Drone Technology -- UND Is Global Leader. Period. Dot. -- February 9, 2019

I haven't talked about drone technology and North Dakota in a long time, but I do have it tagged.

The fifteen best "drone-training" programs are listed at this site: UND comes in at #5. At this site, UND is listed second. Most of these programs are in the midwest. None are in California (at the first link; at the second link, one -- Berkeley). We've talked about that before.

After being sent a story on drone technology being expanded to manage the oil industry in North Dakota, I was curious what else is going on.

Two days ago, from the Fargo paper: Australian company specializing in bees -- that would be honeybees -- taps into UND drop expertise.

North Dakota is the nation’s leader in honey production. The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks is a leader in drones and drone research.

That led Bee Innovative, an Australian company, to pair up with UND to enhance the company’s current drone technology that tracks bee movements and pollination patterns, the two companies announced Jan. 30.

“It’s a match made in heaven,” said David Dodds, a UND spokesman.

The relationship, recently recognized in a memorandum of understanding signed on the UND campus, is still in its early stages, and many details still need to be worked out. But there will be a role for North Dakota beekeepers who want to participate in the project, Dodds said.

North Dakota led the nation in honey production in 2017 for the 14th straight year, with producers with five or more colonies totaling 33.7 million pounds of honey, according to federal government statistics. The collaboration with UND will work to upgrade Bee Innovative’s current drone platform, “BeeDar”, which is used to track bee movements and pollination patterns in real time by Australian farmers, according to the statement from UND and Bee Innovative. 

"It's a match made in heaven": nature's drones meet UND's drones.

The honeybee drone is the best analogy for the male human millennial:

A drone is a male bee. Unlike the female worker bee, drones do not have stingers and gather neither nectar nor pollen. A drone's primary role is to mate with an unfertilized queen.

By the way, it is now being reported that honeybees can do basic math.

But this is what is most notable about honeybees and math that is not being reported:

• the honeybees are home-schooled
• most of the nation's advanced degree programs are located in hives in North Dakota during the winter 
• education is free for all
• worker bees that don't want to work are pushed out of the hives every February

"Fake News" -- Sort Of -- Drones, Connecticut, North Dakota -- March 30, 2017

The banner story over at the Drudge Report suggests that Connecticut could become the first US state to use drones outfitted with deadly weapons. I guess it's accurate, but a couple of points. First, Connecticut is only considering this proposal (and it will fail); and, second, North Dakota was the first state to allow law enforcement to "weaponize" drones. But being the sensitive Scandinavians they are, North Dakota only allows "less than lethal" weapons. From September 11, 2015:

Armed drones could be used by police in the US state of North Dakota after local lawmakers legalised their use.

While they will be limited to “less than lethal” weapons, tear gas, tasers, rubber bullets and pepper spray could all be used in theory by the remote controlled flying machines.

In a classic case of unintended consequences, the original sponsor, Republican state representative Rick Becker said he was unhappy with the way legislation turned out.

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Drones And West Fargo, ND -- March 2, 2017

Over at "the next big thing," I track "drones." Prairie Magazine has another overview of the sector. This explains why West Fargo is one of the fastest growing cities in North Dakota, and has been for quite some time:

When GPS became available for surveying in engineering, it changed the industry, says Brady Woodard, construction engineering specialist for Moore Engineering Inc. in West Fargo, North Dakota. “I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t grasp onto it. It was just the new way of the industry.” Woodard and many of his counterparts see potential for unmanned aerial systems to bring a similar transformation to the engineering field.

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Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes

Svante Paabo

c. 2014

DDS: 569.986 PAA

Chapter Two.

The author, as a teenager, wanted to become an Egyptologist ... but the more he became involved, the more he became disenchanted. 

This disenchantment threw me into a crisis of sorts. In response, and inspired by my father, who had been an MD and later became a biochemist, I decided to study medicine, with a view to doing basic research. I entered medical school ... and after a few years surprised myself by how much I enjoyed seeing patients. It seemed to be one of the few professions in which you not only met all sorts of people but could also play a positive role in their lives. 

How viruses evade human immune system: p. 24.

How the author ended up working with Allan Wilson, at Berkeley.

Chapter Three.

1986 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Long Island, NY: the Mecca of molecular genetics.

Berkeley: 

Kary Mullis had been there as a graduate student before moving to Cetus Corp, where he invented PCR

Quagga: the extince South African zebra, p. 40

Thylacinus cynocephalus, a marsupial native to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea -- looks very much like a wolf but was a marsupial, like kangaroos and several other Australian animals; therefore, a textbook example of convergent evolution (this will become important later on when studying the Neanderthal)

DNA studies revealed that wolf-like animals had evolved not only twice but three times, once among placental mammals and twice among marsupials

Chapter Four

full professorship, early in career; University of Munich; Institute of Zoology

issue of contamination

DNA from bone: relies on fact that DNA binds to silica particles -- essentially a very fine glass powder; the author discovered/refined the silica extraction method, published it in 1993

used Pleistocene horses; bones were 25,000 years old

1994: DNA extracted from Siberian mammoths, 50,000 years old

around the same time, UC Irvine; DNA from leaves of Magnolia latahensis, Miocene deposit in Clarkia, Idaho, and were 17 million years old

the story of insects encased in amber -- page 58

super-old DNA: antidiluvian DNA -- page 58

decided to concentrate on relationships of extinct animals and their present-day relatives

Someone Must Be Reading The Blog -- January 14, 2017

Over at "The Next Big Thing," I just posted a note about drones a few days ago:

Jobs: drones. Operators: law enforcement; weather channels; news agencies; logistics; marketing; advertising; tabloid; city planners; military; IRS, tax assessments; insurance adjusting (hail crop damage); farming.

Today a reader sent me this timely link: drone schools look to woo younger pilots for commercial jobs, from The Bismarck Tribune:

Leaders in the unmanned aircraft industry are trying to persuade young people who think drones are cool to consider flying them for a living.

Commercial pilots must obtain a Federal Aviation Administration drone license, and some companies that employ such pilots have started selling classes that help students prepare for the FAA test or just figure out whether they would be interested in such a career.

"I think a lot of people my age are interested in drones because it's cool technology that is really just starting to be available for everyone," said 17-year-old North Dakota high school student Ava Niemeier, who plans to attend new training being offered by a commercial drone company in her state. "There are a lot of kids at my school with smaller drones that they fly for fun."

Businesses use drones to take photos and video, for security and to conduct inspections or surveys, among other things. With the number of commercial drone operations outpacing the pool of certified drone pilots, experts say more training is needed to help young flyers operate the planes legally and safely.

