onetrack

The dangers of nuclear power generation are multiplied to the nth degree over and above the dangers associated with any other current form of power generation. In a steam turbine power plant, the worst that can happen is a steam explosion or a turbine rotational failure, resulting in components being thrown about. In solar power generation, the worst that could happen is a major electrical short circuit. In a wind turbine, it's fire or mechanical failure, resulting in components flying around. In a storage battery, it's internal component shorts that result in a fire. All these things happen on an occasional but steady basis. Mankinds history is littered with errors that turned into disasters. All these above-listed potential accidents could be life threatening to those unfortunate enough to be in the near vicinity of one of these events - but a nuclear accident (and they happen just as easily as other accidents) results in a disaster with massive, long-lasting damage, and danger over a wide area that can't be seen (radioactivity on the loose). No nuclear facility can be made earthquake-proof, totally idiot proof, nor even be protected against enemy attack. We've never had a dedicated enemy attack on a nuclear power station, but a bad actor such as Putin or Kim Jong-il would have no hesitation in mounting an attack on a nuclear energy plant belonging to a nation that they were at war with. Kim especially, is crazy enough to do this. The fact that we even have an organisation calling themselves the Union of Concerned Scientists - who are scientific professionals intent on rigorous scrutiny of proposed major scientific projects around the world - which organisation is seriously against continuing to build nuclear reactors for energy production - should be enough warning to people that nuclear reactors for energy generation carry far more long-lasting safety and health concerns, than any other form of power generation. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/brief-history-nuclear-accidents-worldwide#:~:text=Back to top-,Three Mile Island,How did it happen?

The bloke who did the Nuclear costings for the LNP is Danny Price, a former economist with the NSW Electricity Commission. That's not much of a recommendation - and one even wonders why the NSWEC even had an economist on the payroll? But the bottom line is Danny Price is now a self-professed Energy Guru/Consultant, and makes millions sprouting his ideas to any Govt willing to pay for his opinion - which is exactly what the LNP got - biased opinion. But his LNP Nuclear energy report is so full of holes, it's laughable. He leaves the NT and W.A. right out of any Nuclear policies or plans - knowing full well both States are so isolated, they need to have fully independent energy generation. And of course, anyone with half a brain will quickly understand the economics of stand-alone Nuclear power plants for W.A. and the N.T., simply don't stack up. Both States have a small population and a huge land area to service. So that cans the LNP idea of a Nuclear power plant in every State. Then his report says nothing about large battery developments, and installations. Both W.A. and S.A. have already invested multiple tens of millions in battery storage - and battery development is going ahead in leaps and bounds, and battery costs are steadily decreasing, and will continue to decrease - simply because China is intent on dominating the world battery market, and will make sure battery costs keep coming down. The chances are much higher (than any nuclear option) that most Australian households will end up with home or community batteries in the next decade - because they will be cheap and affordable - and coupled with constantly-increasing rooftop solar, both will greatly reduce the electricity demand from the States grids. This will really kick the arse out of the LNP projections and nuclear dreams - and nothing beats generating power at the spot where it is required. The need for more or upgraded major transmission lines is removed in this future scenario, and the combination of rooftop solar and cheap and affordable home/community batteries, means that energy costs for homeowners will continue to come down. That doesn't even take into account the amount of future State investment in large amounts of battery storage for their grids. There's a great refutation of the LNP "pie-in-the-sky-bye-and-bye" nuclear dreams, in the Renew Economy article below. Every point they make is telling - especially the ones centred around Nuclear power plant costs, construction time frames, and construction problems. https://reneweconomy.com.au/a-sneak-preview-of-peter-duttons-nuclear-costings/ Here is Danny Prices LNP Nuclear economics article, if you like reading a pile of factually-deficient BS. https://www.frontier-economics.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Report-2-Nuclear-power-analysis-Final-STC.pdf One of the important things I've learnt in the 75 years I've been on this planet, is that economists don't live in the real world, and their future projections are invariably so wrong, it's laughable. I'm always reminded of a quote from a book I read many years ago, about economists and their future forecasts for gold. It went, "300 of the worlds leading economists keep telling us that gold is a barbarous relic, and has no part to play in any future world economic system. The problem is, they still have yet to convince 3 billion of the worlds population, that they're right!" 😄

I find it hard to believe that no-one has zoomed in on the drones with a powerful lens, to get a good photo, to ID what the drones actually are?

