Expectations are predictions of the future based on past experience filtered through perception.
-- Desert Dave -- (Quotation, with attribution, permitted and encouraged.)
(Be sure to view the picture of Osama bin Laden's gravestone at the bottom of this page.)
Massacre
In 1622 Chief Opechancanough made a huge mistake. The AmerIndian chief expected the English settlers to do what the locals would have done after losing. They didn't which is probably why you are here and speak English.
"Opechancanough did not finish off the colony. Instead he withdrew his warriors, believing that the English would behave as Native Americans would when defeated: pack up and leave ... Following the event, Opechancanough told the Patawomecks, … , that he expected "before the end of two Moones there should not be an Englishman in all their Countries."[14] He misunderstood the English colonists and their backers overseas.
Chief Opechancanough was a slow learner. Over a decade later the Chief's expectations were still being filtered through the perceptions he'd built up over a lifetime. He was unable or unwilling to evaluate the newcomers and the new situation.
"After twelve years of peace following the Indian Wars of 1622-1632, another Anglo-Powhatan War began in 1644, as a last effort by the remnants of the Powhatan Confederacy, still under Opechancanough, to dislodge the English settlers of the Virginia Colony. Around 500 colonists were killed, but that number represented a relatively low percent of the overall population, as opposed to the earlier massacre (the 1622 attack had wiped out a third; that of 1644 barely a tenth). However, Opechancanough, still preferring to use Powhatan tactics, did not make any major follow-up to this attack."
Moving on now from a leader failing to accept and adopt new tactics to leaders employing old tactics (that old tactic being if you want to stay in power in a democracy you make it look like you're fixing things whether you are or not) for example the war on terror.
You could say The Terrorists Have Already Won. What was Osama's game plan post-9/11? To bankrupt the US? If that's the case he certainly helped our free spending politicians along that road to ruin.
Over $42 Billion taxpayer dollars is being spent this year alone to ensure, among other things, that you are groped, searched and x-rayed every time you fly commercially. And that goes for your luggage too.
All of that "return on investment" from an al Qaeda expenditure of probably a lot less than a million dollars spent to train and equip a few dozen terrorists. Not a bad deal from the terrorist's point of view.
Of course Osama, like Opechancanough before him, ultimately died at the hands of those he'd so treacherously attacked.
gravestone (grâv´ston´) nounA stone placed over a grave as a marker; a tombstone.
(Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation; further reproduction and distribution in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved.)
And yet somehow, despite your expectations, you "got it" anyway. Congratulations by recognizing that the sandal was the "gravestone" you've proven yourself to be an adaptable human being.
Superfluous Survival Tip of the Week:
(A friend of mine, Dan, recently passed on to me a pack of "Urban Survival Playing Cards" each of which has a survival tip printed on the face. Dan's generous gift has inspired me to start this Survival Tip of the Week feature which will continue for at least 52 weeks. Thanks, Dan! I don't want to plagiarize the cards so I'm using the subjects from each card as a jumping off point for my own tips with my own research. I have an advantage over the cards in that each card tip is restricted to the space available on the face of that card whereas I can ramble on for pages as I seem to be doing here.;-)
Using Foods from Your Refrigerator or Freezer after a Power Outage
1. Open the fridge/freezer as seldom as possible for the shortest periods of time possible. Consider making a map/list of the contents and what shelves they're on to shorten future door openings.
2. Frozen food will stay coldest longest so eat from the fridge first.
3. Eat highly perishable foods like meat, milk & fish first.
4. If it's a WTSHTF (When The $#!t Hits TheFan) event consider organizing a "block party" outdoor barbeque to consume food that would otherwise spoil.
5. If it's a TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) event consider salting or jerking to preserve foods you can't eat fast enough to prevent the spoilage.
6. Rice, beans & noodles not stored in airtight containers are subject to bug infestation and spoil if they get wet so eat'em up first.
7. Canned goods, stored in a cool dry place, will last 30, 40 even 100 years so store them well and eat them last.
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