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Reading The London Review Of Books

This was not a "staged" photograph. I had been in the living room when I went in to the bedroom to see if Sophia was taking a nap. She was not:

It should be noted that The London Review of Books, which she is reading, is more challenging to read than The New York Book Review which I generally prefer.

Huge Miss And Other Stuff -- December 31, 2016

I cannot believe I forgot to post this link. I thought it was the biggest story of the week when a reader sent it to me. I was saving it to post at the right spot, right time, and then I completely forgot about it. Scrolling through the top stories over the past year reminded me that I had forgotten to post the story.

This is huge.

It is now being reported "everywhere," and I assume the stories are almost the same. I will link the story as posted by The Grand Forks Herald:

A group of researchers in Grand Forks can now fly unmanned aircraft to new lengths—beyond what their eyes can see.

The Federal Aviation Administration has granted permission to the Northern Plains UAS Test Site to conduct beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations at Grand Sky technology park on Grand Forks Air Force Base.

The permission, known as a certificate of authorization, allows test site staff to fly unmanned aircraft systems, also called drones, without the use of a chase plane. Chase planes are piloted aircraft that follow drones during flight to maintain a sightline between the drone and a human in order to avoid midair conflicts.

"Every time that we go up on a flight, we're sending up two aircraft," said Nicholas Flom, executive director at the Northern Plains UAS Test Site. "It doesn't make any sense. That kind of defeats the entire purpose of an unmanned aircraft if I have to send up a second aircraft to go along with that."

Test site personnel won't be able to retire the chase planes just yet. It will be about three to four months before they can take to skies without one because Grand Sky needs to complete technology upgrades so it can link to the base's digital radar system.

This is a big, big story, and again, another first for North Dakota, as far as I know.

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Apologist For Putin

Dr Chris Miller has an excellent essay in today's Wall Street Journal, "The Survival of Putin's Economy." Dr Miller is associate director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale University and the author of The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSR, University of North Carolina Press.

In a required course in religion in my first year of college, I first heard the word "existentialism." I had trouble understanding it throughout that course. Now, almost 50 years later I understand it very, very well, and I find it an incredibly useful word to use when discussing geo-politics. I don't hear this word used much by television talking heads (in fact, I don't recall hearing that word ever on MSNBC "Morning Joe." (There's a reason for that which is somewhat counterintuitive.)

Reminiscing: my declared major when entering college required a huge amount of biology and chemistry and one year of calculus (which college bound students can now take in their senior year of high school). The college required one course in religion in the first year. It was my most difficult subject; and, at the time, I don't think I understood "any" of it. I do not remember whether I enjoyed that course or not. I do remember the professor as a most unusual individual but incredibly personal and understanding; I assume he had a doctorate in divinity but at the time I would not have known, given my lack of curiosity in such matters. I remember him only vaguely -- his physical attributes -- short, glasses, tinny voice -- but I remember vividly the first time he handed out "blue books (?)" -- those 10-page narrow-lined pamphlets that were/are (?) the mainstay for essays. We were instructed to write an essay interpreting a piece of music (Simon and Garfunkel's "I Am A Rock") based on the lectures he had given the past semester. Wow. Up until then I had only listened to country music for the most part and had never heard this song.

In the USAF, one of the most impressive/important/memorable courses I ever took was Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit #5 (seek first to understand, then to be understood) was the most difficult for me to figure out what Covey was saying. It is perhaps the most important of his seven habits.

Putting this altogether helps me understand the perspective of my doppelganger 65-year-old white Russian walking the streets of Moscow today.

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Quantum Theory

A Note for the Granddaughters

This past week I've been spending a lot of time reading and re-reading books on quantum theory -- just mainstream stuff, nothing of an "academic level," if that makes sense: books you see at Barnes and Nobel, for example, or articles one sees in The Wall Street Journal.

That's what led me to post this earlier:

9. Biggest disappointment of 2016; physicists were no closer to understanding quantum theory  in 2016 than they were in 2015. Or 2014. Or 2013. Or 2012. Or 2011. This one we can't blame on George W. Bush although the fact that he was not intellectually curious did not help.

Today, of all things, there is a half-page book review in today's "Review" section of The Wall Street Journal: "A Perfect Fit" by Gino Negre reviewing A Fortunate Universe, by Geraint F. Lewis and Luke A. Barnes. I will order the book from Amazon later today.

My hunch is that it is very similar to The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery, Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards, c. 2004. 

The review notes: a tiny tweak to the mass of quarks would yield a universe with nothing but hydrogen and helium.

By the way, in the same "Review" section, a short essay: quantum theory can help us teach tolerance. The writer begins: "Complementarity is the idea that there can be several different ways of describing a single system, each useful and internally consistent, but mutually incompatible. It first emerged as a surprising feature of quantum theory, but, following Niels Bohr, I believe that its wisdom is much more widely applicable."

By the way, for someone with a fairly good background in this subject, the book I would recommend: The Age Of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn, Louisa Gilder, c. 2008.  

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Lunch

US Consumer Confidence Near A 13-Year High; Active Rigs Stable At 41 In North Dakota -- December 23, 2016

Active rigs:

	12/23/2016	12/23/2015	12/23/2014	12/23/2013	12/23/2012
Active Rigs	41	65	172	189	187

From the Williston Wire:

Williams County expansion project reaches milestone:

Construction on the new Williams County Administration Building reached a major milestone Dec. 19, 2016. The building held a "Topping Out" ceremony as the final major beam was put into place. The beam was signed by construction workers and representatives from Williams County. When it's completed, the building will make it easier for the public to get in touch with county offices.

Feature story on Red River Oilfield Services in Williston: link here.

Drone  industry coming to Minot: link here.

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Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year

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The Political Page

Only five (5) states in the United States have both a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislature -- talk radio. The Daily Kos says six states, see link below.

From Daily Kos,

With a firm grip on the presidency, Congress, and soon the Supreme Court, Republicans have won more political power in 2016 than in any election since at least 1928, when Herbert Hoover was elected to the White House. Democrats now face a deep hole they need to climb out of to fight back against the coming reactionary policy shift of the pending Trump administration and its allied state governments.

Two other important maps at the linked article.

Republicans have total control over 25 states outright and another two where they can override a Democratic governor’s vetoes. These 27 states cover 56 percent of the population. Meanwhile, Democrats have total control outright in a mere six states and veto-proof majorities to override a Republican governor in just two more. These eight Democratic-controlled states add up to only 19 percent of the population, or roughly one-third as much as Republicans control.

In 2018: there will be 23 Democrats, 2 independents who caucus with the Senate Democrats, and 8 Republicans, subject to retirements or other changes before the 2018 election.

Democrats are expected to target the Senate seats in Nevada and Arizona.

