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
Has anybody ever considered the size of the contribution Bill Gates has made to our current problems?
He sold us a marvellous program called Microsoft Excel, but he didn’t make it fool proof,
Excel enables wonderful things, such as when a retired schoolteacher holds an entire government department to account for its errors. But in the hands of fools it can keep us bogged in banalities
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Unfortunately, a fool with a tool, is still a fool.
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That is fact…..afterall look at our “Prime Minister”!
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Actually a fool with a tool is far more dangerous that a fool without one.
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Speaking fools with tools, I am lamenting what appears to be the activist-level divisiveness the Australian Bolshevik Collective media outlet seems to be imparting via its series on domestic violence.
In fact, it seems the whole mess is just activism dressed up as media. It wont be long before there isnt a singel section of the community it hasnt severely ticked off.
I actually dont like reading it any more – its actually a lot of poorly reseached tabloid-level nonsense, its tone is much akin to agro activism, and it cant be trusted, at all.
It needs to be shut down or sold off. Period.
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Agree,Rereke,
Tools/fools…
Dr Strangelove…the Clintons?
http://dellonmovies.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/thursday-movie-picks-not-funny-comedies.html
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PowerPoint is guilty of far more crimes against humanity.
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“He sold us a marvelous program called Microsoft Excel, but he didn’t make it fool proof”
This reminds me of an old saying among computer programmers, “Any attempt to create a foolproof program will only cause nature to evolve a better fool”
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Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/foolproof
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Another quote around this area
“Yet another government attempt to idiotproof the universe”
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One version
http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=ttalk&th=1885392
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Idiotproof the universe?
A society which legislates to protect people from their own stupidity is a society on the skids!
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Fool-proof? Yes.
Idiot-proof? :sigh: No.
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My wife, an ex high schoolteacher, always claimed that if you want to find a loophole in any process or ruling – give it to a year 9 class for a week, or less. They are, she used to claim, devious animals who will work their way around anything.
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I was 2 years out of uni when the HP-35 came out. Now that was some tool, until the programmable HP-65 and those magnetic cards. Eureka!
Every geoscientist and petroleum engineer had to have one.
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And quite a few of us injuneers
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Do you mean “Ginger Beers”?
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Still got my HP35 although it is back in a cupboard somewhere quietly awaiting the passing and demise of its owner sometime in the not so distant futurre
Nostalgia has set in on that HP35 which my wife bought me with the small sum she got from her parents estate, after watching me salivating and dribbling at the chops all those years ago back in the early to mid 1970’s when I finally laid eyes on a real HP35.
I couldn’t shoot my faithful old computing companion when it finally gave up the ghost after many years of faithful computation so its resting place is amongst all those all those other cast offs of the electronic gadget age, kept in the [ hopeful ] belief that some of which might still come in handy sometime in the future. [ Sigh!! } .
I’m sure it use to blink those red numerals in a sad sort of way whenever I got some input wrong somewhere, somehow and so often!
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Unless you’re Phil Jones
https://climateaudit.org/2011/11/23/phil-stumped-at-calculating-a-trend/
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Meant to go with the Excel comment in #1
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After 40 years of corporate life I hate him for Powerpoint, I dont have enough left over hate after that to be worth worrying about.
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Can’t blame Gates wholly for Powerpoint—MicroSloth didn’t write it, initially. They bought it. Suckers.
They did write Word, so I think I know where you’re coming from. That’s my pet hate.
I made the effort and spent some money on the books and set myself up with TeX and LaTeX so I didn’t have to use Word.
I later did the same for roff (now groff) out of interest and so I had a backup for LaTeX.
I’ve watched people, after advising them to learn LaTeX (takes about two weeks) adopt Word, run well over time and tear their hair out all the way with all the problems they hit head-on. The two extra months Word routinely extracts from them, have always amused me. So far, no one has died from the extra pressure, at least not that I know of, so I can afford to remain amused.
LaTeX and groff saved my sanity (what little I had 🙂 ) and my hair, what little of that was left. I can proudly say I haven’t had to use Word for over two decades. If I want a Spreadsheet or an OHP program, because they are useful from time to time, there are OpenOffice and Libreoffice. Both are Free Software. You just have to install them yourself. TeX and LaTeX are available from the CTAN or you can download a DVD iso image with everything on it including print-ready books to help you learn it (and wear out your printer 🙂 ) and lots of useful utilities.
MS-Office is like Climate Change: it’s only necessary if you fool yourself into thinking it is. It claims to be ISO 26300 compliant but it isn’t.
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Yarpos
Just imagine what you’re likely to think of anything that comes out of this
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/12/17/microsoft-invests-50-million-in-our-new-green-ai-overlord/
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General Montgomery classified his officers into Enthusiastic and Lazy, Clever and Idiots.
He said the most dangerous were the enthusiastic idiots.
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General Montgomery classified his officers into Enthusiastic and Lazy, Clever and Idiots.
He said the most dangerous were the enthusiastic idiots.
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Two decades ago, I was working as a computer programmer with a bank which shall remain nameless.
The bank was balanced daily on an Excel Spreadsheet. It was pretty big. The group I was a member of took a look at that spreadsheet over a period of a couple of weeks. In that time, we found and fixed 16 mistakes. We were told to leave it alone, after that, so we did.
I was made redundant two years later. 🙂
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S
Don’t I recall that Treasury (IIRC)also had some problems with Excel spreadsheets and errors back about then?
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Don’t blame Bill for this. As with so many things he took an existing program (look up Visicalc, Lotus 123 etc), filed off the serial numbers and added great marketing.
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In my part of the world, the lunacy level is increasing.
We now have some of our resident Green Blob, vaporising over the conservation of energy.
Yes, somebody, through the fog of what passes for rationality for them, has heard the phrase, and has fastened on it as a new cause for worry.
Apparently (according to them) we are using far to much energy, and they are demanding that we conserve more of it, to avoid an inevitable shortfall.
Not even I could make this stuff up.
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I’ve seen figures of 50 to 90% renewable energy targets for NZ thrown around but I think that’s based on pushing for more hydro including pumped, how many drought do you guys get?
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In round figures, um, approximately none. Not even the North Island “Desert Road”, is without its streams. They slacken off in mid summer, but you can always find some water if you know how, and where, to look. The nearest pub at would be a good starting point. There is one at Waiuru, just down the road from the Army camp.
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One time we visited the South Island they’d had a drought…it was a bit brown. Maybe 2001? Well, it was a drought by NZ standards anyway.
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The grass “burns off” in summer in the high country, on both islands, but the roots remain viable, and it all greens up again within a matter of days, once we get a bit of rain.
The trick, for the cow cocky’s and sheep farmers, is to know when that is going to happen, so that they can send their stock to market in good condition. They all have their tricks, passed from man to boy, but nobody tells outsiders what they are.
I bit like climate change, actually.
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The locals were actually calling it a drought.
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Probably to impress the tourists. 🙂
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“0” is a round figure/
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Last drought was 2012, and it covered most of the North Island. That was quite a large one which lasted over four months.
Yeah, I know: months not years. It had the farmers grizzling …
At present it is considered dry. There’s been a bit of rain since October, but not enough to keep everything green so far. (Nice: it’s just started raining … well, dripping …)
Marlborough, the northern part of the South Island, has only three seasons: Autumn, Winter, and Drought.
That’s why all the vineyards are in Marlborough. So is Kaikoura(2016), Inangahua(1968), and Murchison(1939), the “homes” of the three worst South Island earthquakes … so far.
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NZ has good capacity for geothermal as well.
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Yeah, we gotta lotta hot rock, and a lotta hot rock chicks to go with it.
Geothermal is probably the greenest source of energy there is. Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, and odd parts of the USA. Any more?
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Except if it involves Tim ‘Flim Flam’ Flannery.
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Very high maintenance though, nice for hot water, sulphuric acid does tend to be a teeny bit corrosive on the pipes though.
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Ha. When were you last in Rottenrua?
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I ignore the smell in Rotorua. Everything is comparative – try riding a camel for a few days, in the sub-Sahara. Then we can discuss bad smells.
It was fun, at the time though.
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Ha. No thanks, I’ll stay with my motorcycle, it’s always fun. The upside is that it doesn’t spit, nor does it have any of the camel’s other bad habits. It’s atmospheric pollution is very different from the camel’s (less methane) and not as hard on the olfactory sensor … 🙂
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There is geothermal potential anywhere that there is a volcanic Island Arc (Malyasia, Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Fiji etc, a major continental rift valley (East Africa),or a mantle hot spot (Hawaii, Yellowstone), or extremely rapid uplift/erosion (Southern Alps of NZ) bringing hot rock unusually close to the ground surface.
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We are also using too much sunlight. Thankfully half the day is night so that the sun can rejuvenate.
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And there’s nothing I can say, a total eclipse of the dark…….turn around hydro.
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That’s Bonnie !
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articles by Donn Dears: https://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/japan-and-china-remarkably-clean-coal/
https://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/co2-through-the-ages/
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Bemused @ #2.2
You’d betta put a copyright onto that bit of phraseology !
If the residents in the inner city goat cheese circles get to hear about that excessive useage of our limited Sunlight and the limited time the Sun gets to re-cuperate overnight then a ban may be placed on using Sunlight on wasteful solar energy projects such solar farms, too small bikini’s, paint drying and etc.
It certainly makes a damn good argument for limiting the building of too many solar farms and installing too many solar panels.
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Rereke Whakaaro:
What is obviously needed is the establishment of Conservation Areas so enough residual breeding populations of energy can be conserved. It is doubtful whether there is enough suitable land in NZ owing to the habit of so much of the South Island of going up and down, and sometimes sideways. Australia has all the land needed for this project, so we will set aside land for you Kiwis. No need to thank us, just make a small contribution, say a billion or so.
On a minor point is it just the Green Spotted Energy that is on the brink of extinction? Or are all forms of energy in danger?
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Sorry Graeme. I can’t be handling bonking ergs at this time on a Sunday morning.
