Published Monday through Friday about 8 AM Central Time Except Holidays Depending on my mood...

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Container Cargo Cratering

Probably middle of next week before we get the complete picture, but already it's clear in some of the early West Coast container traffic reports that things are continuing to deteriorate down on the docks.  The Port of Los Angeles reports November outbound traffic was down 12.83% and inbound traffic (e.g. coming to the US) was down 9.69% - worse than October and down 10.4% for the month.

 

Over the bridge in Long Beach, November container traffic inbound was down 13.6% compared with year-ago figures and worse (from a balance of trade standpoint) the outbound containers were down 23.6%  for a fiscal YTD decline of 8.9% and a decline for November of  16.8%

 

As if that's not enough to kill the trucking business, we notice that the state of California has put in tough new air pollution standards that will cost may truckers their jobs.  As KMPH TV notes, "Regulations could put local truckers out of business." 

 

Could someone call up the California Air Pollution Resource Board and tell them the economy is about to do their job for them?  It's called a depression.

 

Meantime, conventional 'economists' will report the balance of trade for November in a month, or so when the pabulum is printed from govt. stats offices...but here's the leading edge of more bad trade news.

 

If This Isn't the Second Depression....

...then why all the bank failures?  It's getting to be a joke how the market and the timing of the bank closures go:  It's like around noon on Friday's the past four weeks or so, there's someone that comes rolling in (PPT?), drives up the market, and pretty much without regard for fundamental news.  Then banks fail after the close.  And, as if that's not enough, there have now been - count them - 25-bank closures by the feds this year - yet how many people are using the "D" word?  (No, not denial, I was thinking more like depression...). 

 

One bank in Texas on Friday - after the close and one in Georgia.

 

Then there's the half dozen or so credit unions that have either gone into conservatorships or closures.  You can hit the www.ncua.gov website here and count up those - I've got too much to do...but about 30-banks and credit unions toast this year sure sounds like a depression, more than a recession..  Got that little bit of homework done? Extra credit: How many branches total?

 

Weekend at Bernie's Dept.

Next comes the little matter of the $50-billion dollar Bernard Madoff swindle (alleged) by the government which could leave top socialites in places like Palm Beach, Florida minus most of their wealth. 

 

There, there, a little Kleenex for those crocodiles on behalf of the upper crust who just joined the ranks of working folks - penniless.  Oh?  Don't need the Kleenex?

 

Global Revolution

If we don't get our anticipated earthquake this weekend, there will always be pictures of the rioting in Greece to keep the news channels going...

 

Rioting in China, too, but that's not gonna make happy-talk media here...global revolution mood?  What global revolution mood?

 

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Coping: Saturday Ponders

This morning's report will be shorter than our usual weekday fare because it 1) is a weekend and 2) I've got a million+ projects going and 3) the seismographs have not been jumping up to the 7-8 range, which means there is a chance that the predictive linguistics misread what was expected to be coming down the pike - or, as was the case with the China quake - we just tend to get things 'early' and have to wait for reality to catch up to modelspace.  Whatever...It would be fine to be wrong on the quakes.  I just keep watching the data here...

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There's not much doubt about the financial 'awakening' going on due to developments on several fronts, however.

 

First is the matter of the Detroit automakers, who are trying to hang on despite an increasingly 'stacked deck' against they - mostly by republicorp senators who already have foreign auto companies in their home states, so they have little to no incentive to help out Detroit.  If this were a legal proceeding the right thing to do might be to recues themselves, but that isn't how politics is played.

 

However, the Bush administration seems to be sniffing around use of TARP funds because there's a growing realization that if automakers start going down, the US could quickly pop up to a layoff rate north of 1-million a month.  Oh, and not to mention the resulting turmoil that would be caused for the whole US economy.

 

Of course, with the world sinking into a Second Depression (that this site has written about for more than 10-years) few are calling it the "D" word yet.  However, just to bring the point home, the auto industry is collapsing globally, too.  In the UK for example, workers are offered 8-months off for 30% of pay. 

 

I keep watching used Porsche prices on eBay, but they seem to be holding up fairly well - for now.  The expectation around here is that by the end of February, though, used cars will be much cheaper because the next 'wall of foreclosures'  - not to mention the National Layoff Festival' in late winter into spring, should put a ton of pressure on used car dealers to lighten up their inventory. 

 

Meantime, driving a safe old car - but somewhat beater of a car (2000 Daewoo) which still has  everything working including 29 MPG highway -  isn't unreasonable.  Besides, in the future looking out a ways further into this Second Depression, the real question is "How soon does the consumer get past thing/debt saturation?"

 

You can see where this kind of thinking leads, however:  THE problem of the new Obama administration is this:  How can the US (and for that matter, the whole civilized world) both find meaningful jobs and at the same time increase consumption of goods and services, so that we 'bottom out' and turn this economy around?

 

When you read the consumer credit report from the "fed" (which is really a consumer debt report, but banksters look at things from their side of the ledger, not yours, what is striking is that consumer debt is contracting. 

 

Here's the bottom line:  Without an increase in consumer spending - even if it means debt - the economy will continue to contract - simple as that!  Why the talking heads and 'money honeys' can't just be that direct is obvious:  Can't have people running afraid of spending.

 

On the other hand, the corpgov/MainStreamMedia denial of the obvious isn't getting us anywhere.  All that's going on right now is MSM is looking exceptionally dumb/thickheaded for reporting events without context and without solutions.

 

A story on WBKO television in Kentucky gets part way to the heart of things:  They report "Soap Operas even feeling Brunt of Economy."  What they don't say, although it should be obvious, is that the automakers are in something of a death spiral.

 

Who wants to buy a car where there is talk of bankruptcy?  Elaine & I learned a lesson buying a Daewoo before they announced they were shutting down US operations.  I did the same thing earlier in life, buying a Fiat Strada before Fiat packed its bags and blew town in the 1970's.  Must be a pattern that I get into, eh?  (Not entirely bad, though:  The Fiat was owned at the same time as my first 911 - so presumably in my personal 'cycles within life' I will get another Porsche 911 while the main daily driver is subject to BK.  Strange how life cycling works, though, isn't it?   Like big loops...but I digress...

 

There's now talk that oil prices will drop to $30 a barrel by the end of Q1 2009 - so maybe - just maybe - a recession would make a larger car workable in the very short term - maybe some of those full-sized SUV's might seem to pencil out vis-a-vis a SmartCar.  Long term it's irresponsible but maybe a Yukon Denali or Escalade would be more practical for the ranch than a 911. 

 

Still, my course is to buy a 911 (used, low miles) at a deep discount come mid Feb to mid March, and then wait while the magic of inflation returns.  I figure if the experience is anything like before - which ended with Paul Volker at the Fed and President Ford wearing his Whip Inflation Now (WIN!) pins, that I oughta be able to drive a car free for five years again.  Anyway, that's the plan.  Might work with a BMW 5 or 7-series, too.

 

I hope you don't mind the discussion about cars - but this is the weekend and that's why all the big auto ads are in the weekend papers - because this is when most wage slaves get screwed out of their hard-earned dough.  It's like people stop thinking on weekends.  And may be with good reason.

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Around the Ranch:  Solar Powering the Office

Actually got my welding, painting, and rough mount of my solar panels done on Friday afternoon.  The mounting is a bunch of 5/8th's rebar with hinges on the panels so that I can install lifters at the bottom to compensate for higher sun position in the summer.  Bunch of welding, rust treating (rebar is about as cheap as there is in steel) and then working till past dark:

 

 

May not look like much, but the picture each of the panels is about 55 inches high and the array is 27 feet wide.  Figure it should pump out about 1,800 watts peak.  Wiring up the load center/grid-tied inverter charger is next week's big to-do item. Biggest pain:  Doing the cable trenching...

 

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Oh, sure, asking "How much inflation is just right?" may sound like an economist sneaking up on another nearly unknowable secret of the Universe like "How many neocons can dance on the side of an issue?" -- but it's not.  Like everything else in life, we ought to be able to take a reasonable guestimate and use it for personal planning as we try to sort out what's ahead over the coming couple of years. Once we get some kind of handle on how the next few years could work out, making inflation/deflation decisions - like when do I buy that used sports car and when do we pick up a couple of small rental houses on the cheap become far easier and less mistake-prone.  Assuming, that is, we get our estimates right.  So, roll up your sleeves and let's get to it - time to see if the spendocrats and bureauboggles have a prayer, or whether the global economy is going to pass away forever from its worsening present condition on life support.  Defibrillator paddles & calculators at the ready?

 

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"Live on $10,000" Updated

What?  You haven't ordered the ebook "How to Live on $10,000 a year -- or less"?  Suit yourself.  We're all going to live it shortly, anyway.  I just thought you might like a heads up by reading about how to do it before you get pink-slipped.  But, suit yourself OR visit www.liveontenthousand.com or, click one of the following button:

 

 

 

Yep - still possible.  I also took a bit of additional material that was pertinent from recent issues of Peoplenomics and included them.  The whole thing runs about 65 pages, but it gives you a vision of how to not only live on the aforementioned dollar amount, but also how to migrate up the economic foodchain if you make a little more than that and do some active savings...  Click here for the page with more details on it.

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 Last week's report is here.    For back issues of this site, click here.  (Goes back to 1997!)

 

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Friday December 12, 2008

Another Financial Earthquake

World markets are crumbling again today - most of Europe down 4% - not that it should come as a huge surprise, but let's wade through it because how often will we have a chance to see a financial mess larger than the Great Depression roll out in primetime?  US futures down 3% as I write...

