Ready for a little “And now for something completely different” (nods to Monty Python) perspective? We’re sneaking up on New Year’s and time to ante up for 2026.
ShopTalk’s Nod to Chairman Mao
What’s a MAGA leaning old guy talking about China, for? Simply: If they did everything wrong, they wouldn’t be kicking our ass on so many fronts. But what do they have we can incorporate usefully?
While we don’t agree with how China runs a lot of it manufacturing (prison) and political ops domestically, and some of the hard roads to get there (waves to Cultural Revolution), Mao Zedong did have some damn useful ideas. Being a pragmatic systems thinker, I’ll take Truth where I find it. In this case, in his Little Red Book, (not to be confused with Carl Jung’s Red Book).
Chairman Mao formalized what he called “criticism and self-criticism” as a discipline for organizations and individuals, arguing that progress only comes when errors are surfaced, examined without ego, and corrected before they harden into habits.
In practice, stripped of ideology, it’s simply a structured way of asking three hard questions on a regular basis: what did I think was true, what actually happened, and where was I wrong?
Let me reassure you: This isn’t about Mao. It’s about winning at life with systems.
Used personally, his criticism-self-criticism is less about guilt and more about course correction — a quiet, ruthless audit of decisions, assumptions, and outcomes. The power isn’t in beating yourself up; it’s in shortening the distance between mistake and learning, so small errors don’t compound into expensive ones.
There’s a real fine difference between systems thinking and highly organized Asia fighting styles – something you’d know if you were doing your katas regularly.
CSC is a process I use in the shop all the time. Why? Because one of the most profound lessons of sneaking up on 77 is the old shop floor saying “When you’ve made every possible mistake in manufacturing, what’s left is sometimes pretty damn good.”
In the Shop, it’s why why repetition + form + feedback beats improvisation. Since you may not have a B-school background, take some time of YouTube looking at videos like this one: Japan Day 1 – Inside Toyota’s Lean Training Dojo | Learning from the Source.
And best of all, political implementations aside, there’s not much difference of intent between criticism-self-criticism (CSC) and the ISO 9000 quality series. Well, except traceability, but in the DIY shop, that’s not too commonly followed.
Live Like You’re Rich in ’26
This is where we take all our CSC and apply it throughout the home. Because we can’t vote crappy politicians out of office today. And we can’t get a major bump from work income today. BUT what we can do is work on internal quality of self and a ruthless review of our homes and spaces so that they really reflect our understanding of our proper place in the Universe.
With this pretext, let’s review how poor (unempowered) people live (victims) versus the rich (empowered self-deterministic folks).
At its core, the difference between how the “rich” live and how the “poor” live inside their homes has very little to do with money and almost everything to do with feedback, intent, and maintenance.
Systemic Thinking is a Core Prosperity Tool
Wealthy households tend to treat their living space like a system: clean enough that problems are visible early, organized enough that friction is minimized, and functional enough that tools, time, and attention aren’t constantly being wasted.
Poor households — regardless of income — tolerate chronic friction: clutter that hides problems, broken things left broken, improvised workarounds that become permanent, and spaces that demand energy instead of returning it.
- The metrics are simple and brutally honest:
- How many items in a room don’t have a defined home?
- How many things are broken but still “in use”?
- How often do you have to move something to access what you actually want?
- How much time is lost daily to searching, resetting, or redoing?
- How many tools exist but aren’t ready to use right now?
Rich-minded homes reduce entropy on purpose; poor-minded homes normalize it. The good news is this isn’t fixed — it’s trainable.
Once you start applying criticism–self-criticism to your environment, you realize your house is a mirror of your thinking. Change the standards, shorten the feedback loop, insist on function over excuse, and the space improves first — then the mind follows.
One Room a Month
One of the joys of being a “senior” is you get a chance to see how a lot of people actually live. Although Elaine and I have a dandy themed home – which we define as one that “transports you” *(mentally) – we still have clutter, rampant signs of disorganization.
My office is hands down, the biggest problem of all. It’s part electronic repair station, part server farm, a ham radio museum, a writer’s desk, massively deep small tool and electronic parts depot, and temperature controlled seed vault. That will all change by year-end.
After that? I’m committed to “perfecting” all the other rooms in the house, one per month.
There’s a lot of think about and one of the big changes in mindset for me has been “If you had ALL the money in the world, how would this room look?” The moving pieces for the office are already shifting around. A bigger writing monitor (going to 65″ from 55″), Instead of 3-4 computers, only 2 will be in “hot mode” because of KVM switches… and getting off the Microsoft cloud-reliant systems (going with eM Client for email and moving into the Softmake Office tools has been good.