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Choking over my breakfast at that one! 🙂 🙂
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Rereke, wadda you doing chasing around after the ergs? They don’t matter, Ignore the ergs, they take care of themselves.
It’s kwahers (KWHs) you gotta manage! They’re the ones which cost real money.
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Be care with the positioning of the population or it might flip over.
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Your’e worries about NZ tipping over from the loads created by excessive breeding and population increases is not without precedent.
Senator Hank Johnson from the State of Georgia expressed his concerns about Guam back in 2010.
[ CBS News ]
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Whoever that person is he must have the intelligence of a rock. Conserve energy? Why? There’s an abundant amount of it everywhere stored in various forms, including Uranium, coal, gas, oil, etc. If we ever went close to running out of these we could develop technologies to convert other materials to almost limitless amounts of energy.
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Send him outside into the midday sun without a shirt. Sunbathing is great conservation of energy at about 1kW per hour. No sunscreen allowed. Tell him it’s all about conservation of energy, all that solar energy can’t be allowed to escape.
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In Australia we have had water conservation for a long time. Saves building dams, or as the green intelligentsia know them, damns.
While flying into Wellington the other day I was able to see the many windmills on the hill tops spinning the political message that they are producing abundant, free electricity.
Ain’t politics marvelous.
KK
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There will surely be another crisis coming as out population keeps growing and we are hit with yet another long period of drought. Then watch all the Greenies coming out and yelling “see we told you those desal plants were a good idea”. The trouble of course is they will be woefully inadequate for the whole population and if nothing is done about it, thousands might die, all thanks to the Greeneis for preventing the building of several dams that are already overdue. I really do wonder when will Australia wake up and realize the Greenies are almost as great a threat to our future as are the terrorists.
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Bigger threat, terrorists threaten 10’s, greens threaten thousands to millions of people.
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I was going to say something like that but I thought I would tone down my post in case it was moderated. Thanks for taking the lead.
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Ah wonderful… The Entropy Police.
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Talk about stupidity/irony,foolishness, or whatever else you want to call it. The law of conservation of energy (mass/energy really, but let’s focus on energy alone) says that in any physical process “energy must be conserved.” So to use the law of conservation of energy to argue that man should initiate a program to “conserve energy” is a joke. Man can no more NOT conserve energy than Al Gore can get anything right.
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Quite true.
But it does indicate the mindset of those involved. The underlying scientific principles are of little import to these people. To them, conservation is good!
In New Zealand, we even have a Department of Conservation, within the Government apparatus. They have been very successful in preventing people chopping down trees, and in protecting the habitat of the lesser spotted whatever.
We also consume electricity, and other energy sources, and pay for the privilege, so energy takes on the appearance of a material substance that can be squandered or saved. “Don’t leave the lights on, it wastes electricity”.
So to your poets, philosophers, and aesthetics, the idea becomes the word, and the word becomes material, and so it is quite logical to think that energy could be conserved. “We store it in batteries, don’t we?”
Yes, I know that to an engineer or scientist, it is all rubbish. But I do find it intriguing that words can acquire sufficient power, to morph in such a way.
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The problem is that if you quote a scientific law they think that it is just like other law and can be changed by pressuring politicians. As said politicians have backbones resembling wet spaghetti that is the easy bit. The problem (for the gullibles) is that nothing changes because of reality, and they can’t deal with that and get angry and abusive.
Expect shortly a campaign for “positive discrimination” against negative electrons and demands for equal marriage rights for gay watts.
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Ah! Now I see the the reason for your concern regarding the “Green Spotted Energy that is on the brink of extinction?”
Sometimes it takes some time.
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THE TRUTH IS WE ARE FACING A NEW FEUDAL SYSTEM , THEY WANT TO CREATE A SYSTEM THAT CONTROLS EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE BY REGULATION FROM A MASSIVE BUEROCROCY , IT’S NOTHING TO DO WITH SCIENCE , NEVER HAD BEEN
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Good to see some Christmas spirit back at the White House – after a NOTICEABLE absence of 8 years.
What a rotten person was/is Oh Bummer.
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Obama was simply following the precepts of his spiritual belief system. The USA has had Catholic Presidents, Protestant Presidents, and whatever guiding philosophy Obama applied, from time to time.
We have yet to experience a Buddhist President, though. Now that would be interesting!
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For MAD to assure our safety, it is essential that the more powerful nations believe the POTUS is prepared to push The Big Red Button if the relevant military crisis arrives.
If the world knows the candidate is a Buddhist the candidate is unqualified.
This is true even if they would push the button because it’s the perception that counts.
It’s a concept ripe for comedy though, especially if they ran as Republican. What if the POTUS was pacifist, minimalist, educated, softly spoken, thought before acting, and applied a parsimonious moral code to all their thoughts and actions? i.e. What if the president was the opposite to Trump.
Press conferences would be less explosive.
J: “Mr President, is it true that once at a temple you bragged about grabbing a woman in her Middle Way?”
B: “I want you to sit in the corner and meditate about what you’ve just said.”
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That would be Jimmy Carter
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Why have Christian values been under attack by Barrack Obama etc whilst other faiths have been promoted . Is it that some faiths are more compatible with a feudalsystem than others .especially those religions that are still stuck in a medieval mind set
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A medieval mind set, would imply the philosophy of The Crusades — a series of wars that never reached a satisfactory conclusion for either side (if my memory serves).
It is still unfinished business, in some quarters. So you may be right, and the driving desire has been to return to a medieval culture, with the new beneficial advantage, of a call to prayers, via Twitter.
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Rereke your great , I just love chewing on history with you , did Contantine not create a feudal system that lasted a thousand YEARS BASED ON CHRISTIANITY , AND ARE WE NOT TRYING TO DEFEND JUDAO CHRISTIAN VALUES AGAINTS A NEW FEUDAL SYSTEM CREATED BY A GLOBAL NEW WORLD ORDER
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The greenists are driven by an occult system, not Chirtianity and not anything else. Christians classify it as demonic ( satanic if you will ). The West’s values are based on the Christian /Judeo moral code, which is why marxists are desperately trying to promote *anything * that attacks these values, because such values are robust but workable.
Its interesting to also note that the marxists are very compatible with the occult, Marx wanted to de-throne God ( a foolish waste of time if ever there as one ) but the Left seems to have an ample supply of fools……
In terms of clashes, yes the Elite are happy to revive the Crusades of old, and let everyone battle it out to complete conclusion this time, which is why if you observe the recent chane in demographics in europe and many Jews fleeing for Israel, you have probably worked out whats coming…..
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No, I can’t claim any certainty regarding what’s coming. All I can do is cast the runes, and see which way they fall.
What I can say, is that we have the Islamic State in one corner, and the Environmental Movement in the other, with both being significant forces that wish to shape the present world, into the future that they desire. There cannot be two winners in such a scenario, because there is no common ground.
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RW
“with the new beneficial advantage, of a call to prayers, via Twitter.”
Is that a one-up on a call to prayers by loudspeaker”?
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Just gave everyone a first green thumb, merry Christmas…….is this thing on?
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You might need to change the batteries.
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More sea level rise problems.
“Another Ian
December 14, 2017 at 8:47 pm
Willis
I just came across this
http://uq.edu.au/research/impact/stories/uneasy-waters/
Is this the same Solomons?”
“Willis Eschenbach
December 14, 2017 at 10:09 pm
Nope. That’s the fantasy Solomons of computer models and alarmist predictions. As the article says, “Modelling now very clearly shows that … blah blah blah”.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, “The reports of the death of the Solomons has been greatly exaggerated”.
See also my first post from the Solos, which is here. Click on the name of the blog at the top of any of my posts to see them all.
Thanks,
w.”
” Another Ian
December 15, 2017 at 12:38 am
Alma maters ain’t what they used to be”
From https://rosebyanyothernameblog.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/unidentified-flying-voters/
(Willis having been around the Solomons for quite a while and currently posting from there)
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https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2017/10/27/boys-and-their-toys/
When I saw this article I thought rather than comment there, I would give an extended comment here in unthreaded, if that’s okay.
The P-51 is dear to my heart from when I was a kid. Like many youngsters, and like Pointman I fell in love with the P-51, they way it looks, the way it sounds, how it shortened the war, the lives it ultimately saved, its status as the best piston engine fighter plane. My 8th grade science instructor was a former P-51 pilot and he loved to talk about it and teach us about it. He also taught us much about aeronautical engineering and gave us a love for science from an early age.
Some of my comments:
The P-51 came about when the British asked North American Aviation to build extra P-40s. The Chief designer, Ed Schmued, proposed building an entirely new design instead. The British agreed as long as it could be done in 120 days. They did it.
It was commented that the Allison V1710 engine could have given the Mustang similar performance to that provided by the RR Merlin, if it had been given the proper supercharging and or turbo charging equipment. However, Schmued made it clear to his biographer that the Allison motor had a flaw that meant that it could not take much boost. It could never match the performance potential of the RR Merlin or the Diamler Benz V12 engines with this flaw. They tried to make a high boost Allison work in the P-51J variant, and the F-82 but with unsatisfactory results. Furthermore the P-38 used turbo charged Allisons with mixed results. Schmued redesigned the intake manifold of the Allison to make it work better with forced induction, but General Motors would not listen.
The most important aerodynamic aspect of the design was the laminar flow wing. This greatly reduced drag and the wing still worked at transonic speeds. It also gave the P-51 a sudden stall characteristic. A Laminar Flow wing has the thickest portion of the wing chord aft away from the leading edge of the wing. It requires higher operating speeds. The Spitfire wing achieved a similar performance by using a very thin wing. But the Spitfire’s elliptical wing reduced the rate of roll, an important performance parameter for a fighter, compared to the Mustang’s wing, and the two German fighters, especially the FW190.
