Saturday

European and UK friends may want to look out for auroras coming Sunday night from 9pm – 3am UT (London time) from an X2.8 class flare that erupted yesterday. It was the biggest flare this solar cycle, but will be a “glancing blow” to Earth, not a direct hit. Kp 5.7 expected.

 

 

9.2 out of 10 based on 25 ratings

100 comments to Saturday

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    Connecting North Atlantic SST Variability to European Heat Events over the Past Decades

    Composites of different North Atlantic SST states show that events with a negative tendency of North Atlantic SSTs are often followed by positive European T2m anomalies during summers when the North Atlantic SSTs are persistently low for several months. Enhanced lower–tropospheric baroclinicity in the North Atlantic is followed during these events by a slantwise ascent and an enhanced upper–tropospheric waveguide, promoting a downstream development of an European ridge. A combination of a wave number 3 pattern and regionally confined Rossby wave activity contribute to a trough–ridge pattern in the North Atlantic–European sector. A composite of European heat events further confirms the lagged statistical relationship between cold North Atlantic SSTs with a negative tendency and positive European T2m anomalies. A negative tendency of North Atlantic SSTs precedes 15 of 18 European heat events, and cold North Atlantic SST conditions are present during 14 of 18 European heat events

    Heatwaves in Europe because of CO2 ?
    No, because of decreasing SST in North Atlantic.

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  • #
    Saighdear

    Germany in trouble now ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vywZRRFArnc Would you have believed it?

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    • #

      As our gouvernement is in parts Green, yes I believe it, I see it, I feel it.

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      • #
        Dennis

        The Australian Union Movement donates to the Greens and of course most often Greens preferences are directed to Labor candidates and in Parliament to Labor in Opposition or in Government.

        Australian Workers Union – AWU – senior executive and now Albanese Labor Cabinet Minister, previously Rudd and Gillard government minister, helped establish the US model here called GetUp activist organisation and Shorten was appointed to the GetUp Board of Directors. Obviously GetUp supports the Greens and Pale Green Teals masquerading as Independent candidates ignoring their Climate200 backer.

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      Tides of Mudgee

      Saighdear, is there an English subtitled version of this please? ToM

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      • #
        Saighdear

        Short answer: I dunno, BUT I use Opera and right-click on text using the translate Add-in may help here: Look for the
        “Transcript
        Follow along using the transcript.
        Show transcript”
        4 Dec 2023 #markuskrall #breakingnews #kryptos
        Scholz resignation?! THAT THUNDERED! 🚨ARD presenter introduces SCHOLZ to MILLIONS OF PEOPLE! | Only available for a short time! Video will be at 300.
        000 clicks deleted or goes viral! UNIQUE EXPOSED! Current news: AFD election record! Habeck resignation & Baerbock resignation only a matter of time! The traffic light is breaking right now! Energy crisis, foreign policy & Scholz Cum Ex exposed! Latest news & breaking news about Alice Weidel, Tino Chrupalla,
        TRAFFIC POLITICS & MORE! INCREDIBLE DEVELOPMENTS! #viral #economy #breakingnews
        Best I can do for now: My Political German is not very good but got the Jist of it – that Olaf & Baerbock ‘s resignation only a matter of time …
        Hope that helps a bit.

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    • #

      All in German which is ‘double dutch’ to me……………………

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    David Maddison

    In NSW the lack of electricity is forcing the government to ask people to use less because, you know, it’s selfish to use air conditioning….

    But they are blaming the lack of electricity on supposed “unreliable” coal power plants and the supposed solution is to build even more wind and solar subsidy farms and at a faster rate.

    Some clown on the far Left Channel 10 propaganda program, The Conversation, last night said they need to increase the rate of installation of new subsidy farms from 4GB per year to 6GB per year, presumably nameplate capacity so one third of that in reality. (I don’t watch thst trash program, I heard it in the background.)

    But as the thinking community knows, because of the short lives of wind and solar subsidy harvesting machines, they’ll be forever playing catch-up to replaced old plant as it’s retired, let alone build even more new plant.

    And at what financial cost (direct and to the economy as a whole), to the consumer and to the environment? Not to mention the mental health of thinking, working people.

    Just imagine if the money was spent on something useful rather than our own self-destruction.

    Oh, and it’s selfish to demand water as well:

    https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/103228552

    Households across NSW told to reduce electricity usage tonight as temperatures soar

    By Sean Tarek Goodwin and ABC meteorologist Tom Saunders Posted Yesterday at 1:54am, updated Yesterday at 7:34am

    ….

    “If you can turn your air conditioning up a little bit, over about 24 is fantastic, if you can make sure you don’t use your dryers and your dishwashers and your pool pumps … that will all help.”

    The minister said the government had also spoken with water utilities to defer pumping in order to reduce strain on the electricity grid.

    She said one unit was down at one of the state’s power stations, which puts further strain on the system, but would not specify where that was.

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    • #
      John Hultquist

      “… turn your air conditioning up a little bit, over about 24 is fantastic, … ”

      24°C {75°F} is lower than I set my house thermostat. Where I live the atmosphere cools at night, so I open windows and let the warmer inside air go mingle with its outside colleagues, and vice versa. With the mornings comes a cool inside, so when in/out equalizes, I close the windows. Then the AC doesn’t come on until mid-to-late afternoon. That is at a temperature inside of 25°C {77°F}.
      If your site doesn’t cool at night, this strategy won’t work for you. 🙂

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      paul courtney

      Mr. M: How very clever of them to call coal unreliable, a mere matter of projecting your problem onto your opponent and hope nobody looks.

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        Yarpos

        I wonder where they think reliable power has come from for the last 100 years

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          David Maddison

          I wonder where they think

          The answer is that they don’t think.

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          Lawrie

          Each morning on 2GB they give the update on the past 24 hours electricity production. Wind seldom exceeds 9%, coal seldom provides less than 68%. You would think when the numbers are so stark that a penny would drop somewhere. On those figures we would need 10 or 11 times the wind to replace coal and then hope for the best if there is a wind drought. We will have to have a disaster before the people finally revolt because the bureaucrats and pollies are not going to change.