• The auto bailout is toast.  You can blame anyone you please:  The un ion didn't want to give what some had suggested, but the republicorps in the senate get their share for making a bad situation worse.  Always lots to go around over at the blame table.

• General Motors may want to rebrand as "General Disaster" now that they've hired counsel to consider bankruptcy as an option.

• Bank of America is joining our National Layoff Festival in a big way announcing plans to lay off 30-35,000 people over the next three years.

• But, will that be enough?  One report notes that Citigroup is planning to axe 75,000 jobs, while JP Morgan Chase will axe 7,000 of it's own and 9,200 WaMu refugees from the financial storm.

• Sizing it up accurately (as the view agrees with mine) legendary commodity trader Jim Rogers says most big U.S. banks are "bankrupt."  But then you already had that figured, I hope.  If not, you need to visit more often and drink a lot more coffee...

• If there's a silver (or is that gold?) lining to all the world's slow-down woes, it may be that Peak Oil gets pushed back.  OPEC'ers are planning to meet to work on a large cut and the word is that global oil demand will be falling...

• Then there's the ex NASDAQ chairman's arrest in a $50-billion dollar 'Ponzi Scheme.' SEC and other agencies looking into the operation of Madoff securities.  If true/.proven, this would be an Enron-sized mess.

• With the Russian ruble in steep decline, and the Micex closing (or so we heard) for an hour of trading, Russia's central bank has printed up 1.3 billion rubles of one-day funds to keep things liquid.

• An d the problems don't stop there.  Because of falling energy prices, Russia's balance of trade may be about to turn negative says Vlad Putin.

• Oliver Garrett of Casey Research has a note up this morning on the "Stunning cost of the 2008 recession" - which is up to $8.5 trillion.  Gee, wait ,till people start calling it the "Second Depression" next year...

 

Now, in case you're skeptical, let's look at the shocker out this morning from the Labor Department

 

Depression II Evidence: Producer Prices Collapse!

Producer prices - what manufacturers can charge, has fallen 2.2% in the latest reporting period - which if it continues would mean a nearly 30% drop in prices over a year's period of time.  Staggering - numbers that haven't been seen since the Great Depression:

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods fell 2.2 percent in November, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This decline followed decreases of 2.8 percent in October and 0.4 percent in September. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods dropped 4.3 percent in November after falling 3.9 percent in the prior month, and the crude goods index declined 12.5 percent subsequent to an 18.6-percent decrease in October.

 

Among prices for finished goods, the index for energy goods fell 11.2 percent in November following a 12.8-percent drop in the preceding month. Prices for consumer foods were unchanged after declining 0.2 percent in October. By contrast, partially counteracting the slower rate of decrease in the finished goods index, prices for goods other than foods and energy advanced 0.1 percent in November compared with a 0.4-percent rise a month earlier.

Before seasonal adjustment, the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods fell 2.9 percent in November to 172.1 (1982 = 100). For the 12 months ended in November, prices for finished goods advanced 0.4 percent. Over the same period, the index for finished goods other than foods and energy rose 4.2 percent, and prices for finished consumer foods increased 6.7 percent. By contrast, the index for finished energy goods decreased 15.4 percent for the 12 months ended in November. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by intermediate goods producers advanced 2.6 percent, while the crude goods index declined 19.4 percent.

Finished goods

The index for finished energy goods fell 11.2 percent in November subsequent to a 12.8- percent drop in October. Prices for residential natural gas decreased 4.6 percent in November after declining 5.9 percent a month earlier. The indexes for both unleaded premium and mid- premium gasoline and for kerosene also moved down less than they had in October. Prices for residential electric power turned up in November after falling in the prior month. By contrast, the home heating oil index decreased 23.3 percent in November following a 9.6-percent decline in the preceding month. Prices for liquefied petroleum gas and unleaded regular gasoline also fell more than they had in October.

I think it was Art Cashin on CNBC  who said this week something to the effect that 'all we need now is an earthquake' to push the world over the financial edge.  And speaking of which:

 

Earthquake Watch

Several readers (and my commodity guy, JB) have been watching the global earthquakes for the northern hemisphere to see when the Big One comes along - if it does - although the predictive linguistics put us at the opening of that 'window' today.

 

But looking at the magnitude 5+ list from USGS, nothing that fits so far - the 6.0 last night in Indonesia and the 5.1's in the Kermadec Islands area aren't big enough to count. These last are quite close to our 32 degree band, so might be something much bigger popping there - time will tell, eh?  Wouldn't mind being wrong on this, however.  Last thing we need is a globally impact earthquake.

 

Crook County, II

So, who is the "Obama advisor" who was caught on tape with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich chatting about who to give the Obama senate seat to and for how much?  Speculation today runs to Rahm Emanuel - Barak Obama's new chief of staff, as Emanuel is dodging reporters in Chicagoland.

 

Global Revolution Meme

Still fighting in Greece today... and in Belgium, meanwhile, six people have been charged with plotting terror.

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India and the US are holding talks about sharing some intelligence, but I suspect there will be 'strings attached'.  Like "If we share, you will chill out on this 'let's attack Pakistan" stuff making the rounds in Indian media.

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One more thing to watch as the global revolution meme rolls out:  "Does Russia face massive social unrest?" because of mass layoffs coming  there, as the rest of the world slides into the economic abyss.  We already know China to be heading down that path with recent riots, including some rioting over elections overnight.

 

Hot Zone Alert

"Manila reports Ebola virus in pigs."  WHO looking to see if there's a pig-to-human vector to worry about.

 

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Coping: Adventures in Dream Logging

Don't know about you, but of late I've started keeping a 'dream log'  Always wanted to learn more about how the subconscious processes waking-state reality.  Every once in a while, a real lulu of an adventure comes along - and it's these that I'm most interested in.  There are some software packages around that are designed to help, such as Alchera which includes a 'dream dictionary' which can help with interrelations. Here's a 'sample dream' from last night's entry:

"As the dream begins, I am with a group of people - corporate types - and we're all working in a city I don't know - it was cold, wherever it was - I remember that there was a woman among the group with whom I had a previous relationship of some kind, but that was in the past. She had since found someone else (who looked a lot like me).

After working for a while - the group had been there several days, during which I misplaced my rental car and had to take public transportation to get back to the where I was staying - a hotel- I remember that after work I was hanging around the elevator of the office building where the work was going on - and a group of coworkers (there on contract, I think) came out to the elevator - along with this woman that I was attracted to, but she came along a bit behind the rest of the group, talking to another woman about work, and both were wearing a long coats - a few inches above ankle length.

I remember thinking to myself "Gee, does the long coat mean we are in a Depression?" I watched as she got on the elevator - close to a full load going downstairs. The woman was quite tall, thing, short hair and glasses. The coast was dark brown - almost black and fringed in faux leopard or some animal print.

Upon arrive downstairs - lobby area - we walked as a group some distance from the hotel (a few blocks?) over to a restaurant called "Farraday's".  I had never eaten in this place before, so it was unfamiliar.  The restaurant was a few blocks from the 'hotel' and the office building where the consulting work was being done and I remember that it had an outside that was red and white - red lettering and a white sign background and that it was a 'steaks and chops place'.

We (this group of workers) went inside and there was the tall woman with short hair's new boyfriend in the waiting area sitting on what was a light blue long couch in the waiting area - he was slouched and taking up about half of it. The place was busy, and although the group tried to get me to stay, I politely declined, not wanting to be around the woman and her 'new found' lover - due to some residual personal feelings (I noted this because these were people I didn't know - thought it was odd).

The scene switches and I am back at the hotel - up some number of stories - 3-4 maybe (felt like the building was a 'mid-rise, maybe 20 stories overall)  - and I discovered myself walking around the outside on a ledge of some kind. I remember a woman down in the courtyard below throwing me a new left eyeball - just tossed it up to me and told me to put it in my left eye - which I did - and as I did so, the precariousness of my position on the ledge became clear. Things took on a new look of precision - like going into HD mode on TV.

The woman shouted up  more clearly this time: "There's something that I wanted you to see. In the courtyard below, I recognized that there were artworks of various types on display (they were mostly gray and statues or modern art of some kind, and not especially inspiring, but I also saw that I was dangerously close to walking off the edge of the ledge at a corner of the building. I didn't see a way to climb down, but I somehow got back inside of the building.   Might have been a window that I had walked out from earlier.

Back inside, I remembered I hadn't eaten (at Farraday's) with the group, so I went downstairs to the lobby where I found that there was some kind of buffet so the corporate working people could eat in their rooms while doing more work. I remember getting a plate of food and starting back up to my room and it was on the way there that I became aware of gunmen in the elevators.

I got the distinct impression that these were terrorists and not interested in harming the working staff (bussers and hotel staff) and that they were specifically targeting the visiting executives/high end workers because that would cause maximal terror while at the same time, not alienating the 'lower class' people they were trying to pressure.

I switched elevators a couple of times I think, trying to get back to what I thought would be the safety of the upper floor, but after changing elevators on the 7th floor and narrowly missing the terrorists, I realized that the hotel was under attack (waking state note: seems like it was a subconscious working out of the Mumbai story).

I remember trying to get a friend out of the building - he was in his room with the door open looking at a computer of some type and had discovered 'evidence' of some kind and was telling me that 'this would be in Washington soon and would bring down (someone or some entity - not clear who). His door was open to the hallway, and I heard steps approaching and sensed that evil was coming. I slipped into the bathroom but left the door half ajar so the evil-intenders wouldn't think to search the bathroom and discover that I was in there.

