Monday Open Thread

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135 comments to Monday Open Thread

  • #
    Micheal

    For CFA training we used a prop that simulated a car fire. We discussed procedures for an EV fire and the issues involved were particularly frightening for a rural brigade of volunteers. I worry that as these cars age and batteries become damaged or corrode the potential for catastrophic fires on country roads increases.

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    • #
      Gary S

      Massive bushfire risk.

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      • #
        Honk R Smith

        Climate Change forced the development of EVs.
        EV causes bushfire.
        Ergo bushfire still caused by Climate Change.
        Is that a positive or a negative feedback loop?
        At the very least it is an anthropogenic bushfire.

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    • #
      John Hultquist

      Drivers instinctively pull to the side of the road, closer to grass and brush, when they should stop in the middle.
      Add “stop in the middle” to the training manual to get a driver’s license.

      10

  • #
    Gee Aye

    So happy that tomorrow is the weekend

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  • #
    RicDre

    The On-Going Case for Abandoning Homogenization of Australian Temperature Data

    Dr Bill Johnston

    Former weather observer and NSW Department of Natural Resources research scientist.

    Under the guise of data homogenization, Bureau of Meteorology scientist Blair Trewin changes data to agree with models. Groomed by the BoM, CSIRO and high-ranking university professors to believe the world is warming, Australian’s are being misled by data-wranglers, climate-modelers and institutions they should be able to trust.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/15/the-on-going-case-for-abandoning-homogenization-of-australian-temperature-data/

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  • #
    crakar24

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/health/21014603/dead-bodies-make-shift-morgues/

    Hospital morgues in the UK are running out of room in their morgues, Lots of things are blamed except for the dead elephant in the room.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    The people didn’t see

    https://youtu.be/RymIlSDfcFo

    The first to arrive were the cameras
    Installed to protect both you and me
    In places where we weren’t that threatened
    And yet the people didn’t see

    What followed were traffic restrictions
    To keep the roads quiet and clean
    The maths didn’t add up, or the science
    But still the people didn’t see

    Next came the 15 minute neighbourhoods
    Make our lives easier, decreed
    To some, it seemed like restrictions
    But still the people didn’t see

    Then came the Digital ID
    So convenient, easy and free!
    Your life in one chip on a mainframe
    And still the people didn’t see

    The cars they sold were electric
    All wired to the government PC
    They switched off the driving on Sundays
    Yet still the people didn’t see

    The banks moved their money to digital
    The government banned cash the next week
    The ability to fly was restricted
    Yet still the people didn’t see

    They linked up your money and profile
    To the ID on the government PC
    Connected it to social media
    Yet still the people didn’t see

    Then came a new cure, a new virus
    Safe and Effective, and free
    They linked these jabs to your profile
    And connected to the government PC

    When the people were locked up in cities
    Policed by their digital ID
    Unable to visit their loved ones
    Now finally the people can see

    Restricted and tracked with no money,
    To go further a permit you’ll need
    Contained in your digital city
    Oh why did the people not see?!

    These steps they sold us as progress
    Never looked to be quite what they seemed
    If you don’t ask the questions and protest
    Then your children will never know FREE.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    And the “Miss” Universe winner is…

    https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1614473139530141698

    While we’re at it, go Ukraine! 🤣

    https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1614458649346285570

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  • #
    John Connor II

    JC2 tip of the day

    1. If government is involved, avoid it
    2. If government supports it, reject it
    3. If government says it’s safe, it’s not
    4. If government says it’s true, it’s false
    5. If government wants to help, it won’t
    6. If government says you need it, you don’t

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Monday humour: Urgent advisory for gas stove owners

    To ensure your safety and those around you, please fit the approved safety devices as shown:

    https://i0.wp.com/clownuniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/10E5CD02-1662-4790-8B39-96D8DB46B2F9.jpeg

    …and stand 1.5m away…

    50

  • #
    John in NZ

    I just heard today about the husband of a friend of my wife who died suddenly a couple of days ago. In his 50s.

    I am too frightened to ask when his last vaccination was.

    It is happening too often.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    If a large number of people buy EVs there will be huge problems at times of high demand such as when people travel on long weekends.

    The logistics of providing a large number of high power EV charging points in one location are enormous.

    Tesla v3 superchargers are 250kW each.

    If you had 100 of them, and you would probably need many more than that for long weekend traffic, that’s 25MW. That’s a serious amount of power to import over existing wires.

    They would need their own HV power line coming from the nearest coal, gas or nuclear power station or sub-station.