But, there are a lot of (almost invisible) tweaks that have improved personal efficiency and the joy of writing.
- Using AI for critiques and spelling checks.
- Converting all software to a”dark desktops” which reduces eye strain.
- Using a large print backlit keyboard…
Sure, a lot about my “work product” constraints, but I’ve never flinched at admitting to being a “production level writer.” I write several books a month and wear out a keyboard every 4-5 months. I know, too much “me, me, me…” But this is a dandy orientation view as we get into Big Projects for ’26.
Walk With Me
Try this sometime: Approach your home from the outside and try to see it through the eyes of a total stranger.
Entryway / Front Door
This is the first honesty check.
Poor mindset: shoes scattered, keys wander, mail piles up, you arrive already behind. The space absorbs stress and gives nothing back.
Rich mindset: a defined drop zone. Shoes, keys, coats, and mail have homes. You enter and exit without friction.
Benefit: fewer lost minutes, lower background stress, and a sense of control that starts the moment you walk in.
Elaine and I have one habit that we strongly recommend – borrowed from Asian homes. Everyone takes their shoes off at the door. There is a small rug and the payoff is huge. Less tracking of outside dirt and crap through the house.
Kitchen
This is the operations center.
Poor mindset: cluttered counters, mismatched tools, expired food, and constant improvisation. Cooking feels like work.
Rich mindset: clear counters, sharp knives, working appliances, food you actually use. Everything supports the next meal.
Benefit: healthier eating, lower food waste, faster prep, and fewer “what the hell are we going to eat” decisions.
One of the things that we’ve “tuned up” is “eating like we’re rich” this year. It didn’t take much, but upped our cooking and (at least for me) lowered portion size. If I had all the money in the world would I be 20-30 pounds lighter? Well…um…uh-huh. Now you know where the CSC path leads.
Living Room / Common Space
This is the signal-to-noise test.
Poor mindset: furniture arranged around screens, unused items everywhere, no place to think or talk. The room consumes time.
Rich mindset: seating arranged for people, light works, nothing decorative blocks function. Screens are intentional, not dominant.
Benefit: better conversations, calmer evenings, and a space that restores energy instead of draining it.
I have to admit, about the only thing we have left fot the “change order” list for the living room is a new larger recliner (with heat and massage) for me. I don’t spend much time “in the chair” – maybe an hour watching TV while dinner settles (a JRE or WhyFiles). But if I were rich? A $2,000-class recliner would be one purchase.
Bedroom
This is the recovery chamber.
Poor mindset: clutter, poor lighting, piles of clothes, devices everywhere. Sleep is an afterthought.
Rich mindset: clear floor, defined storage, comfortable bedding, minimal electronics. The room is for sleep and reset.
Benefit: better rest, improved mood, and higher daily cognitive performance.
Our bedroom is more than OK by many people’s standards – classic large oak moire – 50″ TV with remotes – Alexa voice control of the house. Heavyweight mid-century dresser and nightstands.
And it’s all boring as well.
What we keep coming back to is the theme for the room. Where do you want to be transported? I have been thinking about a ship’s interior – been collecting full sized ship diorama views and it’s easily within my skill set to make one. Some ideas? Here’s a ton on Pinterest here.
Where I run into a problem is trying to figure out where to put a round bed in such a room. Why? Glad you asked. I have found that where my head points think of a compass rose) has a huge bearing on the quality of my vivid dreams. Literally, my vivid dreams change for each 10-20 degrees of sleep angle. So whatever the bedroom turns into, an electric rotating bed is one of the design ideas – it’s a tough squish to get it all sorted.
Bathroom
This is the maintenance mindset check.
Poor mindset: half-used products, broken fixtures tolerated, cleaning done only when forced.
Rich mindset: working lights, stocked basics, nothing leaking, nothing mysterious. Maintenance happens early.
Benefit: fewer emergencies, better hygiene, and a quiet sense of order.
Our bathrooms are in good shape and the 4 foot by 5 shower off the master is OK. We still haven’t come up a suitable Disney-level theme for it. Thinking about an old mine, or just kit it pure modern minimalist and stick any money in the beer fund.
Closets
This is the decision-fatigue index.
Poor mindset: too much stuff, much of it unused, hard choices every morning.
Rich mindset: fewer items, all usable, all visible. Dressing is fast and boring — in a good way.
Benefit: time savings, less stress, and fewer impulse purchases.
