Posts by codejunky 7123 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Oct 2011
@Dr. Vagmeister
"The issue is that the government fails to steer the correct direction."
I think that pretty much sums up the limitation of government. But it has landed us in the mess we are in and on the continent made countries more reliant on Russia and for no real benefit.
@Dr. Vagmeister
"The UK energy supply as of 2020 was 43% green :"
Of that burning wood pellets (shipped from America?) is considered green, also the stable technology of hydro is of little concern. But wind and solar are not particularly great. Worryingly millions are being paid to wind farm companies to stop producing about half the power they could be providing as it makes the grid unstable (constraint payments). The primary issue is of providing energy when people want it which is not something the unreliables is good at.
"As long as energy storage design and development proceeds and is implemented, then green energy could reduce in cost considerably"
As it stands green energy was sold as a way of reducing energy costs and yet that dream is not close to be realised but instead energy costs have shot up due to green energy. The storage idea has been floated for a while but is based on technology that does not exist currently. Maybe it will be eventually developed but the vast costs and increased vulnerability to our energy supply doesnt make this look a good plan. The cost of energy only looks to be going up when there is no reason it should.
"There are microwave boilers"
The gov seems to have set its heart on heat pumps for some reason, I am not a fan of government picking winners. It rarely goes well when they try. The problem with such solutions is the reliance on electricity which is still increasing in cost. We have had decades of being told how cheap energy will be with solar and wind and nothing but increased costs and turning back on coal plants.
"I am hoping that the Russia issue will mean that we move to green energy faster, and the same for Europe."
Assuming the definition includes nukes it could be possible. Unfortunately instead of building such we have had successive govs chicken out and build more monuments to a sky god. There is even the claim that climate change will reduce wind as 'global stilling' is being discussed (reduced wind speeds over past decades).
"This morning President Biden was stating that the US will be manufacturing locally - and as per The Register articles, fab plants in Europe etc, will see China sidelined to some extent."
This is an interesting development I am watching. But manufacturing seriously benefits from cheaper energy. In fact cheaper energy benefits us all and reduces costs across the board for the entire country. Just as the increasing costs inflicts increasing harm.
"I did not downvote you"
Doesnt matter if you do, I dont subscribe to the XFactor of posts and discussion progresses knowledge (I am always happy to learn something new). However I do know I have a certain 'following', pets as I call them.
@Dr. Vagmeister
"The upside is that the acceleration of green energy deployment for the UK to remove our reliance upon gas etc., will further our move to cheaper energy (this would be nice..... but how likely ??)."
I think your right about China playing the long game and possibly trying for Taiwan etc, but what I quoted doesnt make sense. Our growing deployment of 'green energy' aka unreliables has massively increased our dependence on gas (ment to be offset by fracking) and as for cheaper energy that doesnt even register near reality. Unreliables have increased energy costs in the UK insanely and 25% of our bills were purely green crap and the rest increased because of our reliance on unreliables.
"The possible long term result for Russia is that if Europe follow the UK direction, then Russia will eventually be poor unless propped up by China."
The difficult part being to convince some European countries to wean themselves off their dependence on Russia. The very green Germany looking at having its lights put out if it cant get gas and coal from Russia.
@AC
"Trump who may or may not be a Russian asset"
That glorious investigation has turned on Hillary and the Democratic party for fabricating evidence and using the security apparatus of the US against a presidential candidate. People are being arrested for this.
"spent a great deal of energy disengaging China from the west"
And Biden shared US intelligence with China hoping they would prevent war in Ukraine, which the Chinese back Russia as they have done previously. Add the 'virus of unknown origin' and territorial desires of China and it seems buddying up with China isnt smart.
"Now consider the effort of Brexit which basically weakened the EU with the hope of a domino effect of breaking up the union."