I heard some brief conversation, a couple of shots were fired from a gun (not too loud, perhaps semi-silenced?), and I had to control myself not to react.

Presently the gunmen left and after I heard them take an elevator, I took one down to the lobby.

The lobby was a split level affair - and I remembered thinking that I should hide and not try to leave the building because of the danger in the moment.

I found a semi-hidden door off the left side of the hotel's long (split level lobby - finished in bluish tones and fabric or wallpaper with a subtle pattern on the walls) lobby and stepped inside of what turned out to be the service elevator core with 2-3 service elevators. I knew that there would be danger coming from the service elevators, so instead I crawled into a large closet/locker of some kind to the left and built into a lower part of the wall.  It had a door maybe three feet wide and it was quite deep, easily able for me to hide there.

I think it was a large linen storage closet, except that a female employee had been using it to store her ballet shoes, which I noted with some curiosity.

At this point, I awoke and made a mental note to capture the dream, look for "Farraday's" and do a little research on some of the imagery in the dream as it was quite lucid (THX-sound and cool HD grade optics). Strange about the new left eye being thrown to me with the words "I want to show you something..."

Dream logging is interesting because it helps in the waking state to understand what your 'real issues' are that you might want to work on.

The reference to Farraday's, for example,  likely has to do with the question I've been pondering about a 12-volt power supply that was use to power some of my ham radio gear.  I have a large capacitor (and electrical capacitance is measured in Farads and named after Michael Faraday).

The steak and chops part may reference my eating too much meat (I should excuse myself from it for a while?) and the 'chop' part?  Had a pork chop for dinner last night.

The hotel, that's another story.  It was likely the 'newsman' in me trying to answer questions that I haven't yet asked - apparently I need to read some of the India / Mumbai attack survivor stories - wonder if anyone survived by hiding in closets and such?

The good left eye may relate to some deterioration of vision in my right eye at the last vision check (and laser surgery) a couple of weeks back.

Oh, and that computer?  I'm trying to figure out what to do about a new computer for my podcasting project as I have a dandy firewire mixer but when I load up Samplitude Music Studio, I get dropouts and lockups.  Running on a seven year-old P 4 at 2.4 with a slow front bus, and using an after-market f/w card, seems I have a conflict that I haven't been able to solve yet.  What I dread is trying to migrate half a terabyte of data (old ALTA reports, zillions of old docs, etc) to the new platform if I buy one.  It's a 'killer' project - and maybe a gun would be appropriate.

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My point is that 'dream logging is interesting stuff.  I know some people have a difficult time getting to sleep, but - just like looking forward to getting up and seeing how the bizarre world of finance is playing out, going to sleep and jumping into the 'mirrored life' of dream states is pretty cool, too. 

Especially if you do some dream-logging and take a few minutes to work through the messages/issues they're telling you.

 

But now that we're through the excessively long lead-in to the news event that got me started down this discussion, here's the thing to ponder:  Will we have a new class of multimedia people emerging because of a technology breakthrough reported out of Japan?

 

"Scientists develop software that can map dreams" - in other words, as the sub headline continues :"The secret world of dreams has been unlocked with the invention of technology capable of illustrating images taken directly from human brains during sleep."

 

Maybe if you & I live long enough, a way to capture some of incredibly cool/lucid dreams will come down the pike - and when it does, the art of dreaming may come full-circle - back to being at the core of human experience.

 

And maybe beyond, too - might give us a way to 'instrument' the last few moments of this life and perhaps the entryway to the next...

 

Tree Trimming

Before getting the solar panels mounted, one of the issues that's been hanging over me has been how to trim off a 30-foot high pine tree so that it would not block summer sun.  I went through all kinds of worry/planning/consternation/opting of what to do.  But after weighing a lot of options (including renting a four-wheel drive cherry picker, I decided that a chainsaw would be the ultimate answer...much as I hate to take down a pine tree.

 

The amazing thing was how quickly modern tools make such projects.  5-minutes with the chainsaw to fell and slice into moveable lengths.  10-minutes on the tractor to move the debris.  Done.

 

I got to thinking how long such a project would take if done 100% manually.  Not pretty.  Felling the tree?  20-minutes to a half hour.  Cutting it up and moving the debris 300-feet?  A couple of hours likely...and needing a wheelbarrow.  One of those items I should have, but don't - so it goes on my shopping list today.  We may not live in a land of 4X4 diesel-powered tractors with big buckets on the front and brush teeth, forever.

 

Got a real appreciation for the 'modern conveniences."

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Thursday December 11, 2008

Quake Watch, Continues, New Trade Figs.

Thanks to George Noory, who was kind enough to have my on Coast to Coast AM for a few minutes last night.  As I told him, Cliff at www.halfpasthuman.com and I hope Cliff's linguistic projections of a major earthquake are wrong, but since the technology has accurately given good lead times on other events, it wouldn't be surprising to see 'breaking news' about a major earthquake on the news channels  & news crawlers in the next day or three. 

 

By the way, the full moon of tomorrow is the biggest and brightest of the year - good piece on the 'super moon' on the NASA web site here.

 

Meantime, we understand there's some discussion out of Singapore about putting a similar predictive linguistics project together.  Oh, not similar in funding - instead of a garage/part-time project by a couple of nutjobs, theirs is government monied and of a larger scale.  We understand it will be called DiANE - a digital analysis network environment - and may give Singaporean government types a heads up on big 'emotional shocks' in the future.  We're waiting for a copy of the working paper (in Chinese).

 

Unfortunately, the lifespan of a project like this could be limited by the new 'political correctness' software that may change words being displayed off discussion groups and such to reduce the sometimes inflammatory (and yeah, maybe even the odd terrorism discussion) on the 'net.  Seems you can't get it both ways in the digital world...

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Several readers have asked 'could the linguistics be pointing toward a New Madrid' event?  I suppose...and yeah, I caught that out of the ordinary 2.0 in Southeast Missouri...  Two dead in a 5.0 quake in China today (latitude was 32.26.126 North, BTW) but likely not big enough to count. I'm holding out that to get the kind of visibility implied, it would need to be near the May China quake in size & coverage.

 

Trade Collapsing

As the globe seems to be doing its dead-level best to sink into a Second Depression, we notice that the Balance of Trade report out this morning is pretty grim:

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that total October exports of $151.7 billion and imports of $208.9 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $57.2 billion, up from $56.6 billion in September, revised.

 

October exports were $3.4 billion less than September exports of $155.1 billion. October imports were $2.7 billion less than September imports of $211.6 billion. In October, the goods deficit decreased $0.3 billion from September to $69.8 billion, and the services surplus decreased $0.4 billion to $12.6 billion. Exports of goods decreased $3.0 billion to $104.8 billion, and imports of goods decreased $2.7 billion to $174.6 billion.

 

Exports of services decreased $0.3 billion to $46.9 billion, and imports of services were virtually unchanged at $34.3 billion.

 

In October 2008, the goods and services deficit increased $0.9 billion from October 2007. Exports were up $7.6 billion, or 5.3 percent, and imports were up $8.5 billion, or 4.2 percent. Goods The September to October change in exports of goods reflected decreases in industrial supplies and materials ($1.4 billion); foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.8 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.2 billion); consumer goods ($0.2 billion); capital goods ($0.1 billion); and other goods ($0.1 billion). The September to October change in imports of goods reflected decreases in capital goods ($1.4 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.9 billion); other goods ($0.2 billion); and industrial supplies and materials ($0.1 billion). Increases occurred in consumer goods ($0.5 billion) and foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.1 billion).

 

Next week, we'll be getting a clearer bead on how the Second Depression will unfold when the West Coast Ports start reporting their November container traffic.  But in the meantime, it's obvious that what's ahead is...

 

Trouble for Truckers

Although gasoline prices are coming down - we'll get to that in a sec - the decline in trade is definitely having an impact on the transportation sector.  the Wall Street Journal headlines that "Freight Haulers Slam on the Brakes Expecting the Weakest Year in Three Decades, Truck, Rail and Ocean Shipping Firms Are Cutting Back."

 

Agassed & Aghast

Lots of reports this morning about how gasoline prices are falling around the country.    And, on one of the news channels, I noticed that folks in Indiana are paying less for gas than we are here at the ranch, despite our property being literally right across a back county road from a 600-acres oil drilling area (with several active producing wells, including a slant-drilled operation that came in about 18-months ago.  I have a hard time figuring why people there should get a better price than those of us who are literally sitting on top of resource, but that's not the point.

 

John Crudele's column in the NY Post today suggests that with gasoline prices around $1.50 nationally, "The Government Could Use a Gas Tax Hike." 

 

Seldom do I disagree with Crudele's assessment, but personally, I think he's wrong on this one.

(I wonder if the story was an editor's idea?)

 

You see, government has been playing an increase taxes game over the years which seems to deny MSM (MainStreamMedia) reporting.  I remember when I was a kid that government was able to get along on a 5% sales tax (in Washington State) and there was even a 12% state limit on credit card interest.

 

But, what has happened, over time is that states like Washington and NY and almost all others, have slowly turned up their percentages to match spending instead of containing government growth by the natural increase in revenue that would come from inflation.

 

If you head over to The Tax Foundation's web site, you will see that Tax Freedom Day (the number of days you have to work each year just to pay taxes) has been running to mid-April of late.  If you look at the whole history of Tax Freedom Day, you'll see that before the (not-really) 'Federal" reserve came along and started messing with the government's role in money creation, that 'tax freedom' happened in January.  Throughout the 'Roaring Twenties' the latest it got to be was February 22 - and that was to pay for debt from WW I and to deal with a serious recession in 1921.  So not like half the tax burden isn't possible. 

