Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- February 11, 2020

Weekly crude oil storage data, API:

• estimate: a 2.987-million-bbl build (false precision)
• actual: a 6-million-bbl build;
• WTI: closed up 37 cents; closing at $49.94

Coronavirus/North Dakota: The Bismarck Tribune reports three people in North Dakota are being monitored for symptoms of coronavirus; individuals recently arrived from China. The individuals are asymptomatic. Unless I missed it, The Bismarck Tribune did not say "where in China" these folks had visited. But the state's health department did say, according to The Bismarck Tribune, that folks from North Dakota could reduce their risk of infection by not going to China. Okay.

Reminder: coronavirus statistics here. This will be incredibly interesting to follow. Coronavirus cases in the US by state, tracked here.

Snowflakes: all four prosecutors (Mueller prosecutors, by the way) withdraw from Roger Stone case. The case is over; they've signed their recommendation; their boss overrides them; and they resign.Their job was over; they resign after their job ends?

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Coronavirus

I've been waiting for this "number" all day. I thought we would see it this week, perhaps even today, and we did. We saw it today.

This is the first day since the virus reached its stride in which the number of deaths decreased day-over-day. The number of deaths -- 97 -- reported today is 10% less than yesterday.

Link here.

This is huge. It's simply a snapshot in time, but it's a nice snapshot.

Add this data point with other data points, and one might be able to find some optimism. The most important data point? President Xi sends Chinese workers back to work.

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The Literature Page

Anaïs Nin: A Biography, Deirdre Bair, c. 1995.

Not so many years ago I was in my Anaïs Nin phase. I had copies of her diaries (or probably abridged diaries; the highly edited ones) and the copies of her less (?) edited diaries, that were published later. I read a number of her works, and I read at least two biographies. I assume the definitive diary of Nin, up until 1995, was Deirdre Bair's. I don't know if new biographies have come out since Bair's diary.

I am in the process of purging my extensive library, donating books to one of the local high schools. I have lost all interest in Anaïs Nin. I had planned to donate this book, but then I had second thoughts. So I will go through it once more and decide whether to keep it or not.

Anaïs Nin's full name was Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell.

Her parents were: Rosa Culmell y Vaurigaud and Joaquín Nin y Castellanos.

From behindthename.com:

Spanish naming customs are used not only in Spain, but also in the many Spanish-speaking regions of Latin America.

Most people have one or two given names, followed by two surnames.

The first surname (considered the primary surname) is inherited from the father's paternal surname, the second is inherited from the mother's paternal surname.

Women usually keep their names when they marry. For example, if José Lopez Garcia marries María Reyes Cruz, both will keep their surnames unchanged. If they have a child named Tomás, his full name will be Tomás Lopez Reyes.

Sometimes the two surnames are separated by the word y meaning "and."

Traditionally, Spanish given names are taken from the names of saints. There are also many names which honour the Virgin Mary, such as Dolores, Rosario, Mercedes, Pilar, Consolata and Luz.