Tuesday Open Thread

8.4 out of 10 based on 12 ratings

198 comments to Tuesday Open Thread

  • #

    Fascinating movie, could never happen?
    vaccine mass sterilization depopulation agenda revealed on amazon ‘Utopia’ show (2013)
    https://www.bitchute.com/video/Hl1OZAByu68W/

    90

  • #
  • #
    Ronin

    Another Model Fail.

    Models failed to predict the current 3rd wave of omicron.

    102

  • #
    David Maddison

    Is the M87 black hole image real or is it a data processing artefact?

    Perhaps another case of “garbage in, garbage out”?

    https://youtu.be/ZlrTe1mi5EQ

    61

  • #
    David Maddison

    Leftists New Yorkers get asked about whether they believe in “my body, my choice” and then freak out when asked if they believe in vaccine mandates.

    https://youtu.be/W7A5WVfLP_4

    150

  • #
    David Maddison

    The disturbing paintings of Hieronymys Bosch.

    https://youtu.be/-n9zbPmHvJE

    50

    • #
      David Maddison

      *Hieronymus

      40

    • #
      R.B.

      Another who thinks that the witch trials were about religion.

      The persecution of witches was rife in the pagan Roman Empire. Although never eliminated, it was greatly diminished under Christianity. To accuse someone of being a witch became heresy under canon law in the 9th C (the punishment was a stern talking to). The Basque witch trials are an interesting example. Started by secular authorities, they were ended by the Inquistors because witnesses claimed that those accused of heresy did magical things and were deemed as unreliable.

      It became wide spread under protestant Christianity but numbers were nowhere near those claimed. Estimates like 9 million were pulled out of the proverbial. Even the academically accepted estimates of 30 000 are the result of including numbers from poor historical sources (eg. people bragging) and extrapolating to areas with no evidence of anyone being executed for being a witch.

      There is a good reason that I’m on my soap box, so bear with me.

      I was looking for a link to a story on ergot poisoning being responsible for the Salem witch trials and came across someone who claimed that she debunked it. She seemed to have done the opposite. She mentions the really good reasons to accept the theory then points out that it was a misconception because there needed to be stronger evidence and “Needless to say, there is not much support for the theory. Mary Beth Norton, Marilynne K. Roach, and Emerson W. Baker do not even include the theory in their books, showing that the historians who have written some of the most highly regarded books on the subject see little reason to embrace the convulsive ergotism theory so long as the evidence for it remains inadequate”

      So I googled the first one of those academics and needless to say, she is someone with a barrow to push. “Mary Beth Norton gives us a unique account of the events at Salem, helping us to understand them as they were understood by those who lived through the frenzy.”

      So some academics are allowed to get such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact, as Mark Twain would have put it.

      https://salemwitchtrialsresearch.wordpress.com/2015/01/04/a-common-misconception-the-ergot-theory-and-the-salem-witch-trials/

      10

  • #
    Philip

    Does anyone here know any detail about Brumbies, in particular what damage they do and how much of it and it’s significance ?

    My hypothesis is not much of any. Searches only result in the usual drivel of hoofed animals and platitudes of bio diversity.

    I once camped on a river in the wild gullies of the Guy Fawkes and experienced them there. The environment was pristine, I couldn’t see any damage. They were very cool animals living in paradise. Nature at it’s best. I didnt see a loss of diversity, eroded barren soils, mudded waterways. Nope, if was all pristine. A few of us hung for a week surviving on rice, dried peas and smoking hooch, and the horses would walk by peacefully eating grasses.

    The claim seems to be a huge explosion in numbers in the Alpine regions. Given Brumbies have been there so long, why now, why no explosion before ? Which makes me suspect something is up, that it’s green Park Rangers and their lazy ideology at work and taking power.

    200

    • #
      David Maddison

      The Greens have been murdering Brumbies (Australian wild horses) for a long time. I doubt they are responsible for as much damage as is claimed.

      Strangely Greens are mostly silent about far more destructive feral animals like dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs, goats etc..

      Greens just want to destroy everything that is beautiful which the horses are.

      241

    • #
      Dennis

      Speaking to friends in Gippsland Victoria, descendants of cattle families who grazed their cattle in the high country of the Snowy Mountains, and capture Brumbies to train for riding using the “whispering” approach, volunteer bushfire fighters and volunteer riding trail maintenance crew, the rot set in when the State Government of Victoria banned the grazing of cattle in the Snowy Mountains and then decided Brumbies were a problem as well.

      The early white settlers discovered excellent grasslands maintained by seasonal burning by Australian Aborigine tribes, they burn when weather conditions are suitable and burn in patches every few years so that a burn runs out of fuel when it reaches a previously burnt patch and the bushfire is cool enough due to a lack of fuel to allow wildlife to escape. Nobody knows for how long traditional seasonal burning has taken place, probably several thousand years. The settlers who grazed cattle learnt from and followed the Aborigine burning tradition as they left the high country at the end of each grazing season. Today because of the lack of land care including cattle grazing and burning off the fuel build up is dangerous, wild fires expected, blackberry bushes and other weeds taking over the grasslands.

      With due consideration for all of the feral animals introduced to our bushland picking on the Brumbies is more about politics than any other reason.

      And who would want wild fires to cause massive damage to vegetation and kill wildlife rather than conducting land seasonal burning and other land management?

      190

      • #
        Dennis

        Regarding bushfire potential and refuges for wild animals, worst pigs, domestic dogs gone wild and cats but all of the feral population, are you aware that Green groups and wealthy donors have been buying farmland to turn back into “natural bushland” where a lack of management presents bushfire hazard and a refuge for feral animals that cause many problems for land owners surrounding?

        150

      • #
        Ted1.

        My observation does nor support the theory that it was the cessation of aboriginal burnoffs that caused the invasion of woody weeds.

        It was the rabbits that did that.

        Burnoffs do not kill the roots of the grass. Rabbits do. Not only that, but by digging up the roots they left the topsoil loose for the wind and the rain to erode it.

        70

        • #
          Mike Jonas

          Blackberry also follows wombats. Where they dig a hole, the dirt they throw out is perfect for blackberry.

          40

      • #
        Sambar

        Another reason the brumby population has increased, along with every other feral animal, is the endless creation of national parks. These parks, while supposedly for the people are heavily restricted in what activities can take place. The government body charged with “looking after” these areas does little but restrict access and then watch all sorts of destructive scenarios unfold. And, in typical government fashion, the solution is always more money and bring in the “experts” to fix problems that could be done for free. I have known a couple of high country cattlemen over the years and these fellows absolutely knew “their country”, if brumby numbers warranted they would be “run” and
        captured for whatever fate. They never wanted them eradicated, just controlled. You couldn’t have a brumby run these days, to cruel ya know. not safe ya know, needs government intervention ya know. Same with deer populations, no hunting in national parks, number explode government intervention required. So the gov’n. plan is hire professional shooters at considerable expense, stick them in helicopters at upwards of $2000.00 per hour to operate and shoot horses and deer from the air. THEN LEAVE THE BODIES TO ROT. If you are a licensed deer hunter, in theory at least you are required to bury any remains that cannot be carried out so wild dogs don’t proliferate, same rules dont apply to govn culling operations.

        80

        • #
          John+in+NZ

          With a name like Sambar, I suspect you are a hunter.

          The crazy thing is that the authorities could grant permits to amateur hunters and get the job done more humanely, more efficiently and for nothing.

          I think it shows how they are wedded to the idea of central control.

          30

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Dennis the Victoriastan government can’t ban cattle grazing in NSW Snowy Mountains I think you mean the Alpine national park ? And yes Brumbies have been a political issue and a social one for those that get sucked into the emotive side of the story , fact is The Australian bush doesn’t have cloven hooved animals that are native to this country . I’ve seen the damage they do and this includes deer , pigs and goats to name a few and as for traditional burning we are much the poorer for losing the practice.

        40

        • #
          Philip

          And so what is the damage from the hoof ? What problem does it create and to what significance ?

          00

    • #
      Bright Red

      As far as the environment goes I have not seen any issues of concern. However the high country brumbies are a real danger to motorists. They are attracted to the warm roads at night and leave piles of dung yep really big piles of dung on the road as well as being on the road if driving at night. Motokhana style driving on high country roads.

      11

      • #
        Philip

        Wombats present a bigger danger and of course the old kangaroo. There are many miles of roads without fencing and cattle in highland areas. I don’t see that as a reason to start shooting horses.

        30

        • #
          Bright Red

          Yep wombats can do a lot of damage to the bottom of a car but are not as dangerous to the occupants as a horse. Kangaroos and more likely wallaby’s are ever present. Best not to drive at night in alpine regions.

