Retailing Crazy, Monday Bets, Dental Retrograde

by

(Let’s all take a deep breath and shake-off any possibility of Earthquake Tireds and hope everything remains -whatever passes for- normal over the weekend….)

About That Trump Win…

I wasn’t ready for the Reality we’re in now.  Maybe you weren’t either?  What I refer to is having a President-Elect who is hawking Trump Sneakers – and on another add targeting True Believers – with an ad selling Trump Watches. It’s all a bit, well, fictionalized.  In other words, Sci-Fi? Not quite but then again, maybe.  I wasn’t, um, expecting it.

But it gets us to mention next week’s Wednesday Peoplenomics report I’m starting to scribble on already.  It’s about how people live their lives by the wrong metrics.  And there’s a HUGE lesson seen in Trump. Because while most of us live our daily existence with a focus on money, Trump’s got some other “action” going.  Because when he wants (or needs) more money, he just finds the closest, convenient way to make more money and runs with it.

Elaine and I were talking about this at wine-time last night and it’s our considered opinion that people mess up their Goals with what they think are the Obstacles to it.  And this is where our “downscaling” decision a quarter century ago is still paying huge dividends.

Elaine had remarked “I love it here…” In our wine-time room, another small herd of deer (4-5 of ’em, large does) were wandering through the yard.  A perfect sunset and all that.  Sitting out here in the woods on 30 very private acres, we can still live (comfortably) on less than $20,000 a year.

But understand, this all stems from a certain “clarity of Goal” process.  We wanted the results we were after: Verdant, no stress, near total privacy, great health, and so forth.  What we specifically DIDN’T focus on was money..

If there’s a “hidden lesson to Trump” it may come from observing that he has a near monomaniacal focus on Objectives.  In his mind, if an Objective will take a little more money, he will go hawk sneakers and watches.  Frankly, I wish he’d bring back the Trump Vodka while he’s at it. That was fun.

But society gets people “Trapped.”  It’s almost like going out for a steak dinner and being served “just the sizzle” on your platter.  “Hey, where’s my Steak???”  Only to have your server inform you that “The Steak is extra…you just ordered the Sizzle.”

Over my three-quarters of a century, that theme – people living for the sizzle, not the underlying meat and potatoes – has occurred more times than I can count.

Status.  It’s a mirage. You can see its roots when Detroit started loading Blacks up with excessive auto loans throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  More recent example include what’s gone on with home prices and interest rates.  Shoving people into homes that may – or may not – be worth more in the future.

We should pause in today’s discussion for a peek at…

Retail Sales

…figures that are just out.

Advance Estimates of U.S. Retail and Food Services
Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for October 2024, adjusted for seasonal variation
and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $718.9 billion, an increase of 0.4 percent (±0.5 percent)* from the previous month, and up 2.8 percent (±0.5 percent) from October 2023. Total sales for the August 2024 through October 2024 period were up 2.3 percent (±0.5 percent) from the same period a year ago. The August 2024 to September 2024 percent change was revised from up 0.4 percent (±0.5 percent)* to up 0.8 percent (±0.2 percent)

So what the Fed did with its lowering was jack up car sales?

Market Futures earlier were pointing to a down ending to this week and that’s where the headline about Monday’s Bets turns interesting.

If the market can “shake-off” the soft early going today, maybe it can hold off further declines until next Tuesday, or so.  Fact, now that we have (settled for now) on the yellow trend channel in our Daily Aggregate Index work, we can see to where a mid-channel support line is at hand.  So nothing would be surprising about early weakness and maybe a small mid-channel bounce for a day or two.

With Bitcoin trying to scale the $90,000 level for a second run, and with Asian stocks weak here and there (though the N225 rallied 107) and the price of gold and silver confused over inflation, it’s a very interesting wager for next week.  Except that we aren’t even halfway done with the present decline says one of our indicators (a differential moving average oscillator) but let’s do that part in tomorrow’s ChartPack on the Peoplenomics side.

Back to point: Some people work on Outcomes while other people get sucked into working on Incomes.

Stu’s Risk Assessment

While we’re on this Trumperian Objectives and Outcomes versus Incomes and Outgoes framework, it’s important to remember that every “view” brings along its “pet peril.”  In other words, have a look at (Nostradamus expert) G.A. Stewart’s fresh article today “Worms Half Dead Without Finding a Root” and you can see the risk, I think.

You can almostgrasp how an excessive committed (to an objective) person might be inclined to make certain human resources errors.  They don’t have to, though.  The option is to modify or change the Objective.  And that’s where the psychological backplane turns from High Achiever to High Achiever Turned Sour.

We’re not saying that Trump’s persona will make the same level of mistakes as other (historical) Objective Overdosers (Napoleon, Hitler, Kahn…the list goes on). But there’s a bit of study warranted here.  Which – put in context – is how we got to Intelligent Downscaling.  Owning 30 acres free and clear in a Big Urban area would have required too much “selling out” and average healthspan remaining would likely mean not achieving goal.

