kgwilson

When you use a spell checker you should set the default dictionary to the one you want. The default is American English but you can set this to UK, AUS, NZ or a number of others as well as custom. I have mine set to UK English but I think most people don't set it (they don't know how to) and just accept the American suggestions. That's how American English is pervading our lives in many respects.

It's a useful device if you have idiots operating a power saw. It costs heaps every time you demonstrate it. New blade, new stopping device. If you don't demonstrate it how do you test it to make sure it still works & won't cut your finger or hand off next time?

Why do the Americans (and some Australians) call an aeroplane an airplane? Aeroplane takes a bit longer to say but I think it sounds better and links up with other "aero" words like aeronautics and aerospace. Aero is a Greek prefix relating to air and flight. Airnautics sounds stupid and airspace means something entirely different.

In 2015 81% of electricity generated in NZ came from renewable sources, mainly hydro & geothermal. The South island exports a lot of its hydro generated power to the North island. The SI is lucky to have lots of snow fed lakes that send water east in easily dammed rivers. Add a bit of wind & solar to the mix & they won't be far of 100% in a few years. Similarly Tasmania has plenty of scope with Hydro power plus solar & wind. Mainland Australia is one of the sunniest places on the planet. The potential for solar power is massive and there are numerous projects underway. There are also wind farms with many more under way or planned. You need to add battery storage to the mix but also pumped hydro. If you produce a heap of solar & wind power & can't use it due to low demand then use it to pump water up hill so when the sun & wind stop you generate power by sending the water down hill. A study identified 22,000 potential pumped hydro sites in Australia & that only about 30 would be required to transition the country to 100% renewables within 20 years. Nuclear on the other hand is very expensive, requiring huge energy input and is time consuming to build. Then there are the risks with operation (not too bad these days) but the problem with de-commissioning at the end of its useful life and more importantly where to put the radioactive waste. The federal government is still doing nothing with no policy. South Australia is doing its own thing & getting renewables going in a big way which will see the state self sufficient. Meanwhile Frydenburg & other right wing Libs pay lip service to the whole issue in the vain hope a rabbit will pop out of the hat while the old inefficient, decaying & polluting coal fired power stations trundle on to their closure needing more and more bandaid maintenance to keep them going till then.

Where did I say NZ didn't have conscription? I was one of them. If you were born on one of the days chosen (winning the lottery) you did 3 month national service with 3 years in the territorials unless found medically unfit. That's what I did. 6 weeks basic training at Burnham & another 6 weeks in my posting to Waiouru. I repeat that NZ only ever sent volunteer regulars to Vietnam. Territorials were not part of that.

Five years ago, just after the NSW government pulled the plug on the solar feed in tarriff that nearly sent them broke, I installed a 2kw system connected to the grid of course. I spent some time doing research & downloaded a very good guide from the Clean Energy Council. I rang 3 solar supplier/installers & had one knock on the door. Three out of four lied through their teeth about how quickly it would be paid off providing false figures and ignoring the fact that the supply charge would stay the same. According to the 3 it would pay itself off in 2-3 years. My estimation was 5-7 years at best. I keep monthly records of how much my panels produce, what we use and what we export plus what we import at peak, shoulder and off peak rates. The system has just paid for itself recently (thanks to the huge increases in energy charges) & the panels have more than 20 years life in them & the inverter is under warranty for another 5 years. I am exporting 51.5% of the power I produce. I was only getting 6 cents per Kwh but now I get 11.5 cents per Kwh for the power I export. My latest quarterly power bill was $155.00. The only gas appliance I have is the barbecue. I have a heat pump hot water system which mainly uses power from the solar panels during the day. It's maximum energy input requirement is 800 watts. I have a large upright freezer and 550 litre fridge./freezer. I also have 2 air conditioning systems, a 2.5kw unit in the main bedroom & a 7.5kw unit in the living area. Both of these are inverters. The bedoom one only runs at night & only when it is hot. I also have ceiling fans in all bedrooms & living areas. I have always been energy wise but when you install solar you need to change your mindset a bit. For example run the dishwasher, washing machine, vacuum cleaner & any other thing where there is a choice during the day when the sun is shining. If you work you can delay the start time on modern appliances so they run when you are not home & the sun is producing free power. On days when the weather is expected to get hot, I start the living area A/C while it is still cool in the early morning. Once it has the house at 24 deg it runs at a trickle using no more than 800 watts, often less.. If I wait till it is hot it will use 2.01KW for a long time before it can get the temperature down to reduce its power input requirements. If I was building a new house now, I'd put in a decent solar system with batteries & tell the energy companies where to go. I have a friend who did this three years ago as he built on acreage & they wanted 20k to bring in the power. He spent less than this on his system including a backup generator for those cloudy days. So far he has only run his generator to make sure it still works. He has a big house & several sheds, 3 freezers etc. He only uses gas (LPG) for cooking, everything else is solar.

