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Coincidentally, I just came across this. I will post a link but here are some highlights. https://reneweconomy.com.au/wild-attack-on-batteries-and-renewables-by-7s-spotlight-program-falls-over-at-the-first-fact-check/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRSvLRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeRENsgXVWg03njVcjEv25LrV4q7XUJEVAYcOkDfurOU4zO3LDDzae9NSaOn8_aem_LVPR3uKcuhqbLOHAX9gfnA Spotlight, the so-called flagship current affairs program on the 7 network, dedicated more than an hour on Sunday evening on a report into the supply chains feeding into the renewables and EV industries, with a particular focus on cobalt mines in the Congo, and also activities in Australia. It was amplified on Murdoch and social media. It fell over at the very first fact-check. “Every battery, every electric vehicle, every piece of so-called clean energy technology today” uses cobalt, reporter Liam Bartlett claimed at the start of the program. Wrong. Nearly every big battery installed in Australia these days uses (LFP) lithium iron phosphate chemistry, which means no cobalt, and no nickel (that’s relevant because Bartlett did a similar hit job on the nickel industry last year, using that as a platform to attack EVs and renewables). Tesla, the biggest supplier to big batteries in Australia, now uses only LFP batteries for grid scale batteries. No cobalt. The two big batteries at Liddell and Tomago being built for AGL Energy by Fluence are LFP. No cobalt. A spokesperson for Fluence said all its batteries in Australia use LFP. “We don’t use cobalt.” Finland-based Wartsila, which is building the country’s biggest grid battery at Eraring for Origin Energy, also uses only LFP for its battery projects in Australia. No cobalt. It’s a similar story with EVs. Tesla, for instance, uses only LFP chemistry for most of the variants of its best selling Model Y and the Model 3. No cobalt. It uses NMC chemistry (which does include cobalt) only in “performance” variants, which amounts to about 10 per cent of sales. Home batteries, which are now being installed at record rates in Australia, are the same. New market leader Sigenergy uses only LFP chemistry, so no cobalt, as does another market leader Sungrow, and most others. Bartlett claims to be appalled by the conditions in some cobalt mines in the Congo, and the nickel mine in Indonesia. And so he should be. So should everyone. But the inconvenient truth is that these mines have been operating for decades, and cobalt has been used widely in many industries. The mineral is essential for the iPhone that Bartlett presumably uses, for the laptop he writes his stories on, for the jet engines that flew him from Australia to Africa, and for widespread use in medicine (hip and knee replacements), the petroleum industry, the manufacture of tools, for construction, for cosmetics, and even ceramics. The use of cobalt in EV and grid batteries is relatively new, and is already moving on. Where it is used, most EV makers are at pains to point out that the mineral does not come from such mines, and they produce blockchain style tracking reports to underline their claims. But Bartlett did not seem particularly interested in balance, or inconvenient detail. His story had three major themes – he doesn’t like the Chinese, he doesn’t like renewables and EVs, and he doesn’t like federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen. “Bowen’s fanatical approach, aided and abetted by a conga line of true believers and latte-sipping Teal supporters is now set to send the country into bankruptcy,” Bartlett wrote in an op-ed also published on 7’s website. Bartlett – was global head of TV, creative visual at oil giant Shell in London from 2013-2015

This is where you lose me, with the kind of thinking that enables a fascist regime. It's the "yes Trump is bad, BUT..." thing. It's like saying "Yes Hitler was bad, but goddam it, real Germans could get a job." Trump is actively dismantling democracy in the USA. He doesn't have a single thought for the people of the US, except how to continue deceiving them so Donald J Trump and his dynasty can profit from them. The only reason Trump ever mentions immigrants (in Minnesota, which has less than most states but has a governor he hates) is to dog-whistle his white nationalist base and sow hatred and division. We don't need a Trump or any version of him. Democracy is not supposed to be exciting. It's meant to be calm, boring and safe. We are an immigrant nation, just ask the original inhabitants. If you can show me actual statistics that show that crime rates are higher among recent immigrants than those whose ancestors moved here between 40 years to 60,000 years ago, then go ahead. (Statistics does not mean sensationalist crap from Sky News or any Murdoch rag).

Totally agree regarding Induction cooking. We installed a Bosch Induction cooktop back in 2008. Then it cost about $3,500.00 but the performance was amazing. While it had 4 cooking zones there was a power option than combined 2 of the zones together with the output in 1 zone. It would boil a litre of water from cold in 45 seconds. Control is superb and instant & the cooking surface never gets baked on spillages as it stays cool only getting hot from the transfer of heat from the bottom of the pot. We are renovating the house we purchased last year & installing a new kitchen. Cooking appliances are all AEG & the induction cooktop has a matt finish which is very scratch resistant & is wirelessly connected to the rangehood so the lights & fan are switched on & the speed managed automatically while cooking & both together cost less that the original Bosch from 2008.

