Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Well it's autumn ( according to the calendar the 1 of March )....
I've heard from my family in the UK that Spring as sprung, it's started to warm up a bit there...
We had a wonderful hot and sunny week -by hot I mean 18 degrees- and then it has gone down again. The Sun is out though, well it is cloud, but it is out more often at least
This morning when I left for a jolk it bucketed down and I got soaked to the bone,(it was nice and refreshing ) the forecast is for more rain to come, later today...At the moment there's blue sky with a few clouds...
I'm thinking of getting an ebike, like the one in this video
The local ebike hire company have a secondhand one for around $1300 NZ...
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited March 2021
My father bought a new ebike via crowdfunding for 995 euro, which is a lot cheaper than if you go to the shops here. The company was Danish, called Strom. Not sure how the currencies compare though.
@Shoshin
The difficult thing to ascertain with a used e bike is the real health of the battery. It is the most expensive component on an electric bike (often being 50% of the real cost of a bike) and it's limited lifespan is the most common reason why folks decide to upgrade to a new E bike. It is really just a bunch of 1.5 volt lithium ion batteries wired together. A worn battery unit will still be able to take a full charge but the length of time that it can provide power under a load gets progressively shorter over time.
The lifespan of a battery often depends on the good and bad recharging practices of the previous owner but if the bikes battery is already worn down, nothing can be done to reverse that except to replace it.
Asking the bike shop for the cost of replacing the battery might be educational and a valid part of your bike price negotiations.
I had to laugh over your 250W e bike being name marketed after a fighter jet until I remembered that my own regular bike is called a Nirvana.
3
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited March 2021
It seems that in the world of smartphones there has been quite a major shift this year, a lot of premium features have moved to the mid-range. Today’s mid-range phones are a lot better than the flagship phones of three years back, and if you shop around you can get a really good all-around smartphone for 400 euro’s. Samsung Galaxy A52, im looking at you in particular, even though you’re not out yet.
1
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
It's a sobering thought to think that our mobile phones, which fit comfortably into a jeans back pocket, are actually more capable and powerful than the computers being used to put guys on the moon...
If indeed, they actually did that...
3....
2....
1....
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I saw today that NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance was powered by a PowerPC 750 chip, which is the same as was in the first Apple iMacs twenty-three years ago, except that NASAs version operates in environments from -63 to 275 degrees and cost an eye watering 200k dollars.
A smartphone can beat it easily in compute performance.
If I buy a new onya ebike it's around$2400 (older model) with a two year warranty ...Batteries are around $600...
When I spoke to the guy who owns the local shop (BTW is Danish ) the other day, he said would give a year's warranty on the secondhand one...
I also bought my e bike directly from the manufacturer which can half your costs but also results in bike shops not wanting to service it because such deals cut them out of the retail bike sales mark ups. Not something to try unless you are prepared to do all the service & repair work yourself.
1
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited March 2021
Has anyone else noticed that the snow on the index page falls in the direction of where you're moving your cursor...?
(everyone's trying it, now...! )
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
@federica said:
Has anyone else noticed that the snow on the index page falls in the direction of where you're moving your cursor...?
(everyone's trying it, now...! )
What if you don’t have a cursor? I’m on an iPad.
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
search me. you're a better tecchie than I...
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
The internet is going mad. See the Verge’s explanation of Non-Fungible Tokens.
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited March 2021
It’s basically people selling the ‘ownership’ of digital art without selling the copyright, argueing that it’s like having an original painting even though posters and reproductions exist all over the world. It’s a bit crazy, and backed with this blockchain tech. As I understand it, you get a ‘token’ to prove that you’re the ‘owner’.
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Heard about the tsunami warning in New Zealand @Shoshin1 — has it affected you?
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
One for @lobster ... apparently Brave has bought a complete internet search engine.
@Kerome said:
Heard about the tsunami warning in New Zealand @Shoshin1 — has it affected you?
Yes we have all been put on high alert ....Three quakes two 7. something and the last 8.something....Move to higher ground...as it stands the main areas are 'Here"
I first heard about it from my son who lives in London (this happened before) and now I'm watching the news, it would seem the Tsunami warning is all around the Pacific....
