Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- January 13, 2020

Cory Booker: suspends 2020 presidential campaign.

Refinery: it's hard to believe I missed this one but I'm not sure I have previously reported this. Shell is looking to sell its Washington refinery. If the sale takes place, it would leave Shell's refining operations in North America concentrated along the Texas/Louisiana gulf coast.

• Shell sold its US refinery in Martinez, CA, last year
• another Shell refinery, this one in Canada, is also up for sale: the 75,000 bpd Sarnia refinery, Ontario
• the Washington state refinery: 144,000 bpd Anacortes facility
• Shell will be left with three refineries in the US; two in Louisiana (combined: 500,000 bopd) and one in TX (340,000 bpd)

Drones: Trump to stop civilian drone program due to China tech concerns.

The US Interior Department is considering halting about 1,000 drones over potential spying risk. The U.S. government is planning to permanently halt its civilian drone program due to the devices being made at least partly in China.

The Interior Department is considering halting about 1,000 drones after deciding that the risk of the drones being used by Beijing for spying was too high. 

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has not signed an official policy but is planning to pull the fleet from action, with exceptions for emergencies like fighting wildfires and training.

 The Brits:

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Idle Rambling

Yesterday about 10:00 a.m. I started noting some vague muscle pain. Not much else, but I could tell that I "was coming down with something."

By 2:00 p.m. it was quite obvious that I was coming down with "the flu."

No nausea, vomiting, or any real respiratory compromise except for a lot of coughing during the night, but wow did I have severe muscle aches (not really pain, just generalized aches).

I went to bed early. I did not take my temperature but I certainly felt I had a high fever. Most interesting was the delirium I experienced during the night. It was really very, very interesting. I don't ever recall such an experience in the past.

This morning I took some aspirin/ibuprofen and am now 100% better. Not back to completely normal, but much improved. Now clear liquids, toast and honey, and I assume by tomorrow this should all be behind me.