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ashadowofburnedoutstardust · 2 months ago

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hello. I have sent this ask to another NZ blog as well but I would greatly appreciate you answering too as I am trying to get multiple people's opinions.

i might have the opportunity to move to NZ. with everything going on in the US I am really scared about Trump and am thinking about taking it but I wanted to ask you about your current ruling party. It seems like they are maybe rightwinng and kind of like the US Republican party are trying to gchange the government to give themselves more power which makes me fear they are another russia back antidemocratwic party like the GOP. do you think this is true ad that democracy is in danger in NZ? Are they popular? Do you think NZ will remain a democracy in the future?

Hello anon,

I'm going to be honest things are a little unsturdy at the moment

Our current ruling party formed a coalition with two other parties but thanks to the vigilance of the New Zealand people (politics is a very common discussion in this country and we don't shy away from it nor our opinions on it) we have managed to uncover the links between particular members of the coalition (the ruling parties) and the Atlas network lobby

It's worth noting that the current ruling government did not win by popular vote and had to form and alliance with two other parties to secure the ruling position

We have very good reason to believe it is related directly to project 2025 and that their reason for doing so is to gain access to drilling for oil in our Territory

There is currently more oil under New Zealand's Territory both land and sea then there is in Saudi Arabia

You may want to familiarise yourself with the geology of gas and oil fields ( we have one of the largest gas fields in the world - the Maui) but natural gas is normally a pocket at the very top of a very large deposit of oil and there is far less gas than there is oil

Here's a little tidbit for you: the official story is that there was a venture made by petroleum companies in order to discover it - technically a farmer on the central plateau found some of his cattle poisoned and got some environmental guys to come and check what was happening turns out what was in his pond was crude oil. How do I know this? The guy that went to the farm to verify it is my father's second cousin.......

Anyway the government of the time covered it up and ensured that oil would not be able to be drilled on New Zealand land so they started exploring out at sea

Back to the political situation

The coalition is made up of three parties which are all to some degree right wing, some more than others

Since being elected they have managed to make themselves the most unpopular people in the entire country.........

Sufficed to say due to the fact that speaking openly about politics in this country is a fairly normal everyday event we have managed to put enough public pressure on the government to back down on several things and many institutions such as universities who have self-governance have defended their positions publicly, others have done it in more subtle ways

For example they defunded Te Reo Maori language education and in response the New Zealand public maxed out bookings in Maori language classes all over the country..........

Our democracy is currently under threat from foreign interference and we are well aware of the consequences of backing down

I can assure you that the New Zealand public will not be doing so under any circumstances, maybe we get that from our Irish ancestors 🤷‍♀️

Personally I think it comes from having been ruled by the British and having our economy intentionally tanked after we removed their influence from indirect power over our government in the 60- 70's right after oil was first discovered in New Zealand which we then insured would not be able to be drilled for on land, having had the French committed terrorist act on our soil by sinking the rainbow warrior, and previously telling the US that they were bullies and vehemently opposing nuclear power which ultimately resulted in a ban of the technology and a freeze out of communal military action and support...........

We understand what it is to be a target of people who feel they are "superior" than you, and by we I mean boomers right down to millennials, our Gen z are currently experiencing their first event but I can imagine that their parents are passing on the stories of the past

They may be the ruling parties in government for now but I can guarantee you that next election they will be voted out vehemently

They are currently planning to attempt to undermine one of our founding documents the treaty of waitangi

This document is a very complicated piece of our history to say the least and due to breaches of that contract we are one of the few countries that have ever paid reparations in terms of the returning of land and money

The treaty guarantees certain rights and the treaties principles bill is basically an attempt to rewrite one of the articles

Imagine someone attempting to rewrite part of the US Constitution - that's how big of a deal it is......

Unfortunately the way our government is set up means it does not rule over the country, it is designed to be in service of it with many checks and balances which is what has prevented many of the things this ruling party has attempted to do

I will simplify it by stating that even the ruling government party can be prosecuted if they attempt to break the law

Attempts to put through policy that undermines statutory laws will be prevented by our national law society, the Human rights commission has issued warnings to the government, as has the sitting waitangi tribunal council

We are lucky that here our journalists have been doing the exact job they should have been

Do I believe our country will remain a democracy?

We have had anti-corruption legislation and the necessary checks in place for a very long time after watching how it happens in other countries and ensuring it couldn't happen here

They can try, but we will not go quietly and we'll take them down with us if necessary

#nz history #new zealand #nzpol #nz politics #nz govt #us elections

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solarpunkbusiness · 4 months ago

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Italian company converts discarded fishing nets into chairs, car mats and Prada bags

Since 2009, Giulio Bonazzi, the son of a small textile producer in northern Italy, has been working on a solution: an efficient recycling process for nylon. As CEO and chairman of a company called Aquafil, Bonazzi is turning the fibers from fishing nets – and old carpets – into new threads for car mats, Adidas bikinis, environmentally friendly carpets and Prada bags.

For Bonazzi, shifting to recycled nylon was a question of survival for the family business. His parents founded a textile company in 1959 in a garage in Verona, Italy. Fifteen years later, they started Aquafil to produce nylon for making raincoats, an enterprise that led to factories on three continents. But before the turn of the century, cheap products from Asia flooded the market and destroyed Europe’s textile production. When Bonazzi had finished his business studies and prepared to take over the family company, he wondered how he could produce nylon, which is usually produced from petrochemicals, in a way that was both successful and ecologically sustainable.

The question led him on an intellectual journey as he read influential books by activists such as world-renowned marine biologist Sylvia Earle and got to know Michael Braungart, who helped develop the Cradle-to-Cradle ethos of a circular economy. But the challenges of applying these ideologies to his family business were steep. Although fishing nets have become a mainstay of environmental fashion ads—and giants like Dupont and BASF have made breakthroughs in recycling nylon—no one had been able to scale up these efforts.

For ten years, Bonazzi tinkered with ideas for a proprietary recycling process. “It’s incredibly difficult because these products are not made to be recycled,” Bonazzi says. One complication is the variety of materials used in older carpets. “They are made to be beautiful, to last, to be useful. We vastly underestimated the difficulty when we started.”

Soon it became clear to Bonazzi that he needed to change the entire production process. He found a way to disintegrate old fibers with heat and pull new strings from the discarded fishing nets and carpets. In 2022, his company Aquafil produced more than 45,000 tons of Econyl, which is 100% recycled nylon, from discarded waste.

More than half of Aquafil’s recyclate is from used goods. According to the company, the recycling saves 90 percent of the CO2 emissions compared to the production of conventional nylon. That amounts to saving 57,100 tons of CO2 equivalents for every 10,000 tons of Econyl produced.

Bonazzi collects fishing nets from all over the world, including Norway and Chile—which have the world’s largest salmon productions—in addition to the Mediterranean, Turkey, India, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Pakistan, and New Zealand. He counts the government leadership of Seychelles as his most recent client; the island has prohibited ships from throwing away their fishing nets, creating the demand for a reliable recycler. With nearly 3,000 employees, Aquafil operates almost 40 collection and production sites in a dozen countries, including four collection sites for old carpets in the U.S., located in California and Arizona.

#solarpunk #solarpunk business #solarpunk business models #solar punk #reculture #fishing nets #materials innovation #circular #waste #italy

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covid-safer-hotties · 14 days ago

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Price to power to size to portability, the AirFanta 3Pro is one of the best on the market. Here's the latest review (Also preserved in our archive)

Afiliate links if you want this guy to make a buck from your purchase: www.amazon.com/stores/AirFanta/page/0D35BA0F-6AFE-48BB-BB83-E984C65192D4?asc_campaign=c192889518f863d96d278a446b3a951d&asc_source=01H1P39M5ZSG9J6WR6B1HBK9M0&language=en_US&linkCode=sl2&linkId=be7b5afa91953d14a40a0b6fb293d6aa&ref_=as_li_ss_tl&tag=namespacebran492-20

air-fanta.com/?dt_id=2137762

AirFanta is a name that I hear more about every day. While it’s a relatively niche company, it’s quickly becoming well-known – at least within the air quality ‘enthusiast�� community – for performant yet affordable air purifiers and air quality monitors. I’ve been using the AirFanta G2 Air Quality Monitor for quite a few months now, but the two products that have always interested me the most are 3Pro and 4Lite air purifiers.

