Salvo
@Salvo@aussie.zone
- Comment on Motorists able to lock in low petrol prices for 24 hours under Victoria’s new ‘fair fuel’ plan 1 day ago:
This doesn’t sound like a problem with PT -per se-, it sounds more like a problem with PT infrastructure Melbourne doesn’t have a train to the Airport either (currently) and all attempts are receiving severe political roadblocks.
Melbourne does have regular radial public transport to the CBD during peak times and the potential to have regular public transport during regular times.
Melbourne does need more connective public transport, we do have an adequate bus network, but due to congestion, it is unreliable during peak traffic times. The Suburban Rail Loop (if it gets finished before the next change of government) will be a good start, but more outer suburban lines (Frankston-Dandenong-Ringwood) would also be of benefit.
Just remember, when you are stuck in traffic, you are the traffic that you are stuck in.
- Comment on Motorists able to lock in low petrol prices for 24 hours under Victoria’s new ‘fair fuel’ plan 1 day ago:
It depends a lot on vehicle longevity. An EV, PHEV or even a hybrid all have batteries that degrade within (or more likely just after the expiration of) the warranty period. They batteries are often more than the car is worth. A pure ICE vehicle should keep running for decades after the warranty period has expired, as long as it is maintained to the minimum standard.
Both Toyota and Porsche claim that EVs are a WOFTAM because their vehicles typically have “infinite” lifespans, (For very small values of “infinite” 😉)
Lately, manufacturers are heading away from this mindset because it is much more profitable to sell EVs with engineered obsolescence, forcing punters to buy a new car as soon as the warranty expires.
- Comment on Motorists able to lock in low petrol prices for 24 hours under Victoria’s new ‘fair fuel’ plan 1 day ago:
You are right, but the greater majority of people who are sensitive to fluctuating petrol prices are either PAYE employees and get paid on Wednesday or Thursday or living off government payments, which are also paid on Thursdays.
People who are Salaried are more likely to have a company car or company fuel card, which means that they are not affected by fuel price fluctuations.
- Comment on Motorists able to lock in low petrol prices for 24 hours under Victoria’s new ‘fair fuel’ plan 1 day ago:
Different models of EV wear tyres at different rates, but you are correct that on average, EVs chew through tyres at a much higher rate than comparative ICE vehicles.
Also, while low profile tyres reduce the unsprung weight of a vehicle, they are much more prone to damage than vehicles with relatively smaller rims. While you may save fuel/energy on paper, all it takes is one irreparable puncture to have a much higher environmental impact.
- Comment on Motorists able to lock in low petrol prices for 24 hours under Victoria’s new ‘fair fuel’ plan 1 day ago:
The only EVs that are better for the environment than ICE are shared EVs (like Trains, Trams and Electric Buses) and ultralight EVs (like e-bikes and cargo e-bikes).
Driving a Lithium battery EV full-sized car is just shifting the environmental damage to different locations and cost centres.
- Comment on Motorists able to lock in low petrol prices for 24 hours under Victoria’s new ‘fair fuel’ plan 1 day ago:
I’m sure that this will mean that instead of fuel prices being inflated on the Friday Morning before a long weekend, they will be inflated on the Thursday Morning before a long weekend.
This will mean that that those people who fill up on Payday will be paying the inflated price, even if they are organised and plan ahead.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🌚 Wednesday, 15 January, 2025 1 week ago:
“The world really is wonderful”.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🌖🌕🌘 Monday, 13 January, 2025 1 week ago:
The thing is that with a few minor setting adjustments, Win11 behaves exactly the same as Win10.
The only thing an IT department does need to do is disable all the intrusive automations that assume that you are using your work computer for personal use.
You don’t need News and Weather on your work computer and Edge should not even think about saving Credit Card data, especially if you are processing customers credit card payments through a banking web portal.
And don’t get me started on CoPilot. If you use an LLM to do your job, it means your job can be replaced by an LLM. What are you even doing there.
