07-03-2008, 01:15 PM | #41 |
Cardboard Harp of Gondor Join Date: Sep 2001
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Yeah, I'm already budgeting for $5 a gallon and wondering if that's going to be enough. I could easily see it shooting to $6 or higher.
On the plus side, this will probably be great for the environment. I hope. That's my uneducated guess, since most people will probably be starting to drive less and be trying to conserve fuel. On the down side, I live way too freaking far away from school. Argh. Never mind paying tuition, I'm going to have to work three jobs just to actually be able to -get- to school . I'm seriously considering a motorcycle for when/if my car gives out in a few more years... But I don't know if I could pull that off. I probably could... I wouldn't mind even just taking the access roads and staying mainly off of the highway, so staying around 45-55 MPH. I am the furthest thing from a speed demon you can imagine . |
07-03-2008, 01:35 PM | #42 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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Fortunately it stopped at about 4.60. There's one station nearby where it's as low as 4.52, if you pay cash. It was sky-rocketing for some time, but it's been steady for a few weeks now.
So sad when we're happy to fill our tanks for less than 50 dollars.
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
07-03-2008, 01:35 PM | #43 | |
Elf Lord
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I wonder of motorcycles and bikes are going to become much more common as a result of this. They probably will.
I've evaded bikes and cycles because my Dad gives me many dire warnings about how lethal them + cars are. But if the cars declined in number significantly, and bikes and motorcycles became more common, perhaps they'd also become correspondingly less endangered . Quote:
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If the world has indeed, as I have said, been built of sorrow, it has been built by the hands of love, because in no other way could the soul of man, for whom the world was made, reach the full stature of its perfection. ~Oscar Wilde, written from prison Oscar Wilde's last words: "Either the wallpaper goes, or I do." |
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07-03-2008, 01:41 PM | #44 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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It already IS a solution, in any half-way decent city. Or at least, any half-way decent metropolis.
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
07-03-2008, 01:42 PM | #45 |
Elf Lord
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Yeah, but there's a lot of debate about whether to spend city money expanding it or expanding the highways and freeways. Fuel costs will probably tip the balance considerably more toward mass transit.
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If the world has indeed, as I have said, been built of sorrow, it has been built by the hands of love, because in no other way could the soul of man, for whom the world was made, reach the full stature of its perfection. ~Oscar Wilde, written from prison Oscar Wilde's last words: "Either the wallpaper goes, or I do." |
07-03-2008, 02:00 PM | #46 | |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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Quote:
*starts dreaming of a shuttle bus to Ventura* *or preferably a metro, since he hates busses*
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
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07-03-2008, 02:43 PM | #47 |
The Black Númenórean
Join Date: Feb 2003
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*sputters and looks at the prices from the front page*
If only, we sure as hell wouldnt be griping about 1.95 gallon gas now, would we? Oh wel, those days shall never come back again.
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Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. |
07-03-2008, 11:10 PM | #48 |
Elf Lord
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I've got to admit, it doesn't affect me that much- I live in a town that's small, flat and sub-tropical; I do my daily commute by bicycle (on a nice convenient bike path along the river), my wife works from home, and my kids bike/walk to school. Running around I do by 125cc scooter, and for other trips I have a 1100cc min-van, which I usually use for one weekly shopping trip, or the beach on weekends.
Paying the electric bills for the air-conditioning in the summer, now that's getting expensive. Our power here is mostly LNG (with some nuke), so that's going up too.
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07-04-2008, 01:04 AM | #49 |
Elf Lord
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Oh my gosh, GrayMouser, you're so lucky!!!!!!
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If the world has indeed, as I have said, been built of sorrow, it has been built by the hands of love, because in no other way could the soul of man, for whom the world was made, reach the full stature of its perfection. ~Oscar Wilde, written from prison Oscar Wilde's last words: "Either the wallpaper goes, or I do." |
07-06-2008, 03:06 AM | #50 | ||||
Co-President of Entmoot
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Yeah GreyMouser, nicely done!
