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Midweek Unthreaded
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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
The nerds have the numbers on precious metals investments on the ASX
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Australia has a problem with the I (3) factor. Sorry but iPad doesn’t do cubed symbols.
I refer of course to our inept, incompetent incumbent. Surely a winner in the worst Prime Minister stakes, however hotly contested recently. And our choice is something worse.
Oh God, be merciful and send an asteroid to destroy Canberra.
120
The ongoing Terrible Trumble Tragedy has me trying to guess what sort of internal guidance system T cubed has onboard.
He seems indecisive about everything, and I would suspect that even includes breathing.
It’s all so hard to make decisions.
60
No, every time he opens his mouth some vapour comes out. Barnaby is refusing to go, obviously thinking that a bit of opposition and Trumble will crumble. Well, he’s had more exposure to Trumble than most people would want.
110
It’s the sheer incompetence I object to; how long has he known about Barnaby’s little indiscretion? At least 3 months, probably longer, yet when it became public he was completely unprepared. Just let the thing blow up into a black eye for the government then shot from the lip. If this is the “smartest man in the room” ( and compared with Shorten be has a slight claim) then how dumb are they in Canberra?
My old mathematics teacher had an expression for those not up to speed “Oh! He hasn’t got the brains of a raspberry seed”. Sums them up.
60
then how dumb are they in Canberra?
Going by the polite and glowing terms Graeme likes to use when referring to our ruling elite I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that he has never actually been inside Parliament House.
Canberra is… different.
00
To steal a phrase from the septics, Canberra is 800 sq klms surrounded by reality.
30
High pressure is too far south and with the help of Gita the Antarctic breeze reaches Brisbane.
http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDY65100.pdf
10
How about the predicted path on Windy.com for Ex-TC Kelvin reaching the Bight on Wednesday 21st in the evening?
30
Weather radar is showing ZERO rain from ex TC Kevin – contrary to BoM predictions.
When will they stop playing with their homogenisations and do some real work?
62
They keep showing the NW under water on WA TV, but I believe that the section shown is the notorious black soil plains south of Broome, which has always been a trouble spot when it rains. If they had built the road up off the plains when they sealed it, they might not be having the problems now. In any case, it’s not a significant amount of water that has fallen.
20
NW highway…
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Graeme#4: is 375mm not significant rain?
10
TRM
When I was at college we had on our Environmental Science course a former airline pilot.
He told us about a colleague who regularly did the Australia run from Singapore.
On approaching Darwin from the north this joker would sign in to air traffic with “I have the island in sight”.
I checked the BOM National Radar Loop. Each station e.g. (Giles) has a range of 256 km. Today (20 Feb) Ex-TC Kelvin is out of range of Giles, Kalgoorlie & Halls Creek.
That’s a big island you’ve got down there!
10
Standard path for many of WA’s cyclones. One took out the Trans line in 1963 by flooding little-used river beds – so rarely used that the Trans line was built over them without flood pipes. Another one lifted a large water tank from a siding off its stand, and was last seen bowling along heading SE…
10
It’s soon time for Abbott and his supporters in the party to come down hard on Turnbull. The sooner the better. It’s a given that Turnbull will lead his party to a landslide defeat at the next election taking into account the voting patterns across the nation and the fact a significant part of the voters do not use their brains to understand a Shorten lead government will be much worse than a Turnbull lead one. That’s how the cookie crumbles. If we have to learn the hard way then so be it. However, if Abbott makes enough waves to destroy Turnbull and replace him with someone else, not necessarily Abbott himself, then their defeat at the next election will be less than a landslide – perhaps even a win for them. Anyone who really believes that Turnbull can win the next election under the current circumstances must have the intelligence of a rock. Turnbull clearly has been a dismal failure and massive disappointment – in some ways more so that Rudd and Gillard. Even I had some half-decent expectations when he took over from Abbott but it quickly evaporated, and more recently his pathetic performance has convinced me he’s one of the worst PMs of all time. He speaks with forked tongue too often and hasn’t really achieved anything of real benefit since he took office. His beleif in the global warming myth has allowed him to instigate policies on energy that will guarantee this nation will fall over the cliff and into the abyss to bring upon us a crash and burn scenario. The only difference between his polices and those of the ALP is that ALP will complete the crash and burn scenario quicker, which in reality will be better for us overall because we can flush out the despots on both sides once and for all rather than dragging it out longer. So, unless the LNP does a complete 180 degrees turn on their polices on energy, I now prefer that Shorten becomes our next PM ASAP even though we will have to suffer much pain over a short period. I’m convinced much of the voters are asleep and don’t know what will hit them but when it does they will have no option but to wake up learn very quickly. There will of course be a few who will never wake up but they should be in the minority. It’s now time to go through our baptism of fire.
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‘… replace him with someone else, not necessarily Abbott himself …’
Bovver boy Peter Dutton or Morrison?
‘…. a Shorten lead government will be much worse than a Turnbull lead one.’
Not necessarily, as I mentioned on earlier threads, they have a Belt and Road agenda with the promise of many jobs and economic growth.
Brace yourself for an infrastructure bonanza and Labor staying in power for a long time.
12
I suspect Turnbull’s damage to the Libs is terminal – it appears that way at present.
90
If you believe in directed history, then the current PM is nothing more than a Champers Charlie, who has been told by the true power brokers to run the Libs onto the rocks to ensure they look more pathetic than Labor, and therefore make Labor electable.
There is a wild card in all this, based on a conversation with an intelliegent cabbie recently, namely that people want an alternative to the main parties, which I think is why Bernardi is pushing ahead to make himself a political conservative force.
Given the electorate by and large has very few options ( by design of course…) , I’d expect Labor to win, not because they are a good option ( in fact I suspect have a strong beating heart of Communism that drives them ), but because voting is compulsory and its the only way the Elite can actually mandate a right to rule through which ever bunch of sock puppet proxies are delievered by the punters….its a bit like giving someone a double headed coin and saying everytime “you flip, heads I win” …not much of a choice is it? But its effective….
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More like a case of “Heads I win, Tails you lose” …
50
So Shorten is copying the successful strategy of Weatherill in South Australia who has increased electricity prices (for no good reason), driven companies out of business or the State for years but with an election coming has suddenly started promising billions** to generate jobs. Curiously many will involve knocking down buildings where people used to work. All very nice if it works and rather vague, particularly where the money will come from.
** By my count he’s up to $1.75 billion with 4 weeks to go.
50
The old East Germany is full of grey buildings with soviet era “up the workers” murals on the the side of them, still visible….will Australia go that way?
10
Definitely not! we cant afford murals
30
I don’t have high hopes for it, but here’s a little fantasy — the Nats and Libs split over Turnbull’s ineptitude and the Nats get grumpy enough that they hand a majority over to Labor. Shorten gets hold of the reins for the remainder of this term and quickly gets seen for what he is. The Liberals realise that the Nats won’t accept just any old leader anymore and see if they can find someone less supercilious than Turnbull (here’s a challenge, name someone more supercilious) so they can coalesce with the Nats again for the next election. At the very least this would see the end of both Turnbull and Shorten which has to be a good thing.
