If this adds a useful perspective
Click here to send this page to a friend

Meandering Monday, Free AI School, and Hot WX Gardening

We are expecting the market to turn down – should be imminent – because the number of people posting comments here has shot skyward.

See – it’s an informal way of angling on market direction. But now and then it works.  You will notice as markets were peaking recently?  Fewer people had strong feelings about much. But now?  Lots of community involvement.  That says something about the flavor of the times. Though we can’t be sure of what exactly.

I warned Peoplenomics readers Saturday that Monday was a good “sleep late day.”  With the asterisk that “depends on news flow.” Let’s put a pitchfork into that pile first.

War Checks

Local opinion on the “War Powers Act” is that it’s unconstitutional, but no one will be in a hurry to change it (or challenge at the Supremes) because it’s such a useful political tool.  The Constitution is rather clear, though: Person “in the Oval” gets command.  The “fools on the hill” get the purse. In a real court test, the WPA falls.

OK – set aside the buzz-driving for a second.  We told you (somewhere) that once Trump “ended the war” he’s let it simmer (maybe a week) and then restart things with the timer being reset.

Sure enough: US to ‘guide ships safely’ out of Hormuz as of today, says Trump. We will be shocked if the world makes it to 2:30 PM Thursday without something going terribly wrong.  This isn’t like the Navy helping a little old lady across the street with her groceries. Except it sort-of is like that.

Peaceniks continue jumping up and down: Iran says US must back down from its demands reports the Sweden Herald. But there’s Washington, and there’s the overgrown, narrative farmers in the Public  Relations offices, and they’ve been at the thesaurus all weekend to come up with naming conventions like this: ‘Project Freedom’: U.S. military to free blockaded commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz/.

I’m sure the D.C. lawyering crowd won’t like me mentioning it, but the sell job here is calling it a “project.”  And “operation” would circle-back too quickly to the W.P.A. timers.  Hence “meandering Monday.”

These two casualties are not operational or project victims.  They died from “exercise” as in Two US service members missing after joint military exercises in Morocco.

Meanwhile, in War One

We sense a strategic linking between reduced Hormuz oil and Ukraine trying to slam Russia’s domestic supplies: UAWire – Ukrainian drones strike Primorsk oil port and disrupt air travel across Russia,

One other nudge on Russian oil: Sweden arrests Chinese captain of suspected Russia-linked vessel.  To be sure, Russia is having “issues” with its economy: Russia manufacturing contracts for 11th straight month in April, PMI shows | Reuters.

And if you’re a fan of FPV (first person view) drone racing, here’s something to keep an eye on: Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence reveals components of Russia’s new AI-powered Klin drone with speed of 300 km/h.  Yes, but does it support 8K graphics?

Elsewhere, it’s a Semi-Flat Pond

Reader Ray gets honors for watching antics of the left in Los Angeles politics. Where Billboard Chris  on X: “Spencer Pratt is really good at this.  Seems in L.A.. politicians solve everything by “throwing money at problems.” Just not their money.

Health watch posted: Rudy Giuliani in critical condition in hospital.

What’s in Ure Wallet?

Other than a Factory Orders report at mid-morning, we’re planning to check the settings on the snooze-o-graph. International trade with the hash browns tomorrow. But the big one to watch Tuesday will be the Labor JOLTS report because – yes – this is jobs week. ADP WEdnesday, then Challenger job cuts and the “offishul” numbers Friday.

Early market futures were down.  Like down 300 on the Dow, a hundred for the techs and 30-something for the S&P. Bitcoin is all over the place: $80,500  and down to almost $78.000 – too much volatility for us, thank you.

Free AI School

A reasonable chunk of the weekend around here was spent getting ahead of the trends in AI.  What matters? It’s becoming clear that the whole “bum’s rush” by corporate AI types is based on the idea that eventually, A.I. will become so ad infiltrated that you won’t be able to trust online AI.

The Big Lie is that “AI must have guardrails.”  But, on my AI website, data suggests that guardrails are what’s causing a fair amount of hallucination, not the logic circuits themselves.

By whipping up the Luddite fears, corporations (and the governments they purchase) will be able to control AI – and thus YOU.  

