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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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What’s on the Horizon for the Local weather Desk Occasions Insider explains who we’re and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes collectively. Simply how tumultuous was 2020 on the local weather entrance? It was a 12 months by which wetlands burned. And past the fires that razed South America, Australia and the American West, communities around the globe had been left reeling from excessive warmth, file storms and rising seas. The Occasions’s Local weather desk, with greater than a dozen investigative, science, coverage and visible journalists, chronicled all of it. With 2021 approaching, the Local weather editor Hannah Fairfield provided extra perspective on what occurred, and what lies forward. In 2020, we appear to have skilled the start of what scientists have been warning about — excessive climate on many fronts and extra extreme climate-related disasters. You and your workforce have been masking this all alongside. However did this 12 months nonetheless shock you? The 12 months began with fires in Australia, and all 12 months lengthy it appeared as if areas of the globe had been aflame, culminating in California’s worst wildfire season and infernos in locations that not often burned. On the identical time, there have been extra main tropical storms within the Atlantic than ever recorded earlier than. The Local weather desk covers all disasters associated to local weather change, like droughts, wildfires, intense hurricanes and excessive rainfall. The science establishing the direct hyperlink between these disasters and the fast warming of the planet is more and more clear, however the results all of us noticed this 12 months had been surprising. How did that have an effect on protection? It was all of the extra important that we present readers how completely different this 12 months was. As a result of visible storytelling is without doubt one of the desk’s strengths, we leaned into that, utilizing information visualizations and mapping, drone pictures and video, and interactive design to inform these highly effective and really human tales. Earlier this month, John Department wrote a lyrical piece about the way in which a lot of California’s most beloved and majestic timber — sequoias, redwoods and Joshua timber — had been destroyed within the wildfires, and scientists say their survival is threatened as by no means earlier than. We introduced readers the visible proof of the destruction in a method that nobody had earlier than. 2020 was a turning level in some ways, and a type of was the broader realization that the consequences of the altering local weather should not many years away, they’re already right here. We will see it throughout us. The large query is: How will we make the mandatory modifications to keep away from the worst penalties? It’s completely potential. It simply takes the need to do it. Is there a local weather problem that, although important, has but to totally take maintain among the many public? The menace from methane leaking from oil and fuel drilling websites is one thing that we’re all solely starting to know. There are huge quantities of methane — an extremely potent greenhouse fuel — invisible and unchecked, pouring into the environment. In the US, reporting on these leaks is voluntary by the businesses, and the Trump administration has rolled again inspection necessities. Final 12 months, a local weather reporter and a videographer spent weeks within the Permian Basin in Texas utilizing an infrared digicam to visually seize the leaks. What they discovered was astounding. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island cited the reporting on the Senate ground to demand an investigation into trade affect in deregulation. Satellites that could possibly determine methane leaks are beginning to come on-line, and what they discover could also be vastly revealing. Oil and fuel websites around the globe — a lot of which have been deserted for many years or extra — could also be one of many largest unrealized local weather threats. Yearly appears to deliver its share of dismal local weather information. Is there something that struck you up to now 12 months as a optimistic, whether or not it was an innovation or another improvement? A few of the positives from this 12 months had been how shortly tales may have affect. One important visible mission we did this 12 months targeted on how historic racist housing insurance policies have left a horrible legacy that local weather change is now making even worse. Throughout the nation within the Thirties, federal officers “redlined” sure neighborhoods, marking them as dangerous investments usually solely as a result of residents had been Black. Right now, those self same neighborhoods are a few of the hottest elements of city in the summertime. A legacy of disinvestment has left them with fewer timber and many heat-trapping pavement. The maps and the information had been stark: Some previously redlined neighborhoods are as a lot as 12 levels hotter on common than whiter, wealthier neighborhoods favored for funding within the Thirties. That may imply the distinction between an uncomfortably sizzling day and a lethal sizzling one. However due to our story, a few of the cities try to reverse that. It’s already having a direct affect in Richmond, Va., a metropolis that figured prominently in our reporting. The story was cited by the Chesapeake Bay Basis in a grant it was awarded to plant tons of of timber in Richmond areas, and Richmond’s mayor unveiled a plan to construct 5 new “inexperienced areas” in hotter areas of the town. 2021, what are a few of the points and questions the Local weather workforce might be following carefully? Subsequent 12 months goes to be an enormous one for worldwide local weather negotiations. As a result of the 2020 local weather summit was canceled, there are large expectations for the following assembly in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021. When the Paris Settlement was signed in 2015, practically each nation on this planet dedicated to the aim of working collectively to restrict world warming to effectively beneath 2 levels Celsius. However the laborious work — the actually laborious work of determining tips on how to make these objectives occur at an more and more quick tempo — is within the early levels. We’ll be following it. In a reversal of President Trump’s insurance policies, President-elect Biden plans to re-enter the Paris local weather accord and take into account local weather change a part of the management of each cupboard place. However he’ll face his personal set of challenges. What are a few of his largest? Mr. Biden’s aim is to get the US to web zero emissions by 2050. It’s one which different main carbon-emitting international locations have additionally set and that scientists say is important to vary the present trajectory of warming — principally to flatten the curve. Proper now, the nation is in no way able to hit that aim. To succeed in it, main modifications must occur within the subsequent 10 years. As a lot as potential must change into electrical: vehicles, vans, dwelling and constructing heating, and large elements of trade. Then, new wind and solar energy have to be introduced on-line to fulfill that elevated want, and the vitality grid must develop tremendously to accommodate the brand new provide. It’s an enormous problem, and the Biden administration might want to determine tips on how to construct the political will to get it performed. Supply hyperlink #Climate #desk #Horizon #Whats

