New Poll: Will Danica Patrick Finish the Daytona 500?

Updates

February 24, 2013: 

• 4:39 pm -- Jimmy Johnson wins; in last half lap, Danica fell back; finishes 8th; spectacular race; great race; great job; 
• 4:39 pm -- last lap: 
• 4:38 pm -- 1.5 to go: here they come
• 4:38 pm -- 2 to go: have to make something happen; Patrick 3rd;
• 4:37 pm -- 3 to go: green, white, checker, almost....
• 4:37 pm -- 4 to go: same;
• 4:36 pm -- 5 to go: Patrick, 3rd; Brad falls back; Dale pushing Danica; 
• 4:34 pm -- 6 to go: Patrick, 6th; Jimmy Johnson leads;
• 4:29 pm -- 10 to go: caution; debris in turn 2; everyone catching their breath; new position based on scoring loop position, Patrick 6th
  
• 4:28 pm -- 12 to go: looks like everyone is positioning themselves to try to break out; two wide up front; three wide further back; Patrick a solid 4th; Brad K 1st
• 4:27 pm -- 12 to go: after the commercial break, side-by-side; Danica is in the pack, outside lane, 6th place
  
• 4:24 pm -- 16 to go: Danica in 3rd; took a small bump from behind; okay
  
• 4:10 pm -- 27 to go: gas only for Danica Patrick; comes out fifth or sixth; might lose another spot; in 8th;
  
• 3:32 pm -- lap 138: caution for wreck near the back; #21 (Trevor Bayne) out; #2 (Brad K) first, but seems to have missed any serious problem; 5th serious crash in 30 days involving Carl Edwards, he's out; Danica still up near the front, running 9th, I believe;
• 3:26 -- 3:25 pm -- 71 to go: Danica leading this lap, and several previous; others coming in for gas; Danica stayed out; Danica going in now for gas
• 2:55 pm -- 90th lap (official): Danica takes the lead; another first; first time a woman has ever taken the lead in a NASCAR Sprint cup race under green; truly incredible; regardless of how this plays out, Danica deserves a lot of credit; she doesn't have a teammate to help draft/push her;
• 2:40 pm -- 2:35 pm -- 71st lap: pit stop on caution; four tires for Danica; comes out in 23rd but that will change; Danica in 8th;
• 2:23 pm -- 57th lap: commentators giving Danica Patrick kudos; I agree; she is running third;
• 2:07 pm -- 37th lap: back to racing; Patrick up to 3rd; outside line; 
  
• 2:00 pm -- 33rd lap: crash involving #5 (Kasey Kahne); first car in race to go sideways; Montoya, Harvick in subsequent, Brad K with damage; Tony Stewart with damage; #18 (Kyle Busch) may have tapped #5 to start things off; #13 with damage; Tony Stewart will wait for wrecker; Danica was ahead of the wreck; #5 was on outside line, about fourth back;
• 1:59 -- 1:53 pm: during "debris on the track" caution, Jeff pulls up behind pace car; turbulence blows debris off; all go into pit row; after the pit stop, Danica drops back to 9th and is surrounded by drivers; race dynamics changed significantly
• 1:48 pm: lap 23; that debris on the grill/air intake causing water temp problems for Jeff Gordon; moving up/down; #2 Danica and #3 Harvick have to follow; Fox did not go side-by-side with commercial break; irritating; Gordon has led all 23 laps; pit stop to remove debris, at least 15 more laps
• 1:34 -- 1:32 pm: Danica gets through the first curve, first lap, but doesn't lead the first lap; Jeff Gordon took the lead fairly early in the first lap; wow, all the attention to Danica Patrick, nestled between Gordon and Harvick

Original Post

First, the results of the current poll.

The question: was the policy decision to kill Keystone XL the singular most important factor accounting for the soaring price of gasoline?

• Yes: 28%
• No: 72%

Wow, that's a surprise. I assumed it would be closer to 99% "no." But I'm convinced: at $60/bbl for Canadian oil and $120/bbl for OPEC bbl, it's a no-brainer. All the other explanations for increased gasoline prices are with us every year and have been with us every year for quite some time.

Now, for the new poll.

It's a simple question today: Will Danica Patrick finish the Daytona 500 tomorrow?

The Little Things That Go Under the Radar

Under the radar.

The president kills Keystone XL 1.0 but fast-tracks raising the Bayonne Bridge by as much as a seven-story building for jumbo ships into harbors that really can't take any more environmental hits.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting:

One of the most remarkable transformations is proposed not far from the Ironbound. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey wants to raise the Bayonne Bridge, a soaring steel arch span that connects Bayonne, N.J., with New York City's Staten Island borough, by 64 feet. The $1 billion project would allow post-Panamax ships to reach Port Newark and the Elizabeth Port Authority Marine Terminals in New Jersey and Howland Hook in New York. It was fast-tracked by President Barack Obama last year and is expected to be completed in 2016. Channels near the bridge will be deepened to 50 feet.

And this president kills the Keystone XL 1.0.

Cronyism.

Picking winners and losers.

