Sunday, October 11, 2020

Luby's / Fuddrucker's To Liquidate -- October 11, 2020

This was announced last month. I missed the announcement; only saw it this weekend. From CNN:

Luby's, known for its namesake cafeterias that sell comfort food and the burger chain Fuddruckers, is planning to put its restaurants up for sale.

Members of the company's board announced on Tuesday (early September, 2020) a plan to liquidate, which includes selling assets and real estate and returning cash to shareholders. 
Luby's Cafeteria dates back to 1947. The Texas chain serves comfort food, including chicken fried steak, roast chicken and ribeyes. Fuddruckers specializes in hamburgers. 
Both restaurants have suffered during the pandemic: At Luby's, restaurant sales fell 75% in the quarter ending June 3 compared to the same period last year. At Fuddruckers, sales fell nearly 91%.

The bigger story: I doubt they are the only restaurants that are struggling to this degree.  

**********************************
Oxygene

It's too bad that this will be "yanked" off the blog in a very short time.

Oxygene, Jean Michel Jarre/Hank Marvin
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The Baken Never Ceases To Amaze Me -- A "Gel Frack" Vs A "Slickwater" Frack? -- October 11, 2020

Note: in a long note like this, there will be typographical and content errors. If this is important to you, go to the source. I may be misreading things; mis-forgetting history; seething things that don't exist. I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken. 

Updates

October 19, 2020: another "gel frack"? Reporting today:

  • 35969, drl/NC, Enerplus, Yosemite 148-95-02A-11H, Three Forks B1, Eagle Nest, t--; cum 65K 8/20; fracked 3/23/20 - 4/5/20; 6.53 million gallons of water; 65% water by mass;

October 12, 2020: see first comment. A "gel frac"? Interesting.

Original Post

This is really, really cool. Again, the Bakken confounds the "experts." 

For years, all we heard when it came to fracking: fracking success is not a big deal. It's simply this, just keeping use more and more sand. LOL.

A brief history.

Fracking in the Bakken began with 500,000 lbs of sand in an open-hole frack.

The operators gradually increased to maybe 2 million lbs of sand before BEXP went nuts and went to .... drum roll ... four million ... repeat, four million lbs of sand. I think everyone thought they were nuts. Sand was incredibly expensive at the time.

Then there was lots of talk about the different kinds and the different sizes of sand.

Then slick water.

Then eight million lbs of sand. 

And then EOG went to 20 million lbs -- I think this was under Mark Papa -- who, at the time, was considered by some to be the smartest man in fracking. That turned out not to be true. But he was good, incredibly good. But when it came to fracking, more to be learned.

When things got tough -- in 2014, and then again in 2016, and then most recently, 2020, operators had to get even more clever with fracking.

There are two components to drilling and completing a well in the% Bakken.

  • one: drilling.
  • two: completing.

Keeping it simple.

I think they have just about maxed out on the "drilling component":

  • time
  • accuracy

But it appears they are still trying to get the completion strategy down. 

I track the completion strategies being used in 2020 at the sidebar at the right. 

The Bakken never ceases to amaze me. 

Regardless of the amount of proppant (water, sand, chemicals) used in the frack, the amount of water, measured by mass in percent, has been around 90%. If it dropped below 87% it caught my attention -- I occasionally saw a frack with 84% water by mass. Obviously, there's an upper limit for the amount of water used by mass: 100%. LOL. 

Seriously, the greatest amount of water used in a Bakken frack by mass is about 93%. Maybe 94%. I'll watch to see if any have gone higher. 

But now this.  This is interesting to say the least. 

In three Enerplus wells coming off the confidential list this next week, not only did the operator accomplish a relatively moderate frack in each, about 6 to 8 million lbs of sand, but look at this: the amount of water used by mass was just under 65%. 

What's that all about?

Let's check one of the first wells on this pad, the only one that has an IP. 

