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
Offshore wind madness:
https://www.offshorewind.biz/2025/01/30/uk-unveils-measures-to-fast-track-16-gw-of-offshore-wind/
Money for weather.
71
After a good week for UK wind, it’s dropped to just 4% of demand Friday evening.
The BBC was plugging high-density pumped ‘hydro’ today. Looks like another mad scheme.
Using something suspiciously like fracking fluid instead of pure water. As it’s 2.5 times heavier it reduces the size of schemes, but the maths still don’t add up, you’d never be able to build enough.
40
Well, not aqueous solution. What were they thinking of? 2.5 times is near enough to be aluminium but doesn’t pump well at room temperature.
My browser does show anything relevant. Sure it wasn’t a trial run by the BBC for April the first?
40
Here it is.
https://www.rheenergise.com/how-it-works
https://en.reset.org/new-denser-than-water-fluid-could-make-pumped-hydro-cheaper-and-more-efficient/
The composition of the R-19 fluid is a secret but claims to be used in dental work. It needs to be cheap if it’s going to be used by the megalitre.
30
I knew it, I knew it !
They going to pump mercury, I just got an unsolicited call who informed me of a new government rebate I am may be entitleed to…
The installation is going to be very small physically, to fit comfortably in our unused bedroom…
The caller with that typical accent knew my first name, they know about that unused bedroom, so it must be true…
50
Public Notice for Air Traffic Control Specialist (Direct Hire)
Federal Aviation Administration
Department of Transportation
FAA – Air Traffic Locations
ATO – Air Traffic Organization
Starting at $43,727 Per Year (AT AG)
Permanent • Full-time
Open 11/09/2024 to 11/07/2025
Job open to persons with disabilities.
70
Trump blames DEI hiring by FAA.
That could have contributed, but the army Chopper seems mostly at fault.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/01/wayne-root-here-is-best-explanation-ive-heard/
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Trump acknowledged this saying it was way too high.
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Type Resign in the Subject Line and Hit Send
How can the size of the Public Service be Reduced?
President Trump shows us how!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/01/just-president-trump-offering-millions-federal-workers-buyouts/
40
I think the humans at the coalface (pilots and air traffic controllers) were doing the best they could with a system that thought routing choppers at 200 ft UNDERNEATH aircraft on short finals on approach was ok, sheer lunacy.
Choppers can hover & climb vertically, something aeroplanes cannot do, so why wasn’t the chopper required to gain altitude well above the aircraft on approach BEFORE they transited the airport approach paths.
70
Probably because they are in very congested and constrained airspace with aircraft using 3 runways. I dont think there are simple answers, however the fundamental point you raise of intersecting routes does appear to verge on insanity with such low margins and at night. really seems like if you must do it, you would treat that crossing the same as an aircraft crossing an active runway on the airport, especially dealing with aircraft that can stop and wait at a designated point.
70
It has been suggested that one of the chopper pilots was a woman transitioning to a man.
Hard to say there’s much wrong with that except motive to sign up. Did she sign up for free medical procedures rather than every boy’s dream to be a fast jet pilot?
50
Surely not.
20
Any reference for that H?
00
FWIW
“On the DCA Crash”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=252747
20
That market-ticker link, thanks another ian, explains all-
The heli pilot was too high and in the path of the incoming plane, the heli pilot probably did not know ‘he’ was in the wrong place – forbidden altitude.
Then, the job of air traffic control was to instruct the landing plane to go-around, not to land. ATC would not tell the heli pilot anything as that person was likely disoriented.
ATC failed.
ATC was under-staffed, should have one been controller for helicopters and another for airliners. Different frequencies are used. But there was only one person, qualifications/experience to be established.
Two failures, Trump correct.
10
Three people on the blackhawk- 2 mentioned (white men) 3rd a mystery- things still are not transparent are they!
40
Today’s Coffee and Covid mentions rumours of a “shim” and is awaiting details
20
FWIW
“Citigroup: “Trump Can’t Stop Energy Transition”!”
Doesn’t format properly but you get the idea –
”
I’m not an ESG analyst, but I did minor in math back in the Pleistocene:
Year Fossil Fuels Nuclear Renewables Energy Production (quads)
2017 81% 10% 9% 84.36
2023 84% 8% 8% 102.78
The growth in US energy production since 2017 has been almost entirely driven by crude oil and natural gas.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/01/30/citigroup-trump-cant-stop-energy-transition/
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Trump doesn’t need to do anything to stop the “energy transition” Its not a viable strategy with the current technology set. It will die a natural death as it hits assorted reality walls. I think we are seeing the leading edge of that now.
