nomadpete

Settle down, Nev. That's discriminatory. Yes, the parent site is all about flying. But this is the Off Topic corner. Play the topic, not the man.

Hey guys! Wanna bet? https://polymarket.com/event/trump-out-as-president-before-2027

Sort of related to 'Artificial Intelligence'. But really about the use of algorithms to influence politics. "It sure looks like tech billionaires and foreign dictatorships gave us Trump in 2024. This is as bad as the massive Russian bot presence on Facebook and Twitter back in 2016 that Robert Mueller documented gave Trump the presidency the last time. A peer-reviewed study released yesterday in Nature, the world’s most prestigious scientific journal, has finally put hard numbers to what a lot of us suspected the moment the 2024 election was called for Trump (and Republicans in Congress) by the big networks: the algorithms that control our largest social media platforms intentionally and explicitly tilted the playing field, and they tilted it for Donald Trump and the GOP." Also note a mention about Qld University study. The link is to a long read, but still interesting background to the modern divided society. https://hartmannreport.com/p/was-the-2024-election-stolen-not-38a

Well, late to the party. So is Toyota. I reckon it will hinge on Ford's ability to make better assembly robots than the present Chinese robots. Hence the 'T model' comparison. Tech changes fast these days. Good luck with that.

Yes. Inland Rail was planned through to Brisbane after going through my mother-in-law's place at Gowrie Junction (near Wellcamp). The Range tunnel was to start at Gowrie. That last bit would have been a big slice of budget. I still think it would have been a good investment.

However, to balance the above..... Since September last year, the US military has conducted 47 strikes on civilians marine vessels travelling in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, leading to over 190 deaths. No criminal trials, no evidence provided to the public to justify the violence, merely an arbitrary allegation of terrorism with no transparency nor accountability for who they have summarily executed. The USA then sent its military into Caracas, killing more than 80 people, to abduct the President of Venezuela and replace him with a compliant proxy. It then commenced a military campaign against Iran that has already killed thousands, without even attempting to conduct themselves within the parameters of international law. The UN Security Council was not consulted, and no evidence has been provided to support its flimsy attempts of retrospective justification. The US President has made genuine threats to invade Greenland, Panama, and Cuba, without ever once bothering to even pretend to discuss a legal justification for the hostility. People who live in glass houses......

Comment dredged from the interwebbything... Today, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood before the world's media and made the following statement about Iran: “This is an international waterway, No country can control them. There is no international law that allows you to say, I’m going to put mines in an international body of water, and I’m going to blow up ships that don’t listen to us and try to go through.” “We cannot live in a world where a rogue state like this Iranian regime is allowed to claim, as a new normal, control over an international shipping lane,” I agree with him.

Attempting to steer toward balance, I suggest that the Monster Trucks are being made in all formats - diesel, petrol and hybrid electric, by all manufacturers. And the manufacturers are driven (accidental unfunny pun) by market forces. Which is a polite way of saying that style is created by the buyers vanity. The issue of load carrying vs tare weight has been evolving for decades. I was shocked when, back in late 90's, I discovered that a nice big 80 series Toyota Landcruiser could only carry 550kg. Subtract 4 people and the sub fuel tank full of diesel, and you couldn't take more than a sandwich and change of undies with you, in a two ton truck.

My sincere apology, Nev. You are absolutely right. I was talking shyte.

No need to squabble guys. Every tech answer has an application. Diversity of energy sources is like an insurance policy against one source stopping. Specifically relating to Energy, reducing the pollution caused by any industry, is a benefit to all humanity. We should wean ourselves off the fossil fuel industry because burning it causes many kinds of pollution. Sooner the better, as long as we do it progressively. And EV's are a great step in the right direction.

There's only Winners and whiners - no turd prizes are allowed.

As would apply if any government was so wasteful as to build a brand new straight, high speed expressway between capital cities.... from scratch. Any greenfield project can be expected to cost a lot to do the groundwork.

Yeah, unlike like highway maintenance - that's an investment!

Random government thought......... At some point in the future there will be a need to reward a person who tells the truth. A No Bull Prize.

I like this girl. This youtube discusses the issue of EV battery degredation, which is surrounded by urban myth and misinformation. I especially note in the comments - there are a lot of anti-EV trolls simply bagging out EV's.

sad. We need the infrastructure.

All quiet on the eastern front, whilst we wait with bated breath for a new comic episode from the failed reality show star.... "He picked this fight. He chose the timing. He set the rules of engagement. He called it a triumph. And now his only two exits are a war he cannot win and a deal he cannot sell."

Damn. A bitter pill to swallow. To think the tangerine todder gets credit for doing something good, even though he didn't mean to.

Meanwhile the US blockade of the strait is going bigly.... " The Boat Called HUGE While the spam tin emperor was on Truth Social on Friday composing love letters to his own competence, an Iranian VLCC supertanker called HUGE, that is the actual name, capital letters and all, loaded 1.9 million barrels of crude worth nearly 220 million bucks, switched off its transponder, hugged the coasts of Pakistan and India, drifted past Sri Lanka, threaded the Lombok Strait, and is now steaming for China with its destination port already on the manifest. This happened during what the Trump administration has repeatedly called the most successful naval blockade since the Cuban Missile Crisis. 21 warships. 3 carrier strike groups. Over 100 aircraft. 10,000 personnel. The largest US naval deployment since 2003."

Another fun read, this time specifically about the current Middle East unpleasantness. https://ifloz.substack.com/p/israels-fafo-phase-has-arrived-on?publication_id=7671401&post_id=196305427&isFreemail=true&r=tosdr&triedRedirect=true

Warning.... this is not Middle east related. In this new age of infowars, I struggle to find a positive voice. But I stumbled on this guy - although usually very caustic, he's a great source of similies. "The Accidental Unifier: How a Tangerine Wrecking Ball Glued the Fucking Planet Back Together" https://ifloz.substack.com/p/the-accidental-unifier-how-a-tangerine

I suspect most people haven't realised that a battery is simply a different shaped fuel tank. Both types are most useful when not empty.

Sometimes I look back at forgotten news from the past. The old Russian connection to the Tangerine Toddler is largely forgotten. This 4 year old Guardian article notably failed to result in Trump suing. I wonder why. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/15/kremlin-papers-appear-to-show-putins-plot-to-put-trump-in-white-house

Well I will make a connection between grids and EV's. My new solar is connected to the grid. And will charge my EV. So there! Now, back to EV's. (steps down off soapbox)

Recent stats show that 255,000 households have installed a battery.... in the last 9 months. This represents a significant private investment in the electricity market. It also, according to AEMO, reduced the average wholesale price of electricity by more than 15%. This is due to not requiring gas peaking plants to start up during peak use times. So, private home solar installations are definitely NOT causing the price of electricity to go up.