Search Results for: hydroponics

Is this really ShopTalk?   Maybe: It’s really about aging, agency, risk, and dignity.  Let me read you in. Every so often a reader letter lands that isn’t really about tools — it’s about starting over.  Two things stood out in this week’s mailbag:  First, it comes from a long-time reader – she’s 73.  And she lost everything … Read More

Much on the agenda – Markets and fresh data, a few headlines that matter, changes to Social Security in 2026 and how to hedge.  Plus ShopTalk Sunday has a “modular project” started… Markets and Santa We closed our short position Wednesday.  And sure enough, there was a decent rally Thursday. Early Futures pricing today?  Well, … Read More

TL;DR:  We do interesting things on the Peoplenomics side of the house.  Like an August 2025 article on Food Reactors.  Not all of it is shared here, but enough so you’ll get the idea of what they are and how to play along on your own shop time. What’s a Food Reactor? Two ways this can … Read More

TL;DR:  Our dance card (and “the pattern”) is full today.  Part 1 here is SATTP (short and to the point) with Part 2Housing in a few minutes. Focus around here is squeezing amps from solar… The Future is Ure’s Dow futures were down a bit more than 100 early.  S&P was down about 15, too.  … Read More

Great to see the “signs and portents” lining up.  And with a nod to Andy, indeed the world is right on schedule. Like one of those childhood puzzles, where you had to slide boards with holes in them so a marble could drop through, we have arrived where holes are aligning now and the “through-drop” is … Read More

Ham Radio Note First:   This is Day 2 of Summer Field Day – one of the two times a year when ham radio types take to the field and pretend the balloons have gone up or thh world, in some other way, have gone over the edge into the gridless abyss.  Field Day rules are … Read More

Brace for 2026: a world where money’s just paper, and survival hinges on food, water, and grit.  Oh, sure, the prelims are already underway,  But remember this is all foretalk before foreshock. Later, as Iran-Israel clashes, Putin’s rage, and Ukraine’s nuclear risks collide with solar flares and fentanyl-laced groceries, global harvests could plummet 30%, starving … Read More

With our Presidents Day activities (getting a scalar prototype out the door this week_) most of today will be devoted to work in Ure’s Old Man Lab.   I don’t talk about it much – people’s eyes tend to glaze over, but it’s a very well-appointed place to hang out and do work on the fringe-stuff … Read More

You’ll remember that in the 1980s, I was senior VP of a regional Caribbean jet airline?  We had a saying back then – and worth remembering today – that “Crashes come in Two’s and Three’s.”  (Mostly threes.) That matters because of a tragic accident in the skies over D.C. early today: American air plane collides … Read More

Legal Scholars will have their hands full:  As a final insult to America on his way out the door, Biden pardons Fauci, Milley, and members of the Jan. 6 committee | AP News.  We aren’t sure this is legal because crimes have not been charged.  So we put the question to A.I. Yes, a president … Read More

I am, as you might have guessed, not your typical “cranky old man in the woods.”  Most old men in the woods don’t have a bunny for a honey, go shooting on their range regularly, surround themselves with wireless PTZ solar webcams, play at high speed Morse on the ham radio, or cobble up new … Read More

With our house guest due here in about 12 hours, we are going through the last-minute detailing of this, that, and the other thing.  Elaine keeps getting sidetracked with the feral cats and there are all these nifty “Buy Now!” emails – making it hard to get things really done. Tool Slut or Check Slut? … Read More