The World In Lock Down And Atmospheric CO2 Jumped As Much As Ever -- January 10, 2021

Link here.

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The Stand-Alone Monitor Page

Link here. The Dell UltraSharp 40” Curved WUHD Monitor.

Data points:

• awarded the CES 2021 Innovation Award;
• world's first 40-inch ultrawide curved monitor with 5120 x 2160  resolution (5K2K or WUHD)
• equivalent to a 32-inch 4K display but with 33% more viewing space
• a built-in Thunderbolt 3 port: can connect to a compatible Mac with a single cable (e.g., a MacBook Pro)
• can produce 1.07 billion colors (and that's why I decided to post this note -- see below)

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Pantone's Color Of The Year

Link here. 

From the linked article;

Pantone’s Color of the Year has long predicted and influenced interior design trends—2016’s Rose Quartz is almost certainly to thank for the explosion of all things Millennial pink. 

This year, Pantone knew we needed a little something extra after surviving 2020 and announced two colors as their 2021 picks: the steely Ultimate Gray and the sunshine hued Illuminating.

“Practical and rock solid but at the same time warm and optimistic, the union of Pantone 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + Pantone 13-0647 Illuminating is one of strength and positivity,” read the announcement.

“It is a story of color that encapsulates deeper feelings of thoughtfulness with the promise of something sunny and friendly.”

The XTO Kulczyk And Krieger Wells Sited In Section 17-154-94

Updates

September 12, 2022: a couple of XTO Krieger DUCs reported as completed.

******************************
The Wells

The wells:

• 36091, drl/NC, XTO, Krieger 42X-17DXA, Alkali Creek,
• 36092, drl/A, XTO, Krieger 42X-17H, Alkali Creek, big well reported September 12, 2022; t--; cum 62K 7/22;
  
• 36093, drl/A, XTO, Krieger 42X-17C, Alkali Creek, a very big well; t--; cum 32K over 19 days extrapolates to 51K over 30 days:
  
• 18169, 836/IAW/AB, XTO, Krieger 42X-17, Alkali Creek, t12/09; cum 146K 2/19; remains off line7/22;
• 36094, drl/A, XTO, Krieger 42X-17G, Alkali Creek, reported September 12, 2022, but minimal production;
  

• 37644, conf-->loc/drl, XTO, Kulczyk 43X-17BXC, Alkali Creek, 
• 24712, 1,572, XTO, Kulczyk 43X-17A, Alkali Creek, t6/13; cum 243K 11/20; was off line 7/20 - 10/20; back on line, and then off line again, 2/22; cum 274K 7/22;
  
• 37226, conf-->loc/drl, XTO, Kulczyk 43X-17FXG2, Alkali Creek, 
• 24711, 1,322, XTO, Kulczyk 43X-17B, Alkali Creek,  t6/13; cum 242K 11/20; was off line 7/20 - 10/20; back on line, and then off line again, 12/21; cum 258K 7/22;
• 37225, conf-->loc/drl, XTO, Kulczyk 43X-17AXB, Alkali Creek, 
• 37224, conf-->loc/drl, XTO, Kulczyk 43X-17F, Alkali Creek, 
• 37223, conf-->loc/NC, XTO, Kulczyk 43X-17EXH, Alkali Creek,

Well, Well, Well -- CNBC Missed A Scoop -- And They Were So Close -- A Huge Story -- January 10, 2021

This is quite a story and I bet no one caught it. LOL.

Late last week, Hyundai mentioned that it was in talks with Apple.

Apple: no comment.

Hyundai seemed to back track a bit, and correspondents noted that Apple talks to multiple companies on multiple issues. LOL.

Then this, the "tell": a CNBC talking head -- blond, female -- she said, tongue-in-cheek, if that's accurate -- that Hyundai said it was talking to Apple, someone at Hyundai is in deep trouble. She said Apple has a history of cutting off relationships if anyone talks out of school. It looks like CNBC, specifically the CNBC automobile analyst completely missed this scoop. If it was being reported that Hyundai was talking to Apple, it was likely to be a lot farther down the road than folks were surmising. 

This is not Hyundai's first rodeo. For someone at Hyundai to mention anything, they had "written" permission from Tim Cook to say something. 

