Weekend Unthreaded

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202 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #
    John F. Hultquist

    2020 gone.
    2021 –> A long and winding road.

    [The Eyre Hwy it won’t be.]

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    • #
      GD

      2020 – lockdowns, masks, curfews, and closures
      2021 – more of the same, over and over

      If the vaccines work, well and good
      but if they don’t, we really should
      be using drugs already checked in
      such as HCQ and Ivermectin

      Alas the government cares less for health
      choosing instead to support by stealth
      the pharma companies more interested in wealth

      Pity the poor pensioner, forced to the injection
      to receive her meagre fortnightly pension

      Pity the disabled, the military veterans,
      the unemployed and other citizens
      forced into complying to receive
      a vaccine which will not relieve nor eradite
      the symptoms of the China virus.

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      • #
        MP

        Why have all governments outlawed the use of prophylactic’s, thousands of medical doctors have stated the benefits with huge success rates, all their material has been deleted from the web, this is not the behaviour of people with nothing to hide. This is our governments.

        The Bio security act was modified in 2015 to allow for exactly what is happening now.

        Go to here.
        Part 2—Human biosecurity emergencies

        Division 1—Introduction

        473 Simplified outline of this Part

        https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00303

        Listen to this US General in charge of warp speed talking about vaccine distribution. He states that to be where they are with vaccine quantities, they had to start manufacturing in May (WTF). Forward to 20:00. Not a Freudian slip as he first states June than corrects to May. Warp speed started on the 15th May. https://www.bitchute.com/video/d9KD6xldN0Mi/
        Sounds to me like they already had the vaccine, they started manufacturing before they even started testing, they had the solution before they had created the problem.

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Yeah appears to be bad news on the vaccine front – very informative reading on how immune system coronavirus response is different to viruses like measles etc.

        Article is fully referenced and good foot notes.

        https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/11/joseph-mercola/how-covid-19-vaccine-can-destroy-your-immune-system/

        “In other words, if the vaccine does not result in a robust response in neutralizing antibodies, you might be at risk for more severe lung disease if you’re infected with the virus.

        “And here’s an important point: COVID-19 vaccines are NOT designed to prevent infection. As detailed in “How COVID-19 Vaccine Trials Are Rigged,” a “successful” vaccine merely needs to reduce the severity of the symptoms. They’re not even looking at reducing infection, hospitalization or death rates.

        “So, really, what are we protecting against with a COVID-19 vaccine? As mentioned, the vaccines aren’t even designed to prevent infection, only reduce the severity of symptoms. Meanwhile, they could potentially make you sicker once you’re exposed to the virus. That seems like a lot of risk for a truly questionable benefit.

        …..

        “To circle back to where we started, participants in current COVID-19 vaccine trials are not being told of this risk — that by getting the vaccine they may end up with more severe COVID-19 once they’re infected with the virus.

        “Lethal Th2 Immunopathology Is Another Potential Risk

        “In closing, consider what this PNAS news feature states about the risk of vaccine-induced immune enhancement and dysfunction, particularly for the elderly, the very people who would need the protection a vaccine might offer the most:21

        “”Since the 1960s, tests of vaccine candidates for diseases such as dengue, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have shown a paradoxical phenomenon:

        “Some animals or people who received the vaccine and were later exposed to the virus developed more severe disease than those who had not been vaccinated. The vaccine-primed immune system, in certain cases, seemed to launch a shoddy response to the natural infection …

        “This immune backfiring, or so-called immune enhancement, may manifest in different ways such as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), a process in which a virus leverages antibodies to aid infection; or cell-based enhancement, a category that includes allergic inflammation caused by Th2 immunopathology. In some cases, the enhancement processes might overlap …

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  • #
    John R Smith

    Hail English persons.
    I’ve been interested in the Gloucester(?) woman arrested for filming an empty Hospital.
    Seems to be sudden plethora of vids of empty English hospitals.
    While Government claims system is overwhelmed.
    What are us little people to believe?
    I have first hand intel that large hospital collective in my area (major east coast US city) was only at 30% capacity during height of said pandemic.
    What say you?

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    • #
      John of Cloverdale

      Same in the US.
      LA Hospital

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    • #
      Fuel Filter

      Yup.

      Gonna give you guys 2 links. One for TooB another for Bitchute. He’s backing up all his vids because TooB is going to blackball him. That is assured. He explains what’s happened to his view stats.

      Those 2 eyewitness vids within his vid are vindication of what’s NOT happening here in N. Phoenix. (BTW, he has a 2nd one. That one shows a London hospital.)

      It’s only 13:27 long.  I think you ALL owe at least that much time

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Y2bIXIJhk

      https://www.bitchute.com/video/q3Y2bIXIJhk/

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      • #
        Annie

        Sorry FF, accidental touch on red while wiping damp fingerprints off the screen!I didn’t dry my hands properly.
        I’ve been seeing discussion about the unused Nightingale hospitals in the UK. It seems that there are insufficient numbers of medical staff to man them.
        Another problem, especially re. the vaccines, is that many retired medics and nurses have volunteered but have to jump through so many PC hoops (like ‘diversity’ training, to give injections for goodness’ sake!) that make it next to impossible for retirees to be used. Also, those who do get through the ridiculous process often hear nothing further. Something is badly wrong.

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        • #
          MP

          Annie, you want to get vaccinated from this ? https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/measuring-excess-mortality-australia-during-covid-19-pandemic.
          The CDC states 2.79% of people who had received the vaccine where unable to preform normal daily duties, required medical care.
          You want the Vaxx based on both the above??????

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          • #
            Annie

            No,in a word. I want to see the longer term reactions to these vaccines before becoming a guinea-pig.
            I’ll stick to distancing, difficult when so many people seem to have no concept of giving one decent personal space,
            (despite so much publicity), masking with a clean mask, hand hygiene, VitC, VitD, Zn, K2, quercetin.
            When in town I often feel as if my hands are solid hand sanitiser! No adverse effects from the stuff so far though.

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            • #
              MP

              How will we know if the effects are negative to us, the WHO, CDC and media have already shown you will not see what they don’t want you to see.
              If your worried stay away from them.

              20 to 30 were the best years of my life, had a ball, worked hard, partied hardier and met my wife. 10 years I would not swap for quid’s. Todays young have just lost 1 of those years and this will be another.

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        A year ago you would have said that the videos represented the work of a fruit loop.

        Right now it is a very plausible summary of the new world order that is looming over us.

        While I have never denied that there’s such a thing as CV19, I do find the actions taken by governments around the globe as being overbearing, destructive rather than constructive, not based on medical common sense and very oppressive, even unlawful, when considering the laws and religious guidelines that have seen us through the last few centuries.

        The video, along with events in Victoria, the EEU, Britain and the US in 2020 tragically states the case that Something Is Terribly Wrong.

        Just listening to the official Australian Government radio, the ABCCC, is a journey into our WOKE future Enslavement.

        People, we do need to be worried.

        Lastly, thanks to Jo for linking the dominoes of CAGW, CV19 and now The Great U.S. CONSTITUTION CRISIS.

        They are all in this together to crush free citizens.

        Be alert: the world needs more Lerts.

        KK

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    • #
      Harry Passfield

      Hi John Smith! English person responding here.
      The empty hospitals are probably the hugely expensive Nightingale Hospitals which were set up at huge cost (mainly as rent to the friends of politicians) and never used – on the excuse that they didn’t have the staff to run them: but they knew this at the start!! (Or they had crap project-management).
      Any competent project manager would have seen that maximising the use of the Nightingales would relieve the burden on mainstream hospitals and ambulances – but politics comes first, not the patient

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    • #
      John R Smith

      I guess what I’m what I’m asking for is the perfectly justifiable reason someone would be arrested to filming a hospital that is empty for a perfectly justifiable reason.
      I saw no one’s identity being compromised.
      But in today’s world, actual facts may compromise the public’s understanding of the actual facts.

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      • #
        Mike Jonas

        The hospital may have shot itself in the foot by behaving as if there’s something to hide. The hospital said the ward was for out-patients of whom there were none on a Sunday. If that’s true then a friendly explanation would have been a lot better than sending the police out to arrest and charge.

        I have a relative in Gloucester, ill but not with the coronavirus, who spent two nights in a corridor because the hospital was swamped with coronavirus patients. That was a lot earlier in the year, in the ‘first wave’, but it does suggest that the stress on UK hospitals from coronavirus is genuine.

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        • #
          yarpos

          a ward for outpatients? that’s creative. I thought the out in outpatients meant they weren’t inpatients and didn’t require a bed.

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          • #
            Annie

            Perhaps they meant day patients who need a bed for whatever procedure is happening but are not remaining overnight. At Cheltenham in England we were not given beds for eye-surgery but there was a small ward with reasonably comfortable seating. Locally, in our small hospital here in Nth Central Vic, it was as a day patient but with a bed for a couple of hours.
            BTW, Cheltenham General Hospital is part of the Gloucester group of hospitals and the Gloucester one is quite large.

