Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Random Thoughts 5/2/06

  • I have a friend who took a nasty bite on the ear from a dog. That's not such a big deal except that the dog was a dachshund. I imagine that's a rare wound.
  • 12,500 hits. Thanks for reading.
  • For those of you scoring at home, Elijah is now 2 years old. He is officially terrible.
  • Apple has some new commercials available at Apple.com; these ads are really witty.
  • Three years ago yesterday, the President landed on an aircraft carrier and gave a speech beneath a banner that read "Mission Accomplished." The main stream media went out of its way to point this out, basking in the cruel irony. But remember the context: that carrier was returning home. It's mission was accomplished. The President said that major combat operations were over. They were. There was no additional territory to capture and no enemy units to manuever against. The fact that a long term, low intensity insurgency was brewing doesn't negate this. What President Bush said was both accrurate and appropriate.
  • My sister interviewed for and was offered the job as the director of a crisis pregnancy center. She has accepted the position.
  • Why don't they teach economics 101 anymore? I hear absurd things being said about gas prices that just don't line up with reality, so I thought I'd offer a brief primer on the topic: Oil companies don't set gas prices, the market does. The only way to lower the price in a free market is to have more supply (drill and refine more oil) or less demand (use less fuel). Taking a day off from buying gas or buying in smaller quantities doesn't work if you still drive the same amount. Half a dozen big oil companies is not a monopoly and they do compete with one another. Oil companies don't make as much money on their investment as many businesses; oil exploration, drilling, tankers, offshore rigs, pipelines, and taxes are expensive.
  • Should the Saints' first draft pick, Reggie Bush, be allowed to wear #5? The NFL says running backs may only wear numbers between 20 and 49; only kickers and QBs can wear 5. Edgerrin James petitioned to wear #5 when he was drafted and was turned down.
  • Speaking of jersey numbers, here's a trivia question. There are only two teams (not counting expansion teams since 1995) that have no retired numbers that are off limits to current players. Which teams are they? [highlight the section below to reveal the answer]

    The Cowboys and Raiders

    The Chiefs, on the other hand, have eight retired jerseys: Jan Stenerud, 3; Len Dawson, 16; Abner Haynes, 28; Stone Johnson, 33; Mack Lee Hill, 36; Willie Lanier, 63; Bobby Bell, 78; Buck Buchanan, 86. Only the 49ers, Bears, and Giants have more retired numbers.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree that "oil exploration, drilling, tankers, offshore rigs, pipelines, and taxes are expensive." However, this is all figured into their bottom line. When an oil company makes $10 Billion in PROFIT in one quarter, which means this is how much money they have left over after all of these factors are figured in. I am all for capitalism and I understand there are times when oil prices have to go up to account for issues in the world. However, I think that the oil companies need to do a better job of looking out for the American people.

Later
David T.

Thumper said...

I understand and agree, but all I'm saying is that if it costs you $500 billion [made up numbers here] to make $510 billion, for a $10B profit, that's not exactly profiteering.

To my knowledge, profit margins on oil are at the lower end of the spectrum in the business world; there are better profits out there.

Also Shell announced a huge investment this week in the largest refinery ever built. That's a lot of their own money being used to directly affect the price. I'd like to see more of that, because that says to me that they do care about the customer (which makes sense – don't kill the golden goose after all).

Thumper said...

I'm for it, of course. If we're going to have high gas prices for awhile, it'd be great if it spurred other fuel sources into the mainstream. American Oil companies need to become "energy" companies for their own survival. Once other technologies become viable, the demand (and cost) of oil will go down. We'll probably always have petroleum based fuels, hopefully it'll be one of several cheap options.

Anonymous said...

Getting the hydrogen is the problem. I suggest you read the following articles to get a better idea of the issues surrounding hydrogen powered cars.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1490215/posts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_car
http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/05/ma_375_01.html

Later
David T.