TL;DR: Markets look for footing after the Thursday slide. Gold’s holding over $4,000 on futures and Bitcoins wobbling $121,000 to $122,000. Fortunately, we solved a scanner problem and look to steal music from past lives.  Yeah…it’s interesting, alright. Just not conventional.

Markets: So Far, So Good

We laid out the “expected path” of how the balance of the year could roll for our Peoplenomics subscribers Wednesday.  Out here in the cheap seats, you don’t get the whole game.  But the next play due is a waffle and pause to be followed by a jaw-dropper blow-off into Tuesday, October 21, 2025. (By our reckoning, though not advice.)

Why then?  Well, back in ’79 my consigliere noticed an oddity separate and distinct from the Puetz moon cycle and eclipse work.  I know, “The What?”

Steve Puetz is one of those guys who saw a rhythm most people miss. He didn’t claim eclipses cause markets to collapse, only that the big emotional unwinds — the panics, the freefalls — tend to cluster in a repeating kind of sky-clock pattern.

The basic idea goes like this: when a full moon lands within about six weeks of a solar eclipse, you open what’s called a Puetz Crash Window. Inside that window, the most common danger zone is roughly six days before to three days after the full moon itself. Historically, a surprising number of the worst breaks show up right there — tulip mania, 1929, 1987, dot-com bust, the usual rogues’ gallery.

Puetz’s argument isn’t cosmic hocus-pocus. It’s behavioral. Investor mood swings are timing systems in their own right. A full moon or eclipse doesn’t move the Dow; it just happens to mark moments when collective tension flips polarity — greed to fear, expansion to contraction. The moon becomes a handy timestamp for when the herd mind is ripe for reversal.

The value in his work isn’t prediction, it’s focus. Mark the window and stay alert. If everything else — valuations, yield curves, volume divergences — is already twitching, and a Puetz window opens, you don’t go all-in on new longs. You get defensive, tighten stops, or at least keep the powder dry until the air clears.

Skeptics will point out there are misses and false alarms, and they’re right. Not every window crashes. But enough of them line up that it’s worth a yellow sticky on the calendar. It’s not about the moon. It’s about mass psychology under lunar lighting.

Now think about this:  6 weeks from the partial eclipse September 21 this year is when?  November 2…

So we use it the way pilots use weather radar. Not gospel, just guidance. A Puetz window doesn’t predict the storm, it reminds you to look up from the panel and make sure the wings are still level.

“Your C-guy does New Moon Dates…”

That’s where my consigliere‘s work and Puetz don’t exactly agree.  Puetz has a larger framing construct. My consigliere (more of a Joni Patry fan) likes to focus on her…er….Vedic astrology.

Point is, New Moons have been [seemingly] operative in big bend-o’s like 1929.  And crashes cycle in that 55-57 day following period.  The part to be very afraid?  Going from memory (increasingly risky, here lately) the Puetz Window is six weeks wide.  Two new moons, if I have done the math right.

We won’t spoil what we think happens after that but just suppose – wild and irresponsible (but not enough to be a national network) we hit a high on the 21st. This pencils out to December 15th. That’s a Monday – you may want to put in for the day off.  Loading dose of Orville at the ready and two half racks of….market juice?

See market juice is what’s going on now.  Fed’s liquefying to save CRE.  My consigliere notes Class B and C is already dropping 70 percent (depends on property and market, of course).  While a few “trophy properties” (e.g. Trump Tower) aren’t getting cheaper, most are.  A lot cheaper.

Now we can scan the headlines of the day intelligently. Most of it’s useless hokum. But the big stuff?  Gotta over weight on that.

New Moon in the Middle

We’re pretty sure the government will be back to work first week of November.  All the financial reports will be hurriedly shoved out.  But the inflation data (where we expect the reality of the now-denied tariff is a tax) will leak bigly and obviously into data.  *(I could be wrong, but frankly, that’s unthinkable.)

Therefore, pencil November 19, 2025:  That’s when the down button will be lit – or not.

Fall hunting seasons in the eastern states stack up just right for my theory. Most archery seasons open in mid-September and roll through November. Firearms seasons hit their stride around Thanksgiving, and a lot of states add muzzleloader or late antlerless hunts that run right up to the first week or two of January. Fall turkey comes in October, small game runs long, and in a few places they stretch deer or bear seasons deep into winter.

Which is why I figure if the shutdown drags on, a fair number of federal folks will simply disappear into the woods. Archery now, gun later, muzzleloader after that. They’ll get a long string of crisp mornings out there chasing venison, maybe fill a freezer or two, and when it’s all over they’ll still collect back pay for the time they “sacrificed.”

Calendar Poker

The calendar makes it possible. Mid-September through New Year’s covers nearly every major hunt window east of the Mississippi. If Washington gridlock holds, the timing’s perfect for the great government-funded hunting vacation of 2025.

There’s always compromise in politics and government.  Back to work first week of November would be just too perfect a demonstration of the almighty ontology’s sense of wryrony to be ignored.

