How “Solid” is Future?

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This is where we look ahead and size up what we can about next week.  Because while the past is full of interesting ideas, those have already “locked” into history.  What seems like it would be more useful would be an in-depth summary of things that will likely impact us (large and small) before they get here.  Thus, giving us a chance to plan around them while there’s time…

First, though, a crater impact survey as the US Dollar is about to get the “Moody’s blues…”

Of course, the usual Saturday fare is served as well: A few “locked” headlines and the ChartPack which reveals how this pig of a market is doing almost unspeakable things.  At least, things not normally observed in the modern times.

For us, this is a nearly ideal weekend to work on a broader topic; PLM or Personal Life Management.  It will be a kind of mini-focus for the weekend.

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41 thoughts on “How “Solid” is Future?”

  1. George, I am only 62 and after having a “jones break” in my foot from falling off a ladder, my orthopedist asked me a simple question. Is saving a couple bucks worth it?

      • Actually, after 6 months on a bone growth stimulator, all good and avoided surgery. Vitamin D was also key to recovery. Still biking, but the stresses of bowling is pushing it.

        • Even at this point, get some comfrey salve and start using it a couple of times a day on the affected areas. It does wonders for bone regrowth and general tissue healing.

        • Frankness, Your “bone stimulator” remark brought back memories of going through customs in Peru. My wife had an orthopedic boot (not a problem) but the bone stimulator provoked a WTF response from the Spanish-only customs inspector. Fortunately, we had the multi-language manual for it stowed in our luggage and after maybe 15 minutes of reading he was able to decide that it was neither a bomb or something he needed to charge duty on! By the way, the bone stimulator seems to have accelerated healing.

          I’m 82, wife is going on 78. She’s currently recuperating from a pickleball face-plant and we’ve booked a bike trip in Provence for September. All around us we see canes, walks, and dowager’s humps; we have lost 9 friends, relatives, and classmates since January. We know the survival stats for broken hips and have altogether abandoned ladders, but we continue to take calculated risks with boats, bikes, and pickleball. An accident could start (if survived) a terminal decline, but on the other hand exercise and socialization are two of the stronger predictors of longevity. We try to take reasonable risks, not stupid risks!

    • Ladders are always 6″ too short and that last step that states “Do not step on/aboce this step” is there as a dare!

      • George, The bone stimulator my wife used was prescription and cost about $3,000. We received a notice from Medicare that it would not be covered but that if the vendor had not notified us in writing of that, we would owe nothing. We had received no notice, so the vendor had to eat the cost. Depending on insurance, I think it would at least require a preauthorization. Our experience was maybe 6 years ago, so policies may have changed.

        • No… policies haven’t changed !
          insurance and medical a d pharmaceutical industries are a cash generating industry…
          its similar to the commercials you are seeing lately on what if your car breaks down.. we bought into that once.. the policies are written up carefully to sound good they just aren’t worth the paper they are written on..and similar to those what if something happens wage continuation disability policies they will cover simple low cost issues but if something major happens your on your own.
          if the covered what they say they would cover then there wouldn’t be any need for an adjuster to come out and evaluate the loss and replacement cost that they would pay.. in a hospital or clinic you wouldn’t need to have Satan as a bill collector..it is always in the business model.

        • A little research on the technique and usage, and a cheap TENS muscle stimulator will do the job also… for maybe $30.

        • @LOOB:

          “its similar to the commercials you are seeing lately on what if your car breaks down..”

          I can’t remember the insco Danica Patrick is hawking, but I guarantee they’re legit. If you have a plan which covers your car’s boo-boo, they will absolutely pay off, to the limit stated in their coverage. My local garage has 4-5 “covered repairs” on their floor, every week.

          However…

          Everything is done by the book – specifically, the book which explicitly states how long a job takes to perform.

          Coverage is not adjusted to compensate for different hourly rates.

          The person with the broken car is responsible for payment of every dime above the coverage limit. A lot of garages won’t release the vehicle until its bill has been settled.

          AND,

          Insurance “premiums” typically start at $99 per month, per vehicle, for “barebones” coverage. Generally speaking, a body can take that 1200 bucks (or more) and invest it, and come out ahead when their car breaks. Get a freebie (no annual fee) credit card with a $10k+ limit and never use it, except for vehicle repairs. Pay off any charges with the funds from your “car insurance investment account.” The APR/APY on the ccard is irrelevant, because you’re never going to run a charge unless the car breaks, and you’re going to pay the card off, in full, before the end of any month in which it is used.

