The Walt Disney Family Museum -- World War II -- Exhibition -- DFW -- Dallas (Texas) Holocaust And Human Rights Museum -- August 21, 2026

Locator: 51513DISNEY.  

Wow! May and I have been to four "holocaust" museums or sites. One in Germany (Dachau, near Munich); one in Washington, DC; one in Los Angeles; and one in Dallas. 

Currently in Dallas. Link here.

 How it all started: 

When Walt Disney received word that The Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California, had been converted into an Army anti-aircraft base after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, he and his staff pledged to support the war effort without hesitation, and without profit. 

Walt knew that cartoons would be an ideal method for communicating with the American people. This exhibition showcases how The Walt Disney Studios educated the civilian public in an amusing, uncomplicated manner about the war, while simultaneously boosting the spirits of troops deployed abroad. 

In addition to the short films and military insignia produced, Disney characters appeared in a variety of home-front initiatives, from advertisements, magazines, and stamp books, to government posters promoting food recycling, rationing, war bond sales, and farm production.

Photos pending. 

It was amazing the number of patches that The Walt Disney Studios designed. At least two of the dozens of patches I wore while in the USAF, 1977 - 2007, were designed by Walt Disney. They were the patches worn by members of two fighter squadrons -- the 22 TFS -- the Stingers -- bumble bees -- and the 53 TFS -- the flying Tigers. I've posted photos of them somewhere on one of my blogs but I can't find them now. I will have to take pictures of them again and post them again.  

The exhibition was organized by the The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco and is financially backed primarily by presenting sponsor Texas Instruments, with additional support from Debbie and Ron Greene, American Airlines, NFI Industries, and the Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District.

Link here to Instagram. The exhibit booklet was copyright 2021 which suggests that the Disney Family Museum leadership used the Covid-19 lockdown to organize this exhibit. This was really, really brilliant. Kudos to Kirsten Komoroske, the executive director of The Walt Disney Family Museum, San Francisco, CA. 

Bio:

Kirsten joined The Walt Disney Family Museum as Executive Director and Member of the Board of Directors in 2013. 

Kirsten has held a number of executive and board positions, including General Counsel and Vice President of Human Resources for Tyco Electronics Corporation, Interim Vice President of Human Resources at Groupon, Inc., and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA. 

Prior to her position at the museum, Kirsten worked as a practicing lawyer, advising for-profit and non-profit organizations on a wide range of strategic, business, and HR issues. In 2018, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of both San Francisco Travel and Hiller Aviation Museum. 

She has a background in—and a lifelong passion for—the arts, having grown up studying violin and modern dance. She received her B.A. in Italian from the University of California at Berkeley, and J.D. from Santa Clara University.

Previously an active Army base and the Pacific coast’s strongest coastal defense from 1846 to 1994, the Presidio now serves as a national park and is home to The Walt Disney Family Museum.

*****************************
Key Lime Pie

Link here. 

*******************************
USAF

The Boeing MH-139A Grey Wolf is a new U.S. Air Force multi-mission helicopter replacing the Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey. It is special because it flies 50% faster, carries nearly twice as many security troops, and features an increased range to better protect the nation's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fields.

From wiki, link here:
 

Our granddaughter Olivia was one of only two USAF ROTC Cadets from her squadron to be given a familiarization flight ride in a Grey Wolf while participating in MAX #6 Field Training this past summer. These are the two cadets, our granddaughter and another member of the squadron with the Grey Wolf in the background:

Family Photo -- Bragging Page -- Not Intended For General Readership -- For Extended Family Members Only -- August 20, 2026

Locator: 51508FAMILY.   

Director's Cut, August with April, 2026, data: link here. 

Meanwhile, elsewhile: 

Granddaughter, USAF ROTC, field training, in an elite group ... three weeks --- comes home today ...

Flashback -- USAF, Africa, March, 1994

Locator: 50663USAF.

