kgwilson

The things that have permeated their way into our law enforcement authorities have become more right wing and in some eyes border on fascist principles and are in my opinion partly due to the rhetoric from our current political masters. A very recent example to cross my path was on Thursday not far from Grafton. A friend of mine was checking the boundary fencing on his rural property not far from his neighbour's house. He heard a loud yell & looked up to find 2 men dressed in black pointing high powered rifles at his head. He told me his first instinct was to run but within a second, reasoning kicked in & he knew he could not outrun a bullet so put his hands on his head. The 2 in black came forward continuing to train their rifles on him and demanded he get down & what was he doing on this property. On stating it was his land & what the hell were they doing, they said it was a crime scene & they could do what they liked. My friend finally got the senior detective or whoever to come down where it was all explained but the detective offered no apology, told him it was a crime scene & he should not have been there. WHAT !! He was on his own property. My friend who has suffered PTSD for over 20 years has since had several relapses. In the past most police would have apologised and moved on. Not so now. The attitude has changed. Power and right on behalf of officialdom has overstepped the mark now & that is a direct result of the pathetic chest beating rhetoric from the Abbot led dickheads.

Done. I found Outlook &/or Express OK so never worried about it before & then opened a Gmail account & as with most Google stuff works well. I use Chrome browser & have found that really good. Thunderbird is everything Windows mail isn't. Easy to use with heaps of features if you want them. Windows poor attempt at "Cloud" based Email is pathetic. Half the time it won't retrieve attachments & has few useful features. It is gone. Thunderbirds are go.

My old laptop still has XP, the pinnacle in Windows OS. I have just upgraded Windows 8.1 (didn't like it) to 10 on the desktop & basically it has no redeeming features other than bringing the start menu back which I got around with installing Classic Shell in 8.1. Windows mail gets worse by the upgrade. The decision to separate Contacts into a new App called People so you can somehow integrate with all the rubbish social media apps has rendered it almost useless. You can't set up distribution lists or have an "On Holiday" response etc. I use Gmail because it has all the features Windows mail doesn't & have a basically unused MS outlook account required for updates etc. They touted the "Search the Web & Windows" option on the task bar as a great improvement but I can't work out why. It still has to open a browser anyway. My verdict 1 out of 10.

The only thing I do with an apple is eat it. I avoid anything that locks you in & then over time spits you out. And what about all those different charge connectors for different models. Nope Android for me where I can get to the root directory, get rid of the bloatware ( & warranty as well usually) but run it the way I want.

Yep, we ran VMS for years from PDP11s through the Alpha range until HP took the helm at DEC. Running 24 x 7 operations meant absolute reliability was required so with clustering and quality RAID arrays only power failures beyond the UPS and backup generator capacity stopped us. The reality was that the factories shut down first whenever there was a brown substance and fan collision. When I refused the job offer from our new masters & took the money they were going to migrate everything onto a new environment with SAP at the front within 6 months. We were fully integrated from supplier to customer so I thought that was funny. That was in 2005 & the system I left still survives. It has a GUI front end on PC clients a fully integrated ERP & SCADA with RFID & scanning technologies on an Oracle RDBMS on Alpha machines running VMS. Sometime change and upgrade don't make things better in reality.

Apple always had a better GUI as it was designed like this from the beginning. It has been the benchmark and still is for graphical design software users since the original Macintosh all in one with the 10 inch monochrome screen in 1984. The earlier Lisa was not that successful & Steve Jobs was kicked off the Lisa project & spearheaded the Macintosh project & the rest as they say is history.

Most people with a landline have cordless phones in the house running on 2.4GHZ or above. Anything that is not connected directly to another item can be hacked, just as a wired system can be tapped into.

All Win 8 users get the free upgrade as well it seems. Windows 8 has had such a bad rap with its foray into touch screen market when 95% of users are businesses & those who want to keep the mouse & keyboard architecture. The tiles system and annoying Charms coming up are the major issues. I have installed Classic shell with Win 8.1 so the look & feel is more like Win 7 or you can choose the XP look as well. Win 10 brings back the Start menu. I'd wait a while before diving into a new version. Even with the Beta version being tested by many it won't be until the live environment is given a good thrashing by hundreds of thousands of users that all the bugs will raise their ugly heads.