Had an interesting morning this morning. I was at a funeral recently and bumped into an old mate I hadn't seen for many years. In the time since I last saw him, he's retired and has been making acoustic guitars for a hobby. Today I went around and he showed me a few of the guitars and where he makes them in his shed. He's a carpenter/builder by trade so already had quite a lot of the tools and some of the required woodworking skills. They're nice guitars, mostly all dreadnaughts, and all Australian timbers. He uses a lot of silky oak on the bodies and grey gum for necks and other parts. I seem to remember the Australian brand Maton using Australian timbers.

This one has been seen before, but worth a rerun.

What do you mean, "support one nation" - you've proudly told us many times that you don't vote!

The reason why Trump is into Iran, is because we as Aussies, fail to grasp just how important Israel and the Jews are, in the American Christian Fundamentalist psyche. Israel MUST be supported at every turn, according to the majority of God-fearing Americans (and there's a lot of them, and a lot in positions of great power). The Jews are Gods Chosen people in their view, and Fundamentalist Americans believe they alone have the greatest God-given power in the whole World, to ensure that the Chosen people survive the Great Evil of the End Days - and that great Evil is Iran, and the Islamic Empires. So every attack on Israel is an attack on every American Christian Fundamentalist. So when Netanyahu says he's under attack and needs to beat back the Evil Empire, the American can only reply with, "how much help do you need, and we'll provide it for as long as you want". Netanyahu knows full well the great benefit of having both a huge Jewish influence in America, backed by Christian Fundamentalists. Trump can only see huge Trump Inc gains in resorts and hotels in any of the "conquered" areas - so he's happy to go along with Netanyahu's aims. And Bibi's aim is to devastate anyone, or any organisation, or any country that is Islamic, and threatening Israel. Remember, Bibi's greatly loved brother was killed by Islamic terrorists at Entebbe, and he harbours a bigger and longer lifetime grudge against Islamics, than the grudge that GON harbours against politicians that favour conscription. Trump is an opportunist, constantly seeking adulation and personal glory and wealth gains, and anything that helps those agendas can only be good, in his feeble mind. Accordingly, he's happy to continue to support Netanyahu's adventures into killing multitudes of "nasty" Islamics, because Trump knows that's an agenda that's got a huge level of support in America - and any "wins" over nasty Islamic terrorists (who took a couple of hundred innocent Americans hostage, and who also tortured them in 1980-82, don't forget), is a huge win for Donald. But now, the American adventure into Eye-Ran is looking a bit messy - and besides, Donny just got told his military have just expended around 11,300 VERY expensive missiles, rockets and other hi-tech armaments - and that Damned Strait is STILL blockaded! - and he's also been told, it will now take about THREE YEARS to produce another 12,000 of those very expensive missiles and rockets, just to make up their basic ammo requirements - and American arms manufactures are RELIANT on that Straits being OPEN! - because American companies are now having problems acquiring the BASICS of many arms manufacturing materials - because quite a number of those basic supply-chain materials HAVE to come through those Straits! "Here is how materials passing through the Strait impact American manufacturing: Helium for Semiconductors: Qatar, which exports through the Strait, supplies nearly one-third of the world's helium. This is crucial for cooling in semiconductor wafer manufacturing, affecting the production of computers, vehicles, and electronics. Petrochemical Inputs: The Gulf region is a hub for petrochemicals, supplying a significant share of raw materials used in plastics, polymers, and single-use packaging. Disruptions affect production and increase costs for manufacturers in these sectors. Sulfur and Fertilizer: Nearly half of all global seaborne sulfur trade passes through the Strait. Sulfur is essential for producing sulfuric acid, which is used in processing critical minerals like copper and cobalt (for batteries and jet engines). Aluminum and Steel: The Middle East accounts for a significant portion of primary aluminum production, with Gulf smelters supplying material for construction, transport, and renewable energy industries. Energy Prices: About 20% of global oil and LNG flows through the Strait. A closure causes a dramatic surge in energy prices, impacting the cost of manufacturing and transporting goods in the U.S." So....... right about now, Donny is in a BIG bind! That AWE and SHOCK attack on Iran ain't working! Those GODDAM Islamic terrorists are still beavering away, and still controlling important things like the Straits!! I reckon Donny must be looking for a quick and easy way out, and expecting some of his LOYAL associates to come up with the ANSWER! But it ain't forthcoming, and things are getting to be a little too wild for him!! This being a World Hero ain't the easy ride, he thought it would be!!

