In article >,
Sqwertz > wrote:

> On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:29:37 -0500, Goomba38 wrote:
>
> > Sqwertz wrote:
> >> On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:53:07 GMT, Vilco wrote:
> >>
> >>> Even if it's as thin as a saltine?
> >>
> >> That low-carb stuff costs even more.
> >
> > It is sometimes baffling (and sometimes not) as to how food with things
> > left "out" are often more expensive!
>
> When I was a kid I always wondered why unleaded gas cost more.

Warning - Off Topic

In the old days, high power (high compression) gasoline engines, and
older engines, required more octane in the gasoline to prevent knocking,
which was bad for the engine and reduced power. There wasn't enough
octane produced by the refineries, so high octane gas sold at a premium.
The oil companies looked around for something cheap to add to the gas to
increase the octane rating without actually adding more octane. There
are lots of "*anes" in refined fossil fuels. Natural gas is mostly
methane. Refined crude oil has butane, methane, ethane, propane and
octane, off the top of my head. The gasoline producers found a lead
compound that increased the octane rating much more cheaply than octane
itself. Lots of people died, but that was a small price to pay for
saving a few bucks. After a while, people in the US realized that it
wasn't just those factory workers who died horrible deaths, but gas
station workers and consumers of gasoline were at risk also. The
government banned leaded gasoline as a health hazard. Other countries
followed suit. The refineries found ways to enhance their equipment to
produce a higher octane rating without adding lead. This caused the
gasoline to cost more money than leaded gasoline, but the health hazard
was reduced.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA