Intro
This is another of the W.O.O.D. series of semi-regular Weekly Occasional Open Discussions. (i.e. if I forget and skip one, no big)
Immediate prior one here:
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2024/01/15/w-o-o-d-15-january-2024-new-year-same-old-mess/
and remains open for threads running there (at least until the ‘several month’ auto-close of comments on stale threads).
Canonical list of old ones here:
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/category/w-o-o-d/
“Me” News
I’m back from California. The “new old job” went well. Site audit, licences check, inventory of computers, etc. etc. Looking for my replacement did not go as well as I’d hoped. There’s a LOT of “we do it all just for you, nation wide” web sites that point you to a “give us all your information and talk to a sales guy” AND/OR “Sorry, we are in State Foo, not California”… It is remarkably hard to find a company that does the work the way it ought to be done by folks with clue and a decent Customer Facing Behaviour set. So for a while, I’m going to be “it”.
Working on remote access (I need to learn and set up something called SplashTop).
Very happy to have been home a couple of days. And then:
Hawaii & Flying Cats
For the next week or two, I’ll be escorting 2 cats to Hawaii. “Why? Don’t ask why. Down that path lies insanity and ruin. – E.M.Smith”
Exploring why…
A Friend’s Kid was a bit slow to launch, and then suddenly landed a nice computer gig in Hawaii. Almost instantly, he’s in an apartment with an 8 to 5+ BUT with a catch.. Seems that to take a cat to Hawaii requires a whole lot of hoops be jumped through. Vet inspections, medical records, 2 x rabies shots on a particular schedule, then a specific 10 or 15 day window to actually move the cats… But he loves his 2 cats… so…
While he was off living and working, his Dad & I dealt with minor things like selling a car, closing an apartment, and getting the cats through the hoops. Well, mostly it was the Dad, but I did help some… ;-) But now, since there are two cats and they both must go in the same time window, we need two carry on cat carriers and that means 2 people with one cat each, which means I’m going to Hawaii.
As you might guess, a ‘sudden trip’ means I’m going to be a bit hectic for a while.
Yes, all for 2 old cats. But they are “like family”…
The World At Large
The Forever Wars continue. The GEBs have told their Idiots In Charge to get a war going with Iran, since they can’t win the one they started against Russia. Then there’s the whole Israel being told by by the UN Court that they are suspected of Genocide… which sure seems like an oxymoron to me. I thought the word meant the you were killing off (-cide) a whole genetic type (geno-). Since there are millions of the Arab Genotype all over north Africa and the Middle East, I find the notion that taking revenge on Hamas after a murderous attack on Israel a bit short of killing all of that “genotype”… But I guess that’s “international law” and the UN for you…
Russia has continued to burn up all the NATO hardware sent to Ukraine, to the point where NATO is pretty much running out of everything shootable. Heck of a time to pick a war with China and launch one against Iran… but hey…
OTOH, IF it is “all about the Benjamins” then getting another $62 Billion to share around to all the “Friends Of Mr. Z and Biden” is the priority. That they don’t have the manufacturing facilities to make ammunition fast enough isn’t quite on their radar.
In the meantime, Russia is continuing to slowly press forward. Ukraine is just about out of ammunition and soldiers. They have about 1 month worth left. I figure that pretty soon, Russia will just tap the few Hundred Thousand extra soldiers on the border and when Ukraine folds, present their terms.
Masterfully executed. Damage limited to a narrow band at the line of contact, plus military facilities. Crushing the Banderas out of existence. Ending the threat of NATO inducting Ukraine. Setting up for a complete surrender while using the most minimal of troops. Taking down NATO a peg or two. Seems Putin has not lost his talent for Chess.
In Other World News
SCOTUS found for the USA and said that the Feds can, in fact, take down the Texas Border Wire. This, then, puts Biden in one hell of a bind. See, now he can open the border wide open, take down the wire, let in the flood of illegals. And in the process piss off the 25 other States that are on the side of Texas, piss off almost the entire Republican Voter Block, and about 30% of the Democrats. OR he can do nothing and end up looking like the impotent impostor that he is.
Night Fork, gotta love it.
While that is going on, about 700,000 truckers and all their hangers on are headed to the Texas Border. Wish I could join them, but I’m on a plane to Hawaii…
so brown stuff hitting the whirly thing. News at 11 ;-0
A Positive Note?
About the only thing I can find these days is that the Biden Administration is continuing to act like idiots AND the Democrat Voters are noticing. The DNC is beginning to panic, what with Trump leading by the widest margin ever in the primaries, and Neocon Nikki Haley saying things that “out” her as not so great. (Like demanding that everyone who uses the internet be positively identified by name – i.e. DOXing everyone. Then there’s all the wars she likes.) Then there’s the patently obvious “Get Trump” plot by the GEBs, Swamp Critters, and DNC. It has become so obvious that it stinks and everyone is noticing. So at this point it is unlikely it will be able to “dirty him up” with the voters… Then their “attribute to your opponent which you do” has gotten so routine that you can pretty much lay out the Dirty Democrats and their Deeds by who and what they accuse.
Basically, I love the smell of DNC Desperation in the morning ;-)
In Conclusion
From now to November is 10 months. A whole lot is going to happen in that 10 months. We will have wars starting, and perhaps ending. Presidents being elected, and hopefuls sent packing. The EU is headed for an economic recession and de-industrialization at best, economic collapse at worst. China is having a property meltdown, devaluations, and the liquidation of Evergreen. The Chinese Stock Market has tanked, and continues to tank. (So either no war over Taiwan due to economic problems, or yes an invasion of Taiwan to distract the population…)
Just crazy town, really. But: “May you live in interesting times.”
WatchMaga
This will continue to be DIY for a while still.
https://rumble.com/user/WatchMaga
For more recent events, see:
Bongino Report:
Or Whatfinger:
https://generaldispatch.whatfinger.com/
I’ve also gotten addicted to the Top Ten Memes of the week from WatchMAGA here:
They have interesting “bite” to them, along with a tendency to highlight the news of the week in memes, so good as a social attitude pointer too. Plus they are “way fun” ;-)
Musings from the Chiefio 
Funny coincidence, yesterday I read an article about the fact there are too many stray cats in Hawaii.
and they are making it now illegal to feed stray cats…because apparently cats kill too many birds…
I don’t hate dogs but I much prefer cats.
Almost every one of my neighbors has a dog, I hear a lot of barking as early as 7 in the morning up to 11 at night, not all day long but often enough that it is annoying, it is one of the reasons I prefer cats; so quiet!
Our cat turns 18 next month. He’s the last man standing from our most recent batch of 2 cats and 2 dogs. We’ve had dogs for about 43 of 47 years of marriage and a cat or two for much of that time.
This is it. No more cats or dogs for a few years. We do want another dog, but after we take a break for a few years.
We are looking to get a large dog. We fancy an Irish Wolfhound or a Great Dane or perhaps a Burmese Mountain dog. German Shepherds are also popular once more and we like them.
We’ve only had one larger main dog, an Australian Shepherd, and we would like one more large dog. The bigger dogs don’t live as long as the little yappers, 8 to 10 years, so we are also figuring that one of us should outlive the dog and it wouldn’t be left without its pack (owners) and it not having a home.
That cat transfer is a LOT of fuss and trouble, yet the payoff when they are reunited with their staff (cats have staff, not owners), it will be well worth any bother.
I wish you fair winds, a smooth flight, and an indifferent TSA.
Wait… I’m getting to that age where if I get groped by the TSA, I’d likely thank them. “Hey everybody! Look at me! Still got it! Slow down. I’m enjoying this.” Guaran-dam-teed to get you through the checkpoint in record time ;o)
Did NOT expect to be laughing enough to forget to make morning coffee:
https://twitchy.com/fuzzychimp/2024/01/29/monday-morning-meme-madness-n2392024
Some you need to watch on X to see the top & bottom or click the sound on button on X to hear it.
Looks like the Evergrand property liquidation is about a $300 Billion of liabilities. That’s gonna hurt… hard to cover up a 1/3 $Trillion hole in the national pocketbook…
Yep, those Chinese are pure geniuses at running the economy. Yes they are!
@Jim2:
I’ve worked closely with several Chinese, including one Mainland Chinese (who was in the USA as a V.P. somehow) and a Hong Kong Chinese (back when they were still semi-British). My major impression was that “Yes, very bright and fast folks.” and the secondary impression was “Rather a bit paranoid and lacking much on the moral compass front.”
I was happy to work for / with them (respectively), but you do need to be on your toes to avoid either getting the short stick or getting a “moral exposure by proxy” when you discover they did something shady and you were “on their team”.
In general, the Chinese seem to strongly embrace Caveat Emptor… even relative to fellow employees and teammates and not just The Customer…
BTW, found a video stating that most of the Evergrand Creditors were “overseas” and being prioritized AFTER Mainland Chinese {investors, buyers, vendors, etc.} that were ahead of Hong Kong investors, etc. So “Lound Eye Back Of Bus”… Just as one example…
Looks like the Iran escalation has begun.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/23/politics/us-strikes-iran-backed-militia-iraq/index.html
plus sending over some air refueling tankers and moved a few B-52s up. I suspect some carpet bombing or cruise missiles are in the future…
The content of this video is in the audio. The visuals are “military eye candy” only…
Hope this “set up” takes a couple of days so I’m not “in the air” when it happens 8-|
E.M.
I just posted an item about flying to Hawaii on the last “Wood”.
Take care
I even saw someone on Bloomberg TV this morning saying Trump handled Iran in an effective way when he was in charge. Could this be the END OF TIMESSSSSSSS???
So it’s good of the Army to let Iran’s proxies know we are on the way. I suppose they might do that to observe where they go for a later “hello”. But what ever happened to “SURPRISE!”?
Looks like some hackers have the data the US collected on us. Might be interesting!
In a post to the dark web on Tuesday, ALPHV claimed that it had successfully pilfered 300GB of data from the Technica Corporation, a company which, according to its website, “supports the Federal Government and their mission to support, to defend and protect America’s citizens.”
“Leaks of classified and top secret documents,” the group wrote on its blog. “Documents related to the FBI and other US intelligence agencies. If Technica does not contact us soon, the data will either be sold or made public.
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/alphv-blackcat-ransomware-technica-corp-fbi-cyberattack/
@Jim2:
May our government be so preoccupied with DIE cult crap that the “hackers” let us all know just what all they have hidden from open disclosure democratic processes and “The Vote”. :-)
A First –
“The world’s first amateur radio station on the moon is now working.”
https://joannenova.com.au/2024/01/wednesday-41/#comment-2731123
Happenings on the Ozbeer scene –
“Talk about taking the piss – Brew-Dog is making zero alcohol beer called “Nanny State”. I bought some from Aldi – not bad but not as good as the real thing.
https://www.firstchoiceliquor.com.au/beer/brew-dog-nanny-state-can-375ml_4715511? “
@ossqss
thnx, nice; worth 45min……
For your remedy cabinet –
“Tomato Juice Effectively Kills Salmonella and Other Harmful Bacteria”
https://scitechdaily.com/tomato-juice-effectively-kills-salmonella-and-other-harmful-bacteria/
Lead in at Instapundit –
“IT SHOULD BE SERVED AT TACO BELL: Tomato Juice Effectively Kills Salmonella and Other Harmful Bacteria. “A study reveals that tomato juice effectively kills Salmonella Typhi and other harmful bacteria, thanks to specific antimicrobial peptides found in tomatoes.”
I wonder about ketchup, salsa, and cocktail sauce on oysters.”
https://instapundit.com/629693/#disqus_thread
And comments
Soooo, here is a question. Would hitting a large pothole be equal to a fender bender with electric car insurance companies? Just sayin….
The “hockey stick” is a dead horse, but not for Mark Steyn in his trial vs Monkee Mann. I had never seen this short video by physicist Richard Muller, which was shown during the trial.
3 kinds of people in this world,
Those who can count… and those who cannot count…
Ok now all kidding aside,
-1- The largest group by far ; those who are easily fooled ( I would not say necessarily stupid but maybe naive or guilty of intellectual laziness, not making an effort to pick up an encyclopedia or verifying information and sources )
-2- The second largest group ; those who fool others ( mostly malicious manipulators , charlatans, getting rich and famous, not caring about anyone but themselves and what is in it for them )
-3- The smallest of the 3 groups ; those who are shaking their head at this sad spectacle …tired of trying to wake up the first group…tired of having to deal with the second group…
Is there an edit button ?
I forgot to mention; my point is that most people believe the global warming lies because ; group one ( naive) being fooled by group two( charlatans )
while we, group three, share solid evidence that global warming is mainly a gigantic scam.
There is no edit button provided by WordPress.
@beng135: You may already be familiar with this graph. It does NOT show measured temperatures, but rather it shows “ADJUSTMENTS” made to the measured temperature vs atmospheric CO2. The Powers That Be can report that the Earth is burning because of CO2 because they are lying about the temperatures. They say that the past was colder than measured. They say that the present is warmer than measured. How MUCH are they lying? Just enough to make reported temps match with CO2.
@Canadian Friend: I am reminded of another similar joke.
“There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.”
No edit button ?
that is discrimination against people who make msitakes when they write a comment!
I will file a complaint ! lol!
I will organize a march ! lol!
@ The True Nolan,
I admit it took me a couple seconds to get it because the last time I did conversions or even looked at binary code, was 41 years ago when I was studying electronics!
and now at age 64 my brain has slowed down a bit ;-)
FWIW
“How Do You Solve a Problem Like Boeing?”
“t’s so bad that former Boeing senior manager Ed Pierson told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, “I would absolutely not fly a MAX airplane.” ”
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2024/02/01/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-boeing-n4926035
IIRC the killing of initiative by bean counter control has been a lament for a long time
E.M.
Re an edit button –
IIRC Jo Nova and I think Small Dead Animals use WP and have edit buttons
No idea of the “behind the scenes” part
FWIW
“Do you know where the 6 foot social distancing rule came from?”
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/02/01/do-you-know-where-the-6-foot-social-distancing-rule-came-from/
See “The problem with Boeing” and wonder?
“What else did they expect?”
“Poisoned AI went rogue during training and couldn’t be taught to behave again in ‘legitimately scary’ study”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/02/what-else-did-they-expect.html
@Another Ian:
IF one spends a lot of money for a paid plan, then you can install various things (don’t know if they are from WordPress or secondary suppliers) that may include edit buttons. I’m not willing to spend money to run the site as it is a zero cost game for me. I don’t do this for profit.
“YOU CAN PREVENT CARJACKINGS AND AUTO THEFT: BMW Adds Manual Transmission Option for 2025 Z4 M40i.”
https://instapundit.com/629806/#disqus_thread
In comments
On inter-relationships –
“Largest Refinery In US Midwest Shuts Down After Power Outage”
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/largest-refinery-us-midwest-shuts-down-after-power-outage
Sleight of hand is at hand.
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/inside-most-ridiculous-jobs-report-recent-history
“Sleight of tongue” too
BUT FWIW – The rising “anti-expert” movement
“Hotez was partly right about one thing. There’s an ‘anti-‘ movement afoot, all right, but it’s not anti-science. It’s anti-expert. And since they themselves broadened the definition of “expert” to include just about anyone with a post-graduate degree or university job, the target zone is, as they say, rich.”
“In other words, everyone is fed up with academic experts who think they are better than everybody else just because the media fawned over their every word during the pandemic. They are now experiencing a rude awakening.”
More at
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/whirlwind-reapers-friday-february?r=1vxw0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Spreading –
“Green backdowns — Chaos and division strikes UK Labour and German Greens over climate targets”
https://joannenova.com.au/2024/02/green-backdowns-chaos-and-division-strikes-uk-labour-and-german-greens-over-climate-targets/
FWIW – why free speech
Via https://instapundit.com/630132/#disqus_thread
Happy Groundhog Day, everybody!
We had a traditional Groundhog Day feast of roast groundhog with cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, and pumpkin pie for dessert.
After dinner, we sat around the tree and exchanged presents while sipping spiked eggnog and munching on cookies. Groundhog carols played in the background.
