Weekend Unthreaded

9 out of 10 based on 26 ratings

349 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #
    Roy Hogue

    I don’t know if it’s good luck or bad to hit the first or second comment spot in one of these open threads. Hopefully good because there is at least one piece of good news for California. The Sierra Nevada snow pack after this winter’s storms is a surprise to all the “experts” and for the time being the drought in the Golden State appears to be over, even tough the Democrats in Sacramento would like it to be otherwise.

    As always, California has had water problems, not the least of which is that all the water is in the central and northern part of the state and the thirsty population is in the southern. But for now it looks like next summer will be OK.

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      Roy Hogue

      Now if we could just teach our politicians that nothing about the weather is constant…

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      Roy Hogue

      Just got in a later figure, 162% of average. That makes it the 4th largest ever.

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        Yonniestone

        Hey Roy remember the Oroville Dam damage in 2017?, well after following Calafornian pilot Blan Colirio’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/blancolirio/videos since then the latest Oroville video shows it repaired and flowing beautifully https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCQmIklHMkY

        This guy does some of the best live reporting and is a natural communicator, enjoy.

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        • #
          Yonniestone

          It’s Juan Browne not Blan Colirio!!, got up too early even when daylight savings ends!

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          Yes, I’ve used some of his video on my blog; explained clearly why the recent California fires were so bad and had nothing to do with climate change.

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          Roy Hogue

          Unfortunately the test of the Oroville Dam will come years from now when we have another year of record rainfall and we see whether the state has kept up the inspection and repair it should have done every year but didn’t, leading to the present emergency just ending.

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      Reed Coray

      You’ve all seen the signs in local stores with “open” on one side, and “closed” on the other side. The people/organizations in California responsible for keeping California’s citizens apprised of the state’s water conditions have a similar sign. On one side the sign says: “Severe Drought. To be saved, send us money.” On the other side: “Severe Flooding, To be saved, send us money.” Since the democrats (nee, socialists) have taken over the state government, California’s water conditions have always been in crisis. There never has been, and as long as the democrat clowns run our state, never will be “water conditions” that don’t require their enlightened leadership/control.

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      • #
        Reed Coray

        California seems to be in either a state of drought or a state of flooding. If there was only some way to (a) capture the water nature dumps annually in the mountains instead of letting it run off unused into the ocean, we could mitigate droughts; and (b) increase the time interval it takes for the water in the mountains to reach the sea, we could mitigate flooding. Alas, if such a way exists, California’s eco-loonies would come up with some way to prevent its implementation. I’ll be dammed, but I must admit I can’t come up with a solution.

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          Roger

          Yes but the enviro-Mentalists won’t allow new dams and reservoirs.

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          • #
            The Depraved and MOST Deplorable Vlad the Impaler

            Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t.

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            • #
              OriginalSteve

              Speaking of loopy…..men = climate change…..huh?

              https://climatechangedispatch.com/tucker-carlson-culprit-climate-change/

              “Partial transcript:
              Mark Steyn: “Well, I confess I was at first skeptical. If I understand this thesis, my insecurities about my masculinity are causing rising sea levels in the Maldives.

              “And at first I didn’t really buy that, but as I think about it, I think in fact it’s actually one of the least visible climate science thesis of recent years. I’m kind of on board with where they are going on this.”

              “I think, in fact, it’s very difficult to tell, with social science as with climate science, whether or not it’s an ingenious parody,” Steyn continued. “It’s almost impossible to tell, in fact, I think this goes back to, — I think the important point here is toxic masculinity.”

              “They are saying that they did a survey here. This is the kind of hardcore science behind it in which they gave someone a Walmart gift card and it was pink and had lots of flowery printed on it, looked a bit girlie and sissy and milquetoast pantywaist.”

              “The guy giving this gift card went out and bought very macho masculine things that melt the polar ice caps.”

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      The new spillway at Oroville is being tested already and to the surprise of the knockers is holding together. I prefer Juan Browne’s commentary:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCQmIklHMkY

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      David Maddison

      President Trump is well aware that Kaliforniastan’s water problems are mostly caused by Democrats.

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    • #
      scaper...

      I’ve read thousands of words on this issue. One part that no one has touched on is the actual cost of the charge.

      To set up a charging station would incur costs of a site and the associated infrastructure. But here is the kicker…retail cost of the electricity, accounting for set up capital, overheads and profit margin.

      Won’t be cheap.

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        scaper...

        After further thought…I believe these charge stations would be uneconomical, I suspect it won’t be done without subsidies.

        Oh dear, more rent seeking!

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          OriginalSteve

          It gets worse….

          https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/keneally-details-husbands-1m-deal-20100914-15azr.html

          “The husband of the Premier, Kristina Keneally, accepted a $1 million share package in an electric car company lobbying the state government, having taken a job with the firm within days of leaving the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

          “Under questioning by the opposition at a budget estimates hearing about her disclosure of the relationship, Ms Keneally read from a letter she sent to the former premier Nathan Rees in February last year – when she was planning minister – revealing a potential conflict of interest.

          ……………….

          “In July, the Herald revealed that Better Place Australia, of which Mr Keneally is a senior executive, has been meeting state government ministers to discuss electric vehicles.

          The company has significant links to the Labor Party. Apart from Mr Keneally, who is a former deputy chief of staff to the former premier Morris Iemma, the chief executive, Evan Thornley, is a former Victorian Labor MP. Its chief commercial officer, Talal Yassine, once stood for preselection for Labor.

          “Mr Thornley, Mr Yassine and the company’s head of corporate affairs, Alison Terry, met the Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Frank Sartor, on March 29 to discuss electric cars.

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          • #
            Maptram

            Now ALP Senator Kristina Keneally.

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          • #
            Ted O’BRIEN.

            Keeping it in the family.

            Charging stations?

            With current technology, battery charging is too slow. If electric “cars” come into common usage, few people will sit around waiting for a car to recharge. Cars will be designed to enable rapid swapping of batteries, which would present no difficulty. Quicker than switching the gas bottle on the barbie.

            The cost of the batteries will be the determining factor.

            This system could overcome the problem with intermittent generation. But at what cost? Even one battery per car is currently prohibitive. Two and a half to capture “renewable” generation costs that much more.

            What, then, of supercapacitors? Can we hope that they might emulate the silicon chip in regard to production costs?

            I don’t expect the cost of batteries to come down to a level that will allow anywhere near the car ownership that we are accustomed to. Which, of course is right up “Greens” policy alley.

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              AndyG55

              The more energy your try to store within a set space, the more dangerously explosive it becomes.

              Maybe someone could invent a liquid form, that requires controlled combustion to extract the embodied energy…

              …. or something like that. 😉

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              • #
                Roy Hogue

                The more energy your try to store within a set space, the more dangerously explosive it becomes.

                Or the more corrosive the electrolyte becomes. Small batteries full of sulfuric acid in a car are one thing. But larger ones become a problem too easily in a crash.

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                theRealUniverse

                Sodium batteries were the thing to consider in the 90s, BUT they are rather dangerous, liquid Sodium isnt too friendly either.

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              yarpos

              “Cars will be designed to enable rapid swapping of batteries, which would present no difficulty. Quicker than switching the gas bottle on the barbie.”

              no difficulty??? based on what exactly? I am guessing you have never worked on system with a lot of stored electrical energy or ever seen what happens when it goes pear shaped.

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              • #
                OriginalSteve

                Like a spanner dropped onto the battery terminals of a large UPS system…..

                Moulten metal being sprayed around…not nice….

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              • #
                James

                Look up rich rebuilds on YouTube. He demonstrates what is involved in swapping battery packs in a Tesla.

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              • #
                yarpos

                Of course its doable James , its normal maintenance. It is however not rapid and not a substitute for a recharge.

                Original Steve, we must have lived parallel lives, I once saw a fellow trainee drop a spanner across telephone exchange busbars (6000A available). Tis indeed spectacular.

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        Hanrahan

        Scarper, you’re on the right track. “retail” with all that encompasses, a car recharge will be no cheaper than petrol, especially if road tax is applied.

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        • #
          James Murphy

          Labor/Greens don’t want people to be able to afford a car, they don’t want people to own property, they hate the idea of success, financial independence, and inheritance, and they fear real progress in any field.

          Sadly, the Libs/nats seem to be saying very similar things, so that really leaves no one to vote for. None of the large political parties represent enough of my views to warrant a useful number in a box, come election day.

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      • #
        Graeme#4

        There has been a lot of discussion about EVs in The Oz this past week, with some pointing out that you fast-charge in a short time. However, what nobody wants to discuss is that if you do this too many times, that’s the end of your car battery. While we can’t obtain cell specs for the Tesla’s cells, an equivalent cell spec says around 1500 fast recharges is about the limit. It’s obvious that Tesla has put a lot of thought into closely controlling their battery charging to obtain extended battery life, and if these idiots believe that they can do lots of country trips and fast charge every time, they may be in for a surprise.

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        • #
          Hanrahan

          Also, you can’t fast charge the last 20% nor is it recommended that you drain the last 30%. What’s the car’s range again?

          I think many are in for a rude shock. They know little about physics but think they can be their own systems manager controlling their stand alone electricity AND their electric car, all from their rooftop solar. I do know a bit about physics and that is the last thing I want to be saddled with. I want to park the car and forget it and to flick a switch and have the light come on.

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          yarpos

          I am guessing in normal use you wouldnt fast charge that often. Only when caught out or when doing long trips. Commercial vehicles would be another story though depending how they where used. Dont know how taxis would work, extra fleet I guess, hope out of one car into another like a stupid Formula E “pitstop”

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        • #
          Stevem

          But we do have the specs for Tesla batteries. They are merely lots of common 18650 batteries (think fat AA) joined in series/parallel. A Tesla just has 6000-8000 of them.

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            Graeme#4

            Umm, no we don’t, unless you have managed to acquire this info. The Panasonic batteries used in the latest Teslas are 2170s, not 18650s. You are probably talking about the Panasonic NCR18650B cell. The storage capacity of the 2170 cell is calculated at 21.275 Wh. The newer Model 3 contains only 4416 cells, which have a 15% higher energy density.

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      • #
        Roger

        The current generation of domestic fast chargers draw so much current that both internal wiring and wiring to the property need to be upgraded….. and that is before even looking at the necessary Grid improvements …. reported in the UK.

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      theRealUniverse

      Labour is totally clueless. 1000 cars charging up at sane time will draw in order of 100MW (1000 x 40-100kW fast 15m charge depending on system), 100 cars filling with petrol is somewhat less..Where is that energy going to come from, only COAL will provide. New Green Wet Dream here we come..

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  • #
    Yonniestone

    Finally an end to the imposed daylight savings time in the AEST zone, and as I’m still driving fairly long hours on a full work day it’ll be interesting to see if the fatigue is any better, dodging wildlife and almost drifting off on the highway in the afternoon requires a fair bit of alertness.

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    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Stay alert.

      We need more lerts.

      I know, that’s dumb. But it’s daylight saving end day.

      KK

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      • #
        Yonniestone

        That was one of the earliest Dad jokes I heard Dad say, that and the Past-your-eyes milk bottle one…and here we are doing them…..

        Ziggy Marley once said his Dad jokes are just a re-Hash of his fathers…………. 🙁

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          When tired, coffee only works so much…after that, a couple of jelly bean every 5 mins in the last couple of hours driving keeps me awake…..or one can of red bull every hour…what ever works….

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          • #
            Yonniestone

            Yes the coffee fix is very real but I always need a bottle of water to offset the slight dehydration effect of the caffeine.

            Those caffeine based drinks personally don’t do anything for me compared to a coffee hit and I also noticed No-Doze still being sold at Petrol Stations, I once drank about six of them on a long trip and only got an upset stomach followed by a very close toilet call by the side of the road.

            If anyone stops on the A8 300m out of Nhill westbound and wanders 5m into the grass my apologies in advance.

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            Another Ian

            I use Juicy Fruit chewing gum

            Seems to work but makes your mouth taste like a vulture’s crust (that by simile, not by actual comparison BTW).

            And thanks for the tip – I actually hate chewing gum so will have to try the jelly beans.

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            James

            Energy shots is what I use. I also call them driving shots. I have been cutting back on them though. However I would rather down one and stay awake than fall asleep while driving and end up in the ditch.

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          Graeme No.3

          I once, when young, told my father a joke and he didn’t laugh. When I commented he said “well, my father didn’t laugh when I told it to him, and he said he’d heard it when he was very young”.

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    • #
      Annie

      I had to drive for a few hours yesterday. Our way is to stop every two hours usually and have a little walk (for comfort) and then some water or tea. I stopped for fuel on the A66 near Penrith, then Killington Lake on the M6, then Knutsford Services for a nibble of cheese, tomato and choc (naughty) and a drink of water, then onwards down the M6 and M42 to current stay. I did the northbound journey a week ago for family catch-ups. I don’t do ‘energy drinks’, too much caffeine causes trouble. BTW, I can recommend Tebay Services by Jct 38 on the M6….much nicer than most.
      We saw a lot of snow on the fells a few days ago and there were still plenty of remnants around. Near Penrith there was a beautiful sight to be seen with snow still lying on the Pennines. It petered out further south. There are lots of new-born lambs around but I also saw a couple of hawks circling.

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        Annie

        Wherever I saw charging stations for EV vehicles they were empty! At Killington Lake there were two motorbikes parked in front of them instead!

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        yarpos

        For a horrible minute I thought you where in NSW and stopping near Penrith. Never stop near Penrith if you have a choice. Just sayin.

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  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    Now, don’t laugh.

    The geniuses on planet Itsacon are going to capture CO2 & use it to grow vegetables …

    [Global Warming]: ‘Magic bullet’ carbon (sic) solution takes big step!

    Photo: “Chalky grains of calcium carbonate are the result of concentrating the CO2 that’s extracted from the air”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47638586

    Meanwhile, on planet Earth …

    Wildflower Super Bloom Returns to California

    “Such blooms only occur every few years; the last one occurred in 2017, which was the largest in more than a decade.

    The Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite acquired these images of the bloom and of the greening landscape around Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

    The images above show a wide view of the region on November 18, 2018 (left) compared to March 13, 2019 (right).”

    https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144686/wildflower-super-bloom-returns-to-california

    Thank you, CO2!

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      Graeme No.3

      I loved that Introduction in the second link “For the first time in TWO YEARS”.

      I didn’t bother with the first. The BBC are so gullible.

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      Greg in NZ

      How did THIS slip past the BBC censors:

      “Scientists… have spent years studying the area and say the calving will be the result of natural processes only… There is no indication from oceanographic or atmospheric data that the climate is changing in the Brunt area… ocean observations are limited but whatever we have doesn’t indicate anything unusual; and our model shows that what we are seeing can be perfectly explained by natural changes in the geometry of the ice shelf.” My bold.

      https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47817510

      From the self-same Bollocks Bureaucracy Crock:

      “The Met Office had a yellow ‘be aware’ warning for snow for southern Scotland on Wednesday morning… The weather front brought fresh snowfalls to Scotland’s mountains… The Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) had assessed the potential avalanche risk in the Northern Cairngorms as ‘considerable’… High winds also brought down a tree at Drumnadrochit, south of Inverness”. Dear Gaia, a tree fell down! Noooo…

      https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-47799658

      And on the third day it was still snowing down in the South Island: Mt Lyford 45 cm (1 1/2 ft) with 45 more on the way, while Mt Hutt’s webcams are buried under ice/snow so apologies, no pics available due to cAGW or CCC or whatever it is this month that’s causing all the freezing snow in early April (which happens frequently yet is never mentioned in big warm media). Sunny boardshort weather up north where I am on this lovely Sunday morn…

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      • #
        Sceptical Sam

        brought down a tree

        My goodness!

        That’s really serious.

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      • #
        Richard Ilfeld

        RE: bolded words
        “….don’t go near the yellow snow!”
        It’s early here

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      • #
        Greg in NZ

        I’m glad I’m not the only twisted Frank Zappa fan here: Look out where the huskies go… Anyway, on the 4th day, the wind dropped, the clouds parted, the sun shone, and oh my! Mt Hutt in the South Island looking majestic in its coat of winter white (webcam pics update hourly… blue sky day with half-a-metre of fresh snow all the way down to the car park and beyond).

        https://www.metservice.com/skifields/mt-hutt

        Hopefully no trees were blown over or hurt in the making of this ever-changing climates production.

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    TdeF

    As a note to the previous story about push polling, leading questions to embed a false premise, like “do you believe Climate Change is getting worse?”, please consider this.

    If you have to debate these made up terms, always preface these things with “Man made”.

    Man Made Climate Change.
    Man Made Global Warming

    Consider then man made Storms, man made bushfires (more likely), man made sea rises, man made species extinction.
    Most people would not believe these statements and see them as needing proof.

    In using terms like the Precautionary Principle (which does not exist), Climate Change and Global Warming, the proponents of socialism, communism and massive taxes and profits are pushing them through controlling the language and shutting down debate.

    The man made is not left out for a short hand, it is about deception.
    No one can disagree with Climates Changing. The last ice age ended only 10,000 years ago. Even in human terms that’s not long ago, five times longer than when Julius Ceasar invaded Britain. There were no motor cars or aircraft and the seas have already risen 100 metres. This has slowed to crawl. The fear, as in the 1970s, is that it will return and we are doing nothing good.

    However man Made Climate Change needs explanation, even proof to the man in the street.
    Man made Climate Change is the proposition, nothing else. It is completely unproven. Like man made Global Warming.

    These trillions need to be spent on fusion research, not windmills and solar panels in the snow.

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      AndyG55

      When someone drags out “the Precautionary Principle” you know they have LOST the debate. 🙂

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        OriginalSteve

        Agreed. And climate is so hard to pin down, its the perfect smoke screen to hide behind……

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      Travis T. Jones

      “Even in human terms that’s not long ago, five times longer than when Julius Ceasar invaded Britain.”

      If only Caesar, who was known for not being afraid of the odd tax, had a carbon (sic) tax …

      Archaeologists find first evidence for Julius Caesar’s invasion of Britain 

      “Thanet has never been considered as a possible landing site before because it was separated from the mainland until the Middle Ages by the Wanstum Channel.”

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/11/29/archaeologists-find-first-evidence-julius-caesars-invasion-britain/

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    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      What a load of…
      UHI is one example, and there are thousands of others, including CO2.
      What you are really saying is that I don’t believe what the experts are reporting.
      For example – by the time you read this you will have aged, but could you measure that change? Another one – exposure to cigarette smoke increases your risk of lung cancer, but will one cigarette really be that bad?

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        el gordo

        ‘… including CO2.’

        The sort of empirical evidence you need is for a strong La Nina without a fall in world temperatures.

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        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          Yep

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        • #
          AndyG55

          Nope, that would prove ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about CO2 warming.

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            el gordo

            If temperatures fell below the Spencer line and stay there for 20 years, surely that would prove beyond reasonable doubt that CO2 is not a temperature knob?

            http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_March_2019_v6.jpg

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            • #
              Peter Fitzroy

              It would, most certainly.

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              Peter C

              First of all the UAH temperatures have to fall below the Spencer line. It hasn’t happened yet.

              If they do we may have the pause re established but much longer. IF that happens it will be the end of the CO2 debate and it won’t take 20 years. But it has not happened yet!

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                el gordo

                Even with the strongest La Nina in living memory, temps bounced right back up again to the plateau.

                ‘The 2010–12 La Niña event consisted of two peaks over successive summers; the 2010–11 peak was one of the strongest on record, comparable in strength with the events of 1917–18, 1955–56 and 1975–76.

                ‘In October and December 2010, and February and March 2011, monthly Southern Oscillation Index values were the highest on record (records commenced in 1876). The 2011–12 peak was weaker, but still of moderate strength, in both atmospheric and oceanic indicators.’ BoM

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        Bill in Oz

        Zzzzzzzzzzzz

        Yaaaannnnnnn

        WTF ?

        Oh Just Fitz having a meltdown..

        Yaaaaaannnnnnnn !

        Zzzzzzzzzzz !

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        el gordo

        ‘…but will one cigarette really be that bad?’

        Nice diversion, but its old hat and best avoided.

