Case # (not file #) 25231, Liberty Resources, Beaver Lodge-Bakken, 12 wells on an existing 640-acre unit, s13-156-95; WilliamsIncredibly there were no permits or wells in this section -- until these 12 (permits have not been issued; this is simply a case requesting permission to place as many as 12 wells in this section).
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That is the longest streak in the past 130 years, since formal record-keeping began in 1886.Despite the fact that this is the longest streak in 130 years -- since formal record-keeping began in 1866, the folks who constantly warn us about global warning -- say that "this is not unusual."
When Chomsky entered the field of linguistics it was widely assumed that the human mind began life as a blank slate, upon which later experience was written. Accordingly, language was seen as a learned behavior, imposed from the outside upon the infants who acquire it. This was certainly the view of the renowned behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner, and the young Chomsky gained instant notoriety by definitively trashing Skinner’s 1957 book Verbal Behavior in a review published in the journal Language in 1959. In place of Skinner’s behaviorist ideas, Chomsky substituted a core set of beliefs about language that he had already begun to articulate in his own 1957 book, Syntactic Structures.
In stark contrast to the behaviorist view, Chomsky saw human language as entirely unique, rather than as an extension of other forms of animal communication. And for all that humans were notoriously linguistically diverse, he also insisted that all languages were variants on one single basic theme. What is more, because all developmentally normal children rapidly and spontaneously acquire their first language without being specifically taught to do so (indeed, often despite parental inattention), he saw the ability to acquire language as innate, part of the specifically human biological heritage.And then the mutation, a deus ex machina:
Delving deeper, he also viewed most basic aspects of syntax as innate, leaving only the peripheral details that vary among different languages to be learned by each developing infant.
Berwick and Chomsky go on to suggest that the biology underwriting the Merge operation emerged as the result of a “minor mutation” in a member of an early modern human population. As judged from the archaeological record, this event occurred in East Africa some 80,000 years ago, and it produced a neural novelty that could yield “structured expressions” from “computational atoms” to provide a “rich language of thought.”
Only at a later stage was “the internal language of thought…connected to the sensorimotor system” that makes speech possible. In human evolution, then, the existence of language for thought preceded that of spoken language: a currently controversial idea, albeit with a respectable pedigree that traces back to the writings of John Locke in the eighteenth century.Of course, there is no proof of that "minor mutation" and one can safely say there never will be.
The automotive industry’s hot auto sales cooled off in July.
Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday said its July sales fell 2.8 percent compared to the same month a year ago, while crosstown rival General Motors Co. said sales fell 1.9 percent. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles reported a slight gain of 0.3 percent.
FCA, which recently switched its sales reporting practices, said it sold 180,727 vehicles compared to 180,124 the same period a year ago. It was driven by its Jeep and Ram brands, which rose 5 percent each. Chrysler sales fell 4 percent, Dodge sales fell 10 percent, and Fiat sales fell 14 percent.
Sales rose at all GM brands except for Chevrolet, which saw a 5.3 percent sales dip. GM’s brands collectively had their best July retail sales performance since 2007, the company said.Meanwhile, US consumer spending rose 0.4% in June for second month in a row.
It’s official. In terms of average annual growth, the Wall Street Journal reports that the pace of the current Obama recovery ”has been by far the weakest of any since 1949.” Since the recession officially ended in 2009, GDP has grown by an anemic 2.1% a year.
That’s less than half the 4.3% average annual growth during the Reagan recovery.
Indeed, Tyler Durden has pointed out that President Obama is now on track to “be the only president in history to never have a year of 3% GDP growth. That is truly abysmal economic performance."
Yet Hillary Clinton apparently believes it’s a good idea to double down on Obamanomics by running for Obama’s third term.
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Three months after a series of devastating wildfires wreaked havoc in Alberta’s oil sands region, production is essentially back to normal. Temporary shutdowns at several production sites initially reduced the oil sands’ output by more than 1 MMbbl/d –– or about one-third the area’s pre-fire production level –– which trimmed inventories and goosed world oil prices. But the short-term closures appear to have had little effect on the Canadian and U.S. refineries that process oil sands-sourced crude. Now, oil sands producers (stung more than many by the collapse in oil prices) are focused again on reducing production costs in an effort to stay profitable in a low-oil-price era. Today, we summarize the current, post-wildfires state of oil sands production and consider the region’s future in the new, tight-oil/Shale Revolution world.