          20

  • #
    David Maddison

    Elon Musk and other criticism of “green” hydrogen. It comes in many other colours as well.

    https://youtu.be/VMB6UPv-2ZQ

    40

  • #
    another ian

    Re that Rogers internet failure in Canada

    “Matt Gurney: The Rogers failure wasn’t what you thought it was
    Too much of our analysis and commentary about the major outage has missed the mark — this was bigger than one telecom’s bad day.”

    https://theline.substack.com/p/matt-gurney-the-rogers-failure-wasnt

    How is Oz situated if similar happens?

    30

    • #
      yarpos

      On the surface of it you have some options if you arent in a remote area. What you cant control is who does what and who is in bed with who deeper into their networks.

      Simple example. I once set up a couple of diverse data links out of an oil refinery doing a critical job. Much planning, totally diverse, different exit points and routing etc. Asked for fresh diagrams a couple of years later as internal building plans tequired a rethink. The carriers diagrams showed that due to external works both links both shared the same psth for 25kms into the city and then seperated and pretended to be diverse.

      Back up and disaster recovery needs constant verfication and testing to be useful. Later in life i worked for a company that spent hundreds of thousands maintaining and annually testing a DRP plan. Our EU cousins went the split Data Centre path 20kms apart to provide continuity they thought they needed.

      There are lots of opinions on what is needed, what will work and how to test

      40

  • #
    Kalm Keith

    Did a bit of exploring on the weekend and bumped into a couple of people from the blog.
    Met Rafe and he went through his interesting ideas about engaging people and tempting them to look past the lamestream media and its barrage of misleading headlines.

    140

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Does Jo sell T shirts?

      40

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      I’ve been writing in recent weeks to one of the local papers (which is publishing them) as a counter to some bloke (not even a local) who writes about the Heat DOOM from CO2 every week. I try to include a little humour e.g. some ‘prediction’ about the effects of increasing CO2**.
      I have been surprised by the favourable comments I’ve received (even 2 that the paper printed). It seems that a lot of people aren’t ‘buying’ the AGW nonsense and this newpaper has seen an opportunity as their competitor is strongly opposed to anything that expresses doubts.

      **”A complete list of things caused by global warming” is available on the net although the compiler gave up in 2015 as it was too time consuming checking that the claims were serious, not spoofs. He only got 883.

      70

      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Good pushback.

        10

      • #
        John Hultquist

        Such lists, after a time, have many sites disappear — there are many reasons, it just happens. The bigger the list and passing of time makes keeping the links functional a near impossibility.

        10

  • #
  • #
    TdeF

    “Britain is expected to experience 40C heat for the first time on Tuesday, with some estimates suggesting temperatures could be as high as 43C.”

    Waiting and watching the Telegraph for the hottest day EVAH in Britain.

    Surely one of the tens of thousands of thermometers will break the all time record and declare “Climate Change”
    and hopefully their first ever temperature in the 40s.

    Otherwise the disappointment will be terrible. And the windmills will spin a little slower. And if the magic day happens, the cry will go out, “More Windmills!”.
    After all, they will stop the warming, surely? And be inspired by Robert the Bruce and his little spider. Although a cynic would observe that the more windmills they build, the hotter it gets?

    230

    • #
      TdeF

      And in any discussion of man made Global Warming someone always expresses the profound wisdom that climate is not the weather.

      However if the temperature reaches 40+C for an instant in one location in England, Climate Change if not rapid man made Global Warming will be declared. If only by Prince Charles who can thank his profound insight on information received privately and directly from Daffodils. I think that’s what he said.

      140

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        And one correspondent noted on-line that the Heat Wave had resulted in Lerwick reaching 14℃.
        (that’s in Shetland and way up North).

        20

    • #
      Philip

      Meanwhile Hillstone in NSW set its record cold temperature of minus 6 (thereabouts). No headlines whatsoever.

      130

    • #
      Mike Jonas

      They don’t need an actual high temperature (though they would like one) because headlines of forecasts are all they need to cement the number into people’s minds.

      110

      • #
        MrGrimNasty

        Correct, the pre-announcement of extreme records has been a standard tactic of the climate alarmists. After days of hype it doesn’t matter if it happens or not. The seed is already implanted.

        70

    • #
      Philip

      Direct correlation. The more windmills they build, the warmer it gets.

      90

  • #
    David Maddison

    Good short article.

    As you are no doubt aware, the Left are coming after your cars, not just your freedom and your energy supply.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/07/end-private-car-ownership-daniel-greenfield/

    The End of Private Car Ownership

    You will drive nothing and you will be happy.

    Mon Jul 11, 2022

    Daniel Greenfield

    The term “pedestrian” has a derogatory meaning because peasants walked while nobles were “equestrians” and rode horses. The industrial revolution eliminated this class difference, as it did so many others, by making car ownership available to the masses until eventually Herbert Hoover was able to boast that “Republican prosperity has reduced and increased earning capacity” to “put the proverbial ‘chicken in every pot’ and a car in every backyard to boot.”

    [..]

    The reality is that car ownership offers mobility and independence. That is exactly what the leftist radicals making social policy want to eliminate. Gas prices are not Putin’s price hike, they’re the green dream. And that dream isn’t to put you in a Nissan Leaf. It’s the Pol Pot dream of dismantling civilization and rolling back the industrial revolution.

    Once the dark age norms of their dark enlightenment are restored, peasants will go back to being pedestrians and only the progressive philosopher kings will ride.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

    10

    • #
      David Maddison

      Moderator, I fail to see how this is too long and I quoted less than ten percent of the article. Plus, I did quote the first paragraph.

      Sorry, I fail to see what I’ve done wrong here.

      00

  • #

    As Jimmy Barnes sang “Aint no mountain high enough, Aint no valley low enough” there isn’t an engineering solution that will stop the ongoing floods in the rivers along the east coast of Australia.

    However there might be a solution in past, as these mighty rivers flowed big and wide long before the urban sprawl crept out onto the flood plains.
    Re-Vegetation doesn’t sound like the obvious answer so I will explain my theory.

    Higher density vegetation in the river basins promotes absorption of water into the water table. In all regions of a river basin vegetation draws down the water table and aids the absorption of water into the soil and intern the water table. During periods of high rainfall the capacity of the ground to store water is available as a flood mitigation. Low or no vegetation in the river basin results in a higher water table volume, compressed higher saline soil that in some instance becomes hydrophobic with a higher runoff rate.

    Secondly undergrowth vegetation constrains the flow of water. During high rainfall events river basins with high density vegetation and thick undergrowth slow the movement of water allowing more time for absorption into the ground. The reduction in runoff rates means less water converging in river channels at the same time, reducing the maximum flood height and flow speed. With the reduction of flow speed less damage is done to the the river course, allowing vegetation to withstand the turbulent flow and reduce erosion of the soils.

    Examples of this can be found in the undisturbed regions of tropical wildness in Australia’s northern reaches.

    This theory does have some additional considerations and requirements. The constraint of water flow in the river basin does mean a higher persistence of water on the flood plain. The retention of water will naturally form wetlands, swamps and lagoons. Some land will need to be forfeited to the natural environment in order for these to become established. There will still be floods although the destructive speed of the water flow will be reduced, the consequence being flooding water will take longer to subside. On the upside water availability increases for some agriculture, recreation and possibly consumption. The environment will be greener and healthier and not dry into tinder boxes waiting to explode with fire every summer.

    So perhaps adding an extra few meters to that dam wall isn’t worth all that money when a simple and possibly more valuable outcome could be achieve.
    How about just doing the right thing and put it back the way we found it.

    60

    • #

      I’m interested in streamflow and have heard similar theories. It’s very relevant here in WA too. I’m interested in any papers or research that might support this.

      70

      • #

        Here are two I found with “Vegetation flood mitigation Australia”. There are many to choose from in the same context of global flood management.

        Jacky Croke, Chris Thompson, Kirstie Fryirs,
        Prioritising the placement of riparian vegetation to reduce flood risk and end-of-catchment sediment yields: Important considerations in hydrologically-variable regions, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 190,2017, Pages 9-19, ISSN 0301-4797,

        Wayne Erskine, Annabelle Keene, Richard Bush, Michael Cheetham, Anita Chalmers,
        Influence of riparian vegetation on channel widening and subsequent contraction on a sand-bed stream since European settlement: Widden Brook, Australia,
        Geomorphology, Volumes 147–148, 2012, Pages 102-114, ISSN 0169-555X,

        10

      • #
        Sambar

        Hi Jo, a good start is the book by Peter Andrews “Back from the Brink” his theory of slowing water flow to increase absorption, reduce salinity, restore water tables etc has many followers. The detractors are also present as he advocated using willows as a primary water retaining system. As you are aware anything “not native” was inherently no good. His plan was to establish willows first as they are quick growers easily established and provided stock food. As they matured they could be replaced with native species that could be established in the rehabilitated areas. While he still has many advocates, mainly older Aussies I guess, his ideas seem to have quietly passed away.

