joeynach

Weird I though for sure Hall would be playing against Lilly, hes got a lifetime .400 BA against him.

Is anyone else's Comcast HD feed all choppy and stuttery like mine. WTF

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 19, 2008 -> 06:26 AM) After thinking about this for a couple of days let me put this into perspective that will resonate with you. Do you want republicians making energy policy, and therefore transportation policy indirectly? Somehow I doubt it. Each administration is subject to its own beliefs, feelings, and donors on each issue. In my point of view the less things we have our government deciding on, with those changing whims in mind, the better. Between the lines what you are saying is that you believe it is OK for the government to exert a heavy fist on transportation policy as long as it is what I agree with. If Barack Obama did a 180 and said "Let's drill everything we can for oil!!!", your tune would change on that "heavy fist". I really doubt you agreed with the last eight years of transportation policy. In general the less involved government is, the better. The private sector makes these decesions way more clearly, quickly, consitantly, and accurately. While I agree there are few things we want the Gov't to rule with an iron fist on this is a unique situation. Sure we are a highly capitalistic society meaning economics drive most of what we do, produce, say, etc. However, now we are talking about inelastic products; food, gas, water, etc and now we are talking about allowing economics to kill our planet and destroy lives and land both here and abroad (via global warming). If the Gov't were to sit idle and say well we will let the energy industry adjust its own market if oil runs out and/or global warming starts affecting everyone that would be a mistake. The livelyhood of our own country and entire world is at stake now and for future generations. This would be too conservative of a view to just let energy markets "adjust" to their own follies in the way most capitalistic ones do. The real goal here is to use economics, Gov 't incentives, research and development funding to discover and implement alternative, home grown, and clean sources of energy in this country. We are not the only ones, this responsibilities falls heavy on us due to our energy demands and lifestyle, but other populations as well. I dont care what political party you belong to, I want clean, renewable, abundant, home-grown, and affordable energy for myself and everyone in this country. I want everyone to take responsibility and everyone to be involved; Gov't, Private Industry, Universities, etc. Like I said before, this is a survive or die issue.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2008 -> 05:36 PM) Hydrogen getting in to the atmosphere is a concern because hydrogen is ridiculously hard to contain with 100% effectiveness. Pressurized tanks leak. Cars get in accidents and pressurized tanks rupture and release their fuel to the atmosphere. Hydrogen is moved around in some sort of pipeline system but some small amount of hydrogen is able to diffuse out of those either through simple molecular diffusion or by moving through cracks. We're not that good at all at keeping oil spills from happening, and containing hydrogen is vastly more difficult because of its chemical properties and the fact that it wants to be a gas at STP. Thanks for the clarity.

Well the answer is CANADA. Here is the link to this oil info. Below are the top 6 countries in that we import oil from in order. 1st: Canada 2nd: Saudi Arabia 3rd: Mexico 4th: Nigeria 5th: Venezuela 6th: Iraq P.S. Canada's oil production comes mainly from oil sands (tar sands) production. Their recent increased value in the Canadian currency is mainly a result of their oil production and exportation.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2008 -> 11:08 AM) Pumping out water vapor is a fun one, because it's effects can be quite variable. Right now we're so concerned about CO2 because CO2 is what we're pumping up at the most rapid rate, and because additional CO2 has a relatively simple effect. Water vapor though can do several things, it can be a greenhouse gas that warms up the planet, but it can also condense in to clouds that reflect energy off the tops. Overall I think the effect of pumping out water vapor is probably going to be negligible since water cycles in and out of the atmosphere so easy already on its own. You'd have to drain a reasonable part of the ocean to make a real difference in the atmosphere by dumping water vapor in. Hydrogen gas, on the other hand, is another matter. It can potentially do a number of things to the atmosphere, including damaging the ozone layer by serving as a catalyst for breaking down ozone, and reacting with oxygen to produce water at levels in the atmosphere that were usually dry. See the link I put on the first page for more on that. I think my original point was that if you replace every gasoline powered vehicle on this planet with hydrogen powered vehicles you don't rid yourself of global warming issues. All you did was simply replace the greenhouse casing gas emmited from vehicles. You went from CO2 to Vater Vapor, and my point was If I remember correctly from 10th grade chemistry, water vapor is the most greenhouse trapping gas on this planet.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2008 -> 11:08 AM) Pumping out water vapor is a fun one, because it's effects can be quite variable. Right now we're so concerned about CO2 because CO2 is what we're pumping up at the most rapid rate, and because additional CO2 has a relatively simple effect. Water vapor though can do several things, it can be a greenhouse gas that warms up the planet, but it can also condense in to clouds that reflect energy off the tops. Overall I think the effect of pumping out water vapor is probably going to be negligible since water cycles in and out of the atmosphere so easy already on its own. You'd have to drain a reasonable part of the ocean to make a real difference in the atmosphere by dumping water vapor in. Hydrogen gas, on the other hand, is another matter. It can potentially do a number of things to the atmosphere, including damaging the ozone layer by serving as a catalyst for breaking down ozone, and reacting with oxygen to produce water at levels in the atmosphere that were usually dry. See the link I put on the first page for more on that. Hydrogen gas is the fuel right. Im confused so how does hydrogen get in the atmosphere from Fuel Cell cars. I thought they emit Water Vapor, or I guess if condensed as water, as the emissions. Hydrogen gas being the fuel has its own issues. I was thinking more on how we make hydrogen gas. Mostly from Oil or Natural Gas, which does nothing for Oil dependency and skyrocketing prices. Now if Hydrogen could be made from another source; water, farm waste, corn, etc than this would be a bigger story. Though Im not sure what the other renewable sources of hydrogen gas really are.