After having the 3Pro set up inside my office for over two weeks now, I am happy to be able to present my full review of the device. For anyone unaware, this purifier is designed to filter a massive amount of air (we will discuss the CADR and more soon!) at a relatively affordable price. It does this by being essentially a pre-assembled CR (Corsi-Rosenthal) Box – a form of air purifier that was itself created due to the need for affordable and effective air purification devices.

While the 3Pro doesn’t embrace the typical DIY aspect of traditional CR Boxes, it has the advantage of having proven performance (no need to worry about whether your DIY box is effective!) and being ready to go out of the box. However, perhaps my favourite aspect of this device over traditional CR Boxes is how easily obtainable it is. While this probably isn’t an issue for anyone in the U.S. or Europe, I find it hard to source good HEPA filters in New Zealand at an affordable price. The 3Pro ensures I don’t run into this issue.

In today’s review of the AirFanta 3Pro, I want to answer a few key questions. Firstly, how does it perform? Secondly, how does it compare to more ‘traditional’ air purifiers? Finally, and most importantly, is the 3Pro worth the markup compared to making your own CR Box at home? By the end of the article, I will share the answers and my opinions regarding each of these questions. Let’s dive in!

The key selling point of the AirFanta 3Pro is its fantastic CADR – especially at this price. For anyone new to air purifiers, CADR stands for clean air delivery rate, which indicates how much air an air purifier can clean and deliver in a set period. The measurement typically used for CADR is CFM, or cubic feet per minute. A higher CADR in CFM indicates the purifier delivers more clean air.

CADR is calculated by considering both the filter efficiency and the airflow through the filters, making it a much better metric (and the standard for air purifiers) than airflow alone. Most CADR tests use a room of around 30m3 and test how much faster the purifier removes particles from the air than if they were left to settle naturally without any other influences.

So, what is the CADR of the 3Pro? It is quite impressive, 413cfm (702 m3/h) at full speed. To best put this in perspective, I recommend reading the fantastic HouseFresh review to see how it compares to other devices currently on the market (spoiler alert; it performs very favourably). I also believe these official figures, as multiple other sources have confirmed them.

The AirFanta 3Pro uses HEPA H11 filters, which are rated to provide ≥ 95% filtration. It’s worth noting that while this figure may not seem that high and that while many air purifiers use higher-rated filters, the H11 filters used here aren’t necessarily bad. That is because, unlike respirators and masks, air purifiers are not designed to purify the air as best possible on a single pass. Rather, if an air purifier can continually filter the same air after multiple passes through the filter, the particle count and concentration will be significantly reduced.

This is important to note because H11 filters are less dense, allowing for better airflow and generally with less noise. Compared to masks, you can think of the balance between filtration and breathability – generally, the more filtration a mask or respirator provides, the less breathable it is. The same goes for air purifiers. The key difference here is that purifiers are designed to have air pass through them multiple times, unlike a mask or respirator, which only has one chance to filter the air before the wearer breathes it. This is why, despite having ‘only’ an H11 filter, the 3Pro can achieve a fantastic CADR.

Of course, this is a very simple explanation, but it’s important to clarify this because I can predict many questions asking, ‘But why weren’t better filters such as HEPA H13 filters used?’. While I can’t speak for the exact answer (you’d have to ask Adam from AirFanta about that!), it’s likely to strike a balance between single-pass filtration performance, airflow, and noise level. While we’ll dive into it soon, I believe complaints about the H11 filter will quickly disappear once you see the performance that the AirFanta 3Pro has to offer.

It’s also worth noting that carbon filters are available, which will provide filtration through adsorption for VOCs and many odours. While I didn’t get these filters to test, some people will opt for them to help manage VOCs. Since these add another layer to the filter, they will likely slightly drop the CADR, but probably not enough to make any significant impact (and, of course, the extra filtration is a big benefit).

AirFanta also has a full list of third-party certifications and test results, which can be viewed here. Interestingly, both bacterial efficiency and viral efficiency reports from Guangzhou Institute of Microbiology Group Co., Ltd. (a CNAS-accredited laboratory) have been provided, and both reports show a > 99.99% decrease in particle concentration after 60 minutes of use in a 30m3 room. The bacterial test goes further and shows the results after 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and 45 minutes. These results show a ≥ 95.63%, ≥ 99.91% and 99.99% drop in tested particles, respectively.

These results show that, at least in a room around 30m3 in size, the AirFanta 3Pro can reduce bacterial and viral particles by ≥ 99.9% in 30 minutes, with 60 minutes seeing a near complete removal of such particles. While we can’t tell exactly what size the particles were in this testing (at least not without paying for access to the original standards), these results are very promising. Potentially worth noting is that since the 3Pro is rated for 702 m3/h, there would have been around 23 air changes within one hour in the 30m3 test chamber. Therefore, the ≥ 95.63% is after almost six air changes, and ≥ 99.91% after around 12.

Of course, these tests and the stated CADR are at the device’s maximum fan speed, which isn’t ideal in many situations. While it’s important to know a device’s maximum performance when needed, it’s more likely you’ll want to leave the device running at a lower speed either all the time or at least quite regularly. Below are the stated CADRs at different fan speeds:

6 – 413CFM 5 – 374CFM 4 – 321CFM 3 – 247CFM 2 – 141CFM 1 – 57CFM Of course, I was also curious to run some tests myself, but I must make the disclaimer that my tests are far from scientific. That said, I wanted to perform some testing similar to a real-life setting where the AirFanta 3Pro is likely to be used. As such, I decided to set up a test room. I measured this room to be 25.6m3, which is about the size of a standard bedroom (it is a bedroom!). While this room is smaller than what I believe this device is intended for, it’s the most controllable room in my house regarding airflow as it only has one door and one window, which can easily be closed and no other forms of ventilation or air disturbances.

In this room, I burned incense until I reached a PM2.5 concentration of 500ug/m3. However, since I can’t exactly control the PM concentration, it ended up being somewhere between 500 and 600 in my tests. I then put the incense out and did a control test to see how long it took the particles to settle without any assistance at all. This took around 90 minutes, and I used this as my baseline.

I monitored the particle concentrations with five AirGradient monitors that were located in each corner and the centre of the room. I then reran this experiment three more times – once with the purifier at maximum speed, once at half speed, and once at the minimum speed to see how long the concentration took to reach < 5ug/m3. I measured the particle concentration by averaging the data from all five monitors to ensure the whole room had been filtered. Here are my results.

In this graph, you can see the baseline data in blue (labelled Ambient) and the particle concentration drop from the AirFanta 3Pro at maximum speed (speed 6) in red. As you can see, it took around 90 minutes for the particle count to drop to < 5ug/m3 without the purifier running but less than 20 minutes with the device at maximum speed. I was very impressed by these first results, and while I wouldn’t want to run the device at full speed often as it is loud, I appreciate having a good peak performance for times when you need to clean the air in a room quickly.

I reran this test, but this time with the 3Pro at half speed (speed 3) and was impressed by the relatively low performance drop. I was worried my results were incorrect, and I reran this three times, but each result was within one minute of the initial result. It looks like a large chunk of the device’s performance is retained between the higher speeds, even though the noise level decreases significantly. This gave me high hopes for the 3Pro’s performance at minimum speed.

Unfortunately, but perhaps not unexpectedly, the device performed far worse at the lowest speed (speed 1). While the particle concentration did drop more quickly than without the device, it was vastly slower than at the faster speeds. It is worth noting that this is not bad at all, as the device is very quiet at this speed and we can see the performance is clearly there, if needed, just turn the device to a higher speed. However, I had inflated hopes after seeing the great performance at higher speeds. Of course, this does match with the stated speed 1 CADR which is roughly 1/8 of the maximum CADR at speed 6.

If we add the times it took the 3Pro to reduce the PM concentration to below 5ug/m3 at each speed setting, we can see that it took between 17.3 minutes and 80.1 minutes to clean the room, depending on the speed. Interestingly, between the higher speeds (speeds 3-6), there appears to be little performance drop-off but a significant improvement in noise levels. At the slow end, the device takes a long time to filter the room, and if you want to use these near-silent speeds, you will probably want to have the device constantly on.

It’s worth noting that previously, the AirFanta 3Pro came with a voltage dial on the adapter. This could be used to adjust the speed, and many reviews of the device still refer to this voltage dial (essentially, a speed dial). Newer versions come with a speed dial with speeds 1-6, so I have referred to speeds instead of voltages for this section.

