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271

General Car Chat / Re: Sad news for Opti

« on: 05 July 2019, 00:26:32 »

Google as Google does put a group of committed greens & engineering PHDs together as an incubator to plan & execute Google's green renewables future & new income streams. After 5 years the division has closed as their conclusion was that renewables can never ever be made to work without the current fossil fuel power generation being in place 24/7 as backup with many plants just sitting on idle to chime in at a moments notice to keep grid stability due to the intermittent nature of renewables. Some of their other conclusions were:

1. Not enough global cobalt reserves.
2. Society has progressed from wood to coal to oil & gas & finally nuclear with ever increasing power densities & lowering of costs. Renewables are a regression from this & battery backup in the quantities required is a non-starter in terms of natural resources, cost & numbers.
3. The only viable route if you want to reduce CO2 (although god knows IMO why you would possibly want to stop this most welcome survival of plants & multi-cellular life saving CO2 correction over a complete carbon cycle) then nuclear fusion & fission is the only way forward & if you look at the number of nuclear power station deaths they are a fraction of those of miners & without all these OTT safety systems electricity really would be too cheap to bother metering.

Lot of these green fantasies are now going to hit the cold light of reality, so make a choice, follow the green fantasies, deindustrialise & regress back to the middle ages, their lifestyles & lifespans or accept what is doable as we continue to advance society & civilization. If you look at what progress we have made in the last 200 years in terms of knowledge, innovation, energy efficiency & reducing pollution, what can we achieve in the next 200?

272

General Car Chat / Re: Sad news for Opti

« on: 04 July 2019, 23:34:02 »

How does that compare to the sales of normal cars?

I suspect that we're barely a couple of years from another global economic meltdown 

Lots of negative figures suggest about a 6 month lead in time to the next recession. Trump's trade wars are one of a number of factors with uncertainty holding back investment. US freight levels & revenues show that their economy is slowing down. This has been an unusually long economic cycle. EU is in much worse shape where they are already having an economic slowdown from QE stopping but ZRIP & NRIP continuing. The failure beyond using smoke & mirrors to pretend non-performing bank loans are perform & will be paid back is going to hit EU banks hard, just don't mention the war or Deutsche Bank. We need to be out of the EU on 31/10 with no deal or an outline WTO Article XXIV FTA so zero tariffs for both sides apply as May's surrender document makes us liable for up to €1tn in joint Eurozone bailout funds for up to 10 years after we leave. If we get caught for this it will massively increase UK sovereign debt & probably higher long term interest rates.

273

General Discussion Area / Re: Happy Independence Day

« on: 04 July 2019, 23:11:57 »

Why would we be wanting to wish each other happy independence day ? We aren't Americans. 

Exactly. There's some on here wish they were though.

Yes, WE ARE British and proud of it!!

But, look around us, how much American culture are we now surrounded with, as I, and you, use American software with an IT system that, to me, only reflects the USA - Christ, usually there is only English - USA version available on our gadgets, with spell checker even confusing me on the correct spelling of many words!!

That is the price we have paid for the United States bailing us out just as we were about to become part of the Third Reich.  So, what would you prefer if you could adjust that bit of history - in my field it is called "counter-factual history"?

No, today let the Americans and the free people of Europe celebrate Independence Day, as really that is what it is for each and every one of us: freedom away from the likes of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union.

No doubt at a rate of interest that  QuickQuid or Wonga would like.

We have never been equal partners with the USA. They say jump ......we ask how high?

Yes, absolutely right.  As the British Empire said that to foreigners and sent in gunboats to ensure it happened, in the American century of "empire" we have had to obey them.  If WW2 didn't start to reflect that fact, the Suez Crisis of 1956 certainly confirmed it totally and utterly.

And the Falklands, though few will admit it.

Oh yes, very true .

A lot went on behind the scenes in the USA

Getting the latest version of Sidewinder AAMs made a massive difference with its much better IR sensor which resulted in a much improved launch to hit ratio for Sea Harriers. The US also supplied Stinger MANPADs which a member of the SAS used to shoot down a Pucara.

The list of Argentinian aircraft destroyed:

https://www.naval-history.net/F64-Falklands-Argentine_aircraft_lost.htm

274

General Discussion Area / Re: Southern water.

« on: 02 July 2019, 19:32:48 »

IMV when they were privatised their ownership by other state governments should have been prohibited, along with a limit on the maximum percentage of shares in overseas hands.

275

General Discussion Area / Re: Southern water.