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        • #
          John R Smith

          “If that’s true then a friendly explanation would have been a lot better than sending the police out to arrest and charge.”

          Then I guess it isn’t true.
          Nothing was hidden.
          The hazard of questioning the government was put on full display for all to see.
          Unless British Government types are unaware of cell phone cameras and the internet.

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    • #
      Ted O’Brien.

      Change to reply setup. Here goes for #2.

      Arrested? On what charge? Trespass?

      There are two components for a hospital. 1. Bricks and mortar, and 2. Staffing.

      In a pandemic, not only do you need more staff, but some of your staff will be unable to work.

      This problem has been addressed somewhat by requiring “home isolation” for people with milder symptoms. But we face the possibility, even likelihood, that we may have to provide our own ICU staff, even though they lack qualifications.

      Governments should be planning for this, to make available various kinds of facilities.

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    • #
      MP

      Bitchute. #filmyourhospitals.

      The first wave the not so gullible masses started this movement, it went world wide. 1000’s of video’s of empty hospitals, parked ambulances and lines for testing that were setup for the media and disappeared as soon as the media finished. All disappeared from the web almost as soon as they were posted. You can still view some if they were embedded in another Vid on a non censored topic.

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  • #
    John of Cloverdale

    I am more worried about heart disease than Covid-19. Maybe they should lockdown all fast food joints!

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      What is left to say?

      Dr. Malcolm Kendrick
      3 days ago
      30th December 2020

      I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of years ago.

      I find this description of the desperate pursuit of an elusive wavering banner rings rather true. This, it seems, is pretty much the place we have arrived at. Which banner have you decided to follow?

      The ‘COVID19 s the most terrible infection ever, and we must do everything in our power to stop it, whatever the cost’ banner.

      Or the ‘What on earth are we doing? This is no worse than a bad flu, and we are destroying the world economy, stripping away basic human rights and killing more people than we are saving’ banner.

      There may be others.

      Between these two, main, completely incompatible positions, lies the truth.

      Thus, I have tended to look to EuroMOMO. The European Mortality Monitoring project. As they say, of themselves:

      ‘The overall objective of the original European Mortality Monitoring Project was to design a routine public health mortality monitoring system aimed at detecting and measuring, on a real-time basis, excess number of deaths related to influenza and other possible public health threats across participating European Countries.

      Here is the graph of overall mortality for all ages, in all countries. The graph starts at the beginning of 2017 and carries on to almost the end of 2020.

      As you can see, in each winter there is an increase in deaths. In 2020, nothing much happened at the start of the year, then we had – what must have been – the COVID19 spike. The tall pointy bit around week 15.

      Two things stand out. First, there was an obvious ‘COVID19 spike’. Second, what we are seeing at present does not differ greatly from previous years. The normal winter spike in deaths.

      If we split this down into individual countries, this reasonably clear pattern falls apart.

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      Teachers Union Boss Is Afraid of ‘Unsafe’ Schools, But Not of International Travel

      Throughout the course of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, we have heard teachers and administrators say they are afraid of teaching in-person out of fear of catching the virus. School districts around the country decided to conduct school online through “virtual learning.”

      It turns out that one of the biggest proponents behind the push, Chicago Teacher’s Union’s (CTU) Regional Vice President, Sarah Chambers, is afraid of teaching her students in a classroom but she is not afraid to travel internationally.

      Chambers posted a photo on her Instagram account showing her lounging at a pool in a resort in Puerto Rico, WGN-TV reported. The post reportedly said she previously had the Wuhan coronavirus, tested negative for the virus and consulted her doctor before traveling across the world.

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      COVID-19: Pandemic cuts NSW road toll to lowest since 1923

      The 2020 road toll was 16 per cent lower than 2019, the lowest number since 1923 when the state’s population was roughly a quarter of the size it is today.

      Last year’s road toll was the lowest in nearly 100 years thanks largely to fewer drivers on the roads during pandemic restrictions.

      There were 297 deaths on NSW roads in 2020, the lowest number since 1923 when the state’s population was roughly a quarter of the size it is today. The 2020 road toll was 16 per cent lower than 2019, which had 352 deaths.

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  • #
    William Astley

    It is odd people are so ignorant, concerning the tragedy that is happening in the UK .. The release of new version of covid in the UK, that is 70% more infectious is an unbelievable terror. On and on and on. And no one comes to help the people.

    There are 57,000 new daily covid cases (fifth day of new daily covid cases over 50,000) in UK. Covid in the UK is out of ‘control’. 67% of the UK people are in the highest level lockdown and the Uk covid cases have not dropped, because….

    The UK has been attacked by the new release of UK release of covid that is 40% to 70% more effective at spreading and attacking humans. Covid is very dangerous as it was designed to cause neurological damage and organ damage to cause long term health problems. Covid was designed for ‘tactical’ purposes.

    The UK General hospital is empty, because the covid very sick, require intensive care and the staff that would be required for other hospital activities such as surgery. Those specialised staff have moved to other hospitals and tent hospitals, in the UK to help the covid patients who are suffering permanent damaging illness or will die.

    Think of knee replacement and other procedures that are going to be postponed.

    The second covid release is roughly 40% to 70% more contagious/transmissible that the first release of covid.

    It had to more contagious, to replace the first release of covid virus. This is the Chinese tactical response to the fact that the two Western developed RNA vaccines, were 95% covid effective, was to release a new covid version that has changes to the covid spike that makes the new Western developed vaccines ineffective. The Western 95% effective vaccines were designed to invoke a human immune response that was triggered by the spike.

    The second release of covid has 14 ‘mutations’ (William: these are not mutations as this biological entity was designed to do what it is doing), 7 of which are on the covid virus’ spike.

    The US Milt, on or before, Jan 10th. is going to provide unequivocal evidence and analysis that the Chinese government designed and released covid to incapacitate the US and to make money selling medical supplies and vaccines to the world. This is going all the way, in a good way. The US Milt has a plan to fix Washington and will secure the US border from any further covid release and will cure covid. The US Milt’s plan is non-violent. It will however fix the problems.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55388846

    What do we know about the new mutations?
    An initial analysis of the new variant has been published and identifies 17 potentially important alterations.

    There have been changes to the spike protein – this is the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway to our body’s cells.

    One mutation called N501Y alters the most important part of the spike, known as the “receptor-binding domain”.

    This is where the spike makes first contact with the surface of our body’s cells. Any changes that make it easier for the virus to get inside are likely to give it an edge.
    “It looks and smells like an important adaptation,” said Prof Loman.

    The other mutation – a H69/V70 deletion, in which a small part of the spike is removed – has emerged several times before, including famously in infected mink.

    Work by Prof Ravi Gupta at the University of Cambridge has suggested this mutation increases infectivity two-fold in lab experiments.

    Studies by the same group suggest the deletion makes antibodies from the blood of survivors less effective at attacking the virus.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55507012

    The new variant of Covid-19 is “hugely” more transmissible than the virus’s previous version, a study has found.

    It concludes the new variant increases the Reproduction or R number by between 0.4 and 0.7.

    The UK’s latest R number has been estimated at between 1.1 and 1.3. It needs to be below 1.0 for the number of cases to start falling.

    Prof Axel Gandy of London’s Imperial College said the differences between the viruses types was “quite extreme”.

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Coronation Street renamed
      Corona Nation St?

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    • #
      David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

      G’day W A,
      Is there any indication that the Zelenko protocol, vitamin D with zinc, or ivermectin are effective against this new variant?
      Cheers
      Dave B

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    • #
      John R Smith

      “covid that is 40% to 70% more effective at spreading and attacking humans”

      I am extremely dubious of statements like this.
      Sounds propagandistic.
      After studying the climate issue, I became 40% to 70% more effective a spotting BS.

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    • #
      yarpos

      Meanwhile excess deaths fall below long term trends, even more so in Wales

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    • #

      Here are the actual Figures for the UK from the office of national statistics, note some are part year and others for the full year. The references used are shown at the foot of the article and are worth looking at

      http://ellse.org/uncategorized/covid-19-and-its-overall-effect-on-england-and-wales-death-rate/

      As far as excess deaths go 2020 will not be too much out of the unusual. There were more in 2006 and 2005 very nearly as many in 2017 and most of the 90’s had more deaths, which was just before mass vaccination for flu became the norm.

      Death rates in 2020 are fortunately far below those of 1968 and 1957 and 1951

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      • #
        John R Smith

        If only we had cancelled Woodstock.

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      • #
        John R Smith

        Tonyb,
        Thank you for that link.
        I plan to show it to a few friends, further solidifying my reputation as a ‘conspiracy theorist’.
        The 21st century definition of skeptic.

        10

  • #
    Another Ian

    “Mark Levin’s list: 15 ways Democrats stole the election”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/01/02/margin-of-fraud-45/

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      How to Break Through the Media Fog on the Massive Election Fraud

      Direct evidence of massive election fraud in swing states during the 2020 election is widely known and understood by Americans who obtain their information from independent and conservative media. Those who only pay attention to legacy media sources, and most members of the political class, are almost completely unaware of that fraud and/or have swallowed the Democrat-media narrative that the fraud was insufficient to have changed the outcome of the election.