Before concluding this section, I was also curious how this device would perform if I lit incense in the room while the air purifier was on. I didn’t have a reason for doing this other than curiosity. Still, considering the stellar performance at the higher fan speeds, I wondered how the purifier would handle a pollutant source emitting particles while the device was running. Below, you can see the results (keeping in mind that this same room reaches over 1000ug/m3 when burning incense without an air purifier).

As you can see, the AirFanta 3Pro significantly reduced the maximum particle concentration in the room and rapidly cleaned the air once the incense finished burning. I would be very confident using a device such as this even during periods of heavy pollution, such as during wildfire season.

Overall, I’m quite impressed with the performance of the AirFanta 3Pro, and although it’s loud at full speed, it’s great to know that it’s more than capable of cleaning a small to medium-sized room quickly when needed. Larger rooms will take longer to filter, but I am confident this device can do it based on this performance.

If you prefer a quieter device, you can still use the AirFanta 3Pro, but you will want to leave it at a lower speed and constantly have it on. Thankfully, at the lower speeds, it’s a relatively quiet device, and I found it easy to work even with the purifier constantly on – as long as it was set to a lower speed, such as 1 or 2.

On the certifications page (located here), AirFanta also discloses and publically makes its results from non-performance-related certifications publicly available. There are a few pertinent and important documents here, so let’s discuss these before moving on. For the 3Pro, we can find the following documents provided:

UL507 certificate of AirFanta 3Pro CE-EMC certificate of AirFanta 3Pro and 4Lite CE-LVD certificate of AirFanta 3Pro and 4Lite FCC certificate of AirFanta 3Pro and 4Lite California Air Resources Board certification of Airfanta 3Pro Let’s review these individually, beginning with the UL507 certificate at the top. This certification might seem minor, but this is a safety standard for low and mid-powered fans such as those in PCs, kitchen hood vents, and, obviously, some air purifiers. The documentation for this certification is extensive (around 200 pages long), but this certification ensures the fans on the 3Pro are safe from a range of potential issues.

The next two certifications, both CE certificates from the European Union, indicate that the device meets EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) and LVD (low voltage directive) requirements. These are essentially further safety tests and indicate that the device is safe and provides high protection from potential EMC and LVD dangers.

The FCC certificate shows that the AirFanta 3Pro complies with FCC requirements, which are pertinent to customers from the United States. Still, these certifications are also helpful for trust-building with global customers. While I’m not U.S.-based, I certainly feel more confident in a product if it’s also FCC-compliant.

Finally, the CARB (California Air Resources Board) certification shows that the AirFanta 3Pro complies with California’s electrical safety and ozone requirements. This is particularly important as ozone can be a big issue with some air purifiers, and it’s reassuring to know that this is not an issue in the case of the AirFanta 3Pro.

If you’ve ever seen a CR Box, you will already know exactly what to expect from the 3Pro because that’s exactly what it is – a CR Box with pre-chosen parts that come as one ready-to-assemble package. While CR boxes aren’t that hard to assemble, the 3Pro streamlines the process and removes the difficulty of selecting and choosing your own parts. While some enthusiasts might opt for another CR Box, many other prospective customers will appreciate this approach.

When you open the 3Pro’s box, you will be met with six ‘layers’ that must be assembled. This is a very clean approach, as it means that the packaging for the device is relatively compact (albeit still quite heavy), and it even means that the device can be transported and reassembled easily. While it would be a stretch to call this device portable (that’s what the AirFanta 4Lite and SmartAir QT3 are for!), this means it is far more compact than other air purifiers with similar CADRs. While it is still quite large, you could easily take it on the road and use it at hotels, or perhaps even fly with it if you are taking large suitcases.

Back to actually assembling the product! Once you open the box, you will see six panels layered on top of one another. These are the cube’s six sides, with four being HEPA filters, one being a solid plastic base for the device, and the final being the top, where the four fans are located. Assembling the device is easy, and you will want to place the base on the ground before slotting the four filters into it. The only potential difficulty with assembling this purifier is holding the four sides in place as you slot the top on, but even this is quite straightforward with the included velcro intended for exactly this purpose.

A manual is included, but the device is so easy to put together and take apart that I can’t imagine anyone ever using it past the first assembly. Even then, it’s not really needed, as assembling the device is quite self-explanatory. The only note I think might be important to the user is that the mesh surface on the filters should be facing outwards (not the filtering surface, which should face inwards).

All of this is to say that assembling the device is very straightforward, and no one should be scared away or turned off this device because it has a small DIY element. It’s also a bit easier to assemble than other CR boxes as the slots have already been cut out of the base plate, and everything can be put together without the need for glue, tape, or other materials. Perhaps more helpful, the filters have already been chosen, and there is no need to shop around for the best price-performance filter.

Once assembled, the device takes the shape of quite a compact CR Box. On top of that, I must add that I think this device also looks a lot better than any traditional CR Box – at least any that I’ve ever made! While it still has an industrial look, it’s a device that could quite easily fit into a classroom, office, or room without attracting too much attention. While I value aesthetics much less than performance, I appreciate having a device that looks good, too – especially if it can blend in.

Once assembled, the device feels quite solid, and despite there being no adhesive or tape used in the assembly of the purifier, I feel confident lifting it and moving it without dislodging the pieces. With that said, I tend to lift the device from the bottom and hold the top down to ensure none of the pieces slide out from their intended positions.

On top of the purifier are four large fans connected to a controller that will allow you to adjust the speed of the device. These fans look almost identical to large PC fans, and they’re held in place by a wire bracket that also serves as an extra layer of protection to stop any children or animals from getting fingers or paws into the fans. That said, if you have the device around children, you may want to place it up higher so they can’t easily reach the fans.

That’s really all there is to the design of this device. It’s very simple, but it’s also affordable and performant. While some might miss the smart features and connectivity of more pricey air purifiers, the two types of devices cater to very different customers. Overall, I’m a fan of this straightforward approach, which reminds me of the SmartAir Sqair.

The AirFanta 3Pro uses four 140mm fans to push air through the filters. Characteristically, smaller fans tend to have higher-pitched sounds than larger fans and the AirFanta 3Pro sits somewhere in the middle as it uses medium-sized fans. If you have a desktop PC with a case fan (not the other fans, such as the higher-pitched CPU fan), you’ll likely already know what these fans sound like, as most desktop cases use 120mm or 140mm fans. This isn’t an unpleasant sound, but it is quite audible.

To see how loud the AirFanta 3Pro is, I conducted noise tests at 30cm and 2 metres with a sound level metre that measures in dBA (A-weighted decibel). dBA differs from traditional dB because it is adjusted for the human ear’s sensitivity to different frequencies. Low and very high frequencies are de-emphasized, mimicking how humans perceive loudness. In other words, it’s a better representation of the actual noise level than dB for a device such as an air purifier. However, I do want to note this as many other websites use dB, which will explain why my results are significantly different.

For further context, here are a few examples of the volumes of some noises in dBA. Obviously, these can vary, and especially with dBA, they will vary between different devices. However, they are rough examples:

10 dBA – Breathing or leaves rustling: Extremely quiet. 30 dBA – Whispering: Comparable to a quiet library. 40 dBA – Refrigerator hum: A typical low background noise. 50 dBA – Moderate rainfall: Light, soothing noise. 60 dBA – Normal conversation: The sound of talking at a close distance. 70 dBA – Vacuum cleaner: Considered moderate noise, can be annoying over time. 80 dBA – Heavy traffic or a loud alarm clock: Noise becomes uncomfortable after prolonged exposure. As you can see, at the lowest speeds, the 3Pro doesn’t add much to the noise of most rooms, but at the highest speeds, it can sound almost as loud as a vacuum cleaner (provided you are close to it). This is a lot of variation, but I like how this device gives the user full control over speed and noise, allowing them to pick a good balance.

I think most people will have this device running on speed 2 or 3, and both sounds are very manageable at a distance. If you do want a short burst of cleaning, the device will be significantly louder, and that’s why I only recommend using the higher speeds when needed.

When it comes to power consumption, the device can go from very low power to relatively high power. Here is a list of the wattage and voltage at each fan speed:

6 – 33.2 watt – 12v 5 – 27.4 watt – 11v 4 – 18.9 watt – 9.3v 3 – 11.1 watt – 7.3v 2 – 4.7 watt – 4.8v 1 – 2.2 watt – 3.0v I won’t dive into power costs here because those vary greatly depending on where you reside, but I hope these specifications can give some insights. What’s most impressive to me is how much range this device has, whether we are discussing volume or power draw. There is such a large range that you can choose exactly what setting works best for you and leave the device to it.

