Jerry_Atrick

Laughing on the assumption it is a photoshop or similar, and just a joke.

Should read doing democracy a favour? Hmmm.. A war about oil? I am getting a sense of dejavu

With the advances in battery technology, especially, I think CATL's advances in sodium battery technology, today's batteries will be so "yesterday" compared to the newer ones coming on stream. I predict the EV market will be a bit like the personal technology market - consistent advances will make not too old technology obsolete and cheap in comparison. Of course, getting the next wave of batteries into existing vehicle platforms isn't just putting a new motherboard into an existing case, so that may slow obsolescence up a bit.. But, I wonder if the battery makers are thinking about backward compatibility with existing vehicle platforms, in terms of physical fit. That may then make it a simple case of adding a battery and changing the motherboard - and possibly a display or two. Exciting times to come and I think for the consumer, used EVs will still be a viable but well priced alternative.

Nothign to be sad about, @nomadpete - these bikes are known for stator issues and I am looking forwad to getting my hands dirty again...

This reminds me of the days when Farcebook was young and people would post pictures and details of a great day they had doing something fancy - and then they would be fired as they took a sickie to do whatever it was they did because their boss found out by... looking at their Facebook page., Though, I have to say, the young muppet seems to be a pretty good rider (Those speeds are mph, not kph)

OK.. back to the Bike... The model/series (both Mk I and Mk II version) are know as "Biffers" over here. I understand this to be slang for unattractive woman. Well, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, because most people remark how good they look.. Anyway, with the Mini immobilised, the Volvo crapped its pants yesterday - only slightly. It sounds as if the rear brakes are in dire need of replacement - with the grooved discs all but confirming it (booked tomorrow). But, I know there is some drivetrain issues at the rear and hoping it isn't the driveshaft about to fall off. So, I decided yesterday to look harder for the second car (read the EV thread). As the weather was nice, I got geared up, even with this persistent lurgy and headed about 30 miles to a car yard that had a petrol car that fit our bill advertised. It was one of a three-showroom company. Guess what.. they haven't got it yet - they are expecting it within 10 days. However, he did point out to me another example - later model with less miles, but better appointed for only £500 more - which is £500 more than my budget. These dealers rarely move on price because they make their money on finance, of which I am not availing to myself. Google maps told me it was about an hour a way my A roads or I could go back about 15 minutes to the nearest motorway junction, and it will still be an hour away. Unf, I don't have a phone mount on the bike, so I memorised the way as much as possible, and headed off. About 2.5 hours later, I finally found it. Bristol is a big city and has some wonderful spots. But, it is an old city and that patchwork of road infrastructure is nothing short of a labryinth which is impossible to navigate without real time sat nav capability. Every few blocks, I had to find a legal place to stop, pull out the phone, and inevitabley retrace some of my steps. Finally, I found the dealer, but they had a queue a mile long so I visually inspected the car - it looks good... may just buy it. Got on the bike and rode back using as much oif the M5 motorway as possible. But I struggled to feel a smidge of heat on the heated grips on the hands, and they were quite cold all the way. That didn't impress me much, to say the least. The I noticed at below 2,500rpm, the heated grips status light would flash green. What the hell did that mean? Would have to wait to get home and look it up. I had worked out though, that it was cutting off the heat and learned that if it thinks the bike doesn't have the engine on by reading the voltage coming out of the regulator/rectifier. This was backed up with the bike virutally shutting down when I stopped to pick up some groceries. While turning the key lit everything up (it was dark now), pressing the start button was met with a resounding silence. F!. So, did the trick that older European cars needed, switched the ignition right off and right on again, prayed a bit, and it fired up. I rode it the rest of the way home and was thinking oh my, how big will that bill be? From my research so far, it could be the stator, the reg/rectifier, just loose and corroded connections or a combination of all three. The stators are a known issue with that model (2006 - 2010) and an upgraded electroset stator will set me back about £140. However, the stator flywheel was modified to allow more oil to flow through, and they are around £500. Sheep! The weather is pants this week, at a forecast of -3 degrees c when I would normally take off for work. The weather has been dry until today, so there is a possibility of black ice - which means, if I can manage to score a car, I will be driving in, otherwise an expensive train ride in this week unless I delay my London commute by a day in which the weather is forecast to get materially warmer. The plan is to empty our my dilapiidated garage this week, which I have to do to make space for the son's bike anyway. Then, after picking up his bike, I will first inspect the connections and run voltage and ohms tests (I forget what they call ohms tests these days) to try and isolate the issue. I am hoping it is just the connectors, but if not, it will probably mean a new electoset stator (about £150), but apparently second hand reg/rectifiers off Yamahas from about 2009 are the bees knees.. though will find the actual part it is and get new. The battery is a Yuasa installed new about a year ago, so if it is gone, it is likely because of something else causing it. Glad I bought a new multi-meter about 6 months ago.

