kgwilson

Trumps mental capacity is now openly being discussed at high levels after the profane midnight rant to open the Effin strait, to then declaring it closed, and having a go at the Pope. Albos meeting with the Malaysian PM to shore up fuel supply was notable for Anwars direct jab at Trumps sanity. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-18/fallout-iran-war-spreads-focus-donald-trump-mind/106576096 Meanwhile American Troops in the middle east are running out of food & morale has sunk to a major low point. Hegseth spent all of the food budget on lobsters and steak before the conflict began & now they are being served rubbish & not much of it either. This is simple logistics and supply that the incompetent US political system and military don't seem to be able to comprehend. https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360966583/trumps-troops-served-grey-meat-and-few-boiled-carrots-n

Since I have been trading on the wholesale electricity market the export price is a maximum price of zero from 7:30am going to -1 cent by 10:30am and -2 cents from 11:30 up to -3 cents and back to zero at about 3:00pm. It doesn't get back to positive territory till after 4:30pm and rises to 22-25 cents during the peak evening period of 5pm till 7:30pm. It is during this peak evening period that my battery exports to the market and that offsets all of my electricity grid imports for the rest of the 24 hours by some considerable margin so my credit grows daily. The other thing I didn't know before I signed up to become a VPP was that I am entitled to an additional battery rebate based on battery size, the maximum being 25 kWh so I completed the application & will be getting $676.00.

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.

Yes but not sustainable. If all the seats were this price all the time the total revenue would probably not even cover the total cost of fuel let alone the rest of the business, assets and airport costs. Plenty of routes run at a loss and the high volume profitable ones subsidise them. Loss leaders are standard business practice everywhere from supemarkets to hotels, airlines, cruise ships etc.

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

In 2017 the ANU identified 22,000 potential pumped hydro sites In Australia. https://arena.gov.au/assets/2018/10/ANU-STORES-An-Atlas-of-Pumped-Hydro-Energy-Storage-The-Complete-Atlas.pdf So despite our flat geography there are 22,000 potential batteries for the huge amount of solar energy we are generating from rooftops and solar farms right now. These are the current projects. Numerous pumped hydro schemes are in development along Australia's east coast, driven by NSW and Queensland's transition to renewables, with key projects including Snowy 2.0 (2,200 MW, NSW), Borumba (2,000 MW, QLD), Pioneer-Burdekin (5,000 MW, QLD), and Phoenix (810 MW, NSW). These projects, targeting completion between 2025–2035, aim to provide large-scale, long-duration storage to firm wind and solar capacity. Key Queensland Projects Borumba Pumped Hydro (2,000 MW/48,000 MWh): Located near Gympie, slated for 2030 completion. Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro (up to 5,000 MW): Proposed near Mackay, touted as a massive long-duration storage project for 2032–2035. Kidston Pumped Storage (250 MW/2,000 MWh): Currently in development, expected in 2025. Mt Rawdon Pumped Hydro (2,000 MW): Planned for the early 2030s. Key New South Wales Projects Snowy 2.0 (2,200 MW/350,000 MWh): Connecting Tantangara and Talbingo reservoirs, expected fully operational by 2028-2029. Phoenix Pumped Hydro (810 MW): Located near Mudgee within the Central-West Orana REZ, expected 2029. Western Sydney Pumped Hydro (700 MW): Located at Lake Burragorang, currently deemed critical infrastructure. Oven Mountain Pumped Hydro (900 MW): Scheduled for 2030. Muswellbrook and Dungowan: Regional projects aiming for 2027-2029 completion. Strategic Regional Potential Mine Conversions: Research indicates significant potential to convert retired mines, such as the Coppabella Mine or pits near the old Liddell Power Station, into pumped hydro sites. Existing Reservoirs: Potential exists to upgrade existing infrastructure like Lake Lyell, Windamere, and Burrendong dams. These projects are often located in renewable energy zones (REZs) to pair with solar and wind, or near high-voltage transmission lines to support grid stability

Well he didn't impress the Hungarians neither did Just Dumb Vance. The UK & the EU have a collectively larger economy by some margin than the US & Trump has alienated the rest of Nato and pretty much everyone else. The only thing the US has is a bigger military with the biggest most sophisticated weapons and some excellent technology though no better than Europe, China or even Australia. The problem is the country is run by the billionaires with Trump as their figurehead. The US has never been invaded but they are always at war with someone as well as themselves. They haven't invented many things on their own but have exploited most of the inventions from elsewhere, mostly the UK & Europe. The UK & Europe have some very large armament companies but have been happy to play second fiddle while the US has provided most of the defence hardware. Not any more. The invasion of Ukraine and Trumps re election has changed everything, The US is an empire in decline, it is already technically bankrupt and Trump is costing the county dearly. I don't know when it will eventually implode but I am sure it will eventually. There are companies that have been deemed to big to fail like GM but there is nothing that will save a country when it all turns to custard/

He'd be perfect in the infantry & when in a foxhole could stand up & see further than anyone else. Mind you the enemy could see him better than anyone else too.

