Snoozing the Easter Week Roll – Jobs and Naps

Let’s face it, were it not for Trump’s planned arraignment tomorrow, most of the news media could shut down for a week and no one would be the wiser.  Even with an arraignment, this will likely be a “slow roller” because Donald Trump may delay his jury trial for a YEAR despite showing up for an arraignment on Tuesday.  Yessir, another story we’re already sick of hearing about.

A few minor this-n-that’s in the news, but nothing significant until the ADP jobs data rolls Wednesday (in time for Peoplenomics).  Thursday the Challenger job cuts report will be along.  With markets closed (for Good) Friday, the Federal jobs report should be something of a nothing burger, as well.  To quote the NASDAQ site:

“The U.S. Stock Market, including the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is closed on Good Friday. This means that when the market closes this year at 4 pm Eastern time on April 14, it won’t open again until 9:30 am Eastern on Monday, April 18.”

This would lead a common-sense person to expect something of a sell-off, since going into a 3 1/2-day window locked in or out of markets seems like an avoidable risk.  At least for those who like betting on sure things.

Still, we’ve got the Quick-Clot bags out in case our short position taken near the Friday highs doesn’t work out.

For today, the whole platinum metals group (gold, silver, platinum) were showing weakness a couple of hours before the open.

Which means that inflation hype may be taking Monday off, which means (metals coming down) that the Dollar could show some strength.  Which levers to “It doesn’t take as many to “buy an index.” Which translates to a loose (slop-shot) chance that our wondering if last Friday was an interim high should be clear by the close today.

Other Gearing and Leveraging Matters:  OPEC+ announces surprise oil production cut that could lead to higher prices at pump | Fox Business.  Which might have been inflationary, but on the deflation side of the ledger Euro zone factory downturn deepened in March, PMI shows | Reuters.  And some where in here, the “magic wand of made-up money” is all suspect, too as Swiss Prosecutors Probe UBS and Credit Suisse Merger (financemagnates.com).

Early futures dropped back a bit. But we shall see.

“Why Did Ure Go Short?”

All in the charts:

Because, in my (old man paranoid, crazy and demented) view, there are just too many “Things that could go wrong” in here. It’s like betting that there will be a fender-bender on L.A. freeways this afternoon.  Ideal parallel for students of gambling addiction.

Here We Go Again

Is this the third or fourth derailment in recent weeks?  Latest train derailment involves around 25 cars near Montana river – pennlive.com.

Remember the big storms last week in the Midwest and South?  Can’t speak for you, but I’ve never heard of a train derailment being caused by wind before.  Yet here you go:  Strong winds cause train to derail in Marshall County, TN (wkrn.com)

But the good news (such as it is) holds that we are not alone.  It could be worse – in the Philippines:  Mining, Oil Spill, Military Bases Threaten Philippine Islands – The Diplomat.

America’s Dirt

Is there a pedo party Likely. but television isn’t going to sources so much as high profile politicians who may not have learned from the yammering ex-pres.  Go WATCH: 60 Minutes grills Marjorie Taylor Greene on Democrat pedophilia claims.

Does the (despicable, dirt-bag) behavior of the corporate-owned parties leave room for a third rail?  No Labels group raises alarms with third-party presidential preparations – The Washington Post

WTF happened to “Super-Size Me!”??? McDonald’s temporarily shuts US offices, prepares layoff notices: report (nypost.com)

Useful Press Releases

Our wide-spectrum of interests comes shining through:

BURLINGTON, Vt.April 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — If you have other plans for today, you may just have to cancel them. Call in sick. Make up an excuse. Your dog ate your homework. Whatever you need to do is understandable, as it is the official day that Ben & Jerry’s opens its doors across the globe and gives away ice cream all day. The company began the giveaway many, many moons ago but has been unable to gather large groups of fans for the past few years. Let’s just say: “Something came up.” However, it’s a sign that the world is getting back to normal as Ben & Jerry’s joyfully hosts its Free Cone Day across the globe to thank fans for their on-going support.”

Our closest shop is in Plano, Texas.  More than 100 miles and doesn’t open until noon?  Um…not happening.

The cheesecake of business reporting assignments seems to be? High Tide to Present at Sequire Cannabis & Psychedelics Investor Conference on April 5, 2023 (prnewswire.com). Need someone to cover it?

After a warm-up there, I’d be ready to explain what the “indigenous relationship with horses” isCana Foundation hails groundbreaking collaboration between Lakota traditional ecological knowledge and modern genomics science to trace history of indigenous relationship with horses (prnewswire.com).

Bitcoin is still stuck in the mid $28,500 area as of press-time.  Even as Crypto Exchange Bittrex Shuts Down US Operations Due to Regulatory Uncertainty – Regulation Bitcoin News.

Personal productivity item of possible interest: Google Makes It Easier to Share Files Between Windows and Android | PCMag. Takes wi-fi and BT on to work.

ATR: The Right Tool

Stewing – as I was recounting my mis-adventures with my Craftsman T310 riding mower in the ShopTalk Sunday column, it occurred to me that more shopping might be the solution.

Sure-enough.  Found a couple of different “spring puller tools” on Amazon and promptly set about buying a few.  Including a motorcycle exhaust spring tool and a more generic spring pulling tool.

Once I get the mower deck spring installed (and there’s tension on it) I’ll take the reader’s advice who said “hit it with a spot weld” to keep it from falling out of its hole in the mower deck.

Either that or a glob of the 3,500 pound epoxy.  It takes 2-minutes to mix epoxy versus 5-minutes to get out the MIG rig, wheel it outside, run an extension from the 220 welding outlet over to the tractor bring out the argon bottle….  Ground the deck, do the weld and then repeat in reverse to clean up the mess.

