Before we get into Retail Sales, I want to announce the kickoff of the UrbanSurvival voicemail comment line.
903-740-0596
Go ahead, call. We love reader feedback, but sometimes you just don’t have time to write a comment online. You know, driving, between meetings. We get that life is busy.
Now, that’s no problem. Just call our voicemail comment section. Start by giving your name and then tell us what’s on your mind. When you do, your comment will be reviewed – and if appropriate, it will be posted like this:
All you need to do is supply the comment. To record, call the UrbanSurvival voicemailbox: 903-740-0596
Go on now, give it a try. Leave a comment. For someone like Andy, who has interesting comments, I figure it will be easier to do voicemail while grabbing gears rather than texting.
We’ll post audio comments a couple of times per week if enough people call in. Think of it like being a guest on talk radio. But with no host, no hold time, and no ads. Yeah, baby…power to the phone-in people.
Attention Elon Musk. This is how you will save Twitter, too. Call for where to mail the consulting check.
OK, Retail Then
Got the statistical confusalator warmed up? Time for the morning spin? Alright now…
“Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for June 2023, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $689.5 billion, up 0.2 percent (±0.5
percent)* from the previous month, and up 1.5 percent (±0.7 percent) above June 2022. Total sales for the April 2023 through June 2023 period were up 1.6 percent (±0.4 percent) from the same period a year ago.
The April 2023 to May 2023 percent change was revised from up 0.3 percent (±0.5 percent)* to up 0.5 percent (±0.2 percent).
See, here’s the deal with retail. Had retail come in higher, the odds of the Fed raising a 1/2 point would have gone up. More spending equals more economic activity and they of the Fed are trying to dial it back. Following?
Of course, the Fed’s going to raise anyway. Because the day after that decision next Wednesday (tje 26th) we get to Av 9 on the 27th (or 29th by the traditional Jewish calendar). That’s like a very, very bad juju day historically. Seat belts and barf bags ready?
Market reaction? With our short-term trading indicators rolling over half and hour before the close Monday, we are in position where a decline of some distance might be along right in this area. Maybe down a percent by Thursday?
Our Aggregate Index rallied to the top of the Wave 2 trend channel Monday to close at 38,742. Realizing that last month options Friday closed at 37,708, there’s an implied one-month gain of 2.7 percent. Which, honestly, seems a little hot. We still have an economy – but is it hotter than 3-months ago? Naw.
Manic rallies like this allow some clowns to simply buy a buttload of index options and make almost 3 percent in a month. Missed is that this also drives the annual rate of increase for the market (compounding the present monthly) up around 37 percent.
Which is so stupid, I just want to spit. We have the same (doddering) president, the poison pill VP, a split congress, and we’ve given up on the “Debt Ceiling Lie” because that blew up. (See where this is going? Hand me a skepticism pill. No, make it two.)
Truth on the Docks
“On the Waterfront” – remember it? 1954 classic Marlon Brando flick.
Not as pertinent to modern financial engineering as, say, the Port of Long Beach container cargo stats for June, maybe:
Not quite as much drop-off in the Port of Los Angeles numbers, but we wryly (really) take these numbers as not presactly screaming Growing Economy!
Naturlich, we are incapable of drinking enough of the Modern Monetary Theory Kool-Aid to understand how markets go up 37 percent with this kind of shit-for-numbers. Maybe I go on a magic mushroom tour with Janet Yellen, you think?
The Fed’s Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization will be out 15 minutes before the open. Thrills, chills, and spills?
Roll Me Some Snews
Dooby what-er’s?
See the article in GQ a few days back? How Dr. Dre and Hip Hop Helped End the Crack Era | GQ. They did? (Hmm. Gotta get my eyes and ears checked, I guess.)
Kerrying on the Climate Farce: Tackling climate crisis requires ‘new definition’ of China-US cooperation, John Kerry says. Yeah, sure, my butt. At least Greenpeace is in our (semi-rational) corner: China has already approved more new coal in 2023 than it did in all of 2021 — Greenpeace. And that was as of APRIL this year. What the floody buck is Kerry doing to us? Selling us out? “New definitions” is the left’s stock-in-trade. Means bait and switch.
Secretly I think I know the answer: He’s prolly confused by all this “equity” horseshit. See in equity speak, it’s OK to coal-shame the USA. Under EQUALITY, we would match China’s reductions on some set 1:1 (equal) level. If no ChiCom reductions, no consumer pain for us foreign devils in America. Nope, looks and smells like woke dopes at work, brothers and sisters. Kerry on. Nothing to think about here.
Which the Ameri-Left panders with stories like U.S., China discuss curbing coal usage and methane emissions. TALK IS CHEAP! It’s been all talk with China on climate for years and years… Jesus, people, get real! All China has to do is keep the Chinese food tours going and let us talk ourselves silly as they keep approving news Coal Plants. F8ck that. See how stupid ‘Merica has become? Any sweet song with do, here lately. FMTT. Disgusted with Kerry and Buyed ’em.
