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Monday, August 26, 2024

Speaking Of Gouging -- Who Is The Worst Offender Among The Red Licorce Providers? August 26, 2024

Locator: 48459GOUGING.


 Red licorice prices / ounce:

  • worse offender: $1.55 / ounce
  • bad: $1.29 / ounce
  • fair: 52 cents / ounce
  • a real deal / steal: 15 cents / ounce

$1.55 / 15 cents = 10x.

Wiley Wallaby is charging 10 times what Twizzlers is selling for!

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Federal Income Tax

When it comes to tips, all income needs to be reported and taxed. 

If not, it's only a matter of time before lawyers charge "billable hours" (taxed) and an 18% gratuity fee (untaxed) for "large parties." CEOs could be paid a salary of $1 million / year (taxed) plus tips (hundreds of thousands of dollars) for doing a "good job" (untaxed). Bonuses will be re-categorized as "tips." Both bonuses and tips reward a "good job."

My hunch: waiters at swanky restaurants in San Francisco earn well above $100,000 in tips every year. 

As far as taxing tips, like everything else it can be done progressively, like all income. For those earning less than, say $50,000 in tips, the there would be no taxes on tips. As tip income trends toward $100,000, tips would be taxed progressively and appropriately.

For The Archives -- August 26, 2024

Locator: 48458ARCHIVES.

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Personal Relevancy And Interest

1. My wife's paternal grandfather was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who crossed into Texas, and married a citizen of the United States. They had at least one child. My wife's paternal grandfather was returned to Mexico "under duress" and never returned to the states. Although married to a US citizen, he had no legal status in the US at that time and was returned to Mexico -- some eighty to ninety (?) years ago.

2. My wife's father, raised by an aunt in Texas, was a 30+ year US Army veteran, having been one of the children of the marriage described above. His Texas mother was a US citizen and that made him a US citizen; his father, married to m wife's mother, as noted above, was an undocumented visitor to Texas and returned to Mexico, "under duress."

a. Why was my wife's father raised by an aunt and not his mother? His mother died after having four children by the same father -- the undocumented immigrant described in paragraph 1 above.

b. My wife's grandfather lived a quiet life with his Texas wife (before she died) and their four children, including my wife's father. Her undocumented grandfather was dating another Texas woman who ultimately -- for whatever reason --  alerted the authorities to his undocumented status which ultimately resulted in his deportation.

c. [I am unclear to the timing of those particular events, but one can probably connect the plausible dots. When his mother died, my wife's father, age five, when to live with an aunt who already had twelve children of her own.]
d. As an aside, I met my father-in-law's baby sister decades later. I never met his other sister (died before I knew the family) or his brother, with whom the family lost contact when he moved away from the Texas homestead.

3. My wife's mother was an 18-to-19-year-old Japanese citizen living in Yokohama, Japan, when she married my wife's father, a US citizen by birth, serving in the US Army, fighting in the Korean War when he went to Japan on "R&R" -- rest and relaxation. Prior to being allowed to marry that US serviceman, my wife's future father, the Japanese teenager was "investigated" for a full year before the marriage request was approved. When they returned to the states, my wife's mother when through a naturalization process to include taking a citizenship test, which she passed and became a naturalized citizen. 

4. My wife's birth certificate was issued by the US State Department; she having been born in Japan. Her mother was about twelve years old when the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. 

In a long note like this, there will be content and typographical errors but the general gist of the narrative is accurate as best I know.

Not knowing all the facts of the "Biden" program, I have sympathy with the president's intention, but that intention needs to be codified through an act of Congress and signed by the President, and not simply by "executive order." My hunch is that between 1619 and 1865 there were a lot of undocumented immigrants whose descendants and they themselves became US citizens. 

Interestingly enough, the road to citizenship for enslaved men and women in the United States also began with a presidential executive order, but it also required three constitutional amendments to complete the process (the 13th, 14th and 15th).

That executive order? Abraham Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation."

Regardless of all the particulars, it's somewhat of a miracle that I am the father of two incredibly wonderful daughters and the grandfather of five equally incredible grandchildren -- all of whom are citizens of the United States whose ethnicity includes but not limited to:

Norwegian, German, Hispanic-Mexico, English, Scottish, Japanese, and Russian.

All BR Today: BR With Four New Permits: BR Reports A Completed DUC -- August 26, 2026

Locator: 48457B.

WTI: $77.42. A 3.5% jump in price even though it appears things have quieted down in the Mideast, at least for the moment. 

Active rigs: 39. About as many active rigs as we're seeing now. Anything over "40" is noteworthy.