  • 20917, 490, Enerplus, Likes Eagle 2-31H, Eagle Nest, 33-025-01388, t4/12; cum 265K 7/20; off line 9/19; remains off line 2/20; back on line 5/20; see this post; huge jump in production; t4/12; cum 267K 8/20; fracked 5/16/2012 - 5/16/2012; this well was fracked so long ago, FracFocus was color coding things, LOL, but I digress: 2.43 million gallons of water, and 87.81% water by mass; interesting, huh? A small frack by today's standards and a very small number of stages by today's standards.

According to the well file, this was a 25-stage frack, stimulated on 4/12/2012; using 2.6 million lbs of sand; as long as we've gone this far, let's look at the geologist's narrative:

  • first project of a 3-well pad
  • surface hole drilled to 2,390' MD
  • drilled to 10,650' MD (KOP) -- 8,260' in 161.75 drilling hours (for comparison, operators are now reading the KOP in one to three days (24 to 72 hours)
  • the curve commenced at 0700 CST on February 23, 2012 (the coldest time of the year in the Bakken) at 10,650' MD; completed on February 28, 2012; 0200 CST (almost five days; for comparison, operators are now drilling the curve in 12 hours);
  • the lateral:
    • began at 1115 hours CST, March 2, 2012, at 11,468' MD
    • TD reached in 167.75 lateral drilling hours at 0655 hours CDT on March 14, 2012, at 20,815' MD (12 days; for comparison, operators are now drilling same-length laterals in one to three days)
  • geology:
    • upper Bakken (Mississippian-Devonian) penetrated at 11,147' TVD
    • middle Bakken (Mississippian-Devonian) penetrated at 11,171' TVD
    • the upper 7' of the middle Bakken: the "A" zone
    • "B" zone: approx 5' thick
    • about 12' below the base of the upper Bakken shale, the 12' thick "ideal" target interval, the middle Bakken "C" zone
    • the goal was to keep the well bore within the "C" zone
    • the "B" zone showed consistently higher gas readings as compared ot the other zones in the middle Bakken
    • very low gas units throughout, however; max less than 400 units
  • then this comment:
    • Intervals of elevated total gas measurements (C1-C4) are inferred to be geologically related but not limited to enhanced hydrocarbon migration capabilities facilitated by increased fracture porosity, perhaps interrelated with macro/micro-faulting trends connected with local/regional structure. The precise interpretation of intervals of elevated total gas readings attained within the Middle Bakken during drilling operations at the Likes Eagle 2-31H location is beyond the scope of this evaluation. [In other words: no spoiler alert].
  • the geogolist/roughnecks did an incredible job: the well bore was 100% within the "B"/"C" target zone. Incredible. Two miles down. The seam, maybe 10 to 20 feet thick.

Recent production for this well (Hubber's Law violated, again):

PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN8-2020162599263517253367317578
BAKKEN7-20203187258787747896149238262
BAKKEN6-2020291517615600145261569715065455
BAKKEN5-20201274686920763089637350594
BAKKEN4-20200000000
BAKKEN3-20200000000
BAKKEN2-20200000000
BAKKEN1-20200000000
BAKKEN12-20190000000
BAKKEN11-20190000000
BAKKEN10-201910870000
BAKKEN9-20193013301568554276716850
BAKKEN8-2019271330126055719951526387
BAKKEN7-2019281294141156319411728127
BAKKEN6-2019301362140957620431846104
BAKKEN5-2019311459130155921891844249
BAKKEN4-2019301441143165621631735335
BAKKEN3-2019311763188473926452068481
BAKKEN2-2019281607180153624117561535
BAKKEN1-2019291434122560721508501174
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A Musical Interlude -- Nothing Else -- Skip If You Came Here Looking For The Bakken -- October 11, 2020

I never "request" this song on YouTube, but it comes up in rotation every so often. Incredible song.

Fifteen Years Ago, John Prine, featuring Lee Ann Womack
 
Like all such great songs -- country / western songs -- or country songs -- great country songs, there are several components, a great hook, a great melody, but most importantly: an ironic subtext that may or may not be apparent to all. Sometimes that ironic subtext only comes out when sung as a cover by someone else covering it. I did not notice the irony in this song until I heard Lee Ann Womack singing her portion.
 
