Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 April 4

= April 4 =

Gas prices in Alaska
I originally thought the gas prices information from gasbuddy.com is accurate and its my friend. But I have googled various of websites seven stations: 11 bucks, two stations in the 7+, three stations 6.50+, or did the source really said with flying fuels, I googled two more sources  6 bucks in Nome,  Bethel, 6.50+, Barrow, 7 bucks, when I did the simple google search "Gas prices in Barrow" under images there is one recent article 10 bucks in Barrow. I did a research and the cars can actually exist in Alaska in the rural area, but will the cars have challenge. I tried to enter the cities on Gasbuddy they didn't show me the gas price, just the station brand name and empty on numbers. Gasbuddy said the state avg in 2.75, if I add the number up is the gas really on avg 3.50, 4+, 5+. If the cars do drive in rural areas in Alaska are there limits on the life expectancy it can last or it limits the distance you can drive. Would those residents rather fly by jets or build canals with boats. I don't understand why will they show me the gas station but omit the numbers. Right now, can Hawaii have gas prices over 4 bucks some reaching the 5 bucks. I never heard anything like that in Hawaii when the gas price can exceed 5 bucks or push into 6 bucks besides 2011 gas oil crisis. I remember the website cites four empty numbers on gas stations in Hawaii.--2602:306:BCA6:9E90:19F5:FFA6:C423:565C (talk) 05:15, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
 * It's a fairly common misconception that gas is cheap in Alaska. While there is no shortage of crude oil, there are no operational oil refineries in the state — all that crude is pumped into supertankers and transported to West Coast refineries, primarily in California and Washington. Refined oil products are then shipped back to Alaska via the supply chain, which is very, very long. The most rural of those communities you cited, such as Bethel and Barrow, might only get one shipment of oil products in an entire year — they have to order a year's supply on a single barge, which might have been towed all the way from Richmond, California or Anacortes, Washington. Also, most of those communities are not connected by road to anywhere else in North America — the rural road network in Alaska is extremely limited. Nome, Bethel, Barrow, Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, King Salmon, Kodiak, etc. — all are readily accessible only by air or sea from the rest of the United States. You could walk or snowmachine or dogsled, I suppose... NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 05:19, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
 * No refineries in Alaska, with all that oil under their soil? How come they still haven't built any -- in Valdez, for example, where they have that yuge oil terminal? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:8C22:6F79:8644:EBB0 (talk) 06:21, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Because the market for refined products is really small and operating costs/difficulties in the sub-Arctic climate are really high. There used to be a small refinery in Fairbanks but it was recently shut down and dismantled by its out-of-state owner, Flint Hills Resources. Basically it's cheaper and easier for the giant multi-national petroleum companies to ship the crude straight from Valdez, so that's what they do. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 06:35, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
 * See also Economy of Alaska, which notes that in general the cost of living in Alaska is higher, because virtually everything needs to be shipped in. There are almost no factories or other secondary sector industries in Alaska, except for fish processing plants. The cold and often violent weather, the rugged terrain, low population density and the poor transport links all make it a bad place for refineries etc. Smurrayinchester 07:41, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
 * There's an integrated lumber mill in Klawock and a shipyard in Ketchikan, but those are almost the exceptions which prove the rule. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 07:49, 4 April 2017 (UTC)


 * As for getting different averages, you would expect wide ranges depending on how you find the averages. If you average with respect to the local population in an area, they will all tend towards the southern coast and Fairbanks, where gasoline will be cheaper.  The population in the interior and north slope is very low, so the high prices in those towns should be weighted very lightly, but may not be, under all methods. StuRat (talk) 18:13, 5 April 2017 (UTC)


 * If it's any consolation, gasoline in London is currently about GBP 1.20 per litre = USD 5.72 per US gallon (mainly due to tax). Alansplodge (talk) 20:30, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

Region 1 DVDs with extras
Why do some Region 1 DVDs have extras/special features which include trailers, deleted scenes, out-takes and behind-the-scenes while the Region 2 versions don't? 81.145.108.15 (talk) 17:30, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
 * It's possible different companies (or international arms of the same company) were in charge of deciding what went on them... but it may be a licensing issue? Maybe something in those special features wasn't licensed for use outside the US, so regions outside the US region can't include it, no matter how much they want to? - Purplewowies (talk) 17:36, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Could there be a technical reason? A couple of possibilities come to mind.  Region 1 an Region 2 have different TV formats (60 Hz NTSC vs 50 Hz PAL, with different resolutions). Perhaps Region 1 compresses to a smaller data stream, therefore leaving space on the disk for extras?  (I don't think that theory is true - AFAIK the bit rate is the same in both regions; the higher screen refresh rate of NTSC is compensated by its lower resolution).
 * Perhaps a more likely theory might be that European disks contain extra audio tracks for dubbed dialogue, which eats up disk space. 91.155.195.247 (talk) 18:40, 4 April 2017 (UTC)


 * Wull, as fars I'm aware there are at least three DVD versions of the 1984 version of Dune. These are credited and dedicated to entirely different people.  It's bizarre! μηδείς (talk) 03:13, 5 April 2017 (UTC)
 * The article Dune (film) explains why. Director David Lynch was dissatisfied with the project. In some cuts, Lynch's name is replaced in the credits with the pseudonym Alan Smithee. Other versions credit writer Lynch as Judas Booth. Blooteuth (talk) 22:12, 5 April 2017 (UTC)