As we count antlers: Smithsonians, National Zoo Closing to Visitors on Sunday, and the sideshow continues on the Hill as the hide-the-sausage continues. The shutdown is poised to deepen hunger in America — just as the Trump administration stopped tracking it.  (Don’t ask, don’t tell.)  (Oh, and don’t visit Tehran.)

Can He Really Do THAT?

Who?  You mean the shy, retiring, quiet mellow fellow in D.C.?

Are we talking about:Trump guaranteed Gaza ceasefire would hold in Israel-Hamas talks?

Or, are we talking about Grand jury indicts N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump opponent, on bank fraud charges?  Naw – to be clear, a grand jury did that.  Still, there’s that ham sandwich quote to keep in mind.  [Too old a reference? The line is from Sol Wachtler, former Chief Judge of New York’s Court of Appeals, in 1985. He said that “district attorneys now have so much influence on grand juries that, by and large, they could get them to indict a ham sandwich.” – that was a State Court, not the Federal system.  But if the foo shits…]

Meanwhile, up in Blow Town The Windy City follies, a US judge orders Department of Homeland Security agents to stop targeting journalists in Chicago.  There’s a certain “perspective” a reporter gets after being gassed on the steps of a federal courthouse.  Got the T-shirt.

Nobel Judges Get it Wrong

Think I’m talking about Der Trump not getting the Nobel Prize?  ‘Next year, let’s see’: Readers weigh in as Trump misses out on Nobel Peace Prize.  Heavens no!

I didn’t get it…that’s what they got wrong.  Economics or my books… However, I’m OK with that. A prize based on dynamite (and war profits) isn’t exactly, um…

The Philippines Quake Oddity

Normally, when I get super serious Earthquake Tireds, the major quake is quicker.  Turns out this one took a whole week.  Not following? OK…wayback machine time.

Last Thursday we wrote: 3I/BLAH, EQ Tireds, GovDown’s Auto-Bubble, Priming the Future UrbanSurvival — Replaying 1929.  The Earthquake Tireds.

Now to the data center, please. Strong 7.4 magnitude quake strikes off Philippines, tsunami warnings lifted.

What we’re starting to (informally, I ain’t no Mercalli) is noticing the depth.  Are the EQ tireds more in advance – a week this time – when they are coming in deeper?  Inquiring minds…have the shakes!

Only in Peru

There are lots of nations where I don’t understand “the people.”  Italy?  No…not too incomprehensible.  Yemen?  Now you’re getting it.  But how about Peru?  Peru’s congress impeaches President Dina Boluarte – UPI.com.

Granted, I haven’t been in Peru for 41-years.  But when I was last there, people were having a hard time adopting tech.  In fact, the pricing of television antennas (back in over-the-air days) was based on the color of anodizing on the aluminum. ISYN.  A red antenna commanded the highest price for its bull (no snickers, please) association.  Green and blue antennas were considerably cheaper.  The salespeople were convinced it mattered.

Now you fast forward to the presidential follies in Lima now.  She-prez the ex had dropped to a 4 percent approval rating (sobering thought for dems here, no?) before getting kicked out.

Maybe it’s systemic?  Something about paradigm adoption rates.  People who read Urban tend to be early adopters of everything.  Peru?  Well, maybe someone’s got to own the backside of the distribution, know what I’m saying?

Around the Ranch: My Plan to ‘Steal Music’

Follow-up First: Scanner Salvation!

Hallelujah!  Reader MarcR has saved us all.

In the comments in response to our ‘scanner whine’ Thursday, he revealed this:

“George et al.: VueScan has saved the functionality of an old Fujitsu and my current Canon page scanner. I use a Mac but it is also available for Windows. Reviewers grouse about bugs every time it is upgraded but I have never had issues. A demo version is available. I use the “pro” which offers (or at least did when I bought) perpetual upgrades.”

Wow.  Not sure what Marc did in Life to be the revealer of such momentous Truth, but it’s all in keeping with helping the planet begin to “make the turn” to something more sustainable.

Now Let’s Steal Music

Listen up. I need your help as an old man who’s planning to ‘steal’ music.  Yeah, you heard me.

“Say what?”

Let me back up. I can string a sentence together, fly a single-engine cross-country, and retire not owing anyone a dime. Health is good, married to a one-time Playboy server turned ranch boss with thirty acres of East Texas dirt underfoot. No complaints.

In a waking life review? Sailed eleven years as a liveaboard, from Haida Gwaii to Mexican waters. Survived a million-dollar divorce, wrote a few books, and have built a dandy life. But one itch remains unfilled.

I noticed it when I pulled out Elaine’s electric violin Thursday. It hadn’t been touched in several years. Still had charge in the tuner and the phone amp. She smiled as I tuned it up, cranky pegs and all. At that instant, the itch kicked in.

