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2008 July 17 — Why Now?
On-line Opinion Magazine…OK, it's a blog
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Oil Down, But Gasoline Unchanged

So the price of a barrel of oil drops below $130, but the price of gas at the pump is unchanged.

It has always fascinated me how all increases in the price of crude oil are immediately reflected in the price of gasoline, but decreases take forever to be reflected.

Natural gas also dropped, but that was because the stockpile is increasing faster than “analysts” expected. There is no actual link between natural gas and crude oil, but both go up together. They come down at different rates.

If the price of crude goes up a couple of bucks tomorrow, I expect the price of gas will also go up. It’s called “whatever the market will bear”, but at this point the market is very “bearish”.

July 17, 2008   6 Comments

Upgrades

So, I’m now at WordPress 2.6 and viewing it with Firefox 3.01.

Everyone wanted their shot at breaking things.

July 17, 2008   11 Comments

“Never Mind”

Who knew Emily Litella worked for the Food and Drug Administration?

CNN tells us FDA lifts warning on tomatoes

(CNN) — Tomatoes are again safe to eat, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday, weeks after the food was blamed as the source of a salmonella outbreak in several states.

The federal agency lifted its warning about tomatoes but left in place a warning about jalapeño and serrano peppers, which it said could pose a risk to elderly people or people with compromised immune systems.

The source of the outbreak of salmonella still isn’t known, but the FDA said the epidemic is “waning.”

I guess there were no more tomato farmers left to bankrupt, so it was time to move on to the people who grow peppers.

July 17, 2008   11 Comments

There’s No Pleasing Some People

Jack at Grumpy Forester has a post looking at Dem VP possibilities and labels it: Things That Can Drive The Netroots Crazy.

I don’t know, it’s all part of balancing the ticket that he would be looking a people to his left, but Sam Nunn would provide more geographic diversity than Evan Bayh.

July 17, 2008   9 Comments

A Depressing Thought

Fallenmonk is on the right track with his piece, It’s Going to Get Worse, but there’s another element that makes the situation even worse and most people are unaware of it.

There is a concept known as “Just-In-Time” [JIT} inventory control that has been refined by Wal-Mart and many manufacturers that is considered by many to be the most efficient system for stocking a store or building a product.

The basic idea is that you don’t keep a large inventory that requires storage space and ties up cash. Using computer networks you track your usage and order goods based on what was used, so that what arrives on your loading dock is put on the shelves or production line, not in a warehouse.

[Read more →]

July 17, 2008   8 Comments