Spreadsheet, Natural Gas Processing Plants In North Dakota; Dickinson Plans For More Growth West Of Town, Near The New Refinery -- July 26, 2014; Phoning It In (Their Words, Not Mine)

It's hard to find fault with developers trying to stay ahead of all that natural gas and all that flaring. Don happened to come across this spreadsheet detailing all the natural gas processing plants in North Dakota. The jpg is here: http://themilliondollarway.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-road-to-new-england-after-that.html.

Look at the difference between 2010 and 2013.

And then look at the difference between 2013 and 2014, and, then that planned through 2015. It's really quite dramatic.

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West Dickinson Area Plan

Now that it really does appear that one of the nation's first new refineries in decades is about to be completed in North Dakota, Dickinson folks are planning on how to develop the area west of their city, near where the MDU-Calumet refinery will be. The Dickinson Press is reporting:

City officials are getting ready to study how to use approximately 6,100 acres of land west of Dickinson.

The City of Dickinson, in partnership with engineering firm Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson, is preparing to draft a plan to address the rapidly developing area.

The West Dickinson Area Plan will be an addendum to the Dickinson Comprehensive Plan, “Dickinson 2035: Roadmap to the Future,” which was adopted just two years ago.

The study area will consist of the region spanning from 35th Street West south to Patterson Lake, and approximately 116th Avenue Southwest east to 30th Avenue West; it’s not within city limits, but receives some city services.

In recent years, developments in the area have included the Dakota Prairie Refinery, Bakken Oil Express, the Dickinson Interstate 94 Exit 56 interchange, the Dickinson interim bypass route and numerous infrastructure improvement commitments, including an extended sewer line, Day said.

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Global Sea Ice At Record Levels
The Maldives Are Doomed Once This Ice Starts Melting
This Is The Coolest Summer On Record in The US

Steven Goddard/Real Science is reporting: global sea ice is at record levels; eighth (8th) highest on record. In 1992 Algore said sea ice was melting due to global warming. There is an interesting graph at the link. Note the trend with regard to the extent of global sea ice over the past four years: almost straight up. I can't make this stuff up.

Steve Goddard also notes that the summer of 2014 (that would be THIS summer) has turned out to be the coolest summer on record in the US. The graph at this link:

The frequency of 90 degree days in the US has been plummeting for 80 years, and 2014 has had the lowest frequency of 90 degree days through July 23 on record. The only other year which came close was 1992, and that was due to dust in the atmosphere from Mt Pinatubo.

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Phoning It In

The (London) Telegaph is reporting:

The degree to which Barack Obama is now phoning it in – sleepwalking perfunctorily through his second term, amid golf rounds and dinner parties – is astonishing. 

President Obama has emotionally checked out of his job a couple of years early, it seems. How can one tell?

Candidates for president who brazenly assume they are the inevitable victor are sometimes accused of “measuring the drapes” for the White House.

Obama, conversely, seems to be prematurely packing his bags in hopes for an early departure. 

Obama’s not dumb [but he is lazy, his words, not mine], and he’s clearly capable of marshalling an effective propaganda campaign when he wants to. So what explains this series of bad optics, which might be described by PR professionals as political malpractice?

The only thing that makes sense is that he is exhausted and, perhaps, has checked out of the job early.

If Nero fiddled while Rome burned, then Obama is dining out, golfing, and raising money while the world collapses.

I started noticing this back in October, 2013, and Peggy Noonan (WSJ) started writing about earlier this month.  I have the tag "Obama_Lame_Duck" but I'm wondering whether I should have called it "Phoning_It_In"?

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Israel Offers Extended Truce, Hamas Refuses

Hamas In Secret Arms Deal With North Korea

No sooner had the 12-hour truce come to an end, and Hamas started firing rockets into Israel again. Israel offered to extend the truce; Hamas rejected. 

Meanwhile, The (London) Telegraph is reporting that Hamas and North Korea are in a secret arms deal.

Hamas militants are attempting to negotiate a new arms deal with North Korea for missiles and communications equipment that will allow them to maintain their offensive against Israel, according to Western security sources.

Security officials say the deal between Hamas and North Korea is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and is being handled by a Lebanese-based trading company with close ties to the militant Palestinian organization based in east Beirut.

Hamas officials are believed to have already made an initial cash down payment to secure the deal, and are now hoping that North Korea will soon begin shipping extra supplies of weapons to Gaza. 

And then folks wonder why Israel has the Gaza strip coastline blockaded. This is not rocket science.

Previous US presidents would have called this "outrageous" (his word, not mine) but the current administration will let it go.

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Another GM Recall?
General Motors Government Motors Genuine Menace

Get ready for another GM recall. This time: older model Impalas with air bag software problems. If there is a problem with Impalas, I doubt it will be limited to one make/model. It could be a double whammy: if the ignition switch fails and the car comes to a sudden stop, and the air bag does not deploy ...

 
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Handicaps Crossing

My hunch is that President Obama's handicap is decreasing while Tiger Woods' handicap is increasing. It's very possible, the two handicaps will cross sometime in 2018.  Someday you can say you read it here first.

Disclaimer: this is not a sports column. Do not quote anything from this site as accurate if it pertains to sports, or anything you think you might have read here that might possibly have related to sports. Definitely don't make any Las Vegas bets based on what you read here. 

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A Note To The Granddaughters

Earlier I posted a note for the granddaughters about my experience at LAX today. As I watched the buses go by with their destinations in LED (e.g., Van Nuys), I thought about the man who probably did more than anyone to promote this city (Los Angeles): Johnny Carson.