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bluemagic-girl · 5 years ago

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At least 2 dead, up to 20 injured in West Texas shooting, mayor says; 2 suspects sought

At least two other folks had been killed and up to 20 others had been injured in a chain of shootings in West Texas, a neighborhood mayor stated Saturday.”They are shooting at random,” Midland Mayor Jerry Morales told The New York Times. “We have two fatalities and up to 20 injuries.” He added that at least two gunmen had been believed to be concentrated on motorists on Interstate 20 and Highway 191 between Midland and neighboring Odessa.Odessa officers informed KOSA there have been 20 accidents reported in reference to the capturing however didn’t give additional main points The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) stated that an officer used to be amongst the ones shot and recommended the general public to keep away from Interstate 20 in Odessa, Midland and Big Spring. Residents of Midland and Odessa had been additionally recommended to keep inside of.The Midland Police Department stated it believed there are two shooters in two separate automobiles. One suspect is claimed to be riding a gold or white small Toyota truck, whilst the opposite suspect is riding a U.S. Postal Service van.”There are reports of an active shooter at the Home Depot in Odessa. For the safety of the public and law enforcement please stay away from the area and stay in your homes,” the dep. posted on Facebook. “We will update with more information as soon as possible.”In its personal remark, the Odessa Police Department stated there are probably two topics “driving around Odessa shooting at random people.””At this time there are multiple gunshot victims. The suspect just hijacked a U.S. mail carrier truck and was last seen in the area of 38th and Walnut. Everyone is encouraged to get off the road and use extreme caution! All law enforcement is currently searching for the suspect and more information will be released as soon as it becomes available,” the dep. stated.In a video clip posted to Twitter, police can also be noticed outdoor a neighborhood industry responding to the incident.The University of Texas of the Permian Basin used to be on lockdown.This is a growing tale. Please take a look at again for updates.

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unixcommerce · 6 years ago

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In the News: Surveys Provide Mixed Message about Small Business Outlook

We usually like to keep things crystal clear for small business owners. But this week, we got some confusing data. And it involves the U.S. economy and small business.

One one hand, you have this new survey showing 43% of small business owners are getting ready for a recession.

Now, we’ve heard for months that the economic upturn was at least slowing. There were hints of a possible recession but it was hard to focus on that when the economic news had been so positive.

But this latest survey shows that fears of a recession seem more real now. Or is it that this many people — combined with those actual worries about a recession — fear this good roll can’t last forever?

Because if you look at this other survey we got this week, it tells another tale altogether.

The Bank of American Hispanic Small Business Owner Spotlight for 2018 reveals that 87% of Hispanic business owners actually plan to expand their business in 2019. That’s not something you do in a recession, normally.

The best thing to do here is to carry on about your business. Don’t completely ignore sentiment surveys like this because they could be spotting a trend that could impact your business. But the last thing you want to do is let worry over numbers like the first survey impede the growth you have planned for your small business.

For the rest of the week in small business headlines, check out our weekly news and information roundup below:

Marketing Tips

10 Most Well Guarded Secrets about Marketing to Baby Boomers

Baby Boomers are that generation that were born between 1946 and 1964. According to the US Census Bureau, over the next decade the number of 50+ Americans will grow by 16 million. That’s three times the pace of younger groups like Millennials.

Small Biz Spotlight

In the Spotlight: Boutique Marketing Agency Creates Big Impression with Small Shop Feel

Some entrepreneurs are naturally creative. Others are mostly data driven. But you need both approaches in your marketing efforts if you want to be successful over a long period of time. Especially in today’s online business environment, you need to work hard to find ways to stand apart from the millions of other businesses out there.

Startup

Veem Unveils Tariff Relief Program to Ease Small Business Trade Concerns

Veem recently unveiled a program designed to help companies affected by the U.S. China trade war. The company operates a financing and payments platform for businesses. The Veem Tariff Relief program offers users up to $1,000 in rebates to cover the cost of tariffs. This helps businesses when purchasing supplies or goods from overseas.

74% of Business Owners Prepare to Take Big Risks this Year

The US economy continues to flourish. But data shows tariffs beginning to weigh on businesses of all sizes. Yet, 74% of small and medium-sized businesses seem willing to take big risks this year to ensure their success. The data comes from the third annual Global SME Pulse: Smart Strategies to Improve the Bottom Line.

Make Better Presentation Slides With This New Tool

Since 1987, millions of professionals, students, and everyone in between has been using PowerPoint to create presentations slides for conferences, sales meetings, quarterly meetings and more. I know because I’ve done just that. However, for the past few months, I’ve been testing out and actively using a new presentation design tool called Beautiful.ai.

