December 2023 Thread

[joecool]

Good conversations lately on RChat. Please consider registering (it's not hard) and making your thoughts known. Iron sharpens iron. Left alone, it starts to rust.

Reminds me of a joke from my years in a certain Washington big city. "Seattle-ites don't tan. They rust."

[Claymore]

I was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas for 4 years, and got to be on the Fort Hood Freefall Parachute Team.

We went to Washington State to do a series of exhibition jumps at the Hydroplane races on the Columbia River. On the way there, we stopped at Fort Lewis, to jump with the folks there.

Regular minimum parachute opening altitude was 2,500 feet, unless you held a higher rated parachute license (which we all did). So as we were in the UH-1 helicopter, climbing to altitude, everyone cheered when we got up to 2,000 feet.

Well, #1. Having come from Texas, I never saw anyone get so excited about having 2,000 feet of visibility, and #2. You had to have a pretty good imagination to say that we DID have a clear view of the ground from that height.

[ccm2361]

Decent weather for December in Michigan. It was pretty cold early this week ,but not bad now.

How is everyone?

[RRCmdrBennett]

I’m BAAAAACK! Blame Chris it’s his fault!

Last week had a blizzard through ne Ohio into PA NY caused delays for me trucking. In North Carolina at the moment very nice here.

[ccm2361]

About time you showed up!

[RRCmdrBennett]

About time you showed up!

I had to comeback to keep my title of top poster and pain in the neck! I see Joecool is nipping at my heels!

[Claymore]

Somebody rattled the Wolverine Cage.

Now, one of us is going to be missing a finger.

[joecool]

Ain't this just like the good ol' days? The only person not here is Phillip. (And the other 110 guys who are missing all the fun. Come on in, Rangers, the water's fine!)

[Claymore]

I just sent Phillip a message, 2 days ago, asking if he was still breathing.

No answer, yet.

[joecool]

My wife called to tell me that a station nearby is selling gas for $2.99 a gallon. That's the first time it's been under $3 for two and a half years. Whenever she gets excited about the lowering price, I tell her there's a reason for it, and it's not good. We're no longer energy-independent, and because of poor policy decisions, we won't be again. We import a significant amount of our energy from other countries, even from "bad actors."

The list of factors goes on and on, but it boils down to one thing. The world's economies are quickly slowing down. Less demand for energy drives prices down. Our government is still spending non-existent money. Treasury bill interest rates are headed for the stratosphere, because buyers are loathe to trust US. We are headed for a bad recession, and all the pResident's executive orders and all the politicians' words (D or R) can't stop it.

[joecool]

Kevin Sorbo is coming to our corner of Montana. He's a long-time actor who, for the last 20 years or so, has been making Christian movies. I like his witness and his outspoken love for the Lord. He will be helping a Christian school to raise money for a new campus.

[RRCmdrBennett]

I just sent Phillip a message, 2 days ago, asking if he was still breathing.

No answer, yet.  

Philip is breathing at least on facebook

[RRCmdrBennett]

My wife called to tell me that a station nearby is selling gas for $2.99 a gallon. That's the first time it's been under $3 for two and a half years. Whenever she gets excited about the lowering price, I tell her there's a reason for it, and it's not good. We're no longer energy-independent, and because of poor policy decisions, we won't be again. We import a significant amount of our energy from other countries, even from "bad actors."

The list of factors goes on and on, but it boils down to one thing. The world's economies are quickly slowing down. Less demand for energy drives prices down. Our government is still spending non-existent money. Treasury bill interest rates are headed for the stratosphere, because buyers are loathe to trust US. We are headed for a bad recession, and all the pResident's executive orders and all the politicians' words (D or R) can't stop it.

As one that follows the markets there is strong indications of a possible centralized BRICS gold backed CBDC. New nations including Iran and Saudi Arabia will be in BRICS January 2024. Saudi’s have partially broken the petro dollar agreement by accepting Chinese Yuan for oil on the Shanghai exchange. The world is dedollarizing. If we lose world reserve currency status and lose the petro dollar those dollars flood back here…USA is artificially wealthy on paper. A rude awakening is coming unless you’re prepared with physical assets like precious metals and crypto with real world utility use case.

[ccm2361]

Had a potluck at church, man thats good eatin.

[Claymore]

Had a potluck at church, man thats good eatin.  

Back in Milwaukee, I approached my pastor and said, "You know, you preach on a variety of sins, and that's good. But I noticed that you've never preached on Gluttony, and I noticed that, from the size of many folks in the congregation, maybe we could use some enlightenment....".

He replied, "Do you want me to lose my job?".

[ccm2361]

Had a potluck at church, man thats good eatin.  

Back in Milwaukee,  I approached my pastor and said, "You know, you preach on a variety of sins, and that's good.  But I noticed that you've never preached on Gluttony, and I noticed that, from the size of many folks in the congregation, maybe we could use some enlightenment....".

He replied, "Do you want me to lose my job?".

Not surprising

[Phillip Gross]

I just sent Phillip a message, 2 days ago, asking if he was still breathing.

No answer, yet.  

Yeah, sorry about that...  Life has been busy lately. Trying to keep a business afloat in this economy is interesting to say the least.

But in the arena of good news, I have a new daughter! Phillip Jr got married on October 7th (yes the day the middle east blew up again). Life doesn't slow down a bit, so enjoy what you can every day.

[Claymore]

[Claymore]

Well, Hoo-Ray!

This was such big news that I got a personal message from JoeCool.

I am glad to hear that you are still out there.

When you said that you got a new daughter, I thought that you meant that you were going to have to pull out the little-bitty racing motorcycles, again..........

[Phillip Gross]

... I thought that you meant that you were going to have to pull out the little-bitty racing motorcycles, again..........

I'm sure I will one day, but hopefully not TOO soon. They're both young, especially compared to the age that most people get married these days. I am supportive of journeying through life with someone else vs the idea that you have to have everything established before you can marry, but I openly advise taking their time before bringing dependents into the picture. Struggling through building a life with a willing accomplice is one thing, but don't create an innocent bystander.

[Phillip Gross]

Spent a little time reading back through some of my prose from a decade ago in old threads. Where did I find the energy to be so long winded?

[ccm2361]

Nice to see you back Phillp

[Claymore]

Spent a little time reading back through some of my prose from a decade ago in old threads. Where did I find the energy to be so long winded?

Oh...............

You had some pretty good wisdom............. for being such a young pup!

[Phillip Gross]

Nice to see you back Phillp

When a SF operative comes calling, you tend to get in line!

[Claymore]

Nice to see you back Phillp

When a SF operative comes calling, you tend to get in line!

Yeah, I'm like Santa Claus, I know where you live!

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