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‘…. the Nats and Libs split over Turnbull’s ineptitude ….’
Unlikely, its all much of a muchness, most politicians are inept.
Pretending this is political science, Labor wins the next election with a promise of bread and circuses, but the honeymoon comes to an abrupt end when Dutton takes control of the Opposition.
I have just taken a straw poll amongst dyed in the wool leftards and they prefer Morrison over Dutton, so in my mind (assuming Tony doesn’t get a look in) its Dutton for me.
10
So, If I can just give a little plug to my most recent findings regarding the lack of equivalence between measurements from electronic probes and mercury thermometers… I’ve articles today published at both The Spectator and also Online Opinion:
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19580
https://www.spectator.com.au/2018/02/i-dare-an-abc-journo-to-check-just-one-fact-of-global-warming/
Both of these link to my most recent blog post suggesting at Mildura the current Rosemount probe often recorded 0.4 degrees Celsius warmer than a mercury thermometer would.
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It is obvious that the likes of Faraday, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Apollo 11 crew, etc were just too bloody dumb to read thermometers.
Hence, Fred Blogg at BoM has had to correct their work, because he is an A Grade wizard who can REALLY read a thermometer.
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Ah Jennifer, your challenge to their ABC is very timely. You say:
However, I’m not likely to hold my breath waiting, just as I didn’t hold my breath waiting for what’s her name Alberici, the Chief Economics Correspondent at their ABC, to correct her ignorant analysis of Australian company taxation policy.
Just as Alberici doesn’t understand the difference between profit and revenue so the ABC doesn’t understand the difference between an electronic probe and a mercury thermometer.
Their ABC is well overdue for a thorough and intensive probe of its own.
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Homogenization across the board, politico, socio, enviro,
the Orwellian virtue writ large.
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Albanese was just giving us a taste of what were in for under a labor/green coalition when it comes to energy and climate change , but it is for our own good .
I see BOM have “reworked” the rainfall figures for Broome and you’ll never guess what ? It is the wettest Evah.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-20/broome-smashes-annual-rainfall-record-after-less-than-two-months/9462962
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Saw the “following quality control” remark. Wonder what the raw data rainfall measurement was? Probably a lot lower.
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“A climate change summit begins in Wellington today just as the remnants of Cyclone Gita arrive in the New Zealand capital.” Something about carbon and loads of free green cash.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/350808/climate-change-summit-getting-underway-in-wellington
Mt Hutt, South Island, Snow Report 20 February: Snow to 1000 metres, 109 cm total; 21 February, snow to 1000 metres, 30 cm total. Maximum temp 0.0˚C down to minus 5˚C overnight, colder with gale force wind chill. Check out the updated summit webcam pics – visibility is zero due to SNOW & ICE burying cams.
http://www.metservice.com/skifields/mt-hutt
Reminds me of that timeless cartoon where two climate worriers are holding signs which say ‘Stop Global Warming!’ as the snow piles up around them. Then again, I did ask for a White Birthday – as I do every summer in February – and hey, whaddaya know, it’s snowing!
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Okay, so my comment vanished into the ether.
Pity, good point.
Tony.
[Tony, I do not find a comment that you could be refering to. But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t offer this simple advice, resubmit the comment and see what happens.] AZ
30
Thanks AZ.
Four attempts now and all have failed.
Changed the wording with each attempt bar one, and I got a duplicate notice for that, so I changed the wording again, and it failed also.
I have saved it to my word processing program.
Odd, it’s happened a couple of times now over the last two weeks or so.
Has a word count facility been added, because the comment is 755 words.
Tony.
30
Try again.
Let me draw your attention to rooftop solar power I know I bang on about it and how it’s made out to be more than it seems, but it’s worth looking more closely to try and separate fact from fiction.
We’re told it is significantly large, and contributes towards lowering power generation required from other sources, but, as usual, all they quote is Nameplate, and doing it like that, it sounds like a large contributor. People might equate it to what is now referred to as a ‘virtual power plant’, in other words, that it is a large generator of power when added together.
I have been watching the widget at the Renew Economy site, (and most of you already have the link, and that may be the slight problem I’m having in trying to post this comment, so I’ll leave it out just in case) about the only place where I can get (reasonably) accurate totals for rooftop solar, and at that site it is referred to as Small Solar. I have been going there every hour or so for the last few weeks now, just to check totals for rooftop solar.
I will use the total for just one State, arguably the best, because it is furthest North, and that’s Queensland. The Total Nameplate for rooftop solar power in Queensland is now 1800MW.
The second total is the overall total for rooftop solar in all Australia, and the claim is that it is now 6000MW.
Okay, just using those two totals, 1800MW for Qld, and 6000MW for Australia, that is actually quite large when compared to a single power plant in one place delivering its power to the grid, say Bayswater at 2640MW, so that total for Australia is quite large.
So, Nameplate is all you hear being quoted, and the impression is that it actually delivers that amount of power during daylight hours. Full Stop.
They won’t mention Insolation. They won’t mention that it’s spread far and wide across the vast areas of EACH of those States. They won’t mention that most of the power is being consumed by the homes themselves. They won’t mention that very little is fed back to the grid. They won’t mention that, because it is so small, it barely gets out of the local area where it is being generated, some here, some there, some in one suburb, some in the next, some in the regions, some in the Country.
It’s all added together to give one large total. (Nameplate)
Go to that widget at the linked site, and look at it, and look at it around that Midday time period, and an hour or two either side of Midday.
Keep in mind that we are in Summer, the best time of the year for rooftop solar power, because the hours of daylight are longer, and the Sun is closer to overhead than at other times of the year. (and that also refers back to the Insolation I mentioned earlier)
Okay then, Qld, with its total Nameplate of 1800MW, and I have seen it as high as 1000MW ….. in SUMMER, the best time for power generation and it still only manages a 55% Capacity Factor.
Why is that?
Because it is spread across the whole State, Not all of the State is in bright cloud free sunlight all the time. Have a cloudy period in the SE corner of the State, the largest concentration of rooftop solar and it drops away dramatically. Even now today at Midday (Qld time) it’s barely managing 420MW (CF 23%)
Now, the Australian total of 6000MW, and a couple of times I have seen it over 3000MW, still not much more than 50%, AND, spread across the whole Country, and at the height of Summer. Right now, it’s around 2200MW. (CF 36%)
Okay, fair enough, that is still 3000MW (at that short point in time) that does not need to be generated from other sources, BUT, again, break it down State by State, and that drops it down significantly, especially in those three big States with 89 to 92% of all Australia’s power consumption. It is barely managing 8% in those States, and that is only for an hour or so either side of Midday.
It’s barely contributing at all, and is NOT contributing to the overall power requirements for where power is needed the most, in that non Residential sectors, where it is contributing all but zero.
The National Electricity Market operators are not even considering it when it comes to power requirement, because it is such a small and localised contributor.