Neither do I. It tastes like sh1t.

Neil, you begin "with respect" but provide none. You need to read my post and think. I protested about the governments stupidity. Soldiers were just doing their job. The Vietnamese were just trying to reclaim their country after being exploited by the French & then the Yanks for more than a century. A family friend was in 161 battery at the battle of Long Tan. I was 16 at the time & could not understand why we were there. I won the lottery in 69 & did 3 years in the Territorials which I really enjoyed. NZ only ever sent volunteer regulars to Vietnam. I knew a number of them & wished them well. They knew I opposed our involvement but they were professionals doing their job & their duty. How the groundswell of opposition to the war turned into hatred of our own troops was extremely distressing for me. I find it quite amazing now that many of those who served and survived deeply scarred from their time there have now found forgiveness and friendship with their former enemy. On my overland journey back to NZ from the UK in 1975 I went to Vientienne in Laos crossing the Mekong from Nong Khai & was trapped there when the Pathet Lao took over. The border was closed so I took advantage of a return flight to Hanoi for US$25.00. The City was incredibly battle scarred after so much bombing from B52s & the people were busy rebuilding but so friendly and generous with the little they had it was one of the most humbling experiences of my life.

One of the truly great comedians. I've seen this many times & it still cracks me up. More of Daves religious jokes

I was one of the protester during the Vietnam war. It was wrong, we were not defending our country, the McCarthyism rhetoric of the communist takeover was the most blatant political lie ever. It is our politicians who should have been sent there and shot. Cow towing to the yanks with not a care in the world for the young brave and naive men who went to serve their country. I have nothing but admiration for the Vets who returned to a county who despised them. It wasn't their fault. Their only crime was believing the political dickheads of the time. They were Heros and now stand together with their former foes, having a beer and building a club. Superb.

Meat frozen to minus 18 degrees C will be edible for umpteen years. Its only the flavour that changes. I bought a frozen chook at Aldi & the best before date is in 2020 some time. I remember in my youth (the early 70s) hitch hiking around Europe on less than a dollar a day the staple was cheese, bread and salami & possibly an onion & tomato. It was easy to find the cheese shop. You could smell it half a block away. Once you get past the smell many of the stinky ones taste really good.

Nope none there. Only a complete F#@$wit with a red tie & 3 other dorks.

No I'm not interested. BTW I thought by changing my middle initial to a G meant I was anonom.. anoim.. annonnim ....anoyim...... dunno.

Trump has managed in 1 year to so severely damage the relationship between the US and its major allies (excluding Australia that hangs on to every coat tail) that according to many strategists will never heal as whatever trust they had in the US and its systems has gone completely. Now he has called the third world, Sh!thole countries and immediately denied it. At last count in December his lie tally was over 1800 since the presidential campaign. Yet he remains in office due to blinkered redneck and ultra right wing nutters. His isolationist rhetoric will see further decline in the US and its standing in the world. It all seems surreal. Hopefully the voice of reason, moderation and genuine human values will rise up and oust this despicable dork.

This is the short version of a video created by Autonomousweapons.org an organisation of scientists & AI researchers who want to ban these weapons. If they were here now we'd only need 2. One in the white house & one in Pyongyang.