That doesnt stand with the evidence. Brexit didnt weaken the EU as shown by EU countries being so dependent on Russia that they have to carve out exceptions from sanctions. Germany is finally taking its military serious now that its too late for them to be effective (gonna take a while for them to be a serious force). Shockingly this is again something Trump railed against and was ready to pull troops out of Germany as they refused to take NATO seriously. The EU however is weak anyway, they still desire to be taken seriously but are far from such a goal.
"All the anti EU and China rhetoric makes a lot more sense if viewed from how it benefits Putin...."
Probably didnt hurt that Biden lifted sanctions on Nord stream 2 before this kicked off. Or that Biden screwed up the Afghanistan withdrawal. Or that a large part of Europe has been riding on US security and not taking NATO as a serious responsibility.
@StrangerHereMyself
Of course they will back each other. Biden was sharing intelligence with China about Russia and its plans to invade hoping the Chinese would help stop it happening. Instead China shared the intelligence with Russia and told the US it was just paranoid about the invasion.
Hell even in Europe we must question who is an ally. While sanctions against Russia were applied there is exemption for luxury goods.
@Mooseman
"but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides"
And you have issue with that statement? At what point does that say that nazi's are fine people? You also seem to have seriously cut down that quote You quote the reporter but you dont actually quote what Trump said, only an extremely selective snippet which doesnt reflect what he actually said. Have a read- https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/trump-has-condemned-white-supremacists/
"You seem to think trump is some kind of tough guy and made people "cry"."
Nope. I know he made some fools cry, including some in the UK that I knew. One fun example- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDYNVH0U3cs
"Well, if being a bully is what you like in a national leader then OK. Childish, but OK."
So your dont like Bidens presidency then? Biden has bullied states and workers out of jobs if they wont obey the great leader. Even saying he didnt think his executive orders were constitutional and of course having them struck down after a court looked at them. The authoritarian hitler dictator that some people feared from Trump didnt happen at all and yet they then demanded that when covid hit. Sorry if his mean tweets upset you?!?
"At a rally in Ohio, his first since leaving office, Trump boasts that Biden can’t stop the process he started to remove troops from Afghanistan, and acknowledges the Afghan government won’t last once U.S. troops leave."
Thats pretty impressive dont you think? Think about it, after 21 years of occupation Trump knows the imposed 'peace' cannot stand and yet Biden thought the Afghan government and army could hold off the Taliban. All the American blood and treasure spent over the decades of occupation cannot fix the country and it will revert to form once they leave. How was Biden so delusional then about it? Why did Trump know and yet Biden was so clueless?
"The same man who released 5000 senior taliban prisoners in Afghanistan?"
Who took over Afghanistan once the US left? And as you already mentioned and I quoted above, Trump knew. Since the Taliban would be taking over the country and those prisoners would be free anyway is it not better to try and start working with the new leadership. Especially when negotiating leaving the country.
"Trump who reduced US troop numbers to 2500 despite escalating attacks by the Taliban who, he assured us, had promised not to attack. Trump who committed to removing all US units by May (which was delayed until August under Biden, as the reduced numbers made it impossible to make any meaningful difference) ?"
Eh? Your last pile of bull struggles with what came before. It wasnt reduced numbers made it impossible to make a difference so they left, the point was to leave the country! Biden even campaigned on it because it was what people wanted and Trump wanted to do it. The reduced numbers was getting the US out of a conflict it was stuck in and achieving nothing. And after extending the deadline Biden still screwed it up seriously.
@jake
"I've noticed that the people who think trump is a strong leader are people who think that bluster, bullshit and bullying are fine leadership qualities."
Unfortunately some idiots here lump me in with such claims. Unfortunately 'orange man bad' syndrome doesnt allow for separating the good from the bad.
@Mooseman
"Sorry, you think Trump is a "strong leader"? Exanples of his "strength" please?"
