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Quick Hits

Bitcoin, California, and more!

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                                                                       Quick Hits Archive 2024                                                                                                     Quick Hits Archive 2023

                                                                       Quick Hits Archive 2022

                                                                       Quick Hits Archive 2021        

                                                                       Quick Hits Archive 2020

Feb 5, 2025

  • As recently as 2023, Iraq flared as much excess gas as the country consumed.  Iraq says it has now cut this flaring by 70%.

  • The Norwegian parliament has collapsed after the ruling Labor party forged ahead with the EU’s clean energy “directives.”  Collapsed = coalition parties withdrew, and ministers resigned.

  • If you go through the Panama Canal starting in the Caribbean, you sail from the northwest to the southeast.

  • Bally’s is being sued for conducting a stock offering only open to women and minorities (the one we discussed recently that was offering 99% leverage on the deal in order to get the women and minorities in the door).

  • Trump will be the first sitting President to attend the Super Bowl (how can this be?).

  • Robinhood announced it was taking bets on the “Pro Football Championship.”  The NFL owns the rights to “Super Bowl,” and Robinhood was surely not going to pay any licensing fees.

  • The CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission) shut down Robinhood’s attempt to accept sports bets via futures contracts.

  • Olive Garden is being accused of using hotdogs buns instead of bread sticks.

  • The Grammy’s peak viewership was in 1984 thanks to Michael Jackson and his Thriller album.

  • The brief resurgence of the Grammy’s in 20212 was due to a tribute to Whitney Houston.

Jan 29, 2025

  • In order for Bally’s to open a casino in Chicago, 25% of the ownership entity must be comprised of women or minorities.

  • Bally’s has created a new entity which will do a public offering.  Bally’s very creative bankers have structured the deal whereby some investors can buy equity at a 90% discount.  Bally’s will lend you the rest of the money (nonrecourse to you, you just cannot take profits until the loan is repaid).  But you get the full voting rights.  Voila, women and minority owned!

  • Chinese bankers are offering to run the CATL (the giant EV battery maker) IPO in Hong Kong for 0.01% fees.

  • Coffee accounts for 69% of caffeine intake in America.  This is up from 54% about 10 years ago.

  • Energy drinks represent 6% of caffeine.

  • When your EZ-Pass does not pay the $4 toll in Delaware, you get assessed $87.50 in fees.  One of these is a $15 fee labeled “Combat Violent Crimes.”

  • According to Redfin, 71% of real estate agents did not close any deals in 2024.

  • The city of Los Angelese says it will cost $170k to clean up each burned house.

  • People cannot warm up their cars in Ottawa for more than one minute according to a new city by-law.

  • The head coach of the Rhode Island basketball team is unimpressed that the SEC is “only” 54-54 in conference games.

  • One of the proposed remedies for global warming is to sprinkle diamond dust in the atmosphere so the sun’s light is reflected into space.

  • There is a bill in the US Senate that aims to address the impacts on global warming from anesthesia.  The Department of Ecology would be tasked with studying these “greenhouse gases.”

  • The US, apparently, has a Department of Ecology.

Jan 22, 2025

  • The snowplow operator who cleared a spot for the New England Patriots kicker in 1982 was on work release from Walpole State Prison.

  • In 1954, British dentists blamed buck teeth on kids watching tv on their stomachs with their hands under their chins.

  • The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, wants to “liberate” Puerto Rico, and he wants to do it with “Brazilian troops.”  He made these comments at the International Anti-Fascist Festival in Caracas.

  • The “wisdom of the crowd” concept was derived from a guess-the-weight-of-an-ox contest in 1907.

  • Texas Wesleyan has won 75 national championships in table tennis since 2002.

  • Melania Trump is 54 years old.

  • Spy vs Spy was created in 1961.

  • The US is building a new embassy in South Sudan at a cost of $784mm.

  • South Sudan’s annul GDP is about $7b.
    Hary Caray, the late great Chicago baseball announcer, kept a drinking diary.  During the early 70’s, he averaged 3.5 bars per night (2604 bar stops from 1970 to 1971).

Jan 15, 2025

  • Almost 6% of all workers in Virginia and DC are employed by the federal government.

  • South Dakota has the lowest percentage of workers that are federal government employees.

  • The federal government owns about 80% of the land in Nevada.

  • The federal government owns less than 2% of the land in Texas.

  • US bought the US Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917.

  • Greenland’s population is 57k.

  • The toll for the largest ships to pass through the Panama Canal is $100k.  This is up from $80k last year. 

  • Scorigami!  Houston’s drubbing of San Diego 32-12 was the 1091st unique score in NFL history.

  • The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to regulate Robux (the pretend money inside of the video game system Roblox).

  • There is an arcade in New York that has a “claw” machine.  It costs $50 to play.  You can win an Hermes Picotin bag worth $3600.

  • When we used to walk through Harrod’s London on rainy days on our way home from work, we always noticed an uptick in security when we walked near the Hermes bags.

  • One of the popular markets on the betting/prediction site Polymarket is if New York City will abandon its congestion pricing regime by this summer.

  • Over half the cigarettes smoked in California, New York, and New Mexico are illegal.

Jan 8, 2025

  • Colorado wants to start transporting stored energy via rail.

  • 50% of all Nvidia employees are worth over $25mm.

  • The Democratic Republic of Congo produces over 75% of the world’s raw cobalt.

  • China produces over 75% of the world’s purified cobalt.

  • Javier Milei has four cloned Mastiffs.

  • Facebook said its fact-checkers were the problem with misinformation.  The Fact-checkers fact-checked this as false (for real).

  • Facebook is getting rid of fact-checkers.

  • During the Houston-Tennessee game, CBS cut to the studio to show a highlight of the Houston-Tennessee game.

  • According to U-Haul, the top five states that people moved to in 2024 were South Carolina (1), Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee.

  • The new TGL golf league, the indoor golf played on a screen, is paying “fans” $200 to fill seats in the studio.

  • Our beloved Cleveland Browns have had 40 starting QBs since 1999 (we update this one every so often).

  • Walmart, Amazon, and Costco make up 17% of all retail sales in the US.  It was 11% in 2014.

  • Kirby Pucket’s Sam’s Club ID card sold at auction for $270. 

  • A Notre Dame football player had his name on his jersey written in Chinese for the Sugar Bowl.

  • Jack Nicklaus’s first career victory as a professional golfer was the US Open.

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Quick Hits Archive 2024

Quick Hits Archive 2023​

Quick Hits Archive 2022

Quick Hits Archive 2021

Quick Hits Archive 2020

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Meaning of Chalk Creek

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Chalk Creek is a small river starting on the Continental Divide above St. Elmo, Colorado.  It runs east through the valley...

Glossary of Jargon

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Here is a list of common terms we use.  Some Explain Wall Street Jargon.  Some are just silly.

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Chalk Creek Partners LLC

Registered Investment Advisor

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Carlisle C. Wysong C.F.A.

Managing Partner

701 Rivercrest Drive

Fort Worth, TX 76107

+1 (917) 859-2596

ccw@chalkcreekpartners.com

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The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal or tax advice, and is intended to be general market commentary.  Information presented is believed to be factual and up-to-date, but we do not guarantee its accuracy and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the authors as of the date of preparation and are subject to change. Certain information has been provided by third-party sources and, although believed to be reliable, it has not been independently verified and its accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed.  Past performance is not indicative of future results.

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