Pin the Label on the Donkey becomes Donkey pinning on labels? The Biden Administration Plans To Combat Cyberthreats In Smart Devices With A New Label. We’re not sure anyone who reads 2600 will give two rips about this the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark. Just more code to work. Where are we? Um, Volume 39 current and the polo shirts are back? 2600 POLO SHIRTS BACK IN STOCK | 2600. Ahem.
Speaking of data insecurity: Chinese hackers took email data in breach hitting U.S. government, cyber agency says – Washington Times. Surprised? Nope.
And no, you’re not invited: Coinbase CEO to Meet US House Democrats to Discuss Crypto. Half a satoshi bet on the side says the crypto peeps will tell the Dems how to make bank in return for…(come on, you ain’t stupid, are you?). Meanwhite BTC is in danger of slipping under $30,000 this morning. Equity markets to follow? Uh-huh, but a rally into the weekend maybe?
Side of War with That?
Leave it to Newsweek to untangle How Russian Forces Are Fighting Ukraine’s Counteroffensive. We balance this against reports like NATO planes land Ukraine to pick up dead and wounded: Russia bombed mercenaries and Western officers in Kharkiv and Ukrainians to launch massive attack on Crimea: British underwater robots blew up the Kerch Bridge – They knocked it out for months!. Expecting to get it back in operation (one lane) by September-ish. Criminy in the Crimea this fall. Stay tuned. Googles at the ready?
Around the Ranch: SMT Training Kit
Heathkit – which was the America electronics kit maker for decades is continuing its return. Got a note from them Monday that my Surface Mount Technology training kit should arrive this week. Picked up a pair of LCR tweezers on the cheap, too. ($2o on the Zon)
Been an interesting 74 years seeing the changes in electronics. Spanning from the period when single sideband (voice) was new stuff to now when literally a dongle and SDR++ or SDR# and you have a good radio.
Thing is nowadays, the components are getting so tiny, I’m using a 7-inch soldering microscope and – depending on how this actual training stuff works I may upgrade to a 10.1-inch scope.
Well into the second cup of tea, it strikes me that there has been a huge amount of progress and it just keeps compounding. 200-years ago, people could live a life in America where the biggest change might have been a new courthouse building going up. And that was it for local change.
Just here in the past hour I’ve got three new updates to roll into my various platforms. So, from a life of black and white TV to color to cable to streaming to phones to Starlink to whatever the next CES shows off.
A summer’s morning reflection on what’s it’s like to be older than microwaves and older than remotes for devices.
Yet despite the progress, is the air cleaner? (No) Is the food more nutritious? (No). Are the leaders of America any better? (Hell no) And are we more at peace? (Duh)
Sure, people 200 years ago didn’t have the same life expectancy we have today. But, when you back out 2200 hours per year of work plus another 250 hours of commuting time, do we really have any more “Personal Thinking Time” than we did in the shorter but more privately lived times?
Sure, we’ve added a ton of interesting trinkets, let no one doubt. I keep coming back to the idea that Humanity may have passed Peak Human Life in about 1960 in America – with other countries (where resource extraction is on a roll) and now going through the Big Quality Rollover. Stand by to slam violently into the edges of the Petri dish. With a side of famine, as well.
Certainly, something to think about, isn’t it? Trinkets, pollution, taxes, ESG nonsense and social. All to live in a more dangerous world among less trustworthy people than days of yore.
If this is progress? I’m going with Ned Ludd. More time for soul work and less time for software, thanks. Except here I am rolling out voice-to-web…which is all about software. Go figure! Damned we all are with internal contradictions.
One for the road: See the berberines for weight loss discussion in the comments of yesterday’s column.
Write when you get rich,
George@Ure.net
CNN people behind the scene, told us 2 yr ago, they would shift from covid to climate change as the people get
“covid fatique” at 5:30 in the video, they also claim credit for Trump losing the 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv8Zy-JwXr4
mom said “let them talk enough,,,,”
was ure worth reading,,, ure a 5 star guy, always sharing
Wee heeheehee dee heeheeheehee weeoh aweem away
a-weem weh,a-weem-weh..
in the outback, the sweltering hot outback, the luddite sleeps tonight..a-weem-weh
or is a wizard – magician ?
“Goats” operating in the 5th dimension, its what top “journalists” do today. They, are writers of conditionals, non-reality and fiction. There are no laws, there is no accountability, there will never be anything faintly resembling honesty, justice or transparency.
*The Second SUBJUNCTIVE – is the linguistic portal to unreality, uncertainty and prognostication. Da what?
