Friday

Apologies, Thursday went someplace else.

9.3 out of 10 based on 10 ratings

48 comments to Friday

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    Rivian Reportedly Losing $33,000 Per EV, Wants To Slash Costs By $40,000

    Rivian’s R1T electric truck and R1S SUV have been showered with praise from reviewers, but the least expensive costs $74,800, meaning they’re not exactly bargains. Or are they? Factor in the $33,000 Rivian loses on each vehicle, and the R1S and R1T start to look like Cyber Monday deals that are available every day of the year.

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    MrGrimNasty

    Mortgage companies will enforce net zero whatever government policy.

    “Banks are sticking to green pledges that require borrowers to spend thousands making their homes more energy efficient, despite Rishi Sunak saying the public should not be burdened with the cost of net zero.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/net-zero/banks-onerous-green-plans-despite-sunak-net-zero-rollback/

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    MrGrimNasty

    The poster child example of the ozone ‘hole’ that the eco-deceivers say shows how binding international treaties can save the world; How’s that doing then? Oh dear.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12596861/Ozone-Hole-one-BIGGEST-record-Gap-Antarctica-three-times-size-Brazil-larger.html

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    Graham Richards

    I see there has been a new ministry formed in the Queensland Government.

    They no longer have a Health Minister. They now have a new minister for announcements.
    She doesn’t have anything to actually do except make announcements.
    Announcements of action that should be taken are far easier to make, rather than actually doing anything. Not to mention of course there are great financial & logistical savings.
    Announcements too, don’t take up much time which means a far greater number of announcements give a much improved impression of government getting things done in record time.

    This is not a comment, it’s an announcement! Any announcements from fellow announcers
    can be announced on this site. Any objections from the site managers will be announced if any adverse announcements are made!

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      Sambar

      “Natalie Hutchins: Minister for Jobs and Industry; Minister for Treaty and First Peoples; Minister for Women”
      This is a ministry in Victoria.
      So we have a minister for Treaty and First peoples regardless of the outcome for the referendum on the voice. So, like the Covid 19 response, we have a federal government going in one direction and, apparently, all states going down a similar path but who actually knows what outcomes are expected? The levels of bureaucracy that just keep multiplying that will effectively resolve nothing. These bureaucrats will be able to keep the aborigianl grievance industry going in perpetuity. Certainly in Victoria we have seen that from the premier down, no one is actually responsible for for anything. The former premier couldnt recall how decisions were arrived at to handle covid quarantine, the current premier cant explain how the humiliation of failing to run the Commonwealth games crashed and, of course the new minister for treaty and first peoples wont be able to tell the populace what her portfolio actually means for any non indigenous people, wont have any real out comes that will be measured and achieved. Got to love living with open and accountable government.

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        Graham Richards

        That situation is easily fixed Sambar. Queensland leads the country in deception.

        You simply appoint a minister for announcements!

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      Coochin Kid

      Just building up recognition so the transfer to being Premier will be simple , when the Fat lady lies down.

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    Greg in NZ

    Announcement: Heat! Fire! Drought!
    Reality: Freezing. Snow. Floods.
    No wonder the littlies don’t know if they’re Arthur or Martha or Tiddles – or Thursday or Friday 😃

    Your Snowy Mountains lived up to their name yesterday with slopes doused in a wintry white coating of impossible snow – looked beautiful on the webcams, apart from the -14C windchill at Thredbo – albeit a brief and rare spring snowfall. Next stop for Storm October is the South Island with ‘snow to 800m’ all weekend long. If this is indicative of El Niño, I’m not impressed. WHERE’S MY WARMING?!

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    another ian

    “The vaccine you thought you were getting was not the same as what they actually gave you. ”

    “Vaccine manufacture full interview”

    Dr John Campbell

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO1Ivk6JYyE

    Via https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/10/05/bait-and-switch-2/

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      Graham Richards

      One does not need to be Superman with X Ray vision to see right through what “ government “ are up to. We don’t need transparency either. We’ve seen right thru them for the last 15 years. It’s time people, to get rid of these stooges!

