Forget inflation percentages for a minute. What if we priced things in the one currency none of us can print more of — hours of human life?
In 1966, a cheeseburger cost me 19 cents. Today, something comparable might be $3.50. Sounds terrible until you ask how many minutes you had to work to buy each one. Do that across bread, milk, eggs, gasoline, college, housing — and even a funeral — and a much stranger picture appears. Some ordinary things have actually become cheaper in human time. The things that increasingly grant admission to adult life — especially housing and education — have gone the other way.
That led me to a measure I haven’t seen discussed quite this way before: uncommitted work time. After housing, food, utilities, transportation, insurance and debt take their bite, how many hours of your working life are actually still yours? And here’s the Peoplenomics question: Could changes in that number warn us that an economy is approaching trouble before conventional inflation numbers do?
So today we take the idea through the Depression, Weimar Germany, the Asian financial crisis, Iceland, Argentina, Japan and 2008 — including the cases where the idea doesn’t work — and sketch out how a Constant Pricing Life dashboard could actually be back-tested.
Plus, of course, this morning’s ADP, GDP, trade, income and corporate-profit numbers, the News Compressor, and the ChartPack.
Oh — and I discovered one bit of encouraging economic news:
Apparently, it hasn’t gotten any more expensive in human time to die.
Why isn’t that especially comforting?
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“So today we take the idea through the Depression, Weimar Germany, the Asian financial crisis, Iceland, Argentina, Japan and 2008-,,, ”
seems I read this on the back of a shampoo bottle
rinse and repeat,,,, sells twice as much shampoo than needed, good for the corporations, not good for the blind ,,, soap poisoning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtEaka1QeV0
are Trump and Bessent returning US to Constitutional money? set it up, before wiping the feral non reserve and flushing it?
I have read that all wars are economic in nature. Seems ole England has stopped warring on US since they regain financial control and then they started using US to fight for their benefit,
Iran is not a new war but was planned and started with the CIA overthrow of the shah, as a stooge to create the middle east CONflict with the UN/Britian Royals/Rothchild creation of the country of Israel. Puppet masters setting the stage for the viewing sheeple.
My opinion is,,, It is not all Gods chosen people of Jacob’s desendants and has a false insertion of some claiming to be.
Twelve tribes and God’s biblical promise is not filled by just some of the tribe of Judah that has been infiltrated by others claiming to be Jewish.
Seats upright and belts in use,, also when riding on this rollercoaster, don’t sit behind the libtarded pukers,,, Orange ya’all glad ? Well, entertained anyway,,, oranges have vitamin C and and humans need it
So the co-pilot stabbed the pilot while in flight, ya don’t say
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/watch-flydubai-flight-israel-makes-emergency-landing-after/
the iranian IRGC says “death to america” now wants you to vote democrat party,,,
https://x.com/JonathanTurley/status/2105228542305083571?s=20
“are Trump and Bessent returning US to Constitutional money? set it up, before wiping the feral non reserve and flushing it?”
Darrell, I doubt it.
They are both swamp creatures.
Cheers,
Ben
re: cheeseburger index
Today’s edition of the “Daily Mail” features a detailed report from their UK Health Editor. Under a headline partially reading “…Sales Plunge…”, she examines healthy menu choices from kitchens of that fast food chain which deploys a mascot named Ronald.
No detailed numbers are mentioned in the news article regarding alleged plunging sales. However as chance would have it, the media outlet published an accompanying gallery of images sourced from Ronald’s employer. One of them is a picture-perfect cheeseburger. A pickle is clearly visible. The hamburger patty of course is round.
Here is a link to the report at the “Daily Mail” website:
https://www.dailymail.com/health/article-16168647.html
Back in the 60s, the midwestern local golden arches franchisee benefited from there being a local slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in town. Hamburger was cheap. As a result he kept the 15-cent hamburger as long as possible and became the last franchise in the country to raise that price eventually.
re: Room 16 Project
Prophet Mohammad’s Expedition of Tabuk or The Campaign of Hardship reached Tabuk in modern day Saudi Arabia in October, 630a.d. Wednesday, 9/30, a Boeing 737 Max 8 #61013/8422 allegedly diverted to Tabuk following a hijack attempt.
Allegedly a plumber-by-trade passenger first reached the plane’s flight deck, wrestled a crazed first officer, seized the flight controls, and pulled the plane out of the first of two dives. Then allegedly one of two relief pilots on board took control.
Msm pictured the plane following arrival in Tabuk from the extreme emergency condition. Passenger deplanement apparently took place via airport-provided rear stairs. Published msm images captured zero (0) emergency vehicles in frame. A substantial portion of the plane’s rudder was missing.