Republicans are expected to target Democratic-held seats in Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia, all of which voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012 election and Donald Trump in the 2016 election, as well as seats in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, all of which voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

Republicans could also target seats in Virginia, Maine, and New Jersey.

One would think that some states with only 3 or 4 electoral votes with a Democratic Senator up for re-election in 2018 will watch very, very closely how their Democratic Senator votes in the 115th Congress.

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Safe Zones

From The New York Post.

Secretary Of Labor Named -- December 8, 2016

December 8, 2016: fast-food executive Andy Puzder for Secretary of Labor. Puzder, chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc, which operates the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast-food chains, has been a vociferous critic of government regulation of the workplace. I've posted comments from Puzder on several occasions.

• a conversation
• ditching California
• sayonara to California
• fast food restaurants -- ain't happen' with $15/hour
• train wreck 
• two train wrecks

I track the Trump cabinet here.

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UAS-Focused Data Center Locating At Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota

Data points from The Grand Forks Herald:

• Grand Forks AFB-based Grand Sky drone business park
• located on Grand Forks AFB, west of Grand Forks
• EdgeData
• 16,000-square-foot data center 
• will be operational within a year after construction costs
• ND legislation offering computer software, IT equipment tax breaks was critical to get EdgeData to make this commitment, according to CEO

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Dallas Police And Fire Pension Board Stops Withdrawals

Most Incredible Pension Plan Ever Seen

Retire As Millionaires "On Paper" -- Keep Working 

Defer Additional Pension Deposits Into New Account

Link here.  Data points:

• lump sum withdrawals stopped
• weekly requests would have left them without liquid reserves to sustain $2.1 billion fund
• by time action taken, more than $500 million has been withdrawn
• the DROP plan made hundreds of officers, firefighters, and retirees into millionaires: DROP allowed them to retire on paper, but continue working and meanwhile defer their pension benefit checks into a separate account; once they actually retired, they could remain in DROP
• for years, DROP guaranteed at least 8% interest on accruals
• fund has about $729 million in liquid assets; it needs to keep about $600 million on hand

Diga Diga Doo, Odeur de Swing

First US LNG Tanker Arrives In China Via Panama Canal -- Cool, Cool Story -- August 25, 2016

From The WSJ: new locks in recently expanded canal ease access to Asian market for US exporters.

Cool, cool story.

Sort of offsets The Los Angeles Times headline: Governor Brown gets even with oil companies. LOL. I read the article and did not see how Governor Brown "got back" at the oil companies. The oil companies will do just fine. Whatever. I digress.

Back to the WSJ story:

The first shipment of liquefied natural gas from the lower 48 U.S. states to China arrived this week, thanks to the recently expanded Panama Canal’s easing access to the robust Asian market for U.S. gas exporters.

The shipment was chartered by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the company. The cargo, from the Sabine Pass export facility in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, was delivered to the Yantian Port on Monday in southern China and was purchased by China National Offshore Oil Corp. as part of a long-term contract.

U.S. LNG, which is usually transported on large ships that can’t fit in the older Panama Canal locks, hasn’t been able to compete in Asia. The new locks, which opened in June and can accommodate larger ships, mark a significant moment for U.S. exporters.

The new locks can reduce the travel time from the U.S. to North Asia for ships that couldn’t fit in the old locks by about one third—to 20 days—and cut transportation costs by about 30 cents to $1 per million British thermal units.

I don't expect to see this story in The New York Times. It doesn't fit their world view.

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Non-Energy News

ATT gets okay to provide wireless in Cuba. This is a big story, but a small headline.

U.S. telecom behemoth AT&T Inc. recently entered into an agreement with Cuba’s state-run telecommunications company Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba to offer direct roaming mobile interconnection services between the two countries. With this agreement, AT&T customers will soon be able to connect through talk, text and data while in Cuba. The date of commencement and pricing of these services will be declared later on. 

President Barack Obama’s decision to normalize U.S. diplomatic and economic relations with Cuba, which have been considerably tensed since 1961, is starting to show results. Under his administration, new Cuban policy regulations, which have been approved by the Treasury and Commerce departments, aided the U.S. telecommunications industry to gain initial exemptions from the existing embargo to invest in Cuba.

Drones in North Dakota. Link here for Hermes 450:

Elbit Systems of America, along with its local partners, hosted an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) field day today, August 22, 2016, at the Hillsboro Regional Airport to highlight its recent Hermes 450 flights over North Dakota. The event welcomed Lt. Governor Drew Wrigley, who served as Master of Ceremonies. Also attending were U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-ND. and U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-ND.

"North Dakota has been called the 'Silicon Valley of Drones' and it is our honor to bring the Hermes 450 to Traill County," said Elbit Systems of America President and Chief Executive Officer Raanan Horowitz. "Leveraging the experience of our parent company with the commercial insights of our partners, we bring advanced technology to the farmland, demonstrating effective approaches for data collection."

Equipped with advanced sensors and high resolution cameras, such as the Vision Map A3 Edge and the Elbit Systems Compass EO/IR real time sensor, the Hermes 450 is capable of covering 40,000 acres in one hour and can remain in flight for 17 hours.
Elbit Systems of America, a US company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, has been operating from the Hillsboro Regional Airport for the last four months where it has flown multiple precision agriculture flights. In collaboration with

North Dakota State University and the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, Elbit Systems of America has worked with select local farmers to gather and analyze data for crop management improvement, increasing efficiency, and greater yield.

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Ledecky Smokes Competitors

Runs Away With 800-Meter Freestyle

Wins By 12 Seconds For Gold

2016 Rio Olympics

Link here. NBC won't allow embedding. 

Katie Ledecky's view is about the same in the 400-meter freestyle.

The Colonel's Secret Recipe Revealed; The Economics Of A Crude Oil Pipeline -- RBN Energy -- August 23, 2016

The Colonel's secret recipe; a link posted at The Washington Times which will take you to a photograph of the recipe at the Chicago Tribune.  For every two cups of flour:

• 2/3 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/3 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp dried mustard
• 4 tsps paprika
• 2 tsps garlic salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 3 tsps white pepper

My hunch: we will see this as a "new mix" on the grocery shelves by the end of the year. If not, maybe something for a young entrepreneur to consider.

Note: I often make typographical and factual errors. Do not use the above recipe. If this is important to you, go to the source.

 

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

	8/23/2016	08/23/2015	08/23/2014	08/23/2013	08/23/2012
Active Rigs	32	76	192	182	190

RBN Energy: the economics of a crude oil pipeline.

Drones: Israelis are testing a 20-foot drone that can cover 40,000 acres in an hour and fly up to 17 hours before refueling. Byline for story: Hillsboro, ND, which is located 40 miles south of Grand Forks, ND, on I-29.

