Saturday, June 18, 2022

COP Announces A Dividend Increase Of 133% -- June 18, 2022

History or calendar here

Was 46 cents; new quarterly dividend, 70 cents or an increase of 52%.

It gets a little confusing with regular dividends and special dividends. 

This is the "2Q" dividend. 

The "1Q" dividend, I guess, was 30 cents. If so, the 2Q dividend is ((70-30)/30) = an increase of 133%. 

Whatever. However you want to calculate it.  

Later: yes, I was correct -- the previous dividend was said to be 30 cents.

Two XTO Darlean Wells -- DUCs -- Have Now Been Completed -- June 18, 2022

The Darlean wells are tracked here.

  • 34934, 1,924, XTO, Darlean 41X-2D, Alkali Creek, first production, 2/22; t--; cum 93K 4/22;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN4-202223430774294032031785435813720312
BAKKEN3-20223141616420423653267836615846107
BAKKEN2-2022983007364156801402513584370
  • 34936, 1,737, XTO, Darlean 41X-2C, Alkali Creek, first production, 2/22; t--; cum 73K 4/22;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN4-202223313593133644001594844402615387
BAKKEN3-20223136545366633971458193528305239
BAKKEN2-2022650204454872176847208438

Katie Ledecky Reclaims 400-Meter Record -- World Swimming Championships -- June 18, 2022

Links everywhere. Here's one.

Katie Ledecky has started the United States’ medal collection at the world swimming championships with a gold by reclaiming her title in the women’s 400 meters.

Ledecky clocked 3 minutes, 58.15 seconds on the first day of racing Saturday for her fourth world title in the 400 freestyle after 2013, 2015 and 2017.

Ariarne Titmus pipped Ledecky to the title in 2019 and took her world record last month but the Australian has skipped the worlds in Budapest to focus on the Commonwealth Games next month in England.

Canada’s 15-year-old Summer McIntosh finished 1.24 seconds behind Ledecky for the silver. Both were well ahead of the competition, with American Leah Smith 3.93 behind Ledecky in third and Australia’s Lani Pallister finishing fourth.

*****************************
Call Me

I've not heard this version before. I'm amazed how good it sounds coming out my little MacBook Air speakers. I can only imagine how good this sounds if one had "real" speakers. LOL.

Play loud.

Call Me, Blondie

***********************************
PGA

Now that the dust is settling, history will clearly show Tiger Woods is the one and only during my lifetime of watching golf.

There were only two in my lifetime of viewing: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

The rest were also-runs.

Nicklaus' main competitors won 29 percent of all major championships played during the prime of Nicklaus' career. During Tiger Woods' career, his main competitors in majors have been Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, and Jim Furyk.

And, now, good, bad, or indifferent, Phil Mickelson will fade away from the world stage. As will Bryson.

*****************
Cheers

I think I wrote about Cheers very recently, perhaps the best sitcom ever. 

Well, what do you know? Literary Hub has an excerpt from the book Directed by James Burrows: Five Decades of Stories from the Legendary Director of Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace, and more, by James Burrows, c. 2022.

Turns out, 1980s midwesterners did not want their sitcoms set in Boston bars. Oh, really? I wonder what midwesterners thought of all that sexual innuendo on Friends and then, OMG, homosexuality on Will & Grace

From the book:

It was one of the first true financial partnerships between a studio and creators. We got a small office on the Paramount lot, and we started talking about what kind of show we wanted to do.

We all loved Fawlty Towers, a British show set at an English hotel. Monty Python co-founder John Cleese got the idea for the show after he and the Pythons stayed at a hotel on the English Riviera. Co-created with Connie Booth, John starred as Basil Fawlty, the glib and frustrated hotel manager, who dealt with a variety of demanding guests and eccentric staff.

We loved the outrageousness of it. I was not that big a fan of Monty Python, but I adored Fawlty Towers, because that character was so brazen. This was not sketch comedy. There were no dead parrots or Ministers of Silly Walks. Here, John was committed to one character and was a center for other characters.

I have always been a big fan of British humor. It’s much more sophisticated, intellectual, and unexpected than most of American humor. There’s an amazing blend of edginess and silliness. You don’t know where they’re going with it. You can say the worst curse words in the world and they sound refined. I went to see Beyond the Fringe on Broadway in 1962 with Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Alan Bennett.

