SOTU: More Conflict Coming?

My current operating premise, as I sit back staring at the headlines seeking the "one great investment opportunity" that will drive me to a rich retirement, is that the US's long-time grip on "sole Super Power" status is weakening, and rather quickly.  As this happens, we may be about to see some predictable outcomes such as a rapidly falling dollar, which in turn will lead to an apparent rise in gold, silver, and precious metals prices, a rapidly increase price point for domestically consumed energy, and a host of other impacts.  Countervailing trends, or efforts to keep that from happening, pop up in places like last night's State of the Union address by the president.

FTo give you just one example, the president talked about how he would work to balance the budget:

"First, we must balance the federal budget. We can do so without raising taxes. What we need to do is impose spending discipline in Washington, D.C. We set a goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009 — and met that goal three years ahead of schedule. Now let us take the next step. In the coming weeks, I will submit a budget that eliminates the federal deficit within the next five years. I ask you to make the same commitment. Together, we can restrain the spending appetite of the federal government, and balance the federal budget."

Which is rich, when you get down to it because deficit spending is exactly what has been going on at record rates by the pretend "conservatives" who've been in power for the past decade. The facts on the table don't square with the political rhetoric, although in fairness, what the democorps offered in their "response" was more hyperbole than substance as well, due to the fact that both parties eat from the same corporate hands.  It's just that you and I are supposed to ignore that, and believe the great myth about the economy - that the budget can be balanced and yada, yada, yada.

We ain't that dumb.

My friend Bart, over at www.Nowandfutures.com  has come up with the interesting idea to see if there's a correlation between the repressed price of gold and European Central Bank sales.  Quick looked surprised: The correlation is about 97%.  [Research note: If you click the ECB link in the article, change the search term "gold receivable" to just plain "gold" and look through there.  Controversial data just sort of...you know...disappears when too many people pick up on it...].

The next thing Bart points out is that the annual rate of change on his M3B (which has a 99.99%+ correlation to M3 - before the Fed banksters went and played "hide the sausage" with that statistic a year ago, shows that the broadest measure of inflation is now running 12% annualized.

The reason the government can report low inflation is that they don't look at things like you and me.  They make a lot of "hedonic adjustments" so if the price of steak is inconveniently high, they switch to ground sirloin - and maybe even tweak portions to reflect changing consumer habits.  But, under it all, price has driven the habit change.  Statistically, it's a good bush to hide behind, though.

Elaine asked me this morning "So, why would the government not just report the honest numbers when it comes to inflation?"  She was looking at Bart's chart somewhat aghast, and I was contemplating our monthly grocery and power bills.

I explained that the government has a huge incentive to make inflation look low.  If they can pull it off (and who's going to argue with government statistics, right?), then they can save piles and piles of money that would otherwise go to increasing pension benefits for groups like retired military, social security recipients, and so forth.  I pointed to Bart's chart (and our 9% increase in electricity rates year-on-year) and said "If they can report  4% inflation in the face of 8 to 10% inflation, they can raise your brother's military retirement by $36 a month instead of nearly $100.  The money that's saved can then be "invested" in wars.

"You mean on things like the national health insurance stuff in the speech?"  Elaine was obviously more awake than me.  "Uh...yeah...that's it..." I muttered, stuffing another hunk of toast in my face. 

"So, they're going to do the same thing with health care that they did with car insurance - create another "mandatory" requirement, right?" she demanded.

"Oh, sure.  That way, even if we don't have any technology breakthroughs, they can force some kind of growth in the economy.  Wars only go so far..." I answered between bites.

Permanent War Plans

Elaine wasn't done with the discussion yet.  "And you heard it last night; he wants to add 92,000 more troops to military levels over the next five years.  So that means the war in Iraq and wherever will still be going stronger than ever in five years and we'll need and even bigger military than we have now?"  She had a glint of anger in her eyes, and I couldn't say as I blamed her.

I put on my People's Economist mantle and answered "Well, they're going to make the case that the global situation is getting more tenuous and because of that America will need stronger defenses..."

"Like at the Mexico border?"  (We'd both seen the report there was a 700+ roundup of illegals in southern California on Wednesday.)

