Posts by Bungi Bill

45

What do You Think About Hybrid and Electric Cars?

by Village Idiot in

battery technology has been making leaps and bounds in affordability and energy output throughout the past decade.

while pure electric cars currently have limited range, the near future holds prospects for longer ranges.

hybrids, and recently plug in hybrids, have a mileage of up to 50 mpg* giving them a range of 500 miles from a ten gallon gas tank.

Bungi Bill

VI,

Sadly, that is the case in many places (Auckland, New Zealand, being one!)

68

What was it like being a JW in the 1960's and 1970's

by UnshackleTheChains in

this is obviously a question for the older generation.

i'm really curious what it was like to be a witness in the 60's and 70's?.

was the society as strict as it is today?.

Bungi Bill

For a few years, beginning 1973, the WTS started saying a lot about the role of ones conscience in making everyday, personal decisions.

This was firstly introduced at the elders schools that were (and probably still are?) periodically conducted at the branch offices. I can recall a newly-appointed Circuit Overseer in 1973, straight out of Gilead and quite horrified that people were asking the elders for guidance about matters were (to quote) "up to ones conscience". Then, either late in 1974 or early 1975, there were a series of articles in The Watchtower that dealt at length on this matter. These articles came over as quite definite that it was not "The Society's" (or the congregation's) role to impose anything that resembled a Talmud when it came to personal matters - including dress and grooming.

Scuttlebutt has since had it that this was done, looking ahead to the "Tribulation" - which of course, was about to happen "at any moment". After all, every bloody fool new that the Great Tribulation was no longer "just around the corner". No, instead we were now staring down the home straight at the thing! (Apparently). Story has it that the WTS was preparing the congregations for the "persecution" that was to follow, in which we would be cut off from Brooklyn - and likely from the local branch office, too. All this would make it impossible to ask "The Organisation" for guidance, so it was important instead to have a well developed "conscience" to make these calls for us. So the story has it after the event. I don't know if it really happened that way, or if it is just another product of the Great JW Rumour Mill !

Anyway, all this about the matter of conscience (whether spoken or written) was interpreted differently from congregation to congregation. Some took an approach that was noticeably more relaxed. One congegation in Australia (Newmarket, in Queensland) became quite renowned for this. A number of the ministerial servants wore beards, jackets or suit coats were not required wear a the book studies, and - unbelievably, women were permitted to wear pants suits, both at the hall and while out in field service.

In mid-1977, the new circuit overseer (those in Australia may remember "Cyclone Rex" Mainwaring?) nearly blew a gasket when he saw the line-up of bearded ministerial servants. However, the body of elders got its way, and no action was taken against those brothers. They retained both their beards and their positions!

However, a few years down the track, the Governing Body realised what a genie it had released from the bottle when those articles about conscience were published. By the early 1980s, things had reverted to the legalistic regime of beforehand.

45

What do You Think About Hybrid and Electric Cars?

by Village Idiot in

battery technology has been making leaps and bounds in affordability and energy output throughout the past decade.

while pure electric cars currently have limited range, the near future holds prospects for longer ranges.

hybrids, and recently plug in hybrids, have a mileage of up to 50 mpg* giving them a range of 500 miles from a ten gallon gas tank.

Bungi Bill

A good rule of thumb when evaluating motor vehicles is to note which ones are commonly used as taxis. Taxi operators very quickly get to know what vehicles work okay, and which ones are not so good.

The majority of taxis that I have travelled in over the last nine years have been hybrid vehicles, with the Toyota Prius being the most common of these. Without exception, the taxi drivers spoke highly of their hybrid vehicles. (I did a lot of travel by taxi while working on a Fly-in / Fly-Out basis in such places as Queensland, South Australia, the Pilbara and Papua New Guinea).

Simon does make a very good point, however, that in urban areas at least, mass-transit systems make by far the most sense. (Particularly rail).

25

Does the Average R&F JW understand what grace is in Christianity ?

by smiddy in

i`m showing my ignorance here , not being an active member of any church before joining jw`s as a 19 yr old ,whenever i was ever confronted with the question of "grace" i was always at a loss to give an effective answer from a jw point of view.. was it just me ?

or did anybody else have a similar experience ?.

