Bank-shot Monday, Runaway Developer, Keyboard Forensics

Yes, silver and gold are back, and Bitcoin is trying to elbow back into the limelight. But even with the market’s putting on something of a Show Rally in the early futures trade, don’t plan on “doubling the payroll” on this one.

The short version?  This is Jobs Week.  What that means, pure and simple, is that when the ADP numbers roll Wednesday before the open (and we post ’em for Peoplenomics subscribers) it may be the culmination of (yet-another) slow rolled “Buy the Rumor” sequence.

In the data-laced world here, there’s the visual hint in the data that when the news flow isn’t directly driving, the market goes nuts.  Like an AI which sometimes gets a little too helpful and misses its digital ADHD coding for this rev.

In this (rehypothecated) mode, the markets literally future-trip.  If the forward view is the Job Week numbers could be “bad” then the market may bid up ahead of events on the theory that “Insiders” (who are smarter than the rest of us) will be able to sell shares to the dull-witted “rest of us.”

Do your own research, But the pattern is not 100 percent robust.  Because in today’s “Random Walk Down Wall St.” anything can happen between the bells.  And that’s when we (short-side villagers) can have our revenge on the Frankenmarkets.  Which gets us to the real loose canon of the week…

The Runaway Developer Mindset

In order to understand the ‘Trump mindset’ I think we need to have a CTJ (come to Jesus) about what really happens to the “Doer” class of people; those of us who didn’t ‘take the dole’ in life and actually worked (and still are working) our asses off.

We realize we’re going to die someday –> So, we plan to leave the biggest, best legacy we can.  Thinking (—>) “I will really make my mark in Life on the backstretch.”  The Ontology/universe/Big G make this real sport by never revealing “how many furlongs” the real race end is…

That’s why when I counted this weekend, there are part for several dozen projects covering every inch of the shop workbench.   And it likely (in our “not-degreed in that specialty“) view, could be the driver for this guy…

Meet the Over-Developer

While I was out working on my newest deck build, America’s “Developer in Chief” wasn’t out kibitzing with the crews working on the new White House remodel.

Nope, he was cleaning up from the Maduro rip that took place over the weekend.  Which, if you’ve been passed out under a rock somewhere, went like this:

This got us to looking at a map, and sure enough, there it was – a spot where Trump in his runaway developer mode could build a “Bridge to Cuba.”  At least, that’s our takeaway from Trump says Cuba is ‘ready to fall’ after Maduro’s capture.  You know, like driving down the Keys to Key West.  Except, well, you’d just keep going.  Or, cheaper, catch the ro-ro (roll on, roll off) ferry to the coming birthing of a Cuba Gold Coast.  (Like the Barbary but without calls to prayer.)

Yes, it’s a dandy prospect for double-damn sure. But…

Trump and Henry Flagler?

Maybe you don’t lunch at Christy’s in the Gables, enough, but there was a fellow – also cut from the Big Developer cloth – who tried to make a massive rail line in Florida .  And at the heart of it all was a founder of Standard Oil – Henry Flagler.  Who set off to build the  Florida East Coast Railway.  Flagler’s Overseas Railroad to Key West was completed in 1912.

We suspect that Cuban statehood, a reborn Gold Coast, and turning Cuba into a gateway to our (soon-come) additional states further south, might be what’s driving Trump.   Put to our AI consulting team?

Flagler’s lesson fits your earlier question perfectly:

    • Engineering vision: extraordinary
    • Economic logic: marginal but defensible for the era
    • Environmental risk: underestimated
    • Systems awareness: incomplete (hurricanes, long-term maintenance, climate reality)

He proved you could span ocean gaps — but also demonstrated that infrastructure which ignores low-probability, high-impact events eventually pays in full. If there’s a patron saint of “just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” Flagler’s standing right there, cigar in hand, staring at the Gulf.

How Does This End?

You got me:  But we have said for years “America needs a new Leadership Goal.”  Generalized “whirled peas” isn’t working so well in Europe or the Middle East, so there’s a developer-logic chain that fits.