"Here, look at this headline: Russia and India are working together to build a new stealth fighter. This is exactly what happens with an old system based on unlimited natural resources runs up against the sides of the Petri dish.  Rather than let people go along to get along, spend more time fishing and pursuing spiritual development, consciousness raising things, the corporate crowd wants to keep people in the same mold, and manageable, talking on cell phones, buying wrestling pay-per-view, buying HDTV, new cars, and eating fast foods, so they can keep themselves in power.  It's really no different than why religious cults of antiquity only shared their secrets with a few chosen "initiates".  It's a power thing."

What I was telling her was, in effect, that the Powers That be don't mind keeping the mass of the public down, and wars are dandy economy-controlling population controllers, as long as they can make a buck and ensure their own dominance.  "Remember why we do our own gardening?  Chemical companies want to spray fluoride on food - and while the claims are dental, the facts are mental - fluoride seems to make people more "suggestible" say some, and it sure inhibits DMT which is the real deal "Stairway to Heaven" for spiritual development. By the way, I've been meaning to order Dr. Rich Strassman's book "DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences."

"That's in Graham Hancock's book Supernatural, too..."

I was going to have to get back to researching the morning report in a moment.  "What I thought was interesting was that in the "State of the Union is strong"  part, what was left out was the part that is strong --- the "grip" of the Powers That Be." 

If you believe the State of the Union is Strong, consider that the State of the Mortgage is weak - at least in California, which seems to have become synonymous with falling home prices.  The LA Times this morning reports that "Default notices jumped 145% in the last three months of 2006, accelerating a trend that began in late 2005 as home sales started to cool."

...is in serious hot water over allegations of rape, sexual assault, and other criminal charges.  It's not like this just popped up, but the issue which has been swirling around since before the Lebanon invasion looks like it's headed for an indictment now.

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And, speaking of Lebanon, there has been a violent round of protests there as anti-US groups (Hezbollah) are trying to oust the US-backed prime minister (Fuad Saniora).  He, in turn is off trying to raise money in Europe for rebuilding after Israel's attacks, which ended badly; to the point where the military replaced one of its key leaders.

While the web bot project has been pointing to a major flood event this Spring along the Mississippi/Red Rivers, a reader note this morning makes some interesting points:

"I’m a fairly regular reader at UrbanSurvival.com. One of the items of interest to me is the potential for a flood event this spring on the Mississippi & Red Rivers. Why? Because your comments usually refer to the Red river in Texas whereas I would be most concerned (personally) if the flooding were to occur on the Mississippi and Red Rivers in Minnesota. (I live in MN).

Given the mild to severe drought conditions we have experienced in this part of the country last year, and the warm, dry winter we have experienced so far this year, It would come as a shock for either of these rivers to experience significant flooding this spring. That’s not to say it couldn’t easily happen if we were to get significant snowfall in February and March followed by a significant warm up and quick melt off in April.

The two however would be completely separate events since the Red River flows slowly northward within a flood plain from its source region in northeastern South Dakota/west-central Minnesota to Lake Winnipeg in southern Manitoba, Canada. (Read about the last time the Red River flooded (1997) here: http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/assessments/assess_97/rriver.html)  The Mississippi event could be caused by the same weather, but not the same watershed. The last big floods on the Upper Mississippi River were in 1993 (http://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/floods/papers/oh_2/great.htm)  and 2001 (http://www.draves.com/2001flood/) .

Just wanted to suggest that looking at one hole too intently can let the gopher jump out of the other by complete surprise!

Oh, and no break in the dam yet.

I know, WTF? right?  Well, the story is the Navy has gotten a 2-year exemption to use high powered sonar that can damage whale hearing  (herring?).  (What?) Can't have those dolphins sneaking up on us, you know.

While the Executive Branch of government has been busy legislating through "signing statements" we notice the US Supreme Court has taken more sentencing powers away from judges in a California case.

A toddler and parents being kicked off a plane for crying and making a ruckus is making headlines.  While I can see both sides, I also know why this company sells well.. 

It's 802.11n - and Intel is launching it for Centrino Santa Rosa...

Tuesday, January 24, 2007

Slipping Bucks: Did Banks Beat Wall St?

Bluster and braggadocio will get you only so far in life, and the ones who don't play a long-term strategy based on economic reality seem likely to fail.  In the wake of yesterday's decline of the Dow, the word of some Middle East folks (United Arab Emirates, for one recent example, and OPEC as we pointed out yesterday) easing out of treasuries, and the Pfizer layoff of 10,000 non-burger-flipping workers, economic reality may be about to tap dollar-denominated markets on the shoulder.  If you're a technical analyst, that'd be the right-shoulder of a massive head & shoulders formation.

