AcousticallyChallenged

Just as a ballpark figure, you can take Lancaster Uni as an example of wind turbines on a small scale. They claim 4-5 million kWh of power generated each year. It has been in about a decade. The initial cost was 3.5 million. So, by 10 years, that’s 7p per kWh generated. Apparently it has been down for major maintenance once for a new bearing. Assuming maintenance costs another 0.5 million over that timeframe, it comes to under 9p per kWh. How much does the gas plant cost per kWh?

Well, on the Island’s scale, some energy independence is no bad thing.

But, are the ones finding it controversial the litter bugs? Maybe that’s why it struck a nerve.

The person in question works rather hard for the people of Ramsey. Just so happens to have voiced the opinion that the people who do their town a disservice by littering are twats. What’s so controversial about that? If an individual feels so wounded by it, then, maybe they themselves are a litterbug.

In response to a comment by a resident who was ashamed of Ramsey as a result of all the litter. Not that out there really. Plus, on her personal Facebook. It certainly wouldn't stop me voting for her.

Firstly, you're neglecting how the UK's energy pricing works. The 'peak' generators are the ones who set the price. Base load, for example, nuclear, will bid low, or even zero, because they can't change on the fly to meet demand. Solar/wind might bid at say, 10p per kWh they provide, and gas will bid 20p per kWh to make up any shortfall of the other two. Everyone gets paid 20p per kWh because of the marginal pricing structure. Gas often sets the price, as gas plants can respond quickly to changes in demand. Secondly, Pulrose spends a decent amount of time sending power to the UK, suggesting that it is both viable financially, and in terms of the grid capacity. Remember, you can alter the generation of a gas plant much more easily than other types. So, when the wind blows, you turn the gas down and sell the wind, and when it doesn't, well, we already know we have enough surplus capacity to be selling anyway.

Depending on where they get located, some of that infrastructure may be in place. One of the UK's problems is that the power gets generated rather far from where it's consumed in some cases. Lots of wind power comes from up North but is needed down South, and moving it long distances gets expensive. It has much less distance to go to be used on the Island, and the cabling already exists to sell it off the Island.

They leap into the air when they're empty. https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/40951/how-can-a-boeing-747-take-off-from-princess-juliana-7-546-ft-runway This suggests that you could do it from Ronaldsway with a surprising amount of weight on board. But only just.

I wasn't sure of her at first, but, I will say, she seems to have the best interests of Ramsey at heart, and she spends a lot of time on it.

Are we currently getting upset because the police post things like 'don't drink and drive, because if we nab you, you're stuffed'? That's been around a long while...

I saw this kick off, it was on one of the Ramsey groups, posted by an 'anonymous participant' of a quote from the commissioner's personal account. The commissioner called people who litter twats, which, frankly, is fair comment. This really hurt the feelings of a particular member of said group. The said member was the one who threw the word 'cunts' into the ring.

It's almost tribal, but then again, everyone wants a community. Some are into model trains, some go swimming in groups, some play in bands, some go for a bit of medical quackery.

My point, that you may have missed, is that a source like the Fluoride Action Network is not exactly going to publish anything that doesn't validate their views.

It’s a bit like saying paraplegics just need to work a bit harder to be able to walk. Or someone missing a limb can just regrow it with the right care. If only it was that simple.

It isn’t an either or. Medication isn’t a magic cure-all, and it won’t be appropriate for everyone either. Meds can help people to get on a better track. Unsurprisingly, conditions like ADHD can make it hard to make those life changes to better the condition. Much like anything, it isn’t one size fits all.

Back in the good old days, you could get amphetamines for everything from weight loss, to mild depression to being a long distance trucker. The spoilt sports made all that illegal. Of course, for someone with ADHD, they generally calm them down rather than perk them up.

Compliance is a nightmare. Sometimes it just isn't worth the cost involved for a given customer.