Small Business Success Story: Barbers Make $180K a Year in Booming West Texas

Barbers are earning as much as $180,000 a year in West Texas, one of the hottest job markets in the country, The Wall Street Journal reports. Barber Salary in Texas Skyrockets An oil boom that has taken hold over the Permian Basin is leading to so much economic activity and expansion, the area can barely keep pace.

48% of Businesses Think They’re Not Big Enough to be Targeted for Fraud

Complacency remains one of the most dangerous behaviors among small business owners. And this makes businesses vulnerable to online fraud and other hacking activities. Small Business Fraud Statistics A report from Emailage reveals 48% of small businesses in the US and Canada think they’re not big enough to be a target of online fraud. Yet statistics debunk this myth.

Technology Trends

What is a Softphone and How Can it Benefit Your Small Business?

Anyone who has spent time looking into a business phone service has probably heard of a softphone. So, chances are you’ve already asked yourself, what is a softphone? How does it differ from regular IP phones? And do you really need one? Keep reading for the answers to all of those questions, and more.

Image: DepositPhotos.com

This article, “In the News: Surveys Provide Mixed Message about Small Business Outlook” was first published on Small Business Trends

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lawfultruth · 6 years ago

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Contract Operator Not Liable for Breach of a Unit Operating Agreement

Co-author Chance Decker

It’s a tale as old as the oilfield: A non-operator doesn’t pay joint interest billings, operator sues, non-payer claims the expenses were unwarranted and the operator was negligent—no, grossly negligent—for incurring them in the first place. Welcome to OBO, Inc. v. Apache Corporation et al. Despite a creative argument by non-operator OBO that contract operator Apache didn’t have authority to charge JIB’s in the first place, OBO must pay.

The facts

OBO owns a minority working interest in a gas unit in Andrews County, Texas. Permian Basin Joint Venture, LLC owns 81.4% of the working interest in the unit and was designated as the unit operator. The Unit Agreement and Unit Operating Agreement require the operator to be a working interest owner.

PBJV contracted with Apache to serve as contract operator. Apache sent JIB’s, OBO wouldn’t pay, Apache and PBJV sued for the unpaid JIB’s.

The fight

OBO agreed that it didn’t pay the JIB’s. Its defense was that Apache didn’t have authority to issue the JIB’s because Apache was not a working interest owner. Alternatively, if Apache could be operator, it breached the operating agreement and was “grossly negligent” in continuing to spend money on marginal wells. OBO didn’t assert counterclaims against PBJV.

Apache and PBJV argued that the contract services agreement (and power of attorney) between them authorized Apache to send JIB’s, and that Apache operated the unit just fine.

The law

As a general rule all contractual duties—including operator duties under a JOA — can be delegated to someone else. There are exceptions. For example, contracts for personal services (Bill O’Brien can’t delegate his coaching duties with the Texans to another coach, even if Texans fans wish he would), or when delegation is contrary to public policy (a critical government contractor agreement, for example). Unless one of these exceptions applies, or the contract prohibits delegation—and in this case the agreements did not — then delegation is perfectly fine. But you already knew that (and deep down, OBO probably did to), as contract operators are commonplace in the oilfield.

OBO can’t get off the hook

The court of appeal affirmed summary judgment for Apache and PBJV on all counts. OBO was ordered to pay the disputed JIB’s plus interest; its claims against Apache were dismissed.

Breach of contract and gross negligence – wrong target

The problem with these claims was OBO assumed Apache was the operator under the unit agreement. That missed a critical point: When PBJV contracted with Apache for operator services, Apache did not become the operator. Rather, Apache was merely performing operator services for PBJV under a contract with PBJV, not the other working interest owners. If Apache operated the unit negligently or in a manner that breached the unit agreement, the other working interest owners needed to sue PBJV, not Apache. OBO never sued PBJV. Thus, regardless of how Apache operated the unit, OBO’s claims failed because it sued the wrong party.

All this talk of “operations” makes us think of doctors, and more doctors.

Contract Operator Not Liable for Breach of a Unit Operating Agreement syndicated from https://ronenkurzfeldweb.wordpress.com/

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dragnews · 6 years ago

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U.S. energy firms chasing oil price rally stumble on old baggage

NEW YORK (Reuters) – With oil price recovery taking hold, several U.S. oil and gas companies entered 2018 with a compelling plan – sell undeveloped or less essential fields and invest the money to boost returns from their sweetest, most productive spots.

FILE PHOTO: A pump jack operates at a well site leased by Devon Energy Production Company near Guthrie, Oklahoma, U.S., September 15, 2015. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo

There is a catch, though. The strategy assumes that with crude now up more than 150 percent from its February 2016 bottom enough firms are keen to crank up production, even if it means buying fields with higher extraction costs and lower margins.

So far, sale attempts suggest those buyers may be hard to come by. After a bruising downturn, shareholders are looking to get a cut of improved profits and asset sale proceeds rather than underwrite acquisitions, those involved in these deals say.

