Blame
Seems to me everyone wants to blame everyone else for the predicament that we’re in with the high gasoline prices; Bush, Iran, Iraq, Exxon, and a whole bunch more. Well I got to tell you that you are wrong! To find the real scoundrel go look in the mirror, yes that’s right it is you! We have been warned a whole bunch of times. Like back in the 70’s when we had the gas shortages and everyone had to wait in line for gas. People were buying smaller cars like the Ford Pinto and that Gremlin thing, in fact they converted a Gremlin to run on hydrogen back then. Then the prices of gas went down and it was business as usual, at least for some people.
I was talking to a friend of mine today and he said it is all Bush’s fault that gas prices are high, I told him that it didn’t help matters any that he drives an 8 cylinder gas guzzling truck that gets 11 miles to the gallon and he goes to town everyday for something to do. He consumes and wastes too much energy running his home and all his toys that it is a wonder that he doesn’t go broke. He laughs at my LED lights that I use to light up my house and the solar panels on my roof is an eyesore to him, that’s why he won’t put them on his house because they are an eyesore. During the Christmas season he has so much lighting on his home that it’s a wonder that airliners don’t try to land there.
What I am trying to say is that we have to take responsibility for our own actions and not wait for the Government to fix things or we may very well end up like those poor folks after hurricane Katrina. So what can you do? That will be on my next post. Thanks for reading //bob
Oil Or Food
Right now I have the choice of buying gas for my car, or eating for a week. I have a fuel efficient car, and I don’t drive unless I have to. But now that a barrel of oil is 70 dollars+ my car costs about 35-40 dollars to fill up. I only eat about 20-35 dollars in food in a week. That means it costs more to feed my car than it does to feed me. Fuck that I will buy more potatoes and ride my bike more.
More here.
Oil surged to a record high above $72 on Tuesday on concern that Iran’s nuclear stand-off with the West could cut oil exports from the world’s fourth-largest crude exporter.
In London, North Sea Brent crude oil jumped 74 cents to an all-time high of $72.20 a barrel as Iran and the West exchanged increasingly sharp words over the Islamic Republic’s determination to push ahead with a nuclear programme.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil hit a record $70.88, smashing through its end-August high of $70.85.
“The Iranian situation is making us all very nervous… We don’t seem to be getting anywhere on the diplomatic solutions,” said Deborah White, an analyst at SGCIB in Paris.
With almost a quarter of Nigerian oil production still shut after rebel attacks two months ago, oil consumers feel almost as vulnerable as they did during the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s.
Oil prices have soared from $20 at the start of 2002 and are now nearing the inflation-adjusted peaks of over $80 hit in 1980, the year after the Iranian revolution.
Initially fired by strong demand from the United States and the fast-growing economies of China and India, the rise has accelerated over the past year on worries over supplies.
Iraq’s once significant oil industry is in crisis, Nigerian exports have been slashed by rebel attacks on the world’s eighth biggest exporter and consumers are worried that Iran’s exports could fall victim to its nuclear dispute with the West.
The rally has also been aided by big investment funds putting their money into commodities in the hope of higher returns than they get from equities or bonds.
IRAN WARNING
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Iran a nuclear power last week, saying it had enriched uranium to the level used in power stations. On Tuesday, he delivered a warning to any nation considering attacking the Islamic republic.
“Today, Iran’s army is one of the most powerful armies in the world and it will powerfully defend the country’s political borders and the nation,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech during an armed forces parade.
“It will cut off the hands of any aggressors and will make any aggressor regret it,” he added.
The United States has said it wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff but has not ruled out a military option.
It meets with world powers on Tuesday to consider targeted sanctions against Iran and has said it wants the U.N. Security Council to be ready to take strong diplomatic action.
NIGERIA
The disruption to Nigeria’s crude output will become more critical as the U.S. driving season begins next month. Analysts reckon gasoline stocks in the world’s top oil user fell again last week. ()
“Nigerian crudes are rich in gasoline, unlike crudes from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, which are sour, heavier and harder to process,” said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist with Mitsui Bussan Futures.
Ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, who will gather informally this weekend during an International Energy Forum meeting in Doha, have said there is nothing more the group can do to bring down prices.
A senior OPEC delegate told Reuters on Tuesday the group considered current prices too high, and they had nothing to do with the realities of supply and demand.
“OPEC believes strongly that prices are too high and nobody wants to see these prices,” the delegate told Reuters. “(But) it has nothing to do with fundamentals.”
Mondays Confessional (On Tuesday)
Yesterday I went to the 110th running of the Boston Marathon. My first. It was pretty crazy to see how the whole city goes into “marathon” mode. It was Patriots Day here in Massachusetts. Which mean that no one was at work, and everyone was watching the race, selling something to the people watching the race, or drinking before noon. It was a zoo, at one point we got caught in a “people crusher.” It took us over an hour and over a mile out of our way to cross the street. That street just so happens to have been the race route, but let me tell you you have never wanted to be able to jaywalk so much in your life as when you realize you have to walk a mile out of your way to get 100 feet over there.
I even got into the VIP seating for a bit(don’t ask).
Besides the runners there are so many other things that are going on during race day.
There was also people on the street giving out a new kind of power bar. As we walked up and down the street they gave us SO MANY power bars that I now have enough for lunch all week long and some for the weekend.
A great day.
My Bike Ride
I went on a bike ride, it was nice, here is some of the things I saw.
New Wind Turbine At Mass. Maritime
Cape Cod has its newest wind turbine. On April 14Th 2006 at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy a 660kw turbine was put up. I was lucky enough to be there for the whole thing, see the pictures below it was really neat watching the thing go up. Once the cranes were hooked up the whole thing only took about 20 minutes. Simply amazing.
It was really neat and a lot of people came to see it. Cape Cod has two large bridges that lead to the cape, and you can see the turbine from the Bourne bridge. Its really neat looking. It is not hooked up to the grid yet, but in three weeks it will start to provide power to the MMA. From what I have been told it should offset about 300,000+ of electrical bills each YEAR! That means that after the state rebates this thing will pay for itself in about 2-3 years. Sweet jebus thats a great deal, after that its all free electricity (minus maintenance of course). Hopefully it wont be long before these guys are sprouting up all over the cape, and all over the country. Each town getting two or three big ass turbines and putting that electricity toward the water treatment plant, or the recycling center or whatever the largest load in town is, the rest going toward running the stop lights etc. Come see it for yourself. You can see it from anyplace on main street in Wareham.
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