Donald Trump

pinno

ballysmate said:

...Obama...
Yeah, definitely marks him out as one of the good guys.

No one said Obama was a good guy! Don't mix up arguments.

Bush jnr did a lot in Kenya which was basically funding clinics for contraception and countering the effects of Catholic family value influence as well as increasing the size of the SSSI site off the Western coast of America.
Obama pulled the Kenya funding btw.

ballysmate

pinno said:

ballysmate said:

And yes, they are unable/unwilling to wean themselves off fossil fuels. But then, so are we, are we not?

Did you click on that Guardian link in my reply to WS?

39% electricity renewable? A step forward.
Did you install electric heating in PPP or was it fossil fuel? The vast bulk of our heating is still fossil fuel. Can't wean us off.
As for transport, well...

pblakeney

The ratio of drone use over what Eisenhower used must be shocking!

ballysmate

pblakeney said:

The ratio of drone use over what Eisenhower used must be shocking!

No sh1t Sherlock.

automatically painted all males of military age in these regions as combatants, making them fair game for remote controlled killing.


Drones are supposed to be more precise are they not? But as I said, any Tom,D1ck or Abdul was fair game for Bomber Obama hey what?

pinno

ballysmate said:

pinno said:

ballysmate said:

And yes, they are unable/unwilling to wean themselves off fossil fuels. But then, so are we, are we not?

Did you click on that Guardian link in my reply to WS?

39% electricity renewable? A step forward.
Did you install electric heating in PPP or was it fossil fuel? The vast bulk of our heating is still fossil fuel. Can't wean us off.
As for transport, well...

Log burners. One heats the water but it's been so well insulated. Not quite to Scandinavian levels but close.

ballysmate

Was not trying to have a pop at you about your heating, but do you see my point about our reliance on fossil fuels.
Again, not having a pop, but a genuine question, what is the impact on the environment by log burners?
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/why-wood-burning-stoves-are-bad-for-you-and-the-environment_uk_5c3c5ce6e4b0e0baf53ef7f8?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEctrRD4BowySVzbstzhzMtT-XNo43N0Af64Ii2y-cjgxpNQPCiqfz729PyrFtrtZ4Y7Ie6wQqifWAxUl7aiW6Vwz3290sRYsk7GWjzKxX44PEBu2bzslHPdUQn5zw3lkGc6ylVrOc2dJu63dCGR4MzGQGVCBLRJ5pQw8AIa0r5c

ballysmate

Some years ago, a man subsequently convicted of terrorist offences was found with plans of the gas terminals at Bacton, Easington and St Fergus on his person.
The significance of this meant that these terminals have had their security dramatically increased are are designated CNI sites. Critical national infrastructure
That is our reliance on fossil fuels.
I know of no wind farms being similarly guarded by armed police.

pinno

ballysmate said:

Was not trying to have a pop at you about your heating, but do you see my point about our reliance on fossil fuels.
Again, not having a pop, but a genuine question, what is the impact on the environment by log burners?
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/why-wood-burning-stoves-are-bad-for-you-and-the-environment_uk_5c3c5ce6e4b0e0baf53ef7f8?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEctrRD4BowySVzbstzhzMtT-XNo43N0Af64Ii2y-cjgxpNQPCiqfz729PyrFtrtZ4Y7Ie6wQqifWAxUl7aiW6Vwz3290sRYsk7GWjzKxX44PEBu2bzslHPdUQn5zw3lkGc6ylVrOc2dJu63dCGR4MzGQGVCBLRJ5pQw8AIa0r5c

Yeabut... In London, it became very trendy to burn wood to the extent that mixed with all those horseless carriages and omnibuses, it's a pea souper innit guv'? Those London centric lot don't think about the rest of the UK.
Look, when Engerland are free of the federalist imperialistic bureaucrats (and Jockland will be flying the blue flag and golden stars), you can make up whatever rules you like...

cont. p94

I couldn't put coal ash on my vegetable patch because of the toxins but I can scatter wood ash.
Coal is full of stuff like coal tar, whereas wood is far less of a pollutant.

rjsterry

ballysmate said:

Some years ago, a man subsequently convicted of terrorist offences was found with plans of the gas terminals at Bacton, Easington and St Fergus on his person.
The significance of this meant that these terminals have had their security dramatically increased are are designated CNI sites. Critical national infrastructure
That is our reliance on fossil fuels.
I know of no wind farms being similarly guarded by armed police.