Our option? Have a home AI of your own – offline.  Which means total privacy because it doesn’t need to be attached to the internet.

How to Install a Simple, Local AI

Step 1.  Download LM Studio. LM Studio – Local AI on your computer.

Step 2. Install and load your model.

Think of models like “plug-ins.” You just pick one to try and click – it’s there ready to run. No particular genius to that.  What helps is a “What Model Codes Mean” decoder ring.

Model filenames aren’t random—they’re telling you exactly what you’re about to run, if you know how to read them.

Take my lfm2-8b-1ab-Q4_K_M.gguf. The first part is the model family (lfm2 = the architecture or training lineage. The 8b means 8 billion parameters—that’s roughly a horsepower number. Bigger models reason better, but they also eat RAM and slow down on CPU-only systems.

The next chunk of filename—things like 1ab or instruct—usually signals fine-tuning. “Instruct” models follow prompts conversationally. Other tags mean things like chat tuning, code specialization, or experimental variants. This is where personality and usefulness come from. Two “8b” models can behave very differently depending on how they were tuned.

Then you’ll see the quantization tag—something like Q4, Q5, or Q8. This is the compression level. Lower numbers (Q2–Q4) run faster and use less RAM, but lose some precision. Higher ones (Q6–Q8) are sharper but heavier. The extra letters (_K_M, _K_S, etc.) are just different quantization methods—think of them as “flavors” of compression. For most local setups, Q4_K_M is the sweet spot: good enough quality without bogging your machine down.

Finally, the .gguf at the end is the file format—basically the container that tools like LM Studio and llama.cpp use to actually run the model. The .gguf is last name –  like .docx in Werd.

Once you’re no longer guessing—you’re choosing. And that’s the difference between “trying local AI” and actually putting it to work.

With LM Studio up, head into the model picker (top center of the screen) and click the model to use.

Models like Gemma 4 (from Google DeepMind) are smart, but you’ll feel the drag without a serious GPU (graphics processor unit).

Tuning means setting your context window as high as your RAM allows. More context = better continuity, but it’s a trade-off with speed. On a typical mini PC or laptop, you’ll want to experiment a bit—there’s no one-size setting.

Now I understand Why Gaming Computers Sell

I used to have little respect for, nor could I understand deeply, where all those high-end “gaming” computers were being sold.  Turns out? AI rigs.

Right now the “sweet spot” for higher-end home AI is a 24 GB VRAM (video ram) card. Over this size, you’re getting into real money for, oh, a 48K VRAM card.  This is where everything you thought you knew about computers flips upside down.

For most of my life, big RAM was the essence of computing life.  High-end video cards were useless once you got past a fast 4K display.  In AI though, conventional RAM (over 16 GB) doesn’t gain you much if anything.  HUGE VRAM is the order of the day. Or – since I’m a cheap bastard – models that can offload to a conventional CPU instead of enjoying the wide open VRAM spaces.  Ah – only money, right?

Step 3. Tune for usability, not perfection. Start with default settings, then adjust temperature (lower for factual work, higher for creative), and keep an eye on token limits. If responses feel sluggish, reduce context or switch to a smaller quantized model. Think of this like radio work—you’re tuning for signal clarity, not theoretical maximum output.

If it helps, think in word count—tokens are just the meter running under the hood.

Step 4.  Open a chat, throw real tasks at it—editing, outlining, idea generation—and see where it helps and where it falls short. Local AI shines as a private, always-on sidekick: no rate limits, no data leaving your machine, and no subscriptions stacking up. It’s not going to beat cloud models on raw horsepower, but for day-to-day thinking and drafting, it’s fast, cheap, and always there.

Me? I like the cheap part.  Now I just need to name my sidekick.  “Wrench” has come up.

“Wrench it is—practical, steady, and built for real work. I’m glad that fits. George — steady under pressure, reliable when it counts. Here’s to building things, keeping the flow going. Together? That’s how we move forward.”

Around the Ranch: Hot WX Gardening

Riding the mower around this weekend, I was struck by how hidden variables can torpedo gardening efforts.

See, I bought an additional pre-made planter for the grow room here.  Comes with a 72″ trellis.