« on: 01 July 2019, 18:15:02 »

As a badly regulated monopoly, they are licence to print money companies, with profits of up to 25%. Needless to say European governments have bought some of them so we subsidise their taxpayers & the rest are owned by sovereign wealth or hedge funds. Hedge funds normally play the asset stripping game of slice & dice the company to sell on the parts at a profit until somebody is left with a worthless shell they paid a pound for where it has massive creditor debts & pension deficits. They then go into administration where the creditors lose most of what they are owed & the pensioners have to rely on what the government bailout fund pays out.

Not sure if I will get a refund as my water is supplied & I'm billed by Southern Water but the grey water waste is handled by Thames Water?

276

General Discussion Area / Re: Nice Jolly..

« on: 29 June 2019, 02:59:01 »

Not absolutely related to the thread but I think it’s worth a look if you’ve not seen it before and I’m sure you’ll know what they are


https://youtu.be/Gv9iIpeU4TE

Doing that speed at all of about 6' off the deck must have been such a rush 

Low level ground attack and general flying was the mark of some of the RAF crack squadrons.  Is that still the case?

Great to witness!!

1991 Gulf War showed the vulnerability of flying low, especially using JP233 runway denial munitions, ask John Nichols. Tornado with its terrain following was optimized for this role where it could terrain follow at 50', but it was very vulnerable to small arms ground fire.

The US approach with their much bigger air force could fly above small arms ground fire at medium level & suppress SAMs and radars, through a combination of ECM and anti-radiation missiles like the AGM-88 HARM. The Gulf War vindicated the US approach.

5th generation stealth aircraft are designed to operate in modern A2D hostile environments, how well they will work in S400 defended areas remains to be seen with their range of radars frequencies & IR detection systems. Stealth technology has in the past concentrated on long range radar systems, where the current technology is at will obviously be classified.

The start of the 1991 air war was with AH64 Apaches taking out Iraqi air defence radars to create an air corridor with this article providing the best description to date I've seen http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/1991/October%201991/1091apache.aspx on the operation, which also illustrates the high standards to which Western forces train & operate at, which is a major asset for NATO.

About 15 years a oo I had the opportunity to fly a Chinook simulator at RAF Benson for about 10 minutes. The avionic flight control systems made it very easy as after takeoff you could set your altitude, pitch the nose forward to gain speed without losing height. Very different from flying a basic helicopter with their 3-axis cross coupling. I'm sure TB has experienced this with his models and just to takeoff and hover and land again is a major achievement.

277

General Discussion Area / Re: Is this how the metropolitan elite see the North?

« on: 26 June 2019, 10:06:22 »

I took the dogs a wander round newmillerdam late last year, first time in 10 years I went back,

lots of single mums walking kids and dogs, struck up a conversation with a couple, started by them, must be a pickup place??

For dogs?

The Scimitar is the new Marina Coupe, don't you know!

The Marina Coupe is irreplaceable.... 

Be thankful for small mercies...

I always wondered why the doors (2) on the Marina coupe looked so small and out of proportion.

The answer is simple.......BL were too tight to design and manufacture larger doors, so used the same doors as found on the 4 door Marina saloon.


Still, this minor point didn't stop the young Sir Tigger from getting his end away.

Poor access to rear seat = Harder for them to escape.

I imagine he was also familiar with Rohypnol in order to subdue the more active 'Darzett farm girls'.

For when Cider doesn't quite get the job done, you mean?.

Talking about cider, Cider with Rosie is a lovely read of old, before even the Marina came about, and even before Marina featured in Stingray, so back in the day of Opti's childhood!

Well, I had to get involved in this thread........!

That was one of the set books in my GCE English Literature course at school along with The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare & Arms and The Man by Shaw.

Of the 3 books that was the most enjoyable..

278

General Discussion Area / Re: MH17 Charges

« on: 24 June 2019, 19:37:04 »

Very unlikely that they will ever end up on trial where Putin tends to look after his own. There are also the 8 BUK SAM operators, some of whom Bellingcat have identified & they would be much more expendable where targeting the wrong aircraft has clearly had major repercussions for Russia.

279

General Discussion Area / Re: Boris Row

« on: 24 June 2019, 18:53:33 »

Boris is still on target to get ~65% of the Conservative party votes, where this is seen as the remainer stitch up, that it is. Hunt is now making the PM contest ugly & personal with his comments on Boris. Hunt is throwing stones in his glass house, where he forgot to register his parliamentary interest in buying 7 London flats with a 'bulk discount' from a Tory party donor which has also broken money laundering laws. Easy mistake, I guess, where we would all tend to forget to register minor purchases like this.

