Another I'm sick of gas prices. . .

[Staples]

Enviro nuts eh?

Sounds like Amused is pro lung and skin cancer since he believes pollution is so harmless.

I'd like to be able to eat oceanic fish without lethal amounts of mercury but that will soon be impossible.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: PanzerIV

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: PanzerIV
Jeff7181, this morning on the way to work they were mentioning that diesel engines can use vegetable oil with no modifications! I haven't heard of that before. Yes, that would be great for farmers. They said there was a place that was getting vegetable oil and reselling it for .90 cents a gallon in the NE.

It's possible... but more likely that they'd use grain alcohol since it burns cleaner and I'm 90% sure it produces more power than vegetable oil.

You may be right. I know nothing of alternative fuels other than snippets I've heard over the years. To my knowledge there aren't any available in my area even if I was interested in them.

I don't know a lot about it either... most of what I learned was in college... I had a class right next to the alternate fuels class, and they experimented with lots of different types of fuels on the engine dyno... they determined alcohol was the most cost effective when considering the cost to convert and engine to run on alcohol. All that was needed in the dyno room was a different carb with seals that could handle the alcohol and of course proper jetting since I believe the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio of alcohol is about 8:1 as opposed to 14.7:1 of gasoline. Also a special type of oil was required too since alcohol will completely wash regular oil off the cylinder walls.

But we're talking about diesels here.

Alcohol won't run in a diesel. At least, it is very hard to make alcohol a diesel fuel.

It has a very high octane number. That is exactly the opposite of what you want in a diesel fuel.

After doing some reading, I found out that diesel fuel actually has an extremely low octane rating... about 15-25 supposedly. That's news to me, I always thought diesel was more difficult to ignite than gasoline. I guess what I was remembering was an entirely different engine design than current diesel engines.

*EDIT* On second though, that's not news to me, lol. Just forgot I guess. I guess I have gas on the brain and didn't recall that diesel fuel isn't mixed with the air before the air is compressed... rather injected at the peak of compression and instantly ignites.

Another tid-bit I found to be interesting... gasoline engines maintain about a 14 or 15:1 air-fuel ratio at all times... a diesel engine at idle has about an 85-100:1 air fuel ratio, and about 25-30:1 at full load.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Lager
What about this thing called public transportation? Is it still around?

BWAHAHAHA!!! Thanks for the laugh. I haven't had a good laugh like that in a while.

It would take me 2 hours to go the 12 miles to work if I were to rely on public transportation.

Edit - It cost me $40 to fill the Maxima on Saturday.

Yes but think about all the trees you can be saving while wasting a thousand hours of your life every year. Just make sure you look before you sit though, who knows what present the last drunken drug riddled homeless guy left for you.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Lager
What about this thing called public transportation? Is it still around?

BWAHAHAHA!!! Thanks for the laugh. I haven't had a good laugh like that in a while.

It would take me 2 hours to go the 12 miles to work if I were to rely on public transportation.

Edit - It cost me $40 to fill the Maxima on Saturday.

Yes but think about all the trees you can be saving while wasting a thousand hours of your life every year. Just make sure you look before you sit though, who knows what present the last drunken drug riddled homeless guy left for you.

And if you're lucky - and bus travellers generally are - you'll be able to hear about a couple of white trash dudes talking extra loud about the chick they banged the night before. Fun times on public transportation 🙂

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Amused

You know, I don't see Mother Nature in any danger of dying. More fear mongering sensationalism from the environuts...

Screw mother nature, I care about myself. What I see is that we have a FINITE natural resource that we WILL run out of in the not so distant future, and I'd like very much if people stopped wasting it until we find a suitable replacement. Unfortunately as Skoorb has pointed out, people don't WANT to stop wasting it because that would require adjusting their way of life, even though they're just shooting themselves in the foot in the end.

I have no doubt the planet would do just fine without us here f-ing the whole thing up.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Amused

You know, I don't see Mother Nature in any danger of dying. More fear mongering sensationalism from the environuts...

