Sunday, November 24, 2019

Sunday, November 24, 2019 -- Nothing About The Bakken

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.

Futures:
Dow (mini): up 78 points, Monday, November 25, 2019, 00:19 a.m. (CNBC).

Top stories: for the past week will be accomplished sometime tomorrow.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Notes From All Over, Part 2 -- Nothing About The Bakken -- November 23, 2019

Disclaimer: I often make typographical and/or factual errors. If this is important to you go to the source. 

Note: in all posts there will be factual and typographical errors. If this is important to you, go to the source. Opinions and facts are often hard to tell apart but I don't intentionally post fake news. I do have a hidden agenda: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken.

Note: the blogger app I use is owned by Google. They use cookies. 

Intermittent blogging due to traveling.

Top stories for the week may be delayed.

Nothing about the Bakken on this page.

*******************************************
Back to the Blog

One of my favorite YouTube videos is the Fleetwood Mac "Tusk" with the USC Marching Band.

USC -- graduate school -- is my alma mater. Free tuition for four years. Whoo-hoo! LOL.

Back to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrRVW-p8SJ8.
There are so many story lines. Several thoughts: whoever thought of doing this was an absolute genius. Whoever would have thought of doing this? It set some world records at the time; I don't know if those world records still hold. This is so "southern California." This is MAGA on steroids. Can you imagine this at a political rally? A nominating convention.
The choreography. My hunch is that 285 band members were little involved in the planning, preparation, and/or practice. It shows the complete professionalism and ability to think quickly by everyone on stage. Do you see a "director" or "conductor"? [Yes, at 3:25 -- but ...] Do you see a drum major or drum majorette leading the band? Can you imagine the competition to become one of the 300 USC marching band members.
I bet it costs upwards of $500,000 to get your daughter in the band. LOL. If she doesn't make the band, she can always try out for the rowing team. Can you imagine the sound editor in real time -- managing the sound of a small rock band backed up by a huge college marching band. The pre-placement of the microphones; the band members negotiating the constrained stage. The crowd control -- completely unseen. No uniformed law enforcement that I could see. Mick Fleetwood looks completely crazed (in a good way). And FM's energy! Wow, they had just put on a 2-hour concert and then this.
****************************************
American Express


From the musician: I first heard this tune on YouTube. I loved it but I couldn't find any music for it so I had to learn it by ear. Please comment and let me know where I can get sheet music for it, or what I could do to improve it!

November 23, 2019, Part 1 -- Nothing About The Bakken

I'm on vacation for the next few days. Blogging about the Bakken will not be my priority. I would recommend folks coming here to read about the Bakken wait until Tuesday, November 26, 2019, to come back to the blog.

Disclaimer: I often make typographical and/or factual errors. If this is important to you go to the source. 

Note: in all posts there will be factual and typographical errors. If anything on the blog is important to you, go to the source. Opinions and facts are often hard to tell apart but I don't intentionally post fake news. I do have a hidden agenda: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken.

Note: the blogger app I use is owned by Google. They use cookies. 

Intermittent blogging due to traveling.

Top stories for the week may be delayed.

Lots of moving parts in the last 24 hours:
  • son-in-law flew out to his parents in Kentucky earlier in the to see sister's  new baby, his first niece
  • Arianna and Sophia flew unaccompanied to Kentucky last night to meet up with father to see said new niece
  • daughter and middle granddaughter Olivia on way to Miami, FL, to participate in soccer tournament; later in week, they fly cross-country to Las Vegas, NV, to participate in another soccer tournament
  • my wife and I are headed out to the Permian for a couple of days
*****************************
Things On My Mind
Other Than Family
And The Blog

Biggest business story of the week: Schwab to buy TD Ameritrade. TD Ameritrade is huge in the DFW area; much new building in the last five years. Now, all that becomes Schwab. One wonders what this was all about. How long were the talks going on? But going forward this really is likely to shake up the banking and brokerage industry. One wonders about Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, how this affects Merrill Lynch? I am very, very familiar with both (ML and Schwab).