        Reading through the comments at Climate Etc I found this quote from Robert Ellison.

        ‘Over the scale of millennia high La Niña frequency and intensity seems associated with low solar activity. An effect that has been related to three different modes of solar modulation of the polar annular modes.’

        What do you think ENSO will do this year?

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          Peter Fitzroy

          What I’m leading up to is how do you assess risk? Typically risk is very badly understood, as is evidenced on the blog. Risk is well understood in insurance and underwriting circles, which is why they were factoring climate change, and its effects, into their assessments many years ago. For the individual risk is a much tricker proposition, with the best example being the amount of money lost on poker machines.

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            Peter Fitzroy

            Oh, and as for ENSO – to me it’s a coin flip, although I do lean towards what Judith Curry has been saying

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            AndyG55

            The religion of “Climate Change” is only being written in to risk assessment for the middle and lower class.

            People like di Caprio, with his island set 1o cm above sea level, are immune, as are the prices of expensive sea side homes.

            There is NO PROVABLE RISK from human caused “climate change” because there is NO NPROOF it is happening.

            Come of pfutz, answer this question.

            In what way has the GLOBAL climate changed that can be scientifically proven to be linked to human activity.?

            (this does NOT include adjusted surface data)

            Run and hide, or produce a load of mindless non-science bluster.. Your choice.

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            Fred Streeter

            “Risk is well understood in insurance and underwriting circles, which is why they were factoring climate change, and its effects, into their assessments many years ago.”

            Of course they did.

            Premiums are adjusted in the light of the probability of an event (say, Flood) occurring at a particular location.

            Hence, any actual change in that probability increases/decreases the premium charged for Flood, whatever the cause.

            However, the future effects of Man-Made Climate Change are difficult to assess. So, Underwriters can only make use of estimates proposed by Climate Scientists as to the future frequency of flooding in such locations.

            Consequently, the premium charged for Flood will now include an estimated increase/decrease to cover the effect of Man-Made Climate Change.

            And, of course, Underwriters have a professional duty to do this. Whether they personally believe in Man-Made Climate Change is irrelevant.

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              Peter Fitzroy

              Fred, I did not mention the man made part of climate change, all I said was exactly as you confirmed. There are two strands at play here. 1. there are effects due to climate change, and 2. What is the cause As you say, the underwriters do not care about the cause, only the risk. What I’m saying is that the way an underwriter assesses risk is not the same as you or me, and that is a major source of friction.

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                AndyG55

                “I did not mention the man made part of climate change “

                That’s because KNOW there isn’t any.

                Using estimates from “climate scientists” (lol) does NOT prove anything about “climate change”…

                The only increased risk from flooding is people building in flood plains.

                There is no indication of increased flooding from rain events, just from other human activities, such as land use changes, etc..

                Again, I ask the question.

                “In what way has the Global climate changed that can be scientifically put down to human CO2 or other activity?”

                Models are NOT scientific proof.. EVER.

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                Fred Streeter

                Apologies for a tardy response – chores.

                “Fred, I did not mention the man made part of climate change”

                That is true, but an underwriter must take into account the experts’ predictions of future greater or accelerated change than those recorded to date.
                It is the Precautionary Principle in action.

                As for our current obsession with potential Climate Change, I would suggest that “Look before you leap” would have been a preferable Precautionary Principle, rather than the Paris Climate Agreement’s “He who hesitates is lost” approach.

                Personal Risk Assessment

                I have no idea how others assess personal risk. If the subject is important to me, I research it.
                (E.G. Increased risk of Home Birth vs Hospital.)

                Some things are best left unresearched – the risk of cycling in London traffic, for example.

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            AndyG55

            “Typically risk is very badly understood,”

            Again, a load of arrant nonsense.

            There is NO RISK from human caused “climate change”

            There is NO EVIDENCE it is happening.

            The only “risk” for the insurance companies is that they will be labelled “deníéŗş” if they don’t cow-tow to the socialist meme.

            If you believe there is evidence of change of the GLOBAL climate by human activity, then present it.. … OR NOT !!

            You have been totally EMPTY of any evidence so far.

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              Kinky Keith

              The only risk to insurance companies is that if they don’t take advantage of the climate change scam they will miss a golden opportunity for Extra risk free Profit.

              They just love Climate Change.

              KK

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                AndyG55

                Yep, There is that too.

                Charging insurance for a fabricated NON-risk… to the gullible.

                Money for nothing !!!!

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            yarpos

            “Factoring in climate change” like to see where, apart from a lever to milk the gullible. Extreme weather reducing, lives lost reducing, global damges reducing, it didnt scare Buffet away from the Insurance industry.

            40

      • #
        toorightmate

        Dear Drongo,
        Cars kill thousands of people each year.
        Can one car be that dangerous.
        Once a drongo, always a drongo.
        I presume you cut your penis off last time some poor woman was raped.?

        92

      • #
        AndyG55

        “including CO2.”

        Arrant BS..

        You have ZERO EVIDENCE that CO2 affects anything to do with the weather or climate.

        Stop your childish trolling with scientifically unsubstantiated GARBAGE.

        75

        • #
          el gordo

          What we know for sure: CO2 does not cause warming or cooling, so we are at the mercy of natural variables.

          https://www.co2levels.org

          81

          • #
            TdeF

            True, but it hardly matters as under 5% of CO2 is man made and with a half life of 14 years before it is absorbed in the gigantic ocean CO2 reservoir. That is real science.

            The CO2 increase is perfectly natural and due to ocean warming, not the other way around.

            I have never read how the alleged increase in reflected infrared heats the water and not the air. It is a segue to ocean warming with no explanation, now that air warming has failed.

            100

            • #
              el gordo

              Yeah the warming oceans are warming the atmosphere.

              ‘The CO2 increase is perfectly natural and due to ocean warming’

              Look at the graph again, the MWP was warmer but no spike in CO2 levels.

              60

              • #
                TdeF

                Good point, but look at the graph again. It starts at 260, not 0 on the Y axis. Whoever drew it did something quite unethical as this is a graph intended to deceive with an apparently massive 600% increase in CO2 after 1850. That is not true. Consider if it started at 0 the rapid part would be 1/4 of the size and not as dramatic with a mild 33% increase so the exaggeration is 20x.

                Consider for example if the graph started at 280, the CO2 would appear to have come from nowhere. Then it would look like the world had no CO2 at all before the motor car. That clearly is the intent. It is another hockey stick. You do not draw graphs like this in real science and have to have a very good reason to leave out the zero point.

                Then you are also talking about observed air temperatures in the MWP, not water temperatures. My proposition and that even of the warmists is that the seas are actually warmer now. So you have your explanation even if no one has a handy explanation for warmer seas.

                Henry’s Law tells that release of dissolved CO2 is dependent only on surface water temperature. So it looks like the air in the MWP was warmer but the oceans were not much warmer, or they were buffered by melting ice for example.

                As no one has any explanation for the seas being warmer in the last hundred years, it’s a moot point. Unless you argue that CO2 is warming the oceans instead of being a result of warming and that raises the inconvenient question of why the Roman and MWP were warmer presumably without any change in CO2?

                Prof Weiss’ model which explains the last 2500 years very well requires only two cycles. One is the well known strong solar intensity cycle called the De Vries cycle of 250 years. However the other cycle to explain air temperature is the PDO, an induced oscillation in sea temperatures. So you have the possibility that solar intensity increased without an increase in sea temperatures and v.v.

                I have not read any stories about these major sea temperature oscilltions, the PDO and the La Nina and El Nino. No climate model includes them. In fact the whole involvement of the 340x as massive oceans as heat sinks is not generally included in atmospheric models as far as I have read. When you consider the enormous impact of areas like the Carribean on temperatures in Europe, this is hard to understand. How can anyone expect correct long term predictions when considering only the air temperature and currents?

                So La Nina and El Nino are a handy escape for failed warming predictions when in fact the inability to explain them invalidates the models.

                The larger question though is whether increased CO2 is at all associated with air warming. Clearly as you point out, not at all for the MWP. And not for the last 20 years. CO2 induced warming is busted on both counts, which is why Michael Mann had to delete the MWP.

                100

              • #
                TdeF

                It also occurs to me that the rapid exchange of CO2 and O2 with the vast oceans, something obvious because fish breathe, is a clear indication of total connection between air temperatures and water temperatures. We know this from rain and the Fremantle Docker/Doctor and the Gulf Stream and even the Polar Vortexes, tornadoes, sea spouts, monsoons and hurricanes. Most of our wild weather is in fact directly connected to hot water and water in general.

                So as the gases are changing quickly in and out of the vast oceans, the heat is transported with them. The oceans control our weather. So it might be easier and far more accurate to start with an ocean model of temperatures and heat distribution and currents (like the Humboldt and Gulf Stream etc.) to explain all the weather, the monsoons, the droughts, the big oscillations and the air temperatures instead of doing what people are doing today. The problem is people start with atmospheric physics and so meteorologists and these new climatologists try to explain everything while ignoring the effects of the water. Even far from the oceans, water controls our weather and our lives through rainfall and rivers and lakes and ice and snow and floods.

                They probably have the wrong end of the stick. The Sun and the water control our weather and air temperatures. At 1/340th of the mass*, the thin air is only the messenger of the giant heat source and the giant heat sink. We are stuck in the middle thinking we control it all. Likely completely wrong.

                * the average sea depth is given as 3.4km, 3400 metres. Water pressure is 1 atmosphere in weight every 10 metres. So the oceans weigh 340x as much as the air above. When you add Antarctica which is the size of South America and also covered with a frozen ocean some 3km high, the water weighs perhaps 400x as much.

                100

              • #
                el gordo

                They still don’t understand the cause of the PDO but …

                “The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is a temperature pattern in the Pacific Ocean that spends roughly 20-30 years in the cool phase or the warm phase. In 1905, PDO switched to a warm phase. In 1946, PDO switched to a cool phase.

                ‘In 1977, PDO switched to a warm phase. In 1998, PDO showed a few cool years. Note that the cool phases seem to coincide with the periods of cooling (1946-1977) and the warm phases seem to coincide with periods of warming (1905-1946, 1977-1998).’ (The Reference Frame)

                The other thing, water vapour is the biggest greenhouse gas, that is 2,500 H2O molecules against one CO2 molecule, which is the real blanket.

                90

              • #
                TdeF

                In fact I might say while proponents of Man Made Climates are using models based on meteorology which is based solely on air properties, movement, moisture, temperature and still cannot get tomorrow’s weather right, they argue that they can get it right in the long term?

                How? In the short term air measurements are the key to tomorrow’s weather. The oceans are the key to long term predictions but all the climatologists are doing is playing with air temperatures which are the result of the interaction between the huge heat source, the sun and the huge heat sink, the ocean.

                So using atmospheric models is wrong for climate predictions. They are probably quite irrelevant. So much for CO2.

                90

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                TdeF. All the climate models I’m aware of use the ocean as part of the model, this is implicit in the CO2 cycle, to imply otherwise is not sensible. Can you link to a Climate model that does not use the ocean?

                27

              • #
                AndyG55

                “Can you link to a Climate model that does not use the ocean?”

                Can YOU link to that DOES use the main ocean oscillations.

                They certainly cannot predict them.

                So how can they “use” them.

                82

            • #
              Kinky Keith

              Thanks TdeF and El Gordo, an interesting set of comments.

              It’s essential to think in the terms that you’re putting up.

              Solar input, variable over 24 hours, 12 months, 250 years and a nominal 100,000 for the most crucial cycle.

              Energy retention by the Earth in those cycles with special attention to the relative capacities of ocean and atmosphere: the atmospheric diurnal bulge and the slower ocean oscillations reflect the fluctuating thermal input from the Sun.

              Looking at minor swirl patterns on the edges of all that and attributing human origin is a worthy return to Voodoo and Shamanism.

              Something Roy mentioned a few weeks ago about the inevitability of Human Nature should now be the focus if we want to understand Climate Change – Global Warming™.

              It seems that humanity is constantly and irrevocably at war with itself.

              KK

              60

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      These trillions need to be spent on fusion research, not windmills and solar panels in the snow.

      Judging by the “fantastic” success rate in fusion research I wonder if we should put our effort there. There may be no magic silver bullet at the end of that road.

      40

      • #
        TdeF

        Just offer the same $1,500Billion a year and you would be no worse off then 500,000 windmills already in place, for no apparent reason. After all, world CO2 has taken no notice and that was the ONLY point of the windmills.

        So not magic, real science. No bullets. And we already know the potential power would be enough to survive an ice age. You can forget solar cells and windmills and batteries.

        80

        • #
          Roy Hogue

          I won’t argue with anything you said. But where is there even a demonstration of fusion being used to generate any amount of power, much less commercially viable power? How many years of fruitless work does it take before we say, change course?

          They talk of the tokamak as though there was a working one somewhere and all they had to do was learn how to cope with the enormous heat and how to turn that into electricity. I can remember 3 different schemes, 2 of which were said to be ready to go commercial being discussed on this blog. But instead of turning up as practical power sources they soon disappeared. We’ve had cold fusion, hot fusion and con fusion. I think con fusion is winning.

          How long does it take? Since WWII every invention has had at least a working model in the time since serious thought was given to fusion, except fusion.

          After all this history of research, the result is a 101.2-second steady-state high confinement plasma that produced no power. It didn’t light as much as a fraction of a watt LED.

          TdeF, I’m guessing that we’ve just learned to do the equivalent of putting together a gas burner and getting it to stay lit for 100 seconds. How to make that gas burner turn a generator continuously looks like a job even harder and more complex than getting to this point.

          Fusion cooperated nicely when the objective was to blow the stuffing out of something. But power generation requires confinement and control of that same destructive energy and after all the time until now, no one knows how to do that.

          And yes, I’m pessimistic about it. The return on money spent is far too low.

          60

          • #
            TdeF

            The challenge of contained and sustained nuclear fusion dwarf any other endeavour. All that has been achieved so far is to show that it can be done for an instant.

            However to talk of return on investment as if it is a linear investment is not right. $ per idea. Much research is serendipity, very expensive serendipity but compared with $1,500billion a year on man made Climate Change, nothing much.

            Can we create an sustain the same nuclear reaction as the one which powers our world and created all the energy we enjoy? Probably not, but it is the only dream we have left. Fossil fuel will run out. Uranium will run out as there is less of it than fossil fuel. Breeder reactors will fill the world with refuse and endless bombs.

            What we do know is that going back to windmills is not an answer to anything. It’s not even a stop gap. Solar conversion is trivial, enormously wasteful of land and resources and very time limited. Electric cars solve nothing.

            There were many more inventions in the 1970s and I could list my favorites, but the world is not spending on fusion. It’s spending on windmills because they make people rich, cripple democratic countries and they are acceptable to politicians who are mostly lawyers and cannot add and multiply and reach for things they understand. Non scientists. It’s a wonder we have not brought back watermills.

            There is no return on money spent. It’s a dream, still. The money ‘invested’ in windmills is money utterly wasted. Especially when you consider they are only built in rich countries which do not need them and have not advanced our science an iota. Yes, a few men have stood on the moon, the first 50 years ago in 1969 and the last in 1972. Is that going to be it for our species? Have we stopped dreaming?

            60

            • #
              TdeF

              It has been my sad realization that an extraordinary proportion of advances in human existence have come from war time, where people do not count the cost. The list is endless. The Manhattan project stands out, a dream based on a theory and without a concern for the cost. The result is 80 years of relative world peace, an unprecedented thing in human history.

              Also the spin offs from the Moon project,a cover for the ICBM development, are endless. The electronic miniaturization which allows us to all have computers and talk started by an otherwise pointless exercise. The solutions to the many problems created our modern world, but again based on the prospect of conflict in space, the space race.

              Now we Australians are paying $6Billion a year just in loading on our electricity bills to fund what? Wealth for some and nothing for us. Capitalists hand in hand with destructive power hungry socialists. The UN and EU are waging war on Australia, just as in Venezuela, a first world country in 2000 and a third world pit of misery and disease now. No power, no running water, toilets, jobs, money but one of the world’s most energy rich country. Sound familiar?

              50

              • #
                Roy Hogue

                No, TdeF I haven’t stopped dreaming. But where are the 80 years of world peace. It was an illusion. One man hated the other just as much as always, he was just afraid to act. But if you’re any kind of observer of today’s world, doesn’t the current tension raise the hair on the back of your neck? It does that to me.

                Compare the understanding of the world around her of newly elected representative from New York, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez with your understanding of the world or with mine. See anything different? And yes I know that you do. And if polling can be believed, the AOCs of this world are reproducing faster than you and I are. We’re going down the rabbit hole with Ms. AOC leading the way. Does that not scare you? It should.

                Physician, heal thyself before you go off inventing something that may never pay off. We may never get to the bottom of human nature either but I will feel a whole lot better if we try. I have a 4 year old grandson and the world he may have left to him by the current movers and shakers scares the you know what right out of me just to think about. That’s our challenge. That’s our dream because if not, humanity is in deep trouble. Let’s get serious and put some serious money into getting along with each other before it’s too late because peace through strength will only go so far. Cheap abundant energy will count for nothing when your neighbor looks on you as an enemy.

                40

              • #
                Roy Hogue

                Sound familiar.

                Yes it does. But will achieving nuclear fusion get you out of it? I doubt it because the disease is not one of science but of the human heart.

                30

              • #
                Roy Hogue

                And by the way, everything will run out, even the hydrogen needed for fusion. And finally the world will run out of time. The clock is ticking for everything, even for humanity. I’m no alarmist but I can see the handwriting on the wall and it says we better fix ourselves because if we don’t we’ll never fix anything else.

                40

              • #
                Another Ian

                “Also the spin offs from the Moon project,a cover for the ICBM development, are endless.”

                What about the pay-off from Corningware?

                10

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Extending back, can you do that, the obvious next major focus should be standard Nuclear power.

        If the French have given any direction to the world it has been in this area of standard Nuclear process.

        In the meantime Australia is only 20 years behind China in the upgrading of coal fired power generators to incorporate the most modern available combustion techniques.

        Australia, once a land of promise, now politicians have almost completed our destruction.

        No industry.
        No electricity.
        And soon, No Cars.

        KK

        60

        • #
          TdeF

          Electric cars but no electricity. Diesel submarines but no diesel. Hydro power but no water. Coal and no coal power stations. Economically and socially we are sitting ducks for countries who care nothing for LGBTIQWTF. (courtesy of Mark Latham)

          60

          • #
            Serp

            Don’t let’s forget the record immigration level that’s been in place for fifteen years overloading infrastructure capacity and restricting wage growth. (It’s a bonus that Mark Latham again has a voice.)

            60

            • #
              TdeF

              And he’s no longer irrational. He is making very good sense.

              40

              • #
                TdeF

                As a member of Pauline Hanson’s party, he will be a great asset. After all, he rose to leader of the Labor party, so he understands how they work. If Pauline retires or takes a back seat, I can see Latham having the right stuff for Queensland and the disenchanted National party voters, perhaps around the country.

                We are all sick of politicians hedging their bets with man made Climate Change. In the UK, it’s BREXIT which the people so obviously want and the self serving politicians do not. Consider former Liberal Julia Banks who was a promoter of Adani as an alleged Liberal and now an enemy of Adani as an independent. LINO, like Malcolm, Christopher Pyne, Julie Bishop. Party animals. No ethics, no backbone, no worries.

                40

    • #
      yarpos

      mmmmm it’s the old “do you still beat your wife?” question

      40

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      I saw that the ‘Princes’ have teamed up with Attenbrough again on eco disasters, mass extinctions are coming…all caused by us selfish humans.

      40

      • #
        Serp

        Yeah but what would you estimate the two princes’ combined mental capacity to be? And then throw in Attenborough’s to make the sum of the IQs up to a hundred.

        40

      • #
        Annie

        The sight of the HRH’s and DA made me feel like throwing up. Add in the sheer anger I feel at the Brexit betrayal and realise that I am one very unhappy bunny.
        I’ve always been a conservative monarchist… now I’m beginning to understand how revolutions take off. 🙁

        40

  • #
    Another Ian

    It’s masculinity wot did it!