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          • #
            Ted1.

            What worries me is load shedding that we are not told about.

            That could, or likely will, lead to unexpected shutdowns of major industries.

            All load shedding should be published daily.

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      David, surely they’re not reading from the same script:

      ‘Dr Hot’ Rod Carr, CCC Czar, says we have to build “two large windfarms” per year to ensure “clean energy means clean transport” (via RNZ).

      These people are !nsane (or on the take) as NZ is already over 80% hydro & geothermal, with only one coal/gas-fired power station left to fall-back on when the schist hits the fan. Chop chop chop: bye-bye endangered birds and ‘sacred’ mountains and peace & tranquility.

      As mentioned before, Rod Carr is not only ex-Reserve Bank boss, he’s ‘legally’ blind (and either stoop!d or ev!l or both).

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      RickWill

      Some clown on the far Left Channel 10 propaganda program, The Conversation, last night said they need to increase the rate of installation of new subsidy farms from 4GB per year to 6GB per year,

      That is straight out of the AEMO Draft ISP
      https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/stakeholder_consultation/consultations/nem-consultations/2023/draft-2024-isp-consultation/draft-2024-isp.pdf?la=en
      From page 10:

      Triple grid-scale variable renewable energy by 2030, and increase it seven-fold by 2050. About 6 GW of capacity would need to be added every year, compared to the current rate of almost 4 GW. Wind would dominate installations through to 2030, complementing installations of rooftop solar systems, and by 2050 grid-scale solar capacity would be 55 GW and wind
      70 GW.

      All this will continue until there is a major outage that is significant enough to cause governments to fall.

      If Australia lost a single coal fired power station now, there would be power rationing.

      If you think electricity is expensive now, you will be in for a surprise.

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      Tides of Mudgee

      DM, Mt. Piper is the culprit apparently. ToM

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      • #
        el+gordo

        They have plans to morph Mt Piper into a big battery.

        ‘The New South Wales Mount Piper black coal power plant will not be retired any earlier than 2040, EnergyAustralia’s new climate plan confirms, but the 1,400MW fossil generator will be relegated to “a reserve role” on the grid, potentially as soon as the early 2030s.’ (Renew Economy)

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    • #

      Wait until they suggest that sewerage pumping should reduce electricity use. The ensuing stink should fix the Pollies right up. LOL.

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    • #
      Bruce

      If you think a self-immolating Tesla is “exciting, just wait until a “battery’ the size of a house goes into thermal runaway. Not that you might see it on the news, because such an event might just spoil the “narrative”.

      And try not to notice the abundant “spillage” of tax-payers hard-earned on all of the “studies” and imported hardware.

      https://www.aemc.gov.au/regulation/electricity-guidelines-and-standards

      Might this just be up there with the Queensland Railways Timetable as one of the great works of fiction?

      “Batteries’ need to be “charged” in order to be able to do work. Wind and Solar? First find a large area, not in any way prone to fire or flood and blessed with an abundance of wind or sunlight. Make the current “owners / occupants” the classic “offer they can’t refuse’ / “eminent domain”, sort of thing. Then wait for all your materials (cable, insulators, HUGE three-phase inverters, step-up transformers; (Anything less than 100 thousand volts on long-distance transmission is a waste of time and money and energy), just the usual peripherals to arrive from the usual suspects in China. Warranty? Yeah! Right!

      You get the idea. Vast sums of loot sloshing about wildly and all for “Gaia” / “the children”, etc.

      Smother any rumours of “issues” at source, preferably with HUGE “whoppers; you know, like:

      “Of course I’ll still respect you in the morning” and

      Tthe greatest fib of all time:

      “I’m from the Government and I’m here to help”.

      What Pres. Ronald Reagan described as “the nine most frightening words in history”.

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      • #

        I will believe in batteries having sufficient power when I see an A380 or similar fly from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth with 4 of them instead of 4 Rolls Royce Trent engines.

        And to see the Queen Mary 2 circumnavigate the World with batteries.

        And to see the USA fight a war with Tanks having batteries.

        And to see the Indian Pacific Train travel from Perth to Sydney on batteries.

        I am now age 71 years old so I don’t think that I can live to be 250 years old before seeing it happen. Sarc/

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    • #
      Dennis

      Recently taken off line was Hunter Valley NSW coal fired power station Liddell close to Bayswater power station that is still generating.

      Liddell had 4 generator units of Nameplate Capacity 500MW each.

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      Ronin

      “Some clown on the far Left Channel 10 propaganda program, The Conversation, last night said they need to increase the rate of installation of new subsidy farms from 4GB per year to 6GB per year.”

      Got their GB confused with their GW.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Dr John Campbell video discusses paper about ineffectiveness of 4th covid “vaccine” dose.

    https://youtu.be/CRs9xwiGabA

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    • #
      Catherine

      What is happening?

      December 2033, ‘Brownstone Institute’:
      USA
      ‘Why are Lies so Believable?

      During the past few years, we have been subjected to pretty much the same line, multiple times. The surprising thing is that in many cases we believe the lie instead of what we clearly see:

      -Covid originated in a wet market.
      -There is nothing you can do…just “social distance,” sicken at home until you can’t breathe, then come to the hospital and be put on Remdesivir and a ventilator.
      -Churches and schools must be closed, but liquor stores must remain open.
      -Masks work. Wear two of them! Wear them outside and while alone in the car.
      -The “vaccine” is safe and effective. (in Pfizer’s trial: 1223 deaths)
      -Disagreeing with Fauci is an attack of science itself.
      -Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin are useless. (

      But this has not been confined to Covid. These assertions have also made the rounds and similar statements are actually increasing:

      -Defunding the police will make you safer.
      -“Climate Change” is an existential threat and more dangerous than nuclear war.
      -“Science is settled!”
      -“White Supremacists” and Christian Fundamentalists are more dangerous than Al-Qaeda.
      -“Silence is violence.”
      -Israel was ultimately responsible for the massacre of Jews on October 7, 2023.
      -There were no Jews in Israel before 1948.
      -Being against anti-Semitism is being for islamophobia.
      -Advocating genocide is not always wrong. It depends on the “context.”
      -“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” should be mandated as it is fair. The fact that it really is “Orthodoxy, Inequality, and Exclusion” is false.
      -Those who have a different opinion on anything the government says are guilty of “misinformation,” “disinformation,” or “malinformation.” (whatever that is!)
      -The January 6th “Insurrection” was worse than Pearl Harbor.
      -The Hunter Biden laptop was just Russian propaganda.
      -This administration is the most transparent in history.
      -The border is secure.

