August 12, 2019

In the race to stop CO2, there are many scams involving hydrogen, but are the public or the backers being scammed? There are many myths, and in the end, Hydrogen is a light, but inefficient battery solution. This is an exploration of where Hydrogen may be a solution, and where it just does not add up.

The title 'one finite planet' can be mistaken to be yet another proclamation of how we live on this amazing planet which could even be unique, and we humans are foolishly placing it all at risk. Boring. No. Instead, the perspective is we are living on a planet that is naturally hostile to humans, where nature dictates only a limited total amount of life, can only exist for a limited time, and that time is almost at an end. When seen from this perspective, even the environment mission changes from just not interfering, to the more complex task of tackling the challenge of overcoming nature, while yes, quite importantly, not bringing life to an early end in the process.

In theory, and under ideal conditions, an EV road trip with DC rapid charging can be as time efficient as travelling in an ICE vehicle. However, conditions are not always ideal. Some trips take much longer, and others can become problematic. Will EV road-trips ever become as convenient and dependable as traveling by ICE vehicle?

Reports from COP27 seems indicate the key initiative this year to make wealthy nations cover the cost of the damages poor nations will incur as a result of emissions that have main originated from those wealthy nations. The proposal as it stands has a missing an essential piece, and trying to cover for that essential piece, appears most to likely to increase emissions, and move COP away from a focus on solving the climate crisis and instead toward just fighting over the cost. This is a troubled look at the key flaw in what has been put forward and the real solution that should be in place.

Claims that +1.5oC warming would be 'catastrophic', and that climate change represents an 'existential threat' can be quite vague as just what is 'catastrophic' or an 'existential threat'? This webpaper, seeks to translate 'catastrophic' outcomes and 'existential threats' into more concrete outcomes. "We recognise climate change is a serious problem and are committed to net zero by 2050 in order to prevent the disastrous consequences anticipated to occur by around 2026" Typical government position: Is it ok?

Its the economy stupid. Voters want the best economic outcome, but by measuring the economy using 'Economic Activity', governments can effectively cheat the public. In many western societies, instead of maximum prosperity, governments often pursue maximum economic activity, which benefits big business and governments, but can result in an economy which in theory is going well, while at the same time individuals fall behind. This is the kind of economic policy makes frustrated voters turn to Trump and Brexit.

From "the biggest corruption scandal ever" in Brazil, problems in Venezuela, human rights in Saudi Arabia and Iran, to the problems caused by lobbyists against action on climate change, an abundance of fossil fuels is a source of political power, yet rarely force for good, and Australia, with a wealth of coal and gas, is not spared. The current crisis in Ukraine not only drives up energy prices globally, but it also creates a dilemma for gas producing nations.

Imagine spaceship of humans visiting out solar system and landing on Earth. Outside the green window, survival on the surface would require a spacesuit, and outside the yellow window, even the oceans would contain organisms visible without a microscope. On a timeline mapped to a year, for only three months would there be any oxygen in the air, and for only one month living things on land. The time since peak life and the dinosaurs to now would be just over two days, and the entire time homo sapiens have existed maps to less than one hour. From humanity's perspective, we have only just begun, and, without some disaster, the planet will support us for millions more years. However, from the perspective of the 4 billion years there has been life so far, the end is very near, with as little as 2 more days left on the calendar before the Earth no longer naturally supports life.

There is a lot of focus on climate change caused by humans, as there should be! But this focus can miss just how fragile the environment is even with us breaking things. Some of the surprises are in store when we explore natural climate change. This exploration of natural changes reveals that drastically reducing the Earths 'carrying capacity' in number of humans, or even completely inhabitable, are all eventually inevitable. Fortunately, we have millions of years to develop the means to avoid the worst natural climate disasters, provided we don't prematurely damage the delicate natual systems at work.

This page is more under the heading of 'fun facts'. The first 'fun fact' is that while everyone knows how the length of daytime and nigh time vary throughout the year, it may come as a surprise to realise the length of the entire day, also varies. Partly because, second fun fact, the a day is a longer than one rotation of the Earth, which lead to the third fun fact: we just had the shortest total day ever recorded.