If you're awakening to news that gold is up, remember that making money is often nothing more than make a decision between competing investment choices, expecting that this one, or that, will outperform the other over time.  Making money is about spreads; the concept of "absolute values" is something for math books and fairy tales.

To illustrate the point, let's consider investment in three possible banks in the year 2002.  Investing $2,000 in a US bank would have likely gotten you 2% per year - and by my figuring, you'd have lost purchasing power because inflation has been running higher than interest rates in the US.  However, if you had put the same money in a Canadian bank, not only would you have made a higher interest rate, as Canadian banks seem to pay higher rates,

We'll run through specific numbers using the foreign exchange history tools at Oanda.com:

On January 23, 2002, we put US $2,000 in a Canadian Account. At the time we got CA$1.6090 for each US dollar. That's CA$3,218. 

Next, we hop into our convenient little time machine, and arrive at the bank yesterday just as the markets were closing.  Now, ignoring interest (which as I mentioned tends to be higher in Canada) and we take our $3,218 back to US dollars, we get US$2,745.91.  There, see how exchange rates work?  That's a 37.3% gain on the exchange rates alone since 2002.

Now if that doesn't get you all whipped up into a frenzy, consider that you could have done better by doing the same thing with a South Korean bank.  Your tip off would be a seemingly "routine" financial headline that the "Won Gains Over 40% Against Dollar Since 2002."  The average investor is just that - average - because when they read incredibly valuable information like that, they tend to ignore it.  "What does it matter to me?" they ask.

Well, nothing, if you follow the herd.  On the other hand, US$2,000 on 1/22/2002 would have bought you Won at W1,317.40 to the dollar, so you would start with W2,634,800 in 2002 and if you sold those (again, assuming no interest - that's like a bonus), you could have sold yesterday for $0.0010980, which pencils to $2,893.01. That's a a touch over a 44.6% return in five years.

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As an investor, or around here a "capital or purchasing power preservationist", there are always tradeoffs.  One way to make that kind of return in the same period would have been to pick just the right stock.  Or, you could have chosen to play options.  And while there's a bit of additional complexity to putting money in a foreign bank (IRS wants their piece of the action of interest and capital gains there, too, requiring reporting of foreign bank accounts. there's no free lunch), it is nevertheless a little easier to understand that Canada has trees and oil than to develop a "feel" for Black-Scholes option pricing implications of the PDE model:

So to break it down: Korea = hardworking industrious people and a strengthening currency based on trade with the US.  Canada= Trees and oil sands.  USA= that math mess (and a lot more to it) unless you have inside information and a good lawyer.  You following me here?

So, now class, we move on to the day's pop quiz:   Please title your answer sheet: "Which direction will the following headlines drive the US Dollar?"

• "China Confirms test of anti-satellite weapon"?

• "Bush most unpopular President before State of Union since Nixon"?

• "President faces Skeptical Public" ?

• "Russia ready to build four new (nuclear) power units at Indian NPP"?

Our Bonus Question for Michigan participants:

• Toyota Developing $6,200 car for emerging markets to kick Detroit's Big Three's butts (again, further, harder)

Every day, the worlds investment community goes through a sort of "news balancing act."  The investosphere absorbs the headlines, policy tweaks, resource reports and such - not even particularly consciously - and makes a herd judgment about the direction of things.  And from there flows herd consensus on interest rate expectations, future production guesses, and investment valuations. 

While the quants (short for quantitative analysts who thrive on the B-S model of options pricing ( go ahead, take that either way), the People's Economist has slowly figured that spotting hard workers with trade surpluses or trees & oil sands is a lot easier than greeks falling from partial differential equations.  And that's one you can take to the bank, as long as that bank is somewhere else..

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Closely related: A little chalk talk on inflation and war for subscribers to Peoplenomics.com coming up this weekend.

Dam!

With our long-standing warning from the www.halfpasthuman.com folks about the potential for a major flood/mud event (Mississippi/Red River) this spring, a number of readers have been sending in clips about the fears that Lake Cumberland's Wolf Creek Dam could fail.

This brings up an interesting linguistic question - one which we face all the time when peering into the future with new science: What I keep looking for is 700,000 people more or less permanently displaced by the accompanying event - and although big, this dam story is likely not "it."