On another note, posted earlier, play this 15-minutes YouTube video in the background -- don't watch it -- just listen to it -- preferably using headphones, but then at some point, you will just have to look at the video to see who's singing. For me it occurs at just about 12:10 every time:
 
Tribute To Ringo, Sinn
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Three Enerplus Wells Coming Off The Confidential List This Next Week -- October 11, 2020

Updates

November 19, 2020: we've seen this before.

October 19, 2020: coming off confidential today --

  • 35969, drl/NC, Enerplus, Yosemite 148-95-02A-11H, Three Forks B1, Eagle Nest, t--; cum 65K 8/20; fracked 3/23/20 - 4/5/20;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN8-2020191078410823111191367313040324
BAKKEN7-2020312066620730219842272321794620
BAKKEN6-2020292639026274268352647525374792
BAKKEN5-20200000000
BAKKEN4-202067039694420432844769931382

Original Post

Coming off the confidential list this week, these three Enerplus wells.

The Enerplus "national park" wells are tracked here. You thought I was kidding. LOL. But there they are.

The wells:

  • 35969, conf, Enerplus, Yosemite 148-95-02A-11H, Eagle Nest, 33-025-03658, fracked 3/23/2020 -- 4/5/2020; 6.4 million gallons of water (on the lower end of a moderate-size frack); but look at this, 65.0% water by mass;
DateOil RunsMCF Sold
8-20201082313040
7-20202073021794
6-20202627425374
4-202069446993
  • 35967, conf,  Enerplus, Everglades 148-95-02B-11H, Eagle Nest, 033-025-03656; fracked 3/9/2020 - 3/21/2020; 7.5 million gallons of water (a moderate frack); but look at this, 67.9% water by mass;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN8-2020181433814406124771823317357430
BAKKEN7-2020313000429984285703286931523900
BAKKEN6-2020282427724149254552433423321728
BAKKEN5-2020170783469691988521
BAKKEN4-20201214361141682782317234142682835
  • 35966, conf,  Enerplus, Yellowstone 148-95-02B-11H, Eagle Nest, 33-025-03655, fracked, 3/9/2020 - 3/21/2020, 6.6 million gallons of water (a moderate frack), but look at this, 67.22% water by mass! 28846 bbls over 12 days extrapolates to 72,000 bbls over a 30-day month. 
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN8-202020150531508686641901118177452
BAKKEN7-2020312588725918182922840827249777
BAKKEN6-2020282689826888216532708825967807
BAKKEN5-20201150916936191870179845
BAKKEN4-20201228846284572260534615286585697

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Can This Possibly Be Correct? Only Four Wells Coming Off The Confidential List This Next Week -- The Intial Production Data -- October 11, 2020

The wells:
  • 35969, conf, Enerplus, Yosemite 148-95-02A-11H, Eagle Nest,
DateOil RunsMCF Sold
8-20201082313040
7-20202073021794
6-20202627425374
4-202069446993
  • 36668, conf, Hess, TI-Ives-157-94-0601H-6, Tioga,
DateOil RunsMCF Sold
8-20201120611590
7-20201243115167
6-202067406234
5-20201091414278
4-20201211914187
  • 35967, drl/NC,  Enerplus, Everglades 148-95-02B-11H, Eagle Nest,
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN8-2020181433814406124771823317357430
BAKKEN7-2020313000429984285703286931523900
BAKKEN6-2020282427724149254552433423321728
BAKKEN5-2020170783469691988521
BAKKEN4-20201214361141682782317234142682835
  • 35966, drl/NC,  Enerplus, Yellowstone 148-95-02B-11H, Eagle Nest,
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN8-202020150531508686641901118177452
BAKKEN7-2020312588725918182922840827249777
BAKKEN6-2020282689826888216532708825967807
BAKKEN5-20201150916936191870179845
BAKKEN4-20201228846284572260534615286585697
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Wells Coming Off The Confidential List This Next Week -- October 11, 2020

Monday, October 19, 2020: 17 for the month; 17 for the quarter, 682 for the year
None

Sunday, October 18, 2020: 17 for the month; 17 for the quarter, 682 for the year
None.

