People love to express their gratitude for a favorite tool or gadget by claiming that it's worth its weight in gold, a reference which is lost on most of us who don't know how much a pound of gold is actually worth. Thankfully Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has cooked up a handy reference guide to help you measure the monetary density of things. This graphical comparison covers the weight value of U.S. currency, human blood, commodities, illicit drugs and pretty much everything else in between.

I'm still trying to take all this information in and it cracks me up how much a pound of many of these items are worth. Still, I noticed that a few items are noticeably absent from this lineup so I took the liberty of translating these into units to further expand your weight to value ratios.

• Gasoline - $1.79 / lb locally, a gallon of gas weighs 6.15 pounds.
  
• Crude oil - 39 cents / lb as of today, a gallon of crude is ~7 lbs, a barrel of oil contains 42 gallons at $118.35
  
• Quarter Pounder with cheese - $18 / lb, assuming 1/4 lb weight of burger and bun post cooking.
• With gold trading around $830 per ounce, and 16 ounces in a pound, a pound of gold is worth $13,280.

With energy prices coming across that low in pounds I wouldn't be too shocked to see pumps switching over to per pound pricing in the near future! In a more practical sense, I'm sure list will prove to be worth its weight in quarters when you turn a quick profit this weekend, betting some poor chump that a pound of peacock feathers is worth more than a pound of Uranium!

Gas prices have been dropping lately, but nevertheless, the dollar amount at the pump is still...what's the word I'm looking for... oh, yes, insane. Evil is another good word.

So when the spokesperson for Pump and Save contacted me, vowing that its average user saves over $175 per year at the pump, I knew I'd be writing some sort of post for WalletPop. So here it is: Check out PumpandSave.com, a web site that offers numerous tips and tools on how to save gas -- like price-saving maps and gas usage calculators. But by far, its reason for being is that you can compare the best of the best of the cash-back and rewards-based gas cards.

If you're in the market for a gas card, this is a really sharp site. They have a lot of gas cards listed here, on the home page, so that you can compare one from the other, since not all rewards are created equally.

As I often note when mentioning one of these saving money sites, I'm not endorsing it. Beyond just looking around, I haven't used PumpandSave.com, and in fact, I don't even have a gas card and am not currently planning on getting one. But as an objective bystander, it looks interesting, and like it's worth spending some time on, especially if you've been considering getting a gas card, or if you are just really frazzled by the price at the pump and want some gas-saving ideas.

Geoff Williams is a freelance journalist, author and--not that anyone asked--the owner of a 1994 Saturn that fortunately has pretty decent gas mileage.

Anyone chafing at the $50-plus it now takes to fill up a car will chuckle at this latest bit of data. According to the U.S. Bureau of Analysis, Americans spent more on gasoline than on vehicles and parts in May and June of this year, when gas prices were reaching new records.

That's the first time that's happened in 26 years. The last time gas exceeded cars and their parts as a percentage of spending was in January 1982. One analyst cited in news reports noted dryly that the trends of higher gas with lower car and truck sales had finally crossed.

U.S. refiners will likely pay an average of $111.11 a barrel for imported oil this year, compared with $67.02 a barrel last year, and $27.21 a barrel in 2002, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Meanwhile, the auto industry is looking at its worst year since 1993. As of August 1 when companies reported data, sales of cars and light trucks fell 29% at Chrysler LLC, 26% at GM, 15% at Ford, 12% at Toyota and 1.6% at Honda Motor Co.

Last time this happened I wasn't paying as much attention, being in high school and all. There was an energy crisis triggered by the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, which itself came on the heels of the 1973 Arab oil embargo. I remember the gas lines, but none of the belt-tightening. My mom put gas in my car and paid the household bills.

Ignorance is indeed bliss. Now that I'm in her shoes, I'll have to ask her how she actually managed the last time the economy was in this bad of shape. Something tells me it's going to get a lot worse.

Rather than driving five miles out of your way to save a penny or two per gallon, you can generally save between 3% to 5% on gas if you keep the right credit card in your pocket. At $4 a gallon, that's the equivalent of 20 cents off per gallon. Even if gas goes back down to $3 per gallon, you are still paying the equivalent of $2.85 a gallon.

If you already pay with plastic, you can check your credit card statement to see how much you are paying per fill-up and go from there. If you are filling up every two weeks that translates to 26 fill-ups per year, so the amounts can add up quickly.

Inspired by two other Walletpop bloggers who wrote; Mad about gas prices? Light your car on fire! and Mad about gas prices? Go to a dunking booth, I thought I'd weigh in on the subject with my idea. If you're mad about gas prices, stop mowing your lawn!

