Category Archives: Uncategorized

As a junior, I played right guard (when I played, that is). We didn’t have fancy hand signals back in the day, so we shuttled plays in. I subbed in-and-out with another guy, based less on athletic ability than the … Continue reading →

This is a long read, so I’ll summarize: All Philip Rivkin needed to turn caca into $100 million was a fake biofuel plant on the Houston Ship Channel and a random number generator. Conventional oil refiners like ExxonMobil, Shell, and … Continue reading →

In March 2015, the journal Environmental Science and Technology published findings of study linking natural gas extraction activity to high levels of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) in Carroll County, OH. The study’s conclusions were widely repeated in the press and the paper was … Continue reading →

Well, that was quick. Just a month ago I was laying out the framework of a negotiation. I saw it as necessary for Candidate Trump to win over those conservatives who had once declared #NeverTrump. It’s foolish, I figured, to … Continue reading →

Two oil drilling rigs, two identical workplace accidents: One happens on a modular drilling rig atop Fixed Platform #3 (below), the other on Floating Rig #7. Depending on the severity of the injury and the talent of the plaintiff’s attorney, a … Continue reading →

M. King Hubbert’s name will forever be associated with Peak Oil Theory. Hubbert (1903-89) is best known for a bold and lonely prediction he made when he was working for Shell Oil in 1956: U.S. oil production would continue increasing to … Continue reading →

When your only tool is a hammer, every problem is a nail; to Trump, everything is a negotiation. An election is nothing more than a protracted negotiation with various interest groups (“the blacks”, “the Hispanics”, “the evangelicals”, etc.), not a competition … Continue reading →

Part 2 in a series of homework reading assignments for my LAGCOE mentee. Part 1 is here. Lesson 3 – Be careful what you don’t ask for. I learned one thing about computers in college: I hated them. An assignment … Continue reading →

For the next couple of years I’ll be giving advice as a LAGCOE mentor, so I’m using this blog to collect career-advice ideas as they come to me. I am lucky to be unencumbered by a corporate HR department and am free to … Continue reading →

My favorite ice cream store started a contest to eliminate flavors one by one. By November, one flavor will be declared the “winner”, and that’s the only flavor we’ll have for four years. My favorite freezer is on the right-hand … Continue reading →