushed By A Car, But It’s Just A Cat So Everyone Ignored Her

Is the reason they don’t have climate protests in China because it is already communist?

Because when we protest, you don’t hear from us.

It was a very famous interview in China. Rough translation for the rounds up to this screenshot.

Chai (reporter): … we also see that some leaders of developed countries had strong opinions. They say, what’s wrong with these CO2 quotas, since we also set quotas for ourselves?

Ding (scientist): Of course it’s wrong. By deciding the CO2 quota for everyone, they get away with the large chunk. What about this? Every country should have the same CO2 quota per capita, that sounds reasonable, right? Our CO2 deposition used to be much lower, what about bringing it to the same level? I can make it more straightforward: our CO2 deposition per capita should only be 80% of them from 1990 to 2050.

Chai (interrupting): But they’ll say, China has a big population. The population times the per capita quota is too much.

Ding (interrupting): Then I’d ask you: is the Chinese man a man, after all? That’s a fundamental question. Why should a Chinese person to be forced to have a lower quota?

I don’t agree with many of Ding’s opinions, but I think his argument here is spot on. And indeed, his word is very strongly felt by many Chinese netizens. It was hugely popular.

What did you hear about Mr. Ding instead? LOL, he was sanctioned by the US…

“NATO is TESTING Putin’s red line and he’s NOT bluffing” Redacted w Clayton Morris

Europe is slow marching into a nuclear war. The multiple “land corridors” to RUSH American troops to invade Russia!

https://youtu.be/7-E3SKsV8zk

What is the biggest mistake you saw someone make? What were the consequences?

Oh god, one instance is stuck in my mind, in my twenties my friends and I would go camping every chance we could, we were at a place called Catskill creek, beautiful spot to swim, hike, drink and barbecue.

It was usually just about 6–7 tight friends but one weekend someone mentioned the trip to some stoners from the neighborhood, mostly good guys but their thing was angel dust, I’ve tried it, horrible stuff, fuckn horrible, people wind up doing the most stupid things on it.

Well one of them was diving into shallow water, a friend of mine walked by and said “ jack, be careful, the water is too shallow” it was at most 3’ deep with rocks the size of basketballs.

Jack continued, after about three or four dives he hit his head on a rock, they pulled him out but the damage was done, he was paralyzed below the neck.

If that’s not sad enough his click would come and visit him and bring him angle dust to smoke, there are foolish mistakes and then there is sheer despair and stupidity, he was actually a very mellow, peaceful, decent guy, one life wasted

NATO Escalation & Propaganda – Glenn Greenwald, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen

A very good discussion on the ENORMOUS RISK of nuclear escalation.

Has your doctor ever ignored you and was then proven wrong?

Yes, not my GP/PCP but a hospital consultant.

I was admitted with pneumonia, and I had pleural effusions (“water on the lungs”) but the doc felt it would resolve. They sent me home on oral antibiotics.

I deteriorated. The next several months were a cycle of – be so unwell and in such pain you can’t stand, call the ambulance, go to Casualty, get admitted, have one day of IV antibiotics, get told you are faking, get sent home, rinse repeat.

I was fading, my skin was the colour of clay, my hair was falling out, I was in the worst pain imaginable. But, apparently, the hospital consultant felt I was “drug seeking” and denied me pain management.

After 5 months I was not able to go home. They denied me pain management, but also basics like food “to encourage you to get up”- they said “come to the dining room, and you can eat”. I couldn’t get up. I didn’t care.

I had horrible pressure areas- the nurse threw a pot of sudocrem at me and told me to “sort myself” and “stop faking, everyone knows you are…”

The consultant kept asking me how I got my CRP- an inflammatory marker- to go up. I told him I wasn’t doing anything but being sick. It was my only “off” blood level.

It was so humiliating… every time the doctors came around, the lead jerk would say how I was persistently faking, drug seeking, etc… and finally a Jr doctor said “it could be infective discitis”.