My daughter who lives in Wellington felt the first one...
Just heard on the news that Waiheke Island residents also need to move to higher ground...
This time it's pretty serious ....most of the residents of the coastal areas of Aotearoa (including Auckland & Waiheke Island ) are to stay off the beaches and if necessary move to higher ground...
Tsunami warning went off on my phone....
Some of the beach areas up north of the North Island, the water is acting strange there's been a change in its colour and in Whangārei there are reports of mist also started to roll in ...all signs of a Tsunami on the way...
Before I I went out for a jolk this morning, my son sent me a message re the first quake which happened at around 2.30am...I took my phone with me on the jolk and received another message from my youngest whose back in Auckland to say there's been a bigger quake 8. something....
I have my emergency pack at the ready, just incase I need to move to high ground...The property where I live is about half a kilometre from Owhanake Bay not really high ground, higher ground is around 5 minute drive away...
Just heard that the Tsunami alert warning has been lifted...
@federica said:
So... No enthusiastic cries of "Surf's up!" then... glad it's all passed...
There were a few diehard surfers and paddle boarders out, it took a while for the police to round them up, some so it would seem were oblivious to the Tsaunami threat...And as soon as the warning was lifted, some took to the water again....
Well I was just sitting minding my own business, when I noticed Ms Queenie, sniffing around my shoes which I had taken off whilst doing a bit of earthing (walking along the beach barefooted)..First she wandering about the outside of the shoes, then she took a sneak peek inside... Anyhow, after a bit of gentle persuading (using a long twig to nudge her away) she left the shoes and then commandeered my chair...
So I left her to it and walked home...
BTW she a Vespula germanica German wasp ...fertile queen...
4
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
That’s funny... queen bees are very rarely spotted alone, when one leaves a hive a good chunk of the bees go with her and form a swarm, they usually settle in a tree somewhere before they are collected by a friendly bee keeper who deposits the queen and her swarm into an empty hive.
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
@Kerome said:
That’s funny... queen bees are very rarely spotted alone, when one leaves a hive a good chunk of the bees go with her and form a swarm, they usually settle in a tree somewhere before they are collected by a friendly bee keeper who deposits the queen and her swarm into an empty hive.
The number of times I would get an angry knock at my door... "Your bees have swarmed into my garden/roof/tree/car...!!" No matter how much and how long I insisted that no, they hadn't, trust me, I would know if they had, many of them wouldn't listen, or refused to believe me...So I would get all my gear, get my smoker, find a box, and traipse round there, with a worker bee in a matchbox.. And sure enough, I would show them that those big buzzing, angry things are wasps. Not bees. See? Compare. Wasps. Bee. Different. Thank you.
I am going now.
And I would take my leave, with the perpetual question ringing in the air...
"Well, what am I supposed to do with these wasps then?!"
"Ring the Council, not my problem!"
"But they will charge me!"
"Like I said - Not my problem!"
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I once spent time at an anthroposophical day care centre where they kept bees in the garden, on the premise that Rudolph Steiner had once said that bee swarms were closest to man in intelligence. One day one of the hives swarmed, and we all traipsed out from inside the day centre to see where the swarm had settled. One person even got to touch the swarm once we found it in a nearby willow tree, it was very interesting.
@Kerome said:
That’s funny... queen bees are very rarely spotted alone, when one leaves a hive a good chunk of the bees go with her and form a swarm, they usually settle in a tree somewhere before they are collected by a friendly bee keeper who deposits the queen and her swarm into an empty hive.
People often get social species of bees and wasps behaviours mixed up, plus they have similar colouring which from a distance it can be hard to tell them apart...
Social wasps and bees differ in that newly fertile queen bees swarm from the hive with a couple of thousand workers in search of a suitable place to start a new colony...
Newly fertile queen wasps on the other hand go it alone, (they don't swarm) they start a new colony from scratch...
In this part of the world bee swarms (the newly fertile queens with a couple of thousand workers in tow) occur October through to December,...
