octave

Much exaggerated. Do you have problems in your relations with women? Perhaps by sheltered life you mean working with intelligent professionals. You seem to have a low opinion of women.,

What a BS video. On what basis is the claim that "most men steer clear of female co-workers made" Are there statistics? Most of my working life has been working with younger folks the majority of them female. At no time did anyone ever complain about me. Perhaps I am just more socially competent. I also taught a majority of young females, teenage and adult women. Again in 30 years not a complaint. The video is very much men good women bad. The assertion that you can criticize men and it will be fine but not for women. Again not my experience of of my more recent workplaces.

Can you post a link please?

https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2024/03/05/state-data-shows-rapidly-rising-sea-levels-in-near-future https://sealevel.nasa.gov/faq/9/are-sea-levels-rising-the-same-all-over-the-world-as-if-were-filling-a-giant-bathtub/#:~:text=No.,and Earth's uneven gravity field.

Yep, it is 2 hectares or 5 acres

We faced this when we sold our 44-acre plus house. We did our own valuation and whittled the CGT down to I think $1500. You can select the most valuable hectare to exclude and of course, you can deduct costs.

Someone had to post it

What an awful story but important to share

To be clear I am generalizing and not specifically referring to you.

I think an important ingredient in maintaining a connection with younger members of your family is the make sure you are the kind of person that they want to communicate with. Being a grumpy old curmudgeon doesn't really encourage contact.

Malcolm Roberts, you must be joking. You only have to read Roberts comments on vaccination to realize he is a bit of a tosser.

Does CSIRO count as merely public opinion?

We joined a community garden a few months but until the other day, we have not been directly involved. This vegetable garden is on land made available by the council and maintained by volunteers. It was great to meet people of all ages but especially some older folks who were positive and enthusiastic. We can go around any time and pick vegetables and anyone can even non-members. We ended up with more tomatoes than we knew what to do with.

Coffee has many health benefits (but not so much if it is instant or loaded with milk and or sugar.) https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-health-benefits-of-coffee Health benefits seem to peak at 3 to 4 cups per day. Coffee contains phenolic acids which are very good. Believe it or not, coffee is high in dietary fibre. Most of these benefits are lost in instant coffee as well as taste.

I think there are differences between Biden and Trump when it comes to gaffes. There is no doubt that Biden is not as sharp as he was back when he was VP. It does happen to us all. Trump does seem to try to say that he "interposed" Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi. Hilarious for two reasons, firstly what is the point, and how is this political genius secondly he clearly does not know what interpose means. Another key difference is that as far as I can see Biden takes advice from those around him whereas Trump seemingly does not. Having said that it seems absurd that crusty old blokes are running the show. As a 62-year-old I think that many issues are not so much for me to decide but are more for those who will live with the consequences good and bad.

Here are a few of my pics from some of the great vantage points around Welly Airport

I don't have much of an opinion on this however at 1:06 you can't see the wind sock anymore. I think it would be hard to know what the wind was doing at that instant. It is a very gusty place surrounded by extremely tall hills.

I have flown in and out of Welly Airport probably 9 or 10 times. Fortunately, it has always been reasonable weather (so far). I know my son has had more than one flight diverted after a couple of attempts to land. it is a great airport for plane watchers and photographers. On the east side of the strip is a great lookout on top of a very steep hill. On the west side is a cafe we have been to many times called "Spruce Goose". It has a raised outdoor dining area that looks over the runway, great for a bit of lunch and plane spotting. i have many interesting photos. It does tend to be very gusty at time and in nearly every direction the wind is coming over very steep hills.

I buy online with PayPal if possible and CC otherwise. When I buy with Paypal the money comes from my CC anyway but I have found that if I don't get what I paid for I can take it up with Paypal and if they don't give me a refund I could take it up with the CC company. I have found both to be pretty good with refunds. A few years back we ordered some flowers for my mother interstate. They turned up 3 days late and pretty much dead. When we looked at reviews for this company and found that it had a poor reputation (always check reviews first) We complained to the florist who didn't want to know. We then complained to the CC company and got a full refund We have had 3 or 4 similar events.

I don't even know what my CC interest rate is. I use it for everything and pay it off every Friday, I choose to take reward points in Bunnings vouchers. I get around 4 of these a year. So I get $200 a year in Bunnings vouchers, I pay $50 a year for the card and I pay no interest because I don't go longer than a week without paying it off. My CC company probably hates me.

Fully Charged is a great YouTube channel to keep up with the latest tech

it is interesting to look at the playlist from this YouTube channel. Certainly seems to have an agenda and judging by the titles of its other videos perhaps a little sensationalist. https://www.youtube.com/@the_best_car_content/videos

There is something pretty weird about that video. The narration seems very oddly written. Why the constant reference to Ford? I think the bottom line is if you don't think EVs are any good then don't buy one. If they are the disaster you believe them to be then sales naturally reduce and EVs will disappear.

Red I would agree that there would be little point for you. I am sort of in the same position although I do have solar. Since retirement, I just don't do enough KMs to justify a new car of any sort. I do get do drive one for a couple of weeks a year when on holiday and it is immensely enjoyable to drive. I may consider it when my present car dies. My son's girlfriend has a BYD Atto 3 and she seems to like it.

Adoption of anything new tends to follow the "adoption curve" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle I believe we are most likely well into the early adopters stage. There is a point between early adopters and the early majority known as the chasm. This is where the market from innovators and early adopters has been satisfied but not enough early majorities are ready to buy. We built an off-grid solar house in 1990. The technology was pretty primitive compared to today. In the early 80s we were early adopters of the home PC . This adoption curve can be applied to just about any new tech. The innovators and early adopters are extremely important. I suspect that many people looked at early aircraft and scoffed, but there were enough innovators and early adopters to drive the technology forward. At the moment I would suggest that the EV could still be characterized as an enthusiast's car. I do believe though we are on the cusp of breaking through to the early majority buyers. Whatever the next few years hold I am pretty confident that cars will be driven by electric motors because the efficiency between a reciprocating engine and an electric motor is chalk and cheese (80% vs 20%) The question is how will we power those motors. At the moment we have battery and hydrogen fuel cell. Technology develops fast. The petrol car has come an amazing way since the first cars hit the roads. Whilst the modern petrol or diesel car is a modern marvel it has problems that are hard to solve. The fuel has to go through a costly and complex journey from the other side of the world and through an energy-hungry refining process and what comes out of the exhaust. Electric vehicles are versatile in that there are so many ways to generate electricity. I do sometimes wonder what we are actually arguing about here. It seems to have devolved into "EVs are sh1t" "No they aren't EVs are great" I don't usually post here in an EVangelical way. I nearly always post as a reaction to a statement I know to be suspect such as can/are EV batteries being recycled or reused, yeas they can and are. I would never suggest anyone rush out and buy an EV if it does not suit them. It would suit me except it is not economically viable at this point. This is changing as is the case with pretty much every piece of technology. People will often express concern about bans on the sales of new IC cars I think really they do not have much to worry about. If EVs are the disaster some people suggest then the chickens will come home to roost and cars will be bursting into flames everywhere the grid will be exploding etc. etc. etc. and those restrictions will probably never happen. I do believe that given the falling price of EVs (just look at the price reductions on Teslas) and competition that a ban wont be necessary because EV will be the cheaper choice. people will vote with their wallets.