We need to learn quickly to keep up with the massive change around us so we don't get run over. We need to outrun change.
Last line of this classic hymn of the faith is
Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives,
“I know that my Redeemer lives.”
To sooth your heart, listen to the lyrics. Ponder anew the wonderful comfort of knowing your Redeemer is alive.
He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Another rendition, with pipe organ and brass:
Today we celebrate the most important day in the history of the world.
Easter.
We remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
On the preceding Friday, he was brutally executed by the Roman government at the insistence of the religious leaders. His sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty for sins which we earned and fully deserve.
Was that sacrifice on our behalf accepted by God the Father? Are we pardoned from our sins?
The Sunday morning resurrection proves that yes, the sacrifice by the Messiah was accepted by God the Father as payment in full for your sins and my sins.
As a result, those who have faith in His atoning death are declared free of sin (crazy as that seems, it is true). We will be welcomed into heaven to spend eternity in glory.
Praise be to God!
More ways to enjoy this glorious day:
From Steve Gibb:
Another rendition of this hymn, from Presbyterian Church of Novato with Katy Hatfield (organ), Walter Burge (vocals), & Siri Louie (vocals) on April 4, 2021.
Thanks be to God!
On 3/10/22, Mr. Cole Smith attacked the integrity of U.S. Air Force officers pulling alert across the northern plain states as they monitor their ICBMs and maintain readiness to launch in the horrible event the President were to make the decision to do so.
He also attacked the safety and reliability of the missiles and warheads with an unsupported claim that
“…there have been more near-misses than the world knows.”
His support for attacking crew integrity is citation of a drug-incident involving 11 officers in 2013 and a test-cheating scandal involving 34 officers. Those are old reports (I won’t bother looking up date of the cheating incident) and well know to all.
Support for the more near-misses claim is an accident at Little Rock Air Force Base back in 1980.
Um, that was 42 years ago.
The incident involved a Titan II ICBM. The Titans were liquid fueled. They have long since been retired with the last one pulled off alert in 1987.
Continue reading “Response to attack on integrity of missile launch crews and reliability of our ICBM force.”
… And the Romans had it figured out 1000 years before that.
Yet somewhere some technological wizards have developed an experiment in January to use a big kite to pull a cargo ship across the Pacific Ocean.
Gizmodo – 12/17/21 – Giant Kite Will Pull a Ship Across the Ocean Next Month – The experiment will involve a parafoil kite measuring 5,380 square feet. It will pull a ship that is 505 feet long.
Continue reading “Breaking technology news – Experiment to use gigantic kite to power a commercial cargo ship. Um, the Vikings perfected that technology 1000 years ago…”
As I have long been predicting, the legalized marijuana industry in California is struggling. The illegal market is still dominant. Tax collections are far below projection.
Articles for your consideration today:
Previous articles on burdens the state of California has placed on the legalized industry can be found by clicking on the regulation experiment tag.
PJ Media – 12/18/21 – Pot Industry in California on Verge of Collapse – Entertaining opener:
Continue reading “As expected, legalized marijuana market is struggling with regulation and tax burden. – Part 33.”“… getting the government involved in anything either makes it more expensive or ruins it completely.”
Crude oil production averaged 1,113,410 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) in September 2021.
Production has been in the range of 1.1 or 1.2 million BOPD since August 2020. Production was 1.44M BOPD back in March 2020 before the pandemic hit. Production quickly dropped to 0.9M in both May and June 2020 before climbing to around 1.1M since then.
Graph at the top of this post shows average production since January 2008. The blue line is total production in the state with the red line showing production from the Bakken pool only, which also includes the Sanish, and Three Forks pools. The blue line essentially excludes the old wells and areas which have been in production since before the current boom started in the 2008 timeframe. You can easily see the radical impact of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
For a longer-term perspective, check out the average production in the state since 1990:
Continue reading “Production of crude oil in North Dakota in September 2021 has been flat for the last 14 months.”
In what is an absolute lack of surprise to anyone who’s thought about the issue, the severe regulations imposed by the state of California on legal marijuana shops means the majority of marijuana sales take place in the black market.
After five years of legal recreational marijuana, sales in the illegal market are estimated to be twice the volume in legal stores.
This is the 32nd article I have written covering the legalized recreational marijuana market. You can see my other articles by clicking on the regulation experiment tag.
Politico explains on 10/23/21: California’s legal weed industry can’t compete with illicit market.
One way to measure how severely the legal marijuana business has been restricted is to look at the number of licensed marijuana shops per 100,000 residents. For six Western states that allow recreational sales, here is the number of legal dispensaries per 100,000 people:
Continue reading “Guess what? Harsh regulations have throttled the legal marijuana market in California. Surprise! – #32”
Seems like most industries have a tangled supply chain. The entire transportation system is sorely distressed.
