The US government just banned consumer routers made outside the US

If you already have a Wi-Fi or wired router, you can keep on using it — and companies that have already gotten FCC radio authorization for a specific foreign-made product can continue to import that product.

But since the vast majority — if not all — consumer routers are manufactured outside the United States, the vast majority of future consumer routers are now banned. By adding all foreign-made consumer routers to its Covered List, the FCC is saying it will no longer authorize their radios, which de facto bans new devices from import into the country.

But since the vast majority — if not all — consumer routers are manufactured outside the United States, the vast majority of future consumer routers are now banned. By adding all foreign-made consumer routers to its Covered List, the FCC is saying it will no longer authorize their radios, which de facto bans new devices from import into the country.

It is almost as if they don't have a clue as to the implications of the policies they are bringing in.

I spotted something on Aunty Beeb that HMG are probably going to allow "balcony"/plug-in solar installations in the near future.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czjw7klkjm2o

I await the details with some anticipation as that could be a solution for my house.

Worth checking all your breakers are bidirectional. If installed in last ten years they likely are. Also someone is going to plug 8 of these into a double gang outside socket via two extension leads potentially putting 3?6KW of power that could be drawn on top of the 13 as amps from the consumer unit overloading the ring main. ( Most mainland European countries have a radial system rather than ring mains. )

And Petrol and Diesel have both gone up by another 10c/l overnight.

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Grant
Darwin NT.

What are they now in Aussie?

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

What are they now in Aussie?

It's a big variation, depending on whether it's a city, or rural, or remote.
Here in Darwin it's gone from $2.55c/l to $2.66c/l (it was less than $1.70 before all this began- Diesel is now $3.22. Less than 100km out of town, some places are charging $3.30 for it).
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, it's around $2.50c/l.
Remote locations, it's $3.05c/l and goes up from there (Diesel is $3.50+).



Apart from some fruits and extremely small amounts of beef, all of our food comes up from down south- 3,000km+ away.
And the trains and trucks that bring it up, all use diesel...
Things are going to get really, really bad over the next few months- and that's if the insanity ends in the next couple of weeks. If it drags out even longer, i try not to think about it...

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Grant
Darwin NT.

Here in Darwin it's gone from $2.55c/l to $2.66c/l (it was less than $1.70 before all this began- Diesel is now $3.22

Gasoline €1,53 - 1,59
Diesel €1,93 - 1,98

I can tell you that Dutch people would sign for those prices...
Our official advisory prices are now €2,57 ($4,29) for gasoline, €2,68 ($4,47) for diesel
Cheapest stations do €2,18 ($3,64) for gasoline and €2,27 ($3,79) for diesel

Cheapest gasoline (87 octane petrol) in Fort Worth Texas today is $3.40 per US Gallon / $0.8982 per Liter.

Cheapest Diesel in Fort Worth Texas today is $4.44 per US Gallon / $1.1730 per Liter.

If you want to check out other prices in the USA https://www.gasbuddy.com

And, yesterday, I saw posts on social media indicating several filling stations in my area were out of diesel. Fortunately the sunlight that fuels my car does not have to come through the Straits of Hormuz.

Most of our oil doesn't come from there either, but more from the US, Norway, Libya and our own North Sea. Most Middle Eastern oil goes to China and other eastern countries. What little for Southern Europe does come from the Middle East, comes from Saudi Arabia and they have a pipeline carrying 7 mio barrels of oil daily to the Red Sea.

True. I think the issues with running out are actually panic buying from those expecting the price to go up even more.

Or the UK is shipping it to Australia, where I read it really ran out (for at least the farmers).

Australia used to have 8 refineries.
Now they have 2.

They import diesel and gasoline from South Korea and Singapore.

With oil blocked in the Middle East, South Korea and Singapore are limiting exports of diesel and gasoline.

Australia gets crushed
https://x.com/i/status/2037538054169145429

THIS IS HOW SUPPLY CHAINS COLLAPSE

Australia right now:

Truckers stranded.
Fuel stations EMPTY.
No diesel… anywhere.
“I’ve driven 500km… not a drop left.”
And now?

Lines of trucks… just waiting.

No fuel = no deliveries
No deliveries = empty shelves

This doesn’t stay in Australia.

It spreads.
Watch closely — because once this starts, it moves fast
https://x.com/i/status/2037459583640207676

I have visited https://spacious.ub.edu/news/
I looked in the network tab on chrome dev tools and saw that the web page downloaded a 10000x14137 image with size of 32892 kB
https://spacious.ub.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/spacious_bsc_poster_EGI2025.png

Who does that?

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

Australia right now:

Truckers stranded.
Fuel stations EMPTY.
No diesel… anywhere.
“I’ve driven 500km… not a drop left.”
And now?

Lines of trucks… just waiting.

https://x.com/i/status/2037459583640207676

The usual complete and utter rubbish on X.
There are some servos that have run out of fuel, and there are some farmers in some regions having issues, but the problem isn't one of supply (yet).
It just due to people getting all worked up & topping up their tanks, and grabbing a Jerry can (or 5) just in case.

There's been no interruption to supply of fuel or oil for processing to Australia (yet), it's just people buying more than normal and the internal supply system (ie trucks) not being able to meet than increase in demand. Servos (Service Station/Fuel Station) will get a delivery based on their usual needs- some may get a delivery every few weeks, others might get 1 or even two deliveries a day.
A sudden 20%-40% increase in demand above normal levels, there's no way that can be met as the trucks are already booked to deliver fuel to other servos.

Servo runs out of fuel, they get more fuel, people panic and buy extra fuel, servo runs out of fuel again before the next delivery, rinse and repeat.

But when the supply finally does become limited to less than what it was previously, then that's when things will really get ugly.

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Grant
Darwin NT.

In reply to kotenok2000's message of 27 Mar 2026:

I have visited https://spacious.ub.edu/news/
I looked in the network tab on chrome dev tools and saw that the web page downloaded a 10000x14137 image with size of 32892 kB
https://spacious.ub.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/spacious_bsc_poster_EGI2025.png

Who does that?

Web site developers with unlimited data and 2GB/s+ internet connections and no idea of good practice when it comes to developing a web site?

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Grant
Darwin NT.

Fuel supply status as of Thursday 26/3

New South Wales: 178 without diesel, 48 don’t have stock
Queensland: 55 without diesel, 33 without regular unleaded petrol
Victoria: 45 without diesel, 75 without unleaded
Western Australia: 40 without diesel, 14 without unleaded
South Australia: nine without diesel, 10 without unleaded
Tasmania: five without diesel, nine without any fuel
Northern Territory: no outages

And this is with the supply to the country unchanged.
From mid to late next month when supply starts to reduce doesn't bear thinking about.

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Grant
Darwin NT.

🤭

Oxford University researchers have discovered the densest element yet known to science...

The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called pillocks.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert.

However, it can be detected because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years.

It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as a critical morass.

When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many pillocks but twice as many morons.

Local Garage, £1.58/litre unleaded. £1.85 diesel. Petrol is up £0.15, diesel by £0.25.

It won't be long before that starts being translated into higher prices in the shops.