Steven P

A mix, a few Scots pines, most are spruce though. The ones I have were never managed and thinned so a lot are falling over now - which will be replaced as and when I get to it. Squirrels - never thought of that, we only have about half a dozen at any one time (local fox, cats, crows and buzzards, road see to a lot for their control)

Going to put Scots Pine in further away from the road side (currently Ash / Pines / willows along the river)

Driverless trains and trams exist - though the London Mayor scrapped plans for the London Underground. Suspect that means 'paused'. Can't see a problem with driverless trains if they can prove the tech is reliable and secure - to be honest by the time say, a main line passenger train driver sees a problem they have passed it a mile ago. Not sure cars have the computing yet - too many other things to react to

I guess there is a different category for bombardment in a ceasefire?

I have no idea what he was talking about.... Not sure he does either. Is it related to his dementia testing I wonder?

Started to experiment with a couple of trees this year, will see if it worked next year.

The forum has missed this post! Is the tree on your side of the boundary or on the boundary? Your side then I guess all you need to do is ask the neighbour for access to the tree. If your future plans are to replace the building then do it sooner rather than later (future plans could be next spring, could be in 2050).

All about the oil. Venezuela has had sanctions against it for being naughty for years, cannot sell its oil. Trump wants them to behave so he can buy the oil.

Not quite looking at the photos, 'picked up the chainsaw by the blade and it kicked into gear' (paraphrasing his son there)

Got to understand the tip sites a bit... Most of the local firms around your area, the ones doing the majority of the work, will be set up where to get rid of their waste. If someone is working in your area who isn't so local their usual tip sites could be 1 hour+ round trip way and so will be looking for somewhere local to tip. What that means in reality from the tip sites alone, they arn't going making a track to your door with piles of logs - it will be the occasional load from out of area tree surgeons. This is compounded with many homeowners seeing the prices of kiln-dried-and-delivered logs and their freshly-cut-down-unsplit-and-green tree thinking they are quids in off facebook marketplace and ask to keep the logs. Fewer logs for the tree surgeons to take away to tip. I reckon on a load or 2 every year but most of these are from contacts I have made locally - hearing a chainsaw in the distance and taking a lunchtime walk to see who it is and ask nice (when they arn't stuck up a tree of course) So the tip sites are a handy thing to use, but don't rely on them for all your winter heating. You ca make your site more visible perhaps with a consideration for petrol or whatever offered and to make tipping at yours as easy as possible

How did you see that, he has banned photos and videos of the work being broadcast, proud of what he is doing I think... Given the speed of the design, award the contracts, work out the programming for the demolition and rebuild, get the workers to start - pretty quick for a $250 million build - I suspect that it will be to the standard of your typical Barratt house.

Which would be this chart then:

Only ever met him in passing really - the social thing had a lot of people hanging on his every word to properly chat, so he was playing to the crowd a bit. The filming was on one of the big stationary engines around Manchester, just him, and 3 or 4 film crew, engine operator and me, my old man and brother so he didn't have to play to the crowd, picked up the necessary bits for the film on the engine pretty quick, started it up, knew his stuff at least. I got the feeling that he hadn't researched what he was looking at before he went too much. Yes, would have been good to get a quiet drink with him.

Here is a handy little graphic for you: How many each side have killed over the years preceeding 2023. Israel have now killed over 10x the number that were killed, I am not sure if that is a justifiable level of response.

Met him a couple of times, once 'behind the scenes' when he was filming and another at a social do - he was the same in real life, not an act for the camera.

Aww it doesn't like his hypocrisy and double standards being pointed out again. Bless. For the record the comment wasn't about your daughters, it was all about your attitude.

China also has the most population, stands to reason they will be at the top - I would fall off my chair if somewhere like Monaco topped the list.

I'll assume that your daughters will be learning a trade then and not taking any further education past their Highers considering your condescension to 'university education', or will they not be making their daddy proud and they will go on to learn stuff and better themselves through education?

As above, use dry wood if you can. Most of the tent stoves I see are weekend warriors - 2 night and packed away again - which is handy to also knock the soot of the flue - a weeks use in the middle of winter could be a bit too much for the design. A real good hot fire should keep it clearer - though be aware of chimney fires - but the hotter the fire the cleaner the chimney will be. Do you let the fire smoulder overnight or during the day while you are out and about? Might be an overnight fire is the problem, could try charcoal instead if you need something overnight.

There should be a reference number on the card - go through your web browser (never a QR code) - to UPS and put the number in there - should be a billing section - will tell you what is due. There should also be a parcel tracking - if I was suspicious I would track it first, find out where it is (should be collected and something like "In UK Customs" or "waiting for delivery" I reckon) Might be that the part is to be delivered to Texas but somehow your address is the billing address? Last thing, has he any tracking numbers for the ECU - could they be the same as what's on your card?

For their coal, it used to be used for 70% of their electrical generation, now it is 40% coal powered. That transition has taken about 15 years. I reckon we can all find statistics to form an argument either way, China arn't perfect but all the numbers I see are they are moving in the right direction, very quickly too - away from coal power, installing massive amounts of renewable infrastructure (the wind farm I quoted above is actually about 4 all linked - very close together, but will dwarf any the UK can make once they get them fully connected). So what to do? Do we look and point at China? "Look over there, they are bad, so we shouldn't bother" or should we be leading the way, install renewable power, be world leaders and develop the skills to be just that. Just to note that making the kit is one thing, but designing the installations - the hundred of windmills, cables and stuff, and the operation of the sites is still a skill we can go for. The UK is no longer a manufacturer of stuff, we are a service industry... designing stuff, operating stuff all via computers is what we do these days. So why not do it for the world, gain the skills here in the UK installing our own and then export the skills everywhere else.

Too impatient obviously, I'll try that next time

China, as you very well know, also operate the worlds largest wind farm, and solar farm, have the most renewable energy electricity generation - triple the nearest countries, reputed to be installing 50%+ of the worlds renewable energy annually, they are on a par with the 'western world' when it comes to renewable energy generation per capita. So if you are wanting to knock a country for its commitment to renewable energy source, China is a piss poor example for you to choose. Pop off, do some reading, some education.

Trying to remember if there was ever a similar number of protests (2700+) and protestors (10 million +) for a presidents actions before. And what does Trump do? AI video of him flying a plane dropping piles of shit on them. That was grown up of him and will no doubt bring him less respect from the protestors than he had before. The narcissist rapist thrives on public adoration - pissing of more and more people will be just hurting his feelings more, vindicating I reckon his enthusiasm to send armed troops to the streets of his cities. Reminds me, trying to remember if there was ever a similar number of national guard deployed to as many cities in the US at once...

Yes, it is wood, it burns. Can be a bit sooty - lots of tar up the chimney so wouldn't use just that but would have a mix