Urban’s BFSK: Black Friday Survival Kit

First You Need a Plan

I can’t emphasize this part enough.

Before you visit another website, turn away from the screen and list the half-dozen things you – YOU (the one with the money) – really want to accomplish in 2021.

Steal Your Eyes from Click Bait!  Every time you see a “news story” about products today, remember there’s likely an affiliate commission paid on almost everything on the net.  Stories like “10 Best Wal-Mart Deals”  and of that ilk are not there because of “news value.”  (Sucking you dry ain’t “news” – it’s the American Way!)  It’s all about “setting a cookie” on your computer and monetizing your ass.

Because?  What do we preach?  EVERYTHING’S A BUSINESS MODEL!

A Fool and His Paper Are Soon Toast

I don’t mind sharing our plans because they are dirt simple and goals-grounded:

  • Remain healthy, active, and debt-free.
  • Scalp a few bucks out of the market.
  • Raise more of our own food.
  • Expand on the “Disney-like House theming.”
  • Invent 2-3 new 3D printable products and take ’em to market.
  • Finish my second novel.  (Oddly, this also means  starting it, too!)
  • Not run out of toilet paper.

See how little we really  need to buy?  Our 15-year old Lexus may last us the rest of our lives.  We have tools galore.  A pair of 3D printers (one small, one larger).  We have about every skill needed for any medium: wood, metal, plastic and “arty” stuff like pottery.  Elaine’s got the green thumb.  I’m the “arm-strong” around here. (I don’t take direction well, but neither does she, so that balances out, lol.)

For us, Black Friday is totally optional.  Your situation may be different, however.

Cyber Monday is just ahead:  We have been “dollar-cost averaging” into a decent cache of printable filament.  Other than that, this is the time of year to buy veggie seeds if they were packed this year.  Cool enough temps they should survive shipping.

Still:  Look at your BIG Goals for 2021 and figure out what you could buy on sale today that will really fit and support what you’re setting off to do.

Do we need more electronics?  Nope. five with 43-65 inches is plenty, thanks.  Still, a spare 65″ if they come down to $299 <Cyber Monday> maybe.

Do I need another tool for the shop?  Nope.  (Though another “parts cart” to tame the chaos was ordered – 15% off today. Under $100-bucks for a: Sandusky Lee MWS361838 Adjustable Wire Shelf Cart with Pull Handle, 800 lb. Maximum Capacity, 38″ Height x 36″ Width x 18″ Depth, Chrome.)

That’s the point:  Other than some hot-bed glue for 3D printing (Elmer’s Disappearing Purple School Glue, Washable, 12 Pack (E1559) for under $4-bucks is a deal if you have a ‘printer farm’) be hard on yourself shopping.

But the pattern you should see is what”

N.U.S.  (No Useless Shit!)

Buy Goal Solutions

Money is to solve problems not make them.

One of the goals out here in the Outback of East Texas is grow more of our own food.  So, two more early morning purchases are worth discussing.

Long-term readers know that because (some lazy, bad dog) didn’t get the green house fired up early enough this year, that when came time to set fruit in the green house it was already too hot.  And I didn’t get enough plants outside to give a good yield.

Two solutions:  First, although the large pots are good, I need to be using white (less heat absorbing) pots.  Which resulted in buying a 50-pack of six-inch pots for under $20 bucks.  Yeah – garden stuff is cheap in the middle of winter.

Second strategic food-growing move?  Since I upgraded the shop to a  real A/C unit, that leaves the swamp cooler free for installation in the green house.  So the last item on my list today was (another under $20 buck deal) a thermostate with a heat sensor that can be placed up high.  When the temp hits 90, the swamp cooler will cill things down to the upper 70’s to 83.  Even Romaine ought to survive that.

Since we have solar, the electricity cost is nominal.  Works for us, may not pencil out in Midtown.

Be Smart on Amazon Scores

As a rule, we don’t buy anything on Amazon unless we have an 80% chance of getting “Happiness.”

Here is the “UrbanSurvival Scoring System.”

Take any Amazon product.  Try not to buy anything with less than  100 purchases if possible.  That way, the odds of “company-cooked reviews” is (are?) lower.