However, as we've talked about before, when you peer into time using words (not a casual undertaking) there's a lot of what can only be called "print-through" so who knows.  nevertheless, unless the dam fails, we don't have our Mississippi/Red River flooding - at least so far.

"Your Papers, Please"

New travel regulations into effect today for folks traveling by air to formerly passport-free destinations like Canada, Mexico, and some Caribbean hot spots.

I figure it's anti-terrorism at work.  That is, until you have to show a passport to leave.  Then it's more like pre-War Germany.

Uglier Americans

I know that sounds pretty harsh - to put a great place like America in the same hopper with pre-war Germany.  The the measured reality is that the US is becoming widely viewed outside of mainstream  US-centric media, as a global bully. 

Like that or not, it's not my person view: Perception is reality in media and the BBC is headlining it as largely blow back from the Iraq War..

Spin Class

A "Big Picture" that most American's don't get is that when you are "fed" political stories, we have the same corporate hands feeding both sides of the political aisle. 

So what you think (or are told to think) is that there's some kind of divide between right and left in politics, but the reality is that the corporate folks/people with money feed politics to keep common folks distracted from the vast wealth gaps between the super-rich "haves" and the super poor "have-nots."  I'd sketch it out like this.

So, when someone tries to engage you in a political discussion, try stepping back for a minute and look at the other dimensions of things...rotate the discussion into a haves versus "have-nots" and see how it looks.

Beachcombing Canceled

If you were planning a trip to England to do some of that fine high-end beachcombing we mentioned in yesterday's report - Authorities have stepped in to close the beach after folks got 15 BMW motorcycles and lots of wine.  A lawyerly Australian reader sends us his take on the flotsam involved:

"I studied Law (posh types at Trinners called it Legal Science!) and a small part of what we sharks call personal property may be helpful in resolving the Flot vs Jet ongoing situation. (I can talk Americanese too!) Flotsam is anything of value that has floated off a ship, usually a wreck but not always! Jetsam is jettisonned. It is thrown off of the ship or craft, in an effort to forestall shipwreck. Kind of like impeaching GW after he has retired to Paraguay and hoping the rest of the world will forgive 300,000,000 war criminals....... So students, to recap: flotsam has appeared on shore (or off!) by its own accord. Jetsam has been thrown away, thus damaging all claims to ownership through all claimants suing by right of ownership or insurance or indemnity. Jeez I think my trousers are getting tighter at all these jargon words...... There is a right to keep both types of property, but you or your avid readers, should notify the Receiver of Wreck, usually the local coroner...... There is a chance that the insurer will want to negotiate a knock down price, as most of the BMW motor bikes etc will not retail too well! Stronger bargaining position with jetsam, which is not the case here. Possibly the fact that the ship was deliberately parked on a sand bank is relevant but I doubt it. We lawyer types are too busy chasing ambulances to bother beachcombing. Hope this was helpful! My fee note is in the mail."

So's my check, LOL!

Monday January 22, 2007

US-Russia Tensions Returning

The Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, and what was supposed to be a "peace dividend" has never appeared for us regular folks.  And there is a simple reason.  Military spending didn't stop.  We  jumped from a prospect of peace into Desert Storm, and from there, a new arms race in space. The US and Russia are still ideologically miles apart - and getting no closer of late.

This is a story that goes back a ways, and some background about the Strategic Defense Initiative (called "Star Wars" by some) is relevant; " In his 1991 State of the Union Address George H. W. Bush shifted the focus of SDI from defense of North America against large scale strikes to a system focusing on theater missile defense called Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS).[5]  In 1993, the Clinton administration, further shifted the focus to ground-based interceptor missiles and theater scale systems, forming the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and closing the SDIO. Ballistic missile defense has been revived by the George W. Bush administration as the National Missile Defense and Ground-based Midcourse Defense. "

Now let's jump forward to present day events: Russia is now claiming that the US trying to place a missile defense radar in the Czech Republic would be a "clear threat" to Russia.

You probably don't recall this, but the US unilaterally abrogated the ABM Treaty back in 2001, and coincidentally, that's right when the earliest tests of the web bot project was predicting a huge change in the order of things within 45-90 days of July 1.  I pointed out at the time how the US unilaterally scrapping the treaty might eventually lead to a high risk period, which could last until the ABM systems were fully deployed.