Possibly because most of them are surrounded by sea. The key phrase above is "some years ago". As for domestic heating, most of us are going to have to switch to an air or ground source heat pump and install more insulation, which is relatively straightforward. Modern wood burners have much lower emissions, but are still not ideal for urban areas.

ballysmate

rjsterry said:

ballysmate said:

Some years ago, a man subsequently convicted of terrorist offences was found with plans of the gas terminals at Bacton, Easington and St Fergus on his person.
The significance of this meant that these terminals have had their security dramatically increased are are designated CNI sites. Critical national infrastructure
That is our reliance on fossil fuels.
I know of no wind farms being similarly guarded by armed police.

Possibly because most of them are surrounded by sea. The key phrase above is "some years ago". As for domestic heating, most of us are going to have to switch to an air or ground source heat pump and install more insulation, which is relatively straightforward. Modern wood burners have much lower emissions, but are still not ideal for urban areas.

They are still designated CNI sites and get afforded the same protection.
I would also question how relatively straight forward the installation of air or ground heat pumps may be.

john80

ballysmate said:

Some years ago, a man subsequently convicted of terrorist offences was found with plans of the gas terminals at Bacton, Easington and St Fergus on his person.
The significance of this meant that these terminals have had their security dramatically increased are are designated CNI sites. Critical national infrastructure
That is our reliance on fossil fuels.
I know of no wind farms being similarly guarded by armed police.

If the largest currently available onshore wind turbine is just under 5MW and most are in the 2-3MW range. Therefore if you are planning on knocking out an electrical grid then you could go to around 240 remote sites not particularly close together and bomb them or you could just go to one single 1200MW power station. I often think that terrorists are a bit thick but I am pretty sure that they would see that the later option is a better use of their limited resources. The above is not maybe a reliance on fossil fuels but more an assessment on the likely practicalities of a terrorist attack.

ballysmate

Perhaps my point has been lost, or was poorly made.
What I was trying to convey is that for all of our work to improve our renewable generation of electricity, this country still relies heavily on the burning of fuels. So much so, that the means to continue to import gas has been deemed so critical.
Without it, we are fcuked.

ballysmate

@john80
Do you really think terrorists are a bit thick?
I assume and am rather glad that you are not connected to any of our security services.
I think terrorists are many things, but not necessarily thick.

step83

john80 said:

ballysmate said:

Some years ago, a man subsequently convicted of terrorist offences was found with plans of the gas terminals at Bacton, Easington and St Fergus on his person.
The significance of this meant that these terminals have had their security dramatically increased are are designated CNI sites. Critical national infrastructure
That is our reliance on fossil fuels.
I know of no wind farms being similarly guarded by armed police.

If the largest currently available onshore wind turbine is just under 5MW and most are in the 2-3MW range. Therefore if you are planning on knocking out an electrical grid then you could go to around 240 remote sites not particularly close together and bomb them or you could just go to one single 1200MW power station. I often think that terrorists are a bit thick but I am pretty sure that they would see that the later option is a better use of their limited resources. The above is not maybe a reliance on fossil fuels but more an assessment on the likely practicalities of a terrorist attack.

Their not thick, blowing up say a dozen wind turbines of a solar plant/field has far far less shock value than setting off something in a crowded area or fuel terminal. The whole idea of terrorism is to spread fear and terror.
When Beaconsfield went up there was a bit of a thump, lots of smoke an fire an a bit of a panic over fuel for a week or two that was it.

While most countries are reliant on fossil fuels, things are slowly progressing, I think last year during summer there was a day where PV and wind were able to supply all the UK power needs, which is a first for the UK. Now OK the fossil fuel powerplants were not turned off, turbines etc don't like being turned on an off like that for starters.
But its progress, you have to take into account moving to renewable's is a culture and mindset change.
One of the new housing developments going up near me all the properties have solar panels, theres increased focus on pedestrian areas, and mass transport links, that in a town build around car drives is quite a change.
While individuals are waking up to renewable energy, its taking far longer to feed up to developers etc who are still mainly focusing on cramming to meet building quotas.

rjsterry

ballysmate said:

rjsterry said:

ballysmate said:

Some years ago, a man subsequently convicted of terrorist offences was found with plans of the gas terminals at Bacton, Easington and St Fergus on his person.
The significance of this meant that these terminals have had their security dramatically increased are are designated CNI sites. Critical national infrastructure
That is our reliance on fossil fuels.
I know of no wind farms being similarly guarded by armed police.

