JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
Just staring blankly at the subtle rainfall record differences between these three rainfall sites around Townsville. Wondering if the pristine view of the world daydream provided by computer model derived virtual reality from infill is still perverted, corrupted and contaminated by real world data from other sites. It could well be only submerged humans in the real world that have little clue what is going on in the much more important simulation.
Fail 1.
Just 0.2 MM rainfall for January and 0.2 for February.
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ60801/IDQ60801.94271.shtml
Fail 2.
Perhaps back online since 3:AM this morning. Wildly different numbers to the “AERO” and “Fanning river” sites it is between.
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ60801/IDQ60801.95293.shtml
Fail 3.
Seems to have died around 4PM on the last day of January.
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ60801/IDQ60801.94272.shtml
100
If there’s a difference between reality and the computer model, then the reality is wrong, not the model…
That’s how Leftist “science”, as practised by warmists, works, isn’t it?
How else can it be that after 40 years they are still using the same defective computer “models” of the Climate which still have no forecasting or even hindcasting capability? And reality has to be altered by changing the measured data by the mysterious process by the BoM of “homogenisation” as reported by Jo or alteration of historical data by NASA and NOAA as documented by Tony Heller.
270
They never understood their “models” in the first place.
100
David, Information from Dr Marohasy (blog here https://jennifermarohasy.com/jenns-blog/) is that BOM refused to consider in 2012 after the 2011 floods a program using neural network (a type of AI) for forecasting which was shown to be accurate for local areas out upto to three 3 years in preference to continuing with their inaccurate general circulation model. Prior the AGW modeling BOM were at least looking at the SOI (Southern Oscillation Index) which has an influence on weather in Qld. At the present time the SOI is in an La Nina phase which indicates more rain than average.
I record daily SOI from https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/soi/. The rainfall posters https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/rainfall-poster/ are worth looking at as they have graphs of SOI and IPO. and discuss the relevance.
81
Townsville Aero is the BOM base and they keep it on line.
Mt Stuart Defence is Lavarack Brks. and the rain gauge has been off line for ages. Pity, I live close. One would expect readings “similar” to the airport.
Woolshed is the RADAR site on Hervey Range and afaik doesn’t have an automatic rain gauge, nor does Cape Ferguson [GBRMPA] and Air Weapons range is on the west side of Hervey Range. Fanning R. is on the west side of Mingela Range. None of these would reflect Townsville City readings in any but a general sense.
What would be interesting would be a live cam of the Burdekin Falls Dam. It is 1 km wide with no spillway. It would be at least a metre over. A lot of water flows out of the Burdekin. I ‘spose this will be blamed for another catastrophe on the GBR.
160
I’m beginning to like the AI function of Brave search.
I searched on live cam of the Burdekin Falls Dam and got a short, succinct answer immediately:
Burdekin Falls Dam Live Cam
There is no live webcam available for the Burdekin Falls Dam.
80
The answer I got for search term “burdekin falls live cam” without quotes was:
And for the search term “burdekin falls dam live cam” without quotes:
20
A google search would never give that answer. You could search for half an hour, not find anything and assume there is none.
70
Its not the biggest inundation since the time of Christ.
‘While Queensland’s North Tropical Coast frequently gets hit with periods of heavy rain during the wet season, the sustained intensity of this event has been both remarkable and devastating.
‘Based on annual exceedance probability (AEP), Rollingstone’s 48-hour and 72-hour rainfall rates were both rarer than a one in 2000-year event. Put another way, this much rain over these timeframes has less than a 0.05 % likelihood of occurring in any given year.’ (Weatherzone)
00
H, I had a look on the Sunwater site and Burdekin dam is 149.5% level and spillway flow is 460,000 ML/day, nearly a Sydharb.
10
A great vasectomy joke on a great Virginia political blog:
https://www.baconsrebellion.com/jeanines-memes-161/
192
I find it passing strange that economists have loudly predicted/projected that Americans will pay extra because of Trump’s Tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
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Meanwhile, Canada has announced tariffs on American Alcohol and Teslas in response – but no economists are telling the Canadian public that this will make them pay more … especially when Canada wants more Canadians to drive EV’s – to reduce CO2 emissions and save the planet from global warming.
.
It is almost as if Canada (by it actions) does not believe that reducing CO2 is an imperative…
330
What I find passing strange is that anti-Trumpers give data on the percentage of US imports of oil, gas and electricity Canada provides but US is basically self sufficient in these. Any tariffs or bans would effect the NW for gas and the border regions generally. This would be a pain short term, but the US would solve the problem and Canada would have lost the market permanently. They would then need to spend billions on LNG export terminals.
They should know Trump by now, he makes an ambit claim, then negotiates a reasonable deal.
Who paid for the Keystone pipeline that Biden halted? That would be a white elephant.
170
Trump has alienated two of his best allies and his greatest trading partners.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14351915/wall-street-journal-donald-trump-tariffs-trade-war.html
The 27 members of the EU,, also big allies, seem to be next on the list. Starmer would do well to hide away for a few days and disassociate himself from the EU in thehope that Trump will ignore him and not impose tariffs on the UK.
If allowed to escalate this has all the makings of a full scale depression (it was trade that precipitated the last one) or perhaps drive former allies towards China
219
I would question how much of allies Canada, UK and the EU are.
They all support a woke world agenda and the UN, WHO, WEF etc.
TRUMP is against all that globalist, socialist, Civilisation-destroying nonsense.
Those are the countries that need to “get with the program”.
They need the US much more than the US needs them.
352
I can understand Trump’s pique with Canada, they are cherry picking the “friendship” by bludging totally on the US defence budget. He takes such things seriously and was right when he was pushing NATO nations for a better effort.
They still operate F-18 Hornets, we’ve scrapped ours, and hope to get their first F-35s next year. We have completed our order of 72.
Has Canada been beside America when they have had boots on the ground? Not in Vietnam.
70
Funny you should mention cherry picking H , you see to have done a bit of that yourself in reaching over, around, past a swathe of conflicts to sling mud at the Canucks about Vietnam.
20
Happy to be corrected, I’m a big boy now.
00
I’ve heard this multiple times just today, and it’s still Sunday here.
Trump has ‘alienated’ this and Trump is ‘alienating’ that.
It’s as if alienation only travels in one direction.
(That’s aliens.)
Trump is POTUS 47 because he speaks for alienated Americans that have been silent and silenced.
310
Tonyb,
What are “all the markings of a full scale depression”?
My guess is that depressions happen when the workforce loses some of its will to work, for whatever reasons. But my comment is useless because I am not expert in economics and there are others who are. Do we count you among them? Geoff S
30
My guess is that it happen when Govts think they can run an economy instead of letting the free market do it!
Just look at the debt and helicopter money thrown around since the 2008 crash was kicked down the road instead of letting the poorly run businesses go broke and get out of the market.
Back that up with the stupidity of a Welfare State paying people not to work or to have fatherless children, and add on crazy subsidies that encourage the wrong things to be made or grown, and of course depressions come around regularly, just like election cycles.
JC reckons the next one will be a good one, and I expect all the global warming bullsh1t will make sure it crashes hard. The world has lost a massive opportunity to improve standards of living everywhere with the post-1970s politics.