Epoxy is more graceful and there’s no “back-tracking” in the clean-up.  More a straight line: Grab a glue tube, put on mixing nozzle, approach mower, glob some on the spring.  Walk to garbage can. Drop and Done.

This is where personal Monday morning “quarterbacking” often gets stuck.  What is the “right” way to do a project?   Not a simple answer.  If I were designing a Lexus, for example, there would be a threaded spring eye, along with a torque spec and it would be either “grade 8” material, or stainless.  But a “lifetime fix” when you’re older (more seasoned?) could be as little as once more around the mower circuit.  You just never know on these things.

Sunday Dinner was pretty good.  Elaine quartered some small Yukon’s.  Which were patted dry, tossed with EVOO and doused with seasoning salt.  About 20-minutes grilling on the infrared ay 250-275, slapped around with a spatula about every fifth sip of wine.  BBQ’ed country style boneless ribs with a heaping of Stubbs, several shakes of cayenne, half a bottle of Coke, and a teaspoon of fresh ginger juice added.

The ginger gets a real workout whenb BBQ season gets going.  You can find 32 oz. bottles on the Zon.

Speaking of shopping!  OMG have you priced a 6X48 belt sander of late?  Holy smokes!  They want over $400 for a new one now.  Absurd.  Found one on HarborFreight on clearance which was still $332 by the time tax and shipping.  Ended up not buying it — I’ll wait for something restorable to come up on Craigslist.

Guest room living room ceiling paint went on the drywall work I detest and looks fine.  Only one noticeable goober. Then, only if you look closely.  Bathroom should be finished this week and then Elaine can do her magic.  Making the place look civilized, for a change.

Dreading a dentist trip this week.  Somehow, got a small cavity under a crown.  Which I didn’t think was supposed to happen, but apparently does. I figure this will be a 12-hundred dollar mouth mining expedition and walletectomy. “Jumping Jack Flash gimme gas, gas, gas…”

Bite down for me?

George@Ure.net

64 thoughts on “Snoozing the Easter Week Roll – Jobs and Naps”

  1. “the news media could shut down for a week and no one would be the wiser. Even with an arraignment, this will likely be a “slow roller”

    Have you ever noticed that during the weekends.. there is absolutely nothing in the foreign news.. and on Fridays the MSM networks always toss out something they want you to forget before The Monday morning Trump Bashing..
    Its almost like the war in Ukraine is put on hold for a couple days so that the people fighting can have religious ceremonies.. In the USA we pick major holidays to escalate events..

  2. In 2008……….

    “Train Vs Tornado, What actually happened”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VakBHlqXi1g

    can’t remember exactly where but some wheres, in the upper plains states, loaded hopper cars were welded to the passing track to keep the lightweight passenger cars, from being blown over by cross-winds

    • That’s strange. Most railroad stuff is held together by gravity! If it derails, everything just falls apart.

      • Yo NM Mike,

        out here on the perimeter there is no such thing as Gravity – made up bullshit.

        Out here what youse all call Gravity, we know as Interference Waves .

        Thats it – plain and simple .

      • “Is this the third or fourth derailment in recent weeks? Latest train derailment involves around 25 cars near Montana river – pennlive.com.”

        Train derailed in the Netherlands, what happened…
        According to local media reports it was a passenger train that was involved that shortly after 3:30 a.m. derailed after colliding with a freight train and construction materials.

        From the initial information coming from the scene of the accident, the front cars of the passenger train went off the tracks, while the rear cars caught fire.

        https://notizie.virgilio.it/treno-deraglia-in-olanda-in-un-incidente-ferroviario-decine-di-feriti-la-dinamica-e-i-soccorsi-1563350

      • I drove Garbage scow late eighties and early nineties.. a compated semi of shizt and steel.. eighty tons average loaded weight..
        on my way to offload that big pile and a storm blew up.. visibility went to zero and I stopped the truck put emergency flashers on it.. not moving an inch the winds were blowing the whole truck and trailer sliding it sideways across the road..
        there is a museum that has display of damage from a tornado.. anyway in the display there is a concrete block.. with a piece of straw embedded in it like an arrow shot into a target.. and a tree twisted like a pretzel..
        Because of this Earth Berming was used to build houses.. and in days gone by man made their shelters under ground or earth protected.

  3. “Is there a pedo party? Likely. but television isn’t going to sources so much as high profile politicians who may not have learned from the yammering ex-pres. ”

    Something that big as a pedo group and videos and papers etc of satanic ritual would never be hushed over or buried by those involved..

      • The Democrat Party Reportedly Received Half Its Donations from Unemployed Americans, Many Are Elderly Voters Whose Identities May Have Been Stolen – Where’s the Money Really Coming From?
        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/breaking-exclusive-corrupt-and-criminal-democrat-party-receives-half-its-donations-from-unemployed-who-are-likely-elderly-voters-whose-identities-are-stolen-wheres-the-money-really-coming-from/

        This report brings together corrupt and criminal actions by the Democrat Party ignored by the GOP, the mainstream media, and law enforcement.
        In 2020 millions were reportedly donated to BLM after George Floyd was killed. At the same time, 20+ police were killed and American cities suffered nearly $2 billion in record damages following the George Floyd riots.

        The Gateway Pundit was the first to report that ActBlue was raising money using BLM as its front group. ActBlue is the Democrats’ funding apparatus. We know this from our early reporting and from the fact that BLM later admitted this. In 2022 Black Lives Matter announced in February 2022 that the organization was deactivating its fundraising pages on ActBlue. This was after the Washington Examiner exposed that BLM was still accepting donations on the Democratic platform despite claiming it had stopped amid questions about its finances.

