Sun. Jan. 21, 2024 – so what. big deal. *

By on January 21st, 2024 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cold. Supposed to be real cold, but might just be Houston cold. Openweathermap.org says high of 47F low of 38F. Could happen. Probably won’t freeze though.

I ended up not going to the BOL. I was bidding on some stuff that has a pickup today, so I couldn’t bid if I went to the BOL. I won, so it’s a good thing I thought it through. I got a new washer for my rent house. Or rather an old washer. Simple mechanical Roper (entry level brand) looks like it’s in good condition. $100. I also picked up another mountain bike since I would be going there anyway. It’s an older bike, but was crazy money when new. Not particularly “mountain bike” looking, not full suspension, no disk brakes, but looks like a solid bike. It will live at the BOl. Can’t have too many bikes, in my opinion. Or supplies to keep them running.

The pickup I did yesterday is UV curing lights for the 3d resin printer. Still trying to move that project along.

Today I will be moving stuff around in the house. Some attic organization might happen too, now that I got some more boards for flooring. And some sorting for auction will happen as part of that. At some point I’ll pickup the bike and washer. Which will mean that my Monday afternoon is committed to installing the washer. I guess it’s a good thing to know what I’ll be doing…

Eye is still a bit blurry, but better than it was. No flashes lately but the floaters still catch me off guard. REALLY glad that I was close to medical help so I can rest easier and not worry about losing my sight in that eye. One of the big disadvantages of living at a BOL is that it is generally far from medical care. When people ask, ‘why don’t you just live at your BOL if you’re home is at risk’, one of the reasons can be “access to healthcare”. Normal and routine access trumps a lot of stuff, if you need it. Going to the doctor is a half day affair for my fishing buddy and his wife.

There are always tradeoffs, and situations are always changing. Some people find it easier to battle inertia if they decide on a preset ‘line in the sand’ that triggers their action. That takes some of the normalcy bias and second guessing out of the equation. Still takes determination and willpower to actually act though.

Takes a lot less determination to stack some food and supplies. It’s kinda the easy way … so you might as well. Right?

nick

*name the movie, quote is near the end, there’s a spark…

70 Comments and discussion on "Sun. Jan. 21, 2024 – so what. big deal. *"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    Eye is still a bit blurry, but better than it was. No flashes lately but the floaters still catch me off guard. REALLY glad that I was close to medical help so I can rest easier and not worry about losing my sight in that eye. One of the big disadvantages of living at a BOL is that it is generally far from medical care.

    No money in rural medicine under the indentured servitude system, especially for someone like an Ophthalmic specialist who wants to see maybe two patients per hour.

    Maybe the specialist has loans paid off and trades services for beaver pelts in a grid down situation, but the skilled members of the support staff are typically even more in hock to Navient and aren’t interested in pelts.

    Of course, there is always the specialist’s wife. That’s where the pelt scheme breaks down every time.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    The local anime/manga show runs this weekend in Round Rock so we went out to see a couple of panels yesterday.

    Powerhouse Animation was in a smaller room this year than last year. In the interim, it turned out that the rumors about the creative decision to kill He-Man in the woke “Masters of the Universe” reboot turned out to be true.

    Another 70s/80s fan base t*cked off by the IP holder.

    Probably a weed-fueled decision since Kevin Smith was involved, but I’ll bet much heavier drugs are consumed at Lucasfilm and Marvel.

    I still respect Powerhouse. They made the “Clerks” cartoon series which aired briefly on ABC.

  3. lynn says:

    It is 39 F and the sky is totally clouded up.  Rain ?

    The dog has been out three times, the cat is laying on a fleece blanket on the sofa.

    Our Texans got beat hard by the Ravens.  Looks like Green Bay got beat by the 49ers.  The Superbowl is getting closer.

  4. lynn says:

    “Saturday Snippet: A twofer”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/01/saturday-snippet-twofer.html

    More and more stories about a financial apocalypse of the USA. I put a comment up on somebody’s page and they replied with if the USA gets a cold, the world gets pneumonia. Sorry, but if the SWIFT system is suddenly replaced with a BRICS system, that is more than a cold for the USA.