Screw mother nature, I care about myself. What I see is that we have a FINITE natural resource that we WILL run out of in the not so distant future, and I'd like very much if people stopped wasting it until we find a suitable replacement. Unfortunately as Skoorb has pointed out, people don't WANT to stop wasting it because that would require adjusting their way of life, even though they're just shooting themselves in the foot in the end.

I have no doubt the planet would do just fine without us here f-ing the whole thing up.

ask skoorb pointed out, we cant really screw mother nature. we might screw it enuff by making it uninhabitable for us....but then mother nature is gonna screw us by killing us off. but after we're gone, nature will eventually heal and restore

 

[mugs]

That's what I was getting at.

 

[WolverineGator]

Originally posted by: foolish501
Get used to the high gas prices, with the dwindling gas supply, this is what america needs for the american car manufactuers to get off their butt and start developing more efficient engines and hybrid technology

Exactly right. I'm surprised how many people blame everything but the car manufacturers. Hybrids are the first step towards the future and we've had this technology for over a decade. We could all be driving 50mpg Expeditions TODAY if we had tooled the technology to work in vehicles.

Oh, and don't forget to blame yourself too for high gas prices. I look at the price and I blame myself and every other gas user in America and the world. Limited supply. Increasing demand.

 

[blahblah99]

$107 to fill up a ford expedition!

 

[TheBDB]

They should make SUVs with smaller gas tanks....that way people will stop bitching about how much it costs to fill up. I pay the same fvcking rate as you, my gas tank is just smaller. 😀

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I find agent smith's conclusion about the human race in the Matrix so spot-on:

AGENT SMITH: I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I've realized that you are not actually mammals.

AGENT SMITH: Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area.

AGENT SMITH: There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.

Absurd. Take away predators and the grazing population of mammals (let's use deer) will over graze and eat their surrounding resources until there is a huge starvation and death cycle.

ALL mammals will breed and feed until they use up their resources and die off, or are killed by predators. They do not possess some superior knowledge or instinct that tells them to stop breeding or using resources.

In fact, many speicies are migratory and over feed one area, then move on to the next.

Humans LIVE where they breed and feed. We have migrated just like ANY OTHER MAMMAL... that is, we have gone where we could when the means arrived. There are no great human waste lands that we have left behind to populate new areas, as we populate everyplace we have gone.

The only difference is, we have the ability to improve and increase the resources we live off of, other mammals do not.

Were such a bullsh!t theory true, Africa, Europe and the East would be one huge waste land incapable of supporting life. The opposite is true.

Skoorb, using movies as a source of philosophy is bad enough, but using such blatant bullsh!t is even worse. It is impossible to debate something with someone who has such irrational beliefs spoon fed to them by popular culture.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong

Originally posted by: akiraxtc

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
I do service work on computers/printers/robotics/etc. I drive as much if not more a day than you do in 2 weeks on my truck, and my wife uses 1 tank a week on her jeep. (she's a realtor though her office is only about 4 blocks from our house, she has to show people houses in town.)

I guess it's really worth it for you to get a hybrid.. it would offset the premium much faster than most people the way you drive 🙂

yea, I'm thinking of trading my truck in on an escape hybrid, (if gas prices continue to climb) but the hwy mpg is only 28 (only 8mpg more than my dakota), so it's not enough to justify the added cost of the vehicle payments yet.

A hybrid that only gets 28 mpg on the highway???? Damn... my Mirage with a 4-banger gets 32... 29 in the city...

The US automakers are (and Toyota-Lexus) are working on getting hybrid trucks out there quickly in order to bring their truck CAFE up. (Maybe we'll see more hybrid cars geared toward mileage from our automakers in a few more years, but the trucks are coming first.)