        The Daily Caller confirmed that ActBlue was using BLM to raise money. BLM is not a recognized non-profit organization and nonprofit organization (Thousand Currents) said it provides ‘fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services’ to BLM.

        Candice Owen reported on the BLM – ActBlue relationship and was targeted by a bogus fact-checker. Tom Fitton from Judicial Watch jumped in and stated that their findings confirmed what TGP and Candice Owen reported:

        Transparency? So if you want to make a tax-deductible charitable donation directly to Black Lives Matter, you can’t. You donate to Act Blue Charities. Act Blue Charities sends this money, allegedly, to another charity, Thousand Currents, which runs BLM as a “fiscal sponsorship.”

        — Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) June 20, 2020

        More at the link above.

        • SURPRISE … NOT!!

          Back in the day when I worked full time in politics I will never forget the day our Campaign’s Fundraiser, effectively the Treasurer but not the one who signed the forms, came into my office all appoplexic .

          Somebody had walked into the offices over the noon hour, walked past the receptionist, and dropped a paper bag on his chair. When he came back from lunch and opened it up it had about $150k in cash in it … with a note in it “More for the campaign where that came from if you need it” but no name or number or any indication of who sent it. (many years ago when that was a LOT of money for a campaign) He concluded, after a little asking around, it was probably Italian mob money who were buying BOTH campaigns as insurance. He put out the word that we did NOT want any more, but wasn’t sure if the message would be received.

          The candidate was as straight as they come, honest as could be, so no way to tell him the campaign was suddenly sitting on 150k in illegal CASH money … with maybe more to show up.

          Finally the poor fundraising guy, who was about to have a heart attack, came up with a plan for a bunch of small fundraisers, at the time anything under $50 didn’t need a name attached to it, convinced the Candidate to hold them though the candidate thought they were a waste of time since he could raise a lot more money than those small events “usually” generated with a few phone calls, and slowly fed that $150k into the bank accounts (since our fundraising guy was also as honest as could be and wouldn’t put even a dollar of that CASH money in his own pocket)

          Two other alternatives were available that I heard were discussed:

          … the “Attach a name” to the a lot of separate contributions, but for that campaign it ALWAYS sent a thank you letter for every contribution except for those small cash fund raisers, so it would have to break procedure to avoid being tripped up with that tactic, OR use the cash for part of the “Walking Around Money” that the Black Preachers always demanded for firing up their congregations. (fwiw in those days BOTH sides HAD to do that, so everybody knew the score on that issue wrt Black Preachers – different ways were used by the different campaigns to “legally”, per election laws, get that money to the Black Preachers but it HAD to be done and both sides did it).

          LOTS of money is always sitting on the sidelines when it comes to political campaigns that WANTS to come in to “help”, not all of it of a “clean” nature (wrt contribution limits or how the money was obtained).

          The nature of the beast and why I always thought the Dominion thing was barking up the wrong tree – the ballot issues in 2020 were just the typical and well proven road of ballot stuffing at work that the Democrats had perfected over DECADES of doing it, NOT anything wrt Dominion Voting Machines.

          The Dominion Claims were a PERFECT distraction to keep people away from how the election was really stolen, very traditional Democrat Ballot Stuffing .. until it was too late to do anything about it!!

          To this day I can’t believe Trump really fell for that distraction … shows just how clueless he really was about elections and how elections REALLY are stolen, and have been stolen for the previous 140 years.

          Trump really isn’t a very bright person. To have bought into that entire Dominion Voting Machine story angle takes a pretty dumb politician but since he did buy into it it then made the REAL steal effective)

          Ah … glad I left politics many decades ago.

          Behind the scenes big time politics is near criminal to actual criminal compounded (at the higher levels) that once in power the using the power of the government to RUIN your opponents so as to push forward your REAL agendas, not the agendas you talk about to the public.

          As a small example look at ol Mr. McDougal who was just convicted of killing his wife and son, plus stole millions in client moneys. He was THE Prosecuting Attorney for THREE counties around where he lived. Think he hadn’t cut deals for money over the years? If you don’t think a crook like him didn’t you are clearly out of touch with human character. THAT unfortunately is the character of many people at the higher level of politics (not all, but many). Always has been and always will be.

          Corruption is used to gain power in many cases, and once in power corruption, or the use of the power of government, is used to retain power and to get rich in the process. (not for everyone but for a goodly many)

          (here’s looking at you Daddy Bush. here’s looking at you Sonny Bush. here’s looking at you Nancy. here’s looking at you Chuck. here’s looking at you Dick … and the granddaddy of it all in my lifetime LBJ, who made the Clintons look like inexperienced Rubes)

