It seems extensive grid expansions have already been planned there. But as is the case with HV and EHV projects everywhere, it takes more than a decade to implement them.

https://www.ssen.co.uk/globalassets/about-us/dso/current-consultations/north-hyde-grid-supply-point---strategic-development-plan---for-consultation.pdf

As I understand, it wasn't a capacity or overload problem that led to the blackout. The airport is supplied by THREE 400/275 kV super transformers in North Hyde substation connecting to national grid. One functioning would have been sufficient. There was a N-2 redundancy. Failures in 2 of 3 transformers shouldn't stop power supply for Heathrow.

Two of the transformers were located next to each other. One exploded; resp. its cooling oil ignited and created this flame inferno dozens of meters high, which then damaged and took out the second transformer nearby. The third transformer, dozens of meters apart, wasn't damaged by the fire, however failed too; no explanations were given why. As to: Why did the first transformer explode? This doesn't usually happen. I assume such 400/275 kV super transformers will be supervised 24/7 by a transmission grid control center (and switched off in case of overload before the oil cooks off).

Bob Smith wrote:

I would guess that there will be damage to the on-site switches due to the surges that would have followed the explosion, and that has stopped the emergency generators from working properly

Preventing such unforeseen single point of failure supposedly requires to place a backup transformer at another (spatially separated) substation, e.g. at the "Longford" substation West of Heathrow which is the nearest transmission grid (275 kV) substation.

From there it needs a separate (backup) distribution grid capable to supply the whole airport... Who should pay for it?

We pay a living wage here and this U.S. scam should be totally banned here.

Fed-up Aussies are putting their foot down over an “invasive and intrusive” new trend emerging in restaurants that spoils the entire dining experience.

Fed-up Aussies are lashing out over an “invasive and intrusive” new dining trend that’s becoming increasingly common in restaurants Down Under.

‘Tipping surveillance’ describes the moment a waiter hands a diner an EFTPOS machine, explains how to enter a tip and then watches them closely while they make the payment.

Customers are typically confronted with a screen displaying various tip options, ranging from 5 to 25 per cent, as well as ‘custom tip’ and ‘no tip’ prompts which are often less prominent.

Professor Steve Worthington, an expert from Swinburne University with over 30 years of experience in payment systems, said the uncomfortable practice was on the rise in Australia.

“There’s a large degree of surveillance when you’re given the payment terminal. It’s very visual to everyone. They are looking at what you’re doing and it feels intrusive,” he told news.com.au.

He said the shift from cash to digital payments had made it “easier to encourage people to tip”, but the experience often left them “feeling awkward”......

It's more likely that the business is grabbing most of the tips anyway and if I found myself dragged into such a place that does it had better take cash

An American "feature" that should be made illegal in all civilised countries.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Quite interesting.
https://neurosciencenews.com/fake-news-belief-psychology-28580/ wrote:

At-Risk Groups: Gen Z, women, conservatives, and less-educated individuals were more likely to believe fake news.

It wasn't different in the Middle Ages.

Stupidity abounds and these things really need to be banned before someone gets killed for real.

Gel blasters listed on Facebook Marketplace in Queensland present legal risks interstate.


Pull 1 of then out in front of a cop and you'll very likely to get shot.

It even says "Smith & Wesson"... is that who made it? I doubt it, and if not surprised the maker hasn't been sued for trademark infringement and that it's legal to sell it anywhere, even in the parts of Australia where gel blasters are legal, with a false trademark.

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1st was an over the horizon radar system for Canada and now the U.K. is looking into something else being developed here. And no, it's not a Star Gate.

Australian-made underwater glider drones equipped with artificial intelligence could soon bolster UK naval surveillance.

A small underwater drone designed in Perth that harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) has been showcased in the United Kingdom where the Royal Navy is considering using the technology to enhance anti-submarine warfare.

The makers of the "SG-1 Fathom" autonomous glider, which has been fitted with European developed software and AI, claim it can analyse and classify acoustic data up to 40 times faster than human operators.

Capable of long endurance missions lasting up to three months, the uncrewed gliders are designed to be mass-produced and deployed in large swarms to provide wide-scale ocean surveillance through constellations of sensors beneath the surface.