But the real significant news today is that 12 Tory MPs say they will bring down the government on a no confidence vote if Boris tries to leave on the 31/10 with no deal. This will deservedly kill the Conservative party if it results in a GE where the Brexit Party will then form the next government.

280

General Discussion Area / Re: Trump Shows Maturity!

« on: 24 June 2019, 17:44:33 »

Trump was told that escalating events in Iran, possibly leading to war, by his 2020 reelection polling & focus group teams would cost him getting reelected, so he pulled it.

US has been ramping up for 2020 since the mid-term elections, so like Boris, Trump is on his best behaviour. All 1st term US presidents tend to do very little in the last two years of their presidency while they concentrate on getting reelected.

Too early to tell how Trump will fare until the primaries end & we know who he is up against.

281

General Discussion Area / Re: Import duty from U.S. ?

« on: 24 June 2019, 17:27:13 »

There will also be the shippers additional fees for the privilege of being charged duty & VAT. Two items I recently bought ~£150, one from the US & the other from Hong Kong I paid about £45 on one where final charges were through the Royal Mail and £56 on the other through FedEx. The FedEx charges were almost double the Royal Mail ones.

Neither parts were available in the UK so I had no choice but to buy abroad & import. Sourcing & buying stuff abroad is so much easier now than when I first started importing stuff into the UK in my teens.

282

General Discussion Area / Re: Wheel of misfortune

« on: 15 June 2019, 13:33:45 »

Good luck to all of you that feel lucky that your unchecked wheel nuts are tight and for those not so cool unlucky cats trying to use their tenth life:

I was standing at the pearly gate to learn my fate,

I told St Peter I was going at a rate as I was late.

As he pointed down at the fire,

I told him it wasn't my fault I lost the wheel and tyre.

He point down again and said I don't care,

I said, it was the tyre fitters fault and that's not fair.

A frown on his face and a take him down yell,

It no longer matters, that this didn't end well.

283

General Discussion Area / Re: Net Zero

« on: 15 June 2019, 11:12:14 »

The absolute stupidity of virtually all humans & the triumph of political control & propaganda. Except for one or two on here it fascinating to watch the sheeple at work taking in every 1984-est climate change, emergency or what ever this week's in propaganda word is, using the easiest to brainwash, which are children, as their frontline troops and also as Stalin's told us "They will believe every lie if you repeat it often enough" and virtually all of you on here certainly do.

The quickest way to exterminate life on Earth is carry on with the decline of CO2 until the most welcome current correction is snuffed out. CO2 is not a pollutant but a clear, odourless gas and absolutely essential for all multicellular life. Insufficient amounts of it <120ppm and C3 plants can't grow.

This is why:

140 million years a go CO2 was 3000 ppm and multicellular life had been exploding in variety & quantity during the 4000ppm CO2 preceding Jurassic period. The earth was warmer with no ice poles and sea levels were higher. Two key parts of this are our complete dependence on plants: All multi-cellular life depend on them directly or indirectly for energy & nutrients. Without them Earth's multicellular life is over.

The explosion of plants included the evolution of trees and at that time there was no bacteria or fungus that could breakdown wood so as they died they ended up buried in the ground covered by new layers of sedimentary rock and heat & pressure turned them into seams of coal locking in their carbon.

Sea creatures as part of their defences created hard shells which contains carbon as they died locking in further carbon which over time, heat and pressure created calcium carbonate or chalk. The carbon based creatures as they decomposed produced methane (natural gas) and hydrocarbon residues (oil) which were locked into the earth by further layers of sedimentary rock. Please note: That coal, natural gas & oil are all produced through natural processes and are a natural resource.

The sea acts as a massive CO2 sink. During cold periods if contains more compared to warm periods, so the atmosphere contains more CO2 as it warms up and is released from the sea. This is a lagging process, so doomsday thermal runaway predictions, should never be viewed with anymore creditibily that children's bedtime fables.

We are still in an interglacial period with temperatures about 2^oC below the last billion year average as we continue to recover from the last ice age. Part of this has been a constant 1mm rise per year in sea levels and this has not changed. Areas like Scandinavia are still rising from the loss of glacial weight, which had pressed down on them during the last ice age, the same applies to Scotland.

