3/20/2022

Thoughts On A Sunday

Imagine my surprise to see gas prices have dropped about 10¢ a gallon across the area over the past few days. However, that drop in price applied only to Regular and not Mid-Grade or Premium.

I checked a half dozen gas stations in the area and confirmed that only the price of Regular has dropped. I would have expected the price of Mid-Grade to drop about 5¢ since it is usually made from mixing Regular and Premium grades at the pump. The price of Premium hasn’t dropped, Regular has, so I would have expected the cost of Mid-Grade to drop by some amount, but it hasn’t. (I have brought this up because the trusty RAM 1500 requires 89 octane. It will run on 87 octane Regular, but the fuel economy will drop by a couple of miles per gallon and its fuel economy is bad enough as it is.)

As an aside, yesterday I topped off the tank of the trusty RAM 1500 with gas from one of the gas caddies I have that is normally used to fuel either the Official Weekend Pundit Generator or the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout. Once boating season ends I cycle the gasoline in the caddies every couple of months or so to keep the fuel fresh. It was time to start cycling the gas in the caddies since the last time I filled them was in November. (Yes, I use gas stabilizer when I fill the caddies.) Once boating season starts they will be used regularly, particularly this coming season.

Buying gas at the gas docks of the marinas is always expensive. Marinas here on the Big Lake only sell 89 octane gas as there are a number of boats with high performance engines that can’t use 87 octane gas and providing more than one grade of gas is problematic. The Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout is one of those boats that only requires Regular, so BeezleBub and I buy 87 octane at one of our local gas stations for a lot less than we can buy 89 octane gas at a marina, the price differential being as much as $1.50 a gallon. Is it any wonder why we use the gas caddies to fuel our boat?

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I am still getting used to the change back to Daylight Savings Time.

I am tired of making the change in November and March and would rather just stay on DST. I know a lot of other people feel the same way, particularly in this part of the US. Having sunset occur near 3:30PM during the depths of winter gets old real quick. Driving to work and back home again in the dark gets old really quick.

Year round DST was tried back in the early 70’s during the Arab Oil Embargo and it wasn’t popular. A good portion of that dislike was because it was imposed as a gimmick to ‘help’ save fuel. There was little support from the public.

The Senate recently passed legislation that will make DST year round and it’s headed to the House where it is expected to pass. The difference this time?

A majority of Americans support it, particularly those of us living on the eastern edges of the four time zones in the Lower 48.

Some folks have complained about DST causing children to have to wait for their school buses in the dark, overlooking the fix to that problem: start school later in the morning. The suggestion to make starting time for school later in the morning has been made for years, particularly in light of research showing later starting times for school improves grades and decreases absenteeism, particularly among adolescents. DST would be a good reason to make that change.

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I have to admit that this is probably a great idea.

RNC Launches Voter Registration Drives at Gas Stations for Americans Who Are Fed Up With High Prices.

What better way to get the word out that there’s an alternative to the Democrats’ foolishness on inflation and energy costs than to register Americans to vote? That’s what the Republican National Committee is doing, and they kicked off a voter registration initiative at gas stations this weekend.

The Hill reports that the first voter registration event took place in the Phoenix area on Saturday afternoon, where staff and volunteers spent two hours registering Americans who are angry about gas prices.

As one commenter wrote, “There should also be a large supply of ‘I Did That!’ stickers available for those who register. They should also be applied liberally to the gas pumps in the area as a reminder.”

I have seen the stickers popping up all over the place. I have also seen the remains of stickers on gas pumps, usually partially covered by newer stickers. They’re being replaced faster than the gas station personnel can remove them. As the Instaprof has said, it’s a perfect guerrilla campaign. It’s cheap, it’s spontaneous, and it’s effective.

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It seems Elon Musk has made it possible to for the Ukrainians to keep fighting and to keep information flowing in and out of their beleaguered country. It’s Starlink to the rescue.

I have to wonder if he’ll be able to smuggle Starlink ground stations into Russia to help maintain free exchange of information in and out now that Russia has been shutting down their Internet connections to the rest of the world. Call it a modern twist to the old samizdat during the Bad Old Days of the Soviet Union.

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With this news, I can see that Putin has indeed gone too far.

Pink Floyd and David Gilmour have withdrawn their music from streaming platforms in Russia and Belarus.

David Gilmour said he and Pink Floyd are protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by removing a large portion of their music catalog from streaming properties in Russia and Belarus.

"To stand with the world in strongly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the works of Pink Floyd, from 1987 onwards, and all of David Gilmour's solo recordings are being removed from all digital music providers in Russia and Belarus from today," an announcement shared Friday to the band’s Twitter account states.

No Pink Floyd or David Gilmour in Russia and Belarus? Putin is doomed...

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Steve Earle at GraniteGrok delves into the continuing rewriting of recent history by the * Administration and WRBA.

It all comes down to this: Nothing Biden did is Biden’s fault.

Really?

Steve lists some for those of you who may have forgotten, a few which include:

Been reading that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has been recalibrating the COVID death counts. Apparently, there were considerable overestimations.

If so I would not be surprised at often the officials were asked how many died with Covid as opposed to from Covid?

--snip--

Remember “the border is under control” while over two million illegals, many criminals, none seeking to do America any good waltzed across? This was a bald-faced lie and said with straight faces while creating huge rises in crime and drug deaths.

--snip--

Recently propagandist Mike Luckovich had a cartoon published in the Laconia Daily Sun blaming “Big Oil” for the shortages and high costs of oil. Now can anyone not see the absurdity of such a position? We were energy independent under the Trump Administration, prices were low and stable, jobs plentiful. Then Biden cut our production, catering to environmentalists, and the moment he did oil prices began to rise because like anything that becomes less abundant its price rises.

--snip--

Let us not forget the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan which Biden tried to blame on Trump saying he followed Trump’s plan, a total lie. We left hundreds of American citizens behind and ten’s of thousands of our Afghan allies and their families who are being hunted and killed by the Taliban.

Steve could have spent a few thousand words listing the excesses of SloJo and WRBA, but I think those of us who are already cognizant of their sins can complete the list ourselves.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee where the ice is slowly breaking up, the temps are rising, and Monday is once again arriving all too soon.