But you see, redefining the Goal a bit (and there are good reasons to move your personal version of Superman’s Fortress AWAY from big urban areas) made is achievable for us more than 20-years ago.  Leaving us a whole bunch of time to enjoy, tweak, savor, and do other things…

It would be fascinating to look at the “real” goals of DJT. Because who is in his inner circle may run to that old Arab proverb: “The enemy of my Enemy is my Friend.”  Goals (and commitment to them, and inflexibility once a plan is “set”) drive people (and has throughout history) to make HR decisions best generalized as “strange bedfellows.”  Now, go reread Stu’s piece with this in mind and try it on for size as a “thinking template.”

No, we didn’t buy the Sneakers.  I’m thinking about the watch. Ready to buy the Vodka.  (Got that in an IV?)

Still the watch could be useful if it came with no numbers on it.  I want one that has just one marking on it:  Old.  What “number on the way to Older” is not as important.  Depending on urgency of commitment to Objective, it goes without saying.

(Is this the part I tell you “Money doesn’t make you happy but the successive achivement of goals does?)

Back to Ruminewsings

(Ruminating on news, following?)

Is Ukraine building a Nuke?  Have a look at Donald Trump’s choices ‘catastrophic’ WW3 impact on Ukraine and Europe amid revenge fears. Now, think back to that part in MIB (the movie) where Tommy Lee explains “You need to look in the tabloids….” Sometimes the truth comes from odd places first…

Bad time to be in the (industrial waste) fluoride industry, looks like. As Trump picks vax-sceptic RFK Jr to head US health dept. But will he listen on other topics like Citizens Demand Investigations Of Hospital Covid Deaths?

Speaking of Health: Why are over 800mln adults worldwide living with diabetes without treatment?  Wait.  Don’t tell me.  Has something to do with money, distribution between rich and poor, and power and control over people who need to die early to “make the numbers work”?

Back on Trump HR – it’s amusing to see the tainted headlines about the Interior Secretary pick: Trump Picks Big Oil Ally and Drilling Enthusiast Doug Burgum for Interior Secretary. Like being a Big Oil ally is bad?  “Drilling enthusiast” might just mean energy development supporter and I’m not sure how that’s so awful (except to lefties) because it does generate jobs and lower costs for actual non-partisan working people.

Caught in the Lie?  Yeah, sure looks that way since we pointed out there was no reason to lower rates 3/4ths of a percent when inflation is still on a roll.  See the Fed Boss’s mea culpa in Fed Chair Jerome Powell says central bank in no rush to reach ‘neutral rate’.  Gee, tell me again, how do you spell BS?

South Africa government’s on our shit list:  South Africa won’t help trapped illegal miners : NPR. So people unable to provide for their families who went into illegal mining have been boxed in like rats and are being slowly killed?  My, ain’t that government grand?  (Say, wasn’t this the same government that tried running off most White farmers in S.A. over race?  Sorry, off prompter there…)

At the Ranch: Dental Retrograde

Captain Gooding has been delayed – unforseeable, yada, yada.  Monday or on the Captain Gooding (Rational Tribe) site over the weekend.

Also an apology because it was early this morning before a lot of the Thursday comments were approved and posted.  This is because Ure is having the “molar mounted” version of “just before Retrograde. Therein, a story.

Confused?  (Of course, you are!)  After 75 years, patterns in your life will become apparent.  In mine, bad shit happens  2-4 weeks prior to Mercury going Retrograde.  And that will happen from Nov 25th to  Decemberr 15th.  If you aren’t clued in to the Retrograde thing, see What Does ‘Mercury in Retrograde’ Mean? Everything to Know.

So last weekend, I got a minor toothache. Molar monument with a gold crown on it.  Turns out the nerve down under has decided to croak and in the process it is hurting like hell. Which set’s off a whole cause and effect thing.

Means next week, a different tooth will be worked on my schedule. And the week after, my consigliere gets to come along on a trip to the Big City (Tyler, Texas) where an endo-somethingorother is going tow perform another root canal on my wallet.

Two things piss me off about all this.  First, I was ready for just about anything else that could have possibly gone wrong.  Been working on all the deferred maintenance items on my To-Do list.  Blind-sided by the tooth and that leads me to wonder if people have more dental issues just before the National Eating Too Much holidays (Turkey, Christmas (ham or roast beef), and New Years *(open menu).

I know – weird thing to be pondering on, but I am now chomping down pennecillin and (whoo-hoo!) painkillers. Which is a huge change from microdosing CBD, but let’s not go there.

Do dental issues cluster ahead of holidays, we wonder?  Could the ADA pump up a kind of dental indicator like the Princeton EGGS?

Something for you to chew on, since I’m not in the mood. I have to write a memo to my stomach that reads “No, Mouth has not been killed  or blown-up by terrorists, why are you asking?”

OK, off to nap and see if it’s the Earthquake Tireds or just all the excitement of New Drugs!  Great weekend for our Atlantic-Blue Note collection, huh?

