This Is Exciting: Oil Up Almost 2% Today In Early Trading

[Reminder: update on the Tyler formation in southwest North Dakota precedes this post. For newbies, I try to post at least five new stand-alone posts every day. I often post many more, and many older posts are updated regularly. Don't forget to scroll. Archives at the sidebar on the right. If you don't see something, ask.]

Just a data point. Doesn't mean a thing to long-term investors. February, 2016, futures, have oil selling for $80/bbl.

But all things being equal, I prefer the price of oil moving in this direction, as opposed to some other direction.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here.

A contrarian analyst has a contrarian view of what will happen if/when the Fed tapers (actually, the Fed has already begun tapering). This contrarian analyst feels that interest rates will actually drop. More likely they will simply remain flat or very, very low.

If accurate, it certainly makes dividend-paying utilities like CVX, COP, and XOM look nice for the long term.

You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley By Yourself, Pete Seeger with Arlo Guthrie on piano    

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A Note to the Granddaughters

I've been watching American Graffiti for the past few days: the movie itself, more than several times; the movie with the director commentary; the documentary making the movie.

George Lucas, who went on to Star Wars fame, did the movie to capture what America (or at least inland California) was like before a) the British music invasion; b) the Vietnam war; and, c) free love of the 60s.

He succeeded on all levels. I don't think he realized how great his movie was -- nor did America -- until many, many years later. 

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Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty
If interested, after watching the video a couple of times, go back and see if you caught the action at 1:10. Start about 1:04 so you don't miss it.