What Trump (or anyone else) can do is do harm minimization and stop investing in a demonstrable dead end, and promote and support viable technologies.
50
Eh Gawd!
Chiefio highlights another dangerous chemical hiding in plain sight –
“I’m much more worried about the MonoOxygenBiHydrate with lye chloride in it… (ie. sea water…)”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2025/01/30/facebook-face-plants-bans-linux-topics-as-security-threat/#comment-175272
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FWIW
“JON CALDERA: FDA completely contradicts Denver council claims on flavored nicotine.”
“How very embarrassing, then, that after years of rigorous study, the nation’s Food and Drug Administration has cleared the makers of Zyn to market their product, finding it leads to reducing tobacco use, not increasing it. Oopsie!
But by banning flavored vapes, Denver gives the appearance of DOING SOMETHING — something far more important to them than actually getting anything done.”
https://instapundit.com/699689/#disqus_thread
Also in there –
“Related: The Democrats’ Governance Problem. “Think about it. If you wanted safe streets and public order would your first impulse be to turn to…a Democrat? Or if you wanted a secure, actually-enforced border? How about efficient, effective delivery of public services? Or rapid completion of public projects and infrastructure? Or nonideological public administration?”
And that’s from Ruy Teixeira, a Democrat — or at least he used to be one.”
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LEARNING FROM THE WIND LEADERS, SA, Germany and Britain.
The evidence is in. The windpower experiment has failed.
South Australia has thrown in the towel because the Energy Minister requested a change in the rules to permit diesel backup. While the RE enthusiasts regularly celebrate new heights of generation, almost every night SA imports coal power from Victoria. The success of the transition to green power is not measured by the high points, it is measured by capacity to get through windless nights.
The failure in Germany is more spectacular because Germany has been the economic and political powerhouse of Europe.
Starting in the 1980s the Green Party drove a radical green agenda and when they formed a coalition with the SDP in the 1990s that agenda became Law in 2000. Even more ambitious targets were set in 2011 – approaching net zero by 2050.
Sadly, the energy transformation, the energiewende, was dead in the water by 2018 when the official progress report admitted abject failure on the three arms of the policy triangle, price, reliability and emission reduction.
As someone wrote, there is a power of ruin in a country, and it took a while to bring down the economic giant but they are now in recession as power-intensive industries relocate in China or the United States.
Insolvencies are at record levels, the public infrastructure decays while tens of billions are still pouring into wind and solar facilities that invade forests and farmland while making the supply of power less reliable and more expensive.
Despite that, public opinion remained strong in support of green objectives until reality began to bite in the last couple of years.
Britain is in the same parlous state and they also aspire to increase the wind power capacity by as much as nine times. Of course overbuilding does not compensate for the lack of wind during wind droughts.
In the words of one commentator, “we are creating what might be called a zero-industrial society.”
In recent months the massive Ineos ethanol plant in Scotland closed with the chairman warning of “the extinction of our major industries.” Iconic firms are closing or shedding thousands of jobs, 500 at GCB, a third of the Dyson workforce, Vauxhall has closed British plants , the last genuine steelworks at Port Talbot closed costing 1000 jobs and Hotpoint shut a factory in Bristol.
Chemical production is down 40% since 2021, cement and electrical equipment down 50% , overall industrial output down 10%. Britain was once the workshop of the world and lately it has dropped out of the top 10 manufacturing countries.
That should be enough to change the minds of people who saw green energy as the way of the future but the Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently announced that they are committing to artificial intelligence to boost productivity. The British grid is teetering on the brink of collapse already without adding demand from the most energy-intense industry on the planet.
These three case studies indicate how trillions have been spent to get more expensive and less reliable power with massive collateral damage to the environment. Meanwhile emissions march upward in the developing world. Nothing that we do in Australia will make a detectable difference, so why would we spend a dollar to pursue net zero, let alone hundreds of billions, maybe a trillion?
On a positive note, what is to be done?
What about building new coal plants using the technology proved in South Korea to rapidly build capacity at a cost of $2 billion per GW, and gradually replace the faithful and hardworking old clunkers for about the cost of Snowy 2.0. That could halve the cost of power and put a stop to the carnage in the countryside.
210
I appears we are in for a string of hot calm nights in south eastern Australia next week. It will be interesting to see what eventuates as wind and solar evaporate in the evenings. I may be able to run my new standby toys.
20
Sorry, this comment should be directed towards 9.
I believe that the presentation would be vastly improved if they were based around a background PowerPoint presentation of the key talking points. The points that he is making are very good, but I find myself drifting away and losing the thread all too easily.
00
Yes you are right, he is under a lot of stress, getting stuff off his chest, early days, it will have to be radically processed to hold an audience.