    Alternatively, you could generate your own power on site with a large generator.

    You’d probably use an aero derivative gas turbine like a GE TM2500. It runs on a variety of hydrocarbon fuels and can produce 32MW.

    https://www.ge.com/gas-power/products/gas-turbines/tm2500

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    • #
      b.nice

      Most EVs will end up being a “second car” used to local commuting, child transport, and shopping only..

      Even these brain-dead virtue-seekers will find they need a reliable car to do any long distance traveling.

      eg their summer sojournes to the North Coast, or their trips to the Snowy in winter, to enjoy the snow (that according to their AGW priests, is no longer there)

      But its going to take a lot to get the Teal voters and other rich-suburb virtue-seekers to give up their Range Rovers, even for local duty !!

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      If a large number of people buy EVs there will be huge problems at times of high demand such as when people travel on long weekends.

      A big problem for small country towns which have one or two big weekends a year. The closest here is the Goldfield Ashes when nearly 200 teams converge on the town. It is a sleepy place too small for any but a w@nker to have an EV and some people travel long distances for the weekend. How could the carnival survive?

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      • #
        ozfred

        And western power wants rural homes to limit to 32amp at 240v????
        Well you can ask for 64 amp….

        If they are worried about the capacity of the distribution network, the WA government better suggest a better system will be needed to support “tourism” and those “Field Day” weekends

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        • #
          John Hultquist

          From a recent statement at a U. S. provider:
          In very old homes with knob-and-tube wiring and screw-in fuses, you may find the original electrical service delivers 30 amps. Slightly newer homes (built before 1960) may have 60-amp service. In many homes built after 1960 (or upgraded older homes), 100 amps is the standard service size. But in large, newer homes, 200-amp service is now a minimum, and with many newer homes you may see 400-amp electrical service installed. At the upper end of the housing market with homes over 10,000 square feet, it is not unusual to see 800 amp services.

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          • #
            ozfred

            Rebuilding a 1890s USA home in 1970 I installed 200 amp service. Doing your own wiring is permitted in the USA with an inspection if power needs to be re-connected.
            differences in the codes (not all due to voltage differences) are interesting

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    • #
      RickWill

      If a large number of people buy EVs

      That cannot happen. They are already causing a problem in inner city apartment blocks. They will be prohibited from under cover parking due to fire risk in apartment blocks and maybe even in private homes. There is not enough street parking to cater for a large number.

      It might be simple enough for the cars to be mostly manufactured from stuff made in China, but when it comes to charging networks, there is a much higher component of local effort involved than just unioading at a dock and going to a show room. Charging stations will cost a small fortune in Australia.

      My local fuel station has 20 multi-fuel pumps with fill time of around 3 minutes. I get 800 to 1100km on a refill. A fast charger that can put in 300km in 30 minutes might be possible but it would require 20 to 30 times more charging points than fuel pumps to service the same vehicle range.

      Ultimately the woke mob buying EVs will not put up with the horrible inconvenience.

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      • #
        farmerbraun

        Not disagreeing, but over the last 7 years , and 80,000 km. , I’ve given my Mitsi PHEV farm car an absolute thrashing , as you do .
        In that time I’ve put petrol in three times , and have had no servicing. One set of tyres. And I’ve never got it stuck even in mud in winter.
        Horses for courses.

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        • #
          muzza

          The ‘hybrid’ part of the name gives it the best of both worlds with added complexity/weight the only downside. It neutralises most of the EV drawbacks, a much smarter direction to take IMHO.

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        • #
          yarpos

          You must be running on some orribly old petrol at times.

          00

    • #
      Ted1.

      Apparently Tesla 3s are outselling Camrys. So it shouldn’t take long to discover all of this.

      I wonder, how many of those Teslas are being bought by government departments?

      10

      • #
        Graeme#4

        Comments in The Australian recently pointed out how wrong this comparison was. Folks are not purchasing many sedans these days, and also there is a backlog of orders for other sedans. The numbers of Toyota Corollas being sold far outstripped Teslas, and if you included the Toyota Hilux Ute, then the percentage of Teslas sold as part of the overall market is still very small.

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      • #
        Gee Aye

        Apparently Tesla 3s are outselling [insert unpopular car model here].

        00

  • #
    David Maddison

    Dr John Campbell’s latest video talking about “rare” covid vaccine complications.

    https://youtu.be/eYz-yelhkYE

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    • #
      KP

      The comments insulting him and slagging him off as ‘only a nurse’ are becoming more common, there seems to be a concerted pushback from the pro-vaccinators.