I will post the answer and the amounts after a few days.

Umm don't hydrogen fuel cell cars emit Water Vapor as their exhaust. I know its a naturally occurring substance, but doesn't anyone remember that Water Vapor is a greenhouse gas. Actually I believe its the most greenhouse inducing gas on this planet, meaning it traps more radiant heat than CO2. Sounds like a waste to me, all it does is not run on gasoline, it still would case and/or make global warming worse.

I either forgot or just dont know how to do it. Can someone help me out please. Thanks

Gasoline subsidies from the Gov't, like in China and Russia, suck balls. They dont expose the citizens of those countries to the real economically derived price of gasoline. Therefore they inflate demand due to the cheaper prices the civilian pays underneath his government subsidized price. This on a small scale, a country here, a country there, should do nothing to global prices and/or supply and demand. However, since China and Russia represent about 1/5 of the worlds population their subsidized price and non-exposure to supply/demand economics has in essence screwed up the price for everyone else. Its like squeezing on a balloon, shrinking one end while inflating the other. When prices rise demand should fall back, and vice versa. So in Russia and China as prices rise, demand does not fall back, it can actually increase. Shrinking supplies for everyone else and screwing up the demand/supply balance for the world market. Not to mention China's massive rise in middle class wealth and demand for oil. So basically since we play by the rules of economics (innate to capitalistic societies), we get screwed by China and Russia's subsidized gas BS. I guess this proves we should produce our own gas and not rely as much on global market and imports. Strike another victory to those that want to open up the entire North Alaskan slope for oil drilling or dig out Mountains in Colorado for oil shale.