I have waded through all 130 posts & offer my opinion. I don't agree with the death penalty for any offence. I do think any sovereign nation has the right to self determination and if their law is the death penalty for drug smuggling I respect that. The federal police were only doing their job 10 years ago when they informed the Indonesian authorities. To drag this whole affair out for 10 years with legal appeals has only had one set of winners, The Lawyers. The drug smugglers knew what they were doing, knew the harm done to addicts & potential addicts, knew the penalties, knew the risks, but continued anyway & got caught so they have to accept the consequences. The media is the biggest culprit in this whole sorry saga. All others on death row around the world seem to be irrelevant. And it still continues in today's news. The Australian Government should keep its nose out of things it has no control over. What did they say 10 years ago when these 2 were sentenced to death? I feel sorry for the families as they were give false hope, as were the drug smugglers by becoming rehabilitated (assuming they genuinely were). End of rant.

A mate of mine just had his yahoo email account hacked by some outfit. All his contacts were stolen & he couldn't send or receive. I got an email from the perpetrator saying my mate & family were in the Philippines & all his money had been stolen etc, send money. Most of his contacts got the same message. Gmail thought the email was suspicious & I knew it was as I was talking to him that very day, we are nowhere near the Philippines, he'd never ask for money & I wouldn't give it to him either. Yahoo would not respond. The account was closed immediately.

What Australia really needs is less government. 4 levels in most states although 3 in Qld. Of the 4 countries I have lived in the bureaucracy in this country leads by a country mile. The tyranny of time and distance evaporated years ago. There will never be any change though as the pollies at all levels have too much vested interest in the status quo & we get taxed at local, state and federal levels to support them and their multiple bureaucracies.

Me neither, but it is the answer so I just moved on.

The answer is 42. This is on the wall of the restaurant at the end of the universe.

1370 posts and you haven't realised that there is only one true god. ME! I know it is true because I believe in me. The fact that I have only one believer is irrelevant. As to the question of "Who created god?" Doh.... it was my mother and father of course.

All I can say is, WOW! What is this? Will it be the next big thing? Tata Motors of India thinks so. What will the Oil Companies do to stop it? It is an auto engine that runs on air. That's right; air not gas or diesel or electric but just the air around us. Take a look. [ATTACH]47504._xfImport[/ATTACH] Tata Motors of India has scheduled the Air Car to hit Indian streets The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy N. For Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air to push its engine's pistons and make the car go. The Air Car, called the "Mini CAT" could cost around 365,757 rupees in India or $8,177 US. The Mini CAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis, a body of fiberglass that is glued not welded and powered by compressed air. A Microprocessor is used to control all electrical functions of the car. One tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, turn signals and every other electrical device on the car. Which are not many. The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power. There are no keys, just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100 KM, that's about a tenth the cost of a car running on gas. It's mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car, a factor which makes it a perfect choice for city motorists. The car has a top speed of 105 KM per hour or 60 mph and would have a range of around 300 km or 185 miles between refuels. Refilling the car will take place at adapted gas stations with special air compressors. A fill up will only take two to three minutes and costs approximately 100 rupees ($1.78 CAD!) and the car will be ready to go another 300 kilometers. This car can also be filled at home with it's on board compressor. It will take 3-4 hours to refill the tank, but it can be done while you sleep. Because there is no combustion engine, changing the 1 liter of vegetable oil is only necessary every 50,000 KM or 30,000 miles. Due to its simplicity, there is very little maintenance to be done on this car.

My LG P690f Smart phone cost $45.00 from Coles 2 years ago. I added a 16GB card for $7.00 & it cost me $2.00 for the unlock code to rid myself of Telstra. The screen is now very marked, it's been dropped heaps of times, & I got fibreglass resin on it & some other epoxy while answering it in the middle of plane building. It works great, has GPS, WiFi & bluetooth & I use it as a hotspot while away from home with a tablet or laptop. The camera is also superb & photos I have taken on it have been published in newspapers & Sportpilot & there are over 2000 of them still on the phone. I no longer have any CDs in the car as I have 50 albums of music on it as well. I have heaps of useful & some useless apps on it. I don't need anything more except that eventually I will need one with a later version of Android as this one is only V2.3.4 so it can't run some of the later apps. Other than for vanity or techno geek reasons I can not see why anyone needs the latest $500 to $1000 phone as my $50.00 one does 90% of what they will do. It is like when buying video recorders back in the 1980s. They had a million features & 90% of users used just record & play.

Andy since the demise of the unsustainable 66c subsidy all new systems must be net & the retailers give you what they like which is sweet FA. There is good logic for them doing this as most people are unlikely to bother getting a net meter when the subsidy runs out & they will be rolling in it.

