Sam6late

I was working in a company when the boss/owner asked me to translate a lengthy Excel sheet from Arabic into English, it was a long list of antique furniture; a nightmare and I already had my plate full and was earlier denied my bonus. The minute I read a weird special Arabic word (Altaq) that not many people know, it indicates the armchair/sofa or anything, was a single piece, I suspected something scary. I ventured an emailed the CEO saying that the suitable translator that could handle the translation complexities was asking for $500. It was a gamble and it worked. I later found out that his son had opened an art & antique furniture showroom in a mall. My suspicion was and still is, it was looted from my country during this civil war. With all my support and love for whistleblower, I can not be one, or a good one as proving my doubts is beyond my means. And my family and I are also victims of antique furniture looting and here is one item from 1919 https://imgur.com/a/QDYysC1

My mother died last month,I have seen that same costly futile care before when it was performed on my father two decades before, but we had no choice. Both were injected with a dozen drugs syringes and perforated with tubes, hooked up to machines.

Although I am somewhat healthy, yet looking at rocking 60 made me contemplate and feel contentment just upon reading about psilocybin for patients dealing with life-threatening diagnoses, end-of-life anxiety (plus a dozen documentaries and 2 on Netflix). Learning about it has offered me relief and lasting drop in existential distress, especially as it helps melt the ego into everything. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9833165/

Homs, Syria https://www.ebay.com/itm/376362709347 What is interesting is that our Volkswagen car is still running til today by the guy who bought from us, in a village there, this car escaped the so called planned obsolescence.

I hated our Vespa when I was a kid in the seventies but their calendars were cool. You know that instinct you get when you're slowing down or coming to a stop, where you just want to stick your feet out for balance? Well, every time I did that, I felt like those sharp metal edges on the Vespa were just waiting to scrape my leg or catch my ankle. It wasn't a bike to me; it was a hazard on two wheels. So when the opportunity came to "borrow" it while my father was napping, I gladly handed the honor over to my brother. Off we went, buzzing through the dark to see the aftermath of an airstrike on an oil refinery at the edge of the city. It was pitch black out there, and before we knew it, we'd tipped right into a ditch on the side of the road. Panic was not because we were hurt, but because we were convinced our father would somehow know we'd taken his Vespa. Luckily, a few strangers happened to pass by and helped us haul the thing back up. You'd think we'd have learned our lesson, but soon after, I pulled a similar stunt, this time with our white Volkswagen.

I think it is that cycle where old projects will eventually seem less important with huge budgets for new projects by a new manager, that will have bigger allocations, and the bonuses will follow along with the brownie points to that genius.

Slow breathing is also recommended for novices before public speaking, as it helps speakers overcome irrational physiological fear of facing people, the risk-taking shift is useful as it helps you speak more confidently, not more cautiously. Slow breathing can calm nerves quickly; bottom-up regulation: body tells brain “you’re safe”.

They have speed dating offer too,and an earlier invitation was mentioned in the Epstein files:''An invitation to the 2014 Dialog retreat at Sundance Resort in Utah was published via the Epstein files after Harvard University physicist Lisa Randall forwarded her invitation to Jeffrey Epstein asking, "Is this worthwhile?" He responded “sundance is nice „ go.” British financier Ian Osborne also forwarded his 2014 invitation to Epstein with the note: "Same shit. Peter doesn't even attend. I will tell him that he should stop them using his name.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/06/18/what-we...

A leak of purportedly of ultra-secret society called “Dialog” has revealed the inner workings of an elite group to which hundreds of global leaders, business executives and billionaires belong.

I think the acquisition of skills need human guidance,AI has created a quality problem making human self-help books more valuable.

From a new language to public speaking to media training.Some books need more than structure by AI, that is professional knowledge and real-life experience. AI has a vast information ocean, yet a travel book helped me prepare my underwater kit because WiFi does not work underwater, saving me a lot of money I could have wasted on wireless kit.

