Daniel's Blog

This is more a rant than a useful, informative post… You’ve been warned. I also originally posted it on Tumblr, so you may have read it before.

Over the last few weeks as petrol prices head up, I’ve noticed a few groups on Facebook claiming that if you don’t buy petrol for one day, the petrol companies will notice, and drop their prices. The latest one claims that it’s not a “don’t buy petrol” boycott (it actually is), and that we can get petrol back to $1 per litre.

I just have one question for all of these groups/boycotts/crazy people - what do you actually think this is going to achieve? I’m sorry, but I just don’t get it. The days of $1-1.50 petrol are over. Oil is a finite resource. They’re not making more of it in a big factory somewhere. They’re not finding huge new reserves of the stuff anymore. And us humans are using more of it than ever before. Cross that with the unrest in Libya (who make some awesome crude) and the weakening New Zealand dollar, and it’s not looking good.

The original boycotts worked by basically saying “Don’t buy petrol on this day”. Uh, yeah, great, what happens when you’re tank’s empty though, say a few days later? You go to the petrol station, and fill up. The petrol companies know this. They also know that the grandma who pops in every week without fail isn’t going to be in on some Facebook shenanigans. So they’re not at all bothered by the original “boycotts”.

In fact, they’re probably laughing at everyone who clicks that ‘Attending’ button.

The latest one (in the first picture) strikes me as the most ambitious (stupid) though.

Boycott one petrol company (BP in this case) in the hope that they will first actually notice, and then lower their prices, which is supposed to bring down the prices of all the other companies. There are currently 6,774 people “attending” this effort, if you can call it that, on Facebook. Now I think it’s safe enough to say that a group of those people don’t actually own cars, so say that 2,000 of them don’t buy petrol from BP for a few weeks (until they forget about it, or get bored and find a new group to join) - BP still has its regulars. And it still has a large number of corporate fuel card holders.

People seem to think that getting oil out of the ground is cheap and easy. Have you ever tried digging a hole thousands of feet into the ground, in the middle of the ocean, in the hope that you might hit oil? Didn’t think so. It takes years of planning, searching and development to find it. And that’s only to get it out of the ground. It still has to be floated around the world on a huge ship, refined into petrol (or diesel, if you swing that way) at a refinery, and then shipped out on another huge ship, to petrol stations. They’re doing this all for $2.20 a litre.

Actually, that’s a lie. The petrol companies only see around half of that. Most of it goes to the government in GST, emission trading schemes and other taxes. The importer gets some of that as well of course, and the shipping company.

I even made a pretty graph (all good “arguments” need graphs, right?)

(Data from here)

So basically, the oil company is doing ALL of that work for you, for around $1.10 a litre. Yes they used to be able to do it for less, but, as I said above, times have changed, and things are a little tougher now.

Don’t want to pay so much for petrol? Catch the bus, ride that bike you’ve had in the shed for years, walk, swim, hop on one leg… So many other options! Why not spend the time you’re wasting arguing on Facebook doing something useful? The world would appreciate it more.

Me? I’m going to fill up with some nice juicy petrol from BP. I might even go a little go a little crazy and splash out on some premium fuel…

After years of wanting one, I finally decided to take the plunge, and bought an old Corolla. A 1977 KE30, in bright yellow, to be exact. Why? Want a project, something to call my own. I was also sick of paying mechanics to fix my Subaru. With the Corolla, I can do it myself for the most part.

It currently has a 1.3L 4K engine, mated to a T50 5 speed gearbox, which, to be honest, is extremely gutless. Tempted to do a 4AGE conversion at some point, depending on cost, and time.

So far I’ve tidied up the wiring under the dash (previous owner had used cello tape…), installed a new choke cable, replaced the steering wheel and boss kit with something that fits properly and made it run a little smoother.

Still have a long way to go though, currently doesn’t idle properly with the headlights on, there’s a few spots of rust I need to take out over summer, and it could do with a re-paint. Also needs a stereo and alarm, badly.

My biggest complaint with it would be the ride comfort, it’s terrible, especially at motorway speeds, it crashes and bangs around. The tyres rub quite badly on the front as well, may need to put harder springs in the front. The brakes also have no feel to them whatsoever, which can be a little scary.

Photos

Sitting in the sun.	Rhys installing new wiper blades.	Rhys installing new wiper blades.
New steering wheel. Can now see speedo, old one blocked it.

And wow, it’s been busy. I have bought a new car, started a new project, found someone to help with that project, setup a home office. And it’s even starting to feel like spring.

So here’s an update of recent happenings… I’ll try to keep it short. I promise.

Car

Decided that after two years of my trusty Corolla, it was time to move up in the world. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great car, haven’t done anything mechanical to it in over two years. But I had a huge desire to get something more.

That something ended up being a twin-turbocharged Subaru Legacy wagon. I may have spent a tad too much on it already (Tyres, Battery and the break calliper stuffed up last week, now break pads) but, somehow, the whole shine of it still hasn’t disappeared. That car does something to you, it’s an amazing machine.

