GRIPES

[Bruce]

New gripe... I got angry at the tax office bullies and their treatment of that whistle-blower. What sort of country are we becoming ?

 

My grandfather fought in the first world war against just this sort of thing.. who gave them permission to have secrets from the taxpayers who pay their money anyway?

 

 

[Yenn]

The Leyland P76 would have been a good car if it had been properly put together. They used to pull them apart and rebuild, including doubling the welded body joints, then they could go well in the Dakar rally.

 

Of course there were never any decent cars produced by the English after the early sixties. One of the worst cars I ever drove was a hired Vauxhall in the UK about ten years ago. It was nearly as bad as the old Hillmans used to be.

 

 

[red750]

Two gripes today.

 

1 Still waiting for global warming to kick in here in Melbourne. Two jumpers, tracky dax under my trousers and I'm still freezing. My fingers are like icicles - I need electric gloves. I have a cold sore under my nose from constantly blowing it.

 

2. Petrol. A long weekend coming up. Less than a week ago, petrol was $1-33.9. Now -

 

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[Bruce]

Yes Yenn, the P76 of mine had one annoying problem... one of the back doors let dust in.

 

I have a theory about English engineering. There is too big a gap between the lower people who make things and the toffs at the top who own things. So they don't communicate.

 

 

[facthunter]

Funny about the long weekend effect on fuel prices. Happens every time No collusion between servo's though but he prices all go up in a area at the same time. Pity cars don't run on B$. Nev

 

 

[red750]

Wish I had an lpg car, it's currently 69.9c/l

 

 

[Marty_d]

Two gripes today.

1 Still waiting for global warming to kick in here in Melbourne. Two jumpers, tracky dax under my trousers and I'm still freezing. My fingers are like icicles - I need electric gloves. I have a cold sore under my nose from constantly blowing it.

 

2. Petrol. A long weekend coming up. Less than a week ago, petrol was $1-33.9. Now -

 

[ATTACH=full]4133[/ATTACH]

What are you complaining about?? It hasn't been below 1.50 for what seems like years down here.

 

 

[nomadpete]

Now you're cherry picking your data.

 

Your statement prove's nothing about climate trend.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Now you're cherry picking your data.Your statement prove's nothing about climate trend.

I reckon a couple of million Victorians would agree with Red that it’s b... cold! Strong statistical support.

 

 

[red750]

Pete, it was a JOKE, Joyce.

 

 

[nomadpete]

Peter, I was being sarcastic.

 

'Cos so many persons on both sides of the alleged 'climate debate', spoil their own argument by cherry picking instead of using verifiable data.

 

 

[Bruce]

The cold snap was only on the eastern side of a big slow moving high pressure system centered well south. On the western side, it would have brought warm air way south of where it normally was.

 

Overall, the effect on average temperatures would have been little or nothing.

 

There were some record cold times in Europe while the arctic had record heat at the same time.

 

 

[Bruce]

If climate change is really happening, the price of food will be going up. ( Actually I reckon it is )

 

Luckily for deniers, there are lots of other things to blame : The politicians, the Chinese, the environmentalists, excessive regulation, not enough regulation, and the local council. Other blameworthy lots can be added if you like.

 

 

[octave]

If climate change is really happening, the price of food will be going up. ( Actually I reckon it is )Luckily for deniers, there are lots of other things to blame : The politicians, the Chinese, the environmentalists, excessive regulation, not enough regulation, and the local council. Other blameworthy lots can be added if you like.

I think a fundamental problem is that we have not evolved to notice long term changes. Our brains are good at identifying imminent threats but they are quite bad at noticing slow changes. Back in the day the hearing cracking sound of the branch we were sitting on or seeing the vague shape of a dangerous animal and we would act immediately. We now can measure small but significant changes in the composition of the atmosphere or changes in average temperature or even our own health. We know that certain diets or behaviours can cause us long term negative effects but still, a large proportion of society has a lot of trouble modifying their behaviour in order to avert future illness or early death.

 

The problem can be summed up as "we have an old brain which is not ideally suited to a new world".

 

The good news though is our new brain, if we use it wisely means we can measure things and we can extrapolate data to give us some idea of future consequences. We can take control of problems and innovate solutions. Many people can and do adopt healthier lifestyles. Some obese people do lose weight. Fewer people smoke now.

 

 

[Yenn]

The brain adapts pretty quickly. I noticed after about 20 years in construction and with all the new safety practices brought into the workforce that workers were less adept at spotting dangers.

 

Several times I had to haul young blokes out of the way of danger, but I was always in strife with the Workplace Health and Safety experts for my unsafe working attitude.

 

 

[old man emu]

I'll admit that each of us Australians contributes to atmospheric CO2 by the use of fossil fuels for various energy needs, but I can't see how statisticians can justify calling us gross polluters based on total emissions divided by population.

 

Here' what the 2015 figures show:

 

Australia: 381 million metric tonnes emitted / 23.85 million persons = 15.83 tonnes per person

 

Great Britain: 390 million metric tonnes/ 65.11 million persons = 5.99 tonnes per person

 

USA: 5000 million metric tonnes/ 321 million persons = 15.5 tonnes per person

 

China: 9000 million metric tonnes/ 1,371 million persons = 6.6 tonnes per person

 

 

[Marty_d]

So we're worse than the US! That's pretty gross.

 

 

[old man emu]

That's where the figures can be used to tell a false story. We only produce 1/13th of the CO2 that the US does. Their per capita value is low because their population is 13 time larger than ours

 

 

[pmccarthy]

And on a per land area basis we are the least polluting.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

That's where the figures can be used to tell a false story. We only produce 1/13th of the CO2 that the US does. Their per capita value is low because their population is 13 time larger than ours

Meaningless. What matters is that the average Australian is even more polluting than the average American- with our mild climate, this is shameful, and the world will punish us for it.

 

 

[Bruce]

Well at least we can still discuss the matter. The way the government is going, it will be declared an act of terror to say anything about climate change.

 

 

[Bruce]

There is a valid point about size of country and transport cost in terms of CO2. I wonder where Australia would rank if transport CO2 was omitted?

 

 

[facthunter]

Would there be a better place for solar, wind and pump hydro than the east coast of Australia and Tasmania? It's only Vested interests in Coal and Gas preventing the inevitable. The longer we delay the more cost we will pay. We could have been profiting from this new opportunity instead of procrastinating. and pushing up costs. Nev

 

 

[Methusala]

Boycott all Merd-ock media. Tell your LNP mhr that lies about carbon reduction schemes will result in picketing of their electoral offices. Tell your priest that you support women's rights over their bodies.

 

 

[spacesailor]

"Would there be a better place for solar,"

 

Australia was the very first country to ;use Solar to power a town.

 

spacesailor