Yeah, we all have stuff in closets that do not bring us joy and those? Time to get brutal about ’em. Elaine doesn’t have much use for $500 disco diva designer shoes, for example. She could, however, say the same thing about someone’s classic ham radio inventory, too…
The George Rooms: Recording Studio/Garage / Utility / Shop Areas
This is the wealth-engine room. It has become neglected – and projects have piled up all over hell and gone, but I have been “off the planet” (spending too much time in computational worlds. What changes here in 2026 will be a brutally hard schedule for every day of the week.
Poor mindset: tools buried, cords tangled, projects half-started and abandoned. The space repels work.
Rich mindset: tools visible, charged, and ready. Projects either active or cleared. The space invites action.
Benefit: higher output, lower repair costs, and the ability to fix instead of replace.
Now let’s dial in some CSC and use my office (electronics bench quarter of it) as a concrete example: the electronics bench. Earlier this week we walked it end-to-end — scopes, waveform generator, calibrated receiver, thermal camera, reflow tools, variac, power distribution, lighting, displays, and the bench PC. Capability-wise, it’s strong. There’s nothing “missing” that would materially improve results. The real gains left on the table aren’t equipment; they’re organization, staging, readiness, and grounding — and, critically, time-to-task.
Poor bench behavior: every session starts with hunting probes, moving three things to get to one thing, plugging and unplugging power, reconfiguring software, and remembering where you left off last time. Ten minutes of setup here, five minutes there — and suddenly the work window is gone.
Rich bench behavior: fixed homes for probes and leads, labeled power rails, default instrument presets saved, known-good cables staged, software environments preloaded, and a written “next action” card waiting at the bench. Sit down, flip one switch, and you’re measuring in under sixty seconds.
Benefit: dramatically shorter time-to-task, fewer mistakes from rushed setup, and far more experiments completed per week. This is how capability turns into throughput.
After stripping the bench down to only what supported current work and re-staging it for immediate use, I had AI summarize the delta. It wasn’t poetic, but it was dead accurate: I don’t lack for the tools – what I need is optimizing for reduced friction, faster task initiation, fewer errors, and noticeably lower mental load. In plain English, when the bench stopped arguing with me, I got smarter and faster without learning anything new.
That’s the core of living like you’re rich in ’26. Wealth isn’t just stored in objects; it’s expressed in systems. Clean, staged, ready spaces don’t make you virtuous — they make you effective.
And effectiveness compounds.
Which is a good thing because Life is on a Timer.
One for the Road: Will You Be Rich in ’26
A short story, which don’t tell often.
I grew up in a firefighter family. My youngest memory was of Pappy as a Lieutenant at Seattle Fire. Like a lot of people in the 1950s, most remembered the Great Depression like it was yesterday. For them, it was.
Firefighting – back in the day – was really hard work. Oh, and dangerous as hell. It was not uncommon for injuries on the fireground. And sadly, our family lost – gosh, most of Station 28 back in day to assorted diseases. Knicknames like Kreevy and Ninky were all over the place, too. Callifano, and cousin Charles. No-bullshit, real-deal heros in the days before Scott AirPacks and before refrigerants encountered in fires were “safe.” (In truth? None are.)
But these guys all came up hard. Pappy was delivering 150-200 papers every morning before school. And in high school, started working terrible hours at a downtown cigar store.
With fire wages low, it was common when I was allowed to visit the firehouse to listen to men talking. The same kind of “senior tribal talk” that Louis L’Amour told me about when he was heading for Java. What men talked about was very much in like with what the “special operators” of today focus on. The hard work, the head down and “getting after it.”
In all of it, somehow the idea that no one is POOR except by choice. Sure, a fellow might be “down on his luck” but even when broke – the condition of having now ready fund – there was a society-wide understanding driven in at great social cost by the Depression – that POOR was a choice.
Today, not many people understand that well. You get to know a lot of people kicking around for 76+ years. And in that time I’ve known Black families whose homes would be a hospital’s surgery to shame. Sure, racial disparities that we’re slowly moving away from were a fact. But the people I knew were never POOR.
On the other hand, a lot of modern liberal White families, live in homes that are shocking when you come to find out more about them. Dirty clothes seem to fall where they might, an cold empty pizza box with flies, a kitchen full of dirty dishes and last week’s garbage. Some of these people had extremely good incomes. Well into six-figures in one case.
But poorer than a sharecropper between the ears.
The focus here? Yeah a bit jingoish, but real nevertheless. Live Like We’re Rich in ’26.
Which we can them work next year as “Living like Heaven in ’27.”
And moving to “Make it Greater as a 28’er.” Sure to “Finish it Fine in ’29.”