Took on not only the Democratic party but also the Republican party to become president (as an outsider too!). On being elected he managed to make bedwetters cry loud and publicly except Hillary who had to hide for a sulk for a while. Put an end to the constant wars such as the war on ISIS and set an exit date from Afghanistan. Made NATO members in Europe cry for not pulling their weight and applied sanctions on Nord Stream 2.
It is kinda hard to see how strong a leader he would be in dealing with Russia invading Ukraine as it didnt happen under his watch. Only under the 2 presidents either side of his presidency.
"Nor does fomenting civil unrest"
It wasnt Trump nor republicans supporting BLM and Antifa riots.
"nor does calling literal nazis "fine people""
Wow, do people still believe that propaganda? Bet you believe the Steele report too
@Lars
"What have you expected codejunky, both Trump and Putin stink, how surprising is that."
I dont dispute that, I just dont stop at just those two. Yet the fact stands that Trump didnt set the timetable to withdraw because when Biden took over he moved the date further back which I would assume is for time to prepare (which would be sensible for a new president).
"Also remember that Trump once hinted at Estonia being such a small country it could as well belong to Russia."
I didnt know about that. Have you got a link? I know he upset an ambassador from Estonia because he was vocal about his disapproval for the US funding the security of Europe (while the continent took advantage).
"I very much doubt Trump would do much anything for Ukraine if in charge now."
This is a tough one isnt it. Under Obama Crimea was taken and under Biden Ukraine is under attack but nothing under Trump. May be luck, may be a strong leader isnt someone you want to mess with. While a guy who pulls back his red lines and a corpse who leaves americans and military gear behind and calls it a good job may seem more of a push over.
@Charlie Clark
"Which part of his 4 years of government didn't resemble a screwup?"
Harder to do it the other way. He was impulsive (twitter) and protectionist trade policies. But go on what did?
"In particular, his relationship with the military was fraught because of his failure to appreciate that details matter in military planning."
The occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq proving your point? Because thats a lot of time for planning and was severe screwups. Tell me more.
"In the end, it didn't really matter because the fundamental mistake was assuming the Afghan military just needed proper training and equipment."
And at no point was that Trump. He didnt make promises of the Afgan army holding out that was Biden. Trump was putting an end to the never ending occupation started under Bush. He seemed to view it as a waste of life and money, and the result after departure seems to prove that.
@Roland6
"Just because Putin isn't calling it a war doesn't mean it isn't a war!"
Isnt he calling it a special mission to route out nazi's? I still cant believe thats the best his scriptwriters could come up with for a full on offensive. May he get his ass kicked hard for all the lives this has and will cost
@Charlie Clark
"Afghanistan was incompetence after incompetence but it was Trump who essentially set the timetable for the withdrawal."
Thats not quite right. Trump set a time to withdraw but Biden took over (promising withdrawal too) and pushed the date back by months. I find it hard to imagine Trump would have allowed such a screwup in leaving. Biden made the promise through lack of reasons for voters to elect him.
@martinusher
"You must be talking about Corbyn."
Yup and McDonnell. McDonnell not helping the image with his little red book and posing in front of images of marx, stalin, mao, etc. Also putting the ex communist party member as Corbyns communication chief didnt look good either. And both being open about their socialist/marxist views as well as being supporters of such regimes (Venezuela) etc.
"Still, I doubt if the children of the Thatcher Revolution have any knowledge of the 'time before', back when you could actually live on a wage and stuff like that."
Was that when there were all those strikes and 3 day weeks because of how bad things were? Oh it sounds wonderful (not)
@Prst. V.Jeltz
"Im sorry your scornful metaphoring lost me there ...
What monuments?"
Gonna take the really long shot that you dont know what I am talking about but wind farms which dont work and solar in a country where it doesnt make sense to deploy it. The politest term I have heard to accurately describe them is unreliables which of course requires actual power generation to be built as well, often gas (easy to ramp up and down).