        100

        • #
          Philip

          I devoured his two books back in the 00’s. I learned more about floodplain hydrology than 4 years at university.

          70

        • #
          Philip

          The idea of exotic plants as an automatic fail, is a classic infantile ethic of environmentalism.

          I want to write a story of all the environmental programs out there that have failed, that in hindsight show us what a waste of money these things are and how they dont even achieve their environmental goal. There are many examples around here, for example plantings of eucalypt trees along streams, roadside vegetation reserves and efforts, all done in the 90s and now their lichen covered faded signs stand in front of this non result. It tells quite a story.

          71

          • #
            Honk R Smith

            Anthropogenic good?
            Anthropogenic bad?
            See textbook.
            Initiate NGO accordingly.
            A TED talk helps.

            30

        • #
          Hanrahan

          MANY years ago, iirc, clearing Jarrah forests in WA caused salinity.

          Eucalyptus may be the ultimate native but should be discouraged.

          50

        • #
          beowulf

          Peter Andrews had some great ideas, but let’s face it — he was a fanatic with a two-track mind. He loved his exotic willows and his exotic weeds.

          Andrews’ willows are a perfect example of why you shouldn’t attempt to extrapolate a tactic from one zone or one land form or one district and apply it willy-nilly more broadly without taking local conditions into account.

          Where I am from willows were planted along the river by a Napoleonic settler back in the very early 1800s and they’ve been choking the river ever since, replacing some of the rainforest trees that naturally held the banks together. Had Andrews tried to plant willows here he would have been strung up. He is used to dealing with small ephemeral streams, not proper rivers. Willows have extremely shallow fibrous root mats and large crowns with a huge “sail” area when immersed in a strong flood current. Rather than stabilising or rehabilitating a stream bank, they collapse into the stream channel and drag chunks of the riverbank in with them, exposing even more riverbank behind them to erosion when it is already hyper-saturated. They are nothing more than a weed and a menace. Plenty of natives grow quicker.

          Lengths of the riverbank vegetated with native casuarinas are as solid as a rock; willow-dominated sections are a mess of land slips, and land slips do nothing for recharging water tables or increasing productivity. After the willows have done their job you have to go in and rehabilitate the land the willows have wrecked.

          I too was initially a fan of Andrews: his theory was good, but the more I heard from the man, the less impressed I was by his methods to achieve that theory. He was very pro-weed. Why encourage exotic weeds when native plants can do the job as well or much better? No wonder his downstream neighbours got upset.

          If Jo wants to get into the really out-there theories on water flow patterns she should read Living Water by Olaf Alexandersson, The Water Wizard by Viktor Schauberger and Sensitive Chaos by James Lovelock (yes, he of Gaia theory fame). A study of fractals might also help. Nikola Tesla did studies on flow theory too.

          60

      • #
        John Connor II

        Loads of studies out there Jo although they tend to focus on power generation.
        Presently you’re more after an environmental impact perspective?
        Even your own WA water authority does a rather nice GUI on stats.
        https://www.watercorporation.com.au/Our-water/Rainfall-and-dams/Streamflow

        Try sciencedaily.com and researchgate.net
        Other sites with environmental data are paywalled but if one is resourceful enough…

        20

      • #
        Bill Burrows

        Hi Jo – Here is a talk I gave to Property Rights Australia in 2005. It is mainly about vegetation dynamics in the grazed woodlands of eastern Australia. However there are a couple of references to the impacts of increasing tree cover on water flows given on p.5. (See: https://www.keepandshare.com/doc22/111984/burrows-pra-talk-sorting-fact-from-fiction-web-access-address-given-at-end-of-doc-pdf-332k?da=y ). [The web access referred to in the link no longer works].

        I’m sure you know the history of the Gnangara Mound aquifer north of Perth. As I understand it excessive planting of pine plantations on the Mound contributed to the serious decline in that cities water supplies in the early 2000s. Similar problems have also led to restrictions being imposed on exotic tree planting in SE South Australia. There are analogous examples of tree impacts on hydrology reported in the worldwide literature.

        20

      • #
        John Hultquist

        Aldo Leopold is the author of “A Sand County Almanac” – a series of essays of the natural world. Daughters Nina and Estella also became teachers and naturalists. His son, Luna, was a leading geomorphologist and hydrologist with his best-known publication while with the U. S. Geological Survey, 54 years ago.

        https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1968/0554/report.pdf

        “Hydrology for Urban Land Planning – A Guidebook on the Hydrologic
        Effects of Urban Land Use”
        USGS Circular 554, 1968

        Page 3 has hypothetical unit hydrographs relating runoff to rainfall.
        This is the first place I saw such graphs, but likely did not first appear here.

        10

    • #
      TedM

      My observations would suggest that you are correct on all Points Daniel. I also suspect that turbulence caused by vegetation impeding the flow improves absorption. I have no doubt that land use change has a lot to do with increasing flooding, if and when it occurs.

      30

    • #
      PTR

      ….. As I recall; the idea has been around for a long time, and tried and tested in that regard. The suggested solution though has an inherent problem, and as I think Andrews found that out. To slow the flow down means that those, lets say who are on the edge of the water spread, now become inundated and make a lot of noise about it. I think that it goes back to Kennett’s time, here in East Gippsland, there was an employment engagement scheme conducted, think it was called the Green Scheme. One of the activities it included was the planting of willows for the reasons mentioned in this thread.
      Well that came and went, then in the 90’s, we had a series of east coast lows cause several decent, but not the biggest, floods. The noise grew loud. So there was a reversal of the willow planting concept, removal became the theme, and that went on for years. Willows came to be regarded as noxious weeds, and were even removed from most insignificant places. Not only that, even de-logging of fallen debris in the rivers was carried out.
      Put it down to climate change or just the weather cycles, but the east coast lows affecting this region have about left us for the time being, so we await the future so as to see what happens.

      40

    • #
      KP

      We are busy doing the opposite, as suburbs gather rain off a roof and feed it down a high-speed pipe to a storm-water system that rushes it straight to a local creek. Every hard surface, roofs and roads, rush the rain to creeks within minutes, rather than have it percolate through grasslands.

      We not only get flooding, we get flash-flooding.

      50

  • #
    John Connor II

    JC2 Web Tip: bypassing paywalls

    Not so much bypassing as utilising caches, so it’s legal.

    Example: Click the link below:

    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/recent-home-buyers-most-vulnerable-to-rate-rises-rba-20220719-p5b2nw

    You get a paywall popup after 5 sec or so.

    Now go here:

    https://12ft.io and enter the above URL.
    Voila!

    Works for a lot of sites and a lot it doesn’t.
    You can also just stop loading the webpage as soon as the article is readable and the paywall popup won’t appear in a lot of cases.

    31

    • #
      Eng_Ian

      Or you could just turn off Java script on that page.

      A very easy solution to stop those banners popping up after the page loads.

      20

      • #
        John Connor II

        Fine for very old sites but with anything modern it will either fail to load or render properly or you’ll get a JS warning.

        20

        • #
          Eng_Ian

          You must be using some weird JS blocker. I’m using Firefox browser and “Disable Javascript” Add on. Works a treat for me. You can easily add or subtract webpages from the safe list if required.

          10

  • #
    John Connor II

    Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative diseases – a fresh look.

    We all know someone (or more than one) that has died from or is suffering from that curse called Alzheimer’s.
    My mother died from it although my father was mentally fit into his 90’s.
    No symptoms of mental degeneration in me (yet) either thankfully, though some here might disagree. 😉

    We’ve probably all heard of Amyloid plaques and their association with Alzheimer’s however what people don’t know is that they’re really not caused by Alzheimer’s but in fact are a response by the imnune system to Alzheimer’s.

    I saw a very good video on the issue months ago by Dr. Dale Bredeson.
    The link is below.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=s4EZihtPm_4

    If anyone needs a download link I can assist.

    We’ve also heard and are continuing to hear about the gut microbiome and its previously unknown impact on body health.
    In fact it also has a significant affect on the brain.
    It’s shaping up that lifestyle and diet play essential parts of mental health and diseases.
    Typically far too many elderly live alone and don’t eat properly due to it being too much effort and increasingly a cost factor.
    Needless to say a poor diet doesn’t do much for the microbiome which in turn impacts the brain.