    “Mark Steyn Reacts To New Climate Change Theory: ‘I Can Get On Board With This One’ ”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/04/06/mark-steyn-reacts-to-new-climate-change-theory-i-can-get-on-board-with-this-one/

    70

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of other things; of shoes and ships and sealing wax and whether pigs have wings; of toxic masculinity and other nasty things…ad nauseam and seemingly ad infinitum.

      This Lewis Carroll approach to solving problems will either cost Democrats big in 2020 and Trump will get his second term or sink humanity forever in the middle of a bad joke. Toxic masculinity indeed. Does anyone actually know what that means?

      50

      • #
        Roy Hogue

        See how easily that term slips into a string of random random nonsense and you can’t tell you’re being had by clever charlatans who have NOT your interest at heart.

        A search gives me this definition.

        Terry Kupers defines toxic masculinity as “the constellation of socially regressive male traits that serve to foster domination, the devaluation of women, homophobia and wanton violence”.

        What does all that mean? It’s as much an invention of the mind as the walrus and the carpenter.

        70

        • #
          Roy Hogue

          Between them Tucker and Mark ripped the whole thing to shreds — verbally of course since we can’t have any of the toxic man’s violence now, can we?

          50

        • #
          The Depraved and MOST Deplorable Vlad the Impaler

          Quite honestly, Roy, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head: “toxic masculinity” is whatever someone wants to believe it is. If I go out for a day of plinking w/ my two grandsons, teaching them firearm safety, ranging targets out to the practical limit of the .22 LR (and how to adjust for the squibbing of a .22 S), punching holes in paper and knocking over tin cans at 125 metres, then that is all “toxic”, since young men should NEVER handle anything as dangerous as a .22 rifle.

          Yep; Lewis Carroll is alive an well. We decide what a word is going to mean, and then when someone does not understand what we mean, we get upset that they do not understand … … …

          With so many ways to communicate in the 21st Century, it has become a lost art.

          80

          • #
            Roy Hogue

            I suspect Lewis Carroll had no idea that the society he knew would turn into what we’re living in today. His world had some rules that were worked out over centuries and even if not foolproof, they worked. Today there are rules too but they don’t work to do anything except divide and conquer.

            If he were writing today I wonder who he would send down the rabbit hole. AOC maybe?

            I can see the book signing now, tea and crumpets a 5:00 on the dot.

            60

          • #
            Mark D.

            Mr. Lovely Depraved,
            how much over do you have hold to hit a tin can at 125 meters?
            I find that to be a challenging range for 22 LR (not to mention our woods is thick enough that 125 is long anyway).

            30

            • #
              The Depraved and MOST Deplorable Vlad the Impaler

              Greetings Mr. Mark D.:

              I’ll provide you with the standard ballistics, which I have found to work well in the Wyoming air (about 1800 m above sea level), and it is different for various types of ammo, so not knowing what you might have available to you, hopefully you can find something equivalent.

              My Weatherby has a 655-mm long barrel, and as far as I can tell, produces fairly close to the manufacturer’s published velocity. If this is true for you as well, the hold-over (‘mid-range’) for different loads is as follows:

              CCI Stinger (32-gr HP) 504 m/s Hold-over is 98 mm
              Hi-Velocity (36-gr HP) 390 m/s H-O 151 mm
              Aguila Super Maximum (30-gr HP) 522 m/s H-O 91 mm
              Remington Yellow Jacket (33-gr HP) 461 m/s H-O 132 mm
              Remington Viper (36-gr TCFP) 432 m/s H-O 144 mm

              It was a number of years ago that I switched from 40-gr to 36-gr as my ‘normal’ load for my .22. Anymore, if I use 40’s, I’ll only do it iron sights as the ballistics of 40-gr drops off quickly after 50 – 60 metres.

              As well, my rifle scope has built-in BDC, so once I choose the range for the intended target, drop is compensated by the reticle position; I just hold the cross-hairs on what I want to hit, and pull the trigger.

              Hope that helps you. Hit me back if you have another question. The wide open prairie of Wyoming is ripe for honing longer range shooting skills. You’ll find the popular deer (and antelope) rifle cartridges are typically sighted-in (zero) at either 200 – or 300 – metres, since these are the typical ranges you’ll be taking your shot.

              Best Regards to all,

              Vlad

              30

      • #
        Richard Ilfeld

        The Democrat party in the US is being whipsawed by two modestly complementary threads, united by the
        absolute need to gain power. One group is the collection of true believers, who have traditionally been
        the single issue minorities welded onto the Democratic party to bulk it up, the US Dems being at heart
        a sort of mushy center-left group with influential fringes.
        The other group is the professional hard core left, who have made ‘intersectonality’ among these single issues
        a part of the Democrat theology. This is the only reason that teacher union demands, reparations, climate change,
        16 year olds voting, toxic masculinity (and whiteness) and LBGT issues are tied together in a platform and supposedly the province of one side only.

        For many years, American people of color, and trade union rank and file have been the bastions of the Democratic bulk vote in much
        of the US. Prosperity credited to the current administration is eroding that vote and threatening the notion that
        “demographics is destiny”. A black or Hispanic Republican vote is assumed a 2 vote swing.

        Hence the more extreme statements and ideas to hold the base, with the theory being that ‘we have always been able to say anything to our base, and hold the middle with a nod nod wink wink we don’t really mean it’.

        We’ll see if you can promise the middle that you will tax them excessively for the privilege of a more intrusive federal government eroding both freedom and prosperity and still win –it does seem to work in Aus?

        40

        • #
          Graeme No.3

          After years of poor polling results the Government has had a jump in the latest poll taken after they came up with reduced income taxes.
          Still not there, but no longer looking like dog food for the coming election.

          40

  • #
    Another Ian

    “”How The Climate Consensus Was Created”

    https://realclimatescience.com/2019/04/how-the-climate-consensus-was-created/

    Like anyone in Qld Government pay that questions the Veg Management Act

    70

  • #
    David Wojick

    My latest: https://www.cfact.org/2019/04/05/2020-climate-madness-looms/

    “The year 2020 is shaping up to be one of madness when it comes to the climate change debate. Several huge milestones are in the cards and these cards are on the table.”

    I did not include the Oz federal election, but that is certainly part of the madness.
    Buckle up or get the popcorn.

    80

    • #
      yarpos

      Cards being on the table, are only meaningful if the general population is aware of said cards and is prepared to do something if said card depart from the previous lies they have been told. Apart from that we are just chatting amongst ourselves really.

      40

  • #
    David Wojick

    My latest: https://www.cfact.org/2019/04/05/2020-climate-madness-looms/

    “The year 2020 is shaping up to be one of madness when it comes to the climate change debate. Several huge milestones are in the cards and these cards are on the table.”

    I did not include the Oz federal election, but that is certainly part of the madness.
    Buckle up or get the popcorn.

    60

    • #
      David Wojick

      I am pretty sure I only hit the post button once. I am reminded of Wittgenstein’s joke about getting the truth by buying multiple copies of the same newspaper. Oh wait, that is MSM, right?

      140

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      What makes me maddest is the 100 trillions (world wide) of peoples money WASTED on the climate hoax, the greatest scientific hoax ever, bar one I wont mention.

      102

  • #
  • #
    el gordo

    They are desperate to kick Tony out of politics.

    ‘Tony Abbott’s re-election campaign held a fundraising function last year at a private golf club controlled by an allegedly corrupt Beijing-linked casino tycoon and China’s biggest media propagandist in Australia.’

    SMH

    52

    • #
      Dennis

      Same businessman who has hosted fund raising events for both sides, including for Opposition Leader Labor, Kevin07 Rudd.

      50

      • #
        el gordo

        They are clutching at straws to tarnish his image and I suspect there are moderates in the Party who quietly hope he gets rolled.

        40

        • #
          Dennis

          In particular the merchant bankers and other investors into RET and EV etc.

          The ones supporting the GetUp team of Independents claiming to be Liberal lite, sensible right, to try and fool Libera-National voters.

          20

    • #
      philthegeek

      They are desperate to kick Tony out of politics.

      Certainly appears that what remains of the Liberal Party is. 🙂

      58

      • #
        AndyG55

        You poor mindless far-left drone, phoolp. !!.

        You are ignorant of anything to do with politics.

        Many of those left in the so-called Liberals would do well to take note of Mr Abbott’s message.

        It is the only way they will win the next election.

        The current mob seem to be almost as brain-hosed as the far-left ignorant and REGRESSIVE greenie life-hating left of the ALP/Green that people like you are stupidly gullible enough to “believe”.

        The far left is ABSOLUTELY PETRIFIED that Tony Abbott will regain his proper place now that the slimy leftist stupidification of the Turnbull Party is almost over.

        93

        • #
          philthegeek

          Angry me luv.

          Let me give you some info straight out from ALP campaigners who have been on the job since last year by-elections doing the real people interactions thing.

          The best thing that could happen for the ALP is for Abbott to retain his seat and be “significant” in a Liberal opposition. 🙂

          We dont fear Abbott….we luv him and wish him all the best.

          53

          • #
            AndyG55

            You poor irrelevant hard-left greenie nutter-troll.

            If you don’t FEAR him, why spend so much of your slime trying to get rid of him.

            I know the left have slime in abundance, but really !!!!

            GET A LIFE.

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          • #
            el gordo

            ‘We dont fear Abbott…’

            Big mistake, the wags say he was a great Opposition leader but a hopeless PM, not progressive enough for the moderates.

            The other point, few tradies live in Wentworth but in Warringah, once you get over the Spit Bridge, they are everywhere.

            So a win for Tony means he’ll be on the Opposition front bench. What portfolio do you suggest?

            32

    • #
      Dennis

      By the way that tycoon has held fund raising events for both sides of politics, including Labor Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd.

      10

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    This is interesting….shows how much pressure is coming on to buckle to this communist country….

    Suggest we tell them to get lost…..

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-07/china-pressured-sydney-council-over-media-organisation/10962226

    By the way, has anyone seent he missing Interpol chief who “disappeared” inside China?

    “A local Sydney council bowed to pressure from the Chinese Government and banned an Australian-owned media company from sponsoring an event because it was critical of the Communist Party.

    “Chinese consular officials issued at least eight warnings to Georges River Council over its dealings with Vision China Times media.
    Vision China Times says it has been repeatedly harassed because it publishes information critical of China’s Communist Party.

    “Georges River Council initially bowed to pressure and banned the organisation from sponsoring a Chinese New Year event.
    A joint investigation by Four Corners, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald obtained documents showing how Chinese consular officials issued at least eight warnings over 12 months to the Georges River Council over its dealings with Vision China Times, a Chinese-language media organisation.

    “The newspaper has been repeatedly harassed because it publishes information in Mandarin that is critical of the Chinese Communist Party.

    “Vision China Times advertisers based in China were threatened by Chinese officials, including intelligence agents, and forced to pull their advertising.

    “The clear case of Chinese interference in Australia comes after the joint Four Corners and The Age/SMH investigation also exposed ties between Communist Party-linked businessmen and senior Australian politicians.

    “A joint investigation by Four Corners, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald reveals fresh and compelling evidence of covert Beijing-backed political activity taking place in Australia.

    “Vision China Times manager Maree Ma says her paper has come under attack because it does not toe the Communist Party line.

    100

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      I may even watch the ABC on Monday night..
      To catch this story..
      Anything anti China would usually be binned !
      Could the censors have been asleep at the wheel again..

      41

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    Last time CO2 levels were this high, there were trees at the South Pole

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/03/south-pole-tree-fossils-indicate-impact-of-climate-change?CMP=share_btn_tw

    This time it is under 2 miles of ice.

    Might be a clue how much influence CO2 has on the climate.

    90

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Don’t you believe anything you read in The Guardian. This is unusually inaccurate even for them.
      The Antarctic ice cap formed in the Oligocene (or possibly earlier in the Eocene). Most estimates are around 33 – 36 million years ago, although some think it might have been as recent as 25 million years ago. That latter would put the CO2 levels around 400-500 ppm. The earlier time had CO2 levels around 800-1,000ppm.
      You are right about it showing how much influence CO2 has on climate – SFA.

      https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsta.2013.0096
      (There are disputing articles, probably not acceptable to the RS)

      70

      • #
        theRealUniverse

        Thats like equating elephants to pigs in different pens. NOT related at all. CO2 has nothing to do with the icecaps. In the paleozoic it was a mere 7%!! There were icecaps. THe guardian is full of it as usual, just another MSM useless rag.

        10

    • #

      Yes, Travis, all that ice would indicate we have a way to go yet with all our CO2.

      The planet has been cooling since the Eocene Optimum some 50 million years back, with the odd little upward bump such as occurred around 25 million years ago. No surprise that the planet was warmer during the Pliocene a few million years back. Taking a big step back we can see the planet has really been cooling since whenever (with shocks and variations like the Early Paleozoic cold).

      Once again, we are being distracted from the climate of the current period and epoch, the climate which should concern us, our very own. Moreover any allowed discussion of remote past climate must be tied to CO2 anyway, even if this involves contortions at circus levels of excellence. (Enter the Guardian.)

      Now that I’m a proud conspiracy theorist I’m given to wondering if the whole Green Blob thing isn’t a giant distraction from something which has to come in the medium term and which none of us can enjoy contemplating: the perfectly natural and inevitable fizzling of our cosy interglacial. Modern humans have survived temps closer to the Quaternary average, complex civilisations haven’t tried it yet. Will be tricky.

      90

    • #
      Maptram

      From the article:

      “Fossil fuel burning was pumping CO2 into the atmosphere extremely rapidly, he said, though it took time for the atmosphere and oceans to respond fully.”

      Obviously something other than humans was causing the fossil fuel burning. Could it be that heat from the fossil fuel burning was causing the warming, rather than the CO2

      30

      • #
        Maptram

        Further to my earlier reply, the Greens and others want the world to stop using fossil fuels, thereby locking these fuels up forever, or at least until some greater force causes them to burn, once again pumping CO2 into the atmosphere extremely rapidly.

        40

  • #
    joseph

    I just read an interesting article that included information on how 5G will contribute to climate change . . . . .

    40

  • #
    scaper...

    It looks like Scomo is not ready to call an election. Let the left and their media mates sweat it.

    Now, if I was in Scomo’s position I would formulate a cunning plan. Call a half Senate election only. Then I would put a contentious bill through both houses to be rejected by the Senate. Put it up again, three months later, watch it get rejected then call a DD election.

    What is there to lose? Would be worth it just to watch the left heads exploding. Pinky and the Brain would have conniptions. Sweet.

    80

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      A half senate election would be a good idea.It would get rid of some of the dopey senators in the current list..
      Might see some of the greenists and extreme right wing nutters all booted

      And thus allow for some legislative progress between July 1st and mid November when a House of Reps election is required.

      And in the meantime folks have extra cash in their pockets courtesy of the tax cuts in the budget..

      I’m not Sco-Mo, but if I am was him, that would be my secret plan.

      And of course Labor will be screaming ” We wuz robbed ”

      All good !

      51

  • #
    David Maddison

    Australian PM Scott Morrison is proposing a super fast train based on Musk’s Hyperloop. I’m not sure what type of clowns he has advising him but the concept of the Hyperloop has been thoroughly debunked in the following video.

    https://youtu.be/RNFesa01llk

    70

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Dave,
      this idea was ‘floated’ in the mid 70’s (for NW USA).
      It was to use underground tunnels (hence more constant temperature – less problems with expansion, and no problem with land acquisitions) and pump air out about middle of the route. A front and back door controlled air intake. With train at point A the ‘door’ at point B would be closed. Air pressure would move the train into and along the tube, until the mid point when the door at point A would close. The train then acted as a piston increasing the pressure in front and reducing it behind, causing it to progressively slow down until it arrived at point B.
      The idea never got off the ground (or into it) but Musk has copied the idea with a few subsidy ideas e.g. solar panels on top of the tube.

      70

      • #
        David Maddison

        I remember it being featured in Popular Mechanics in the 1970’s and it went under the name “Planet Train” or something similar.

        40

      • #
        mikewaite

        I thought that Brunel tried this out with his “atmospheric train” in about 1850 in England.
        It used leather valves, and rats ate the leather.

        40

    • #
      Yonniestone

      I consider being shot out of a tube more than once in your life completely unnatural.

      111

  • #
    Graeme#4

    Yesterday a short piece in The West Australian” claimed that a $5.1b contract had been awarded for work on the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project. I thought that 2.0 was the pumped hydro project and that the govt hadn’t as yet approved it. What am I missing?

    50

  • #
    Maptram

    A line from a news item about the latest David Attenborough series.

    “The starting point was that we wanted to illustrate, through natural phenomena, climate change and that the arctic is increasingly warming,” Keith explains. “And the next thing was, ‘Right we’ll do a calving glacier’.

    https://au.yahoo.com/news/planet-600-crew-50-countries-120059602.html

    In other words, lets film something that occurs naturally, then call it climate change

    120

  • #
    jack

    What did the dog say when he sat on the carborundum?
    :
    :
    Rough!

    70

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Tasmania have legalised abortions for men ! I kid you not .

    30

    • #
      Yonniestone

      I’ve gotta see the mechanics of this!!!!

      70

      • #
        Another Ian

        Have they employed Indra Ghandi’s Minister for Population Control – Dr Nickanotherknackeroff?

        30

    • #
      joseph

      I’d like to see a reference.

      20

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      Tasmania have legalised abortions for men ! I kid you not .

      Is this serious? If it is I’ve finally found the bottom of the barrel in politics.

      Forgive me Tasmania but I thought trivial pursuit was a parlor game, not a subject needing legislative attention.

      00

  • #
    Hanrahan

    And they call it science!

    AOC pulled a figure, 12, out of the either [I was going to mention a less sanitary place but chose not to] and suddenly “We have 12 years to reverse global warming” is a scientific fact. If she is quoting higher authority, she has never mentioned it.

    51

    • #
      Travis T. Jones

      From the home of academic rigour and journalistic flair:

      How long is the planet going to last? I heard it was 12 years…

      The “12 years” date you’ve heard comes from a special report requested by the United Nations, which looks at the impacts of global warming at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

      At the moment, the world is 1°C warmer than in the late 19th century: the earliest period for which we have reliable temperature measurements and just before the Industrial Revolution got into full swing.

      UN-IPCC links @link:

      https://theconversation.com/climate-change-a-climate-scientist-answers-questions-from-teenagers-113530

      41

      • #
        TdeF

        Just past equinox in Australia. In Melbourne, the temperature swings 20C every day. Another 20C between summer and winter. Somehow 1C is going to make a difference? How?

        In Colorado the range is -40C to +40C and 1C is even sillier.

        Of course if Antarctica increases from its summer maximum of -25C to -24C, the whole place is going to melt? Not likely.

        This is all an invention. The only place where 1C matters is the North Pole which has a summer maximum of 0C and it means the sea ice melts, but that’s a really good thing. The Polar bears have to wait for winter, as always.

        A completely silly scare, made possible only with modern instruments. Fifty years waiting for Global Cooling predicted with certainty in the 1970s. Thirty years waiting for Global Warming predicted with certainty in 1988 and still waiting. A bit nothing.

        However if the ABC says it is true, they should be sold off. They were supposed to unbiased and accurate. Global Warming is a political device of the UN/Al Gore/EU. It has no resemblance to reality.

        70

        • #
          theRealUniverse

          TdeF that the whole absurdity of the so called temperature rises (and falls) totally meaningless as the global temperature extremes at ANY one season can be in order of 120C!

          30

    • #
      Maptram

      At the same time as the 12 years is being discussed, 2030 is also mentioned, in other words climate change has to be stopped by 2030. Perhaps 2030 has been selected because the climate models predict that the weather in 2030 will be perfect all over the world. No point in stopping climate change in a year of floods, heat, tornadoes, and other extreme weather events allegedly caused by climate change.

      50

    • #
      yarpos

      AOC will give zero farks, in 12 years she will be long gone from congress, collecting her congressional pension and be doing speaking gigs for liberal conferences and Universities.

