Markets on the Powell – Walk America Day

by

10 AM today, Fed boss Jerome Powell speaks.

We hope he uses our “Magician” speech.  The one where he says “There is no magic in economics.  Money does not just appear.”

The one where someone speaks to the raging stampede “There’s no free lunch, this tariff stuff is only a tax on foreign-made goods.

Do I think he will do that?  No.  But I think the odds of the Fed lowering are not nearly as high as the street has been thinking.  A little rally at the open today – maybe.  Because talk is cheap.  But next week is a pre-holiday week which just cries out through the wilderness for a Labor Day Rally.  A kind of touchstone before the comet flies, kind of thing.

Here’s the Simple Version of Today

Just read how With the White House watching, Fed’s Powell to hint yes or no on rate cuts and remember this isn’t Rate Day – this is just the Chairman trying to sum up how the Fed thinking is drifting.  I mean besides the one governor who is in hot water over getting loans on two primary homes.  Is DoJ making an example?

Meanwhile, BTC is struggling at the $112,000 line this morning.  The world is running low on Hopium and word’s starting to get around.

Modeling Madness

I have been pulling my hair out working on an implementation of my “hairy math” paper as a trading device. But it’s a fun exercise (though sometimes I fell like the guy in the movie “Pi”).  Here’s an example of trying to out-gun the future: (This is only for discussion and is not advice!!!)

Two things in this run reveal an important fact of “trading” for real money.   On the upper right there is a scrawled circle with a lone (-) in it.  This hints that within modeling conditions, a move to the short side was indicated around August 15th.

As of yesterday’s close, the Dow had only lost a handful of points (essentially model noise).  Besides, you can make a model report anything you want it to…it’s all based on what you pick as your variables and then spending days –> years trying to sort out what works.

In practical terms, early futures today were waving a “buy the rumor” ahead of Powell.  But we think the chance of a rate hike are low since the much touted All Items (less food and energy) was still up 3.1 percent year on year.

The market is one of the most fascinating time-sinks out there.  You can base expectations on time, price, past behavior, political winds and lots of other unknowables.

But in the bigger picture while tariff income is up, it’s also an additional tax being loaded onto everything imported (and a lot that’s not) – a bad sign.

What we THINK is going on is a stealth quantitative easing.  Because recent Money supply figures have been up a little over 4.5 percent annualized while GDP has lagged this.  That money is the “hidden easing”.

Next Tuesday, the Fed’s H.6 Money Stocks report will be released and that will tell us loads.  For now, we see about even odds (so does our modeling, but that’s all run by an old man in the woods who lost his mind in a sailing accident or something…)

We’d like to think some of our model targets on the low side could be met. But a turnaround Tuesday next week as the prospect of a four day workweek glimmers on the horizon…

Unrolling Scrolling

Worse than cow farts? Gas poisoning suspected as six found dead in dairy. Maybe one of our agricultural experts can explain what gasses might be involved?  Besides a blow-up cow gone bad?

Hmm…let’s see what Obama judges are up to, shall we? US judge blocks any new detainees being sent to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention facility. Look surprised.

DoJ seems to be doing an even-handed job.  Here’s proof for the TDS folks: FBI raids former Trump adviser John Bolton’s home in classified documents probe.

Oh, look!  Another Obama appointee with a big decision: Federal judge rules Alina Habba is not lawfully acting as US attorney for NJ.

Now see thing, too: BREAKING: Supreme Court Rules 5-4 Trump Can Slash $783 Million in DEI-Linked NIH Grants – Roberts Sides with Liberals.  I burned my John Roberts fan club card years ago…

Cracker Barrel restaurants is phasing out the term “Old Timer” (which we think is a bad move).  We are not alone: Steak ‘n Shake slams Cracker Barrel over controversial new logo change.

Tourists take note: Six severed heads found on busy city street alongside ominous message.

Around the Ranch: Walk America Day

We’ve been out here on the ranch going on 23 years now. That’s a lot of fence mending, brush cutting, and more than a few busted knuckles. But one thing that never makes it into the highlight reel is the daily trudge to the mailbox.

It’s not far—196 paces one way. Twice a day. Every day. Rain or shine. Snow or mud. Even on those days where you’d rather stay parked by the wood stove. Turns out, that little ritual adds up.

Mailbox Math

I’m about 5’9″. Average walking stride at that height is about 2.4–2.5 feet per step. Call it 480 feet one way. Round trip: 960 feet. Two runs a day: 1,920 feet. That’s 0.364 miles per day. Multiply it out, and you’re looking at 132.7 miles per year.

Now do the long division: 23 years of ranch living × 132.7 miles = about 3,052 miles. That’s the rough road distance from New York City to San Diego. In other words, in 23 years of “just getting the mail,” I’ve quietly walked across America. No sponsorship, no medals, no selfies at the finish line—just habit.

