TL;DR:  The world isn’t ending – yet. But the CFNAI is out and the yammer Fed Head circuit is buzzing. Markets aren’t happy. Although we’re amazed the cyberattacks on airports is playing as a non-event. World is “on the high board” and ready for its swan die – we recommend prepping while you can. Now the gory…

CFNAI

World hasn’t ended – and some of us still wonder why rates were pushed down by he Fed except as another freebie for the already too rich class.

“The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) increased to –0.12 in August from –0.28 in July. Three of the four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index increased from July, but three categories made negative contributions in August. The index’s three-month moving average, CFNAI-MA3, increased to –0.18 in August from –0.20 in July.

• Production-related indicators contributed –0.02 to the CFNAI in August, up from –0.17 in July.
• The sales, orders, and inventories category made a neutral contribution to the CFNAI in August, up from –0.02 in July.
• Employment-related indicators contributed –0.07 to the CFNAI in August, up from –0.10 in July.
• The personal consumption and housing category’s contribution to the CFNAI was –0.03 in August, down from +0.02 in July.

The balance of this week should  remain within norms.  But two items on the real impact of Inflation to be aware of.

First, Gold and Silver were up strongly in the early slog.  Silver is camped north of $44 at press time and Gold was $3,763.  We would not be surprised to see Gold over $4,000 and Silver established north of $50 before the year’s out.  But please, don’t take this as “advice.”

Second thing is “electric powered money” – the kind that can disappear in a flash (drive of EMP, you make the call) – isn’t participating. BTC made a run at $118,000 Sunday but was back down in the $113,000 range at press time.

Interestingly, the role of all this “crypto nonsense” is the focus of Peoplenomics Wednesday, so subscribers will have much to think about.

Cyber Target: Airports

We are frankly surprised that markets have taken the weekend cyber attacks on airport with such ease.  Sure you’re aware of the DFW/Love mess.  And elsewhere, too, as  Cyberattack at airport disrupts more flights across Europe.

Or SME on cyber (subject matter expert), in his “life after oak leaf clusters” is well-qualified to assess the state of airline data resilience…and it ain’t good:

“The airline industry is in chaos due to a compromise to its globally integrated MUSE travel system. But Wait! ‘Experts’ fear the attack is a prelude to “something bigger!”,  ‘Cyber attack’ that crippled major airports ‘could be test for something bigger’.

Any industry so heavily reliant upon secure cyber systems has an implicit obligation to rigorously and continuously conduct penetration testing on systems and interfaces. Levying intrusion detection software onto any enterprise-wide architecture is a formidable task, but solid and necessary next step to providing a secure and trustworthy information management system.

Other steps include establishing a reliable backup system, ready to take over for the short term in an emergency capacity if/when a compromise occurs, allowing operations to continue without significant interruption or system disruption. The backup system allows time for a system reboot without significant disruption to operations. Also, continuously applying reliable, updated intrusion detection tools can help to establish when an attack is occurring and what that attack is targeting.

OK, so the airlines have been nicked by cyber black hats. What other integrated, networked industries should we now expect to be targeted? Satcoms/Telecoms? Weather? Financials & Banking? The Internet/World Wide Web?

Strap Ure-selves in. I’m thinking it’s gonna be a wild ride!”

In our early-morning scenario-building ahead of Peoplenomics, one thing that strikes us is critical supply chains haven’t been sliced – yet.  Sorry about the late flights to Europe and all, but just how safe in the WORLD’S online financial system?  Or, the electricity that powers it? Or the food and pipelines… See in our work at the upper and lower expect boundaries, things could go “almost OK” or it could be the “shit hitting the fan” for humans.

More on that in Peoplenomics Wednesday.

Squibs and Dribs

(Which sounded slightly more refined that scribbles and dribbles…)

Trump’s new bropmance? Kim ready for talks if U.S. gives up denuclearization demand.

The crazies are still out and back: Patrons at New Hampshire shooting prevented worse tragedy, AG says .

The real estate war drags on in Gaza.  World summit to meet on two-state solution.  And really, so what? Sanctions on Israel unlikely to shift realities on the ground, says Vivian Balakrishnan.

