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Sunday, March 11, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
The history of the gas station
The history of the gas station
By Ira Rosofsky
In 1900, there were 20 million horses and only 4,000 cars in the United States. Where there are gas stations today, stables and blacksmith shops stood.
In its early days, the oil industry existed to manufacture kerosene, a fuel for lamps. Gasoline was a waste by-product of this process -something usually thrown away.
Early motorists, looking for this abundant waste product, went to their local general store or kerosene refinery and filled up a bucket from a barrel of gasoline. This practice was not exactly convenient or safe.
The need for cheap and plentiful gasoline grew as the need for kerosene fell with the rise of electric lighting. In 1905, about 25,000 cars were manufactured in the United States, and Sylvanus F. Bowser perfected a pump that would take gas out of a barrel and fill a car's tank. The world's first "filling stations" started opening that same year.
Typically, a general store would place a pump out front on the sidewalk.
Soon, cars were snaking up and down Main Street, blocking the movement of pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages.
This problem grew much worse by 1910, when there were 500,000 cars looking for gas and blocking traffic while doing it.
A new type of filling station began to appear - the drive-in. Sometimes covered by a canvas awning, the pump would be located on a lot off the street, and maybe the pump would even stand next to a store that sold auto supplies and food - a business similar to the gas station we know today.
Around the same time, the government broke up Standard oil, which controlled most of the oil in the United States, into a number of smaller companies.
Suddenly, many new companies were competing for customers. Gas was cheap and plentiful. How did a new company get motorist to buy its gas rather than a competitor's?
In 1914, Standard Oil of California developed a standard design for its 34 gas stations. The company also put their employees in uniforms, provided free air for tires, and gave away road maps. When you drove into a Standard Oil station, you might have a whole team pumping your gas, checking your oil and tires, and cleaning your windshield.
Oil companies competed by seeing who could provide the most free services.
Architect Robert Venturi has called the gas station one of the world's first examples of a "decorated shed." A decorated shed is the opposite of a building designed to look beautiful, such as a cathedral. It is a building with this main architectural purpose: to be a backdrop for a sign that advertises what is sold inside. On any commercial strip, signs are what first catch the eye, not usually the design of the buildings.
From signs and slogans, motorists knew then as they know now that they could find something reliably comfortable and familiar no matter how far from home they traveled. Just as many people are "lovin' it" at any McDonald's of today, you could "trust your car to the man who wears the star" at any Texaco gas station in the 1930s.
The basic gas station design has remained the same over time: a big sign over a shed containing auto supplies and snacks; a pump with an awning; and bays for service.
However, not all stations were completely standardized. Just as distinctively different food stands exist, distinctively different gas stations were built.
They were usually not part of a chain and relied on looking different to attract attention. Some of these buildings are what Venturi called "ducks" - buildings designed to look like what they are selling. The name came from a business shaped like a duck that sold ducklings on Long Island, New York.
In Maryville, Missouri, motorists could fill up at a gas station shaped like a gas pump. In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, you can see a preserved Shell Oil gas station in the shape of a shell. Other stations, while not quite "ducks," were still unusual. Many East Coast gas stations looked like lighthouses. Other gas stations were designed in the shape of teepees or windmills. These remarkable shapes were attempts to draw attention while competing with the overly familiar national chains.
Unusual designs became less common as the large oil chains came to dominate the sale of gas, much as national department store chains have put local general stores out of business.
However, old gas stations are not forgotten. Many enthusiastic people are devoted to the hobby of pctroliana. They collect old gasoline signs, oilcans, even old gas pumps. Many of them dream of restoring old gas stations in much the same way as a group restored the shell-shaped Shell station in Winston-Salem.
In comparison, the corporate gas station has remained purely practical.
Perhaps the greatest change in the gas station experience started in the 1970s, when gas started becoming scarcer and more expensive. The oil companies realized that it was expensive to provide free maps, free windshield washings, and free air for your tires. Now they will be happy to sell you a road map, let you wash your own windshield, and charge you a quarter to put air in your tires.
And you have to pump your own gas.
It is expensive to pay for a squad of people to fuss over your car.
Today, one clerk takes your money while you do all the work.
Is this convenience worth the loss of the fun of getting gassed up at a lighthouse?
By Ira Rosofsky
In 1900, there were 20 million horses and only 4,000 cars in the United States. Where there are gas stations today, stables and blacksmith shops stood.
In its early days, the oil industry existed to manufacture kerosene, a fuel for lamps. Gasoline was a waste by-product of this process -something usually thrown away.
Early motorists, looking for this abundant waste product, went to their local general store or kerosene refinery and filled up a bucket from a barrel of gasoline. This practice was not exactly convenient or safe.
