^Good point Brian, and most of all there would NOT be a shortage if they didn't panic! Kind of like when they predict snow all the dumb asses go buy up the bread, milk, etc...Remember the the 93 blizzard it was all gone in 4 days. All they need is power and the affected refineries are back online mid next week all should be back to normal. Had everyone not panicked we would have had a day or so of a shortage not a week.
at work the only channel they turn the tv stations to is foxnews. imagine listening to foxnews for 12 hours as they ramble on and use as much hyperbole as possible to describe a hurricane. I'm not saying hurricanes are to be taken lightly, but it's getting out of control. Every gov't agency is scrambling around and trying to cover their ass to avoid the public disapproval that happened after Katrina. Having multiple press conferences and telling people they "are going to DIE" and "this is the MOTHER OF ALL HURRICANES" does nothing to help the situation. so no, my post was not a joke. :wiggle:
the racetrac on delk had people lined up out the road yesterday and today...the shell station across the street had NO ONE in there...why? .30 cent difference.....LAME this is all bullshit meant to scare the general public.....of which, 99% are MORONS
Soooo, you guys have obviously never been responsible for developing emergency response or preparedness plans, dealing with the operational response to a disaster and its aftermath, talked to a meteorologist about the inaccuracy in their predictions, and I am dubious that any of you have actually been through a hurricane before. I am also guessing none of you have ever held a political office which had responsibility for protecting the citizens or making decisions on behalf of a jurisdiction. After Katrina, one of the most common anecdotal complaints from the citizens who stayed behind was, " I didn't know it would get that bad." Yet, all the meteorologists had been warning of the potential for catastrophic effects of Katrina for DAYS before it hit. Of course there were major issues with the preparedness planning that New Orleans and Louisiana had done as well as the response to the event. Yes, there is a fine line between crying wolf and getting the message out that you need to leave, and officials are still working out what those lines are. But even with the "dire" warnings put out this week about Ike, 60 people still had to be airlifted off one of the barrier islands as it flooded over a full 7 hours before the more obvious storm effects were being felt. Additionally, 20,000 people are estimated to have stayed in Galveston, Guess who their families will be suing when some of them are found dead? Guess who will be saying that the government didn't plan well enough or didn't spend enough on infrastructure improvements before the storm. One of the least well understood aspects of disasters, by the general public is, that they are disasters! You can't predict exactly what is going to happen, where, or even when, with any real accuracy. With our society's shift from rural self reliance to urban government dependence, and the growing perception (sometimes fostered by those within government, unfortunately) that the government should be able to predict and respond to every possible eventuality, the folks put in the middle, the planners and responders, are left out to dry. We are continually being asked to do more with less, while one of the real issues, the public's need to be self accountable continues to be a message that falls of deaf ears. Trying to get people to evacuate is as much about managing public expectations as it is about saving lives. While you may only save a few lives, relative to the number of people that evacuate, you are able to better deal with the aftermath, get infrastructure and generally deal with the aftermath of the storm, without what we are seeing now, manpower intensive and financially costly door to door searches, aerial search and rescue operations and the increased pressure to get utilities restored, causing short cuts that shouldn't be taken by utility crews and officials. Will, if you have to put out a post reminding people to change their oil, imagine what government officials deal with when trying to communicate messages to the public. Yes, the media coverage of the storm was intense, yes, its more intense than it was, there probably was sensationalist reporting occurring, but it ain't ALL bullshit, and any hurricane, cat 1-5 is not something to be messed with. Look at the pics from Texas, while there are probably large sections of the city with minimal visible impact, all it takes is for someone to be in the small sections where there is not, and you have loss of life...
^:rofl: More than you realize. I'm done with this thread because you just dont want to get started with me on this subject.
gas light on and can't freaking find any!!!!! ahh! going to hunt now. car says I got 40miles left...we'll see EDIT- wew!!! shell @ simonton/new hope @ 4.39......
Riiggghhhttt. Too bad we don't have a roll eyes on here. Quite frankly Will, you couldn't add anything productive to this discussion anyway....
Seriously, YOU need to stop. You are setting a bad example for being a MODERATOR. Second, you have NO IDEA what I have been though, what I've had to deal with planning, etc etc etc. I've been there and done that with hurricanes and other weather related events. These last 3 hurricanes have been nothing but a media feeding frenzy and a reason for people to price gouge on gas. So shut your trap.
