Brexit, for once some facts.

guerney

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Solar panels are now extremely low cost ... The retail price for a 340 w peak power unit ... 36 v at about 10 amps is about 140 euro plus vat. The fittings .. brackets ,rails, roof mounting waterproof boots add up a bit more so could be maybe 220 euro .. .
Enough for a Bafang ebike conversion kit:

 
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guerney

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If anything the crop growth is facilitated because all the water is absorbed by the ground, the hottest part of the sun is shaded, and the lesser early and evening sun gets to the plants. More of the moisture is retained in the soil.
That's not optimal for the growing of pumpkins, in my experience. Their solar panels need full sun; roots grow wide and somewhat deep. Even while their leaves and stems look sun frazzled, they're working to grow their roots... to become massive plants in later weeks. For pumpkin plants: no shade is good.
 
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guerney

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But a great way of preventing too much uncontrolled growth of your eyebrows :oops:
I sweep mine back, for lower drag coefficient. They don't call me "That wolf on a bike" for nothing!
 
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oyster

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Where did they find a refrigerator large enough? Nine Elms coldstore?

Media reports are saying that the entire government has become unavailable even for prearranged interviews.
 

Zlatan

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But a great way of preventing too much uncontrolled growth of your eyebrows :oops:
My dad in early 60s had a petrol fueled Primus. (or he inadvertently used to run it on petrol)
Even as a kid I thought it unbelievably dangerous. One of my child hood camping memories was watching dad launch mentioned stove into a (fortunately) nearby river... Was like that scene in From Russia with Love where Bond sets river on fire... But without Bond, boat or pretty woman. Lasted a good few minutes as petrol from sunken stove fed flames. Oh what fun dad's camping trips were. Really.
 

Zlatan

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Back to Covid..
Why is it assumed if Omicron becomes dominant strain earlier strains will disappear. Surely for that to happen they must share mutual mechanisms that destroy the virus..? They don't? Do they?
Could we end up with Omicron all over country with Delta still spreading?? ( being optimistic it does seem Omicron is not killing or making people seriously ill? SA claim no deaths to Omicron.... As yet?
 

Danidl

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I developed an ran an entire strategy to chew my way through a chocolate Santa Clause last night. I started at the head and worked my way down to the feet where the chocolate shell is thicker. A sort of, best until last, strategy.

Has the windmill repaid its carbon debt? All of the steel production, rolling, fabrication, transport and installation must have given the plant a fair hit. Then there’s the concrete for the foundation. All of that blasting, clearing up, crushing, heating and transport to make the cement alone must result in a significant carbon release. And then there’s the aggregate………. And then….

Has the windmill off-set all of this? Will it ever off-set it before it’s ******?
Short answer ..Yes
 

oyster

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Back to Covid..
Why is it assumed if Omicron becomes dominant strain earlier strains will disappear. Surely for that to happen they must share mutual mechanisms that destroy the virus..? They don't? Do they?
Could we end up with Omicron all over country with Delta still spreading?? ( being optimistic it does seem Omicron is not killing or making people seriously ill? SA claim no deaths to Omicron.... As yet?
In my little neck of the woods, there are many who suspect that their current health issues were caused by viruses they suffered years, decades, earlier. Such as Epstein-Barr Virus, or a Yersinia strain. Though all too often dismissed by much of the medical establishment.

I'd be wary of making any assumptions about what appear to be new viruses.
 
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guerney

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Not exactly a desirable approach - I'd have to go outside to burn wood. And dry wood is, in a simple word, absent.
...a long time ago, in a county far, far away... a local welder made a woodburner for me out of an old gas bottle - he filled it with water first and boiled it over a fire. "Gas has bonded with metal", he said. Then he chopped off the top, welding on a big flat plate and collar for a flue, then constructed a sliding door on the side, to control temperature. Quite honestly, it was the best wood burner I have ever owned. Even during the coldest winter escapes, I had to keep the windows of my caravan open, because it was too hot. The bottom of gas bottles thin out eventually, as metal heats and bends... but as far as I know, the chap who bought the caravan and woodburner from me, is still using it.
 
