old man emu

VW has been toying with EVs since the 60s. Here's a concept test bed car undergoing terrain testing.

Since I don't grow stuff and haven't lived here long enough to learn about the soil type, I can't tell you for certain. To answer your question, I went out and dug up a sample of topsoil. It was still damp from the storm the day before. It had a gritty feel and when I squeezed it, the sample held together. I formed the opinion (based on what I learned in Soil Science lectures long, long ago) that this indicated the soil was sandy loam. Referring to a For Sale ad for a property about 6.5 kms from my place, it said that the soil types are red loam to sandy loam in all paddocks. My hovel is on a slope with the ground falling from the highway to the creek: I took my sample from ground that has never been cultivated. Therefore, it is likely to have a good amount of decayed plant material in it. This photo shows the end of my driveway where the sand from the exposed surface has been eroded from up the slope and deposited where the water slowed because of the thicker "lawn" grass down slope from the house. I would say that most of the water you can see in the earlier photo drained away, towards the creek. The storm ended about 2015 and by 2200 the water had gone and the ground was firm enough to walk on.

His missus asked him to keep an eye out for the postman, so he put it on the letterbox.

I knew a kid who had a glass eye. His father had a crystal ball.

As Queen Elizabeth said to Freddy Mercury, "Is One non-binary?"

Better than the railway station toilet tiles of the older Aussie pubs. Aussie pubs are not much better than watering holes for thirsty animals, but I found British pubs to be welcoming, relaxing places, where the food was actually cooked food and not bland manufactured whatever that had been thrown into a vat of hoy oil to warm. The only thing that irked me in British pubs were their version of one armed bandits, which I could never work out how they played.

Be careful of what you wish for: About 7:00 pm last night: When it arrived the rain was torrential. The water would have to be 50 mm deep here. The rain was falling so heavily that I just about had to give up trying to hear the sound on videos I was watching. Luckily my drinking water tanks had filled from light rain earlier in the day. I was able to open the diverter so that the heavy rain off the roof could drain away. Around 8:00 pm, as the rain moved towards the east, the light of the setting sun on the falling rain turned the whole sky a light tan colour.

That's a comedic gem! You should try to sell it to a stand-up comedian. Well done tha man!

I'd hardly call the flooding that is being shown is as mild as "foul". How are you faring?

Two reasons, amongst many, that arise from the strength of the Zionism amongst the rich and powerful of the USA.

I hope that we are agreed that it is the Government of Israel that we are sending our protests to. It seems that this weekend the people were in the streets calling for a change of leadership. https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-tel-aviv-rally-protesters-denounce-government-call-for-new-elections/

Who'd a thort it? 1900 7-1-24

There are a lot of "limited stops" services with "all stations" services interspersed. On Monday morning there are 6 services leaving Campbelltown for Central between 7:05 and 7:34, each scheduled to take 1 hr 15mins. It's taken that same time since I used the service in 1992.

Stupid written conversations! Nev, if we were sitting in a club enjoying a bit of banter and a beer, you would have seen that this: was a response to this: referenceing this:

What's the date tomorrow?

It was probably the best for the location of the population at that time, since Sydney did develop along the railway lines, but as soon as the spaces between the rail lines began to be developed, with residential and light industry, then it didn't work to provide the transport for people to the places they needed to go. It'a a bit ironic that despite all the new passenger rolling stock that has replaced the old Red Rattlers, the travel times, as indicated in timetables, have not decreased.

Sydney had a well developed tram system serving the "older" areas of the metropolitan area until the beginning of 1961. The heavy rail passenger system mostly used the lines that went inter and intrastate after they left the metropolitan area. That meant that they went in only three directions: North, West and South, with a couple of branch lines in between. This half-spiderweb left vast areas of Sydney to develop after WWII without reasonable access to rail transport in the outer suburbs and without trams in the older areas. Also, the areas of employment that developed after WWII were not near train routes or bus routes.

Useless bloody Bureau of Meteorology!!! Couldn't forecast the date on tomorrow's newspaper! Woke up this morning to 10/10 overcast, and thought the predicted "substantial" rain was on the way. Come midday and the skies are clearing. Look at the wind direction.

