Environmentalists In North Dakota To Re-Brand Themselves -- We're Not Fooled; January 1, 2015

From Say Anything Blog:

The State of North Dakota has made some very positive strides this year on the very real flaring problem. Since gas is a byproduct of energy development in North Dakota, as opposed to the goal, a lot of it was getting flared off instead of captured as oil production outstripped capture capacity. But the industry and state regulators (who are often unfairly accused of being in the pockets of the industry) have stepped up in a big way and, as I’ve noted previously, deserve some credit on the flaring issue.

But certain left-wing environmental activists aren’t willing to give any credit. Case in point: Wayde Schafer, conservation organizer for the Dacotah Chapter of the Sierra Club, who manages to illustrate how loose a grasp he actually has on the issue.

(On a related note, isn’t it funny how all the environmental activists have begun calling themselves conservationists? It’s a marketing gimmick. Conservationism is a lot more socially acceptable in states like North Dakota than environmentalism, so they’ve rebranded themselves.)

Nothing was said about the blanket immunity wind power developers are given when it comes to killing bald eagles, golden eagles, hawks, whooping cranes, ducks, and drones.

Actually I made that last part up; I don't know the law on drones. I would assume slicers, dicers, and drones follow the same rules as the NBA when it comes to fowling/charging.

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Saudi Aramco Dialing Back -- Not Broke Yet

CNBC is reporting:

State oil giant Saudi Aramco has suspended plans to build a $2 billion clean fuels plant at its largest oil refinery in Ras Tanura, three industry sources said.

The energy project appears to be one of the first suspended in Saudi Arabia in response to the halving of the oil price in the last six months.

The other day it was reported that Saudi went looking for bank loans. Must not have come through.

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Missed It By A Minute

At this link there is a graphic of the nineteen states where the minimum wage goes up today. I was surprised to see the hodge-podge of states; made little rational sense.

Here's part of the problem. The mapmaker was really, really anal retentive (I guess we can use that phrase in the blog; wiki has a page devoted to it). 

Prime example. Again, the graphic is of the nineteen states where the minimum wage goes up today. Note that New York State is not among them, not colored green. Here's why:

New York raised its minimum wage to $8.75 an hour beginning yesterday.

LOL. Missed it by a minute. Once you add all the states that raised the minimum wage between July 1, 2014, and will raise them by June 30, 2015, it's pretty much across the board.

I'm not making any comment about the "issue" of the minimum wage. This is just about an anal retentive map maker.

For those curious, Minnesota's minimum wage will increase this August.

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Roof Stomping

The other day I was reminiscing with non-military friends and family about all the "fun" we had while in the military. I wish I had more patience to write some of those stories.

Last night I was reminded of one of my least-favorite military traditions: roof-stomping.

Every so often a group of fighter pilots (generally) would go out drinking. While closing up, it might be noticed that one of the group had not shown up. Most likely he had a good reason (and, yes, in those days it was mostly males; it's more fun now with the males, females, and transgenders in the mix, but I digress). 

So, back to the story. While closing up, it might be noticed that one of the group had not shown up. The group felt "sorry" that for whatever reason one of their members was unable to attend, so the group would decide to take the party to the house of the missing wingman.

Generally, this would be about closing time, 2:00 a.m. in most parts of the world, and our missing airman would be sound asleep, along with his wife and twopointfive children.

A knock on the door; several knocks on the door. No one getting up. Maybe no one in the house hears the knocking. Not a problem.

The group en masse would get up on the roof and start stomping. One could ignore the noise, but one could not ignore the fact that there was a very real possibility that the group might come crashing through -- especially in some of those old houses at the time.

Not much the homeowner/renter could do but let everyone in to continue the party.

I was reminded of that last night, because (and I checked later to confirm) that at 2:50 a.m. I was awoken by what sounded like roof stomping. 

We stay in a very, very nice neighborhood when in San Pedro, no problems, no murders (except on Columbo which we had been watching earlier in the evening), no nothing. It took me a minute to come out of my deep sleep and realize it was not the neighbor's party. Something was happening to our little abode, or in our little abode, or on top of our little abode. (Probably not reindeer; Christmas Eve was a week earlier.)

I put some "outside" clothes on and peered through the little peephole. Some drunk was trying to get in our front door. At least I assume he was drunk (later I confirmed the drool on the doorstep was the source of the smell of hops). I suggested he try another door, preferably his, but certainly not ours, and he left.

While "explaining" this to the drunk, my wife came out and said that was Joel, her gardener, who had come to pick up his check, his annual Christmas gift. 

Now, I don't know Joel personally (I've met the other two gardeners May has but if I've met Joel I did not recognize him). However, he did look like a family "friend/relative" I had once met long ago. I didn't know the name, but described the relationship connection to my wife; she said it couldn't be him; he lives in San Diego (a couple of hours south). I replied that I live in Texas and I'm here in California, so yes, it's possible someone from San Diego drove up here, got drunk, and came looking for a place to stay. But, no, May insisted I had just "chased" away her gardener who had showed up at 2:50 a.m. New Year's Day to get his Christmas check.

Once the commotion settled down, I checked the time, 3:05 a.m. May was now waking up, asking why I was up. I had just come back in the house after walking up and down the street to see if I could find Joel. Nope, he was long gone.