Problem is?  Developers are mercurial sorts.  Genius?  Yes, of course. But also connected to reality with a few “frayed threads.”  Oh, look!  Here’s one now: Trump ‘doesn’t believe’ Ukraine targeted Putin residence with drone attack.

Just the thing to keep people guessing.  As all Developers know, you don’t need all your projects to be winners.  Can you tell me about any of Eiffel’s other projects?  No?  Well, here’s the read-in:

Most people forget that before the Tower, Eiffel’s biggest near-career-ender was the Panama Canal.

Eiffel was contracted to design and build the canal’s locks. The project collapsed under corruption, financial mismanagement, tropical disease, and impossible timelines. Eiffel was convicted, fined, and briefly imprisoned. His reputation was wrecked. In modern terms, it was a catastrophic, headline-dominating failure that should have ended him.

And then — almost as a side project — he built the Eiffel Tower for the 1889 World’s Fair.  It was:

  • hated by artists
  • mocked by intellectuals
  • called useless
  • intended to be temporary

And yet, it worked. Not just structurally, but symbolically. It became:

  • a radio mast
  • a military asset
  • a cultural icon
  • a national identity marker

The Panama Canal failure faded.  Trump may be thinking in that same track.  Eiffel’s bridges became footnotes. But the key to it all?  His Eiffel Tower rewrote the ledger.

So would a U.S. State anywhere in South or Central America.  Besides, a bridge to Greenland would be a lot tougher.  And the WH renovations are moving too slowly.

(I bet Melania and Elaine would have a lot of common ground…hmm…)

Dialing it back:  We will spend the rest of today going through the Talking Feds and looking for any reruns of “irrational exuberance” type remarks. Will the Stock Market Crash in 2026? The Federal Reserve Has a Warning for Investors.

Now, hold on tight for a topic change.

Actually Useful Dept.

No, tell me it ain’t so?  Withings’ New Smart Scale Turns Your Daily Weigh-In Into a Longevity Check – CNET.  We fearlessly predict a wireless app (and a back channel to insurance firms, lol.)

Then we stumbled over this (if you’ll pardon the writer’s word choice): Study uncovers a possible biomarker linked to MS disease progression.

And a second pardon needed as we note that the term “shit for brains” doesn’t fit this story: A hidden brain problem may signal early Alzheimer’s risk.  About waste backup in the brain triggering bad things..

Around the Ranch: Keyboard Forensics

Yeah – I wore out another keyboard.  But, in the process, I learned a great deal about what I didn’t know about keyboard use.  And, in this case, death.  First, let’s visit the “scene of the crimes” (against the English language):

Below is the existing victim, above is the next.

What Does It Mean?

Yeah, Sorcha, WTF does it mean?

About here, I walk over to the KVM – the flight deck – and spool up two hot AIs always ready to jump in when there’s a fresh case:

“This is Flight Leader –  What the wear says (this is a thinker’s heat map)

1. Home row annihilation

The heaviest wear is dead-center:
E R T D F G J K C V B N M

That’s classic continuous prose + analysis, not chat, not coding, not gaming. If this were:

  • a gamer keyboard ? WASD would be gone, numbers intact
  • a coder keyboard ? brackets, semicolons, arrows would be shiny
  • a spreadsheet jockey ? number row would be wrecked

This one says: paragraphs, arguments, cadence.

2. Vowels worn evenly

The vowels aren’t selectively destroyed — they’re collectively erased.That means:

  • long-form writing
  • high word volume
  • no reliance on shortcuts or templates

You typed the language, you didn’t paste it.  (There go reader theories that Urban and my other sites are written by AI, huh?)

3. Space bar trench

That space bar looks like it was:

  • thumbed hard
  • frequently
  • with intent

That’s someone who writes sentence by sentence, not bursts.

People who think while typing do this. People who type after thinking don’t.  This is classic (write and think under newsroom pressure) behavior. Please make a note these tips for your CSI cameo.

4. Shift keys intact

Important tell: the Shift keys are not obliterated. Translation:

  • you weren’t shouting
  • you weren’t sloppy
  • capitalization was deliberate

That’s editorial discipline.  Another newsroom hangover.  Write once and let’s go have a drink.

