Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- October 14, 2019

Record: China's September crude oil imports hit 10.08 million bopd -- data points:

• this is a record -- first time China's imports went over the 10 million bopd mark since April, 2019
• April, 2019, imports were a record: 10.68 million bopd
• month-over-month: a 1% increase
• S&P Global Platts uses a 7.33 conversion factor, metric tons to bbls
• most interesting, fuel oil: 
• fuel oil imports dropped 13% year-over-year
• I don't know what that "means"
• for the year, China's crude oil imports are up about 10% year-over-year
• China's net oil product exports: rocketed 207% year-on-year 

Sorry, Greta, India is going to need more coal. LOL. 

Debacle: over at the twitter-sphere, it is being reported that the Russian national anthem played by the Saudi Arabian orchestra was a disaster. This is not surprising. Bernard Lewis discussed this at length in his classic, What Went Wrong: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East,  c. 2003. A very, very good read.

Insects. I spent the weekend reading about insects (taxonomy). I now feel comfortable with the taxonomy. See this post: Natural Histories Innumerable Insects: The Story of the Most Diverse and Myriad Animals on Earth, Michael S. Engel, c. 2018. One of my top-shelf books.

Perry Mason: I watched episode 31 of the first season last night. I love the series. Amazon Prime offers the first five seasons for "free." Only one question: Does Lt Tragg or the DA ever figure out that Perry Mason is going to win every case? Apparently he lost two cases in the multi-year series. Why did "men" like Perry Mason so much? Answer: Big Bang Theory had Penny. Perry Mason had Della Street. And for my money, I'd rather spend it on Della than on Penny. Just saying. Married 46 years to her first and only husband, died at the age of 94. I think of her often, how it must have been to be part of the Hollywood crowd then.