“Nothing Dirty in ’30” may be around by then. But my “one for the road” to to remember the real wealth – the stuff you take to the Great Beyond – is the durable wealth between your ears.
If you can’t “live like you’re rich in 26” just when do you think you’ll be getting around to it?
Write when you get rich; between the ears is fine.
George@Ure.net
Boy, George, perfect timing of article today. Starting my staycation from work this week. We talked last week about going room by room and cleaning up clutter and rearranging, pitching, donating, etc. Talk about coinky-dink.
thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Much to think on and ponder.
“A place for everything, and everything in its place.” – Unknown
” I write several books a month and wear out a keyboard every 4-5 months.”
May I suggest you invest in an archaic IBM mechanical keyboard? To use it with Win10/11 you will need a hardware interface, but to use it with any flavor of *NIX (which you’re eventually going to migrate to, because the pain felt from using Windows will exceed the pleasure provided by its interconnectivity) doesn’t. An IBM keyboard will outlive you by at least 50 years, although the numbers & letters won’t…
________
Pros
Legends never wear off
Best tactile feedback ever made
Built like a farm implement
Cons (and these are dealbreakers for you)
No backlight
Loud as hell
PS/2 ? USB adapters are flaky
Font is NOT large by modern standards
Mouse pairing = none
Verdict:
Great for nostalgia and typing monks.
Wrong tool for aging eyes and long sessions.
What we have here is success in communications, or rather the communication of ideas and knowledge. This one is right up Ure allies, a little Sunday reading material, a new way to “look” at things.
-https://www.theinteldrop.org/2025/12/12/did-googles-willow-quantum-chip-open-the-gate-to-hell/
* understanding Who wrote the above is key..
Should be on Stuberts reading list as well.
What the hell else is He doing in the dam Hospital, besides grab assing attending Nurses?
I’ve got Dell, Toshiba, and Panasonic backlit keyboards — not impressed.
My first data entry KB was a Selectric-3. The IBM Model “M” is nuthin’.
There are actual GOOD DIN240 or ps/2 to USB adapters. They must be active adapters to function properly in Windows post Win7.
Font?
I don’t mouse-pair. I have been known to use more than one mouse though.
I have also used the same keyboard for the past 30 years. There’s lots to say for a keyboard you can put in your dishwasher when it gets dirty. Its only downside is “no Windows keys” which I’ve never used, and *NIX doesn’t care about.
I’m just offering you an option for a 100 year keyboard… ;-)
Pretty dam insightful this AM, Chief.
Think you nailed it, again.
Along those same lines am thinking value add for the Ai Ure is so enamored with.
You see my good man we have a superior tech avail to the smartie pants so inclined.
Yerp! if you guessed ROLL URE OWN, you win a prize @ LLVM Compiler Infrastructure.
WHOA Bubba..
Hooooollllddd Ure horses Bubbalouey!
Imagine 400 foreign & domestic exchanges – 400 different data feeds with wildly conflicting data formats and comm layers – one real nightmare to develop and maintain.
Repeat after the pope and think, Compilers and Code Specific Programming Languages.
And thus move on to conquer MOAR, after finishing with all the latest booty..Which directly relates BCP’s latest business startup, SugarDaddies, using Ai to select most vulnerable student populations across country for illicit sex employment. Health bennies, High Pay, Paid vacations.
I will still be the BCP, just reimagined as the Bit Coin Pimp.
Color me Pimpdaddy in 26 !
Is your site sugardaddie.com? It seems to be more of a data mining operation than much else.
Great article with details. Actionable, though I’m not sure when. It doesn’t account for emergencies, like when you have to take a week out of your life due to a broken main waterline, but at least it hits on those things nobody notices. What we really lack is a large secure barn for the stuff we won’t use for ten years but don’t want to buy again. For some of us, an entire room is needed for tool storage, even when organized.
Those ocean-going shipping containers are just the thing for the seasonal stuff you don’t have room to store in the house. We have a twenty-footer that is home to Christmas decorations, prepping stuff (except food) and kitchen appliances we don’t need except seasonally. It gets too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter for food storage, but it’s great for anything that’s not temperature sensitive. AND they’re cheaper and easier than a new barn.
True. Depending where you live, old semi-trailers which are past their roadworthy prime are cheaper and good for that too, especially if somewhat out of sight, but they’re less secure than the containers and not built to take roof loads. The trailers can either be on their wheels or you can cut them off for easier ground access or even to drive into with a tractor. Two ocean containers can be set parallel and trusses and a deck dropped on top of them to create a workspace. The only real limitation is any building or zoning in the area.