  5. lynn says:

    No money in rural medicine under the indentured servitude system, especially for someone like an Ophthalmic specialist who wants to see maybe two patients per hour.

    My opthamologist sees at least 10 people per hour in Sugar Land, 80 per day.  On operating day, he does 18 to 20 people.  He has an assembly line set up at his office and the day surgery both.

  6. SteveF says:

    Of the five named BRICS nations, which has a stable economy? I’d say that India’s is the least wretched, and it is almost completely dependent on outsourcing manpower for stronger economies. If the US or a large fraction of Europe stagger (“catch a cold”), and especially if the millions of guest workers in the US and elsewhere are sent back home, India’s economy goes into the toilet … an ironic phrase, considering that India has the largest open defecation problem in the world. (Not counting San Francisco.)

  7. EdH says:

    Looks like Green Bay got beat by the 49ers.

    I wore my lucky Montana jersey, but honesty compels me to say that the Niner’s had to get lucky against the 7th seed to win.

    Not a comforting thought going forward.

  8. Greg Norton says:

    Our Texans got beat hard by the Ravens.  Looks like Green Bay got beat by the 49ers.  The Superbowl is getting closer.

    No “Fired Lovie” Super Bowl this year.

    I’m sure at least one more team will be added to that club before Lovie retires.

  9. Greg Norton says:

    No money in rural medicine under the indentured servitude system, especially for someone like an Ophthalmic specialist who wants to see maybe two patients per hour.

    My opthamologist sees at least 10 people per hour in Sugar Land, 80 per day.  On operating day, he does 18 to 20 people.  He has an assembly line set up at his office and the day surgery both.

    The cataract guys have a license to print money, but, to generate the high revenue, they need to run a machine with a lot of skilled support people who won’t like being paid in pelts.

    80 per day isn’t good medicine. That’s not a guy you see for the conditions described yesterday.

    Your nurse practitioner will see you now … if you’re lucky.

  10. Greg Norton says:

    Of the five named BRICS nations, which has a stable economy? I’d say that India’s is the least wretched, and it is almost completely dependent on outsourcing manpower for stronger economies. If the US or a large fraction of Europe stagger (“catch a cold”), and especially if the millions of guest workers in the US and elsewhere are sent back home, India’s economy goes into the toilet … an ironic phrase, considering that India has the largest open defecation problem in the world. (Not counting San Francisco.)

    The visa labor in tech won’t get sent home unless things are really bad.

    It isn’t about cost. US management likes the pliant workforce. The phrase “on the spectrum” gets used way too much in the last decade IMHO to describe members of the domestic tech workforce by the pinheads in the C-suites when they get pushback to their stupidity.

  11. Ray Thompson says:

    My earliest post according to search is 2012. But it is difficult to search using my name for obvious reasons. I know that I started with this early 2000 when I was working for Q-Systems. I would use this site to fritter away billable hours for the contract with some client where I don’t remember the name.

    RBT at one time banned me because of our disagreements. He said it was a mistake and I believe it. We disagreed on a few items. Which was OK. Neither one of us had any thoughts of changing the other’s opinions but it did make for some lively discussions.

  12. MrAtoz says:

    My first post goes back to 2011 in the “Beginning Posts”. A general search shows over 650 pages of my name, but only shows about 10 at a time. Is there a way to quickly get to the end instead of “show more posts”?

  13. drwilliams says:

    “We are all going to die!”

    Generally acknowledged as true with regard to this life. 

  14. Greg Norton says:

    We are all going to die!

    Because, maybe…must keep the sheeple in line.

    That worked so well with Monkey Pox.

  15. SteveF says:

    Generally acknowledged as true with regard to this life.

    -cough-

  16. paul says:

    Is there a secret switch for searching just your name as a commenter?  “paul” gives me 1155 pages.

  17. Nick Flandrey says:

    if the USA gets a cold, the world gets pneumonia.  

    – yeah, that one p!sses me off like the chinkyflu apologists saying it only kills old people.  Most of the people I know are old people.   

    There are (at least)  two things wrong with the flip, dismissive response.