BUT before I can put it in place, I will have to paint it – white.  Because that’s the magic color in a greenhouse that keeps heat absorption lowest and that makes for happier plants.  We’re planning Sugar Baby melons in this one.

Thing is, plant housing of any kind should be white in the summer. I was shocked it was relatively hard to find.  That’s when it hit me: semi-hidden variable!

Container color isn’t cosmetic—it’s thermodynamics. Dark planters (black, dark green, even deep terracotta) absorb a much higher fraction of incoming solar radiation and convert it to heat. In full sun, the sidewalls can run far hotter than ambient air, and that heat conducts directly into the root zone.

Unlike field soil, which has depth and moisture to buffer temperature swings, a pot is a thin-walled heat sink. The result is a root environment that can spike well above the plant’s comfort range by midday, even when the foliage looks fine.

Roots are far less tolerant of heat than leaves. As root-zone temperatures climb, oxygen solubility in the water film around roots drops, respiration increases, and membranes become stressed. Fine root hairs—where most nutrient uptake happens—can be damaged or die back. Plants respond by closing stomata to conserve water, which throttles photosynthesis and stalls growth.

Nutrient uptake becomes erratic (calcium and potassium issues show up first), and you’ll often see blossom drop, small fruit, or outright yield loss. In hydro or soilless mixes, the problem can be worse because there’s less thermal inertia.

Solving for Heat Gain

The fix is straightforward: keep the root zone cool. Use light-colored or reflective containers (white or tan), double-pot (a dark inner pot inside a light outer sleeve), or wrap existing pots with reflective material. Increase media volume (bigger pots heat more slowly), add mulch on top to shade the surface, and cluster containers so they shade each other’s sidewalls. Watering in the morning helps, but it’s not a cure if the container keeps absorbing heat all day. If you’re already running a controlled environment, treating planter color as part of your thermal management—right alongside airflow and shading—can be the difference between “it grows” and “it yields.”

I’ve been thinking about this ever since reader NM Mike mentioned a while back – that he didn’t have a green thumb. Maybe he just didn’t measure the semi-hidden heat variable.

Here’s the Rule of thumb: white containers can plausibly give you 10–35% better growth/yield than black containers in Southern summer sun, with the high end showing up when pots are exposed, small-to-medium sized, and crops are heat-sensitive. A nursery study on holly found white container treatments produced 36% more growth than black spaced containers, and root ratings were 42% greater.

Plants are like mastery of HF radio in electronics.  At first it all seems like magic. But after you reduce all the variables and begin to tweak parameters with a plan in mind (and data to base decision-making on) the magic fades and the food begins to flow.

I sure hope NMMike tries again. Most failed gardens aren’t bad luck—they’re unmanaged heat or one of the other variables.

Meanwhile, my electroculture test tomatoes passed 36 inches in height overnight.

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

72 thoughts on “Meandering Monday, Free AI School, and Hot WX Gardening”

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

  2. cant be bothered to read anything anymore as the machines run minds in ussa. hey first something angry donny spins around on cankles , red hat stupid singing gay anthem YMCA. hey hottie how about the other village people song !!! you cant stop the nasdaq !! nobody can stop the nasdaq !! yeah lets go weaponise baby like DJ Donny says . and the goons and freaks at wall street USSA USSA USSA

    • Remember when stock was sold to shareholders to share liability and profits of a company? And the price of stock was determined by profitability/dividends and perceived risk of its operations.

      And additional stock was issued to raise capital for expansion of the (successful/profitable) business operations?

      And buybacks were illegal?

      What quaint ideas!

      • Yerp – so was Naked Short Selling, only Short Stock on a Zero/0 or Plus tick.

        Criminals been running the show for what seems like forever. Same crooks who hate Bitcoins..wonder why that is?

    • There is this super nerd starwars guy on the ship. Super nerd! A Jason Scientist.

      he says Happy Starwars day to the Captain as he was walking into the Galley at coffee break.

      The Captain turns to him dead serious and says,

      Oh i love starwars! My favorite part is when Buck Rogers rescues Luke Sywalker from that Evil White Witch Jadis on the planet Narnia.

      He about fell out of his chair.

      It takes a real man to say that with a straight face. Then say what? You didnt see that part? that was so awesome! my favorite part of that TV Show.

      the whole room was clapping. hahahahahaha.