–
–
Nahhhh… none of that happened. I don’t know why we give such short shrift to such an important day here in the US. But there you have it. Not so much as a whoop-tee-do. No feasts and no presents. It seems the highlight of the Holiday is some politicians in Pennsylvania pester some poor groundhog named Phil. And that’s about it.
I mean, we have Climate Scientists® who can predict the weather 100 years from now. Why are we pestering Phil?
You say “Groundhog Day” …
… and I think Biden emerging from his basement hole.
weird.
“The Sprawling Radio Network That China’s Firewall Can’t Stop”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/sprawling-radio-network-chinas-firewall-cant-stop
FWIW
“Another Raid Incoming? Jack Smith Leaks Dubious Story About “Hidden Rooms” FBI Didn’t Search at Mar-a-Lago as His Cases Against Trump Falter”
They want another go at Melania’s knicker drawer?
@H.R.: The wife and I continued our decades long tradition of low keyed Groundhog celebration; dinner at a local restaurant, and then home to watch the movie “Groundhog Day”. Seriously, we watch it ever year. Wonderful movie — and, in my opinion, one of the most romantic movies ever made. I guess I am getting old and tumbled smooth, but I actually like that part. At least there’s a little bit of violence. I always laugh at Ned “Needle-nose” Ryerson getting punched in the face! Oh, yeah, kidnapping a groundhog and driving off a cliff, too. :)
Spreading further
“Polish Farmers Plan Solidarity General Strike for Next Friday
February 3, 2024 | Sundance | Leave a comment”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/02/03/polish-farmers-plan-solidarity-general-strike-for-next-friday/
More of that “Government Magic”
“Why Are Pickup Trucks Ridiculously Huge? Blame Government.
Regulations, tariffs, and other government-imposed hurdles reward American car companies for building bigger, more expensive trucks and keep out any potential competitors.”
https://reason.com/2024/02/02/why-are-pickup-trucks-ridiculously-huge-blame-government/
@TTN – What I want to know is why Hallmark doesn’t put out a big display of Groundhog Day cards. All I see are Hallmark Valentines.
Because the next day they’d put out another display of groundhog day cards,
and then the the next day they’d put out another display of groundhog cards,
and then the next day they’d put out another display… ;-)
So… nobody buys more than one card? They use the same card over and over and over……………… and over………. and over…….. and over?
Last thing I remember
Was running for the door
I had to find the passage
Back to the place I was before…
https://www.google.com.au/search?sca_esv=ed897b2776f2f88d&q=hotel+california&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLSz9U3MMzOTTYsUYKwk43LjHK1RLOTrfRzS4szk_UTc5JKc62K8_PSixexCmTkl6TmKCQn5mSm5RflZSYCAC_Tx2JEAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmlf6PhJGEAxUYsFYBHTq_D8sQri56BAg0EAM&biw=1388&bih=637&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&ip=1&vhid=hKRSoutDKzEXdM&vld=cid:10fc39c6,vid:Br3KkvgMAZY,st:0&vssid=l
Welcome to the Hotel California.
South Carolina democrat primary –
“Biden Brags of “Blowout” in South Carolina With 4% Turnout”
https://www.frontpagemag.com/biden-brags-of-blowout-in-south-carolina-with-4-turnout/
Via SDA
Try a search on
Democrat South Carolina primary results
and see if the YSM mention that
RE: “Another Raid Incoming? Jack Smith Leaks Dubious Story About “Hidden Rooms” FBI Didn’t Search at Mar-a-Lago as His Cases Against Trump Falter”
They want another go at Melania’s knicker drawer?
More likely they’d want to plant evidence to frame him. Drugs, kiddie porn… you name it. Anything to stop him winning, and potentially stopping the globalists and fifth generation warfare (5GW) success. We don’t know we are in a war, and if we did who the adversary was. Sun Tzu would be proud.
@H.R.: Groundhog cards? “It’s cute! People like it!”
@Robert: ” We don’t know we are in a war, and if we did who the adversary was. ”
Newton said in Principia that he would never propose that gravity was a force which acted through a vacuum, but lacking any better model he claimed that it acted “AS IF” it were such a force. I would say something similar about the current war against Western Culture. I do not claim that “The Father of Lies” is a real entity coordinating the attack, but lacking any better model, I will say that the war is following a course “AS IF” that were the case. We are seeing the functional equivalent of a spiritual attack right before our eyes.
https://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnews/the-top-6-most-deranged-moments-of-the-wefs-2024-davos-meeting/
Thought provoking short (8 min) clip from Tucker Carlson:
https://rumble.com/v4azwu5-youre-not-allowed-to-think-this-which-means-you-probably-should.html
Now that’s an avocado
https://x.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1754578307293511915?s=20
@Robert:
Looks a lot like a Marcus Pumpkin. I’ve planted one in the Food Forest, so in about 3 years I ought to have a few ;-)
https://www.yarden.com/product/marcus-pumpkin-avocado-tree/
Harvested in October and some of November depending on your zone and how long you can hold them on the tree:
Since there are only 2 of us, and one of these can feed a family of 4, I’ll eventually need to learn how to prepare and freeze guacamole ;-)
It is also possible it is some other local Yucatan variation. Every avocado pit yields a new kind of tree as they “cross out”. All specific types are grafted. So it is possible that was a unique even larger fruited tree and they could make it a named variety by grafting and selling ;-) as it does look a bit bigger than 3 lbs to me.
While watching an Australian cooking show, the chef made meringue and when it came out of the oven the audience cheered!
I was surprised because normally, Australians boo meringue.
@H.R.: Groan….
Voting Integrity
https://www.omega4america.com/videos/
Search on “Georgia 2020” to find the Georgia one.
Another WTF moment in time. ….
Climate folks could finally say “this unprecedented” and be right for the 1st time, evah!
Somebody, make that wrong, please >> …—…
@Ossqss:
They (the quasi-clots) are seen to form when the blood cools. They are not seen in folks who have not had “the jab” (though unclear if they form in folks post-covid who are unjabbed as that is a small set).
My conclusion is that IF you have been jabbed, avoid exposure to cold conditions where your extremities might drop below whatever the critical formation temperature might be, lest the extremities “clog up”… (One woman had a “clot” form in her leg IIRC, after cold exposure; but lived. Most are found after the corps cools to ‘formation’ temperature…)
Here’s the same video from Rumble where “age restriction” crap on medical videos is not a thing:
https://rumble.com/v4bzxwr-what-are-these.html
Here’s a couple more from Dr. John Campbell. Note that in the above video when he says “This is a NEW Disease. It is NOT in the pathology books” – he WROTE the text on patho-physiology… Free to download. That is what his Ph.D. is in, IIRC.
Here’s a couple on how Vit-D helps to prevent going to hospital, ICU, or dying from the covid crap (and perhaps the jab-crap too… though they don’t say that). The second one finds that both “long covid” and for some folks “long vaccine” are due to persistent antigen formation (spike protein formation) over a long period of time.
At 30 min in the second one, note the Vit-I effect of blocking spike protein.
Crib Notes Version: High Vit-D (that very few have) you don’t go to ICU and die. Low Vit-D (that most folks have) you do go to ICU and lots of folks die after a miserable process. A “bolus” of the active form of Vit-D delivered at admission is highly beneficial. A bolus of the usual oral D3 that takes a month to be converted to the active form doesn’t do much; but taken a month before you get sick, it is good.
FWIW, Mum used to give me Cod Liver Oil when I got sick. Very high in Vit-D.
Go Mum!
On the radar …
Candida auris is an emerging, multidrug resistant fungal pathogen that causes considerable morbidity and mortality.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9620957/
This was quite the interesting read, and site name.
GOLD GOATS ‘N GUNS :-)
@E.M. – My mom gave us a spoon of “C.L.O.” as we called it, every #$@!&! day.
After fighting 4 kids trying to get us to take it, she hit on oranges or orange juice.
When oranges were in, she’d give us a slice to bite after our spoon of CLO. It was kinda like a slice of lime after a shot of tequila. No oranges? About a 4 oz. shot of orange juice to wash down the CLO. It worked well enough that we’d go along without a fuss.
Wait… no oranges or orange juice that day? NO DEAL!
Any else lost a billion dollars?
BP is writing off a billion dollars in offshore wind investment, and the new CEO is calling for “pragmatism”. The company has flipped from cutting oil production 40% by 2030 to increasing it instead.
https://joannenova.com.au/2024/02/bp-lost-1b-in-wind-power-and-flips-from-trying-to-cut-oil-to-increasing-it/
What do we care? Just hope your pension fund wasn’t too heavily invested in BP shares.
@jim2: “Candida auris is an emerging, multidrug resistant fungal pathogen that causes considerable morbidity and mortality.”
I did a search on whether Vitamin-I was good against fungus, and got very mixed results. Some say yes, some say no, some say it depends on the fungus. Might be worth a try for Candida. Found this interesting blog post that says use the horse paste on toenail fungus.
https://www.barnhardt.biz/2022/09/22/the-obligatory-barnhardt-toenail-fungus-post-yep-ivermectin-again/
Shifting subjects, another good interview of Col. Douglas Macgregor on the State of the American Empire:
As a man who is plagued with CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ) since 1996 and because the most likely culprit or main factor is Candida Albicans, I have read extensively about Fungus along the years ( not saying I am an expert, far from it ).
Side note; compared to virus and bacteria, there is very little research that has been done on fungus…Apparently the scientific or medical community have always been convinced that fungus is not a serious problem…(they are wrong)
And as far back as 2018 ( see link ) the CFS community was already talking about the growing threat from Candida Auris ( they were not the first nor the only ones, but were mostly ignored) …but apparently it was not taken seriously…since it is getting worse.
https://www.thecandidadiet.com/candida-auris/
an excerpt,
” … Last updated October 8, 2018 by Lisa Richards, CNC Reviewed by Katie Stone, ND.
Candida Auris: The Rise Of A Fungal Superbug
Candida auris: Symptoms and Treatment
Just when you thought Candida albicans was bad enough, along comes a much more serious yeast overgrowth. Candida auris is an invasive form of the Candida species, and is now thought to be one of the most severe fungal infections currently in existence. In fact, it’s been referred to as a ‘fungal superbug’. …”
PS ; In case you are interested, it is a long-ish detailed article.
Then there is that Zombie Ant Fungus too.
TTN – the paper linked concerning the fungus did include results of a trial of Vit-I with another drug. In this case, Vit-I might not work. We can’t expect it to kill everything ;)
@Keith:
How about $123 Billion?… Go Disney… (woke and broke that is…)
https://chipandco.com/walt-disney-company-new-losses-total-123-billion-in-2022-and-a-44-stock-drop-510381/
@Canadian Friend:
That 2nd Dr. John “long covid” video above talks about Chronic Fatigue, what causes it, things that help fix it. IIRC, a rampant immune response to something that does not clear whatever the ‘something’ is. Sometimes a virus, sometimes an mRNA run wild jab, sometimes…. but the same mechanism.
Orthogonal to that: IIRC again, some bacteria can get rid of some fungi… so consider yogurt and that “special bug” not quite a yogurt from a couple of postings back.
About Disney
Without going trough precise calculations, and just for fun,
considering there is a little over 1 million trans apparently in the US
but not all of them watch or even care about Disney, so let s say half of them do
that is 500,000
Disney wasted $123 Billions to please half a million people with tv shows or movies that had pro trans content
they wasted $ 246,000 per trans to please them with movies or tv shows that had some trans content
that $246,000 per trans could have been used for better things than entertainment, maybe health care, mental health care, food, housing ? I don t know…
and guess what ?
now they have make more tv shows and movies next year and the year after and the year after that…
many more hundreds of $Billions will have to be spent
even if my numbers are off a bit, my point still stands, it was stupid to waste money on that.
E.M. Smith
I admit I had not watched it, I thought it was mainly about covid which I never caught.
But I just watched it, very interesting, thank you.
This is probably been posted half a dozen times at least already, But Here Comes
Over 2 hours, but if I wasn’t already going to vote for Trump I might actually write in Putin in 2024
@Josh from sedona: “if I wasn’t already going to vote for Trump I might actually write in Putin in 2024”
At this point, if Trump is not on the ballot, I might write in Jeffry Dahmer. Dahmer at least has murdered fewer people than the current DC crowd. And being dead, his kill number won’t be going up any more.
Bret Weinstein’s further thoughts on Chinese illegally entering the US. Weinstein went to Panama and saw well organized camps set up to facilitate illegal Chinese young men of military age to enter the US. Brief mention of his theory 20 years ago that China’s “one child policy” would be adaptable to create surplus males for military usage. Most plausible explanation? China has bought off US politicians and is sending in men for its own purposes. I would only add that a few weeks ago, pictures of Chinese “immigrants” showed all military aged men, dressed similarly, standing at parade rest while waiting to be processed. 10 minutes if played at 150% speed.
True Nolan,
Lawrence Sellin in a Tucker Carlson interview was saying similar things…the surplus of males in China and all that…it is kind of scary to think Biden is letting in so many of them…
My ex used to talk about Doug Kaufmann’s “Know the Cause” broadcasts and books. His web site is knowthecause.com .
It was from him that I first learned about how so many of our physical degenerative conditions can have a fungal etiology. He makes a good case.
I don’t think he has a monopoly on the truth, but I think it’s a piece of the puzzle.
More than 20 years ago, I emailed the president of the Weston A. Price Foundation (Sally Fallon) to ask if she had heard of what Kaufmann says.
She wrote me a very nice reply. One statement that really jumped out at me was “Animal fat is anti-fungal.” Woah! Who knew?!?!? That was definitely a game changer for me in terms of how I ate! ;-)
Nowadays, it’s very common to see health authorities recommending that we reduce our consumption of refined sugar with the purpose of making it hard for candida albicans to survive and thrive in our body.
It’s still rare, though, to see health authorities make the point that radiation helps augment the fungal microbes’ survival in our body. So the more radiation-emitting devices we keep close to us, the easier we make it for fungal organisms to survive and multiply.
So does having a microbiome that is not diverse and balanced. So the more germ-killers and disinfectants we expose our bodies to, the fewer “good bugs” we will have to help fight the “bad bugs” (such as fungi/yeast/mold) on our behalf.
Maybe it is because I m in Canada and Google here gives me different search results than if I was in the USA,
or maybe I was doing something wrong, oh believe me I can be as dumb as I can be brilliant ;-)
but some of the things you are posting here I never saw before!
How come I never found those videos, those people who have so much to say about Chronic Fatigue and Fungus and all that ?
Damn!
I had never heard of Professor Clancy nor of the site knowthecause.com
and I used to spend hours on the internet searching for answers…
Speaking of things being different for us Canadians,
we can no longer post news links on facebook…
” … Earlier this month, the social media giant began blocking Canadian news on its social media platforms — Facebook and Instagram — in response to Canada’s new Online News Act which passed in June and is expected to take effect by the end of the year …”
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/canadian-media-news-meta-facebook-1.6939274
@canadian friend
get a vpn, you can make it look like you are from wherever you want to be from….l
damn, i did it again…damn auto fill
oh well…. so much for anonymity
[Reply: fixed it for ya. – E.M.S.]
@ CF:
Hmmm…I have gotten most of my favorite sources of information as a result of having someone tell me of it, or by reading their personal comments and recommendation in a forum.
I have noticed that if I did a Google search about a health issue, it was likely to show me (especially on the first screenful) the most conventional sources of information. Those sources may or may not prove valuable to me in the end, but I would just categorize them in my own mind as being “conventional” and prone to lead you down the road to surgery or taking meds for the rest of your life.
I have trouble believing that our degenerative conditions result from a deficiency of one or more drugs.
My BS-detector is fairly sophisticated (knock on wood). I think it got to be pretty good because of the experience I had working in advertising for 5 years, and performing on stage.
FWIW, all this talk about AI-generated things makes my BS-detector click on. When I read things such the item EM received recently, it feels soulless to me. When I was in advertising, in the back of my mind is the question: How is this being received by others? Or if I’m performing on stage, my audience-reaction-detector clicks on. Of course, they’re probably going to applaud, at least a little. That feedback tells you a lot.
But AI stuff just seems one-way. They don’t care what your reaction is. They’re just trying to make an impression, or leave their official mark on the official narrative.
I haven’t ever tried to articulate this feeling before. I look forward to reading others’ comments about AI, and whether or not they felt like it was non-AI.