Take AI apps for teaching languages,Langua is a good example, I think the most successful ones combine human instructors for insights and guidance with AI for drills prescribed and calibrated by the tutor. AI drills are not the same.

I make it a point to 'like' and vote up any decent content because standup comedian Loui CK was convincing when he called for it citing effort and guts to look in the camera while others behind keyboards trash efforts for silly reasons.

Yes, I studied 'D.H.Lawrence's Women in Love' in college, yet I could not believe it when I saw its NSFW scenes played on all tv screens in a train in Ukraine in 1990, one passenger, a very old lady was loud and raucous and started shouting things that made everyone in the train laugh, I asked a Russian friend what she was saying and he said that she was blaming everyone why missed all those lovely tv shows with such things and had not watched anything as good when she was young. I think she meant that scene in page 246 if I recall it right from reading it in 1983.

Here is another take in s different context.I had a very bad manger who was credited earlier with causing several companies to go out of business while he was taking advantage of having worked for a FAANG company. He worked there for less than 6 months as a business development dude when the that big shot company was new in that market.After he joined us and when I was processing some payments I noticed that he was paying some people for 2 months ahead of their starting dates, it was some $20k.I notified him, and he corrected the date,then I was told by others in the department that my problem was that I should not 'interrupt the enemy when he is making a mistake'. Eventually, the company got rid of him but it was after a very serious damage.

This could be 'curiosity' about negotiation with Iran, as there is what could be considered an AI merger between the 2 countries ; the FY2027 NDAA (H.R. 8800) bill text was officially released by Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) on May 26, 2026. - House Armed Services Committee markup was set for June 4, 2026. https://www.uschamber.com/security/letter-to-house-armed-ser... Section 224 of the FY2027 NDAA, titled “United States–Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” is a draft provision sponsored by Chairman Mike Rogers and Ranking Member Adam Smith. It aims to deeply integrate U.S. and Israeli defense industries and militaries through joint R&D, testing, manufacturing, technology sharing, training, information-sharing, network integration, and data fusion. AI is one of several technologies included, not a standalone “AI merger.” The provision is still a House committee draft, not final law, and may be amended before passage.https://www.uschamber.com/security/letter-to-house-armed-ser...

It seems the same goes for international media to some extent.This example passed as nothing although it should have been everywhere: The general reportedly stated that the UK Ministry of Defence could stage a "mutiny potentially up to a coup d'état,if Jeremy Corbyn -as a potential Prime Minister) attempted to Leave NATO. https://monthlyreview.org/articles/anatomy-of-a-propaganda-c...

This report has some interesting shifts in startups Riyadh is the fastest-growing city in the world based on the quality of entrepreneurial ecosystems, the volume of activity, and the business environment. According to this edition of StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2026 report.

It is the unions not Samsung's generosity; As union membership declines, inequality rises in the US while in Korea they are a force to be taken into consideration.

But no one should argue with this, it is as sound as physics;no unions no equality in salaries https://www.epi.org/news/union-membership-declines-inequalit...

I remember old watches that used to have some phosphors dots on the 4 main quarters in a hand watch to see time in the dark, while as kids we would take a to bed a rosary with glow-in-the-dark marbles to emit light from the phosphors inside.That would last for 30 minutes or more.

I have started feeling good after waking up from a nightmare after learning that that nightmares may serve to prepare us to tolerate nasty things, helping the brain rehearse threats and build resilience or reduce fear over time. Apparently that is still questionable, I prefer it though , recent findings does not show that nightmares are generally a resilience mechanism. https://sleepeducation.org/survivor-reinterpreting-dreams-wi... at least it helps me to dismiss all superstitions and dodgy stuff.