You know the monuments, the ones we were told would make energy cheaper because the wind is always blowing somewhere and will provide so much free energy. Hence why energy bills are 25% green crap and we rely so much on gas which is increasingly expensive. The only counter to that was fracking which is also banned because mud hutters dont like it.
@Doctor Syntax
"Unfortunately he's been able to fool enough of the people enough of the time."
I am not sure he has. He became PM as one of the very few willing to actually get on with brexit. Beyond that I am not sure there is anything keeping him there, he just doesnt have an opposition party to challenge anything. Right now the lib dems (apparently still exist) are being railed over the post office scandal and labour was so badly damaged by the communist takeover that its had no chance to become any form of opposition.
Not only are we short of a party on the right but there isnt a challenge for the left anymore either.
"We did. There's not enough left now. That's why we're importing it."
Not even close. The whole green crap movement in the UK was reliant on fracking which would have kept the price down and could easily make 30yrs of independence. However mud hutters want monuments to sky gods and no electricity to be produced so we are still stuck with the global market and sky god monuments.
@Down not across
"Did I say anywhere I was not willing to pay fair price for a product where my data was not snaffled up?"
Did I say you wouldnt pay more for such a feature? And you are of course welcome to do so anyway. As a result this should not be an issue for you. What you do say is dont send data to the US which sounds like a blanket ban that would affect other people not just you and your preferences.
"no, i wasn't willing to support that model and voted with my wallet to stay away from them"
Good. I wouldnt either. I like offline tech unless I want something specifically for online use. And we can do so easy enough. I also dont believe my way is the only way and people should be free to choose.
"(and no I didn't downvote you, as I am happy to engage in discussion/debate and stand by my views while accepting others view things differently)"
Dont worry about it. I dont really worry about the XFactor approach, discussion is worth much more.
@Gene Cash
"But the point is NO. I DO NOT want an IOT cloud serviced car or TV or clothes washer."
Great! Fantastic! Me either! And that has absolutely nothing to do with anything! If you dont want it dont buy it.
"The problem is you *can't* buy one without"
Really? Maybe I am lucky or of greater skill but none of mine are IOT.
"Try buying a TV that isn't "smart" in some way or another and wants an internet connection"
I have 3 here. I dont want a smart one.
"Or buying a Ford/GM product without OnStar or whatever the fuck they call it."
Is this a US issue maybe? I am in the UK.
@Pascal Monett
"And if the White House don't like it, it can stuff it where the sun don't shine."
That works until the realisation that cutting the EU off from the outside world hurts the EU, its them who dont like it. The EU looks with envy at the US global giants and wish the EU had an alternative... except within a highly restrictive framework that stops such from being developed.
The EU could wall itself off from the world and even go full iron curtain if they like. And we know how it goes from past experience and current hermit kingdoms.
@Down not across
"How about just not effing send it to US."
Thats one way to make the European product more expensive or non-existent.
"My heart bleeds. Re-evaluate the business then. Accept that your customers are not the product."
But they are. If you want to get something untracked then go spend the cash for an offline product etc (like most products are). If you want an IOT cloud serviced dowaffer then chances are its an ongoing beta and you are the tester, or that the price is so low because you pay in cash but also in data. And it isnt inherently wrong.
@Flocke Kroes
"Would you tick "like" and "dislike" buttons so I can select news for you that you like?"
Sure. Since I can grab my news from any news source I like (and I do) I have no problem getting news that isnt insane extremist right wing nor braincells never developed extreme left etc being advertised to me. Like and dislike sending me things I find entertaining... I aint gonna complain about.
"Would you give me access to details of your income and expenditure so I can list products at great prices?"
Oddly this sucks badly (thinking amazon) offering stuff I already bought. But occasionally I get recommended something in the area of what I am interested in and not being shown stupidly expensive tat (nor cheap tat) I have no interest in would be nice.
"Would you give me your bank details in return for a better life?"
Last I checked I am in the UK so by choosing to live here I already do that thanks to HMRC.
