JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Keep An Eye Out For AI Climate Bots Haunting The Web
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/11/09/keep-an-eye-out-for-ai-climate-bots-haunting-the-web/
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Each quarter “Scotland Against Spin’ update their database.
This is their summary of “Wind Turbine Accident Data” compiled from 1980 to 30th September 2023.
These are the Incidents which could be found and confirmed through press reports or official information releases.
https://scotlandagainstspin.org/turbine-accident-statistics/
They state:
“Data in the detailed table attached is by no means fully comprehensive – we believe that what is attached may only be the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of numbers of accidents and their frequency.”
“In July 2019 EnergyVoice and the Press and Journal reported a total of 81 cases where workers had been injured on the UK’s windfarms since 2014. Our data has only 15 of these (<19%).
In February 2021, the industry publication Wind Power Engineering and Development admitted to 865 off-shore accidents during 2019 – we have only 4 of these (<0.5%).
Finally, EnergyVoice published a report containing details of over 500 UK onshore wind turbine accidents in 2020 – we have only 5 of these (1%)."
Also within in the link they state:
“Turbine fire prevention company FireTrace International estimate that 91% of wind turbine fires go unreported.”
Make of that what you will.
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I don’t know why I did it. Probably it was something that caught my eye on the interweb. I just spent a little while perusing the classifieds, trying to see how many used hybrids had required a new battery. For simplicity, I searched for the Toyota Prius, because they’ve been around the longest.
Very unscientific and not very rigorous, but I searched high km vehicles first, then by age.
It seems to me that, in the case of the Prius at least, the ‘danger zone’ is reached when kms get to around 200K, irrespective of age, so perhaps the key is battery cycles rather than kms or age. That would make sense. Several I came across, in just ten mins, were year 2012 or thereabouts, and 200,000kms or so, but had already required battery replacement. One said $3K cost, the other two said $5k cost. Bear in mind that a full EV car has a much bigger battery than a hybrid.
So maybe the most important thing when buying a hybrid is the number of recharge cycles the car has seen, though I’m not sure if that info is available to potential buyers. Either way, as many EV sceptics have said for years, the whole-life costs of EVs is probably higher than for ICE, and if you also factor in the higher purchase price …
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A Prius style hybrid doesn’t “cycle” the battery, it sorta floats, adds grunt when you accelerate, starts topping up once you get back to cruise. I can maintain a very steady 60 kph and the ICE will shut down, it restarts on any increase of throttle. There is no starter so the 12V battery lasted me 12 years.
At $3k for a battery at 200,000 ks it’s no dearer than two timing belts. My Camry has a timing chain, I assume the Prius does also. The gear box is “sealed for life”, whatever that means. They really are cheap to own and nice to drive.
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The Prius is not a good representitive example of an EV or hybrid even, in many ways.(other than an example of itself !)
* it has a different battery chemistry(type) to any other hybrid outside the Toyota family.
It uses a NiMh (Nickel Metal hydride) cell in a low capacity (1.2kWh)
* That small capacity means that it is discharged very quickly (1-3km of slow electric driving) or under hard accelleration,..and recharged equally quickly under heavy braking etc !
That means , it will see multiple charge/discharge cycles in a days driving……but as Hanrahan said some of those may not be full discharge situations.
Most other Hybrid manufacturers (and infact some Toyota/Lexus hybrids), use the Lithium based cell chemistries (NMC, NCA, LFP, etc) and in significantly larger capacities (5, 10, 20+ kWh) whic changes the load/cycle frequency noticably.
I suspect trying to accurately predict the likly failure of any EV or Hybrid battery is a impossible task due to the varing type of batteries, and the variations in driving style and use.
IE, weekend shopping car, or city taxi in use 24/7 ?
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Yeah, nah. Sydney driving in peak hour would be as you say, draining the battery until you get on the motorway, but that is also where you get most fuel savings. No free lunch.
I seldom average less than 45 kph in my provincial city so the battery wouldn’t drain much.
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China And India Challenge EU Over New Carbon Tax
Both India and China continue to denigrate the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), or “carbon tax” as it has come to be known, proposed by the European Union. Meanwhile, the EU claims the new scheme is integral to its plan to achieve zero emissions across six earmarked industries.
