Home » Open thread 7/6/22

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Open thread 7/6/22 — 21 Comments

  1. Here’s a long and interesting video about what researchers believe to be the oldest story in the world (that we know of), the so called “Cosmic Hunt”. Essentially it’s been sort of reverse engineered from a variety of myths and folk tales across multiple cultures and continents going all the way back to the ice age.

  2. Lovely painting and interesting story. My favorite part is the speculation that M. Gautreau must have been taking arsenic to have skin so clear and fair. I had read that actors used to do this. But it is odd that viewers would think that the painting is so literal and photographic that it would capture the exact skin tone of the woman.

  3. I like Sargent a lot—was blown away by the special exhibit at the Met about five years back, was it? Six?—but never was quite persuaded by the nose on this one…

    (To be sure, I’m convinced that that IS a statement by the artist. Maybe the video talks about it, but I was so turned off by the narrator’s voice—yes, I know it’s not HER fault, etc.—that I exited pretty quickly. (What IS IT with these voices???))

    File under: More in sorrow than Ingres(?)

  4. Ms. Jean-Pierre stated today or yesterday that it is terrible that the price of crude oil has dropped so much and yet gas station prices have barely budged downward.

    I checked on the size of a gas station fuel tank. It is generally between 12,000 to 24,000 gallons. How long does it take to empty a full fuel tank? I’m not sure, but it is probably more than one week typically. So the station owner paid for the current gas in their tank some time ago.

    Upstream people like refiners no doubt engage in the oil futures markets which makes pricing very dynamic and responsive. I doubt gas stations engage in futures trading.

  5. Mme. Gautreau is an icon of loveliness compared to the Rhode Island state senator who posted a video of herself twerking in a bikini upside down on a local beach. Yes, she’s Dem, she’s Ivy (Brown, which is an appropriately named school for a BIPOC), she’s a person of size [euphemism for a BMI higher than is healthy], and she’s proud to be queer– why do you ask?

    https://nypost.com/2022/07/06/democrat-tiara-mack-twerks-upside-down-for-votes/

    John Singer Sargent must be churning in his grave.

  6. }}} I checked on the size of a gas station fuel tank….

    Unfortunately, you lack the economic understanding to know this assertion is largely irrelevant. Gas is called fungible. Among other things, this means that the price of it anywhere is the price of it everywhere. The moment the price of oil drops, the price of gas drops. And vice versa. However, there is a processing issue, and there are two factors here of some relevance.

    (P.S., recommend you look into the economic meaning of “fungible”, it can often explain some pricing events that seem counter-intuitive)

    Summer recently started, and there are “summer blends” which are called for in some, if not all, venues — California, in particular, has a strong set of requirements for “summer blends”.

    Moreover, while not a lot of news was made about it, there was a major refinery shutdown (potentially, it is claimed, due to Russian hackers)
    https://www.shorenewsnetwork.com/2022/06/07/massive-oil-refinery-on-track-to-shut-down-amid-fuel-supply-shortages-record-prices/
    This, too, has a substantial affect on prices —
    https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=48636
    https://www.bicmagazine.com/departments/fire-rescue/9-louisiana-refineries-down-or-reduced-production-exxon-offline/

    dry reading:
    https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/table13.pdf

  7. }}} John Singer Sargent must be churning in his grave.

    No, like most of us, he’s going: “What the F***?”

  8. The Vanderbilt’s loved John Singer Sargent – he painted 6 paintings for them and they are in Biltmore in NC.

  9. I found this guy, Bruce Rivers–apparently a real Criminal Defense Attorney based in Minnesota (as he says, “I don’t just hold your hand and tell you to plead guilty, I’m a trial lawyer, I fight for you in court”) on Youtube and found him interesting, gull wing cars, flashy suits, revolver on his desk, and all.

    Here Rivers is passionately commenting on a video of an ex-con named “Wallo,” and “Wallo’s” advice about how to stay out of trouble and jail to someone named “young Thug,” who is apparently about to be indicted.*

    * See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKd4uTjmLho

  10. ObloodyHell,

    A lot of gasoline is moved around in tanker ships. At that specific point it is fungible and can be moved to the most advantageous place.

    Have you ever seen gasoline being sucked out of a gas station tank so that it can be moved elsewhere? I haven’t. So at that point it is not fungible. It is purchased and stays there until it ends up in vehicles.

    Presumably, the owner doesn’t like selling for less than he/she paid for it, though I’m sure that has happened. It has probably also happened that some gas station owner somewhere has hedged his/her supply on the futures market, though I’d guess that is rare.

    Yeah, I’ve heard about refinery issues. The ones that are operating are operating very near full capacity. But a number of them are completely off-line. I think more than one is in the process of being converted to bio-fuels only. Sigh.

  11. The story of the Dutch farmers is very interesting and seems like it should be getting more coverage than it is.

  12. OBloodyHell,

    Here is an interesting example of something that is a highly interchangeable commodity, natural gas, but does not have the price uniformity that fungibility would imply simply because it isn’t that easy to move it around where it is needed.

    https://www.mercatusenergy.com/blog/basis-an-often-overlooked-aspect-of-natural-gas-hedging

    Nat. gas pipeline operators sometimes make significant chunks of their profit by moving product from where it is cheaper to places where it is pricier. Playing the basis.

  13. O Bloody Hell,
    Are you suggesting that the distributors floor the product sitting in the tanks at the gas station?
    Only 3% of gas stations are owned by oil companies, where that distribution model would work, and even then it would be a nightmare to keep track of inventory.

    “Gas stations typically only receive a fraction of the price listed on the sign. And after factoring in overhead — labor, utilities, insurance, credit card transaction fees — the average profit is winnowed down to ~$0.03 to $0.07 per gallon.

    Now, there is a lot of variance here: Some owners The Hustle spoke to claim to make $0.30+/gallon; others, as little as $0.01.

    But assuming daily sales of 4k gallons at $0.05/gallon, your typical station might only bring home $200-300/day from gas.

    By contrast, those coin-operated air machines you find at most stations can rake in $300 to $500 in profit per month — even after paying the companies that lease them out.”

    https://thehustle.co/why-most-gas-stations-dont-make-money-from-selling-gas/

  14. Gas stations around here used to charge an extra thirty five cents per purchase for using debit or credit card.
    Now, they are typically charging an extra dime per gallon.

    Kinda happened everywhere at once. Who is profiting? Banks, or station owners?

  15. Fullmoon,
    I’ll bite. It’s the banks in this case.
    Credit card companies charge the retailer between 1.1% to 2.5% when a credit card is used. If the average is 2% that works out to 10 cents when gas is $5.00/ gallon.

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