A recitation of much of the Acts of the Apostles

I ran across this:

The Acts of the Apostles from Veritas [3] on Vimeo.


Food for thought. END

Apple posts the largest quarterly profit in history, US$ 18 bn

According to Financial Times of the UK, the surge was due to iPhone sales (iPhone 6 was launched), 74.5 million units, though iPad sales are apparently not as buoyant. The total number of iOS devices sold by Apple since 2007 is now a billion. Apple's stock price is US$ 116.49 just now, and market capitalisation is US$ 679.17 bn.

A vid:




Food for thought. END

Carl Icahn expects oil price to continue down, with Saudis pushing . . .

At CNBC:


Currently, WTI is at US$47.78 and Brent at $49.03 on this blog's ticker. Let's see. END

Matt 24 watch, 255 : Egypt's President Al-Sisi calls for reformation of Islam, at the leading Islamic University Al-Azhar (which is in Egypt)

MEMRI has thoughtfully clipped and subtitled a challenge issued to Al Azhar University by Egypt's president Al Sisi:




Newsmax summarises key points:

In a bold yet little-reported speech, The President of Egypt has directly confronted Islamic leaders in his country and challenged them to stand against extremism in their religion.
"We are in need of a religious revolution," President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi told imams on New Years Day at al-Azhar University in Cairo. The speech commemorated the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
"You, imams, are responsible before Allah," el-Sisi said. "The entire world … is waiting for your next move … because [the Islamic world] is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost — and it is being lost by our own hands." . . . . 

"We have to think hard about what we are facing," he said. "It’s inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause the entire [Islamic world] to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world. Impossible!
"Is it possible that 1.6 billion people [Muslims] should want to kill the rest of the world’s inhabitants — that is 7 billion — so that they themselves may live? Impossible!
"You cannot feel it if you remain trapped within this mindset," el-Sisi said. "You need to step outside of yourselves to be able to observe it and reflect on it from a more enlightened perspective.”

 That is both sobering and refreshing. But, obviously Al Sisi is putting his life on the line to speak out like this.

And, we need to ask ourselves just why it is, we have not had this speech headlined as focal world news. 

For, surely, this is a pivotal statement. END

PS: And, it is time for us to be thinking about the true religious revolution -- the good news of Jesus:

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel from Slaves4Christ on Vimeo.

Crude oil price trend now in mid $40's -- shale oil lockout?

A snapshot of crude oil price trends for West Texas Intermediate over the past twelve months is revealing:

 This is now at a point where even the least cost shale oil producers should be concerned.

Let us follow the trend, to see if prices will rebound as shale oil gets locked out. END

Current Crude Oil price -- good new year news!

Just now, I took a snapshot from the right hand column of this blog:

Amazing, and good news for us, as this trend indicates a strong downward pressure on oil, which has dropped by 50% in recent months.

Of course, it is likely that the Saudis are trying to squeeze the shale oil providers (whose profitability points seem to range from about US$40 to 70/bbl), and the frackers, but this directly implies that they face competition. 

Serious competition.

On the analogy of the 1980's, this may be a sign that the global economy is likely to pick up steam over the next several years, overcoming the prolonged stagnation and waves of crises since about 2008, when oil surged as the market tightened and as the Saudis controlled what little spare capacity there was.

Notice, the global oil consumption trend:

For many of us in the Caribbean, the reduction in cost of oil suggests a rise in travel, hence tourism. As well, prices will trend down or at least less inflationary.

On the whole, good news. END