I'm having a hard time seeing why $3.99 is a limit. It's not a natural boundary for computers (powers of two, for the unaware- 255, 65535, 2^32-1, etc) so somewhere in it, the software would have had to make that the maximum. Seems like it'd be fairly easy to upgrade and eliminate the problem.

TheCid: I'm having a hard time seeing why $3.99 is a limit. It's not a natural boundary for computers (powers of two, for the unaware- 255, 65535, 2^32-1, etc) so somewhere in it, the software would have had to make that the maximum. Seems like it'd be fairly easy to upgrade and eliminate the problem.

Someone didn't RTFA.

Or those greedy farks who control the price of oil could just reduce the price and save a lot of grief on everyones part. But we all know that isn't going to happen.

Yeah, we buy it in liters over here, and it seems much cheaper because of that.

/just €1.43 a liter for unleaded today

Gee this is a 1979 story, recycled.

/99 cent problem back then.

TheCid: I'm having a hard time seeing why $3.99 is a limit. It's not a natural boundary for computers (powers of two, for the unaware- 255, 65535, 2^32-1, etc) so somewhere in it, the software would have had to make that the maximum. Seems like it'd be fairly easy to upgrade and eliminate the problem.

The pumps that have the problem don't have digital computers. They're older pumps with physical "computers". Gears and such. Buying a new computer for those pumps is not exactly cheap and there is a backlog a mile long right now.

/parents own a convenience store
//two out of four pumps now on half-gallon pricing

They did the same thing when gas first hit $1 per gallon, and the old-school mechanical pumps only went up to 99.9 cents per gallon. And I'm so freaking old that I was actually old enough to drive when that happened. Before that when gas got up to about 80 cents a gallon, though, most gas station owners saw the handwriting on the wall and bought new pumps in preparation for it eventually hitting $1.

You guys heard todays news on MSNBC?, $15 per gallon in less than 5 years. It's not ever going down. We may use less and change our ways a little, but it's "world" demand, not United States demand that has taken over.

People are just finally beginning, a little..to get their minds around this.

JPJ007: The pumps that have the problem don't have digital computers. They're older pumps with physical "computers". Gears and such. Buying a new computer for those pumps is not exactly cheap and there is a backlog a mile long right now.

Ah, I see. I'm surprised there are any still in service that don't use digital computers.

There's one HUGE difference between now and the 70's. In the 70's, there was one major industrialized nation sucking all the gas. Now there's 3, and the other two are 5 times bigger than we are.

It's a different game now.

Oh great. Then they'll start pricing like ice cream, where it's not even a half-gallon.

It still doesn't seem fair that Ollie North sold the weapons to Iran and we never got any cheap oil out of the deal.

I don't mind him arranging for the hostages to be held until after Reagan got elected. That's fine. I just want some cheap oil out of the deal. Where's my goddam cheap oil?

GaryPDX: You guys heard todays news on MSNBC?, $15 per gallon in less than 5 years. It's not ever going down. We may use less and change our ways a little, but it's "world" demand, not United States demand that has taken over.

People are just finally beginning, a little..to get their minds around this.


Necessity is the mother of invention. Alternative fuels become a necessity to maintain our economy and lifestyles when gas hits $15 a gallon, so it's only reasonable to expect some major changes.

Granted, here's hoping this can come before everything just goes to shiat.

You guys want to hear something really funny?

I pay 3.00 per gallon net for biodiesel. Regular Dinodiesel is what now? $4.25ish? It's a better fuel and it's not taken off in a big way yet..

Why?

People are waiting for something that's never going to come. Even if it does, it's only temporary. The "hammer" hasn't dropped yet in a public way. People are still convinced someone, government or otherwise, will provide some magic answer.

It's not going to happen.

Cyberluddite: They did the same thing when gas first hit $1 per gallon, and the old-school mechanical pumps only went up to 99.9 cents per gallon. And I'm so freaking old that I was actually old enough to drive when that happened. Before that when gas got up to about 80 cents a gallon, though, most gas station owners saw the handwriting on the wall and bought new pumps in preparation for it eventually hitting $1.

In the late '70s I worked at a convenience store after school and we had this problem. We had to sell gas by the half-gallon because the shiatty old pumps wouldn't go above 99 cents. I also remember changing the price three times in one afternoon.

Even after the pumps were fixed to sell above $1.00, the price-per-gallon signs out front still only had two hooks to hang the numbers; there was nowhere to put the "1" when gas went over a dollar. So we drew big 1's and decimals on pieces of cardboard and taped them in front of the "cents" numbers.

Pretty soon, you guys can forget about fresh fruits and vegetables in January. Only the filthy rich will be able to afford that. You'll need to get your "spring gardens" going and do canning for the winter. Like our ancestors did.

That's just a taste of what's come.

GaryPDX: You guys heard todays news on MSNBC?, $15 per gallon in less than 5 years. It's not ever going down. We may use less and change our ways a little, but it's "world" demand, not United States demand that has taken over.

People are just finally beginning, a little..to get their minds around this.