Then do the calculations as follows to get the Urban Score:

In this example (which might indicate why I bought the same brand of shop cart again, here’s how it works:

The 5-stars percent (82%) plus 4-stars percent (8%)  totals 90% very positive. Minus the 1-star whiners (3%) = 87% happy.

Those are odds you can be confident of in Vegas.  (If the town was still there…different discussion, though.)

When we really want something new (like 3D printers, for example), not everyone is smart enough to drive new technology.

We will lower our threshold to 65 or 70% knowing not everyone is smart. (If you doubt us, look at recent election returns for proof, or watch useless prime-time network TV.  Hints are all over the place!).

We absolutely love Amazon and have been happy Prime members for 20-years.  Because of Amazon – and Starlink when built-out and ViaSat in the meantime, living in the city has become optional.  Except when heavy rain showers take down access to satellites, like this morning.  All goodness and holiness these “rural life supports” because in the city?  Lot of people are sick.

Last point here: Sometimes it’s fun to look up a common household product that everyone uses (toilet paper, for example…) and read reviews from one-star and two-star users.  Once again, this brings into question whether we should be allowed to vote.  Just sayin’…

Financial and Other

In the “Old Days” this used to be called “National Call Your Broker Day.”  Because before the invention of the online Black Friday wars, people had lives that were not soley online events.

Calling the broker sounded like fun.  Mine back in the 1970’s always had a good joke or two.  Saved up for this very day.  Today all jokes are distasteful, politically-incorrect, or “insensitive.”

Today, since many people don’t have someone they can call their broker?  Online will have to work.  Go look at your account balances.

Bottom line:  This is a “half-day” for the market.  Except, like so many other things, the market can’t even do this simple bit of math right!

On a normal day there are 6-1/2 hours of trading.  Today’s half-day its 3-1/2 of trading.  It’s really a 58.33% trading day.

And almost no news of interest EXCEPT:

  • The weekly Fed H.6 money stocks (which will reveal things around election time) will be out after the market closes and Midtown empties out to Long Island.
  • The Fed Balance Sheet will be out at the same time.  If you’ve missed going to comedy clubs for stand-up, a review of America’s financial position will have you laughing to tears.

In the Shorts

Any of this qualify as real “news?”

Who will Biden name as SEC chair? Here are insiders’ best guesses.”

Ireland declares Santa’s work “essential” so he can dodge quarantine.”

And better late than never? WHO Sends Another Team Of Scientists To Investigate Origins Of Coronavirus In Wuhan.

What’s REALLY Interesting

The spotting by the Utah DPS of a stainless steel “monolith” earlier this week is worth tracking.  Latest is “Utah monolith: Internet sleuths got there, but its origins are still a mystery.”

Hey!  Maybe it points to the Georgia Guidestones?

On the Horizon:

BTC’s are trying to break back above $17,000.  After getting an ass-whupping earlier this week.

And gold has dropped under $1,800 this morning.

Maybe word that the Fed’s not going to be so loosey-goosey will have an effect,. after all?

Fear rising ahead of employment numbers next week.

‘Round Here

Cooking the turkey tomorrow. 20-pounds for two may sound a bit large, but we have freezers, you see. And one and a half cats.  (Zeus has a p/t GF…)

Would have happened earlier, but was on Coast Wed. night, so taking it easy.

Today, finishing 3D printing of my new Beverage array antenna insulators and working on the greenhouse.  We may get our first freeze of the season Monday.  Warming, huh?  Not, oh, you know: WEATHER?

OK, Dow futures down 173 with 45 to the open.  As goes gold, so goes the rest…eventually.

Write when you get rich (or run outta dough),

George@Ure.net

42 thoughts on “Urban’s BFSK: Black Friday Survival Kit”

  1. Speaking of Las Vegas, you’ve been to the casino and seen the hotel gaming channels. The TV channel in the hotel that teaches viewers how to play the games.

    Here in Detroit “Fanduel” is coming to town. Fanduel is a smartphone gambling app for casinos. There are infomercials on local TV teaching the peoples how to use the app just like the casino hotels running their infomercials.

    I think casinos are obsolete in that the peoples will have most of their gambling budget spent online before a casino outing can be organized.