So, when politicians and green urgers quote huge (Nameplate) numbers at us, be aware that the facts are entirely different from what they would try and persuade you to believe.
Tony.
141
AZ
that was the problem.
If I included the actual link to that RenewEconomy site with the live power widget, or even a reference to the link, the comment would just vanish.
So, just type in RenewEconomy and when the page of links come up, it should be the top one, and at that link hit the NEM Watch link.
Odd little quirk.
Tony.
30
Tony,
I am puzzeled how the NEM get any MW figures for rooftop solar generation. ?
Its all “behind the meter” , or does everyone with solar have a wireless data feedback to the nem to supply realtime power info to some central data bank ?
10
Chad,
it beats me also, but they must be able to get the data from somewhere, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to put the data up at their site. It all disappears late afternoon, and doesn’t come back up till the next morning.
If it was, umm, made up, (and I seriously doubt that) then I feel sure they would want to make the figures look a lot better than they are.
I think they’re relying on people knowing so little about it that they think these numbers are actually good.
All it ACTUALLY does is confirm what I have been saying all along, that it is marginal, at best.
I can’t wait to see what the data looks like in Winter.
It’s marginal for Summer.
It NEVER makes it’s Nameplate, and it NEVER will, spread across such vast areas as it is.
And what it also proves is that when it comes to the delivery of power, the AEMO is not relying on this at all.
And that is because it’s NOT a single power plant in one place, but many thousands of tiny little generators spread out across an area almost the size of the U.S. and totals for each State that amount to less than One Unit at one large plant, only spread across the whole State, most power consumed by the home themselves, and very (very squared) little power fed back to the grid.
If I can make one wry comment, it concerns the weekends. With all that rooftop solar, and now the people at home instead of at work or school, then even less is fed back to the grid, and more consumed in the homes, and in fact, most probably being consumed by home air conditioning, so in effect, helping to solve one of the problems that the greenies think is so major, home air conditioning consuming lots of power.
You only need look at actual Load Curves to see that weekends are the times of lowest power consumption anyway, and that has not changed, as they are still low, sort of confirming that with everyone at home instead of at work and school, then those home air con units are working harder, and still power consumption is lower on weekends than on week days.
Of course, you’ll never hear any of this though.
Tony.
60
Tony,
I spent an hour researching metering !!!…
As usual, a lot of conflicting info, but its obvious that not all RT Solar installations have meters with communication ability, and many do not even have the ability to meter the solar generation at all (Net metering)
There is currently a push to get everyone onto smart meters but i would suggest there is no way on earth that Aemo can know how much roof top Solar is being generated.
The Metering requirements also differ greatly from state to state.
30
I read last year that a focused solar, liquid salt plant in Spain can barely keep the salt molten in winter. I checked GEarth and it was the same Lat N as the proposed array for SA is, only S [obviously]
You inferred that rooftop solar is good for the householder. I agree. Mine prolly has a <5 yr pay back, better than any investment, even with a standard 10c FIT. It must play havoc with the coal fired generators though.
I notice too that SA has had low wind generation for most of this month. It's 152 MW now.
20
I’m not sure how I can say this with any more emphasis.
Having watched the data now so closely for these last eight Months, rooftop solar power is having no effect whatsoever on coal fired power. In fact the percentage of coal fired power with relationship to the overall total is actually increasing.
It just means that less gas fired plants are needed to top up the total as consumption increases during the day towards the Peak.
Coal fired power is supplying what it does without even ‘looking sideways’.
Not even wind power makes any difference to what coal fired power is supplying. Even when wind is up, coal fired power barely even ‘blinks’.
It’s actually eye opening to see. I sort of expected something entirely different. There has been days when wind power is pretty large, and even then coal fired power just keeps doing what it always does. It’s easy really. When the wind falls away, and trust me, that happens often, then the AEMO just gets a gas fired plant to come on line, or ramps in a little more hydro.
It’s almost like coal fired power is untouchable, and when you’re delivering between 70% and 80% of power, then it probably is.
Tony.
20
2 Feb: ABC: Adani mine has Bill Shorten sceptical as he signals concern for jobs elsewhere
By political correspondent Louise Yaxley and Chris O’Brien
Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten has hardened his stance against the proposed Adani coal mine as he prepares to fight the Batman by-election in Melbourne…
The Greens hold a state seat in the Batman area and they are optimistic they can win the by-election and will make their opposition to the Adani mine a feature of their campaign…
He pointed to what he called scandalous allegations reported by Guardian Australia that it may have falsified samples and evidence when appealing against a fine for a discharge at its Abbot Point coal terminal during Cyclone Debbie last year.
Adani has denied the allegations and said it provided correct and accurate information to regulators.
Mr Shorten has called for an immediate Federal Government inquiry…
“The world coal market doesn’t appear to be great economics for opening up the newest, biggest mine in the southern hemisphere,” he said.
Mr Shorten also pointed to concerns that jobs would be threatened in other mining regions if the Adani mine went ahead in Queensland…
Anti-Adani mine protesters were at the media conference as Ged Kearney was announced as candidate.
Ms Kearney welcomed the small group, telling them they are running a good campaign.
“I really can’t see Adani going ahead,” she said…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-02/adani-bill-shorten-sceptical-on-carmichael-coal-mine/9390574
19 Feb 16.02 AEDT: Guardian: Bill Shorten says there’s a ‘role for coal’ and Adani mine just ‘another project’
Labor leader’s comments come during visit to Queensland and follow CFMEU’s warning that ALP’s blocking of Carmichael mine would open divisive debate
by Katharine Murphy
Bill Shorten has declared there is a role for coal in Australia, and characterised the controversial Adani coalmine as just “another project” as he digs in for several days visiting marginal coastal electorates in Queensland, trumpeting local infrastructure commitments.
The positive public signal from the Labor leader on the future of coal followed a warning last week by the CFMEU’s national president, Tony Maher, that any move by Labor to block Adani’s controversial Carmichael coalmine would expose Labor politically in Queensland, and open a divisive debate within the ALP about the future of coalmines in Australia.
Labor shouldn’t toughen its stance on Adani coalmine, CFMEU head warns
Maher told Guardian Australia last week (LINK) that promising to block the Adani project would raise questions, like “what do you do with the next [coalmine], and the next one, and the one after that?”…
In Adelaide the shadow infrastructure minister, Anthony Albanese, told 5AA that Labor had not taken any decision to oppose the mine…
“We’ve been quite rightly questioning about the impact on water and some of the environmental consequences of the project,” he said.
“But Labor has to stand up for Labor values and one of the things about Labor values is about jobs and making sure the economy can function.”
Shorten said in Townsville, while unveiling an expansion of the local port, that Labor would stand up for “real blue-collar jobs” and the next “pipeline of work”…
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/feb/19/bill-shorten-says-theres-a-role-for-coal-and-adani-mine-just-another-project
00
19 Feb 19.00 AEDT: Guardian: Labor MP says Adani mine would displace jobs and sabotage Paris targets
Mark Butler says development of Galilee basin is not in Australia’s national interests
by Katharine Murphy
Butler has used a speech to the Sydney Institute to argue the controversial Adani coal project is “utterly exceptional” because it is the only significant export-oriented greenfields mine opening up “on the face of the planet”.