It probably won't hit that because demand will fall off once the world hits the recession that will make the Great Depression seem tiny. There are all kinds of parallels we can draw between us right now and 1929. I'm also thinking that when we do crash, we'll turn Mexicans into the scapegoat.

GAT_00: GaryPDX: You guys heard todays news on MSNBC?, $15 per gallon in less than 5 years. It's not ever going down. We may use less and change our ways a little, but it's "world" demand, not United States demand that has taken over.

People are just finally beginning, a little..to get their minds around this.

It probably won't hit that because demand will fall off once the world hits the recession that will make the Great Depression seem tiny. There are all kinds of parallels we can draw between us right now and 1929. I'm also thinking that when we do crash, we'll turn Mexicans into the scapegoat.

What's a common thing now..finally, people are seeing the train wreck coming. Now everyone is debating just how bad it will be. I'm concerned about "panic" mostly. I think a big city is the last place you want to be when the cards start to fall. I think it will be rough for a while as populations figure out what to do.

GaryPDX: What's a common thing now..finally, people are seeing the train wreck coming. Now everyone is debating just how bad it will be. I'm concerned about "panic" mostly. I think a big city is the last place you want to be when the cards start to fall. I think it will be rough for a while as populations figure out what to do.

Yeah, I'm glad its getting seen too. I still hope it can be staved off, but I really don't see how, that's really just an irrational hope. I think you expect more anarchy than will really happen, you sound like you expect cities to go up in flames. Theft will go through the roof, yes, but I don't see flames. People will try to find someone to blame for all this, but I'm not going to derail this thread with my thoughts on this.

GAT_00: Yeah, I'm glad its getting seen too. I still hope it can be staved off, but I really don't see how, that's really just an irrational hope. I think you expect more anarchy than will really happen, you sound like you expect cities to go up in flames. Theft will go through the roof, yes, but I don't see flames. People will try to find someone to blame for all this, but I'm not going to derail this thread with my thoughts on this.

No, not at all...more like Katrina. Looting..high crime..that sort of thing. See..that's where peoples minds kinda disconnect. They conjure up the apocalyptic images and then disbelief sets it. I don't think it will be full blown anarchy by a long shot. But people will start gabbing things they think they might need. Lot's of crime and self defense, but just for a while until it calms down and people understand better what's happening and what they need to do differently.

While we're at it, can we get rid of the 9/10 cent price? It's bad enough that retail is infatuated with the penny off, but the tenth of a penny off is blatantly insulting and utterly useless.

GaryPDX: You guys heard todays news on MSNBC?, $15 per gallon in less than 5 years. It's not ever going down. We may use less and change our ways a little, but it's "world" demand, not United States demand that has taken over.

People are just finally beginning, a little..to get their minds around this.

Damn. It only environmentalists would have warned us about this for the past 3 decades...

TheCid: Seems like it'd be fairly easy to upgrade and eliminate the problem.

In the early 80ss, I was taking comp sci at a university.
They all wanted anyone to come up with a solution to the Y2K thing.
I said, well, it's 1981, and most of the computers we all will be using haven't even been built, let alone designed then.
Let's just build them with better clocks.
I was scoffed at by the profs.
Well, it seemed no one wanted to build a better mousetrap, they just wanted to watch the sky fall so their predictions would come true.
How about we change those in charge for people who whne asked to think outside the box respond with, "Oh, there's a box?"

Unright: GaryPDX: You guys heard todays news on MSNBC?, $15 per gallon in less than 5 years. It's not ever going down. We may use less and change our ways a little, but it's "world" demand, not United States demand that has taken over.

People are just finally beginning, a little..to get their minds around this.

Damn. It only environmentalists would have warned us about this for the past 3 decades...

Well if they took a bath once in a while and put the bong down, people might have taken them seriously sooner.

The hippies don't own this..it's everyones problem. Wait until the capitalists get rolling..I'm optimistic we're about to witness the birth of a new industry..a big one. I just hope it happens sooner, rather than after the crash. The PEAK Oil people call it "The Adjustment".

TheCid: I'm having a hard time seeing why $3.99 is a limit. It's not a natural boundary for computers (powers of two, for the unaware- 255, 65535, 2^32-1, etc) so somewhere in it, the software would have had to make that the maximum. Seems like it'd be fairly easy to upgrade and eliminate the problem.

This is Pennsylvannia. There is still a substantial population that get about using a horse and buggy arrangement. And no, I am not joking. A good portion of the state is still somewhere around 1920's level of technology, with low spots still stuck in the early 1800's. Then we zoom right into urban blight and 21st century post apocalypse cityscape.

Don't try to figure it out. The legislature is still trying to figure out what's the deal with the 'magic boxes' that people keep talking into all the time. Eventually they give up and go back to protecting the state liquor monopoly from that pesky free enterprise thingie.

Weaver95: This is Pennsylvannia. There is still a substantial population that get about using a horse and buggy arrangement. And no, I am not joking. A good portion of the state is still somewhere around 1920's level of technology, with low spots still stuck in the early 1800's. Then we zoom right into urban blight and 21st century post apocalypse cityscape.

