Writing
Twelve essays, two tracks
Written for this site and published nowhere else. The history essays are about the research, not a retelling of the book. The energy essays are about how decisions get made, not what to buy.
Texas history and the archive
8 essays-
5 min readWhy Texas Drew Its Counties A Day Ride Wide
Nine hundred square miles, a seat near the center, and a rule of thumb about a horse.
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5 min readWhat The Semicolon Court Actually Ruled In 1874
A ruling everyone mocks and almost nobody has read, taken one clause at a time.
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5 min readWhat A Newcomer Found In Waco In 1850
Four sources, four towns, and the method for deciding which one to write down.
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5 min readThe Bureau Records Most Texas Histories Skip
Labor contracts, grievance registers and monthly reports from agents who had every reason to write things down.
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5 min readThe 1876 Constitution Was Written Against A Memory
Why a constitution that limits everyone is best read as a reaction, and how the sources fought over what it was reacting to.
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4 min readRestoring A Courthouse Means Choosing Its Year
The period of significance is a choice, and the building's own paperwork usually makes it for you.
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5 min readA County Brand Register Is A Census Of Ownership
A ledger of burned symbols, kept by clerks who had no reason to shade it.
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5 min readA Town Plat Shows Where The Railroad Was Expected
Streets named for a line that never arrived, and what that tells you about the year they were drawn.
Energy investing through the cycle
4 essays-
4 min readWhat A Yard Tells You Before The Numbers Do
Iron that has been washed, iron that has not, and the one door in the office that was closed.
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6 min readThe First Ninety Days After The Price Breaks
A board meeting in the third week of a downturn, and the order of operations that follows from it.
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5 min readThe Case Against Buying At The Bottom
Everyone says buy at the bottom. The best case against it is better than most people who repeat the slogan have heard.
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4 min readDebt Maturities Matter More Than Leverage
The ratio on the first page of the board book, and the schedule on page forty that actually decides things.
Elsewhere
The pieces published on his own channels are separate from these and are not mirrored here. An RSS feed covers the essays on this site only.