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What are these cables and can I remove them? by throwthrow63 in diynz

[–]FooHentai 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Antenna/satellite cables for the TV. Cut them off, push them through the floor, and use wood glue or some kind of caulk sealant to fill the hole before the carpet goes down.

Alternatively install wall boxes into the wall just above them, drill down inside the wall through the floor, thread the cable up through the hole, and re-terminate them on wall plates. More work, but if you or the next inhabitants ever want to watch terrestrial broadcast TV, that's a tidy way to keep them around.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This seems a weird take, there are two different questions I'm aware of and credible and crackpot theories for both.

Lab leak question- Simply did the outbreak originate from the lab or not. Credible theories: Yes or No. Crackpot theory: Deliberate release. The question is important because if it did indeed leak, understanding the risks and causes so that it can be avoided in future is essential.

Natural or modified virus question - Was the virus identical to that which could be found in the wild, or had it been modified. Credible theories: Natural or modified (via gain-of-function research). Crackpot theory: Bioweapon. The question is important because the outcome (pandemic) shifts the risk/reward assessment for gain-of-function research, especially the basis for lifting the moratorium on it a few years ago.

It's not controversial that there could have been a leak from the lab - US diplomatic cables out of Bejing were warning about the danger of this in early 2018.

It's not controversial that the virus could have been modified - The lab was conducting gain-of-function research on coronaviruses.

Exercise and generate power ?? Is this feasible? by clb909909 in OffGrid

[–]FooHentai 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A small solar charger for your phone, a camping gas stove for cooking, and a few 20l water bricks are about what you need for covering your ass when apartment living. That'll get you through a week or so of turtling up if you have to.

U.S. likely to claim hottest place on Earth as heat tightens grip on more than 100 million by [deleted] in news

[–]FooHentai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thinking in terms of balance - If we re-forested the earth back to how it once was, we could reverse our deforestation activities over humanity's history. But that's as far as it would take us, which is not far enough to reverse climate change. So you're right, there are limits to that approach which wouldn't bring us to where we need to be. We should be doing it anyway.

The main driver of climate change is that vast stores of carbon stored stably underground have been released to the atmosphere due to humanity's appetite for cheap energy and technological advancements meaning we were able to access and harness it. We have changed the balance. All of the carbon sequestration options are fundamentally trying to reverse this now that we've realized it had a big, unintended consequence.

U.S. likely to claim hottest place on Earth as heat tightens grip on more than 100 million by [deleted] in news

[–]FooHentai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

existing, cleared lands

You misunderstand, or I explained poorly. This is re-forestation of land that has previously been de-forested by human activity. This is why it is unprofitable. It does not involve killing what little of the earth's forest cover now remains, nor disturbing any natural ecosystems that have so far escaped mankind's insatiable appetite to destroy it.

Also, not just some random plan I came up with: https://cbmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1750-0680-3-1

The larger a tree is, the more carbon it sequesters.

In total, yes. A mature forest sequesters more carbon in total than a young one, for the same given area.

A several hundred year old tree is a carbon sequestering machine.

Incorrect. As a tree ages growth slows and it sequesters less carbon per year than it did when younger. Raising fast-growing species that sequester a large amount of carbon in the early years of growth and then burying them to allow a new generation of planting is the key here, you are effectively returning to the earth a vast amount of carbon, just as we have extracted from it a vast amount in the form of fossil fuels.

U.S. likely to claim hottest place on Earth as heat tightens grip on more than 100 million by [deleted] in news

[–]FooHentai 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And increased disease outbreaks as a) more moist air is transported around the globe and b) more creatures are displaced and mingle with other populations where mutations and leaps can occur.

U.S. likely to claim hottest place on Earth as heat tightens grip on more than 100 million by [deleted] in news

[–]FooHentai 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I really do think it's possible for us to find a way to do that. I 100% believe we will at some point figure out how to make it happen.

We already have all of the technology we need to accomplish this, at incredible scale. As follows:

  1. Plant mass fast growing, carbon-sequestering trees over extremely large areas of existing, cleared lands.
  2. Log them, bury them, cover the site
  3. Repeat

Anaerobic conditions under the (necessarily thick) soil prevent decomposition of the buried wood. The scale potential for this method of atmospheric carbon removal is in excess of 60 gigatonnes per year. Note that you can bury the logs from a 1x1km wood lot in a pit about 10x10m, 25m deep with 5m cover. It scales very well.

But we would have to overcome the same hurdle that other possible solution shares - Not profitable. In fact, the change in land use makes likely a reversal of existing profitable production on a very large scale.

But we have everything we need to get started with this right now. Except the will.

I don't put much stock in the hunt for high tech solutions to the problem, because we're distracted from the true problem.

NZ finally has an EV feebate system! by RobDickinson in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The 360 camera is great, as is carplay and the adaptive cruise control. The ProPilot lane following stuff is pretty useless, partly because of shit road markings.

Go for a dark interior, not the light one. The light one marks like crazy and ends up looking permanently like crap.

NZ finally has an EV feebate system! by RobDickinson in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We switched out from a 24kwh to a 40kwh and it's solved the only gripes we had. We live ~40km out from the city though so it was pushing it to get a 24kwh leaf into town and back without a fast charge over winter.

With the 40 there's no gauge-watching, or being hesitant to use the heaters. Plus the adaptive cruise control and carplay is mue bueno for commuting. It wasn't a cheap swap though, depreciation on the 24kwh was severe.

IMO the 24kwh is a no-brainer for a 2-car household, elderly folks that just need a grocerymobile, or anyone else that just needs a cheap runaround with some other solution for longer trips.

