Thursday Open Thread

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270 comments to Thursday Open Thread

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    OldOzzie

    Zombie Economics and the Japan Disease Reconsidered

    It is now clear that the culprit in Japan’s economic stagnation over the past three decades is zombies. Japan’s government accumulated massive debt attempting to jumpstart its economy, and the Bank of Japan supported that effort with unconventional monetary policies, including the purchase of public and private bonds and securities, and financial repression to push inflation-adjusted interest rates below zero.

    The macroeconomic policies designed to promote private investment created generations of zombie enterprises. Zombie firms are inefficient and unprofitable enterprises that rely on direct transfers and subsidized loans to avoid bankruptcy.

    Weak banks with nonperforming loans find it cheaper to roll over or “evergreen” these loans through government subsidies and guarantees. Without zombie lending, those firms would default on their debt, and either restructure or shut down. The impact of such zombification is retention of resources by inefficient firms rather than allowing them to move to more efficient uses.

    The Japan disease has now spread to other developed countries, including the United States. The U.S. government responded to the 2008-09 financial crisis, and now the coronavirus pandemic, with massive fiscal stimulus policies. As a result, the United States has joined Japan as one of the most indebted nations in the world.

    The Federal Reserve has followed the lead of the Bank of Japan with accommodative monetary policies. The Fed is now committed to continue purchasing public and private bonds and securities, and to financial repression to hold interest rates close to zero. A growing share of U.S. firms are now classified as zombies. As in Japan, those firms rely on federal grants and subsidized loans to avoid default and bankruptcy.

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      Dave in the States

      One of the great free market economist was Japanese. Takahashi Korekiyo was his name. Takahashi often gets compared to Keynes because he would use massive government spending to jump start the economy if needed. First he did this in 1918 to alleviate a rice famine. He also got Japan out of the Great Depression years earlier than any other nation by using fiscal policy (deficit spending and reduced taxes) to grow the economy. Takahashi also took Japan off the gold standard, because with the USD and the GBP tanking it would be impossible with a relative strong Yen to sell Japanese exports or for Japanese products to compete with imports on the domestic market. According to IMF data, Japan’s industrial output increased 62% during the heart of the Great Depression.

      But there was a big difference between Keynes or even Abe-onomics recently, and Takahashi. After the fiscal policy had served its purpose, Takahashi did increase taxes to pay down the debt. Instead he reduced government. He knew with higher taxes it would just go towards growing government. Instead, he proved that the increased economic growth by lower taxation would increase revenue paying down debt sooner.

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    OldOzzie

    Liberal MPs line up to back quotas for women

    A record number of federal Liberal MPs say the party must consider quotas to boost female representation, after weeks of sexual assault allegations and misbehaviour against women forced the party’s leadership to publicly declare its support.

    The Australian has spoken to a dozen Liberal backbenchers who said quotas must be on the table, joining Scott Morrison and cabinet ministers including Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Health Minister Greg Hunt, Environment Minister Sussan Ley, Industry Minister Karen Andrews, Education Minister Alan Tudge, Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price and Financial Services Minister Jane Hume.

    Victorian Liberal senator Sarah Henderson, who lost her seat of Corangamite at the 2019 election, said just six of the party’s 39 safe or reasonably safe seats (15 per cent) were held by women and there was 26 per cent female representation at a federal level. “That is not good enough and strong action is required, in particular to ensure more women are preselected in safe seats,” she said.

    From the Comments

    Angry Victorian

    48 minutes ago
    Wouldn’t it be easier if some of the male MP’s decided to identify as female – problem solved.

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      OldOzzie

      Not The Onion: Bill Clinton To Host Chat With Kamala Harris On “Empowering Women”

      The choice of Bill Clinton, a serial ad@lterer and accused r#pist, to be part of this conversation stoked mockery:

      There are 7 billion people on Earth and they couldn’t find literally anyone else to talk about empowering women with than Bill Clinton? https://t.co/p1RBVaQm0g
      — Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 23, 2021

      Noted champion of women and girls Bill Clinton https://t.co/iIPHHMPIFt
      — Krystal Ball (@krystalball) March 23, 2021

      Followed by Harvey Wienstein discussing women in the workplace.
      — 10×10 (@oceansofspace) March 23, 2021

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      RicDre

      Reports: Australian Lawmakers Used Parliament Prayer Room for ‘a Lot of Sex’

      Australian government officials fired an Parliament staff member Monday after photographs and videos appearing to show legislators performing sex acts inside Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra were leaked to Australian media outlets.

      The photos and videos were allegedly taken in 2019 but recently leaked to the Australian newspaper and Australia’s Network 10 news which published the images on March 23.

      Other images were so lewd that Australian network television refused to air them in a TV broadcast of the report Monday evening.

      https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2021/03/24/reports-australian-lawmakers-used-parliament-prayer-room-lot-sex/

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      Ronin

      More women in parliament via a quota isn’t going to cure the problem, more women = more problems, just raise the minimum age to 40, that should slow the funny business down a tad.

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        TdeF

        The whole myth of equality is silly. Jordan Peterson was brilliant in explaining this. Few women want the pressures, lifestyle, isolation and abuse of politics. That is sensible. To insist on some crazy notion of compulsory equal numbers because everyone is the same belies the fact that many women are smarter and choose to stay out of the artificial existence which is politics and the artificial city which is Canberra. Ditto boardrooms. In fact Australia is populated with migrants who saw what politics did to their countries, which is why the vote is compulsory in Australia. Otherwise no one would.

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          So we have a parliament which excludes 50% of the population by being unfriendly to them. So instead of changing the workplace to make it inclusive, just accept it and be grateful that it excludes women.

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            TdeF

            What utter nonsense, a strawman set of statements, deliberately misleading and itself abusive.

            When did anyone exclude women? That has been illegal for a very long time. Equality under the law and in the workplace is fact. People have choices.

            Equality is not identicality and cannot be made so by passing laws, gender being the popular action front of today, men wanting to become legally women and all the other genders now invented for only one species of animal. Nor is affirmative action for pygmies in basketball as it is heightist. I remember the Goodies spoof on South Africa, a caste system based on height. They called it Apartheight.

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              Few women want the pressures, lifestyle, isolation and abuse of politics. That is sensible.

              you started it.

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                TdeF

                Again deliberately misreading.

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                Greg Cavanagh

                He is saying that everybody has a choice. And women predominantly choose not to be politicians. How is that such a challenge for you Gee?

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                Ted1

                I have watched and worked as women I deemed good candidates failed to get elected.

                The explanation had to be that when they get to the secret ballot box, a lot of women don’t trust women.

                This may apply more on the conservative side of politics than the left, though perhaps the left hide it with rigged quotas.

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                GA, politics is a high pressure risky profession, yes?

                Would the bell curves for female/male risk taking, and comfort with open, and sometimes hostile competition be identical? Same mean, same SD?

                Think about it.

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                you really haven’t understood what has been happening have you?

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        Chad

        ….. just raise the minimum age to 40, that should slow the funny business down a tad.

        Ha !…..do you think so ?
        If so, You dont understand how low some of our Pollies will go !
        ……… And then there could be the “Cougar” effect !!

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        TdeF

        It would be really good and a return to tradition for all politicians to have to have a job other than politics first. Joe Biden went straight into politics. As do so many like Daniel Andrews and Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese (He joined the Labor Party as a student, and before entering parliament worked as a party official and research officer)

        We are led by people, often party hacks who have never had a job. And lawyers.

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          Gf

          TdeF, the same should be for all public servants, along with term limits for politicians and the top 10% of unelected public servants who really stuff the place up.

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            TdeF

            In a way, we have adopted that skill set first approach even to medicine. At Melbourne University you now have to finish a Science degree first. That addresses a whole lot of problems with people going into medicine with no idea whether they really like to be around sick people. And to give them some perspectives and skills outside medicine and objectivity from views other than doctor and patient.

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              Gf

              It would also mean with polies and public servant heads they wouldn’t need such huge pensions ect..because they have their previous skills to return to. We may even get people that are not just using us as a stepping stone to the UN and pushing UN policies on us.

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                TdeF

                It was the huge attraction of Donald Trump.

                Not only was he not part of the swamp, he was not beholden to them and knew how to run a big organization. No wonder so many Americans loved him. And no wonder so many people inside the system hate him. And the rich outsiders who manipulate public opinion and buy votes, literally.

                It was the odd result, that workers, miners, farmers, business people were attracted to his America first policies and voted for him in record numbers, because that was what they thought America was about. Especially black Americans and Hispanics. He was the first President who understood the level of violence and poverty in their lives. And he wanted to end it. The Democrats do not care. They can have all the taxpayer abortion they want and they can burn down their own neighbourhoods.

                Not the world’s policeman and the one who sent young people to die for far away causes of no particular relevance. Who else would do that?

                He was up against America’s entire media who hate outsiders. And he gave his wages away, but it was almost never mentioned. He could not be bought. It was refreshing. And the enemies of America are many, despite the incredible generosity of the country for a century. And they had contempt for Trump, because he was not one of them.

                Now how did Biden and friends get to be millionaires. He was a lawyer senator on $150,000 a year and never had a real job. Now he is on $400,000 a year. And his family are rich. Please explain.

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                Jojodogfacedboy

                Lobbyists using their wealth to game the system in their favor.
                Politicians are bought and paid for while the laws imposed bleed you dry.

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          Russ Wood

          Ref to 2.4.3 – Very true of South African politics. Virtually all SA politicians, national or local, have NEVER had any job other than politics. In fact, one ANC woman politician got so fed up that she left Parliament to return to her job as a doctor, and making a lot of fuss about how few other politicians had ever worked in their lives!

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      Chad

      Wouldn’t it be easier if some of the male MP’s decided to identify as female –

      They may as well,…
      ….some of them already behave like old women in debates !

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        Tilba Tilba

        They may as well,…
        ….some of them already behave like old women in debates !

        Rather an insult of old women. Most old women I have known have been kind, respectful, smart, and very analytical and practical.

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          TdeF

          Agreed but I am sure he is talking in stereotypes and stereotypes are useful. But that is not allowed now. Everyone is a victim. It is a view easy to adopt.

          Now even in Dr. Suess, stereotypes are either racially offensive or cultural appropriation. Chinese people do not wear long gowns and wear bamboo hats and carry chopsticks, but I think Dr. Suess meant well. And black face was just entertainment, a backhand compliment to the amazing black church choirs. Coon was a cheese. And a golden gaytime was an icecream.

          Everything now offends, we are told. Especially those funny crows on the wire in Dumbo. A peanut stand, a rubber band and a needle that winked its eye. It was a great tip of the hat to black singers, dancers and comedians. Now angry people are revisiting history, looking for offence.