      • C… All of the politicians today are sitting at the same feed trough .. doesn’t matter if they are republican or democrat.. our laws have been changed and our courts condone it.. there is billions and billions spent on seven hundred people that should be caring about what the citizens want..
        Whether your a democrat or a Republican.. we have to live with what their actions are.. your family and my families lives and their childrens lives will that to live the affects of their actions. Like a drunk or drugged up driver that rams into the side of a car maiming the majority of the passengers of the car they struck.. do you hold the drunk driver at fault or do you blame the passengers for being in his way..
        they all should be made to read the bills they vote on.. WRITE.. the bills they vote on.. and discuss what is in them.. and then vote pro or con according to their moral convictions..
        they don’t even work a whole month a year.. Its like desensitization of our youth.. they are void our needs for their own live in a bubble .. like federal workers.. they don’t see it .. but they work half of the time that a hourly waged earner works.. My sibling and I got into it.. I told her.. you should quit your high paying job.. show them just how you truly feel about their actions..the golden goose healthcare policy.. and the golden goose retirement.. and a shizt load of federal days off and look at the vacation schedule.. phew.. hardest workers everywhere.. a va hospital goes from packed to empty in thirty seconds.. you can hear crickets .. a regular hospital has staff day and night.. that of course is how the va hospital got the bad rap they have.. great place just needs to be ran like a real hospital instead of a govt facility..
        the cause of this situation needs to be fixed.. the hard part is how to fix it.. the congress will not cut the umbilical cord to money.. I know my representitive will not go back to public flight to get back and forth.. that private jet with his own private flight crew and all the luxury amenities is not something to give up..I have coffee with the pilot.. he sometimes has to just fly it around to keep up his flight hours.. the cost of a leer Jet and the wages of a pilot and hostess co-Pilot.. the fuel.. and credit card companies.. that give out cash cards.. a thing they started to do after the congressional banking scandal where they just wrote a check for what they wanted whether or not there was money in the account.. since it doesn’t affect people on the street they are to busy trying to put food on the table.. a roof over their head.. how it affects them is not in the moment but in the future.. you sell your sould for a number .. you stroke mine I will stroke yours.. a federal worker doesn’t see their lack of work because the feeling is they are at work..
        When I ran a cleaning crew.. we used Govt.. scheduling we were self scheduling.. for every thirty days we had fifteen off.. still getting full paychecks.. anyway.. I took a week off.. yes less than a week total at work.. went in.. to see the boss.. ( still a friend..) he got this glazed look and said.. I thought you quit no I just took a week vacation off.. he took a look at the schedule and then realized .. we weren’t there.. said you can’t have more time off that I do.. and he took over scheduling.. LOL LOL its all in logistics..

        https://youtu.be/5tu32CCA_Ig
        https://youtu.be/lhe286ky-9A
        https://youtu.be/at3gh_FNLmo

  4. Do NOT weld on the spring as it is a special metal and any welding heat will change it to a brittle state and it will break at the weld area. Epoxy is a better option

    • Amen.. my curiosity is why no one has suggested making a tensioner our of a bold and nut.. no welding needed and the spring stays connected.. I know about the jesus holes.. ( your putting the thing in and get frustraited and say oh jesus..) Tensioners are pretty simple.. you take your spring puller flop it in the hole of the tensioner then tighten the spring up.. no welding needed..

  5. McDonald’s temporarily shuts US offices, prepares layoff notices:

    Polar shift in the work force requirements. For decades the bean counters loved IT because it replaced many worked with automation. The Bankster class and PTB loved it too.

    Now with IT and automation you can basically work from anywhere via telecommuting. If its ok to fire everyone and send their call center jobs overseas tied back to US via TCP/IP. Its just as reasonable to expect tat it works for those working from a home office.

    The problem with plandemic is that no one read the supporting slides at the bottom of the power point deck.

    You See if you are of the bankster class and sit on the board of all these corporations. You want the worker drones in the office where they will patronize your restaurant for biz lunch, buy gasoline from your service stations for the commute, and uniform and cleaning services that you own will need to take out the trash and send a bill. the hotels you own will be patronized by biz travelers required to make that face – face meeting.
    Almost forgot the utilities for heating and cooling said corps spaces, why you must sit on that Board as well. Were and tear on your car? You also part owner of that new car franchise in town. The need for a new car every 36 months just got stretched, and needing two car if you and your spouse telecommute?

    The new ways of telecommuting have shot productivity through the roof, saved billions in gas tolls and real estate expenses, and are green for the environment.

    Why are they resisting? /s . What a shame all that collateral damage done to their money whirling aparatchiks out there that have been rendered obsolete by their own plandemic.

    Or Occams Razor, slow the economy down ASAP to avoid the Wiemar on the horizon, and reduce the payrolls on all the .gov cheese programs.

    Got blockchain? The transition is going to be rapid and [financially] disruptive to put it nicely.

    • I am in a moderate growth urban area, hot enough market area that housing prices have just keep climbing even though interest rates have now nearly tripled … but our mid downtown office buidlings are now 40% empty, those near the outerbelt are in places also running 40% empty, and in a couple of formerly “hot spots” on the outerbelt are currently sitting at, or will this year be at, 60% vacancy.

      One fortune 100 firm which is still finishing constuction of their second office building of a NEW two office bldg campus complex (combined to hold 5000-7000+- people) just put 30%+- of their first office building up for lease. Also just announced that they are shipping 1000 of their office workers out to “work from home”. No word yet on what they are going to do with their second office building which isn’t even finished yet. FWIW this is for a division that is a HUGE profit generator for their overall business and is still in a huge growth mode.

      I can’t imagine what it is like in a NO growth urban area, or one that is only undergoing slow growth. Chaos on the horizon for those places is all I can say!!

    • Steevo ,

      R U feeling doggy today ? Have you got the Shiba inu ? Doge perhaps, seems the man with the musky musk that smell musky has swtich out the blue burd for the Doge Dog ! Go Doge Go!

      Ahhhh, but to have nice glass (hard wallet) full of chamRipple would be a lottery Ticketholders dream…hmmmm
      The answer becomes R U a “ticket holder” or a dreamer?

      https://youtu.be/d4bFnz8G-AY

      https://youtu.be/9SwQ9iavJeI

  6. Re: After a warm-up there, I’d be ready to explain what the “indigenous relationship with horses”…

    Folks,

    Thank goodness for the colonial Christopher Columbus reintroducing the horse upon New World shores…

    Be sure to diarize the upcoming White House Easter Egg roll. Those having played the role of Easter Bunny during past South Lawn festivities may have drawn short straw for 15 minutes of fame?