Speaking of Blue Note collections, a snappy entry on Wikipedia: “Producer Bob Porter of Prestige Records once said that “The difference between Blue Note and Prestige is two days’ rehearsal.” Blue Note paid artists to rehearse…  As AI explains:

“Blue Note’s policy of paying for rehearsal time was intended to improve the quality of the final recording. For example, John Coltrane’s band was paid for rehearsal time on his 1958 album Blue Train, which resulted in a crisp performance of Coltrane’s challenging originals. “

No, Take the A Train was Ellington’s signature piece.  The John train was to his last name (“‘trane’).

You know who else was on Blue Note?  Bobby Hutcherson. In fact, pull up Hutcherson at 21:48 here and compare it with the Herbie Hancock version of Maiden Voyage.  Oh, and speaking of Hancock, the Ahmad Jamal cover of Dolphin Dance is relaxing, too…  Not too far “out there” but enough so as to help thinking without hijacking attention.

OK, no more jazz notes, we’ve readed the back page of Rolling Stoned…’lil nitrous with that?  (Sure you want the trading platform up???)

Write when I get rich,

George@Ure.net

70 thoughts on “Retailing Crazy, Monday Bets, Dental Retrograde”

    • ‘What happened in Samoa? Kennedy and his anti-vaccine nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, reportedly spread anti-vaccine falsehoods in Samoa after its government had temporarily suspended its MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination program owing to the death of two babies because nurses had wrongly prepared doses. A year later, a measles outbreak killed 83. Kennedy denies responsibility.’
      https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/15/first-thing-rfk-jr-condemned-as-clear-and-present-danger-after-trump-nomination

      Covid vaccinations saved 1.4 million lives in Europe:
      https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/16-01-2024-covid-19-vaccinations-have-saved-more-than-1.4-million-lives-in-the-who-european-region–a-new-study-finds

      p.s. on the quakes, one week after Full Moon Perigee, 1906 quake San Francisco happened, one week before Full Moon Perigee, Japan 2011 quake, one week after Perigee, Oct 19th 1989 San Francisco quake, were not out of the woods yet…

      • The only problem I have with the civic vaccine is they lied to us.. and without adequate testing of the use of graphics oxide as a nano drug carrier.. they should have informed everyone that this was an experimental use to see if it worked before dispensing its use.
        https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S174270611300408X
        my ex wife had an experimental IUD the dalkon shield..
        the doctors all told us it was perfectly safe to use.. it ended up to be a nightmare situation and sent us down the path to misery with extremely expensive medical costs and a lot of internal organ issues including cancer.. insurance companies ( the Baine of my existence) refused to pay any of the expenses associated with it. the company just like this time with the civic vaccine got a pass from congress.. insurance companies will not be held liable for any future law suits on issues created by the experimental vaccine.
        to me that also gives the insurance industry the same legal right to refuse to pay.
        how many lives will be affected because they out and out lied..
        https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21080682/
        as a self replicating unit there’s a variety of ways this one molecule can affect people differently from the clots to DNA ..
        https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23369286/
        at one time I had played with the idea of playing with graphs to make a graph end sheet to see how well it collected free floating electromagnetic ion’s. But didn’t because of its potential toxicity. not having a proper workshop or lab equipment or the funds to obtain what i would need I would have to Spearament with randomly available CRAP…
        Now don’t get me wrong I don’t have anything against new technology or implementation of new tech. but tell the people up front what your doing and using and then if it caused physical health issues then cover those expenses.. to destroy a young persons life because of negligence is not the right way to deal with it.
        when I worked day labor..and scooped radioactive dirt into a bucket because of a hot water spill.. I would have still done the job..but they should have told us the risks..instead only management had TBE safety gear on and was an appropriate distance from the spill..they didn’t tell us about any of that until we were having a cold beverage after the cleanup and I asked.
        ironically.. where the radioactive spill was is one of the most exclusive housing development now..multi million dollar homes a manmade small lake.. I wonder..did they disclose what’s buried there lol..

  2. Trump has always been about making money, that is fact, BUT in retrospect of past presidents including Trump he is the ONLY one in the last 25 years or more that has done ANYTHING for the good of this country. Do I like the guy, I really don’t know, LOL BUT he has done things that made this country better while others did LOTS of things that were/are tearing it down. FACT. So bottom line is we will have to see this time around how he does, one thing for sure he is 250% better than the idiot Harris would have been. YES there is lots still up in the air, he may not even make it to the inauguration. LOL This country may not even make it until then but of the only people on the pick list he was the only viable choice any sane person would have picked. FACT

  3. Any Clif High fans or for people in the know, an X poster @EscanorReloaded? Recently they both contributed eerily similar takes on the next several months and thought URE readers and subscribers might enjoy the links. Any who, most of us realize the group tasked with handing over the reins to Trump part Deux aren’t happy and almost certainly won’t go quietly. The soon to be created Vivek and Elon DOGE will make certain lots of chaff gets burned up, perhaps as early as Jan 20th. According to the 2024 Presidential candidate, Ramaswamy, there are approx 24 million local, state and federal employees and he suggests slashing half on day one and half again on day 2. That’s a lot of cardboard boxes of personal effects on the move. Anywho, Clif and Escanor think there’s trouble brewing and potentially soon.

