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Las Palmas

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  1. Of course, you can remove the electronics in your car (would require complete diagrams and a lot of knowledge), and installing another security system, but then it could be cheaper to buy a car without can-bus systems controlling all the features in your car and live with a car without all the gadgets that are selling cars. Comfort features come with a price and that Lexus has the wiring too easily to access is maybe hard to understand, but the more wiring should be installed impossible to access the longer the wiring and more complicated building the car meaning the car will be even more expensive. Park car in an alarm protected garage. Have Lexus add a sensor that would detect is car is lifted and have an extra battery powered siren of not allowed sound power to damage and hurt the thief's ears, you will get a fine for having that if found out though, but it would wake up neighbours. Cars parked in dark streets are inviting hungry persons that have less morale than hoped for. An old trick: Install a well-hidden switch that would disconnect the 12V battery in the car, and the canbus would not be functioning. That would give yourself a lot of extra work to start the car as well.
  2. Retired in 2005 and have no idea of what is happening in alarm business sinde 2007, when another of the people knowing about it also retired.
  3. Maybe similar - maybe not. This is for a CT.
  4. No matter what Lexus do. A pro can steal any car unless it is placed in a bank box in Switzerland. That they could have had the wiring less easily accessible is another thing. A Porsche 911 can be had even faster. And no information from me. I used to sell and find out how to install alarm systems. When Golf V came with factory alarm 5 seconds was enough; we told VW and they changed it.
  5. Should of course have been : No sun in the sunset, but I like the original music a lot.
  6. OK. We need a lot of batteries in order to save the planet from pollution so we can all drive in electric battery powered cars. According to quite a lot of people. Some of the batteries may last longer than the short-lived lithium batteries, but they all need a lot of minerals in order to function and to get these materials for the trillions of big batteries needed we need to slaughter the forests (we cannot dig well among all the roots they have and even if we did the trees would die anyway) plus we can use the wood to burn like we burn coal to get electricity. More than a third of the electricity we put in cars in Germany come from: Lignite. Recently some in this forum laughed and mocked the little Swedish girl that was protesting in Germany because they were going to remove a village in order to dig: Lignite. We need electricity to charge our battery powered cars. Lignite is of course not polluting when it is burnt to make electricity; when heating homes and grills a little, yes; but when making the needed electricity of course not. We also need to disturb and remove all the annoying life in the oceans. These creatures are in the way when we are going to dig for more minerals and that cannot be tolerated. Who needs fish anyway? While we are at digging there, we can just bury all the plastic and other garbage we can find in the hole where the minerals used to be, so everything will be just like it was. 2 suns in the sunset, could be the human race is run.
  7. Xenon and LED bulbs need to have headlight washing and auto levelling installed in the car so if there is much weight in the trunk the light does not blind oncoming cars and the washing to wipe off snow as the bulbs are not warming as much as halogen bulbs do.
