Gasoline Madness;When to Stop

[Bill, KD0HG]

Ya know, this is not a perfect world. I'm not punching a clock and not always here.

Just try to remember, NO politics, especially the partisan kind.

[WA1GFZ]

So that means no political comments from third class members

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I don't see any partisan politics in the article posted by Jared. It blasted Congress not a party or person.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Steve, please check the bucket.
Jared's post wasn't the issue.

[KA1ZGC]

Steve, please check the bucket.
Jared's post wasn't the issue.

To the ordinary user, it looked like you were admonishing Jared. We don't have access to "the bucket", so how are we supposed to know who you're scolding?

We're not punching a clock, and we're not always here, either. Sorry.

[Joe Long]

Must be a Colorado thing.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Let it go fellas. Bill was right and I was wrong. The offending post was deleted. Carry on.

[ka3zlr]

Oh you know I never gave that a thought, Yes Sir the price of tires will go up..I never thought about that...I mean i realize prices are going to increase but just the way Bill put that..caught me right off guard...

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I bought my tires last year; I saved money. Icoms are going up in price. Price increase on knobs and buttons.

[k4kyv]

I just got the monthly magazine our power company sends out.  In this month's issue is an article that explains why in the next decade, "US consumers will be exposed to rising and volatile electricity prices beyond anything experienced to date".  More electricity is being produced with natural gas, as nuke plants are slow to be built and approval of additional polluting coal fired plants is being halted.  Natural gas prices have risen 93 per cent since August 2007, well beyond historic averages.

As more electricity is produced with gas, we will start to experience price shocks on our electric bills and in the marketplace, where many products and their components are manufactured using natural gas.

US no longer has enough domestic natural gas to support its current growth needs, and Canada is lowering its export projections because it needs the gas for its own consumption.  This will leave the US dependent on imported liquefied natural gas, with the  largest natural gas reserves located in some of the world's most politically unstable areas.  And the US will have to compete for gas in the volatile global market.

I just heard on the news to-day that Dow Chemical is planning a 20% across the board increase in the prices of all its products.  This will result in sharply higher prices for many household items in addition to gasoline and fuel.

The dollarette is losing buying power by the day.  Everything is going up in price; however, our salaries, wages and pensions are not increasing proportionally.  The bottom line is that most of us are now experiencing a drastic cut in pay.  In this state, due to falling tax revenues, teachers and other state employees may not be able to receive their promised 2% cost-of-living adjustment for the coming year.

Whopeediddle!

[ka3zlr]

The Tire post caught me because as i read that the thought came to me I need to get a new set of tires for my youngest daughter Kimberly, on her cavalier..the need to do list of things popped up.

 I'm off today to get my Ranger serviced, I believe in that, Dealer vehicle servicing and following through on that schedule and keeping it documented, what ever the Dealers offer i take advantage of...it's there use it...

 On the economic side of things, pay increases are going to be a big topic, and a big question...what will be possible to get under this new set of circumstances..now that more is needed the usual or normal increases as always is never enough but now will be even less for the costs involved. another battle...and Fixed income takes another hit..

I do hope we're all equitably Happy out there, when all these increases take effect it's going to be a Circus..

 





 


 

[Bill, KD0HG]

Ah, the good old days of almost free diesel fuel are over.
----------------------------------

As Oil Prices Soar, Restaurant Grease Thefts Rise

By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: May 30, 2008

The bandit pulled his truck to the back of a Burger King in Northern California one afternoon last month armed with a hose and a tank. After rummaging around assorted restaurant rubbish, he dunked a tube into a smelly storage bin and, the police said, vacuumed out about 300 gallons of grease.
Nick Damianidis, an owner of Olympia Pizza and Pasta in Arlington, Wash., has had oil stolen.

The man was caught before he could slip away. In his truck, the police found 2,500 gallons of used fryer grease, indicating that the Burger King had not been his first fast-food craving of the day.

Outside Seattle, cooking oil rustling has become such a problem that the owners of the Olympia Pizza and Pasta Restaurant in Arlington, Wash., are considering using a surveillance camera to keep watch on its 50-gallon grease barrel. Nick Damianidis, an owner, said the barrel had been hit seven or eight times since last summer by siphoners who strike in the night.

“Fryer grease has become gold,” Mr. Damianidis said. “And just over a year ago, I had to pay someone to take it away.”

Much to the surprise of Mr. Damianidis and many other people, processed fryer oil, which is called yellow grease, is actually not trash. The grease is traded on the booming commodities market. Its value has increased in recent months to historic highs, driven by the even higher prices of gas and ethanol, making it an ever more popular form of biodiesel to fuel cars and trucks.