“Oil and gas companies are no longer rewarded for simply ‘grabbing land’ and public investors have become more discerning regarding acquisitions,” notes Jon Marinelli, head of U.S. energy investment and corporate banking at BMO Capital Markets.

Shares of Devon Energy Corp (DVN.N), QEP Resources Inc (QEP.N) and Southwestern Energy Co (SWN.N) and others have rallied after they floated plans to sell non-core acreage, reflecting hopes that some of the proceeds will return to investors.

But since shareholders across the industry in general favor shedding assets over acquisitions, the sentiment makes striking new deals tricky.

An informal poll of five investment bankers by Reuters put the share of sales that failed to close in the fourth quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of this year at between 50 percent and 80 percent, with Marinelli putting the figure at around two-thirds.

Dealmaking for oil and gas fields going into 2018 was already stagnating. While last year’s total sales were only marginally down from 2016 at $67.3 billion, the first quarter accounted for around 38 percent of that figure, according to data provider PLS. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2Lm2hl3)

If proposed sales fail to materialize this year, it could mean a time of reckoning for these oil and gas firms.

“If these companies cannot execute the divestiture(s) that gave investors’ confidence on their future leverage profile, you would likely see less risk-tolerant investors trim or sell their positions,” said Tim Dumois, portfolio manager at BP Capital Fund Advisors, which invests in energy stocks.

Among those seeking spin-offs, Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) has the most ambitious plans. Facing the same pressure from shareholders as U.S. energy producers, it wants to sell onshore shale assets in the Permian, Eagle Ford and Haynesville basins, valuing them at $14 billion on its balance sheet.

While BHP’s Permian and Eagle Ford land is generally considered attractive because of low production costs, one of the Eagle Ford asset packages and its Haynesville fields mainly produce shale gas, making them less appealing to buyers given stubbornly-low gas prices.

BHP would consider a bid that valued the entire business below the company’s original valuation, if it ensured no unsold assets remained, according to people familiar with the sale process.

The company received bids from interested parties on May 23, although a final decision on what it will do is not expected for a few months.

PRIVATE EQUITY WARY

For those weighing acquisitions, Bakken operator Oasis Petroleum (OAS.N) offers a cautionary tale. Shares in the company fell as much as 25 percent in the two days after it said on Dec. 11 it paid $946 million for acreage in the Delaware Basin.

Since then, major land purchases by U.S. oil and gas firms have fizzled, with executives preaching focus on controlling costs and avoiding unnecessary expansion.

“We can do a whole lot of great work by hitting some singles,” Brad Holly, chief executive officer of Whiting Petroleum Corp (WLL.N), told an industry event in April, drawing on a baseball metaphor to describe how the company was looking for some “really small things” to add to its existing acreage.

In the absence of companies as buyers, private equity firms have picked up some slack: the value of land bought by buyout firms rose to 47 percent of the total in the fourth quarter from 11 percent in the first three months of 2017, according to PLS.

However, the run-up in oil prices, rather than whet their appetite further has an opposite effect, making private equity firms wary that prices may not be as strong when they are ready to cash out.

Higher crude prices also boost sellers’ expectations, making it harder for buyout firms to drive a hard bargain to ensure better future profits. Such calculations gain added significance after years of returns on energy stocks trailing other sectors.

“If energy equity markets are underperforming the wider S&P, this reduces the chance of private equity buying larger assets because you don’t think you’ll get a good runway for an exit,” said Glenn Jacobson, partner at Trilantic Capital Partners.

Some sellers have now started moderating their expectations. Hunt Oil Company for example, owned by one of Texas’ wealthiest families, split a package of Eagle Ford land it was marketing for up to $700 million in the fourth quarter into three individual pieces, according to a person familiar with the transaction. Two bits went to private equity buyers, with a third sold to Penn Virginia Corp (PVAC.O) for $86 million, the person added.

“The decision becomes do you hold your nose and sell, or do you retain the asset,” said BMO’s Marinelli.

Reporting by David French in New York; Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder and Gary McWilliams in Houston; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Tomasz Janowski

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dani-qrt · 6 years ago

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U.S. energy firms chasing oil price rally stumble on old baggage

FILE PHOTO: A pump jack operates at a well site leased by Devon Energy Production Company near Guthrie, Oklahoma, U.S., September 15, 2015. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo

But since shareholders across the industry in general favor shedding assets over acquisitions, the sentiment makes striking new deals tricky.

If proposed sales fail to materialize this year, it could mean a time of reckoning for these oil and gas firms.

BHP would consider a bid that valued the entire business below the company’s original valuation, if it ensured no unsold assets remained, according to people familiar with the sale process.

The company received bids from interested parties on May 23, although a final decision on what it will do is not expected for a few months.

PRIVATE EQUITY WARY

Since then, major land purchases by U.S. oil and gas firms have fizzled, with executives preaching focus on controlling costs and avoiding unnecessary expansion.

However, the run-up in oil prices, rather than whet their appetite further has an opposite effect, making private equity firms wary that prices may not be as strong when they are ready to cash out.

“The decision becomes do you hold your nose and sell, or do you retain the asset,” said BMO’s Marinelli.

