Friday

8.8 out of 10 based on 19 ratings

106 comments to Friday

  • #

    Argentina’s First Budget Surplus in 123 Years –

    “Argentina has posted its first budget surplus in 123 after President Javir Milei took office and demanded an abrupt halt to government spending. Governments worldwide should carefully take note.

    Milei proudly announced:

    “The deficit was the root of all our evils — without it, there’s no debt, no emission, no inflation. Today, we have a sustained fiscal surplus, free of default, for the first time in 123 years. This historic achievement came from the greatest adjustment in history and reducing monetary emission to zero. A year ago, a degenerate printed 13% of GDP to win an election, fueling inflation. Today, monetary emission is a thing of the past.”

    Economic emissions should become a coined phrase as it is far more harmful than anything government is currently trying.”

    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/monetary-reform/argentinas-first-budget-surplus-in-123-years/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

    And they are going to go Nuclear. Australia, please note.

    251

    • #
      John F. Hultquist

      In the USA, the dying Biden administration is doing what it can to set the all-time record for “economic emissions”. Shock and awe come to mind.

      220

      • #

        ‘Upgrade Albo’ is doing it here as well promising everything in pre Election mode. And all we will get is blackouts.

        200

        • #
          David Maddison

          Other countries such as USA under TRUMP and Argentina under Milei are starting to “get it” and are or will soon advance but Australia is fanatically committed to regression in almost every way. The country is being deliberately destroyed. We have no TRUMP or anyone remotely like him, or even Milei. There is little hope for Australia’s future.

          290

          • #
            OldOzzie

            In Canberra swamp, personal reward beats public service

            Do we ever hear politicians criticising the exorbitant salaries of top mandarins? Of course not, because the Remuneration Tribunal – in the worst Yes Minister tradition – uses the latter as benchmarks for the former’s pay.

            David Pearl

            Only a short time ago, Anthony Albanese’s predilection for expensive flight upgrades from Qantas was the talk of the nation.

            Sadly, Albanese’s grasping behaviour is standard operating procedure for our political class. Exhibit A of the Canberra swamp.

            To paraphrase Max Weber, too many of our politicians and senior bureaucrats want to live off, rather than live for, their public service. Not only do they want the extraordinary privilege of serving the Australian people and the power that comes with it, they insist on richly rewarding themselves into the bargain.

            They all want their clifftop villa to retire to. The life of a politician is a demanding one, but a commitment of service to others must by definition involve sacrifices. Ask any member of our defence forces.

            Acceptance of gifts on an industrial scale is not the worst of it.

            Look at the exorbitant salaries our politicians and top mandarins pay themselves.

            It’s worth noting that during his first presidency, Donald Trump kept only $US1 of his salary, donating the rest of it to federal agencies.

            240

            • #
              Broadie

              Democracy dies when your community representation becomes a career.

              You just have to observe the petrie dish of a community organisation and Not for Profits. An organisation run by volunteers that successfully establishes a source of funds whether that be admissions, rental, paid for services, grants or donations will soon be infiltrated by committee members proposing honorariums, that morph to salaries and an increasing number of employees to the point where there are limited funds remaining to undertake the function those volunteers originally came together to achieve.

              The organisation like of levels of government have become focused on the filling their trough through taxes, fines, flogging the family silver and mortgaging against the wealth and labour of future generations.

              130

        • #
        • #
          Bruce

          Wadda’ ya mean “WILL get blackouts”?

          They are already happening.

          Grid instability and manipulation mean that “micro-blackouts are an almost daily occurrence.

          Been wondering why your kitchen microwave clock is wonky?

          How about tour computer / home network?

          Once the dreaded nbn came through,the whole system changed. ALL of your outside connections travel via the NBN, (unless you run a home-oowered satellite rig).

          The Catch is that EVERYTHING is ultimately “mains powered”. No stable 230V 50Hz? NO COMMS; even your wall phone is no longer powered from battery banks at the exchange, it relies on a “port” on the “hub”.. So, if the data and / or the mains to granny’s “life support” gors down for a few hours, will the life insurance folk cough up? Probably not; see “Force Majeure” for details. (The ultimate “get / stay out of jail” card for government,No Care, NO RESPONSIBILITY)

          “inverse spikes” (dropouts) will disrupt this mightily.

          If you still have a couple of Grand spare, you could invest in a SERIOUS UPS to smooth out the wrinkles and prevent data loss; BUT, only for YOU.

          Here in suburban Briz Vegas, we have bee experiencing NBN and “mains grid” instability for a couple of months, now. We do not have air-conditioning, the house is well insulated and has lots of options for directing any airflow via doors and windows.. .

          Interestingly enough, installing AC is about the only acceptable “reason” for supplying three-phase power to a domestic premises. You need three phase to drive a decent ducted system, as opposed to “window rattlers”.

          Of course you can play their silly game and LIE. The good stuff is cabled to your nice new switchboard, after which your tame domestic sparky does his thing; either patching it through to the central AC, or diverting it to the shed full of lovely, three phase lathes, mills and welders, out the back.

          110

          • #
            OldOzzie

            (The ultimate “get / stay out of jail” card for government,No Care, NO RESPONSIBILITY)

            Bruce,

            sums up NBN Perfectly – I have been having problems with NBN since December 2017, when Optus told me I had to get off their HFC Internet – I went with Aussiebroadband, who are superb, and since NBN in our area is Old Telstra HFC, as is the early 1990s HFC Telstra That NBN used from the Telstra Pit to my house underground, therein lies the problem.