“A grammatical Second Subjunctive mood in your text, or indeed just a word of a probably-maybe-if-then-perhaps modality, an unholy adverb like allegedly or likely or possibly, and the writer lets it be known that he entered the 5th dimension, the speculative metaverse of hypothetical thought, the fabled subjunctive and its way with uncertainty and boundless creativity.
“All top regime journalists in the world use unreality as a weapon. And now you know that too…T. Patterburg
EVERYTHING – frm MSM Was a lie, everything Top down.
WHO was Claas Relotius ? from university of bremen to CNN’s journalist of year award in 2014 – everything FAKE. Every article, report – FAKEY FAKE
This IS the current reality of globo homo kazarians – they dont want anybody to ever find out about all of the outrageous OUTRAGES they have commited in the name of baal/molech(theowl) and continue to devour as much Blood/Brains/Fluids as possible. See DUMB..lowest levels.
Hard to believe ? NOpe, what is hard to believe is all the people who go missing from our National Parks and/or hot spot tourist locations (hello Mrytle) every year.
Sure – they ALL just got lost and wandered off somewhere..
BCN. You mean like the Reverse Cramer effect? Or CRAMER NOTTED for all you Boolean fans of the Home Game.
LOL I’m surprised that the ministry of propaganda hasnt removed the below from search.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/05/jim-cramer-urges-investors-to-exit-crypto-its-never-too-late-too-sell.html
Following the Cramer NOTTED math, Your bags would be up over 90% over a six month time frame at the current BTC price fix.
Not Advice , please do your own homework.
Got Blockhain?
In “interesting times,” like today at this hour, Old Men like me sometimes recall Life in about 1985. (Yes I am that old…) (B.C. — Before Computers.) (Me? I had an Apple ][+ with TWO floppy diskdrives, and a Z-80 board. Later, since our clients were all BigKorps with a deep IBM-iron obsession, we went to early “PC” Compats.)
Before FAX was big, before anybody had e-mail. We only had tape-based answering machines.
Remember “DayRunners?” Divided-up smallish notebook (paper) things, with essentially all our life’s key data, calendar, Rolodex, notes and “project” notes. We ALL had one — us Yuppies On The Make.
Lose your DayRunner, you just about lost your life…
Today, we all “Do It On Cellphones.” Same thing: except even more dangerous to lose or to destroy one. Or get hacked…
Yet.. We managed We got stuff done. Projects got done, writings got writ, checks cleared (usually).
Life was quite livable in the days B.C.
Consider…
At literally anytime the ENTIRE cyberworld of data and comms COULD go “Hard Down” for a possibly long period of time. This would be one expected side-effect of a Big-Time-War. Chaos.
Just, consider how you’ll manage that environ.
3.999 Nite, 7299 Day. It won’t do everything, or it may not even do very much by today’s on-line standards. But it could do SOMETHING useful.
73
This is why the big surprise I felt when watching “Stranger Things” was nostalgia. I’d always associated that feeling with the 60s and early 70s before graduating high school. The constraints on what we could do back then, as opposed to now, is substantial even though we had no idea. We, instead, were feeling a new freedom of access to things we had not been able to see, hear or do before. Technology was working FOR us and not vice-versa. All we knew back then was the amazing stuff that was just making its appearance but it was still very much a hands-on World. Vehicles were totally understandable with or without a computer, governmental invasions of our privacy were conspiracy theories we could easily ignore except for those that were in the dark corners of the new Information Age and you could truly disappear if you really wanted to. At the very least, too, there was at least lip service paid to basic morals.
Embrace change in three simple clues.
1) https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/05/jim-cramer-urges-investors-to-exit-crypto-its-never-too-late-too-sell.html
1) What are those electric boots that Bennie is standing on?:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray_X-MP
Whats This? We can only prove the concept in slices? Not enough flops you say?When would Moores Law catch up? 3 decades? :
2) What motion would a bead wobbling down a slanted wire be making on the Phoenix “token”?
https://archive.org/details/the-economist-get-ready-for-a-world-currency
Perhaps in two dimensions its appears as a sine wave or ripple ?
3) Hmm what about that there number 10?….
Says here that Jackson Hole WY falls within The Fedral Reserves district “10” territory….
https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/gifjpg/structure_figure_1.3.jpg
The fact that the token is gold goes without saying. but its not the complete solution.
Last call for all Luddites. The train has left the station Just Ask Rosie.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/21/rosie-rios-on-crypto-investing-in-2022-train-has-left-the-station.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99hBxrSw-GU
Warning Youll never be able to unsee this one. LOL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8x0W-LsfQ
Got Blockchain? Not Advice do your own Homework.
Amost forgot the video material for question 1).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo1OwRTRKRk
Flashbacks… maybe those really WERE the ‘good old days’?
Does every generation go through these feelings? Seems like I remember my parents saying similar things.
Da, Comrade He’nk,
Why, can remember just a couple of years ago, when the lovely Natasha came into possession a 4 propeller drone of Chinese manufacture.
