Sunday

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238 comments to Sunday

  • #
    MeAgain

    Wellcamp being put to use to make the killer drones that will patrol our next lockdowns / border closures …. probably just men, 24 hours a-day the way things are going … https://declassifiedaus.org/2024/06/11/australia-pushes-ahead-in-the-ai-arms-race/ “While the energy cost of training and operating autonomous weapons is not fully known, studies indicate that the carbon footprint of AI technologies could substantially contribute to climate change. At the Manila Meeting, the Vice President of the Republic of Palau highlighted the need for more inclusive discussions that take into account primary concerns of small island developing nations such as climate change and potential environmental damage.”

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    • #
      David Maddison

      It’s interesting that the very same AI technology the totalitarians wish to use or are already using to implement global 24/7 surveillance where every word of non-Elites is monitored, “unacceptable” speech deleted, history is rewritten or deleted and individuals unpersonned and/or imprisoned for holding views inconsistent with the Official Narrative also uses such huge amounts of energy in its AI and data centres that it’s alleged to contribute to “climate change”.

      Just as the Left say environmental destruction to (supposedly) “save the planet” (such as deforestation for Snowy Hydro 2) is good, then they will also say that supposed global warming to keep the world safe from dissenters and dissenting opinions is also a good thing.

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      • #
        Ted1.

        This rings bells. Memories of Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

        Joh used to say: If you want something done, get Les Theiss to do it”.

        The Woke Brigade called it corruption. But it got things done, and it kept Queensland free of debt while Joh was there to bridle the militant unions. Who can forget the last great power strike? When the ACTU, who had a mortal hatred of Joh, called Queensland’s power workers out on strike?

        Simon Crean went North to put Joh to the sword. Joh saw him coming, and sacked the striking workers.

        Joh knew the workers didn’t want to be sacked, They didn’t even want to be on strike. The workers went back to work and Simon Crean went back south with a black eye. Glory days.

        Sadly the Marxists finally got the better of Joh, and hounded him to the grave.

        Back to Wellcamp. I speak on the basis of snippets I have read over the years, Somebody who lives closer might be able to declare what I say to be fiction, but here it is.

        Scattered around inland Australia are a small number of heavy duty airstrips, built to handle heavy bombers in WWII. One of these is at Wellcamp, a little way north of Toowoomba, about 100 km west of Brisbane.

        I don’t know how or when but so far as I know the Wagner family, who ran a successful local quarrying business came into possession of Wellcamp, and the book value of that airstrip was zilch. Nobody had any use for it.

        But the Wagners fixed that. They developed it and for decades now it has been operating as an international air freight terminal.

        Next step COVID and the lockdowns. Queensland didn’t have facilities for accommodating locked down people. Some had to be built in this emergency. Wagners offered to build it at Wellcamp for 1,000 people, got the job and built it.

        But the clients never turned up. No more lockdowns.

        So now we again see a very substantial capital item at Wellcamp with a low book value. This time a nice new one.

        Wagners will fix that. Glory days are back again.

        And they probably didn’t even have to consult their bank manager to do it.

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        • #
          Philip

          I went to Brisbane and Gold Coast last week. I was thinking about Joh and all that area he developed, basically made Qld what it is.

          I’d say that Brisbane and GC will merge to be Australia’s biggest city one day soon.

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    • #
      KP

      “Despite these military innovations, however, the Ukrainians are struggling to beat Russia” Should read “failing to beat Russia”.

      “The One-Way Loitering (OWL) munition has been developed by Western Australia-based company Innovaero and Boeing subsidiary Insitu Pacific, and is currently being trialled by an unspecified army special operations unit.” So, what does it do if it doesn’t find its primary target? then what does it do after its failed to find targets 1-10?? Somewhere along the line it just hits the ground and explodes. ..and where do we have a black ops unit involved in a war right not trying it? Doesn’t the Govt tell us where we are at war any more?

      Nice article, they didn’t push it further along to where the drones are commanded by an AI on a submarine that sorts out the best way to defeat the enemy by itself and goes about doing it. Eventually peace is declared and the AI disagrees with that…

      From last night’s post, the Chinese have AI commanders coming online now- faster decisions, emotionless, don’t panic, better war machines while everyone hides in their bunkers…

      ““In large-scale computer war games involving all branches of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the AI ​​commander has been given an unprecedented supreme power of command, learning and developing rapidly in the endlessly evolving virtual wars…. Under enormous pressure, humans ” struggle to form a fully rational decision-making framework under tight timelines ,” the engineers noted.

      The AI ​​itself detects new threats, constructs plans and makes optimal decisions based on the overall situation when battles are not going well or the results are not as desired. He also tends to learn and adapt from both wins and losses.”

      https://warnews247-gr.translate.goog/diethnh/kina/pagkosmios-seismos-h-kina-tolmhse-to-adianohto-strathgos-ai-tha-kathodhgei-tis-dunameis-tou-pla-se-ola-ta-polemika-metwpa/?_x_tr_sl=el&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB

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  • #

    Climate scam escalates, now ground temperatures are reason for climate alarmism.
    More than 50°C, imagine, in Italy, what a heat, we will all die…

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Didn’t they try that stunt with “high ground temperatures” just a few years ago?

      I seem to recall it being a topic on this blog but can’t find it.

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      • #

        Last year, but now they said ground temperature, last year they didn’t.

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        • #

          But last year they didn’t mention they talked about ground temperatures but as it was normal air temperature.
          Did you ever have had a BBQ on a well sun heated rock ?
          I had, in the Switzerland Alpes, I’ll never forget these steaks.

          I thought the edited part of my answer above was lost, ok, wasn’t after refresh.

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          • #
            John Connor II

            I had, in the Switzerland Alpes, I’ll never forget these steaks.

            People pay for high steaks in the Alps. 😁

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      • #
        OldOzzie

        F1 always gives Track Temp eg For Barcelona Air Temp 26C Track Temp 44C

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  • #
    David Maddison

    People on this blog generally being more informed than most, I am curious as to your opinions of Nikola Tesla.

    I think his early engineering work was good, but his latter work was not and he couldn’t get financial support.

    Also, he was a visual and intuitive thinker, rather than an analytical one. His writing is mostly devoid of mathematics, not that that is necessarily a bad thing…Michael Faraday was also a visual thinker, it was James Clerk Maxwell who turned his ideas into equations.

    Tesla thought atoms were indivisible, didn’t accept Einstein’s views on curved space-time, thought radio waves propagated right through the earth, believed in the aether, didn’t accept the Maxwell equations etc..

    He certainly was a great engineer/inventor and had some great inventions or was involved in their development such as the induction motor, AC electricity, radio and the Tesla coil.

    What do you think?

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    • #
      Honk R Smith

      My thought is the issue of eccentric multi level thinking vs. normie linear thinking.

      Science progress usually initiates with the eccentrics and is made practical by the normie linear thinkbots.

      The Science Age has stagnated due to the social capture of the establishment academic system in alliance with normie business and government polibots.
      Consensus for $.

      Eric Weinstein talks about this.

      Tesla will be celebrated as a visionary.
      Edison will live in infamy as an elephant executioner.

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      • #
        Geoff Sherrington

        Honk,
        Surely the lack of exceptional input extends beyond science. Where are the Beethovens, Mozarts etc of yesteryear? Today we have drumbeats and changed obscenities.
        Where in painting are the Rembrandts, the Vermeers etc? Today we value paint flung at canvas in Blue Poles style.
        Geoff S

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    • #
      John Hultquist

      Voting for dead guys is better than dead guys voting.
      James Clerk Maxwell gets my vote for most amazing of a list of top scientists.

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      • #
        TdeF

        My hero is Rene Descartes who changed the world. Like a lot of early scientists, he was devoutly religious. So was Darwin. Copernicus did not like his own conclusions. But Descartes came up with Rational Science, that you understand the world by finding what you know absolutely to be true and build from there. His mathematics, algebra, coordinates gave rise to the equations which made calculus, graphs, formulae and Isaac Newton possible. We remember him through Cartesian coordinates.

        Every time I have gone to Paris I have visited his niche in the wall of the little church/abbey of St. Germain Des Pres opposite Le Deux Magots on Rue St. Germain on the left bank. He was demoted and moved from the Pantheon after dying in Stockholm and being buried in a child’s graveyard because he was a Catholic.

        This is my absolute concern with man made CO2 driven rapid tipping point Global Warming. The abuse of Rational Science. The scientific absurdity of vilifying carbon dioxide is a torturous construction based entirely on falsehoods for a purpose in 1988. The primary falsehood is human controlled CO2, the myth which underlies so many punitive laws in Australia, that humans directly control CO2 levels. The whole story is a lie, based on lies. As ridiculous as L. Ron Hubbard’s thetans and volcanoes and aliens and DC8 like space ships and atom bombs, fiction from the 1950s. Having failed as a communist, Hubbard decided the most profitable thing he could do is invent a religion. And he was right.

        So man made CO2 is the basis of the new (man made) religion of Climate Scientology. And every democratic politician in the world gives at least lip service to it. Only the absurdity of it all is coming home to roost as tens of thousands of millions of dollars have gone to control CO2 without any effect whatsoever. So they worship ’emissions’ and don’t mention the CO2 not changing at all with human activity.

        It’s very hard to know what to do except to wait for the total collapse of the electricity and gas systems in Western Democracies. And that is soon for Australia.

        How else do you deprogram billions of people? Do we all really have to hit rockbottom first? Can’t people see that banning our biggest export is ridiculous and hypocritical?

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        • #
          TdeF

          Yes, humans produce CO2 from carbohydrates in turn made by the sun, CO2 and H2O. Now classed as (toxic) Emissions.

          But every living thing makes CO2. Our power comes from the sun. Our power of thought. Each human, mold, whale, plant, bacterium is an ICU. Humans are also made entirely from CO2, like every living thing. And we breathe in oxygen and breath out CO2. Each human generates 3 tons of CO2 a year, so the breathing of the new 1.4Billion people in China alone exceeds Australia’s CO2 output. And they are not ‘carbon neutral’ as 1 billion of them did not exist in 1900.

          The fantasy idea of Nett zero? How can an extra 7 billion people since 1900 be nett zero? Ever?

          Why is CO2 only up 40% when humans have increased 800%? Thanks to fossil fuel. And their CO2 output has increased 3500%?

          But Wikipedia “Each year, human activities release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than natural processes can remove, causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to increase. The global average carbon dioxide set a new record high in 2023: 419.3 parts per million.”

          Why are natural processes even significant? Highly soluble CO2 goes straight into the vast oceans on a water planet. No processes are needed.

          CO2 was around before life on earth. We did not invent it. The total of the entirety of life on earth is irrelevant to CO2.

          A water planet, the CO2 is in the air is determined solely by the ocean. The great lie is that human output CO2 is significant. Or that we have overwhelmed the oceans, the planet.

          Pull the other leg. Nothing humans have done has had any impact on the graph of CO2. And as NASA have observed, the world is getting rapidly greener with trillions of tons of new trees and trillions of tons of CO2 sequestered. And CO2 levels have not been affected by increasing tree cover by 21% since 1988. That’s three Australias of trees.

          Again, how can you use facts to defeat a religion? I don’t know. The Rational Science of Rene Descartes has been overwhelmed by pagan religion.

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          • #
            Graeme#4

            A commentator yesterday in The Australian claimed that vegetation growth was not affected by CO2 changes in the atmosphere.
            Another commentator still insists that the human CO2 contribution is 33%, not 3%.
            Ahh, the benefits of a modern education…

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          • #
            Philip

            That really is very good TdeF. Some excellent mathematical questions to put to people in there.

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        • #
          TdeF

          And we are a major source of uranium, the use of which we have also banned.

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    • #
      MeAgain

      Business background here – not science.

      Teslas’s tech could not be easily monetised. That is why his ‘science’ lost.

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    • #
      Graeme#4

      It’s interesting that we use Maxwell’s equations without question, but still cannot explain how radio waves are transported through space. I often wonder if we will ever crack this.
      Despite this lack of understanding, I believe that Tesla’s theories about transmitting large amounts of power without wires were quite wrong.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        I believe that Tesla’s theories about transmitting large amounts of power without wires were quite wrong.

        I think Tesla may have inadvertently come across the concept of Zennick surface waves, first formally described in 1907 and only recently shown to be capable of power transmission.

        https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-57554-1

        Published: 22 January 2020

        A decade ago, non-radiative wireless power transmission re-emerged as a promising alternative to deliver electrical power to devices where a physical wiring proved impracticable. However, conventional “coupling-based” approaches face performance issues when multiple devices are involved, as they are restricted by factors like coupling and external environments. Zenneck waves are excited at interfaces, like surface plasmons and have the potential to deliver electrical power to devices placed on a conducting surface. Here, we demonstrate, efficient and long range delivery of electrical power by exciting non-radiative waves over metal surfaces to multiple loads. Our modeling and simulation using Maxwell’s equation with proper boundary conditions shows Zenneck type behavior for the excited waves and are in excellent agreement with experimental results. In conclusion, we physically realize a radically different class of power transfer system, based on a wave, whose existence has been fiercely debated for over a century.

