Monday -- Day 6 Of The 2014 Autumn Polar Vortex -- November 17, 2014

Halliburton to buy Baker Hughes. Story here. Forbes says it will only prolong the pain for the oil and gas fracking industry. 

Active rigs:

	11/17/2014	11/17/2013	11/17/2012	11/17/2011	11/17/2010
Active Rigs	186	183	187	201	159

RBN Energy: Eagle Ford condensate and takeaway, 9th in a series.

Pressure building on OPEC to act. Story at Yahoo!Finance here. According to the article, "The net-long position in West Texas Intermediate rose 8.7 percent in the week ended Nov. 11, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Long holdings rebounded from the lowest level in 17 months while short bets contracted." CNBC is also reporting that OPEC "cracks are widening." Unless the cracks are within Saudi, they (the cracks) don't matter.

Germany says it will not lift its ban on fracking despite report in Der Spiegel suggesting otherwise. Interestingly enough, Germany, in fact, does plan to allow fracking and has allowed fracking. See story.

This may be the real thing: a blood sample test to predict Alzheimer's ten (10) years before onset. Story here.

The 2014 autumn polar vortex: the headlines started appearing November 11, 2014:

• Minnesota shatters snow record from 1898 -- predicted by warmists -- global warming will result in more snow 
• Arctic blasts pummels USA -- unexplained; stuff happens 
• Only six (6) states not expecting snow in coming week (and one of them may be Hawaii) 
• Winter still a month away 
• Twelve (12) years since Dallas has had two consecutive days so cold  
• Wyoming wind chill warning: 35 below  
• Central Ontario snowfall could reach 20 inches  
• Cold to freeze East  
• Shattering snowfall records in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan -- predicted by warmists -- global warming will result in more snow 
• All 50 states brace for freezing temperatures -- November 13, 2014 
• Cold freeze moves east -- November 13, 2014 
• Denver cold shatters two records, including low temp record set in 1882 -- November 13, 2014 
• Coldest November in decades -- November 14, 2014 
• Michigan town receives one month's snow -- in one day --November 14, 2014 
• Storm dumps four (4) feet of snow on Wisconsin town -- November 14, 2014 
• Ice on Lake Superior -- almost a month early -- November 16, 2014 
• Harsh cold to set records in south, freeze northeast -- November 16, 2014
• Snow on the ground in DFW area; 27 degrees -- November 17, 2014 
• 50% of nation covered in snow -- November 17, 2014 (this was on ABC Nightly News, also)
• Most snow this early in a decade -- November 17, 2014
• Four (4) feet of snow expected in upstate New York -- November 17, 2014
• Record cold in Boise, Idaha, Monday morning, possibly again Tuesday -- November 17, 2014

Natural gas is back up over $4.00. Earlier stories suggested producers in the East (Marcellus/Utica) could make money on $2-natural gas.

I wish I had said it, but this comes from ClimateDepot: 

U.S.-China deal? ‘A lame duck President, who just suffered a major defeat in the midterm elections has managed the ‘feat’ of getting the Chinese to shake his hand and solemnly promise to keep doing what they are doing for another 16 years’

Dark Winter suggests we are headed into a 30-year cooling spell which will be much more devastating than anything the warmists have associated with global warming. 

Flashback: two counties in North Dakota (McKenzie and Mountrail) produce more oil than California, Alaska. 

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Trainwreck

I knew it was bad. I did not know it was this bad. Only 37% approve of the non-Affordable Care Act.  Remember: very little of the non-Affordable Care Act has actually kicked in. Most of the the act's provisions were delayed or deferred by executive order until 2015 or 2016. The tax on medical devices is in place. About 4 million people may have signed up for the on-line exchange health care policies in the first year and the numbers expected to sign up for the second year are well below expectations. Premiums are expected to go up 20% in Texas if folks want to keep their current plans. One can look around for better bargains, "they" say.

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Ebola

The 3rd Ebola patient to be treated at Nebraska Medical Center has died according to NBC News. Dr Martin Salia was a legal permanent resident of the United States; he was working in Ebolaland when he died. He was the second person in the US to have died from Ebola. Fortunately it is very, very difficult to catch Ebola; that's why healthcare workers wear hazmat suits when coming in contact with patients suspected of having Ebola.