70
Geoff
Here is a fairly objective analysis of the Smoot Hawley tariff, which with other restrictive acts is said to have triggered or helped to trigger the 1930’s depression.
https://fee.org/articles/the-smoot-hawley-tariff-and-the-great-depression/
Of course, circumstances are not the same today, but some would argue that the US market is overpriced and debt increasing rapidly. Look at Deep seek which wiped many billions off the market and is an indicator of the fragility of tech stocks.
I know Trump is very popular on this forum but creating huge tariffs against your best friends and closest allies does not seem sensible, especially as no one has forced US consumers to buy products emanating from overseas.
10
The Great Depression of the 1930s was certainly NOT caused by people losing the will to work. I am old enough to remember people who lived through it.
20
Roy,
I am in my 80s. What other common cause induces monetary depression other than reduced national work output? What are the basic causes of a natural productivity loss? I seek education because I am not an economist.
Geoff S
10
Tonyb,
You might like to study this analysis:
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DM,
Toilet paper is a product where distance between factory and user matters. So, Canada being a short hop over the US border is favourable. The reason involves speed.
Canadians make toilet paper at about three times the speed of a flat out commercial jet aircraft, thus well above the speed of sound. Not only trade barriers are involved, also sound barriers. Geoff S
41
The crazy thing about Canada is that they recently imposed a 30% carbon tax. Supposedly they’re worried about US tariffs but are handicapping themselves with a useless tax. It’s a case of “ quick look over there , that nasty Trump man is hurting Canada”. No mention that they’re already shooting themselves in the foot.
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Here’s an extremely interesting video about the Greenland shark, the world’s longest lived vertebrate which is believed to live to 500 years.
https://youtu.be/JUPrdUvB58c
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Their diet consists completely of seafood.
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See food and they eat it. Like me.
40
Sounds like a possible new name for DJT
30
What a peculiar creature. It must be why Trump wants to buy Greenland- to procure the best quality flake available to man.
#worstfishandchipsever
10
Here’s a video about a very famous Russian experiment where they selectively bred foxes, choosing the most tame from every generation to breed.
It was found that selecting for tameness came with other physical changes such as floppy ears, shorter snouts, different brain function, spots and colour changes, fewer stress hormones, longer lives and many other changes. In fact, the similarities were much like developed with dogs when they were domesticated from wolves.
https://youtu.be/eFClIlkLoVA
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Another remarkable thing was how quickly these changes came about with guided, selective breeding. They occurred within just three or four generations.
You can buy them if legal in your country. They would not be allowed in Australia which generally does not permit any forn of “exotic” pet, being a Nanny State. Although there are plenty of introduced wild foxes already.
Copied from elsewhere:
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A Nanny State??
So you never saw the damage done by rabbits and foxes in Australia?
It was/is horrendous!
110
The point is that we already have foxes anyway. I see no problem if someone wants to import a domesticated one. How is it any worse than a dog, of which we also have feral ones.
And most “exotic” pets are not allowed, even if there is no chance of them becoming an invasive pest.
And more generally, Australia is an extreme Nanny State in so many other ways apart from pet ownership.
131
You might also watch The wonder of dogs, a series about the evolution of modern dogs.
Interesting how traits like those “puppy dog” eyes developed to enhance Oxytocin responses in their owners, strengthening the bond and level of care.
40
Darwin effect is limited.
Cats and dogs have been human companions for millennia, so one assumes we select for similar traits in both animals and have bread a variety of sub-species but cats and dogs are as dissimilar now as they ever were. My logic says there should be a gradual coming together. It ain’t so.
Cats haven’t developed “puppy dog” eyes or floppy ears, as mentioned above.
40
As I understand it, cats are not fully domesticated either, unlike dogs.
“Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.”
170
Trying to herd cats is like trying to speak sense to Lefties…
20
That’s because you have cat people and dog people in humanity, and its hard enough getting them to blend, never mind their pets!
30
Video about how illegal immigrants, members of criminal gangs, are being rounded up in New York due to TRUMP’s orders.
Everyone seems happy except the Left. But the criminals don’t tend to go to the Elite areas where the Left live so they don’t care anyway.
https://youtu.be/aIWAl6Ivivs
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But remember when illegals got shipped to Martha’s Vineyard? That didn’t last long. They were shipped out the next day. No tears from the left.
150
Har to believe that democrats favor protecting the criminals over citizen rights.
50
Did you forget a /sarc tag, Scissor?
40
IIRC the song changed when the fly-in gangs started to raid those areas
30
FWIW
“Gabbard in the Wilderness”
https://www.newenglishreview.org/articles/gabbard-in-the-wilderness/
And
“Trump Moves the Overton Window on Gaza”
https://hotair.com/headlines/2025/02/01/trump-moves-the-overton-window-on-gaza-n3799407
When you have
“Quelle Surprise: Arab Nations Are a ‘HELL, NO’ on Accepting Palestinians From Gaza”
https://hotair.com/headlines/2025/02/01/quelle-surprise-arab-nations-are-a-hell-no-on-accepting-palestinians-from-gaza-n3799393
Plenty of “hopium” but some wonder on the supply
71
” if you excluded wankers, gas bags, mashers, and drunks from holding office in Washington, DC, the capitol would be a null set or a just another east coast urban slum.”
120
And on Jordan accepting ‘Palestinians’ there was the PLO vs Jordan in 1970.
“by early 1970, leftist groups within the PLO began calling for the overthrow of Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy, leading to violent clashes in June 1970.”
These are Jordan’s mortal enemies. But they present themselves as ‘Palestinians’ and get world sympathy when Palestine already exists in Jordan. Except it is not run by violent extremists.
170
And how was that war resolved? “Jordan allowed the fedayeen to relocate to Lebanon via Syria, where they later became involved in the Lebanese Civil War. ”
No one wants these professional and eternal troublemakers. In fifty years with massive donations from international muslims, they are still an active army of malcontents seeking violent conquest.
210
‘HELL, NO’ on Accepting Palestinians From Gaza”
Palestinians cause problems in several ways. One, they try and do continue to attack Israel and that Nation responds. Two, the acceptance to settlement in general — not the so called camps — admits there is a solution other than a State of Palestine for them to return to. Oddly, at this late date, most of those in the camps have never lived in the place they supposedly want to go back to.
213
From the Gabbard in the Wilderness article,
I would add failure to call the CC change hoax the threat to freedom and democracy it was and continues to be. Indeed they had the US military classifying CC as the major threat. The US IC is part of the “global socialist left.”
40
FWIW
“Young Adult Mortality 70% Higher Than Expected: Study”
https://www.offthepress.com/young-adult-mortality-70-higher-than-expected-study/
Via https://instapundit.com/699982/#disqus_thread
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RFKJ has a lot of work to do.
Why doesn’t the left give a rat’s about drug related death? Why are they soo anti the one guy making noises about health?
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I suspect it is because they once counted him as one of their own.
60
The apostates must be punished severely to stop more losses of the minions.
Also former lefties are dangerous — they are good at speaking the language of Green-Left-manipulation.
70
They also know where the lefties have buried the bodies.
60
Sweden was criticised for its “let it rip” policy during the early days of the pandemic which resulted in higher Covid deaths. However, Sweden has experienced much lower excess mortality rates compared to other Western nations that utilised mRNA vaccines, including Australia, in the following years.
I’m astonished this discrepancy isn’t examined further by all those authorities claiming to do a deep dive on how various medical and governmental groups handled Covid. These sorts of facts always seem to be glossed over.