Yes.. maybe I should have said unintended consueuence rtaher than [over] olptimistally wishful thinking.

Sometimes I do wonder about people's ability to think logically. We have yet to buy a replacement for the written off mini. It is really my partner's car and she flatly refuses to drive a manual. Which is a pain in the UK, because most cars - even luxury ones - that are sold are manual. So, after fruitlessly searching for a replacement for her that was in budget and auto, I took a look at some EV cars - as they are all "autos". Used car sellers here work a bit dfifferently to Aus (at least when I last purchased a used car in Aus, which was admittedly about 20 years ago). If you know what you want, you can buy online unseen from a reputable seller and if you're not entirely happy with it whtin 2 weeks or something like 1000 miles, they will refund you in full and take the car back. In addition, most offer 12 month warranties under similar terms to new car warranties. And of course, if the car they sell you has a balance of a new car warranty, that transfers to you (as long as the previous owner/s have kept to the terms of the warranty) and they will make up the difference if the balance of the new car warranty is less than the 12 months. There is also statutory protections as well that the larger used car dealers adhere to without resistance because they work on a model to stack them high and kiss them good bye. They don't make much on the sale of a car, but on the finance. They don't much like cash buyers, but to ensure they get the volume, they do a lot to preserve their reputation. Some of these are not venturing into making the used EV purchase a virtually risk free proces as they see a big market of better value cars and better demand. So I was looking at autotrader.co.uk for cars with bettter than 250 mile range. I selected a few, of which the MG ZS 72.x KW was one, and checked out the ads. The reputable dealers have RAC or AA battery tests performed. Fore about £9K, I was looking at 2021 - 2023 models of varying mileage, but averaging arount 30k miles (50k kms). So much for 10% degradation per year of the battery - most were showing 98 - 99% of life left in them, and the lowest was about 96%. I did some research and, ironically, apart from the mini, the real world ranges were not far off the claimed range - probably on average 10% less than claimed range. The batter checks also stated claimed range and provided estimated real world ranges at 0 degrees c ambient temperature and 25 degrees C ambient temperatures. At zero degrees, it was about 25% less range than at 25 degrees. OK, for the cars I was looking at, and taking into account the decreased range at motorway speeds, I should still be able to get to London without needing a charge and have some in reserve. Sticking it on a charger overnight would have me right tor the trip home and assuming it would be 0 - 100% charge. cost me about £35 - half that of the Volvo and about 2/3 that of the now dead mini. Not to mention the generally lower servicing costs, less to go wrong and therfore more reliability, etc. it sounds like a no-brainer - especialliy when you consider partner's driving - glorified shopping trolley and occasional run to pick up the daughter - on A roads as she doesn't do motorways/highways. So, even then, her range will normally be longer than the average. So, I decided to broach with her the subject of getting an EV. I was met with a resounding "no" at every turn. But no logical argument to say why not. Just "I want a petrol car..." I was flabbergasted.. Why? Eve3rything she read was about EV fires and lack of infrastructure. Also, when we sell this house, she may end up in a mid-terrace house with no guarantee she can park outside to connect the car to charge. OK.. the infrastrcutre down here is not what it is in London. But there is good infrastructure. First the chances she won'[t have a driveway are pretty low. But even on that assumption, I explained the area she was looking at has a public charging point and there is no petrol station for about 10 miles or so heading towards Exeter. So, it would be easier for her if she was low on fuel to get the battery topped up than petrol in her car. Then she said she would use it only hopefully once evry couple of weeks and the battery woudl discharge.. I could have put any number of stats in front of her to say that it would take anything from 6 months to a year to discharge a 72kw/h battery not in use.. and that she could expect the lead acid battery to discharge enough to make the car unuseable loing before that. Still she wasn't having a bar of it. Oh well, she will have to live with it and the costs. But the research I did made EVs even more compelling to me than they were beforehand. [Edit] I forgot to mention, most of the batteries still have 5 years of warranty left and a lot of the cars still had 2 - 3 years of warranty left, too.. Don't get that with the petrol cars of the same age.