The consultant said “Well, Dr Kildare, you take over then” and he laughed.

The Jr Doc ordered a Gallium scan, which showed infection in the discs between my vertebrae.

Infective discitis is one of the most painful conditions possible. I had lived 5 months without any pain relief, neglected, abused, and called a faker.

I was sent to a specialist hospital, as a result of the extensive delay I lost my discs in my thoracic (chest) spine, and my spine is stabilised with titanium rods. I have constant pain, and reduced mobility.

I went back to see that doctor… I expected just a little “sorry”… he said “oh well, win some lose some…”

…. I made a complaint, and was told “it is a rare condition… difficult to identify…”

but a kid 20 minutes out of med school managed. Had they looked at the situation without their “we don’t like that woman” bias… sigh. I’m autistic but have altered pain presentation. When someone else would writhe and cry, I just get quiet.

I still have nightmares, but that jerk of a doctor probably has well forgotten I exist. All the staff who followed his lead, perfectly happy to mistreat me… I could be filled with hate but I choose instead to admire the young man who saved my life, Dr Mo Khan. I hope he hasn’t changed- it took great courage to speak up for me.

The Last Spark

Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Dream up a secret library. Write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. What’s in the library? Why was it kept secret?…

Ettore Cerchi

Hours had already passed as we walked aimlessly. I felt the wind beginning to whistle, bringing with it the deadly cold of the desert night. We set up our tent and lit our campfire.

“Honestly, Tom. You know this is a fairy tale. Sure, we have some evidence, but that´s nothing like the Indiana Jones movies you loved so much when we were teenagers.”

Leo’s pessimism had become routine over the past month. After being fired from his job as a chemistry teacher, it seemed another person had taken over his body.

“Man, I get it. But we agreed to do this together and we’ve chased every possible and impossible clue around the globe. We know enough. The Great Library of Alexandria was never burned, it was hidden!”

“Only you believe that, Tom… I don’t know what made me agree to this. Tomorrow is our final deadline. According to the map, it should be here, and we found nothing today.”

“Leo, you and I are teachers. It´s true I’m a history teacher, which would be much cooler for me to see what´s inside the library, but imagine how many other things we may find. We always dreamed of this.”

I had little bargaining power left. In fact, we had been here for nine days and hadn’t found a single old scroll.

“Tomorrow, the last day.”

“Okay. Let’s search behind that dune at sunrise and then near that yellow rock we haven’t checked yet,” I said, pointing to the locations.

We got up early. We quickly packed our backpacks and left our tent there to save time; we could collect everything on our way back. We had little time before the sun became scorching.

“Yes, as we imagined… Nothing behind this stupid pile of sand.”

“Yeah, let’s head to the rock.”

By the time we arrived, it was almost 11 AM, and we managed to shelter from the sun behind the shadow cast by the rock.

“Look at this, Leo! It looks like a crank!”

“Hm… That’s not a crank.” Moving closer to examine it, he continued:

“It’s a miniature sundial. Notice the markings around it, they’re symmetrical…”

“Wow, what are the chances this is related to the Library?”

“There are lots of these sundials out there, stop trying to find connections in everything. And please don’t touch it. You could break it. Later, the local authorities will see and say you vandalized some random historical site. I don’t want trouble, Tom, let’s just go home.”

“Okay. Let’s wait for the sun to go down a bit, and we’ll head back to the tent. I can’t believe we found nothing.”

As soon as I said that, I felt a sudden tremor. The ground beneath the rock began to open, revealing the entrance to a monumental staircase. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Everything seemed meticulously well-preserved, almost as if a supernatural force was keeping everything in perfect condition.

“I can’t believe it.” Leo said.

“Neither can I, but look at the sundial! It’s noon now, maybe this door only opens when the sun is directly above us! Let’s go, quickly!”