 

So no, I don't think the government needs a 'tax hike' just because the price of gas is coming down.  Otherwise, those crafty folks who forget who the bosses are (non-government workers, at least till our trip into corporate-socialism is complete) will use falling prices in other arenas as an excuse to raise their rates as well.

 

I wonder if - by extension- a case could be made that we need a higher sales tax, since some food prices have turned and may be coming down?  Nope.  Tighten belt, go to four-day work-weeks in  government, and lay off at least 1% of government employees.

 

THEN - and only then - if the government still needs money to operate, we can have the meaningful discussion about how to maintain sound money which the Fed - aided and abetted by the Secretary of Printing at Treasury - reign them in first and then I'll consider it.  Till then, I'm gassed and aghast that someone would even suggest a bigger slice of the working man's pie to the OCD spenders who know no limits; yet can't help more with mortgages and may not help Detroit.

 

Auto Nation

I've made the case as it relates to the Treasury Secretary's November 11th flip-flop on mortgage aid, that ever since the selection of president-elect Obama over the republicorps offering in November, that the republicorps 'bailout' (or spin-word 'rescue') have been more about making sure the right-wing pals on Wall Street get their rewards in order to keep fundraising alive.  Paulson, you'll recall, about that date suddenly went from pushing mortgage aid in a direct sounding way to almost running away from it in order to heap more dough on the banksters.

 

Well now, we see more evidence that the republicorp are doing everything they can (get away with) in order to screw over the democorps.  The evidence?  The house has voted on Wednesday to give a measly $14-billion bailout to the Big Three automakers in Detroit.

 

BUT - and here's the politics & power-tripping over humans part - the bill faces very rough sledding in the Senate, which is its next stop.

 

What's clear, if you follow economics long enough, is that handling of the economy is one of the key political footballs, and that the republicorps are doing everything they can to blame the financial woes facing America on a few excesses in the mortgage-CMO arena.  What gets lost is that there's a global derivative meltdown underway, and it's trying to hide behind the relatively small subprime and Alt A mess.  A check for a hundred billion would probably have solved all the subprime problems, sources tell me.  But this multi-trillion dollar debacle that will continue 'taking down' the economy into the new year?

 

That's mostly to be laid at the feet of the republicorp (and to a lesser extent the Clintonistas) who collectively took the contributions and failed to regulate a wildly speculative bubble, hoping they'd all be 'in the clear' by the time things broke.  And, for the most part, they've gotten away with it.

 

He Said - She Said Department

While there's a report from the UN saying that man-caused global warming is 'beyond a doubt', we have to note that a group of 650 scientists in Eastern Europe take the opposite view, or are way more cautious about global warming's impacts.

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One of the points made is that sea levels fail to rise.  But, hold on to your hat, the predictive linguistics say that s publicly noticed sea level change/global coastal event lies ahead - in the headlines anyway - in 2009.

 

Worse Than 'Inflation Disease'

This could be turning into 'Denial December'.  No, not just the republicorps stonewalling on auto aid, or more substantial mortgage help.  No, I mean the latest reports from Zimbabwe where their president Robert "Mugabe: No cholera in Zimbabwe" is making the headlines. More than 15,000 infected so far and 800 dead, and South Africa is worried about spread into its country.

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Yes, this is from the same Robert Mugabe who, as CNN reported recently) has presided over a 231-million percent inflation - something that may be the envy of some folks inside the Beltway who are trying to get money into circulation fast enough - and throttle just the right amount of inflation to prevent the US from auguring in to a deflationary spiral, while at the same time avoiding 'going Zimbabwe' on the other.

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A bit of snow this week in Houston - not common at all.  Here at the ranch (about midway between Dallas and Houston in the East Texas Piney Woods - all we got was some sleet.  No cross country workout for me this weekend.  Oh well, don't own skis anyway...

 

WOT

Belgium has detained 14 al Qaida suspects ahead of an EU summit meeting.  Thinking is that they may have been up to no good - maybe something like a suicide attack on their agenda.

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Meantime, Debka.com reports that those "Somali pirates set up "agencies" on three continents" to help with intelligence, fund raising and other needs of the pirates.

 

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Coping: Steps Past Stepford

Don't know if you saw (or remember) the movie "The Stepford Wives" but here's a twist on things: The Sun headlines that an "Inventor builds She-3PO robot". 

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Don't know if you have ever looked at the divorce rate in the US, but according to www.divorcerate.org, the first marriage failure rate is running about 41%, second marriages fail at a 60% rate, while thirds fail at 73%.

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Over the past half-century, or so, I've seen a lot of approaches to marriage.  Everything from 'open' to multiple, to 'why bother?'    So, I reckon is makes some sense to automate things.  I'm more the 'test drive first' type guy. And getting a relationship started with lots of candlelight dinners, etc. is for sure better than starting a relationship with a pair of pliers, some code routines, and design work.

 

Roombas are about close enough for comfort in the home robot department.  Besides, such extremes of robotics pose a double-danger: Not only might they impact divorce rates, but if that happened, what are all those family law practitioners going to do?

 

Reading Matters

As the print media continues to lose readership to the Internet, we see that "Newsweek plans stuff cuts in makeover: report"

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Also in the mediasphere: NBC is planning to move Jay Leno to a prime time slot (10PM) next fall.

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A short snip and save section today, as I slept in a few minutes after being up late with the radio interview...

 

Send snip and save items to george@ure.net.

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Wednesday December 10, 2008

Watchful Wednesday Mode

First thing I did this morning when I ,got up - after a vitamin and first mouthful of coffee, was to scan the news channels and see if our expected earthquake for December 10-12/13 and it's twin to follow shortly thereafter had appeared yet.

 

No, but arguably, there has been some 'linguistic fill' with headlines out of New Guinea that "Huge waves destroy hospital, homes"  Although attributed to 'king tides' several readers have noted that it's coincident to a 5.6 earthquake off the north coast of Papua.  Just doesn't seem big enough since the imagery for the quakes has been around so long...my guess?  Close but no cigar on that one.

 

Along the same lines, a number of readers sent in questions like "Was that 6.8 in the Kermadec Islands region on December 9th 'it'?" Only remotely possible, although if it were the precursor, it could argue seems for the Pacific Northwest as a possible antipodal point.  But I don't think so. Again, not large enough. 

 

Let me go back into the predictive linguistics to the August 9th ALTA  Report (Part Five of that data run) and give you a little more to chew on while we wait to see/feel? if events will work out as expected.  Again, a link to this site and www.halfpasthuman.com (the original source which generously allows me to repost here) if there's any further use.  That said, here's what it was looking like in their August 8, 2008 report:

"December 10th through the 15th of January are especially active with combinations of problems including the [earthquake] already forecast for that period in the 32/thirty-two to 36/thirty-six degrees of latitude band, and also now several large [storms] are indicated to also contribute to the [diaspora] meme at [local] and [regional] levels. There are specific references within the [flowing waters/flooding_induced by storms] which include the [pacific northwest] of the continental USofA, as well as [northern, western europe]. This last is apparently also associated with [storm surge]."

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"The Terra entity continues to accrue values under the [dancing mountains] sub set, and as this is likely [volcanic], and includes a [swarming of earthquakes], the linguistic structures are also pointing toward [oceanic dancing mountains]. The sub set can also be interpreted at the secondary support level by the phrase [planetary growth spurt]. This could be indicating that the planetary expansion model needs to be reviewed for potential accuracy."

I don't think Cliff would mind sharing some of the drill down in that report, since if it happens, the following may be interesting to compare with actual events as they (possibly?) unfold:

"There continue to be aspect/attribute sets which accrue in support of the [earthquake] in December. The actual range in December has been noted in modelspace to extend from December 3rd out to January 5th, but the spot of the largest accretion of groups of support within that range is December 10th through the 12th. This is also when the [visibility] sub set summations are at their peak. Further, the sub set of [earthquake] for December, while having a 32/thirty-two to 36/thirty-six degree latitude band for the 'center' of this particular earthquake series, also are indicating a [radiating/extending northward] pattern of impact. The [northward/north bound] direction of this [earthquake] will somehow be more significant relative to the [damage caused] than other potential directions. Further the [location] of the [epicenter] is indicated to have something of a [joke/pun], or other [playful quality] associated with the local name.

 

The Terra entity has had growth in the supporting layers of a number of sets which are themselves acting as support via cross links to the GlobalPop and Populace/USofA sets of [food supplies]. The data sets seemingly indicate that Terra intrusions this Fall and Winter will produce some [dramatic] new [crises] within the area of the [food supplies]. This is showing as being planetary in scope."

In the August 2, 2008 report, there was more:

"The data sets in support of a large [earthquake] in December 2008 are suggesting that a [disputed territory], or [long chain of disputes over lands] will be the location of the most [damage]. These [disputed lands] are indicated to be very [near/proximate] to a [hyper spatial/sacred geometry] point in the [northern hemisphere]. The indications are that the latitudes will be near or in the range between [32/thirty-two] and [37/thirty-seven] degrees. Now we note that the most prominent [disputed territory] within this latitude band is Kashmir, and that it is also in very geophysically active area. The [32/thirty-two] and [37/thirty-seven] degrees could also be a number of other locations, most of which are also geophysically active as they are within the [hyper spatial/sacred geometry] band. These include California around San Francisco, and the New Madrid fault in the central USofA, as well as all of Turkey, and areas in China near the recent very large earthquake. This last is probably less likely as presumably the great quake there has released strains."

