Book Recommendation: Letters Home From Lt William R Larson, WWII, Pacific Theater -- July 29, 2016

This is pretty cool. An alumnus of Williston High School, Don J Larson -- Class of 1986 -- has recently completed a biography of his uncle who served in WWII: Lt William R Larson, USNR, a torpedo bomber fighter pilot. The book is Lucky's LIfe: Letters Home From Lt William R Larson, Squadron VC 38.

The subject of the book, Lt William Larson grew up on a farm in Divide County, just north of Williston.

The letters "home" were to his parents and his brother Lloyd, the father of the author of the biography. The fact that Bill Larson never returned home from the Pacific would make his letters that much more compelling. I was alerted to the biography of "Bill" Larson by his nephew who shares his uncle's name.

A very, very nice write-up in the Williston Herald is available at this link: https://www.facebook.com/luckyslifevc38/photos/a.1060600690695548.1073741829.1039986209423663/1065009310254686/?type=3&theater.

A Facebook page devoted to Lt William Larson is at this link: https://www.facebook.com/luckyslifevc38/.

The book is available at Amazon, and even better, the paperback edition, I am told, is available at Books On Broadway in Williston, North Dakota. The Kindle edition is less than $5.00, I believe.

The paperback is 630 pages long. That is simply incredible: 630 pages. One can read much more about the book at this post: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/270951-luckys-life-letters-home-from-lt-william-r-larson-usnr-a-beloved-son-brother-and-wwii-torpedo-bomber-fighter-pilot-squadron-vc-38/.

Personal note: in 1943, Larson participated in bombing runs during the Bougainville Campaign. It just so happens that Larson would have been providing air support to the Americal Division, US Army, to which my father-in-law, Flavio Garcia, was assigned.

According to a biographical note I wrote many years ago The Americal Division had its origin in Task Force 6813, formed January 14, 1942, with the mission of occupying and defending New Caledonia.

Task Fork 6813 was disbanded May 27, 1942, once the Americal Division was up and running.

Gaudalcanal ground offensive: The 164th Infantry (North Dakota) arrived on Guadalcanal on October, 13, 1942, under air attack. Division headquarters and the 132nd (Illinois) landed on Guadalcanal on December 8, 1942. The 35th Regiment Infantry Division relieved the 132nd Infantry Regiment, in early 1943. The 132nd reached Tenaro Village by February 9, 1943, and that ended the Guadalcanal ground struggle.

Bougainville: the Americal Division moved to the Fiji Islands in March / April, 1943, and then moved to Bougainville in December, 1943 - January, 1944, first the 182nd Infantry Regiment (Massachusetts) and then the 132nd Infantry Regiment.

The division was relieved by the Australian 3rd Division on December 10, 1944, and the division conducted amphibious training and prepared to move to the Philippines. 

Philippines: the division moved to the Philippines in January, 1945. The following units are mentioned by the veterans’ association: the 1st Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment; the 1st Battalion, 132nd Infantry Regiment; the 3rd Battalion, 164th Infantry Regiment (North Dakota).

My own father was serving on the USS Wakefield on the Atlantic Ocean during this time, but in 1946 was in the Pacific Theater bringing US Marines back home. 

Note: there may be typographical and factual errors in this note.

Last "GDP Now" Foreast Before "Official" 2Q16 GDP Released -- July 29, 2016

For all that talk about civil disobedience and demonstrations and #BlackLivesMatter, the two political conventions came off pretty well.

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2Q16 GDP

The last update before the "official" 2Q16 GDP is released. This was released July 28, 2016:

The final GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the second quarter of 2016 is 1.8 percent on July 28, down from 2.3 percent on July 27.

After the U.S. Census Bureau's inaugural release of its advance economic indicators report, which covers retail and wholesale inventories and foreign trade in goods, the nowcast of the contribution of net exports to second-quarter real GDP growth declined from 0.17 percentage points to –0.10 percentage points and the nowcast of the contribution of inventory investment to growth declined from –0.63 percentage points to –0.79 percentage points.

I think The Wall Street Journal is a bit more optimistic.

U.S. economic growth appears to have accelerated in the second quarter after a weak start this year. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, is projected to have advanced at a 2.6% annualized pace this spring, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. The economy grew at 1.1% in the first three months of the year.

