The "top stories" for the past week have been linked; see tab at the top: "Top Stories."
Bully oil field was profiled and posted last night.
WSJ Links
Section D (Off Duty):
Wow, this almost deserves a stand-alone post of its own. Regular readers know of my enthusiasm for the new Vizio smart-TV we just bought. Today, page D11 in the
WSJ, a nearly-full-page review of television technology. Below, the five technologies, and top model and price.
The game changer: OLED - LG EM9700, $12,000
The cutting edge: ultra HD -- Sony XBR-84X900, $25,000
The work-in-progress: Smart TV -- LG 47G2, $1,700
The reigning champ: LED -- Sony KDL-46HX850 LED, $1,600
The lost cause: 3-D TV -- too many to list
I guess televisions are like wine: it's easy to fine a great television; the challenge is finding a great television for a great price. We are thrilled with the Vizio Smart TV, a 32-inch that was on sale at Target during the Christmas season for $279.00. I can't imagine paying $25,000 for a television, but then again, I don't own any mineral rights in the Bakken.
Section C (Review):
Wow, this is incredible. I am fortunate enough to have been invited to
Amazon.com's Vine program (along with two million others, I suppose). Two weeks ago, I made an error in not selecting
American Isis: Sylvia Plath, by Carl Rollyson. Yesterday, the Vine list arrived again; I did not repeat the mistake. I ordered
American Isis; can't wait to read it. And then today, of all things,
the book is reviewed (p. C7) in the WSJ, and takes up nearly a full page. This is the most space the
WSJ generally gives any subject; this is huge (at least in someone's mind). There is also a wonderful photograph of her gravesite at Heptonstall Parish Church in Yorkshire, England. I did not get to my "Sylvia Plath" stage until I had left Yorkshire; what a pity. I could have driven to Heptsonstall from Pateley Bridge: 40 miles, an hour-and-a-quarter drive; west of Bradford. Interestingly enough, this is in/near Brontë country. Funny how things work out.
Wow, I'm beginning to think today's
WSJ is worth the entire year's subscription (I can't wait to note the lead story on the front page, but you will have to wait). Here on page C9, "
Does a Novel Need a Publisher?" by Sam Sacks. The highlighted blurb: self-publishing gave Virginia Woolf the freedom to pursue a new, daringly innovative style. I owe a lot to Virginia Woolf; she taught me to read the modern novel. But she made me type
Mrs Dalloway -- the entire novel -- in free verse.
Section B (Business & Finance):
Several articles on Apple.
Natural gas suffocates nuclear power.
UBS
analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith estimates fixed costs per kilowatt of
capacity at a nuclear plant are perhaps five times those for a
comparably sized coal plant. As capital improvements will mostly flow
through cash flow with only a smaller portion hitting profits, it can
mean a nuclear plant that turns a nominal profit can actually generate
negative free cash flow.
Smaller nuclear plants, with less output over which to spread fixed costs, suffer most. Dominion Resources already has announced it will close its 556-megawatt Kewaunee unit in
Wisconsin. The average U.S. nuclear plant capacity is 971 megawatts.
There are 20 out of 104 stations with capacity of less than 800
megawatts, according to Department of Energy data.
The silver
lining for larger nuclear plants is that if smaller competitors close,
alongside coal plants, this should tighten the electricity market and
support prices. Ultimately, though, being able to afford the price of
allaying public safety fears depends on that ever-elusive gas-price
rally.
Section A:
Ah, here it is -- the headline story for today's
WSJ:
court throws out recess picks; long tradition of presidential appointments during Senate breaks faces constitutional challenge. Let's hope Chief Justice Roberts doesn't blow it (again). A google search of the article will lead you to a PDF file also, something I don't often see. Also, the op-ed:
Obama's abuse of power.
Another hidden government bank account?
California agency burned by discovery of bank account.
Janet Upton, deputy director of the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection, confirmed on Thursday the existence of the Wildland Fire
Investigation Training and Equipment Fund, known as WiFiter. She said
the account was set up in 2005 under the agency's previous leadership to
pay for training and equipment.
Ms. Upton said her agency—commonly
known as Cal Fire—alerted the Finance Department last week about WiFiter
and is working to deposit its balance into the state's general fund.
