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Yeah right, be great if they could find some way of doing something with them.

Well I wish Indians were refrained from making phone calls to strangers, trying to understand their Indian English is almost impossible. Why do companies do that? Why don't they employ people who speak plain understandable English?

I know they were late, but over 100 years late?

I've heard a lot of Sky News talking points and very few facts in this discussion. If you want to come back to me with some validated statistics of exactly how our current immigration numbers are making life worse here, then I'll listen. Until then it's all just hot air.

Recycling the blades is a challenge. Cement co-processing seems to be the best option currently. There'd have to be some innovative reuses of them - there was a story in ABC recently of someone making surfboards out of them. I'd have thought they could be incorporated into fences, walls, roofs etc. https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/14/2414

Like all new things, if they create a problem, eventually a solution will be found. I heard that solar panels are hard to do anything with, but how long have we have lots of them? I bet people are working feverously to develop ways to get something useful from the junk. I have faith in the fact that someone eventually finds a way to utilise the smell of a turd.

And sadly the wildlife , which we seem hell bent of wiping out too.

Earlier in l didn't mind wind farms. But through Vic now, west side anyway, they're all over the place and still popping up. lt's not a practical solution bc 1, sounds like they'll need a lot more than this to make much of a dent at all but there's already too many. 2nd thing l've read, is that the props blades only have a 10-15yr life, then what do you do with those. The US already has 1000s of acs of old props stacked up, saw pics. Far as l know there's not really anything they can be recycled into .

Here's a link to the project's website: https://milpullingwindfarm.com/

Just to clarify teh matter of the US entry into WWII. The actions of the Japanese Empire were as a result of the USA's trade embargo on oil to Japan. Therefore Japan set a goal of capturing the oil fields of Borneo. Like all good politicians, Japan camouflaged its goal by declaring that its actions were to liberate colonial South-East Asia and establish an economic zone controlled by Asian peoples. The attack on Pearl Harbour and invasion of the Philipines and South-East Asia would have brought about a war between the USA and Japan. However, Hitler buggered things by declaring war on the USA a few days later. If he had pulled his head in, the USA might not have entered the Eurpoean war. Not likely, I suppose, since the USA was arming Britain. But who knows? There would have been two separate wars. If there had been two separate wars, the USA might not have come out of the period as economically powerful as it did and Europe and Japan so weak. That would have made the modern world a different place. One could say that Hitler's declaration of war was the "sliding door moment" in human history.

As I said, I drove down to Sydney last week. For most of the way from Mudgee to Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains the dead trunks of thousands of trees destroyed by bushfires in 2019 stand as ghostly reminders of the ferocity of our bushfires. While most of the damage was done to native forest, there are hectares and hectares of pine tree trunks marking to path of the fires.

The point is that Nev is a Grumpy Old man, and we love him for it.

We had our local show this weekend. I got the chance to speak to representatives of the mob which is in the process of gaining approval for an eighty-tower windfarm within 20 kms of my place. Eighty towers seems like a big crowd, but when I was shown to proposed location of each tower, I saw that they were separated from each other by close on a kilometre. My first thought when I heard of the proposal was that teh towers would be visible from the Newell Highway which is located to the east of the proposed area. I learned that the closest tower woulod be about 5 kms from the highway, with a line of low "hills" between them. So that's no longer a concern to me. I think I've whinged before that around here it can be pretty windy, nd said that it would be ideal for a wind farm. Seems I'm right in some ways and mistaken in others. I experience wind as air movement within about 10 metres of the ground surface. That air movement is very turbulent compared to air movement 100 metres above ground where the turbine blades are. That turbulence, caused by the moving air particles colliding withthe ground and trees and ricocheting into air particles higher up. These collisions rob the air particles of energy due to loss of momentum. If the air movement is free of the turbulence, then there is more energy for the collision between the moving air and the turbine blades. That's why the towers are so high. I was also told that studies locally have shown that the most consistent air movement begins at these heights after sunset and stay pretty good until just before dawn. That means the turbines are best able to produce electricity at night in complement to solar panels. That sounds good. What about the effects on farm incomes? The builders don't resume the land they need like the government does when it wants to build roads etc. It seems that the land is rented from the landholders at a rate determined by the generating capacity of the turbine. An example was that of a property with two towers on it. Based on the generating capacity of the intended turbines, renting the land for two towers would return $100,000 p.a. CPI-indexed for a contract period of thirty years. That's got to provide a degree of stabilisation of farm income. I bet any landowner would love to get that sort of money, especially in the present circumstance when it looks like a drought is on the way. Why does it take so long to get a windfarm up an running. Would you beleive that it is in part due to the very people who pursue a renewable world? One of the environmental reports required deals with the effect of the turbines on bats and birds. Getting the data required a study lasting two years. Then there are the Native Heritage studies and gaining clearances from the local indigenous community. Then there are the geo-technical studies, planning permissions yadda yadda. We should consider the economic benefits. It is said that the workforce required to create the windfarm complex is about 500 persons. These people will be newcomers who will have to be fed, housed and entertained for several years. Already the local Council has allocated an area for an accommodation camp. Someone has to build it. An extra 500 people will hopefully boost local trade, although the proximity of the City of Dubbo, about 30 minutes' drive away might not do good for my town. Still, it's money coming into the district. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with this project. Really, it is going to be 'out of sight, out of mind' to teh majority of the population. And kn owing what I know about smart crows and blind bats, I don't envisage too many mid-air collsions with revolving turbine blades.

