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I loved Penelope Keith.

This is why I don't do politics or science by meme, or in this case a simple graph, because we are find a set of numbers that suits our agenda and just publish it. Is the above the cost of generation, the wholesale price, or the retail price. Because, the latter two have factors that can distort the market. For example, Denmark's wholesale price is connected to the European markets believe it or not, so if an expensive dirty coal plant happens to produce and sell energy at the same time or within a price setting period, the wholesale price is largely set to be based on that price... which is far more expensive than wind or solar. That is wholesale price distortion. Of course, other European markets are subject to this as well, but since the grid is segmented, not all are setting the same wholesale price. Then the distortions at the retail price are local market conditions, taxes (of which Denmark has a lot - even VAT (GST) on electricity! Wowsers. Not even the UK levies VAT on electricity. So the retail price may not be at all reflective of the generation price. I prefer the Levilised Cost of Electricity comparison, which seeks to take out some of the more artificial price setting. According to Google AI, Denmark wins on wind, but loses on Gas and Solar: Note, the cheapness of fracked shale gas does not include the cost of cleaning up. Also, if Denmark decided to stay gas (or presumably coal, etc), from the above, they would be paying roughly double or more to produce electricity. I would suggest that the numbers show that wind and solar is much cheaper - for them. Not so much for the USA, again except this does not cover the true clean up costs. Which sort of shows the point of renewables - the optimum mix will be determined by local conditions. And, yeah, in some cases, even fossil fuel generation will make sense.. So, lets do a like for like comparison. South Australia, according to Google has around 84% of its electricity generated from wind (44% of total electricity generated) versus solar (33%). According to your chart, Denmark has a touch under 70%. That would suggest for South Australia, solar and onshore are very cost effective producers of electricity and offshore not so much (at least not yet). Also, because of SA's rapid deployment of storage, they seem to be already reaping some economies of scale benefits because of a rapid roll out, but as there is only commentary, it is hard to tell. In addition, in SA, gas is more than double solar and coal is almost triple the cost of solar, and around double of offshore wind. It does though, beat offshore wind, so unless we can address the issues that cause that, offshore wind (which probably has more constant wind). But interesting, SA is more wind and solar as a percentage of its generation, yet on a levelised basis, SA is cheaper. And as someone who has worked in the generation business, I am sure you're aware of the importance of this measure over retail or wholesale prices as a true indication of the comparative cost of generation. Thee price that is paid at the "pump" is only in a small way related to the cost of generation.. that, in @pmccarthy's vernacular, is the politics end of the argument. The cost of generation is the data end, and renewables are already at a big advantage there. Take politics out of it, and there really is no compelling reason to do so., The sun doesn't always shine - no.. Only at night or seriously overcast days is it that bad, but when it is shining brightly, we can store the excess and save it for when it isn't shining brightly. Even today, they are developing nocturnal solar panels which can harvest the infrared rays during radiating cooling of the earth to generate electricity (https://www.moeveglobal.com/en/planet-energy/sustainable-innovation/nocturnal-solar-panels-energy-without-sunlight). And there is a new technology that it looking at capturing vibrations from the wind and earth instead of using blades to generate electricity - fewer parts, cheaper and less landfill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibration-powered_generator This is the point. Fossil fuel burning is destroying the planet (in conjunction with a lot of other stuff we do). And now, it is no longer cheap to do it; and it will get more expensive. So we have to seek out alternatives. To not do it is kicking the can down the road and just making it more expensive to fix. It can be done; the tech is already here and it is improving very quickly. It is the politics that is the issue. In the mean time, if you want to take a meme-led approach, go for it. As for wind and solar not yet powering most of a country - well - no.. but it does most of a state that is the physical (admittedly not population) size bigger than many countries. But it's a ridiculous assertion because a place should use the most appropriate renewable/s, not an arbitrary renewable, anyway.

WTF is going on with the trucking scene? This is like a 3rd world country scenario. Yet, the authorities keep imposing more restrictions, more fines, more petty regulations - and this still happens. It must be time to start a root-and-branch teardown on the current system and start looking at driving training and skills levels. If you run up the back of another slowing semi with your truck, you should never have gained a truck licence in the first place. Too many cowboys driving trucks like they're race cars. I get too many truck drivers travelling too close behind me now. In the road train country, they are obliged to keep 200M between road trains, I often see two road trains much closer together than 200M.