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        • #
          Graeme#4

          While I didn’t read the article in depth, it seems that this transmission was only in the near field or NFC. While it wasn’t explicitly stated, the distance of 8 metres seemed to have been achieved with a lot of power at 27 MHz, so wavelength around 10 metres. I worked with NFC for about 17 years, other radio comms for another 19 years, so have some understanding of the issues involved. I’m not sure that this system is much of a breakthrough, and at only 8 metres, was a lot smaller than what Tesla was proposing.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Radio waves are electromagnetic radiation like light. From radio to gamma rays. They do not need a ‘medium’ or an ‘ether’ and propogate perfectly well in a vacuum. Which is why everything travels at the speed of light. It’s a matter of frequency, nothing more.

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        • #
          Graeme#4

          And exactly how do they “propagate”?
          After 63 years of working in electronics (I still teach the stuff), I believe that I know the electromagnetic spectrum.
          And no, not all radio waves travel at the speed of light.

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          • #
            TdeF

            The spectrum is not an explanation. I understand that.

            Let’s look at your core question, the question of propagation. In what?

            Waves in water or acoustics in air propagate as waves in something. You can create waves in any vibrating thing, like a spring, a slinky or metal or string. Music is about creating waves in air.

            In every case the wave is made from the medium and in the medium. So it’s natural to speculate that electromagnetic waves need something to carry them or in which to be a wave. A phenomenon in a medium. So why is this radiation special? And why does it travel at the speed of light?

            How does the wave even exist let alone propagate if there is no medium?

            How can something go up and down if it vanishes to nothing?

            My view is that the electric field oscillation is in one plane and the magnetic field exactly out of phase and both right angles to the direction of travel and each other. This means a continuous oscillations in both magnetic and electric field strengths exactly out of phase to each other so energy is not lost

            And the frequency of this oscillation is the frequency of the transmission, regardless of speed or field strength. An electro/magnetic wave must also be travelling at the speed of light, no matter where it is on the spectrum. It is the very definition of an electro magnetic wave.

            If you are asking where the energyof an oscillation is stored if there is no medium, I believe the answer is that electric field strength is converted to magnetic field strength and then the reverse where magnetic is converted back to electrical. They don’t need a carrier, a medium in which to propagate. Electrical and magnetic fields can exist without matter and carry energy in their oscillations, but only at the speed of light. It is a well documented phenomenon.

            But I have never seen a theory as to why this should exist even if it works perfectly well, a more fundamantal theory from which this behaviour of electro magnetic radiation can be predicted. We have come a long way with understanding the fundamental rules of matter and radiation but why those rules or matter itself exists is a bigger question. Einstein spent his life trying to unify all the forces, to find an explanation for the lot as aspects of one larger rule.

            I also believe that as we have seen wave transmission phenomena in so many materials, we are tempted to treat electromagnetic waves as similar in nature. It is more likely a compatibility of the mathematics to which oscillations and wave behaviour are common. And in electromagnetic forces, you can have force without mass, which is very odd. It means waves without a medium.

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            • #
              TdeF

              As for not all radio waves travel at the speed of light, you mean the speed of light in a vacuum or ‘c’.

              Firstly no medium is required for light to propagate. But if there is a medium it can affect the speed slightly. I have never seen an explanation as to why or how much.

              Light speed in a vacuum is 299,792 km per second, in air 299,705 km per second, in water 225,000 km/second, in glass 200,000km/second.

              Does speed vary with energy? Yes. For example

              I think the path length may change and that would depend on refraction and that in turn on the refractive index. That’s just an idea of mine. But we do get results like this.

              “Speed of light in any material medium is inversely proportional to the refractive index of the medium. Since refractive index of glass for X-ray is less than that for visible light, an X-ray will travel at a faster speed than visible light in glass.”

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      • #
        RickWill

        I believe that Tesla’s theories about transmitting large amounts of power without wires were quite wrong.

        My solar panels indicate otherwise. As does the rising of the sun every day.

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        • #
          Graeme#4

          With the immense energy output from the sun, all you are receiving is around 300 Watts/sqm. A very small fraction of the total energy. Surely all that illustrates is the standard power reduction formula that applies to all radiation.
          I believe that Tesla thought that there was a method to greatly reduce this power loss.

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    • #
      John Connor II

      Tesla – possibly THE most brilliant and perceptive mind ever.
      He couldn’t get funding due to his upsetting wealthy Edison, along with his being ripped off numerous times (he was a very kind and generous person), not because his ideas were no good.
      Around 5 dozen of boxes of his work were “acquired” by the FBI on his death – can’t have those free energy secrets getting out!
      He held 300 patents, Einstein around a mere 18 (and they were collaborations with Szilard). Modern day genius Yoshiro Nakamatsu hold 3,300!
      I’ve mentioned Nakamatsu a few times on free energy, and Tesla claimed to have also developed a cosmic energy (dark energy) harnesser.
      My past references to black monoliths highlight we, as a species, have just scratched the surface of knowledge, and scientific “truths” we hold dear and cling to like teddy bears will be destroyed and laughed at in a hundred years, thanks to those who dare to think beyond conventional boundaries, people like Nikoka Tesla.

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      • #
        Graeme#4

        Nope. Tesla’s ideas were no good. The rest is merely conjecture with no scientific basis.

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      • #
        OldOzzie

        Who Invented the Light Bulb? It Wasn’t Just Edison

        and

        in 1860, Napoleon III, Emperor of France, visited the workshop of an engineer named Paul Gustave Froment, and was given a demonstration of a device called a pantelegraph that was able to reproduce printed messages across telegraph lines.

        The pantelegraph (Italian: pantelegrafo; French: pantélégraphe) was an early form of facsimile machine transmitting over normal telegraph lines developed by Giovanni Caselli, used commercially in the 1860s, that was the first such device to enter practical service. It could transmit handwriting, signatures, or drawings within an area of up to 150mm100mm.

        Description

        The pantelegraph used a regulating clock with a pendulum which made and broke the current for magnetizing its regulators, and ensured that the transmitter’s scanning stylus and the receiver’s writing stylus remained in step. To provide a time base, a large pendulum was used weighing 8kg (18lb), mounted on a frame 2m (07feet) high. Two messages were written with insulating ink on two fixed metal plates; one plate was scanned as the pendulum moved to the right and the other as the pendulum moved to the left, so that two messages could be transmitted per cycle. The receiving apparatus reproduced the transmitted image by means of paper impregnated with potassium ferricyanide, which darkened when an electric current passed through it from the synchronized stylus. In operation the pantelegraph was relatively slow; a sheet of paper 111mm27mm, with about 25 handwritten words, took 108 seconds to transmit.[1]

        The most common use of the pantelegraph was for signature verification in banking transactions.

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        • #
          TdeF

          Napoleon also rejuvenated the world’s first NC/computer driven machine. It was a punch card driven loom in Lyon museum. Amazing but never used, the hand weaving silk industry collapsed with the extermination of the rich. So the museum was raided and Lyon and a 60 year old machine were back in business in time for his coronation, as he required 7km of woven embroidered silk. And they added more cards, making for longer programs.

          This is where government largesse can make a huge difference. Windmills do not change anything. Far bigger today they still suffer from the curse of unpredictability, unreliability and maintenance. Useless with zero wind or with too much wind, they are a curse and were abandoned the moment there was something better.

          Saving the world? No. Just ridiculous. Renewables? More useless words like Clean Energy. Cheap? Where are windmills cheap or windmill electricity cheap? It’s all just propaganda.

          But if the US was to put its financial and university muscle into fusion, there is realistic hope of a new world. And coal and gas and oil could be used for their value as source of long chain hydrocarbons for plastics and fertilizer and much more.

          And any way you look at it, building another 10,000km of transmission lines in Australia is flogging dead horse.

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    • #
      Gob

      I bought and read a biography about ten years ago (Tesla Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson) and concluded he was ninety percent charlatan but through cowardice have kept that view largely to myself as the world is teeming with enthusiasts who have beatified him and might go the knuckle on dissenters.

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  • #

    Dutch weigh TenneT Germany sale options after Berlin bails on grid purchase

    The Dutch government said on Thursday it would try to find another buyer or seek an IPO for the German arm of its state-owned electric grid company, after a sale to the German government foundered on Berlin’s budget strains.

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    • #
      Graeme#4

      I’m trying to understand the fundamental problem. Is TenneT broke? Does it need more money to keep operating?

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  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    Fireworks have started a fire in Greece.

    Although the BBC does the usual climate blah blah, they did admit….

    “But the country also has a problem with arsonists – at least 79 people were arrested last August over deadly wildfires.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c722p1ljlk9o.amp

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  • #

    France’s Orano loses operating licence at major uranium mine in Niger

    Niger has removed the mining permit of French nuclear fuel producer Orano at one of the world’s biggest uranium mines, the company said Thursday, highlighting tensions between France and the African country’s ruling junta.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      It probably means not enough bribes were being paid.

      The world can come to Australia to get their uranium. Australia has no use for it.

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        OldOzzie

        Former French colonies are still paying a ‘colonial’ tax

        Fourteen former French colonies in Africa pay a “colonial tax” amounting to about $500 billion. These countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.

        These countries have a combined population of 174 million and a nominal total GDP of $196 billion, with a purchasing power parity GDP of $411 billion. France has halted its colonisation policy, but its economic colonisation of these African states persists. A portion of the colonies’ budget continues to flow to the French central bank under various names and categories.

        This process allows France to appropriate about 85% of the former colonies’ annual income. As a result, African countries face financial difficulties, and have to borrow back their own money from the French central bank as debts. To reclaim their funds, African countries are limited to applying for no more than 20% of the transferred amount. If they seek a larger sum, it can be vetoed. France argues that it is the money it spent on buildings and infrastructure constructed more than a century ago.

        Any refusal by an African ruler to pay the colonial tax often leads to a coup.

        Since the coup in Niger took place, many Western and African nations started to voice their concern regarding uranium and other resources imported from Niger, airspace closure and elongated fly time to and from some countries in different parts of Africa, threat of a second Great War in Africa and deterioration of the situation regarding terrorism.

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          OldOzzie

          How does France still control 14 Countries? -The CFA Franc and French Neo-colonialism

          The CFA franc, a currency used in 14 African countries, represents a distinctive monetary system with historical ties to France’s colonial past. It is divided into two distinct currencies used by various African countries. The West African CFA franc, known as the XOF, is utilized by eight countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. The Central African CFA franc, or the XAF, is used by six countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.

          Originally linked to the French franc, the CFA franc is now pegged to the euro.

          Critics, however, argue that while the renaming of the CFA franc and its rebranding were ostensibly about reflecting the post-colonial reality and fostering a sense of partnership, in practice, they did little to alter the fundamental dynamics of the relationship between France and the African CFA countries. The financial and monetary policies continued to be heavily influenced by France, if not directly controlled.

          Critics of the CFA franc system contend that the renaming was largely cosmetic, providing a veneer of African unity and cooperation while maintaining a neo-colonial economic structure.

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      MrGrimNasty

      Several countries in the area have Russian ‘security’ now, they are all severing ties with France.

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      • #
        KP

        Yes, quite fascinating, are the Russians freeing the slaves or is it just ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’?

        Getting out from under the colonizers is a talking point in the global South currently, the lines between the invaders and the invaded are becoming more distinct. I expect the bribes to the smaller countries’ rulers will have to be increased.

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        • #

          And little Prighozhin was running the Wagner Group, until his unfortunate ‘suicide’, when he accidently blew up the plane he was flying in. At least, it might have been suicide – or the delivery of a special present of a rose, from one V. Putin, who may have attached the flower to an anti-aircraft missile.
          Careless!
          And much of the Wagner group is apparently now absorbed into the Russian National Guard [Putin’s Private Army].

          Auto

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Video:

    Matt Walsh discusses how conservatives can no longer do parodies of the Left because they have become parodies of themselves.

    https://youtu.be/XIuSOriQVn0

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  • #

    Has anyone looked at the scale of these minimum temperature errors?
    http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/rmse_archive.jsp?map=minrmse&period=daily&year=2024&month=5&day=21

    RMSE means the sign of the error is not shown. The white parts show the error is estimated to be less then 0.5 but may not have ever had a thermometer within them let alone an active one on that day.
    Those are here and would be the sise shown on the right to match the error above.
    http://www.bom.gov.au/web03/ncc/www/awap/temperature/maxrmsestn/daily/colour/history/nat/2024052120240521.pdf

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  • #
    David Maddison

    In the US the Pilot’s Union wants to ban the word “cockpit” and other “offensive” words like mother and father.

    Matt Walsh comments: https://youtu.be/NSXQ3BT4TB4

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      How would Boeing describe one of their planes flying into a flock of boobies – especially Masked Boobies – a Gannet Attack? Or an attack of the gannets?