      20

  • #
    Crakar24

    A 13 year old Australia boy goes to bed at night and puts a plastic bag on his head his parents found him the next day. His major concern in life was what DJ Trump was doing, the damage the media have done to our children will be incalculable, these people MUST be held to account!

    90

    • #
      Another Ian

      Crakar

      Watch this space –

      “A horror story for you”

      http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2019/04/05/i-napoleon-48/

      Creating the successors to the East German female athletes?

      40

      • #
        Crakar24

        Thats some pretty sick stuff right there ian I think the end is nigh, civilisation will/needs a reset.

        30

      • #
        Roy Hogue

        Is there still an adult left anywhere in the world?

        First tell them they have a problem they don’t have. Then treat them for that problem, ruining their lives in the process. And then stand in front of your mirror congratulating yourself for your great service to humanity. Then submit a paper extolling the virtues of your work while you move on to the next victim. Isn’t that how it works?

        The inmates are running the asylum.

        20

        • #
          Kinky Keith

          You’ve got it all there in a Nutshell Roy.

          They are all nuts.

          KK

          10

          • #
            Roy Hogue

            KK,

            If they were the only ones suffering I could say welcome to your thing, I won’t bother you, be nuts if you want to. But they unleash tragedy on others, in fact on children and they don’t suffer themselves. I can’t let that pass without a wish for justice. And I don’t know how to get that justice. And I have the urge to do something I know is wrong. This questioning and perversion of gender has gone on for a long time now with no end in sight. How can we stop it?

            10

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      A 13 year old Australia boy goes to bed at night and puts a plastic bag on his head…

      Crakar,

      I don’t know of a strong enough means of holding them accountable that you could use, whether in Oz or here that wouldn’t land us in jail for trying it.

      Removal from public office, loss of their job, jail time, these are not adequate. Nothing provides suitable accountability.

      They poison by slow degrees a little at a time and we don’t even have an overt act we can point to and say, this did it, therefore punishment X is called for.

      30

  • #
    David Maddison

    Some rare good news. South Australiastan’s solar thermal project “falls over”.

    https://www.gleninnesexaminer.com.au/story/6002174/sa-solar-thermal-power-plant-falls-over/

    50

  • #
  • #
    pat

    it is infuriating how 2GB is full of CAGW sceptic presenters, yet its news bulletins never miss an opportunity to push the CAGW agenda. overnite they had the following, including lengthy quote from the driver, re a story which hasn’t even been picked up by our major FakeNewsMSM as yet!

    5 Apr: DriveN: Dutch EV explorer celebrates epic three year road trip in electric car
    (Bridie Schmidt is staff writer for The Driven, and Renew Economy)
    by Bridie Schmidt
    It’s been a little over 3 years since Dutch adventurer Wiebe Wakker left his home in the Netherlands on what would become the longest road trip ever in an electric car, to illustrate the sustainability and endurance of electric cars.
    During his 1,119 days on the road, Wakker has relied on the kindness of strangers to recharge his converted Volkswagen Golf (aka the Blue Bandit) that has about 230km range, as he traversed first the European continent then travelling down to South East Asia to then travel to Australia’s northern most state capital, Darwin.
    His incredible and inspiring Plug Me In project, which has seen him cross some of the planet’s most challenging landscapes such as along the searing Stuart Highway from the Northern Territory to South Australia, is now ending this weekend in the NSW capital of Sydney.

    In what will be a triumphant finale for the record-breaking drive that has now covered 95,000km, Wakker will head a cavalcade of electric cars over the Sydney Harbour Bridge this Sunday.
    “We are going to start at the Tesla Supercharger at St Leonards on Sydney’s lower north shore,” Wakker tells The Driven.
    “Then we will drive over the Harbour Bridge, and then we will pass by the NSW Art Gallery. Next we will pass Mrs Macquaries Chair and then finish at 2.30pm at the Opera House parking.

    Wakker says that so far, 30 people so far have signed up to take part in the electric parade, but with many saying they are inviting other electric car drivers to join in, it could well be more.
    The entire trip, which has been funded by a donations of money and items from sponsors and offers of beds, power and food from people all around Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and Australia, has not cost Wakker a single cent.
    It has saved a lot though – in dollars, and in CO2 emissions. Here is the breakdown…ETC

    “Range is not a factor for not buying an electric car,” he says.
    “I’ve proven that you can drive all around Australia even in a standard range electric car.”
    “It’s a viable way of transport,” he says, pointing out that as most Australians live in the city, an electric car can definitely provide enough range for everyday needs.

    While his trip around Australia has consisted mostly of overnight charges at people’s homes, he does point out that it would be easier if there were more DC fast chargers to enable charging in under an hour.
    “There are three phase power points which are convenient but still pioneering if you want to travel long distances because you do have to wait a few hours to charge the car up,” he says.
    “To make it more convenient to travel around Australia, more fast chargers need to be installed.”…
    https://thedriven.io/2019/04/05/dutch-ev-explorer-celebrates-epic-three-year-road-trip-in-electric-car/

    reminder:

    29 Jan: Guardian: Dutch man’s epic 89,000km drive proves electric cars are viable in Australia
    by Naaman Zhou
    By driving such extreme distances, Wakker said he hoped to bust Australian anxieties over the lack of charging stations and how far electric cars can travel…

    Despite his positive experience, Wakker said he found the journey between Glendambo to Coober Pedy in South Australia a challenge in his 2009 car.
    “It was 255km – I knew I wasn’t going to make it,” he said. “So I checked on my app to see how the wind was going, I saw that 12 hours later I would have a tailwind. I waited and drove very slow to save energy – 60km. I did 235km, which was my record. Just 20km from Coober Pedy I ran out, I put on a lot of sunscreen and waited for someone who could give me a tow. Someone came by within 10 minutes and said yes.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/29/dutch-mans-epic-89000km-drive-proves-electric-cars-are-viable-in-australia

    only took from end of Jan to 7 April to get from Adeliade to Sydney!

    40

    • #
      pat

      22 Mar: CNN: Electric car driver travels 90,000km in three years as strangers pay his way
      By Matt Majendie
      For three years and 90,000 kilometers and counting, he’s traveled the world powered both by electricity and strangers’ kindness.
      Keen to spread a zero-carbon future message, Dutchman Wiebe Wakker effectively left home with empty pockets, the €20,000 ($22,618) he has spent since setting off in March 2016 going entirely on car repairs and shipping logistics, and earned from working on his travels…

      Wakker says it is impossible to estimate how much the trip might have cost if paying his own way, with total strangers having slashed that bill with both free accommodation as well as free meals as he drove towards Australia.
      His only error, he says, has been in underestimating mankind…

      “There’s a bit of sadness as well actually as it’s nearly finished and I’m still enjoying it. I thought when it ended I’d be exhausted or super hungry but it really has been an experience of a lifetime.”
      That is countered by the fact he is no longer driving an electric car without air conditioning — the fuses on it went about a month ago — as temperatures hit a high of 49 degrees Celsius in a particularly hot Australian summer. “I’ve had to have coffee beans in the car to help cancel out the smell,” he says laughing.
      Throughout the journey, he has driven where possible but sent the car by ship three times, and raised the money required by doing differing jobs along the way.

      Unsurprisingly, there have been mishaps with the car at certain points. First in India, a broken spring was welded in place but it caused the rear tires to wear down so the car was no longer drivable, and then it short circuited and the charger exploded.
      In Indonesia, the car got flooded and he could only repair it by flying out mechanics from his native Holland, but amazingly that €5,000 ($5,654) cost he raised by crowdfunding in the space of just 10 days.
      “With it I wanted to prove the reliability of electric cars and what it’s possible to cover,” he said. “It’s still going pretty good.”

      By his own admission, Wakker has not always been that green-minded but had that view shifted working for an events company, which got into environmentally clean projects including a dance floor at a music festival in which people produced the electricity for the festival by dancing…
      https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/22/motorsport/electric-car-around-the-world-wiebe-wakker-spt-intl/index.html

      20

      • #

        “In Indonesia, the car got flooded and he could only repair it by flying out mechanics from his native Holland, but amazingly that €5,000 ($5,654) cost he raised by crowdfunding in the space of just 10 days.”

        I’m reminded of the very green movie star who left his vegan belt at home…so he sent a plane to fetch it.

        This is why we must not relent, must not try to reason with those only want to manipulate reason, who will repeat the word “science” like an incantation to justify any amount of pious waste.

        Quite simply, Green Blob must be destroyed. Really. Stop reasoning with unreason and just destroy the impious Blob.

        30

    • #
      Another Ian

      Pat

      For round Australia – I’ve a query in as to how many charging stations there are in Kununurra and Halls Creek

      40

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Don’t go from Halls creek to Alice via the Tanami track if you own an EV , only help there is around Wolfe creek area a bloke by the name of Mick Taylor will give you a tow .

        41

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Tourism into the “red centre” wold cease. The distances are too great and roadhouses running off their own generator will not welcome EVs. Have you thought of THAT Shorten?

        40

    • #
      Another Ian

      Pat

      Remember the comment recently of round Australia by bicycle in 49 days?

      40

    • #
      yarpos

      Wiebe Wakker, you cant make this stuff up can you?

      50

  • #
    JonZone

    Climate change order or regimentation does not exist among the believers, neither is there order or regimentation among the clouds in the sky.

    When discussing the Great Global Warming and Climate Change scam involving certain politicians including the Greens and self-appointed scientists with an old Australian farmer, he was asked what he thought about the situation.

    The old man said, “Ya know, them believers are Post Turtles.”

    Not knowing what the old man meant, he was asked what was a “post turtle”

    He said, “Did you ever drive down a country road and come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top.”

    You know he didn’t get there by himself, he doesn’t belong there, he can’t get anything done while he’s up there, and you just want to get the creature down and hope it wanders off into the bush.

    That’s a Post Turtle.”

    https://saltbushclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/great-generation.pdf

    40

  • #
    Cynic of Ayr

    Been doing some rough investigation of Bill Shorten’s electric cars idea.
    From the web https://pod-point.com/guides/driver/how-long-to-charge-an-electric-car

    EV charging times and powers for Tesla S (Long Range)
    Battery Kwh 100
    Range 400 Km
    3.7 Kw charger. hours 27
    7 Kw charger. hours 15
    22 Kw Charger. hours 6
    50 Kw Charger. hours 2
    150 Kw Charger. hours 1

    Supply Charging Current in Amps at 240 Volts
    3.7 Kw 15 Amps
    7 Kw 29 Amps
    More at 240 Volt is impractical

    Supply Charging Current in Amps at 415 Volts
    3.7 Kw 9 Amps
    7 Kw 17 Amps (20 Amp outlet)
    22 Kw 53 Amps ( 50 Amp Outlet.)
    50 Kw 120 Amps (Industry maybe? Home? doubt it.)
    150 Kw 361 Amps

    (Re the latter two, with 400 Volt batteries, the current is 125 and 375 Amps. These are serious plugs!
    Half a tenth of an ohm dirty contact, the heat generated is 1500 and 14,000 watts! Enough to melt stuff.
    Are the plugs that good and reliable?)

    Comments
    None of these figures include losses. Losses 20%?

    Standard 3 pin outlet in an Australian home is 10 Amps. Let’s go with that.
    A higher 3 pin outlet (larger earth pin) is 15 Amps. Let’s go with that too.
    4 (or 5) pin industrial outlets are 20 30 and 50 Amps. Rare in homes!

    With a standard 10 Amp GPO, the time isn’t listed. But, by ratio, would be about 40 Hours.
    With a 15 Amp outlet installed (quite easy and common) the shortest time is 27 hours.
    With a 20 Amp 4 pin outlet installed (bring out a wallet!) shortest time is 15 hours.
    With a 50 Amp 4 pin outlet installed (bring out two wallets!) shortest time is 6 hours.
    Forget the others at home.

    The neighbors.
    I’m not an expert here, but some readers are.
    Say in a neighborhood street, or a local circuit, all installed 50 amp outlets.
    How many can be used at one time? There must be a local limit on power draw, especially in peak times.

    Corrections are welcome!

    130

    • #
      David Maddison

      The grid won’t be able to handle even a small proportion of people having electric cars, most of whom will want to charge overnight at the same time.

      70

    • #
      Crakar24

      Let’s use my area of sa as an example.

      We don’t have mains gas, the max current draw is 80 amps so…..

      1, you come home from work and charge one car at 32 amps 15 hour charge by your comment.
      2, cook food on your electric stove @ 32 amps thats 64 amps leaving you only 16 amps left.
      3, the hws kicks in at 11pm it pulls 14 amps so that’s 46.
      4, if you need to charge more than one car forget it….I have 4 cars at my place.

      Prices 7.7kwh @ 40c is 46 dollars per recharge there will need to be some serious subsidies getting thrown around

      50

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Once EVs are taxed, not subsidised [and that day will come when/if penetration reached\s 10%] the whole idea will stink.

        30

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Crackar24 you are describing that show Green acres to a T .

        10

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Useful data, thanks.

      Assuming you are in Ayr, NQ then Ergon would have a say in whether you can install 3 ph, and I doubt there would be many approvals off each pole transformer.

      40

    • #
      Maptram

      This assumes one EV per household. What happens if two household members are silly enough to have EVs?

      50

    • #
      Dennis

      I did a search after Anthony (The Italian by birthright) Albanese backed Bill Shorten up on the 8-10 minute recharge claim.

      However I am convinced after reading this article that it was damage control information found by the spin doctors to help Shorten, the way Albanese presented the information was insincere;

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6892099/New-ultra-fast-pumps-charge-electric-car-minutes-theres-battery-handle-it.html

      21

    • #
      Graeme#4

      More on your figures Cynic, for Tesla Car charging.
      1. Level 1 and Level 2 charging goes via the onboard charger then to the battery. The onboard charger on a Model 3 limits its charging rate to 40 amps max. So regardless of what size outlet you install at home, you won’t be able to charge at a rate >40 amps.
      2. Level 3 (Supercharge) bypasses the onboard charger and goes direct to the battery. This system can charge to 80% in 40 mins, then it limits the charging rate if you want to keep charging.

      30

      • #
        Cynic of Ayr

        Instead of replying, I posted a new comment. 🙁
        Chronic inability to read “reply” on the posts. One would think I was advising the ALP!
        Sorry.

        10

    • #
      yarpos

      All valid, however one could agrgue that a full charge is rarely needed, car ar charging at different times and some are charging at work or in parking stations. In reality I think there will be times , like Sunday night or Monday of a long weekend, when the close to the worst case scenario would be played out.

      10

      • #
        Richard Ilfeld

        Because people use good common sense, right?
        SO we never lose charge in our cell phones.
        We’re never stranded by the side of the road waiting for a kind stranger with a petrol can?
        We’re never out of milk (or whatever you drink).

        We live sloppy lives. We support a huge fleet of tow trucks as it is.
        When people treat electric cars like all the other appliances in their lives ( when they aren’t only driven
        by advocates) ‘worst cases’ will likely be a daily occurrence. Most cars live outdoors, not in garages.
        Most people will have no problem saying to themselves ‘ I won’t drag the cord out tonight, I can get by tomorrow’.
        Most people will hate their mandated electrics (the only reason to have one).

        They’ll work as fleet cars, like natural gas vehicles do now. But if they have to be mandated and subsidised long term,
        the left will find something else to subsidize once they’ve wrung all the graft possible out of EV’s.

        21

        • #
          yarpos

          You live in a different time space continuim to me Richard. No, I dont do any of those things and have yet to notice a “huge fleet” of tow trucks anywhere near me. I think people adapt as they always have and will do so if these things go mainstream. Personally I dont see it happening , although they may fill a niche for people who want a city trundler.

          10

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Exactly, at 150 Kw 361 Amps, say 2000 cars at any one time across tha state or country , that would be normally filling with (efficient liquid energy) in the form of hydrocarbon fuel (We dont say fossil here), that amounts to about 300MW! As I posted earlier (just updated the power requirements, thanks Cynic)
      And that would probably be a minimum.

      30

  • #
    pat

    The World Bank must reject Trump’s nominee to lead it
    Washington Post – 5 Mar 2019

    Trump’s World Bank president pick to struggle for global votes
    Quartz – 20 Feb 2019

    25 Feb: Nature Editorial: Wanted: climate leadership for the World Bank
    US President Donald Trump’s candidate to lead the global institution could undermine its efforts to get greener. Nations need the courage to challenge the nomination.
    With the United States out of the Paris agreement, Malpass is already advocating taking the bank back to its post-war roots: financing energy and infrastructure projects regardless of their environmental impact. Outlining his agenda in The Financial Times, Malpass said the bank needs to revert to its “core mission”. Climate change did not get a mention.
    Given the high stakes, the rest of the world must determine whether Malpass is worth backing…
    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00661-5

    David Malpass defies doubts to secure World Bank presidency
    Financial Times – 5 Apr 2019

    5 Apr: Time: World Bank Appoints Trump Nominee David Malpass As President
    By Andrew Mayeda, Bloomberg
    Malpass was unanimously selected to serve a five-year term from April 9, the World Bank’s executive board said in a statement on Friday…
    Trump nominated Malpass in February, choosing a loyal supporter who had been sharply critical of China and called for a shakeup of the global economic order. Critics including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz questioned the selection, pointing to Malpass’s doubts about international cooperation.
    But no other countries proposed any candidates to challenge Malpass, making his selection by the board all but assured…
    He pushed the bank to lend less to China, arguing the world’s second-biggest economy has the financial resources to support itself…
    http://time.com/5565141/david-malpass-world-bank-group-president/

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    Travis T. Jones

    The 97% UN stupid. It hurts.
    And, it has control of the financial levers …

    Speech: Climate Change And The Economy

    Guy Debelle, Deputy Governor
    Public Forum hosted by the Centre for Policy Development
    Sydney – 12 March 2019

    https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2019/sp-dg-2019-03-12.html

    You had me until … “One example that I recall vividly from my primary school days in Adelaide is the Goyder Line.
    Goyder was the Surveyor-General of the colony of South Australia in the second half of the 19th century.
    In 1865, he rode across the colony to determine what part of the state was arable.”

    >> Golly gee, Mr Debelle, what was the carbon (sic) levels in 1865 and how did they cause more rain?

    The stupid. It gets worse …

    “The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report documents that 1 degree of warming has already occurred from pre-industrial levels as a result of human activities.”

    The same failed UN-IPCC that quotes non-peer-reviewed ‘science?

    Climate body chief defends use of ‘grey literature’

    The head of the UN’s climate change panel has defended the use of unproven science to justify climate change by saying the “grey literature” cannot be ignored.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/7725266/Climate-body-chief-defends-use-of-grey-literature.html

    We’re gonna need a bigger gaol.

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      Another Ian

      Travis

      You can argue that Rslph Nader had to do with the development of “grey literature”.

      After his hatchet job on the Chev Corvair Nader’s next go was the VW Beetle, suitably eviscerated in the next publication as the most unsafe car on US roads. Complete with bibliography. Which Road and Track (IIRC) went with a fine toothed comb and discovered all sorts of dubious practices.

      Their conclusion was that a case could be made that it was the safest vehicle on US roads at the time.

      Funnily enough you only found out about that publication when Nader had his tilt for president if you happened to read an anti-Nader site.

      So the grey literature was needed to make such checking of references much harder. Needs someone well on top of the subject with a nose for finding where the quotes came from. Which takes a lot of time and wide reading.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        VW Beetle, suitably eviscerated in the next publication as the most unsafe car on US roads.

        The early beetle didn’t have enough power for a safe overtake and a solid steering column that started at the steering rack six inches behind the bumper and finished six inches from the driver’s heart.IMHO they WERE unsafe.

        BTW Nadler is said to have had a niece on board one of the 737 Max planes and has his sights set on Boeing.

        Things aren’t getting better for Boeing, their reputation is in tatters. The USAF declined accepting a new tanker A/C until it can be guaranteed to have no loose foreign objects in it. Seems there have been tools etc in previous ones. Once you lose your reputation it is gone forever

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        • #
          Another Ian

          H

          The big problem was the “high pivot independent rear end”. In a tight corner the outside rear wheel lifted the rear of the car to the point of drastic tailwag – which drivers used to the usual “understeer plow” had problems with.