  2. Yo Chief,

    Wise is the dish served up here today on UrbSurv. One thing we do at Che Coot every Month – print Hard Copies of any and all Financial Account Statements. Bandicoots as a general rule – Do Not TRUST Anybody or Thing .

    Peace Peeps

    – WAR is a real brutal grinding Bitch…https://youtu.be/vKQ8_yUiIMc

    • “print Hard Copies of any and all Financial Account Statements.”

      I am anal that way myself.. I reconcile the bank account daily.. print out checks that the bank receives.. etc. Long story about events that happened in the past… but.. if it folds..
      the account statement is just like the thirties.. worthless.. best to be printed on five inch squares.. it is just a number on a piece of paper.. My fear is just like aluminum cans and bottles.. the price is going up.. so you get your two percent interest and everything goes up ten percent.. so would you have been better off buying a case of green beans.. and make eight percent over next years cost.. or thirty percent on the cost of your bottles.. juggling numbers is all it is.. but a good habit to be in as long as everything stays stable..

  3. A Covid note: Covid is real. That said . . . a Covid mortality study summary quickly “disappeared” from the Johns Hopkins News Letter web site. The now deleted study states:

    “All of this points to no evidence that COVID-19 created any excess deaths. Total death numbers are not above normal death numbers. We found no evidence to the contrary,”

    JHU did not cite statistical or data inaccuracies for pulling the article, later tweeting that they deleted it because it “was being used to support false and dangerous inaccuracies about the impact of the pandemic.”

    Form your own conclusions. The (fortunately) web archived article can be read here:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20201126223119/https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2020/11/a-closer-look-at-u-s-deaths-due-to-covid-19

    • KU Medical Center has a daily update for information on the rates of Covid in their hospital. At this point, 20% of the patient population is Covid patients. (Last update was Wed due to holiday.) And with the surge in the Midwest where the ICU beds and Covid units are overflowing, where hospitals are shipping people farther away due to unavailability of services, what is your response?

      As a nurse working in a FORENSIC PSYCH unit with 15% Covid positive rate AND shortages in multiple staffing areas, what do YOU think is going on and what is the solution?

      • Stop Testing ! Its that simple.

        30+ Cycles ! The Dr who designed PCR is on record stating Results are wildly Inaccurate above 25 cycles – CDC mandates minimum 30cycles.

        No Myocardial Infractions in US in 2020, No Flu, No Common Cold, No Tuberculous….

        Vit C – see CCP (Navy) guidelines for weight/mg ratio, Vit D (+90% mortalities D3 deficient), and Zinc (30mg/day) w/Ionophore like Quecertain. – Now Ure CCP Navy STRONG!

    • Thanks Warhammer,

      I read this and it largely agreed with my own personal assessments. It’s downloaded into my own personal Covid archive just in case it gets erased from the net.

  4. Good morning G-
    Regarding all the fake and cooked up reviews on the Amazon platform, I’ve been using https://www.fakespot.com/ to authenticate Amazon product reviews at a glance. Also, if you think today (black friday) is the best day for the absolute best price for purchasing that item you’ve been saving toward, try https://camelcamelcamel.com/ to see a retroactive time-line for best prices available.
    Both are great consumer tools!
    Happy Holidays!

  5. George

    “Do we need more electronics?”

    In a past comment a week or so ago I mentioned that I was trying to revive an old ink jet printer. It is a large format Canon unit that can do 13 x 19 inch sheets. I had put a new print head and cartridges in it and it needed a new paper feed encoder. I was able to get a used machine for parts on ebay for $60. I am happy to say that between these two printers I now have a working unit. Total investment about $300. A new printer of comparable capability would be $1500 to $2000. Did I need it? NO. But I made it a Christmas present to myself with no regrets as I take care of several people in my family and often don’t take care of myself because of that . I figured the universe owed me one!

    Sometimes you need to give yourself something you want but don’t need! You know, a Toy!

    Merry Christmas to everyone in advance!!

  6. Mr G,
    Haeds up – all U Secret Santas..

    Super fantastic new Children’s book has just been released on the Zon!
    This book is a wonderful resource for understanding today’s Financial underpinnings. Suggest all Ure angry, grouchy “Oscars” pick up a copy of The Bear From Jekyll Island . Nicely written, very nicely illustrated, easy to understand. A very “educational” read for the kids..and the “worthless tulips” crowd.
    What is a Pig?

    https://youtu.be/LQUXuQ6Zd9w

    Who is a Pig ?

