Wednesday Unthreaded

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161 comments to Wednesday Unthreaded

  • #
    Bozotheclown

    Two in a week at #1

    I’m proud but still a clown.

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  • #
    RickWill

    I am glad I am not living in Europe right now. The impending winter doom is fast approaching (and summer is not yet over). France at top of the pile today with electricity prices at EUR645/MWh. Who can afford to pay for that?
    https://euenergy.live

    To put that in perspective, it translates to 1 tonne of wood costing EUR3,500. At that price, it would cost me AUD100 to stoke my wood burner this afternoon/evening. Even in Victoria, I can drive into the State forrest with chainsaw and load the car up with about 400kg of wood for no cost other than the travel time.

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    • #
      Bozotheclown

      Rick, being the owner of at least 6 chainsaws including a spare chain or two for each, the tools to maintain them, the bar oil, fuel mix etc. I know your wood is more expensive than you are letting on.

      If anyone is a serious poacher of wild firewood you need at least two saws that run (the second needed to un-stick the first one pinched in a log) plus a truck or trailer and splitting tools. That said, I have several tons of cut and split wood in storage even though I don’t currently burn any to stay warm. Instead it is insurance. I also have a quality wood stove and sections of stove pipe in storage. I’m still cutting firewood and building storage huts to keep it dry. Where I live it takes 4 cords of good seasoned firewood to make a modest home get through winter. I hope to have three winters worth of stored heat set aside.

      Some people save dollars or gold. My stockpile of wood has significant value regardless of markets.

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      • #
        robert rosicka

        Starting price for a cubic metre of firewood is about $30 around here but that only gets you pine log off cuts some of it green . Hardwood mill ends so blocks of all different sizes kiln dried around $60 a cube and then the price of red gum or mixed species hard wood split per cube starts at around $130 a cube . Place just a few kilometres down the road charge $50 per trailer load but you have to cut the logs . I am tempted to try 10 cubes of the pine log ends next year . We burn about 12 cubes a year depending on wood type and the winter .

        30

      • #
        RickWill

        If anyone is a serious poacher of wild firewood you need at least two saws that run

        I am not a serious poacher. I am an occasional collector. I only take one battery powered chainsaw and careful not to put it into situations where it gets jammed.

        I also have an AC powered saw that I use to size the logs I collect once back home. I manually split with a splitter but do have a couple of wedges for tough wood.

        My car is a hatchback and I cut logs into lengths that weigh about 20kg. So length depends on the diameter. I do not take anything bigger than maybe 400 in diameter because I could not lift that size in anything longer than about 300mm. I do not split logs in the forrest. I can cut and 300 to 400kg in an hour without working up a sweat. I need 2 or 3 trips a year to add to what I get from my suburban block and anyone needed to get rid of wood.

        I go into the forests during the week days and have only ever seen the occasional Parks Victoria vehicles. Never anyone else collecting wood. So far I have been surprised by how few people collect the wood. I am never surprised by the intensity of wild fires. I sometimes wonder why some forests have not burnt recently.

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        • #
          robert rosicka

          Make sure you’re in a coup , they use cameras these days where poaching occurs or they think it might .

          00

          • #
            RickWill

            I am not poaching. I only go into approved locations at approved times. That requires a little planning ahead and room to store enough split wood for the winter.

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        • #
          yarpos

          A friend of mine has an old Corolla hatchback he uses as a ute , including collecting firewood. People think he is a bit odd, but it perfect sense at the scale he works at and is a very cheap 2nd car.

          20

      • #
        Graeme+P.

        I do around 4cubes or more per winter. Usually a mix of Angophora, Scribbly, Blackbutt and some eucalypt I don’t know the name of. I like to supplement with old hardwood frame timber, helps keep the scribbly going, they burn hot but need a little help keeping alight. When the lights go out we reheat freezer meals on the combustion stove and boil water for tea. Damn handing things they are.

        30

    • #
      robert rosicka

      Yes we can Rickwill for now anyway , some of the coups near us are fairly well picked over and I hear they are planning on banning anyone in towns with natural gas from collecting wood . Mind you if I lived in town I wouldn’t have a log fire anyway .

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      • #
        RickWill

        Mind you if I lived in town I wouldn’t have a log fire anyway .

        What would you have?

        30

        • #
          robert rosicka

          Gas heating probably.

          40

          • #
            robert rosicka

            Mind you when the gas was cut off because of the explosion in Melbourne all those years ago we were ok because of bottled LPG we have for heating water .

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          • #
            robert rosicka

            If I could get away with it Rickwill I’d have a sump oil heater for sure , cheap to run.

            20

          • #
            RickWill

            You need an arm and a leg to pay for NG now. We have gas central heating but it gets used sparingly. It can chew up about $20/day if used from morning to about 9pm. It is not easy to selectively warm the house so a lot of the heat is going into unused spaces.