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  • #
    William x

    Wyoming Moves To Ban Sales Of New Electric Vehicles By 2035

    Four senators and Two reresentatives have sponsored this bill (Last action, introduced 13th Jan 2023)

    Detail:

    SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. SJ0004

    “Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035.”

    Sponsored by: Senator(s) Anderson, Boner, Cooper and Dockstader and Representative(s) Burkhart and Henderson.

    The link to the full Bill is here:

    https://wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2023/SJ0004

    Excerpts from the bill are noted below:

    “WHEREAS, oil and gas production has long been one of Wyoming’s proud and valued industries; and

    WHEREAS, the oil and gas industry in Wyoming has created countless jobs and has contributed revenues to the state of Wyoming throughout the state’s history; and

    WHEREAS, since its invention, the gas-powered vehicle has enabled the state’s industries and businesses to engage in commerce and transport goods and resources more efficiently throughout the country; and

    WHEREAS, Wyoming’s vast stretches of highway, coupled with a lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, make the widespread use of electric vehicles impracticable for the state; and

    WHEREAS, the batteries used in electric vehicles contain critical minerals whose domestic supply is limited and at risk for disruption; and

    WHEREAS, the critical minerals used in electric batteries are not easily recyclable or disposable, meaning that municipal landfills in Wyoming and elsewhere will be required to develop practices to dispose of these minerals in a safe and responsible manner; and

    WHEREAS, the expansion of electric vehicle charging stations in Wyoming and throughout the country necessary to support more electric vehicles will require massive amounts of new power generation in order to sustain the misadventure of electric vehicles; and

    WHEREAS, the United States has consistently invested in the oil and gas industry to sustain gas-powered vehicles, and that investment has resulted in the continued employment of thousands of people in the oil and gas industry in Wyoming and throughout the country; and

    WHEREAS, fossil fuels, including oil and petroleum products, will continue to be vital for transporting goods and people across Wyoming and the United States for years to come; and

    WHEREAS, the proliferation of electric vehicles at the expense of gas-powered vehicles will have deleterious impacts on Wyoming’s communities and will be detrimental to Wyoming’s economy and the ability for the country to efficiently engage in commerce; and

    WHEREAS, phasing out the sale of new electric vehicles in Wyoming by 2035 will ensure the stability of Wyoming’s oil and gas industry and will help preserve the country’s critical minerals for vital purposes.”

    THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING:

    Section 1. That the legislature encourages and expresses as a goal that the sale of new electric vehicles in the state of Wyoming be phased out by 2035.

    Section 2. That the legislature encourages Wyoming’s industries and citizens to limit the sale and purchase of new electric vehicles in Wyoming with a goal of phasing out the sale of new electric vehicles in Wyoming by 2035.

    Section 3. That the Secretary of State of Wyoming transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, each member of Wyoming’s congressional delegation, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the governor of Wyoming and the governor of California.

    My comment

    Seems like this could be a little political stirring from the representatives of Wyoming.
    I’d swap Australia’s Bowen and Kean with the above listed Wyoming Representatives in a heartbeat.

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    • #

      Political stirring. Love it.

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    • #
      Dave in the States

      They are stirring the pot, but the media will spin it against them. The way to fight back, in my opinion, is not by banning things, but to bring back free markets: removing subsidies, incentitives, and disincentitives, across the board.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Bradford-Hill Criteria – a scientific method that exposes the lethal, unsafe and ineffective C19 mRNA injections

    In 1965, more than 57 years ago, Bradford-Hill set down nine criteria to determine the strength of an association between a disease and its supposed causative agent. They form the basis of modern medical and dental epidemiological research.

    These are the nine Bradford Hill criteria

    1. Strength of association – the stronger the association, the more likely it is that the relation is causal.

    2. Temporal relationship – exposure always precedes the outcome.

    3. Consistency – results are replicated with different people under different circumstances and with different measurement instruments.

    4. Theoretical plausibility – rational and theoretical basis for such a conclusion

    5. Coherence – association should be compatible with existing theory, hypotheses, and knowledge

    6. Specificity – the effect has only one cause

    7. Dose response relationship – increasing amount of exposure increases the risk

    8. Experimental evidence – related research that is based on experiments will make a causal inference more plausible

    9. Analogy – commonly accepted phenomenon in one area can be applied to another area.

    Just a few of these criteria are sufficient to prove cause and effect.

    Applying any of these criteria to the C19 mRNA injections indicates that the injections fail.