      ALL these assertions are at least open to questioning.
      Yet to question them is considered anathema by the current powers that be. Why?
      Why can THESE assertions not be open to discussion?

      —————-

      Brownstone Institute:

      ‘Why Does the WHO Make False Claims Regarding Proposals to Seize States’ Sovereignty? ‘
      By David Bell December 11, 2023

      ‘These Amendments Would Open the Door to a Dangerous Global Health Bureaucracy’
      By David Thunder December 10, 2023

      ‘Human Rights Discarded at the Gates of Hell’
      By Ramesh Thakur December 9, 2023

      The boundary between liberal democracy and draconian dictatorship proved to be virus thin. A Freedom House report concluded that in 80 countries, the pandemic has emboldened governments to engage in abuses of power: “silencing their critics, and weakening or shuttering important institutions, often undermining the very systems of accountability needed to protect public health.”

      [Catherine, I’ve added links to the source. We absolutely need them if we copy material. – Jo]

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  • #
    RayS

    Would any of the knowledgeable folk on here,have a shareable/ downloadable link to something that explains in layman’s terms how the aemo bidding system and unreliable grid inputs determine consumer pricing of electricity,ie higher bills. Trying to convince people why their bills keep going up is nearly impossible.

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      David Maddison

      This is a common question and the details of the answer are complicated so I think it would be a good idea for Jo to have a special section on this site describing how it works. Certain contributors on this blog know how it works in detail and have in fact given detailed answers previously.

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      • #

        I have pushed in here to be closer to the original question with a response.

        I don’t know how many times I have tried to explain this, and while seemingly simple, it’s astonishingly complex.

        Look at the generic graph at this image, and this shows the wholesale cost structure for ALL power generation in the AEMO.

        Now, while this just shows the typical half hour period for costing calculations, what you need to do is to stretch it out across a longer time period, the horizontal axis showing time.

        The EXISTING base, that bottom brown colour can be anything as high as 20000MW PLUS. (across the whole Australian AEMO grid) That is every single plant on line and delivering power. The bulk of it is already coal fired power. It also includes wind power and solar power as first in and all in no matter what they are already delivering. Coal fired power making up the bulk of this total can, as I have often said, ramp up and down across the day, and that extra they deliver is ALWAYS in that bottom dark brown colour. As (if it ever happens) wind and solar rise on occasion as wind picks up, or it’s around Midday, then their power is (first selected remember) also ALWAYS in that bottom colour, existing power, already feeding into the grid.

        As more power is needed, around the evening Peak, every single day, and I repeat, EVERY single day, then it goes up that colour scale you see there, and the costs of running those plants is way more than the existing ones, already on line and delivering their power.

        However the extra power is NEEDED, so they have to use it. What that does is add that new plants, or plants to that costing structure, as you can plainly see from the generic graph there, keeping in mind that some plants are horrendously expensive,

        BUT BUT BUT, they NEED the power, or there are blackouts, so they have to come on line.

        Now comes the kicker.

        At the end of the half hour (indicated on this generic graph) the costs are totalled, and then averaged across that half hour. Here, that is how long they were on line delivering power, and how much they were delivering, and then all of that is averaged. So at Peak Power time, when power consumption spikes (remember, every day) then more and more expensive power plants come on line, hence higher prices. Also keep in mind here, that first use plants (wind and solar) in that lowest colour brown area are also expensive, as well, again hiking the wholesale power costs as well.

        And then, ….. wait for it ….. EVERY single power plant on line during that half hour gets that same average price for ALL the power they deliver during that half hour.

        Did you get that. EVERY power plant. Not just the coal fired plants, but all the wind plants all the solar plants all the hydro plants all the natural gas fired plants, all those smaller Other sources. the LOT of them, all get the same.

        SO, stay with me now, if you are coal fired power delivering 70% and more of all the power, then it’s painfully obvious that you will get more.

        However, the biggest part of all this is that the power is actually NEEDED for consumption. They just have to have that power in place.

        Hope this helps.

        Tony.

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          Mike Jonas

          If I read you correctly, just one coal-fired power station refusing to supply below cost between say 1 and 2 pm would be enough to crash the entire system. OK, they can’t tell exactly what price they will get until afterwards, but they would know well enough.

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        • #
          Andrew McRae

          Tony, I found this paragraph was the one that answered RayS’s question.

          At the end of the half hour (indicated on this generic graph) the costs are totalled, and then averaged across that half hour. Here, that is how long they were on line delivering power, and how much they were delivering, and then all of that is averaged. So at Peak Power time, when power consumption spikes (remember, every day) then more and more expensive power plants come on line, hence higher prices. Also keep in mind here, that first use plants (wind and solar) in that lowest colour brown area are also expensive, as well, again hiking the wholesale power costs as well.

          If I understand you correctly, the costs used in average pricing are the costs the generators tell the AEMO as being their cost per kWh for that billing period. Is that correct?
          So the prioritising of renewables being bought before any other type, combinined with their higher cost of production, ensures their higher generation cost is always added into the mix to be averaged.
          That explains general quarterly average power prices.

          Then the fossil fuel costs have to be recouped over a smaller time interval because during high solar/wind generation and lower demand period less of their product was bought, leading to those generators also billing a higher price than they would have if they’d been permitted to sell all day. That would explain peak power prices more than the quarterly average though, yes?