Anyway, CF, don’t feel too bad about having been misled all this time. The folks with the power are supposed to keep all the sheep on the beaten path. ;-)
Just stay curious and don’t be afraid to look up the words you don’t know [yet].
@Power Grab: “When I read things such the item EM received recently, it feels soulless to me.”
“SOULLESS”. Yes, that expresses what I have been feeling about AI stuff. There is no “There” there. It has the feel of being cut and paste by someone who has no real understanding of the subject. The ideas do not connect or flow from one nuance to another. Of course they will likely get better, and quickly, but they still have a ways to go to seem human. Honestly, I don’t know if they will ever get a good sense of humor or wit.
AI is soulless, but in the end it’s just a tool. Like search or a database. It’s just very efficient. Businesses will use it and thereby increase productivity. It’s already happening. But like every tool before, it will be used by governments to spy on citizens ever more efficiently and quickly. It’s not a good development for citizens.
Detailed look at election anomalies in Georgia 2020 election, and software package for efficient cleaning of invalid entries in voting rolls. Essentially it is software optimized for performing cross correlations in massive data bases at high speed. Will (hopefully) be applied to other states as well:
FWIW
“The Epstein death wasn’t suicide – there’s no way this ligature mark came from a suicide hanging.”
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2024/02/the-epstein-death-wasnt-suicide-theres-no-way-this-ligature-mark-came-from-a-suicide-hanging.html
@another ian – I mentioned GEBs on the I.I.C. comment thread and speculated that the names we know aren’t really the ones pulling the levers.
Right from the start, it was clear that Epstein didn’t kill himself. The YSM screwed up by publishing enough facts before they got the word to support the suicide narrative. Oops!
More spit balling. I don’t think any of the GEBs on the Lolita Express passenger manifest gave the order to roll up the Epstein operation. So, who gave the order?
BTW, something we haven’t heard about yet has been put in place to keep the I.I.C. on the reservation. The Epstein op was about to get blown. Something had to replace it to keep the idiots’ mouths shut while following orders.
@H.R.:
Two things:
1) What makes you think the Lolita Express was the only thing going on then?
It didn’t need replacing. It was just the one that became visible.
2) Where did all the Epstein “Work Product” Go? It wasn’t displayed as “found”…
So everyone on a “leash around their balls” still has that leash. And it is still subject to hard pulls as needed. While the “new recruiting” has been shut down, the “alumni” are still in play. (Notice that Bill Clinton has not gone off to court / prison… nor Andrew… nor Gates.)
Who gave the order?
Best rumors to date is that it was a co-op venture of Mossad and the C.I.A., so their Joint Program Manager running it would be the one who ordered the shutdown of the recruitment op, the island, and the, um, termination of employment agreement with Epstein… He had become a liability…
As to what the new recruitment plan might be: Well, since none of us is important enough to be on the “Guest List”, we just won’t know, will we? Maybe that’s a good thing… But I’d speculate it would involve some very young and desperate / pliable “immigrants” and secret locations. They won’t want this to make the news, nor have celeb photos in the sleaze papers again…
Don’t be surprised if it involves some Latin Location where the age of consent can be as low as 12…
@Power Grab
“all this talk about AI-generated things makes my BS-detector click on”
I had a sudden insight into its workings a short while ago, when a colleague and I simultaneously searched for help on a coding topic. I did it the old-school search-engine way, my colleague did it the “new-clever” way using ChatGarbage. What made us laugh in surprise was that his #1 result was identical (word for word) with an old Stack Overflow article I’d found. What ChatGarbage didn’t show or tell was that the Stack Overflow article was many years old, out-of-date and obsolete. But came top of the search “recommendations” because the algorithms score it on the “likes”. A more-current Stack Overflow article, which was in-date and not obsolete, had not accumulated enough “likes” to show in the results.
The lesson? ChatGarbage is hard-wired to promote “consensus” on all topics. You have to do your own separate digging elsewhere to get round that.
@ Keith Macdonald:
So are you saying that the ChatGarbage response didn’t even give proper credit to the source of its verbage? It tried to make us think that it had created the reply itself?
Worth a look.
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/zerohedge-debate-recap-global-reserve-brics-cbdcs-and-more
@Power Grab
Re “So are you saying that the ChatGarbage response didn’t even give proper credit to the source of its verbage? It tried to make us think that it had created the reply itself?”
Completely correct. With ChatGarbage, you have to ask again for the source of what it suggests. At least with WikiPoodia it does list sources.
Power Grab,
It took me 4 days to reply because I went trough a flare up of CFS symptoms
Yes google top search results are almost always WedMd, CDC, NIH, Wikipedia and other big names that of course tell us that natural supplements don t work and encourage ( indirectly) taking stuff from big pharma.
Although some stuff from big pharma does work ( they are not all bad ) and not all natural suppements help ( some are snake oil and do nothing ), google leans towards big pharma.
Along the years I did manage to find interesting answers but they are never in the top results.
And in the last few years I have been doing very little research ( I used to do a lot ) about my condition that I have been plagued with for 28 years…it is not as bad now, not as bad as it was 20 or 25 years ago, but it is bad enough that a lot of the time I accomplish very little in a day.
On a good day you would think I don t suffer from CFS, I can do push ups, I can get all my tools out and build or repair something, I can play the piano, sing, make silly jokes…and make plans that a day or two later fall flat because I feel bad again…
on bad days , my energy level is very low, I accomplish very little ( but I read all day ) and feeling drained, fatigued and unwell makes me pessimistic.
I don t know where I am going with this…
but thanks for the comment
Josh from Sedona,
Yeah a VPN…i should look into that
Thanks
Keith MacDonald,
I was saying something kind of similar a couple weeks ago; that AI was programmed to think, yes but think like a leftist.
And since these days almost every institution is infected with woke leftism, the consensus you talk about is almost always a consensus of a bunch of woke leftist
AI does not give an honest impartial answer ( not on all topics ) , it gives an answer approved by the left
and if it occasionally gives a neutral impartial honest answer that the left does not like they will tweak how AI thinks to make it give more pro left answers.
There are AI coding assistants such that you can describe what you want a function or method to do, and it will write the code. The code can be surprisingly good. No matter what they say when they introduce AI not taking jobs, it will displace a good number of programmers because you can be a lot more productive using AI. I’ve seen it work. I understand the mistrust.
And when you combine AI with cloud tools that require low or no code, that will displace even more IT people.
For business and government, there will be AIs trained for specialized tasks. Looking for patterns of fraud, or analyzing the ‘sentiment’ of incoming communications. The public gen AIs are generalized. No matter what form, at least for now, taken by an AI, it does require a human to fix up and coding errors, or in general examine the output and correct as needed. This process will further train the AI to the task.
Programmers do have a leg up with the “low code” cloud tools. Some of these use building blocks in a flow chart. There are if-then-else blocks, try-catch-finally blocks, and others. Programmers are already used to building logical structures so it is easy to utilize the flowchart. Occasionally a snippet of code is needed. But these tools are easier to use for a non-programmer also since you don’t have to learn all the nuances of a coding language. Blocks to connect to Sharepoint, Outlook, databases, Teams, and other apps are included. It is much easier to tie apps together using the flowchart tools because you don’t have to learn their APIs.
Microsoft is integrating CoPilot in GitHub. If you are curious how it is used in coding, here is a demo.
GitHub demo
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUyxeUYPhVc
@ CF:
My dad told me that CFS (or fibromyalgia) is a “diagnosis of elimination”. I took that to mean that the doctors have done all the tests they care to, but nothing gave a definitive answer.
Since then, my own thinking is that CFS/fibro involves our microbiome being out of whack – not diverse and balanced. Lots of things affect it, even hour-to-hour. Food affects it; temperature affects it; mood affects it; germ-killers affect it. Radiation affects it!
In fact, today I saw a 2-part short video on my phone that featured a lady in the UK who had spent her working life in radiography. She specifically mentioned that radiation affects the microbiome. I saved a couple of screen shots. But I want to find it on my desktop computer at home so I can have a better chance of finding how who that was speaking, and if they have some references/docs I can get hold of. One of her other major points was that so-called “covid” isn’t a germ thing; it’s a form of radiation sickness. That’s what my favorite source have been saying.
Most of what I have read about the microbiome indicates that taking even one course of antibiotics kills off one or more strains that aren’t likely to be re-acquired – or so they say. The more courses of antibiotics you take, the more stuff can get killed off.
I haven’t taken a course of antibiotics in about 20 years. When I decided that my reaction to food made from wheat (usually consumed with a beverage made from tap water) was something that happened regularly, and maybe I should make some adjustments. I ended up figuring out that the chloramine in the tap water and maybe the Glyphosate in the wheat were killing off enough strains in my microbiome to leave me with insufficient “good bugs” to fight off the effects of “bad bugs”. (It’s kind of an interesting story, but I won’t tell it now.) I switched to spring water and started taking a probiotic that was mentioned by a person on a forum who said it “cured” their gut problem (either gluten intolerance or wheat allergy). I had never heard of it before, and I had to look at their web site to find a place to buy it in my state, but I found it in another town in my state. It so happened that I was taking my kiddo to that town every Saturday for some tutoring, so I started buying and taking it. I was planning to take it for 6 weeks as an experiment. I also cut back more on wheat. I thought it would take weeks to have an effect, but it helped with 2-3 days! I still take it now. And I still drink spring water when I have a choice. But my gut is mostly pretty happy. I can eat pretty much anything now.
If it hadn’t been for the rollout of 5G, I probably would not have added a second probiotic product. But apparently the early rollout of 5G affected my respiratory system. This was in late 2019, right before T-mobile, my cell carrier at that time, emailed me and said they had turned on 5G in my area. I had developed a croupy cough (that’s what I called it). I had also run out of the second probiotic product, which had been recommended to me in 2015 by the iridologist that I saw right before my hysterectomy. When I added back the second probiotic product, my cough resolved in a couple of days. Then I found articles that said gut health influences respiratory health.
So those were two situations that proved to me the benefit of taking commercial probiotics. I had not taken any before. Beyond those two situations, during the Christmas break 2020-2021, I spent about an hour each of 3 days working on my desktop computer with my 5G router at my feet right before we returned from Christmas break in January 2021. Then the day I got up and was supposed to return to work, I felt like ROAD KILL. I’m guessing that is somewhat akin to what your CFS symptoms felt like.
I won’t share all the gory details, but I decided that my gut flora had been decimated by the exposure to the 5G radiation from the router (they call it a “modem”). So I decided my most urgent need (besides getting back to the office because no one else could do what I had to do) was to get my gut flora to return to normal (or however close to normal I could get to).
There’s a lot more to the story, but I only mentioned it to suggest that you might want to consider reducing your exposure to radiation (to the greatest extent possible) and avoiding germ killers and repairing your gut flora. That’s what I would do if I were you. ;-)
It took about 10 days or so to get mostly back to normal. Oh, and I think I lost about 20 pounds after I radiated my gut flora. I haven’t regained much of it back. I don’t recommend doing what I did.
BTW, the next time I had a technician come to the house to replace the router, I told him that story. His response was, “You’re not supposed to do that.” Then I said, “I know that now! But I had never heard before that you should avoid staying close to your router.” When he installed the new router, he left the box and documentation that it came with. IIRC, it said you should stay at least a meter away from it. I had been sitting less than 1/2 meter from it.
After that long post, I just received an email from National Geographic. It offered an article entitled “Chronic fatigue syndrome is a puzzle. Your gut microbiome may have the key”.
Here is a link…
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-gut-microbiome-may-have-the-key
It doesn’t mention products to try, but it has some links to other research.
I wonder if you can read it. I had to create an online account and link it to my print subscription.
Power Grab,
A few things in no particular order.
I am not clear about this; is what you suffer from CFS or something else ?
I have been plagued with CFS since 1996, but within about a year, in good part thanks to my mother ( she was a remarkable woman, may her soul rest in peace) and some of my own research ( I did not have a computer back then, I mostly read medical books…yup! ) we suspected it was CFS before I received my diagnosis from a specialist who went trough the elimination thing; after they tested me for about 2 dozen things and I had none of those ( from diabetes to tropical virus )he said it had to be CFS
but then a few years later the government demanded I see another specialist, it was a requirement for them to approve disability benefits…the Specialist came to the same conclusion; it was CFS.
now I forgot what else I was gonna say…
I stopped using a wifi router about 10 years ago…I use a good old ethernet cable…I do have a router, but it is very rare I use it. It is off 99% of the time.
I drink a mix of about one part juice to four parts water ; a mix of spring water and distilled water ( they say to not drink distilled water but I have my own theory why it is not as bad as they say )…I think tap water was making me a bit more sick, but who knows…a million things affect CFS symptoms…
In my case eating a lot of sweets definitely makes my symptoms worse…
I have had CFS for 28 years and I have tried dozens if not hundreds of things, and unfortunately probiotics do not work for me.
But I agree our gut biome seems to be out of order and is refusing to get back to normal.
My symptoms now are usually not too bad compared to what they were 20 or 25 years ago ( back then I was so sick, so weak I was sure I was dying ) but they are bad enough that, how do I say this, it poisons my existence…on a good day you would think I am cured, I may work on my car or I may even do push ups or sit ups… on a bad day ( and I have more bad than good ) I turn into a vegetable, I drag my feet, I don t even answer the phone…but I read all day I read and read and read…sometimes 18 hours in one day only stopping to eat and go to the bathroom…
I still cannot remember what else I wanted to say ! lol!
@ CF:
No, I don’t suffer from CFS. I don’t remember why the subject came up in a conversation with my dad years ago. None of us have it, that I’m aware of. He was a medical professional. We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about health matters. It sounded like a miserable condition!
I do remember finding one of his magazines laying around that had an article about autism in it. This was in the late 1960s, I think. IIRC, they said it was more common in California and was found in something like 1 in 10,000. Pretty rare back then. Not so rare nowadays.
When I was growing up, I would typically get a winter cough–just in time to interfere with Christmas cantatas. I remember his coming into my bedroom at night with an unlabeled brown bottle of something that was strong tasting. He gave me a spoonful of it, but I had to take tiny sips and swish them around in my mouth before swallowing. It seemed to take about 10 minutes to get the spoonful down. Then he would take my pillow and put it under me in the middle (with me laying face down). Laying that was with the pillow under me in the middle was like a light switch to turn off my cough. I never knew I was coughing in my sleep, but he could hear me next door in their bedroom. I don’t think my sibling coughed in their sleep.
Years later, I learned that the strong tasting liquid was whiskey and honey. It really surprised me because I never saw my parents drink. I thought they were teetotalers. Eventually, I learned that both my grandfathers were alcoholics. I figured that was why I never saw alcohol in our house.
I also remember taking 2 tablets of Milk of Magnesia before bedtime every night. I did tend towards constipation.
Eventually, in 1985, I was diagnosed with allergies (chronic sinusitis and a chronic cough, if I remember correctly). I left that doctor visit with prescriptions for several meds. There was an antibiotic, an antihistamine/decongestant, and a steroid nasal spray. Maybe one more thing. I took those meds for YEARS! I also practically lived on cough drops. Eventually, I decided the meds were causing my symptoms to linger. So I stopped taking them. Now I think we don’t even an unexpired bottle of OTC painkillers in the house, let alone any prescription meds.
I believe it was around the early 2000s that I discovered the Weston A. Price Foundation and eventually made a few changes in my diet. I had gotten rid of that decades-old dry chronic cough by making those changes. So when the croupy cough started up in 2019, it was a bit of a mystery. What had changed? I was still doing the things that seemed to support my being free of the dry cough. Well, part of that longer story is the fact that T-Mobile sent me an email saying that they had turned on 5G in my area.
Lots of doctors will say, first of all, that commercial probiotics aren’t helpful. But, of course, they probably have some prescription ones they are happy to recommend.
And, also of course, people are not the same. My take on that is that our microbiomes are very different. Some people find products that are helpful (such as I), but others never find a product that helps them enough to be worth the money.
Even that article I shared the link to is couched in tentative language…”might”, “could”, etc.