I think I’d be better off living in Sweden except ze Germans need to buy power because their leaders led them down the renewables path…
30
FWIW
“Irony alert – Dutton announces cutting government waste on the ABC!”
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2025/02/irony-alert-dutton-announces-cutting-government-waste-on-the-abc.html
Your morning irony?
120
After the disgraceful episode of having Liberal (fake conservative) appointed Ita Buttrose as chair, who immediately pronounced that she could find no bias at Their ABC, I don’t trust the Libs to reform or defund the ABC. It will be more of the same.
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FWIW – Chiefio looks at AI
“A.I. Programming has improved A Lot”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2025/02/01/a-i-programming-has-improved-a-lot/
00
As with any runaway metastasizing organization. The UN, WHO, IPCC, ABC/SBS, cut off the money supply.
This is already Australian law. Force the ABC to obey the existing broadcast laws which apply to all media, so as to limit their ability to threaten the government and politicians with biased reporting.
The ABC/SBS otherwise runs as a self serving cartel, demanding more and more cash or they will punish the government.
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I have found myself biding time, in a room with free to air TV [no Fox] a bit lately so I click through the channels. It’s amazing how many ABC/SBS/TTT channels there are. And then they compete with private enterprise on the web, where they can’t claim any long tradition of providing service.
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Cutting the budget to any publicly fund enity does not work. Because the people managing that budget cut funding to the most important service first (to cause trouble) the waste stays. You have to cut the people manageing the budget. Which is almost impossible because the whole system is geared to protect the people at the top. Note the figure head chair person doesn’t count.
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Or cut the most popular. A few years ago when under pressure Dora the Explorer was on the chopping block. Most popular kid’s show iirc.
30
Yes, the last time they threatened to cancel Peppa Pig! Except it is a UK cartoon and the ABC simply pays more than the commercial channels for the rights. And uses it to threaten voters through control of their children.
There is no way you can reduce the ABC/SBS budget. However you could remove the exemption for ABC from the media laws. It’s comparable to a forced breakup of a commercial monopoly. That will not reduce the bill, but properly done they will compete for government cash and not act as a monolithic threat. Radio, television, Internet should all be different divisions with the same limits on reach as commercial media.
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You’re right, Peppa not Dora.
20
All the Government has to do is cut the broad casting license in any channel TV and radio and for a start that would be in the capital cities where there are other competing (private) sources for information, warnings, emergency use etc. They could shut down SBS entirely, and all the ABC channels. I think NITV in the capital cities is also a waste of money and no benefit to the health and welfare of aboriginals living in remote and rural locations.
That could be done immediately for biased reporting and biased programing without considering funding. Without broad casting licenses the ABC would need to act quickly on correcting programming and personnel or decide for themselves to shut down parts where they can provide no service.
30
Musk getting caned again by the Blob-
“Musk’s X enables Australia’s neo-Nazis, warn Coalition and online watchdog.”
The best of 1984’s double-think is on show by the SMH-
“Australian neo-Nazis are thriving on Elon Musk’s X, the federal opposition has warned, as the nation’s online safety watchdog raises the alarm on the “perfect storm” of extremism brewing under X’s free speech abolitionist policies. X has cut online global moderation, removed all staff in Australia and reinstated thousands of banned accounts, according to the eSafety commissioner, ushering in a chaotic era for social media driven by a growing sense, particularly among those on the right, that content moderation stifled free expression.”
So, Musk wanted to abolish free speech by getting rid of Leftwing moderators??
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/musk-s-x-fuelling-australia-s-neo-nazis-warns-coalition-and-online-watchdog-20250129-p5l852.html
SMH as usual…
80
Seems more usual for “SMH” to mean “Shaking My Head” in net speak
30
Politicians behaving normally-
“Transport Minister Jo Haylen ..sent a driver on a 446-kilometre round-trip from Sydney to chauffeur her and a group of friends to a long lunch at a Hunter Valley winery on the Australia Day weekend.
For the trip, which was also attended by Housing and Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson, the driver took a 13-hour trip from Sydney to the minister’s holiday house before driving them to a separate jaunt at the Brokenwood winery for a three-hour lunch.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/contempt-for-taxpayer-haylen-to-pay-back-cost-of-personal-hunter-valley-tour-20250202-p5l8w4.html
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It was not in a helicopter so not likely to get air time
🙂
10
From 2023, but in case you missed it.
21
BMI has always been a joke.
Technically Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime would have classed as morbidly obese.
More woke, platitude-dispensing comforting terms won’t hide the truth.
80
Leg length varies enormously. Musculature as well. But certainly for men without fat legs, behind or arms, the primary measure of waist is perfect. 1kg = 1cm. Over 100cm is dangerous no matter what happens to your legs, arms,..
40
While I agree that 100cm waist measurement is overweight, I disagree with the formula 1cm waist = 1 kg weight. I suggest a more useful normal figure is 1 cm waist = 0.8 kg weight. I have a normal healthy BMI for a male and I find that a size of 36 ins or 91 cm fits and that this size is common and often has run out.
20
Sure. My use of this is for weight loss. It is an incremental number, not absolute. Surprisingly, for some shapes, it can also give body weight, but that is an accident. My calculation is as a beer barrel, which is a good description for many middle aged and older men. Especially former athletes. All excess weight goes around the middle at this rate. If you want to lose 1″ from your waist, lose 2.5kg.
30
“adiposity-based chronic disease”
Just rolls off the tongue don’t it.
As I’ve mentioned, I live near a major STEM university.
A high-rise across the street from the college is undergoing repair.
The sidewalk has a scaffold and plywood covering to shield pedestrians from debris.
The are large yellow signs that read …
‘Pedestrian Overhead Protection Entrance’.
This is the same building that formerly had an office that displayed a sign that read …
‘Personalized Orthodontics’.
60
ABCD is a bit long, why not Fortunate Adipose Tissue people…?
30
FWIW
“Escobar: The Chihuahua Energy Policy – It’s A Gas, Gas, Gas”
“As for the European chihuahuas, enjoy your “strategic defeat” fantasies. Keep yapping – and buying Russian LNG.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/escobar-chihuahua-energy-policy-its-gas-gas-gas
But then in here
“Rubio Unipolar Era Over, US Lied To Kiev; EU Debates Russian Gas Return; Ukraine Cascading Collapse”
https://rumble.com/v6fj0xd-rubio-unipolar-era-over-us-lied-to-kiev-eu-debates-russian-gas-return-ukrai.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp
Alex M mentions that it looks like Denmark has given Gazprom the OK to start doing repairs to the Nordstream pipelines
40
NASA discovers a square structure on Mars
https://x.com/frankdasilva/status/1885810947798847814
Looks like ancient ruins foundations…
40
First rule of geographical imagery.
Always show or state the scale.
Are the sides 5m or 5km?
And the second picture looks “enhanced” with a square superimposed on it.
30
Sceptical viewpoints and analysis here (too long to copy and paste):
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/claim-there-is-a-feature-on-mars-that-resembles-an-ancient-square-structure.13980/
20
I know it’s not really ruins btw.
Just saying it’s odd.
Another case of Pareidolia…
10
The face on Mars is a classic example.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cydonia_(Mars)#/media/File:Martian_face_viking.jpg
10
I think it’s a McDonalds.
20
Sadly looks like it’s closed down.
40
Kamala worked there.
20
That’ll be why it looks obliterated like the Dems.