Pricing: well-timed OPEC meeting forces oil bears into record reversal.

OPEC is on course to agree to a production freeze because its biggest members are pumping flat-out, said Chakib Khelil, the group’s former president. Saudi Energy Minister  Khalid Al-Falih said that the talks may lead to action to stabilize the market.

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The Road To Minnesota

North Dakota, 1 - Minnesota, 0

This story goes back to April, 2011. The Minnesota state house and senate voted to allow electricity from North Dakota coal plants be sold in Minnesota, but the governor vetoes the bill. So, some five years later, the courts rule differently, and the Minnesota governor won't pursue. This truly sounds like something out of Charles Dickens' Bleak House. 

Minnesota calls it quits. Won't appeal this further. Agrees to take coal-generated electricity from North Dakota. 

Minnesota will not appeal a federal court ruling that called unconstitutional a law restricting importing electricity from coal-fired electric generating plants.

North Dakota filed the suit against the Minnesota Next Generation Energy Act and won in a federal district court. A federal appeals court panel in June agreed with the district court, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court the only opportunity for Minnesota to win.
But on Monday, the Minnesota Commerce Department and Public Utilities Commission announced the state will not appeal.

The decision means that Minnesota utilities may buy electricity produced in North Dakota plants, where they generate power with locally mined coal known as lignite.
Minnesota's law, designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, also bans new coal-fired power plants in the state. That part of the law remains on the books.

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The Market

Best Buy shares jump as online sales climb. Best Buy reported an unexpected increase in profit for 2Q16 as it benefited from a jump in online growth.

VW and suppliers settle their dispute after "marathon" talks.

Goldman Sachs trying to talk the price of oil down; says recovery in oil prices is "fragile." I think we all know that; we don't need GS to tell us the obvious. Unless GS has an agenda. LOL. The WSJ reports that hopes fade on oil agreement: there is already reports of disagreement among OPEC producers. That's fine. Apparently Saudi Arabia likes giving its oil away at $40/bbl. In the big scheme of things, it's better that the market manage this, and not have the price of oil affected by artificial agreements in the Mideast.

MRO shares "take a hit" as CFO resigns. Company says CFO stepped down for personal reasons. Two executives have now left MRO in recent days.

ObamaCare. BusinessInsider confirms -- or at least appears to confirm -- that "for the first time, a county in America has lost all of its ObamaCare insurers (previously posted): Pinal County, Arizona. 400,000 people. South and southeast of Phoenix, Scottsdale.

New home sales jump to highest level since 2007.

Bill Gates' net worth crosses the $90 billion threshold.

Late afternoon trading: up about 22 points; oil back up over $48; NYSE

• new highs: 219; CLR (a big whoop); Encana;
• new lows: 6

Opening: surges almost 100 points. XLNX hits $54.00.

• new highs: 180, Deere; Domino's Pizza;
• new lows: 4

Futures: Dow up 46; oil down a bit, around $47.

North Dakota Could Get "Arctic Mission" -- Bakken.Com -- July 11, 2016

From bakken.com:

An Air Force installation in North Dakota has been trying to find its niche since its mission was changed a few years ago from refueling tankers to unmanned aircraft. Its focus might one day be at the top of the world.

The state’s two U.S. senators have been promoting the idea of an Arctic mission for the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which is located about 90 miles from the border with Canada. The 319th Air Base Wing now focuses on the launch, recovery and maintenance of drones, which would be preferred over manned missions in the hostile northernmost conditions.

Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said the North Dakota base should be part of a team effort to help the country gain a presence in the Arctic region.

“Maintaining peace and stability and open access to the Arctic is in everybody’s best interest,” Deptula said. “Grand Forks is a logical focal point in the northern United States that provides the access and the infrastructure that is already available and operating.”

The Grand Forks base is home to three unmanned aircraft models, including the RQ-4 Global Hawk. The Global Hawk is considered particularly valuable because it can conduct long-range missions, fly at 60,000 feet and roam in a particular area for 24 hours or more.

The base also shares space and a runway with the nation’s first unmanned aircraft tech park, Grand Sky, which has major defense contractors and drone makers Northrop Grumman and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. It’s likely that the U.S. will need help from the private sector to further its Arctic plans.

Much, much more at the link. 

Homeland Security And UND Partner On Drone Research -- May 31, 2016

Officer.com is reporting:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the University of North Dakota (UND) announced today they have signed a three-year cooperative research and development agreement to both examine the beneficial use of unmanned aerial systems/ unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS/UAV) and to mitigate their use for nefarious purposes.

“Through this agreement, we will develop a better understanding of the capabilities and vulnerabilities of UAS/UAVs and spur the development of technologies to counter the potential threats based upon their use,” said DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology Dr. Reginald Brothers. “A better understanding will spur innovative ideas and approaches to reduce this new threat facing our homeland.”

Over at "Big Stories/The Next Big Thing," I track the North Dakota drone story. 

Appareo -- May 27, 2016

Anyone interested in North Dakota success stories, or the North Dakota aircraft industry or avionics, needs to visit the Appareo site and spend some time going through the various posts. It is another incredible story coming out of North Dakota.

For newbies: it looks, this company is headquartered on the eastern side of the state; the Bakken is on the western side.

It is interesting to note where Appareo has offices. The company is headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, with offices in Tempe, Arizona and Paris, France. There is only one reason to be in Paris: Airbus. Okay, the food. And the wine. And the Louvre. Okay, there are a gazillion reasons to be in Paris, but when I saw an avionics industry with offices in Paris, I immediately made the Airbus connection.

Tempe, Arizona? Honeywell Aerospace is the largest manufacturer of aircraft engines and avionics, as well as a producer of auxiliary power units (APUs) and other aviation products. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, just minutes west of Tempe, AZ.

Appareo is a very, very interesting story.

A reader sent me the alert, proud to say his son works for the company.

I found it interesting the company was headquartered on the west side of the Red River, and not in Minneapolis. There are some huge avionics companies in MSP.

Is It All Over In The Bakken? RBN Energy Suggests "Pert Near" -- March 9, 2016; Drones! China Imports Record Amount Of Crude Oil

Tweeting now:  China crude oil imports hit record 8 MMbopd in February. Quick: how much crude oil is the US importing each month according to latest figures? If you said 7 MMbopd you were right on target, and paying attention. Or a lucky guess. Reuters has the story.

China's February crude oil imports jumped 20 percent on year to their highest ever on a daily basis, as prices at their lowest in more than a decade drove buying from a group of new importers and state and commercial stockpiling. 

On a daily basis, February's imports also jumped roughly 27 percent from 6.29 million bpd in January.