    There is a strong association of excess all-cause mortality with the roll-out of the injections in every country in the world.

    https://peterhalligan.substack.com/p/bradford-hill-criteria-a-scientific

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  • #
    John Connor II

    You’re not fast enough to swat a fly. Here’s why.

    What flies lack in intellect they make up for in agility. The reason flies almost always outmaneuver swats from humans has a lot to do with the speed at which the insects see the world. This measurement is called “flicker-fusion frequency.”

    Flies are, without a doubt, pretty stupid. They have puny brains. They buzz into deadly bug-zapper lights, one after another. You’d think that they’d be easy to swat one down, but no, the fly almost always outmaneuvers your attack and escapes, living to see another one of its 28 days.

    It’s like you’re moving in slow motion.

    Actually, from the fly’s perspective, you quite literally are moving in slow motion, because every species experiences time differently. The reason? Differences in sight.

    All animals, including humans, see the world in what’s essentially a seamless movie. What’s really happening, however, is that the brain is taking individual images sent from the eye at a fixed rate per second in distinct flashes and piecing them together.

    The rate at which this occurs is called “flicker-fusion frequency,” which is measured by determining how rapidly a light needs to be switched on and off before it appears to an animal as a continuous stream.

    It turns out this rate is different for every animal. The general rule is: the smaller the species, the quicker the vision.

    Humans see about 60 flashes per second while flies see about 250 — a full four times faster than humans.

    The fastest-seeing flies are blindingly quick, even relative to their own kind. A “killer fly,” a predatory species found in Europe, is able to launch from a resting position into the air, circle several times around another fly in mid-flight, catch it, and bring its twitching body down to the ground in less than a second.

    https://bigthink.com/life/the-reason-why-each-species-experiences-time-differently/

    What the hand lacks, Mortein makes up for…

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    • #
      TdeF

      My son casually dispatches flies with a clap. People are quite startled, amazed. Incredible reflexes? Faster than a fly? A human chameleon? No.
      You just clap above the fly. It may be faster but you know where it’s going.

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    • #
      Graeme#4

      Correct me if I’m wrong, but a fly can only see around 50 mm, so you can sneak up on them if you don’t disturb the air by moving too fast. And when a fly takes off, it leaps up and backwards, so sneak up on them from behind…

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      • #

        Exactly what my Daughter did as a child. She would follow the fly around the room and once it landed on the wall or the window pane, then catch it with her fingers. Goneski. “Wash your hands”, I told her afterwards……………………

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  • #
    another ian

    Latest Pointman

    “THE END OF THE ONE SUPERPOWER WORLD.”

    https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2023/01/15/the-end-of-the-one-superpower-world/

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Brain experiment suggests that consciousness relies on quantum entanglement

    Most neuroscientists believe that the brain operates in a classical manner. However, if brain processes rely on quantum mechanics, it could explain why our brains are so powerful. A team of researchers possibly witnessed entanglement in the brain, perhaps indicating that some of our brain activity, and maybe even consciousness, operates on a quantum level.

    Supercomputers can beat us at chess and perform more calculations per second than the human brain. But there are other tasks our brains perform routinely that computers simply cannot match — interpreting events and situations and using imagination, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Our brains are amazingly powerful computers, using not just neurons but the connections between the neurons to process and interpret information.

    And then there is consciousness, neuroscience’s giant question mark. What causes it? How does it arise from a jumbled mass of neurons and synapses? After all, these may be enormously complex, but we are still talking about a wet bag of molecules and electrical impulses.

    Some scientists suspect that quantum processes, including entanglement, might help us explain the brain’s enormous power, and its ability to generate consciousness. Recently, scientists at Trinity College Dublin, using a technique to test for quantum gravity, suggested that entanglement may be at work within our brains. If their results are confirmed, they could be a big step toward understanding how our brain, including consciousness, works.

    As the heart beats, it generates a signal called the heartbeat potential, or HEP. With each peak of the HEP, the researchers saw a corresponding spike in the NMR signal, which corresponds to the interactions among proton spins. This signal could be a result of entanglement, and witnessing it might indicate there was indeed a non-classical intermediary.

    “The HEP is an electrophysiological event, like alpha or beta waves,” Kerskens explains. “The HEP is tied to consciousness because it depends on awareness.” Similarly, the signal indicating entanglement was only present during conscious awareness, which was illustrated when two subjects fell asleep during the MRI. When they did, this signal faded and disappeared.

