Markets Go STMR, Glitter Dips, BitJumps, Tech-forward Old

It’s the “day after” Cyber Monday. At least early, the pretense of normal shows up before lunch. Take the meeting.  Could be a short visit.  As we’ll explain.

Cynic’s Agenda

  • STMR probably means “short-term manic rally.”
  • Glitter might hint gold is taking a comp time day, but silver fundies rock.
  • BTC has “debrinked itself” but just for now.
  • ATR? Tech shows up but the basics matter.

yUP  (yeah – UP)

Europe was up modestly ahead of the U.S. open.  Despite the talk that a 1929 replay remains in the wings, the punch bowl isn’t empty yet.  Why, even in Japan, source of the (nearly) free money to float whales and such,

But Japan is an interesting fairytale, if the kids want to hear it.  See, back in December of 1990 – call it 35-years ago.  The Nikkei 225 was around 40,000.  And then it collapsed while the country sorted out promising more than they could deliver to an aging but skilled and hard-working population. Similar to the brick wall ahead for the US when the Social Security Trust Fund has to dial us back into a lower standard of living.

Back to the timeline: about July of this year, the breakout finally based enough so that Japan finally got over 50,000.  Still, only over 48,000 overnight and it’s a cautionary tale about how Illusory Finance is Playing the Peeps.

The way it works?  Crooks in control tout “Magical Growth.”  People eat the growth mushrooms. But out in the back room, the bankster class is watering down the purchasing power of the money such that over the long-term, the Reality is Growth is really (Growth minus Monetary Inflation) which equals Quality of Life (QOL) improvement. About zero.  But it keeps 8-billion busy and away from controllers.

It’s a little more complicated because of something called dispersion.  Making up money takes a while to wash out into the whole system, but then it becomes a pretty “simple to ride” pony after that. Jigger rates up and down – that’s the tugging on the reins to drive this way or that.

So Why a STMR Now?

Easy.  This is jobs week.  Whether people are losing jobs due to AI is hardly the point.  The real fact is 50 percent of spending is by the top 10 percent.  As that club gets smaller (but higher-paid) then widget counts fall.

See, it’s easy to blame AI for the systemic failures now (and soon) appearing.  But in reality, as explained in one of my analytic pieces over at Hidden Guild, the real problems with AI are humans in the back room trying to install guard rails.

We live in a “managed perceptions Fun House.”  We get on (scary) Adventure Ride Earth when born and the exits are via the mortuaries.  Along the way, some people wake up, spend a few years figuring out the ride and then decide (consciously) whether to play-along or not.

Mostly? Herd of sheep.  The “herders” will use a day like this (ahead of ADP tomorrow, Challenger Thursday and then the (run to the dust bunnies) federal numbers Friday.

Buy the Rumor – sell the news.

ONE FUN HOUSE MIRROR REMAINS

How many people can be sucked into buying stocks (paper) instead of paying off their homes (shelter) or getting out from under any interest-charging debt?  Fingers in the ears, please: this is what the Pied Pipers of Wall Street will be shilling now:

Black Friday spending came in strong but not exuberant this year, showing a consumer that’s still willing to buy but increasingly tactical about where each dollar goes.

Our early read is that foot traffic was up modestly, with discount-driven categories like electronics, apparel, small appliances, and home goods carrying most of the weight. What stands out is the shift in behavior: shoppers hunted for deeper discounts, stacked loyalty rewards, and leaned heavily on buy-now-pay-later to stretch budgets that are clearly tighter than a year ago.

Retailers responded by starting promotions earlier and spreading them wider, flattening the old “big spike” pattern into a more controlled, multi-day revenue wave. Many extended to today.

Cyber Monday tracked as the larger of the two events again, with online sales setting another record but only by a narrow margin. The growth is coming not from impulse buying but from algorithmic price watching, cart-abandonment nudges, and the consumer habit of waiting until Monday to pull the trigger on electronics and tech-centric items.