          As James Delingpole wrote, if you think Churchill was a racist, you should see the bloke he beat.

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            Tilba Tilba

            Agreed but I am sure he is talking in stereotypes and stereotypes are useful. But that is not allowed now. Everyone is a victim. It is a view easy to adopt.

            Aw diddums … they’ve taken away your right to throw stereotypes around with gay abandon. You wouldn’t be a white, hetero male … middle aged and middle class, would you?

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              James Murphy

              Oh the irony of that statement…

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              OldOzzie

              Calls to make renowned Golden Gaytime vegan after demand to change ‘offensive’ name

              Just days after a member of the LGBTQIA+ demanded the Golden Gaytime be renamed, the iconic Australian ice cream is facing another challenge.

              A new petition, launched just hours ago on Change.org, is calling for the sweet treat to be made vegan.

              Created by a man named Dan Moore, the campaign is requesting its maker introduce a vegan alternative.

              “Don’t change the name Golden Gaytime, make it vegan,” the post reads.

              “It (name) is not offensive to the LGBT+ community.”

              It has only gathered about 50 signatures so far but some respondents agree “Gaytime must stay Gaytime” but it “needs to be vegan”.

              “Let’s have a vegan Gaytime option,” one punter said.

              Another noted: “I’m gay and vegan … I agree with everything this petition is asking for.”

              On Wednesday it was revealed an Australian man, known only as Brian Mc, launched the petition online earlier in the month and went to war with ice-cream giant Streets and its parent company Unilever about the ice-cream’s name, which he argued was offensive to the gay community.

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                Tilba Tilba

                Just days after a member of the LGBTQIA+ demanded the Golden Gaytime be renamed, the iconic Australian ice cream is facing another challenge.

                We live in a weird world … it seems when a complaint is made against – anything really – if the complainant can establish virtue or victim status, or even if they cannot, the company or institution will cave.

                It seems to me that a minority (or even just one individual) can achieve change, without consultation with (presumably) the vast majority.

                There are degrees of this, with exceptions and nuances. For example, it’s not just Black Americans who are offended by the n-word … the vast majority of all people would find it so.

                Same with Indigenous People here in Oz – in most cases I’m willing to take guidance from Indigenous spokespeople on how they would like stuff dealt with, and what is offensive. Again, most White Australians will generally agree.

                On a large travel forum I wrote on for many years, I used the term Seppo for many years, as a friendly, slightly disparaging term for our American cousins across the big pond. Then there was one complaint, and without discussion it was banned. People got a bit antsy, but to no avail.

                Words like “Pom” and “wog” have gone through similar censorship mazes.

                Maybe someone could explain what being vegan has to do with the name “Gaytime” … and are all non-gay uses of the word “gay” now offensive?

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              Kalm Keith

              New research by emeritus professor E Bo Dalla at the UNIPCCC laboratories in Manhattan have found two distinct forms of the virus with easily identifiable characteristics. Further testing overnight showed that the virus was reproducing with definite sexual processes.

              The male virus was identifiable by the characteristic “spike” notably absent on the female.

              Professor Bo Dalla is hopeful that the reproductive process may be inhibited if a suitable means of enclosing the spike can be devised.

              KK

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            Deano

            “Agreed but I am sure he is talking in stereotypes and stereotypes are useful. But that is not allowed now. Everyone is a victim. It is a view easy to adopt.”

            – So there IS someone else on this planet that agrees with me on stereotypes.
            I think we resort to stereotypes because most of the time, they’re accurate. Imagine having to assess every new person you meet without using any judgements based on experience. It would be as silly as traveling to the same home every night for 40 years having to use a map to know where to go.

            Of course, the people who criticize the use of stereotypes use stereotypes just as frequently – except that the stereotypes they use are carefully omitted from the list of things to be outraged about.

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              Tilba Tilba

              Of course, the people who criticize the use of stereotypes use stereotypes just as frequently – except that the stereotypes they use are carefully omitted from the list of things to be outraged about.

              Do you have any data to support these assertions?

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                Deano

                No. But neither can I offer the names of 50 million people who died in World War Two. In fact, I could hardly offer more than half a dozen names. But that doesn’t prove that only 6 about people died in WW2.

                Your argument is silly.

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      Deano

      One problem with installing female candidates to meet quotas is that once you eliminate ‘rusted-on’ voters, many female voters (particularly older ones) seem to prefer to elect male representatives.

      How far do they want to take this forced ‘equality of outcomes’ nonsense? Entire electorates could be charged with discrimination for electing a male. Ironically even voters who voted for the female candidate would be punished simply for being a voter in that seat. Quite fair too, as men are currently assumed to be guilty of sexual harassment simply for being the same gender as an offender.

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    RossP

    Interesting article from electroverse

    https://electroverse.net/denver-forecast-to-break-1891-snowfall-record-as-wintry-storms-threaten-north-america/

    “The COLD TIMES are returning, the mid-latitudes are REFREEZING in line with the great conjunction, historically low solar activity, cloud-nucleating Cosmic Rays, and a meridional jet stream flow (among other forcings).

    Both NOAA and NASA appear to agree, if you read between the lines, with NOAA saying we’re entering a ‘full-blown’ Grand Solar Minimum in the late-2020s, and NASA seeing this upcoming solar cycle (25) as “the weakest of the past 200 years”, with the agency correlating previous solar shutdowns to prolonged periods of global cooling here.”

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      TdeF

      All that as plotted by Prof Weiss (see 15:50) is well known, anticipated and fits the elaborate two cycle only pattern of solar activity and ocean oscillation of the last 250 years. Except people think carbon dioxide controls the temperature. They are wrong.

      My pet anticipation is when the anti Carbon lobby starts to blame the rapid cooling on carbon dioxide and the industrial revolution. So we will have Global Warming followed by Global Cooling, all a product of Climate Change and entirely caused by the sixth element of the periodic table. Who needs real science when you have Green science?

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        TdeF

        With “NOAA saying we’re entering a ‘full-blown’ Grand Solar Minimum in the late-2020s, and NASA seeing this upcoming solar cycle (25) as “the weakest of the past 200 years”, why are the UN/EU/IPCC/Democrats/Greens allegedly trying to reduce CO2?

        We will need a lot more CO2 to stay warm.

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        el gordo

        What is ND?

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            el gordo

            Right, global cooling began in December 2020 and in my book he is safely home.

            Mathematically knowing the behaviour of the ocean oscillations requires intuition as well. For example, the AMO has been lingering in its positive phase and global cooling won’t happen until it goes negative.

            Solar forcing might not be the only driver of earthly weather.

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            Kalm Keith

            A very interesting flashback.
            Human nature, on display.

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            Simon

            It’s funny how the global cooling is always just about to start and then it never happens.

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              el gordo

              Natural climate change is dependent on a number of variables to click into place and like astrology its an inexact science, After the last big La Nina the pundits assumed it was on, but the IPO unexpectedly returned to neutral for another decade.

              This time around the AMO should drift into neutral along with a cool IPO, so the hiatus will continue. Remember Cook’s escalator, this is now going down step by step.

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                Peter Fitzroy

                Natural yes, but this is not that

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                el gordo

                If NASA and NOAA are in agreement that the sun is going to remain quiet for another cycle then I’m inclined to believe them.

                CO2 has no part to play in global cooling, the ocean oscillations and meandering jet streams are the major determinants. Its only natural.

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              Simon

              It’s as if there is some other forcing not considered by the sunspot modellers.

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                el gordo

                The length of the solar cycle is important, short means warm and long is cool, but this has to be over a couple of cycles or it might not have any impact.

                You are suggesting CO2 is a forcing, but I have discounted that theory as irrational. The other forcing has to do with internal dynamics, what do you know of the Indo Pacific Warm Pool? Hot water on tap and it never turns off.

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              It’s funny how a climate crisis has been “coming” for 64 years, since Roger Revelle in 1957, and it never happens.

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              Tilba Tilba

              The world’s ten hottest years have been since 2005, but just wait, any day now we’re going to get the BIG COOL … I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re ice-skating on the Yarra!

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                el gordo

                Tilba the modern climate optimum is over, but there won’t be ice skating on the Yarra. Do yourself a favour and think outside the square, global cooling signals are everywhere if you care to open your eyes.

                Where is your global warming signal in March 2021?

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                Tilba Tilba

                Do yourself a favour and think outside the square, global cooling signals are everywhere if you care to open your eyes.

                Yeah well … I’m more impressed by data and stats than weather events. Sometimes people make anti-global warming predictions on the strength of one year – sometimes just on the basis of one unseasonal cold snap. People went ballistic even on this forum after the recent Texas event.

                So thanks all the same, I’ll rely on the longer-term data – like the ten hottest years have occurred in the last twenty.

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                el gordo

                ‘I’ll rely on the longer-term data …’

                Now that is funny, have you heard of the 60 year cycle? I can take you on a journey back to the time of Christ.

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                el gordo

                The USA summer weather forecast, its going to be hot.

                ‘NOAA/CPC issued new long-lead probabilistic climate forecasts. Of interest, is the summertime outlook. The temperature probability forecast indicates above normal risk of anomalous warmth for all states during JUN/JUL/AUG 2021 with highest risk across the Southwest States.’ (Climate Impact Company)

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            el gordo

            Leaf the initial prediction by David Evans was that it should happen before 2022 or its a failed hypothesis, so we are on track.

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              Andrew McRae

              D.E. said:

              If the prediction of a sustained and significant cooling from about 2017 comes true, it will put the icing on the cake. If it proves wrong, well too bad, it was a plausible theory that fits the evidence at this stage.

              Unfortunately he did not say over what time period the trend had to be measured.
              The evidence to date is that 2016 was a local peak.
              This peak was due mainly to a very strong El Nino.

              Based on Ben Santer’s standard of 17 years you cannot make conclusions on the 5 years now logged and I think it is not safe to say the prediction is “on track” until at least 9 years into it.

              That’s always been the hassle with testing predictions of climate change. The only planet we’ve got to measure generates 1/30th of a climate data point per year.

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      Deano

      Should world temperatures start cooling to the point where even Dr Karl has to acknowledge it (ie. the Pacific Ocean is frozen solid) then they’ll claim it’s because of Tesla cars.

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        DOC

        Pelosi was looking into this question before the last election. Even declared the question on TV.
        Specifically, she stated she wasn’t aiming at Trump. That really only left Biden as the contender and the one she was ‘concerned’ about. I believe it was in the context of removing a President unable to function due to health constraints.

        I mentioned the event at the time. Was surprised the matter was allowed to just hang in the air with no msm taking her up on her musings , as far as I’m aware. I’m still amazed about it. In any normal time, Biden and the Democrats would have been dead in the water from putting up a questionably and already allegedly mentally incompetent candidate as President.

