Jerry_Atrick

5'5"

I was in the pub last night enjoying a tapas eveninng, and having a chat to a mate, who is a deputy head of a local school. At the end of the conversation, I was amazed at how little people know about the foundations of probably the two most important things that govern our lives - the law and finance. I am only talking foundations, not the complexities. And when I look back on my and my kids educations, it is profound how missing these things are from early years of learning. In the discussion, he had fallen on some hardship, which we didn't know about, but it culminated in asking for a one month pause on paying a mortgage which he as held for years with an otherwise unblemished record. This is when you learn retail banks are not your friends. Although I have little more than a basic understand of the practices of retail banks, they are not your friend. But he seemed perplexed when they took a hard line with him. I then explained the basics and how their threats were hollow and designed to get him to cay up come what may, and explained a little of how loans work, and it was clear he had no idea whatsoever. That is because we are conditioned to follow a set pattern of behaviours and if they are not within our sphere of interest, we just follow that conditioning. He was armed with a few basic tools to use when he next wpeaks to the bank and we will see how it goes. Similarly, most people have no real appreciation about how law works and when they find themselves in a pickle,. have made wildly inaccurate assumptions based on what can only be the mass media and shitty Amercian drama shows. It is almost criminal that the education system is still largely what it was like when I was a kid. Knowledge is power, and of course, it would disrupt the apple cart if the population had more of the power. For kids and grand kids, make sure they start the foundtions of financial and legal education earlier rather than later.

I guess in the real world, there is no such thing as a free lunch. So I did a Mr. Google search on: What is the average number of kms driven per year in Australia for non-commercial use: 12,600km. Divide that by 365, gives a tad under 35km/day. Lets make it 40kms a day. Yes, for rural based people it will be more, and urban it may well be less. what is the average range of a battery EV: 354 - 485km. Let's use 354 kms. So, for the average number of miles per day and lower end of average number of kms range (yes, there are cars with less), let's say 300kms, as the official figures are usually optimistic. Some quick mental maths tells me that the average number of days between charges needed is 7.5 days. Average lifetime of a BEV battery. It quoted 1,000 - 2,000 cycles and between 10 and 20 years of average driving habits (that is a wide range), is what Mr Google quotes. However, on the lower end of the average range divided the an upper estimate of the average number of kms driven per day, and lets take the lower of the average number of cycles to recharge, I make it 1,000 cycles x 7.5 average days per charge divided by 365, which gives me 20 years of life at the lower end of the scale. Obviously, Mr Google gets his data from amny places, some accurate and some not. And that is just the start: To do a proper comparison of the total cost of ownership, one has to calculate all sorts of things, including, financing costs (or opportunity cost), insruance, maintenance, depreciation, servicing, replacement parts, fuel, relaibility (unscheduled outages due to breakdowns) and associated costs, etc.. And these have to be annualised, so will be measured based on the average kms per year. If you google "Average total cost of an EV v. Diesel v Petrol car in australia over the average car's lifespan", you will get basically it is cheaper to operate an EV than an ICE car over the average lifespan. Now, I have no idea of how statistically valid it is, and I am not 100% sure it is grounded in fact, so I am not going to comment, except to say, that when people look at costs, etc, they tend to look a slice of the total rather than the total. And I would suggest it is probably not as divergent as most people claim. That is for the average,. However, when buying one, although we are often indoctrinated into the average mindset, we should be looking at our personal circumstances. From the above, it is clear, removing depreciation and insurance from the equation, EVs would be the best from a cost of ownership persepctive for lower-kms per day usage than ICE engined cars. This is because the longer period of days between charges results in a longer battery life and the operating cost differential would work well in the favour of EVs. From the above, you could argue for higher km cars, ICE engines may be as good, if not better from a total cost of ownership (ex. Insurance and depreciation) because for each charging cycle the battery will degrade by a minimum amount, and as there are more charging cycles within that set period of time, the cost of the battery will offset any savings. And, with some exceptions, if one looks after their ICE engine, many hunderds of thousands of kms are achievable before significant work, let alone a replacement is needed. If 20 years of driving is the lower end of the average (which the numbers from Google suggest it is, but the actual response suggested otherwise), then you have to looka tgthe differential of operating costs. According to Mr Google, when searching, "what is the cost of an average annual service of an EV versus petrol versus diesel in australia" it said an EV saves on average $300 - $400 per annually on maintenance. Let's go conservative and $300 * 20 years = $6,000 more. Dang it.. Some $10K worse off using an EV v. ICE engine on average kms/year and average maintenance cost. So, lets look at the difference per year for fuel costs: "what is the average annual cost of fuel for EV v petrol v dielse cars in Australia doing the average number of kms per year". And the response was: "In Australia, an electric vehicle (EV) is generally cheaper to fuel than petrol or diesel cars, with potential savings of up to 70% on fuel costs. For an average Australian driving 12,000 km per year, the cost to charge an EV is around $500 annually, while petrol cars can cost around $2,500. This equates to roughly $0.04/km for EVs and $0.20/km for petrol cars. Diesel vehicles, while potentially having lower fuel costs than petrol, still tend to be more expensive than EVs for the same distance" OK, so forget diesel. The average annual saving according to Mr Google is $2,000 per year. Over 20 years, this equates to $40,000. So we have a total op cost saving (ex insurance and depreciation) over 20 years at $46,000 for EVs over petrol, at least. Take away $16,000 to replace the battery in the EV, which will give another 20 years of life, and that may well change the costs significantly, it would appear, running an EV, at least on some average or mean basis, will save you $30,000 over 20 years, if you say you will install a new battery and then trash the car. Depreciation and insurance differentials, based on todays numbers at least alluded to by the press, would erode much of these savings I guess, which means there is no free lunch. But, I can't help but think, most people who have moved to EVs will never go back. Some do. I guess it is up to your circumstances.

