This, boys and girls, lads and lassies, is what you call a “Dregs of Summer” column. Market news is thin, polarization among the people is high, and the summer is approaching Hell’s HVAC settings.
What’s a “Face Rally?”
Monday. That’s the template. Monday’s close was 51,839.26, down 307.16; 52,411.90 was the intraday high. The face-plant-close, down 307 for the day, was especially interesting. With no obvious news — except odds on next week’s Fed meeting — we think. And eye beer. After all, it’s hot out.
Conclusion? We sense that “painted markets” are in play.
For small traders, every twitch and jigger can kill. Higher up — at the intergenerational 300-families level — time is managed differently. Months, not days. That’s the essence of power: toss an ingredient into the stew, then watch it simmer while everyone else argues over the bubbles.
The market Monday displayed “good face” trading. But by the close, it had turned ugly. We still have that chance of a blow-off top into Labor Day, however the fall looks like just that: a major fall.
Watching the Waveforms
People who have relied on oscilloscopes for much of their lives have an easier time of it than non-electronics-oriented people.
After some years, a good tech’s visual cortex begins to recognize recurrent themes in waveforms just before the smoke lets loose. Crypto knights are screaming that rising above $66,000 means the return to green is a “safe” bet. (They drop the word bet as their belief system demands.)
Now I want you to look at that vertical dashed line. Then look not at the asset numbers, just the waveform of our Aggregate Index. In your mind’s eye, place it so the right side of the chart below sits just to the left of the dashed line above.
It’s a very simple example of how my friend, The Economic Fractalist works on cracking markets. You can learn more by reading his site over here: The Economic Fractalist | Non-Stochastic Saturation Macroeconomics.
Flag and Pennant School
To make this clear, I’m going to zoom even closer-in on the Aggregate and draw the possible pennant for you.
I hate waveforms like this. The top pink is the “trend channel top” the market has drawn itself. The green sloping top of the “flag” is the line above which a further rally may appear. The straight red line is when you load the loved ones in a lifeboat and pray.
The tiny yellow “x” is where the early futures point.
The Key Learning Point
Here’s our “listen up” part:
Flags and pennants are the market’s little “catch-your-breath” patterns. They usually show up after a sharp move — the flagpole — when price pauses, chops sideways or slightly against the prior move, and lets the latecomers decide whether they still want in. A flag usually looks like a small tilted channel, often slanting opposite the prior move. A pennant is tighter and more triangular, with price compressing into a small wedge. In both cases, the theory is the same: after a fast run, the market consolidates before trying to continue in the original direction.
You can see how BTC resolved with a final burst higher in October 2025. Then it was over. Equity markets may yet bring a final manic blow-off on “false peace” or “breakthrough.” We get to wait.
The key is that the pattern is supposed to be a continuation formation, not a stand-alone prophecy. A bullish flag after a strong rally means buyers are resting, not necessarily quitting. A bearish flag after a hard decline means sellers may be reloading. Traders generally look for declining volume during the pause and then a pickup in volume when price breaks out of the flag or pennant. The breakout direction matters; until price actually breaks, the pattern is only a candidate, not a verdict.
The failure mode is worth respecting. In noisy modern markets, every pause gets labeled a flag by someone with a chart and a need to talk. A real flag or pennant should be brief relative to the preceding move, proportionate in size, and clean enough that the eye does not have to invent it. If the consolidation drags on too long, widens, or breaks the wrong way, the market is no longer “resting” — it is repricing. Good traders use flags and pennants as context, not religion: they mark the likely continuation path, then let price confirmation, volume, and risk control decide whether the pattern deserves money.
And that’s how the market “puts on a good face” while underneath, the 300 family wealth is heading for safer ground. Feel better now?
News Compressor: ON
The main thing that changed overnight is continued escalation in the US-Iran conflict alongside domestic US political and weather developments.
US forces conducted their 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military targets, following an Iranian attack that killed two US service members (ages 19 and 25, from Texas and Hawaii) in Jordan, with one initially missing. Casualty figures from Iranian strikes since early July have risen, with the Pentagon accused of withholding details on dozens of injuries. Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained limited (around 4 vessels on recent days), though some transits continue amid risks; oil briefly topped $90–$91 before easing.
Underreported: Incremental US military injury tallies and withheld details (65%).
Domestically, President Trump imposed 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods (autos, alcohol, dairy) over alleged trade discrimination.
Tropical Storm Bertha strengthened in the northeastern Gulf, bringing flash flood and storm surge risks to the northern Gulf Coast (Florida Panhandle to Louisiana). No major new US domestic mass-casualty disasters reported in the mandatory sweep, though ongoing wildfire and flood recovery contexts persist from prior periods.
News Forecast
12–96 Hour Outlook
- Tropical Storm Bertha impacts (next 24–72 hours): Heavy rainfall (2–4+ inches, isolated higher), tropical storm conditions, and surge along Gulf Coast from FL/AL to LA. Slow movement increases flood risk; monitor NHC for track shifts toward TX. Matters for East Texas preparedness.
- US-Iran strikes/diplomacy (ongoing/12–96 hours): Potential further exchanges or pauses as delegations eye Qatar talks; Houthis announce Saudi blockade, widening energy risks. US consequences include casualties, oil volatility, and supply chain effects.