  8. Not only will we remove our forest to find Lithium and other minerals for not polluting in order to save the planet, but will destroy life in the oceans not only with dumping poison and plastic in them but also dig up all we can find of valuable minerals: https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/regulator-approves-first-deep-sea-mining-test-surprising-observers/ Regulator approves first deep-sea mining test, surprising observers by Elizabeth Claire Alberts on 16 September 2022 https://news.mongabay.com/by/elizabeth-claire-alberts/ The International Seabed Authority (ISA), the intergovernmental body responsible for overseeing deep-sea mining operations and for protecting the ocean, recently granted approval for a mining trial to commence in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Pacific Ocean. The company undertaking this trial is Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI), a subsidiary of Canadian-owned The Metals Company (TMC), which is aiming to start annually extracting 1.3 million metric tons of polymetallic nodules from the CCZ as early as 2024. The approval for this mining test, the first of its kind since the 1970s, was first announced by TMC earlier this week. Mining opponents said the ruling took them by surprise and they feared it would pave the way for exploitation to begin in the near future, despite growing concerns about the safety and necessity of deep-sea mining. On Sept. 14, the Hidden Gem — an industrial drill ship operated by a subsidiary of The Metals Company (TMC), a Canadian deep-sea mining corporation — left its port in Manzanillo, Mexico. From there, it headed toward the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a vast abyssal plain in international waters of the Pacific Ocean that stretches over 4.5 million square kilometers (1.7 million square miles) across the deep sea, roughly equivalent in size to half of Canada. The goal of TMC’s expedition is to test its mining equipment that will vacuum up polymetallic nodules, potato-shaped rocks formed over millions of years. The nodules contain commercially coveted minerals like cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese. TMC, a publicly traded company listed on the Nasdaq exchange, announced that it aims to collect 3,600 metric tons of these nodules during this test period. This operation came as a surprise to opponents of deep-sea mining, mainly because of the stealth with which they said the International Seabed Authority (ISA) — the UN-affiliated intergovernmental body dually responsible for overseeing mining in international waters and for protecting the deep sea — authorized TMC to commence the trial. It is the first such trial the ISA has authorized after years of debate over whether it should permit deep-sea mining to commence in international waters, and if so, under what conditions. News of the authorization did not come initially from the ISA, but from TMC itself in a press release dated September 7. The ISA eventually posted its own statement on Sept. 15, more than a week after TMC’s announcement. It is not clear when the ISA granted the authorization. “We’ve been caught off guard by this,” Arlo Hemphill, a senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, an organization campaigning to prevent deep-sea mining operations, told Mongabay in an interview. “There’s been little time for us to react.” at 4,100 meters in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone. Image courtesy of Craig Smith and Diva Amon, ABYSSLINE Project. Mounting concerns, sudden actions Several weeks ago, in July and August, delegates to the ISA met in Kingston, Jamaica, to discuss how, when and if deep-sea mining could begin. In July 2021, discussions acquired a sense of urgency when the Pacific island state of Nauru triggered an arcane rule embedded in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that could obligate the ISA to kick-start exploitation in about two years with whatever rules are in place at the time. Nauru is the sponsor of Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI), a subsidiary of TMC that is undertaking the tests. TMC told Mongabay that it expects to apply for its exploitation license in 2023, and if approved by the ISA, to begin mining towards the end of 2024. The ISA subsequently scheduled a series of meetings to accelerate the development of mining regulations, but has yet to adopt a final set of rules. The delay is due, in part, to the increasing number of states and observers from civil society raising concerns about the safety and necessity of deep-sea mining. Some member states, including Palau, Fiji and Samoa, have even called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining until more is understood about the marine environment that companies want to exploit. Other concerns hinge upon an environmental impact statement (EIS) that NORI had to submit in order for mining to begin. NORI submitted an initial draft of its EIS in July 2021, as per ISA requirements, and an updated version in March 2022. Matt Gianni, a political and policy adviser for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), a group of environmental NGOs calling for NORI’s testing approval to be rescinded, said that the ISA’s Legal and Technical Commission (LTC) — the organ responsible for issuing mining licenses — previously cited “serious