The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls

Main => Everything Else => Topic started by: ChadTower on September 21, 2005, 05:04:58 pm

Title: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 21, 2005, 05:04:58 pm

They're already preparing people for the next level of gouging. (http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/21/news/economy/rita_threat/index.htm)
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Dartful Dodger on September 21, 2005, 05:22:34 pm
This shouldn't be happening, we just took over a small country full of oil.

If there's not enough oil in Iraq to feed us, we should just go into Iran.  We'll need a new cover story though, the masses wont buy WMD again.  Although it didn't take them long to forget about the towers ...and the news has been reporting Iran developing nuclear power....


We need to stop Iran from developing WMD, and we need to do it now, my car is at half a tank of gas.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: mr.Curmudgeon on September 21, 2005, 05:26:47 pm

You act like you are joking, but you are not.


mrC
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Crazy Cooter on September 21, 2005, 05:54:36 pm
If we invade Iran, it will destroy Iraq.  Iraqs banking system is dependent on Iran.  Then we'll have another country that is a mess besides Afghanistan, Iraq, and the US.

Just fill your tank from the neighbors cars for a few days. :angel:
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: mr.Curmudgeon on September 21, 2005, 05:58:00 pm
Again, I ask when the heroic Dartful Dodger plans on fighting in any of these wars? Or is he just going to sit comfortably behind his keyboard, pontificating, while other people die... just so he can get cheap gas?
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: DYNAGOD on September 21, 2005, 06:04:39 pm
(http://www.wolfpackunit.com/images/Humungous.jpg)
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Dartful Dodger on September 21, 2005, 06:11:03 pm
My desk isn't that comfortable.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: paigeoliver on September 21, 2005, 06:23:18 pm
I love the Mad Max movies, unfortunately "The Road Warrior" is massively implausible. A bunch of guys with no gas driving around out in the desert in big V8s  looking for gas. The situation of the biker gangs wouldn't have been sustainable for more than a few days.

The other two are much more plausible.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Sephroth57 on September 21, 2005, 10:05:38 pm
::wonders if he should download mad max:: ... crazy 80s movies

although i gotta say, they dont make movies like they used to.. whether or not thats a good thing i dunno but conan the destroyer wins for life!!
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: paigeoliver on September 21, 2005, 11:10:37 pm
And REALLY don't the people who write those articles buy gasoline?

All it takes is one schmuck to write an article for a major news outlet claiming gasoline with hit price-X because of "temporary situation Y" and BOOM it happens.

If things continue along like they are now then I will be moving to one of the highrise apartments downtown, getting a job downtown, and not driving at all. Biggest thing stopping me is that I don't want to try to make new friends (or look for a new job).
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Zakk on September 21, 2005, 11:12:53 pm
Gas just hit $2.00 a litre here.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: paigeoliver on September 21, 2005, 11:15:10 pm
Gas just hit $2.00 a litre here.  That's about $7.58 a US gallon.  The hurricane hasn't even hit anything yet!  Oh, but I'm sure we're not getting gouged or anything, oh no.  >:(

Yes, but everyplace with gasoline prices like that get public services that dwarf those in America.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: jbox on September 22, 2005, 03:09:29 am
Quote
Yes, but everyplace with gasoline prices like that get public services that dwarf those in America.
Nah, those services are free.  ;D
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: danny_galaga on September 22, 2005, 06:01:57 am
Gas just hit $2.00 a litre here.  That's about $7.58 a US gallon.  The hurricane hasn't even hit anything yet!  Oh, but I'm sure we're not getting gouged or anything, oh no.  >:(

cool! where are you? thats more than in australia!  ;D
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 22, 2005, 07:33:44 am
And REALLY don't the people who write those articles buy gasoline?

No, the people that write those articles SELL gasoline.


Quote
If things continue along like they are now then I will be moving to one of the highrise apartments downtown, getting a job downtown, and not driving at all. Biggest thing stopping me is that I don't want to try to make new friends (or look for a new job).

Funny, I was just saying in another thread people could do this sort of thing to avoid buying gasoline.  Other folks were all of the opinion that it wasn't possible, that society as a whole had to change before someone could stop buying gas.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Thenasty on September 22, 2005, 08:54:49 am
yey!!!! Lets do MAMBO # 5  who's next after RITA ?
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 22, 2005, 09:05:03 am

I thought they were supposed to be alphabetical?  How did it go from K to R?
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: abrannan on September 22, 2005, 09:20:12 am

I thought they were supposed to be alphabetical?  How did it go from K to R?

