Crusoe Modular Data Center Breaks Ground In Snyder, TX -- July 29, 2026

Locator: 51287LDC.
Pageviews: 69,787,315. 00:03 a.m. CT, July 29, 2026. 

In the news tonight. Link here.

Snyder, TX, is located WSW of Dallas-Ft Worth TX. 

Wednesday Night — July 29, 2026

Locator: 51286B.
Pageviews: 69,779,677. 11:00 p.m. CT, July 29, 2026. 

Daimler truck facility in Portland, OR, to shut down completely; transfer all US manufacturing operations to East Coast. Not yet in TWSJ.  

Iran strikes: resume again, by US and Saudi Arabia, 8:00 p.m. ET tonight. Data continues to suggest that his has been a less-than-half-hearted effort by US allies other than Israel. Either folks in Washington, DC, have not read or not following the writings of Sun Tzu, The Art of War.  From today's WSJ, how many times have we heard this? Is the administration admitting that it purposely failed to take out Iran's missile capability -- the one that killed American soldiers last week?

Now, as Trump moves to strike back after Iran’s surprise missile attack Tuesday, the president will decide how far to go. He could greenlight Cooper’s option of 10 to 14 days of intensive airstrikes intended to cripple Iran’s missile capability despite warnings that the U.S. is running low on air-defensive munitions. Or, he could opt for a more limited military strike in the hopes diplomacy could be pursued. 

Mideast: IRGC now taking out Egyptian LG import hubs. Link here. 

QCOM earnings crushed. Link here. Reports over at MacRumors that QCOM shipments to Apple will decrease faster than expected starting this year. Source? QCOM itself. Later: July 30, 2026:

Meta: huge reality lab looses continue. Link here. Earnings here. App Economy. Link here. First comments: this was not good; hopefully Zuckerberg has a good conference call.

MSFT: Commercial RPO has more than doubled over the past five quarters -- a powerful flywheel. Link here. MSFT crushed their earnings. Link here.

Cloud growth: GOOG huge; Azure flat; AWS steady. Link here. I like this one better. Link here.

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $84.87. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Active rigs: 27.

Five new permits, #43165 - #43170, inclusive:

• Operator: Hunt Oil; Burlington Resources
• Fields: Alexandria (Divide County); Jim Creek (Dunn County);
• Comments: 
• Hunt Oil has permits for three Alexandria wells, SESE 34-161-100, 
• to be sited 326 FSL and 616 / 764 FEL;
• BR has permits for one Hawkeye well and one Kelly well, NENW 11-145-96, 
• to be sited 391 / 393 FL and 1654 / 1846 FWL. 

One producing well (a DUC) was reported:

• 42181, 1,360, BR, Aber rombie 2-12UTFH, McKenzie County;

Tech Notes -- July 29, 2026

Locator: 51285TECH.
Pageviews: 69,695,691 14:29 p.m. CT, July 29, 2026. 

Before we get to tech, breaking news, two hours ago, Trump has just commented on it:

The solution is obvious.

The IRGC has just gone rogue. Link here. He’s just now figuring it out. This has been obvious for years to anyone paying attention. Apparently Trump had to let the IRGC make it even more obvious. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the IRGC. The problem for Trump: no center of gravity. For the IRGC, this is survival vs martyrdom and 70 virgins.

For investors: excitement tomorrow. Link here.

All eyes are on AAPL. Mine are on Amazon.

Now, back to tech. 

Beth:

Evan: 

BRKB: Up Yesterday, Down Today -- So What's Going On? July 29, 2026

Locator: 51284CAITLIN.
Pageviews: 69,620,858 12:06. m.m, July 29, 2026. 

I wanted to post this note yesterday but I ran out of time.

Mom-and-pop retail investors have quit investing in BRKB.

Meanwhile, mom-and-pop traders have found BRKB as a safe haven to park money during particularly volatile times.  

That pretty much explains everything. 

For me? I park money in dividend-paying ETFs: SCHB, SCHD, SCHG, and IHE.  

There will be footnote to this story if things develop tomorrow the way analysts expect things to unfold.  

BRKB: not a safe haven.

I've never paid much (any?) attention to the Fed, but now after about ten years of listening to Steve Liesman, Trump, Jamie Dimon, Jay Powell, and, now Kevin Warsh, my thoughts: the "Fed" as it stands now could easily be replaced by one man, Jamie Dimon. If you wanted two: Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett. If you need three, to break a tie, add CNBC's Steve Liesman. 

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Disclaimer

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've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom. Now, I've added Amazon. And QCOM.

Caitlin Clark Continues To Topple Records -- July 29, 2026

Locator: 51284CAITLIN.
Pageviews: 69, 613, 959 9:45. a.m, July 29, 2026. 

Sports: Fever set WNBA scoring record. 

Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell combined for 60 points as Indiana beat Seattle and topped 100 points for a record fourth straight game. I honestly do not know how Caitlin Clark holds up like this under pressure. And only in her second season. 