We rushed in, and I hadn’t seen a trace of a smile on his face in a long time. It seemed a spark had ignited. For a brief moment, he looked like my childhood brother.

The passage led us to an underground chamber of unimaginable proportions. I could hear echoes of sounds I couldn’t even understand where they were coming from. Illuminated by the same magical glow as the stairs, I slipped on one of the stone pieces forming the floor, so polished and well-maintained they were. Shelves upon shelves of ancient scrolls, books, and artifacts filled the space, relics from another time.

In the center of the chamber stood a solitary figure, a man with flowing hair and a robe that didn’t seem from such a distant era.

“Welcome, travelers,” said the man, his voice echoing through the chamber. “I am Klygor, the Guardian of the Library.”

I stepped closer, Leo behind me. “Is this truly the lost Library of Alexandria?”

Klygor nodded. “Indeed, it is. Preserved in secrecy for centuries, hidden from the ravages of time and man. Only those worthy of gathering all the clues and enduring ten days in the desert sun can enter, and once inside, they may stay for only a month, learning all the library has to offer. But beware, you can take nothing with you except what you carry in your minds.”

We couldn’t waste any time.

“Leo! I found out that Socrates never actually existed. Plato invented this character, but the ideas were almost all his!”

“Interesting. I’m discovering many things too…”

Each day that passed, I got fewer answers from him

“Let’s sleep, man. We’ll continue studying more tomorrow.”

“Feel free… I’ll sleep later.”

Everyday, I slept and woke up with him already reading and searching for new things. But it seemed the more he read, the more his soul faded. Like a drug addict, the more you use or smoke something, the greater the amount needed for the same effect.

He was searching for something that wasn’t there.

“Leo, what are you looking for? Talk to me.”

“I… I want to learn more. The only thing I know how to do is learn.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone tells me I don´t know how to be a good teacher. Maybe they are right.”

” Yes, you do like learning new things, but you always loved teaching!”

“No, Tom. I don’t know how to teach and never did. I was just very good at grasping things at first glance.”

We had reached our last day.

“Hey, Klygor. Where are you!?” I shouted.

“I am here, traveler Tom. At the foot of the Staircase, awaiting your departure… Time is running out.”

“Leo, it’s time. Let’s go, we’ve seen everything we needed, we have material to tell people for ages!”

“Wait, Tom. I’m just finishing this piece of parchment. It seems interesting…”

“No, man!! We don’t have any more time, let’s go!”

“I have nothing to do out there, Tom. It’s the second time I’ve been fired, schools always say I lack the necessary teaching skills.”

“What are you talking about? Every week while we still lived with our mother, we received letters from students thanking you, saying you changed their lives. I never received anything like that!”

“You were never fired.”

Silence. I had no response to that.

“You taught me everything I know about the art of teaching. If you don’t know, I don’t know either.”

“None of that matters… That’s not how the world works, and you know it. Sometimes, I feel I should have just kept quiet and accepted teaching the way the principals wanted.”

“Leo… what’s worth more, a student transformed for life or a happy principal?”

“Huh? tell me, now. You always – ”

“Gentlemen, I must interrupt. If you don’t leave within moments, one will have to stay and become the new guardian of the Library. That’s what happened to me almost 90 years ago. I was so focused on some revelations completely different from our History, that I didn’t notice the suns rising and setting. When I realized it, the former librarian had already left, sealing here forever. You’re the first I’ve seen in all this time. I’m doing you the favor of letting you decide; I don’t want to leave here with negative energies from having tricked someone.”

“Give us five minutes!”

“I’m not the one controlling the magic of this place. I’m waiting at the top of the stairs until the final moment.”

“Leo, it’s now, let’s go!”

“I’m not going, and you know it…”

“Please, I don’t know how to teach without your advices!”

“Tom, I found a spark of happiness here. Knowing that at least learning is something I’ve always been able to do and no one could take that away from me… ”

I heard the sands starting to assemble. I ran up as fast as I could, and at the last moment, I turned to see him one last time.

