Notes From All Over, Part 3 -- Happy New Year! -- MDU -- November 14, 2019

MDU Resources increases dividend for 29th consecutive year. Press release.

• previous: 20.25 cents/share; a 2.5% increase in quarterly dividend
• new: 20.75 cents/share
• annualized: 83 cents/share (was 81 cents/share)
• at share price of $29, pays 2.86% (was paying 2.78%)
• to stockholders of record: December 12, 2019
• payable on January 1, 2020
• announced November 14, 2019

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Notes For The Granddaughters

From 1421: The Year China Discovered America, Gavin Menzies, 2002, page 91:

Western methods of astronomy embodied the principles first enunciated by Greek astronomers such as Aristotle and Ptolemy, basing latitude on the equator.

In Chinese astronomy, latitude was determined not by the distance north of the equator but by the distance from the Polar Star, Polaris. A bright and easily identifiable star, Polar, sits directly above the North Pole, billions of miles out in space.

When viewed from the North Pole, the Polar Star, Polaris, is directly above the observer at 90° latitude; at the equator it sits on the horizon at 0° altitude or 0° latitude. Measuring its height above the horizon (altitude) enables the navigator to calculate his latitude.

Moreover, since Polaris is due north it enables magnetic variation -- the difference between due north and the magnetic north of a compass -- to be determined and adjustments made.