The Quiet Marathoner

To put it another way, 3,052 miles equals 116½ marathons. That’s what the marathoners knock out in expensive shoes with bib numbers and electrolyte goo. I did it in mud boots, with the cat chasing armadillos on the way.

Calories? At 80 calories per mile walking, that’s ~244,000 calories burned—about 70 pounds of fat-equivalent. The kind of number that makes you grateful for a fridge and a garden.

The Daily Grind—Online

This “Walk America” idea dovetails nicely with the other thing I’ve been doing seven days a week for more than two decades: milking the web. UrbanSurvival runs Sun/Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri. Peoplenomics takes Wed and Sat. Which means there hasn’t been a morning off in, well, 23 years either.

Writing’s not so different from milking cows—it happens at set times, rain or shine, regardless of how you feel. You show up, you sit down, you type. The web wants its feed bucket filled. And unlike cows, the internet doesn’t give you soulful brown eyes of gratitude when you’re done.

So here I am, half a mile a day on foot, and five to six thousand words a week online. One is for physical circulation. The other for mental. Both keep the system from seizing up.

Compounding Mileage and Words

There’s a lesson in it. None of this felt like much on any given Tuesday. One more walk to the mailbox. One more 1,000-word post. But the compound interest of habit is relentless. Keep going, and suddenly you’ve walked coast-to-coast. Or filled a digital barn with millions of words.

Big journeys aren’t one-time heroics. They’re what happens when you milk the cows, fetch the mail, and keep hitting “publish” long enough.

Walk America Day

So maybe we need a new holiday. Not just Labor Day for the work we do in factories or offices. Let’s have a Walk America Day for all the little routines that, when added up, turn into something epic.

Like the woman who takes the dog around the block twice a day and ends up logging the Appalachian Trail in a decade. Or the guy who weeds a garden row every evening and, before he knows it, has eaten a farm’s worth of fresh vegetables. Or the fool who keeps typing out “Around the Ranch” columns until they stack high enough to qualify as a small library.

The habits are small. The results are not.

Mystery of Knees – Solved!

The only times my “mailbox expeditions” were a major PITA were when I was working through the pain of gout.  Which – if you have missed that nightmare in life – is like shooting yourself in the knee and going dancing.

But I have gotten some keen insights about knees on these harrowing hikes.  See, at 180 pounds, every step is really about double that in joint force—360 pounds per stride. My round trip is 392 steps. Two trips a day is 784. Multiply by 365 days a year and then by 23 years and you get more than 6.5 million steps. Multiply that by 360 pounds per step and the knees have absorbed roughly 2.37 billion pounds of impact force just walking to the mailbox. That’s like catching a fully loaded 747 about 6,000 times.

TaDah!!! Suddenly the epidemic of knee replacements in America doesn’t seem so mysterious.

Final Specklenations 

Grand goals are fine. UI set ’em every morning.  Gives me some inexpensive shit to break every day.

But seriously (m/l) life is mostly made of little laps to the mailbox and back. The trick is to keep walking them, keep milking the web, keep showing up. After 23 years of ranch living, I can say this much: if you keep at it, even the small stuff adds up to something big. In my case, big enough to walk across America without ever leaving the county.

Now if only the mailbox paid a pension. Or, maybe I could install a “scream box” (motion-activated .MP3 player off Amazon).  It could yell drill-instructor-like curses at me.  “Pick it up you lazy no-good, old phat phug!”  Turn it into that “trip you love to hate.” Like going to work.

Write when you step it up, a bit, you lazy, no-good,…old timer…

George@Ure.net

75 thoughts on “Markets on the Powell – Walk America Day”

  1. There was a time when Gout would visit my left big toe frequently enough that I entertained the idea of purchasing Allopurinol by the pallet load. The first assault came in my 30’s in the middle of the night. Diana woke me up by shaking me and asking me why my foot was so hot. In my awakening fog several smart assed replies started forming in my mind. Until she throws the covers back and touches said foot. OUCH!!! Turning on the light adding momentary blindness to the excruciating pain showed my left big toe red, swollen, and you could seriously feel heat radiating from it.
    I haven’t had a flare up in a long time. Long enough that I have been off the Allopurinol but still maintain an ample stockpile in case that evil disease should return.
    Stay safe. 73

  2. Dude G,

    Exciting news on the Health and Longevity front just broke yesterday. Seems there is now evidence that the Radioactive Shrimp from Wallyworld being good for youse, somehow..

    Not sure of the exact findings, let alone the Math’s behind it, needless to say the bags of frozen radioactive Shrimp are flying off the shelves at wallmartz.
    No wonders – simple, clean protein with a lil extra “pizazz’, that lasts a good long time.
    Its a 2-fer. Maybe even a 3 -fer if you have any undeveloped rolls of Kodachrome laying around. You know – eat the Roll of film, and check the bowl for Ure printz…Genius, no? Also said to be really good at alleviating the Gout.
    Sounds as though this Ures” lucky day.
    Kodachrome -https://youtu.be/UcR_LvorN_0?si=wtO6MdZNlrdZJwnm

    *IMHO – everyDAY is a Lucky Day!