Thanks to my parents I'm a post war immigrant from Holland so the impact on me personally has been quite significant. Likewise, I think our family's impact on Australia has been quite significant, but that's just my opinion.

Rooftop solar isn’t the problem here—the constraints you’re pointing to are a sign the grid hasn’t caught up yet. The system we’re using was built for one-way power flow from large generators, not for distributed generation like rooftop solar. So when you see oversupply or curtailment in places like South Australia, that’s not solar “breaking” the grid—it’s the network hitting its limits in moving and using cheap energy. We’ve seen this before in other sectors: when better technology comes along, you don’t hold it back to suit old infrastructure—you upgrade the system. That’s exactly what needs to happen here with transmission, storage, and smarter demand. Yes, we need enough capacity for low-renewable periods, and yes, storage is critical—but that’s part of the transition. Excess daytime generation isn’t a flaw, it’s an opportunity to shift cheap energy into the evening peak. Even Australian Energy Market Operator is clear on this: the solution is more transmission, more storage, and better integration—not less rooftop solar. So those constraint charts don’t show solar causing instability—they show where investment is needed to modernise the grid. You don’t solve a modern energy system with 20th-century infrastructure—you upgrade the infrastructure.

The problem the Democrats have is that they aren't organised and don't have an obvious plan for what they want, apart from getting rid of Trump's mob. They need to work out their version of a Project 2025 type manifesto that makes sense for the country and that they can sell to the public before the 2028 elections. I think Project 2025 was a disaster for democracy in the USA, but it unfortunately showed what can be done if you get organised.

Pity the Democrats, whether you like them or not. They are going to be stuck with the cost of repairing all the damage the Republicans have done, as trying to restore sone semblance of respect for the country and the rest of the world. And there will be some expectation for them to contribute to rebuilding some of the infrastructure destroyed in Gaza and Iran by Trumps indiscriminate bombing.

They don't need to anymore. Trump is doing it all by himself.

One of the reasons for granting bail was that it is going to takwe a very long time to bring these charges before a court. There is no likelihood that he will commit further offences whilst free on bail, so community safety is not endangered. The only condition that I see as not being useful is the reporting three times per week to police. That is supposed to restrict his movement from the local area of his residence. As one who was able to set bail conditions, I always felt that this was an onerous condition. Once a week is sufficient if the condition is required.

Managed inverters do contribute to the stability of the grid as it is the inverter that manages the battery and decides when to charge or discharge and whether to import or export. I signed up with Amber a few weeks ago and it has been interesting watching what the software is telling my system to do as it uses algorithms to check the spot price which changes every 5 minutes and how much energy I am using and whether my battery is charging or not and what the current export price is. I had run the EV battery down to 20% with a few longish drives over 3 days & decided to charge it today. I have the car set to charge only between 10am & 2.30pm. By 10 am my battery that was depleted overnight as it exported during the peak time from about 5.30pm & 7pm had regained about 55% of charge. The charger consumes 7kWh & the solar now is generating about 6kWh. In January this would have been 9kWh. So the solar was used to power the charger & the rest of the house & the balance supplemented by the battery. When the battery depleted to 29% the system stopped drawing from it & began importing energy and the solar then was all used for charging the battery. At that time the spot price was 11c/kWh & the export price was -1cent. My charger does not have OCCP (Open Charge Point Protocol) so cannot be managed except manually. I changed the charger via its app to charge at 20 amps when it had been charging at 32 amps. The inverter then stopped importing power and supplied the charger & house & began recharging the battery with the surplus. For the last few days the inverter has used its curtailment function to reduce solar output once the battery is full to prevent export at very low or negative export prices The Amber software is in learning mode for the first 30 days so gets more accurate over time. The Amber App today shows that in the past 18 days I am $31.03 in credit. Ambers charge is a flat $25.00 a month so that is covered. The daily supply charge from Essential Energy of $1.92 has already been included. It will be different as the seasons change and if we get a lot of cloudy weather or rain.

Obviously the fire was started by radical leftist EV owners seeking to overthrow the capitalist system....... or a faulty valve.

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?

I like the rest of your post, except for this bit. I think you are not allowing for the rapidly rising number of households that are what you call 'jumping the gun'. My solar and battery do all the smoothing needed for my intermittent solar. It has hardly stopped raining for a fortnight, and my battery dropped down to 80%. That is, nil from the grid in that time. A lot of people (finances permitting) are not waiting for the government to solve the problem.

The real concern is that AI might make the contributors to this forum obsolete.