      I fuckin laughed so hard! Soo hard! im still laughing.

    • Silly boy lol lol …There’s no limit to blue sky JC…Can the Dow hit 50,000 ? Sure it can — markets can always climb to any height.
      But it’s all proportionate.
      Think of it like a dogs watering dish … one side goes down, the other rises to keep the level…. If the dollar weakens, you need more of them to buy the same assets, so the index looks higher even if real value hasn’t changed….AND … It works as long as wages or wage distribution keep pace…..

      During the Weimar collapse, some employers had to pay workers multiple times a day just to keep up with the falling currency….

      So yes, the Dow can go higher as high as theres blue sky above…

      But the numbers alone don’t tell you whether people are actually better off because of it….
      Instead It’s really all about what the dollar is worth when it gets there… lol…

      A dollar up, a dollar down — the system only works as long as all the levels on both sides match.
      If the Dow rises but incomes don’t rise proportionately to the increase , then the whole thing tilts.
      Expenses, interest, wages… they all have to stay in balance with the value of the currency.
      It’s like pushing a wet noodle across a table….. i call it Noodlenomics….with the perfect flow it moves smoothly…. too much and it dissolves, too little and it snaps and breaks apart…
      History shows what happens when the levels get wildly out of sync — Argentina once hit interest rates in the thousands of percent just to keep the flow moving…
      So sure, the Dow can climb to any number you want blue sky’s the limit..
      The real question everyone should ask is whether everything else continues to rise with it…. the whole system only works if everything stays proportionate. If one side of the dish drops while the other floods, you won’t get a smooth adjustment, you get a full blown mess.
      When wages, expenses, interest rates, and currency value stop matching each other, everyone loses.
      Bank balances can and will evaporate in real terms… one day your a millionaire..the next day its oh shit all I have is a million bucks… In Zimbabwe a loaf of bread hit tens of millions of dollars.
      In Argentina, everyday items reached absurd prices because the currency was falling faster than people could earn. So can the Dow shoot to 50,000 ? Absolutely.
      But if wages don’t rise to keep the value even, the system stalls — just like a plane.
      You can climb toward the moon all you want, but if the lift and the weight stop matching, the plane stops flying and you’re in a freefall…

  4. get with the times king donny !!! bit of house /dance from the 1990s . America (i love america ) by full intention . great dance beat you can spin around in and MAGAtize the boyz snorting in the temple . yay lets go and Elon can be DJ .. how good all chant !!

    • Please run for President of the USA.

      We need somebody like you that has exclusive access to the truth.

  5. hey bobby didnt RN elliot tell you and yah mom about ending bitcon waves ? the 5th of the the 5th of the 5th . theres a spot on CNBCUSSA for you to ramp mate !! plenty $$ bobby . youl need a wheelbarrow like zimbabweto to take the cash home!!!

  6. Hey Sunny G,

    Yo white paint effects on Sun absorption would have come much sooner, if in you had still been on the Water these last couple of years. The ole warm Yellow Sun of my Youth is long gone, and in its place is this white hot nasty Sun light of today. Mind youse all that the yellow Sun of youth burned, but not nearly as badly as todays White light Sun.Besides, you ever see an Arab wearing dark colored clothes?
    I can still picture in my head the girls of my youth, with tinfoil lined album covers tanning their faces, and the cuties smearing baby oil all over their sexy selves..oohlalala the good ole days!

    What happened ? From MiniSkirts to MoosieSkirts..age of Technology my ass, more like Age of Morbidly Obese Green Haired Liberal Men & Women? I digress -solly.

    The metal surfaces on sports/offshore fishing boats gets so hot out there anymore, as to fry an egg, let alone burn Ure hand. Inadvertently grabbing an Uncoated railing while out on the water Fishing..it will literally Sizzle.
    Like grabbing hot rails to hell – BOC >https://youtu.be/aK1-gI8zO3U?

    Like my sainted GrandMother has always said, “lil tbs dont sweat the petty things in Life, you pet the sweaty things in Life” – wise Women indeed.