          When the capacity exceeds demand and generators have to be bumped off, perversely the generators more likely to lose the most often from that situation are the ones who consistently and reliably have power ready to sell. By contrast, a generator that didn’t have power all the time would be less likely to find themselves on the reject list, regardless of the buy-ordering. For the rules to require the less reliable generators to always be bought therefore penalises the most reliable. The exact opposite to the incentive structure that you would want to keep a grid operating.
          What I have just said is crazy but have I nonetheless understood the situation correctly?

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          • #
            RickWill

            For the rules to require the less reliable generators to always be bought therefore penalises the most reliable.

            This is a misubnderstanding. Coal generators bid some energy at high negative prices to ensure they get scheduled. Grid scale wind and solar are the most price sensitive and rarely generate when the price is more negative than the value of LGCs; currently $49/MWh. You often see the wholesale price wandering around a negative value of $50/MWh. Like today in SA:
            https://www.aemo.com.au/energy-systems/electricity/national-electricity-market-nem/data-nem/data-dashboard-nem#price-demand

            SA has sat around -$50/MWh for daylight hours with excursions as low as -$190/MWh.

            Wind and solar often reduce output for economic reasons. AEMO now tern this “economic offloading”. Economic offloading averaged 214MW throughout Q3 2023. From the AEMO Q3 report:

            In this quarter, increased VRE output was primarily driven by new and commissioning facilities accounting for a 636 MW uplift in available energy. The vailable output of existing grid-solar units also rose by 161 MW, driven by increased solar irradiance (Figure 44). This was partially offset by lower wind resource vailability at existing facilities (-155 MW, Figure 45) and increased economic offloading by some wind and solar generators(-214 MW) in response to a higher incidence of negative spot prices (Section 1.2.3). Network-driven curtailment increased by 25 MW.

            Economic offloading will continue to trend up until Snowy 2 is operational. So adding more grid wind and solar just reduces the capacity factor for the wind and solar. Rooftops get no price signals so they produce until the street voltage gets to a level that causes them to reduce output.

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        • #
          Ronin

          “And then, ….. wait for it ….. EVERY single power plant on line during that half hour gets that same average price for ALL the power they deliver during that half hour.

          Did you get that. EVERY power plant. Not just the coal fired plants, but all the wind plants all the solar plants all the hydro plants all the natural gas fired plants, all those smaller Other sources. the LOT of them, all get the same.”

          That’s how I thought it worked, no wonder then that our power bills are so high.

          20

    • #
      David of Cooyal in Oz

      I tried to do that some time back, but failed miserably when I came across some things which were insurmountable to me.

      The readily available wholesale prices from the AEMO are by state, and for just that five minutes. Some of the sources have to buy LGCs or pay a fee to the government. I’ve not seen them quantified by supplier at all, or where those costs get factored into the final calculation. Probably in the supplier’s (monthly?) supply invoice.

      Moneys paid to wind and solar suppliers appear to come from the end users, so probably are generously paid on our behalf by the retailers and so included in their calculations.

      I’ve assumed that the calculations used by each of the players are commercial in confidence.

      By the time verbalised the above to myself I decided I’d never be able to get to an explanation which was both accurate and easily explainable.

      So, good luck.
      Cheers
      Dave B

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    • #
      RickWill

      the aemo bidding system and unreliable grid inputs determine consumer pricing of electricity,ie higher bills.

      The wholesale price is less than half of the residential bill.

      There is no simple explanation to explain why the retail bill is increasing. The things to know:
      1. The RET requires consumers to currently pay 5c/kWh for every “renewable” kilowatt they use. The retailers collect this and pass it on to the wind and solar farms via the Clean Energy Regulator. The recently legislated target is 43% by 2030. That means by 2030 43% of electricity will be from “renewable” sources so 43% of electricity consumed will come with 5c/kWh added (It has been as high as 9c/kWh in the early days and could get higher than before Snowy 2 is operating). I have not seen the schedule for the 43% target. The old target of 20% by 2020 has been met.

      2. Any of AEMO’s directions to generators to generate for stability reasons gets paid outside the wholesale price. It is added later. This is a common occurrence in South Australia.

      3. None of the cost of FRACs (Frequency and Auxiliary Services) appears in the wholesale price; again added after the event. FRACs is an increasing requirement but most can be served by batteries. Batteries make most of their income from supplying this service. It is an automatic feature of coal and gas fired generators so is a new cost component since “renewables” have been added. Synchronous condensers are required for the millisecond inertial support. South Australia is the only region that has invested in synchronous condensers so they add to the transmission element of the bill. Other regions will need to add synchronous condensers as they retire coal fired plant

      4. The transmission and distribution networks require extensive upgrade. Power grids were designed to take power from centralised power stations to consumers. Now there are small power stations everywhere, including households, that send power in all directions. This has created an engineering nightmare and requires big money to change. The whole of South Australia has been powered by just rooftop solar with the excess power from gas generators needed for stability being sent to Victoria. These new transmission assets are poorly utilised because solar only works through the middle of sunny days and wind farms work about 25% of the time so their interconnections are poorly untilised but have to be rated and built for for the maximum output.

      5. Coal and gas power stations need to be profitable so they operate at low output when wind and solar are producing when the price is low but ramp up output and their bid price when they know solar and wind cannot meet the demand. So they sell less power but at higher price so they still make money. This means there are large swings in the wholesale price. So wind and solar are reducing the utilisation of assets that were designed to operate continuously.

      6. There are a lot of consumers who have fully or partially defected from the grid. They benefit from some of the “renewable” benefits or consumer theft that the RET offers. But they also lower the wholesale demand meaning the growing cost of generation is spread across fewer consumers. Also, rooftops require improved distribution networks to get power up the grid and that comes at additional cost to the remaining consumers.

      A suggestion for anyone trying to get a handle on why retail prices keep going up is to read through the AEMO quarterly reports:
      https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/qed/2023/qed-q3-2023-report.pdf?la=en&hash=165E68BF9A6DAF100B56CFAAC437CE20

      This link is a starting point to understand the RET (or theft from consumers):
      https://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/RET/About-the-Renewable-Energy-Target

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        Russell

        The wholesale price is less than half of the residential bill.

