Monday

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64 comments to Monday

  • #
    Gee Aye

    It is Monday and the world is actually mostly a nice place. Certainly much better than it would have seemed reading Sunday/

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      I’m here in New Zealand, wow.

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        Graeme#4

        So am I. North Island this time. Enjoying the stunning scenery. And much cooler than Perth.

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          Dennis

          Don’t miss the ferry from Pahia to Russell which was the first European settlement town where whale hunters and pirate ships anchored to replace supplies and for sailors to have good times ashore.

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            Graeme#4

            Been there Dennis. Enjoyed an evening sail, followed by dinner on the foreshore. Marvellous. Then Coromandel, Tauranga and now Rotorua. With a group of friends, enjoying pre-dinner nibbles and great NZ wines. Plus the odd ale or two.

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      • #
        Dennis

        Aotearoa the land of the long white cloud.

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      MP

      So your happy with all the war, just the right amount of death happening for you?

      I mean other peoples deaths of course.

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      • #
        Dennis

        Has there ever been a period during which there were no wars?

        Imagine what the money spent could otherwise be spent on.

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          Hanrahan

          The money you save by not arming would build a vibrant economy that your slovenly neighbour would envy, so you desperately try to defend yourself as they get restless.

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          • #
            StephenP

            The problem since time began is that the slovenly neighbour looks at the result of all your hard work and says to themself, ‘I’d like a piece of that, and it will save me having to do the hard work myself’.

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          Ted1.

          It’s all been done before, but just imagine if all that energy was put into construction instead of destruction.

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        Gee Aye

        It must get tiring being upset about everything all the time.

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      Honk R Smith

      Let me get this straight.

      We observe that the Sky is Not Falling.
      And we the are the negative ones?

      We also notice that Chicken Little appears to have obscure wealthy benefactors that send him/her/they out to zoom hysterically around the barnyard, so often as to provoke yawns of cynicism …
      and we are the negative ones?

      The weekend off and this is the best you can come up with?
      You’re right about the tiresome part, it’s just the genesis that’s at issue.
      Which I guess makes it a Mexican Standoff.
      (What is the PC replacement for Mexican Standoff? European Colonialist Standoff?)

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  • #
    CO2 Lover

    The Australian has a poll showing support for Nuclear Energy – even support from the younger generation.

    How much long can Labor get away with their environmental vandalism?

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    • #
      Adellad

      I agree with you, but two qualifiers or vaguely connected comments:
      1. Young people being more supportive of nuclear is indicative of the “success” of teachers inculcating belief in the nonsense of MMGW. So it’s a fair outcome for the wrong reason and rationality takes another dive.
      2. It was John Howard who legislated the nuclear ban doing a grubby 100% political deal either with or to stymie the Greens (I forget). Lest we forget, the Liberals are never to be fully trusted.

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      • #
        Dennis

        The prospect of nuclear power in Australia has been a topic of public debate since the 1950s. Australia has one nuclear plant in Lucas Heights, Sydney, but is not used to produce nuclear power, but instead is used to produce medical radioisotopes. It also produces material or carries out analyses for the mining industry, for forensic purposes and for research. Australia hosts 33% of the world’s uranium deposits and is the world’s third largest producer of uranium after Kazakhstan and Canada.[1]
        Australia’s extensive low-cost coal and natural gas reserves have historically been used as strong arguments for avoiding nuclear power.[2] The Liberal Party has advocated for the development of nuclear power and nuclear industries in Australia since the 1950s. An anti-nuclear movement developed in Australia in the 1970s, initially focusing on prohibiting nuclear weapons testing and limiting the development of uranium mining and export. The movement also challenged the environmental and economic costs of developing nuclear power and the possibility of fissile material being diverted into nuclear weapons production.[citation needed]
        A resurgence of interest in nuclear power was prompted by Prime Minister John Howard in 2007 in response to the need to move to low-carbon methods of power generation in order to reduce the effects of global warming on Australia. In 2015, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill initiated a Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission to investigate the state’s future role in the nuclear fuel cycle. As of 2018 there are three active uranium mines, Ranger in Northern Territory, Olympic Dam in South Australia, and Beverley with Four Mile in South Australia. The Royal Commission determined that there was no case for the introduction of nuclear power to the electricity grid in South Australia, but it did not consider its potential interstate. In its final report of May 2016, the Royal Commission recommended that prohibitions preventing the development of nuclear power plants nationally should be repealed.
        In 2017, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott advocated for legislation to be changed to allow the construction of nuclear power plants in Australia.[3] The former Deputy Premier of New South Wales, John Barilaro, has also been urging for debate on the prospect of nuclear power in Australia, including the revisiting of Jervis Bay as a prospective site for a nuclear power plant.[4][5] In November 2017, Senator Cory Bernardi presented the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (Facilitation) Bill 2017 in the Senate, with the intention of repealing existing prohibitions preventing the establishment of nuclear power in Australia.[6]

