Wednesday 31 October 2012

The Importance of Colour































Most fleet vehicles are white. There's probably a good reason, and it may not be that private buyers don't like bland colors.

This week she who must be obeyed (the fleet manager) allocated me a vehicle with a paint job called "charcoal".

It's not the ideal color for 35 degrees out back of Charleville. It's also exactly the same color as the bitumen roads out this way.

I travel with headlights on low beam.

The car gets really hot when parked in the sun. The difference (compared with white) is quickly appreciated.

You look for shade, but sometimes it's not available. So you stand outside, open the front doors, and turn the HVAC on for a minute.

12 comments:

cav said...

Looks a bit dry out there

1735099 said...

Always is .....until it floods.

Anonymous said...

So the climate there works in cycles? Do they have to pay a carbon dioxide tax out there?

1735099 said...

No, because they don't stuff up their environment. They pay the other taxes, though, but don't get the services.

Anonymous said...

No electricity, no gas and don't purchase anything requiring those service to produce?

Anonymous said...

So, no electricity, petrol or diesel or products requiring the use of same in production are used out there. How interesting.

1735099 said...

a carbon dioxide tax
The is no such thing in Australia. We do have what is more accurately called a levy on omissions paid by a limited number of polluters.
So, no electricity, petrol or diesel or products requiring the use of same
You're more than a little ingenuous. You're basing your perceptions on the big lie. Pity, isn't it, that prices haven't sky rocketed, and the sky hasn't fallen...

Anonymous said...

Obviously no electricity gas or fuels in Toowoomba either.
"We do have what is more accurately called a levy on omissions paid by a limited number of polluters."
The limited number of polluters you speak of pass it on to customers. Next time read your power bill DH. I haven't checked your roofline to see if there are solar panels, but my bet is they are there somewhere. And next time you talk to a truck owner check to see if he's not sweating prufusely about the soon to come tax on diesel.

1735099 said...

Next time read your power bill DH
Les than 10% of my power bill is down to a carbon levy. I'm quite happy to pay that to make sure my children and grandchildren enjoy a planet that's safe to live on.
to see if there are solar panels.
We don't have solar.
he's not sweating prufusely Most truck cabins are air conditioned these days, so the truckies are cool......

Anonymous said...

"make sure my children and grandchildren enjoy a planet that's safe to live on."
Please indicate how a carbon dioxide tax/levy will ensure that. All indicators point to the fact that this imposition of a tax on the air we breathe will make not one iota of difference in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide produced by humans.
"he's not sweating prufusely Most truck cabins are air conditioned these days, so the truckies are cool" ....you have spoken to a non-owner driver to get that response or after receiving that response you fell out of bed and woke up....I wouldn't dare to suggest that you made light of the comment. When the tax hits fuels the cost will be born by users all the way down the line, in the same way that it is passed on to electricity users.

1735099 said...

Please indicate how a carbon dioxide tax/levy will ensure that.
It will encourage larger polluters to limit their omissions which will make a difference.
Everybody seems to be writing about climate change.

Like many other Australians I have children. Like many other Australians I take out insurance. I don’t believe that this insurance is a waste of money, even when my house doesn’t burn down, or my car isn’t written off.

I believe that it is reasonable to insure the future of our planet against two basic threats which would affect the quality of the lives of my children and grandchildren. If we have to make financial and lifestyle sacrifices as part of this insurance then I can live with that.

The first threat is the strong likelihood that exponentially escalating carbon emissions are having negative effects long-term on climate. The second is that we are consuming non-renewable energy resources at a rate that isn’t sustainable if we want to enjoy the same lifestyle benefits currently available.

Either or both of these trends will bring us to a point where the benefits of not acting now will be far exceeded by the costs if we don’t.
Even if you completely reject the IPCC consensus, the issue of depletion of non-renewable will simply not go away.

I’ve been trained in risk analysis. I understand the low-risk high-consequence component of basic risk management. There is no more severe consequence to taking an unnecessary risk than the degradation of our planet. That consideration alone should be enough to convince the most avid sceptic that we need to act. Sure, we don’t need the hype, we don’t need political positions to be taken and defended, but we do need basic behaviour change on the part of individuals, corporations and nations.

For me, the most convincing argument comes from personal experience.

My wife and I lost our firstborn child (a daughter), in 1982. The post-mortem indicated that she died of an aneurism that was a result of a congenital defect. The reason for the defect was never established, but studies42 of the children of Vietnam Veterans contain some very convincing statistics.

This experience, by itself is a powerful personal motivator to support planned and dogged action by individuals and government to maintain our planet as a viable life source for future generations.

I am one of many veterans sprayed with Agent Orange. I've returned to Vietnam on a number of occasions in the last few years and seen vast swathes of the countryside that still haven't recovered after forty years. I've visited Vietnamese institutions for people with disabilities and have been staggered and horrified by the extent and number of these congenital malformations.

Vietnam has one of the highest incidence rates of these malformations on the planet. The use of this defoliant was an example of utter contempt of the natural environment. This mindset continues today in the attitude many of the sceptics. It is arrogant, totalitarian and basically suicidal.

These people can commit to future infanticide if they wish, but I don’t think it’s fair that they force the rest of us to join them.

Anonymous said...

Please indicate how "larger polluters" will reduce their output when the services provided are sought by customers who are forced to pay for the tax imposed.
Please indicate how reducing Australian outputs will alter the planned increases in overseas users.
And you missed this question earlier...So the climate there works in cycles?

Taken for Granted

Pic courtesy Leader Today Yesterday I went to the state school down the road, and voted in the local government elections, something I'v...