We are Not in NORMAL circumstances and it could get worse. Imagine the Hullabaloo if that Happened. Perhaps this will get us a bit weaned off fossil fuel where we can be Held to ransom at the whim and fancy of lots of people and have a cleaner World at the same time. Nev

If you are referring to the whole world, well, they are building more. Globally, pumped hydro has ~200 GW of installed capacity That represents the vast majority (over 90%) of long-duration energy storage Dozens of new projects are still being built each year So while individual schemes are large and relatively few compared to, say, solar farms, they are widespread and globally significant. 📍 Where are they? 🇨🇳 China (world leader) Largest total capacity (~50+ GW) Massive new projects like Fengning (one of the world’s biggest) Hundreds more under construction 👉 China uses pumped hydro heavily to stabilise its huge wind and solar buildout. 🇯🇵 Japan ~20+ GW installed One of the earliest adopters Built to balance nuclear and now renewables 🇺🇸 United States ~16–17 GW installed Famous example: Bath County (often called the “world’s largest battery”) 🇪🇺 Europe (widely distributed) Major countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain Example: Germany has multiple plants used for grid balancing Scotland hosts many of the UK’s biggest schemes 🇦🇺 Australia Existing: Shoalhaven scheme (NSW) Tasmanian hydro system Major new build: Snowy 2.0 (huge expansion project) 🌎 Other notable regions South America – Brazil and Chile expanding capacity India – growing fast to support solar Africa – early-stage development (e.g., South Africa) 👍 Are they successful? Short answer: Yes—very successful, but with caveats ✅ Strengths 1. Proven and reliable Technology has been used for 50+ years Extremely well understood and dependable 2. Grid stabilisation Acts like a giant battery: Stores excess power Releases it when needed 3. Long lifespan Often lasts 50–100 years (much longer than batteries) 4. Scale Can store huge amounts of energy (hours to days) ⚠️ Limitations 1. Geography matters Needs suitable elevation and water Not every location works economically 2. High upfront cost Big civil engineering projects (tunnels, dams) 3. Long build times Projects like Snowy 2.0 take years and can face delays 4. Environmental concerns Land use, water impacts, and community opposition 🤔 Big-picture takeaway Pumped hydro is not new or experimental—it’s the backbone of global energy storage. It’s especially valuable as countries add more wind and solar. While batteries are growing fast, pumped hydro still dominates for large-scale, long-duration storage. 🌍 How much is being built? Around 100+ GW of pumped hydro is already under construction globally The total development pipeline is enormous (~600 GW) Annual additions are rising and could double to ~16.5 GW per year by 2030 👉 That’s not a niche build-out—that’s a major global infrastructure push. 📍 Where is the construction happening? 🇨🇳 China (dominates the boom) By far the biggest builder 200+ GW under construction alone Adding multiple large plants every year 👉 China is essentially treating pumped hydro as core grid infrastructure for renewables. 🇮🇳 India & Asia-Pacific Rapid expansion to support solar growth New multi-GW projects announced (e.g. Maharashtra schemes) Strong growth across Asia-Pacific generally 🇪🇺 Europe Lots of medium-sized projects and upgrades Example: New plant in Norway (Illvatn) under construction Hybrid wind + pumped hydro projects (e.g. Crete) 👉 Europe is modernising older hydro + adding storage rather than building mega-dams. 🇺🇸 United States Several projects in development: Example: Seminoe (900 MW) Many more proposed—potential to more than double capacity 🇦🇺 Australia (your backyard) Active pipeline: Kidston (QLD) nearing completion Snowy 2.0 under construction Multiple NSW & QLD proposals ⚠️ But: Some projects have been delayed or cancelled due to cost blowouts or geology issues (e.g. Pioneer-Burdekin) 🌎 Other regions Spain: dozens of projects progressing (25 advancing in 2025 alone) Africa: early but accelerating growth South America: Chile & Brazil expanding 📈 Why the sudden surge? This is the key shift: 👉 Wind and solar are now cheap—but intermittent 👉 Grids need long-duration storage (hours to days) Pumped hydro is: Proven Long-lasting (50–100 years) Scalable to huge sizes That’s why it’s having what’s been described as a “renaissance” in energy systems Reality check (it’s not all smooth) Even though many are being built: ✔ What’s going well Strong government backing Clear role in renewable grids Massive scale possible ✖ What’s slowing things down Long build times (often 7–10 years) Cost overruns (common in big civil projects) Environmental approvals Site-specific risks (geology can kill projects)