Then this:

If the economy advanced at the rate economists forecast, it would be the fastest pace in a year. That’s significant because in the prior two quarters, U.S. output increases came in below the relatively lackluster roughly 2% pace averaged during most of the expansion, which began in 2009. An improvement in growth would suggest the economy has stabilized, as opposed to gradually slowing into a contraction.

I believe 1Q16 GDP was -- after all revisions -- 0.8%. If 2Q16 GDP really comes in at 2.5% .... well, it would be interesting. And encouraging.

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Helicopter Money

After reading this article in The Wall Street Journal I was pretty sure Japan would be dropping some helicopter money, but Japan has decided not to. Futures are down (early morning, Friday, July 29, 2016; and oil is pennies away from going below $40).

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Microsoft Dismantling Its Telephone Division

From The Wall Street Journal: Microsoft to Shed 2,850 Additional Jobs. Layoffs come as company retools sales operations, dismantles mobile phone hardware business. From The Verge, May 25, 2015, Microsoft wasted at least $8 billion on its failed Nokia experiment.

Microsoft is taking another almost $1 billion hit on its failed Nokia acquisition today. The software maker is "streamlining" its smartphone business, writing off $950 million and cutting 1,850 jobs. The cuts come almost a year after Microsoft wrote off $7.6 billion and cut 7,800 jobs.

Only a small number of former Nokia employees will remain at Microsoft, and the company's consumer phone making days are over.

Microsoft has wasted at least $8 billion on its failed Nokia experiment, including the costs of restructuring and severance payments for thousands of employees. Microsoft originally hired 25,000 Nokia employees as part of its $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia's phone business, but a series of layoffs over the past two years has triggered the end of Microsoft's mobile subsidiary.

Microsoft's Nokia phone business acquisition was always tricky and risky, but it was a deal organized by former CEO Steve Ballmer. It has been clear from the start that Satya Nadella, Microsoft's new CEO, wasn't interested in running a phone business.

Nadella announced a strategy shift away from a "devices and services" focus just a couple of months after the Nokia acquisition finalized, and last year the strategy shifted even further away from producing multiple handsets.

Many will argue Microsoft had no choice, as Nokia controlled more than 90 percent of the Windows Phone market and had been rumored to be considering switching to Android.

Google's experiment with making its own Android phones resulted in the search giant selling Motorola to Lenovo for $2.91 billion, less than two years after paying $12.5 billion to acquire it. While Google's investment was primarily driven by the need to obtain key patents, it's not clear how Microsoft has benefited from its Nokia deal.

No mention of Apple or the iPhone.

Ballmer on the iPhone

One New Permit And That's About It; Three More DUCs -- July 28, 2016

Active rigs:

	7/28/2016	07/28/2015	07/28/2014	07/28/2012	07/28/2011
Active Rigs	35	73	193	207	181

Wells coming off confidential list Friday morning:

• 29858, drl, Newfield, Jorgenson Federal 148-96-10-15-2H, Lost Bridge, no production data,
• 32014, TASC, MRO, Jackie USA 34-34TFH, Reunion Bay, no production data,
• 32283, SI/NC, XTO, FBIR Blackmedicine 24X-21E, Heart Butte, no production data,
• 32302, SI/NC, XTO, FBIR Blackmedicine 24X-21AXD, Siverston, no production data

One new permit:

• Operator: Liberty Resources
• Field: McGregor (Williams)
• Comments:

Two producing wells completed:

• 31930, 630, Hess, HA-Grimestad-152-95-3031H-4, Hawkeye, 50 stages, 3.5 million lbs, t7/16; cum --
• 31932, 1,233, Hess, HA-Grimestad-152-95-3031H-6, Hawkeye, Three Forks, 36 stages, 2.5 million lbs, t7/16; cum 5K after 2 days; 

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New-Well Oil Production Per Rig

For the Bakken, Eagle Ford, and the Permian. Nice graphic.

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Surprise, Surprise. Tesla Needs More Money - Barron's

Link here.