He said developing the Carmichael mine would fly in the face of current market trends, where export volumes for thermal coal had been flat for several years, and would also be inconsistent with the International Energy Agency’s advice “on what the world needs to do … to keep global warming well below two degrees”…
Sydney Institute speech on Monday night addressed broad-ranging questions associated with managing climate change-related financial risk – including the impact of climate change on balance sheets, on the insurance industry and the potential for future litigation to “recover damages for losses incurred as a result of climate change from people who should have prevented those losses from occurring”…
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/feb/19/labor-mp-says-adani-mine-would-displace-jobs-and-sabotage-paris-targets
Anti-Adani activists to crash Bill Shorten’s Townsville trip
Townsville Bulletin· Feb 19, 2018
20 Feb: news.com.au: Tracey Ferrier: No, no, no: Shorten’s message to Adani
Bill Shorten has delivered another blunt message to Adani, saying the Indian miner should not expect taxpayer support for its Queensland coal mine.
Adani’s planned mine has dominated a community meeting Mr Shorten attended in Townsville on Monday night.
“If they want to use EFIC (the Export Finance and Investment Corporation) or any other form of government funding body to get the money – no, no, no,” he told the crowd.
There were tense scenes outside the meeting at the Currajong State School when a man scuffled with anti-Adani protesters.
Police were called and a 53-year-old man was issued with a notice to front court on three counts of common assault.
The mine is a divisive issue in Townsville, which is one of two fly-in, fly-out bases for the Galilee basin coal mine.
Some want the jobs Adani has promised, but others view the mine as an environmental disaster.
http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/no-no-no-shortens-message-to-adani/news-story/503f538dbd59399dc8410cdce00c93d3
was the person who scuffled with the protesters the one who got charged?
10
The Adani protesters (including THEIR ABC) must be very thankful to the Clinton Foundation for financially sponsoring their protest activities.
Never has a foundation been more aptly named than the “Clinton Foundation” – all for the Clinton’s.
Where did the 2010 Haiti donation go Mr and Mrs Clinton?
20
Mount Sinabung eruption dust cloud 19Feb2018
40
Cool pic… and it is right next to Toba which makes it even more cool and a bit scary.
30
19 Feb: IOL South Africa: Valerie Boje: Visiting General Electric execs stress importance of coal
EXECUTIVES of General Electric (GE), a key government partner in the energy field, were on a working visit to the country last week.
This was as President Cyril Ramaphosa prepared for his first State of the Nation Address (Sona) and Eskom group executive for generation Matshela Koko resigned.
Russell Stokes, president and chief executive officer of GE Power, held a media briefing in Pretoria ahead of a visit to the Kusile coal plant under construction by Eskom near eMalahleni (Witbank) in Mpumalanga.
Once its six units are completed, Kusile will be the fourth-largest coal-fired power station in the world and add to the national grid enough electricity to power 3.5 million households. Medupi in Limpopo will provide another six units.
Stokes said in countries such as South Africa, blessed with significant coal resources, there was a need to appreciate coal in the total energy mix, with GE’s ability to use ultra super-critical steam technology to ensure significantly higher efficiencies of the plants (up to 47.5% efficiency rates) and limit the environmental impact of coal-fired power stations…
In South Africa, with its “endowment” of coal, the question was how to use coal more responsibly for smart clean power, with low emissions, but also to take a long-term view in which coal, gas, nuclear and renewables such as solar and wind all fed into the energy mix, said Njenga.
Stokes said a mix of sources to generate electricity was important for a consistent and balanced supply…
Whatever policy decisions the Ramaphosa-led government makes, GE will continue to support all sources in the mix, including nuclear, Njenga said.
https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/visiting-general-electric-execs-stress-importance-of-coal-13361546
19 Feb: MiningWeekly: Indian captive coal mines to achieve 105Mt production by 2021
by Ajoy K Das
Indian coal production from captive blocks allocated to thermal power plants has been estimated at 105-million tons a year by 2021/22, up from about 37-million tons a year at present, according to perspective planning on coal availability by the Power Ministry…
However, more than volume availability, it is the transportation and logistical bottlenecks that have led to a fall in power plant stocks that has caught the attention of the Power Ministry, prompting it to hold a series of meetings over the past week with the Railways Ministry to ensure higher rake availability and faster turnaround by government transporter, Indian Railways.
The Power Ministry has pointed out that, for optimal and efficient movement of 603-million tons of coal from mines to power plant locations, Indian Railways will have to make available a minimum of 288 rakes.
However, while assuring maximum availability of rakes, Indian Railways communicated the need for faster turnaround of rakes which could only be achieved by cutting down on loading time by CIL…
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/indian-captive-coal-mines-to-achieve-105mt-production-by-2021-2018-02-19
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can’t copy, but worth a read:
19 Feb: BusinessNewsWesternAustralia: Aspire reignites coking coal flame in Mongolia
by Matt Birney
Perth-based Aspire Mining is racing towards production in Mongolia with its Ovoot, coking coal project that is expected to churn out high value coal suitable for steel making…
https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Aspire-reignites-coking-coal-flame-in-Mongolia
19 Feb: Reuters: Colombia coal output down slightly in 2017 to 89.4 million tonnes
by Julia Symmes Cobb
Colombia, the world’s fifth-largest exporter of coal, produced 89.4 million tonnes in 2017, down 1.2 percent from output the year before, the Energy and Mining Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The country produced 90.5 million tonnes in 2016…
The biggest players in Colombia’s coal industry are Drummond Co, Glencore Plc, Murray Energy Corp’s Colombia Natural Resources, and Cerrejon, which is jointly owned by BHP Billiton, Anglo American PLC and Glencore.
https://www.reuters.com/article/coal-colombia/colombia-coal-output-down-slightly-in-2017-to-89-4-million-tonnes-idUSL2N1Q90DK
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Best of luck dealing with the Mongolian gov. I just found this in mining.com
I forget the details but the owners of the Oyu Tolgoi mine [Hasn’t always been Rio] have been fighting for well over 10 years. I think the gov demanded 50% free carried and still wanted to rip them off for electricity. I lost interest and haven’t been keeping up for some time now.
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Hanrahan –
the article you excerpted is from Sept 2016. I’ve posted previously about the problems facing Mongolia’s resource sector, but the one I posted today (plus other news of a resurgence in economic activity in China of late), seemed to suggest things were looking up. hope so, for the sake of the Mongolians.
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Unfortunately Hanrahan there is almost as much sovereign risk in Australia as there is in Mongolia.
The sovereign risk rot started with Kevin Rudd and continues unabated, assisted by the Gutless Green Vermin.
