Gas Shortage In The Carolinas

Even though gas is plentiful in Greensboro, I hear there's a real shortage in other areas of North Carolina and lots of gas stations ran out of gas.

How does a company "run out" of a popular product in today's economy?

If the supply overwhelms the demand, shouldn't the price of the product increase until it reaches a price equilibrium? If a gas station only has 25% of "normal amounts" of gas available , shouldn't the station owner increase the price to $10/gallon? As an inelastic good, people will still buy the $10 gas, they'll just buy 25% as much, probably just enough to do their necessities.

In a free economy, goods shouldn't ever be "sold out" for long, the amount left should instead get lower and lower into an asymptote, as the price increases until people can no longer afford it...

My New Shower Panel

So my shower panel arrived and I installed it. Having one of those has been something I've been thinking about for a couple of months now, so I finally decided to get one. After some random hiccups on the installation, I finally got it working.

The Good - Does exactly as described

• Multiple shower adjustable jets coming out of the panel
• 2 shower heads - one "standard" and one handheld
• Great "gimmick", most people (especially women) would be intrigued.

The Bad - Mostly a novelty item

• It's not nearly as exciting after you use it for a while
• Water only comes from one source - you have to decide whether it comes from the standard shower head, the handheld shower head, or the body jets
• I didn't compare it to my previous shower head, but I think this one reduces the water pressure a bit
• It's taking up the space I used to use for my shower catty, have to be more "creative" with all kinds of shower products I have now - normal shampoo, conditioner, body wash, fancy shampoo (Paul Michell), fancy body wash (Bath & Body Works)