I have to admit, I haven't been following this closely so really can't comment too much. But I did note a headline on The Age's website yesterday that the Aussie Vebeuelan population were cheering Chump on. I haven't read the article so going by the headline, Chump may be doming demoicracy a favour? Optimistically wishful thinking, I know.

Disgusting perverse right wing propaganda shit, fella

Quote snipped. I am well aware of stolen mail scams and how they work. They are by far in the minority compared to standard email scams that are successful. They aren't even the head of the pimple of the back of pure email scams. As I mentioned it is a question of risk, and at the moment, the risk is far greater from email phishing scams alone than stolen email, whether or not they are followed up by targeted phishing. Yes, but they don't send the letters. Their prices will reflect the cost of sending the declining economies of scale., They can do the same as Danish Poste and stop sending letters, and leave the goivernment to send its letters through private contractors or couriers if required. My point ius yes, it is and will become more expensive to send letters. But governments (the senders of the letters) are not known for cost efficiency. Over here, the Royal Mail was privatised years ago. With the declining economies of scale and the introdution of competition, it is expensive. Apartt from 2 years, they have still turned a profit on letter delivery - it is true that parcel delivery (Parcel Force arm of the Royal mail)_ is more profitable. Sort of yes, and sort of no. Yes, people are fre to make a decision to send a letter or not. But the Danish government will only send emails except for specific exemptions (I forgot to put this in my previous post): You may not be happy to accept email because you anre not confident in its security. Too bad. My lazy comment is not aimed at yourself. And it is meant in terms of not always thinking things through when taking the new, more convenient option. Some people are more diligent than others, but how much fraud was before people started taking notice of this risks with eBanking, ecommerce, clicking on email links and the sort. A little forethought - not much - would have identified these riuks and have people take mitigating actions well beforehand rather than play catch up. And I am not saying don't do email.. I never have. It would be a ridiculous proposition for your sone to send a daily letter (well in advance of the time) to tell his employees the priorities of that day. Of course that is the case. In that case the risk is low. I imagine, someone in his company receiving a phishing email to sign onto home banking or they lose their life savings purportedly originating from your son would be treated with the disdain it should be. The examples you give are simply not applicable to what I was referring to.

I agree., which is why I don't buy Chinese (and from other oppressive regimes) where I can.. I can't always buy something not made in China. It is a sad indctment of humanity that we care more about saving a few bucks that how we direct our resources to make a better world (which is subjective - I know). China has obtained dominance on price, justlike Japan and Taiwan befoew. The difference is the former allowed their economies to develop naturally, whereas China oppressively keeps their costs artifically low against the rest of the world. Acknowledging China is the super-manufacturer as a result, my purchase decision tree is something like: If I can source it made from non-oppresive regimes (China is one), buy it from a non-oppressive regime. If I can only source from an oppressive regime (e.g. China), try and buy from a firm from a non-oppresive regime that set up in the oppresive regime and accept that it somewhat endorses something even worse. If I can only buy it from a firm owned and manufactured in an oppressive regime, then so be it. Also, try not top buy from a non-oppressive regime where the is owned by a Chinese or other oppresive regime firm.. And of course, consider if I really need it if I can't source it the first way. It's a personal choice.