Don't try to figure it out. The legislature is still trying to figure out what's the deal with the 'magic boxes' that people keep talking into all the time. Eventually they give up and go back to protecting the state liquor monopoly from that pesky free enterprise thingie.

lol..Merlin prophesied about people who "talk to stones"...lol. I think the city dwellers will have the hardest time with this for sure.

GaryPDX: lol..Merlin prophesied about people who "talk to stones"...lol. I think the city dwellers will have the hardest time with this for sure.

If there was ever any sort of seriously huge energy crunch, philly would burn. The rest of the state would probably do just fine. Believe it or not, this state still has substantial deposits of coal and oil, but it's not all in one spot. it's in pockets all over the place. well...that's oil and natural gas. The coal is still mostly in the same places that it's always been.

The problem with pennsylvannia is that our legislature is run by a bunch of protectionist thugs. If they can't outright steal it, they'll tax it or try to regulate it. Not to mention the fact that most of them are from technophobic bible thumping areas that think liquor is Evil and 'comp-u-ters' are some commie plot.

I love my home state. I really do. But it's run by fools and crooks.

Y2CRUDE

"gas will never be more than $4 a gallon ..."

Har Har!!
See, gas is only $2.00 now!


/per half gallon, your results may vary.

TheCid: JPJ007: The pumps that have the problem don't have digital computers. They're older pumps with physical "computers". Gears and such. Buying a new computer for those pumps is not exactly cheap and there is a backlog a mile long right now.

Ah, I see. I'm surprised there are any still in service that don't use digital computers.

"Oh well, see, the conversion won't be cheap, so, we'll have to raise prices!"

"Well, the guys with the mechanical pumps are raising their prices, and we're not allowed (I remember seeing an article about his on fark) by law to have prices lower than theirs, so we'll have to raise ours too!"

"Well, it seems like the price of gas to get the trucks to the station is higher, so our delivery charge is higher, so we'll have to charge more!"

Wait. So a Prius only gets 22 mphg? How many rods to the hogshead is that?

ScaliaDissenting: Wait. So a Prius only gets 22 mphg? How many rods to the hogshead is that?

Dodge Caravan, higher MP_hG than our competitors MPG!

does this mean nascar will end?

ScaliaDissenting: Wait. So a Prius only gets 22 mphg? How many rods to the hogshead is that?

Too many for Abe.

I'm surprised no one has suggested going metric. Sell it per liter. It's a great way to cut the price. Your $4 per gallon fuel would become, what... $1.05? People would rush to the pumps and think they got a bargain.

Of course, then the oil companies and governments would start cranking the price back up.

An upgrade kit? Installing the number "4" takes an upgrade kit?

TheCid: I'm having a hard time seeing why $3.99 is a limit. It's not a natural boundary for computers (powers of two, for the unaware- 255, 65535, 2^32-1, etc) so somewhere in it, the software would have had to make that the maximum. Seems like it'd be fairly easy to upgrade and eliminate the problem.

This happened back in the 70s when the price went over $0.99/gallon. The pumps didn't have 3 digits.

Maybe they could eliminate the $0.009. Who are they fooling with $4.009 per gallon?

Rodeodoc: I'm surprised no one has suggested going metric.

1.139GBP/Litre
=
2.253$/Litre
=
8.52$ / US Gallon

/Get some perspective
//And some *&!%ing fuel efficient cars

vudukungfu: TheCid: Seems like it'd be fairly easy to upgrade and eliminate the problem.

In the early 80ss, I was taking comp sci at a university.
They all wanted anyone to come up with a solution to the Y2K thing.
I said, well, it's 1981, and most of the computers we all will be using haven't even been built, let alone designed then.
Let's just build them with better clocks.
I was scoffed at by the profs.
Well, it seemed no one wanted to build a better mousetrap, they just wanted to watch the sky fall so their predictions would come true.
How about we change those in charge for people who whne asked to think outside the box respond with, "Oh, there's a box?"

I'm ready for Y3K.

Unright: People are just finally beginning, a little..to get their minds around this.

Damn. It only environmentalists would have warned us about this for the past 3 decades...

Damn. If only the oil companies haven't been actively fighting any proposed improvements for the last 30 years...

Unright: GaryPDX: You guys heard todays news on MSNBC?, $15 per gallon in less than 5 years. It's not ever going down. We may use less and change our ways a little, but it's "world" demand, not United States demand that has taken over.

People are just finally beginning, a little..to get their minds around this.

Damn. It only environmentalists would have warned us about this for the past 3 decades...

WIN.

World oil demand is actually a small of the equation. The main reason oil prices are up is the dollar is down.

Link (new window)

I want my electric car now!
can't afford this one
/If a small company in California can develop this car surely the big 3 can do it and for less...

does this mean nascar will end?


THIS!

IdeasGuy: World oil demand is actually a small of the equation. The main reason oil prices are up is the dollar is down.

Link (new window)

The reason things cost more is because that's what the traffic will bear.

I wouldn't call going from $3.999 to $4.009 soaring.

Tophersky: Or those greedy farks who control the price of oil could just reduce the price and save a lot of grief on everyones part. But we all know that isn't going to happen.

It will if people quit buying so much.