Going through some old albums (and we have scores of albums and journals and diaries), it appears that the best years of our lives as a family were 1992 - 1994, Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, and Incirlik Air Base, Germany. And that's considering our previous nine years in England (outside London) and Bitburg Air Base, Germany, the premier USAF fighter base at the time. Not just Europe, but the entire globe. It was amazing. 

But, back to this photo.  

The photo is dated March, 1994. 

I have no idea where this is. Well, that's not quite true. It was obviously taken at a base base location, not "classified," but it might as well have been. 

The photo is not labeled, but putting "two and two together," as they say, this was taken in Banjul, The Gambia. For me, this was my "heart of darkness." LOL. We (a crew of several PJ (pararescue jumpers), loadmaster, engineer, right-seater, left seater, and a flight surgeon) were there probably a week. A week for sure but possibly longer. It depended on whether the space launched on time.

We were flying out of Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, in 1994, in support of Space Shuttle launch missions. There were four abort sites for the Space Shuttle: RAF Mildenhall, England; Rota Naval Station, Spain; an airstrip near Casablanca, Morocco; and, Banjul, The Gambia. 

Using AI, previously unavailable:

 The C-130:

Vern Whitten's Most Recent Portfolio -- April 9, 2026

Locator: 50482WHITTEN. 

Overnight, Mr Vern Whitten sent me his most recent portfolio in which he combined wildlife photography with some short vignettes.

I thanked him for the portfolio with this note:

Thank you for your most recent portfolio -- sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

The stories -- short vignettes -- accompanying the wildlife photos were quite enjoyable. I recall similar "emotions / feelings" when I used to walk late at night during the coldest winter evenings while growing up in Williston. There's something about relative solitude and the natural wonders in North Dakota. Many, many memories.

You can see his recent work -- link here --  and the photography by Mike VanValkenburg -- see his website here. 

Vern Whiten would love to hear from you.

        His website: https://www.vernwhittenphotography.com/. 

        e-mail: whittenaerials@gmail.com 

        phone: (701) 261-7658

Apple 3-Day Event Begins! March 2, 2026

Locator: 50108TEXAS.

New Apple products being announced today. Start with a new iPhone 17e.  No streaming but can probably catch every segment on YouTube. Link here.

Link here. 

It's Texas Independence Day. I will be at events all day. I will try to do some blogging later, but for now, I'm off the net.  

Texas' 190th birthday today.  

From today:

From a couple of days ago: 

This Is So Exciting -- It's Hard To Believe -- 2025 Is Coming To A Close -- Last Day Of The Year -- Tomorrow -- December 30, 2025

Locator: 49769ARCHIVES.

This makes sense, why the market would be open all day New Year's Eve -- the last trading day of the year.  

December 31, 2025, is a significant date as it is a quarterly expiration date for certain equity, ETF, ETN, and PM-settled index options. This "quadruple witching" event can sometimes lead to increased trading volume and volatility as expiriing derivatives are settled for rolled over.
PM-settled options: trading closes at the end of the trading day; mitigates the risk of overnight events which would effect AM-settled options.   

A lot of folks didn't think they would make it to 2026 -- but less than 36 (?) hours now is all they have to go. Awesome.  

***********************
Deer Hunting -- Texas

Extended family member.

One of several deer this hunting season. 

 ********************************
The Kitchen Page:
How To Clean Cookie Sheets

Link here. 

Inflation Watch, Grocery Shopping -- North Texas -- December 2, 2025

Locator: 49589ARCHIVES.

Lots of shopping yesterday.

First, inflation watch: 

• eggs, large, one dozen: $1.97
• chuck roast: $5.97 / pound

 

Random photos:

Ham, braunschweiger ---

Octopus, lobster:

Peppers:

***********************
Winter

Flathead Lake -- northwest corner.

Phoro taken by extended family member, daybreak, Tuesday, December 2, 2025.

9th Circuit Court: President's Federal Authority Trumps City's Authority -- October 20, 2025

Locator: 49457ICE.

Federal troops can be deployed to Portland.  

Get out the popcorn.

Game on! 

****************************
1931 Chevrolet Farm Truck
To Be Restored
Five-Year-Old Brothers 

Link here.