      There are also red-footed and brown boobies… oh the cultural dilemma (or a joy).

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      John Connor II

      More like Cuckpit these days 😉😎

      /that’ll get deleted.

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    • #

      And presumably the Phonetic Alphabet will need attention:
      C – Charlie
      M – Mike
      O – Oscar
      P – Papa
      R – Romeo
      V – Victor
      against J – Juliette.
      I – India and Y – Yankee will get attention, although I am unsure of Z- Zulu!

      Auto

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  • #
    David Maddison

    On social(ist) media like Farcebook and YouTube I have noticed even greater levels of censorship and shadow banning of non-Leftist opinions in the lead-up to the US Presidential Election. As usual, the Left are terrified of alternative opinions.

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  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – sounds like a “Dig here”?

    From today’s Covid and Coffee newsletter

    “The Guardian article also mentioned, offhand, that oh yeah, Australian scientists have also been using “marine cloud brightening strategies” for at least four years now, cooling the Great Barrier Reef to reduce coral bleaching.”

    https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/waiting-for-godot-saturday-june-22?

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      another ian

      AND

      The item on infant vaccinations further down in that newsletter

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        KP

        “The item on infant vaccinations further down in that newsletter”

        Which clearly demonstrated that the more vaccines, any vaccines, you give an infant, the sicker it gets. Using Florida’s Govt statisics, because they were the only Govt to crack and let the results out.

        “You’d have to be a pretty sick person to help pharma hide this kind of information. But it’s been hidden for a long time. The data is all right there, in the state insurance databases. They have the records when doctors submit claims for the initial vaccinations. They also have the records when doctors later submit claims for treating the same patients’ adverse events.

        But patient-level data has always been guarded — for “privacy” — more diligently than the gold bullion in Fort Knox.

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    Richard

    Below is a climate sensitivity graph of all the instrumental equilibrium climate sensitivity studies over the past 20 years. They show an average of under 2C. IPCC best estimate is 3C.

    https://chipstero7.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/infographic-2024-05-19t140507.456.png

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    David Maddison

    The Blues Brothers premiered in the United States over 44 years ago on 20th June 1980.

    Just sayin’…

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Oh dear, how the climate has changed!

      By now, we were supposed to be as hot and dry as Sydney (voodoo seance said so) except, it’s kind of swung the other way, thanks to a blocking high or is it that stationary low (el gordo will know).

      You’ll be glad your servants of the people built all those dams to capture, hold, and utilise, all that extra H2O falling from the parched skies…

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      el+gordo

      Yep, but the rest of winter is going to have warmer day and night temperatures.

      http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/outlooks/#/overview/summary

      AI could do a better job, BoM models haven’t a clue.

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      John Hultquist

      Having a 2-week supply of food, water and medicines is a simple and sound plan.
      The rest of “survival mode” and “off-grid” is self-deception. For example: where does the pump come from that is mentioned “might go out”? Got hypothyroidism? Hypothyroidism in children and teens is a serious health issue. Where do you get levothyroxine? Suck on a willow branch!

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    Sambar

    Apparently Nuclear Power plants will be too expensive to build scream the opponents. Just had a look at the cost of the Melbourne suburban rail loop. $34billion dollars and rising. Time line blowouts and increasing.
    Interesting comparison between “renewable power” and the rail loop, both will only run really efficiently about 30 40% of the time the rest of the time they are “there” but not really doing much. Nuclear power plants on the other hand may cost a lot to build, may take a long time, but once up and running perform at the 80 to 90% efficiency rate for decades.
    Why is the inefficient infrastructure lorded as the way to go and the efficient infrastructure towted as expensive and useless?

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      David Maddison

      Apparently Nuclear Power plants will be too expensive to build scream the opponents.

      This obviously means that the opponents of coal, gas and nuclear power think it’s acceptable to have among the world’s highest electricity prices in Australia which will only become dramatically higher as more solar, wind and Big Batteries are installed.

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        Graeme#4

        Currently folks seem confused about the $1.5T claim for renewables in Australia. They seem to think that most of this cost will be transmission lines, but 10,000 kms of extra lines at $2.5m/km only amounts to $25bn. Surely the major cost would be storage.
        Given that Snowy 2 could only provide around 10% of National grid backup, the other 90% would have to come from batteries at $1bn/GW. The total cost of this backup, presuming batteries are only operated for 60% of their total capacity and assuming 15-20% charge/discharge losses, could easily be $1T alone, and needed to be dredged up again every 10-15 years. For 9.5m Aust. households, this means $100,000 per household, every 10-15 years.
        So even before considering the cost of wind turbines and solar systems, and even ignoring their replacement costs, the cost of backup storage is so high that it never will be used.

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        Hanrahan

        High up fronts are a given but whole of life costs are low. That’s why we have given government the right to tax – To make long term infrastructure decisions.

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      Philip

      Why? Because they think in ideological terms, emotions. Rationality is out the window.

      This thinking and behaviour is across the board, from low level to high. I try and explain to my wife it is best to do the washing on sunny days and the weekend, so power is cheaper. She cannot come to terms with this at all, she thinks in emotional terms only, and if she wants to wash, she washes.

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      Ronin

      Have the lefties ever said something is ‘too expensive’, I’ve never heard it if they have, it’s laughable.

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        Graeme#4

        Absolutely. And they continue to say this, in the MSM and in the related comments. Nothing anybody says, including presenting data that clearly proves otherwise, will change their beliefs.
        As far as nuclear cost is concerned, they focus on the two outliers, Hinkley C and Vogtle 3, carefully ignoring the many successful recent nuclear builds such as Barakah and Olikluoto.

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      John Hultquist

      Melbourne suburban rail loop

      I don’t recall this project being discussed here.
      News suggests it is being built faster than California’s high-speed train.

      Can we get a Melbourne local to write about it using facts and not hype?

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        Vladimir

        Not sure if formally this can be classified as a fact:
        On every Metro platform their maps already show new unground branch only linking, say – Kensington to Hawksburn.
        https://danielbowen.com/2018/08/02/the-rail-map-circa-2025/
        Sorry, I have slept through public consultation – all that money and self-inflicted pain only to by-pass 4-5 stations of the Loop?

        40

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          Vladimir

          The same people who easily control peak/trough load through 3-state power network could apply their skill to managing Melbourne Loop without digging the tunnel.

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        Sambar

        Hey John if you want to be amused google “original cost and time estimates” for Melbourne suburban rail loop. The $34 billion cost is just for the current bit, estimated cost (at 2024 dollars )for the complete job is $216 BILLION with a final competion date of 50 years. Its on an equal footing with the Californian fast rail. We will win of course, Australians are so proud of being the “worlds best” at everything from tiddly winks to international renewable energy power house.

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    Tides of Mudgee

    Looks like Trudeau might be in a spot of bother. 5.5 minutes. ToM

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XWT1bza-LyE

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    David Maddison

    Video, 44 sec, the White House Resident (barely) walks from Air Force One to Marine One for a one week holiday at Camp David as his handlers prepare him for the debate with Donald Trump. I have no doubt everything possible will be done to sabotage Trump at the debate, but he’ll still win.

    https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/1803976063413825965

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      Philip

      If Trump prepares. He didn’t in 2020 and got walked over. He stumbled on the white supremacy question badly where he should have hit it out of the park.

      They’ll have Joe dosed up on the best drugs available, like last time, and he won’t sit there staring into the abyss or dribble like they expected him to last time.

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        TdeF

        And he will have the latest technology CIA earpiece and a team on the questions. When as he gets more deaf he doesn’t follow his earpiece or can’t read the teleprompter he just mumbles what he hears rather than say nothing. End of Message. Which is why we also hear what sounds like garbled phrases and can guess what Obama is trying to say. Other times he just shuts up mid sentence. Closes his mouth tightly. Which has no other explanation. Sheer frustration. I have never heard any speaker do that.

        It must be very trying for Obama. It would be fun to jam the earpiece but that may not be possible.

        And when he free wheels, they send out Jill or Obama or one of the minders. 18 wheeler. Hairy legs. Sniffing hair. When he was locked up in South Africa. This was a nothing senator who was chosen as a dumb fall guy. A man who never had a real job or achieved anything in his life. Now President.

        The debate will be spectacle of CIA technology. Weekend at Bernies on steroids. But they also have to watch not to juice him up into Angry Old Man mode. He has a strong arm and could throw the microphone. Or give Trump a beating. Bernie belongs in a home. It will be a scary night for his handlers. Especially if he squats on camera.

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      John Connor II

      Pre-sanctioned controlled questions that vegetable Biden can handle.
      Why even bother.

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      Dave in the States

      One theory is that if biden looks really bad then it will be G Whittless or Big Mike come fall. So hope Brandon doesn’t look too bad, because he can’t honestly win, but if it’s somebody else, all bets are off.

      Last week, however, the MSM pollsters started saying the race is tightening up. It’s not, but if they can sell that narrative, that it could go either way, then it’s more plausible to do Steal Version 2.0.

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      Hanrahan

      If Biden is still standing at the end of it he will be given the points, the bar is so low.

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    David Maddison

    An observation I’ve made is that among conservative couples, when both go out in a car, the man usually drives unless the man has some sort of inability drive.

    But with woke Leftist couples, even when the male is a beta, it’s still the case that the male drives in most cases…

    Thoughts?

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      Simon

      How many woke beta leftist males have you observed and are they a statistically significant proportion of the population where you live?

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        Philip

        I cant speak for David but I have observed countless Beta leftist males, and they are thick on the ground where I live. All of my friends in my youth were beta leftist males. (They still are but we don’t keep in touch anymore, thank goodness)

        So yes, I am highly experienced. And yes, he’s right.

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      Philip

      Everyone falls to the default organic position when the ideology is dropped. I’ve never met a rabid feminist who doesn’t demand the man mows the lawn. Everything else is just show.

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      Vladimir

      After nearly 60 years I still open the passenger door for my partner.., oops when I remember.. bloody Alzheimer…

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      el+gordo

      Beta individuals, regardless of gender or political orientation, will usually drive.

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      Hanrahan

      Mrs H used to drive home when I drank while out, so being fair, when using her car I would sit in the left side. She never drove in the country unless I needed a short break on a long trip.

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        John Connor II

        Never drink and drive – you spill too much.

        Remember back in the old days when cars came with bars?
        I don’t either, but…

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        • #
          Chad

          Some Bentley’s and RRs still have “cocktail cabinets”
          But they are generally bespoke custom builds anyway
          Otherwis, most cars have bars…anti roll bars , tow bars, roo bars etc !

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    DD

    John Stossel video:

    $1 Trillion in Interest Every Year: The Crushing Reality of Federal Debt
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If6T1nVtK10
    (6m 42s video)

    When — and HOW — will it end?

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      John Hultquist

      In 5 years, the US will have problems that can no longer be ignored. Most of the current national politicians will reach ambient temperature and a younger bunch will find the choices to be difficult. But, like the Universe, there is no end. Expect something like what happened to the Roman Empire, Spain, and the UK – a long decline and no restoration.

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      Hanrahan

      I don’t question those figures but ask: Who do they owe the money to, who holds the notes?

      It isn’t China, they also owe a lot of money, so I think we can rule out other nations, so that means private bankers including but not limited to the Rothschilds, and they have no army, they just finance everyone else’s to keep the pot boiling.

      We all may have pledged our first born but there is no one waving the paper demanding we deliver our child to the Master.

      I have no idea how or when it will happen but someone will get a massive haircut in some sort of debt jubilee. The bankers will still own “the world” and we will continue as before.

      I’m not a Keynesian and believe we must limit debt. Best to be the least bad house in the street.

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        RickWill

        The majority of the US federal debt is held privately by US citizens. Japan is back in front for international holders. China has been selling down US debt. Last I looked, they held less than $1tr.

        About 30% of the debt is in foreign hands.

        US will gradually lose its place as global banker to China. China commands about half the world trade in energy related resources. That puts in a strong place to support a global currency. The CNY is slowly replacing the USD in trade settlements.
        https://www.businessinsider.com/dedollarization-countries-us-dollar-dominance-china-yuan-rmb-brics-currency-2023-5?op=1#chinas-yuan-is-gaining-increasing-usage-globally-pointing-to-the-de-dollarization-of-transactions-worldwide-gradually-1

        The US dollar has been the world’s reserve currency since the second world war, playing an outsized role in the world’s trade.

        But countries globally are now lining up backup currencies for trade, as sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine have led to some prominent world leaders and business figures sounding a warning over the power Washington wields.

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        Skepticynic

        private bankers including but not limited to the Rothschilds…have no army

        They have all the armies they want and need.
        You don’t seriously believe the US army is currently fighting for America’s interests do you?

        they just finance everyone else’s

        The Golden Rule – Whoever has the gold makes the rules.
        He who pays the piper calls the tune.