            I do not think NG is much lower cost than LPG these days.

            40

            • #
              Chad

              Look up “wood pellet fires” …
              Fueled by compressed wood sawdust pellets from timert mills ($1.0 /kg or less in Tas, NZ etc) ,
              500kg (33x15kg bags) gets a large house through a southern NSW country winter.
              The primary advantage is automatic operation, timed auto start, temp control, shut down etc.
              No mess, very low ash residue (<1.0%), little space needed for fuel storage.
              Not common un Oz, but normal in NZ, canada, etc.

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            • #
              Bozotheclown

              I used the word “poaching” in a jesting way (because more and more pressure to “save the trees” and ban wood burning) is making us all less able to stay free and warm.

              This Northern Hemisphere winter will be very telling. We heat with NG primarily and for years the worst winter months run around US $150 per month (our house is modest in size). It has been so cheap that burning wood is not currently worth the trouble (if you can connect to NG) I don’t have a crystal ball to say how long NG prices will hold out.

              We have conceded to postponing retirement in order to be better able to deal with the expected crazy energy markets.

              20

          • #
            PeterW

            Each to their own. I love a good wood fire and the wood heater in the kitchen runs 24/7 as soon as it starts getting cool.
            But then, my firewood is effectively only limited by my enthusiasm for cutting it.
            Yellow-box , White Box, Red Gum.

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    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Ok, it’s 2022 …
      we’re not exploring the Final Frontier …
      we’re talking about poaching firewood for survival.
      I think it’s official …
      we’ve lost the Climate Change/Renewable Energy debate… badly.
      Modernism is being murdered by its’ most successful offspring.
      The looming catastrophe looks worse than even we imagined.
      Can’t see how the EU gets through the winter politically intact, without instituting totalitarian control.
      Which appears to have been the plan.

      Here in America, the only question is ‘how far will the Democrats and their corporate media sycophants go?’.
      Lookin’ like all the way.
      Same as the EU.

      You guys in Oz are just whistling Dixie on the way to the Resilience Processing Center.

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      • #
        Honk R Smith

        BTW, how’s it going with those Resilience Centers anyway?
        Still building them?
        Do they have heat?
        Solar?

        20

        • #
          yarpos

          They are just empty white elephants like most ill conceived govt projects. They may have some use in future for disaster relief type work but that assumes the assets are maintained,

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      • #
        Bozotheclown

        Honk, I save firewood as insurance. 3 years of it I figure will be long enough to stay ahead of the worst of civil unrest which I believe to be inevitable. I’m not far enough in the woods to really hide.

        we’ve lost the Climate Change/Renewable Energy debate… badly.

        What is happening now is that reality and winter cold are going to offer up a real education to many people. I’ve not lost the debate the debate was stolen by nonscience.

        I hope and predict that saner minds will prevail but only after the suffering of several years of cold and intermittent electric. This is suffering is unfortunate but education via indoctrination has failed. I also believe that we are better off letting this insane “renewable energy” kick run its ruinous course sooner than later. Why? because there are still enough old-school engineers around to permit a rapid recovery.

        I only need to save up enough carbon to survive the short term chaos. The energy we all need is still there and real need for it will eventually exceed the insane demand for the foolishly named “renewables”.

        40

    • #
      Damo

      It’s good there’s increased atmospheric CO2 levels. It means forrests produce more wood to burn while modern forms of heating are made expensive in an effort to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels!

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  • #
    Dennis

    I was told last night about waterways in the UK dry or very low now and discovery of structures hundreds of years old that were below the waterline.

    Nothing new about severe droughts, please explain to climate hoaxers.

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    • #
      Saighdear

      Aye indeed, like the treestumps above the treeline or ruins in the AMazon, maybe we had a race of beings who / which lived underwater ! Naw, generations move on and choose to forget history to lose memeories. Memories of a Happy & simple past. but then Democracy came along and good for the people, nay, MAJORITY at the expense of the reasonable minority who had to give up their property, etc.
      Back in the early 50’s , here in ” WET” Scotland, the Naturally flowing rivers dried up sufficiently for Cattle to cross over to adjcent farms, the Bulls fought IN the river, etc. now we have Dams which overflowed in winter causing FLOODING and drownings of livestock and people … Progress ? Just for the record. may they RIP.

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      • #
        KP

        ” Democracy came along and good for the people, nay, MAJORITY at the expense of the reasonable minority who had to give up their property, etc.”

        Ahem…

        ‘Democracy came along and good for the people, nay, a minority plus politicians & public servants, at the expense of the reasonable majority who had to give up their wealth, etc.’

