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Ikigai Monday, Insincere Negotiations, and A Lab All-Niter

Out here – at the cheaply cobbled Earthship in the woods – there is a keen appreciation of ikigai on Monday mornings like this.  Not familiar?

“Ikigai is an Okinawan, and broadly Japanese, concept translating to “a reason for being” or “the reason you wake up in the morning”. It represents a personal purpose that brings joy, fulfillment, and meaning to life. Unlike Western definitions, it often emphasizes process, flow, and small daily pleasures over grand achievements, acting as a key factor in Okinawan longevity and mental well-being.”

Peoplenomics (Wednesday) will stitch all of this into whole cloth.  But for now it’s enough to remind that Elaine turns 83 this week, I will write shorter columns, but it won’t stop the research because the world won’t be around if a lot of us throw in the towel.  Humanity may not survive 50 years, warns Nobel laureate.

Hopefully, we’re not the only ones listening.

Insincere Talks

In a circuitous way, this leads to the big news story of the day.

Here’s where Monday gets interesting: Hormuz tensions escalate after Navy fires on Iran cargo ship in first blockade clash.

A short few hours earlier, the DC gush (Vance Heads to New Talks With Iran. At Stake: Peace and His Own Standing. – The New York Times) was all about J.D. Vance heading to Islamabad for another round of talks.  But now, we’re wondering, “What talks?” Iran pulls out of Islamabad peace talks after US seizes cargo ship.

Here’s how a goodly part of the world may be looking at the situation (and the U.S.) as a result: Iran says NO plan for US peace talks: Is Donald Trump LYING to the world?

While we really like some of the policies of the Developer in Chief, there are an increasing number of behavioral points that range from moderate concern all the way to scares the hell out of us.  And while this point from reader Stephen2 late Sunday hasn’t been widely picked up by echo chamber media, whenever a president starts talking about launch codes…well, let’s just say lying and torpedoing negotiations isn’t the way my generation was raised.  Outside New York, obviously.

Meanwhile, some of Trump’s “coloring outside the lines” has resulted in paybacks – literally: Trump Administration to Begin Refunding $166 Billion in Tariffs.

Despite all the happy-talk about economic progress, Making America Great Again, and so forth, our green eyeshades look at the national debt shows $38,985,997,093,766.37. Which means a rollover above $39 trillion is imminent.

And here, the bottom line isn’t that “prices are going up.”  Because the Truth of the matter is that the purchasing power of dollars is going down.

You couple the shift from once paying dividends to leaving shareholders to “find their own greater fools” to make money in markets and the whole “turd in the punch bowl” turns into a bet on when it will all sink.

Fed Ahead

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve meetings are next week, not this one. Officials are expected to hold the key interest rate steady at this meeting, maintaining the current range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Markets see virtually no chance of a rate change in April, with potential rate cuts likely delayed until later in the year. You can see how little range there is to the betting spread at the CME FedWatch tool here.

Market futures were down after the manic – possible blow-off high on Friday.  The crypto-crappers are overflowing with $75,000 talk.  They don’t mention, mostly, that their darlings are down 20-30 percent from all-time highs.

Thing most people forget is that there’s a flip side to income you can focus on if total gain is your objective.

For example, I’ve regaled you about all our investment and work on solar panels here at the homestead.  Yet now, we are into harvesting.  Our most recent power bills have been down more than 57 percent compared with a year ago. And on the consumption side, we went from 2,363 kilowatt hours down to 653 last month.

The point being the “bank paying interest” and trying to bet on “finding a greater fool” isn’t the only way to play life.

Though institutions aren’t keen on that “Build Your Own Earthship” kind of thinking.

Stu’s Blood “Sacrifice Day”

Nostradamus researcher G.A. Stewart is the first one I’m aware of who was talking about the April 19-20 period as a Satanic (or whatever) “blood sacrifice day” which is adjacent to Hitler’s birthday which falls today.

Like our work on the 130-136 day “murder cycle” there is ongoing – yet soft – hard to pin a cause on – data that it’s real.  Nominees this year include?  Louisiana gunman kills eight children in suspected domestic mass shooting.  And let’s not leave out Kyiv police shoot dead gunman who killed at least 5, took hostages.

Could it get worse?  Of course – we still have a whole day to get through.

Did Stiks Call a Quake?