Although your local municipality might take exception to your sparing the blade, in addition to making a passive gas pricing protest, not cutting your lawn could save you a bundle of money. Consumer Reports states that lawn maintenance costs about $700 per acre, per year. Your grass roots protest might put some green back in your pocket.

If sowing your seeds of discontent puts furrows into the brows of your neighbors, when your grass gets too long you could just get a goat. Although they smell bad, attract flies, and have little regard for what vegetation they eat or don't eat, I can tell you personally that goats manicure a lawn very nicely. The biggest problem with goats though, is that they tend to roam if not well fenced. Be prepared to replace your neighbor's rhododendrons often. Hence the reason our household is now goat-less.

I wrote blog post the other day for BloggingStocks which poked fun at Donald Trump for his attitude towards the big oil companies. Needless to say, that blog post garnered quite a bit of interest. One of our readers left a comment on that post which put forward a concept for selling gasoline which might merit some extra attention. That reader, identified as "gumbo koontz", suggests that gasoline be priced for individuals according to the fuel efficiency of the vehicle they drive. This idea may sound rather punitive or arbitrary, but I think it has a lot of valuable merit.

What better way could there be to make people really think about their fuel usage than to make their effect on the situation more personally tangible for them? As the driver of a full-sized pick-up truck, I'm not against the idea of paying five or six cents a gallon more for my gasoline that someone who chooses to drive a smaller, more fuel efficient vehicle. I do use my truck bed almost daily for various chores and payloads which a smaller vehicle couldn't touch, but the fact is that I use more gasoline to get from point A to point B. I can definitely see the merit in rewarding those drivers who trade off convenience for frugality.

How might a program like this work, and how could we administrate it accurately and fairly? Would it be viewed as punishment for those who use more gasoline or as reward for those who use less? Could it be administered at the pump or would it have to be handled with the government through the submission of forms and records? These are just a few of the questions which would need to be answered before a program like this could be made real.

The 99-cent Only Store is celebrating its 5th anniversary in Texas in a big way. From now through to July 3, you can fill out an entry form at any 99-cent Only Store in Texas for a chance to win a $60 gas card for .99.

Apparently, the $60 figure was arrived at based on the number of gallons in an average vehicle times the average price per gallon. Whatever. It sure would be nice to fill up your gas tank for .99 instead of $60.

You don't have to buy anything to qualify for an entry form. The website doesn't say if you can fill out an entry every day but you can ask a cashier for details. There will be one winner every day at every store, until July 3.

Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and dollar store diva. She writes about free decorating ideas and tips using only items from the dollar store. If she lived in Texas, she'd be saddlin' up the little Neon and high-tailin' it over to a 99-cent Only Store.

The answer, quite simply, is no.

When looking at the possibility of our government intervening to provide a timely and effective relief strategy for high gas prices, there is virtually nothing, short of shutting down the country, that our government can do. Oh sure, they could suspend the federal gas tax for a while, but that would accomplish nothing. As shown by my Governor Jim Doyle (D-Wis.), if you pull the tax structure off gasoline, they'll just come for that money in some other manner. Wisconsin eliminated its automatic annual gas tax increase, so the good governor simply jacked us up for about 70% higher vehicle registration fees.

The government could attempt to stimulate increased refinery capacity. That might help some, but not for another ten years or so. Besides, our price at the pump is dictated by the demand for crude oil. Refinery capacity represents only a small fraction of the cost detail. Refinery capacity should be increased just as a measure of protection against extreme shortages caused by catastrophe, but as far as lowering your fuel cost in the next couple of years, new refineries mean nothing to you.

A colleague of mine sent me an interesting press release today, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for Access America Travel Insurance and Assistance. It probably won't surprise anyone, but it's still interesting.

They asked a bunch of people (1,000 people, 18 and older, across America) about their driving habits, and when their driving habits changed, or when they expect they'll change, based on the dollar signs at the gas pump.

Their findings?

Of the people who have already changed their driving habits, you'll find it most prominently among adults with a household income of less than $50,000 a year (73%), parents of children under 18 (72%), those living in the South (72%) and those saying the country is headed on the wrong track (71%).

I remember getting really excited when Geo first started producing cars in 1989. Quite apart from the fact that Geo was one of the first new lines that General Motors had put out in years, there was something about the cars themselves. They were reasonably well constructed, had cute styling, and got great mileage.