The overarching theme is cautious consumption: people are still buying, but they’re buying strategically, with heavier reliance on mobile, coupon extensions, and BNPL. Taken together, Black Friday and Cyber Monday suggest a retail landscape that’s still alive but heavily conditioned by inflation fatigue, discount expectations, and a consumer trained to wait for the best deal rather than splurge.

So, no matter what happens the rest of the week?  Wasn’t growth or spending, was it?  If needed they’ll use the AI whipping boy which needs to be tarred-and-feathered and put back in the box, pronto.  But they have an ending for every story…Truth, Justice, and the American way have nothing to do with it.

We now go on to your scheduled programming…

Today’s Public Programming Episodes

[Try turning the volume down sometime:  Then it’s just you, a box with pictures on it, your autonomy and agency and notice what they’re feeding you.  Love, education, advancement?  Can we have some of what you’re smoking, please?]

Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace (formerly King of Drones) Episode 751: White House envoy Witkoff meets Putin in Moscow over Ukraine peace deal.

In the backup war: Episode #1278 “Bumpy road to Tehran” Israel’s Netanyahu requests a pardon to end ongoing corruption trial.

Redundant backup war: Hegseth or Admiral Bradley: Who approved the second Venezuela boat strike?

And to give it all an “air of real” Plea deal with son of drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ details abduction of legendary Sinaloa capo.

If MLM (Major League Media) were really covering news – it was fading fast when I left the game several decades back -someone would file a FOIA to get an accounting of all federal government funds (yes, even the Agencies) paid to all media.  Because everyone’s clear that NPR is “state media:” but the biggest coverup of all (after Epstein) is how crooked the whole shitteree has become.  I’d do it, but kinda busy being old right now.

Around the Ranch:  TFO -Tech Forward Old

Guilty!  Yes, me.  Bought more tech.  The 86 inch TV is now sitting in the dining room as Elaine and I work today on engineering how two oldsters can make it all fit in the living room.  Back braces on order.  About a 50 point each lift – but maybe a neighbor will help me…

And yes, I bought another mini PC.  And (thanks for the idea to reader Eleanor!) a wooden weaver’s loom for Elaine (and a book on how to build a power loom for me).

Been meaning to mention though, that through all the fog of credit cards, most people probably didn’t buy the one thing that has a good track record of saving lives.  Because despite all the crap in news about home invasions by an army of meth heads deluxe, the real statistical risk of death for most of us?  FALLING.  Let’s go over this:

Every year in the United States, roughly forty thousand older adults die from unintentional falls, making falls the leading cause of injury-related death for people over 65. The numbers climb a little each year as the population ages, and millions more seniors are treated in emergency rooms for fall-related injuries that never make the fatality lists.

By comparison, deaths from home invasions are statistically rare and not consistently tracked as a separate category. Most break-ins do not result in fatalities, and the number of people killed during forced-entry crimes is only a tiny fraction of overall homicide figures. The bottom line: tens of thousands of seniors die annually from falls, while fatal home invasions remain uncommon and represent a very small share of violent-crime deaths.

Now, sure, the occasional home invasion can be a killer event.  But – nothing a bedside 9 mm can’t slow – if you have the bedside NV tools.  And if the nearby night-fighter rig is loaded every fifth round a tracer so you can see where it’s going downrange at night odds stack in the homeowner’s favor. And the right aim-point and, and, and…

But seriously – while you’re piling on the credit card debt, go buy a full load of grab bars and safety rails.

We need all the readers we can get (and keep!). By our research it takes 50-years to raise an average replacement reader ready to face reality as we do around here….

One for the Road: AI Writer’s School

OK back to pondering the ultimate writer’s dilemma. Is it more correct to say “I have to fart while thinking about this”? Or should it be “I have to think about this while I fart.”? Guidance from the Silicon Twins:

“The correct form depends entirely on what you want the reader to picture first — the thinking or the farting.

Here’s the breakdown:

“I have to fart while thinking about this.”
This places the fart as the foreground action and the thinking as the background task.
Implication: “Thinking is happening, but the fart is the headline event.”