At about 3 am on the Hume Highway between Yass and Goulburn, a semi-trailer was pulling into a rest area when it was struck from behind by another semi. This pushed the first one into four others already in the rest area with drivers asleep. The trucks caught fire and were totally destroyed. All drivers walked away with only minor injuries. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-30/hume-highway-truck-crash-multiple-vehicles-drivers-injured/106859504

SKEW gears are a bad way to do things There's one in a Merlin that causes engine double Mag outs and is the reason most Countries won't have Merlin engines on the civil register. The Howard Vee Motor is as rough as guts. The 600 cc Jap Motor is a Much better proposition. and they also made a Vertical twin.. I sold MY very nice Howard 2 years ago. Never left out in the Open, but still couldn't get Much for it. . Some KR racing Harley 750's have coned cams as the valves are inclined to make the Combustion chamber more compact and achieve a Higher compression ratio and better gas flow. It Puts a lot of end thrust on the camshafts. From a machining Point of view it's not difficult on a Cincinnati tool and cutter grinder. The cam profile itself is harder to do. You need a Master cam Nev

American life expectancy is not that high and is getting worse. Nev

Is that your Scottish heritage coming out?

It would have been interesting to watch them do it. There's a young Russian bloke on Youtube who would just grind something like that by hand with his angle grinder. He's one of the roughest I've seen. He built a V twin out of scrap in his back yard with only an arc welder and angle grinder. A couple of things he got a mate to turn up on a lathe but most of it was built by hand, except for donor Ural barrels, heads and pistons. The bottom end was all hand made.

Actress and presenter Dame Penelope Keith has passed away. Notes online simply say died c. June 2026.

This is the camshaft on the Howard 8hp motor. The cams look bent but they have that weird shape to work properly with the 90 degree shaft. The magneto runs off the left side of the camshaft and the external oil pump from the right end.

Both the Howard V twins, the eight h.p. and the 12 h.p. like the one above have unusual shaped cams. Their camshafts run at 90 degrees to the crankshaft rather than parallel like Harley V twins. The magneto is coupled to and runs directly off the end of the camshaft.

I agree with you there Marty. Making up a bike out of old bits has some honour about it, but turning a new or modern type bike into one seems to be a bit like fraud in my way of seeing it.

My point was it is immaterial if it were nuclear or fossil; France's generation planning has been better than the UK and Germany's.. The fact that France exports energy is not in itself an advertisement for nuclear. I get it is a predictable load "comapred to renewables", or intermittents as you call them. Yes, their source is intermittent, but, again, you ignore that the actual generation bit is only part of the puzzle of supply.. there is this thing called storage you are leaving out of the equation. Solar and wind are not the only net zero generation technologies. If we are talking non nuclear, zero emissions, there are a few already around the world. But you don't need me to tell you.. But here are a few: Iceland, Paraguay, Albania, Ethiopia. Greater than 90% includes Netherlands, Cost Rica, Congo, and a few others. Google can help list them all. The UK today, from offshore wind farms alone; so that does not include onshore wind farms, and solar farms, with the right investment, can power its country for free (well, amortisation, maintenance, and depreciation costs alone). That includes industrial use. Yes, the up front cost and initial amortisation and depreciation costs are high, but in the mid - longer term, the costs reduce dramatically.. the costs only increase in fossil and nuclear fuel... and with nuclear, you still have to factor the real cost of decommissioning and handling waste... And mining uranium, transporting it, etc.. And you still have the depreciation, amortisation, and maintenance costs.. and the latter ain't cheap. It takes investment - as does nuclear and indeed new fossil plants; it takes time to build and deploy... Your argument is today we don't have the capacity for renewables.. That is correct. There is no arguing that. That does not mean we stop. We still have horses running around and wood to make carriages from; but cars became a more efficient technology. They weren't for a long time.. but investment continued as people could see they would become more efficient. Renewables are now coming up the same maturity curve. As I say, follow the money.. most banks are not interested in lending to new fossil developments because they look at the two elements that can cost them money - credit risk and market risk. And the models are telling them to stay well away from old technology.

I guess I am a serial offender. Just published a second book on gold mining history. https://www.echobooks.com.au/books/gold-beneath-the-hill

I saw a video clip on Facebook the other day where the guy stuck a stick in the end of the Tim Tam, dipped it in marshmallow, and toasted it over an open fire. He also dropped an Oreo into a cup, covered it with milk, popped it in the microwave for a couiple of minutes then ate it.

Wonder how they'd go fried in batter.

You get a packet of 2 Mentos with most Supercheap automotive parts or consumable purchases. But I hate Mentos, so they get binned. The Camry transmission story is ongoing. The Toyota dealer gave us the Camry back on Friday evening - after having held it for 3 days, and having never even laid a spanner on it. The "Service Advisor" (you don't get to speak to the Service Manager any more), says they hope to get a reply back from Toyota Head Office by this Friday, as to whether they will replace anything under warranty. That will be 10 days they've had to consider their position. I reckon I'm right, they are running it through their legal dept to see which loophole they can use to squeeze out of paying out anything. In America, there's apparently more than one class action lawsuit being initiated against Toyota for the faulty transmission problem. This looks like a costly headache for them.