whatyareckon

When 300-tonne wind turbines spontaneously explode into giant toxic fireballs, locals have more contend with than the risk of bushfires (or ‘wildfires’ as Americans call them).

Packed with flammable and toxic oils, plastics, fibreglass and low-ignition point metals, like aluminium, when one of these things spontaneously bursts into flames, everybody for miles around knows all about it. For rural dwellers nervous about the terror that comes with an out-of-control bushfire, here are a few fun facts about the Vestas V112.

A Vestas V112 3MW turbine – the kind used at Macarthur in Victoria – holds the following “chemicals”, according to their specifications:

The hydraulic system has about 100 litres of hydraulic fluid in reserve, and to keep the gearbox lubricated requires 1,170 litres of gear oil – which sits in the gearbox sump and a reservoir (“external gravity tank), all housed in the nacelle:

So – once alight…

From the team at CFACT ~

The following is the full text of President Abraham Lincoln’s Address at The Soldier’s National Cemetery, now known as the Gettysburg National Cemetery, In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living…

By Tim Graham ~

Matt Vespa at Townhall penned an article on “Why the White House Correspondents’ Association Ripped Into Joe Biden This Weekend.” Naturally, it was Team Biden keeping the president away from a microphone despite urgent debt-limit talks, lest he say something that might make him look past his prime….as if hiding him doesn’t leave that impression.

Nick Sortor tweeted out the full statement from WHCA president (and NPR reporter) Tamara Keith late Friday:

The WHCA board pushed hard for the White House to hold a briefing on Friday or potentially over the weekend given intense interest in the high stakes debt ceiling negotiations and the risk that the US economy could go over a cliff.

The White House was not persuaded by our argument that the public deserves to see them answer questions. Monday is a federal holiday, which means there could be four days in the…