Today’s illustration of why it’s such a bad idea to pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte

Some people haven’t caught on to the idea that it’s not smart to be nasty and threatening to a blogger.

Jr Deputy Accountant, a popular blogger on accounting & finance in general and bad policy moves by the Federal Reserve in particular, got some letters from an attorney complaining about a three-year old post.

Instead of making a polite take-down request, the attorney got nasty, with harsh threats of expensive litigation.

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte. 

I joked about that idea in an earlier post.

It’s an even worse idea to pick a fight with someone who gets volume discounts from WordPress.

Background

Continue reading “Today’s illustration of why it’s such a bad idea to pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte”

Dramatic increase in oil production told in one graph

Mark Perry shows what’s happened in U.S. oil production one simple graph.

It shows production in Texas, Alaska, California, and North Dakota, the top 4 oil-producing states, from 2002 through 2012: .

Check out the graph at Energy chart of the day: Shale oil production in North Dakota and Texas has boosted US oil production to a 17-year high.

Amazing.

Continue reading “Dramatic increase in oil production told in one graph”

Looks like a nasty storm brewing in Mali

Actually, it’s a war that is brewing there.

This headline by Walter Russell Mead explains the problem: International Jihadis Descend on Mali. He says:

What is certain is that all over the world jihadis and jihadi wanna-bes have a new destination: northern Mali, where the ill-judged war in Libya has created a safe haven for some of the worst people in the world.

Northern Mali is controlled by a few factions of the jihadis. That makes it a great place to go if you want to plan and train without interruptions from bombs, missiles, and visits from heavy-armed & highly unfriendly soldiers.

The basic plan by France, with some level of approval from the U.N. Security Council, is taking shape. Continue reading “Looks like a nasty storm brewing in Mali”

The frontier is open again – the oil field is “the gold rush of our generation”

“Witnessing my generation’s gold rush” is a superb story of what is happening in North Dakota, as observed by a photojournalist Mr. Jim Urquhart.

He provides a wonderful photo story of drilling in North Dakota. The scenery is beautiful and views of roughnecks are superb. Views of the drilling rigs from the air are outstanding.

His description of the economic vitality and what it’s like to live in Williston and work on an oil rig is delightful.

Here is a one sentence summary of the astounding things happening in Bakken. Continue reading “The frontier is open again – the oil field is “the gold rush of our generation””

Could the US surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production?

A few days ago a friend of mine said the US could soon surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production. I had a hard time believing it, so didn’t give it much thought.  My mistake.

Let’s look at his comment again.

An AP story today, US may soon be top oil producer in the world, says that US oil production is rising so fast that we could surpass Saudi Arabia soon.

The key sentence: Continue reading “Could the US surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production?”

“Free enterprise creates its own luck”

Here is a great comment from Mr. Greg Arnot on an article by Daniel Yergin:

Free enterprise seems to generate its own luck. Millions of free people stabbing out in seemingly random directions, each acting in his or her own self interest, seem to always find a way.

Free enterprise is able to focus chaos in order to meet our needs and exceed our expectations.

How’s that for a semester of economics compressed into 50 words?

Mr. Yergin’s article, The Real Stimulus: Low-Cost Natural Gas, discusses the boost to the economy of low-cost natural gas from shale.

Look at the dramatic change in just a few years:

Continue reading ““Free enterprise creates its own luck””

At one of the state universities, do students pay tuition to fund instructors or the non-instructional support staff?

My central point: Merely based on cost structure, the emerging alternatives to traditional higher education have tremendous room to maneuver.  There are huge opportunities.

By way of background, there is a host of comments I want to make about education, the energy industry, publishing and space exploration. Yes, I plan to tie them all together, but haven’t allocated the time to do so. One part of that discussion will be the radical changes taking place in higher ed.  Bear with me while this posts advances those yet-to-be-introduced ideas.