        This point is never fully appreciated .. even Jo has argued that she understands the difference between “wholesale” and “retail”.
        BUT folks do not see that TOTAL network use charges (about 45% of the bill) is fixed and must be fully recovered from customers somehow.
        Residential solar customers on accumulation metering get a free-ride on their network use charges because they accumulate lower meter readings over a billing cycle.
        The proportioning of their share of network use charge is totally unfair because they still use the network at night (on peak) when there’s no sun.
        But their reduced meter readings gives them a reduced network use charge as well as the reduced energy charges.
        Their “share” is still actually recovered from all other (poorer) non-solar consumers – it has to come from some customer.
        So residential prices are going up for non-solar customers as more solar customers get their network use charges subsidised.

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          Lawrie

          I am not sure I agree Russel. I have rooftop solar which does reduce what I need from the grid but I pay an access charge of $1.86 per day. In the normal 90 day billing cycle that equates to $167.40 or $678.90 per year regardless of the power I use. It is a major portion of my bill. In 2006 I was paying 1 cent per day so thanks to the RET and various vacuous politicians we are being slugged to connect 25% generators to a 100% grid.

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        • #
          Russell

          And low bills for solar consumers is the norm. They are not the ones complaining about higher energy prices.
          Mostly they don’t even realise they are slugging the poorer non-solar consumers with their network-use charges.
          BTW another misconception is that “access charges” are the same as “network-use” charges.
          The true network-use charges are about 45% of what’s called “energy” on a residential bill.
          This scaling-up of the energy has been used to recover network costs from accumulated billing since day dot of the NEM.
          Accumulation metering cannot measure anything but energy over a billing period.
          So network-use charges are proportionally divvied up depending on the amount of energy you use.
          Less used energy means less network-use charge in the bill.
          So called “energy” prices go up but they are not only energy but about 40% real energy and about 45% network-use charge.

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        Yarpos

        “South Australia is the only region that has invested in synchronous condensers so they add to the transmission element of the bill”

        No, there are synch condensors installed elsewhere.

        An example. https://www.omexom.com/news/synchronous-condenser-australia/

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      Dennis

      Few consumers understand that wholesale price can change daily but retail price is the cumulative wholesale cost over one quarter of a year.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    “A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it’s accepted by a majority.”

    Booker T. Washington

    Conservatives and fellow rational thinkers have to start standing up for what they know to be right and stop allowing themselves to be bullied by Leftists.

    If you don’t stand up to the Left they will get their way, every single time, as we are now seeing.

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      Dennis

      Senator Jacinta Price’s latest newsletter confirms the need to stand up to the left, in part …

      Here’s the hard fact about the elites and activists who lost the Voice:

      They’re not going to learn a thing.

      They simply see the defeat as a speed bump on the way to overhauling our nation and our values and remaking it in their left-wing woke image.

      And this past week has shown two perfect examples of it.

      First up there was Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s “welcome to country” at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

      To begin his address he acknowledged the “indigenous people of the world” and then mentioned the “government’s commitment to the inclusion of our First Nations people in our climate change response and clean energy future”.

      It was absurd and nonsensical.

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    David Maddison

    I wonder how much longer shops can survive in the US since shop theft has been decriminalised in many DemocRAT run places and certain people seem to routinely just walk out out of the store without paying.

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    • #

      Maybe the answer is to revert to the old “ behind the counter” corner store system, instead of the current “self service” supermarket for expensive items, electrical etc.

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    David Maddison

    As we approach peak sunspot activity which is of great benefit to radio amateurs such as myself due to more ionisation in the ionosphere leading to greater skip propagation in the higher HF bands do you have any comment on how other aspects of life might be affected?

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    From the ” let’s make up some very unlikely facts department”

    https://slaynews.com/news/blue-state-democrats-demand-jail-time-for-people-caught-using-gas-powered-gardening-lawn-tools/

    Democrats want to punish those using petrol in their wan mowers with 1 year in jail. They invent some very unlikely data to justify it.

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    Tides of Mudgee

    Does nothing get through to the media? On the evening news on Wednesday night, we were told about the new, Australian invented nasal spray to combat Covid. It was described as ……. wait for it ……. SAFE AND EFFECTIVE ……. their exact words. Bloody hell, here we go again. ToM

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    another ian

    “Things You Won’t See on CBC” – or the ABC et al either most likely

    “Nothing to see here, just move along. Every single government official did everything perfectly throughout the pandemic and continues to do so. We are truly blessed to ruled by such divine and omniscience individuals.”

    “Dr. John Campbell- Canadian Citizens Inquiry ”

    https://youtu.be/WuZsEqOtDdI

    “National Citizens Inquiry- Commissioners Final Report ”

    https://nationalcitizensinquiry.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCI-Commissioners-Final-Report-Volume12-Inquiry-into-the-Appropriateness-and-Efficacy-of-the-COVID-19-Response-in-Canada-November-28-2023.pdf

    “Anyone who participated in the hearings or watched even a small fraction of the more than 300 recorded testimonies will have been changed forever. Many of the testimonies were heartbreaking, shocking, and often terrifying. Over the 24 days of hearings, witness testimonies provided an overall sense of how Canada has been transformed by the actions of all levels of government to address to address the pandemic.”

    More at

    https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/12/15/things-you-wont-see-on-cbc-6/

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      You didn’t hear it on the ABC, too close to home…

      From Canada’s National Citizens’Report on Covid.

      “In summary, the normalcy of once-unthinkable draconian government lockdowns within a relatively
      short period can be attributed to a focused campaign of propaganda and false information
      produced by government–and their partners in media and big business–to promote COVID-19 as
      a terrifying pandemic.

      They used this excuse of combating a novel virus, combined with fears of overwhelming the
      healthcare systems, to persuade the public to accept these measures.
      However, as time progressed, the long-term consequences and societal costs associated with
      prolonged lockdowns could no longer be hidden from the public.”