          Included early Porsches too.

          The most drastic was a Czech Tartra model with a V8 hanging out the back. Reckoned to have killed more Germans than the Czech army – which might be true but a bit unfair as the Czech army wasn’t given a go at them

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          • #
            Hanrahan

            The Czech’s neighbour, the Poles, did alright once they got into Hurricanes. They were amazing pilots but the Brits treated them poorly at war’s end.

            Search on
            No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron

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        • #
          Richard Ilfeld

          K-46 aircraft were officially accepted 1/25/2019.
          Good thing; a modern air force can’t operate far from home without them.
          Boeing has taken a PR hit, and earned it with the MCAS issue. If I were in charge, tho, my counter-offensive would be real,
          not PR. I’d like to establish mfr standards for pilots, and provide a full motion sim course for each airplane; customers
          would need to qualify their pilots through mfr course regardless of local training rules. Wouldn’t hurt for mechanics either.

          Some would believe it would be corrupted and shortcut if run by mfr.

          OK, I’ll outsource it to Quantas. Any objections? There is reason for their record.

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            robert rosicka

            There is a reason for their safety record , it’s called luck .
            I’ve seen a photo of ribbon wire that was severed and stapled back together using – yes staples that you’d use on paper .
            No idea if Qantas still outsource their maintenance overseas to the cheapest bidder though .

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    pat

    6 Apr: TheCourierUK: Energy giant pulls plug on Angus solar wind farm project
    by Graeme Strachan
    Energy giant Lightsource BP said it had ruled out the 120-hectare site bordering the southern edge of the Piperdam leisure resort following talks with locals.
    It comes just weeks after a community consultation was held on the proposed 49.99 megawatt scheme, which first emerged in November…

    behind paywall:

    Wind farm developers to pay neighbours to dampen community unrest
    The Weekly Times – 2 Apr 2019
    The Weekly Times can also reveal neighbours within 2km of the under construction 149-turbine Stockyard Hill wind farm near Ballarat are being paid…

    Georgetown’s ‘green’ plan to destroy a forest for a solar farm is met with resistance
    Washington Post – 1 Apr 2019
    It is, indeed, ironic, that this supposedly “green” project would destroy 240 acres of environmentally critical greenery…

    NIMBYS:

    20 Feb: PreservationMaryland: Plan to Clear Cut 240 Acres of Charles County Forest Hits Local Opposition
    By Kimberly Golden Brandt
    Smart Growth Maryland and its partners in the Smarter Growth Alliance for Charles County recently announced their opposition to Georgetown University’s plans to clear-cut 240 acres of Southern Maryland’s largest forest for an industrial-scale solar facility.

    In the recent Washington Post article (“Georgetown wants to raze 210 acres of trees to meet green-energy goals; Environmentalists are crying foul”), Charles County resident Linda Redding addressed the core issue with the Georgetown University solar project, stating “Green projects do not destroy green resources. If you destroy what is saving our climate in the name of fighting climate change, the effort is hollow.”…

    The project site is located within an Audubon Important Bird Area, a critical habitat for numerous at-risk birds like bald eagles, warblers, eastern whip-poor-wills, and wood thrushes. The site is also within a Department of Natural Resources Targeted Ecological Area, a designation given to the most ecologically valuable areas in Maryland – generally described as “the best of the best.” In addition to destroying forest, this project will also degrade two high-quality streams…(STILL UNRESOLVED)
    https://www.preservationmaryland.org/plan-to-clear-cut-240-acres-of-charles-county-forest-hits-local-opposition/

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  • #
    pat

    carried only by a couple of Malaysia papers:

    27 Mar: Reuters: Indonesia threatens to quit Paris climate deal over palm oil
    by Bernadette Christina Munthe, Fransiska Nangoy
    Indonesia has lashed out at the EU after the bloc classified palm oil as a risky crop that caused significant deforestation and ruled its use in renewable fuel should stop by 2030…
    A senior Indonesian minister warned on Wednesday Southeast Asia’s biggest economy could consider exiting the Paris climate deal if the European Union goes ahead with a plan to phase out palm oil in renewable transportation fuel…
    Indonesia’s government, however, says palm requires far less land to produce oil compared to crops such as soy and rapeseed.

    “If the U.S. and Brazil can leave the climate deal, we should consider that. Why not?” Pandjaitan said…
    “The U.S. was not sanctioned at all by the EU (after leaving the Paris accord),” said Peter Gontha, special staff at Indonesia’s foreign ministry…

    Indonesia has said it is preparing to challenge the EU and its Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) at the World Trade Organization as soon as it is implemented. The government is also examining its relations with EU members which support the act…
    http://news.trust.org/item/20190327111002-yil0f

    Xinhua has noticed:

    Indonesia threatens to leave Paris accord on climate change over palm oil dispute
    Xinhua – 28 Mar 2019
    “If the United States and Brazil can exit from the climate deal. We consider it because it is linked with the interests of the Indonesian people,” Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan stressed.
    The minister said that the government would firmly defend its national interests as over 20 million people across the country rely much on the palm oil sector which has created many jobs and helped alleviate poverty in the country…

    4 Apr: ThomsonReutersFoundation: Indonesia should not quit climate pact over palm-oil spat – UN official
    by Michael Taylor
    Indonesia should stay in the Paris climate deal and lead efforts to curb global warming under the accord, the Asia-Pacific head for UN Environment said on Friday, urging greater dialogue in the country’s spat with the European Union over palm oil.

    Last week, Indonesia – the world’s biggest producer of the cheap vegetable oil – said it might consider exiting the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change if the EU went ahead with a decision to phase out palm oil in renewable transportation fuel.
    The Southeast Asian nation, home to the world’s third-largest tropical forests, lashed out at the EU after the bloc classified palm oil as a risky crop that caused deforestation and ruled its use in biofuel should stop by 2030.

    “We need countries like Indonesia in the Paris Agreement, taking forward their commitments quite seriously,” said Dechen Tsering, Asia-Pacific director for the United Nations’ environment agency in Bangkok…

    Last week, Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister overseeing maritime and natural resources, told a conference that if the United States and Brazil could consider leaving the Paris deal, why should Indonesia not too…
    Under the Paris accord, Indonesia has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 29 percent by 2030, a target that could rise to 41 percent with international support…

    The amount of materials the world uses has tripled since 1970 and could double again by 2050 if no action is taken, the United Nations estimates.
    In Asia, fast-developing economies and urbanisation are driving huge investments in construction and infrastructure, offering chances to promote a circular economy, experts say…
    http://news.trust.org/item/20190405084518-kr20f/

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      pat

      more reasons for Indonesia to quit Paris?

      3 Apr: HuffPo blog: Beyond This Week’s Eye-Catching Stunt, We Must Not Be Distracted From Tackling The Fossil Fuel Crisis
      By ignoring the role of fossil fuel companies – and the major investors here on our doorstep – in driving climate breakdown, we are offering little hope for our children’s future
      by Adam McGibbon, Climate campaigner at Global Witness
      MPs can be forgiven this week for being distracted from the millionth Brexit debate, by the sight of naked climate protesters in the Parliamentary gallery…
      Many of the world’s biggest banks, many of them based in the UK, are the investors responsible for funding the fossil fuel companies. Just thirty-three global banks have poured $1.9trillion US dollars into fossil fuel projects since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015 (LINK), and the amounts are still rising…

      At Global Witness, we have just released a new investigation into the coal industry in Indonesia. Our investigation reveals (LINK) how Indonesian vice presidential candidate Sandiaga Uno has links to payments of at least US$43million from a major Indonesian coal company, Berau Coal, to an obscure offshore firm, and that he may have secretly benefited from these payments in some way. Along with a number of other questionable transactions linked to Uno’s business partner, these payments contributed to Berau Coal – which at one point during this time was taken over by a London-listed firm – defaulting on its debts.
      Our findings offer yet another potent reason why banks and investors should shun Indonesia’s big coal…

      FIRST COMMENT OF 4:
      Steve John: How many countries and how many millions of poor people should be denied progress and electricity so that you save the world?
      https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/climate-change-protest_uk_5ca4cec1e4b079824025c3f9

      RAN (Rainforest Action Network):

      19 Mar: RAN Press release: Report Finds Global Banks Poured $1.9 Trillion into Fossil Fuel Financing Since the Paris Agreement was Adopted, with Financing on the Rise Each Year
      Findings reveal U.S. banks dominated fossil fuel funding, with JPMorgan Chase the worst on climate change by an astonishingly wide margin.
      DOWNLOAD – FOSSIL FUEL FINANCE REPORT CARD 2019

      SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2019 — A report released today by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Sierra Club, and Honor the Earth, and endorsed by over 160 organizations around the world, reveals that 33 global banks have provided $1.9 trillion to fossil fuel companies since the adoption of the Paris climate accord at the end of 2015. The amount of financing has risen in each of the past two years…

      Expanded in scope, the report adds up lending and underwriting to 1,800 companies across the coal, oil and gas sectors globally over the past three years. The report also tracks fossil fuel expansion by aggregating data on which banks are financing the 100 companies most aggressively expanding fossil fuels.

      Banking on Climate Change 2019 reveals that the four biggest global bankers of fossil fuels are all U.S. banks — JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Bank of America. Barclays of England, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) of Japan and RBC of Canada are also massive funders in this sector. Notably, JPMorgan Chase is by far the worst banker of fossil fuels and fossil fuel expansion — and therefore the world’s worst banker of climate change. Since the Paris Agreement, JPMorgan Chase has provided $196 billion in finance for fossil fuels, 10% of all fossil fuel finance from the 33 major global banks…
      https://www.ran.org/press-releases/bankingonclimatechange_2019/

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    Another Ian

    More notice

    “South Australia’s latest green energy scam – the floundering tower of power”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/04/06/south-australias-latest-green-energy-scam-the-floundering-tower-of-power/

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  • #
    pat

    4 Apr: ThomsonReutersFoundation: Britain’s charity commission investigates WWF UK abuse claims
    by Adela Suliman
    Britain’s charity watchdog launched an investigation into the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) UK on Thursday, citing concerns that its grants had funded human rights abuses overseas.
    The inquiry follows a year-long investigation in six countries by BuzzFeed News (LINK) published in March that found WWF had provided salaries, training and weapons to paramilitary forces implicated in atrocities against indigenous communities…
    Britain’s Prince Charles has been president of WWF UK, famous for its black and white panda logo, since 2011.
    Buckingham Palace declined to comment…

    5 Apr: Guardian: British watchdog launches inquiry into WWF abuse allegations
    Charity Commission to assess whether money sent abroad was subject to due diligence as German MPs urge funding halt
    by Karen McVeigh
    https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/04/british-watchdog-launches-inquiry-into-wwf-abuse-allegations

    following seems to be the above Guardian piece, with a more straightforward headline; no other text at SCMP page, though:

    4 Apr: SouthChinaMorningPost: The Guardian: British watchdog investigates WWF charity for compliance lapses after claims of ‘gang-rape, murder and torture’ in Africa and Asia
    •The inquiry will assess whether World Wide Fund for Nature’s UK arm followed ‘due diligence’ in ensuring that money sent abroad did not contribute to abuse
    •German MPs are also calling for a halt to millions in funding over claims of gang-rape, murder and torture by eco-guards funded and equipped by WWF in the DRC

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  • #
    Kinky Keith

    A new book looks very interesting.

    Author is Ananad G who appears to be exposing the main reason for our troubled times, leadership for the leaders under the disguise of,,,,,,,,,

    Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World

    Could be an interesting turn in discussion groups looking for a new tomorrow.

    KK

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  • #
    robert rosicka

    Just came across this funny answering machine from a school in Australia, it’s sad but true .

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8MdBqJ3_ox0

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    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Bugger me !

      That is so funny it’s amazing.

      If it’s real best wishes to that staff at that school

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      • #
        robert rosicka

        It was real , the school was in Maroochydore and apparently some parents sued the school .

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  • #
    pat

    2 Apr: PV Mag: Will India’s RE push kill the critically endangered great Indian bustard?
    Amid the hubbub surrounding India’s renewable energy ambitions, few people have likely heard the last wails of a critically endangered great Indian bustard as it chars to death on a power transmission line or fatally collides with a wind turbine.
    by Preeti Verma Lal
    The latest memorandum by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) makes it mandatory for builders of power transmission lines to deploy bird diverters on conductors. They must also paint the tips of wind turbine blades with orange to be visible to birds — policies that once again stoke the bustard-versus-renewables debate.

    India is the only home of the great Indian bustard; at last count, it had a total population of fewer than 150 birds. The majority of the surviving birds live in the fragmented grasslands of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra — the biggest states behind India’s renewable dreams…

    Describing MNRE’s plan to retrofit power lines with bird diverters as a “good preventive measure,” Rangaian questions the feasibility of underground cables as a solution. “India’s renewable energy developers are struggling with finances and investors are hard to come by,” he told pv magazine. “Underground cables cost 10 times more than overhead power lines and it is foolish to add that cost to a money-starved industry.”…

    The great Indian bustard, one of the heaviest of the world’s flying birds, was once a contender to become India’s national bird. The peacock ran away with that glory, but some say that the bustard may have been rejected because its name could be so easily misspelt or mispronounced — nobody wanted the national bird’s name to be “bastardized.” Had semantics not been an issue, the great Indian bustard’s fate may have been different.
    https://www.pv-magazine.com/2019/04/02/will-indias-re-push-kill-the-critically-endangered-great-indian-bustard/

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  • #
    philthegeek

    Hey, ispos polling from after the budget is out and the coalition….well….deceased feline bounce. 🙂

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    • #
      Bill in Oz

      How weird is this ” Ipsos found the Greens had a primary vote of 13 per cent, much higher than the party’s result of about 10 per cent at the last election.”

      Ummmm after all the internal feuding and chaos inside the Greens in NSW & in Vic. i, they are getting and increased vote ?

      I suspect a very big rat..

      A very ratty sample is behind these results.

      And as the polls did not predict the result in the NSW state election a few weeks ago, I suspect that Ipsos needs to do some hard work on it’s polling.

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    • #
      AndyG55

      Deservedly so.

      Being, “Not quite as bad as Labor” isn’t really a winning position to adopt,

      … but it seems to be all ScoMo has in his pocket to play with.

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    • #
      el gordo

      Phil there is still a chance that the Coalition will form government with the support of the regional and rural independents and fringe dweller parties.

      It all comes down to high speed rail, both sides of politics want to start work immediately but there is a difference. Labor wants a 350 kph Brisbane to Melbourne run, while the Coalition is banking on a 200 kph decentralisation model.

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      • #
        AndyG55

        Can you point to where the Liberal and Labor Federal parties have announced these plans.

        I can find plenty of State Government based plans in NSW and Vic, but not much recently from either Federal party, except for some funding help.

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        • #
          el gordo

          ‘But there is one key difference: the Coalition wants to put money into fast regional rail links with trains running at about 160 kilometres per hour, including a tunnel through the Blue Mountains from Sydney to Parkes, and create a National Faster Rail Agency.

          ‘Labor disagrees with the fast rail plan (which does not yet have cost estimates), and instead wants to set up a High Speed Rail Authority to build even faster trains that would run at speeds of up to 350 kilometres per hour from Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra at an estimated cost of $114 billion.’

          Fin Review

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          • #
            AndyG55

            What date? That is a quote, not a link.

            I was expecting a link to the actual policies.

            Do they even exist?

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            • #
              el gordo

              The election hasn’t been called yet, patience.

              Premier Gladys will go with National Faster Rail Agency, decentralisation is the key to winning back country votes.

              10

      • #
        philthegeek

        Phil there is still a chance that the Coalition will form government with the support of the regional and rural independents and fringe dweller parties.

        Numbers in the HoR (where those parties generally do quite poorly) are very unlikley to be close enough for that to matter.

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  • #
    pat

    this will cause outrage in some circles:

    6 Apr: Nuclear Power Can Save the World
    Expanding the technology is the fastest way to slash greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonize the economy.
    Op-ed by Joshua S. Goldstein, Staffan A. Qvist and Steven Pinker
    (Drs. Goldstein and Qvist are the authors of “A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow.” Dr. Pinker is a psychology professor at Harvard)
    Beyond decarbonizing today’s electric grid, we must use clean electricity to replace fossil fuels in transportation, industry and heating. We must provide for the fast-growing energy needs of poorer countries and extend the grid to a billion people who now lack electricity. And still more electricity will be needed to remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by midcentury. Wind and solar power are becoming cheaper, but they are not available around the clock, rain or shine, and batteries that could power entire cities for days or weeks show no sign of materializing any time soon. Today, renewables work only with fossil-fuel backup.

    Germany, which went all-in for renewables, has seen little reduction in carbon emissions, and, according to our calculations, at Germany’s rate of adding clean energy relative to gross domestic product, it would take the world more than a century to decarbonize, even if the country wasn’t also retiring nuclear plants early. A few lucky countries with abundant hydroelectricity, like Norway and New Zealand, have decarbonized their electric grids, but their success cannot be scaled up elsewhere: The world’s best hydro sites are already dammed.

    But we actually have proven models for rapid decarbonization with economic and energy growth: France and Sweden. They decarbonized their grids decades ago and now emit less than a tenth of the world average of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour. They remain among the world’s most pleasant places to live and enjoy much cheaper electricity than Germany to boot.

    They did this with nuclear power. And they did it fast, taking advantage of nuclear power’s intense concentration of energy per pound of fuel. France replaced almost all of its fossil-fueled electricity with nuclear power nationwide in just 15 years; Sweden, in about 20 years. In fact, most of the fastest additions of clean electricity historically are countries rolling out nuclear power…

    Plants built 30 years ago in America, as in France, produce cheap, clean electricity, and nuclear power is the cheapest source in South Korea. The 98 U.S. reactors today provide nearly 20 percent of the nation’s electricity generation. So why don’t the United States and other countries expand their nuclear capacity? The reasons are economics and fear…

    New nuclear power plants are hugely expensive to build in the United States today. This is why so few are being built. But they don’t need to be so costly. The key to recovering our lost ability to build affordable nuclear plants is standardization and repetition…

    These economic problems are solvable. China and South Korea can build reactors at one-sixth the current cost in the United States. With the political will, China could replace coal without sacrificing economic growth, reducing world carbon emissions by more than 10 percent…
    If American activists, politicians and regulators allow it, these reactors could be exported to the world in the 2030s and ’40s, slaking poorer countries’ growing thirst for energy while creating well-paying American jobs…

    Opinions are also driven by our cultural and political tribes. Since the late 1970s, when No Nukes became a signature cause of the Green movement, sympathy to nuclear power became, among many environmentalists, a sign of disloyalty if not treason.
    Despite these challenges, psychology and politics can change quickly…

    A version of this article appears in print on April 7, 2019, on Page SR4 of the New York edition with the headline: Nuclear Power Can Save the World.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/opinion/sunday/climate-change-nuclear-power.html

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      pat

      6 Apr: SomersetLiveUK: Hinkley Point C: How Britain’s newest nuclear power plant has already impacted South West
      The power station will be the most expensive man-made object on Earth when it is finished
      by Michael Taylor
      Hinkley Point C, based near Bridgwater, will generate low-carbon power to some six million homes when it’s operational in 2025.
      A new report by EDF Energy states more than £1 billion has been spent directly with businesses and thousands of jobs have been created in the area.
      Another £500million is being invested in new contracts that have already been signed.

      Officials state that 6,500 people have worked on the construction site so far and 1,700 of the current workforce live in Somerset.
      More than 8,500 people have been trained and assessed at the company’s Construction Skills and Innovation Centre at Bridgwater and Taunton College while almost 400 apprentices are working on the large project.
      Stuart Crooks, managing director at Hinkley Point C, said: “Our teams are making great progress on-site, but this report shows we are also delivering on our ambition to make a lasting difference to people, skills and the regional economy.

      The £20 billion, twin-reactor station is the first new nuclear power station to be built in the UK in more than 20 years and is set to create 25,000 job opportunities over its lifespan.
      The South West is set to benefit by £200million each year during peak construction, according to a BEIS report, with £4billion being generated for the regional economy over the lifetime of the project.
      The project has invested £108 million into communities so far to help support economic development, tourism, health, leisure and infrastructure.

