GoogleEarth Test

I wanted to try out something new. I've recently discovered GoogleEarth and wanted to see how easy it was to share locations on the internet.

Try this out if you want to see something neat. Go to Google and download and install their free version of GoogleEarth(11MB). The requirements say you will need 400MB free space on hard-drive, 500MHz processor, and 16MB video. Most computers manufactured in last 3 years should have that.

Next, copy and paste the following text into a Notepad(*.txt) document. Save the document like this: change default title of document to Dimona.kml and put quotation marks around it so it is "Dimona.kml"

Notice original name was a .txt file. We want to convert it to a .kml file - this stands for Keyhole Markup Language. Choose the "Save as" type as "all files." Very important. Save this to a place where you can find it. Now just double-click on it and it should take you right to the Negev Desert in Israel.

Can anybody tell me what those black lines in the sand are?

Here's the text to copy-and-paste

http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0"> Dimona 34.98921085045153 31.05426716751204 4059.739631586271 84.11716274365307 -7.232648313836683 root://styleMaps#default+nicon=0x307+hicon=0x317 34.98921085045153,31.05426716751204,0

Jim Jubak on Inflation

Jim Jubak has just written a long article on inflation at MSN.

The Worst Case Is Not About Us

Admit that even if you have a hammer not every problem is a nail. If energy costs are the major culprit in increasing inflation and in worries about future inflation, then raising interest rates seems a strange way to fight energy-produced inflation. To reduce energy prices by hiking interest rates you have to raise them high enough to slow growth across the entire economy. Wouldn't it be better to try to reduce energy demand -- which would reduce energy prices -- by using programs that increase the efficiency of energy use in the economy? That way we might get lower inflation and economic growth, too.

Of course, I can rant on this page all that I want -- so can you from any soapbox you can commandeer -- and the Federal Reserve doesn't have to do a thing or even listen. These bankers don't stand for election. They're appointed for 14-year terms. They're never accountable to voters. For that matter, they aren't even accountable to the people we do elect.

What we've done is put some of the most important decisions about how our country is run in the hands of officials over whom we have no control.

It's a lousy way to run a democracy.

-Jim Jubak

Marginal Crude Oil Production 2005 - 2006

For an explanation of the method for this chart and for a 4-year version, visit The Oil Drum here: http://www.theoildrum.com/story/2006/6/15/14745/0374#138

Total Liquids Components

Natural Gas Liquids 2003

Refinery Processing Gain 2003

Other Liquids 2003

Crude Price vs. Oil Industry Performance

Here is a comparison of the price of crude-oil and an index made up of 10 industry heavyweights. I just picked 10 companies as quickly as possible. I will probably add to this list in the future. Four majors - XOM, BP, CVX, COP. Three Driller/Explorers - GSF, NBR, RIG. Two Oil Services companies - HAL, SLB. One Independent - OXY.

I used their closing stock prices in June 2006 as the baseline. I did not account for dividends. I did not inflation-adjust either their stock-prices or the price of oil. GSF did not trade before June 1997, so I used that price to back-fill the twelve months of 1996. The index is an average of these 10 companies' monthly closing share prices. weighting is equal.

I'm not sure if the dates came out big enough. June 1996 to June 2006. I threw in $70 for oil in May and June since the data I used didn't have those months. I'll correct this when I update chart.

Thanks to Bill for the idea.