And to go back even earlier, the July 4th, 2008  ALTA 0509 (e.g. looks in the data out to May of 09) report initially looked like this:

"Within the [destruction of the past] sub set, which is still gaining values, there is a sub set indicating that the [great quake (8+ R.scale)] will be [deep] at an [exceptional level], and yet *still* has [destructive power] for [surface structures]. There are also indications of [severe affects (on/to) waters] and their [flows]. This area is cross linked back over to our now very tiresome [flood] aspect/attribute set where we find supporting sets for [alterations (of) flows], and [tidal currents/shoreline shapes change], as well as further links back to [benthic topography shifts]. This area of [sub sea floor] descriptors is also extensively cross linked over to the [ocean sickness/illness/radical change] which is itself a sub set of the [global coastal event] sub set forecast for 2009."

The reason I am paying so much attention to this quake is that we only got about 7/8 months of lead-time on the Banda Aceh quake which appeared in June/July ALTA reports in advance of the December 2004 event.  That was accompanied by descriptors of "300-thousand dead; land driven back to a previous age" and others.  The problem with that forecast was that it was 'muddied' by language that went to the idea of a courthouse being abandoned and a prison somehow close to the edge of damage.  We came to learn that the September (25th I think it was) quake during the Lacey Peterson trial in Redwood City fulfilled one set of imagery, but not the 300-thosuand dead/land driven back to previous age" descriptors.  That didn't happen until late December of '04.

 

Understanding that, and other events like the two hurricanes (Katrina and her 'dark companion Rita' we've got a hypothesis that the longer the lead time before an event, the larger the impact of the event when it shows up.  While we hope to be wrong (we may be nuts, but not \crazy) the data here is very long term and while it lacks a clear 'temporal marker (like the wedding links/aspects to the May China quake which we jabbered about for a few days before it hit - click here for details) this one seems pretty 'clean' in that we ought to see the quake on news crawlers before the weekend and somehow the 'twin' may set science to reconsidering linkages between major earthquakes.

 

In early May, the ALTA 0209 report was mentioning earthquakes and 'land rising'.  Some of the 'unfilled' language goes to this:

"The [earthquakes] sub set for this geographic sub set is predominantly supported by the [rising waters], and [extreme waters] sub sets. There are detail layers going to [rocking marshlands], and [estuaries (placed into) movement/shaken], as well as [water levels rush (into) marshlands/estuaries]. Further detail layers provide for [visibility] points which will include [waters (and/or/resulting from) earthquake] which will [push/propel boats and cars backwards]. Then deeper detail layers point toward the [diaspora] sub set and include support for [stranded long time], and [unreachable (no communications) for a long time]. And [intolerable situation], and [long isolation]."

Remember: This part dates back to the ALTA 209 Part one report, which means that linguistic snapshot is about 7-months old.  The data seems to 'fill-in' as we move closer to events (and visa versa) except that time isn't how most people understand it, and I suppose we could leave it at that.

 

If you were really into the study of time, a reread of Michael Crichton's "Timeline" might be

 interesting, except the way Cliff's groundbreaking work happens, we don't focus so much on 'quantum foam' directly as ITC did in the book, it's all based on the study of the words that come along with the change from now to then.  Oh, and this is all a garage project; no big bucks and supercomputers as ITC had in Crichton's work, LOL

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None of this is posted with the idea of scaring anyone.  Just a good time to have a couple of bottles of water with out, review the 'triangle of life' debate, and just remember that as soon as something starts to shaking, you should look to protect yourself whether it's a doorway or desk, or whatever.

 

As usual, hopefully this will be all wrong - an artifact of a defect piece of code in one of the 200+ small programs that make up the 'web bot project'.  But, in case it's not, that's more detail so we can compare what really happens (if anything) with the linguistic hints that came along ain advance.

]

If the quake(s) do happen, it will be just one more data point that would establish that humans at some level have a way of sensing 'leaks' of future events that have large emotional impacts.  This is already pretty well established in science, but most folks don't want to confront it because it might involve reconsidering large portions of personal belief systems where they might discover that 'lie' makes up half of 'belief'.

 

If you'd like to go further, Dr. Dean Radin's 2000 paper "Time-reversed human experience: Experimental evidence and implications" should be on your reading list - along with Radin's books like Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality. 

 

The world is not only strange - it's stranger than we can imagine.  But as Cliff is fond of reminding me:  It's a time when humans get to sort out the difference between magic and magicians on the one hand and the sorcerers on the other.  It's the difference between touching the stream and sleight of hand tricks.

 

Oh, and that brings us to the latest of the sorcerers adventures and sleight of hand...

 

Secrets Revealed Meme:  Crook County Politics

Was the governor of Illinois trying to 'sell' appointment of the Senate seat being vacated by Barak Obama?  Seems so if you read the reports.  This will no doubt be a lead item on the teevee for a while, so plenty of details there if you care.  No, I don't - doesn't seem to have much impact on my life, the markets or, for that matter, change any of my opinions about Crook County.

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Good read in Salon today "What do the Clintons have on Obama?"
 

Canadian Coup

The conservatives/neocon crowd is having a fine time up north of us with what's reading like a nearly unopposed p d’état underway.  While the bread and circuses continues here, a mess simmers there.

 

Adventures in the Checkbook Republic

As the total of funds committed to funding the US war on total economic collapse stands around $8-trillion now, the Detroit bailout likely to be hammered together today is almost a footnote.  Some figures put the cost around $15-billion. 

 

Here at the ranch, we're waiting to see if there's a 'new car buyer's credit" of some kind that will be included.  Our old (beat-up) Daewoo still does what it was designed to do and in light of falling employment levels around the country, I'm wondering how many other families are asking "What do I need a new car for if this one is still running/can be repaired?"

 

The "D" Work Returneth

While I've been writing about the Second Great Depression since 1997 on this site, it's sure been taking its sweet damn time showing up.  When it looked like we'd get our Great Crash analog in 2001, along came 9/11 and switched on a whole new industry - "security/anti-terrorism".  Then came the housing bubble, the Operation Iraqi Freedom (which I call "Operation Iraqi Oil"), and one thing has led to another.

 

More recently, I explained for www.peoplenomics.com subscribers how if you want an explanation of how Hank Paulson could go from wanting bailout money for mortgages to just bailout dough for Banksters, you need only look at the timing of that particular little policy change - a week after Obama's election, Hank seems to lose the word 'mortgages' from his vocabulary.  Well, gee, how about that?

 

Now we're reading how "Treasury bills trade at Negative Rates as haven demand surges".  The key thing to note in this article is that it's the first time this has happened since 1929.

 

A really clever economist might be asking what the 'next carry trade' will be:  When the Japanese brought their rates to zero - when they entered the extended downturn that continues today waaay back in 1989, it set up the Yen-Gold carry trade.  Investors would borrow all they could at Japan (for free essentially) and then turn around and buy gold - sit back, wait for inflation to do its thing on hard assets, and pocket the difference.

 

So now, with US rates approaching zero, I find myself wondering how long before some bright fund manager figures out - as we have - that the single most important commodities on the planet are food and water - and takes wads of 'free money' and starts to lock up food?

 

Not saying that it's going to happen, just that 'free money' and ultra low rates (zero being low, eh?) are not the cure for malinvestment - it's really just another way to get to the same old new place, or was that the new old same place...whatever....

 

Global Unemployment Festival

"Miner Rio Tinto cuts 14,000 jobs" says the BBC.

 

Global Revolution

We're reading today how "Strikes Cripple a Riot-Shaken Greece" - all part of the global revolution against corporate exploitation that is working its way around the world.

 

Duck & Cover Department

Pakistan says "We're ready for war with India."  Didn't anyone over there hear the old Safeway jingle, "Let's be neighbors, let's be friends"?

 

Pakistan is holding 16 suspect but won't turn them over to India. This morning, India says it's not backing off...

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We'll just check those D cells for our radiation survey meter and maybe update the potassium iodide stocks over at www.ki4u.com.  Never know how crazy things could get and the US is 'down wind'.

 

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Coping: A Pretty Good Crystal Ball

A reader spied something on the "Panama Legal: A Panama Law Firm" site that's definitely a gotta read:  "Some things to look for in 2009".  The high level:  Shopping mall closings, cities and states going bankrupt, higher taxes,  deteriorating health care for many, and rumors/possibilities of things like martial law, riots, and extreme gun control.  Dandy.  Just dandy.

 

Stand-up Economics

If you're a comedy writer, no doubt there will be a lot of good material in the Treasury Budget due out this afternoon.  Last months is here: http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1008.pdf which, if they follow their naming convention means the one coming out today should be here:

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1108.pdf if I were guessing.

 

Famine Ahead

We've mentioned many times that in the predictive linguistics there's been mention of rationing and at least some of it seems to relate to foodstuffs.  Here's a good article sent in by a reader: "The Famine of 2009".  Starts with a lack of propane in the upper Midwest and gets worse from there...

 

An Irish 'Quaker'?

A good note out of the L.A. environs:

"George, Clif:

Tis the night before the window opens, and earthquake prophets are appearing in the most unexpected places! Something's really cookin' down there in the magma cauldron!

On Monday evenings, I take a class in Irish Gaelic language at the Celtic Arts Center in North Hollywood. Just before class, I started asking folks about the Saturday night "teaser quake" we had out here in Southern Cal. Our teacher Sean then gave us the word for earthquake, which is crith talún, literally "trembling of the earth." (Pronounced: Krih-tuh-LOON)

But then he suddenly tells us about his innate ability to predict earthquakes and for the last few weeks, he has been getting a date for the next crith talún which he senses is on the way. What is his date? December 13!!! He said that he had successfully predicted the date of the 1989 World Series quake in the Bay area, and has the same kind of inner sense for this one he predicts for Saturday.