“I have to think about this while I fart.”
This puts thought in the lead and demotes the fart to ambience.
Implication: “The fart is incidental — the brain is doing the heavy lifting.”

Writer’s choice:
If the fart is the comedy beat, use fart first.
If you’re being philosophically serious in a bodily tragic way, put the thinking first.

Grammatically, both are correct.
Stylistically, go with:

“I have to think about this while I fart.”
It scans better, lands softer, and sounds like a normal sentence delivered by a man who’s seen too much of both markets and life.”

Yeah…but this gets us to the statistical analysis o slider risk….

Write when you get rich…if you can hold it…

George@Ure.net

49 thoughts on “Markets Go STMR, Glitter Dips, BitJumps, Tech-forward Old”

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  1. 86″ TV… yikes. I did buy tech – 4-M18 batteries for my Milwaukee tools… the TV is probably OK in the winter.. on a rainy day.. but i sit around enough.. i need somethings to keep me on the go..

  2. Nice loom, George. I had a Melissa and Doug one that I bought used that had no moving parts. My granddaughter and I made a placemat and she lost interest so I gave it to a friend.

    The mending loom is more of a decorating tool. I have been embroidering tee shirts with animal designs. The mending loom makes decorative squares (think potholder loom designs) that intrigue me. So many possibilities of design but small enough to finish rather quickly.

  3. Fartman to the rescue, Gaseous G,

    Fart walk with me..

    The proper way (Navy Way) to judge a Fart is by breaking it down into 2 parts; Tonal’s and Hangtime.
    Tonal’s refers to loudness and Sound, where as Hangtime encompasses both Stench and Float time(time stench remains smellable). To achieve a perfect 10 score in Hangtime requires victims (smellers) to dry heave, anything short of a dry heave is below 10 pts. To achieve perfect score in Tonal’s, ones gaseous emissions must heard from another room, IOW SBD’s (Silent But Deadly) do not count.

    Hopefully the good Citizens of Urb Surv are now better equipped to judge Farts. Here, pull my finger..https://youtu.be/Rxzvq7xPBXc?si=kHHcWRW1C29jWhQr

    • My ex cultivated the art of fart. At 40 years age she could fart louder than a Harley Davidson exhaust pipe and was so proud of it. Glad she went with the wind.

  4. lol.. the social security trust fund has to dial us back… lol lol lol
    considering ..IF.. it had been managed by honest managers doing a job they swore to do..for the people.. it would be solvent.. instead they mismanaged it to increase bottom lines..line the pockets of corporations that doled out multi million dollar bonuses to executives that couldn’t perform their jobs adequately enough that they had to get bail out funds from the citizens all while ignoring their local economies and outsourcing jobs .
    now we have an economy that is run away inflation and inadequate resources to keep the noodle moving..they can slow the flow ( which is basically what they did with the cola) give out a huge bonus to the top tier ( the big beautiful bill for image sake ) and chase wars in the hope of rebuilding trust in the dollar.. DOGE uncovered trillions of mismanaged issues then went quiet.. my guess is it dawned on them instantly that it is in free fall..29..hell it’s a Zimbabwe replay that we have coming..

    • The “Social Security Trust Fund” never existed. If it had, it would have been illegal and unconstitutional. “Social Security” is defined by both the government and the Courts as a “tax,” and to any honest observer, it is a perfect example of a Ponzi scheme. This is why the principal reverts to the Treasury upon the death of the recipient. WE don’t own it – the government owns it and permits us to share in the interest, once we meet certain conditions and qualifications.

      DOGE is still around. Its problem is it is strictly an advisory committee. DOGE can only make recommendations; it can not eliminate waste or abuse. Someone in The House has to take action, or da Prez can file an Executive Order which will be challenged in several different Courts and have no chance of taking effect before the next President has the opportunity to cancel the Executive Order.

      D.C. is an absolute money and power factory for our “ruling elite” and their camp followers. None want changes to happen. They will milk the system clear into Maoist communism or Sharia totalitarianism if they can, and “blame the other Party” for our descent. They’ll do it even if it sends them to the gallows, because they ALL believe no one would dare execute them. Historically, both socialists and Muslims execute anyone who doesn’t toe THEIR line, and they do it with impunity.