The AirFanta 3Pro costs $149 or $159 (USD) depending on whether you opt for the CE-certified or CARB-certified version (the CARB variant is the lower priced of the two). It’s surprising to see a different price on these two units, but I assume it’s due to extra costs, either with the CE certification or getting the device into Europe. Either way, if you’re in the U.S. (or any non-EU country), the CARB variant will work, and that’s the model I received.

In the box, you will get six panels to assemble the 3Pro. This includes four HEPA H11 filters, which, as per AirFanta, should be good to last 6-12 months, depending on air quality conditions. In most cases, I would assume these filters will last closer to 12 months, but those who experience severe wildfire seasons or whose homes are exposed to consistent year-round pollution may need to replace the filters more regularly.

When you need your first filter replacement, you can opt for the default H11 filters or H11 filters with activated carbon. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem you can choose the filters you get with the device initially. If you want activated carbon filters from the get-go, you must purchase the device alongside an extra pack of filters. The activated carbon filters will set you back $74.99 compared to the basic filters, which cost $54.

The filters aren’t cheap, but it’s important to remember that each filter replacement pack you order has four individual filters, which is a substantial amount of filter materials. It’s also important to note that, unfortunately, you will need to purchase official AirFanta filters as they are smaller than most square HEPA filters, and other filters will not fit on this device. I don’t think this is a big deal, as I appreciate the smaller form factor of this device over larger devices, and even four HEPA filters from other brands will not be cheap.

If we estimate that most users use each set of filters for around nine months, your yearly filter costs for non-activated carbon filters will be $67.5. On the other hand, if you opt for the extra VOC adsorption of the carbon filters, you are looking at an ongoing cost of just under $100 per year. This is in a similar price range to other equally performant air purifiers, and this device’s initial cost is also much lower.

While power cost also needs to be factored into the ongoing cost equation, that cost will vary significantly depending on your air purifier usage (hours, speed, etc) and location. However, regardless of usage patterns, you should plan to spend between $67 and $100 on replacement filters for this device every year.

Overall, I’ve been very happy with the AirFanta 3Pro. While it’s not a perfect air purifier – if one even exists – this is a fantastic device that balances many difficult factors. Ultimately, it comes in as an affordable air purifier that doesn’t skimp on performance. In fact, it has a higher CADR than many more (and much more) expensive air purifiers. Furthermore, it offers a wide range of speeds that allow the user to choose the ideal balance between speed and sound for the setting.

I’ve always been a fan of the CR box concept, but I think the AirFanta 3Pro takes this a step further and, due to this, will appeal to many more people. While I’ve never had an issue constructing CR boxes, I often have difficulty sourcing the parts (especially good filters), and I appreciate how the 3Pro can provide the same or better performance at a slightly higher price while also simplifying the shopping process for me.

Surprisingly, for a device of this size, it’s also quite portable, and you will be hard-pressed to find anything that provides a higher CADR than this device while also being ‘packable’. While I still wouldn’t go so far as to say it can fit in a backpack, it can definitely fit in a car or suitcase and is ideal for longer trips where you might be staying in hotels with unknown air quality. If, on the other hand, you want to use it around the house, it’s also a great device.

The biggest disadvantages I see with the AirFanta 3Pro are the sound and the design. There’s no denying that while the device is powerful, it’s also loud at its higher speeds. While this isn’t unusual for an air purifier, it is worth noting that you probably won’t want to run this device at its higher speeds unless necessary. I usually find myself using speed 2 or 3, which is the sweet spot for most users. On the upside, the lower speeds are almost silent, and although they significantly diminish performance, they are good for users who are okay with constantly running the device.

The design may also bug some users. While I don’t mind (and actually like) the device’s industrial design, I know some people don’t use CR boxes due to the design. If you don’t like the look of CR boxes, the chances are you also won’t like the design of this device. With that said, this design allows this device to have such a good price-to-performance ratio, and I think many potential customers will appreciate this more.

Overall, the AirFanta 3Pro is a cost-effective air purifier that should be on your radar – especially if price is a concern. If you’ve tried the 3Pro, I would love to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to use the comments section below! Furthermore, if you have any remaining questions, please don’t hesitate to as,k and I will do my best to reply. Thank you for reading.

Pros: High CADR (413 cfm) for effective air purification Affordable compared to similar high-performance devices Pre-assembled CR box design simplifies setup Portable and compact for travel use Certified for safety (UL507, CE-EMC, FCC, CARB) Cons: Loud at higher speeds Design may not appeal to all users (industrial look) Limited to proprietary filters, increasing costs No activated carbon filters included in basic kit

#mask up #public health #wear a mask #pandemic #wear a respirator #covid #still coviding #covid 19 #coronavirus #sars cov 2

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pocket-jack · 1 year ago

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If I don't get more Penguin and Shachi characterisation in OP, than just "they love ladies, they're childhood friends, they were bullies in their childhood, both are good swimmers, and Shachi apparently can spit so hard it may feel like a bullet", then I do my personal hc about their personality based on the orcas and penguins.

Shachi

•Shachi is the third strongest member of Heart Pirates (Law is on the first place and Bepo's on the second)

•Shachi adapts to the weather and a temperature really quick. Even tho he's from North Blue - the coldest sea in the world, he's dealing with hot islands like a champion.

•Shachi is a social butterfly. He finds friends anywhere anytime. He's a man who knows a guy who knows another guy who is also know a guy. Want to gather information? Shachi will find it. Wanna form an alliance with the local gang? No prob, Shachi played poker with one guy!

•Shachi's favorite food is salmon.

•Shachi was raised in matriarchy. His mother was pretty dominant woman, and she was the only person he was afraid of during his bully childhood. He's still loves her, but feels really guilty and scared to come back. He followed Law to become more than a mommy's boy, but he just became captain's boy instead.

•Shachi has good metabolism and get really upset on an empty stomach. He's pretty much a cook on the ship so he's fine (he's good at it and gets mad when people dislike his food).

•Shachi's pretty smart. He knows math and physic. His favorite school subject was mathematics. He was visiting school only for math, and he would ran off when it's was over. He also knows how to hunt.

•His family was pretty big, so he often felt himself unseen and unimportant. Heart Pirates is like his family to him, but he actually feels himself like an important part of it.

•Shachi is a little shit. He usually do pranks and get punished quite a lot for this.

•He's actually really protective over his friends and he's not afraid to pick a fight if someone seems hostile towards them. He picks a lot of fights which he can't win, so he usually ends up in medbay.

•In the real world Shachi would be Norwegian

Penguin

•Unlike Shachi Penguin can't deal with hot weather. But he has a great tolerance to a cold winter islands during its winter season. One day he safed his crewmates, by giving them his warm clothes and carrying them to the town on his back.

•He can hold his breath to 20 minutes. That's terrifying, but really useful.

•He came from the big tribal commune, but decided to follow Law to explore the sea world.

•He's a fan of the sea and especially it's undersea life. He's a sucker for penguins and his favorite fish are squids

•If Shachi is momma's boy, Penguin is a mom friend. He usually babysits people around him and that's one of the reasons why Shachi is his friend. In his childhood many could say that he was too mature for his age, but he allowed himself to be just a kid around Shachi. He also likes kids company a lot, many could say he would be a great father.

•He has a good sense of smell, being able to feel the thinnest of smells people have. It sometimes messes with his sleep, because smells can be nauseating sometimes.

•If Penguin existed in the real world he would be from New Zealand.

•Penguin has a really high eyesight. Law runned some tests and found out that his senses are pretty sharp. Hearing, smelling, eyesight, touch, and taste. The main reason why test's were needed is because he often experienced nausea because everything was just to much. That's exactly why he wears his hat (it helps to protects his eyes and ears) and sometimes he plugs his nose to not smell things and he looks ridiculous like that.

•Penguin loves to sing

•Penguin is this type of guy, who shaves his hair by the mood

•His love language is gift giving

•Penguin doesn't like sweets

•Penguin is pretty loyal to his close ones. He will die for them and will remain silent under any torture. One day he was injured really bad because of his loyalty. Heart Pirates got a really bad trauma after that, and many of them still checks on Peng, because there should be something more than "It was bad! I was scared! But I held like a man! I've told them nothing, captain! And i'm not crying, it's just blood got in my eyes!".

