[Couldabeen]

A fact is that the “engineered stone” can be made, profiled and handled in a safe manner and has shown to be a very suitable material for such things as kitchen and bathroom benches.
It can be cut with sub-millimetre precision and desirable surface textures using water jets.
When it was machined with mechanical milling the dangerous dusts were generated and as it was so easy to prepare, many benchtops were made in an ordinary workshop with no dust control and no respiratory protection for the workers.
If you already have such bench tops, you are in no danger yourself as they are hard, resilient and stable.

[Couldabeen]

The cafe is there to sell their products and while consuming those, enjoy the hospitality. I’m thinking that he was also using their complimentary wi-fi In which case it would’ve been appropriate to purchase at least one more coffee and brioche.
Did he interact with any other patrons to encourage them to add to their order? Was he an asset to the cafe while he was there?
At least by his dummy spit he has raised the profile of the cafe and many more may patronise it knowing that free loaders will not he hanging around to cramp their space.

[Couldabeen]

Traditionally a very fair proportion of Defence Force members have come from regional areas. In those areas, $16,949 would be a very good deposit on a home. Include that after eligible service, they also become eligible for very low rate home loans for their first home. Far better than are available to the general public.
What could be emphasized is that whilst a serving member of the ADF they can get very good assistance with both academic and industrial trades educations at no cost to themselves.
Many outside the ADF do not see the diversity of skills that a modern defence force needs on a daily basis. From that perspective, there is no reason why all citizens of this country should not do a minimum of two years within the ADF.
The old canards of health concerns that many used to evade service can be turned around and treatment can be available that can alleviate those conditions. Plus the icing is that any medical condition that is either caused by or aggravated by their conditions of service becomes eligible for free lifetime treatment and may be subject to a compensatory pension.
The most important point is that the individual must have a sense of nationalism and believe in Australia as the country that they know, love and want to support and live here and bring up their family in it.
Developing a strong unilateral pride in this country may be missing from our education system at present and may need to be reinvigorated.

[Couldabeen]

Whilst it is inappropriate in a democratic society for the Government to regulate who a person may, or may not marry, there are times when people do need to be protected from themselves in life changing and life long actions.
What Western Society is facing is the entry of peoples from foreign cultures where brides are often selected for older men against the will of the girls. It is these situations that the Government must be able to ensure that the true rights of the under age victims are protected.
Of course we all need to remember that virtually all teenagers can be rock solid sure of their emotions during those years and need to be reminded that “forever” at 15 has often lost it’s shine by 25.
There is a lot to be said for the lines from a song from the 70’s “Let me sleep on it, I’ll give you my answer in the morning”.

[Couldabeen]

Actually it would be a worry if the electricity retailers knew our individual values or that the ATO knew who our electricity retailer is.
It is only fair that everyone get a slice of the pie as at some point, everyone has paid or will pay tax in one form or another. (As it is everyone does pay tax almost every day, including on our electricity.)
And no, unless one performs a sleight of hand by cancelling out of one Provider Account leaving a credit that would then be paid out and then opening a new account with another retailer, we do not receive any cash benefit from this grant.
It goes to the Electricity provider who then applies it to all domestic accounts as a credit against future costs. No cash in hand, only less of a Bill next time until the credit is exhausted,

[Couldabeen]

Of course to have any validity, these counts have to be given from a persons death bed as in a healthy person, the libido never dies. Opportunity may be limited but desire remains.
As for that .3 occasion, was that the encounter where we never quite went “all the way”?
Were the counts for men or women? We know that there can be a great disparity between the sexes in not only how many partners they’ve had, but also how many they claim to have had versus how many they actually had.
Remember that when giving testimony in Court, Bill Clinton varied in his definition of “had sex with that woman”. And an earlier US President said that to have even thought about having sex with a person other then one’s wedded spouse was as “good” as having committed adultery.
I have a friend who admits to having had sex with over 300 different men when she was “active”. This will skew the statistics for those who’ve been happily monogamous since they gave their virginity on their wedding night.

[Couldabeen]

Cosmo, Correct. There was no need for this photo opportunity at Liddell at all. A look at the company that has been handed $1Billion to establish a new cheaper and more efficient photovoltaic cell manufacturing facility shows that this is a very dubious action.
They have evolved from a development from the UNSW who created a prototype cell that was 30% more efficient than the general cells. The UNSW had been unable to transition to larger cells or consistent efficiency.
The company has been receiving Government funding for several years now and are in the promising the “super” cell mode as they have moved location every year or so. They had a very high profile event with the Prime Minister and Minister for Energy late last year at Kurnell as they established a new factory.
Their greatest claim now is that they will be cheaper by using copper instead of silver in their contact points.
Their new cells claim to be ~20% more efficient than the conventional cells.
To get a return on this $1Billion, they will have to establish an export market and there is no way that anything manufactured in Australia in this industry will ever be able to compete in price with similar products from China. Which may well be where this company relocates to when they’ve run through this grant.

