Thanks for the pics and clips.
A nice little story about Frederik for a change:
Billed-Bladet - Mød kronprinsens nye australske ven
He was visiting the Frederik McArthur Windmill Park, where the DK company Vesta is erecting 140 wind mills. (*)
Here he was presented with a number of drawings by local school children and one of them, Tom, apparantly clicked with Frederik. Because Frederik sat down for several minuttes and they talked in details about the drawings.
Afterwards Tom said: "...that he'll probably never forget Frederik".
(*) You may recall the off shore windmill park Frederik visited a couple of years ago. That alone cover 5% of the entire energy consumption in DK.
Windmills are noicy, expensive, inefficient, ruin the scenery and it's very difficult to store the energy. - Today.
Today the windmill technology is comparable to cars from the 1930's. In 30 years from now?
One of the arguments against windmills is that they pose a danger to birds. Well, don't know about birds elsewhere, but here in DK they've learned fly around them. In fact according to ornithologist the birds use windmill farms as landmarks - just as they use bridges as flight corridors when crossing water.
As for off-shore windmills; the foundations are a haven for shellfish, which again attract fish, who are safe there because fishing boats are not allowed near windmills.
For humans; wind is free. In rural areas private windmills are now more and more common. I.e. small windmills that cover the energy of one or two households. They cost around 200.000 DKK at present or the same as a family car. When the wind is blowing (it's doing that a lot here in DK!) the owners turn off the connection from the electricity company. In fact some sell surplus energy to the electricity companies. The main problem so far is that storing surplus energy is still a problem - for the time being.
We live in the outskirts of a village, so we can't have our own windmill, otherwise it would be something we would seriously consider. For the price of a car we would be able to cut the electricity bill by 75-80 %, using a cautious estimate. Year after year.
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http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/inspired-princess-mary-wows-the-crowds-in-broadmeadows-20111126-1o066.html
Can our Australian members educate us about eSmart and other initiatives in regards to bullying?
What are your own experiences in regards to the anti-bullying campaign that has been running for years in Australia?
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http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/princess-at-the-ball/xawws4y
A news clip, where Mary is heard giving a speech.
I gotta hear your comments on that.
I realise there must be a lot of regional accents in Australia and I can't tell the difference, but when I listen to Mary speaking English and the news reporters, there is litterally a world's difference.