US Coast Guard approved.

EPA saying: "...what just happened?"

Big thank-you to a reader; I never would have seen this. Way below my radar. 

Peak Oil? Saudi Can See It From Here

Reuters is reporting:

The world's top oil exporter aims to install 23.9 gigawatts of renewable power capacity by 2020 and 54.1 GW by 2032, it said in the roadmap, which would make Saudi Arabia one of the world's main producers of renewable electricity.

In 2011 global installed capacity for photovoltaic solar power, the most common solar technology, was 69.4 GW, the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2012 said.

The kingdom says it has crude output capacity of 12.5 million barrels a day, but domestic oil consumption is rising quickly and may start to cut into the amount of energy available for export.

Saudi will probably need to raise the price of their oil to pay for this program. 

WSJ Links -- Friday and Saturday

Only section A from both editions for now (due to number of articles). Perhaps more, later.

Minimum wage? Not for Congressional internships; mileage and parking not reimbursed either; oh, by the way: ObamaCare? Congress exempted itself.

Forrest Gump at Treasury; Jack Lew doesn't seem to know much about how or why he got paid; I saw a bit of his testimony on television; that was my impression; he did not know why he was paid his salary at Citi, nor what he actually was in charge of; it was quite remarkable.

Wow, comparing the price of a cup of Starbucks coffee based on currency exchanges:

• San Francisco: $3.55
• Detroit (the bankrupt city): $3.55
• New York: $4.30
• Frankfurt, Germany: $5.53
• Moscow: $7.27
• Oslo, Norway: $9.83

Not to be outdone, the Economist has the "Big Mac Index" and it's interactive.

************************

Drivers feel pinch of climbing gas prices -- on page 3; no links; story is everywhere; Keystone XL delayed 4.5 years; policy decision to kill Keystone XL 1.0 one year ago.

*************************

Flu shots offer poor protection to seniors: in WSJ, but link to CBS News

A new government report on the effectiveness of this year's flu vaccine finds dramatic discrepancies in the amount of protection Americans received, with senior citizens being left the most vulnerable.

.... the vaccine offered 58 percent protection against the most common and dangerous H3N2 strain for children ages 6 months to 17 years old, 46 percent protection for adults ages 18 to 49, and 50 percent protection for adults 60 to 64 years of age.

However, for seniors 65 and older, this year's flu shot was found to be only 9 percent effective against the more virulent H3N2 strain...

Tea leaves suggest no sequester; so what's new? No links; multiple stories

ObamaCare and the '29ers -- how the new mandates are already reducing full-time employment; MillionDollarWay noted this back in September, 2012, and I believe it was one of the first sites to talk about the new reality; I've yet to see mainstream media report that the US now has a federally-mandated work week: 30 hours. Folks still do not understand that the IRS determines the number of full-time employees a company has, not the company nor the employer. For hourly workers, on a monthly basis, the number of full-time employees is the total number of hours worked/120 hours.

Maybe more, later.

Week 8: February 17, 2013 -- February 23, 2013

Bakken operations
Random note on Hess wells in Antelope field
Well northwest of Watford City could be 2nd-biggest well ever in the Williston Basin
Gusher has attention of NDIC
Fourteen wells sited in one section
New metric: 90 new wells/month needed to maintain current production

Red River formation
Random update

Rail
Overview of CBR terminals in North Dakota, Part I, RBN Energy
No Keystone? No worry! Rail is making up the difference
Single largest consumer of Bakken crude -- made possibly by rail
Delta Airlines flying high on Bakken oil

Proppant
Proppant potential in North Dakota
Minnesotans unhappy with fracking sand in their state (faux environmentalists want North Dakota to move off-shore)

Economic development
WAWS water at 13-mile corner
London-based company buys building in Dickinson
221-lot subdivision approved for Dickinson
Bakken employers becoming landlords

Media attention
National Geographic cover article, March, 2013

London-Based Company Buys One Of The Tallest Buildings In Dickinson; Says 65 Years of Drilling; Oil Activity To Last Another 100 Years

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

“We recently acquired the Jordheim Plaza in Dickinson and our plans are to refurbish it,” Gavin said. “We know that property hasn’t been operational for the past number of years and we’re excited to bring that space back into action. The plan is to provide accommodation for some of the vast number of people working in the Dickinson area and beyond in an area of the city that has been void of anything like what we would bring.”

In a release sent by Louise Taylor of AB Property Marketing out of London — a firm working with PH — the plaza, which used to be the Old Ivanhoe Inn, would undergo an “eco-friendly” refurbishment and offer rooms for long-term stays to investors or companies with interests in southwest North Dakota.

“If you look at the surveys, there’s hundreds of millions of barrels under the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and in that region,” Gavin said. “If you look at what is recoverable right now, we’re looking at around about 65 years of extraction. I think we’ll see that once a certain amount of oil is extracted, technology will just continue to improve to enable us to retrieve a higher percentage of those reserves. It’s going to be a perpetual thing and go on for another 100 years.”

Hundreds of millions of barrels under the Bakken formation? I guess that would be the Three Forks formation.