A bit of a pessimistic view in my opinion. Modern lithium batteries don't weigh any more & mostly less than internal combustion engines. Teslas are noticeably quieter than most cars & have immense power as well. English is already the default world language. Esperanto was a pipe dream by a few people. The planet will run out of fossil fuel in the mid 2050s. Electric vehicles are here and every current car manufacturer is on the bandwagon. Those that don't change are doomed. You don't have to pay $1200 for a smartphone. That is only for the tech nutters who must have the latest & greatest. As he said you can already buy one for $10 in Africa & for not much more here. Daimler Benz bought Chrysler when it was a basket case in 1998 & flogged it 9 years later. It quickly reverted the name from DaimlerChrysler AG to Daimler Benz AG with HQ in Stuttgart. It is a multinational with German roots. The comment about bitcoin is a bit tongue in cheek IMO as its current value is due only to speculation but the crypto currency concept could well see the demise of banks in their traditional form. He did say "May even become" so is hedging his bets.

In NSW the road toll has taken a bit of a leap this year and has been trending up since 2013 despite every effort in technology, education and enforcement.

Highlights of an interesting talk by the Head of Daimler Benz. A bit mind-blowing to say the least! He predicted an interesting concept of what could lay ahead. In a recent interview, the Head of Daimler Benz (Mercedes Benz) said its competitors are no longer other car companies, but Tesla (obviously), and now, Google, Apple, Amazon et al. Software will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years. Uber is just a software tool, they don't own any cars, and are now the biggest taxi company in the world. Airbnb is now the biggest hotel company in the world, although it does not own any properties. Artificial Intelligence: Computers become exponentially better in understanding the world. This year, a computer beat the best Go player in the world, 10 years earlier than expected. In the U.S., young lawyers already can't get jobs. Because of IBM Watson, you can get legal advice (so far for more-or-less basic stuff) within seconds, with 90% accuracy compared with 70% accuracy when done by humans. So, if you study law, stop immediately. There will be 90% fewer lawyers in the future; only specialists will remain. Watson already helps nurses diagnosing cancer, four times more accurate than human nurses. Facebook now has a pattern recognition software that can recognize faces better than humans. By 2030, computers will become more intelligent than humans. Autonomous cars: In 2018 the first self-driving cars will appear for the public. Around 2020, the complete industry will start to be disrupted. You don't want to own a car anymore. You will call a car with your phone, it will show up at your location and drive you to your destination. You will not need to park it, you only pay for the driven distance and you can be productive while driving. Our kids will never get a driver's license and will never own a car. It will change the cities, because we will need 90-95% fewer cars for that. We can transform former parking spaces into parks. 1.2 million people die each year in car accidents worldwide. We now have one accident every 60,000 miles (100,000 km), with autonomous driving that will drop to one accident in 6 million miles (10 million km). That will save a million lives each year. Most car companies will probably go bankrupt. Traditional car companies will try the traditional approach and try to build a better car, while tech companies (Tesla, Apple, Google) will take the revolutionary approach and build a computer on wheels. Many engineers from Volkswagen and Audi are completely terrified of Tesla. Auto Insurance companies will have massive trouble because without accidents, car insurance will become much cheaper. The car insurance business model will slowly disappear. Real estate will change. Because if you can work while you commute, people will move farther away to live in a more beautiful neighbourhood. Electric cars will become mainstream about 2020. Cities will be less noisy because all new cars will run on electricity. Electricity will become incredibly cheap and clean: solar production has been on an exponential curve for 30 years, and now you can now see the burgeoning impact. Last year, more solar energy was installed worldwide than fossil. Energy companies are desperately trying to limit access to the grid to prevent competition from home solar installations, but that can't last. Technology will take care of that strategy. With cheap electricity comes cheap and abundant water. Desalination of salt water now only needs 2kwh per cubic meter (@ 0.25 cents). We don't have scarce water in most places, we only have scarce drinking water. Imagine what will be possible if anyone can have as much clean water as he wants, for nearly no cost. Health innovations: The Tricorder X price will be announced this year. There are companies who will build a medical device (called the "Tricorder" from Star Trek) that works with your phone, which takes your retina scan, your blood sample, and you can breathe into it. It then analyzes 54 biomarkers that will identify nearly any disease. It will be cheap, so in a few years everyone on this planet will have access to world-class medical analysis, almost for free. Goodbye, medical establishment. 3D printing: The price of the cheapest 3D printer came down from $18,000 to $400 within 10 years. In the same time, it became 100 times faster. All major shoe companies have already started 3D printing shoes. Some common spare aircraft parts are already 3D printed in remote airports. The space station now has a printer that eliminates the need for the large amount of spare parts they used to keep in the past. At the end of this year, new smart phones will have 3D scanning possibilities. You can then 3D scan your feet and print your perfect shoes at home. In China, they already 3D printed and built a complete 6-story office building. By 2027, 10% of everything that's being produced will be 3D printed. Business opportunities: If you think of a niche you want to go in, ask yourself: "In the future, do you think we will have that?" If the answer is yes, how can you make that happen sooner? If it doesn't work with your phone, forget the idea. And any idea designed for success in the 20th century is doomed to failure in the 21st century. Work: 70-80% of jobs will disappear in the next 20 years. There will be a lot of new jobs, but it is not clear if there will be enough new jobs in such a small time. Agriculture: There will be a $100 agricultural robot in the future. Farmers in third-world countries can then become managers of their field instead of working all day on their fields. Aeroponics will need much less water. The first Petri dish that produced veal is now available and will be cheaper than cow-produced veal in 2018. Right now, 30% of all agricultural surfaces is used for cows. Imagine if we don't need that space anymore. There are several startups that will bring insect protein to the market shortly. It contains more protein than meat. It will be labeled as "alternative protein source" (because most people still reject the idea of eating insects). There is an app called "moodies" that can already tell in which mood you're in. By 2020 there will be apps that can tell by your facial expressions, if you are lying. Imagine a political debate where it's being displayed when the truth is being told. Bitcoin may even become the default reserve currency ... Of the world! Longevity: Right now, the average life span increases by 3 months per year. Four years ago, the life span used to be 79 years, now it's 80. The increase itself is increasing and by 2036, there will be more than one year increase per year. So, we all might live for a long time, probably way more than 100. Education: The cheapest smart phones are already at $10 in Africa and Asia. By 2020, 70% of all humans will own a smart phone. That means, everyone has the same access to world-class education. Every child can use Khan academy for everything a child needs to learn at school in First World countries. There have already been releases of software in Indonesia and soon there will be releases in Arabic, Swahili, and Chinese this summer. I can see enormous potential if we give the English app for free, so that children in Africa and everywhere else can become fluent in English. And that could happen within half a year. Are we ready for all this?!?