So, it should come as no surprise to longtime readers that as the US tries to push its ABM radars closer to Russia, the reaction in the Kremlin is like the lyrics of the old Bing Crosby song  "Don't Fence Me In"

With a different belief set than the American media-saturated public, the modern Russian is might be thinking "I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences Don't fence me in. "

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A fellow named Dmitri Trenin wrote in October of last year about the tensions between once-Soviet Georgia and the "new" Russia, mentioning the almost obvious US containment strategy:

"Another option would be a much riskier policy of backing Georgia all the way, and forcing Georgia’s Western integration on an enraged Russia. This policy would inevitably raise U.S.-Russian competition to a new pitch, make it much less “soft”, and logically lead to embracing containment of Russia across the board. This, in turn, would result in a major shift in Russia’s foreign policy toward direct opposition to the U.S. As a result, the post-Cold War pattern of relations among the major powers would become not merely more competitive, but, in the case of Russia and the U.S., more adversarial and actually hostile."

Vlad Putin has been touring Europe lately promising that Russia would be a reliable energy partner, but some in Europe wonder fairly "But, at what price?"  And in the Middle East, with a possible show-down with Iran due in mid-March  (12-19th is our bet) we notice the Russian media reports of Belarus supporting Iran's nuclear development as being symptomatic of sentiment in the region.

So while the US stock market continues ascending to marvelous new highs (as long as you don't take inflation into account, in which case we're below where we were in 2000), just remember that there's some serious international footwork going on related to defense issues between the US and Russia.  Perhaps the he Cold War is only 'chillin.

Not that I'm the only one seeing it: Joe Biden who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sees much the same thing. So we're into a global arms race - involving the US, Russia, China (thanks to the satellite shooting technology) and growing tensions between India and Pakistan. Too bad about the wasted resources - but great for those defense contractors, huh?  Think of it as a Global Cold War.

Flotsam and Jetsam Dept.

If you're into beach combing for a living, quick, hope a jet for the UK in all haste.  A cargo ship has run aground on the south coast of England, spilling, among other things, cargo containers and hundreds of barrels of wine.  Bring some oil cleaning gear, though. 200-tonnes of oil has leaked to.

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Back in my serious sailing days (10-years before the mast) we used to have many HBR's (hot buttered rums) discussing the fine distinction between flotsam and jetsam.  One school of thought argued that "flotsam" has to be floating and that jetsam had only to touch the shore in such a manner as to no longer be freely floating.  A few more knowledgeable in maritime law tried to convince me, however, that flotsam was anything found below the mean high tide line and lower, while jetsam could be claimed above the high tide mark, as in washed there is a storm.

I mention this, because it may help you sharpen your thinking about the field of presidential hopefuls.  Jetsam mostly - as in "washed up" (boom-dash)

But Seriously, Folks...

It's hard to take the Eastern Media Establishment seriously when there is, what appears to me, to be a "bury the patriots" campaign going on.  "What in the world is George grumbling about at this hour," you're asking?  Ah.  I just read the NY Times story about how a "Rush of entries gives '08 Race Early Intensity."  Notice something missing?  Hint #1: Tom Tancredo.  Hint #2: Ron Paul. Not a mention that I caught, although admittedly, the coffee is still soaking in.

I'm not generally a media critic, but when a story mentions names of current and past runners & losers like Clinton, Richardson, McCain, Romney, Edwards, Brownback, Obama, Clark, Kerry, Bush, Gephardt, Bayh, and Warner, I'm maybe not surprised, just a little disappointed that Paul and Tancredo weren't at least mentioned..

Why not at least mention that Ron Paul is running for president, too?  And so is that Colorado patriot Tom Tancredo.

It appears to me that border defending, Constitution supporting, hard money advocates aren't getting the same ink as folks like ex-presidential media royalty, a trial lawyer, and so on. Maybe I've misread something and don't understand the issues facing America. To my simplistic way of thinking, border defending, constitution supporting, and sound money ought be at the top of the list. I guess that's why I publish my own financial news and op-ed site, huh?

Bummer Monday

Experts say this is the worst day of the whole year - a sort of cosmic bummer when all the bills come in from the holidays and more.