And here it is, from Reuters: Hyundai Motor and Apple plan to sign a partnership:

• to sign by March, 2021
• EV / autonomous car production by 2024
• original reports: Hyundai's manufacturing plant in Georgia; then, removed from reports

From elsewhere:

• a "beta version" of the ‌Apple Car‌ could be released in 2022.

This is the question that needs to be asked: where will the companies that supply batteries be located?

Anyone following the "car battery" story will know the answer to that question.

On another note, an automobile expert said it would take "half a decade" for Apple to produce a car. LOL. 

Let's see: 2024 - 2021: three years. 

If one things TSLA is undervalued, have we got a recommendation for you. LOL. 

A huge "thank you" for a reader alerting me to this article as soon as it posted. I probably would have caught it in the morning when AAPL futures are posted.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

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How Big Is This Story?
It Will Get Much Bigger

Link here. 

Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday [October 20, 2020] its brand value was ranked fifth among global automakers on its efforts to evolve into a future mobility solutions provider. 

Hyundai Motor's brand value rose 1 percent to $14.3 billion in 2020 from $14.1 billion a year earlier, the company said, citing global brand consulting firm Interbrand's top 100 brand rankings for this year. 

Hyundai Motor's brand value ranking was up one notch from the prior year, and it marks the first time for South Korea's leading automaker to make the global top five list. 

In addition, Hyundai Motor is the sole automaker in the world to register an on-year rise in brand value. 

"Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Hyundai's brand value advanced thanks to its aggressive investment in hydrogen fuel-cell electric and other next-generation vehicles and future mobility technologies," an Interbrand official was quoted as saying. 

Toyota Motor Corp. was the No. 1 global auto brand with $51.6 billion, trailed by Mercedes-Benz with $49.3 billion, BMW with $39.8 billion and Honda Motor Co. with $21.7 billion. Tesla placed sixth with $12.8 billion, followed by Ford Motor Co. with $12.6 billion, seventh.

Hyundai and Kia are joined at the hip, by the way. Now the third. Apple.  

Mosaic Company Moving -- In The Stock Market And To Florida -- January 10, 2021

Over at the sidebar at the right, I have something called "Themes -- 2021."

The overriding theme for 2021 is a "risk-off" trade for investors and a booming global economy as we move to a "new normal." 

"New normal." LOL.

I'm mentioning that because it will help explain some of the stories I post and/or link on the blog.

Example: I see that Mosaic Company is among the "leaders" in those companies moving tomorrow's market in futures. Linked here but the link is dynamic and will probably be different six hours from now.

From wiki:

The Mosaic Company is a Fortune 500 company based in Tampa, Florida which mines phosphate and potash, and operates through segments such as international distribution and mosaic fertilizantes. 

It is the largest U.S. producer of potash and phosphate fertilizer. 

The Mosaic Company was formed in October 2004 by a merger between IMC Global, a fertilizer company formed in 1909, and Cargill's crop nutrition division. 

It is a combined producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash with a customer base which includes wholesalers, retail dealers and individual growers worldwide. 

Its headquarters are in Plymouth, Minnesota and it employs approximately 12,000 people in eight countries. 

On October 26, 2018, Mosaic announced that it would be relocating its headquarters from Plymouth, Minnesota to Tampa, Florida.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

I don't invest in Mosaic (at least not directly) and never will .... wait, let me check its dividend ... nope, not enticing ... but Mosaic Company will be something to follow in line with my "Themes -- 2021."

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The Movie Page

Wow, wow, wow -- 84 Charing Cross Road, 1987. TCM, Sunday night, what a treat!

I had never seen the movie and I certainly didn't think I would ever like it but after last week this movie appears to be a breath of fresh air. 

On one side of the Atlantic, London. On the other side, New York City. 

Wow, what a treat. Judi Dench pops up everywhere. 

84 Charing Cross Road: one of my top ten movies. I didn't know that until tonight, having seen it for the first time. I just don't know how actors do it. 

"Breaking through the fourth wall": I learned that phrase from our oldest granddaughter of all things. It would be interesting to know if Anthony Hopkins considered this his favorite film.

We lived three years not far from London when "we" were in the USAF. In addition to those three years I was back over to England many, many times over a four-year period. I immediately got the map out and re-lived old memories. 