The containers are not built to take roof loads either. Containers have columnar reinforcements at the corners. Each corner of a container will support over 100 tons. The roof will support only a few hundred pounds per square foot, and only temporarily (you can walk on one, you can not build on one, unless you tie your structure into the corners, using them for support…)
George : reading Shop Talk and thinking … when you and the Missus are done optimizing space(s) please come do mine too. How about we set up stage * whatever * of my pole barn shops. I suggest summer, given Elaine isn’t fond of the chill. It’s a sizzling 14F here, and snowing. Wonder when Mrs. E plans to shovel? We kid. I am still *anger* shoveling all over the place.
[speaking of ^ the neighbor is plowing so I’m off to shovel his walks and steps. Pay it forward ? err, as I can.]
GU: “… just kit it pure modern minimalist and stick any money in the beer fund …”
Parting shot ^ there, do it with every room Matey.
Stay frosty? It comes naturally here …
ATL : making ice. Film at 11.
Alles : done shoveling, done prepping for an atty consult and … fingers have defrozen to the point I can type. We, in the lee of Great Lake Michigan, were spared intense but … it’s on the way.
Wordslinger : here’s grist for the mill. My guess is some youngsters figure you are an oldster who is “out there” enough to not matter. Though better equipped than many, it’s a struggle for Mrs. E and me to manage my sister’s affairs (along with our own).
I am developing a list. It’s primarily for E2, as time passes. If (2) of us are burdened trying to assist another, how will it go when (1) must do double duty? Ergo, list making. Our legal docs are recently refreshed but why not make it easier for those who come after?
In Practice (thankfully over), I referred it to as developing and sharing a *Letter of Last Intent* which, in practice, won’t over-rule a Will, or other Estate Document but, serve as guidance. I have one, and E2 has a copy. But nuts and bolts? Watch this space.
I shoveled at the next door neighbors while he plowed our private drive. Guy has a rockin’ Polaris 4×4 with hard cab, heater, hydraulic plow. There is so little traffic it doesn’t matter much (he said, who shoveled where the E2 _may_ park at the New Year). Anger shoveling continues until moral improves.
Futures are wicked red closing 12/12. What does 12/15?
New Moon (none) on 12/19 …
We own the night.
~ E ~
I shovel often for others.. among other acts of care..
the friend whose husband sustained a head injury if Afghanistan..
well there’s no way the child can shovel and neither can his wife..
an affluent neighborhood where there’s rules of the sidewalks and driveways have to be cleaned or there’s a huge fine..so what does it take to in meandering over and doing a little bit..I did show the boy how to make a snow angel.. lol lol.. or the neighbor that is in a wheelchair and needs oxygen tanks.. or helping an old man bathe or putting lotion on someone’s feet .. it helps them and doesn’t bother me to lend a hand where needed.. when someone asks I say.. hey im.. have a snowblower will travel… high ho buggy away…
https://youtu.be/p9lf76xOA5k?si=0H4K9Erm7VFUMpbq
My first downsizing started about 25 years back. I’m still working on it.
I like my clutter; in no way could you describe my home as minimalist or tiny. And yet, it is smaller than that of most of the stick built homes owned by Ure readers. An electric bill over $150 is a cause for much concern. It is more the size of a luxury apartment, with an attached garage which is larger than the rest of the home.
Keeping the home small limits my ability to do anything other than keep it simple.
I have one computer center, one TV in the den, and a couple of sound sources.
I think the two computer set-up will suit you. I have one for personal, and one for work that handle 90% of my needs. I do have a back-up laptop, and a small Linux micro-box I rarely use anymore. My firewall is a fanless mini, which I don’t need to monitor very often. I may converge the aging personal desktop and the back-up laptop to one next year, when the new low power laptops pushing 100K Passmarks trend down toward $1500 in next year’s Christmas sales.
While I have multiple displays, I do 90% of the work off a 37″ 4K monitor which I switch back and forth between computer sources with the monitor input selection. That eliminates the KVM. I have flanking dedicated smaller monitors for the various machines. Swapping out the small personal monitor for a laptop won’t have much effect on how I use my computer center. The main monitor streams nicely.
As long as the TV in the den continues to work, I will keep it for ball games. I could use a replacement sub-woofer in the den.
I have an alarm clock and a bedside lamp in the bedroom, no other electronics. I leave the cell phone in the kitchen at night. I can barely get a bar on the cell phone in the bedroom, which is what I want.
My garage is horribly cluttered, and is ready for another aggressive spring cleaning, although I will probably kick that off today. Cardboard needs to be thinned out. Too much flammable material.