Its 2022, and only 1 in 8 new car purchases globally is an EV, and as only 1 in 4 car purchases is a new car, only 1 in 32, or around 3% of all car purchases, are an EV purchase. While the EV percentage is rising, there will be gas/petrol/diesel cars until at least 2045, and little reduction in emissions from the EV transition alone. As demand for EVs will continue to outstrip supply, no one will need to choose an EV to save the planet, or run out of other choices any time soon. Bans are to pressure manufacturers to move from protecting their existing assets and produce enough EVs to meet demand, rather than force consumers into ICEVs.

After friend told me "I am not interesting in electric cars, because I will wait for hydrogen cars", I did the research, and found that such a future would make no sense, and will never happen. It turns out that hydrogen cars were never "the ultimate", are now worse at times or range problem, and they were only ever expensive to build and operate, higher emissions, limited interim stop gaps, for the time until we solved limitations of battery EVs.

There is a dream, often explored in science fiction, where humanity inhabits not just one planet, but many. While the dream is still centuries away, as is 'Earth 2.0', the reality, working towards small outposts on Mars or the Moon or even beyond is overwhelming compelling and can provide many rewards. Humanity may get back up outposts, but for centuries, will have no real second home, and over 99% of us will still need to live on our one finite planet.

Sadly, no, the existence of many "Earth 2.0" planets does not mean there are planets out there we could colonize. From the obvious to the surprising, reasons include: It would take 10,000 years for us to send even 10 people to a planet of another star.It took plants billions of years to build this O2 atmosphere.Even on a planet identical to Earth, odds are we still can't survive there!

At least, not alone. Solar and Wind have proven to be successful partial cost effective substitutes for fossil fuels, neither wind nor solar is stored energy. Without strategies and adding stored energy available on demand, it is impossible to reach the goal of removing reliance on fossil fuels. Consider home solar. With solar panels you can reduce your electricity costs, but to go 'off grid', you need a battery or other energy storage for the solar power. Yet, the need energy storage is being installed, but not connected to the grid.

Yes, big oil clearly has a vested interest in arguing against climate change and downplaying risks, but on the other hand, aren't there also vested interests exaggerating and overstating the risks of climate change? Effectively 'big renewables', 'big science' or 'big climate'? This is a look at the financial might on each side of the argument, and the respective motives for each side to overstate their case. Is this really a balanced fight, or is it more like the might of 'big tobacco' vs 'whistle blower medical research' all over again?

The key specification for EVs so far has been 'range'. But how are the numbers measured, will range specific match reality, and can the number even be compared? It turns out there are even 3 different standards for measuring range, and they give very different answers! Further, why have we moved from 'economy' to 'range'? Is there still even economy with EVs?

This page focuses on a topical question, can the Samsung Z Fold 3 be a viable option for someone who has previously owner Samsung Note phones? Having owned 4 notes dating back to the original, I add my review, and links and selected quotes of other opinions. The page includes my review from the perspective […]

Something completely different. A discussion on how this site is hosted: on wordpress.com. Anyone who has started a "blog" or other site on wordpress.com, may get to wonder, what are the options for upgrading the website? What is the value of the free, personal or premium plans and beyond? What real world benefits are there, and, alternatively, what would you lose and/or gain from moving away from wordpress.com. This is a page discussing being in that situation. If you are not considering having a website, it may be of little interest.

Shrek: No. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers.Shrek Instead of a single immune response, the human immune system can be though of as having several layers of immune response, that all fade at different rates. Immunity is a complex set of different layers all subject to change over time at varying rates, making comparison between immunity following vaccination or infection highly time dependant.

Augmented reality was seen as potentially the way of the future when introduced in 2013. So far, augmented reality through sight has never delivered and people wearing augmented reality glasses are not a common sight. In contrast, people wearing headphones and earphones are everywhere. Augmented sound reality is here (or hear?) and if anything, is growing in significance. This page looks at the topic overall but also includes some specific reviews.