The reasons that public transport suits European cities more than Australian cities is that the population density in European cities is so much greater. Metropolitan London has an area of 1575 sq km and a population of 8.0 million. That gives a density of 5650 persons per sq km. On the other hand, the Melbourne metropolitan area is 9990 sq km with a population of 5.3 million, giving a density of 532 per sq km. London has more people to move over shorter distances. Then there is the history of the motor vehicle's influence in the development of both cities. London's, in fact Britain's, public transport was well established before the advent of the motor vehicle, Melbourne, and the other Australian cities, really did not begin to expand to what they are today until well after the advent of motor vehicles. Also, public transport in Australia has always been initiated and owned by governments, which deliberately stifled private public transport by regulation, especially the placement of routes. These factors result in the development of cultural attitudes to the various means of transport. Because London had its urban rail system which was linked to its inter-city system, as well as cab and bus systems, and because the way London's road system is the product of its pre-motor vehicle history, Londoners have a culture of using public transport. The opposite applies in Australia.

Here's an interesting further effect of EVs. You might call it the "Obesity Factor" And here is the link to the article referenced in the video https://www.structuremag.org/?page_id=26136 Use the page slider to go to Page 38.

If it was Irish, it'd never shut up.

I've been misinterpreted again. What I intended to say was that at the beginning of the introduction of something new, the infrastructure to use it is not up to the demand that the new thing demands. However, as in all things, Demand drives Supply. Just look at the number of petrol stations that there are now compared to twenty years ago. Here are the locations of servos in Dubbo. Many of these are relatively newly built. Give it five to ten years and charging points will everywhere. There is a slight problem that has to be overcome in the supply of energy. Let's think about a fictitious small town that is supplied with electricity "delivered" to a depot from where it is connected to the electricity grid of the town. Consider the wires of the grid to be similar to water pipes. There is only so much water that can flow through the pipes, and that is dependent on the pressure. If everyone turns on a tap, the rate at which water flows out of the tap will fall. The same applies to electricity. You only have to look at "brownouts" that can occur during heatwaves. So if there are very many EVs in the town, the rate at which EVs can be recharged is going to be reduced. It is the recharge rate of EVs that, to me who has to travel long distances, that is the thing that will hold back the complete adoption of EVs. However, given time, that problem will be solved, mainly through battery technology developments.

One would have to be a fool not to accept that at some time this century personal ground transport vehicles will be normal (assuming no WW3). However, this mad dash to make them universal within the next ten to fifteen years is illogical. The problem is not in the concept of the EV, but in the very basic infrastructure that is needed to support the use of an EV by the persons who need personal transport. Consider that ogre with which we have lived for 125 years - the internal combustion engine powered vehicle. Early adopters were not Mr Everyman. The were the rich because of the cost of producing each vehicle. However, the new toys of the rich were limited in usefulness because the infrastructure was not in place to provide the fuel they needed. Retail supplies of "Motor Spirit" could only be obtained in a few places, often pharmacies. Motor spirit was expensive. In 1913 the first drive-up service station, specifically designed to sell fuels and other related products was opened in Pittsburgh. Fuel sold for the then price of twenty-seven cents per gallon (7 cents/litre), equivalent to a modern $US6.50 per gallon ($1.71/litre). While vehicle manufacturers worldwide managed to produce vehicles by the millions, but their power was low due to their low compression engines. It wasn't until 1923 that tetraethyl lead was introduced to motor spirit and that allowed for the development of higher compression engines. Even then, the compression ratio was not as high as modern engines. For example, the Daimler-Benz DB605 engine that powered the Bf109 used 87 octane fuel. Having got a half-decent fuel, there came to need to build infrastructure to distribute it and retail it. By 2024 that seems to be sorted. Now look at the EV. Manufacturers are pumping these out at rates that would leave old Henry Ford gobsmacked. However, the "fuel capacity" of EVs, while reasonably adequate for urban use, is restricted because the infrastructure to deliver it is inadequate. The scarcity of "refuelling points" is something that can be overcome relatively easily, however the problem is providing the "fuel". It's not the lack of wires, it is the capacity of those wires to meet the demand for electrons that are needed within the community that the refuelling point is located. While these present difficulties are sure to be overcome, it is ridiculous to expect them to be resolved in the very short space of time that governments seem hell bent on setting.