Answering IRex's questions: 1. How much are they where you are? $1.52 CAN per litre (or $5.87 US per gallon*)! 2. What kind of car do you drive/your parents drive? My fiance drives a 1998 Dodge Neon. Just so you know, it was 2000 when GM started improving these rust buckets. Phil Edmonston (Lemon-Aid car guides) writes that they, "eat head gaskets for breakfast, and wallets for lunch." My fiance emphasizes that, "It really does." My parents drive a 2005 Toyota Highlander. They considered getting the hybrid, but decided the fuel efficiency savings would not be worth the extra $4000. I think they made a good call since unfortunately, manufacturers have really lowballed the fuel efficiencies. My parents are environmentally-conscious, but they love to camp, and a small, gas sipping car wouldn't be able to pull their 12-foot trailer. I drive a pair of worn hiking shoes. 3. Have you changed any of your normal habits because of the huge increase in gas prices recently? No, but I already walk to work, walk or bus for shopping and fun, and occasionally gas up my fiance's Neon. When I drive, I don't speed and I accelerate and decelerate smoothly. Like Brownie, I have areas of spending that have nothing to do with driving that I'd cut back on in an effort to save money. Quote:
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Then again, I don't own a car so I have no real reason to complain about the price of gas. * Is my calculation right? Because it seems so much worse in gallons. $1.02 US = $1 CAN 1 US gal = 3.785 L
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Last edited by Nurvingiel : 07-06-2008 at 03:07 AM. |
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07-06-2008, 06:28 AM | #51 |
Entmoot Minister of Foreign Affairs
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4-5$ per gallon!
The average price in Norway currently lies at about 11.8$ per gallon
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07-06-2008, 09:43 AM | #52 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Jan 2007
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How big is Norway?
The problem the US has is that we designed our lives around cheap private commutes. Things are far apart...and Walmart didn't help. The factbook lists Norway as 'slightly larger than New Mexico', but I see most of that is North-South. So Tronheim to Oslo is about 345 miles. That's about Baltimore MD to Durham NC. Probably darn few people commute that everyday, but a daily commute of an hour and a half isn't at all unusual, and people tend to be pretty far from their families. So for me, for example, other than the persons in this house, my nearest relatives are 100 miles, and 290 miles. There are corridors of public transit...we have a number of neighbors who can commute by train, for example, and that's common in metropolitan areas in the northeast. But getting everyone to where they work and go to school...that's a tough one. Around here, the schools are just about to find out how expensive it is to put kids on busses. Won't be pretty, at budget time.
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That would be the swirling vortex to another world. Cool. I want one. TMNT No, I'm not emo. I just have a really poor sense of direction. (Thanks to katya for this quote) This is the best news story EVER! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26087293/ “Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint.”...John McCain "I shall go back. And I shall find that therapist. And I shall whack her upside her head with my blanket full of rocks." ...Louisa May Last edited by sisterandcousinandaunt : 07-06-2008 at 09:57 AM. |
07-06-2008, 10:51 AM | #53 | |
Entmoot Minister of Foreign Affairs
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Quote:
Firstly we slap on a fuel tax, VAT and a environmental tax. This gov't taxation is then used to provide welfare/social services. Both Sweden and Denmark retain the same kind of taxation policy on consumption prices for oil, as does most other countries in Western Europe, although the taxes are not as high. The positive part of this is that oil has remained a luxury of sorts, being quite expensive, for a long time. However, when the price of oil worldwide rises with 2% a likewise increase occurs in Norwegian consumer prices for oil. But having high prices already prepares most consumers for what is now happening. Distances are not as far as in USA true, but commuting for 1 and a half hour in Norway is not unusual. This is basically because we have a very mountainous geography, roads slinging here and there between hills and into valleys, and along fjords. Thankfully we have tunnels! Our road nation is a nation of tunnels
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"Well, thief! I smell you and I feel your air. I hear your breath. Come along! Help yourself again, there is plenty and to spare." Last edited by Coffeehouse : 07-06-2008 at 10:53 AM. |
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07-06-2008, 12:16 PM | #54 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,535
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Well, our $4.60 is going straight into the pockets of Republican politicians, which is one of the things that makes it so hard to stomach.
Fuel oil will be a nightmare this winter.