Another, important aerodynamic aspect was the belly scoop. The aerodynamic work on the P-51 was done by Ed Horky, using the Cal Tech wind tunnel. The belly scoop with rear flaps opened was aerodynamically neutral. It is like it wasn’t even there. Look at a photo, and notice the shape of the scoop and how it’s off set from the bottom of the fuselage (A similar design aspect was also used on the jet intake of the F-16 decades later). This mostly eliminated boundary layer separation drag at that point. The P-51 has such clean aerodynamic design cues. It’s not good for radar stealth but that wasn’t a concern then. Nonetheless, the curves are just so beautiful. Such a good looking airplane. Among pilots there is a saying: “If it looks right, it is right!”
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Not to mention the strengthening of the tail fin. I think that was a modification from the P-51B to the “classic” P-51D . Superb fighter that in numbers overwhelmed the opposition. The P-47 accrued the most “kills” in the European sector
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Yes, when they cut down the rear fuselage to install the teardrop canopy of D, they had to compensate for that with more vertical tail and a stronger tail fin. The P-51D had a dorsal fin attachment to the main vertical stabilizer. The P-51H had a taller tail fin.
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I had the pleasure of flying in the back seat of a tandem P51D at RAAF Base Forest Hill in about 1987. My bank manager at time was an ex-RAAF Spitfire pilot who organised the flight, but when I asked if he was going up he replied “No bloody fear, the Mustang is a beautiful aircraft, nearly as good as the Spit’, but when things go wrong they go wrong very quickly… “
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Some Mustangs still flying, use the Cavalier wing, which is not laminar flow. Not as good performance but much more forgiving.
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One of the reasons that the P-51 could be designed in only 120 days was because its designer had been working on it in his head for many years beforehand. The P-51 was designed by a self taught engineer by the name of Edgar Schmued. Schmued was a German immigrant.
During WW1 Schmued served as a mechanic with the Red Baron’s squadron. If I remember correctly, Schmued was von Richthofen’s personal mechanic and from him learned much about what a fighter pilot needs in terms of cockpit ergonomics and aircraft handling performance. Unable to attend university full time after the war, Schmued taught himself aeronautical engineering principles at night in a university library, while working as a Mercedes Benz mechanic by day.
Schmued sought employment at Messerschmitt, then known as Bavarian Flugzueg (Aircraft) Werks, but being self taught, they were unable to give him a position or even an apprenticeship. Schmued decided to immigrate to the Americas to further pursue his goals. He first immigrated to Brazil where he was able to find employment with General Motors based on his experience with Mercedes Benz.
Meanwhile, General Motors bought out aircraft manufacturer Fokker USA. Fokker USA was the American division of the famous Dutch aircraft company Fokker. Checking their records, GM found that they had an aircraft mechanic that spoke German, Dutch, and English already in the company, and transferred him to Fokker USA then in Maryland.
As soon as Schmued arrived, GM sold Fokker USA out from under them divesting it of its assets. The Fokker USA employees under the leadership of “Dutch” Kindleberger were able to arrange an employee buy out of the company saving their jobs. This was during the Great Depression so it was a desperate situation. The company was re-named North American Aviation.
North American, soon determined that Schmued, despite being self taught, was very talented and very competent. In a relatively short period of time he became their chief design engineer. One of the first projects was the B-25 bomber. This was the aircraft used for the Doolittle raid. Schmued’s first fighter design was one for the Air Force of Peru. The US would not allow this design to be exported, however. The famous Japanese Zero fighter shows an uncanny resemblance to this early Schmued fighter design. Another Schmued pre-war design, was the T-6 advanced trainer.
After the war, Schmued designed the iconic F-86 Sabre Jet, and the T-38 Talon/F-5 jet fighters. Being a native German speaker, Schmued was able survey captured German documents and study German supersonic wind tunnel research. This is how the F-86 came to have swept wings.
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Reminded me of the Fokker Friendship flying from Sydney to Bega NSW that received an SOS from an Italian Australian fisherman who was on a boat that ran out of fuel and was drifting far out to sea.
“Help me, Ima downa here” the fisherman shouted into the microphone as the Fokker Friendship flew overhead, the aircraft crew responded “this is Fokker Friendship flight one to Bega, please report your position. The fisherman shouted again “Ima downa here, help me”. Again the crew responded “this is Fokker Friendship flight one to Bega, please report your position”.
The now desperate fisherman shouted into the microphone “I don’t need your fokker friendship, I need your fokker help”.
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And the Polish pilot during WW2 addressing a lady’s auxiliary luncheon about his experiences.
He explained that his fighter aircraft came under attack from German fighters, “one Fokker was above me, another Fokker below …”. The lady chairing the meeting stopped him and explained to the ladies that Fokkers are aircraft. The pilot continued “Yes, and the other Fokker was a Messerschmidt”.
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Remember seeing one of the few Mustangs flying in Aust passing through a country airfield in the mid-60s. When he took off, he hung it on its prop and went almost straight up. Impressive sight. Also remember hearing about the Mustangs at Maralinga, rescued after the radiation levels dropped, that I believe were sold overseas. More recently, watched a Mustang doing low-level passes at Duxford – great engine sounds as he roared over the drome.
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A contributer to Red Power in US owned one of those from Maralinga
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The Illawarra airshow in May 2017 had 2 Mustangs flying and on static display. It will be on again in May 2018. The mustangs should be back. It also has operationally, a super constellation, a Dakota, a Caribou and a Catalina flying boat plus quite a number of static displays including F111, Mirage 111, 2 Orions and a Qantas 747. John Travoltas Boeing 707 in original Qantas livery has been donated to HAAS and hopefully will be on display in time for the airshow. It normally has the Roulettes doing formation flying as well as a display by a F15 Super Hornet as the highlight on the final day.
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Fantastic event a few years back at the Wangaratta aerodrome was the display of a Wirraway which flew a display with an FA-18 , quite a sight .
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David,
We no longer accept German immigrants in Australia – unless they’re Mozzies.
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Two Mustang fighters for sale in the Aviation Trader this week. One in flying condition (A68-199) for A$1.5m.
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Peter C
You’ll have to hit the petty cash drawer a bit harder – it is $US.
But consider that it may be a bargain with those engine hours. Haynes Merlin Manual (2015) suggests a price range for getting a Merlin to airworthy condition as in the range of $US 240,00 – 380,000.
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In Perth, the RAAFA Museum in Bull Creek runs its Merlin for a short time every Saturday. Always interesting to see and hear a Merlin engine running.
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The sound of a Merlin has to do with how this book got its title
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104922.Sigh_For_a_Merlin
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This may look like a still from a new horror movie remake of Orwell’s 1984 or similar dystopian future but is in fact a shot of the ‘One Planet Summit 2017’.
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Is that what they’re calling them now ? Rather than UNFCCC COP23 would it have been?
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All that’s missing is a bald guy stroking a cat demanding a giant “Friken Laser Beam”!
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I thought it was from A Space Odyssey, 2001. – ‘We’re all foolproof and incapable of error.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHjIqQBsPjk
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While Melbourne had some rain, it didn’t pour,
And nothing like the Bureau had in store.
The South Australia voters should ask whether,
To burn more oil and coal can change the weather.
At 50 Hz the larger turbines hum.
A frequency and for a modest sum.
Alarmists with their warming false belief,
Want millions to pretend to save the Reef.
If fusion power sources could be found,
We wouldn’t need the fuels in the ground.
To ask the A.B.C. for grid advice,
On power sources and supply, think twice.
220
I would think more than THRICE! In fact I have doubts I would ever ask the ABC for advice on anything. Actually their gardening program has some good ideas.
90
But can’t afford a hairdresser.
90
Dennis:
Nothing that a hedge trimmer couldn’t fix.
20
So true Ruairi and aptly expressed
in classic iambic pentameter.
‘To ask the A.B.C. for grid advice,
on power sources and supply, think twice,’
’tis like asking the Lady of Shalott
(enclosed in tower like climatariat
(tenured) scientists) what’s going on
in Naychur’s (non-virtual) world-environ
-ment where actions have real consequences.
40
Snowball Fight Canceled Due to Snow
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Snowball-Fight-Canceled-Due-to-Snow-Six-Flags-Great-Adventure-Jackson-New-Jersey-463032503.html
60
Snowball fights should be spontaneous, not staged events like that One World thingy.
50
From the comments’
Remember this the same Six Flags that cut down a forest to build a solar farm to “reduce their carbon footprint”…
Yes its true LOL 🙂 http://www.philly.com/philly/health/six-flags-great-adventure-can-cut-18k-trees-to-make-room-for-solar-array-says-court-20170623.html
80
Gore was right!!
No more snow!!!
70
More fake news from Bom and your ABC.
It’s going to be hot in the desert in summer ,real hot but not unprecedented hot just hotter than since last summer hot .
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-17/extreme-heatwave-towns-outback-qld-nsw-bom-says/9265426
110
the CAGW mob have found the perfect new “climate change leader”:
How France’s Macron is becoming the world’s climate change leader
Washington Post · 2 days ago
17 Dec: AFP: Macron criticised for celebrating 40th birthday in royal style
PHOTO CAPTION: French President Emmanuel Macron’s choice of venue for his birthday could feed into perceptions of him as a “president of the rich”
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday celebrated his birthday at the iconic chateau of King Francois I, a choice denounced by critics as an example of how he is “cut off from the people”…
With its fairy tale facade, elaborately turreted roofline and vast grounds, Chambord is probably the valley’s best-known Renaissance chateau, located about 200 kilometres (125 miles) southwest of Paris.
Macron and his family will stay at one of the cottages on the vast estate, French media said, with a birthday gala to be held Saturday evening in one of the castle’s 440 rooms.
“Why is he celebrating his birthday at Chambord?” asked radical-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, quoted in the newspaper Le Figaro.
“What a strange idea! I am so republican that everything about royal symbols exasperates me, I find it ridiculous,” he said.
“While the French suffer from taxes, insecurity, immigration, Macron celebrates his 40th birthday at Chambord,” right-wing politician Nicolas Dupont-Aignan said on Twitter.