Newly fertile queen wasps leave the nest during Autumn on their own in search of a place to hibernate and in Spring they are busy single handedly building a new nest and once they build some egg cells they lay eggs when the eggs hatch the queen looks after them until they complete their cycle, ie egg grub, pupa, adult/worker and when the first batch of workers pop out, they start to forage for food and nest building materials, the queen then just sits back and lays eggs( she becomes an egg laying machine) the workers attend to the nest building and looking after their sisters( the brother wasps come later, towards the end of summer)...
Difference species of social wasps may have slightly different ways of social organisation
Autumn is starting now so Ms queenie was looking for a nice cozy place to hibernate and thought my shoe was an option...
1
Fosdickin its eye are mirrored far off mountainsAlaska, USAVeteran
My wife left a pair of shoes by the front door and subsequently forgot about them. Wasps nested there, and it became impossible to use the front door without stirring them up into an angry cloud that we had to pass through when entering or exiting the house.
I had to relocate the shoes eventually. These particular wasps are usually mild mannered, but seem to reach a point in their cycle when they become really aggressive and will chase people all over the place, little kamikazes that sting on the fly, then circle back for another pass.
Yes @Fosdick they can make their nests in all kinds of places...
Once I was called out to a property where the owner hadn't used their shed in years, then one day she decided to get something out from it, as she opened the shed door she was greeted by hundreds of angry wasps...
The queen wasp had built the nest on a stack of three small coffee tables (stacked under each other), the wasp species was Vespula germanica AKA German wasp, in mild winters this particular species of social wasp will overwinter in the same nest and continue to build onto it during the Spring and summer months..
The nest was huge, covering the three tables...I ended up giving it (the nest attached to the tables) to the Auckland museum to put on display ...I knew one of the entomologists who worked in the natural history department and would often drop unusual things I came across on jobs, into the museum for their displays
Comments
They look alien-like!
And they taste out of this world 🍄 yum...
You could say, with reference to my photos, that I'm back from the dead...
There was a Zoom meeting of 200,000 buddhists for Magha Puja today, apparently.
@federica cemetery picture post reminded me of my 'cloak of dewachan visulisation ....
https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/comment/437300/#Comment_437300
Well it's autumn ( according to the calendar the 1 of March )....
I've heard from my family in the UK that Spring as sprung, it's started to warm up a bit there...
We had a wonderful hot and sunny week -by hot I mean 18 degrees- and then it has gone down again. The Sun is out though, well it is cloud, but it is out more often at least
This morning when I left for a jolk it bucketed down and I got soaked to the bone,(it was nice and refreshing
) the forecast is for more rain to come, later today...At the moment there's blue sky with a few clouds...
..However it's been a picture perfect afternoon...
I'm thinking of getting an ebike, like the one in this video
The local ebike hire company have a secondhand one for around $1300 NZ...
My father bought a new ebike via crowdfunding for 995 euro, which is a lot cheaper than if you go to the shops here. The company was Danish, called Strom. Not sure how the currencies compare though.
@Shoshin
The difficult thing to ascertain with a used e bike is the real health of the battery. It is the most expensive component on an electric bike (often being 50% of the real cost of a bike) and it's limited lifespan is the most common reason why folks decide to upgrade to a new E bike. It is really just a bunch of 1.5 volt lithium ion batteries wired together. A worn battery unit will still be able to take a full charge but the length of time that it can provide power under a load gets progressively shorter over time.
The lifespan of a battery often depends on the good and bad recharging practices of the previous owner but if the bikes battery is already worn down, nothing can be done to reverse that except to replace it.
Asking the bike shop for the cost of replacing the battery might be educational and a valid part of your bike price negotiations.
I had to laugh over your 250W e bike being name marketed after a fighter jet until I remembered that my own regular bike is called a Nirvana.
It seems that in the world of smartphones there has been quite a major shift this year, a lot of premium features have moved to the mid-range. Today’s mid-range phones are a lot better than the flagship phones of three years back, and if you shop around you can get a really good all-around smartphone for 400 euro’s. Samsung Galaxy A52, im looking at you in particular, even though you’re not out yet.
It's a sobering thought to think that our mobile phones, which fit comfortably into a jeans back pocket, are actually more capable and powerful than the computers being used to put guys on the moon...
If indeed, they actually did that...
3....
2....
1....