 

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

WTI: $57.44.

Active rigs: 32.

Six  new permits, #42410 - 42415, inclusive:

• Permits:
• 42410, loc, Oasis, Nelsen State Federal 5202 13-13 2B, Indian Hill,
• 42411, loc, Oasis Joseph Federal 5202 13-13 3B, Indian Hill, 
• 42412, loc, Oasis, Nelsen State Federal 5202 13-13 4B, Indian Hill,
• 42413, loc, Oasis, Nelsen State 5202 13-13 5B, Indian Hill,
• 42414, loc, Oasis, Eckert 5202 13-13 6B, Indian Hill, 
• 42415, loc, Oasis, Eckert 5202 13-13 7B, Indian Hill, 
• Field: Indian Hill, McKenzie County;
• Comments:
• Oasis has permits for six Joseph Federal, Eckert, and Nelsen State Federal wells, NWNE 13-152-102, 
• to be sited 265 / 430 FNL and 1605 FEL;

One producing well (a DUC) reported as completed:

• 38109, Silver Hill Operating, LFM2, 364 bopd.

Archives -- Most Recent GDP Estimate -- September 16, 2025

Locator: 49130ARCHIVES.

Who wudda thought? Link here.

• best selling desktop on Amazon? the Mac Mini
• best selling laptop on Amazon? the MacBook Air
• best selling tablet on Amazon? the iPad
• there seems to be pattern here.

Cost of oil exploration: 

There is no single global average cost of oil exploration per barrel; it varies significantly by region and method, but typical exploration and production (E&P) costs in the 2000s and early 2010s saw a significant increase of about 100% from 2000 to 2012. For example, costs in North America can range from $30 to $70 per barrel, while they are considerably lower in regions like Saudi Arabia, at $10–$15 per barrel.

These costs are influenced by the difficulty of extraction, with deepwater drilling and fracking being more expensive than easier-to-access resources.

GDPNow: estimate today -- 3Q25 estimate rises to a remarkable 3.4%. Wall Street analysts suggest the 3Q25 GDP will come out closer to 2%. 

Eleven years ago: bigger sister, Olivia, reading The WSJ to her new baby sister, Sophia.

Raising The Roof -- One Pallet At A Time -- September 14, 2025

Locator: 49103FAMILY.

My son-in-law wanted to raise the interior height of an old shed by a few feet (for another project he has in mind).

This was a solid wood building. 

This is how he raised it, gaining two-to-four feet in interior height.

The project was done 100% with recycled wood, old pallets that had been discarded, that my son-in-law picked up over the years. 

Hopefully he's not thinking about raising his house by two-to-four feet.

Holy Mackerel! The US State Department Is Incredibly Fast And Well Organized -- July 2, 2025

Locator: 48643ARCHIVES.

Updates

July 5, 2025: The WSJ today. Whoo-hoo! They're reading the blog! My passport arrived today; photos pending. Couldn't be happier.

Original Post 

I applied to renew my expired passport online less than ten days ago. Took me about twenty minutes to complete the online application.

Same day response from the US State Department that they had received my application and would begin processing my application once the credit card payment cleared.

Two days later, I received a note from the US State Dept letting me know that the payment had cleared and they had began processing my application. 

Today, I received an e-mail saying the passport and the passport card had been completed and both have been mailed, and mailed separately. I think the whole process took less than ten days and three - five days of that will be due to mailing the documents. Truly amazing.

My passport expired in 2023 and I thought I would have to do a whole lot more to get a new passport, but if a passport is expired less than five years, it can be simply renewed on line.

Amazing.     

By the way, I let my passport expire because I thought I would never need it again; I'm done traveling overseas. But it turns out, everything I do, it seems, "someone" asks me for my passport -- including when I went to renew my Texas "Real ID" driver's license. Say what you want, this country does pretty well in the big scheme of things.  

Advice: the most important thing -- get your passport photo taken by someone who knows what they are doing.  I had no problem with my passport photo but I can say without qualification the photo was the most challenging part of the process.