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          Hanrahan

          You said the same as I did. You didn’t explain why the bankers, the ones who could “foreclose” would upset the applecart. They love it as it is.

          You didn’t say who is about to knock on our door and demand repayment or they will repossess.

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    OldOzzie

    US Senate passes new bill for much more Nuclear power generation

    While Labor Blackout Bowen continues to promote the Duracell Bunny.

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      Penguinite

      Bunny Bowen has a nice ring to it!

      50

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        Philip

        Blackout Bowen has an excellent ring to it and is in wide use. I even heard it on talkback radio the other day.

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          Hanrahan

          It’s only Sun morn the radio is moved from the community FM music station and today I heard an “interview” of Littleproud on ABC. As one would expect the interviewer demanded specific details on the coalition nuclear policy. Would they ask specifics on labor’s 85% renewables pledge?

          I can’t argue against Anton’s assertion that new ultra-supercritical coal is still the best way forward.

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          Chad

          Philip
          June 23, 2024 at 9:36 am · Reply
          Blackout Bowen has an excellent ring to

          Nah !….thats just simple itteration..
          Casanova Bowen is a much more descriptive title !
          Because every portfolio he touches , gets f**cked .

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      Graeme#4

      Thanks for the link. Have been hearing about this over the weekend from the thousands of comments in The Australian. Sounds like the U.S. is ready to go ahead with more nuclear – wonder how this will affect the push for renewables.

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      CO2 Lover

      At COP28, Countries Launch Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy Capacity by 2050, Recognizing the Key Role of Nuclear Energy in Reaching Net Zero.1 Dec 2023

      In 2026 Australia is seeking to co-host the COP 31 with the Pacific Islands. It’s likely that Labor will use the hosting to trumpet the news that Australia has come a long way from the climate-denying Coalition years and is now fully committed to strong climate action – but not with nuclear energy!

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      John Hultquist

      “… a bill to expedite advanced nuclear reactor deployment by streamlining the permit process and offering incentives for advanced reactor technologies

      Sounds like a plan to waste more money on “advanced” projects much like has been done with solar, wind, and “carbon capture.”
      Wake me when 10 units are up and running connected to major grids, another 25 are funded and licensed at specific sites, and another hundred are moving forward with excellent prospects of completion.

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    3D-printed clubs and salty balls: Will golf’s Mad Scientist change the game?

    Bryson DeChambeau is an eccentric golfer who uses his career like one big science experiment. And after winning another US Open, it’s working.

    DeChambeau, 30, is known as the “Mad Scientist” because of his eccentric approach to playing golf, and the unique tools, techniques and tactics he employs to try to chase perfection.

    In a sport where cruel whims of the golfing gods have always been accepted as part of the deal, DeChambeau decided he would not and set out to pull golf apart scientifically to mistake-proof his game.

    “That’s been my biggest thing in life,” DeChambeau said in a 2021 interview. “Trying to reduce variables.”

    Since DeChambeau emerged in 2015 as a star college golfer, where the former maths prodigy majored in physics, the youngster began trying to make his golf swing like a science experiment: repeatable.

    Using electrodes stuck to his head and a nightly scary movie, in 2018 he began using neurology technology to train his brain to deal with stress better.

    DeChambeau also famously began floating his golf balls in Epsom salts to identify which ones did not have weight exactly centred. He marks the “heavy end” on each to ensure putts roll evenly.

    DeChambeau’s eye for detail sees him study all elements of a golf course intensely, down to sand and grass type and even barometric pressure, so when calculating distance and club choice, errors are minimised. The Californian was even banned from using a protractor in his course book while playing.

    After getting last-minute approval, DeChambeau played at the Masters this year using 3D-printed irons and helped design a bespoke set with “bulge and roll” on the faces, normally only found on drivers. His driver? DeChambeau uses a brand only regularly used by long-driving competitors, because he found the club more durable.

    Perhaps the most famous experiment of DeChambeau, however, is when he decided he needed to add distance to his game, and began bulking up. Smashing 6000 calories and the weight room every day, DeChambeau put on over 20 kilograms, and he comfortably led the PGA Tour for club head and ball speed, and distance too. In 2021, he recorded a staggering ball speed of 335km/h.

    A bulked-up DeChambeau won his first US Open at Winged Foot in 2020 and rivals also began hitting the protein shakes to keep up. A few years on DeChambeau trimmed down again on a better balanced diet, but most of his distance remains.

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    CO2 Lover

    Today’s Conspiracy Theory

    JFK was not assassinated due to the actions of a lone gunman

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-cia-jfk-files-podcast-b2566716.html

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    Richard C (NZ)

    Light reading for a Sunday afternoon (and make that meteorology – not metrology):

    How the Earth’s Climate Is Changing and Why

    Prof. Carl-Otto Weiss — Prof. Weiss is Advisor to the European Climate and Energy Institute (EIKE); Professor and Director, German Federal Institute of Metrology, Germany.

    https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2023/07/22/how-the-earths-climate-is-changing-and-why/

    In this contribution I show you the results of a cycle analysis of 2,000 years of global climate data, the result of which is that Earth’s climate is determined by three main cycles, and that CO2 plays only an insignificant role.

    But first let me mention how I became interested in the question of Earth climate. My research subject was everything related to lasers. Physics of Lasers, technical and scientific applications, e.g., spectroscopy and atomic clocks based on one singe atom, etc., etc. Even in the 1990s, for persons with scientific education, the self-contradictions of the official climate propaganda were obvious. Thus, the official narrative could not be true. We joked about the primitivity of the propaganda.

    I did not have time to look deeper. I had 40 scientific coworkers, 10 of whom, to feed them, I had to find about $1 million each year. So that did not give me much time. But at retirement I had time. First I looked into the official models, and it is quite obvious where the fudge factors in the calculations are. But, then, I am an experimental physicist, so I got together with Horst Luedecke to analyze climate measurements.

    In particular we did what is called Fourier Analysis, which means looking for cycles in seemingly irregular measurements in time series. Since this is the most common type of analysis in any field of physics or technology, we were surprised not to find any such work in the half-million publications of the climate literature. But then we said, “OK, if nobody did that so far, well, we will do that.” We published our analysis, and the reviewers confirmed that our work and conclusions were correct.

    Continues.

    Weiss has forgotten more than your average “climate scientist” will ever know.

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      Richard C (NZ)

      From Tom Nelson:

      #48 Carl-Otto Weiss: “three main cycles determine the Earth’s temperature”

      Studied physics at University Hannover/Germany, finishing with Dr. degree in Plasma Physics

      Direktor und Professor, i.R. at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt ( German equivalent of NIST, USA ), retired 2007, Braunschweig/Germany

      Former Head of Dept. “Time and Frequency“ ( Atomic clocks. Laser spectroscopy, Spectroscopy in general, but in particular also spectroscopy of CO2, Single Ion spectroscopy, Signal analysis, Laser physics, Nonlinear physics, etc.. many more ). About 40 coworkers, of whom 25 physicists, 200+ publications in refereed journals ( see Google scholar ), plus the papers of my coworkers, three books.

      Visiting Professor at University of Copenhagen, Tokyo Institute of Technology, etc. Numerous international cooperations and projects, with total funding of ca. 2 Mio. Euro.

      Responsible for granting research projects by European Union among others in the ESPRIT project ( total funds distributed: 250 Mio. ECU ( = Euro)).

      Holding faculty position at Physics, University of Queensland/Australia. 1989/90

      Reviewing projects worldwide ( US, Australia, Singapore, China); reviewing papers (mostly for Phys. Rev. Letters these days)

      Present work on climate questions in cooperation with colleagues from USA, China, Germany ( papers with international coauthors in high citation index, refereed journals. This work relies heavily on my previous expertise in Nonlinear Physics and Signal analysis)

      Core ability: hands-on laboratory work ( still.. ! )

      I would be interested to continue participating in research in Physics.

      If you have any questions for Carl, please write him an email at: carl.weiss AT gmx.de

      # # #

      “Signal analysis” – do not underestimate this amongst the physics. See next.

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        Richard C (NZ)

        6.003 | Fall 2011 | Undergraduate
        Signals and Systems
        https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-003-signals-and-systems-fall-2011/pages/lecture-notes/

        Lecture 20 Applications of Fourier Transforms
        https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-003-signals-and-systems-fall-2011/resources/mit6_003f11_lec20/

        Filtering

        Filtering Example: Electrocardiogram

        Fourier Transforms in Physics: Diffraction

        Fourier Transforms in Physics: Crystallography

        An Historic Fourier Transform – This is an x-ray crystallographic image of DNA, and it shows the Fourier transform of the structure of DNA.

        Also,

        Singular spectrum analysis – SSA
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_spectrum_analysis

        See next.

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          Richard C (NZ)

          SSA has been applied to climate data. Doesn’t gain traction because most climate scientists are confined to slapping linear trends on any fluctuating data they can find.

          Firstly, from the Wiki link previous:

          Relation between SSA and other methods

          Spectral Fourier Analysis
          In contrast with Fourier analysis with fixed basis of sine and cosine functions, SSA uses an adaptive basis generated by the time series itself. As a result, the underlying model in SSA is more general and SSA can extract amplitude-modulated sine wave components with frequencies different from k / N. SSA-related methods like ESPRIT can estimate frequencies with higher resolution than spectral Fourier analysis.

          In other words, the components and residual, the latter of which can be considered the secular trend (ST), are inherent to the data i.e. intrinsic – they are not externally imposed by an analyst i.e. extrinsic.

          Now some applications relevant to climate science. See next.

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            Richard C (NZ)

            Prediction [from Wiki link previous]

            In this subsection, we focus on phenomena that exhibit a significant oscillatory component: repetition increases understanding and hence confidence in a prediction method that is closely connected with such understanding.

            Singular spectrum analysis (SSA) and the maximum entropy method (MEM) have been combined to predict a variety of phenomena in meteorology, oceanography and climate dynamics (Ghil et al., 2002, and references therein). First, the “noise” is filtered out by projecting the time series onto a subset of leading EOFs obtained by SSA; the selected subset should include statistically significant, oscillatory modes. Experience shows that this approach works best when the partial variance associated with the pairs of RCs that capture these modes is large (Ghil and Jiang, 1998).

            The prefiltered RCs are then extrapolated by least-square fitting to an autoregressive model A R [ p ] , whose coefficients give the MEM spectrum of the remaining “signal”. Finally, the extended RCs are used in the SSA reconstruction process to produce the forecast values. The reason why this approach – via SSA prefiltering, AR extrapolation of the RCs, and SSA reconstruction – works better than the customary AR-based prediction is explained by the fact that the individual RCs are narrow-band signals, unlike the original, noisy time series X ( t ) (Penland et al., 1991; Keppenne and Ghil, 1993). In fact, the optimal order p obtained for the individual RCs is considerably lower than the one given by the standard Akaike information criterion (AIC) or similar ones.

            # # #

            Yesterday Simon extolled the virtues of an autoregressive model Tt+1 = c + aTt + σARWt here:

            https://joannenova.com.au/2024/06/extreme-heat-no-one-wants-to-mention-greenland-warmed-10-degrees-in-a-few-decades-many-times/#comment-2776048

            He prefers the model derived from observations to the original observations. Reason: the observations exhibit no climate change for 130 years but Simon claims the model reveals an “upward trend”.

            He refers to a papers Supplementary Materials to back his claims and urges me to read them – I had already looked briefly. I’ve challenged Simon to present the material he refers to, vaguely, so that we’re all clear on the details.

            Thing is, when confronted by SSA applied to other temperature times series Simon goes strangely quiet. See next.

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              Richard C (NZ)

              >when confronted by SSA applied to other temperature times series Simon goes strangely quiet

              A few obscure papers to choose from but this is the best I no of (presented before in these threads):

              Application of the singular spectrum analysis technique to study the recent hiatus on the global surface temperature record.
              Macias, Stips, and Garcia-Gorriz (2014)
              https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/4160239

              …contrary to the two previous events, during the current hiatus period, the ST shows a strong fluctuation on the warming rate, with a large acceleration (0.0085°C year(-1) to 0.017°C year(-1)) during 1992-2001 and a sharp deceleration (0.017°C year(-1) to 0.003°C year(-1)) from 2002 onwards. This is the first time in the observational record that the ST shows such variability, so determining the causes and consequences of this change of behavior needs to be addressed by the scientific community.

              An inflexion in the secular trend (ST) is highly problematic for the CO2-centric climate science “community”. Reason is that it occurred during the highest human emissions in the industrial era.

              A downturn in ST just should not occur in the 21st century but it did immediately.

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                Richard C (NZ)

                CO2-centric climate science has been rescued temporarily by wild natural variation 2016 – 2023 but now their luck is running out. There’s now no factor, except dwindling volcanic, to hold up temperatures (and CO2 forcing being completely ineffective) so now temperatures are on a downward trajectory.