“Eras go by but the oligarchy remains cut off from the people,” he said.
– The ‘pharaonic’ president –
Commissioned nearly 500 years ago by King Francois I (1494-1547), the immense chateau remains the largest of the Loire grand estates, boasting 365 chimneys and a 5,500-hectare (21-square mile) estate.
It also has boasts the largest enclosed forest park in Europe, a long-time favourite for presidential hunts.
Macron, a media darling during his campaign, has seen his image as a monarchical or even “pharaonic” leader climb from the night of his election, which featured a theatrical production at the foot of the Louvre pyramid in Paris.
Several newspapers have also expressed unease over the growing concentration of power in the presidency, and critics have said his use of executive orders to ram through landmark reform in September did not help matters.
In July, the cover of the left-wing Liberation newspaper mockingly depicted him as Jupiter, the Roman king of gods, and accused him of failing to share power — an accusation echoed by Le Monde daily…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/macron-celebrate-40th-birthday-royal-style-005842918.html
17 Nov: Reuters: Opinion polls show the 39-year-old Macron’s popularity plummeting since he came to power, not only because of discontent with his labor and welfare policies but also with his “Jupiterian” presidential style – remote and grand.
Some 57 percent of voters are unhappy with Macron’s first six months in power, a BVA survey showed on Thursday.
50
Mirror mirror on the wall ….
30
He’s the Rothschild mirror image of Goldman Sachs’s Malcolm Turnbull n’est ce pas?
http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/7/i/4/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620×349.gx7hqd.png/1499571450451.jpg
20
Qui
J’Accuse!
00
Francis was raised by an adoring mummy and sister who sweated on cousin Louis XII’s lack of male children. Louis, who had been a pretty conscientious and humane type despite his wars, dreaded leaving the kingdom to Francis, but it happened. Francis got lucky in one battle in Italy and thereafter seemed to bungle everything. He never understood that you need to flatter bigheads like Henry VIII, not impress them. His late career was taken up with religious persecutions.
The French choose to remember him for that one battle, for his lavish buildings and patronage of the arts. Fair enough. He was a big thinker who really did make a mark (Mona Lisa, Canada etc)…but the thought of Macron with his adoring mummy-wife partying at Chambord is bound to bring back some worrying memories. And he’s got that good green religion!
50
One third of Macron’s ministers are millionaires, but then, it was a similar number under Hollande, so the problem would appear deeper than “left” vs “right”…
http://en.rfi.fr/france/20171216-one-third-macrons-ministers-are-millionaires
40
another bit of Sunday fun:
16 Dec: Twitchy: BuzzFeed editor locks down her account after Christmas wish goes wrong
BuzzFeedUK Science Editor Kelly Oakes locked down her Twitter account on Friday after her Christmas wish went viral.
Well, what did she think would happen when she tweeted, “All I want for Christmas is full communism now”? …
TWEETS
https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2017/12/16/buzzfeed-editor-locks-down-her-account-after-christmas-wish-goes-wrong/
26 Oct: Buzzfeed: 18 Tweets About Climate Change That Will Make You Laugh Then Despair
Because if you don’t laugh you will just cry.
by Kelly Oakes, science editor based in London
FIRST TWEET:
Scott Westerfeld: Plot idea: 97% of the world’s scientists contrive an environmental crisis, but are exposed by a plucky band of billionaires & oil companies.
THE REST OF THE TWEETS ARE EVEN CRAZIER
https://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/tweets-about-climate-change-that-will-make-you-feel?utm_term=.wtVaVo5GL#.rtbm2AKP0
40
Major events across Perth and the state’s South West, including Carols by Candlelight at Langley Park, have been cancelled as people are warned to brace for a severe and unseasonable storm with damaging winds of up to 100 kilometres an hour.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) duty forecaster Pete Clegg said it was not a usual type of summer storm, with the wild weather expected to be more like a damaging winter system.
“This is certainly not a typical weather pattern for this time of year, it’s an unusual situation,” he said.
The brunt of the storm is expected to make landfall between Margaret River and Albany mid-afternoon before tracking up the coast towards Perth.
ABC
40
Severe Weather Warning
for DAMAGING WINDS and DAMAGING SURF
For people in South West and parts of Lower West and South Coastal districts.
Issued at 4:25 am Sunday, 17 December 2017.
Weather Situation: A deep slow-moving low pressure system is expected to pass close to the southwest corner of the State from late Sunday night through to early Monday afternoon. An associated cold front will affect coastal parts of the South West district during Sunday afternoon and extend over the South West Land Division during Monday.
Showers and thunderstorms may cause DAMAGING WINDS with gusts to 100 kilometres per hour which could cause DAMAGE TO HOMES AND PROPERTY initially southwest of a line from Margaret River to Walpole Sunday afternoon before extending throughout the warning area during Sunday evening.
40
Dennis,
About your severe weather warning.
I see what he means:-
https://earth.nullschool.net/#2017/12/17/1500Z/wind/surface/level/orthographic=116.88,-47.24,1107/loc=115.835,-31.995
20
Stormy last night in Perth but not that bad. However, both last year and this year, Perth seems to be experiencing far more rain than usual during summer.
20
What no Armageddon as predicted ?
00
Dennis – a link for your ABC story:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-17/events-cancelled-due-to-wa-severe-weather-warning/9266282
30
There is no snow on the Victoriastan alps at the moment clearly a sign of global warming.
61
I’m working up a Post to try and prove that coal fired power is cheaper than all other forms of power generation, and I think I have a good idea on how to do that.
I was wondering about the cost of power with respect to a point in time, or more accurately, the half hour either side of that point in time, hence a full hour, and then doing that for separate time frames, namely the two major points in time when it comes to power generation, (a) the time of minimum consumption (that Base Load) and (b) the time of most consumption. (Peak Load)
I have a diagram which I will be using, and this comes from the AEMO.
It is a generic diagram for costing structures, and while generic, it gives an understanding of power costs relative to rising consumption.
Also, while generic in nature, it can be used to explain the cost structure when used across each of the five States across the AEMO coverage area.
While seemingly looking so innocuously simple, it requires some detailed explanation, when it comes to using this diagram for this purpose, so I will need to do this in my Post.
Being generic, it has generic axis indicators and here I want to point out the left vertical axis, and how it would differ significantly from State to State, when you have a State like Tasmania, and SouthAus (both such tiny consumers) and then the three larger States, especially NSW, the largest consumer.
To that end, I want to concentrate of that largest consumer NSW, because they are also the largest consumer of coal fired power as part of the overall.
So, what I would like here is for anyone interested to look at this generic image, and then ask me questions as to what you would like explained, and in that manner, I can make my explanation fit a little more closely around what people would more readily understand, rather than go flat out technical.
Now, while viewing this diagram, keep in mind that the actual diagram will change from one half hour to the next, and THAT is where that left side vertical axis comes into play, the need to change your thinking when you view just this generic image.
This is the link to that image.
Tony.
90
Its pretty good Tony, if you give a guide like you just explained it’d be fine, just the pricing on the right side needs some explanation but I’m sure you already have that covered in the final draft.
30
Tony, i think i follow what you are showing here, but how do you treat the power transfers from state to state ?
If a State is generating significant power and exporting it, does that alter the cost of power in the generating state ?
Is that transfer power data available ..and its costs ?
40
Chad,
good question.
The basic answer is no, not in the originating State
It’s only for new power which comes on line to top up the total generation to what is being consumed ….. within that State.
The transfer costs between States are set State between State.
You look at Queensland, which is constantly supplying around 700 to 1200MW into NSW. That power cost is set at whatever that interchange cost is between Qld and NSW, and that cost is set at the lowest cost on that image, the dark red at the bottom, because that is what is already being consumed. If NSW requires more, then it comes at the cost of the existing amount already being imported, and keep in mind here, all of that Qld power is coal fired. Keep in mind also, that the power being exported to other States is relatively local to that State. eg. Because of the losses associated with distance, power being generated in Southern Qld could only be exported into Northern NSW, so mainly the coal fired power from Milmerran, and maybe some from Tarong.
While power sharing looks like each State supplying enough for the ….. WHOLE, the interchange via those Interconnectors is (relatively) local, so Queensland is NOT supplying into Victoria, Tasmania or SouthAus, and vice versa.
The same goes for the interchanges between NSW, where it interchanges with Victoria. That’s a little more complex, as that can be Hydro from the Snowy, or the gas fired Units at Uranquinty, and again, the cost for that is set as per where it is coming from, the actual power generating entity.
With Victoria, it has sharing arrangements with NSW, Tasmania and SouthAus, (3 other States) and in both directions for the two adjoining States of them, (Vic-NSW, Vic-SouthAus, and Vic-Tas) and again the cost of that is also set as per what source that power is being generated from.
Tony.
60
Where do the wind and solar sources fit in here? What rate are they paid at, if there is sufficient power already?
50
Peter,
ah, also a good question, and one I’ll be covering in my Post, but here’s the basics.
Wind power and Solar power must be used, all of it that is being generated, whether it is already being generated, or comes on line at any time during that half hour costing period.
It comes in at the lowest price, as it must be consumed, and while that gives the impression that it is the cheapest power, that is misleading ….. in the extreme.
As it comes online, it is always consumed. As new power is being added in, as per that image, the cost increases with each colour increment, and at the end of that half hour, the cost is averaged over the full half hour, and every generating entity receives the new averaged price for every MWH they delivered during that previous half hour, no matter where it comes from.
Now, ON TOP of all that, each and every wind and solar plant receives an additional amount of money (the first of the subsidies) from the Federal AND State Governments, set at the genesis of the plant’s inception, a set amount per MWH being generated for every MWH that is generated.
Then, ON TOP of that again, (as explained to me very carefully by the AEMO person I was in email contact with) there is the sale/auctioning of the LGC/STC AND the REC’s and all of that is done outside of the AEMO control.
So, while wind and solar power come in at the averaged price, they also get the added extras of those subsidies, taking the cost for wind and solar power way way over any huge cost for electricity as sold by any other generating entity.
