.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

9 minutes ago, Enthalpic said:

Nice list.  Here in Alberta people think oil makes all of Canada's money when reality it's about 10% of GDP.

It could be a lot more if oil and natural gas were allowed to build the pipelines and other needed infrastructure. 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

47 minutes ago, Jan van Eck said:

The elected and appointed delegates to the Electoral College don't even understand how it works. Or does not work, to be more accurate. Remember that it has been repeatedly tinkered with since the original design.  It is now nothing more than a ratification platform, it does not do any "deliberation" and it elects nothing.  

That said, it is a much fairer system than 'one man, one vote) or we would be handcuffed to a politically correct, liberal, socialistic government at every election.

In my opinion, something like the Electoral College should be implemented in each state, with each county given 'electoral votes' to prevent rural communities being handcuffed to the wants and desires of the cities and sanctuary cities.

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

Just now, Douglas Buckland said:

In my opinion, something like the Electoral College should be implemented in each state, with each county given 'electoral votes' to prevent rural communities being handcuffed to the wants and desires of the cities and sanctuary cities.

I think you are really onto something there, Doug!  Kudos!

[ronwagn + 6,290]

12 hours ago, James Regan said:

Venezuela is a direct and serious threat to the US Oil, why else is there so much interest in bringing the current government down, all the Geopolitical plays at present all make there way back to US oil and the over production of.

You have it really turned around. Chavez and Maduro destroyed Venezuela already.  I would like to free the Venezuelan people from their dictatorship, but that would cost American blood and money that Trump does not want to do right now. Maybe after the next election. Meanwhile we have to worry about our own socialists.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

13 minutes ago, Enthalpic said:

I carry spray and am far more afraid of the cougars.

 You can still get killed by cougars in southern California! 

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

14 minutes ago, Enthalpic said:

I carry spray and am far more afraid of the cougars.

I'm not talking about all the horny women - which there are many!

[ronwagn + 6,290]

22 minutes ago, Enthalpic said:

Vancouver island should come with a warning, you won't want to leave, definitely addictive.

I keep telling my wife that British Columbia is a lot more convenient than Alaska, is just as beautiful and has a better climate. She is ten years younger than me and watches all the Alaskan reality TV shows. 

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,192]

1 hour ago, Enthalpic said:

Vancouver island should come with a warning, you won't want to leave, definitely addictive.

Nanaimo, to Sydney is nice for at least a couple months of the year, the rest is a dreary misty grey cloud 95% of the year.  If your addiction is dreary grey clouds and the best logging on the planet outside of the California/Oregon/Washington coast, it is a wonderful place to be.

<< From a current Washingtonian >> 😃

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,192]

1 hour ago, ronwagn said:

I keep telling my wife that British Columbia is a lot more convenient than Alaska, is just as beautiful and has a better climate. She is ten years younger than me and watches all the Alaskan reality TV shows. 

No, west coast of BC is not as beautiful as Alaska.  Still is gorgeous, just not a 100/100 only a 95/100. The Queen Charlotte islands 🏆.  As for climate... depends, neither is exactly stellar...  Eastern BC Columbia interior?  Yup.  Wonderful. Fraser drainage basin... blah. 

[Old-Ruffneck + 1,246]

7 hours ago, ronwagn said:

I keep telling my wife that British Columbia is a lot more convenient than Alaska, is just as beautiful and has a better climate. She is ten years younger than me and watches all the Alaskan reality TV shows. 

What!!!!!!!! Yer wanting to leave good ol' Land of Lincoln??? I not sure I would like colder. I am thinking 5 years, maybe or probably back to Texas. I can't wait to see next years taxes on plates. I may have to sell off some equipment and get rid of that liability. I was hoping a cow would kick a lantern over in Chicago again lol.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

8 hours ago, Wastral said:

Nanaimo, to Sydney is nice for at least a couple months of the year, the rest is a dreary misty grey cloud 95% of the year.  If your addiction is dreary grey clouds and the best logging on the planet outside of the California/Oregon/Washington coast, it is a wonderful place to be.

<< From a current Washingtonian >> 😃

Seriously, thanks for the warning. I lived in Seattle for awhile. I have seasonal affective disorder. I should avoid spending too much time on dreary coastlines. I love the beauty and the sea though. I think Texas would be too hot for me. I do like the East Texas, East Oklahoma, and Northeast Arkansas areas though. Missouri is a little cooler. Wisconsin is too cold for me. 