"I can place a fictional carrot in the direction I want you to answer the survey."
Have to be a worthy carrot to get me to lie but if it is, why not. The survey doesnt change other peoples opinions obviously and a nice carrot in my best interests would make me smile.
"You can answer everything the way I want but that does not lead you to a real carrot."
No carrot not interested. Try someone else
"Aye, fat, dumb and happy."
Another way of looking at it is people want to be fat, dumb and happy and people have been striving towards that throughout history. We like better services, options, variety, information and things tailored to our tastes vs the blanket gruel to cover as many people as possible.
Of course we are fatter. We dont have to starve until we leave the cave, kill something and drag it back. Of course we are dumber. We are happy for instruction manuals not to look like NASA schematics for a rocket and can call people in to repair the things we dont wish to routinely pull to pieces every year.
Of course we want to be happy. Look at the world and various countries out there and how great our lives are!
Who doesnt want a better life?
@AC
"It knows it can achieve success with ever closer union."
Thanks for the laugh. Especially as you had to say something different to what I said, nice duck and weave.
"hence why some Conservatives want to entice people from Hong Kong to the UK in the belief that they will work some sort of magic"
Nothing to do with the latest actions by China and some feeling its the UK's duty to help protect the people under its former protection? I see why you post AC, but still thanks for starting my day with a laugh.
@AC
"I am waiting for comment production figures coming from Tufton Street under a 7 year plan."
I agree the conservatives have moved left but I dont think they have gone quite so economically socialist (do feel free to slate them for doing so anyway, I dont like their direction of travel either). Do I guess your a liberal too?
@b0llchit
"Throw enough money at them and they may in fact be a lot cheaper than the other side of the pond companies."
Its not really cheaper if the taxpayer is paying an amount of the cost. The price will still exist whoever is paying it.
The EU looks green eyed at the successes the US has and wonders how it can centrally plan such a success. I am waiting for tractor production figures coming from the EU under a 7 year plan.
@druck
"Coal plants around the world are burning dirty low quality high CO2 lignite coal"
And Germany the glorious land of the green shut down their nukes and fell back on such coal generation too!
"climate change activists want it to say that way."
They want to relearn construction of mud huts the lunatics.
@Pascal Monett
"We have to shut down the coal-based power stations. All of them. Of course, we can't do that in one go right away"
Why do we have to shut down coal anyway? Plenty more coal plants are being planned to be built worldwide. Its a cheap and stable technology that works.
@Dan 55
I can answer that. Yes. That is right. Occasionally I will help out people in the trades who want something small doing (that would cost £100+ for maybe a small text change in 2 minutes). They know nothing of the website beyond it exists and they gave someone money to put it there and run its magic.
Previously I did some actual work with a company who's most savy IT people were secretaries answering the phone and taking orders by hand written notes and retrieving paper records even with the computer sat in front of them. The people who did the work operated huge machines daily and not one of them could tell you how to turn on a computer (very literally!) at best turning on the monitor. This was a little over a decade ago and I still meet people with the same IT skills as them.
I know one wordpress website creator (not gonna say developer) who couldnt do any of the code stuff just used the plugins and templates to create the websites for small businesses.
Remember the audience on here has seen a computer before and likely have an above average use of them.
"What I don't need is constant reminders on the benefits of respiration, or playing I-spy"
Sound like an app to put you on par with the concentration skills of the pedestrian zombie. The one who assumes the law of the road (pedestrians have priority) outweighs the laws of physics (idiot meat sack walks directly in front of moving vehicle and wonders why the world suddenly shifted).
"Now I realise they are simply designed to copycat the way the average motorist drives already."
The distance between theory and practice. May it be classroom, driving lessons or whatever subject pits theory against the real world. Anyone who lives it knows theory is a spherical chicken in a vacuum and thats before you meet outliers of anally retentive rule abider's to lawless twits. That the machine is able to blend in with the many shows a level of sophistication.