Possibly because most of them are surrounded by sea. The key phrase above is "some years ago". As for domestic heating, most of us are going to have to switch to an air or ground source heat pump and install more insulation, which is relatively straightforward. Modern wood burners have much lower emissions, but are still not ideal for urban areas.

They are still designated CNI sites and get afforded the same protection.
I would also question how relatively straight forward the installation of air or ground heat pumps may be.

It's very similar to installing air conditioning to your home. For ground source heat pumps you also need to dig a big hole for the collector coils, but for air source, it's just bolting a box to the outside of the house and some plumbing work.

ballysmate

rjsterry said:

ballysmate said:

rjsterry said:

ballysmate said:

Some years ago, a man subsequently convicted of terrorist offences was found with plans of the gas terminals at Bacton, Easington and St Fergus on his person.
The significance of this meant that these terminals have had their security dramatically increased are are designated CNI sites. Critical national infrastructure
That is our reliance on fossil fuels.
I know of no wind farms being similarly guarded by armed police.

Possibly because most of them are surrounded by sea. The key phrase above is "some years ago". As for domestic heating, most of us are going to have to switch to an air or ground source heat pump and install more insulation, which is relatively straightforward. Modern wood burners have much lower emissions, but are still not ideal for urban areas.

They are still designated CNI sites and get afforded the same protection.
I would also question how relatively straight forward the installation of air or ground heat pumps may be.

It's very similar to installing air conditioning to your home. For ground source heat pumps you also need to dig a big hole for the collector coils, but for air source, it's just bolting a box to the outside of the house and some plumbing work.

You've done it then?
Cost?

john80

ballysmate said:

@john80
Do you really think terrorists are a bit thick?
I assume and am rather glad that you are not connected to any of our security services.
I think terrorists are many things, but not necessarily thick.

The reality is if you look at most of the recent crop they have been reduced to fake bomb vests and a couple of knives. Maybe a van if they can draw the ability to sign a rental agreement. The public are lucky that suseptibility to fundamentalism generally goes down with education. Otherwise we would have a number of highly qualified engineers assessing targets and then doing sufficient research to do the job properly. The security services rely greatly on this relationship. Is blowing yourself up for the promise of 50 virgins the pinicle in intelligence in your line of work?

kingstongraham

Stevo_666 said:

ballysmate said:

Out bombed Bush AND Blair AND Trump, so he did.

FTFY.

Trump has increased the number of drone strikes, but also reduced the requirements to report on civilian casualties. So Obama's record on this was bad, Trump's is bad.

ballysmate

john80 said:

ballysmate said:

@john80
Do you really think terrorists are a bit thick?
I assume and am rather glad that you are not connected to any of our security services.
I think terrorists are many things, but not necessarily thick.

The reality is if you look at most of the recent crop they have been reduced to fake bomb vests and a couple of knives. Maybe a van if they can draw the ability to sign a rental agreement. The public are lucky that suseptibility to fundamentalism generally goes down with education. Otherwise we would have a number of highly qualified engineers assessing targets and then doing sufficient research to do the job properly. The security services rely greatly on this relationship. Is blowing yourself up for the promise of 50 virgins the pinicle in intelligence in your line of work?

You think Anders Breivik was stupid? The 10 terrorists who carried out co-ordinated attacks in Mumbai killing 300 people were stupid?
Or perhaps you just think it could never happen here?

Longshot

A problem that doesn't get discussed widely enough is that of early adoption of unproven solutions.

I don't currently [no pun intended] own an electric car as, at this time, they don't suit my purpose. I considered the latest Tesla (whenever that becomes realistically available) but discounted it. I am confident however that when I next come to change my car there's a high chance that electric options will be available that will suit most if not all of my requirements. At that point I will switch.

Similarly with commercial buildings we have seen a number of well-intentioned but poorly tested concepts such as 'natural ventilation' over the past 20 years that frankly don't work and have had to be replaced [or still stand empty]. There's a large environmental cost in both such cases.

The benefits of domestic solar power were originally oversold in terms of payback periods for example.

I put in LED lights in my kitchen about six years ago. I've just had to replace the whole lamp unit in half of them (they didn't last seven years as promised after all). I'm sure there's a study somewhere but is that really cheaper environmentally? I know 4 or 5 light bulbs would have burned more energy but it must take a lot less resources to manufacture 5 or 6 new light-bulbs than a whole LED light-fitting and transformer?

kingstongraham

As we all know on this thread, the main problem with energy efficient lightbulbs is that they make you look orange.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1172308837212098560

john80

ballysmate said:

john80 said:

ballysmate said:

@john80
Do you really think terrorists are a bit thick?
I assume and am rather glad that you are not connected to any of our security services.
I think terrorists are many things, but not necessarily thick.

