Buzz -- February 13, 2025

Locator: 48549BUZZ.

RFK, Jr. -- confirmed.Holy mackerel, that was fast. Every Democrat voted against "a Kennedy." LOL. Hell just froze over.

• Comment: there's a bigger story here when nominations are being confirmed this fast.
• confirmation votes for both Gabbard and RFK, Jr., were held earlier than the press said the votes would be held; 
• in RFK, Jr.'s case and Gabbard's case, the votes were held early in the day and in neither case was JD Vance's tie-breaking vote required. In both cases, Mitch McConnell was the only GOP seantor to break ranks.
• clearly, it was the Hegseth vote that changed everything -- or at least marked the change; why things changed so fast? No idea.
  

The buzz -- headline without links.

• Apple - Alibaba.
• CVS surges.
• DOJ sues NY (or NYC).
• TSMC - INTC.
• Turkey - Syria?
• New Zealand retreats on global warming / climate change.
• is the Ukraine war coming to an end?
• Honda-Nissan end their merger talks. It's over.
• Musk
• Musk loses lawsuit; will pay Trump at least $10 million.
• Musk keeps his job
• has Musk redefined the "government employee"?
• has Trump made Musk "the US czar" without calling him "the US czar"?
• this is fascinating.
• armored vehicles
• US State Department to buy almost a half-billion-dollars worth of armored vehicles from an unnamed company in official documents.
• could DOD be looking at similar deal?
• whose budget is bigger? State Department or DOD?
• hey, what about ICE (Homeland Security) buying armored vehicles?
• China - coal - 2024: sets all-time records.
• US economy: Goldilocks for investors --
• price of stocks hit bottom
• jobs report: unemployment drops -- whoo-hoo
• office workers being told to return to work
• corporations cutting jobs to save money
• inflation essentially flat, steady; room to run
• federal judge says "yes" to Trump's executor order regarding government employees 
• on Facebook (META): number of queries for DC criminal attorneys surges
• Denmark makes bid to buy California

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Cocktail Chatter

Quick! What's a "rush light"?

And where did the idiom "burning the candle at both ends" come from? What does it mean?

The answers to that question (or both questions) explains why Thomas Edison took an interest in "the light bulb."

Update On Suriname -- RBN Energy -- February 13, 2025

Locator: 48548B.

Education: I'm no apologist for Department of Education but there's no way the US ranks #40 in a list of 40 top countries for education. Link here. I think you can get any number / any ranking you want. FactCheck.org here. 

Regardless of the ranking, there is much more to the story. Much more.

The peak of the bell-shaped curve may have peaked for the US some years ago, and may have actually moved to the left (bad) but does it really matter? I'm most interested in the top quartile or maybe even the top decile. And, to a great extent, I'm interested in the bottom quartile and the bottom decile.

Global warming: just three weeks in office, President Trump has crushed global warming! The Linton, ND, record had held for 55 years; Bismarck, ND, was a bit more stubborn.

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $71.09.

New wells:

• Friday, February 14, 2025: 27 for the month, 72 for the quarter, 72 for the year,
• 40949, conf, Five States Operating Company, LLC, BC 1-21H,
• 40752, conf, CLR, Taney 4-23H,
• 40365, conf, Enerplus, LK Quilliam 147-97-14-23-7H,
• 40364, conf, Enerplus, LK Quilliam 147-97-14-23-6H,
• 39841, conf, CLR, Harms West Federal 6-32H,
• Thursday, February 13, 2025: 22 for the month, 67 for the quarter, 67 for the year,
• 40843, conf, CLR, Catron 3-26H,
• 40398, conf, Grayson Mill, Alfred North 17-15 3H,
• 39842, conf, CLR, Harms West Federal 7-32H1,

RBN Energy: Cellulosic Biofuel industry rebounds with focus on biogas, heavy-duty trucking.

A primary objective of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) implemented in 2007 was to stimulate the production of at least 16 billion gallons/year of gasoline and diesel made from cellulosic biomass, or non-food crops and waste biomass like corn stalks, corncobs, straw, wood, wood byproducts and animal manure. But the vision of making gasoline from wood chips never materialized and today’s cellulosic biofuel is a whole different ballgame. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the evolution of cellulosic biofuels and the D3 Renewable Identification Number, aka the D3 RIN.