I’ve been around music my whole life. Never a “front man.”  Back in Seattle as a kid – when Quincy Jones’s brother was around, when Hendrix still echoed through the halls of Garfield, I got hooked on music. The old Jim Wilke jazz show on Classic KING-FM was one of the on-ramps.

My 7th grade piano teacher was coincidentally named Elaine Shimamura. Eventually, she gave up trying to turn me into a player. My left hand could hold a chord, the right could play a tune, but never both at once. Like there was a border war running down my spine. More divided than Congress.

Watching ranch Elaine smile over that violin, bow wobbling but determined, the itch was back in force.

We’ve got a modest home studio here—Presonus 16.0.2 board, a decent snake, a good mic locker. I’ve used it for hobby recording and the occasional experiment in acoustical domain wall tinkering. That’s another story. For now, it’s the itch that matters.

I Need Your Help

I need to hack George and I have a plan.  You are the sounding board.

I’ve spent enough time in the Woo-Woo Realms to know I’ve lived more than one life. This one’s been good, but it isn’t the whole story. I wrote about it last year in Past Life Regression Firsthand UrbanSurvival — Replaying 1929. It left me thinking hard – two years now – about what could be brought back—skills, languages, the stuff that once came easy. In a different Life.

What if we could pull a few of those abilities over? Into this Life? I don’t need to smash drums anymore. Got that part down. What I’d like is to play something real. Something different than swinging a hammer…

Since those regression sessions, I’ve wondered whether it’s possible to reach back deep enough to recover a real skill —something a past version of me mastered and shelved.

Project ideal outcome?  Do a past life regression and return to waking with fluency in a new language and genuine musical competence on a new instrument.

For those wondering, the regression I did happened right here in the office. A hundred-buck online course—The 14-Day Past Life Regression Adventure—ran through TUT.com.  (Short for “The Universe Talks”.) Nothing spooky, just guided imagination and memory work. I plan to do another run soon.

Once you’ve done regression, this waking life gets more fun. It’s like remembering the previous day after a hangover: “Holy crap, I’m back in school.”

So yes, I want to go back in, see what fragments of music, math, or language are still stored in the basement archives, and bring them forward. It might sound strange, but after decades decoding signals—from radio waves to market noise—music feels like another modulation waiting to be tuned in. Peoplenomics readers will remember our “Music of the Market” research.

Sidebar: So far as I know, I invented the whole notion of transformation of market price and volume information (individually as at indices) into musical content.  Here’s what a declining volume run sounded like back when I did my original research in 2003 was it? You could, using software assign instruments and key styles, too – set tempo – the whole thing.

This derived music, by the way, is why I wrote my book Broken Web in 2012.  Because even then it was becoming clear that native MIDI files (which came out of the translation path from market number to spreadsheet transforms into AMugen (A Music Generator) and then into an early DAW) could trigger malicious code… which is why these are MP3s instead of native MIDI… for the geeks. So went life before it was “sonification” back when it was “fun lab shit” in 2002-2003.

That’s the bridge. Music isn’t just music.  It’s part of the whole Ontology; beholding and appreciating “IT” all.

We’ll still garden, write, and build things in the shop. That won’t change. But this music-jacking idea? It would be the frosting. How cool would it be if average  people could “plug in” to that PhD genius-within from a previous life.  Think of the savings in “education” and the lower taxes…ah, spitballing…

If you have ideas for capture and transport—ways to pull memory or skill across dream or regression boundaries—I’d love to hear them. I’ve thought about turning vivid dreams into melody lines, but there’s always been a “signal loss” between domains.

It’s like, well, have you ever tried to remember a taste from a dream? Tough. Maybe impossible.

That’s what’s new on The List now: Steal Music from a previous lifetime.

Because if we can steal that, who knows how many other problems we could solve the same way.

Ideas welcome. Member FDIC (A Farther Dimensions Inspired Character.)

Looking Ahead?

We try once in a while.

• Peoplenomics tomorrow focuses mainly on the ChartPack. Liquefaction to save Commercial Real Estate (CRE) has leaked and it’s spilling green all over the place. Until it doesn’t.
• ShopTalk Sunday (you figure out when) is a very long and deep dive into weak signals.
• And the Friday dinner today?  Rich Man’s Soup.

Which I should explain.  See, when you’re new to the planet – maybe haven’t figured all the angles, yet – it’s easy to dream of untold wealth.  “I’ll have filet mignon every night!” you tell yourself.

First timer? Hit the Visitor Center.

Trust me – it gets old.

In fact, the palate broadens and the real Joy of Cooking shows up. Like in our old Saturday Gourmet columns.

That’s why tonight, a small head of cabbage, pound of lean ground beef, some “use ’em or lose ’em” mushrooms, an onion or two, can of diced tomatoes, slice or two of green pepper, chicken broth… It may not sound like high-end eats.

But it tastes like a million bucks.  And it underscores the old saying in Forbes.  “With all your getting, get wisdom.”

Write when C’s sharp,

[email protected]