Author Topic: $7-8 gasoline in the near future  (Read 10044 times)

erika

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #15 on: April 29, 2008, 02:20:19 PM »
Oh Emily. You make such an excellent point.
from the land of pleasant living

ericluxury

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #16 on: April 29, 2008, 05:02:25 PM »
I guess it's bad that I drive 60 miles roundtrip to work everyday, then?  I carpool 3 out of 5 days, though!  I could take a train but it would take me two hours to get to work and cost at least ten bucks a day.  right now driving is cheaper. But I don't know, in a month it may not be.  It's an option.  I should definitely buy a bike.  It would be cool if people were driving bikes all over L.A.  That's going to be the upshot of this--a lot more bikes in L.A.!  And a lot more muggings and robberies too! 

I've always been a bike commuter. Most non-bike commuters have this weird idea that its the most dangerous or physically taxing thing to do, but it's really not. I'm an semi-overweight smoker (quitting, hopefully) with anxiety issues and if I can do it, anyone (who doesn't have to pass through a freeway to get to work) can. However I've never lived 30 miles from my workplace (that's insane by the way).

masterofsparks

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #17 on: April 29, 2008, 05:19:20 PM »
I've thought about biking to work but doing so would require me to ride on a state highway in semi-darkness where the speed limit is 50, which seems kinda dangerous to me. If it was feasible, I'd do it in a second. If I lived in a city with better public transit, I would get rid of my car this very instant.
I'll probably go into the wee hours.

John Junk 2.0

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #18 on: April 29, 2008, 05:46:43 PM »
have to pass through a freeway to get to work) can. However I've never lived 30 miles from my workplace (that's insane by the way).

Yeah, I know, but so actually living in Valencia, CA would be more insane.

scotttsss

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #19 on: April 29, 2008, 06:41:51 PM »
I've been bike commuting for about three years now.  My wife and I are both lucky enough to work within a mile of our house.  On the other hand, I was going to school at a university which as ten miles away, though, and had to ride on 50-mph roads in a state where people are used to driving a mile or more between stoplights (Oklahoma).  On my bike rides to school I've had everything from threats to spare change thrown at me, and it's been a real challenge to stay calm under pressure.  All the roads I ride on are 4 lanes wide, everyone has a whole extra lane to pass me, so I don't feel sorry for drivers.  But what's been increasingly interesting this year is that the honking and the anger has given way to curiosity and positivity.  Usually when spring hits people start honking and screaming at me, I guess they think I'm riding for recreation--but this year, not at all (yet...)...  today a guy at the stoplight started talking about gas prices and how he should ride a bike too, which has NEVER happened before.  I wish they were more concerned with global warning, but if gas prices are changing people's attitudes about their use of cars and SUVs (SUV's.....Sarah?), let gas go to $7 or $8 bucks a gallon.  A five or ten-mile commute on a bike isn't beyond the reach of anyone who's not physically disabled in some way.  Like Ericluxury, I'm not going into male-modeling anytime soon...  I've ridden over 4,000 miles, commuting, since I bought an odometer for my bike in 06.  It's a personal commitment more than anything.  Anyone thinking about doing it, I say, DO IT!  You'll love it. 

dania

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #20 on: April 29, 2008, 06:55:53 PM »
I heard today that it might go up drastically more to reach as much as $10 per gallon. 
Even though I bike most everywhere (about 60% of the time), and I buy as much locally produced stuff as I can, I'm still kind of afraid

Shaggy 2 Grote

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #21 on: April 29, 2008, 08:43:12 PM »
Yesno, the fossil fuel thing is pretty much the point of the Harper's article.

Harper's is awesome and they produce some of the best dread-porn out there, but I think it's important to note that 3 years ago they had me convinced that the country was going to literally be run by Christian Fascists within a year.  Though that's disturbingly close to the truth, it's not the actual truth, and I think the same holds true for a lot of what they put out there.  Most of their articles are very well written, researched, etc., but there's like a curmudgeonly New Englander tone throughout that reads every digression from the path of elbow-patch-liberalism (different from limousine) as the end of our civilization.  I like this term "dread-porn" and am now going to legalzone.com to trademark it.

You are pretty much right (in fact, that's one of the best descriptions of Harper's I've ever heard), but at the same time, a lot what they said really has happened, in this weird way that doesn't really affect anyone who actually reads the magazine.  I mean, there are food riots happening, but they're in Africa and Asia.  The US government has been growing steadily authoritarian, but educated white people aren't really feeling it.  You know?
Oh, good heavens. I didn’t realize. I send my condolences out to the rest of the O’Connor family.

buffcoat

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #22 on: April 29, 2008, 10:32:01 PM »
Just walk away!
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

John Junk 2.0

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #23 on: April 30, 2008, 12:41:19 AM »
Yesno, the fossil fuel thing is pretty much the point of the Harper's article.