OME, the answer to the title of the thread is YES. The American population is in 2 major camps. Those who are ignorant & believe everything they are told on right wing TV, i.e Trump supporters (they say No) and those who know it has failed but do not accept it (they say No too but don't really believe themselves). The big end of town (Corporates and wealthy individuals) need to keep the myth "all is well" alive or they will lose their shirt. They can't afford to let this happen.

It is a theory that has been around for millennia, even mentioned by Aristotle in one of his essays. Here is the real oil. Stars Visible from Well

Getting back to the original topic, personally I think the human race will survive but only after a major event that may happen over a number maybe tens or hundreds of years. The climate, population, resources and the political thirst for growth will reach a tipping point. The planet as we know it will deteriorate to such a degree that it will be unable to support the vast majority of human life including the things we rely on to survive such as air, water, plant and animal life. By then we will have developed artificial societies with 100% of our energy and resources needs being renewable. The planet will right itself eventually but it may take hundreds if not thousands of years. Plant & animal life will re-evolve. Some of the originals will survive, some of these may be survivors from other ages such as crocodiles. None of us alive today are likely to be around when it happens though.

Here is a flashmob staged for a wealthy Russian wedding in Moscow. "Putin" on the Ritz. Note the Trike flying in the background towards the end. Must have been effing freezing.

There's nothing like a good flashmob. Well orchestrated & choreographed to look casual but sound professional. I still can't get over all the idiots with smartphones who film it all in PORTRAIT mode.

A sad situation. A loyal dog and a "don't care" owner. The owner probably did look after the dog well given its loyalty, but appears not to have had any emotional bond with it by just abandoning it.

Obeid had an iron grip over NSW Labor & Keneally was unable to make any change and she suffered the same fate as her predecessors. Anyway Obeid, MacDonald etc eventually got their just desserts.