She was so delighted with its agility and picture taking functions, for documenting our family outings..such as Summer vacations in the Crimea.
Today – Natasha finds herself surrounded by Product 53’s..”fly my pretties, FLY! https://youtu.be/wJPIgsmX4G8
thats some amazing kit, no?
I still have my notebook!
the list..
someone asked..do you have your tablet that I can use a minute.. sure.. what I handed them wasn’t what they were expecting…
Now that’s funny. Rock, paper, idiots.
lately my computer is going back to Fresh Start standards. all of my programs be banished. all my files gone. just a blank new startup and I cannot reset it back to a previous date all of that is gone and it’s everyday when I boot it up it goes back to square one. now I’m thinking of going back to BC before computers and just getting rid of that damn thing. 99% of everything is done on the phone or on the tablet anyway. what I used a computer for was a checkbook. and I cannot recreate the checkbook. all the backups are gone everything
Here’s another example of how we are being watched.
For now it’s just bus lanes but as the chips get faster the eye will see deeper and keep track of more polygons in real-time. Outside of the camera zones will become high crime.
Santa Monica tests AI cameras for parking tickets
It’s an issue for cities across America: cars parked in bus lanes when they shouldn’t be.
Now, new AI camera technology is letting the buses themselves write tickets instantly.
Santa Monica recently tested the technology with their Big Blue Bus Line.
https://ktla.com/morning-news/santa-monica-tests-ai-cameras-for-parking-tickets/
interesting..is there an out of the camera spot???
almost everyone has a security cam..ring doorbells..
fire trucks and police vehicles have a signal generator that changes the traffic lights from red to green.. I wanted to put one in the buggy but didn’t..heck each traffic light has a camera..dash cams for cars and backup cams ..
you have wasp vans.. where every phone call goes through it before the tower..then the phones….cameras front and back..nanny cams. business cams. the grand daughter showed me something at xmas..she laid her phone on the Table. then just talked about weird things she was thinking of buying.. picket up her phone and every ad had to do with the odd stuff.. searching for wifi networks..you would be surprised… surveillance balloons. can cover a what five hundred mile radius..phone camera..whip out willy or squat and expose your sally.Sally.. it can and probably is..
I shared the co tents of one bill before congress years ago with 6 people I knew..( that hadn’t even opened the emails) and got a friendly reminder that if they wanted to know it they should look it up themselves and am now u -authorized and restricted from reading them at the congress library . why should I be that curious if the people that should be could care less. considering that..China turned on everyone’s phone microphone and camera..surveillance systems were hi jacked my thought was it was a show of force and capabilities..
considering that..the only unsecured spot in the usa seems to be the white house that can’t find out who left their cocaine laying around with a limited visitor list..
Re: Pax
feat.: Roman goddess of Peace
Folks,
“Vatican News” reported yesterday that the Pope dispatched his peace envoy cardinal to Washington to “promote peace in Ukraine”. The White House schedule reflects that the President will meet His Eminence at 5:00 pm today. The WH suggests that discussions will be about “widespread suffering caused by Russia’s brutal war in the Ukraine”.
One imagines any cola refreshment offered in the oval office will no longer be of the plastic bag presentation variety as seen in Asia.
perhaps some wine from the Papal collection, Vin Mariani
pairs well with liddle kidz
https://allthatsinteresting.com/vin-mariani
the other brother Darrel,
That’s a splendid choice of drink for Happy Hour! Surely the WH bunkers will have a cache of Bordeaux from which to siphon from matched with West Wing leafy powders blending towards a superb Cardinal cocktail.
re: where is Chinese FM?
feat.: Er-kin goes to Washington
Folks,
As questions swirl as to the whereabouts of the Chinese foreign minister, the “London Times” ponders a possible connection with the unmarried Dame Fu Xiaotian OSI lately of Hong Kong and previously of London. Dame Fu’s television programme, “Talk with World Leaders” enjoyed a loyal following. The founder of her Hong Kong employer was Macau’s wealthiest person and left 17 children from one spouse and three concubines. The largest shareholder of the Hong Kong media firm is now the Chinese finance ministry.
https://twitter.com/xiaotianphoenix/status/1645553461428101124
re: “Magic Mirror”
feat. Brothers Grimm
Folks,
Break out your tinfoil hats. Around the time of the FM’s birthday spent in Moscow, Ms. Fu tweeted an interesting picture of herself and baby besides that of ” ‘Daddy’s’ ($15 million? SoCal) house”. There were baby play blocks with Chinese characters. Google and Yandex came up with ?, ?, ?, 8, eye, happiness.
OCR went a little bit berserk:
barking,
smoke,
do not mistake my meaning,
broken,
Pachelbel Canon/Soviet anthem,
fracture,
home (China) dragon, sound of drums.
Interestingly the surname “Fu” appears in the Song dynasty childrens’ text “The Hundred Family Surnames”.