Edited July 25, 2019 by ronwagn

[ronwagn + 6,290]

2 hours ago, Old-Ruffneck said:

What!!!!!!!! Yer wanting to leave good ol' Land of Lincoln??? I not sure I would like colder. I am thinking 5 years, maybe or probably back to Texas. I can't wait to see next years taxes on plates. I may have to sell off some equipment and get rid of that liability. I was hoping a cow would kick a lantern over in Chicago again lol.

We will probably stick it out where we are. We love our place. If we did move it would be over our left wing government here. We would probably move to Missouri near Hannibal. 

[Old-Ruffneck + 1,246]

3 hours ago, ronwagn said:

We will probably stick it out where we are. We love our place. If we did move it would be over our left wing government here. We would probably move to Missouri near Hannibal. 

If JB keeps talking about taxing retirement I may be doing the same, as Hannibal is still close to Kids and Grandkids, 145 miles. 

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

4 hours ago, ronwagn said:

Seriously, thanks for the warning. I lived in Seattle for awhile. I have seasonal affective disorder. I should avoid spending too much time on dreary coastlines. I love the beauty and the sea though. I think Texas would be too hot for me. I do like the East Texas, East Oklahoma, and Northeast Arkansas areas though. Missouri is a little cooler. Wisconsin is too cold for me. 

Mainland Vancouver city area can be dreary  The southern tip of the island (Victoria) is not nearly as wet, and of course interior BC is almost desert.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

What do you mean by desert? Is it overly logged? 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

On 7/24/2019 at 4:25 PM, Tomasz said:

Lets talk about some numbers especially breakeven price of various sources of gas

So US LNG needs 

Price about 3 $ per mbbtu - longterm  price of gas returning to 4 $ in next decade when low cost fields will be depleted 

15% standard Cheniere  premium - 0,5

Cost of gasiification =  3$

Cost of transport - 0,6$

Cost of regasification - 0,5 $

Cost of transport to LNG terminal- 0,5 $

So breakeven price is about 8 $ per mbbtu which means 285 $ per 1.000 m3.  In future 9,2 $  - 328 $ per 1.000 m3.

 

Breakeven for gas transported by NordStream is about 4 $ per mbbt = so it means you can sell it TWICE cheaper then US LNG breakeven price  with still some profits.

Gazprom  can produce gas below 1 $ per mbbtu - something about as low as  0,5-0,7 $ per mbbtu on low cost fields.

Pipe gas  is also always cheaper than LNG no doubt about that.

 

At the same time

Last weak Pakistan signed an agreement with Quatar - price is 13,37%  of Brent price - in second quater it means 9,2. $ per mbbtu

Poland pays Quatar 16 % of Brent plus 0,5 $ mbbtu - in second quater it means- 11,54 $ per mbbtu - 412 $ per 1.000 m3. Its the most expensive natural gas on european markets - I would like to remind about it when Im told of success of polish diversification from Gazprom.

 

So I suppose US LNG has better chances to compete with higer cost producers not Gazprom and Novatek

 

All good if Russia is a good neighbor but is it? Can anyone trust the Russian bear at the back door? Maybe, maybe not. Perch Straits were blocked by Russia just yesterday. Too much meddling in sensitive spots in Eastern Europe. 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

4 hours ago, Old-Ruffneck said:

If JB keeps talking about taxing retirement I may be doing the same, as Hannibal is still close to Kids and Grandkids, 145 miles. 

Our thinking exactly!

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

5 hours ago, ronwagn said:

What do you mean by desert? Is it overly logged? 

Dry

[ronwagn + 6,290]

7 minutes ago, Enthalpic said:

Dry

Hard for me to imagine that. Will have to look at it on Google Maps. 

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

1 hour ago, ronwagn said:

Hard for me to imagine that. Will have to look at it on Google Maps. 

There are two mountain ridges, one near the coast and another along the Alberta border, in between is hot and dry with nice big lakes. and wine

Penticton, Kelowna, Kamloops. etc.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Enthalpic

[ronwagn + 6,290]

Hot and dry with a big lake sounds like a nice break after traveling along the coast. Looking forward to it! Thanks

[Shrev94412 + 3]

Ditto

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by Shrev94412
Why not

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,192]

23 hours ago, ronwagn said:

What do you mean by desert? Is it overly logged? 