Move to renewables for energy, and electricity for transport, and we solve the climate problem. But renewables require storage, and uptake of EVs requires home charging, and there is a cost to both. But what if electric vehicles could solve the "green power grid" problem, provide energy security, and avert a threat of increasing inequality, and reduce costs? It turns out this dream scenario is definitely possible but can be fully realised only if the home charging problem is solved.

Someone recently suggested to me that vaccines represent an experiment, and people are the guinea pigs. It is a very valid point that vaccinating an entire population is an experiment, and there are risks. The real questions becomes, what are those risks, does the “payback” justify the risks, and are steps to minimise risks adequate. […]

There are both vocal supporters and vocal opponents of carbon capture and storage, and there are arguments for both sides. This page goes beyond reporting on how carbon capture and storage fails to make current 'blue hydrogen' projects sustainable, and looks at the underlying principle that dictates why carbon capture and storage, despite having genuine valuable applications, can never enable 'blue hydrogen' to be environmentally sustainable, but is so popular politically.

There is much talk of a 'hydrogen economy', but what is the substance behind it all? There are many myths but hydrogen can be : 'green' hydrogen, not a source of energy, but a less efficient storage stepping stone on the path to battery power.or blue/grey hydrogen, the fossil fuel industries' hope for greenwashing emissions. This exploration provides looks at the reality, and the myths about hydrogen, and provides background for other pages such as: Electric or Hydrogen Cars and Hydrogen Scams.

The Australian prime minister (Malcolm Turnbull) was interviewed on the ABC program ‘7:30’ answering questions on government policy regarding tax concessions for real estate investments.  The Prime Minister spoke of the need to retain a specific tax concession because reducing the concession would reduce demand, and to reduce demand would result in lower prices.  The […]

The whole “my body my choice” is perfect for polarisation, as you can be outraged because: People are being forced into medical choices for their own bodies. or People are making selfish choices that can cause harm to can harm others. Whatever you believe, “my body my choice” drives polarisation. I will look into each […]

You would think a new variant of concern could not be a good thing, but it fact it is possible. The update (Dec 5th) is that while is is clear a variant could help, that variant may not be Omicron. Although this page will record data on omicron over time, given how long the virus […]

As established in the previous exploration: Overpopulation, Starvation is the last symptom, overpopulation is exceeding 'carrying capacity'. Reducing the number of people is counterproductive if the action to reduce population, reduces carrying capacity. If society was to collapse, then even with 1/10 the people, we could still be overpopulated relative what we could then support.

In nature, we define overpopulation as when the population is beyond number the environment can sustainable without environmental damage. Those warning of overpopulation, will often resort to warnings on the eventual starvation that would occur following environmental collapse. However, there are those who profit from overpopulation and are so rich they would not starve anyway, […]

I read recently about reasonable people protesting over post vaccination deaths in South Korea, echoing stories from around the globe about the underreporting of deaths following vaccination. Can most of these deaths be just coincidences? This question has me seeking the real story on what is happening, not just with deaths following vaccination, but also with deaths from the virus. Almost one year after my initial exploration of vaccine efficacy and safety, now there is data, not just projections, so it is time for a review, and this question needs answering for any such a review.

Are Covid-19 vaccines safe, or is there a risk of long-term side effects, or even changes to our DNA? Which vaccine is the most effective, and are the statistics from trials real? Someone asked me if am I worried about long term side effects from vaccines, prompting me explore what I could discover.

This is a follow up to “mid 2021, can we live with Covid-19”, as significant further information has become available. Currently updated as at August 22nd. Will Vaccines end the Covid-19 problem, or is it an ongoing threat? Risks vs Optimism: A range of futures is possible. Looking on the bright side. The Worst That […]

(go here for link to latest update) This is a collection of facts on the ‘novel’ coronavirus, together with some discussion on myths and surprises such as: how quickly it could all end we do not know the mortality rate how the world will probably forever changed the debunking and fact exploring on topic of […]

Media reports, and government data, repeatedly presents ‘numbers of Covid-19 cases‘. However, the data presented is not the number true count of all cases numbers, but some fraction of cases that have been confirmed by testing. It is typically not even governments best guess of case numbers – it is the smaller number: ‘confirmed cases‘. […]

The media paints a very misleading picture as to the main threat presented by Covid-19. The risk for society overall that forces governments to adopt lockdowns is the risk of overloading hospitals. For most individuals, the greatest threat is not to their own health, but the fear that they getting infected, it could trigger a chain of infections and if a parent or grandparent of a friend dies in the outbreak, then that could have resulted from their infection.