My Uncle Merle got one for my cousin Meghan, and I remember not being able to stop staring at it. Unfortunately, my father had some (justifiable) concerns about my driving skills and wanted me in a car with lots of heavy metal. He slammed the door on Meghan's car, tapped the fender, and declared it "tinny." I know that that was the death knell, and that I wouldn't be driving a hot little Geo any time soon.

(On the bright side, I ended up getting a 1983 Cadillac Seville from a police auction. I liked the classic styling and the fact that I could put fifteen friends in the car, while my father liked the fact that it weighed a ton and was built like a panzer. I put in a sweet sound system and rode the thing into the ground. In fact, it was the first car that I didn't total).

Ideas for reducing the cost of driving, such as carpooling or buying smaller, more efficient cars, have gained popularity. One concept however, may be getting far too much positive publicity. It's the risk-your-own-life practice of drafting. Sure, it's used in every NASCAR race on the circuit. But while it could save you in gasoline usage, it could also kill you in a split second.

Drafting is accomplished by tucking your vehicle in behind a larger vehicle while moving at highway speed. The tactic is most often employed behind the trailers of eighteen-wheelers. By moving to within 100 feet or less of the lead vehicle, drivers take advantage of the swath that the lead vehicle cuts through the air. The vacuum pocket behind the truck reduces air resistance and the "wake" of the truck closes in behind you helping to propel you along. However, my two brothers-in-law, who are professional drivers, will tell you that there's nothing more nerve wracking for a truck driver than when a car moves in so close behind that it can't be seen in the truck's mirrors. It's simply a recipe for disaster.

The problem is, for the maneuver to be effective at all, you need to be too dangerously close to the lead vehicle. Any successful drafting attempt eliminates your safe reaction time. If the lead vehicle needs to stop in a hurry, about all you'll have time to effectively do is to open your eyes very wide and then noisily go splat. If the truck kicks up road debris, it will be on you before you can blink.

Kiplinger 's Personal Finance writer, Stacy Rapacon has provided us with five safe ways to save money on fueling your car. Stacy's ideas don't involve risking your life or compromising the safety of other drivers. Additionally, Kiplinger's can help you to get ahead of the game by steering you into cars with the best fuel economy ratings.

Remember, saving money a few pennies on gas is a foolish bargain if it puts you or others at risk. You can't spend the money you saved on gas while resting in your grave.

Relative to the operations of my own household, rising oil prices have had little negative impact, although we have had to change the way we do some things here. We now group our motor trips better to make better use of our miles per gallon. We also think a little harder about our power usage, but that's what we Americans do, we adjust.

Basically, up to this point, rising fuel costs have increased the expense of our household operations here by perhaps ten to fifteen percent. We've absorbed that increase quite nicely by planning our driving more carefully, by making sure lights are turned off in unused rooms and by cutting out a few foodstuffs which we probably shouldn't be eating anyway. I'd like to think that rising energy costs are leading us to give greater consideration to our spending and energy usage. In some ways perhaps increased energy costs have done us a favor, yes? Personally, I estimate that my household could withstand an increase in the price of gasoline up to $6 a gallon before going into serious stress. I hope it doesn't come to that, but it could.

It's a collection of little things which make up the body of our readjustment. I pick up items or do errands on my way to work, whereas in times past we would probably have made an extra trip into town. We more closely estimate usage of certain grocery items such as bread, toilet paper and milk so purchases will last through until the next weekly grocery shopping trip. We think about what things we're going into the refrigerator for before going in there to get them and we try to keep things in there somewhat organized so we can find what we need and get out. My wife is the light switch police and she reminds my daughter and me to turn off the light as we're leaving rooms. She does it almost intuitively even before we exit. Doors get closed tightly the first time. Telephone calls have been shortened. We spend more time together in the same room. Leftovers get fed to the dog less often.

Online banking saves us trips to the bank. Paying our auto insurance quarterly rather than monthly saves us about $125 every six months. Coffee is made at home and carried out in thermal cups. We use our debit cards religiously, saving us money on the reordering of checks. It's a matter of giving logistical scrutiny to the things we had previously been taking for granted. The real upside is that fiscal, social and consumer responsibility come with their own silently compounding benefits and we're building the savings accounts to prove it.

We all know it's coming. We read the headlines about $100 oil, and hear talk about how oil prices are closely-tied to the market at the moment, and we think, any day now.

Some analysts say it'll never happen. The man on the street is getting cynical. Indeed, a survey released yesterday reveals that a vast majority of Americans, 71%, think we'll see $4/gallon gasoline come summer.

How would $4 gas effect you? The first and most obvious would be to dramatically impact the kind of car you drive.