      The Problem. The problem, or the proximate problem, of breaking through the media fog on the election fraud – is not the Facts (and improbabilities, impossibilities, unprecedented correlations, anomalies vs. historical norms, etc.). These are overwhelming and compelling. The problem is that the credibility and narrative of Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and the larger effort has been targeted and grievously eroded by the Democrats, their media allies, and some Republican, precisely to suppress and distort the facts. Additional to ad hominem attacks, the recurrent distortions include:

      Continuing censorship (by omission and by closing people down on social media) keeps Americans in the dark, which, as Bezos’s Washington Post declaims, is where “Democracy Dies.” Its purpose is to hide the facts from the American people, as they were able to do in regard to the Hunter Biden laptop and Biden family China corruption in the run-up to Election Day. And very successfully, as reported here:

      What is to be Done?

      Summary and Conclusion.

      This whole Left/Democrat piracy of our election process – the stealth election pre-rigging by lawfare, consent decree, Covid-exigency, and hundreds of millions in targeted dark money to election workers and bosses; the election-day fraud in all its varieties – old and new, paper and electron; and the cover-up, obstruction, fact suppression, and totalitarian narrative control by the states, DoJ/FBI, the intelligence community, the establishment GOP, the DNC, and the legacy and social media cannot be allowed to stand. The fact that the DNC, Marc Elias/Perkins Coie, Stacey Abrams, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, and the rest got away with it via planning, money, the Covid misdirection, Republican ineptitude and complicity — and all manner of legal and procedural fig-leaf does not make it legal, precedential, or otherwise acceptable. It’s what the signs say: a steal. Call it one. But be clear it’s much more: it’s a coup enroute to a Revolution that they’d rather do as a quiet drive- thru than at the barricades. We can’t let that happen.

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  • #
    Greg in NZ

    At the risk of repeating myself:

    On the 3rd day of New Year’s
    the snow kept falling down…

    Summer 2021 in New Zealand and SNOW is still falling, after a White Christmas during the closing days of 2020. The Remarkables ski area in Queenstown is ‘suffering’ the effects of ‘run away’ cAGW as snow continues to fall on the upper mountain slopes. Mt Cook and surrounding peaks are also being dosed with changing climate fallout powder.

    Thankfully I’m up north where it’s calm, humid, sunny – at the moment – with thunderstorms and hail on the way later today. Summer in the South Pacific resembles a box of chocolates.

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    • #
      RickWill

      With the orbital eccentricity becoming very small, the Southern Hemisphere will experience less solar input in coming centuries than at present. Coming generations of New Zealanders who like snow will appreciate the accumulation in New Zealand. Also those in South America. I doubt Tasmania will show much change though.

      I think the Northern Hemisphere will miss out on glaciation during the current transition to minimum eccentricity. It would be evident by now if it was going to happen. Just too close to circular orbit.

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    • #
      sophocles

      New Year’s day was when the Auckland thermometer passed 25 ° Celsius and the cold went away. Christmas Day it was 19 – 20°C and has moved up as slowly as Shakespeare’s schoolboy “creeping like a snail unwillingly to school”

      Coldest Christmas I can remember.

      Another 5 °C before the cicadas emerge …

      Then it will be Summer.

      The Warmists try to tell us the planet is warming. If that’s the case, why are the cicadas so shy about emerging? Must have forgotten to tell them. Can’t trust them to do anything right.

      When I was a lot younger, they were out before Christmas,
      every year. Now, they aren’t. Last year it was halfway through January and the year before that it about the same.
      It’s not ’til temps get to c. 28°C + they start coming out.
      AGW is an absolute Scam!

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      • #
        sophocles

        Maybe Jacinda’s right: there is a klimate krisis! The cicadas are over a month late because it’s too darned cold for them!

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        • #
          Greg in NZ

          Climate, Covid, Cicadas –
          oh no, the Triple C strikes again!

          Heard one (1) cicada make a feeble attempt just prior to Christmas, here in Tauranga, then nothing, zilch, zip. Won’t somebody please think of the cicadas, and the cicadas’ cicadas…

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          • #
            Annie

            Now I come to think of it, the cicadas have been remarkably quiet/absent here too, Nth. Central Vic. I did hear a weakly one recently but it’s quiet again. We are usually being deafened by them; if you stamp a foot nearby, the nearest one shuts up, but not for long. 🙁 Maybe the racket will be with us soon if next weekend’s forecast is to be believed.
            We have heard plenty of frogs lately though so there are probably plenty of big fat snakes by now!

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  • #
    graham dunton

    Undoubtedly Covid has been used as a deep state weapon.
    our Michael Smith, blog “Pathology & virology expert Dr Roger Hodkinson on the media/politician driven Covid hysteria”.
    The video has been down from many sites, but the truth without!

    This is a voice recording

    https://rairfoundation.com/renowned-pathologist-calls-coronavirus-the-greatest-hoax-ever-perpetrated-its-just-another-bad-flu-watch/

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      el gordo

      The truth of the matter is that Beijing was manufacturing a WMD and a lone wolf released Covid prematurely into the local fish market. It has the potential to empty cities worldwide, this is not virtual reality.

      There is a silver lining, using NSW as a test case, ‘the 2020 road toll was 16 per cent lower than 2019, the lowest number since 1923 when the state’s population was roughly a quarter of the size it is today.’
      (Daily Telegraph)

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    • #
      el gordo

      Wuhan Lab fingered.

      ‘Mr Pottinger, a former US Marines officer, said: “Even establishment figures in Beijing have openly dismissed the wet market story.” He said that the pathogen may have escaped through a “leak or an accident”.

      ‘He said intelligence showed that the virus had been leaked from the heavily guarded Wuhan Institute of Virology, 11 miles from the market.’ (The Times)

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  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    2020 came in just under 2016 as the hottest year on record, WMO says. Scientific American confirms 2011-2020 as hottest decade.

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    • #
      Harry Passfield

      So what? Weather can’t be the same for every year. Duh. (But [Snip]AD like you call it climate without knowing the difference).

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    • #
      Travis T. Jones

      Further undeniable observation that sunbeam and seabreeze collectors are a failure at regulating doomsday global warming.

      Thanks for confirming this fact.

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      • #
        robert rosicka

        Thankfully 2020 is gone I was starting to freeze here ! Come to think of it 2021 isn’t much warmer so might have to light the heater today .

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      The extra heat must quench cyclones. I did a search and found

      The number of tropical cyclones hitting Queensland and Western Australia has fallen to low levels not seen for more than 500 years, new research published in Nature shows.

      That is from a 2014 article and I can assure you the years since have been quiet too.

      The two I remember well, Althea and Tracey were nearly 50 years ago.

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      • #
        GD

        The two I remember well, Althea and Tracey were nearly 50 years ago

        That’s the first mention of Cyclone Althea I’ve heard for a long time. Usually, when Queensland cyclones are the topic, Althea doesn’t get a mention.

        I was living in Townsville when it hit. My family’s house in Yarrawonga (now Castle Hill?) was mostly destroyed as we watched from the next-door neighbours’ place. The roof went flying, the brick garage and cars demolished, and the rain finished off everything inside.

        Fortunately, we were able to stay in a friends’ place as they were holidaying down south.

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    • #
      Bernard

      Well Peter, there are alternative Krakens that blow agw out of the water.

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      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        And they are?

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      • #
        Alice Thermopolis

        Here’s one from climate scientist, Judith Curry:

        On short time scales (decade to centuries), there is no satisfactory way of sorting out forced climate variability from natural internal climate variability unless you have a really good climate model that can adequately handle the natural internal variability on the range of time scales from years to millennia. Empirical methods have yet to do this in any sensible way … Until we better understand natural internal climate variability, we simply don’t know how to infer sensitivity to greenhouse gas forcing. The issue of how climate will change over the twenty-first century is highly uncertain. Oversimplification and overconfidence on this topic have acted to the detriment of climate science. As scientists, we need to embrace the uncertainty, the complexity and the messy wickedness of the problem. We mislead policy makers with our oversimplifications and overconfidence.

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      John F. Hultquist

      I don’t think the magazine called Scientific American is either scientific nor American.

      We were long-time subscribers until about 10 or 12 years ago. It lost out to Motor Trend that is both American and scientific. Not now interested in new cars, so that is about to go also.
      Sending a bit of money, now and then, to people such as Jo Nova that do provide useful reading.

      Y’ll might consider a chocolate order from her.

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      OldOzzie

      State Of Fear

      In his 2004 novel State of Fear, Michael Crichton suggested an answer. For those unfamiliar Crichton, he was more than a novelist: he was also a graduate of Harvard Medical School and was ahead of the curve on science and technology for most of his life. In 1983, when William Gibson was writing Neuromancer on a manual typewriter, Michael Crichton published his guide to personal computers. In State of Fear, Crichton’s stand-in explains why global warming alarmism took off in 1989: with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, fear of nuclear war receded. Fear of global warming replaced it.

