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My son has been on holiday in Thailand with mates for 10 days. He was due to fly home tonight, arriving sometime in the morning. He texted to say his flight had been cancelled. I'm assuming it was a fuel situation. Another text a few minutes ago to say he had been moved to another flight arriving 12 am Sunday. Fingers crossed.

The refinery is 70 years old. They say it was an equipment failure that caused it.

I always enjoy a good pun. Puns are the heart and soul of English comedy.

Apparently the vote has been officially declared and the result will not change. The total number of ballots (about 70????) is said to be insufficiant to change to result. The recount is more or less a debrief session for the Electoral Commission to see what went wrong.

I wonder if inflation actually is an insurmountable problem for the average citizen - the peasant, or if you like, the people like us. It's for sure that things that are imported, the 21st Century consumer goods, would become too expensive, but food can still be produced and bartered for. Things would be really tough, but life would go on as it has done through the many periods of adversity these people have gone through throughout the millenia.

Here is Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, sending up Trump, first on his attack on the Pope, then he spots the likeness to himself in the 'patient' being healed by Trump appearing as Jesus in an AI picture, and Trump's weak explanation of the picture. You can disregard the rest of the video, or watch it if you you like.

My grandpa had an electric mower in the 1950s, I have a photo of him mowing with it and I know where it is today. He ran over the cord a few times and gave it up.

That fire is too much of a coincidence.

Was surprised today had to throw some diesel in on way back at one of those unmanned card fuel stop things , dunno what they're called. 320, was expected one of those things to be 340 tbh. Servos up here are around 310-312 , atm.

I think this has changed with the advent of craft beer pubs. My local before I moved was called "Two Birds Brewery" I heard the owners interviewed and they talked about how in this type of pub there were more female customers. Rather than being a down 9 pints type of place, there are now often a vast range of beers, and they tend not to be served onto a soggy bar towel. When at a new location, we always look for the local craft beer establishment, and usually we find a more or less equal gender balance. https://shedefined.com.au/international-womens-day/meet-the-women-breaking-the-gender-divide-in-the-beer-industry/

Indeed. I think back to the early eighties, when my most sophisticated means of communication was the humble telephone. A call interstate had to wait till Sunday evening, when it would be less expensive. If someone had told me that one day everyone would have a phone in their pocket that was also a powerful computer I would have had trouble believing them. Likewise, the idea that the majority of the world would be connected by this internet thingy would have seemed absurd. Technological development has not suddenly stopped. The rapid development of telecommunications systems over the last 20 to 30 years is an indicator of what is possible. There is no reason that the power grid we have today is the endpoint of technological development. It is all too easy to believe everything that can be done has been done.

Sadly, yes... Our village pub is a community pub, the villagers put their hands in their pocket (thankfully one villager is a very wealthy venture capitalist) and purchased the building for 1/3 it was bought by the previous landlord. And we did it up, and it is not bad, but unf. when these things are done by clique committees, the person making the decision on the decor transformed it from a rustic character country pub to a bland restaurant with a bar. Pubs in the UK are (or were), IMHO, a much nicer place to visit than similar ones at lest in the cities. They semed a lot more community focused and less just watering holes. There are historical reasons for this, but, society has transformed in a few ways. First, pubs were known as extensions of one's front (living) room. Because houses tended to be small, puns were where you and you family gathered with friends and their familiy to get together, or celebrate an occasion, etc. My partner noticed that Aussie pubs (both city and rural) were either gastro pubs or tended to be male centric, with women as an afterthought (she was very surprised to see ladies' lounges, for example). Also, though history, most pubs were inns, an under the Innkeepers Act (latest was 1878 before being superseded by the UK Hotel Proprietors Act in 1956), there was a duty to receive or lodge travellers - reasonable cost, etc. Of course, when they were full, they didn't have to receive more, but they couldn't not receive if they had a room or board. From this, British pubs, when I first arrived in the UK in '96, seemed quite welcoming. It was not unusual to have a conversation with strangers, or be invited to sit with people if you were alone. Beer and driking in general was the thing of younger people and it was a very social place. I am not saying Aussie pubs aren;t, but it seemed one needed more courage to go alone, and it would take some time before you branched beyonf yourself or your group to mingle. But, with higher taxes of pints pulled at a pub compared to buying in the supermarket, bigger houses, younger people moving away from drinking, and let's face it, some very ordinary publicans; the move towards a more refined experience, etc, pubs are under threat. I know a bloke who owns a chain of pubs - he does very well.. but they are all very classic/contemporary decorated, they have one or two beers at most and an extensive wine list, and the focus is on an upper mid-market dining experience. And they are all located in the heart of big city centres where there is money. It attracts yuppies - dinks or those with young kids and still money to spend. Since COVD, and the recent oil prices, he has struggled a bit, but still does OK. Our community pub has yet to turn a profit.. The issue is once food service is done - around 9pm, it virtually empties because most of the patronage are older people; the young ones either don't turn up or if they do, they then head off into town for the nightclubs. Similarly at the pub I stay at in Richmond, the publican, who has been there for 35 years, sees mainly older people - 40+ - and they don't drink as much as the younger set used to .

I went out this evening to get some extra petrol before the effect of the Geelong refinery fire is felt. 91 octane at the local BP and the 7-Eleven was at 211.9/l.