In 2000, yellow grease was trading for 7.6 cents per pound. On Thursday, its price was about 33 cents a pound, or almost $2.50 a gallon. (That would make the 2,500-gallon haul in the Burger King case worth more than $6,000.)

Biodiesel is derived by processing vegetable oil or animal fat with alcohol. It is increasingly available around the country, but it is expensive. With the right kind of conversion kit (easily found on the Internet) anyone can turn discarded cooking oil into a usable engine fuel that can burn on its own, or as a cheap additive to regular diesel.

“The last time kids broke in here they went for the alcohol,” said Mr. Damianidis, who fries chicken wings and cheese sticks. “Obviously they’re stealing oil because it’s worth something.”

While there have been reports of thefts in multiple states, law enforcement officials do not compile national statistics and it remains unclear whether this is part of a passing trend or something more serious.

The suspects in a growing number of grease infractions fall into a range of categories, people interviewed on the matter said, as grease theft is a crime of opportunity. They include do-it-yourself environmentalists worried about their carbon footprints, warring waste management firms trying to beat each other on the sly, and petty thieves who are profiting from the oil’s rising value on the black market.

“It’s a new oddity,” said Officer Seth Hanson of the Federal Way Police Department, near Tacoma, Wash. He said thefts occur outside at least a couple of restaurants there each week. “We’re trying to get an eyeball on how well-organized it is, if at all. To date, we haven’t been very successful in finding anybody.”

Thefts have been reported in at least 20 states, said Christopher A. Griffin, whose family owns Griffin Industries, one of the largest grease collection and rendering companies in the country. The problem has gotten so bad, Mr. Griffin has hired two detectives to investigate thefts around the country.

“Theft is theft,” said Mr. Griffin, who is based in Cold Spring, Ky. “I don’t care if you’re stealing grease or if you’re stealing diamonds.”

Fryer oil from a restaurant that does a high volume of frying one kind of food — for example, a fried-chicken chain — is at a premium because of its relative purity. The large-scale producers of grease, restaurants mostly, own their old oil and in recent months have even made a small profit by selling it to collectors.

Because of the grease’s rancid odor, most restaurants usually store it out back with the trash.

“Once you put something in the trash, it’s abandoned property,” said Jon A. Jaworski, a lawyer in Houston who represents accused grease thieves. “A lot of times, it’s not theft.”

Even so, most restaurant owners and grease collectors say that grease is not free for the taking.

“There’s a new fight for the product, definitely a whole new demand sector,” said Bill Smith, a market reporter for Urner Barry’s Yellow Sheet, an industry newsletter that tracks yellow grease. “Grease theft is becoming a bigger and bigger issue.”

[k4kyv]

I can remember when the power company would leave huge rolls of copper wire on the side of the road for weeks at a time during power line construction or overhauling, and no-one would bother it.

[K6JEK]

In the category of "You think you've got trouble"  get a load of the pain in Europe where they already drive small cars -- $8.20/gallon.  Check out the gas tax rates:  US 12%, Canada 27%, Britain, Germany, France > 60%.   Favorite quote: "... I try to be fond of the Warsaw metro"

Next will be an artilcle about how tough it is in the Middle East.  They just can't figure out what to do with all that money ...
-------------------------------------
BUSINESS   | May 30, 2008
Irate Europeans Protest the Soaring Price of Gasoline
By KATRIN BENNHOLD
European governments, already under pressure from slowing economic growth and falling tax revenue, are concerned that anger over higher gas prices could grow.

http://tinyurl.com/5osfm6

[ka3zlr]

 It's amazing what will happen under stress, times of need..I was talking with my neighbor today on fuel and feed costs, our biggest Neighbor who manages quit a large acreage Dairy is consuming 5 grand a week just in diesel, and we're just going into hay season...when this catches up..? there will be more foreclosure's in the farming community...

 As far as Europe I have no opinion I'm not there I'm here, and here is original enough for me..

 

[W8EJO]

I just got the monthly magazine our power company sends out.  In this month's issue is an article that explains why in the next decade, "US consumers will be exposed to rising and volatile electricity prices beyond anything experienced to date".  More electricity is being produced with natural gas, as nuke plants are slow to be built and approval of additional polluting coal fired plants is being halted.  Natural gas prices have risen 93 per cent since August 2007, well beyond historic averages.20% across the board increase[/url] in the prices of all its products.  This will result in sharply higher prices for many household items in addition to gasoline and fuel.

The dollarette is losing buying power by the day.  Everything is going up in price; however, our salaries, wages and pensions are not increasing proportionally.  The bottom line is that most of us are now experiencing a drastic cut in pay.  In this state, due to falling tax revenues, teachers and other state employees may not be able to receive their promised 2% cost-of-living adjustment for the coming year.

Whopeediddle!