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That would be the swirling vortex to another world. Cool. I want one. TMNT No, I'm not emo. I just have a really poor sense of direction. (Thanks to katya for this quote) This is the best news story EVER! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26087293/ “Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint.”...John McCain "I shall go back. And I shall find that therapist. And I shall whack her upside her head with my blanket full of rocks." ...Louisa May |
07-08-2008, 02:19 PM | #55 |
Quasi Evil
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Location: Maryland, US
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Geez yer right. If only gas was as “cheap” as it was back in 2004 when we were all bitching about it…
What I don’t get is why more and more people think that we can dig our way out of this situation still. In fact its become a point of debate in the presidential election. Ive heard that a full 40% of the oil we get from US territory is exported by the big oil companies. And yet you dont seem to hear the republicans screaming about that. Ive also heard that if they were granted the right to dig in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that we wouldn’t even start getting that oil into the system until 2018! And that it would peek by 2025. So really whats the point of that? And anyway any decrease in the price of world oil due to that drilling would be offset by OPEC and others who would simply decrease supply correspondingly. So why is it that so many people choose to live in this world of denial about our local oil prospects? Maybe once we get the technology to deal with shale oil and sand oil but that’s way off still. And really we should be putting our focus in things like algae biofuels. This ethanol thing was clearly a mistake and millions are starving now because of it. Algae is 40 times more efficient than corn in creating fuel. So maybe we could scrap this silly notion of digging up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and instead put like 2% of the money we used for military conflicts in the past 7 years into biofuel research and we will be sitting pretty by 2018.
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07-08-2008, 02:57 PM | #56 |
Cardboard Harp of Gondor Join Date: Sep 2001
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Isn't there some problem with the algae too, though? Like if we turn it into fuel within thirty years or so there will be ocean problems because of it?
I don't know, but I seem to recall hearing something like that. |
07-08-2008, 04:01 PM | #57 |
Quasi Evil
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Location: Maryland, US
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I dont think so. The algea farms could be in deserts or near dumps taking up land we dont otherwise use. Im not sure how it would impact oceans. I had heard they would be using the salinity from desert lands and bad lands for their environment. And whats more they would also require CO2 to produce fuel. So think about this... a fast growing creature that can take up 1% of the space corn needs, thrives in real estate we would never be interested in anyway and eats pollution to make fuel.... And why havent we spent more money looking into this exactly?
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"People's political beliefs don't stem from the factual information they've acquired. Far more the facts people choose to believe are the product of their political beliefs." "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." |
07-08-2008, 11:15 PM | #58 | ||
Co-President of Entmoot
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It sounds like algae is worth exploring. Hopefully we won't do anything moronic. It couldn't be worse than biodiesel made out of soybeans or corn. Turning nutritious food into fuel for vehicles in a weak attempt to prolong our ridiculous car culture strikes me as profoundly wrong.
Biodiesel made from waste cooking oil, however, is awesome. Gas may be expensive in Norway, but at least you guys have awesome inter- and intracity transit! I only spend 5 days there, but I took the train and but from Sweden to Trondheim, and took the tram, bus, ferry or walked everywhere for my visit there. There were also bicycles you could borrow from the city for 5 crowns (or something reasonable like that) but I never got around to that.
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07-09-2008, 04:38 AM | #59 | |
Entmoot Minister of Foreign Affairs
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I'm glad you think so Nurv, but our train transport could still be an entirely different story. We have to keep at it and enlarge the train system, upgrade the trains and lower the the prices. It's still preferable for me to take the plane(!) from Trondheim to Oslo. Price is relatively the same, but it takes 45 min by plane, not the 6-8 hours by train.. The gov't needs to get its act together. The reason I raised the high price of oil, and I'm unsure if anyone has realised the intense irony of this; and that is that Norway is the world's 3rd largest exporter of oil...
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"Well, thief! I smell you and I feel your air. I hear your breath. Come along! Help yourself again, there is plenty and to spare." |
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07-09-2008, 09:06 PM | #60 | ||
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I did know, but forgot to mention, that Norway has a huge amount of oil reserves. I believe this accounts for your lack of a national debt, though the only way this benefits the average Norwegian is that none of your tax dollars have to go to debt payment.
I love trains so much. As long as the train doesn't cost too much, I would take an 8 hour train ride over a 45 minute flight. I just love trains so very much!
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"I can add some more, if you'd like it. Calling your Chief Names, Wishing to Punch his Pimply Face, and Thinking you Shirriffs look a lot of Tom-fools." - Sam Gamgee, p. 340, Return of the King Quote:
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