Saturday, October 17, 2020: 17 for the month; 17 for the quarter, 682 for the year
35969, conf, Enerplus, Yosemite 148-95-02A-11H,

Friday, October 16, 2020: 17 for the month; 17 for the quarter, 682 for the year
None.

Thursday, October 15, 2020: 17 for the month; 17 for the quarter, 682 for the year
None.

Wednesday, October 14, 2020: 17 for the month; 17 for the quarter, 682 for the year
36668, conf, Hess, TI-Ives-157-94-0601H-6,

Tuesday, October 13, 2020: 17 for the month; 17 for the quarter, 682 for the year
None.

Monday, October 12, 2020: 17 for the month; 17 for the quarter, 682 for the year
None.

Sunday, October 11, 2020: 17 for the month; 17 for the quarter, 682 for the year
35967, conf,  Enerplus, Everglades 148-95-02B-11H,

Saturday, October 10, 2020: 16 for the month; 16 for the quarter, 681 for the year
35966, conf,  Enerplus, Yellowstone 148-95-02B-11H,

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Notes From All Over -- Part 2 -- The Chinese Flu Edition -- October 11, 2020

Before we get started (filed under: "I can't make this stuff up"):

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Jennifer Doudna and a team of researchers in California have developed a rapid COVID-19 test that can detect the virus in just five minutes using gene-editing technology. Link here.

Amazingly, the test can detect the presence of the virus in a sample using a smartphone camera: The researchers have manufactured a portable device, outfitted with low-cost laser illumination and collection optics. Not only can the technology deliver a result within minutes, instead of hours, but it avoids bulky lab technology. In developing countries, a test like this could be a god-send, making a huge difference in the responsiveness of public health officials as they direct a community's efforts to contain the virus. 
What's more: unlike every other rapid test that's been produced so far, including the Abbott Labs rapid test being used at the White House, the test developed by Doudna and her team is sensitive enough to quantify the amount of viral matter in a sample.

A smart phone? My hunch, Dr Doudna, et al, were using an Apple iPhone camera. Just saying. Would they trust a smart phone made in China to test for the Chinese flu? I don't think so. Oh, that's right. The Apple iPhone is made in China. LOL.

Resolution: I knew Apple was improving the resolution of the iPhone camera but I did not know they had come this far. To be able to take a picture of the virus is simply breath-taking. Maybe the virus is bigger than we thought and masks really do work. 

What amazes me with regard to this article: the writer's take away -- using an iPhone to detect the presence of the virus "would be a god-send in developing countries." OMG -- that's what the author took away from that story. This would be a god-send for developing countries. Helloooo... maybe even a developed country like the US would benefit from a five-minute iPhone camera test.  

The irony:

  • six months to develop this incredible technology:
  • five minutes to perform the test;
  • six years for the FDA to approve it;

The most amazing part of the story that we are not being told. Dr Doudna and her team got the idea from President Trump when he asked Dr Fauci, "why doesn't the CDC or the NIH or the Russian-CIA team simply take a picture of the virus" as a way of testing for Covid-19?"

Now, where were we?

Cognitive dissonance:

I get a kick out of this. 

In 1918 it was called the Spanish flu. The current pandemic originated in China but MSM refused to call it what it is /was. 

There is no question in my mind that had this originated in chickens on a farm in Tioga, ND, rather than in bats in Wuhan, this would have been called the Bakken flu. Just saying.

And you do recall that the family of corona viruses was first described in chickens in North Dakota back in 1934.

Researchers were asking the question, "Why do chickens cross the road," when they stumbled upon this new virus. Researchers are still asking why chickens cross the road but at least they have a greater understanding of the corona virus. 

In the big scheme of things, the corona virus, as a human pathogen, is pretty much like any other human viral pathogen. Except a lot less infectious and a lot less dangerous. Compare with smallpox, Ebola, measles, HIV, and about 64 other viral pathogens.But I digress. Cases don't matters. Deaths per capita: that metric is a bit more relevant, but not much. Why? 