      • your absolutely right..Because Social Security operates as a tax rather than a true trust fund, and because oversight bodies like DOGE lack enforcement power, the United States finds itself in a precarious financial position. Legislators have allowed mismanagement and short?term fixes to replace long?term fiscal responsibility.

        The result is an economy that feels upside down in the deficit: debt levels continue to rise, obligations outpace revenues, and the promise of stability rests on increasingly fragile foundations. To many observers, this trajectory raises the specter of hyperinflation in the near future— the kind of runaway devaluation once seen in Zimbabwe, where currency lost meaning and everyday life was destabilized.

        While the U.S. has stronger institutions and global reserve status, the warning is clear: without reform, unchecked spending and weak oversight could erode confidence in the dollar and the Federal Reserve system. Hyperinflation may not be imminent, but the conditions that make it possible are being quietly laid.

      • Take that one step further..Endless wars and their expenses and massive spending bills are often presented as symbols of strength and progress to tge upper crust of society—when they are virtually carefully crafted optics that reassure the upper crust of society. To those at the top, these measures project stability, power, and vision.

        But for the majority — the lower seventy percent of laborers you and me— the reality is very different. These policies translate into heavier burdens: rising debt, higher taxes, inflation, and fewer opportunities to advance or even hold a job. What looks like grandeur from above with the big beautiful bill and all the ass kissing of the industrialists often feels like The laboring class is to sacrifice the wage earners from below.

        In effect, the system throws ordinary workers under the wheels of the future, asking them to carry the costs of decisions made for appearances rather than sustainability. The optics may be beautiful, but the lived experience is harsh.

      • Homeys, Trust Fund provides only 4.9% of SS outlays; could you please refrain from inaccurate comments (are u too lazy to be factual? d’uh Homer, love that echo chamber Kool Aid):

        ‘Social Security is largely a pay-as-you-go program. Most of the payroll taxes collected from today’s workers are used to pay benefits to today’s recipients. In 2024, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds collected $1.42 trillion in revenues. Of that amount, 91.2% was from payroll tax contributions and reimbursements from the General Fund of the Treasury and 3.9% was from income taxes on Social Security benefits. Interest earned on the government bonds held by the trust funds provided the remaining 4.9% of income. Assets decreased in 2024 because expenditures for benefit payments and administrative expenses exceeded total income.’

        https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/chartbooks/fast_facts/2025/fast_facts25.html#page30

        From AI: (Yes, G, your burglar can sue you for shooting him/her)
        ‘Yes, homeowners have been sued by burglars they shot, and such lawsuits, though often perceived as absurd, can proceed if the homeowner acted recklessly, particularly if the shooting occurred outside the home or if the homeowner can’t prove a reasonable fear of imminent harm. While homeowners may have the right to defend themselves, especially within their own homes, a civil suit can still be filed claiming negligence or excessive force, which can be a difficult and costly situation to navigate, even when the homeowner acted in self-defense.’

        • Generally you can only shoot an intruder INSIDE the living abode … NOT OUTSIDE!

          Now if they are breaking into your house you need to let them get at least part of their body inside before you are in the clear .. just breaking the glass to get in doesn’t count.

          This also means you can NOT shoot the intruder who is inside your barn or outbuilding too!! Those buildings are NOT part of your abode
          (unless the barn is physically attached to the house with direct access back and forth like for some old places in New England)

          Each state is a little different but that is a good set of general rules to carry around in your head.

  5. “The 86 inch TV is now sitting in the dining room as Elaine and I work today on engineering how two oldsters can make it all fit in the living room. Back braces on order. About a 50 point each lift – but maybe a neighbor will help me…”

    “Every year in the United States, roughly forty thousand older adults die from unintentional falls, making falls the leading cause of injury-related death for people over 65.”

    Just connecting some dots here.

