The other day it was reported that Algore's home state recorded 16 inches of snow in upper elevations. It appears that global warming is spreading across the entire eastern United States, from the southeast to the north east. Today The Weather Channel is reporting that "record early double-digit snow in Maine after record early snow hits South Carolina. A lot of "records" in that headline. Makes me want to take another look at the natural gas fill rate. The linked story:
Please Come To Boston, Dave Loggins
The Wall Street JournalOfficially, only 0.4 inches of snow was measured in Portland, Maine, and a trace was tallied at both Boston's Logan Airport and Providence, Rhode Island.
Parts of eastern Massachusetts picked up over an inch of snow, including Kingston (1.6 inches) and Assonet (1.5 inches). A light blanket of snow covered the field at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts hours before a big National Football League game between the host New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos. The field was cleared of snow prior to kickoff.
Record Southern Snow
Snow was observed Saturday as far south and east as Charleston, South Carolina, the earliest flakes on record in the city. This occurred less than three days after a string of four straight days in the mid-upper 80s. Places like Folly Beach and downtown Charleston picked up a trace of snowfall.
Even more stunning were the snowfall amounts in the South Carolina Midlands. Up to 4.5 inches of snow fell in Red Bank, just west of Columbia. Red Bank is only about 350 feet above sea level.
************************************
Other News
First-time homebuyers are record low. CNBC is reporting:
The U.S. economy is improving, employment is growing and home prices are recovering, but first-time homebuyers are not returning to their normal, historical levels of homeownership.
The share of these buyers, who are generally younger Americans, fell to the lowest level in nearly three decades-just 33 percent this year, down from 38 percent a year ago, according to an annual survey of homebuyers by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The long-term average, dating back to 1981, shows that 4 out of 10 purchases are by first-time buyers.
They may not be buying homes, but they sure are buying SUVs and Jeeps. Auto dealers report their best October in a decade. [Note that auto dealers have their numbers posted the first business day of the new month, one business day after close-out of previous month; it will take Washington, DC, bureaucrats six (6) to post data.] Government Motors missed expectations:"Rising rents and repaying student loan debt makes saving for a down payment more difficult, especially for young adults who've experienced limited job prospects and flat wage growth since entering the workforce," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the NAR. "Adding more bumps in the road is that those finally in a position to buy have had to overcome low inventory levels in their price range, competition from investors, tight credit conditions and high mortgage insurance premiums."
Automakers reported their strongest U.S. October sales in a decade on Monday on strong demand for brawny pickup trucks and roomy SUVs, but top-seller General Motors Co missed expectations.
The results, often an early snapshot of U.S. consumer spending, continued the strong run for a sector that has outraced the broader economy since 2010.
*************************************
Top story: the day before THE election.
Big Oil feels need to get smaller.
"Pilot Error": the most dreaded words in aviation. Improper pilot command cited in Virgin Galactic crash.
The US closed the book on buying sovereign debt. Japan did just the opposite. What will the EU do? As my dad used to say: you get three guesses, and the first two don't count.
Colorado's democratic drift seems to stall. I assume the potheads got what they wanted; why go out to vote?
This is pretty cool for basic research. Is the nurse in Maine a carrier of Niemann-Pick Type C? It seems that carriers of a genetic disorder, the fatal genetic disease Niemann-Pick Type C may be protected from Ebola.
WSJ/NBC poll finds wide support for quarantining health workers. First, do no harm.
Even Silicon Valley tilts Republican. They are tired of seeing increased taxes. Actually they blame it on Harry Reid who scuttled patent reform.
Notable and quotable: "A Democratic victory in the midterm will save the planet." -- Algore. I can't make this stuff up. He made that statement as he stepped into his SUV on the way out to his private jet on the tarmac. (I made that up.)
Opinion: the prime suspect in the global slowdown? Global debt. World-wide debt as a percentage of GDP has jumped to a record high of 212%. Keynes would be happy. If 212% is good, why not 500%?
Really? Good news if true: a very low-fat diet can actually reverse atherosclerosis.
San Francisco and Berkeley residents will vote on whether to impose special taxes on sugary beverages. So, will a Starbucks coffee cost more if is has sugar?
Returns on municipal bonds soar.
***************************************
Pain in trains falls mainly on the plain. Rail delays slow shipments, pushing prices up despite bumper crops. Send your thank you notes to the farmers in Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska.
Congestion on railroad networks, now threatening to extend into a second year in the U.S. Farm Belt, is forcing some buyers to purchase additional soybean meal, used mainly in animal feed, to ensure a steady supply, analysts said.
That helped push futures prices up 11% in the past week. And soybeans and corn both jumped by around 7% as livestock and poultry operations in the eastern U.S. rushed to avoid feed shortages and speculators bid up the price of the commodities related to soy meal, analysts said.I've heard beef prices are ready to soar; I'm considering buying a freezer for my Omaha Steak purchases while the prices are good.
***************************************
This is cool: an article adapted form the paperback edition of The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters. Link here.
Heard on the street: refining Saudi Arabia's oil strategy. Collapse in refining margins suggests crude prices have further to fall.
The Los Angeles Times
Why Iraqi army can't fight, despite $25 billion in US aid, training. One word, various spellings (it's how our allies operated when I was stationed in the Mideast): inshallah. Or proper spelling, In Sha Allah.
It's not that easy to transmit, but fifth doctor dies of Ebola in Sierra Leona. Meanwhile patient at Duke University tests negative for Ebola, but remains quarantined. Which of course makes no sense: the disease is very, very hard to transmit, and the patient has already tested negative on preliminary testing. The patient, not identified, developed a fever after returning from Ebolaland, more specifically from the same country of origin as Mr Duncan, Liberia.
This is cool. Sort of like Only Lovers Left Alive: when it comes to doubling up with roommates, crashing at your cousin's or staying at your parent's house well into your 20s (how about well into your 60's), there's no place like Southern California. This explains another California phenomenon:
eight cars or more in front of one-car garage tract homes; it's killing school budgets. Property tax on a single home with a dozen school-age children.
Some days I can't seem to play this song loud enough:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.