The series of wildfires that swept through parts of Fort McMurray, AB and nearby oil sands production areas in early May 2016 caused damage totaling an estimated Canadian $3.6 billion (the equivalent of more than U.S. $2.7 billion), making the event the most expensive natural disaster in Canada’s history (by far, according to a July 2016 report by the Insurance Bureau of Canada). As we said in our initial look at the wildfires’ impact on oil sands production in mid-May, the wildfires consumed hundreds of thousands of acres (ultimately, more than 1 million acres had burned by the time the last, spotty fires were put out the first week of July) and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes. That spurred staffing shortages at many oil sands production facilities, prompting production scale-backs and a handful of temporary production shutdowns.
As fierce and as far-reaching as the wildfires were, however, they didn’t cause any major damage to the oil sands production areas themselves, or to the pipelines that bring diluent in (to add to bitumen to improve its flow-ability) and crude oil out. Some pipeline flows were interrupted, though, and there was some damage to the electric grid ––but fortunately not enough to slow the rebuilding of oil sands production over the following few weeks.Remember all that talk about $60 oil by the end of the year. It now looks questionable if we will even hit $50 next year. From Bloomberg: crude oil may rebound to $57 next year. That is incredibly bad news for the Mideast. Saudi Arabia cannot survive on $57 oil, and "may" is the operative word.
Progress will be slow. The crude glut will take a long time to dissipate, meaning only gradual price gains, said Michael Hsueh, a strategist at Deutsche Bank AG. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, will average $49.50 in the fourth quarter before breaking decisively above $50 next year.Rizone has a nice article that brings us up to date on Russia's efforts to find new oil and natural gas markets in China, India, and southeast Asia. Many, many data points
Aetna is reconsidering its participation in Obamacare, making it the latest large insurer to cast doubts on the future of the individual exchanges.
Aetna said Tuesday it is canceling plans to expand into five more states next year and will reassess its involvement in the 15 states where it currently offers coverage on the individual exchanges.
Aetna -- which expects to lose $300 million (pre-tax) on its Obamacare business this year -- must conclude its review by the end of September and notify states where it intends to withdraw.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, the most popular insurer on the state's Obamacare exchange, is proposing increases ranging from 23 percent to 45 percent in premiums for its individual health-care plans, according to proposed 2017 premiums that were made public Monday. The insurer blamed the sought-after hikes mainly on changes in the costs of medical services.
Ultimately it will be insurers setting the rates that will take effect January 1, 2017. Illinois, unlike a number of other states, doesn't have the power to reject the proposed rates outright, said Dena Mendelsohn, a staff attorney at Consumers Union, the advocacy and policy division of Consumer Reports.Then this huge story, also from The Wall Street Journal: Aetna joins rivals in projecting loss on AbamaCare. That's the headline, but it understates what really may happen: "Aetna will review how it will continue its public exchange business in existing states." Not good news.
Aetna Inc. became the last of the five major national health insurers to project a loss on Affordable Care Act plans for 2016, and the company said it would re-evaluate its participation in the business and cancel a planned expansion.
Aetna, which had previously expressed relative optimism about the ACA exchanges, said it was setting up a reserve of $65 million to account for expected losses on individual plans over the rest of 2016. The move, coming after a similar shift in tone last week by Anthem Inc., is the latest sign of instability and financial pressures in the marketplaces that are at the heart of the health law.Also from The Wall Street Journal, but re-printed over at Fox News: former Obama adviser -- how I was wrong about ObamaCare. Another 2016 Geico Rock Award nominee?
And the stories continue.
Rising sea levels could soak homeowners for $882 billion, according to a new report from real estate website Zillow. The research takes its initial cue from the journal Nature, which in March found sea levels could rise more than 6 feet by the end of the century. In that scenario, Florida could lose close to 1 million homes, or 13 percent of the state’s current stock. That comes out to $400 billion in value—a figure that doesn’t include losses to commercial buildings or public infrastructure or account for future appreciation in home value.Zillow combined its own home price estimates with sea level projections from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. There’s still a lot of guesswork going on, cautions Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell. Governments could build barriers to protect coastal communities or sea level rise could prove more moderate. But whatever the variables, there will be major losses as the waters move in.Even in Zillow's less calamitous scenario of a 2-foot increase in sea level, the U.S. would still lose $74 billion in home value, with Florida leading the way at $17 billion.