Bakken Oil Reserve

I did some poking around for more information on the huge oil reserve I noted here. There is information at Wikipedia and also from this promoter of oil futures as investments. From these reports I learned the reserve is estimated to be as much as 10 times the size of Alaska's North Slope Reserve.

However, the real issue is how much oil can be recovered from the Bakken reserve. Due to the geology of the rock the oil is in, recovery estimates range down to as low as 1 percent. A lot of oil, but not enough to end imports.

I'll be waiting for "environmentalists" to start painting North Dakota as a pristine wilderness, more fragile than even the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge. That will be one really tough sell, eh.

Bo Ryan - Liberal Fascist

I am now seeing everything in terms of Jonah Goldberg's book, even NCAA basketball.

When I read the following at This Just In, it clicked that Bo Ryan basketball is fascist basketball. His focus is on the team, not the individual; and he doesn't focus his recruiting on finding superstars. His team also plays a physical style some might liken to street-thug fascists. This really jumped out at me when the article quoted the B-ball coach from La Follette High School promoting the Ryan system. How appropriate.

When Ryan’s Platteville teams were dominant, the respect for his tactics rose quickly, and high school coaches from all over the state flocked to watch his practices. Ryan did not have the best talent in the world, but he implemented a system that worked for his players and hammered fundamentals through endless drills. NCAA officials would marvel at his players’ practicing rudimentary tasks like chest passes during the postseason.

“We used to joke that our kids didn’t look the greatest getting off the bus, but they just executed,” said University Wisconsin-Platteville Athletic Director Mark Molesworth, who had to turn down several offers for tickets to the court dedication game.

Now it seems almost the entire state is running Ryan’s so-called swing offense, which is predicated on patience, precision and teamwork.

“The thing about the swing offense is that a lot of high school teams are starting to run it, and it’s almost like a feeder system,” said Reggie Williams, the coach at Madison’s La Follette High School, where the Badgers senior Michael Flowers played. “You have to be a cerebral player and you don’t have to be great one-on-one.”

I take some solice from UW's loss to Davidson when I look at the Badgers in these terms. A victory of the individual (Davidson star Stephen Curry) over the State (Bo's autonotrons) is something any free-market proponent can cheer.

On the other hand, Davidison out-played Wisconsin as a team, because they have better athletes playing as a team. Getting back to the linked article, if Ryan wants to advance his Badgers past the Sweet 16 with any regularity, he will need to upgrade his talent. That isn't going to happen by concentrating his recruiting in and around Wisconsin.

Cover or Original: Take Me to the River

My take on the Vodkapundit's meme, finding cover versions of songs as good, or better, than the originals.



A)





or B)





Cast your preference in comments.

Kegger!

Jump to the 4:00 mark for high production value content.



These kids are pretty awesome. Nothing stronger than root beer.

H/T - Jim Stingl. Really, I mean it. Jim Stingl.

Woohooo!!!!

Bad news for the Saudis.

America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.

In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota and portions of South Dakota and Montana. With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil are held in this 200,000 square mile reserve that was initially discovered in 1951. The USGS did an initial study back in 1999 that estimated 400 billion recoverable barrels were present but with prices bottoming out at $10 a barrel back then the report was dismissed because of the higher cost of horizontal drilling techniques that would be needed, estimated at $20-$40 a barrel.

Watch oil prices start heading to $40/barrel after the report is released.



H/T - Planet Gore

I Took Five

My god, look at those white guys swing. They're almost like an alien life form. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five.

I had my day off today. Now it is back to 12-hour days, six per week starting tomorrow. Overtime pay is a beautiful thing.

Dateline Madison

In an unprecedented midnight court session, the Wisconsin Supreme Court met overnight and ruled on the applicability of Wisconsin Statute 11.38(1). In a 4 to 3 ruling, the Court found that the statute, which forbids, absolutely, and without reserve, any corporate contributions to any candidate for office in the State of Wisconsin is not applicable to sitting Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices with last names beginning with the letters "B" or "C."

Asked to comment, Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee leader Thomas Hastings said, "Nothing to see here. Please move along."

Elsewhere, in a surprise move, WEAC, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, announced they will relocate their headquarters from Madison to Scottsdale, AZ. Citing Wisconsin's high taxes and poor business climate, a WEAC spokesperson also noted that the move will put the headquarters nearer to the majority of retired WEAC members and in an area with a pool of better educated workers. The spokesperson also noted that "the weather simply bites here, and we couldn't take it anymore."

H/T - Dad29

Turnblow

A very interesting statistical analysis of Derrick Turnbow's performance as a reliever at Beyond the Box Score.