        10

        • #
          Saighdear

          Aye, OK then I can go along with that ….as time goes on / history matures, our perception changes somewhat. … like OUR NHS in the UK .. but it doesn’t iniclude the Dental service, yet in farming if a Sheep’s teeth are shot, so is the holder of the jaw. – simply because it c an’t feed itself and loses condition. so Likewise if our Dental problem leads to poor digestion, our entire body suffers . Put that in aother perspective, our Gov failures affecting the economy – our food source. In MY book, everyone should have studied elementary Agriculture to be able to relate to the interactions of LIFE. Plants animals machines and damn Politics.

          30

      • #
        PeterW

        The minority have always suffered.

        The difference is not Democracy.
        Democracy is just a way of changing governments without shedding too much blood.

        40

  • #
    Richard+Ilfeld

    Just a random thought about words (US English)….Why don’t we call the Democrats Border Deniers?

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Wednesday unthreaded?
    You’re throwing my calendar out Jo! 😛

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  • #
    Dennis

    Latest Mercedes Benz weighs 2.65 tonnes, AMG EQS 53 4MATIC with twin synchronous permanent magnetic motors, 107.8 kWh lithium-ion battery (484 kW/950 Nm).

    Only A$328,400

    Theoretical maximum fully charged range 511 km. However most likely to achieve 450 km including regenerative braking top up.

    Ready to trade your ICEV, I understand Albanese Labor will offer a subsidy cash for clunkers first considered by Gillard Labor around 2011.

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    • #
      Mike Jonas

      Looks like $303,401 per clunker would be about right.

      50

    • #
      yarpos

      If its cash it may become like the gun buyback, trade in your old guns for cash and go buy nice new guns. Depends of the goal is fleet rejuvenation or a forced march to EVS I suppose.

      50

    • #
      RickWill

      Latest Mercedes Benz weighs 2.65 tonnes,

      Only subsidy farmers can afford this horrible misuse of resources. German engineers designing these tanks should be lined up against a wall and shot for crimes against humanity. They deserve to freeze this winter.

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      • #
        Saighdear

        No, not shot, run over slowly ( to prolong the agony ) to get the message home, Since donkeys years, oour vehicles have been getting heavier and smaller inside. It’s all that PLASTIC foam safety stuff etc. ever lifted a pallet of plastic sheet or cling film ? ‘ aw it’s just a little bit of plastic ( it’s light) Sure! Heavy things need energy to speed up and use energy to stop again.

        50

    • #
      Graeme+P.

      My wifes shitty old X5 diesel does near 1000km to the tank and cost us 5k. That’ll do pig. That’ll do.

      30

    • #
      Dave in the States

      I think I will just hold on to my 20 years old Espritzen Class for another 20. Cost 10K used 10 years ago and gets 30 mpg.

      20

  • #
    John Connor II

    IMPORTANT NOTICE. Rally against climate change now being held. All alarmists should attend. Details below.

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1561746655254179841

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Asteroid 2022 QE1 flew past Earth at 0.4 LD

    A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2022 QE1 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.48 LD / 0.00124 AU (184 820 km / 114 842 miles) at 19:59 UTC on August 20, 2022. This is the 71st known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year.

    2022 QE1 was first observed at ATLAS-HKO, Haleakala, Hawaii on August 21, one day after it made its close approach to Earth.

    The object belongs to the Aten group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 5.6 and 12 m (18 – 39 feet).

    https://watchers.news/2022/08/22/asteroid-2022-qe1-flew-past-earth-at-0-4-ld/

    Add that to the growing list of near misses.
    We’ll be lucky to see anything incoming if we clutter the skies with satellites, as we’ve already found our repeatedly.
    An ELE would almost be a relief at this stage… 😁

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    • #
      Sambar

      Wow an new measurement that I had never heard of. I’ll be able to use it when I boycott the people that drive me crazy.
      Crazy Person: Why are you over there
      Me: Its a social distancing thing called 1 LD
      Crazy person: Whats that.
      Me: its one Lunar distance, ya know, it keeps me far enough away from the lunatics to keep life tolerable !

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      • #
        John Connor II

        The term LD has been around since around 200BC. 🙄
        It also refers to the distance between the centres of the Earth and Moon not the surfaces so near misses are closer still…

        40

        • #
          Sambar

          “The term LD has been around since around 200BC. 🙄”

          That explains it then. I had left school before the term was invented ( according to my grand kids anyway )

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    • #
      yarpos

      Once Hughey has us sighted in it will be all over. Quick at least.

      10

  • #
    John Connor II

    Alaskan snow crab is mysteriously disappearing

    Everyone believes that the snow crab season in 2021 will win big.

    However, despite the previous optimistic signs, scientists have gradually noticed that the snow crab stock has decreased by 90%.

    Against this backdrop, snow crab fishing quotas, the mainstay of income for Alaskan crab fleets, have fallen from more than 20.4 million kilograms to more than 2.5 million kilograms. But even so, the volume of commercial ships harvested did not reach that amount.

