The Million Dollar Way (The Bakken Oil Blog)

Friday, November 28, 2025

Texas College Football -- Wow, What A Treat -- November 28, 2025

Locator: 49566TEXASFOOTBALL.

#3 Texas A&M vs #16 Texas -- televised two different streaming options -- a traditional airing/coverage (no network broadcast coverage) or coverage with conventional airing / coverage. It's fun to switch between the two; not sure which I prefer.

#3 is fighting for its life against #20. Playing at Texas, in Austin. 20 (Texas) - 10 (Aggies) early in fourth quarter; Texas has the momentum and now it has the ball again.

In the NFL, a #3 team would easily re-group and end up beating a #16 team. But this is college football between two huge rivals. No way to predict how this turns out.

I spent a lot of time with ChatGPT today talking about NFL football and how it truly resembles chess. Professional football is chess with a clock. For NFL coaches, it's all about time-management; for spectators like me, it's all about yardage. At the college level, the players are transitioning between focus on time and focus on yards.

With a focus on yards, an incomplete pass is "bad." With a focus on time, an incomplete pass is often "good."

With 9 minutes left, all of a sudden, it's 20 (Texas) -17 (Aggies). I honestly don't know which team to root for.

Wow, wow, wow -- 26 (Texas ) - 17 (Aggies) with seven minutes left in the game. So, we're back where we're started but all of a sudden, half the time remaining.

There it is. Second interception by Texas. Arch Manning and Texas wins by ten points, 27 - 17. Tough, tough, tough loss for Texas A&M. Wow. A&M lost its chance to be in bowl championship. Texas will argue it deserves to move on but probably won't win that argument.

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A Musical Interlude

Link here.

It Seems This Should Get More Coverage -- November 28, 2025

Locator: 49565APPLE.

Link here.

Alison Ritter's Quick Connects -- November 28, 2025

Locator: 49564QUICKCONNECTS.

Alison's quick connects:

• Hennen: North Dakota can become the North American capital of compute -- InForum

• North Dakota natural gas daily production reaches all-time high in Sept -- Minot Daily News

• State could see construction of its first utility-scale solar farm in 2026 -- Minot Daily News

• Oil and gas prices hold steady for another month, but frac crew numbers fall -- KFYR-TV

• Electrical outage causes hundreds of barrels of produced water to spill northeast of Medora -- KX News

• Divide County experiences another increase in oil and gas production in September -- The Journal

• Senate reversal of Biden policy that blocked Wyoming coal mining heads to Trump -- Bismarck Tribune

• LEC Jonathan Fortner: Giving thanks for the lignite coal power that keeps North Dakota going -- InForum

• Cerilon gas refining project gets loan extension from North Dakota energy board -- Bismarck Tribune

• State investing $7M in Grand Farm to promote research on autonomous agriculture -- North Dakota Monitor

• Bank of North Dakota commits $400 million 'lifeline' to state's agricultural producers -- North Dakota Monitor

• Governor Kelly Armstrong is set to visit Standing Rock leaders with goal 'to find action items' -- KX News

• Rare T. rex found in North Dakota; mammoth fossil digs 'significant' for research -- North Dakota Monitor

• North Dakota's Indigenous community shares its art and culture at Capitol showcase -- North Dakota Monitor

• North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Crothers notifies Armstrong of retirement date -- Office of the Governor

• Pre-holiday storm moves into North Dakota with no travel advisory issued in northwest -- Bismarck Tribune

• Registration opens for 2026 North Dakota Transportation Conference set for March 10-11 -- KX News

• Mandan Republican Keith Boehm announces launch of Senate reelection campaign -- Bismarck Tribune

• Reconstructed scenic loop opens grand views at Theodore Roosevelt National Park -- Bismarck Tribune

• Budget hole: McKenzie County transfers $300,000 to shore up E911 services -- McKenzie County Farmer

• Williston's annual community Christmas tree lighting ceremony will take place on Black Friday -- KFYR-TV

• Dickinson Rural Fire Department misses out on $640K due to missed budget deadline -- Dickinson Press

• State investing heavily in its tourism infrastructure and rural communities -- McKenzie County Farmer

• McKenzie commissioners vote to immediately implement soft hiring freeze -- McKenzie County Farmer

• North Dakota's new school superintendent Levi Bachmeier to tour every district in the state -- KX News

• 'It's all about the seniors': Minot elementary students craft Christmas cards for senior citizens -- KFYR-TV

• 12-member committee named to lead search for next Bismarck State College president -- Bismarck Tribune

• Glenburn Public Schools buys new playground following student coin drive, booster club effort -- KFYR-TV

• Stanley High School forensics class goes to court, students participate in mock trials -- ND Court System

• Ray Public School tweaking policy language to clarify open enrollment restrictions -- The Journal

• Universal school lunch could achieve a broader tax base with smaller, more efficient government -- InForum

• Ballot measure effort seeks to provide free school meals to North Dakota students -- North Dakota Monitor

