Bike shop business and high oil prices - Page 6

On Sun, 30 May 2004 01:00:43 -0700, Ryan Cousineau <rcousine@sfu.ca>
wrote:

> In article <m2fz9i4lri.fsf@Stella-Blue.local>,
> Tim McNamara <timmcn@bitstream.net> wrote:
>
>> Tom Sherman <tsherman@qconline.com> writes:
>>
>> > Tim McNamara wrote:
>> >
>> >> Tom Sherman <tsherman@qconline.com> writes:
>> >>
>> >>>Tim McNamara wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>>... *Will* rearrange the playing field profoundly.
>> >>>>China will become the dominant world economic power
>> >>>>and, with that, probably the world's dominant
>> >>>>military power.
>
>> > The current population growth is not sustainable, and
>> > the crash will not be pretty (think snowshoe hares).
>>
>> Current population growth in China is much less than you
>> see to think it is, due to severe limitations on the
>> number of children families can have for, what, 20 years
>> now. China's population growth is opredicted to be only
>> 5% between 2003 and 2050; compare that to middle Africa
>> (projected population growth of 193%) and western Africa
>> (142%), according to the Population Reference Bureau. By
>> 2050, the most populous nation could be India (1.6
>> billion), followed by China
>> (1.4 billion) and then the United States (422 million).
>
>It's probably weirder than it looks, too: China, having
>killed off a large number of its girl babies as an
>accidental side-effect of the one-child policy, is now
>experiencing a demographic mess for young people. In short,
>it's really hard for a guy to get a date on Saturday night,
>so if anything, China will level off and be in crunch mode
>sooner than one might expect. I assume the demographic
>predictions already compensate for this, though.

i'm not sure how much of that is actual fact though. Here,
the trend is to get a wife from China because the China
country girls are more desirable to Taiwanese men than the
city Taiwan girls (for whatever reason). My sister in law is
Chinese, married to my wife's Taiwanese brother. I know
several other Taiwanse men married to Chinese women, and
that's just my small knowledge's worth.

<snip>

>Japan may be the most extreme case, though: with very
>little immigration and very low birth rates, things are
>getting very weird. As usual, Japan lives in what will be
>the future for the rest of us.

That future is expensive too!

<snip>

Michael J. Klein mklein@mousepotato.com Dasi Jen, Taoyuan
Hsien, Taiwan, ROC Please replace mousepotato with
asiancastings
---------------------------------------------

<dsr@Florence.edu> wrote in message
newsdccb05h56t6n4ob4djbbe4st5r3b6jeil@4ax.com...
> As OPEC is seen riding the early summer crest of high oil
> prices, have any of you bike shop guys noticed increased
> customer traffic in your shops?
>
> Are you getting any new customers that are buying bicycles
> for commuting in addition to recreation?
>
> Do you think some customers have decided to stay home and
> ride the local bike trails rather than drive to distant
> vacation destinations?

No to all ... sorry for poping in late, but the main
customer is buying bikes for fun, gas prices mean less
money for fun. This area sucks for commuting so ... I have
seen a few, but the Soccar Mom driving her SUV will cut
other places before the family wagon ... with that said we
are doing marginally better than last year ... gas prices
have dropped a quarter ... so everyone is not in panic
anymore, even thought they are spending 35 to 45 cent more
than last year.

s http://boardnbike.com

On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 15:39:26 +0800, Michael J. Klein
<mklein@mousepotato.com> wrote:

>On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 11:34:07 -0600,
>carlfogel@comcast.net wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 19:52:15 +0800, Michael J. Klein
>><mklein@mousepotato.com> wrote:
>>
>>[snip]
>>
>>>
>>>Unfortunate world/time we live in. Michael J. Klein
>>>mklein@mousepotato.com Dasi Jen, Taoyuan Hsien, Taiwan,
>>>ROC Please replace mousepotato with asiancastings
>>>---------------------------------------------
>>
>>Dear Michael,
>>
>>Actually, it seems more like the best of all possible
>>worlds. I can't think of a better time, except perhaps in
>>the future.
>>
>>Pangloss
>
>When I said that, I was thinking about the CFR trash who
>are running the show.
>
>
>Michael J. Klein mklein@mousepotato.com Dasi Jen, Taoyuan
>Hsien, Taiwan, ROC Please replace mousepotato with
>asiancastings
>---------------------------------------------

Dear Michael,

Elliptical writing sometimes results from elliptical
thinking.