(Side story: When I got to the box office with my tickets, the agent said my seats had been changed. I asked why, but they enigmatically wouldn’t tell me. We’d been moved to the second row. Right before the show began, I looked back to see who had our tickets—it was President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy.)

I watched the show and roared. I had never seen anything like this. I was so in love with these guys, who were Monty Python before Monty Python, maybe a tad more intellectual. They were way ahead of their time. At Yale Drama, when I had to do a required scene in acting class, I did one of their monologues: “I could have been a judge, but I never had the Latin.” I got roars.

When it came to agreeing on an idea for the show, the Brothers and I knew that most everybody loved bars, especially sports bars. The Brothers had grown up in Las Vegas, and one of our earliest ideas was to set the bar in Barstow, California, because we thought about its proximity to Las Vegas and how the guests on the show would stop over in Barstow en route to or from Vegas. The main action would take place in the hotel bar. The structure was similar to that of Fawlty Towers in that the stories would walk into the bar.

Yes, this will be my sixth book, six week. Right on schedule. Whoo-hoo!

*************************
My Wife And I 

We have had a wonderful life. Married in 1977, if I recall correctly. Been everywhere, have done everything. 

I think we would have grown closer together had we lived our entire lives together in Los Angeles. It would not have been boring but it would have been different. A lot of concerts. A lot of sushi.

Instead, having been everywhere, having done everything, we now have completely different interests. The military lifestyle forced both of us to develop our own lifestyles, our own interests. We did not become one, something that might have happened had we lived our entire lives together in Hollywood. 

We might even have the same friends.

I think about that a lot when listening to music and reading the current literature.

I know I would be a lot less happy going into my eighth decade of life.

Pornography Ruling And End Of Prohibition -- Same Week, 1933

December 5, 1933, three states voted to repeal Prohibition, putting the ratification of the 21st Amendment into place.

December 6, 1933: the judge issued his ruling. Link here. Appealed but confirmed / held by a 2 - 1 vote.

Book review: James Joyce' Ulysses reviewed in The WSJ

Innovative works of literature are customarily slow to gain recognition. I was interested to learn from Catherine Flynn’s essay on Joyce in Paris that AndrĂ© Gide described “Ulysses” as “a sham masterpiece.” It seems a bit unfair of Ms. Flynn to trot out yet again Virginia Woolf’s snobbish first impressions—“the book of a self-taught working man . . . ultimately nauseating”—when she refined her view (under T.S. Eliot’s influence) shortly afterward. In 1920 Woolf conceded that “what I’m doing is probably being better done by Mr. Joyce.” Leonard Woolf tried to find a publisher for the apparently unpublishable novel, the couple having recognized that their own Hogarth Press wasn’t up to it.

The task fell to Miss Beach. In her charming memoir, she recalled first meeting the author at a lunch party. Trembling, she asked: “Is this the great James Joyce?” They shook hands—“that is, he put his limp, boneless hand in my tough little paw.” She gave Joyce “everything I can spare,” including, eventually, all the publishing rights to his novel, from which she could have made a fortune for her bookshop, the only thing she cared for more than she did “Ulysses.”

**************************
Julee Cruise, 1956 - 2022

Wiki entry

By suicide.

From NPR:

Julee Cruise, the singer best known for her collaborations with director David Lynch and The B-52s, died Thursday. Her husband, author Edward Grinnan, confirmed to NPR that Cruise died by suicide, and had struggled with "lupus, depression and alcohol and drug addiction" in the past. She was 65.

"She left this realm on her own terms," Grinnan wrote of Cruise in a Facebook post Thursday evening. "No regrets. She is at peace. I played her [the B-52s song] Roam during her transition. Now she will roam forever. Rest In Peace, my love, and love to you all."

Born Dec. 1, 1956 in Creston, Iowa, Cruise was known for her unusual vocal presence, so intensely calm and collected that it could be unsettling — which found a receptive audience in Lynch and score composer Angelo Badalamenti. For the 1986 film Blue Velvet, the two were looking to mimic the effect of This Mortal Coil's version of "Song to the Siren" by Tim Buckley, whose rights proved too costly to clear. The result of their collaboration was the original track "Mysteries of Love," in which Cruise's dreamlike vocals are set to a slow-moving fog of romantic synths and strings.

Falling, Twin Peaks, Julee Cruise

David Lynch.

Interview.

  • began on the piano; then,
  • the French Horn.

Permian Production -- June 18, 2022

Link here.

I would interpret this chart differently based on global events. 