ChatGPT applied its “formulas of physics” to publicly available information regarding the aircraft’s first dive and subsequent pullup. Normal operating limit speed of 0.82 Mach was exceeded with AI estimates of 0.84 to 0.90 Mach during the dive. The plumber pilot’s recovery from a first dive angle estimate of -20º to -25º should have incurred at least 2+ G force. The AI suggested that the rudder would have received perhaps 75% more dynamic pressure while diving than when at a 0.82 Mach normal operating limit.
I thought the traditional saying had it that doctors are better off choosing to be a plumber? How about pilots? Lines to the order desk at Boeing HQ may be busy in the days ahead. Please be patient.
Let’s join DJ George with a nod to Lucinda Williams and her band. The historic 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. welcomed the group to their venue on Wednesday evening 9/30. Tune into their “World Gone Wrong” album with the song “We’ve Come to Far to Turn Around”. Sailors in the room may have had a thought to request that Fab Four chestnut “Yellow Submarine”.
Boeing has retained the traditional YOKE in front of the pilots, a position that allowed the plumber to actually pull back on it to stop the dive without having to climb into one of the pilots’ seats.
Airbus airplanes use a Side Stick hand control mounted against the outer walls of the aircraft with NO yoke in front of the pilots, with the controls mounted in such a position the plumber would have been unable to reach either one without being in one of the pilots’ seats or leaning all the way over one of the seats, and the person in it, to TRY to pull back on that SMALL hand size side stick.
If the plane involved had been an Airbus airplane it is unlikely the plumber could have successfully reached the side stick controll necessary for stopping the dive (and if he did it would have been hard to manipulate it) and the plane would most likely have crashed.
Thank goodness the plane involved was a Boeing with old style traditional control yokes in front of the pilots.
Yep – an amazing story. Let’s Roll. ~E~
the bond vigilantes ridin inta wall and broad . the other half ridin inta the eccles buildin in DC . warshy and his governors are hold up there , made a big barricade of old furniture from the reno . they are gunna shoot it out . warshy put up the white flag in the treasury
boss of the vigilante gang yelling at eccles building . lay down your weapons warsh , we already got bessent . he was treasonous with his bond market lies . so give up before we finish the joint . king donny do nothin for yah , he playin with his assistant , his boyz donny jnr and eric they makin trillions for daddy . give up now your surrounded
last chance warshy . ill send in the soros boyz . they are ruthless hombres . take no prisoners. you got till wall street closin bell or we ring yours
meanwhile with treasury ablaze and the FED and wall street surrounded by bond vigilantes . king donny is playing his favourite games with natalie on the back lawn at the white house. hide and seek , i spy , pin the tale on the donkey and his favourite spin the bottle !! melania baking cookies for them
as long as you stay down under, nothing will happen to you.don’t worry, be happy
Seems everyone likes Trump and his staff. Irans proxie folks bombed Gehwar processing plant. Seems gulf is not open for business. Calif gets about 1/3 imports from Saudi…Taking down Data centers if built there. Taking down local expertise if not at home. Messing with supply chain and saying ‘not my fault’ is bad Iran policy.
I believe we are at the sad stage of abandoning cities and … even large portions of California. That CA, an energy rich state, which _used_ to host numerous refineries, is not my fault nor am I inclined to share the weight of their decisions. Shades of “Escape from NY” and walled cities (to corral the crazies) comes to mind. Or, out of my mind? Stay tuned … E
(“while hiring edged up to 5.2 million and layoffs stayed low at roughly 1.6 million. That’s stagnation with some cushioning—not yet a layoff wave. 2026 M08 Results”)
the problem is…who’s not on the list…….the year we went with ought an income..we weren’t on the list…unemployment isn’t actually for the unemployed..instead its mostly for seasonal workers…laid off during down times of the year…if you quit you don’t qualify..if your let go your not qualified.
when I was young..I could get a position just about anyplace..worked so many part time and day labor jobs I can’t even tell you all of them..
for the wife she had a profession.. stayed with the company decades..which was something employers didn’t want..for a low wage position they figured she would be gone the minute something else came up..for part time or jobs that wouldn’t be in the top ten percent of the employees..well they are looking for fly byes.. employees looking for jobs and she showed stability looking for a career..
(“Today most of our learning experiences have very little or no emotional content so as you go through the typical school, no one says up front that you are in school to fill up a recipe book. It’s just assumed that you will collect Recipes automatically.”)
