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Last weekend I took Friday off, we deserted the kids (hey the eldest is 18 so there was theoretically an adult in the house) and the missus and I went to Swansea. I took the bike and she took the EV - strange, I know, but with Tassie you need to be prepared for any weather. As it was I was rained on every day of the weekend, but there was enough fine weather between the showers to make it worthwhile. We rode into Coles Bay on Saturday, had an excellent lunch and dropped in to Devil's Corner vineyard on the way back. On the way home the main tank ran dry 40km from Richmond. I wasn't too concerned because my wife was somewhere nearby, but as it was the reserve got me there. I was taking it very easy on the wet corners - but even so, at one point I touched the rear brake and felt the back end give a little. From then on I took it even easier. Very relaxing weekend!

OK. Albo and Bowen are at the COP31 environment conference in Turkeye. But why did they need to take 190+ public servants with them when families can't put food on the table? And get caught on a hot mic discussing their d*cks?

AI was going so well, until some prick got involved.

Cheeses Crust. That's so deep and meaningful.. Nev

I'm sure they get better advice than you seem to be offering before locating wind farms which need massive foundations.Nev

thats true but they give big business grants, like 20 mill to lynfox for electric trucks . there are a lot of factorys with solar now which i think is a great idea. the western suburbs of melbourne could run wind turbines in the mix. especially if they were set where the wind is funnelled between buildings. just a thought.

he is behind a battery project where all the locals have objected but the corporates just push the locals aside when it comes too the net zero scam.

Didn't the taxpayer gift QANTAS well during COVID and they illegally fired a bunch of people anyway?

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1946421859355369

Look involves a field of vision That's directional and distance related. If you are looking at something close the distant things will be out of focus.( Depth of field) If you focus for something at say 200 yards the difference between that and infinity is not much whereas from say 2 feet to 300 feet is a lot. An object approaching near directly at you at High speed is NOT hard to see because in it's frame of reference It's not moving fast at all and may appear almost stationary. Fog or dust can be a factor at longer distances or even with Heat Haze which distorts the atmosphere by refractive index changes with air density. If you can't be sure don't just say "She will be right" Wait till you can be sure. When you have 2 Jets approaching each other the speed involved is faster than a bullet, so you have very little time to react. IF you had a motorcycle on final at 108Knots in decent visibility you SHOULD be able to see it, if you are at the threshold waiting and looking as you should be doing if a vehicle may be likely to come down the road, on your right. Nev

To look is to use sight to perceive an object. To see is to notice or become aware of objects and surroundings using your eyes. To perceive means to become aware of, to notice. Perception means coming to an opinion, interpreting a situation, based on on i the inputs of looking. There is a great deal of practical difference between looking, seeing and perceiving. You can look and see something, but be unable to perceive what the thing is doing. In my opinion, based on learning and experience, I conclude that the driver did not perceive the situation due to the speed of the bike being something the driver could not perceive due to an inability to form an opinion based on lack of experience of that partcular situation. When I was performing traffic law enforcement using radar, I would observe the approaching vehicle and, based on experience from watching vehicles approaching at speeds below the speed limit, would form an opinion as the whether the vehicle was travelling above the speed limit. Initially I never put a numerial value to that speed. The vehicle ws either 'up it', or not. Then I would release the beam of the radar and the instrument would calculate the speed and provide a numerical display. The number in the display window (if it was above the signposted speed limit) determined the penalty amount indicated on the infringement notice. I never could accurately determine the speed of a vehicle. The instrument did that for me. All I did was decide whether or not to take a shot with the beam.

Even though there's been Big cost over runs in the Snowy Project, It would be foolish to not complete it. Nev

How many jobs can you go into like they do without being accused of conflicts of interest or maybe insider trading. I also don't believe they are overpaid. Corporate type positions aren't really known for job security. My last 2 employers had several "clean outs ". A lot of wandering about weather people left or were pushed. I never said Snowy 2 is not a good concept. Who would have thought that that digging tunnels wouldn't have had issues.

Operating out of the Middle East DID give operators an advantage Down here WE are at the end of the Line. There were Problems before Joyce. Joyce had to contend with COVID and that was a hard time for Airlines. Nev