      The community fund has also invested £20 million into Bridgwater to install a new bypass around Cannington, easing congestion and improving safety on local roads and committing £5.5 million to enhancing cycling and walking routes.
      The coastal town of Minehead has also received £500,000 to support the regenerate its tourism as part of plans to make the town the “go-to seaside destination”.
      Two Somerset businesses, Osprey in Portishead and Viridor in Taunton, are both said to be playing a “crucial role” in offering marine and heavy logistic support and handling the site’s waste.

      Sam Evans, head of Hinkley supply chain engagement at the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, said: “The work on site is accelerating, creating more and more opportunities for South West businesses to bid for and win valuable contracts as the supply chain grows.
      “What’s especially pleasing is that, far from the list of companies registered all being construction and engineering companies, we are seeing a broad range of sectors represented, including design agencies, catering companies, professional services firms and office fit-out businesses.”

      Outside of the county, the project currently employs 800 people in Bristol while more than 1,100 companies across the UK are supporting Hinkley Point C.
      Approximately 1,000 workers come from Wales and more than 60 Welsh companies supply the project, including over 200,000 tonnes of steel that will be used on site.
      https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/hinkley-point-c-how-britains-2726111

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      Richard Ilfeld

      Of course, within a few years of the nuclear conversion, governments would be pumping CO2 into the air to recover the diminished crop yields, or food would be quite a lot more expensive as marginal farm land was brought back into production

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    pat

    behind paywall:

    Strong new laws to meet invading animal activists at the farm gate
    Courier Mail-10 hours ago
    ANIMAL rights “zealots” will be stung with on-the-spot fines if they’re found invading farms in a major crackdown against new age activism by…

    7 Apr: Brisbane Times: Faster punishment for ‘animal extremists’ who trespass on farms
    By Lydia Lynch
    Animal rights activists who “invade” farms will now be slapped with an on-the-spot fine by police or department officials, after mounting pressure from farmers and the federal government.
    Queensland Agriculture minister Mark Furner said the government would change regulation to allow protesters, deemed a “bio security threat”, to be issued with fines right there and then — a faster penalty than pursing trespass charges.

    “Many of our farmers are already under great stress following years of drought, and more recently the floods, and we are standing side by side with them,” he said.
    “These activities create a serious biosecurity issue as well as putting the lives of farmers, workers and indeed animals at risk.
    “We are getting tough on farm invaders because their actions are dangerous,” Mr Furner said.
    “Activists have clearly taken the view that it is financially viable for them to break the law under existing regulations. That’s about to change.”
    But Mr Furner could not say exactly how much activists would be fined…

    Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan acquiesced on Sunday morning, announcing a new police taskforce that would work with the agriculture department to anticipate what farms would be targeted next.
    Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander said it was a good first step to cracking down on “invaders”, but stronger penalties were needed.
    “These are well organised, well funded animal extremists who will stop at nothing to get their way,” he said.
    “We [the opposition] are talking about thousands of dollars not hundreds; we must have something that is a disincentive to them and stop them breaking the law and terrorising law-abiding families on the farms.”…

    It comes as a sweep of farm invasions were planned across Queensland, Victoria and NSW for April 8…
    https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/faster-punishment-for-animal-extremists-who-trespass-on-farms-20190407-p51bna.html

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    pat

    not sure this piece helps the situation:

    7 Apr: 7News: Militant vegans promising ‘biggest animal rights direct action the world has ever seen’
    by Kelly Burke with AAP
    Farmers across NSW and Queensland have been placed on high alert, with a series of coordinated raids by animal rights activists expected on Monday…
    While details of the locations of the planned protest action are being closely guarded, posts on social media have listed meeting points in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart on April 8…

    The National Farmers Federation said there were unconfirmed reports the activists planned to target poultry operations in either Windsor, north-west of Sydney, or Mangrove Mountain on the Central Coast…

    It follows news on Sunday that animal activists forced a country cafe to close…

    “The QPS respects the rights of people to protest lawfully and peacefully in Queensland, however, also acknowledges the rights of landholders and business operators,” police said in a statement…
    Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk said the activists were coming mainly from interstate to cause Queensland farmers distress and their activities are also impacting the export industry…

    The move comes after Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has been calling for higher fines from states.
    He has also been calling, so far unsuccessfully, for one animal rights group to pull down a controversial map of farm locations that the minister calls an “attack map”…
    “If a property owner has any concerns or should any unauthorised person attend their property, they are encouraged to contact Policelink on 131 444 or Triple Zero (000) in an emergency.”…

    Melbourne-based animal rights activist Joanne Lee told Seven’s Sunday Night program on March 31 that militant action was necessary to “challenge head on” the enslavement of animals for human need.
    “It can be confronting, that style of action, but the reality is it’s not about us, not about them, it’s about the victims who are on the plates,” she told Sunday Night’s Denham Hitchcock.
    “It’s about challenging a place where the consumption of animals had been normalised.”
    https://7news.com.au/news/australia/militant-vegans-promising-biggest-animal-rights-direct-action-the-world-has-ever-seen-c-44829

    7 Apr: 7News: Country cafe closes after ‘vile’ threats and harassment’ by vegan activists
    by Chris Hook
    The owners of a family-friendly farm cafe forced to close on Sunday say they have been personally threatened in a campaign of harassment by animal activists against their business.
    John and Penny Gommans, both 61 announced via Facebook on Sunday they were closing their Gippy Goat Cafe in the small Victorian town of Yarragon, about 110km south-east of Melbourne.

    Besides operating as a full cafe, the venue manufactures a range of goats milk products and families are free to feed the on-site goats and watch them being milked.
    But Sunday is set to be the eatery’s last day of operation.
    John Gommans said it followed a sustained campaign of threats and harassment by activists – including the theft of three goats and lamb last December.

    And last month one of the activists responsible for that incident was fined just $1 for each of the thefts and $250 in compensation.

    But Gommans said activists had also threatened the couple personally.
    “They’ve threatened to come and do us harm,” he told 7NEWS.com.au
    “We have had some threatening phone calls to our personal phone numbers and we then provided those phone numbers to police, but the phone numbers were all under fictitious names.

    He said while police had been supportive, other authorities were not taking the issue seriously and the couple felt let down.
    “Incredibly let down, a lot of people have put their heart and soul into The Gippy Goat,” he said.
    “But every second phone call has been telling the staff how bad they are and what a terrible industry we are working in, and that’s not to mention the threats.”

    He said other farms in the area had also been targeted.
    “It is very widespread I was amazed how many farmers rang me to say they had been invaded, chicken, rabbit, pig and dairy farmers, it’s widespread,” he said.
    On Sunday morning the Gommans posted their sad news on the cafe’s Facebook page, revealing they were closing the cafe.
    “For the sake of our health and safety and that of our families and staff we feel that it is regrettably the best option,” they wrote.
    “Our staff and customers have been subjected to nearly 4 months of constant harassment, vile statements and threats from the abusive vegan activists.
    “We have personally been subjected to an appalling stream of threats of extreme violence against ourselves, our family, our staff and even their families.

    “Our staff have been subjected to daily threats and harassment by phone, and we cannot in good conscience ask them to continue working under such a condition,” they said.
    “Eight good people are now without a job, families no longer can enjoy the good food and open space, and children can no longer interact with our animals.”

    State Nationals MP Melissa Bath expressed her disgust.
    “Im bitterly disappointed to see that their fabulous business and staff have been so shockingly harassed by activists. I will fight in parliament to stop this atrocious behaviour,” she said.
    “Good people, innocent people being targeted in this way is totally unacceptable and unAustralian.”
    https://7news.com.au/news/vic/country-cafe-closes-after-vile-threats-and-harassment-by-vegan-activists-c-46929

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      yarpos

      A Grade morons who think they are entitled to force their life choices on everyone else. Sounds familiar.

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    pat

    theirABC has shown no interest in carrying stories about laws being proposed to deal with the animal activists who are invading private properties…while ABC America has a truly bizarre AP piece in praise of Cuban animal activists!

    7 Apr: ABC America: In possible first, Cuba allows march by animal activists
    A group of animal-lovers will march a mile down one of Havana’s main thoroughfares Sunday waving placards calling for an end to animal cruelty in Cuba
    By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN Associated Press
    On Sunday morning a group of animal-lovers will march a mile down one of Havana’s main thoroughfares waving placards calling for an end to animal cruelty in Cuba.

    Short, seemingly simple, the march will write a small but significant line in the history of modern Cuba. The socialist government is explicitly permitting a public march unassociated with any part of the all-encompassing Communist state, a move that participants and historians call highly unusual and perhaps unprecedented since the first years of the revolution.

    “It’s a historic event,” said Beatriz Del Carmen Hidalgo-Gato Batista, a 21-year public communications student who received the permit for the march from the Plaza of the Revolution borough of Havana…
    “It’s unprecedented,” said Alberto Gonzalez, a co-organizer of the march and publisher of The Ark, an online Cuban animal-lovers magazine. “This is going to mark a before and an after.”…

    “It’s part of a trend toward recognizing civil society, in a tacit manner, sometimes a timid one, but one that’s growing, little by little,” said Yassel Padron Kunakbaeva, a blogger and intellectual who describes him as a Marxist revolutionary…

    A 10-year-old private group known as Forest Guardians regularly organizes tree plantings and cleanups of rivers that cross the city of Havana, said organizer Isbel Diaz, a biologist. Last year, the group used $11,000 in small donations to buy a headquarters where it holds workshops and study groups with what it calls a leftist, anti-capitalist orientation…

    “What I believe is that, if I live in this country I should try to fight for what I want in this country, and what I want is to help Cuban animals,” said Grettel Montes de Oca Valdes, a professional dancer and founder of the group Cubans in Defense of Animals, whose members will march on Sunday. “I don’t think that we should stop speaking out because if we stop speaking out nothing happens. That method is useless.”…
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cuba-march-animal-activists-62229749

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      Bill in Oz

      Why is it Pat that artists are so much at the forefront of radical movements ?

      On one hand it is a way of gaining prominence in a world with a plethora of information

      On the other hand artists are required by the nature of their profession, to live in a world of the imagination. And maybe that leads to a loss of connection with the real mworld.

      Very curious !

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    Bill in Oz

    Can I be off topic in an Unthreaded Post?

    Ummmm

    But here is soemthing completely different.

    How did the Moon form ?

    11 minutes of really inteesting science from a planetologist with new r=ideas on this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uRPPaYuu44

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      MudCrab

      Wensleydale?

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        Annie

        The moon made from Wensleydale cheese?! It didn’t say that it was off to the moon on the cheese I bought last week (at Tebay, from their farm shop). I hope my sister and her husband enjoyed it before it could decamp! 😉

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    Richard Ilfeld

    Here is a summary of the Etheopian Airlines preliminary report and a link to the full report.
    http://www.b737.org.uk/incident_et-avj.htm

    While there are some indications that the initial checklist for the emergency encountered was followed correctly,
    as the airline has asserted, there are also indications that the failed trim system was re-energized as the
    last item in the accident chain.

    While modern design imperatives make “fly-by_wire” a necessity in modern airliners, it is terribly disconcerting
    if a circumstance occurred where stick motions don’t have the desired impact on an aircraft’s flight control surfaces.

    Still, to a layman, it seems that the pilots were maintaining a recoverable flight condition until the trim, which had properly been
    turned off, was re-activated about 5 minutes into the flight. Recovery of the AOA instrument, and the bottom center switch panel may be required if we are to ferret out the true cause of the conclusion of this accident chain.

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    Another Ian

    Hope on the renewable energy front???

    On line Courier Mail headline just now

    “Brain implant hope for Victorians”

    (Behind the Murdoch wall so I can’t read it, hence the hope)

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    Another Ian

    Recommended reading (IMO)

    Gabrielle Chan “Rusted off: why country Australia is fed up”.

    And videos on Brexit (some in comments)

    https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2019/04/07/brexit-betrayal-a-video/#comments

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    robert rosicka

    Green economics – a one Billion dollar wind farm needs a three Billion dollar extension cord ?

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-04-08/beef-farmers-tasmania-wind-farm-dreams-reality/10976378

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      joseph

      I like the picture of the third clothesline he’s lost to a gust of wind.

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      toorightmate

      A wind farm on the west coast of Tassie.
      Heaven forbid, next thing we’ll be damming the Franklin.

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        robert rosicka

        Most windfarms suffer from lack of wind this one might have to be switched off because of too much wind .

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    robert rosicka

    Vegan activists are causing chaos in Melbourne CBD and I believe the same in Sydney , it’s about time the judges start dishing out tougher penalties.
    Protest all you want for whatever floats your ideological boat but this group are becoming a danger to themselves and others .
    Noted that a judge in QLD has fined an Adani protester $10,000 , now this is more like it .

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    TdeF

    Two last comments on unthreaded.

    In the history of mankind, there was no ‘temperature’. It is a very modern concept. The days were very cold, cold, nice, hot, very hot. That would be it. Even Sir Isaac Newton suggested if we had a scale, 100 should be the temperature at which you could not keep your elbow in water. Now we are panicking over +1C in an average in over 100 years when it has no effect. Why it should dramatically change climates, storms, rainfall, forest fires, floods and droughts is beyond logic or science.

    So in the Middle Age warming there were no thermometers. However as they grew grapes as far North as Hadrian’s wall, we know it was warmer. Greenland was green and the forests are only now reappearing.

    Secondly one adjective is missing from the energy debate. Power needs to be commandable. Wind and solar are not commandable. There is no point have buckets of power when you do not want it and where you do not want it, say in empty dormitory suburbs and no in factories at night. You can build all the wind and solar you like, but solar does not work at night and neither is commandable.

    Like an electric car with a flat battery, very expensive but utterly useless.

    Renewables? Unreliables at best and answerable to no one. Replaceables and unserviceables and not commandables.

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    pat

    Associated Press providing strategy for the Dems?

    7 Apr: AP: After 2016 loss, Democrats know they need white male voters
    AP Polling Editor Emily Swanson and Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report.
    UPPER ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP, Pa. — When he moved to Pennsylvania about five years ago, it was a coin toss which party Brian Heitman would register with.
    No longer.
    Since Donald Trump’s election in 2016, Heitman, who is 42 and white, has become a reliable Democrat. Last week, he voted for the Democratic candidate in a special state Senate election in Pittsburgh’s affluent southern suburbs…

    Polling makes clear why Democratic are searching for the right messenger…
    VoteCast showed Democrats won the votes of 46% of white male college graduates, a figure that has given some in the party hope…

    Mike Wessell is still a registered Republican but he was comfortable at the victory party last Tuesday night for the Democrat, Pam Iovino, who won the state Senate race comfortably.
    “I’m not happy with the way President Trump has been running the country, or his ideology,” said Wessell, a corporate lawyer. He cited Trump’s immigration stance and denial of climate science…
    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/after-2016-loss-democrats-know-they-need-white-male-voters/ar-BBVHoWo?ocid=ientp

    could it be because –

    2 Apr: RealClearPolitics: Hispanics Rally to Trump, Boosting His 2020 Chances: COMMENTARY
    By Steve Cortes
    (Steve Cortes is a contributor to RealClearPolitics and a CNN political commentator)
    Get ready for the anti-Trump “resistance” to go truly loco, because new polling data indicates Hispanic support for the president is swelling, a trend that could seal his 2020 re-election victory.
    When I helped lead the Trump Hispanic Advisory Council in 2016, our effort was widely derided by skeptics certain that the narrative of Trump as anti-Latino would doom his candidacy, particularly in heavily Hispanic states like Florida. But that November, Hispanics saw through the media smears and Trump massively outperformed dour expectations, actually surpassing Mitt Romney’s 2012 percentage among Latino voters…

    McLaughlin & Associates revealed that Hispanic approval for Trump in March jumped to 50%. This number matched the January Marist/NPR/PBS survey that shocked cynics with its own 50% approval finding. Even if those polls are too aggressive, February’s Morning Consult/Politico poll showed Trump’s Hispanic approval vaulting to a still-impressive 45%.
    What explains this stunning trend? I see three key factors…
    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/04/02/hispanics_rally_to_trump_boosting_his_2020_chances_139933.html

    31 Mar: Epoch Times: 34 Percent of People at Trump’s Michigan Rally Were Democrats: Campaign Manager
    By Bowen Xiao
    More than a third of the crowd at President Donald Trump’s recent campaign-style rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, consisted of Democrats, according to 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale.
    Of the total 100,000 people who registered for the March 28 event, 14,000 filled the Van Andel Arena to capacity, while nearly 20,000 were outside, Parscale said on Twitter…

    Data from the Republican National Committee on the El Paso rally also revealed that among the roughly 30,000 people who had registered online, an estimated 70 percent were Hispanic….

    As a result of what Trump has done for the economy and the “lies and deceit” the Democratic Party has fed its base, Trump’s 2020 voter map is looking good, Parscale said.
    “I think Minnesota is in play, I think New Hampshire’s in play, I think New Mexico’s in play, I think Nevada is back in play,” he said. “I think the president is in a very good position in 2020 to open up the map.”…
    https://www.theepochtimes.com/34-percent-of-people-at-trumps-michigan-rally-were-democrats-campaign-manager_2860642.html

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    Cynic of Ayr

    Graeme#4
    Thanks for this info

    More on your figures Cynic, for Tesla Car charging.
    1. Level 1 and Level 2 charging goes via the onboard charger then to the battery. The onboard charger on a Model 3 limits its charging rate to 40 amps max. So regardless of what size outlet you install at home, you won’t be able to charge at a rate >40 amps.

    I assume that’s 40A into the battery. Say 400V battery, that’s 16Kw.
    The chargers listed on the site were:
    3.7 Kw charger. hours 27
    7 Kw charger. hours 15
    22 Kw Charger. hours 6
    50 Kw Charger. hours 2
    150 Kw Charger. hours 1
    So, only the first two actually work? The others (except for direct to battery as you say) throttle back to the 16Kw rate. i.e. possibly 7 hours or so.
    Jeez, the more rather simple investigation we do, the stupider the idea gets. Yet Shorten’s mob couldn’t do the same investigation? If they did, they didn’t think anyone else would?

    Yarpos
    Good point. Let’s say half a charge? Divide the times by two.

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    pat

    Channel 7 giving maximum coverage from the protester side of the story:

    7 news video goes to Melbourne first. David Woiwod: “major protest” “upward of 150 protesters” “they will stay here for as long as it takes”?

    VIDEO: 4min26sec: 8 Apr: 7News: Vegan protesters arrested in NSW, Melbourne, as protests target farms, abattoirs, cities
    by Alex Chapman
    NSW Police say three men and six women were arrested after chaining themselves to a conveyor at Southern Meats in NSW about 2.30am on Monday.
    Police arrived at 4am but a rescue squad was required to cut the group free from the machine before they were arrested.
    Three women refused to walk and were carried from the facility to a police vehicle.
    Three men, one 46 and two aged 22, and six women, aged between 21 and 61, were taken to Goulburn Police Station to be charged…

    Storming farmlands
    Animal liberation groups are planning on storming farmlands across the country on Monday, many mobilising overnight…
    The activists were careful not to give away their targets too early so as to avoid having their gatherings sabotaged…

    Almost two dozen activists chained themselves to an abattoir in Yangan, Queensland.
    The 20 protesters were confronted by police on Monday morning and say they are “negotiating” the release of three lambs from the slaughterhouse…

    Correction: An earlier headline stated lambs had been kidnapped. The protesters were negotiating the release of lambs.
    https://7news.com.au/news/animals/animal-activists-rally-against-farms-and-feedlots-ahead-of-day-of-vegan-protests-c-47580?utm_source=Direct

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    If these daft plans to replace the world’s car fleets with EVs go ahead we can expect plenty of colour revolutions and wars of liberation in places like Bolivia and Congo. As to how we’re going to charge all these vehicles with their huge loads of lithium and cobalt in a zero-carb world…that must remain a mystery.