    Seeing entanglement in the brain may show that the brain is not classical, as previously thought, but rather a powerful quantum system. If the results can be confirmed, they could provide some indication that the brain uses quantum processes. This could begin to shed light on how our brain performs the powerful computations it does, and how it manages consciousness.

    https://bigthink.com/hard-science/brain-consciousness-quantum-entanglement/

    I alluded to the physics of consciousness months ago before being hit by unfriendly fire by a closed mind…

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      John, it sounds like a bit of woffle designed to grab attention.
      Our brains have so many small interactive components that it can be there doing a great job without being connected to the vast quantum whatever.

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    • #
      another ian

      “Our brains are amazingly powerful computers, using not just neurons but the connections between the neurons to process and interpret information.”

      And, as Dr Bill Williams of CSIRO way back when and other hallowed halls, used to add

      “The only computer that can be constructed by entirely unskilled labour”

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  • #
    David Maddison

    As Australia and other countries whose energy policy is determined by the UN and WEF continues to transition to unreliables, electricity will become both a luxury and also not available on demand.

    In Third World countries like Nepal, where I have some experience, electricity is available on a schedule.

    See typical schedule for Kathmandu here. It might take a while to load due to low speed connection to Kathmandu server. https://inventkathmandu.com/loadshedding-schedule/

    People are used to it, and most people have batteries to power their shops etc.

    Rebuilding lead acid batteries is a cottage industry over there. See video: https://youtu.be/MOTFBDLziHI Note the extensive safety measures, LoL.

    Anyway, the Left are systematically reducing standard of living expectations in Western Countries and with the general dumbing-down of the population, the Sheeple might accept living in Third World conditions.

    And as the WEF says, in the future “you will own nothing and be happy”.

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  • #
    RickWill

    My first attempt at forecasting Nino34 region temperature:
    https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhH0kHuQikSIisUXK?e=Fj6hdW
    In this case only the southern portion.

    The temperature is in it annual cycle of increasing but It is unlikely to switch to a strong El Nino because equatorial currents are still westward. Next big El Nino could be 2031 and may extend to 2033. Unlikely to have a big one before 2027 because the solar forcing is in decline till then.

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    • #
      el+gordo

      That is a long range forecast and it feels about right.

      Modoki will be the talk of the town until 2027.

      30

    • #
      Peter C

      Thanks Rick,
      An interesting start. I would like to see a bit more explanation.
      What Solar forcing are you referencing?
      What is your ENSO measure?

      Both functions are periodic but corellation is not perfect.

      10

      • #
        RickWill

        Peter
        This incorporates the movement of the sun from the solar system barycentre to balance the planetary orbits. Jupiter is most significant but Saturn and Venus also contribute. The maximum orbit of the sun reaches about 0.025AU. So it has similar significance to Earh’s orbital eccentricity around the barycentre but different periods of course.

        Earth’s orbit includes the current eccentricity around the barycentre.

        I have included the lunar nutation of earth’s axis but exaggerated its influence because its peak aligns well with the extended peaks in the temperature. The temperature has a strong component around 18 years, which aligns with the lunar influence on Earth’s axis. The moon may have more direct effect through direct gravitational influences on ENSO phases that cause the axis nutation.

        I have a 66 month delayed, 85% negating of the primary signal because there is another strong component in the temperature centred around 5.6 years and no planets have that period. I figure it is related to the transport time around the South Pacific.

        I get a correlation coefficient of 23%, which is way better than I could get with sunspots or cosmic rays. I may be able to improve it by making small adjustments to the phasing of the planets. My start date for the model is 1 Jan 1900 but I am correlating with the NCEP/Reynolds data, which starts in 1982. So if I have not got accurate orbit times then there is creep over the period.

        At this stage I am still looking for factors that might have an influence. I have always felt the temperature in the Gulf of Mexico impacted ENSO. It will not have the same phase as the Nino34 region. So early days yet but I think I have something useful.

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        • #
          el+gordo

          In the short term.

          ‘The southern oscillation index (SOI) briefly tumbled to negative phase late last week/weekend and is now neutral and forecast to return to a robust positive phase the next 2 weeks.

          The +SOI return suggests La Nina may gain some strength. The pro-La Nina short-term signs have caused 6 of the 8 most recent members of the NCEP CFS V2 Nino34 SSTA forecast for 2023 to doubt an expected shift into El Nino later in 2023. The ENSO phase forecast for 2023 is precarious!