    Meanwhile, in October 2021, the Alaska Department of Fisheries Resources completely canceled the harvest of king crab, for the first time since the 1990s.

    ‘It was a fight,’ says Prout. ‘We’re pulling up cages that are almost empty. We searched several miles of the ocean floor but couldn’t even pull up 100 crabs. We are working hard but catching almost nothing.”

    Bob Foy, director of science and research at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, said they don’t have enough data to say specifically what happened.

    ‘What we do know is that we had an extreme heatwave in 2019, and we’ve seen a lot of schools of fish and crabs moving to areas that have never been before in history,’ he said.

    Earlier in 2021, scientists studying snow crabs also tried to find out what happened after the “catastrophic” summer survey results, which showed a more reduced proportion of juvenile females. 99% more than three years ago. The number of adult male and female crabs also decreased significantly.

    As the seafloor warms, snow crabs appear to have moved much farther northwest and in deeper water than in previous years, according to federal and Alaskan scientists.

    “The fishery is therefore also shifting to the northwest,” said Bob Foy.

    https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2022/aug/21/alaskas-snow-crabs-have-disappeared-where-they/

    Yeah…all the crabs moved to Russian territory in protest against the war mongering west.
    That’ll teach ’em.
    No meat of any kind…
    Do sea crickets exist? 😇

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    • #
      Chad

      ……As the seafloor warms, snow crabs appear to have moved

      Oh, really ?
      ….and where has that data come from?
      Much more likely an ocean current change. !

      30

  • #
    Sambar

    ” As the seafloor warms,”
    Yeah, I can believe that the sea floor either in or close proximity to the Arctic circle can some how “warm” independantly of all that water sitting on top of it.
    I would probably stay 1 LD away from the person making those statements

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    • #
      John Connor II

      Underwater volcanic activity plus the “layering” of ocean water such as tunnels and eddies…

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      • #
        Sambar

        Yes, I know, but I was having such fun with the 1 LD theme I couldn’t resist. Back to putting the fresh venison away. Another old theme , it now takes all day to do what I used to do all day

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  • #
    John Connor II

    California gives children rights to undergo abortion, medical gender transition—but not to see ads for guns

    A bill prohibiting gun manufacturers from marketing their products in a way that is appealing to children reads that minors are “more impulsive,” and “less likely to consider future consequences of their actions,” but the state allows minors to get abortions and undergo medicalized gender transition without parental consent.

    To determine whether the marketing is in fact marketing towards children, a court would consider whether it uses cartoon characters or caricatures, brand name merchandise for children, firearm-related products in sizes and colors that appeal to minors, and uses imagery depicting children using firearm-related products, amongst other considerations.

    https://thepostmillennial.com/california-gives-children-rights-to-undergo-abortion-medical-gender-transition-but-not-to-see-ads-for-guns

    The fear mongering over inanimate objects never ends.
    Read the first paragraph above then apply it to the transition surgery agenda nonsense.

    I (unfortunately) saw the very graphic photos of transitioning reconstruction surgery work taking tissue from the arm to construct “naughty bits” the other day.
    I need a barf bag. 🥶
    Too graphic to link to…

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    • #
      yarpos

      I was mulling over the gender “transition” term. It makes it sound like you can actually get there, in reality you transition to a mutilated state. As an adult choice thats fine but as something peddled to children its abuse in my mind.

      It seems like the “transition to renewable energy” which is becoming clearer and clearer even to some of the faithful to be a nonsense, at least with the current technology set.

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  • #
    Annie

    I was invited to join the crowd viewing the premiere of Topher Field’s documentary ‘Battle Ground Melbourne’ yesterday evening. It should be seen by every Victorian before the coming election in November. The last 2+ years have been a horror story here, one which should not be banished from memory. The documentary was very well received by a capacity audience, who were very friendly too.
    I also enjoyed meeting a fellow JoNovan!

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    • #
      John Connor II

      Wasn’t that a few months back now? 😕

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    • #
      Ross

      Topher is good value – it was a shame he didn’t win a senate seat in Tassie. He’s the sort of person we need in government right now.

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    • #
      Peter C

      Well done Annie,

      I was there with 2 guests. Sorry I missed you.

      I agree it was a powerful documentary. People should see it but I am not sure who to invite to future screenings. Most of my friends would be offended if I asked them.

      I am preparing a short essay about Battlefield Melbourne which I hope to post at the next unthreaded.

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      • #
        Annie

        Thanks Peter; well done you. I thought I spotted you some way from me but I wasn’t sure in the half light and it wasn’t an appropriate time to go a-wandering!

        20

  • #
    John Connor II

    French hospital hit by $10M ransomware attack, sends patients elsewhere

    The Center Hospitalier Sud Francilien (CHSF), a 1000-bed hospital located 28km from the center of Paris, suffered a cyberattack on Sunday, which has resulted in the medical center referring patients to other establishments and postponing appointments for surgeries.