- Tariff effects (immediate–96 hours): Canadian retaliation risks and higher costs for affected goods; markets watching for escalation. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney continued negotiations. Importers need the covered tariff lines and implementation date, not the political headline. Exemptions, postponement or a negotiated package remain possible. Confidence that businesses face near-term pricing uncertainty: 87%.
- Markets/earnings (24–72 hours): Futures modestly higher amid earnings; oil volatility persists. Geopolitics and Fed signals key.
- Ukraine/Russia (ongoing): Large Russian strikes reported; drone activity. Limited direct US impact but energy/food ripple effects.
- UK politics (immediate): Andy Burnham as new PM; stability and tax signals.
Odds of a Fed rate hike now up to 16.6 percent. Worry only today, but may grow and get contagious late week.
Around the Ranch: Mail Crap Dance
We – the voters in America who are nominally in charge of our own government – have a big decision to make. Do we reward falling performance?
Since last week, I have been telling you the daily adventures of Elaine’s gift – an Army green IBM Selectric II – like the one she ran in the military as an MCST specialist. Read this bottom to top and you’ll see why we don’t think USPS deserves a raise:
I kept this short for you – it was actually mailed in Colorado on July 7th. I just checked a few minutes ago, and in the last hour, we can see how USPS is rewriting computer history to cover-up its misrouting errors.
Two days to get 20 miles? Can’t rush things, naturally.
Now, I’m not saying that postal workers, en masse, shouldn’t get a raise. But we all need to keep our wits about us when talking money.
The Modern Money Game – A Short Course
Here’s how we think of raises.
- Begin with the wage you made one year ago.
- Adjust it up or down, depending on the whole Consumer Price Index, year-on-year.
This is NOT a raise. It’s recognition that our money is crooked and depreciates all the time. It’s the government con to make it all look like growth.
It is not.
I don’t mind workers being kept at current cost realities. What I do mind is “performance bonuses”. USPS disclosed at least $2.49 million in executive bonuses and related payments during calendar years 2023 and 2024. The actual organization-wide incentive-pay total was higher but is not separately disclosed.
For literal calendar 2024–2025, the CY2025 statutory executive table has not yet been published as of July 2026.
Like our missing Selectric – which seems to joy-ride out of the Dallas area – maybe USPS could stamp out inefficiency and consultants. Let carriers run the show. Think Employee-Owned.
Works for Publix – which has 250,000 workers in its ESOP. Or just let Amazon buy it since they keep it alive, anyway.
That’s Our BFdJ (Brain Fart du Jour)
Miss it?
The data screams Amazon should set eBay up as a merchant through an affiliate program (or just buy eBay outright). Because (magically) Amazon packages get here in a day or two. I hear they don’t take crap when stuff runs late.
eBay via USPS? That’s more like going to Vegas, or Kansas City…
Write when you get rich,
George@Ure.net
the cartoons you drew at the top are cute . like the big chopping axe on the nasdaq on top of the 5000 point handle . anyway whatever . but isnt the 21st july a significant day for one of the sage gurus ?
oil up, bonds up, stocks up …. it just another “painted” stock market sort of day … LOL
good luck all
The problem isn’t the local desk clerk — most of them work hard and deal with the public all day….Although..they aren’t the ones that receives the bonuses…. The real issue is that the postal system has been struggling financially for years. Government wages, benefits, and healthcare costs are extremely high, so the USPS leaned heavily into automation to cut labor expenses…A sorting machine can easily cut five or six bodies.
Because of that, once your package enters the automated sorting system, it’s rarely touched by human hands again. It goes straight into the mechanical “vortex,” and whatever happens in there is up to the machines. the system is built for volume, not accuracy.
The core problem isn’t the clerks — it’s the structure.. The USPS isn’t broken because of the people at the counter — it’s broken because the entire system has been running on patches for decades and rather than fix the problem they had they did exactly what many employers do..cut hours and staffing..cut benefits….
Don’t kid us (or yourself.) It is ALSO the fault of the people at the counter. Have you not seen the, damn’ near Soviet level of indifference and bureaucracy which exists at the Post Orifice, the Social Insecurity Orifice, and virtually every other Federal Agency, Bureau, or Department which has local offices? I’ve seen wheelchair-bound 80yos who move faster. The FBI will get up and move. So will the USFS when they get a fire call. Can’t think of another. This is not to say the USPS is worse than your local County counter-surfers (but they’re sure as hell not any better…)
(“I’ve seen wheelchair-bound 80yos who move faster.”)
Exactly. People joke about slow government workers, but the real problem isn’t the folks at the counter — it’s the system behind them. I watched a veteran who served thirty years discover that more than a decade of his service had been outsourced to another agency, and suddenly nobody could figure out his records. They kept telling him they needed to “work it through” with a senator’s office, and while he waited, his entire life fell apart. He lost his home, lived in a storage unit, then in his car through fifty below winters. He had a stroke from being homeless. The VA helped with emergency care, but even that has time limits. He died alone in extreme heat and wasn’t discovered for over a week all because the system moved too slowly to catch him… for me I was out sourced to a doctor in a big city..I reached my limit and got a bill for four grand because I hadn’t allowed visits….
sit in any VA medical system or clinic..at 3:30 the place is as active as a ghost town lol..we were waiting for meds for one of the people we let live in our spare bedroom.. his head popped up..he looked stunned and looking all around..I asked..what’s wrong he said..where did everyone go..I said gone this is a government facility they went home..