I told him that he was not craiceáilte meaning cracked or crazy, and proceeded to mention youse guys in Texas. I also mentioned Jim Berkland up in the Bay area, whose predictions I haven't heard lately; however, he correlates quakes with the New Moon and especially Full Moon, and when is next full moon? Friday, December 12 at 8:37 AM Pacific time.

So, as you say, it's time to put up those tray tables and brace against the seat in front. Final approach!!! Somehow I just flashed on Slim Pickens riding the bull of that A-bomb at the end of "Dr. Strangelove." Yeee Haw! "

Well, certainly in the 'window' but, of course, we'd just as soon not be right on any of this.

 

Another One for the Reading List

Archeology has always fascinated me - not sure why, except  that I've always been a little suspicious of the 'peer review'; system because it is so slow to change in many fields that it - in effect - becomes a paradigm reinforcement mechanism.  So when books about ancient archeology come up - especially those which are founded on gobs and oodles of research, I try to read them.  Been reading Graham Hancock's stuff since the late 1990's, for instance.

 

Well, another book goes on my list today...one I missed when it first came out in 2000 - here's the email explaining why:

"Hi George,

I wanted to contribute another two cents…ok the amount of copper is worth about a nickel…but since you mention Tainter… have you seen William Ryan and Walter Pitman’s Noah’s Flood?

 Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About The Event That Changed History

As a trained professional archaeologist, I am well aware of Tainter’s The Collapse of Complex Societies and his diminishing return premise leading to a collapse of a society as we knew/know it. The geologists Ryan and Pitman’s precise is that the flood actually did happen approximately 8000-12000 BC in the Black Sea. They propose the biblical story of Noah’s Flood or the ancient Sumerian story of Utnapishtim is based on fact. Their idea is relevant to a possible scenario that may occur with the twin quakes in the Los Angeles area or in Israel’s Dead Sea. They demonstrate the Black Sea was once a fresh water lake whose ancient shores were below sea level. When the sea level rose and cascaded over the isthmus of the Mediterranean Sea it took, oh lets use the mnemonic device of 40 days and 40 nights to remember the next stanza. Although they are completely inaccurate that the societies on the shore of this ancient lake spread out in all directions of this ancient lake and are the forefathers of the Linear Band Keramic cultures in Europe along the Danube River or Egyptians in the Nile Delta region, etc. … that is besides the point…they have accurately demonstrated the transition of the Black Sea from a fresh water lake to salt lake and vise versa over time to the salt water Black Sea as we know it today based on alternating fresh/salt water mussel shells in deep sea core samples.

Excuse me I digress…one more Belvenie...it’s simpler than that. Land below sea level, such as the Los Angeles valley (seeded valley?) or Dead Sea (Tiger Stripes?) [ever seen the geologic strata in the Dead Sea up to the Jerusalem area?], can be inundated and become new permanent shoreline. Is there anything in the meme about 3 areas 3 cultures (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) with gold as in Dome of the Rock as part of a possible location for the quakes?

Enough about that…hope all is well in your neck of the woods. I’ve spent lots of time with good friends at their place in Lake Nacogdoches and done lots of excavations in Caddo country. If fallow periods are a concern, try oval shaped mounds of earth about 10 meters in diameter (roughly) by one meter high and plant a circle of corn (5 or 7) with beans and squash. Caddo found it very successful. What the corn takes out of the soil the beans and squash put back into the soil thereby needing less fallow time. Should last about seven years before you need to use different soil or just move the mound a few meters. The mound’s slight sloping elevation also allows aeration through the plants and decreases fungus.

Nice recall on Castaneda. I read all the books about 25 years ago. I could truly relate. Oh these premonitions; last time I felt like this was back in late August of 1997 when I couldn’t shake the feeling that the world would cry not one but two tears, then Diana and Mother Teresa left us Now it is colorful new geologic strata, new mountains, and Gabriel’s horn—like something we are all going to hear. Have you noticed some of the birds are flying north?"

No, sorry to say, I haven't.  I spend most days staring at computers, talking to consulting clients, writing and planning the next major fence project here at the ranch.

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Tuesday December 9, 2009

Ringing Ears, Tired George

Yesterday, as I explained in my column, I bounced out of bed, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed - ready for the tussle with Monday's events.  Lots of coffee - high energy, amped, and all those other phrases.  Today was the mirror opposite - and that's bad.  You see, I often get a profound sense of tired just before big earthquakes.  So, whether it's my 'monkey mind' doing a little extracurricular programming, or whether the major quakes (twin quakes) in the predictive linguistics are about upon us, ought to be known in 4-5 days - or less.

 

There were no 6.0+ quakes in the world earthquake list today when I looked, but the 'window' doesn't really start until tomorrow and then goes for about five days.  Cliff of www.halfpasthuman.com hopes we will 'get it wrong' but earthquakes is an area where predictive linguistics has shined in the past forecasts including that China quake back in May.  Plus, I'm profoundly tired and many readers are reporting their ears ringing and other physical symptoms that may, or may not, accompany big (mega) quakes.

 

As a major thunderstorm rolled through East Texas about 2 AM, I found myself wondering how I would explain - after the event - how all this 'rickety time machine' stuff works?  It's not like the technology directly senses the future.  Rather, what it seems to do is 'tune in' to the future emotions of people as they see or hear of a major event in their life...like a mega quake will be.

 

Seems that at some just-below-the-perception-threshold, people know bits and pieces of the future before it arrives.  Major events that stand head & shoulders above the background noise (hurricanes/tornados/earthquakes) seem a little more clear because the everyday language shift associated with these kinds of 'outlier' events is pronounced (and predictive).  It's also why the technology can't/doesn't work with 'hot issues'.  You talk about a movie star or a public policy question like abortion rights, and it's nigh on to impossible to sort those kinds of things out because people are so emotionally charged over a long period of time - there's little 'change' in the archetypical language once some has adopted one position or another.

 

Earthquakes (and assorted other 'natural disasters') are different down at the mass consciousness level.  With these, most folks when the event happens are just going about their day, doing their normal routine, picking up the kids, going to work, going hunting or fishing, night out with the girls...you know...just normal activities when WHAM along comes this big emotional impact.

 

That's the kind of thing that 'bleeds' or 'prints through' into what is then the past, but which is presently in our future.  the more 'print through' into the past, the more pronounced the language shift among people who are mostly not even aware that they have changed at the kalapas kind of level as if to psycho-socially prepare for the event.

 

It you have read Carlos Castaneda's works, it's perhaps akin to a Nagual showing up and pointing out that your assemblage point (the place where you 'assemble' the reality around you) is changing in advance of a major event about to appear in your life.  Yet as any hand Nagual (such as Don Juan Matus) might have pointed out, most people are so preoccupied by their first attention that they pay almost no mind to their second attention.  That's the attention that lets people see reality much differently than first attention demands, and yet it's every bit as real, or more so.  Here, have a mushroom.

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Of course, you don't need mushrooms to get in touch with the future at some very gross level, although the recent uptick in Ayahuasca tourism suggests that a large number of humans are off exploring those new/old inner/outer frontiers of being.  What the predictive linguistics work has done is provide a software work-around so the future can be perceived at some gross level, indirectly as it captures emotional reactions in our here & now as a future event slaps people's emotions about, hence we expect the 'twin quakes'.

 

So close in to an expected event like this, we watch, we wait, and we ponder.

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So do readers, like this fellow in the UK:

"George,

Have you considered that one of your earthquakes may not be physical? I see from the BBC that Obama isn't British after all, and the court has thrown out the case against him. Now if I understand the system correctly the Electoral College actually meets on December 13th to ratify Obama's election,. What if they don't? Am I right in understanding that the delegates at the meeting are under no Legal obligation to vote the way the people voted? I'm sure I read that when GWB was elected and can remember thinking at the time that it was dangerous and could lead to huge problems. So could one of the earthquakes be a non ratification of Obama? Just a thought....

Also, as an additional comment on apocalypse TV, BBC have remade Survivors, where a virus wiped out 99% of all humans and the survivors (hence the name) try to survive. the original version was about 30 years ago, the new version looks like it's just being brought up to date, this time with the virus being deliberately leaked by someone in the British Establishment."

Yeah, we think about this kind of stuff all the time.  Problem is that in modelspace, the values have been piling up in a corner of the model called Terra Entity.  If it was an 'earthquake' from some kind of political event (like the Supreme Court decision) it would pop up in the entity USA-pop and wouldn't have the geographical descriptors attached to it.  Or concepts like "dancing mountains."

 

OK, no point dancing around it.  Here is an extract from last week's HalfPastHuman ALTA report.  Please do not repost it, and any use requires a link both to www.halfpasthuyman.com and to www.urbansurvival.com.  OK?

"The data sets associated with [twin earthquakes] continues to grow. The newly supporting sets are within the aspect/attribute sets of [pulsating (motion)], and [rippling (ground)], and [motion (of) sound (in) ground]. This last is supported by aspect/attributes which suggest that it is related to [waves] of [propagation] within the [surface] of the [earth], as well as being a literal/actual reference to [sound (coming up from the) ground] during the [earthquake(s)]. Further support builds under [mountains] where the newly arrived aspect/attributes include [frail crust], and [broken (open) fertile plain]. Other aspect/attribute sets in the supporting chain include [seed(ed) valley] as being the [focus/nexus] of the [most damage], though note that this is not necessarily the epicenter of the earthquake energy.