  7. The last time you went to the dentist you had a cavity under a filling, and now you have another one under a crown?

    What the heck is going on?

  8. Had all my teeth removed 35 years back to be rid of pain and it seems poisons in the blood stream.. still have the rarely used 2nd set of dentures of 30 years of age..tho i cracked one part falling once and had it glued while i was in hospital..rarely ans oddly..

  9. Not so fast Qiuckstraw…

    Why have you not herd bout Root Canals behind Crowns? A most lovely and enjoyable way to spend 1-2hrs declined backwards in chair having Ure roots ground out ..ala roto rooter man. What a joy that should be experienced by all. Great way to practice Ure daily confirmation that yes indeed Ure alive and not dreaming. Never mind the smell of infection in Ure nostrils and mouth as the rotted roots be cleaned out. The antiseptic will soonly cover that taste up just fine..
    Wondering which is more painful a root canal or being Short the Market during a Bear Squeeze…guess Time will tell.

    Now open wide and say How Much is this gonna Cost Doc?

    The bright side? Sure …what ever the outcome, it’s better than Hemorrhoid Surgery .

  10. funny you should mention all that. my youngest was a former McDonald’s employee and she busted the manager who is year old male, for getting a hotel room and inviting a couple 16 year old girls out for the weekend. she got the invite and went straight to her momma and they got the cops and set up the sting.

    I’m proud of her for standing up for what is right. fruit doesn’t fall to far from the tree.

    “I figure this will be a 12-hundred dollar mouth mining expedition and walletectomy.”

    don’t worry, they probably got a guard for your wet spot. and one for ure exit only. uhhh errr yeah that is where ure wallet is.

    output and input.

    my mining experience is more on the Yang side of the coin. I carry the vision of God into all my activities and as for direction.

    besides,

    it’s not all about the money but don’t get me wrong the money is good, it’s about doing what you love and when you do what you love? it’s alot less like work.

    so this lady calls me and says I got ya all set up, your ready to roll. let me know when you get here and I will show ya around. I said cool. what is your name again? she said seqsequoia woods sir. I know some really good trails to go hiking if you into that sorta thing. and some hot springs out here. be cool cool to have someone to do that with. nobody else likes that stuff.

    I said sequoia woods. she said yeah my parents were hippy. I said you don’t say.

    “all access badge to the hardwood classics.” springs to the mind.

    looks to be a very prophetable trip into the woods.

    good luck on your grill.

  11. Some economist are saying that the sudden cut in oil production by OPEX+ [ 1.6 million barrels] will have no impact on inflation, as natural gas prices are still dropping. That makes no sense to me, at all.
    I don’t know about you, but I have no knowledge what-so-ever, that the Transporation industry runs on natural gas !

    • I hate the smell of Bullshit in the morning … LOL … and what they are saying is 100% Bullshit.

      BTW wrt natural gas the big compressor complex for liquifying natural gas for export that is the biggest one in the US and was shut down after part of it blew up a year or so ago just came back online in the last two weeks and as a result natural gas prices are already rising again.

      Since it was a mild winter no telling how high they will go this time since the storage caverns weren’t drawn down as much this winter as it typical … but you can be certain that Natural Gas has now completed it’s decline and is going to be GOING UP again now that our liquid export capability has just had a huge increase.

      (always did like Truman’s complaint about economists – to paraphrase that straight talker badly: “What I want is a one handed Economist. They are always saying “but on the other hand” and I am tired of it!!)

  12. Lots of Happy-Talk from several large brokerage firms this morning., that it appears the Bear Market is over, has bottom and we are going to be moving higher in the markets. Since I rarely believe the Big-Boy, or their Banks., or the government, or it’s Bank, or the Church., or even the local weather forecast., several facts should be noted.
    – In the more than 77 years since World War II ended, there have been 13 bear markets. Although there’s no rhyme or reason as to how much these 13 bear markets have ultimately declined, there is a well-defined pattern when it comes to bear markets finding a bottom.
    According to data from Chief U.S. Strategist Ed Clissold of Ned Davis Research, the common theme the previous 12 bear markets shared is they didn’t bottom until an official recession was declared by the eight-economist panel of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
    .., and
    Dating back 70 years, a U.S. recession has materialized anytime the U.S. ISM Manufacturing New Orders Index has fallen below 43.5 (no matter how brief the time frame). In January 2023, it fell to 42.5 before rebounding a bit in February.
    .., and
    Arguably the most-followed recession-probability tool is the New York Federal Reserve’s indicator that analyzes the spread (i.e., difference in yields) between the three-month and 10-year Treasury bonds. Historically speaking, when the yield curve inverts and longer-dated bonds have lower yields than shorter-maturing bonds, bad things tend to happen. Currently, the yield-curve inversion between the three-month and 10-year T-Bond is the widest it’s been in almost 42 years. [ Though this measure has been wrong, twice.]
    …, so,
    No bear market has bottomed prior to the NBER declaring a recession, and most signs appear to point to a high likelihood of a U.S. recession in the not-too-distant future. In other words, there’s a very good chance the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq have yet to see their bear market lows.
    .., however
    There is no matrix, or measure on high the markets will go, prior to dropping to the bottom. No stock market has ever crashed ‘before’ a recession and the markets have never crashed from an all time high.
    – Picking the top is what the game is all about right now.

    • Ohhh – thought he was talking bout dem folks that live in the Jersey pinelands (Pineys)..home of The Jersey Devil as well..a fiery lil fckr.