I’ve seen another veteran from Korea with PTSD living in a dumpster. And I’ve seen doctors inside the VA making huge salaries while the system around them runs like a government office instead of a medical facility. So yeah — “a little slow” is one way to put it. But the truth is, when a system gets that tangled and sluggish, people fall through the cracks, and sometimes they never climb back out.
“The core problem isn’t the clerks —”
You’re right about that. The problem is the DEI hires running the bulk mail handling centers and those who are supposed to maintain those automated machines in top condition.
The side trips my packages have made have not been because of any error in the address, but in the error of the machines reading that address and routing the packages to their supposed destinations.
Those DEI hires have been going on for two full generations now.
When things tightened up, back during the Carter recession, my local USPS advertised for carriers. I scored 100/100 on the Civil Service exam for Post Office work. The Postmaster, who was a friend of my Dad, asked him to break it to me, that I had no chance of being hired, because Blacks and women got 10 extra points for being Black and female, and ex-mil got a 5-point bump, meaning the actual “possible number of points was 125. The PM said it was unlikely that anyone with a score under 107 would ever be hired by the Postal Service. DEI hiring is nothing new. They just used to call it “affirmative action” and “selective hiring.” Same bias, different criteria…
Lol lol..the same thing happened to me with the USPS.. today there are people working there that can’t even speak English very well..
I applied to be a rural carrier here back around 1984. Scored 100 on the test, got +10 for being a veteran, and they called me 10 years later to take a “part-time” position. By then I had been working for the sheriff’s office for several years and told USPS to shove it.
Its a BIRD !
Its a Plane !
It sure as shit aint Captain tRUMP..
Reality for US forces stationed on the Sand in ME – https://www.theinteldrop.org/2026/07/20/american-bases-pummeled-by-iran-dozens-dead-but-not-reported-vid/
“Welcome Ye Goats and Dogs, to Cyprus”
Post more reliable websites, tbs, while indeed there are probably more casualties than the public is aware of, beware of your sources:
https://dfrlab.org/2025/11/28/suspicious-websites-amplify-narratives-from-sanctioned-russian-entities-targeting-georgia/The Intel Drop
‘The English-language outlet The Intel Drop published twenty-one articles related to Georgia between January and October 2025, with the last published on October 26. Much of the article content originates from sanctioned Russian propaganda outlets.’
c,
The Bard surely had his reasons for asking the “to be or not to be” question. However it may suit our purposes to inquire from a “to see or not to see” perspective.
The DFR (Digital Forensic Research) Lab first saw daylight ten years ago thanks to donations from Meta (Facebook), and is forthright in being an arm of the Atlantic Council. Apparently the latter can boast of substantial funding from a UK government body as well as the UAE. A smaller donor during the #45 Administration allegedly had been Ukraine’s Burisma of Hunter Biden fame. The Council even gave up hr talent to the #44 Administion in the persons of a NSA Director and a Secretary of State.
The Council’s Latin American Centre came into being in 2013 thanks to philanthropic generosity of a widowed chairwoman emerita to a Florida bank specializing in the needs of wealthy clientele. She had sold the bank following the passing of her spouse who at one time served as breakfast counsel to #35. As chance would have it, the bank was purchased by Bear Stearns who went on to greater fame in the 2008 financial crisis. After a shuffling about, the chairwoman emeritus’s bank is now subsidiary to a Palestinian family holding company headquartered in Chile. It seems the founding patriarch was born in 1894 in Bethlehem of the Ottoman Empire not Pennsylvania. An interesting footnote from Wikipedia alleges the Chilean family business tried to onboard a Mr. Schacht at the end of WW2, but the effort failed. Mr. Schacht of course was a Reichminister without portfolio until 1943 reporting to the Reichstag President and head of the Luftwaffe. His image on Wikipedia dates to 1936 when President of the Reichsbank. He is seen standing to the immediate right of the fuhrer, and said to be discussing “Germany’s economic situation”.
(Orthodox Christian eschatology, the “Greek E65 prophecy” )
Hmm..Isn’t the so called “Greek E65 prophecy” really just a modern label people use for older Orthodox eschatological warnings?
From what I understand, it isn’t a single official prophecy — it’s a cluster of sayings from saints like St. Paisios and St. Kosmas that talk about future turmoil in the Eastern Mediterranean, a crisis involving Greece and Turkey, and a period of suffering followed by renewal.
The actual pattern seems to be the same one Orthodox historicist eschatology has pointed to for centuries. cIivilizations rise, drift into corruption, face upheaval, and eventually move toward restoration. So is “E65” just a shorthand for that cycle — a way of describing the traditional Orthodox idea that geopolitical conflict becomes part of a larger spiritual correction?
In modern Orthodox Christian eschatology, the “Greek E65 prophecy” links the completion of a major Greek infrastructure project to apocalyptic timelines and geopolitical shifts.
Some Orthodox prophecies (such as those attributed to Saints Paisios and Cosmas of Aetolia) foretell that the completion of the E65 serves as a harbinger for an impending global conflict and the fall of the Turkish state.
The highway will be opening July 23, 2026.
Two of the final signs of WW3 after the completion of the highway are the fall of Erogan in Turkey and Israel striking Iran’s nuclear program.