I agree with your post of which I quoted an extract. In your case, it is perfectly fine. In other cases, such as my mother who lives in a country town outside of Melbourne, it is very high risk - not the valid emails - but the phishing. I reiterate, these are becoming increasingly sophisticated and even tech savvy people fall for them from time to time. In my mother's case, I have imposed on her a rule to contact me or my brother before clicking any link she thinks is valid. There are millions like her in different demographics. What about those who live independently, but are metnally challenged, etc. There was an article in The Age or the Guardian a few yers ago where an IT journo unwittingly got scammed and he or she admitted she should have known better. I get all of the economics and the decline in mail. However, a govenment isn't about efficiency first - to suggest it is, is a furphy. And let's be frank, neither are large corporations. My point is it is not right to force a method of delivery - allow people to opt in - no probs. But the system is not safe. It has been implemented by the organisations safely in the way you describe, but that does not stop the scammers using to to scam people with far more success than is reported in the media. When the technology is safe enough, then great - force everyone to use it. My term about laziness wasn't people are lazy. But we rush into new convenient methods without thinking through the consequences. Australia is trailblazin as is the UK with what I think are sensibly targeted controls - a balance of protecting the rights of communications through the internet but curtailing the worst of it. It has taken how many years, in the face of those vociferous voices promoiting no internet censorship in th epursuit of free speech. In 2000, I argued in a forum that the internet had morphed into another mass media distribution channel and that, like TV, radio, newspapers, and the like, where moral-based censorship applied that still allowed free speech, the internet should be subject to such controls - with an opt in based on people who could verify their age (I suggested credit card or optical recogniton of official government docs wold suffice). This would allow the ISP to unblock traffic to their client and their client assumes responsibility at that stage. The team promoting non-censorship[ raised the government oppression argument, which I agree with, but also put the responsibility on the parents of parental control, which I totally disagree with. Even today, there is evidence that a massive majority of people do not understand the technology sufficiently to adopt practices to protect children from harmful content, and neither have the knowledge, resources, or time to continually monitor. The UK parliament decided to not require an opt into adult content, however, required the telcos to strengthen the parental controls they could adopt at the ISP level. This omitted one big issue - VPNs - which allow circumvention of these controls. A friend of mine, who works in a similar space to me, was heartbroken when he leaned his sone was addicted to porn - and some not great aspects of it from an early age of around 14, despite deplying ISP based and local parental contol software. Kids are clever with tech and his son used all sorts of circumvention However, if the ISP had have blocked all of this sort of content and blocked VPN TCP/IP packets, his child may have grown up without the affliction. I am far from an expert on cybersecurity. We have dedicated teams and I would be paid a lot more than I am if I were an expert. But we received mandatory training and I try and keep myself well read in the area. I don't, as a habit, store documents on the cloud for a few reasons. Firstly, I think they are generally secure - but only as secure as anything else. Cybercrime is not the dark-hooded chap crackign passwords - it relies in the weakest links - software and human vulnerabilities. Therefore, Cloufd storage, IMHO, is as vulnerable as any other organisation - except they do our quite a bit of money into cybe protection. But recently, both Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure werehacked causing outages.. so that speaks for itself. The other thing I don't like about it is that despite assurances, I don't trust these organisations to not snoopp on my stiff, use it to train artifical intelligence models (to their risk with my stuff), and, probably with the exception oif Apple, provide a back door to law enforcement. Not that I have anything to hide per se. I use all local storage except for some photos and I pay Drop Box a small subscription if I want to share files/data. I use NAS disk array for backups, firewalled so that only a certain set of machines machine on my network should be able to access it.