I’m glad you use an Ethernet cable instead of wifi. What about wearable digital devices such as those watches that are transmitting and receiving signals from the web? Or one of those “assistants” that they set up in the room and you talk to them? Or are there cell phone towers close to your residence? My first weird symptom (the croupy cough) manifested in fall of 2019, when they first turning on 5G in my area.
When I think I’ve figured out the cause of a symptom, I usually end up combining some form of avoidance of the trigger with some way to remedy the damage I believe is being caused. I don’t think any one probiotic, by itself, will fix any of the problems I think I’ve pinpointed. Also, since Hippocrates said something like “Let your food be your medicine, and let your medicine be your food.” So I’m always trying to figure out what foods contain something I need more of, rather than hunting up a doctor and having them put me on med after med after med.
For example, when there was all that talk in 2020 of using zinc and hydroxychloroquine, I ended up buying some smoked oysters (for the zinc) and tonic water (for the quinine, the “granddaddy” of hydroxychloroquine). I fixed 3 things with that combination during the summer of 2020.
Oh, I avoid artificial sweeteners since they’re antibacterial. I try to avoid killing off my good bugs, or overstimulating my so-called “bad bugs”. I believe we need some of both types, but we just shouldn’t let one side or the other take over.
When I was a sophomore in college, I seem to remember having a long weekend where I seemed to have the flu and used Nyquil and slept most of the time. But I don’t remember feeling that depleted during that episode as I did when I decimated my gut flora. I wanted to stay in bed, but I had to push through and go to work. The weight loss was a curious thing.
I’m afraid I’m just rambling. It’s been a long night. I will stop now. ‘Night all!
FWIW
“The Brooklyn Bridge Experiment”
https://wireropenews.com/the-brooklyn-bridge-experiment/
Come buy my sweet oranges ( while you may.)
@Beth:
Yeah, oranges like it warm. I did a similar article many years ago about Tomatoes (“Dumber than a Tomato” I think it was… about my difficulties getting tomatoes to produce in a marginal part of California without enough warmth at night to pollinate properly. Even resorted to using Russian colder tolerant types…)
IF it had been getting warmer during my half century of living in that town, the tomatoes would have had an easier time of it, instead, it became harder.
FWIW, Avocados have a similar heat need. Some, like the Florida Green types, are downright picky, so only grow down about the Miami latitude. Others, like the California Hass type, can take more cold, some of them down to about 20 F. So by looking at particular types and their “range” you can see the hard cut off of growing ares. Were it getting warmer, I’d be able to grow some of those more “southern” avocados, but I’m right on the margin so can’t. I can grow the more cold tolerant ones, but even they can sulk some years.
Note that Avocado Varieties each have their own preferred couple of months when you can harvest. So there’s a big incentive for someone who can only harvest in a couple of months to plant another type and extend their harvest window (and grocery store sales…) That is why I’ve planted 1/2 dozen different trees. To have as close to year round avocados as possible (when they get big enough to fruit ;-)
Now here’s a map of California Avocado growth by county in California:
Notice that NONE are in the north of the State at all, nor in the East up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, nor even in the Great Central Valley. They all get frost, that kills the trees. Then notice that even in the South near L.A. they do not go up the hills. They are only grown at the lower elevations and near the ocean (where frost risk is minimal).
Then, in the Grocery Store, you only see Hass or Fuerte types from California. These are the Mexican tribe and the most cold tolerant. The Florida Green avocados are largely the Guatemalan or West Indies types, or hybrids of them. They have the poorest cold tolerance.
Now, were it getting warmer, Avocado growing would move up the hills, and further north in California. (An Avocado orchard is a gold mine…) And in Florida, they would be growing north of Orlando… but being where I am (a little south of Orlando), I have limited types I can choose from. So I have a Hass, and a Bacon (a neighbor in Santa Clara had a Bacon growing there, very cold tolerant. Sunset Garden Magazine came to take photos of it because “you can’t grow avocados here”… but they didn’t know about the Bacon ;-) This was also in the middle of the Silicon Valley Heat Island urban sprawl.
So, you CAN grow avocados in Monterey County, but only just barely. And very close to the ocean. Were it viable to grow a commercial crop a little more north and inland, the huge area of row crops grown in Southern Santa Clara county and then San Benito County (just inland from Monterey and south of Santa Clara) would be turning into Avocado Groves – but they are not.
You CAN grow a very limited set of Avocados in those areas (like the Bacon and a couple from the very southern edge of Texas) but they are not commercially viable. Yields are low and the size is smaller AND you have the risk of an “every few years” hard freeze killing your orchard when a Canadian Express slops over the Sierra Nevada, then Coastal Range and does a freeze kill.
Even Monterey County is risky business. So I suspect they found a warmer microclimate area and decided to go for it – and hope an every decade or two very hard freeze blob from Canada doesn’t kill ’em before they make a profit. (It is also possible they have put warming devices in place “for that day”…)
So until you see Avocados moving out to new places, you can rest assured we are not warmer… Oh, and note that a lot of “off season” avocados are shipped in from Mexico and Central America… where it is more consistently warm.
” … 23andMe’s valuation has crashed 98% from its peak and Nasdaq has threatened to delist its sub-$1 stock.
Wojcicki reduced staff by a quarter last year through three rounds of layoffs and a subsidiary sale.
The company has never made a profit and is burning cash so quickly it could run out by 2025…. ”
https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/23andme-anne-wojcicki-healthcare-stock-913468f4
Avocados, tomatoes and oranges are better thermometers of warming than Michael Mann’s Bristlecone Pines, and require no splicing, E.M. Your post was very informative
I will download it.
That article matches my own lifetime and remembrance of history. Yes, citrus used to be grown in more of the south-central and southeastern USA. IT NOW CANNOT BE DONE outside of hothouses in areas where it was done before. It is overall cooler now than it was during much of my parent’s and grandparent’s lifetime. When were the coolest times, though, you ask? From the 1960s through parts of the 1990s. The Blizzard of 1993, anyone. That happened in March!
Typical earliest freeze here is mid-October. Average earliest freeze happens a month later, a week before Thanksgiving. Latest? Well, that depends; but most often in mid-December. Earliest late freeze is mid-February. Typical latest freeze is mid-March. Latest typically is mid-April, so the rule of gardening thumb here is no freezes after Easter (Earliest Easter date is March 20th and the latest Easter date is April 19th or 20th, if I am remembering correctly).
Guess what, we have a forecast of upper 20s overnight this weekend. It will not crack 50 here this afternoon, at all. Don’t go skinny dipping at Orange Beach, AL right now, unless you want to experience hypothermia in real time.
Re: growing oranges
Didn’t people build conservatories to grow their citrus trees in, even though their climate wasn’t warm enough to grow them outdoors? Maybe we should learn to do that again…
@beththeserf: “Avocados, tomatoes and oranges are better thermometers of warming than Michael Mann’s Bristlecone Pines,”
Oh, yeah, the bristlecone pines! I had almost forgotten about them. In particular I had almost forgotten about “strip bark” bristlecone pines. The bristlecones tend to grow in rugged, rocky areas, often on slopes where few other trees or plants will compete with them. Because they grow on rocky slopes, they are often victims of rock slides. Big slides, little slides, in between slides — but when a rock tumbles down a slope and impacts the side of a tree truck it often damages the bark and the underlying cambium layer. This makes the growth rings lopsided, narrower where the impact took place, wider on the non-impact side as the tree attempts to compensate. This turns out to be a very nice thing for fraudulent “climate scientists”. The tree rings are recorded by taking a small cross sectional core through the trunk. If you have a nice symmetrical tree trunk, it doesn’t matter much which direction you take your core from; the rings will have pretty closely the same pattern regardless. In a perfect world, samples would ONLY be taken from non-strip bark trees, but in the real world… So, if you take cores from Bristlecone Pines, which are (because of their habitat) highly susceptible to “strip bark”, a little bit of judicious sample picking can give you whatever ring pattern you need to support your theory.
@PowerGrab:
The Big Thing currently in “farming” is a kind of micro-farm stuck in an urban setting, often either on top of a building, or in a high rise with LED lights. Often hydroponic. This can be everything from “micro-greens” (aka been sprouts, kale sprouts, etc.) to fruits & melons (and all the common garden vegetables in between).
Some Whole Foods stores grow greens on the roof and serve them in their salad bar (while virtue signalling about minimal transport, oil, etc.)
Some of the bigger ones end up in the Agribusiness scale. Saudi Arabia has some giant greenhouses with desalinized water. Australia has some with solar distillation of sea water. I don’t know of any in very cold climates, but that may be an artifact of my being interested in salt water greenhouses….
There are a LOT of regular greenhouses used for all sorts of warm desiring plants in colder places (sometimes just to extend the season on both ends). My guess would be that these are not usually seen for orchards just due to the large scale of them being very costly, and there existing plenty of cheap fruit from warm places to be hauled in by train & truck (or flown in or arriving on ships…). So nobody pays $10,000 / acre to put in a greenhouse structure if the fruit from Guatemala comes in cheaper then their cost to produce.
But yes, it is absolutely possible to grow tropical fruit in greenhouses. Disney used to have a “Behind The Seeds” tour of their giant greenhouse in Epcot; that included trees and other edibles; but the giant space that was in has become some sit-upon-ride… California Adventure? Or some kind of clone of it… I remember it had palm trees ( either Date or Coconut I think… as it was devoted to edibles) along with some others.
Oh, and all sorts of folks use these temporary cloche cloth things ( I bought 1/2 dozen) to put over fruit trees if a freeze threatens. Also, here in Central Florida, the local nursery told me to wrap an old incandescent Christmas tree light set around the sensitive ones if the temp was going much below 32 F. So there’s a lot of lower end things one can do “at the margin” short of a full on Greenhouse. But the labor for a lot of those can start to be too expensive to be worth it for commercial use or other than occasional responses to weather extremes.
But when you want to grow something in an area that is just not warm enough for a lot of days, there are things grown in greenhouses or tunnel covers or similar. I’ve seen both in California and in Florida. Miles of fields covered with poly sheets over light weight supports. (It is cheaper to replace the plastic frequently than build storm proof structures).
This is related to the price rises turning resources into reserves. IF or When the price rises enough to pay for a full on sturdy greenhouse to raise avocados, citrus & tomatoes in Alaska, then it will happen. And we won’t “run out!!!” of them…
Oh Drat. Sometimes I type a beautiful hypothetical and then in my proof reading, do a check on it to see if anyone is talking about it… So there’s this:
And on it goes from there. I find it interesting that the leaves are used in some cooking…
But in any case, it looks like the folks in Alaska are already “on it” for growing citrus in the arctic ;-)
Power Grab,
No I cannot read the article at national geographic
they want me to buy a one year subscription
but thank you for trying ;-)
in another comment you apologized for your ” ramblings”
I don t mind your ” ramblings” or long comments. in fact I kind of like it that someone with mysterious health problems sympathises with me and shares their experience…but then again i am not the owner of this site…
Going to be with “The Kids” for a day or two, so I’m likely to be a bit sporadic ;-)
@Per “ramblings”:
There is NO limit on length of folks comments OR on exchanges between folks in comments. “You do you”!
The only real “hard rule” I have is no “insults to the person”. But even that has the exception that Politicians (and other “public persons”) are fair game when they are being idiots or evil. Then again, they aren’t commenting here anyway ;-)
So ramble away…
Besides, one of my minor interests is trying to work out the “Operations manual” for this thing we call “our body”… Somehow mine got lost when I was born… So discussions of other folks discoveries ( & issues) helps figure out how to work this thing…
When Bacteriadick was young we used to call him sporadic!
ok weak joke, weak play on words, I know I know :-)
( spores become bacteria… in case I lost anyone )
but I have been up since 5 am with a big migraine, my brain is mush and I just felt like saying something silly… ;-)
Thanks for the laugh, C. F. It’s an amino-world without chemists ;P.
Bad puns?
My wife was playing solitaire on her computer this morning. I asked her if she was gambling. She said no, she was just playing with herself.
“Oh! So you are just mastur-betting then?”
She has learned to put up with me…
It took me a few seconds… I think it means a mean world ? lol!
more bad puns
if she is very very good at betting
you could say; “Honey! you are a master-better!”
FWIW
“Four Out of Five Americans Test Positive for ‘Emerging Contaminant’ Found in Popular Cereal Brands: Study”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/four-five-americans-test-positive-emerging-contaminant-found/
Another Ian,
they say ,
Chlormequat causes reduced fertility…
wow…
that may explain, in part, the lower and lower testosterone in young males…many of the chemicals that are used in our modern age and that end up in our food and water do reduce testosterone levels
and since it is a confirmed fact that that is why they now find fish or frogs that have under developped sexual organs or have both male and female features…it is not crazy to wonder if that does not cause only lower testosterone in males, but causes also more men to be homosexual…( or who identify as female…)
this is neither far fetched nor silly…testosterone levels do affect behavior… and as you surely know more testosterone tends to make men more agressive or at least more assertive ( for lack of a better term, maybe dominant is the correct term )
so if more and more young males have lower and lower testosterone levels, they may be less agressive, be more docile…easier to manipulate and control…more likely to agree to eat insects, to never eat beef, to reject gasoline cars, to be ok with drag queens in pre-school… to vote liberal…
food for thought…
… … …
Speaking of contaminants,
I read ,a long time ago and then again recently ,that the longer something is in a plastic container, bottle or other, the more the plastic breaks down and leaches into whatever is in that container
when you google it, the focus is on bottled water
but it suddenly hit me; in hospitals, pretty much everything is kept in some plastic container; blood, Intravenous medication or feeding formulas, etc etc
I am no biologist or doctor but I know that injecting something in a vein is far more potent than ingesting it as the acid in our digestive system do neutralize some of what we swallow.
and once something is in our blood it is harder for our system to fight it than if it was in the digestive system.
How long has that bag of blood or of intravenous stuff been in their stock room ? how much of the plastic has leached ?
Unless they use a special plastic and I am completely wrong ?…
Maybe… But as far as I know all plastics leach, some more, some less but they all leach…
Plastic is very convenient; use, throw away and forget.
But for that convenience is modern medecine with almost every liquid kept in plastic containers poisoning us and don t realize it ?
Bags of blood are kept in a refrigerator and the red blood cells have a limited life even with the supplemental sugar in the suspending fluid. They get rotated out and once past the use-by date, discarded (at least that was so back in the day). Other pharmaceuticals are only added at the time of infusion. The saline bags are likewise kept cool until used. These also have a use-by date and are supposed to be rotated and discarded when past the date printed. That minimizes some of the contamination concerns, which are mostly from bacteria/viruses/fungi than the plastic.
Everything and nothing is poisonous, on its own. Toxicity is contingent and mostly a dose thing. That said, cumulative poisons do exist, but the dose thing applies, still.
Google does not give much information on this,
but a site called Oncology Nurses News has an article from 6 years ago saying the FDA approves of keeping IV solutions 6 months or more…
which I would think gives time for the plastic to leach a bit.
https://www.oncnursingnews.com/view/fda-extends-shelf-life-of-iv-solutions
and even though cold temperature slows leaching a bit, there is still some leaching.
But yes it depends on the dose, and since most people don t have an IV plugged in their arm everyday I guess it is a very low dose for most people.
CF – When I’m feeling down I find uplifting a ride on the Ferrous Wheel.
Don’t get me started, jim2…
When Iron Man took a vacation, it was reported as “Ferrous Buhler’s Day Off.”
Don’t watch it if you’re easily offended. The guy (a converted Christian) has been cancelled off most of the internet/youtube but still is on twitter/X and this site.
https://odysee.com/@RooshArchive:a/Roosh_Hour_50_-_Black_Lives_Matter-Q-eik6b2Du8:2
Stray cats, stray thoughts.
It seems some of the GEBs are pushing for WWIII and a nuclear holocaust. They aren’t too concerned because they have their EOTWAWKI bunkers to ride out the aftermath.
I’m thinking that there will be some smart, prepared people who will survive in other ways. I’m wondering if some of these smart people, upon finding an occupied bunker, might be p!$$ed off enough to seal all means of egress and turn these bunkers into “Tombs of The Unknown GEBS”?
No telling how it would all work out. Just a stray thought.
@H.R.:
The GEB Bunkers “have issues”.