11
toorightmate
I think Abbott meant it when he said that Oz was open for business, Turnbull is less convincing. 🙁
20
I had a request from AEMO to convert my long email to pdf so it could be easily added to a web site for submissions. AEMO advised that all submissions would be published. This is what I prepared:
https://1drv.ms/b/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNgnC3VgxP_bcLV2pe
10
I have downloaded your PDF. I cannot discover what you may try to present! All seems excess bliovation of nonsense! Can you please supply some brief note of your intent?
01
19 Feb: Chicago Tribune: With global emissions rising, the euphoria of the Paris Agreement is colliding with reality
by Brady Dennis and Chris Mooney, Washington Post
Global emissions of carbon dioxide are rising again after several years of remaining flat. The United States, under President Donald Trump, is planning to withdraw from the Paris accord and is expected to see emissions increase by 1.8 percent this year, after a three-year string of declines. Other countries, too, are showing signs they might fail to live up to the pledges they made in Paris.
In short, the world is off target.
“It’s not fast enough. It’s not big enough,” said Corinne Le Quéré, director of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research in England. “There’s not enough action.”…
The reasons vary. Brazil has struggled to rein in deforestation, which fuels greenhouse gas emissions. In Turkey, Indonesia and other countries with growing economies, new coal plants are being planned to meet the demand for electricity. In the United States, the federal government has scaled back its support for clean energy and ramped up support for fossil fuels…
Largely because of the United States’ dramatic changes in policy, a group called the Climate Action Tracker recently raised its prediction for how much the planet will warm even with the current Paris promises — upping it by 0.3 degrees Celsius, or more than half a degree Fahrenheit. In other words, the United States’ rejection of its pledge could push the entire globe backward on its goal of lowering temperatures.
(FAKE NEWS ALERT) The news isn’t all bad. China and India, which together produce about 24 percent of the world’s emissions, have encouraged the rapidly growing renewable energy markets in their countries. If they exceed their emissions-cutting targets, that could offset failures elsewhere around the world, (Niklas Höhne, a founder of the NewClimate Institute and professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands) said…
Turkey is expected to roughly double its emissions by 2030 as it continues to grow. Much of that could come in the form of building new coal plants, according to the Climate Action Tracker…
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/science/ct-world-climate-change-goals-20180219-story.html
19 Feb: Platts: Sameer C. Mohindru: China’s robust appetite for raw materials to boost freight demand: Bimco
China’s strong demand for iron ore, coal and crude is driving up the demand for ships and is serving as an engine of growth for the dry bulk shipping and the tankers’ sector, Baltic and International Maritime Council said in a report last week.
“Not only is China repeatedly importing larger volumes, it is also sourcing most of its imported iron ore from seaborne exporters with more than 98% of the imports arriving via sea,” Peter Sand, Bimco’s chief shipping analyst, said. Bimco is the world’s largest international shipping association, with around 2,100 members in over 120 countries.
China continues to ramp up its imports of iron ore, with seaborne imports growing 4.7% on the year to a record 1.054 billion mt in 2017, Bimco said. Close to 62% of China’s iron ore imports are from Australia and 21% from Brazil, which benefits the dry bulk shipping industry due to longer routes. Around 4% of the imports are from South Africa.
Bimco said that China’s coal imports have also provided a strong support to the demand for dry bulk ships as shipments rose by 12% last year to 228.5 million mt via sea. Around 84% of the country’s coal imports are now seaborne, up from 80% in 2016.
https://www.platts.com/latest-news/shipping/singapore/chinas-robust-appetite-for-raw-materials-to-boost-27916064
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comment in moderation re: With global emissions rising, the euphoria of the Paris Agreement is colliding with reality – Chicago Tribune from WaPo
19 Feb: ABC AM: George Christensen refuses to apologise for ‘greenie punks’ gun photo
By political reporter Stephanie Borys and Lucy Sweeney
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said he was disgusted by the image and comment, so reported it to the Australian Federal Police.
“The concern here is that George Christensen has given licence to people to behave in a way that is violent towards other people who may have a different view,” he said…
“It was clearly inappropriate. I will let the police complete their evaluation,” Mr Turnbull said.
An AFP spokesperson confirmed on Monday afternoon the matter was still being assessed…
“I’m not going to be moralised at by these extreme Greens for a joke that I put up on social media,” Mr Christensen said.
“The flippant comment I made online was a quote from Dirty Harry, who was a police officer speaking to people who are conducting illegal activity such as the Greens are. ”
Mr Christensen repeatedly referred to what he called “illegal activism” by green groups at the Abbot Point coal mine…
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Mr Christensen’s post was poorly timed and in poor taste…
Senator Hanson-Young said she received an abusive email shortly after she criticised Mr Christensen’s post on social media.
“It was a pretty sexist one and a threat to shoot me,” she said…
“I find it so offensive, I am fuming about it, as it is disgusting,” Senator Hinch said.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson told Channel 7 she was not interested in the issue and said “politicians have to get out of the gutter and stop criticising everyone else”…
(FINAL LINE) Queensland Police were also asked to look into the post, but have said preliminary enquiries have found no offence had been committed.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-19/christensen-refuses-to-apologise-for-greenie-punks-gun-photo/9459856
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14 Feb: Forbes: Jude Clemente: The United States As A Clean Coal Leader
Reports of coal’s terminal decline are obviously premature: “Over all, 1,600 coal plants are planned or under construction in 62 countries,” The New York Times, July 1, 2017…
Now generating 30% of U.S. electricity and 40% of global electricity, the fact is that coal will remain an essential component of the energy systems in the U.S. and around the world. The coal build-out is much higher than what you keep hearing. China and India, of course, remain at the forefront, each getting 65-75% of their power from coal. The might of coal in these still developing giants is simply overwhelming: gas generates less than 5% of power. To illustrate, as I have shown (LINK), China’s climate plan isn’t necessarily to use less coal but to use it differently, to use coal less directly like the U.S. does. But quietly, other large nations are also turning to coal. “Reports of coal’s terminal decline may be exaggerated” (LINK) from Edenhofer et al. is a must read:
•”Turkey, Indonesia and Vietnam, for example, plan to increase their capacity altogether by about 160 gigawatts altogether. This is about as much as the output of all existing coal-fired plants in the 28 EU countries.”
Pakistan and Indonesia, combined having 460 million people, are also turning to coal. With soaring power demand, coal is seen as cheaper, more reliable, more secure, and more established. “Although the costs of renewables have recently fallen, they still can’t compete with cheap coal in many parts of the world,” says Jan Steckel, head of the MCC working group Climate and Development. And even the already developed nations, where new energy needs are less, are following suit. South Korea, for instance, has coal for 45% of electricity and this will continue. And despite even having a negative population growth rate, Japan “has launched plans to open 49 new coal-fired power plants in the next decade.”…
In 2017, U.S. coal exports surged 61% from 2016 to nearly 90 million tonnes, with 50 million tonnes coming from the more pricey metallurgical variety that is a staple in steel making. “U.S. coal exports could rise 15% in 2018.”