I've never heard anything about this previously - the Deep State agents in the Gubbmint are obviously keeping me in the dark! If I was a Murrican, I'd be out there with my AR-15, with the biggest magazine I could buy, blasting them spies outta the sky!!! For what it's worth, I'd hazard a guess it's Amazon or some other hi-tech retailer trialling new delivery drones.

Spacey, just what are you rambling on about??

Just wait until Elon finds out he was bypassed as Time Person of the Year, there'll be some snakey posts on X from him.

In somewhat amazing news, the rebels in Syria have taken major advantage of Assads supporters (Iran, Hezbollah and Russia) being seriously tied up with other punch-ups - and as result, Bashar Assad has realised he's out on a limb, with no-one coming to help him, and he's done a runner. This is the end of the brutal Assad regime, that has ruled Syria with an iron fist since 1970, starting with Bashar Assad's father, Hafez. Bashar has carried out a ruthless civil war against his own people, bombing, gassing and jailing anyone opposing his regime (including civilians), for 13 yrs. It's reported Assad has taken off for Moscow for refuge. I have little hope that the incoming "rulers" will be any less ruthless than the Assad family - just a different brand of Islamic murderousness. https://abcnews.go.com/International/syrian-rebels-claimed-4-cities-24-hours-now/story?id=116562929 https://www.kxly.com/news/national-and-world-news/who-is-bashar-al-assad-the-syrian-leader-whose-family-ruled-with-an-iron-fist/article_45652438-7833-5c6b-beca-b7102a3397e8.html What is even more interesting is that the Russians have bases in Syria, which are quite likely to be overrun by the rebels. This is causing some angst amongst Russian military bloggers. It's been reported that many Syrian Army soldiers are simply deserting, having been seen changing into civilian clothes on the street. This means the Russians can expect no help from the Syrian Army, which has effectively collapsed. https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-bases-syria-threatened-by-insurgent-advance-say-moscows-war-bloggers-2024-12-07/

It's the depressing part of getting older. All your friends and associates die, and you end up with nothing more than memories. I can recall my parents talking about how virtually all their friends and associates had died. So, it's important as you get older, to ensure you keep befriending younger people.

Maggie Tabberer has died, just 5 days short of her 88th birthday. https://www.watoday.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/australia-s-first-supermodel-maggie-tabberer-dies-at-87-20241206-p5kwfq.html

You always wanted a dog that could compose music? That'd be nothing short of amazing!

We all have a part to play in training others, and handing on our gathered skills. It's when you get genuine appreciation for your effort that makes it all worthwhile. Hardly anyone stays in the same position for their entire life, we all feel the need to progress.

Yes, I did use geometry a lot when earthmoving. Used it to calculate cut to fill volumes, the amount of excavated dirt from a dam (the formula is the one for a truncated pyramid), calculate flood drainage levels and fall, volume of rainfall runoff for a given area, roadworks (slopes and grades). I recently pulled out some of my high school books and came across a pad full of my technical drawings and was surprised to see how good they were, and how comprehensive. Plans, elevations and perspective views, I did the lot! But I never did use it again after I left school, mores the pity. I need to drag out all that old schoolwork and books, now that I'm in the process of building a shed!

Peter, if it was your daughter regularly being grabbed on the pussy, would you still regard it as a minor offence, not worth following up? Sexual predators keep up their personal attacks, it's not usually just a one-off grab. Constant unwanted sexual advances can be very soul-destroying to many people who didn't ask for or insinuate they'd welcome sexual advances.