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      MP

      Its near midday in FNQ, I got my tracky pants and flanney on, it is overcast at times.
      I am terrified of this warming, I don’t have thermal underwear.

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  • #
    David Wojick

    Consider this. Every conversion from AC to DC and DC to AC entails big energy losses. I have heard 10-20%.

    Start with solar generation, which is DC. We convert that to AC for transmission and us but a lot of it goes into batteries for when the sun don’t shine brightly, which is most of the time. Solar only works 6-8 hours a day. So we convert the AC into DC to charge the batteries. Then when we need the stored juice we convert again, back to AC. But a lot of it is for electric vehicles, so we convert the AC back to DC to charge the EV batteries. Mercifully the vehicle motors are DC but there are still losses getting the juice out of the battery.

    I count four AC/DC or DC/AC conversions. Solar to wire, wire to utility battery, that battery to wire and wire to vehicle battery. At 20% lost each time (plus the battery to motor loss) there is very little energy left to run the vehilce. So we would have to generate a lot more renewables electrical energy to run our vehicles than we presently do with fossil fuels. Maybe twice as much by my reckoning. I have not seen this allowed for in the renewables energy system modeling.

    I may do an article on this but you heard it here first.

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      Anywhere else this would be ridiculous and uneconomical but when it comes to intermittents the rules of logic go out the window .

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Coming soon the Green answer — use solar panel DC to generate hydrogen, which can then be used in cars.

      Apart from an efficiency for intermittent hydrolysis around 35%, energy usage to pressurise the hydrogen for storage, leaks etc. and about 60% efficiency from the fuel cell (sort suitable for vehicles, not the 90+% efficient 10 ton stationery ones)

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      • #
        Lance

        Graem No.3: From Forbes article: Why Hydrogen Will Never Be The Future Of Electric Cars

        BEV = Battery EV FCV = Fuel Cell EV

        With a BEV, once the electricity is generated – hopefully from a renewable source – the supply of this to your vehicle charging location loses about 5%. The charging and discharging of the battery then lose another 10%. Finally, the motor wastes another 5% driving the vehicle. That makes for a total loss of 20%.

        With a hydrogen fuel cell, however, you first have to convert the electricity to hydrogen via electrolysis, which is only 75% efficient. Then the gas has to be compressed, chilled and transported, which loses another 10%. The fuel cell process of converting hydrogen back to electricity is only 60% efficient, after which you have the same 5% loss from driving the vehicle motor as for a BEV. The grand total is a 62% loss – more than three times as much. Or, to put it another way, for every kW of electricity supply, you get 800W for a BEV, but only 380W for an FCV – less than half as much.

        https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmorris/2020/07/04/why-hydrogen-will-never-be-the-future-of-electric-cars/?sh=458422312fad

        A full analysis of the H2 cycle from production to end use, shows H2 requires between 65% and 244% more energy input than it ever delivers. https://afdc.energy.gov/files/pdfs/hyd_economy_bossel_eliasson.pdf

        H2 is never, ever, going to break even. It is only useful to make Ammonia or feedstock for liquid hydrocarbon synthesis.

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      • #
        el gordo

        This story is going the rounds, forecasting the technologies in the 2020s.

        https://elidourado.com/blog/notes-on-technology-2020s/

        My interest is in space technology, where Elon is leading the charge.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      I doubt it’s that bad David. I just did a quick search and domestic solar inverters can achieve 98% efficiency and rectifiers about 90%. Logic tells me that a “supercharger” could not waste 20% of its power or it would overheat and destroy itself. Be careful with this one.

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      • #
        Lance

        See 9.2.1 above.

        The ultimate efficiency of a series event is the product of the event efficiencies:

        Lets use your numbers for inverter efficience, 0.98 and rectifiers at 0.9. That event is 0.9 x 0.98 = 0.882 or 12% loss.

        Add a few more events: Battery efficiency of Li-Ion is about 0.95. Then you have another inverter, 0.98, then a motor at 0.95. That event is another 0.95 x 0.98 x 0.95 = 0.884

        Overall efficiency of the 2 events is 0.882 x 0.884 = 0.78 or a 22% loss.

        This doesn’t count losses if the solar or wind originated power was “uploaded” through a distribution transformer to another user who downloaded that power and suffered distribution losses as well. That’s another 4% to 6% loss. Total loss is about 26% – 28% loss.

        Exceeding what David Wojick states at #9 above.

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          The efficiency of hydrogen generation by hydrolysis is 62% for continuous high pressure process with potassium hydroxide electrolyte. This can be boosted to around 75% by adding external (mid-range) heat. Intermittent low pressure hydrolysis (as in using renewables is a maximum (theoretical) of 38%. Then there are the other losses to the end result of moving the car. 5kg of hydrogen would, on the figures above, add 300kg to the car weight.
          Then there is the small problem of nitrogen oxides when hydrogen is burnt in air — the sort that the EU blamed on diesel cars. I note that during the shutdowns neither in Germany nor the UK were reductions seen.

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    • #
      John F. Hultquist

      My quick read comes up with “it’s more complex than thought**, and changing over time.”

      **Bad joke here: Some people’s thoughts are quite complex, even chaotic.

      10

    • #
      yarpos

      The fanboys would say stop using the centralised grid paradigm and distribute the solar and batteries to where the EVs are, to cut out conversion and transmission, using the grid to top up or feed in even.

      They like to beleive we all have houses, garages, roof rights and a spare $100k+ to fund it all. Simples.

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    • #
      Lance

      Ammonia is the best storage means of H2.
      If the source of H2 is Steam Methane Reformation into Haber-Bosch process, the max efficiency is 61% to 66%.
      If source is DC Electrolysis of water H2 into a Haber-Bosch process, the efficiency is 54%.

      The efficiency of H2 production, compression, liquifaction, storage, transport and use has a negative efficiency.

      See https://afdc.energy.gov/files/pdfs/hyd_economy_bossel_eliasson.pdf

      H2 is NOT an efficient fuel because half the energy from splitting water into O2 and H2 is lost to O2 production. You start out at 50%. Then apply the inverter, motor, etc, losses and you wind up near 39% without including the compression, storage, transport losses.

      IC engines are about 27% – 30% efficient in terms of thermodynamics and friction losses. Looks bad, but not really.

      Take the H2 electrolysis cycle and add in the compression, storage, etc, losses and you get negative efficiencies.

      At best, the H2 cycle is comparing 39% to the IC 30%. After all the H2 losses are added in, you are likely looking at some -50% efficiency vs +30% for the IC. Better off to use the IC engine. The “least worst” alternative is an IC engine running on ammonia.

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    • #
      RickWill

      David wrote:

      Mercifully the vehicle motors are DC but there are still losses getting the juice out of the battery.

      Not the case. All commercial EVs are using AC motors either induction motor or permanent magnet synchronous motors.

      Modern electronic controllers are more efficient than mechanical commutators. Also electronic controllers do not deteriorate in performance or wear out like mechanical commutators.

      I. have model aircraft motor controllers that can handle 2000W and weigh a few grams.

      The big losses in a solar conversion system are at the panel. Most get less than 20% conversion efficiency from sunlight to electricity. A modern battery storage system will have a turn around efficiency from solar panel output to AC output around 94%.

      A feature of EVs and hybrids is their ability to recover braking energy. A simple IC powered car throws that energy away.

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    OldOzzie

    Canadian Police Storm a ‘Gathering’ Over COVID in Insane Video, and It Should Scare Everyone

    There may be coronavirus vaccines in distribution now, but that hasn’t stopped the insanity and fear mongering. Thus, we get videos like the one I’m about to show it. It comes all the way from the Great North of Canada, where police sought to break up an “illegal” gathering of six people.

    What follows is something out of a dystopian nightmare, where government holds total control over its citizens, even insofar as regulating and physically assaulting people over personal gatherings.

    Vic Stasi in VicStasiLand?

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    David Maddison

    I visited what remains of Hazelwood Power Station in VIC, Australia on Jan 1. This is the sad state of this real power station whose useful life was bought to a premature end by Government policy.

    https://youtu.be/n1gGToev-1M

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    Annie

    I wonder if it was instigated in relation to Dan’s BRI?

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    OldOzzie

    Microsoft reveals SolarWinds hackers were able to access its source code

    The hacking group behind the SolarWinds compromise was able to break into Microsoft and access some of the company’s source code, Microsoft said Thursday.

    In a blog post, the company said its investigation had turned up irregularities with a “small number of internal accounts” and that one of the accounts “had been used to view source code in a number of source code repositories.”

    The disclosure adds to the ever-growing picture of the compromises associated with the SolarWinds hack, which used the Texas-based company’s flagship network monitoring software as a springboard to break into the sensitive US government networks and other tech companies. Microsoft had already disclosed that like other firms, it found malicious versions of SolarWinds’ software inside its network, but the source code disclosure is new.