  13. lawn mower maint, is an on going exersize, never ending, I did the dentass trip last week, Ben &Jerry can stick it,
    So I will go off topic,,
    Has anyone noticed,,, Robocalls?,,, mine have ceased,,, none for a couple of weeks or more, thank goodness,,, e-mail spam has seemed to slowed also.
    Paradise is a small town in Montana, heard they had a train wreck, last time I drove through there, I had to wait for the bighorn sheep to get their fat azzes off the hiway, beautiful place

    • If you are missing those Robocalls put your phone number here and we can arrange for you to have lots of options wrt Extended Auto Warranties, Reroofing options, and FREE Solar Installations.

      Just trying to be helpful …. !!!

  14. now that is some fucking funny shit, right there, I don’t care who you are.

    that is a gave me a good hearty belly laugh.

    ahhhhh the language of the God’s. ha ha ha ha.

    so funny!

  15. Tornado Window is now open … for those who live in Tornado Prone areas.

    The week of Good Friday and the two weeks after are when it seems the HUGE tornado outbreaks happen (started a week early this year it looks like). Not talking about just one here or there … but outbeaks with 50 to 120 tornados in a DAY across a wide swath of the country.

    Have your tornado plan ready … get your family on board so each one knows what to do, particularly for those who live in a slab foundation house or modular of any sort with no storm cellar out back … and have an alert radio with the alert TURNED ON so any alerts that come in the midnight hours will wake you up.

    Stay safe!!

    • AMEN!

      I’ve been a storm-spotter since 2003. This is the busy season. SPC does not want us out at night, because when you’re in the field, you can’t see a tornado until it’s on top of you. I don’t have one yet, but may add a small TV to my pile of “chase stuff:”

      In the movie “Twister” when they are in the Quonset next to the drive-in theatre, Jo goes to the concession stand to order coffees. She looks up at the TV when the picture goes away and there’s a solid white band running across the “snow,” about 1/3 of the way down the screen. This scene always makes me smile.

      Unknown to most people) a tornado is a ginormous vacuum tube. It “broadcasts” at a frequency of about 55Mhz. [Analog] TV Channel 2 is ~55Mhz. If’fn you have an analog television set to channel 2 and you see/hear the pending warning, turn the TV on. If the raster goes to solid white, head for the storm cellar or kiss yer ass goodbye. If the TV is not on channel 2, the tornado will throw a solid, pure-white band across the raster, at a harmonic of 55Mhz.

      This scene is an accurate depiction of this phenomenon, but nobody who’s not a weather geek would ever have caught it or noted its significance. (Every single one of you who reads this post will now watch the last 45 minutes of “Twister” when it comes on, and you will notice the “white bar” and smile, as I do…)

    • BTW, the Palm Sunday outbreak was in 1965. 47 tornadoes killed 271 people and injured over 1,500, many in Indiana.

      Mom and Dad took me to (I think) Marion, Indiana, where a trailer park had been relocated to an adjacent county. Dad made a point of showing me the hay which had been driven into the trees like a bunch of crossbow bolts. He explained that the pressure of the tornado caused the hay to become really rigid, and the wind velocity permitted that artificially-rigid hollow grass to be driven into the side of maple and oak trees. It was a lasting lesson, and spurred my acquisition of NWS maps and a weather station from Edmund Scientific, and my first correspondence courses in climatology and meteorology.

      I can still remember the write up of the “Palm Sunday Tornadoes” in the (1966? 1967?) Old Farmer’s Almanac. I didn’t realize what a big deal it was at that time…

      • I saw Xenia Ohio about a year after it was hit by what at the time was the biggest tornado in the history of the US, a massive F5, that hit that town of 20,000. It was still a mess a year later.

        By pure luck of the time in the day at which it hit the numbers killed were 1/10 of what they would have been if it had been an hour earlier or 90 minutes later, but where there had been subdivisions of houses built on slabs all that was left were the slabs, for as far as the eye could see (from what friends who were there a couple of days later told me). The downtown was mostly blown down, except for the old stone courthouse in it’s middle.

        I have seen a fair number of small tornados in my lifetime, but hope to never see a massive one like that F5. Tornados have my respect.

        • “but where there had been subdivisions of houses built on slabs all that was left were the slabs, for as far as the eye could see (from what friends who were there a couple of days later told me)”

          That’s accurate. I was one of those people who was there a few days after it hit. I would say it took about 7 years for all traces of that storm to disappear.

          BTW, this year’s Dayton HAMvention is being held at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia. The last one I went to was at Hara Arena in Dayton, which no longer exists, so I may actually go this year…

  16. that is why I love you man. I only know a few people who have that sorta word smith skillz.

    I know there is alot of people with an axe to grind, sir.

    and yes I understand in those images titled “the future of America” that were placed in the Bank of America in 1997 that clearly reveal now what has happened since. 2020 being hinesite.

    the last and final image is of an engineering Square, and the last man standing in game of king of the mountain. of Gold.

    the other one with the gold panners, EQ sign and the sleeping red giant. or the buried one.

    and hot springs being metaphors for palm springs. because it’s hot as f there.

    and how all that Tyes into my life. and where I’m going.

    I get it.

    it’s alot to wrap one’s mind around. processing 50 puns in meaning in single living metaphor. some just make me laugh so lucky. much much.

    the only thing I can say really about it is. THE DUDE, ya know. HE knows the shit I don’t. I only know a little bit. and I got a golden spoon.

    ha ha ha ha.

    Cosmic Consciousness jokes.

    EYEs to SEE and EARS to HEAR.

    most won’t get it. my little finite mind barely can grasp some of it. I’m alteast aware that is there. and am able to piece it together a little bit. I don’t think it’s as much fun if you really get all of the understanding of it. I like suprizes. makes it more fun.

    kinda like finding a power source when I needed one. just happend to be, right there when I needed it.

    thanks man. you are hilarious.