You are really showing your ass here Will. I don't really care what you been through, if you're not willing to debate, not willing to offer reasons for posting things, then don't expect me to give you any respect. I AM a preparedness planner, I do have quite a bit of experience, and education, on which I am basing my argument. How that makes me an asshole, I am not sure, how I am setting a bad example as a moderator, again, not sure. Your post before this one was you "laughing" at my post and saying I "didn't want to get you started". You stomp all over people who post technical information or jump into technical arguments when they have limited information/education, yet can't take it when someone who has the same/more knowledge than you argues with you. Why don't you take your own advice and "Shut your trap"....
no one is saying having a good plan is a bad idea. I am criticizing the media's shitty ass news coverage of all the storms that is happening as of late and is pandering/fear mongering. jesus christ chill out hell, the people they need to inform probably don't even watch it because they're too busy evacuating and PREPARING TO DIE or don't have power at the later stages. that's what irritates me, NOT people that make rational plans in the face of a weather disaster. get a grip. also: don't assume about my background. I'll give you a hint: planning for radiological and nuclear accidents is hard.
Actually, planning for those events are some of the easier types of CBRNE to plan for as the effects are well established, the agents are well defined and detecting them is done with equipment that is readily available. Now, its true that local fire departments have limited practice conducting rad/nuc ops, but there are plenty of resources to draw upon if the need arises. Additionally, its difficult to get rad. sources around as they are either to volatile to handle, or too low emitting to do any substantial damage. On top of that, rad/nuc planning has limited applicability to hurricane planning. I don't know where I ever got excited during this whole thread. You guys are the one's using profanity, telling everyone that the press is over hyping this, etc, etc. I simply pointed out that there are plenty of perfectly valid reasons to err on the side of caution regarding what the effects of the storm will be. A "just cat 2" storm ripped up the Texas and Louisiana coast pretty good. Had it reached 3 or 4 that would have been that much worse. Anyways, the start of this thread was about gas prices, I agree that those suck! I agree that speculation is the main cause for the increase and that the feds need to step up and do something about that. If we want to continue this discussion, I can pull these posts into a new thread, just say the word! I am pretty sure I have kept the debate, just that, a debate. If my posts appeared emotional, or appeared to attack anyone (except Will, which was a response, not an attack), than that certainly wasn't my intent. As for anyone else's background, as I said, I could care less unless your going to use that background to post rational reasons to back up the issues you brought up.
At the risk of adding fuel to fire, I'm putting my two cents in. One one hand I agree that the media exaggerates and causes more problems than it tries to help. On the other hand NOBODY. I mean NOBODY knows how these storms will pan out - whether they'll get stronger or weaker, or what direction they will take. As an example, take katrina. Who knew if would have been that bad? By the time it hit hard, nobody had time to react last minute. So in a way, it does make sense to be prepare - for the worse. So to a small extent it does make sense to freak people out a little bit. If it saves a few more lives, it's worth it. Sure people all over the southeast are freaking out over gas. The locals are driven mad over warning after warning that don't pan out to be anything. But IF it were to turn into another katrina - i'd say it's worth it. The only downside is the whole "crying wolf" thing. Eventually locals will get numb from the warnings and then the big one will hit and people will die. Bottom line. Nobody is in control. Not the weathermen. Not the media. Ok I'll shaddup now.
all i know is almost every gas station near Hiram is currently out and the ones that do have gas don't have premium.... its mass hysteria in these parts ssh:
A girl I work with said she doesn't believe that demand went up and thats why gas prices raised; she believes its all price gouging... wtf does she mean she doesn't believe.... its not controvertable. People were/are !@#$# lined up as the cheapo stations, all still trying to 'get theirs.'
I feel yeah...I do outside sales and the amount of driving I have to do is killing me right now :wtc:
Prices at a station near me fell $0.20 between monday and tuesday. I will report what the price is tonight as I have to get gas tonight.
funny thing is gas shot up every where, but most the stations down the road from me in plano texas are still at 3.79 for premium.
It was $4.09 for regular at the QT up the road from work in Marietta last night. I was out so I had to get gas there. Prices up closer to my home north of Cartersville price was $3.75 for regular.
i think it was 4.39 oldnorcross/sugarloaf qt last night...like $63 to fill up..went 323 miles on a tank..woo!
If I get 270 out of 13.5 gallons I am doing AWESOME(yes that's just 20 mpg which I never see anymore as I only get 18-19 currently)! :wtc::unamused: I can't wait to get out of this car.... Edit: Oh, BTW, that is babying the car. It might see 6K RPM 3 times a a day and remember, my car goes to 9K. Most shifts are 4k or less... Fuck Rotaries...