                That’s becoming clear with GFS which is an early indicator, ahead of ERA5. GFS takes real-time initialization data (observations) and projects forward 4 times a day. ERA5 results lag somewhat, but still well ahead of UAH which gets out monthly almost immediately and leaves the likes of HadCRUT in the dust:

                GFS 2mT Anomaly
                http://karstenhaustein.com/climate

                It’s a tale of two hemispheres. SH is now bouncing off zero anomaly. Global is now back below the 1.5C “limit” so we’ve survived climate hell.

                Climate agit prop will have to be content with NH heat domes for a while.

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                el+gordo

                ‘ … temperatures are on a downward trajectory.’

                https://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_May_2024_v6_20x9-scaled.jpg

                Not with all that extra H2O in the stratosphere.

                BoM has ENSO on La Nina watch and temperatures should start to gradually fall, but it probably won’t happen for years. Unprecedented comes to mind.

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                Richard C (NZ)

                Me >‘ … temperatures are on a downward trajectory.’

                el G >”Not with all that extra H2O in the stratosphere. [Link to UAH]”

                As I explained above, although UAH gets out promptly at the end of the month (your link is May), UAH still lags, by 3 weeks, GFS which I’ve linked.

                GFS is as close to real-time as it gets – every 6 hours. Here it is again:

                GFS 2mT
                http://karstenhaustein.com/climate

                Global anomaly started the year at +1.0, it is now +0.6 and clearly the trajectory of the data is down.

                Same in ERA5 which lags GFS by either 3 (Climate Pulse) or 7 days (Climate Reanalyzer). Anomaly trajectory is clearly down

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                el+gordo

                Good work, we’ll have to wait a few months to confirm which of us is correct.

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                Richard C (NZ)

                el G >we’ll have to wait a few months to confirm which of us is correct.

                I think we’re talking at cross purposes i.e. it’s not you correct or me correct, and vice versa.

                Firstly, UAH is a monthly average so that if, for example, the beginning of the month was +1.0 and the end of the month was 0 the average is +0.5 at a nominal middle of the month.

                So even though Spencer gets UAH out promptly it’s already 2 weeks behind reanalysis effectively because reanalysis is returning 0 at end of month.

                Secondly, UAH is at altitude, not surface. Surface does not exhibit the same radical spike as UAH. Yes there’s a hike up at end of 2023 but nothing like UAH.

                A UAH spike at altitude is to be expected given Hunga Tonga pumped WV up into the stratosphere and high altitude – nowhere near the surface.

                Remains to be seen how long it takes UAH to normalize and you could very well be correct. Just keep in mind the lag behind surface reanalysis.

                Poses a massive problem for climate modellers – how to be consistent with other volcano treatment like Pinatubo. I think their retroactive volcano modelling is redundant given the transient nature and impossibility to predict volcanoes anyway, but that’s IPCC climate modelling.

                Thing is, Pinatubo was a cooling effect but Hunga Tonga was warming. Until they account for Hunga Tonga in their radiative forcing, which they are nowhere near achieving because it’s on top of an El Nino, all the climatistas will claim 2023 warming for their cause. Simon linked to a Gavin Schmidt article at Real Climate which does exactly that. “Highly skillful” models apparently, but only by claiming Hunga Tonga + El Nino warming.

                I don’t think there will be any rush to account for Hunga Tonga in climate models.

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              Richard C (NZ)

              >He [Simon] refers to a papers Supplementary Materials to back his claims and urges me to read them – I had already looked briefly. I’ve challenged Simon to present the material he refers to, vaguely, so that we’re all clear on the details.

              Ok, moving this forward because I doubt Simon will. Here’s the Supplementary Materials for Mikkelsen et al:

              Supplement of
              Influence of temperature fluctuations on equilibrium ice sheet volume

              https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/12/39/2018/tc-12-39-2018-supplement.pdf

              Simon replying today in yesterdays thread:

              Simon June 23, 2024 at 8:37 am

              Read the supplementary materials. There is an upward trend, it is less obvious because of the high variability.

              https://joannenova.com.au/2024/06/extreme-heat-no-one-wants-to-mention-greenland-warmed-10-degrees-in-a-few-decades-many-times/#comment-2776192

              I’m guessing, given the complete vacuity of Simon’s argument, that he is referring to Analysis of Robinson et al. (2012)’s data. So down the rabbit hole we go – see next.

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                Richard C (NZ)

                Mikkelson et al Supplementary Material
                https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/12/39/2018/tc-12-39-2018-supplement.pdf

                Analysis of Robinson et al. (2012)’s data

                We aim to estimate the effect of fluctuating temperatures on the results obtained by Robinson et al. (2012). Our aim is to find ∆T and ∆SMB as shown in Fig. 3 (main article, right) by fitting polynomials ˜fij (T ) to the SMB as a function of warming temperature T (Eq. (10), main article).

                Methodology5

                In Robinson et al. (2012) the warming is ramped for the first 100 years, for numerical reasons. We wait until t = 200 years to extract SMB(T),

                – Robinson et al. (2012) employ 9 × 11 values of two separate parameters deemed “equally likely” in their simulations, as well as 11 values for the warming, totalling 1089 individual ice sheet simulations,

                – For each of the 99 parameter combinations, we fit a 3rd degree polynomial to the SMB(T ), following Fettweis et al.10 (2013). We denote these fits ˜fij (T )

                # # #

                So unless there’s something else I’m missing, Simon’s “upward trend” only exists in either 100 years of “ramped” projected simulations as per Robinson et al or 200 years of projected simulations as per Mikkelson et al.

                None of this is real world up to present. All they have done is projected from the observation base, which has no upward trend, and “ramped” (modelling term for tweaking the forcings applied) up the temperature for 100 then 200 years.

                I’m sure Simon will rebut this critique in due course – or not.

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                Richard C (NZ)

                >“ramped” (modelling term for tweaking the forcings applied)

                Here’s climate scientist Peter Kalmus of NASA JPL on NCAR’s CESM model forum asking why his model was not ramping:

                CO2 ramp experiment is not ramping
                Thread starter peter_m_kalmus@jpl_nasa_gov Start date May 1, 2013
                https://bb.cgd.ucar.edu/cesm/threads/co2-ramp-experiment-is-not-ramping.1988/

                Hi,I ran a control experiment and two CO2 ramp experiments at low resolution. However I’m missing something: the ramp experiments are not ramping. Surface temperatures do not increase over decades of model time, and co2vmr stays constant in the atm.log.* file. I’ve pasted in the atm_in file below (for 20% ramp!). This is CESM 1_0_4, -compset B_2000 -res f45_g37.I made a user_nl_cam with just three entries as reflected in atm_in:&camexp

                Some selected parameterization:

                scenario_ghg = ‘RAMP_CO2_ONLY’
                ramp_co2_annual_rate = 20.0
                ramp_co2_start_ymd = 20000101

                co2vmr = 368.9e-6

                solar_const = 1361.27

                # # #

                Basically he’s holding everything else constant, solar at 1361.27, and beginning at year 2000 and CO2 at 368.9 he’s “ramping” up CO2 at 20% per year.

                That folks is how you “tweak” a climate model.

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                Richard C (NZ)

                >”Here’s climate scientist Peter Kalmus of NASA JPL”

                Peter Kalmus now believes the output of GCMs is so real that he has become a member of Scientist Rebellion (see pic):

                The Scientist Rebellion: “We’re Not Exaggerating” About The Climate Crisis
                https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/scientist-rebellion-climate-crisis/

                Peter Kalmus chained himself to the doors of a JPMorgan Chase & Co. Bank in Los Angeles [2022] and gave an impassioned speech: “The scientists of the world are being ignored. And it’s got to stop. We’re going to lose everything. And we’re not joking. We’re not lying. We’re not exaggerating.”

                Note the use of Ed Hawkins’ “warming stripes” at the Scientist Rebellion website. They’re becoming ubiquitous and something of a rallying flag for climate activists.

                Best part of that article above was this:

                Just recently, the Supreme Court recently cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s power (EPA) to regulate carbon emissions, a major step back in the climate movement.

                It’s a weird phenomenon; man-made climate change disciples unable to discern the difference between real-world and computer-projection-world.

                Hence Simon mistaking a 200 year computer projection into the future with actual real-world observations. That was his “upward trend” moment in respect to Greenland temperatures upthread.

                Maybe he’ll wriggle out of that – we’ll see.

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                Richard C (NZ)

                Also at the Scientist Rebellion website:

                “We are currently heading directly towards civilizational collapse. We need to switch into climate emergency mode as a society.

                — Dr. Peter Kalmus

                And a couple of pages:

                The Science
                https://scientistrebellion.org/about-us/the-science/

                Design & Style Guide – Logos & Symbols [Download]
                https://scientistrebellion.org/design-style-guide/

                The Extinction Symbol was created in 2011 by street artist ESP.

                The symbol does not belong to XR or SR, but is a globally recognized symbol of the climate crisis and is shared by many activist groups. We have modified the extinction symbol to include the warming stripes, and either version may be used, depending on context.

                The logotype above embodies several elements of Scientist Rebellion:

                • the warming stripes, a strong visual reminder of the climate crisis

                mono space type in lower case, reminiscent of computer programming: a key element in many scientific disciplines, particularly climate modeling

                the trailing underscore: again, a nod to computer programming and the hacks that allow leaked documents into the public domain

                The logotype can be constructed using the typeface and warming stripes graphic, or downloaded as a single image file or an animated gif.

                The original warming stripes were created by Ed Hawkins and are shared by a CC BY 4.0 license, and can be found and customised by location at showyourstripes.info.

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                Richard C (NZ)

                Mikkelson et al >Analysis of Robinson et al. (2012)’s data

                I looked up the paper but it is just a letter with nothing to analyze. Tracked down the Supplementary Information and we’re in business:

                Supplementary Information: Multistability
                and critical thresholds of the Greenland Ice
                Sheet

                Alexander Robinson, Reinhard Calov & Andrey Ganopolski1 February 7, 2012
                https://www.glaciers-climat.com/wp-content/uploads/4-C-Climat-et-inlandsis-Groenland-1.pdf

                Climatic uncertainty

                In this study, we applied a spatially constant temperature anomaly to the ERA40 temperature data in all experiments. We prescribed the summer temperature anomaly and we defined the winter anomaly to be twice as large. A sine curve produced the seasonally- varying temperature anomaly actually seen by REMBO. A temperature anomaly that is twice as strong in winter is consistent with predictions from the CMIP3 AOGCMs [2, 3] (see Fig. S1a).

                We were thus able to estimate the AOGCM- predicted scaling of the regional increase in winter temperature per degree of regional summer warming (Fig. S1a), the regional summer warming per degree of global mean warming (Fig. S1b)

                Under different global warming scenarios, it can be seen that the summer warming around Greenland will be close to the global mean with a narrow spread (with a ratio of 0.9±0.2 ◦C/◦C, Fig. S1b). In fact, this ratio could be slightly different in equilibrium, due to the large thermal inertia of the North Atlantic. Nonetheless, as these transient simulations are the only ones available, we take the probability distribution shown in Fig. S1b to be representative of this ratio in equilibrium and apply it to determine the global mean temperature of the threshold for decline of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS), as explained below.

                # # #

                This is not science; it is all within the CO2-forced modelling framework which is assumed to valid; and, these guys are actually taking this seriously.

                Anyway, continues next.

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                Richard C (NZ)

                Supplementary Discussion [Robinson et al. (2012)]

                Transient decline of the GIS

                In Fig. S2, the transient evolution of the ice sheet is shown for the case of 2 ◦C of warming (upper row) and 6 ◦C of warming (lower row), for the representative model version. Significant differences can be seen between these two cases, both in the time scale of melt and the ice distribution. The latter (6 ◦C warming case) can be compared to simulations by Ridley et al. [6] (Fig. 5 of their paper), performed with an AOGCM coupled to an ice sheet model in a climate with four times CO2 (6 ◦C of warming corresponds to approximately four times CO2, assuming a climate sensitivity of 3 ◦C).

                [And, just for chuckles]

                Melting of the GIS under 2 ◦C of warming (Fig. S2a-f) shows a different pattern and time scale. Since this temperature is close to the threshold temperature, the ice sheet needs approximately 50,000 years to melt completely.

                # # #

                Ok that’s it, I’m done. These guys are stark raving mad.

                This is the root of Mikkleson’s “warming” and Simon’s “upward trend” – none of it real.

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      Richard C (NZ)

      Weiss >”A first independent confirmation of our results, namely that the 1870–2000 temperature rise is natural, was given recently, using pattern recognition on temperature proxies [7].”