@DJO
"One day of reduced wind for every 10 to 20 of increased wind does not mean the overall wind is less."
One day? Its been reducing for decades-
https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/stilling-global-wind-speeds-slowing-1960
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/are-low-wind-speeds-to-blame-for-britain-s-energy-crisis-
And its not stopping in one place its going calm far and wide which makes for little power. If you are in the UK (or Europe) you may have noticed a steep increase in energy costs, hell we even had to fire up coal to make up the shortfall. This is over winter, a season not a day.
"If you think a warmer climate will be beneficial then you do not understand climate change at all and there is no point arguing with a closed mind."
If you think a warmer climate isnt beneficial then you truly demonstrate a lack of clue. Warm and sunny is great for vegetation, habitats and wildlife. That of course would support the growing of crops. It reduces death from the cold which is 20x more dangerous than heat. If you consider that to be from a closed mind then yours is walled off good and proper.
"Try reading some independent studies, not one financed by vested interests which from what you write must be the only stuff you read."
Aka so far you disagree but cant refute in any way so make an unverifiable claim that I am reading the wrong stuff. Even when I post you links that you obviously struggle to refute.
"Look at the extreme weather events over the last 10 years and more importantly look at the severity trend over the same period. The damage caused by climate change runs into the trillions, any possible benefit will be dwarfed by many orders of magnitude by the harm."
Is this where any weather calm/extreme hot/cold is proof of climate change even if it refuses to do what the scientists say? And your claim of so much damage dwarfing any benefits assumes god like powers and a crystal ball that makes me laugh. The costs of mitigating climate change has so far been high and show no sign of getting lower. In fact years ago fools were trying to claim energy would be cheaper because of all this free wind and sun, they too denied reality. All of this knowing we dont have the technology to deal with the 'problem' and if we did will require decades before we know if any of it worked.
But you keep shouting from the street wearing a sandwich board.
@MacroRodent
"IPCC is quite conservative in its reports, being under heavy political pressure from various governements to tone down its warnings."
The IPCC are the ones who claimed the Himalayan glaciers would be by 2035 based on an off the cuff comment by a scientist who had absolutely no desire to stand by the hyperbolic comment. As well as other failings calling into question their rigorous 'science'.
@DJO
"One (extremely unlikely) possibility out of dozens of possible outcomes."
MMCC co2 theory being right?
"What is your agenda, you reject evidence and promote talking points from vested interests that have almost no bearing on reality."
So you think its rejecting evidence to note the observed drop in wind which is required to rotate those monuments to a sky god? That the slowdown is considered as part of climate change (just as more/less wind/rain/snow/ice or anything is proof of it) has mp bearing on your version of reality that relies on monuments to a sky god? What is your agenda?
"Do you want more CO2, do you think climate change will have advantages?"
To the first question I dont care, to the second yes. As the cold is known to be far more deadly to the survival of life on earth than heat yes. As a developed species we also have the ability to mitigate less hospitable aspects of the planet which is why as a species we are far better at surviving than ever in human history so far.
But go on put on your sandwich board, stand on the street corner and shout the end is nigh.
@DJO
"Just because wind does not run 24/7 that's not a reason to dismiss it. And it does blow 24/7 somewhere on or off these islands, we are never completely becalmed."
Recently Europe has had a drastic fall in wind, going pretty calm and vastly reducing wind output. Amusingly it seems that to believe in wind power and climate change is to hold to opposing views as one theoretical consequence of climate change is a 'global stilling' where wind speeds fall-
https://www.ft.com/content/d53b5843-dbe0-4724-8adf-75c66127ea80
@Alan Brown
"Yup, but with Britain having flounced out the door, the EU has slammed it, doubled locked it, bricked up the hole and heaved a sigh of relief"
And the first image to come to mind was them then realising they are now trapped inside a windowless basement.
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