Our Older Daughter -- Paddleboard Race Today -- January 31, 2026

Locator: 49888FAMILY.

Posted for the extended family members. Kiri has paddleboarded in races in Texas and Tennessee. The country's most challenging is probably the Chattajack in the Nashville area. Five races and they earn a belt; she has four races (or maybe it's three, I forget) and with her fifth will get her belt. It's a big, big deal.

Today, sub-freezing temperatures. In the Austin, Texas, area, about three hours away from the DFW metroplex.

The 35-km route:  

The general area: we lived in San Antonio for many years. The cities marked by an arrow below are destinations in themselves -- the famous "hill country" of Texas. A lot of memories, a lot of water under those bridges.

Our daughter and other medal winners:
 

Results: "SUP" -- standup paddleboard --standing up, paddling on a surfboard for 35-kilometers in sub-freezing temperatures. 

*************************
$25 Kitchen Accessories

Link here. 

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Anti-ICE

I was just checking on the most recent headlines. Wow, glad to see Minneapolis and Chicago and Govenor Newsom stepping up to keep these anti-ICE protestors and illegal "ne'er do-wells" out of Texas.  

Four New Permits -- January 30, 2026

Locator: 49887B.

Venezuela oil: it's pretty clear that Venezuela won't be a major oil exporter in the near future. Link here. 

 ********************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $65.21.

Active rigs: 27. 

Four new permits, #42676 - #42679, inclusive:

• Operators: Phoenix Operating (3); Silver Hill Energy
• Fields: Noonan (Divide County); Big Meadow (Williams County)
• Comments: 
• Silver Hill has a permit for an Iverson E well, NWNE 15-158-96; to be sited 374 FNL and 1706 FEL;
• Phoenix Operating has permits for three Noonan wells, SWSE 28-162-95, to be sited 825 FSL and 2010 / 2100 FEL. 

Alison Ritter's Top Stories -- January 30, 2026

Locator: 49886B.

• State's November oil production 3.4% above revenue forecast -- Minot Daily News

• ND offering grant opportunities for city, county, school district energy upgrades -- KFYR-TV

• Halt in drilling by one of ND's largest producers expected to bring layoffs -- Dickinson Press

• Production bumped up in November; rigs, 'frac' crews down in January -- Bismarck Tribune

• Resolution to put eminent domain restrictions in the state constitution advances -- South Dakota Searchlight

• North Dakota natural gas becomes lifeline despite drilling pauses, looming storm -- McKenzie County Farmer

• Reported tank failure caused a produced water spill, about 2 miles northeast of Glenburn -- Minot Daily News

• MDU customers in North Dakota are about to see their bills rise nearly $10 per month -- Bismarck Tribune

• UND Economist: Continental's North Dakota oil pause shows companies following the money -- InForum

• North Dakota lawmakers may face hard budget decisions in the 2027 legislative session -- Prairie Public

• Six nominees advance to Armstrong for North Dakota Supreme Court vacancy -- North Dakota Monitor

• Failure to pass HOME Program among missed opportunities in first year, Armstrong says -- Dickinson Press

• North Dakota lawmakers to hire outside lawyers to defend state in term limits lawsuit -- North Dakota Monitor

• Commerce Dept will open additional funding for Destination Development Grant program -- Minot Daily News

• ND's Legislative Council says governor misstated stance on $1.3 million bonus authority -- Bismarck Tribune

• Emily O'Brien's first five months as HHS deputy commissioner have been busy, productive -- Dickinson Press

• Kevin Cramer: North Dakota to play a 'prominent role' in the golden dome defense system -- WZFG

• North Dakota lawmakers to visit St. Paul in solidarity over federal enforcement concerns -- InForum

• North Dakota Tax Commissioner Brian Kroshus has announced he will seek reelection -- Dickinson Press

• Data shows North Dakota outpaced national average in population growth in 2025 -- North Dakota Monitor

• Parshall residents can now buy produce from MHA Nation's Native Green Grow Greenhouse -- KFYR-TV

• Dickinson upgrades two new snowplows with Hi-Gates to reduce driveway snow buildup -- Dickinson Press

