US Gasoline Demand Remains Strong; Price Of Gasoline Continues To Fall; Thursday, September 15, 2016

Apple sells out of iPhone 7 Plus and the jet black iPhone. Those must all be pre-orders, on-line orders. I did not think the new iPhones would be available in stores until Friday (tomorrow). Yes, that is correct. Here's the update, courtesy of Macrumors:

Apple has issued a statement to a number of press outlets including TechCrunch, indicating that all models of the iPhone 7 Plus as well as the Jet Black iPhone 7 have completely sold out ahead of Friday's launch and will not be available at Apple's retail stores. The announcement will help those who had hoped to purchase one of those models on a walk-in basis on Friday plan appropriately.

Even for Apple, this is unprecedented. Apple shares are up another 3% today.

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Subtle but real: US gasoline demand.

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Another Geico Rock Nominee
The Unplanned Reason Apple's iPhone 7 Could Be A Hit

From Yahoo!Finance: 

“Samsung’s challenges should benefit Apple,” RBC analyst Amit Daryanani said. ”Given the backdrop of subdued expectations for the iPhone 7, we think there is potential for Apple to surprise on the upside given share gain potential.”

This was a given about a week ago. Good to see Amit is on top of things.  

There is no category for "tech" for the annual Geico Rock Award, so Amit won't be formally nominated for the award.

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The Market

Mid-day trading: after several horrendous days, the bleeding has stopped. Over-reaction to talk about the Fed raising rates. Oil well below $45 now, about $43. Dow 30 up 115 points. Hard to get new highs after the past few days. NYSE:

• new highs: 32
• new lows: 15 

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Evolution
A Note For The Granddaughters

From an earlier post today: 

Oldest fossils in Greenland (stromatolites) pushes origin of life on earth back to 3.7 billion years ago. Previously, origin of life was estimated to be between about 2 billion and 1 billion years ago (John Hands, CosmoSapiens, c. 2015, p. 286).

From this blog:

• Prokaryocyte + protobacterium = eukaryocyte with mitochondria, iron (Fe) as the key element
• prokaryocyte + cyanobacterium (stromatolite) = eukaryocyte with chloroplast = green algae, the direct ancestor of all living plants, magnesium (Mg) as the key element

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Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution

Nathaniel Philbrick

c. 2016

DDS: 973.4 PHI

Chapter 5

The Dark Eagle 

Recap:

• Benedict Arnold's resignation not approved; told to report to Washington's HQ in Morristown, NJ
• Benedict Arnold had just tried to take on the Brits in his home state, Connecticut; relatively unsuccessful but considered a hero just the same
• Brits appear headed to Albany; panic in Continental Congress

This chapter:

• in this chapter, there will be a back-and-forth between Geo Washington/Howe in New Jersey; and, the fights going on Lake Champlain and Fort Ticonderoga, again
• Indians get involved
• the two "theaters" are going on simultaneously

Initial: 

• Lake Champlain / Fort Ticonderoga: Benedict Arnold / 
• Burgoyne (Brits) easily retake Fort Ticonderoga; but get tied up in swamp on way south to Skenesborough
• meanwhile the Brits advancing on Fort Stanwix at the headwaters of the Mohawk River

• New Jersey: Washington / Howe
• Howe could not support Burgoyne (Lake Champlain) and go after Washington; he had to do one of the other; decided to go after Washington; thought he could end war once and for all by destroying Washington's army
• Army Howe would use Navy Howe to get from NYC down to Delaware Bay / Cape May, and then farther south to Cape Charles at southern tip of Maryland, and then sail up Chesapeake Bay
• the goal: to take Philadelphia, the rebel capital

Execution of plans:

• Lake Champlain / Fort Ticonderoga: Benedict Arnold / 

• Americans are desperate at Fort Edward just south of Lake Champlain
• Schuyler and Arnold attempt to relieve Fort Edward
• then the Indian story; two women killed; one scalped, Jane McCrea; after French and Indian War, the colonists did not want to relive that war again, and there was a mass enlistment of colonists to take on the Brits and the Indians; McCrea became a permanent fixture in folklore of American Revolution
• Arnold gives Washington a suggestion: recruit Colonel Morgan's sharpshooters (which Washington did)
• with the abandonment of Fort Ticonderoga, the shift was to Fort Stanwix; Colonel Peter Gansevoort becomes a national hero
• John Stark story; major factor in American successes up north
• most Indians had sided with the Brits, but not the Oneida; Americans use that to their advantage
• Fort Stanwix holds; Gansevoort hero for life

• Maryland: Washington / Howe

• August 30, 1777: Howe arrives at Head of Elk, MD, not far from Philadelphia; Brandywine River between Chesapeake Bay and Philadelphia
• Washington posts his army on eastern side of Brandywine River, Chadds Ford
• Washington again "outgeneraled" and lost the opportunity to destroy Howe at the Battle of Brandywine
• 20-y/o Marquis de Lafayette wounded, taken off battlefield; Washington's army in full retreat

Bottom line:

• Washington still not particularly successful against Howe
• Benedict Arnold doing well in the north