    • “pick up a copy of The Bear From Jekyll Island . ”

      a nice book.. but it is pushing the false narrative. that the dollar is backed by one pound of golden honey..
      https://youtu.be/YKJ6ggIh2-A

      The more educational view of the dollar.. is good old Whimpy and his.. promise to pay for it on tuesday..
      https://youtu.be/87dt3pDAgu4

      Or this one..
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ym0u-KweN4
      https://youtu.be/s_I4vx7gHPQ
      https://youtu.be/e4lI8e33U2A

      the problem with free speech is.. the MSM outlets all are scripted to give the same story.. some depending on area.. change the story to push the story line and gently sway the mission statements to appeal to their reading audience..

      • Yo Duuude! WTF ? Over

        – Not False Narrative.

        The USD WAS backed by GOLD .
        – until Dicky Trick took the USA Off the Gold Standard.

        INDISPUTABLE FACT! ie golden honey = childrens book!!

        U Crtique/criticize without reading/watching everything ???

        Must be one of those Peeps who never Reads thru a Test – every question – Prior to Answering.

        BoooooooooooooooooBronxCheerBronx Cheer ! Boooooooooo

        No wonder U view Bitcoin as “worthlesss’ “digital tulip” “hot air”

        I guess the biggest Banks, wealthiest 1%,ect are all blindingly stupid when it comes to “store of Wealth”. Ill take it ! blindly stupid and laughing my way to the bank…

      • “No wonder U view Bitcoin as “worthlesss’ “digital tulip” “hot air”

        your so silly… LOL LOL you don’t see that it is nothing.. your obviously in a different social class than I am.. those above my class see digital as important rather than necessities…..a digital dollar is not guaranteed by anything at all LOL
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HqyEHqEYho

        ..and yes.. most banks do the same thing.. you get a card and use a digital dollar.. banks themselves have very little cash on hand.. you walk in and ask for a million dollars in cash they would have to close.. that is why they have the thirty or ninety day clause on the loans and your deposit.. if you want the million you have to wait.. it is the illusion we all buy into.. take Bernie Madoff.. he gave sheets of paper to people.. and people asked for money from their accounts.. he of course would give it to them.. it was the big juggle.. when in reality there wasn’t any money there.. steal from peter to pay paul thing..and yes.. you can laugh your way right to the bank.. you probably got more numbers than I do for a fact.. my numbers is probably resembling your coffee cache.. but pure logic says when the number tower tumbles it will be.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HqyEHqEYho all over again..

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1TGFCLx-dk

        Now if the dollar was backed by honey.. I would be ecstatic but it is still backed by a promise.. gold and silver.. pretty metal.. but seriously there is very little that you can to do with it.. if people were starving and I had a pound of wheat and someone offered me a gold coin for it I would have to ask myself.. just how valuable to me is that hunk of metal .. now I might give up a fraction of the wheat… in trade which is what happened in the usa in 1800’s a glass of water in the desert was valued at three ounces of gold.. which is what I understand to have happened during the weimer depression it was cheaper to burn money than to buy wood.. Now if someone came to me and offered me a bit coin and showed me the coin on an iPad.. I would probably take the iPad and tell him to keep his cartoon coin.. the Ipad would have more value to me..
        which is what happened back during the weimer depression.. value what you value.. its yours to value but for me.. I live in a class of society in the world where If I have the option of buying groceries or buying a cartoon coin.. I will take the food.. I fear the fall and the hyper inflation.. because the fall is where they will get us.. just like Roosevelt devaluing the dollar by raising the price of gold. https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/home

        https://mashable.com/2016/07/27/german-hyperinflation/#:~:text=Workers%20brought%20wheelbarrows%2C%20sacks%20and%20suitcases%20to%20work,faith%20in%20tangible%20assets%20to%20barter%20goods.%201923