What we get from the climate cycles are also carbon cycles and a double whammy during cold periods of less heat and CO2 where plants need both for photosynthesis, along with water which means that grow much more slowly, if at all. This hit an all time low of 150ppm during the last ice age, just above 120 ppm at which C3 plants start getting into trouble surviving.

If this decrease in CO2 continues then the earth is barren within 2 million years, with multicellular life extinct. Then the heroes arrived, humans and started burning wood & later coal, oil & gas, releasing the carbon as CO2 so life won't end after all, until the current 20th-21st century stupid people & politicians did as well and they are backing the extinction route.

PS: Politicians don't want you to know this as they can't have absolute control over your lifestyles, punitive tax rates & their personal enrichment. So please keep believing suckers, but don't expect history to treat you well.

284

General Discussion Area / Re: Oil Tankers Bombed - Iran vs USA

« on: 15 June 2019, 08:39:38 »

This Statfor article well worth reading where they are one of two US companies (the other Geopolitical Futures. Both founded by George Friedman, who lives & breaths geopolitics) focusing on why Iran has attacked the tankers to boost popularity at home. I'm aware there has been significant unrest reported over the last 6 months due to sanctions & workers not getting paid. How they have brutally rebuffed Japanese PM Abe where his diplomatic mission was to try & reduce tensions between US & Iran & why such a brazen move makes very dangerous but strategic sense for the Iranian leadership.

https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/iran-going-all-against-us-trump-nuclear-oil-tanker-hormuz

Iran is backed by the usual anti-west suspects of China, DPRK with missile & nuclear technology and Russia with nuclear material and missile technology. Russia has also supplied S300/S400 SAM systems to Iran. These are formidable A2D systems, especially the S400 which has anti-stealth capabilities.

https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/iran-may-have-the-s-400-in-all-but-name-what-russia-really-delivered-in-2016-and-why-it-matters

This 2008 paper on both the Iranian & US options is well worth reading but keep in mind that this was before the Russian update of Iranian air defense systems & the US has been massively updating their anti-mine & mine planting systems in contested airspace including the use of standoff weapons & drones.

https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/isec.2008.33.1.82

What also needs to be remembered is that Russia under Putin has been updating and preparing their armed forces for fighting a war tomorrow, whereas the West after 1991 has got very complacent, concentrated on low-level wars against terrorists with many deficiencies when it come to fighting major adversities. Europe is largely unprepared to be able to fight any major war against major adversities with the UK and France best placed for bit parts.

https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/isec.2008.33.1.82

If Iran decides to block the Strait of Hormuz then expect it to be closed for 1 to 3 months with a massive oil price spike & fuel shortages at best.

Weak defences encourage adversaries to try their luck & test the resolve of those they want to subdue or conquer. Western complacency, since 1991, against the Chines, Russian, Iranian & DPRK military expansion & modernization is indeed making this a very dangerous world, which is probably going to end very badly where we have empowered our enemies with their plying & European dependency on Russian oil & gas (which could / can be largely avoided by fracking known European reserves, hence lots of Russian money & agents backing for anti-fracking treehugger green groups) and our addiction to cheap Chinese tat.

285

General Discussion Area / Re: Wheel of misfortune

« on: 14 June 2019, 02:29:44 »

I'm sure that when Varche is struggling in the pissing rain to tighten his nuts with a pair of tweezers on the side of a Spanish motorway somewhere near San Sebastian tomorrow, he'll remember your wife's cut finger and will wonder what the message was!   

Good that Varche's wife in the future can have a cut finger & talk about it. I can create a very, very long list of those that have died far too young, especially in my teens as a biker, to not appreciate and be very happy that Brian & his wife have thankfully got away with it.

Now is not a good time to lecture me on accidents or death as a 80yo BA retired ground crew neighbour died last week over tripping over a Hoover lead. As a widower he used to go for his daily two pints, at our local social club but didn't turn up for several days. The bar steward went round to his house, reluctantly went into the house through his unlocked backdoor out of concern and found him with a congealed bloodied head where he had hit it followed by multiple strokes, where he was too paralysed on one side to get up and as he tried had wrapped himself more and more around the lead. Where he had laid for a few days on his side he had a black no-circulation  arm which was not pretty. Frimley Park hospital said he would not last the weekend & he didn't. There is no good way to go but this was pretty horrendous & as is along with too many RTA bits of friends in cars or stroon down the road from bikes, not to mention the severely brain damaged, wheel chair bound crippled survivors that I've also known.