Submitted June 24, 2025, on-line:

June 24, 2025 -- July 9, 2025: 16 days -- less than three weeks.

Vern Whitten -- Farms -- February 12, 2025

Locator: 48547WHITTEN.

Vern Whitten would love to hear from you. Vern has sent a wonderful collection of "farm" photos from North Dakota. Something we can think about during the middle of winter!

Link here.

www.vernwhittenhotography.com.

Vern Whitten
1518 7th Street South
Fargo, ND 58103

Global Climate Change Economy Teeters -- January 30, 2025

Locator: 48443GREEN.

Global climate change economy teeters: Bloomberg link here.  

**********************
For The Archives

Link here.

**************************
For The Archives

Link here.

I flew with the 525 TFS, Bitburg Air Base, Germany, from 1984 - 1986, and again, from 1989 - 1993, also Bitburg AB, Germany. My primary a/c was the F-15. 

 In the photo below, the F-15 is the second a/c from the POV of the aircrew member pictured.

The 525 TFS mascot: an English bulldog, or "the bulldog."

Link here.

Quick Note -- Airlines And Price Gouging -- January 29, 2025

Locator: 48432ARCHIVES.

Wow, I'm in a great mood this morning.

We'll have a bit of rain over the next 24 hours but then more than a week of sunny weather and a high of 72°F on the weekend. The days are getting noticeably longer and it's just a matter of time before the swimming pools open up again. 

The dip in the stock market -- I love how "they" call it a "dip" -- was another opportunity for young investors. I remain fully invested at all times. I have a rolling 30-year horizon. I don't plan to leave my heirs any money: they will inherit our entire estate of US equities and the dividends that come with those equities. I've already started the process.

I will be off the net for awhile. I walk Sophia to the bus every morning and I'll be leaving in a few minutes. I've been up for a couple of hours updating production data for Bakken wells. A lot of old sites were updated. I've referenced a few of the sites that I updated, but most of the updates were done without bringing the posts forward.

It's getting more and more impossible to keep up with the news. More on that later, perhaps.

I'm looking forward to a cross-country trip or two or three this calendar year. Whether it all plays out or not, hard to say. I'm too comfortable in my apartment. LOL. 

************************
Of Interest

From Forbes this morning: 

First up, AI:

Venture firm General Catalyst is leading a $50 million funding round into Onebrief, a startup that makes collaboration software to help Pentagon leaders speed up military planning.   

Chris Miller, a former acting Secretary of Defense and co-author of Project 2025, also joined the startup’s board, telling Forbes his role provides a link to the Trump Administration ahead of what Silicon Valley hopes will be a bumper year for startups working with the Pentagon.

Second: in most instances this would be called "price gouging." But I guess "price gouging" only refers to items bought by poor folks. Is it appropriate to use the phrase "poor folks" any more? I've lost the bubble on such things. Anyway, back to "price gouging":

Major U.S. airlines have boosted flight capacity from Kansas City and Philadelphia to New Orleans ahead of the Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl, and experts recommend booking flights now to avoid the steepest prices. Nonstop tickets to New Orleans from domestic airports are already averaging $979 per round-trip ticket, significantly higher than the average domestic airfare of $294 for a round trip, according to the travel platform Hopper.

**************************
Travel

Wow, wow, wow!

The [London] Telegraph ranks the 1,250 prettiest and ugliest cities in "Britain." Link here.

We lived in England for many years:

• first, the family lived three years in southeast England, in Suffolk County, near Cambridge, northeast of London; and,
• then over a period of four years I spent many months in Yorkshire, near the Scotland border.

It was awesome. Four of the prettiest cities noted by The Telegraph were in the areas that we lived. Most notably, Ripon was one of the four cities and where I spent a lot of time, at the Ripon Cathedral for evensong. 

In the immediate area of Ripon was another city that made the cut for being most beautiful: Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Ilkley was a 23-minute drive from where I stayed / worked while in Yorkshire. I have no idea how many times I would have driven through that village. Bolton Bridge, nearby, was a favorite destination. As for hiking, I usually hiked north and west of Menwith Hill which means I probably did not hike through Ilkley.