I counted 5

I can't believe how imaginative the story line is.. goes to show mind bending substances were rampant even then.. Ok bad sick joke time (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED) what is the definition of Dracuka's teabag? A used tampon (Sorry.. wolfie was about)

The other thing to point out is good luck taking your diesel car to major European cities. Because of the desire to rid the road of these most toxic ICE engines, you will find that many have or are introducing charges to traverse their cities. In London we have the ULEZ charge, which is £12.50 per day. Birmingham and Bristol have introduced their own version as well. I am sure others have do., Google "cities in Europe with an emissions charge" and the AI generator will list quite a few. Add the cost of that to youe fuel.. as well as the cost of maintenance compared to EVs, and you will probably find any small saving that could be achieved using diesel over EVs will evaporate quickly. Not to mention the very public health costs associated with the respiatory diseases that flow.

Not stoopid does not equal genius.

I don't think anyone can predictably look into Chump's mind and try and work out what he is going to do. You all know that I will nornally (after doing research, I hasten to add) present the Israeli side of the story.. But, on the assumption the Jon Stewart vid I posted above is reasonably accurate, the 6 weeks away of Iran having a bomb 12 years ago tells me on this, either the intelligence was way off, or it was stirring up justifications for attacks. Either way, I have to ask myself why does Iran have a nuclear research facility installed well within a mountain designed to avoid attack? In the same breath, why would Iraq do something that stoopid if they know the western world would descend on them in a not too friendly way? But then, over the years, Mossad has struck many of the lead scientists, etc.. if they didn't, would those 6 weeks have materlaised into a nuclear threat? I don't know, but what I do know is at the moment, US inteliigence has reported to Chump that Iran is not a nuclear threat, and Chumpy has decided to go ahead, after he has said he will pursue all diplomatoc avenues, and then flipped into the 2 week thing. OK.. I am goiong to say something that many will disagree with.. Chump -as much as he is one - is not stoopid.. You don't get to that position becuase you are. But that doesn't mean his aims are wholesome, either. His aims could be quite evil. I am not saying they are.. He may have some vision of a beautiful world but realises the route necessitates a trip to hell to get there. Apart from some screaming parts of the media, I am not sure too many are too conceerned at the toppling of the Iranian regime - as long as it is placed with something better and stable; not a power vacuum. They wa I look at it, maybe it is the US cleaning up its mess by providing a regime change in the '50s or 60s from a liberal regime to what we have today.