        Currently, the planning behind the Democrat campaign appears to have been malevolently perfect in-so-far as taking control of the USA systems and turning it on its head. They have two years of umrestrained power to do as they will. They have control of the Presidential signature and this has allowed them to virtually reverse all Trump’s good work with record numbers of Presidential decrees, in probably record time. One gets the feeling that the planned Harris take-over from Joe will soon be at hand once Joe’s work is done. That shouldn’t take long with Nancy well ahead of the curve.

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          Tilba Tilba

          I mentioned the event at the time. Was surprised the matter was allowed to just hang in the air with no msm taking her up on her musings , as far as I’m aware. I’m still amazed about it. In any normal time, Biden and the Democrats would have been dead in the water from putting up a questionably and already allegedly mentally incompetent candidate as President.

          Without wishing to be unkind, it might just reflect how deeply unpopular Trump was as president, and that about 55% didn’t want him around for another term.

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    TedM

    On Tuesday open thread “Gee aye” commented the following.
    So Sidney Powell has submitted defense papers to the court asking the judge to dismiss the case using the argument
    “No reasonable person would believe” [Her dominion conspiracy theories] “were statements of fact”
    I think she might be onto something.

    Here is the full statement made by Sidney Powell’s lawyers, not Sidney Powell. As reported by the Epoch Times.

    “Reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact but view them only as claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process”, her lawyers said in a motion filed on March 22nd.

    Note the difference.

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      TedM

      <Here is more of that statement made by her lawyers.

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      https://t.me/s/SidneyPowell

      Sidney Powells Telegram has the Epoch Times link to your quote.
      Kindly shared on some days ago, a top resource

      Keep up the fight against Fake News and Fake Misunderstandings!!

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      Simon

      Jo and most commenters here accepted Sidney’s statements as fact. Therefore they are not reasonable people 🙂

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      Tilba Tilba

      From Sidney Powell lawyer:

      As the DC Circuit re-affirmed just last week, there is no claim for defamation when the alleged “defamatory” statement is a legal opinion. Ms. Powell’s statements fall precisely into this category. Ms. Powell reviewed […] corroborated evidence concerning the election which Ms Powell filed with the courts and shared publicly.

      I am not a lawyer, however it sounds reasonable on its face that court submissions can’t be subject to a defamation claim. But I also think the statement is furious spin, because Ms Powell basically convicted herself in the court, claiming that “no reasonable person” could possibly believe what I was saying in my opinions.

      And she also “shared it publicly” – which might give Dominion more than enough ammunition to press its claim – reputational damage and future earnings are the issue here.

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        The pubic statements that came out of her mouth, even if the same as legal depositions (which they actually aren’t), are separate from them. They can be defamatory in that context even if the legal submissions are not in their context.

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          Tilba Tilba

          Sidney Powell’s position is illogical and untenable. She stirred the possum with alacrity for months – and while it was complete horseradish of course, she cannot now claim – having slagged Dominion from Las Beijing to Atlanta to Frankfurt – that it was all so obviously false that no reasonable person could possibly have believed it.

          A lot of very unreasonable ones did – and they stormed the US Capitol. LOL.

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      Peter C

      Note the difference?

      Well I can see the difference but it might be too hard for the professor, especially if he is at the ANU!

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    OldOzzie

    Experience: I was a bartender in Antarctica

    It was pretty much a given that anyone who had applied for a job on the base was trying to escape something. In Alcoholics Anonymous parlance, it’s known as “pulling a geographic”. The hope is that by being somewhere else, your existing problems won’t apply any more. Sometimes that’s true, but I saw a lot of people at the end of the world with nowhere left to run.

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      OldOzzie

      The Perils and Pleasures of Bartending in Antarctica

      At the South Pole, the freezer is just a hole in the wall to the ice outside.

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        TdeF

        When I was in Colorado for -40C every day, my freezer was far warmer than outside. And I wondered how much energy was being wasted running refrigerators as warming devices. A bottle of wine shattered on the floor of the car in a slippery dangerous ten minute drive home.

        Summer was even worse, +40C every day and higher at night. That’s wonderful Colorado, dead flat at 6,000 feet. And we are told to worry about the impact of 1.5C, the end of the world apparently.

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          Tilba Tilba

          When I was in Colorado for -40C every day, my freezer was far warmer than outside. […] Summer was even worse, +40C every day and higher at night (?).

          Where were you in Colorado to have such extremes? In general Colorado is overall much milder than that.

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            kevin kilty

            Colorado in its southeast corner is very hot in the summer, North Park and Antero reservoir region are exceptionally cold in winter. Think about the effect of elevation.

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              williamx

              Kevin,

              To ask someone whom is driven by ideology to…. think….
              imho, it won’t happen, It is anathema to them.
              In my experience, they blindly follow their rule book.
              As I did, when I was a former Marxist.

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          Wet Mountains

          Now that is interesting. Not being that familiar with Celsius temperatures and living in Colorful Colorado, I went to my handy dandy conversion program to see what -40C was in Fahrenheit. It is -40F. I own some acreage at 8,500 Ft. (2,590.8 M). I record extreme high and low temperatures there and have only seen -37F in 25 years. So, -40 is completely realistic. Different world at those low temperatures.

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      • #
        another ian

        In my experience there are two significant differences between a dust storm and a snow storm:-

        1. The snow storm is much cleaner

        2. It does a much better job of keeping the beer cold

        130

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    If atmospheric carbon (sic) means severe bushfire seasons are becoming more frequent …

    https://theconversation.com/its-12-months-since-the-last-bushfire-season-began-but-dont-expect-the-same-this-year-139757

    … and floods are to become more frequent and intense …

    https://theconversation.com/yes-australia-is-a-land-of-flooding-rains-but-climate-change-could-be-making-it-worse-157586

    … will “the number of heavy snowfall events has remained unchanged” in a more frequently burning/flooded planet?

    “Analysis of daily snowfall data from the major Victorian ski resorts suggests that while the average number of days in which snow accumulates has declined since the 1990s, the number of heavy snowfall events has remained unchanged.

    https://theconversation.com/snow-at-the-footy-just-how-unusual-was-last-weekends-weather-121802

    >> We’re gonna need a bigger calendar.

    … and which heating system should I invest in in a ‘warming world?

    https://theconversation.com/after-the-vicious-cold-snap-here-are-our-tips-to-warm-up-while-keeping-your-environmental-footprint-down-143458

    The Conversation. What a joke.

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    • #
      tom0mason

      Maybe Travis they should look at https://twitter.com/Kenneth72712993 where he show an image from a paper https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002216942031338X call Understanding trends in hydrologic extremes across Australia

      As Kenneth Richards says

      New study:
      Since 1960, Australia has not experienced any continent-wide changes in rainfall patterns. Summers seem to be slightly wetter overall, with “increased water availability in the tropics”.

      No trend linked to rising CO2 seems to be detectable.

      And the paper has in the Abstract …

      Highlights

      • Australian Landscape Water Balance model is used to evaluate hydrologic trends.
      • Trends in modelled streamflow are evaluated against observed streamflow.
      • Rainfall, soil moisture, and streamflow trends are consistent with tropical expansion.
      • Changes in flood and drought are linked to mean rainfall changes at continental scale.
      • Trends are more likely to be driven by local factors at the catchment scale.

      [my bold]

      40

  • #
    David Maddison

    Even if it were true that the world was warming (it isn’t), when has a higher temperature ever been harmful to humans? During the Egyptian, Minoan, Roman and Medieval Warm periods civilisation and crops thrived. During cooler periods such as the Little Ice Age, crops failed and people died. Why would you want to stop warming, even if we’re happening, and even if it were possible to do so?

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      Climate Anxiety Is an Overwhelmingly White Phenomenon

      Is it really just code for white people wishing to hold onto their way of life or to get “back to normal?”

      YEP, IT’S A BAIZUO PREOCCUPATION, DESIGNED TO GIVE MEANING TO EMPTY LIVES:

      140

      • #
        Mal

        I’m white and I have No climate anxiety
        It’s natural cycles and we adapt
        The only anxiety I have are the idiot alarmists and their reactions to a non problem

        150

    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      Even if it were true that the world was warming (it isn’t), when has a higher temperature ever been harmful to humans?

      From NOAA:

      The warmest years globally have all occurred since 2005, with the top ten being 2016, 2020, 2019, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2014, 2010, 2013 and 2005 (tied), respectively.

      And millions (possibly billions) of mostly poor people with few options live in extremely hot places already, and apart from tough heat, suffer drought, desertification, food crises, water crises, and much else.

      Some people might think it would be absolutely jolly to grow grapes in England, or Nova Scotia, or wherever … but for many of the world’s most disadvantaged, warmer average temps would be destructive, with many unpredictable results.

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Warmest? What about the fifties?
        Unprecedented.

        141

      • #
        MP

        Why is warmer worse, how would extended growing seasons be worse. A warmer world will be a wetter world according to your gods. Mr Mann’s hockey stick was based on tree ring growth due to warming, is growth bad. Half the year is below average temperature.

        Having worked in the hotter climes, if it gets below 30 deg the locals rug up, they hate the cold.

        80

      • #
        Chris

        The world’s expert on the Sahara, is looking forward to warmer and wetter weather, he believes the Sahara will return to grasslands which will feed millions of people . There are many large lakes across the Sahara which grow a particular floating weed that prevents evaporation . Chad is the only country currently which has a full lake of water. I have read that the increased greening of the world due to rising CO2 levels have increased the green areas of the Sahara by 700,000 sqkm and that’s a positive sign not negative.

        100

      • #
        Peter C

        Useless quoting NOAA here Tilba Tilba, except as an example of climate misunderstanding.
        Almost any other source would be preferable.

        111

        • #
          Tilba Tilba

          Sorry digger … but you don’t get to cherry-pick just the numbers that fit the climate-denier narrative.

          The NOAA numbers are solid, and the world is getting warmer.

          08

      • #
        RickWill

        Please advise the temperatures that you claim are all the top 10.

        I doubt you have any idea. You have been taken in by the anomaly nonsense.

        Show me the temperature at the weather station nearest where you live. Lets assess the reality of this global warming you claim!

        90

      • #
        Steve Keppel-Jones

        Are you sure that poor people’s biggest problem is being too hot? Have you asked them?

        70

      • #

        Our planet has been intermittently warming for 20.000 years.

        Most recently since the late 1600s!

        Global average temperature data starts in 1880, although with poor Southern Hemisphere coverage until after World War II.

        But we can be still be confident that the temperature in 2021 is higher than in 1880 — lets call that a warming trend.

        Since ALL global average compilations were made DURING a warming trend, we should expect to have MANY “warmest year ever” announcements until AFTER the warming trend ends.