In the same vein that Clif High once observed there seemed to be a data bulge in train derailments ahead of major earthquakes, we have our wondering sailor down in northern Oz filing reports about the “sun being in the wrong place” over the weekend.  That’s in his comment here.

When I first read that – about 2:30 AM – I tossed it off.  Observe bias, got the wrong poles, You know – the usual list of shit people get wrong.

But nope!  Here’s the story that made Stiks a certifiable genius: Strong earthquake hits off Japan’s coast, tsunami warning issued | CNN.

Just because the data doesn’t seem to make sense, never be too quick to toss out the observations as having meaning.  It sometimes will “be along shortly.”

Around the Ranch:  All-Niter in the Lab

Yes – that’s why ikigai and Elaine’s birthday are on my mind.  Woke up about 12:30 AM – brain on fire.  So, instead of going back to sleep, I picked up where I left off Sunday night.

See, I was out in the garden room (the lean-to greenhouse has been christened with a more civilized name by Elaine) working on pumping a specific waveform into my electroculture tomatoes experiment.

Yeah – this is a field that will probably be rolling out in near-future – the same way our red light therapy research was feeling back in 2016-2017 when we got off on a tangent with the same way of thinking back then.

So off to organize some 6,200 words of research notes into something useful.  I mean besides a greater appreciation of Okinawan wisdom.  Stirred and shaken, as turns out.

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

45 thoughts on “Ikigai Monday, Insincere Negotiations, and A Lab All-Niter”

Comments are reviewed by a human because the web is crawling with spammers. Submissions after 4 PM Central usually appear the following morning. After you click Post Comment, you’ll jump back to the top of this article, but your comment is queued up here. We’ve got a robust community and your participation is invited. Some commenters are brilliant. Read a few and judge for yourself. Imagine. You could be one.

  1. Yo G-Inventor,

    How much % you getting off the IllumiFLOW I’m seeing advertized on youtube( https://www.amazon.com/Laser-Hair-Loss-Treatment-Stimulates/dp/B07369NRJV ) ?

    I wonder if the illumiFLOW would have positive effects on the Male Member? Ya know Make A Great Snake or Build a Better Boner.

    Its a MIGA world these dayz, and that can only mean one thing – DARKNESS & DEATH for the non chosen..
    Thats all they know, extinguishing or putting out the LIGHT, where ever they go, its always the same, “Grind Em into Dust”, for It IS the reptilian way.

    Cheers!

    PS- moving frm Defensive to outright Short, FUGLY Future to these eyes.. FFFFFFUUUUUGGGLLLYY!

  2. “Iran says NO plan for US peace talks: Is Donald Trump LYING to the world?”

    Consider that Trump likely is communicating with the civilian government officials in Iran, but the IRGC is no longer responding to that leadership. So Trump is not lying, the Iranians are duplicitous at best.

    • Have seen it noted Iran will continue being US’s tarbaby. Had to look it up, seems to mean ;
      “difficult problem that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it:
      informal
      “disposal of nuclear waste was a problem whose solution was endlessly delayed, a tar baby no one wanted anything to do with”

  3. GU : “… for now it’s enough to remind that Elaine turns 83 this week, I will write shorter columns, but it won’t stop the research …”

    Two of these things are true. One does not match the others.
    Keep tellin’ yourself that Wordslinger.
    Missou sez show me.

    ~ E ~

    • Ure wish is my comand..

      -https://www.theinteldrop.org/2026/04/20/the-interview-that-made-her-a-target-cern-insider-speaks-out/

  5. There’s a big disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street. While the S&P500 has hit an all-time high., Consumer Sentiment just hit an all time historic, 74 year low. The two gauges have never been this far apart. [ The chart looks really fugly.]

    I went to bed last night on the news that U.S. Marines had boarded and seized an Iranian tanker.., Vance was on his way to Pakistan for peace talks – that the Iranians said will not take place and no talks until the blockade is removed – the Dow futures were down over 400 points – just maybe they are finally going to take some of the froth off the top of this over-blown market when it opens in the morning….,

    …, nope

    Just a few moments ago the Dow Jones was up four points – now down 21. Futures down over 100.

    We are really treading on dangerous grounds, folks. Financially and politically.

    “Stay Frosty !”