You are not wrong there. I booked a flight from Avalon to Adelaide return for $108. There was an even cheaper option, one way for $44. I did book this before the fuel crisis, though. This is obscenely cheap.

Much ado about not Much. Nev

One of PHON's seats has been thrown into doubt. https://au.yahoo.com/news/absent-votes-cast-doubt-over-015650889.html

Flights are cheaper than is sustainable. . Make the Most of it if that's your thing. The Main purpose is to Appreciate where you Left. No one's interested to know where you've been or see your selfies. Lots of Places are ruined by Tourists especially from BIG UGLY Monster Cruise ships.. Nev

Yeah, you'd think Land values would have Plunged with all the deaths. I think the local pub has closed. Just a sign of the times. Nev

And the same with almost any other technology. Calculators, then computers Emulsion film, now digital B&W TVs, then Colour Landlines and mobile phones (OK, Australia stuffed that one up - ironic given wi-fi is an Australian invention). Should we have stopped with each of the older technology - my dog, think of the cost of rolling out all those mobile towers and satellites. Sadly, aeroplanes seems to be the outllier. 🙂

That is one of the advantages of a communist country - the govenment sets the agenda and people either comply or not, and there are real consequences for not complying. Of course, for it to work, there has to be a benevolent central control, etc, I am not saying it is the best way by any means, but capitalism in its purest form is no better, either. Which is why he have interventions. And one of those interventions is to get the market off its arse and move to more sustainable energy sources, yet leave the incentives of captialism in place to let the private sector take its place. Whether one likes it or not, technological progress will move things forward. Intial investments and costs are high, but the long term benefits are massive. What each country/region has to do is work out the best mix for their circumstances. In some cases, that will be fossil fuel (though I struggle to think of aplace that would not be able to use renewables at least in some of the mix). In other places, nuclear would be a good option for the majority of the power. In other places, renewables between "intermittents" and base load (or moree accurately, "constants") is a good alternative. In Australia's case, the mix of hydro, nuclear, and wind is an achievable. The cost of wind is only marginally more expensive than solar, and much cheaper than nuclear. Existing coal plants cost a touch more than new offshore wind, which still has to amortise. Just google it as I can't be bothered reposting what has already been posted here (I think by Octave). Australia has enough renewable "intermittent" capacity to use with capcitors (aka batteries) to smooth match supply and demand. It will take a while to get there; Rome wasn't built in a day. I haven't looked into it yet, but I am guessing the question will be, grid-wise, how to match what may well be different distribution models. It does not make sense (though resistance alone) to distribute electrons many miles when you have distributed generation and hopefully storage. This will (or should) be the consumer/residential/light commerical model. It owuld make sense to have a lot of micro-grids , interconnected to manage demand and supply should one microgrid have an issue, iuf this is not already in place. But a lot of heavy usage industry is a long way from major centres - mines, smelters (but, not refineries for some reason). These use massive amounts of electrons, so what is the answer? Naturally, there can be local renewables and storage, but they will need some backup/topup. They will have their own microgrid, but will probably rely one feed ins from ither area. Even if these were, say gas fired generators, the result will be a hell of a lot less CO2 and cost than remaining on fossil or going nuclear.

Might? Certainly the ME won't be back to Normal for a while and Maybe their OIL Market won't ever be what it was. People don't like being Held to ransom OR threatened. Nev

There's Phase Balancing considerations also Lot's of Lost efficiency Possible there.. We have only just begun this Journey . Remember we used to have Horses and Carts or walk and only the very Rich had Cars . Now they are regarded as essential. Nev

I am by no means an expert in this, however, everything I read suggests that home batteries that are part of a VPP can help maintain grid frequency. Understanding the Types of Grid Support the Battery Provides When a home battery joins a VPP, it can play very different roles depending on what the grid needs. Some of the most common use cases today are described as follows. Frequency Regulation The electric grid must keep its alternating-current frequency within tight limits (in AU, around 50 Hz). If demand suddenly rises or a generator trips, frequency may drop. A battery participating in frequency regulation can respond almost instant, charging or discharging quickly to restore balance. Frequency regulation often commands relatively high compensation per unit of energy or service provided. Demand Response (DR) via Storage Demand response in AU/NZ refers to any action that reduces net demand on the grid during tight supply conditions or high-price periods, either by curtailing or shifting flexible loads, or by using behind-the-meter resources such as batteries so a site draws less electricity from the grid when called upon. Depending on the programs, homeowners get predictable compensation for simply being available, or the payment to homeowners in DR-type programs is typically linked to how much energy is saved or how much load power is reduced. https://www.franklinwh.com/au/blog/how-virtual-power-plants-are-changing-home-battery-use

China is Probably doing the Sensible and Responsible thing more effectively than Most. Rent seekers in Corrupted Capitalist Places put a Brake on it to maintain their Profits They don't want competition which is what makes capitalism efficient and keeps costs down. Nev

Inverters don't contribute to the grid. Batteries help the grid because they smooth out peaks in consumption. There is a huge peak around the time people get home from work and cook dinner. Those people with their own batteries are helping by not contributing to this peak, and those who sell a portion of their stored electricity back to the grid are reducing the need to ramp up power stations or peaker plants. Most of the world is moving in this direction; can they all be wrong?