In keeping with now being retired (or retarded, your call) life is slowly moving over into the “more time for survival, research” column. From now, UrbanSurvival will have pertinent news summaries with the occasional research, economic, or “whatever moves me” commentary.
The key change around here is personal time allocation. I can get a briefing together with coffee and be “wheels up” in 30 to 45-minutes. A few “comment checks” scattered randomly and on a cheaper (marginally slower) server is a low-cost sidebar.
Research and Project Notes
AI Terrain Check: To begin with, our local AI projects are blooming. It comes just as science is beginning to figure out that there may be a life-beyond-life. Which has been known for how long?
This means we have three – count ’em – three stories in the AI space; all of them are terribly important.
- The first, explained in a recent Peoplenomics report, is that AI is repeating IBM’s classic centralized-CPU, thin-client mistakes.
- Second is the speed of the AI sphere’s funding quagmire. Oh, it’s all out on quicksand now. The only question is when the major players will admit what any fool could see six months ago: there simply aren’t enough $50-per-month subscribers to make the numbers work.
Finally, the research into an afterlife is shaping up as a major driver of AI – which few will see; at least right away. It does have a HUGE impact on our AI research as explained in my latest dedicated AI research post. Can an Observer Remember What Happened While It Was Offline? – Hidden Guild
Time Machine Research: Not this coming Wednesday, but a week out from there on the Peoplenomics side, I will have an update on our latest time machine research. As you will recall, we have been throwing darts based on time-slip experiences (like Bruce Gernon and Sir Goddard) looking for data patterns.
Personal Health Research: No “breakthroughs” to report. Our supplements and anti-aging stacks may have helped slow cognitive and cardiovascular deterioration, but that’s an observation, not a clinical finding. We both did OK on our 12-leads this week, though my resting BP on an upper-arm (Class 2) monitor is only coming down to 125/70, even after trying to winelax in the afternoon.
Ham Radio: The Major is wheels down tomorrow. Which means from the airport to package store, the discussion will center on “Which sipping Scotch is best?” If it comes to a tie, I’ll remind him that Pappy kept a bottle of “Passport” (in 1967, it was a reasonable blended Scotch) in my room. “Can’t have you running with high schoolers who get beer, get drunk, and get behind the wheel” was Pappy’s rationale. I claim more experience with Scotch both as a liquid chill and as a useful-enough solvent.
Tower work with a ladder-line OCFD with lobes to Europe and the Western Pacific – and up 80 feet is the goal. And with that, an all-weather tuning house with switching and SWR tools and a ground system nearby.
Ham Radio 2: The other big ham event (if/as time permits) will be setting up the new Xiegu G90, the matching 100-watt linear amplifier, plus the DE-19 Data hub.
Ham Radio 3: Again, time permitting? An EFHW from the wine-room/180 viewport on the side of the house. Feed point will be at 30 feet while the away end will be more like 60-80 feet up. The Major will get to log some drone time.
God, I’m glad to be retired! Now I can get to things that have been gathering dust…
OK – coffee is low, so let’s roll the…
News Compressor: ON
1. Iran: Waiting for Tuesday?
Pour the coffee strong. With America’s midterm elections just two days away, the Middle East appears to be watching the calendar as closely as the Pentagon. Iranian negotiators have been talking with Qatar, Washington says no decision has been made about renewed military strikes, and Tehran is preparing retaliation options just in case diplomacy becomes another casualty of political timing.
The unsettling question is whether Tuesday’s election is functioning as an informal pause button. Come Wednesday, we may find out.
2. Hormuz: The World’s Most Expensive Chokepoint
Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz is back in the headlines. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claim several tankers have caught fire or exploded after entering unauthorized shipping routes, while British maritime authorities report a vessel struck by an unidentified projectile. The accounts remain incompletely verified, but oil traders don’t need a courtroom verdict before repricing risk.
When ships start getting hit around Hormuz, the eventual invoice can arrive at your neighborhood gas pump.
