Clearing Out The In-Box -- April 18, 2022

Saudi: direct crude oil fell slightly in February, and may fall further in March, but by April will start to rise. See graphics here. Most remarkable is how little Saudi's direct oil use is, even at peak months.

Biden surge, the SPR release:

• at $107, WTI is back to where it was before the announcement; link here;
• releasing crude oil from storage is not production; releasing crude from storage reduces storate; it actually makes the market tighter; link here.

Fact: we're not going "all-renewable," regardless of what MSNBC and the rest of media say; link here. Or go direct to The WSJ article.

Fun little bit of social media: link here.

• Alexion Pharmaceuticals: global pharmaceutiical company; ticker, ALXN

John Kerry: his house.

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Six Bells: 3:00 O'Clock
In Mad Holiday, 1936

Mad Holiday was clearly a knock-off of The Thin Man (1934); the latter went on to produce five sequels, six movies in all, coming out every two to three years, last one released, 1947.

From westmarine:

Bells rung on the half hour; four-hour cycles

• even number of bells: "on the hour"
• odd number of bells: "on the half-hour:

Originated in sailing ship days when the crew was divided into PORT and STARBOARD watches:

• each crew on duty for four hours; thus the four-hour "bell" cycle
  

Watches:

• four hour bell cycle:
• first watch: 8:00 p.m. to midnight;
• middle watch: midnight to 4:00 a.m.;
• morning watch: 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.;
• forenoon watch: 8:00 a.m. to noon
• afternoon watch: noon to 4:00 p.m.
• transition
• first dog watch: 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• second dog watch: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Dog watches:

• allows for watches to be changed every day
• this permits each watch to get a turn of eight hours rest at night;
• otherwise each member of the crew would be on duty the same hours every day.
  

By the way:

• one can quickly "guess" how a timepiece came to be called a "watch." Link here.
• although it appears Shakespeare did not coin this word, he was among the first to use it:
• earliest example in print: 1590, Elizabethan pamphleteer Richard Harvey;
• Shakespeare: 1598, Love's Labour's Lost

And, on another note: I have one of these clocks in the "bat cave":

• I had no idea it was worth this much; wow.
• based on the origin (source of my clock) it is probably worth much more, though it has a few nicks