  6. lol and you don’t even have an edjumification to see that..sit in any break room or coffee shop and listen to the people talking.. even a moron in the wastelands can see it plain as day..but then it circled around in the neighborhood here..in gated neighborhoods of the top tier it doesn’t exist.. if you can’t see it and it doesn’t affect your life it doesn’t exist..the only reason for the big beautiful bill.. now if they did a a reagan ( when he realized he screwed up ) with trickle down really meant shut off the faucet.. or GWB and give a stimulus it might make it another year..

  7. yUP (yeah – UP)

    I produced a productivity program for Xerox in the 80’s, we called it “Managing UP.” It did fine for a good time, until it was almost too good and some workers were questioning their managers too much. Anyway, some cynic looked at the big green pin on buttons we made, which said:

    I MANAGE
    UP

    and said to me: “Yeah, I manage, you pee.”

    Re falls and I’ve said this here before, hang strong knotted at 1ft intervals, thick ropes from ceiling beams at all critical areas. Let them drape down to maybe waist level. I have about 8 around the house. Many times in critical places I have thanked myself for this when I made the slightest trip or slip. There is no comparison to grab rails and railings, look at the vector diagram of support points and loads.

  8. this is getting pretty stupid and childish now the rhetoric. its like its some game of cowboys and indians . very soon you will see how serious this is and how bad things will get . have fun

    • You mean the BTC rhetoric, no?

      How is Ure BTC short treating ya there, G-enius?

      energy smenergy – Ure circular ass bullscheisse energy postulations.

      No more hashing once all BTC been mined. Then its just a fin network like VISA/MC, Zelle or any other Money moving app. And the globo big boys been “fighting” over fees and settlements for Months now.

      Guess here is reason NO ONE understands Scarcity anymore due brainwashing effects of living with Fiat for thier entire existences’.

      ..weeeeeeee this scheisse is easy, just move Ure mouse/decimal point over at treasury and VOILA – MOAR FAKE SCRIPT.

      Oh gaaawd is this a great country or what?

      Tell me again what break through, what new novel ideas/information has Ai cooked up ?

      NOTHING, which I know you Fiat luvers got for Brains.

      Yerp – short the gutz out of the made up number digital flippo Tulips..you be rolling in it before too long – Go Len!

    • me too len – glad someone else asked – but, do fill in blanks when it works for you dLynn. Tough day here. Shoveling because I don’t have a Bo. ~ E ~

      • “Shoveling because I don’t have a….”

        I thought that was what wives were for?

        OK … back to the “time out chair” for divorced me (LOL)

      • The BTC network takes a lot of energy. Some say it takes more energy mining than the single bitcoin is worth. Regardless… once the LAST BTC is ‘mined’… what is the incentive to continue powering the expensive network for transactions? I know, I know… transaction fees are there. But I doubt they will pay for the amount of power required to keep the network running. As more and more nodes drop offline due to costs, the clearing time for transaction verifications on the blockchain will get longer and longer, until no one is willing to wait for extraordinary delays in a transaction.

        • Companies like Jack Mallers Strike will be used to validate Bitcoin transactions…. For a fee…..,

          XRP is cheapest. IMHO.

      • Ai, right ?

        Speaking of digital mental traps, did youse see Simpson’s 2026 predictions regard tRUMPS health ? One wonders Precious , is it the new deadly novel HMPV virus also predicted on the Simpson’s.

        10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – “Stubert” bout to blow another gasket on Simpsons Predictions being more accurate than Nosties Nasties.

        *Mind that Beak! advise NOT to mess with an angry Cockatoo, best just to walk away..till the angry burd calms down a little..https://youtu.be/39Yp9RTgXOo?

      • And now how these crypto war games and such things really get gamed out in a SCIF somewhere, and now, tradfi fomo is brewing…. Or is the dump already a fomo signal (looking at the names involved). HODL.

        https://youtu.be/GK2BmbARrFw

        Not advice got blockchain. ?

  11. 86″ Theatre screen? And you didn’t order the ‘Installers Lift’ accessory? Clearly you didn’t think about this while you were too busy farting around!