[Couldabeen]

Mr Gale, Sorry, but overall, in both shown and potential danger to life and health, nuclear is the safest form of large scale power generation.
In over 60 years of power generation and over 300 nuclear power stations, there has been only one occasion where a nuclear power plant has caused loss of life from radiation exposure. And only two where radiation was released due to either a natural or man made event.
They have zero emissions which is the goal of the climate change concerns.
The waste concern is a non-problem in reality. Apart from the actual bulk of exhausted fuel rods would fit in the back of an average ute every five years or so. Except that it need not. Those exhausted fuel rods can be recycled and go back to produce more power. France has been doing this for over 50 years.
Thanks to political pressure (originating from the USSR) Australia signed a Nuclear non-proliferation Treaty which forbade the recovery and recycling of exhausted nuclear fuels and destined them for permanent storage. This was to ensure that western nuclear power stations would always have this additional cost hanging over them.
One medium sized nuclear power station provides up to 60 years of 24 hour power regardless of weather and provides as much power as over 2,000 wind turbines and several hundred thousand solar panels.
The environmental cost of nuclear is only a fraction that of either wind or solar with a footprint of only a few hectares.

[Couldabeen]

Superficially this sounds like it’s all good. Over 500 items to cost as much as 10% less (a 5% drop in a Tariff will usually show through to a 10% drop in retail price) but this shows something very sad.
These Tariffs were originally protecting an Australian industry making those items. To say that the Tariff is no longer needed is telling us that the local industry has gone. The Australians who used to be employed in the manufacture of them are either unemployed or had to face a change in their life with a new job.
What has also been pointed out is that many of the current sources of these goods are in countries that are co-signatories to Free Trade Agreements so the Tariff didn’t apply to them anyway.

[Couldabeen]

I don’t agree with the morality of “surge pricing”. An ethical business sets a price for a product and leaves it at that. It’s bad enough with petrol prices. But there are apps for that and if the brand isn’t critical, where I am, that can call up over a dozen choices.
For fast food, within 1.5km of where I live at present, we have a McDonalds, a KFC opposite, a Hungry Jacks adjacent to the KFC, a Red Rooster, a Super Rooster, a Subway, a Starbucks, an independent bakery, an old school fish and chips with burgers of many descriptions, a Chinese takeaway, a Guzman Y Gomez, Coles and Woolworths, a pub with bistro, Cafe 63, 7 Eleven, a sushi (& bowls) and a Pizza Hut.
With this amount of choice, if anyone decided to try surge pricing, they may not last very long.
Wendy’s will have to offer something special to take away from the existing vendors.

[Couldabeen]

There is much more to buying a second hand car than the safety rating. Many of those that have rated poorly are actually rubbish cars. One’s that never had quality from new, let alone safety.
Some of the exotic (European) brands can become expensive money pits as they age and it is best to admire their often unique features and walk away leaving them for those with deep pockets and a sense of masochism.
After you have narrowed your choices to what seems attractive (and safeish) make sure that you are comfortable and competent driving it and have a mechanic or enthusiast who knows the brand have a good objective view of the vehicle.
Don’t be swayed by anyone telling you that the future is all electric and you should leave an old technology internal combustion engine powered vehicle behind. The petrol and diesel vehicles will be supported for several decades to come and far better value than any of the EVs that are coming onto the market at comparable prices.

[Couldabeen]

As only a very small area in Australia receives any snow and even there, it is unlikely that salt is used on the roads, very, very few Australian owners of the Yaris model need be concerned about one of their front wheels deciding that maybe it’s prefer to go on it’s own way.
If Toyota don’t contact you, relax, enjoy the feeling.

[Couldabeen]

Marten, Or Mr Atkinson could be showing his superior knowledge of the matter. Mr Atkinson is a University qualified Electrical Engineer and understands both the strength and weaknesses of the vehicles.
When the younger generation stop and consider that even the base grade EVs are up to double the price of many suitable ICEs and there is no real benefit, beyond virtue signalling, in owning and driving an EV, they may hesitate in their interest in making that purchase.
It is only the Legislation and threats against the manufacturers forcing them to manufacture EVs against the legacy ICE vehicles that has brought them into the market.
The typical EV gives no real advantage over a much less expensive ICE vehicle and value for money will come into play across the whole market.

[Couldabeen]

Mr Bean has had no influence on the sales of EVs in the UK market, nor for that matter has Mr Rowan Atkinson. The article in the Guardian reflected his direct knowledge and experience with EV ownership. Around the world there are many EV owners who are regretting their early entry into the EV world and finding that getting out of it and back to ICE ownership is quite a bit more expensive than expected. It includes such reports as EVs batteries spontaneously exploding with no provocation and causing significant collateral damage and this is a very strong disincentive.
With reports from overseas indicating that the recharge experience isn’t as convenient and seamless nor as inexpensive as promoted, it is very possible that the forced transition from ICE to EV by Governments may not meet the schedule Legislated and the new car industry may find car yards filled with unwanted EVs and the second hand yards doing very well.
From a number of discussion forums, there is also a recognition that in many countries, the Grid will not have the energy capacity for large scale recharging of EVs without compromising the consistency of domestic supplies.
Especially for older consumers, the additional cost of any reasonable quality EV over a similarly sized ICE vehicle would never be justified in less than 20 years of ownership. Even a hybrid costing around 15% more than the pure ICE version would take over a decade of typical use to recover the supposed savings in fuel costs.