This is incredibly cool! From today's Boston Globe! Link here:

When Stuart Rudolph wanted to build software to help companies manage fleets of drones, he found plenty of engineering talent in the Boston area. But when it came time to set up headquarters for his startup, SmartC2 Inc., Rudolph chose . . . North Dakota.

“They gave us some money — several hundred thousand,” Rudolph said. So even though SmartC2’s engineers are staying put, the company headquarters office is located 1,700 miles away, in Grand Forks. 

SmartC2 is just one beneficiary of a relentless campaign by the state of North Dakota to dominate the commercial market for unmanned aerial vehicles. It is a major aviation center in its own right — the University of North Dakota hosts one of America’s leading aviation schools and the Grand Forks Air Force Base is home to some of the military’s top reconnaissance drone programs.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts can lay claim to being a leader in robotics, where the technology overlaps that of drones. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell have top-tier academic programs and research operations, and the robotics industry claims more than 100 companies in the state.

Yet so far, the state government hasn’t sought to recruit drone companies with the same intensity or resources as North Dakota. If Massachusetts was offering financial incentives, Rudolph said, his company and others like it would set up shop in the state.

The payoff could be big. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, predicted in 2013 that the drone industry could generate $82 billion in economic benefits for the nation by 2025 and 100,000 jobs.

Kyle Wanner, director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, is determined his state will get its share. “We want people to know that North Dakota is very friendly toward this industry,” Wanner said.

he state has spent $13 million on drone-related infrastructure projects, including a recently opened business and technology park adjacent to Grand Forks Air Force Base, a major launching site for military reconnaissance drones. North Dakota has also paid $34 million in incentives and subsidies to attract companies.

Much more at the link.

The best news: Hillary has not yet said for a ban on drones.

I track "drones" at "the next big thing" at "the big stories."

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Active rigs:

	3/9/2016	03/09/2015	03/09/2014	03/09/2013	03/09/2012
Active Rigs	33	114	191	187	206

RBN Energy: Is is all over for the Bakken?

For the past, year many shale oil producers have defied the expectations of many and kept output at or near to record levels in the face of falling oil prices and much tougher economics. Improvements in productivity, cost cutting and a concentration on “sweet spot” wells that generate high initial production (IP) rates have all helped cash strapped producers survive. But with oil prices so far in 2016 stuck in the $35/Bbl and lower range and with the worldwide crude storage glut still weighing on the market – producers are finally pulling back. Today we look at how increased pressure on North Dakota producers is putting the brakes on Bakken crude production.

Man-camps in the Bakken. The Dickinson Press is reporting:

A proposal to keep some crew camps open in Williston for temporary oilfield workers failed 3-2 Tuesday night, but at least one camp operator said the issue isn’t over. Mayor Howard Klug was part of the majority.

Klug said after the meeting he meant that he was open to finding a compromise on the September deadline of requiring crew camps to be removed.

“And that may still happen,” Klug said.

The one camp operator who said the issue isn't over: Travis Kelley, regional vice president for Target Logistics, the largest worker housing provider in North Dakota.

For investors only: did Chevron just force XOM into dividend hikes no matter what? 24/7 Wall Street asks. OilPrice provides another look at the Chevron dividend.

But the strategies differ depending on the company. Chevron, for example, continues to cut spending in order to keep its dividend. The California-based multinational just announced that it would cut its capex in 2017 and 2018 by another 36 percent, bringing annual spending down to between $17 and $22 billion. That is down from an October 2015 estimate, when Chevron said that it expected to spend $20 to $24 billion each year in 2017 and 2018. It is also sharply lower than the $26.6 billion Chevron is spending this year, which itself is a 25 percent reduction from last year’s levels.

The severe cuts come as Chevron has had to take on debt in order to afford shareholder dividends, as the company has not generated enough cash flow to cover the payouts with oil prices as low as they are. Dividends cost the company $8 billion in 2015 alone. Chevron would need oil trading at $50 in order to cover the dividend with cash flow.

George Martin, Sir George, The Fifth Beatle joins Lucy in the sky with diamonds. No links; story everywhere.

Lockheed looks to cut 1,000 jobs -- a voluntary cut.

Lockheed Martin Corp. said it is launching a voluntary layoff program in its aeronautics business that aims to reduce 1,000 positions in the U.S., or about 0.8% of its total workforce.

The voluntary program announced Tuesday is available to midlevel employees in seven U.S. locations, including Edwards Air Force Base in California; Palmdale, CA; Fort Worth, TX; and Marietta, GA.

The Bethesda, MD, company said the cuts are needed “to position Lockheed Martin Aeronautics to be competitive in the future marketplace, secure future business opportunities, and keep an infrastructure appropriately aligned with customer demands.”

Did Hillary just jump the shark? The 68-year-old grandmother, expert in everything, made the announcement in Michigan that she will "ban" fracking through regulations. She tried to connect the lead-contaminated water problem in Flint, Michigan, with fracking. How dumb can you get? Of course, there's no way in the world that her comments on fracking cost her the election. But everyone in Detroit knows that the surge in Ford pickups and SUVs is due directly to the low price of oil, which, in turn, is due to the revolution in the oil and gas industry. Kill shale, and you kill the US oil and gas industry. Kill shale, and you start talking about $200 oil. Start talking about $200 oil and you get Detroit's attention. I can't wait until she campaigns in Pennsylvania and tells the folks there she plans to ban fracking. What a doofus.

Friday, February 26, 2016 -- Update On Drones In North Dakota

The Dickinson Press is reporting from Hillsboro, ND, midway between Grand Forks and Fargo, ND, along the Red River Valley on the east side of the state, far away from the Bakken:

Hillsboro may soon earn an aviation reputation of its own as UAS researchers and manufacturers have big plans for the small town and its municipal airport in the upcoming year.

Activity in Hillsboro so far has involved both local and international players, with representatives from firms in Finland and Israel conducting testing or visiting facilities Monday.

It falls outside of Class B airspace that surrounds both cities' airports. That airspace faces strict regulation and any aircraft entering it must have permission from an air traffic controller.

The hyperspectral camera attached to the unmanned aircraft was developed by Finnish company Rikola Ltd.

CEO Raimo Rikola and Chief Technology Officer Jussi Soukkamaki were among those watching from the ground as a flight crew with Grand Forks-based startup SkySkopes maneuvered the aircraft.

As the aircraft orbited around the pole, the hyperspectral camera took pictures observers hoped would show something the human eye cannot detect with its limited spectrum of vision.

A hyperspectral camera is capable of seeing wavelengths beyond human sight and identify signatures that can differentiate various materials based on how light reflects.

The technology is being applied to crops to detect diseases and nutrient deficiencies, but others hope to use it for inspecting utility poles and other infrastructure to find rot and other defects.