        • There are those.. luckily in the wastelands one of our grocers has prawn farm..one of the heads of a group that had us making sea anchors for the coast guard and high flying balloons started a prawn and fish farm in Canada. I’m sure he’s long gone he was o!d then.. I raised prawns and G can easily they sell them right close to him..
          https://www.aquacultureoftexas.com/prices.htm
          red claw
          https://www.farmingcrawfish.com/crawfish_redclaw_crayfish/stock.html
          my problem wasn’t raising them..I just couldn’t harvest them…lol lol G is starting his own pond perfect temperatures .. I ended up giving mine to someone that could harvest them..
          now in the big cities most of the grocery stores buy the imported .. I luckily know the stock out store has is not only locally grown but you can get them live. for me they have to be already processed.
          https://fishingandfish.com/how-to-start-a-salmon-fish-farm/
          I had fish for ten years as a hobby.. when I worked at a government facility they had gotten the back fill from one small hole about an acre..thirty feet deep..spring fed..we had the game warden stock it then made a gate so the local kids could peddle out on their bicycles and fish.. it was always fun to watch the kids fish there..we had lake trout and bass etc etc..like anything see where they get it..

      • The north shore of Oahu has shrimp farms. Near these properties are the lunch trucks that prepare plates of shrimp scampi… fresh from next door. Tourist all stop there, and sometimes it was an hour wait from order until your plate(s) were ready. It was worth it.

    • Photo lab tec… been there done that.. if your working with C-41 chem..make sure you wear gloves…the nice thing is a lot of the firms are now unavailable in the usa.hydroquinone, catechol, p-phenylene diamine over an extended period of time causes some really dangerous issues. most long term exposure techs develop Pemphigus and emphysema etc. the old days we would go belle up in Formaldehyde.. lapping at your chin as you struggled to save film..Monomethyl-p-aminophenol sulfate caused a lot of skin issues..canker sores one of them..Then the Heavy metals in toners and intensifiers… oh my how I wished I had been more aware of the dangers as a child running the labs..no one knew it was common the least was the acetic acid..just be careful young man been there done that

  3. School started last Thursday. Today I am babysitting my granddaughter because she is sick. Six days of school and she is sick. That’s probably a new record for her. School secretary said that Strep is going around so I assume multiple kids have been sick for at least a few days.

    George I am in awe of the fact you get up in the middle of the night to write words of wisdom for those of us still sleeping. And that your brain actually works at 3am. Thanks for all you do.

  4. Another fine column, George, and thank you. I love how our seemingly small steps in life add up to an impressive total.

    I am glad you are taking gout serious. Gout appears to run in families. Gout has tiny needles that attack the body, usually the feet and hands, and travel the entire body. Please always take your meds for this very serious malady. Also, you might notify your kids about this, as they may have it and not realize it. Thanks.

      • I would believe it. Back in the 60’s my aunt worked in a dress shop that was next to Robert’s Lounge. I used to go there with my cousin and my aunt would give us a few coins to get a slice of pizza at the nearby pizzeria. In the the back of the dress shop were some “well dressed men”, and there was a table where they were selling stuff… hijacked from Kennedy Airport.

        Robert’s Lounge – Wikipedia

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%27s_Lounge

        Jimmy Burke was the real name of the Jimmy Conrad character in the Goodfellas film and Paul Vario was the real name of the Paulie Cicero character.

        A classic story, one day I visit my aunt at her home and Goodfellas is on TV. As we are watching, I tell her the real names… She says, “Jimmy Burke? I knew Jimmy Burke! Paul Vario? I knew Paul Vario!”

        Then at the dinner table, she tells me that the table cloth was a a gift from Jimmy Burke, and then she showed me some other trinkets that Jimmy Burke had given her…

        My aunt had no idea they were criminals. Next time I visited her the table cloth was gone. Paranoid, I guess.

        • back in the day in a very small town.. A guy bought the local bar.. I made under three dollars an hour.. the guy who got it added a steak house and pretty soon he started having big named stars come to entertain..my wife and I lived close so we would sit in the backyard and listen to the entertainment.. the kids carried more cash than I made in a month for spending.. the local grocer put everything into supplying the new steak house.. one day I was going in to grab my mail at the post office..and there was a big limo at the bank..that night when I was coming home from work ..outside the bar owners house was a big moving truck and about fifteen govtcars.. the grocery store had to close because no one would pay the tab the bar ran up.. a few years later the movie came out.. and on the Phil Donahue show he had Henry hill on it..the same guy that owned the bar..