Well, Ophelia sat over NC's Outer Banks for a few days.  Most of the others turned north into the atlantic well before they got to land.
Remaining names for 2005:

Stan
Tammy
Vince
Wilma

After that, it goes to the Greek alphabet
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml







As for the Gas Situation and Iraq.  Crude oil supply isn't the problem, it's refining capacity.  We've got plenty of crude, even before OPEC upped production.  Our problem is that the gas companies have been shutting down refineries over the past several years due to high production costs.  Unfortunately, they're not something you can bring back online overnight.  So when the hurricane shuts down the refineries along the gulf coast, that hits a significant portion of our refining capacity.  Eggs all in one basket, anyone?
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 22, 2005, 09:23:12 am

So, with that in mind, why do we have a strategic crude reserve but not a strategic refined reserve?
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: abrannan on September 22, 2005, 09:30:45 am
Flexibility.  You can turn crude into any of a number of petroleum products as needed, but once it's refined, you've locked yourself into one product.  If it were a heating oil shortage, and our reserves had all already been refined to gasoline, we'd be up a creek, freezing our butts off.

The problem is the same as what led to NO being flooded.  Inadequate risk analysis being performed on our infrastructure.  Yes, having refining capacity at the mouth of the Mississippi river allows us to distribute the gasoline all throughout the middle United States, but putting too large a percentage of our refining capacity in one geographic area leaves us vulnerable to a natural disaster. 
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 22, 2005, 09:45:34 am
Flexibility.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: missioncontrol on September 22, 2005, 11:24:30 am
I just got gas (because my truck was on E)for $2.65 same as pre-Katrina but I did notice on the way home a few stations had allready bumped back up to $2.99 there were more people than usuall getting gas but no massive gas lines yet.....


Everybody relax get gas when you usually do and tell your friends and family the same.

Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: abrannan on September 22, 2005, 02:28:10 pm
I just got gas (because my truck was on E)

Brilliant!  Running vehicles on Ecstasy! 
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Thenasty on September 22, 2005, 04:34:36 pm
Everybody relax get gas when you usually do and tell your friends and family the same.


I told everyone, when they have to make GAS, aim for my gastank  :o

Right now, where I am, its @ 2.80, thats the cheapest I've around. It was $3.45 at some point a week or 2 ago..
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Stingray on September 22, 2005, 04:35:52 pm
Still one station near where I live that has it for $2.43, everywhere else is about $2.60ish.

-S
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Sephroth57 on September 22, 2005, 11:54:22 pm
im not really one to go to a different gas station if i know its .10 cheaper then the one im driving by. whats it saving me,  1$? its not worth the time/effort to drive over to a different place
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: DrewKaree on September 23, 2005, 01:47:55 am

I told everyone, when they have to make GAS, aim for my gastank  :o


.....snags the title for today of "worst joke posted on the forum" ::)

Chad, if they had BOTH types of strategic reserves, then we'd be hearing everyone question why we don't have a heating oil strategic reserve, a diesel strategic reserve, a kerosene strategic reserve......there's simply no end to the reserves our government "should" be...um....reserving.

Whatever happened to the car that ran on puppies, kittens, and baby seals?
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 23, 2005, 08:50:48 am
Chad, if they had BOTH types of strategic reserves, then we'd be hearing everyone question why we don't have a heating oil strategic reserve, a diesel strategic reserve, a kerosene strategic reserve......there's simply no end to the reserves our government "should" be...um....reserving.

People can scream for those things all they want, but we both know that a refined gasoline reserve would be a strong strategic move.  And who says that having smaller reserves of other types of fuel is a bad thing?  If the government can take another country on a whim, build a billion dollar, impenetrable city sized bunker in a mountain for its leaders and then abandon it, we should be able to keep a few hundred thousand gallons of kerosene in the middle of Nevada.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: abrannan on September 23, 2005, 09:38:16 am
How large a strategic reserve of gas do you want?  The 2005 numbers for Ohio (first report I could find) http://www.house.gov/strickland/2005GasReportFinal.htm indicate about 465 million gallons per month.  Multiply that by 50, and for a one month national supply, you're talking roughly 9 billlion gallons of gasoline.   Find a place in this NIMBY world of ours that will accept  having 9 billion gallons of highly volatile fuel stored.  Find a politician who can answer and weather the constant barrage of criticism (OMG! Gas prices have gone up 10 cents this week! Why aren't we tapping into the reserve to relieve the burden on consumers!  You're in the pocket of big oil!  Ooh!  Have you seen the new H3?)

What we need is Federally mandated strategic refining capacity.  Oil companies must be able to maintain, regardless of disaster, a minimum level of refining capacity.  If that means paying some upkeep on inactive, but usable, refineries, then work out some level of burden sharing between the government and the oil producers. 
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 23, 2005, 09:44:45 am
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Sephroth57 on September 23, 2005, 10:39:12 am
that, plus underground storage
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 23, 2005, 10:54:51 am

Well, yeah, you would build your strategic reserve underground in the desert of Nevada.  It wouldn't do much good to have billions of gallons of combustible liquid in the desert sun 24/7.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Stingray on September 23, 2005, 11:00:04 am
The sun in Nevada stays out 24 hours a day? No wonder it's so hot there. ;)

-S
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: danny_galaga on September 23, 2005, 09:44:50 pm
Flexibility.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Crazy Cooter on September 24, 2005, 03:08:18 pm
  Find a place in this NIMBY world of ours that will accept  having 9 billion gallons of highly volatile fuel stored.