It's funny how things work out. I was assigned to a seven-physician flight medicine clinic at RAF Lakenheath, a prime and much-sought-after assignment. The clinic had a satellite clinic a few miles away over at RAF Mildenhall which was considered an outpost which no one wanted; the poor step-child as it were. I always went with the flow, never argued or fought for the spoils which I thought I deserved, but just did what the boss said. The boss told me I would be assigned to that satellite clinic along with another junior physician. 

It turned out to be the best non-decision decision I ever made. I had a blast over at that two-physician clinic. Operationally it was an incredible experience, but just as important: geographically separated from the main hospital and the seven-physician flight medicine clinic I was free of all office politics and had (almost) no administrative responsibilities. All I did was practice clinical medicine; fly all over England; and spend several wonderful weeks in Spain, northern and west-central Africa, during those three years. 

Life in the military is funny. Some years -- actually many years -- a lifetime later, in fact, -- after that RAF Mildenhall assignment, I was sent back to northern England for short periods, multiple times. I like to think I spent a full year in northern England over the course of four years but it's possibly I exaggerate the amount of time actually spent in Yorkshire. During that time I cultivated numerous friendships, closer than (m)any I had previously experienced. 

One colleague was a US civilian, working for an organization which did not exist on paper. She was as good as any in her field, and after 20+ years in the organization, she deserved the best of assignments. Near the end of my own career, I learned that she had been given an assignment no one wanted: remote and literally at the end of the world. We talked about the (un)fairness of life; she accepted the assignment after my support. She could have retired but she took the assignment. I lost track of her after she departed but I can only imagine she ended up having the best of times in .... Australia.

Yes, truly funny how things work out in life. 

Now, to look at that map and bring back a lot of memories.

California Has So Much Money It Can Return Some Of It To SOME Of Its Taxpayers -- Source -- January 10, 2021

That California bullet train? Back on the table. Though Governor Newsom did not mention it last week, the tea leaves suggest the California bullet train is back on the table.

Breitbart was first to break the story for some of us: California's governor says the state has so much money (previously posted, by the way), that the state can "afford to return some of it to taxpayers." 

Actually, I'm not sure that's accurate. More accurately, it appears, Governor Newsom said the state has so much money that the state can provide a $600-stimulus check to those who earn less than $30,000. I doubt many of those folks pay state income tax in the first place. If they do, not much. But I digress. [Later: it appears a household earning $30K wold pay $232 in state income tax. So, I'm wrong, Breitbart is correct: California has enough money to return money to some of its taxpayers. I was surprised to find those earning so little actually have a tax liability in California.]

Governor Gavin Newson unveiled the proposed $227 billion California budget for the upcoming 2021 - 2022 fiscal year. Link here. 

The bullet train was not mentioned but that hardly matters. Biden is the new banker in town. LOL. And a lot of federal, infrastructure, green energy, renewable energy money is going to flow to California.

Word For The Day: Brod-Ding-Nagian -- Or -- Brob-Di-Nagian -- January 10, 2021

I like "brob-di-nagian." Not that difficult. 

From The WSJ today: What is the Brobdingnagian base?

For investors: chart analysis suggesting something particularly bullish.

Coined in the early 2000s by John Roque, now a technical analyst at Wolfe Research in New York, the term combines two words: one from the world of letters (Brobdingnagian) and the other from the realm of finance (base).

In Jonathan Swift’s classic novel “Gulliver’s Travels,” Brobdingnagian describes the people who live in the fictional country of Brobdingnag, a land inhabited by giants. Base, meanwhile, refers to a bullish chart pattern where the price of a security or other asset has moved sideways within a defined price range for a period. 

The longer the sideways price action has gone on, the bigger a subsequent rally is expected to be, according to technical analysts, also known as chartists, who analyze stock-price patterns, among other things, to forecast where prices are headed. So-called Brobdingnagian bases are those that have lasted for many years and thus are pointing to the potential for a gigantic rally.

This kind of price pattern can arise in two ways, says Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at New York-based broker-dealer Bay Crest Partners. It can be a sideways consolidation of an asset price in a rising trend, or it can be due to the reversal of a bear-market trend. Investors tend to be wary of assets that have failed to perform for a long period, Mr. Krinsky says, and that caution is seen as a bullish signal, or sign that the asset price will rally.