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Miscellaneous Video / Photos

Just visiting, south Main Street, Williston, February, 2016; the new Renaissance On Main at the beginning of the video:



Just visiting:

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Notes For The Granddaughters

Learning about electric circuits:

Our 12-year-old daughter was given a Brazil jacket by a member of Brazil's national water polo team that has qualified for the 2016 Olympics:

Merry Christmas To All -- December 25, 2015

Updates

December 28, 2015: in the post below I link a New York Times story about the drone industry in North Dakota. James Pethokouki over at AEI weighs in on this story, from an FAA regulatory point of view. Worth reading.
 

Original Post

 

Wow, talk about a beautiful morning: 59 degrees at 9:00 a.m., sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and no breeze. I've already taken my short bike ride this morning to confirm that nothing is open. I have just finished a wonderful Christmas morning breakfast, and enjoying the first full day of four free days. My next scheduled event is Monday, late evening, picking up the granddaughters and their parents at the airport.

A reader sent me a link to a great NY Times article; I saw "North Dakota" in the URL and was sure it was going to be another schadenfreude story on the oil situation in the Bakken. Not to be. It was an incredibly good article: the story of drones in eastern North Dakota. The article references the oil industry in North Dakota but I reminded the reader that the drones in Fargo are on the opposite side of the state. Western North Dakota (oil) and eastern North Dakota (universities, technology and potatoes) have nothing nothing in common except the word "Dakota" and perhaps a fairly similar language.

It's very similar to Boston - Cambridge in the early 1800's I suppose: the blue collar folks, the bourgeoisie, the merchants were in Boston and their university-minded, well-schooled brethren were in Cambridge. I wouldn't know that except I'm continuing to enjoy The Peabody Sisters by Megan Marshall. More on that later, but back to the drones.

The New York Times is reporting:

For years, entrepreneurs have come here to farm and to drill for oil and natural gas. Now a new, tech-savvy generation is grabbing a piece of the growing market for drone technology and officials want to help them do it here, where there is plenty of open space and — unlike in other sparsely populated states — lots of expertise already in place.

Silicon Valley has the big money and know-how, Mr. Muehler and others say, but North Dakota can take unmanned aerial vehicles, as they prefer to call drones, from a fast-growing hobby to a real industry. And just as Silicon Valley got its start with a combination of military contracts, entrepreneurs and cooperative universities, they believe they can do the same with drones.

“The potential up here is tremendous,” said Jack Dalrymple, the state’s governor. “It’s not about supporting a company or two; it’s creating the leading edge of an industry.”

North Dakota has spent about $34 million fostering the state’s unmanned aerial vehicle business, most notably with a civilian industrial park for drones near Grand Forks Air Force Base. The base, a former Cold War installation, now flies nothing but robot aircraft for the United States military and Customs and Border Protection.

Right now, private sector drones are where personal computers were in the 1970s: a hobbyist technology waiting for something to take them into the mainstream. The technology research firm Gartner figures that, barring regulatory hurdles, the United States drone business could be worth $7 billion in a decade.

Companies are moving fast. Last month, Amazon released a video showing its planned delivery drone, and companies like Google and Facebook are working on big drone projects. DJI, a Chinese company that is the world’s largest maker of small drones, was funded last spring at a valuation of $10 billion.

Small drones may bedevil cities with privacy concerns, even landing on the White House lawn, but rural states with farming, oil and rail lines see many practical reasons to put robots in the sky. Infrared imaging can judge crop health. Cameras can spot leaks and cracks in pipelines. Smaller copters can inspect windmill blades. Livestock can be located easily.

I completely missed "drones" on my "next big thing." That really, really bugs me. One has to give Amazon's Jeff Bezos most of the credit. He was the first several years ago to talk about home delivery using drones and, as I recall, everyone who wasn't "marching" in #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations was laughing at his idea. 

Now, it's just a matter of time, and that time is not far off.  

Like the internet, the government's ability to "control" and "regulate" drones will be unable to keep up, at least for the first few years. The government now imposes a $5 fee if one wants to fly a drone, but my hunch is that a lot of teenagers will be getting a drone for Christmas and the last thing on their mind is filing the $5 fee. Though I assume the smart retailers will include the form and addressed envelope in the box.

By the way, converting the manned nuclear bomber base at Grand Forks, ND, into an unmanned aerial vehicle site was really, really clever. When one of the premier air bases in Germany was shut down -- Bitburg Air Base -- the local folks converted the runway into drag strips for racing radio-controlled toy cars. That tells me all I need to know about the entrepreneurial gulf between the US and the EU.  

Anyway, enough of this for now. Have to move on.

Previous stories on North Dakota drones:

• Northrop Grumman coming to North Dakota, October 11, 2015
• North Dakota becomes first state to legalize drones for police use, The [London] Independent, September 11, 2015
• North Dakota approved for night-testing drones, August 23, 2015 
• First drone to be manufactured in North Dakota, rolled out in Wahpeton, June 8, 2015
• Update on drones in North Dakota, May 10, 2015

The last link provides additional links taking the story back to the beginning. California was specifically denied an early opportunity by the Federal government to compete in drone development (story at one of the links above). The Los Angeles Times was stupefied, unable to understand why.

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Christmas Day Breakfast

Northrop Grumman Coming To Grand Forks, ND -- October 11, 2015

Updates

October 16, 2015: I should have posted it -- when I saw the video of the air-to-air refueling of the unmanned drone my first thought was that we might see a refueling wing return to Grand Forks AFB. And now this story from The Dickinson Press:

U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said Thursday he's convinced the growing unmanned aircraft systems activity at Grand Forks Air Force Base has made it more relevant on the national scene.

Earlier that day, Hoeven attended a groundbreaking for a $10 million facility at Grand Sky, a business park made possible through the creation of lease between the base, Grand Forks County and Grand Sky Development Co.

The base shares close ties with the facility's first tenant, Northrop Grumman, which manufactures the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft--several of which reside in base hangars.

In an interview with the Grand Forks newspaper’s editorial board, Hoeven said with the progress of Grand Sky, the future looks bright for the base five years after losing its tanker mission.

"To the extent that we can continue to bring in missions that are the missions of the future, it makes all the difference in the world," he said.

As the profile of the base's unmanned aircraft program grows, Hoeven said when it comes time to realign the bases again--potentially in 2017--Grand Forks would be in a position to make another run at a refueling tanker mission.

Original Post

 

This is a great way to start the morning. The Dickinson Press is reporting that Northrop Grumman will be coming to Grand Forks:

Shovels hitting the dirt later this week at Northrop Grumman's groundbreaking ceremony is a sound local officials hope will ring in a period of job growth and development for the area.