10
FWIW
“Escobar: The Chihuahua Energy Policy – It’s A Gas, Gas, Gas”
“As for the European chihuahuas, enjoy your “strategic defeat” fantasies. Keep yapping – and buying Russian LNG.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/escobar-chihuahua-energy-policy-its-gas-gas-gas
But then a couple of days ago Alex M mentions that it looks like Denmark has given Gazprom the OK to start doing repairs to the Nordstream pipeline
00
Outgoing DNC Chair Unveils Democrat Party’s Rules for Leadership Positions – And It Will Make Your Head Spin
Outgoing DNC Chair Jaime Harrison laid out the ground rules for leadership positions and he even confused himself.
“In order to be gender balanced, we must elect one male, one female and one person of any gender.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/outgoing-dnc-chair-unveils-democrat-partys-rules-leadership/
“And one person of any gender”
/LOL.
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And why not one person of ALL the genders the Left claim to exist?
That would be at least 72 (apart from the two standard ones) according to this list:
https://www.medicinenet.com/what_are_the_72_other_genders/article.htm
Anyway, in the House, I would think TRUMP’s “only two genders” rule applies.
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Will we be able to tell the difference?
30
I am just starting to appreciate the significance of Trump declaring two genders.
From 2016 to 2020 Democrats were focused on getting back into Paris. From 2024 to 2028, they will be focused on deciding how to remain gender balanced when there is an infinite array of genders. Trump has set them an insurmountable and totally useless task to focus their feeble minds.
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Another one bites the dust !…..
… Gladstone Hydrogen and 110 GW of renewables project scrapped .
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Fqueensland-premier-cans-hydrogen-pipe-dream%2Fnews-story%2Fb082008dbb726291badfd0a7e803c62e&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium
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Its nice to get good news! I wonder if that’s part of the Trump Effect?
20
It is very sad for Australian youth who are being educated in universities to get into the “renewables” field.
I was thinking about all the hard work that went into getting Ivanpah up and running. There would now be middle aged engineers who put a good part of their career into this project and it has not made a return. Essentially very expensive R&D.
Think of the careers being burnt in Australia on wind and solar scams. CSIRO has been funding Concentrated Solar Power with little or no economic result. Universities with expertise in combustion technology have shiu down that research in favour of “renewables” studies.
50
Does anyone know:
a) How much, if any, heat produced by 20 MW “medical / scientific” pot at Lukas Height ?
b) How that heat utilised ?
c) And if not, how easy would be to do it, rather than just “warming the Earth” around Sydney?
40
I have never been to Lucas Heights so this is just what is on the web.
The heat is low quality. The core is in a pool of water 12.5m deep; vented to atmosohere and maintained between 20 and 40C. The focus is on safety. Producing steam for power generation would make it less safe. Making electricity would be a diversion from its role of industrial and medical materials.
There are ongoing efforts to shut down the operation for safety and environmental concerns.
10
Thanks, Rick, all pretty logical.
10
Use the water as a heat source for a heat pump in winter? Or is Lucas Heights not cold enough?
00
Vladimir,
Typically, in discussions of nuclear electricity, there are comments from poorly informed parties pro- and anti- opinions delivered with religious zeal and conviction. I hope that you are not one of these.
In the 1970s I was ultimately responsible for the quality of uranium analysis at the developing Ranger mine. The most accurate method did not use the bigger HIFAR reactor at Lucas Heights, but the smaller MOATA research reactor. (These were later replaced by OPAL). The analysis used delayed neutrons emitted by uranium after irradiation in MOATA. I learned from many excellent scientists working at Lucas Heights, such as Dr Clarence Hardy who had a rare Doctor of Science and other users of Lucas Heights reactors like Lloyd Smythe, Chemistry Professor at Uni of New South Wales. It is possible that I met a younger Paul Miskelly, I simply cannot recall.
The Atomic Energy Commission had scientists of a calibre that I have seldom seen since. They earned respect by their performance. Sadly, the factors motivating top scientists seem to have changed. Back then, they advised governments what policies to adopt. These days they do science that politicians consider will maximise their re-election.
I cannot recall that we ever discussed using Lucas Heights reactors for communal hot water, so I cannot answer your question. I can try in retrospect. Why did you ask it?
Geoff S
20
Anyone for some “West coast swing”?
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ri1v72XNcu1w5pr9j.mp4
Whoa!
/One for the guys…
80
Superb – Fond memories of dancing to that as a teenager – But, not as well as that
10
Never having worn high heals I have always been fascinated as to how ladies don’t “do ankles” on a regular basis. Could it be they have superior balance ?
21
Well, we’re generally lighter on your feet! 🙂 🙂
From personal practical experience, it’s like being on tiptoe the whole time you’re dancing, so takes a bit of energy but definitely possible.
30
To promote our indigenous pioneering wind watchers Anton and the Paul Miskelly team I have been putting about the links to Anton’s collection and Paul’s seminal 2012 paper. Going forward I will add a reminder that this blog made their work available to the wide world, although the world is not taking much notice yet.
Checking the links, I realised that the content is too dense for beginners.
ANTON
https://papundits.wordpress.com/2019/10/01/australian-daily-wind-power-generation-data-introduction-with-permanent-link-to-daily-posts/
PAUL
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1260/0958-305X.23.8.1233
Someone should have told me that long ago, but perhaps nobody is reading what I write. Anyway I will persist because I know two or three people who are interested.
So, I will put some introductory material on Substack to get people started.
This is Anton’s investigation of the fluctuation in the wind supply, described in the energy realists briefing note 21.06.
https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/wind-power/21-6-short-term-fluctuations-in-the-supply-of-wind-power
The most important observations.
Over the relatively short period of the study, significant falls in the supply of wind power, equivalent to the size of a typical coal-fired generator, became more prevalent, larger in size and the power loss occurred more quickly.
Over the two years of the study there were 107 separate entries for power losses of 500MW or more within one hour. The highest fall was 980MW on 09May 2020; that is equivalent to two coal power generators going off line in the hour. There were 16 occasions when the fall was 700MW or greater.
Comment. Frequent outages of coal-fired turbines would be regarded as a serious scandal and receive headline treatment in the media. Similar falls in the wind system pass without comment.
This is the whole collection of notes https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/general/list-of-briefing-notes
Substack
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/rapid-fluctuations-in-the-supply
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Thanks for your efforts Rafe, Tony and Paul. Much appreciated. And wind volatility IS being picked up now by commentators and reporters in The Australian, so all your efforts aren’t wasted.
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Rafe,
I join with your support for the work of Anton, Paul and colleagues in publicising what has become known as wind droughts.
What puzzles me is this. About 1975, our company Peko-Wallsend Limited reviewed electricy generation for the developing Ranger Uranium mine, including wind and solar. The mine was in a remote location, needing its own generation, with reliability high on the wish list as it was of world importance.
At the time, there was information available on the reliability of wind generation that allowed us to dismiss it quickly. The puzzle is why those who allowed and/or promoted widespread wind generation in Australia either did not know or did not use the available info on wind droughts. Geoff S
50
I believe that GenCost obtained its initial wind data from the records of only one wind system, not the total grid wind.
30
Sometimes I need to pay more attention.
I made a detailed response to Rafe here earlier this morning, and then, in a moment of not paying attention, I lost the lot, and try as I might, I couldn’t get it back, and you all know me now, that I don’t do things by half, as I always seek to keep context in place.