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      Lawrie

      The interview was certainly informative particularly the no shows by those responsible for the mayhem. I do think that those who educate themselves know now that the government and all its agencies have destroyed what trust we may have had in them. It will be interesting when next an emergency arises how many people take notice and how many ignore it. I wonder how many did as was requested and turned their ACs off or down last week. I wonder how many government employees changed the temperature where they work. Another do as I say not do as I do day in the halls of power.

      I do expect a reckoning one day but it won’t come from a government initiative; it will come from civil suits. There was a case in Australia where a kidney ? recipient was denied an operation because she was not vaccinated even though doctors said it would be dangerous for her to have the jab. There are numerous people here who should face the consequences of their decisions. One day maybe. A few successful court cases would make the authorities think twice next time.

      The newspapers are not reporting the adverse affects of the vaccine because their major shareholders are major shareholders of the pharmaceutical companies as well. Profits always come before people in this brave new world.

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    another ian

    “Y2Kyoto: Money To Burn”

    Be patient!

    “The share of the world’s primary energy consumption produced by renewable energy has essentially doubled since 2015, from about 3.5 to seven per cent of the world total. Yet, fossil fuels (oil, natural gas and coal), which accounted for 85 per cent of primary energy consumption in 2015, still accounted for 82 per cent in 2022.

    At that rate of reduction — three percentage points every seven years — we will not get to full decarbonization (i.e., zero use of fossil fuels) until well into the next century.”

    https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/12/15/y2kyoto-money-to-burn/

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      CO2 Lover

      King COAL in 2022

      Coal prices hit record levels, rising 145% in Europe and 45% in Japan.
      Coal consumption rose 0.6%, its highest level since 2014, driven mainly by Chinese and Indian demand, while consumption in North America and Europe declined.
      Coal output was 7% higher than the previous year, with China, India and Indonesia accounting for most of the growth.

      The death of coal has been highly exaggerated

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        “The death of coal has been highly exaggerated”
        Indeed.
        And China burns 12,000,000 tonnes a day.
        Every day.
        Which produces about 44,000,000 tonnes if CO² each day.

        Auto.

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      CO2 Lover

      “The share of the world’s primary energy consumption produced by renewable energy has essentially doubled since 2015”

      Does “primary energy” mean just electricity?

      The increase in unnreliable wind and solar power has been at the expense of nuclear power and the use of oil to generate electricity.

      The % use of Coal to produce electricty has only fallen slightly (still the cheapest reliable means of producing electricity) while the use of natural gas has risen dramatically.

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Dr. Pierre Kory Discusses the Reason Why So Many Americans are Dying Early: “Something Happened in the Middle of COVID that Thou Shalt Not Speak its Name” (VIDEO)”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/dr-pierre-kory-discusses-reason-why-so-many/

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      Country people are unhappy about new power lines from wind and solar “farms” destroying their local environment.

      The best form of revenge will be to [Snip] EV re-charging stations in rural areas to keep woke city slickers from driving EVs into the country side.

      The “Blade Runners” in the UK vandalised traffic cameras installed to levy a “carbon” tax on cars going into city centres.

      Environmental vandalism by the Climate Cultists must be defeated.

      [Something less damaging maybe]AD

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      • #
        Saighdear

        I think that’s a fair enough idea based on us Country dwellers not being allowed to enter Cities with our old Landrovers, Cruisers / Nissans – or even the tractor! – with Christmas Fare for Friends n family ( a Charity). Why SHOULD we allow them free range on our patch after causing us all that grief?
        BTW GLASGOW has had to cancel ALL their doled out fines of £100 or whatever because as a judge ruled, they were not delivered by registered / recorded Mail …. Good one.

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Has Australia’s Nuclear Debate Killed Renewable Energy Investment?”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/12/15/has-australias-nuclear-debate-killed-renewable-energy-investment/

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    STJOHNOFGRAFTON

    Does the Global Temperature Record REALLY Show a ‘Climate Emergency’?
    Dig out your old, student days, copy of How To Lie With Statistics. This article gives some good examples:
    https://off-guardian.org/2023/12/14/does-the-global-temperature-record-really-show-a-climate-emergency/

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    CO2 Lover

    In Earth’s present-day climate, the annually-averaged surface air temperature in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) is 1.5°C higher than in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). This interhemispheric temperature difference has been known for a long time, and scientists have pondered over its origin for centuries.

    So what the panic about and increase of 1.5C? It is already present!!!!!

    Have people living in the Northern Hemishere suffered compared to those living in the Southern??

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      el+gordo

      They are talking about world temperature and this unprecedented spike has tongues wagging.

      https://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_November_2023_v6_20x9.jpg

      The alarmists say its already too late to stop global warming because of increasing CO2. Do you have a rebuttal?

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        Honk R Smith

        I would just observe, that due to the apparently infinite quantum deep freezer our little rock floats in, I would be way more alarmed if the heater stopped working.

        It’s getting really cold where I am.
        And I wake sometimes in the middle of the night anxious the heater has gone on the fritz.
        Since it is half as old as me.
        (Already had my HVAC man here once this winter, and he’s older than me.)

        And the last attempt by ‘alarmists’ to save me, destroyed my business, making it difficult to afford to replace it.
        And all the latest and fashionable attempts at saving the world, are making food unaffordable.

        So they can go play with their satellites.
        And stick ’em in the same place they can stick their vaccines.

        Thus ‘following the Science’ to where the Sun don’t shine.

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          Kalm Keith

          That’s an essential understanding Honk;

           “the apparently infinite quantum deep freezer our little rock floats “.

          Too many people start out mulling over the micro detail offered by the IPCCC and other master manipulators when the macro starting point to begin analysis from is that.

          Our biggest problem is retaining the daily serving of solar energy we get.

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    Catherine

    August 2023, ‘Unherd’:

    ‘The hypocrisy of Australia’s Net Zero policy
    Rainforests are dying for the sake of renewable energy’-

    “They’re going to put the windmills in there, aren’t they?” said Tommy, my Aboriginal guide, as we looked down at the forest from a secluded bluff. “They want to really rip this whole country up.”