        • Henry Hill: Now the guy’s got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with a bill, he can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy’s got to come up with Paulie’s money every week. No matter what. Business bad? **** you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? **** you, pay me. The place got hit by lightning, huh? **** you, pay me. Also, Paulie could do anything. Especially run up bills on the joint’s credit. And why not? Nobody’s gonna pay for it anyway. And as soon as the deliveries are made in the front door, you move the stuff out the back and sell it at a discount. You take a two hundred dollar case of booze and you sell it for a hundred. It doesn’t matter. It’s all profit. And then finally, when there’s nothing left, when you can’t borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out.

          https://www.moviequotedb.com/movies/goodfellas/views.html

        • Those goodfellas loved to steal. All the women working in the dress shop got a big surprise when it came time to collect social security. The dress factory was next to Robert’s Lounge.

          “Burke knew how to make money and he was a real earner for Paul Vario. Burke owned a dress factory in South Ozone Park, Queens, called Moo Moo Vedda’s. This business allowed him to clean up his cash money from his illegitimate enterprises.”

          https://ganglandwire.com/jimmy-burke-aka-jimmy-the-gent/

          Scroll down, building to the left was the dress shop.

          https://oddstops.com/location.php?id=525

  7. “TaDah!!! Suddenly the epidemic of knee replacements in America doesn’t seem so mysterious.”

    As I lie here on a gurney waiting to be wheeled in for knee replacement surgery, you hit a nerve. Too many miles on these babies. Time for a new set.

    • Post when you’re out – it’s great fun trying to connect when you’re rolled up on drugs. Trust me on this – high point of any hosp isit is writing a column from there or getting a connection to work…
      No HIPPA laws were broken in sending this email…

    • Best wishes for a swift and painless recovery. Physical therapy is your friend, no matter how much it hurts.

      • Thanks. Surgery went well. Excellent surgeon and hospital team. In at 10:30 am and back home by 6:30 pm. The pain free honeymoon ended around midnight. I am told by friends who have had the surgery to follow meds, knee icing and physio instructions to the letter and outcome will be good.

        • To quote Elaine yet again: “Do your PT”. I found the opioid pain meds to be a two edged sword. They work. But they will not let me sleep while ‘high’. And they are constipating. Choices, choices. Focus on the eventual outcome. I’m finding wonderful enjoyment in the simple act of walking again, with a pain-free titanium ball joint.

        • Glad you’re on this side of the surgery…

          To make your opioids work much better and make you much less stoned, take an aspirin (or aspirin-containing OTC analgesic like Excedrin) 40 minutes before you take the pain pill. When you take the pain pill, take only half.

          It will still take 30-40 minutes to kick-in, but when it does, the only way you’re likely to notice is in an attenuation of the pain. (It works for about 80% of patients.) If it doesn’t work for you, you can still take the other half…

        • I didn’t sleep well that night either..kept worrying about the pain you were more than like going through…spent most of the night in prayer for you to get relief..
          don’t get hooked on the drugs.. when I took care of people struggling with breathing issues or deep pain..tvland and I love Lucy ..short no thought related television.. interesting enough to keep their attention but not something that required concentration.. seen people struggling so hard to catch their breath that they made hospital beds bounce. then as they hyperventilating the struggle got worse.. the tv show as stupid as it is kept them from hyperventilating.
          for me..it was a tv show monster house ..
          https://youtu.be/CRvXgNO7Yp4?si=yRAoQeyp5b55LeaE
          and urban survival.. we are here right now.. kept my mind busy so I could put my mind somewhere else than on the pain..

        • Hi, BIC,

          Congratulations on getting your new knee. You will be very happy you opted for this surgery.
          Please keep a detailed log of: day and time that you take your pain meds and how much, day and time you take your temperature, and day and time you exercise for physical therapy. The reason for keeping track of your pain meds is so you stay ahead of the pain and also so you do not overdose. The reason you take your temperature is to be aware of any fever spike that may denote an infection. Doing regular physical exercise therapy is essential. Walking and negotiating stairs is also a good exercise. Keep this up independently for a year, and you will find it pleasant to be strong again, able to move about like you once did years ago. Just keep moving.
          You will need to ice your knee for about six months or so, as swelling is common. Also, you will notice an absence of feeling on the outside, where nerves were severed during surgery. Not to worry about that, as some of it will return after a few years. I would recommend that you join a gym nearby.
          I have had both knees replaced, one from a downhill ski accident and the other from running trails. I no longer do those activities, but I still enjoy hiking.
          Best of luck!

    • Our last (and it will be the last) experience with Cracker Barrel was Monday when we stopped in for a late lunch. We used to go there occasionally and found the food to be good and the service above average.

      Monday, however, the food was terrible, and the service worse. The “Country Fried Steak” was cold and soaked in stale grease. The gravy for the steak was cold and congealed. Had to remind the waiter twice to bring the salad and the biscuits, which finally arrived when we were halfway through the meal.