Speaking of which, how do you disable Adobe’s intrusive AI in Acrobat Reader? Adobe doesn’t need to analyse my Pending Invoice Report.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🌖🌕🌘 Monday, 13 January, 2025 1 week ago:
Keep in mind that many IT departments can see everything you do on your computer. Your saved passwords will be stored in the Directory server.
I used to use Firefox for any personal stuff I was doing on my computer and I would use Edge and Chrome for work-related. (Firefox was also faster because it wasn’t being bogged down with AI bullshit).
Our IT department remotely uninstalled Firefox.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 📸📽️🎥 Saturday, 11 January, 2025 1 week ago:
When I tore my rotator cuff I would wake up in the middle of the night, in pain, with my shoulder out again. I would have to sleep wearing a sling.
My advice is to see a physio and do the exercises they recommend to build up your shoulder muscles. It can’t dislocate when it is being held in place by muscle.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 📸📽️🎥 Saturday, 11 January, 2025 1 week ago:
Same with DIY. “You can repair this using just a screwdriver, file and hammer: here is how I did it with an industrial workshop of tools, sponsored by…”
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 📸📽️🎥 Saturday, 11 January, 2025 1 week ago:
Our Pot Drawers are like the worse game of Tetris anyone has ever played. At least our Pots and Frypans are all round(ish) and can stack. Our baking dishes and casseroles are all different shaped oblongs and round rectangles. Our “Tupperware” cupboard is impossible to keep organised due to the hodge-podge collection of different designs of Tupperware, Sistema, Decōr and random brands of plastic containers that have collected over the years.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🐬🦭🦈 Friday, 10 January, 2025 1 week ago:
I paid for express passport replacement because I didn’t have enough points of ID for COVID benefit payments.
I then had a change of policy at work and didn’t get much benefits after all. The benefits barely covered the cost of the passport.
Then, because of the change of policy at work, I got pushed into the next tax bracket and had to pay back the benefits plus more.
I should have just burned some Annual Leave and not bothered with the COVID benefit payments at all.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🐬🦭🦈 Friday, 10 January, 2025 1 week ago:
😲🚽
I hope you feel better after that! Crook guts are never fun.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🐬🦭🦈 Friday, 10 January, 2025 1 week ago:
Make an offering to the #discworld goddess of things that get stuck in kitchen drawers.
- Comment on Daily discussion thread: 👨🔬 8 January, 2025 1 week ago:
There was a house behind us where the builder did a runner.
Styrofoam is always used in the slab, but never in structural areas such as foundational footings to structural areas of the slab.
Particle Board is actually used as a component in Engineered beams because it has better torsional strength than plain wooden beams. You can get timber beams that are stronger than an engineered beam, but only from old-growth forest like Mountain Ash and Huon Pine. Steel beams are another option, but then you have more thermal issues.
- Comment on Daily discussion thread: 👨🔬 8 January, 2025 1 week ago:
We planned our current suburban house to be Zero Energy (8 years before it was just a Marketting term).
There were some roadblocks, especially with the Site Supervisor not understanding what we were trying to do. (He just couldn’t comprehend, and decided to make unauthorised changes because he “knew better”.
We planned no gas to site, white (heat reflective) roof, lots of insulation, AC condensers on the south (leeward) side of the house, etc. The builder had a promo on a free PowerWall and the maximum legal amount of solar for a residential property.
We even had SECCCA liaise with us to do a case study on everything we were doing and the effects on energy usage.
They tried to steal defeat from the jaws of victory at every turn. The wrong colour roof was installed, they ran gas to site and tried to bait and switch us with “Electric Assisted” hot water rather than an Electric boiler, incorrectly wired PowerWall circuits so we couldn’t take advantage of the extra power and the AC technician insisting that the Condensers had to be installed in full sun, because installing them in the shade was too much hard work for him.
There were structural issues too, but they were not related to Zero Energy.
We persevered and after they fixed all the issues, we ended up with a 10 star house.
Nowadays (or recently, before the building industry crash), Zero Energy and a rating above 7 stars are table stakes for a builder and most are happy if the customer pays a bit more to boost it to 8 or 9 stars.
- Comment on [a few months late] Digital drivers license are now available for L and P platers! 1 week ago:
They didn’t accept someone’s at the Post Office the other day.