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The Book Page

July 29, 2026: from "Friends of the Library," Portland, OR, three new books for less than $15 --

• Metazoa: Animal Life and The Birth of the Mind, Peter Godfrey-Smith, c. 2020. $4.00 (original: $28.00);
• The Directors: The Playboy Interviews, edited by Stephen Randall and the editors of Playboy Magazine, c. 2006. $6.00 (original: $22.95);
• The American Language, Supplement Two, H. L. Mencken, c. 1948. $4.00 (original: $28.00); The Definitive Editioin of "The American Language was published in 1936. A single copy of the second supplement is available at Amazon for $49.99 but one can get the 3-volume set for $18.99. Or one can get the two-volume supplement set for $12. I've long wanted the 3-set series. 

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Destroying Rare Books

There was a story in the press this past week that a company was destroying old, and rare books, often only one copy left in the world, to scan them and train their chatbots on.

Bothers me not. IYKYK. In fact, I'm thrilled. On so many levels. It is the words that are important, not the physical medium. 

 

AAPL: At A New High -- Remains Above $5 Trillion -- But Barely -- July 29, 2026

Locator: 51283AAPL.
Pageviews: 69, 613, 667, 9:40. a.m, July 29, 2026. 

Tag: Apple. 

AAPL:  

Anticipation: chatbots are exponentially better than legacy search engines, and "everybody" is using a chatbot -- at least anyone using "search." A simple query resulted in this reply. The "old Google" couldn't do this.

Chatbots are chipping (no pun intended) away at "paywalls." Every time I come upon a story that interests me but blocked by a "paywall," I go to chatbot and "nine times out of ten" I succeed.  

While investors are worried about "circular financing," the world is moving on.

You can howl at the wind, but AI is here to stay. This will be the quietest revolution in human history. 

*********************************
Disclaimer

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've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom. Now, I've added Amazon. And QCOM.

Longer version here.  

Taco Tuesday -- July 29, 2026

Locator: 51282B..
Pageviews: 69, 613, 266, 9:35. a.m, July 29, 2026.

Fight's on.

CVX:

  

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Back to the Bakken

 WTI: $84.60. 

New wells reporting:

• Sunday, August 2, 2026: 4 for the month, 45 for the quarter, 398 for the year, 
• 42106, conf, Formentera Operations, Bull Mountain-31-18-DIV S513HF,
• 41698, conf, Hess, SC-Bingeman-154-98-0904H-8, 
• 41440, conf, Whiting, Jefferson Federal 5003 42-14 10BX,
• Saturday, August 1, 2026: 1 for the month, 42 for the quarter, 395 for the year,
• 42105, conf, Formentera Operations, Bull Mountain-31-18-DIV S611HF, 
• Friday, July 31, 2026: 41 for the month, 41 for the quarter, 394 for the year, 
• None.
• Thursday, July 30, 2026: 41 for the month, 41 for the quarter, 394 for the year, 
• None. 
• Wednesday, July 29, 2026: 41 for the month, 41 for the quarter, 394 for the year, 
• None.

RBN Energy: how much natural gas will reach the southeast followign these big new projects? Link here. Archived.

One of the seminal energy-related political controversies of the past decade was the construction of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Before entering service in June 2024, the 2-Bcf/d pipeline project faced a number of regulatory hurdles and went through countless rounds of litigation, ultimately culminating in a high-profile Senate showdown. Since becoming fully operational, MVP has filled up seasonally in the winter, but much of its capacity has remained unused in the shoulder season because of constraints downstream on Transco, frustrating an Appalachian market that yearns for growth. Now, three new projects aim to debottleneck Transco and get more gas flowing to the Southeast: Transco’s Southeast Supply Enhancement as well as MVP Southgate and MVP Boost, both of which are being developed by the co-owners of MVP. But beyond nameplate capacity numbers, how much will these projects really enable gas to go outside the Northeast and find new markets? In today’s RBN blog, we will discuss the impact of these projects and estimate their impact on future flows into North Carolina and beyond.

We have been tracking these projects for some time now, both in our weekly NATGAS Appalachia report and in recent blogs like Don’t Stop Believin’. To recap, the Southeast Supply Enhancement (SSE) comprises 55 miles of pipeline looping and other improvements that will add 1.6 Bcf/d of capacity to Williams Cos.’ Transcontinental Pipeline (Transco) along three paths, each extending south from Station 165: to Station 160 in Rockingham County, NC (Path 1; dashed pink line in Figure 1 below); to Station 145 in Cleveland County, NC (Path 2; dashed purple line); and the Station 85 Zone 4 Pool in Choctaw County, AL (Path 3; dashed red line). SSE had its certificate approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) this past January and is expected to be fully in service in the second half of 2027, although Williams management has stated its desire to get some gas to North Carolina ahead of schedule and before the full compression is installed.

 

*********************************
Disclaimer

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've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom. Now, I've added Amazon. And QCOM.

Longer version here.