    I haven’t laughed that hard in a loonnnnggg time. I guess happy happy happy has begun. good. good.

  17. I mean think about it. me who is 99.9 percent German. I’m like hitlers Arian wet dream. 6’1″, 225lbs blonde hair and blue eyes with white halos on them. strong as an Ox!

    my last name litterally means in German “stone mountain”.

    3 years ago I ran a website called doorfore where it said in the banner mining the future. the future was highlighted in gold. and now I’m driving a 4 door German car to work mines in a Mountain in a place known for white pride militias, to run the biggest earth moving machines hauling Alchemy symbol for spirit and light –> Ore.

    3 years ago doorfore. mining the future. with a picture of an open door in the woods on it.

    now, I’m not racist at all. I don’t care about skin color at all. but I’m not going to apologize for being born Arian white either. I’m white. I didn’t decide that. it’s how I came out of the organic portal.

    it’s all that is just one layer to a metaphor. other layers and meanings keep coming in waves.

    good thing I don’t do drugs. haahahahahahha I’d really be tripping then. hahahahahaha

    ~ we are right on schedule ~

    • ” 6’1?, 225lbs blonde hair and blue eyes with white halos on them. strong as an Ox!”

      DUDE!

      You and I are the same size (I also have blond hair and blue eyes, but I’m a Viking.) I have been 225 pounds, ±4 pounds, since I was a sophomore in high school.

      Please understand, I used to be strong as an ox — then I got old. I may still be, but finding out would create conditions where I could have a heart attack or stroke (which I view as a less-than-ideal way to spend time in the hospital, or hit the check-in counter at St. Peter’s guard shack…)

      When this happens to you (and it will), trust your brain, not your body, because heart attacks, strokes, and significant lower back issues are not stuff you want to invite into your life. God blesses us with lots of things, but He gave us the ability to reason, so He wouldn’t have to babysit us every second of our lives. I believe He expects us to use this ability.

      I have noticed myself doing stuff like taking “old man steps” on ice. It seems to happen naturally; it kind of annoys me, but I realize my brain is watching out for the lowered calcium content of my bones, and trying to keep me from falling where I could become irrevocably damaged. I still drive like I’m on an SCCA track, though, and passed my vision test without glasses for the first time since I was 19…

      Take wins when they present themselves.

      …And above all, be safe.

      • Sure, you 2 Cleopatra’s keep telling Ureselves Ure not Nazi’s..

        I mean if you dont believe Ureselves, how you expect anyone else to believe youse 2 arent anything but 6’1″ 222lb blue eyed Nazi’s?

        Achtung Baby! indeed..https://youtu.be/peMw65Pljoc

        Got National Socialism ?

  18. shit George at this rate, you best let children of Mr Smith know, I will be off to save the constitution soon. because I’m salty as f. now where did I put that white horse.

    BWHAHHAHA

    it really is all connected! it all connected. wow.

    hahahahahaha

  19. Re: “Generation P”
    feat. The Bureau

    Folks,

    Curious elements about the Ukrainian-born blogger, late of St. Petersburg, include that he had adopted as his nom de plume a central character name from “Generation P”. Modern Russia meets ancient Sumeria. The former convicted criminal, and later pmc fighter also featured in monarchist-leaning tv network programming. Its billionaire oligarch owner had also allegedly managed to distill several hundred millions more in earnings from cryptocurrency manipulations. The world has trans formed into one Ishtar would recognize from olden times? A Tsar is born?

    Generation P trailer:

    https://youtu.be/aV_7D4D7A_I

  20. Whoever was here in the Americas made street tacos out of the last horse-critter sometime between 13K and 10K years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. The only one of the two that could be called “indigenous” between the Lakota and horses after that was the two legged ones from what I can tell and it was the Spaniards that showed them how they were used. They and the Comanche took to them like a fish to water and dominated and routed all the other Plains Indians until we Pale Faces put a stop to it at the end of the 19th century in a not-so-compassionate way. Growing up glued to the boob-tube I thought the Apache were the bad boys on the block but they were scared spitless of the Comanche that killed them for fun and drove them down into Mexican territory.

    A great book to read about Apache and other Indian life is “9 Years With the Indians” by Herman Lehman, a white captive that became a respected warrior until he killed a medicine man out of necessity and then escaped to live with the Comanche for a while before he was returned to his family in Central Texas. There are many fun, funny sometimes and very interesting as well as heart-breaking stories told by Herman in his book.

    In town here McDonald’s has 2 new burger joints completed, one that’s being totally renovated from the ground up and one in a new location, plus an older one that has been here for years and may be the next to get upgraded. If McDonald’s is shutting down I hope the contractors get paid.

  21. Holy Cow. my brain started moving through information so fast and prattern matching litterally thousands upon thousands of data points simultaneously. threw my equilibrium off. I mean i can process data points fast but never that fast. I felt like neo when he woke up out of the matrix. whooaaaa. I had to go ground myself back in reality. like dream and reality warped into one thing.

    a very gifted psychic told me they saw the Dagaz rune and I were becoming one. I was like ok, coool man. thanks.

    WOW! I crashed my car because reality started warping around me. that is new. it still runs good. im okay and all is well. hahahahha

    WOW!

    I can’t be the chosen one. I don’t want to be. Cosmic consciousness. ya. that is cool. Fuck all that other stuff. I’m just here for the chips and salsa, man.

  22. Tomorrow is year 3 from when I stood in that sacred place. and the beginning of year 4.

    I just realized that.

    hmm.

    maybe that is why. I’m feeling this much. idk. doesn’t matter. all is well.

    sometimes all you have to do is nothing. just breathe.