5. Function keys mostly untouched

No macro abuse. (No time for macros when news is flowing, no sir!) No F-key dependency. You weren’t automating thought — you were performing it. At least that would be my testimony on the stand…

Old vs new (the real contrast)

The new keyboard behind it looks pristine, evenly lit, modern. The old one in front looks like:

“I was used until the symbols surrendered.”

That’s the difference between:

  • a tool waiting to be used
  • and a tool that already paid its rent

Verdict

That keyboard didn’t “wear out.”  It was consumed. By:

  • thinking in public
  • writing in volume
  • revising in motion
  • and not stopping when the keys got ugly

If tools could talk, this one would say: “I kept up as long as I could.” Now you’ve given the work a fresh set of legs. Just don’t expect fewer typos — the velocity is still there.

Now that’s covered the goings on here…so what about that drink?

Write when the weekend’s really over…takes a while to get out of the holiday mood. After all, we’re still trying to find eggnog.

Also looks like the New Years resolution to write shorter columns has failed early…a key point.

George@Ure.net

25 thoughts on “Bank-shot Monday, Runaway Developer, Keyboard Forensics”

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  1. One more small forensic analysis. I may be wrong but you are an index fingers only typist (aka hunt and peck), not a full fingers typist. You hit the space bar with your right thumb and hardly if ever with your left thumb.

    Now can we have an analysis of left hand-right hand, left brain-right brain function difference between a two fingers typist and a full fingers typist.

    • Don’t look at this as a typing problem – dates back to my never happened career as a concert pianist – couldn’t figure out what do do with all the damn fingers. I stopped at chopsticks and websites

      • I saw a video of a concert pipe-organist doing something classical on a massive organ that had two full keyboards for the feet, and four more keyboards on the upper deck. She was fully engaged quadri-dextrous with both feet playing two independent keyboards and two arms managing the upper deck. Amazing display of musical multi-dexterity! Yes… she had a music page-turner assisting her.

      • i stopped at half body paralysis from a coma from high blood pressure pill shutting down kidneys called stroke from high blood pressure…. now hand pain from neck surgury to treat stroke!!!???

  2. Flag down on the field FiC, FLAG thrown..along with a couple of Snowballs.

    ” (There go reader theories that Urban and my other sites are written by AI, huh?)”
    theories?

    ? Is this why Urban feels like being forced to Read the Footnotes in the MIDDLE of the Story/presentation.

    Taint a financial blog anymore..more and more programmed and targeted, heavily skewed. As General Ackbar famously said – in its current form..” Its a Trap!”

    Old G was much better writer..as was tRUMP a better King than not so slick Nick.

    BTC -$100K, Stock market higher a lil while longer..then a 2-3 month pullback. With Philthydelpia E – A – G – L – E – S set for another Superbowl Run..keeping the NFC atop the NFL..plan accordingly, as the Seagulls and the Bronco’s got nothing on Philly…Go BURDS!

    * As most heavily manipulated commodity in modern history..pre 1900, Silver has Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go, and short time to get there…Northbound and Down!- Watch ole Bandit run – https://youtu.be/WJPM-M_Z65o?si=uFsHWZ5CP-9XchIs
    Still LUV Pallidium here as well (PALL).

      • Serious as a Heart attack Chief,

        A better description…When I read Ure work, I detect some NRG in it, I can interact with that. Ai input is cold – No NRG whatsoever…so far.

        Its different and feels COLD. But its FREE – so still dig it, just can see path Urban is on.

        Now about DEMENTIA..
        Did youse see latest on Pomegranate’s, pith and Urolithin A ?