Yes, I remember stamps with Magyar from my childhood stamp-collecting phase. According to AI: Magyar is a relatively common surname in Hungary, acting as an ethnic name that means "Hungarian". It is frequently found across the country, particularly in regions with mixed historical ethnicity. As a surname, it is sometimes the result of historical "Magyarization," where families changed foreign-sounding names to more patriotic ones. Key Facts About the Name "Magyar" Meaning: The word magyar is the autonym for Hungarians and means "Hungarian". Origin: The name stems from the ancient Megyer tribe, which was a dominant clan among the Hungarian tribes in the 9th century. Commonality: It is a common surname in Hungary. Related Names: Similar to other ethnic surnames in Hungary, such as Horváth (Croat) or Német (German). Distribution: Data shows high concentrations of individuals with the surname Magyar in areas like Budapest and regional centers such as Hajdúszoboszló and Kecskemét. While it means "Hungarian," it is important to note that the country itself is called Magyarország (literally "Land of the Magyars") by its inhabitants.

I was going through some old images on a hard drive, and on today of all days, I came across this.

Claude.io from Anthropic is considered the bee's knees for coind. They have just released Mythos, it's next gen.. except they haven't released it to the general public. Apparently, without specific training, it identified zero day and other vulnerabilities. It is claimed to exceed the capability of all but the best developers: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmarkman/2026/04/08/what-is-claude-mythos-and-why-anthropic-wont-let-anyone-use-it/ The software development industry is already being turned on its head. I used claude.io to quickly develop a prototype app that is fully industrlalised (i.e. uses all the correct data, application, user iunterface, security, distributed, and scaling techniques, complete with application and server health monitoring and the like). On the free version, it took my about two months because they have much stricter usage limits than ChapGpt. But, it was exceptionally well written code - and I didn't have to tell it what technoogy to use.. I basically said this is what I need, and it did the rest. Many companies are turning to AI.. a lot of Intergrated Development Environments (IDE's), which are th programs where you write code, debug, ibuild, etc, have AI already integrated. However, Claude is next level stuff already. Mythos basically will make the software development industry almost entirely automated. We are currently hiring a lot of software developers for a big new program of work - it is huge. I won't go into numbers, but from about September/October last year, I have increased my analysts fby a factor of 10. We have been hirign developers (we already have a reasonable number) - looking quadruple our developer count. Despite it being a buyers market, we are finding ti tough to find quality candidates and we are paying decent rates for London. So, I will be proposing to our AI team adopting an AI dev tool for our project. We have to deliver a shed load in a year, which is why we are looking to hire an army of people. But, for literally a few hundre dollars per user per month, we can get exceptional throughput. And here's the interesting thing: It can write the code and a separate AI bot will review the code and suggest improvements. If they are accepted, the improvements are fed back intoi the code writing bot as well. So, what does this do to the industry? It doesn't kill it entirely... The first thing I predict will be a virtual removal of programming languages.. Of you think about it, programming was originally writing a bunch of 1's and 0's in a specific way and took an eternity. And then, Assembler/Assembly (depending on which side of the tracks you were born) was developed as a human readable extraction of the CPU instructions. You had to learn Assmbler for each processor family (and sometimes individual chips). That saved a lot of time compared to the binary coding and the instruction set was somewhat standardised for standard operations. This is effectively a second generation language. Then came 3GLs - these were BASIC. fortran, COBOL, C, and these days Java, C#, Python and the like. They are general purpose langiages that are feature rich and provide a programmer all of the control needed, but the difference is that the language applied to any computer (wlell, almost).. as a compiler or interpreter to convert that code to binary code (executable code). So, in theory, if I wrote a COBOL program on an IBM Mainframe, it would compile and run on a PC with a COBOL compiler. The truth is there are extensions and platform specific functions. Although, Java, C# and Python have fixed that by being interpretative, and the use standard library extensions. 4GLs made a relatively brief appearance, in that they were higher level 3GLs - an attempt to make programming more English like and democratise development to the users. Ironically, langiages like Python, which are modern 3GLs have done more for that than the 4GLs. There are 5GLs, but they are largely obscure. But AI - especially such as Claude will, IMHO, replace computer languages as we know it. They will become English (or other human language) builders. At the moment, they are code generators.. I asked Claude to develop my app using Java and specific frameworks (though it suggested some better ones than I requested, so I went with its suggestion). When it did create a bug, a quick prompt fixed it. The article above talks about usign humans for reviewing the code, but I would suggest once there is critical mass of confidence in the technology, code will no longer be required. For example, you have your series of prompts to build an application. Claude (or other AIs) can generate the executable (or interpretive bytcode, a sort of executable) direct - no production of human readable code required. It will be tested and if it works, it can be deployed; if not, adjust the prompt, rebuild and retest. Back to my team; about 1/2 of my analysts are ex developers/software engineers - like myself. We have very good business domain knowledge and reasonably good, if outdated software development knowledge. My idea is that we are given a system architecutre (data lake, data frameworks, service platform, user interface platforms - e.g. desktop, tablet, phone), asd we start crafting the prompts to build the system. The first will be the data model, of which there are industry standards we can tweak. I would suggest we will have the data model done, say, in two days. We can use AI to populate the database and then write tests to ensure it works property. Say 2 - 3 days. Within 5 days I can have something that would take as maybe a month to get what we think is right and would probably take 2 analysts and some database admin support. The I can start building the individual functional services asnd UI, as well as integration to other systems. Let's say 2 months to build, system test, performance test, and have the users acceptance test it. The it is a deploy to the production environment. In fact, we could easily automate the testing, as well as for updates, any regression testing. Say add 2 months, maybe with a lead tester/QA person, an architect part time, a senior dev part time to review stuff, and maybe a database administrator part time. Otyherwise we would use analysts - probably between 3 and 5 because of the number of functions we have to deliver. And the best thing is, even if it produces spaghetti code (which it doesn't), I don't care, because what is important to me is the promtps that build the system. And you don't need to be a linguist or an expert in the coding or the specific language, database, user interface technology to use it. In fact, in my little home experiment, Clause inferred much of what it had to do without me needing to even hont at it. As I said, I can't give you exact numbers, but our non-AI plans are close to 100 people all up, with a minimum viable product at about a year, and then the full enchilada in two years.. and there will still be kinks to iron out, performance issues, regressions in releases, etc. But with maybe 5 analysts and a smattering of other support, I cam have the whole enchilada within 6 months. Now work out the man days. In the UK, there are about 220 working days for professionals.. 100-ish people * 220 days * 2 years = 44,000 working days. And my business has a cost of using manual processes and elevated operational controls from day 1, but reducing as more is delivered over a two year period. Now I have, say all my staff in an AI world on it full time (which I doubt, but let's go with it) = 110 days * 9 (5 analysts, 1 developer, 1 QA, 1 DBA, 1 Architect): 990 days. Assume $1000/Day per person. Without AI, $44m; With AI: $990,000. Assume $500/mo per user (that is what a company a friend of mine is paying Anthropic for Claude): $27,000 gives a total with AI of $1,017,000. Even if I am really, really optimistic, and we quadruple the estimates, that is $4,068,000, noit quite 10% of the costs of doing it the old way. It is going to be a bumpy ride, but in theory, all services should get cheaper once widespread AI adoption kicks in.