You may know whom you mean by the CFR and believe that they
are trash and running some show that corresponds to what you
consider an unfortunate time that we live in,

But the rest of us included by your "we" may be too baffled
to even figure out whether you're complaining about some
Taiwanese "CFR" or about the Campaign Finance Reform laws,
the Council on Foreign Relations, or (my vote for the most
likely culprits) the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal--I've
had my eye on those shady monks for some time now!

http://www.acronymfinder.com

CFR Code of Federal Regulations CFR Caen, France - Carpiquet
(Airport Code) CFR Caile Ferate Romane (Romanian Railways)
CFR Campaign Finance Reform CFR Can't Find the Road
(undefined radio program format) CFR Carbon Fiber Reinforced
CFR Carbon Film Resistor CFR Carry Forward Form CFR
Cartridge Fuse Rating CFR Case Fatality Rate CFR
Catastrophic Failure Rate CFR Certified First Responder CFR
Chemical Functional Review CFR Commissioning from the Ranks
(Canadian military) CFR Computer Facial Recognition CFR
Configuration Register CFR Constant Failure Rate CFR
Contractor Flight Release CFR Cooperative Fuel Research CFR
Cost and Freight CFR Council on Foreign Relations CFR Course
Frequency Receiver CFR Crash Fire and Rescue (USMC) CFR
Cumulative Failure Rate CFR Cumulative Financial
Requirements CFR Customer Failure Report CFR Customer Field
Representative CFR Cylinder Firing Rate CFR Franciscan
Friars of the Renewal (religious order)

Carl Fogel

In article <700td0tbddm0sdoio56sd91m4k0f5p4vg4@4ax.com>,
Michael J. Klein <mklein@mousepotato.com> wrote:

> On Sun, 30 May 2004 01:00:43 -0700, Ryan Cousineau
> <rcousine@sfu.ca> wrote:
>
> > In article <m2fz9i4lri.fsf@Stella-Blue.local>,
> > Tim McNamara <timmcn@bitstream.net> wrote:
> >
> >> Tom Sherman <tsherman@qconline.com> writes:
> >>
> >> > Tim McNamara wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Tom Sherman <tsherman@qconline.com> writes:
> >> >>
> >> >>>Tim McNamara wrote:

> >> Current population growth in China is much less than
> >> you see to think it is,

> >> (142%), according to the Population Reference Bureau.
> >> By 2050, the most populous nation could be India (1.6
> >> billion), followed by China
> >> (1.4 billion) and then the United States (422 million).
> >
> >It's probably weirder than it looks, too: China, having
> >killed off a large number of its girl babies as an
> >accidental side-effect of the one-child policy, is now
> >experiencing a demographic mess for young people. In
> >short, it's really hard for a guy to get a date on
> >Saturday night, so if anything, China will level off and
> >be in crunch mode sooner than one might expect. I assume
> >the demographic predictions already compensate for this,
> >though.
>
> i'm not sure how much of that is actual fact though. Here,
> the trend is to get a wife from China because the China
> country girls are more desirable to Taiwanese men than the
> city Taiwan girls (for whatever reason). My sister in law
> is Chinese, married to my wife's Taiwanese brother. I know
> several other Taiwanse men married to Chinese women, and
> that's just my small knowledge's worth.

Without having numbers to prove it, I suspect that being a
Taiwanese man makes one a highly desirable boyfriend for
the average Chinese country girl. The proverb that comes to
mind is "it's as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a
poor one."

--
Ryan Cousineau, rcousine@sfu.ca
http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club