Kim du Toit – Page 214 – Splendid Isolation

Sweden is now looking to build more nuclear reactors after its parliament formally abandoned its 100% renewable energy target to meet net-zero by 2045.

On Tuesday the country modified its net zero targets to 100% “fossil-free” which its right-leaning government creates the conditions for the return of nuclear power to the country’s energy mix.

“We need more electricity production, we need clean electricity and we need a stable energy system,” Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said in parliament.

Observers said the decision implicitly acknowledges the low quality of unstable wind and solar, and is part of a general collapse of confidence in the renewable energy agenda pioneered in the Nordic countries and in Germany.

Here’s the wake-up call:

“Living close to Russia focuses the mind, and the Swedish people not only wish to join NATO, but also to ground their economy in an energy source, nuclear, that is physically sound and secure, unlike renewables which are neither.”

I should point out that the vast majority of Sweden’s electricity generation comes from hydro-electric dams already, so calling converting the tiny fraction left into “fossil-free” generation is not only eminently doable, but largely irrelevant.

Also, a reminder from a little further south:

German energy giant RWE has begun dismantling a wind farm to make way for a further expansion of an open-pit lignite coal mine in the western region of North Rhine Westphalia.

I should point out that the above operation was okayed by Germany’s Green Party, surely the most eco-addled political party in Europe.

Guess that Russian gas pipeline closure hurt.

As If I Needed Another

May 8, 2024 Kim du Toit Technology

…reason not to install the latest “upgrade” from Windoze: here it is.

Microsoft will soon begin pushing adverts into the Start Menu of Windows 11 with the inclusion of ‘recommended’ apps.

And why not? It’s where users are at their most vulnerable, so to speak: right at the beginning of the process. It’s like starting your car, but before the engine fires, you first have to listen to a 15-second advert for “recommended” tires, Bud Lite or windshield washer fluid. But of course, it’s being pushed as a helpful benefit:

Microsoft says the ads are aimed to enable users to find ‘some of the great apps that are available’.

That’s Microsoft all over: just trying to be helpful, as is someone who will pass you a bucket of lighter fluid instead of water when you’re trying to put out a house fire.

Although the update [KB5036980] is currently optional, it will soon roll out to all Windows devices within the coming weeks.

Of course it will — coercion is one of Microsoft’s major strengths. But:

Luckily, there is an easy way to turn off the pesky adverts with a simple change to your device settings.

Luckily. Until that feature too is disabled in future “updates”, depending on how much blast-back Microsoft gets from customers — not that they’ve ever paid much heed to that in the past, unless the storm of protest was overwhelming.

I have generally made it my personal policy to skip generations of Windows OS — I never used Win 9, for example, going from 8 to 10, and then only because someone I trusted not only chided me but actually forced me to make that change, having to do it himself because I flatly refused to do so. (Thanks, Dan.) And I was only able to have him do that because I was a house guest at the time. Unfortunately, he lives about two states away from me so I won’t be able to do that again this time.

And in any event, I’m going to get this fucking “feature” when I get my replacement PC* later in the year. Let’s hope there really is an “easy way” to turn the thing off, or else the laptop’s durability will be sorely tested as it slams into the opposite wall. (My new apartment doesn’t overlook the pool this time, so the laptop’s waterproofing will not be called upon.)

*In response to my earlier woes, several Readers sent me their older laptops to try to help me out — and thank you, every one — but I was never able to make them work for me, even with considerable input from Daughter, who is a pro at this kind of thing. Sadly, it’s a new one I’ll be getting, or else I’ll just go back to using my older Dell which, although slower than a carthorse on downers, is at least still capable of closing without needing engineering manipulation of the Rubik Cube degree.

Brekkie

May 8, 2024 Kim du Toit Food & Drink

Apparently, today is National Cereal Day, and even though said appellation make my nuts start to ache and my trigger finger twitch, it’s a better reason for commemoration than, say, Cesar Chavez Day or Secretaries Day.

Here’s the Britishland hit parade:

If you want my opinion, those choices are far too healthy. I mean: Weetabix? [sic] Ready brek? (although I have to say that with our kids, Ready Brek was a firm favorite for First Breakfast) And of Alpen and All Bran, we will not speak.