    • if the rest of the world has it worse, how is that a comfort?  How does that diminish the devastation  in the USA?  Mud hut africa returning to mud huts w/out cell service is not too far to fall.   Look at our big cities now, with water, food, and power available.
    • it’s usually taken to mean that the rest of the world WON’T LET the USA fall, because they don’t want the ‘flu’, but that isn’t a law of nature.   With the alternatives in place- their settlement network, death of the petrodollar, settling in their own currencies, someone might think getting the flu is a small price to pay to bring down the great satan. 

    ===========

    wrt search results,  hand edit the URL to skip ahead.  I think that is what I did.   FWIW, off the top of my head, I’m sneaking up on ½ of the total number of posts (under this blogging system) which is pretty shocking to me.  I did the math wrong and got 5 years, which seemed right, then I realized it was 6.

    Comments are linked to email address, so the system counts each email as a separate commenter.   If you’ve changed your email, it is likely undercounting your comments.  A quick glance says

    Greg- 21,700~

    Lynn- 29,000~

    SteveF- 11, 000

    Ray- 7600

    MrAtoz- 10k

    Drwilliams- 6k

    Paul- 3k

    me- 15600, now 15601

    Geoff doing great at ~800

    Denis at 600+

    nice to hear the perspectives from outside  CONUS,  Ayj too!

    Alan- 5k

    lpdbwdoing yoeman work at ~900
     

    EdH at 1k

    And that’s just those of you that commented in the last day or so, since that was easy for me to check.   It affirms my statement that YOU GUYS make this place special.  Thank you!

    Also FWIW, the first comment under the new system was MrAtoz, 2011/06/27 at 3:22 pm with Rick and Brian Bilbray, and Cowboy Stu following quickly.

    n

    added that Lynn has at least 5k more using a different login.

  18. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ah the zombie virus from the frozen north.   That’s old news, recycled.   It did happen in Siberia, iirc, something affecting reindeer?  Several years ago.

    More disconcerting to think that the chinese are still tweaking bat viruses.

    n

  19. Nick Flandrey says:

    BTW,  there are 222,330 comments using this “new” system since that day in 2011.

    n

  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    @paul,     try paul  says:  exactly as it is in the posted comment, I  don’t think putting it in quotes helps.

    n

  21. Nick Flandrey says:

    Got a late start this am.   It’s chilly.  Dunno how chilly as someone broke my thermometer…

    But it’s looking bleak out there.

    Started the day making this

    https://www.lifeisbutadish.com/slow-cooker-maple-brisket/ 

    so it would have enough time to cook before dinner time.   

    D2 and W are watching The Last Airbender, D1 is mostly dozing in her room, and I’m about to head out to pickup a washing machine…

    n

  22. Rick H says:

    If only there was a page that would show comment names, the number of comments, and the date of their first comment….

    Wait, there is!  It’s not a pretty page, but it contains the data. The data is unsorted at the moment. There might be some people duplicated because they used different names.

    I suspect there will be some additional comments along the lines of ‘why don’t you add …..?’

    Here’s the page: https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/commenter-summary-report/

  23. Nick Flandrey says:

    Wow, I didn’t realize how many people have stopped commenting regularly.    There are some real warm memories brought to mind…

    ‘n

  24. paul says:

    Yikes.  4120 since July 2012. 

    Make that 4121.

  25. Rick H says:

    The comment list page has been affected (infected?) by ‘feature creep’.  (No, not me; additional features.) 

    Sortable columns, and a new ‘last comment date’ columns.

    Here it is https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/commenter-summary-report/ 

  26. lpdbw says:

    So I looked myself up (Thanks, Rick!) and noticed “Just some guy” on 30 May 2021.

    Which may or may not have been me.  I occasionally used “Just this guy, you know” for random one-off comments, in honor of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

    I figured out how to look at one day’s comments by manipulating the URL, and navigated to that day, and couldn’t find it.  

    Deleted?  Hidden?  I got the wrong day?

    Re: Hitchhiker:  I never read the book, and found the TV show boring, but I listened to the entire radio show twice through, on cassette tapes my friend made for me.

  27. lpdbw says:

    We had a cartoon posted on the wall at one of my jobs, with a Gary Larsen-esque drawing of a zombie/nerd walking with his arms stretched out in front of him, labeled “Feature Creep”.

    It was supposed to be a warning to us.

