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.
(Cross posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)
Tragedy of Fraud – The Ripple Effects from Fraud and the Wages Earned will be released soon in Kindle format. This is a compilation of blog posts about the damage caused by fraud. It will also discuss the fraud triangle.
The sections of the book are:
Continue reading “‘Tragedy of Fraud’ in e-book format – soon to be released”
The new frontiers:
New frontiers have opened up, with incredible opportunities as wide as the prairies in the northern plains states. They also have the same high price of admission as the old frontier.
In the previous post, I talked about the oil patch and publishing. Now I’ll talk about education and space exploration.
Education
Events are moving fast in Mali. Here is my brief summary, in roughly chronological order.
First, The Conflict in Mali is an interactive map from the Wall Street Journal. It has a very useful map, another tab with a list & background of the key players, and a timeline. Good resource to check. Locating the cities helps to understand the context.
I’ve been scratching my head about the French requests for heavy transport and in-flight refueling assistance from the U.S. Looks to this simple observer like they cannot project a force of 2,500 troops. It is a good start to have ability to lift the troops into a hotspot. That is only the start.
Just making a totally wild guess, the food, fuel, water, and parts needed to sustain such a force for one day probably weights more than the troops on the ground. And that is without ammo, explosives, jet fuel, and bombs. Further, 2,500 is not a particularly large force.
We are diverting increasing amounts of corn into ethanol which goes into our gasoline. That is driving up grain prices. That in turn is driving up food prices here in the U.S. and around the world.
And that at a time when our domestic oil production is going through the roof.
Carpe Diem reminds us of two older articles in More on the lunacy of turning corn into demon ethanol.
The first is from Slate, in July 2012 – Food as Fuel. The second is from far left economist Paul Krugman from April 2008 – Grains Gone Wild.
In the Carpe Diem post, Prof. Perry says that anytime you have Paul Krugman agreeing with fifteen named sources (including commentators from both left and right) that ethanol is a lousy policy …
… you know that ethanol has to be one of the most misguided public policies in U.S. history.
The new frontiers:
The American prairies
The opportunities opened up wide as the prairies and the Dakota sky with the signing of the Homestead Act.
A man and his family, or a single woman, or a former slave, could stake out a claim, work as hard as you wanted, and with a little bit of luck and constant hard work, make a go of it. Millions of people did.
The opportunity was there for the taking.
As I mentioned before, the land was free but the admission price to play was steep.
That frontier has long been closed.
Other frontiers have opened up, with the opportunities, also as wide as the prairies. Also with the same high price of admission.
I’m having difficulty tracking production levels in Eagle Ford. Haven’t figured out how to read the Texas Railroad Commission’s data (they regulate oil drilling in addition to the rails). Caught on to the North Dakota data a while ago, but that is easier since about 91% of the state’s oil production is from the Bakken field.
One thing I’ve learned is the data comes in slow. Thus it is revised a few times over the next several months after the first data is released. This is a good thing – the regulators release data as they get it.
Continue reading “Eagle Ford crude production likely passing the 400k bopd point in November ’12”
If you are interested in what’s happening across northern Africa, especially Mali, here are two articles with more in-depth reporting than you will see anywhere else.
Adam Garfinkle in American Interest:
The articles in one sentence: the situation in Mali is vastly, phenomenally more complicated that you realized with implications going far beyond Mali that you hadn’t thought about.
Article in the Wall Street Journal indicates 2012 saw the largest increase in oil production since we started producing oil in 1859.
Here’s the lede from U.S. Oil-Production Rise is Fastest Ever:
U.S. oil production grew more in 2012 than in any year in the history of the domestic industry, which began in 1859, and is set to surge even more in 2013.
Mentioned back in November that a number of restaurants and hotels are thinking of cutting their staff back to 29 hours or less to avoid the upcoming requirement to provide full-scale health care to staff working 30 hours or more.
The Wall Street Journal reports in their article Health Law Pinches Colleges (behind paywall) that colleges are moving in this direction as well.
Several colleges mentioned are reducing the class load for adjunct professors so they will be working below the 30 hour cutoff this year. That means the colleges won’t have to either provide health care or pay a penalty.
Just a short recap of the last few days.
The U.S. has started flying supplies into Mali on behalf of the French forces (Reuters – U.S. beings transporting French troops, equipment to Mali). There are reportedly two flights a day to Bamako, the capital.
Continue reading “Mail update – U.S. starts supply flights, French forces retake city”
The space frontier is open.
Popular Mechanics reports in The 4 Spaceships Vying to Send Crews to the ISS just what their title says.
There are four companies developing lift capacity:
(Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)
I am pleased to report that my firm received a pass rating on the peer review which was performed in November 2012.
Continue reading “Ulvog CPA firm receives “Pass” rating in Peer Review”
Via Meadia points to a great background article in the blog, “Africa is a Country.” Their post is France in Mali: the End of the Fairytale. Lots of good info to help understand what is happening there.
Mr. Mead introduces the post’s author this way:
Gregory Mann, a West African historian, Columbia University professor, and reporter for the blog Africa Is A Country, has been covering Mali for some time now, and in his latest piece he gives us the informed perspective that is often missing in the accounts of mainstream reporters, who are only now scrambling to catch up to a complicated story:
The article explains the context of the fighting over the last week or so. A few highlights (for me at least):
Continue reading “Superb background article on fighting in Mali”
(Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)
Check out the web address www.senatorfeinstein.com. The address goes to a blog.
You would think it is related to the senator from California, right?
Not so fast.
France 24 reports that the French government plans to increase the number of troops on the ground in Mali to 2,500. Read France planning troop surge in Mali war.