Start at about 17:35 of this vid... It is not Chump per se, but oit is what he embodies. Most of the vid before it is pretty compelling watching too, except for the intermission , which tells us why British humour is so much better than US humour.. But that is another debate, another time.

Whale

I tried the windows voice recongition module. The recording is attached. This is what it produced.,.. Got confused very quickly and I have a reasonably powerful machine. The recording is here: Recording.m4a . The speed I was talking at was the fastest I could get it to reliably come up with anything but jibberish.. Was going to recommend Nev to try it.. but jeepers you'd end up throwing your computer out of your window. The "it lost it" comment early on was because Windows decided I told it to take the focus from the text box to one of the page numbers.. and you can see why at the end I said I had no idea what it was doing. This is A test of V windows voice recognition software I actually thinkthe I calledspacetime Even I don't stuff it up that bad!

Only two typos in all of Nev's post.. not even close!

Easily the most legible thing I have read on here that I did not write myself 😉 (Seriously, Nev.. appreviate the effort you put in... and yes, agree... It;s the apprenticehip college for crims).

Agree re social media. It allows people to form virtual groups and group mentality festers.. I am not sure I agree witht he judges being lenient. They are subject to sentencing laws (in NSW See the Crimes (Sentencing and Procedures Act) 1996, where the act tries to use prison as a last resoirt except for certain crimes. Community Correction Orders and similar. In addition, there are sentencing guielines which come from the respective state/federal departments. Also, the press don't report the whole case and often design their articles to evoke emotional responses. And, sometimes, the prisons are just too full for petty criminals, I guess. Believe it or not I agree with what I think is the sentiment of the photo. Locking pople up and letting them fester certainly isan expensive waste. Whilst I don't necessarily agree with the exact approach of the photo, surely having prisoners being part of a well thought out program where they contriibute to society while learning new skills, gaining confidence, and the like has to be a good thing. Yeah, there are other challenges (mental health, etc), but again, an investment to properly rehabilitate versus have them sita around has to be a good thing.

Yeah, true.. But will force the government to have to get real on tax, I guess...

Erm.. What? Maybe I don't get the gist of what you are saying. Australia has a representative democracy.. Virtually all legislation that isn't administrative or supply goes through a consultative stage. There are three readings of a bill. The news reports on whit judges to be the most improtant ones and anyone can provide responses to consultations. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Lists You are free to join the debate outside of parliament and parliament has to pass bills, and the second reading is usually where the real debate takes place. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of the bills are administrative in nature and quite boring. What would you propose that would not clog up the system entirely? I suppose for public debate, you could have a big chat room of some sort people could log into... The reality is you would probably get less people than you think. A council in the UK help public meetings online, which became somewhat educational: https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/online-council-meeting-hijacked-jokers-4034378

Beat me to it, @octave A society that looks after its people, educates them, is inclusive and provides a safe environment, while at the same time having wicket keeper controls when things go awry is always going to have lower crime rates across the board than those that take an opposite approach.

GON, the historical evidence is that the criminal law (including punishment) by itself is not an effective deterrent. Yeah, no doubt there are some that are on the fence that probably think not to do it because of the possible consequences, but the murder rate was higher when capital punishment was avaiilable than after it was abolished. Just google merder rate before and after capital punishment and you will see the murder rate after dapital punishement was abolished in Australia dropped. The reality is there is a percentage of society that will commit crime.. And there are many reasons for it. Just locking them up and throwing away the key doesn't address the root causes; It's like sticking a band-aod on a cut finger when your loss of blood is attributed to internal bleeding. Yeah, we need the punishment (and rehab) element, but attacking the root cause, whilst taking more resources and a longer time to see results, produces a sustainably lower crime rate over time. The evidence is in the numbers. The problem is, and it is not limited to Gen Z, society wants immediate results/gratification.. Reforming societal issues that contribute to the issue is no mean feat.

Except for the chipper and ride on, all my stuff is battery (or mains) powered - chain saws, strimmers, blowers, hand tools, etc. I just buy a spare battery or two. The ride ons seem to have swappable batteries, and that one at $10K comes with a spare, too. You just keep the spare charged, and when the cuirrent one goes flat, its quicker and cleaner than refuelling the tank. I would never go back to petrol garden tools..