Any financial institution that is regulated is required to act based on reasonable suspicion. An 'uneasy feeling' isn't enough, but the threshold is often described as whether a 'reasonable person' would be suspicious of the activity. In reality, what that can mean is a payment that is out of sorts can put a freeze on your entire account, unless you can prove where it came from. If you can't, then you have to wait for the financial crimes unit to make a decision. But, the bank or company cannot tell you, or they're deeply in the shit. One could argue, morally, that groups actively supporting the suppression of people, crying when they get oppressed themselves, is just desserts. I'm sure, if it was commercially viable, there could well be a bank for all of these people who claim that the only reason they're being de-banked is because of their political views. Challenger banks are very trendy. Of course, if you talk to anyone working in the crypto industry, lots of banks won't touch you with a bargepole. Even bland things like getting insurance can be a nightmare. Banks can and do forbid you from exchanging your own money for crypto, if they deem it to be 'high-risk'. As the BBC pointed out, Farage's balance fell below the requirements for the account he held. Coutt's decided to close it, and offer him a more suitable, in their eyes, NatWest account. Mr Farage claimed that 'it hadn't been a problem for the last 10 years'. He also claims he was given no minimums, but it's here on the sign up page. https://www.coutts.com/become-a-client/private-form.html So potentially his position triggered a review of his account, but, if you're breaching the terms in black and white, it can't be held against the bank for them enforcing them.

The thing that isn’t immediately obvious is that they’re usually cross-compatible if they involve the QR code process. For example, if the site says it’s “Google Authenticator”, it’ll work with a myriad of authenticator apps. Authy with their 7 digits is a bit of an outlier, but some of the other apps support that too.

Banks can close your account because they don’t like who you send money to, or the industry you work in. You might even just have a name that sets off their alarm bells for a match with someone dodgy. They are required to act on and report any reasonable suspicion. They aren’t allowed to tell you of their suspicions either, only that they can’t deal with you and can’t explain further. It has been the case for a very long time. In terms of closing accounts? Sometimes it’s a business decision, other times a risk decision. It may even be that the cost of someone to manually intervene would well outweigh any profits you bring them. A private business is well within their rights to choose their clients.

For anyone struggling with one time passcodes: Many sites let you set up an “authenticator app” alongside your phone number. Popular ones include Google authenticator, Authy, Microsoft authenticator etc. For example: PayPal, Google etc. This means that your phone or computer will generate a new six digit code every 30 seconds, and you don’t need to wait for texts or anything else. The phone doesn’t even need internet access to do so. All you do when setting it up is hold up the phone to the QR code on the screen, or, type in some numbers in the authenticator app, and that gives the phone the secret code to generate your six digit codes based on the current time. You then aren’t always stuck waiting for SMS codes.

Doing security well is hard. The problem with the CVV is that it never changes. So if you give it to the wrong person once, you need a new card. With the text codes, they’re time limited by design. In an ideal world, security is something you know (password), and something you have. In the case of the text messages, the thing you have is your phone. However, savvy criminals have figured out that it is easier than you think to deceive customer service into giving access to your phone number to someone up to no good. It’s an ongoing and very real problem. The counterpoint is, if you make security too stringent, it’s very easy to misplace widgets like USB sticks, unless you’re in the habit of using them. Then you have the rigmarole of getting “re-trusted” by whoever you are dealing with. For the average person though, between 6 digit text passcodes and not, they can absolutely make the difference in someone malicious getting into your accounts. But, despite all the warnings of “never give us this over the phone”, people do hand them over to scammers. The upside to things like security keys is that they use clever maths in the background, so unless the other end is who they say they are, the response it gives is useless.

I’ve always found them fantastic to deal with. Polite, friendly, they spend lots of time helping you out too.

What about if you're unpopular? Asking for a friend...

Toyota, for example, will do fixed price servicing at any of their franchised dealers. They do it to keep cars 'in the network' and offer extended warranties off the back of it. The pricing isn't awful either. When I needed a new battery, the cost price for the battery was more than I paid the dealer to have it supplied and fitted.