MuskMelon as much as admitted that a "modest" capital raise will be necessary. On news, shares were initially up, but today down.  Will the "modest" capital raise be announced before/after August 3 2016?

I-98: An Update -- July 28, 2016

I-98: An Update

Some folks (not many, but some) have been asking whatever happened to the television series, I-98? 

Unfortunately the series only ran for one season and only eight episodes. Due to low ratings, the series was canceled. The series was just beginning to build its audience and many think killing the series at this time was premature.

However, there is talk of at least one spin-off. It is possible the roles of Thelma and Louise will be brought back in a 30-minute sitcom: "Stripper Wells."

Stripper Wells is the story of a young woman from south Minneapolis who heads west to the Bakken when she hears that women can become quite wealthy working, not as waitresses in cheesecake restaurants, but as dancers in upscale gentleman's clubs. Mary Bernitsky Westly takes the stage name of "Stripper Wells." To save money she shares a room with "Shelley Shaker" at the far end of town in El Ranchero, a modern 32-story glass skyscraper, which has become the place to be if in the oil and gas industry. The skyscraper replaced the 32 man-camps that were strewn about McKenzie and Williams counties. The Trump helicopter landing pad will be highlighted in the sitcom's opening credits. Mary and Shelley will be the two lead characters in an ensemble of four regular characters, with weekly cameos by the seventeen original 2016 GOP presidential candidates.

As for the two main characters, Sam will become a spokesperson for BOG, formerly known as Bakken Oil & Gas; and, Liam will return to Rugby where he hopes to become a community organizer with a focus on getting the marker for the geographical center of North America in exactly the right spot.

BOG, often derisively referred to as "bogged down," has recently expanded into wind and solar, and will be renamed WASBOG (wind and solar, Bakken oil and gas). 

Off The Net For Awhile -- July 28, 2016

I guess we can add this to the Obama legacy: home ownership at 51-year low. Let's see -- 2016 - 51 = 1965. That was a great year for music. Can't say the same for the top hits of 2016. The Beatles had two songs on the top 100 song-list for 1965, and didn't score higher than 31st. That tells you exactly how good the music was in 1965. President Obama, according to available data, turned four years old in 1965.

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A Nice Write-Up Of The Montessori Method

Yesterday was the last day for one of Sophia's "tutors" at TutorTime. Ms Almas had been accepted for a position at a local Montessori school. Sophia wrote a short congratulatory note with a small monetary gift and proudly handed it to Ms Almas as her going-away present and thank you.

Today, of all things, while continuing to read Kate Clifford Larson's Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter, I came across several pages of a nice discussion regarding the Montessori method and the eponymous school. 

Data points which are easily available at wiki, I assume, but more rewarding to read in a biography:

• Maria Montessori, born in 1870
• medical degree in 1896, one of Italy's first female doctors
• she saw first-hand the ravaging effects of poverty and the lack of education on the city's most vulnerable
• became particularly interested in those with intellectual disabilities and emotional problems
• opened her first day care in the slums: Casa dei Bambini
• in the right environment, older children readily worked with younger children
• advocated practical skills like cooking, carpentry, and domestic arts along with classical education in literature, science, and math
• to her surprise, teenagers seemed to benefit most
• the Montessori method arrived in the US in 1915
• it would be years before it was accepted in the US
• very closely allied with Catholic teachings, especially on good and evil

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DNA: Wilkens, A Physicist

From Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Gene: An Intimate History

Ernest Rutherford, to Cambridge, on a scholarship in 1895:

• a New Zealander
• a blaze of unrivaled experimental frenzy 
• deduced the properties of radioactivity
• built a convincing conceptual model of the atom
• shredded the atom into its constituent subatomic pieces
• launched the new frontier of subatomic physics
• 1919: the first scientist to achieve the medieval fantasy of transmutation: by bombarding nitrogen with radioactivity, he converted it to oxygen
• discovered that atoms were made up of even more fundamental units of matter

Wilkens followed in Rutherford's wake. BUT Wilkens had read read Schrodinger's What Is Life? and became instantly enthralled.

• he reasoned that the gene must also be made up of subunits
• he felt that the structure of DNA would illuminate these subunits
• 1946: Wilkins appointed assistant director of the new Biophysics Unit at King's College, London