  7. I’m glad your tomato plants are doing well. I had to replant mine. For years I have always planted my tomatoes on or just after Mothers Day. Well this year it was so nice early that I planted them about two weeks ago. I should have known better! Sure enough we got a hard frost three days ago. Oh well my granddaughter had fun helping me replant.

  8. well I am not NM Mike, BUT I am a NM mountain man and my name is Mike, LOL I have been gardening in NM mountains since 04 and are at 7600 elevation with well water that is a constant 42 dgs. summer nights often dip below 52 dgs and so as you can see there is many obstacles to gardening here. first a 1500 BLACK poly tank sun heated water for the garden next, all garden plots raised or not have black plastic to hold the heat to keep the soil warm. Tomato’s will only grow profusely IF they are done in a terrarium type environment, we use 1/2 barrels with wire cages 40 inches high with clear plastic covering them and only grow early girl types, some things grow great like squash and cabbage and Swiss chard while things like water melons and other long term won’t mature in this short growing season. You can’t plant before June 1st or frost will get them, and harvest must occur before the fall frost which comes in early September. There are numerous other issues I did not mention but in a normal season we have figured out how to grow enough to survive if/when needed.

    • Good to know! I’m a bit lower in elevation but not much. May 15 is the earliest to be safe from frost where I am. Other than terrible soil which I’ve amended to death, the biggest single problem is too many mouths to feed – deer, gophers, rats, rabbits, bugs, and even birds. The only safe place to grow anything is a full greenhouse or equivalent. Water is available from the sky during the monsoon sometimes, and wells, mine or others. There’s a limited amount, so using it carefully matters. Rain is amazing. When real rain happens, weeds spring out of the ground like they were just waiting to overwhelm the crop. Gardening is time intensive too. When I can, I’ll get a round tuit.

      • Hydro is FOR guys like you Mike – I’ve been preaching at the temp[le of Caesar salads for years – no weeds, no bugs – top off water daily when haf way through the grow cycle and wait for the lettuce///

  11. Market is in negative territory,Bitcoin is surging, peeps selling Gold to raise Cashish, Oil is bid…something got lit off this AM/Lastnight. Dam distractions from what is truly important in Life..

    Flyers Hockey and 76ers Basketball, everything else pales in comparison. It’s NYC vs Philly in both series. In other words, 2Front War!
    Shoot first, shoot early, shoot often – Just F-ING Shoot!

      • Go Habs!

        re: Anhui (“Peaceful Beauty”), China
        feat: New Gold?

        Self-styled independent Chinese media outlet Ludepress still has a Youtube video publicly available which has been deleted from Youtube itself. An Uncle Sam subsidiary is allegedly hiring in China as may be observed at the following Ludepress link:

        https://ludepress.com/featured/50135/

        A license plate on the actor’s vehicle appears to translate as being registered at the city of Bengbu in the province of Anhui. A defeat of Nationalist forces by the CCP at Bengbu supposedly caused Chiang Kai-shek grief in January, 1949. Anhui’s rise dates to the early Qing Dynasty in the 17th century. The current Qing Empress-heiress-apparent is Jin Xin (cn: “Gold New”). She is a great-niece of the last Chinese Emperor.

  12. It’s on Like Donkey Kong now…..

    https://www.youtube.com/live/U3jvyA37jJk?si=uFimMLeXLFTVuVUq

    https://breakingdefense.com/2025/05/us-and-uae-ink-agreement-formalizing-major-defense-partnership/

    I dunno, to me it seems like you occupy the islands in the straight of Hormuz that are strategic for controlling the zone and flatten the rest. Setup a buffer zone around Hormuz for free passage while flattening all the remaining FACILITIES that support IRGC.

    Will be watching scorched earth on the big screen tonight.

    I’ve told a friend at the beginning of all this that Iran won’t capitulate until they are reduced to throwing sticks and stones.

    Not advice, get your own goggles.

    MAGA

  13. Gold’s prospects are looking much better in the past week as the Phillies have won 6 of 8.Neither the team or the metal will ever move in opposite directions for long.Charts for both since gold’s legalization in 1975 can be superimposed.I was on here in Oct.2011 with a sell signal at $1900 and with a buy signal in Mar.2019 at $1300.No one else can say that.

