FWIW -- November 13, 2021

Link here.  

US Record: Longest Train Ever In The US -- In North Dakota -- November 13, 2021

Updates

November 15, 2021: before reading the article below, see first comment and the link in the reply to that comment: I have no idea what "record was set" in Honeyford, but certainly not the record implied or inferred. Something tells me that a reader will tell me what I missed. 

November 15, 2021: after a reader commented on this story, I've posted a screenshot of the headline of the article, in fact, the entire "print" article. The rest of the story was on video which did not seem to clarify the headline.

Original Post 

From The Grand Forks Herald. The link has a great video. If stated, I missed it: how long it took to fill the 142 railcars. Great video at the link.

This was a practice run for CBR when Brandon shuts down Line 5.

The story:

• a grain train
• out of the Farmers Elevator Company at Honeyford
• 8,500-foot-long unit train
• 142 railcars
• more than a mile-and-a-half long
• corn from farmers within a 50-mile radius
• corn headed to Canada for cattle feed
• 44% more grain than average 112-railcar train
  
• Canadian Pacific 
• the Honeyford elevator is just a few miles west of Grand Forks, ND, and a few miles north of the further-most north fence of Grand Forks AFB
• each car will hold 3,500 to 3,800 bushels, or in this case: one-half million bushels for the entire train
• max corn per acre: about 175 bushels; or in this case: 3,000 acres
• perhaps the average corn farmer in North Dakota might have 640 acres; someone can fact check me on that;
• 50-mile radius: 8,000 square miles
• 8000 square miles / 640 acres = twelve farmers or twelve sections of land
• Note: I often make simple arithmetic errors. If this is important to you, do your own math.
  

Notes From All Over -- November 13, 2021

Note: blogging will be interrupted today. I am with Olivia and her soccer team; two games today. In between games I am re-reading the Battle of Shiloh, Personal Memoirs of US Grant, taking notes, consulting maps, making some sense of it for the first time. As I have said before, reading Grant's description of the Battle of Shiloh puts much into perspective. So far, not one of Brandon's department secretaries has distinguished himself / herself. That becomes glaring when reading the account of the first day of the three-day Battle at Shiloh.

Again, a reminder to self: the "five stories" that need to be followed through the end of the month, November, 2021, are at this post. 

• SPR release: Brandon continues to dither. Suggest much discord in his Department of Energy, which suggests a very, very weak leader.
• Line 5: ditto.
• CLR, acquisition binge: will play out over several years.
• Shale, returning cash to shareholders.
• Deals in the oil patch: someone over at twitter said this was a record year for deals in the shale patch.

Stories to be followed to the end of the year, December 31, 2021:

• economy: sales, inflation, jobs, EV breakout/IPOs.

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Clearing Out The In Box

New Jersey plane crash kills Blue Origin astronaut who flew with Bill Shatner: story everywhere; one link.

Lordstown Motors delays EV pickup launch ... again. Story everywhere, one link. Blames ongoing global issue with auto supplier and supply chains. Interesting that Tesla had record setting deliveries. Just saying.

Chinese energy demand: setting records. Electricity consumption is 14% higher than pre-covid year (2019). Fourteen percent higher. Link here.

COP26-Cop-Out: even John Kerry can see this summary.

*******************************
Top Shelf 

This is pretty funny. A reader sent me the link to this article over at PowerLine. The lede was awesome:

Steve actually turned up for this week’s show with three different whiskys in hand (Finlaggan, Lagavulin 8, and Bunnahabhain 12—in other words, Islay all the way!), along with a sampling of the worst-reviewed whiskys ever, though these reviews pale in comparison to the reviews this episode’s panel gives to Democrats just now.

Bunnahabhain caught me eye.

From my top shelf, LOL:

Islay, one of five whisky regions in Scotland, is synonymous with peat. Link here. 

Islay malts are pungent with peat, smoke and salinity, revealing their complexity layer after layer.

Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Kilchoman (see photo), Caol Ila, Bunnahabhain (see photo), Bruichladdich, Bowmore, Ardbeg, and Ardnahoemake make up Islay’s 9 distilleries. Among them, they evoke anything from linseed to moss, pepper to purity, carbolic to floral palates. [The unlabeled box is a Japanese Suntory.]
 
The southern, or Kildalton, distilleries are responsible for the full-bodied, briny malts. Meanwhile, the northern distilleries offer dry, but far less peaty, assaulting drams.

Oh, I forgot. The linked article over at PowerLine is all about the Brandon misery index. Wake me when it's over.