Here in Murka, the choices are far more (shall we say) kid-friendly:

…although the appearance of Special K (a triumph of marketing over fact) is concerning, even at #9.

I have to confess that I hardly ever eat breakfast cereal anymore, except the (very) occasional bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, which I discovered on my first trip Over Here with Longtime Friend Trevor, and have never lost the taste for it since.

And my special weakness — i.e. as a snack consumed straight from the box — is this one, discovered as a child in Seffrica, and which still captivates me, over half a century later:

Just looking at the pic makes me want to get some — but fortunately (?) there isn’t any of the lovely stuff in the pantry at the moment. (I try to contain myself to a box every other month, but it’s very difficult…)

I know, I know: cereal isn’t for grownups. Mea maxima culpa, but thank goodness I’m not tempted by the really sweet stuff like Froot Loops or Lucky Charms.

But at least when I look at both the above lists, the “nuts-‘n-twigs” type doesn’t feature.

(I noticed that in Germanland, granola is almost the exclusive offering at hotels’ breakfast buffets, which is probably why they lost the war.)

Ugh. Makes me lose my appetite just looking at them.

Which is probably the whole point. Damn Birkenstockers.

Quickie Rant

May 8, 2024 Kim du Toit Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

I made an observation the other day that the prices of new bolt-action rifles of any kind of quality seem to have crept up over the $1,000 mark. (I make exception here for the “budget” rifles like the Savage Axis line, by the way.)

But it’s even worse for that old stand-by of the impecunious, American mil-surps. Here, some guy sounds off about this phenomenon, and he’s absolutely right.

Given that mil-surp rifles were almost by definition produced in the jillions, they should cost no more than a few hundred dollars, even supposing that a half-jillion people want to buy these old beauties (unlikely) and especially during these times of Bidenflation. [FJB]

Here’s a random sample from Collectors:

Even an old beater is over $500:

Don’t even get me started on the Garands and M1 Carbines:

The furrin bolt-action rifles of the same vintage aren’t any exception:

These old bolties shouldn’t cost more than $600, even today. They have outdated (ergo expensive-to-feed) chamberings and are mostly battered beyond belief. That’s always been their charm — that, and the fact that you could pick one up for a few hundred bucks.

Nowadays? No chance.

In fact, the only “bargains” below $1,000 are the crappy Arisakas, Carcanos, Mosins and such. (The good Arisakas — not the “last-ditch” ones made in uncle Yoshi’s garden shed — fetch prices very close to the Enfields and Mausers as above.)

(A special mention goes to the Swedish 1896 and Schmidt-Rubin 1911 rifles, which remain well below the $1,000 red line and are still excellent rifles, albeit expensive / hard to feed, especially the latter because of their ammo costs. Even Prvi Partizan stuff is spendy.)

“Yeah, Kim,” I hear you say, “but those are Collectors prices — and they’re not known for bargains.”

Tell you what: go to your next local gun show, look for quality rifles of the above makes (i.e. that haven’t been bubba’d and have matching serial numbers and decent bores), and if you find one below a grand, buy it, send me pictorial proof thereof and I’ll send you a box of ammo for it.

Looking Into It

May 8, 2024 Kim du Toit Technology

From Airstrip One, home of the telescreen, comes this news:

A.I. speed cameras can detect how fast someone is travelling and send a report on the make, model and number plate of a vehicle to the police – but some Brits are concerned over privacy.

And of course, there’s always a willing number of the Terminally Supine who are only too pleased to lick those chains:

Louise Thomas, from Confused.com car insurance thinks it will help improve safety and protect both road users and pedestrians. “A.I. speed cameras will help catch drivers who break the law when behind the wheel, such as driving without wearing a seatbelt or for using their phone,” she said.

And no doubt, she would support compulsory implanting of microscopic ships into drivers’ brains, to cut the cost of the cameras and make surveillance of same much more “efficient”.

As for that “concern over the loss of privacy” thing: I hate to break it to you Brits, but for you that ship sailed so long ago, it’s already begun the return voyage.