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcEzqN8mmu4&feature=emb_logo

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102

        http://www.goldtelegraph.com/countries-around-the-world-have-begun-pulling-their-gold-from-u-s-vaults/

        http://www.moonlightmint.com/bailout.htm
        here is a good book.. my first house payment was 40.00 a month.. electricity was five dollars a month.. etc.. I remember when full coverage car insurance was 120.00 for six months.. and liability was twenty five..
        https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1970-1979

      • “I guess the biggest Banks, wealthiest 1%,ect are all blindingly stupid when it comes to “store of Wealth”

        Seriously LCN.. it depends on what you value.. In a post apocalyptical world digital anything won’t mean squat.. as long as the value the dollar or the digital currency is seen as value.. then it will be valuable to those that see it as such.. for me.. I value tools and knoweledge .. take a honey do project yesterday.. the little woman was complaining that the igniter on one of the burners wasn’t working could I get it fixed.. so I take a look at it.. dam it the one stove we have has two little screws holding the manifold.. ( yes that is what I call it.. it basically guides the gas to be evenly distributed.. ) I didn’t have the wrench to fit the two screws.. to fix the igniter you take the manifold off soak it in vinegar brush it and clean it.. then make sure the gas port is cleaned out.. Most stove igniters quit working because cleaning the stove fills that little gas port to the igniter.. it is directly behind the igniter..
        I don’t have the wrench.. so what do I do.. I called to get a guy to come out and use his little wrench the cost is three hundred.. plus fifty every fifteen minutes and parts.. if he didn’t bring his little wrench then that is an extra hundred plus fifteen for every fifteen minutes he is gone.. or if he drags it back to take it to his work bench.. then the price increases another hundred fifty.. if the igniter was cracked or broken.. that is an extra hundred plus fifty to put it in.. but to just clean the manifold and ignition gas port is three hundred and fifty total.. with tax..
        ok a new stove is five hundred to seven hundred.. so what do you do.. well I went to the cleaning closet and got out the easy off oven cleaner.. sat down had a couple cups of coffee.. then brushed and cleaned it.. took some sandpaper and polished the top of the igniter.. spark still no ignition.. now comes the other thing.. how do you clean out the ignition gas port.. with a neadle or gas jet cleaning file.. if I had had the wrench.. which I didn’t.. the cleaning file.. dam if I didn’t have that either and my friend at the welding shop was gone.. which meant I had to improvise.. so I found a small piece of braided wire for hanging pictures.. and took two of those strands.. and used that but instead of cleaning it from the outside in which is the most logical way to do it.. I cleaned it from the inside out and used a small paint brush to clean it..
        when I get to the hardware store I will have the files and the wrench since I know this will happen again.. and if having someone drive out for three hundred and fifty dollars just to use his wrench.. and gas jet file.. I will own one.. that is what I find valuable..
        in the early eighties.. I was hurting.. and used bartering to survive..I traded what I know how to do and did that in trade for things I needed.. I would take photo’sof people then make a photo mask and acid etch it or sandblast it on mirror and windows.. painted signs and whatever else I could do and I did a lot of stuff back then to survive.. to pay a surgical bill I resurfaced a clinics parking lot by hand.. ( don’t do it.. it sucked big time..) in exchange for his talents as a surgeon.. it is also how my wife today and I became friends.. and I worked a year ( hell year.. average was 140 hours a week for a year sucked big time sucked..) in exchange for a hospital bill associated with that surgery.. I see your skills and your tools as currency..
        at present our system sees a promise as currency .. a promise that it is good and stable.. and the world has bought the narritive.. yet in reality it is just a promise.. right now the tower is lopsided.. all the promises are piled on top leaving the bottom feeders like myself to squander trying to make it.. this is also why JB got into office.. the promise to take from the top of the pile and strengthen the bottom holding the top up.. the minute this falls we will all be left in squaller.. look at greece.. how many years did it take for the people to remember that the plumber is still a plumber a cook still a cook..