The aerospace and technology company will be the first tenant to begin construction at Grand Sky, a 217-acre business park situated on Grand Forks Air Force Base that focuses on unmanned aircraft systems and related services.

X-47B Northrop Grumman [Killer] Drone

Air-to-Air Refueling Drone
It should be noted that in-flight refueling of a drone was first successfully accomplished within the past year (to the best of my knowledge).

Meanwhile, back in the Bakken, The McKenzie Farmer is reporting continued growth in Watford City:

Watford City boundaries embraced 882 acres pre-oil boom. Since 2010, annexations and expansions have increased that size to encompass an acreage total of 5,459 acres.

And over 20 developments have gone through and completed the entire planning and zoning process, representing more than 2,800 acres.

“We’re coming on more stable times,” stated Gene Veeder, executive director for the McKenzie County Job Development Authority. “And our trend in growth is still upward here. Our numbers are still real strong here. People are waiting to see those numbers change, and they haven’t.” While the oil industry remains strong, Watford City is still not seeing the price of rental housing fall to the levels being seen elsewhere in the oil patch.

“It’s pretty evident that looking at all of the oil-producing counties, McKenzie County doubles the closest county in terms of gross oil production,” states Veeder. “Oil production will be quite strong in the county, even at $20 to $30 a barrel. These numbers will be above 350,000 barrels of oil a day. You’ll see some depletion, but still pretty strong.”

While there is concern from many that anticipated low oil prices will hurt drilling activity, in western North Dakota, Veeder says that with McKenzie County’s low breakeven point for well profitability, drilling activity has and will remain strong in the county.

BREAK-EVEN POINT: The breakeven point for McKenzie County wells is $27 a barrel and with oil prices in the low to mid-$40s a barrel, there is still room for profits. Which is why McKenzie County remains the epicenter for new drilling activity in the state.

RIG COUNT: As of Sept. 9, 2015, McKenzie County had 25 of the state’s active rigs, followed by Williams County at 15, Mountrail County at 14, and Dunn County at 13.

“Oil production numbers are steady in our county,” says Watford City Mayor Brent Sanford. “Only until prices go up again, then it will boom again. And the best producing wells are in our area.”

According to Lynn Helms, North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources director, he expects to see 25 rigs drilling at the $20 to $30 a barrel level with 19 frac crews working in McKenzie County in 2015. If that $20 to $30 level stays consistent over the next two years, that would still leave McKenzie County with 16 rigs in 2016 and 19 rigs in 2017. In 2015, McKenzie County would have 3,248 active wells, 3,575 in 2016, and 4,031 in 2017.

The interesting thing to note is that at the $20 to $30 level, both Mountrail and Williams counties would be hit pretty hard in 2016 and 2017.

Mountrail County would have no rigs in 2016, all the way down from 14 in 2015, and Williams County would also have zero rigs in 2016, down from 15 in 2015. That means neither county would have frac crews working, which would hurt the oil and gas industry tremendously in those counties.

“If we stay at the $20 to $30 a barrel level, it’s not going to be easy,” said Veeder. “But it’ll be much easier for us to get through this slowdown than other counties. The big number is the gross production number for McKenzie County. No matter what level we are at, whether it’s $20 to $30, $30 to $40, or $40 to $50, McKenzie County will be producting 400,000 barrels of oil a day, which is almost double any other county.”

From The Williston Wire:

The 5th Annual Bakken Oil Product and Service Show drew larger than expected crowds of people. Craig Willcox was one of them. Willcox works out of New Mexico as a technical specialist for the John Crane Company, which has a presence in several tight oil plays across the country. He has been spending the most time here in the Bakken of late. "It's slowed down out there dramatically," Willcox said. "And the Bakken has, too, but it's still busier than most other places."

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The Revenant

When it was first announced I was disappointed that Birdman beat out The Grand Budapest Hotel for best picture and best director Oscars and other awards, but after additional viewings, without question, Birdman was the right choice. I've watched it several times in the past week and see something new each time I watch.

The director of Birdman has another film coming out at the end of the year (2015) which is a bit closer to the Dakotas. From wiki:

The Revenant is an upcoming American biographical western thriller film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

The screenplay by Mark L. Smith and Iñárritu is based in part on Michael Punke's 2003 novel of the same name. It is inspired by the life of frontiersman Hugh Glass. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and Will Poulter.

Also from wiki:

An explorer of the watershed of the Upper Missouri River in present-day North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, Glass is best known as a frontier folk hero for his legendary cross-country trek after being mauled by a grizzly bear. 

The trailers for The Revenant on YouTube do not hold my interest. It will be interesting what the critics and the movie-going public think of this movie.

I assume everyone knows the definition of a "revenant." I did not.

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It's Over

While buying my 59-cent donut from the grocery store next door this morning, standing in line, I saw on the front cover of some glossy that Kaley's marriage with Ryan is over. Lasted how long? Who wudda guessed? Lasted much longer than I thought it would. The best known TV actress (?) right now marrying a jock ranked #64th in his sport?

Sea of Love, Del Shannon
Not my favorite cover, by a long shot, but it's hard not to like Del Shannon.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Active rigs:

	9/11/2015	09/11/2014	09/11/2013	09/11/2012	09/11/2011
Active Rigs	69	198	180	193	199

RBN Energy: dreaming of a white Christmas.

U.S. natural gas production has been essentially flat this summer as many producers curtailed, deferred or delayed drilling and well completions earlier in the year. However, some of the same producers, particularly in the Northeast, in their most recent earnings calls, indicated they expect to meet their 2015 production targets by increasing output this winter. In today’s blog, we look at how and why producers defer production and the potential impacts on the market in Q4.

It’s not surprising that some gas producers deferred well completions this summer. Rates of return have been squeezed all year by a combination of low oil, liquids and gas prices. In response to lower prices, producers have made significant capital budget cuts.

And besides low prices and returns, Northeast producers in particular have faced midstream capacity constraints that push down prices to bargain basement levels and make it harder to find economically viable routes to market for new production. Producers responded by laying down rigs and shifting their drilling activity and spending towards their most productive acreage (thereby cutting costs and increasing rig efficiency).

Additionally, those producers that can afford to hold off production (losing cash flow in the short term – something not all have deep enough pockets to do) have used numerous tools and tricks for delaying production while they weather this tough market environment. These include drilling the minimum required to hold on to leases for future development, not completing (i.e. fracking) already drilled wells and choking back big initial production (IP) rates  to restrain output until a pipeline tie-in or better pricing becomes available. Producers typically prefer to defer new production volumes in these ways rather than to shut-in existing wells that are producing, because (as we explained in shut-in economics rarely make sense long term.