Typically I rotate seasonal things in and out of the garage twice a year. That may involve swapping out four to six trunks of clothes and things.
If something isn’t decorative, or hasn’t been used in several years, it needs to either tossed, given to Goodwill, or stored in the garage.
I haven’t bought any art in years. I did get a hand-me-down framed oil painting this year, albeit about nine years late. It is simply beautiful. It was my late mother who helped me pick colors and prints for the house more than 25 years ago, and the painting fits in everywhere. I have it in the den. I mostly swap out art to change the deco.
I was eyeing some Grandma Moses reproductions on the web this week. They are several $ hundred framed in a 2′ x 3′ size, and I have one on the wish list. No bargains on Ebay. I want a canvas backed repro, not a poster.
And yeah, I am buying more fresh berries these days, every time I see them on sale. Polyphenols rock.
I like the room by room assessment. I use this & a written Todo list every spring. Works for the most part. Running out of available funds tend to hamper finishing details sometimes. One request: rework that list for those in a wheelchair. It isn’t nearly as accomplishable. Especially the clean floor aspect.
Thanks for a timely and well-done prod for me. My office currently works but could use attention, along with the bedroom closets filled with stuff I haven’t worn in years. My major issue is the garage, which is filled with stuff I don’t want my kids to have to deal with. I’ve been putting off addressing it for too long, and thanks to your prod, it’s now on top of my priority list, even though it probably will delay completion of my next book.
I know you are cutting back, but I will miss Shop Talk Sunday the most.
Of all of them, that’s the one I like most of all writing – it’s my prod too you know
Thanks George!
STS is my favorite read too!
(“Poor households — regardless of income — tolerate chronic friction: clutter that hides problems, broken things left broken, improvised workarounds that become permanent, and spaces that demand energy instead of returning it.
The metrics are simple and brutally honest:
How many items in a room don’t have a defined home?
How many things are broken but still “in use”?”)
seriously… I did get honeys cookie scoop fixed lol lol lol
there’s very little friction in our household..my mom had the belief that.. ROSE QUARTZ..Absorbed negative energy and converted it to positive energy..
https://positivezenenergy.com/how-to-use-rose-quartz-healing-properties/
now is it true..who knows but seriously there rose quartz everywhere in our home..even our drinking water flows through Rose quartz in A water structuring canister..
https://iamcure.com/how-do-you-make-structured-water-the-science-behind-water-structuring/
https://youtube.com/shorts/hGeRSHsYwYI?si=-68yI6jn4qfnPpkd
its something my mother believed in ..so I do it to..is there any scientific evidence..who knowsm.. but then I walk into others homes and the atmosphere in their homes seems tense..the daily struggles with that disease.. what’s it called again oh yeah…lackocash…. chronic … and stressful.. does it affect us…well.. yeah.. forty four dollars till January one lol..its here.. but the energy between our home and otgers..one million percent more positive..
I have share some of the struggles a friend is having..they live in an upscale neighborhood.. had in the past a life of ease where the real struggles of daily life weren’t very obvious.. lots of stress and tension now.. so I gave her what I give Everyone that is struggling through high stress..
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373237970899?
rose quartz cross…what I give men is quite a bit different … So far it has seemed to work..now is it faith in heavenly father or the rose quartz absorption of the negative energy.. who knows its what I believe..we shall see if there’s a difference in A month..
now equipment that is broken and still being used ..Ure tight on on that.. its the I’m gonna fix it one day..kind of like that stock of ..what we call.. GOOD CHINA.. cottage cheese containers and butter tubs..lately its dog food tubs..
https://www.chewy.com/purina-beneful-prepared-meals-beef/dp/127701?
FANG.. eats these ( otherwise referred to as MAE ) nice little tubs easy to impulse seal and heat resistant to put in A pressure canned for retort canning..
Although your clean-up regimen may work for you, I still abide by the sign hanging over my desk which says, “A cluttered desk is a sign of a genius.”
True, but you want to get to and from it without breaking a leg with the stuff piled all over the floor!
We shall see if there’s a difference in A month for her.. the situation is quite a bit different than the world I live in..they lived in the neighborhoods where the struggles of our neighborhood life just doesn’t exist.. and now they were dramatically thrust into our reality..huge changes that would generally crush someone with the stark difference..