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1856351443940200913.html
    https://clifhigh.substack.com/p/its-all-interlinked

    • The Democrats are repeatedly calling for a “peaceful” transfer. I’ve heard it over and over. Which has lead me to believe, it ain’t gonna be peaceful. Just a hunch, ya know?

      Maybe the transfer will be “mostly peaceful” as we’ve heard the term for years, which was always quite contrary. Minneapolis rioted, burned and some people died but, it was “mostly peaceful.”

      After the election at Ivy League schools, students were offered crayons, Legos and cookies with milk to cope with Trump’s election win. True story. And, there are women shaving their heads wearing blue bracelets & divorcing their husbands because they lost. & they call republicans the cult. Riiight.
      Not to mention the videos of people losing their minds, showing the world how, (disturbed) they are.

      If you’ve followed along these past 4+ years and are aware of the changes the Democrats have tried to implement into our society and, the overreacting since the election, you don’t need to be a Clif High or a Stu to see that something Un peaceful coming. – if nothing happens, I’ll be damned surprised.

  4. George,
    After 76 years teeth have a habit of failing..I’m 73 yo now and was having terrible dental issues. Not due to neglect.
    After careful consideration I contacted an implant specialist and negotiated a deal to replace all of my teeth. After a fast $35K it was done and what and improvement! Its been 2 years now with no problems of any kind.

    I viewed it from my broadcast engineering background. When the transmitter is old, there will be more failures. No one appreciates outages.

    As an added plus I’m not spending $20K per year at the dentist trying to keep old teeth operational.

    • anyone else with extensive dental issues should investigate dental tourism – mexico and costa rica for instance. in these two countries you can receive advanced modern dental care from dentists trained in the US for about 20% of what it costs in the US.

      • I’ve been visiting Mexico on an irregular basis since late Spring – driving to the border and walking across to visit a dentist. So far I have had one allegedly irreparable tooth repaired and crowned, and two implants placed, though they’re not yet ready for the abutments and crowns. That will happen in the next few months. I also had a gigantic wisdom tooth removed along the way since it was crushing itself and had a serious infected and unrepairable cavity. Now I have a much better occlusion and I get to pay cash instead of being held hostage by the terms of an insurance company. The best part is that they quote prices in advance and stick to them!

        Dental work is no fun unless Ure the dentist, but I am happy so far with the results.

      • Less than twenty percent. an old acquaintance from fifty years ago was a professor at GWU in georgetown..he needed bone reconstruction.. one of the leading physicians at the university hospital suggested he go to his clinic in Brazil.. he do the whole trip and the reconstruction was ten grand..
        another had the insurance company suggest heart surgery in india..he did and his whole trip was just about the same as the professor that went to brazil..
        my insurance company sent me brochures from all over Taiwan, canada, the UK for a surgery that my doctor wanted to do..
        most countries only allow so much of a percentage for medicine.. my seizure medicine in the USA was 1250.00 a month with shipping and doctors charges communication and fax charges for overnight from Canada was less than a hundred the one I got from there was manufactured and made the exact same day and the same lot number of the one I paid 1250.00 for..
        insurances.. same thing a policy in Texas is not available in the wastelands the same with a policy in NYC its not available here..open the borders a d allow medications to be purchased from other countries. our whole community of elderly travel to Southern Texas and Arizona because of the vast difference in medication costs.

    • I was chatting in a concert waiting line about travel to Costa Rica. Turned out the fellow had only been to San Jose and hadn’t seen any of the rest of the country. I asked why and he said, “Dentistry–full mouth implants.”

      I just asked ChatGPT for CR prices; turns out to be roughly half of USA prices. Even counting hotels and airfare, for extensive work one could be way ahead through “medical tourism.”

    • I am waiting on that future advance called “Shark Teeth” … where your teeth self reproduce every few years and you can avoid the Dentist entirely.

      While I say that in jest there was a stem cell breakthrough that was reported over the last month or so where they were able to get stem cells to start building new teeth, so such a development over the next 50 years is not out of the realm of possibility … if we don’t blow ourselves up before then.

      The US and world medical establishments have become too cozy with their current back scratching money making mode of all of the current participants … I think RF Kennedy Jr. is just the person to upset that applecart.

      When RFK Jr. upsets that apple cart science breakthroughs wrt health and medicine will likely just “POP OUT” of the woodwork, very unexpectedly, from the oddest of places. (in this regards remember how the medical establishment FOUGHT tooth and nail for years against Acupuncture, and no insurance company would cover any procedure by those practitioners … now of course we know that realm of medicine has real benefits, much to the chagrin of the normal medical profit making establishment).

      Totally disruptive science and technology in the medical realm may be just what we need to actually create better medical outcomes, at much lower cost, for the average person.

      • I definitely agree. Teeth were grown on a lattice using stem cells in dogs 25 or so years ago if I remember correctly. Since then, we’ve had incremental improvements in dentistry, but other than implants and full mouth bridges(4 on 4) for regular folks, there’s nothing earth shattering. I’m guardedly optimistic about outlawing water fluoridation, especially in light of the federal judge’s decision and RFK Jr. Hopefully some progress regarding excess use of Roundup and GMO will happen too.

