I did the math

 This last weekend we did a bit of shuffling with our cars. I've stopped driving the small car and I'm now driving the big 4WD. So I thought "wouldn't a motorbike be a cheaper option"?

First, I need to lay down a few assumptions:

• I already have the big 4WD, so I'm not comparing purchase cost of one vs the other, I'm comparing potential savings on running costs.
• I travel roughly 200km per week for work. I'll just use this figure for my math, as most other travel I do is with the family so we'd be in one of the cars, not on the bike.
• The 4WD is listed as using 9.5L/100km but that's when it was new. Due to the accessories we've added and the age of the car, I'll assume 10L/100km (though it is probably more).
• A learner approved bike (under 250cc) is generally listed as having an average consumption of 3L/100km - I'd probably buy an older bike, but I tend to be a cautious driver so we'll go with this figure.
• We'll assume an initial purchase price for the bike of $2,000 - learner bikes vary by price, but odds are I'd buy one second hand and even if I got one cheaper I'd still need to do some repairs, rego transfer, insurance, etc.
• We'll assume safety gear is $1,000 - can save money by buying second hand (except for the helmet) and any money saved on the gear would probably go on the bike anyway.
• Cost of fuel is currently $1.20/L we'll assume it'll stay at or near that price (lol).
• And final assumption - we'll ignore all other costs such as servicing. The bike service might be more expensive, but cars can have things go wrong too, so it's much of a sameness.

On the above assumptions, per 100km the 4WD is costing $11.52 in fuel, and the bike would be $3.60 - so over an average 200km week, the net savings for riding the bike over the 4WD are $15.84 in fuel.

That means that (assuming $3,000 purchase cost on bike and gear) it would take 189 weeks (or 47 months or just shy of 4 years) to break even. That's assuming always and only using the bike to get to work and back, assuming the cost of fuel remains the same and assuming no unexpected expenses (like getting knocked off the bike by some idiot in a car).

The more likely scenario that I can see would be using the 4WD on Mondays and Fridays, and only using the bike on Tue / Wed / Thu to get to work and back. In that scenario, the savings drastically drop to $4.94 per week - and to break even at that value it comes out to 12 years!

And the savings will be even less than that, because in the 4WD only scenario I'd be using a bit more fuel, but in the 4WD + motorbike scenario I'd be saving a bit in fuel but having to pay registration (and insurance) on two vehicles.

So the math says no, no motorbike. Also, my wife said no - and she has the final say anyway.

The resources keep building up

 Although I had wanted to just let the resources build up, I gave in to the urge to spend some of it. Seeing so much sitting there, I went ahead and did some research and some upgrades.

However:

Currently sitting at just under 800 million resource (combined metal / crystal / deut). It should be a fair bit higher, but I've been spending some. Although a couple of other players have had a peek at what is sitting on this planet, I'm impressed it hasn't been attacked yet. I honestly thought one of the mega-players would smush me and crush the defences long before it got up to this level.

Be interesting to see how high it gets, though I assume that one day I'll just log in and see that it's all gone. But that's the way Ogame works.

Photopea

 I just came across this brilliant site - photopea.com 

For those who can't afford Photoshop, or for whatever reason can't put it on their computer (maybe a Linux user?) then this site is essentially a free, online version of Photoshop.

It does have a few limitations (you need a stable, decent internet connection for starters) but it gives you most of the functionality of the best image editing program out there without having to fork over a whole bunch of cash. I wouldn't rely on it as a main editor, or attempt any large or overly complex projects with it - but it might come in handy for quick little things or for opening up a .psd file and saving it in another format.

And as a bonus - no watermarks!

Edit: I've just gone through and deleted a bunch of old comments, specifically a whole bunch of spam comments from this blog - some from 2008! In my defense, I only recently got my proper login working again on this blog, I've been using an alternate account for over a decade which was accidentally created when Google bought Blogger. Over 150 comments deleted, about 48 comments left. For a blog that's been running long enough to be considered a teenager, that's not a lot of engagement...  

Salt Etching, successful proof of concept

 Woohoo! Took a bit of time (most of that was waiting on my dry film to arrive), but I have a test of salt etching that I'm happy with. :)

I had one limited result test earlier today, my first go with the dry film. I was using a single-layer toner onto tape transfer as a mask, and the toner from my printer prints too thinly to be a decent mask. Plus the image that I was attempting to use was too ambitious for a first go:

My printer gave out reasonably sharp detail, which I was happy with, but the post-exposure results on the aluminium came out too blotchy (as in, the parts covered by the toner should have been a uniform colour, but were not). The result was that when I put it through the soda wash, the solution wasn't strong enough to remove the bits that were supposed to come off, and making it stronger took off the bits that were meant to stay.

Simple solution, get it all off and try again. For my next attempt, I made a much simpler mask with some bold text.

This gave a much cleaner result after the initial exposure. Removing the fill with the soda wash produced a very clean result.

Finally, into the salt water and electricity bath to etch the aluminium. I wasn't too sure how long to leave it in there for (should have timed it!) but I wanted it to be deep enough to be a decent etch, but shallow enough that it didn't start going sideways under the fine details (like the middle bits in the A's and the R's). I kind of winged it (and kept pulling it out to check it) and after it looked about right, it was moment of truth!

With this process, you can put it back into the salt water to keep etching if you think it needs to go deeper, but once you start taking off the resist - you'll never get another layer of resist back on there! So get it right the first time.

I'm pretty happy with how that came out! :D

The process is rather brutal on the metal, so I'm not sure how fine detail will work out, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to have a go tomorrow. I figure one more test with fine detail to see how that goes, then I might have a crack at a real task. Fingers crossed!