          10

  • #
    Ross

    Just been watching Ave Yemeni, REBEL News overing the WEF love in at Davos, Switzerland. They were briefly covering the security setup. Apparently, it’s guarded by 5000 police, army and security personnel. Got me thinking about the WEF. We’ve all made jokes about old Klaus and how he sounds like Darth Vader. Some of us have been mystified about how the whole western world fell under the COVID spell- some even likened it to Germany in the 1930’s. Back to security at Davos – the heavy presence of worldwide politicians gives them a cover to have high security. In fact, the local gendarmery were not pleased about being filmed. Seems like the WEF are using similar tactics in recruitment, policy implentation and security to those goose-stepping people from years ago. Makes you wonder if at the end of 1945 there was a pledge by the core group to maybe reform at some time in the future. But they probably knew to try to form, after their present generation had passed away. Then all the memories have almost been removed. Could they have re-formed as the WEF? It’s just a little concerning, to say the least.

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    • #
      Memoryvault

      Could they have re-formed as the WEF?

      Nazi Generals

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    • #
      TdeF

      Born in 1938 into Hitler’s Germany of parents who actually migrated to join the Reich in Ravensbruck, site of the largest concentration camp for women in the entire Reich, you have to have serious concerns about his agenda and the parallels with the Germany of his youth.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      What Australian “representatives” are there?

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        Gob

        https://cairnsnews.org/2023/01/15/australian-greenies-mining-companies-universities-and-big-business-to-attend-wef-conference-on-monday/

        Twiggy and our eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant are two names that caught my attention not to forget the ever so ambitious Julie Bishop who seems never to miss one.

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          David Maddison

          As far as I know, Julie Bishop doesn’t have a proper job now, she is just Chancellor of the ANU, an honorary position. So why is she there? Does it make her feel important?

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            KP

            ..she is being trained for her next big gig, when she shall pop up out of nowhere into some waste-of-space Govt position that gives her immense power..

            …followed by some serious money-making in a similar position at the UN!

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            • #
              TdeF

              Julia Gillard and then Julie Bishop both tried to get Ex NZ PM Helen Clarke’s senior position at the UN. They could all polish their Green credentials. After all Clarke brought in a Carbon Tax which pleased the UN and cost her the job, but found her another.

              “Clark became the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 17 April 2009, and was the first woman to lead the organisation. She was also the Chair of the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of the heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments working on development issues.”

              On 4 April 2016, Helen Clark officially submitted her nomination as New Zealand’s candidate for the 2016 UN Secretary-General selection. In an interview on the same day, Clark stressed that she was running as the gender-neutral best candidate and not “on the basis of being a woman.”

              “On 26 January 2017, Clark announced that she would not seek re-election as UNDP Administrator after the completion of her four-year term. She said it had been an “honour and privilege” to have served in the role. She left UNDP on 19 April 2017.”

              “On 9 July 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) appointed Clark as co-chair of a panel reviewing the WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the response of governments to the outbreak. The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR) examined how the outbreak occurred and how future pandemics can be prevented.”

              “In the final report published in May 2021, the panel concluded that the pandemic could have been prevented if countries had taken a more proactive approach in February 2020”

              Her current position is not shown but it is possible that at 72 she has finally retired.

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        • #
          another ian

          Any Australian police?

          Things in here for attention of your “Why-meter”

          “The best summary of Davos 2023 that I’ve yet read”

          https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-best-summary-of-davos-2023-that-ive.html

          The head of the FBI is going.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    They are blaming a dysfunctional health care system…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11621439/Thousands-excess-deaths-recorded-UK-2022-amid-ongoing-strikes.html

    50,000 more Brits died in 2022 than a normal year: UK’s excess deaths were worse than any non-pandemic year since 1951, data reveals as the strain mounts on the NHS 

    By Brittany Chain For Mailonline13:05 AEDT 11 Jan 2023

    [..]

    Just 393 of the fatalities – or 4.1 per cent – were caused by Covid. 193,778 deaths involving Covid were registered in England and Wales from March 2020 to the end of 2022, the data revealed.

    Figures from the Office for National Statistics yesterday confirmed that while fatalities are still below Covid levels, they’re higher than in 2019.

    [..]

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      Hanrahan

      Figures from the Office for National Statistics yesterday confirmed that while fatalities are still below Covid levels, they’re higher than in 2019.

      If covid took out the frail aged in large numbers, “all deaths” should be lower than 2019. The caterpillar effect.

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    R.B.

