Idle Chatter -- Not Much About The Bakken Or The Oil And Gas Industry -- March 11, 2015

I have to leave -- I will be off the net for awhile, but I couldn't be in a better mood. Three stories I might come back to ... or not:

Smithsonian Channel will air a documentary on the Bakken boom, which they say began in 2010! LOL. 

Job fair in Williston had great turnout. 

I think this is going to be the most interesting two years (2015 - 2017) in the Bakken since the boom began in Montana in 2000 and in North Dakota in 2007. You said it, or someone else said it, the roughnecks are the most flexible workers to be found. If they banked some of their money, they can take a lower-paying job now and wait for the boom again. In addition, some of those roughnecks will learn to build their own business, their own boss. 

Market up almost 200 points; Brent-WTI spread widens. 

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From Yesterday

Writer's block.

I couldn't possibly be in a better mood, but I was out all day, and I just got back and am overwhelmed as usual with all the stuff I want to post, but don't know where to start.

Maybe some free association, from wiki:

In free association, psychoanalytic patients are invited to relate whatever comes into their minds during the analytic session, and not to censor their thoughts. This technique is intended to help the patient learn more about what he or she thinks and feels, in an atmosphere of non-judgmental curiosity and acceptance. Psychoanalysis assumes that people are often conflicted between their need to learn about themselves, and their (conscious or unconscious) fears of and defenses against change and self-exposure. The method of free association has no linear or preplanned agenda, but works by intuitive leaps and linkages which may lead to new personal insights and meanings: 'the logic of association is a form of unconscious thinking.'

I love politics, so I will start there. It looks like Chicago's Rahm Emanuel is in the race of his life. But I think he pulls it out in a squeaker.

The Hillary Clinton e-mail story: the story dies in less than a month. Americans have very, very short attention spans. Hillary has two bigger problems: a) age; and, b) age. Her third problem is fatigue. Ours, not hers. We are tired of her.

Unless John Kerry wins the White House in 2016 (or 2017), two huge groups lose the bully pulpit in 2017: a) ******* ; and, b) environmentalist fanatics. I will let readers guess the first group. It shouldn't be too difficult.

If folks are tired of Hillary Clinton, they are really, really tired of all that talk about anthropomorphic global warming. Every day there's a new theory. Today, it's Milankovitch cycles. I always thought Milankovitch was a Dallas Maverick (basketball) but that's Dirk Nowitzki. Milutin Milankovitch played for the Celtics. Just joking. He was a Serbian Solar System climatologist. The most famous Serbian basketball player was probably Vlade Divac who played his entire NBA career -- 16 seasons -- wtih the LA Lakers. He played for Phil Jackson who won three NBA championships while Vlade Divac was on the team (if I recall correctly). I do know that Phil Jackson grew up in Williston and graduated from Williston High School. He was a senior about the time I was beginning my wrestling career in high school -- my athletic history was somewhat less eventful than Mr Jackson's. But I digress.

So, Rahm is in the fight of his life; the Clinton e-mail story will be forgotten in a month; and Vlade Divac had nothing to do with the Milankovitch cycles. 

And with that, enough for now. Maybe more later.

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Global Warming

Climate Change

Ice Age Now

These 25 US cities are hoping for global warming -- if not global warming, at least regional warming - say, maybe 5 to 10 degrees warmer for each of these cities. 24/7Wall Street - Yahoo says these are the 25 "coldest" cities in the US, in reverse order:

• Dubuque, Iowa (I never would have guessed)
• North Platte, Nebraska (I never would have guessed)
• Madison, Wisconsin (okay)
• Anchorage, Alaska (I always thought Anchorage was pretty warm -- oh, that was Juneau)
• Sheridan, Wyoming (definitely)
• Concord, New Hampshire (okay)
• Burlington, Vermont (okay)
• Sioux City, Iowa (my mom's home town; where she calls home)
• Waterloo, Iowa (who have guess, Iowa has so many cities on the list)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin (ask Brett)
• La Crosse, Wisconsin
• Rochester, Minnesota (now, we're getting to some cold cities)
• Sault Ste Marie, Michigan (hardest name on the list to spell)
• Minnespolis-St Paul, Minnesota (one city?)
• Sioux Falls, South Dakota (my alma mater)

10. Huron, South Dakota
9. Marquette, Michigan
8. Bismarck, North Dakota
7. St Cloud, Minnesota
6. Aberdeen, South Dakota
5. Duluth, Minnesota (I assumed Duluth would have been #1 or #2)
4. Williston, North Dakota
3. Fargo, North Dakota
2. Grand Forks, North Dakota (I always thought Williston was worse than Grand Forks/Fargo)
1. Fairbanks, Alaska

So, if you throw out Fairbanks, you got #1, #2, and #3 in North Dakota. 

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Sawfish

Dallas World Aquarium

I have visited zoos and aquariums all around the world. I always thought, among aquariums, the Boston Aquarium was #1 and the Long Beach Aquarium was #2. After having spent a day in the Dallas World Aquarium, I would have to say that the Boston Aquarium is #2 and the Long Beach Aquarium is #3.

Sawfish, From Below