The gas production picture has varied across the country with slight growth in the Northeast being offset by declines elsewhere. The Northeast (Marcellus and Utica) continues to drive production growth as it has for the past few years, in particular buoyed by new drilling and record IPs in the dry gas window of the Utica Shale. However, if Northeast producers have delayed completing and tying in wells because of low prices then they could rapidly increase production when conditions improve.  Recent earnings calls suggest that some Northeast producers believe that the last quarter of 2015 (i.e. winter) is the time when they could crank up output from deferred wells in order to meet 2015 targets.

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EIA "energy cookie":

In the first half of 2015, Saudi Arabia exported on average 4.4 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil to seven major trading partners in Asia, making up more than half of Saudi Arabia's total crude oil exports over that period. Even as global crude oil prices fell in 2014 and 2015, Saudi Arabia increased production and kept its export levels high, enabling it to maintain its market share in these countries. However, long-term trends within Saudi Arabia's energy sector may reduce its global crude oil market share. --- EIA

Reported yesterday on the blog: year-over-year, June oil imports into the US from Saudi Arabia increased despite American glut in crude oil.

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Mexico Cuts

Bloomberg/Rigzone is reporting:

Mexico plans to spend the least in nine years to explore for oil, relying instead on foreign companies to help reverse a decade-long decline in production.

The Mexican state-owned oil producer, which has lost money 11 quarters in a row, is for the first time in 77 years making room for foreign firms to bid for the right to drill in Mexican territory.

Pemex contends that the formation of 10 joint ventures with private companies at declining fields this year will boost output that has fallen to its lowest levels since at least 1990. Mexico forecasts oil production of 2.25 million barrels a day in 2016 and a price of $50 per barrel, according to the budget proposal.

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Not News -- But Still Pretty Cool

This has already been reported everywhere (see tag), but "cool" to see it in The (London) Independent: North Dakota becomes first US state to legalise (sic) use of armed drones by police.

Armed drones could be used by police in the US state of North Dakota after local lawmakers legalised their use.

While they will be limited to “less than lethal” weapons, tear gas, tasers, rubber bullets and pepper spray could all be used in theory by the remote controlled flying machines.

In a classic case of unintended consequences, the original sponsor, Republican state representative Rick Becker said he was unhappy with the way legislation turned out. 

The Brits are the most "concrete-thinkers" in the world when it comes to names: it's not drones, but "remote controlled flying machines. And "armed'? Tasers?

North Dakota Continues To Be In The News, Saturday's Notes Continued, Part II -- August 29, 2015

Update

September 2, 2015: we can close the poll in which we asked whether Ms Heitkamp will back Obama or back the Bakken. It is now moot. Her vote does not count. Obama has his 34th vote to block any attempt to scuttle his Iran plan.

Results of the poll:

• she will support Obama, as a loyal Democrat, that supersedes her NoDak roots: 55%
• she will support the Bakken: 23%
• she will vote "present": 19%
• won't vote: 3% 

Original Post

 

I'm paging through this weekend's edition of BloombergBusiness. I assume it's the last issue I will get for my introductory subscription, $10 for the year. BB has sent me several notices telling me my subscription ended some weeks ago, but someone keeps dropping off the current edition at my front door every Saturday morning. Almost tempted to renew at full subscription price. The key word is "almost."

As I was saying, I was paging through this weekend's issue of BB. There, on page 27, a full-page story (almost full page, about 5/6 of the page) is the story about the pressure on Heidi Heitkamp, the Democratic Senator from North Dakota to vote against the Iran nuclear plan. I always said it was a mistake for North Dakotans to vote a Democrat senator into office and now we will find out. It would be ironic if the Senate fails by one vote to override the Obama veto to save his Iran nuclear deal. When Iran dumps 1 - 3 million bopd on the global market, it's nothing but bad news for the Bakken.

I haven't done a poll in a long time. This is a great poll. Will Ms Heitkamp support Barack or will she support the Bakken? The poll is at the sidebar at the right; it's been such a long time, I almost forgot how to put up a poll. I'm betting she will not support the GOP on this one.

Speaking of North Dakota, the state is on a roll.

First, with the president's Clean Power initiative, North Dakota is going to have an entire new industry converting coal plants to natural gas plants. This will result in a gazillion investment dollars and a lot more jobs. And there will no longer be any worry about all that natural gas ONEOK is gathering, processing, and transporting.

Second, there is still some discussion on pros and cons regarding wind energy, but at the end of the day, there will be additional wind farms going up in North Dakota. As long as they put the farms up near Bismarck, Dickinson, and Fargo, it's fine with me, just NIMBY.

Third, I see Bobcats wherever I go when traveling cross-country. And now I read that Bobcat in North Dakota is expanding. Do you remember all those dire predictions and all that hand-wringing when a South Dakota Korean company bought the Bobcat company? Widely read Farm Equipment
is reporting the story:

Bobcat Co. and parent organization Doosan have broken ground on a $9.5 million company headquarters expansion in West Fargo, N.D.

The current headquarters — built in 2000 — houses individuals within several departments of business administration, as well as product development and marketing communications for Bobcat Co. and Doosan, a heavy equipment brand.

The expansion will double square footage and employee capacity, and Bobcat and Doosan will pursue LEED certification for the facility in both design and construction.

Last year, Bobcat and Doosan opened the exciting new Acceleration Center in Bismarck, N.D., a facility focused on engineering, R&D, training and product testing. Other North Dakota Bobcat and Doosan facilities have undergone renovations over the last two years.

That's in West Fargo. Fargo/West Fargo is one of the fastest growing smallish communities in the US. Despite the winters. By the way, my hunch is that a lot of that growth is coming from Minnesotans moving across the state line to escape taxes.

More news from North Dakota, previously reported: the FAA gave the state final approval to test drones at night. Of the six drone-testing sites in the US, only North Dakota got the nod. Some other dots to connect.

• Amazon uses drones
• Amazon has a customer-services center in Grand Forks, ND (one of the very few nationwide)
• Amazon now delivers alcohol and promises one-hour delivery
• North Dakota leads the nation in beer consumption on a per-capita basis
• most people drink beer at night
• folks in Fargo are upset about the "Fighting Sioux" thing and have a reason to drink
• winter is coming; it starts getting dark about 2:30 p.m. in West Fargo, about an hour earlier than in Fargo

I'm not sure about the complete accuracy of those four five six seven bullets, but I do believe they are "almost" correct. This is not a beer-drinking recommending site. Do not make any beer drinking decisions based on what you read here. If this information is important to you, have another beer, and look up the source next week on your company's computer.

Incidentally, rumors that Amazon will ship the first month's delivery free of charge, through a grant from the North Dakota Women's Temperance Society is just that, simply a rumor. 

For the moment that taps out (pun intended) the news from North Dakota.