      • “I guess the biggest Banks, wealthiest 1%,ect are all blindingly stupid when it comes to “store of Wealth”

        LCN.. the big bankers are not stupid either.. anyone that can sell you nothing and make you believe it is something .. is really pretty smart..
        speaking of that.. I have a ghost that I caught in a mason jar for sale LOL LOL LOL just don’t open the jar.. LOL LOL LOL
        http://www.ghostinajar.com/ghostinjarmain.htm
        LOL I wonder if you could sell a BC in a jar LOL.. same thing make t-shirts and a photo album of members LOL a membership club to the BC owners of the world.. LOL LOL LOL if nothing else you have the canning jars and t-shirts.. LOL

  7. “Cyber Monday is just ahead: We have been “dollar-cost averaging” into a decent cache of printable filament. ”

    I am buying aluminum can’s and wine and beer ingredients … the other thing is Wine bottles.. they have already almost doubled in price in just the last month or two.. grape and other wine juice is increasing in cost as well because of the world droughts…

    which reminds me of a story my dad told me.. during the depression his dad told him this story.. my guess is it was from the weimer depression.. but I am not sure.. anyway.. two boys got their inheritance.. one put his money in stocks and the bank… the other.. dam he had cash and wanted to party a little.. so he was out with the ladies and wine beer and had a great time.. he spent it all.. then the depression hit.. the good child with his money tied up in stocks and bonds and bank notes.. had to take wheel barrows full of money to buy bread.. gold and silver by the basket to trade for vegitables..
    while there was a bottle shortage and the son that spent his inheritance on wine women and song had a basement full of wine and beer bottles…
    all I need is enough for myself ..and my family.. so I will get a few hundred bottles to keep on hand..

    Historically.. alcoholic beverages has always been a great trading commodity.. and if not.. I have my own…

    • Excellent POV! Many of the pleasures of women can’t be delayed forever, if only because she won’t want your “old” self. Get what you need early in life and that includes fleeting pleasures and permanent memories of them!

      A girl I know has always spent her money on travel and peak experiences(real pun – she treks at high elevation). She owns relatively little, yet carries her joy with her. I’ve been more the ant than grasshopper and past a certain point in life, you realize that it’s more important to get the experiences while you can! Somehow, I need to figure out how to make it work for both of us!

      • “girl I know has always spent her money on travel and peak experiences(real pun – she treks at high elevation).”
        I know a young girl like that Mike. shes a sweetheart full of courage and stamina she also knew where I needed to go shopping for my winter duds. And I can tell you if I was to get lost in the wilderness I want her there.she has adventures funded though.. I’d have a fighting chance to survive.
        I have been wanting to send my kids to cody lundin’s aboriginal survival school.. great guy and another one I’d want with me if I was lost in the wilderness..

      • I forgot this is Cody’s site.. really good guy.. definitely fun to visit with and knows his stuff…

        https://www.codylundin.com/

        Perfect place to go for the two week course.. if for nothing else you leave feeling secure that you would have a fighting chance and look at things in a different light..

  8. 1. https://www.khou.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/us-300000-more-deaths-cdc/507-66f913ef-5dc2-47e8-aab8-f5a7aaad07ec
    From October 20, 2020
    “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking how many deaths have been reported and comparing them with counts seen in other years. Usually, between the beginning of February and the end of September, about 1.9 million deaths are reported. This year, it’s closer to 2.2 million – a 14.5% increase…The largest segment of the excess deaths, about 95,000, were in elderly people ages 75 to 84. That was 21.5% more than in a normal year. But the biggest relative increase, 26.5%, was in people ages 25 to 44. Deaths in people younger than 25 actually dropped slightly. [Note from T: perhaps from increased hygiene practices and less junk food?]”

    2. https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/09/01/comorbidities-and-coronavirus-deaths-cdc/
    From September 1, 2020
    “The most common comorbidities, according to death records, include influenza and pneumonia, respiratory failure, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiac arrest… some of the comorbidities listed are actually downstream effects of COVID-19—meaning they are symptoms. For example, respiratory failure. Someone could have on their death certificate that they died of both COVID and respiratory failure, but that probably means that COVID-19 caused the respiratory failure, which caused them to die…Looking at 2020 since March, the raw number of excess deaths is 200,000 more people than a normal year…If you don’t believe it’s COVID-19, try to pinpoint why this year has been so different than any other. Why would a new disease that kills people not be the cause?”