(ps , i dont think i ever heard the expression " grace" in a religious sense in all my 33 years in the borg.studying the wt.).

Bungi Bill

I doubt if most JWs have even heard of the term "grace", as it is applied to the Christian religion.

It would certainly be an idea that the WTS / GB would want to downplay, cutting as it does against the "Salvation by Report Card" idea which they would have the R&F believe.

68

What was it like being a JW in the 1960's and 1970's

by UnshackleTheChains in

this is obviously a question for the older generation.

i'm really curious what it was like to be a witness in the 60's and 70's?.

was the society as strict as it is today?.

Bungi Bill

Looking back on it now, those years seemed to be a time of mad people and mad ideas.

For sure, the JWs in my first congregation were friendly, open and helpful types. However, I now know that they more reflected the community that they sprang from rather than anything else.

- i.e. this was a remote, thinly populated part of the world, in which people (even today) still tend to be helpful and generous by inclination.

16

Has China Already Become the Equal of the USA - superseding the Knorr/Franz March of World Powers?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

i would personally say, this was going to happen, but not quite yet.

but then i noticed this recently published story in the south china morning post (a newspaper once owned by rupert murdoch, but now owned by jack ma, one of china's richest men).. quote:.

how china has become america’s equal, as showcased at a harvard forumauthor: robert delaneyon the campus of harvard business school this past weekend there was little doubt among corporate leaders and investors gathered for an annual conference that china had arrived as an equal to the united states.keynote speeches, panel discussions and a business pitch competition at the 20th annual harvard china forum convened under the theme “sharing the road ahead” in english.. and, i got to thinking about donald trump's reversal of all the things he said he was going to do to china in his campaign speeches, and the reality now that he acts as president of the usa.

Bungi Bill

There are a few "Ifs, Buts and Maybes" at work in this matter!

Certainly, there is very little to suggest that China's economy will not overtake that of America's within the next 10 to 15 years. Then, with economic dominance would come the very real possibility of military dominance as well.

Throughout history, military dominance almost always followed the achievement of economic success - e.g. Britain, Germany, USA. (the USSR being something of an exception). Conversely, military decline is an inevitable result of economic decline - e.g. Britain, USSR.

This year, China expects to spend 1.3 % of its GDP on defence. That contrasts with America's 2014 defence spending of 3.3% of its GDP.

Should China decide to match America's defence spending as a percentage of GDP, then once economic dominance is acheived, military dominance would be just a numbers game away.

However, should the USA then enter into an arms race with China, it might be a question of how long the USA could afford to continue with that before bankrupting itself (as happened to the Soviet Union in the 1980s).

On the matter of quality versus quantity, there is a saying that - at least in military matters - "Quantity has a quality all of its own." Nazi Germany learned that one the hard way in WWII, following its invasion of the Soviet Union.

At the very least, the situation is likely to very similar to a pair of heavyweight boxers, warily circling each other:

- each one capable of inflicting serious harm on the other, but without a conclusive result.

That may be the most desirable outcome; with each power not confident to initiate a conflict in which there would be no clear-cut winner.

As for where this all sits with Crazy Fred's rantings re. "The King of the North", does it matter? (Yeah, I know I am completely disinterested!)

9

A.N.Z.A.C. Day 25th April 2017.

by zeb in

this day is when there are memorial services across australia and new zealand for our nations' war dead.. on the 25th april 1915 the australian and new zealand army corp' swept ashore at a beach on the mainland of turkey at a place they call galliboli or gallipoli as it is known to us.

the soldiers were landed at the wrong beach and were shot to hell they faced cliffs and thick coastal scrub.

they were supposed to be landed some miles further along the coast which was lightly defended and flat sandy beaches.

Bungi Bill

Whose fault was it that they landed at the wrong place ?

I am no expert on this matter but my guess it would have to be the Royal Navy.

Strictly speaking, that is correct - inasmuch as it was the navy's job to get the troops ashore, and the Anzacs were put ashore in the wrong place.

However, as far as I am unaware, the question as to how this situation came about has never ever satisfactorily been answered. There were suggestions made that it was an ocean current, of which the navy either did not about or failed to take into account. However, others have claimed this ocean current to be "non-existent". In the 1984 documentary Gallipoli, the New Zealand Story, Sir Leonard Thornton bluntly attributes the wrong location to a "blunder" made by "somebody."