Four new permits, #41064 - #41067, inclusive:

  • Operator: BR
  • Field: Lone Butte (Dunn County)
  • Comments:
    • BR has permits for four Tilton wells, SENW 18-147-97, all with the same spacing unit:
    • standup 1920 acres: 31-148-97; 6 / 7 - 147-97, so running south to north

One producing well (a DUC) reported as completed:

  • 31205, 1,435,  BR, Abercrombie 6-8-12 UTFH

Wells of interest:

  • 19883, 1,603, BR, Abercrombie 44-12H, Elidah, t7/11; cum 261K 6/24; recent production:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN6-202411537244988101196732
BAKKEN5-20242914751651271834663239188
BAKKEN4-2024222601801925935685219
BAKKEN3-202441270082750
BAKKEN2-20240000000
BAKKEN1-202482844901311083105514
BAKKEN12-2023269336965053299319857
BAKKEN11-2023301097147966436363456129
BAKKEN10-202331112012269114247414059
BAKKEN9-2023147632505211917185540
BAKKEN8-202300540000
BAKKEN7-2023265457252632387231532
BAKKEN6-202330104012325474247414159
BAKKEN5-202331138211546094110398973
BAKKEN4-2023308489553442103201046
BAKKEN3-2023277847193001888180240
BAKKEN2-202393082486887184214
BAKKEN1-2023297907343532426233839
BAKKEN12-2022217167212612486241832
  • 34221, loc/A, BR, Abercrombie 3-8-12 MBH, Elidah, t 5/24; cum 6/24 71K; full production profile:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN6-2024183154131671208189923298218984
BAKKEN5-2024313938238905277161112891112320
BAKKEN4-202430000000
BAKKEN3-202411001679496277

The maps:

Presidential Politics -- The September 10 Debate At Risk? Multiple Sources Reporting -- August 26, 2024

Locator: 48456PP.

From Vanity Fair:

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The Book Page

Top shelf books on evolution.

  • When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time, Michael J. Benton, c. 2003. 
  • Dinosaurs Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution in Paleontology, Michael J. Benton, c. 2019.
  • Gorgon: Paleontology, Obsession, and the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History, Peter D. Ward, c. 2004.

The book that probably started it all -- for me -- was The Mistaken Extinction: Dinosaur Evolution and the Origin of Birds, Lowell Dingus and Timothy Rowe, c. 1997, perhaps one of the best books I've ever read on this subject, and, it introduced me to the whole subject of "clades." 

Others:

  • The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, From the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to US, Steve Brusatte, c. 2022.
  • The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Third Edition, Gregory S. Paul, c. April 16, 2024. [I have the second edition, 2016.]

Manic Monday -- August 26, 2024

Locator: 48455INV.

Big story of the day. Ya gotta love the administration's explanation -- "follow Canada's lead." LOL. 

This is one of Trump's big planks in his platform -- huge tariffs on Chinese goods. Now, all of a sudden, Biden's administration agrees that's a great idea -- 75 days from the election. LOL. Whatever, it's all good.
In the big scheme of things, this is a lose-lose for everyone bullish on EVs -- including faux-environmentalists! Except maybe Musk / Tesla, but the folks that would be looking at a Chinese import are not the folks that are buying Teslas, so I guess I was correct -- in the big scheme of things, this is a lose-lose for everyone. I suppose it makes American-made fake EVs (hybrids) look more attractive.

Three Nvidia links this morning. I assume there will be more throughout the day.

  • SK Telecom: will open a new AI data center in Seoul, South Korea, featuring thousands -- let's repeat that, thousands -- of Nvidiia's H100 and H200 GPUs. Just saying.
  • Talking their book: BofA says stocks "like" Nvidia are table-pounding buys.
  • Ives weighs in: over at Fortune, says 2Q24 results will be "the most important ...."

Solar on edge: I've blogged about SEDG several times -- today SEDG is down 9% in early trading -- SolarEdge, for a full year:

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Disclaimer
Briefly Reminder 

  • I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
  • I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
  • See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 
  • 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. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 
  • Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
  • I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
  • And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia.

Five Wells Coming Off Confidential List Over Weekend Including Another Huge Enerplus Well -- August 26, 2024

Locator: 48454B.

WTI: $76.71. Up 2.5% overnight.

Monday, August 26, 2024: 62 for the month; 118 for the quarter, 444 for the year
40348
, conf, Stephens Williston, Greenbrier 15591-0211-3HSL,
36268, conf, BR, George 4A MBH,

Sunday, August 25, 2024: 60 for the month; 116 for the quarter, 442 for the year
40349
, conf, Stephens Williston, Greenbrier 15591-0211-4H,
39853, conf, Enerplus, Jade 148-95-4A-9H-LL,
39255, conf, Hess, SC-4WX-153-98-3130H-7

Saturday, August 24, 2024: 57 for the month; 113 for the quarter, 439 for the year
None.

RBN Energy: hurricane season brings unpredictable risks to Gulf of Mexico oil production.

Every year, the biggest wild card regarding Gulf of Mexico (GOM) crude oil production is the severity of the Atlantic hurricane season. A season generally free of major storms in offshore production areas will likely have only a minimal impact, but a summer and early fall with even just one or two powerful hurricanes along certain paths can cause output to plummet, sometimes for extended periods. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at GOM production gains over the years, the degree to which hurricanes and other issues have reduced output in the past, and the new production expected to come online later this decade.