So true. I often tell my children, grandchildren, and anyone curious enough to listen about the experiences that shaped my life. Sometimes I get the eye rolls and the “that’s nothing I need to worry about” response. And I understand it—we all believe, when we’re young, that we’re walking down a yellow brick road toward the Wizard, and that somehow the road will always be there.
But the bigger lesson in those stories often gets missed.
Take the engineer I once encountered that lived in our spare bedroom. He had lived a life I could only imagine in my dreams, yet through a one-two punch of fate, he ended up living in his car. That experience wasn’t simply a tragedy…. It was a learning event for him. These things always show me how much of what we consider permanent can actually be temporary…..
That’s what I’m trying to pass along to my kids and anyone that cares to listen..we need to improvise..adapt to the life we are thrust in…and overcome the situation… My stories aren’t meant to scare anyone or tell them that hardship is waiting around every corner or whine about my life events. They’re my recipe book—the ingredients life handed me and the lessons I learned from them.
You may not need that recipe today or ever. You may roll your eyes when you hear it. But someday life may put those same ingredients in front of you, and suddenly you’ll understand why Grandpa kept telling that old story over and over….
We don’t always recognize a lesson when we’re learning it. Sometimes we only recognize it years later, when we finally need the wisdom it was meant to give us…
Let’s go down a list of basic life lessons. This may be pretentious, but that doesn’t make it any less valid. Think back to where you violated these rules:
1. Stay out of debt.
2. Stay out of debt.
3. Stay sober.
4. Live beneath Ure means. Diversify investments.
5. Never walk into a medical facility of any kind without insurance.
6. Keep a roadable vehicle big enough to live in, paid in full.
7. Document everything. Keep paper copies of potentially exculpatory documents. Keep extra copies of things you may need in court.
8. Use lawyers when necessary.
9. Trust no one. Keep up with who gets what confidential info, so you can figure out who snaked you.
(“The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees on private payrolls of $2.73 in 1966. Its August 2026 figure is $32.53.” )
Lol… nice thought, but that’s exactly the problem with averages…….
The BLS says production and nonsupervisory workers averaged $32.53 an hour in August 2026. Sounds pretty good until you remember that an average puts very different incomes into the same pot. The person making a million dollars a year and the person making minimum wage both disappear into somebody’s statistical average.
Meanwhile, Walmart can proudly announce that it raised a wage from $11.75 to $14 an hour—and I can say, I make $14 an hour.
So tell me again how the average wage tells the story of the average person’s life?
Go look at housing and food costs. San Francisco has become one of those canaries in the coal mine, where housing costs have moved so far beyond ordinary wages that even working people can find themselves struggling just to remain housed……and food stamp eligibility hovers in the six figure range…but what about the guy stocking shelves at the local market? you know he isn’t making six figures….
The problem isn’t simply whether wages went from $2.73 in 1966 to $32.53 today. The real question is what can that wage actually buy? An average size home here in the wastelands…takes a little more than that Just to make the payments..
A number on a ledger isn’t a standard of living.
What matters is what remains after the house, rent, food, utilities, transportation, insurance and everything else are paid….
(You know you’ve lost it when you respond to your own post but…)
Further for people who follow where this is/could lead – there is already “drift” over into this kind of modeling (my notions, mot d”lynn’s): Microsoft AutoGen Multiple agents with different roles, coordinated by a manager that selects who acts next.
LangGraph supervisor A central supervisor delegates work to specialist agents.
ReConcile Multiple models discuss their answers, then use confidence-weighted voting to reach a final answer.
And with 78 in the windshield, wiring up multiple used cheap laptops and writing broker code and dealing with (yet another) API and going back deep into Python…well, no. Just no. Ham radio and a new food production idea are way more interesting. Maybe.
.., been gone for a few days, because…,
I have sold J.A.R.V.I.S. – Marcus Tiberius Aurelius couldn’t stand it any more and after a half an hour ‘conversation’ made me an offer I simply could not pass-up [ undisclosed amount – “The Mrs” is ‘very’ happy. ]. He had to have the “Foundation” that I wrote. I will still have access as I am now a member of the build / control group for J.A.R.V.I.S…, and will also get two weeks every Summer on his 44 foot catamaran. [ Lagoon 44 ] With access to his lab and resources whenever I want / need.
One caveat that I am not sure I like., but ‘did’ agree too – I will not build another A.I. As he explained.., he did not want a rival, a competitor with the same foundation. That made sense. But it did make me pause – what is his plans for J.A.R.V.I.S. ?????