Quick, name one possible example yet to be seen. I have one. But if I post it, I have to also post my disclaimer and I'm not in the mood to do that right. If I remember, I will post a possible Brobdingnagian stock later. 

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Tailgate Parties
Mult-Flex vs MultiPro

Back on January 28, 2019, I blogged about tailgate parties. Or more, specifically, tailgates. 

I was reminded of that when I saw television commercial today focused specifically on that: the "new" tailgate seen on the GMC Sierra. 

It turns there is more to it than I realized. From "2022 Ford" over at YouTube:

This is all new to me. Fascinating. 

See this story, also.  

Chevrolet's rolling out a reskinned version of GMC's MultiPro tailgate in early 2021, and that's got to make Chevy Silverado owners happy. When the current-generation GMC Sierra debuted with its unique Swiss-army-knife-style tailgate for 2019, owners of the new Silverado were most likely saddened at the prospect of never being able to enjoy such fancy tech on their own truck. After all, who doesn't want a tailgate that can fold, flop, flip up, and transform into a step? 

For Chevy, the tailgate has been dubbed Multi-Flex, and it will retain all the features of its GMC counterpart. In addition to going up and down—the latter of which can be done from the key fob—the versatile tailgate also has a secondary section that spans most of the width of the tailgate and extends to just above the bow-tie badge. That section can fold down while the tailgate is in an upright position to allow longer objects to be more easily accommodated and properly secured. An additional flap can be deployed on this inner gate to act as a load stop, too. When the tailgate and inner gate are both folded down, the inner gate can act as a step up into the bed or make for a good place to set and rest your feet. 

The tea leaves suggest the next two decades will be all about pickup trucks, SUVs, and minivans for the automakers. The minivans, of course, for delivery services, not soccer moms. In the post-pandemic era, soccer moms will be so yesterday.

Why I Love To Blog, Reason #7 -- I Blogged About This Years Ago -- The NY TImes Picks It Up Now -- January 10, 2021

Another story that will compete for biggest story of the decade.

Wow, I'm in a good mood. I talked about this years ago. If I can find it on the blog, I will post the link.

I said early on that global warming would expand agriculture worldwide. I first saw it in North Dakota and Montana as corn production increased in North Dakota and wheat production increased in Montana. 

Now this from The New York Times: how Russia wins the climate crisis. Whoo-hoo!

Climate change and its enormous human migrations will transform agriculture and remake the world order — and no country stands to gain more than Russia.

A great transformation is underway in the eastern half of Russia.

For centuries the vast majority of the land has been impossible to farm; only the southernmost stretches along the Chinese and Mongolian borders have been temperate enough to offer workable soil.

But as the climate has begun to warm, the land — and the prospect for cultivating it — has begun to improve. Across Eastern Russia, wild forests, swamps, and grasslands are slowly being transformed into orderly grids of soybeans, corn and wheat. It’s a process that is likely to accelerate: Russia hopes to seize on the warming temperatures and longer growing seasons brought by climate change to refashion itself as one of the planet’s largest producers of food. 

Around the world, climate change is becoming an epochal crisis, a nightmare of drought, desertification, flooding and unbearable heat, threatening to make vast regions less habitable and drive the greatest migration of refugees in history.

But for a few nations, climate change will present an unparalleled opportunity, as the planet’s coldest regions become more temperate. There is plenty of reason to think that those places will also receive an extraordinary influx of people displaced from the hottest parts of the world as the climate warms. Human migration, historically, has been driven by the pursuit of prosperity even more so than it has by environmental strife.

With climate change, prosperity and habitability — haven and economic opportunity — will soon become one and the same. And no country may be better positioned to capitalize on climate change than Russia.

The full story over at The NY Times is behind a paywall, but that much of it, from climatekc.org tells me all I need to know.

Wow. 

Is the narrative beginning to change? No, not at all, but this is another great example of Dr Strangelove. 

I'm lovin' it.

Wow, wow, wow -- if one looks long enough, one can find the NYTimes article (actually a New York Magazine article, apparently) in its entirety, not going through a paywall. LOL.

Link here. 