  28. Lynn says:

    “Ballistic Missiles May Have Been Used In Huge Strike On US Base In Iraq”

         https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/large-rocket-barrage-slams-us-base-iraq-injuring-americans

    Update(1355ET): Details have continued trickling out and are scant, but by all accounts the Saturday attack on Al-Asad airbase in Western Iraq, which houses US forces, was a big one. Reuters cites an official who said “the base was hit by ballistic missiles but he left open the possibility it was struck by rockets.” This has led to some speculation that ballistic missiles could have been fired on the US outpost from Iranian territory.”

    Ballistic missiles take a high level of manufacturing, arming, and aiming.   Many are liquid fueled which takes a very high level of sophistication while fueling.  In other words, conventional troops with lots and lots of training.

    It is time to take out the Iranian leadership.

    BTW, my son got mortared at that base in 2006. The anti-mortar automatic response system sent quite a few mortars right back within seconds and took out the insurgents. In 2005, we the USA had over 10,000 Army, Marine, and Navy soldiers at that base. Very important to us.

  29. Lynn says:

    “Scott Adams Brutally Lambasts Militantly Woke LeVar Burton in Just Eight Words”

       https://thelibertydaily.com/scott-adams-brutally-lambasts-militantly-woke-levar-burton/

    Yes, Scott Adams went there.  Good for him.

  30. Lynn says:

    “The Collapse”

        https://areaocho.com/category/the-collapse/

    “Reporter: “Where are you from?” 

    “Middle Eastern illegal migrant: “Soon you will know who I am. Believe me. You will see.””

    There you have it, we are being invaded by an organized army.

  31. drwilliams says:

    “It is way, way, past time to take out the Iranian leadership.”

    FIFY

    “There is no Qom Crater in this timeline.”

    –graffiti left by time traveler, ca 1980

  32. drwilliams says:

    too many windows open:

    drwilliams says:

    21 January 2024 at 15:33

    Let’s demand reparations…

    say $6 million from each illegal that has entered our country, a 50% surtax on any income, indebtedness for every dollar of aid they have received–with annual interest set at the same rate paid on credit cards by most Americans–and a one-time charge of $1 million  for each child born, father, or cloned.

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    1
  33. Ray Thompson says:

    Wait, there is!  It’s not a pretty page, but it contains the data.

    Apparently my name has been spoofed several times I have never used special characters.

  34. SteveF says:

    (Oops, posted to yesterday.)

    I support reparations. We need to find the average annual income of Ghanaians and Senegalese and such, then find the average annual income of American blacks, and pay the American blacks 200X the difference. Important note: If American blacks make more than the Senegalese, then they need to pay us.

    We also need to assess a fee to the black community for disparate costs they impose on society. This mostly means crime, but there’s also special education costs, drug rehab, loss of workplace productivity because of underqualified blacks being put in positions, loss of educational opportunity for Whites and Asians because underqualified blacks were admitted to college, and so on.

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  35. Mark W says:

    Have I really posted 793 times or is there someone else using Mark W? Plus 37 in the Mark+W days.

    It says my first post was January 2018 and that may be true but I was a lurker (and still am) for a long time prior to that.

  36. Rick H says:

    Wait, there is!  It’s not a pretty page, but it contains the data.

    Apparently my name has been spoofed several times I have never used special characters.

    Possible. There is no verification of the name entered (or even the email address). 

    There are some unusual names on the list. And some commenters  here are ‘special characters’. 

  37. SteveF says:

    My daughter is not thrilled when I remind her that my special little girl used to ride a short bus.

    Oh, sure, it’s because there were only about three kids living in our direction and it didn’t make sense to send a full-size bus. It actually would have made better sense to send one of the district’s vans but for whatever reason that was not allowed.

  38. paul says:

    I support reparations.

    Ok.  Let’s do it.  

    Someone figure out the math of how much you get as reparations.   BUT.  You have one year to decide Yes or No.

    This is a one time offer. 

    If you decide Yes and take the money, you forfeit your US citizenship and you get a free trip to the country of your choice that is not in this hemisphere.  

    One way trip.  No coming back EVER.  Not even to see your granny as she dies.  Exceptions can be made for folks that can swim across the Atlantic Ocean.  

