Uncomfortable chairs have been the signature for the week. I was one for the second consecutive day yesterday, getting my quarterly teeth cleaning yesterday, and so grateful that they didn’t ask me to answer any questions while they worked.
I hate the polygraph- it is the closest that non-Catholics get to the confessional. Of course, to my knowledge, the Church does not record the proceedings within for possible criminal prosecution.
My pals were having fun with that this week. This one was going around:
“An Irishman goes into the confessional box after years of being away from the Church. He is amazed to find a fully equipped bar with Guinness on tap. On the other wall is a dazzling array of the finest cigars and chocolates.
Then the priest comes in.
Excitedly, the Irishman begins…”Father, forgive me, for it’s been a very long time since I’ve been to confession, but I must first admit that the confessional box is much more inviting than it used to be.”
The priest replies, “Get out. You’re on my side.”
And of course, things could always be worse. I got a note from a retired USAF Colonel I used to work with- she said during her last poly she was going through menopause and was getting hot and cold flashes, which caused all kinds of apparently “deceptive behavior.”
Like the situation with the folks, things can always get worse. I just need to remember it. I made reservations to go back Up North for the next holiday, and talked to Mom before lunch. She was bright and she said that she missed me, which wrenched my heart.
It is likely to be a surreal couple months coming up to see if the situation stabilizes. David Brooks had a nice piece on natural gas in the Times this morning.
As you are probably aware, with the fracture drilling technology, there could be 100 years worth of natural gas right here in America, which would make us bigger than Russia in reserves, and literally the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. There may be hope there, and I was trying to lift my eyes away from my little problems and see what is going on elsewhere. I got a note from my pal in Rotterdam is attempting to prop up the whole EuroZone by herself- I get all giddy.
They may have fixed things over there, but everything is connected one way or another. One good thing creates other less good things. I look at Europe with skepticism, and saw this item this morning, commenting on the grand deal to save the Eurozone. With the rescue, the scene is apparently set for some modest growth, which has the direct consequence of pressing crude oil prices up. I saw this about that in my morning reading:
“Meanwhile, even as crude oil surges, natural-gas prices remain in a funk as U.S. output surges ever higher. The broadening price differential between crude oil and natural gas could be a boon for several companies, and is bringing real attention to the exploration side of the business. But another group of companies is positioned to benefit if natural gas takes off as an energy source in the transportation sector.
Investors are figuring it out. Green technology is problematic, and burdened with a government determined to pick winners and losers. Westport Innovations (Nasdaq: WPRT <http://www.streetauthority.com/stocks/WPRT> ) has seen its stock nearly double since February as a rising number of truck fleet operators line up to use Westport’s natural gas retrofit technology. Considering the high price of diesel fuel, a switch to natural gas makes ample sense. Reducing oil imports (from sometimes hostile trading partners) and boosting usage of U.S.-produced gas also holds appeal in terms of national security and persistent trade imbalances.”
I went to the corporate site to check it out. My technical expert in Colorado is cautious about vehicular applications. He told me that:
“Natural gas-propelled vehicles have their limitations. They are not as power-efficient as the best large diesel engines and the tanks are too bulky to be really good for cars. However, for buses and the like, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) works well. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) has an explode-on-impact problem. Overall, I think natural gas works better for static applications, particularly power plants. There will be a lot of natural gas plants built in the next few years to replace nuclear and coal power generation (and backup wind farms).”
My Trotskyite pals are death on Fracking, and have it all linked into the 1% guys, so I don’t know what to think. I figure that the only person whose future I can impact is mine.
Like my Colorado pal says: “Any commodity is a pretty good bet for investment as the governments of the world monetize their debts and the global population grows from 7 billion to its peak of 9 billion.”
I sighed. If only I knew someone who would loan me $564 million in guaranteed loans to invest in Westport, which is partnered with venerable Cummins, the diesel guys. They are clearly hedging their bets, and I may want to go along with them.
North America’s future lies with natural gas- we will be the number one exporter soon, and the retrofit technology gets us off Middle East oil and stimulates a new infrastructure on clean(er) energy.
We may have to level several states to get at it, but what the hell. It is either one thing, or another thing. At least we would not be handing ammunition to the jihadis who want to shoot us.
Copyright 2011 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com