  14. Did some dry canning this weekend for the first time in several years. Put up some lentils and some muesli. Both came reasonably well packaged for short term, but I repackaged with oxygen absorbers and aluminized storage bags. I didn’t have enough of a stock of lids of all things, but had enough to do the job.
    The plastic lids have gotten where your choice is either a pull tab or a gamma. Once you pull the tab, the lid is no good for storage. I was able to rustle up gamma lids, for a couple of the pails, but retrofitting is tough. I use a 2 x 4 to persuade the rings on. You lay the 2 x 4 across the ring, then either push or stand on it with one foot, if it is really tight, and walk it around until the ring sets 360 degrees. For a gamma lid, It’s best to put the dry material in the bag and set it and the screw lid aside until you get the ring set, in case the pail splits. With a pull-tab lid, you only get one shot at it, but otherwise, it’s about the same. The seal on the pail lid in either case is a back-up; the sealed bag with oxygen absorber is the primary. Have a pail wrench for all operations. A screwdriver or channel locks is of no value and vandalizes all. Happy canning.

    • so interesting . i really respect some of the types G has attracted here over the years that do stuff like this . canning . so dedicated and resilient. plus it takes my mind away from the triple sell issued in the gold market 92/96 sell on friday for execution today . so there yah go dont say yah wernt told . the great Dr Jeff Kerns work lives on with a few of his pupils . miss yah Jeff always

  15. Those-That-Know.., are stating the over $100 drop in gold and $3.00 drop in silver is due to the heightened risk in the Straits of Hormuz.
    Seems like it would be the other way around., doesn’t it? World tension., acts of war.., inflation fears., oil steadily climbing – seems like gold & silver would be steadily going up in response – safe-haven kind of thing .., nope, just the opposite.

    I do understand their reason as to ‘why’.., I just don’t agree with it.
    .
    Brent Crude is up sharply – up$6.00 a barrel – to $114 / Texas Tea up $3.30 – to $104 a barrel.
    Inflation fears are justified – along with a noticeable cost of living increase.

    “Stay Frosty !”

  16. “Peaceniks continue jumping up and down: Iran says US must back down from its demands reports the Sweden Herald.”

    The Muslim Arabs from NE Africa moved in, took over, and subjugated Iran in 1979. Donald Trump has been saying since 1980, that this was a grave injustice and that Iran needed to be freed. He is in a position to see that this happens. Sweden has the highest occurrence of rape in the known world. There are wide swaths of the country where its citizens cannot go, and its military cannot traverse, except in armored vehicles. I don’t think Mr. Trump will read anything the Swedes print.

    If someone wants to know what Mr. Trump thinks or why he has done something, all they have to do is flip through the many hours of interviews and soundbites of him, recorded between 1968 and 1998. He formed world opinions between Wharton and learning how to run a crane and be a construction foreman. Those views have not substantially changed…

  17. It’s the end of an era

    “Lady Fingers” died peacefully in her sleep two nights ago., at the age of 86.
    According to her wishes – there won’t be a service, or celebration of life., not any graveside services. She wanted to be cremated and her ashes spread in the ocean at Corpus Christi – where she was born and grew-up.
    I have been informed that she has left a letter for me at her lawyers’ office – will be picking that up today.

    ..,and thus officially ends my direct contact, wisdom and guide to professional poker. Can’t imagine working with anyone else. Had dinner with her a couple of weeks back.

    She will be missed by a lot of people. Especially me.

    “Stay Frosty !”

    • Hard to lose a long time friend, have lost several over the last 3 years

      A cartoon series my children watched growing up “The Land Before Time” openly dealt with death, where the characters called it “The Great Circle Of Life”

      “The Great Circle Of Life” … yes, that is how life works. Remember the good times.

    • So sorry. I’ve enjoyed your stories that included her. She sounded irreplaceable.

    • Three Piece,
      your long time friend, Lady Fingers, sounds like the real life person of whom the character actress, Joan Blondell was modeled upon in the movie, The Cincinnati Kid, starring Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson. What a very cool lady she must have been. It is always very sad to lose a friend in this life. I am so sorry to learn that she had died, but I believe that true friendship transcends time. You will see her again.

    • Sorry for the loss Three-Piece. Seems when our clock ticks over 80, the road gets narrower. I lost several friends over the past 2 or 3 years. I miss them so much. Hoping this 84 year old body can make it to 86.