Tony.
80
How about this problem Tony,
A generator which supplies power for the whole of the half hour gets paid at the average rate for the 1/2 hour. But a generator which contributes power for only 5 minutes gets how much (5 minutes times the average rate)?
That might suit wind and solar because it does not cost them anything to start up.
But a gas or coal power unit is unlikely to want to switch on for only 5 minutes, even if they are ordered to. It just doesn’t make any sense for them to power up until the average price reaches a very high level
40
In virtually every case, the coal fired plant is already generating and delivering power for not only the half hour in question, but for every half hour across the day. As I have now noticed, the power generation from each and every coal fired plant will ramp up and down during the day, by as much as 4,000MW plus across any day across the three States with coal fired power. As they are called upon to supply more, then they get paid the the new average for that individual half hour. (f it changes) Because they are supplying the vast bulk of the power, then they will (quite naturally) get paid more if the rate goes up slightly. At that Base Load time, 4AM, when coal fired power is supplying 80% of power, then it would be a case of barely any colours needed other than that bottom colour, so the price is a lot more stable at that time. (but only in the three States where there actually is coal fired power)
The case (referring back to that image) where power goes up, and then up again, until the top colour is reached for that half hour, then those plants which come on last supply what amounts to very little power, hence very little return. Because of that, and (as you say) they may only be supplying minimal power for a short time, then they MUST factor in the cost of ‘firing up’ and then winding back down, considering that if power consumption falls, then it’s last on first off, and they may only be on for a very short time.
That has proved to be the case. A few weeks back when SouthAus was struggling for power and the cost spiked by a huge amount, as wind had collapsed, there were cases where those Units coming on line to top up the power needed were tiddlers, small gas fired plants of barely 20MW in total, and quite a few of them, and they were only on for around an hour or so, two at most some of them. That’s a very costly exercise, to actually have the gas available, and then to fire up for just a short amount of time, and a tiny amount of power.
Also keep in mind that while that image shows five colours during a half hour, most of the time, it would struggle to reach three colours for most of that 24 hour period.
Tony.
Link to this week’s Base Load data and analysis Post
20
Tony, I was explaining to a work collegaue today about how the whole renewables thing is a poorly executed idea with no engineering merit whatsoever. I was at pains to point out that physics is the driver for power and that getting the basics wrong will crash our economy.
I drove the point home after explaining how the grid needs to be completely redesigned and tested with a large component of renwables, and to do it poorly would put lives at risk.
10
Good luck, Tony.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-18/household-electricity-looks-set-to-get-cheaper-from-mid-2018/9266914
They are saying the story line is this:
RET subsidies and Renewables –> forces lower peak wholesale bids –> Coal power closes –> supply capacity reduces –> bill prices go up.
Follow the Brave New Logic!
More RET and Renewables –> (skip over all those awkward intermediate steps) –> bill prices go down.
Applying more of the cause of bills going up… will lead to bills going down.
Yeah, by transferring costs out of your electricity bill and onto your tax bill, problem solved.
Amazing stuff… from the AEMC!
And how does one manage variable outputs efficiently, other than by not relying on it in the first instance? The RET requires retailers to rely on ruinables, so the sensible option is eliminated. Fallback plan.. none, as there’s no plan for energy storage of anywhere near the capacity that would be needed during next 2 years. So it’s effectively a warning from AEMC that blackouts are on the way.
60
Tony, one suggestion: Rather than refer to cost structures, use market prices.
“In delivering electricity, AEMO dispatches electricity every five minutes, so generators are required to bid to supply electricity in five minute blocks. For the purposes of settlement, the price is then averaged out over 30 minutes. The spot price for a 30 minute trading interval is therefore the average of the six dispatch interval prices. All generators dispatched in that trading interval receive the spot price”.
Wind/solar suppliers bid low (and sometimes even negative prices) so that all of their power is accepted, because their incremental cost is very low and they also get to sell LGCs at around $80/MWhr as a bonus income stream under the RET. Hydro is similar, but because their supply is limited they tend to only enter the market at peak demand times when spot prices are at their highest.
It then becomes a competitive market among coal and gas generators, with gas generally the last increment to cover peak demand and therefore prices (except in SA where it now appears that gas has become the mandated base load supplier, because without it the SA grid would be unstable).
However to increase the complexity: “Retailers and generators use electricity contracts as a form of insurance against fluctuating spot prices – locking in long term revenues or costs at a fixed rate. Contracts provide retailers with a consistent price for electricity, which in turn allows them to write longer-term contracts with consumers, and therefore offer stable retail prices. For generators, contracts provide a steadier stream of income. This guaranteed revenue enables them to obtain financing for new investment”. For example, the ACT government has entered into agreements with some wind generators to buy their output at a fixed price for several years. The SA government has agreed to buy the big battery output.
So to the billion dollar questions:
– Why did wholesale prices double in just two years in Vic from $46/Mwhr to $93? (Qld $60 to $76).
– How do you predict the future wholesale price of electricity?
Clearly if there is surplus capacity as more wind/solar is brought on stream then prices could drop.
But as indicated by some of the coal generators, they have plans to remove supplies from the market, because if they have lower utilisation then continued operations become uneconomic. And then we have the uncertainty of future gas prices that will determine the prices at which gas generators will bid. If the market becomes more dependent on gas and less dependent on coal, then I would expect prices to increase.
“The AEMC report said wholesale costs, which make up about a third of the average bill, would soar 48 per cent next year, then fall 18 per cent in 2019 and almost 30 per cent in 2020 as new wind and solar generation eased pressure. Prices for Victorians are expected to fall 6.6 per cent in 2019 and 9.7 per cent in 2020”.
But then Liddell in NSW is to close in 2022, and in Qld if the government goes ahead with its 50% renewables target: “Stanwell’s Tarong plant near Kingaroy would be forced to close first in 2018-19 as the first tranche of solar and wind farms, that have struck undisclosed power purchasing agreements with the state, come online. This would be followed by two units at Gladstone Power Station in 2020-21 and Stanwell’s Rockhampton station in 2026-27”.
10
The Brexit proposal seems to be floundering with rebel Tories joining the remainers to block the exit from the EU. I think that would be a terrible betrayal of the British people.
A petition calling for an immediate exit was launched yesterday and has reached 100,000 signatures in less than a day. A further 3000 signatures have been added since I first checked this am, even though it is the middle of the night in Britain.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/12/16/brexit-petition-demanding-britain-walk-away-from-spiteful-eu-immediately-breaks-100000-signatures/
50
No doubt a few thousand signatures will be from Gibralter – which has a few hundred British citizens.
30
I just checked the petition again. It might have been up for a few months.
Still getting signatures.
30
It has…I forgot I had signed it as it has been so long waiting for action. The delaying and cancelling attempts are disgusting.
40
The EU will try all sorts of dirty tricks to stop the Brexit….
00
ABC running a couple of BoM stories today, showing a pattern, when BoM wants to suggest extreme weather, e.g.:
ABC: Extreme heatwave heads to outback towns in Queensland, NSW
BOM senior forecaster Jonty Hall said it was potentially “dangerous” weather…
Mr Hall said it was MORE THAN JUST THE USUAL HEAT…
ABC: Severe and ‘unusual’ summer weather forces cancellation of Perth’s Carols by Candlelight
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) duty forecaster Pete Clegg said it was NOT A USUAL TYPE of summer storm, with the wild weather expected to be more like a damaging winter system.
“This is certainly not a typical weather pattern for this time of year, it’s an UNUSUAL situation,” he said.
and previously:
17 May: ABC: Heavy rain set to drench Australia’s east coast, flood warnings issued
BOM senior meteorologist Scott Williams: “It’s UNUSUAL to get a band [of rain] that extends right across the country this late, outside the traditional wet season,” Mr Williams said.
while cold weather is NOT UNCOMMON:
4 Sept: ABC: BOM forecasts heavy snow in Tasmania as spring cold front approaches
BOM’s Luke Johnston: “It’s NOT UNCOMMON to get this sort of system through.”
plus in April, we had the following headline mentioning “1968”, a year not even mentioned in the article, which actually reference “1948”:
12 April: ABC: Darwin weather: Territorians experience coldest April temperature since 1968
Darwin and the Top End have experienced their lowest April temperature in decades as unusual weather conditions saw rain act like an air-conditioner and cause the mercury to plunge.
At 8:15pm on Tuesday the weather in Darwin reached 18.0 degrees Celsius, making it the coldest April temperature since 1948.
At 6:00pm there was a feel-like temperature of 14.6C…
The maximum temperature recorded to 9am this morning was 21.9C at 8:58am, making it the lowest maximum daily temperature for the Wet Season recorded in Darwin and the third lowest on record for any month.
The average daytime temperature in Darwin for April is 32.7C…
People took to the ABC Darwin Facebook page to post photos of themselves wearing winter pyjamas and slippers — an UNUSUAL occurrence in the tropics…
Darwin’s coldest ever temperature was 10.4C in July 1942.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-12/darwin-weather-april-coldest-day-since-1968/8436068
40
for the sake of balance:
17 Dec: SouthChinaMorningPost: Cold weather warning issued as Hong Kong shivers in low temperatures
Centre for Health Protection warned public, elderly and people with chronic illnesses to adopt appropriate measures to protect their health
Temperatures dropped below 12 degrees Celsius overnight, prompting the Hong Kong Observatory to issue the first cold weather warning of the winter.
Its weather stations recorded a low of 11.3 degrees in Yuen Long Park in the New Territories. Temperatures dropped even further on higher ground on Hong Kong Island and Lantau.
The Observatory issued a cold weather warning at 4.20pm on Saturday…
It reminded Hongkongers to prepare for cold mornings from Sunday to next Wednesday, with the temperature expected to drop to 11 degrees on Monday.
The Centre for Health Protection warned the public, elderly and people with chronic illnesses to adopt appropriate measures to protect their health.