I was a bit surprised at the number of varieties of geckoes and skinks we have here in W.A. We often uncover the Marbled Gecko in the garden, they love hiding under leaf litter and fractures in tree bark. But the bloody crows make a regular effort to get the geckoes by sitting in our Jacaranda tree and ripping off chunks of bark to find the geckoes and eat them. SWMBO gets really annoyed about them doing this, she love the geckoes - the crows make a mess, too. We found we had to be careful setting jar-type traps for fruit flies in the citrus trees, especially the Mandarin tree. The geckoes love fruit flies and climb into the fruit fly jar traps, and can't get out, and drown in them. So we have to check the traps regularly and release any trapped geckoes. https://quollingaround.com/2018/06/11/dragons-and-devils-southwest-reptiles/

There's a reason why America is the Land of the Preppers - idiots who believe firmly in an Apocalypse that threatens human life on Earth. The bottom line is, nothing this planet has thrown at us in the last umpteen millenia has done anything to reduce the numbers of humans in the long term. There were short-term reductions in population, but we're the equivalent of the rats and cockroaches on this Earth. It's sad seeing the stupid lengths that idiotic preppers go to, to "survive the coming Apocalypse", when nothing like they envisage is going to happen. Here's a local explorers video, where he explores an underground survival bunker installed near Salmon Gums in W.A. It was built in the early 1980's by a South African fool, so Americans aren't alone in their prepper idiocy. Incredibly, he apparently built an identical setup in South Africa, no doubt in a remote region. At Salmon Gums, he also built a 10 bedroom house, which is now abandoned. The waste of millions of dollars is incredible - all for a non-event.

I like reading the ABC news, it's free, doesn't require a subscription that once you pay for, you find you're struggling to cancel it - and the bulk of their articles are newsworthy and reasonably accurate. Yes, they support minorities and other colours beside white, but I can live with that, and I can ignore the articles about minorities in which I have no interest. Meantimes, the privately owned media is full of ads, clickbait headlines, generally useless entertainment crap, and they want you to pay to look at it!! Never in a million years!!!

Big goannas are utterly fearless of humans. We once found a 2.2M goanna walking through our small orchard next to the house in the wheatbelt. Approaching him made him stand up on his legs to make himself look more fearsome - and if you walked behind him, he would swish his tail sideways at terrific speed, trying to knock you over and eat you. The brother finally grabbed him by his tail and held him up for a photo, and he swung himself back and latched onto his boot with a bite like a croc. Once we got the photo, he put him down - but he wouldn't run away, he just stood there huffing and hissing, and raised up on his legs, and he finally decided he'd walk away slowly in his own time. They're fearsomely fast when killing snakes.

No, no, no - BMW stands for "Bring Many Wrenches!"

It's alright Spacey, we all spend a fair bit of time on your posts, trying to figure out if you're making sense! 😄

You're going to have to be a transvestite, or transgender, or one of the Alphabet people, to buy a Jaguar in the future.

Ronald Reagan made all Americans feel more wealthy by borrowing to the hilt and increasing the U.S. Govt debt to astronomical levels, that no President since has ever been able to reduce. Donald Trump is going to do the same thing - wreck the U.S. economy for the next incoming President and the dozen Presidents after that - all the while bragging about the wondrous things he's done for the American people. If vastly increased tariffs, major job losses, mass deportations, and vastly increased prices for everything from fuel to food, means Making America Great Again, then yes, it will be great for the money lenders, financial products gamblers, and the stock market shorters.

We're all survivors, Nev. I've outlived a lot of people I knew, worked for, worked with, and associated with, that I thought would've lived a lot longer.

We should all chip in and get Spacey a T shirt that reads, "JAGOM" ("Just Another Grumpy Old Man").

The ABC News format is nowhere near as good as it was previously - but this is common with website "revamps", they're done by geeks who have little understanding of what makes a readable webpage.