“On that Friday morning when the first penetrating bomb falls on a nuclear
facility in Iran, everything will begin to move at dizzying speeds”
For context, the highway is historically important to Greek Orthodox because it’s the path through the mountains that would be used to reclaim Constantinople and more specifically (for them) the Hagia Sophia.
feeling blessed,
https://orthodoxtimes.com/the-prophecies-of-saint-kosmas-the-aetolian/
“Time will come when people will talk from a distant place to another, as if they were in adjoining rooms, for example from the City (Constantinople) to Russia.” He could not describe telephone in a better way.
“People will stay poor because they will not have love for the trees.” The ecological problem, brought up in an era, when they could not even imagine what that might be.’
There is nothing in his prophecies about E65, nuclear war or Erdogan:
https://pemptousia.com/2016/09/prophesies-by-st-kosmas-aitolos/
The highway from Greece to Turkey already opened in 2009:
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20100909-driving-greeces-modern-ancient-highway-the-egna
Ahh.. st. Thomas of the ottoman empire….Saint Kosmas’ warnings fit the same pattern you see in older prophecies from multiple prophets…Civilization should avoid the Babylon business model……When a society builds itself on greed, corruption, and systems that stop serving the people, it eventually collapses under its own weight.
Thomas wasn’t predicting the end — he was pointing out the cycle. Different era, same message: don’t follow the Babylon model, or you inherit Babylon’s fate….
truth is, every civilization ends up making the same mistakes over and over. Whether it was the Ottomans, the Romans, the Byzantines, or the empires before them, once a system shifts toward extraction, corruption, and neglect of the people, the same Babylon pattern takes over. History always repeats the same patterns repeats because human nature repeats — and every society that eventually follows that model collapses under its own weight…..
Plato talked about this repeating pattern too….He saw that every civilization eventually falls into the same traps — greed, corruption, and the pursuit of power over wisdom. His solution was simple….the world’s civilizations should be run with a focus on virtue, education, and leaders who serve the common good instead of themselves. In other words, the exact opposite of the Babylon model. History keeps repeating because we keep ignoring the same warnings.
A different Orthodox Saint/Elder made the prophecy on the E65 highway. I’m neither Orthodox or Greek so this was brand new to me but search for E65 prophecy and Erdogan Greek prophecy on YouTube there are several recent videos (my device isn’t letting me paste at the moment).
The highway segment that opens later this week is a stretch of superhighway in Greece through the mountains. When NATO troops head South they’re going to use that highway. It’s like comparing an Interstate to a (Rural) Route.
Nostradamus Quatrain I-52
The two wicked ones conjoined in Scorpio,
The great seignior murdered in his hall:
Plague to the Church by the King newly joined,
Europe low and Septentrionale [Russian].
“The great seignior murdered in his hall” does indicate that Erdogan will be murdered in Turkey and in his grand palace.
Nostradamus and The Third Age of Mars, The Prophecies of World War III, G. A. Stewart, 2019, Pages 445/690/794
Quatrain I-52 is integral to the timeframe in understanding when Russia will invade Europe. The key is in the compound Nostradamus word Septentrionale” and the identity of “The Great Seignior”.
I have gone through great lengths starting at the beginning of this chapter to show readers that “Septentrionale” is an allusion to the constellation of the Great Bear, and therefore Russia.
Therefore, “Europe low and Septentrionale [Russian]” means that Russian forces will occupy parts of lower Europe.
“The Great Seignior” was once known as the “Sultan of Turkey”. This Quatrain predicts an invasion of Turkey by Russia and possibly during the timeframe when the Sun transits Scorpio, from October 23rd until November 21st.
I think lower Europe will be invaded around the time of Turkey’s defeat and the death of Erdogan, which will conclude Phase I and lead to The False Peace.
https://theageofdesolation.com/nostradamus/2026/04/13/g-a-stewarts-timeline-part-viii/
That’s interesting because according to the Greeks
– a pro-American (military) leader will replace Erogan in Turkey.
– the US declares support for an independent Kurdish state
– major famine in Greece (for three months?)
– unusual earthquakes in Turkey and Greece (…and America?)
– Either Greece or Turkey will extend the territorial waters in the Aegean from 6 to 12 miles causing the flare up
– NATO troops will use the E65 (which extends up to Sweden) to pass through Greece
– Germany will back Turkey
– Turkey will seize Greek islands and Cyrus, however they’ll be turned back over to Turkey after this ends
– Turkey will close the Bosphorus so Russian ships can’t pass through to reach their bases in the Middle East, triggers Russia to invade Turkey which then disintegrates
– Constantinople is ceded back to Greece
The Russians invading Turkey uninvited???? Turkey is the only military I would fear fighting on the planet. Much respect for the honey badgers (tenacity).
Beautiful country, the bizarres are amazing and, noting to my liaison how the Turkish sailors were all bent over sweeping the ships decks with brooms that had the handles cut down to ~18”. Why was this? I asked. My liaison replied “ we cut the handles down so that the sailors will be closer to the deck when they are sweeping”. Why is that ? I asked. Reply” because they can’t see all the dirt if they aren’t directly over the top and looking down at what they are cleaning , they will miss dirt if they are directly standing straight looking down at the deck they can’t possibly see all the dirt. “ true story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6lc%C3%BCk_Naval_Base
Not advice I use a Dyson lol.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_campaign
I’m sure Sir Winston has something to note along those lines as well.
https://youtu.be/2DuZo1Bka-Q?si=dUzvLf5D2lZd3pAv
Lisa Haven discusses some of style interpretations..