• Corey Johnson selected into 2026 Fire Service Executive Development Institute -- Williston Herald

• District 1 Rep. David Richter announces he will seek reelection to North Dakota House -- Williston Herald

• State invests over $450K through North Dakota Development Fund in child care loans -- Dickinson Press

• Corey Johnson seeking seat in ND House after bypassing party endorsement process -- Williston Herald

• Mercer County Commission unanimously approves resignation letter from Mark Pierce -- Hazen Star

• Produced water spill occurred at the Jellesed SWD 1 site, 6 miles east of Keene -- Minot Daily News

• Former congressman, state lawmaker Rick Berg appointed interim NDSU president -- North Dakota Monitor

• Superintendent continues tour of ND schools; Center-Stanton, Hazen ready -- The Center Republican

• How each North Dakota lawmaker voted on defeated universal free school lunches bill -- Dickinson Press

• North Dakota celebrates school choice week for first time after public charter schools authorized -- KFYR-TV

• Tioga students to have shorter winter break, longer spring break in upcoming school year -- Williston Herald

• The grid will hold - maybe - but the bill will rise because of how we now power it -- RealClearEnergy

• Rubio says oil companies were not tipped off about Venezuela operation, contradicting Trump -- The Hill

• Energy scoreboard between US and China is ugly right now, but game is far from over -- RealClearEnergy

• US shale production could fall by 400,000 barrels per day if prices dip to $40 a barrel, analyst says -- Reuters

• Thank heaven for coal power in the cold: energy source rode to deep freeze rescue -- Wall Street Journal

• 90% of SaskPower's generation came from natural gas and coal during the coldest days -- Pipeline Online

• Forecast record electricity demand to test largest US power grid while blackout chances rise -- Reuters

• US crude and natural gas production recover after countrywide winter storm ravages output -- Reuters

• The White House and tech industry seek to change data center narrative amid growing scrutiny -- The Hill

• Trump administration's subsidy pullback sends electric vehicle market tumbling -- Manhattan Contrarian

• Bjorn Lomborg: Sky-high energy bills have sparked a global climate pushback -- Climate Change Dispatch

• Chinese solar companies scramble to hide China ties to keep US green tax credits flowing -- Free Beacon

• Al Gore's 2006 climate "documentary," two decades of inconvenient inaccuracies -- Issues and Insights

Is Satya Nadella's Job On The Line? January 30, 2026

Locator: 49885MSFT.

Updates

February 9, 2026: when I originally posted my thoughts about Satya Nadella, I thought it might be a bridge too far but comments by talking heads over at CNBC suggest I may not be too far off. The chorus is growing that folks won't want to pay for "Pilot" when "all" other chatbots are free or at least offer a free version. This may not the only problem for MSFT.  

Original Post 

Link here. 

**********************
So Many Story Lines

First question: is this a "Microsoft specific" issue? 

Second question: what did Gates know and when did he know it? 

First comment: this fits the "big story" mentioned yesterday. See this link. For brevity, I will refer to it as the "two tech investing stove-pipes."

Third question: immediately -- is there another company in the shadows next to "fail"? 

Fourth question: where is a safe haven for those investing in tech? 

Second comment: as bad as it looks, MSFT's share price action over the past several months suggests someone knew something. In hindsight, this was not sudden.  

*****************************
Tickers

MSFT:

AAPL: 

Disclaimer
Briefly

Briefly: 

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 am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom.

Longer version here.   

Added Shares Of Apple To Existing Position -- January 30, 2026

Locator: 49884AAPL.

For the extended family members. Not for general readership. See blog's disclaimer: this is not an investment site. This notice is simply for the extended family members.

I added a significant number of new shares in Apple to my existing position. Because I am so over-weighted in Apple even this new addition won't move the needle right now, but I just can't imagine bargains will come along like this very often.

**********************************
Disclaimer
Briefly

Briefly: 

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 am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom.

Longer version here.   

Good Morning, America -- January 30, 2026

Locator: 49883LEMON.

Focus On Dividends -- CVX -- January 30, 2026

Locator: 49882CVX.

