Friday: It's Announced -- His Sons Will Release 21 Orbison Albums Over The Next Two Years; There Are Few Things More Important Than The Bakken; This Is One Of Them

Holy mackerel! This might be worthy of a stand-alone post. Knowing folks will not read to the bottom of this page, I moved this to the top of the post! Roy Orbison's three living sons plan to release 21 records by their father over the next two years, including four studio albums that were never released and 13 that have been out of print for decades.

Active rigs: 181

RBN Energy: new regulations that will affect refineries.

Forty percent of the world’s fuel oil - the residual oil left over after extracting lighter products from crude oil - is used as bunker oil to power Ocean going vessels. Much of that fuel has relatively high sulfur content. Given that refineries sell fuel oil for less than the cost of crude – the bunkers market has traditionally been a convenient dumping ground for unwanted high sulfur residual fuel oil. New international regulations that came into force in 2012 drastically reduce the permitted sulfur content in bunkers after 2015 in the world’s populated coastal regions. Today we describe the impact the new rules could have on refiners.

The Wall Street Journal

It looks like Iran gets to keep its nukes. Incredible. And, as someone note, while Americans are losing their insurance. What a great country. President Obama secretly lifted sanctions on Iran some months ago -- incredible. But it also explains something I could not figure out -- why it was widely reported that Europe and Asia had begun trading with Iran again; anyone who doesn't think Mr Obama learned all he needed to know by kindergarten in his Muslim school is not thinking.
 
Finally, a front page story on Syria: Thousands of middle-class Syrians are trying to get to Europe's northern countries to seek asylum, but many refugees are stuck in the continent's south.

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One has to chuckle. Pundits said the 150-point drop in the market yesterday was due to the GDP coming in higher than expected at 2.8. This, in turn, investors fear, will result in .... disclaimer, this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or what you think you may have read here ... the Fed to cut back on printing money. Severl data points:

• Ms Yellen is said to like printing money even more than Mr Bernanke
• it's a sad state of affairs when the market is "frothy" due to easy money
• the 2.8% is about as reliable as the "job watch" numbers

I posted this yesterday, and TWSJ notes it today in a longer article: Gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2.8% in the third quarter, which was higher than economists expected, but consumer caution and political friction could be a drag in the coming months.

For everyone else, the 150-point drop yesterday was a buying opportunity. Or so some would say. Certainly not me. Disclaimer, this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or what you think you may have read here. Oh, I already said that.

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 So, how are US elementary students doing on achievement tests. Before reading the blurb, one must assume the achievement tests have been "dumbed down" over time. So, with that in mind, note this update:

Elementary-school students made modest progress on three of four national math and reading exams this year, but proficiency rates are still stubbornly below 50% on every test.

So, more than half of our elementary students score are not proficient in any area of study.

Does anyone care? I subscribe to the notion that one only has to be "faster, better, smarter, than the person next to you." And sometimes even luck plays a bigger role in life's success. Think mineral rights owners.

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Buried deep in the news, it is reported that Mr Obama has said "sorry" (for ObamaCare).  I guess it was buried because it was not news. He has spent most of his years in office apologizing to nations around the world for past US behavior.

This should be "good news" for my one reader from the great state of Florida: A housing allowance that military families receive could be targeted for cuts unless automatic spending reductions scheduled for coming years are rolled back.

The FDA is getting ready to ban trans fat. Too bad for Mr Arafat that polonium was not banned from what he was eating. But back to trans fat. After reading that trans fat was in margarine, I checked the margarine in my refrigerator. I'm safe. Also, McDonald's quit using trans fat decades ago. I'm safe. And I quit eating microwave popcorn some time ago. And I had my last Starbucks donut yesterday,so I'm safe. Black coffee at Starbucks only -- no sugar, no white stuff. I guess that's redundant. The sugar Starbucks uses is white.

That global recession? Not so fast. Chinese exports rebounded sharply in October from a September slump as demand improved in the U.S. and Europe, a potentially positive sign for the global economic outlook.

But Russia's boom is over, says "minister." I was unaware Russia had a boom. Except perhaps in vodka sales.

I assume folks will soon be outraged over this. Airlines are mining in-flight data to determine how fliers like their coffee and what kind of snack they are likely to order (I can't make this stuff up). No matter airline tickets are so expensive -- paying for IT. I think that's what screwed up ObamaCare -- the website was bogged down by questions regarding whether one takes coffee black or "with room for cream."

Holy mackerel! This might be worthy of a stand-alone post. Knowing folks will not read this far down, I will move this to the top of the post! Roy Orbison's three living sons plan to release 21 records by their father over the next two years, including four studio albums that were never released and 13 that have been out of print for decades.