    The article below which is a few years old shown this.

    Gut bacteria found to have a role in both PTSD and Alzheimer’s disease

    from Multiple Sclerosis to depression. Two new studies have now found connections between the gut microbiome and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Alzheimer’s disease.

    Research from a team at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has compared the gut microbiome of 25 human subjects with Alzheimer’s disease to 25 cognitively healthy human subjects.

    “By using DNA sequencing to take a ‘snapshot’ of gut bacterial composition, we found that individuals with dementia had decreased microbial richness and diversity in their gut microbiome compared to people without a diagnosis of dementia,” says Nicholas Vogt, first author on the study.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-13601-y

    More recently in 2020:

    Study offers “indisputable” link between Alzheimer’s and gut microbiome

    Research into the relationship between the brain and the bacteria in our bellies is uncovering links to an increasing number of neurological conditions, with Alzheimer’s among them. A new study is throwing further weight behind the theory that an imbalance in the gut microbiome may be related to the onset of the disease, showing how shifts in bacterial diversity are associated with inflammation and heightened numbers of amyloid plaques in the brain, one of the hallmarks of the condition.

    https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad200306

    There is a sizeable number of articles on the topic – far too many to go into here.

    End of part 1.

    70

  • #
    el+gordo

    Climate crisis that isn’t.

    ‘António Guterres told ministers from 40 countries meeting to discuss the climate crisis on Monday: “Half of humanity is in the danger zone, from floods, droughts, extreme storms and wildfires. No nation is immune. Yet we continue to feed our fossil fuel addiction.” (Guardian)

    21

  • #
    MP

    Somethings going on around here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA_Phpz4woY

    15 mins, some course language, a lot of the reality.

    31

  • #
    John Connor II

    Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative diseases – a fresh look. Part 2


    Gut bacteria found to help protect brain and central nervous system from harmful viruses

    In a surprise to many researchers around the world, Chinese authorities recently approved a novel drug claimed to improve cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The drug, derived from a marine algae, is the first new Alzheimer’s drug to reach the market anywhere in the world in almost 20 years, and is suggested to reduce neuroinflammation by modulating a person’s gut microbiome.

    GV-971, or sodium oligomannate, is derived from a common form of seaweed called brown algae. For several years the compound has been under investigation in China as a treatment to slow, or even reverse, cognitive decline associated with mild to moderate cases of Alzheimer’s disease.

    https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/green-valley-announces-nmpa-approval-of-oligomannate-for-mild-to-moderate-alzheimers-disease-300950349.html

    Amazing how simple treatments are shaping up to be. Natural healthy food, not pills! 😉

    Korean Kimchi or organic Sauerkraut are excellent prebiotics for gut health!
    They can easily be added to most meals and are best consumed raw like most foods (except tomatoes).
    There are typically over 200 different bacteria in a healthy gut and the specific ones associated with brain diseases are yet to be established so one needs to focus on broad spectrum prebiotics and enteric(important!) probiotics.
    You can also buy enteric probiotics containing dozens of different species.
    I don’t think I’m allowed to post brand names..

    Movin on, there is now evidence that the oral microbiome also has an effect on the brain!
    An article published this year is very interesting.

    A common type of oral bacteria associated with periodontal disease has been linked to neuroinflammation and the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The research, from an international team of scientists, builds on a prior body of evidence linking poor oral health with dementia and neurodegeneration.

    The idea that gum disease plays a role in the onset or progression of Alzheimer’s disease is a hypothesis that sits on the fringes of dementia research. But over the last few years a growing number of scientists have begun to take the idea somewhat seriously, and studies have slowly started to dig into the association.

    Most research so far has focused on the possible ways Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), the bacterium responsible for most gum disease, could influence the brain, either directly or indirectly. This new study turned its focus to another type of oral bacteria, Fusobacterium nucleatum, which is known to increase in volume in the presence of periodontitis.

    https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2022.912709/full

    Interesting. Gingivitis is VERY common and most people have plaque and calculus buildups (so my dentist said in conversation) which in themselves can lead to heart disease and now to dementia!
    Again, dental health is an issue with the elderly, assuming they’re not already edentulous as many are post 70.
    Conventional brushing and mouthwashes don’t remove calculus well but I happen to know (and use) a truly great 2 stage approach.
    Again I don’t think I can post brands…

    So in conclusion healthy oral and gut microbiomes are essential in minimising an increasing range of neorological conditions.
    It’s not hard to make basic changes that can yield profound results in quality if life.

    80

  • #
    John Connor II

    What extreme heat can do to your body – and how to stay safe

    As a scorching hot spell engulfs Europe, the Met Office issued the first ever national red alert for heat on Friday ahead of potentially record-breaking temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, while the UK Health Security Agency warned “illness and death may occur among the fit and healthy, not just in high-risk groups”.

    It’s not an empty threat. Excess death figures show that 1,634 people died due to heat last year, during what was a “fairly unremarkable” summer in terms of temperature. In 2020, when the mercury hit 37.8 degrees celsius, the toll reached 2,556.

    Experts say the current prolonged heatwave – especially the “tropical nights” where temperatures remain above 20 degrees – could be even more deadly.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/fitness/your-blood-thickens-and-then-clots-what-extreme-heat-can-do-to-your-body/ar-AAZC6B2

    (What’s your sauna set at Jo? Blood-like-treacle 70C? 😅 )

    Meanwhile over in Italy:

    ‘Sudden and Unexpected’: At least 11 Vacationers Drop Dead on Italian Beaches in 24 hours

    While Italians prepare for their fourth Covid “vaccine” injections, the count of sudden deaths continues to rise inexorably – 11 under 60 years old in just the last hours.

    Now that beach season is upon us, a new heartbreaking phenomenon is taking place, healthy vacationers dropping dead from sudden and unexpected “medical emergencies.” Worldwide, beachgoers are collapsing while walking on the beach or swimming. Many of them suffer cardiac arrest and die. Blogger Tom Stahl reports, “At the beginning of July, in just 24 hours, at least 11 vacationers dropped dead on Italian beaches.” How many more cases occurred that have not been reported in the news?

    https://rairfoundation.com/sudden-and-unexpected-at-least-11-vacationers-drop-dead-on-italian-beaches-in-24-hours/

    What will this be blamed on? Lifesaver whistles?

    20

    • #

      My Sauna is set at max of 65C. If I could do 70, I would. To be honest, I get hotter faster in the Spa at 40C. It raises my core temp more and takes a lot longer to cool down afterwards. A 65C sauna is really just comfortable.

      51

  • #
    MP

    Grab yourself a bucket, sit back and listen to the drivel from the national press club.

    And to be clear, it’s all your fault!

    61

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Sorry, didn’t make 5 seconds.
      Indigenous owners of the land acknowledgement.
      Bucket filled.

      71

      • #
        Len

        Did Joshua acknowledge the Traditional owners when he crossed to Jordan River into Canaan?

        50

      • #
        MP

        We can’t open an envelope in Australia without having that crap jammed down our throats, gets the gag reflex going every time.

        41

  • #
    John Connor II

    “COVID Vaccine Technology” will Depopulate Varroa Mites by Making them Infertile

    An amazing gushing article from Bloomberg. The author is very excited because “Covid Vaccine Technology” will be used to make “varroa mites” infertile!

    GreenLight Biosciences is developing an RNA-based syrup to attack varroa mites, a parasite that attaches itself to honeybees and feeds off them while spreading diseases. The RNA acts as an “off switch” that interferes with the mites, disrupting their ability to lay offspring that attach to bees, said Mark Singleton, chief commercial officer and general manager of plant health at the Boston-based firm.

    https://igorchudov.substack.com/p/covid-vaccine-technology-will-depopulate

    Try it on humans first to see if it works. 😅😅

    60

    • #
      KP

      ““Covid Vaccine Technology” will be used to make “varroa mites” infertile!”

      Well, what could go wrong… As their RNA spreads to all the other mites,other insects, the bees, the honey.. the humans, Ah, they were the target all along!

      41

  • #
    John Connor II

    ‘We Are Not Your Slaves’: Farmers in Italy, Spain, & Poland Rise Up against New World Order

    Farmers in Italy, Spain and Poland have joined Dutch farmers in rising up against the ‘New World Order’ elites who are attempting to destroy the farming industry.