    • “Vance was on his way to Pakistan for peace talks – that the Iranians said will not take place and no talks until the blockade is removed”

      The blockade is working. Therefore, there’s no chance it will be lifted. I expect us to take out a couple bridges and power plants before the IRGC marches out a bunch of civvies, at gunpoint, to provide a human shield for the remainder. When that happens I expect us to either strategically hit power plants and ignore bridges or smuggle small arms to the People. The Arab occupiers need to die; the Persian Iranians need to be given a chance to live as free people…

    • I am here to tell you that the King’s set of clothes are WONDERFUL. Forget what that little kid down the way is screaming!

      Beauty is in the eye of the beholder … and most of us are thinking this is the best set of clothes we have ever seen, new HIGHS of fashion!! How could any designer of clothes do so much with so little? They must be a Magician to take so little amount of substance and make it look so grand!!

      Now it is time for everybody to go admire and purchase clothes just like those that the King is wearing!! So Grand. So Beautiful. So timely that they will look that way into infinity!!

      Oh, our new slogan should be wrt the King’s clothes and his clothier who we will now frequent … “To INFINITY AND BEYOND!!”

  7. Netanyahu ‘stunned’ by photo of soldier destroying Jesus statue

    “Netanyahu said he was “stunned and saddened to learn that an IDF soldier damaged a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon.””

    People act’in ways that demonstrate what they stand for.

  8. Got my property tax assesment. Looks like my taxes could triple or more. We are getting hit with a new County emergency services levy. It does not appear to be subject to a homestead or senior discount. !!$%$##$%$@!!. So much for the no high percentage escalations for seniors BS.

  9. Always Be Closing, G, ALWAYS.

    Yes the closing procedure will in fact close Ure “Mind” to “others” who might want in. Other Entity’s, NRGies, demons. I think every reader on board here at Urb Serv community can use the attached information/history lesson (s) and how it all applies to Today, more so than ever before.

    To be “magically” educated is to be forewarned, to be forewarned is to be Protected, with a growing interest in more “magical” knowledge.

    Please Read for Ure own Edification, it will make sense after you chew on it a little..

    -https://open.substack.com/pub/drheatherlynn/p/are-world-leaders-possessed-the-ancient?utm_source=multiple-personal-recommendations-email&utm_medium=email&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo5NDk5ODAzNywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTk0MTc4ODAzLCJpYXQiOjE3NzY3MDE0NTgsImV4cCI6MTc3OTI5MzQ1OCwiaXNzIjoicHViLTY0OTYyNzciLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.47RSh89fhT6s0vnr50G9ZViTCQf8owXLKelfmScuJQk

  10. The Pooh team was supposed to be selling oil under sanctions relief into the Iranian vacuum. Now, does the IRGC choose martyrdom before Tuesday? Or do they do a deal, while jawboning on the MSM so that IRGC allegory of the cave can play out for the General Populace in Iran? What a choice for Iranians, protest for rights, get mowed down by IRGC guns……

    https://youtu.be/ojb5IE5jiX8

    Separate but related by an oil supply thread:

    https://youtu.be/gAc35oBegUY
    What?
    Get the popcorn out home gamers. I don’t know that the cardboard ayatollahs can keep up appearances for much longer. LOL.

    Got blockchain.

  11. hey G . happy birthday your beautiful wife . and the old cent ani for a magical couple !! the old sicilian for a 100 years . beautiful

  12. “Here’s where Monday gets interesting: Hormuz tensions escalate after Navy fires on Iran cargo ship in first blockade clash.”

    Why would “Hormuz tensions escalate” when the U.S. Navy does exactly what it is supposed to do, and stated that it would do? I didn’t see any tensions escalate when Iran announced the Strait was open, then shelled two tankers whose captains took them at their word.

    You don’t suppose this was culled from a biased news source, do you?

  18. Hardliner Commander of IRGC takes control of Iran’s military., which side-lines all of the moderates. [ Commander Ahmad Vahidi ]
    He is under sanctions from the U.S., Canada and the E.U. Known for his hard-line views on domestic and foreign policy.

    I believe that the only thing he would be willing to negotiate is the total surrender of the U.S.

    Not a good move for Iran’s civilians or peace talks.

  20. Stephen 2 thanks for that heads up on yesterday’s comment. I certainly believe it, and I had to do some quick catching up on things… like my options.