I am not saying that we shouldn't tranistion to email. Most things sich as the sharing of engineering plans, and even tax returns, etc, are fine because even if they are intercepted, big deal. I have never met my accountant and when the books are submitted, they become public record anyway. Maybe ASIC charges a fee, whereas UK Companies House doesn't, but for a small chunk of change I can find out most of what I want to for any company or sole proprietor (and anything in between). My argument is that email is still not secure enough to force people to use it, even when the actions are performed though secure online services for some things - such as official government business and financial transactions. You're quite right. I didn't say snail mail entirely protects. What you didn't mention is that email phishing fraud really, really dwarves stolen letter fraud - so the chances of it are happening are quite low. And while the "success" rate of snail mail fraud is higher, the overall lost to fraud this way is significantly lower as well. Also, I couodn't find any data, but I would imagine that the success rate of letter fraud is dropping two for two main reasons: Firstly, with direct debit/BPAY, secondly,. most people these days that pay a recurring bill probably have the payee details stored anyway, fourthly (not sure about Australia), when paying new payees, you have to enter the account name, whether it is business or personal and the bank BSB and account and if they do not match, you are warned to check the bill. Also, if they decide to say up the bill significantly to increase their return, the utility company or whoever is likely to receive a phone call. And it is a lot of faff for the perpetrator. They have to steal the mail, scan the document, make the change, stuff the envelope making it look not tampered and deliver it again as the stamp has been stamped. In terms of the advice to send the bill to you electronically - it is good advice. Except for two things. Firstly, there is Business Email Compromise, which takes two forms. First, the hacker gets control of the email servers of the business and adulterates the email, as per this poor couple falling victim to: https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/hope-and-tom-paid-250-000-to-secure-their-dream-home-then-nearly-lost-it-all-20251104-p5n7pr.html The other is where a sniffer reads the email and attachment, makes the changes and immediately sends out a revised email, apologising for the mistake of payment details in the original email. If you want your physical bill untampered, yes, get it sent electronically. I agree. But, now you are expecting emails from that company, and there will inevitablly be a phishing email calling people to urgent action because of an imminent account closure or to validate or cancel an unusual transaction. And most people should ignore any links and log into their accounts, but sadly, even savvy people whose circumstances led to a lapse of concentration or the scammers merely put together some situation that coincidentally is very similar to the victims own at the moment, and in a lapse of concentration, they have clicked the link, divulged their credentials and their account has been drained in the blink of an eye. So, you may be stiffed $100 or so for your monthly electricity bill - once - and if you don't use BPAY or you ignore the payee being dfifferent to the banks record. I know of one person who had over £10K drained from their account. They eventually got it back, but ultimately we collectively pay. And my point is, at the moment, to default to receive snail mail for financial transactions, but allow people to opt into pure email. They either recognise and mitigate the risks, or they ignore them, or they choose not to. Despite the risks of mail theft and fraud, the risks around email at this point in time are much higher. And therefore, I would suggest the advice given by Victoria Police Mail Delivery and Security, aboive, is narrowly framed and does not take into account all of the risks. Well. I dunno.. I am normally happy to have their tops disrobed, but untitting sounds gruesome to me.

I agree... you can't avoid Chinese made.. I would still prefer the marketplace profit go to a non-Chinese outfit, though. Where I can buy non-Chinese, I do.. And yes, I check first.