Compare: But look at this, from yesterday, yes, it's dated November 22, 2019, a comparison between Schwab and ML -- over at Stockbrokers. 

Longest US bull market in history
Energy
Apple
  • that AirPod story from yesterday blew me away
YouTube music
  • cat-and-mouse game to remove copyright material
My three books for the week:
  • Lost To The West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization, Lars Brownworth, c. 2009. -- nearly completed.
  • The Vikings: A History, Robert Ferguson, c. 2009. -- about a third of the way through.
  • And I'm re-reading 1421: The Year China Discovered America, Gavin Menzies, c. 2008. -- halfway through, again.
**********************************
Back to the Blog

Barron's top stories:
  • Pfizer's new strategy makes it worth another look
  • Charles Schwab stock could surge after a TD Ameritrade deal
  • The bull market could end in 2020. Or not. Be prepared. Shouldn't one always be prepared?
Now, notes from readers.

**********************************
Greta: Geta Grip


Anyone who doesn't understand what's going on with regard to anti-fracking movement in the US isn't paying attention.

GDP:



Take my breath away:

Berlin

National team soccer player; Ph.D, mother.

Certified SCUBA diver and open-water sailor; little sister.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Not So Happy Tonight -- Berkeley, CA, Restaurants -- November 22, 2019

Berkeley, CA, restaurants sue the city of Berkely, CA, over the ban on natural gas hook-ups in new buildings.

And so it goes.

Plenty of natural gas for California restaurateurs who want to re-locate to Texas. The interesting thing: menus are very similar, except not so much avocado toast in Texas.

*****************************
The Apple Page

Earlier today I caught a short episode on CNBC. After seeing that particular segment I sent this note to a reader:
On another note: nice market action today after three days of being in the red. I've gone back to watching CNBC if I get the chance. Of the high-profile hosts, Michael Santoli (Michael Santoli) seems to be out of his depth. I've never seen anyone so consistently negative about any stock. His cup is always "half empty" when for the rest of us, it's "half full."
I made that comment following a segment when it was pointed out how well Apple's Air Pods were doing.

Michael Santoli blew it (the story) off, saying that Apple was all about its iPhone. Nothing else "moved the needle."

What a doofus.

The following from MacRumor. 


From sixcolors:


Best comment:
https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2019/11/19/airpods-are-becoming-a-platform
“AirPods will turn out to be one of the more strategically important hardware products Apple has released this decade. However, you would never know it judging from the way Apple unveiled the device last week. I suspect that was intentional. While the press remains focused on the short-term debate surrounding the iPhone's lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, few have realized that Apple just unveiled its second wearables platform.”
I do believe that with the AirPods, Apple is well on its way to own the wireless headphones market. While the detractors will dismiss it as overpriced for the sound quality, they once again (predictably) miss the big picture.

This is a runaway train that would be pretty difficult to stop or even slow.
Be sure to read the comments if you are at all interested in the story.

Steve Jobs: a gazillion successes, but iTunes was one of this most brilliant.

Tim Cook: not as brilliant at Steve Jobs, but comparing apples and oranges. AirPods, developed under his watch, will go down as his most brilliant hardware product.

Three New Permits -- November 22, 2019

CRC: down another 6.7% today. The Dow was up about 109 points. Perhaps CRC can be followed as a proxy for the future of oil in California.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, career, travel, job, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

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

Active rigs:

$57.9711/22/201911/22/201811/22/201711/22/201611/22/2015
Active Rigs5762543665

Three new permits, #37211 - #37213, inconclusive:
  • Operator: Hess
  • Field: Tioga (Mountrail)
  • Comments:
    • Hess has permits for a 3-well TI-Nelson pad in section 30-157-94, Tioga oil field;
One permit canceled:
  • Oasis: a Fraser Federal permit in Williams County