    3. https://vermontindependent.net/no-evidence-that-covid-19-created-any-excess-deaths-in-2020-john-hopkins-university-bomb-shell/
    This was today and references the now gone report from Warhammer. Note the experts that were quoted in the article according to the author were both pure numbers (Ms. Briand, Assoc. Prof. Applied Economics and Poorna Dharmasena, Master’s Candidate, Applied Economics) AND they disagreed with one another, the most likely reason the article was pulled from JHU. The author seemed to be biased toward discrediting epidemiologists, medical professionals through depreciating personal attacks (“this guy is an idiot.”) and politically tinged opinion persented as fact (“have all been REclassified to “gin up” the COVID death data, we have a manufactured “global pandemic” on our hands. This is UNacceptable. End this COVIDtastrophe Madness. Get back to being Fully Human. V 4 Vermont!”)
    “Briand also mentioned that more research and data are needed to truly decipher the effect of COVID-19 on deaths in the United States…’At the end of the day, it’s still a deadly virus. And over-exaggeration or not, to a certain degree, is irrelevant,’ Dharmasena said…When asked whether the public should be informed about this exaggeration in death numbers, Dharmasena stated that people have a right to know the truth. However, COVID-19 should still continuously be treated as a deadly disease to safeguard the vulnerable population.”

    • IMHO, the Warhammer link is spot on. What we do need to focus on is understanding the pathogenesis and corresponding attributes/comorbid conditions associated with the 20-40 year old secondary cohort of hospitalizations.

      I believe that this is a fruitful area of research. My personal guess is that this virus will fade after it burns through the population unless another virus is released to follow it. It’s still serious, but not an ELE.

  9. George: For your next book you may want to update your “HOW TO LIVE ON $10,000 A YEAR POST COVA”. This is what is about to begin en masse…You lost your job, your house has been repossed, you have been evicted from your apt, your credit cards are all maxed out, your car quit, they just towed your car away, you got a DWI, your spouse left you, you smoked your last cigarette, etc.

    Most people aren’t going to move out in the wilds & forage for food. They want to stay in an Urban environment where they can at least get a meal or hold a sign for donations on a street corner. They are the ones who are going to need the help & they will provide a way more plentiful body count wise than the survivalist. This group needs your book to plan for a standard of living downgrade as their world begins to fall apart. Sell it now while they can still afford it.

    I listened to a 2006 Art Bell Midnight in the Dessert podcast on You Tube where an Elaine who lives in East Texas talked about her encounters with BIGFOOT. You may want to discuss that over martini’s.

  10. Several years back I got an inheritance and spent most of it on whiskey and women and the rest I wasted.

    • Yeah I had one of the kids drop by today asking me to make a spiced rum for them.. they got me a cheap rum I’ll jazz it up..Ingredients

      1 bottle 750 milliliters medium-bodied aged rum. I used Plantation Barbados Rum. Other suggested rums are: El Dorado 5 Year, Mount Gay Eclipse Black or Appleton Estate V/X) or any cheap rum. Spiced rum was traditionally the cheapest they could find for seafaring crew. The spices added were to mask the flavor of the cheap rum.
      Rum is easily made to
      3 allspice berries
      3 whole cloves
      1 cardamom pod
      1 cinnamon stick ( I use one inch you decide how much)
      1/8 teaspoon whole nutmeg grated
      ½ vanilla bean(ore tablespoon of pure vanilla extract)
      1 orange chopped up ( I personally like more citrus so I use two oranges)
      1 cup brown sugar ( or two cups dependent on your personal taste)
      Orange slices & Star Anise optional ( I like the licorice taste of anise so it goes in. If you leave it out and later decide you want it you can add it)
      Instructions
      Combine all ingredients except the vanilla bean in a lidded 1-quart jar.
      Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the rum mixture and add the bean. Cover the jar tightly and shake one minute.
      Place the Spiced Rum in a dark place for 10 days. After 24 hours, shake it again. Then leave it..
      Strain the Spiced Rum through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth into a clean bottle. Throw away the spices.