        Meaning the announcements are expected, and not something to worry about.

        Our planet has had many warming and cooling trend over the past 4.5 billion years.

        Every one of them has ended, and then reversed.

        There is no logical reason to believe the current warming trend is forever.

        There is no logical reason to expect future global warming to be horrible … because we have already had 45 years of global warming, since the mid-1970s, and it was NOT horrible — it was harmless.

        The climate alarmists claim the same input we had in the past 45 years (rising CO2 levels) will causes a completely different output than it did in the past 45 years.

        Same CO2 growth rate in the future, but much faster global warming than in the past.

        Same input, but different output, meets the definition of insanity.

        Climate alarmists are insane.

        I rest my case.

        60

      • #
        DOC

        Tilba Tilba, the easiest rebuttal to that is to investigate (read about is easiest) the total change in positioning and environmental conditions of the measuring sites over the recent centuries. Follow that with the changes in methodologies executing the measurements from tree rings to liquid thermometry to instant electronic, to satellites and ice cores (with their own imperfections). Add to that, ‘adjustments’ of data, inclusions and exclusions, professional malfeasance (as in the selection of trees for tree ring ‘proof’ originally). Add to that totally failed computer program forecasting which I gather is the source of much of this presented ‘fact’.

        Now tell me, just how much reliablity in fact – as against necessity to ensure political, and corporate funding, and manipulation of the public – do you ascribe to those wonderful declarations you cite?

        60

  • #
    RicDre

    $10 Million AI Grant to Improve Climate Modelling of Clouds

    Guest essay by Eric Worrall

    A Team of Scientists plans to use AI to improve climate modelling of sub-grid scale phenomena such as turbulence and clouds. But there is no reason to think an AI will have any more luck than human climate modellers.

    “Despite drastic improvements in climate model development, current simulations have difficulty capturing the interactions among different processes in the atmosphere, oceans, and ice and how they affect the Earth’s climate; this can hinder projections of temperature, rainfall, and sea level,” explains Zanna, part of the Courant Institute’s Center for Atmosphere Ocean Science and a visiting professor at Oxford University. “AI and machine-learning tools excel at extracting complex information from data and will help bolster the accuracy of our climate simulations and predictions to better inform the work of policymakers and scientists.”

    Top marks for admitting model temperature projections struggle to capture important processes. Clouds, storms, ocean mixing and turbulence are likely the reason open ocean surface temperatures in the tropics are capped at 30c.

    But why do I think the AI approach will struggle to improve on human efforts?

    The reason is decades of effort to improve understanding the global climate has not answered basic questions, like how much does global temperature change in response to adding more CO2, and human brains are far more powerful than any AI.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/03/24/10-million-ai-grant-to-improve-climate-modelling-of-clouds/

    70

    • #
      David Maddison

      Thr problem with climate “modellers” is they’ve never looked out the window or been exposed to the great outdoors. I find I can predict weather more accurately than the BoM just by making eyeball observations of what’s going on in the sky.

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      • #
        Geoff Cooney

        Spot on David, most of my 90 yrs have been spent keeping an eye on the weather in western Qld and I will back myself against the BOM any day.

        60

      • #

        Climate modelers get paid well to play computer games and no one cares if their climate predictions are anywhere near reality.

        So maybe YOU are jealous?

        00

    • #
      David Wojick

      What “drastic improvements in climate model development”? The latest round of IPCC modeling via CMIP6 is far worse than ever before. Drastic improvements in pointless funding is more like it.

      172

      • #

        Mr. Wojick
        You do not understand modern climate “science”.

        The goal is not accurate climate predictions.

        They have been inaccurate for over 60 years.

        Probably using General Circulation Models for most of those years.

        The purpose of climate computer games (aka models) is to scare people.

        So the computer games, on average,

        … have always predicted much faster global warming than actually happened,

        … and will ALWAYS predict much faster global warming than actually happens.

        You probably earned YOUR Ph.D. in the good old days, where accurate predictions were considered important in science.

        Ha Ha
        That’s old fogie science now.

        What we reward now are scary predictions, that make people turn toward their government, and demand help.

        We reward predictions that make a scary headline.

        And the scientists interviewed must say: “It’s worse than we thought”.

        Get with the modern climate science program, Wojick !

        CMIP6 is not “worse than before” for accurate climate predictions.

        CMIP6 is BETTER than before to scare people !

        And the climate modelers will be rewarded for that.

        Plus a bonus for every tine they say “It’s worse than we thought” !

        22

        • #
          Lucky

          Richard’s statement,
          “The purpose of climate computer games (aka models) is to scare people.” is spot on.

          My experience is that models, like experts, are used to justify government actions by scaring the populace. The story put out is always the same, that disasters will happen unless government is given more power.

          00

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Improving the models is/is not a good idea?

      are you scared that the models will have more predictive accuracy?

      328

      • #
        David Maddison

        Name one thing the current models have actually predicted accurately.

        They can’t even hind cast when the result is known.

        301

        • #
          RickWill

          The models hindcast precisely. It is the homogenisers who get it wrong.

          It all requires adjusting the past to keep a warming trend around the present temperature. That means successive predictions are always cooler than the past predictions. According to successive CSIRO models for the Nino34 region, the region cooled 0.8C between 2010 for the CMIP3 model output and the CMIP5 model output in 2014; equates to cooling of 20C per century.
          https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhBlQt8jdeBoZ9NhY

          The modellers much prefer that everyone sticks with anomalies. That way they never have to nominate an actual temperature.

          Anyone who claims it is warming, ask them what is the current temperature and what was the temperature they are referring the warming to. Nine of the current CMIP6 climate models cannot get even close on what the current temperature actually is:
          https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhBlQt8jdeBoZ9NhY

          Horse poo is infinitely more useful than climate models.

          The UAH satellite TLT shows a warming anomaly but try to find the actual base temperature it is being referred to. It infers a temperature somewhere way up in the atmosphere that has little relationship with surface temperatures.

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          • #
            Peter C

            Thanks Rick,

            The models hindcast precisely.

            Is that a case? What happens if the Climate models start at say the supposed conditions as at 1600 (or any other date) and are then run forward?

            60

          • #
            tom0mason

            Rick,

            In an acknowledged chaotic system such as weather/climate, does being able to hindcast with some precision (after model tweaking) mean that there is any ability for the model to project future weather/climate with the same precision?
            I doubt it, as it is almost certainly a false assumption that as hindcasting can be done then future projects are in any way meaningful.

            40

        • #

          Not true Maddison

          The climate models predict perfectly.

          It is the temperature measurements that are all wrong.

          After the proper “adjustments” the models will receive the credit they deserve.

          This is a serious post, not satire.

          11

      • #
        el gordo

        AI won’t solve the problem if they are only searching for AGW signals.

        161

      • #
        David Wojick

        Actually improving them by properly incorporating natural variability would be useful. No one is trying to do that that I know of except maybe the Russians. But I doubt climate is accurately predictable. Because it is chaotic.

        152

        • #
          RickWill

          Models are trash and cannot be improved until they get back to the fundamental physics.

          The models first failing is that they are based on a fairy tale of “greenhouse effect”. They accept that the clouds are unresponsive to surface temperature when they actually regulate the surface temperature. If clouds were modelled based on the physics of the atmosphere rather than just being parameterised, then they would understand that the clouds actually regulate the heat input to control the maximum surface temperature.

          As much as climate modellers are wishing, hoping and praying to see the tropical oceans warm up, they simply cannot. They are stuck where they are at a maximum of 30C. The risk is always to lower temperature in the Atlantic though. It is just making 29C today but should make 30C by August. It only makes 26C during glacial episodes:
          https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/ocean/cdas-sflux_sst_global_1.png
          There is not a great surplus of ToA insolation over the Atlantic that needs to be regulated down. It is always bordering on going cold.

          I have even seen it written that deep convection drops away as the sea surface temperature rises. This demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of how deep convection works. The only reason that convection drops away with temperature above 30C is because land interferes with the cloudburst cycle. The only water surface warmer than 30C is immediately adjacent to land, which is warmer than the sea surface temperature so moist air converges to the land rather than supporting convective instability over the ocean. There are no warm pools above 30C in open ocean waters.

          A perfect example today with the warmest SST on the entire globe in the Gulf of Carpentaria at 30.9C but the moist air being drawn toward Darwin with land temperature adjacent to Gulf at 32C:
          https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=-233.07,-25.30,1038/loc=135.103,-13.492

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          • #
            tom0mason

            Yes Rick,
            The models first failing is that they are based on a fairy tale of “greenhouse effect”.

            The starting point for the models is the dilution of the solar input by averaging it over a flat surface that is said to represent the whole world’s area. This gives a figure for an averaged solar input but that is not how the sun solar radiation operates. The sun’s energy flow does not cover the whole planet all at once!
            The sun radiates onto the side of the world that is facing the sun (as the world revolves). This solar irradiation warms the equatorial areas the most, and it’s effects drop-off towards the poles and the night side of the globe.
            This effect of high solar radiation over the equatorial region is the proper starting point for how the energy is inputted to the planet, and not some flat-Earth averaged value.

            40

      • #
        David Wojick

        PF if you are suggesting today’s models have any predictive capability that is false. All they can “predict” is temperatures that have been adjusted to fit the models. That is not prediction.

        162

        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          They are accurately predicting trends, what else should they be doing?

          218

          • #
            Mal

            Garbage in garbage out
            With Ai we can get it to the tenth decimal place plus or minus 1.5 degrees

            121

            • #
              Kalm Keith

              🙂

              80

            • #
              RickWill

              A fairy tale is a fairy tale. No matter what goes in, it will always be a a fairy tale coming out.

              The fundamental flaw is the concept of “greenhouse effect”. That then leads to parameterising clouds where the clouds are unresponsive to surface temperature. In reality, the clouds are highly responsive to surface temperature and regulate surface insolation to control the temperature. This occurs across three oceans, all regulating at a maximum of 30C:
              Pacific – https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhCDZxJvFjNW9tuul
              Atlantic – https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhB84cp–iNp5c5wd
              Indian – https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhCEKfdHHnKHRNkJa

              So models could be fed with actual climate data rather than the garbage that is homogenised but they would still produce poo; worse than poo because poo is often recycled in some useful form.

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              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                So the model is fine, it is the data that is at fault?
                But.. you are saying the models are bad…

                By your statements you have no understanding of modelling in general, and climate modelling in particular

                But you unskepitally regurgitate sky news as if it is the gold stand on scieence

                /typical

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                Rick

                In every real model there has to be a core relationship that has a genuine scientifically observable, testable interaction which can be verified outside of the often complex area of actual function.

                The modelerati attached to the unipccc have not created a model but a sham conversation piece to hide the truth.