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      • #
        Dennis

        Australia is one of just a few countries in the world that ban nuclear power. Australia’s prohibition was not established after detailed consideration and debate. Australia’s nuclear ban was the consequence of unseemly horse trading in the Australian Senate a generation ago.
        1.2Australia’s nuclear ban was introduced via a Greens amendment in the Senate on 10 December 1998. There was less than 10 minutes of debate on the matter. The Howard Government at the time was seeking legislative support to build a new nuclear research reactor at Lucas Heights. With no immediate prospect of a nuclear power station being built, the Government accepted the amendment so it could proceed with the new research reactor.

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    • #
      TdeF

      People want to know how to get clean, reliable, cheap energy. I would suggest quickly building coal power stations.

      It’s a lot cheaper than Snowy II which at last guesstimate needed another drill and $21Billion. If they ever finish because it supplies no new energy at all. And no one will want to pay for all the energy required to pump all that free water up hill again.

      But it would be even faster would be to tap our Victorian/Gipplands gas supplies. I have read that the gas does not even need processing.

      And if we Victoria don’t really need clean, cheap and reliable energy, sell the gas and coal and pay down Daniel Andrew’s massive debt. Why not? Every other state does.

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      • #
        Dennis

        Onshore at Gippsland I read the gas reserves are larger than the Bass Strait was before the gas was extracted.

        Then consider below Coober Pedy in SA, not far from the Moomba gas fields.

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        • #
          Hanrahan

          I read once that the water coming up with the gas good for agriculture. Win/Win

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          • #
            Dennis

            It amuses me when the leftists argue that fracking could damage aquifers by forcing gas into them, they have obviously not been told that water bores can contain gas.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Of course we should be asking why we shut down Hazelwood, when it would cost $6Billion to rebuild. But it didn’t need transmission lines and all the coal is still there. So why not build 3-4 Hazelwoods quickly instead of Snowy II?
        And faster. Everything is in place. After all, in the last month of operation Hazelwood was running uninterrupted at 98% of design capacity when they turned it off.

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        • #
          Ross

          When it closed in 2017, ENGIE ( that French energy company with no interest in coal) had it up for sale. I recall some entity could have purchased it for $200m Australian and possibly replaced it by now with modern USC, SC or HELE equivalent tech. The replacement would have easily been less than $500m. When you consider the wastage on Snowy II, it would have been dirt cheap. It pumped out a lazy 1600 MW or 12,000 GWh annually. Makes you cry when you think what it could be rating with those upgrades.

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        • #
          Dennis

          Utilising existing power station locations and existing electricity grid makes sense, a far more cost effective and environmentally friendly option than wind and solar transition and huge new land area requirements, a recent report from Victoria estimated that seventy per cent of the state would be involved for transition purposes.

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        • #
          TdeF

          And which country recognized our great sacrifice in impoverishing ourselves for their sake? Or am I kidding?