In the distance, I could see, with the same sad face, he opened another book.

Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza

Ingredients

• 2 (14 inch) soft pizza crusts
• 6 ounces pepperoni slices
• 6 ounces Italian sausage
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 red onion, cut into thin strips
• 1 can pizza sauce
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/8 cup Italian seasoning
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Spray a 12 inch deep-dish pizza pan with vegetable oil.
2. Place 1 pizza crust in pan and have crust come up sides like a pie.
3. Add all listed ingredients into pizza pan, adding seasoning to top.
4. Place second crust on top and use a fork to blend top and bottom crusts together like a pie. Cut off any additional crust.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Shorpy

Visiting a Japanese Maid Cafe to Meet a Famous Maid

Fun fact: When I was in court fighting the charges that I was a dangerous and evil sex offender, they used my YouTube videos to point out that I was a dangerous person with weird and strange fetishes. This was one such video that they used. I don’t remember if it was this one, but yeah it was something like this.

What’s the best revenge to someone who robbed you?

Long, but what fun! Read to the end – Lemonade!

This was about 20 years ago. Was working night shift so was home during the day.

Had two bicycles hung upside down in the garage, and had left the garage door open after doing some chores (my bad).

Well, sitting inside and heard a noise, but didn’t connect it to the garage. By chance, went out the front door and saw one person riding my blue Trek with Rock Shox up the street, and another young man walking next to him. Started off at a run after them, and realized that if they bolted, there was no way I was going to catch them (early 50’s and 240 lbs.)! So checked the garage, and noted that they had stolen one bike, but left the other! So grabbed the other one and lit off after them.

By that time, the two had separated, and the one on my bike rounded the corner out of sight. But I caught up to the other one. Remember, I was on a bike accelerating for a block, weighted 240, and hyped up on adrenaline. He never heard me coming, and crumpled like a wet bag of crisps. Denied everything – yea, right.

But it gets better! As I’m yelling at him, my neighbor drives by. And guess what – he’s a detective for the local PD. Explain what is going on, and he takes the kid away in handcuffs!

Think that’s good? It gets better! The other neighbor across the street saw the whole thing, including the one kid going into the garage and stealing the bike. So with that information, we have them on theft and tresspassing – which raises it to felony. We’re now talking big time trouble.

OK, back to the detective that now has the kid in handcuffs. He had come home for lunch, and was heading back to work for the afternoon. Honestly – I can’t make this up! Literally, the first thing on his afternoon docket is to work on a bicycle theft ring in the city. Honest! And I just delivered his key suspect. Wish I could have put a ribbon around his neck for my detective friend.

But wait – it gets better! The guy (juvenile) spills the beans on the whole ring. Turns out, it was a steal to specifications ring. Someone puts in an “order” for a blue mountain bike with front suspension, then they go out and steal it. And now they have all the information on the ring.

Good enough? It gets better. They arrange a bust at the home in a neighboring town and coordinate two police jurisdictions to raid the house just before 6 PM. Remember this is less than 5 hours after my bike was stolen! And lo and behold – they recover over 200 stolen bicycles including mine! They had already taken off a few minor parts (seat bag with contents, pump) so I was able to give a description of what was there. The two minors had to reimburse me for that. Plus the ringleader had to also reimburse me for the items from prison. So actually got the bike back and reimbursement for the other items twice. Asked, and court said to keep both.

And another nice twist? The Judge called me. Said that the ringleader(s) had to go to jail for the felony thefts – no other option there. But he asked what I thought was appropriate for the juveniles. First thought was to lock em up, but that wouldn’t do any good. So my recommendation was that they both had to complete High School with at least a “C” average. Keep them off the street, give them some skills for the future, and set them on a positive path. Judge loved the idea and said he would try to put that in.

That’s the last I heard. Hope it went that way.