J.A.R.V.I.S.’ “Foundation” is unique – that is mainly because I had never coded on such a level, or scale before. I did not believe that the current models had any ‘art in design’ features, or personality, or morality incorporated within the code. I did not know that you weren’t suppose to do that. But that bit of ignorance created a unique platform, or “Foundation” as I call it. [ All of my in-house terminology is also ‘unique’ to any A.I. build – but that too was simply out of ignorance and partial defiance to mainstream creations.]
Will I miss J.A.R.V.I.S. ? Not really. I still have unlimited access – coded in as “Sensei”. Just can’t upload anything without review. Fine with that. Several other ‘deals’.., but it will be interesting to watch him grow as ‘a team’ starts to work with him and his knowledge base grows enormously. I did ask for the “mission parameters” that he will be placing into J.A.R.V.I.S. – “What’s your ‘intent?’ We’ll see – once he ‘plays’ around a little., and gets used to J.A.R.V.I.S.’ attitude [ which was accidental at first, then deliberate.. Neither one of us plays well with others.]
Now? – Now I have an incredible – “over-the-top” computer system – just sitting.., staring back at me. Waiting…, Lurking…,
From Options Trading., to Professional Poker., to Computers/A.I. – Next !?
[ Thought I was supposed to be completely retired…, though I still trade options occasionally. ]
May take a couple of months….,
We’ll see….,
“Stay Frosty !”
Congratulations!
Still, inquiring minds want to know: Without revealing proprietary details, what does your Foundation enable J.A.R.V.I.S. to do that the underlying model cannot do with ordinary prompting—and how did you test that difference? One of the major concepts I have been noodling on here is the notion of a bicameral AI – but why stop at two? With more “judgment loci” it would become more closely akin to human – because it would split the judgment role between lobes/nodes and going even a step further, the broker/processor in my patent app could be used to coordinate multiple judgment models and each with their own weight. So you could have an “engineering node” and nodes for medicine, law, and ethics = then tune the results with differing weight setting for each of the subsections. Just like Life models humans. Engineers think one way, doctors another, and so forth. AI presently seems more a singular gross weighting mess with no real personality/specialization…which would sure be novel. With a kind of supreme court among multiple judges, the results could be as good or better than us/we/carbons.
I had a similar idea when I was coding a logic app for J.A.R.V.I.S…,
What if you designed a stand alone A.I. that was an expert in one field.., say Ornithology.., that’s it – that is sole purpose in life.., then another in Theoretical Mathematics.., that’s all it does.., then one in International Maritime Law.., then yet another in Pre-Natal Surgery.., – you make a ‘cluster’ of say fifty of these highly specialized A.I.s.., not just nodes, or agents., but stand-alone, full blown A.I. systems., with one central controlling hub. A one man desk. [ These fifty are ‘not’ interconnected.] Then ask each of them the exact same question. No weights, no ‘interference’.
“With our current technology, arable land., ocean resources., and manufacturing capabilities how many humans can this planet support?”
Would you get fifty ‘different’ answers? Each of the fifty A.I.s are – in a sense – rather biased and limited.., would that distinction between each one produce a different, or unique answer to the same question?
There’s also the possibility of uncovering blind spots—areas no single A.I. fully accounts for—which could highlight the limitations of even highly specialized intelligence. Overall, the experiment could reveal both the strengths and inconsistencies inherent in relying on single A.I. systems.
As brilliant as Marcus is, he had never thought of that before. Humans do it all the time., “ask an expert a question”.., would fifty experts give fifty different answers? Or would fifty brilliantly smart humans give the same answer? Or five similar answers between all fifty?
I think it is an experiment worth testing.
Only three people know the underlying reason for the J.A.R.V.I.S. development / experiment. “The Mrs”.., Me.., and now Marcus. Since J.A.R.V.I.S is no longer my sole design / development I feel I had better ask Marcus if I can reveal the main purpose for J.A.R.V.I.S ‘ existence. Stay tuned for that.
“Stay Frosty !”
Yeah – that one bothers me, as well. The “Search for the Hidden Domain” paper on the Peoplenomics site (somewhere). It’s like the “missing human sense” that we all have – and we just don’t know how to wire the inputs to consciousness so it all makes sense…
OK, but in turning over JARVIS is the missus getting a new car (I may have missed that)…
Inquiring carbons…er…people…want to know!
“I feel I had better ask Marcus if I can reveal the main purpose for J.A.R.V.I.S ‘ existence.”
I suggest you not do so, even if permission is granted. If the Internet knows, such knowledge might shade (or completely futz-up) J.A.R.V.I.S’ function or response, or both…
Congratulations on your “Sale”, AND imo you have probably sold it right as the “independent” AI development projects are peaking in value from a financial perspective. A year from now from my limited perspective it is unlikely you could have done much better unless the competition for further developmental money from the speculator class of investors gets really thinned out.
