nomadpete

All I can say is 'Yep, He did this'..... Tomahawk cruise missile. The United States burned through over 1,000 Tomahawks in Iran — ten years’ worth of production. Each one’s fin actuators run on samarium-cobalt magnets. China mines and refines 99% of the world’s samarium and placed it under export licensing on April 4, 2025. To rebuild the inventory, Raytheon must turn to Beijing for samarium. Patriot PAC-3 interceptor. The seeker uses samarium-cobalt (SmCo) to slew its guidance head; the radar’s traveling-wave tubes use SmCo to focus the microwave beam; yttrium-iron-garnet phase shifters tune the array. Replenishing the 1,200-plus interceptors expended in Iran requires roughly 1.2 to 2.4 tons of high-temperature SmCo, plus yttrium oxide. Between 2020 and 2023, China supplied 93% of U.S. yttrium imports. JASSM-ER stealth cruise missile. The fin servos and seeker run on neodymium-iron-boron magnets (NdFB) doped with dysprosium and terbium for thermal stability. Strip out the heavy rare earths, and the magnet demagnetizes in flight. Roughly 1,100 missiles expended translates to between 1.5 and 3 tons of NdFeB feedstock. China refines the vast majority of the world’s dysprosium and terbium. F-35 Lightning II. For a decade, the Department of Defense itself has repeated that each F-35 contains 920 pounds of rare earths. The strategically critical content is the high-temperature SmCo and dysprosium-doped NdFeB in the engine actuators, electric drives, and radar. These are materials Beijing has placed under license. So US used up most of their ammo in Iran and now need China's permission to reload.

Just when you make it foolproof........ along come smarter fools. Oh, wait.... did that happen to USof A last year?

Sometimes that is a big asset!

I hope I didn't sound too 'conservative' - that term has negative political connotations these days. I do prefer tactile interaction with controls. That won't stop me playing/learning other kinds or locations of controls. Of course I'll adapt. But I hope the other automated facets of new vehicles gets very thoroughly tested. I spent a lot of my career testing and commissioning complex automation and I know there will always be users who can bring about unforseen results. A bit like MrMusky's unplanned post launch disassembly of his rockets.

So many threads this could go in. I chose Silly Pics because 'tis silly to allow vested interests to control political narrative..... Oh dear. The forum prohibited me posting a meme that said something like: 'twitter allows exposure of Nancy Pelosi's trades, but not Donold's trades' Have I been found out by the Deep State?

Until now (thanks, OME) I have never given it much thought. Except maybe something didn't quite seem right about the populat hulk-convict story. I never believed the Brit government would go to all that trouble and expense just to carry out a social experiment in prison reform.

How can we have a half decent argument if you say stuff like this?

The words "New Grid" are BS. That implies tearing down the old grid and replacing it with a new one. The grid has been growing steadily since it started. There has been constant increase of demand, increasing population and increasing sprawl of cities along with the steady increase of power stations (such places as Millmerran & Kogan Ck). Over the years many many towns were connected to grid power. Also greater industrial needs such as extending the grid fmall the way out to Roma gas fields. Expansion for all the above is simply a continuation where the new 'building' is beefing up some pathways and adding new bits to connect new sources abd customers. The entire grid is not going to be rebuilt.

As Jerry points out, the financial balance must be separated from the political and media (vested interests). The big players are voting with their dollars against fossil fuel power stations. They don't give a rat's about environmental issues. Their investments are based upon best return for dollar. And they don't see value in fossil fuel, or nuclear energy.

Another comparison is that the South Australian 'big battery' is... The battery features 150 MW/194 MWh of installed capacity, as well as grid inertia support services. It looks like Australians are not waiting for the government to make the transition happen

When I post posting re-read the above, I realised they referred to GWh of storage capacity. Not actual GW generation supply (as a reduction of generation to meet peak demand). Still, it's a consequential amount of distributed energy getting stored

According to google... "Australia has surpassed 400,000 home battery storage installations with 11.2GWh of cumulative capacity installed in less than a year "

Into the above arguments, we could factor in the rapid adoption of home batteries. According to one report there are about 400,000 home batteries installed in the first half of 2026. This alone must noticably reduce peak load on the NEM. Consequently, lowering peaking generation and therefore driving down overall retail electricity prices even for non solar householders. Even small home batteries are designed to reduce peak load on the grid. Sure, it isn't a complete transition to 'intermittents'. But the trend is gathering momentum in the right direction.

The risk posed by relatively slight increases in atmospheric temperature, is high. A wet-bulb temperature (WBT) of 35°C is the theoretical human survivability limit. This recently occured for six consecutive hours in July. Such conditions prevent evaporative cooling, rendering outdoor exposure potentially fatal without artificial cooling. Above 35 wbt, even lying down in the shade is fatal. All biological systems have a range, and beyond that range the chemistry of life ceases. A body designed to operate with a core temp of 37C, can briefly sacrifice optimal performance to inhibit pathogen replication at 40c (fever), but will start failing, including seizures, at core temp of 41 or 42 c. If we get prolonged wbt over 35deg, the only humans that survive, will be those in A/C or underground.