Personal Notes -- Feels Like Friday -- It's Only Wednesday -- June 17, 2026

Locator: 51000ARCHIVES.

Wow, talk about a busy week ... or a confusing week. I'm truly discombobulated. I'll try to wrap it up here.

Sports: 

• WBNA: Caitlin Clark will secure a spot on the WBNA All-Star team, though among fans she's polling 5th right now;
• NBA: seems incredibly anticlimactic; if so, blame the Spurs; never showed up or choked 
• PGA: starts tomorrow; important tournament; not seeing any true champion golfer yet this year;
• I wonder when they will quit with the clips of Tiger
• could have been a senior spokesman; 
• instead the networks only have Jack Nicklaus 
• FIFA Soccer World Cup: 0% interest -- their "flopping" is worse than what we see in the NBA;
• NASCAR: depends; my interest in the sport depends on how I feel any given weekend.  

Investing:

• boring; in a trading range
• "the Fed": worst showing for a new Fed chairman since 1994; 
• this guy is a hawk, likes to hear himself talk; 
• is going to make Jay Powell look great; 
• five task forces ("we have a task force for that") doesn't instill a lot of confidence
• I still find it amazing how much influence the Fed has on investors
• if we do see a rate hike, it will be 25 basis points in September; whoop-de-do!
• would a Trump appointee really raise rates before mid-term elections?

FOMC meetings (dates subject to change). Meetings marked with * are associated with a Summary of Economic Projections. At the end of each * meeting, the FOMC announces its decisions on U.S. interest rates, followed by a press conference led by the Federal Reserve Chair. 

• January 27-28 
• March 17-18* 
• April 28-29 
• June 16-17* -- first for new chairman; no change; hawkish
• July 28-29 
• September 15-16* 
• October 27-28 
• December 8-9* 

Mideast:

• really? Who knows: no one is happy it seems.
• everyone talking past everyone;  
• supposedly an MOU of sorts will be signed in a couple of days; hardly worth the paper it's written on

US economy / investing:

• still doing very well; the spenders are still spending; the rich are getting richer -- much richer;
• astronomically rich  
• COLAs (social security, military pension): to trend toward 4%
• it's still all about tech, particularly CPUs; 
• was 1 CPU: 8 GPUs (that's why Nvidia was doing well)
• now 1 CPU: 1 GPU (really favors AMD, INTC) (this is why Nvidia is no longer doing well)
• Cramer late to the party; he's now all in on INTC ("Mad Money" - June 17, 2026)
• could be 4 CPUS: 1 GPU 
• along with CPUs, GPUs, TPUs, it's also about memory -- very, very, very limited -- MU 
• streaming, networks (Paramount, Skydance, Netflix, Roku, Fox, etc) becoming a huge story
• the big story: "Household Hubs" -- Apple TV, Amazon, Google, a few others
• taking a long time for "Household Hubs" to replace Spectrum, Roku 
• the above from yesterday; today a big story on Fox Sports / ESPN broadcasting, link here. 
• energy (yesterday) --> tech (today) --> Big Banks (tomorrow) --> pharmacy (?)
• EVs: no idea what's going on -- Rivian could be the big story and first indications, it does not look good; 
• Rivian:
• excitement now, but for the year, at best flat; for five years, a disaster
• Lucid:
• partnered with Uber; new CEO; not holding my breath; 
• all one can do, is --
• stay fully invested (stocks, bonds)
• dry powder: I prefer ETFs to cash per se
• take profits; long term horizon; 

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Personal

Mileage: my old 2011 Honda Civic -- a bit more driving these past two weeks. 

Pageviews: earlier today, 1402 hours, June 17, 2026; the blog will go over 61 million pageviews by tomorrow morning, if not by the close of business today on the West Coast, 8:00 p.m. ET. At the moment: 60,996,775 pageviews.  

Later, 1516 hours, today, June 17, 2026, the blog went over 61 million page views -- now at 61,012,060. Wow. That was fast. 

Later, 2049 hours, today, June 17, 2026 -- 61,040,507. About 6,000 pageviews per hour after the new Fed chairman speaks = a rate of136,545 pageviews / 24 hours.  