Overall, some 10% of U.S. coal production has been going to exports, helping national coal production to increase 6% last year to around 700 million tonnes. In particular, industrials and utilities in India prefer the heat-intensive coal from West Virginia and surrounding states, with Germany, Brazil, Mexico, and China also importing more. The export surge has also bolstered the revenues of coal-carrying railroads such as CSX, BNSF, and Norfolk Southern, while also increasing business in U.S. ports. U.S. coal is also usually higher quality than coal used in other nations, particularly helping India’s problem of low calorific value domestic coal. “The U.S. has the world’s largest endowment of low-cost, high quality coal reserves.”
Not just helping our trade balance, exports help U.S. miners retain their jobs and support their families. Miners can make nearly $85,000 per year. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, coal mining jobs slightly increase last year to 51,200 in November from 50,000 in January. Know that U.S. coal usage itself is also quietly being bolstered: the $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan is obviously going to require loads of electricity and steel, two markets where coal still plays a very significant role. Coal has also been helped by the recent shelving of The Clean Power Plan…READ ALL
https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2018/02/14/the-united-states-as-a-clean-coal-leader/#3c0f2e331c38
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The CERES data is out for January. The global data resolves to an average heating of 15.9W/sq.m over the month. That is a little less than the 16.3W/sq.m recorded in Jan 2017.
The globe tends to gain heat during the Austral summer due to the greater expanse of water in the Southern Hemisphere.
The CERES data is not regarded as highly accurate in absolute terms but should give useful comparisons from period-to-period.
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16 Feb: Power-Technology: Port Qasim Coal-Fired Power Plant, Karachi (Pakistan)
Port Qasim power plant is a 1,320MW (2x 660MW) supercritical coal-fired plant being developed approximately 37km south-east of Karachi, Pakistan, at an estimated cost of $2.085bn. It is one of the priority energy projects being undertaken in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The ground-breaking ceremony for the project took place in May 2014 and major construction works commenced in May 2015.
The first unit of the project commenced power generation in November 2017, while the second unit was connected to the grid in January 2018 and is scheduled to be commissioned in June 2018.
Port Qasim Electric Power Company (PQEPCL) is the developer of the plant, which is expected to generate an average annual output of 9,504GWh.
The project is estimated to create more than 2,000 jobs and generate sufficient power to serve between three and four million families a year.
The Port Qasim coal-fired power plant consists of two 660MW supercritical units, which each include a boiler, steam turbine and generator. The single reheat, once-through boiler features a regenerative tri-sector rotary type air pre-heater.
The steam turbine is a supercritical, reheat-type turbine capable of operating at a speed of 3,000rpm. The generator operates at a voltage of 22kV and speed of 3,000rpm.
The 285t main transformer is a single-phase oil-immersed and double-winding transformer with forced-directed oil and forced-air cooling system…etc
The boiler is fuelled by sub-bituminous coal, which is imported by cargo ships from countries such as Indonesia, South Africa, Botswana, and Australia. The coal is unloaded at a dock to be constructed at the plant site…
Sinohydro Resources (SHR), a subsidiary of Power China, holds 51% stake in the project, while Al Mirqab Group (AMG), a subsidiary of Qatar-based Qlnvest, holds the remaining 49% stake.
The coal power project achieved financial closure in December 2015, with the Export-Import Bank of China (China EXIM Bank) providing a debt facility…
Contractors involved…ETC
https://www.power-technology.com/projects/port-qasim-coal-fired-power-plant-karachi/
00
unlike George Christensen, who refuses to apologise – see comment #14 – Facebook’s VP of advertising, Rob Goldman, seemingly had no choice. what a tale…and all over a miniscule amount of money spent on a miniscule amount of FB ads between 2014 and 2017 by some “Russian” trolls.
so much for the globalism of social media and the progressive left:
Rod Rosenstein announces the crazy Mueller indictment, and FB’s Rob Goldman sends out a series of TWEETS, including especially this one:
16 Feb: Twitter: Rob Goldman(Facebook)
The majority of the Russian ad spend happened AFTER the election. ***We shared that fact, but very few outlets have covered it because it doesn’t align with the main media narrative of Tump and the election.
https://twitter.com/robjective/status/964680123885613056
President Trump sent out some TWEETS, including:
TWEET: Donald J. Trump: The Fake News Media never fails. Hard to ignore this fact from the Vice President of Facebook Ads, Rob Goldman!
(THE ROB GOLDMAN TWEET WHICH INCLUDES:
“We shared that fact, but very few outlets have covered it because it doesn’t align with the main media narrative of Tump and the election.”)
FakeNewsMSM frantically covered the Goldman and Trump tweets, but almost all OMITTED:
“We shared that fact, but very few outlets have covered it because it doesn’t align with the main media narrative of Tump and the election.”
then came the smears of Goldman, e.g.
Fact-Checking a Facebook Executive’s Comments on Russian Interference
New York Times· 19h ago
Why Facebook is afraid of Robert Mueller – The Washington Post
15h ago
plus, of course, there was tons of FakeNewsMSM on air and in the press claiming Trump was just trying to get out of the fact his campaign colluded with “the Russians” etc.
and now! coming up…
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There is much talk in the US about a blue wave which will give the dems majorities in both houses after the mid-terms. If they can’t let go of the “Russian collusion” BS the wave will swamp them.
The dems have ten Senate seats up for grabs in states which were strongly red in 2016, and the benefit of the Trump tax cuts are becoming obvious. Trump’s approval rating has risen to abt. 47%, equal to his disapproval rating. The GOP is passing an act to make bonuses [up to $2,000] tax free. They are calling it the CRUMB act, to honour Nancy Pelosi [a multi-millionaire] who called the tax cuts “crumbs”.
BTW One crazy D senator likened Russia’s election interference to Pearl Harbour. Does he REALLY want a military response? Many, on both sides, do want a war. Who can forget McCain’s “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” as if he was one of the Beach Boys.
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19 Feb: Wired: A Facebook Executive Apologizes To His Company — And To Robert Mueller
by Nicholas Thompson
But then, roughly eight hours after the indictment appeared online, Rob Goldman, a VP for ads for Facebook, decided he had a few points to add to the debate. He was just freelancing, and had not cleared his thoughts with either Facebook’s communications team or its senior management.
TWEETS including: The majority of the Russian ad spend happened AFTER the election. We shared that fact, but very few outlets have covered it because it doesn’t align with the main media narrative of Tump and the election…
Facebook has been praised, notably by Digiday, for letting its executives sound off on Twitter, and Goldman had previously partaken of those privileges several times…
Goldman is far from the most prominent Facebook executive on Twitter, though. He had only 1600 followers, at the time, and his tweets didn’t draw much action on Friday evening…
He had made, however, two big errors — one of which was obvious and one of which was a bit subtle. The obvious error was asserting that one could understand the scope of the Russian propaganda campaign just through the ads….ETC
By the time Facebook executives went to sleep that evening, they had heard about the tweets, but they weren’t particularly worried. One of Facebook’s more senior executives, a VP named Andrew Bosworth, even gave the thread a little boost, retweeting it and noting “Important thread here.”