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ Jun 14, 2008 -> 01:02 PM) No, they're not. Plus, domestic demand has little to do with the price of gas. If you're looking for a culprit behind high gas prices, the evidence lies with OPEC and increased foreign demand from China, India and Russia. I think gas prices in China and Russia around $3 per gallon. So how do they have cheaper gas when their demand is through the roof. Cant be all taxes b/c we know that we dont tax gas $1 per gallon, we tax gas like 20-30 cents a gallon. So either American gas companies have artificially inflated the price from the wholesale cost, or somehow China and Russia have sweetheart deals on oil that we dont. Either way it blows. Here is the current price of gasoline futures, its at $3.46 per gallon. Thats the price the oil companies can pay for wholesale gasoline right now. So that means most of the country is seeing a mark up of about 60 cents, and Chicagoan's are seeing a mark up of about 80 cents. Does anyone else find that strange, not the part about Chicago being more expensive but about the mark ups. Why can the oil companies mark up gasoline so much while the economy, other gas dependent industries, and Americans suffer. Why cant the mark up be 20-30 cents a gallon instead of 60-80 cents. Why should this be unregulated when so many people, jobs, and industries depend on it. I know it sounds un-capitalistic to "intervene" here, but this situation is unique. Your talking about an inelastic product (gasoline) which also influences other inelastic products (food prices) that people depend upon to survive. Like I was saying before...seems fishy.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Jun 12, 2008 -> 11:47 PM) Its been a long time since I have been in the business, but I worked at the retail level as a DM for a couple of years. Here is how gas pricing worked at that time. Retailers get very little markup per gallon. Ideally, a retailer would make about 10 cents/gallon. Since the prices are higher now, that number may be higher as they may be still looking for the same percentage. Often times, they would get much less. Daily managers of convenience stores drive a local area and take a survey of gas prices from designated competitors. Gas prices are adjusted accordingly. Independently owned stations may not be as dilligent, so they may be slower to change their prices. I do know that gas companies consider their prices at the pump to be very competitive and they will change prices at a given station to react to such competition. What would typically happen is that the cost would continue to rise, yet low cost/bottom grade retailers would hold their prices so all companies would do the same. Often times this would result in a station selling gas at a one or two cent margin or even below cost as I saw many times. One of my stations actually sold gas below cost for a whole month just to remain competitive. At a certain point, larger companies would decide to regain their margins and jump the prices 8-10 cents. This is called a restoration. The low cost retailers would always follow right up with their prices, but they would never lead a restoration. Typically "majors" (Shell, Sunoco, Exxon, etc) would sell a few pennies higher than regional brands (Speedway, Thornton's, 7 Elevens, etc) regardless of the above factors. The money on gas may be made at the wholesaler level of by the middle man, but it is not made at the retail level. Margins are held low and convenience stores are what bring in the cash. Low margins create the traffic, sodas, oil, fast food, etc make the $$. Wow thanks for the great insight. I 100% agree with you on the price being competitive, especially between the discount guys and the legacy guys. One thing I have noticed that the usual few cents cheaper by speedway, thorntons, etc is dissapearing the higher retail prices get. There seems to less room for error in the prices, meaning more volatility. Where I live we have at the corner of Pulaski and Vollmer a Speedway station for years, selling discount gasoline. About 3-4 years ago a BP station went in across the street. While gas prices were still $2.20 they speedway was always a few cents cheaper, but since the price has gone up the price discrepancy is gone. The speedway and BP price is usually always the same now, more reflective of the BP price than the speedway price. The same situation is true of 183rd and Kedzie. We have always had a Shell and Citgo on that corner. Then a couple years ago the Jewel there decided to put in a station and sell discounted gas, the station is even called "econo gas". Same situation, a few years ago they would always be a few cents cheaper than the other guys on the corner. Now with high prices, everyone is priced the same, no few cents cheaper anymore. Now that seems like gauging on the outside, but Im not sure. It could just be variances and tight supplies or volatility in demand from the high prices. But it is definatly interesting to note that gas prices have gone retarded. I live in homewood-flossmoor. We have $4.25 on Vollmer Rd, $4.19 on 183rd St, $4.11 on halsted st, and when I went golfing at waters edge there was $4.07 at Harlem and 115th st. Whats weird is that now gas is cheaper on the I-294 oasis , $4.21 yesterday, and the shell station by US Cellular on 31st st at $4.21 as well. Thats cheaper than many locations around my house. Which is tentatively insane since oasis and chicago gas prices have historically been 10-20 cents more than the suburbs. Crazy price volatility like I said, seems fishy to a lot of people.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jun 12, 2008 -> 04:06 PM) So you're saying he does not have a sore hand? Thats what hawk said some sort of swollen hand.

Hawk and Dj were saying during todays broadcast that Quentin is quite banged up right now and also nursing a soar and swollen right hand. When did this happen, and what happened to his hand. Does he need some rest, a series off?

The other thing I have always wondered about was the price difference between corporately owned/managed gas stations vs. individual owners/franchisers. Just the same way some fast food restaurants are corporately owned and operated and others are individual franchises the same is true of gas stations. You see this in fast food where there will be a promotion for some items "at participating locations only". Meaning its a corporate promotion and the franchise locations can choose to adopt the promotion or not, but I digress. In terms of gas stations the question is about corporate stations using established area prices vs franchise stations using whatever price they choose. Thus this would lead to frequent price discrepancies, differences from corner to corner, town to town, etc. In terms of right now the question is are the stations that are so quick to change their prices (usually increase) from day to day and from oil price to oil price the individually owned franchise stations. The theory being that the corporate stations would have prices closer to the wholesale price of gasoline since those stations would take longer to change their price due to time it takes for corporate wide price information to filter down and be established for the certain area. Basically my theory is that corporately owned stations are less price volatile then franchised stations. P.S. The trend I noticed for years on gasoline retail vs. wholesale was always about a 50 cent per gallon increase. You can basically see what the general wholesale price of gasoline is by looking at the gasoline futures on wall st. Then just see what the difference is between what you pay at the pump vs. what the companies buy the gasoline at. Historically it was about 50 cent a gallon increase to wholesale is what you paid at the pump, but the marked IMO is out of whack. What you see today is a lot more ups and downs over a short period of time to this usual 50 cent markup. You can check out the wholesale futures price here

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 09:07 AM) Loaiza is not abum. He is a very good pitcher and has a god history with the Sox. Cooper shoud be able to get him on track and he can do the job he was signed to do - long relief and spot start. Uribe is a great glove man and may very well be a trade chip. I am still baffled by why he hsn't played at all since returning from the DL. Ramirez is playing very well, but Uribe can fill in at SS-2B or 3B and hasn't even been in in the late innings. No at bats either that I am aware of. If he is not filling any role other than keeping the bench warm and the water bucket full for the team I would think a trade is in line soon. This thus make no assumption that Loaiza is 5 years older, has 5 more years of wear and tear on his arm, and assumes he has not lost any velocity or stuff over the past 5 years. Seems ignorant to me.