16 Dec: NewIndianExpress: PTI: Northern India shivers in cold
Northern India reeled under severe cold conditions today even as a thick blanket of fog affected the movement of road and rail traffic in the region.
The mercury in the plains of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and the national capital dipped over the last few days due to rain and snowfall in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.
Delhi had a foggy and cold start to the day.
The minimum temperature in the capital dipped to chilly 8 degrees Celsius in the morning. A sunny afternoon pushed the mercury to 19 degrees Celsius.
Churu in Rajasthan quivered at 1.8 degrees Celsius, the meteorological department said.
Pilani and Sriganganagar recorded minimum temperatures of of 2.4 and 3.9 degrees Celsius respectively, while the night temperature at Bikaner, Sikar, Vanasthali, Barmer, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Kota was 5.2, 5.5, 7.6, 9.1, 9.8, 10.7 and 12.2 degrees Celsius respectively, according to a MeT report…
Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 1.1 degrees Celsius…
The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 8.4 degrees Celsius last night. It was the coldest recorded place in the Valley…
16 Dec: HindustanTimes: Delhi temperature drops to 7.3 degrees, Friday was coldest day of the season
According to the MeT department,Thursday’s maximum temperature of 19 degree Celsius was the lowest recorded on December 14, in seven years since 2011. On Friday the minimum temperature is expected to drop to 8ºC.
Friday was the coldest day this year, with the mercury dipping to 7.3 degrees Celsius as strong winds coming from the snow-clad regions of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh cooled the capital…
At 19.5 degrees Celsius, the day temperature on Friday was also at least four degrees below the climatic normal.
The western disturbance that had triggered rain in Delhi on Monday night also triggered snowfall in northern states. The snow is now melting and the winds are bringing in that chill from north India. On Thursday, Delhi enjoyed its coldest December 14 in seven years.
“When the maximum temperature falls at least 4.4 degrees below the climatic normal we call it a cold day. Even though technically we cannot call it a cold day, as the departure from climatic normal was just around four degrees, but Delhiites got a feeling of cold day on Friday,” Srivastava added…
The strong winds also helped to flush out the pollutants and Delhi enjoyed comparatively cleaner air for the fourth consecutive day…
http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/delhi-saw-coldest-dec-14-in-seven-years-met-says-mercury-to-dip-further-today/story-vXrnHzcsoYqkFAJuJ7AOkM.html
30
comment in moderation re: 17 Dec: SouthChinaMorningPost: Cold weather warning issued as Hong Kong shivers in low temperatures
10
OK all you climate wonks, can anyone explain the old stage trick of making misty fog — a local cloud.
All that is needed it a bucket of water and ‘dry’ ice (solid CO2), just drop the ‘dry’ ice into the water and generate misty fog.
How and why does this happen?
What happens to the energy balance of both the CO2 and the water.
Does the CO2 give the water vapor ‘nuclei of condensation’ ?
And does this ‘experiment’ tell us anything about dynamics (both energy and kinetic) of clouds?
60
Perhaps it does! And if CO2 acts as a nucleus of condensation for cloud droplets, then there would be a good reason to call CO2 a surface cooling gas, not a warming one.
I guess that you have been reading this. It also caught my eye.
https://principia-scientific.org/condensation-nuclei-and-carbon-dioxide/#comments
40
Yes, Peter C,
That’s the piece.
10
Here is an explanation. I am not sure if it really explains the phenomenon.
https://www.thoughtco.com/why-dry-ice-makes-fog-606404
20
Maybe the misty fog is actually composed of tiny ice particles, at least initially when it emerges from the bucket of water.
20
Where is the energy coming from to make the water to become a vapor and then move it out of the container?
As your piece says “However, if you drop dry ice in water, especially hot water, the effect is magnified. The carbon dioxide forms bubbles of cold gas in the water. When the bubbles escape at the surface of the water, the warmer moist air condenses into lots of fog.”
And the dry ice is at -109°C. So surely there is only energy available initially to cause the fog, and as the water cools, and stops vaporizing, the ‘fog’ should reduce and eventually stop. However when I’ve done this (with cold water) the fog will continue until the dry ice has all vaporized. Also the level of water from start to finish, drops a little.
Unfortunately I’ve now run out of CO2 (from an old but nearly full fire extinguisher) so can not repeat the experiment. I made CO2 dry-ice using this type of method https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-make-homemade-dry-ice-606400
10
Hi tomomason,
Buying a CO2 extinguisher could be the cheapest way to get CO2 dry ice, if I want to. Thanks.
Getting back to the fog; it seems to me that the fog comes out of the bucket and spills over. Consequently I think that the fog is formed by the water in the bucket and not from the air.
CO2 sublimates at -109C. That is quite cold. Hot water in the bucket increases the amount of fog because the CO2 is sublimating faster. The bubbles of CO2 in the bucket are at -109C which is way below the freezing point of water. Consequently I think that any water which clings to the CO2 bubble is likely an ice particle. The fog is frozen particles of ice suspended in cold CO2 gas!
10
Is it that time of year ? November / December is known for its freezing fog which is also Pantomime season.
30
Guardian uses a word…and now it’s word of the year!
15 Dec: ChicagoTribune: Youthquake? Oxford Dictionaries word of the year is one nobody uses
by Jennifer Hasson, WaPo
The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2017 has been revealed and the winner is . . . “Youthquake.”
Confused? You may not be the only one.
The word is defined as meaning “a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions of influence of young people.” It represents the awakening of millennials striving for change during a turbulent 12 months across the world.
Data collected by editors at Oxford Dictionaries revealed ***a huge increase in usage of the word in 2017 compared to 2016…
Their collective actions were dubbed by the ***Guardian and other publications as a “Youthquake.”…
Despite having deep political and cultural roots in 2017, the winning word was met with a wave of skepticism on social media.
“I run a charity for young people. This is not a word that I have ever heard used. Anywhere. By Anyone. #Youthquake,” tweeted Ruth Ibegbuna, CEO of a youth leadership and social change organization in the U.K.
“So, ‘Youthquake’ is Oxford English Dictionaries word of the year. Never heard it being said, no idea what it means…must have missed the memo on this one,” wrote another baffled Twitter user…
So how exactly is the word of the year decided?…
Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year, held each year since 2004, is a tradition that many look forward to. Winners are selected due to their “lasting potential as a word of cultural significance.”
“We try to choose a word that reminds us about where we’ve been,” said Casper Grathwohl, president of the Dictionaries Division…
“Youthquake is not an obvious choice,” Grathwohl wrote in a blog post. He went on to add that the word is “yet to land firmly on American soil, but ***strong evidence in the U.K. calls if out as a word on the move.”
***Oxford Dictionaries states that the political word offers a beacon of hope after a “difficult and divisive year.”…
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-youthquake-oxford-word-of-the-year-20171215-story.html
LinkedIn: Casper Grathwohl, President, Global Business Development & Dictionaries Division, Oxford University Press
Greater New York City Area
Previous:
Columbia University Press,
Princeton University Press
more proof the dying world of dictionaries is politically compromised:
16 Dec: UK Sun: WORD GETS AROUND What is the word of the year 2017, how is it picked and what was last year’s winner?
Last year ‘post-truth’ was selected amid the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s US Election success
By Becky Pemberton
US dictionary Merriam-Webster has named “feminism” the 2017 word of the year.
A report from company said the number of searches for the word had increased 70 per cent on 2016…
Dictionary.com listed “complicit” as their word of the year, following articles on Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey, an inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 US election and when Ivanka Trump said she didn’t know what the term meant.
Meanwhile the Oxford Dictionary have chosen “youthquake” as their word of the year, reflecting a “political awakening” among millennial voters…
Merriam-Webster had nine runners-up for the word of year.
Here they are in no particular order:
Complicit, competitor Dictionary.com’s word of the year and used this year primarily driven by politics and SNL.
Recuse, spiked in reference to Jeff Sessions and the Russia investigation.
Empathy, a top look-up all year and frequently used in articles criticising Trump or Republicans.
Dotard, a term used by Kim Jong-un to describe Trump…
Federalism, following Lindsey Graham referencing it over the future of the Affordable Care Act.
Hurricane, following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria which caused widespread damage to the southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean…ETC
What was last year’s winner of word of the year?
After a spike in use around Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, the word “post-truth” was named as Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year in 2016.
Usage of the adjective, which describes circumstances where emotions and personal beliefs are more influential than facts, increased by around 2,000 per cent since 2015, research showed.
Its rise in popularity coincided with the use of the phrase “post-truth politics”, which was used last year in conjunction with the EU referendum and the US presidential race…
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/5136671/word-of-the-year-2017-youthquake/
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comment in moderation re: 15 Dec: ChicagoTribune: Youthquake? Oxford Dictionaries word of the year is one nobody uses
OMG – Guardian + Van Badham decides OZword of the Year too! unbelievable.
Ozwords (For the dinkum oil on Australian English. A blog from the Australian National Dictionary Centre, a joint Australian National University and Oxford University Press project)
4 Dec: Why we chose Kwaussie as Word of the Year 2017
The choice of the word Kwaussie as the Australian National Dictionary Centre’s Word of the Year for 2017 has raised some eyebrows, and a lot of people say they have never heard of it. So I’ll explain why we chose it.
The word came to our attention earlier this year due to its use by Van Badham, describing Barnaby Joyce (and herself), in a Guardian Australia piece…
http://ozwords.org/?p=8580
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the depressing state of academia:
14 Dec: UK Sun: Gemma Mullin: LET IT SNOWFLAKE: University compared to HITLER for snow tweet wishing for a ‘white campus’
University College London posted the quote on Twitter while informing students the campus remained open amid snow
University College London was forced to apologise for referencing Bing Crosby’s White Christmas while informing students they would remain open amid snowfall…
The tweet asked if students were ‘dreaming of a white campus’ following the weekend’s snow…
TWEET APOLOGY: UCL: We chose our words very poorly yesterday when thinking of this song (LINK). We’re sorry and we’ll choose our words more carefully in the future.