      The bill was $37.69. I left a $1 tip because I didn’t have anything smaller at the time.

  9. “Money does not just appear.”

    Expansion of the money supply using credit which causes the general price level to go up, up, up, up!

    • The HELL IT DOESNT – BULLSCHEISSE.

      Treasury moves the Decimal Point over and Poof = New Money = Brand New US Treasury Notes, Bills and Bonds OUT OF THIN AIR.

      There IS NOTHING standing behind any of it..NOTHING, cept a rusted out, rainbowized Military..BF-WHOOPDEEDO!

      ?How many Nu USD’s are created with move of the DECIMAL Point?
      So F-ing MANY that Ure precious US Dollars are almost WORTHLESS. How WORTHLESS – well at last look it took over 116 THOUSAND of them to Buy just one made up numbers digital tulip AKA Bitcoin. Though not worthless enough that YOU the US Taxpayer are Paying Interest on each and every USD printed to the Private Conglomerate that owns the NOT federal reserve -every year.

      All You “POTS” out there been CALLING ME BLACK – Guess what ?

      Im Still WINNING ! All the way to DA BANK. Too bad no one ever listens, anymore.

      Oh Well – I try, tried and keep trying..like life on this prison..

      PS – seen any drones lately ? Yeah, neither has the Military, then again they NEVER found em last time, just kept spewing Lie’s, that you all gobbled up, hook,line and sinkers.
      And that dear readers is what bugs BCP – U believe anything and EVERYTHING govmint spews at you, but nothing regards Bitcoin.

      Color me perpetually confuzzled on this..

  10. (“Worse than cow farts? Gas poisoning suspected as six found dead in dairy. Maybe one of our agricultural experts can explain what gasses might be involved? “)
    Now I’m just the idiot moron in the wastelands of the usa..you know one of the disposable portion of society so this is definitely a wild guess from an unedjumicated idiot… but do you mean gases like hydrogen sulfide, ammonia,Methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide!
    one guy from a local dairy and I visited many years ago now.. I told him the story about a chicken hatchery.. we were talking and he was telling me about how much energy it took to keep them warm etc. I said dam that’s got to be expensive .his response was it wasn’t anything..then showed me his layout..under the chickens he had it set up so cleaning under them they would hose it down into an agreed trough..that went into a big biogas digester.. the gas coming off was deluted and compressed..they ran everything off of it.
    the dairy farm did that.. they produce and sell two billion pounds of gas to the gas company.. he actually makes more off of the gas then the milk and cheese..
    https://www.homebiogas.com/shop/backyard-systems/homebiogas-2/
    https://youtu.be/WySy6Ykz3sI?si=FvouWbt-4fgjCme8
    they are easy enough..just a home doesn’t produce enough waste to run everything and just like hydrogen has to be diluted a lot the gas runs to hot and is very dangerous. once you get the proper air to hydrogen rstio.. Nazi’s in Germany used alcohol water injection to cool the gas in a turbocharger..
    most dairy farmers clean to keep things sanitary but they don’t contain it..leaving deadly gas pockets.

  11. Here’s yer chance to crack some illegal skulls, legally.

    Pentagon offers civilian employees option to join volunteer force to aid immigration enforcement

    “Employees are now able to apply via USAJOBS. The job posting opened Aug. 8 and closes Aug. 1 of next year. The annual salary ranges from $25,684 to $191,900. Employees who volunteer will serve in support roles for up to 180 days with ICE or CBP. Travel, lodging and per diem might be reimbursed by the receiving agency. The detail is not a promotion opportunity, USAJOBS states. ”

    https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2025-08-21/pentagon-civilian-workers-ice-18837691.html

  12. (“Mailbox Math
    I’m about 5’9?. Average walking stride at that height is about 2.4–2.5 feet per step. Call it 480 feet one way. Round trip: 960 feet. Two runs a day: 1,920 feet. That’s 0.364 miles per day. Multiply it out, and you’re looking at 132.7 miles per year.”)

    I am sure you’ve heard the old saying.. big hand and big feet….In classical anthropometry and artistic canon, the human body is often measured in units derived from itself creating a system of proportion that is both practical ,real and symbolic. The average adult body is approximately seven to eight heads tall, with each head serving as a unit of vertical measurement. The face length from hairline to chin typically equals the length of the hand, while the shoulders span about two head-widths. The torso (from neck to pelvis) occupies roughly three heads, and the legs from hip to heel span four. The forearm is about the same length as the foot, and the hand from wrist to fingertip equals the distance from chin to brow. These ratios, while variable across individuals, offer a framework for sculpture, tailoring, and symbolic design in art and just about every aspect of design.
    my fitbit says I put in two miles a day average walking..

  13. (“So here I am, half a mile a day on foot, and five to six thousand words a week online. One is for physical circulation. The other for mental. Both keep the system from seizing up.”)