This is exactly the result the radical enviromenatlists seek: the death of the American economy. It's also the predicatble result of our politicians listening to their blather.
No nuke plants, no coal plants, no oil drilling, no new gas wells no nothing never.

Here's a petition we can all sign. Maybe it will help:

http://www.americansolutions.com/actioncenter/petitions/?Guid=54ec6e43-75a8-445b-aa7b-346a1e096659

[ka3zlr]

I'd be more inclined just to Remind, Put Forth, and Demand Adherence to the Constitution of these United States...as a beginning...

[K6JEK]

I just got the monthly magazine our power company sends out.  In this month's issue is an article that explains why in the next decade, "US consumers will be exposed to rising and volatile electricity prices beyond anything experienced to date".  More electricity is being produced with natural gas, as nuke plants are slow to be built and approval of additional polluting coal fired plants is being halted.  Natural gas prices have risen 93 per cent since August 2007, well beyond historic averages.

As more electricity is produced with gas, we will start to experience price shocks on our electric bills and in the marketplace, where many products and their components are manufactured using natural gas.

US no longer has enough domestic natural gas to support its current growth needs, and Canada is lowering its export projections because it needs the gas for its own consumption.  This will leave the US dependent on imported liquefied natural gas, with the  largest natural gas reserves located in some of the world's most politically unstable areas.  And the US will have to compete for gas in the volatile global market.
...

Thanks, Don.

This is making me feel better about the furnace decision. The gas fired beast gave up.  The question was what to use as the booster for the new heat pump, natural gas or resistive heat?  Conventional wisdom out here is natural gas. I chose electric instead on the theory I can control that -- more solar panels if I have to but I have no control over the natural gas.   I checked with the solar panel company.  The price has stayed the same but they've gone from 205 watts per panel to 225.  I may strike now, boost the juice before they decide to boost the price. 

[Bill, KD0HG]

I cope by working on sales remotes almost every Saturday for a few extra $$. Like today, raise mast, turn Marti transmitter on, plug in a mic and headphones for the talent, do an aircheck, and off we go!

---------------------------------------------

"Hey, this is Les Nessman for KXYZ out at Cowboy Ford... Out on the Highway 85 bypass at Cheyenne, Wyoming!

We got yer F-150s... we got yer F-250s, we got yer Superduties, we got yer 6-speeds and sm-o-o-o-t-h Ford automatics!

We got deals!

You push, you pull, you drag in your trade and we'll give you a THOUSAND dollars trade for it!

Check out our 25 acres of used cars and truck, too, pardner!

We got a 1966 Ford Ranchero pickup for $3,995! We got a 1972 Chevy El Camino Cowboy Cadillac with all the extras like a beer cooler console, dog fence and a Hayes hitch for $4,995! We got a 1996 F-250 with a 20-foot sheep trailer for $9,950!

We got BoBo the clown, rides and hot dogs for the little buckarroos!

So c'mon down to Cowboy Ford, out on the Highway 85 bypass, east of town!"

(Puke Jock back at studio)
"Now, KXYZ kicks off its noon set with "How Can I Love You if You Won't Lie Down"

[k4kyv]

“Once you put something in the trash, it’s abandoned property,” said Jon A. Jaworski, a lawyer in Houston who represents accused grease thieves. “A lot of times, it’s not theft.”

That has always been my philosophy, regarding stuff laid out on the kerb or thrown into the dump.  Now, municipalities are increasingly trying to make it illegal to dumpster-dive or pick stuff off the street on trash day, using the bogus argument that allowing people to pick through other people's trash is a violation of privacy and facilitates identity theft.

[WA1GFZ]

Hey Gary, Mark the Q remember "Cal Worthington" car ads LA early '80s???

[k4kyv]

Think gas prices are high? Try $11 in Turkey - and they have oil fields practically in their backyard.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24896249/?GT1=43001

[N8LGU]

Hey Guys! This is serious stuff! Have you even considered what this means to AM?
It means QRP with transistors instead of QRO with 813's!!!

[WA1GFZ]

Untrue, this means shack in the living room to keep the family warm with heat coming off the rig. So stop talking dirty

[K6JEK]

Hey Guys! This is serious stuff! Have you even considered what this means to AM?
It means QRP with transistors instead of QRO with 813's!!!

QRP with transistors?  I guess you haven't visited Brent's website:  https://home.comcast.net/~w1ia/
   
Or how about http://amfone.net/Gallery2/v/stations/wa1gfz/gfz1.jpg.html

Frank's right, though.   Heat the house.  In the power generation business they call it "cogen" -- using the waste heat from power plants to heat buildings.  That's what we do.  Use the waste heat from radio operations to heat the house -- Radio Cogen.   Doesn't work so hot in summer.