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1547939212250320902

    Falling apart by the day…

    91

  • #
    Peter C

    Friedman Conference 2022

    I have just spent the weekend in Sydney, attending the Friedman Conference.
    This is a gathering of people who want to discuss and listen to people talking about human Liberty and Freedom, particularly in relation to the Individual in Society.

    The conference this year was called Friedman Unchained, possibly because of the extreme Government over reach which we all suffered during the Covid pandemic with the lockdowns and mandates. The poster was adapted from the advertising for the movie Django Unchained ( a fictional story about a slave who escapes captivity and then takes his revenge) and features Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Rand Paul.

    The conferences are named for Milton Friedman, an economist and luminary of the libertarian movement in the USA. This was the 9th conference in a ten year period.
    I have attended 2 previous conferences.

    I attended sessions on:
    Key note address by Tom Palmer,
    Future of the Liberal Party
    Future of the West
    Minor Party Politics
    Key note address by David Limbrick ( Lib Dem MP in the Victorian Parliament.
    Future of Freedom
    Australia’s Alternative Media

    The conference dinner featured an address by Ted Hui, a former member of the Hong Kong parliament, who was involved in the protests against the CCP and fled the country to escape arrest. He has lived in several countries and is now living in Adelaide on a temporary refuge visa.

    A highlight was meeting Topher Field. Topher’s documentary videos have featured several times on JoNova’s blog. (https://joannenova.com.au/2013/09/tophers-501-project/) bought a copy of his recent documentary, Battleground Melbourne.

    Topher was a speaker on the Alternative Media session. Topher talked about 3 types of Journalist (both mainstream and alternative). The first is the recording journalist such as Rukshan Fernando (@real Rukshan). Rukshan attended the Melbourne protests and recorded what he saw happening all around him. The second is the investigative journalist such as Avi Yemeni who interviewed people at the protests and asked about their stories and motivations and the third is the commentator, such as himself who puts together the recordings and the interviews and gives a commentary putting the events in a political and social context.

    The context is all important, since Social Media is an absolute battleground of narrative and counter narrative. During the Melbourne protests an elderly lady was tackled by a policeman, in an utterly unprovoked attack. She fell heavily and broke her hip. The police then pepper sprayed her directly in the face.

    Within hours a picture was circulating on social media showing a 35 year old man on the ground, dressed as an old woman, whose wig had fallen off. This was used the justify the police actions. In fact the victim was an elderly woman (with wig) and only in one shot from a particular angle could she be portrayed as a younger man in woman’s clothing.

    A counter counter narrative was then put out by Topher and others, demonstrating the truth of the matter. This relied heavily on mobile phone videos provided by protesters and spectators, demonstrating that almost anyone these days can be a recording journalist and contribute to the public debate and expose the truth.

    I have provided just one example of the discussions. I found it all quite rewarding. The cause of Liberalism and Liberty and Freedom has taken a real battering of the last 12 months in many countries. Governments and ruling elites have become much stronger and controlling and coercive. It may take years, even a generation or more to restore our freedoms but that means we start right now. A primary problem is to make other people aware that their freedoms are disappearing.

    I am looking forward to the next conference and will try to give some early warning of the dates and contact details.

    100

    • #
      KP

      Well!! We can’t have that! Counter-narrative journalism vill not be allowed!

      “An amendment to a bill in the UK would mandate all social media users be given a “truth score” that pre-determines the accuracy of their posts. The amendment has been proposed to be added to the already odious “Online Safety Bill,” which would censor “legal but harmful” content, and was introduced by Conservative Party lawmaker John Penrose.

      The amendment states that any users who have “produced user-generated content,” published news, or merely posted “comments” or “reviews” should be ranked by the platform in question, with a score given denoting their “historic factual accuracy.” The rules would apply to anyone who receives a certain threshold of online views, with that figure of ‘thruthiness’ to be determined by the UK communications regulator OFCOM”

      ..and social media/news hubs will not show any data with a score less than 6/10..

      As they expect, the internet will split in two.

      31

      • #
        Peter C

        Well!! We can’t have that! Counter-narrative journalism vill not be allowed!

        Probably not allowed already.
        I am moderated on every post, including the one above,
        Let’s see if this gets through?

        20

    • #
      Kalm Keith

      Thanks for that summary Peter.

      It’s good to get away from the routine of home and surroundings and then to be buzzed with new ideas and perspectives that make sense for a change.

      Sourcing all current news from the net and ABCCCC radio is not always going to get the full facts.

      01

  • #
  • #
    John Connor II

    Defibrillators To Be Installed In Every State School In England

    The UK governent has announced that all state schools in England will be equipped with a defibrillator by the end of the 2022/23 academic year.

    According to the government website, there is clear evidence that defibrillators drastically increase the chance of survival from a cardiac arrest and they want to make sure that there is a device in every school

    https://news.sky.com/story/defibrillators-to-be-supplied-to-all-state-schools-in-england-by-next-summer-following-campaign-by-oliver-kings-family-12653539

    Kill us the one hand and save us on the other…

    Walking through town today I passed the community chalk blackboard where someone dared to write “why are so many vaccinated getting sick?”
    I’m shocked. Shocked I say ! 😅

    131

    • #
      Stanley

      That’s a step backwards from the electric cattle prod that my high school form teacher used.

      50

  • #
    Strop

    Update from Peter Ridd.

    Dear All,

    It is now nine months since the High Court decision (Ridd v JCU) was handed down and I thought donors to that legal action might be interested in what has happened in the meantime.

    As you will recall, the HC ruled that JCU acted unlawfully in censuring me for my comments on the Quality Assurance of Great Barrier Reef (GBR) science, but was allowed to fire me for speaking about JCU’s unlawful behaviour. I have been working with Morgan Begg from the IPA on a new volume that will analyse the case in detail. Contributors include Chris Merritt, legal correspondent for The Australian, James Allan (Law Professor at the University of Queensland), and Aynsley Kellow (Emeritus Professor at U. Tasmania). The aim is to make sure as much as possible is learned and documented for future work to improve academic freedom of speech.

    This will draw a line under those legal proceedings.

    The issue of quality assurance of GBR science, which sparked the legal action, is never far from my mind, and I have been assisting Jennifer Marohasy in making a couple of high-quality films about the GBR. You have doubtless heard about the latest bad news of the bleaching on the Reef. Do you ever wonder if there might be more to the story? Jennifer will be releasing her new film shortly and there is a premier viewing on Sunday for those living in Brisbane. 24 July 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Newfarm Cinemas 701 Brunswick St.

    https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/premiere-a-coral-bleaching-tragedy-and-the-measure-of-the-gbr-tickets-377020146407

    (I will be there and would be delighted to meet if you can make it. It is nice to thank people in person.)
    I have also been working (unpaid) with the IPA on a new program for young people called Reef Rebels (RR) where we are taking small groups to the reef and presenting a wide range of scientific evidence on its condition. Last week we finished the pilot tour of the reef. We visited two of the reefs that were supposedly “severely” bleached early this year. I will not say what the RR participants found as that will be the subject of a film and a lot of social media in the future. But you can probably guess. During the week, we showed the RR participants much of the evidence about the reef demonstrating that the outlook is extremely hopeful, and that there have been serious QA issues with the science. In order to give balance, the participants also spent some time with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to get the conventional wisdom about the Reef.

    We will be using video of the tour to make social media designed for the younger generation. I think it will give them more hope for the future of the reef. So many of them are now convinced the reef is doomed. This is, in my view, a disgrace bordering on child abuse. I still have faith that the naturally rebellious spirit of youth will eventually see them questioning if the Reef is really doomed. We just need to get some facts to them.

    One piece of data that gave the RR participants hope is the coral cover statistics which for 2021 show, at the minimum, record equaling coral on the GBR. This despite supposedly three or four devastating mass bleaching events since 2016. How can there be such good coral if those events were truly so serious. If we could get that single fact to every school child in Australia, it would make them wonder what is going on.

    That is the aim of Reef Rebels.

    Thanks again for your assistance.

    Kind Regards

    Peter

    122

    • #
      Sambar

      I’d like to believe all this Strop but clearly this is misinformation. Thats why I do all my shopping at Coles so that a percentage of every purchase will go towards rehabilitating the great barrier reef. Coles do not advise which part of the reef or what species will be focused on nor do they promise to give updates on how successful they think they will be but I believe them anyway. This, along with their promises of no food waste and to be completely powered by renewables in the next few years is why they are my retailer of choice.
      sarc/ off

      61

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        No, it is quite true. Every spare cent they can afford goes to the operational expenses of Lucy Turnbull’s yacht on the Great Barrier, where every winter those aboard are desperately searching for a way of resurrecting the GBR, which I am sure you recall died at Xmas 1971 as said by the SMH (before they went broke or was it woke?).