    Even some kin of Coretta Scott King hate the new $10 million sculpture just dedicated to her and her iconic civil-rights-leader husband in Boston — with a cousin claiming it “looks like a penis.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/01/15/woke-mlk-penis-statue-insults-black-community-coretta-scott-king-kin/?dicbo=v2-c75109855a584a34d1b16a537ebaccfc
    I’m suspecting it’s so hard to show much rubbish climate change is because nobody into it actually cares if it looks like a penis.

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    John Connor II

    Protein injection gets heart scar tissue working again

    When someone suffers a heart attack, their heart is left permanently scarred and thus less capable of pumping blood. According to a new study, however, a protein injection could help undo such damage.

    The problem with scar tissue on the heart is the fact that, unlike regular cardiac muscle tissue, it can’t expand and contract.

    This means that the heart as a whole likewise can’t expand and contract to the extent that it did previously. Additionally, the remaining undamaged cardiac tissue has to work harder than before, leading to an increased risk of heart failure, arrhythmia and other complications.

    Led by the University of Sydney’s Dr. Robert Hume, an international team of researchers recently set about getting the damaged parts of the heart beating normally again. They looked to a protein precursor called tropoelastin, which occurs naturally in our bodies. It produces elastin, a protein which gives certain tissues their stretchy, elastic qualities.

    For the study, the scientists injected purified tropoelastin directly into heart walls of rats, four days after the rodents had experienced a heart attack. This task was accomplished via a new technique wherein a needle is precisely guided by ultrasound – it’s reportedly much less invasive than conventional techniques.

    Twenty-eight days after the injections, the scars on the rats’ hearts were found to have become smaller, softer and more elastic, to the point that the tissue exhibited “muscle function similar to before the heart attack.” Additionally, in petri dish experiments, tropoelastin treatment was found to cause human cardiac fibroblasts – which are cells that maintain the structure of the heart – to produce elastin.

    https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.122.321123

    Good news for the vaxxed, if you’re a rat and can make it to 28 days…

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      KP

      So.. How did they give the rats heart attacks to start with? Pfizer injections?

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        Broadie

        They asked the rat to undertake what is considered a common practice for a Lawyer.

        Instant heart attack!

        From the old joke
        Q: ‘What is the difference between a rat and a lawyer?

        Ans: There are somethings a rat will not do.

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    John Connor II

    Computers that power self-driving cars could be a huge driver of global carbon emissions

    Study shows that if autonomous vehicles are widely adopted, hardware efficiency will need to advance rapidly to keep computing-related emissions in check.

    In the future, the energy needed to run the powerful computers on board a global fleet of autonomous vehicles could generate as many greenhouse gas emissions as all the data centers in the world today.

    cles are widely adopted.

    The data centers that house the physical computing infrastructure used for running applications are widely known for their large carbon footprint: They currently account for about 0.3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, or about as much carbon as the country of Argentina produces annually, according to the International Energy Agency. Realizing that less attention has been paid to the potential footprint of autonomous vehicles, the MIT researchers built a statistical model to study the problem. They determined that 1 billion autonomous vehicles, each driving for one hour per day with a computer consuming 840 watts, would consume enough energy to generate about the same amount of emissions as data centers currently do.

    The researchers also found that in over 90 percent of modeled scenarios, to keep autonomous vehicle emissions from zooming past current data center emissions, each vehicle must use less than 1.2 kilowatts of power for computing, which would require more efficient hardware. In one scenario — where 95 percent of the global fleet of vehicles is autonomous in 2050, computational workloads double every three years, and the world continues to decarbonize at the current rate — they found that hardware efficiency would need to double faster than every 1.1 years to keep emissions under those levels.

    “If we just keep the business-as-usual trends in decarbonization and the current rate of hardware efficiency improvements, it doesn’t seem like it is going to be enough to constrain the emissions from computing onboard autonomous vehicles. This has the potential to become an enormous problem. But if we get ahead of it, we could design more efficient autonomous vehicles that have a smaller carbon footprint from the start,” says first author Soumya Sudhakar, a graduate student in aeronautics and astronautics.

    https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9942310

    The future is [insert your answer here]😁

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      Leo G

      to keep autonomous vehicle emissions from zooming past current data center emissions, each vehicle must use less than 1.2 kilowatts of power for computing

      I expect that for metropolitan area peak hour commuter travel, that would represent about 2% of the vehicle’s average power.

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      Broadie

      They determined that 1 billion autonomous vehicles, each driving for one hour per day with a computer –

      – and without a driver.

      Being autonomous we need to deduct the carbon footprint of the driver in the equation. I would happily send the vehicle off with the children to school while I finish reading Jo’s Blog.