      7. Abbot, J., Marohasy, J. GeoRes 14 (2017)36-46

      The application of machine learning for evaluating anthropogenic versus natural climate change
      John Abbot and Jennifer Marohasy (2017)
      https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214242817300426

      Abstract

      Time-series profiles derived from temperature proxies such as tree rings can provide information about past climate. Signal analysis was undertaken of six such datasets, and the resulting component sine waves used as input to an artificial neural network (ANN), a form of machine learning. By optimizing spectral features of the component sine waves, such as periodicity, amplitude and phase, the original temperature profiles were approximately simulated for the late Holocene period to 1830 CE. The ANN models were then used to generate projections of temperatures through the 20th century. The largest deviation between the ANN projections and measured temperatures for six geographically distinct regions was approximately 0.2 °C, and from this an Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS) of approximately 0.6 °C was estimated. This is considerably less than estimates from the General Circulation Models (GCMs) used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and similar to estimates from spectroscopic methods.

      Need access through institution for full paper.

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        Richard C (NZ)

        Conclusions [Abbot & Marohasy previous]

        The uptake of machine learning, and specifically ANNs, in climate science has generally been slow compared to many other fields. This may in part be due to the heavy investment in physical models, particularly GCMs, over the past two decades and their importance to the theory of anthropogenic global warming. However, the complexity of the climate systems and limited understanding of all the physical processes leads to large uncertainties in the results generated –including the Equilibrium…[Climate Sensitivity – ECS]

        # # #

        A&M – “The largest deviation between the ANN projections and measured temperatures for six geographically distinct regions was approximately 0.2 °C”

        IPCC climate modellers can only dream of that precision. In absolute terms the spread of climate models with observations near the middle is 3 °C (Hawkins & Sutton 2016, Fig 1(top)).

        But hey, who needs ANNs when you have GCMs ?

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        Richard C (NZ)

        >Need access through institution for full paper.

        Here tis:

        The application of machine learning for evaluating anthropogenic versus natural climate change
        John Abbot, Jennifer Marohasy (2017)
        http://www.infinitoteatrodelcosmo.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/climate-natural.pdf

        Figures and Tables from this paper
        https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-application-of-machine-learning-for-evaluating-Abbot-Marohasy/b99ba14133b53c662c7fff4763fa0fea4101ee57

        Table 1
        Summary of temperature proxy reconstructions used for analysis in this study
        .

        Location Proxy dates (AD) Proxy types Reference

        Northern Hemisphere
        Swiss Alps 1200–1950 various lake sediments [92]
        Canadian Rockies 950–1975 tree rings [56]
        Northern hemisphere composite 50–20 0 0 pollen, lake sediments, stalagmite, boreholes [33]

        Southern Hemisphere
        Southern south America multiproxy 900–1995 ice cores, tree rings, coral lake and marine sediment and instrumental data [73]
        South Island, New Zealand 90 0–20 0 0 tree rings [22]
        Tasmania 10 0 0–1980 tree rings [22]

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      TdeF

      I love his work, a real hero with his team. Real incisive brilliance. It’s the best example of logic defeating religion, facts defeating propaganda.

      But what year was this Schiller video? The data only goes to 2000.

      “Finally, just to give a taste of the surprisingly primitive propaganda lies, I mention only three of them. Fig. 7. {Slide 7. Three examples of totally wrong propaganda claims.}”

      I would love to see slide #7.

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      • #
        David of Cooyal in Oz

        The first time I saw his presentation was in 2021 when someone posted a link in a comment to Jo – sorry, I didn’t record who that was.

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        Richard C (NZ)

        TdeF >what year was this Schiller video?

        The URL has date 2023/07/22 but the presentation, and video, must have been between 2020 and 2023 because their paper was published 2020:

        Harmonic Analysis of Worldwide Temperature Proxies for 2000 Years
        Horst-Joachim Lüdecke and Carl-Otto Weiss (2020)
        https://benthamopen.com/FULLTEXT/TOASCJ-11-44

        David above says he saw the presentation in 2021 so makes sense.

        > {Slide 7. Three examples of totally wrong propaganda claims.}”
        I would love to see slide #7.

        Slide #7 doesn’t actually give 3 examples so I don’t know what that’s about.

        Tom Nelson has an 18 minute podcast which might help. Also the PowerPoint Presentation:

        Tom Nelson Feb 09, 2023 PowerPoint Presentation Download
        Pod Cast
        https://tomn.substack.com/p/how-and-why-is-earths-climate-changing

        You Tube 2022
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyKgAsfuSA8

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    David Maddison

    Senator Gerrard Rennick (QLD) just posted:

    “It has been the coldest start to winter in decades for parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and temperatures are expected to remain cooler with a polar air mass predicted to sweep through the entire country in the coming week.

    Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said many parts of south-eastern Australia experienced temperatures in the past week between 2C and 5C below average for winter.

    Several locations experienced record cold June temperatures, including Thangool and Tambo in Queensland, as well as Omeo, Viewbank and Echuca in Victoria, Narramore said.”

    Didn’t the BOM just predict a warm winter? And I quote:

    “Australia is in for a warmer than usual winter, with parts of the country likely to experience temperatures in the highest 20% recorded for the season.

    The Bureau of Meteorology, which released its long-range winter forecast on Thursday, said there is an 80% chance of above median temperatures across the whole country. There will probably be typical rainfall levels for large swathes of the country.

    Maybe the BOM should less time fudging weather records on spreadsheets in the office and get back out in the field to get a better understanding of weather patterns.

    If they can’t predict the weather for one season why should we believe their global warming predictions!

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    • #
      Ronin

      “Didn’t the BOM just predict a warm winter? ”

      They sure did, I remember seeing it on the tail end of landline, they stuffed up royally, again.

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      TdeF

      And the driest, hottest summer on record? The rain never stopped in many places over summer. The losses to agriculture of their wrong prediction would have been in the billions as farmers dumped livestock and missed planting.

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    YYY Guy

    Headlines not from the BOM –

    POLAR BLAST HITS AUSTRALIAN ALPS; THEY SAID PREPARE FOR LESS

    FROSTS HIT THE AUSSIE TROPICS

    EASTERN AUSTRALIA SHIVERS

    My new hobby is watching the last 5 minutes of Landline where a real life BOM employee earnestly predicts the week and the next few months. Different person every week. If there’s a word for shampoo phobia they’ve all got it.

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    YYY Guy

    Clickbait of the day was this –

    Australian-first trial for anorexia treatment

    My first thought was “food”. But no, magic mushrooms
    It’s often the case that when anorexics look in the mirror they see a “fat” person. Will they see a “fat” person in colour next?

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    Honk R Smith

    Was pondering the JSO attack on Stonehenge.
    It seems more than brainwashed hysterical kids overreacting and thinking up stuff by on their own.
    The public reaction is overwhelmingly negative.
    What is the intent?
    Does anyone else have a gut sense of sophisticated psychological manipulation that appears to underlie both climate hysteria and Pandemic hysteria, with a side dish of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
    It doesn’t feel like zoonotic crazy, seems like engineered lab leak crazy.

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    • #
      John Connor II

      Does anyone else have a gut sense of sophisticated psychological manipulation that appears to underlie both climate hysteria and Pandemic hysteria, with a side dish of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

      Apart from all that’s been known and exposed for years, you mean? 😁😁

      The smart ones don’t get played easily.😎

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        Honk R Smith

        Pandemic ramped it all up to a new level of weird.
        Perhaps I have an American problem, having to endure election lunacy.

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    Philip

    The main debate topics the left are going for in the energy debate seem to be:

    1. Unreliable electricity is 25% the cost of nuclear.
    2. It is illegal and the states will never accept it.
    3. The Monty Burns 3 eyed fish narrative.

    The media are pushing this version in combination with Professors as their guest. And the first retort I saw to it on the 7 Brisbane News, was weak, waffling, and ineffective. So it will be interesting to see if a decent case can be made by those chosen by the media to speak to it. First attempt was an F.

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      el+gordo

      Eventually the MSM will have to discuss the topic without rancour or ignorance, the election is less than a year away.

      We can win this battle, Dutton only has to say that instead of taxpayer monies being spent on the constructions we’ll invite the market to take an interest.

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      Graeme#4

      Albanese is now going to be forever associated with three-eyed fish. A huge political mistake.
      There are now folks suggesting, with tongues firmly wedged in cheeks, that we shouldn’t be sending our Olympians to France because of the many problems with nuclear…

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      Vladimir

      It was such an intellectual joy to watch ABC Insiders this morning !
      The arguments of 3 insiders + D. Speer had between themselves were not just deep and new but so emotional, I felt for them.
      They fought like lions.
      And David, David ! At long last he found journalistic integrity to seriously question a politician.
      Bravo, David, keep it up!

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      Yarpos

      Never noticed any 3 eyed fish in France, which has been nuclear powered for many decades now.

      80

      • #
        Annie

        We missed out on the 3 eyed fish in France too, as well as the ones near Sellafield in Cumbria near our family.

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          TdeF

          Hindu fish. The Third Eye.

          31

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            Annie

            Sorry TdeF, meant green, half asleep steering!

            20

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            Vladimir

            Honest story:
            In unofficial, soul-to-soul talk at military training (about 1967) our commanding officer had mentioned the only case of personnel damage he saw in years of actual North Sea service. One lousy submariner fall asleep in a cosy nook on a secondary contour pipe, and woke up with a burn on his cheek.
            We (cadets) believed him, that was a lifetime before we learnt about Widow Maker…
            By the way neither Kursk nor Chernobyl had any technology-related problems, all what happened was self-inflicted, caused by bad safety culture. I know by my own behaviour and risk taking what I just moved to the West.

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    John Connor II

    Bye bye AGW, bye “climate change”, welcome pollution

    https://x.com/Jules31415/status/1803834345234305335

    Finally a bit of truth in malvertising?

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    YYY Guy

    And just like that, a mandate, which is not a law, is a law.
    I like this paragraph –

    “The court confirmed the direction to get vaccinated, which was given to police officers and police staff, was lawful.
    Disciplinary action against 12 serving police officers and five police staff will now resume.”

    I think that confirms whose side they are on.

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    • #
      KP

      I see Qld is intending to cut Magistrates out of the loop, letting cops raid anyone they like without a Court warrant.

      “Police Minister Mark Ryan said the new laws — requested by authorities — would empower officers to conduct warrantless searches for certain individuals.”

      I’m sure the necessity of warrants was there because of Police abuse in the past.

      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-23/mackay-shooting-community-shocked-ryan-cole-natalie-frahm/104010960

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      David Maddison

      They just won’t give up on this BS.

      And anyway, the PM at the time said we had no covid vaccine mandates in Australia.

      Australians being vaccinated for covid against their will was indeed compulsory if you wanted to work or do numerous other activities.

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    David Maddison

    Can you believe it’s the 40th anniversary of the first unrefueled flight around the world?

    Today’s “First Flight Anniversary” – June 22nd, 1984…

    The Rutan Model 76 Voyager was the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. It was piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. The flight took off from Edwards Air Force Base’s 15,000-foot (4,600 m) runway in the Mojave Desert on December 14th, 1986, and ended 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds later on December 23rd, setting a flight endurance record. The aircraft flew westbound 26,366 statute miles (42,432 km; the FAI accredited distance is 40,212 km) at an average altitude of 11,000 feet (3,350 m).

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    John Connor II

    Sunday ejukayshun – the Colonel Sanders gunfight

    Before Colonel Sanders became the iconic American figure famous for his Kentucky Fried Chicken, he was a young man named Harland Sanders, and he was certainly a man who took sh#t from nobody. Harland Sanders got his start as a businessman when he became the owner of a Shell gas station in Corbin, Kentucky in 1930. Sanders’ gas station also included a small diner where he served country ham, biscuits, and steaks. Down the street from Sanders’ station was his business rival, Matt Stewart, who operated his own Standard Oil gas station and competed with Sanders for customers. The two men quickly went from business rivals to mortal enemies, and it was only a matter of time before there would be blood.

    The two men came to blows when Sanders painted a large sign advertising his business on billboard near a local railroad. Stewart responded by painting over Sanders’ sign. In response Sanders confronted Stewart, angrily threatening to “shoot his goddamn head off”. Sanders repainted the sign, but became enraged when Stewart once again painted over it.

    Determined to end the situation once and for all, Sanders decided to confront Stewart with a grand show of force that would cow him into submission. Sanders and two heavily armed Shell officials named Robert Gibson and H. D. Shelburne set off in a car to Stewarts gas station. They expect the sight of three men with loaded weapons would be enough to intimidate Stewart. However Stewart opened fire on the men with a revolver as soon as they arrived, killing Robert Gibson. A gun battle ensued, but in the end the two men got the drop on Stewart, with Shelburne shooting him in the hip and Sanders shooting him in the shoulder. Stewart surrendered, and despite his wounds survived the gunfight. However he was charged and convicted for the murder of Robert Gibson, resulting in an 18 year prison sentence. Neither Sanders nor Shelburne were charged with a crime.

    Harland Sanders continued to run hi gas station and diner. In 1935 Sanders discovered a way to fry chicken using pressure cookers, a method which allowed him to cook the chicken fast enough to serve to his customers. The rest is Kentucky Fried history.