An old and now “forbidden” article by the “Peoples Daily” points to the importance of a surname vis-a-vis Chinese genetics.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220816062510/http://en.people.cn/200601/13/eng20060113_235293.html
Let’s join DJ George all set to preface the overnight ride with a stirring Praeludium by Buxtehude from St. Marien, Marburg.
https://youtu.be/fwXfyWsXhDQ
I do that .soda or drinks in plastic bags and cans..I love the clear soda cans..
https://m.alibaba.com/product/1600713043783/Wholesale-250-330-500-ml-plastic.html?spm=a2706.7843667.0.0.538e7da3YCcx5S&prepage1=enalibaba%3A%2F%2FoneSight%3Fbiz%3Dseo%26keyword%3Dpet%20cans%20for%20beverage
Thanks for the trip down memory lane William. I am old enough to remember and treasure all those experiences. I actually had a Commodore 64 with cassette tape. Bet you can write cursive too.
I expect the entire cyber world to go hard down. Just a matter of time. Keeping my pen and paper handy to write about it all for future generations.
When cleaning out the attic, I found two (2) Commodore 64’s. I’m hanging on to them. I’m not as sentimental about old PC’s. I might have a couple in the garage somewhere, but eventually I will pull the drives and send them away.
The C-64 we had in the back corner of the garage was snatched by our son faster than you can say “spit” when he found out we still had it. He’s suddenly found a hobby (trying) to restore these old things and having some success at it. The monitor had bit the dust but I think he managed to hook up an old CRT TV to it and played some games on it. Glad to see someone else in the family delving into electronics at least a little bit.
I have a few old pcs and a Mac or two collecting dust in storage. I figure they could be useful for later projects. If nothing else, useful for target practice. Lately, when whatever disposable bit of current tech becomes broken beyond repair, I’ve taken to allowing my son to dismantle it to play with the components. He’s become curiously creative about repurposing it. Mostly to further his ambitions in making fun toys for his airsoft hobby. So far, he and his dad have developed field-safe booby trap trip wires, cannons with whistling nerf bombs, and currently brainstorming timed bombs, all while fined tuned to NOT hurt anyone. I see airsoft as a teen’s version of dodgeball, so I’ve no issues with it. Also, he keeps this up, and I smell a future business endeavor in a lucrative niche market.
I remember when my friend .. in the military and I were thinking of buying an old computer from government surplus.. just to play chess.. we could have gotten it for two hundred dollars.. it was from the pentagon.. LOL.. the thing was to big for the apartment we lived in in alexandria.. and it had a whopping five K of memory.. later I got a comodore twenty.. and the floppy drives.. some place I still have a slew of the five inch floppy disks..
when the internet came up.. we went to K-Mart..they had blue light dial up.. free with ad’s.. loved it.. flying downloads.. LOL LOL LOL took a day to download one picture LOL.. or to get logged on.. those were the days.. today I believe the phone has more memory..
I have one of those expensive phones.. 19.95 tracfone LOL LOL toss it out get a new one every year.. my monitor is a big one now.. I think it is a seventeen inch one from twenty years ago.. my computer.. I paid two hundred for it .. and I don’t plan on updating again.. it dies and so does the internet..
George
I reviewed the Heath learning material on surface mount devices. Very interesting.
I see that there using the old style BJT transistors. While they are still viable as a technology I have switched to MOSFET technology as much as possible. This technology is a lot easier to bias and turn on.
In addition you can get power mosfet’s that can handles hundreds of amps and fit in the space no larger than a nickel!
Look up Nexperia for these parts. I am currently using a Nexperia PSMN3R3-80PS in a dc pulsed power handling design. This 220 case part can handle up to 120 amps in pulse mode operations. Cooling of course is required!
No more BJT’s for me!
Wow huge differences! Thanks!
George
Almost forgot!
You need to know about running transistors in parallel. This is very important for high power applications like motor drives.
It can be done with old style BJT’s but requires matched pairs. It’s easier with mosfet’s and Nexperia sells a line of power mosfet’s made just for that purpose.
The important detail about running mosfet’s in parallel is the turn on voltage curve of each transistor. What is wanted is that each transistors turn on voltage curve lay on top of the other transistors curve. They need to match to avoid a run away situation. How the transistors are mounted is very important as they need to be at similar temperatures.
Info on this topic can be found in Application Notes from the various transistor vendors.
Thanks – very sensitive to this design issue already/ Since it is what kills so many home solar power systems. The feeds have to be arranged in such a way all strings (in multi string bank) see equal lead length. Like matching the linear amp tubes, as well. Good tip – and as always, thank you.
Thanks for the memories. Mine include:
Polly 88, Commodore 64 (SN700), Intel 4040, STD Bus, Fairchild’s weekly new IC releases, & KayPro 2.
It was a fascinating and challenging decade.
