A new leather recliner showed up this week. One picked up about 4-5 years ago just isn’t cutting it, so a new one.
Problem is, it came via FedEx and they don’t move things into living rooms. As it turned out, I didn’t see the truck on the security cams, either, so I couldn’t go out and offer “paper incentives” for a hand.
This morning, how to get 150 pounds of 29″ wide box into the house is the morning ponder.
Option 1: Strap the box to my hand truck and pull it over into the smallest stair count approach through the greenhouse.
Option 2: Remove the stair railing from the stairs of the BBQ deck. Then use the tractor to place the heavy-ass box on a furniture dolly to move into the house from there.
Assembly ought to be a breeze and I may be able to piss away most of the morning and half the coffee studying this. I’ll let you know.
News Compressor: ON
The lid remained on and no mushrooms overnight.
OTH read
The important change isn’t that the world suddenly became much more dangerous overnight.
It is that two previously separate atoms have bonded:
Middle East military concentration ? Saudi energy infrastructure/Hormuz shipping.
And:
Ethiopian civil conflict ? capture of Mekelle ? interstate Horn risk.
That’s precisely the transition OTH is supposed to catch. Yesterday we had inventory. This morning we have more evidence of compound formation.
Front Page
1. The Middle East hardware story just acquired an energy target. Houthis say they attacked a Saudi Aramco facility in Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones after renewed Saudi strikes on Yemen; separately, AP reports a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was hit by a projectile, damaging its engine room although the crew survived. With the U.S. moving the Theodore Roosevelt group toward a possible three-carrier overlap, this is increasingly an energy-war system, not simply an Iran-war story. Odds: 91%.
2. Ethiopia crossed an important threshold overnight. Federal forces and allied militias have now captured Mekelle, the Tigray regional capital, with the TPLF confirming its withdrawal; Ethiopia’s rupture with Eritrea and accusations involving Eritrea, Egypt and Sudan make the next question regional intervention rather than merely who owns the airport. Odds: 84%.
3. Russia’s coercive envelope remains widened. Putin’s warning that the full Russian arsenal could come into play over Kaliningrad remains active while Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian/infrastructure targets continue. Nothing overnight backs Moscow away from the nuclear signaling introduced last week. Odds: 83%.
4. Emergency petroleum releases confirm the product shortage is no longer theoretical. G7 governments agreed to release as much as 100 million barrels of crude and fuel products, following U.S. pressure on France and Germany over diesel stocks; Brent nevertheless ended the volatile week above $102. Governments are now treating the fuel-consequence clock as a policy problem. Odds: 93%.
Application Note:
I assume you know: Amazon’s fall sale, Prime Big Deal Days, runs Tuesday and Wednesday, October 6–7, 2026. It opens at 12:01 a.m. Pacific on the 6th, which is 2:01 a.m. Central, and lasts 48 hours. The discounts are for Prime members, across more than 35 categories, with fresh drops at midnight, 8 a.m., and 1 p.m. Pacific both days.
If you have concerns about nuclear (anything) I’d suggest you consider a Geiger counter. Here’s the one we use (and which G2 uses on his job site). $85 bucks.
Blah-Blah and Yawn
North Korea: Pyongyang says its latest intermediate-range ballistic missile demonstrated maneuverable flight capabilities. Escalating technologically.
China’s regional footprint: The PLA’s new joint support and training center in Laos gives Beijing what ISW describes as its third overseas military base. Slowly expanding.
Latvia: Partial parliamentary results favor the incumbent pro-European center-right, reducing the immediate possibility of a sharp political turn during heightened Baltic tension. Stabilizing politically.
Germany–Ukraine: Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv with German defense executives to finalize a drone agreement and release additional aid. Military-industrial integration increasing.
France: The school revolt remains active after hundreds of closures, clashes and attacks on teachers; intelligence services have also examined possible political organization behind portions of the unrest. Holding elevated.
But, as we have said, when you have diasporas, the payback socially is a bill arriving 20-years after the fact. So, the Diaspora of the early 00’s is now sending invoices.
See how simple Sunday is?
Write when you get rich,
George@Ure.net