The need for cheap and plentiful gasoline grew as the need for kerosene fell with the rise of electric lighting. In 1905, about 25,000 cars were manufactured in the United States, and Sylvanus F. Bowser perfected a pump that would take gas out of a barrel and fill a car's tank. The world's first "filling stations" started opening that same year.
Typically, a general store would place a pump out front on the sidewalk.
Soon, cars were snaking up and down Main Street, blocking the movement of pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages.
This problem grew much worse by 1910, when there were 500,000 cars looking for gas and blocking traffic while doing it.
A new type of filling station began to appear - the drive-in. Sometimes covered by a canvas awning, the pump would be located on a lot off the street, and maybe the pump would even stand next to a store that sold auto supplies and food - a business similar to the gas station we know today.
Around the same time, the government broke up Standard oil, which controlled most of the oil in the United States, into a number of smaller companies.
Suddenly, many new companies were competing for customers. Gas was cheap and plentiful. How did a new company get motorist to buy its gas rather than a competitor's?
In 1914, Standard Oil of California developed a standard design for its 34 gas stations. The company also put their employees in uniforms, provided free air for tires, and gave away road maps. When you drove into a Standard Oil station, you might have a whole team pumping your gas, checking your oil and tires, and cleaning your windshield.
Oil companies competed by seeing who could provide the most free services.
Architect Robert Venturi has called the gas station one of the world's first examples of a "decorated shed." A decorated shed is the opposite of a building designed to look beautiful, such as a cathedral. It is a building with this main architectural purpose: to be a backdrop for a sign that advertises what is sold inside. On any commercial strip, signs are what first catch the eye, not usually the design of the buildings.
From signs and slogans, motorists knew then as they know now that they could find something reliably comfortable and familiar no matter how far from home they traveled. Just as many people are "lovin' it" at any McDonald's of today, you could "trust your car to the man who wears the star" at any Texaco gas station in the 1930s.
The basic gas station design has remained the same over time: a big sign over a shed containing auto supplies and snacks; a pump with an awning; and bays for service.
However, not all stations were completely standardized. Just as distinctively different food stands exist, distinctively different gas stations were built.
They were usually not part of a chain and relied on looking different to attract attention. Some of these buildings are what Venturi called "ducks" - buildings designed to look like what they are selling. The name came from a business shaped like a duck that sold ducklings on Long Island, New York.
In Maryville, Missouri, motorists could fill up at a gas station shaped like a gas pump. In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, you can see a preserved Shell Oil gas station in the shape of a shell. Other stations, while not quite "ducks," were still unusual. Many East Coast gas stations looked like lighthouses. Other gas stations were designed in the shape of teepees or windmills. These remarkable shapes were attempts to draw attention while competing with the overly familiar national chains.
Unusual designs became less common as the large oil chains came to dominate the sale of gas, much as national department store chains have put local general stores out of business.
However, old gas stations are not forgotten. Many enthusiastic people are devoted to the hobby of pctroliana. They collect old gasoline signs, oilcans, even old gas pumps. Many of them dream of restoring old gas stations in much the same way as a group restored the shell-shaped Shell station in Winston-Salem.
In comparison, the corporate gas station has remained purely practical.
Perhaps the greatest change in the gas station experience started in the 1970s, when gas started becoming scarcer and more expensive. The oil companies realized that it was expensive to provide free maps, free windshield washings, and free air for your tires. Now they will be happy to sell you a road map, let you wash your own windshield, and charge you a quarter to put air in your tires.
And you have to pump your own gas.
It is expensive to pay for a squad of people to fuss over your car.
Today, one clerk takes your money while you do all the work.
Is this convenience worth the loss of the fun of getting gassed up at a lighthouse?
Gold War
Gold Expected to Dominate the Investment Horizon, Experts Advise Early Stock Purchases (Reno, NV – March 5, 2007)
Traditionally, gold has had an inverse relationship with the stock market. When stocks go up, the price of gold usually falls; when stocks flounder, the price of gold usually skyrockets.
Some experts believe it could mean a lot for investors in 2007, because gold is once again catching the eye of the investor. For General Metals Corporation
, the news couldn’t come at a better time.
“With our plans to begin drilling at Independence Mine, we’re more than thrilled to hear gold is making a comeback,” states company CEO Stephen Parent. “We’re even more excited with our location; it’s a proven producer.”
General Metals acquired the Independence Mine in northern Nevada and became a public company last year, trading under the symbol GNLM.
Predominantly a silver mine from 1938 to 1987, the Independence Mine is estimated to contain over two million ounces of gold, as well as over two million ounces of additional un-mined silver.
As the Independence Mine is essentially an island within Newmont Mining’s Phoenix Mine, the area is already a proven producer.
According to Parent, they plan to remove the precious metals in two phases. “Phase one includes our ‘shallow’ targets,” says Parent.
“The shallow targets contain less gold, but they’re easily and quickly accessible, which will encourage early cash flow.