    Would you like lead in your H5N1 burger? 😁

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    Philip

    I stayed in the Skycity skyscraper in Brisbane last week, level 55. Tallest building in Brisbane at some 260 odd meters I believe. When you’re up in those things – as opposed to viewing from the ground – it makes you realise what an astonishing piece of engineering they are.

    Amazingly, my wife managed to open a window. I peaked over the edge and vertigo kicked in. I could not stand right by the glass window. My mind played tricks on me, and I just kept imagining I was on a girder with a lunch box and a hard hat. I reconciled myself thinking I’m in a western country, it should be sound. Engineered without diversity policies?

    I noticed in the car park below ground, there were many Teslas parked, which made me very nervous. I found the fire exit once in the room. I also noticed a lot of e-scooters about the streets and prayed they had a rule of none to be kept inside. I doubt it.

    But all in all, very impressive. I will go back and stay higher next time, even though level 55 is way up there, amazing views, I can’t imagine what it’s like another 20 levels up. But it’s a good getaway when your room provides a large part of the entertainment.

    The other part was seeing Jerry Seinfeld live. He was hilarious, and not one swear word, just amazing delivery.

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    OldOzzie

    Biden’s Handwringing Over the Houthis is Going to Get U.S. Navy Sailors Killed

    This week marks the eighth month of the U.S. Navy’s combat operations against Houthi forces in Yemen.

    That’s four times longer than the first Gulf War. While Navy sailors have remained vigilant, fighting their ships, and eliminating a portion of their adversary’s combat capability, the Houthis and their Iranian enablers remain entirely undeterred.

    Commercial mariners have gotten the message. After more than 50 attacks on shipping in the waters off Yemen, which have killed three, the marine transportation industry has all but abandoned the Red Sea. This caused one Commanding Officer of the Navy ships in the region to call the strategic sea lane a “ghost town.” One must wonder why the U.S. has a Navy in the first place.

    The exodus of civilian shipping has only caused the Houthis to concentrate their kinetic effects on allied naval forces, creating the most intense combat conditions since World War II. In a sobering expose this week by the Associated Press, commanders of the U.S. Navy vessels involved described the nearly non-stop barrage of missiles and drones. In each case, the ships had only seconds to respond.

    One officer said, “We only have to get it wrong once,” implying that if the Houthis succeed in executing just a single strike successfully, any of the ships could experience what occurred in 1987 when the USS Stark was struck by two Iraqi Exocet air to surface missiles during the Iran-Iraq War, which killed 37 sailors and nearly sunk the ship.

    Time is not on the Navy’s side. Consider that Israel’s much-vaunted Iron Dome system has an estimated success rate of 95%, meaning that 5% of all incoming attacks strike home. In the AP article, Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said, “We’re sort of on the verge of the Houthis being able to mount the kinds of attacks that the U.S. can’t stop every time, and then we will start to see substantial damage. … If you let it fester, the Houthis are going to get to be a much more capable, competent, experienced force.”

    Such was the case when a strike by another Iran-backed militia killed three Army soldiers and injured dozens of others last year in Jordan. The forces defending the base mistook the adversary’s drone for an American one.

    Why is the world’s strongest Navy being put in the position of a pincushion?

    The sad fact is that the service’s hands are tied by a White House too fearful to eliminate the threat in Yemen, as well as their support from Iran.

    Contrast this to Israel’s approach in their war with Hamas. Their objective is clear: destroy Hamas.

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      Vladimir

      Here is a Plan !

      UN has shaped ME mess, UN will reshape it.
      Nothing wrong with reshaping per se, a few contributors here support Vladimir Polpotovich who is, as we speak, reshaping Europe.

      So, Security Council will create and administer a first ever UN territory, a Humanitarian Corridor from Red to Mediterranean Sea which is easily done with minor arm-twisting of current land owners. It will be only a road-wide (depends on definition of a road…) running along Egyptian East border.

      UN SC will pick up a subcontractor to implement its humanitarian policies on the ground. Most passionate peace supporter – Houthi Red Crescent will be first to apply for the position and they should be considered despite Saudi objections.

      The Belt & Road Initiative will have the greatest chance based on historic positive experience and availability of spare funds, though the subcontinent dwellers will not like their neighbours taking advantage.

      Japanese-Korean Mutual Prosperity Trust will not be outdone by Aust-Indonesian attempts to thwart its attempts to bring peace to the region.

      Few more takers will come out of the shadows as always happened in History.

      There are baseless rumours of E. Prigozhin, not being happy with a chunk of former Orano business offered by Niger rulers to Wagner Army, already initiated a pilot project – that is digging the above mentioned road to the depth & width allowing two-way traffic of megatankers and megaconteiner ships…

      And here it all will stop – Suez Canal Authority will order the tanks to roll, pacify the area and take administration of Gaza, as it was before UN had shaped the area..

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      KP

      “The sad fact is that the service’s hands are tied by a White House too fearful to eliminate the threat in Yemen,”

      Nah, the usual American action of ‘bomb them back to the stone age’ won’t work, Yemen hasn’t left there yet. We’ve tried the 2nd option, regime change, which is why we are where we are.

      I’m afraid you just have to admit that some countries control bottlenecks for Western trade and make friends with them. It would help if we hadn’t made enemies of them first… but surely the promise of a few billion dollars to the right people in Yemen would solve it, or have we run up against that most opposite of our politicians, people with beliefs!

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        KP

        Well, seems we have been at war with Yemen for some time. They recently busted a big American spy ring in the country-

        “According to official statements, these activities include uncovering the funding sources for military entities and conducting intelligence activities targeting Yemen’s military capabilities. They monitored military movements and strategic capabilities of Yemeni forces, providing coordinates to the US and Israel. Additionally, they supplied hostile intelligence services with critical information on various formal and informal sectors.

        The network infiltrated state authorities to influence decision-makers and advance decisions and laws favorable to its agenda. It worked to cultivate important Yemeni personalities, coordinating visits to the US to influence and recruit them. Among those recruited were economists and owners of oil and commercial companies, who were linked to American and Israeli intelligence.

        In the agriculture sector, the network sought to undermine national productivity and increase import dependence by recruiting spies in the Ministry of Agriculture, sabotaging research bodies and seed propagation centers, and implementing detrimental development programs. It even introduced pests and toxic pesticides, subsidized unsustainable seed varieties, created livestock epidemics through fatal vaccine programs, and degraded soil quality with harmful chemical fertilizers.

        In the health sector, the spy ring implemented projects and programs that contributed to spreading diseases and epidemics across various Yemeni governorates. It also carried out other destructive plans that negatively impacted the educational process, separating education from development.”

        https://thecradle.co/articles-id/25525

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “20 Minutes with Neil Oliver Banned by Google
    June 22, 2024 | Sundance | 451 Comments”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/06/22/20-minutes-with-neil-oliver-banned-by-google/

    The missing bit is on the Rumble version link given there

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    OldOzzie

    Matt Ridley – Whoever you vote for, the Blob wins

    At the age of 66 I feel like a first-time voter. As a member of the House of Lords, I was not allowed to vote in the last three general elections. But I retired from the House in 2021, so democracy here I come.

    I shall scan the ballot paper with interest: who is standing for head of the Office of Budget Responsibility, or chair of the Climate Change Committee?

    I would like to read their manifestos, since they seem to be the folk whose ‘models’ tell the country what it must do, brooking no dissent.

    What’s that you say? It doesn’t work that way? How quaint of me to think that the mighty quangocrats who wield so much power should have meaningful accountability to parliament, let alone the people. Joking aside, I have now seen how government works close up. Stealthily but steadily, almost all real political power has been stripped from elected councillors, MPs and even ministers over the past two decades by ‘officials’ and handed to ‘experts’ in quangos, nationalised industries, arms-length bodies and courts.

    Watch a clip of Yes Minister and it’s like looking at something from the political Cretaceous period, because Humphrey and Hacker were on equal terms.

    Today, when Hacker suggests a policy, Humphrey reminds him that he has devolved responsibility to the National Paperclips Authority, or it’s not within his power, or judicial review will stop it, or it’s against human rights law, or he’s bullying Bernard by asking him to turn up to work.

    In my nine years in the House of Lords, I saw this at first hand. No matter how cogent my argument in the chamber, or even in a select committee, and no matter how polite the minister’s reply, most of the time she or he might as well have just been saying: Sir Humphrey says no. Who was the monkey and who the organ grinder? Parliament was mostly an elaborate charade. It was one of the reasons I decided to retire.

    This growing democratic deficit is not only a slow-motion coup; it’s surely a big cause of our stagnation. More and more people are drawing salaries for interfering in more and more ways in small matters that affect the freedom of ordinary people.

    There are few quangos with a vested interest in change. The economy is increasingly run for producers, not consumers.

    All bureaucratic bodies do the same thing, regardless of their titles: they maximise their budgets and widen their remits. The Office for Civil Society, the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the Zebra Crossing Authority (I made the last one up) all have the same goal: to expand and endure.

    I recently spoke to a quango chairman who, with great honesty and no little pride, listed his main achievements: ‘I’ve doubled our budget and increased our head count by 2,000.’

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      Ted1.

      Yes, minister.

      I have wondered, how do we take in half a million migrants in a year without causing living conditions to go backwards?

      There’s something going on that we can’t see.

      Even if they were immediately employed building houses for themselves, it would take a long time to solve the housing problem.

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        KP

        “Even if they were immediately employed building houses for themselves,”

        They should have to! Their first contribution to their new society. No planning rules or codes or bullsh1t, free materials and a tiny bit of land, and go for it.

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          Ted1.

          Perhaps they brought a lot of money with them.

          But money does not drive nails if there are no carpenters to hire.

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    John Connor II

    Sunday religious history corner : tales from the Inquisition

    https://64.media.tumblr.com/6962d986beb9cfdacfbde6e1071f2bb5/04dc12669caa96a9-41/s640x960/309ec5d6dcd5c8af7b1eca6696f0ce147f4e6529.jpg

    Admit your crimes, denounce your beliefs, or we’ll torture you until you do.
    You vill comply vis our agenda.

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    another ian

    In case “ElBowen” are looking for inspirations –

    “In Case You Think Someone Has the Answer To New York’s Looming Energy Disaster”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/06/22/in-case-you-think-someone-has-the-answer-to-new-yorks-looming-energy-disaster/

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    OldOzzie

    The Telegraph

    The best James Bond films – ranked

    The shape-shifting nature of the James Bond franchise makes it a window on each era’s vogues. Some of these fashion statements, comic stylings and approaches to action choreography have held up splendidly; others appallingly.

    When settling on a ranking for all 25 films – we’ve excluded the series outliers (the 1967 Casino Royale and the independently-produced Never Say Never Again) – it’s hard to be definitive: many people might be kinder overall on the Pierce Brosnan era, or harsher on Roger Moore.

    We’ve made the case for at least one entry that’s unfairly loathed, and dinged a few that have bigger flaws than generally gets admitted.

    By the time the next one comes out, maybe we’d reshuffle them all over again. But for now, here they sit.

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      John Connor II

      Hmmm…I’d have to say Skyfall is the best one, Golden Eye for #2, and The man with the golden gun at #3, ratings based on plausability and lack of cheesiness.😎

      The next Bond film, “The world isn’t vaxxed enough” will star Klaus Schwab as Dr Evil, with Bill Gates as his #2, and the WEF instead of Spectre.
      Oh hang on. It’s not a film, we’re living it?😁

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      Vicki

      For me, there was only one definitive James Bond viz Sean Connery.

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    John Connor II

    15 minute cities are rolling out

    https://m.facebook.com/reel/785957793670785/

    Every “bubble world” ever tried has failed.

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      KP

      Hmmm… ‘bubble world’.. all those futuristc cities in stories where the whole place is covered in a transparent dome so it has controlled weather, solving both global warming and people moving outside their dome at once.

      So much future has been portrayed already!

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    David Maddison

    I’m not sure of this is true or not…

    According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington recently was faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day, the girls would put them back. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror. There are teachers, and then there are educators…

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    another ian

    What’s that “Official Inflation Figure” again?

    I’m due for a change of oil and diesel filters for the Landcruiser

    The last set (June 2023) – $82

    This set (June 2024) – $132

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      John Connor II

      Blame it on Covid. Everyone else does.

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      Geoff Sherrington

      Resource nutrition drinks from Nestle, pack of 24, last time about $60, this time $97. Not bad for a product that is a pretty essential nutritional requirements. Geoff Saaa

      20

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    John Connor II

    Sunday global boiling roundup news, courtesy of the MSM

    https://youtu.be/CeCPKazoNd4

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    David Maddison

    Cancer and mRNA “vaccines”

    PREPRINT

    https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202403.1661/v2

    A Case Report of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL)/Lymphoblastic Lymphoma (LBL) Following the Second Dose of Comirnaty®: An Analysis of the Potential Pathogenic Mechanism Based on of the Existing Literature

    In this report we describe the case of a healthy, young, athletic woman who developed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)/lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL) after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech modified mRNA (modRNA) COVID-19 genetic vaccine (marketed as Comirnaty®). The first dose of the genetic vaccine did not appear to illicit any noticeable side effects, but within 24 hours of the second dose the patient suffered widespread and intensifying bone pain, fever, vomiting, and general malaise.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

    VIDEO: https://youtu.be/4MPH0QD74Yw

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    David Maddison

    In America the Left are claiming embarrassing videos of the White House Resident are selectively edited or out of context and they call them “cheap fakes” but it turns out they are true.

