Semo.net Weblog

“We want to get the word out to people in New Mexico, Colorado and Missouri. You can drive a short way and enjoy a great family experience on your vacation and save money at the same time.”

—Chuck Mai, American Automobile Association’s Oklahoma Spokesman,
on vacationing in Sooner Country this year

Maybe you’ve seen it: The American Auto Association publishes a TourBook travel guide that lists the most and least expensive U.S. vacation spots in a given year. The good news for Missourians is that some of AAA’s least-expensive travel destinations for 2008 are not wildly far from where we live!

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Hi!

Thanks for taking a break from your holiday festivities to check out what’s cookin’ here at semo.net on this Memorial Day holiday!

We thought it would be best on this day to share reminders of how the holiday came to be, and of what it was, in fact, established to commemorate.

For the holiday today, we may have traveled some distance to enjoy the company of family and friends; now, we may go the barbeque/four-wheeler/fishing/boating/picnicking/Branson route—trying to squeeze every bit of excitement we can out of these precious moments away from the daily grind!

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“I really do believe [a certain U.S. presidential hopeful]…wants to change the U.S. into a third world country. That is pretty much what [the candidate] said the other day when chastising us for using too much energy.”

— Posted by “S. Henderson”, #31
New York Times, “The Caucus” Blog
 May 21, 2008

“The candidate”, as you may have discerned, might have been John McCain or Barack Obama; both have spoken at some length on conservation in their campaigns. But our discussion here is not a political one; so let us rather, for a moment, take a closer look at the reality-challenged “S. Henderson” for possible insights into our own energy future.

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“If you think $40 a barrel is bad, wait till it reaches $60, then $80 then $100 plus. The golden age of cheap and plentiful fuel is over, so we’d better get used to it.”

–Posted by “Rob” from New Zealand
BBC News Blog
May 24, 2004
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3736917.stm

Jeepers! “Rob” really called it, didn’t he? Way back in 2004! 

Well, in 2008, you don’t need a crystal ball to see that there’s no way around this: We’ve got to rethink the whole business of “getting from here to there” so that it can work to our advantage, and not our detriment.

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THiS POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED ON May 23.

semo.net is looking for a graphic artist and web site designer to begin full time. Applicants must be able to operate in Photoshop CS, Dreamweaver and produce code in HTML & CSS as well as produce animated graphics for banner advertisements. Ability to debug or write code in PHP, ASP, Java and other languages is beneficial.

Send your resume plus links to web sites you’ve created to brian@semo.net

“…It’s amusing to read the hard-done American stories. I wonder if [Americans] realise that the price difference from one side of the Pond to the other is 300%? Two bucks a gallon in the US; well over 6 bucks a gallon in the UK…”

–“Bennett” from Cambridge, England…
BBC News Blog

May 24, 2004

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3736917.stm

We’re catching up to you, “Bennett”. And we don’t find it amusing at all.

Wo! The honeymoon is so completely over, as if I need to point that out! Yes, the American love affair with cheap gasoline has come to an abrupt, very unromantic close due to our sudden exposure to some devastating political, economic, and environmental realities—the kinds of issues that have been affecting other parts of the world for some time, as our man Bennett would attest.

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Last time we listed a goodly number of gas-and-money-saving ideas that could immediately be put into play before you even get behind the wheel!

Today we’ll look at other solid strategies for extracting the most from every gallon that goes into your tank.

Keep idling your engine to a minimum, and minimize fuel waste!
Apparently you don’t need to warm up these new cars for as long as they did the automotive dinosaurs of old. Also, try not to leave the motor running while you’re off doing business. I remember once reading of D.C. lawmakers introducing a “bold, new” gas-price-relief plan on the steps of a public building in 2006—and all the while a fleet of their own drivers sat across the street with their engines idling like they’d discovered Jed Clampett’s private reserve…just waiting for this “groundbreaking” energy press conference to wrap up!  What’s wrong with that picture?
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Scroll to the middle of the article for tips! 

It’s a pity that the prevailing political sensibility in Washington is such that there has been no clarion call, from on high, for more prudent everyday use of available oil resources.

Among other things suggestive of government taking the lead in our development of an energy culture for the new American century, we’d get really swell slogan buttons to wear! We’d get snazzy patches to sew onto our book bags and jackets, and stickers for our cars, notebooks and guitar cases! We’d see people with preternaturally beautiful teeth doing 30-second spots after every soap opera and news hour on tv, and these people would be girding us ever more securely for the task ahead!

Too, I imagine there would be all kinds of small-business incentives, and tons of the other practical goodies that accompany a top-down effort to reshape the way citizens handle some aspect of American life.

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Involve every member of the family in your new gas-consumption strategy; make it a game, if you like!

Most Americans are clearly reeling from the burden of staggering gasoline prices, with no end in sight. But I like to think of our consumer-paralysis as being shock-induced, and therefore temporary. The American people are nothing if not resilient; people preferring to curse the dark are well outnumbered by those with a candle at the ready.

If, at this moment, you’re feeling powerless to affect oil-production channels, oil company policy, and gas-pump prices—congratulations on your excellent instincts! You’re right! For all practical purposes, you are indeed powerless in that regard. Today.

But fortunately for you, your power lies elsewhere…power to create a whole new way of positioning yourself and your family toward fossil-fuel use for transport. When you tap into this power, full-force—if you dare!—you will enhance your quality of life in a way that may surprise you, because the price of a fill-up will no longer affect your existence in the acute manner it does at this moment.

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