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Zlatan

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...a long time ago, in a county far, far away... a local welder made a woodburner for me out of an old gas bottle - he filled it with water first and boiled it over a fire. "Gas has bonded with metal", he said. Then he chopped off the top, welding on a big flat plate and collar for a flue, then constructed a sliding door on the side, to control temperature. Quite honestly, it was the best wood burner I have ever owned. Even during the coldest winter escapes, I had to keep the windows of my caravan open, because it was too hot. The bottom of gas bottles thin out eventually, as metal heats and bends... but as far as I know, the chap who bought the caravan and woodburner from me, is still using it.
Our woodburner was bought from a traveller.(A Romanian bloke at car boot) . It was the only thing left after his caravan had burned completely. Really nice bloke, helped me renovate it. Been in house 8 years or so.. Looks and works fantastic. He, d brought it from Romania with him. Lovely thing.(the burner)
 
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Danidl

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Back to Covid..
Why is it assumed if Omicron becomes dominant strain earlier strains will disappear. Surely for that to happen they must share mutual mechanisms that destroy the virus..? They don't? Do they?
Could we end up with Omicron all over country with Delta still spreading?? ( being optimistic it does seem Omicron is not killing or making people seriously ill? SA claim no deaths to Omicron.... As yet?
There is nothing to stop a person being infected by all the current strains simultaneously other than probability of getting infected. One strain does not protect from another except in the sense that when the body is actually producing antibodies for one it might suppress another which is just trying to get established The concern is that Omnicron is not inhibited by a prior or current infection.
 
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oyster

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There is nothing to stop a person being infected by all the current strains simultaneously other than probability of getting infected.
Though it might be the case that initial infection by one stimulates the immune system and, because of sufficient similarity, helps to prevent infection by the others.

Obviously, multiple simultaneous infection is a special case where that would not be likely.
 

Nev

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Back to Covid..
Why is it assumed if Omicron becomes dominant strain earlier strains will disappear. Surely for that to happen they must share mutual mechanisms that destroy the virus..? They don't? Do they?
Could we end up with Omicron all over country with Delta still spreading?? ( being optimistic it does seem Omicron is not killing or making people seriously ill? SA claim no deaths to Omicron.... As yet?
I was thinking about this yesterday and it's a little surprising that none of the experts one sees and hears on TV and radio have explained why Omicron will stop other variants from spreading. This type of thing seems to have happened in the past though, perhaps no one has come out and explained exactly how this works is because no one really knows.

I have read that after the human brain, the next most complicated think we know of in the universe is the human immune system. So it might be the case that nature will eventually sort out this pandemic for us, but we wont understand exactly how it has done it.

I think it was flecc who mentioned ages ago that sometimes pandemics just die out and no one really understands why, in the past we didn't have the genomic testing to be able to identify different variants of a virus. Perhaps in past pandemics something like an Omicron would come along but we were not able to identify it and that then would stop the raging pandemic.

This might be what always eventually happens which is why the human race has survived these things in the past. This is of course assuming Omicron is not has harmful as the other variants. If on the other hand the new virus is as harmful or even more harmful than Delta then we are in deep sh**.
 
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Woosh

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I was thinking about this yesterday and it's a little surprising that none of the experts one sees and hears on TV and radio have explained why Omicron will stop other variants from spreading.
The explanation is statistics.
The vast majority of new mutated variants are defective and dead ends for the virus.
But every once in a while, a virus strikes lucky by mutating in a way that helps it survive and reproduce.
A few that do survive thus do not kill their host and reproduce faster than their parents.
Omicron has more mutations and incorporates a lot of mutations seen elsewhere previously, so we assume it has successfully gone through a few more generations/mutations than Delta.
If Omicron mutated from Delta, it has to be more infectious and benign compared to Delta. If Omicron mutated from a different lineage, then we'll have to use the number of mutations as guide to its potential.
 
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Zlatan

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I was thinking about this yesterday and it's a little surprising that none of the experts one sees and hears on TV and radio have explained why Omicron will stop other variants from spreading. This type of thing seems to have happened in the past though, perhaps no one has come out and explained exactly how this works is because no one really knows.

I have read that after the human brain, the next most complicated think we know of in the universe is the human immune system. So it might be the case that nature will eventually sort out this pandemic for us, but we wont understand exactly how it has done it.

I think it was flecc who mentioned ages ago that sometimes pandemics just die out and no one really understands why, in the past we didn't have the genomic testing to be able to identify different variants of a virus. Perhaps in past pandemics something like an Omicron would come along but we were not able to identify it and that then would stop the raging pandemic.

This might be what always eventually happens which is why the human race has survived these things in the past. This is of course assuming Omicron is not has harmful as the other variants. If on the other hand the new virus is as harmful or even more harmful than Delta then we are in deep sh**.
Good post.
 
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