A Tale Of Two Companies -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49878MSFT.
Locator: 49878AAPL.

Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL) today. Although, on the surface, the two outcomes looked completely different (one down 10%; the other up slightly), in fact, they were both similar -- analysts and investors have / had great concern with the guidance for each company.

I might try to explain this when I have more time over the weekend but it comes down to this:

• Microsoft is competing for capital;
• Apple is competing for chips (or more specifically, competing for fabs where chips are made).

Huge, huge, huge distinction. 

Monthly Electricity -- Personal Usage -- Data For December, 2025 -- Posted Jauary 29, 2026

Locator: 49877ELECTRICITY.

Tag: personal utility 

Our only utility bill is electricity, for a small one-bedroom-one-bath-one-den/office apartment in north Texas. We have no natural gas. This is our total energy bill for the apartment.

Monthly bill was slightly LESS this month compared to last month ($168.10), and less than the same month a year ago ($94.84). With all fees, taxes, etc., we're averaging about 19.5 cents / kWh.

Six New Permits; Nine Permits Renewed -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49876B.

 WTI: $65.24.

Active rigs: 28.

Six new permits, #42670 - #42675, inclusive:

• Operators: Enerplus (4); Phoenix Operating (2);
• Fields: Little Knife (Dunn County); Noonan (Divide County)
• Comments:
• Phoenix Operating has permits for two Danny Noonan wells, SWSE 28-162-95, 
• to be sited 825 FSL and 2130 / 2070 FEL;
• Enerplus has permits for four Edward Federal wells, SESW 21-147-97, 
• to be sited 336 FSL and 2519 / 2618 FWL. 

Nine permits renewed:

• Foundation Energy: a permit for one Agate well (Bicetennial oil field); permits for two Mosser Federal wells (Elkhorn Ranch); permits for six Roosevelt Federal wells (Roosevelt oil field).

Silver "Meme-ification -- Interview On CNBC -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49875SILVER.

Could see spike to $170. Has nothing to do with fundamentals.

How does this relate to copper? Something we actually use.

Think China. 

We've moved from "just-in-time" to "just-in-case." 

Demand for copper in China actually decreasing. 

Quick! What's The "Chokepoint" For "Compute" -- If You Answered Energy -- Wrong -- January 29, 2026

Locator: 49874COMPUTE.

The answer greatly "confronts" large data centers, the cloud, companies like Amazon, Meta, Google, etc.

This reminds me very much of what we saw during the Bakken revolution in North Dakota, from 2007 to 2010.