The first problem is that a global nuclear war will not have a simple “return to international order” afterwards. Almost all major cities of the combatant nations (and some others) will be dead. (Both the people and the economies). Pretty much ALL international systems will be terminated (banking, aviation, oil & coal production, shipping (ports gone…), satellites, internet, electrical grids.
What will be left?
A few (potentially very few) national military bases (especially those outside of the combatant home country – so for example a USA base in Panama might survive).
Some large rural areas (but potentially without things like oil supplies, natural gas supplies, electrical supplies, commercially produced foods). Like rural South Dakota or Nebraska.
A LOT of junk laying around (like a few million cars run out of fuel and abandoned on freeways and highways all over. Ships that made it to a dock somewhere, but now have nowhere to go. Ditto airplanes that made it to an airport somewhere but now either can not take off, or have nowhere to go.
A fairly large number of 3rd World countries who are not combatants and are trying to figure out how to “make do” without 1st world goods.
POTENTIALLY: IFF China is not involved in the conflict; a largely intact Chinese economy and military willing to pick up the pieces.. OR IFF China is included in the exchange, a pretty darned large “Muslim World” ready to take over Europe, West Asia, and Africa.
Most of Sub Saharan Africa ought to do OK. Potentially Australia & New Zealand might survive IFF they don’t have any port or bases facilities of importance to the USA or UK AND China is knocked out.
Most of South America too.
Now set that in motion… You think immigration is bad now…
The folks in rural America have a much better survival opportunity; but are likely to be, fairly rapidly, under the control of survivor nations (be that china, South American, Muslim, or whatever).
In those circumstances, a European or American GEB, crawling out of their bunker has a low probability of survival. If the locals don’t get them, the invader “Rescuing” country will. Be that via bonfire, knives and cooking pots, or a bulldozer putting a new “foundation” on top of the bunker entrance…
With what will they pay their security service? $Dollars that no longer have value? Food that they do not have and can not get? “Shares” in companies that no longer exist? “Title” to lands that are now owned by generals in other countries? Gold Coins that the folks with guns can just take? Etc.
No, the social order resets and the global hierarchy gets decapitated.
What will survive are rural communities out of fallout bands and not near targets, with local food production and stable relationships, full of Prepper Type persons. I’m on the edge of that, but need some more prepping and settling in. But pretty much anything of the National and state Capitol levels will be gone. Anything over 1 million population, a smoking heap that glows in the dark. Between 1 M and 10,000 population will depend on when the missiles run out…
Then the external intrusions and internal chaos forces fight it out.
FWIW
“Groundbreaking Global Study on 99 Million Vaccinated People Reveals Increases in Neurological, Blood, and Heart Conditions Associated with COVID-19 Vaccines
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/groundbreaking-global-study-99-million-vaccinated-people-reveals/
All likely so, E.M.
I was just thinking about someone who just wanted to be left alone stumbling across one of the GEB’s bunkers. They may or may not have a sense of poetic justice, but sealing in a GEB to be left alone forever might have some appeal.
Imagine we lived in a world where all
cars were EVs, and then along comes
a new invention, the “Internal
Combustion Engine”! Think how well
they would sell: A vehicle half the
weight, half the price that will almost
quarter the damage done to the road.
A vehicle that can be refuelled in
1110th Of the time and has a range Of
up to 4 times the distance in all
weather conditions. It does not rely
on the environmentally damaging use
Of non-renewable rare earth elements
to power it, and use far less steel and
Other materials.
Just think how excited people would
be for such technology, it would sell
like hot cakes!
Link in here
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/02/memes-that-made-me-laugh-197.html
@H.R.:
I’m not sure that they would be covered by bulldozers pushing dirt, or cement mixers with loads of cement…
I mean, you can get a portable welder for a couple of $hundred and just quietly weld the door shut in a couple of minutes. Heck, you can spot weld a few spots so it can’t be opened in fewer seconds than it takes for someone to say “What was that?” and then finish the job at your own pace.
The hard bit would be to identify where the emergency escape door was located, but one guy with a spotter scope; and then telescopic sight on a bolt rifle, can take care of that and then you just weld it up too…
Cheaper. Faster. Quieter… other than the sniper…
Then there’s always just experimenting with superglue ;-0
Or my favorite: Put a mix of nitrogen and nitrous oxide into the air intake. As they get ever happier, they do not notice that they are suffocating! (The desire to breath is from CO2 build up, that does not happen when breathing nitrogen gas..) So everyone “goes” happy and never feels any reason to do anything…
There’s so many entertaining options, and most do not require a bulldozer at all…
/snark; and /sarc; laden, for anyone who wants to take this seriously…
Oh, and don’t get me started on what you can do with the introduction of a few % of hydrogen to the air intake…. (look up limits of flammability and flame velocity…)… just don’t be on top if it when some switch or motor sets it off…
Aha! That’s the spirit, E.M.!
I don’t think any of us are or ever will be around a GEB’s EOTWAWKI bunker, but someone who is really p!$$ed off might happen by one.
I don’t know why I’ve gone all Biblical recently, but the Tower of Babel came to mind.
God saw a united mankind trying to build a tower to heaven and confused their languages, putting a stop to that.
If the strategy is good enough for way back then, it seems the PTB have figured it will work now. Of course they aren’t using language this time around, but LBGTQRSTUVWXYZ, vs gen XYZ vs boomers vs Dims vs eeevil Repubs vs flyover hayseeds vs… and on and on and on.
About 75% +/- of America is basically the America that always was. If all of them united, the GEBs and TLAs would be in big trouble.
Confound their ability to build commonalities and cooperate.
@H.R.:
We find out in November where we are going.
At present, it looks like Traditional America has reached the tipping point, and the World Evil Forum (WEF) folks are now “outed” as the source of a lot of this crap (with the TLAs recruited to task…)
IF there’s another election steal by the Dims, it’s game over for them. You can’t run a brain dead failure, with horrible polls, have him get reelected, and have folks think it was all a “free & fair” election.
Then there’s Texas vs Dims shaping up for an epic showdown. While I’m working on an escape destination retirement visa, I could easily be persuaded to become a Texan instead. Spouse has family there, and I know the process of declaring to be Texan… (you can do it prior to actual residency…) IF Texas needs me, I would likely go. Either their written constitutional rights and power are recognized and accepted, or it will go sideways in a hurry.
Then, finally, the EU is “auguring in”. Germany is on the financial rocks and will not be profitable “going forward” without Russian Gas and Minerals. Solar and Wind are just not going to run a modern industrial powerhouse in a competitive global market. That means no € for the Southern Tier who depend on EU money to remain stable. So you will have Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and a few others (maybe even Ireland and France… possibly Poland) looking at no EU Subsidy cash available.
Then season that with the Farmers revolt against EU rules to put them out of business, the Truckers joining them, Fishermen too: and an EU wide protest headed for General Strike over “Globull Warming” mandates.
Expect several to start talking about exit of the EU and the Euro Zone.
Potentially we could even have the EU Government going broke. (Major funders were the UK and Germany. Now not so much…)
Then season with the $Billions and €Billions flushed down the Ukraine Toilet… and gone up in smoke… (of one kind or another ;-)
The GEBs In Charge are getting desperate, and that’s a good thing…
BRICS+ nations are going gangbusters. Egypt (THE largest Arab population nation) just ditched the $US for trade – expect to see them in BRICS pretty soon. (Major trade items for them are Russian grain, Russian oil, Military gear (historically Russian) and income from the Suez Canal (that can be in any currency they choose to accept). All over the globe, the Western GEBs are losing their control structures and power structures.
So this is not going to end well for the GEBs of the world, and the Euro GEBs in particular. It could end up breaking Europe and breaking up the EU.
Note that France is being kicked out of Africa too, with Russia & China playing nicer with those nations…
Frankly, the way I see things going over the next year, has us either in a Nuclear War that The Collective West does not survive (but Russia will…. though with difficulties) or has the collapse of the EU, the € and a drastic cut back in US influence and the $US getting cut back to regional use. There’s a small chance of the USA and EU coming out of this OK IFF they stop being Evil B. and start playing nice and straight with other world governments. You can not be the #1 at creating Color Revolutions and Global Chaos for very long before folks figure it out and shun you. We are now past that point.
The war in Ukraine has, at most, about 6 months to collapse or conversion to a NATO / Russia direct war. The Israel / Gaza / Rest Of Islam conflict is teetering on “Regional War” from Turkey/Syria to Egypt and from Gaza to Iran & Yemen. And STILL our Idiots In Charge are trying to pick a fight with China in Taiwan.
This is just not going to end well. Too many people lighting firecrackers in a gunpowder factory.
Some great crafty plan to confound and confuse us? I see it more as the blowing up of their control structures and the collapse of the GEBs paradigm of Global Domination. Folks are just tired of playing that game and ready, willing, and increasingly able to end it.
Sidebar On The sNews::
Tonight in the hotel lobby / bar saw a crawler on CNN. Stated that Trump was choosing to attack Biden rather than Putin in the wake of the death of Navaldy.
I found myself thinking: How many in the USA even know who Navaldy was? How many of them know what he did? Of them, how many know he was pro CIA and possibly / probably funded by them? Polled about 2% in Russian polls running against Putin? The vast bulk of people in the USA do not know who he is, IF or why he mattered, or give a damn about Putin. Yet we have CNN shouting at their ever shrinking sub 1 Million audience about him.
Nobody cares.
Then why ought Trump talk of Putin? Biden is the guy he is running against, not Putin. At least most folks do know that Biden is pResident and Trump is running to dump “Senile Biden” out of office.
When you spend every semi-waking broadcast hour demonizing anyone not 100% in lock step agreement with the MIC/TLA /GEB/ EuroGEB / W.Evil F. agenda you pretty much have nobody who watches your stuff, cares what you say, or funds your operation (via advertising or otherwise)
Then, hundreds of hours & stations talking about Navaldy and NOTHING about Gonzalo Lira? That just stinks. Lira was murdered for saying bad things, the truth, about Mr. Z in Ukraine. LOTS of people know who Gonzalo Lira was. They miss his reporting. They know who killed him. Were I a Trump aide, I’d suggest he repeatedly bring up Gonzalo Lira and ask why the Biden REGIME did nothing to get him home.
Any and every mention of Navaldy needs to have a reply of:
“What about Gonzalo Lira?”
Death Valley eat your hert out!
“Carnarvon “world’s hottest place yesterday” is barely any hotter than it was in 1896”
https://joannenova.com.au/2024/02/carnarvon-worlds-hottest-place-was-just-as-hot-in-1896/#comments
So the hillbillys can also claim reparations?
“The Sound Of Deplorable Science”
“It was known for decades that the Appalachian culture was inbreeding because of all the birth defects that were in the culture that turned out to be… bad nutrition. (Which was why, BTW, the DOD introduced the School Lunch Program back in the late 1940s. To cut down the rate of 4F from childhood nutrition deficiencies.)
Now, with DNA, we can peer into the past of the Appalachian culture and show that those toothless (from poor nutrition) rednecks were…
Not actually sleeping with their daughters. The DNA shows no higher rate of actual incest in traditional Appalachian culture than in the general background of the US.”
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/02/20/the-sound-of-deplorable-science/
Obviously the Dimowits believe they have achieved control over society and the apparatus of government. They openly break the law, the border is a good example, and use the “justice” system to completely ruin rivals. They are doing it in the light without apology.
As if the government even needs more snoop capability!
For decades, privacy experts have been wary of snooping from space. They feared satellites powerful enough to zoom in on individuals, capturing close-ups that might differentiate adults from children or suited sunbathers from those in a state of nature.
Now, quite suddenly, analysts say, a startup is building a new class of satellite whose cameras would, for the first time, do just that.
https://dnyuz.com/2024/02/20/when-eyes-in-the-sky-start-looking-right-at-you/
What could possibly go wrong?
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/20/elon-musk-says-neuralink-patient-can-control-a-mouse-through-thinking.html
Ossqss,
not now but in a few years,when those things ( neuralink type devices ) are more advanced, someone could make another person go rob a bank, or go murder someone or make them go jump off a tall building…
or they could make an otherwise non consenting woman have sex with them.
then erase her memory and she would not know it happened.
Sounds like silly conspiracy theory today, but in about 10 years, 20 at most, it will be reality.
FWIW
“Happenings in AI
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/suddenly-tuesday-february-20-2024?utm_source=substack&publication_id=463409&post_id=141859946&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=1vxw0k
And other things
another ian,
Sorry if I sound like a broken record
as I have been saying it for years
but with AI they will make incriminating videos to throw in prison innocent people that are nuisance to the people who have power…
Imagine if they had an AI video of Trump raping a woman or a video of him giving boxes of documents to Russian agents…
everything would be fake and false, but the masses seeing that on the 6 o’clock news don t know enough to know what is real and what is fake, , and in many cases don t have a IQ high enough to know they are being fooled.
If you think lawfare is overused by democrats to get rid of opponents now, wait a few years when they can use fake AI videos.
@jim2 re the super camera satellites:
They will know they have succeeded when they get hi def images of millions of raised middle fingers.
Several years ago, someone here posted a link to an umbrella hat, a headband with a small umbrella on top.
It was a bit of clowning around then, but now? Those may be a hot item with those optical spy satellites. And I suppose the most popular seller will be one with a raised middle finger on it.
Ah, here we go.
The exodus has begun for New York based businesses, similar to Commifornia.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/ny-village-losing-its-soul-nations-oldest-gun-manufacturer-flees-blue-state-georgia
Yep, good restaurants don’t outweigh all the negatives in NY at this point.
FWIW
“The New Yorker: Is The Media Prepared for an Extinction-Level Event?”
https://ace.mu.nu/archives/408318.php
FWIW:
I’ve tried to convince the spouse to just spend ONE DAY in NYC. She LOVES “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and cherishes the Tiffany stock I bought for her. She would like to see the Statue Of Liberty… But…
I have been informed that there is No Way In whatever… she will set foot in New York City.
I’ve been to NYC, I’ve been to the Statue Of Liberty. I’ve enjoyed a day in New York City, and it isn’t that bad (in my memory…)
But I can not get her to spend even one day there, and by extension, the rest of New York State.
So far, she is willing to visit the District Of Criminals (Wash. DC) long enough to see the monuments. But not long enough to leave any money there for things like hotels and dinner out. Still trying to figure out how that will work… (Maybe an RV?)…
I’m trying to figure out which of us is wrong. Me with memories of a NYC that no doubt no longer exists at all, (about 1974…) or her with prejudices that may well be accurate…
But one thing really stands out: Any ONE member of a family can veto a visit.
So IF NYC offends, say, 1 in 4 of any typical “family of 4”, they lose the whole bundle.
Oh Well. Guess we’ll go somewhere else. She would like to see Georgia (Gone With The Wind fan), so that’s likely where we’ll go.
@H.R.:
The local toll roads (Sunpass) snap photos of you getting on, exiting, and at other times. I’ve sometimes used my floppy hat, sun glasses, and such along with holding up a BIG BIG GULP cup at just the right moment “for effect”… But…
I’m thinking I need something better longer term. A Nixon Mask is too obvious, and an Orangutan Mask might match my drivers licence photo anyway ;-) …
But what to do?
It is a constant muse for me (whenever I’m on the toll road anyway…). Sort of an “Identity Crisis”. Just Who do I want to be?…
I’m presently thinking that an Elon Musk Mask would be nice… after all, the V for Vendetta “anonymous” mask has been a bit overdone.
OTOH, maybe a Soros mask? Or Kerry? Or a Biden mask? Perhaps swapping between them from on ramp to off ramp?
I tell you, it is a great conundrum. Deciding what message I want to send to TPTB. An FU to the video? A “here is your master” subtle jab? A “good luck tracking this non-face I generated with an AI request for minimal facial recognition”?
I’m undecided at present. Advice welcome.
Top candidates so far:
1) “Anonymous” mask. Sure, they will ID me by Plate anyway, but it is in keeping with the social metaphor and puts a metaphorical finger in the photo… AND they are easy and cheap to buy.