The data sets in the deep supporting layers include [stripes] as in [tiger stripes] that are forecast to make a [visible appearance] {ed note: most likely after the earthquake}. We also have [vegetable fields] at many different levels of support indicating an agricultural area will be very central to the [visible] aftermath. Deeper into the detail aspect/attribute layers we have descriptors for [images/views] of [humans looking up] and [humans (with) dropped jaws] and [humans with [fixed/glazed stares].

Part of the data sets are now going to the [visible] problems which will result from the [earthquakes]. A very major problem is showing as an [agricultural area] being [so devastated] as to have [problems with production]. Both this last, and the [rebuilding] are indicated to be a [decade, 10/ten years] activity. Other issues include the [immediate needs (of) food] and [shelter] for the [affected humans]. Much of the supporting language is coming in support of the idea of [needing to feed] some large/significant numbers of people post-earthquake. This is shown as being caused by several factors including the [isolation] brought on by the [disruption/destruction] of the [roads]. Some of the detail layers show that many days later, perhaps even [weeks], there will be a [cadre] of [humans] and [animals?] which will [undertake daily walking] to [bring back supplies] to the [affected regions]. The data sets are presenting the idea that even [large amounts] of [helicopter] delivered [food/aid] will still [require/need] to be [hand carried] to get to the [isolated communities]. The local [systems] for everything from [health care] to [fuel delivery] will be [disrupted] for some time in excess of [3/three years] by the [alterations] in the [ground shapes] and [bridges failing]. The data sets are also indicating that [following] the [earthquakes] and the [dancing mountains], the region (and perhaps the whole of the planet) will have a period of [profound rest/quiet] relative to [earthquakes]. This [period of rest/quiescence] is apparently of an emotional significance as the [lack of activity] is indicated to cause its own level of [stress] in the populace of the planet. "

There's more in other ALTA reports, but since we're really, really close to the twin quake window, not point being secretive about this.  We're planning to watch quake coverage through most of this weekend - and wondering who will be offering the recovery aid and concert for fund-raising that seems to follow big quakes, but I get we will have those answers next week.  Cliff, meantime, is hoping like hell he's got it wrong.  Not bloody likely, but we talked about his fishing trip yesterday.

 

Rally Tuesday

A couple of readers caught yesterday's "Delirious Monday"  report where I mentioned "Got a feelin deep down in me, gotta fever of three hundred and three..."  Sorry - I was three and a quarter points off yesterday's close.

 

Every so often I go on these 'feelings' I get while scribbling down the morning column and more often than not, they are close although obviously, I don't publish many of them.  Here's the problem:  There's no practical way to monetize them.  In other words, just because I can throw a dart once in a while and hit a bulls eye, that doesn't get me any money.

 

Oh, sure, I could maybe buy some DDM shares, or on down days, buy the DXD, but between commissions and the typical end-of-day action, hard to make a buck doing that.  Plus with the volatility index (^VIX on Yahoo) so high, option premiums are through the roof.  The time to make serious money in any market is before the rest of the herd shows up.

 

Look at what's gone on with volatility over the past year - and you see what happened right around that 'hot date' in the linguistics of October 7th?  It was in early October that the volatility index went over 50 and for the most part, hasn't come under about 48 ever since.  Folks are just piling money into options and it's pricing them up such that a small player (like yours truly) can't make a buck at that table in the casino.  So I work on fencing around the ranch, instead.  Lot surer payoff.

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Mixed open expected with FedEx's outlook less than encouraging. Moderates the recent optimism - I expect a slight pause before we run up and take out the 9,200 target.  More headlines going to the idea that 'this rally has legs' - but about when that takes hold, you know what I'm expecting...

after 9,200 or 9,600, of course.

 

Best Read of the Day

John Crudele's article in this morning's NY Post that explains how the unemployment rate is really twice what's reported due to number jiggering by Clever Clinton.  Sounds all sort of...er...familiar, doesn't it? 

 

I'm just waiting for it to become a crime to use the "D" work (depression) as government protects the old paradigm and focuses on their "D" word (denial).

 

National Motors

Word that the US federal government could take a stake in the Big Three automakers in Detroit has me just beside myself with glee.  This is a marketers dream, of course.  "Hey comrade, wanna build Zils in Detroit?" Nationalizing banks, now automakers?  We're standing by for the farm collectivization programs...

 

Tornado Watch

In East Texas at this time of the year?  Hey!  I thought that was a spring time deal?  We've had pea-sized hail at the ranch and the two-meter ham radio weather net is up... over at the ham radio desk, I can hear the static discharge protection clicking about every third lightning stroke.  Wild damn weather...

 

Bye Bye Bunny Boss

Christie Hefner departs Playboy, reports MarketWatch.

 

National Layoff Festival

Sony axing 8,000 jobs.  Not everyone sees it coming like folks in California do - check out the planned layoffs there.  Dow Chemical cutting 5,000 jobs and closing plants - and the lists go on...and on...and on...So much so that "Fears of a million layoffs a month" (next Spring) are circulating in reliable media.

 

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Coping: It's Woot's Happening

As a marketer, I'm always reading what I consider the best of class in advertising materials.  One of the best sites for great copy writing is the www.woot.com site.  Famous, for among other things, their $5 shipping deal - which has paid off handsomely for me on some 'heavy' items in the past, they've also got a refreshingly candid approach to writing.  Here's an email they sent me this morning which I'd like to share because it gets to the 'heart of the seasons' that are upon us: Holidays and the Layoff Festival:

"Subj: BREAKING: Economists declare water at least 50 percent wet!

Attention, urbansurvival:

Welcome to Woot's first official recession-era newsletter! For the next 12 to 24 months, all citizens are expected to fret over, worry about, or even directly experience the nadir of a consumerist society - OMG! What will we do when we stop buying stuff? Economists now agree that we're headed through a prolonged period of decreased consumer spending (you really need an advanced degree to come up with insights like that). Beyond that, it's anybody guess. Will the only growth sectors in the economy be shoe repair, pipe salvage, and roadside apple sales? Or will we bring on a quick recovery by doing patriotic things like buying stuff we can't afford and spending more money than we make?

As a retailer, it'd make sense for us to fall in with the BUY STUFF, AMERICA conga line. But by now, you know that we at Woot never do things the "normal", "sensible", "rational", "intelligent" way. We're not about to follow the herd over a cliff. When we go over a cliff, it's because of our own poor judgment, not someone else's. That's been our credo since about five minutes ago, when we first thought of it. And we've stayed true to it ever since.

That's why we're encouraging you and your fellow wooters to save this holiday season. Save your money! Save until you pull a saving muscle. Horde your money until you are literally choking on it. Save until maybe, like, mid-February or so, when the market will be a-glut with great deals for the taking every day. You'll avoid the crowds, take advantage of desperate retailers, and not have to hear "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time" even once.

Sure, maybe you'll disappoint some of your loved ones. But if they really love you, they can wait a couple of months, especially if your finances are at stake. Besides, if your so-called loved ones wanted you to set yourself on fire, would you? Of course you wouldn't. And that's the kind of independent thinking that will one day break the mindless conformity of our consumerist holiday ways.

But be warned: you'll want to stay far away from Woot.com <http://www.woot.com/> this week. The breadth and scope of bargains we'll be offering - especially starting Tuesday morning at midnight - will be powerfully tempting. They could even lead you back down the spend-spend-spend path with the rest of the sheep. And that would make us sad enough to cry while we're taking your money.

See you in February!

Woot.com

LYMI

 

The Problem with Technology

Don't know if you have seen the story yet, but "Google Earth accused of aiding Terrorists" says a Times Online report.

 

In court papers, seems Indian authorities are saying that Google Earth was used for mapping out some of the terror events.

 

Don't know about you, but I have a problem with this 'ban Google Earth' move.  What if (as seems likely) the terrorists used other readily available tools?  Would the Indian court system be considering whether to "Ban Microsoft Streets and Trips"?  "Banish Garmin from the Indian subcontinent"? 

 

Hell, ban printed roadmaps while we're at it , too!

 

Better lock up the pens, pencils, and paper, too while we're at it - those could become terrorist tools as well.

 

This gets to the ugly heart of the 'terror' mindset that has infected world governments.  If people had surety of a place, regular meals, and meaningful work, plus a chance to work hard and get ahead (instead of work hard for 40-years then get eff'ed-over by inflation, financial fraud, and whathaveyou) then gee, where would terrorism find root?

 

I know, don't be asking those obvious questions ("Where does it stop, though?").  Common sense is the kind based on the near-certain knowledge that someone who means you harm is going to get you with a .308 round, or a knife in your back.  With or without Google, Streets & Trips, LandSat data which is all over the place, or a trip to key targets with a video recorder - maybe we should ban them, too?

 

Where does it stop?  With the banning of everything!  The end game is in a police state where we're all employed watching each other.  And then everyone will join whatever revolution against oppression comes along.

 

Book burning always ends badly and this is just the same thing...with a few more chips and maybe a lithium battery.

 

Say, I don't suppose concealed carry gun permits are common in India, are they?  No?  Didn't think so...

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Monday December 8, 2008

Another Delirious Monday

You know why I don't ever have a problem getting out of bed on Monday morning?  It's because waking up in these times is like being on the set of some financial movie - a sort of Rocky Picture Horror Show - or maybe a collection of Twilight Zone episodes - all based on finance.

 

Come to think of it, the original Twilight Zone intro retools pretty well: "You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.  You've just crossed over into The Finance Zone..."