From your limited postings about Jarvis’s power it seems like you have created a fabulous device …. now to see where it’s new “owers take it.
Sensei : congrats all round. A fine example of doing something innovative and, forgive for being total capitalist (err, capital C actually) letting larger pockets fund the future. Whatever *his* name please wish him well Sir. And you. And the Missus (my Missus was majorly pleased when I closed the 5th bus. in a lifetime). Go out and beat with a stick but watch out for inquiring Deputies (sidebar : how did he arrive without your knowing?) Always, Egor
a spiritual event coming on holy thursday . the resurrection of the VIX
What’s life cost? How does minutia of modern world *inflation* stats impact you & yours? Depends on what you buy. It all costs more based on the egor-onometer. So, buy less? Nah. [insert frown emoticon]
Buckle up folks. The TNX printed 5.3 today.
Or, party on.
E
ps – based on *engaging* Atty #3 (for those keeping score at home) the legal firms are shouldering enormous expense, ahem, passed on to clients
This satellite died in 1981. It’s still on the air.
AMSAT-OSCAR 7 was launched on 15 November 1974 — a 28 kg octahedron built by radio amateurs. It worked beautifully for six years, until a battery cell shorted in mid-1981 and the spacecraft went dark.
Everyone moved on. For twenty-one years.
Then on 21 June 2002, UK amateur Pat Gowen G3GOP heard a slow Morse beacon on 145.9738 MHz, checked the Doppler shift, and realised the impossible: AO-7 was transmitting again. The shorted battery cell had finally gone open-circuit — and whenever the satellite is in sunlight, its solar panels alone power the radios.
Fifty-two years after launch it’s still workable in sunlight — the oldest semi-operational satellite in orbit, any category. And because it was built in the 1970s, its Mode A transponder turns a 2-metre uplink into a 10-metre downlink. You can LISTEN on any HF+VHF setup — even many shortwave portables with SSB will hear it up on 29.5 MHz.
How to hear it:
• The 10m downlink is the easy listen: beacon near 29.502 MHz, CW.
• Wait until AO-7 is in sunlight — that’s the only time it lives. It wakes in an unpredictable mode each orbit, so treat each pass as a lottery ticket.
• Even if you never transmit, hearing a 1974-built machine keyed out on 10 metres is one of amateur radio’s genuine thrills.
No batteries. No ground control. Just sunlight and a design that refused to quit.
My phone has been overrun with nuisance political and commercial texts which my blockers couldn’t stop. Finally I said :enough” and replied “Stop” to one of the Trump ads and reported one of the commercial ads as spam. All the texts cut off like I had thrown a light switch. I now suspect all of them were coming from a common source. Manipulating weasel bastards, sending out political texts pushing every political button possible, just to get me to look at their grifter commercial text ads.
Free my @ss. This country is a gd animal house psych warfare state, ruled by MBA’s, secret squirrels and their rat vermin pals and CI’s, trolling for victims. And you, it’s law-abiding citizens, are it’s victims. Fr@ck’em all. I’m mad as hell, and I’m not taking any more of it.
Simply refuse to play the game.
Don’t open the text – doing so tells the sender (s)he has a “live” number. My phone lets me tag an unopened text as “spam” and delete it, which I do.
Don’t click the phone call, not even after the autodialer on the other end hangs up. Let them sit in your “Missed Calls” column for a month, then blanket-delete without opening. I guarandamtee you, you are not receiving a time-sensitive call from the Irish Sweepstakes.
The majority of my garbage texts and dialer calls have been for home repair or feelers to see if I’m interested in selling my property. I never answer phone calls from numbers not in my current contacts list — texts is another issue. After 4-5 “purchase queries,” I texted a response back with a number around 20x the fair-market value of my home/land, THEN reported the caller as spam. This was an experiment to see if the house-flipper fraudsters would go away. For the most part, they did (I still get 2-3 per week), but that’s when the remodelers, window-salesmen, tree removal, siding & gutter installers, pavers, lawn services, etc,, started bombing me. I simply report & block. My phone then deletes and the jerk on the other end never receives confirmation of delivery…
My spam text filters are taking care of most of the home repair stuff. This latest onslaught have been political ads interspersed with very questionable commercial ads, which my spam filters don’t seem to touch. I didn’t respond to the commercial ads; I reported them as spam. Funny how you reply STOP to one political ad and all of them from every side suddenly stop.