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: Aharami

if most drove cars that get atleast 25mpg highway, america would consume a LOT less gas...which would have a rippling effect on gas prices as well

That is HORRIBLE mileage. My dad's 80s boat car gets 30 on the highway, and around 8 in the city. If my dad's 4500lb, low compression, 5L, 4 barrel carb, V8 only gets 30 on the highway, I can't even imagine what kind of boat only gets 25. I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of a car thats 7000+ pounds....

30 on the highway and only 8 in town? Complete, utter horseshit.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: blahblah99
$107 to fill up a ford expedition!

Bullsh_t. Impossible. Expedition has around a 30 gallon tank, gas would have to be over $3 per gallon.
Even if you were an idiot and used premium, which is worthless in that vehicle, it wouldn't cost that much.

 

[KokomoGST]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
Lots. Toluene is like 100x as expensive as gasoline.

Yet strangely I know of a lot of people out in LI that are entertaining the idea of switching to race gas if regular pump goes to $3-4 a gallon... that's considering race gas is in the same range!

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: IGBT
Enjoy it while you can..when big ketchup becomes pres(kerry) he's going to tax the crabs out of us..punishment tax for using gas...

Yea because the price of Gas under Bush is so cheap

:roll:

While the admin has little to no control over the world market prices on oil (set in large part by OPEC) they do have control over how much gas is taxed in this country. Kerry has repeatedly, in his career, voted for higher federal gas taxes. Bush has never voted for higher gas taxes.

Maybe if you actually THOUGHT about the issue rather than make knee-jerk assesments, you'd see the point.

Maybe if you knew anything about economics you would know that it is a bad thing to have gas to cheap. So yes adding more tax when it gets low is a good thing. Look at this thread as an example. If gas prices were still in the high double digit to low dollar range everybody would still be looking at trucks/suvs/cars that get 13mph or 9mpg, etc? BUT with prices this high everybody is talking about hybrids, motorcycles, etc?

If Bush REALLY cared about the price of gas why not lower the tax now, or release the reserves, etc? Instead all his friends oil companies are making more money, Halliburton is raking it in, etc? the only ones losing with bush as president is the average person.

Releasing the reserves would have a low single digit effect on prices for a couple months. Hardly worth throwing away a supply meant for emergencies. And a gas tax cut would be great. Too bad the folks you love wont let it pass the house or senate without a filibuster.

Low prices are bad, huh? I guess for elitists like you who wish to dictate to others what they should drive and how much energy they should use, it is. But to normal people, it is not. And it does wonders for an economy. High gas prices, just like high tobacco taxes and all the other elitists taxes liberals impose hurt the poor the most... but then you claim to be fighting for the poor. Which is it?

In fact, it's been a long time since I've seen a post contradict itself so blatently. First you claim high prices and taxes are great and low gas prices are bad, then you cry about the "average person."

i suggest you look into basic microeconomics... gas tax cuts = higher income = higher demand for gas = higher gas prices

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I find agent smith's conclusion about the human race in the Matrix so spot-on:

AGENT SMITH: I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I've realized that you are not actually mammals.

AGENT SMITH: Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area.

AGENT SMITH: There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.

Absurd. Take away predators and the grazing population of mammals (let's use deer) will over graze and eat their surrounding resources until there is a huge starvation and death cycle.

ALL mammals will breed and feed until they use up their resources and die off, or are killed by predators. They do not possess some superior knowledge or instinct that tells them to stop breeding or using resources.

In fact, many speicies are migratory and over feed one area, then move on to the next.

Humans LIVE where they breed and feed. We have migrated just like ANY OTHER MAMMAL... that is, we have gone where we could when the means arrived. There are no great human waste lands that we have left behind to populate new areas, as we populate everyplace we have gone.

The only difference is, we have the ability to improve and increase the resources we live off of, other mammals do not.

Were such a bullsh!t theory true, Africa, Europe and the East would be one huge waste land incapable of supporting life. The opposite is true.