Remember buying the new tech thru the Tiger Direct catalog, and that other one, thick as a department store catalog it seems? Every generation has its new age bible. My first one was The Whole Earth Catalog.
The other one is Computer Discount Warehouse — CDW…
But THEN there was Computer Shopper — 400 or 500-some pages every month of 11×14 inch geekness. It’d have multiple 12+ page “sale pages” from CDW, Tiger Direct, and a bunch of different “Micros” (Micro Age, Micro Direct, etc.) and I would read it cover-to-cover every month, looking for trends of what I should be building & selling, but wasn’t.
Fond memories of my Osborne 1 with to 5 1/4″ floppies and a 5″ screen and a 300 baud modem that enabled me to get a dissertation done despite a chair with OCD. To buy the computer and a daisywheel printer cost over 10% of my annual salary at the time. I lusted after a colleague’s Kaypro with its larger green screen. My data analysis was done inputing to mainframes on cards. Turnaround was usually overnight.
Times change. I’m currently in Costa Rica with a 5G phone, streaming video, and free calls to and from the USA. But if the net goes down, I would lose both communications and, most likely, ATM access. In some ways, 1980 was better and it was almost certainly more resilient to catastrophes, both manmade and natural.
Remember when we had to order the IT stuff from paper catalogs like TigerDirect and that other really thick one that was like the Sears catalog for electronic stuff? Every generation has its new age bible. I remember discovering the Whole Earth Catalog before the computers started taking over. These days, I’m more focused on keeping things working than on buying new toys.
“U.S. Cyber Trust Mark”
Nice ecosystem.
Biden-?Harris Administration Announces Cybersecurity Labeling Program for Smart Devices to Protect American Consumers
“The Biden-Harris Administration today announced a cybersecurity certification and labeling program to help Americans more easily choose smart devices that are safer and less vulnerable to cyberattacks.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/07/18/biden-harris-administration-announces-cybersecurity-labeling-program-for-smart-devices-to-protect-american-consumers/
since we all already know that this administration has not always been on the up and up with everyone.. I wonder what they are doing with this..
“I wonder what they are doing with this..”
“The Biden-Harris Administration today announced a cybersecurity certification and labeling program to help Americans more easily choose smart devices that are safer and less vulnerable to cyberattacks.”
It will allow shady tech marketers to be “held harmless” in the event they sell da kiddies Chinese spyware like Ulefone, Xiaomi, and OnePlus phones (Honestly, I almost said fuggedit and bought a OnePlus Nord with a Hassleblad camera, anyway, but decided China didn’t need hi-res shots of things I might find captivating.)
Notice the announcement says “Biden-Harris Administration?” Somebody is beginning the task of grooming the American public to accept a President Kammy, should it become necessary…
Considering how transparent the current administration is, and how passed bills with word like patriot or safety in them work the opposite of touted explanation, I’m a little suspect of the US cyber trust mark being anything trustworthy.
When (ok, “if”) cyberworld goes Hard Down from hostility, it will BE down for a long time — AND the attacks will not cease, keeping things under constant barrage.
Well-educated children will do disproportionately well in that world, along with us Olde Duffers who know (remember) how to run things without our personal Tri-Corders.
The less educated, and those who can’t function without all our Hi-Tek Krappe, will work for us, and NOT be very upwardly mobile.
I have a box full of various length analogue computersliding thingamadoodles that will keep me in engineering biz when all the electronics is down. These and my Dads old books of interest rates and what did they call the other? Oh, Loga-Rhythms. (I can hear Janet Jackson marching and singing now: We All live in the Loga-Rhythm Nation!)
After All, that is how my Dad was Project Manager for the VooDoo at Macdonald (not the burger joint, and before it was MacDac), and how Huntsville put Man on the Moon.
Uh, I dasn’t remember “Hello Huntsville.” We ALL REMEMBER
“HELLO H O U S T O N”
Nothing wrong with being the Crimson Tidelands. Just remember which state invented (and may have occasionally inverted) Dallas Cheerleaders!
After listening to all the slide rule freaks, I think I am going to put a solar calculator in the shielded storage.
I may keep my working model in a dry bag, like I do the portable radios.
I’m thinking this will be the weekend for the quarterly battery recharging session.
You haven’t already?
I get “get away from me you crazy old nutjob” looks, every time I tell someone that someday, the guy or gal with that $4 solar calculator will be king…
I not only have a solar calculator in the can, but one of my old TI Business Analyst calculators, as well.