    If you decide No or just let it all slide,  shut up forever.  You had your chance. 

  39. Greg Norton says:

    We also need to assess a fee to the black community for disparate costs they impose on society. This mostly means crime, but there’s also special education costs, drug rehab, loss of workplace productivity because of underqualified blacks being put in positions, loss of educational opportunity for Whites and Asians because underqualified blacks were admitted to college, and so on.

    Don’t forget the cost of FW Woolworth’s devolution into Foot Locker, decreasing competition in general merchandise sales as selling sneakers became more lucrative at the beginning of the 80s.

  40. Greg Norton says:

    “It is way, way, past time to take out the Iranian leadership.”

    FIFY

    Eh. We probably did the Iranians a favor taking out the General who was fond of big gaudy cocktail rings. The US doesn’t lack for similar “leadership”, particularly at the south end of the Interbay Peninsula in Tampa.

    Maybe we should wait for the Iranians to do us a favor in return.

    Where are the Ukrainian born Vindman twins hanging out these days?

    Wherever that is would be a good place to start.

  41. paul says:

    I think Woolworth’s lead the way to failure for K-Mart.  Sure, some how Woolco became Footlocker.  They didn’t have the money like K-Mart did to buy Sears. 

    And they are all mostly gone.  Along with JCPenny I think. 

    Darn if I know about Macy’s…. how those yankees sucked up Dillard’s after Dillard’s sucked up Joske’s is a mystery to me.  But I know the stores got suckier and suckier after every merger.

    All the way down to where Wal-Mart, the super cheap why back when hitting on K-Mart, is now the “the nice store”.

    Macy’s and Kohl’s look nice.  I never see anyone there when I go.  Huge stores with 30 customers wandering around?  Makes no sense.  

  42. SteveF says:

    My chickens may have reached infinite stupidity. Half of them were sitting outside the coop when I went out to close it up for the night. It was full dark by then, temperature in the mid-teens and dropping (from a daytime high of about 19F, so they hadn’t dropped far yet), and a very unpleasant wind (though the cardboard on the windward side of the run helps a lot). The three dumbheads ran away from me, ducking behind the coop and sometimes running all the way around it but never going in the wide-open door. After about four minutes I got fed up and got The Broom but that helped only indirectly. The dumbheads went running all over the run, with two going out the gate when the wind blew it open, and this let me catch them and toss them into the coop, though only after several more minutes. With nighttime lows down in the single digits, plus the wind, I’m not sure that they’d have frozen to death if they’d stayed out all night, but I’m pretty sure that they’d have been mighty unhappy.

    I wonder if they fell asleep while outside, and waking up in the dark with a light shining left them in a panic and unable to realize that they were supposed to go into the coop where they normally sleep. Chilled brains might have contributed. I can try hustling them in tomorrow while it’s still light-ish and see if that makes a difference. I prefer to let them stay out as long as they want and go in when they’re ready, but I’m not willing to put up with this crap.

    In marginally related news, they’re eating more than they had been. A lot more. Not surprising; they have to keep their temperature up in the cold.

    Update: And the wind is now blowing things all over, including the cardboard placed on the stone patio, despite the bricks laid atop the board. Gah.

  43. paul says:
    Where are the Ukrainian born Vindman twins hanging out these days?
    
    Wherever that is would be a good place to start.

    Good question. 

  44. paul says:
    I wonder if they fell asleep while outside, and waking up in the dark with a light shining left them in a panic and unable to realize that they were supposed to go into the coop where they normally sleep. 

    Chickens.  That’s what they do.  They sat down and went to sleep when it got dark.

    Chickens are a lot of fun and they lay tasty eggs.  Chickens almost barely make emu look smart.   A low bar….  

  45. paul says:
    Someone figure out the math of how much you get as reparations.   BUT.  You have one year to decide Yes or No.

    Ok, another thought.  The fine folks at Social Security can handle this.  I figure they have the computers to do this.  You get a letter on your birthday and that’s when your year of decision starts. 

  46. SteveF says:

    I’ve heard that the only thing dumber than chickens is the corn they eat.

    Most days I don’t quite believe that.

    This is not one of those “most days”.