Agent Provocateur Litespeed at your service. Clandestine operations by appointment.

It's all Litespeed's fault. He mentioned Abbott on page one, and that was enough to send Nev into his usual rants. DO NOT mention anything other than Ukraine reports in this thread. If you must, start a new topic.

What Gina wants

It's not so much "immigration", but "mass immigration" created by the conjoined major parties. They ignored public opinion and went ahead with it anyway. Immigration was no longer included in the democratic process, and still isn't. You can have your say, but it inevitably falls on deaf ears. Things might be changing though, with the high cost of living and shortage of housing, the pig-headed major party politicians can't help but hear rumblings from nearly every sector of the broader community. Mass immigration drove me to support One Nation, that's how it affected me. I will not support or vote for parties who find it convenient to gang up against the Public for selfish reasons. They promise sweeteners at election time, but the issue of immigration is completely off the table. As the major parties lose their influence over the general public, as is happening now, we'll get a chance to gain power over them and tell them what we want, not what they want all the time. Mass immigration is not doing what it is intended to do, making us stronger, no, it is making us weaker in every respect you can think of. Why do we have a trillion dollar debt? Why do we have so much drug crime? Why is the nation split into 200 different groups with 200 different flags? Why did we have an anti Semitic "Bondi", and blocked streets full of River to the Sea people? We shouldn't go around with blinkers on. Take them off and look around.

Whilst some cobalt is mined under poor conditions, my understanding is that most is not. The other thing is that batteries are increasingly moving away from cobalt. LFP (lithium iron phosphate) uses no cobalt at all. I think it is entirely appropriate to give a sh1t about the percentage of cobalt that is mined by dubious means; however, it is often used is some sort of argument against renewables and EVs. Does anyone say oil refining is evil because it uses cobalt as a catalyst? About 20% of cobalt comes from artisanal mines with poor conditions. Some uses of cobalt Batteries (EVs, phones, home storage) Superalloys (jet engines, turbines) Magnets (motors, wind turbines) Catalysts (oil refining, chemicals) Pigments (cobalt blue in glass/ceramics) Medical uses (cancer treatment, sterilisation) Tool steels and industrial uses