    Use it or lose it…Mental and physical flexibility are twin pillars of resilience, each nourished through deliberate use. Writing and reflective thinking stretch the mind like a well-worn muscle, keeping ideas supple, perspectives agile, and memory alive. Just as the pen moves across the page, so must the feet move across the earth—walking not only strengthens the limbs but anchors the body in rhythm and presence. In both realms, the rule holds: use it or lose it. Neglect leads to stiffness—of thought, of joint, of spirit. But engagement, even in small daily rituals, preserves vitality and opens the door to continuity, legacy. when they had me figured for gone.. I was going nuts once active I was stuck in pain I had lost my ability to walk use my hands..I had grandkids that hat to feed me and a wife to bath me in a wheelchair.. I had guests put on all toilets so the wife wouldn’t have to do the dirty..I was embarrassed felt hopeless and the pain.I had to learn to walk all over again.. anyway I couldn’t even change the channel with the remote my hands looked like football’s on a stick.. bloated mottling it was horrific .. changing the pages in a book or holding a book..next to impossible.. then a professor friend stopped by.. a avid fan of urban survival.. suggested I follow the site..the variable subject matter would keep my mind off of the afflictions.. I’ve been here ever since..
    Use it or Lose it..keep it moving keep the mind sharp and alive..

  14. The dairy mishap was probably a biomass container, cow pucky in a tank to capture methane. One person probably fell in and the rest tried to rescue him without scott packs. Just my opinion.

  16. Oh my.. looks like the red bell peppers is about ready to pick..make some great smoked paprika..
    with a twist.. you will need four male red peppers and two female red peppers..the males give a slightly more bitter taste the females sweeter..now how do you sex peppers..the males have four bumps on the bottom females have three..
    we seed them except for one male and one female place in an oven on a pan at 350 or low broiler the top will star turning black rotate till the whole pepper is roasted.. take out place in a bowl covered.. let cool.. now I like the charred skin..some dont.. for those peel it slice it in quarter inch sections..slice the rest of the peppers in quarter inch slices.. dry them either in an oven with an open door or your food dehydrator.. once dry put in your dollar general smoke chamber.. smoke for two hours I like apple or cherry.. take them out back into the dehydrator they have to be crispy dry.. now take a third of a cup of dried chili peppers.. put in a blender and blend till they become a powder.. Smokey paprika with a little oh yeah baby spice to it..

    • Getting set to transplant asparagus plants I started from seed last year. The male plants produce better. are stronger and produce many more spears for harvest.
      “Since males do not have to expend valuable energy on berry production, they are often more long-lived, and they are able to put more of their energy into spear production.”
      “Not only do all-male hybrids produce more spears, they produce larger ones.”
      https://gardenerspath.com/plants/vegetables/male-female-asparagus/

  18. You get US Mail rural service twice a day???
    90% of my mail is junk spam, and I only empty the box when I’m expecting a package delivery. My knees don’t permit me to walk the block to the multi-home box, so I take my mobility scooter, or make a stop when we are out. I had to quit driving 3 years ago because of vision problems. Other than that, I’m in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in.

  19. https://x.com/i/status/1852547385794138506

    As I said at the time, Trump hired Bolton for one purpose — to intimidate the Young Un…

    BTW the raid on Bolton is in regards to national security “leaks.”

    He will not be the last neocon TDS wanker to be investigated.

    We may, yet, get to the bottom of the Ukraine War… ;-)

    I’ve said too much, but couldn’t resist. This is incredibly necessary, and has been a long-time coming…

  20. Omg.. the kid that called me grandpa is doing something I have never seen done..he’s dragging a new water line under the slab floor.. thank god he’s working to be a plumber..thank god for pex..

  21. re: ice is thicker than water

    Folks,
    The Secretary General of NATO along with a president delivered remarks in Kyiv at the VIII International Veterans Forum on Ukraine. Event organization is provided by a Ukrainian public group for a civil society, Isar Ednannia, with event financing provided by Norway and Sweden. Isar Ednannia informs on their website that “ednannia” means “unity” along with a livestream link to the event on their Youtube channel.

    Independent inquiry suggests that “Isar” may be in homage to the Bavarian river of the same name whose entymology may mean “ice water”. As chance would have it, a Russian-Israeli sponsored Nuremberg Casus Pacis Project offers an anecdote dating to October, 1946 concerning the Isar River. After the nazi war criminals received their Nuremberg justice, the bodies were transported to Munich, Bavaria. Officially, the cremated remains were dispersed from airborne aircraft. Anecdotally, the remains were deposited on the Isar River.

  22. The Ukraine has been working hard to conceal the number of casualties from the war with Russia.
    Currently claiming only 168,000 have died due to combat. They state that the actual number of wounded and killed, is a secret and can not be revealed due to the War Powers Act that forbids revealing casualty numbers.