        We can expect to hear the term “AI” everywhere in medicine going forward, though there are some appropriate uses outside of research today. “AI” is likely to become as trivial as “space age plastic” and applied everywhere with mixed results.

        I want medical education democratized. It already is for the most part, but the bureaucracy hasn’t caught up and doctors are gatekeepers rather than teachers and diagnosticians. Individuals need more control over their own self and their information. We should be able to order our own tests and some procedures without involving an MD.

        There’s too much adherence to a “standard of care” that’s mostly about defensive medicine(for the doctor). Many things in our country are prescription only and OTC everywhere else in the world. We pay too much for something that might not even be our first choice.

        Medicine and Pharma should not be a power base. It should perform its legitimate function and nothing else.

    • That’s all boy do I know what your talking about. I didn’t smile until I was 25.. I was to embarrassed to.. my whole first set had no enamel on them at all the whole set had to be surgically removed.. . sixty five thousand was what I was given as an estimate.. I got a care credit bill of 8 grand yet.. and they want ten more grand to fix what is left to fix I just paid off 25 grand for essential repairs. I should have gone in and tried to get a home remortgage loan and had the implants.
      my guess is your mother had a rough go during the last depression.. when my mother was little in the depression the whole neighborhood had victory gardens. each working with the others .. for milk and milk products there was one a few miles out that had milk goats and every family got one quart a week of milk.. her body lacked the calcium needed during her forming years.. so when I was born it sucked all the calcium out .. needless to say my teeth have been horrible my whole life..they just fall apart.. so I totally get what you’ve gone through..
      the senior citizen meals here have suggested I do what they do and head to Mexico or Canada and get them done..it would definitely be worth while to do so..

  5. OK two points from todays message.
    Auto sales may have hopped not only due to Interest rates being cut but this is the season for dealers to try to reduce inventory so as not to take a property tax bite in the cars sitting on the lot December 31st.
    All kind of deals out there now no interest.
    Second
    Earthquake Tireds brought to mind something from Real ClearScience folks yesterday, need to scan all the real clear topics daily to see what up.
    I am going to quote the first line so you can see for yourself the source.
    “In 2022, on a bipartisan basis, the U.S. Congress passed the Global Catastrophic Risk Management Act of 2022 requiring the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate an expert assessment of global catastrophic and existential risks. ”
    The Result is they found Climate Change is not on the list of any Global Existential Event.
    Here is the link.
    I will be spreading this as widely as possible, including to Congress-critters, today.
    https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/global-existential-risks
    Gor read the chart it says it all.

    • Oldest daughter traded 2013 mazda 3 for 2024 mazda 3 last month as I told her times good for new. She got good deal.
      IMO
      Vic

    • Auto sales are strong because we just started a new fiscal year. The vehicle purchases are nearly all government fleet purchases. My eldest nephew has been a wholesale car broker for 40 years. He’s currently loafing on a beach in Hawaii, like he’s done every year since he was about 30. He told me many years ago: Nobody buys cars between the first of November and the middle of February. The dealers won’t start cutting actual deals until they’re in danger of losing their asses.

      They won’t start buying from me until after March 1st. It is actually cheaper for me to lie out on Waikiki for three months than it is, to stay here and try to sell cars to them…

  6. “No, Take the A Train was Ellington’s signature piece.”

    Back in the 60s, there was a Detroit disc jockey that used to introduce this song as – Take the A Train or for my Canadian fiends, Take the Train A.

  8. Austria’s has been informed by Gazprom that the Russian gas producer will reduce its deliveries of natural gas to zero as of five o’clock Nov. 16.[ tomorrow morning.]
    The volume of natural gas affected amounts to up to 7,400 MWh/h, according to the notification.
    – That’s gonna hurt.
    * * *
    Matt Gaetz was/is a pretty good choice for A.G., a great chess move., worthy of Trump’s ability to distract-&-deflect. It means nothing – but the opposition “still” have not figured out how Trump ‘plays the game’. They continue to measure him by a political yard-stick – when he continues to be the one-up-man-ship business mogul. From what I have read, he is pretty good at Board Room Brawls. They just haven’t caught-on.
    – Negotiating is nothing more than saying – “Nice doggie.., nice doggie – until you can find a bigger stick.
    * * *
    G – what kind of pain meds and for how long now? As your writing was a bit different this morning.

    • Acetemetaphen and codeine. Bit loopish but it got the tooth through onite so back to the more easily modulated (practice, right) vodka water at 4 PM. The unused will go in the prep kit as “if dying of radiation take one of these” kinda things… More than anything, I need a day of sleep to let the meds work (the pencilstillen)

      • Try taking an Excedrin (or Anacin, Vanquish, etc.), then ABOUT 40 MINUTES LATER taking HALF the acetaminophen + codeine pill.