“With friend like this, who needs enemies?” UK, Canada, Australia Offer Jews ‘High Holy Days’ Present by Recognizing Islamic Terror State Dedicated to Killing Jews. My consigliere says keep an eye on the growing balance of danger in Israel as this weekend Pakistan says its nuclear program available to Saudi Arabia under defense pact.

In the other real estate confrontation, UN human rights expert says Russia steps up repression to silence opposition to war in Ukraine. Which ramps a bit on word of Dramatic moment Ukraine destroys TWO of Putin’s prized amphibious war planes for the first time in latest major scalp.  Observer note: The Polish Seer fellow says Putin is considering the use of bioweapons in Eastern Europe to move residents out of Poland, so be watching for that escalation.  Which will sandwich with U.N. Security Council to meet on Russia’s incursion into Estonia airspace – UPI.com

Around the Ranch: Prepping While We Can

In case anyone asks?  A Square D outdoor service entrance panel came in two flavors when our old double-wider was dumped in the woods around 1990:  There was the Homeline version and the QO.  The difference?

• Homeline (HOM) – the budget line, introduced in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Uses aluminum bus bars in most versions, plug-on neutral designs in later ones, and breakers are a bit wider than the premium line. Very common in mobile homes and cost-sensitive installs.
• QO (for “Qwik-Open”) – the premium line. The “QO” stands for Quick Open, describing the patented trip mechanism. These breakers have the little orange trip indicator window and are generally regarded as more durable. They use copper bus bars in most panels and are often specified in higher-end residential and light commercial installs.

One of the breakers (50 Amp) feeding the shop sub panel was kicking out and screwing up my sellback of RE power (duh…when one leg trips…).

Now I can tell you two things with near-certainty.  Square D Homeline breakers have a 43-degree (or so) notch in the bottom.   While the QO breaks have a metal snap-on for the buss rail – so a snap on the  bottom and a snap on the top.

Also, I found Circuit Breaker Guys was cheaper than other online sources…now that I own both types of breakers…ahem…

After that little  soiree, I moved on to the toilet in the master bath and put in new guts.  A Korky QuietFILL 2X Long Life Toilet Fill Valve – Universal Fits 99% of Toilets ..  Which gets me to my newly invented hobby of tracking what long-lived products will really outlive me…  Easy install, less than 10-minutes and no need for the additional package of foul-language I’d brought just in case.

(Morbid?  Yeah, well, maybe.  I mean WTF….at least there’s a purpose to aging further, right?)

Then Sunday continued on to removing a mold spot in the guest bath ceiling…jeez do we know how to have fun around here, or what?  A more mellow and retrospective ShopTalk Sunday is here.

The Hot Times of Dr. John

Buddy of mine, who was the real-life doc for the (also real-life) Men Who Stare at Goats has an extremely admirable trait:  He walks his talk.  From a high dollar big-city top-of-the-heap practice now winding down somewhere semi-rural, Dr. John and his lovely have “stepped out of targeting packages” and are living happily ever after.  And making things.

Like this latest – which is an Extra Large 55-gallon drum based stove.

“My barrel oven with integral roof is complete. We got the first fire going and got it up to 700 degrees F to burn off the paint. We then closed the damper and let the fire go out. Five hours later, we heated up a loaf of bread with butter at 200….”

Really a nice design – and notice the ash door?  Attention to details like that matter.

That and the big overhangs which means this is an all-weather cooking tool.

Why I’m feeling so ambitious I may try to cobble one up myself.  Except for I’m not as ambitious or skilled as Dr. John.  A couple of bricks and a beer can is more my speed.

This reminds me of my friend Michael’s pizza oven he built (near his bocci ball court) out on his East Bay spread… Must be a kind of “real preparedness rite of passage” programmed down deep.  Remember last year? I put in that outdoor patio with a small coffee-making backpacking stove on it? For when I don’t want to fire up a rocket stove or sun oven?

Interesting this “low level-formatting of the prepper mind,,,”  seems to work. Ham radio, resilient energy, natural cooking sources….

OK, time to be go “Rock Monday” and our first roll will be a 1970’s John Mayall blue’s piece “Room to Move…”

Write when you burn out – plenty of time to sleep in the dirt…

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