  47. Nick Flandrey says:

    Wow.   Just got email about a Fry’s fullfillment center being auctioned off in Tempe AZ.   It’s taking quite a while to wind them down.

    n

  48. Greg Norton says:

    Wow.   Just got email about a Fry’s fullfillment center being auctioned off in Tempe AZ.   It’s taking quite a while to wind them down.

    Was the fulfillment center related to Fry’s Electronics or the family’s original grocery business, which is now part of Kroger?

    Fry’s delivered/installed appliances and never really unwound the Incredible Universe infrastructure.

    The Austin store still sits empty, which is kinda surprising given the location.

  49. Lynn says:

    Wow, 33,870 postings since 30-Jun-2011.  Wait, 33871.

  50. Nick Flandrey says:

    @greg, grocery it looks like, coolers, deli slicers and other general food stuff.

    n

  51. lpdbw says:

    @SteveF

    My knowledge about chickens is completely book knowledge, so take this for what it’s worth.  Unlike my knowledge about horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, pythons, axolotls, tarantulas, and dogs, which is practical (ish).

    When researching chickens, one of the factoids I came across was they’ll roost on the highest location they can find in the coop.  Is your heated roost lower than the unheated ones?  Could you try lowering the unheated one and see if that makes a difference?

  52. Greg Norton says:

    @greg, grocery it looks like, coolers, deli slicers and other general food stuff.

    Kroger and Albertsons were headed towards a merger, and a lot of excess capacity has to be sold off.

    WA State sued to block the merger, but that might be grandstanding by the Attorney General of WA State, the most likely Dem nominee to replace Governor Kirkland.

  53. Lynn says:

    “The Country You Didn’t Think Would De-Dollarize as the De-Dollarization Era Begins”

         https://www.independentsentinel.com/the-country-you-didnt-think-would-de-dollarize-as-the-de-dollarization-era-begins/

    “India is trying desperately to de-dollarize. It seems weaponizing SWIFT didn’t work out well in the long run, or even the short run. The world doesn’t trust us. India is desperately trying to de-dollarize.”

    “J.P. Morgan published an article in August about the new fad – de-dollarization – also known as dump the dollar.”

    “India desperately wants to de-dollarize, but they’ve hit a wall. Its trade partners are reluctant to accept rupees. Global oil suppliers are resistant to ruble payments.”

    I am not surprised, not much trust in the rupee.  In fact, not much trust in any currency, including the Dollar.

  54. Nightraker says:

    I am not surprised, not much trust in the rupee.  In fact, not much trust in any currency, including the Dollar.

    They(the BRICS) are going to have to invent a new international trade currency, probably gold backed, to resolve the trust/usefulness issues.  That is the speculation from Jim Rickards on the Cambione channel.  Expanding the BRICS block with other countries won’t hurt that effort either.

    Should a new currency get established, watch Saudi.

  55. Lynn says:

    Should a new currency get established, watch Saudi

    Sun Tzu said “Never do the King a small harm.”  We did the Saudi Crown Prince a small harm when he had a journalist murdered who was criticizing him.  MBS does not like Biden.

  56. drwilliams says:

    There is a case that the journalist was also an agent of a hostile power.

    If killing one person is so bad why is Fauci and the rest of the kungflu fraud team still breathing?

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    1
  57. drwilliams says:

    “Should a new currency get established, watch Saudi.”

    India has no gold nor oil nor anything to back a currency. 

    The Saudis have less oil than they used to and less every day. And their wealth is dispersed among more princes each generation, with more rabble getting bread and circuses.

    China would like to have a broader base for the yuan so the suckers can help pay for their real estate bubble.

    Russia will fragment when Putin loses his grip.

    Biden will continue selling America piecemeal if the Dems steal the election.

    And they all fear Trump for good reason. 

    5
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  58. Nightraker says:

    Oh, it is a mess alright.  

    Actually, India has 800 tons of gold, #9 of the top 10 countries.  And the Yuan is tightly controlled by the Chicoms, not suitable or trustworthy.  Same for the other national currencies.