Home Office

When we moved into our flat, everything got chucked where ever it would fit. It could have been worse, but sitting in a corner looking at walls, to me at least, is very uninspirational. So the time came last night to change that around. We have ended up with the room effectively divided in two. One half for the “office” and the other half for living.

Kustom Page

Kustom Page lives again!

I have spent the last 4 and a half months developing a hosted content management system along with my cousin, Alex. Due for public beta in late September, we are working to re-invent what content management is all about. Forget the days where you spend your weekend reading the help documentation just to find that the latest version is different. Or that you go to upgrade your companies website, and everything breaks.

Our aim is to create something that just works. And always works. Leaving you to worry about driving traffic to your site and increasing your profits.

Will be releasing more info on Kustom Page in the coming months, offering beta invite codes, and even releasing some of the code, so stay tuned!

Spring

Feels like winter dragged on and on, but as we get closer to September, it’s feeling like spring’s getting here. And what a great feeling that is. Bring on summer already!

I must say, I am amazed at the stupidity surrounding some of the laws in the process of being introduced here in New Zealand surrounding “boy racers” - Full article here http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2446391/New-laws-this-year-to-crush-cars.

“Street racing includes sustained loss of traction, noisy vehicles, and operating vehicles in an anti-social manner.”

One has to wonder about who decides what is acceptable and what isn’t, is the the police? Then what training/tools will they get to determine if a car, is say, too noisy? I have a big bore exhaust on my car, and I know that it is below the current noise law in New Zealand (96 decibels), but how would you prove that to the officer that has just pulled you up? Sure, I have a silencer for it, but really, look around, no one uses them, and why would they? You don’t speed $100’s to shove something in the end which makes it sound terrible.

Sustained loss of traction is fair enough, as it is normally done on purpose, but what’s sustained? More than 5 seconds? 10? And where? I can imagine say a  driver of a family wagon accidentally putting their foot down a tad to much in the wet at a traffic light having their car impounded.

“The new laws will also provide local councils with the power to draft bylaws outlining "anti-cruising" areas, banning boy racers.”

So the tax payer is dishing out more money (in a recession) to stop people from driving around, effectively, in circles. Where is the fairness in this?

Sure you might say that the “boy racers” shouldn’t be driving around there in the first place, but where else are they going to go? They’re already banned from being able to meet anywhere. So they just cruise around the city streets. Of course, some are stupid, and do things they shouldn’t, but the majority I see here in Wellington on a Friday or Saturday night in Courtney Place just drive up and down, sticking to the speed limit and letting people cross at crossings. There doesn’t seem to be much wrong with this to me. Maybe I’m missing something?

I must also question what makes a boy racer. Everyone seems to have different views on it. The police and law makers seem to think that it’s anyone who has touched anything since it’s left the factory.

Sure, I drive around in a car with aftermarket parts and a big bore, but I don’t consider myself a boy racer. Why? Simple, I have never, nor will ever, race my car. I don’t go out the Hutt on Thursdays, I don’t drive up and down Courtney Place all night, and I don't “cruise” around. I, for the major part, drive my car from A to B. But of course, because of the modifications, and the fact I’m a young guy, people jump to the conclusion of boy racer. Which I think is a little unfair on the bunch of people that enjoy working on cars but don’t take part in the whole boy racer scene.

A few other points

- Courts can order destruction of cars involved in three illegal street-races or burnouts in four years.

Based on what? The car? Or the person? Because if it comes down to the number plate on the car, there’s going to be a lot of problems, especially if the car is sold and the new owner isn’t fully aware of the cars history.

- Destruction orders can apply even if the car is owned by someone else.

Does the owner of the car get a chance to challenge this? What if their kids run off with the car one night and it gets impounded. Or the car is stolen?

- Police get new powers to remove learner and restricted drivers from the road if they breach their licences, including seizing ignition keys and immobilising cars.

Signs of desperation. Maybe better education is need around why there are the different stages of licensing? Try and find me a person on their restricted license who hasn’t driven after 10 or with passengers.

- Fines for breaching licences reduced from $400 to $100, but demerit points raised from 25 to 35 seen as a greater deterrent.

And they think its going to stop people driving illegally? Really? They’re dreaming. I know of plenty of people who drive around with people when they’re not supposed to, or in hours they’re not supposed to, without a single care in the world.

- Tough new penalties for failing to stop, with a third offence resulting in a year's loss of licence and mandatory jail of up to three months.

Ouch. Seems a little extreme for not stopping at a sign. I know they’re there for safety blah blah, and I know you’re meant to stop, but some stop signs are in the stupidest of places. I used to travel through one daily where it made no sense to stop at all. And on the very odd occasion someone did actually stop at it to follow the rules, it was nothing for someone to nearly go up the back of them.

That’s not to say all stop signs are like that, but that’s not the point.

I hope like hell some of these laws don’t go through. Or there goes yet another part of our freedom. Give boy racers some where to go, and they will get out of the cities/towns. Simple. Make them sign a dotted line saying its their fault if they crash. And leave the common car enthusiast to enjoy driving without the annoyance of being treated as a boy racer.

I guess we're never gonna' see the end of them - still depressing though to see it reach $2.20 for 91 today.

Maybe it's time we all brought one of these... Or not.