I don’t see people with rooftop solar as part of the problem—I see generating your own clean electricity as a positive. If we zoom out a bit, the real issue looks different. The electricity grid we use today was largely designed and built from the 1950s through to the 1990s. It was built as a one-way system: electricity flowed from large, centralised generators—coal, gas, and hydro—out to consumers. That made perfect sense at the time, because generation technology dictated that structure. But generation technology has changed. We now have distributed energy—rooftop solar being the most obvious example—where electricity is produced at the edges of the grid, not just at the centre. I think this is where we differ. You seem to be saying (correct me if I’m wrong) that generation methods should be limited by what the existing grid can handle. I’d argue the opposite: the purpose of the grid is to distribute electricity as efficiently as possible, and that means adapting it to modern forms of generation, not restricting those forms to suit legacy infrastructure. A useful comparison is telecommunications. In the 1990s, the copper phone network was sufficient for voice calls. Then the internet arrived, and we initially squeezed it through that same copper using dial-up. As technology advanced, the limitations became obvious. We didn’t respond by saying “we must limit internet use because the network can’t cope.” We upgraded the network—eventually rolling out systems like the National Broadband Network. Electricity is no different. Rooftop solar isn’t a flaw in the system—it’s a signal that the system needs to modernise. The system was built for one-way, centralised generation. Now we’ve got distributed generation changing demand patterns. That’s an engineering and market design problem, not a reason to limit a cheaper, cleaner energy source.

In a week, it will be 61 years since I moved here ( Melbourne) for a Flying Job . Nev

There are Australians and there are immigrants. Not the same. We hope the immigrants become Australians and in the past they did. But many of the recent ones, last 20-30 years, carry such huge prejudices that they want to remain what they were and to exploit the opportunity created by the Australians.

Did you not see the bit in the video - and these stats apply to Australia too - that immigrants are statistically more law abiding, more likely to start small businesses that employ locals, and do the jobs that the locals don't want to?

This is very chilling:

Sometimes the anthropologists on projects can be a problem, more so the inexperienced young ones fresh out of uni and on their first job in the real world. I remember in 1983 when the pilot survey line for the Moonie/Jackson pipeline was going through and it got held up at Cunnamulla. The job ground to a halt for four days because the young anthropologists has found some axe cuts on some tree roots where the pipeline was to cross the Warrego River. They were metal axe cuts and generations of local whites had camped and fished there as well as the local aboriginals, so it was anyone's guess whether a white or black person had used the axe. The anthropologists thought they were doing the right thing by checking with their bosses in the city but it was in the days before mobile phones and email, and head office had closed up on Friday afternoon for the long weekend. Eventually when their office opened the following Tuesday and contact was made they approved the crossing. It cost some companies a lot of down time money, but the anthropologists thought they were doing the right thing. Their inexperience was a bit of a problem in that area. The issue with a metal axe is that any object made by non aboriginals that aboriginals use is deemed to be a post contact artifact. That's where the grey area comes in. A shard of a broken beer bottle that some ringers left on the ground can be taken to be a possible knife used by aboriginals. The archaeologists I've worked with have generally been a fair bit more sensible than some of the anthropologists, probably because their field is more defined and direct and less guesswork involved.

Baseload is a term that used to describe Coal Fired generation as it couldn't be turned off and had a very limited window of generation variation. The only people who use this now are those who are living in the past or conservative politicians who don't understand electrical generation, usage or demand. Terms like "we have to keep the lights on" and "what do we do when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine" just displays their ignorance. The generation industry, distributors and anyone with a smidgen of intelligence know the problem is "Peak Demand" so we need available energy to meet this. For many countries this occurs in the middle of Winter when heating demand stresses the electricity supply but in Australia it is in the Summer when heat waves stress the network due to massive use of Air conditioning systems. Rooftop solar has had a huge impact on reducing this during daylight hours and now with large multi megawatt batteries and home batteries set up as VPPs the problems are reduced. Add community batteries and pumped hydro and other storage to the mix and we go a long way to a fully sustainable renewable energy nation. Already rooftop solar produces more energy in Australia than all of the fossil fuel energy producers do combined during the middle of the day.

Iranians have More reason than ever to Hate Americans. Imagine you are Living there Now and being threatened with Obliteration by a Maniac, and His Weirdo hangers on, who have recklessly and Illegally smashed a lot of the essential Infrastructure and Killed innocents. Nev

This could be true, but it is many decades away. 1.6% of our cars are electric. The percentage of heavy vehicles is so small it is a rounding error. At the best historical rates of fleet replacement we have barely begun to change. And the replacements are still dominated by non electric vehicles and will be for the foreseeable future for a range of reasons. An economic recession is inevitable and no one will be rushing to replace their car. And anyway, oil is needed for many non fuel purposes.

