Locator: 40609ECONOMY.
Starbucks: drive-thru lanes / lines longer than those at Chick-fil-A! And, no, I'm not in a drive-thru lane at Starbucks. LOL. But I am inside. On the other hand, trending in Nashville: White Buson.
Canadian travelers: my hunch -- if accurate -- the report that boardings from Canada to US are down --
- if that report is accurate, it speaks volumes about the state of the Canadian economy; Canadians unable to afford vacations this year;
- Canadians afraid to visit US? It won't last; if it does, Trump is living rent-free among the Canadians.
- if it lasts; Disney theme parks will be less crowded for Americans.r
- I doubt one American -- except me -- woke up thinking about that report this morning.
Permian: from the dominant infrastructure player in the Permian --
- anticipate +200 - 300,000 b/d y/y in 1Q25
- y/y increase driven by strong 4Q24 and "surge of completions"
- "we really haven't seen any impact of prices so far, and we don't expect for the next month of so" -- DanTsubouchi.
Search:
- one year ago: 100% of my search was on google;
- this year: 100% of my "wiki" searches start with google; all other searches start with AI
- my "wiki" searches are the type of searches I would be with Encyclopedia Brittanica in the old days
- AI through each of my three browsers, suggesting it's all google
- however, AI directly through my browser appears to eliminate all "sponsored" hits -- at least superficially
- "wiki" searches still account for 50% of my searches, I suppose, but I spend 3 - 5x more time on AI generative that on wiki, if that makes sense
- I now end all searches with "AI" or "wiki"
- it will be interesting how the flow of advertising dollars will change with this change -- especially as OpenAI and xAI become more common
- ChatGPT, of course, is not google -- I wonder if my generic AI searches go through Google Gemini; probably
- apparently, there are suggestions google's search moat has been bridged
Presidents:
- Gallup poll, February 11, 2025, best- / least-liked presidents among those still living
- kind of amazing -- actually very, very amazing
- it would be interesting to ask the sames respondents which president was the most polarizing?
- my hunch: it would suggest Americans can "deal with" polarizing presidents.
