bonio

TL;DR; Nice interview, but they steered away from the difficult issues. Wow, I listened to the whole thing. I liked all the comments - they were really positive. And the two guys can certainly talk well and sound intelligent. I'm not sure I was completely convinced by the conversation, though. They spent a lot of time talking about recharging, but this is the easy bit - you just the plug the thing in and make enough charging stations available. Batteries are more interesting, so it was a bit sad when the the guy just said they were doing "clever things" and moved on. Generating the electricity is another interesting area - we know how to generate the amount of electricity we need using offshore wind, but we're at least 20 or 25 years away from having enough nuclear in the mix to solve the problem, and we don't have a plan B that is non-nuclear. But the really tough problem is balancing the grid. When I hear from people who are actually working on solving this, they're very upbeat about it all, but they don't have a solution that is carbon zero. Wind generation is very peaky. Right now, when the wind starts to die down, we fire up the gas generators and in half an hour we've got another few GW on line. Nuclear generators don't do that; you have to start them up weeks before they reach full power, and they run best when they're always on. So we have nuclear + wind + what else can we add in to make up the deficit when we have a week of calm weather in December? I just can't see how everyone having an old battery from a car under the stairs (as the guy suggested) is going to keep all the lights on and all the traffic still running across the country for a week. Perhaps we need vast battery warehouses connected to the grid (I think they're doing this in the US?) or have carbon capture plants built next to the gas generators, and use overproduction from wind to synthesize fuel which the generator can burn when needed. Perhaps we need both.

Oh my, that hurts my eyes it's so beautiful. 2022? Please.

Dream trips for me would be * Down through the Black Forest, over the Alps into the Italian Lakes, keep going east to the Dolomites, Slovenia and Austria. * Romania, Brasov, Sibiu, painted monasteries, the Transfaraggraragaran, perhaps a bit of Serbia too, see what's left of the Iron Gates but in reality, I wouldn't mind a few days in the Pennines and the Lowlands. Great roads, not too far for a short trip.

... about to plunge in

This is correct. A year ago I filed a complaint to the ASA about an advert that claimed driving EV cars produced 60% less CO2. I sent in a set of calculations based on current electricity generation stats and standard figures for mpg vs miles per kWh, allowing for charging losses, showing that the two produced roughly the same amount of CO2 per mile. I got a quick response from the ASA that talked entirely about smart meters. So I wrote them this letter Dear Ms Scarpati, Thank you so much for taking the time to read my concerns and to write me a reply. I read with interest the rulings you referenced regarding advertisements about smart meters, but I can't make the connection between these and my complaint, which was solely about electric cars and electricity generation. When a company claims that an electric car will lead to reductions of 60% of CO2 emissions against a petrol car, it isn't making a claim about the effects of smart meters. And when its claims fail to stack up against independent analysis, it should be made to withdraw them. Please could you let me know at what point my thinking differs from yours. Kind regards, and of course never got a reply I should say here I am all in favour of electric cars - and electric motorbikes (I've tried one, it was a real blast). I'm just not in favour of false advertising and fake figures. As far as I can see, given a bit more time, wind generation will continue to grow, mainly because it's cheaper than gas or oil, and the emissions argument will tilt increasingly in favour of electric cars. But anyone who's seriously concerned about CO2 emissions should probably be hanging out a bit longer before getting themselves one. Oh no.... I've completely derailed the thread.

...on a bike of course. So it seems I'm not the only one coming up with plans for trips I'll never do... but what's yours? Post it here for advice on how to make it a better fantasy, roads you mustn't miss etc. etc. But first some rules, or next thing someone will be off with Elon to the moon and back * Got to start and end at home, using bike, ferries, tunnel. No planes. * No more than 14 nights away * No more than 7.5 hours actually on the bike each day

That's me... planning trips that I probably won't ever make... but if the chance comes, then the plan will be ready.

It was back in the '70s, pretty hardcore in those days. He did three 8-hour nights of haemodialysis at home every week on a machine the size of a public phone box. After his transplant, they put the machine into a museum - it was so out of date.

My Dad had kidney transplant. Gave him a complete new lease of life after 10 years of dialysing.

Happy birthday MB.

Evohome heating: each room has its own schedule and its own thermostat. Works really well: before, the only way to get the lounge warm enough to sit in was to superheat the kitchen. Now the lounge gets warm in the evenings, while the bathroom is warm for a couple of hours in the morning. I make the room where I sit and work a bit warmer on weekdays, but it stays cooler at weekends.

I was taught to filter by my instructor, when I was doing DAS. We'd get caught in the evening rush hour, and he'd talk me through everything to look out for as we filtered through. Good way to learn.

These things * "it doesn’t happen every time but every second or third time" * "it took 20 minutes for the coughing to stop" make me think it's less likely the choke or the carbs, or anything to do with the fuelling, but more likely to be electrics. Damp and humidity can change make a bike with an electrical fault run lumpy one day and fine the next, and after 20 minutes heat from the engine can dry out a cable that is leaking charge through a pinprick hole. I'd be trying stuff like WD40 over the leads to the spark plugs to see if it makes a difference. If it does, then you're nearer finding where the problem is.

Got an MOT for the DRZ. Clean pass

Both really good bikes. If it were me, I'd make sure I could sit on one and know I'd be happy on it before parting with any cash.

@Silentbob83 Some people pass their test and immediately know what they want, and go out and buy it. As for me, I hadn't a clue. I hardly knew one end of a motorbike from the other, and hadn't a single idea of what I wanted to ride. So I bought a friend's bike - an old 500 - and rode it happily for a few years. When eventually I found *the* bike, I pxed the 500 for not much less than I paid for it.

Must have shaken you all up @Richzx6r with the young'un in the car

He needs to slow down a bit - still at work here! Hope to finish before the reindeer arrive.

I think the error has come from a misreading of this chart, showing prison population per 100,000, from statista.com: which puts Anguilla in 20th place and adds (United Kingdom) as it's a UK colony. This chart was for June 2020. The UK reported 79865 prisoners in June 2020 (down from 84000 in pre-covid February*) which equates to an estimated 118 per 100,000. *https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-figures-2020

@Fish My guess is it means this: You're insured during your test. You're also insured afterwards if you pass. Problem is that people can't write clearly. But they realised they'd made a mess of the sentence, and so they had another go, adding "You are not covered to ride home if you have failed your test." in the hope that this would clear up the confusion they'd created

Kind of you, Rant. Owe you a beer

oooo slagroom.... :win