But it seems like UCL can’t do right for doing wrong as their rowback caused even more uproar online, with hundreds of replies blasting the response from “snowflakes”.
One said: “Utterly ridiculous that you had to apologise. I am Liberal – I am left wing – but I find this completely absurd.”
Graham wrote: “Shame you allowed yourselves to be bullied over the white campus tweet – it’s common sense to realise that the white referred to snow and nothing else.
“You’ve apologised to people looking for something to be offended by.”…
Tom said: “It’s dreadful you have to apologise for snow being white… unfortunately the PC brigade will change the meaning of almost anything people say to their advantage.”…
Joker Dickie mocked the whole debacle, saying that the snow was being discriminated against.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5138207/ucl-university-snow-white-christmas-tweets-apology-racism/
obviously this generation of students will not be able to adapt to CAGW or global cooling?
30
More propaganda but this time from weatherzone and I get the feeling they reeaaalllyyy like BOM, I also like the sarcastic remark about being a child in Oodnadatta.
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/how-hot-does-it-get-in-australia/527241
40
Every high that comes along is now automatically a heatwave.
Maybe “heatwave” should be the word of the year!
70
Give it time. They will say every day is a heatwave simply to maintain the scare factor.
60
When working in buildings full of valve electronics in the outback in the mid-60s, I couldn’t measure the internal building temp as I only had a max 130F (55C) max thermometer. On hot days, the thermometer used to shoot to the top. Two hours was about the max time I could work there. Metal was untouchable with bare hands and even wooden items were too hot.
30
Sorry Mods – should be Graeme#4.
20
17 Dec: Courier Mail: Coal royalties boost surpluses in Trad’s mid-year fiscal and economic review
by Sarah Vogler
JACKIE Trad is tipped to hand down a mid-year fiscal and economic review today revealing better than expected surpluses thanks – yet again – to a boost in coal royalties…
It is expected to detail coal royalties boost of between $1 billion and $1.8 billion – as revealed last week – alongside four new taxes estimated to bring in almost $500 million over three years.
The coal royalties boost is expected to deliver a surplus higher than the $146 million predicted in the June Budget for 2017/18 and higher than those predicted across the forward estimates…
(Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander) described the estimated coal royalties boost as “ironic” given Labor’s fluctuating position on the Adani coal mine.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-government/coal-royalties-boost-surpluses-in-trads-midyear-fiscal-and-economic-review/news-story/894dd109fe2d6584fcae915f3ddb6553
30
***AFP has no shame. gives Greenpeace space to criticise, tho I’m not even excerpting their quote:
17 Dec: AFP: China shivers as shift from coal to gas sputters
by Julien GIRAULT
With temperatures dipping below freezing in a northern Chinese village, a group of parka-clad women tried to stay warm as they played mahjong around a small gas stove in a grocery store…
In northern Hebei province, even a hospital and schools have struggled to heat their frigid facilities, prompting some teachers to hold classes outdoors in the sunshine.
“Of course we miss the coal,” said a woman surnamed Qin, who had invited neighbours into her grocery store in Niezhuang village — about 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of Beijing — to play mahjong, a traditional Chinese game.
Gas power is “completely unpredictable,” Qin said. “One moment we have it, the next moment there’s none. And then it’s freezing.”…
In Niezhuang, all the coal stoves have been destroyed, according to Qin. Some of their dismantled pieces lay scattered in people’s backyards.
“Coal was nice because it allowed us to stay warm and save money,” the store owner said…
The gas pipes came into operation in November.
The heating is inconsistent, villagers said, and the bills costly. According to Qin, a family must spend at least 5,000 yuan ($750) over the winter — compared with 2,000 yuan ($300) for coal — not including the subsidised price of the gas heater that must be purchased…
In some villages to the north of Baoding, households were cut off from coal without even being connected to gas heating, Caixin magazine reported…
***”There was a clear lack of communication and planning,” Greenpeace energy campaigner Huang Wei told AFP, noting that authorities had months to prepare for the winter…
In Wang’s neighbourhood, residential complexes and the Hebei University-affiliated hospital went virtually unheated.
The hospital, which serves 3,000 patients, received only about 13 percent of the gas needed to function, the facility said.
The university faced a similar situation, as dormitories were transformed into “ice boxes” for two weeks, one student said.
Schools in Baoding’s suburbs were also left without heating as they lacked an alternative to coal burners.
In response to the uproar, the environment ministry reauthorised coal in areas not equipped with alternative heating in early December…
Meanwhile people like Sun, a farmer in Hebei, are left with gas bills that are three times higher than coal, making it “unbearable for ordinary folks”.
Even in the name of blue skies, Sun said, “sacrifice is difficult”.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/38327208/china-shivers-as-shift-from-coal-to-gas-sputters/
30
Since when did you need a special stove to make a coal fire ?
Ant ols drum, bucket, or pile of bricks can be repurposed to make a rudimentary coal fire if it really is so cold.
..or is this just more Media exaggeration to make an extreme point ?
10
Toxic turbine blades injure woman.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2017/12/16/former-tpi-iowa-workers-claim-they-were-fired-after-chemical-exposure/844600001/
40
That job looks to me like it should be done by a robot.
Did these employees have confined space training? How about LEL monitoring? Why were they only provided with a dust mask, that will do nothing to keep out organic compounds? How many of the employees were refugee labor, who would not be accustomed to having OSHA/ OH&S laws?
40
john:
A blatant abuse of health and safety by the Company. The allergic reaction to the ‘hardeners’ for the epoxy resin has been known for at least 50 years. Criminal.
30
Its hard to believe how this can happen in a developed country with strict OHSE regulations and modern industrial technologies.
It the modern day equivalent of the 19th century practice of sending small children up chimney stacks to clean them out !
20
I have been watching TPI Composites for years. Have a complete dossier on them. Sent said dossier to Kevin at the Des Moines Register.
00
john:
There is little I can find out but it appears that the blades are made in 2 halves then glued together with epoxy resin (+ hardener) and fibreglass mat. Some companies have automated this, others have started making the blades in one piece but here it would appear to be the old fashioned way.
Trying to bond the blade halves that way with polyester resin (with styrene) would be unlikely as excellent ventilation would be required to workers inside the blades. Besides, polyester is a poor glue unless on undercured polyester.
The irritation might be from fibreglass but I doubt it. Whether the blades are made from polyester or epoxy is moot, the process would be closely monitored for glass placement etc. and would use precut mat or prepreg. Vacuum pressing is common as it gives better strength, so irritation from glass fibre is unlikely.
Epikote is a brand name for epoxy resins. My guess is that resin + hardener is mixed and the operator squeezes up the blades putting strips of glass mat over the joins and dabbing the resin onto it. The epoxy might need some heat applied to ensure full cure.
There are basically 3 hardeners. The best for strength is acid anhydrides but these require pressure curing at 150℃ and that is what is used in aerospace items. The other 2 are (poly)amine and (poly)amides although the difference is minor as the latter often contain some percentage of free amine to get faster curing. These amines are toxic and cause sensitisation. Usually people recover after a year or so but they can NEVER work with them again. Possibly this is why the company sacks the workers as they will never be able to do that work again. I’ve met several people in Australia who had this sensitisation/irritation who were hale and hearty after some time, but weren’t able to stay in that line of work.
The danger MUST be known to the management as the resin suppliers have no reason to hide it and every reason to make sure that their MSDS points this out. In any case the number of complaints alone would have made the problem obvious. It seems the worst of the American Management way of “ignore the facts just get it done”. I hope that they get stung for the millions in damages they deserve to lose.
20
Would you believe? Another crisis!!
“Delingpole: ‘Bitcoin and Porn Cause Global Warming’, Environmentalists Warn”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/12/17/delingpole-bitcoin-and-porn-cause-global-warming-environmentalists-warn/
30
Great news power prices set to drop thanks to “variable” wind and solar !?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-18/household-electricity-looks-set-to-get-cheaper-from-mid-2018/9266914
30
Robert Rosicka:
I find myself in strange territory as a defender of the ABC. I turned on ABC2 (Adelaide) and there was Tom Koutsantonis (masquerading as a State Treasurer) claiming that power bills would drop in SA for the next 2 years thanks to the policies put in place by the current Labor “government”. They would happen just after the coming State election. Then the announcer, Jessica Harmson, came back and flatly contradicted his claim that Labor’s policies would do anything like that. Cut to Nick Harmson (Yes, they are married and didn’t have, like so many ABC types, for the recent legislation. He in turn showed that he had read the AEMO release and cut Silly Kout’s claims to ribbons. Then the energy spokesman for the opposition was given times to also talk.
I thought I would place this on record just in case there is a sudden departure by 2 form ABC Adelaide.
30
Also for the record…we had little sun and absolutely no wind in this part of North Central Vic today. It has been almost spooky.
10
We have had many cloudy windless days in northeast Victoriastan annie.
Graeme not really a shot at ABC more a shot at the notion that prices will drop in 2 years because of unreliables.
00
“The ‘Noble Savage’ Fantasy Versus Reality
Apparently, we must politely overlook the tedium and illiteracy, the malnutrition and dehydration, the alarming levels of child mortality, murder and infanticide, the sharply truncated lifespans, the child rape, and the delights of stone-age dentistry. We must see only how egalitarian and vibrant these exotic creatures are, if you squint and tilt your head, and then carefully turn away while the other stuff takes place.”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2017/12/the-noble-savag.html
As others see us – read the link and the comments there
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”
The Modern Leftist Womyn?”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2017/12/the-modern-left-3.html
And comments
20
16 Dec: Democrat&Chronicle: With nearly 83 inches, this place is NY’s snowiest
by Natasha Vaughn
ALBANY — Winter has yet to officially start, but snow is already piling up in some parts of upstate New York…
And it’s the usual places: the tiny town of Redfield in Oswego County is leading the state with 82.6 inches of snow as of Friday.