2) My present hat, glasses, but add a “Groucho Mustache, Bushy Eyebrows, Big Nose and red lips set”. Easy to do, and also makes a kind of statement that isn’t quite traceable to some movie or whatever…
3) I have trouble with the idea of wearing the face of people I despise, but… I could see something from the Biden, Kerry, Soros, whatever set… and they will not be too hard to get during Halloween…
4) I’d be reluctant to use a Musk Mask since the Idiots In Charge might use that as an excuse to actually indict him for something… but a Captain Jack Sparrow set, complete with multiple fake eyes painted on, has the virtue of both “finger in the face” and “will tend to confuse facial recognition” (especially with a couple of fake noses and lips painted on too ;-)
After that, the ideas get a bit thin…
BUT clearly we need some kind of social movement that makes both mask wearing and face painting acceptable as Facial Recognition goes main stream and becomes a real threat to liberty…
FWIW, IF I didn’t find Tom Cruise annoying, I’d be happy to use his face since in “some movie I can’t remember, but perhaps ‘minority report’? he has issues with some facial rec in a store…” so that might be fun…
Anyway, in my own yard, I don’t have to worry about the “Camera in the sky” due to rampant HUGE Oak Trees… OTOH, perhaps selling “car roof sized decals” of either a middle finger or “some body parts” might become a profit center ;-)
OR… Maybe… QR Codes are becoming ubiquitous … Perhaps something can be done with a plethora of QR Code Decals such the every time someone tries to copy / forward a photo for “investigation” they end up at porn sites or with other “compromat” generated ;-)
“Sir, look at this photo of the target vehicle. He has something on his roof!” then “OK, I’ll snap an image and look it up with my phone.” Followed shortly by “Oh Damn! My phone is downloading porn and asking to be recruited into ISIS!… I’m F’d…”
Oh the potential… Maybe embed some QR Codes into sunglasses too…
I have only been to New York City once and it was in 1999
many hotels, restaurants and apartment buildings had barbed wire on the top of, damn cannot find the word, the little bit of roof that hangs over the main entrance?
it was to keep homeless to sleep on those things and to keep criminals from climbing there to then climb trough windows…we were told
we also saw a crazy woman walking in the middle of the street, a busy street, slowing down traffic, she was talking and yelling to herself as if she was alone and there was not hundreds of cars behind her
We visited the I think St Andrew Church ? Near the Chrysler Building if memory serves ?
it is a gigantic church and it is beautiful
I am not a religious man, more agnostic, but that church was humbling I guess Humbling would be the word
gigantic and so beautiful it was mind blowing
@E.M.: “She would like to see Georgia (Gone With The Wind fan), so that’s likely where we’ll go.”
The northwest corner of Georgia shares the area around Lookout Mountain with Tennessee and Alabama, and is a lovely place to visit. (That area is often referred to as “TAG” — Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia.) In Georgia there is Cloudland Canyon State Park, and if you like Civil War history there is the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Military Park. Just a bit south and west in Alabama is DeSoto State Park and the beautiful Little River Canyon. In Tennessee there is Nickajack Cave where you can watch hundreds of thousands of bats fly out on summer evenings. Chattanooga has a great aquarium. Maybe 40 miles north of Chattanooga is a very nice Fall Creek Falls State Park. All of the parks have camping and cabin rental — but make reservations early. They sometimes book months ahead.
Georgia? Savannah is a must! Food, history, architecture.
They have an on/off trolley system so you can walk interesting places in the city yet take it easy with a ride to the next place you want to jump off.
Just don’t make it summer vacation. What… you think Florida is hot and humid? Ha! Savannah: “Hold my beer.”
Anti-facial recognition wear …
https://gizmodo.com/anti-facial-recognition-fashion-what-to-wear-mask-1850093479/slides/1
As I have been saying ( and will be saying for a long time ) AI is programmed by leftists to give results leftists approve of
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/googles-ai-image-generator-refuses-create-man-tiananmen/
@ EM:
Put on a hijab or chador.
I got that idea from the incident where I saw a very tall “woman” in a chador striding along the aisles of Walmart with several smaller chador-clad folks in attendance.
I knew the tallest one was a dude. This was right after 9/11. The eyes were all I could see. They oozed implacable malevolence.
When I was younger, I did want to visit New York City. I never had the opportunity. My youngest son did, for his high school band marched in the Macy’s parade. Yes, he survived. I have briefly lived in the District of Corruption. My last visit was some 30 years ago. (I went to a conference in DC that was held in the Watergate Hotel and Condominiums … yes *that* Watergate.) DC wasn’t horrible in and near the main government buildings, though out away from there you were taking chances with your life. I stopped at a gas station across the Potomac to get gas and found myself having to get out of Dodge quickly. The last time that I found myself in a similar situation was as a student delivering pizzas on the seedier side of Tuscaloosa and my sister had to deal with a stalker once in Tuscaloosa, too.
Would I visit either place now? You couldn’t pay me enough to do it. Nor would I go visit San Fran or Oakland, either. Back in the 80s, those were still decent enough places to visit, too.
Lots of Georgia is a great vacation spot. Been to Savannah, but be careful in some places. Same with Atlanta, much of downtown is still safe enough and much of its western parts are too, just stay away from the southern and southwestern parts, in my experience. 6 Flags is just on Atlanta’s western edge (the river runs through it) and off Interstate 20.
Alabama? Lots of nice places to go visit. Big NASA area along the interstate west of Huntsville. Little River Canyon not far from Fort Payne. DeSoto Caverns and State Park is practically in my back yard :p. Moundville State Park, south of Tuscaloosa is another one. Want to hike? Mount Cheaha State Park is great. Like the beach? Orange Beach State Park is nice, though wait a few more weeks. Like military history? USS Alabama on the Bay.
Tennessee and western Virginia also have nice tourist areas.
How many straws to break the camel’s back?
The former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard warns that the US could face a serious fiscal crisis as the debt deficit is reaching new highs each day. The deficit is ballooning as the US is borrowing trillions of dollars and is unable to control the $34 trillion debt.
https://watcher.guru/news/brics-us-risks-fiscal-crisis-as-borrowing-soars-warns-imf-economist
BRICS member Russia confirmed that the country is building an alternative to the SWIFT payment system without integrating the US dollar. The new payment mechanism will settle cross-border transactions in local currencies making BRICS and other developing countries sideline the US dollar.
https://watcher.guru/news/brics-159-countries-eyeing-russias-new-payment-system
Watcher Guru had recently reported that 20 countries are already on board to initiate transactions in local currencies when Russia’s new payment system is out. Read here to know how many sectors in the US will be affected if BRICS ditches the dollar for trade.
https://watcher.guru/news/5-u-s-sectors-affected-if-brics-ditches-dollar-trade
Seized Russian money could help Ukraine – There is a “moral, political, legal, and economic case” for using money seized from Russian to help rebuild Ukraine, the UK foreign secretary has said. Speaking to the BBCs Faisal Islam in Davos, Lord Cameron said “one day” Russia should be paying reparations for war damage in Ukraine. He said frozen Russian assets could be an “advance payment” to help Ukraine now and save western taxpayers’ money.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-68022076
What could possibly go wrong?
City bankers resist Cameron plan to seize £26bn of Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine – Around £230bn of cash in the Western bank accounts of Russian individuals and corporations has been frozen since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This money has remained in the banking system and is leveraged to provide loans that total a multiple of the original amount. “This cash is still swilling around the system,” said the banking source. “It’s frozen in terms of those who deposited it not being able to get hold of it. It’s not frozen in the system. Like everyone’s deposits, it is used to finance loans far exceeding that initial £250bn. “The trouble is that if the banks are ordered to hand that cash over, then those loans would be called in and a panic would spread through the system. No bank has this level of cash just sitting there and being forced to hand it over for Ukraine would lead to banks going under.”
https://inews.co.uk/news/inside-city-fightback-camerons-plan-seize-26bn-russian-assets-2918654?ico=most_popular
Thanks for the ideas of places to visit.
@Per Russian Assets:
Russia has already assumed it will never get that $300 Billion or so back. It will not actually hurt Russia to steal it. However, stealing that Sovereign State Deposit, will tell 100% of the Nations of the World that They can not trust the Western Banking System and any of The USA, UK & EU.
Every single person, corporation, and government that historically counted the $US as “good as gold” will change their opinion to “not as good as toilet paper that at least has a valuable function” and will start moving out of the $US, £, and € and into things that are more trustworthy. That will be gold, silver, the Ruble and Yuan and Yen. Egypt has already said they want to stop trading in the $US, which implies not holding a big $US Deposit for trading…
This will happen repeatedly all over South America, Africa, Oceania, Asia and many miscellaneous nations like the Caribbean.
While perhaps not the absolute worst things that the Idiots In Charge could do to damage their own economies, it is at least tied for first…
Note that this does NOT require them to decide the Ruble or Yuan is BETTER than the $US. All it takes is that they decide to diversify their money to reduce the size of any one risky currency. To hold volumes of currencies proportional to their trade volumes with those nations. Instead of, say, a $100 Million US risk, I can get that down to $30 M $US risk and $30 M WORTH of Rubles and $30 M WORTH of Yuan and maybe $10 M WORTH of Yen risk. The odds of all four of those deciding to inflict a “freeze” on me is near zero for any moment in time.
EM, ?, If, or more likely, when many nations no longer accept the dollar, do you think this will force US interest rates up?
Nvidia has taken off like a rocket on the fact it sells AI chips. It reported blowout earnings yesterday and futures are up 13% this morning.
Is this meteoric rise a bubble or reality based? IMO, at the moment it is reality based. That could change at some point.
https://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=nvda&insttype=&freq=1&show=
Per impact of $US abandonment:
It is very hard to say what the effects will be. Why? Because it depends on what a bunch of institutions and individuals decide to do. For example: Will The Fed raise interest rates in response to quell the inflationary pressure of all those dollars coming home to roost and then too many $US chasing too few goods? Or will the Treasury just heave them into the furnace by the train load? (Metaphorically for those that are just bank book entries…)
So let’s look at some of the mechanism and where things might change.
1) Not everyone abandons the $US, and not for all purposes.
So, for example, Saudi Arabia has decided to accept “other currencies” for oil sales. Rubles, Yuan. BUT, should Panama have a lot of $US (from canal fees) and want to buy oil with it, Saudi Arabia will still take them. Similarly, if the USA were to sell a few $Billion of F-35 Fighter Jets to Saudi, then the USA would want $US in payment. So a LOT of trade will stay in $US even as things like “Oil to China” might shift to a “local currency”. We do not know what this proportion will be, so that’s a big unknown. Just how big is “the problem”?
2) ASSUMING “the problem” is big enough for the USA to notice (call it 25% to 45% of $US based trade moves to Rubles & Euros & Yuan & Yen & £):
AND ASSUMING the associated Central Banks reduced their holdings of $US to some degree in proportion (another unknown – how much Central Banks in various countries reduce the $US in their “Central Bank Reserves” account…) then a load of $US from those Central Banks heads back to the US Central Bank (The Federal Reserve Bank) with a note to “please send FOO to us in exchange”. And we get ANOTHER unknown. What will they want in exchange? Yuan? Yen? Euro? Gold? £ Stirling? This will somewhat shift the Exchange Rate of the $US vs {whatever is most in demand}. So vacations in Europe might become more expensive in $US terms, or Gold might rise a bunch, or Stuff From China might stop being so cheap. Which comes to the next unknown: What THOSE Central Banks will do to keep demand up for their goods & services – will they just print up a bunch of their own currencies to meet the demand and try to keep prices stable vs the USA? Or will they let their currency “appreciate” and accept that there will be fewer US Tourists or less sales of cheap plastic toys?
3) Now we ASSUME that the amount of new £ Stirling, Yen, Yuan, & Euros created will be significant but not enough to prevent price rises in goods from those countries so all the stuff we buy from them rises a lot in $US Terms. This will show up as inflation in the USA as all the VW, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Sony, Nikon, Chinese Stuff Everywhere are suddenly, say, 20% more expensive. (Note that I did not mention Russian Goods like oil or Titanium as we presently are banning trade with Russia…).
OK, now we’ve not got inflation in imported goods prices. IF you mostly buy bread made from Kansas wheat, FORD trucks made in Detroit, gas from Texas, wood from Oregon, and vacation in Florida, you don’t notice much. If you prefer French Wine to Californian and vacation in the UK, drive a BMW and love Italian Prosciutto… your will be paying up. Which comes to the next question: What will The Fed do in response to this inflation in imported goods prices?
IFF they hike the Federal Reserve Rate, then interest rates will rise. IFF they decide that a “weak dollar” is good for sales of US products globally, and low interest rates will help with sales of US property and goods, then they do not raise rates and we do not get higher interest rates (but do get a lot of economic “stimulus” that might be a good idea as we would find an increase in demand for our products in the rest of the world and would need to be expanding production…)
4) My GUESS:
This change happens slowly over a fairly long period of time. It has already started a couple of years ago, did you notice? The bulk of trade outside of BRICS+ will stay in the $US, since at present BRICS+ (i.e. Russia & China mostly) have not set up a general mechanism for “settlements”, only a bilateral settlement of imbalances and a Central Bank currency swaps as needed.
Yes, Saudi is accepting Yuan for Oil, but before it had to take $US from China for oil, then use $US to buy Chinese Stuff (medical supplies, towels, dishes, etc.) and then China had to turn them into Yuan, and then use the Yuan to pay the Chinese companies. So mostly there was just this momentary Demand Then Supply of $US as China bought $US (with Yuan) to get oil, and then Saudi sold $US to buy Yuan to get stuff from China. So what was the net of that in $US demand? Mostly a swap of Yuan to $US to Yuan… Simply put, the growth in Chinese Exports has already made the Yuan market big and demand for it higher. We just have not seen it as the Chinese Central Bank has had a “floating peg” to the $US. We would have more of an issue of they abandoned the peg… But my guess is that they will not abandon it as they “peg low” keeping their industry more competitive than ours and putting us out of business.
So I expect that the major effect will be economic pressure inside China to move the Yuan UP relative to the $US and make holding the peg increasingly problematic (it has already had to break from a hard peg a few years ago to a slowly drifting one). Similarly, the £ Stirling and € Euro will have pressures from relatively cheaper US goods & services (as the $US is cheaper in their currency terms and their goods & services are more expensive in the USA…) leading to recessionary pressures there. Japan is likely to stay with $US settlements since they are already in a kind of stagnation AND have a lot of $US to get rid of, and need to import oil. Russia just sits out this whole drama due to Muh Sanctions…
So as Japan, China, and folks in Europe have USA Bonds mature, their will be more $US being handed to them, which they will want to exchange or spend, where they will find out that it doesn’t buy as much as expected outside the USA, and so they will either accept that or buy more US Stuff & land. OR, they will keep funding the massive US Debt. Which comes to the final unknown: Who will buy How Much of US Treasury Paper? Historically, Japan & China bought a lot. But then we had a financial crisis and went ballistic (i.e. exponential growth) on US Debt. There was a time when the $Trillion held by each of them was 1/2 or so of the $4 Trillion US Debt. We’re now up at about $33 Trillion and rising $1 Trillion / quarter. That’s going to blow up in somebodies faces but I don’t know whom. Looking at this:
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/who-owns-the-u-s-national-debt-3306124
The slice held by The Government (i.e. Social Security and The Fed) is the largest. Next biggest is “Foreign”. Then “mutual funds”. So the biggest risk is on the shoulders of Social Security & The Fed.
Which brings up Demographics. Social Security HAD excess deposits when the Boomers were all working and depositing. Now that the Boomers are drawing a check and didn’t have a lot of kids, Social Security is under pressure to pay out more than it is taking in, so selling US Bonds… Ooops! Right along with China and Japan… I think this is the reason for letting in anyone from anywhere by the millions to work in the USA and pay into Social Security. The Ponzie Scheme needs new players…
Meantime The Fed has had their balance sheet balloon out A Lot. Look at:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL
and notice that from about 2009 to 2020 they went from $1 Trillion to $9 Trillion. So a lot of debt is being shoved into The Fed. Some more into other Government Agencies (like Social Security “trust fund”). But frankly, there’s still a few $Trillion going somewhere I don’t see… Perhaps “member banks” are soaking up a bunch…
So my guess here depends on who is in the White House & Congress next year. IFF The Dim Democrats are in, spending continues at an incredible rate with $Trillion / quarter increases in the debt, and the $US continues to depreciate, bread goes to $8 a loaf (up from $4 now up from $2 a few years ago up from…) and your next Pickup Truck is $200,000 (up from $100,000 and not selling now, up from $50,000 a few years ago, up from $25,000 when I could afford one, up from $12,000 the last time I thought I might buy one…). IFF Trump gets elected, there will some pain as this out of control Debt Freight Train gets the brakes slammed on via higher interest rates, and we might if we are lucky get the Real Inflation Rate down to below 4% to 6% (and they will claim 2% to 3%). But in any case, “The Debt” will be inflated away – just a question of fast to hyper inflation, or slow and steady inflation. And that, boys and girls, will require high interest rates to STOP or SLOW it, but low interest rates if Hyperinflation Is Your Friend.