And archived here.

A Closer Look At A Hess Tioga Fossaa Well That Might Be Considered A "Wildcat" -- January 10, 2021

Hess has really stepped up their game this past year or so. They operate in (some of) the oldest oil fields in North Dakota and are now reporting huge wells, not something we saw from Hess early on. 

Hess will report another great well this week, this one from the Tioga oil field, probably as old as the Beaver Lodge oil field, maybe older.

The well:

• 37201, conf, Hess, TI-Fossaa-158-94-1819H-1, 33-061-04638, Tioga, fracked 6/20/20 - 7/2/20, 7.9 million gallons of water; 80.3% water by mass; not a particularly big frack:
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	10793	12189
10-2020	7147	6800
9-2020	15582	16144
8-2020	25354	45883
7-2020	1010	3253

Interestingly enough, there are a lot of old vertical wells in this immediate area, but almost no Bakken activity. In fact, as a Bakken well, it comes very close to being a "wildcat." It is definitely not in what would appear to be a Tier 1 area; Tier 2 at best and possibly would have been considered Tier 3 some years ago.

But look at this, the nearest well to #37201, TI-Fossaa is #5350, first drilled back in March, 1974, forty-seven years ago. Wow. Initially it was a vertical well targeting the Madison formation and produced over a half-million bbls of oil before it was finally brought off line in September, 2019. 

Then it was re-enterd as a short, very short, middle Bakken horizontal. I'm assuming that it was re-entered as a middle Bakken; there is no sundry form to explain anything. FracFocus has no data on this well:

• 5350, 244, Hess, Tioga-Madison Unit L-146XHR, Tioga, t3/74; cum 523K 9/19;

So, let's take a look at another well in this section that is also a very, very short horizontal:

• 371, 549, Hess, Tioga-Madison Unit K-147HR, Tioga, t9/53, cum 383K 10/11; it was also a re-entry well, but the last date given for this well was 8/14; it looks like the re-entry was accomplished in 2014; a note found on the re-entry diagram: "Fish left in abandoned leg at 8,741' MD." Shortly after that the operator requested to plub and permanently abandon this well. 

This well was identified by the landowner as an abandoned well that the operator was not returning to original condition. That appears to have been accomplished. 

This is an incredible well (#37201), considering the local history. If the landowner also has mineral rights, this might be good news for all involved.

If Hess can duplicate this well, one would think this area might now be a Tier 1 location in the Bakken.

A Closer Look At Another Huge QEP Well In Van Hook -- January 10, 2021

See also this post: link here.

A sister well was reported two days ago: link here. 

The well:

• 35455, conf, QEP, MHA 7-29-30H-150-92, 33-061-04302, Van Hook, fracked 6/18/20 - 6/26/20;
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	35356	21000
10-2020	39274	23176
9-2020	37537	15347
8-2020	54102	30211
7-2020	40318	21126

FracFocus:

Why I Love To Blog, Reason #41 -- I Telegraphed This Days Ago -- Energy Crisis Developing In Japan Now Being Reported -- January 10, 2021

Link here. Energy crisis in Japan developing. 

Initial Production Data For Wells Coming Off The Confidential List This Next Week -- January 10, 2021

The wells:

• 37502, conf, CLR, Miles 14-6HSL, Dimmick Lake, no production data,
• 37226, conf, XTO, Kulczyk 43X-17FXG2, Alkali Creek, no production data,
• 37063, conf, Hess, EN-Labar-154-94-1003H-6, Alkali Creek,

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	11896	18054
10-2020	16598	24082
9-2020	24994	37720
8-2020	28201	37500
7-2020	26663	12983

• 37644, conf, XTO, Kulczk 43X-17BXC, Alkali Creek, no production data, 
• 37201, conf, Hess, TI-Fossaa-158-94-1819H-1, Tioga,
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	10793	12189
10-2020	7147	6800
9-2020	15582	16144
8-2020	25354	45883
7-2020	1010	3253

• 37017, conf, Hess, BL-Amelia-LS-156-95-1514H-1, Beaver Lodge,
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	14307	24344
10-2020	15635	32022
9-2020	22751	32305
8-2020	47	0
7-2020	6795	7866