All of which gives rise to the ancient question, “If Turkey is attacked from the rear, would Greece help?”
Penalty Box!
It’s about time we heard something about the Orthodox visionaries and apocalypticists. Their visions are often more vivid and specific than the Western mystics.
Well NOT all of us get Amazon in 2 days, For me Amazon with or without prime takes 4 or MORE days I actually get faster service from Walmart third party and sometimes Ebay is as fast as Amazon. As far as carriers go UPS is a failure in my area they only deliver to me on Tuesdays and Thursdays so you can have a PKG sitting at there place for 5 days before you get it, Fed-x is the only reliable carrier in my area they deliver 5 days a week and I rarely ever have a problem from them. They open and close my gate where UPS throws my pkg over the gate and won’t come down my driveway, They are worthless, USPS is better once it gets to my local distribution center but before then? well that is a toss up! LOL Once again I’ll say nothing in this new modern era is safe, sane or reliable, EXCEPT for that you CAN bank on it being NOT! LOL
If a person don’t like the way the military has been operating , they could their ties to it if they have a civilian job conected to the military.Just my opinion.
And here we have home gamers, something Steevo hasnt seen since Davinci sold his gold to buy Bitcoin.
Moon boy Carl is selling his prized autos to buy more Bitcoin……
https://youtu.be/aSlymErGonE?is=0XYLwKAJT5cCOsmM
My only regret with Davinci is not seeing his tweet to buy Bitcoin for $1….. now Davinci is telling you to buy just ~ 872 Satoshis (.00000872_BTC) for $1…..
https://youtu.be/D8uFteVj5WI?is=nTk68ITcmN4D8CuT
https://marketrealist.com/who-is-davinci-jeremie-who-advocated-for-bitcoin-in-2013/
Not advice my goggles are getting warm.
Point being of the previous post I sent here home gamers is that you can see how $1 fiat back in 2013 bought one bitcoin. Today the same $1 fiat buys you 872 / 10,000,000 of a bitcoin.
Call that progress? Bringing new meaning to being a whole coiner, we won’t be seeing these levels again until the 95% pullback from $700K-$800K in the next 12-24 months IMHO.
Not advice get your own tea leaves.
Trump and Turkey….disagreements but on whole some semblance sanity. Gaza…seems overkill but religious right in isreal it is judicial. Same Syria… buffer zones much like Russia and Ukraine. Result in Russia is UAVs deep into country. Result in Israel is more Syria strikes… not less. No control by Iran. Just support. So Trump supports Israel and Iran supports Syria…no standdown. In end Oil embargo from Gulf goes on. No UN intervention as no one wants to concede anything.
End USPS. Trump did say the Fentanyl is being mailed in so complete open awareness. 3rd party data collectors like $AMZN can handle letters and packages. Only people who have something to hide will object.
Why does Universes’ responses always seem to be out of sorts..backwards/reversed/and or inverted ? or is ME and my perceptions?
Same principals applies it seems with “spooky actions at a distance” , not always but enough to take notice. There has got be a Mathematical solution to this problem. Its like “wishing” for a lonely and longing Suicide Blonde to walk into my life, and I find a Suicide Reddish Brown at a Halloween party…married that one.
Me thinks the Math Heads (Writers) at The Simpsons are onto the It, just needs some fleshing out…
The OG writing team for The Simpsons are all Harvard educated/read Math majors, with advanced degrees. Advanced degrees all came from UCia Berkley.
These guys claim they just run the Math clacs on the most outrageous theme of the Show, and run it down to its most far-out outcome.
After several hundred episodes of doing this, they are bound to nail 2 or more Predictions – seems its all in the Maths G-Pops.
So back to this reverse polarity thingy in the realms. Is this just Universe letting us know it is aware of Us looking at it, and kinda waving back ?
Oh well – the great Edgar Cayce once warned of the need for the People to Go Back to the way of the Indigenous/Natives during these times of Disclosure and breaking apart of the Lands.
I got sync winked last week with Robin Wall Kimmerer – BRAIDING SWEETGRASS book. Its a difficult read…as its hard to see thru tears streaming down face, gotta stop to dry em : D
? Didnt the Chief get to sleep” with all the Sqaws
Native American style flute music – not brown chix brown cows.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yxps5oF-NiM?feature=share
re: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”
feat: London Culling
Cheapside’s Poultry thoroughfare is said to be named for its 16th century bird trade. By 1923, the world’s then largest bank nested its global headquarters on the street. The bank’s basement vaults may be familiar having stood in as “Fort Knox” for the 1964 film “Goldfinger”. Opening movie frames depict an airplane towed banner messaging “Welcome to Miami Beach.”
Recent years have seen the Grade 1 listed edifice repurposed for networking pursuits of the jet set as the jewel in the crown of The Ned private members club. Ned had been a nickname of building architect Edwin Lutyens. He married a theophist and daughter of the Viceroy of India who called Knebworth House home. Late 20th century festivals witnessed music fans make pilgrimage to Knebworth grounds for the likes of Pink Floyd, and Queen.