Bridger Pipeline Has Its Permits -- Williston Herald -- June 18, 2022

Link here. The Williston Herald article archived here. If we're talking about the same pipeline, it is being tracked here.

Williston Native -- Science Magazine -- April, 2022 -- Posted June 18, 2022

Updates

June 22, 2022: a huge "thank you" to a reader -- a landman -- for completing the loop. Alex is the son of Tom Ritter, one of the twins, Tim and Tom. Tim owns and operates Ritter Jewelry on Main Street, Williston, ND. Apparently Alex worked a couple of summers researching land records before moving on to bigger and better things. 

Original Post

Link here.


Video at this link.

I would be curious, from a reader, if Alex Ritter is the great-grandson of Dr Ritter of Williston or somehow related in a different way.

From Concordia (some links may be duplicates):

Alex Ritter [Concordia College: 2009] is on a mission with a microscope. 
As a postdoctoral research scientist at the biomedical company Genentech, the Williston, North Dakota, native has been working to capture the best possible images of the fight against cancer, right down to the individual cell. 
That work was recently featured as the cover story for Science magazine, a leading scientific news outlet. Ritter and his partners had already done the work to make a flashy scene. They have been injecting a fluorescent protein into cancer cells and cytotoxic T Cells, the body’s natural disease killers, and using specialized microscopes to get a live and almost animated view of T cells attacking cancer cells. 
He has seen cancer cells be destroyed but has also witnessed them repairing the damage. That might sound disheartening, but in the realm of research, being able to share that data helps other scientists develop more effective immunotherapies.

More here.

Maybe The Seventh Time Is The Charm -- June 18, 2022

GasBuddyGuy has been forecasting increased gasoline demand for so long now he has lost a bit of credibility. Maybe this time he will be correct. But 9%?

Link here

By the way, if there is a significant jump in gasoline demand, this is a great example of human behavior. When the price of gasoline shot up so quickly, people were in shock, had to readjust their thinking and their budgets. That took a couple of weeks, maybe a month. They weren't quite ready for this by Memorial Day. A lot of "hoping" that the jump in gasoline prices were temporary and would quickly drop back as the oil companies "caught up" / reacted.

Didn't happen.

Folks saw that the jump in gasoline prices wasn't temporary; prices would get worse, if anything. 

They readjusted their budget, got a new credit card to be used exclusively for gasoline purchases to keep better track of their driving expenses, probably delayed getting a new car, definitely put on hold any new furniture purposes. And then got back to what Americans do best: drive and use more gasoline.

**********************
Cryptocurrency

As a reminder, I seldom track cryptocurrency but when I do, one can find the updates here.

The next one to watch: Tether.

From Yesterday -- Crashing -- Here, There, And Everywhere -- June 18, 2022

Link here.

Already mainstream media is "deleting" all links, all videos, all stories regarding this fall yesterday.

See if you can find another link with this story and video. So far, all private videos, no mainstream media.

Here's one

And here. Some of these may be repeats. Sorry. It was the way twitter had them.

This was the "original" or the "first."

***************************
Fifth Week, Fifth Book

Link here.

One More Post, And Then A Short Break; Greta's Worse Nightmare; Kerry Will Buy One. Or Two. -- June 18, 2022

Link here.

Cadillac Considered Offering 16-Cylinder Escalade

The company thought about making performance-focused Escalades before the new V model. 

After five generations, the Cadillac Escalade finally has a performance-focused version thanks to the launch of the new V model. 
However, the brand has apparently been toying with the idea of a sporty variant of the big SUV for a while. 
One of them even would have had a massive engine. 
"At one point we even talked about a 16-cylinder Escalade," Escalade Product Manager David Schiavone told GM Authority. Unfortunately, Schiavone offered no other details like when this project was considered or how far it progressed before dropping the idea. 
It's also not clear where Cadillac was going to source the 16-cylinder engine. One possibility could have been adapting the 13.6-liter V16 from the 2003 Sixteen concept (pictured at the link) that had a claimed output of 1,000 horsepower (746 kilowatts). Cadillac also offered a V16-powered model in the 1930s. It was the brand's flagship product and was available in several body styles. Schiavone indicated that the 16-cylinder Escalade wasn't the only time that Cadillac considered a performance version of the SUV. "I would be lying if I said we never discussed it or thought about it back then," he said. 
The 2023 Escalade-V packs a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that makes 682 hp (509 kW and 653 pound-feet (885 Newton-meters) of torque. A recalibrated 10-speed automatic transmission sends the power to a full-time all-wheel-drive system. Cadillac claims the SUV reaches 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in under 4.4 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in 12.74 seconds. The top speed is 124 mph (200 kph).