Later, 0652 hours, June 18, 2026: 61,115,057
61,115,057 - 61,040,507 = 74,550 over 10 hours = 7,455 / hr = 178,920 pageviews / 24 hour.

Later, 1719 p.m. CT, June 18, 2026: 61,218,538
61,218,538 -  61,115,057 = 103,481 over 12 hours = 206,962 pageviews / 24 hours.

Four New Permits; One DUC Reported As Completed -- June 17, 2026

Locator: 50999B.

Glut!?!? From Charles Kennedy -- pay attention. Link here. I don't put a lot of faith / stock / trust in the IEA but if it's being reported by Charles Kennedy, one needs to listen -- 

Cramer: late to the party. Now "all in" when it comes to Intel, but of course, Cramer is "all in" with regard to any and all tech hardware that's connected to the data center world. Wow -- he is really into Intel (INTC) tonight.  

Netflix: look at this! 

With all the movie news, now this -- Netflix denies rumors that it is interested in acquiring Lionsgate. Lionsgate and Sony joined at the hip but have not merged. They maintain a close operational partnership, primarily centered around a massive multi-year home entertainment distribution deal. Where's there smoke, there's often fire. The "multiple" doesn't work for Netflix so that may be the source of the rumor and then the denial. 

New Fed chair: much more hawkish than anyone could have imagined. After "Q&A" and after time for investors to digest what just happend, both the Dow and the NASDAQ dropped significantly. The Dow is down a bit over 1%; the NASDAQ dropped 1.5%. "We have a task force for that." "A family fight."

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

WTI: $76.79.

Active rigs: 28.

Four new permits, #43044 - #43047 --

• Operators: Enerplus (2); Phoenix Operating (2)
• Fields: Ellisville (Williams County); Wildrose (Divide County)
• Comments:
• Phoenix Operating has permits for two Hobbit wells, NWNE 29-160-97; 
• to be sited 356 FNL and 2224 / 2254 FEL.
• Enerplus has permits for a Sun well and a Helstad well, both NWNW 28-158-99
• to be sited 408 / 441 FNL and 353 FWL. 

A producing well (DUC) is reported as being completed:

• 42030, 1,201, Kraken, Dwyer EAst LE 2-36-26 1H, McKenzie; 

Fox Acquires Roku -- Starting To Put This Picture Together -- June 17, 2026

Locator: 50998ROKU.

Trying something new here in light of Fox buying Roku.

Matter and threads. 

Only the queries, not the replies.

Query: Could Roku become a direct competitor with Apple's HomeHub. It all comes down to "matter," and "threads," doesn't it? 

Abbreviated answer: yes.

Query: Do you think the excitement of SpaceX drove Fox to acquire Roku?

Abbreviated answer: no, the timing was coincidental.

Query: But it seems I can get all of Fox on my current Spectrum ("home hub") set up. Is Roku for folks who don't yet have a "home hub."

Abbreviated answer: no, Roku adds much more functionality for both Fox and the consumer. This is the wave of the future. Roku is just one of many options.

Query: Cable cutters. Even if one "cuts" the Spectrum cable, one still needs to get the "signal" into the home, and if one doesn't have a cable of some sort, then one uses a "signal" from a tower or a LEO satellite. I guess Spectrum will end up being a "middleman" between the signal from the tower / LEO satellite and the "home."

Abbreviated answer: "cable cutting" is a metonym. And, yes, Spectrum-like systems are simply "middlemen."

Query: If one buys a Roku unit for the "home hub," will Fox/Roku still charge a monthly fee, or is this all ad-supported?

Abbreviated answer: Roku is a one-time cost. Buy the "black box." No monthly charge to Roku but many, many monthly charges for each streaming application to which a consumer subscribes.

Query: This is incredibly interesting. I apologize if I seem to be slow to catch on. It seems like Spectrum-like business models could be in a world of hurt, trying to convince folks to pay a monthly fee when Roku is free of monthly charges. Spectrum offers local networks for free (local NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, for example, and even PBS). Will these now require a subscription of one switches to Roku?

Abbreviated answer: yes, local networks will require a subscription and may charge for it; perhaps not. Depends. The bigger problem for local networks: the way local networks are accessed now will simply go away.