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      another ian

      I guess the correct description of that is

      “Switch and Bait”?

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    Hanrahan

    Gutfeld! introduced me to a new term, Luxury Beliefs. An interesting concept the Urban Dictionary defines thus:

    Luxury beliefs
    Ideas and opinions that confer status and the upper class, while taking a toll on the lower class.
    Luxury beliefs are the new powdered wig.”

    The term describes well the destructive crap that only the wealthy can believe and impose on others.

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    Graeme#4

    Is El Niño fading? Looking at the NOAA OSPO map, it looks like the finger of warm water across the Pacific is retracting. Anybody know what’s going on?

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      Gee Aye

      Climate is such a wild ride. Have not confirmed what I heard 3rd hand is that the EAC is a long way south for this time of year.

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        Honk R Smith

        “Climate is such a wild ride”.

        But a totally predictable ‘wild’ … right?
        There is also also a control knob.
        I’m told if I follow ‘The ‘Science’ I will be saved from wildness
        I will be ‘safe’ as result of ‘effective’ Science.
        And effective interdiction of mean people’s anti-Science thoughts.

        ‘Science’, the new Holiest of Holies in the New Church of the New World of Our Democracy*.
        Can’t believe I went so long without one.
        All Praises to Prophets Klaus and Bono and Martyr Greta.

        *(Where we are now free from the burden of ‘voting’ cause we already know how everyone thinks, and no one is allowed to think wrongly anyway because that would be racist.)

        I will take refuge in the new Church because the sky is falling.

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    Andrew McRae

    From https://newcastleweekly.com.au/roads-closed-businesses-evacuated-near-tomago-electrical-plant/

    Emergency services have closed multiple roads, while several businesses were evacuated, after a hazardous materials incident broke out at Tomago on Friday morning.

    Three staff were evacuated as the incident occurred in electrical machinery, measuring 14 x 3 metres.

    At least five FRNSW appliances, including Hazardous Materials units, an aerial platform and a bulk carbon dioxide tanker are at the scene.
    … They have detected smoke emanating from power cables.

    and via Sky…

    There are no reports of any injuries – crews say they are unable to put water on the flames.
    Instead, a bulk carbon dioxide truck is on the way from Sydney to help put out the blaze.

    The term “Global Warming Potential” does not appear in this news story. 😀

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    John Connor II

    Woke Psychopathology: A Taxonomy

    Over the last few years, Woke progressives have behaved in increasingly odd ways. Black Lives Matter activists in Washington, D.C., screamed at and hovered over a woman sitting peacefully in a restaurant, demanding that she raise her fist in a salute. Climate activists threw soup at a Van Gogh painting, dumped milk on the floor of a grocery store, and cemented their hands to an airport runway. And transgender activists claimed, falsely, that there was a “genocide” against trans people, even though there’s no evidence that trans-identified people are being killed at higher rates than non-trans people.

    Wokeism is a religion, but its religious nature didn’t necessarily describe the madness that seemed to grip its most devoted adherents. Many people believe crazy things but don’t behave so narcissistically or psychopathically, without regards for other people, in the way that Woke activists do. And so we decided to create a new taxonomy, one focused on Woke psychopathology.

    “Woke Psychopathology: A Taxonomy” is inspired by the traits that characterize what the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM-V) calls “Cluster B personality disorders.” There are four of these personality disorders: narcissistic, anti-social (previously psychopathy), histrionic, and borderline. The traits, which run horizontally across the top of the Taxonomy, are Attention-Seeking, Grandiosity, Emotional Dysregulation, Excess of Empathy, Victimhood Ideology, Impaired Reality Testing, Lack of Empathy, and Splitting. Together, the traits form an easy-to-remember acronym: AGE-EVILS.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/shellenberger-why-one-simple-chart-will-end-wokeism