    CHSF serves an area of 600,000 inhabitants, so any disruption in its operations can endanger the health, and even lives, of people in a medical emergency.

    “This attack on the computer network makes the hospital’s business software, the storage systems (in particular medical imaging), and the information system relating to patient admissions inaccessible for the time being,” explains CHSF’s announcement (translated).

    The hospital’s administration has not provided further updates on the situation, and the IT system outage that enforced reduced operations still plagues the establishment.

    Those in need of emergency care will be evaluated by CHSF’s doctors, and if their condition requires medical imaging for treatment, they will be transferred to another medical center.

    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/french-hospital-hit-by-10m-ransomware-attack-sends-patients-elsewhere/

    The iOT is a far greater risk than disease…

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Notice how most of the people promoting transgenderism among children seem to identify as female? It goes without saying that they also identify as Leftist.

    Remember, back in the day it was recognised that children might go through phases. A boy might play with female toys or vice versa a girl with male toys. They would usually grow out of it but now they are immediately identified as “trans” and are urgently initiated into social, hormonal and surgical “transition”.

    It is cruel, mutilating and sterilizing and it is also a horrible lie because it is impossible to change sex. And yet children and adults are told that they can.

    There is some excellent rational commentary on the whole child transgender fraud in the following 12 min video.

    https://youtu.be/NtAFo1Nn7to

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    • #
      Annie

      As a young child I could never be bothered with dolls; they weren’t ‘real’ enough. I did, however, love my little Hornby clockwork train set (a very basic one). I NEVER ever thought I was a boy or wanted to be one!
      I am the proud mother of four offspring, five grandchildren and a beautiful little greatgrandson.

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      • #
        Geoff Sherrington

        Annie,
        You were lucky.
        We started our children-producing years in the hot tropics. Rather keen to have a daughter despite the omens. Even the pawpaw seeds we planted all grew into male plants. It was destined we have only sons.
        Two girl granddaughters, though. Geoff S

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      About 45 years ago I wanted to be a pirate , just as well it was 45 years ago otherwise they would have removed one leg at the knee and removed one eye and one hand going by what’s going on today .

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    • #

      Stop with the genderised assumptions about toys and poof, the problem vanishes. Oh wait…

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  • #
    el+gordo

    Torres Strait people stand up to Australia.

    ‘And in an explosive revelation, she says Mer Island is open to following Solomon Islands in seeking Chinese investment, if Australia won’t support her people to have an economic future.’ (SBS)

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    • #

      If Australia doesn’t offer something awesome and attractive (like a great civilization) then we’re just competing on money against the most populous in the world.

      We need to be proud of what we created and fearless about pointing out the dangers of communism.

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      • #
        el+gordo

        Marx would roll in his grave at the thought that China is communist.

        They are offering the Torres Strait people material advancement and politicians take that seriously. The sporting code of aussie rules is a strong bond and should help us retain cultural advantage over Beijing.

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    • #
      yarpos

      So they havent been listening to what Valentina Zharkovas been saying for a few years now? they went out and found something. Glad they are on board.

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    • #
      KP

      They try to blame global warming though, or are just adding the buzzwords to get the article published and the next lot of funding..

      “Climate … has [at least] five or six variables. Carbon dioxide is certainly one, but solar activity is also one.”

      “the average temperature of those winters is increasing and has been for the past three decades. As one piece of evidence of that warming, the Rhine River has not frozen over since 1963. Sirocko said such warming results, in part, from climate change.”

      02

  • #
    John Connor II

    Miss USA 2022 contestants

    https://missusa.com/miss-contestants/

    Well…they ALL leave me cold.
    They are all too similar in appearance, the same predictable make-up with 1/2″ sharpie black eyebrows and supercilious look in their eyes. Nothing natural or subtle.
    No warmth exuding from any of them.
    Nope. Not one appeals at all.
    Plastic. Artificial. Tarted up bimbos. 😎

    Bring back REAL women!!

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  • #
    Ross

    The Japs get it, pragmatic as ever. “Japan is entering a new phase in its nuclear energy strategy, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida set to order the development and construction of next-generation nuclear power plants at Wednesday’s meeting of the GX (Green Transformation) Implementation Council at the Prime Minister’s Office. This marks a major shift from the country’s current policy of backing away from the building of new nuclear power plants”. https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Japan-PM-Kishida-set-to-order-new-nuclear-power-plant-construction

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    • #
      Ross

      So, the Japs have got HELE coal fired power plants and now building the lates and greatest nuclear. Meanwhile down here in Stupidland we push water uphill ( Snowy Hydro II) and pump CO2 down into the ground (CCS). All for no good reason. Where’s that asteroid again John Connor II?