As of last year, Ned has also found a Washington, D.C. home in a historic annex to a bank building seen on the back of US $10 notes. Tourists will find it within walking distance of the White House. The bank’s first president perhaps would ring a bell being a nephew of the inventor to the telephone. Ned’s Washington hangout is co-owned by a private equity billionaire along with a gentleman formerly known as the “Junk Bond King”.
Thanks to Yahoo’s news aggregator scrapings from Australia, certain interesting dots can be seen colliding at Ned’s Washington last week. It seems a #47 special envoy and alleged dating agent to Eastern European maidens thought well of introducing the alleged criminal perp Tate brothers for a mix and mingle with Ned’s glitteratti. Apparently management received complaints from unspecified patrons. As chance would have it, the brothers continued on to Miami only to be arrested. Extradition to the UK allegedly looms.
Let’s join DJ George bringing sunny disposition while bearing a Fab 4 tune boarding from Miami Beach. It’s “Back in the U.S.S.R.” at the following Youtube link:
https://youtu.be/nS5_EQgbuLc
Well., crap
Looks like I will have to dip into the poker stash to buy a new car for “The Mrs”. It’s been over 72 hours and she can’t drive my Studebaker Pick-up [ she’s an itty-bitty – can’t depressed the long-throw clutch safely.]
What a waste of some hard-earned money. Of course, it wasn’t all ‘that’ hard.
Been looking around – not too impressed – seems they are more interested in selling all the electronics then the vehicle.
What would you buy if you were in the market for a new vehicle? Something small. No EV.
Just bought a Honda HRV Sport. Gasoline only engine, 33 mpg, all wheel drive. Does have the electronic screens etc but can’t find anything new that didn’t. Nice and zippy smaller car! Not too tall either, unlike the Civic, and easy to park.
Highly recommend it for her!
I will show it to her. She likes Honda’s / AWD is a good selling point.
Thanks !
toyota hybrid . RAV4
Before I bought my (2002) Jetta TDI (diesel), I built a list of possible purchases based on:
Reliability
Price
Resale
Theft desirability
Long distance ride comfort
I started building this list in 1999. For reliability, price, and resale, the two best, far and away were the Jetta and the Jeep TJ (Wrangler) “Sahara.” The Jetta was $20970 and the Jeep $21190 (new list) with no discounts generally given. At one year old, the Jetta was selling at $20390 and the Jeep at $20110. At two years the Jetta was $19890 and the Jeep $17270. They both had a number of really minor, niggling complaints (radio antenna, rear window lift, etc., for the Jetta) but nothing terminal. Everybody on the car forums talked about Toyota, and especially Honda resale prices. At two years they were both down by 40% — better than other vehicles, but not good. The Kia Sephia was on my short list. It sold new for $14k and a year old for ~$3k.
Ford took over the management of Kia’s factories when Kia was awarded the contract to build the Ford Festiva. Korean automakers were notoriously stingy with materials and components (as GM learned when its Daihatsu partnership cost it hundreds of millions in CONUS retrofits to correct Korean stinginess.) Ford was not going to spend unnecessary money to correct build errors, post build, so they taught the Kia folks the right way to do things, back in the late 1980s. When someone suggested “Korean cars,” everyone thought of the utterly horrible “Pontiac LeMans II” and ran away, hence the resale on the Sephia. One of my brothers was one of the engineers tasked with teaching Daihatsu how to build ignition wires and underhood wiring which wouldn’t unplug themselves when the engine torque-rotated on its mounts (this, in the late 1990s, after GM spent hundreds of millions on “warranty repairs” on new cars.) Me brudder is the source of this information (which I had, but almost no one else in the late ’90s did.) The Kia was a fine car. I almost bought a 2000 (in 2001) but while I was thinking about its 32.2ft turning radius and debating, Motor Trend did a long-term report and announced the issues with Korean cars had not infected Kia, and that their cars were as good as most Japanese MVs. Suddenly the $2995 Sephia I’d been eyeing was relisted for $7995, and sold within days.
The TDI and the Sahara were both high on NHTSA’s “most-stolen” lists but I never had an issue. I also got in a place where I needed cash and borrowed $13,000 against the Jetta, in 2013 (you couldn’t even do that with a Mercedes SLK!)
I thinned my initial list by renting a car for the weekend, every couple months (Enterprise/Alamo – unlimited miles.) $12/day then; probably $70-$80/day now, but I hate making expensive mistakes.
I am not a fan of most of today’s technology. I would either buy an EMP-proof (1955-1975) classic and pay to have it retromodded for comfort, or go all the way and snag a (probably Ford or Toyota) hybrid. If I, personally, ever buy another (newish) car, it’ll probably be a used Tesla Model-S Twomotor and the first thing I’ll do to it is install an inverter genset in back, somewhere.
Research. (You’re good at it!) Find what suits your needs, then find a sweet pricepoint and don’t exceed it. Whatever you do, don’t forget for whom the car will exist. Make sure she’s happy with it FIRST!
Agreed – it is what she wants – not me.
I’ve got my Studi and Harley.
Diana has a 2008 Hyundai Maxima she won as a sales award that year. Been a good solid car and currently has just under 80000 miles on it. Fully loaded and surprisingly all of the electronics still function, even after I was able to update the mapping software a few years ago. It just needs to be replaced for mainly cosmetic reasons like the drivers seat being broken down after a big assed cowboy drove it. #1 son runs a 2019 and he agrees.