Query: Very, very interesting. Local networks in large markets (where streaming is readily available) could be the first casualties, followed by "old" Spectrum, and it will be a shootout among Apple, Amazon, Roku, etc, but Roku has a lot of catching up to do compared to Apple, Amazon, Google, etc.?

Abbreviated answer: yes, that is true. But Roku does not have a lot of "catching up" to do. It depends about what you are talking.

Query: Yes, I would be curious what your thoughts are regarding an Apple TV to compete with Roku. 

Abbreviated answer: depends.

Query: Right now, it seems someone like me could try this. Keep Spectrum but add a "Roku TV" to the household. It would be a one-time cost. If one has an account with Netflix on the Spectrum system, one assumes one would have that same Netflix on the Roku TV?

Abbreviated answer: spot on.

Query: Yes, what would be the TV brands to use with Roku?

Abbreviated answer: --.

Query: It looks like, those "neighborhood geek squads" could start getting a lot more business setting up these various systems.

Abbreviated answer: absolutely correct, and growing in popularity.

Query: Oh, one last thing. The "one piece of content" that will be most influential / most important driving all this: live sports. Second? Really, really good original programming. 

Abbreviated answer: yes, this hinges on live sports. The one piece of content consumers won't access -- delayed sports. So sports is the hook; the add-ons pay for the service. There may be one exception: sports spectacles, like the UFC spectacle on the White House lawn.

Query: You said earlier: Thread: This mesh technology creates a fast, reliable network where every smart device acts as a "node," routing data and extending your smart home's range. For Roku to rival an Apple TV or HomePod, Roku hardware will need to act as a Thread Border Router, effectively bridging smart devices to the internet.. ..... each device = a node and extends the range -- question: could a community -- say a Homeowners Association or an apartment complex use this technology? Perhaps they already have?

Abbreviated answer: yes. Can be done and is being done.

Summer -- 101 Days Of Summer -- June 17, 2026

Locator: 50997INVESTING.

Pool: So far, getting out to the swimming pool every day! Whoo-hoo!

Biking: just got back from a bike ride to HEB - Texas' grocer! Brand new -- just opened earlier this spring -- a few blocks down the road from us. Beautiful ride -- though it's a hot day.

PGA: US Open begins tomorrow, though the interviews are beginning today and final day of practice. This is really cool. This gave me a chance to review the geography of south and southeast New York City and Long Island. What a great country.

Investing: truly boring right now. Not so much "sell in May, go away" but more like "watch closely during the summer, and come back in September." Not so pithy, 

Compute: now airing ads at the US Open --

Cramer's First Hour -- Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Locator: 50997INVESTING.

Anticipation: 

What is Fox? This is just the beginning in trying to understand the Fox acquisition of Roku.

SpaceX: this is where he starts. Cramer says he has never seen a phenomenon like this. The stock is going up a point and hour. Considers SPCX/SpaceX a meme stock / meme company. I consider it in the same group as gold and crypto. FOMO now, eventually a trading stock. 

The Fourth Revolution.  

The Agentic Age. Queries:

• "The Agentic age." Are we there yet? 
• At one time, investors were concerned with a) the "Fed rate"; b) demographics (Gen Z, iGen, alpha-Gen, etc); external competition; d) others. Now it seems investors should be more concerned with what "age" we are in with regard to tech. It looks like we blew through many stages to now arrive at "the Agentic Age."
• If folks are now talking about "the agentic age," which we have just entered, from what age did we just emerge? 
• If one were to do a "Google search," what was the maximum number of "hits" for the word "bubble" in 2000 compared with the number of Google hits now for "bubble"?
• How the financial metrics of the 2000 Dot-com bubble compare directly to today's tech market valuations? 

Reply to last last query:

Wednesday -- June 17, 2026

Locator: 50996B.

Later: Fed statement -- stunned the market -- went from 150 points up (very GREEN) to 50 points down (def RED). NASDAQ really dropped after "the Fed minutes" were read. Won't make Trump happy. 