    But there’s another downside to the EV fad. I know hybrids aren’t terrific, but I’ve always assumed that they’re at least okay. Maybe that’s because I can’t imagine the maker of the 4Runner and Landcruiser coming out with a total turkey just for the subsidies. If I lived in a city maybe a hybrid would be worth a burl, don’t really know. It would be a Toyota but not a Prius…since I do have a threshold of embarrassment.

    However, something is killing the hybrid, and it’s not the fossil fuel meanies or those Russians. It’s the EV, with six times the weight of battery (and many time the wait of charging). Interesting. https://www.libertynation.com/the-skeleton-in-the-electric-car-closet/

    Lesson? Destroy the Blob, of course.

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        AndyG55

        So those people who buy “old” battery technology now, will be sold a lemon.

        Faceplant, yet again, pfutz. 😉

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        So, if battery vehicles are going to be okay…why have people been buying them till now? Is this an admission or another GeeUp shuffle?

        Well, let’s hope the reboot (with the same execs!) of bankrupt Alevo can do better than Alevo. They certainly got a good price at the fire sale. There should be a Sanjeev Gupta Award for that sort of green bargain grabbing.

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        By the way, Imperium3 picked up 200 mill’s worth of gear for 5 mill in the Arevo fire sale…but that doesn’t mean Cuomo won’t be tipping in some NY millions to anchor the factory in his state. Picking up a certain aroma here?

        “Swiss” Innolith with its “Russian billionaire” backer who originally bankrolled Arevo also has a certain smell to it, nyet? Still, Innolith just won a Rushlight Award! Those don’t just fall out of cornflake packets…as far as I know.

        Ah, Green Blob. It’s entertaining at times. But now we have to destroy it.

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        • #

          Sorry, I kept saying Arevo instead of Alevo. Maybe I was thinking of insolvent Areva, another bunch of…operators, shall we say. Didn’t Areva have some fun when it embraced Big Green! Queensland will not forget them.

          Well, one man’s disaster (or woman’s disaster in the case of Areva) is another man’s green bargain. Re-use and recycle! Write down, sell off, snap up. Just ask Innolith…or are they Alevo…or Aleva…or Areva…

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        Graeme#4

        Not quite yet Peter. Apparently the actual battery still has 3-5 years of further development to go. Still, based on their test results so far, it looks promising. Which is good, because Lithium cells were close to the end of their development and were running very close to being dangerous.

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        Bobl

        That mob already went broke once, not sure I’d put a lot of faith in them. Battery Energy density has limits.

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      Hanrahan

      I know hybrids aren’t terrific……….

      Why do you say that? A hybrid must, by definition, accelerate harder than it’s non-hybrid brother. Almost by definition it will be cheaper to maintain over the years. It has no starter so the 12V battery doesn’t work hard. Mine is 7+ yrs and going strong. It must have electric power brakes and steering so no belts or oil leaks. It has electric aircon so the compressor runs at a constant design speed.

      And the latest prius looks quite smart. No longer “distinctive” so no need for a cringe. I have the Camry BTW and very happy with it.

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        Yeah, that Camry hybrid would be about right for me. Maybe if I retire to the back blocks of Port Macquarie I’ll look at one of those. For now, it’s the noble 4Runner.

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        MudCrab

        Almost by definition it will be cheaper to maintain

        Actually I am afraid you have that arse about. A hybrid, by definition, is never one thing or the other. It is both.

        So it has more parts, by definition. (Electrical AND conventional donk plus the associated energy recovery sub systems)

        The more parts you have the more you have to maintain and the more that can potentially fail on your… or at least in theory. It can be shown that a device with multiple parts that are 99.9% reliable is better overall than one with one part that is 50%, but this is why we pay ILS Engineers the big bucks to come up with RAM Reports.

        What I am saying is you CAN have a hybrid that is more reliable/cheaper/whatever than a conventional and/or electric, but the normal rule is the simpler the system the lower the costs.

        (In theory an EV would be cheaper to maintain than a real car. The electrical donk is nominally simpler. The difference is that on a real car the fuel tank doesn’t slowly get smaller each year until about 10 years where you have to completely replace it with a new one. Also, having removed the old fuel tank you are left with a hollow shell of either plastics or metal, and not a hundred odd kilograms of toxins that require regulated disposal.)

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          Hanrahan

          What I am saying is you CAN have a hybrid that is more reliable/cheaper/whatever than a conventional and/or electric, but the normal rule is the simpler the system the lower the costs.

          Try and find out how much an EH Holden cost. I used to service them and they were EXPENSIVE.

          7+ yrs and mine has cost about a grand in regular servicing, tyres the only other non fuel cost. Looking at the service book, there is no timing belt service and the transmission is sealed for life. I honestly think I’ll get to ten yrs cheaply. The only ‘out of left field” expense I see is a possible radiator. They seem to all die within that time, even in your “simple” car.

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    crakar24

    Development and commercialisation of the Innolith Energy Battery is anticipated to take between three and five years.

    Lets wait 3 to 5 years before we begin to gloat Peter.

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      Another Ian

      Like fusion electricity in 10 years – for the last 50

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      Bill in Oz

      And that is them being optimistic !

      Ha, ha ha ha !

      And of course we should all run out and buy EV’s right now on the strength of that lick & a promise ?

      Utterly dopey Fitz !

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    robert rosicka

    Isn’t there a dozen different new and the best since the last ones evah batteries being touted as game changers .
    The CSIRO were working on one and the US has god knows how many .
    Bit like energy from hot rocks or wave energy , promises much delivers nothing .

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      Another Ian

      “Theoretically sound but practically imperfect” comes to mind.

      Usually suggests that the theory ought to be re-examined too

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        Maptram

        And that doesn’t take into account, and can’t for at least 3 to 5 years, any changes that may be needed to charging facilities

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      Hanrahan

      Meanwhile ICEs are quietly getting better. This surprises me because I never thought such gains could be wrung out of a mature technology.

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      Another Ian

      Been going on for a while

      “It is a fact that the German War Department has advertised (10th April 1940) for an ersatz accumulator, to be constructed almost entirely from materials found within the Reich. A prize of RM 10,000 is offered and the competition closes on 1st Jnuary 1941”

      R.V. Jones “Most Secret War”

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    pat

    all quote by the protesters!

    8 Apr: news.com.au: Police arrest nine vegans who chained themselves inside a NSW abattoir
    Nine vegans have been arrested for chaining themselves to an abattoir conveyor as part of a major day of animal rights activism.
    by Ben Graham
    Police have arrested nine people at an abattoir in the NSW Southern Tablelands as part of a major nationwide vegan protest…
    Animal rights group Lost Earthlings — which live-streamed the protest on Facebook — said the activists refused to move until their demands were met…
    “We’ve been discovered by the workers now, we’ve told them to contact police as we’re not leaving until our demands are met,” one woman is heard saying in the Goulburn abattoir…
    https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/police-arrest-nine-vegans-who-chained-themselves-inside-a-nsw-abattoir/news-story/a0068f2509ccd3c2186b2081f13d18ba

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    pat

    unbelievable:

    7 Apr: CNN: The majority of Americans tend to agree with Democrats on top issues, polling shows
    By Grace Sparks
    In reality, the polling shows the majority of the public usually backs policy positions preferred by the Democratic Party.
    A new Gallup poll (LINK) released Thursday showed that two-thirds of Americans said protecting the environment should be a higher priority than economic growth and only three-in-10 who said economic growth should be given priority, even if the environment suffers to some extent. This is the highest prioritizing of the environment since spring 2000.
    Eight-in-10 Democrats and 71% of independents prioritize environmental protection, versus 35% of Republicans who said the same…
    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/07/politics/democratic-positions-majority/index.html

    reminder, full of negatives but:

    18 March: CNN Poll: 7 in 10 say economy in good shape — and Trump may reap the benefits
    By Jennifer Agiesta
    Americans give the nation’s economy glowing reviews in a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, and Donald Trump’s approval rating may be reaping the benefits.
    Overall, 71% say the nation’s economy is in good shape, the highest share to say so since February 2001, and the best rating during Trump’s presidency by two points. A majority give the President positive reviews for his handling of the nation’s economy (51% approve)…
    ***About 7 in 10 Americans in the poll say they have more trust in the free market than in the government, up a bit from roughly two-thirds who said so in 2011…

    yet the Gallup poll claims people want Govt to bring on the Green New Deal!

    4 Apr: Gallup: Preference for Environment Over Economy Largest Since 2000
    by Lydia Saad
    •Prioritizing the economy wanes as U.S. unemployment declines
    Bottom Line
    With the U.S. unemployment rate holding at or below 4% for much of the past year, Americans are less likely to prioritize economic growth over environmental protection. While the two goals don’t always conflict, to the extent they do, it appears that now is a good time to promote aggressive climate legislation such as the Green New Deal being discussed in Congress, as most Americans are currently willing to accept some economic costs…

    Gallup’s homepage has:

    Presidential Approval March 1-10:
    Trump Approval 39%

    5 Apr: Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
    The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance…

    re Gallup Poll – found this on a forum:

    Registered Voters, not Likely Voters, AND for that EXTRA SPECIAL SECRET SAUCE:
    REGISTERED VOTERS
    PARTY IDENTIFICATION
    Republican 24%
    Democrat 31
    Independent 37
    Other/DK/NA 8>
    A seven-point boost for the Democrats.

    21 Mar: MetroUK: Donald Trump ‘will win landslide second election victory in 2020’
    by Jimmy McCloskey
    Donald Trump will win a second term as US president by a landslide, a host of respected pollsters have claimed
    Donald Luskin, whose firm TrendMacrolytics correctly predicted Trump’s 2016 win, told Politico: ‘The economy is just so damn strong right now and by all historic precedent the incumbent should run away with it…
    Luskin’s firm ignores election polls and personal traits of presidential candidates, instead factoring in growth rates, wages, unemployment figures inflation and gas prices…

    Yale economist Ray Fair, who pioneered that type of modeling, also agrees Trump stands a strong chance of romping home to victory in 2020. He explained: ‘Even if you have a mediocre but not great economy – and that’s more or less consensus for between now and the election – that has a Trump victory and by a not-trivial margin.’
    Fair, who also predicted Trump’s 2016 win, says he thinks the president will beat off his as yet unannounced Democrat rival by winning 54% of the vote, to their 46%…

    Mark Zandy from Moody’s Analytics is a vocal critic of Trump, but concedes that his models also show the president winning a second term next year…
    https://metro.co.uk/2019/03/21/donald-trump-will-win-landslide-second-election-victory-2020-8967602/

    time will tell.

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      Hanrahan

      While I think Trump is polling well enough, he doesn’t do too well against an empty seat. Put a named democrat in that seat and his polls will improve. None would appeal to swinging voters – They’re bat guano crazy.

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  • #
    Dennis

    How to extinguish EV batteries fires, with great difficulty;

    https://www.autoblog.com/2019/03/25/fatal-tesla-model-s-crash-ev-fires/

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    pat

    Australia Trump/Turnbull call mentioned; FakeNewsMSM in the thick of it all:

    7 Apr: Fox News: Nunes to send eight criminal referrals to DOJ concerning leaks, conspiracy amid Russia probe
    by Gregg Re
    House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes exclusively told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that he is preparing to send eight criminal referrals to the Department of Justice this week concerning alleged misconduct from “Watergate wannabes” during the Trump-Russia investigation, including the leaks of “highly classified material” and conspiracies to lie to Congress and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court.

    The dramatic step comes as Republicans have pushed for the release of key documents to uncover the origins of the now-discredited narrative that the Trump campaign colluded improperly with the Russian government…READ ALL
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nunes-to-send-eight-criminal-referrals-to-justice-dept-concerning-leaks-conspiracy-amid-russia-probe

    ABC not interested, but Age & News Corp carrying it:

    8 Apr: Age: Leaked Turnbull-Trump phone call could lead to criminal charges
    By Peter Mitchell, AAP
    “You had conversations with the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Australia leak,” Nunes told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “You had leaks of President Trump talking to the President of Mexico. We all know the travesty of General Flynn. Nobody knows where those supposed transcripts came from.
    “Those are just three examples that are absolutely horrific, but there’s things that are even worse that were leaked and there were only two or three reporters involved in this, so it would not be hard to get to the bottom of.”

    The Trump-Turnbull phone call transcript leak to the Washington Post rocked the usually solid US-Australian alliance…
    https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/leaked-turnbull-trump-phone-call-could-lead-to-criminal-charges-20190408-p51bty.html

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      pat

      finally, Guardian has something to say, via AAP!

      28m ago: Guardian: AAP: Leak of call between Trump and Malcolm Turnbull could lead to criminal charges

      once upon a time, Guardian was keen to write its own “stories”:

      Jan 2019: LeMondeDiplomatique: The Guardian’s fake scoop
      by Serge Halimi
      In a scoop on 27 November, the Guardian revealed that Paul Manafort, chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, had met Assange in London three times: in 2013, 2015 and 2016…
      The news was all the more sensational as in 2013 Trump had not yet declared his candidacy for US president. CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times licked their chops. They suspected Assange of having collaborated with the Russian authorities in disseminating information embarrassing to Hillary Clinton, and saw his interviews with a close ally of Trump as confirming a long-term collusion between the US president and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, in which Assange had acted as liaison agent.

      But had Manafort’s three meetings with Assange really taken place? At first glance, there could be no doubt: the Guardian is respected around the world, and leads in the denunciation of fake news. And the article presented the story as an unqualified fact. So the proof was there: the meetings had definitely happened…

      Then doubt set in. People remembered that one of the article’s authors, Luke Harding, had a personal grievance against Assange. And it was revealed that the work of one of the two other journalists responsible for the scoop had immediately been deleted from the Guardian’s online edition. This was Fernando Villavicencio, an Ecuadorian and opponent of former president Rafael Correa, who had granted Assange asylum. The article’s original headline ‘Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy’ was modified a few hours later with the addition of ‘sources say’, and the two men’s meeting became an ‘apparent meeting’.

      As if all this were not enough, Fidel Narváez, then Ecuadorian consul in London, formally denied that Manafort’s three visits had happened. WikiLeaks initiated legal proceedings against the Guardian, and Manafort published a categorical denial. There is no trace of his name in the Ecuadorian embassy’s visitors’ book and there are no pictures of him entering or leaving one of the most surveilled and filmed buildings on the planet.

      US journalist Glenn Greenwald summed up with savage humour: ‘It is certainly possible that Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and even Donald Trump himself “secretly” visited Julian Assange in the embassy. It’s possible that Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un joined them’ (The Intercept, 27 November). Possible, but unlikely. The Guardian would never have missed such a scoop.
      https://mondediplo.com/2019/01/10guardian

      not a mention of the Guardian’s phony Trump/Russia rubbish in this lengthy interview!

      2 Apr: Medium.com: “We Have To Be As Good As We Possibly Can In What We Do”
      Can we fix the news? Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of the Guardian and author of “Breaking News“ is optimistic. An interview about the future of news and the importance of journalism in our modern world.
      by Felix Simon
      (Felix Simon is a journalist and researcher and regularly writes for the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, “Die Welt”, the “NZZ”, “Telegraph” and other outlets. He holds a BA in Film- and Media Studies from the Goethe-University Frankfurt and an MSc in Social Science of the Internet from the University of Oxford, where he works as a research assistant at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism)

      SIMON: Coming back to your book: You wrote “Breaking News” as the Brexit campaign was unfolding, and so was the election of Trump. What did that tell you about the role of the media in politics?

      RUSBRIDGER: Well, there’s something I mention in the book. In the past, the world was arranged vertically. If you had a printing press you would hand down the news to the people. That’s being challenged by a world in which 4 billion people can talk to each other on a more or less horizontal plane. It seems to me impossible to imagine that that horizontal conversation is not expressing itself in Trump and Brexit, as well as other countries. We now have a different kind of politics, dialogue and activism…

      SIMON: These days, the media are often seen as a detached elite, especially by right-wing populists and their supporters. How should the media deal with the rise of populists and the distrust and hostility often expressed by their supporters?

      RUSBRIDGER: I think one answer is to stick to our knitting. A quote by Washington Post editor Marty Baron is quite fitting in that context: “We are not at war, we are at work.” I think this is right. We have to be as good as we possibly can in what we do. You can only survive the internet if you’re better than the internet. People will hopefully respect the best of what we can do and feel a need for it. That’s number one.
      Number two is: We may have to think of journalism as a public service as well as a business. That is, we have to work towards a mission rather than just for profit. If we are going to require the public to support us in whatever way — be it through advertising, membership or subscriptions — we have to make the case that what we do serves a public interest. And there is quite a lot of journalism that doesn’t look like that. It’s about entertainment, or clicks, or pandering to advertisers, but not about a public service. Of course, you have to pay the bills — no-one’s questioning that — but most experiments in trying to cut or clicked your way to profitability haven’t worked.
      Number three is: If you want to be trusted, you have to listen, especially on social media. We have to allow a response. At the same time, we have to change the way we work, for instance by working more with source material. Our aim should be to say: “I am not just going to tell you this. Here is how I know it, here is my evidence.”…

      SIMON: So you argue that at a time when Public Service Media are increasingly under threat and some people are growing weary of them, we actually need more of it, not less.

      RUSBRIDGER: Yes, it’s never been more necessary. As the world is being flooded with rotten information, having a publicly funded, reliable source of information is crucial. It’s the worst possible time to be undermining the public broadcasters idea…

      ***SIMON: Would you agree that one of the greatest failures of journalism over the last years is its coverage of climate change?

      RUSBRIDGER: Yes. It’s not only that it has been ***largely missing. I mean, ***where is the coverage given its importance? Worse is the fact that even when it is there, it’s quite often in the hands of people who don’t really believe in climate change. If we are ourselves facing an existential crisis if we are at the risk of becoming extinct, why would you define your journalism by letting people write rubbish about a subject they clearly don’t know a thing about?…

      SIMON: What would be your one piece of advice to your former colleagues and the media in this context?
      He pauses and thinks.

      RUSBRIDGER: Try and behave as human beings. If all that is happening is making you a bit scared, then shouldn’t you use your one skill — which is the ability to produce and distribute reliable information well — shouldn’t you want to harness that to try and save the species?…
      https://medium.com/viewpoints/we-have-to-be-as-good-as-we-possibly-can-in-what-we-do-3a6676826eed

      ***where is the coverage, Rusbridger? you must be joking.

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        MudCrab

        RUSBRIDGER: Well, there’s something I mention in the book. In the past, the world was arranged vertically. If you had a printing press you would hand down the news to the people. That’s being challenged by a world in which 4 billion people can talk to each other on a more or less horizontal plane. It seems to me impossible to imagine that that horizontal conversation is not expressing itself in Trump and Brexit, as well as other countries.

        What he seems to be saying, even if he doesn’t realise himself, is that back in the good old days the people gifted with the power of moving type would ‘hand down the news to the people’. The people were not good enough to have the news, they needed the people above them to hand it down.

        And there was much joy in the media for they looked below and saw those little people looking up with outstretched hands.

        Then came the era where people discovered they didn’t need to take new from above, they could share it with each other, discuss, debate and cross reference, all at a level that was completely independent from the higher layer of the media.

        Now there are two ways of looking at this.

        First is to say that these people have lost their way and need to be guided back to the correct path. Rusbridger believes this to be a public service, which in itself basically implies the public cannot be trusted.

        Second was it to bask in the new enlightenment where people have regained the ability to think for themselves.

        So there you go. Control the knowledge. Or share and debate the knowledge.