      Spiced Rum will keep indefinitely. Be sure to store in an airtight, glass container and in a dark, dry

      • “AYFKM”

        That’s why I usually make three gallons at a time.. LOL that and buttons and bows.. they are similar in recipe except 2 large cans of peaches in heavy syrup 12 dried cherries, 1/2 cup raisins,1 lemon and 1 orange, white sugar instead of brown sugar… and leave out the cardamom..
        I think that’s all for the differences in buttons bows..I make those for xmas gifts then buy some decorative bottles

  11. “the surge in the Midwest where the ICU beds and Covid units are overflowing,” As a nurse working in a FORENSIC PSYCH unit with 15% Covid positive rate AND shortages in multiple staffing areas, ”
    Tamara..forensic psych.. I did that for a couple years lol lol..it has it’s good points and bad points..lol I couldn’t work peds little kids would tear me up inside..
    I was just visiting with someone that inspects medical facilities.. he says 30%.. knowing physicians and nurses and techs on the floors.. it sort of reminds me of the flu of 92..during the flu of 92 projectiles out both sides.. floor staff with it wore depends .. we worked laundry housekeeping and kitchen.. it was a mess..we had planned to have t-shirts printed up with I survived the flu of 92…
    It’s similar to that now. The hospital is having supply chain issues,of course you are an RN so you already know that being short staffed us the one common place. ( it’s how the hospitals regulate expenses..the only place option they have for regulating daily costs..)
    This virus will be the same I suspect.. everyone will get it eventually.. those that survive survive. The way I understand it is if you get it and survive the virus does damage..the next go round the damage is worse..

    • I wish I had a nickle for every hour i worked as the TAG YOUR IT guy..
      I could tell you stories.. but then you are on the floor already so you have a few of your own to tell..
      Right now gloves, wipes,the basics basics .. medications..( doesn’t it make you think maybe we should produce some of this stuff in the USA ) just visited with a doctor today that was telling me staff for clinic is being ravaged by it to..making it necessary to only do Skype visits.. I wonder how some of these kids that have been spoiled are dealing with this..lol lol
      I remember one day they had a four year grad assigned to me.. after fifteen minutes she said.. i didn’t go into nursing for this.. lol what did you think the job was.. sitting in a room with books all around me..she walked out..a wasted quarter mil.
      Then theres two of my doctors.. we worked the floor while they went to school..they got in it for the right reasons.. ones the medical director of one of the top hundred hospitals the other one retired last year. Theres good and bad.. some see riches others see opportunities to. Help.. some I wouldnt take my pet to.. others I would beg to take my case..
      Of course you know that to.. to tell people to check a doctors and hospitals infection rate before they let them cut into them or treat them is useless.
      A lot of it is bling.

  12. These are tells of a transition to a credit deflation economy:

    https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/dark-winter-millions-americans-expected-lose-their-homes

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/down-payment-homes-surge-decade-highs-lending-standards-tighten

    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/27/black-friday-2020-traffic-looks-bleak-at-stores-malls.html

    Covid may have played a part in initiating this, but once the credit deflation spiral has kicked in, large-scale lifestyle changes are going to be required to stop the process. Grandiose lifestyle aspirations are going to have to take a back seat to urban survival for many. I see it in the posts on this site, and in town. I hope all of you stay warm and well fed this holiday season.

    • Yep, the wife and a couple of other family members did the Black Friday thing yesterday and there were NO crowds in the stores at all. Perhaps online shopping is taking its place plus the uptick in the virus (two families in our group have it now) and maybe a little of the financial impact finally coming home to roost. They’re all negatives affecting what is usually a major upswing in business for any year prior. BUT at least my stock portfolio is back up to where it was back in the Summer! Probably time to sell and get into depreciating cash. What a world, what a world.

      • The only black friday shopping I did was chicken wings.. a 5 lbs bag for 99 cents the same with 12 packs of pop.. 5 baglimit in the wings no limit on the soda..
        The daughter went into one store and she said the same thing no one shopping.. she picked up a new 65 inch tv at costco for 300 ..they were sold out of toilet paper.. and laundry detergent and most of the basic essential items

  13. “…store indefinitely…”

    It is better if you age it in a charred oak barrel..
    Just like wine or a cast iron skillet.. the more you season it the better it is..
    Just like wine I can get the cost down under a dollar a bottle for our own consumption presently bars will let you have their throw away bottles..right now but I have been told thati can expect them to be charging for them soon enough.. that will and is changing as the economy slides ..
    Everyone was hit by them going option 2 and almost all of them are wondering how long they can possibly keep their doors open.

    https://milehidistilling.com/product-category/supplies/oak-barrels-oak-aging/

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