Overview. There are No Heroes: Morrison – Djokovic. The Timeline. Overview. Novak Djokovic had committed a nightmare public relations mistake, appearing to gloat at having managed an exemption from the vaccination requirements for the Australian Open tennis tournament. Not necessarily a crowd favourite to begin with, Djokovic’s public announcement of the exemption that he had […]

The severity of Covid-19, is as variable as the severity of a car crash, because just as with car crashes, infections range from so mild they are inconsequential, to severe.

The move from S/PDIF to HDMI ARC failed in bringing even a small revolution, but the introduction of eARC in HDMI 2.1 may now actually allow a major revolution. Contents: S/PDIF: History Audio Return and Directional Audio/Video Cables Pre ARC (before HDMI 1.4, 2009 ) HDMI 1.4 with ARC (Audio Return Channel) Sonos Beam – […]

There are cases where the rapid evolution of technology means that terms can lose connection with their original meaning.  ‘Crop’ and full frame are clear examples.  Should we go back to the original meaning, or embrace using the original term in ways that evolve further and further from that original meaning? History/Background Film Cameras Pre […]

This is the excerpt for your very first post.

John C Dvorak of suggests in this article that Apple is ready to ditch the Mac.  Is this realistic?  The idea that the Mac is a problem for Apple is something I have suggested in conversation on several occasions, so there are a least two observers, and from different perspectives, seeing that Mac products no […]

Industrial/Growth Age Characteristics (discussed in detail later in the post) automation replaces manual labour time to travel continually decreases automation and culture spreads around the globe population growth is unprecedented economic markets expand rapidly the Christian religion is the dominant religion of the revolution Have I missed any? Most likely yes. Information/Eco Age Characteristics (again, […]

Abstract: There is a population ‘catch 22’ in that some countries with underlying  population reduction continue to grow their population through immigration because these same countries are most attractive to potential immigrants. This hides the underlying population reduction, and produces an illusion that populations always grow. If you read this, chances are you live in […]

This is a snapshot of the pandemic as of March 2021, looking at what life is like in Sydney Australia, and looking out at the world. The most recent case of a person infected in NSW , the state with Sydney as its capital, outside of quarantine was on March 17th and was a person […]

Right now could be a bad time to invest in technology and buy a new computer. I suggest that, right now, all Apple laptops are in a state of flux, and no Microsoft Surface tablets or laptops make sense. This is all due to the ‘ARMs race to new computer architecture, as an upheaval in […]

Episode 1 stated now could be a bad time to invest in technology and buy a new computer. Apple has announced they are moving to ARM CPUS, which will mean replacing their products, and this episode explores why it is so critical to Microsoft that they also move to ARM, and what the multiple technology […]

Initially, it seems the tech industry is just dumb. You could think: “So they get me to watch adds, and they collect my data. It is not like letting them collect my data is going to cost me anything! It is not like Facebook, Google, Instagram, WhatsApp etc have some way of getting their hands […]

Understanding relativity provides a completely different perspective in looking at everything in the world around us. Although, some the maths and other details are complex, those maths and details are not required to grasp fundamental concepts, that change the view of the world around us forever. The biggest challenge is that if you have thought […]

Secret Covid-19 Future: The Truth From a politician? It seems in Australia we have a genuine conspiracy to deceive the public. This is a conspiracy in two steps, with many conspirators only committed to the more benign step one, but likely being drawn into the more worrying step2. The Two Step Conspiracy: The People Don’t […]

This is part of series of pages I will be adding on things I have learnt as part of building this website, and I will soon try and enable following by topic (when I get this page working), so people can separately select notification on building websites and/or population or other issues, without being notified of things outside their interest. Standby for that update. Meanwhile this page provides general help on making an animated GIF for a series of images, specific help on a challenge with animated GIFs, and a list of sites with free images as a resource for those building images.