Carpe Diem suggests the answer to my question in their headline title – Administrative bloat at Ohio State, where the ratio of full-time non-instructional staff to full-time faculty is more than 6-to-1.

Continue reading “At one of the state universities, do students pay tuition to fund instructors or the non-instructional support staff?”

Demo of 3-D printer that can create anything. Anything!

Check out this 3-D printer. The video demo shows this odd contraption as it prints leather shoes, screen doors, plastic jugs, aluminum cans, a complete sofa, tennis balls and leather belts. Even edible fruit and vegetables.

The inputs are a little peculiar though.

In the back of my mind, I am wondering if someone is pulling my leg, but I don’t think so.  Some misinformed people may claim this is actually a shredder, but those people are wrong.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHyygU1cU0k&feature=player_embedded]

Continue reading “Demo of 3-D printer that can create anything. Anything!”

If you don’t know something, it is so easy to look it up

Several times recently I was wondering about the meaning of a phrase in common use. Spent a couple of minutes searching the ‘net and learned.

When I get a cold call from a potential client, first thing I do is check out their website and browse the 990. Then I return the call.

It is so easy to get simple information.

That’s the whole point of the post from Seth Godin earlier this week. In his post, The curious imperative, he says: Continue reading “If you don’t know something, it is so easy to look it up”

What’s the production level in Eagle Ford and how does it compare to some forecasts I’ve mentioned?

A reader asked me about the production levels in Eagle Ford. That got me looking at my past posts and wanting to get some more info. So here’s the result of my checking.

I don’t yet know how to read the production data at the Texas Railroad Commission’s website. For other newbies like me, they are the regulators for oil drilling in Texas.

That means I will rely on reporting from others, like this info from Bloomberg on 9-21-12, Eagle Ford Oil Production Above 310,000 Barrels a Day in July:

Continue reading “What’s the production level in Eagle Ford and how does it compare to some forecasts I’ve mentioned?”

Two more predictions on oil production in North Dakota – one an estimate of the date for 1M bopd and the other a never to exceed amount

I’ve been making note of predictions, forecasts, and wild guesses for when oil production in North Dakota will hit a million barrels a day.  I’ve seen another estimate for that. Also saw a prediction with an iron-clad upper limit that Bakken production will never cross.

Continue reading “Two more predictions on oil production in North Dakota – one an estimate of the date for 1M bopd and the other a never to exceed amount”

N.D. oil production passes the 700K bopd point in August ‘12

Average daily production in North Dakota is 701,134 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in August.

Here’s a couple of graphs.

Daily production by month. Blue is for entire state. Red is Bakken only.

 

A little longer time horizon:

Some analysis:

Continue reading “N.D. oil production passes the 700K bopd point in August ‘12”

Cost of travel by air has dropped a lot over the last several decades

Graph the inflation-adjusted cost of air travel over the last 33 years – it looks like a straight line down until a couple of years ago and then a slight increase. Average ticket prices today are about 60% of what they were in 1980. Cool.

Mark Perry graphed the data from Airlines for America in his post, Even with baggage fees, the “miracle of flight” remains a real bargain; average 2011 airfare was 40% below 1980 average.

Continue reading “Cost of travel by air has dropped a lot over the last several decades”

Impressions of a new geologist after a year in Bakken

In an article titled The Bakken Boom and the New Wild West – A Young Geologist’s Perspective, a newly graduated geologist, Mr. R. Tyler Powers, describes his first year working in the Bakken oil field. It is hard work, typically running 90 hours a week. Looks like it is tremendously rewarding to a geologist.

As a desk-bound accountant by attitude and training, I’m astounded at the technology of drilling. I stand in awe of the team that can drill 8,000 or 12,000 feet down, turn the well 90 degrees over the distance of a few more hundred feet, and hit an oil layer that is a dozens of feet thick. Then drill another 10,000 feet through that 100 foot wide layer.

Here is a mild hint of the challenge: Continue reading “Impressions of a new geologist after a year in Bakken”