The new tax regime recently moved into what some experts dub the “transition phase.” Starting on October 1, importers of commodities, including steel, into the EU need to report the carbon emissions of those products. Beginning in 2026, those importers will also be subject to fees. The EU aims to impose the new tax on countries with significant carbon emissions. And while the carbon tax’s stated aim is to put EU producers on an even keel with their counterparts elsewhere, it will also add to the cost of steel, aluminum, and other goods.
https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/China-And-India-Challenge-EU-Over-New-Carbon-Tax.html
Tax the biggest polluters, and push the price of everything up even more.
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The tax just males EU uncompetitive. If you cannot burn coal, you cannot make stuff.
China, India, Russia, Brazil, Middle East, Africa etc have formed a powerful trading union with little concern for woke politics.
Australia has to be very aware of keeping the doors open to China. China is more valuable as a trading partner than the US or EU by a big margin.
Albo in US one day telling Biden he fully supports efforts for NetZero then the next day telling Beijing that Australia is open for business with China.
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China is freezing. 150km/h winds in Heilongjiang
https://youtu.be/3FjN_i4z4u0?si=mDhZN07-aKp9-Ck_
I guess they know what snow is.
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The Netizens will say its another omen, the despised CCP is going to fall.
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I have been writing for a few years that snowfall records will be a feature of weather reporting for the next 9,000 years. The Nh is only 500 years into its shift into higher peak sunlight. The oceans have only been warming for a couple of hundred years. They have 9,000 years of warming still to come.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/northeast-china-sees-first-major-blizzard-season-forecasters-warn-record-snowfall
At present, the show is still melting faster than it falls. So imagine how much more snow there needs to be before its starts to accumulate.
Average global surface temperature will not come down until the land is gaining elevation over the oceans such that the lapse rate results in land cooling. And, of course, land with permanent ice is hard to get above 0C.
This year should be exceptional with regard snowfall because the oceans has a lot of water over them in September. That is now over land and some coming down as snow.
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Friends of Science Newsletter #389
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https://friendsofscience.org/index.php?id=2892
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Topics include:
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Presentation Videos of our 20th Annual Climate Event Now Posted
Dr Ian Clarke & Robert Lyman
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New Book: ”Solving the Climate Puzzle. The Sun’s Surprising Role”
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Significant West Antarctic Cooling in the Past Two Decades
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The Cost of Net Zero and the Energy Transition in Australia
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Hansen’s Latest Overheated Global Warming Claims
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Witch Hunts and Climate
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New Urban Heat Island Effect Dataset
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England is a basket case and a shadow of its former self
The Metropolitan Police today showed that, under Sadiq Khan’s control, they are a corrupt and politicised organisation. They act like Khan’s own private army of anti-white, anti-British, Brownshirts.
Today, a day that should have been reserved for British Citizens to honour their war dead, the Metropolitan Police systematically attacked, kettled, beat and arrested those very British Citizens. Their crime? being white, English and wanting to be at the Cenotaph on Armistice Day.
English people, in their own capital city, were baton-charged, clubbed, corralled, searched without reason, and arrested on mass to ‘prevent’ a breach of the peace.
https://www.visionnews.online/post/official-if-you-re-white-and-british-you-are-an-enemy-of-the-state
History repeats again.
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There were a large group of far right thugs who came to the capital to deliberately cause trouble. They did not “want ” to be at the Cenotaph to pay peaceful homage, they wanted to attack others who were protesting. I may disagree with the cause they were protesting about-and dozens were arrested for shouting jihab- but these thugs were not respectful law abiding citizens.
Those could be seen in places such as our local town where the stores announced they would stop serving to observe the 2 minutes silence and every single person out in the street-young and old-stopped and hung their heads for 2 minutes. Very moving.
The 300,000 Palestinian protestors were not the expected 1 million. At the same time there was a very large peaceful crowd to observe the procession to celebrate the 800th Lord Mayor of London.
So the sensationalism of the report you reference was but a fraction of what was going on.
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This report from the UK’s most right wing newspapers blaming right wing thugs for the violence
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1834002/pro-palestine-hate-march-far-right
I think the pro palestinian marchers were naive and misguided but they were peaceful on the whole. It was encouraging the numbers were smaller than expected and hopefully those who shouted hate words will be dealt with as should be those who disrespected our memorials.
Many earnest white middle class liberals marched with the protestors. They would be the very people whose liberal values-feminism, gay rights, anti racist etc-would be discarded if those they marched with ever came to power. Surely they realise this?
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“Many earnest white middle class liberals marched with the protestors. They would be the very people whose liberal values-feminism, gay rights, anti racist etc-would be discarded if those they marched with ever came to power. Surely they realise this?”