Reporting by David French in New York; Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder and Gary McWilliams in Houston; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Tomasz Janowski

The post U.S. energy firms chasing oil price rally stumble on old baggage appeared first on World The News.

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cleopatrarps · 6 years ago

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U.S. energy firms chasing oil price rally stumble on old baggage

FILE PHOTO: A pump jack operates at a well site leased by Devon Energy Production Company near Guthrie, Oklahoma, U.S., September 15, 2015. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo

But since shareholders across the industry in general favor shedding assets over acquisitions, the sentiment makes striking new deals tricky.

If proposed sales fail to materialize this year, it could mean a time of reckoning for these oil and gas firms.

BHP would consider a bid that valued the entire business below the company’s original valuation, if it ensured no unsold assets remained, according to people familiar with the sale process.

The company received bids from interested parties on May 23, although a final decision on what it will do is not expected for a few months.

PRIVATE EQUITY WARY

Since then, major land purchases by U.S. oil and gas firms have fizzled, with executives preaching focus on controlling costs and avoiding unnecessary expansion.

However, the run-up in oil prices, rather than whet their appetite further has an opposite effect, making private equity firms wary that prices may not be as strong when they are ready to cash out.

“The decision becomes do you hold your nose and sell, or do you retain the asset,” said BMO’s Marinelli.

Reporting by David French in New York; Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder and Gary McWilliams in Houston; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Tomasz Janowski

The post U.S. energy firms chasing oil price rally stumble on old baggage appeared first on World The News.

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mediafocus-blog1 · 7 years ago

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When Life on Earth Was Nearly Extinguished

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When Life on Earth Was Nearly Extinguished

It has been referred to as the “Great Dying.”

The planet’s maximum profound catastrophe struck 252 million years ago, at the give up of the Permian duration, killing 90 percent of existence within the ocean and seventy-five percent of the land. The fossil report almost goes silent and remains startlingly impoverished for millions of years: timber disappear, bacteria update coral reefs, insects hush. What seems like fungus spikes within the fossil record, perhaps the sepulchral rot of a death global.

It changed into as near as earth has ever come to being sterilized altogether, and might take 10 million years for the planet to completely get better, putting the degree for the eventual upward thrust of the dinosaurs.

“The End-Permian mass extinction is unique in earth records,” said Seth Burgess, a geologist with the United States Geological Survey. “Nothing else is as intense, and it’s no longer even close.”

A growing body of proof indicates that this historic Apocalypse turned into added on, in a massive element, with the aid of tremendous emissions of carbon dioxide from volcanoes that erupted across a sizable swath of Siberia. Today the result of fast injecting big pulses of carbon dioxide into the air is discussed as though the chance exists only inside the speculative output of pc models. But, as scientists have observed, this has taken place frequently earlier than, and every now and then the consequences have been catastrophic.

This month the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology published a unique difficulty that explores a growing body of proof that past volcanic releases of carbon dioxide may have helped pressure many of the maximum excessive die-offs in earth records.

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Continue studying the principle tale

While cautioning that there may also have been different killers involved in those Armageddons, as properly, the paleontologist David Bond and the geologist Stephen Grasby write within the journal that maximum mass extinctions were marked by way of “international warming, anoxia and ocean acidification, driven by means of adjustments in atmospheric CO2.” After synthesizing a substantial frame of literature and reviewing nearly 20 worldwide mass extinctions over the past 1/2 billion years — including the most severe ones, the so-known as Big Five — the authors concluded that “huge scale volcanism is the primary driving force of mass extinctions” and that “most extinctions are associated with global warming and proximal killers inclusive of marine anoxia.”

The journal’s special issue displays a research community that, failing to discover asteroid impacts at the crime scenes of most of the planet’s worst pre historic calamities, has grown to become its interest away from the sky and closer to homegrown killers.

Today, in the lonely reaches of Siberia, piles of historical basalt stack up, in places, miles thick. During the peak of the End-Permian mass extinction 252 million years ago, this lava would have protected hundreds of thousands of rectangular miles of what became then the supercontinent Pangaea. But it wasn’t clearly the lava that nearly exterminated existence on the earth.

As the paintings of Dr. Burgess files, whilst this magma started out spreading into the shallow crust of Siberia, it intruded into one of the International’s largest coal basins, cooking huge deposits of carbon-wealthy rocks. The superheated fossil fuels then ruptured on the earth’s surface in dazzling gas explosions, as documented by a group led by the Norwegian geologist Henrik Svensen.

Though volcanoes in Siberia had already been erupting for around three hundred,000 years, Dr. Burgess’s work indicates that it wasn’t till the magma began burning fossil fuels on a massive scale that the mass extinction started. The carbon dioxide becomes delivered to the atmosphere simply as correctly as by means of any coal-fired electricity plant or minivan muffler these days.

In the resulting chaos, as temperatures rose and life died within the acidifying, oxygen-starved oceans, the planet almost lost its pulse. I requested Dr. Burgess what a time tourist journeying the End-Permian earth might have skilled. “It would be hot and it would be horrible,” he stated, guffawing.