In neighborhoods where struggle is daily life, people learn resilience because they have no choice. Faith, family, and even small symbols like a rose quartz necklace become reminders that negative energy can be transformed into strength and love. Yet for those thrust from affluent worlds into poverty, the adjustment is often unbearable — much like the Great Depression, when multimillionaires leapt from high rises because they could not cope with the realization that they were now living as the poor did. The truth is, hardship is not new, but the ability to endure it depends on whether one has built a life around community, faith, and the simple gifts that sustain the spirit…
the belief one day I will get to it..kind of like our slow water leak..we suspect that beneath the floor there’s a small leak..well seriously we cannot afford to get it fixed..the solution..shut the water off and only turn it on when we are going to use it..it means crawling to the valve several times a day but ..who knows..if I win the lottery I can get it fixed.. and poor people will dump whole paychecks into gambling with the hope that they will win..now I’d rather put that money into eggs or bacon lol…or gasoline for the buggy..but I know a lot of people that don’t make enough to pay the basics that dump everything into the hope of..I will win..
Most plumbing isn’t that difficult. No longer do we need to fit cast iron and oakum, and then pour lead joints. On the pressure side, there are may quick fixes such as compression(dresser) couplings and clamp on repairs. If you or anyone that’s a bit mechanical can reach the area and is sufficiently limber and aware, it should be a simple fix. Modern materials like PEX and tools like an battery operated angle grinder make it a snap to cut out entire sections of old rusted iron pipe and replace it. Even copper can be cut out and repaired without a torch. Leaks cause real problems in addition to the cost of the water. I just had a major one and had to dig down four feet in the mud. Some things just have to be done and done right as soon as possible.
Hope you all have very Merry Chistmas!
It was a pleasent visit this time to Urban Survival.
Until We meet again,
I Win With God Within.
Merry Christmas, Andy.
Yes, December 14th on the Julian calendar of 1582 was December 25th on the newly adopted calendar named after Pope Gregory XIII. However, Julian calendar Christmas day this year of 2025 is December 12th. Hope yours was merry!
Well, you got the first sentence correct.
For those who go by the Old Calendar, the Feast of the Nativity for 2025 will be on (N.C.) 7 January 2026. The difference is now 13 days, because the Gregorian reforms pulled out some leap days that the Julian Calendar had (which was the reason for the calendar drift).
We were fortunate that the two calendars agreed that the year 2000 would have a leap day.
Sorry for having a laugh at all this, but when your life all fits in 42x 14 there is simply no room for ANYTHING but the most useful and essential. All cooking is in one large drawer, ‘kitchen/dining’ all in 8×10, tools in a wall ‘organizer’ made of mesh, a few handy organizer boxes hold the spares, and the rest of the ‘space’ is for sleeping or hanging out. It all floats and is free to move about 75% of the Earth surface, and mostly free of cost beyond the initial investment. It is only the attachment to the dirt that results in al this organizational madness. There is nothing but simplify in the floating world. The spillover just results in a sinking feeling as you watch those bits descend to the depths.
Sad terror yesterday only a few hundred miles South of here. The anger locally is palpable. Beware on your dirt, watch your six, and be prepared. There is a madness rumbling.
Stiks
Watch your six, as well. It is not here, not there, but everywhere. I’m one of those nutjobs who generally runs toward the shooting, but I’m also generally carrying a Beretta. Dunno what I’d do in a place where self-defense was regulated by the State. I try to avoid places like that as much as possible. I guess I’d find a hidey hole and not move around, or get some aqua regia and phosphoric acid, and a plastic tub…
Planning on refining PM’s in Ure garage or basement are we ?
…gonna need a 50 Gal. metal drum for “disposal” porpises or a pallet of bags o lime..keep that front yard all nice and dark green. Yeahyeah thats the ticket…
Here’s one for game day..or like for us movie day..
Pretzels…
1 1/2 cups of warm water
1 packet dry yeast or( 40 grams of live yeast culture )
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted butter at room temp
4 cups flour
course sea salt for the top
( for the boiling part 10 cups of water and 2/3 cup baking soda.. add the soda while the water is cool )
in A bowl add the warm water ,sugar, and yeast let it bloom..
add the Sal butter and two cups of flour one cup at a time mixing it into the yeast water..then add the rest of the flour until it is mixed in and springs back when you poke it..
if its still sticky you can add more flour till it reaches the right form..flour a counter top and kneed it ..put in A greased bowl cover it with a towel..divide it into with or ten sections roll them into ropes then twist into the pretzel shalp..
preheat the oven to 450 degrees…
line a couple of cookie pans with parchment paper..
now bring the water and baking soda to a rolling boil.. dip each pretzel in it for about thirty seconds. remove them with a slotted spoon or one of those deep fryer spoons …
place them on the parchment paper brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with salt.. about ten to twelve minutes until they are golden brown..
bet you can’t eat just one..lol lol
now for the adventurous out there.. you can make pretzel hamburger or hot dog buns this way to.