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    • #
      yarpos

      I guess this means we should see bloated and less functional software coming out of China real soon then.

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Sen. Marsha Blackburn
    @MarshaBlackburn

    Freedom of speech is being able to tweet this photo of Xi Jinping looking like Winnie. If you did this in Communist China, you’d be arrested.

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    RicDre

    Inconvenient Truth: Climate-related death risk down 99.6% over 100 years

    New data shows the global climate-related death risk has dropped by over 99% since 1920.

    Despite the near constant caterwauling from climate alarmists that we are in a “climate emergency”, real-world data, released at the end of 2020 shows that climate related deaths are now approaching zero. The data spans 100 years of “global warming” back to 1920 and shows “climate related” deaths are now approaching zero.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/01/02/inconvenient-truth-climate-related-death-risk-down-99-6-over-100-years/

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    OldOzzie

    China has a domestic law that any technology or trade secrets must be shared with the military. The ‘Chinese’ joint venture company idea is for the explicit goal of IP theft. They are a hardworking, wise, intelligent people, but not innovative, creative group. All this talk about how China is taking over the world, is mostly marketing by Chinese propagandists.

    In reality, their high IQ engineers have a problem of building their own jet engine:

    China faces urgent ‘unprecedented challenge’ to develop jet engine as foreign hostility grows

    A senior Chinese aviation engineer says it is an ‘urgent political task’ for China to speed up development of its own jet engine

    Access to crucial technology is no longer guaranteed due to external hostilities and China must become more self reliant

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      China must be able to produce its own jet engine for commercial use as the world’s second biggest economy can no longer “leverage market access in exchange for technology” due to increasing foreign hostility, a senior engineer from state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic) says.

      Liu Daxiang, deputy director of the science and technology committee at Avic, said aviation technology had accelerated this century and competition was getting “more fierce”.

      “The established countries in aviation have become more strict with us when it comes to technology access,” he said in a video seminar organised by the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

      “Recently we have seen the US utilising national power to suppress Huawei Technologies Co, and this tells us that crucial technology cannot be bought, even if you spend big.

      “In the past, we have leveraged market access in exchange for technology – I don’t think it works [for aviation].”

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    OldOzzie

    All the movies you didn’t know US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin produced

    Former Goldman Sachs banker turned film producer turned Treasury Secretary of the United States Steven Mnuchin wasn’t in Hollywood for long, but he built a substantial resume filled with popular movies (and some not so popular ones) during his time as a producer.

    Steven Terner Mnuchin is not only the United States Secretary Treasurer, he is a producer and actor, known for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Wonder Woman (2017). See full list of films: Steven Mnuchin – IMDb

    So who knew? Many did and most did not. But being an Executive Producer means you have to know numbers, account for every penny and estimate total costs of projects and make sure the financial costs are budgeted correctly above the line and below the line and make certain all surprises are budgeted in accurate and allowed for. So, his financial background proves he was well suited for the job.

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  • #
    RicDre

    UAH Global Temperature Update for December 2020: +0.27 deg. C

    The Version 6.0 global average lower tropospheric temperature (LT) anomaly for December, 2020 was +0.27 deg. C, down substantially from the November, 2020 value of +0.53 deg. C.For comparison, the CDAS global surface temperature anomaly for the last 30 days at Weatherbell.com was +0.31 deg. C.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/01/02/uah-global-temperature-update-for-december-2020-0-27-deg-c/

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    • #
      RickWill

      The tropical ocean is a little closer to where it should be.

      Still waiting for Version 7 that removes the obvious bias in this data or the reason why the LT data departs the surface temperature.

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      • #
        RickWill

        This is the actual UAH data for the last 5 years rather than anomaly:
        http://climexp.knmi.nl/data/irss_tlt_0-360E_-90-90N_n_2015:2020.png
        It makes it quite clear that it bears little relationship with surface temperature.

        Surface temperature is thermostatically controlled. Sure it swings about a bit and some parts of the globe can have relatively long term trends due to the periods of the major circulations but there is zero trend in surface warming over multiple decades. It takes orbital changes or movement of land masses that alter circulations to cause trends and they work over millennial timescales not centuries or decades. If you find data that shows a trend then look for the measurement system errors. A classic is the urban heat effect.

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    OldOzzie

    Piers Akerman: Anthem change is nothing more than virtue signalling

    The Governor-General’s approval of the change to the line “for we are young and free” to “we are one and free” two days ago was led by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

    Was there a clamour from the crowd for this change? Were there masses singing or chanting in front of the national parliament, or even the state parliaments? Not that anyone noticed, that’s for sure.

    The objection to the line “for we are young and free” seems to have come from misguided people who choose to think that there was an Australian nation or there were nations on this continent before January 1, 1901.

    They are wrong. Australia came into legal existence on that date, when British Parliament passed legislation enabling the six Australian colonies to collectively govern in their own right as the Commonwealth of Australia.

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    RickWill

    I posted the link to this chart on Thursday but it did not hang around for long so here it is again:
    https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhA9GiA7DZRYlNygG

    The top chart shows how the precipitable water changes in the atmosphere from before cloudburst to after over a 27C ocean surface.

    The second plot shows how the level of free convection and level of ice forming approach each other as the surface temperature increases. If the ocean surface temperature was some how warmed by internal energy sources to 34C then it would be in perpetual cloud. That means direct sunlight would never reach the surface so it would lose a lot of heat through outgoing long wave radiation above the clouds. It would still cycle through cloudburst as long as the internal heat source was present but there would always be cloud.

    I am yet to simulate the conditions for 30C surface temperature. That is the surface temperature where radiative energy in and radiative energy out at the top of atmosphere is balanced; near the maximum temperature for open ocean water.

    A simple interpretation of the narrowing of the gap between the two curves as the surface temperature increases is akin to the shutters being progressively closed to direct sunlight. When the shutters are closed to sunlight, OLR is reduced from the clear sky condition but still substantial; up around 200W/sq.m.

    10

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    OldOzzie

    Jacqui Lambie: There’s no appetite for an Aussie Digger witch-hunt

    What possible good does the country get from being involved in a war crime inquiry? We have been paid back in dividends by these soldiers so what’s the bloody point? Jacqui Lambie asks.

    It is a silence known to man, war crimes. It is also a silence known that all sides of war have committed war crimes in every theatre of conflict of which they were involved in.

    I asked the parliamentary study to answer this question: “What is the number of ADF who have been charged or accused of war crimes since end of World War II?”

    A. “No prosecution for conduct specifically identified as a war crime committed.”

    So, why now?

    Our Australian elite SASR don’t get the first title “Special” for cuddling teddy bears and, let’s be honest, most Australians know that.

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    OldOzzie

    Why are Tim Tams called Tim Tams?

    In 1958 Ross Arnott of Arnott’s Biscuits attended the Kentucky Derby. The name of the winning horse was … Tim Tam.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      Tim tams became the currency for dealings between the Aussies and Yanks in Iraq. eg The Aussies couldn’t get li ion batteries on aircraft so for a few packets of tim tams they got the Yanks to move them.

      60

    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      The name of the winning horse was … Tim Tam.

      The stuff you can learn on here … amazing 🙂

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    • #
      yarpos

      I used to take Tim Tams to Japan as gifts for the people in the Tokyo office. Always went down well.

      It was mayhem (in a modest Japanese kind of way) when the first batch with different flavours arrived.

      Too many choices 🙂

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  • #
    William Astley

    Something very big happened this year (covid) and the US and the other countries have lost control of their spending.

    Bitcoin for the last couple years has been trading around US $10,000 per bit. The sudden increase this year to US $28,600 and has reached a market capitalization of US 518 Billion, is support for the assertion that the large US investors believe…

    The Biden administration is going to spend the US to death. And that the US currency will become worthless.

    That is not going to happened because there will be no Biden administration. The US Milt is going to take action to cure covid and stop the WMDs. Trump has been informed of the plan, the evidence, the key issues, and has accepted the plan’s goals and tactics, and his special role.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currency-idUSKBN2940X0

    “The latest gains took bitcoin’s market capitalisation past $518 billion, according to industry website CoinMarketCap.”

    I have info concerning obvious issues and concerns people might have concerning the new US government system.

    The US will have a non-elected, independent, fair, and transparent government, that will be completely ready to go and will be solving important problems, day 1 that will gain the trust of the US people and states, by solving problems without drama and elites.

    The US will hence require a free and independent news channel. This is not going to be a state or phoney BBC ‘news’ channel.

    As there are no free and independent US news channels, that are nonpartisan; The US Milt will get funds to purchase, in 2021, a major US news agency. The new US media company will be transformed into an independent, high quality, news organization.

    The new US independent news company’s mission statement will be to appropriately gain the trust and respect of the US people and the Chinese people and other countries.

    Same mission statement for the new US government.

    About, 20 Republicans, will have ‘roles’ in the new government to help solve problems, to communicate with the press, and to provide a familiar face….

    To discuss the issues that are important to American citizens.