Though the asteroid that would wipe out the dinosaurs 186 million years later may get more attention, the Great Dying dwarfs that disaster in destruction. It added approximately the give up to a less well-known but in addition captivating, and lots older world — a super continental wasteland stocked with a peculiar collection of uncanny pre-mammal forebears and, within the seas, an archaic hallucination of shells and tentacles that had prevailed for the reason that dawn of animal existence.

Today humanity performs the position of that primeval Siberian supervolcano, burning via the sector’s historic stores of carbon, long buried underground in the form of oil, coal and herbal gasoline. Though there had been likely different killers afoot within the Great Dying — like ozone-destroying halocarbons, acid rain and a heavy dose of poisonous heavy metals raining from the volcanic smog — it changed into the chemistry-warping pulse of carbon dioxide that has attracted the most suspicion for its role in almost finishing the arena. And we’ve most effective to observe the contemporary ocean to see why.

Excess carbon dioxide reacts with seawater to make it inhospitable to the animals that use carbonate to build their skeletons. Our modern oceans have already emerged as 30 percentage greater acidic because the begin of the Industrial Revolution, and the shells of fluttering planktonic snails — which form a foundational part of the meals net inside the Antarctic and the Pacific Northwest — have been found pitted with holes in our newly souring seas.

By 2050 the Southern Ocean will no longer be capable of host the one’s creatures, which additionally form an essential part of the weight loss plan of salmon. Acidification will even doom, possibly by mid-century, the already in poor health coral reefs that host 25 percent of the ocean’s biodiversity. And the world’s shallow oceans are dropping oxygen as the planet warms and nutrient pollution pours in from agricultural heartlands and concrete watersheds. Paleontologists have visible some of these modifications before.

It’s nevertheless an open query what will result from our continuing chemistry test with the planet, however, the history of mass extinctions counsels severe caution.

Luckily, we’re nevertheless an extended way far away from an End-Permian level mass extinction, even though some paleontologists warn that a few more centuries of environmental extra may additionally properly get us there. But you don’t need to get all the manner to the Apocalypse before lifestyles start to get markedly much less comfy.

Even earlier than America’ harebrained exit from the Paris weather settlement, the planet turned into well off direction from its 3.6-degree Fahrenheit (2-degree Celsius) goal for 2100. We’re presently on pace for about 7.2 stages Fahrenheit (four ranges Celsius) of warming with the aid of the give up of the century, a temperature that at instances within the past has intended no ice at both poles. But the calendar doesn’t prevent at the stop of the century and continued warming beyond so that it will begin to make elements of the planet uninhabitable for mammals like ourselves, due to the risks of warmth stress. And, as the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef shows, the oceans are already suffering to conform to a hotter, greater acidic world.

Though the Great Dying changed into absolutely severe, and probably blanketed some stresses beyond the scope of humanity’s armamentarium, we’ve got emerged as an impressive geological force in our own proper as we maintain to tweak and warp the complicated earth structures that preserve existence.

“The fee at which we’re injecting CO2 into the atmosphere these days, consistent with our exceptional estimates, is 10 instances quicker than it changed into at some stage in the End-Permian,” the paleoclimatologist Lee Kump, dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State, told me. “And charges depend. So nowadays we’re creating a totally tough environment for life to evolve, and we’re enforcing that trade perhaps 10 instances quicker than the worst occasions in earth’s records.”

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georgewier · 8 years ago

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The Lone Star Express (The first chapter.)

I know I’m a bit of a tease, but here is Chapter One of The Lone Star Express!

CHAPTER ONE

Invest heavily in ammunition. That’s the flip-side of the warning on seeking revenge—the one about first digging two graves. When vengeance seeks you out—as opposed to the other way around—it’s wise to be locked, loaded and ready. But you have to know it’s coming, first.

With me it’s always something like that.

I’m Bill Travis, and apparently I’ve never met a problem I didn’t welcome to come on in and pull up a chair.

It began, innocently enough, with the performance of a good deed. Which brings up the second warning that I somehow bypassed during all the sturm and drang of Governor Richard Sawyer’s final disposition: no good deed goes unpunished.

Here’s how it started.

*****

Former Texas Governor Richard Donegal Sawyer was born in the Louisiana canebrakes back in the dark days of World War II. As an infant he was brought to the Texas Gulf Coast and raised by his father, his mother having died in childbirth. At age sixteen, or thereabouts, Sawyer and his father had a falling out over the fact of the elder Sawyer’s being a bloodthirsty killer and crime boss. The junior Sawyer’s feet carried him all the way to West Texas where he settled down at a life of hard labor as an oil field worker in the Permian Basin—Midland and Odessa. With his passing, at the ripe age of eighty, someone had to go looking for his will. I got that duty, at the request of his granddaughter, Elizabeth.

I was no more than a few days back from Mexico when she asked me. The next morning, I got up before the crack of dawn and drove Julie and a whole truckload of kids down to Houston, and stopped by the Sawyer home.