[Couldabeen]

We’re adults, it’s entirely up to ourselves. Fortunately there is usually a cost per kilogram and we can determine which is the better more cost effective choice.
Always compare, for example there is a nut that is usually priced at about $22/kg. So the assumption may be that buying the 750gm pack will be the better choice. I’ve often seen the 500gm pack at ~$14kg. Silly not to take 2 home.
A certain cream cheese is either a single pack or a twin pack, recently I saw that two of the single pack would cost less than a twin pack. I like it, I took two.
Check Kiwi Fruit. Nice convenient pack of 6 with an indicated price per item of .80c where as the loose ones are .82c each (when buying 5 at time). A quick check finds that the pre-pack ones are all a nice uniform physical size, but turn out to be over 10% smaller.
Recently I was seduced by a certain chocolate sold in long triangles that was for under $15/kg. Less than half price of the normal pack. A real test of self control when one gets such a large block home.

[Couldabeen]

A note though about any place name that is using an Aboriginal word. As there was no written language, the spelling as we use is very much phonetic and hence the pronunciation can be arbitrary.
It is best often to leave well enough alone because though we may’ve used the contemporary pronunciation, once we’ve been exposed to an alternative, it can be difficult to shake.
Wandoan, Barcaldine, Goondiwindi and Bulahdelah all can be mangled.
By the way, after being corrected on Canowindra in NSW, there is a development between Brisbane and the Gold Cost that was loudly advertised as Can-oh-wind-rah.

[Couldabeen]

The actual use of cash would be invisible to the bank itself. From observations in the shops, there is still a lot of cash transactions at the lower end. Maybe not in the amounts that MacQuarie thinks relevant, but an ATM withdrawal once a fortnight, or even once a month can feed a lot of Sunday markets and small purchases in the general stores and newsagents.
Governments and big banks want to stamp out the black and grey markets and this is part of their ploy to control the general public.

[Couldabeen]

Leon, the owners of the larger SUVs and “pickups” have already paid quite a bit more in tax and also in registration and direct running costs. Most of the vehicles in question fall into the LCT bracket and are charged a tax on a tax in that bracket.
We live in a democracy and everyone is free to chose the vehicle of their choice. For how much longer is in question as the ACT is limiting that choice in a few years and the other States are also eyeing it off. Hopefully there will be changes of Government in all States to maybe throw that idiocy away.
There is no benefit in real terms from the push for more EVs on the road (apart from Dealers making more money from their sale and the the Federal Government also gaining from the increased GST revenue.
If you want to drive a small car or an electric one, do so, that is your choice.

[Couldabeen]

Of greater importance, is your Operating System (OS) up to date? The writers of the OS for both your mobile devices, be they a smart phone or a tablet, laptop or home computer are always looking at what nefarious software is being produced and disseminated in a bid to enter and obtain information from any and every devices that they can.
Every time we enter a website we are allowing the use of “cookies” that will be reporting back to the owners of that website that not only are you visiting, but what sites you visited earlier, what parts of their website you spent the most time browsing but also where you go next.
Frequently check with the supplier of your OS for security updates and general updates.
Is your OS the most recent version? If not. download and update as soon as possible and then get back to surfing and using your computer for your full use without fear.

[Couldabeen]

You’ve only referred to the Plug In Hybrids. The PHEV is the worst of both worlds, when the only PHEV that gives a battery range greater than 100km has a listed price of >$149,000, it isn’t exactly a mass market car.
The general battery ranges of the PHEVs seems to be between 50 and 60 km and whilst suitable for around town, certainly no benefit in any way if you wish to visit someone more than 60 km away and the return will all be done under the ICE under the bonnet.
When this reality comes home, the PHEV will only be a vehicle to side step the ban on the sales of pure ICE vehicles that are being introduced in some jurisdictions .
The hybrid is a viable alternative for many people as it gives enhanced performance over the ICE version of that model, but often at an extra cost of over $10,000 in many cases. That $10,000 buys a lot of diesel or petrol travel. The claims of better economy with a hybrid over the ICE version will usually only be met in metropolitan use and remain very similar in highway travel.
If value of money is of concern, the PHEVs are best avoided and stay with the ICE for thousands less in all models (with a much greater range of cars to chose from). One of the least expensive PHEVs has their ICE version and more than $10,000 less so one wonders why would someone waste their money in this manner.
At this point in the market, the novelty remains, but as there are still concerns about battery life, their value on the second hand market when they are two to three years old remains to be seen,

[Author]

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