#one piece #penguin one piece #shachi #one piece headcanons #we need more of them!#give us more of Shachi and Penguin!

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violetganache42 · 28 days ago

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Highlights from Saturday's Oops! All Episodes! night celebrating everyone's favorite adorable and badass pink duckling, courtesy of @knuckles-junior and yours truly!

(I couldn't make it to most of it, so any highlights I do add in the episode up until "The Last Adventure will be anything that catches my eye while scrolling back through the chat. As such, mine will be in purple while Any's are in pink. If we both have the same highlight, then it'll be left uncolored.)

Garfunkel and Oates - Rainbow Connections

Learning this song was originally for Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome's friend

Discord and YouTube already experiencing technical difficulties to where everyone went straight to the episodes/There was a delay but don’t worry, Will. Thanks Puffy for hosting!

"Cold Duck"

Huey, Dewey and Louie are hunting for Beakleys (*Elmer Fudd laughter*)

Launchpad appearance!

Literally everyone being racist/sexist to the girls (1987, everyone. Shit like this is why the phrase "product of its time" exists.)

Dreamy: Webby is my favorite fan artist.

I never like HDL in the 87 version. Thank god I didn’t get jumped. (You're in good company with the Cafeteria Table, and we don't tolerate getting jumped for different opinions. ^^)

Puffy: WHO RAISED THEM TO HATE WOMEN SO BAD Will: Uncle Donald Puffy: "NOOOOOOOOOO BUT DONALD LOVES WOMEN HAVEN'T YOU SEEN THE THREE CABALLEROS" Dreamy: "He respects women while craving that bisexual crisis"

Everyone agreeing the DT87 triplets deserved to get sent to penguin jail

Club Penguin

Puffy: "it's not a toro it's a uuuuh goes to google morsa"

"Um, Mr. Scrooge?"/"Call me Uncle Scrooge."

Webby gaining a new sister in the form of Skittles the Penguin

"Daytrip of Doom!" (Rewatch)

Me freaking out about Scrooge being spectacless

OW MY TAILBONE (That line always cracks me up. 😂)

"Um, ocupado." Me: HOUSE MEETING. NOW.

“Wait are they gonna kiss?” (Again: I don't need that image burned in my brain, Llewellyn. >< This is why you're the evil triplet!)

*Webby kicks a sack into a tree, causing it to fall down* “WEBBY DAAAAANNNNGGGG” (This is what I would've shared in response to that scene. lol)

Spider Webby real

The entire scene with Donald flooding the mansion's main bathroom with his hose and Scrooge's golden reaction to it

Jane appearance!

THE SPORK (Shout out to @danaterrace for storyboarding that scene!)

"Like New Zealand" (I did recently hear New Zealand is a great place to live in.)

Just the entire Beakley and Donald subplot in general

Webby being a mood

Ma Beagle appearance!

THE COINS JUST SHOWED UP OUTTA NOWHERE (THAT SHIT IS SO FUCKING HILARIOUS. 🤣)

"Well, that's not something you wanna hear when you're tied up in a meat locker."

"Normal's overrated."/"We want you to be Webby normal."

Everyone when Donald attacked Bouncer and Burger:

youtube

Surprise batman appearance

"I'm on Webby's team!"

"The Good Muddahs" (Rewatch)

Us remembering Bubba was in the later seasons. -_- (Yeah, I don't blame you guys at all. 😓 DT17!Bubba can stay though; he's cool, especially since he didn't replace DT17!Webby in the group unlike his original version.)

The return of whitewashed Daffy Pt. 2: Electric Boogaloo

Missy's Discord making a random ass scream thanks to a server she's in

HDL continuing to be sexist (Seriously, WHO THE FUCK GENDERS SOMETHING LIKE HOPSCOTCH?!)

Beagle Babes appearance!

I DIDNT KNOW THERE WERE BEAGLE GIRLS CALLED “BEAGLE BABES”. (Unlike the Beagle Boys, they're not created by Carl Barks. They're a trio of one-off characters exclusive to DT87.)

THE COPS DON’T DO SHIT JUST LIKE IRL COPS

Pink guns!

(It's around this vicinity that Any's highlights for this episode dramatically decreased because she still couldn't believe what she watched, so the rest will be handled by me. Besides, she was more eager to cover Confidential Casefiles and TLA.)

Any: 12 HOURS (Remember, DT87!Webby is younger than her reboot counterart by what? A few years or something? It's normal for a kid as young as her to cry. Between how the DT87 triplets treated her and being kidnapped at literal gunpoint, she was not having a good day, so of course she would be upset. That being said, 12 HOURS? Someone get this girl some water to rehydrate herself with because that cartoon logic went into overtime!)

Shoplifting list

THE ICONIC WORRY ROOM

Missy and Puffy rooting for Beakley

nepdapurrbeast: "the police shouslve been pigs smh"

caro: "Bubba thinks he’s part of the team 💀" (FR)

WEBBY WITH A GUN

puff

The triplets behind the wheel, with Dewey driving

"From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22!" (Rewatch)

OTTOMAN EMPIRE MARATHON!

Black Heron appearance!

Louie having Pep priorities

Webby's special interest in Scrooge and Clan McDuck

Donald somehow locking himself in the pantry (Easily the FUNNIEST moment in season 1. 🤣)

LUDWIG APPEARANCE!

Scrooge being a sassy bitch in the flashbacks. (He was a lot cockier in the 1960s. lol)

"First ever Webby-McDuck team-up!"

Beakley punching Scrooge in the face

Story Blossom: "A rubber ball? PERRY THE RUBBER BALL?"

"Louie mostly just cries." (He is not wrong. In all seriousness, someone give Louie all the hugs.)

Scrooge McFucking dies ("Worse. I got a stem caught in my throat.")

Vengeance for Number 4

"Aww, that was gonna be so impressive." (NGL, I would do the same thing. XD Just chucking a nearby object at a runaway enemy and feeling bummed about it missing.)

Scrooge and Webby bonding (I can hear the scene in my head and I am SMILING. 😊)

spam: "every evil plot starts with a declaration of hatred speech…"

Any and Puffy: "OH NO"

Everyone freaking out about Webby almost getting killed

The art book revealing Black Heron realized Webby is April after seeing her kick the Gummiberry Juice out from her hand, drinking it, and untying Scrooge

“Call me Uncle Scrooge.”/“I’m Webby!”

Any: Several episodes later (STOOOOOOP. 😭 IT'S BAD ENOUGH DISNEY XD AIRED LAST CRASH A FEW HOURS BEFORE WEBBY NIGHT.)

Oh, and we were jumpscared by Goldie three times. (THREE?! Aw, man!)

"The Last Adventure!"

Pt. 1: A Tale of Three Webbys!

Crazy that Lena can rig an import game.

Can we talk about how Scrooge only wasted money on a birthday party at funzo’s for Webby? Slay king. (YES, WE CAN. FULL. FUCKING. PRICE. FOR HIS DAUGHTER. IT SPEAKS VOLUMES ON HOW CLOSE THE TWO HAVE GOTTEN.)

Us when Missy wants to smash both Bradford and Drake:

Violet joining at the right time ^^ (Glad to have made it in time for the family storming the Funso's base!)

Darkwing showing off by walking on two fingers

MAY AND JUNE

Any and I commenting about how OP Lena is/Violet: “We may need to start putting handicaps on Lena XD”

“You already got sisters.”

Me and Violet: AMONGUS (btw you read my mind) (I had to. 😂 On a related note…)

Puffy: "WEBBY VENTED SHE'S SUS"

youtube

"Have you eaten a hamburger?"

“COUGH UP THE INFORMATION, BENTINA!”

Webby's conspiracy board now turned into her family board

Puffy: "you know who else came out in 1996" Me: "MY MOM!"

Beakley lying to Webby./Everyone calling out Beakley and her fabricated story about Webby's parents

SHES FIBBING FIBBING FIBBING. (Oh, hey! I quoted that! :D)

NOT THE VULCAN NERVE PINCH

Webby vs. June:

Pt. 2: The Lost Library of Isabella Finch!

Donald wearing his signature blue sailor outfit again

spam: "The ducktales logo looks like a censor there i cant"

Bradford abuses/manipulates children/Us talking about Bradford being a child abuser in the finale

"It's Webby."

