kgwilson

What is it? I'm not surprised only 5 were made. Ridiculously proportioned and ugly.

This brings back some very fond memories. An amazing song showing an understanding of life at an age when most didn't think of anything much. Really good to hear it again.

In NZ there is no road tax on diesel. At the pump diesel is always considerably cheaper than petrol. Owners of diesel vehicles have to purchase road user charges which varies according to the GVM of the vehicle. Hubometers are installed on large trucks, B Doubles etc and checked against the payment data when they go in to a weigh station. The system has been around for as long as I remember & probably came about because of the very large rural farming community who more than anyone else had diesel machinery on farms. Now the situation is quite different with a lot of diesel cars & utes on the road, not to mention trucks.

I have a 2 kW solar system on the roof. Our house is a modern fully insulated brick & tile place & we are a 2 person household. Over summer I had the air conditioning on quite a lot and our daily consumption from the grid was just on 8kW a day. The only gas I have is the BBQ. Cooking is by induction & fan oven. One large fridge/freezer & 1 large upright freezer. Front load washer & dryer. Water is heated by a heat pump which runs mostly during the day using solar. It draws around 800W when running flat out. Winter is similar as lights etc on longer & some heating (reverse cycle) Spring is the lowest at around 7kW a day. My TV is quite inefficient as it is an original Plasma I bought in 2005 & it refuses to die. It's on 5-8 hours a day. There are 2 computers & router on most of the time or in sleep mode, 10 appliances (clocks, microwave, phones, oven, TV, modem, foxtel box etc) in standby mode at all times when not in use. We only light where we are & these are all fluoro or LED. My solar system produces around 260kWh a month & I export between 40% & 45% of this. Off peak usage is about 60% of the total usage with peak & shoulder around 20% each. The solar has paid for itself from reduced bills about 6 months ago since it was installed in May 2014. If I was doing it today I'd install a 5kW system as it is the same price as I paid for my 2kW system & I reckon my peak/shoulder would drop to about 20% or less of imported power. Imported peak power costs 31.7c, shoulder 30.8c & off peak 18.2c. I get 11.1c for power I export. So there you have it. Largest quarterly bill $237.97, smallest $154.52. My neighbour across the road, working family with 2 kids, no solar, just got a power bill of $980.00 for the same period.

I bought my first ever brand new car 6 years ago & the drive train has a 10 year warranty so still 4 years to go. I have done 135,000 km so far and I have not had a single fault, not even a light bulb has failed. One new set of tyres and windscreen after a truck kicked up a stone & cracked it. Modern cars are reliable and long lasting, end of story. Only vanity makes people get rid of them.

The ones that turn up at our local caravan park reckon they do it for the lifestyle. They have a giant dual axle Caravan with everything (shower, toilet, fridge, freezer, aircon, 60 inch TV, separate bedroom etc) and need a Huge 4WD to pull it all costing about 250-300k. It costs them an arm & a leg in fuel to get it there & then it costs $35 to $100 a night to park it. Most have no idea how to reverse the thing properly either but once sorted they get the table out & sit under the annex open a few bottles of their favourite & yarn to others who are doing the same thing. A few days of drunken nights and yarning & they are off to the next place after spending about 2 hours trying to work out how to pack everything back up & get the Caravan out of the park.

Me too. I quite like Karl Strauss Tower 10 IPA but it only comes in 355 ml or 12 US fl oz bottles so still short by 4 US fl oz of a US pint which is 0.83 of an Imperial pint. But then an imperial ounce is smaller than a US ounce because there are 5 imperial ounces to a gill & 4 US ounces to a US gill. Both systems have 32 gills which is 8 pints or 4 quarts to make a gallon but the imperial gallon is 20% bigger. Why the hell don't they both give up & go metric like the rest of the world?

Yes an American pint is 16 ounces compared to 20 ounces for a British pint & that extrapolates up to a gallon that is 32 ounces short.. I much prefer a British pint when I go to the pub.

You should have the default set to English Australian (Dictionary) and US keyboard then it will all work as normal but without the American spelling suggestions.

When you use a spell checker you should set the default dictionary to the one you want. The default is American English but you can set this to UK, AUS, NZ or a number of others as well as custom. I have mine set to UK English but I think most people don't set it (they don't know how to) and just accept the American suggestions. That's how American English is pervading our lives in many respects.