The Fed is now talking about three rate hikes this year. This was an incredibly bearish statement. This was as bad as anything Jay Powell did. By tomorrow all will be forgotten. During the "Q&A," I agree with the questioner who asked why the Fed did not raise the Fed rate based on what they wrote. My hunch: they raise rates AFTER mid-term elections. That would be the one rate raise this calendar year, but would occur in next fiscal year. During the "Q&A," the new Fed chairman sounds incredibly hawkish. 

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

WTI: $76.78.

New wells reporting:

• Thursday, June 18, 2026: 24 for the month, 180 for the quarter, 337 for the year, 
• 42418, conf, Kraken, Emerson 33-28-21 3H, 
• Wednesday, June 17, 2026: 23 for the month, 179 for the quarter, 336 for the year,
• 42417, conf, Kraken, Emerson 33-28-21 4H, 

RBN Energy: FERC starts a process to expand blanket gas pipeline authorizations. Link here. Archived. 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on May 21 proposing to apply its “blanket authorization” rules to a lot more natural gas pipeline projects than in the past. The goal is to make it easier for a broader set of projects to advance without having to go through full-blown regulatory certificate cases. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the NOPR and what the planned rule change would mean for pipeline owners and developers.

Let’s start with the basics. A NOPR like the one just issued (see Figure 1 below) is a heads-up from FERC that it proposes to change its regulations and, as required by law, has asked for input from the public and the energy industry before those changes become official. We should note that a NOPR has a lot more oomph than other ways FERC can notify the public about regulatory changes in the works — it says the commission wants to make the change and it’s essentially a done deal unless there’s a compelling reason not to that it hasn’t already considered. The notice-and-comment process is required by the Administrative Procedure Act to build a record to support changes in the regulations. In contrast, an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR) indicates that the language in a proposed rule change is still a work in progress. A Notice of Inquiry (NOI) is even less formal, suggesting FERC wants to open an examination into an industry issue and is looking for widespread input before ever getting to a proposal.

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Pageviews 

Pageviews, 0707 hours, Wednesday, June 17, 2026 -- 60, 943,035

Pageviews: 60,854,609 at 1707 hrs, Tuesday, June 16, 2026.

88,426 / 14 = 6316

6316 * 24 = 151,587 extrapolated over 24 hours.

Anticipation -- Early Wednesday Morning -- June 17, 2026

Locator: 50995ANTICIPATION.

I'm back to watching a lot of CNBC again. A lot. 

I don't think many analysts and few of the CNBC anchors "see" what I'm seeing. 

The fourth (sixth) industrial revolution is huge. I've not heard anyone refer to this as a revolution in a long, long time, but it's huge. There is no sign of slowing down. 

AI.

Stories abound. 

Now this one: link here.

Anticipation: 

Apple literally can't keep up with demand. Looks like it may partner with Intel with chips for Apple's new iPhone, out next year.

Mideast: link here. Folks are going to be amazed how fast things return to normal if IRGC and Israel abide by "the deal." 

Inflation: this "2% target" set by the FOMC ("the Fed") -- amazing how something so manmade / so trivial causes so much angst.  

CNBC anchors will talk about this day in / day out for the next eighteen months. Spoiler alert: at most the Fed will move interest rates up or down 75 basis points, and right now it appears they won't be moving overnight interest rates at all for the next 18 months. Meanwhile, nations around the world are hiking interest rates. Let's see, if we raise interest rates that will slow the rate of inflation. Okay. How does that work? Have things changed? And really, raising the interest rates 25 basis points will affect anyone? 

Bonds: wow, I'm glad I'm not in bonds. I don't understand bonds at all. I remain fully invested. Horizon: 30 years + one day, rolling horizon. 

Crypto, gold, and now SpaceX: I thought of that several days ago. It was mentioned on CNBC yesterday -- I believe Melissa's "Fast Money" at the of the day, just before Cramer's "Mad Money." 

About six months from now SpaceX will become a trading stock (like crypto, like gold), not an investing stock, and it will remain so for thirty years, maybe longer. SpaceX will be huge for LEO / communication / AI satellites, but no, humans are not going to Mars. Ever. But yes, StarLink for American Airlines and other remote locations on earth. Like Africa and Wyoming. Some parts of Iowa. 

Roku: I don't understand this at all -- Fox acquiring Roku. What's that all about. And for $22 billion? I thought Roku was dead. 