        You will get a much better analgesic effect, and the codeine/hydrocodone/oxycodone will mess with your head very little, or none at all. I don’t know if that works with all opioids but it seems to work with codeine and all its synthetic clones…

  9. I use baking soda to brush and swish hydrogen peroxide to close. Then every other day red laser the offender. Last month it (old crowned molar on a root canal) was feeling a bit loose and sending a signal. Concentrated flossing and cleaning as well. So far so good. 77878 year old tooth.
    And don’t be looking for a watch with an ‘old’ character. In fact, do like my 102 year old mom always said, “Don’t think OLD… ever.” She was totally there until she passed. Said she wanted to come back as a big black cat with yellow eyes, just lay around and do whatever she wanted. Damn if a big old black feral female didn’t show up about a year later. Right out of nowhere. Of course, we named her after Mom.
    Stiks

  10. It was suppose to take another year of negotiating and working out the details – but Biden jumped the gun and just signed off on an $8 billion dollar “grant” to TSMC to build chip plants in Arizona.
    We give billions of taxpayers money to a corporation that makes billions – so they will build a factory in this country to produce a product that we then have to buy. That.., is one hell of a deal, folks.
    I bet., with a little digging, that I could have found a corporation, or two., to give those billions in free money to build the exact same manufacturing facilities – right here in the good ole U.S. of A. Creating the same amount of jobs., in the same location.
    Is that why Biden did it? As a favor to Taiwan? Knowing that Trump probably wouldn’t have gone through with it?

      • D’ & C: Ordinarily, I’d agree with you. But it seems to me there is some urgency to getting chips on-shored. TSMC obviously knows how to build and run chip plants. By the time possible domestic contractors are vetted, the political wrangling over siting is done, workers are trained, and the plant built, my guess is that the armed forces will have run out of spare parts and production lines halted. Remember the unsold cars that were waiting for relatively primitive chips? Sometimes when you make a mistake (offshoring) you have to pay a lot to fix it.

        • Intel’s new plants now won’t be online until 2027, originally they were saying 2025. Based upon how badly their time line has already slipped I wouldn’t expect “production volume” production out of their plants until 2028.

          (I think TSMC was in the original group of companies that were to get the subsidies since the concern wasn’t ownership but on-shoring PRODUCTION to the US … if so nothing new there)

  11. Lots of talk this morning on the resiliency of the consumer and our never ending quest to buy more stuff. Consumer spending was revised sharply upwards for Sept and surprised analysts with Octobers high numbers. Spend like there’s no tomorrow.., right? Go buy stuff !! It will up even more for November with the exuberance of Trump winning. And., with all this spending – it is probably keeping any kind of recession at bay.
    .
    Not one report covered, or even mentioned that Consumer Credit Card Debt just hit another record high. Three months in a row now.., over a trillion in “card-debt”. That is not going to end well, folks. Not at all.
    .
    Personally, we pay off our credit card [ yeah – just one..,] every couple of weeks. Never carry a “balance forward”. Just makes life a little easier.

    • Yep. Life is a dream on a ‘cash basis’. I have three cards… or accounting categories. All paid off completely each month. One is for gas. One is for internet purchases… easy to isolate if something goes wrong. And the beauty is the Costco rewards card that pays me back hundreds in cash-back every year. No balances carried, ever. Ye Gods, my ‘internet’ card from a local airline miles club charges an obscene 29% interest! I remember the days in my midwest youth when anything over 12% was illegal ‘usury’.

    • Also pay off mine monthly, usually a couple of times a month. I only use mine for “convenience” and because of the legal protection compared to a Debit Card.

      (even the IN STORE credit card readers of a multi-state grocery chain that has stores here had their readers hacked and people’s CC and more importantly DEBIT CARD data stolen … AND USED! With a CC you don’t owe anything more than $50, which usually the banks don’t charge, but with Debit Cards YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK unless your bank voluntarily pays, and some banks will NOT)

  13. Ohh., I forgot to post this – since I started it., with my “Over The Sink – ‘Thinking Sandwich’ – Spam addition.” – thought I should at least help out a bit.
    .
    100 recipes for SPAM !
    https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-SPAM-Cookbook-Traditional-Publishing/dp/1497100720/ref=sr_1_1?
    .
    or.., Hawaii Cooks With Spam
    https://www.amazon.com/Hawaii-Cooks-Spam-Featuring-Favorite/dp/1566478537/ref=sr_1_2?
    .
    or the ultimate – 365 days of SPAM delights
    https://www.amazon.com/Complete-SPAM-Cookbook-Beginners-Incredibly/dp/B0CL3K64YY/ref=sr_1_3?

    • Unless you’re allergic to Penicillin, Pen V, Amoxicillin, or Ampicillin should be plenty effective as prophylaxis. The broader the spectrum, the more side effects. I try to limit my own exposure to antibiotics, though I will use as necessary when called for.

    • Yes, my Ortho is adamant about preventive antibiotics and has told me he will have me on prescription antibiotics before the surgery… and after. He will be keeping me in the hospital two nights afterward to monitor also… unlike some that ‘send um home’ same day.