I have been an Amazon customer since 1999 or thereabouts. I recall my first purchase. It was for the UK version of MYOB - an Australian accounting software package, which today, seems the easiest and best to use. Aussies do lead the world in practical software design - or did. It was super cheap, but after not receiving it for a week, I logged onto Amazon and used their site to raise a query. They refunded me that same day. A week later, the software arrived (it must have been posted from Aus). I raised a query to say I received it and was happy to pay. The response was their terms have performance agreements, and for this product line, the performance was not met, so even though I eventaully got it, it was on the house. I am sure this costed MYOB whatever revenue they made from it, but it also would have costed amazon the payment transaction fees, etc, unless their terms required MYOB to pay it back. Regardless, this received an A+ for caring for the consumer from me. And I have used them for most of my shopping since. Not because of the concenience, but because I know if something goes wrong, they are usually going to fix it, which I cannot say the same for other bricks and mortar retailers and other e-tailers. That was their value add. They did go through a period where their customer service fell, but I guess revenue started to decline, because it has picked up since. Like Octave, I am mindful of not wanting to continute to billionaires fortunes, and these days, because of the decline of the high street, the potential for virtual monopolies to develop, and Amazon's recent bad press on worker treatmnent. I direct my cash to other businesses as well. I try and buy from the local high street, but in Taunton, it seems daily that options reduce due to closures, unless I want a tattoo, vape, or a Turkish Haircut; none of which interest me. I now use UK e-tailers, but to be honest, they just don't do it as well. My aviation medical examiner sent me a link to Argos (UK bulk retailer now focusing more on online sales). The monitor he suggested was not in stock at my two closest stores, and I would have had to travel about 50kms to get to the nearest one in stock. Instead of saying collect next day at the nearest store or have it delivered (if obviosuly wasn't in a central warehouse). I thought not sending ot between stores was a little lacking as other e-tailers I use (Screwfix for building supplies, for example) will have an item out of stock delivered to the nearest store next day - even when out of stock in the central warehouse. So, Amazon got the revenue in this case. And I am expecting it today - new years day. I avoid Temu, Alliexpress and Co.. and anything Chinese where I can. I have for a long time spent my money on, as much as possible, a principalled basis and I try not to support regimes that artifically go for economic domination while at the same time opress human rights. I have seen first hand how these econimies work (think UAE) and it is shocking. f it means I pay more and have less, so be it.No one's perfect, and as I said, I am uncomfortable with Amazon's bad press lately on worker treatment. But they have made moves to address it at least, and I know someone senior in Amazon in the US who gives me some comfort it is slow progress but real. I can't say the same about China and other places. We purchased a motorcycle for my son last week (comes end of next week). We rather took a second hand, near new Japanese bike over a new gleamy Chinese bike that was probably 2/3 of the price of the bike we bought. I'll die poorer, but content that I minimised directing resources lagainst my principles. [edit] Oh, China ius using its clout to force tarrifs on Aussie beef as I type. Another reason to minimise my spend enriching a far more pernicous regime than Chump's..

A lot of government business is done digitially (online) these days in the UK as well. Most of it does not require a letter to be delivered, but the government still posts letters - reminders if you will. Some stuff is sent out via email, too. For example the UK has a separate TV tax to pay for the BBC (called a TV licence). As I recall I opted out of paper reminders and I get thw two I have to pay for by email. I am comfortable getting them by email as I have pretty good anti-scamming defences in place. I am not sure elderly, younger, or less diligent adopt the same approach. At the moment, other government services - even reminders by snail mail don't have an opt out of receiving paper based correspondence. His Maj's Revenue and Collections (HMRC), the DVLA (government road authority), and a hist of others will send correspondence via snail mail, and you have a chouce to satisfy the givernment business online or offline. So, yes, they are done digitally. But, they offer the service "manually" as well.. which with today's technology is largely automated from teh receipt of the form, anyway - well except for handwriting like mine. The problem I have with being forced to receive email is it is a scammers paradise. Sophisticated phishing scams presented as authentic emails (and SMS) from HMRC and other government departments have untittingly cost billions in stolen money, because people click the link in the email (or SMS) that takes them to very well imitated sites where they enter their credentials and before you know it, their accounts have been siphoned or their identity sold on. Because, for these scammers, they have already automatically logged onto the real system with your details before you realise it was a fake site. Yes, letters have their downsides - I have said that in my first post. Sadly, for Australia - not getting delivered ort being deliverered very late seems a common theme. Although the Royal Mail was privatised, it still is held to high standards and is seen as a very reliable service. So, as I said, it is horses for courses. But, one of the things post is good for is reducing the occurence of this style of scamming. It is expensive to send lettets - especially since privatisation - but because the success rates of phishing is very low, the net result is likely to be a cost to the scammer - not a profit - so they don't bother. Contrast email - especially since very few people are on encrypted and secure email - once I have the digital assets to accurately impersonate the site - which is not expensive - gooing phishing is cheap - how much does it cost to send a few billion emails? Probably the cost of one postage stamp here. Yes, snail mail is expensive at point of use.. but at what cost later? I am not sure about Australia, but here the law or at least the code of conduct is that banks will reimburse money scammed from customer accounts (after proving it was a scam - and some banks are worse than others). If it is the same in Australia, don't complain about the account fees you get.. everything has to be paid for at some stage. I am not against the dropping of snail mail, but email is a horribly insecure method of communication. Using simple packet sniffers, the vast majority of emails can (and probably are) easily read by anyone. No doubt, Kali Linux has some tool that makes it even easier than masterin TCP/IP to get at your email. I think snail mail should be an option for official government business unless the user opts out after being explained the risks, as they accept (or choose to ignore) the risks. People are naturally lazy, and email is quicker and easier. For 99% of correspondence, that is probably not an issue, but for formal correspondence, it can be,. Banks here and in Europe send emails, but never provide a link, nor provide attachments. The email will tell you to use your app or log into online banking. Same with utilities and other businesses. And they are forever sending emails to remind us never to click on their links. Yet, people receive an email looking authentic saying their accoutn will be closed unless they confirm a transaction - and click here to confirm... and they click. I agree with everything that is efficient and beneficial of using email over snail mail.. but I am not convinced the security has been properly addressed and we are paying for that downstream.

