octave

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I think this is happening. Melbourne switches on 2.4 MW solar carpark I can think of quite a few car parks shaded by solar panels. I would pose the question, why not do both? What is wrong with farming combined with solar, so-called "agrivoltaics"

E-bikes are brilliant. Hills need not be an issue. You can dial in the level of assistance you need but without taking all the effort out of it (unless you want to)

Recumbents are much kinder on the arse

Back in the day, we owned this. A tandem Greenspeed trike with trailer (with pedals). We did ride it to the Sutton driver training centre where there was the Human Powered Vehicle Association for a competition day. (100km trip). This was back in the mid-90s. There were many pedal vehicles with elaborate fairings however electric motors and batteries were a lot more primitive than today. We did get this trike to 80kph once down a pretty steep hill. . d

https://rac.com.au/car-motoring/info/car-doctor/speed#:~:text=The Australian Design Rules require,speed indicated by the speedo. Theoretically, GPS can be very accurate; however in practice GPS accuracy can vary depending on variables such as the terrain of the area you’re driving through, the presence of tall buildings, weather conditions, electrical interference and the number of satellites available to the GPS system (a minimum of three, preferably four). The Australian Design Rules require that a vehicle’s speedo must not indicate a speed less than the vehicle’s true speed or a speed greater than the vehicle’s true speed by an amount more than 10 per cent plus 4 km/h. This means that the vehicle’s true speed must not be higher than the speed indicated by the speedo. That is, at a true vehicle speed of 100km/h, the speedo must read between 100km/h and 114km/h. An alternative way to look at it is; at an indicated speed of 100km/h, the vehicle’s true speed must be between 86 km/h and 100km/h. Generally speaking, on modern cars the true speed is only a few km/h less that the indicated speed.

https://electricvehiclehub.com.au/information-centre/the-safest-evs-with-five-star-safety-ratings-in-2023/#:~:text=Summary,with five-star ANCAP ratings.

318 panels in the case of this particular Aldi. No, the carbon neutral claim is not made solely on the installation of solar panels as the link explained. Carbon neutrality in theory means not using power from carbon-creating sources. This means producing your own power (solar in this case) and purchasing other power from carbon-neutral sources. In the case of Aldi, I believe they have deals with local wind and solar farms. The other sources are carbon-negative projects such as tree planting projects etc. Also purchasing of carbon credits. There are some flaws in some of these schemes (carbon credits, etc.) But it is surely better than nothing. I suppose you could look at the panels on my roof and say "But they don't power everything all the time." I assume that Aldi (and others) get some benefit other than just being able to say look at us aren't we green? Here are some pictures of a shopping centre I regularly visit when I am in Adelaide.

This is my local Aldi, Also here is a link to an explanation ALDI Australia Powering its Operations with 100% Renewable Electricity

Many supermarkets do have solar panels on the roof at least which is financially smart given the heavy loads of lighting and refrigeration. Coles to install solar panels on 100 stores as part of landmark agreement with Origin   Woolworths Racks Up 150th Supermarket Solar Installation Off the top of my head, I can't think of any supermarket solar panels specifically over car parks in my area but on my regular visits to Adelaide we shop at a couple of shopping centres that have solar panels over carparks Elizabeth Shopping Centre – Solar Car Park

To digress from AI to the trolley problem. Here is a video where they actually try to run the experiment and it seems that it is not as straightforward as 1 life vs 5 lives. By the way, I would handle the trolley problem by waiting until the front wheels had passed and then switching before the back wheels got to the switching point thus derailing the train or trolley.

It is nice to find a lady who will "look after your rig" for free

Here is some parking I did recently. In the past I would pay for an hour or 2 in case I was delayed, now I pay for exactly what I use.

I have just started using a parking app on my phone and it is brilliant. You only pay for the parking you use. On my trip into town I used buy around $6 of parking just in case I took longer than planned. Now when I park the app detects the meter and I dial up the amount of parking on my phone that I think I might need. If I decide I need longer then I can remotely add time but more importantly, if I get back to my car early I can just press the "stop parking button and I am only charged for the actual time I use. What used to cost me $6 now usually costs me about $1.50

I guess if it did this it would be taking to a human slamming on the brakes in a similar situation. Having spent 20 years driving home 100km from Canberra to my bush property in the dark I have had plenty of near incidents and a hit. It is always a split-second decision wheteht to try and go around it, stop or just hit it. The question is does technology have a higher probability of a good outcome rather than a human.

I am not sure, but I imagine the law will decide at some stage if/when this happens. There are many technologies that whilst they are overwhelmingly positive on rare occasions cause negative consequences. To me what happens in this scenario is something we have to work out (or perhaps we already have) because the cold hard fact is - fewer deaths and injuries. .

@Asymeo you may feel you have not been given a warm welcome in this forum. Most of the posters here have been posting for some time and we tend to know each other quite well whilst preserving a certain amount of anonymity. Many folks here have their own particular conversational style, and we have gotten used to it. I am very accepting of all sorts of people and in fact, I do wish this forum had a more diverse membership. I must confess though that the language in your post is a little hard to understand (for me at least). Perhaps it would be useful to start by introducing yourself. As I say most of us here do value some level of anonymity however we do know something about each other. OME is a retired policeman, Red750 used to work in a bank. I am a retired musician, Jerryatrick is Australian but lives in England. What is your story? are you old or younger? are you retired or working? When the people here get to know you they will be totally accepting even if they disagree with you at times.