    Rand Paul and Ted Cruz for example. And Mike Pence will be the liaison between the new gov system and the states.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/01/02/gop-senators-including-cruz-blackburn-to-reject-the-electors-from-disputed-states-january-6/

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    • #
      RickWill

      If this part of the senator’s statement is true then might just carry the objections:

      “That belief is held by Republicans (67%), Democrats (17%), and Independents (31%),” the Republicans said, noting that some members of Congress disagree,

      They will need about 90% of the Republicans and the 17% of the Democrates in both houses to carry an objection.

      Arizona is the key case. Get that objected to and the rest will be easier.

      It is appalling how the media has portrayed Trump and the level of censorship in the USA puts China ahead in the free speech stakes.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        Will the republicans feel constrained by the law and constitution on the 6th or will laissez-faire or “whatever it takes” be the order of the day? It has been the rule so far, why should it change?

        If Pence has the cojones he could bulldoze through something that is constitutionally dodgy but the Supreme Court could hardly rule on the matter after having refused to get involved so far and the marines are not going to storm the WH on Nancy’s say so.

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        • #
          Tilba Tilba

          Will the Republicans feel constrained by the law and constitution on the 6th or will laissez-faire or “whatever it takes” be the order of the day? It has been the rule so far, why should it change?

          The Republicans may feel sufficient outrage that “whatever it takes” becomes their rallying cry and modus operandi, but I think you can expect the Democrats to operate strictly according to the rules, the Act, and any other procedural guardrails that assist their cause. As Senate Republicans did in the impeachment acquittal, and the fast-tracked appointment of of Amy Coney Barrett.

          It’s not necessarily pretty, or admirable, but it is effective.

          I think the chances of enough Democrats in the House switching to uphold an objection are close to zero … it would almost instantly end their political careers … they face voters (and primaries) every two years.

          Speaking of political careers, it seems that the Republicans (both House and Senate) have been forced into a “loyalty test” position, in the belief that Donald Trump will continue to wield significant political clout well into the 2022 election cycle. There are views both ways on this.

          I expect VP Mike Pence will play a straight bat … again it depends on how he sees his political fortunes going forward.

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          • #
            Tilba Tilba

            When I say Mike Pence will “play a straight bat”, he won’t attempt to do anything unilateral with the electoral votes he opens, but he will allow any objections – knowing they will fail in the House, and also probably in the Senate.

            But certified, safe-harbor, uncontested electoral slates are not easy to overturn – obviously the system is designed that way to protect the popular vote decisions in the 50 states.

            The Republicans will be down to 50 seated senators (the two Georgia senate races on 5 January won’t be resolved and declared in 18 hours), and there will be several Republican senators who will vote against the objections that are led by Hawley and/or Cruz.

            It’s worth reiterating that – while many Trump supporters no doubt feel robbed and angry – no claims have been able to convince a court or a state. In my opinion it was (a) because they had a terrible legal team, and (b) they allowed all the wilder stuff (DOD-CIA fire-fights in Frankfurt, etc) to swamp the nitty-gritty stuff.

            11

            • #
              Peter C

              they allowed all the wilder stuff (DOD-CIA fire-fights in Frankfurt, etc) to swamp the nitty-gritty stuff.

              I don’t think that has been mentioned in any legal presentations of pleadings.
              Do you have any information to the contrary?

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              • #
                Tilba Tilba

                The Dominion scanning machines, and the corruption of vote counting via the Internet and the movement of data to servers overseas (including to the ‘captured’ ones in Frankfurt) – all of this has been front-and-centre in Powell’s Kraken theories, and for Rudy Giuliani as well.

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            Hanrahan

            Are you saying that the republicans acted dishonourably by voting down the impeachment?

            01

            • #
              Tilba Tilba

              Are you saying that the republicans acted dishonourably by voting down the impeachment?

              I’m not expressing a view one way or the other on the impeachment trial, but rather making the obvious point that both sides use and exploit the strict rules when it suits their cause, regardless of what the optics might be like. Politics is a tough game, and not too many gentleman’s agreements apply when push comes to shove.

              Do you think the Republicans acted dishonourably in the impeachment?

              10

              • #
                Hanrahan

                “Both sides do it” is a cop-out.

                The republicans are famous for being gracious losers, cheated by the “any means necessary” democrats.

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            • #
              Tilba Tilba

              I don’t get involved in partisan disputes on forums, for two reasons:

              (1) I really am a centrist, without a dog in the fight, and
              (2) partisan disputes never change anyone’s mindset, and just lead to wrecked threads and bad feelings.

              I try to stick to the facts, and correct what I see as errors in the interpretation of stuff relating to political processes. Speaking of which:

              The republicans are famous for being gracious losers, cheated by the “any means necessary” democrats.

              I’ve been following US politics since Kennedy was nearly blowing up the world over Cuba, but I can’t think of any occasions when Republicans could be said to have been “gracious losers”, however I can think of several Democrat ones.

              But as I said, I don’t get down into the weeds on such stuff – everyone has pretty fixed views, so there is little point to it.

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              • #
                Chad

                Tilba Tilba
                January 3, 2021 at 7:11 pm ·
                (1) I really am a centrist, without a dog in the fight, …..

                ……..I’ve been following US politics since Kennedy was nearly blowing up the world over Cuba,

                I think you just slipped off center there ….!

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            Lucky

            “..you can expect the Democrats to operate strictly according to the rules, the Act, and any other procedural guardrails that assist their cause.”

            Borne out by experience.
            When operating by the rules will give them a win, they follow the rules.
            When breaking rules gives a win, they will break rules.

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    MP

    Trumps plan to release the evidence on the 6th via the media, blackout time!
    Could this be The Donald’s way of showing the world the corruption in the media when they take this down.

    The RV blast that was not an RV blast, a little more on the happenings around the blast.
    https://www.bitchute.com/video/3X4C5jouYCGo/

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      Tilba Tilba

      Trumps plan to release the evidence on the 6th via the media, blackout time!

      Not sure about this strategy … I feel like it’s too little too late. Every Democrat (and almost certainly most Republicans) have decided how they will vote on every matter that could possibly come before them at the Joint Session.

      It’s no longer about reasoned argument – or even the court of public opinion – swaying receptive minds to a new point of view. It is now all about about raw power, and using the system to achieve your aims. It’s always been thus, really.

      Joe Biden has 306 votes in the bank … what could Donald Trump say to change that?

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      • #
        Peter C

        what could Donald Trump say to change that?

        A very important point.

        I admit that I do not know the answer. None the less he has not given up. Is it just obstinacy or does he have something? If he does it will have to be pretty persuasive!

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        • #
          Tilba Tilba

          Is it just obstinacy or does he have something? If he does it will have to be pretty persuasive!

          It’s theatre. I think every member of Team Trump has known they have lost for many weeks. It’s possibly about obstinacy, and a huge ego that has been bruised, but it’s also I expect about retaining the “we wuz robbed” position, and an undiminished influence over the base until 2022 … possibly even to 2024.

          Not sure why he does it – maybe the legal and financial threats coming at him after he steps down have him really worried. Who knows? People at this level think and act differently to us.

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    David Maddison

    Latest from Tony Heller.

    Note that due to censorship he has migrated from YouTube to NewTube.

    All conservatives and science rationalists should do the same (or migrate to other free speech video or social media platforms).

    “Hospitals In Britain Stretched to Capacity” by Tony Heller

    http://newtube.app/TonyHeller/wT8uHfr

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    David Maddison

    2019 was record hot and dry for Australia according to the Bureau of Mythology.

    http://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/2304/hottest-driest-year-on-record-led-to-extreme-bushfire-season/

    Hottest, driest year on record led to extreme bushfire season
    09 January 2020

    The Annual Climate Statement released today confirms 2019 was the nation’s warmest and driest year on record. It’s the first time since overlapping records began that Australia experienced both its lowest rainfall and highest temperatures in the same year.

    Go to link for the rest of the fairytale.

    I can’t wait to see what they make of 2020. I suppose all the public serpents at the BoM are still on holidays at the moment.

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    • #
      RickWill

      That all changed in 2020.

      D. Mackellar had it nailed by 1917. The rest is speculation based on biased academics paid to scare people..

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    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      So what was it then, if the BOM is not to be believed

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      • #
        RickWill

        Peter asked:

        So what was it then, if the BOM is not to be believed

        Believe Mackellar – she nailed it 103 years ago – that is all you need to know about the Australian climate – the tripe produced by the BoM is just that – tripe.

        Mackellar wrote-
        My love is otherwise.

        I love a sunburnt country,
        A land of sweeping plains,
        Of ragged mountain ranges,
        Of droughts and flooding rains.
        I love her far horizons,
        I love her jewel-sea,
        Her beauty and her terror
        The wide brown land for me!

        The stark white ring-barked forests,
        All tragic to the moon,
        The sapphire-misted mountains,
        The hot gold hush of noon,
        Green tangle of the brushes
        Where lithe lianas coil,
        And orchids deck the tree-tops,
        And ferns the warm dark soil.