I don’t know if it was policy or because the clerk had had one of those days and was sick of retail customers causing problems.
- Comment on Daily discussion thread: 👨🔬 8 January, 2025 2 weeks ago:
There are plenty of people who love to help with Off-Grid, but the key thing to remember is that anything you currently get piped in and out to your house (gas, electric, fibre, water, sewerage) will need to be carted in, or you will have to do without.
You will need to do the maths on how much power you typically use, how much solar/wind/hydro your new house can be configured to generate and how much storage you will need. No hair dryers, curling irons or hair straighteners.
You will also need to store enough electricity to see you through.
You will need to find a Fixed Wireless Internet Service Provider in your area with line-of-sight to where your antenna will be.
There are other alternatives to a septic tank like composting toilet or incinerating toilet, but you will need to determine if they are right for you.
My advice is to watch as much Off-Grid YouTube as possible; keep in mind that different markets will have different products and solutions. Off-Grid service providers do realise that they may be the only option available and will charge appropriately. There is a reason why we live in societies.
- Comment on Daily discussion thread: 👨🔬 8 January, 2025 2 weeks ago:
Other problem is that you can’t get pseudoephedrine without picking up in person.
Phenylephedrine tablets were recently classed as a Placebo by the FDA, so it is a waste of time. Phenylephedrine nasal treatments are reported to work.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 😴 Tuesday, 7 January, 2025 2 weeks ago:
I have a 12 mini. I got it when my eyesight was as better and I could read the screen easily. I took mum to get her phone checked out the other day and had a look at the new ones.
Nah, I’ll stick to the mini with the little screen. I love the compact form factor and I reckon that I will get a battery replacement and get another 4 years out of it.
- Comment on Microsoft mimics Google UI when Bing users search for Google 2 weeks ago:
TIL. I will do it the correct way from now on.
- Comment on Microsoft mimics Google UI when Bing users search for Google 2 weeks ago:
The best solution is DuckDuckGo. You can use DDG as your primary search engine and when it (or Bing, which is its backend) fails to find what you want, you can add “g!” to your search to look it up in Google.
What DDG needs to do is modify the G! switch to include “&udm=14”.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🌀 Monday, 6 January, 2025 2 weeks ago:
I was hungover in bed yesterday, until young Bentley came in, sat on my head and started purring.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🌀 Monday, 6 January, 2025 2 weeks ago:
Good Morning, See you next Tuesday.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🌀 Monday, 6 January, 2025 2 weeks ago:
We had Skeleton Staff, taking turns so that everyone got some time off (except the boss).
All back on board for today.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🚓🚑🚒 Saturday, 4 December, 2024 2 weeks ago:
TiMe To UpGrAdE tO lInUx!
Seriously though, I’m not sure whether to keep my (not quite so) old Surface Pro 4 on Windows 10 or use it as a Linux tablet.
I’m finding that tablets are much more practical with cats on the house, it is much more difficult for them to mash keys when there isn’t a keyboard.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🚓🚑🚒 Saturday, 4 December, 2024 2 weeks ago:
A party is a party, and whether you socialise or just lurk, it is often good to be around other people, especially when the weather is difficult to deal with.
We had an 80th here yesterday afternoon. Lunch was rotisserie Bolar Blade and roasted Pork Neck on the BBQ, accompanying salad bought by old people.
Our house has very good thermal Insulation, but very bad acoustics so within an hour it sounded like the scene from Sneakers with the geese, but much more humid.
Outside was much nicer, with the dry heat, tasty food and peace and quiet, even when some of the other guests came out to join me.
Now we have cleanup day today, but this is why we built our house. It shouldn’t take long.
We have a 1st and an 18th this year and a 21st and a 50th in 2026, and we will probably have all the minor birthday parties too!
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🚓🚑🚒 Saturday, 4 December, 2024 2 weeks ago:
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🚓🚑🚒 Saturday, 4 December, 2024 2 weeks ago:
I just finished my watering the fruit trees and back lawn. I can already see the water Vapor off the exposed part of the retaining wall.