    Three Russian hacker groups managed to infiltrate the Ukraine data bases. It’s not pretty –

    “Russian hacking groups, including Killnet, Palach Pro, User Sec, and Beregini, infiltrated Ukraine’s General Staff database, exposing 1.7 million military casualties from 2022 to 2025. The breach, executed with “Nuance” malware, revealed soldier names, causes of death, family contacts, and photographs. Leaked records detail 118,500 deaths in 2022, 405,400 in 2023, 595,000 in 2024, and 621,000 in 2025. “

    1,700,000 Ukraine soldiers killed – so far.

    Incredible – and horrific. Just how many soldiers do they have left !? How many generations have been decimated.

    .., and what are Russia’s actual numbers?

    .., damn !

    • Volod has forcibly recruited every healthy proletariat body the Azovs can get their hands on, between the ages of 14 and 67. Last year he opened “recruitment” up to girls and women.

      Did I mention I had been “watching” that part of the world since before 2010? Little secret: The online newspapers which have English language versions are a huge timesaver. HOWEVER, about the time Vichy Nuland started doing her “hinky shit” in that part of the world, a change came over the “news industry.” Since about 2012 there has been a huge divergence between the stuff in the native language version of the online papers in places like Prague, Kiev, Warsaw, etc., and their “English translation.” The English version is NOT a translation. It is a rewrite, done to propagandize (mostly) U.S. readers.

      To get the actual goings-on (with only local propagandization), grab (for instance) tass.ru, not rt.com, and run the stuff on Tass through a translator.

  23. Thank goodness All Is Good! The World’s problems have been solved!

    How do I know? The Market Gods of Wall Street told me so this morning at 10 AM!! Thank you Market Gods of Wall Street, I now know I am blessed and all is well with the world.

    The only Fly In The Ointment was when the Central Bankers went for their photo walk later in the morning. The Japanese Central Banker looked VERY uncomfortable.

    Were his shoes too tight? Was it too chilly for him? Maybe the breakfast was not to his liking? He definitely looked like he was NOT having a good time being in the richest county in the entire US. A place that truly represents how most of the worth knowing US population lives with a medium single family home price being approximately $3 million. (Yes I know it is pricier up at that Yellowstone club on the other side of Yellowstone, a lot pricier, … but sacrifices must be made for appearances sake) Maybe Dick Cheney and his daughter who live just down the road should have stopped by to cheer him up (or are they afraid to show their faces in public in Jackson WY anymore)?

    Well now that I now all is well and that ever increasing prosperity, for the One Percenters, is guaranteed, even more guaranteed for the .001 level people. I will now be able to sleep well at night again.

  24. Oh, my! Look at this AmEx offer through Macy’s. I have a high credit score too. If I were to carry a balance would it much matter if Powell dropped the rate 2 points or 4? And you know people carry balances even at this rate.

    “Save on interest, activate now 0.00%

    Promotional APR on all new purchases made outside of Macy’s with your Macy’s American Express® Card until* 4/11/2026

    After that, your variable APR for purchases applies

    33.49%

    This APR is as of 08/20/2025 and will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate. “

    • And for some strange reason, many businesses I see emphatically DO NOT accept AMEX. So it’s not real useful.

      • Merchants pay between 3.4 and 3.7 percent to VISA, MC, and Discover as a “processing fee.” They pay between 3.7 and 4.4 percent to process AMEX and Diners Club. With all cards, the more charges a business has processed per month, the lower the processing fee.

        FWIW, the clearinghouses which process VISA, MC, and Discover gross over $62bln annually, most of which is pure profit.

        I don’t like Dick Durbin’s politics and have little use for the man, but he’s floating a bill which would allow large retailers to process their own ccard purchases and avoid the clearinghouse charges. “Patriotic” radio programs are running a series of commercials at least once every hour, to try and scare voters into pressuring their Congresscritters into 86ing Durbin’s bill. $62 billion is a lot of money, and as this bill comes closer to going to the Floor, the timbre of these commercials has gotten increasingly shrill and panic-inspiring.

        I giggle every time I hear a new one, but I feel for all the dumbasses who don’t know what’s going on, or why.

        Back on point: The merchant pays that ccard processing fee. A lot of stores (notably grocery stores) operate on a much smaller margin than 3.7%. If they jack with their shelf prices and surcharge a portion of the ccard fee, they run the risk of Kroger, Albertsons, Publix, WalMart, etc. (who are already paying 3.4%) pricing them out of the market. There’s no way the locals and regionals can afford to pay American Express’ 4.4%. Therefore, they simply refuse to honor AMEX or DC cards. Have you noticed that many places honor ApplePay, GooglePay, etc.? That’s because these private entities self-finance and self-clear their stuff, thereby being able to charge the merchants [big and small] a far smaller processing fee.