I would call them brainwashed, rather than earnest.
As a result, they do not realize it.
I think many peasants in the Russian revolution also thought the Communists were about solidarity with them.
In this case it’s only a shared hatred of the West.
I appreciate your point.
But, can’t shake the feeling that the establishment cliques across the West, are siding with anti-Western elements in their own nations … to maintain power as their insidious corruptions metastasize.
https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2019/Lemieuxonpower.html
(20 years in Afghanistan to walk away and leave it to the Talibs. Safe and Effective mandates.)
And now I’m feeling as though Jews and Christians in London and NYC, can no longer depend on authorities to prioritize their safety.
In my Democrat controlled US State, the rights of criminals are without question prioritized over victims.
Especially if those victims are of a certain demographic whose success is only the result of privilege.
If you own a car, you are privileged, it is stolen by the not privileged.
Who is suffering from the Climate Change caused by your car.
Sarcasm?
Not really, I’m quite sure this is the logic pattern of the Woke.
They say it out loud.
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It’s always the extreme right that start the violence.
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Remember that the Palestinians were aligned with Germany during the WW11. So ‘extreme right’ sounds about right.
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Sunday funny: Every NBN worker ever
https://youtu.be/8AfEhoU44L0?si=xA0j4MIDBuQZmuPN
**Language warning**
**Aussie satire warning**
**GARN warning 😆**
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One of the funniest things I’ve watched for a long time.
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I tried to get NBN at my old house. There were 8 visits of people laying the cable in the street, that I saw but apparently others as well.
The junction box was in the footpath at the end of my driveway with a phone line used for telephone and dial-up internet. Eventually someone from the NBN turned up and spent 2 hours trying to get a signal up the line. He then rang up a mate and the 2 took off for lunch leaving a message (timed at 12.30) which I read at 12.00. The problem was palmed off on my internet supplier who eventually got a team of 2 NBN coming round with instructions to lay a new line on my property (which was the first I had heard of, and was reluctant to do as it involved ripping some garden and a paved area.
The leading hand was a very tall Indian and took a look at the junction box and said it was a mess of misconnections. He could get a signal but wasn’t allowed to connect by NBN rules. He subjected my internet connector should be told that there was some possible misconnection in the junction box and get them to tell NBN (avoiding him getting into trouble).
At this point I bought a wireless connection. About 5 weeks later some contractor (hired by NBN) turned up ready to rip up the paving. He agreed that this was unnecessary.
Meanwhile a friend, running a business from home, spent 6 months trying to get a reliable NBN service. And the people across the road used a wireless connection via antenna to Aussie Broadband, without trouble at all. Speedy installation and worked.
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Ford Losing $63k on Every EV Sold? Lucid Sez, Hold my Beer.
Just when you think no carmaker could possibly do worse than Ford Motor Company, whose Model-e EV/Hybrid division reported losses amounting to more than $60,000 per vehicle sold during the 3rd quarter, another EV maker comes along to prove you wrong.
Indeed, Inside EVs reports that pure EV maker Lucid makes Fords hapless execs look like amateurs in the field, reporting Q3 losses of…wait for it…oh, you have to wait for this one…an amazing $430,000 per unit!
I swear I’m not making this up – take a look at this excerpt from the story:
Lucid, the California-based electric vehicle company that makes the Air Sedan, lost over $430,000 for every car it sold in the third quarter of this year, according to the firm’s latest financial report.
In Q3, Lucid reported a revenue of $137.8 million, down from $195.5 million in the same period last year. But here’s where things get a bit messy because net losses amounted to almost $630.9 million, $100 million more than last year, all while delivering 1,456 vehicles.
That’s roughly $433,000 lost on every car sold. Granted, it’s better than the $544,000 loss reported on every vehicle sold in Q2, but it’s still a massive amount of money considering the most expensive vehicle sold by the marque costs about $250,000.
https://blackmon.substack.com/p/saturdays-energy-absurdity-ford-losing
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Those losses don’t mean much in the early stages of any new venture, when the capital cost of R&D plus establishing new production facilities cannot yet be amortised in any representative way. I say this only lest somebody go out on a limb with such stories, which can be refuted/challenged as a consequence of the aforementioned. One needs to know exactly how those losses were calculated.
Having said that, it is likely that over the long term, EVs will prove to be unprofitable without government subsidies. This will only get worse as the rare earths required for the batteries become more scarce or harder to obtain. Even if new battery tech renders current designs obsolete, manufacturers may find that their sunk costs to date make further participation exceedingly difficult.