The elitists in federal and state governments have a staggering level of hubris. They think waving their hands, clicking on their laptops, issuing press releases will make the entire economy bend to their will. What they accomplish is willfully causing disruption in your life and in my life.
Here are merely a few of the recent articles describing the tangled impact of Covid dictats and sundry government policies:
Looks like it might take another 15 or 18 months to untangle the worldwide supply chain.
Wall Street Journal – 8/17/21 – Cargo Ships Are Again Idling Off Jammed Southern California Ports – Back in the middle of August the tally of cargo ships sitting off to coast of California was 37.
A tweet I saw this morning (10/9/21) from someone flying out of Long Beach indicated the individual counted 50 ships waiting to unload.
At around 10,000 containers per ship that is somewhere around 370,000 containers waiting to be unloaded back in the middle of August and is now currently somewhere in the range of half a million containers sitting off the coast.
Article says a few months ago it was only nine. Normally it is zero.
Continue reading “You cannot turn an economy off, then turn it back on. Here are the results when hubris makes you think you found the magic switch. Part 2.”
The supply chain in most industries is tangled up somehow somewhere.
The people in federal and state governments with the staggering level of hubris to think they can wave their hands and make the entire economy do their bidding are willfully causing disruption in your life and in my life.
Continue reading “You cannot turn an economy off, then turn it back on. Here are the results when hubris makes you think you found the magic switch. Part 1.”
I am struggling to figure out what’s going on around us in the economy. These are confusing times.
That is why I blog. Digging into news reports and statistics deep enough to write something coherent (hopefully) pushes me towards understanding. At least that’s the concept.
The next several posts I have lined up will explore some economics aspects of this confusing world.
Previous post showed a graph of average daily production in North Dakota. After a record high of 1.52M barrels of oil per day (bopd) in 11/19, production dropped to a seven year low of 862K bopd in 5/20. Production recovered to1.32M bopd in 10/20 before dropping to 1.08M bopd in 2/21 and sitting at 1.12M bopd in 4/21 and 5/21.
The good news for the state is oil prices have been recovering.
Prices for North Dakota light sweet had been in the $40s to low $50s for 2019 and most of 2020 before dropping and hitting a rocket disrupted price of $9.16 in 4/20 and $7.92 and 5/20.
Prices recovered to $32.35 in 6/20 and then slowly increased to $63.62 in 6/21 and are at average of $50.50 in 7/21.
All those prices are from the North Dakota Director’s Report.
Graph at the top of this post shows the4 North Dakota Light Sweet, West Texas Intermediate, and an estimate for the average price realized in North Dakota.
What does the dramatic swing in prices combined with the dramatic swing in production look like in terms of the amount of revenue realized by producers?
Continue reading “Price of oil and value of crude oil produced in North Dakota – May 2021.”
Graph above shows wild swings in oil production in North Dakota during the government shutdown of the economy due to the pandemic.
Continue reading “North Dakota oil production in May 2021 slowly recovering from economic shutdown.”Above video is parody of the song “Imagine”, showing the actual results from communism every time it has been ever been tried: empty store shelves, hunger, poverty, repression, political prisons, and death.
I could go into depth on the consequences from adopting communism. In fact, have a very short discussion: Why is it necessary to have a nuclear defense?
To cut the discussion short, just watch the video.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute publishes a huge yearbook every yeare. I just learned about this. Yeah, yeah, I’m slow to catch on. I know. That’s why I’m writing this blog – to slowly catch on.
Anyway, I will not be buying the new edition because it runs about $100. Recent copies will run $60-$150 on eBay so will not be getting any of those. Copies 10 years or more from the past can be had for under $10. Might get one of those.
On 6/14/21 SIPRI announced release of their hot-off-the-press 2021 edition. Scroll to the very bottom of the linked page and you can see a link to a free copy of chapter 10 on World Nuclear Forces.
Following tables slice and dice information in the press release and chapter 10 for their estimates of world nuclear forces as of January 2021.
In the following tables, “deployed” is estimate of the deployed warheads either placed on missiles or located at bases where there are operational forces, which would allow rapid loading of the weapons.
“Other” means the warheads which are stored, reserves, or retired awaiting disassembly.
A foot note reminds us the British previously had an announced goal of dropping their inventory down to 180 but they announced this year they will increase the ceiling to 260.
The estimates for North Korea are guesses on how many weapons could be built based on the amount of fissible material they have produced.
Our weapons, along with our closest strategic allies:
Continue reading “2021 estimate of nuclear weapons held by all nuclear powers.”
Grim news – – China, Russia, and North Korea are expanding their nuclear inventory. From new reports in the last week:
6/16/21 –19fourtyfive – North Korea Might Have Up To 50 Nuclear Weapons: Report – The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, updated their estimate of the nuclear inventory in North Korea.
A year ago they estimated North Korea have between 30 and 40 nuclear weapons.
Continue reading “In case you didn’t have enough to keep you awake at night, our adversaries are expanding their nuclear arsenals.”