  21. * * *
    South Africa now has more Anti-White laws then apartheid had Anti-Black laws. The current South African government has effectively implemented Apartheid 2.0 ., and the World has said nothing.
    * * *

  22. Walkin’ the dog. Back at the powerpole lineup this fine 4-21, and behold, the sunrise was fully back in line with the poles. Literally a giant move back north. As it should be doing from now until June 20 or so.
    Got a very late night call from a friend in Argentina who has 10000 acres in climate like Santa Barbara (his birthplace) and a fine view of the West from the ridge near his land. He has to ride three hours on horseback to his totally off-grid home, and is currently processing 4000kg of olives every hour (cold pressed) 24 hours a day. 5000 acres of olive trees really pump it out. He’s an organic kind of guy and says the yield is about 15% with the waste being turned into rich compost. He’s an elder, like me, and loves to plant stuff and be good to the planet. The other 5000 acres is run by gauchos and raises beef. There is also a 55′ cat in French Polynesia he’s ‘renovating’ that fills his other passion, being Out There.
    In all the observation about misplaced sunrises it should also be considered that there is possibly a very large Dark Body incoming often called Nibiru that is thought to cause havoc on the planet every 3600 years or so. By some calculations, we are near that anniversary. The web location http://www.zetatalk.com has been on going since 1995 with complete discussion of the reset. Like every week. But the last posting with zero explanation, was March 6. Just stopped. Eleven high level scientists dealing mostly with gravity and such energies, have ‘died’ also in this short period.
    Now I am making sure to be at my powerpole lineup because I literally feel the need to be more aware of this. Especially after being awakened in the middle of the night by my friend thousands of miles away and then seeing the quake in Japan almost real time. Shitz getting real. The boat is seemingly safe up the river far from the coast so at least there is that small comfort.
    Meanwhile, the dog is always happy. After all. DOG only knows.
    Stiks

    • It is possible that your prior observation of the sun in the wrong place could have been a distant atmospheric abberation or ‘lens effect’ of the atmosphere.

      • Nope. Sunrise was in clear sky, sure anything is possible. But was too clear and perfect. Great weather here lately. Cool and crisp with decent breeze. Walk to the same exact spot with the same two poles, the last ones in the line. Just water after that.
        Getting an observation like this is not easy at sea. It’s new to mine eyes.
        Stiks

  23. (“Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve meetings are next week, not this one. Officials are expected to hold the key interest rate steady at this meeting, maintaining the current range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Markets see virtually no chance of a rate change in April, with potential rate cuts likely delayed until later in the year. You can see how little range there is to the betting spread at the CME FedWatch tool here.”)

    lol lol lol….lets talk… Care Credit… I have had it for years..need medical services..the insurance companies that are paid trillions for policies that are suppose to help..tgat cant.. its what forty percent..like the federal reserve..they are using care credit in financial expansion..to get ahead of the curve you have to pay more than the monthly standard payment that doesn’t even cover the bill and interest …so the debt keeps increasing..there comes a point where it all flips…my daughter called crying she had a debt for auto repairs at one thousand.. she was paying minimum payments..the bill is now over three grand..I told her its like a homeloan..at first your maybe paying five dollars a month on the principle..the rest is interest..my bank allows me to split the payment and add to it..that’s how I’ve paid off loans at twenty percent for years..split it in two pay down the interest before its made and add a few bucks on it..never pay the minimum..

    I honestly don’t know how they can’t raise taxes..

    • CareCredit ?!?!?

      Dude Loob – those rates they are charging should be illegal. That shit is higher than “street interest” -the rate you get from Nick the Fish or Anthony”Nuckles” Gargano down south philly ways..

      I used to see that card/service advertised at the Specialty Vet Hospital in chester cnty,PA – right up at the consultation & payment desk. Fucking “come-on” advertising right there next to cash register=computer terminal at checkout desk. Think they are charging upwards 20% interest ! WHO the hell cant make money charging 20 % -Who are these “shysters” ?

      Better yet who are the suckers taking on that burden at 20%.

      What a great business model…..that is until the underlying go belly up, which is inevitable.

      Fluffy needs bilateral knee surgery – and they be tugging on Ure heart strings while you contemplate going deep into debt over Ure GSD’s blown out knees(crazy fckr wont stop chasing&killing squirrels in back yard

      There are better ways to finance..

  25. Happy Birthday Elaine!!
    and Congratulations on your long term marriage to George!!
    (even though apparently he has drug you all over North America – willingly I am sure!! LOL)

  26. Summary
    No — the R/V Thomas G. Thompson does not yet have a publicly listed departure date from Fiji.
    All available AIS sources show it is still moored in Suva with no onward voyage, or destination declared.
    Being a University research vessel this is not unusual. They often only broadcast their destination after departure.