But not to fret - In the event you're bummed, let me share this short bit of poetry/advice from Poet of the Yukon, Robert Service - long one of my favorites - because it can really help:

The Quitter

When you're lost in the Wild, and you're scared as a child,

And Death looks you bang in the eye,

And you're sore as a boil, it's according to Hoyle

To cock your revolver and . . . die.

But the Code of a Man says: "Fight all you can,"

And self-dissolution is barred.

In hunger and woe, oh, it's easy to blow . . .

It's the hell-served-for-breakfast that's hard.

 

"You're sick of the game!" Well, now, that's a shame.

You're young and you're brave and you're bright.

"You've had a raw deal!" I know -- but don't squeal,

Buck up, do your damnedest, and fight.

It's the plugging away that will win you the day,

So don't be a piker, old pard!

Just draw on your grit; it's so easy to quit:

It's the keeping-your-chin-up that's hard.

 

It's easy to cry that you're beaten -- and die;

t's easy to crawfish and crawl;

But to fight and to fight when hope's out of sight --

Why, that's the best game of them all!

And though you come out of each gruelling bout,

All broken and beaten and scarred,

Just have one more try -- it's dead easy to die,

It's the keeping-on-living that's hard.

Source: Gutenberg eText of Service's "Rhymes of a Rolling Stone"  And, if you don't know about all the fine works at the Project Gutenberg site, and you haven't flashed them into your head with a Vortex Reader from the www.HalfPastHuman.com  folks (see the bottom of the page), you're missing a fine opportunity for self improvement.

Markets: Gold soft, Oil firm

Oil is up again this morning because of the cold weather making the rounds. We also notice that gold was down a bit due to the dollar being jammed up in the pre-open.  Wake me when we close.  The subtle story is OPEC dumping more Treasuries, which is why the dollar is being jammed up.  That's the real story, methinks.

Ramblings from the Editor's Desk

A number of things are kicking around my desk today - most having to do with what I don when I am not munching on cynic pills and writing about the economy.  For example: finding the right SEO provider for a consulting client, for example.  (Suggestions welcome).  Trying to find the perfect Google Adwords algorithm for integrating a general adwords search term list with a list of words that actual produce client sales and structuring the management of the paid searches (several thousand general search terms and several hundred proven revenue producing terms) in a convenient way (again, suggestions welcome, especially if you have large Adwords campaign experience and results).

 

Then there are the farm chores, many of them delayed from this weekend due to an outburst of gout in my right knee triggered by any one of the following: banging right knee while doing construction in the shop, twisting knee when falling, or straining knee while pushing some of our timber-cutting leftovers into a small ravine on the property in freezing rain late last week.  Nothing that plenty of rest, celery seed tea, eating healthy (and no evening branch water) and no red meat, or peas, or heavy sauces/gravies I'm fond of, won't cure.  So things like calling Harbor Freight and saying "Where's my second package that FedEx says you haven't given them yet gone?"

 

Then there are the million and one ideas on ways to improve both UrbanSurvival and Peoplenomics.  One way, I suppose, is to do a little more radio time with Steve Quayle, so I will be on his show tonight.  6 PM Texas Time (7 PM Eastern, if you're not familiar with time here in the petrocenter of the Universe).

 

Another task up this week is sorting through the great entries (34 of them) in our "What's the best way to spend $10,000 to improve personal "survivability" for whatever the Universe throws at us next.  Everything from bug-out plans, to ratios of defenders to attackers if you make a stand somewhere - all very much worthwhile reading.

 

Out at www.halfpasthuman.com, both Cliff and Igor have been stewing, coding, and grumbling out both a massive email attack (Cliff had more than 55-thousand emails slammed into his machine in a 12-hour period this weekend) as well as a Denial of Service (DOS) attack on the bot data collecting server before it was shut off per the plan.  That attack came out of Germany (for the most part) but we figure that was a bounce from who-knows-where, although it does put in question whether there will be a Part 7 to the current ALTA 907 run - time will tell if there's enough data to get meaningful data.  But, like the movie fellow (now gubernator) sez: "We'll be back." 

 

Last, but certainly not least, I will get through a pile of mail including subscriber renewals that were sitting in the inbox - shouldn't have any impact, though, because I haven't turned anyone off - and won't for a week or two.  Once we get to February, though, I may move the whole library of past UrbanSurvival columns (hundreds) over to the subscriber-only side.  Maybe leave a month or so on the free side.  We'll see.  Comments welcome. 

 

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George Ure, The People's Economist