Was it a death with a positive test (and what test was used? The 30-cycle or the 40-cycle test) or was it a death from Covid-19? Was the death caused by a shotgun blast to the head or due to the 40-cycle Covid-19 test?

I don't know what definition this site uses, but North Dakota, on a Covid-19-related death per capita, is steadily marching toward the top of the list. 

North Dakota was near the bottom of the list (#40) earlier this summer, but now, the state is nearing the top of the list, nearing #20. South Dakota is doing much better but also trending up (bad).  

At this link, be sure to set the filter for "yesterday," and then mosey on over to the "total deaths/million" and rank from top to bottom. You might be surprised. Also click on New York and New Jersey, separately of course, then scroll to the last graphic on those pages: daily deaths. New York and New Jersey are quite surprising, to say the least. One can see why the governor of New York is banning NoDaks from visiting the "Excelsior!" state.

So, cases are surging, and yet hospitalizations (per case) are plummeting. We're back to freaking out over a "cold."

Nationwide hospitalizations are around 35,000, up from 30,000 a week ago but well under the numbers seen in the earlier months of the pandemic. 
The number of hospitalizations in the U.S. peaked at nearly 60,000 in mid-April and again in mid-July. 
Apparently the curve has more than flattened ... except in North Dakota.
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Ringo Did Not Make The Cut; But John Lydon Did -- October 11, 2020

I don't know the backstory but perhaps the reader was looking for something else, or simply noted this story in list of news stories pushed by Apple News but be that as it may, the reader's note:

Johnny Rotten was named to a list of "100 Greatest Britons" keeping company with Churchill, Shakespeare, Admiral Nelson, Oliver Cromwell and all the Beatles except Ringo (;>)  Don't know what that's about.

Don't know what that's about? Well, when you have a list of 100, you have to make the cut somewhere, and apparently Ringo simply didn't make the cut. LOL. 

Here's one person who would most definitely disagree: Sina.

Tribute To Ringo, Sina
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Jennifer Anne Doudna

From wiki:
Jennifer Anne Doudna, born February 19, 1964, is an American biochemist known for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, for which she was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Emmanuelle Charpentier. 
She is a Li Ka Shing Chancellor Chair Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. 
She has been an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1997. 
Doudna grew up in Hilo, Hawaii. She graduated from Pomona College in 1985 and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1989. 
Apart from her professorship at UC Berkeley, she is also president and chair of the board of the Innovative Genomics Institute, a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, and an adjunct professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco.

The best part of that story: her undergraduate degree was from Pomona College, at the age of 21 or thereabouts.

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Notes From All Over, Part 2 -- The Inflation Edition -- October 11, 2020

Transportation update. We've hit on this a few times in the past couple of months. 

US transportation capacity hits new lows, "no relief in sight" for pricing -- and yet, here we have it, the transportation trifecta:

  • new hardware releases from Apple flooding the market:
  • Amazon Prime day (actually two days) this week;
  • for early shoppers, the holidays are upon us;

Dodo bird: in you are wondering why your Sunday paper did not show up today, the Bismarck Tribune has moved to a 6-day print schedule. Link here. 

Based on why they are doing this, see the link, they should scrap the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday editions, and roll all four days into a gigantic Thursday edition. Have a special Monday edition for sports -- to wrap-up the weekend, and that's pretty much all readers would need. 

US Treasury cash: literally off the chart. Link here. Don't read the article. Just look at the graph. The story will only confuse you. It was a great article until near the very end. 