    • Apparently the ship launched out of port yesterday under cover of broad daylight judging by a posted reel. Another ‘Urbansurvival’ commenter of the recent past mentioned the expedition’s social media presence. Check out “rvthomasgthompson” on Instagram.

    • 3 Piece, do a deeper dive, actually this info was easy to find:
      Check the live webcam from the bow of the ship (scroll to bottom of page), also, at bottom of left column paragraph (blue font) is ‘TGT Schedule’ click on link to view schedule:

      https://www.ocean.washington.edu/story/RV_Thomas_G_Thompson

      ship’s schedule:
      https://uw.mfp.us/programme

      We are blessed with NOAA still existing, Trump would rather you sail on dead seas and drink toxic water:
      https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/23/noaa-non-science-trump-cuts
      ‘The Trump administration has shunted one of the US federal government’s top scientific agencies onto a “non-science trajectory”, workers warn, that threatens to derail decades of research and leave the US with “air that’s not breathable and water that’s not drinkable”.’

  27. re: “The Omen”, 111 min., 6/6/76
    or: “The Foundation Trilogy”, Asimov

    Yesterday the algorithm’s rotation sequencing gave me a videoclip filmed by a Japanese rooftop tsunami survivor of the Tohoku (“North East”) Earthquake on 3/11/11. According to Wikipedia the 9.0 earthquake in the Japan Trench shifted the Earth on its axis by 4 to 10 inches. Also, each day is said to be now 1.8 microseconds shorter.

    Today’s 7.5 Sanriku (“Three Provinces”) Earthquake struck further north in the Japan Trench than the 2011 event. Thanks to the latter, the world experienced the most recent shaker almost one-thousandth of a second sooner than otherwise. Asimov’s fictional Seldon Plan tells us that slightly deflecting oncoming events can change the arrival speed of future outcomes.

  28. “A short few hours earlier, the DC gush (Vance Heads to New Talks With Iran. At Stake: Peace and His Own Standing. – The New York Times) ”

    “Standing?” This sounds like the NYT playing politics with the 2028 Election — a political hit piece rather than an actual news article…

  29. “Iran says NO plan for US peace talks: Is Donald Trump LYING to the world?”

    Trump lies to gain advantage when making a deal. Iran lies as a matter of State policy,
    so naturally someone who hates the U.S. would assume it is Trump, and not the Iranians who are playing fast & loose with the truth.

    I humbly suggest that one might strive, in the future, to seek out and use less-biased sources, lest they be accused of harboring similar, prejudicial biases…

  30. Iran pulls out of Islamabad peace talks after US seizes cargo ship.

    Iran pulls out of Islamabad peace talks after US seizes cargo ship full of Chinese war materiel.

    Fixed that for you…

  31. “And while this point from reader Stephen2 late Sunday hasn’t been widely picked up by echo chamber media, whenever a president starts talking about launch codes”

    Didn’t happen. Did you witness anyone being perp-walked to the D.C. gulag for breaching confidentiality in wartime (which is treason)? No? Then this is Iranian misinformation being propagandized by a useful idiot.

    Use your fucking brains! “Launch codes” are a response to a confirmed, pending nuclear attack. They are never used in an offensive stance. People who think otherwise are either hopelessly naive or hopelessly stupid…

  32. Interesting;

    ????? ???? ????? ????? ?? ??????????

    ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ? ???? ????? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ?? ???????

    ???? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ????????? ????: ?

    ?? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ????????? ??? ? ????? ?? ? ??? ?? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????? ???.
    ??? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??.
    ????? ? ????? ????? ???????? ????? ????? ? ???? ? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ???????.

    Claim by the Iranian Embassy account in Afghanistan;

    Unsuccessful attempt to destroy Iran’s weather by a secret American center in the UAE?

    The Twitter account of the Iranian Embassy in Afghanistan wrote:

    After Iran destroyed the secret cloud-seeding and weather modification center in the UAE, everything changed overnight.

    Following the destruction of the UAE’s secret climate modification center by Iran, the region’s weather patterns have completely transformed.Iraq and Iran are now experiencing heavy weekly rainfall and a 5-degree drop in temperature.

  33. I’m not buying the code hoax, but DJT is constantly posting very questionable material on social media, making himself an easy target for enemies both foreign and domestic. Vance needs to stay inside the beltway.

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