Sunday, May 15, 2022

Wow, Wow, Wow -- Game 7 -- Dallas Mavericks Vs Phoenix Suns -- May 15, 2022

With five minutes to go:

  • Dallas, 114; Phoenix, 70.
  • at Phoenix; the local fans have walked out; the arena is only Dallas;
  • at this point, the point spread will narrow as the "B" team for Dallas hits the floor
  • Dallas: in their bracket, ranked 4th; Phoenix ranked 1st

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Word of the Day

Sfumato: the technique of allowing tones and colors to shade gradually into one another, producing softened outlines or hazy forms. 

Gasoline Demand -- Finally, Hitting Its Stride? May 15, 2022

Link here.

The EIA may reflect this data later this week. 

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ISO NE 

I'm sure this has happened before but I can't recall. If so, not often.

ISO NE is at a fairly moderate demand of 13,519 MW.

Price: upwards of $110 / MWh.

But look at the fuel mix:

  • natural gas: a whopping 70%
  • what happened to nuclear? only 17%; flat-lined;
  • renewables: at 7%
  • generally nuclear and renewables are about the same at 14%
  • of the renewable energy (7%) is wind at 30% of that 7%
  • marginal fuel: natural gas

Could be a long, expensive summer. 

USAF Deployment In Britain Is Now Third Largest In World -- May 15, 2022

This is a pretty good wrap. I don't care for the fonts or the graphics but the data is pretty good. I'm impressed.

Link here. 

On top of everything else, Putin's most interesting unintended consequences:

  • reinvigorating EU
  • reinvigorating NATO
  • enlarging NATO by at least two, maybe three
  • bringing US back into Europe and, worse, eastern Europe

US getting incredible experience and training in Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting.

Amazing. 

From the linked article:

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has 9,730 personnel permanently deployed throughout Britain, an increase of 22 percent from six years ago. 
Analysis by Declassified has found that Britain hosts the third-highest level of USAF personnel of any country in the world, ahead of historic U.S. military outposts like South Korea and Italy. [Italy?]
These American airmen have in recent years flown bombing missions to Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya from their bases in Britain. 
“The USAF presence in Britain isn’t just some remnant of the Cold War, it’s ongoing and very active,” Kate Hudson, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), told Declassified.

The USAF from the Brits' point of view? Oversexed, overpaid and over here. Yeah. I know. Not original. 

Some of the best years of my life were in England: RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Menwith Hill.

WTI: $111.11 — Sunday Evening Opening — May 15, 2022

Up from $110.50 at close on Friday.
Shanghai, China, to start re-opening tomorrow, Monday.

Did President Xi get the memo?

Back to global oil, link here:


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Marvel Cinematic Universe

Streaming: link here. Streaming wars.

Link here. 

Is DIS a buy?

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.

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.

From The WSJ weekend edition:

How many superhero movies do you need to see to fully process what’s happening in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”?  

Marvel’s latest blockbuster isn’t just a sequel to a “Doctor Strange” movie from six years ago. It’s a concatenation of storylines, characters and references that tie back to at least a half dozen other movies and TV series. 

Want to know how Stephen Strange started messing with the parallel dimensions known as the multiverse? Watch last year’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” 

What about why an all-powerful witch named Wanda is wreaking havoc? Her motives are explained in “WandaVision,” a nine-episode Disney+ series released in early 2021. For extra credit, refer to 2015’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” 

Fully understanding Doctor Strange’s emotional baggage, meanwhile, requires you to know what he did in a 2018 “Avengers” movie that caused half the population to vanish. Even grasping the significance of certain cameos requires adding the animated “What If…?” TV show to the syllabus, Marvel completists might suggest.

This canon has fired a debate about how much prerequisite viewing Marvel releases actually demand, and whether the studio should cater to audiences who haven’t done the homework. 

Since its launch in 2008 with “Iron Man,” the Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded to 28 movies. Next up in July: “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the fourth movie dedicated to the hammer-wielding god (not counting his starring roles in other big releases). The MCU’s interconnectivity of plots and characters helped it become a huge force in mass market entertainment. 

Some releases do work as standalones, including three Disney+ series in a row with new characters, starting with the recent “Moon Knight.” And with an opening-weekend haul of $450 million worldwide for the new “Doctor Strange,” the Marvel juggernaut shows no signs of slowing, especially as non-franchise titles often struggle at the box office. But if future installments  grow more and more self-referential, do they risk alienating people who don’t keep up?

I normally don't like sort of stuff, but I thoroughly enjoyed the "first" Dr Strange. 

Folks may want to take another loook at Disney+ and DIS. 

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Spider Man

Tonight, Spider Man is all over Hulu. LOL.

Is Spider Man part of the MCU?

You had to ask.


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Loki

Link here.

Disney+. Again.

Somethiing Happening In China? Earlier It Was Reported Shanghai Would Start Opening Up -- Some Folks Say There Are No Coincidences -- And Everything Means Something -- May 15, 2022

Link here. Direct to source.