In reply to bill's message of 26 Jun 2026:

In reply to Gary Charpentier's message of 26 Jun 2026:

Stovepipe Wells it will be a more normal 38.8C

Today it was 109F/42.8C in Lake Havasu Arizona where I spend my winters. Here in Anchorage it was a much more acceptable 63F/17.2C.

Many of us here in the UK are north (53.5°N) of you in Alaska, and the temperature ha been up to 33C/91F,

Which I wouldn't find too bad, having lived 27 years in the Mediterranean area or South of it, it's the humidity that's the killer.

In reply to Dave's message of 26 Jun 2026:

I don't know if this is the case in other countries but here a lot of cameras are not active all of the time. I think I read only about a third are at any one time so it is always possible some people might have access to the information about which ones work and which ones don't!

Well, what I understand from that video is that there are now small cameras on the gantries between the Matrix signs and these are on all the time.

The Average speed control we have here in the Netherlands as well, called trajectcontrole. We have several of them and they're a gold mine.
Belgium has them as well, on 1,400 roads plus 158 highways.

How is this going to going to help Parisians cope with the heat wave?

“Paris police told reporters that alcohol consumption in the streets and other public places as well as takeaway alcohol sales will be banned from Friday amid the intense heatwave,” reports NDTV World.

“We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities,” the Paris police prefect said. “The number of hospitalisations keeps increasing.”

“Takeaway alcohol sales are banned from 6 pm Friday to 7 am Saturday and from 6 pm Saturday to 7 am Sunday,” the report explains. Public “consumption of alcohol [is banned] between 12 pm Friday and 7 am Saturday, and between 12 pm Saturday and 7 am Sunday, [and the] ban also applies to retail stores that exclusively sell such beverages.”

In reply to Jord's message of 26 Jun 2026:

We have several of them and they're a gold mine.

Once upon a time the municipality here contracted with a company to install and operate cameras at no cost (just a portion of the revenue generated from the fines). The company would issue tickets for offenses directly. Not surprisingly the tickets were challenged in court. Seems there was a quirk in the way the laws were written. The law said tickets could only be issued by a law enforcement officer and the court found that the company didn't qualify. They had to refund all the money that had been paid. The points for the tickets were negated also, I suspect the insurance companies weren't as forgiving on the rate increases. In any event the company uninstalled it's equipment and left the state.

In reply to Dr Who Fan's message of 27 Jun 2026:

How is this going to going to help Parisians cope with the heat wave?

By reducing the number of people with heat stroke and those presenting to hospital with injuries as a result of drunken stupidity?

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Grant
Darwin NT.

In reply to Grant (SSSF)'s message of 27 Jun 2026:

In reply to Dr Who Fan's message of 27 Jun 2026:

How is this going to going to help Parisians cope with the heat wave?

By reducing the number of people with heat stroke and those presenting to hospital with injuries as a result of drunken stupidity?

Last time i was in Paris when it was hot, I don't remember seeing anything in the way of drunken stupidity. I could see it making much more difference in some British cities though!

All speed checks here are done and regulated by the police, the tickets are collected by the central judicial collection agency. You can challenge them - just write the office and ask for a photo and then either say you're it or not. But the people don't learn, looking at the average speed control on the A2 highway between Utrecht and Amsterdam, it had 539,639 fines in 2025. Varying from €28 to €530 (plus €9 administrative costs), you know where this is going.

Here in Texas they have challenged these speed cameras & red light cameras because they are not operated by a real human being (police) in court. Red light cameras are now banned in the state but speed cameras are generally not.

Are Traffic Cameras Legal in Texas?
(As of February 8, 2026)
Yes and no, certain traffic cameras are legal in Texas, but red-light enforcement cameras are not. Texas banned automated red-light ticket cameras statewide in 2019, and that ban remains in effect in 2026. However, Texas still allows other types of traffic cameras, such as those used for toll billing, border patrol, school zone enforcement (without tickets), and traffic monitoring. So, cameras themselves are legal; what’s banned is using cameras to issue automatic moving-violation tickets to drivers.

In simple terms: Texas can film you, but it cannot ticket you automatically for running a red light.

In reply to Jord's message of 27 Jun 2026:

All speed checks here are done and regulated by the police, the tickets are collected by the central judicial collection agency. You can challenge them - just write the office and ask for a photo and then either say you're it or not. But the people don't learn, looking at the average speed control on the A2 highway between Utrecht and Amsterdam, it had 539,639 fines in 2025. Varying from €28 to €530 (plus €9 administrative costs), you know where this is going.

Here if relatively little above the limit, a speed awareness course costs the same as the fine. (I can't remember how mutch it is since the only one I got when it was £100). The advantage of doing the course is you don't get points on your licence that will cost far more in insurance costs. If less than 3 years since the last offence, you get the fine and points without the option to do the course.

A lot of people in Venezuela were warned by their Android phones of the impending earthquake and managed to get out of their buildings. An earthquake early warning system that uses the accelerometers in your phone and warns everyone with an Android phone, no need for an app or anything. It's built in.

It does feel a bit like the BOINC project from Carl Christensen, I'm glad it helped people survive in Venezuela. So when you hear your phone beeping at you, read what it says and make haste. https://crisisresilience.google/android-early-earthquake-warnings