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Comment Re:Does Indonesia want smartphones? (Score 1) 60

American and European car companies are failing ... not because of China being cheap or unfair business practices. They're failing because Tesla and China invested massively in standardization and automation.

True, but Tesla is now struggling in Europe. Sales of EVs have been rising and expected to rise faster in the next year, but Tesla's sales have nose-dived down 14% overall and 47% in Germany, despite large price cuts. Tesla sales are actually getting worse. This is partly due to the aging models they offer.

The Chinese company BYD is about to pass Tesla in EV units sold despite huge tariffs the EU imposes on Chinese EV imports.

Comment Re: The strategy is clear (Score 1) 100

The way the law works in the UK is that the police themselves get to make the call of whether something said is hate speech, and the only requirement for that is that at least one person was offended by it.

At this point, Russia makes similar claims about having free speech, to the point that simply holding up a blank piece of paper got a guy arrested, again at police discretion. What's the effective difference?

No! As with any crime the UK police can arrest someone on suspicion of a hate crime and charge them. This then gets referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) whose lawyers will decide if an offence has likely been committed and there is a reasonable chance of a successful prosecution based on the available evidence. If so, the case then goes to court and a jury decides based on the prosecution and defence evidence and arguments.

You don't cite a reference to the case of the blank paper. If it is the same one I am aware of, there was no question of arrest whilst the page stayed blank. Even the potential offender admitted has was not being threatened with arrest over the blank page but what he was about to write on it.

Comment Re:what the heck are we supposed to do with them (Score 2) 246

The problem is that 10-20% of the cords are what I use, the other not, but I can't tell which of the 10 to 20% percent that actually are useful in the future.

And if I junk them - then I definitely would need ALL of them.

A perfect example of "hoarder mentality". My Mother-In-Law has the same issue with newspapers, magazines etc. I have even demonstrated how easy it is to find articles on the web. She still hoards. Every 6 months or so we storm the place and clear it out, before she hurts herself.

Comment Re: end of the century (Score 1) 214

These things don't suddenly happen. Gradual rise and erosion means we spend (our) money defending coastal areas and low lying cities waterfronts. Places with lots of aquifers (Florida?) suffer more structural damage to the landscape, meaning more sinkholes, flooding and salinization. At the same time you see temperature increases which leads to changes in farmland, such as desert encroachment, meaning some crop failures. China is already seeing its deserts rapidly advancing, with huge sandstorms hitting populated centres.

However, you are probably right that the worst effects won't be seen by us, but I guess we will start to bear the cost of prevention.

Comment Re:30 MW is good but not a lot (Score 1) 81

30 MW is not good. It's complete shit. A 500 MW combined cycle power plant consumes 10 MW in parasitic load. In other words this wind farm is just doing nothing. 20,000 homes? That's if the wind is blowing all the time. More likely a coal burner is picking up the slack.

You spent millions to do nothing. Thanks whoever built this. What a waste.

This is the first of its kind, dumbfuck. Scotland only has 1 coal plant in operation but it's a big one. They do have quite a bit of hydroelectric, both pumped & conventional

Actually, the last Scottish coal-fired plant closed in early 2016 (Longannet). The UK as a whole will only have 4 of the old coal-fired plants left, by the end of next year. Most of the well over a hundred plants we used to have in the UK were closed in the 1980s and 1990s.

Besides the Peterhead floating wind farm consists of just 5 turbines, as a pilot. If successful, they plan large scale deployment in much deeper waters.

Comment Re:No. (Score 1) 1058

In Europe diesels will disappear. Cities will begin to either ban or increase charges to run such vehicles. The UK are already proposing a diesel scrappage scheme. Sales of new diesel cars are down by 30%.Sales of AFV (Alternative Fuel Vehicles) are up by almost 50% according to the UK Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

In London the T-Tax (Toxin Tax), which is charged each time you take an older more polluting diesel into town. This will extend to cover pretty much every diesel car in 2019. The T-Tax begins in October, this year. Cities like Bristol have banned introduction of any new diesel taxis and are considering their own T-Tax.T-Tax schemes are proposed by many other cities, including Paris and Madrid and their proposals to ban are more explicit, than London's.

As the owner of a diesel vehicle, purchased a couple of years ago, I already regret that decision. When they start hitting me in my pocket with higher taxes for travel and fuel, then the decision to keep the vehicle becomes ever harder. Besides, if I did purchase an electric or hybrid vehicle to travel round the city, which is most of my usage, I can always handle longer distance travel by hiring a petrol vehicle.

Comment Re:End of Great Britain? (Score 1) 1592

I think in the short term there will be a desperate scramble by the cities to protect their interests, as best they can.

Many of the places voting to remain have service and technology industries, some of which will be lost. I can't see Airbus staying in the UK being owned by the French and German governments, for example. That accounts for over 10,000 jobs in the West of England and Wales. Can London keep its financial interest when banks will be obliged to move their HQ because of EU rules. I think we will see two things.

  • Increased polarisation, whereby resources are shared less evenly by London and other big cities.
  • The new "leave" government, desperately doing its best to "leave" whilst changing as little as possible.

We already are hearing that the prospective leadership are looking at how they can maintain their position within the economic framework and that does inevitably mean some free movement of people. Trouble is that central have admitted government really does not have any sort of plan, other than to keep bailing.

One other issue that will likely become critical very quickly is the Le Touquet Agreement between UK and France. This sets the UK border at Calais, which is where refugees wanting into Britain are stacked by the French, in the Sangette camp. There are calls in France for that treaty to be reviewed, so I wonder where those refugees will end up? - not to mention the other camps being built at Dunkirk and Le Harve.

Comment Re:British Airspace (Score 1) 198

Bitter?? ITYM laughing at a bunch of skirt wearing professional whingers north of the border who blame everyone except themselves for their non existent economy.

Yeah well. You'll soon have managed to get rid of us and then you can start of the Welsh and the Irish and those irritating Northern Folks, who moan when it gets a little bit damp. A sad, selfish and short-sighted attitude, typical of the Southern "Elite".

Comment Re:You see this in small businesses (Score 3, Insightful) 616

Trouble is that people have learnt that it is possible to not use Windows. They know about iPads and Nexus or Galaxy tabs. Until recently there was no real Microsoft option in this area.

Up pops Microsoft with their Windows tablet and hurrah! Except, it isn't quite the Windows we all know and relatively expensive and it flops. So MS try again, failing miserably to make it a compelling experience!

The least MS could have done is make the price so competitive that people will think about it. They need the consumer and I mean really need them! They need to grow the market and they need to help/encourage other manufacturers by way of subsidy.

Comment Re:GET READY.... (Score 1) 242

He is a writer and director and has picked up awards for both. He also has an Oscar for best short film which he wrote and directed. His acting range includes both drama and comedy so he ought to be able to keep the DW team on their toes.

A fine choice and someone who really wants the role and willing to sacrifice to get it.

Comment It is a flying boat car thing (Score 1) 377

I am really struggling with this tablet phenomenon or fad. I do have one but I still do understand them. Sure they are good as a (bulky) personal media player and web surfer. Yup, they can work well enough as big PDA.

They are fairly useless at document creation meaning they are really only a consumption device and that's what puts them in the ranks of flying boat cars. How so you fill the gap between the smartphone and the desktop? I don't think it is the tablet.

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