                Climate models could be described as “a joke” but in fact that represent something far uglier,: deliberate deception.

                KK

                71

              • #
                Kalm Keith

                So troo.

                The models are poo.

                The input is poo on poo, and

                The “output” would be an embarrassment to a sewage treatment plant.

                91

          • #
            R.B.

            Do you know the difference between accuracy and precision?

            You probably fell for the “scientists are 95% confident” garbage of a few years back, where they decided to use the larger 95% rather than 90% confidence bands so that the (massaged) data would just sneek in.

            71

            • #
              Peter C

              Do you know the difference between accuracy and precision?

              No I am not really sure.

              50

              • #
                R.B.

                You can be precise without being accurate. Without precision, accuracy can be meaningless.

                A precise shot will hit very close to the same spot on the target, every time. Problems with the gun sight might mean that this spot is well off the middle, so not accurate because of a systematic error.

                A shost barrel will lead to a bigger spread, or random error. Purely random and the mean of many shots will be close to the centre of the target even if most shots weren’t.

                A scientist would estimate, assuming no systematic error, that the bulls eye is within a confidence interval or range of the mean. What confidence interval you use, is a choice. Most choose a 95% CI which is calculated from the standard deviation – 2xSD.

                Climate scientists estimate an error, or uncertainty, for monthly GTA for one standard deviation rather than mention that it’s a 68% CI. If they used the latter for the model run results, the band would be too narrow to overlap with the GTA measurements.

                Even the 90% CI became too narrow so, a while back, they changed to 95% and portrayed it as being more sure of themselves.

                40

              • #
                R.B.

                I thought I had proof read properly.

                “Short barrel”

                20

      • #
        MP

        The Oceans and Atmosphere are chaotic systems.

        101

        • #
          RickWill

          They may be chaotic but the processes that regulate heat input and output are driven by water properties that occur at definite temperatures. Sea ice freezes ar -2C at the current atmospheric pressure. Deep convective clouds become persistent once the level of free convection reaches the atmospheric ice point. That occurs at 32C over open ocean surface. The resulting warm pools actually regulate to 30C because cooler moist air is drawn to warmer pool and that limits their temperature to 30C.

          Sure there are things that are chaotic but the energy balance on Earth is precisely controlled to keep ocean surface water temperature in the range 30C to -2C. It is no accident that the area averaged surface temperature is close to the simple mean of the two extremes being 14C or 57F.

          51

          • #
            MP

            The definition of Chaos is un-predictable, predictive modelling cannot apply to un-predictable forces.
            In my world, words still have meanings.

            72

            • #
              Kalm Keith

              Depends on the perspective.

              There are certain processes of buoyancy and blocking which interact. This understood.

              Beyond that it is harder to fit all of the factors into a predictable whole; that’s the chaos bit.

              The atmosphere is more chaotic because in part it responds to the chaotic ocean input.

              40

          • #
            tom0mason

            The chaotic nature of Weather and Climate are influenced by –

            Solar input (and it’s variation including EM radiation, magnetic and solar winds).
            Extraterrestrial particulates.
            Earth’s spin and orbit cycles, and variations.
            Lunar orbit and its variation.
            Atmospheric variations (wind, pressure, humidity, precipitation, particulates, etc.)
            Ocean movement and temperature/salinity cycles etc., and their variations.
            Volcanic activity.
            Changes in land use (both natural & human caused).

            I’m sure there are a few more people can think of.

            Note none of the cycles have absolute timings thus the interactions between them is very much another layer of complication to weather & climatic changes.

            20

        • #
          el gordo

          The oceans and atmosphere appear chaotic, but with the help of properly programmed computer technology we should be able to work out how the system works. Its like a clock and every 60 years the world cools for awhile.

          12

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Looking more likely that Murphy’s law has caught up with the solar revolution.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-25/australians-with-rooftop-solar-charged-export-electricity-grid/100026336

    100

    • #
      RickWill

      Some distributors saw this coming about 8 years ago so they have been slowly upgrading to try to cope with the lunchtime power. If the grid becomes saturated and the benefit of solar to householders drop away then that strengthens the case for household batteries. The cost of the panels are sunk so you then look at the next chunk of investment and its return.

      It is unfolding as I suspected but not as fast. The grid will become a source of low grade, unreliable power. Households in some places around Australia could already make an economic move to solar/battery. If FITs are reduced then that improves the economics for household batteries.

      Victoria is still offering significant subsidies for rooftop and the Federal subsidy is still reasonable. STCs are about the same effective price as LGCs now and still significant in terms of the cost of a rooftop system.

      40

  • #
    • #
      Richard Owen No.3

      Well that may be one solution to the current scandals in the Federal Parliament.

      70

    • #

      Several years ago, as an April Fools Day joke (I don’t know if you do that in Australia),
      I published a fake article on my climate science blog on that subject, and made up a fake study that proved it. I also claimed that most climate skeptics were men, but soon many of them would be changing their minds.

      As I was writing the column, I was thinking some day the claim might be made by a real scientist. Thank you for an article made my day.

      30

  • #
    OldOzzie

    MIT Technology Review

    Did the coronavirus leak from a lab? These scientists say we shouldn’t rule it out.

    For many scientists, challenging the idea that SARS-CoV-2 has natural origins is seen as career suicide. But a vocal few say it shouldn’t be disregarded or lumped in with conspiracy theories.

    140

  • #
    Greg Cavanagh

    There’s more happening in the world than just rigged elections, corrupt officials and stupid CO2 nonsense.

    https://www.dw.com/en/philippines-asks-chinese-flotilla-to-leave-disputed-reef/a-56943127

    China does not recognize a 2016 international ruling that invalidates its historic claims to virtually the entire sea. Also, the decision did not specify which areas fishermen from China and other countries could be allowed to fish in.

    Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei all claim parts of the sea. In recent years, China has built islands in the disputed waters, installing airstrips on some of them.

    131

    • #
      Hanrahan

      The line between “illegal fishing” and “military invasion” is becoming blurred and arbitrary.

      170

  • #
    Greg Cavanagh

    And now’s the perfect time to ask:

    How’s David’s Electric Gap theory coming along for the climate thingy-whatsit?

    Any advances, has he made any breakthroughs, successes, inventions, discoveries, given up?

    61

  • #
    OldOzzie

    The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology

    An immersive engineering degree for the next generation

    The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology is unlike any other higher education institution. It’s for those with a passion for solving problems and a fascination for how things work; people who’d rather get hands-on with real engineering challenges.

    Our Undergraduate Engineers work alongside the Dyson Technology Global Engineering team from day one. They contribute to live projects, while studying for their BEng (Hons) Engineering degree apprenticeship.

    With a competitive salary and no tuition fees to pay, they can graduate debt-free.

    I like the hands on approach of the Degree

    An exceptional education

    In the first two years you will study a rigorous and challenging general engineering syllabus, giving you a strong technical foundation across:

    mechanical engineering
    electronics and electrical engineering
    electromechanical engineering
    software engineering

    In years three and four, you’ll specialise in one of these areas. We will guide you through the potential specialisation pathways to find the route best suited to you.

    Alongside theoretical knowledge, you’ll develop applied skills, such as design, prototyping, PCB layout and computer aided design (CAD).

    110

    • #
      Chad

      Hmm ? ..a “private” university ?
      But it sounds very much like any other “Thin Sandwich”. Technology degree
      University level education closely integrated with practical industrial experience, and supported with a full time employment benefits.
      But not too dissimilar to the one i did 50 yrs ago. ! ( but i had the added fringe “benifits” of a large City based campus !!
      Its a pity Dyson shut down their EV development programme .

      90

      • #
        Tilba Tilba

        But not too dissimilar to the one i did 50 yrs ago. ! ( but i had the added fringe “benefits” of a large City based campus !!

        Indeed – I was also fully employed by the Commonwealth Department of Works from 1970, to put me through university … money wasn’t bad.

        17

        • #
          Peter C

          You completed a University degree? Congratulations!

          I thought they were supposed to teach you how to think? May be they did.

          80

  • #

    Okay then, there’s all these green ‘friends of the dirt’ running round telling us we will be converting every single car in Australia, well, the World really to electrical vehicles, running them all on batteries.

    They sort of have an existing platform already well and truly in place that they could be pushing with the same fervor.

    With this sudden almighty onrush into solar panels on rooftops of homes, why isn’t there the same push to run homes on batteries. I mean the technology is already in place. No need for the grid to charge up the cars. There’s the Sun shining on solar panels to charge the batteries. The home uses the solar power during the day, and charges the batteries at the same time, and then the batteries take over and run the homes at night. The technology is already proven.

    This ACTUALLY IS a win win. It takes millions of homes off the grid, so the grid uses less electricity, well a little less anyway, as residential power consumption is only around 30%, so all those panels plus batteries might only save 10% at the absolute maximum.

    But hey, don’t you wonder why there isn’t that same push.

    After all, they are soooooooo confident that battery cars can do that replacement, then where is that same confidence with home batteries and rooftop panels.

    And I have literally lost count of the people I have seen on TV broadcasts with rooftop panels as well as batteries, but still connected to the grid ….. you know for that security of backup, you know, just in case.

    Now, while all the talk is on battery cars, I’m willing to bet that an idea like this, rooftop panels but only with batteries, will result in ….. crickets!!!

    Confidence is one thing NIMBY is another eh!

    And I see there’s talk now of charging people to export their rooftop solar back to the grid. Huh! Cue the legal profession here and the promises of shylocks touting rooftop panels as a source of income eh!

    Tony.

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      Chad

      I do know of a few people living fully “off Grid” using Solar and batteries…..
      …But not by choice, ..but because they have no option being so far from the distribution network.
      Country australia ..is dotted with these remote Stations etc
      …and.. most (all ?) of them keep a very healthy Diesel Genny permanently hooked into their system !

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    TonyfromOz comment in moderation, for what I don’t know, immediately after OldOzzie comment 15, and timed at 10.24AM.

    Tony.

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      I feel your pain man.

      23

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      Hanrahan

      I made an innocuous post at 2 y’day. It hadn’t been cleared by the time I shut down last night. It is there today without comment or change.

      I’m not complaining, rather suggesting we all buy some chocolates to help Jo improve her site.

      Leaf and TT are not exempted, they avail themselves of Jo’s hospitality and post more than most regular members. Chip in or ship out.