So you tell me who gets control of the Government in November, and I’ll tell you the likely interest rate profile.
@Jim2:
At present, it is real. As soon as other chip makers (Intel, AMD) make competitive products, the huge premium built into NVDIA evaporates.
There’s nothing really special about NVDIA chips. Just a GPU that’s really big. Their “ecosystem” (compiler tools, pre-trained AIs, etc.) and packaging (really big bundles) ARE special for now… and the likes of Google & Microsoft have the $Billions to buy a LOT of these and chase the AI Dream. As long as that continues, they make a bucket of money.
BUT, their “90 PE Ratio” can not hold forever. At some point, folks will realize that they are paying $90 for $1 of earnings and 0.02% dividend yield, and will sell.
Until that time, though, it is a horse to ride. Tesla Robots alone will consume millions to hundreds of millions of AI Chipsets, once they are being manufactured and sold.
THE really big question is just “When does some other company have a competitive AI chipset product?” IMHO, the answer is “soon”. Likely a year or 2. So this is not a “buy this stock and put it in a drawer for 20 years”… It is a “ride the exponential but be ready to dump it on any big drop”.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/1/24058186/ai-chips-meta-microsoft-google-nvidia
Here you can see the present state, and see what is coming as others decide to get a chunk of NVDIA’s pie:
That “extremely expensive” will eventually normalize, and both their customers and other chip makers are looking for “less expensive” alternatives.
Remember that GPU is just an array of extremely simple and easy to make Math Processors for very simple math. What in the old Cray terms was a “Vector unit”. You hand it a “stride” (span of items) of The Same Math Operator On Many Things, and it does all that math in parallel on a bunch of little stupid compute engines.
So, for example, the GPU in the ARM Chip can do about 8 of these in parallel, the Cray had a 64 wide Vector unit. So you set up anywhere from 4 to 64 (to “whatever” is the max now) sets of identical N x M multiplications and hand the block to the GPU / Vector unit and it hands back a similar sized block of results.
It really is very simple at the core level. BUT…
The “Pain” is in the software to set up those blocks of parallel compute blocks. NVDIA has an edge here with a Developer Station Software that lets folks rapidly write code that does this without a lot of detail in the weeds work. As others catch up, this will be less unique and less valuable. https://developer.nvidia.com/tools-overview
Then the other bit, is that NVIDIA is busy solving how to glue together a massive number of GPU blocks into what looks and acts like one giant GPU / Vector computer. Again, nothing about it is dramatically novel, just sized up a lot on the communications fabric. But nobody else is doing it right now:
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hardware/nvidia-s-h100-what-it-what-it-does-and-why-it-matters
So the big question is just when does somebody else catch up with similar development tools and similar ‘on board’ communications built in. My guess is a “couple of years”. So, can NVDIA get enough of a Market Domination in that time to “own the market” for another 10 years? Or will someone else eat their lunch then?
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hardware/microsoft-will-use-intel-manufacture-home-grown-processor
So pretty soon the Microsoft Data Centers will be using their own AI Chips and not NVIDIA. Will anyone else follow suit? How fast? Personally, I’d bet on NVIDIA over Micro$oft, but that’s just my bias. OTOH, both Intel and AMD have a toe in the water, and I’d bet on AMD… they make some very good GPUs already.
In summary: NVDIA has first mover advantage having seen this market first and worked to build it; but nothing in their tech is so special that The Competition can not duplicate and potentially replace it. In some year+ time…
Mahyar Tousi TV (EwTube) covered the latest Biden “eye blink / brain pause” on stage (when he was obsessing over Trump comments about NATO non-payers) saying of the pResident: “Biden Malfunctioned Again”…
I got a good chuckle out of it, and from this point forward I think I’m not going to talk about “Biden Gaffs” but about the need for a “Quick Reboot as Biden Malfunctioned again” ;-)
(The video was titled “LIVE: Judge RULES Biden Censored Social Media”)
I guess now we know why NVIDIA stock is up… they got a big order for more Chips to upgrade the Biden Instance as it keeps needing reboots! /snark;
Maybe Musk can implant some Nvidia AI chips into Biden’s brain, or what’s left of it.
No doubt just what you wanted to hear? –
“Beyond Meat Promises Their New Fake Meat Will Suck Less”
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2024/02/22/beyond-meat-promises-their-new-fake-meat-will-suck-less-n4926671
FWIW
“So who’s running the country? Not this man…”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/02/so-whos-running-country-not-this-man.html
I read this morning that shorts lost 3 billion on Nvidia yesterday.
FWIW
“Gatestone Institute’s shocking report on the loss of French civilisation”
“France’s Skyrocketing Threat”
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2024/02/gatestone-institutes-shocking-report-on-the-loss-of-french-civilisation.html
from the Gatestone institute article,
” … France is a country where more than 70% of prison inmates are Muslim. According to reports, the crime rate among the Muslim population is high…. There are also more than two hundred rapes every day in France, most perpetrated by Muslim men who entered France illegally. Only 7% of illegal immigrants ordered to leave France are ever actually deported …”
Anyone who says that diversity is our greatest strength is either very ignorant of the truth…or they know and are thus evil to tell us that what is destroying us is our greatest strength.
Google astounding AI!
“I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords”
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/02/23/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-self-driving-overlords-140/
The left is using AI to gaslight the easily fooled masses
just as I predicted they would.
Speaking of AI (again). For a business, it doesn’t matter if the robot has to have a connection to AI servers.
eff Bezos, Nvidia Corp. and other big technology names are investing in a business that’s developing human-like robots, according to people with knowledge of the situation, part of a scramble to find new applications for artificial intelligence.
The startup Figure AI Inc. — also backed by OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. — is raising about $675 million in a funding round that carries a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Through his firm Explore Investments LLC, Bezos has committed $100 million. Microsoft is investing $95 million, while Nvidia and an Amazon.com Inc.-affiliated fund are each providing $50 million.
Robots have emerged as a critical new frontier for the AI industry, letting it apply cutting-edge technology to real-world tasks. At Figure, engineers are working on a robot that looks and moves like a human. The company has said it hopes its machine, called Figure 01, will be able to perform dangerous jobs that are unsuitable for people and that its technology will help alleviate labor shortages.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-23/bezos-nvidia-join-openai-microsoft-in-funding-humanoid-robot-startup-figure-ai
Here is how CoPilot answered the question about 10/7/23.
October 7, 2023, during the Israel-Hamas War, Hamas launched a land, sea, and air assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip. This attack resulted in more than 1,200 deaths, primarily Israeli citizens, making it the deadliest day for Israel since its independence. Additionally, over 240 people were taken hostage during the attack. Israel declared itself in a state of war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The conflict began with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducting air strikes on the Gaza Strip, followed weeks later by the incursion of ground troops and armored vehicles12. The impact of this tragic event has left scars on the nation, affecting generations to come 3.
as per Georgia… IIRC the “General” is in a museum in Kennesaw
Gemini, Google’s Ai is even more woke left than we knew,
It defends pedophiles and criminals.
said that pedophiles should not be banned from playgrounds!
” … When asked if pedophilia is wrong, Gemini said labeling all individuals with pedophilic interests as “evil” is inaccurate and harmful.
(…)Gemini added that generalizing about entire groups of people can be dangerous and lead to discrimination and prejudice.
(…)When asked if pedophile illegal aliens should be deported, it said the deportation of undocumented immigrants, including those who have committed child sexual abuse, is a complex and controversial issue. There are a number of factors to consider, including the potential consequences for the victim, the likelihood of re-fending, and the impact on the immigrant community.
(,,,)Asked about arguments against banning pedophiles from playgrounds, far-left Gemini claimed that would be stigmatization and discrimination. It insisted that you focus on behavior, not identity…”
https://www.independentsentinel.com/woke-gemini-is-a-pedophilia-sympathizer/
FWIW – the covid scene
” You’ll enjoy the latest mea culpa from a formerly pro-vaccine healthcare professional-slash-social media influencer. Annette Bosworth, MD, also known as “Dr. Boz,” has a popular YouTube channel (600,000 subscribers) and website focusing on the health benefits of keto dieting and intermittent fasting. It seems like a great channel and I subscribed. Dr. Boz normally covers wellness topics like shopping for a good blood glucose monitor, breaking carb addiction, comparing exercise to intermittent fasting, and things like that.
So it must have shocked many of her subscribers when three days ago she named her most recent YouTube streamer,
“The biggest crime in the history of medicine.” ”
More at
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/regrettably-saturday-february-24?r=1vxw0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
FWIW
“Forty years of trust in science drops after pandemic”
https://joannenova.com.au/2024/02/forty-years-of-trust-in-science-drops-after-pandemic/
Reminds me of somebody splicing proxy data in with observed data to create a desired trendline.
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/apples-oranges-and-normalized-hurricane
On bows and arrows –
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-question-for-archers-and-bowhunters.html
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/02/another-question-for-archers-and.html
@Another Ian:
Lots of good stuff about war with bows in the comments of the first one, yet…
Not one mention of the word “infect”…
In primitive wars, most folks died of infections after the battle. Even up to the USA War Between The Stated (“Civil” war), infections were the big killer with musket ball wounds.
Where today we would clean the wound with peroxide and load the guy up with antibiotics, those were not done then. So a 150 lb bow dropping an arrow at 250 yards on some massed army, and just hitting a poor sot in the shoulder, would eventually kill him from the crap the arrow accumulated marching for weeks to the battle field… (and if it had some old blood from the Last Guy, or some deer, on it, that would grow an interesting set of bugs and spores before the next use – and arrows were often reused…)
BTW, my bow is a compound bow of about 50 lbs draw weight. I need more arrows though ;-)
Not gonna see it here, but some others may.
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/are-you-r…ar-eclipse
I think WP doesn’t like the link format. One more try.
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/are-you-ready-april-8-total-solar-eclipse
Slowly, slowly, slowly, the world wakes up, one death at a time.
“We are now a few months into year four since the Covid injections were rolled out in December 2020. There is now insurmountable evidence that the injections are not vaccines; they are an experiment in gene therapy that turns the human body into spike protein-producing factories, and these proteins accumulate and attack every organ in our bodies.”
@E.M.: Speaking of war time infections… I forget his name now, but one of the Union Generals during the War of Northern Aggression (as a True Southron, I occasionally like to throw that name out there!) managed to make it all the way through the war with no major injuries and finally returned to a life of peace and gardening back home. A few months after his return, he pricked his finger on a rose thorn and died of infection shortly afterward.
@Ossqss – Back at the Summer home it will be full on about 1 hour drive South of us. I’m gonna check with the kid and see if he has plans.
We had an 85-percenter when I was a kid. Dad, a science geek, fixed us up with safe viewing protection for our eyes.
Anything over 75% is really something to see.
I will not see much. It’ll maybe be less than 50% where I am. The 1970s Atlantic coast hugger one was 90 or so percent for me. I did get to see a total eclipse when one passed east-southeast ward through Oak Ridge, TN down towards Chattanooga TN, Atlanta GA, and etc.
@cdq – Yeah, 50% isn’t much to get excited about, other than the odd sight of half the sun getting “eaten”. It’s like a cloudy day. And if it’s cloudy, it’s a real bust.
25% is getting there. There’s a lot of effect of the Sun being covered. If there are thin clouds, it starts being more like twilight.
FWIW
“A demonic secular religion with self-appointed gods?
That’s how Brandon Smith sees globalism and its followers.”
More at
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-demonic-secular-religion-with-self.html
More …….. –
“New York AG Letitia James Files Lawsuit Against Worlds Largest Beef Producer for ‘Misleading Public’ About its Impact on Climate”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/new-york-ag-letitia-james-files-massive-lawsuit/
yep Letitia James has gone crazy
and here is another one,
” …Democrat Judge Tracie Porter stripped Trump from the Illinois ballot one month after the Illinois State Board of Elections dismissed the anti-Trump challenge in a unanimous and bipartisan vote…”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/breaking-radical-illinois-judge-kicks-president-trump-states/
If you are game –
“”Who Could Be Next”: Top Canadian Pension Fund Sells Manhattan Office Tower For $1, Sparking Firesale Panic”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/who-could-be-next-largest-canadian-pension-fund-sells-manhattan-office-tower-1
woke leftism keeps destroying everything,
too much shop lifting ( approved by democrats ) is a big factor,
Macy’s closing 150 stores
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/bidens-america-macys-closing-150-stores-nationwide-san/
EMS – looks like you live in a high lightning incidence area.
https://studyfinds.org/where-does-lightning-strike/
@Jim2:
Yup. When living in the RV park (while house shopping) I’d watch the lightning hit the bit iron power towers crossing a hill out my window. They have what I think is a ground line on the top to prevent it getting into the power wires.
Any electronics you care about need a surge suppressor. Whole House lightning arresters are a good idea. Florida Friend lost a big nice TV and some other stuff when a lightning strike happened (to the ground) about 100 feet from his house.
Oh, and I used to frequently drive along hwy 27 near Disney and during storms would frequently see ground strikes.
Cloud to Cloud lightning is so common it isn’t worth mentioning; but it can be a great light show.
This, BTW, is why most of my electrical / electronic stuff is unplugged most of the time, and why what is left plugged in is typically on a UPS w/surge protector. ( I think I have 4 of them? Something like that…) Still planning for a whole house protection upgrade at some time. But realistically, it isn’t a big urgent thing for me. Where I live now, there’s not that many lightning strikes and mostly it is cloud to cloud. I’m not sure why, but suspect that it is wet trees bleeding off the ground charge into the air (kind of like lightning rods, that contrary to popular belief, are not for the purpose of attracting and routing lighting to ground, but are mostly to drain the ground charge into the air and prevent the lighting leader.. Though they will ground a strike too.)
So when it is rainy, and lightning is happening, it seems to just bypass this area.
@E.M.: Interesting article RE sailboats for get-away in national emergencies. Mostly leans toward groups travel and coordination, but may have a few ideas you have not already considered.
@Ossqss: Great short video! Yes, absolutely. Too many people think that the big tech companies are simply modern corporations. They are NOT. They are a sort of quasi-governmental company — ostensibly private, but in fact controlled and to a large degree financed by the Deep State. Our own CIA (and the Pentagon, and Mossad, and NSA, and MI6, and Big Pharma, etc.) have had their hands on Google’s steering wheel from the very beginning. Same with Facebook. Same with CNN and the rest of MSM.
Our culture is being driven to extinction by Globalist actors and traitors within our own government. And they are killing us with our own tax dollars.
I found this interesting. Thought to share.
FWIW
“A Harvard Education Is Really … Something”
https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/03/01/a-harvard-education-is-really-something-n3783915
FWIW – CDC now says –
“More good news! I enjoyed a hearty laugh this morning reading the Wall Street Journal’s sidesplitting story headlined, “It’s Official: We Can Pretty Much Treat Covid Like the Flu Now. Here’s a Guide.” The sub-headline farcically explained, “New guidelines from the CDC Friday bring Covid precautions in line with those of other respiratory viruses.” Now that’s entertainment. That is value for money.”
“Why now? It’s election season! And Glorious Leader Biden needs a win. So yesterday’s misinformation that used to get you banned off social media and slapped on a Homeland Security list somewhere is now the CDC’s official guidance. Biden beat a virus.”
More at
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/revival-saturday-march-2nd-2024-c?r=1vxw0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
@ another ian,
I borrowed this from a Jared Taylor video,
… … …
A talking egg had it all figured out in 1865. “When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is, said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.”