        30

  • #
    John Connor II

    Tuesday craziness: Calls for Hooters to hire more curvaceous waitresses

    https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1548072041579827206

    Go woke go broke. Go BBW go broke.
    Perhaps she should try Sports Illustrated. 😅

    42

    • #
      MP

      At least I warned people first, have you no humanity.

      Strop will be along shortly to defend whatever that is.

      33

      • #
        Strop

        Wow MP. You’re really scarred after being rebuffed for being a douche. I hadn’t even thought about that conversation since but it has obviously been on your mind.

        FWIW – I don’t think this is a business model (no pun intended) that’s going to enhance Hooters any more than the enhanced hooters already do.

        I don’t see a problem with John Connor’s comment.

        In line with our previous conversation, I would simply say that this girl has her knockers and she doesn’t need any more.

        11

        • #
          MP

          Naa just got a memory longer then a gold fish.

          Like stirring you wokies which isn’t hard, everything seems to offend your lot.

          Rebuffed? Not my understanding of the conversation.

          03

          • #
            Strop

            I think when you labelled me as woke back then I stated something like having manners is not woke. I believe that still applies.

            You actually don’t know me at all. If you did you wouldn’t associate me with woke. But it seems important to many people to fit people in to particular groups these days, so go ahead if it amuses you so much. The grouping and labeling of people is popular amongst the “wokies”. I guess that means you’re one of the woke too.

            I agree. Rebuffed is not the right word. It infers some abrupt manner on my part. I was simply pointing out the lack of manners some comments displayed.

            30

            • #
              MP

              It’s Okey dokey to be a wokie.

              These people put themselves in the picture for likes, dis-likers are cancelled on almost every platform, and some find that sort of thing bad manners.

              I have read your comments for years, I know you’re not woke, (fully) I am stirring you, no point in letting an opportunity go to waste.

              Thanks for playing, you did not bite as well as you did last time and the no pile on was disappointing.

              10

    • #
      MP

      I found another photo of “it” this time in landscape.

      12

    • #
      Philip

      I don’t know. It’s all about how you can portray it, how you present it. I kind of agree a bigger girl can be – that is can be, can be – pretty attractive. Some of my best encounters were with some firm plus sizes (taming my words to avoid mods).

      Why would anyone go to Hooters anyway ? If it’s because your sad mind thinks you might be in with a chance with the 10 waitress if you hit it off, you’re actually in with more chance with the size plus. So is it such a bad thing for business ? I’m sure employers would still discriminate that you have to have a certain allure to be employed.

      40

    • #
      Nick Werner

      I don’t think it’s wrong to prefer some moderation when it comes to curvature of the human form.
      For the market segment that wants to see 100 percent convex they can go to a tire shop and ogle the Michelin Man.

      30

  • #

    Biden Begs Saudi Arabia For Oil

    What a Joke when the USA has access to plenty of Oil on it’s Homeland as well as from Canada if need be. The man is a BUFOON.

    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/markets-by-sector/energy/biden-begs-saudi-arabia-for-oil/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

    41

    • #
      yarpos

      a reasonably objective stats based estimate of Joe’s remaining years

      https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/07/what_is_joe_bidens_life_expectancy.html

      30

      • #
        Hanrahan

        A recent study by Carol Brayne et al., published in the prestigious British Medical Journal, concluded that the median survival time from a diagnosis of dementia is 4.5 years for all persons and 4.1 years for men.

        Wow. My lady was diagnosed 8 years ago with AZ and I’m still caring for her at home.

        I must know more than the health professionals. :cough:

        40

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Let’s hope this comment passes:

        Biden could have very easily broken a hip on any of the above occasions.

        The normal order of things is that your hip breaks and THEN you fall.

        10

        • #
          Hanrahan

          There may be another reason they got rid rid of Biden’s dog:

          Preparing tea tonight my Lady was eating peanuts. Thinks! We have no peanuts. Asked what she was munching she showed me – dog nibbles.

          I’m not a worrier and can write this off as just another “event” but there is now one more thing to hide. :sigh:

          10

  • #
    another ian

    “More Bloomy Trouble”

    “The Utopian Vision Driving Green Energy Enthusiasts”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/07/18/the-utopian-vision-driving-green-energy-enthusiasts/

    30

  • #

    Umm, did anyone else see this article at the ABC News site.

    Tech giants want to kill off passwords.

    Ostensibly, it seems like a good idea, but again, it looks like the thin edge of the wedge really. What if all you want is a simple home computer?

    Looks like another idea to force you to (purchase) new technology.

    Tony.

    121

    • #
      David Maddison

      They want to replace them with biometrics.

      It will massively expand their capacity to trace and track you everywhere, much more so than the high level of traceability and traceability they and the government already have.

      No doubt it will be done in conjunction with government.

      It will ensure the removal of even more rights and freedoms.

      110

  • #
    John Connor II

    Sky News- UK halts all flights at largest Royal Air Force base because “the runway has melted.”

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1549039946312269825

    50

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Surely their ‘fellow royals’ on the Arabian Peninsula overcame this problem long ago.

      90

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Road tarmac has cement in the mix. This must harden it against this melting. Guessing, it may make it brittle in the cold.

      Our roads don’t melt in the tropics.

      10

      • #
        MP

        They do now. We had a new section at Tarzalli melt about 4 years ago, (made the news as the QLD gov declared it climate change) road was littered with trucks and cars jammed to their mud guards. All the tyre shops ran out of tyres up here and tyre fitters came up from the coast to clear the roads. It was a one K section and no other road was effected. I had drove over it an hour earlier it was 24 Degrees at the time and a beautiful sunny day, it felt strange under the tyres.
        After that event and many attempts to rectify, they removed and resealed.
        Stupidity did not stop there though, they resurfaced a 2K section called Gentle Annie with the same stuff and who would of thunk, same thing. Now every time (not summer) the temp achieves “pleasant” it starts to go, we now have a water truck going up and down cooling the road and a tractor with spreader, spreading sand or crusher dust.
        Spoke with the contractor as to the issue, main roads are using an environmentally friendly bitumen that does no leach hydrocarbons, so it’s for our own good.

        “The department said the tarmac was resurfaced last week by transport contractor COLAS Australia, but became damaged due to wet weather.

        District director Sandra Burke said the extreme hot temperatures that followed caused the surface to melt.

        “It’s a combination of factors,” she said.

        “We have extreme weather conditions on Malanda Millaa Millaa Road … unusually cold weather and wet weather combined with works at hand and the short impact of the hot weather yesterday caused the situation to occur.”

        How they lie, so it was hot weather, combined with unusually winter weather and wet weather, it was in the middle of winter. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-05/melting-road-in-far-north-queensland/9942800

        Effected none of the other 1000’s of K’s of road anywhere else before or after that section.

        10

  • #
    Robber

    Just received advice of electricity price increase on Aug 1 for western Victoria from Alinta – no change to daily charge, usage charges up 15%.
    The Vic Default Offer for 2022/23 was increased by 5%, but apparently some retailers have gone from giving discounts off the VDO to charging the maximum allowed.

    70

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Barry says:
    July 19, 2022 at 5:12 pm
    Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen – According to Bowen, “renewable energy is more secure, there is no geo-strategic crisis that can impact on the supply of sun to our land and the wind to our shores”.

    You don’t even need any explosives.

    Drop an “Elvis” water crane full of paint over a solar farm would put it out of action for months.
    Dropping a load of 10m ropes or chains would catch windmill blades and unbalance them for instant destruction.

    Plenty of similar weaknesses make renewables vulnerable to a 5th column sabotage attack. Hard to guard all the windmills in Gippsland compared to a single gas turbine plant. Our local Chink sleeper cells are primed for action when Taiwan is overrun.

    82

    • #
      yarpos

      Attacking key transmission line and stability installation (batteries and synch condensers) would soon sort out how “secure” solar and wind are. Its just Bowen babble , he is just rabbiting what some arts degreed advisor has told him to say. It a BS point anyway, power grids everywhere of every type are very targetable. Question is do you want to destroy that which you seek to take over?

      60

      • #
        PADRE

        Bowen is already successfully attacking both electricity generation and distribution. We don’t need fifth columnists.

        20

      • #
        another ian

        Years ago I was told that you only needed to take out 5 pylons to take out the power for South Australia – i wasn’t told where they were

        20

    • #
      Philip

      hows that going in King Island. Every time I check, that diesel generator is running strong.

      90

    • #
      mundi

      It’s particularly idiotic given the relative short living of wind mill blades.