concerns” about NORI’s EIS, including the fact that it lacked baseline environmental data. The LTC had also raised concerns about the comprehensiveness of the group’s Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan (EMMP), he said. But then, “all of a sudden,” the LTC granted approval for the mining test without first consulting ISA council members, said Gianni, who acts as an observer at ISA meetings. The fact that TMC announced the decision before the ISA did “reinforces the impression that it’s the contractor and the LTC and the [ISA] secretariat that are driving the agenda, and states are following along,” Gianni said. Harald Brekke, chair of the LTC, sent Mongabay a statement similarly worded to the recent announcement made by the ISA. He said that the LTC had reviewed NORI’s EIS and EMMP for “completeness, accuracy and statistical reliability,” and that an internal working group had worked closely with NORI to address concerns. In response, the mining group adequately dealt with the issues, which allowed the LTC to approve the proposed testing activities, he said. “This is a normal contract procedure between the [ISA] Secretary-General and the Contractor, on the advice and recommendations by the [Legal and Technical] Commission,” Brekke said in the emailed statement. “It is not a decision to be made by the [ISA] Council. According to the normal procedure of ISA, the details of this process will be [communicated] by the Chair of the Commission to the Council at its session in November.” “I also would like to point out that this procedure has followed the regulations and guidelines of ISA,” Brekke added, “which are implemented to take care of the possible environmental impacts of this kind of exploration activity.” Yet Gianni said he did not believe the LTC had satisfactorily reviewed the EIS for its full potential of environmental impact, nor had it considered the “serious harmful effects on vulnerable marine ecosystems” as required under the ISA’s own exploration regulations for polymetallic nodules. Image © Greenpeace. Questions about transparency Sandor Mulsow, who worked as the director of environment and minerals at the ISA between 2013 and 2019, said that the ISA “is not fit to carry out an analysis of environmental impact assessment” and that the grounds on which the ISA authorized NORI to begin testing were questionable. “Unfortunately, the [International] Seabed Authority is pro-mining,” Mulsow, who now works as a professor at Universidad Austral de Chile, said in an interview with Mongabay. “They’re not complying with the role of protecting the common heritage of humankind.” A recent investigation by the New York Times revealed that the ISA gave TMC critical information over a 15-year period that allowed the company to access some of the most valuable seabed areas marked for mining, giving it an unfair advantage over other contractors. The ISA has also frequently been criticized for its lack of transparency, including the fact that the LTC meets behind closed doors and provides few details about why it approves mining proposals. The ISA has previously granted dozens of exploratory mining licenses to contractors, although none have yet received an exploitation license. While NORI is not technically undertaking exploratory mining in this instance, their testing of mining equipment falls under exploration regulations. Mongabay reported that transparency issues were even prominent during the ISA meetings that took place in July and August this year, including restrictions on participation and limited access to key information for civil society members. The ISA did not respond to questions posed by Mongabay, instead deferring to the statement from Brekke, the LTC chair. seen at 5,100 meters depth on abyssal sediments in the western Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Image by DeepCCZ expedition/NOAA via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). ‘Full-blown mining in test form’ During the mining trial set to take place in the CCZ — which could begin as early as next week — NORI will be testing out its nodule collector vehicles and riser systems that will draw the nodules about 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) from the seabed to the surface. If NORI does begin exploitation in 2024, Gianni said the risers will be pumping about 10,000 metric tons of nodules up to a ship per day. “That’s a hell of a lot,” Gianni said. “This is heavy duty machinery. This is piping that has to withstand considerable pressure.” NORI intends to extract 1.3 million metric tons of wet nodules each year in the exploitation stage of its operation, TMC reported. The Metals Company argues that this mining will provide minerals necessary to power a global shift toward clean energy. Indeed, demand for such minerals is growing as nations urge consumers to take up electric vehicles in an effort to combat climate change. Mining opponents, however, have argued that renewable technologies like electric cars don’t actually need the minerals procured from mining. Moreover, a growing cadre of scientists have been warning against the dangers of deep-sea mining, arguing that we don’t know enough about deep-sea environments to destroy them. What we do know about the deep-sea suggests that mining could have far-reaching consequences, such as disturbing phytoplankton blooms at