We coulld stop selling canola overseas and turn it into bio-diesel.

Yeah l mean, here he is now, fighting with the damn pope, the pope !!!! Just wtf ! The popes brother in the US is now getting death threats. Man, tell you what , Leo might be a lovely man no doubt about that l'd say, but when the Vatican chose what- an American, l'm thinking what the hell, haven't you seen what Markle 's done to the Royals, Harry, have you not seen that disgraceful shytshow, yaknow. Now your gonna put one into what's suppose to be the most sacred of sacred positions in the world. Andddd, here we go. l know it's not Leo's fault and l know he's not full blooded Yank but man, that won't matter. Chump is the most disgraceful, classless animal , l reckon we've ever seen in a position like that , makes Pootin look like an angel. Speaking of, man, love that puppet pic , l mean that's it isn't, sums it up, in a nutshell. Hope Chump sees that someone send it to him.😁

I should have made the title Victoria's Secret, because not many people know how serious it is. In a way it will be a good thing, because the other states and the Feds will have a chance to see how a treaty really works. Unfortunately, in my opinion, some of the so-called leaders are just in it for what they can get for themselves and close family. Some have criminal records or are known drug dealers. Some, perhaps many, have a tenuous claim to aboriginality. At present there is a fight to see who comes out in control or with veto rights on public lands. At the same time, as in the greater society, probably 90% are good people wanting to get on with their lives, but they are not the high-profile activists. If you ask me for hard evidence I probably don't have any, just my own experiences and observations and those of people around me.

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

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

When i moved to my new property I installed a new solar array & a battery. Total cost after subsidies. $11,600.00. I have charged my EV exclusively from the solar supplemented by the battery when solar generation falls below 7kW. I am now a VPP (virtual power plant) & buy & sell energy on the wholesale market. Also for doing this I am getting another $675.00 rebate. The company I am with charges $25.00 a month to manage my system. I was getting 2.7c/kWh & now I get much more as I sell what is in the battery when the price rises during peak demand. The sun is almost gone today & the export price is 19C/kWh so my battery is exporting. This will stop when I begin using power for cooking etc. My battery is usually full by 10am & unless I have the EV charging my solar production is constrained so i don't export at a negative value. The software they have is called Smartshift & it manages the Inverter. I have been a wholesaler for only a few weeks but I am well in credit after paying the monthly fee. My original payback was 5-6 years & now with my EV costing zero to run & the ability to export only when the spot price is hign, that has reduced to 2-3 years

It would be a BIG Mistake to think that Those running IRAN are stupid.. It's clear where the Bulk of the stupidity resides. Nev

Midsomer.

I maintain that we produce a higher grade of bullshit than AI could.

We will sill need a doctor to sew up our wounds and set our bones. We will need teachers to show our children how to read and count. We will need plumbers to clear our blockes drains and sparkies to wire in our fuse boxes. Every new technology displaces those who performed the activity the is displaced. Humanity always finds something new to do that the technology hasn't caught up with. We are not looking at disaster. We are seeing new opportunities.

So, it has come to pass. Back in 1968, I was an apprentice TIT. One of a hole bunch of TITs. We watched in awe as our instructor held aloft a beautiful object about the size of an A4 page. It was a maze of fine golden wires in a matrix of tiny ferrite toroid rings. "This" he proclaimed, "is a matrix memory. It holds a thousand bits of data for a computer. It was made last year and today is obsolete. At the present rate of development, in a few years we will see computers so smart that they can develop their own programmes!" So I have seen the original Matrix. It took a bit longer for it all to happen, but it has come to pass. OME, never fear, all those redundant coders will soon be free from enslavement.

Technology is posing a serious challenge to the megalithic Merdok empire. I stumbled across something new (to me). “Pink slime” journalism. It is named after a meat byproduct and describes outlets that publish poor quality reports that appear to be local news. ProPublica, CJR, Margaret Sullivan (then at the Post), Jane Mayer, and many others have written urgently about the dangers of pink slime, but it’s still not a widely-known term. Seems there are thousands of pink slime fake news websites in the U.S. More than there are local news outlets. Pink slime content overwhelmingly has a conservative partisan slant. Most of the known major pink slime networks are funded by right-wing dark money groups and billionaires. I notice that sometimes when I websearch a suspect news item, I sometimes get copy-&-paste repeats on a news outlet that I didn't know existed.

Engine block is best because it bypasses the cable from negative battery to starter motor.