I saw today that NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance was powered by a PowerPC 750 chip, which is the same as was in the first Apple iMacs twenty-three years ago, except that NASAs version operates in environments from -63 to 275 degrees and cost an eye watering 200k dollars.
A smartphone can beat it easily in compute performance.
Thanks @Kerome & @how ...
If I buy a new onya ebike it's around$2400 (older model) with a two year warranty ...Batteries are around $600...
) the other day, he said would give a year's warranty on the secondhand one...
When I spoke to the guy who owns the local shop (BTW is Danish
I also bought my e bike directly from the manufacturer which can half your costs but also results in bike shops not wanting to service it because such deals cut them out of the retail bike sales mark ups. Not something to try unless you are prepared to do all the service & repair work yourself.
Has anyone else noticed that the snow on the index page falls in the direction of where you're moving your cursor...?
(everyone's trying it, now...!
)
What if you don’t have a cursor? I’m on an iPad.
search me. you're a better tecchie than I...
The internet is going mad. See the Verge’s explanation of Non-Fungible Tokens.
https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq
...Huh...?
Like I said...
You're a better tecchie than I...!
It’s basically people selling the ‘ownership’ of digital art without selling the copyright, argueing that it’s like having an original painting even though posters and reproductions exist all over the world. It’s a bit crazy, and backed with this blockchain tech. As I understand it, you get a ‘token’ to prove that you’re the ‘owner’.
Heard about the tsunami warning in New Zealand @Shoshin1 — has it affected you?
One for @lobster ... apparently Brave has bought a complete internet search engine.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/03/brave_buys_a_search_engine/
Yes we have all been put on high alert ....Three quakes two 7. something and the last 8.something....Move to higher ground...as it stands the main areas are 'Here"
I first heard about it from my son who lives in London (this happened before) and now I'm watching the news, it would seem the Tsunami warning is all around the Pacific....
My daughter who lives in Wellington felt the first one...
Just heard on the news that Waiheke Island residents also need to move to higher ground...
Just watching the Civil defence press conference
This time it's pretty serious ....most of the residents of the coastal areas of Aotearoa (including Auckland & Waiheke Island ) are to stay off the beaches and if necessary move to higher ground...
Tsunami warning went off on my phone....
Some of the beach areas up north of the North Island, the water is acting strange there's been a change in its colour and in Whangārei there are reports of mist also started to roll in ...all signs of a Tsunami on the way...
@Shoshin1 run for the hills
Stay safe
Wow! Please stay safe @Shoshin1
Before I I went out for a jolk this morning, my son sent me a message re the first quake which happened at around 2.30am...I took my phone with me on the jolk and received another message from my youngest whose back in Auckland to say there's been a bigger quake 8. something....
I have my emergency pack at the ready, just incase I need to move to high ground...The property where I live is about half a kilometre from Owhanake Bay not really high ground, higher ground is around 5 minute drive away...
Just heard that the Tsunami alert warning has been lifted...
phew ...
👍
The Shaky Isles lives to shake another day 👍... (but I'll keep the emergency pack packed and at the ready...just incase...)
Well I managed to get all my washing done...I will have a stroll this afternoon...sticking to high ground...
So... No enthusiastic cries of "Surf's up!" then... glad it's all passed...
Yes, glad that there was no great wall of water headed your way.
There were a few diehard surfers and paddle boarders out, it took a while for the police to round them up, some so it would seem were oblivious to the Tsaunami threat...And as soon as the warning was lifted, some took to the water again....
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124452209/minimal-damage-after-earthquakes-and-tsunami-warnings-initial-reports-suggest
The first thing our PM said when she was told about the earthquakes and possible Tsunami was "Oh Bugger !" ....I had to smile when I heard this
Anyhow, it's business as usual...
Plus at 6am tomorrow (Sunday) morning Auckland goes down to level 2 restrictions and the rest of Aotearoa level 1...
Today's lunch
Spring onion, mushroom, carrot, capsicum, tomato, olives, grated cheese. lettuce, white rice, sprinkled with apple cider vinegar ....
snip
Far too virtuous for me! I would need to add some prawn, shredded chicken and kimchi...!