Is anyone else's comcast feed not showing the count on the top bar. WTF

Knowing the guys we have on our team, I bet if Mariotti actually showed up in the sox clubhouse they would Razz him a little bit, ya know boys will be boys, then all would be well. Mariotti has a lower approval rating than George Bush....now thats LOW!!!

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 9, 2008 -> 09:07 PM) This is the thinking that keeps the Yankmees struggling to be a winner The yanks are constantly surrounded by a circus of fans and media that make, propose, or implement the dumbest impulsive baseball moves on the planet. I guess thats the nature of the NY yankees though, more fans, more expectations, more media, more DOPES!!!

I remember the talk about the sox team in the 2003 and 2004 years. Those years the sox hit well over 200 home runs, and I believe they set a record of something around 240 homers in 2003. We had Mags, Big Frank, Carl Everett, Carlos Lee, Crede, Jose Valentin, etc. The knock was we had a softball sluggers lineup, we would score 10 runs one game and 1 the next. We had decent pitching, nothing special. We finished 86-76 in 2003 and 83-79 in 2004. After the 2004 season the sox made their historic shift, away from all or nothing softball sluggers to a more well rounded roster, inlcuding the lineup, rotation, and bullpen. We all recall the specific changes made that lead to our World Series run for 2005. But back when these changes were going on I remember a lot of people and media around the time of soxfest talking about not giving the softball sluggers stlye team a fighting chance. That KW broke up the team without giving them a fighting chance, meaning a loaded rotation and bullpen for support. Some people wanted the overhaul others wanted the sluggers with the beefed up pitching (we all remember 03-04 5th starter problems). So my question is this, is the 2008 team we see before us the "softball sluggers" lineup with the beefed up pitching? There is no doubt he have some solid pitching on this team, both in the rotation and pen. So is this 2008 team, the team lots of people were talking about post 2004, we certainly slug and hit a ton of home runs, and we certainty pitch very well. P.S. Not that I have a problem this type of team vs. another type. I actually believe that its wise to construct a team home ballpark tendencies. IE lots of sluggers at The Cell, Citzens Bank, etc.....and lots of speedy gap hitters at places like PetCo, At&T, Comerica, etc.

And the whole basis for this trade (proposal) falls apart because Konerko has earned his 5 and 10 player rights and can veto any trade...hence he would never approve a trade to the freaking Giants. Well done whoever wrote this article, u really did your homework first! DOPE! http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/style_emotic.../lolhitting.gif

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jun 7, 2008 -> 03:17 PM) When gas was $2.00 per gallon a 2% increase would be .04, that same percentage is now .08 and much more noticeable. But generally speaking, companies have a better opportunity to gouge when prices are falling and they can keep some of the falling price for themselves. When prices are rising, people gauge prices much more carefully and there is more pressure on the retailers to keep the increase as small as possible. Also the taxes that are percentage based increase with the wholesale price, adding to the increase. Ahh that makes sense, especially if the tax is % based on the price. That would mean u would see a larger discrepancy in price between IL and IN, which I have.

My question is some what vague, but its something I have noticed in more recent years. With high gas prices becoming the norm, first $3 a gallon much of 2007, now $4 a gallon much of 2008, are the higher prices contributing to increased price volatility and price gauging? In the past 3 years or so I have noticed much more volatility in has prices everywhere as well as much more varying prices from station to station, even within the same town or area. For example, i live in Flossmoor, 25 miles south of the city and about 4-5 miles from the indiana border. Historically, indiana gas were generally about 10 cents cheaper than gas over in IL, due to taxes. Now with high prices you see differences between the two anywhere from 0-30 cents at times. Also even around town there is much more discrepancy among prices at stations, to the tune of a few cents to 30 cents a gallon. I will frequently see as prices 20 cents different from just traveling a couple miles or so down the road. This trend has been much more evident with gas at $3 or $4 a gallon than it was for the previous 25 years or so. Any explanations?

OMG we now have a 2B who is hitting for a respectable batting avg. Alexi is hitting .275 and it feels like hes hitting .375. Im so giddy lets celebrate .