the sea’s surface, introducing toxic metals into marine food webs, and dispersing mining waste over long distances across the ocean — far enough to affect distant fisheries and delicate ecosystems like coral reefs and seamounts. “Every time somebody goes and collects some sample in that area of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, there’s a new species coming up,” Mulsow said. “We don’t know how to name them, and we want to destroy them.” TMC has stated that the testing activities will be monitored by “independent scientists from a dozen leading research institutions around the world.” However, Hemphill of Greenpeace, who also has ISA observer status, questions whether the monitoring process will be unbiased. “We’re thinking there’s a high chance that these risers might not work,” he said. “But if there’s not a third party observer out there, then we just have to rely on The Metals Company’s own recording.” “It’s going to be basically a full-blown mining operation in test form, where they’re not only using the [collector] equipment, but they’re using the risers to bring the nodules to the surface,” Hemphill added. Nodule collection trials like the one NORI is undertaking haven’t been conducted in the CCZ since the 1970s, TMC noted in its press release. When Mongabay reached out to TMC for further information about its operation, a spokesperson for the company said that they “believe that polymetallic nodules are a compelling solution to the critical mineral supply challenges facing society in our transition away from fossil fuels.” “While concern is justified as to the potential impacts of any source of metals — whether from land or sea — significant attention has been paid to mitigate these, including by setting aside more area for protection than is under license in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean,” the TMC spokesperson said. A map of the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the central Pacific Ocean. Colored areas are those licensed for mining and shaded squares are areas currently protected from mining. Image adapted from the International Seabed Authority, 2018, courtesy of NOAA. ‘No way back’ Mulsow said he was sure that this trial would pave the way for exploitation to start next year, not only giving TMC’s NORI access to the deep-sea’s resources, but opening the gates for other contractors to begin similar operations. “[In June] 2023, we will have … the application for the first mining license for the deep sea,” he said, “and then there will be no way back.” Hemphill said he also feared the move would set a process into motion for mining to start next year — but added that Greenpeace would continue its fight to stop mining. “We’re not giving up just because the two-year rule comes to pass,” he said. “And then if things get started, we’re in this for the long haul.” Gianni said he was hopeful that the dynamic could also change at the next ISA meeting scheduled for November, in which delegates will get the chance to discuss whether they’re obligated to approve the start of mining the following year. “The fact that the LTC has done this … may finally get council members to start saying, ‘Wait a minute, we need to bring this renegade fiefdom [at] the heart of the ISA structure under control,” Gianni said, “because they’re going off and deciding things in spite of all the reservations that are being expressed by the countries that are members of the ISA.” Correction 16/09/2022: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that TMC does not intend to start deep-sea mining in 2023, but expects to apply for an exploitation license at that time. If approved, the company says it will begin mining operations in late 2024.
  9. The statistic shows cars being sold (in what time span?). Not cars on the roads. Some places all the rich have new cars regularly and some places people not that affluent keep their old and try to get it to run as long as possible.
  10. you were compating apples with oranges and she told you. Your did not acknowledge. 1 - 0 to Samantha
  11. If you did that why did you then not tell her that she was right and you were wrong?
  12. And the plastic we dispose of in the ocean etc. This topic is about fuel for cars and searching for minerals to stupid short living batteries that are destroying the planet, more than about all the other things that we wealthy western people think are needed in order to live better than our neighbour.
  13. Sorry for saying something often before said: Lexus GPS is less quality than the free GPS you can have on smartphones.
  14. Mining in Amazon is on the increase. The Amazon has before been called the lungs of our planet, what it will be called is maybe something else: Lithium mining areas? Let us get rid of all the ingenious people living there so we can get the minerals we need to continue living in our cities. A satellite view of the Carajás iron mine in Pará state near the city of Marabá. It is run by Brazil’s Vale mining company. Mining, if not properly managed, can do significant environmental and social harm, polluting rivers and groundwater, deforesting large areas, and displacing indigenous and traditional communities. Image courtesy of NASA When we need electricity to produce iron ore and whatever is found we just make it. Who care what happen to the people that used to live there?
