At Least We're Seeing Some Consistency ... and a Trend -- Nothing To Do With The Bakken -- For Bakken, Skip and Scroll

The trend: down.

The consistency: revising previous month's data down.

The consistency: surprised analysts.

From my earlier post on Monday morning ramblings: couple this story with the unemployment report of last Friday and things don't look too rosy:

New orders for U.S. factory goods fell in April for the third time in four months as demand slipped for everything from cars and machinery to computers, the latest worrisome sign for the economic recovery.

The Commerce Department said on Monday orders for manufactured goods dropped 0.6 percent during the month. The government also revised its estimate for new orders in March to show a steeper decline.

Economists had forecast orders rising 0.2 percent in April. 

The report showed broad weakness in a sector that has carried the economic recovery, adding to a growing body of soft economic data.

Memo to North Dakota's oil millionaires: go out and buy some thingamajigs. I can't make this stuff up. We need to go shopping.

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A Note for the Granddaughters

It's been rewarding to watch the younger granddaughter learn to read. Literally, in the past two weeks, it appears she has broken the code about reading. I have to give the credit to her kindergarten teacher. We read to the granddaughters every night (and much more than that, of course, whenever there is free time) but it's really her kindergarten teacher in this case that gets the credit.

Up until two weeks ago, the 5 y/o really balked at trying to read. She refused to even try; I think she was stubborn, somewhat lazy, didn't want to do what her older sister was doing. But when she would try, she proved that she could read a bit. She had been "reading" Mat books for the past year. Mat books have about four words in each little booklet, and after one or two readings she had them memorized. I would cover the pictures, but she soon memorized the whole 6-page booklet and even covering the pictures didn't help. She still "read." (Her mother knew that she had the booklets memorized.)

Then this past week, she wanted to read. She wanted to show us what she could do. All of a sudden, it seemed, overnight, she jumped to the next level, to Dr Seuss books.

When she came to the word "play" on the first page of "The Cat in the Hat," she told us that "play" was a "high-frequency word, " which means, she told us, you see it everywhere. Play, play, play.

She also pointed out that "see" was a sight word which I thought was particularly insightful.

She is a master at context. I don't think she sounded out "house" -- a word that could be tough to sound out with that "e" on the end, and that "ou" in the middle. But she looked at the drawing and knew the kids were in the "house."

Walking through the mall yesterday she was reading words well beyond what I would have expected. "Love Culture" written in a column, in a very difficult way written on a huge vertical panel, she sounded out (or knew) "love" immediately. She got the "cul-" but the "-ture" was troublesome. We pointed out that along with "sight words," there are "sight syllables" and "-ture" is a "sight syllable."

But when a five-year-old tells you that "play" is a high-frequency word, you have to give credit to the kindergarten teacher.

Another high-frequency word she knows is "Bakken."