The Compact Digital Camera Is Fading Fast -- WSJ

The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

As global shipments plummet—down 42% in the first five months of 2013, according to the Camera and Imaging Products Association, a Tokyo-based industry group—manufacturers are scrambling to adapt to a world where customers value the convenience of smartphones for quick shots they can share on social networks like Facebook and Instagram.

The changes are forcing some of the biggest camera makers, including Fujifilm Holdings Corp. and Panasonic Corp., to pare product lines and adapt offerings. Some are choosing to focus on more high-end cameras as interest in the classic compact, or "point-and-shoot," fades.

Canon Inc. last week lowered its full-year profit outlook by 10%, citing slumping camera sales. In a sign of the dramatic downturn in the market, Canon also cut its compact digital camera outlook for the second time in three months. 

I love the photo at the linked story.  I see this everywhere. The iPad as movie camera. David Lynch must be going nuts.

 I assume SanDisk memory cards and sticks could be history, also. Wow, how things change so quickly. What Steve Jobs wrought.

Wind Farm Shenanigans In Oregon; Oregonians Look Forward To Increased Monthly Utility Bills But At Least The

The best part of the very complicated story below is learning how to "flip" wind farm tax credits:

In the end, Caithness sold its three tax credits at a discount to WalMart and Comcast.

A reader sent me links to these two stories from The Oregonian. 

The first story:

The Oregon Department of Energy ignored its own rules, legislators' intent and taxpayers' interests in reaffirming its decision to define Shepherds Flat wind farm as three separate facilities and provide its owners three separate $10 million tax credits. The mammoth installation of turbines in eastern Oregon, developed by a New York company to slake California's thirst for renewable energy, started spinning last year.

The agency undertook a review in March of its earlier tax credit approvals for the wind farm after an investigation by The Oregonian raised questions about its eligibility for more than one tax credit. Lisa Schwartz, appointed in January as ODOE's fourth director in five years, signed off on the final two credits last month after what she described as a rigorous review in cooperation with the Department of Justice.

Yet limited and often non-responsive information about the review provided to The Oregonian suggests it was neither rigorous nor consistent with state rules governing tax credits. In its review, ODOE ignored clear evidence in its own files and additional records identified by The Oregonian that should have disqualified $20 million of the $30 million in tax credits. It failed to ask for contracts or other documentation to answer fundamental questions that state rules pose about ownership, financing, construction, operation and maintenance.

The second story:

For Shepherds Flat wind farm, the $30 million in tax credits that received final approval from Oregon Department of Energy last month were frosting on a multi-layered cake of federal, state and local subsidies. Its developers gorged themselves on hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers, and government officials were well aware it was over-subsidized.

At the White House, top advisors balked at the largesse for Shepherds Flat, warning President Obama of potential backlash as opportunistic developers "double dipped" on public money. In Oregon, the dicing of Shepherds Flat into three came in spite of state prohibitions against developers subdividing projects to garner multiple taxpayer subsidies. In Gilliam and Morrow counties, elected officials rolled with it too, slashing property taxes on the project and urging the state to sweeten the pot.

In the end, the lesson of Shepherds Flat may be that it was too big to fail. Its timing was ideal. Developers were offering the biggest wind farm in the world, a 338-turbine behemoth with a price tag of $2 billion, in eastern Oregon, in the midst of recession, using American-made turbines (never mind the Chinese towers).

And once the project gathered momentum, no bureaucrat was willing to stand in the way. 

Oregonians will get to see how much this will cost them when they see their utility bills. Compare price of wind vs hydroelectric power which is superabundant in the northwest.

Fourteen (14) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; Statoil With Another Huge Beaux Well; Non-Descript CLR Well Produces 200K In One Year -- Becoming The "New Normal"

Active rigs: 179

Fourteen (14) new permits --

• Operators: CLR (7), BR (4), Enduro, Samson Resources, Whiting
• Fields: Camp (McKenzie), Westberg (McKenzie), Little Deep Creek (Renville), Ambrose (Divide), Sanish (Mountrail), Long Creek (Williams)
• Comments: Five of the CLR wells are going into the same section where this well is sited:
• 22158, 996, CLR, Kuhn 2-12H, t5/12; cum 204K 5/13; still producing at 10,000 bbls/month; 29 days to total depth; gas as high as 6,000 units; the seam was 12 feet thick; 60 - 90 foot flares; 40 stages; 3.8 million lbs sand frack; ceramics were not mentioned.

Wells coming off the confidential list were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

Five (5) producing wells completed:

• 24304, 1,253, MRO, Gustafson 31-30H, 
• 23980, 576, MRO, Klay Carlson 41-29TFH,
• 23388, 3,375, Statoil, Beau 18-19 3TFH,
• 24033, 508, CLR, Dover 2-30H, 
• 24034, 598, CLR, Dover 3-30H,  

Detroit: What Goes Around, Comes Around; Lessons Learned From NYC

Buried deeply in this article reported by Reuters:

Under a change to Chapter 9 bankruptcy law that was made while New York was in difficulties in the 1970s, municipalities can instead argue that good-faith negotiations are impractical.

Detroit has made this argument.

"Despite the ultimate impracticability of such negotiations, the City nevertheless attempted, where possible, to negotiate with its various creditor constituencies in good faith," Detroit said in court papers.

Because municipal bankruptcies are rarer than corporate ones, there are fewer precedents. But Detroit can point to a ruling from June involving the California city of Stockton to make its case.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein in Sacramento ruled that even if Stockton had not negotiated in good faith, it was still eligible for bankruptcy because such negotiations would have been impractical given it had 2,400 retirees.

It's an interesting article. 

This Is Cool: Limbaugh, Hannity To Clear Channel

I used to walk past or drive past Clear Channel Headquarters almost every day when I was living in San Antonio.

I moved from San Antonio to the Dallas area this summer now that the granddaughters have moved to the Dallas area.

I do not care for Sean Hannity at all.

But love him or hate him, Rush Limbaugh is very, very good at what he does. I listen to him rarely any more and usually only when driving cross-country, but I always enjoy listening to him. The trick to listening to Rush: when he takes a commercial break, switch to a music station for ten minutes; he takes very, very long breaks; it will drive you nuts. The other trick to Rush: you have to listen to him for about six months before you "get him." Those who don't understand him did not successfully complete the six-month introductory course on "Listening To Rush Limbaugh 101." I didn't say "like Rush"; I said "understand" him. Even his political opponents "understand" him, even if they don't "like" him.