I’ll respond in depth when I can, but the moment had all but passed, and I was angry with myself for being so careless, and it’s now too late, but mainly, Rafe, thanks for all you’re doing here in this space.
Its actually interesting how I came about it all really, and I was explaining that when it all went South, and the more I tried to find it, the further away I got from it.
Tony.
50
Rare Asperitas cloud over New Hampshire
https://imgbox.com/WeiLbK5N
You’d think it was fake, and you’d be wrong.
50
Doesn’t look fake.
I will have mine with a chocolate topping and a waffle cone please.
10
Anyone who thinks Australia can’t become a dictatorship, just look at Australia during the covid lock-ups.
Australia had among the most draconian lockups in the world, bettered only by China who welded people behind steel gates.
And the police eagerly “just followed orders” of corrupt, incompetent and dictatorial politicians.
At that point, many Australians realised that it was an illusion that we had a free country or any worthwhile rights.
Australia’s position ultimately stems from the principal moral philosopher of the British Empire, Jeremy Bentham who did not believe in Natural rights but believed rights came only as a conditional privilige from parliament (politicians).
In contrast, the US Founding Fathers had John Locke and Montesquieu as their moral philosophers (among others), and did believe in natural rights which were inviolable and these are reflected in the US Constitution. Of course, the Left in the US illegally ignored these Rights, but they are still there and will be restored by TRUMP.
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Meanwhile in the US…
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-constitution/
???
00
I prefer to believe that Australians will never again allow themselves to suppressed and repressed as we did under The State Labor COVID triumvirate of WA/VIC/QLD. Mind you similar words were spoken during and post the Nuremberg trials but our current PM and his likely successor are showing signs of backsliding using double speak.
80
DOGE update
Good morning X!
My experience with DOGE has been totally wild so far.
I told you yesterday about the $600 million per year the Pentagon was spending on Sushi…
Well, I just found another wild one!
The Air Force was spending $1,280 per paper coffee cup! Like literally those ones you find at the office. $1280!!!
We also found that $230k per month was being spent by the IRS on Starbucks Cinnamon Roast K Cups, but everyone was working from home!
Anyway, back to work! Have a great day!
– Elon Musk
170
We need a similar efficiency audit in the Australian Government.
Dutton claims he’ll do it if elected and has appointed Jacinta Price as shadow minister for this area.
But the public “service” billabong is very deep in Australia. They won’t tolerate being told what to do by politicians because they run the country.
80
Agreed. Look at the resistance that Musk and his team have been confronted with.
In Aus, the General Manager of a Local Council has the (now) legislated right to refuse that sort of information to elected Councillors.
Imagine how the Canberra Treasury and ATO will react.
20
Like literally those ones you find at the office.
No office I’ve seen had such things. Yes, this is an odd thing, and not your standard cup. “… why the Air Force felt it was ok to spend a total of almost $56,000 on coffee cups to reheat liquids when it had spent roughly half that just two years ago.
The cups plug into outlets on cargo planes to reheat liquid such as water or coffee. It turned out they had faulty plastic handles that broke easily, and the Air Force had to buy new ones when the handles broke“
30
Well, I’ll bet the taxpayers are relieved to know the Air Force only spent $640 on each coffee cup, and the failure of procurement standards that wasted the other half.. well, sh1t happens..
Too bad the Air Force didn’t shop for coffee cup warmers on TEMU !!
00
My quick perusal of X this morning (I’m trying to work, dammit!!) is that the USAID organisation seems to have been used as a front for laundering money. We’re not just talking about a lazy $100B USD missing from Ukraine aid, we’re talking the whole organisation seems to have been used as a front for CIA ops and the like. The money figures are eye- watering. Nobody knows where the money went.
50
Judging by the hissy fits and high ranking staff “resigning in protest” you might be right.
00
Ripples of peace in Ukraine? https://www.breitbart.com/news/trump-taps-retired-general-for-key-ukraine-conflict-role/
Main sticking point means bad boy Zelensky, the US puppet of 2014 regime change manifestation, will have to go as will probable sovereignty of Crimea and the Russian speaking parts of Ukraine. Naughty NATO may also have to wind in its additional membership expectations. Essentially winding back the clock 10 years and umpteen million dead soldiers and citizens. No doubt Zelensky has secreted sufficient US aid $$$ to live a very comfortable life in exile never to be heard of again.
100
Crisafulli cans Queensland’s hydrogen pipe dream
Australia’s largest green hydrogen project has collapsed, with Queensland’s Crisafulli government pulling funding from construction of the $12.5bn plant and pipeline in Gladstone.
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Blackout Bowen, where are you. Another Pipe Dream meets up with Reality.
20
TRIGGER ALERT 🚨 THE FOLLOWING POST MENTIONS NORTH SYDNEY POOL 🤬🙅♂️💦
North Sydney LGA rate payers, it’s time to lock and load.
Council is about to vote on an “appalling” rate rise of 111% to help pay off $51 million in loans taken out for the North Sydney Olympic pool debacle.
We should note that as of today (Feb 1) the iconic swimming spot has been CLOSED FOR 1,434 DAYS.
The 88-year-old heritage listed pool, which sits in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, shut its turnstiles on 28 February 2021.
Since then, a reopening date has been pushed back – and pushed back – and pushed back.
The cost of the pool has blown out to $122.2 million.
The original estimate? A paltry $58 million.
Council votes on February 10 whether to apply to the NSW independent regulator (IPART) to approve steep hikes of either 65%, 75%, 87% or 111% over three years.
Ouch.
We will be covering this major local news story in depth next week. Stay tuned …
[Please link to the Source OldOzzie! – Jo]
130
Someone must be making a lot of money from the renovation…
And I bet even the original quoted price and timeframe was way too much.
As they say, follow the money trail.
50
How could it be Heritage listed? The State govt doesnt give a stuff about Heritage. Both sides. Example 1 The beautifil house carefully taken apart so as to build the now abandoned Powerhouse museum. Hasnt been rebuilt and wont be. A stuff up.
Ex 2 I owned a 1914 Federation in Epping NSW. Fully restored. I sold years ago but a friend told me the house was demolished 2 years ago to build some duplexes for Chinese investors.
So Heritage is meaningless.
110
Sorry, what is the rate on? Is this on water, sewer, electric, or some combination of things?
30
Land Rates in NSW – the rest are separate
10
‘This isn’t governance’: Albanese, the Teals using the language of defeat as Northern Beaches rates uproar exposes voter fury with buck-passing bureaucrats.
Zali Steggall’s pompous attempt to twist outrage about the Northern Beaches rate hike into a debate about the “costs of climate change” perfectly explains the left’s collapsing polling numbers, writes Louise Roberts – SkyNews.com.au Columnist and Political Commentator
And meanwhile this week, the Northern Beaches Council ignored the community that recently elected it by voting 8-7 for an unconscionable 39.6 per cent rate rise over three years – something that same community said in a survey it did not want.
The council’s own figures reveal this will cost small businesses $1,600 and households $678.
The cries of “sack them all” from the public gallery last Monday told us everything.
And yes they should all be fired.
People are fed up.
They are exhausted by buck-passing politicians and bureaucrats treating them as ATMs to fund their profligate spending.
So let’s bring in the Teals, the over-hyped independents who have proven to be as useful as an umbrella in a climate change-induced cyclone.
Cast your mind back to May 2022.
