Prices of the electricity we use to charge

Ghost1951

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Ha ha ha - I'm not the only one calling him that. Just did a little search.

60725



Just days ago, Trump announced a new business venture. He is going into the cryptocurrency business. Should he be elected, his new business will be regulated by whoever he appoints as head of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). The new Trump business will be called “World Liberty Financial.” The possibilities for conflict of interest have never deterred Trump. During his Presidency, Trump owned the hotel closest to the White House, where foreign nations booked the most expensive suites to impress him.
On Saturday, Trump released a video of him hawking a $100 commemorative coin, which includes his “very beautiful face.” He assures you it is a “limited edition” coin. Don’t accept substitutes. Go to “PatriotTakes” on Twitter to buy your own Trump coin.
Philip Bump wrote about Trump’s profit making businesses in The Washington Post:
One of the defining characteristics of Donald Trump’s rallies is the emergence of an ad hoc marketplace of Trump-related merchandise. If it is made of cloth, is red and carries the name “Trump,” it’s there and it’s for sale.
A businessman like Trump might be expected to have mixed feelings about such a display. On the one hand, it’s a demonstration of the extent of enthusiasm of his supporters. On the other, it’s a lot of money being made from his name going into other peoples’ pockets.
But then, he’s still making a lot of money off his own name, too. In fact, he seems to be making an increasing amount of money selling the Trump brand — at the potential expense of the Trump candidacy.
On Tuesday, for example, Trump announced the fourth collection of his non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards — digital images that are theoretically constrained to increase their value. You may recall the flurry of excitement around NFTs a few years ago, with similar images inexplicably selling for thousands of dollars before plunging in value. Trump was late to this game, but he’s stuck with it, probably because Trump’s NFTs offer something more than a poorly photoshopped image of Trump dressed up as a cowboy: They offer access to Trump.
If you are one of the first 25 people to buy 250 of these new NFTs, the website proclaims, you get a staggering package of goodies: two VIP dinners with Trump and two cocktail receptions, as well as three pairs of signed sneakers (more on those in a second) and some actual physical trading cards, among other things. All for the low price of … let’s see, each card retails for $99, so: $24,750.
This package, mind you, does not include the commemorative card that is adorned with a piece of the suit Trump wore during his debate with President Joe Biden earlier this year. For that particular relic, you need to spend about $1,500 on 15 trading cards.
The money Trump is encouraging his supporters to spend doesn’t go toward getting him elected. The website insists that “these Digital Trading Cards are not political” — sure — “and have nothing to do with any political campaign.” The company simply “uses Donald J. Trump’s name, likeness and image under paid license from CIC Digital LLC, which license may be terminated or revoked according to its terms.”
CIC Digital LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, the entity established when Trump won the presidency to theoretically separate himself from his business interests.
CIC Digital LLC is different from CIC Ventures LLC, also a subsidiary of the Trump Trust. (The “CIC” here is presumably short for “commander in chief,” which would perhaps not be how the Founding Fathers expected that title to be used.) CIC Ventures is the partner of the aforementioned sneaker salespeople.
Want shoes showing a stylized image of Trump immediately after he was shot last month? $299. Want the gold ones, titled “Never Surrender” after Trump’s response to having been arrested in Georgia? $499. The Timberland-style boots are $199. The orange bitcoin/Trump shoes are apparently sold out; they went for $299 as well. (You will notice, as we go through all of this, that cryptocurrency is an undercurrent. That’s not a coincidence.)
Perhaps you’re simply looking to impress the guys at the frat house with your support for Trump. The sneaker people have an array of products designed for you: sandals/slides ($149), a cooler ($299) and Trump-branded cologne, titled “Victory” ($119).
Trump also recently plugged a Telegram channel for something called “World Liberty Financial,” a cryptocurrency-oriented group with an unclear goal. Among the sparse posts at Telegram, though, there was an offered warning: “Please be aware of scams and fake tokens claiming to be associated with ‘Defiant Ones,’ ‘World Liberty,’ or similar names. Do not engage with these tokens!” Scams? In crypto??
There are, of course, plenty of offerings for Trump’s more traditional base of support. There’s the Trump Bible, retailing for about $60. (The website also helpfully explains what to do if your Bible’s pages are sticking together.) And there are the other quasi-religious Trump books any true supporter will have to flesh out his or her library.
The newest is “Save America,” which Trump touted as “a FANTASTIC new Book” for which he “hand-selected every Photo, from my time in the White House, to our current third Campaign for President of the United States.” It’s only $99 — unless you want it signed, which tacks on $400.
For $399, you can get a signed copy of the book “Letters to Trump,” which is what it sounds like. The first book published by the firm responsible for these tomes, called Winning Team Publishing, was “Our Journey Together,” which is now only $74.99. If you want the full “Our Journey Together” bundle — including a special edition of the book, one of Donald Trump Jr.’s books and a “Make America Great Again” hat — you only need to shell out $999. (Donald Trump Jr. is a co-founder of Winning Team Publishing.)
If you only want a MAGA hat, Winning Team has those, too, though it doesn’t appear that sales of these explicitly campaign-oriented hats actually kick anything back to the campaign. They retail for about $30, the same as the Donald Trump-shaped Bluetooth speaker also sold on the website.
Trump’s fancier supporters might be in the market for higher-end products. A standard-sized bottle of Trump wine, from Trump Winery, retails for as much as $94.99 — though the person who benefits would be Trump’s son Eric. For that same price, you can also buy (as of writing) almost five shares of Trump Media & Technology Group stock. Whether that stock or the NFTs are a better investment is a question better answered by economists, but it’s been an unalloyed boon for Trump himself.
Further along the income scale, the Trump Organization still offers memberships at its clubs and golf courses — more expensive than buying 250 NFTs but a better way to ensure face time with Trump on a regular basis. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club/home now welcomes new members for only $700,000 a year. But hurry; the price will reportedly jump to $1 million in October. No wonder profits at Mar-a-Lago have quadrupled since Trump left office.
Almost all of this — the NFTs, the sneakers, the memberships, the books — kicks some portion of what customers pay back to Trump in one form or another. (He made $300,000 from the Bibles, for example.) All while his campaign complains in fundraising emails to supporters about being outpaced by Vice President Kamala Harris.
This is the contradiction that’s lingered around Trump since he announced his 2016 candidacy: He wants to be both a businessman and a candidate at the same time. Except Trump, it seems, doesn’t see it as much of a difference.
 
