Notes From All Over -- The Early Morning Edition -- December 18, 2020

Politics and C-130s: this article has been sitting on my desktop for several days now, apparently since December 1, 2020, when it was first posted. The article: "Air Force picks next C-130J Super Hercules locations." I didn't really pay much attention to it but with a government shutdown appearing more and more likely and with Senator Mitch McConnell in the center of the storm, all of a sudden, a re-reading of the article was, shall we say, illuminating? 

So, the C-130, the workhorse transport for the USAF, is modified once again, this time the "J" model. It must be really, really expensive because the first models will be released in small numbers to just a handful of bases. And wow, what interesting bases that were chosen.

Number one on the list: Senator Mitch McConnell's home state, Kentucky. The Louisville Air National Guard base will be among the first three sites to get the new "J" model.

Number two on the list: the poster child state for federal pork, West Virginia. I kid you not, the militarily important state of West Virginia is number two on the list, specifically the famous McLaughlin Air National Guard Base. No, I have never heard of it.

Third: Savannah Air National Guard Base in Georgia -- let's see, quick, name the most famous senator from Georgia who was a huge Department of Defense supporter. Democrat. Last name, one consonant, one vowel, four letters altogether.

And finally, if there are any "J" models left after the initial authorization, the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Ft Worth, Texas, will get a few. Number four on the short list. 

By the way, the link up above won't work. Here's the link: https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/air-force-picks-next-c-130j-super-hercules-locations. 

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Today's Stories That Interest Me

Just three. I had two but an early-morning reader reminded me of a third, the most interesting story of the day.

1. TSLA. Last day of trading before TSLA is added to the S&P 500. After the market closes tonight, TSLA will be added to the S&P 500. We might see record volume of TSLA trades today.

2. The market. Quadruple witching hour. Occurs in the last hour of trading four times a year on the third Friday following the first full moon after the first Sunday in the months of lunar significance: March, June, September, and December. Something like that. 

Interestingly, and I haven't seen anyone comment on it yet, but there is no quadruple witching hour in the month of October. One would think, of all the months October, with Halloween, would deserve it owns quadruple withing hour. There are market futures, and market options; and, mirror-like, there are stock futures and stock options. The yin and yang of trading. The alpha and omega. the Ben and Jerry, futures and options. Traders take positions in options and futures to minimize risk. But at some pint it's time to pay the piper: the traders need to 'unwind" their futures and their options positions before they expire. They need to sell stuff and then in the next breath buy them back. In that split second between selling and buying them back there exists an opportunity for Joe Schmoe to sneak in and buy a contract before the original seller can buy back his original position. But to get it, Joe may have to pay a premium, or not. And, so, in the hectic last hour of trading on that third Friday in that lunar-important month there's a lot of volatility. Volatility is the mother's milk for profit for traders. Anyway, that's how I understand it. My hunch is that I'm not exactly correct on all the details. 

3. The other story? The cost of electricity in New England and New York in the aftermath of winter storm Gail. 

By the way, I was disappointed that I didn't see any reference to one of my favorite actresses back in the 1950s -- the eponymously-named Gale Storm. I've always wanted to use that word on the blog (eponymous) even though it's probably incorrectly used here. 

But that's about the only news that I'm interesting in today. 

Congressional -- or more specially, Senatorial -- shenanigans will continue through the weekend and we won't see white smoke emanating from Mitch McConnell's office in the US Capitol Building until Monday morning, 5:14 a.m. ET. 

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The Book Page

My book this week: On Color, David Scott Kastan, c. 2018. I don't remember how I acquired this strange little book. Somehow it escaped the purging of my library of the past few months. 

Fascinating book on "color," exploring the questions about color that have always intrigued me. For example, is the "red" I see the same "red" you see. 

The book sits on the window sill next to the table where Sophia paints. She has been working with primary colors and secondary colors and so it seemed appropriate to place the book there until I got around to reading it.