Well, no but aoart from say the Commonwealth Bank and Telstra - most don't have their roots in privatisation of such recognisable brands. But almst all excet the consultancies have a strong claim to being Australian birn and bred and in a spirit of being Australian that is pivotal to their emotional marketing. Most aso market heavily in their contribution to Australian society. So the fact one has a catchhrase the spirit of Australia does not mean that they ar the only ones trying to market the same message in differnt ways. Absolutely. All pollies should not be allowed to join the Chariman's club based on a conflict of interest. Even in the allegedly more corrupt UK, those sort of pers are against Erskine's rules of parliament (the closest thing to a written constitution the UK has). Then decisions such as not allowing QATAR Arlines to fly to Australia shortly after COVID lockdowns were dropped would have less of an air of biased protection, Of course, the biggest protection is no government nor the ACCC are going to force the airport operators to surrender a portion of QANTAS slots and gates to other airlines to brig in true competition, Allwe have now is, in reality, a two airline system we always had, but with companies making profits. But, I accept that the pricing has improve significantly for the consumer. But this got me thinking. Is this short term bonuses to the execs that the journos are all writing about? I am sure part of it is that.. but I am also sure there is a longer term plan. QANTAS is a publicly listed airline. In order for it to continue to provide a return to its shareholders, it has to provide growth. One of the problems QANTAS has is it is generally an expensive airline. That is OK in Australia for two reasons. Firstly, the cost of doing business in Australia makes QANTAS competitive to Virgin Aus or Blue or whatever it is called today. The brand loyalty and sheer capacity over its competitor makes it formidable in Australia even if it costs a bit more.. That brand loyality is really strong in Australia. But its route model is one that is based around flying people domestically and flying people between the rest of the world and Australia. That means the market is somewhat capped. An to be honest, QANTAS is usually far more expensive than the other airlines getting you from the rest of the word to Australia. In this trip and the last, the cheapest non-code shared trip was double the price of QATAR last time and Singapore this time. Double! Even before I shredded brand loyalty thanks to the move of maintenance overseas, when I went to QANTAS first, I wouldn't take that much of a hit. I could have got code share flying some airline I wouldn't normally to the middle east and then QANTAS from there, I think.. There is no doubt a bit of profiteering and yes, Joyce gutted the company, which was driven largely by short termism. However, the only way I can see QANTAS growing in anything more than too much CPI once the short term cost reductions are made is to grow its international network. That is difficult enough due to capacity constraints globally, but impossible with a high cost base that has to make a profit. For example the last time I flew from London to San Francisco was with JAL. That's right, a Japanese airline. Their model is (or was) routes all over the world. Unless I was doing multi-city, no one is going to take o flight of the route to get from Tokyo to San Francisco and back. They may integrate it into their trunk routes, but it is designed to be a service from London to the USA. In order to improve growth in the future, QANTAS execs may be thinking they need to expand their routes to attract pax not intending to visit Australia. As these people are likely not Australian, they have no brand loyalty (generally - I do know a couple of yanks that will only fly QANTAS when the route supports it - thanks to Rainman). So, in order for Australia to compete on the big stage, it has to lower costs to it can price v quality compete The obvious is to move back office ops to a cheaper location and automate as much as possible.. That is my alternate theory.

How many jobs require you to be elected frequently. They don't lose their Pensions if they get another job and it's harder to qualify for those pensions than it used to be. I don't believe they are overpaid for what they have to put up with. Snowy Pumped hydro is a good concept. It's just the Geological factors proved to be more challenging than anticipated.Nev

The government doesn't own the buildings in industrial areas. I fully agree that the businesses that do should cover their roofs with solar, it would be economically good for them in most cases.

It's only 108 Knots. Nev

Not so much high wind areas but consistent wind. The turbine is then sized with rotor diameter and power output to suit. Could use the plains north of Adelaide as they get a sea breeze most summer evenings when the peak is. I would say that to many votes to lose though. Could see a V47? type size turbine from the London Eye. Several V90 3MW and what look like a Vestas 4MW (112 to 115m rotor) or Enventus (162-182m) platform in Amsterdam. Turnbull is slimy because as with all politicians they go and get cushy jobs with company's that they work with during their time in politics. He was a big influence on the snowy 2 project. In the real world away from politics this would be a conflict of interest. I know some people will say they need to do something when they leave politics which is fair enough but maybe the could lose their politicians pension if they do. I believe the pensions were when people use to put their lives/ careers on hold during their time in politics. People use to stay in the same job their whole lives.

Most bikes have headlights on permanently too. Sounds like speed was definitely a factor (although as OME says, it's probably based on a witness who would have no idea what 200kph looks like).

No bias there?? They Place Windfarms in high wind areas. Why is Turnbull SLIMY? Nev

If the Landcruiser had not pulled out the accident would not have happened. Any rider with a fair bit of experience knows that many tin-top drivers make right turns in front of you and Hit you on roundabouts when you are on their right,and pull out from the side of the road without looking carefully. They ALL say "I didn't see you" as if that's a legitimate excuse. Yeah the rider was going too fast, but YOU are supposed to LOOK.

I wonder how they determined that the bike was traving at 200 kph? At a speed of 200 kph the bike would be coveing 55.4 metres per second. I know that the specialist crash investigators will be involved, but that collision only happened a few days ago. There's not enough time for them to calculate speed at impact. I guess that the "200 kph" came from a witness who was passed by the bike and formed the opinion that it was going like a shower of sh!t. I won't deny that the bike was flying. Also, for a bike to be capable of a very high speed, it would have to be a modern bike, with electronic speed display. Anything displayed on the instrument cluster would disappear with the loss of power at impact. Another factor relates to the ability of the driver of the motor vehicle to see the bike. Wwe know from our flight training that it is difficult to determine the speed of an object approaching from abeam. Further, the frontal area of a bike is small and often dark in clour. If it is dark, it would blend with the colour of the road surface, making it still more difficult to see. Then there the environmental factors such as light and theposition of the Sun. Were there clouds creating a dull background. Unfortunately, the strict liability of the Law places the blame on teh driver of the vehicle, but commonsense says that the cause was the bike rider.

why haven't the government covered every major industrial are in solar panels instead of transporting power hundreds of km with the associated power losses that brings. is it because there is more money in carbon credite for large windfarms. not to mention all the snouts in the renewable trough. even slimy malcolm turnbull is destroying prime farmland with a project. why couldn't you have wind turbines in an industrial area also.

love that area.