Marty_d

Seriously though you have to ask about police procedures and training if they manage to pump 61 rounds into 1 person. Surely they're not trained to empty their whole magazine while others do the same.

"Because they're American" would probably be a better answer.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-02/tesla-cybertruck-explodes-outside-of-trump-las-vegas-hotel/104778394

It's funny, isn't it. He's done a lot of good - kickstarted the electric car race, big batteries, home batteries, even done some good in the aerospace/satellite & communications field. But on the other hand he's an obnoxious twerp and the US's worst boss, who sucks up to the US's worst president. Plus he's supportive of far right hate speech and conspiracy theorists, and turned Twitter into a Trump echo chamber, not to mention push/manipulate crypto currencies which are terrible for the environment and really only used by criminals. Guess humans are complex creatures.

That's not like a Nigerian prince, is it?

Hmmm... I remember the bikes I owned were a lot simpler... ignition on and push the start button. (The V4 in the Honda VFR750 especially were very reliable!)

Elon owns SpaceX. Pronounced "spay...sex" Bit of a dad joke, as he said.

I thought we already knew that...

Jeez, thanks OT, I feel so much better now... My 14yo son was out spending his christmas money and came home with this book. He's been chortling in his room ever since.

It'll leave a bad taste in your mouth.

There's one old chap who pedals up a road we often use, so I've seen him a few times now. Unfortunately the Lycra on his arse has worn thin and he seems to be a fan of going commando, so it's quite an unpleasant experience overtaking him.

Merry Xmas all! Hope you all have a fantastic day.

"Spare... time"?

When batteries come down a bit we'll get one. Probably still stay connected to the grid but at the moment we get bugger all for all the power we generate, while paying through the nose for the evening power we use from the grid. Far better to charge the battery first and use that when the sun goes down.

If you do, you shouldn't go admitting it.

There's a very good series based on the Foundation series, on Apple TV.

If the canary keels over, you know it was a bad one.

The hardest part is getting vegetables into yourself. My son has been going to a nutritionist because he's got some issues with weight and eating. She recommends 5 cups of vegetables a day. That's a lot of vegetables, especially since you don't want the dodgy ones like potatoes. Protein is important too, especially as you get older. Basically a balanced diet and exercise is what you want. Heard a scientist talking about the ideal amount of sitting per day - 6 hours or less. While that sounds like a lot, many jobs including office workers, drivers, even pilots - have an awful lot of sitting included, then there's meals and Netflix. The ideal balance is apparently a bit over 8 hours sleep, over 4 hours light exercise (stuff we do every day - walking around, making dinner etc), and over 4 hours moderate exercise (fast walking etc) - which I thought was an awful lot! I would add here that although I know what the right thing to do is, I don't do it. Usually the only exercise I get is karate once a week and PT once a week - I really need to walk more.

Good books - if you like hard science fiction, try Neal Asher. I've just read 3 of his. Good, solid big SF books with all the good stuff - planet sized AI, androids, augmented humans, aliens etc.

What's the backup now if transmission lines go down? I don't think the community battery is one cell. There's probably the ability to isolate parts of it so the rest can continue to service the connected residences.

If I'm driving at night and there's no traffic and clear sight lines, on the straight stretches I drive in the middle of the road. Simple reason being it's the furthest point away from wallabies on both sides so more of a chance to avoid them if they decide to get suicidal.

In good news, Keith Pitt is not contesting the next election. Presumably because the National party has slid too far to the left for him.

Took me a while to get that, but then I thought of Victorian drivers and it fell into place

Just combine them. They're either Luddatives (give you the shits) or Conservatites (what cross-dressing high court judges wear).

For those who say renewables don't work when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow... For those sites chosen for wind and solar farms - what are the actual stats? How many consecutive days is the longest time that it hasn't? And for those days, is it possible to build storage capacity of whatever kind - battery, pumped hydro, molten salt, whatever - for less per gigawatt than nuclear? If the answer is yes, then there's absolutely no reason to go for a more expensive option. The age of big power stations producing energy 24/7 whether it's used or not is over. It can be done far more efficiently and cheaper by a mix of renewables with storage, probably neighbourhood batteries etc, which also gives you a safer and more reliable decentralized grid.