First note: when discussing dividends, safety of that dividend is paramount; can the dividend be sustained? 

Chevron (CVX) reported strong 2025 results with 4Q25 showing a 35% increase in adjusted free cash flow, supported by record production levels despite lower oil prices. The companies returned $27.1 billion to shareholders in 2025 and reported $15.42 billion in levered free cash flor for trailing twelve months.

And so: 

• Chevron (CVX) increased its dividend -- whoo-hoo!
• a 4.1% increase in its quarterly dividend
• raised to $1.78 per share, up from $1.71
• payable: March 10, 2026
• record date: February 17, 2026
• ex-dividend: also, February 17, 2026
• annualized payout: $7.12 per share 

Influenza -- "Seasonal Flu" -- Sudden Plunge In Cases -- Vaccine Doesn't Work This Year -- January 30, 2026

Locator: 49881FLU.

Link here. 

Cramer's First Ten Minutes -- January 30, 2026

Locator: 49880MARKET.

Market caps this morning:

• Apple: $3.80 trillion
• MSFT: $3.22 trillion

Apple: 

• posts quarterly record results
• talked about this yesterday; won't re-hash, except to say:
• Microsoft is competing for capital;
• Apple is competing for chips (or more specifically, competing for fabs where chips are made).

MSFT: for the archives.

TGIF -- January 30, 2026

Locator: 49879B.

WTI: $65.

New wells reporting: 

• Sunday, February 1, 2026: 2 for the month, 55 for the quarter, 55 for the year,
• 42133, conf, WGO Resources, Trester 1-21,
• 42032, conf, Slawson, Rebel Federal 4-32-17TFH, 
• Saturday, January 31, 2026: 53 for the month, 53 for the quarter, 53 for the year,
• 41997, conf, Slawson, Rebel Federal 2-32-17H, 
• 39806, conf, BR, Mazama 1B, 
• Friday, January 30, 2026: 51 for the month, 51 for the quarter, 51 for the year,
• 42033, conf, Slawson, Rebel Federal 5-32-17TFH, 
• 41007, conf, Hunt, Nichols-Trulson 156-90-10-14H-1,
• 41006, conf, Hunt, Palermo 156-90-3-31H 3,

RBN Energy: Venezuela's heavy oil production needs diluent, opening market for US suppliers. Link here. Archived.

A Tale Of Two Companies -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49878MSFT.
Locator: 49878AAPL.

Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL) today. Although, on the surface, the two outcomes looked completely different (one down 10%; the other up slightly), in fact, they were both similar -- analysts and investors have / had great concern with the guidance for each company.

I might try to explain this when I have more time over the weekend but it comes down to this:

• Microsoft is competing for capital;
• Apple is competing for chips (or more specifically, competing for fabs where chips are made).

Huge, huge, huge distinction. 

Monthly Electricity -- Personal Usage -- Data For December, 2025 -- Posted Jauary 29, 2025, 2025

Locator: 49877ELECTRICITY.

Tag: personal utility 

Our only utility bill is electricity, for a small one-bedroom-one-bath-one-den/office apartment in north Texas. We have no natural gas. This is our total energy bill for the apartment.

Monthly bill was slightly LESS this month compared to last month ($168.10), and less than the same month a year ago ($94.84). With all fees, taxes, etc., we're averaging about 19.5 cents / kWh.

Six New Permits; Nine Permits Renewed -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49876B.

 WTI: $65.24.

Active rigs: 28.

Six new permits, #42670 - #42675, inclusive:

• Operators: Enerplus (4); Phoenix Operating (2);
• Fields: Little Knife (Dunn County); Noonan (Divide County)
• Comments:
• Phoenix Operating has permits for two Danny Noonan wells, SWSE 28-162-95, 
• to be sited 825 FSL and 2130 / 2070 FEL;
• Enerplus has permits for four Edward Federal wells, SESW 21-147-97, 
• to be sited 336 FSL and 2519 / 2618 FWL. 

Nine permits renewed:

• Foundation Energy: a permit for one Agate well (Bicetennial oil field); permits for two Mosser Federal wells (Elkhorn Ranch); permits for six Roosevelt Federal wells (Roosevelt oil field).