      42

  • #
    David Maddison

    It just doesn’t end. Now the Left regard Georgian architecture as “offensive”.

    https://order-order.com/2021/03/23/sadiq-khans-design-advocate-slams-georgian-architecture-as-colonialism/

    SADIQ KHAN’S DESIGN ADVOCATE SLAMS GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE AS ‘COLONIALISM’

    Sadiq Khan’s Housing Design Advocate spent her Sunday morning complaining that Georgian style architecture is starting to look “offensive” because it “harks back to oppression” and “colonialism“. Responding to a picture of a charming new Georgian style house, Sadiq’s Advocate Dinah Bornat slammed the style in a series of bizarre tweets. Guido has compiled a selection:

    “The fortress style/display of wealth resonates through time. I wonder is it starting to resonate just a little too much for a lot of us? Imperialism starting to look, well, offensive? Just a thought.”

    “I’m talking about offence caused by colonialism. Which arguably goes beyond offence.”

    “I’m concerned that this replica approach learns nothing and stifles cultural debate. Going so far as to define it as ‘beauty’ is politically troubling. If beauty harks back to oppression we are on very dangerous ground.”

    When asked “The oppression of the Romans? I can’t tell if you’re joking“, Bornat replied:

    “I was actually talking about the Georgians and colonialism. But their style harks back to the Romans of course.”

    Now Guido is starting to understand why so much new housing looks so horrible. It’s clearly self-flagellation to apologise for a colonial past. After Toyin Agbetu and his Statues Commission, Guido would have thought the Mayor would hire people a little bit more in touch with his city…

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      Tilba Tilba

      “The fortress style/display of wealth resonates through time. I wonder is it starting to resonate just a little too much for a lot of us? Imperialism starting to look, well, offensive? Just a thought.”

      Displays of wealth in built form have resonated since well before the time of the pyramids at Giza. But they don’t resonate universally in space. It’s not like they’re planning to put up a series of new British High Commissions in Rangoon, Chittagong, Calcutta, Bombay, Nairobi, and Peshawar!

      And judging by a lot of the true shockingly awful piles that have been constructed in London this century, some good old-fashioned Georgian houses are definitely welcome. And anyway – I find the style quite demure, even “feminine” – not testosterone-driven at all.

      18

  • #
    Hanrahan

    Report: Top Health Insurance Provider Tells Employees Not To Hire White Men

    Cigna, one of the nation’s largest health insurance providers, has allegedly told employees not to hire white men as part of the company’s broader critical race theory campaign.

    According to an internal chat log obtained by the Washington Examiner, a hiring manager at Cigna dismissed a white candidate because he did not fulfill the company’s diversity standards. In the chat, an employee suggested the company interview a man with extensive experience for an open position. The hiring manager allegedly told the employee that the man could not be interviewed because he is white.

    In a separate chat log, a hiring manager dismissed another candidate who he assumed to be white. The candidate was a racial minority. After learning of the candidate’s accurate skin color — and little else — the hiring manager allegedly reversed course and hired the candidate.

    Employees were also forced to undergo training wherein they were taught that white people have “white privilege,” straight men have “gender privilege,” and Christians have “religious privilege.” The company defines religious privilege as “a set of advantages that benefits believers of a certain religion but not people who practice other religions or no religions at all.”

    Included in the training was an “inclusive language” guide, which told employees the phrase “hip hip hooray!” was inappropriate language.

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      Kalm Keith

      Probably less than ten years to go.

      Save plenty of firewood, get your backyard garden on the move ready to ramp up the potatoes. Vinegar may be useful for storing vegetables and don’t forget toilet paper.

      A range of staves and clubs would also be useful in keeping wild animals away from the garden.

      And above all, avoid cannibalism; it was noted during the early years of Australia’s invasion that white men were too salty.

      But the best part will be not having to bother with a tax return again.

      And for heaven’s sake learn Morse code, it will be essential when we switch to smoke signals.

      170

    • #
      Chad

      Wow !
      …….. some screwed up thinking happening there !
      I assume there will be some corrective action to be taken by the employer ?

      80

    • #

      for a start it is not a health insurer.

      011

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Assuming you are better informed than the Washington Examiner, not I.

        Sigma Insurance Group – Insurance | Medicare Supplements, Part D Prescription Drug Plans, Medicare Advantage, Life, Health, Home & Auto Life Changes Quickly and Often At SIG, we work with you in mind to create customized, affordable, and understandable solutions so when life changes, you are prepared.

        How does this alter the original story?

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      Tilba Tilba

      The hiring manager allegedly told the employee that the man could not be interviewed because he is white.

      Goodness – that is crude and exposes the company to all sorts.

      I was on more than enough selection panel during my career – we shortlisted the best five candidates or so, and tried to get non-white females (or males) over the line, but it was subtle.

      Only once was I overtly pressured to choose the one-legged lesbian indigenous person with English as her fourth language, etc. She ticked all the boxes, except the one about her capacity to do the actual lob (lawyer). She really struggled.

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    Hanrahan

    So the “Cancel Tucker” movement has floundered. He has just announced a new program Tucker Carlson Today, aired three times a week.

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    robert rosicka

    Albo caught out saying “Smash her” .

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GENpK8soMeo

    90

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    John Watt

    AEMC have released a discussion paper on remedies for the impact of excess solar generation on local distribution grid voltages. Looks like the suggestion to reduce payment rate for energy we send back to grid is meeting with some objections. Other solutions involving more battery storage seem to fail on a cost-effectiveness criterion. Will the ensuing discussion finally reveal the true value of suburban rooftop solar?

    100

    • #
      Robber

      The distortions caused by subsidised rooftop solar are gradually being revealed.
      Why are those owners receiving 10 cents/kWhr feedin tariffs when the ex generator prices are about 4 cents?
      They force reductions in output from reliable generators that must still be available to meet 100% of peak demand in the evening.
      Perhaps rooftop solar owners should be required to install batteries and then go off grid.

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      Tilba Tilba

      Looks like the suggestion to reduce payment rate for energy we send back to grid is meeting with some objections.

      I thought it went further than that – the companies would pay home-owners if they feed in at a time of need or shortage, but would charge home-owners if they feed in when there is no demand for it.

      09

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    Robber

    Beware quotas.
    Next we will have demands for quotas for transgenders, gays, ages, IQ, ethnicity, …..

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    R.B.

    Just read that Slovenia is the greenest country in Europe. Apart from its blessed with abundant forests and rainfall so easy to have a sustainable forestry and good quality water, it also relies on green power. 36% hydro, 36% nuclear and 22% coal.

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    OldOzzie

    The Mocker: Tim Flannery is a profit of doom on climate scaremongering

    As I write this, the BoM has issued flood warnings for parts of Gippsland, Victoria. A big shout out to the Victorian Minister for Water, Lisa Neville, who in 2019 cited climate change in refusing to commission new dams. Claiming that water in the state’s rivers would halve by 2065, she insisted moneys would be better spent on expanding Victoria’s $3.5bn desalination plant by a third.

    No doubt her view would have been supported by the esteemed chief counsellor of the Climate Council and former Australian of the Year, Tim Flannery, who has long made dire predictions about water availability. The Sydney Morning Herald noted in 2005 his prediction “that one morning in the not-too-distant future in one of the major cities, taps will be turned on, and instead of water, there will only be a whistling in the pipes. Not a drop. Totally dry.”

    Flannery set the rules for the alarmist test; let’s see the results. Warragamba was so short of water it reached 80 per cent of capacity six years after Flannery’s prediction. In 2012, the following year, it overflowed, something it did again in 2016. As of this week it began spilling 450 gigalitres per day – an amount roughly the volume of Sydney Harbour and around a quarter of the dam’s capacity.

    Collectively, Greater Sydney dams are 99.5 per cent full. How lucky is NSW to have a desalination plant – something Flannery lobbied state governments to build – which costs well over half a million a day to stay idle? As he told ABC in 2007 “So even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems…”

    From the Comments

    In 1997 Professor Flannery bought one house on the Hawkesbury with his wife, Alexandra Leigh Szalay, for $274,000. Five years later — even as climate scientists, including Professor Flannery, claimed evidence of global warming and rising sea levels was even more solid — the couple bought the property next door, for $505,000.
    It would be the ultimate irony if he gets flooded.

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    • #
      Chad

      Some points about Flapperys Hawksbury “waterfront property…
      A). Yes, it is waterfront, but the properties are constructed well above the known flood high water mark.
      B) the site .. Coba Point ..is a hilly promentory with steep slopes down to the water level and plenty of “safe” height to escape any possible water rise
      C) whilst not an island, Cobar Point has no road access, so all access is by boat or float plane.
      Most residents have boats.
      D) the location is close to the river outlet and is very Tidal, so a typical “River Flood” is not going to affect Flapperys property…only extreme SEA LEVEL RISE could do that !
      …….or maybe a healthy East Coast low Cyclone , Storm serge , could dampen his toes.
      ……. So sadly , T,F. Is not likely to drown or even get his feet wet at home, and even if his house slipped into the river, he could hop into his boat and relocate to ONE OF his other properties !

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      Tilba Tilba

      The link is behind a paywall, OO.

      In 1997 Professor Flannery bought one house on the Hawkesbury with his wife, Alexandra Leigh Szalay, for $274,000. Five years later — even as climate scientists, including Professor Flannery, claimed evidence of global warming and rising sea levels was even more solid — the couple bought the property next door, for $505,000.

      I think this is a gratuitous comment … those amounts are very modest indeed, especially for Sydney, and especially for someone who has the high-profile (and reasonably well paid) career positions for many years, plus his book sales, plus whatever his partner earns.

      Apart from being a poor ad hom comment – do we even know how far above above the river level they are, and how far up-river are they so that sea-level rise doesn’t affect them.

      And whose business is it anyway? I think a lot of low-achievers are just envious.

      021

      • #
        Hanrahan

        As I recall, said property was only a couple of metres above SEA level.

        It wasn’t envy but the hypocrisy of an alarmist telling the world about global warming and flooded cities spending his own money buying property that would be under water should his dire prophesies eventuate. To me, and others, it PROVED he was talking sheet and knew it.

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        • #
          R.B.

          $275 wasn’t modest back then. I lived in a house in Glebe point bought for $360k only a few years earlier. Fronting Jubilee Park a short distance from Glebe point Road. Nothing selling at Glebe at all now. A similar house in Forrest Lodge is nearly 1.4M but not with a harbour view.

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          • #
            Tilba Tilba

            There’s a coincidence – I lived in a student-house rental at about 14 Eglinton Road Glebe Point – all of 1979. And a couple of lovely places along Glebe Point Road between 1973-1980. Happy days!

            I remember when 12yo Garry Barkemeyer was lured to Jubilee Park and killed in 1976. It was a big story.

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            • #
              R.B.

              I can’t remember the number but I spent 1997 and 1998 on Eglinton Rd, sharing with a few other postgrads (1 married couple) a house rented off an ex lecturer.