Maybe I should retract my ‘nothing-burger’ comment about TS CALVIN of yesterday when it was looking rather ragged. It seems to have re-bloomed with moisture close to us, and rainfall estimates for Hilo have increased in the past 12 hours again. Now saying possibly a foot of rain.
http://weather.hawaii.edu/satellite/anim.cgi?chnl=13&domain=haw&satplat=goes17&platform=full&anim=on&duration=3&incr=1
Here will be a real treat for weather watchers in the next 18-24 hours. The eye will pass south of the Big Island, probably close enough to be seen on the South Point weather radar. Watch as all the rain gets scraped off to the east side of the island, and leaves a naked, spinning low pass by south of the island. Yes, we’ve seen this before.
http://weather.hawaii.edu/radar/lvl2anim.cgi?radar=composite&base=NCR&banner=uhmet
Currently overcast and a bit breezy. Hurricane watch party time now!
CNN has an article about some divers who discovered a large oar fish in shallow waters off NE Taiwan. I wonder if the hot water out of Fukishima is gravy for Godzilla?
Hawaii Close view:
http://weather.hawaii.edu/satellite/anim.cgi?chnl=13&anim=on&domain=haw-zoom&platform=hawaii&incr=1&duration=3&debug=off&imgtime=202307181820&overlays=off
Mr Emeralight,
We have found the culprit. We have id’d the presact reason Bitcoin goes to a $1,000,000.00 in Ure lifetime. The same reason The Deeply InDebted States of America IS being destroyed from the inside – DESTROYED.
No military, no nukes, no guns…JUST DEBT.
TITS & Toes UP, 6 feet under.
Look at the US 2022 Budget Report. Inside of this report are links to tons of govt fin information. Next release is Oct 23- announing in Sept.
Of greatest importance is the Net Interest Line (debt held by public) . This one batshit crazy line item from linked(in front of report)-Treasury Reports shows net interest is Scaling Exponentially.
One moar time – Scaling Exponentially..was $42 billion a month expense/paid in 2022. Today it is $60 billion a Month in Net Interest. Next year will be $100 billion a Month.
Best part of the report – the graphs showing forecast Net Interest paid into future – chart is already Way,way,way off. Scaling exponentially looks like a parabola..nah f that , looks like a Elevator going up..
Crusty the clownpresident spending like a drunken sailor on his nazi-homo buddies…how much oil is left in strategic reserve? Sell Low, Buy High =genius!
Sure hope the crops come in as forecasted , as Mother Russia has again said Nyet! to any further ukey grain deal bullscheisse.
Struggle bus is outside waiting – cant decide to Buy more BITF at current levels, or wait for possible pullback to moving average lines (50/128/200) before taking another big byte. BTC consolidating – see a path higher coming out the consolidation. There is a path lower as well, but im ignoring that..hopfully it goes away..
See the Pound ? See the USD compared to ? MRI top is in on the pound..prolly going Down next month…hmmmm
* scheisse so bad the MONEY behind Sound of Freedom – are from the biggest globalist pedo perv organiztions and people on da planet – Right “Slim”, right clinton foundation(do the due diligence)..movie is intended to Control the Narrative as moar and moar of their subhuman/demonic ass behavior comes to Light.
I’ve always thought of the world economy as a grande scaled game of Monopoly and that we’re now in the final stages of the game where somebody sucks up all of the deeds and money. Not sure what comes after as it would just be a matter of throwing away the old currency and replenishing the banks with new ones. Oh, wait, isn’t that what e-coin is for? Do’oh!
Not sure what comes after”
“You’ll own nothing and be happy…”
BCN , ure duffed by Gordon Duffy and ‘VT’. He smells like CIA,,, never Trumper is against all things MAGA.
he puts confusion in weak minds, presenting two opposites as both being true, standard proceedure from the clowns, ya need a scheisse filter
They is scared by “Sound of Freedom”
he reminds me of the Lincoln project losers,,, RINOs all around
“Treasury Reports shows net interest is Scaling Exponentially.”
make sure you have a nice big bag of popcorn..it’s gotta be a dandy…lol
ha! cooool. great idea! love it.
per my other post. i think THE DUDE will hang my Art on HIS fridge with the assortment of cosmic alphabet magnets.
pretty fun stuff.
love the voice mail line. i will give it a try. i met a beautiful blonde lady, (its whole nother story.) but she bought a 100 acres in the mountains over in wyoming at the end of a really long dirt road. building a completely off grid self safficiant minning cabin up there next to a lake. wood stove, solar power, and wind garden, hunt and fish. wants to get some cows, chickens, a few horses. so when the shit hits the fan, you need nothing that the earth doesnt aleady give you. and the city folk wont find ya for a very long time. pretty cool idea.
i said, i thought you were in bellair., doing big buisness and modeling. she said after mr hefner died i had the most vivid dream the economy collapsing, and all these people turned into zombies and those that didnt were killing each other and looting and everthing was on fire. it was so real. i woke up sweating and shaking.
she said i dismissed it. but i had the same exact dream 3 times. so i sold everything and now am building this place in the mountains. where i dont need power, groceries, water or sewer serivices or anything. i can grow my own food, my water and power are free and i have enough in a bank account to pay taxes on my property every year for 30 years.
so im going to go check it out. she is fucking beautiful too. red head. well, now blonde.
see ya man. love the voice mail thing. very cool.
i need to be still for a while. my art creation is complete. i lived it. savor its beauty. and think about what next to make.
like you on your 3d printer. i make life the same way. its an art. :)
“U.S. retail and food services sales for June 2023, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $689.5 billion, up 0.2 percent (±0.5
percent)* from the previous month, and up 1.5 percent (±0.7 percent) above June 2022. ”
Hmm.. I wonder where these guys were shopping to get figures like that.. LOL LOL surly not at the local grocery store LOL LOL
I buy the same things repetitively… once a month shopping.. my list wasn’t any different than it usually is..