Silver "Meme-ification -- Interview On CNBC -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49875SILVER.

Could see spike to $170. Has nothing to do with fundamentals.

How does this relate to copper? Something we actually use.

Think China. 

We've moved from "just-in-time" to "just-in-case." 

Demand for copper in China actually decreasing. 

Quick! What's The "Chokepoint" For "Compute" -- If You Answered Energy -- Wrong -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49874COMPUTE.

The answer greatly "confronts" large data centers, the cloud, companies like Amazon, Meta, Google, etc.

This reminds me very much of what we saw during the Bakken revolution in North Dakota, from 2007 to 2010. 

Sandisk Corp Earnings And Guidance Off The Chart -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49873SANDISK.

Up $70 (13%) after an-already blistering run. 

Dell, Lenova: are paying for Sandisk profits. Wow.  

Dell: a recent laggard, is down 1% after Sandisk earnings came out. 

After Sandisk Corp earnings came out, Micro jumped another $20 after-hours. 

A Blow-Out Quarter -- AAPL Earnings -- 1Q26 -- Live, January 29, 2026

Locator: 49872AAPL.

Tag: AAPL. Q.ai Q. ai

Earnings live at on CNBC, on the fly; errors likely.  

Entire post: on the fly. Expect many typographical and content errors. 

Blow-out quarter. Stunned. China -- a blowout quarter. Insane demand.

Apple set all-time records during the quarter for total revenue, earnings per share, iPhone revenue, and services revenue. Total revenue was up 16 percent year-over-year, while earnings per share rose by 19 percent. 

Links here:

• MacRumors.
• Yahoo!Finance.
• at "breakingthenews"
• Variety;  
• "investing"; 
• record-breaking iPhone sales; Yahoo!Finance; 
• the Mac Observer; 
• cryptopolitan; 

Market reserving judgement, waiting for conference call and guidance.  

• analyst all worried about costs of memory for Apple going forward

Apple is acquiring startup Q.AI (Q.ai) -- correct spelling is the "median dot and no space): 

• announced just before they announced earnings. 
• an Israeli firm; also here;
• $2 billion (a rounding error for Apple)
• Q.AI: can read facial skin micro-movements
• could be used to help Apple have non-verbal discussions with an AI assistant 

More on Q.ai: here.  

Analysts after earnings report:

• First analyst:
• stunned by the China numbers, absolutely crushed the quarter. 
• all about the future 

• Second analyst:
• worried about the future
• AI / Siri

• Melissa Lee, CNBC host of "Fast Money":
• worried about memory costs;
• incredibly snarky comments; 
• CNBC's Tim:
• market doesn't think these numbers are sustainable 
• Dan Nathan: 
• more positive than usual
• does mention that the price of "Micron will drop in half by the middle of this summer" --  Tim challenged him on that.

The numbers:

• EPS: $2.84 / $2.67
• 143.76 billion / $138.85.27 billion -- 16% jump;
• $85.27 vs $88
• iPhone sales: $85.3 billion; well head of the $78.3 billion analysts forecast;
• same quarter last year: $69.1 billion 
• Mac sales: $8.39 billion vs $8.95 billion
• Apple iPad -- $8.6 billion vs $8.13 billion
• other products: $11.49 billion / $12.04 billion
• services (second-largest behind iPhone: $30.01 billion vs 3$0.07 billion (in line)
• wearables: $11.5 billion 
• gross margin: 48.2% /47.5%
• China sales: up a whopping 38%!
• weaker dollar
• China government "opened" the door 

Cash pile: $144.80 billion 

Other:

• iPhones up 23%
• services pretty much in line 

China:

• China a blow-out quarter. 
• sales improved to $25.5 billion during the quarter
• climbing nearly 38% y/y 

Earnings being reported on CNBC at: 3:31 p.m.

After hours: live -- most recent at the top --

• last number for the evening: up $1.84 (at 4:46 p.m. CT)
• continuing, earnings call yet to come: up $2.72 (at 3:57 p.m. CT)
• continuing: up $8.42 (at 3:32 p.m. CT) 
• just spiked: up $5.00 (at 3:31 p.m. CT)
• down 38 cents (at 3:25 p.m. CT) 
• down 98 cents (at 3:13 p.m. CT)

P/E, AAPL: 35. 