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Ghost1951

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I've seen reports that Musk has visited Trump at Mar A Lago everyday since the election result was announced. I wonder if Musk will be the "de facto" president while Trump watches Fox news
I was hoping he might transfer to Mars A Largo.
He almost has the means and he would be making less trouble there.

 
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Ghost1951

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Trump according to the people who ran his last government, spent a LOT of time each day watching TV and tweeting. Given that there has been a visible, and obvious deterioration in his cognitive capacity since that time, I suppose we can expect that he will spend more time than ever on Fox News and being upset that people were rude about him.

What could be worse than electing a narcissistic liar to the office of President?

Maybe electing a narcissistic liar, with incipient dementia?
 
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Ghost1951

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Trump's ex-Chief of staff, John Kelly, retired Marine Corps General - hardly a softy liberal type remarks that Trump frequently referred to Hitler's better qualities and the fact that his generals did whatever he demanded unlike American generals.

Kelly tried to point out that Trump's generals owe their loyalty not to him, but to the Constitution.

Trump didn't like this fact.

Trump has the inclinations of a Fascist.

 
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MikelBikel

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Jun 6, 2017
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Ireland
via foi request i have found out 17 ppl in our road have inverters over 10 years old and dont work anymore.

council does not care they do not even service them or clean the panels and they think the inverters are good for the same as the panels 25 years :rolleyes:

even my new one says 5 years warranty or ten if i get them to service it so i nicked that warranty as just dumped all the paperwork for it in the loft.

they only cost 600 quid but as long as the inverter is powerd on and the bean counter going they dont care if it saves you any money or not.

only 1 month this year we generated more than we used and if we have a power cut they dont work :confused:
Those inverters do seem to fail with alarming regularity.
Making good 220v, 50hz, not as easy as one might think.
I assume this applies to all Solar and Wind requiring Expensive maintenance, repairs and replacement?
I wonder if they factor that into their fake "projections"? ;)
 

sjpt

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Jun 8, 2018
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Elon Musk just posted this. Why can't we have a DOGE? This new regime is going to be very entertaining.

"All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be posted online for maximum transparency.

Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!

We will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining "
Surely we had the Department of Administrative Affairs ~ comes to much the same thing.
(oh but that was fiction and DOGE may not be)
 
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Ghost1951

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IQ is one of the features of individual difference which follow the so called Normal Distribution. Nt everyone is the same. This is true of all physical qualities such as height. Most people are around the average, but there are large numbers above and below the Norm.

Where do Trump voters fall on the IQ distribution?

My personal research suggests the following - follow the red arrow.

60728
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
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wooshbikes.co.uk
Just like your belief in Kamala, you'll find that you're wrong again. Stop going by what the MSM tells you and use your brain instead.
I have hoped that the USA is ready for a woman to be POTUS. It turned out not to be the case in view of the extra 1-2 million of those who normally don't vote coming out for Trump.
BTW, MSN are owned by billionaires. If you look at who opposes progressive politics, it's the oligarchs, billionaires who are not only dissatified with how much tax they pay, they want to use their money to change the world to their ideas. If you want to look at the role of MSN in Trump's winning, look at the biggest, Elon Musk's X. Under the guise of freedom of expression, X channels most of propaganda.
 
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Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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I have hoped that the USA is ready for a woman to be POTUS. It turned out not to be the case in view of the extra 1-2 million of those who normally don't vote coming out for Trump.
BTW, MSN are owned by billionaires. If you want to look at the role of MSN in Trump's winning, look at the biggest, Elon Musk's X. Under the guise of freedom of expression, X channels most of propaganda.
 