Scrooge smiling proudly at the kids as they board the Sunchaser

Bradford being a manipulative creep towards Huey

Phantom Blot and Pepper appearance!

Scrooge: "Any questions?" Me: "GOLD TEAM RULES!"

Lena being really op by making the sunchaser invisible.

THE ORIGINAL THREE!/TRIPLE MCDUCK FAMILY TEMPER!!!

Gyro being the biggest baby ever./Pepper obliterating the twink

"I live again!"

Violet—the character, not me—panicking

“Finally!”

Everyone after Bradford after ripping the pages off the journal: 🤬🤬🤬/Me, Toku, and Any: "BASTARD"

Donald and Della gushing over baby Jeeves

Us talking about the implications of Bradford killing Duckworth

Steelbrain

Gandra appearance!

Ludwig revealing he got way too busy to die (King shit. XD)

The revelation that Bradford kidnapped EVERYONE! EVEN SANTA CLAUS!

April.

Beakley killing Jeeves

This out of context photo Any took:

Jeeves and Don Karnage die/Dewey officially getting a kill count in the funniest way possible

Everyone freaking out at the end of part 2.

ME POINTING OUT A VERY HEARTBREAKING PARALLEL RIGHT AS PART 2 ENDED

Pt. 3: Tales' End…

Dewey hitting the dab

Puffy, Missy, and I complimenting the finale

Manny being a living Gargoyles reference

"When they do something right, they're heroes. When it gets a little hard, wE’rE cHiLdReN!"

"Aw, phooey."

Me and Missy: "STOCK POSE"

"All women… are queens!"/"If she breathes… she's a THOOOOT!"

Puffy: "hard cut to scrooge getting his spine broken lmao" EllaKai: "legit i vocalized 'agh my back'"

"How do you think Della found out you built the Spear of Selene?"/This scene and everyone freaking out in the chat again myself included:

I’m literally the only one who is happy that Heron died. Rest in Piss. (I'm sure Scrooge would agree with you on that, mainly because he did not react to her erasure from existence at all. Like, that boy just STOOD THERE. 😂)

The Webby twist never gets old. 🙂 (HUGE agree. Also…)/YOUR DAILY FUCKING REMINDER, EVERYONE:

Launchpad becoming Gizmopad

ALL OF US PANICKING AT BRADFORD NEARLY ACHIEVING VICTORY (NO FUCKING JOKE! MY BODY WAS SHAKING WHEN I SAW THAT SCENE AGAIN! ><)

"Ow?"

“GET AWAY FROM MY DAD!” ("Wait, what?")

FAMILY IS THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF ALL!

SCROOGE FINALLY SAYING "WEBBY DARLING" 😭💖/WERE ALL DEFENDERS OF THIS FINALE DUCKBLUR FOR LIFE. SCREW THE HATERS.

Team Uncle embracing their fatherly roles, from Donald taking May and June under his wing to Scrooge making a parallel to "Woo-oo!" and worrying about Webby's safety

THE FINAL END CREDITS

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probablyasocialecologist · 1 year ago

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Climate anxiety means different things to different income groups. At the bottom, it means fear of heat and floods. At the top, it means fear of increasingly desperate people. Billionaires often live in protective bubbles maintained at a considerable cost in dollars and emissions. Some are preparing for “the event”, with plans for doomsday bunkers in New Zealand, Nevada and other remote areas. Others blast off the planet in private rockets and talk of colonising space. Instead of making every effort to reduce emissions, the rich increase their carbon footprint by putting more distance between themselves and the masses. The Oxfam report reveals that the decision-making classes who will dominate at Cop28 – senior politicians including US senators, British ministers and European commissioners – are also in the top 1% of income earners. Corporate CEOs, whose lobbyists also flock to Cop summits, are often wealthier and more heavily invested in carbon assets. Boardroom share options and bonus structures have created an incentive for oil company executives to resist climate action. Instead, they have successfully pushed for expansion of fossil fuel production. Dario Kenner, the author of Carbon Inequality, has identified what he calls a “polluter elite”: anyone with a net worth over $1m who reinforces the use of fossil fuel technologies through their high carbon consumption, investments in polluting companies and, most importantly, political influence. “The polluter elite have blocked an alternative history where the destruction of extreme weather events and air pollution could have been reduced,” he told the Guardian. The international climate negotiating process has failed to keep pace with the growing power of the super-rich. Thirty-one years ago, when the world first came together to tackle climate and biodiversity problems at the Rio de Janeiro Earth summit, there was optimism for a solution on behalf of billions of humans and the countless other forms of life on Earth. Since then, the opposite has happened. Governments remain deeply divided, 60% more emissions are being pumped into the atmosphere and more money, carbon and power is being concentrated in ever fewer hands. The solution to all this is complex but also very simple. Many believe that the key lies in politicians wresting back control of the climate issue with strong legislation and policy. Oxfam is calling for a wealth tax, and a windfall tax on corporations based on the “polluter pays” principle, placing the highest burden on those most responsible and most able to pay. “We need a political discourse that is class conscious, that recognises that the rich and capitalism are the major drivers of the climate crisis,” said Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist at the London School of Economics and the author of The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions. “This is about bringing production – and provisioning systems and energy systems – under democratic control.”

#climate change #inequality #billionaires #jason hickel #compost the rich #emphasis added

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barkingbonzo · 8 months ago

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Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often shortened to Captain Scarlet, is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor ITC Entertainment. It is one of several Anderson series that were filmed using a form of electronic marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation" combined with scale model special effects sequences. Running to thirty-two 25-minute episodes, it was first broadcast on ITV regional franchises between 1967 and 1968 and has since been transmitted in more than 40 other countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Set in 2068, Captain Scarlet follows the "war of nerves" between Earth and the Mysterons, a race of Martians who possess partial control over matter. When a misunderstanding, causes human astronauts to attack their city on Mars, the Mysterons vow revenge and launch reprisals against Earth. These are countered by Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation. In the first episode, Spectrum agent Captain Scarlet acquires the Mysterons' self-healing power of "retrometabolism" and is thus rendered "indestructible", being able to recover from otherwise fatal injuries. In this way, Scarlet becomes Spectrum's top asset in its fight against the Mysterons.

#captain scarlet and the mysterons #spectrum #gerry and sylvia anderson

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osrphotography · 4 months ago

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Among the various liveries present at the Kenworth 100th show, one that really stuck out was the Refrigerated Freight Lines blue and white.

RFL was founded in 1951 by the founders of Tip Top Ice Cream as a means to transport ice cream across NZ. It quickly expanded and ended up going international.

The company thrived until the end of the 20th century, whereupon it was merged into the newly formed Tranz Link Refrigerated. A subsidiary of Tranzlink/TranzRail, which had been formed out of the remains of New Zealand Railways Corporation's trucking fleet. These remains included RFL, which seems to have been in a weird state of limbo before the merger.

This particular K121CR doesn't appear to have gone to Tranz Link Refrigerated, but rather went to TransOtway. I am unsure who owns it now, but it has been done up exceptionally well.

#photos #kenworth #truck

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collapsedsquid · 7 months ago

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The other is the environment. Despite their bucolic image, Britain’s farms now emit more greenhouse gases than its power stations. They cause more river pollution than the country’s hated sewage companies. Batters was a progressive voice on climate change, but she has backtracked. She wants politicians to focus on producing more food, even though the UK’s agricultural sector hasn’t reduced emissions in the past decade and is now dealing with climate havoc. In the 18 months to March, England saw the most rain since records began in 1836. Partly as a result, farmers’ business confidence was the worst since the NFU started surveying it in 2010. “It’s just been horrendous, hasn’t it?” she says. [...] Johnson dropped a trade deal with the US, which would have allowed imports of hormone-injected beef into Britain, but signed deals with Australia and New Zealand with few safeguards for British farmers. His free-trading successor, Liz Truss, was “awful”. Didn’t she care about the sector? “She cared about Liz.” But Batters is positive about Rishi Sunak, who has shifted from green goals to talk of food security. Critics say the prime minister confuses food security with national self-sufficiency: relying on any one region for our food might make us less secure, given the impact of extreme weather. Anyway, his plans to grow more fruit and vegetables in Britain are hampered by his own migration policy. “In 2020 the Home Office, with Priti Patel, was saying you can have 10,000 seasonal workers. We were saying that wipes out the sector: the sector needs a minimum of 70,000. You’re not going to be producing any asparagus, strawberries, raspberries.” [...]