We were told the Teals had won six formerly safe Liberal seats and returned four independents including Zali Steggall in Warringah, the federal member with the smug Northern Beaches Council on her doorstep, because the candidate brand of being “fed up with” politics cut deep.
Steggall’s electorate is often maligned as a bunch of superannuated silvertails but it was a majority there who had the bright idea in 2019 of dumping the highly effective incumbent and former PM Tony Abbott in favour of her climate change agenda.
On Monday afternoon, local households were apoplectic at the “lost the plot” council, with their $160 million wages bill and other waste, as the vote on that 39.6 per cent hike loomed.
It was the only topic of note up and down the beaches.
Also key to note is that of the eight councillors who voted yes, one is a member of the Greens, six identify as independents in the same Your Northern Beaches Independent Team – aka political party – and one is a member of the Good For Manly Party.
Meanwhile on Monday, Steggall and her team were posting to Facebook about the need to accelerate climate action and, post meeting, issued a press release that lectured about it being “essential that state, territory and federal governments address the growing costs to local governments from escalating climate risks”.
A Teal mirage at work, people.
The glorified seat-fillers when we are all crying out for authentic leadership.
40
As reported in The Australian
Food firms revolt over power-costs crisis
Employers supplying food to the major shopping centre retailers and thousands of cafes, restaurants and pubs are urging Anthony Albanese to drop his 82 per cent renewables target and focus on ramping up coal and gas production.
I somehow doubt that Albo-Tross has the balls let alone any perceived factional influence. And sadly for us neither does Peter the fake
110
The Green Hydrogen project has collapsed on Queensland, especially after they asked the Queensland government to chip in a mere $1Bn in people’s cash.
What is amazing about the whole man made Global Warming story, even among senior physicists, is that people believe atmospheric CO2 levels are basically random. No one thinks that of sea levels, even with all the rain. And people ignore the fact that 98% of CO2 is dissolved freely in the ocean.
Plus the clear evidence that CO2 comes from the ocean is simply flipped around. An increase CO2 at the ocean surface is blamed on the increase in atmospheric CO2, the so called ocean acidification (no ocean is acid). And the fact that ocean surface warming should increase CO2 is flipped to increased CO2 causes ocean warming, despite a difference in heat capacity of 1600:1.
What is ignored is that the ocean directly received 75% of the sun’s radiation. And that heat cannot escape except by evaporation and this creates all climates. No, the atmosphere controls the climates and it warms the oceans and forces CO2 into the ocean making them (more) acid.
Everything is the exact reverse of reality. And CO2 is in rapid, world wide rapid equilibrium to within 1% year on year, pole to pole.
But the claim is that CO2 is controlled by humans and otherwise random. And any change is our fault.
It’s a religion pushed by the Church of Climateology by millions of Climatebaggers. And the trillions in cash flow like the Gulf Stream.
Humans have had no visible contribution to the almost constant world wide CO2 in the last 50 years of explosive emissions growth, bushfires, lockdown, millions of windmills, billions of solar panels, etc.
Burying CO2 is nuts. Growing trees is nuts. Trees do not reduce CO2. More CO2 and you get lots more trees in direct proportion. Ask NASA.
Green Hydrogen is completely nuts.
190
…hydrogen is the penultimate greenhouse gas. Look at what hydrogen has done to the sun. MiLLionS of degrees CelSiuS ….Our solar system doesn’t need another sun. Pure folly.
40
Making ‘green hydrogen’ is akin to eating celery – the amount of energy expended in chewing, swallowing and digesting adds up to more than you get out of it.
60
That would be a good result for those people who need to eat celery.
20
I have been puzzled by physicists who do not understand equilibrium. In their Newtonian world, everything is controlled by forces. And they often have little experience with chemistry which runs on equilibrium, where every chemical equation has an arrow going both ways.
There are countless interactions on a molecular level and statistically this comes up as equilibrium, which is not a definable force. And both CO2 and H2O exist as solid, liquid, gas dependent on temperature and pressure. And both evaporate and from the vast oceans in enormous quantities and reabsorbed in equal quantities, even if we never see CO2 as a liquid at atmospheric pressures.
(CO2 takes 5 atmospheres to be a liquid at -57C. Ocean pressure is 1 atmosphere per 10 metres which is not far. 1km down is 100 atmospheres and the average ocean depth is 3.4km.
All these systems absorb and release CO2. But like the rain when you add them all up, the equilibrium level changes very slowly.
Then it is argued that a 50% increase in 250 years is significant, unprecedented. This is argued from ice core CO2 records where we see only the average over say 2,000 years, except for the last 250 years where metamorphic blue solid ice is still being slowly formed from compressed snow.
There is just no recognition that total annual fossil fuel CO2 is only 1% of 2% of total CO2 or 0.02%. And insignificant.
130
“(CO2 takes 5 atmospheres to be a liquid at -57C. Ocean pressure is 1 atmosphere per 10 metres which is not far. 1km down is 100 atmospheres and the average ocean depth is 3.4km.”
So over 600M down, at 1degC the CO2 will be liquid, and stay a liquid all the way down to 3.4Km?
Or does it become solid CO2 close to the bottom? With a density of 927 at 0degC it must try to rise above the water as it liquifies.
Funny stuff we never get taught about.
40
I really don’t think anyone knows the behaviour of CO2 in H2O at pressures of up to 1100 atmopsheres. It’s outrageous though for the pushers of ocean acidification to argue that the ocean is ‘full’ or even the ‘surface ocean’. This is just nonsense. Even Coca Cola at pressures of only 25 to 40 metres can store huge amounts of CO2. I also like to note that the Menthos does NOT react with the Cola. It is just a rough surface which causes CO2 to collect, form bubbles and come out of solution in vast quantities.
10
If Hydrogen is released into the atmosphere (cringe and singe) it floats up into the upper atmosphere because it is much lighter than the other gasses and forms a layer of hydrogen up there like glass that mimics a greenhouse glass exactly.
I will see if i can get some funding to study it further.
31
Yet every ‘pop star scientist’ preaching from their pulpit, ie. mass psychosis media, states as if it’s gospel, “emissions build up in the atmosphere”, as if the ‘fragile’ Earth is a house made of glass, a closed system with a roof, which cannot breathe…
Some loony professor was on student radio at lunchtime denouncing our latest govt’s plan to ‘relax carbon reduction goals’ [great idea] and advising everyone to walk, cycle, or take public transport, which reminded me of Ch!na in the 1980s when I travelled through there on my way to Tibet [oops, saying ‘Tibet’ isn’t 8-speech is it?].
Thanks for your numbers TdeF – what should be basic understanding is turned into hokey-pokey mind-numbing scientism by a never-ending stream of climatebaggers from all walks of life: if only they’d lead by example.
50
TdeF:
Not to worry -the EU wants to import “green hydrogen” from Algeria & Tunisia. The first-of-its kind hydrogen pipeline, 3,500-4,000 kilometres long, would run under the Mediterranean Sea. It aims to connect hydrogen production centres in Algeria and Tunisia – which have yet to be built – to the Italian island of Sicily and consumer hubs in Austria and Germany by repurposing existing gas infrastructure along 65% of the route.
The EU, Algeria and Tunisia plan to build a subsea pipeline to start exporting green hydrogen to the bloc by 2030, but experts say the numbers don’t add up. Algeria and Tunisia anticipate large-scale green hydrogen production to be at least a decade away, calling into question plans for exports in the next five years. when the pipeline is due to start operating in 2030.