              The free standing one in the middle of the terraces. We were told that it was the builders house so it was free standing. Turned out that huge rainfall one early Autumn lead to water coming down the hill into our backyard and still flooding it despite rapids forming down the sides of th he house. So much rain that the grate of the drain in front of the house was been blown off and about a couple of feet away, while water rushed out 6 foot high. The harbour came up to the Morton by fig for a few days. Luckily, not killing it.

              30

              • #
                Tilba Tilba

                I can’t recall whether ours was the free-standing one – but I do recall a LOT of water coming down the hill and into the small backyard when it rained! It was almost a cliff-face.

                (I wonder why my simple little post above with nothing contentious received those red thumbs … people are very strange indeed).

                08

              • #
                R.B.

                Leaf just told me off for being off topic. I’m guessing that is why you got the thumbs down. But enjoyed the walk down memory lane. Those few years as a student in Sydney with income were brilliant.

                We had a cliff with steps. It didn’t look much like it does now.

                24 Eglinton Road, Glebe, NSW 2037 https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-nsw-glebe-134126402

                Jaw dropping, ain’t it.

                00

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        Peter Fitzroy

        Coba point is the suburb in which Flannery owns his properties. They are only accessible by boat, and technically is on the Berowra not the Hawkesbury.

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        • #
          R.B.

          Coba point is close to the Berowra Creek/ Hawkesbury junction. Your technical point is irrelevant.

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            Tilba Tilba

            I think that Tim Flannery’s personal life is not relevant either … there is nothing about his property at Coba Point that is the slightest bit hypocritical. He is not John Kerry with mansions and private jets.

            Anyway, Coba Point seems well inside the Berowra Creek arm, and not that close to he Hawkesbury River. But who cares? Why raise it?

            013

            • #
              Kalm Keith

              “Anyway, Coba Point seems well inside the Berowra Creek arm, and not that close to he Hawkesbury River. But who cares? Why raise it?”

              Another motherhood statement; but since I’m here: how do you get there?

              Yes, via the Hawkesbury.

              Sigh.

              Sarcasm.

              Whatever suits the “following” class.

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              • #
                Chad

                Another motherhood statement; but since I’m here: how do you get there?

                Yes, via the Hawkesbury.

                And since i am here also…
                …Actually , NO !
                Via Berowra Creek,..from Berowra Waters Marina .
                You do not go on the Hawksbury river.

                00

              • #
                Kalm Keith

                Chad, OK!
                Point taken.

                My original comment was in relation to TT”s pointless bit of fluff.
                Read that again.
                He’s just nit picking to fill up space:
                but the Coba point people would be able to see the Hawkesbury and get some of its waters around their jetties and the trip to Brooklyn is much the same as the option you mentioned.

                Like you, I’m not a local in that area but I do have some familiarity with Dangar Island.

                KK

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              • #
                Tilba Tilba

                Coba Point is well inside Berowra Creek – not near its confluence with the Hawkesbury River. And how you get there is not particularly relevant. Sigh. Sarcasm.

                The initial nitpick came from RB … just offering a geographical correction.

                08

            • #
              R.B.

              It’s about 1 km from the Hewkesbury but the Hawkesbury is more like a lake at that point rather than a junction of a creek and river. The “creek” is half a km wide.

              It’s certainly uninhabitable if You believe some stories published by newspapers. They show Sydney under water. Flanker didn’t berate them.

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          Ronin

          Flannel moved from Coba Point long ago, apparently he couldn’t handle the criticism about his owning property a meter or so above high tide level and the fact that his transportation to said property involved a two stroke device attached to the rear of a boat.

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        OldOzzie

        Tilba Tilba
        March 25, 2021 at 4:26 pm · Reply

        The link is behind a paywall, OO.

        TT you keep saying how Intelligent you are, and you can’t beat a Paywall? – Hmmmmm

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        • #
          Tilba Tilba

          TT you keep saying how Intelligent you are, and you can’t beat a Paywall?

          I have never claimed great intelligence – I just nudge people when they start telling me stuff I already know, without asking first. Someone tried to lecture me on photosynthesis today.

          Whether I can beat a paywall or not is beside the point … I think it’s preferable that people don’t post a link that requires trickery.

          05

          • #
            OldOzzie

            I think it’s preferable that people don’t post a link that requires trickery.

            Does not require trickery, jusr requires a bit of Brains!

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    Tides of Mudgee

    Here’s a clip from Professor of Medicine Dr Peter McCullough from November 2020 about the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine giving it a 1 in 17 billion chance of NOT working. Better odds than the vaccine and considerably safer too. ToM

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

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    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine giving it a 1 in 17 billion chance of NOT working.

      Reminds me of that “math genius” doing stuff for Rudy Giuliani and Trump. I seem t5o recall he claimed the odds of Biden winning the swing states was 10^48 or some such. LOL. Trump won the same states in 2016.

      What is there about the right and really bigly numbers?

      05

      • #
        Chad

        I….. seem t5o recall he claimed the odds of Biden winning the swing states was 10^48 or some such

        But “odds”. Are just a estimated prediction, not a mathematical calculation.
        And obviously, they had not been told of the “Fix” that was in play !

        00

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    another ian

    “Fauci’s Flipflops’

    “Fauci has a bad habit of seizing onto a small kernel of scientific data, drawing sweeping inferences upon it through unfounded speculation, and then presenting his own exaggerated spin to the public as if it is a matter of scientific fact.”

    And more.

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/03/24/faucis-flipflops/

    Or “Ex” = from, “Spurt” = a drip under pressure?

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    https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-releases/emails-who-terms/

    More truth comes out re China running the Covid information via WHO. Evidence is from 301 pages of email Judical Watch sued to obtain.

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    Aunty Pravda’s rolling news feed of unacceptable articles for the 25th Mar – https://thepointman.wordpress.com/rolling-headlines/ 

    Pointy

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    dinn, rob

    latest on Sars 2: Germany new infections/day increase 12%,
    Brazil 7%,Turkey 17%, Indonesia 4.4%,
    India 15%

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  • #

    !!! Gee thanks Aunty
    Well you did warn us
    I’ve sent the death by mRNA ‘vaccine’ given to nursing home residents compulsory in Germany to our DG of Health and several mainstream News Sites.

    This is the same not a vaccine the NZ Governor is planning to push on us.

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    kevin kilty

    In my never ending quest to educate a certain group of folks here that something is seriously amiss with the 2020 U.S. Federal election, I provide this from Mollie Hemingway.
    She covers interesting ground including how the NYT and WP, among other publications, worrying about the integrity of Georgia elections before the election, sounded like Trump supporters did afterward. They were very concerned about the integrity of mail in ballots for instance. She alsocovers the agreement between Sec. Of State Raffensperger and Democratic party groups which he kept secret from Republicans. Finally she details the Catch-22 like world that made sure no Trump court pleadings could get a hearing but could be spun by the media as being dismissed for lack of evidence.

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      Tilba Tilba

      Finally she details the Catch-22 like world that made sure no Trump court pleadings could get a hearing but could be spun by the media as being dismissed for lack of evidence.

      I think it was a lack of competence by Trump (and pro-Trump) lawyers. They mixed in basic on-the-ground stuff with huge arm-waving conspiracies, and a lot of conjecture.

      They didn’t say there was election fraud in mail-in ballots, they said it was open to fraud. In one hearing Rudy Giuliani admitted that he had no “evidence” of fraud.

      I’m very sceptical about industrial-scale fraud occurring, but the lawyers trying to convince 85 judges didn’t help their various cases.

      The settlement between the Democratic Party and the Secretary of State wasn’t a conspiracy … the Democrats were just fighting for a better deal, as you would expect.

      It’s clear that all election issues need to be conducted by a non-partisan electoral commission – preferably a federal one.

      06

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    Furiously curious

    Maybe 2020 was a banner year for extinctions? Two major ones that spring to mind — influenza and weather.

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    CHRIS

    My apologies. I thought Tilba had a shrine to St Greta of Thunberg. Now, after looking at this thread, I realise that Tilba’s shrine is to Tom Foolery, patron saint of ridiculous (and false) prophesies. Nice to know that, as Foolery was made Australian of the Year some time ago, that award has sunk in esteem.

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    Richard Ilfeld

    Our subtle seasons have turned, and days here in Florida are creeping into the 80’s in the central part of the state.
    Having come through the winter of the black death by a thousand unkind newspaper & TV stories from up nawth, we now look forward to some
    natural assistance in fighting the virus… we are vaccinating 50 and above if they volunteer, and our hospital system is in decent shape. Miami is having a tough spring break; the price of success as they are many who wish to party and so few places open to them.
    There may be consequences there, but perhaps not. It is warm and most folks are outdoors. Fear of the beach is a thing of the past.
    There is mostly masking, mostly voluntary. If one is in the real estate rental business one has done well, although there has been a scramble to replace a quarter million Canadians, who have mostly been quatantined with Chinese like efficiency, with possibly permanent expats from New York and New Jersey. The threatened new 70 per cent marginal personal income tax rate in NYC (Florida has no state or city income taxes – we soak the tourists)may keep folks here. There is an awful lumber and building materials shortage; I bought Cedar Ruff boards for $320/K for my projects five years ago — they quoted me $1250 yesterday. Sheesh. No inflation, tho, just ask the government. Have been attending hockey games; 3800 MOL: in an arena built for 18K. I think we would have double that if the rules were local only but the league has a say.
    “The Villages” is the largest senior living community in the world (self promoted). They are quietly promoting normalcy and herd immunity; essentially 100% vaccination, and they socially enforce visitors to be vaccinated or tested. They may be showing us a model of “normal” for the next few years, until most of the hot spots are gone.
    But The majority of life is pretty normal here. Everything is open. We never did close the schools except for the 15 day flatten the curve. Businesses are open. Outdoor dining isn’t a burden in our climate. There are masks, and the ubiquitious 6 foot stickers, and the odd case of mask rage, usually someone from our of town.
    Its good enough to support a “normal” economy. That’s the test, isn’t it. We’ll have to wind down COVID, and figure out how bad it was really, and how we’ll live with it, and it’s undoubted follow-ons in our environment. But we need a normal life as well.

    I think it is fair to say: we did not avoid the pandemic the way a hard quarantine island might have, but we got through it pretty well and certainly have full herd immunity and a mask free life in view.

    Good climate. Good governance. And older population that showed a lot of common sense (our seniors in general, did well). A medical community that performed well. Good luck (we didn’t have a hurricane on top of covid).

    And that’s the ground truth, from Tampa.

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    Lucky

    Hydroxychloroquine – Its Dangers

    It is part of accepted knowledge that using HCQ has certain risks. The biggest is called- heart arrhythmia.

    So, I was astonished to read on this site, 19 March 2021, from contributor RB,
    “.. there is a 2018 paper touting HCQ as a cure for heart arrhythmia.”