The reality is if you look at most of the recent crop they have been reduced to fake bomb vests and a couple of knives. Maybe a van if they can draw the ability to sign a rental agreement. The public are lucky that suseptibility to fundamentalism generally goes down with education. Otherwise we would have a number of highly qualified engineers assessing targets and then doing sufficient research to do the job properly. The security services rely greatly on this relationship. Is blowing yourself up for the promise of 50 virgins the pinicle in intelligence in your line of work?

You think Anders Breivik was stupid? The 10 terrorists who carried out co-ordinated attacks in Mumbai killing 300 people were stupid?
Or perhaps you just think it could never happen here?

Do you think partaking in terrorist activities is smart. I personally am pretty grateful that we have the gun laws and laws regarding substances that could be used for bomb making as it all limits the consequences of people going off the rails.

Do you think that the glasgow airport attackers were smart. For a doctor and an engineer to resort to pouring petrol on themselves and mainly getting the public injured attempting to save them does not strike me as smart or anywhere near the pinnacle of terrorism. If you think that people killing themselves to prove a viewpoint is smart then good luck to you.

Longshot

john80 said:

ballysmate said:

john80 said:

ballysmate said:

@john80
Do you really think terrorists are a bit thick?
I assume and am rather glad that you are not connected to any of our security services.
I think terrorists are many things, but not necessarily thick.

The reality is if you look at most of the recent crop they have been reduced to fake bomb vests and a couple of knives. Maybe a van if they can draw the ability to sign a rental agreement. The public are lucky that suseptibility to fundamentalism generally goes down with education. Otherwise we would have a number of highly qualified engineers assessing targets and then doing sufficient research to do the job properly. The security services rely greatly on this relationship. Is blowing yourself up for the promise of 50 virgins the pinicle in intelligence in your line of work?

You think Anders Breivik was stupid? The 10 terrorists who carried out co-ordinated attacks in Mumbai killing 300 people were stupid?
Or perhaps you just think it could never happen here?

Do you think partaking in terrorist activities is smart. I personally am pretty grateful that we have the gun laws and laws regarding substances that could be used for bomb making as it all limits the consequences of people going off the rails.

Do you think that the glasgow airport attackers were smart. For a doctor and an engineer to resort to pouring petrol on themselves and mainly getting the public injured attempting to save them does not strike me as smart or anywhere near the pinnacle of terrorism. If you think that people killing themselves to prove a viewpoint is smart then good luck to you.

There's a big difference between being dumb or stupid and being motivated by a cause or ideals that we believe are dumb or stupid.

step83

Longshot said:

A problem that doesn't get discussed widely enough is that of early adoption of unproven solutions.

I don't currently [no pun intended] own an electric car as, at this time, they don't suit my purpose. I considered the latest Tesla (whenever that becomes realistically available) but discounted it. I am confident however that when I next come to change my car there's a high chance that electric options will be available that will suit most if not all of my requirements. At that point I will switch.

Similarly with commercial buildings we have seen a number of well-intentioned but poorly tested concepts such as 'natural ventilation' over the past 20 years that frankly don't work and have had to be replaced [or still stand empty]. There's a large environmental cost in both such cases.

The benefits of domestic solar power were originally oversold in terms of payback periods for example.

I put in LED lights in my kitchen about six years ago. I've just had to replace the whole lamp unit in half of them (they didn't last seven years as promised after all). I'm sure there's a study somewhere but is that really cheaper environmentally? I know 4 or 5 light bulbs would have burned more energy but it must take a lot less resources to manufacture 5 or 6 new light-bulbs than a whole LED light-fitting and transformer?

Speaking of domestic solar, I have a very small panel array compared to most peoples house roof's, currently its just a single 100W panel and an old car battery. It's enough for me to light my garage with 2 60W equivalent LED bulbs an a work lamp, I accidentally left them on overnight recently, came back the next morning to find a them still running an the battery still had plenty of juice . if I can get enough storage and panels, probably 1KW of both I could convert my house lighting to a 12V system and run them on that, not 100% eco but its a good start, I may look at adding some patio lighting off the same circuit at some point.