Phase two is where the majority of our gold will come from. It’s deep mining, but we expect it to produce 1.4 to 2 million ounces of gold.”
They expect to produce 20,000 ounces of gold in the first year, 60,000 ounces in the second year and 70,000 ounces in the third year -- approximately $101 million from early estimates.
The company also anticipates an additional $1.36 billion to be gained from phase two production. In an effort to increase their mining production, General Metals has recently acquired the Nyinahin Mining Concession in Ghana.
Located in one of the most active exploratory areas in the world, this concession shares borders with several major mining companies, including Newmont Mining, Napoli Gold and Dunkwa Continental Goldfields. “Financial experts are predicting gold to play a key role in investor’s profiles during 2007,” adds Parent.
“But due to the timely nature, potential investors will need to act quickly in order to maximize their gains.”
"One concrete change in the U.S. financial system was the most telling. Way back in March 1971, four months before Nixon closed the Gold window, the "permanent" U.S. debt ceiling had been frozen at $US 400 Billion. By late 1982, U.S. funded debt had tripled to about $US 1.25 TRILLION. But the "permanent" debt ceiling still stood at $US 400 Billion. All the debt ceiling rises since 1971 had been officially designated as "temporary(!?)". In late 1982, realizing that this charade could not be continued, The U.S. Treasury eliminated the "difference" between the "temporary" and the "permanent" debt ceiling.
The way was cleared for the subsequent explosion in U.S. debt. With the U.S. being the world's "reserve currency", the way was in fact cleared for a debt explosion right around the world. It was also cleared for three of the biggest bull markets in history."
"Governments learned in the 1960s and 1970s that it was impossible to meet an increased demand for Gold with physical Gold. They needed a paper substitute. Gold "derivatives" provided that substitute. With more tradable alternatives to physical Gold, it became far easier to control the Gold price. But on top of the derivatives themselves, other specific mechanisms were developed to help control the price of Gold."
The gold rushes and the abandonment of gold-as-money under the modern welfare/warfare state shows how governments, fearing the affinity of free people for gold, fight it, thereby helping to destroy whole countries along with the gold mining industry.
Only a gold standard can return an ailing world economy to its full potential, reduce unemployment, help restore law and order, and help to secure peace and freedom for mankind.
This is a sponsored post, please read disclosure policy.
Traditionally, gold has had an inverse relationship with the stock market. When stocks go up, the price of gold usually falls; when stocks flounder, the price of gold usually skyrockets.
Some experts believe it could mean a lot for investors in 2007, because gold is once again catching the eye of the investor. For General Metals Corporation
, the news couldn’t come at a better time.
“With our plans to begin drilling at Independence Mine, we’re more than thrilled to hear gold is making a comeback,” states company CEO Stephen Parent. “We’re even more excited with our location; it’s a proven producer.”
General Metals acquired the Independence Mine in northern Nevada and became a public company last year, trading under the symbol GNLM.
Predominantly a silver mine from 1938 to 1987, the Independence Mine is estimated to contain over two million ounces of gold, as well as over two million ounces of additional un-mined silver.
As the Independence Mine is essentially an island within Newmont Mining’s Phoenix Mine, the area is already a proven producer.
According to Parent, they plan to remove the precious metals in two phases. “Phase one includes our ‘shallow’ targets,” says Parent.
“The shallow targets contain less gold, but they’re easily and quickly accessible, which will encourage early cash flow.
Phase two is where the majority of our gold will come from. It’s deep mining, but we expect it to produce 1.4 to 2 million ounces of gold.”
They expect to produce 20,000 ounces of gold in the first year, 60,000 ounces in the second year and 70,000 ounces in the third year -- approximately $101 million from early estimates.
The company also anticipates an additional $1.36 billion to be gained from phase two production. In an effort to increase their mining production, General Metals has recently acquired the Nyinahin Mining Concession in Ghana.
Located in one of the most active exploratory areas in the world, this concession shares borders with several major mining companies, including Newmont Mining, Napoli Gold and Dunkwa Continental Goldfields. “Financial experts are predicting gold to play a key role in investor’s profiles during 2007,” adds Parent.
“But due to the timely nature, potential investors will need to act quickly in order to maximize their gains.”
"One concrete change in the U.S. financial system was the most telling. Way back in March 1971, four months before Nixon closed the Gold window, the "permanent" U.S. debt ceiling had been frozen at $US 400 Billion. By late 1982, U.S. funded debt had tripled to about $US 1.25 TRILLION. But the "permanent" debt ceiling still stood at $US 400 Billion. All the debt ceiling rises since 1971 had been officially designated as "temporary(!?)". In late 1982, realizing that this charade could not be continued, The U.S. Treasury eliminated the "difference" between the "temporary" and the "permanent" debt ceiling.
