That gas price thing again

Read this article, then call your senator. As most of us who watch any sort of news knows, the oil companies posted record profits this last quarter, Exxon Mobile being on top with posted profits to the tune of 9.9 billion.

Yeah people going broke because of gas prices and companies getting rich. Assholes.

Southern Indiana Tornado

Well I got to blog about this. A few days ago a F-3 tornado tore through the community of Evansville Indiana. One place in particular was a 350 unit mobile home park. I heard on the news about 140-150 of those units were completely leveled. 22 people died in this tragedy and 18 of those died in a mobile home park. Everything that I read suggested that this park of 350 units did not have a underground shelter (shelter(s)). The primary problem with that is the fact that a mobile home is primarily aluminum and a small bit of (usually) 2x2's. A tornado has no problem ripping these materials apart and turning them into large projectiles traveling 150+ mph. In a mobile home you have nowhere to go. Mobile home parks should have a underground shelter for its residents, because after all tornadoes like to eat mobile homes.

Now for my next beef. This article reviews peoples problem with the warning siren system. These sirens did go off. The problem is people didn't hear it, and they blame the sirens. This is a foolish stance to take especially considering these storms were preceded with 60+ mph winds. These sort of winds make a nice loud howling noise. I know this because these storms woke me up with those winds at 0230. And I was on the north side of the derecho. People need to follow some suggestions. Own a weather radio. Be aware of the conditions, these storms were organized in St. Louis, it took several hours to get here. Don't blame sirens that did go off and did save several lives. Especially don't blame them because their sound couldn't penetrate your closed up house and wake you from deep sleep.

Someone cares about my opinion

Well I got printed in the local newspaper. Fifth one down. =-)

Gas Prices (again)

Well, I might as well address my obsession with gas prices. My fiance lives some 53 miles away from me and I spend a healthy chunk of cash seeing her at least weekly. Thus my obsession.

Now for the rant.

People, choose your gas prices wisely. What do I mean by that? Read this article. Or read my tiny summary. Basically this article states that people get complacent when the prices are going down, they don't seem to care as much for the difference between a few pennies. This means basically that the gas stations are able to keep the prices high because the supply is staying the same. What's the solution? Bargain hunt like gas was $3.00 again. You see a lower price, fill up at that gas station. Don't fill up at the convenient ones, give your business to the cheapest station. Eventually the other stations, who's business is slacking, will lower their prices. Supply and demand. When prices go up we as consumers become more and more attached to those few cents and are more willing to go out of our way to save a buck. Now what we need is to maintain that sort of attitude even when prices are waning, because that will cause prices to decrease even further.