That Chinese GPT? Something Fishy Going On Here -- January 28, 2025

Locator: 48411B.

Starbucks, back to the future: announces significant changes for those visiting their coffee shops. Link here.  

Perhaps a year ago or so, I would bike to and stay at the nearby Starbucks for several hours, blogging and reading, almost every day, but I noted that despite being such a regular customer, I never got even got a free refill -- big deal -- LOL -- but it was the thought that counted .... it was common to see folks come in to get a free 16-ounce plastic cup of ice water and never buy anything -- middle school and high school kids really enjoyed the experience -- but that's all changing. 

I still have no plans to return. My biking routine has changed, that's the biggest reason. Second, it's still way too expensive, and third, but way down the list, "sticky" decision. Once patterns / habits change, it takes a while for folks to change their patterns / habits. My hunch: not much is going to change with regard to foot traffic at Starbucks except to keep the riff-raff out. Cost: $3.00 / visit was typical. On my Starbucks card I never noticed the expense. Simply reloaded my card every so often and then forgot about it. Really, really silly. I could buy a lot of eggs for the amount I was spending on a 40-cent cup of coffee made at home.

I did get a lot of reading done. Now, at home, I'm distracted by television. I didn't stream video / play YouTube while at Starbucks. Don't know why; just didn't.

Tarantula Nebula: Hubble today.  Launched in 1990.

Local universe. 160,000 light years away. However far light travels in one year multiply that by 160,000. The nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud is home to some of the most massive stars ever observed.

At only 161,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, the Tarantula Nebula is the largest and brightest star-forming region in the Local Group, the galaxies nearest our Milky Way. It is home to the hottest, most massive stars known.

What blows me away: after all these years of looking, not one bit of evidence of any other "intelligent" life outside of the Solar System. Why is he "Local Group" so special?

Most egregious political story last week: a new low. Blood feud. Shakespearean in nature, without the bloodshed. 

Funny how things worked out. A bigger story not being reported: was Mitch McConnell duped? Link here.  Position 1 in The Wall Street Journal. First reported on x; apparently someone at TWSJ saw the tweet and confirmed.

Spectator sport: yesterday's market action.

Chinese GPT: gullible. See disclaimer below. Funny about Americans. 

They trust logging into some incredibly powerful Chinese bot and then complain about "lack of security / privacy concerns" when using Microsoft or Apple. Yeah, I'm going to download that app on to my computer. LOL. One would have thought TikTok would have taught them something.

x: amazing how fast tech tweets disappeared from my twitter feed in the past 24 hours. Crickets. Cramer had a few things to say but that was about it.

ARKK: the one-day chart is even more remarkable.

For the small, mom-and-pop retail investor: just what the doctor ordered. LOL.

Luxury garages: could become a thing locally. Link here.

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $73.79.

New wells:

• Wednesday, January 29, 2025: 45 for the month, 45 for the quarter, 45 for the year, 
• 38940, conf, CLR, Harms West Federal 4-32H,
• Tuesday, January 28, 2025: 44 for the month, 44 for the quarter, 44 for the year, 
• 38939, conf, CLR, Harms West Federal 3-32HSL1,

RBN Energy: lower profits, cash flows help push share prices down for diversified E&Ps. 

One of the most important but elusive factors that drive movements in share prices is investor sentiment, a prevailing attitude toward anticipated future performance that past or current performance metrics may not justify. While the most extreme recent examples are social media-driven meme stocks like GameStop and AMC, no sector, including energy, is immune. Although we focus our E&P company analysis strictly on performance and price metrics, investor sentiment has and is playing a role in the share price movements among producer peer groups. In today’s RBN blog, we analyze the Q3 2024 results of the Diversified E&P peer group with an eye toward investor sentiment.

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Disclaimer
Brief Reminder 

• I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.
  
• 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 something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.
  
• 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 Bakken, 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. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution.
• I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom.
• Longer version here.