    I did a search and came up with a number of papers, examples:

    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03592823
    HCQ could also reduce 72% (P=0.002), and 70% for the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and transient ischemic disease.

    https://lupusnewstoday.com/2018/11/30/hydroxychloroquine-lowers-risk-atrial-fibrillation-sle-study-finds/
    patients using hydroxychloroquine have a markedly lower risk of a type of abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation

    https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/association-of-hydroxychloroquine-use-and-incident-atrial-fibrillation-in-systemic-lupus-erythematosus-a-retrospective-study/
    HCQ use was associated with a 67% reduced risk of incident AFib in SLE. . . the cardiovascular risk benefits of HCQ and its close relation to anti-arrhythmic medication quinidine, ..

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2052297520300998
    Hydroxychloroquine is protective to the heart, not harmful

    RB is correct!
    The Big Pharma/ Big Government complex has been at it again!

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    David Wojick

    My big backup article now in German

    https://www.eike-klima-energie.eu/2021/03/25/es-braucht-big-energy-zum-backup-von-wind-und-solar/

    Renewables do not work in German any better than in English. Neither the English or the German Governments realize this.

    71

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    Kevin kilty

    I just returned from a dentist appointment where I had to endure President Biden’s press conference while in the waiting room. Bizarre. Glassy-eyed. He was reading a prepared list of journalists to call upon, and at times couldn’t lift his eyes but had to concentrate on reading the prepared statement. The journalists played along. There was a bit of theatre too, for those who appreciate that sort of thing. Like the anger he was able to muster over the filibuster being an artifact of Jim Crow. I suppose he simply forgot how his former boss engaged in a filibuster to prevent Bush’s proposals to tame mortgaged backed securities from being debated.That worked out well.

    And then there are the coming changes to election laws to prevent more Jim Crow era abuse of voters. Even when asked directly if the push for these new laws wasn’t to prevent voter backlash over his policies, he said 50% of republicans want Joe to enact the Democrat-design enabling legislation, er…H.R.1. He’s a hero. Woe is us.

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      Chad

      I hope you took advantage and had all your fillings , extractions, root canals, etc done that day.
      A Biden speech must be the most numbing experience you could ask for !

      100

  • #
    RicDre

    Michael Mann: Reduce CO2 Emissions to Restore Climate Stability in Australia

    Apparently Anthropogenic CO2 is responsible for Australia’s wild weather swings between drought and flood. But “it’s not too late to forestall a dystopian future that alternates between Mad Max and Waterworld.”.

    Michael Mann, What you call a land of Mad Max and Waterworld, we call home. Breathing a bit of bushfire smoke every other year, enduring floods and droughts, is as much a part of Aussie life as beach BBQs and beer, and always has been.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/03/25/michael-mann-reduce-co2-emissions-to-restore-climate-stability-in-australia/

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    another ian

    The next panic pandemic

    “Biden’s Ebola In The USA”

    https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2021/03/25/bidens-ebola-in-the-usa/

    60

  • #
    another ian

    Wobbly economics 101

    “Why are we still paying taxes?”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/03/25/why-are-we-still-paying-taxes/

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      Tilba Tilba

      Taxation is good for the economy – we could argue about the tax rates, but it is a general principle that the more you earn, the higher marginal rate of tax you pay. Taxes don’t keep people poor – for a very large slice of the population, they get back in government services far more than their tax contribution actually pays for (roads, schools, hospitals, etc).

      The issue of huge deficits is another can of worms.

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    Furiously curious

    Anyone know the gender of those folk indulging in hijinks in Parliament house? I reckon that story might disappear rather quickly.

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    OldOzzie

    The Coming Demographic Collapse of China

    China this century is on track to experience history’s most dramatic demographic collapse in the absence of war or disease.

    China this century is on track to experience history’s most dramatic demographic collapse in the absence of war or disease.

    Today, the country has a population more than four times larger than America’s. By 2100, the U.S. will probably have more people than China.

    China’s National Bureau of Statistics typically releases population data for the preceding year in early March. This year, NBS delayed its announcement because the central government is scheduled next month to announce preliminary results of the 7th national census, conducted in November and December.

    The image of Chinese economic and geopolitical dominance will be severely dented when Beijing releases census data. Xi Jinping may believe “the East is rising and the West is declining”—the money line from one of his speeches late last year—but that view will be exceedingly hard to maintain.

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    another ian

    “Putting more relevant numbers around Australia’s livestock emissions”

    https://www.beefcentral.com/news/putting-more-relevant-numbers-around-australias-livestock-emissions/

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    OldOzzie

    Media Watch Dog: Hell has no fury like a TV presenter scornedGerard Henderson

    STOP PRESS

    • PM MORRISON SPEAKS TO NINE’S TRACY GRIMSHAW LAST NIGHT – BUT NOT TO LEIGH SALES

    Hell has no fury like a TV presenter scorned. ABC TV presenter Leigh Sales led off last Tuesday with a whinge about Scott Morrison. Here it is:

    Leigh Sales: Since the Brittany Higgins story broke a month ago, 7.30 has invited the Prime Minister for an interview more than 13 times. He did five interviews with 7.30 last year and is regularly available so we have no complaints generally. But that does make it surprising that on a day when Scott Morrison says he wants to speak to women and persuade them that he hears their concerns, that he’s once again unavailable to appear on prime-time television to speak to our hundreds of thousands of female viewers….The offer to join 7.30 any night remains open.

    7.30 illustrated its scorn explaining its whinge by showing that hoary media cliché – the empty chair. Both on air and in a tweet.

    Since the #BrittanyHiggins story broke a month ago, @abc730 has invited Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP for an interview more than 13 times. #abc730pic.twitter.com/uypYt5LoPA
    — abc730 (@abc730) March 23, 2021

    Now here’s a question. Why should the Prime Minister go on 7.30 when Laura Tingle, its political correspondent, has accused him only recently of “ideological bastardry”? As far as MWD can work it out, the PM has not appeared on 7.30 since then. Who can blame him?

    Let’s say the PM appeared on 7.30 last night. According to the program’s format, he would have been interviewed by Ms Sales. This would have been followed by a discussion between Leigh Sales and Morrison-antagonist La Tingle about the interview. This, in turn, would have been followed by the 7.30 “satire” segment (which airs every second Thursday) – starring Mark Humphries (usually) and co-written by Comrades Humphries and Evan Williams. As usual, last night’s satire, titled “Scott Morrison’s message to women”, sneered at and mocked the Prime Minister.

    Apparently, 7.30 reckons that Mr Morrison should front up to hostile territory to face the wrath of Comrade Tingle and the sneering ridicule of Comrade Humphries. The PM had the good sense to say “Not on your nelly” – or words to that effect. Instead Mr Morrison spoke to ABC Radio AM presenter Sabra Lane yesterday morning – and to Nine’s A Current Affair presenter Tracy Grimshaw last evening.

    This made sense. For starters, A Current Affair outrated 7.30 by around 90,000 viewers. Moreover, it is not clear how influential ABC current affairs programs are these days. If 7.30 changed voter intentions, Australia would have had a green/left government for at least the last decade. A Current Affair, on the other hand, appeals to Australians in the outer suburbs – unlike the ABC whose appeal is to inner-city types. In this sense, A Current Affair is more influential than 7.30.

    So, the Prime Minister would be well advised to leave 7.30’s vacant chair vacant – and focus on Nine, Seven and Sky News for television appearances.

    CAN YOU BEAR IT?

    • FRAN KELLY, JACQUELINE MALEY & KAREN MIDDLETON GO MUTE WHEN SCOTT MORRISON IS WRONGLY BLAMED FOR LIBERAL MEN BEHAVING BADLY

    Media Watch Dog just loves it when journalists interview other journalists. It’s just so comfortable. And so it came to pass that ABC Radio The World Today on Wednesday saw ABC journalist Rachel Mealey interview ABC presenter Julia Baird about the allegation of a rape in Parliament House along with reports of men behaving very badly and the Morrison government’s response to same.

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    William Astley

    Covid Origins. This is a big deal and this issue is not going away.

    Former CDC head, Robert Redfield, a professional virologist …. Stated, during a CNN interview with Sanjay Gupta, that covid did not escape from a wet market.

    Covid has manufactured/designed in a lab. It did not occur naturally. If it occured natural it would not have a completely evolved/optimized way to spread very, very effectively from person to person and have been optimized to cause long term health problems. Covid also as the special biochemical required to enter the brain.

    The lay person does not know that the specific biochemical techniques that the covid virus has to attack human …. Are not possible to create using a wet lab. When a virus evolves, in live hosts, it changes in a statistically manner. Computer designed virus… using a supercomputer and special software that simulations the virus and the body’s immune system response …. enable a computer/specialized software.. To create a deadly virus that has specific designed features.

    Covid when it was released … was optimized to attack the human body.

    For example covid has an advanced biological feature where it can anthesize our cells. This is an advantage to spread a deadly virus… As stopping the pain signal….. Enables the virus to replicate in the throat and spread to other people, before it attacks the lungs and other organs.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/26/health/covid-war-doctors-sanjay-gupta/index.html

    Former CDC Director Robert Redfield said in an interview with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta that he believed the coronavirus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China.
    I do not believe this somehow came from a bat to a human, and at that moment in time that the virus came to the human, became one of the most infectious viruses that we know in humanity for human-to-human transmission.”
    Without assigning intentionality, Redfield told me he believes the origin of the pandemic is a lab in China that was already studying the virus, exposing it to human cell cultures.

    Reminding me that his career has been spent as a virologist, he told me “I do not believe this somehow came from a bat to a human.

    And at that moment in time, the virus came to the human, became one of the most infectious viruses that we know in humanity for human to human transmission …

    Normally, when a pathogen goes from a zoonot to human, it takes a while for it to figure out how to become more and more efficient.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/03/26/former-cdc-director-redfield-most-likely-coronavirus-came-from-lab-in-wuhan/

    https://joannenova.com.au/2020/05/is-coronavirus-man-made-the-bat-virus-it-evolved-from-appears-to-be-faked/

    https://www.newsmax.com/health/headline/covid-19-pain-killer-pandemic/2020/10/06/id/990680/
    Can COVID-19 kill pain? That is the possibility raised by University of Arizona researchers who found SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, might function as a pain killer.

    If that theory proves to be true, it might be one of the reasons so many infected people walk around unaware they have the disease.

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    CHRIS

    USA more people than China by 2024/2100 or whatever? GET REAL. Unless there is WW3, forget about it. China is the NWO, unless the Neville Chamberlains of the EU/NATO/UN/USA/Asian Bloc do something about it (and I wouldn’t be hanging by my thumbs waiting for it).

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