  15. I will be the first to admit it. I was wrong. I misjudged the oil markets. I “assumed” that oil prices would hold steady or even go up slightly over time due to the long-range violence in the Middle East. That was back when oil was just over $80 a barrel.
    Right now it is at $67.07 a barrel., down 2.37% [$1.63] this morning alone.
    Where did I mess-up? I did not take into account the weakening global demand. It has dropped sharply these past couple of years. I saw it., but didn’t give it’s due credit. [ for some unknown, lazy-thinking, reason.]
    My bad.
    Good thing I don’t play in the future’s sand-box.
    .
    With oil prices continuing to drop will there be enough enthusiasm from the big oil companies to jump on-board Trumps’ “Drill, Baby Drill” band-wagon ? Can they afford massive new expenditures with oil at these prices?
    .
    Stay tuned..,

    • A very very high percentage of the cars being sold in China are electric (60% currently sticks in my mind – but may be 40%). Of course unlike the US China has put charging stations EVERYWHERE, so there is no problem with finding a charging station as you just drive down the street. Add to that I have read that China has serious rebates if you trade in a gas vehicle in order to buy an electric one and those traded in vehicles are then scrapped not resold.

      Because of that push of electric vehicles oil consumption by China has NOT been growing as it was expected to grow … though coal consumption has gone through the roof.

      (In the US if you don’t own your own house where you can recharge at home charging can only be described as a major PITA)

  16. (Deliberately stying off politics…)

    I noticed something interesting about cats. When friendly cats meet and greet, they bump heads.

    So, I tried it: gently — gently – knocking on the cat’s middle of the top of his head with one knuckle. Did I say, gently? With about the same energy as a natural cat head-bump.

    Fred loved it. Little Bo did, too. Might be apppreciated by all cats.

    Pleae report results.

    • I have a little Conure parrot that can’t get enough of my scratching the top of his head. When I stop, he gently nibbles my finger eagerly to ask for more.

  17. I will give you the reason for the sneakers, watch, and no doubt a shit-ton of other merch:

    Trumpy Bear.

    DJT did not license, nor does he get a cut from sales of the bear. Can anyone even imagine how hard that must grate on his nerves (and ego?)

    I expect to see hundreds of items marketed by Trump over the next several years…

    • Now about the ‘waking up’ procedures after being frozen stiff? Surely they will have those perfected by then, no?

  19. Jimmy Kimmel on Gaetz:
    “You know, in a lot of jobs being investigated for sex trafficking underage girls would hurt your chance for advancement,” Kimmel said. “But in the Trump administration, you can list it on your résumé under special skills.”

    Part of RFK’s brain was eaten by a parasitic worm:
    https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/jimmy-kimmel-trump-rfk-jr-health-secretary-brain-devoured-worm-1236211108/

    RFK parasitic brain worm, he also had mercury poisoning: (apparently from a U.S. fish source)
    https://www.wired.com/story/brain-parasite-worm-mercury-fish-robert-kennedy-rfk/

  20. Let me first say this:
    Alex Jones may be a disgusting, lying,
    demented, scurrulous, insane Bad Guy.

    OK.

    He’s certainly been accused of that, and
    much more and much worse. i don’t
    personally know: I have no first-hand
    information of my own.

    Givn that Alex Jones may be a Truly
    Bad Guy, does he (and any of us) have
    the Constitutional right to BE repugnant?

    I think we (all) do. Even so, I won’t defend
    Jones’s specific thinking and “material.”

    But, I WILL defend his right to BE a
    disgusting foul-mouthed nut case.

    https://banned.video/watch?id=6737bfc769f9665a0353f45f

    I watched the first hour with a couple
    of small gaps. This link is three hours.

    There IS a Principle here…

  21. Root canals have outcomes which link them to cancer. Seems the canel become a anerobic wasteland of acids and no oxygen resulting in selective cells being injuries to a cancer outcome. When you get older your resistance to infection is less. Ability to kill easy cancers by immune system declines. Bad weight issues further complicate immune system outcomes. Gut flora reduces and further immune malfunction. Stainless steel inserts do rust. Blood is salty.

    • Most implants are titanium, not stainless steel. Some are exotic and non-metallic. Titanium dental implants don’t set off metal detectors at airports(mine never have), and I’ve been up close and personal with the business end of an MRI with the magnet on with no effects at all. It seems that titanium biointegrates better than perhaps any other metal. Most of us here have passed the halfway point in life and we just want the best years possible going foreward. I have a few root canals and no problem with them yet, including one from Mexico. Obviously, YMMV, and any immune compromise will make every invasive procedure higher risk. I think the Epicurian approach is best for now – and just live as best you can and enjoy it. Life is terminal – or at least this life is. Enjoy today rather than worrying today.

      • My titanium plate in my leg sometimes sets off some detectors if the sensitivity is set really high.

        Or maybe it is the screws?

  22. Swish and brush with baking soda and peroxide for a couple days and see if it knocks the infection back. You’ll definitely feel it when it hits the infection, but that has always helped me.

  23. Got the replacement for an old worn-out crown this week. It went well, with no craziness. The medicals behave better when your balance is paid. No other major maintenance planned. Time to be ready for changes.
    I have been shopping the sales a bit. Nothing overly expensive. I am keeping most of the purchases oriented toward durable everyday use stuff and a few select EDC items.
    Paid off the cards. I have a couple of hundred pending from sales purchases, but otherwise, I am free and clear. I expect an updated insurance bill in a week or two (sigh), but I have it covered.
    I need to rotate gasoline this weekend, and top off cans. I have two sources of 87 octane non-ethanol gasoline. Would prefer 89 octane for rotation, but no one has it. I threw out some old plastic cans I haven’t used in twenty years, that were just occupying space.
    Hopefully the craziness will stay away a while longer.