I have been following Covid-19 since January 2020 I felt the world too complacent, through to today March 17 2021, when I now fear there may be too much faith in vaccines. Israel has been at the forefront of vaccination, and should provide an early indicator of what to expect. So today I thought I […]

So far around 75% of countries who have lived with Covid19, most often not by choice, and around 25% of countries have lived in the shadow of Covid-19, but through elimination, mostly without Covid-19. Vaccinations may allow living with Covid-19 to be more palatable, but they also provide an opportunity for more countries to eliminate […]

Preventing 1.5°C Was Never Going To Happen. But Action Is Getting Real. So, Where Next?

If you follow car industry publications, there both facts and well recognised predictions that combined, signal a storm for the car industry. Reality: Why Makers Are Lying. The Lies and The Sad Truth: Industry Combined Revenues Will Plummet. The Predictions of Doom: Both Right and Wrong. Bankruptcy, Pivot, Or Downsize. The Industry Future: Robotics? Reality: […]

Covid-19 has made many phrases like ‘flattening the curve’ become part of News broadcasts, political announcements, and even everyday conversations. But, what is the curve? Why is there a curve to flatten? This post explores, the ‘curve’ and finds how herd immunity is the sole factor that produces the ‘bell curve’ resembling shape. Creating Your […]

October 2021 Update: Provax vs antivax. The Real Impact of Vaccines is a score, not binary. Spread With Delta Variant (6.5). The score on spread reduction: 2x? 3x? The score on death prevention: 10x reduction? Vaccine passports: Good and Bad! Original Content: July 2021 Confirmation of reality: Extensive spread even when vaccinated. We Know Elimination […]

Now for something not Covid-19, which is a rarity lately! A different topic for this blog, but 5G came up in a recent conversation, and what I thought I ‘knew’ about 5G was: significantly higher mobile data rates were possible (true) 5G is based on higher frequency radio than 4G etc (false) 5G works for […]

There is conventional wisdom: too many cups of coffee can be bad for you. There are also, a surprising number of of extremely rigorous reports confirming a certain number of cups of coffee per day may be a good thing. What is most often missing is the definition of ‘a cup’. How big is ‘a […]

Yes, although not everyone agrees, the Earth is overpopulated by normal definition of overpopulation: population beyond sustainable carrying capacity. For those who do feel the earth is overpopulated: "Don't panic, and reducing population is not a quick fix".

The Robot Revolution. Early Steps. Coming Soon: Flexible Home Robots. Robot Vacuums: Useful Yet? How useful is any robot vacuum? Tests: Determining Usefulness. Spills and Spot cleaning, Steps, Stairs and Multi-Level Homes Progress: From Trilobite (1996), Samsung 9350 to T9+ Electrolux Trilobite (1996). Samsung 9350 (2016) Ecovacs Deebot T9+ Review Of the Ecovacs Deebot T9+ […]

June/July 2021: Covid-19 may seem to be under control- but we are not there yet. The World Picture: Snapshots Of Instability. Australia: The Great Delta Experiment. Vaccination Chaos, Politics. India: First Impact Site of Delta, and a dramatic recovery? UK: Reopening, seriously? US: A mystery to the decline in cases? Israel: 80% immunity and still […]

What humans can perceive is not reality in full, but our own picture of reality, constructed by our brains from clues to reality collected by our senses. Science allows us to understand far more, and provides instruments to extend our perception, allowing continual improvement of our picture of reality, but know we do not yet […]

At this time (7th April), there is much talk of ‘peaks’ and ‘flattened curves’. There are suggestions that ‘the worst may be over’. Talk about lockdowns being relaxed or even removed. An outbreak running from start to end is a journey. With Coivd-19 that journey may include trials worthy of a journey in a Lord […]

No, I am not saying we anyone should be calling Sars-Cov2 the US virus. What I am saying, is that there is a real risk unless there is some caution, some people could start pointing the finger at the US, for new outbreaks of Covid-19 as time progresses. Consider, the US is currently the largest […]