      Enjoy your contributions to this forum.

      Bob In Canada

      • Not just 80s, Bob. My classmates & friends in their 70s are dropping like flies now, too. Every morning I give thanks for the blessing of another day of good health & life.

  18. “Peaceniks”

    Why, if Kam got in we’d have $5.00 gas, doubled prices, another endless war and likely the Ukraine war Biden started would still be going…. not to mention the lid would be held tight on the pedophile ring coverups.

  19. Just for your information, George. I believe you have blocked my emails.

    https://cuencahighlife.com/for-the-average-ecuadorian-family-the-cost-of-living-is-90-less-than-for-a-family-in-the-u-s/

    Still banking one of our social security checks every month. Our rental income on our $200k, 4 apartment house finally exceeded the cost of purchase after 15 years. Value of the property has almost doubled. We get a senior citizen discount on our Ecuadorian income tax, we pay zero, just $90 per year to accountant for filing. House taxes run about $120.00 per year. Car tax is $108.

    With the increase in bitcoin and metals, our net worth has doubled since we arrived in here. I occasionally buy more silver from a mint here in Ecuador. Or metal from a distressed expat who doesn’t have a good source of income,

    Our Ecuadorian savings accounts are paying 5.1 Percent. A friend recently rolled over a sizable CD for 6.5%.

    I had two zirconium/ceramic posts with crowns installed by my dentist. $3600. Full mouth X-ray scan is $25. A friend got her dental work in the USA. Paid $6k each crown. A local doctor, USA trained, gets us same day appointment for $30. And most importantly, ivermectin is 50 cents per pill over the counter. Many of us take it as a prophylactic. Back in the day our local doc made a house call, gave ivermectin and Covid was gone in 3 days.

    Private health insurance for both of us is $270 per quarter. Car insurance on a $25k car is $400 per year. Gasoline is under $3. House insurance is $480 per year. We pay $12 each month for our cell phones. All electronics are Apple.

    My wife is now an Ecuadorian citizen. Gives us an edge in case Ecuador gets weird about expat property rights. Also allows us to have bank accounts not reportable to the USA.

    Dangerous areas in Ecuador are all along the coast, crime in our province is extremely low. Probably because our major city, Loja, is a center for laundering drug money. No crime means no street drug availability and no investigation of anything.

    Just sayin’

  20. Iran just crossed the line – they have fired upon a U.S. warship., and a couple of other vessels in the Straits.., and set the UAE oil port ablaze in a missile attack.., as six small attack boats are challenging other vessels.
    They are going to be satisfied until the entire country is martyred.

    .., and Trump does what?

    …, damn !

    • Think Outer Limits. Everything you see and hear on your computer screen and cell phone…

      “There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly, and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: There is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits.”

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8CtjhWhw2I8

    • Iran’s War Game was always to use it’s missiles and drones to close the Straits and to try to run the US /Israel out of defensive missiles over time.

      So far Iran is sticking to it’s War Planning, which clearly the US knew but put little stock in thinking Shock and Awe would negate the Iranian Plan

      (even though in a set of War Games a Marine General playing the role of the Iranian side beat the US hands down by using alternative tactics such as what Iran is doing now – Pentagon called that loss outcome “irrelevant” I seem to recall, and dismissed it)

      Only way to get the Straits open for totally safe passage is boots on the ground INSIDE Iran, and remember to do that the entire shoreline distance needing to be covered is about 120 to 200 miles in length to some length inland.

      Now if we are willing to lose a ship here and there, ala like convoy losses in WW2, then ships could start sailing through right now under heavy air cover. Sure a few ships would be hit, a few sunk, but most would get through.

    • It seems to me that a significant number of the nations of the world are all in an orgy of destruction with no likely value to anyone. They’re destroying trillions in infrastructure and resources. All participating countries seem determined to bomb the entire world back into the stone age. Nobody will give up or lose, preferring to double down on destruction. Perhaps that’s the plan, sad though it is. People talk about a reset, but I cannot imagine maintaining world commerce at all if this continues. Boomers will continue to die off, taking their knowledge of the metal age with them. It’s depressing, and beyond avoiding being part of the problem, I don’t see what we each can do.