          China adds more coal power every year than our combined output. And bans our products when they should be grateful that we are saving them.

          It’s an ungrateful world.

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      • #
        Skepticynic

        Coal is still King.

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      • #
        yarpos

        Its funny how, at first, a defensive rationale for the Chinese doing as they please re coal fired plants was that the new plants replace REALLY dirty old plants. Sadly of course that doesn’t apply in Australia because virtue and dogma and stuff.

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      • #
        CO2 Lover

        Common sense has no place in politics – especially with Labor (enemy of the working class) and Labor-Lite (coalition half of the Uni-party)

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      • #
        Jon Rattin

        We are a captive audience here in Vicdanistan. Oblivious to actual environmental and economic concerns, the local populace re-elected Andrews repeatedly. And yet they can’t join the dots later on and see the havoc he wreaked upon this state, that he only ran one more campaign in order to reach the next pension level that pays higher rates.
        It wouldn’t be surprising to a reader of this blog that he has taken up company directorships with two companies controlled by a former Labour employee who facilitated CCP connections previously for Belt and Road initiatives. It just proves you can walk away from a train wreck without any responsibility
        https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/former-victorian-premier-teams-up-with-chinese-businessman-for-next-career-move-5571729

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    • #
      Ross

      They were all Simpsons fans

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  • #
    william x

    A simple explanation on Australia’s total, current, anthropogenic annual emissions (CO2).

    To anyone that thinks “Australia’s net zero” policies, can change the planets’ temp significantly.. Try this..

    Assemble a crowd of 10,000 people.

    Assign each person to represent a “unit” of the total annual CO2 emissions, both by natural and human cause.
    Of the 10,000 assembled, you will only find 4 that actually represent Australia’s anthropogenic portion of the total combined, annual CO2 emissions..

    Only 4.

    That is important. Why?

    Australia going net zero today, would change nothing weather wise. Despite what they say, there is no switch an Australian politician can use to adjust the climate. It is a fallacy a lie.

    That is the real, inconvenient truth… That so many of Australia’s “Leaders, educated and enlightened”, willfully deny, distort and deflect.

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    • #
      Dennis

      Following instructions from the United Nations group of organisations or octopus arms.

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    • #
      TdeF

      I find the word anthropogenic a ridiculous pretend name. Almost as bad as the Holocene, an 11,700 year long age of the planet defined by the existence of humans after the last ice age.

      We humans are so great, we can not only reach the South Pole and Climb Everest (although it’s a long queue now) but the best of us, the mighty politicians, now control all the world’s weather. And like all governments, they are expert only at stopping everything. While calling themselves progressives.

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  • #
    wal1957

    For those who haven’t heard.
    Paul Joseph Watson on Google Gemini AI.
    Well worth 6 Minutes of your time.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54DQGQ1qo14

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    • #
      RickWill

      I wonder how well China does in the propaganda stakes compared with the west.

      I started watching a BBC “documentary” on the Permian extinction. It was a fairy tale wrapped up as scientific. It intertwined CO2 caused extinction into the story line numerous times.

      The POMS deserve their failing economy. The people pay a licence fee to the BBC to be served carp. The fundifang model is ilevadig increases anding thoug the licence fee will be abilished in 2027. A sensible government would just turn off the funding tap. Where was the investigative journalism when sunpostmas were being sent to prison for a computer glitch.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Name a single correct decision Chrissy Bowen, Australia’s Anti-Energy Minister has made.

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    • #
      TdeF

      The only group more often proven completely wrong than Climate Scientist is that of Economists.
      And Bowen’s degree is in economics. So his only experience is in communist economics and in what communist country are the people well off?

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    • #
      yarpos

      Getting into politics. I doubt his nett worth and retirement prospects would be anything like what they are if he operated in the real world.

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      I have one

      At the previous election Chrissy Bowen said “If you don’t like our policies – then don’t vote for us”

      And we didn’t and ScoMo unexpectantly won the unlossable election!

