Category: Transport

South Australia’s New Vehicle Number Plates

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By Melbourne, Australia correspondent Angelina Dawn Summers-Winter

Application of the latest technology in vehicle number plates is to see first light in South Australia starting from the 14th of November, 2017.

Unlike previous embossed number plates, these ones will be made from a composite laminate incorporating a luminous layer, removing the need to have the number plate illuminated at night. The technology for laminating the luminous layer is proprietary and number plates using the TritiumFilm™ technology will initially be manufactured in Japan by a small startup company operating in the Fukushima Prefecture, extracting the vital Tritium from sea water using the now-obsolete ALPS plant at the disused reactor site.

Another enhancement is to employ the German DIN-1451, falsification-resistant font for the vehicle registration number, making it nearly impossible to alter the plate to try to frustrate South Australia’s number plate recognition systems to be installed in increasing numbers, starting before the Christmas break. Point-to-point speed cameras are playing an increased role in the State’s budget; but drivers must simply obey the rules if they wish to avoid the higher fines for next year; to be detailed next month..

SA-Darkness

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Climate Researchers Produce Permanent Anti-Freeze

By Nuuk correspondent Rangi Wehtu Eriksson
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With cuts in government spending expected for the vital area of Climate Science, UN-IPCC scientists have engaged with peoples around the Arctic to explore new avenues of funding.

Climate scientists discovered irreversibly-melted Arctic ice more than a decade ago, but the phenomenon was, until now, not commercially exploited.

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Basslink to Become Bassland

By Canberra, Australia correspondent Erica Quarterbee on assignment in Launceston

Australian experts have been scratching their heads on how to fix the electrical power link between Tasmania and the mainland since it failed in December but a permanent solution may be at hand from the opposite side of the planet. The Basslink undersea cable has been problematic from the outset and finally failed shortly after Tasmania’s hydroelectric generators tried to use the link to export electrical power to the mainland.

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Sweden’s Vattenfall is proposing a sustainable solution that will provide Australia’s eastern seaboard with reliable, baseload, renewable energy capacity.

Bass Strait is a relatively narrow, shallow sea passage that separates Tasmania from the mainland by a few kilometres. It is infamous for its rough seas and high winds.

Vattenfall propose to exploit its experience in wind and hydro-power, deploying a chain of wind turbines, wave, tidal and pumped storage within Bass Strait. The ambitious plan is to build two land-bridges joining Cape Otway in Victoria to Cape Grim in Tasmania, via King and smaller Islands to the East; and Wilsons Promontory in Victoria to Cape Portland in Tasmania, via Flinders, Cape Barren and minor islands. Continue reading →

SCOOP! Volkswagen Group of America Bugs Out

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The following appears to be a leaked draft of a speech to be given by the CEO of  the Volkswagen Group of America at a press conference later today (USA time) . Author details will not be provided with this article to protect our sources.

Embargoed until 16:08, 1/8/2016

President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc,
Michael Horn

Former CEO Michael Horn

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I speak now to you as the most recent and indeed the last President of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

Volkswagen Group has determined that it will be unable to sustain a profitable business in the USA and will have closed and abandoned all of its physical facilities in the nation by the time of this press conference. All factories, warehouses, offices and testing grounds have been abandoned without expectation of compensation. Continue reading →

Merkel Puts Refugees into Holiday Rentals

By Berlin, Germany correspondent D. Wolfgang Spitz-Bubel

German Chancelloress Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel – Huffington Post

After inviting all of Syria to come, Germany’s Chancelloress, Angela Merkel has announced an emergency policy for accommodating a possible 2 million Asylum seekers from Syria expected in Germany this year. Syria previously had a population of 22 million.

She has instructed the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge – BAMF) to survey the national pool of holiday apartments and houses (Ferienwohnungen); to immediately reserve any available accommodation. Continue reading →

Australia Seeks Chief Engineer

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By Canberra, Australia correspondent Erica Quarterbee

A draft advertisement for the position of Chief Engineer is circulating through the corridors of power in Canberra.

Bureau of the Chief Engineer AustraliaThe Chief Engineer is to run an independent Bureau to advise on policies relating to technologies and to audit spending on infrastructure and deployment of technologies within all of government. The Bureau of the Chief Engineer will operate as an independent, professional, “corporate consultancy and inspectorate” to the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Australia has lacked a Science Minister since the installation of the current government. It’s understood that the Prime Minister’s Office wants to install a permanent mechanism by employing independent professionals who are able to interpret the science and technology for relevance and effectiveness.

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Germany Bans Accidents at Black Spots

by Fürth, Germany correspondent Stefan Sichermann (Der Postillon)
Translated by Vasili Dbrznvkovitz
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After sitting on their hands for 5 years, the Transport Ministry, under the fresh leadership of Alexander Dobrindt has bitten the bullet and will finally introduce these signs at accident black spots starting this summer.

“Our researchers found”, noted Dobrindt, “that road fatalities have one common factor: An accident. So prohibiting accidents, by means of these signs, will dramatically reduce the carnage on the roads.”

Alas, their financial resources for traffic infrastructure are woefully inadequate so the Minister has decided to first deploy these signs at accident black spots for maximum effect.

The Minister sees that the erection of the signs on all roads will eventually make obsolete other road signs like speed limit, one-way street, no overtaking, and other warning signs about e.g. incomplete bridges; saving a taxpayers a lot of money spent maintaining the vocabulary of road signs deployed in Germany.