The totally off-topic thread

[juddles]

For all you energy-nuts, a bit of trivia for you:

I live in Medellin, Colombia. I work out in the bush which often requires me to drive north out of the city (which is nestled in a huge valley) along the Medellin River. It is a quite horrible colour and reeks. (They are trying to do some decontamination, but struggling).

Anyway, as you head north the river drops quite a few metres, and they have just completed a hydroelectric project - it is unusual in my limited knowledge as they divert water from the river itself, down through a tunnel, and then as it goes through the turbines it returns to the main river bed. No reservoirs or anything.

So now if they lack power everyone just needs to flush their toilet. Compared to that I feel that the Snowy is actually "clean energy"

 

[RooFlyer]

For all you energy-nuts, a bit of trivia for you:

I live in Medellin, Colombia. I work out in the bush which often requires me to drive north out of the city (which is nestled in a huge valley) along the Medellin River. It is a quite horrible colour and reeks. (They are trying to do some decontamination, but struggling).

Anyway, as you head north the river drops quite a few metres, and they have just completed a hydroelectric project - it is unusual in my limited knowledge as they divert water from the river itself, down through a tunnel, and then as it goes through the turbines it returns to the main river bed. No reservoirs or anything.

So now if they lack power everyone just needs to flush their toilet. Compared to that I feel that the Snowy is actually "clean energy"

'Run of River' hydro projects not uncommon in steep terrain areas. I recall admiring one looking down from Machu Picchu!

I was peripherally involved in this project.

 

[juddles]

'Run of River' hydro projects not uncommon in steep terrain areas. I recall admiring one looking down from Machu Picchu!

The Inca's had electricity?? Every day I learn a new fascinating fact.

 

[mushez]

On the NZ front today - one of the Cook Straight Ferry's lost a truck and trailer - said to have shipping containers on nearing the end of its voyage as coming into Wellington.

Trailer unit goes overboard after breaking free on Bluebridge Straitsman ferry | Stuff.co.nz

Better Video:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11676630

 

[amaroo]

'Run of River' hydro projects not uncommon in steep terrain areas. I recall admiring one looking down from Machu Picchu!

The Inca's had electricity?? Every day I learn a new fascinating fact.

Enjoyed the same view

 

[RooFlyer]

You know, we've got to stop following each other around

 

[straitman]

Re: Army coup Turkey

I am not quite sure what has triggered that statement.

At 10,000 posts the AFF moniker is 'Posting Enthusiast'.

All AFF contributors are esteemed.

This is getting too far OT :!:

 

[anat0l]

Re: Army coup Turkey

I've been handed an iPhone to (at least temporarily) take the place of my faithful Android of 5 years which bricked recently.

I don't know if it's any easier to use, though one thing I'm noticing immediately is how much less control I have over the device.

 

[straitman]

Re: Army coup Turkey

I've been handed an iPhone to (at least temporarily) take the place of my faithful Android of 5 years which bricked recently.

I don't know if it's any easier to use, though one thing I'm noticing immediately is how much less control I have over the device.

?????

Care to elaborate?

 

[whatmeworry]

Yes I remember life back in 1966. It has mostly been 50 years of good times since then. No more EK/FB Holdens and almost no car manufactururing. Wonder what happened to that couple 50 years on in life.

The lady in the clip is Elspeth Ballantyne of Prisoner fame. Here is Perth in [-]1986[/-] 1966.

[video=youtube_share;57Zs6BieUZM]https://youtu.be/57Zs6BieUZM?list=PLCAD05A7F696C34B9[/video]

 

[RAM]

On the NZ front today - one of the Cook Straight Ferry's lost a truck and trailer - said to have shipping containers on nearing the end of its voyage as coming into Wellington.

Trailer unit goes overboard after breaking free on Bluebridge Straitsman ferry | Stuff.co.nz

Better Video:
Truck trailer goes overboard from Cook Strait ferry - National - NZ Herald News

The Cook Strait is a 'challenging' piece of water. One ferry sank with the loss of over 50 lives - within sight of the beach. Rescuers could not launch anything due to the waves.

The Wahine disaster - Wahine disaster | NZHistory, New Zealand history online
Would-be rescuers stood helplessly on the beach at Seatoun as the Wahine succumbed to one of the worst storms recorded in New Zealand history. It seemed impossible that so many lives could be lost so close to shore.

 

[anat0l]

Re: Army coup Turkey

?????

Care to elaborate?