• Turtle Mountain College receives $22 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott -- Minot Daily News

• Former State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler sworn in for her new role in Trump administration -- KFYR-TV

• MHA Nation and Killdeer High join for first-ever assembly highlighting indigenous culture -- Dickinson Press

• Energy Information Administration projecting bear market for oil prices; fuel prices could stay low -- KFYR-TV

• Nuclear reactor developer X-energy secures $700 million to finance expansion of US projects -- Reuters

• China is launching a global cooperation initiative on green minerals with developing nations -- Oil Price

• Trump administration restructures DOE, dropping clean-energy offices in favor of hydrocarbons -- World Oil

• 2025 elections showed us that energy matters to voters ahead of next year's mid-term -- RealClearEnergy

• US Supreme Court to weigh in on "climate lawfare," consider disputes over jurisdiction -- Washington Times

• Coal-fired plants kept online to power artificial intelligence as Trump rolls back pollution rules -- E&E News

• States, Native American tribes and federal programs to share $14.6B from energy revenues -- E&E News

• China's LNG imports fall for thirteenth straight month as domestic output, pipeline imports surge -- Oil Price

• Trump's Department of Energy just nuked Biden's wasteful climate bureaucracy into oblivion -- RedState

• A sobering reality: Fossil fuel demand continues to rise as "green energy transition" stalls -- NoTricksZone

• Climate apocalypse crumbles, COP30 flops, activists cry mercy, fossil fuels thrive -- Manhattan Contrarian

• Building out the grid on solar power is 10 times more expensive than gas, wind 7x more -- RealClearEnergy

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US-85

To be widened to four lanes, from Long X Bridge south of Watford City, ND, to ND Highway 200, south of Watford City, at the cutoff to Killdeer, ND, probably encompassing the most prolific area of the Bakken.

A Family Member Asked: Which iPad Would You Recommend? November 28, 2025

Locator: 49563IPADS.

iPad recommendation.

First decision / choice: small or big? 11-inch or 13-inch.

Five-year-old hands, 11-inch. No question.

Adult hands: 13-inch. But some adults prefer 11-inch, not because of hand-size, but how and where they will be using it.

The 11-inch is like a giant iPhone. Really giant.

The 13-inch is like a .... well, a giant iPad.

But if you don't know size you want, you need to physically hold each to know what you want.

Me? I would only take the 13-inch for myself.

For five-year-old grandsons, I got them the 11-inch which they love.

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13-inch

iPad Pro (new) or iPad Air

Go to this link and scroll down, comparing each model line-by-line: https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-pro-13-m5,ipad-air-13-m3.

Only three major differences that I would think about:

chip: M3 vs M5.

both do the very same thing; the M5 might be faster but unless you do a lot of gaming, etc, you won't notice.
you don’t need the M5 chip. The M3 is practically brand new and is optimized for AI, as is the entire “M” line of chips.

price difference. Significant.

the Pro starts at $1,299. The Air starts at $799
[The smaller 11-inch Air starts at $600. At Amazon, an incredible, $499. Can't be beat if one wants a smaller iPad.]

Touch ID and Face ID.

the less expensive Air doesn’t have Face ID; it has Touch ID.

Amazon:

At Amazon, the 13-inch iPad Air, 128GB is selling for $649.
At Amazon, the 13-inch iPad Air, 256 GB is an overall pick and is selling for $749.
At Amazon, the 13-inch iPad Pro is ALSO an overall pick and is selling for $1,099.

I prefer Face ID but for $450 less, I can go with Touch ID.

So, with the iPad Air, one gets a "better bang for the dollar,” but if money is no object, iPad Pro might be the way to go, but even if money is no object, I still can't get past getting the iPad AIR. Although that's a close call. But the 256GB for the Pro is very, very enticing vs 128GB for the Air in the starting (least expensive) configuration.

Don’t get cellular. You can connect on wi-fi almost anywhere these days, and you can always use your iPhone as a hotspot.

Bottom line:

for your needs, assuming you are price conscious, I would recommend the iPad Air, basic configuration, 128GB. If you don't like it, I will buy it from you and you can upgrade to the iPad Pro.
for a bit more money, $100 extra at Amazon, the 256GB iPad, M3, 13-inch is the better buy if you are willing to jump from an incredible $649 to a still-pretty-good $749 price.
if price is no object, then the 13-inch iPad Pro which starts with the 256GB so you don't need to add more.

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Family Member Replies

I want it for international travel/tourism, more than just my iPhone but less than a computer.

My reply:

That’s a tough one. For travels, you might prefer the 11-inch — but then get the 256BG version ($549) at Amazon. That is also an overall pick per Amazon.

Then, I changed that to:

Actually, that’s not a tough one. For travels, I would get myself the 13-inch because I’m used to carrying a bigger iPad / computer in my backpack, but you would probably prefer the 11-inch for travels. It will be way, way better than the iPhone. Just the photos and video would be amazing.

11-inch iPad Air but size up to 256BG.

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