We used to spend $600+ per year on pest control. Now? Less than $150 and a little bit of time. Pest Control and Time This is a dandy example of the UrbanSurvival philosophy in action: Select the lowest cost Vendor. And remember, you can be the Vendor! Begin by remembering that your time is worth something. You … Read More
Couldn’t resist: From LOOB: I Got a request for peanut butter cookies from a cake mix from an old friend that asked me to share it. so here it is.. thank god for my daughter who first turned me on to making cookies with cake mixes.. they are the best.. although when shopping for cake … Read More
Our Saturday ChartPack teases some interesting problems for the coming week. What we cannot possibly know, however, is how the Fed will response to increasing pressures. Toss in the “weak” Russian stand-back from Ukraine and several other low intensity conflicts and a historical parallel to World War I appears. Yep, complete with a Spanish Flu … Read More
Although we had a good-sized pullback in the market Thursday, it’s far from conclusive which way this pig-of-a-market will fly. The green and blue traces Mr. Artist (lol) has penciled in seem to be indecisive today: The blue track is currently favored and the (crude, amateurish) small numbers lay out the Elliott possibilities for the … Read More
Reader Advisory First: Three changes in our operations here to be aware of. First. I have made a few tweaks in appearance and performance of the various websites that keep me busy. As of this morning, our Google Page Speed ranking for Urban is 87/97 (mobile/desktop), Peoplenomics is 100/100, ComputationalFuture is 98/99 and Ultra-Make is … Read More
An exercise in Future Forecasting comes into view. We take a concept from our “Invention Day” last Sunday and explore whether we can make a reasonable future forecast based on changing differential growth rates. If that sounds daunting, don’t run away and hide. Because, dear reader, you too are living in the Land of More. … Read More
This being Adolph Hitler’s birthday, we have a natural inclination to be especially on guard against evil and its followers this week. And although we still h0ld that events which [MIGHT] lead to WW III will not happen until Orthodox Easter (May 2), what concerns us now is the degree of coming ripples in the … Read More
“Effective News Reading” may be our “tag cloud” this week. Since there is little “economic news” this morning, I’ll subject you to a “free-form ramble.” Because there is a major shift in Future possibly approaching. Please don’t take this as an “anti-news” piece. More like? Analysis from the subconscious. Distilled – yet only partly clarified. … Read More
A garden note to begin with. I have been happy with those “poo pots” for starting plants in. However, one oddity this week. Went up to the garden to water only to discover that an animal had dug out a couple of them and had taken a bite out of the container. I suspect a … Read More
There is only one way out of Depression: Destroying savings. However, there are two ways to go about that. In this morning’s report, we lay out what looks to us like a coming hyperinflation. It has some amazing implications for life and investing. We’re moving into the economic Twilight Zone. Where things of no value … Read More
From Mr. X – a totally worthy and delicious start to our seminar. Mom’s Recipe Hall of Fame v.5: Top Secret Potato Salad This is mom’s closely-guarded personal recipe, disclosing it here is a major security breach! 1 medium red onion finely chopped Enough apple cider vinegar to cover onions 4 hard boiled eggs … Read More
We might as well get Housing data – just out – dispensed with: Look at the completions track and you’ll see how homebuilding is going balls2 in order to get product out there before the bubble bursts. Always take Daniel Yergin seriously. When he says the supply chain mess is chopping at the real pillars … Read More
As happens Thursday mornings, we see how the “New Unemployment Claims” pool will pay off for the week. Three Bigger Stories The first is Retail Sales: You shouldn’t need too much help with that. Next is the Philly Fed outlook: More details on the Philly Fed website here. Followed by the… NY Fed’s Empire State … Read More