Inflation: just what is the story. What's going on. From Bloomberg:

The Federal Reserve is determined to push inflation higher from levels it considers dangerously low. 
For that to happen, it must first convince everyone that prices will accelerate in coming years. 
One big problem is that the measures that bond traders and strategists rely on for longer-run inflation expectations can often give conflicting and confusing signals. No one can agree on how best to use or decipher them, with even the Fed seemingly reticent to narrow it down; its economists recently reviewed a cocktail of more than 20 gauges. 
Yet depending on which measure is considered, inflation is still well short of the Fed’s average 2% goal -- or may have already exceeded it. With the Fed planning to keep rates near zero until price pressures re-emerge, it’s a far from academic question. 
The prospect of an abrupt economic reflation lifted yields on U.S. debt to the highest in months this week, skewing the yield curve to near its steepest in four years and bringing forward bets on rate increases. While those bets dipped amid stop-start talks over a stimulus package, their resilience was a timely reminder for traders of what’s at stake in nailing the outlook for inflation.

Re-posting:

If I purposely check the stock market, I post at least a quick note on the blog. I haven't purposely checked the market in several weeks. When it gets crazy on the down side, I quit watching until the dust settles. When it gets crazy on the up side, I check the market hourly, if not more often. 
Today [I believe that was Friday, October 9, 2020], I finally looked when I saw the Xilinx story. I was curious. When did I last check out the market. Doing a google search on the blog the last time I posted the word "Dow" was September 15, 2020.

Wow, that's been almost a month since I checked the market. 

After looking at the quarterly statement I just received from my IRA custodian, it may be safe to going back to looking at the market. We'll see. I'm not going to rush in.

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Notes From All Over -- Part 2 -- The Chinese Flu Edition -- October 11, 2020

Before we get started (filed under: "I can't make this stuff up"):

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Jennifer Doudna and a team of researchers in California have developed a rapid COVID-19 test that can detect the virus in just five minutes using gene-editing technology. Link here.

Amazingly, the test can detect the presence of the virus in a sample using a smartphone camera: The researchers have manufactured a portable device, outfitted with low-cost laser illumination and collection optics. Not only can the technology deliver a result within minutes, instead of hours, but it avoids bulky lab technology. In developing countries, a test like this could be a god-send, making a huge difference in the responsiveness of public health officials as they direct a community's efforts to contain the virus. 
What's more: unlike every other rapid test that's been produced so far, including the Abbott Labs rapid test being used at the White House, the test developed by Doudna and her team is sensitive enough to quantify the amount of viral matter in a sample.

A smart phone? My hunch, Dr Doudna, et al, were using an Apple iPhone camera. Just saying. Would they trust a smart phone made in China to test for the Chinese flu? I don't think so. Oh, that's right. The Apple iPhone is made in China. LOL.

Resolution: I knew Apple was improving the resolution of the iPhone camera but I did not know they had come this far. To be able to take a picture of the virus is simply breath-taking. Maybe the virus is bigger than we thought and masks really do work. 

What amazes me with regard to this article: the writer's take away -- using an iPhone to detect the presence of the virus "would be a god-send in developing countries." OMG -- that's what the author took away from that story. This would be a god-send for developing countries. Helloooo... maybe even a developed country like the US would benefit from a five-minute iPhone camera test.  

The irony:

  • six months to develop this incredible technology:
  • five minutes to perform the test;
  • six years for the FDA to approve it;

Now, where were we?

Cognitive dissonance:

I get a kick out of this. 

In 1918 it was called the Spanish flu. The current pandemic originated in China but MSM refused to call it what it is /was. 

There is no question in my mind that had this originated in chickens on a farm in Tioga, ND, rather than in bats in Wuhan, this would have been called the Bakken flu. Just saying.

And you do recall that the family of corona viruses was first described in chickens in North Dakota back in 1934.

Researchers were asking the question, "Why do chickens cross the road," when they stumbled upon this new virus. Researchers are still asking why chickens cross the road but at least they have a greater understanding of the corona virus. 

In the big scheme of things, the corona virus, as a human pathogen, is pretty much like any other human viral pathogen. Except a lot less infectious and a lot less dangerous. Compare with smallpox, Ebola, measles, HIV, and about 64 other viral pathogens.But I digress. Cases don't matters.Deaths per capita: that metric is a bit more relevant, but not much. Why? 

Was it a death with a positive test (and what test was used? The 30-cycle or the 40-cycle test) or was it a death from Covid-19? Was the death caused by a shotgun blast to the head or due to the 40-cycle Covid-19 test?

