Jack Kemp's Weekly Crude Oil, Natural Gas Update Tweets -- September 30, 2015; Propane Stocks -- Already Sky-High -- Hit New Record

California gasoline emergency is over as West Coast stockpiles return to normal levels.

West Coast refineries start to turn down now that gasoline stocks have returned to normal levels.

Propane stocks hit fresh record, residual fuel oil stocks continue to flat line. Comment: the propane charts will all re-set after this year -- it's quite incredible, the US energy revolution.

US distillate stocks flat at 151.6 million bbl but +26 million bbl above 2014 level and +19 million above 10-yr avg.

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For The Granddaughters

I've pretty much completed The Neandertal Enigma: Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins, James Shreeve, c. 1995.

This is the second time through the book. I first read it several years ago.

It's not an easy book to read. It reads as if the author simply took all his notes and turned them into a book, sort of a published journal. If one is interested in following the activities of the various paleo-anthropologists in the late 20th century this might be one way to do it. But if one wants to get a better understanding of hominid / hominin evolution, I would simply recommend a wiki read.

The first third of the book on the genetics and the bones was quite good, though difficult to follow on many occasions. The second third on the stone age was somewhat boring, but that's probably "just me." I was never interested in the "three Bs" that defined the Upper Paleolithic: blades, bone tools, and burins (chisel-like implements made by knocking a spall or two off a flake).

I lost all interest by the time I got to the third section which dealt with evidence of tool-making and tool-using in primates other than humans. There is a huge jump between primates using twigs to grab ants and using fire to cook meat. 

I see on Amazon a hard copy of this book is selling for $84.26. If anyone wants to buy my copy for $75, let me know.