Stockyard Creek Has Been Updated

Stockyard Creek has been updated.

This is a very good field. And it's only going to get better. This will be a fun one to watch.

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One of These Days, Emmylou Harris

The Party's Over

June 6, 2013:  Investors.com is reporting -- "Fracking: The Death Knell Of OPEC"

If there was any doubt the U.S. shale revolution is breaking the dominance of unsavory energy producers on global oil supplies, look no further than last week's OPEC meeting, where the alarm bells were going off.

At Friday's Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in Vienna, the mask of non-chalance about America's new fracking energy boom came off.

After years of dismissing U.S. energy production as insignificant and expensive, OPEC suddenly said it would "study" the growth in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, a deceptively bland response to the biggest challenge the cartel has ever faced on its monopoly.

The statement concealed the anything-but-tranquil tone of the meeting, in which members were attacking each other and warning of a split.

Nigeria Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke declared U.S. shale oil "a grave concern," according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

And the linked article goes on from there.

Great article. Sent to me by a reader. Thank you. 

The monopoly is coming to an end. Even Russia is out-producing Saudi Arabia.

Turn out the lights. The party's over. They say all good things must end:

The Party's Over, Willie Nelson   *******************************

 A Note To The Granddaughters

 

It's hard to believe that song peaked at #24 in 1967. I was a sophomore in high school. Forty-five years later Willie Nelson is still active. I guess. 

 

The other day at Starbucks, I happened to strike up a conversation with a 30-something who had a degree is music.  He knew a bit about Willie but did not know these early songs of Willie's. He pulled out a recent photograph of his his brother standing next to Willie. I forget the back story for that photograph, but it was quite remarkable, to say the least. "The Party's Over" is a classic Willie Nelson song from that era, along with "Half A Man" and "Hello, Walls."

It is interesting to note that perhaps his most famous song and/or best song does not appear on his discography: "Crazy."

Crazy.

Does Anyone Recall China's Remarkable GDP Growth? No, I Didn't Think So

From wiki:

From 1979 until 2010, China's average annual GDP growth was 9.91%, reaching an historical high of 15.2% in 1984 and a record low of 3.8% in 1990. 

Based on the current price, the country's average annual GDP growth in these 32 years was 15.8%, reaching an historical high of 36.41% in 1994 and a record low of 6.25% in 1999.

In 2012, China's real GDP growth was 7.8%.

So, that was China.

GDP growth for the United States was 2.5%, pretty good considering all the obstacles put in place by the administration to slow things down (kill the coal industry; deny Keystone XL; stop off-shore drilling; mandate ObamaCare; the sequester). 

Now, North Dakota: 13.4% real GDP in 2012.

The US: 2.5%.
China: 7.8%
North Dakota: 13.4%

CarpeDiem provides more data on North Dakota's growing economy.

One Really Has To Parse Phrases These Days: NYT Comes Close But Can't Completely Dismiss The President

This has to do with the Obama administration admitting that federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation ... and that the government will continue to do so.

From an op-ed in The New York Times:

The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers.  

"....on this issue."

I guess The Times still takes the president's side on all his other scandals: targeting conservatives, hitting up health care companies for money, and reading e-mail of reporters, but when it comes to tapping phone calls of all Americans when/if/whatever ... that's "one issue" The Times feels the administration has lost all credibility.

Cue up Connie Francis. 

All I know is that Obama/Holder must love The "George W. Bush" Patriot Act. Funny how things work out. 

The Williston Wire: Williston's Buffalo Wild Wings #1 In Sales In The Entire Universe

No links; headlines only. It is easy to subscribe to The Williston Wire.

The lede: Two major retail projects are moving forward in Williston. The Badlands Town Center is set to break ground in June on a 56,500 square foot project that will have a strip mall and five addtional buildings. Meanwhile, a six-story downtown project is a step closer to being built.

From The Williston Wire, regarding Badlands Town Center:

A Williston family is trying to attract new retailers and restaurants to the City. 

Dale Branson, his daughter Ronica Branson-Harger and her fiancé James O'Dwyer are partners in Triland Holdings, LLC. The group is planning to break ground on the first phase of the Badlands Town Center June 24th. 

The village-styled shopping center will be located on the northwest corner of 9th Street West and 42nd Avenue. It will have walkway access to 1,500 to 2,000 apartment units in the Roseland Subdivision.

 Apparently the city agreed to the multi-million-dollar downtown project.

Williston's Buffalo Wild Wings was the number one selling BWW in the country during its first seven days, beating out huge franchises in California and Florida. I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E.

Opportunity knocks: Arnegard schoolhouse for sale. At $2.5 million it is being offered for slightly more than $100/square foot. From The Williston Wire:

That's for not only the brick schoolhouse with its wide, creaky stairways and hallways, en suite bath and bedrooms in former classrooms, tall windows and science lab-turned-kitchen, but also the two gymnasiums, the newest and largest alone adding 7,000 square feet. That "newest" by the way, is relative; it is nearly 60 years old.

A strip mall will be built in downtown Williston. It might be best if city fathers come up with a better name for such malls. When the work force is 99.9% male, ....

For the second summer, United Airlines will fly daily nonstop flights from Rapid City to Houston, Texas, connecting North Dakota oil boom to Texas oil brokers.