3. Elections: America’s Other Contact Sport
Tuesday brings congressional elections, with heavy early voting and lawyers already warming up their keyboards. Alaska has produced an especially curious confrontation, with the state’s Republican-led government opposing a federal Justice Department intervention involving certification of a possible Democratic Senate victory.
Elsewhere, voter-roll disputes and redistricting fights remind us that elections increasingly involve two contests: winning the votes and winning the argument over which votes count.
The first contest ends Tuesday. The second may take considerably longer.
4. Ukraine: A Small Opening in a Very Large War
There’s at least a suggestion of diplomacy around the Black Sea. Washington and Canada report growing interest in a limited ceasefire protecting grain and energy shipments, possibly involving Turkey and India.
Nobody should mistake this for a general peace agreement. Moscow hasn’t signed on, and the shooting elsewhere would continue. Still, when the world is paying inflated prices for food and energy, even a narrow agreement allowing ships to move safely would be worth something.
War Makes Strange bedfellows: try Russian Diesel. Washington’s temporary easing of restrictions on Russian diesel has drawn criticism from lawmakers who question the consistency of sanctions policy. Political pressure building.
Ukraine’s Satellite Links. Earlier reporting about restrictions affecting Ukrainian military satellite communications continues raising questions about how dependent modern warfare has become on privately operated technology. Strategic vulnerability continuing.
Call it a possible crack in the door, not yet daylight. Don’t hold your breath and keep using your CPAP.
The Rest of the Sunday Paper
Bulgaria Votes. A presidential runoff is underway amid low voter enthusiasm and continuing Black Sea security worries. Results should begin clarifying Monday. Decision pending. Tends not to matter in, oh, Texas, say…
India’s Election Troubles. Thousands demonstrated in Delhi over controversial voter-list revisions, demanding the election commissioner’s resignation. Officials deny political bias, but public confidence is taking a beating. Escalating. Tend not to matter in, oh…maybe Redmond or San Jose?
Inflation’s Second Helping. Energy costs remain a problem for central banks trying to keep inflation contained. Every new shipping disruption complicates the arithmetic for households and policymakers alike. Pressure continuing.
Set an early alarm to check overnight markets in the Pacific and Europe and let’s see if the AI market will suffer a mid-air Tuesday. The Economic Fractalist’s concerns are real – we’re more worried about the half-trading day after Thanksgiving for an interim low. At the 200 Day Moving Average?
California Halloween Shooting. A pregnant woman was killed and six men wounded at a Fairfield shopping mall Friday night. Investigators were still working the case Saturday. Investigation continuing.
Dialing It Back
The coming week has an uncomfortable amount of calendar-driven risk packed into it: American elections Tuesday, possible renewed military action around Iran afterward, unresolved tanker incidents, and a Ukrainian war that keeps finding new ways to disrupt energy and food supplies.
And then – as every month – the employment week festivities with JOLTS Tuesday, ADP Wednesday, Challenger Thursday, and federal dope Friday.
None of this guarantees a synchronized catastrophe. But when several independent problems share the same narrow time window, the odds of one aggravating another deserve attention.
For today? Enjoy the coffee, check the pantry, and remember that the world has survived plenty of ugly Mondays.
Not so many with the disposal running and the rubber “safety strainer” out…
Write when I make sense,
P.S. — AI Proofing Monster Report: The silicon proofing monster has completed its Sunday inspection and reports that the author remains dangerously resistant to retirement. Evidence includes three antenna projects, an arriving Major, Scotch research, AI architecture experiments, possible time-machine work, and an alarming willingness to monitor world markets before breakfast.
The monster found two missing punctuation marks, several unauthorized excursions into speculative physics, and one garbage disposal apparently operating without adult supervision.
No evidence of actual leisure was discovered. The machine recommends immediate corrective action: another cup of coffee, a comfortable chair, and absolutely no new projects until at least 9:00 AM. Naturally, management has rejected the recommendation. The monster is returning to its charging station to reconsider the meaning of the word retirement.
Ure: Damn P-Monster didn’t even mention all the work on the next book updating Millennial’s Missing Manual II book…sheesh! Makes me sound lazy!