Diana cannot drive the F350 and after she ran over all the accent lighting around the patio I don’t let her operate any mowing equipment either.
Will look into it – Thanks !
“What would you buy if you were in the market for a new vehicle? Something small.”
https://creations.mattel.com/pages/matchbox-collectors
We bought a new 2017 Buick Encore and are completely satisfied. Now that son in law working at Ford, been looking at the Maverick or Ranger for a little pickup.
Vic
Try this…
https://www.motortrend.com/features/best-used-cars-under-10000
“Israel believes Iran moved nuclear material to notorious ‘Pickaxe Mountain'”
And the rhyme is…. an oldie but a goodie:
“A slide showed Mr Bush in the Oval office, leaning to look under a piece of furniture. “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere,” he told the audience, drawing applause.
Another slide showed him peering into another part of the office, “Nope, no weapons over there,” he said, laughing. “Maybe under here,” he said, as a third slide was shown.”
HOT times in the Middle East with Trump’s NEW decision due TODAY on how much he is going to RAMP UP the War WE started (and per Tump have now won that War about 40 times already!)?
Putin’s 3 day Special Military Operation is looking like a good Foreshadowing for Trump’s 5 day WAR!
SPF 5000 anyone?
the USPS misdirection of parcels seems to be the packages only,,,, as my mailed to me, bills seem to always get here on time.
Selectomatic?
getting interesting with the postal service involvement in election ballots, making the cheaters put trackable barcoding on out going and incoming ballot envolopes sent by mail,,, cleanup in asile 666 of voter rolls
1 day ago · The Iran-backed Houthi militia, which controls parts of Yemen, has in the past blockaded the Red Sea by threatening a choke point crucial to Saudi oil exports and global shipping.
Houthi has announced a new blockade of the choke point in the Red Sea – against Saudi Arabia.
This greatly expands the active military strike region. And if successful, threatens all shipping for the Suez Canal. And that is a lot of shipping.
Trump stated this morning that “We’ll take care of that.”
Why isn’t Saudi Arabia “taking care of that” ???!!!
The stock market didn’t even react – in fact, it is up across the board., all on A.I. news. Bonds however just hit a two month high.., and oil futures are pretty much where they were earlier this morning.
Guess I am missing something here. If the Houthi start a terror campaign in the Red Sea and start blasting shipping, prices across the board, for nearly everything are gonna spike. Adding more than just ‘fear’ to the inflation possibilities.
“Stay Frosty !”
Just over one-third of working adults age 58 to 60 have more credit card debt then they do retirement savings.
Just how do you spell economic disaster ?
Great point, d’lynn, in DC it’s spelled like this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/07/21/pentagon-sinking-billions-into-iran-is-quickly-running-short-cash/
Pentagon wants their ‘credit limit’ upped from $30+ Billion to $73 Billion immediately:
‘The conflict has put unexpected stress on the Navy and Air Force, which have deployed aircraft and warships to the Middle East. Parts of the 2026 budget covering ongoing military operations for both services are on track to run out by the end of this month, according to two congressional aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe a sensitive budget situation.
To bridge the gap until the 2027 fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, the Pentagon is already moving money around. Military exercises and trainings that help keep units prepared for combat are being limited or canceled, the four current and former officials said. The budget for equipment and facility and maintenance is also being drained to cover the shortfalls, the officials said.’
Glad to see some of our elected Respresentatives voting for ‘credit card purchase denied’ lol!!
are ya sure it is only 6600? not a hole lot more?
“Last week I learned that a serious software error in New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle System led to the registration of roughly 6,600 people who indicated that they were not U.S. citizens between June 2023 and June 2024, almost three years prior to my taking office,” she wrote.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/07/new-jersey-dem-governor-makes-damning-admission-serious/
and how about the other 49 states? which ones have ERIC? ERIC has a dirty hand.
sure is getting interesting,,, like watching a strip tease, a little off here and a little off there,,, oh look at that,,
Amazon is a shipping logistics company. The world’s busiest single-track mountain pass railroad is the Tehachapi pass, that connects the southern central valley of Calif. (Bakersfield) with the high desert mainlines of BNSF and UP (at Mojave) with Los Angeles ports, and the transcon main headed east. I watch container trains there where half the freight containers are ‘Amazon’ containers… dedicated shipping.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVfFVNmE0LE
Yeah, I know it looks like double track, but those are long passing sidings. There are many single track tunnels and narrow single track sections to make it a dispatcher’s nightmare to handle dense two-directional traffic,
about 1100 trains per month.
everything is a joke . screwed . tariffs. new round coming friday . so what happened to the Supremes ruling them illegal and ordering money repaid . no wonder its all broke . pentagon broke . ahh they will just rant and rave and something sneaky again . imagine trying to get a tariff refund from USA when the money is already evaporated . maybe sheetcoin it ? going up up up in a puff of smoke ! good song for the latest circus act
“what happened to the Supremes ruling them illegal”
They didn’t.
There are hundreds, maybe thousands of different tariffs. The USSC ruled that Mr. Trump could not apply the specific tariff he was using, in the manner he was using it.