P/E's:

• MU: 41 
• AMD: 125 
• INTC: n/a; most recent was 5,500
• MSFT: 31 
• CAT: 34
• SCCO: 44
• SNDK: n/a
• NVDA: 48
• TSM: 32
• GM: 26
• SLB: 21
• F: 12

Focus On Dividends -- OKE -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49871OKE.

A huge "thanks" to a reader for alerting me to this.

I appear to have completely missed this. 

OKE is raising its dividend from $1.03 to $1.07.

An Impressive Year For Trump -- Claremont -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49870POLITICS.

Link here. 

At Open: WTI Surges -- Up 5% -- Up $3.16 -- Trading At $66.37 -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49869MARKET.

For extended family members. Not for general readership. See blog's disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  

Is Polymarket pushing this story? 

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What I'm Watching
No Recommendations

Buying opportunity: MSFT.

Amazing

• CAT:
• MU: 

After the close today: AAPL 

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Fascinating 

INTC: Cramer on Intel. Link here. Intel may do incredibly well. But, at the end of the day, it's a one-trick pony. But everybody needs their fabs. The problem: all the other fabs know that. 

Putting It All Together -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49868TECH.

The intersection of "the cloud," language models, large data centers, and agentics. 

AI prompt: 

I would like to go in a different direction. It's going to take a really smart CEO to put all these together without going to far out (think Elon Musk). And this may be impossible to answer. 

I don't know if you have access to Linked In but that might be a start; also Forbes. 

Elon Musk is able to lead / manage very different companies (on the surface): xAI. SpaceEx, Tesla, Boring, etc., but I'm sure he knows how to find the right team that can take a germ of an idea and that team "knows" what he wants. 

Jensen Huang seems to "get it." 

Intel CEO is focused on survival, and is pretty much limited to chips. 

Jeff Bezos would be an example, but he's past his prime, and is likely preoccupied with other things in life, but Mark Zuckerberg seems to "get it" in a different way than Jensen Huang. 

I've never been impressed with Mark Zuckerberg -- he seemed immature, had a steep learning curve, but he, too, seems to "get it," and willing to jettison something quickly if it is losing money (e.g., META labs / VR). 

At the end of the day, it seems Amazon is in the sweet spot, but Jeff Bezos really needs to hire the right "direct reports." Thoughts. 

 

Cramer's First Hour -- First Ten Minutes -- WTI Surges Through $65 -- IBM -- Up 9% -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49867CRAMER.

Know who I haven't seen lately (but I'm only on Cramer's first hour)? Mohamed El-Erian. 

OMG: MSFT is down 10%!!! 

WTI: up almost 4%; up $2.32; trading at $65.53. 

META: first ten minutes all about META and MSFT.

• productivity increased by 30% by junior engineers; 
• group of senior engineers, productivity increased by 80%
• when AI queried -- see this post.

IBM: up 9%.

AI: Claude and Gemini both hurting Copilot (aka "clippy"). MSFT down 7% but much of that due to CAPEX spend projection. Meme: slowing cloud growth. Example of something that drives Microsoft users nuts:

TSLA: could open up 1.5%.

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Intersection

AI prompt: the intersection of "the cloud," language models, large data centers, and agentics. 

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4-IR

Re-posting from a few days ago.  

Seriously, I asked Google Gemini this question, tongue-in-cheek. Google Gemini apparently thought I was serious.

The AI prompt, asked tongue-in cheek:  Are some investors still over-thinking the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

See response this link.  

 *****************************************

AI prompt: just prior to the dot.com bust in 2000 or thereabouts, approximately how many web-based app companies IPO'd? 

AI prompt: of the 500+ internet-related companies that went public during the dot.com bubble who were the top fifteen winners?

AI prompt: some say Monster Beverage (MNST) was the best-performing stock in the last 30 years. Is that still accurate? 

I cannot recall CNBC ever covering this company. Obviously CNBC has mentioned it on occasion but I've never caught it on CNBC. 