It's a useful device if you have idiots operating a power saw. It costs heaps every time you demonstrate it. New blade, new stopping device. If you don't demonstrate it how do you test it to make sure it still works & won't cut your finger or hand off next time?

Why do the Americans (and some Australians) call an aeroplane an airplane? Aeroplane takes a bit longer to say but I think it sounds better and links up with other "aero" words like aeronautics and aerospace. Aero is a Greek prefix relating to air and flight. Airnautics sounds stupid and airspace means something entirely different.

In 2015 81% of electricity generated in NZ came from renewable sources, mainly hydro & geothermal. The South island exports a lot of its hydro generated power to the North island. The SI is lucky to have lots of snow fed lakes that send water east in easily dammed rivers. Add a bit of wind & solar to the mix & they won't be far of 100% in a few years. Similarly Tasmania has plenty of scope with Hydro power plus solar & wind. Mainland Australia is one of the sunniest places on the planet. The potential for solar power is massive and there are numerous projects underway. There are also wind farms with many more under way or planned. You need to add battery storage to the mix but also pumped hydro. If you produce a heap of solar & wind power & can't use it due to low demand then use it to pump water up hill so when the sun & wind stop you generate power by sending the water down hill. A study identified 22,000 potential pumped hydro sites in Australia & that only about 30 would be required to transition the country to 100% renewables within 20 years. Nuclear on the other hand is very expensive, requiring huge energy input and is time consuming to build. Then there are the risks with operation (not too bad these days) but the problem with de-commissioning at the end of its useful life and more importantly where to put the radioactive waste. The federal government is still doing nothing with no policy. South Australia is doing its own thing & getting renewables going in a big way which will see the state self sufficient. Meanwhile Frydenburg & other right wing Libs pay lip service to the whole issue in the vain hope a rabbit will pop out of the hat while the old inefficient, decaying & polluting coal fired power stations trundle on to their closure needing more and more bandaid maintenance to keep them going till then.

Where did I say NZ didn't have conscription? I was one of them. If you were born on one of the days chosen (winning the lottery) you did 3 month national service with 3 years in the territorials unless found medically unfit. That's what I did. 6 weeks basic training at Burnham & another 6 weeks in my posting to Waiouru. I repeat that NZ only ever sent volunteer regulars to Vietnam. Territorials were not part of that.

Five years ago, just after the NSW government pulled the plug on the solar feed in tarriff that nearly sent them broke, I installed a 2kw system connected to the grid of course. I spent some time doing research & downloaded a very good guide from the Clean Energy Council. I rang 3 solar supplier/installers & had one knock on the door. Three out of four lied through their teeth about how quickly it would be paid off providing false figures and ignoring the fact that the supply charge would stay the same. According to the 3 it would pay itself off in 2-3 years. My estimation was 5-7 years at best. I keep monthly records of how much my panels produce, what we use and what we export plus what we import at peak, shoulder and off peak rates. The system has just paid for itself recently (thanks to the huge increases in energy charges) & the panels have more than 20 years life in them & the inverter is under warranty for another 5 years. I am exporting 51.5% of the power I produce. I was only getting 6 cents per Kwh but now I get 11.5 cents per Kwh for the power I export. My latest quarterly power bill was $155.00. The only gas appliance I have is the barbecue. I have a heat pump hot water system which mainly uses power from the solar panels during the day. It's maximum energy input requirement is 800 watts. I have a large upright freezer and 550 litre fridge./freezer. I also have 2 air conditioning systems, a 2.5kw unit in the main bedroom & a 7.5kw unit in the living area. Both of these are inverters. The bedoom one only runs at night & only when it is hot. I also have ceiling fans in all bedrooms & living areas. I have always been energy wise but when you install solar you need to change your mindset a bit. For example run the dishwasher, washing machine, vacuum cleaner & any other thing where there is a choice during the day when the sun is shining. If you work you can delay the start time on modern appliances so they run when you are not home & the sun is producing free power. On days when the weather is expected to get hot, I start the living area A/C while it is still cool in the early morning. Once it has the house at 24 deg it runs at a trickle using no more than 800 watts, often less.. If I wait till it is hot it will use 2.01KW for a long time before it can get the temperature down to reduce its power input requirements. If I was building a new house now, I'd put in a decent solar system with batteries & tell the energy companies where to go. I have a friend who did this three years ago as he built on acreage & they wanted 20k to bring in the power. He spent less than this on his system including a backup generator for those cloudy days. So far he has only run his generator to make sure it still works. He has a big house & several sheds, 3 freezers etc. He only uses gas (LPG) for cooking, everything else is solar.