MikelBikel

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 6, 2017
847
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Ireland
Surely we had the Department of Administrative Affairs ~ comes to much the same thing.
(oh but that was fiction and DOGE may not be)
"The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.
Oscar Wilde

"Working to build" (a shell, no fit out) since 2016, now 2024, 8yrs and no end in sight.
"National children’s hospital to seek damages from construction firm BAM over further delays" (beyond 2025).
The most expensive building on earth, €2.2billion and rising!
https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2024/09/21/national-childrens-hospital-to-seek-damages-from-construction-firm-bam-over-further-delays/ :oops:
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
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IQ is one of the features of individual difference which follow the so called Normal Distribution. Nt everyone is the same. This is true of all physical qualities such as height. Most people are around the average, but there are large numbers above and below the Norm.

Where do Trump voters fall on the IQ distribution?

My personal research suggests the following - follow the red arrow.

View attachment 60728
I have an IQ of 142 last time I was tested, so I'm at the right end of that distrbution. I would have voted for Trump if I was in the USA.
 

Woosh

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May 19, 2012
20,312
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Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
I have an IQ of 142 last time I was tested, so I'm at the right end of that distrbution. I would have voted for Trump if I was in the USA.
would you be ready to vote for a woman potus?
We know Trump is too old, he'll spend his last days on the golf course and nobody is going to blame him.
JD Vance and his billionaire backer, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk will call the shots. So let me rephrase that question: would you vote for Nikki Haley if she was a candidate because the billionaire boys will run the show anyway?
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
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would you be ready to vote for a woman potus?
We know Trump is too old, he'll spend his last days on the golf course and nobody is going to blame him.
JD Vance and his billionaire backer, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk will call the shots. So let me rephrase that question: would you vote for Nikki Haley if she was a candidate because the billionaire boys will run the show anyway?
The characteristics and qualities that I would look for in a president are more likely to be in a man than a woman, but if the right woman with with those characteristics presented herself, then I'd be happy to vote for her.

I don't see those qualities in Nikki Hayley, but Tulsi Gabbard is a possibility, and maybe Kari Lake.
 

Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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would you be ready to vote for a woman potus?
We know Trump is too old, he'll spend his last days on the golf course and nobody is going to blame him.
JD Vance and his billionaire backer, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk will call the shots. So let me rephrase that question: would you vote for Nikki Haley if she was a candidate because the billionaire boys will run the show anyway?
It would be preferable to spending his time in a cell.
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
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Telford
IQ is one of the features of individual difference which follow the so called Normal Distribution. Nt everyone is the same. This is true of all physical qualities such as height. Most people are around the average, but there are large numbers above and below the Norm.

Where do Trump voters fall on the IQ distribution?

My personal research suggests the following - follow the red arrow.

View attachment 60728
One thing is puzzling me. If you're so go at collecting facts, analysing them and drawing the correct conclusions, why aren't you helping guys to fix their bikes on this forum? The process is the same.
 

Ghost1951

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 2, 2024
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I have an IQ of 142 last time I was tested, so I'm at the right end of that distrbution. I would have voted for Trump if I was in the USA.
The thing about population data is that it deals with means. As you know, the mean is looking at the mass of the population, not contrarians.

There are some intelligent people like Musk who are right behind Trump because they can see opportunities he may bring, which are very much to their benefit. They will use those to empower themselves. All of that - and your own points, make no impact at all on where the mass of his support comes from. It isn't from the clever people or the ones who finished school.

Of course, the other thing to say, is that this election was at least as much lost by the Democrat campaign fiasco, as it was won by Trump. I have often said things about that before, as you probably recall. The Democrats put up an obviously senile man as candidate and all of the higher echelons of the party including the VP applauded and recommended him to the people. No one could be surprised if when he is seen dribbling on TV and talking nonsense, they then rejected the VP when she was shuffled in, to replace the blithering idiot.
 
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Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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One thing is puzzling me. If you're so go at collecting facts, analysing them and drawing the correct conclusions, why aren't you helping guys to fix their bikes on this forum? The process is the same.
Well, that isn't where my expertise lies in the main. I do not have your detailed experience of the issues involved. I came very late to playing with e-bikes and have only posted on those matters as and when I thought I had an answer I could stand behind. You and I have different experience and usefulness as advisers on e-bike problems.

This particular thread has always been filled with political and semi humorous posts. I thought it was accepted practise to express such ideas here.

If you think my posts are a misuse of the forum, I would seriously consider not doing it.
 

saneagle

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Oct 10, 2010
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Well, that isn't where my expertise lies in the main. I do not have your detailed experience of the issues involved. I came very late to playing with e-bikes and have only posted on those matters as and when I thought I had an answer I could stand behind. You and I have different experience and usefulness as advisers on e-bike problems.

This particular thread has always been filled with political and semi humorous posts. I thought it was accepted practise to express such ideas here.

If you think my posts are a misuse of the forum, I would seriously consider not doing it.
No, I don't care what you post. I find your posts entertaining and fun while I try to figure out why you don't get it. I love puzzles. You will get it soon, though. Maybe you came to this one late in the game too.