Julie rocked the baby in the rocking chair in Sawyer’s living room while Elizabeth and I commiserated at the dining room table, thirty feet away. There were a couple of banker’s boxes open on the glass tabletop and the contents—old papers, invoices, random things like insurance policies and old hospital bills—were poured into each box so tightly that both were apt to burst at the seams. I understood the filing system. It’s easier to throw it all in a box, especially after you realize that every single scrap of paper would need its own separate file, and office supply stores don’t typically carry fifty-thousand file folders. At least not in the economy pack.

“Do you mind?” I asked Elizabeth, and gestured with my hand over one of the boxes.

“Please do. I’m afraid to touch any of it. I’ll get immersed in it and won’t see daylight for days on end.”

I nodded and pulled out a thick sheaf of papers, about a reams-worth, and dropped it on the table-top. What spilled out was expired insurance policies, licensing agreements for trucks and tractors, old pay stubs going back to the 1950s and 60s, random photographs; a lifetime’s worth of the detritus of those things that, at the time, could not be simply thrown away. The things a person keeps!

“Yuck,” Elizabeth said.

“Everything here tells a tale,” I said. “If you were to piece it all together, maybe put it in chronological order, you’ve got a piece of the story of your grandfather’s life, which is another part of the story of Texas.”

“I know it’s not all trash, but some of it’s trash,” she said.

“No doubt. Okay, we’re looking for his will. And you say that it’s not tucked away in a safe-deposit box somewhere?”

“Uh uh. I cleaned those out. It wasn’t in there.”

“Then it’s here. Let’s keep looking.”

It took thirty minutes, but I found it. Oddly enough, it was fairly recent and tucked into the front end of the second box, right where you’d put something recent, if you were archiving it. The will was signed, witnessed and notarized roughly six months previous.

I began reading aloud.

“He leaves the whole kit ‘n kaboodle to you, Elizabeth,” I said.

“Let me see.”

I handed it to her and she read it to herself, her lips moving soundlessly and her eyes going back and forth.

“It’s a lot of responsibility for a woman your age. But I’m sure you can handle it.”

“There’s a list of stocks, bonds, all kinds of…”

“Financial instruments,” I finished for her.

“Yeah. Those.”

“It’ll take some time to find out what they’re all worth. No doubt the bulk of them were in the safe deposit boxes.”

“There was a bunch of that stuff in there, but I didn’t understand any of them.”

“I’ll take a look at them for you. For now, I suggest you get your own safe-deposit box and put them away. But after you make photo copies of everything. I’ll need a copy of it all, and I can get Penny at my office working on it in her spare time.”

“Ha. If she works for you, Mr. Travis, I doubt she has very much spare time.”

I chuckled. “You’re probably right. Never thought about it. She doesn’t know it yet, but I’m naming her a full partner on Monday.”

“Then she’s been paying her dues all these years.”

“She has.”

Elizabeth turned a page, moved her eyes down and then struck upon something. She frowned.

“What is it?” I asked.

“A heading: Disposition of Remains.”

“Oh. They’ll need to know about this down at the funeral home. And pretty quick. Before I left Austin, I had a call from the Texas State Cemetery. They’re expecting to bury your grandfather there. It’s where we bury our Governors.”

“Not according to this, it’s not.”

“Crap. I’d better see it. Those guys may have already set aside a plot for him.”

She handed me the will.

“You’ll need to get this filed with the Probate Court as soon as—” I began, but by then my eyes were already taking in the bad news. My own name jumped out at me from the page:

DISPOSITION OF REMAINS

Since I buried my heart in Midland a long time ago, it is my wish that my body be buried there beneath the ancient mesquite. I purchased the plot in 1969, knowing full well that men can easily lose their lives in the oil patch. Further, I request that my friend Walter M. Cannon accompany my body by train to its final destination. If Walt Cannon predeceases me or, due to issues of health or availability, is unable to fulfill this wish, then I request that my dear friend, Bill Travis, should do so.

For many years I have been a supporting member of the Big Thicket Steam Association, headquartered in Palestine, Texas. I request that those old boys—those who have survived me—get the old ‘19 running for one last trip out west, and that I travel each mile between Austin or Houston and Midland by whatever rail line the boys may take. I pray that I may find my rest there in Midland.

“What’s the ‘Old ‘19′?” I thought, then realized I had said it aloud.

“I have no idea.”

“It’s okay. Tell you what, why don’t you ride with us down to the copy store where we’ll make three or four copies of this, then we’ll scoot by the funeral home, drop this off with the director and let him know how to contact me.

I detected a presence at my elbow. It was Julie, gently bouncing the baby.

“What’s going on?”

“It looks like I’m going to West Texas.”

“When? And how?”

“Soon,” I said, thinking all the while about bodies, temperature and steel boxes. “And by train.”

*****

I took the family back home to Austin after making certain that everybody on the Houston end of things was on the same page. The plan was for Governor Sawyer’s body to be transported to the State Capitol, there to lie in state for two days time where all Texans who wanted to might stop by and pay their respects. It’s a time-honored practice, and Sawyer’s will didn’t preclude it. I’m not certain it would have done any good if it had. In the final analysis, while we may suggest what should happen after we’re gone, it’s the family’s wishes that are usually honored, and at any time those wishes may be trumped by the state, particularly in the instance of a dignitary. In the end, we all render unto Caesar, right down to the toenails.