“My daughter’s doing a nursing degree. She works in a care home in the holidays. She’s the only British worker. This is in south Wiltshire. That’s bonkers.” Batters wants young people to be obliged to do a form of national service, potentially in agriculture.

[...] But farming is just 0.6 per cent of UK GDP. Doesn’t it already get more political attention than bigger sectors, such as gaming or the arts? Farming “underpins pretty much all of the rural economy”, says Batters. “That GDP figure is totally fraudulent.”

being driven insane by this interview

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so-much-for-subtlety · 4 months ago

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I had to sign some consent forms today in prep for my surgery next week and this is what the procedure is costing.

Thankfully my insurance has a maximum out of pocket $3,500 per year which I've already met so I have a $0 copay for this.

For diagnosis and pre-op consults I had 4 visits with 3 doctors for this procedure, and I'll have at least 2 post-op visits, so total for this procedure will end up being about $75k.

I posted on Facebook for my friends back in New Zealand, and also converted currency, it would be $120,000 in NZD for a relatively straightforward ~4 hour outpatient procedure.

A friend replied that this year she's had an issue that required 9 days in hospital and 2 operations, and guess what - it cost ZERO dollars because NZ has public healthcare system (In NZ people also have a minimum of 10 days paid sick leave, and you also get 6 months paid parental leave if you have a child).

In the United States I feel like so much of the economy is tied up in private health insurance companies that we're stuck with it for the foreseeable future, but I really hope that the future will bring more regulation to make healthcare more affordable for everyone.

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beardedmrbean · 4 months ago

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New Zealand has serious problems with its power supply. There are three underlying reasons: the weather, a flawed electricity market and a drive for ‘net zero’.

Sixty-five per cent of New Zealand’s electricity is provided by hydropower, and the remainder by geothermal, gas, coal, wind and some solar. Though hydropower is often seen as the one form of renewable energy which is not plagued by intermittency of supply, it sadly isn’t true. In a dry year, hydro’s ability to deliver falls away, and we lose about 10 per cent of our generation. In the past, we always tried to have the hydro reservoirs and coal stockpile full by the end of summer to guard against this possibility. When we switched to an electricity market, this was forgotten.

This year, we failed to refill the reservoirs, and levels are now unusually low. We are muddling along for the moment, but this is a difficult position from which to recover and there are likely to be blackouts at some point in the future.

The ability of our fossil fuel power stations to step into the gap has been severely restricted. We used to get 20 per cent of our electricity from gas-fired power stations, but six years ago, as part of their decarbonisation policy, the previous government banned further gas exploration, and we are now desperately short of gas. The new government is encouraging new exploration but we won’t see the results for several years.

We also have a single coal fired station with insufficient coal in its stockpile because our electricity market does not pay for the cost of maintaining an adequate stockpile.

The situation has been made worse by poor market design. New Zealand was one of the pioneers of electricity markets, and chose a risky model which has proved to be seriously flawed.

As a result, the problems this year have led to wholesale market prices rising to ridiculous levels of as much as £1/kWh. This has already caused some factories to shut down; others are under threat. The politicians are beginning to realise that the energy crisis could have serious effects on consumers, and there is speculation that they will be forced to intervene. This could mean instructing our gas and coal-fired power stations to run flat out day and night – which won’t make much difference because of the lack of fuel. Failing this, the only solution in the short term is rolling blackouts. and a public conservation campaign.

How did we get to this situation?

Firstly, the electricity market is simply not fit for purpose. The underlying propositions are that ‘electricity is a commodity like any other’ and that ‘when the price goes up, the demand goes down’. But electricity is not a commodity like any other, because it does not have an alternative or significant price elasticity. It isn’t a market that Adam Smith would recognise. As two departing CEOs said, the way to make money is to keep the system on the edge of a shortage. Which means that disaster is inevitable if a dry year occurs. And that is exactly what has happened.

The blind pursuit of ‘Net Zero’, has driven the closing down of gas exploration and the desire to shut down our coal fired station, even though it is doing a vital job in keeping the lights on.

The long-term problem

There has now been some rain on the hydro lakes and we are temporarily out of danger – assisted by the fact that the power companies have paid a stiff price to a major industrial gas user to shut down so that they can have its supplies.

But the long-term problem is still there: empty storage lakes that need to be refilled, not a lot of snow pack to melt in the springtime, declining supplies of gas, and the need to import 30 shiploads of coal and truck it to the power station. None can be achieved in the time available. The imminent shutdown of a 380 MW combined cycle power station, because it cannot find a secure gas supply for the next 20 years or so, adds to the problem.

Instead we are placing our faith in more wind and solar power. The price will skyrocket when it is in short supply, but that will not help the wind and solar farms’ accounts as that is when they have very little to sell. When wind and sun are abundant, prices will crash. This means that the wind and solar farms under construction and planned will not make enough money to pay for their construction and operation. New Zealand does not directly subsidise wind and solar power so we can’t even be sure that the generators will continue building them.

To be economic, wind and solar must be supported by low-cost long-term storage for days, weeks and months.There is no technology that can deliver this right now. New Zealand’s hydro reservoirs have huge capacity – approaching 10 per cent of a year’s electricity supply – but this storage capacity is already fully required to deal with the annual variations in hydro output. It cannot be used to back up solar and wind. Batteries simply can’t be used at national grid scales: they are too expensive by a factor of 50 or so.

Worse still the expectation is that electricity demand is going to increase rapidly, driven by domestic and industrial heat and road transport being electrified (although the extent to which this will actually happen in the face of rising power prices is debatable). Whether electric heating and transport arrive or not, we are already getting more and more data centres, which are a 24-hour per day load and need a reliable supply.

So the load will go up but we will be less able to keep the lights on when wind and solar are not delivering. Australia is 2000 km away, so there is no chance of importing from there, even if they did have power to spare, which they don’t.

We could build more geothermal stations, but that takes time, especially as the oil rigs they need to drill production wells have all departed overseas. There is probably 1000 MW so of identified geothermal potential, and there is the possibility that more could be found with exploration. But this is not a quick solution.

The only quick solution is to buy gas turbines and run them on diesel: not a nice prospect.

In the long-term we could consider more hydro generation, but that is blocked by many environmentalists, even though there is probably 2000 MW of potential left in the South Island. For those who do not believe in dangerous carbon-driven climate change – or who consider that atmospheric carbon levels will rise beyond desirable levels anyway due to China and India and that it is therefore pointless for Western nations to spend huge sums reducing their emissions – more coal and gas generation are an obvious solution but they are not quick.

For those who believe that man-made global warming is real and dangerous, and that it is worthwhile for the Western nations to cut emissions alone, we could be urgently considering nuclear power. This is the only practical and economic way of having reliable electric power with low carbon emissions. I suspect that in spite of a long-held opposition to nuclear armed and propelled ships, the New Zealand public are more sympathetic to nuclear power than they are believed to be.

Whatever happens, New Zealand faces a very uncertain situation in the next few years with an increasing risk of major shortages and a major increase in domestic electricity prices.

The implications for other countries

I suspect that this is the writing on the wall for all countries that have pursued net zero and ignored the importance of keeping the lights on at a reasonable price. The UK is already relying on interconnectors for about 10 per cent of its electricity and would be in serious trouble if Europe was unable to provide backup power when UK wind and solar are not delivering.

For as long as Europe and other countries have net zero as a prime objective, electricity blackouts and high prices are inevitable. As we are planning to make our entire society electrically powered, this is a bleak prospect.

#nunyas news #nice to let them be the test bed for now at least #I suppose #sucks for them

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yourlittlevirus · 5 months ago

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The Guardian, December 11, 1991.

“With her long pale form, blonde tangle and scarlet pout, Courtney Love is the ideal candidate for male journalists seeking another broken siren for their catalogue. Men, it seems, have trouble with her.

Love sings, screeches and plays a vicious guitar with Hole, the latest, hippest rock 'n' roll thing to come out of Los Angeles. Their name comes from Euripides' Medea ("Come flame of the sky/Pierce through my head!") and warnings to Love from her mother "not to carry a hole around inside me just because I suffered a problematic childhood."

