At some point, Someone In Marketing thought that this design change would be a good idea for Roger Depuis watches:
I leave it to your imagination as to the average cost of a Depuis watch… now double it, and you’ll be closer.
I’m always reminded of the immortal words of another Roger, Roger Moore: “The point of language is to communicate your thoughts in the shortest possible time and in the clearest possible way.”
Now translate that into telling the time, and apply to wristwatches.
From Breitbart:
Shook what? A fist? A cocktail shaker? A crooked stick?
Correct headline:
…you illiterate morons.
Some days the wind blows strongly, some days softly, and other days not at all. This is not a suggestion, nor yet a theory, but a statement of fact based upon… oh, century upon century of daily observation and measurement.
So why would you want to base your energy supply upon so changeable a source?
Well to most of us, the answer is simple: you shouldn’t. Unfortunately, there are others — some in positions of great authority and power — who see the whole thing differently. And some in that latter group are now getting bitten in the ass:
“At the beginning of this month, Germany’s power supply reached its limits,” Dr. Markus Krebber wrote on LinkedIn.
Citing Nov. 6 as an example, Krebber bemoaned extreme high energy prices and “shortage of supply.” He also warned that the “same situation would not have been manageable on another day with a higher peak load.”
In other words, Europe’s over-reliance on wind power means that when wind speeds slow, energy producers sometimes cannot meet demand.
This state of affairs suppressed energy supply and raised prices in the UK, Germany and elsewhere in northern Europe earlier this month.
You don’t say.
Of course, British government officials have learned all the wrong lessons from “Dunkelflaute.”
For instance, Chris Stark, appointed in July to head the government’s new clean energy-focused Mission Control, doubled down on renewables.
“Even small amounts of low-carbon flex can displace a lot of gas. We’ll also need to support the build of a lot of new renewable generation – of all types, but especially offshore wind,” Stark said on Nov. 5.
Indeed. When foolishness proves not to work, what you need is… MOAR FOOLISHNESS. So if the wind isn’t blowing at all, more wind generators will solve the problem. Does he even realize how stupid he sounds?
As with all Socialism, when the facts do not conform to the theory, the theory is still paramount.
Unbelievable.
Seems like every day there’s something new to post about this nonsense. Here’s the first:
Labour will bow to pressure from car manufacturers and rethink strict rules on the sales of electric vehicles. Downing Street today confirmed ministers will launch a consultation on current plans following intense lobbying by firms.
Under an existing Government mandate, at least 22 per cent of new cars sold by every manufacturer in the UK this year must be zero-emission vehicles (ZEV). The mandate is set to increase to 28 per cent next year and will rise each year over the next decade – reaching 80 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent in 2035. This is when there will be a ban on the sale of all new non-zero-emission cars as part of the Government’s Net Zero commitments.
Carmakers are set to be fined £15,000 per polluting car sold above the limits.
But firms have been warning ministers that the ZEV mandate is putting jobs and investment at risk in the UK.
Government mandate, meet market reality. Mind you, not that any kind of reality has ever been part of governmental wishful thinking (e.g. gun regulation).
Germany has joined a growing backlash against fining car makers who miss net zero targets – suggesting the firms should be allowed to keep the money to invest in cutting emissions. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has hit out at the European Union’s zero emission vehicle plans, which require manufacturers to reduce the emissions from their new cars and vans by 15 per cent compared to 2021 levels by next year.
The quickest way for firms to do this is to reduce the production of petrol and diesel cars and encourage people to swap to electric vehicles – but firms say motorists aren’t biting and warn jobs could be at risk if UK and EU mandates aren’t eased.
However, it will be the car firms that face penalties if they fail to shift enough battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to hit the 15 per cent target.
This grows to a 55 per cent reduction in car emissions and 50 per cent vans by 2030. EU autocrats then want a 100 per cent reduction – i.e. no purely fossil fuelled cars and vans sold at all – by 2035.
Germany has a vested interest in protecting car firms from fines: its car industry is solely responsible for an estimated five per cent of GDP, and is home to huge names including Audi, BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz.
Yeah, rules and fines are all very well, as long as there’s no economic damage — or so one would think. Except, of course, that governments of the Leftist ilk seldom seem to care about consequences, because as we all know, Leftism requires only that policy is based on good intentions, and the consequences thereof are irrelevant.
At some point — and in this regard, for once, the U.S. seems to have tumbled to this before the others — voters are going to cry “Enough!” to this insanity. And nowhere is this becoming more evident than in the auto industry.
Times are becoming more and more interesting, nicht wahr?
Here’s one consequence of putting your trust in technology, this time from India:
Three men have died in a road accident after their car’s sat-nav sent them careening off the 30ft-high edge of an unfinished bridge.
Their bodies, trapped inside the mangled car, weren’t discovered until 9:30am the next day, local media reported.
Investigators found that the trio had been following an out-of-date map on Google Maps at speed.
The mapping service allegedly told them to travel down the bridge, which had no signs indicating it was out of use after it suffered a collapse in 2022 following heavy flooding.
Oops.
One would think that there should have been warning signposts about the bridge being down, but then again, this is Third World India. Let’s review:
A life (-or-death) lesson, there.
If this doesn’t make you chortle, nothing will:
Executives at Ford Motor Company, General Motors (GM), and Stellantis are begging President-elect Donald Trump to keep in place President Joe Biden’s Electric Vehicle (EV) mandates. The plea comes as automakers have invested billions in EVs that have failed to turn a profit.
Aw diddums. How my heart bleeds for your lost profits, you chiseling bastards.
What’s the old expression? Oh yeah: lie down with the dogs, get up with fleas.
Well, you kowtowed to the government stupidity, always forgetting the other old dictum: what the government giveth, the government may take away.
Had there not been so much virtue-signaling from the auto manufacturers as they glommed onto those subsidies (#Jaguar #Volvo #etc), I might have had a little sympathy. As it is, however, I don’t give a rat’s ass.
And I know the followup threat: “Without subsidies, we’re going to have to close factories and lay off workers!”
Here’s a thought: take all the executive bonuses you were going to pay your management — yeah, right down to junior levels — and pay those billions (and it is billions) into an independent investment fund, i.e. a fund that’s managed by a financial institution so that you can’t raid it whenever you feel like it (#PensionPlans), and let the interest payments go to the workers you’re going to lay off.
It won’t be enough, but it sure as hell is better than the alternative, which is continuing to make a product that nobody wants, partially (or mostly) funded by taxpayers.
You should have done your research before sinking to your knees — anyone with a brain could have told you that the whole eco-electrical boondoggle was doomed to failure, especially if it was going to be dependent on government building the charging-station infrastructure (and which we’ve already seen has been a catastrophic failure).
The best lessons are those which come through suffering; so suffer, and learn.
You idiots.