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I just found a list of defunct US auto companies. I expected a lot but nothing like this. The carnage will happen quicker with EVs and many big names today will flounder on the reefs. Come on down Ford, GM, VW etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_manufacturers_of_the_United_States#B
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For Remembrance Day. James Morrison and Mark Atkins. Goose bumps. ToM
https://stream.sydneyoperahouse.com/videos/the-last-post-winds-of-change-performance
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This story from the ABC tells how the piece came into being.
I like it, especially as it’s an example of how our country had become a nation of equals.
May it stay that way.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-11/last-post-indigenous-soldiers-tribute-mark-atkins-james-morrison/103078480
Cheers
Dave B
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I have researched The Last Post and Taps and not being a musician I can’t tell the difference. The Last Post was a bugle call for centuries but Taps came from the Civil War. In July 1862, U.S. General Daniel Butterfield asked his bugler to rework an existing bugle call. No mention made of TLP.
Are they different? Why is the similarity not noted?
I always tear up when I hear it.
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90% Shops Are Empty in Shanghai & Guangzhou? Streets Empty, a Wave of Retail Closures Looms
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5 Tunnel Collapses in 6 Days! Tofu-Dreg Roads, Railways, Bridges Rampant in China
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The results of state ownership and insulation from accountability.
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The future is in good hands. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/10/united-nations-climate-change-adviser-madhvi-chittoor-greta/
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A bit of fun for a sunday. Funny magic goes wrong. Approx 9 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW5hj_SzIvI
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https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/11/12/could-wind-trees-with-micro-turbines-be-a-solution-to-green-energy-in-tight-urban-spaces
Carefully avoids any mention of costs – or subsidies.
And the output – up to 36,000 Kwh a year or about 4Kw, 24.7.365, in ideal winds – looks a little high. Even if it is meadured correctly.
Auto
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And this …
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/12/how-a-false-claim-about-wind-turbines-killing-whales-is-spinning-out-of-control-in-coastal-australia
Looking at the harm to North Atlantic Right Whales, coinciding with offshore wind surveying in tje New York, New England area, I wonder if the Grauniad is not factually accurate.
No harm detected, because we’ve not looked … ??
Auto
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Here is an interesting study on the possible benefit of aspirin in the treatment or supplemental treatment of cancer.
Of course, it is an unpatented, inexpensive drug. And we know what that means for research and adoption.
https://youtu.be/7mOvJbmpG6A
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A scary 4 min video about Labor’s next phase of censorship.
They want to force smart TV manufacturers to put ABC first on the list of Apps followed by other Lamestream channels and ahead of Sky and Fox which they want to suppress because they dont follow the Official Narrative.
https://youtu.be/iXQJKMxKG8I
It’s called the “prominence framework”.
Fact checked by me.
https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/media-communications-arts/television/prominence-connected-tv-devices
https://www.astra.org.au/advocacy/prominence
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Conspiracy or just alphabetic order ?
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And coming soon to a country near you ….
Auto, not a grest TV Viewer (unless there’s rugby)!
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What a lame waste of government resource’s..
Who pays any attention to the “precidence” of a list of channels or apps ?
If you are looki)g for a specific streeming channel , you dont concern yourself with the order, you just scan for the familiar logo.
Or alphabetical order helps a search
Or its in your own “favorites” list.
Petty idea from dumb fools !
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Olga Skabeeva —The Professional West-Hater
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On a cold winters day it’s nice to come home to a real fire.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-67389134
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I love my Toyota hybrid Highlander. 40% better mileage than the smaller gas Volvo SUV it replaced, no lithium, 500+ mile range, no plug, and smooth application of extra electric motor boost when needed so acceleration is plenty strong. Other vehicle is a Honda van, which tries to save gas by stopping the engine every time the car stops with a noticeable shudder. Instead, the hybrid charges the battery when idling so no shudder unless I’m parked for more than 10 minutes. It also charges the battery when slowing down, recovering energy otherwise wasted. It will supposedly run a few miles on pure battery power if I run out of gas. I have owned it a year, and the additional cost has already been paid in gas savings. Another year and I’ll have paid for the next battery. I have not yet found a single drawback. I don’t give a crap about CO2 emissions, as I’m a gardener and want more CO2 to help out the plants and I love warm nights. As long as they don’t ban gasoline I will never buy a car that doesn’t use it….
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