Currently on tour, Hole's debut album, Pretty On The Inside, topped the independent charts earlier this year and sent the music press into lip-smacking frenzies over such lines as, "Is she rotten on the inside, ugly from the back."

But while Love may rattle with conflict, she's just a normal woman, telling it like it is.

"It's not on purpose," says Love of her graphic use of physical imagery. "But writing songs has a lot to do with your sexuality. I danced for a while and just being around that made me aware of what people use. And if you grow up blessed with a certain beauty or a certain intelligence that enhances your beauty, you can get into a better position in life."

Years of being fat brought this home to Love. "When you're fat, no one looks you in the eye, they think you're bitter and ranting. Personally it makes me hate those people."

Despite her abhorrence of such physical prejudices, Love realised the advantages of a svelte outline once she'd decided to make music. After a rootless childhood spent travelling across America and New Zealand with hippy parents, a role in Alex Cox's Straight To Hell and a short spell singing with San Francisco rock band Faith No More, Love deliberately settled in the creative void of LA and began searching for women who shared her taste for a more subversive expression. She eventually went for Caroline Rue on drums, Jill Emery on bass and, surprisingly, Eric Erlandson on guitar.

"The pool of women to play with is small. I've kicked girls out of this band for playing too much like guys. Even Eric plays like a girl. Girls' playing is compassion and rage, and it can also be ugly and jarring. To deny my femininity and just rock out like a guy would not be part of evolution. At school, women are discouraged from learning maths but when it comes to writing good songs, you need maths. You can't just do it primally."

Her tattered beauty image is as much a part of Love's peculiar femininity as is her playing. Her smeared eyeliner and torn baby doll dresses have earned her the status of a wayward Cinderella. In truth, she simply likes pretty things, but her inner conflict between a desire for adornment and a feminist ideology tempts her to make a mockery of girlhood trappings. "I'm not embarrassed about being a feminist and I'm not opposed to pretty dresses. On the other hand, girls are supposed to like pretty things and I don't want to do what I'm supposed to."

Like all women, Courtney Love is confused. She doesn't pretend to have any answers, but she is not the lost, vulnerable creature many have intimated. This woman wants to kill rockstars, open for Guns 'n Roses and "have 50,000 people throw shit at me". She wants to wrench open the attitudes towards women in the predominantly white male game of rock 'n' roll. "The American male runs half the global world and grows up on rock music from day one. If you can alter the psyche of someone who's growing up to be a rapist or a total misogynist, you're creating values and instead of making the void bigger, you're making it smaller."

With Madonna's lawyers currently pursuing Hole's legal representatives in the hope of signing the band to the pop icon's new label, and virtually every major record company queuing up to breakfast, lunch and dine her, Courtney Love looks set for stardom.”

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shutup-andletme-go · 7 months ago

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hey so there's a guy in my country (aotearoa) who's on a zero calorie hunger strike until our government wakes up and meets 3 requests to support palestine

the requests for action are (copypasted from the petition website):

- Resume and at least double humanitarian funding for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), and announce this immediately.

- Investigate claims that New Zealand company Rakon may have made components used in weapons used by Israel, and take all necessary steps to assure itself that no New Zealand companies can in future export any components that could end up in weapons used against civilians. Suspend exports of these components until the investigation is complete.

- Withdraw NZ troops from the Red Sea.

there's a petition going, and it doesn't matter where you're from, you can still sign it! all it needs is a name, email address and a postcode (If you live outside of aotearoa, put 0000, the form tells you that's what you should do)

it is currently at 3455 signatures, of the 4000 goal

and here's a video from William himself, addressing the pm's recent televised statement.

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please sign the petition/reblog/follow him on insta/etc... thank you!

#finch posts #palestine #free palestine #nzpol #free gaza #aotearoa #Instagram

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charlesandmartine · 3 days ago

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Saturday 21st December 2024

The alarm clock agitated at 6.15 and we were instantly awake for today's adventure. We had to present ourselves at the tourist information place in Urangan to be herded by bus to River Heads port to catch the early morning ferry to K'gari, the K being silent, leaving gari pronounced Gaary. (Fraser Island is a lot easier to articulate) Due to little research on my part, I was surprised at how large an island this was. In length, it is 123 km, 15 km wide, 22 km at its widest part; 1840 square kilometers in all. We were informed it was different from any island we are likely to have visited before because K'gari is made entirely of sand. Because of this, we were half expecting to pull alongside a giant sandcastle with a couple of paper flags at each end! Our tour guide put us right on this fallacy. I prefer, he said, to think of K'gari as a sand bank, not an island. If you imagine the last ice age, when sea levels were much lower, K'gari would merely have been a great big pile of sand attached to the rest of Australia, and the continental shelf would also be visible. The notion of how the sand was built up in the first place was put forward. It all began a long way away to the south of us here, in the Blue Mountains, to the west of Sydney. The wind blew, eroding and separating tiny particles of sand, depositing them into creeks, carried by rivers into the Pacific, where the longshore drift carried these sand particles north of Brisbane, forming this chain of islands. Today, K'gari is seen as the largest sand island in the world.

Now, some important advice from information gleaned from our last excursion experience that included a paid for lunch. 4 rules that you break at your peril and put you at risk of going hungry. 1. Assess the competition and position yourself at the front of the queue. There will be plenty of food. 2. Carry out a size assessment of the fellow eaters. Be sure to be in front of the people who appear to be the most familiar with large portions of food. Ergo, there will be more food available. 3. Take high value items; New Zealand green mussels, fish fillet (any sort), large lumps of chicken. (forget the legs), 4. Follow these rules, and you will be well placed for seconds.

Our tour firstly took us to McKensie Lake, which was indeed a curiosity because it was one of three lakes sat in pure sand! Afterall, sand doesn't usually hold water! This was an opportunity to lay on the sand by the lake before setting off for a boardwalk through rainforest. Between the years 1886 and 1991, loggers worked these forests on the island for their timbers: Hoop Pine, Kauri Pine, Turpentine, Blood Wood were some. This was big business, shipping timbers across to the mainland and processing them in Maryborough, yes of Mary Poppins fame. One large logging company was Mckensie and Sons, which dominated operations, even building railways to move these huge logs across difficult terrain. Then, in 1991, the federal government put a stop to the whole thing. They wanted UNESCO status as a world heritage site, and the price for this was to stop the logging. In 1992, UNESCO agreed and K'gari was granted what it wanted.

The east side of the island remarkably has approximately 80 km of flat tidal beach that our bus could drive along! Today, we probably covered 20 km of it, but often at speed. Our destination was the wreck of the SS Maheno, a steam packet that used to ply these waters and across to New Zealand in the early 20th century. 1935 came, and it was no longer cost-effective to run a steam ship, and our vessel was sold for scrap to a Japanese company who came and collected her. Deciding to tow her to the scrap yard rather than sail under power, both ships got into difficulties in a cyclone, resulting in the Maheno drifting and running ashore in the sand, where her hulk remains to this day. Now, a protected shipwreck, she will always be there rusting away. Great photography, though. We made our way back along the sands passing Coffee Rocks; ancient deposits of tree formations which break down leaving a coffeestain in the water, seeing the coloured sand cliffs and then to Eli Creek, a bit of a magnet for kids to play in the fresh waters flowing into the sea. Also, a magnet to the local population of dingoes keenly looking for a crafty meal either left by humans or foraged.

Then, it was back to the ferry and setting sail for Urangan and home. Fully fed, but weighing up whether a fish and chip supper might be required as a top-up. Another great day, tomorrow promises to be somewhat quieter.

We don't really like organised trips; being organised, conforming to a demanding itinerary, shuffling along with a whole load of other people, not being able to spend time on the parts that interest us, and not being able to skip or move on from areas that do not. It was a very long day, but we went places and saw things that we would not otherwise have had access to by our own resources. Therefore, it was well worth it, and the advice given was correct. This island, although by topography, was not remarkable, it was instead quite amazing and unique.

ps. We did stop off in Hervey Bay to get snapper and chips, but it was the third fish and chip we had tried before finding one that was open on a Saturday night beyond 7pm! What is the matter with these people? The one we did find open managed to stay open till eight! The rest of the Esplanade, the main entertainment area, was in darkness by then!

pps. We passed the Botanical Gardens at about 7pm, and we were somewhat surprised at the crowds queuing to get in. Then we remembered the Christmas lights display. And then we recalled it was nearly Christmas! A fact that to date that had escaped us!

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