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        Kalm Keith

        Are you more into pushbikes?

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          Broadie

          KK

          Are you more into pushbikes?

          As a means for getting from A to B? Sure am. If you are implying I should send the children off on bikes, probably not as they would have to leave too early to make school on time.

          As a general observation, I would love for the seat belt and helmet regulations to be removed as the risk of accidents would be reduced to a point where these measures had little effect on the accident statistics. If we could put more people into a car and restore bikes as transport not a fashion statement captured by those who like lycra and sipping coffee in funny shoes, the potential for accidents would be reduced. A pretty girl riding to work without having to worry about hat hair would be a sight I would like to see restored as would the cricket team in the back of the ute. One rather than six or more cars to each venue. Imagine the reduction in carbon footprints. Might even empty the hospital ward filled with bicycle accident victims.

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    Martin Hall

    Anyone know where I can find Tsi that’s continually updated?
    Thanks.

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    David Maddison

    On Feb 23, 2023 Vicdanistan Dictator Daniel Andrews qualifies for a statue of itself (not sure of its pronouns).

    I wonder if it will have its statue gilded or indeed, cast in gold as would be befitting for the dictator it is?

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      I met a traveller from an antique land,
      Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
      Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
      Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
      And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
      Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
      Which yet survive, ,,,

      And on the pedestal, these words appear:
      My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
      Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
      My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
      Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

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    • #

      I met a traveller from an antique land,
      Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
      Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
      Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
      And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
      Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
      Which yet survive, ,,,

      And on the pedestal, these words appear:
      My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
      Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
      My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
      Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

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      Grogery

      Vicdanistan Dictator Daniel Andrews qualifies for a statue

      It is utterly disgusting that one of the most evil, corrupt, lying grubs that has ever walked this earth would “qualify” for a statue to remind citizens of the extreme gestapo measures (illegally IMO) used against them throughout the covid19 “pandemic”.

      However, if it does go ahead, I thought of a way it might become useful.

      If they put a bearing in the neck so the head spins, and turn one ear 180 degrees, it might be useful for measuring wind speed.

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    Rupert Ashford

    And in news just in: Australian Universities are all to stop offering Electrical Engineering courses as part of their Engineering Departments. In future all students wanting to study Electrical Engineering will have to enrol in a course offered by the History Department.

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    Fallible duplicitous serf

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    Stuttgart: The lateral thinker scene and the tragic case of Inna Zhvanetskaya – news from Stuttgart

    “German authorities are hunting Jewish Holocaust survivors”, “Forced vaccination of Jews – ‘good German’ tradition?” or “The hiding of Jews is starting again” – these lines can currently be found on right-wing media platforms and in telegram channels of the lateral thinker scene . It is about a case from Stuttgart: An 85-year-old Holocaust survivor was apparently to be housed in a psychiatric facility and vaccinated against Covid-19 beforehand. Now she’s gone. Stuttgart once again becomes the enemy of the scene – and a judge is threatened. The tragic story of an escalation.

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    cedars rebellion

    In the distant past of 2020, about this time, someone on this site began demanding building of hospitals, et al, to control what became the pandemic.
    From China, no less.

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    another ian

    Check before complaining!

    “Harry Markle meets the real world with a thud.”

    https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2023/01/harry-markle-meets-the-real-world-with-a-thud.html

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    robert rosicka

    Senator Jim Molan passed away , sad loss for his family and big loss for Australia.

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    Ronin

    So the new word is ‘polycrisis’, fairly accurate, since we have a crisis caused by pollies.

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    el+gordo

    The nationalisation of energy is a prospect if the providers don’t play ball. Socialism with Australian characteristics.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/16/surprise-australias-green-transition-natural-gas-price-cap-is-crashing-supply-availability/

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      KP

      That would be the end of it.. Incompetence, corruption, subsidies everywhere, poor planning, shortages and very highly paid do-nothing jobs for ex-politicians on the Board.. Same as it always was!

      South Africa’s Eskom springs to mind, and a plethora of examples from NZ in the 1960s…

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    KP

    Reckon its true?

    “Klaus Schwab, George Soros Pull Out of WEF Davos Summit At The Last Minute”

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    KP

    Seems it might be-
    “The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland has kicked off on Monday with a number of top-tier leaders absent. US President Joe Biden is skipping this year’s gathering, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, and new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is also passing on the event. Chinese leader Xi Jinping will also miss the forum. Of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders, only German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to attend Davos this year, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.”

    So, are they worried Russia might target it, or are they going to blow it up themselves and then blame Russia?

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