The tweetstorm started to spread in the early hours of Saturday. It caught the attention of the president of Pro Publica, one of the organizations that has been most critical of Facebook’s advertising practice. The former deputy communications director of the Clinton campaign noted it too.
And then, the message caught the attention of America’s Tweeter in Chief. And so on Saturday, right about when Facebook’s executives would have been sitting down for lunch, @realdonaldtrump decided that he wanted to introduce his 48 million followers to Rob Goldman… TWEETS
That’s when, according to executives at the company, Facebook realized it was holding a sh*t sandwich. It’s also when the company realized Goldman’s more subtle error: He had made it look like his company was repudiating the work of Robert Mueller…
Facebook has long had a vexed relationship with Donald Trump. It’s based in Silicon Valley, and most of the executives and employees are liberal Democrats…
He (Rob Goldman) now has 10,500 Twitter followers, but a few fewer friends at work…
At its core, Goldman’s mistake was a familiar one for Silicon Valley: An executive really smart at one thing seemed to think he was really smart at another thing…
On Monday, I spoke with a Facebook executive familiar with the company’s cooperation with Mueller and asked which of the three hypotheses was closest to the truth, based on all the data Facebook has. “I don’t think anyone at Facebook can say definitely one way or another,” they answered. “We are a tech company. Why would have the answer? I wouldn’t trust us if we said we did.”
Later that day, Rob Goldman seemed to come to the same understanding, and posted internally at Facebook a message that read as follows: “I wanted to apologize for having tweeted my own view about Russian interference without having it reviewed by anyone internally. The tweets were my own personal view and not Facebook’s. I conveyed my view poorly. The Special Counsel has far more information about what happened [than] I do—so seeming to contradict his statements was a serious mistake on my part…ETC ETC
https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-executive-rob-goldman-apologizes-to-company-and-robert-mueller/
as for the Wired writer – his Wikipedia page tells it all:
Nicholas Thompson (editor Wired)
Before (Wired), Thompson was a journalist at The New Yorker magazine, where he was the editor of newyorker.com.[2] Previously, he was a senior editor at the magazine
He is also a contributor for CBS News and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations…Thompson is the author of The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War…The Washington Post called it “Brilliant.”…
He is also one of three founders of The Atavist, a digital publishing company, whose investors include Eric Schmidt (Google), Andreessen-Horowitz, and Barry Diller…
He is a former fellow at the New America Foundation and a former contributing editor at CNN International. He has written about politics, technology, and the law for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, The New York Observer, and many other publications. In addition to his regular work with Bloomberg TV, he was also a frequent guest on CNN’s American Morning and NBC’s Today Show. He has also appeared as a commentator on Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC’s Live with Regis and Kelly and World News Tonight, CBS’s Early Show, and National Public Radio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Thompson_(editor)
UNBELIEVABLE. THAT’S ALL YOU CAN SAY ABOUT THE MSM TODAY.
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20 Feb: The American Spectator: A Further Perspective: The Economy Is Booming
by Gary Shapiro
Why Americans should thank President Trump.
I did not support Donald Trump for president. I recall arguing with some of my pro-Trump Consumer Technology Association (CTA) board members in 2016 — smart business leaders who were convinced that as president, Trump would drive U.S. economic growth. I was skeptical and focused on Trump’s personal, divisive attacks.
But within hours of Trump winning the election and the Republicans holding on to the Senate, I went on record saying Trump would grow the economy by “knowing when to step back, cut burdensome rules and let businesses innovate and thrive.” I also believed — correctly — that he would view the stock market as a “real-time measure of his economic success.” Since then, I have remained bullish, based on a growing global economy and the actionable steps President Trump has taken to make the U.S. economy better.
During President Trump’s first year in office, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 31 percent and the S&P 500 grew 23 percent. Unemployment is down to 4.1 percent. The number of Americans working full-time has grown to a record 154 million, and we just added 200,000 jobs in January. Consumer confidence is high. Inflation and gas prices remain low.
It is a commonly held belief in Washington that the president gets too much blame and too much credit for the health of the economy. But in this case, I believe President Trump deserves much of the credit for the nation’s economic success. Here’s why…READ ON
https://spectator.org/the-economy-is-booming/
30
Interesting Pat I never knew that , I personally loved what he stood for but yes he has a need for a minder and a twitter ban .
00
on the other hand – one of the silliest NYT pieces I saw this week gets roasted:
19 Feb: Newsbusters: Unhinged: One Year In, NYT Presidential Survey Ranks Trump as Worst Ever
By Scott Whitlock
In case it wasn’t clear, the New York Times really doesn’t like Donald Trump. The paper used President’s Day to reveal a new presidential survey finding — surprise! — Donald Trump is ranked as the worst ever. Worse than James Buchanan, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and other perennial bottom dwellers. Again, this after just a year as president. And, of course, Barack Obama is listed as the eighth commander-in-chief…
How bad does this new Times survey sound? Nate Silver, a former contributor to the paper and FiveThirtyEight.com editor (which used to be part of the NYT), scolded his former employer…ETC ETC
According to the Times, the votes came from the “170 members of the American Political Science Association’s Presidents and Executive Politics section.” …READ ON
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/scott-whitlock/2018/02/19/unhinged-one-year-nyt-presidential-survey-ranks-trump-worst-ever
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There’s something about scientists from before the age of scientism and settled science…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRYcQmY5aTs
For all the family wealth, Miriam never went to school let alone uni. What I’ve only recently discovered is that she was responsible for much of the flea-rabbit research which saved us from the myxo. She physically carted infected specimens to Oz from Spain…twice, because the first time someone here dusted the carrier rabbits with DDT.
20
“Once again, climate scientists use a single tree to define global change”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/02/19/once-again-climate-scientists-use-a-single-tree-to-define-global-climate-change/
There’s a familiar name involved too.
20
” Peter Morgenroth
February 19, 2018 at 8:43 pm
With an apology to Joyce Kilmer:
I think that I shall never see
A thing as lovely as a tree
Or anything, so I opine
As ugly as a wind turbine”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/02/19/tilting-at-windmills/#comment-2747933
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Just when I thought things couldnt get more stupid. I particpate in a survey panel on a range of topics (if I fit the profile they are after).
Tonight one arrives about climate change and carbon offsets 🙂
At one stage they ask you to check boxes to indicate how much you understand about how offset money gets spent (?!). One of the options was , and I am not making this up :
“Carbon offsets are spent on reforestation and renewable energy projects to remove carbon from the sky”
Just think about the assembled brainpower of the survery builders and customer management who thought that was a sensible thing to say. Multiple people looked at that and thought, yep! good to go.
50
”
The Decline and Fall of the Media.”
https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2018/02/16/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-media/
20
This post has nothing to do with climate and completely OT but these are the kinds of things that touch this old soldier deeply. It has to do with WW II history and more specifically with heroes. I have no doubt there are far more heroes than we’ll ever know about. Certainly more unknown than known.