The thing is to get it out into the world so it is on the record for the handful of people who can understand what it all means:)
Far too much to process but we get the drift:)
It will have to be put in writing and for CIS publication it will have to be toned down to cut demanding resignations from named people!
20
Agreed, but I’m not sure that anybody would be forced to resign. If it can be written up and made available to reporters such as Chris Uhlmann, hopefully it would received wider coverage.
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MorrisonGate part 3
Aidan Morrison is exploring lapses in due process, professionalism and public trust by the agencies that plan and regulate the energy system.
He is the team leader in the energy project at the Centre for Independent Studies but all the views expressed here are his own as he identifies the agencies and some individuals who are playing pivotal roles in wrecking our electricity supply at vast expense with massive collateral damage to farmlands and forests.
I urge people who are short of time to start at the 25 minute mark.
https://youtu.be/rOhjL_jEuu0
Nothing short of a Royal commission can do justice to the violations of public trust, professionalism, due process and the abuse of political power by irresponsible Ministers, led by Chris “I have learned how to pronounce Dunkelflautes” Bowen.
These abuses are documented well enough for Aidan to be on firm ground with multiple claims of violation of the public interest in pursuit of the fantasy net zero world created by AEMO in the travesty of planning called The Integrated System Plan. This and cognate documents have been scandalously withheld from the review processes which were laid down in the legal framework and the rules prescribed for the operation of the regulatory bodies.
Please watch from the 25 minute mark and make up your own mind. This is the third longish video that Aidan has recorded and there is more to come.
https://youtu.be/rOhjL_jEuu0
This is an outstanding exhibition of public service based on forensic scrutiny of the failureto adhere to the processes that are supposed to ensure transparency and accountability in planning the overwhelmingly most important piece of infrastructure in the nation.
Getting the power supply in order is a matter of life and death and at present we are on the road to ruin, following Britain and Germany.
For a symbol of our situation, look the big hole in the Snowy Mountains where Florence is buried:)
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BoM has moved away from thinking ENSO is the only driver, Southern Hemisphere Monitoring is a better option.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/?ninoIndex=nino3.4&index=nino34&period=weekly
01
I saw this posted on Quora Digest. So sad what’s become of Australia.
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I’m not sure I buy one slightly fishy anecdote as what’s become of Australia.
I dont know a single person , friend or family , that has done this. I see lots of videos of mostly Poms and Americans residing in Asia and it certainly seems like a viable choice for some.
Some people work backwards from the answer they want, dramatize their situation to make their option look good, then lash out at the system/country/people they see as the cause of their situation. I suspect having full knowledge of the situation and their life choices in the last few decades might paint a different story.
20
There is one regular commentator in The Australian, David, who now lives in Bali, and has at times presented very good cases for doing so. Think at one stage he said that his living costs were around $16,000 pa, and his electricity costs were well below Australian costs. He seems to be living there on a full Aust. pension.
30
I hear both of you, DM and Y.
Seen enough Europeans enjoying their (second) settled life in SE Asia and for few minutes imagined us there.
Nah.., too late and troublesome.., our super will see us out.
However, the happy feeling of home here has gone.
Where are the Aussies who laughed at me 50 years ago but helped all the way ?
Is anyone still there in that House?
Just an example – https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-31/george-pell-ballarat-abused-boys/104863920. The great man is dead, unknown official declares him a child rapist and his commune swallows out without a pip ?
As you rightly guessed, I am not a Catholic but I live here and followed the story. I am certain who is right and who is wrong but it is not about me.
It is about Victorians.
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Don’t worry, we get all the Oz deportees from SE Asian jails back again, and they get travel bans so they can’t get passports to leave again
Balances out…
20
FWIW
Trump Reportedly Tells USDA To Remove All Climate Change Propaganda From Their Websites By End of Day Today
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/01/trump-reportedly-tells-usda-remove-all-climate-change/
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TRUMP doesn’t mess around.
He expects things to be done the same day.
Not next month or next year.
And rightly so. He has a lot to get done in just four years.
90
FWIW
“Trump, in 2016, tried to do something outside of his comfort zone. Play politics.
Trump, in 2024, is doing what he was built for. A hostile takeover of a bankrupt and failing business.”
https://x.com/lecternleader/status/1885041061501792312
Via https://instapundit.com/699662/#disqus_thread
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FWIW – another US plane crash
“BREAKING: Plane in Philadelphia Explodes After Crashing into Row Houses (VIDEO)”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/01/breaking-plane-philadelphia-crashes-row-houses-video/
00
Video is pretty amazing, it looks more like a missile arriving its going so fast. Last report I saw said it was a medical flight small jet (Citation or similar)
00
The joys of building the world’s most expensive nuclear plant, in Britain. Would we do it any more cheaply or quicker? 13mins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycNqII5HYMI&t=79s
20
If nothing else is changed, No and No
Small scale and modular and anything else that minimizes Union engagement will be needed. Plenty of time will be spent in engaging the inevitable lawfare.