Skoorb, using movies as a source of philosophy is bad enough, but using such blatant bullsh!t is even worse. It is impossible to debate something with someone who has such irrational beliefs spoon fed to them by popular culture.

Why is it absurd? Sure, there are other mammals that fall victim to the same scenario, but it is only when the balance is thrown out of wack and there are no or very few predators. That's the thing. We have no predators.

Another significant difference between us and other mammals is our ability to move resources around. This ability allows us to live in these vast, paved-over, ecologically dead areas we call "cities". We don't have to extract the natural resources from where we live, because they are already gone. They are transported around the world to where they are needed by the resource company. This doesen't happen in the wild.

A city is a wasteland. It serves no ecological purpose, it is dead.

Why would Africa, Europe and the East be a huge wasteland? Because people have been there longer or something? It doesen't work like that, since we have never had access to such an abundant source of energy before. You have to remember that the resource in question has only been known for about 150 years.

In that 150 years, we have used half of the known reserves, about 900 billion barrels. It does not require rocket science to figure out that the second half will not be subject to the same usage curve as the first half, considering the population explosion that was a direct result of oil.

It is obvious that we cannot continue at our current pace.

What was the point of this discussion again? Oh yeah, that humans do not conserve.

I agree with Skoorb. They do not, unless they are forced to. It seems to be in our nature to ignore a problem until it is so incredibly pressing, we cannot ignore it anymore. We are going to see some sort of fuel or energy rationing in the future, whether its regulated by the free market, or whatever. The problem with the free market regulating it is that it will be just dandy for people with lots of money.. It won't be so easy for poor people.

If you fail to recognize that a resource(any applicable resource) is limited and un-renewable, you are short sighted and naive.

 

[episodic]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Freejack2
For those of you who say these price increases are nothing...
At the start of the year I was paying $1.499 a gallon. As of yesterday I'm paying $2.099 a gallon. That means I'm paying exactly 60 cents more a gallon. Add that to about 3400 miles a month getting 30mpg avg (K&N air filter but not the most fuel efficient driving habits) and that means I'm paying $68 more a month in fuel. That $68 has to come from somewhere and my employer sure isn't paying it.

The sad part is I have a fuel efficient car. Some of my coworkers are driving far less fuel efficient vehicles.

If 68 bucks a month puts a dent in your lifestyle, you are living beyond your means, plain and simple.

Well it is possible that he was living AT his means and now is living beyond them. Afterall $68 will pay for high speed internet and a landline. If you're only making $1700/month take home I can see how it could be a bit annoying. But for me I still like them because if they keep going we WILL see less urban-tanks on the road, whether in surveys people insist that they won't sell their SUV or not.

I'm living on 1200 a month takehome and have a family . . .

There is no public trans here, or I'd gladly take it.

Someone hollering saying that 68$ should not put a dent in my lifestyle needs to THINK before they speak. . .

 

[monk3y]

Went up from $2.00 to $2.04 It's not much but if it keeps going up there's no telling where it'll stop.

 

[episodic]

Originally posted by: InstincT
Went up from $2.00 to $2.04 It's not much but if it keeps going up there's no telling where it'll stop.

No, it went up from 1.35 to 2.04 - in just the last few months. Don't forget the incrementalism make it easy to minimize the impact.

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: Amused
It's $5-6 bucks more a tank to fill up my Passat. While disapointing, it's not the freakin' end of the world.

What makes me laugh is people blaming the present admin for this. If Kerry and his ilk had their way, gas would be $5+ a gallon.

Another funny thing are the polls showing so many people changing their summer travel plans due to gas prices. WTF? The average interstate road trip will cost $40 more in gas. If $40 breaks the bank maybe they shouldn't be traveling, but working.

It's all psychological. If the average person actually had the ability to analyze a situation, they wouldn't be cancelling trips over this (unless they are using some kind of see the great smokey mountains on $10 a day book).

