Cleaning Off Desktop -- Sunday, July 24, 2022

Not ready for prime-time. 

There will be typographical and content errors.  

Nothing about the Bakken.

Reading:

• I'm still trying to read one book a week this summer, and currently meeting that goal. I finished two books this past week, though I read (past tense) only portions of both. 
• I started a third earlier today and will easily finish that book this week.

NASCAR: wow, wow, wow --- update -- both Denny Hamlin and runner-up Kyle Busch disqualified after Pocono win. Chase Elliott now the winner but this can all be appealed. This was not helpful:

According to NASCAR, the infractions on the No. 11 Toyota driven by Hamlin and the No. 18 Toyota driven by Busch both concerned the aerodynamics in the front fascia, though Cup Series managing director Brad Morgan did not offer specifics on what the exact infraction was in comments made to the media.

"There really was no reason why there was some material that was somewhere where it shouldn't have been. And that does basically come down to a DQ," Moran said. Kamala-Harris-speak.

• wow, wow, wow - the big story this week will be the Ross Chastain - Denny Hamlin feud -- well, that's no longer true -- the DQ of both Hamlin and Kyle Busch will be the big story.
• saw the race today; early on a minor incident involving Chastain / Hamlin; probably "caused" by Chastain; no harm/no foul but that "incident" apparenlty led to a race-ending incident for Chastain late in the 160-lap race; lap 143 re-start;
• Chastain incredibly noble in the post-accident interview
• Hamlin, not so much, in the post-race interview
  
• I've looked at the re-play a dozen times; I don't see the problem; sure, it's Chastain - Hamlin again, but they were racing hard -- but no harder than usual -- for the lead and Chastain "lost control"
• I understand the sentiment but I didn't see the controversy in that particular "incident" -- in fact, I can't even call it an "incident" -- simply racing
• but we're going to hear a lot about it
• this was from July 10, 2022, well before this race.

PGA:

• I missed the most exciting hole of the tournament today
• it was Piercy's tournament to win and it appeared obvious he was going to win after the eleventh or twelfth hole so I lost interest, and went back to NASCAR
• at end of NASCAR I went back to the PGA assuming they must still be playing
• I was surprised it was over
• more surprised when I saw Piercy not only lost but slipped to tied for fourth with three others (in other words, placed somewhere between fourth and sixth)
• he triple-bogeyed the fourteenth
• will re-watch the tournament later tonight
• Later: wow, I got back from swimming just in time to see the back nine of the final round of the tournament. Piercy's lead "is reduced to four." He had a couple of late bogeys in the front nine, back-to-back bogeys, #8 and #9. This going to be fantastic.

Millionaire by mid-30s:

• I normally don't read these articles, but for some reason I read it this time; link here;
• I don't know; I think it's worth a read;
• see what you think
• a very, very minor point and not the reason to read the story: I'm not convinced he retired;
• I think a better "summary" would be this:
• both he and his wife worked; no kids; did not live beyond their means
• made huge salaries near their mid-30's
• had a million dollars in investments by the mid-30's
• so, he moved on; I doubt he's retired; my hunch, now making as much money than ever, as a consultant, speaker, writer, blogger, investor

Betting the farm on EV:

• I normally don't read these articles either, but this one ...
• link here;
• automobile manufacturers are going to rue the day they bet the farm on EVs
• the tipping point for me? Ford laying off ("nice phrase" for firing) 8,000 workers to save money on their "cash cow" operations to fund a project that will probably end up costing them their company
• now, there, I've said it
• I'll tag this to check back in ten years
• warning: I post a lot regarding EVs, and I'm not impressed with the sector
  

Not EVs, not related, but still autos:

• one person's opinion; if you go to the link, be sure to read the comments to get the rest of the story
• Graham Stephan and "the Fed" may be looking at different numbers; comparing apples and oranges
• who are you going to believe?
• one may want to explore Graham Stephan's agenda

Reminder: Bureau of Economic Analysis, calendar here;

• GDP, 2Q22, advance estimate: Thursday, July 28, 2022; 8:30 a.m. ET
• personal income and outlays for June, 2022: July 29, 2022: 8:30 a.m. ET
• GDP (second estimate) and corporate profits (preliminary), 2Q22: August 25, 2022

Recession:

• one person's opinion, link here;
• doesn't matter what he thinks;
• recession or no recession? It will be the headline writers and television talking heads that decide:
• NYT, Washinton Post, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC Nightly News with David Muir: the deciders

Buffett:

• another value blog
• what is Buffett seeing in energy
• I have not read all of this yet but based on what little I've read and the source of the link, it's a must-read
• again, I have no idea what Andrew Walker@AndrewRangely thinks, but looking forward to the article; I see there are a few comments at the end of the article; will probably be helpful in helping to make sense of the article
• my hunch: Andrew Walker@AndrewRangely knows as much about Buffett's thought on energy which I just posted the other day;

Texas miners:

• the other day when writing about the regional energy grids, I said:
• Texas: has a DEMAND problem, not a SUPPLY problem;
• ISO-NE, ISO-NY have a SUPPLY problem, not a DEMAND problem
• as I wrote yesterday:
• five years from now, Texas will not have a grid problem, and electricity will be stunningly inexpensive;
• five years from now, nothing will have changed in New England, New York
• five years from now, the energy issue in California will be worse
• right now, on a late Sunday evening:
• electricity is still $400 / MWh in ISO-NE;
• "Capital-F" in NY-ISO, again on a low-demand late Sunday evening, $355 / MWh
• anyway, back to Texas miners
• a reader sent me a link to TexasMontly.com, "Bitcoin Miners Could Save the Texas Grid -- Or Sink It"
• bulls-eye
  
• paywalled; I was able to access the entire article and will archive it
• I will come back to it later as a stand-alone post; archived.
  

The Apple Page:

• comparing the M2 MacBook Air with the M1 MacBook Air; link here.
• echoes what I wrote earlier: the older M1 MacBook Air is the better deal
• although it won't matter at all, the older M1 Air is slightly faster than the brand new M2 Air due to a design feature that does not seem to make sense
• maybe someone will explain why Tim Cook went with this design feature
• it seems to be a step backward
• if so, Steve Jobs never would have done it

TikTok:

• just for the fun of it: work smarter, not harder: link here;
• yes, I know, not TikTok but could have been

Alzheimer's:

• looks like another fraud; link here.
• full article at dailykos here.
• two decades of Alzheimer's research may be based on deliberate fraud that has cost millions of lives
• one doesn't write that headline or that kind of story without being sure of the facts;
• huge liability issue for any suggestion of libel

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The Book Page

The two books I finished this week were both on flutes:

• On Playing the Flute: The Classic of Baroque Music Instruction, Johann Joachim Quantz, translated from the German, first published in English, 1966, if I read it correctly, and first published in 1752, Berlin.
• The Flue Book: A Complete Guide for Students and Performers, Nancy Toff, multiple copyrights, earliest, 1985

The book I will be reading this week:

• On Rare Birds, Anita Albus, translated from the German by Gerald Chapple, c. 2005 by Albus; copyright 2011 by Chapple;

Word for the day: nidifugous. That is the correct spelling. It seems there should be another "u" in the word.

Some internet sites suggest "nidifugous" and "precocial" are synonyms. They are not: all nidifugous birds are precocial, but not all precocial birds are nidifugous.

I might look it up later but I bet dinosaurs, in general, were precocial but probably not nidifugous.