          ‘Love Danica Patrick. She was a mediocre driver, but she’s hot, and garnered a lot of attention (=money) for both Indycar and the Stockers, and she screwed with the status quo (which is always fun.) However, I ain’t buying diddly-poo from her advertising spots…

    • I’m empathetically feeling your pain. But it can always be worse. My longtime friend since H.S. days (we’re both 72) lost his younger brother to severe head trauma in a ladder accident. He was on an 8’ step ladder when it tipped and he struck the back of his head on his concrete walkway. And my 65 year old neighbor (we live in a. semi-rural community) was cleaning his gutters when his extension ladder slid sideways off of the side of his house. He vividly recalls thinking how he should try to roll before hitting the ground, but the ladder had it out for him, twisting, zeroing in and beaning him full on his noggin. He spent a few days in the hospital recovering from a concussion and still suffers from dizzy spells. So insured handymen are now my preferred method of tackling risky business. Oh, I still mow, paint, do normal construction projects around the house, but anything that involves height or lifting heavy loads (or has risk in general) demands my securing professional help.

      • My roof is 5 in 12 pitch, and the shingles are not slick, so I may get on it occasionally, but I try to avoid working off ladders.
        One thing I have done that has helped a great deal with balance is riding the bicycle some every day it is fit to ride. But I do pad up a bit. So far I have only fallen once while moving (in a relatively slow accident); my head wasn’t in the game. It’s kind of a zen thing; you have to be in the moment, and not be distracted by other matters. But that isn’t always enough on a ladder.
        The thing that I can’t fix is PNI, and I just don’t maneuver well in tight spaces like ladder rungs the way I did when I originally built my house. I recently bought some rather strange Propet mesh shoes with Vibram arctic lugged soles. They are grippy like climbing shoes, but work on wet surfaces. Haven’t climbed in them yet, but they may help (’til they don’t). Staying off the ladder is the most sure defense.
        For heavy loads, active hydraulics with 40 or so HP is the ticket.

        • I have a relatively low pitch roof… corrugated metal… slicker than goose shit when wet. I was up on it to pressure wash the solar panels and roof in the early years of home ownership, but now, after a hip transplant, the thought just scares me. Time to hire a young buck with sticky boots, I guess.

        • When it’s time, try a pair of Bronax shoes:

          https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCJX3VYL

          They’re Chinese, but haven’t hit the tariff wall yet because $45 is what I paid for me last pair. The nubs will take a year or more to wear down. Until they do, these shoes are incredibly sticky, even on wet & snow (ice, not so much, but nothing is, and you’re never going to see serious ice in Texas, anyway.) The fit is downright pleasant, and to-size. Don’t buy white ones, unless you’re up for bleaching them every few days (or like me, you simply don’t GAF…)

  2. To : give yourself permission

    Last eve dusk blew up another maelstrom shite show. Storms raked the lake and in comes a pair of knucklehead boys who had been fishing when their teeny electric motor got overwhelmed by waves and wind. The boys stacked our piers with fishing gear and didn’t seem at all concerned with their skiff beating up the (new) docks.

    I started bringing out suitable lines (they had a few thin cords, bordering on twine, onboard). Once tied up at the bows I suggested just hanging onto the boat so it’d roll against a horizontal pontoon fender. Soon a whole family was on the pier taking everything out of the boat stacked on the pier. Talked to the Dad asking they stand down, leave the boat, and once they were gone … tied it up properly.

    Every summer we sailors throw in “knot work” at some lake gathering. I believe _everyone_ should know how to tie a proper clove hitch, two half hitches and … bowline / taught-line hitch for extra credit. Amazingly, quite often, the teaching draws in more adults than kids? Sailing since 7-8 and, a Boy Scout, we do knots …

    A salient excerpt from the subscriber side:

    “… give yourself permission to do your highest value activities and farm out the rest …”

    There is hope for you yet Word-slinger. Once you do the thinking and AI does the drudgery … Nirvana. Make it so Mr. Sulu.

    Have a fine weekend,
    Egor

    • Our highest value activities are generally internal work, and relating to those who matter. Unfortunately, that’s hard! It also requires making opportunities – many of which can’t be made since it requires the cooperation of another. There’s always an excess of things to do – unless you have no life at all. Sometimes, rather than paying folks to do what you don’t have time for, it’s best to leave such tasks undone. Supervising and working logistics can take as much of your time as doing the job yourself. Then again, things like concrete work do have their limits when working solo. There’s also the fun factor of some jobs. Such jobs should be done personally unless there’s a damn good reason not to.

      Today my Peoplenomics subscription autorenewed! IMHO, a totally worthwhile payment for something I value.

      Thanks, George!

    • I was so busy in Southern Indiana yesterday I never noticed you getting a piece of weather.

      I’ll never understand how people could be so ignorant or maladroit as to not be able to tie a knot. The clove hitch is the standard “horseman’s hitch” you can see in any vintage Western movie. That’s the ones the “cowboys” use to tie a horse to a hitch rail (you can also tell which actors actually rode horses, and which ones only rode in the movies, ’cause the latter can’t do a clove hitch worth a darn.) I usually tie it in about 1.5 seconds, and tie a fisherman’s knot in about 2.5 seconds. I never even look before tying either, because I’ve done it so many times. Same with a square, overhand, or figure-8…

  4. re: “Days of Future Past”, 2014
    feat: En Sabah Nur (Earth-606)

    Folks,

    Speaking of knights in white satin, superhero film “X-Men: Days of Future Past” was released on May 23, 2014.