Last year Turnbow had a BPIP of 0.94 - giving up less than a base per inning - and had a predicted ERA of 2.07, his real ERA wound up at 4.63, a difference of 2.56. With such a relatively low BPIP I looked into his WHIP numbers, regularly 1.32, with men on, and sure enough found an answer. It seems that Turnbow was a shutdown reliever, until someone get on base, then his WHIP rose to 1.80.

Simple enough to manage a reliever like this, just pull him when a man is on base. And do not dare put Turnbow in to "save" another pitcher's mistakes.

The instincts of the fans were correct. As soon as Turnbow gets behind in the pitch count, I cringe. I feel it is inevitable that he is going to collapse. Not I have statistics that back up my gut.

The Bottom Line: Derrick Turnbow deserves the blame for runs scored when the bases are empty. But Manager Ned Yost gets all the blame for runs scored on Derrick with men on base.

Real jazz

A cut above the stuff I put up yesterday.

Why the outrage, Senator?

2. Your date and place of birth and/or those of your minor child or children

Roger L. Simon put up a list of passport application requirements. The only thing that may raise an eyebrow on the list is this.

Senator Obama, have you followed in your father's footsteps here? What is on that line of your application?

Enjoy this Weather Report

Twelve and one-quarter inches of fresh snow. Has it stopped yet?

UPDATE: No, it is still coming down. 13-1/2 inches at 9:00 p.m.

Not even a flake of snow North of Hwy 42 on my trip down I-43. I just missed getting rear-ended by a commercial truck, but the guy who pulled in behind me didn't. That would have made a crappy 125-mile drive home even worse.

Hats off to the Milwaukee County snowplow dispatcher for sending a plow to clear the shoulder for a tow truck near Brown Deer Road. I began to fear being stuck in a Dane County-like blizzard back-up. But with the plows help, the wrecker got through and promptly cleared a spun-out SUV. Feel free to blame Scott Walker.

The most amazing things I may have ever seen

Click here.

Typical white person

Oops. Average White Band.

I can't wait to try this myself

Amazing stuff. Show this to an engineer and shwang - instant wood.



H/T - J-Walk Blog & my friend Greg who emailed the link.

Obama's Grandma. Scott Huggins.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street ...

Tragically, Scott Huggins did not hear Obama's grandmother's one year ago on this date. He may have stopped elsewhere to fill his tank on March 21.

Shattering the dream

Before Obama's race speech*, the controversy was about the content of the words, soul, and character of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Senator Obama. The color of Rev. Wright's skin and his racial background were never an issue in any of the commentary that I heard and read on this subject.

Senator Obama turned that on its head. He lectured Americans for over half an hour, making excuses for Rev. Wright, distancing himself from his Pastor, and pointing a finger at me.

I do not accept Senator Obama's blame for Rev. Wright's statements and racist attitudes. Nor do I accept blame for Senator Obama's racism. I also reject Obama's lies, condescension, and excuses.

It is tragic that after the sacrifices of the many Americans who fought for the civil rights of African-Americans in the 1950's and 60's, that both Barrack Obama and his spiritual leader have rejected Dr. King's words from two score and five years ago.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Senator Obama read these words. Give up your racist attitudes and reject your racist spiritual leader. Then write a new speech.


*I Googled it. The fastest way to find the transcript was to include the words "race speech."

7 Sins - Corporatism

This is too easy, I just wait a couple days and another of The Seven Leftie Sins is in the news. Daily Takes reported yesterday about efforts by Madison leftists (excuse the redundancy) trying to silence or marginalize Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the major lobbyist for business in the state. Corporations are here to be taxed to fund the progressives' pet programs. Otherwise they can go away.

Examples
Jim Doyle - Killing Wisconsin business, one job at a time
"Help defend our jobs from corporate America."
Hatred of Walmart
"Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers ..."

This will get you shunned
"I stopped shopping at the Willy Street Coop, their prices are not competitive with Walmart."
"I interview with GE tomorrow."

Secular-Progressive Exemption
Becoming part of big business is ignored if it is done by leftie leaders. Hillary on the Walmart board. Gore becomes filthy rich due to his insider ties to Google and Apple. Bill cashing in with speeches to corporations worldwide.

Irish Music

The Saw Doctors




See them August 16 & 17 at Irish Fest.

EATAPETA Day

Eat a Tasty Animal for PETA Day. Details are here.



Yummo.

Career ending move?

I think ol' Larry the Cable Guy just jumped the shark. Thin isn't funny. Part of the Cable Guy's charm, and many of his jokes, had to do with him being kind of chubby.

I can also do without the Fat Larry before picture while watching the news at 08:00. If you have the stomach for it, the video is in the sidebar here.