Exploring the Modern World

 What comes to mind when you think Porsche we think cars. Pretty good ones too, the Porsche 911 turbo s finished the quarter mile in 10.1 seconds which is an amazing feat. However, gamers, tank enthusiasts and historians know Porsche for different reasons. During the Second World War many German transportation companies converted and produced tanks ie. Maybach( Ultra luxury line of Mercedes) produced tank engines. Henschel used to produced trains, then produced tanks and aircraft. In the U.S Ford produced B-24 Liberators at the Willow Run Plant. Porsche produced the Tiger P and Panzerjäger Ferdinand (Elefant) tank destroyer.  Though they weren’t well known. Porsche’s machines have been immortalized by memes and games. German tanks were very fearsome, though ineffective in some areas and prone to a plethora of issues especially during the winter. A result of over engineering. Imagine being told your tanks were too good that they’re bad. The irony is uncanny. Germany was not the...

 Our sense of individuality comes from this word/words that identify us. Not many of you heard of a Chinese last name Moy. This name comes from Toisan/Taishan which is a large city in the Guangdong province with a population of 1 million. They have a dialect called Toisanese/Taishanese  which is similar to Cantonese. Contrary to popular belief not everyone speaks mandarin on a day to day basis, though the national language, most people especially in the southern part of China speak the regional dialect more often and only speak mandarin when those kinds of speakers come. Going back to my name which in mandarin is Mei goes back to a time in which in ancient China in which the patriarch Mei Bo or Earl of Mei tried to convince King Zhou of Shang to change from his erratic and corrupt ways. (I thought Earls were a European thing, guess I learn something new everyday!). However Mei was  beheaded for his actions. This story is similar to John the Baptist trying to convict King ...

 Ok for most of y’all reading this, this doesn’t apply to you. However it will. Filing income taxes is a pain to do. Sometimes corporations will file them for you if you get lucky. But a majority of Americans have to file it themselves. First you print off the 1040 and grab the numbers from your W-2 and do the rest from there. However if you want to get a tax refund you have to report expenses relating to healthcare or tax deductible donations and a bunch of other things. After finishing the taxes your brain would probably be fried because of how complicated it is. The math isn’t though, but putting the right value on the right lines is straight up cancer. It’s like the IRS exists just to make taxes more complicated. Oh yeah and if you mess up you could get an audit, fined, even worse jail time. The real is reason is why? Well it’s all about money. Most countries have a system called “Return Free Filing” in which the government sends you the tax bill and you check it to see if it w...

In our society certain things have value. I used to watch many episodes of "Pawn Stars" and "Antique's Roadshow" to  which things have value and which things don't. Things that have value include Art, limited edition luxury watches, famous movie props, certain autographs, key historical items (documents, weapons, Body parts[hair] etc. I noticed that people very rarely resell diamonds. Why? They are worthless. I did a little research, the diamond industry is rarely discussed. The De Beers corporation has an international monopoly over the pressurized coal.  Diamonds are NOT rare.   There are no ancient civilizations that sought after diamond.  Gold and Silver were always valuable commodities since the dawn of time. In ancient China and the Americas, Jade and emerald were considered "fit for royalty".  If diamonds were indeed rare, tools wouldn't use them. Ever drove by road work and see a guy cutting large pieces of concrete with something that ...

The first couple of  lines reminds me of the fact that Dogs on see black and white.  The first registered sense that the dog and us readers see. When I go out to shovel to shovel snow my eyes are overwhelmed with light. In the next two lines the dog's excitement cant be contained. I can just imagine a dog excited to play in the snow rolling around after being all cooped up in the house. Im quite confused why its called "crystal adrenaline" maybe because the water is outside is crystalized? Like the arctic wolves that dogs are related too, the instinctual hunt begins, the dog can be wild for once. The dog ignores all human aspects of living and wanders into the white wonderland. The dog's mind is set on finding a hunt. At the end the real mindset of reality sets and returns to his master and the comforts of home. However in order to take the comforts of home the dog must sacrifice their freedom. I really enjoyed this poem as its a simple, yet lovable poem as picturing ...

 In life we have our ups and downs. For most of my teenage years, I thought I would be immune to injury. That was until I joined water polo and injured my knee.  It was during practice and made me sit out like half the season. Did I like it? No. Did I need the time yes. After a few X-rays, the doctors said I would be fine but it would take a while to heal as the ligament was overused. Well it sucked, but I learned was very important. Watch yourself! Honestly because no one else will. Healthcare costs are very expensive, so don’t hurt yourself. (Side rant): Medicare is probably the biggest scam in America besides car insurance. Every paycheck they take out money, once you turn 65 and start receiving benefits you also have to pay money. Part A covers hospital stays which is something good and bad because getting injured is awful. Prescription drug coverage etc. costs money for my family about 200 bucks a month. I mean if you want to have Medicare for older people make it free or...