Although it's not a universal thing, stuff that I can't do on iOS compared to Android or much faster with Android than iOS:

• Accessing Settings in iOS requires going back to the Home screen and tapping the Settings app. On Android, just pull down the notification drawer and it's usually in the top right.
• Turning off cellular data in iOS requires going to Settings and then going to the Cellular Data. On Android (some flavours), just pull down the notification drawer and tap the relevant icon to switch it on or off. On some Android flavours, you can also easily found out how much data you've used for the period.
• In fact, depending on the flavour of Android, the notification drawer can be very flexible and powerful. For example, by long pressing the wifi icon in the drawer in Android, you can go straight to the wifi networks settings section.
• There is an option where if you reach a certain usage of cellular data (e.g. 2 GB), the cellular data is automatically cut off by Android. iOS doesn't appear to have the same option.
• Many notifications can only be configured for sound+vibration, or no sound+vibration. Most apps built for Android give the option for notifications with vibration but without sound, which I prefer for some apps like Facebook and Messenger. In addition, in most such apps on Android, the notification sound(s) can be changed to suit your preference.
• There is an app I had on Android which can change the wallpaper periodically, so you can have a new wallpaper every, say, 20 minutes. On iOS, an app doesn't have the rights to do this (or so I've read to believe).

Now some things are not present on all flavours of Android, and maybe I haven't found the right app yet for iOS (but I did a good trawl through the Store...). Of course, I could jailbreak the device, but....

 

[drron]

Re: Army coup Turkey

Happy 28th birthday Kokomo-
[video=youtube_share;9_5_AD9wXuY]https://youtu.be/9_5_AD9wXuY[/video]

 

[Cynicor]

Seriously, elective surgery. Seriously? All the best.

It's elective because it is scheduled, and not on an "emergency" list. Those lists are created on demand and normally done in a spare theatre or after hours. Scheduled surgery happens during the day generally.

 

[RAM]

And the last on SA power fun and games. Excerpt from Reneweconomy piece:

"the graph below, from the Australian Energy Regulator, shows the number of high price events – peaks of more than $5,000/MWh – across Australia over the last 15 years. As can be seen, they are currently running at their lowest levels ever, and have fallen rapidly since the build out of large-scale wind and rooftop solar.

Large spikes in electricity prices were common-place in the Australian electricity market, occurring nearly once every second day in summer months, when market operators had to turn to expensive gas generation to meet surges in demand. Most of those daytime peaks have disappeared now, because of the appearance of rooftop solar.
South Australia was the worst afflicted, because it relied on just a few powerful generating companies and was particularly reliant on gas. But since its major investment in wind and solar, those peaks have almost disappeared.

In 2015/16, a year in which the state sourced 37.7 per cent of its electricity from wind energy (see graph below) and nearly 7 per cent from rooftop solar, there was only one such peak. In 2008, it experienced 51 such events in the summer months alone.

 

[JohnK]

I think you may mean Prednisolone and that is a steroi_.

No. Definitely meant Prednisone.

It is a corticosteroid used as an immunosuppresant. It is used to treat certain inflammatory conditions.

 

[andye]

No. Definitely meant Prednisone.

It is a corticosteroid used as an immunosuppresant. It is used to treat certain inflammatory conditions.

They are very similar immunosuppresant steroi_ drugs, with prednisone being converted to the active prednisolone by the liver

 

[Pushka]

It's elective because it is scheduled, and not on an "emergency" list. Those lists are created on demand and normally done in a spare theatre or after hours. Scheduled surgery happens during the day generally.

There needs to be a better name then. Elective means choice - there is none here.

MrP has spent the day in Adelaide's carpy Immigration hole. AirNZ flight lost power and computers and they couldn't even get the luggage off the previous flight. Of course there are no clubs airside. They did not provide any food. Arrived at 9.30am and only just now cancelled. This is for work. They then had to go down and get luggage and then head back upstairs and hopefully rebook the one flight tomorrow. A cough day.

 

[Flashback]

Well summer has poked its head in the door again for a few days... 29 today, 32 tomorrow, 29 the day after. Then back to regular programming on Thursday with 23.

 

[andye]

There needs to be a better name then. Elective means choice - there is none here.

A not dissimilar issue here; I must say i can't see how any Income Protection policy is allowed to wheedle out of its implied contact with the claimant on these grounds (cosmetic surgery maybe but elective is ridiculous).

Insurer tells family saving daughter's life is 'elective surgery'