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Garrison’s cartoon is all you need to conclude there is no justice:

    https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/fauci_-legacy-retires-768×555.jpg

    [Giving error 404. Was this the one O.O.? https://grrrgraphics.com/faucis-legacy/ ]ED

    20

  • #
    Strop

    Jordan Peterson: Peddlers of Environmental Doom Have Shown Their True Totalitarian Colors

    .

    Read the text at What’s Up With That
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/08/18/jordan-peterson-peddlers-of-environmental-doom-have-shown-their-true-totalitarian-colors/

    .

    Or listen to Peterson reading it on video (26min)
    https://youtu.be/–QS_UyW2SY

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  • #
    el+gordo

    It is estimated there are 3 million undersea volcanos and we know nothing about them.

    https://saltbushclub.com/2022/07/29/under-sea-volcanoes-the-axial-seamount/

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  • #
    Dennis

    PM Albanese now open to a Royal Commission into the COVID-19 pandemic handling.

    We need an open investigation, commissioner with no restrictions permitted to follow the evidence trail including people involved and at all three levels of government and appointments, eg; premiers and ministers for health, other ministers.

    Of course public health is primarily state responsibility and powers, they took over from international arrivals at ports and airports for state hotel quarantine based on state border controls, state legislation created emergency powers and state authorities enforced the lockdowns and other restrictions, vaccine mandates, etc. Of course the federal supporting roles must be examined as well.

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    • #
      yarpos

      Carefully crafted terms of reference and a general lack of real enquiry or inquisitiveness should be enough to protect those involved. Exhibit 1 the VIC Hotel Quarantine Enquiry

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      • #
        Dennis

        Like the Abbott Government Trade Union Royal Commission into governance and corruption that was wide ranging and involved all areas of government and union activities in each area with the commissioner permitted to refer witnesses to state or federal authorities. The deeper the commission went and referred witnesses to authorities the less news followed until the Turnbull Government (they called it) refused to extend the Royal Commission and funding. And all discovered disappeared from the news.

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    • #

      What a load of Rollocks. I can’t wait to have my say in all of this. From a concerned Citizen. John Knee Rotten.

      30

  • #
    Patrick Donnelly

    SAFIRE is a great source of power that also gets rid of radioactive isotopes

    20

  • #
    Graeme No.3

    Settled Science is unsettled.
    The Big Bang theory about the formation of the universe has been settled science for longer that the CO2 warming one, and anyone raising doubts would “peer reviewed” from publication, called a crank and left to roam the outer reaches of public media (such as Youtube). Now the new James Webb telescope has thrown doubts on it.
    The basic hypothesis is that the big bang threw matter around and after it cooled slightly (by expansion) primary galaxies formed. These would be very large only and smaller galaxies would only form after many years. Unfortunately the James Webb has found lots of small galaxies many billions of years away (possibly close to 13.5 billion as measured by the Red Shift), far too far away for the Big Bang to be the settled science.
    It raises my hopes that another “settled science” meets a similar fate soon.

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    Dennis

    Please think about this;

    Bolt Report Sky News a few nights ago displayed a map of Australia and Andrew Bolt pointed out that now getting close to half the land area is controlled by individuals or groups of indigenous Australians with a little more under consideration. And that State lands converted to UN registered National Parks onshore, plus Marine Parks, amount to about twenty five per cent of the land area.

    Minister Pilbersek recently said that the Albanese Labor Government will increase National Parks. PM Abbott when in office was asked about adding more National parks and he was not in favour and pointed out that the existing areas are unaffordable for land maintenance and there are already too many.

    My point is the global and related national political objectives?

    These vast areas of land effectively block mining and extraction of gas and oil, new dams, sustainable logging and other activities that should be adding to national economic prosperity. At the same time the UN Lima Protocol Labor signed in 1975 agrees to facilitate closure of most manufacturing industry and allow it to be exported to developing nations, example China. Emissions reduction targets signed cover Australia’s now 1.3 per cent contribution to human activity emissions, an exercise in futility for Australia even if there was a warming problem.

    There is much more that could be added.

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    David Maddison

    The Chicomms must be delighted that on one side of the Pacific they have Trudeau and O’Biden and the other side Albanese and Ardern and all furiously working to destroy their own countries and the West in general and in the latest move, remaining silent as no doubt the Chicomms will purchase 21 coral atolls near Australia’s shipping lanes and undersea cables currently owned by an Australian.

    See https://youtu.be/8Bnv2ywWcLo

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      Damo

      Do you reckon the Chicoms had an influence on these political situations? Or has the West just become so stupid on its own?

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        paul courtney

        Mr. Damo: Here in the US, the ones who govern us got stupid on their own. The CCP has been watching, and noticing the Biden brand of stupid (Afghanistan exit was just a start!), and concluding that Americans will be better off under the rule of the wise Han. They’re doing us a favor!