Youse ever incorporate a Sourdough starter into Ure pretzle recipe ?
(Used personally, his criticism-self-criticism is less about guilt and more about course correction — a quiet, ruthless audit of decisions, assumptions, and outcomes. The power isn’t in beating yourself up; it’s in shortening the distance between mistake and learning, so small errors don’t compound into expensive ones.)
Hmm….yes that’s true..But consider what you wrote earlier..
(Poor bench behavior: every session starts with hunting probes, moving three things to get to one thing, plugging and unplugging power, reconfiguring software, and remembering where you left off last time. Ten minutes of setup here, five minutes there — and suddenly the work window is gone.
Rich bench behavior: fixed homes for probes and leads, labeled power rails, default instrument presets saved, known-good cables staged, software environments preloaded, and a written “next action” card waiting at the bench. Sit down, flip one switch, and you’re measuring in under sixty seconds)
the difference is..Criticism?self?criticism that is meant to be a quiet audit, not one of guilt — a way to shorten the distance between mistake and learning so small errors don’t compound into costly ones.
But here’s the deeper truth: efficiency isn’t just about discipline, it’s about resources. The “poor bench” wastes time hunting cables and reconfiguring software because redundancy and backups aren’t affordable so you have to mickey mouse it together…
take the red green show..
https://youtu.be/NWzPCLcbExo?si=PvW8PckPDBUKGOmm
what made that show popular was it made fun of what the poor men face and deal with with a comical twist.. the majority of his audience could relate to what he was showing is one form or other…
It’s like a slow leak in the plumbing —I am pretty sure its an easy to repair issue in theory, but for those without the money, tools, or the time, the leak lingers and compounds .. trust me you ain’t hiring a plumber with $44:00. Where someone with the resources available can simply flip a switch and measure in sixty seconds, that’s why credit cards and the average wage earner is using plastic to keep the economy moving; Where the poor or those without plastic lose hours because the system itself limits their ability to correct. its why i had to build my own home..
The real challenge isn’t just learning faster, it’s ensuring people have the means to act on what they learn.
Now in my younger years I would have tackled this issue myself.. having had to go back to work has shown me just how far my limitations have been ..
Take the gent I will lend a hand to tomorrow morning.. the younger kids were commenting on his ability..I said ..seriously go watch the movie we were soldiers..that paints a better picture than what I’ve heard then what literally happened to him then.. then take another look at your dad.. they don’t want to hear about it..he needs to vent and needs assistance.. its my pleasure to help him..
Just the refresher i needed. The wife of 40 year tells me of her long gone mothers saying ( The only difference between rich people and poor is poor people have less stuff to keep clean ). Today’s shop talk was wonderfull. Please don’t stop sharing that wisdom.
Lol lo! not really.. the comment from your mom “The only difference between rich people and poor is poor people have less stuff to keep clean.” Funny thing is, it’s not really true. Poor folks are often the ones buying things — they need stuff, so they spend. Working as a pizza delivery guy, I saw plenty of McMansions that were practically empty inside. The difference isn’t who buys, but what they buy: the wealthy can afford better quality crap, while the poor stretch for what they can, often ending up with more things but less lasting value. you don’t get wealthy from spending money..
A wiseman was once asked why he robbed Banks.
Wiseman replied “because that is where the money is kept”
..https://youtu.be/ttJBdr6eBuo?si=v6ES0tyYeLGarKfr
Willie Sutton was a wide man? This explains whty the world is TFU
Oh look, a new euphemism for credit system meltdown:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/were-beginning-credit-destruction-cycle-ed-dowd-warns
I kind of like it, but maybe we come up with something more personal, like “Debt Slave Disintegration Dead Ahead”. No tripod walkers with ray guns, just bankers waving bad IOU’s.
Buying on credit is a problem; buying on margin is a spiked economic tiger trap.
A tool no one wants but some needs right now. Early accumulation here and sno-blower beats shovel in a game of northern Scissors.
Forty below got a heater in my truck and its off to Shear-Pin Sunday
I have to say I have been thinking about roasted potatoes tonight..
was and cut your potatoes put in A bowl..then two tablespoons of mayonnaise..
this was a depression era recipe..cooking oil was rationed so cakes and things were made with mayonnaise..
mix it in coating the potatoes then season them..the mayo helps keep the seasoning on it..bake at four hundred degrees..now I love to use ranch seasoning
…or five minutes in a microwave.
I realize now, with no effort on my part, my living room transports me to the fire room on the steamship in the movie 1899!
One of a kind!