The account came to light as a result
of lawsuits filed by Cal Fire and the federal government against Sierra
Pacific Industries Inc., a Redding, Calif., lumber company. The suits
claimed the massive 2007 "Moonlight Fire" was started by a bulldozer
driver at a company hired by Sierra Pacific, which denies any
involvement with the blaze.
Wow.
Page 3, and we've talked about page 3 often. Today, two articles:
planting seeds for a better oyster harvest; and,
Seattle teachers protest exams. I'm interested in the former story because a) I love oysters on the half shell (never fried); and, b) I'm learning a lot about oyster farming in my travels. I'm interested in the latter story -- well, just because I am.
On climate change, some arguments shift:
seniors cooler to global warming. The demographic group with the highest support for this scam is the "immigration nation" -- the large Latino populations -- almost 80% of folks in "immigration nation" believe in global warming and nearly 70% believe it is caused by human activity. For those who have forgotten,
the earth is cooling --
Forbes, May 31, 2012.
Op-ed: with an iPhone or Android app, customers can summon the closest available car on the Uber map;
bringing limo service to the urban masses; and how the founder learned to beat the taxi cartel and city hall.
Op-ed:
Rahm's ObamaCare brainstorm: dump Chicago's retiree health care costs on federal taxpayers. Anyone could see this coming; this is not rocket science. So all the Bakken millionaires can foot the bill for Chicago's pension system. Of course, Lefty in southern California will have to pay, as well as Rush in NYC or Tampa, wherever he calls home these days. [Comment: this is exactly what I predicted cities and states would do under ObamaCare. It only makes sense. I would do the same. Simply move the retiree health care bill to the federal government. Rahm masterminded the scam while in the White House; he is probably the most knowledgeable on how to frame the city's plan. From then, that plan becomes the boilerplate for the rest of the nation's cities and states to follow. Cue up Connie Francis.]
I haven't read Peggy Noonan in quite some time, and won't do so today, either.
Op-ed:
the motor city roars out of Washington's shadow -- the auto industry is thriving, except for subsidized alternative fuel vehicles.
Predicting a breakthrough in switchgrass-based ethanol technology in
2007, the Bush administration mandated that cellulosic, or plant-cell
based, ethanol production for American autos increase to 500 million
gallons by 2012 and a staggering 16 billion by 2022. Washington then
subsidized its fledgling industry with $1.5 billion in federal grants
and tax credits. Prodded by Washington, General Motors used the 2008 auto show to announce investments in cellulosic ethanol
companies and flex-fuel vehicles, and a national campaign to add E85 (a
blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) pumps at gas stations.
Five
years later and the ethanol market is a bust. Fewer than eight million
gallons of cellulosic ethanol were produced in 2012, E85 pumps are rare
(most blends are 10% or 15%), and ethanol is rarely mentioned at the
auto show.
The electric revolution is muted too. Spending an estimated $10
billion of the 2009 federal stimulus bill on battery power, Team Obama
predicted a million electric cars on the road by 2015. Today there are
barely 30,000, and federally subsidized auto-battery suppliers like
Ener1, A123 Systems
and LGChem are either struggling or bankrupt.
The reason is
simple: Battery-power is proving to be a small niche player. The
electric Nissan Leaf—which received a $1.4 billion Washington loan in
2010—saw a 22% increase in sales over 2011, half what was expected. "It
was a disappointment for us," Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said here last
week.
Poor sales have dogged the electric Ford Focus, Chevy Volt and Fisker
Karma as well. A $7,500 federal tax subsidy to electric-car buyers has
done little to boost the market, even as it subsidizes One Percenters
like Leo DiCaprio and Justin Bieber, who both own $100,000 electric
Karmas; and Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, owner of a $40,000 Chevy Volt.
And then this:
In an ironic twist, one of the showstoppers is the VL Destino, which
strips the Karma of its electric drive-train and inserts a
fire-breathing, 638-horsepower Corvette ZR-1 gas engine in its place.
The result? A lighter, more competitive, four-door sports sedan. Its
designer? Bob Lutz, the former GM vice chairman and old-school "car guy" who brought the struggling Volt to market.
Wow, today's issue is worth the annual subscription, at less than 75 cents/day. Enjoy. Isn't a cup of coffee at McDonad's about a buck?
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A Video For the Granddaughters
Concert Tour Japan, Brian Setzer Orchestra