Here's a random thought... Happy new year everyone.. Hope it is a good one!

My point is, though, that the government letters - e.g. tax demands, welfare info updates, etc ig being done electronically, may open up a pandoras box of phishing based scamming and unless the government have dep-loyed lots of education and safeguards, there may be an adjustment period where someone had better have the resources to repay victims of fraud... It is only an anecdotal premonition, of course.

Obviously the article thows up a lot more questions than it answers. And of course. snail mail is subject to similar issues. The problems I see are that individual email servers can be configured differently, and, although I guess a lot more reliable than snail mail, issues of reliability have to be questioned. For example, the execution of legal court documents - how does one prove the receiver received it. I know summons are served by bailiffs, couriers, and the like, but lesser documents are usually done by mail. Where there is no physical recording of receipt (I can set up my own mail server which will contain my email address and switch off delivery receipts for example). Forgery of emails is stupidly simple. I can forge the email I receive or purported to send. Who did the forgery - the sender or the receiver? Unlike paper copies (which can too be forged, but a lot easier to pick up), there is no definitive record unles someone deploys a stsndard of file system protection (of which the standard's name I forget). How does this help scammers. While personal letter usage has undoubtedly dropped off the charts, all government and most financial services correspondence is done by snail mail. You will sometimes receive notification to expect the snail mail and to not treat it as junk mail. This means those scammers that phish via impersonating government departments - for example the nations revenue service - will have a field day; anbd it will be the more vulnerable to fall prey to it. Of course, I am sure there are answers to the questions, but I don't trust bureaucrats nor corportate types to think of them until it starts happening.

That is dangerously cool!