Mine is a hydro drive., but not zero turn. On my property, not having a zero turn is not a bad thing.. there isn't too much where I have to reverse and forward because of it and there's not too much I have to get the push mower or strimmer out for that the ride on can't handle.

My mower gets a pretty hard workout.. I can't compare Tassie, but a plot I had on the Mornington Peninsula, which is a pretty fertile part of Victoria is a desert compared to prodution to here. If I manage to keep the grass trimmed every week during the spring and summer months, it is a minimum 3 hour job - every week. And our grassy areas (can't call them lawns) are the antithesis of a lwan bowls green - sloping, bumpy, full of all sorts of crap. As I haven't tended to it for about 3 weeks studying for an exam (of which I have done better), all Saturday will be on the thing. Dog loves it though.. He rides on my lap when cutting and races to the area I dumpt the cuttings. Also, its warranty was based on an annual service - the warranty was 5 years and has just run out. And, they don't make 'em like they used to. But I still don't want to prematuerly have to buy another one.

Was it this one? https://www.bunnings.com.au/ryobi-80v-hp-42-zt-ride-on-mower-bonus-battery-cover-kit_p0711793 Has one review which is average at best, but nothing to do with the electric motor. I would be a bit sceptical of Ryobi. When I was younger, they were a good mid-brand whe their stuff was made in Japan. But they seem to have moved some production to China and my experience of their Chinese made stuff - may as well get it from Temu. A cheaper one is here: https://www.bunnings.com.au/ryobi-48v-42-zt-ride-on-mower-bonus-line-trimmer-cover-kit_p0711795, with a lower rated battery, so would gues more time between charging. These are 42" cutting discs, which is 6" bigger than the cutting disc on my mower: This is a petrol one that is the closest to mone, although I notice none in bunnings seem to have grass catrchers: https://www.bunnings.com.au/victa-vsx-15-5-38-petrol-ride-on-mower_p0609383. At $4,519, against $9,999 that $5,500-ish saving buys both a lot of petrol and mainteance. And looking at the Victa - they look like they are re-badged modern Mountfields. I haven't used an electric ride on mower, so can't compare. But I noticed most petrol onces have smaller cutting diameters than the electic ones. Not sure why. My one gets a hell of a work out for various reasons - uneven ground - sometimes during the warmer months I don't get a cut for a couple of seeks and the place is like a mini moorland with grass a couple of feet high. We have some steep inclines, and the like as well... And, yeah,.. I have bogged it a couple of times. I absolutely love the little thing though compared to the last one I had, which was thrown in as a part fo the purchase of the last property. But, blow me away, they are noisy, and I don't much like having to have fuel in containers around. Something irks me about it. And of course, when the fuel containers run out, we have to drive to the servo to get refils. But the tank is 5l and it lasts a very long tiome.. Probably 5 hours, which gives me a lot of grass cutting for my money. Also, they are bloody noisy, and vibrations are a bit like the Warriors I used to fly.. And they do have to be maintained.. An annual service that includes sharpening the blades and changing the belts as well as the usual stuff is not cheap - £350 - but that does include a pick up and drop off fee. These are the things that I think an electric ride-on would be great. Also, if you are worried about batteries in the ride on, I have had to replace the motorcycle battery in it 3 times in 5 years, and there is an Don't ge me wring.. I love my little mower. Had it for 5 years from new and a starter solenoid (£15) was the onl thing to go wrong with it. But, just today, the alternator warning light came on whenever I engaged the cutter.

Wow.. Clearly Jacinta's fault...

The implication of the post is that under the Allan government, things are out of control. If the crime rates are coming down, then under previous governments, more people were experiencing it and, as you say, we would be telling more people than today. What you described is probably what one person who went to the same high school as me would have done in a day.. The reality is every day and probably many times an hour, an indictable offence is being comitted. When I last worked in the same building as the family court, I think it was Bourke street, there was a dog awful crash where some aggreieved person ran their car through the plate glass windows of the court building. That didn't mean cars ramming through buildings was out of control.

That's it. 5 crimes in a state of how many million people. No murders, no rapes (now sexal assault), no bank robberies, no burglaries, no stabbings, shootings, etc. You don't know how lucky you are.