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    • #
      Penguinite

      I think his polarity has been switched

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  • #

    Aloha! At one time Australia was gung ho on “Chindia”! I guess the CCP is off the rails dealing with their own economic misery. Evergrande etc! South China Sea! Not the Friend of Oz they once were. Now the WEF has been making moves.

    I found this in one of Mao’s speeches from 1940 that if you switched the name Mao on the speech and replaced it with WEF, literally Klaus could be Mao! Mao seems to write all WEF policies. Take a look. There is a lot more but start here with Mao’s “build back better”! While Mao was killing 30mil Chinese he called that “progressive”! Wow!

    II. WE WANT TO BUILD A NEW CHINA
    For many years we Communists have struggled for a cultural revolution as well as for a political and economic revolution, and our aim is to build a new society and a new state for the Chinese nation. That new society and new state will have not only a new politics and a new economy but a new culture. In other words, not only do we want to change a China that is politically oppressed and economically exploited into a China that is politically free and economically prosperous, we also want to change the China which is being kept ignorant and backward under the sway of the old culture into an enlightened and progressive China under the sway of a new culture. In short, we want to build a new China. Our aim in the cultural sphere is to build a new Chinese national culture.

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    • #
      el+gordo

      Xi Jinping has politically oppressed the masses and the CCP has economically exploited them, but soon China will become politically free and economically prosperous,

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  • #

    During this past week, I was asked a series of questions in a Comment at my weekly wind Capacity Factor (CF) Update Post about the data I ‘come up with’.

    Once you see that list of questions, you’ll see that there was no easy (short) way I could respond in a comment in reply.

    So, what I did was to make a Post about the whole process I use to come up with those ‘seemingly simple’ data points, the Weekly CF percentage, and the two long term CF percentages, both for the full (now) five and a half years and the most recent 12 Month yearly percentages.

    By its very nature that is a long Post, just to address the questions asked.

    However, what this new Post does is explain, not just to the person who made the comment, but to anyone who wants to see just how I do it.

    It will always be there now at the top of my home site.

    The link below is to that Post.

    Wind Generation Capacity Factor Calculations Explained

    Tony.

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      “Weekly Wind Capacity Factor”

      Tony, Have you done a monthly wind capacity factor at a state and national level? And for what years?

      The reason that I ask is that in Jan/Feb 2017 Germany had a five week continous period of very low wind during winter (when solar is next to nothing).

      The 5 week period of “Dunkelflaute” starts here

      https://energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&year=2017&week=02&source=public

      Germany has some pumped hydro but this only smooths daily peaks

      It was brown coal, black coal and natural gas from Russia to the rescue. Plus some nuclear but CO2 free nuclear was phased out in April 2023!

      Have there been similar multi-week periods of low wind covering large areas in Australia?

      The theortical back-up battery capacity currently in Australia is 4 minutes (but these grid batteries are there for grid stabilisation reasons)

      To provide one day’s battery back-up would cost many $ billions at a national demand level and several weeks would run into the $ trillions

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    • #

      U r x-e-llent, Tony from Oz 🙂

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  • #
    David Maddison

    In Australia we’ve had the new fire risk ratings since 2022 and the old ones have been almost totally “disappeared”. It’s hard to even find out what they were.

    They used to be:

    LOW MODERATE HIGH EXTREME

    Now they are:

    MODERATE HIGH EXTREME CATASTROPHIC

    The only reason for doing this was to help keep the masses in a perpetual state of panic, especially due to supposed anthropogenic global warming.

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    • #
      yarpos

      and the one they dont talk about “no rating”

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      • #
        Ian George

        I think ‘no rating’ was introduced a little later but has never been listed. Always wondered whether it means ‘low’, ‘don’t know’ or ‘haven’t decided yet’.
        It’s funny to see a ‘moderate’ rating on a sign when it was raining in the whole district.

