While desert sands receive the boots of war, And fuel costs climb behind the station door, While ninety thousand livelihoods take flight, And schoolyards fade into a silent night.
While Tehran weeps beneath a caustic rain, And ancient neutral walls decry the pain, As Iran crowns a voice to lead the state, And Epstein’s secrets lie behind the gate.
Across the green where manicured grasses lie, Beneath the vast and undisturbed blue sky, The man who promised ease for every home, With billionaire companions, chose to roam.
Amidst the crisis and the gathering storm, He keeps his swing in customary form.
I often think of myself as extremely mentally ill for contradicting the conventional wisdom that is not necessarily applicable for my situation. Conventional wisdom, while widespread, is often wrong. Just like the A.I. is often wrong.
When I explain my perspective to the A.I. I am told that my observation for my particular view is “spot-on”. And I mean, can A.I. be wrong, except when I point out to the A.I. that is wrong, and then it reconsiders it’s answer and spits out one I’m more agreeable to.
The primary difference between summer and winter blend gasoline is their Reid Vapor Pressure(RVP), which measures how easily the fuel evaporates at a given temperature.
Summer-Blend Gasoline
Lower RVP: Designed to be less volatile so it does not evaporate as easily in hot weather.
Environmental Impact: Slower evaporation reduces the formation of ground-level ozone and smog.
Energy Content: Contains approximately 1.7% to 2% more energy per gallon than winter blend.
Performance: Results in slightly better gas mileage for drivers.
Cost: More expensive to produce due to complex refining processes and the removal of cheap components like butane.
Availability: Mandated by the EPA for sale to consumers from June 1 to September 15.
Winter-Blend Gasoline
Higher RVP: Designed to evaporate more easily to ensure engines start reliably in cold temperatures.
Key Ingredient: Contains a higher percentage of butane (up to 10%), which is highly volatile and inexpensive.
Performance: Provides slightly lower fuel efficiency because butane has less energy content than other gasoline components.
Cost: Cheaper to produce because butane is more affordable than the additives used in summer blends.
Availability: Typically enters the market around September 15 as regulations relax for the cooler months.
Feature
Summer Blend
Winter Blend
Volatility (RVP)
Low (Slower evaporation)
High (Easier evaporation)
Butane Content
Low (approx. 2%)
High (up to 10%)
Production Cost
Higher (+$0.05 to $0.15/gal)
Lower
Fuel Economy
Slightly Better (~1.7% more energy)
Slightly Lower
Primary Purpose
Reduce smog/emissions
Ensure cold engine starts
Retail gas prices typically begin their seasonal climb in late February or early March. Historically, prices reach their lowest point during the first week of February before rising through the spring. This upward trend often continues until prices peak around Memorial Day or in the early summer months.
Key Drivers of the Spring Increase
Refinery Maintenance: In February, refineries often shut down for “turnarounds” to perform maintenance and retool for summer production.
Summer-Blend Transition: Refineries switch to producing summer-blend gasoline in March and April. This blend is more expensive to produce because it uses costlier additives to reduce evaporation in warm weather.
Regulatory Deadlines: Terminals must purge winter-blend fuel by May 1, and retailers generally must switch to summer-grade gas by June 1.
Rising Demand: Gasoline demand starts to increase in February and continues to grow as warmer weather and longer days encourage more driving, particularly during spring break and the start of the summer travel season.
Iran has been a problem country for the whole world for a very long time. It was part of George W. Bush’s Axis of Evil – Iraq, Iran and North Korea. A country run by religious zealots, who believe they are serving the will of God, they have very deep convictions on their beliefs, with many willing to fight to death if necessary to defend what they believe is right.
I don’t see how we win by stirring up a fight in the Middle East. Iran’s government, while obnoxious and a global nuclear threat, mostly was self-contained beyond stirring up trouble in Israel. Leaving them alone mostly kept the oil flowing, kept peace and order in the Middle East. And now that over, we are at war, hitting people in the pocket books in multiple inflationary ways from the gas pump to groceries and everything else that moves by truck and is produced by burning oil.