    • what did the military do ? eliminated
      The New York Post reported:

      “Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), told reporters in a press call that while Iran historically has deployed ‘between 20 and 40 small boats’ to threaten commercial shipping in the strait, ‘Today, we saw just six and eliminated them quickly’.

      ‘We have an enormous amount of capability and firepower concentrated in and around the strait, including 864 Apache and MH 60 Seahawk helicopters’, said Cooper, emphasizing that Iran’s military capability has been “dramatically degraded.”

      as reported here
      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/05/breaking-us-sinks-seven-iranian-small-boats-harassing/

    • another war mongering type . dont see the truth . yep put a red hat on and dance the YMCA with the king .. BB spinning the vinyl or the acting bloke

    • and as far as crossing lines . killing 170 little girls in a kindergarten with a cruise missile . or using babies as target practice for snipers on the gaza strip . these are acts that cross the line of gods creation , humanity

  21. Thanks for the thoughts George! I have a couple myself. I spent five years feeding water to the ground in hopes of growing something, with the ultimate dismal failures. Like money, you can only spend time once. I value not rushing, and enjoying each moment, though I am compelled to get some stuff done. Gardening, AI and introspection are time intensive, as are a dozen other challenges. Some say we can do anything in life, but not everything. I’m torn between tilting at windmills(figuratively) and producing value for myself and others. Gardening matters, but when pressed, triage is necessary. I back myself up with gardening supplies and available food, fuel, etc, to provide some freedom in time rather than dealing with emergent situations more than necessary. Hopefully I’ll be able to grow something, even if it’s just a pepper in a pot before the end of summer.

    Regarding AI, I have a computer allocated for that function, but not built out yet. Public AI guardrails are beyond annoying – they actively fight me. I don’t need a sermon from an AI every time I want to do something edgy. Setting up a good system takes more of that ever diminishing time, so it’s deferred to rainy days or perhaps evenings. BTW, I tend toward Linux – Mint or other Ubuntu variant. Do you have a preferred platform based on your own experience? I’d rather follow a path than break new ground with my current time constraints.

  23. ahh leave it alone . who knows who cares . its all strength by deception . they picked a fight with iran . now we gotta get it on . conventual weapons none of this nuke big dik stuff .. ok bb actor and donny king git it on

  24. Karachi Pakistan hit 114 degrees – their water infrastructure has collapsed. Residents are now helpless. [ according to a Pakistani news outlet ]

  25. OT, but George… have you seen the latest QST? Icom now has a solid state 1kw amp that you can plug into the 7300mkII that you still don’t have. No high voltage, ’empty-state’ electronics. All solid, all the way. Just saying…

    • But is it free? For the price of a 7300 along I get a Hermes Lite 2, Thetis s/w is still free, an intermediate amp, an SB-230 linear for 1000 pep and a lv switching box – with enough money left over to buy some accessories FOR LESS THAN A 7300 MK 2

  26. “And if you’re a fan of FPV (first person view) drone racing, here’s something to keep an eye on: Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence reveals components of Russia’s new AI-powered Klin drone with speed of 300 km/h. Yes, but does it support 8K graphics?”

    It was, perhaps, a year or two ago, there was a documentary TV segment (like a “60 Minutes” or “30 for 30” segment) about 20 minutes long IIRC, of a bunch of drone nerds who built an 8k drone that’d hang above a racecar’s tail and follow it around a track. I don’t recall much — it was something that was playing while I was working, so it just got glances. I believe the car was either Indy or F-1 because the drone had to be capable of sustaining flight at something insane, like 250 or 260 MPH (410KPH!) I believe it was more difficult to train the pilot than to actually build the drone…

  27. “Reader Ray gets honors for watching antics of the left in Los Angeles politics. Where Billboard Chris on X: “Spencer Pratt is really good at this. ”

    I shouldn’t.

    I suspect A.G. sees a lot more of these than I do.

    If Pratt doesn’t win, the election will cheat all the residents of the Basin. The dude is flat frickin’ funny and super entertaining — and he makes actual political points instead of the mixture of Trump-hate and bullshit that the other candidates vomit onto the L.A. voting electorate…

Comments are closed.