Over the weekend, the system was demonstrated at HM Naval Base Portsmouth in front of the Royal Navy's fleet commander, Vice-Admiral Andrew Burns, alongside officials and industry representatives, but precise details of the event remain undisclosed........

Man Sets His Own House on Fire Twice in One Night to Watch Firefighters Work

A 26-year-old man from the United Kingdom has been convicted after admitting to setting fire to his own house twice in the same night just so he can see firefighters in action.

The Northumberland native, who is identified as (redacted), seemed to be more captivated by firefighters than by the flames themselves, while a lot of people dream of becoming firefighters, (redacted) obsession took an unusual path. When admiring firefighters from a distance and making dozens of non-emergency calls wasn’t enough, he set fire to his own home.

They returned just 90 minutes later after (redacted) had reported yet another fire that involved bedding, but this time, his excuse fell flat, because the electricity had already been turned off. And this action from him, which looked suspicious, prompted the firefighters to begin their investigation.

It wasn’t long before the truth emerged. According to the Telegraph, court records later revealed (redacted) had called the fire department 80 times in the past 12 months alone.

The down hill run continues for the hero to zero special forces veteran after yet another court loss.

Australian War Memorial to further change display commemorating Ben Roberts-Smith's Victoria Cross medal.

The Australian War Memorial has confirmed it will make changes to its display commemorating Ben Roberts-Smith's Victoria Cross medal, in light of last week's Federal Court ruling.

The full Federal Court in Sydney dismissed the Australian special forces veteran's appeal against his long-running defamation case against Nine Newspapers on Friday.

Mr Roberts-Smith had tried to sue three newspapers over a series of articles published in 2018 detailing allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan, bullying, and domestic violence against a woman in Canberra.

In 2023, a Federal Court judge in Sydney found Mr Roberts-Smith complicit in war crimes on the balance of probabilities......

Once a great series has been ruined by the woke dolts at the 'Beeb'
EXTERMINATED!
Doctor Who’s wokest ever lead star Ncuti Gatwa exits after just two series with show to be paused after ratings nosedive

Insiders believe a streaming giant, which has pumped in millions, will not renew its deal

And they called him the streak...
Mesquite TX police chase naked man in stolen ambulance

The Brief:
* A man wearing no clothes reportedly stole an ambulance from Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite on Monday.

* Police chased the suspect in the stolen ambulance to I-20 near Talty, Texas.

* There's no word yet on what charges the suspect is facing.

The Source
The information in this story was provided by the Mesquite Police Department.

Just another waste of taxpayers money because 2 people didn't want to follow the rules so that they could shut up pro-Israeli lobbyists.

ABC managing director says Antoinette Lattouf case not a good use of taxpayer money.

The ABC's managing director says the more than $1 million spent in litigation with journalist Antoinette Lattouf was not "a good use of taxpayers' money" following her win in the Federal Court.

A Federal Court judge on Wednesday found Ms Lattouf was unlawfully terminated by the ABC after she was taken off air three days into a five-day contract as an ABC Radio Sydney presenter in December 2023.

Justice Darryl Rangiah ruled the ABC contravened the Fair Work Act by terminating her employment for reasons "including that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza".

Managing director Hugh Marks told ABC News Channel the matter was "regrettable".

"Let's face it, as it's been reported, many millions of dollars have been spent that shouldn't have been spent," he said.

"If this was to come up again in the future, I think we would act on a very different basis."......

Quite frankly Buttrose and Oliver-Taylor (both who were in charge at the time) should be billed a quarter of a million bucks each and then charge the rest to those "pro-Israeli lobbyists" (who are very likely the very same far right Zionists who are sending $'s to support Israeli settlers) and then the taxation office should investigate them thoroughly.

We have enough far right morons here already without adding this clown to the mix.

Kanye West officially banned from entering Australia.

Kanye West has officially been banned from Australia, and his tourist visa has been cancelled in the wake of an anti-Semitic song that referenced Adolf Hitler.

The bombshell decision means that he will be prohibited from entering the country with his Australian-born wife Bianca Censori, who grew up in Melbourne.

