Yes, well. Here's the stupid thing. We have a lot of gas still available to us under the North of our country, but because it's causing earthquakes and damage to the people living there, there is a maximum per year what can be pumped up. All that gas that we're pumping up now is going to.... Germany.

I gave up trying to understand everything that happens in energy markets a long time ago. Just thankful that the government here isn't taxing the wood I collected courtesy of Storm Eunice which is currently providing 90%+ of our space heating and all of our water heating.

Don't give them ideas.

Yes, well. Here's the stupid thing. We have a lot of gas still available to us under the North of our country, but because it's causing earthquakes and damage to the people living there, there is a maximum per year what can be pumped up. All that gas that we're pumping up now is going to.... Germany.

Are any of those earthquakes over 3 on the Richter scale?

Better watch out as Microsoft is forcing updates to Windows 11 again.

https://www.gizchina.com/2022/12/05/microsoft-forces-windows-10-users-to-update-to-windows-11/

I'll go disable the TPM ability in bios.

Edit: disabled TPM and Secure Boot in BIOS and Windows Update still says my computer is eligible to update to Windows 11... right.

Are any of those earthquakes over 3 on the Richter scale?

Yes, ten years ago (August 16, 2012) Huizinge was rocked by an earthquake of 3.6 magnitude. while on October 8th of 2022 Wirdum rocked gently on a 3.1 Richter magnitude earthquake.
All dates and places of over 3 magnitude earthquakes: https://www.knmi.nl/over-het-knmi/nieuws/aardbeving-van-3-1-in-groningse-wirdum

Are any of those earthquakes over 3 on the Richter scale?

Yes, ten years ago (August 16, 2012) Huizinge was rocked by an earthquake of 3.6 magnitude. while on October 8th of 2022 Wirdum rocked gently on a 3.1 Richter magnitude earthquake.
All dates and places of over 3 magnitude earthquakes: https://www.knmi.nl/over-het-knmi/nieuws/aardbeving-van-3-1-in-groningse-wirdum

I was interested because earthquakes under 3 don't usually cause damage, and even between 3 and 4 only cause slight building damage if the quake is very close or there is underlying geology problems. Such as clays that suffer liquifaction.

The question people in such areas should be asking, and probably will not, is "Why is my property so badly designed and/or built that a small quake, under 5, causes damage?"

Richter scale is logarithmic so each time it increase by 1 the quake is 10 times more powerful. An 8.2 quake is 1,000 times more powerful than a 5.2.

The question people in such areas should be asking, and probably will not, is "Why is my property so badly designed and/or built that a small quake, under 5, causes damage?"

In an area that prior to the gas being extracted probably never had anything above 2 if that, why put costs up by over engineering it. I would guess most of the properties were built before anyone had heard of fracking.

The question people in such areas should be asking, and probably will not, is "Why is my property so badly designed and/or built that a small quake, under 5, causes damage?"

They didn't start yesterday with pulling gas out of the ground, but in 1959. Many of the affected houses are from prior to that, but even houses built since haven't ever been structurally reinforced against earthquakes because at the time no one cared about it. The NAM (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij) is even these days downplaying the amount of damage people's houses have, because they don't want to pay for the damages.

It's that the quakes are so shallow (2.5-3 kilometers down) is what makes these 'light' quakes cause so much damage.

A few days later than the previous 2, but better late than never.
The cheeky devils did sent another e-mail 30 min after the voucher - Your prices are changing.

From 1 January based on your usage and your estimated annual cost, we estimate that what you pay for gas each month will be changing from £54.01 to £54.75, and what you pay for electricity each month will be changing from £132.72 to £132.73.

Thank god I'm not on D/D as they are just over half of what has been estimated.

Going shopping shortly to take advantage of everyone else watching some obscure sporting fixture.

Going shopping shortly to take advantage of everyone else watching some obscure sporting fixture.

Glory: Supermarket was even emptier than I expected. (of other shoppers.)

Going shopping shortly to take advantage of everyone else watching some obscure sporting fixture.

ha! did the same today, for relaxed shopping, that's the only reason to look up sports-schedules ;)

Going shopping shortly to take advantage of everyone else watching some obscure sporting fixture.

Also works here in Texas when Dallas Cowboys are playing/on TV. Might see a few stray wives or senior citizens shopping that's about it.

Also works here in Texas when Dallas Cowboys are playing/on TV. Might see a few stray wives or senior citizens shopping that's about it.

Even the stray wives and senior citizens weren't there! Of course that may have been because they have gotten soft in recent years and -5C was a shock to them.

Glory:
Netflix:
Wednesday.

Just go watch it if you haven't yet.

Pitty on the British people...
UK Civil Service Implements ‘Christmas’ and Alcohol Bans for Winter ‘Festive Celebrations’

"Richard" still trying to get me to look at his pictures.

I probably should have shown them much sooner - but anyway, here are the photos.
Just a few pictures - they're from last Friday
a few pictures from last Thursday - take a look

Why don't you just send them by Google Messages? You have my number. :)

Pitty on the British people...
UK Civil Service Implements ‘Christmas’ and Alcohol Bans for Winter ‘Festive Celebrations’

That will get mostly ignored.

Glory: I think. The issue of blank screen and no keyboard response (caps lock won't go on or off) after resuming from sleep seems to have gone. Wondering if last kernel update fixed a bug?

After the Americans redefined that a female can be anyone who feels that way, now the English have followed suit by redefining what woman means:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/female
having a gender identity that is the opposite of male

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/woman
an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth
(It's foolproof: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/female
belonging or relating to women)

Edit: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/man has been changed accordingly.

Glory.
It's not often I get a gift horse & unexpected at that, but I'm not one to stick one's nose up at them. :-)
Just checked the mail & see it's a notification from the water company.
Surprising as the next bill is not due until Feb/Mar.
No not a bill.
"We're working in partnership with the City Council who is providing funding via the Household Support Fund provided by the DWP.
We're delighted to inform you that you we have used this funding to credit your account with £184."
With the Autumn/Winter bill being approx. £200/220, that will be nice.

Grumble.
Just taken the regular gas reading which brings up the quarter. I know it's early days yet & there are a fair amount of variables at play, but in the short term, not looking good for winter.
The same quarter last year total a usage of £45.49 giving a daily usage of £0.4788 per day.
This quarter a total usage of £73.33 giving a daily reading of £0.81 per day.
That's an increase of just over 61%.