Same as Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. It is a very small area in BC though. Limited to the Okanogan trench.   Upper Fraser is a bit like this as the Coastal Mountain range blocks all the onshore flow of water vapor and makes region ~ fairly dry.  Massive amounts of mosquitoes though as tons of lakes and logged everywhere. 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

I thought that the logging would have been done away from the main highway, so am not surprised. I would imagine there is a lot of new growth though. I plan a lot more exploring in the Pacific Northwest, the Rockies, and Canada. We just did Southern Utah which was breathtakingly beautiful. I prefer mostly very green areas though. 

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

On 7/24/2019 at 11:47 PM, Enthalpic said:

Fantastic - thanks for clarifying. 

OK, so since you are so curious about the US political systems of old, I shall clarify the matter of North-named and South-named States. It has nothing, zero, to do with the Electoral College.  Here goes:

North Carolina and South Carolina were two parts of the Carolina Land Grant from the English Crown, the Proprietors of which evolved in different parts, the South part being along the coast, and the North part being up on the Carolina Plateau, which is roughly at elevation 440 feet, if my hazy memory is still working.  The upper part got into tobacco and the lower was more into the Port of Charleston, trade, some cotton, and fish. As they evolved differently, the colonies applied for different English Charters, which the King granted.  All that was back around 1720; the USA had not even done the Independence thing, there was no Electoral College, so obviously it had nothing to do with the two colonies becoming two different original States. 

Virginia and West Virginia were created in the fires of the Secession and the resulting Civil War.  The Hill People of West Virginia in the main did not support slavery; the tobacco plantations of Virginia ran on large slave numbers.  West Virginia got started in their own separation movement from Virginia in 1861, when its own delegation declared the secession of Virginia from the Union was illegal and unconstitutional, so there were these legalistic arguments, plus the notorious raid of John Brown the abolitionist on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, which really put the issue into focus.  Brown wanted the guns in the armory to do a revolt by gunfire in Kansas, then a battleground State.  General Lee, at that point of the Union Army still, arrived with a squad of US Marines, retook the Armory, captured Brown, and hanged him under the ideas of sedition, popular at the time for disposing of the unwanted politically. Lee in turn then surrendered his US Commission when Virginia finally seceded later that year.  Since Virginia at that point, along with the rest of the South, was now the Confederacy, and by definition did not send delegates to a Union Electoral College they did not recognize, by obvious logic the creation of Wests Virginia had zero to do with the Electoral College numbers. 

North Dakota and South Dakota were born out of the Dakota Territory, which at that time (now you are up to 1889) was huge, including what today is Montana and Wyoming.  There were these political battles in Congress about their Statehood, based on where they and New Mexico would be predicted to vote, for representation in the US Senate. In November 1888 the Federal Election went from the Democrats to the Republicans, with Benjamin Harrison becoming President in march 1889  (that was in the days when the "lame duck" period ran until March; today it is January).  With the political winds changing and a Republican sweep on the horizon, everybody agreed to split up the Dakota Territory into four States, and leave New Mexico out of it for another day.  As the Dakotas had an internal competition over where the Capitol would lie, it ended up with two Capitols, two States, and two sets of Senators.  So the motive was to increase the number of Republican Senators, and again had nothing to do with the Electoral College. 

I might be a bit off on some of the dates; I am a simple immigrant here, so it is not as if I have studied this intensively.  My wife, very British, used to laugh and say that I should go teach this stuff at some College!  I amuse myself by taking those sample tests the Government puts out for the Citizenship Test, and always get 100%.  Sadly, the "pass" average for Americans themselves is below 60.  Oh, well. As far as you Canadians are concerned, much the same sort of battles were out there in the Articles of Confederation.  There is no logic for PEI to be a full Province; it is just a tiny island. Politics always ends up with weird results. Mackenzie King used to hold court in Parliament with those seven-hour speeches; he would have this giant glass of water that he would sip out of.  Only much later was it discovered that the jug was filled with gin!  Probably just as well; you really do need to be drunk to survive a session in the House of Commons up there in Ottawa. The place is incoherent enough already.  Did I leave anything out?  North Nevada and South Nevada?  Cheers.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Jan van Eck