The question of how the outbreak of Covid-19 started could end up changing the balance of world politics. It is that big. This page reviews the various origin stories, and I will update this page if more comes to light. No, it did not start in a wet market in December. When were the Earliest […]

The US military is, for the first time, sharing that they really do have UFO/UAP sightings that they cannot explain. It is easy to underestimate the significance of this revelation. There is even at least the appearance of deliberate efforts to downplay the significance. But this revelation, at some level changes our understanding of the […]

This is an overview of ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’, that was started back in 2016 but published until I was recently asked again. The TLDR; is that no-one knows what dark matter or dark energy are, and it is not even absolutely certain that either exists. In fact, my addition to the official version, […]

A page on different standards in use around the world, including measurement, electrical, and others.

How fast? How long does it take the light to get from the Sun to the Earth? A:  No time all.  You will hear the answer ‘8 and a half minutes’ but that is from our perspective on Earth.  From the perspective of the light, it takes no time at all!  So it takes the […]

I have been exploring electric vehicles. What is needed to make them affordable, and what it is like to live with them. When exploring charging, the charging systems became so complex that I have extracted what I found as its own exploration, which I plan to keep updated as a reference. It currently does need an update for wireless charging, but some information can be found on my exploration of the logistics of charging.

Sources Of Energy, and sustainability. 1: Solar energy. 2: gravitational/kinetic energy. 3. Nuclear energy 4: Thermal energy from the earth. Energy Usage Heat, Light, Electronics, Kinetic Power Storage Chemical potential, electrical potential, gravitational potential Renewable & Sustainable Renewable Sustainable Examples Original sources of energy, and their sustainability. There are few actual original sources of power. […]

In the 1970s, there were the 'Oil Crises'. Then, and at other times it has been suggested that one key reason for moving to renewables, is that as there is only a finite supply of fossil fuels which will come to an end one day. But when? There is also a mistaken belief that 'peak oil' projections are a result of supplies of fossil fuels becoming exhausted.

Our Sun is our very definition of white in colour, as can be seen in photos from space, and larger than most stars. Despite this, our Sun is a yellow dwarf! The page explores a few facts and myths about our star, the Sun.

2020 is regarded by many as ‘anus horribilis’. Enter 2021 and the hope for better, however dangerous assumptions, including that with a vaccines and a new year all will be fine, create a very real threat that 2021 may be no better than 2020. We come into 2021 armed with vaccines, but with Covid-19 case […]

There are many many myths about vaccines. Ranging from they are all part of some conspiracy, through to they are a miracle solution to Covid-19. Myths that place too much faith in vaccines can cause ‘Covid-19 complacency’, which could make things even worse in 2021 than even 2020. This post focuses on myths that place […]

The wealth differential is increasing not just between rich and poor individuals, by in the corporate world as well.  I have been thinking about the increasing trend towards monopolies and the problems with modern government structure and monopolies. Starting with some thoughts on the background, and then why monopolies may be on the increase. The […]

Introduction History The system sizes- who and what size camera phones Nikon M1 Micro 4/3 APS-C Canon EF-S – EF-M Fuji X, Nikon, Pentax,Sony 35mm Medium Format X1D H1D 645 Large Format Conclusions No system size is inherently ‘best’ No One system is likely to ‘rule them all‘ any time soon Introduction Different cameras all […]

I recently researched 5G, in order to understand what it was all about, and the reality of any possible new health risks. I came to the conclusions that 1) health risk claims are groundless, and 2) there is no logical reason to upgrade devices at this time to get 5G. But that research led to […]

It is already January 20 here, but in the US, it is still very early in the morning, and the inauguration of President Biden awaits. So does the release of Covid-19 statistics for the day, and although numbers may be delayed until tomorrow, the US will likely record a tragic daily record of over 5,000 […]

Radio waves, microwaves, millimetre waves, infra-red, visible light, ultra violet, x-rays, gamma rays… …… can seem so different, yet they are all electromagnetic radiation. All are composed of the same fundamental particle: the ‘photon’. All photons, travel at the ‘speed of light’ (or the ‘speed of photons?’), have the properties of a wave, and interact […]