That delay MIGHT cause them to wonder if natural gas pipelines can carry hydrogen without leaks.
40
As Willis E. at WUWT pointed out a while back –
“The problem with hydrogen is that it is pre-burnt – you can’t just open up a hydrogen mine”.
20
ai – yep, if you have Olivine (a pretty common rock) and it’s got water encroaching into it, it gradually turns in to Serpentine and releases Hydrogen. Thus you can in fact drill a hole and get Hydrogen out, either naturally there occasionally or you could drill and frack Olivine (using water and proppants) to get Hydrogen out.
So you can in fact mine Hydrogen. Likely not profitably, but you can do it.
10
A “safety net”
““Just give me the f***ing links!”—Cursing disables Google’s AI overviews
The latest trick to stop those annoying AI answers is also the most cathartic.”
“you search Google for a way to turn off the company’s AI-powered search results, you may well get an AI Overview telling you that AI Overviews can’t be directly disabled in Google Search. But if you instead ask Google how to turn off “fucking Google AI results,” you’ll get a standard set of useful web suggestions without any AI Overview at the top.”
https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/01/just-give-me-the-fing-links-cursing-disables-googles-ai-overviews/
Via Instapundit
40
“Did You Mean Trains?”: State Dept. Scrubs Transgenderism Out Of Existence
President Trump’s purge of DEI nonsense from government departments continues to proceed full steam ahead with the terms ‘Trans’ being completely wiped from the State Department website.
People have noticed that inputting the term in the search box on the site returns a message ‘no results found,’ and follows up with “Did you mean trains?”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/did-you-mean-trains-state-dept-scrubs-transgenderism-out-existence
Bwaa haa haa…
120
What has been killing competence, as in the air traffic controllers, is the translation of DEI into quotas which surpass competence. The DEI requirements has meant that while demand for training as air traffic controller jobs by competent candidates exceeds places, the intake is limited by the DEI quotas. The result is a shortage in Air Traffic controllers!
The same is happening equally at Ivy League colleges where someone with perfect SAT scores is not guaranteed a place. When quotas preclude competence and merit, society crumbles.
70
The seeds of DEI were planted decades ago.
Kara Hultgreen was the first female US Navy pilot to go go to carriers, she was also the first female to die when her F-14 Tomcat went over the side of USS Ike in a botched landing. Her RIO was a very lucky man. I had heard whispers behind hands that her skill left a little to be desired and during discussion of the Tragedy on the Potomac did a search and found an official report that is quite damning about her and the second female’s competency but they were given passes.
This is worth a read.
Please note that I believe female pilots can be as good as men as long as they are held to the same standards. If their skills and training match the men they may even be a little better in commercial work.
https://www.cmrlink.org/data/sites/85/CMRDocuments/CMRRPT09-0695.pdf
50
Warning this article is thought provoking, as it should be.
From: https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/puberty-disruptors
Image link:
00
An hour of Steve Bannon and Oligarchs, techno feudalism, taxing the rich,(36.00) and getting Trump’s ear. Probably worth a second listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrSLe3-OGBU&t=61s
10
Europe’s Climate Almost-Epiphany
Brussels all but admits the continent needs a net-zero carbon emissions rethink.
If you didn’t believe in miracles before, maybe it’s time to start.
The European Union on Wednesday released a new economic-growth strategy that goes easy on climate-change pieties and focuses instead on more private investment.
In Europe, this counts as both a sign and a wonder.
The plan, formally the Competitiveness Compass for the EU, is Brussels’s attempt to meet economic challenges from the U.S. and China while assuaging European voters worried about stagnating economic growth.
One of the flashier proposals is to rethink the EU’s electric-vehicle mandate, which currently requires all new cars and vans to be zero-emissions by 2035.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whose brainchild this report is, hints at some new flexibility in the intermediate targets that already are taking effect.
She suggests the rule could change to be technology-neutral—meaning it won’t mandate battery cars.
This is a far cry from the unshackling of the U.S. auto industry President Trump is attempting via executive orders.
But Brussels is all but admitting its mandates are killing Europe’s auto industry, and recognizing you have a problem is the first step toward fixing it.
Brussels also promises a big green regulatory simplification. Ms. von der Leyen wants to reduce by 25% the cost of filling in EU-mandated paperwork and other administrative hassles for businesses, and to cut that cost by 35% for small businesses. In the cross-hairs are recent EU rules requiring companies to report on carbon emissions and other environmental effects along their global supply chains.
Better late than never to admit this is an investment and jobs killer.
90
I just watched a very good video by a pilot about the Washington DC plane crash.
There are also some very good comments, including one from someone whose son is a Blackhawk pilot and who evidently knows something about the pilot flying the helo..
https://youtu.be/3-yumkbyCNg
81
Looks like incompetence and laxity, which comes as no surprise. And a good dose of DEI. It’s not as if the woman pilot made only one lethal mistake. It’s a story of carelessness, incompetence and deliberate rule breaking in a very dangerous flying space.
30
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/australian-economist-argues-china-is-conning-the-world-on-net-zero/news-story/967be13b9aa7387c8c9287e76cab8c62
The TRUMP effect light bulb moment. Tell us something we don’t know
41
Nothing controversial except why has it taken him and others like him, so long to work this out???
50
Be fair, Fox has been beating this drum for years. I don’t think they were ever sucked in by W&S.
10
FWIW
“BREAKING: Panama Caves to Trump. Are You Tired of Winning Yet?”
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/02/02/panama-caves-to-trump-are-you-tired-of-winning-yet-n4936613
30
“the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to the canal and represents a violation of the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal,” the State Department said in a statement.”
I’d like some more explanation about that there ‘neutrality’ word.. Is it suggesting that sides must now be taken as America is at war or aiming to be at war with China? Isn’t favouring the Yanks in exactly the same way also not neutral?
How was China’s influence displayed? Did they shut the canal to Yankee boats? Did they charge them more?? Put them through slower?..
..or is this just America bullying the small countries again, because they dared to talk to someone else?
01
It’s called a Treaty for a reason. Panama broke the rules of the Treaty by leasing ports on either side of the Panama canal to CCP owned businesses. An absolute violation of the Treaty Panama signed. The US paid and built it and gave Panama control under strict Treaty terms. Did you whinge about the CCP illegally stopping Australian goods because of the dummy spit after Scomos investigation comments? And we know where WUFLU came from, Trump conspiracy TRUE, another WIN.
50
Did you note the word “treaty”? The US funded the canal and did not gift or sell it to Panama, the terms of that treaty said that it must remain neutral [a simple concept to me] and that US Navy ships have free passage. Share of maintenance was also included. Over the years USA must have been reluctant to be seen a bully and the terms of the treaty are now disregarded with US Navy paying the toll and the US paying for maintenance. In spite of this China has preferred status.
Do you disagree with Trump correcting decades of poor diplomacy?
70
Highway bridge north of T’ville at the Ollera River washed out, cutting off those north. All freight will need to be via the inland highway, adding 1000s of kms and time. China can build the 80+km long Yaxi Expressway in 5 years (including tunnels and viaducts) while here in Aus, we take 15 years to build a 20 min drive on the Gympie Bypass!
60
Dunno?
Palm Island is just a boat ride away. Should be able to get crackin’ with a culturally appropriate shirt design for the contractors straight away. That will reduce the timeframe to begin construction by 2 years but may blow the budget for the actual construction.