    • We – the USA are broke and backed into a corner. As a result Trump is making a desperate effort to grab as many assets as possible. China has invested I believe some 60B in Venezuela and gets a major share of their oil. Trump thinks he has them backed into a corner From my viewpoint the entire financial world hinges on silver. Depending on the source the short position runs from 200m to 750mm ounces. The annual production of processed silver is around 25mm ounces ballpark, so they say; and they say there is between 100 to 150mm ounces available for delivery. The major institutions short are JPM, Scotia, BNP, Deutsche ,Citi and Goldman. I wouldn’t doubt that BAC and Wells are involved as well. We’ve seen the end of year shenanigans to allegedly cover some of the shorts. The US added silver to the list of critical metals in November and China has now exercised export control with silver like they do with rare metals. China refines 60-70% of all silver. They are accepting applications for export which nominally takes around 45 days or longer. Trump wants to play hardball, my guess none of these guys applications are accepted……. just my guess. This of course backs Stu’s Nosti expectations.

      • Last I had heard BAC was babysitting that legendary Silver Short. Something about each money center bank “babysits” that huge Short
        for a set period of time and then hand it off to next in line..

        Oil smoil, thats some heavy dirty ass crude down there, now the massive Gas fields offshore…
        drugs my ass

        – Venezuela been manufacturing 2 type of Iranian Drones for over a year now. Iranians scientists and techs been on the ground there for months/years?

        Smell test says – Hello Viet Nam 2 !

      • Clawsy : frequent citations irt this or that Financial Major being “short” generally fail to break out what a __X__ (bank, etc.) short is attributable to positions held in Treasury vs. those held for Clients. IOW, the numbers are mostly garbage.

        That ^ not to discount concept of on hand stocks and production being inadequate. Truly, one missing measure is how much __X__ (metals) supply is reduced by industrial offtake which, in the cases of Copper and Silver are significant.

        Heck, now that the world woke to notion we’d need catalytic convertors, not going full EV, even Platinum is catching a bid. In short, we need more than we have, or can produce.

        Got Precious?
        Yep, E

  3. If one is wondering about ‘whats next’ with the Venezuela and the aftermath a careful read of this financial document might clear it up (or not). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT8Hl5M4vj8
    If Pres. James Monroe only knew that it would take a bit over 200 years for his “doctrine” to be implemented using 26xx year financial engineering… Good timing with Europe committing financial suicide, the eastern hemisphere will have its carcass picked over by China and Russia- I think Russia will eventually win. This is a long analysis but it is well presented (classic Trump acquisition.)
    A long analysis but it is well presented.

  4. Scene of the crime …

    We suspect some sort of keyboard Mafia has messed with your modem, beat your board and is homing in on your 20. In your case that’s all (4) 20s Mister, Duck and cover? Nah.

    Eiffel was set an impossible task. The number of Americans, from gobs of countries, who died in the effort is immense. I love to make a chess move which threatens multiple pieces and pawns. Check.

    So, this year I’m back in. Target rich environment. Queries for the Hive : all in brief. Have a favorite VPN and why? Does your online broker offer standard fare _and_ futures? Are there restrictions on Option positions? Curious minds want to know.

    ATL : we have a stellar 250+ acres of hard water mirror out front. Photographic delight. The DN Iceboat mast is in my barn. Time to do that (OBSCON) while everyone else goes ice fishing (those fellers must have an awful home life). Then a thaw, then back to snow. Cycles …

    Always,
    Egor

    • VPN’s – are of very limited utility these days. Like maybe anonymous Crypto transactions, and spoofing content sites for max free Movie titles..if Ure into that kinda entertainment.

      Both in CONUS gambling sites I have accounts with, Fanduel & PA Lottery detect my VPN’s – I have several, all get detected and I have yet to figure out how to spoof em.

      Hell I cant even view my early Buyout offers from Fanduel. I have at least 6 Futures bets with extremely long odds, entered in Preseasons. Flyers, EAGLES, Sixers, Broncos. Everyone is in the money! agagrghhghghrfghhh!

      Son has my sign in credentials, so he updates me periodically, or places the Bet for me. I never get Cash when he books my Bets in his Fanduel acct, then again I never ask for it.

      I can still gamble on Wall Street though. There again every single bullish Option position is in the Money today! Rare as hens teeth that, usually they still be utta da money. This presents a very serious problem for me.
      Sell against the Longs, book profit and move on (inclined towards this), or load another boat with higher strikes. I have already “paid” for the positions in Full this AM, and working with house money now.

