Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- December 29, 2019

The Kraken wells in Epping oil field have been completed/fracked and are now reporting production data.

***************************

Cricket

This gets a bit deep into the tentacles of the Bakken, but it was sent to me by a reader. I had mentioned something with regard to the Carus wells in the Bakken and that led us down another rabbit warren of corridors, this one to the wonderful state of Illinois and back to Killdeer, ND. It also led me down to another mixing of metaphors. LOL.

Just when I thought that was about the end of that story, the reader sent me this note: Cricket magazine was founded by Marianne Carus back in 1973, and currently published by the Open Court Publishing Company of La Salle, Illinois, now part of the Carus Publishing Company of Peru, Illinois. 

The Apple Page

From The Dallas Morning News, December 29, 2019:

The iPad, the last major product from Apple cofounder Steve Jobs before he died i 2011, changed the definition of a computer, and today, it far outsells Apple's Mac laptops.

Its biggest fans are perhaps all under the age of 10, and the iPad and other tablets have become digital baby sitters. 

************************************
Greece

On December 23, 2019, I posted this:

Quick, fill in the blank: " ______________________ (the country) has the world's strongest manufacturing sector, based on indexes of manufacturing activity.  Link here -- WSJ, December 22, 2019. A free one-year subscription to "themilliondollarway" to the first three readers who get the answer correct without going to the link.

This country is reporting the highest manufacturing performance of all countries tracked by data firm IHS Markit. See chart at the link. This country is ranked #1, followed by Colombia, Brazil, Myanmar, and then the United States, #5. Rounding out the top ten: China, France, Canada, Philippines, and India. Germany is at the bottom of the list, #29 of 30, behind Russia at #28. Japan is #20. Quite an interesting list. Countries ranked #19 and above are expanding; those below are contracting (Japan, UK, Indonesia, Mexico, and most of western Europe). 

The answer: Greece! 

*********************************

Geography Lesson

Main book for the next couple of weeks:

The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire, William Dalrymple, c. 2019, Bloomsbury; printed and bound in the US (Virginia).

There is a reason I'm posting this, for the archives. From wiki.

Surat is a city in the Indian state of Gujarat. The population was 4.5 million in 2011. Its population is now 6.8 million in 2019.

It used to be a large seaport and is now the commercial and economic center in South Gujarat, which is famous for its diamonds and textile Industries and as a shopping centre for apparels and accessories.

It is the eighth largest city and ninth largest urban agglomeration in India. It is the administrative capital of the Surat district. The city is located 176 miles south of the state capital, Gandhinagar; 165 miles south of Ahmedabad; and 180 miles north of Mumbai. The city centre is located on the Tapti River, close to the Arabian Sea.

Surat will be the world's fastest growing city from 2019 to 2035, according to a study conducted by Economic Times.

The city registered an annualised GDP growth rate of 11.5% over the seven fiscal years between 2001 and 2008.

Surat was awarded "best city" by the Annual Survey of India's City-Systems in 2013.

Surat is selected as the first smart IT city in India which is being constituted by the Microsoft CityNext Initiative tied up with IT services majors Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.

The city has 2.97 million internet users, about 65% of total population.

Surat was selected in 2015 for an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant.

Surat has been selected as one of twenty Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under PM Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission.

Surat, famous for its diamond cutting and polishing is known as the Diamond City of India.

**********************************

The Language Page

Telugu is USA's fastest growing language -- from wiki.