Harper's is awesome and they produce some of the best dread-porn out there, but I think it's important to note that 3 years ago they had me convinced that the country was going to literally be run by Christian Fascists within a year.  Though that's disturbingly close to the truth, it's not the actual truth, and I think the same holds true for a lot of what they put out there.  Most of their articles are very well written, researched, etc., but there's like a curmudgeonly New Englander tone throughout that reads every digression from the path of elbow-patch-liberalism (different from limousine) as the end of our civilization.  I like this term "dread-porn" and am now going to legalzone.com to trademark it.

You are pretty much right (in fact, that's one of the best descriptions of Harper's I've ever heard), but at the same time, a lot what they said really has happened, in this weird way that doesn't really affect anyone who actually reads the magazine.  I mean, there are food riots happening, but they're in Africa and Asia.  The US government has been growing steadily authoritarian, but educated white people aren't really feeling it.  You know?

Yes!

I guess a lot of this speculation is "scary" but after being scared shitless of terrorism for 3 years in NYC, I'm just not up for being scared shitless of having to eat PB&J instead of goat cheese or whatever. 

That's all, I swear!

Sorry, Buffcoat.

ericluxury

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #24 on: April 30, 2008, 10:28:06 AM »
While I agree that
I guess a lot of this speculation is "scary" but after being scared shitless of terrorism for 3 years in NYC, I'm just not up for being scared shitless of having to eat PB&J instead of goat cheese or whatever. 

That's all, I swear!

Sorry, Buffcoat.

While I agree with you, I would say that maybe we should be more empathetic.

buffcoat

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #25 on: April 30, 2008, 11:06:17 AM »
Sorry, Buffcoat.

Oh, John Junk, I could never be mad at an FOT.

I was just quoting "The Humongous" from Road Warrior, who was pictured earlier in the thread.

He tells the people of the town that they can "Just Walk Away" and leave the gas (he's lying).  I didn't have any comment on the larger thread.  Feel free to vent to your heart's content!
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

John Junk 2.0

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #26 on: April 30, 2008, 11:10:33 AM »
While I agree that
I guess a lot of this speculation is "scary" but after being scared shitless of terrorism for 3 years in NYC, I'm just not up for being scared shitless of having to eat PB&J instead of goat cheese or whatever. 

That's all, I swear!

Sorry, Buffcoat.

While I agree with you, I would say that maybe we should be more empathetic.

Oh I definitely agree.  I guess I'm trying to say that this is not an occasion to be scared, because being scared when you're not in immediate for-real danger doesn't do anything except make you make irrational decisions.  There are policies our government holds that are Macchiavelan(sp?) and despicable at home and positively evil abroad.  We should be aware of this and do what we can to fight it.  I just don't feel like panicking is all.

Shaggy 2 Grote

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #27 on: April 30, 2008, 11:13:05 AM »
Buffcoat, I just typed this whole elaborate apology for being a long-winded downer.  Good thing for that "new reply" alert!

Anyway, I think that we've all come to expect this disaster-movie version of events (probably because we've all grown up in the shadow of nuclear panic), when really, even the worst moments in human history have probably seemed like ordinary life to some degree.  A lot of people managed to get through the Great Depression and WW2 intact.  Bruno Bettelheim said (get ready for some good times here) that the feeling of the Holocaust was just like the feeling of a broken heart.  Any one of us who's known what it's like not to have the next month's rent, or had to  scrounge for change in the cushions to buy ramen, already knows what scarcity is like.  It's irrelevant whether or not that feeling coincides with a hot stock market, that being the primary way the media reports on the economy.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that nobody needs to panic, but somebody should probably be doing something about all this shit before it gets really bad.  How's that for problem-solving!
Oh, good heavens. I didn’t realize. I send my condolences out to the rest of the O’Connor family.

Sarah

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #28 on: April 30, 2008, 11:31:09 AM »
Recognizing that a problem exists and being perturbed by it do not equal panic, in any case.

senorcorazon

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Re: $7-8 gasoline in the near future
« Reply #29 on: April 30, 2008, 12:11:58 PM »
"dread-porn"

AWESOME. I canceled my subscription to that magazine because I didn't need to spend my subway rides considering how messed up everything is going to be.