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: episodic

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Freejack2
For those of you who say these price increases are nothing...
At the start of the year I was paying $1.499 a gallon. As of yesterday I'm paying $2.099 a gallon. That means I'm paying exactly 60 cents more a gallon. Add that to about 3400 miles a month getting 30mpg avg (K&N air filter but not the most fuel efficient driving habits) and that means I'm paying $68 more a month in fuel. That $68 has to come from somewhere and my employer sure isn't paying it.

The sad part is I have a fuel efficient car. Some of my coworkers are driving far less fuel efficient vehicles.

If 68 bucks a month puts a dent in your lifestyle, you are living beyond your means, plain and simple.

Well it is possible that he was living AT his means and now is living beyond them. Afterall $68 will pay for high speed internet and a landline. If you're only making $1700/month take home I can see how it could be a bit annoying. But for me I still like them because if they keep going we WILL see less urban-tanks on the road, whether in surveys people insist that they won't sell their SUV or not.

I'm living on 1200 a month takehome and have a family . . .

There is no public trans here, or I'd gladly take it.

Someone hollering saying that 68$ should not put a dent in my lifestyle needs to THINK before they speak. . .

First of all, you weren't the one claiming to drive 3400 miles per month, and basically admitting to being a lead foot.
Secondly, if you only make 1200 a month, then IMO, you need to be out working a second job or trying to get a better one, instead of posting here 11+ times per day.
I would imagine, however, that you have better sense than to drive a gas guzzler given your particular budget.

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: TheAudit
We don?t need oil, the U.S. needs more refineries to convert the oil to gasoline, that?s the problem. There hasn?t been a new refinery built here in 20 years.

The refinery situation in the US is terrible.

 

[episodic]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: episodic

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Freejack2
For those of you who say these price increases are nothing...
At the start of the year I was paying $1.499 a gallon. As of yesterday I'm paying $2.099 a gallon. That means I'm paying exactly 60 cents more a gallon. Add that to about 3400 miles a month getting 30mpg avg (K&N air filter but not the most fuel efficient driving habits) and that means I'm paying $68 more a month in fuel. That $68 has to come from somewhere and my employer sure isn't paying it.

The sad part is I have a fuel efficient car. Some of my coworkers are driving far less fuel efficient vehicles.

If 68 bucks a month puts a dent in your lifestyle, you are living beyond your means, plain and simple.

Well it is possible that he was living AT his means and now is living beyond them. Afterall $68 will pay for high speed internet and a landline. If you're only making $1700/month take home I can see how it could be a bit annoying. But for me I still like them because if they keep going we WILL see less urban-tanks on the road, whether in surveys people insist that they won't sell their SUV or not.

I'm living on 1200 a month takehome and have a family . . .

There is no public trans here, or I'd gladly take it.

Someone hollering saying that 68$ should not put a dent in my lifestyle needs to THINK before they speak. . .

First of all, you weren't the one claiming to drive 3400 miles per month, and basically admitting to being a lead foot.
Secondly, if you only make 1200 a month, then IMO, you need to be out working a second job or trying to get a better one, instead of posting here 11+ times per day.
I would imagine, however, that you have better sense than to drive a gas guzzler given your particular budget.

I am in school and work full time. I do not drive 3400 a month, you are correct, but what makes me angry is when people minimize the impact this is having on lower income people? The reason I only bring home 1200 a month? Health insurance premiums and taxes. . . I post here alot cause I don't have the money to go and drive and do anything else 😛

I messed up when I saw that post, but even speaking for that guy, 68$ a month is alot for people that are already nickle and dimed to death here and there for every new tax or surcharge that everyone can come up with.

I do drive about 4000 miles ever 3 months. My car (a corsica) averages 25 miles a gallon (probably less in the city, but I'll use that never the less). This means I need 160 gallons to travel that far. Gas has went up from around 1.35 here to 2.02. That is .68c a gallon. That is an extra 108$ every three months for me.
Yes that is alot for me.

 

[EmperorIQ]

i just paid 27 bucks for an integra ls