    YouTuber Liberal Hivemind discusses:

    https://youtu.be/ugr9MxLzvdo

    8.5 mins

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      OldOzzie

      David,

      looking at the Paratrooper video – 3 mins I will give Biden a bye here – Ok he is slow but he was walking over to give the thumbs up and speak to one on the Paratroopers on the ground behind the G7 Group

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    OldOzzie

    Boeing Starliner astronauts stuck at International Space Station as engineers on Earth race against time to fix multiple problems

    Who You Going to Call – The Russians?

    Russian Soyuz rocket launches tons of supplies to ISS on Progress 88 cargo ship (video) – The Progress 88 freighter launched on Thursday (May 30 2024) at 5:43 a.m. ET.

    A Russian cargo ship launched toward the International Space Station early Thursday morning (May 30 2024).

    The robotic Progress 88 freighter lifted off atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday at 5:43 a.m. EDT (0943 GMT; 2:43 p.m. local time at Baikonur).

    Progress 88 is packed with about 3 tons of food, propellant, and other supplies for the astronauts living aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

    Meanwhile Definitely NOT Boeing!

    Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787’s windscreen cracks at 40K feet, forcing terrified crew to reroute San Francisco-bound flight

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      KP

      Either them or Musk, he is having a great run with the Falcon series of rockets, they’ve been very reliable for a few years now. That Russian tech is like their trucks and tractors, old-fashioned but well-proven.

      Was it Coffee and Covid that had an article on Boeings running into trouble today? The list was horrifying, but I suppose there are so many thousands of airliners in use the chances of it happening to a particular person are still minute.

      Falcon Heavy lifts a new geostationary satellite about 7am this Wednesday, Sydney time. Always great to watch, I think the boosters are returning to the barges this time.

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    David Maddison

    AUSTRALIA THE NANNY STATE AND POLICE STATE

    AND SO CRUEL

    UTTER LOWLIFES, “JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS”

    https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/06/nsw-refuses-to-pardon-3628-children-for-breaching-pandemic-orders/

    NSW REFUSES TO PARDON 3,628 CHILDREN FOR BREACHING PANDEMIC ORDERS.

    Rod Lampard – The Spectator Australia,
    2 June, 2024

    New South Wales police fined 3,628 children between 2020-22 for Covid-related ‘offences’. Most were from low socio-economic LGAs. Of these, the highest fines for breaching Public Health Orders were $5,000, with the majority fixed at $1,000. This is, a recent report said, way above the $1,100 maximum, set by the NSW children’s court for any child found guilty of an offence.

    The 2023, Children and COVID-19 Fines in NSW report, funded by Universities, and a range of legal advocacy groups, accused police of setting trust in law enforcement back decades.

    ‘Fine amounts for NSW COVID-19 PHO breaches were far too high for children to pay, and this caused significant hardship and distress,’ they argued.

    ‘High fixed fines were unfair in that they excessively punished those with little or no means to pay the debt.’

    This is, they added, a policing failure.

    ‘Police failed to take into account how a child’s special circumstances, such as their mental health condition, cognitive impairment or disability, or living in an unsafe, home environment, meant that they had legitimate reasons to be away from their homes.’

    SEE LINK FOR REST (PAYWALLED)

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    OldOzzie

    Have You Mastered The Past Enough To Take Our Elementary History Exam?

    Ok I scored 50 out of 60, 12 year Old Grandsom 48 out of 60

    20

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    OldOzzie

    Will Debt Sink the American Empire?

    After growing for decades, this year the U.S. debt will roughly match its GDP. Throughout history, nations that blithely piled up their obligations have eventually met unhappy ends.

    America is cruising into an uncharted sea of federal debt, with a public seemingly untroubled by the stark numbers and a government seemingly incapable of turning them around.

    History, however, offers some cautionary notes about the consequences of swimming in debt. Over the centuries and across the globe, nations and empires that blithely piled up debt have, sooner or later, met unhappy ends.

    Historian Niall Ferguson recently invoked what he calls his own personal law of history: “Any great power that spends more on debt service (interest payments on the national debt) than on defense will not stay great for very long. True of Habsburg Spain, true of ancien régime France, true of the Ottoman Empire, true of the British Empire, this law is about to be put to the test by the U.S. beginning this very year.” Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office projects that, in part because of rising interest rates, the federal government will spend $892 billion during the current fiscal year for interest payments on the accumulated national debt of $28 trillion—meaning that interest payments now surpass the amount spent on defense and nearly match spending on Medicare.

    Washington has been adding to the national debt at an alarming pace. Not so long ago—beginning in the late 1990s—the federal government’s budget was actually in surplus, at least for a time. This year, it will be some $1.9 trillion in the red, the Congressional Budget Office forecast just this week.

    Only a dozen years ago, the aggregate government debt amounted to about 70% of the nation’s gross domestic product. This year, it will be about equal to the entire gross domestic product (and by some measures higher when additional government accounts are included). By 2028, it is forecast to reach a record 106% of GDP, matching the record hit during the heavy spending to finance World War II. By 2034, barring changes in tax and spending policy, it is projected to hit 122% of GDP, the highest level ever recorded.

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    John Connor II

    UK Labour Plans to Kill-off the Car to Meet the UN 2030 Agenda

    A Labour election win next month will be the end of the car as we know it. Labour will make it so difficult, so expensive, and so ‘anti-social’ to own one that only the privileged few will continue driving.

    United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030 states:

    Road Vehicles:

    2020-2029 Development of Petrol and Diesel engines ends. Any new vehicles introduced from now on must be compatible with ABSOLUTE ZERO.

    2030-2049 All new vehicles electric, average size of cars reduces to – 1000kg

    2050 – Absolute Zero: Road use at 60% of 2020 levels through reducing distance travelled or reducing vehicle weight.

    https://www.visionnews.online/post/labour-plans-to-kill-off-the-car-to-meet-the-un-2030-agenda

    Average weight of 1000kg?
    Lessee now:
    https://cdn.motor1.com/images/custom/bjorn-nyland-weight-20210820.png

    A LONG way to go and massive headaches in weight reduction to achieve the loonies dreams, which won’t happen in the time left, with key dates being 4q 2024, 1q 2025, 2028 (😎), 2030, 2032. Forget all their crazy projections and targets post 2032.

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      KP

      In their dreams! That electric Merc is hitting 3tons with one person in it, there is no way they are going to get EVS under a ton unless they’re powered by a normal lead-acid battery out of a IC car! As the owner of a car weighing 980Kg, you have no ABS, no computers, no screens, no driver aids, no airbags, no aircon, no steel thicker than 0.8mm, no wheels larger than 13″, no disc brakes over 220mm, and no soundproofing!

      Are these modern marshmallows called drivers willing to go back to the 70s? Are we looking at the cardboard cab Arnie hired on Mars? Top speed 40kph, range 100km?

      Anyway, I see you are watching Mr Armstrong, we shall see what happens later this year!

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    another ian

    “ANOTHER “SCIENTIFIC” MYTH, BUSTED: The Mysterious ‘Ecocide’ Collapse of Easter Island Never Really Happened. ”

    https://www.sciencealert.com/the-mysterious-ecocide-collapse-of-easter-island-never-really-happened

    “It now seems likely that they were casualties of open borders: “In fact, the collapse so soon after European contact in the 1700s probably had more to do with the slave trade, enforced migration, and introduced pathogens.” I don’t see people being as eager to hold that up as a warning.”

    https://instapundit.com/654767/#disqus_thread

    10

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Where’s the wind gone, through 2024 Q2? … with June perhaps even worse than April or May!”

    https://wattclarity.com.au/articles/2024/06/22june-lowwind-2024-q2/

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    David Maddison

    On Their ABC Radio (Australia) I just heard some “expert” talking about the “climate catastrophe” (sic) and he said that as the world heats up, for every 1C rise in temperature the atmosphere can supposedly absorb 7% more moisture. This results in more precipitation which is supposedly causing the Bay of Bengal to become more fresh and the Arabian Sea to become saltier. I stopped listening at that point.

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    David Maddison

    One of the mysteries of the ages is why the political left has, for centuries, lavished so much attention on the well-being of criminals and paid so little attention to their victims.

    Thomas Sowell

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    KP

    If anyone is still interested in Churchill’s Great Game with Russia, it is still steaming ahead as Britain stirs up coups in Macedonia and Kyrgyzstan.

    ” London operates a dedicated program known as “Global Britain” in the West Balkans. Leaked documents related to the effort reveal it is concerned with insidiously influencing the composition of local governments and legal and regulatory environments to advance British interests, while filling regional security, intelligence, and military forces with handpicked assets. As one leaked file makes clear, MI6 does not tolerate regional opposition to its agenda, readily deploying active measures to neutralize any and all local resistance: Events in Macedonia over the past decade provide a brutal demonstration of what can befall governments and officials in the Balkans who do not share Britain’s “objectives” and “values”, and how they are “held to account.” So too does a 2020 coup in Kyrgyzstan, where Garrett set up shop after leaving Skopje. With Central Asia now in the crosshairs of London’s endless quest for “reform” overseas, it’s never been more vital to beware Brits bearing gifts.”

    https://www.kitklarenberg.com/p/mi6-coup-in-macedonia-unravels

    Bribery, corruption, assassination.. the way the West influences the rest of the world. No wonder Ukraine is like it is.

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      Saighdear

      Fooh! How did I miss this comment? Yes, coupled with the Ukrainian shenanigans during the last POTUS election ..all those Planes ( & Votes?) flying to & Fro, writing is wots rote. and then scrubbed. ( think about that typos). Aye oor Nige has hit e Nail oan e Heid an e beeb n other MSM is fallowing the Uniparty Stream of, can I call it Propaganda, again. Even our UK GBNews channel & remnants of TalkTV ( on the radio ) has be come a switch-off now.
      Nige is Righter than he thinks on m any counts, but the left’s Uniparty claim BASICALLY : ” If you’re not WITH us, you are AGAINST us ”

      and as our garden Gem, Alan Titchmarsh says: Don’t dabble in what you don’t understand. Should be taken up by the MSM & Government.

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    another ian

    Things I learned about – reading while awaiting a hair cut the other day introduced me to

    “Protein poisoning”

    Protein poisoning (also referred to colloquially as rabbit starvation, mal de caribou, or fat starvation) is an acute form of malnutrition caused by a diet deficient in fat and carbohydrates, where almost all bioavailable calories come from the protein in lean meat.[1][2]”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning

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    Simon

    Stil struggling with 19th Century physics? The 7% additional water vapour is a consequence of the Clausius-Clapeyron equation
    dP/dT=L/T(V2−V1)

    05

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      Geoff Sherrington

      Simon,
      What evidence do you give that the extra ability to increase water vapour is actually taken up, leading to a rise in water vapour?
      Like, my bank gives me the ability to spend up to $10,000 of loan money, but I draw down what I need, not the lot in one burst. What links do you have for your understanding of this water in the air? Geoff S

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    another ian

    FWIW – an interesting thought at the end of

    https://pjmedia.com/kevindowneyjr/2024/06/21/biden-is-one-shart-away-from-being-kicked-to-the-curb-n4930057

    “If Biden is shipped to the old reptile’s home, Hunter will have to solve his legal problems on his own, and considering he “knows where the bodies are buried,” we just might see the Democrat Party implode like a vintage casino.”

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      Hanrahan

      Surely, seldom in the history of modern jurisprudence have prosecutors had such damning evidence of organised crime dropped in their lap as the Laptop From Hell. Bluddyell, how does that crime family still operate?

      A psychologist could write a book about Hunter’s subconscious wish to destroy his father.

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    Saighdear

    Well now, on the back of that daft UK Supreme court of Plonkers Directive, last week, and in the contrails of the initiating comments here, today:
    1. on our local STV : adverts “We are the Energy Technical Academy Group” We are Proud to be Accredited by … well it DOES say : the EU SR ( ussr or eussr ? – Hmm ) Reviews, etc appear to be an Oxymoron. Links on to “… offering qualifications and training courses via a network of approximately 160 approved centres located nationwide….”
    2.THose Eminent Judges decided…..3:2 … and here we have ‘Great Guys’ as in such Companies”Educating” others … the Blind leading the blind- AGAIN ! Just call them all “engineers” .. and a Certificate .
    ..Just saying, in the midst of all our current turmoil and MSM propaganda.

    40