COLD SPOT: Bradford resident Garry Oliver adds to our discussion
about our reputation as the cold spot in the country, particularly
one day last week when the mercury hovered around the freezing
point.

A reader had pointed out that the airport temperature had hit
the 32-degree mark, the lowest in Pennsylvania, but that other
places in the country were far colder that day.

Garry writes, “All those towns that were listed that were so
cold also have an elevation well over 5,000 feet. Bradford airport
is about 2,200 feet. The city, a little over 1,400 feet. So
elevation has a lot to do with it.”

“However, if the fog hadn’t rolled into the valley … the city
would have been 30 degrees or colder. On clear, calm nights the
valleys are often colder (barring fog) than the hilltops.”

HOT SPOT: We heard from Dr. Stephen J. Nelson on Friday about
gas prices in Florida but also about its enviable position near the
top of that temperature chart.

“Our current temperature is 88 at noon. (Sorry, Bradfordians,
but I just had to get that temperature difference in.)”

He also writes, “My mother is down here visiting us in Lakeland,
Fla. Our gas prices are also falling. Our lowest that I saw this
morning, at a Circle K convenience store, was $2.289.”

GAS PAIN: While we’re on the subject of our country’s problem
with petroleum resources, consider this:

M. Murphy writes, “This joke I cut out of a magazine some time
ago. Now that it is officially fall and with the falling barometers
and our need to increase our thermostats, I thought maybe it’d
provide a little levity.”

“‘A lot of folks can’t understand how we came to have an oil
shortage here in our country. Well, there’s a very simple answer.
Nobody bothered checking the oil. We just didn’t know we were
getting low. The reason for that is purely geographical. Our oil is
located in Alaska, Pennsylvania, Texas, Kansas, California, Coastal
Louisiana and Coastal Florida. But our dipsticks are located in
Washington, D.C.'”

Meanwhile on Monday, we saw a nationwide poll reporting 42
percent of Americans believe gas prices are dropping because the
mid-term elections are approaching. Is that 42 percent just that
cynical – or that perceptive?

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth
than lies,” said philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878.