Longshot

step83 said:

Speaking of domestic solar, I have a very small panel array compared to most peoples house roof's, currently its just a single 100W panel and an old car battery. It's enough for me to light my garage with 2 60W equivalent LED bulbs an a work lamp, I accidentally left them on overnight recently, came back the next morning to find a them still running an the battery still had plenty of juice . if I can get enough storage and panels, probably 1KW of both I could convert my house lighting to a 12V system and run them on that, not 100% eco but its a good start, I may look at adding some patio lighting off the same circuit at some point.

Interesting - I need to replace my garage lighting. I'll look into that.

john80

We have put a 2kW solar system on an extension build currently ongoing. To make this pay we added a battery storage system as we work during the day and mainly need the power at night. It will be interesting to see what the payback is like on the sub £5k material costs. In this case the solar panel aspects of this and flashing kits for the inbuilt system saved around its cost in slate roofing costs. So essentially I have got to get around £2-3k of the outlay back as I would have spend this on slate tiles anyway. I am not sure why we are not just making it part of the building regs for all new roofs that are suitable and having them inbuilt as it was pretty easy to do.

john80

Longshot said:

john80 said:

ballysmate said:

john80 said:

ballysmate said:

@john80
Do you really think terrorists are a bit thick?
I assume and am rather glad that you are not connected to any of our security services.
I think terrorists are many things, but not necessarily thick.

The reality is if you look at most of the recent crop they have been reduced to fake bomb vests and a couple of knives. Maybe a van if they can draw the ability to sign a rental agreement. The public are lucky that suseptibility to fundamentalism generally goes down with education. Otherwise we would have a number of highly qualified engineers assessing targets and then doing sufficient research to do the job properly. The security services rely greatly on this relationship. Is blowing yourself up for the promise of 50 virgins the pinicle in intelligence in your line of work?

You think Anders Breivik was stupid? The 10 terrorists who carried out co-ordinated attacks in Mumbai killing 300 people were stupid?
Or perhaps you just think it could never happen here?

Do you think partaking in terrorist activities is smart. I personally am pretty grateful that we have the gun laws and laws regarding substances that could be used for bomb making as it all limits the consequences of people going off the rails.

Do you think that the glasgow airport attackers were smart. For a doctor and an engineer to resort to pouring petrol on themselves and mainly getting the public injured attempting to save them does not strike me as smart or anywhere near the pinnacle of terrorism. If you think that people killing themselves to prove a viewpoint is smart then good luck to you.

There's a big difference between being dumb or stupid and being motivated by a cause or ideals that we believe are dumb or stupid.

I would wager a guess that the majority of our home grown talent is below average on the intelligence of job prospects front. Foreign nationals may have historical experiences that tip the balance up the education and job prospects front as potential wannabees.

slowbike

john80 said:

We have put a 2kW solar system on an extension build currently ongoing. To make this pay we added a battery storage system as we work during the day and mainly need the power at night. It will be interesting to see what the payback is like on the sub £5k material costs. In this case the solar panel aspects of this and flashing kits for the inbuilt system saved around its cost in slate roofing costs. So essentially I have got to get around £2-3k of the outlay back as I would have spend this on slate tiles anyway. I am not sure why we are not just making it part of the building regs for all new roofs that are suitable and having them inbuilt as it was pretty easy to do.

With a ballpark Unit Cost of electricty being >14 pence - you'd need to use 21kWh of solar energy to recoup the cost.
If you assume you can get 8hrs of 2kW every day and store it (which you wont) - it'll take 1300 days - or > 3 1/2 years to generate that amount - so double that and you might just "break even" - of course, in the 7 years you'll probably have to replace some parts - possibly the battery - which will add to the cost and the payback period ...

Solar isn't something you do for the payback (not these days anyway) - but I do agree, we should insist on it on new roofs - and possibly industrial units should be compelled to install them (who foots the bill?) as there's plenty of brown roof space - yet we get fields and fields of solar panels planted ... because it's cheaper of course.

Longshot

slowbike said:

Solar isn't something you do for the payback (not these days anyway) - but I do agree, we should insist on it on new roofs - and possibly industrial units should be compelled to install them (who foots the bill?) as there's plenty of brown roof space - yet we get fields and fields of solar panels planted ... because it's cheaper of course.

On industrial (and other commercial) buildings they should get a choice. Solar PV roof or sedum/living roof. Given the demand for logistics space right now both to occupy and ivest in, it's a shame we didn't implement this a few years ago.

ballysmate

My annoying neighbour installed solar panels and was boring people, telling all and sundry of his 6% yield. Pointed out that he is clocking 70 and should do the maths.