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    TdeF

    UNESCO and the Great Barrier Reef. Not listed in Danger but real worries
    Factors affecting the property in 2021*
    Changes to oceanic waters
    Ground water pollution
    Marine transport infrastructure
    Non-renewable energy facilities
    Other climate change impacts
    Storms
    Surface water pollution
    Temperature change

    So obviously we Australians have to fix this. Storms. Temperature change. Non-renewable energy facilities. Changes to oceanic waters.
    across a structure 2500km high and 250km wide. We are the appointed custodians. Climate Change is our fault and without heating the air, we have somehow heated the water and caused storms because we do not have ‘renewable energy’ facilities.

    Except that the Great Barrier Reef is fine. Despite the billions spent, not because of them. When did ecology become a money pit?

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    another ian

    “Aussie Climate Minister: 600,000 Workers are Required for the Green Transition”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/08/23/aussie-climate-minister-600000-workers-required-for-the-green-transition/

    So now you can sign up for that coding course!

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      Chad

      Do they see a possible problem with this ?
      McDonalds cannot even bribe workers to sign up,
      …Farmers cannot get enough staff to harvest crops,
      …even coffee shops are desperate for more staff !

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        Mike Jonas

        If the Juan Carlos University in Spain is correct, then the 600,000 new ‘green transition’ jobs will destroy 1,400,000 other jobs. So there will be plenty of spare workers for MacDonalds, farmers and cafes. Provided of course that those aren’t the industries that get destroyed.

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        yarpos

        Just setting scene for the immigration wave

        and there will be no “transition”

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      RexAlan

      Federal government opens 46,000 sq km for offshore oil and gas exploration

      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-24/offshore-oil-and-gas-exploration-ccs-backed-federal-government/101368006

      Maybe we can get some of those 600,000 jobs from this, if it ever happens.

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        RexAlan

        PS, They have to include CCS which we all know is a crock of ???

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          Mike Jonas

          Oil and gas with CCS are still way cheaper than wind or solar. I wonder whether there is a lot of tension between Madeleine Kibg and Anthony Albanese, with MK trying very hard to keep fossil fuels going and AA trying to go greener.

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      Hanrahan

      No 1 son has signed on as electrician with a solar farm. He’s laughing: Almost mining wages but home each night and a ute for the commute. Admittedly he is not a household leccy but if there were a thousand others qualified they would not be so generous.

      The industry is immature and doesn’t have the old, experienced engineers as in the conventional generation industry. His engineer is young and not yet sure what can, and cannot, be done.

      In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice they are not.

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        robert rosicka

        My plumber was also doing work for the solar farm near Glenrowan, bought a new Ute from the extremely profitable work he did there which wasn’t that much .

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    Vicki

    It is true that many vast outback stations are being purchased by government to convert to NPWS. Others aggregate with other holdings & in the past have been purchased by overseas nationals. The latter is maybe lessened now thanks to attempts by conservative governments restrictions. But Bolt’s overall assessment is correct.

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      Ronin

      Thus providing a haven for feral animals and weeds.

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      robert rosicka

      A lot of land was also snapped up by canny investors who destocked and went into the carbon farming market , big properties could get as much as $100k plus per year for doing nothing . No fencing no weeding no feral animal control no wages no running costs etc etc . Granted most of this was marginal country at best but as a long term investment those that got on board early when the land was cheap because of drought and in some cases overstocking .

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    another ian

    Lock downs under the microscope

    “Appears to be peer reviewed. Let me know if it isn’t.

    NIH- Are Lockdowns Effective in Managing Pandemics?

    The price tag of lockdowns in terms of public health is high: by using the known connection between health and wealth, we estimate that lockdowns may claim 20 times more life years than they save. It is suggested therefore that a thorough cost-benefit analysis should be performed before imposing any lockdown for either COVID-19 or any future pandemic.”

    And more in comments

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2022/08/24/if-it-saves-just-one-life/#comments

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    robert rosicka

    Wind farm has to guarantee power output or compensate ratepayers so cracks a wobbly and is now shelving the project , a requirement of a 42% capacity factor was the sticking point .

    https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/wind-power/dominion-performance-guarantee-would-kill-offshore-wind-project/?fbclid=IwAR0g_oPElZ9yk1camK-K6PsvDL1-yx-EZoopQIdqixkn7zJQKXobkqB_kyQ

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    yarpos

    an interesting read https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/tverberg-why-no-politician-willing-tell-us-real-energy-story

    a bit doomster-ish , but hey it is ZH

    the comments section is a fun read also

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    robert rosicka

    Did anyone catch the daily press conference from Albo and the answer he gave about his government approving 10 new areas for gas and oil exploration? His answers absolutely floored me , one answer was to remind the journo that people still drive cars ! And another answer was that if you flick on a light switch the source of the power would more than likely not be from renewable sources . Have the Libs and Labor swapped mantras suddenly ?