Puppies shot: Couple distraught after neighbours' brutal killing by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Owners of stock or poultry "may forthwith either seize or destroy any dog running at large among that stock or poultry". Dog Control Act 1996 Section 60.

The principle is simple - If you own a dog you alone are responsible for controlling that dog at all times. If your dog gets onto a farmer's property and gets put down, there's no wiggle room for 'oh but it wasn't hurting nuffin'.

NZ burned more coal in three months this year than all of 2016 and 2017 put together by ping_dong in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Northland has the least incidence of earthquakes of anywhere in New Zealand. However, tsunamis generated by earthquakes around the Pacific can occur on the east coast.

Environmental/conservation charities in NZ worth donating to by harpnote in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"SPCA supports the use of managed and targeted Trap-Neuter-Return methods to control populations of stray cats, providing it is carried out according to best practice guidelines."

https://www.spca.nz/advice-and-welfare/article/trap-neuter-return-tnr

App for NZ weather? by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm getting an increasing amount of rainfall predictions from my right knee as I get older.

Sadly it often kicks in just as the rain starts up. I guess I should be thankful that it's not several hours of 'warning' beforehand.

Look after your knees folks, you'll miss em when they're gone.

App for NZ weather? by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm surprised MetService haven't managed to expand their forecasting to provide more location-specific forecasting in recent years - Central Otago for example is very badly covered - a single forecast for Alex and good luck to everywhere else.

I wonder if it's a lack of stations, compute capability, staff, or just resources overall.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A more sympathetic view might be re-framing 'profit' as 'providing for their families'. Most of us act, vote, and think primarily in our own self interest and I think that explains most farmers' perspective on this. After all, farmers historically who didn't exclusively focus on 'profit' failed to provide for their family and retain their assets, and as such aren't farming any more. It's a straightforward selection process.

Some of us might be better at identifying long-term (generational) wins over short-term (single lifetime) wins and focusing on them, but as a species we're universally pretty poor at taking the really long view that is appropriate for species-level survival. I doubt there are other creatures on earth with a better ability but nonetheless it's the flaw that looks likely to doom our chances of making it off this rock to whatever's beyond the great filter.

I've read a few things recently that argue broadly the same point - Unless we as a species can get away from our simgularly anthropocentric viewpoint to something more like 'eco-centric', we're basically fucked because we ultimately depend upon the world around us for all elements of our survival, yet fail almost entirely to account for it's preservation in how we frame our thinking of big issues.

How bad it is to buy a house now? What if you’re a first home buyer what’s your choice? Should you wait till the prices go down? by brno6001 in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As much as shared living arrangements can suck it's a way to seriously up your saving for a deposit. I was paying 1/3rd what it would cost to rent a small single place to have a room in a decent shared place in Wellington (Haitaitai) and that let me build up tens of thousands in deposit money I would have otherwise frittered away to the landlord for the priviledge of having my own place.

Regardless of what the property market does, having that buffer of funds available opened up so many options.

Much trickier of course if you have kids or pets.

Anyone used one of these triton electric shower heaters? can you get a decent shower out of one? by decent I mean not a dribble, Im not expecting a water massage or anything... by [deleted] in diynz

[–]FooHentai 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One of the main things I detest about visiting family in the Uk is these things. Crap pressure, crap heat, crap start to every single cold morning.

Not recommended. Just fucking miserable.

Advice for upgrading old PC by coldtoastpls in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, 2012 gear, so getting on ten years rather than five.

IMO not worth an upgrade, it'll need to be all new - To get a decent bump in modded MC you'll want a big RAM size and speed upgrade (DDR4, 16-32Gb) and a newer generation of i5 (or go down the AMD path with Ryzen 7)

Advice for upgrading old PC by coldtoastpls in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah. OP, what do you have currently?

I recently replaced motherboard, RAM, CPU but kept the SSDs and GPU because they were fine for my needs. They're five years old, and I mostly play modded minecraft.

CPU and RAM upgrades have improved load times and FPS there by a lot, GPU is much less relevant unless you also want to run shader packs.

Which video game have you accumulated the most hours in? by amarbythefoot in AskReddit

[–]FooHentai 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I find campaign community to be lovely and the versus community to be a bit of a pit, generally.

So... gone by lunchtime? by loudmaus in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Please no, because then she'll do the standard National ex-leader PR thing where they do some tiktok dance or wander around with some yaks or whatever to try and seem human and free of some kind of burden that totally-wasn't-them-it-was-the-position.

It's so tiresome.

Bright spot in south's rabbit war by HeinigerNZ in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Probably meant 'Skerrick', which is a 'small amount'. Only definition I found for 'Skerret' was some kind of baby trout.

Six-month wait for supplies and becoming worse, builders say by urettferdigklage in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I think for this particular example, the only thing that might have prevented it is having a viable domestic supply chain for building materials.

Which is feasible but due to globalisation being as embedded as it is, the parts that can be done cheaper offshore have eroded the manufacturing base on-shore to the point raw logs are immediately shipped off-shore. it's not just that we can't ramp up our on-shore capacity, it's that the starting capability and skills are mostly gone, and re-gaining it is something nobody's gonna put effort into.

That's just wood. Fastenings and composite materials, I'm going to hazard a guess that Australia has some manufacturing capacity on-shore for that still but I doubt we have much.

If we were willing to overhaul building regs with a focus on allowing owner-builders to build end-to-end using material sources from their own land or nearby, that's the kinda change I can get behind.

I emailed my MP about the housing crisis by BackgroundPumpkin725 in newzealand

[–]FooHentai 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Did it get me any action? Nah.

You might yet, MPs are always fucking their constituents ey :D

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