All "living room" hubs need to get into one's house one way or the other: either by cable (copper or fiber) or by signals (towers or LEO satellites). Once the signal reaches the "living room," then it needs to go into a black box (modem/router) -- call it what you want. Roku calls it ... Roku. So, customers are going to pay for the initial access from the cable/tower/satellite, and then pay again for modem/router, and the latter will succeed / fail based on ease of use and cost. The former (cable/tower/satellite) wil succeed / fail based on cost and reliability. Once installed, eaxd of use is generally not an issue.

I spend about an hour with Gemini on Roku. Absolutely fascinating. 

The Book Page: The Big Goodbye, Chinatown, Sam Wasson, c. 2020.

Locator: 50994CHINATOWN.

The Big Goodbye, Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood, Sam Wasson, c. 2020.

I have finished this book. Notes are kept here but need to be updated. I have written much more but the notes need to be transcribed into the blog. 

The story of the movie, Chinatown. Not much discussion of the "last years of Hollywood" except as noted in the filming of the movie itself. 

This is a very difficult book to read, on several levels, but it's a book that will stick with me for quite some time. I do not recommend it except for real cinephiles, and even then, for a very select audience. 

I'm using Gemini (chatbot built on Google architecture) to augment what I've read and am now reading The Man Who Made The Movies: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of William Fox, Vanda Krefft, c. 2017; 927 pages. I picked his book up several years ago during my "Hollywood" phase but never finished it.  

Roger Ebert, link here. A typical review. 

Maybe my favorite movie of this genre.  

Family News -- June 17, 2026

Locator: 50993ARCHIVES.

Note: this is meant for the extended familly; not for general readership.  

Family news regarding #2 grandchild of the blog's author.  

Olivia is attending Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, studying electrical engineering, on an AF-ROTC scholarship.

This summer she was selected for a highly-sought-after three-week tour of Edwards Air Force Base, California, a test site for the Air Force.

She drove down from Palo Alto, California, on Sunday, June 14, 2026.

On Monday, while being fitted for a helmet and g-suit to fly in a jet fighter -- probably an F-16 or F15, the ROTC students were hustled out of the building, change in plans. 

Because the runway was closed and due to other requirements following the mishap, the planned jet fighter flight was postponed. However the students got to "fly" in a jet fighter simulator.

Olivia's grandfather was a crewmember of a B-52 back in 1982 or thereabouts when he was stationed at Grand Forks AFB, ND, as a flight surgeon / pediatrician. 

He had only flight in the B-52. It was a night mission, eight hours long, flying low-level (500 feet off the ground) through the Rocky Mountains. Terrain-folllowing, night flight.  

YouTube report: link here. 

Olivia has previously soloed and has 20 hours of flight time in the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, also at a site associated with Edwards AFB. I forget how many times Olivia has soloed but it's probably about four.

Intel -- Apple -- Partnership -- Update -- This Is A Huge Deal -- June 17, 2026

Locator: 50992APPLE.
Locator: 50992INTEL. 

Link here. 

From the linked article:

Intel has begun production of its most-advanced chip node, bringing the company one step closer to a possible deal to make some chips for Apple devices.

Intel announced it’s making the new chip node, 18A-P, at the VLSI Symposium in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Tuesday, June 16, 2026.

“This is a journey, and while we have more work ahead, we appreciate the opportunity to share the progress we are making,” Intel foundry head Naga Chandrasekaran said in a statement. Chandrasekaran called the development a “signal to Intel Foundry customers and partners that we are fully committed to leading edge process innovation over the long term.”

First announced last year, 18A-P is now in what’s known as “risk production,” an early production stage with data indicating it will meet customer requirements upon final qualification. After years of missteps and low yields, Intel touted 18A as key to a turnaround that would finally convert the company into a competitive chip manufacturer for non-Intel products.

Intel brought 18A to PC chips in January, but the company has yet to secure a major outside customer. Analysts say 18A-P may be a more likely proving point.

Intel said 18A-P can deliver 9% higher performance or use 18% less power than 18A, which the company has been making at volume at its chip plant in Arizona since December. The chip is at least 20% more heat resistant and is fully compatible with existing 18A buildouts, the company said.