The Invisible War -- Not a Bakken Story -- And This Is Why I Love To Blog

Until this New York Times story today, I had forgotten "we" were still in Afghanistan. Did anyone else remember? Did anyone else catch the fact that in addition to the surge of troops recently sent to Afghanistan, it was quietly announced that another 1,400 US Marines were being deployed? So quietly announced, it didn't even make the Drudge Report.

Remember all the stories about photographs of the flag-draped caskets? The media wanted those photographs to be published during one administration; once they got that permission, the photographs weren't shown during the new administration.

Did anyone catch the fact that our troops are still in Iraq, and "our" nemesis, who was exiled in Iran, has now returned to Iraq? Was it last year or this year that all combat forces were going to be out of Iraq?

I had to laugh the other night watching Gary Sinise on one of the late shows. He is a true patriot. Visits the troops in Iraq. Founded Operation Iraqi Children (www.operationiraqichildren.org) in early 2004. When asked about Iraq, the host mentioned that it must be dangerous. Gary replied, something to the effect, "yeah, I can't believe all the guns." The host replied, "well, that's war." Something tells me the US still has "combat" troops in Iraq. Just saying.

It is absolutely amazing how the media selectively reports based on who is in the White House.


Crime Story, Gary Sinise



Afghanisn, Gary Sinise



Saddam's Palace, Gary Sinise



Crime Story, Runaway, Del Shannon

The Multiplier Effect -- Not a Bakken Story

Economic impact of various "industries" is determined by using a "multiplier effect," which in high school and college laboratories, students always refer to as "fudge factors" to get the answers the teacher or the professor wants.

I guess they do the same in the "real world" as noted by the aforementioned "multiplier effect."

The story is too complicated for me to summarize, so I will simply link it for those interested.

But the bottom line is that for every dollar the state or the federal government spent (with tax dollars) in various enterprises, there is a "multiplier effect" with regard to how much is returned to society.

A multiplier simply measures the number of times the money recirculates within an area’s economy before leaving into another area’s economy, according to the story.

For the university system, that multiplier turned out to be about 2.94, which is to say the system spent $1 billion in state and non-state funds and had an impact of $2.95 billion (There’s rounding involved, which is why it’s a bit off.). UND had a multiplier of 2.95 and NDSU 2.92.

For the North Dakota university system, the multiplier effect is a "whopping" 2.94.
For North Dakota retail: 2.09
For North Dakota agriculture: 3.69
For North Dakota oil industry:1.92


It's my understanding the report was commissioned and paid for by one of the universities.

Sugar Beet Waste Water Appears To Be Bigger Problem Than ... Not a Bakken Story

Had this been an oil spill, it would have been an international story. But sugar beet waste water. Oh, well.

I was particularly fascinated about the note regarding concrete caskets. Didn't know they existed. Wow, that would be tough on a pallbearer. Maybe that's how the practice of "honorary pallbears" got started -- when someone noted that the casket was concrete.

Building Permit Valuation Hits New Record in Minot, North Dakota

Here's the link. Generally these links in the regional newspapers will disappear / break within a few days. Here's the lead:

• Building permit valuation in Minot climbed to a historic level in 2010, with permit values totaling more than $100 million.
• That figure represents an increase of nearly 52 percent over 2009's total valuations.
• Valuations of permits for new single-family homes, residential remodel, and condominiums remained relatively static. But those were more than offset by an $18 million increase in new commercial buildings, a $16 million increase in apartment units and a more than $3 million increase in townhouses.

I've posted similar stories for Williston's building permits and if I find them, will link them here for comparison. Here's one: The Williston Herald is reporting that there were $104 million worth of new building permits for Williston as of December 1, 2010.

New Commercial Water Depot In The Heart of the Bakken

This story is about as mundane, about as boring, about as sterile a story as one could find to post, but it's the headline story in today's Williston Herald on-line.

The county commissioners approved a new commercial water depot for water trucks taking water for fracking.

It's hard to believe but all this time, there was but one such tap in Williston, until now (to the best of my knowledge), and trucks lined up, I assume for hours, to get their 7,500 gallons of fresh water. Folks complain about infrastructure and even to make relatively small improvements seems to be a challenge. That was one of the first things I noticed when I visited Williston last summer: that single water tap.

Well, whatever, it looks about ready to change.

[Update: see comments below. I was wrong. There are many water depots in / around Williston. I was just aware of the one public water depot; never realized there were so many private depots. But it makes sense. Thanks to "Rusty" for setting the record straight. It's funny that wasn't mentioned in the article; I wonder why this "new" depot is getting so much attention? No doubt there are folks worried about new competition.]