        Core of my heart, my country!
        Her pitiless blue sky,
        When, sick at heart, around us
        We see the cattle die
        But then the grey clouds gather,
        And we can bless again
        The drumming of an army,
        The steady soaking rain.

        Core of my heart, my country!
        Land of the rainbow gold,
        For flood and fire and famine
        She pays us back threefold.
        Over the thirsty paddocks,
        Watch, after many days,
        The filmy veil of greenness
        That thickens as we gaze …

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          Peter Fitzroy

          Rick, thanks for that, so how do you use a poem to predict the weather?

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            yarpos

            good way to avoid the point, deflection meister

            empirical observation still valid after 100 years

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          • #
            RickWill

            Peter Asked

            Rick, thanks for that, so how do you use a poem to predict the weather?

            My mistake, I though the post was something to do with climate rather than weather. The poem covers the full gambit of the Australian climate and remains perfectly valid 103 years since it was penned.

            For weather, I look out the window. Sometimes I even test the conditions and venture outside. I live high on a hill that has a long horizon in the direction of most of the interesting weather. A quick look informs me if we can expect rain. If the trees are being moved by a northerly breeze then I can expect it to warm up as the day progresses unless I can see something on the southwest horizon. In that case I can expect cloud and possibly rain depending on the type of cloud. Simple really!

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            robert rosicka

            That’s not a poem Fitz it’s a 100 year repeating forecast of climate in Australia.

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            el gordo

            Jevons was the first to observe the cyclic nature of Australian climate, flood followed by drought and bushfires. ENSO is a major player for brief moments, a temperature control knob.

            This is a couple of years old, but it’ll help broaden your view of climate change.

            https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/04/26/the-60-year-oscillation-revisited/

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          tonyb

          I have always liked the apparently less well know ‘Said Hanrahan’ which was first published exactly 100 years ago so very much the same era as ‘Sunburnt country.’ I do think poetry and literature in general can teach us something about climate.

          Said Hanrahan
          “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
          In accents most forlorn,
          Outside the church, ere Mass began,
          One frosty Sunday morn.

          The congregation stood about,
          Coat-collars to the ears,
          And talked of stock, and crops, and drought,
          As it had done for years.

          “It’s looking crook,” said Daniel Croke;
          “Bedad, it’s cruke, me lad,
          For never since the banks went broke
          Has seasons been so bad.”

          “It’s dry, all right,” said young O’Neil,
          With which astute remark
          He squatted down upon his heel
          And chewed a piece of bark.

          And so around the chorus ran
          “It’s keepin’ dry, no doubt.”
          “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
          “Before the year is out.”

          “The crops are done; ye’ll have your work
          To save one bag of grain;
          From here way out to Back-o’-Bourke
          They’re singin’ out for rain.

          “They’re singin’ out for rain,” he said,
          “And all the tanks are dry.”
          The congregation scratched its head,
          And gazed around the sky.

          “There won’t be grass, in any case,
          Enough to feed an ass;
          There’s not a blade on Casey’s place
          As I came down to Mass.”

          “If rain don’t come this month,” said Dan,
          And cleared his throat to speak —
          “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
          “If rain don’t come this week.”

          A heavy silence seemed to steal
          On all at this remark;
          And each man squatted on his heel,
          And chewed a piece of bark.

          “We want an inch of rain, we do,”
          O’Neil observed at last;
          But Croke “maintained” we wanted two
          To put the danger past.

          “If we don’t get three inches, man,
          Or four to break this drought,
          We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
          “Before the year is out.”

          In God’s good time down came the rain;
          And all the afternoon
          On iron roof and window-pane
          It drummed a homely tune.

          And through the night it pattered still,
          And lightsome, gladsome elves
          On dripping spout and window-sill
          Kept talking to themselves.

          It pelted, pelted all day long,
          A-singing at its work,
          Till every heart took up the song
          Way out to Back-o’-Bourke.

          And every creek a banker ran,
          And dams filled overtop;
          “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
          “If this rain doesn’t stop.”

          And stop it did, in God’s good time;
          And spring came in to fold
          A mantle o’er the hills sublime
          Of green and pink and gold.

          And days went by on dancing feet,
          With harvest-hopes immense,
          And laughing eyes beheld the wheat
          Nid-nodding o’er the fence.

          And, oh, the smiles on every face,
          As happy lad and lass
          Through grass knee-deep on Casey’s place
          Went riding down to Mass.

          While round the church in clothes genteel
          Discoursed the men of mark,
          And each man squatted on his heel,
          And chewed his piece of bark.

          “There’ll be bush-fires for sure, me man,
          There will, without a doubt;
          We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
          “Before the year is out.”

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    New Chum

    Not too long ago WikiLeaks dumped a lot of files online and I have not noticed any comment on any of them and there is to be another dump soon.
    Here are the files if anyone is interested.
    https://file.wikileaks.org/file/

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    • #
      MP

      Tried a few but they won’t open. We do have global warming happening here at the moment, so maybe the satellite dish has frozen. I shall try latter.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Amazing article which includes some leaked material on the Mac Book. The author contends Joe Biden is either a buffoon or a liar. I vote both.

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/hunter-bidens-guilty-laptop/

    Hunter Biden’s Guilty Laptop

    The most charitable reading of the sleazy saga is that Joe Biden, one of the most powerful men in the world, is an incredibly gullible idiot.

    December 31, 2020

    12:01 am

    Peter Van Buren

    I read the files on Hunter Biden’s laptop. They paint a sleazy picture of multi-million dollar wire transfers, potential money laundering, and possible tax evasion. They raise serious questions about the judgment and propriety of Jim Biden, the president-elect’s brother, and Joe himself. Call it smoke not fire, but smoke that should not be ignored. The files were supplied to TAC by a known source previously established to have access.

    Joe Biden is lucky a coordinated media effort kept Hunter out of the campaign. The FBI has had the laptop since 2019, when they subpoenaed the files in connection with a money laundering investigation. Federal investigators also served a round of subpoenas on December 8, a month after the election, including one for Hunter Biden himself. While the legal thrust of the investigation by the federal prosecutor in Delaware is taxes, the real focus seems to be on Hunter’s Chinese connections. This all comes after the FBI has had over a year to examine some of the same files TAC looked at.

    In the final weeks before the election, Hunter’s laptop fell into Republican hands. The story went public in the New York Post, revealing that Hunter Biden introduced his father, then vice president, to a top executive at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company. The meeting is mentioned in a message of appreciation that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma, sent Hunter Biden about a year after Hunter himself joined the Burisma board at a salary of $83,000 a month with no obvious work duties past making such introductions.

    See link for rest.

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  • #
    greggg

    Ivermectin for long covid.

    ’33 adult patients with Persistent or Post-Acute Symptoms of COVID-19 were treated with Ivermectin. In 94% of the 33 patients, clinical improvement to some degree (partial or total) was observed after 2 doses of Ivermectin. Total improvement (without any symptoms) was observed in 87.9% of the patients after the 2 daily doses of Ivermectin. In 12.1% of patients whose symptoms had not been completely resolved after the first 2 doses, additional doses of Ivermectin treatment were administered according to the protocol, and total clinical resolution of symptoms was observed in 94% of cases.’

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344318845_POST-ACUTE_OR_PROLONGED_COVID-19_IVERMECTIN_TREATMENT_FOR_PATIENTS_WITH_PERSISTENT_SYMPTOMS_OR_POST-ACUTE

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      The trials of ivermectin are showing near 100% effectiveness. It is criminal not to be administering it and it would be unethical to do placebo controlled trials. No one should be deprived of this drug in the name of science. If you aren’t Mengele don’t deprive anyone.

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  • #
    Yarpos

    So here we are in January.

    Just had a dump of rain and hail that overflowed my tanks.

    Approaching mid summer and my tanks are overflowing; but dams wont refill apparently.

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    • #
      Annie

      It was a good lot wasn’t it? We couldn’t hear ourselves think and the poor dog was terrified. The metal roof exacerbates the noise. Tanks are overflowing, petunias knocked about and the paspalum is going great guns…needs another mow yet again!

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    Ken Davis

    Anyone care to help me with untangling US all cause mortality data? https://www.facebook.com/KenCDavis/posts/10218441752458335 – The CDC make it really hard to extract the data in a usable format ( they code by Season, week) but then sort by raw week number so it takes a bit of untangling to work out the actual time series, but I think I have done it. To me it looks like “it is no different to a bad flu” or “they would have died anyway” are not tenable positions. But it is also clear it is not the Spanish Flu or the plague.

    10

    • #
      Kalm Keith

      Had the same trouble trying to get the British figures.

      Gave up. Obviously those managing the data have something to hide.

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    • #
      MP

      Same with Aus, you can get their trends but I can’t find the data. Same with the covid.