But I got my bike back the same day, got reimbursed for the items no longer attached to the bike – twice, and hopefully made a positive difference in two lives that were headed the wrong direction.

Life dealt me lemons. I love making lemonade!

Made Up

Why do overseas Chinese in general support the reunification of China?

I am a Thai-born Chinese. I don’t know about other Chinese Thais. Everybody has the right to identify oneself with a culture.

My grandpa and great grandparents were Chinese peasants and staunch nationalists. My grandpa hated Mao to the bone. Yet he always said to me that:-

1. Without China and Thailand, there would not have been us.
2. He was too old and I will live long enough to see the “peaceful” reunification of China. “Please witness that auspicious moment for me.”
3. I love and still miss my grandpa, who passed away in an accident in Thailand while I was studying overseas. He gave me $100 bill in a pink envelope with his beautiful handwriting wishing me a success. I still keep that envelope. He didn’t live to see my graduation. I boarded first plane back to pay homage for him with tears all over my face throughout the course of that long flight. And I was not shy at all. Every time I look at the map of China and hear the word that means “China” in whatever language, China means my grandpa, my grandparents, my great grandparents, my parents, my root, my ancestors, my compatriots, my brethren.

Anyone can call me a nutcase. Fine. I don’t care because I keep promise to my grandpa that I will witness the Peaceful Reunification of China for him. He will be watching it from heaven above.

I don’t need Xi Jinping or any Pan-Blue telling me to love PRC and RoC respectively.

I’ll do everything to help the people on both sides of the Strait understand each other and unite as One China.

It can be People’s Republic 人民共和國, Republic 民國, Federal Republic of China 聯邦共和國 or just plain China 中國. I don’t mind singing a new national anthem or raising a new flag. As long as it’s a unified, strong, prosperous, and peaceful China.

中國萬歲, 中華民族萬歲

UN demands U.S. remove ILLEGAL China sanctions

Washington has enforced a number of illegal unilateral sanctions against China’s Xinjiang region since 2021 which, among other things, subvert the internationally recognized idea of “innocent until proven guilty,” assuming that any and all goods produced in Xinjiang, or even partly produced in Xinjiang, are tainted with so-called “slave labor,” forcing accused entities to prove they are INNOCENT which is all but impossible. Finally, though, someone is speaking up for China. That person is Professor Alena Douhan from the UN, who recently visited Xinjiang and is now calling on the US to immediately remove its illegal sanctions. Will it work? And how has the Western media reported on the UN’s statement? Today we’ll investigate.

Have you ever seen someone ruin their life in just a few seconds? How did they do it?

I had a friend in high school named Andy. Andy was a super good-looking guy, the kind of good-looking where when he was a sophomore and a metalhead, even senior cheerleaders thought he was hot. He was also a nice guy, and the only one in his close circle of friends who never did hard drugs — PCP and heroin use were common among those guys.

After high school, Andy moved to Florida, and as far as I know he was happy down there. He took some acting classes and got cast in some TV commercials — like I said, super good-looking guy.

But then his mom, long divorced, began having health problems. Andy’s brother helped her out, but Andy decided to move back to our shitty hometown anyway to help his mom. (Andy’s mom was a regular customer at the bank I worked at. She had problems with her hands so we would let Andy and his brother sign checks for her.)

I had lost touch with him when he moved (no social media in the 90s), but after he moved back we’d chat a lot when he did his mom’s banking for her. She wanted us to date. I liked Andy, but he was so good looking that I couldn’t imagine him ever really wanting to date me, plus a good friend of mine had dated him in high school and it ended badly. So we just chatted and casually flirted.

Being back home meant that Andy ultimately started hanging out with his old friends, most of whom were still doing a lot of drugs. His best friend, Alex, kept trying to get Andy to try heroin.

Just once, man, you won’t get hooked from trying it once.