I don't know what definition this site uses, but North Dakota, on a Covid-19-related death per capita, is steadily marching toward the top of the list. 

North Dakota was near the bottom of the list (#40) earlier this summer, but now, the state is nearing the top of the list, nearing #20. South Dakota is doing much better but also trending up (bad).  

At this link, be sure to set the filter for "yesterday," and then mosey on over to the "total deaths/million" and rank from top to bottom. You might be surprised. Also click on New York and New Jersey, separately of course, then scroll to the last graphic on those pages: daily deaths. New York and New Jersey are quite surprising, to say the least. One can see why the governor of New York is banning NoDaks from visiting the "Excelsior!" state.

So, cases are surging, and yet hospitalizations (per case) are plummeting. We're back to freaking out over a "cold."

Nationwide hospitalizations are around 35,000, up from 30,000 a week ago but well under the numbers seen in the earlier months of the pandemic. 
The number of hospitalizations in the U.S. peaked at nearly 60,000 in mid-April and again in mid-July. 
Apparently the curve has more than flattened ... except in North Dakota.

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So Much Fake News I Honestly Don't Know What's Going On -- Hospital Beds In North Dakota -- October 11, 2020

Several links:

  • from the blog: ND hospitals nearing capacity due to Covid-19; September 28, 2020;
  • from a television news story, so incredibly superficial: Bismarck hospitals clarify New York Times article; October 8, 2020;
  • Fargo Inforum: North Dakota has just 22 intensive care beds available as hospital admissions surge, September 29, 2020;
  • CNBC: US reports uptick in daily coronavirus as outbreaks surge in Great Plains, October 8, 2020;  look at the original ULR: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/07/coronavirus-outbreaks-sweep-through-great-plains-states-as-wisconsin-activates-field-hospital-.html.
  • Google: ND hospital bed shortage, October 10, 2020;
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Notes From All Over -- The Ultra-Rich Edition -- Part 1 --October 11, 2020

The ultra-rich: how are they doing? 

See this link: America's richest have recovered from the shortest recession on record. WSJ. If you run out of things to at at 5:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, you could do worse than have fun with this database: "real-time billionaires." It's a bit slow to re-load and there is so much information you can stay entertained for hours. And best of all, during normal business hours, it's updated every five minutes. 

Self-made ultra-rich: if you spend any time at that Forbes database, be sure to see the Forbes self-made score.

 The ultra-rich are ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, and its fascinating. Warren Buffet scored only an "8" due to the fact he was not born in poverty, nor sexually abused as a child. That will get you a "10" where Oprah Winfrey as well as a few others are ranked.

Really rich: 50 richest Americans now worth more than poorest 165 million. Link here.

Another win for President Trump: federal judge dismisses high-tax states' lawsuit against Trump tax deduction limits. Fox News, September 30, 2020. You will need to google if, if interested.

NFL: the season is at risk. 

I posted that as a personal thought a couple of days ago based on reading of the tea leaves. Now, even more objective evidence. But before we get the early demise of the NFL season we will go to Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Friday night NFL to join Sunday, Monday, and Thursday night football. Saturday will be reserved for the few colleges are that still playing.

Georgia H. If you have time to read just one essay today this would be the essay, over at PowerLine, Georgia H is:

A lovely, young, very articulate and intelligent woman who was in Teach for America and then became a nurse to escape public “education.” It is her painful journey from her childhood roots in a progressive community to arrive finally at the plain truth that she had been brainwashed throughout her young life. Now she rejects the Democrat Party and inclines strongly toward the GOP and generally supports its candidates, including Trump.

If you don't have the time or interest to read the essay, at least note the last item from the 30-year-old Georgia:

10) i would LOVE to get out of LA! holy moly i think about it every day! my dream is to meet a SENSIBLE guy and hightail it to texas. yeehaw!

Bobbing for apples, and not pears: science for Sophia. It's all about the distribution of air. 

IBM to spin off a unit. Link here.

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