A Recession Vs A Global Covid-19 Lock Down -- Which Is Worse? June 18, 2022

I had not thought about this until I saw the tweet.

Did Covid put us into a global recession or even a national (US) recession?

One can argue that all the stimulus money prevented a recession, that's fine. But, then look at this. Does anyone really think gasoline demand / oil demand will drop back to Covid-19 levels when / if we enter a recession. 

I'm not exactly sure why the graph only goes out to 2017. There are a number of other issues, also, which are noted in the comments at the link.

Giant Petrochemical Fire In Shanghai Overnigiht -- Probably Nothing -- June 18,. 2022

Link here.

These "breaking stories" with no follow-up drive me nuts.

Greta May Have Missed This; John Kerry Certainly Did -- June 18, 2022

Link here.

Be Greedy When Others Are Fearful -- June 18, 2022

I haven't watched CNBC in, maybe, six months or so. But I happened to see a "snippet" when the market was plunging while waiting to meet with my Schwab representative. This might be a good time to watch a bit of CNBC every day for one week just to see what stocks are getting a lot of attention. I don't know. There must have been a reason I quit watching it in the first place. LOL.

The usual disclaimers apply.

Best buying opportunity in decades?

I never thought I would ever get the opportunity to buy more AAPL or BRK-B but here I am.

I never thought I would be buying AMZN or GOOG, but here I am.

I never thought I would be buying more oil, but here I am. 

***********************
Speaking Of Amazon

There was a recent story about the high cost of gasoline / diesel and how it was impacting Amazon.

That reminded me of the story of two men in the words who chance upon a grizzly, with one of the men stooping over to tie on his running shoes.

Does one think Amazon is the only facing high gasoline / diesel prices? LOL.

FedEx: just announced an increase in its quarterly dividend

Meanwhile, Amazon has found a clever way to share those fuel costs:


By the way, look at the dividend increase from FedEx. From 75 cents to $1.15, this is the largest FedEx dividend increase since 2018, maybe the highest ever? I don't know; I didn't go back farther than 2018.

A Nickel Out Of Every Dollar -- Folks Need To Get A Grip -- June 18, 2022

Percent of median usual weekly earnings: 5%. 

This is half of "standard" tithing and no one, as far as I know, is discussing tithing with the Pope.

From Ryan Radia over at twitter


A fifteen-minute visit with a physician to simply get a refill is billable at $350 here in north Texas.

Gasoline is not the problem.

The Devil Is In The Details -- June 18, 2022

A couple of observations.

First, this screenshot has all kinds of inconsistencies: is Biden going to meet with the Prince or not. Giovanni suggests Biden is meeting with the Saudi prince, but the Reuters lede: "Biden won't meet Saudi crown prince..." Reuters lede seems pretty clear.

But then, reading the Reuters article itself: wow. You may need to read it several times, but this is what it says. But note, Giovannia quoted exactly the Reuters headline. It appears the headline writer is "stretching" things a bit. I'm sure my "anonymous" reader will pick up on this. LOL. 

But I digress. This is what the article says:

  • Biden, the Elder, will not meet one-on-one with the Prince, the Pariah
    • Biden, the Elder, nor his staff will meet with the Prince, the Pariah, in any meeting hosted by the Prince, the Pariah;
    • Biden will be at a meeting attended by a gazillion strap hangers and hosted by the King of Saudi Arabia;
    • if there is any doubt about the number of strap hangers, wait for the photo 
  • one of the strap hangers at the King's meeting be the Prince, the Pariah
    • the seating arrangement was not provided
    • tea leaves suggest Biden, the Elder, will not be seated next to the Prince, the Pariah
  • Biden, the Elder, says the meeting will not be about oil; it will be much broader than that

I wonder if the Pope was invited?

One gets the feeling the Reuters article was a press release from the White House, considering how much spin it took to tell us Biden won't be meeting with the Prince, the Pariah.

Does Anyone See A Trend? June 18, 2022

From Reuters this morning:

From Bloomberg

And then this today, June 18, 2022:


And, then, of course, this from June 12, 2022: California already asking folks to cut back on charging EVs. Fact-checked by AP.