TL;DR: “Federal jobs spin keeps markets swallowing anything, even marginal new highs. Trump headlines dominate, and a new frontier in mind amplification is emerging. The fog thickens—here’s what it means.”
Jobs Fog
Jethro Tull meets economics? Getting thick as a brick out there. Lackluster growth in the ADP numbers and the Challenger job cuts report overweighed it by 30-thousand. Think the fog is lifting? Uh…hell no.
We have the Establishment data and Household. The former pushes hype, the latter pushes voters.
“Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in August (+22,000) and has shown little change since April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. The unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, also changed little in August. A job gain in health care was partially offset by losses in federal government and in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction.
The market doesn’t know what to think: Dow dropped 150 on news crossing but the NASDAQ held – that’s what hope will buy you.
In the BLS database?
We will leave it to you for discernment. (And watch for more witch hunting at BLS. “Examples must be made!”
Markets: MNH – Walking Resistance
Basics first: When a market price trend is moving in a direction and runs into a trend line – then stops – it’s called resistance. If the trend slope it up, it’s “overhead resistance.” If the trend is down, the lower trend line become “support.”
Second: MNH means marginal new high. Yes, a new high-water mark for our Aggregate index work – and we’ll go over the 1929 implications on the Peoplenomics side tomorrow. But as you can see at a glance here, we are at a marginally newer high walking resistance higher. For how long? Color us skeptical but that’s what charts are for…
Maybe the best tool in the inventory in this kind of market (seemingly peaking, doing a “slow-over”) would be Bollinger Bands. These plots a moving average with an upper and lower band set at a chosen number of standard deviations. They help traders spot volatility and potential price reversals when prices touch or move outside the bands. Since the rate of rise has tempered a bit, will be watching the Bollinger bands for the break higher (or lower) from here. (Remember: gold and silver are screaming inflation now. Assets (like companies, plant, and equipment) are also subject to inflationary repricing so crazy as it sounds, unless we collapse in a heap into the close today, the mania might drag on.
The Trump Tribune
Ready for some serious work on your Junior News Editor Badge?
Here’s today’s roll through the one-word news search:
Surely there’s something else going on? I mean besides the rate roll on the 17th after lunch?
BRICS Tabloid?
Why, I’m so old, I remember when Community Ascertainment and the Equal Time rules actually meant something in broadcasting. With this spirit of “friendly cooperation” in mind, let’s see what the BRICS bonkers are up to…
“Say what???”
Oh yeah: Jesse Owens 1936 refers to his historic performance at the Berlin Olympics, where he won four gold medals in track and field, defying Nazi racial ideology on a world stage. In our study of history the events are likely to “waffle either side of the wave.” Replay and rhymes…
China is just sizing up our economic growth models and seeing what Pro Sports could build:
League-level revenue breakdown (approximate):
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NFL: ~$16.9 billion
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MLB: ~$10.7 billion
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NBA: ~$8.8 billion
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NHL: ~$6.8 billion
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MLS: ~$2.0 billion
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Adds up to more than lunch money.
Scrollerific!
Breaking up is hard to do, but if it does? Debris in our backyard isn’t off the table: 3I/ATLAS is Now Headed Toward Mars, as Mystery Surrounding Interstellar Visitor Grows.
While the “thought controlled US media” won’t report which American cities now feature calls to prayer 5 times a day, we thought this was interesting, too: Attorney Amsterdam Declares Christians Under Attack All Over The World. Never see it on the MSM though, huh?
Vance talks to power: Vance Blasts Democrat Senators: “You’re Full Of Shit” Look up how much money Big Pharma gave to senator Warren – RFK Jr did…
Hazards for Hank’s Hawai’ian Hunker
Long-time reader Hank is ready…as hurricane Kiko heads west toward the land of Maui Wowie…
Ah sho-u – Hank will survive as a Kiko-man….(Japanese gourmet cooking humor…I gotta change brands…)
Around the Ranch: Mind Amplifiers is Coming
When I look around the world with that “old newsman’s eye” the question in mind is “Where is the Compression?”
Compression? Yeah – what are the domains, aspects, and attributes of Life characterized by “not enough to go around” which – in turn – will drive change?
See, the future is a slippery best. hard to get a saddle on. But so far in life, I’ve been able to see a number of “change ponies” coming – which let me saddle up and ride. That’s how I did some of the first-ever wireless data over radio in 1982. That’s how we spotted gold at $273 in 2001 (it’s still hovering in the $3,600 range today. It’s how UrbanSurvival in 1998 was founded on the notion that as population increased, the need to prep would become an overwhelming “new thing”. Because you just can’t trust 8-billion people. That’s a huge herd and you want to be in front of – not run over by it – which mandates “one step ahead.”
Here lately, a “new pony to ride” has come into view. The way I figure it, when global population begins to unwind, there will be too much supply of just bout everything. Robotics, networks, made-up money, and gobs and bushel baskets of AI. Which leaves what?
7-billion people all trying to build their most powerful brains.
Thanks to some mastery of AI (see our Hidden Guild website) the tools are now in hand to carve out a lot of new ways of “thinking about thinking.”
As luck would have it, this is an expansive meta-field. Bigger than prepping. All of which will come into view first on our Peoplenomics.com website ($40/yr) and then after a “cooling off period” at least some of that will roll over onto the new Mind Amplifiers website. The first serious overview article may be ready as early as next Wednesday.
