Welcome back AEST

And so, for another year, the idiocy of daylight savings time has retreated back to its lair of confusion to question the reason for its own being.  Thank dog for that, what a bloody stupid idea.  They’re called seasons, people – they happen.  Deal with it.

 

Anyone else ever get irritated by the annoyance of batteries?  In the morning I pull my mobile out of the dock where it spends the night charging.  I notice the remote control panel for the heating is yet again whinging about low batteries. Go to reset the clock in the PVR back to AEST – nope, batteries are too low for the remote to work.  Did out some NiMH rechargeables which are supposed to hold some semblance of a shelf charge – nope, they’re flat, get out yet another appliance and stick them on charge.  I’ll need a drill in a while so it’s time get out yet another charger and stick the battery into it, or you can absolutely guarantee the bastard of the thing will go flat halfway through the job.  I need to do some work on the laptop, hmm – will I manage to get it done on battery, or am I going to have to deal with the fourth charger of the morning – and I’ve only been up half an hour.  Calley heads off to a local garden expo, no problem with the camera – I charged that last week.

 

The whole freaking world runs on batteries and it pisses me off.  The only small compensations I have seen for some years now have been:

 

The development of lithium cells, which at least are reasonably light and have no memory, at the expense of crap amperages, being horrifically expensive and the fact that they die at about the same rate on the shelf as they do in active good.  So good luck getting a replacement battery for that two year old mobile, the replacement is two year old stock so it’s just as dead as the one you just tossed.  Oh yeah, and don’t puncture them.  If you do, I suggest removing yourself to a safe distance until it’s all over.

 

The development of consumer grade NiMH cells in usable sizes (AAA, AA, sub C and 9v), with decent capacities (3Ah AAs anyone?) and affordable desktop chargers.  They still don’t hold a shelf charge worth a damn, but they’re a bloody sight lighter than NiCd and don’t develop anything like the memory.  Current capacity is reasonable too.