 

First to cross over were the Asian markets, where Australia was up nearly 3.7%, The Hang Seng was up 8.66%, Japan's Nikkei was up 5.2% and South Korea was up almost 7.5%.

 

Are these people nuts?

 

Why, of course!  But then look at the Eurozone:  France is up 6.6%, Germany up more than 6% and even the conservative Brits are up nearly 5%.

 

Are "Good times just ahead"?  Or, has someone dropped a couple of hits of windowpane (if you missed the 1970's & don't get it, click here) in the orange juice?

 

Who needs illegal drugs, when dishonest finance is handy and offers more perks?  What's really going on is that the new Obama administration has decided that they're going to try and turn the lemon - which the Bushies are leaving behind in the US economy - into lemonade with a massive jobs/works program rolled out over the weekend.

 

Next thing you know, I'll be trying to match Roger McGuinn by rewriting Ecclesiastes for financial ears:  "To everything, spend, spend, there is a budget (spend, spend) and a buck for every project, under Heaven...)"  Or, would that be a little too direct?

 

At least the next guy in the White House is not going through the Depression I mantra "Good Times are Just Ahead!".  Nope, Obama says it's going to get worse...and sure enough, I expect it will.

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Very short term (this week, maybe?) all we need is a 600-point pop to put us over Robin Landry's minimum 9,200 level before the drop to 7,200 or 5,80-09 on the Dow pulls into view.  Lately, that's one or two trading days.

 

While I went to bed Sunday night worried that the national unemployment rate was going to head well north of 7% when the December numbers are released in early January or early February (taking bets on this, BTW, remember the CES Birth/Death model has had some huge swings in the past ) the key thing is that global markets are rallying on 'stimulus hopes'.

 

The 64-quadrillion-dollar question is whether all the print-money fervor and manic borrowing resources and consumption from the future will really mean anything. Over on the subscriber side of things, we did a little weighing this weekend of the global inflation/deflation pressures to get a sense of where things might go and how the Bush administration's policy flips (on bailing out mortgages) a week or so after the election, are likely just so much republicorp setting of financial land mines which will go off under the Obama administration in the new year...

 

So with $8.1-trillion committed to inflation (we have to get past thinking of it as bailouts - or the spun word 'rescue' and get to calling it what it really is - inflation building, it's almost comical/nonsensical to see CONgress debating endlessly over a piece for the automakers - who want a measly 1/2 of 1% of the giveaways that Hank and Ben are printing for the big party donors down on Wall Street.

 

While there are stories about the "SUVs at alter, Detroit church prays for a bailout" the aware reader knows that what Detroit really needs is more money in the right lobbying outfits because that's who really runs the Checkbook Republic anymore.

 

So pour yourself another split shot Americano tall and welcome to Delirious Monday.  "Got a feelin deep down in me, gotta fever of three hundred and three..."

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See why it's easy to get out of bed in the morning?  It's like watching the slow motion train wreck, American Idol, The News Hour, and Twilight Zone or Rocky Picture all rolled up into one big extravaganza.  Paid for with our 401(k)'s, too.  The audience is delirious, the markets are delirious, the underlying plot is 'print or die' and in the end, we all know how it's going to end.  But, gosh, it sure is exciting to watch, ain't it?

 

Auguring In Department

While the market is being pimped along higher - at least in the early going this week, I try to be a realist about what's ahead.  Did you catch last week's Consumer Debt (mislabeled by the Fed banksters as the "Consumer Credit Report"?  Bottom Line:  Consumers are still pulling in spending.

 

Oh, and go read the NY Post piece today on how "Ads Subtracting: Massive job cuts seen across Madison Avenue."

 

You know the definition of an airplane crash, right?  That's when a pilot runs out of airspeed, altitude, and ideas all at the same time.

 

Economy has an analog: Running out of new 'gotta have it' products, ad budgets, and financing all at the same time.  That's why an economy crashes.

 

Headlines meantime from the FDIC and NCUA (Click here for a midi file of "another one bites the dust" in the background...) ?

• "United Bank Acquires All the Deposits of First Georgia Community Bank, Jackson, Georgia "

• "West Hartford Credit Union Closes "

 

Or, as the folks at QueenWords.com put it:

"And another one gone and another one gone

Another one bites the dust, yeah

Hey, I'm gonna get you too

Another one bites the dust"

Coup d' What?

The Chicago Trib has it right: "Internet drives Barak Obama birth-certificate battle" and something may develop on that front today as  the Supreme Court is scheduled to decide whether it will decide the issue.

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If you don't have enough to think about (you mean like work or loved ones?) here's a marvelous conspiracy theory for you: Supreme Court says no to Obama's eligibility, Hillary is appointed president-elect, she in turn gives John McCain a cabinet-level gig, and to top it off, Caroline Kennedy gets the Clinton senate seat.  Think of it as a coup by the aristocracy.

 

Meantime, Back at the Revolution

Just because the world is running out of oxygen, fisheries, topsoil, self control, oil, jobs, purchasing power, and disease resistance, doesn't mean there's really anything to get angry about, does it?  Or, does it?

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In the UK, London's Stansted airport has reopened after protesters took to the taxiways there in a move to oppose airport expansion plans.  This airport is about 40-miles from London's core.

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In Chicago, a worker sit-in over being fired with inadequate notice continues to draw national attention, as well as a bank saying it's not their responsibility how a company runs its affairs is they don't get an operating loan.  Well, of course, banksters are never to blame - directly - are they?

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Elsewhere in the global rebellion/revolution meme:

• Congo rebels threaten to quit Nairobi peace talks.

• 16 rebels killed by government forces in Sri Lanka,

• Troops and separatists clash in southern Philippines.

• "Rebellion mounting vs. speed cameras"

• Athens / Greece is sorting out what happened when the shooting death of a teen led to widespread rioting.

 

And just down the road from the predictive linguistics hideout, 500 protesters were on the state capitol steps Sunday Olympia, Washington offended by a sign - part of a holiday display in the Capitol - put up by the Wisconsin based "Freedom from Religion Foundation.". The sign saying in part that "religion is but myth and superstition."

 

The Quake Ahead

Most important item this week, or at least it will be when it arrives later in the week:  The 'twin quakes" in the predictive linguistic work out of www.halfpasthuman.com.  Cliff (and Igor) busily telling folks they hope to be wrong on this, but at the same time I hear the values are still accreting (accumulating) in modelspace. 

 

In their latest report for www.halfpasthuman.com subscribers, and after going through many paragraphs of descriptor sets filling out clarifying some of the imagery to be expected via the teevee late this week and into next, the chief time monk goes off whistling in the graveyard...

"Of course we are probably wrong about this. And if you claim, as does George, that we are 'boating on the river of denial' about this, we respond well, maybe so, but the fishing is nice on de nile this time of year."

Since Cliff's off fishing, my best expectation is that the first of the 'twin quakes' will be along between Wednesday and Friday of this week, maybe tomorrow late.

 

If the 'George Theorem' holds (e.g. the longer something is in modelspace before an event, the bigger the impacts will be once the event shows up in real-time) I'm expecting something Banda Aceh or larger for at least one of the quakes...

 

I'll see if I can get permission to post the quake portion publicly or if there are new values coming in over the next day or two. 

 

And, if you don't get knocked off your feet, try clicking here to see when they happen.

 

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Coping:  'Transformation' Notes

The Washington post has it: "New Ridership Record Shows U.S. Still Lured to Mass Transit".  Well, they say 'lured' but there's maybe a lot more direct explanation:  'Forced' to mass transit may come a lot closer to it. 

 

Over half a million more workers axed last month, more coming this month and next, and then bottom-line conscious companies will be dealing out 4-day work weeks and job sharing like nobody's business in the spring as part of what I see as the "National Layoff Festival" (no, that's not in the predictive linguistics - just my own take on things...).

 

Only one of my three kids (around 30-years old each) can afford to have both a life and a car.  Two out of three young people in Seattle are taking Metro, riding one of Bike Shop Mike's best, or using Flexcar/Zipcars.  The one that does have a car is rolling in a SmartCar.

 

So, when I read that there's some kind of 'lure' of mass transit I think to myself  is that 'lure' like with an AK-47 in your back?

 

Reading Matters: Trib-ulations

"Tribune hires advisers to help stave off Bankruptcy" reports the NY Times DealBook section Sunday.  Then there's a report that the McClatchy group has put the Miami Herald up for sale.

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Highlights of the Hitwise report from Drudge: Yahoo beats CNN online, Drudge report out clicks the NY Times online and People magazine is dropping...

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So, how is UrbanSurvival doing as a 'one man newspapering' effort?  Alexa figures us to be #28,898 globally and #8,138 in the USA.   Why we rank higher in South Africa and South Korea than in the US is one of those Bermuda Triangle kinds of questions.

 

Seed Delays

Our friends over at Everlasting Seeds are running behind due to a strange problem: gypsy moths in a batch of heritage seeds...

"George, as mentioned, we’re having nightmares with Gypsy Moth infestations. This is the second batch of multiple seeds we’ve had to send back; further, we’re having to ‘tear down’ the last *sixty* orders we had, ready to send out, as they *may* contain the two types we’re having problems with and just can’t take the chance. SO: delays. PLEASE ask folks to be *patient* with us, as we’re working night and day to get these increased orders out [largest month by far that we’ve ever had-of course]. We worked nearly 24 hours over the Thanksgiving ‘holiday’ to get these cans we’re having to tear down out…so much for ‘good intentions’. "

Better to catch it now than find out when you need a seed pack for survival, I figure.

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