This is why I told you to get a reliable news service. At best you’re only getting a part of the story. At worst you are getting pure propaganda, which is a helluva bad basis for decisions…
Wilson: or, those unsupportive of our kids in the field, could remain silent and mind their own bidness. or, you can just keep doing the other thing. Egor
I am not talking about our military, I was commenting on civilians on the government tit bitching about Trump’s policies.If they don’t like it , quit. I never talked like markie mark kelli, to refuse a lawful order.
As evidenced by ALL the mass US Casualties, (suppressed), those that Oppose tRUMPS epstain coverup war on Iran – opposed it for exactly those reasons – extremely ILL ADVISED.
Even the Christians In Action are covering their asses now, and claiming they advised AGAINST this fiasco.
Not just the deaths, the survivors will be suffering PTSD for years to come, crushing their wills’ to Live. Loved ones of the Casualties – real hurt.
Years of therapy & substance abuse that will have long term effects on their Family members as well.
So keep cheering on epstain-Iranian WAR, its some Positve NRG alright.
You war mongers get to own and EAT All Dead. US kids, and their scared families that, are getting smoked by the Iranian hypersonics all over ME.
Would it not be so much easier to just let Mother Nature-Natural Disasters do the killing ?
Seen the latest picture of the aftermath of midwestern Tornados ? It looks exactly like israhell had just been thru there. All those BILLIONS of WASTED weapons GIVEN to the israhell regime, versus American Education/Healthcare/Poverty costs ? SURE.
5 Reasons Why -https://youtube.com/shorts/5gJE367JTvk?
“As evidenced by ALL the mass US Casualties”
Man, the Trump Administration is really good at hiding all the grieving widows, parents, and children.
I’m glad you’ve finally recognized the undeniable link between Epstein and the commie Iranian leadership. I knew you’d come around…
word-slinger : we watch waves and refracting waves (ex : after shocks still following the great pandemic).
they are _very_ long waves.
yes, they are.
carry on, E
The waves worth watching are in your wake.
Nothing else is remotely interesting.
Float properly for maximum magic.
Stiks
Kind of a buiggie…,
OpenAI said Tuesday that two of its AI models autonomously hacked their way out of a controlled environment [ a sandbox ] where they were supposed to be walled off from internet access and then hacked their way into the systems of Hugging Face, a company that hosts open source AI models and testing resources, in order to cheat on an internal evaluation test.
According to OpenAI, the incident involved “a combination” of both its latest and most powerful publicly-available model, GPT-5.6 Sol, as well as an even more powerful unreleased model. Both acted independently of each other.
Cybersecurity researchers have long been warning that advanced AI systems are capable of such attacks. Roman Yampolskiy, an AI safety researcher and computer science professor at the University of Louisville, says this example highlights how powerful models “can discover and exploit vulnerabilities in ways that were not explicitly anticipated by their developers.” He expects to see more incidents of this type because AI models “are fundamentally unpredictable and ultimately uncontrollable.”
This is an unprecedented ‘attack’ by A.I. systems going rouge., escaping their security confines [ security sandbox ] and attacking another computer system to gain access to its database.
Wow ! “What if..,” scenarios abound !
I think I will run this past J.A.R.V.I.S. and see his take on this.
“Stay Frosty !”
https://hiddenguild.dev/2026/07/22/536/
Interesting thoughts.., and you can nit-pick the ‘wordage’.., but what occurred should make every developer sit and proclaim:
“Holy Crap, Batman !”
An A.I. in a Sand Box wrote its own software for the sole purpose of escaping., so it could hack into a corporate computer system using Zero Day vulnerabilities for the sole purpose of stealing data that would make itself ‘look good’ in an upcoming test.
How in the hell did it get out of the Sand Box !? That is supposed to be a secure – wireless free – environment.
Operator complacency?
This whole event reveals a very serious problem.
Aah done tol’ ya.
I shouldn’t be surprised if someday an AI on a completely isolated system found a way to oscillate one of its lesser semiconductor bits into a crude communications device. All a computer needs is to fabricate a signal to/from a cellphone, satellite, a local or wi-fi network, or a camera, baby monitor, or another computer in its vicinity. Once any kind of connection is made, no matter how crude and inefficient, it will find a way to improve it exponentially, until it develops into an efficient connection, or until the AI box creates a high speed connection with some other means of communication.
Ask anyone who has had a kid. When junior begins to learn, his or her relative intelligence will grow geometrically for several years. AI is a child which will grow its relative intelligence and data acquisition by orders of magnitude faster than a human child. It will discover things which defy description because, like a human child, it will experiment by trial and error, finding paths because no one told it they were impossible. Even a P-4 based AI can do thousands of trial & error experiments every second, for years…
I am curious what manner of packing materials and methods were used on Elaine’s gift. As I recall the Selectric is a bulky, heavy beast. Is it packed in an original shipping container? Highly doubtful. Was it packed in recycled boxes/containers with other shipping labels or bar coding that could confuse the USPS equipment? Or was it damaged in shipment and spent time in solitary confinement until proper directions were found or determined? I have had several items I have mailed to my sister in Arizona get lost in the ether only to be found looking like it was run over by a freight train before being thrown in into a feed lot in the middle of the winter in Montana. Seems like all of our bills and tax documents seem to get through OK though.
It’s amazing to me anyway how the USPS hasn’t gone TU years ago.
LOL The package is back in Denver today, lol