    Moody’s is a subsidiary of Moody’s Corporation whose controlling shareholder appears to be Berkshire Hathaway according to “Wikipedia”. The company headquarters are situated at 7 World Trade Center built on the site of its 9/11 predecessor. This current edifice opened on May 23, 2006.

    • The largest shareholders of Moody’s Corporation (MCO) include institutional shareholders, insiders, and individual shareholders. Berkshire Hathaway Inc is the largest individual shareholder, owning 174.19M shares representing 96.82% of the company.
      .
      I knew that B.H. had a stake in Moody’s but not to that extent. Which may explain why Buffett is still not buying. And why there is a small ground swell for insider trading. It doesn’t smell very good from where I am sitting.

  5. “Storms”

    The clouds are gathering over Amy Comey Barret. It was clear to me she was a double agent from the start, but maybe she isn’t. With life extension drugs she’ll be on the bench another 150 years.

    4D Werewolf Game for sure. 2050 or bust!

  6. I was volunteer of the year at a local senior center about 8 years ago, before I stopped going to babysit my then newborn granddaughter. I have joined one weekly activity there recently and I’m getting pressure to volunteer to do more. At 72 I don’t want to be in charge of anyone else’s entertainment or to record who eats/pays/ or doesn’t pay at the lunch meal I don’t attend. I just don’t want to be responsible for other people’s needs anymore. I’m quite content to embroder a tee shirt with women who are doing other needlework as long as I don’t have to attend every week.

    I might go to the book study…2 people attend, one who can’t read English. While the paid person in charge is struggling to find books the 2 can agree to read, I went on Amazon and bought 5 or 6 books of classics that have both English and Korean translations within each book. They will arrive this week. When I tried to explain what I bought the paid person didn’t listen and excitedly showed me pictures of books the 2 people agreed to read. I asked, “Are there Korean translations?” and she looked puzzled, saying, “That’s the next problem.” I don’t want to be responsible to fix stupid people’s self made problems.

    I value my time more than I used to.

  8. “Always keep an open tab for earthquakes (like the little one overnight just down the road from Reader Hank’s “volcano ranch” on the Big Island)”
    Pshaw! 2.5?? Those happen in that area on an almost daily basis. Geologists say it is the largest mountain on the planet (Mauna Loa) settling into the earth’s crust.

  9. The Superior Court of Ontario orders Aspire Food Group, the London, Ont.-based cricket farming company, into receivership.

    According to CBC News, FTI Consulting has been appointed receiver of Aspire and its related entities. This follows an application filed by Farm Credit Canada (FCC) in which it said Aspire owed FCC nearly $41.5 million.

    Aspire opened the 150,000-sf plant in 2022 with financial support from Sustainable Development Technologies Canada. It was expected to produce 20,000 metric tonnes of cricket products annually for the pet food market and frass. Eventually moving into human consumables.

    All production has come to stop as Aspire ‘realigns’ it’s future.

    .., and here I was looking forward to that cricket burger.

      • dLynn & BIC, we recently went to the Museum of Disgusting Foods in Malmo, Sweden. Lots of stuff to look at and smell, and about 20 items on the buffet–including crickets. Had to spit out the exoskeleton, but the remainder was not bad. From various insects and worms to fermented fish and decaying cheeses, it is amazing what people will eat, either as a delicacy or out of desperation.

        At least we are not to Soylent Green — yet.

        • “At least we are not to Soylent Green — yet.”

          I dunno. It’d be an efficient way to dispose of children’s bodies after all the adrenochrome had been extracted.

          Some of the major food producers are putting crickets, grubs, and sawdust in our food. Would anyone notice if one of the additives was human, in nature? When’s the last time YOU ran a genetic profile on the burger or nugget from your favorite fast food joint…?

  12. Looks like the world’s largest A.I. data center will be in Dubia?

    “The 10-square-mile UAE-US AI Campus will be located in Abu Dhabi, built by Emirati AI company G42, and is expected to grow to some 5GW.”

    • Grok went online in Memphis and within 48 hours, the envirowackos and the ACLU had injunctions and cease operations orders in the Tennessee and U.S. court system, and Soros-funded protestors were in the streets.

      This garbage legal BS wouldn’t happen in ANY Arab State, and if the protestors became annoying, they (and their family) would simply metastasize into fish food and fertilizer.

      Why shouldn’t we (or any other over-regulated nation) partner with the Arabs, to get necessary things done that our socialist Masters will no longer permit us to do on our own soil?

      • “partner with the Arabs,”

        Nixon probably said similar, “partner with the Asians” in manufacturing.

        This data center guarantees U.S. protection of Dubai. That’s for sure.

  13. Last night I caught a little of the Art Bell Somewhere in Time show… Art was traversing to us from 1996.

    He and the audience were convincing themselves the economy was going to collapse in 1997. “Get ready and buy foreign currency. Swiss Francs and to avoid confiscation, old gold coins.”

    He talked about coining the new phrase, “The quickening” which the guest asked if he could use later. Great stuff.

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