    • Our newly-rebuilt Murphy station on the Walmart parking lot has 89 octane non-ethanol at all pumps, along with diesel. Beats the heck out of having to wait for the single diesel pump to be available.

      • I checked the newest Walmart/Murphy station in the vicinity- no luck. The no-ethanol gasoline is pricier, but I seem to get better mileage with it.

        • You will. Generally speaking, your gas mileage will tank about 8-10% for every 10% dilution of petroleum gasoline with ethanol. E-85 generally yields between 50% and 60% of the mileage of real gas. EPA also computes “mileage” differently, between pure gas and gasohol, so the difference doesn’t appear as glaring as it is in real life.

          You can pull the EPA *docs, or read the mileage forum at any car-oriented website (MBZ and VWVortex are especially good for info, because both companies market diesel and hybrid vehicles alongside their petrol-powered offerings…)

        • Many of the “Casey’s General Store” cstores scattered all over the Midwest have begun quietly carrying real gas again. Their pumps have a green (diesel) nozzle, a red (gas w/ethanol and E-85) nozzle, and a blue (real gas) nozzle. If’fn I pulled in somewhere and they had a blue pump, I might do a quick & dirty Internet search to see if they’re pumping real gas through it…

          88 octane real gas and 87 octane gasohol are the same price (currently 20¢ cheaper than anyone else); E-85 is about 15% cheaper than 87 octane gasohol.

  24. My Ortho surgeon at our meeting suggested that if I need any dental work done to do it NOW, well ahead of surgery on Feb 10, otherwise wait three months after surgery. The concern is about flooding the body with infection, which is a bitch if the bones get infected. I haven’t had a dental inspection in seven or eight years. except a crown replacement last year at my $3.5k expense. But my retirement insurance now covers basic inspections and cleanings, and maybe a filling. So I called a likely dentist and find them booked up until my surgery date, so no go. Inspection now scheduled for 3 months after surgery.

    Now I read your horror story about the tooth. Please, God, don’t let it be me. I have avoided scheduled ‘maintenance’ thru retrograde.. so knocking softly on wood for now.

    • My Medicare Advantage plan covers up to $3000/yr, not counting cleanings and inspections, which can include major crown work. Of course I am in a major city and there is lots of competition between the various insurance companies.

  25. IMPEACH PELOSI
    One perfectly legitimate act of ‘lawfare’ Trump should consider is political payback to the evil witch of the house. Impeach Pelosi on one legitimate act she committed on national television… Tearing up the document of the State of the Union after Trump gave the speech during first term. Destroying a government document is an offense. Impeach the witch in the house, and, unlike Trump, prosecute her in the Senate. End her political career in an example of payback for what she put Trump and the country through.

  26. You won’t believe what President Trump just accomplished in the Middle East…

    President Trump hasn’t even started his new term, and he’s already making the world a safer, better place. President Trump’s mere presence has foreign leaders rethinking their entire strategy. Zelensky and Putin are now ready to talk peace, now that Trump’s back in the picture. After meeting with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Israeli officials have announced they’re preparing a cease-fire deal with Lebanon, averting what could have easily been the spark for WW3.

    https://revolver.news/2024/11/you-wont-believe-what-president-trump-just-accomplished-in-the-middle-east/

  27. RINO John Cornyn’s favorite left-wing ‘disinformation department’ now facing closure…

    If you’ve ever wondered if the uniparty is real, just take a look at what your GOP Senators are up to in their spare time. Take RINO Senator John Cornyn, who’s been deeply involved in a left-wing “disinformation” group that uses the old Russia, Russia, Russia nonsense to run a so-called foreign disinformation department. Elon Musk suspects it’s actually a front to control social media behind the scenes, and he’s probably right.

    https://revolver.news/2024/11/rino-john-cornyn-favorite-left-wing-disinformation-department-now-facing-closure/

  28. X-notes:

    Senator John Cornyn has run to the press to complain about the @MattGaetz AG nomination.

    The senator wants to reopen the ethics probe. Again. Cornyn didn’t even wait until the smoke cleared from the Senate Majority Leader vote to stab Trump in the back

    https://x.com/kylenabecker/status/1857106083891786144
    ______

    J Powell has handed Trump a ticking time bomb

    By prematurely cutting rates by 50 bps ahead of the election, even with inflation still running hot, the Fed has set the stage for an inflationary resurgence The latest October inflation data released this morning confirms the trend, with PPI coming in at 2.4%, hotter than the expected 2.3%

    https://x.com/porterstansb/status/1857057210498453855
    ______

    BREAKING: Big Pharma stock is TANKING in light of RFK Jr. being appointed to Trump’s HHS department.

    Just look at Moderna and Pfizer!

    https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1857177522481328307

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