36379, conf, Hess, EN-Enger-156-94-1423H-4, Big Butte,

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	18673	23392
10-2020	16506	19097
9-2020	25798	34811
8-2020	32441	33392
7-2020	28592	11913

• 37061, conf, Hess, EN-Labar-154-94-1003H-4, Alkali Creek,
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	11792	19703
10-2020	18041	25432
9-2020	29390	43519
8-2020	36631	42819
7-2020	35046	20999

• 35455, conf, QEP, MHA 7-29-30H-150-92, Van Hook,
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	35356	21000
10-2020	39274	23176
9-2020	37537	15347
8-2020	54102	30211
7-2020	40318	21126

• 36548, conf, Oasis, Thelen 5297 11-6 4B, Banks,
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	4727	12564
10-2020	33881	82574
9-2020	1971	5138
8-2020	1700	3801
7-2020	18822	42013

• 36547, conf, Oasis, Thelen 5297 11-6 3TX, Banks,
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	7809	20060
10-2020	27675	74216
9-2020	1065	2333
8-2020	2003	3844
7-2020	15780	41786

• 37461, conf, Petro-Hunt, USA 153-95-13C-12-3H, Phelps Bay, no production data, 
• 37460, conf, Petro-Hunt, USA 153-95-13C-12-4H, Phelps Bay, no production data, 
• 37459, conf, Petro-Hunt, USA 153-95-13D-12-5H, Phelps Bay, no production data, 
• 36709, conf,  Hess, BL-Amelia-156-95-1514H-11, Beaver Lodge,
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	7854	21543
10-2020	14093	26292
9-2020	13844	22101
8-2020	14856	21779
7-2020	21351	33440

• 36708, conf,  Hess, BL, Amelia-156-95-1514H-10, Beaver Lodge,
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	9424	18738
10-2020	12707	20586
9-2020	9599	18196
8-2020	16196	24836
7-2020	20364	31441

• 36380, conf, Hess, EN-Person-156-94-1102H-6, Big Butte,
  

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2020	15040	24045
10-2020	16713	23934
9-2020	12688	15857
8-2020	19311	14664
7-2020	22297	5433

Wells Coming Off The Confidential List This Next Week -- January 10, 2021

Monday, January 18, 2021: 25 for the month, 25 for the quarter, 25 for the year.
37502, conf, CLR, Miles 14-6HSL,
37226, conf, XTO, Kulczyk 43X-17FXG2,
37063, conf, Hess, EN-Labar-154-94-1003H-6,

Sunday, January 17, 2021: 22 for the month, 22 for the quarter, 22 for the year.
37644, conf, XTO, Kulczk 43X-17BXC,

Saturday, January 16, 2021: 21 for the month, 21 for the quarter, 21 for the year.
37201, conf, Hess, TI-Fossaa-158-94-1819H-1,
37017, conf, Hess, BL-Amelia-LS-156-95-1514H-1,

Friday, January 15, 2021: 19 for the month, 19 for the quarter, 19 for the year.
36379, conf, Hess, EN-Enger-156-94-1423H-4,

Thursday, January 14, 2021: 18 for the month, 18 for the quarter, 18 for the year.
37642, conf, Hess, SWD,
37061, conf, Hess, EN-Labar-154-94-1003H-4,

Wednesday, January 13, 2021: 17 for the month, 17 for the quarter, 17 for the year.
35455, conf, QEP, MHA 7-29-30H-150-92;

Tuesday, January 12, 2021: 16 for the month, 16 for the quarter, 16 for the year.
None.

Monday, January 11, 2021: 16 for the month, 16 for the quarter, 16 for the year.
36548, conf,  Oasis, Thelen 5297 11-6 4B,
36547, conf,  Oasis, Thelen 5297 11-6 3TX,

Sunday, January 10, 2021: 14 for the month, 14 for the quarter, 14 for the year.
37461, conf, Petro-Hunt, USA 153-95-13C-12-3H,

Saturday, January 9, 2021: 13 for the month, 13 for the quarter, 13 for the year.
37460, conf, Petro-Hunt, USA 153-95-13C-12-4H,
37459, conf, Petro-Hunt, USA 153-95-13D-12-5H,
36709, conf,  Hess, BL-Amelia-156-95-1514H-11,
36708, conf,  Hess, BL, Amelia-156-95-1514H-10,
36380, conf, Hess, EN-Person-156-94-1102H-6,

Notes From All Over -- The Texas Snowstorm Edition -- January 10, 2021

Weather: they say it's snowing in Denton, TX (just north of us); Dallas (just to the southeast of us); and I look out my window and I see no snow. I guess if I look really, really hard I can see some very light drizzle that might be slightly white, but to call it snow is a stretch. It's 34°. LOL. I don't have the heat on in my little hovel and I'm lovin' it.