It may not have been the best source to quote but it is one of many. This one is from ACE CRC based in Tasmania. http://www.acecrc.org.au/access/cms/news/?id=164&full=true Most of the skeptic or denier sites have no scientific basis on which to make their claims but they still make them in the true Alan Jones style.

It is not the ice caps that are increasing it is the sea ice and paradoxically that is as a direct result of a warming world. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2014/mar/11/climate-change-antarctic-sea-ice-expedition

Solar generation at a micro level is not a problem as those who have PV arrays on their roofs will attest. The problem is being able to store and use it when the sun goes down. Until battery or capacitor storage costs come down to a level where a genuine payback is able to be gained most of us will be still connected to the grid so we are slaves to the coal industry. I have a 2 kW system on the roof which cost 4k. I get 6c a kWh for the surplus I produce but pay 34c a kWh for what I buy, peak & shoulder & 17c a kWh off peak. We run the dishwasher, washing machine etc during the day & have a heat pump for hot water so much of hot water power is from solar. We have a fridge freezer plus an upright freezer, have aircon in the bedroom & fans elsewhere & a big plasma TV with 2 people in the household. In the past year these are the results Solar power generated 3430 kWh Solar power used 1590 kWh Solar power exported 1840 kWh Grid power purchased 3040 kWh If I had storage capacity I would only need to buy 1200 kWh for the year. If I had a 3kW system on the roof and storage capacity I would be self sufficient. The problem is storage costs are too high so can't be justified at present. The offset would be a saving on the energy imported & the grid connect supply charge of $500.00 a year. Being connected to the grid means that anything larger than the 2kW solar capacity I have is just a waste of money as I can't even use what I produce now & the return on what I export is pathetic. How anyone connected to the grid can justify a 3 or 4 or more kW system beats me. Most don't seem to be able to explain the logic of their decision to put a big system in. The main reason is I suspect the BS supplied by the solar system retailer. When I can justify putting in the appropriate storage capacity to run everything 24/7 I will tell Origin to go and get @#$%*! BTW the current ROI on the system I installed over a perceived 25 year life of the panels & 10 year life of the inverter is around 11% so it is still way above keeping money in the bank.

We finally got ADSL2 here a short while ago & I have just upgraded. We are about 1km from the local exchange. Access to most sites hasn't changed much in terms of how quickly data is displayed. The limitations are more the size of the pipe from the host or the work the host is being asked to do at the time than anything I reckon. Video is quicker & is available before the display which often was a problem in the past as there would be a stop while the data being downloaded caught up. I haven't downloaded any files yet to see the improvement there. 2 Days ago these were the results Ping 22 ms Upload 0.21 Mb/s Download 1.4 Mb/s Just now the results are:- Ping 24 ms Upload 0.87 Mb/s Download 15.11 Mb/s So from ADSL-1 to ADSL-2 upload has improved 414% and download 1079%

Gordon Moore predicted in 1965 that the number of transistors on a single chip (integrated circuit) would double every 2 years. This became known as Moores Law even though David House of Intel revised this to every 18 month in 1975. Although it is conjecture this rule has proven true to the present day. In 1980 computer storage cost about $700,000.00 per gigabyte. If this was true now your mobile phone with 16 gb of storage would cost $11,200,000.00. Storage space per unit of cost has doubled approximately every 14 months since 1980.

I still use XP &/or (preferably) Linux (various distros like Ubuntu, Mint, Red Hat & even Chrome).

I've been running XP since 2005 & have had all updates turned off. It still performs better than any other XP (or Vista, W7, W8) powered machine with all the ridiculous windows updates. Most are just fixes to the original flaky OS or to counteract threats to an OS with poor levels of security. Office 2002 or whatever the pre 2007 version is, still has more functions than 99% of office users need. I only use free virus protection (Avast). I'll be migrating to Linux (Ubuntu) even before my Dell D600 finally gives up the ghost. There will be no virus problems with a plus being that I will gain several gigabytes of disk space with a more useable & free operating system. Microsoft sucks.

What is the screen brightness like as most (at least the cheaper tablets) are useless in bright ambient light? I may look at getting an ASUS Nexus or Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 & at present I have a 7" Android tablet which is fine indoors but hopeless outdoors. I have a space in the centre of my panel that will take a 7" tablet to run EasyVFR. My cheapie is fairly well specced though with a 1.5GHZ dual core CPU, 1024x600 resolution 1GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB storage, 16 GB SD card, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS running 4.1.1 jellybean & only cost $130.00 but needs a dongle for data access. I'm fairly certain it will run OK but whether I can see anything is another matter.