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  • #
    yarpos

    In the last couple of days we have been exposed to seem quite mindless and/or MSM newsbite indoctrinated people. Some noticeable gems of wisdom:

    – Dont trust big pharma…Farmers? what have they done?…No P H Pharma, you know the covid vaccines…no, what happened?
    – Donald Trump told people to inject disinfectant and they died
    – Strongest man in the world is a Vegan
    – Switzerland looks nice but is really shockingly polluted
    – Jo Biden is a “good man”
    – South Australia runs on 97% renewables

    All spoken with absolute confidence and certainty. Any attempt to even scratch one layer down created a rapid change of topic. Quite scary really. People just beleive whatever you feed them and regurg it as absolute truth.

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    David Maddison

    Even though Noam Chomsky is a Leftist, he is an old style Leftist from the days when Leftists believed in freedom of speech, albeit, only because they weren’t in control then.

    The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum — even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.

    Noam Chomsky

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  • #
    Honk R Smith

    I guess it’s me and my anti-government tendency to believe my own eyes.

    Watched this video about a US soldier tasked with filming the first landings at Omaha beach June 6, 1944.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFkxH_qclYY
    They go to the spot where the film was made.

    I Honk, in my mal and disinformation addled brain noticed …
    the beach looks EXACTLY the same.

    Where is the, catastrophic historically marginalized POC threatening the most, anthropogenic SLR?
    There appears no pogenic of any kind, save for the anthro removal of war debris and restriction on billionaire beach front estate construction..

    You can see same with current visits to Iwo Jima, a Pacific island that was and remains about a mile wide and 5 miles long.

    And I still don’t know personally of anyone under age 88 that died supposedly as result of GetTheOrangeManDemic.

    Correct me harder Science Daddy.

    Note to GA: normal people would consider lack of catastrophic SLR a positive observation.

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  • #
    el+gordo

    Essential Energy taken to court over bushfire damage.

    They were repeatedly asked by locals to keep powerlines clear of falling trees, but Essential failed to act.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-26/bega-valley-residents-sue-essential-energy-over-bushfire-losses/103513402

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  • #
    another ian

    From Instapundit

    “Modern journalism is all about deciding which facts the
    public shouldn’t know because they might reflect badly on Democrats.”

    https://instapundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/jim_treacher_modern_journalism_4-11-22-600×274.jpg

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  • #
    el+gordo

    There is some moderate to severe coral bleaching off Keppel Island and they say its because the waters are too hot.

    https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2024/february/first-reports-of-severe-coral-bleaching-this-summer-as-the-great-barrier-reef-warms-up

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  • #
    Turtle

    Andrew Forrest was out promoting hydrogen again today.

    Has anyone done a back of the envelope calculation of how humidity levels would be affected if every vehicle in a large city was powered by hydrogen and emitted water vapour?

    I’d l love to know if it was significant, because Forrest seems to be terrified that humidity will be our undoing.

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    • #
      Dennis

      SMR and green hydrogen …

      https://www.ansto.gov.au/news/small-modular-reactors-can-be-built-generation-iv-reactor-designs

      The SMRs based on Generation III+ technology can typically provide process heat at temperatures of about 320°C, while various Generation IV designs aim to provide industrial heat of up to 950°C.

      The production of high-temperature process heat allows Generation IV reactors to be used more effectively beyond typical low-emission electricity production.

      Generation IV reactors have the additional objective of decarbonising emissions-intense non-electrical industries, such as chemical manufacturing, cement/lime production, and primary metals manufacturing.

      They are also designed to produce green hydrogen through high-temperature electrolysis, which then can then be used directly in the transportation industry, or for the production of synthetic fuels, and ammonia.

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  • #
    Kjay

    Interesting essay from Daniel Greenfield re the rise in copper theft from EV stations etc. Something I had not realised was happening.. (perhaps I should read the news occasionally.. 😀).
    https://www.danielgreenfield.org/2024/02/green-crime-electric-car-wind-and-solar.html

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