So at this rate, Redfield is on pace for its second straight national recognition: Last year it won the USA Today Network’s first annual Golden Snowdrift Award after getting 350.5 inches of snow — which equals more than 29 feet…
15 DecL WUWT: The sun is blank, NASA data shows it to be dimming
by Anthony Watts
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/12/15/the-sun-is-blank-nasa-data-shows-it-to-be-dimming/
15 Dec: WUWT: The Polar-Bear-Gate Saga: How a picture is worth a thousand lies – Paul Nicklen and Michael Mann vs Susan Crockford
Guest essay by Jim Steele
(Director emeritus Sierra Nevada Field Campus, San Francisco State University and author of Landscapes & Cycles: An Environmentalist’s Journey to Climate Skepticism)
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/12/15/the-polar-bear-gate-saga-how-a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-lies-paul-nicklen-and-michael-mann-vs-susan-crockford/
00
behind paywall:
Yallourn coal plant faces threat of early closure under Andrews RET
The Australian-9 hours ago
Yallourn, the most polluting of Australia’s remaining coal-fired power stations after the closure of the nearby Hazelwood this year, is scheduled to close in 2032 and operator EnergyAustralia has said that, for now, remains its intention…But the company, one of the nation’s big-three generators and retailers, also said power policy could change this and it is now studying the impact of the Victorian Renewable Energy Target. “We acknowledge policy and market settings may impact this approach; for example we are currently assessing the impact the introduction of a Victorian Renewable Energy Target would have on our business,” EnergyAustralia energy chief Mark Collette told The Australian…
Rejecting clean coal is like scoring own goal
The Australian-9 hours ago
The announcement of plans relating to the closure of the Liddell power station brings into sharper focus the need to efficiently deal with the wider question of coal plant closures expected over the next … HELE coal-fired plants produce more electricity using less coal by harnessing new generation technology and materials.
18 Dec: news.com.au: Malcolm Farr: Dip in electricity price rollercoaster — but not for everyone
But the AEMC warns the closure of coal-fired generators could mean they will go up again, taking consumers on a electricity price rollercoaster…
“We know more wind and solar supply will help bring prices down, but old power stations are starting to close down, which means supply will drop and prices go up again.
“Without investment in replacement dispatchable capacity, wholesale prices will go up again and remain volatile. And the rollercoaster will be repeated.”…
http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/budgeting/dip-in-electricity-price-rollercoaster-but-not-for-everyone/news-story/6054f2c8efa8322be71fd0a603b109c2
10
another excerpt found for Australian’s Yallourn article:
“The Yallourn brown coal power station in the Latrobe Valley could close early under Victoria’s renewable energy scheme, as part of which the Andrews Labor government has just launched reverse auctions to underwrite $1.3 billion of new wind and solar by 2020.”
30
Have they learned nothing from Hazelwood?
10
It’s absolutely nuts. Andrews and co have a lot to answer for.
10
15 Dec: FinancialPostCanada: Lawrence Solomon: How ‘road diets’ are making our car commutes even more painful
Cities increasingly and indiscriminately push ‘road diets’ on unsuspecting citizenries
http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/lawrence-solomon-how-road-diets-are-making-our-car-commutes-even-more-painful
1 Dec: FinancialPostCanada: Lawrence Solomon: Ban the bike! How cities made a huge mistake in promoting cycling
Cycling lanes consume more space than they free up, add to pollution and drain the public purse
http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/lawrence-solomon-ban-the-bike-how-cities-made-a-huge-mistake-in-promoting-cycling
00
not well-written:
18 Dec: The West: WA power bills to keep rising as Horizon and Synergy subsidies are cut to repair State Budget
by Shane Wright
West Australians will face the biggest increases in power prices of any residents in the nation, with more than $200 added to local electricity bills over the next two years as the State Government attempts to repair the State Budget.
A report from the Australian Energy Market Commission to be released today shows that while prices are expected to fall across the rest of the country, they will soar in WA.
By 2019-20, the price per kilowatt hour of electricity in WA will surpass that of South Australia to be the priciest in the country…
???(GAS TO COAL?) “This is due to higher gas prices and a switch in the generation mix ***from gas to coal, which results in higher capital costs but lower fuel costs,” it said…
???The report also notes that the fall in prices expected to occur on the east coast will be driven by extra supply of renewable energy.
Saying consumers had faced a “roller-coaster” of price changes, it found extra renewable supply had undermined more expensive coal-fired power stations.
Those power stations had been closed, reducing supply and driving up prices.
But with even more renewable supplies, the agency believes the east coast will enjoy reductions in prices over the next two years…
https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/wa-power-bills-to-keep-rising-as-horizon-and-synergy-subsidies-are-cut-to-repair-state-budget-ng-b88693231z
18 Dec: The West: Severe weather warning: What summer? WA drenched in huge rainstorm
by Natalie Richards
Only days after we basked in 37 degrees Celcius sunshine, WA is being pelted with heavy rain and temperatures as low as 12C…
Perth has been hit by 20mm of rain since 9am yesterday and temperatures dropped as low as 12.4C just after midnight.
In the Perth hills, Bickley has been bucketed with 35.8mm of rain since yesterday morning, making it the wettest area in the State.
In Dwellingup, 34.8mm of rain was recorded, while the South West town of Collie recorded 24.2mm of rain…
The State Emergency Services has received several call outs for leaking roofs but there are ***(SHOULD BE “NO REPORTS) reports of major damage from the storm…
https://thewest.com.au/news/severe-weather/severe-weather-warning-what-summer-wa-drenched-in-huge-rainstorm-ng-b88693593z
***NO “AMAZING” RAINFALL, SAYS BOM?
8 Dec: ABC: WA weather: ‘Winter’ storm in summer brings rain, strong winds but no major damage
By Charlotte Hamlyn
Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Ricus Lombard said it was a typical winter storm — in summer…
“It’s not something that we would expect around this time in December,” Mr Lombard said.
“You can still see fronts come up but nothing this strong.
***”But we haven’t seen any amazing rainfall, it’s really just been the gusts along the coastal parts.”…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-18/perth-escapes-major-damage-from-summer-storm/9267446
10
Pat says – 18 Dec: The West: WA power bills to keep rising as Horizon and Synergy subsidies are cut to repair State Budget
by Shane Wright.”
I have just read that article in the West – total nonsense – Wright is right off the mark. he claims that RE on the east coast replacing more expensive coal fired power stations.
TonyFromOz please comment and give us the hard numbers.
30
Wright is a leftie.
10
Do they have any airports in South Australia?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-17/pandemonium-atlanta-airport-power-outage-grounds-flights-traps-travelers-evacuation-
10
Pointman’s latest
https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2017/12/18/pointmans-look-back-at-the-year-2017/
And Hillary leads by 2 in the Pratties
30
Hillary is streaking ahead by 14 votes. And Frau Merkel is only 1 vote behind Malcolm Turnbull.
Just a flashy show pony with no endurance.
Time for him to be sent to the knacker’s yard.
30
Hilary now 19 votes ahead of Turnbull, who is level with a fast finishing Merkel.
MT has blown up and isn’t moving, and will be lucky to finish third in field of 5.
00
Want to build pipelines? Convince the Blob you are piping in pine scented Chinook power.
There’s always a fire hazard blowing somewhere
21
Christmas choccies sent a short while ago Jo, with thanks for all your efforts. I hope you and your family have a truly Happy and Merry Christmas.
Annie and Husband.
50
Quote on “free” wind. A Facebook friend wrote:
“People with sail boats quickly learn that even though the wind is free the means to catch the wind are usually very expensive.”
91
That is so true…with lots of maintenance too, especially after a collision in a race!
30
Now this cheeses me off , taxpayer money being used by the greens to improve their image .
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-18/greens-spend-150,000-dollars-on-media-monitoring/9268356
Have the ABC turned on them I wonder ?
20
NOTE THE HEADLINE:
18 Dec: CarbonBrief: Simon Evans: IEA says world coal demand will rise, despite slashing forecast growth in India
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has once again forecast that world coal demand will rise, despite halving its outlook for growth in India.
The IEA’s Coal 2017 report (LINK), published today, sees a small increase in global coal demand from 2016 to 2022, with growth in India and southeast Asian countries outweighing declines in rich nations and China…
It goes on to say that coal demand will increase by 177 million tonnes of coal equivalent (Mtce, 3%) in the years to 2022…
This year, however, perhaps the more notable shift in outlook is for India. Last year, the IEA forecast saw Indian thermal coal demand rising by 215Mtce between 2014 and 2022. This year, the figure is 115Mtce, effectively halving the rate of growth for power sector coal demand…
Plans to bring electricity to all citizens, plus rapid economic growth, mean an increasing role for coal power in India, the IEA says…
There is a large pipeline of roughly 43GW of new coal-fired power stations already under construction in India, with an even larger number at the planning stage. It is not clear how many of these plants will be completed, however…
In contrast to the IEA, which sees Indian coal demand rising non-stop out to at least 2040, recent IEEFA analysis (LINK) suggests the country’s power stations could peak demand by 2027…
For Sivaram, that future engine of growth will come from southeast Asian countries, where there is “no end in sight” for coal plant construction…
https://www.carbonbrief.org/iea-world-coal-demand-will-rise-despite-slashing-growth-india
NOTE THE FAKENEWSGUARDIAN HEADLINE & SPIN:
18 Dec: Guardian: Adam Vaughan: Global coal consumption forecast to slow
International Energy Agency says burning of fossil fuel is falling fast, driven by drop-off in use by EU, China and US
PHOTO: CHIMNEYS, SMOKE
Narendra Modi’s goal of bringing power to the 240 million Indians without electricity mean coal use will grow too. Coal-fired power generation in India is expected to increase by 4% a year until 2022…
Worldwide, the IEA said it expects coal’s share of the energy mix to shrink slightly, from 27% last year to 26% in 2022…
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/dec/18/global-coal-consumption-forecast-to-slow
and I wouldn’t be surprised if coal does better than both pieces suggest.
10