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Ship it in from China in a half a dozen 40′ containers. Mount on the specified concrete foundations. Connect with the supplied cables. Turn the switch?
30
There is claimed to be a “heatwave” this weekend in Melbournistan (Australia).
Saturday will get to 27C (81F), Sunday 33C (91F)
It is so bad that my local libraries are extending their opening hours as a refuge during these “extreme” conditions. Even buses to take you there.
Obviously the definition of “heatwave” has been altered to suit the Official Narrative. This level of heat is not extreme or unusual for any place in Australia at this time of year. Back in the day this would have been considered good beach weather, not something to seek refuge from.
https://library.portphillip.vic.gov.au/what-s-on/heatwave
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We’ve been ‘threatened’ with 27C the past 2 days (if only… please!) yet Friday topped out on 25 and today even less on 24 – a healthy sea breeze will do that. Good luck for your incoming Low-Intensity Heatwave, aka good beach weather.
As an aside, read an article today about 20 cases in the last 4 months of rickets in New Zealand. Once banished to the pages of history, this deficiency of Vitamin D is making a comeback. Thought you may be interested David.
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IIRC a Vitamin D level rated adequate for rickets prevention is sub-optimal for dealing with the rigours of the Peking Pox
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A couple of years ago my GP was unconcerned about a vitD level of 40 since it was winter.
A couple of days ago a specialist neurologist (not for me) suggested 76 was marginal and wanted a value over 80.
My retest after 1000 IU/day for 6 months was about 140
10
Thought the bandy legs were a result of to much sheep riding, apparently wrong again!
10
FWIW –
“NYT: Trump’s War on NPR/PBS Is Real, and It’s Spectacular”
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2025/01/31/nyt-trumps-war-on-nprpbs-is-real-and-its-spectacular-n3799368
Some reading for non-fans of “Their ABC” and SBS et al
30
FWIW –
Don’t give “Elbow” ideas
“Armed Forces name former MP as first Indigenous Knowledge Keeper”
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/armed-forces-name-former-mp-as-first-indigenous-knowledge-keeper/
10
Cringeworthy.. They will die if they go up against Russia!
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FWIW
“Netflix Announces New Series ‘Little House On The Prairie That We Acknowledge Is The Ancestral Land Of The Brave And Honorable Lower-West Non-Lakota Sioux Community'”
https://babylonbee.com/news/netflix-announces-new-series-little-house-on-the-prairie-that-we-acknowledge-is-the-ancestral-land-of-the-brave-and-honorable-lower-west-non-lakota-sioux-community
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To those who argue that it would be too costly for America to acknowledge its role in creating SARS-CoV-2, or that America cannot afford for its enemies to know how bad the vaccine injuries in the military are – arguments I heard repeatedly in these years as a whistleblower – the potential magnitude of the screwup, Sicily Redux, our equivalent to Athens’ loss of 30,000, both the physical and moral injury, far surpasses the financial and reputational costs to admitting the truth. The failures will only exacerbate as the new administration declassifies intelligence, for the cardiac and IgG4 risks of using the spike protein as the mRNA epitope could have been extrapolated from the suppressed Department of Energy assessment had the cover-up not fouled informed risk analysis.
As the burden is felt, so is the newfound energy in the land. The Demos is in rebound. It dismantles illicit oligarchy. It returns accountability and vigor to the state. Let it not be spoiled by discounting the physical loss of an errant expedition. Let it not be further spoiled by ignoring the moral injury accrued from that failure. A great republic learns from the past.
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-biodefense-oligarchy-and-its-demographic-defeats/
10
Commission Official Defends Paying NGOs To Push for Green Deal
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/commission-official-defends-paying-ngos-to-push-for-green-deal/
While some in Brussels have accepted it is wrong for environmental groups to be handed taxpayer money to promote the Green Deal, others continue to defy reality, even insisting that this isn’t lobbying at all.
Spanish Socialist Teresa Ribera, who is Executive Vice President for competitiveness and climate at the Commission, dismissed recent reports of paid influencing as a “perversion.”
It is not lobbying. It is raising public awareness and trying to identify where the difficulties and the challenges might be. And I think that we need that critical spirit.
She even described receiving feedback from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as “a very democratic and healthy way of identifying problems.”…
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