  15. Did you do that before answering Samantha?
  16. Cats have been installed in vehicles since 1975, same time as unleaded gasoline started. First 2 ways later 3 ways. They need to be hot, at least 400 degrees in order to function, so why they are placed in easily to access places is not easy to understand. Closer to the engine would be smarter. Catalytic converter theft has been on the rise since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, with an increase of over 1,000% from 1,298 in 2018 to 14,433 in 2020, according to data compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Stealing a catalytic converter can take as little as 30 seconds, and the parts have continued to remain prime targets for theft due to elevated prices on the precious metals they contain. The Preventing Auto Recycling Thefts Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2023, which would mandate catalytic converters in new vehicles to come with traceable identification numbers and make catalytic converter theft a criminal offense. In March 2021, 3,245 catalytic converter thefts were recorded in the UK. Do newer catalytic converters get stolen? Catalytic converter theft is on the rise nationwide, new data shows. In 2022, thefts nationwide were 540% higher than all of 2020, public data company BeenVerified found. What cars most often get catalytic converter stolen? Top 10 vehicles targeted for catalytic converter theft: Toyota Prius. Honda Accord. Honda CR-V. Toyota Tacoma. Ford F Series Truck. Subaru Forester. Toyota Camry. Ford Econoline. Is it OK to wrap catalytic converter? No! Wrapping of the catalytic converter is not recommended, as overheating can lead to reduced lifetime of the converter.
  17. We all get older and correct is it that having a fun auto is not as much fun today as when we were younger. Speed limits everywhere and poor roads many places make a Lexus not a bad choice. Even the little one we have is comfortable and has so many gadgets that none of the far more expensive and sportier and GT cars we have had can match that.
  18. Very well not commenting on the fact that there are very very very many more ICE cars than EV's.
  19. How safe are hydrogen fuel cell cars in a crash? https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/how-safe-are-hydrogen-fuel-cell-vehicles-in-a-crash/8539783/?awt_a=1jpsU&awt_l=IFzTR&awt_m=iPDmtagSRu5DlsU https://youtube.com/embed/GpRyn5-ZbPU?feature=oembed https://youtube.com/embed/O2pZeDhERyQ?feature=oembed No fuel that can burn is safe so accidents cannot happen. In open air situations (outside) hydrogen will evaporate rather fast and pose little danger, whereas gasoline will pour out on the ground and easily catch fire. In a closed garage, both hydrogen and gasoline will be unsafe if container leaking. There isn’t enough time for cleaner energy sources to keep up with EV demand. https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/alternative-energy-hfn-poll/8558811/?awt_a=1jpsU&awt_l=IFzTR&awt_m=iPDmtagSRu5DlsU Very few believe that the current way of producing electricity can handle the demand for powering enough batteries to make transportation non-polluting. Frankfurt to boost presence of hydrogen buses in its city. The German metropolis has ordered more H2 buses from Solaris. https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/hydrogen-buses-icb-solaris/8558799/?awt_a=1jpsU&awt_l=IFzTR&awt_m=i9R2EyQHBu5DlsU They bought some busses last year and may have been happy with them since they have now ordered more. Now I have said enough about hydrogen, should some want more they will have to look for news themselves.
  20. I understand wanting a Porsche. Have enjoyed being driven around in a 2.8 RS and liked driving the 1978 turbo to have a new, very upgraded engine put in (Stigs Garage, Vara, Sweden) but much more driving it back to Denmark. That was in 1985 or 86. A family member has several of these funny cars, and though I like the look of his Boxter the most, I have never been in a car as funny to drive as the 914. Pretty much modified. It beats the Delta EVO Rally 4WD. Think the engine was a 2.0. He never told me. Picture from before it was finished.
  21. When the CT was first drawn on paper and constructed, catalytic converter theft was not something much thought about. Strange though that newer models still have the pollution fighting device placed similar easy to access places. That the factory shield starts to rattle is something to complain about and that it is made to collect items from roads seems to prove that this is something considered after the car was designed.
  22. Both Porsche and Practical start with a P. Practical cars are boring and not very good looking while a Porsche is beautiful and fun.
  23. Have you found out what to replace the CT with?
  24. Hill assist hold the car a few seconds after letting go of the brake, enough time to push the speeder pedal. Enjoy the car.
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