There are places, like the deserts in Arizona and Nevada, where it could be 75 miles from the nearest place that anyone gives a crap about.

Our burned up plutonium is being buried out there.

You have to ask yourself: if you were a refinery, why would you up production?  You're making record profits right now.  I wouldn't change a thing (as a refiner).  I'd wait for federal grants.  Why spend your money when someone will give some to you for free?
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 24, 2005, 03:27:56 pm

If I were the Secretary of Defense, I would ask myself:

What would happen if the flow of gasoline in the US were completely interrupted?  Would our military be crippled?  Would we be able to adequately defend ourself, or sustain our economy?

A refinery would sell a billion gallons to the gov't.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: deadmoney5 on September 24, 2005, 04:57:48 pm
We can double the power of computers every year...we can clone animals...we can go the moon and back easily...we can do things medically that can blow your mind......

yet...cars still run on gasoline

I think if someone was just about to come up with an alternative to gas, that person would be silently killed...

it's all a conspiracy >:(
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: missioncontrol on September 24, 2005, 06:49:43 pm
The gas stations have come up with a new way to raise the prices in our area:


After Katrina we went through gas lines and stations running out of gas.

here's what the stations are doing now:

They are placing bags over a few pumps and then raising the prices to make it appear that they are running out of gas just to scare the consumer into filling up their tanks.

If I'm not mistaking wouldn't all the pumps for each grade of fuel come out of the same underground tanks...It shouldn't be well this pump is out of 87 octane but that other one has it and that pump is out of 89 octane but that other one beside it has some...

Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Crazy Cooter on September 24, 2005, 06:56:08 pm

They are placing bags over a few pumps and then raising the prices to make it appear that they are running out of gas just to scare the consumer into filling up their tanks.


There was a station that got busted doing that.  I don't have a link for the story though.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: missioncontrol on September 24, 2005, 07:19:50 pm
hmmmmmmm, so I wonder where the best place to report this activity would be.

Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 25, 2005, 11:20:08 am
There was a station that got busted doing that.  I don't have a link for the story though.

It IS possible that those pumps failed... but not likely.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Crazy Cooter on September 25, 2005, 11:25:34 am
Not for the station in the story I read.  The feds stood and made them turn the pumps back on.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 25, 2005, 12:12:05 pm

But did they make them change the price?  Who cares if they turn off pumps, it's the price change that matters.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: missioncontrol on September 25, 2005, 01:08:28 pm
There was a station that got busted doing that.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: DarkKobold on September 26, 2005, 11:35:59 am
We can double the power of computers every year...we can clone animals...we can go the moon and back easily...we can do things medically that can blow your mind......

yet...cars still run on gasoline

I think if someone was just about to come up with an alternative to gas, that person would be silently killed...

it's all a conspiracy >:(

Theres only been about 300 movies made on this topic.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Level42 on September 26, 2005, 04:17:15 pm
You guys still don't know how lucky you are. I live in the country with the highest petrol prices IN THE WORLD. All because of a governement that cannot do it's job effeciently and spends money the wrong way (yes I worked at ministeries for some years, so I KNOW). So it simply raises taxes.

Although I'm not sure this is worse compared to US government policies at the moment. Your country is SO bankrupt, and you know what monkey to blame...

Lucky for me, I'll have a company car again next week, including one of those neat little tank-cards :) (AND enough room to transport a cab :):):) )

Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 26, 2005, 04:20:01 pm

I have no idea what that guy just said.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Stingray on September 26, 2005, 04:25:14 pm
He said his gas costs more than ours. He also implied that Bush is some kind of monkey. He's right on both counts.

-S
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Sephroth57 on September 26, 2005, 04:29:50 pm
yeah im pretty fortunate to live like 5 miles from my work. i drop a 20$ in my tank once every week and a half and im good
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on September 26, 2005, 07:03:59 pm

His car runs on actual cash.  That's probably the next thing in cars.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: abrannan on September 27, 2005, 09:06:37 am
Hey, it's a great way to eliminate the middleman. 
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: missioncontrol on October 01, 2005, 07:29:37 pm
This Should Explain It All...

A lot of folks can't understandhow we came to have an oil shortage here in our country. Well, there's a very simple answer.

Nobody bothered to check the oil. We just didn't know we were getting low.

The reason for that is purely geographical.

Our OIL is located in:

Alaska
California
Coastal Florida
Coastal Louisiana
Kansas
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Texas

Our DIPSTICKS are located in Washington DC.

Any Questions
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Stingray on October 03, 2005, 09:35:09 am
No much oil left in Oklahoma, sadly.

-S
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on October 03, 2005, 09:38:23 am

But the dipsticks remain.
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: Stingray on October 03, 2005, 09:41:30 am
I'm sorry to say that I saw that one coming. I set it up though, you had no choice but to knock it down. ;D

-S
Title: Re: Whee, $5/gallon
Post by: ChadTower on October 03, 2005, 09:44:20 am

I felt obligated.