In the meantime, I had a ton of phone calls to make and correspondence to get out in preparation for what was to come—an event to which I was decidedly not looking forward.

I spent an entire day at the office, mostly listening to and receiving updates on Penny’s progress on the stocks and bonds.

At the appointed time—pre-arranged between my partner and me—Nat Bierstone came by the office. He was dressed in a blue jeans, red checkered shirt and suspenders. Penny gasped. She had never seen him in anything other than a business suit.

It had been three weeks since he had come by the office. Both he and I knew that he had already retired, but he was in to make it official.

“Mr. Bierstone, you look like…a real person!” Penny said. I listened from my office, having already glanced out my window when Nat pulled into circular driveway that runs behind the office and out the other side.

“Why thank you, Miss Taylor. Is Bill in? Thought I saw his car.”

“Come on back, Nat!” I called. “Penny, you come in here too.”

I waited. When they were both inside, Nat reached behind him and closed the door.

“Something is happening, isn’t it?” Penny asked. “Are you two about to fire me?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Nat said. She started to protest, but he raised a finger, then gestured to one of the two chairs in front of my desk. “Hush now and have a seat.”

“Yes sir,” she said.

Nat took the other chair, and by way of stretching the moment out interminably, fumbled in his blue jeans pocket for the front door key and the key to his office. He removed them from the key chain and said to Penny, “Hold out your hand.”

She did, and Nat placed the keys in it. “Don’t lose them until after you’ve made another copy. This is the only one to my office in existence.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Nat’s retiring,” I said, “effective today.” I picked up an envelope from the counter and handed it to him. He took it.

“What is that?” Penny asked.

“A check,” I said. “I just bought Nat’s half of the business.”

He looked at the envelope, poked a finger at the inside of the crease, as if he was about to open it with his finger, then instead handed it to Penny.

“You want me to open it for you?” she asked.

“I want you to keep it,” he said. “You can do whatever you want with it, since it’s yours.”

“I—I’m not sure what you mean.” Her voice trembled and had become very small.

“You know what it means,” I said.

“Let me do this, Bill,” he said. “I’ve earned the right.”

“This is where you fire me,” Penny said. She opened the envelope delicately and removed the check. The amount was eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Her eyes stared at the thin slip of paper.

“She’s gonna burn a hole in it,” I said.

“You can keep that and cash it,” Nat said, “or you can give it right back to Bill, keep that key of mine, and start worrying about who is going to replace you and become your secretary. Or rather, yours and his.” He hooked a thumb at me.

She looked across the desk at me. “How much is half the practice worth?” she asked me.

I laughed. “Spoken like a true accountant and financial consultant.” I leaned back in my chair and interlaced my fingers over my head. “Worth a hell of a lot more than twice eight-fifty.”

Penny handed the envelope back to me. “Then I suppose we’ll need to start interviewing applicants.”

I stood up and extended my hand.

“Welcome to Travis & Taylor,” I said. She stood slowly, then took my hand and shook it. And then she started crying.

Nat stood. She let go of my hand and threw her arms around his neck, her face disappearing from view. Nat grinned at me and patted her back.

When she released him, she stood and wiped the tears from her eyes, then slowly handed the check back to me.

“Go ahead and re-deposit it in the practice account. And make an appointment at the bank. You’re to be signatory to that account from now on, so consider that you just paid yourself back.”

“Who’s idea was this?”

“All three of us,” I said. “Nat, me, and Julie as well.”

“I wish she were here.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “She made me promise to give her the play-by-play tonight.”

“I don’t know what to say,” she said.

I laughed. “There’s a first time for everything.”

“I’ll try to be a good partner for you, Mr. Travis.”

“Penny, now that it’s official, you are required to call me Bill. I won’t have a partner who can’t say my name.”

“Mr. Bierstone calls you William.”

“He can get away with it because he’s older than I am, he’s the former Lieutenant Governor of Texas, and worse than that, he’s Julie’s uncle.” I grinned at her. “You can’t.”

“Okay, Bill,” she said. And you could have knocked me over with a feather.

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In the News: Surveys Provide Mixed Message about Small Business Outlook

We usually like to keep things crystal clear for small business owners. But this week, we got some confusing data. And it involves the U.S. economy and small business.

One one hand, you have this new survey showing 43% of small business owners are getting ready for a recession.

Now, we’ve heard for months that the economic upturn was at least slowing. There were hints of a possible recession but it was hard to focus on that when the economic news had been so positive.

Because if you look at this other survey we got this week, it tells another tale altogether.

For the rest of the week in small business headlines, check out our weekly news and information roundup below:

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74% of Business Owners Prepare to Take Big Risks this Year

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Small Business Success Story: Barbers Make $180K a Year in Booming West Texas

48% of Businesses Think They’re Not Big Enough to be Targeted for Fraud

Technology Trends

What is a Softphone and How Can it Benefit Your Small Business?

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This article, “In the News: Surveys Provide Mixed Message about Small Business Outlook” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

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