It isn't just Trump. The US has always done as it pleases. It used to be "Not our fight" as in only getting in to WW1 in 2017, then in WW2 Roosevelt couldn't get the support of Congress & only got involved after Pearl Harbor. Since then we have honoured the treaties like ANZUS & got involved in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan sent peacekeepers to other places the US has screwed up. Trump has just insulted every ally the US has ever had as in his comments about Afghanistan. He starts a war then complains NATO won't come to his aid. NATO is a defence treaty, an attack on one is an attack on all, not if one member attacks someone then everyone else attacks as well. Complains Australia won't help with the blockaid on Hormuz when we were never asked. The list of his stuffups and insults is endless & reportedly is considering recognising Argentinas claim on the Falklands as punishment for the UK not supporting him in his crazy actions against Iran.

I don't now what quality the Alpine forest is Now because of the too frequent bushfires. There's a lot of Plantation "Radiata"pine which in treated form is used for a Lot of House frames. America's forest quality leaves ours for dead. Cedar is all but gone. Silky oak coachwood, etc also. Pin Oak makes a good timber. A lot was planted in Armadale in NSW I have a few Mature ones here on my block that I planted. They drop a lot of leaves and I am 1500 ft above sea Level. at 36 degrees Lat, so they thrive. No diseases and they don't drop branches, IF you prune them correctly there's no sign of where the Branch was left in the Bark.. Nev

And yet Australia possesses 17% of the World's forest.

I am signing out of social Australia. I get too wound up about politics. Better to let others discuss it and stick to aeroplanes.

Didn't someone say "Donald,...... DUCK" when he got his ear shot the first time?

Erosion by wind and water continues to degrade the soil in this country Plus widespread salinity caused by bad Irrigation Methods. Add the effect of rabbits Cane toads and imported Weeds and there's nothing at all to be proud of, here. Our top soils are thin and Low in carbon. Superphospate increases acidity (lower Ph) and native gums do not like it. Nev.

I think I have tried to point that out B4 re the risk of Legal redress. The Number of Liberals who Lost there Position due to Fraud etc while holding Ministerial portfolios FAR exceeds that of Labor. Working for the rich elite who have the wherewithal to show gratitude more effectively is responsible for that. R.J.Hawke was influenced by Murdoch and Peter Abeles who shared the Ownership of Ansett . .Nev

So, how come Labor is totally corrupt, and the Liberals and Nationals and One Nation are pure and honest? Sounds like you're just carrying out repeating all the slanted, Labor-hating, Sky News reporting. And if you're going to accuse people in power of corruption, you'd better be able to back it up with proof, or you could become involved in defamation lawsuits.

Clearing for suburban developments and clearing for minesites and minesite access roads and facilities also takes up a substantial majority of the level of native vegetation clearing going on. Farmland in W.A. has been subject to highly restrictive clearing bans since 1985. In the 1960's, the catchwords of W.A.'s conservative politicians were, "we're aiming at clearing a million acres a year!". We've gone from one extreme to the other as regards farm clearing, but there's only minimal restrictions on clearing for roads and subdivisions.

I May Contest what some Have Written and that Must be allowed. Its not the same as Labelling someone eg "resident Leftie and worse" in an attempt to devalue or nullify their Contribution which has Been happening frequently Here Lately and I have rightly protested it being used as , as I've attempted to point out many times, It's NOT good for this Forum which is PUBLIC and belongs to Ian Baker. It's not ours to use as a free for All pile on to someone you don't like but obviously would NOT KNOW from a Bar of Soap who might be too close to the Bone and truthful at times. This is NOT pPrune, I Hope There's a lot of Selective Perception and Projection Going on Here. I will always ANSWER for what I write but not for what you may think I write. Too ready for the Gotcha Moment? You won't find the Wood for the trees if you do that. Nev

Hmm, I'm not sure about that. The Sahara has shrunk by about 8% in the last 20 years due to increased rainfall and greening programmes. In Asia jungles and rainforests have mainly been lost to plantations of oil palms, a lot of that is used to produce biofuel to replace fossil fuels. In South America it is agricultural expansion, logging practices, infrastructure development, and illegal mining. In Australia in the last decade, clearing for wind farms has had a significant impact.