Fuel Prices - again

Well, April 1999 it is not... $18/barrel - we could only wish!!!! It reached $144!
Which means that Gas has almost surpased $6/gallon for "regular." In the USA!!!

Fuel Prices

What Gas Companies Dream

Gas companies dreams!

Today's Gas Prices

When asked why groveland has such high gas prices, oil execs said "why the f$#% not!" and "as goes Groveland, CA so goes the nation."

AND Groveland, CA is "near" Sacramento, CA - so you'd think the state government would do something - Arnie...

"Stimulus Check and Mobil-Exxon"

Just before the stimulus checks went out - exxon installed these "deposit economic stimulus check here" slots on their pumps.

Petrol Prices... $5.299 in the USA

As of the closing bell on Wall Street today, the national average for a gallon of gas is $3.99. Oil was trading at $138.83 per barrel.

Who/what sets the price of oil per barrel? OPEC - no, USA - yes.

Supply-demand - ONLY if you are living in a different dimension. Although this does have some effect on the price, it is no longer the true measure of how to set the price of oil.

ENRON - YES - this is how it is done. ENRON figured out how to work the energy markets to make record killings on the electricty trade. Think CA rolling outages when CA was making enough power in-state to power several neighboring states (which they were). Issue was during this time that they were not paying enough. To "teach" them a lesson Ken Lay decided to rape them on the price of a kWh.

This occured because there was very little to no regulation on the power industry at the time. There hasn't been any regulation on the oil trading either - in this country or abroad. Actually oil is traded on the US market. Our nation sets the price. Without regulation, companies like - I don't know - Haliburton and Mobil-Exxon are able to trade the price of a barrel of oil to whatever they want.

Why? By raising the price of oil on the market today - they are able to charge whatever they want at the pump for oil THEY actually bought probably over a year ago... In reality (from inside sources at Exxon-Mobil here in Fairfax and from environmental sources) there is NOWHERE for oil to be places when/if it gets here... To the point where storage facilities are at over 100% capacity.

US refining is at about 16% - according to the President of BP (he further stated they are REQUIRED by the US government to keep it that way). The processed fuel tanks in some areas are acually filled with crude.

(the CA explosion earlier in the 2000's (at the ENRON time) was in a facility which hadn't been turned on in years. A crew activated the facility yearly. During this particular instant they didn't fall all the safety procedures for an unrunning processing facility with tragic consequesnces)...

Highest in the USA today --> Groveland, CA at $5.299

Lowest in the USA today --> Juneau, AK $3.469

Fisker Karma

BEST IDEA EVER. This is a hybrid car. It has solar panels on the roof, can be plugged into a house, can run on Ethanol, NG, or Gas. This car is also a direct competetor with such vehicles as BMW 7 series, Mercedes, Jaguar, and others.

What is it? ... ... ... ... Meet the 2009/2010 Fisker Karma. http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/

What makes it so unique is the Q-Drive system. It is similar to other hybrids, but has two motors for each of the back wheels. Many of the recent hybrids have one motor powering a drive line to the wheels they power. This creates added friction - and friction wastes power and therefore destroys MPG.

I'd like to get one - anyone have $80,000 I can tie up now for a car delivered in 2010?

(The 2009 models have all been sold $120,000 ea. w/ numbered plaque 0001 thru 1,999. 2010's will be numbered 2,000 thru 6,000.)

I just did something I never thought I would ...

I paid $4.12 per gallon for a tank-full of gas because it was the least expensive I could find...

Sucks, eh?

At least it was the first fill up since 29 April! :)

Red Mercury and the potential of a "non-nuclear" atomic weapon

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5176382.stm
This is an article from the BBC back in 2006.

The germans during WWII were researching something using "xerum 525." This was used in the "the bell" - a device with two spinning chambers going in different directions. The material was eerily similar to Red Mercury.

What the bell was to do, no-one knows for sure, the entire project was secretive to the point where the leadership may not have known. The germans had an expert working on wonderweapons who hitler gave carte blanche to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.

The bell has been discussed a few times over the years, but everyone that was exposed to its operations (which were done within a chamber lined with 1' lead) would eventually turn into (for lack of a better word) black goo... Animals, plants, etc. all had the same issues.
http://discaircraft.greyfalcon.us/DIE%20GLOCKE.htm

Some believe that it was to be a "nuclear" weapon which does not require the same type of A-bomb tech to create the massive blast. IE you don't need to bring U235 to critcal mass to create the explosion. Just spin some 525...

Methane reserve a mere 1.2billion km away

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/02/14/science-titan-fuel.html?ref=rss

BUT - if we really wanted to use methane which is just being wasted, we can do what many companies have started doing. Capping landfills and sewer processing facilities and capturing the released methane and then using it to generate power, etc.

That would be a much better idea. This way the methane isn't just allowed to enter our atmosphere where it does not belong. In addition, there are other heavier hydrocarbons and other gases which can also be used.