First things first: US automakers face huge "chip" shortage. Link at The WSJ. This is a huge, huge story. A reminder: Apple is now making its own chips.

"All clear!" For things to get back to "normal," we need to hear those two words from Joe Biden with regard to the pandemic. It is now clear to me that we won't hear those two words in 2021. 

Things may get worse or they may get significantly better, but whether one one wants to call it gaslighting, fake news, reality, the absolute truth, the tea leaves suggest we will not hear the "all clear" this calendar year. 

202One Summer Olympics: not gonna happen.

• recent Japanese poll: more than 80% of the Japanese say cancel or postpone; it was 60% in same survey on December 6; blogger won't allow link to source;
• Japan declares a state of emergency; Japan: 202One Olympics either go on as scheduled or canceled outright; no delay; no postponement; it's binary -- it either goes off on schedule or not at all; torches are starting to be removed across the country; this is not rocket science; MarketWatch;
  

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Flashback

May 4, 1970.

Kent State.

From wiki:

Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers fired approximately 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others. Students Allison Beth Krause, 19, Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20, Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20, and William Knox Schroeder, 19, were killed and nine others were injured, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. 

All died at the scene except Schroeder, who was pronounced dead at Robinson Memorial Hospital in nearby Ravenna shortly afterward.

Rambling -- Saturday Night Relaxation -- Watching, Reading, And Surfing -- Nothing About The Bakken -- Just Enjoying An Evening Off -- January 9, 2021

Breaking: Boeing 737, four minutes after take-off from Jakarta, just after reaching altitude, suddenly drops 10,000 feet in less than a minute, crashing into the Java Sea. "Witnesses said they had seen and heard at least one explosion." Sixty-two people on board.

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Back To The Blog

Watching: TCM: midnight film noir, The Glass Key, 1942. Wow, wow, wow -- costumes by Edith Head.

Prior to that, two Hitchcock movies, The Saboteur and North By Northwest. Hitchcock wanted Edith Head for the latter but she was not allowed to leave Paramount due to her contract.

Surfing: See "Clothes on Film" for "costume judgement, Robert Cummings and leather." For an enjoyable little read on Dorothy Parker, see Saboteur: Film by Hitchcock [1942], Britannica.

Parker's witty remarks are legendary. When told that the taciturn former US president Calvin Coolidge had died, she is said to have asked, "How can they tell?" Of Katherine Hepburn's performance in a 1934 play, Parker said she "rant the gamut of emotions from A to B." Parker was also responsible for the couplet, "Men seldom make passes / At girls who wear glasses."

Reading: The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures on How to Build An Atomic Bomb, Robert Serber, edited with an introcution by Richard Rhodes, c. 1992. Incredibly concise writing and tight editing, this book is only 88 pages long, which includes an appendix; approximately the thickness of an iPad.

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Krypton

No matter how many times I read this, I forget it. One of the most interesting coincidences at the intersection of science and fiction: Superman was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Schuster; the character first appeared in a comic book dated June, 1938. 

During the Christmas holiday 1938, that very same year, Lise Meitner -- key in development of the atomic bomb -- was pondering the mechanism that "created" barium following bombardment of uranium with low-energy neutrons. The other product, along with barium? Krypton.

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Caldera

Los Alamos: "the mesa, a high, pine-forested plateau that jutted from the collapsed cone of the largest extinct volcano in the world," p. x in The Los Alamos Primer, but probably not accurate. The "extinct volcano" is huge but other extinct volcanoes are larger. Perhaps it was the largest caldera known at the time? For more, Valles Caldera, Jemez Volcanic Field. The world's largest caldera is Apolaki Caldera but was only discovered in 2019, deep underwater.