  23. Fact is, derailments happen all the time.  But on rare occasion they are spectacularly bad, and then the media focuses on each and every one they can find.  They are costly for the railroads and they really do try to prevent them.  Did you know… when a train is stopped in a siding while waiting for an opposing train to come by, a crew member is required to leave the cab and stand trackside to inspect the passing train for defects and problems?
    There was another derailment in Montana. “The fire department said there was “no current threat to public safety and no hazardous materials being released.”
    Yup… a trainload of Beer is not hazardous.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/train-full-beer-derails-montana

  24. George, you need a zero turn mower,and not a cheapie. We have a 60” Country Clipper ,they are made by a farm supply company all welded frame and deck. Not stamped out of sheet metal. The reason my wife likes it so much is the controls, it has 1 wobble stick to drive, push forward and you go forward move left or right or back very simple.don’t know if they have dealerships in Texas

  25. OMG.. I think I know why the vineyards get two hundred a bottle for the desert wine..
    WOW…
    I let just a couple of people taste test it.. and in the matter of just a couple of hours.. almost a fifth of what I got clarifying in the carboy .. has been consumed already.. by the taste testers LOL LOL LOL it hasn’t finished clarifying yet.. OMG.. the boss hasn’t even tasted it yet.. and she is the one I make it for LOL LOL definitely not like her fathers attempt at making the wine LOL LOL LOL
    I am going to make special bottles for it to.. wow..
    Its almost like freeze drying pineapple.. that stuff never makes it to a bag or jar.. its gone before I get it ten feet..
    the way this is going.. I might have to put a second batch in to ferment.. I will stop and get the juice tomorrow..

  26. “Remember the big storms last week in the Midwest and South? Can’t speak for you, but I’ve never heard of a train derailment being caused by wind before.”

    Container cars moving 53′ boxes that’re stacked two-high. Huge sail and really high C/G. Not surprising. I’ve seen semis blown off the road by a 50-60mph gust. Those double-stacks run up to about 22 feet high…

  27. “Is there a pedo party? Likely. but television isn’t going to sources so much as high profile politicians who may not have learned from the yammering ex-pres.”

    You DO recall it was that yammering ex-pres who ended the pedo sex-slave ring in NYC and LA which took root during the Obama Administration, then sent a military flotilla to Argentina to address the problem at its source, right?

  28. “OMG have you priced a 6X48 belt sander of late? Holy smokes! They want over $400 for a new one now. Absurd.”

    Mine is a Powermatic Model 31A, which is $1959 delivered from Amazon — I believe that’s about the lowest price in North America.

    I paid $76 for mine (+$16 for petrol) purchased from a high school in SE Ohio. Solid cast iron and the janitors loaded it onto my trailer for me…

    • I figure if I post this stuff for long enough, I’ll get a few of you to look at Craigslist and the surplus sites, before you send that stuff you can only spend once, to China.

      Powermatic is an order of magnitude better than any consumer brand, including DeWalt. My hundred dollar bandsaw looks new and cost a bag of fries less than $5000 when it was, and if somebody like me doesn’t buy it, the person who does will sell it for the scrap value of the cast iron.

  29. “Whatever you need to do is understandable, as it is the official day that Ben & Jerry’s opens its doors across the globe and gives away ice cream all day.”

    I see Ben & Jerry’s finally set their price point properly…
    _______

    “After a warm-up there, I’d be ready to explain what the “indigenous relationship with horses” is…”

    The Lakota traded the Kiowa for horses. The Kiowa learned to ride by stealing horses from the Conquistadors, and became a really significant light cavalry after the early Spaniards took the gold and ran, leaving their horses to run wild and breed like rabbits all over the Plains.
    _______

    “Once I get the mower deck spring installed (and there’s tension on it) I’ll take the reader’s advice who said “hit it with a spot weld” to keep it from falling out of its hole in the mower deck.”

    You can’t do that. Springs are tempered steel. Get one hot and you relieve the temper and the metal crystallizes — It will shatter under any load — doesn’t even have to be shear or torsional.

    I honestly don’t know how to remedy this problem, other than to re-design and rebuild. You can try the epoxy but I think the spring will flex and break itself free of the glob. I suppose you could wire-wrap the open end of the hook, to make it so the spring can’t fit through the hole, but that’s several hours of REALLY pain-in-butt work you can’t even do without removing the deck.

    – Good luck…
    _______

    “Somehow, got a small cavity under a crown. Which I didn’t think was supposed to happen, but apparently does. I figure this will be a 12-hundred dollar mouth mining expedition and walletectomy.”

    Ouch! Sounds about right. I lost a crown last year in a bowl of chili from a roadside diner in the Upper Peninsula and knew there’d be other work besides, so went with United for my Medicare Advantage this year, specifically to get the dental insurance to get the choppers fixed.

    • i don’t think anyone with eye problems like Jorge’s should do any welding except with a glue gun.

  30. out of a bolt and nut.. sheesh auto correct.
    oh if you do use a swivel nut for the spring connection.. that way you can crank that puppy tight and the spring doesn’t get twisted..
    https://www.carrlane.com/product/supports-rests-feet/swivel-pads/swivel-nuts
    If you decide to go with a spring tensioner home made or bought.. make sure you put a little loctite on it..
    https://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Heavy-Duty-Threadlocker-Single/dp/B000I1RSNS/ref=asc_df_B000I1RSNS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198054161189&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11935884131572911730&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9020398&hvtargid=pla-350863460111&psc=1
    tensioners have a tendency to vibrate loose once in a while..

    • The screw tensioner is a really good idea, IF he can bore a hole for it without weakening the bracket

Comments are closed.