The Grand Cafe

I have Siri and Alexa disabled on everything - I’ve never seen the benefit - and dislike the master-slave mentality encouraged by the advertised usage never using the word ‘please’.

Microphones on computers in my house are disabled by default except for any named programs requiring them. That does leave phones and tablets - which AFAIK don’t allow the mic to be used without permission. But of course if something were to be hacked I would remain unaware…

So far I haven’t seen any benefit in allowing Siri or Alexa, nor indeed in networking of household goods generally, while I do suspect that the more things added to networks without proper control (i.e. the way most people add dishwashers etc) is a major increased security risk for other things on the network.

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The damage to the seabed worries me most, (drilling/tons of concrete etc.). I hope the impact /benefit calculations have been honestly/correctly worked out without commercial or political bias :roll_eyes:

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Yes, we seem to leap headfirst out of one problem into another one without much thought other than the financial gain dressed up as environmental benefits.

There is one way out of this mess - and it’s not the regular stuff we see in the media - a brilliant person who invents a way to store energy efficiently.

You have to capture the energy first though, before storing it. Hence the ugly solar panels, wind turbines, wave machines, tidal barriers etc.

Hang on I’m having 27 of those “ugly” panels installed tomorrow (was meant to be last weekend). Ours won’t be visible to us.

LOL. Apologies Pete but I can’t see them from here either. All’s well.

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Yes, but if we can store the energy, we finally can get rid of coal / gas et cetera. Now we need big energy plants to compensate for low production levels of solar / wind energy.

By storing energy we can transport energy from the sahara to here. Lots more options which makes the existing eco friendly solutions much more efficient.

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I read, some years ago, that some of the Scottish Islands (I think it’s the Hebrides), where wind energy is a big export economy, use H2 as an energy store. I can’t remember the full story but something about, when the wind is too high, they have to shut the windmills down so they then use stored H2 to generate electricity (I don’t know what method they use) so they can continue to export to the mainland.

Well, we have built a small number of pumped storage schemes such as Ffestiniog, Foyers, Ben Cruachan and Dinorwig. Pump water to an upper lake/reservoir at night when the demand is low. Let the water run down a tube to turn the turbine during the day when demand is high. Over-simplified, but you get the idea.

Large scale and widespread battery storage is under consideration as a newer development.

But as others have said, electricity has to be generated in the first place. I’m not sure of the capacity and consequences of relying on wind and solar as our prime source.

Also consider the finite supply of raw materials in conjunction with geopolitics and vested interests, any significant change would need global effort, and at the moment I think it’s a non starter.

What have I started …

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A beer…good idea😉

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Well spotted Gazza! It’s actually the second.

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Looks like you need it mate, all the best, should look great though👍

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My ship has finally arrived woke up to this encouraging email. I can’t believe people actually fall for this stuff.

his is to inform you that the delivery of yur consignment box containing $5.5 Million US Dollars was halted by operatives. You are advised to contact your diplomatic agent Mike Hanssen with the needed fee to get the needed clearance.

Make sure you contact him with the following for security reasons;

Your full names
Address
Telephone number
His email address is (removed)

This will enable him to respond to you immediately , we will like to remind you the diplomatic agent was given 1 week to get this sorted out or have him sent back with the

If you are looking for traditional Swedish ‘kakelugnar’ like the one in your picture, there are new ones to buy on this page, Sweden’s largest supplier of wood burning stoves.

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Ah, but the time you get caught out is when it more or less fits what you were expecting… :thinking:

Just between you and me if I was expecting $4.6m I wouldn’t be thinking a box delivered to my door.

Had a nice listening session. I’m quite worried, it’s sounding really good.