Zip Codes -- Video Of The Week -- May 13, 2018

When I get this far behind and current events are moving this fast, I find myself unable to blog because I don't know where to begin.

Perhaps to get started, all I can do is a) look at what tomorrow will bring; and, b) clean out the in-box.

Tomorrow

Dow futures have been edging up all evening; currently up 81 points which is really quite remarkable considering how far the market has come so far in the past ten days.

I've been wanting to post this graphic for quite some time, but there never seemed a "right" place for it. It hardly matters any more but here it is:

It should come as no surprise that companies are increasing their dividends. Going back over the past ten days, the numbers of companies announcing increased dividends is simply staggering. A very, very short list of such companies, these were simply chosen because I once invested in these companies or still hold shares in them.

• CAH, from 0.4624 to 0.47630; Friday, May 11, 2018
• PSX, from 0.70 to 0.80; Thursday, May 10, 2018
• BAX, from 0.16 to 0.19; Wednesday, May 9, 2018
• AAPL, from 0.63 to 0.73; Wednesday, May 2, 2018
• XLNX, from 0.35 to 0.36; Monday, April 30, 2018
• XOM, from 0.77 to 0.85; Thursday, April 26, 2018
• PSXP, from 0.678 to 0.714, Thursday, April 19, 2018
• KMI, from 0.125 to 0.200, Thursday, April 19, 2018
• EPD, from 0.425 to 0.4275, Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Tesla: it's being reported that three more high-level Tesla executives have departed in the past ten days. First, April 26, 2018, it was being reported that Tesla lost its third autopilot executive in less than two years. Then on Friday, May 11, 2018, the WSJ reported that Tesla's top engineer overseeing vehicle development would be taking "a leave of absence from the company at a crucial moment when the electric-car maker is struggling to boost production of the Model 3 sedan. When I last checked there were 100 comments (exactly); I read about 30 of them; none of them were "positive." And now this, being reported yesterday, May 12, 2018, in the WSJ:

A senior Tesla Inc. executive, who was the company’s main technical contact with U.S. safety investigators, has left for rival Waymo LLC, according to people familiar the decision. Matthew Schwall, who had been the director of field performance engineering at Tesla, exited the company as the National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating multiple crashes involving the electric vehicle.

Tesla, from Fortune, link here:

Elon Musk has said the “short burn of the century” is coming soon to investors betting against Tesla. He’s rapidly losing top deputies to help him deliver on that prediction.

Doug Field, senior vice president of engineering, is taking time away from the company to recharge, according to a company spokesman. His sabbatical is significant: Musk has said he regards Field as “one the world’s most talented” engineering executives. He’s one of only four executive officers named in the company’s recent proxy statement.

Field’s break follows a broader exodus of top executives. Matthew Schwall, Tesla’s primary contact with U.S. regulators, just joined the safety team at Waymo, the self-driving-car company started by Google. Jim Keller, the head of the driver-assistance system Autopilot, left last month for Intel. In March, Tesla confirmed two of its top financial executives had parted ways, and in February, sales chief Jon McNeill defected to Lyft.

And we move on.
Ebola: a new Ebola outbreak hits the Congo. The last time this happened, President Obama embargoes the news. Let's see what happens this time.

Gold: there's gold in them thar hills. The Mitchell Republic is reporting that a Canadian firm hopes to mine gold in the Black Hills. The only question: who will destroy the environment first, the protestors or the mining company?

Clowns: meanwhile, pretty much in the same area as that gold in them thar hills, the Clown family wants to set the record straight regarding Crazy Horse. I can't make this stuff up. Link at The Dickinson Press. Must have been a slow news day. The Sarcasm family and Irony family can't be far behind.

Photo of the day (link here). One would think the homeless could visit for free.

Has anyone really thought about this? Ten times larger than Hiroshima. I can't provide the link because the "blogger" app blocks Fox News. I'm sure you can google "North Korea's nuclear blast ten times larger than Hiroshima" and find an article. The dots all connect. The only question: who opened the bigger bottle of champagne last week, the CIA or the NSA?

Nena was first on the scene:

99 Luftballons, Nena
Remember the 57 US states? I can't make this stuff up. A huge "thank you" to a reader. Link here.

Okay, we're going to quit here. If it gets too long the readers who sent me all the links won't read far enough down the post to see their links.