      Australia doesn’t make then and diane make solar panels. Everything is imported.

      00

  • #
    David Maddison

    How is Australia, or any country, going to extricate itself from the unreliables madness?

    50

    • #
      OldOzzie

      With these 2 Idiots in Charge, Prime Minister Overseasy and Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, allied with Labor Party/Liberals/Greens and Teals

      How is Australia, or any country, going to extricate itself from the unreliables madness? No Chance

      OldOzziesays:
      July 19, 2022 at 4:01 pm

      Top Endersays:
      July 19, 2022 at 3:29 pm
      OldOzzie here you go:

      Top Ender Thanks,

      Freezing here in Sydney, currently 11.6C at the moment and raining down, grey and miserable- just turned Gas Central Heating back on, having just woken from afternoon snooze and turning on Swashbuckle for 5yr Old home from school.

      Meanwhile as BOM shows showers Sydney for the next week (been that way for over a year), from the Article

      Speaking at an energy conference in Sydney last week, the Prime Minister was still predicting cheap energy and a resurgence of manufacturing. Evidently, we can be an energy superpower because we have a lot of sun and wind.

      Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen – According to Bowen, “renewable energy is more secure, there is no geo-strategic crisis that can impact on the supply of sun to our land and the wind to our shores”.

      What a Pair of Idiots, along with the Labor Party/Liberals/Greens and Teals

      80

      • #
        yarpos

        ” According to Bowen, “renewable energy is more secure, there is no geo-strategic crisis that can impact on the supply of sun to our land and the wind to our shores”.

        Amazing isnt it that he says that while most solar and wind equipment is made overseas, and he lives in a country sitting on a monumental mound of coal, gas and uranium that doesnt need to be ‘supplied to our shores” Staggering unawareness of the basic elements of what he is supposed to be controlling.

        140

    • #
      Philip

      with a lot of pain. The necessity crisis we are seeing in Europe at the moment will come here eventually. Perhaps it will work, perhaps not. But I think it is the only chance.

      60

  • #
    another ian

    “The Rise & Fall of Sri Lanka”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2022/07/17/the-rise-fall-of-sri-lanka/

    Includes

    “Sri Lanka PM: This is how I will make my country rich by 2025”

    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/this-is-how-we-will-make-sri-lanka-rich-by-2025/

    And on the attempted memory hole

    “The WEF questioned after deleted Sri Lanka PM article is recovered by Wayback Machine”

    https://euroweeklynews.com/2022/07/13/the-wef-sri-lanka-wayback-machine/

    40

  • #
    yarpos

    Returning from Sydney today after visiting assorted relative not seen for a couple of years.

    Noticed that the wind turbine infestation at Gunning has spread to both sides of the Hume and more on the horizon west of there. Finally saw a windmill doing its bearing protection slow turn at idle thing, as we approached with Mrs Y driving I noticed a blade lined up with its tower and then it slowly kept moving, maybe might do one rpm.

    110

  • #
    David Maddison

    Australia’s new Labor federal government is failing to meet even my abysmally low expectations.

    110

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Don’t be so selfish David. Within a year they will not be meeting the expectations of millions. By the time the next Federal Elections comes their only supporters will be the Teals and the Greens (because they want even more of a mess).

      20

  • #
    another ian

    “The Last Days of “Joe Biden”

    Whose idea was it to send the wind-up doll president called “Joe Biden” to Saudi Arabia…?”

    https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/the-last-days-of-joe-biden/

    (Delete the spaces – Forget it as I’ll go into moderation anyway

    [Yes Ian and you obviously know swear words like this don’t make it through .]AD

    21

  • #
    David Maddison

    The present heatwave in Once Great Britain is not unique.

    They had a similar heatwave in 1911.

    It was 36.7 °C (98.1 °F) at Raunds, Northamptonshire and Canterbury, Kent on 9 August 1911.

    Quick, read about it before it is deleted from Wikipedia.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1911_United_Kingdom_heat_wave

    90

    • #
      tonyb

      Here in Devon on what is supposed to be the hottest day ever it is raining, overcast and a temperature of 21C at noon.

      110

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        See comment 12.1.1
        Obviously you Southmoothers are stealing their heat.

        I wonder whether the old (1977) method the Council adopted with their share of the oil boom revenues of sending their elderly to south Spain for 6 weeks in winter will be revived? It was warmer in Spain and cheaper (in the off season for tourists so hotels were available) and much cheaper than home care or nursing home care up North?
        Silly me! Those revenues have been wasted and new oil and gas fields are banned in pursuit of the Great Net Zero. Perhaps the locals would decide that if Scotland gets Independence from England, they could succede and be part of Norway which has lots of money because they forgot to waste it and didn’t stop looking for more.
        And if anyone thinks this is fantasy check the distance from Lerwick to Bergen (in Norway) versus that to Edinburgh.

        40

  • #
    KP

    How the worm turns…

    “Right now, our vaccines essentially are completely ineffective at preventing infections spreading from person to person.”

    Menzies Health Institute Queensland professor Nigel McMillan

    110

    • #
      Leo G

      Right now, our vaccines essentially are completely ineffective at preventing infections spreading from person to person.”

      Conversely:

      Right now, our vaccines essentially are completely effective at not preventing infections spreading from person to person.

      50

  • #
    Philip

    I heard Biden asked for oil, they said nah not really, and he gave them money.

    30

  • #
    Philip

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-07-19/sand-battery-debuts-in-finland-world-first-heat-thermal-storage/101235514

    This is the latest buzz story going around, the sand battery. At last, storage is here. That is the image they want to sell. Of course there are limitations.

    But the main thing they always forget is, you used to just plug into the wall to get electricity and power came out, but now you have to buy a silo full of sand and pipes. To make it viable also requires the destruction of the fuel market to make gas unaffordable.

    40

    • #
      Philip

      The main application is the heating of water for heating. Im surprised the old hot compost pile full of pipe hasn’t factored in suggestions from the writers at ABC yet.

      I used to subscribe to some permaculture forum where they were all into that nonsense concept.

      10

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Amazing what you can do with 100 tonnes of sand in a well insulated silo. Won’t it take up a bit of space in your living room?
      I noted that the heat stays in place for months which sounds like a lot of old compost to me.

      10

  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    UK has broken heat record exceeding 39C and it’s only noon, this type of weather max can occur very late in the day. So only question now is how high!

    20

  • #
    TdeF

    “The UK has experienced its hottest day on record, with the temperature reaching 39.1C in Charlwood, Surrey, according to provisional Met Office figures.

    If the reading of 39.1C is confirmed, it would beat the previous UK record of 38.7C recorded at Cambridge Botanic Garden on July 25 2019.”

    London is at 37, but if you were in Charlwood, Surrey and nowhere else, you could be part of a record breaking temperature of 39.1. Obviously sudden Climate Change in Charlwood, Surrey today for at least a short time. Or a truck is parked near the thermometer or some sun is reflected onto the thermometer or just a lucky place to be at the moment this was recorded. I go with the parked truck. It’s clearly due to fossil fuel.

    71

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      When Adelaide broke the 1939 record we had nearly a week letting us know the record would go (much as in England) and sure enough we were told it had been broken. I was looking at the released records every 10 minutes but the high point was between 2 as the temperature went up 1.6℃ in 6 minutes and down again in 4 minutes. Oddly enough there was no such jump at Noarlunga (SSW of Adelaide where the weather usually comes from, nor from Parafield or Elizabeth to the North which are normally hotter, nor from the airport about 4 km. away to the West).
      But the record is a sure sign on Man Made Global Warming.

      41

  • #
    John Connor II

    More than 1,000 heat-related deaths reported in Spain and Portugal

    The second heatwave to hit Europe since mid-June 2022 has claimed more than 1 000 lives over the past 8 days, with most of them in Portugal. Numerous high temperature records have been broken and more are expected to fall over the next few days.

    According to Spanish Government’s Carlos III Health Insitute (ISCIII), 360 heat-related deaths were reported from Sunday, July 10 to Friday, July 15, 2022.

    Portugal’s Health Ministry recorded 659 heat-related deaths from July 9 to 16, with the peak of 440 deaths reported on July 14 when temperatures exceeded 40 °C (104 °F) in several regions and reached 47 °C (116.6 °F) in Pinhão.

    https://watchers.news/2022/07/18/more-than-1-000-heat-related-deaths-reported-in-spain-and-portugal/

    Like Martin A said – we’re going to see extreme climate shifts with some events reminiscent of the USA’S 1930 dust bowl era.