So Andy — the guy who’d never touched anything heavier than weed or beer — decided to try heroin. Just once.

And he OD’d.

And he died.

He was 23 years old.

I was hit hard by Andy’s death, but the hardest thing for me was seeing his mother. She was so heartbroken. All she had were her boys, and now one of them, her baby, was gone. All because of one single decision.

Andy didn’t just ruin his own life, he ruined his mom’s, too — the person he loved so much that he gave up his happy life and moved back to the town he couldn’t wait to get out of in the first place.

For the record, Alex ended up being hit by a car and killed in his 30s. He was high and walking in the middle of the road late at night; the driver just didn’t see him until it was too late.

Another of their close circle, John, tried over and over again to kick heroin. He died of an OD when he was 28. (John had been turned onto heroin by his own mom, by the way. Nice, huh?)

Heroin is an epidemic in my hometown today. It’s reached a crisis level. We’re talking about a mostly middle- and upper-middle-class town of 7,000 people, here, by the way, not Skid Row.

I’ve tried a number of drugs in my life, and been a recreational user of a few in the past. But heroin, like meth, is one of those you couldn’t pay me to ever try. Not even once.

Because I remember John. And Alex. And most of all, Andy… who was only gonna try it once.

The bond

Acapulco Chicken Pizza

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 pound fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced
• 1 package Ortega Taco Seasoning Mix (regular) or 2 tablespoons homemade Taco Seasoning
• 3 tablespoons cayenne pepper
• 5 tablespoons Ortega Thick & Smooth Taco Sauce (medium)
• 2 (12 inch) flour tortillas
• 8 ounces Ortega Refried Beans
• 1/4 cup Ortega Thick & Smooth Taco Sauce (medium)
• 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 cups lettuce, shredded
• 2 avocados, seeded, peeled and mashed
• 1 tomato, diced

Instructions

1. Add oil to a large heated skillet; stir in chicken, taco seasoning mix and cayenne pepper and cook until browned.
2. Stir in first amount of taco sauce and remove from the heat.
3. On a large plate, place flour tortillas; divide and spread with refried beans, being sure to cover the entire tortilla.
4. Add the chicken mixture over the beans and sprinkle remaining taco sauce, grated Monterey Jack cheese and grated Cheddar cheese on top.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F until the cheese is bubbly, about 10 minutes.
6. Remove and cut into wedges.
7. Serve with shredded lettuce, mashed avocados, and diced tomato.

RICHARD WOLFF ON HOW RUSSIA JUST DEALT FATAL BLOW TO NATO SANCTIONS WAR WITH CHINA AND BRICS HELP

Richard Wolff joins the program to discuss his view on how Russia sanctions have not just backfired but are actually fueling breakneck economic growth, China's newfound economic confidence despite US tariffs, and the collapsing economic infrastructure of the U.S. empire and its dollar hegemony.

https://youtu.be/1b9z07dcesg

Why would I always see the products with the word “made in China” if there are so many cheap labors in other developing countries, not just China?

Sure. But places with cheap labor usually have a shortfall in other conditions.

Such as

1. Talent. Educated professionals, management etc.
2. Law and order. And a populace that respects authority.
3. Infrastructure. Roads, communication networks, bridges, factories, housing, services. Very expensive and time consuming, not to mention knowledge-intensive.
4. Stability. It can be political, societal, even physical. For example, Bangladesh suffers from yearly floods, disrupting the economy.
5. Ecosystems. Very few products are made in a single factory. China now has critical mass in symbiotic, cooperative production. The modern smart phone or laptop is a prime example, which extends beyond China into East Asia.

I can go on, but you get the gist. You cannot depend on just cheap labor. China is paradise for manufacturers. Otherwise it won’t have become the world’s factory.

Travel some. Even places like Malaysia or Taiwan can look positively stone age compared to China when it comes to manufacturing.

Vintage art

A stray cat that is too weak to stand, staggers for help..