Full study here : A REALWORLD EVALUATION OF AUTONOMOUS EMERGENCY BRAKING AND FORWARD COLLISION WARNING IN AUSTRALASIAN LIGHT VEHICLES MUARC report shows potential for Autonomous Emergency Braking to reduce road fatalities 29 March 2023 A real-world evaluation of Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) and Forward Collision Warnings (FCW) in light vehicles has found significant potential to reduce trauma incidents. The recently-released MUARC report used police-reported crash data in Australia and New Zealand between 2013 and 2017 to estimate crash and injury reductions associated with AEB and FCW. Almost one third of all light vehicle crashes occurring in Australia and New Zealand during that timeframe could, with a high degree of certainty, have the potential to be avoided or mitigated by AEB. Approximately two thirds of these crashes were in 60 km/h or lower speed zones. A further 29% of all light vehicle crashes in Australia and New Zealand during that time could, with a lower certainty, be avoided or mitigated by AEB. The technology also showed the potential to prevent or mitigate around 3% of light vehicle to pedestrian crashes (90% of which were in 60 km/h or lower speed zones) and approximately 10% of intersection crashes (93% of which were in low speed zones). Based on the 2017 fitment rate, the results showed that AEB was estimated to mitigate 0.08% of all fatal, 0.14% of all serious and 0.10% of all minor injuries in Australia. For New Zealand crash data, AEB was estimated to mitigate 0.18% of all fatal, 0.09% of all serious and 0.06% of all minor injuries. If there was 100% fitment of AEB in Australia, the technology would lead to an estimated reduction of 8% of fatalities, 12% of serious injuries and 12% of minor injuries. Annually, this translates to a reduction of 126 fatalities, 3,731 serious injuries and 11,017 minor injuries. Full fitment of AEB in New Zealand would lead to a reduction in total injuries being 8% for fatalities, 8% for serious injuries and 7% for minor injuries. AEB was found to be more effective at reducing intersection sensitive crashes and associated injuries in high-speed zones. The technology was less effective at reducing fatal and serious injuries in low-speed zones. FCW showed less benefits compared to AEB. There was no evidence of reductions in minor injuries, PDO crashes, pedestrian sensitive crashes and intersection crashes. Overall, the report highlights the significant potential benefits of having 100% fitment of AEB and FCW in the light passenger vehicle fleet in Australia and New Zealand. The benefits demonstrated in the report cannot be achieved without drivers choosing new vehicles that include this technology. Therefore, the report’s authors suggest there is a need for either a mandate or persuasive communication to consumers on the benefit of AEB and FCW.

I was raised without being hit as was my wife. We are both law-abiding members of society. We never once hit my son, the idea is abhorent to us. He has grown up to be a kind a successful man and is in fact in my opinion a better man than me. He is certainly less judgemental. When you don't rely on inflicting pain as a teaching tool you have to rely on discussion and negotiation. This makes for a child that grows up into a kind adult and I would argue more intelligent in terms of solving problems intellectually rather than with fists.

No spare wheel is NOT purely an EV thing. Not having a spare is also an increasing feature of ALL cars. Got a Spare? Not on These Cars The thing that annoys me is the common media trick of taking something that may have a grain of truth and exaggerating it or taking a design disadvantage that applies to cars driven by electricity or fossil fuels but only making a fuss in relation to electric. The argument about spare tyres is an argument is just that an argument about carrying a spare tyre and it applies to my petrol-driven car as well. It is often said and I think has been said here that EV tyres are exotic and expensive and whilst you can go that way and pay a lot, in most cases you don't have to. Buy Tesla Model 3 Tyres from $169 My son has 3 cars. One is a motorsport car so obviously it doesn't carry a spare. The Tesla did not come with a spare but he does have one in his garage and could easily carry it if he thought it necessary. His other car is a tiny petrol-powered convertible and not only does it not come with a spare but if you wanted to carry a spare you couldn't, there is no room. My gripe is that my son's convertible without spare would not make it into a newspaper article purely because it is not electric. Whilst an EV is probably not yet suitable for you this argument tends to get distilled by others down to "you can't tow with an EV" Of course it has a substantial effect on your range but you can tow. Here is a picture of my son's Tesla. It tows this boat regularly. This boat, now finished has substantially more mass with its wooden masts etc. Of course, you would probably not want to tow this across the country however but this is so often misrepresented in the media

I think the issue is not so much inefficiency at cruise speed but efficiency at lower speeds. IC engines are extremely inefficient at low speeds and they get more efficient (to a certain point) at higher speeds. Electric motors simply use more energy the faster they turn and generally there is no gearing. Also IC engines (generally) spend time idling at traffic lights etc. Also regenerative breaking. Why is the range of an EV less on the freeway than the city?

I recognize Little Patty na Jade Hurley

We went for a walk up Flinders Peak a couple of days ago. My positives from this were the fact that I did not have a myocardial infarction from the climb and that the first signs of spring were showing.

There are definitely pros and cons to the new ways of getting music out there. The good thing about the new way is that there is much more diversity. In the past musicians had to convince a record company to back them. The record companies acted as gatekeepers. I think this new era of being able to get your music out there at a reasonable price is fantastic. It is true that artists don't make as much money per recording but in the old world a small number of artists made large sums of money but this came at the cost of diversity. You had to convince EMI or Sony that they could get rich off of you. Innovations such as home recording and streaming have certainly democratized the music industry I feel lucky to live in a time when I can listen to such a diverse range of music from 9th-century Gregorian Chant to something quirky recorded by someone last week.

Absolutely, I know many people who choose to always buy the CD however it does come at a price that is far greater than streaming.