Feb 19th, 1945 the US Marines went ashore at Iwo Jima. When it was all over and the US dead were under the wooden crosses in the stinking volcanic sand in the shadow of Mt. Suribachi. Go to the link provided and watch the very short video of a Marine who was there tell about going to the 5th Marine Cemetery before they debarked to return to the ship. I promise you won’t regret it.
https://twitter.com/USMC/status/965571684445990912
Meanwhile at about the same time on the other side of the world an Army Master Sergeant captured during the Battle of the Bulge changes history. A hero that until now only those he saved by his actions and those close to him knew of. His son wanted to learn what his father did during the war because he would never talk about it. So after his father died he set out on a quest to find out and he found out his father was far more than he knew. This is a little under 15 minutes but like the above I promise you will find it time very well spent to watch it.
https://vimeo.com/198357872
30
RAH,
These are from the times when America was great.
It stayed that way until Clinton commenced the internal demolition job.
Let us all hope that Trump succeeds in making America great again.
31
On the battlefield the US soldier is still great when the government will let them do the job the way they know how. One thing Commander and Chief Trump did was follow the advise of the fighting Generals and changed the ROE (Rules of Engagement). The positive effect of this was immediate.
30
Early in the war the Yanks were poor soldiers, they suffered a humiliating defeat at Kasserine Pass, Nth. Africa, they were inept suffering losses around Buna, PNG, after the Diggers pushed the Japanese back from Kokoda and the Navy copped a towling in the Battle of Savo Island. This area became known as Ironbottom Sound because of the shipping sunk. I am not criticising, just presenting facts as I see them.
But they are fast learners. The pinnacle was probably the USS Johnston, a Fletcher class destroyer, a good warship, part of a small fleet called Taffy 3. It’s actions in the Battle off Samar were truly heroic and possibly saved Admiral Halsey from a court marshal. Well worth watching a video on it.
According to Victor Davis Hansen, an entertaining war historian, the US forces only lost 0.3% casualties [I think] but it would have been much higher than that among the early enlistees. To get an idea of how big a force the US was assembling to invade the Japanese home islands search on “murders’ row Ulithi Is” and “invasion fleet ulithi” + images. There would have been hundreds of thousands of sailors and marines there who were never called on to fight and die. Parents don’t want photos of dead heroes on their mantlepiece.
In modern history the effectiveness of the US military machine is demonstrated in a tank battle called “73 Easting”. Search on “Greatest Tank Battles The Battle of Easting” + videos. Pat and other keen followers of US politics will recognise HR McMaster as a tank commander, today an anti-Trump insider.
10
Kasserine was not a defeat to be laid at the feet of the troops as much as with the leadership. Clearly demonstrated after Patton took charge. The defeat of US forces on defense under Lloyd Fredendall at Kasserine Pass occurred Feb. 19th, 1943. The victory of the same US forces in defense at the battle of El Guettar under George Patton occurred on March 23rd, 1943. Less than 6 weeks between the battles with opposite results. The other major difference was that in the interim Rommel had gone home. It seems it always takes time to separate the wheat from the chaff in the high commands of armies when they go to war and that process is only speeded up when the situation becomes desperate.
As far as your point about the Battle of Savo island and several other battles where the US was defeated during the most extensive surface actions the US Navy had ever experienced in it’s history. The explanation is more complex. US naval doctrine failed to train it’s forces in night engagements while the IJN emphasized realistic training in the same. Us naval commanders has not been trained in how to use their advantage of radar. Again a failure of leadership because the valor of the sailors is beyond reproach. But underlying all of that was the racist attitude of the majority in the US and the western powers in general that no military force from the Orient could stand up and go toe to toe with the forces of a major power from the west. Even after Pearl Harbor the Japanese were viewed by many in the US high command as copiers unable to innovate and invent and reliant upon western technology and ideas for their military power. In the end better training, more and better ships, and the advent in the US Navy of radar fire control ended the IJN dominance of night actions.
It should be noted that both Torch (November 8-16, 1942) and Watchtower/Guadalcanal campaign (7 Aug, 1942 to 9 Feb, 1943) were kicked off only months after Pearl Harbor. Both were operations requiring extensive logistic support which no other nation on earth had the resources to pull off running concurrently like that and the US almost failed to do so in the case of Guadalcanal. Even after Pearl Harbor the US Navy had several of their old Battleships that could have been deployed for the Guadalcanal campaign but weren’t. Ever wonder why that those ships were not used when the US Navy was in such dire straights during that fight? The answer is logistics. The US simply did not have the logistical ability to fuel those old oil hogs at the time. Thus the battleships that took part in the Guadalcanal campaign were all the newer more fuel efficient “fast battleship” types.
10
One other point concerning the naval actions off Guadalcanal and one which I think is the most damnable for the US Navy high command. US torpedoes of all types used by surface forces, aircraft, and submarines, at this juncture sucked compared to the Japanese “long lance” torpedoes. The Japanese were experts in the use of their torpedoes in night actions the US was not. That could be and was corrected but it took far too long for the Navy to admit the reality of how poor their torpedoes were compared to those being used by about every other major combatant and THAT was criminal in my view.
00
Y’day Nth Qld was hit by widespread morning and evening storms that have left thousands of consumers without power, but winds seem to have been limited to gusts < 100 KPH. There is a site: ergon dot com …. outage-finder [are direct links moderated?] which shows there are still a lot of outages.
How smart are we, planting trees which topple or break in modest winds near our houses, roads and power lines?
20
Joe Bastardi and the guys at Weatherbell forecast that we here in the US are in for nasty weather in March.
We’re in for a much colder and wetter month of March than usual across the Midwest and East.
All the indications are that it is going to be stormy for many also. Global conditions right now are heading towards almost exactly what the set up was in March of 1962. What happened in March of 1962?
Only the worst winter storm to hit the east coast during all of last Century! They called it a “block buster” storm. The effects the same as a major hurricane strike only during the winter.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/ash-wednesday-storm-of-1962-50-year-anniversary/2012/03/06/gIQAkSY4uR_blog.html?utm_term=.ee8628053eb0
So don’t be surprised if something like that happens again next month and watch as the ambulance chasing alarmists that will certainly jump on it as an example of how devastating “climate change” is. It happened before when the atmospheric CO2 level was 320 ppm.
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Is virtual power as good as real power?
In our local paper today. I don’t know what they mean. Are they saying that if you have enough transmission lines you don’t need power stations? DOH!
TOWNSVILLE households could have cheaper and more reliable electricity thanks to a new virtual power plant, according to the State Government.
Energy Minister Dr Anthony Lynham, who was in Townsville yesterday, said the hi-tech control room at Ergon’s CBD headquarters, drew electricity from customers around the state to bolster supply during peak demand.
“The virtual power plant has already proved its worth during last week’s heatwave,” he said.
“When demand spiked for those airconditioners last week, the plant drew 44 megawatts from a supplier in the southeast corner to help meet record peak demand.”
The virtual plant is managed by Yurika, an arm of publicly owned Energy Queensland.
Mr Lynham said the plant could have a flow-on effect in reducing the cost of power for consumers.
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