The way was cleared for the subsequent explosion in U.S. debt. With the U.S. being the world's "reserve currency", the way was in fact cleared for a debt explosion right around the world. It was also cleared for three of the biggest bull markets in history."
"Governments learned in the 1960s and 1970s that it was impossible to meet an increased demand for Gold with physical Gold. They needed a paper substitute. Gold "derivatives" provided that substitute. With more tradable alternatives to physical Gold, it became far easier to control the Gold price. But on top of the derivatives themselves, other specific mechanisms were developed to help control the price of Gold."
The gold rushes and the abandonment of gold-as-money under the modern welfare/warfare state shows how governments, fearing the affinity of free people for gold, fight it, thereby helping to destroy whole countries along with the gold mining industry.
Only a gold standard can return an ailing world economy to its full potential, reduce unemployment, help restore law and order, and help to secure peace and freedom for mankind.
This is a sponsored post, please read disclosure policy.
Customer value
March 08, 2007
What's the value of a customer who doesn't pay you anything? If you're running a hot dog stand, the answer is probably "zero." But if you're running a two-sided market - a market, like eBay or Monster.com or AdWords or YouTube or Digg or even Second Life, that needs to attract both buyers and sellers (or content generators and content consumers) - the answer may be "a lot." EBay, for instance, earns most of its money from its sellers, who pay the company a fee whenever they sell something through the auction site. The buyers don't have to pay when they make their purchases. But while eBay receives no direct revenue from the buyers, the buyers nevertheless represent a crucial set of customers for the company - without buyers, there'd be no sellers and hence no business.
Nicholas G. Carr
You can call it also Page Rank, or Search engine placement or in any other way.
At the end your website or blog is worth for the number of readers or users.
Just like TV.
Audience makes the price.
And I say the price, because what's worth today is JUST the price, not the VALUE.
What's the value of a customer who doesn't pay you anything? If you're running a hot dog stand, the answer is probably "zero." But if you're running a two-sided market - a market, like eBay or Monster.com or AdWords or YouTube or Digg or even Second Life, that needs to attract both buyers and sellers (or content generators and content consumers) - the answer may be "a lot." EBay, for instance, earns most of its money from its sellers, who pay the company a fee whenever they sell something through the auction site. The buyers don't have to pay when they make their purchases. But while eBay receives no direct revenue from the buyers, the buyers nevertheless represent a crucial set of customers for the company - without buyers, there'd be no sellers and hence no business.
Nicholas G. Carr
You can call it also Page Rank, or Search engine placement or in any other way.
At the end your website or blog is worth for the number of readers or users.
Just like TV.
Audience makes the price.
And I say the price, because what's worth today is JUST the price, not the VALUE.
About Drugs and what to do
I belong to the "Flower generation".
I lived it marginally, but I did.
It all began in the sixties.
Before, in the previous century they mostly consumed opium and sporadically, since it was expensive and most people had no money to eat, least to "enjoy drugs".
It all began as a trasgressive fashion that went with long hair, short skirts and "grass".
From grass they passed to LSD and Heroin.
From a trasgressive movement it became a progressive and soon a destructive one.
The "flower generation" has become the "adult generation" from trasgressive most of us has become conservative, but drugs still find lovers and adepts.
I never tried it, but read and studied enough to understand that once you fall, it is hard to come back.
1-800 nodrugs.com is a non-profit that takes phone calls (toll free) from people seeking drug rehab.
They are a service designed to help drug addicts, alcoholics, chronic relapse victims, and their families find effective drug rehab treatment and intervention for alcoholism and drug addiction of the highest quality at no cost.
There are thousands of drug rehabilitation and alcohol rehabilitation organizations in this country at the moment, and knowing which one to send your loved one to is a daunting task.
This is a sponsored post, please read disclosure policy.
I lived it marginally, but I did.
It all began in the sixties.
Before, in the previous century they mostly consumed opium and sporadically, since it was expensive and most people had no money to eat, least to "enjoy drugs".
It all began as a trasgressive fashion that went with long hair, short skirts and "grass".
From grass they passed to LSD and Heroin.
From a trasgressive movement it became a progressive and soon a destructive one.
The "flower generation" has become the "adult generation" from trasgressive most of us has become conservative, but drugs still find lovers and adepts.
I never tried it, but read and studied enough to understand that once you fall, it is hard to come back.
1-800 nodrugs.com is a non-profit that takes phone calls (toll free) from people seeking drug rehab.
They are a service designed to help drug addicts, alcoholics, chronic relapse victims, and their families find effective drug rehab treatment and intervention for alcoholism and drug addiction of the highest quality at no cost.
There are thousands of drug rehabilitation and alcohol rehabilitation organizations in this country at the moment, and knowing which one to send your loved one to is a daunting task.
This is a sponsored post, please read disclosure policy.
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