    20

    • #
      MrGrimNasty

      Mostly people that were going to die, die a few days early, big deal.

      A return to the dust bowl era, lol, no because even if the climate was ‘the same’ we have cheap abundant fossil fuel energy to engineer the problem away, unless politicians refuse to allow it for ideological reasons.

      21

      • #
        John Connor II

        So your analysis and reasoning surpasses the best analyst out there.
        I have screencapped your take for posterity and will revisit it in the future no doubt.

        10

        • #
          yarpos

          In the EU heatwave of 2003, thousands died of the heat, and loudly proclaimed by govt and media. 18 months later they looked back at excess deaths and there were none. Deaths had shifted in time but overall there was no noticeable change against trend.

          What analysis are you referring to? it just looks like a list of factoids.

          10

    • #
      Fran

      Well there has to be some explanation for the recent increased “non-covid” mortality. Other explanations I have seen in the media are sleeping position, lockdown stress. Today’s DM reports the Brits are going to install defibrilators in all the high schools.

      10

  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    UK records 40.2C at Heathrow.
    Still time to get higher.
    End of days. omg. Etc.

    20

  • #
    TdeF

    Celebrations! UK tops 40C! Windmills spinning in celebration. So no more complaining about the cold? Or the heat at 31C?

    Temperatures have surpassed 40C for the first time ever in the UK, with 40.2C provisionally recorded at London Heathrow, according to the Met Office.

    The threshold was hit at 12.50pm.

    You will remember where you were when the temperature reached 40.2 at Heathrow! But was it worth it? All those windmills?

    20

    • #
      TdeF

      No more cold and miserable. A single place in England has passed 40C for the first time in history. You have to wonder about Heathrow though. Not affected by jets taking off then? And all that concrete?

      40

      • #
        Annie

        Precisely!
        Someone we met locally here in Cumbria said that her mother’s thermometer was at 39C earlier at the top of a sheltered, walled, very sunny garden, sitting in the sun! Not a properly setup weather station! I hadn’t the heart to point that out. There are far too many well meaning but basically scientifically ignorant people around.
        Add that to houses not built to warmer weather standards and people neglecting to close up their places by day and open up by night, well, there is a problem.
        TPTB jolly well know all that and set things up to panic people; it’s disgusting. All led by Bonnie Prince Charlie…ye gods!

        71

      • #
        John B

        London UHI during the 2006 summer.
        Several degrees (up to 2.9C) in west London where Heathrow is located, cf eastern London. Map 4 (July 16-19).

        10

      • #
        John B

        Estimation of the urban heat island for UK climate change projections
        T Kershawa et al.

        It has long been recognised that urban areas have their own climate and are typically warmer than surrounding non-urban areas.

        There have been several measurements of the UHI effect in London. Temperature data for London in the period 1931–1960 reported a mean annual UHI for central London of 1.4 degC (1.6 degC in summer and 1.2 degC in winter)

        Further analysis of the measurements of Watkins et al.(Ref 7- 2002 STUDY) has shown that, on an average, the UHI for London lies between about 2.5 degC and 3 degC in summer (Ref 9) and 1.0 degC and 3.2 degC during winter.

        Link

        10

    • #
      Annie

      Heathrow? That’s a guaranteed hot-spot in England; urban heat island supreme with lots of jet engines.

      41

    • #
      TdeF

      And now that’s over, perhaps they can stop building useless windmills and spend the engineering money on fixing those train lines and runways? If the runways in the desert in Dubai at 50C+ and 25 North don’t melt, why should they in the UK? I guess then there would be nothing to complain about when it gets hot once a century.

      40

      • #
        Annie

        It was 51C at a major crossroad in Dubai one July when we drove back from Abu Dhabi! I guess they use properly made tarmac, etc for the possible conditions.

        11

  • #
    TdeF

    And in the US President Joe Biden may call for a national climate emergency this week in the wake of his Build Back Better plan imploding.

    Basically the Commander in Chief of the United States of America is going to maybe declare war on the climate. At least in America. It would be presumptuous to declare war on anyone else’s climate. Don Quixote tilted at windmills. Joe Biden is determined to follow in his steps with his executive power. And of course this has to be ratified by Congress.

    So the litigation will start, but something has to be done about the world’s climates! And maybe China will scale back too. The 1960s had the cold war. The 2020s are the start of the heat war. More windmills. Faster windmills. Nuclear windmills. American technology.

    And you have to do it in the middle of summer or no one believes you. After all Al Gore and James Hansen announced the Climate Crisis on 22 June 1988. And it’s been rapid Global Warming now for 34 years. Except that no one knows where? And the sea level rise is coming. Soonish.

    But the UK has gone up a degree today at Heathrow airport at precisely 12.50pm although there was no detail about which part of the airport broke the world record for England, it is the surest sign yet that Climate Extinction is well underway at Heathrow, at lunch time.

    50

  • #
    Vene

    Meanwhile, the first ever walrus in Finland. It (he/she?) was found couple of days ago in Hamina sleeping on the shore. Then it disappeared, was later found in fish trap. It had to be released, one boat was destroyed in the process.
    After that it was missing a day. In the morning the walrus was found again. Now authorities and veterinarians are weighing different options what to do.

    20

  • #
    John B

    Re: Heathrow record Max Temperature.
    On average, the UHI (the Heat Island Index effect – generally very high in cities, as one would expect) for London lies between about 2.5 deg C and 3 deg C in summer -from a 2002 study. This is an increase from an earlier study (for the period 1931–1960) which reported a UHI of 1.6 degC in summer. So I imagine the UHI would increase even further for 2022, especially around Heathrow Airport.
    Also note that a max temperature of 100F (~38 C) was registered at Greenwich Observatory (now closed as an official weather station), in the cooler (an educated guess- see Ref 2) SE London, in August 1911!
    So I would say, if adjustments were made for UHI, the Heathrow record would fall short of the Greenwich record set some 100 years earlier!
    Reference: Link 1
    Reference 2: 9th August 1911 record and discussion, such as, screen type and location of Greenwich Observatory.

    30

  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    UK update, they’ve squeezed a 40.3C at Conisby (another airport/base I think).
    Predictably all the arsonists and instant BBQ morons have been encouraged by all the hype.

    10

  • #
  • #
    MP

    This is a series called “clown planet”

    Apparently the place where Bidden fell off his bicycle is called “Brandon falls”. Don’t know, but I am going with it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFIfqi3GduM

    30

  • #
    el+gordo

    Minimum temps in UK upended.

    ‘Earlier on Tuesday, July 19, we reported that the Met Office had observed overnight minimum temperatures above 25ºC in parts of England. These provisional observations smashed the UK’s previous minimum temperature record of 23.9ºC from Brighton on August 3, 1990.’ (Weatherzone)

    30

  • #
    Graeme No.3

    Not sure where to post this but in The Australian today (discussing Covid on remote islands e.g. Pitcairn) there was this

    “Last week Dr Peter Moss, the island’s chief medical officer, compared the likely progress of the virus on Pitcairn to that on the Falklands.

    “On the Falklands, most people on the islands had had the virus within a few weeks of the first case, and no one ended up needing hospital treatment,” he said.

    “The virus will probably come back again next year, most likely in a less severe form, and over time it will just turn into another one of the viruses that go around every year and we don’t really think about.”

    50

  • #
    Kim

    A Constitutional Crisis
    A written constitution is a document that states how the country is supposed to operate – the principles and the mechanisms and the relationships. It is an agreement of the peoples. The left with their climate change, their CBDCs, their UBIs etc are actually trying via legislation to bypass the constitution forming process – the “what type of society do we want?” discussion and agreement process. These are things that need to be discussed and incorporated or rejected at a constitutional level.

    40

    • #
      Hanrahan

      I used to think the US with it’s written constitution was so much better than us with our convention based one. Now, not so much.

      Politicians, particularly democrats think of it as a challenge not Law.

      10

    • #

      It is for the citizens to change the Constitution, not un-elected judges making fiat decisions.

      20

      • #
        Kim

        The recent SCOTUS rulings were exactly that. There are a majority of constitutional judges on the current US Supreme Court.

        10

  • #
    Hanrahan

    Cameron Smith wins The Open with a fantastic final round. Talk about being “in the zone”, he must have been laser focused.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9TAJdhTUto

    00

  • #
    el+gordo

    Human-based forecast, (that is where a human uses science and intuition over models) predict a third La Nina.

    https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/negative-iod-imminent-as-third-la-nina-looms/700892

    00

  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    Roy Spencer highlights MSM/alarmist hyper focus and excessive hype v wilful blindness.
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-7.png

    00