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.
Average daily production in North Dakota is 674,066 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in July.
The June data was adjusted up for late reporting. Now the June production is 664,618 bopd compared to the previously reported 660,322 bopd.
Continue reading “N.D. oil production hits 674K bopd in July 2012”
We need to work really hard to stay ahead of the massive change taking place. That’s the concept of this blog. Mark Schaefer points out that the rising use of mobile phones is reducing some of the effective parts of blogging.
Wow! Yet more change. This time affects bloggers, who otherwise are fairly well advanced on the coping-with-change curve.
In Five ways the mobile revolution impacts your blog, he explains an increasing number of people use the smart phone as primary access to the ‘net. That small screen drops out a lot of information that appears on a full-screen.
Continue reading “Now massive change is starting to undercut the effectiveness of blogging”
“The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions.”
–Antony Jay, British writer, broadcaster, director and actor
I’m planning to use that quote in several posts I want to write soon, so I will put it here to have it on the table.
I can’t explain all the economics lessons in the following joke, but can tell there are many. Funny thing about prices is that they motivate buyers and sellers. Prices contain a lot of information. We need to interpret them well. Here’s an insight on pricing and human behavior:
today’sFUNNY===========================
A woman walks into a butcher shop and asks the butcher how much a pound of tenderloin is.
“$12 per pound,” replies the butcher.
“Are you sure? That can’t be,” says the lady.
Continue reading “Prices have information – they drive buyers and sellers”
In this economy, it is difficult for employers to keep providing great benefits. Check out this email from Mikey’s Funnies. It just might explain why the benefits package from your employer isn’t really great and might even be shrinking.
today’sFUNNY===========================
A woman, searching for a job, inquired about the benefits. The Personnel Manager informed her they had group health and life insurance, but the costs were deducted from the employee’s pay.
She said, “My last employer had full health coverage, as well as five years salary for life insurance and a month’s sick leave AND they paid the full premiums.”
Continue reading “One possible reason your benefits package at work might be shrinking”
I’ve been wanting to start commenting on the big changes in on-line education. Wanted to introduce the ideas as a part of a big series of posts I have in mind, but change is running far faster than my limited time to write. So I’ll start commenting before having chance to introduce the overarching idea….
Two economists, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, have started an on-line college. Marginal Revolution University will offer their first class on Development Economics starting October 1st.
The professors are structuring their curriculum for the online environment from scratch. Videos will be recorded uniquely for the course and will be structured in short, five-minute blocks.
Here is a short description of the course:
192 – Bakken – from the current active drilling rig list at the N.D. Department of Mineral Resources website on 8-31-12.
270 – Eagle Ford – from EagleFordShale blog.
Continue reading “Count of drilling rigs end of August 2012 – 192 and 270 for combined total of 462”
(cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update with minor changes.)
August 29th marked the 2 year blogiversary of my blog Nonprofit Update, which talks about nonprofit issues. I split off posts of interest to CPAs to this blog (Attestation Update) on October 14, 2010 and started this blog, Outrun Change , on October 3, 2011.
Nonprofit Update is my lead blog and I consider its start to be the birth of all three blogs. So, this is also the blogiversary of Outrun change .
Thanks so much to those who have stopped by. I hope it has been a blessing to you. In case you can’t tell, I’ve been having a blast.
Most visitors and page views are coming in from internet search engines. That is really cool.
One of the best things in the last year is a growing number of people interested enough is my musings to follow by e-mail or Google RSS feed. Thanks very much for stopping by.
For the second year, I will report some stats for my sites. Here’s some stuff for those interested in such things. I will adjust this time around to an August 31 cutoff instead of the 29th. I’ll list stats for this year with the prior year in parentheses.
I’ll provide this data for two reasons. First, to let those who may be interested in blogging see what data looks like for a really small blogger. Second, since I am active on three sites with different topics, it provides a test bed to see what different sites may look like for different blogs from the same author.
What will develop next after the astounding technology changes of the last 30 years? We have no idea.
Previous post described my brain stretch from an article, The Next Great Growth Cycle, by Mark Mills.
His main point is we can no more tell today where technology will be in 30 years than we could predict in 1980 where we are today.
He then points out three major technology transitions that are already here and will have a huge impact in the future:
Continue reading “The technology revolution has just begun – part 2”
It is hard for my brain to stretch that far, but when I try really hard, I can grasp that the astounding technology change we’ve seen in the last 30 years is no more than the opening chapter for the future.
My latest brain stretch is courtesy of The Next Great Growth Cycle, by Mark Mills.
He describes the astounding technology growth from 1950 through 1980 that left people wondering what could possibly come next.
Sitting in 1980…
Continue reading “The technology revolution has just begun – part 1”
Millions of people work together to build that smartphone you are using. No one person has the know-how to build it. Thousands of inventions were needed before making the first one.
“I, Smartphone”, from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, is a superb visual explaining the long supply chain and incredible range of skills needed to get that phone into your hands.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Ze_wpS_o0&feature=player_embedded#t=17s]
The link if needed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Ze_wpS_o0&feature=player_embedded#t=17s
This is an update of the classic “I, Pencil”, which I mentioned here.
No one person has the skills
Wood Mackenzie, an energy consulting firm, has a prediction for tight oil production in the U.S.
They are predicting 1.3 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) in each of the fields by the end of the decade. That would be about doubling production from current levels.
Reading the full article requires a subscription to Petroleum Economist.
They also predict that Bakken production will hit 750K bopd by the end of 2012.
With June production at 660k bopd and increases of around 20k or 30k bopd each month, I don’t think it will take until the end of the year to hit 750k.
(h/t: BakkenBlog News twitter feed)
No one person on the planet has all the knowledge or skills necessary to make one pencil. It takes multiple millions of people contributing their specialized skills just to make one.
That story is told in “I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”, which you can find here.
I’ve long been aware of that article, but am embarrassed to admit I’ve never read it before today.
It is brilliant.
Here’s the core idea:
Continue reading ““I, Pencil”, or, how many millions of people does it take to make one pencil?”
Every August, Beloit College releases their Beloit College Mindset List. It is a fun list of things that have changed since the entering students were born. It’s always helpful for some perspective.
Here are a few items that caught my interest in terms of technology change:
2. They have always lived in cyberspace, addicted to a new generation of “electronic narcotics.”
9 They have never seen an airplane “ticket.”
Continue reading “What changes can we see through the lives of entering college students?”
I’d say that’s great! Cool!
Where would that be?, I hear you ask. Try the Permian Basin. You know, that ancient field that is in perpetual decline, which just ‘proves’ the peak oil idea that there’s no more oil to be found.
Eric Fox at Motley Fool describes The Resurrection of the Permian Basin. He says the rig count in second quarter of ’12 passed the 500 mark. That is more rigs that are working in Bakken and Eagle Ford combined.
Production growth
This estimate is for production in the field to increase about 330,000 bopd in the next 4 years: Continue reading “At the end of July, Bakken and Eagle Ford had 478 rigs combined. What would you say about a field that has 500 rigs working?”