One of the great laws they’ve adopted in recent years in New York is Early Vote By Mail, where you can sign up once a year to have all the election ballots for the year mailed to your home address in a post-paid returned envelope. It’s so convenient, as about a month and half before the election, you get your ballot mailed to you in the mail. Included with the ballot is a privacy envelope, simple instructions, and postage-paid return envelope which you can use to drop your completed ballot in any USPS Collection Box, USPS Post Office or your home mail box.
I am a busy professional, and while I have Election Day off as a State Holiday, I often volunteer or work my other job with the campaign committee on Election Day. Primary Days I usually have to be in the office doing state work. But sometimes I travel on Election Day so I am no where near my polling place. Plus they moved my polling place further away from my house, to save money. So it’s really just a whole lot easier to fill out the ballot, in the privacy of my bedroom, without anyone looking over my shoulder or waiting to use the privacy booth, and then surrender the completed ballot at the USPS Collection Box on my way to work. And you can track both when the County Board mailed you your ballot, and when it was returned to the County Board.
Heading up to the sixties today.Yesterday afternoon was a pretty nice day for visiting the family, riding out to Wally World, then out to Five Rivers and eating more pinto beans.
I am listening to the Eve of Destruction, 💥 Think of all the hate in Red China and take a look around to Selma Alabama as Barry McGuire sung some 61 years ago. What a clusterfuck the whole situation is in Iran 🇮🇷, people say it’s transitory like inflation. I mean, gas prices are expected to hit $4 a gallon this week and S&P 500 futures are only down 1% after being down 2% earlier in the week. Assuming there isn’t some kind of massive rebound this week and the Trumpster gives the world a dumpster full of puppies and kittens 🐕 🐈 I have my doubts I won’t be getting an excellent deal this week when I dollar-cost my way into the stock market after getting paid this week.
Dark morning today, with the time change ⏰ but I slept well last night and was up a little after 5 AM. Going to head in early in case I hit a bit of snow and ice on the bike trail this morning, as I was late past few days to adverse conditions riding in plus I was in late an hour when I test drove that ginormous pickup truck 🛻 last week. I was leaning towards putting in an offer on that truck mid-week but you know I’m having second thoughts, and I am less and less motivated to buy because not only am I unsure I truly loved the truck, but also because with gas prices going up, I don’t see loads of buyers racing to buy trucks. Thanks to the internet, all I can think is of how to get every inch of leverage possible in a car deal, and a recession and high fuel prices could definately help. Gas lines would be even better. I mean, who doesn’t want a big block when gas is $5 a gallon? Makes an excellent driveway ornament.
Going to decide the next steps 👣 by Wednesday. I may put in a bid for the truck I test drove last week if still available. Or I might just wait. I do think the white color scheme is kind of boring, even though the black accents help. 🐮 The black and white Godzilla Holstein. But some of colors are nice, but it’s hard to find a long-bed SuperDuty with the Godzilla and the FX4. Not to mention, do I really care about the color? Capacity matters more then appearance. But won’t white get stained yellow from dirt and sap, and look like yellow-mud-manure colored fur of a Holstein cow against the white of snow? It’s a truck for camping in wilderness. And with gas prices so high, do I really want the biggest block engine currently out there? Pumping loses are real, and even though I mostly do highway driving, I do occassionally run into stop lights. 🚦 Maybe my friends are right, what I need is a Taco truck. 🌮 Honestly, I’m not that excited about driving once again, or filling up a 34-gallon tank.
Rode out to Wally World yesterday. 🛒 It was a nice ride, though on the way home my bike was very much overloaded. Didn’t a lot of milk for my coffee ☕ this morning, but I did enjoy lots of blueberry pancakes 🥞 (with carrots 🥕 in the mix of course for fiber). I am basically down to my last egg 🥚 and milk is completely empty, and I’m low on whole wheat flower. 🍞 All things I can stop and get on the bike commute home, which will have plenty of daylight and hopefully not much snow and ice to deal with on the Rail Trail.
Then went out to Five Rivers 🐸 for a while and went for a walk, no boots 👢 required. It was a surprisingly nice evening, with daylight well after 7 PM. Still lit bit of ice and snow around but not terrible. ❄️ Should be nice today, even if I do hit some snow and ice on the Rail Trail on the way in but shouldn’t be too bad one way or another.