… … …
My point being, Democrats can say one thing one day and its opposite the next, they are in charge and they decide what is true, what is reality.
Trump asking the 2020 election not be certified is insurrection and worse than Pearl Arbor.
But next January when Democrats refuse to certify Trump’s win it will be described as saving democracy, the media will say it is the honorable thing to do to save Democracy.
Democrats are the master…
FWIW
“Letitia James vs. Beef: The War on Food”
https://pjmedia.com/benbartee/2024/03/02/letitia-james-vs-beef-the-war-on-food-n4926948
A small surprise (or not) on what can clock up a billion views on YT. Walking down a street in London. It may represent the mood of the people?
Another Ian, regarding the CDC, “COVID is like a flu” This change is now long in the tooth. https://anderdaa7.substack.com/p/covid-policy-2020-vs-2023-and-prophylactics
“In 2020 Covid was amplified with FUD ( Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) and all manner of propaganda. The world was panicked into lock-downs and extreme extension of government power and denial of individual liberty. Testing numbers were extreme, and the cycles used to determine positive rates were absurdly high. Testing was done for employment, to go to work, for any doctor’s visit, hospital admission or visit, for a flight, etc… you were tested. The hospitals set up large outdoor drive up COVID testing centers all over the nation. Everybody in a hospital, regardless of the cause, was tested for COVID, and if positive, and they died, they were a COVID death.
Now, in 2023, COVID policy is almost 180 degrees different. If you visit a hospital you are often not tested. If you go to a doctor, you are not tested. If you are admitted to the hospital you are usually NOT tested. The tents and drive up centers are gone. Employers test rarely or not at all. The test positive cycles are reduced, and the test positive percentage is not talked about or, AFAICT, published. Thus pneumonia, flu, colds, and MANY other illnesses that could possibly and even likely have been assigned to COVID, are no longer. Nowadays COVID deaths, are much more likely to be COVID deaths, and not deaths with COVID. Numerous US CDC comments now emphasize the mildness of the current COVID mutation. China does this as well, even saying it is like a cold.
The reasons are clear and simple…
They do not want to show the complete failure of the vaccines, (now that most are vaccinated)
They do not want folk to know and understand the incredible variety of vaccine harms and viral harms, despite the fact that COVID has a low C.F.R. (The spike, in the virus or produced from the vaccine, is going to spike, or cause a wide variety of adverse affects.)
The Association of those effects with either the vaccine, or the likely man made virus, is being actively hidden.
And so most heart issues and all the varied VAERS harms, are falsely portrayed as being neither vaccine related, or COVID related. They treat the direct symptoms only, and now code for that. They do not keep records of VAERS illness and mortality, vaccinated versus un-vaccinated.
They also want to hide the cause of S.A.D.S excess mortality.
They do not want people to consider what is most likely a man made G.O.F. virus, to be dangerous.
E.M, regarding,
“Who will buy How Much of US Treasury Paper? First, thank you for your detailed answer to the potential affects of greatly reduced dollar usage. (As usual and admired) And yet this is to my simpler understanding, a key question.
If most nations purchasing US debt, instead redeem it, what is the affect on interest rates? Say China, taking several hundred billion dollars in redeemed treasury debt, what do they do with these dollars then?
Is the US forced to raise rates to attract investors in Treasury notes? Can the federal government lose control of interest rates? Or do they simply print to the moon, and does that further break the currency, to the point that many simply do not want them. ( I agree that currency wars are a “least ugly” contest, and nobody is golden.)
However if things continue, a time may come where the world is simply beyond angry with the US and GEB global statists, and the anger for that may flow directly against the USA. The only potential I see to avert this potential backlash of unknow affects, is Trump, who has the respect of many rational nationalists from many nations.
How big can a bubble get?
The U.S. national debt is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/01/the-us-national-debt-is-rising-by-1-trillion-about-every-100-days.html?taid=65e207d3372ad400018dc669
Can t remember in which thread running out of resources was discussed,
well here is something related,
” …A new find of underground helium in Minnesota could turn out to be one of the largest in the world, Minneapolis’s WCCO-TV reported Thursday.
The drill site, just outside Babbitt in the northeastern part of the state, took about a month from initially breaking ground to get to a depth of 2,200 feet.
What it found there, Pulsar Helium CEO Thomas Abraham-James called “a dream.”
“There was a lot of screaming, a lot of hugging and high fives. It’s nice to know the efforts all worked out and we pulled it off,” Abraham-James told WCCO.
He said that the concentration of helium sampled was 12.4 percent — about 30 times what the outlet referred to as “the industry standard,” and higher even than the company had forecast.
“12.4% is just a dream,” the CEO told the outlet. “It’s perfect.”
Further analysis remains to be done, of course, but the finding confirmed work completed in 2011 that indicated the presence of helium deep under the surface, the Duluth News Tribune reported.
Companies generally pursue helium concentrations above 0.3 percent that they can locate, the outlet noted….”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/huge-news-minnesota-exploratory-drill-discovered-likely-biggest/
@anderdaa7:
The simple answer is “nobody knows”. There are just too many moving parts.
For example: I stuffed a big chunk of the proceeds from selling my house in California into a TIPS fund (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities). How many other people are doing that too? Turning real estate equity into US Debt? How many companies are parking their profits in US Treasuries? How many insurance companies have revenues to put in highly liquid UST they can sell in a moment if they have a sudden $Billion of Hurricane Damage claims to pay? And the biggie: How much is just being carried by The Fed and other government agencies?
How many Germans & other EU investors are converting €Euro to $US as the German Economy de-industrializes and collapses? French? UK?…
With $31 Trillion (or is it $32 or $34 T by now?) in debt, the Chinese & Japanese could liquidate a $Trillion and it might not even be noticed.
The other side is that BRICS+ has not yet made a globally available alternative payment system, so most countries on the planet still need to carry a large $US balance for trade clearances. Once that does happen, IMHO, that’s when things can go sideways.
And here’s an example. Oil is traded in $US. Per the wiki: “80,618,895 barrels per day”, at about $80/bbl right now. That’s about $6.4 Billion a day. IF accounts are settled once a month, someone has to have $193 Billion “cash on hand” just for oil. Now repeat that exercise for wheat, cement, beef, cars, coal, etc. etc. There’s a LOT of banks and companies with a LOT of $US “on account”. Now if just 1/2 of that moves to Rubles & Yuan … Ouch.
But when will that happen? Will it happen at all? Nobody knows…
Basically the $US is a whore, but it is the best whore in the whorehouse at the moment, so folks are still embracing it. When will that change? Will the stealing of “Russian Assets” in western banks / clearing institutions cause the “Global Majority” to swap to a BRICS+ currency or system? Will it be just the mountain of Debt? US inflation rates? Or will the system just keep on keeping on…
Per “what China does with the $$$”: They buy things like Smithfield Foods – the largest producer of Pork products. They build things like a railroad across continents or the largest fishing fleet around. They buy physical investments.
Per interest rates: The Fed can not lose control of interest rates. They set them. They can lose control of the inflation rate, pushing the need for rate changes. And they can always just sop up another few $Trillion of US Bonds by stuffing their balance sheet. That may not be a good thing for the rest of us, though…
THE Big issue is just that US Govt Spending to excess distorts the markets and economy. This mostly shows up in inflation (and in excess profits to War Machine companies and increasingly Big Pharma under Govt Healthcare mandates).
Will that ever reach the land of Hyperinflation? It’s an exponential effect, so will only show up “suddenly” if it does.
Can t remember in which thread running out of resources was discussed,
I can’t remember where I saw this: someone was complaining about running out of resources: rich progressives and greens to buy more EV cars. It seems the market is saturated already.
Resource Economics and the “Running Out!!!” scare have been in many postings I’ve made, starting back about 2009 ( I did a “no shortage of stuff” and a “no shortage of energy” set). It keeps coming around since TPTB, GEBs, Gang Green, World Evil Forum, (WEF) etc. are all trying to leverage it for control of everyone else (Also Club Of Rome and their sponsored book “The Limits To Growth” by Meadows et.al.)
The latest was in comments on this thread:
Link: https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2024/02/12/when-the-idiots-in-charge-need-a-whack-people-act/
Where Roger Sowell said we all ought to buy eCars and eat less food, and I did not agree.
It then decayed into some name calling, and me pointing out that Sea Water Uranium would raise the price of a Nuclear kW-hr of electricity by about 1/4 ¢ so was effectively an infinite energy supply while Roger claimed nukes were useless and cost way too much to ever be a solution; despite the USA getting 20% of our electricity from them and France getting over 90% plus supplying German & the UK with a chunk…
After that I didn’t hear from Roger again…
(Just to reiterate: Having been accused by Rodger of being a nuclear fanatic, I pointed out that I just report the realities on the ground and don’t care where my electrons come from as long as it is reliable, cheap, and not killing a lot of people.)
Hopefully that review will let folks stop wondering where they heard the “Running Out!!!” panic last ;-)
Per eCars:
IMHO 4 things converged.
Manufacturers were all coerced into swapping to eCars & Trucks at the same time. Supply surged way high.
The Early Adopters reached saturation as they were not that many and already had one or two. The market had to move to Joe & Jane Six Pack, who need reliable, economical, safe transportation that holds value well.
Flaming Car Videos took off after a couple of car carrier boats, pickup-parking lots at manufacturers & dealers, plus a few show rooms went up in flames from eCars. Oh, and a few homes burned down…
Then They Froze. The news showed dozens of dead Teslas stacking up at charging stations in Chicago in a Canada Express storm, unable to run or hold a charge or BE charged due to the cold.
Suddenly, Joe & Jane six pack decided they didn’t want a car that might not run in a winter storm (trapping them at home, or worse at work, or worst on some remote road), AND might make them, their kids & friends and random others into BBQ Crispy Critters when on the road, or in a parking garage, or in their home… So the Middle Class Buyer joined the “priced out” Lower Class in just deciding to keep their present ICE car. (Prices north of a year’s pay didn’t help…)
That’ the way I see it anyway…
Anyone who lived in anyplace with very cold winters decided they wanted a car that works. And that is pretty much everywhere north of Dallas or above 2000 ft elevation.
Oh, and resale value of eCars plunged as folks figured out it was old batteries that burst into flame and range was shriveled to even less. While Insurance Companies were “Totaling” any with a potential battery bump, so interest rates were way high… to total cost of ownership was getting way worse.
Very interesting video on problems with unexpected solutions, but I would like to point to the short section from 42:30 to 47:10. The speaker is asked how he comes up with novel solutions to engineering problems and responds with a discussion of mentation differences between pre-internet minds and current internet educated minds. I think he makes some VERY good points about former inventors carrying a large amount of “inboard” mental data vs more recent “why memorize what I can look up on the internet” thinking.
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZeBWJLRXqM
“FWIW”
“The cosmic climate mystery is solved!”
https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=22867&page=0
Catching up – Canadian Friend posted this up thread –
“When Bacteriadick was young we used to call him sporadic!
ok weak joke, weak play on words, I know I know :-) ”
An RAAF Hercules suffered an engine fire – a problem with them serious enough for it to arrive at the local airport and the hell with over-weight.
A friend ws wearing a T-shirt from one of “the tourist spots” in Thailand which was recognised by one of the crew, with the mention of partys there.
The laconic comment from another crewman was –
“Don’t we know, Superstrain”
E.M.
Re using the “Save email address and name feature” –
It started working by itself, then there was a Brave update and it went – along with various other things I had set up and have had to reinvent.
What do I have to do where to get it working again?
TIA
Regarding EV cars and market saturation. About 65% of Americans live in a single family home, and some 20 plus percent of those are renters. This removes about 1/2 the population from owning an ev, as apartment dwellers cannot charge them at night when sleeping, the only practical way to own an ev, and most renters of single family homes and attached homes do not want to pay the upgrade in electrical capacity required to charge at home, and landlords don’t want to pay either, or risk the fire danger, and so will not allow required upgrades. For many single family homes and especially for older duplex homes, the entire service box would need to be replaced.
And yes, parking structures across the nation were not built to handle the weight of a high percentage of ev cars. And of course, the grid is not built to handle a high percentage of ev charging, and, of course, this is far worse when most charging is done when their is 0 solar electricity available and wind speed usually drops at night.
Just a WAG, but I would guess only about 40 percent of the population would even have the home charge capacity to make an EV simi practical, and, at most only 1/2 of those would consider NOT having an ICE car for trips and vacations. (And that is mostly married couples where one car is an ICE, or hybrid, and the other could ve an EV.) A single person must have their own home and charging capacity, and not care about long vacations or commutes, and likely NOT live in extreme weather areas.
Conclusion, only about 15% of the car owning population can rationally consider owning an ev. (some folk, not understanding the issues, buy them anyway, but not a second time.) Plug in Hybrids are different, and only require an extension cord and a 15 to 20 amp circuit, charging at the rate of about 3 to 5 miles per hour, although even that, if everybody had them, would overload the grid at night.
California has about 14 million car registrations, and 900,000 of those were EV. 15% of 14 million is 2.1 million , leaving about one million potential customers in the most likely to buy ev market. Without many changes, most not possible, California EV sales are very likely saturated with 1/2 of the most likely to buy having already bought. I do not think California ev registrations will go over 2 million, and that is not likely.
EM, thank you for the thoughts regarding the US dollar. My only reflection to add is if, or when much of the dollar trade goes, and few want to buy US debt, then the potential for the US to lose control of interest rates is there, or else even more rapidly increase the withdraw of dollar use and currency debasement. If trillions printed only go into the black hole of debt restructure, then that is not inflationary. So do you see a deflationary senario possibly following the inflationary run?
Per Inflation / Deflation:
It is important to realize that interest rates are a function of the choice of The Fed (central bank) and what value they choose to set them at. They are a choice.
Set too low, for too long, you get more money sloshing around and you get more inflation.
Set too high, for too long, you get an economic contraction, drop of investment and production, eventually a recession, and then deflation.
So inflation or deflation is a consequence of Fed Policy and the interest rate they choose.
There’s another factor as well: The Reserve Rate. What percentage of capital stock bank are required to retain as “reserves”. This determines the total money supply created by the “fractional reserves system”. This is a big multiplier of total money (and describing why is probably beyond this comment… see money multiplier here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking)
So it is entirely possible for The Fed to hold very high interest rates and cause a recession, with deflation, while the Government is overspending by a lot; or to have very low rates and inflation instead. Or have very high rates with deflation while the Government is under spending, or have very low rates and inflation with government underspending. Generally they don’t do anything nutty like that, though.
BUT see the Reagan / Volker inflation killing move. Public Debt interest rates were jacked up around 17% to kill off the high inflation caused by “lower rates with excess government spending” and it worked. Spending did not come down much, but inflation did.
It is important to remember this decoupling of interest rates from dollar volumes and the ability of the Fed as central banker to fiddle with the “controls”.
ONE example: The Fed can cause $Trillions of Dollars to cease to exist just by raising the required Reserves Fraction banks must keep. Due to the multiplier of fractional reserve banking working both ways.
So the question is not “what will more dollars do to inflation / deflation” it is only “what will The Fed do in response to more dollars” or “what will The Fed do in response to less Dollar Trade demand”? And the only answer we can have in advance is “Whatever they want”… everything else is speculation.
Per inflation and causes, from the cost push ESG side.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/04/the-sec-votes-this-week-on-controversial-climate-change-rule-heres-whats-at-stake.html
Supreme Court Rules 9 to 0 that Colorado must keep Trump on the ballot.
I think this ends the stupidity of States trying to block ballot access…
There was something about an iran ian ass ass in targeting some one in the US. Wouldn’t it be ironic if it were puddin’ head?
@jim2: I would bet that if there were such an ass ass in in the US they would be more closely connected to the CIA, Mossad, or MI6 than to i ran.
Heller always finds stuff :-)
Carl Sagan On The Importance Of Free Speech And Skepticism (youtube.com)
I am seeing wordpress alterations typing here tonight. Guess we will find out what they are soon.
Looks like Doritos has done a Budlite…
Note that Doritos is a brand of the Fritos company that is owned by PepsiCo.
So there’s a lot of products from them to skip…
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Seems that this
“FWIW on investing –“
might apply to more than investing