Locator: 50423NYT.
Obviously President Trump is residing rent-free in the minds of the editors of the NY Times.
Friday, April 3, 2026
Does The World Need Mideast Oil, LNG? April 3, 2026
Locator: 50422ADNOCAD.
This speaks volumes. This is truly bizarre.
ADNOC: Abu Dhabi National Oil Company -- the national oil company of UAE.
This tells me there are plenty of "work-arounds" if the strait is closed.
NCAA Women's Basketball -- March Madness -- South Carolina Defeats UConn To Advance -- April 3, 2026
Locator: 50421SPORTS.
Wow!
Ilya Sutskever -- On The Blog -- Friday, April 3, 2026
Locator: 50420AI.
One of the best things I ever did for myself was start the blog.
It has been amazing on so many levels.
There are so many things I would have missed had I not blogged.
For example: Ilya Sutskever.
Never in a million years would that name have stuck with me had I not blogged.
Today, over on x, link here:
See these three posts:
With Only One Fab Producing At The Moment -- TSMC Plans To Build Twelve Fabs And Four Packaging Facilities -- April 3, 2026
Locator: 50419TSMC.
How in the world did Tom's Hardware make such an incredibly huge error in this headline:
AI prompt: how many fabs and packing facilities does TSMC now have or under construction in Phoenix as of early 2026?
Reply:
TSMC is reportedly mulling another round of expansion in the U.S., which will expand its capacity in Arizona to 12 fabs, four advanced packaging facilities, and at least one R&D center, if the recent rumors published by DigiTimes are to be believed.
The said round of TSMC's expansion in America will work as a part of the intergovernmental deal between the U.S. and Taiwanese governments under which Taiwanese entities are to invest $500 billion in various American high-tech sectors.
Rumors about TSMC's plans to significantly expand its site near Phoenix, Arizona, have been floating around for some time, but the company has never confirmed them. Back in early March, it was reported that TSMC planned to expand its presence in Arizona to 10 advanced fabs, but DigiTimes now claims that the company is looking forward to building another Gigafab complex adjacent to Fab 21, bringing the number of fabs to 12 and increasing the number of advanced packaging facilities to four. For now, this should be considered a rumor because some numbers do not add up.
TSMC recently acquired approximately 900 acres of land adjacent to its existing 1,100-acre campus, bringing the total area of the site to 2,000 acres, which is comparable to a small town, according to market rumors. The acquisition, along with industry chatter about plans to increase investments in Arizona by another $100 billion, certainly supports the possibility of a major expansion of the Fab 21 and possibly another site in the region. TSMC's existing plan includes building six Fab 21 modules, two advanced packaging facilities, and one R&D facility, up from three Fab 21 modules planned initially.
Foreign Exchange Reserves -- Russia, Saudi Arabia, China -- Posted April 3, 2026
Locator: 50418STORAGE.
Locator: 50418STORAGE.
Locator: 50418STORAGE.Foreign exchange reserves: Russia, Saudi Arabia, China.
Russia, link here: posted March 16, 2026:
Saudi, link here: posted April 3, 2026:
China, link here, posted March 16, 2026:
Trump's Defense Budget Submitted -- April 3, 2026
Locator: 50417BUDGET.
Defense budget.
And this is just the part we see. We don't see the classified portion of the submission.
Key:
Golden Pass LNG, Texas, Set To Load First Export Cargo Amid Record Feedgas Intake -- April 3, 2026
Locator: 50416LNG.
Article at link was posted by Hart Energy on April 2, 2026.
The LNG tanker HL Sea Eagle is expected to arrive at the Golden Pass export terminal in Texas on April 20 to load the plant’s first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export, according to a trading source and LSEG ship-tracking data.
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The Book Page
Completed my notes on Volume 2, Norman Sherry's biography of Graham Greene.
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Movie Night
Graham Greene's The Third Man. Perhaps one of the best movies ever. Others agree; from wiki:
In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Third Man the greatest British film of all time. In 2011, a poll for Time Out ranked it the second-best British film ever.
It seems like a movie in which Orson Welles would have written the screenplay, acted in, and directed. And, yet, only one of the three was true -- Orson Welles played Harry Lime in the movie, and that was it. And on-screen he had less than eleven minutes.
Excellent movie.
On the other hand Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana was a big disappointment. It was completely miscast. The lead needed to be played by Peter Sellers, had the latter been ten years older. Alec Guiness was either too old (possibly) or completely misread the play (hard to believe). The director of both movies: Carol Reed. The movie's premise (and the book's premise, of course) was brilliant, and based on factual events.
JPMorgan Talks Head Count -- Texas Vs Manhattan -- April 3, 2026
Locator: 50415JPM.
- Manhattan: 26,000. Down from 35,000 when Jamie Dimon arrived at JPMorgan.
- Texas: 33,000. Up from 11,000 where the headcount started in Texas under Jamie Dimon.
Was Jamie Dimon the first JM CEO to have a JPM financial institution in Texas?
AI says "no," but technically he was, as far as I can see. It appears that prior to Jamie Dimon, JPM's Texas investments were only due through mergers, acquisitions, but not by moving Manhattan resources to Texas.
Update: Onsite Power Plant For Microsoft's 2GW Data Center, Abilene, Texas -- April 3, 2026
Locator: 50414LDCS.
The new center: 900 MW.
Total projected capacity: 2.1 GW.
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Meanwhile, Galaxy's Helios
To clarify:
- Galaxy is the company.
- the stand-alone facility in Dickens County is Helios
- HPC: high-performance computing
In same general area as Galaxy's Helio, Dickens County, TX. Dickens County is out in the middle of nowhere, just at the far southeast corner of the panhandle (actually just outside of the panhandle) of Texas.
This is a very, very interesting story, if I understand it correctly.
It started out as a cryptomining center (think: lots of Nvidia GPUs and lots of electricity requirements). The company pivoted. to monetize their expertise on a much larger scale. They see themselves using the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) model to monetize blades, electricity, and their expertise. It appears their "oracle" will be CoreWeave.
I asked Google Gemini if my summary was accurate. Gemini's reply:
Links:
- company's website;
- background;
- ERCOT's approval to double power capacitiy at Helios data center;
- $1.4 billion: host -- CoreWeave; link;
- Galaxy complete ERCOT interconnection studies; link here.
If successful, it appears that Helio / CoreWeave will have multiple LDCs in Texas.
US Economy: Full Employment; Adding More Jobs Than Expected -- April 3, 2026
Locator: 50412ECONOMY.
Early morning bike ride.
$4.00 less expensive than coffee and croissant at Starbucks.
I keep forgetting that I can order from the app at the table. I don't even have to enter a credit card number. No idea how they do it.
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The Book Page
Graham Greene.
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