    Except Russia, all those countries collectively have trillions in depreciating dollar bonds which represent lots of dino juice.  So, overturning the applecart isn’t exactly in their interest. OTOH, threatening to seize Russia’s offshore Treasuries ( $300 billion, now frozen) for Ukraine’s benefit is a pretty sketchy move,not inspiring foreign holder’s confidence.

    I speculate that such a new, neutral, gold backed currency would be tremendously competitive to the dollar and a major dent to our exorbitantly privileged use of it. 

  59. Alan says:

    >> They(the BRICS) are going to have to invent a new international trade currency, probably gold backed, to resolve the trust/usefulness issues.  That is the speculation from Jim Rickards on the Cambione channel.  Expanding the BRICS block with other countries won’t hurt that effort either.

    Care to speculate on the resultant price of gold?

  60. MrK says:

    First post was in 2016 apparently.. which seems about right.  Obviously I post so rarely I keep forgetting my moniker..  😀 

    I still have one of RBT’s PC books which brought me here in the first place.

    And just now two 214B water bombers flew overhead.. Must be another bushfire to the north of me. 

    Summer.. when all the crazies with lighters & matches come out.. Fortunately most of the area is bush, so hopefully no people or buildings are affected..

  61. Alan says:

    And then there were two…

    https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-250c8ed4b49843350e258f0c2754c8ba

    And Ron endorses The Don.

  62. Alan says:

    So if the majority of these polls are true it could be ‘game over’ for N.H. in NH on Tuesday…

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/republican_nomination_polls/

  63. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’m headed to bed.

    Post title is from Buckaroo Banzai, when the aliens bring his girlfriend back to life… I know “no matter where you go, there you are” is more widely known, but I like it and quote it frequently.  Sometimes I yell out “Big BOO- TAY!, BIG BOO-TAY!”

    Yeah, 40 year old movie references.   That’s me!

    n

  64. Nick Flandrey says:

    Jebus H, haven’t they learned anything?

    Moana Bikini: Karina Irby’s brand comes under fire for using male model Jake Young to promote women’s swimwear after that Seafolly saga: ‘ Men seem to be trying to take over everything’

    By Monique Friedlander For Daily Mail Australia

    Published: 20:00 EST, 21 January 2024 | Updated: 21:33 EST, 21 January 2024 

    An Australian bikini brand has come under fire for sharing a video of a male model posing in a women’s swimsuit, almost a year after Seafolly suffered a similar fate for collaborating with non-binary influencer Deni Todorovič.

    Moana Bikini, a swimsuit brand owned by body positive influencer Karina Irby, shared an Instagram video on Saturday of model Jake Young strutting around in a white one-piece swimsuit worth $130. 

    Men, is there anything they can’t do better than women??  FFS, this is madness.

    n

  65. Lynn says:

    >> They(the BRICS) are going to have to invent a new international trade currency, probably gold backed, to resolve the trust/usefulness issues.  That is the speculation from Jim Rickards on the Cambione channel.  Expanding the BRICS block with other countries won’t hurt that effort either.

    Care to speculate on the resultant price of gold?

    Before or after seizure of all of the gold in the USA ?

    USA $1,000,000 / ounce of gold in 2029.  Only an increase of 500X.

    Any gold found in unlicensed possession in the USA will counted as a federal felony in 2030.

    I am still wondering about my two gold alloy molars, one from 1981.

  66. Gavin says:

    street clearing Italian-style:

    Water cannons are good. During my brief military career, Greenpeace protesters decided to try to block access to the base I was at due to our involvement with cruise missile testing. In January. In central Alberta. Temps were around -35C when the fire truck let go, and the protest was over!

  67. Chad says:

    Normal and routine access trumps a lot of stuff, if you need it. Going to the doctor is a half day affair for my fishing buddy and his wife.

    This is true for a lot of diagnostic procedures. A lot of people living in small towns have to make an entire day out of driving into the “big city” to get advanced medical imaging done. If it’s more than a simple x-ray, urine sample, or blood draw, then your small town doc is going to have to send you into the city for an MRI, cat scan, biopsy, and the like. With any luck, there’s a regional clinic within a reasonable distance and you don’t have spend the entire day on it (or, have to get a hotel).

    I can’t even imagine living in a tiny town many miles from a decent-sized city and needing dialysis three times per week or a round of chemo.

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