She was most recently in the country over the summer, but her husband remained in Japan at the time amid reported marital tensions.

News.com.au understands from government sources that the decision was made recently and communicated to Mr West, who has legally changed his name to Ye.

He had sought and obtained a tourist visa that could remain valid for up to 12 months, but it has now been cancelled..........

When Work Pays Less Than Welfare: The Math Behind a Global Unemployment Paradox
In a nutshell

• When wages and welfare benefits both approach subsistence levels, people rationally choose welfare over work because it requires less effort for similar income
  
  
• The solution isn’t cutting welfare benefits—it’s ensuring minimum wages stay consistently above subsistence levels to maintain work incentives
  
  
• This mathematical paradox threatens the fundamental principle that work should always pay better than government assistance
  

Iacono study is published in PLOS ONE.

On Dec 25 2024 the crude oil tanker Eagle S, part of Russia's shadow fleet to circumvent sanctions, dragged its anchor along the shallow Gulf of Finland cutting the 650 MW HVDC link "Estlink 2", a crucial interconnector between Finland and Estonia. The incident happened only six weeks before the early on announced end of the BRELL agreement (Feb 8 2025), to disconnect the Baltic power grid (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) from the Russian controlled synchronous grid IPS/UPS. Exchange capacity between Finland and Baltics was reduced to a third (358 MW).

Repairs had been finished in mid June 2025; the cable returned with full capacity to the electricity market on June 19th after roughly half a year of interruption.

https://elering.ee/en/article/smooth-repair-work-brings-estlink-2-connection-back-market-already-friday

Who will pay for repairs (€50–60 million, excluding lost revenues due to unavailability)?

Okay, anyone from the UK want to chime in on this... What the he-"double hockey sticks" kind of law is this?
Man carrying home his gardening tools arrested by armed police in Manchester

A man who had returned home from his allotment with a trug of vegetables and gardening tools strapped to his belt was arrested by armed police, after a member of the public said they had seen “a man wearing khaki clothing and in possession of a knife”.

Samuel Rowe, 35, who works as a technical manager at a theatre, had come back from his allotment in Manchester earlier this month and decided to trim his hedge with one of his tools, a Japanese garden sickle, when police turned up on his doorstep.

“I just heard shouting behind me, and then two armed officers shouting at me to drop the knife,” he said. “And then they turned me around, pushed me up against my house, cuffed me, and then they arrested me, put me in the back of the van.”

The tools he had on his belt, he said, were a Niwaki Hori Hori gardening trowel in a canvas sheath, and an Ice Bear Japanese gardener’s sickle.

The tools he had on his belt, he said, were a Niwaki Hori Hori gardening trowel in a canvas sheath, and an Ice Bear Japanese gardener’s sickle.

A hori hori blade looks like a combat knife with saw teeths and a japanese garden sickle looks more like a curved dagger for a suspicious ignoramus.

Supposedly the law says: you are allowed to own arms but not to carry them in public.

This piece of filth is now where she should've been put in the 1st place.

Convicted sex offender and former Melbourne headmistress accused of sexual assault in prison.

I hope that she enjoys solitary confinement without all of her privileged effects that sickos provided her with.

From war hero to zero and now totally broke with nowhere to go (except for maybe the ICC, which he certainly won't want).

Ben Roberts-Smith’s last hope of overturning damning findings in his defamation suit loss to Nine Newspapers have been scuppered after the High Court refused him leave to appeal.

Ben Roberts-Smith’s last ditch attempt to overturn damning war crimes findings have been scuppered after his bid to have his case heard by the country’s highest court was knocked back.

The High Court on Thursday refused to grant Australia’s most decorated soldier leave to appeal, bringing an end to his long-running legal battle with Nine.

“Special leave refused with costs,” the High Court said in a short judgment published online.

The Full Court of the Federal Court earlier this year dismissed Mr Roberts-Smith’s appeal after he unsuccessfully sued Nine Newspapers over a series of stories making war crime allegations relating to his deployment in Afghanistan.

Following what was described as the trial of the century, Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko in June 2023 ruled against Mr Roberts-Smith in his defamation suit against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Canberra Times and found that he was involved in the murder of four unarmed men......