Wanted to mention this because a lot of people use the term “brain” and “mind” interchangeably. They are not. The brain – which runs around 2-3 percent of body weight, is a body organ made up[ of 20-25 percent of your total onboard cholesterol. When docs tried to explain to me how statins would be “good for me” I asked them to explain how lowering statins doesn’t also risk reducing the brain in the long haul. Never got a good answer to that one.
Anyway, to wrap the point: the brain is a gob of cells and cholesterol, the mind is where the “three voices” duke it out to run your life. Because, if you hadn’t figured it, a lot of religious traditions are all about “mind amplification” and a Trinity (to approach The Dude/GATU/God/Universe) may be useful employed as an operating system. Or, for the science literalists, a Freudian Id, Super Id, and Ego. (Care to guess which one has runaway on social media?)
“So you ride yourselves over the fieldsAnd you make all your animal dealsAnd your wise men don’t know how it feelsTo be thick as a brick, yeah…”
Same old human cycle, only this time with AI riding shotgun. Which is why I say: we’ll need every Mind Amplifier we can muster.
An Open Mind Lesson: Pay Off
As a passable newsman, I always made it a point to “keep an open mind” when there was even a slight chance of someone’s innocence. Society comes with an onboard “Give ’em a fair trial, then hang ’em” function. You have to fight that – see the contradiction – and steer the ethical path.
It often pays off in surprising ways. A number of stoutly conservative readers have called for me to ban a particular commenter who uses the moniker “truth” in his remarks. I’ve resisted because as a “mind amplifier” practitioner, I have come to believe at everyone we meet in life, every circumstance that presents itself brings with it both learning and lessons. Even if you don’t like them, they are still lessons to learn.
This morning. “truth” brought me a present. I deeply appreciate it, too.
Nothing ornate to the casual eye, but a gift good as gold to the seeker after a “perfect life.”
Oh – the word? Moxabustion. (How I could be so limited as to not have previously stumbled into this would fill a book. Nevertheless, everything in life is a gift and lesson.)
Here’s their low-down on “moxabustion.”
Moxibustion is a Traditional Chinese Medicine therapy that uses heat from burning dried mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) to stimulate acupuncture points and meridians. It can be done directly with small cones on the skin (riskier) or indirectly by holding a lit stick close or placing it on an acupuncture needle. The purpose is to warm, move Qi, and improve circulation.
Benefits claimed in TCM include boosting Yang energy, helping chronic cold or fatigue, warming meridians to ease pain and stiffness, supporting digestion, and assisting with gynecological issues like breech pregnancy. Western studies show some evidence it helps turn breech babies, may reduce arthritis or back pain, and can modulate immune activity, though research quality varies.
Risks include burns, smoke inhalation, and contraindications in pregnancy (except supervised breech therapy) or inflamed areas. Smokeless moxa sticks exist for cleaner use.
In short, it is acupuncture’s heat cousin: a warming therapy with some supportive evidence but mostly traditional practice.
This all ties back to my extensive readings on qi and other aspects of TCM. But I wanted to share it as a lesson in how picturing your thoughts can sometime pay very nice dividends – if you look at Life as a “School for Souls.”
Three-quarters of a century it, that seems to be the best bet in the house.
Lady of the Rake
Until about this time Thursday, there was a 60-foot elm tree in our front yard. two determined hours later, after getting the big 60V electric chainsaw stuck twice (and having to cut it out with the 24V chainsaw – which is why you always bring two saws to an event like this) the deed was done.
As the sun comes up today, there’s still some finishing work to do:
My neighbor/buddy up the hill has a 46 HP Kubota with a stump grinder on it. When we both get (coinciding) time, he will bring the rig down, grind it about 3-inches under dirt. Then a sack or two of store-bought soil will be tossed in (look for outdoor furniture deals, too, at this time of year). By next spring, you might never know the tree was there.
Back in my PNW days, over at Lake Chelan, right near the home of a retired rock n’ roll radio buddy, there used to be a “Lady of the Lake” boat that would run up and down the lake (which is 50.5 miles long), Elaine remembers it, too. So for her role in the clean-up, she’s now the Lady of the Rake.
AI – which I use for tracking workouts like this (115/54 pulse 124 ending) – suggested we turn this into a new fitness program. Write a book – and use a “book tour” to (ostensibly) do some big city tourism.
Two beers into the afternoon, it almost made sense. But not quite…
A Great Job?
I didn’t know this going into it, but 100 percent of the “tips” for Walmart home delivery go to their grocery delivery drivers. Used the service for the first time Friday (I usually made the supply runs.)
Very cool that the working mom with three kids she’s supporting could make reasonable money delivering groceries. Our “driver tip” was $27. That begins to pencil-out.
But here’s the useful part to us: If you do as “scheduled pickup” the carry out crew will do the grocery picking for you. But if you select the “expedited/hurry up” option, your driver will pick and deliver.
You can see where this goes, right? Get a good working relationship with the driver (you can add notes to the driver on home delivery) and everybody wins. Good tips to the driver, better picking (because it’s on the spot, not picked early before things like the days breads and veggies have been parceled out…) So super fresh food and not going into town. We have enough to keep us busy here…
OK, off to the weekend – no idea about ShopTalk Sunday…but drop by then and we’ll see where the dart lands…
Write when you get rich,
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