Dang it.. although put on my Christmas wish list, it didn't come. I think I can read it on Kindle Unlimited. Anyway, I haven't ridden the bike much since the first major commute.. It seems as I have got older, the faff about putting on the kit to go riding has become more of an impediment compared to the convenience of jumping into a car than it used to be. I am also guessing living an an uncongested part of the world and down narrow country lanes also helps the car in the mode of transport selection. But, I have had a couple of rides since.. all local and mainly for shopping. The correct plate for the topbox finaly arrived and has been installed. The topbox fits neatly and has been put to good use for Christmas shopping, including picking up the turkey (I severly dislike turkey as an eating meat). I noticed the brake light wasn't being activated when operating only the front brake. I bought a £5 replacement part from eBay, but needn't have bothered. One of the wires came off from the original switch and it was clear a bodge job of a rair on that cable had been done. With the storm guards fitted, it was a pain to fix, but I finally managed to properly connect the broken wire, solder it, and seal it, and it is as good as new. On Sunday, the wx was fantastic - sunny, 8 degrees C, little wind, so I gave it a bit of a ride around town. I was also testing out a camera mount that bolts to the windscreen, but it is too unstable even for image stabilisation. One of the things the deer crash taught me is have a dash cam or similar going. I have also noticed the mechanic seems to have overfilled the oil. I will take a reading tomorrow in accordance with the process stipulated in the owners handbook, and if so, it will be off to the shop to get them to drain some of the oil. The stator in the CBF1000A only likes it when the oil quantity in within the right range.

What was wrong with knowing where the filler cap was located before getting in the car. I had no idea about the arrow/bowser indicating where it was. Never had a problem locating the filler cap yet.

I take your point on the off road learning.. and I also think, for example, spins and probably basic aeros or at least upset prevention and recovery training should be taught as part of the PPL syllabus. But syllabus content is not the question. I was using scooter as an example of a bike a 16 tear old can ride. A 16 year old with a CBT (learners permit) can also ride a 125CC bike, of which wheel size (except for width of cheaper ones) is comparable with bigger bikes. Mind you, it is more the behaviour of the riders than the size of the wheels they are on that is the issue. My stepfather happily rode a C90 to and from work in Melbourne and the only times there were problems were other drivers or himself.. and those darned tram tracks. I happily rode my 11bhp CG125 around London and even on the motorways - although it was embarressing being overtaken by laden tippers on uphil sections... Although I can see there could be situations where not having enough power coiuld be dangerous, in the c. 6 months daily riding in all conditions before going onto the unrestrcited licence training and taking the test on a Kawasaki ER5 and moving straight to the VFR750, I never encountered any such situation.

Probably should start another thred... I don't intirinsically disagree as things are rarely black and white and we should try and cater for individuals where possible. And I agree that a blanket CC limit is futile - the pre-2011 unrestricted Aprilia RS125 could easily hit 170kph... But so can many of the approved Vicroads LAMS models. The BMW G650GS is onme approved bike... According to Google it also has a top speed of 170mph. The difference is that in a larger bike, the torque usually provides much better acceleration and smoolther ride, masking the feel of speed to inexperienced riders. Also, in the UK, it is nto a blanket 125cc limit. The bike cannot exceed 14.6bhp.. period. The other thing to bring into the equation is that the risk of an inexperienced rider having a crash, if insurance data is at all reliable is a lot higher than that of experienced riders. Even if the power/weight ratio is the same, the consequences on a heavier bike have the potential to be much higher than a lighter bike thanks to Newton's second (force = mass x acceleration) and 3rd law (every action has an equal and opposite reaction). Collisions will by definition be subject to greater force if the mass is greater. I would be surprised if too many learners would think bigger bike such as a G650GS, let alone a Pan European or Triumph Trophy is going to be light or zippy as a scooter. In the UK, you have to take the test on the class of bike your licence level permits you to ride. Before you are permitted to ride a class of bike on the road, you have to have experience and proved you can safely handle it. Admittedly, the classes are probably too narrow.. For the driving environment in the UK, which is very different to Australia, except probably for some inner city suburbs such as Port Melbourne or Brunswick, I think a 125CC/14.6bhp bike is generally too small even for a 16 year old (let alone the 18 year old minimum in Vic - at least it was 17 years and 9 months when I did it). I think, for the UK, a 250cc of the ilk of a Honda CB250 would be adequate. In Australia, where the closed ion congested environment is by far the minority of the driving environment, LAMS seems more appropriate. I liken it to flying. Very few start ab initio training in a complex fast single (I understand Cirrus has a program). Most start in a light and simple beast, albeit rarely nippy; get familiar with the basics and progress.