>>If you haven't heard the news, gas in NC is almost 5.00/gal right now and forecasted to go higher. Some places are still behind the curve and selling it around 4.00 but hard to find them.
>>
>>This morning, it jumped to 3.99 and has been rising since then:
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>>http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=304420
>>
>>
>>(Seems to be a panic. Some stations have now dropped back down to around 4.00/gallon)
>
>3.99 here, down from the summer high. It still smacks me every time when the pump rolls over $50 to fill a Jetta.
>
>I know I am repeating myself but we need to invest in a Manhattan Project scale project to wean ourselves of dependence on oil. We are only enriching out sworn enemies.

I remember an article from year 2000, from a guy who was getting increasingly deurinated by the presence of SUVs on the roads (they may be faster and more dangerous on the road, but they are just slower and more dangerous in the city, in curves and at the light - if you're sixth to the light, get in the lane with no SUVs if you can, and you may pass). He pulled up a calculation about how much more gas it takes to feed these mastodons - and guess what, if they were replaced with regular sedans, the United States wouldn't need to import oil.

Now that's mostly obsolete - eight years have passed, and we have gone a long way. The personal armored vehicles are larger, heavier and more powerful than they used to be, and there's also more trucks, vans, and there's a whole new category, the crossover, which is half fish half fish (*). oConsumption.ReCalc(), anyone?

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You may say "chick" for a girl; we say "fish".