Neither do I. It tastes like sh1t.

Neil, you begin "with respect" but provide none. You need to read my post and think. I protested about the governments stupidity. Soldiers were just doing their job. The Vietnamese were just trying to reclaim their country after being exploited by the French & then the Yanks for more than a century. A family friend was in 161 battery at the battle of Long Tan. I was 16 at the time & could not understand why we were there. I won the lottery in 69 & did 3 years in the Territorials which I really enjoyed. NZ only ever sent volunteer regulars to Vietnam. I knew a number of them & wished them well. They knew I opposed our involvement but they were professionals doing their job & their duty. How the groundswell of opposition to the war turned into hatred of our own troops was extremely distressing for me. I find it quite amazing now that many of those who served and survived deeply scarred from their time there have now found forgiveness and friendship with their former enemy. On my overland journey back to NZ from the UK in 1975 I went to Vientienne in Laos crossing the Mekong from Nong Khai & was trapped there when the Pathet Lao took over. The border was closed so I took advantage of a return flight to Hanoi for US$25.00. The City was incredibly battle scarred after so much bombing from B52s & the people were busy rebuilding but so friendly and generous with the little they had it was one of the most humbling experiences of my life.

One of the truly great comedians. I've seen this many times & it still cracks me up. More of Daves religious jokes

I was one of the protester during the Vietnam war. It was wrong, we were not defending our country, the McCarthyism rhetoric of the communist takeover was the most blatant political lie ever. It is our politicians who should have been sent there and shot. Cow towing to the yanks with not a care in the world for the young brave and naive men who went to serve their country. I have nothing but admiration for the Vets who returned to a county who despised them. It wasn't their fault. Their only crime was believing the political dickheads of the time. They were Heros and now stand together with their former foes, having a beer and building a club. Superb.

Meat frozen to minus 18 degrees C will be edible for umpteen years. Its only the flavour that changes. I bought a frozen chook at Aldi & the best before date is in 2020 some time. I remember in my youth (the early 70s) hitch hiking around Europe on less than a dollar a day the staple was cheese, bread and salami & possibly an onion & tomato. It was easy to find the cheese shop. You could smell it half a block away. Once you get past the smell many of the stinky ones taste really good.

Nope none there. Only a complete F#@$wit with a red tie & 3 other dorks.

No I'm not interested. BTW I thought by changing my middle initial to a G meant I was anonom.. anoim.. annonnim ....anoyim...... dunno.

Trump has managed in 1 year to so severely damage the relationship between the US and its major allies (excluding Australia that hangs on to every coat tail) that according to many strategists will never heal as whatever trust they had in the US and its systems has gone completely. Now he has called the third world, Sh!thole countries and immediately denied it. At last count in December his lie tally was over 1800 since the presidential campaign. Yet he remains in office due to blinkered redneck and ultra right wing nutters. His isolationist rhetoric will see further decline in the US and its standing in the world. It all seems surreal. Hopefully the voice of reason, moderation and genuine human values will rise up and oust this despicable dork.

This is the short version of a video created by Autonomousweapons.org an organisation of scientists & AI researchers who want to ban these weapons. If they were here now we'd only need 2. One in the white house & one in Pyongyang.

A bit of a pessimistic view in my opinion. Modern lithium batteries don't weigh any more & mostly less than internal combustion engines. Teslas are noticeably quieter than most cars & have immense power as well. English is already the default world language. Esperanto was a pipe dream by a few people. The planet will run out of fossil fuel in the mid 2050s. Electric vehicles are here and every current car manufacturer is on the bandwagon. Those that don't change are doomed. You don't have to pay $1200 for a smartphone. That is only for the tech nutters who must have the latest & greatest. As he said you can already buy one for $10 in Africa & for not much more here. Daimler Benz bought Chrysler when it was a basket case in 1998 & flogged it 9 years later. It quickly reverted the name from DaimlerChrysler AG to Daimler Benz AG with HQ in Stuttgart. It is a multinational with German roots. The comment about bitcoin is a bit tongue in cheek IMO as its current value is due only to speculation but the crypto currency concept could well see the demise of banks in their traditional form. He did say "May even become" so is hedging his bets.