    Looking out across the landscape, with an industrial wind turbine development just a ministerial tick away from final approval, it seems a bad joke — an indictment of the skewed judgement of Australian governments for whom the race against climate change trumps everything else. The pledge of Net Zero emissions by 2050 is driving a 21st-century gold rush, forcing renewable energy companies deep into the hinterland.
    —————–

    September 2023, ‘The Financial Times’:

    ‘Wind farm changes its name and cuts turbines to win over locals’

    The federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is assessing the proposal, which has been vehemently opposed by some locals and environmentalists.

    Ark Energy – which bought the site, including the wind farm, from renewables developer Epuron last year as part of a renewables spree in Australia – had already scaled back the project from 200 to 86 turbines to appease opponents.

    The wind farm project requires significant land clearing for roads to bring in turbines more than 250 metres high and with 90-metre blades.

    One of the turbines in the original plan was only 600 metres away from World Heritage-listed rainforests, but has been moved to 1 kilometre away.

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    • #
      Catherine

      France: Court of Appeal of Nîmes, December 7, 2023

      ‘ “Turbines ground thousands of birds ”: French judge decides that wind farm should disappear’ :

      After a long legal battle, a judge in France ordered the dismantling of a wind farm for the first time.
      Local residents and environmental associations in Lunas in the Hérault department respond with relief.
      “ It was a true bird cemetery. ”

      It is the end of a legal battle. On Friday, the Nîmes Court of Appeal ruled that the wind farm on the Bernargues site, in Lunas, should disappear. In doing so, the court declared several complaints well-founded by three environmental associations, as well as by local residents, who have been fighting for several years against the installation of the wind farm that came into use in 2016.

      “ With more than 1,099 birds found dead in 2019 alone,
      this is a true graveyard at the foot of the wind turbines ”,said environmental association lawyer Nicolas Gallon. In total, it concerns thousands of dead birds.

      In addition to the concerns about biodiversity, many local residents complained about the noise pollution caused by the wind turbines. “The nuisance in the summer is really unpleasant. It is good that they take them away.”
      a local resident said.

      The operator now has 15 months to remove the seven wind turbines.’

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      • #
        Dennis

        I do realise why RET 30%, now RET 80% and incentive profit subsidies (over $12 billion every year paid by consumers) is economic vandalism and that without subsidy incentives, governments support, penalising of coal fired power stations reducing profitability as a disincentive is being pushed regardless of the very high costs involved.

        But it is annoying that existing coal fired power station locations and main grid could be upgraded and converted to or replaced by Small Modular Reactors for far less cost and no new land needed.

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        • #
          Graeme#4

          This is exactly what commentators are saying in every article mentioning nuclear in The Australian. And the support for SMRs seems to be growing.

          30

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        Graeme#4

        Do you have article refs for the Australian wind site reduction and the French wind farm shutdown Cath?

        20

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      KP

      “he wind farm project requires significant land clearing for roads to bring in turbines more than 250 metres high and with 90-metre blades.”

      Flying back from Toowoomba to Armidale by helicopter, we flew between the turbines on a new wind farm up that way. These are tarmac roads, not dirt tracks they are building, those roads are better than the ones I drive on every day! The erection cranes are ginormouse, the trucks moving blades and nacheles similarly so, so they have their own quarry and concrete mixing plant way up on top of the ridges in virgin bush. No steep grades, no tight corners, its not like building a road for the plebs.

      They basically clear the ridge-tops of bush for kilometer after kilometer and build roads everywhere. a hundred turbines spaced a Km apart means a lot of roading.

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    Dennis

    Fight back, email your Federal MP

    Labor’s misinformation bill gets “far worse” with The Australian uncovering a secret letter Communications Minister Michelle Rowland wrote to Anthony Albanese, says Sky News Digital Editor Jack Houghton.

    In the letter, Ms Rowland informed him that her bill should grant her powers to steer investigators into whatever matters she thinks are misinformation.

    “Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says she will have the power to direct the media watchdog to investigate instances of online misinformation, under controversial proposed laws to toughen regulations for digital platforms that have raised free speech concerns,” The Australian reports.

    Mr Houghton said the Coalition is “understandably upset” because there has been “absolutely no public commentary” that the power would exist and it hasn’t featured as part of the debate.

    “Labor has a terrible track record for authoritarian overreach and you cannot trust a government to determine what is true and what is false.”

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      el+gordo

      Further to that.

      ‘Data from the study showed that these mysterious radiation storms occurred roughly once in 1,000 years and happened right across the solar cycle, not just solar maximum.

      ‘Many of the spikes lasted longer than normal solar storms. At least one event in 663 BC lasted up to three years, and another in 5480 BC built up across a decade.’ (ABC)

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      • #
        Greg in NZ

        Surely clean/green wind turbines & solar panels will nullify these alien attacks and render them harmless because Gaia rocks and polar bears are cuddly.

        Signed, Jemima & Julian (10), Tealville.

        (apologies to kids with the above names)

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    David Maddison

    How can Australia build any more dams or proper power stations when it took a half century to decide on a second Sydney airport?

    60

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    David Maddison

    Tweet from Maxime Bernier (the Liberals being referred to are Trudeau’s party):

    https://twitter.com/MaximeBernier/status/1735331517130318133?t=98LMw6TbyqyJOj4DfkLVgQ&s=19

    The Liberal decision to distribute tampons in men’s toilets everywhere, including on military bases, is just another step in the systematic attack against masculinity, and part of a wider ideological battle.

    The woke far left want to destroy Western societies, which they see as responsible for all evils in the world.

    They’re not only busy undermining our institutions, our culture, our economy, our values, our history, our social cohesion, and the traditional family.

    They also want to completely destroy traditional gender identities and roles.

    It’s great that individuals nowadays are not coerced anymore into strictly conforming to traditional gender stereotypes. But we’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater by letting the woke fanatics impose a new, unnatural and degenerate model.

