If I disappear soon, here's why:
 

According to metrompg.com's traffic logs, someone from Exxon Mobil's head office spent over an hour reading my site.

This in the same week they reported a record profit of $39.5 billion.

I hope I'm not on any kind of hit list for freely spreading information that threatens their profits.

Nevertheless, I'm keeping a watchful eye in my mirror for suspicious black cars. (Correction: black SUV's. :D )

hehe... send those guys this way... maybe they'll want to silence me by purchasing the site for a ridiculous amount of money :)

Better keep an eye in the sky too, for a black helicopter:rolleyes:

Acutally their probably reading the site to see if they can change the additive and formualtion package of their fuel so that engine mods you've done wont work.:p

Metro, do you have an IP address I can check for in my logs? Should be fun.

Yeah, they may "plant" someone to join and go over the memberlist.:p

Nope, sorry. (The freebie stats service I'm using only shows details of the last 100 visitors, and Exxon visited a couple of days ago.)

FUD isn't enough any more. Hey, besides the ministry-of-truth being run out of the Cheney shop (they've extorted, er, I mean influenced half of government scientists to delete mentioning global warming in their publications), ExxonMobil is offering $10,000 to any scientist who will denounce the recent publication about the causes of global warming. Now why would those nice folks at that angelic corporation want to go and do that? ;)

Silveredwings -

10 Grand could buy me some kool MPG saving contraptions. Now, to get them to believe I am a scientista. After I am paid, I can leak out info about my lack of qualifications and thereby sabotoogy my agit-prop.

CarloSW2

That's just low
 

What on Earth could they be interested in? No offense Metro, but there seems to be a disconnect between interests :rolleyes:

They're probably getting all the info they can to quell future behavior to slowly take over the world! ...or just make more money.

Their new commercials just grind my gears -- like they care about public transportation...

If you're reading this Exxon/Mobil: I quit buying your oil and won't stop at your gas stations (for over a year now).

RH77

...how 'bout since the ExxonValdeeeez?

Thanks for the heads up. At least this way if you disappear we'll know what might have happened. With Exxon/Mobil, who knows, money makes a lot of things happen and that isn't necessarily a good thing, it's just the way it is.

Matt, if you make a bunch, just remember it's dirty money, not that it spends any different.

Never mind dirty money...there is a bit of wisdom that says never let the mafia do you any favors: you'll forever be owing it back. These guys are far bigger and badder than the mafia could ever be. ;)

All of this angst may be all over nothing. That traffic from Exxon Mobil's head office could have been some lowly employee who was interested in either the Metro or in FE surfing the internet while at work rather than corporate schemers plotting their next conquests.

The organization is AEI which is owned by the same folks who own the Bush administration like somebody owns a dog: ExxxxxxxonMobil
See:
Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study

and:
A Bush in the hand is priceless for AEI

There're some scarey words there. Too much money and power in one place.

I think the most likely explanation is an otherwise normal chap surfing the web at work for things that interest him/her.

The next likely explanation is that someone is charged with gathering information, what with all the talk about alternitive fuels and people getting tired of trading blood for oil, or oil spills, air pollution, not to mention concerns about global warming, it should be no suprise that they are starting to be aroused from their deep slumber by public outrage. (Yes, that is the same public that gobbles up SUVs)

I think option A is most likely :)

FYI, the pages they spent the most time reading (or loaded and then went for a coffee, or talked on the phone, or...) were: the transmission swap; alternator optional; K&N air filter test.

Shhhh... quit being so logical. Paranoia is so much more entertaining :P

Conspiracy
 

I agree, the Conspiracy Theory may not be the most likely answer, but is the most interesting :D

RH77

Silveredwings -

That's when I stopped buying Exxon. It was fun watching the Exxon gas stations go out of business in LA after the Valdez, but like you said, they recovered from that and merged with Mobil. I also stopped buying Mobil after they merged with Exxon.

Still, I know they're all in bed together :mad: .

CarloSW2

Silveredwings-

Ahhhh, the Guardian. Words I can still trust in an oh-so-jaded world.

EDIT : Wow, the AEI has Lynne Cheney, David Frum (coiner of "axis of evil"), and Richard Perle (he of the Dark Side). PNAC partiers one and all.

CarloSW2

Good Question
 

Well, excellent question. I think a lot of here have used (or are using) Mobil 1 full-synthetic oil (it was required in the Evo due to the high oil temps from the turbo).

The Valdez happened when I was 14 -- I bought about 2 gallons of Amoco gas a week mowing lawns at the time. Then time passed...I've only started to realize "the power of the consumer" with the boycott method, more recently.

When I went back to Dino-oil, I used Mobil, since it worked well as a syn -- now I use Castrol GTX (BP) and Quiktrip gasoline (Tier 1) at home, and Shell/Texaco, or BP in rentals -- depending on the region.

RH77

Originally posted by a certain unknown somebody-"Yeah, they may "plant" someone to join and go over the memberlist."

How do you know they haven't planted someone already? :) Someone to stop us from being so thrifty and encourage us to stuff more dollars into Big Oil's pockets?

BTW on a COMPLETELY unrelated topic, have you experienced how cool it is to drive fast? I know it's not so safe, so it helps to have a large, safe vehicle when you want to fit in with the rest of society and drive fast! C'mon everyone, the cliff's over here! wheeeee!!!

But seriously, it's also possible that whoever browsed your site might have been doing market research. Maybe we can expect a new blend of gas to come out soon that loosely claims to improve mpg? I'm sure their lawers will make sure they don't make any claims of actual improvement. They may simply suggest a loose relationship between using their 'new' gas and improved mpg.

I'm sure a big company like Exxon likes to keep tabs on the latest trends and see when it's time to jump on the bandwagon.

or a new patent on some new alternator technology, although they will most likely not allow anyone to use this patent until they know they can make more money by selling the pattent, than by the increase gas sales.

::EDIT:: BTW- I'm quite safe, being one of their preferred customers haha.

Didn't Shell just try telling us that a tank of their gas improved MPG???? I rememebered they used a Mustang or something else in the ad.

I remember that ad. At least the one they aired in Canada. It was 3 different coloured Impalas driving on some scenic road and the yellow Impala "supposedly" drove the furthest. Shell was advertizing their V-Power Premium Grade gasoline (usually priced 10 cents/litre more than regular) saying that it was formulated with additives to give better mileage than the Red and Blue car (whatever companies they represent).

That's it! Same ad that was run here in New Orleans, LA.

At first I laughed my azz off, then I started to get worried. Now every one whit a BIG suv has an excuse to drive their tank around with even less guilt. at least the ones that believed what Shell was telling them....

BTW, did anyone see that movie "American dreamz"? At one point Hugh Grant's character had to give an ad during his show for an SUV. He said "Buy the new Tank from American Motor Company. It's 50% larger because you need it"! Pretty much sums up the American market doesn't it? Makes it that much funnier! Of course it was suppose to be synical.

Ad
 

Yeah, I remember that ad now -- the yellow Impala went sooooo much further. It was probably like an extra tenth of a mile due to a blend of additives or some stuff (maybe the others had Ethanol instead of MTBE right before they had to switch). Dunno.

RH77