I shop at the same stores .. best value for the dollar..
so what did I see.. sticker shock.. from last month to this month.. Lets take PEA’s.. as only one example.. I paid last month .47 cents a can.. this month… 1.79 per can.. it was that way on almost everything except canned chicken.. what use to be 1.69 was just up fifty percent.. so my question is.. did they just misplace the decimal point.. on those estimated increases in prices..
OH amazon prime.. I ordered a candy panner.. my thought was our city has founders day parade.. and they have booths set up.. etc.. so my thought was that I was going to take out the corn cannon and the extruder get the panner have the local print shop make me a sign saying cannon corn.. and then set up a table where I could show the people how it was done.. and then have little snack cups and bags free donations only.. the donations would be for the local pool repairs.. only to get shot down.. seems they wanted me to get a health department venders license and a local venders license from the community..
then today I find out that the company from china selling on Amazon cancelled the order that they had told me they already shipped.. so far lately any company that sells stuff on amazon from china or another country is getting cancelled long after the order has been placed..
It is probably a good thing though.. the wife would have shot me if I had gotten another kitchen gadget..
I did talk to amazon asked them why lately any product that isn’t in their warehouse and gotten from another country is being cancelled..
Putting number in my phone. I talk for a living.
You may be on to something Mr. Ure.
“Heathkit – which was the America electronics kit maker for decades is continuing its return.”
Hmmm, might be time to get a new Heathkit shirt to go with my old Heathkit shirt…
IO dunno – a 2600 polo is more stylish and might get you a DHS tail…
…Already have one, and a matching CypherPunks hat (but you probably guessed that.)
Speaking of, I had no idea that Bitcoin bought the rights to “Cypherpunks” in 2007 and turned it into a commercial sellout, nor that after the sale Bitcoin pushed a rep for the ‘Punks as elit3 h4ck3rz.
We broke stuff, then fixed it, but we didn’t break other people’s stuff — we broke our own. I was one of the ones who fixed stuff and then monitored the ports & streams to see if anyone could hack my fixes. We were not political or anarchist, other than believing the Internet should be for the free flow of information — ALL information.
It truly saddens me to see the once great security team sold into being nothing more than a kitschy label by which Bitcoin can make a buck on sales of merch I wouldn’t be caught dead, wearing.
Now, I’m afraid to research the last 25-year history of 2600, the FSF, and EFF…
everyone has been giving me guff over not teaching the youngest what I taught the oldest…
( some of that stuff I taught could be dangerous..and I don’t want anyone to get hurt..)
so..
in searching for a good grandpa grandchild project..I came up with a Tandy kit..
https://tandyleather.com/products/sneaker-starter-pack
it’s not dangerous and seriously..how many kids go and make their own shoes..
I believe I still have a shoe horse..and I have the tools to be needed..
speaking about the family giving me guff for not showing the little ones what I showed the older..
my newest order from Amazon came today…net shuttles…
easy project I’ll show them how to make nets.. fishing nets..
I was going to show them how to make a hammock..but the string I have isn’t thick enough..if they learn the basics though..they can make the hammock later
“A summer’s morning reflection on what’s it’s like to be older than microwaves and older than remotes for devices.
Yet despite the progress, is the air cleaner? (No)”
That depends. If one measures air quality from the advent of microwaves, it certainly is. Measured from the point of the invention of the McCormick Reaper, probably not so much…
“Yet despite the progress, is the air cleaner? (No)”
and..as we expand urban living at 55 acres a minute and our population is growing.. our leaders need to pull their heads out of….
and fo something..like greenscape the cities, co2 filters on lampposts and solar towers to expand our grid starting at the furthest point going back to the power plant..promote solar to home owners freezing their rates for ten years if the put one in.. in the more vulnerable areas..put air wells and cisterns
2AM local update from the Big Island… from the eastern ‘tip of the spear’ it looks like we smashed another storm. I see the rotating eye pass south of us on the radar, and the mountains totally shredded this storm as it toppled over to the north. Not much more than a off-and-on rainy night here with a little breeze. Will measure the rain bucket after sunrise, but I would guess not more than a few inches of rain overnight… which is not unusual for us.