glen stark wrote:

On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:18:45 -0600, Kurt Lochner wrote:

Jesus guys, can we elevate the discussion a little bit?

Well, I've tried in the past..

If you guys would swagger a little less, and put a little more
effort into your research, I'd find the discussion interesting
(although off topic, what does this have to do with home repair?).

Well, I've had some 'luck' as regards finding proper 'cites'
into the "oil embargo" of the '70's, particularly the kinds
of instrumentation that was developed to catch 'cheaters'
so far as the storage systems involved..

http://www.pushback.com/Wattenburg/inventions.html

1974
Method for remote inventory of oil storage tanks.
During the Arab oil embargo the oil companies were thought to be
hoarding gas and oil by fudging the inventory reports they had
to furnish to the government. Instead of the Energy Department’s
costly plan to send a thousand FBI agents to crawl inside the
tanks, Bill used an infrared video camera to measure the oil
level of tanks.

1973
Devised a computerized means of connecting potential car pool
riders with one another and called the idea "Dial-a-Ride".
While simple, almost free, and elegant, the idea was never used
because government agencies were already salivating over a promised
$50 million to create a similar (but far less-effective) system.

As regards alt.home.repair, I'm considering a new roof and the
possible installation of solar heating and photovoltaics as an
"improvement" on my house, but that's rather tangential..

On the other hand, if you make a claim, you should be able to back
it up. If you can't, you have to qualify your claims by saying that
your sources are unreliable (your personal human memory and judgement,
like mine, are unreliable). If you admit what parts of your argument
are verifiable fact, and what parts are conjecture, analysis, and
conclusion, you improve your own credibility, while at the same time
you force yourself to look at how sound your opinions and conclusions
really are.

Two words.. Choir loft..

Is todays oil shortage manufactured? Well, it could be.

The refinery capacity seems to have been left alone, if not left
"unimproved" for a variety of excuses, most of them 'economical'
as we stampede into the 'undiscovered country'..

I certainly wouldn't put it past the oil companies. On the other
hand I have yet to see any convincing evidence to support the claim.

And I have doubts that we'll see much of it on the Internet until
after it's too late.. So, I'm fixing up the house, replacing some
sockets (if I can find them today in the attic), most of the 'mouths'
I feed electricity to are now on switched outlets to reduce any drain
or 'keep alive' current, and some UPS stuff is finally getting hooked
up where I needed it..

On a side note, I'm oh so tired of this "Al Gore claimed he invented
the internet" meme.

Gads! Me too..

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp

--'Nuff said..