    As this rather useful info is paywalled, I have upped it to here:

    https://ufile.io/lurr61p3

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    John Connor II

    A certificate to own a car in Singapore now starts at $76,000

    The certificate that allows you to own a car in Singapore has now jumped to a record high of $76,000. Owning a car in one of the world’s most expensive countries has always been a luxury. Now, the cost of the 10-year Certificate of Entitlement – a license residents should purchase before they are even allowed to buy a vehicle has jumped more than four times what it did in 2020, according to Land Transport Authority figures, CNN reported.
    The certificate, which would set one back by 104,000 Singapore dollars, just buys the right to purchase a car, with a small to medium-sized engine of 1,600cc or below. Anyone who wants something bigger, like an SUV, will need to purchase a certificate worth $106,630. The Certificates of Entitlement are sold every two weeks in auctions and the government controls the number of certificates sold each time. This coupled with taxes and import duties makes owning a car an even more expensive affair.

    https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2023/10/05/a-certificate-to-own-a-car-in-singapore-now-starts-at-dollar76000.html

    I’m sure there’s a puddle caused by excitement forming at Klaus Schwab’s feet.

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    • #

      I lived and worked in Singapore in the 1990s.
      They had this system there at that time, so I guess it hasn’t changed appreciably.
      My company car was a Proton Wira. https://www.carsguide.com.au/proton/wira/1996

      It cost, then, almost 100,000 Singapore dollars [then about £40,000] to buy the permit to own a luxury car; say a biggish Mercedes, E class perhaps.
      It’s aimed primarily at keeping the number of cars in Singapore [about the size of South London, but almost twice the population, now] manageable.
      Those who have visited Bangkok or Jakarta or London [other overcrowded cities are available!] will see the benefits!

      Auto

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      John Connor II

      Western backing for scumbag Zelensky and the military operation in Ukraine is falling fast globally and the predictable lies about Russia losing badly are falling apart. The west is running out of ammo but Russia is absolutely fine. Russia has over 10,000 fallout bunkers for their population and the USA has…ONE…
      No-one wins a nuclear war and the clueless frothing-at-the-mouth Russiaphobes are starting to wake up.

      Funding tracker here:
      https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/

      End all funding for the Ukraine war, and in fact ask for the money back!

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    Another “Battery” fire ?
    The emergency fire response this morning in Tomago NSW, turns out to be another experimental electrical storage facility.. a “Thermal Energy Storage” pilot plant being developed by MGA Thermal Ltd ( and backed by Shell)
    Their technology basicly uses electricity to heat Aluminium to melting inside a special containment matrix hence storing the latent phase change heat.
    It can then release that heat to produce steam to drive a turbine when power is needed.
    Apparently something went wrong this morning causing some aluminium to start burning.
    https://www.mgathermal.com/news/shell-backs-mga-thermal-demonstration-plant
    …Ironically, in order to extinguish the fire , it was necessary to use trucks full of CO2 gas as the only safe way !
    However, this tech does seem a much more practical way of storing energy compared to Lithium batteries…if it can be developed into a safe process !

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      Hanrahan

      Is it basically molten salt technology at higher temperature? Could be less corrosive I guess.

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        And safer…..no large volumes of molten liquid to contain., a lower operating temperature, and a very high latent heat capacity.

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      Andrew McRae

      That’s very interesting.

      I think we’ve found the cause of the fire. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6371bcf77af85562378f3932/5caee102-60de-423f-a2fc-0bd2e9fb991e/MGA-CHRISBOWEN-2070.jpg
      It was whoever touched it last! 😀

      But seriously, the energy density is pretty good. If my math is right, 8GWh could fit inside 40m * 13m, leaving a 3.5m wide access aisle between two rows of those things. This is to say nothing of the additional density (lower land use) to be gained from building on multiple floors (above or below ground).
      With recovery of 60% that would be 4 days of average output from Bodangora Wind Farm.

      Still a question mark over the cost… and whether the fire was due to something generic like under-specced cabling or whether it was due to something specific to the thermal blocks technology.
      Still, an interesting development in grid energy storage.

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      Hanrahan

      There are two possibilities: The story is false or China has a tofu navy. How could you lose a crew in 20m of water?

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    John Connor II

    “The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
    ― Frank Zappa

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    John Connor II

    KILL SHOT: The CIA’s SV40 Cancer Weapon

    This is a very interesting 1 hour video documentary centered around Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK assassination, and many players you’ve heard of before but, I’m betting not in this context.