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    el+gordo

    High Speed Rail in Java.

    ‘The first batch of Chinese-made high-speed trains, customized for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway in Indonesia, will arrive in the Southeast Asian country by the end of this month, marking a milestone for China’s bullet train industry.’ (China Daily)

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      Hanrahan

      The China bullet train scam is blowing up. Only the earliest lines between BIG population centres are profitable. The lines that followed are bleeding red ink. The sums are enormous and cumulative with the Evergrande+ problem.

      Please Australia, realise that if China can’t do it there is no chance in hell we can.

      I’ll try and find the article I read today.

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        Graeme#4

        I recall the train folks in India pointing out that it wasn’t necessary to make a profit on good rail networks, as their economic benefits justified their usage. And Germany still loses on its high-speed rail network, but being high-speed, many folks use rail instead of their car, to travel to work over long distances. It’s not unusual to have folks in Germany regularly commuting to work over a couple of hundred kms daily.

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          el+gordo

          Java has a large middle class population who would utilise it and then there are tourists.

          What caught my interest is that Indonesia has state owned enterprises which fitted in nicely with China’s SOE to get the job done. This is a new form of capitalism.

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    Liberator

    So a bank (Bank Australia) is not going to lend you $$$ to buy a new ICE car, they’ll lend to buy a 2nd hand one or an EV. If you truly believe in your fight for climate change, bite the bullet and don’t lend for any ICE vehicles, new or 2nd hand.

    https://www.drive.com.au/news/loans-for-petrol-and-diesel-cars-to-end-bank-declares/

    Plenty of other banks out there that will happily lend you $$$ for a new ICE vehicle.

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      yarpos

      Plenty of non bank options also

      Bank Australia = ex CSIRO Credit Union. Can you imagine it?

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      Hanrahan

      GE Finance, Custom Credit, AGE were never outlawed. They will have access to agnostic wholesale money.

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        Hanrahan

        Not AGE, it was Aust. Guarantee Corp. They were a low risk, higher interest investment than the banks for many who had once been their clients.

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    Dennis

    Part of the news today Labor planning a Centrelink blame game against the Coalition, remember this;

    “7 January 2017 Rick Morton The Australian Labor’s leadership team of Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek pioneered the “robo-debt” data-matching system Centrelink is using to target current and former welfare recipients for apparently not declaring their income properly — but they now argue it should be suspended.”

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      yarpos

      you expected perhaps they would step up and take responsibility?

      would that lead to a UN or WEF or IMF or WHO appointment? I dont think so

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        Dennis

        This now Royal Commission proposal is the classic Labor attack method regardless of the facts they hope the electorate will have forgotten, if many voters were interested at the time. Make headline news and using weasel words suggest that the Coalition is guilty because robots debt became a mess while they were government forcing them to order Centrelink to stop using the robot debt collection system that Labor in government had introduced to Centrelink. As people must realise government departments do the work and administration, not the cabinet minister. So Centrelink management decided that the manual system robot debt was inefficient and created a computerised system that worked but also involved too many errors catching Centrelink clients who were not debtors.

        Labor’s tactic to avoid blame and smear the Coalition was to demand that robot debt be suspended, how dare the Coalition government allow that system to hurt people.

        And now Albo is adding robot debt to Labor’s increasingly being criticised vendetta against the former PM and the government he led, whatever it takes to do that.

        However, following the Labor attack on now known to have been legal back up cabinet portfolios ending with the Solicitor General’s legal advice that there was no legal activity or breach of the Constitution, Labor wont leave that alone milking it for all it’s worth, which is really nothing.

        The smearing relentless negativity does work unfortunately, many voters only listen to the opening scandal, become bored as the investigation is reported and yawn when the conclusion is reached. But the political damage has been done, political opponents wounded.

        I recommend Paul Sheehan’s excellent book on media tricks (and political spin media management) The Electronic Whorehouse.

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      The royal commission will look at all aspects of this so if Labor has a role it will be examined.

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    another ian

    The pay docking of unvaccinated Qld teachers gets legs

    https://youtu.be/y0zR_IBMZYU

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    robert rosicka

    This is a sneaky way to limit power consumption, in Western Australia they have introduced new laws which will restrict the amount of amps your house can use and trips the power off if usage exceeds 20 amp for regional areas and a bit higher for city areas . For rural residents it’s not a lot of electricity before you have to reset the fuse.

    https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/wa-circuit-breaker-rule/?fbclid=IwAR03SSbuCHksBNaocReeNyk9PKCX-lDFronREQlF1D64IQKeqoZ1TjFIUCM

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    Hanrahan

    The most basic at home charging for an EV is 10A. Best teach the school kids to have the evening meal prepared before you get home in the shiny red Tesla.

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    Graeme#4

    Didn’t know about this. Thanks for the info Robert.

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