I saw an old Soviet-era model that was working and seemed similar to this one, it was bought by my photography instructor, he showed me his weird collection. It used to be attached to the underside of spy airplanes to take panoramic pictures not just satellite imagery and earth maps. Maybe you should look for swing-lens cameras on the used/vintage market today. Look for Horizon line from KMZ, their later models continued under Russian production rather than being brand-new Soviet stock.

A fearless journalist has been busting scammers for decades, one caused a diplomatic rift between China and India but in this incident he confronted Michael Jackson.

Thank you, I was bullied all the time because of it.

Learnt how to balance and ride a cycle on my own when I was a kid, and I used to 'run away from home' for 12 hours with other kids, I learnt how to swim after drowning, twice, ate whatever was around, green almonds from trees, grapes from vineyards, but raw corn was painful, I would not advise trying. We tried to hunt with arrows and sometimes used gun powder in a primitive red-loading rifle, but we sucked at it. we got chased by dogs in farms we raided and chased by an armed man who claimed we caused his wife's abortion while we were playing football in the street. Another armed man chased us brandishing his gun after we attacked him with stones after we caught him staring at our neighbor's daughter while she was on the balcony. This was in 1969 to 1973 before we moved to an apartment building and all that ended. Now I joke telling my family that I wish for once the police would call me for something my son has done, but no luck with that:) . Here some photos I wish you could recognize that dude on my shirt https://imgur.com/a/JCFMgap

It was the HQ of French company, Alstom's French headquarters is located in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, near Paris, at 48 rue Albert Dhalenne, 93400 Saint-Ouen, France. The display shows original props from Luc Besson’s 1997 movie The Fifth Element — including Korben Dallas’s famous yellow flying taxi and the blue-and-silver NYPD police car. Alstom keeps these pieces on display as a fun tribute to their shared focus on city mobility.

I was in Paris years ago and took these photos of the actual cab models that were on display. Enjoy https://imgur.com/a/txIHpJT

That will lead to serious problems, as in the case of China, underestimating threats lead to losing edge, from EV to robots and other vital tech, and without experts to ground policy in reality, the country risks making erratic market moves and failing to spot risks from adversaries like China or Russia.Add to that inexperienced staff in the administration who makes the U.S. easier to manipulate.

Yes, but there is also the other elephant in the room. Don’t underestimate Trump, he may not have read about Michael Parenti’s explanation of The Assassination of Julius Caesar: where he argues that Caesar was killed not as a tyrant threatening republican liberty, but as a popular reformer who challenged the Roman oligarchy's wealth and power and thirst for wars. Maybe Parenti doesn't explicitly equate JFK's killing to Caesar’s, the similarity lies in both being elite-driven assassinations to preserve power: Caesar by Roman senators against reforms, akin to theories of JFK's killing over anti-war shifts and perceived threats to entrenched interests. Critics note Parenti's JFK work critiques official narratives as state cover-ups, mirroring his Caesar "people's history" inversion of "gentlemen historians."

They have chosen the weekend not to disturb the stock markets. They may pull that off when they get inside support as the corruption of the regime has made it unpopular with business class and the middle class. Trump may achieve another 'Venezuela' short war.

I think cutting off money is like an emergency wound that needs a bandage right now to keep the school alive. AI is more like a difficult puzzle—universities can solve it eventually, but only if they are stable and have the budget. There are some lame attempts at taming the AI shrew:

In reality a far more serious threat is the loss of academic freedom. This guy must deal with that issue, and onslaught on academic freedom and that is the real question because in 2025, billions of dollars in federal research grants were frozen for institutions, including Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, and UPenn. The US federal government remains the single largest funder of university research, accounting for approximately 55% of all higher education R&D expenditures (this is a capitalist country btw).

Which professions are similar on mileage here? I think Chappelle was spot on, when he used the book ‘The Story of My Life by Iceberg Slim’ to confront the entertainment industry highlighting a concept from the book regarding "mileage on a hoe" (prostitute). He explains that a pimp understands there is a finite amount of "bad things" or work a person can endure before they "lose it" or break down.