http://joannenova.com.au/2018/02/wind-farm-blades-damaged-after-just-a-few-years-at-sea-hundreds-need-repair/

"The lifespan of a wind turbine offshore is supposed to be 25 years.  Back in 2012 land-based wind farms in the UK were found to show signs of wearing out in just 12 years."

Wind turbine blades are everything they are cracking up to be. I thought it was just transmissions and bearings that were failing prematurely, under normal conditions.

RR. As you write interesting. Unfortunately I think it's fundamentally flawed. I don't believe the geothermal heat flow is bottled up by an overlying icecap. Heat flows through the ice at a rate slower than it is lost from the surface. Consequently the depth at which formation water freezes grows. In Saskatchewan, the permafrost beneath and ahead of the Laurentian ice sheet was more than a kilometre thick. There is no evidence of a buildup of heat, if anything rather the reverse. Because the rate of heat flux is so slow, the almost instantaneous addition of a thick ice sheet means that the original surface temperatures are buried and now lie at much deeper depths than they should be.

Feb 24, 2018 at 11:41 AM | Uibhist a Tuath

I don't know that Julius Caesar was anymore ignorant about tides, than anyone else growing up with access limited to the Mediterranean.

Caesar did not sail to Gaul, or arrive on the French Channel Coast via the sea.

The Ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Romans etc were Mediterranean seafarers, with rowed galleys, triremes etc, using sails as auxillary power, if wind was blowing, and if it was blowing from behind them. Neither they nor their ships were suitable for ocean passage making.

The Eastern end of the Channel is relatively straightforward for tides and currents, especially on the English side. If you are travelling along the coast, the tide is either with you or against you. If you are crossing the Channel, the tide is either pushing you east or west. There aren't many swirly eddies. Julius Caesar may have crossed the Channel to have a look, but I doubt there were sufficient ships in existence in the Channel to invade with an army.

When Romans did invade, and trade by sea, it would not have been with boats/ships of Mediterranean design. Oars may have been used for manoeuvring, but probably not passage making. When rowing a small boat in a swell, it is difficult to keep a pair of oars in the water.

A thousand years later, William the Conqueror did cross with an army, using what were Viking Long Ships, see Bayeux Tapestry for details.

Feb 24, 2018 at 12:45 PM | stewgreen

The NHS is saddled with big heating costs. Large Hospitals have used District Heating Systems fuelled by cheaper thicker fractions of oil.

As for Carillion, just how many executive salaries were required to change a light bulb?

Feb 24, 2018 at 10:28 AM | stewgreen

With the greatest respect to the victims of Didcot and Grenfell, they are but snowflakes on top of the tip of an iceberg, when you consider deaths around the world caused by lack of power, food, potable water, health care etc, all denied to them by the Green Blob.

According to the BBC (and others) the people who have been drowning, whilst attempting to cross the Mediterranean, are Global Warming refugees, fleeing wars caused by Global Warming. These are the people now causing an anti-EU backlash within the EU and Member States.

The Green Blob remain in complete Denial.

golf charlie
I've been puzzled for a long time about Julius Caesar and his alleged ignorance on tides. He had conquered all of Gaul including the Atlantic coast. He must have been aware of the tide along the Brittany coast, or someone in his navy must have been. The world's first tidal power plant was in Rance Brittany with an 8 metre tidal range. A couple of years ago there was a 117/120 tidal coefficient high tide in the Mont St Michael area. He more than likely took a couple of the Gauls he hadn't killed with him to talk with any Britons he captured.
Caesar landed on a beach in Kent, not up the Severn Estuary or in the Solent, he must have known how far up the beach the tide would get from the debris line, so what tidal effect caught him out?
Even the first Phoenician to arrive in Cornwall must have had an overnight stop or two on the Spanish Atlantic coast at least, and would be aware of tides and their potential disruptive effects..