When on temporary duty, up to four months at a time, I stayed at the Wellington Inn in Darley, just a fifteen-minute walk from the base. Maybe 30 minutes. I forget. I often got picked up by someone driving that direction so seldom had to walk. Occasionally the Air Force would allow me to rent a car while at RAF Mildenhall. 

I would usually hike all day Saturday and all day Sunday. I would leave as early as 7:00 a.m. and not return until 7:00 p.m. In general, all my day-long hikes were solitary, but on many outings by car and short walks I generally had one or two female companions from the air base who also shared the joy of ... what do they call it in Germany -- volksmarching.  Whereas the latter tends to be larger groups and very well organized, the walks I did in England were anything but. 

Trump 2.0 -- January 3, 2025

Locator: 44606TRUMP.

Trump 2.0 is tracked here.

Link here. 

Ivan Krastev.

From The Atlantic today. Talk about a misreading of American politics.

***************************
Duck Hunting In North Texas

Our granddaughter and her friend, duck hunting, north Texas.

No dog, so they have to retrieve the ducks themselves.

The Eisen Hour -- November 20, 2024

Locator: 44370EISENHOUR.

Breaking: again, the timing is interesting.

Now that it's someone else's problem, Biden finally shows up. If Ukraine loses, he will say it wasn't because of his policies.

NATO: Meanwhile, Trump selected former acting AG Matthew White as NATO ambassador.

Trump 2.0 is tracked here.

******************************
Missing the Target

Target, Target, Target! Link here. Target is now advertising Thanksgiving turkeys for 79 cents a pound. See below. Was Target price gouging before announcing the new price? 

The big question: how did analysts miss earnings and revenue estimates by so much? Even the "Fast Money" folks last night were bullish on Target.

*******************************
Inflation Watch: From October 17, 2024

Tag: turkey.

Locator: 48604CRAMER.

Cramer's first hour: a mix of facts, factoids, opinions from various sources -- often not cited -- while listening to Cramer's first hour on CNBC.   

Inflation: the data is in -- the evidence is clear cut -- inflation:supply and demand -- nothing to do with government spending 

Don't take that out of context.

More later.

But it's obvious.

And the "price of eggs due to inflation due to government spending" is getting tedious. Anyone who talks about the price of eggs in this context is …. shall we say, obtuse?

Housing prices: nothing to do with government spending; everything to do with supply and demand.

Same with rent.

Auto insurance? Nothing to do with government or national deficit.

More to follow. 

Everything, everywhere happening all at once. 

In This Economy? How Money and Markets Really Work, Kyla Scanlon, c. 2024.

Exhibit A:

October 14, 2024: avian flu -- egg-laying hens hit harder than turkeys -- now, can we move on?

October 13, 2024: Walmart: awesome. Protein at 88 cents / pound is pretty cheap source of protein. Salmon $5 for four ounces, or $20 / lb.

This is an incredible "moment" for Walmart. They love "rolling back" prices and as fast as wholesale prices are falling, Walmart is passing those savings to retail customers as fast as they can. "Our" Walmart was filled with "rollback" tags today. But frozen turkeys is what caught my eye. At 98 cents / pound, less expensive than last Thanksgiving, and now Walmart has rolled back that price to 88 cents / pound.

Speaking of Walmart: 

We have a Costco membership and an Amazon Prime membership and we've never seen a need for a Sam's Club membership. I may reconsider for one year. From our local neighborhood flyer:

Nearly two years after a tornado damaged Sam’s Club, doors will be open at the wholesale club starting on October 16, 2024. 

This Sam’s Club -- just down the street from us -- will be the first in the country without any registers or cashiers, allowing customers to use their app’s scan and go feature to shop.

The Grapevine location will feature many technology features not in other stores, being the first digital-first store ... that includes a robot that can make 190 pizzas in an hour order custom-made sushi in the app and an e-commerce order area that is four times larger than any other Sam’s Club store.