The truth will probably now never be known.

25

Solar power rip off! Aussie government destroyed free electricity. Scum!

by Witness 007 in

so my friends have had free power for years thanks to solar panels and a great contract with power company.

they even get credits for having 20 panels on thier roof!

i put 18 solar panels on my roof cost $9900 dollars.

Bungi Bill

why would all of these not be able to provide a stable grid?

To maintain a stable electricity grid, your sources of generation need to be able to both produce and absorb VARs (Volt Amps of Reactance), in a controlled manner, and often at very short notice. If you have ever operated a power system, as I have, you quickly find out about that one! (Also, the more sources of energy into the power system, the more critical this becomes).

Photo Voltaic cells do not have this capability, and with wind turbines, it is very rudimentary. (Our network has a small wind turbine- type generator feeding into one corner of it, and it is no exaggeration to say that this plays hell with the voltage regulation in the immediate locality.

PS: That the Chinese may be extending their wind generation capacity is beside the point.

25

Solar power rip off! Aussie government destroyed free electricity. Scum!

by Witness 007 in

so my friends have had free power for years thanks to solar panels and a great contract with power company.

they even get credits for having 20 panels on thier roof!

i put 18 solar panels on my roof cost $9900 dollars.

Bungi Bill

There were a number of issues at work during last year's system collapse in South Australia.

For a concise but highly informative discussion about this, the latest issue of Australasian Transmission and Distribution has reprinted a summary from the University of Queensland's Chair of Electrical Engineering. Contributing to this power blackout were the stability issues that a high proportion of distributed generation introduces.

Photovoltaic cells and wind turbines do not have the ability to respond correctly to abnormal system voltages. The South Australian system voltage surged after the Heywoods Feeder tripped off. That in turn caused four out of the five base load units in South Australia to trip off on overvoltage. Following this, massive load shedding had to take place to maintain system frequency. More than just the weather was at work here, despite what Malcolm Turnbull is quoted as saying.

Having been much involved in the commissioning of base load generation, I can vouch for the intense efforts that go into fine-tuning the turbine / generator controls so that these can react to correct system disturbances ( whether of voltage or frequency). These commissioning and post-commissioning tests can go on for many months afterwards, before the results are deemed as being satisfactory. Distributed (or "embedded") generation simply does not have that ability.

At the Electricity Engineers Association conference that I attended last June, this issue was raised a number of times. Not only was concern expressed about lack of sufficient corrective response from embedded generation, but also the difficulty in then putting the system back together afterwards. ("Islanding" is the term electrical engineers use for this situation, and from experience, I know that it can be a difficulty even in a small power system). When everything was owned and operated by one entity (which in the case of South Australia was ETSA), that was quite straightforward. It isn't anymore, and this introduces major delays in power restoration.

A stable electricity grid is still required - if anything, more so now. Not surprisingly, power system operators dread a system collapse, like South Australia recently experienced.

You can also have gas powered plants to pick up any slack. T

That still requires a stable grid - as do wind turbines.

Once again, the latest issue of Australasian Transmission and Distribution features a very informed discussion about what happened last year in South Australia.

25

Solar power rip off! Aussie government destroyed free electricity. Scum!

by Witness 007 in

so my friends have had free power for years thanks to solar panels and a great contract with power company.

they even get credits for having 20 panels on thier roof!

i put 18 solar panels on my roof cost $9900 dollars.

Bungi Bill

It should never be a long-term government subsidy of your utility bills and your labelling them "scum" really indicates a sense of entitlement that is unwarranted. Any government subsidy money has to come from somewhere - why should other tax payers pay for your utility bill? Sounds like it was far too generous so count the good times when you could enjoy it as a plus but don't bitch that it's been corrected.

In Australia, this was subsidised by those power consumers who were not using solar power. As such, it was unsustainable, and that is why I didn't elect to go the solar way. Until the storage issue is resolved satisfactorily, a stable power grid is still going to be needed (otherwise, what happens during the hours of darkness?).

A high proportion of "distributed" generation (principally photo voltaic cells and wind turbines) creates great potential for system instability (as was revealed in last year's power blackout in South Australia).