    Women are encouraged to not have children, treat all men like potential rapists, be ambitious and aggressive in their careers, and made to feel like failures if they prefer more traditional roles.

    Conversely, traditionally feminine role models and identities are being normalized for men. Throughout human history, strong men have played the role of their society’s providers and protectors. Today they are not praised for their courage and selflessness, but denounced as exhibiting “toxic masculinity”.

    It is no coincidence if the cultural Marxists have become obsessed with gender issues, and aim to brainwash and confuse our children with their sick gender ideology. Their goal is to turn as many men as possible into non-binary, trans, gender-fluid, weak, effeminate sissies.

    In short, in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable and dangerous, they want our society to disintegrate and become defenceless.

    40

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    DD

    Could ‘carbon dioxide’ passports be on the horizon?
    https://x.com/BjornLomborg/status/1735722936256917891?s=20

    And would they just be for the little people, or would they be for our betters, as well?
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GBVMhEoWAAAq43B?format=png&name=small

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  • #
    Andrew McRae

    Seems like the only way to get ivermectin at short notice (i.e. without a prescription) here in Australia is to be a dog.
    Is there any other way to get it in less than 24hrs?

    30

    • #
      David Maddison

      During the worst of covid your government under “Health” Minister, former WEF global strategist Greg Hunt, made Ivermectin illegal for covid treatment. Your government demanded you take a useless and dangerous “vaccine”.

      As soon as the pandemic was over, it became legal again.

      To get it in under 24hrs in Australia you have to have a GP who has a clue as mine does and then you have to find a compounding pharmacist set up to make the required 25mg doses. My local pharmacy does.

      Otherwise, good luck.

      Or go to a farm supply store and get some for a horse. It comes in a nice apple flavour. Just remember to adjust the dose as you are not a 500kg horse.

      Also, research the appropriate IVM dose and protocols. E.g. must take with zinc etc..

      (NOT MEDICAL ADVICE, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.)

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      • #
        Lucky

        Again to be sure, when to take Ivermectin:

        For Infection control/prophylaxis, eg for the Wuhu virus –
        Take with food (incl. fat) to carry it into the bloodstream.

        For Parasite control, the original function of Ivermectin –
        Take with water on empty stomach to retain Ivermectin in the Gastro Intestinal tract

        (usual disclaimers)

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    John Connor II

    The shocking, stupendous rise of superhot chillies: ‘The stomach cramps can last for 14 hours’

    From hot sauces to eating competitions, chilli peppers have become a global obsession – and the hottest one ever has just been announced. But why would anyone choose to eat it?

    When Smokin’ Ed Currie realised he had managed to breed the world’s hottest chilli pepper, it seemed logical to mark the occasion by eating one – and getting others to do the same. “I like hot peppers,” he says. “And I like hurting my friends with hot peppers.”

    The tasting of Pepper X was filmed to mark its official recognition as the world’s hottest chilli by Guinness World Records. The show was a special edition of Hot Ones, a popular YouTube series in which the host, Sean Evans, normally interviews celebrities as they work their way through an escalating series of spicy chicken wings, answering questions as their composure unravels. This time, the effect was quicker. The subjects were immediately incapacitated; they twitched, writhed and lost the power of speech. Only Currie, on the surface, appeared to be unaffected, standing by calmly, his arms folded.

    “It’s actually very hard to explain what happens, because it’s like you’re leaving the planet for 15 to 20 minutes,” says Claus Pilgaard, a Danish chilli enthusiast, YouTube star and hot sauce proprietor better known as Chili Klaus. Pilgaard has been on Hot Ones four times; he appeared in the video celebrating Pepper X’s world record confirmation. Other than Currie, he was the only person to eat the chilli whole. They may still be the only people to have done so.

    “It’s a pain that continues rising,” he says. “You have maybe 20 seconds where you can actually taste the fruitiness and the flavour. And then it’s like a train coming. And it’s not just a small train.”

    He was still feeling the effects of Pepper X 12 hours later, he says, although by then the worst was over. “I would say, after a couple of hours, you are able to have a normal life.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/nov/07/the-shocking-stupendous-rise-of-superhot-chillies-the-stomach-cramps-can-last-for-14-hours

    Yes! Pepper-X has finally overtaken Carolina Reaper.
    Great news for fellow chilliheads.
    I’ve been consuming Carolina Reaper for 6 years now, and in the early days it was seriously unpleasant, like eating then giving birth to a burning log you just pulled off the fire, but these days it’s just fruity. I think it’s killed all the nerves. 😁
    Even 16M SHU Capsaicin boosted stuff doesn’t hurt much once you’re used to it.
    You can buy it through Blonde Chilli and others now.

    That’s my xmas present. 😎

    10

    • #

      I too am a chili friend, growing them with succes in my garden, at 50°N, but I’m not a friend of exageration. Piri Piri are my favorites and some others different from year to year.
      Most I dry and roast and than make powder with a very special taste.
      Once I bought some Habaneros,sliced them in very small pieces and put these pieces in honey for several weeks, a very nice flavoring in some meals (chicken vindaloo, chili con carne)

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    David Maddison

    Canberra = Cantberra

    (Not my idea but I liked it.)

    And I can think of an even more appropriate similar sounding first syllable….

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    David Maddison

    Former “Health” Minister and former WEF global strategist isn’t even ashamed of his former(?) association with the WEF. He freely states it in his bio..

    10

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    another ian

    From an email

    “I acknowledge and pay my respects to the

    British and European elders past and present,

    who introduced civil society and prosperity to Australia.”

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    another ian

    “Bitumen beyond combustion: how to triple oil sands value, reduce emissions, and create an advanced material industry for 2% of a battery plant’s subsidies”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/12/15/bitumen-beyond-combustion-how-to-triple-oil-sands-value-reduce-emissions-and-create-an-advanced-material-industry-for-2-of-a-battery-plants-subsidies/

    20

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    David Maddison

    Creepy, degenerate White House Christmas video by racist dance troupe as posted by the White House resident’s wife. Discussion by JP Sears.

    https://youtu.be/dvMTEOd6FCY

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