20
Once the water recedes lighter vehicles will be able to cross Paluma Range and rejoin the highway north of Ollera but I’m not sure there isn’t another problem on the highway.
Some of that road will need immediate and constant work and the road down Mt Spec is windy and too narrow for a centreline. Obviously there will be a weight limit. I can’t think of any alternative to going north via Atherton Tablelands for the heavies. The cops will have a field day with speed cameras on the long boring roads. Lynd Junction will have ordered more fuel already. Thinking about it The Mt spec road may be made one way, alternating. Thinking about it more the Burdekin R. will have to drop a long way and by then some temporary arrangement will have been completed so I have done all this typing for nothing. At least open the link so it hasn’t been a total waste. 😀
https://www.dangerousroads.org/images/stories/__Roads00000ba/Mount%20Spec%20Road0.jpg
01
Can you say trestles on Inland rail?
00
Sky News Australia host Laura Jayes has grilled Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres over the Albanese Labor government’s ongoing push for renewables and the cost it’s having on energy bills.
Laura tried valiantly to get the lying cretin to answer questions about his government’s policies but virtually every answer started with ” Peter Dutton ” . He continued the lie that ruinables would only cost a bit over 100 Billion when an independent report by Access economics put the price at over 600 Billion ( I have down-loaded and read that report ). Heck , Snowy 2.0 will eat up a big chunk of the 100 Billion ( assuming it ever gets completed or even works ) . The cost of the transmission lines that will never be of any use and that are destroying so much farm land will take all of the rest of that 100 Billion and then some . We see grid scale batteries all over the world bursting into flames , none of them will reach their claimed 20 year life expectancy . Farmers will be left with the $600K cost of removing failed wind turbines from their land . Very few of the solar “farms” will get past 10 years , plenty of them have been destroyed by wind and hail within 2 years , some being destroyed while still under construction . Then there is the ” LITTLE ” problem that without the stability provided by the 300 to 500 ton mass of the traditional generator spinning at 3000 RPM you cannot have a stable grid . Without the coal generators , it won’t matter how much wind , solar and batteries you have , any little disturbance on the system will send the grid into an ” All Black ” scenario .
Listen to Laura battle with this lying piece of rubbish :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3O-z_2xKDA
Read the comments below , spot on !
90
FWIW – Ummm!
“Meet The Original ‘Conspiracy Theorists’: Reagan & The 99th Congress Called Vaccines “Unavoidably Unsafe” ”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/meet-original-conspiracy-theorists-reagan-99th-congress-called-vaccines-unavoidably
30
FWIW
“With Tariffs in Place, Watch the Canadian Dollar and Mexican Peso
February 2, 2025 | Sundance | 101 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/02/02/with-tariffs-in-place-watch-the-canadian-dollar-and-mexican-peso/
For relativity keep watch the $A too – $CAN around $US 0.68, $A about $US 0.61 and “Elbow” hasn’t mentioned tariff effects yet
https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/AUDUSD:CUR
Charted down a bit at https://www.beefcentral.com/
20
They’re even dumbing down Coles (major Australian supermarket chain), apparently because they think people are too stupid to choose between a variety of products.
20
Probably replace recognised brand names with house brand products. When this first started the “big two” told everyone “house brands” were very popular with customers while in fact many of the brand name products were just removed from the shelves leaving customers no option if they wanted a certain product. No big deal—– except many locally produced brands were replaced with products imported from all over, all in the name of the “big two” increasing their profit margins at the expense of local industries.
Remember both of these supermarkets claim to support local manufacturers and farmers. Sadly just Bullsh-t
40
Unless a homebrand is 99% OZ made, I just place it back on the shelf, trusted brands are disappearing fast, I can still get OZ grown Edgells beetroot in woolies but for how much longer.
30
Coles has found a new way to screw suppliers then?
30
But wouldn’t that drop them into direct competition with Aldi who have limited choice as a virtue?
30
I am a Lidl fan – they did not have their staff enforce any COVID restrictions (and actively told them that they were not to police them). And I don’t need to go down a soap powder aisle with seeming choice of hundreds of products that ultimately come from 1-2 companies.
20
FWIW
“Trump’s in tune with the Viagra Boys”
Reading and tunes!
“Viagra Boys – Common Sense (Lyric Video)”
https://youtu.be/xka8lz0UMes
https://newcatallaxy.blog/2025/02/01/trumps-in-tune-with-the-viagra-boys/
00
Ready to have your behaviour changed NSW: https://buy.nsw.gov.au/prcOpportunity/15D89A87-8FAD-4AB3-ABC2B5A5EFB710DB/displayPageStandard
00
Getting rid of DEI positions may actually make the overall workforce more diverse: https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-people-dei-positions-workplace/
often using the position of chief diversity officer to direct these efforts. A report from career site Zippia details that of these positions, only 4% of the roles were occupied by Black people in 2023.
Go figure?
10
Seems the crisis of competence is alive and well in Australia.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-03/tasmania-lgh-air-conditioning-bed-closure/104890386?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web
We like to pretend we are a first world country
20
We should perhaps define ourselves as a ” Previously developed country ” or maybe the term ” 2nd world country ” could cover that .
40
With the flooding up North Qld, find it sus that these links to the project site are now dead: https://www.ecowatch.com/great-barrier-reef-cloud-brightening-2655187667.html
https://www.savingthegreatbarrierreef.org/
https://www.savingthegreatbarrierreef.org/coral-bleaching
as is
https://www.barrierreef.org/news/news/taking-to-the-skies-to-shade-corals
Just sayin’
10
A reminder – they did not think the rules were necessary, they were not concerned about their own families – it was all a scam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q_iprnqBOY
Starmer’s voice coach a ‘key worker’….!?
20
FWIW – on USA
“Every day brings more and more good news
Last week saw a number of outstanding developments for those of us who want the Deep State to become the Deeply (And Forever) Buried State. This meme has gone viral – I’m seeing it all over the place – and I entirely agree with it:”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/02/every-day-brings-more-and-more-good-news.html
20
More on the ap mentioned here – looks like it links snouts to troughs
https://instapundit.com/700127/#disqus_thread
10
FWIW
“South Africa’s Racist Ramaphosa About to FO What FA Buys You”
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2025/02/03/south-africas-racist-ramaphosa-about-to-fo-what-fa-buys-you-n3799442
10
And
“President Trump to Withdraw US From UN Human Rights Council”
“President Trump will sign an executive order withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council and cut funding to UNRWA. – the agency that provides aid to Gaza.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/president-trump-withdraw-us-un-human-rights-council/
10
FWIW
“California Blows It Again”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/02/03/california-blows-it-again/
Willis in comments there –
““Entertaining and informative” … I love the description. It neatly encapsulates my goal for my writing. Science should be fun.”
A line Jo walks pretty well IMO
00
Things of “national importance” –
“WATCH: WH Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Reveals Four Absolutely Insane Priorities That USAID Wastes Money On”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/watch-wh-press-secretary-karoline-leavitt-reveals-four/
I wonder what the Oz list would reveal?
00
FWIW
“Meet Usha Vance, America’s Second Lady”
https://pjmedia.com/sarah-anderson/2025/02/04/meet-usha-vance-americas-second-lady-n4936293
00
FWIW – late night reading
“Russian SVR’s Latest Intel: “West Preparing to Flush Zelensky” ”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/russian-svrs-latest-intel-west-preparing
00