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    pat

    CBS/BBC involved in these two:

    7 Apr: GatewayPundit: CONFIRMED… DNC WAS IN ON IT! Hillary Campaign Mgr. Was Pushing Fake Russia Story at DNC Convention – ***SAME DAY FBI Launched Trump-Russia Investigation!
    by Joe Hoft; Hat tip D. Manny
    It’s amazing sometimes how you can look back and put the pieces together on major events after the ultimate truth comes out. We now know that the Trump-Russia collusion delusion was a lie. But looking back we see that the entire DNC was in on it from the beginning!…
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/04/confirmed-dnc-was-in-on-it-hillary-campaign-mgr-was-pushing-fake-russia-story-at-dnc-convention-same-day-fbi-launched-trump-russia-investigation/

    16 May 2018: GatewayPundit: AUDIO: Suspected Obama Spy in Trump Campaign Held Interview with BBC Radio 4 on May 17, 2017 — The Launch of Mueller Special Counsel
    by Jim Hoft
    If this is true, and it is likely accurate, the Obamagate spying scandal will make Watergate look like a child’s game.
    As previously reported internet sleuths have determined who the FBI spy was inside the Trump campaign…
    Jeff Carlson at theMarketswork on Thursday put together a piece where he places an individual by the name of Stefan Halper as a potential FBI spy into the Trump campaign…

    Now this…
    Stefan Halper held an interview with BBC Radio 4 on May 17, 2017.
    ***This is the same day the DOJ announced Robert Mueller as the Special Counsel.
    Halper trashed President Trump during the interview accusing him of not being up to the job of President of the United States. ***(BBC TWEET & AUDIO)
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/05/audio-suspected-obama-spy-in-trump-campaign-held-interview-with-bbc-radio-4-on-may-17-2017-the-launch-of-mueller-special-counsel/

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    pat

    7 Apr: The Hill: Ukrainian to US prosecutors: Why don’t you want our evidence on Democrats?
    by John Solomon
    Ukrainian law enforcement officials believe they have evidence of wrongdoing by American Democrats and their allies in Kiev, ranging from 2016 election interference to obstructing criminal probes. But, they say, they’ve been thwarted in trying to get the Trump Justice Department to act.

    Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of the Prosecutor General’s International Legal Cooperation Department, told me he and other senior law enforcement officials tried unsuccessfully since last year to get visas from the U.S. embassy in Kiev to deliver their evidence to Washington.
    “We were supposed to share this information during a working trip to the United States,” Kulyk told me in a wide-ranging interview. “However, the (U.S.) ambassador blocked us from obtaining a visa. She didn’t explicitly deny our visa, but also didn’t give it to us.”…READ ALL
    https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/437719-ukrainian-to-us-prosecutors-why-dont-you-want-our-evidence-on-democrats

    VIDEO: 2min33sec: 5 Apr: Fox News: Russian academic linked to Flynn denies being spy, says her past contact was ‘used’ to smear him
    by Catherine Herridge, Cyd Upson
    A Russian-born academic who was at the center of attention in 2017 for past contact with former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn told Fox News in an exclusive interview that she is not a spy for Moscow – and, to the contrary, believes she was “used” to smear Flynn.
    “I think there’s a high chance that it was coordinated, and I believe it needs to be properly investigated,” Svetlana Lokhova told Fox News…

    “I’m not a Russian spy and I have never worked for the Russian government,” the 38-year old historian and academic said, in an interview first broadcast on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” “I believe that General Flynn was targeted and I was used to do it.”
    Lokhova said the U.K. academic group behind the dinner included American Stefan Halper. The professor, who did not return emails from Fox News seeking comment, is widely reported to be a confidential source in the FBI’s original probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Halper also reached out to Trump campaign aides including Carter Page, George Papadopoulos and Sam Clovis…

    Lokhova said the 2014 Cambridge event was attended by about a dozen people. According to an event flyer, the Cambridge events were organized by Halper and others including Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of British intelligence service MI6…READ ALL
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/russian-academic-linked-to-flynn-denies-being-spy-says-used-to-smear-him

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    robert rosicka

    OMG just watching Speers on Fox News and some Labor twerp says that we should aspire to what they’re doing in India as far as electric cars go .

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    pat

    it’s ridiculous that a newspaper simply publishes this, without any questioning. and Extinction Rebellion is given the final word, when they’re just a tiny activist group that’s been around a few months!!!

    7 Apr: HeraldScotland: Right target, wrong year? Where to aim to save the planet
    By Vicky Allan
    SCOTLAND thinks of itself as a world leader in terms of carbon emissions policy. Environment minister Roseanna Cunningham last week described the the targets set in the Climate Bill passing through Scottish parliament as “the most ambitious statutory emissions reduction targets of any country in the world”. They include a 90 per cent reduction on 1990 levels by 2050, a 66 per cent reduction by 2030. Does that mean we should give ourselves a pat on the back? Not yet, say some experts, scientists and activists. In fact, they point out that the targets do not go far enough. Rather than 90 percent reduction by 2050, some call for net zero by 2040 or even, fast-looming, 2025.

    These more extreme suggested targets reflect a wider climate of urgency, triggered by last year’s International Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) report which warned, terrifyingly, that the world needed to keep within 1.5 degrees of global warming in order to avoid catastrophic climate change…
    Christiana Figueres: “India is my favourite. Under the Paris Agreement they put out a commitment to have 40 percent renewable energy on their grid by 2030, but today, four years later, they’re so far advanced and solar energy has so taken off that they now actually can go to 60 per cent, not 40 percent and not by 2030 but 2027.”…

    One of the big debates is how we create global and local climate justice? Should Scotland take on proportionately more of the burden – by comparison with less developed countries? For Christiana Figueres, “burden” is the wrong word. “The problem,” she said, “is that it assumes that there is a sacrifice to be made here. But it’s not about sacrificing. This is actually about modernising the economy to meet 21st century demands. It’s not about decreasing our quality of life. It’s about increasing it, making it safer for ourselves, and certainly for others, without the carbon footprint. For 150 years we’ve been growing GDP and growing greenhouse gases, as though they were inextricably linked. They are no longer. We have to bring down the greenhouse gases, and in some countries there won’t be a need to reduce your GDP – you could maintain it or it could increase – because you will be more efficient with your natural resources.”…

    For Figueres, justice is nevertheless key. “We have to make sure that we’re not leaving the bottom of the pyramid behind. This is the energy revolution of this century. When we had the industrial revolution, we did leave many people behind. We can’t make that mistake again. We have to make sure we intentionally bring those people who are disproportionately affected by climate change – who are on the bottom rung – the benefits of the revolution.”

    Professor Jim Skea, the Scottish sustainability expert who co-chairs the IPCC, was also in Edinburgh last week. He said that target-setting is, on some level, a “philosophical question”.” Do you do what you feel absolutely comfortable that you can achieve with the approaches you have already? Or do you go for a stretch target, where you don’t know what you’re going to achieve, but you’re counting on the fact that the target induces new innovation, and you trust a little bit on human ingenuity?”

    The philosophy of carbon target setting is, he observed, “quite different in Scotland than the UK”. “The UK approach is very much, ‘What can we do on the basis of current knowledge?’ But there appears to be a much bigger appetite in Scotland for stretch-targets, in which you cross the fingers and trust the ingenuity.”…

    Christiana Figueres, convener of Mission 2020:
    “We’re holding the anchor of the target of peak emissions by 2020. Last year the global greenhouse gas emissions went up again by 1.7 per cent which is unconscionable. We’re meant to be going down. But we are holding that anchor because it is absolutely fundamental for the world to place itself by 2020, only next year, in the position to begin the very sharp descent so that by 2030 we can be at the position of 50% of current emissions.

    I do think that is possible. Think about it as though we were climbing a mountain. We’re almost at the top. We still have to push to get to the top, but then once you get there, the mountain descends at the other side. But we’re still at that last stretch, which is exhausting. Everyone says, ‘I can’t do it. My legs are tired.’ And that’s understandable. But we have to get to that top.

    The only way we’re going to get to net zero by 2050 is by hitting targets before then, and that’s why we don’t give up on 2020, is to put ourselves in a position of bending that curve down in 2020 and by 2030 being at 50% of where we are now.”…

    Scotland: 0 by 2025
    Robert Alcock, Extinction Rebellion Scotland
    “Extinction Rebellion’s point of view on targets is that you can’t negotiate with science. Following the publication of the IPCC report last year, the UK Health Alliance called on the UK government to take the lead and become carbon net zero by 2030. Now Scotland is a country that has has the among the highest historical emissions, so we think that Scotland has a responsibility to do better than the average. And furthermore this 2030 target is actually quite conservative. So we’re calling for Scotland to go carbon neutral by 2025.”
    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17556405.right-target-wrong-year-where-to-aim-to-save-the-planet/

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    el gordo

    This is the abstract from a paper by Glen M. MacDonald and Roslyn A. Case in 2005.

    It indicates to me that the PDO is a major player.

    ‘Hydrologically sensitive tree-ring chronologies from Pinus flexilis in California and Alberta were used to produce an AD 993 – 1996 reconstruction of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and to assess long-term variability in the PDO’s strength and periodicity.

    ‘The reconstruction indicates that a

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      el gordo

      ‘The reconstruction indicates that a

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      tom0mason

      An interesting reference site for atmospheric data …

      http://www.calqlata.com/Maths/Formulas_Atmosphere.html

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        Re the calqlata.com link, p5 table on specific heat equations to each atmospheric gas:

        ‘As can be seen in the above table, increasing the quantity of CO₂ actually decreases the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere.
        This phenomenon is due to the fact that the additional mass of the increased CO₂ in the atmosphere (CO₂: 1.585E+15 kg > 1.585E+16 kg) more than offsets the reduction in combined specific heat capacity of the gas mixture (air: 965.3882 J/kg/K > 965.0618 J/kg/K).
        As a result, it can be concluded that significant increases in atmospheric CO₂ will have no appreciable effect on the temperature of the air, other than to reduce it slightly.’

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    pat

    Angus Taylor on Adani on Credlin/Sky. mealy-mouthed as usual. on screen “PM talking to scientists on Adani” or something similar!

    8 Apr: Adani coalmine: Morrison and Frydenberg play down remaining approvals
    Some Queensland MPs push for sign-off before the election, which is likely to amplify activist campaigns against the Coalition
    by Katharine Murphy
    Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have played down the significance of remaining approvals for the controversial Adani coalmine, characterising the outstanding determinations as “sub-approvals” and “minor” matters, and insisting the government will make decisions based on science…

    PM Morrison: “We are taking the advice from scientists like we have in the past.
    “There are some remaining administrative manners and we are following the normal process and taking the advice of the scientists when it comes to making those decisions – I do not think there is anything particularly unique about these remaining matters.
    “They are quite minor in the scheme of the broader approvals provided already and, like in all the other cases, we will be relying on the scientific evidence provided to the government in making those decisions.”…

    The outstanding groundwater approval is not the only hold up with the mine, with Adani’s management plan for the endangered black-throated finch, which is found in the mine’s proposed location, also needing a signoff…

    Shorten, who has also faced difficulties about Labor’s position on Adani, was pressed by reporters about Labor would do about the project should it win the election in May.
    The Labor leader said he would be “guided by the best science and by the law of the land, and we’ve won’t be ripping up any contracts”…

    The shadow climate change minister, Mark Butler, on Saturday repeated his personal opposition to the controversial coal project. Butler told Guardian Australia: “I don’t think there’s a case for opening up a new thermal coal mine.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/08/adani-coalmine-morrison-and-frydenberg-play-down-remaining-approvals

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    pat

    8 Apr: ABC: How last-minute Adani approval could be the final big call of the Morrison Government
    By political reporter Jackson Gothe-Snape
    Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday the Government would be “relying on the scientific evidence”.
    The ABC has previously reported the CSIRO had found flaws in the plan…

    Queensland Minister for Environment Leeanne Enoch told the ABC the pressure was on the Federal Government.
    “Right now, the ones in the way of this project are in Canberra,” she said.
    “The Department of Environment and Science can’t progress its assessment of Adani’s groundwater report until the Federal Government gives the CSIRO report to them.”…

    A plan to protect the finch is required in order for the mine to proceed…
    Labor leader Bill Shorten — who may be Prime Minister by June — has said he would respect the decision to build the mine but that he “doesn’t like” it…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-08/adani-approval-last-decision-morrison-government/10980510

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    pat

    I loathe the media and the politicians:

    8 Apr: SBS: AAP: ‘Shame’: Anti-Adani protesters storm Morrison speech
    One woman carrying a Stop Adani protest flag managed to reach Mr Morrison’s side, saying “we care about the climate. This will be a climate election … Shame”.
    She was dragged away by security as a second protester stood to yell “stop Adani”.

    PIC: Security pounced on protesters who were chanting “climate election, no more coal”.

    There were about 100 anti-Adani and refugee protesters outside the event.
    Australian Youth Climate Coalition organiser, Melanie McAuliffe, said they wanted to highlight LNP government’s inability to react on climate change.
    “We just had a summer of unprecedented heatwave, bushfires and floods and yet this government still continues to ignore what we need to do to address the climate crisis.”…

    Jo, from Cleveland, told the crowd outside the business lunch that all she wanted was a future.
    “I am 17 years old and I want is for our government to do what they need to to save the planet,” she told the crowd…

    Anti-Adani protesters disrupted a business lunch speech by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Brisbane on Monday.
    “I’ll come to climate, don’t worry about that mate,” Mr Morrison said after one of the disruptions.
    “Our government inherited a climate deficit from the Labor party when we came to office.”…
    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/shame-anti-adani-protesters-storm-morrison-speech

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      Kinky Keith

      When I was 17 I had an 8 to 4 job with Uni lectures that on two nights ended at 9pm.

      I feel so sorry for these social justice warriors.

      KK

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        Hanrahan

        I never went to uni, but turned 16 the year I was at Gatton Agricultural College. I can assure you that it could only be done ABSOLUTELY full time. I passed the first year by doing a sup but realised the inevitable. Since then I have played a fiddle whenever I hear how hard Uni is. And all they offered was a Diploma. Yuk!

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      Hanrahan

      “I am 17 years old and I want is for our government to do what they need to to save the planet,” she told the crowd…

      When will someone explain to these children that a life of indebted servitude [because we owe so much] would be far worse than a [possibly shorter] life of gay abandon burning petrol in fast cars and boats?

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    pat

    the Democrat-aligned unions in the US – who pay lip service to CAGW nonetheless:

    13 Sept 2018: AFL-CIO: Trumka: Fight Climate Change the Right Way
    (AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka delivered the following remarks at the Global Climate Action Summit)
    So I would ask each of you: does your plan for fighting climate change ask more from sick, retired coal miners than it does from you and your family? If it does, then you need to think again.
    Climate strategies that leave coal miners’ pension funds bankrupt, power plant workers unemployed, construction workers making less than they do now…plans that devastate communities today, while offering vague promises about the future…they are more than unjust…they fundamentally undermine the power of the political coalition needed to address the climate crisis…

    I understand that many are frustrated with the pace of action on climate change. But simply demanding that plants, industries and projects be stopped or shut down, with no plan for the people who are put out of work…no call for shared sacrifice…and no dialogue or solidarity with those whose lives and communities are dependent on carbon-based fuels…that poisons the well politically and slows meaningful action on climate policy. It is not good enough to simply call for an end to carbon emissions — we have a responsibility to think thoughtfully and strategically about how to actually make that change…
    https://aflcio.org/speeches/trumka-fight-climate-change-right-way

    12 Dec 2018: Reuters: Labor unions fear Democrats’ Green New Deal poses job threat
    by Valerie Volcovici
    Labor unions say they are withholding support for a Green New Deal unveiled by Democrats last week to transition the American economy away from fossil fuels, arguing the loosely-defined plan could kill jobs if its architects aren’t careful.
    The cool response from unions underscores the challenge facing Democratic presidential hopefuls who support aggressive action on climate change but must also win back the blue-collar voters that swept President Donald Trump to victory in 2016…

    “We will never settle for ‘just transition’ language as a solution to the job losses that will surely come from some of the policies in the resolution,” said Yvette Pena O’Sullivan, executive director of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), whose members work in construction and other industries.
    Phil Smith, a spokesman for the United Mine Workers (UMWA), which represents workers in the coal industry, echoed the concerns.
    “We’ve heard words like ‘just transition’ before, but what does that really mean? Our members are worried about putting food on the table,” he said…
    LIUNA and UMWA said they were not contacted for input on the resolution before it was released…

    Sean McGarvey, president of the North America’s Building Trades Unions, representing construction workers across all sectors including energy, said his staff had been contacted by Markey’s office about the Green New Deal, but said his members are skeptical of “green job” promises.
    Members “working in the oil and gas sector can make a middle-class living, whereas renewable energy firms have been less generous,” he said at a pipeline safety event last week…

    Trump’s approach was warmly received in 2016 in parts of Appalachia and the Rust Belt, which have been suffering from manufacturing and mining jobs losses.
    Trump’s Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton struggled to sell her clean energy agenda in those regions, and suffered politically after saying her policies would “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

    The Sunrise Movement, a youth organization backing the Green New Deal, plans to launch a multi-state campaign in March to drum up support, featuring stops in Michigan, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
    “A lot of places struggling with joblessness are fossil fuel dependent places that suffer from poor air and water quality. Guaranteeing the right of clean air, water and jobs is something we think a lot of people can get behind,” said Stephen O’Hanlon, a spokesman for the group…
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-greennewdeal-coal/labor-unions-fear-democrats-green-new-deal-poses-job-threat-idUSKCN1Q11D2

    LIUNA on the Green New Deal
    Statement of Terry O’Sullivan, General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, On the “Green New Deal”
    Washington, D.C. (Feb. 7, 2019) – The “Green New Deal” resolution released today is filled with lessons. It is exactly how not to successfully enact desperately needed infrastructure investment. It is exactly how not to enact a progressive agenda to address our nation’s dangerous income inequality. And it is exactly how not to win support for critical measures to curb climate change…

    We enthusiastically support real measures to move toward a carbon-free energy future. We also believe in science, which dictates that we will never reach that goal without lower-carbon bridge fuels such as natural gas and carbon-free fuels such as nuclear power.
    According to the resolution, a “Green New Deal” would require every car to be electric-powered and ban all fossil fuels, among other proposals. It is difficult to take this unrealistic manifesto seriously, but the economic and social devastation it would cause if it moves forward is serious and real…

    The real New Deal put green in working people’s pockets, won massive public support and lifted our nation out of despair. The latter threatens to destroy workers’ livelihoods, increase divisions and inequality, and undermine the very goals it seeks to reach. In short, it is a bad deal.
    https://www.liuna.org/news/story/liuna-on-the-green-new-deal

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    pat

    one last word about Credlin/Sky. The Australian’s Dennis Shanahan said to Peta that, despite the EV policy, Labor still had better climate credentials than the Coalition!

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    pat

    Andrew Bolt says Labor plan to resurrect the Climate Commission … with or without Tim Flannery? don’t know.

    TWEET: The Bolt Report:
    TONIGHT: Labor’s plan to bring back the climate commission it had Tim Flannery run…
    8 Apr 2019
    A FEW REPLIES
    https://twitter.com/theboltreport/status/1115154157114023936

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    pat

    Bolt just had Bryson Head of the Green Shirts Movement on. so terribly sad to see how stressed he looked. at the end of the interview, Bolt asked “where is the National Farmers’ Federation”?

    8 Apr: 6PR: “We just want to be left alone to feed the people”: Green Shirts Movement WA
    Oliver Peterson
    AUDIO: 11min14sec
    Vegan activists planned a mass day of action today for the entire country. Protests caused a commotion in Melbourne this morning by bringing the busiest intersection in the CBD to a standstill.
    While there have been no reports of disruptions in Perth or at any of the local farms, we’ve had our fair share already.

    The agriculture sector is fighting back. Non-for-profit group the Green Shirts Movement is attempting to help create understanding between primary producers and food consumers.
    Green Shirts Movement WA spokesperson Alan Sattler joined Oliver Peterson today where he stressed how important agriculture is to Australia and what people can do to support farmers.
    “Everything we produce in this country is clean and green. These people [vegan activists] seem to want agriculture shut down.
    https://www.6pr.com.au/podcast/we-just-want-to-be-left-alone-to-feed-the-people-green-shirts-movement-wa/

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    robert rosicka

    Oh no , the Libs actually have a 25 – 50% electric car target by 2030 .
    Confirmed just now by Craig Kelly .

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      Hanrahan

      Ya kiddin me! Donald Duck could beat these “conservatives”. Shorten must be laughing his t!ts off.

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    el gordo

    ACORN-SAT in Darwin gets more flack for lowering the past to raise the future.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/04/08/darwin-temperatures-unscrambling-the-acorn-sat-2-series/

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