An AP article on May 15th caught my attention. The title said: House approves $290B farm bill.
What really caught my attention was the line which said,
almost $30 billion would go to farmers to idle their land
Stop a moment to consider. That is $30 billion paid out to farmers so they will not produce food. (See […]
A few things for the curious.
Did you know the Smithsonian Magazine had a website? They do, and it has a lot of content. If you have enjoyed reading the magazine, you might want to check the site out.
Search for the Holy Grail, end up dead. The Telegraph had an interesting article on a real search […]
Macro Man put up a post arguing that oil prices had risen to far to fast to be justified by the fundamentals. In response, someone calling themselves Moe Gamble said….
Oil started to go into a trading range on April 23. Saudi Arabia was bringing on 300,000 barrels a day, and the price would have stabilized for a couple of months.
What happened is that we had strikes in the UK and Nigeria that took roughly 380,000 barrels a day out of May supply. To make matters worse, this lack of supply was not spread smoothly through the month. It was bunched up into a couple of weeks, and the effect of those weeks just started to hit. Traders had to pull off shorts and the price zoomed up.
Also, it turned out that Saudi Arabia had lied about when those extra 300,000 barrels a day were coming online. They had announced to the press that production had started the third week of April. Now it looks like the new production really didn’t come online for another 2-3 weeks (if then).
Prices would normally come down in a few weeks as this production started returning to the inventory reports. But you can kiss that good-bye because we have a special situation right now–China and India have been holding off on purchases, and a flood of new demand will be hitting when they get their act together in the next week or two. India: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/BPCL_starts_rationing_fuel_supplies/articleshow/3061069.cms. China: http://in.reuters.com/article/asiaCompanyAndMarkets/idINPEK15115620080521.
This has been China’s normal cycle for at least the past year. Foot-dragging then massive buying when the diesel runs out. And now they are burning diesel in power plants to make up for a lack of coal related to the earthquake.
Meanwhile, Russia’s exports are off 3.3% from last year, and existing production has a decline rate somewhere between 4.5% and 8% (and rising).
That started off a back and forth discussion that was very interesting. You should read the whole thread.
This kid is 11 years old. He can do some very nice tricks with his scooter.
Some of my despair in anticipation of this past week proved unfounded. I had adequate time to talk with my new boss and get a clear understanding of what he expects from me. Various anecdotes from the four days he was in the plant also suggest that he has the influence and inclination to support Click Here to continue reading.
From the same website as I mentioned in my last post, here is another tip: How to download your WordPress install on your local computer and get the permalinks to work.
It’s nifty to know how to edited a database.
For some time I have wondered how one went about adding a “Stumble This” link to blog posts. However, I didn’t wonder enough to take the time to look it up. Then I recently stumble upon (ha ha) some directions. As it happens, the website also has directions for implementing a few other services as […]
I am no fan of Obama. But I felt a little sorry for him give all the abuse he took for saying…
“You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And Click Here to continue reading.
Who would have thought such a hip person as Steve Jobs would have such a dim view of human media consumption? Well, okay, who would have thought he’d admit to such a thing.
From Wikiquote:
When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. […]
Poking around the internet I came across this: Party of One: The Loners’ Manifesto
I was on some writer’s blog, and if I remember correctly they felt the book spoke for them. I consider myself something of a loner (not severely so, but leaning in that direction) and so the book piqued my curiosity. If I […]