 

 

CAT -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49866CAT.

AI prompt: 

Was Caterpillar lucky or is there a "timeline" that suggests the board and/or the CEO saw an opportunity and took it? 

ChatGPT: link here. 

 *************************

This chart blows me away:

 4Q25:

Monster Well -- One Of CLR's Alfsvaag Federal Wells In Crazy Man Creek -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49865CLR.

Seven months of production -- cumulative oil: 309,000 bbls.

• first full month of production: 57,195 bbls
• second full month of production: 74,893

The well:

• 41020, drl/A, CLR, Alfsvaag Federal 7-31H, Crazy Man Creek, t5/25; cum 309K 11/25; full production profile:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	11-2025	30	25344	25259	14402	53265	51730	155
BAKKEN	10-2025	31	32475	32427	20905	59906	57981	459
BAKKEN	9-2025	30	29019	28983	21563	56538	52294	2371
BAKKEN	8-2025	31	36384	36589	23816	63012	56418	4817
BAKKEN	7-2025	31	53756	53593	30713	82764	80813	168
BAKKEN	6-2025	30	74893	75006	44748	102414	99406	1293
BAKKEN	5-2025	31	57195	56934	40355	70802	68893	1290
BAKKEN	4-2025	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	3-2025	2	0	0	832	0	0	0

Completion and stimulation:

• depth: 25120 feet
• 58 stages;
• volume: 324,971 bbls of fluid
• proppant: 13,422,114 pounds

 

 

Electric Utility Balance Sheets Threatened By Record Debt From AI-Driven CAPEX -- RBN Energy -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49864B.

Venezuelan oil: it's just a matter of time before US companies start rushing to get back into Venezuela. Link here. 

But first US oil companies want assurance that their ventures won't be at risk, that Venezuela won't nationalize their assets some years down the road. Best protection: the US government takes a 10% ownership in oil companies that invest in Venezuela, or at least 10% ownership in new US assets in Venezuela, clearing demonstrating that the US is an owner and will step into protects its assets if a foreign government tries to take control. No different than the US government taking a 10% stake in Intel or rare earth metals. Marco Rubio could run those ventures in Venezuela also. 

Market: CAT before market open; AAPL after market closes. Something for everyone. Has Micron's share price "jumped the shark"? Is Micron stock now a meme stock?

Silver: is this the end of silver dollar collecting by mom-and-pop coin collectors? Seriously, a $100 for a single silver dollar? Sure my coin collection is all of a sudden worth a lot of money, but I never bougth silver coins as a investment but rather as something shiny to collect. It was a lot of fun. No more. Is this end of folks like me buying silver coins on a regular basis? What will this mean for the US Mint? What will this mean for coin shows around the country? 

**********************************
Back to the Bakken 

WTI: breaks through $64. Trading at $64.14. Have the pizza deliveries started increasing at the Pentagon or is this all about the Fed keeping rates steady. Some pundits have suggested the latter; I nave no idea what the Fed has to do with this. Except perhaps the Fed confirming the US economy is "on fire" in a good way and (the) US demand will continue to increase. GDP is now well above 5.05. 

New wells reporting:

• Friday, January 30, 2026: 51 for the month, 51 for the quarter, 51 for the year,
• 42033, conf, Slawson, Rebel Federal 5-32-17TFH, 
• 41007, conf, Hunt, Nichols-Trulson 156-90-10-14H-1,
• 41006, conf, Hunt, Palermo 156-90-3-31H 3,
• Thursday, January 29, 2026: 48 for the month, 48 for the quarter, 48 for the year,
• 42034, conf, Slawson, Rebel Federal 3-32-17H, 
• 39805, conf, BR, Mazama 1A, 

RBN Energy: electric utility balance sheets threatened by record debt from AI-driven CAPEX -- RBN Energy.  Link here. Archived. 

Probably Not A Bubble -- January 28, 2026

Locator: 49863SAMSUNG.

Earnings tomorrow: CAT in the morning; AAPL in the afternoon.

Today: 

Link here. 

****************************
The Third Man

Link here.