Trump has signed an executive order that bone spurs are inherited in his family only.

Back to Trump. Many of the MAGA faithful are starting to line up against Trump including his old mates that are ex Fox news. Also British PM Sir Keir Starmer has not pulled any punches by stating he is Fed Up with Trump and appeared to compare him with Putin & that the ceasefire has to include Lebanon. https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360962790/starmer-says-he-fed-trump Trump has lashed out at ex Fox News reporters Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones in a tirade of insults. Owens has hit back with "Time to put Grandpa in a home" & Kelly asking "Why can't he act like a normal human" https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360944966/iran-war Trumps disgusting attacks on anyone & everyone are really getting to a large portion of his faithful & it seems that only the Evangelistic Christian nutters that Hegseth belongs to aren't wavering. He is trying to introduce conscription with automatic registration in the Selective Service System of all 18 to 25 year old males later this year. His erratic behaviour is getting worse by the day & he could go too far & try to cancel the mid term elections with another emergency. Who knows. He has surrounded himself with inept and incompetent sycophants & Hegseth has already got rid of a dozen of the US military's best generals. No wonder they have failed miserably against Iran.

I think they should be banned & all political advertising taken down on election day. I was in NZ for a wedding last month & there were differing opinions of Jacinda Adern. She won a landslide victory in her second term but had become a victim of the very left and resigned early. She handled the Christchurch massacre and Covid very well and became well known around the world. She was a great leader when NZ needed one. The current PM is not a leader at all & the NZ economy is not doing well. Of course it is all Jacindas fault.

What do you call a democracy then? Labour got in with an overwhelming majority and the largest part of the primary vote. Our preferential system is flawed in that your vote may end up going to some party you do not want so you put it down the list. You may not even want the second or subsequent on your list but that's the way the system works. Not only that but the voting paper for the senate is ridiculously long, plus handing out how to vote cards on election day is almost coercion. I have had a foot in both NZ & Australia since the 70s. My wife is born here & lived there for 25 years. I was born there & owned property here for 20 years before we moved when I took redundancy in 2005. NZ used to have first past the post like many other countries & the UK still does. When you have a majority without needing to call on other parties or independents you can get things done easily. The NZ system is far superior in my opinion & it was the result of a national referendum. Mixed member proportional is that 50% of MPs are elected by your primary vote & the other 50% based on the percentage of votes that party got nationally. You have 2 votes, 1 for your MP & one for the party of choice. Often people vote for an MP from a party they don't like but like the person they voted for so they have a bob each way. Political advertising and hoardings are banned on election day. Voting is simple & there is no upper house. Whatever government is in power will not suit everyone for whatever reason. In my opinion the worst governments we have had since i have live here were John Howards last, Tony Abbotts and Happy Clapper Morrisons. NZ,s electricity supply has been around 80-85% renewable for many years given the abundance of available hydro, geothermal & wind. Solar is now making large inroads & the plan is to have 100% renewable electricity by 2030. Nuclear does not produce emissions but the cost is eye watering, the time frame ridiculously long, the waste extremely dangerous, & no-one want a nuclear power plant in their locality.

Trump complains no-one wants to help him when he said he didn't need help. Nato is a defence alliance. An attack on one is an attack on all. It has nothing to do with helping a member especially a malignant narcissist nutcase who attacks another sovereign state with no consultation with anyone except Israel. Now he is complaining that Japan, South Korea & Australia won't help either. Not our war Donny boy. Piss off & lie about something else. Oh and the 48 hours is almost up so tomorrow Iran will not exist. Yeah right.

And they still lost.

Trump thinks America won all the wars including WW2. They haven't won any since WW2 though they did help win WW2. But Hollywood depicts them as the heroes so it must be true. Facts don't matter to Trump. He has lied his way through life & isn't going to stop now. Hegseth hasn't got a clue & thinks his God will make sure he is right & if that doesn't work Whiskey blurs what is right & what is real so he can still feel good & what would 12 experienced & capable generals know anyway. All they did was tell him the truth so they were fired.