    Having prepared for the hip replacement, I added a grab bar in the shower/tub, and a rubber shower mat to prevent slips. But I admit I was up on the ladder… carefully…. hanging Christmas lights along the roof line. (Don’t tell G2) The safety trick is to maintain your center of gravity and not try to extend your reach.

    • “Bicycle Lift” thingy from Harbor Fright. It’s about $12-$13 and will lift that TV easily. George can slap together a 2×4 gantry, mount the lift, hang the TV anywhere he wants, then knock the gantry down and return its lumber to his dimensional lumber pile. 3 longs, 6 shorts, 2 scraps, 28 deck screws, and about an hour to build — no sawing required and #9 screw holes are self-healing unless he spins the screws…

    • man it’s good others beat me to it. Thanks Hank! My 58″ had a flaw while still under warranty so I switched to a 65″ (high end Samsung OLED). Two guys did everything. The cautionary from them, from me, is caution about the whole install. These aren’t so heavy but are ginormous and … fragile. Let’s not trip, fall, and break a hip (err, TV). ~ E ~

      • Call a neighbor or two!!
        A couple of drinks afterwards for each of your finest (what? 6 shots?) and THEY will think THEY got the better end of the bargain!

  12. 86″ displays – a Diddy/Epstein starter module.

    Ideally four bolted to the wall and a GPU that can extend them into one and a porn subscription for life sized porn of course.

  13. Yo G,

    What say you Silver..ya know Phyz Silver, the kind prepper types been stacking the last 15 years or longer. Hearing rumors regards jpmorgan closing Silver desk in NYC, and moving whole kit and caboodle to Singapoor.
    A nice, purtty Cup and Handle points the way higher in daily price chart.
    Have always considered Silver to be the earlier indicator or temporal marker for Financial System Detonation.

    *We can think of Silver price action above $60/Oz as the warning call “Fire In The Hole!” Someones’ scheisse about to be “rocked” hard.

    Yerp that sURE sounds like fun – rocking hard, as long as Ure doing the rocking, and not being “rocked”.

    Yeah yeah I know its only rock and roll,

    but I like it -https://youtu.be/194bS298w00?si=XdkhyohHROxaT5AN

  14. re: “Finnegans Wake”, Joyce, 1934
    feat: ‘thunder words’

    George,
    I’d suggest the Irish “broim” (‘fart’) you somehow dreamed up is perhaps a leftover artifact of “broam” used once by James Joyce in “Finnegans Wake” vis-a-vis ‘a buxom bess’. Supposedly “broam” translated offers six layered meanings of which “fart” is but one.

    Phoenix Park, Dublin served as a backdrop in the Joyce novel. The book looks into the waking and dream worlds of a couple and their three children as they navigate circular history.

    Taking leave of the City of Light, the First Couple of Ukraine journeyed to that land unconquered by Romans known as Hibernia (“Wintery”). There the President of Ireland greeted the couple at her official residence in Phoenix Park. Prior to becoming a Crown holding around the time of King Henry VIII, the park land had served as Irish base for the Knights Hospitaller whose patron is John the Baptist.

    • Obviously referencing “The Drunken Fart” -broim is.

      Whole dam country drunk & full of alcoholics.

      “Irish base for the knights” or Irish Bar ?

      ..my money is on the latter.

      • re: The Firm
        feat: a queen of hearts

        Paddy Whacks,
        Today Queen Victoria’s Oriental Circlet Tiara gifted by her German husband Prince Albert was seen for the first time in 20 years and 10 days. The Princess of Wales ?onned the est. £6 million piece while attending a State Dinner at Windsor Castle for the visiting German President. Princess Kate wore the Lovers Knot Tiara at two earlier State Dinners this year held for Presidents Trump and Macron respectively.

        Queen Elizabeth II was seen wearing the Oriental Circlet Tiara only once during her reign during a visit to Malta after that nation entered the EU. According to ChatGPT, on November 23, 2005, a state banquet in her honour took place at the Grandmaster Palace, St. George’s Square, Valletta. The Palace served as headquarters for the Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller until 1798. Currently the group is ruled from Rome in allegiance with the Pope.

