Happy Valentine's Day, February 14, 2014

Active rigs:

	2/14/2014	02/14/2013	02/14/2012	02/14/2011	02/14/2010
Active Rigs	186	182	205	168	92

RBN Energy: understanding energy market mega-numbers. A must-read for newbies, and almost everyone else.

One goal of the RBN blogosphere is to provide clarity to a highly intricate, interwoven energy complex.  Today we are going to tackle an aspect of energy markets that has vexed us for some time.  We’re going to explore some of the big numbers that are used to measure energy markets, what they mean to the oil patch (Cowtown, a.k.a., Fort Worth here in Texas is a good example of that) and to each of us as energy users.  So put on your thinking cap and tell your colleagues to leave you alone for five minutes.  We’re going to expand our minds.

The Wall Street Journal

Storm pummels winter-weary northeast.

ObamaCare enthusiasts back skimpier policies: some backers of the 2010 health-care law -- which is essentially on hold/delayed for two years -- are already pushing to create a new kind of insurance policy that Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Hillary/Dean/Schumer ruled out: policies that offered lower premiums but significantly higher out-of-pocket costs. Considering that deductibles for the "copper" plans can be as much as $12,000/year/couple, I'm wondering exactly how high the OPRHDS (OpraHeads) want to take it. With the program on hold for two years, we are going to see a lot of ink spilled on ObamaCare.

I'm not making the $12,000/year/couple up. The WSJ screenshot; the deductible is in very, very fine, light print. What surprised me: regardless of the premium, the deductibles were almost identical:

It looks like Venezuela is about to implode.

Cabela reports a sharp drop-off in sales of guns and ammunition; reports a 10% decline in foruth-quarter sales. I assume they had a huge quarter earlier.

The price of natural gas soared; up over $5, due to global warming. By the way, this summer, global warming will keep the price of natural gas up as folks use more air conditioning. For fossil fuel investors, this global warming stuff is working out quite well: very, very hot summers, and very, very cold winters -- air conditioners and heaters all use natural gas or coal-generated electricity. Nuclear is out of favor; and the economics don't make sense. The math doesn't add up for wind or solar. A couple of Pacific Islands might go under, and the coast along the eastern US seaboard might recede by 0.1 inch over a century, but all-in-all, this global warming seems to be helping fossil fuel investors. The presidential initiatives will simply pour more money into the economy, sort of like the farm bill. Nimble investors will do well. JFK had it right.

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

The Los Angeles Times

Google is working on 10-gigabit Internet connections.

California drafting bill requiring warning on sugary soft drinks. New York City needs to draft a bill requiring warning on glassine bags containing heroin.

The Boston Globe

"Has the threshold for snow days fallen? Some argue that when it comes to snow, the regionns' residents have melted into wimps. I agree. LOL.

Merger talks collapse between (sic) Beth Israel, Lahey Health, and Atrius Health. Maybe they've changed the grammar rules on "between."

Great Lakes Update

February 21, 2014: update on the frozen Great Lakes. 

Posted on date of original post: CHEBOYGAN, Mich. (AP) -- From the bridge of the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw, northern Lake Huron looks like a vast, snow-covered field dotted with ice slabs as big as boulders - a battleground for the icebreaker's 58-member crew during one of the roughest winters in memory.
 

It's been so bitterly cold for so long in the Upper Midwest that the Great Lakes are almost completely covered with ice. The last time they came this close was in 1994, when 94 percent of the lakes' surface was frozen. -- This was the headline news on NPR this morning.

Global Warming Storm Update

This is now being recorded as the mid-Atlantic region's 9th "biggest."

Blizzard to lash New England Saturday, as in tomorrow.
Record number of flights cancelled:

• highest in 25 years
• 75,000 cancelled flights since December, 2013
• 14,000 cancelled flights this week
• new government regulations  
• cost-cutting measures
• ObamaCare
• American Airline - US Airway merger
• chaos

The sky is falling, the sky is falling. Which leads us, of course, to The Dickinson Press.

The Dickinson Press

Remember how fast Congress acted to provide aid for residents along the gulf and along the New Jersey coast have huge storms? Not quite the same for ranchers in fly-over country.

Ranchers could have checks as soon as April from farm bill disaster programs that will pay them for livestock losses from the October blizzard and the 2012 drought, Sen. John Thune said Wednesday.