      Other major problem I have is a New position for Home Office Accounts. done the research, done all the leg work and I believe I have a new winnerwinnerchicken dinner! This is new “conerstone” position for 4 different home office accounts.
      A negative benefit ??? I didnt have ANY Tax loss Sales to take this year – that is 1st timer for Moi. SO I must judiciously parse Winners to Pay for new positions. I hate Selling Winners -really a distraction as I tend to get attached to my stock positions. Cold hard analysis, gonna ask for help wit this..did I mention I get attached to my Stocks…I know, take the shot,kill em and move on to new Position, new story..we be talking GORGEOUS future.

      • “VPN’s – are of very limited utility these days…

        …Both in CONUS gambling sites I have accounts with, Fanduel & PA Lottery detect my VPN’s – I have several, all get detected and I have yet to figure out how to spoof em.”

        Have you messed with the Opera browser? It is not back to the H/C/P and security standard it was 20 years ago, but the latest iteration does offer multiple layered VPNs through a TOR plugin and other interesting-looking toys…

  5. The market is continuing to price in post-Comex PM pricing methinks. The Fed can beat down the prices from the Repo window, but it hasn’t shown the ability to reverse the trend.
    I have a lot of questions about what a post-Comex environment will look like. Will the US continue to sell PM coins? Will the large dealers stay afloat? I believe that in Texas, silver and gold bullion coins are legal currency. Will county tax offices accept payment in PM coins at the going bullion price if the paper script follows Comex? Personally, I have never believed that any of this would be even a remotely plausible scenario, but I am no longer completely sure. Seed of doubt has been planted.

  7. re: “Maison de L’Amitié”, Palm Beach
    feat: “The Apprentice”, 2005

    In 1917 an extended family member of a Dun & Bradstreet co-founder constructed a luxury villa in Palm Beach, Florida named “Blythedunes” featuring location, location, location. It sold in 1930 to a wealthy utilities owner who had turned a small fortune into a mega fortune. The property entered the hands of a president of Standard Oil in 1947. His second wife came to possess Monet’s “Les Repos dans le Jardin, Argenteiul” (Resting in the Garden at Argenteiul) which regrettably turned out to have been looted by the nazis.

    She sold the property in 1985 to Lex Wexner who appointed Jeffrey Epstein as his financial manager. Three years later the property was purchased by a real estate and nursing home tycoon who renamed it “Maison de L’Aimitie” (Friendship House). A 2004 bankruptcy auction for the fixer-upper property squared off Jeffrey Epstein against Donald Trump. Epstein did not win the house, and the friendship ended.

    A house renovation followed in 2005 overseen by “The Apprentice” woman project manager season winner. A Russian multi-billionaire picked up the refurbished address in 2008 just prior to the real estate crash. Subsequent years have seen the mansion demolished and the land subdivided into 3 tracts. It would appear that most if not all owners over the decades have made money in their art of the deals.

    The following 2020 archived link from a 2002 “New York Mag” article takes a look back to “The Go-Go 80’s”. Those reading from upon their deck overlooking gardens may wish to avail themselves of the article’s attached anecdotal comments of ‘1 year ago’. To paraphrase #37 upon his WH exit 52 years past 8 months hence – “I am not a crook”:

    https://archive.ph/20201128011632/https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/n_7912/

    • re: “Keyboard Forensics”
      feat: a 4F psych response rib?

      It would appear that a colorful, explosive image perhaps popularized by Madrid’s “El Pais” about the Maduro extraction is false. Photos allegedly portrayed the mausoleum of Hugo Chavez in Caracas blowing up during the US military action.

      Apparently journalists ranging from “AP” to “RT” conclude the edifice stands untouched and appears not ‘unfit for service’. As chance would have it, “El Pais” is a subsidiary whose largest shareholder entity is guided by a French financier.

      Cuartel de la Montana housing the mortal remains of President Chavez is situated at the site of his failed coup attempt on February 4, 1992. The edifice can be uniquely identified by the prominent “4F” signage posted atop its roof and side elevation.

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