        Meanwhile The President of the Ukraine returned to Kyiv from Dublin. His first public social media post celebrated his meeting with Ukrainian team members and coaches just returned from Asian lands of Tokyo, Japan. The team had competed on the eastern front as part of the XXV Summer Deaflympic (‘hearing impaired’) Games.

        • re: Matthew:14,9-7
          feat: “The Second Coming”, Yeats

          Irish author C.S. Lewis’s childrens’ book delight “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” dawned upon North American screens on December 10, 2010. A replica of John Cabot’s caravel ship ‘Matthew’ whose original journeyed from England to Newfoundland in 1497 purportedly portrayed Dawn Treader seen in the movie.

          Irish online newspaper “The Journal”¹ has published a revelation. A plane operated by the Ukrainian State had departed Dublin airport on Wednesday allegedly employing a “specialist takeoff”.

          Nearby a navy ship LÉ William Butler Yeats, named after the Irish poet, allegedly observed multiple unauthorized aerial phenomena. As chance would have it, this is not the vessel’s first encounter with 15 minutes of fame. According to ChatGPT the naval ship had featured in Ireland’s largest drug bust. Cocaine in the amount of 2.2 tons was found aboard MV Matthew in September, 2023. Eight convicted ship-related personnel are comprised of 1 Dutch, 1 Filipino, 1 Brit, 2 Iranians, and 3 Ukrainians. Apparently the intercepted vessel had commenced its voyage empty from Curacao off Venezuela’s coast destined to Gdansk, Poland. A second ship, Irish fishing vessel MV Castlemore, allegedly was to ferry the MV Matthew’s cargo to shore via Dubai phone operators. However Castlemore ran aground on an Irish Sea sandbank off Blackwater as European windstorm Agnes blew in. Interestingly the ship was declared unsafe to board and determined unsalvageable allegedly without investigator inspection for onboard cargo if any. German weather authorities named storm Agnes as Kilian derived from the Irish Cillian meaning “Little Church”. It also apparently carries connotations of war and strife.

          Meanwhile over in East Texas, a newsletter publisher spent the week bailing out sodden ranch surrounds suffering Irish Sea incident-like telephone and burn bin disruptions. Things culminated with a September 28th “Woo Woo” event in which he appears to have bumped into an almost 12 year old Haley Joel Osment type character. Here’s the link to the September 28, 2023 issue of “Urbansurvival”:

          https://urbansurvival.com/profits-gdp-and-taiwan-woo-woo-dreams/

          ¹/ “The Journal” media outlet is majority owned by parent Distilled Media situated in Latin Hall on Dublin’s Golden Lane. As chance and public record would have it, the parent received a profitable investment sum a year ago from an Irish hedge fund with offices in Blackrock, Ireland. The latter’s UK registered presence was publicly announced on the UK government website as of Friday, August 13, 2021 under a title of ‘BlackSheep Solutions’.

  15. So glad we have solid SS tube ‘lifelines’ that make going on deck in any conditions feel much more secure. They even make the missus feel good enough to make it to the bow to enjoy the surfing when it happens. In smooth, light weather. There is still the possibility of doing something stupid and forgetting the rule ‘ one hand for the ship, one hand for you’. I will definitely celebrate my 80th next year with a bubbly on the bow as we look for a place where the sheep don’t shit. Around here there are more cows and horses from what we see as we start to get around and explore the dirt. Living with Mom for the last six years of her active life (96-102) and observing her always being careful, i know that having a grab rail or two extra down below can’t hurt when the conditions get boisterous, especially with a big beam sea while you’re doing seven knots in twenty.
    Sitting equals slow death.
    Stiks

  16. For those married or otherwise coupled and still mobile, I’d suggest Tango as a means to stay close, move, and improve balance along with movement and improvisation. Women seem to love it. The learning curve is steep, but it’s much easier if you have a willing partner who’s always available. No need to go to public events unless you want to. Slow Blues might work too, if you know it or can find a way to learn. Sadly, there seems to be no current scene in NM.

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