        Las Vegas was grubstaked by the Mob, but it was built on a 2.1% margin. Tiny little percentages make huge differences, over time…

  26. Awkward: “Brazen Election Cheating” Allegations Rock Minneapolis Mayoral Endorsement

    Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party stripped the party’s endorsement of radical leftist Minnesota state Sen. Omar Fateh in the Minneapolis mayoral race over “brazen cheating.” The emerging election cheating scandal hilariously occurred amongst Democrats. Awkwardly, this comes from the same party of woke leftists that insists U.S. elections are the “safest in the world” and free from manipulation. Clearly, this corrupt party that serves progressive elites – not the working class – wants a do-over in this local election.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democrats-eat-their-own-brazen-election-cheating-allegations-rock-minneapolis-mayoral

  27. Just insane.
    Chairman Powell burps and the stock market explodes. Dow up 900 points !? [ Record territory.] Even bitcoin jumped $4,500.
    No pricing., no value.., no ‘anything’ – “but, Powell said…,”

    Just insane reaction.

    I was extremely tempted to “go short” over the weekend…,

    ., and a question:

    Has the U.S. government ever taken an “investment stake” in a corporation before? Intel and the Trump Admin have jointly announced that the government will take a 10% stake in Intel.

    The Government directly and openly involved in the stock market and capitalism. Probably just me – but that doesn’t smell right.

    • think : Sovereign Wealth Fund. see : Japan.
      apply : to ledger income (then overspend)
      plenty doesn’t smell right. It never does …

      E

    • Yo Hogan,

      See Solandyra – obummer admin

      ..dont smell right , due it smacks of NAZI Germany and Fascism.

      HH-https://youtu.be/AwXOXo_Rgmo?si=zsi5HFkCoObDVMv3

    • “Has the U.S. government ever taken an “investment stake” in a corporation before?”

      Yes, on several occasions. I’ve never seen it do this without either an associated bailout or a set length of time before it had to divest its holdings back to the private sector. Mr. Trump wants to fast-track the building of suppliers of “critical infrastructure” in CONUS, and Intel is pretty damn’ critical, but once the foundry, fab, or both are up and running, if the gummint doesn’t divest, I’m gonna call “foul…”

      I was an AMD jobber for years. AMD and Intel have been at war since Intel cancelled AMD’s license to manufacture Intel CPUs, back in the ’90s. AMD and nVidia are as critical, in their own way, as Intel.

      Fascism isn’t pure corporatism. It is picking winners & losers through policy, and allowing the market to do the dirty work. I have no problem with Trump, fast-tracking Intel back into the “U.S. chip business.” I have a huge problem if his process fosters the demise of AMD/ATI and nVidia — both of whose processors are more critical to supercomputing / quantum computing than Intel’s.

      Because the Leftists have been exploring fascism for years, on their way to suborning communist-socialism, does not give Republicans or non-Leftists license to do the same…

  28. saw straight thru this one boyz !!!!!!!!!!!!!! its all about dollar destruction and crypto pumping !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! may the spirit of the founding fathers rain fire on you . shame on you jerome jerk and king donny

  29. “The Internal Revenue Service has called off layoffs and plans to offer jobs back to some employees who took the so-called fork in the road, as the agency scrambles to staff up for tax season.”

  30. Here’s an example of Google A.I. Overview hallucinating. I Googled….

    “how many day ago did ozzy die?”

    And the search results:

    “Ozzy Osbourne did not die; he is still alive as of August 22, 2025

    The confusion may come from a widespread death hoax that circulated in July 2025 following a final concert with Black Sabbath. Multiple reliable news outlets, like Fox News and E! Online, have since published reports debunking these claims and confirming that he is alive. In fact, reports have noted a friend mentioning that Ozzy even rallied to attend an afterparty following the benefit concert.”

  31. At least the world is still sort of right side up. Arrived in Fiji Thursday their time (lost a day along the way) and found an unreal good marina with all the amenities. So great to eat something we didn’t have to cook while rolling along at speed. And don’t forget the hot shower, first one in nearly eighteen months. I don’t know how we’ll get the missus out of here.
    All safe and well on board the ROSIE G.
    Every day was a great day.
    Stiks

    • I really like the design of your boat. Never seen one like it. Well done !

      Have always liked Junk rigs – was a passenger on Junk rigged 36 footer out of Costa Mesa – but I have no real experience sailing one. Some day – maybe..,

      But here I sit – stuck in my own ‘damn-carport’., because I can’t get the ‘damn-fan belt’ back on the ‘damn Studebaker !’ .., ‘damn !’

      Quoting Bilbo here:

      “I do believe.., I am quite ready.., for another adventure.”

        • Saw a couple ‘party boats’ – that’s slang-name for the pontoon crowd – I didn’t wave.

      • That’s why you should keep a damn’ tire iron laying around. The ear hooks the belt, the shaft rests in the groove, once it’s hooked, a twist drops it in the groove and you can lever it on — at least that’s what I’ve been told.

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