Well I was just sitting minding my own business, when I noticed Ms Queenie, sniffing around my shoes which I had taken off whilst doing a bit of earthing (walking along the beach barefooted)..First she wandering about the outside of the shoes, then she took a sneak peek inside... Anyhow, after a bit of gentle persuading (using a long twig to nudge her away) she left the shoes and then commandeered my chair...
So I left her to it and walked home...
BTW she a Vespula germanica German wasp ...fertile queen...
That’s funny... queen bees are very rarely spotted alone, when one leaves a hive a good chunk of the bees go with her and form a swarm, they usually settle in a tree somewhere before they are collected by a friendly bee keeper who deposits the queen and her swarm into an empty hive.
The number of times I would get an angry knock at my door... "Your bees have swarmed into my garden/roof/tree/car...!!" No matter how much and how long I insisted that no, they hadn't, trust me, I would know if they had, many of them wouldn't listen, or refused to believe me...So I would get all my gear, get my smoker, find a box, and traipse round there, with a worker bee in a matchbox.. And sure enough, I would show them that those big buzzing, angry things are wasps. Not bees. See? Compare. Wasps. Bee. Different. Thank you.
I am going now.
And I would take my leave, with the perpetual question ringing in the air...
"Well, what am I supposed to do with these wasps then?!"
"Ring the Council, not my problem!"
"But they will charge me!"
"Like I said - Not my problem!"
I once spent time at an anthroposophical day care centre where they kept bees in the garden, on the premise that Rudolph Steiner had once said that bee swarms were closest to man in intelligence. One day one of the hives swarmed, and we all traipsed out from inside the day centre to see where the swarm had settled. One person even got to touch the swarm once we found it in a nearby willow tree, it was very interesting.
People often get social species of bees and wasps behaviours mixed up, plus they have similar colouring which from a distance it can be hard to tell them apart...
Social wasps and bees differ in that newly fertile queen bees swarm from the hive with a couple of thousand workers in search of a suitable place to start a new colony...
Newly fertile queen wasps on the other hand go it alone, (they don't swarm) they start a new colony from scratch...
In this part of the world bee swarms (the newly fertile queens with a couple of thousand workers in tow) occur October through to December,...
Newly fertile queen wasps leave the nest during Autumn on their own in search of a place to hibernate and in Spring they are busy single handedly building a new nest and once they build some egg cells they lay eggs when the eggs hatch the queen looks after them until they complete their cycle, ie egg grub, pupa, adult/worker and when the first batch of workers pop out, they start to forage for food and nest building materials, the queen then just sits back and lays eggs( she becomes an egg laying machine) the workers attend to the nest building and looking after their sisters( the brother wasps come later, towards the end of summer)...
Difference species of social wasps may have slightly different ways of social organisation
Autumn is starting now so Ms queenie was looking for a nice cozy place to hibernate and thought my shoe was an option...
My wife left a pair of shoes by the front door and subsequently forgot about them. Wasps nested there, and it became impossible to use the front door without stirring them up into an angry cloud that we had to pass through when entering or exiting the house.
I had to relocate the shoes eventually. These particular wasps are usually mild mannered, but seem to reach a point in their cycle when they become really aggressive and will chase people all over the place, little kamikazes that sting on the fly, then circle back for another pass.
Yes @Fosdick they can make their nests in all kinds of places...
Once I was called out to a property where the owner hadn't used their shed in years, then one day she decided to get something out from it, as she opened the shed door she was greeted by hundreds of angry wasps...
The queen wasp had built the nest on a stack of three small coffee tables (stacked under each other), the wasp species was Vespula germanica AKA German wasp, in mild winters this particular species of social wasp will overwinter in the same nest and continue to build onto it during the Spring and summer months..
The nest was huge, covering the three tables...I ended up giving it (the nest attached to the tables) to the Auckland museum to put on display ...I knew one of the entomologists who worked in the natural history department and would often drop unusual things I came across on jobs, into the museum for their displays
I likes them wasps. In the UK most bees are solitary, we don't have hornets yet
Is a Queen WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) known as Karen? 🤪
... have I got it all wrong again? 🙏🏽
Does Karen nest in old shoes?
Who forced you to eat this?
Was it this person?
I have a stew just for them ...