    In the summer of 1963, a young girl found herself caught up in a clandestine covert operation to eliminate Fidel Castro. This wouldn’t be a shot heard around the world, but rather, a silent shot of super cancer causing poison, derived from a monkey simian virus called SV-40.

    This tale has everything from murder, espionage, a tragic love story, to bioweapons and the genesis of gain-of-function research, weaponized in covid-19.

    https://rumble.com/v3mroia-kill-shot-the-cias-sv40-cancer-weapon-full-story-w-shannon-joy.html

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    Richard C (NZ)

    China’s growing use of coal including the LONGEST coal transporting railway – which carries 200 MILLION tons of fossil fuel 1,141 MILES annually – draws pundit outrage as western nations spend BILLIONS to push citizens to reduce carbon footprint

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12599065/China-coal-train-use-UK-restrictions-green-programs.html

    A Scottish journalist highlighted the incongruity between the green initiatives coming from Western countries and those coming from China

    China is responsible for 33 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas, but continues to power itself by coal and establish itself as a global superpower

    In the US, the Biden Administration continues to propose tens of billions of dollars be allocated to green initiatives that may or may not be effective

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    another ian

    Not a graph that wind power fans will spread about –

    “@ReliableAB – I forgot that I built this chart. Daily average generation for wind and solar with maximum (name plate) capacity for 2022.

    https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/nameplatealberta-600×341.jpeg

    https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/10/05/we-dont-need-no-stinking-giant-fans-82/

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Col Douglas Macgregor Full Interview: “This Escalates The Conflict” ”

    https://youtu.be/pFp6rMkZ-MI

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    Strop

    The Mrs was volunteering again at a referendum pre-poll booth, issuing how to vote No info.

    She was talking to young Aboriginal voter who remarked that their Elders were telling the mob in our area to vote No.
    I don’t know how widespread that is but I regularly hear anecdotal evidence that suggests the claim the “overwhelming majority of Aboriginal people support Yes” is likely false. There probably is a majority. I just doubt it’s as one sided in the Aboriginal community as claimed.

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    Honk R Smith

    Hey, good news from the USA!
    FBI proudly announces Trump ‘followers’ will be monitored.
    https://www.newsweek.com/2023/10/13/exclusive-fbi-targets-trump-followers-2024-election-nears-1831836.html

    It is good to know that ‘Our Democracy’ will be safe from those that may vote against ‘Our Democracy’.
    After four years of being safe and effectively saved from viruses by following Science, this only adds to my sense of security

    But personally, I won’t feel secure until we Stop Climate Change and children everywhere are free to have sex reassignment pharmaceuticals and surgery whenever and as often as they choose, without the interference of their pesky transphobic parents.

    Until All Gender Identities Matter, No Gender Identities Matter.

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    another ian

    FWIW

    Shell’s largest EV charging station

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/is-shell-s-largest-ev-station-a-sign-of-things-to-come/ar-AA1hKxsj

    BUT – in comments elsewhere –

    “the problem in US is that the rich liberals who drive EVs are not into the vibe of convenience stores”

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    another ian

    A quake for the end of fossil fuel?

    “Exxon “Days Away” From Buying Shale Giant Pioneer In “Seismic Deal” That Will Reshape US Energy”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/exxon-days-away-buying-shale-giant-pioneer-seismic-deal-will-reshape-us-energy

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    Anton

    I didn’t realise that Dan Andrews had resigned. Victoria is better off without his totalitarian outlook. A suggestion as to why is in this article by a clinical professor:

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/mrna-vaccines-must-be-banned-once-and-for-all/

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    nb

    Five interesting questions:
    – Why is there an epidemic of excess deaths in Australia and around the world?
    – Who owns Vanguard?
    – Is government-funded science untrustworthy?
    – Who owns the BIS?
    – Why reject nuclear power?
    —————–
    Oh, and another:
    Why is no mainstream media journalist interested in finding answers to the above questions?
    Do they think they are immune? Their children?

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