$50 / year. Yeah, gonna join. At least for a year. Gotta see the robot. Plus all the other benefits. Truly amazing. $50 / year = $1 / week.

**********************************
Disclaimer
Brief Reminder 

• 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 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.
• Longer version here.

Apple iPhone 15 Sales Projections -- August 16, 2024

Locator: 48437APPLE.

Projections are starting to be discussed.

Some data points:

• consensus: 50 million iPhone 15s will be sold in the September 2024 quarter
• MS: 52.5 million will be delivered in that quarter
• early numbers / early polling / early research suggests as many as 55 million will be delivered
• 50 million will be a record for the September 2024 quarter
• most popular iPhone 15 likely to be sold: the most expensive -- the iPhone 15 Pro Max
• the Pro Max could account for 35 to 40 percent of all iPhone 15 deliveries (link here)
  

From that link:

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 series in the second week of September, followed by its availability for purchase a week later.

Now, according to the well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, featuring an exclusive periscope camera lens, is anticipated to become the best-selling model despite its higher price point.

In fact, the iPhone 15 Pro Max alone is projected to account for 35 to 40 per cent of the total iPhone 15 series shipments.

It’s estimated that Apple might ship around 10 per cent more iPhone 15 Pro Max units by the end of the year compared to the current iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Kuo also suggests that Apple could commence shipping the iPhone 15 Pro Max as early as this week.

The company’s shipments for the iPhone 15 series are estimated to exceed 80 million units by the end of this year, with the number expected to rise to 220 million units by the end of 2024.

Search:

• almost 30% of all search goes through the Apple toolbar (across all makes and brands).
  

******************************
The 2032 US Olympics Jiu-Jitsu Team

Sophia: far left, back row.

Dallas: New Financial Hub -- August 10, 2024

Locator: 48380TEXAS.

Link here. 

Ross Perot Jr. gestured out the window as his helicopter circled a 4.5-acre pit alongside the skyline of downtown Dallas. Texas and U.S. flags hung from a crane within it.

The site is where Perot’s real-estate investment company, Hillwood, is partnering to build a $500 million Goldman Sachs tower for more than 5,000 bankers and investors. That will make it the financial firm’s second-largest office, behind New York. As the helicopter swung northwest, windows glinted from two unfinished Wells Fargo office towers, scheduled to open next year. A bit farther away: a fourth office building under construction for Charles Schwab, which moved its headquarters from California to the Dallas area five years ago, and the footprint of a Deloitte campus doubling in size.

The sprawling landscape illustrates an expansion that has brought to North Texas a presence in financial services that now sits second only to New York City in the U.S.

And growth of so-called Y’all Street is accelerating.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that Texas investment-banking and securities employment has increased 111% over the past 20 years and 27% since the pandemic, compared with 16% and 5%, respectively, in New York.

The number of people employed in finance overall has risen 13% in Texas since 2019, compared with 2% in New York and 3% nationally.

Dallas now ranks second to New York City among metro areas in the number of workers employed in finance-related industries. Other cities, particularly in the Sunbelt, have seen growth as those services increasingly seek to be closer to customers nationwide.

*******************************
Movie Night

Notorious. Alfred Hitchcock.

It begins in Miami. Perhaps the one place in America I have not been. Not to be taken out of context. Ends in Rio de Janeiro. I have been to Rio. 

From wiki: 

Notorious is considered by critics and scholars to mark a watershed for Hitchcock artistically, and to represent a heightened thematic maturity. His biographer, Donald Spoto, writes that "Notorious is in fact Alfred Hitchcock's first attempt—at the age of forty-six—to bring his talents to the creation of a serious love story, and its story of two men in love with Ingrid Bergman could only have been made at this stage of his life."

In 2006, Notorious was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

**************************
The Book Page

From One Cell: A Journey Into Life's Origins And The Future Of Medicine, Ben Stanger, 2023.

Audience: should be summer reading for high school students -- juniors / seniors -- with plans to attend college to major in the life sciences. 

***************************
The Boys