      The who Flunet gives Flu by week in all countries https://apps.who.int/flumart/Default?ReportNo=12

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    • #
      Serp

      If the figures on excess deaths confirmed their hysteria rest assured we’d have it on Page One every day ad nauseam; in the main we’re told lies called truth to protect us from facts as Joe had it in one of his occasional honest interludes.

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    Another Ian

    I just finisher our 2020 record

    Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

    53.5 200 67.5 3 22.5 10.5 11 21.5 20 25 5.5 63

    I think everything from the ground up here would have preferred that homogenised

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    Carbon500

    The media domination of the global doomsday narrative continues, with the same old tired tales regurgitated relentlessly – as exemplified by the BBC:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24021772

    The major websites questioning in various ways the ‘dangerous climate change, we’re to blame’ dogma (as far as I see it) are Jo Nova, Watts up with That, Roy Spencer, and Not a Lot of People Know That, plus the Global Warming Policy Foundation.
    Hardly internet ‘click bait’ titles, are they?
    Not, I suggest, the first place a member of the public might go to.
    In my view, the sceptical side needs to get its act together. Grouchy posts on a website don’t achieve anything – people just argue amongst themselves time and again.
    How about ‘Climate Lies’ as a good click bait title?
    Present all of the tired propaganda, and counter it with referenced facts which anyone can look up – but don’t let the public comment on it. On no account let the trolls in, just stick to the facts.
    The power of the internet needs to be harnessed, and in my view it isn’t happening.

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  • #
    Chad

    Random Question…..
    Why do the rear view camera’s fitted to cars for reversing…..”MIRROR” the image rather than just act as a camera ?
    Try reading the rego plate on the vehicle behind you next time you parallel park in the street !

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    Annie

    We decided to watch Dr Zhivago this evening; the first half anyway. The music is wonderful (Mauurice Jarre) and the story sobering in view of where things seem to be heading nowadays.
    One thing always amuses me though; their faces remain so clean on the long frightful journey to Yuryatin.

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    • #
      RicDre

      “We decided to watch Dr We decided to watch Dr Zhivago this evening this evening…”

      You’ve motivated me to pull out my copy and watch it again. It is rather long (my original copy was on VCR cassette and it took two full cassettes). It also contains a couple of “The making of” specials which are also interesting. I remember reading that when it was first released in Russia the Russians were rather amused at the understated reaction of Laura and Dr. Zhivago when they are reunited after their long separation; the Russians thought their reactions should have been a bit more, um, animated.

      30

      • #
        Annie

        I re-read the novel every so often. Its ending is rather different from the adaptation for the film. The same sort of thing that altered the end of Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. I was living in Cyprus when I first heard Mikis Theodorakis’ music for the film and was besotted with it. There was a cocert by Theodorakis in Cyprus that year and I managed to go to it with a friend. All a rather long time ago…

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        • #
          RicDre

          When I first started working (a long time ago) I joined a book club and Dr. Zhivago was one of the first books I bought. It’s been a very long time since I read the book, I’m sure I still have it, I’ll have to pull it out and re-read it as I’ve forgotten how the original story ends.

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  • #
    Hanrahan

    Biden has no sense of decency, no understanding of irony, sarcasm goes over his head and without double standards he would have none BUT he, or his handlers, understand humiliation.

    A twitter storm suggests that his inauguration parade on the 21st has been cancelled – The stands are being pulled down.

    Tell us the truth for once in your life Joe: You know that there would be 100 times more Trump supporters than democrats heckling you in full voice, unafraid of the Rona, wanting their country back.

    Americans should send him a white feather.

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  • #
    Another Ian

    The way things go.

    Wife and one son have to get to our regional airport for a plane today. Due to a new Toyota radiator splitting the seam of a tube and dumping the coolant we have a sick Landcruiser held together by hope and Chemi-Weld. We got a new radiator but nothing re the engine. Seems despite the millions that Toyota spend telling you hoe reliable their gear is the cooling system warrenty is straight Henry Ford – check before driving and watch for steam. Just like the Model T. And it is the only vehicle with plates ATM.

    Alternative is a Mooney 201 on a wet airstrip from 32mm this morning. And we needed that rain. So reminds me of Stan Tixier’s punch line here

    Welcome Rain

    A cowboy and an Eastern dude,
    A most unlikely pair,
    Were flyin’ ‘cross the country.
    Assigned, by chance, to share
    The last two seats in tourist class
    On some big jet airplane,
    The conversation that they had
    Was mostly ’bout the RAIN.

    It’d been a pourin’ steadily
    For several days or so,
    Across a bunch of western states.
    And in New Mexico
    Where they were headin’ on their fight
    Most every pond and tank
    Was full, the creeks and rivers there
    Were runnin’ bank to bank.

    The dude had come to play some golf
    And tennis, don’t you know,
    The cowboy, to participate
    In some big rodeo.
    So each one was affected by
    Excess precipitation,
    And neither of ’em could adjust
    A pre-made reservation.

    The Eastern dude was most perturbed,
    And anxious to complain
    How his vacation would be spoiled
    By that confounded rain.
    He fumed and fussed and swore a lot
    And said it wasn’t fair;
    They’d advertised a desert
    And now a swamp was there.

    The cowboy’d be impacted too
    By breaks that he’d been given,
    ‘Cause ropin’ in arenas dry
    Was how he made his livin’.
    Yet he seemed sorta’ unconcerned,
    Not tryin’ to be rude,
    He set out to explain some facts
    To that frustrated dude.

    He said, “You ought to understand
    This country’s mostly dry.
    We need this moisture to survive;
    There’s lots of reasons why.
    So mister, don’t get too upset;
    Let’s try to be more lenient,
    ‘Cause RAIN is always welcome here,
    But seldom is convenient!”

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      Unless you had a coolant alarm on the yoda the motor is more than likely RS Another Ian .
      Just curious as to what model it was because I was thinking of getting a new cruiser in the not too distant future .

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      • #
        Another Ian

        Took out the Toyota temp gauge. We have an alarm now – Engine watchdog with back-up temp gauge.

        1998 HZJ 70 series. Iron head. Reportedly more resistant to this than later alloy head ones. Still runs, no shiny bits in the oil filter but blowing gas – reduced by Chemi-Weld but not stopped. Could be head gasket or a cracked head but new to us motor due to be fitted.

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      Chad

      #
      Another Ian
      January 4, 2021 at 8:46 am ·

      ……. Due to a new Toyota radiator splitting the seam of a tube and dumping the coolant we have a sick Landcruiser held together by hope and Chemi-Weld. We got a new radiator butnothing re the engine

      …how “New” is the Cruiser ?……still in Warranty ?
      Even if not, Australian consumer laws can protect you against defective or “unfit for purpose” components and whole vehicles, out of warranty.

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      • #
        Chad

        PS…. i understand bushies are emotionally attached to their Toyotas,…… but try to be rational.
        Toyota customer service have been complete A’holes over the Diesel DPF failures on recent vehicles..denying the problem , then implimenting fake fixes, and rip off replacement costs.
        It took a Group legal action to get any compensation
        For the price you pay for these Cruisers, you should expect better Customer Service.

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      Kalm Keith

      Ian: good illustration of mask function.

      They have been a good moneyspinner though, and that’s the main issue.

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    Mike Jonas

    Jo – There’s an odd pattern in the numbers as in the article. I plotted how many dumps had Biden’s % share in ranges …

    … and the overall pattern was like a bell curve peaking in the 75-80% band, but there was a second peak in the 60-65% band. The sample is very small, so maybe the pattern is not significant, but I would have expected something more like a single bell curve. [In the chart, the X-axis is Biden % of a dump, Y-axis is number of dumps]

    Biden% Count
    55%-60% 2
    60%-65% 5
    65%-70% 2
    70%-75% 3
    75%-80% 5
    80%-85% 3
    85%-90% 2
    90%-95% 1
    95%-100% 2

    Apologies if someone has already pointed this out.

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  • #
    el gordo

    The MSM is now fairly comfortable in acknowledging that UFO are no laughing matter. Senator Rubio has his fingerprints all over the Intelligence Authorisation Act, particularly in relation to Advanced Aerial Threats.

    Essentially he wants better coordination among all the agencies, so that the government can work out what to make of the phenomenon.

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    • #
      el gordo

      …. also they want to release what they know, full disclosure, but Donald baulks at the prospect.

      ‘So if Trump indeed vetoes the NDAA and the House and Senate can’t produce a new version before the deadline, it’s back to square one—and the public will have to wait even longer for the much-anticipated disclosure of UAP secrets.’ (Popular Mechanics)

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    robert rosicka

    I could be wrong but didn’t Trump mention UV light as a possible way to kill the Wuhan flu , but was shot down in flames by the likes of the ABC.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-04/coronavirus-uv-light-research-to-be-trialled-in-aged-care/13029358

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    CHRIS

    MWP…LIA…Up and down, just like any normal climate change in-between Ice Ages. At present it is very slightly ‘up’, due to the Ten Commandments of St Greta of Thunberg and the Church of Climatology. Now that the cooling process has started, let’s see how Greta and the Green Slime explain it LOL

    00