            Thankfully as a soon to be 80 Year Old IT person, I have spent hours with the exceptional help of Aussiebroadband Technical People, having to prove that the problem lies with NBN – have to have a PC that can connect directly to Arris NBN Modem – no Modern Apple Laptops work, so have to drag Wife’s early 2009 iMac into room where termination is and connect ethernet cable to prove NBN Problem.

            Previous Last Call about 6 weeks ago, where NBN Contractor shook his head looking at old Telstra HFC Cable from Old Telstra Box to NBN termination, tidied up splitter in the Telstra Box, and also connection in Telstra Pit

            Drop out Problems continued, and as usual after proving NBN Problem with Aussiebroadband, NBN were coming Monday between 1-5 Pm – Did not turn up, rang Aussiebroadband and was told they had cancelled – sent in complaint and was rescheduled to yesterday

            Printed out Replacing Old Telstra HFC Cable

            Based on the provided search results, it’s essential to note that the old 1990s Telstra HFC cable used by NBN is prone to issues such as corrosion, noise ingress, and degradation, which can affect NBN speeds and reliability. Replacing the old cable with a new one is recommended to ensure stable and fast NBN connectivity.

            Here are some key points to consider when replacing the old cable:

            Type of replacement cable: The NBN uses DOCSIS 3.1 technology, so the replacement cable should be a DOCSIS 3.1 compliant HFC cable. This ensures compatibility with the NBN infrastructure and allows for faster speeds.

            And showed to NBN Tech, who was excellent, but said, they work as contractors to NBN and cannot tell them to replace HFC Cable

            In answer to question “No one is responsible for NBN?” – he said “yes”

            He replaced Arris NBN Modem, put an attenuator in the cable link from wall NBN Termination to new Arris NBN Modem and his test sceen showed stability.

            I said what if I wanted to pay myself to get new HFC Cable – “Contact an Electrician” – said I had already done that and they said cannot touch NBN – his reply, get them to run cable leaving ends at either end, and then call NBN to connect having faked problems in the days before.

            Problem with that is as underground run, would use existing cable to pull though new cable – so would be without NBN for a number of days

            So you are perfectly correct – (The ultimate “get / stay out of jail” card for government,No Care, NO RESPONSIBILITY)

            90

            • #
              David Maddison

              I had an NBN problem at one of my properties.

              The first bunch of NBN people who came were utterly useless and had no clue.

              They connected their Time Domain Reflectometer to the cable and they said that I must have an extra 250 metres of cable on my premises. I pointed out to them that it was only about 20m from the connection point in the house to the street pit and they said surplus cable must be coiled up in my house and given that it was on customer premises it was my responsibility to sort out. I told them no one would waste that much cable and they didn’t care. I assume they didn’t know how to use a TDR either.

              I then had to make more complaints and eventually I managed to get someone who did have a clue and they diagnosed bad connections in the street pit which they fixed.

              100

            • #
              OldOzzie

              Who’s responsible for the broken pipe outside Jane’s house? No one knows or cares

              Water has been running – no, Jane Hester corrects: not running but pouring – down the street for close to a fortnight.

              The Manly grandmother, 84, suspects a broken pipe has left a significant section of Malvern Avenue, two blocks behind Queenscliff Beach in Sydney’s north, underwater.

              However, no one seems to want to find a solution.

              Hester said she reported the complaint to Northern Beaches Council several days ago.

              “But nothing happened,” she said, “so I went back to the council. They said ‘we’ve put in a very important message about it’.”

              Hester waited, but still no action.

              “Then this morning, my phone goes, and it’s [Sydney Water]. ‘We’ve put in a very important message to the council because it’s the council’s business’.”

              91

          • #
            Tel

            A basic UPS only sets you back a few hundred dollars these days.

            https://www.bigw.com.au/product/cyberpower-700va-390w-brics-lcd-backup-ups-system-br700elcd-/p/9900134882

            They do a good job of handling brief power instabilities. What I found is that without the UPS we would get just enough brown-out dip to cause the modem to hang, but not sufficient to trigger a full reset. Then you would need to go and manually unplug the modem, count to ten, plug it back in again. Very Annoying!

            The UPS has sorted out those problems nicely. Interesting that they are turning up in almost every store across Australia lately … almost like people are discovering they really need this gear.

            00

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Melei is also getting the gov out of the way of oil production. Where they had gas lines a little while ago they are now developing Vaca Muerta into a world class oil/gas field.

      https://youtu.be/wVus4eh95dA?t=185

      10

  • #
    Annie

    I’ve just seen the latest Johannes Leak cartoon in The Australian. It’s totally brilliant and utterly hilarious. I’m sorry, can’t link on here. Maybe some cleverer person can.

    321

  • #
    David Maddison

    Every few days there’s an announcement of some new virus or some new risk from an existing virus.

    It’s all part of the plan to keep Joe and Joanne Sixpack in a constant state of terror. And, of course, provide an excuse to require the next round of compulsory, expensive and useless mRNA “vaccinations” and further removal of human rights, at least in the more fanatically woke UN/WEF obedient countries like Australia.

    https://news.sky.com/story/virus-most-likely-to-cause-next-pandemic-could-be-passed-to-humans-from-horses-study-finds-13271625

    Thursday 12 December 2024

    Bird flu antibodies have been found in blood samples taken from horses in Mongolia, meaning horses anywhere could be vulnerable in areas where bird flu is present – and they could pass on the virus to humans.

    Bird flu can infect horses without causing any symptoms, according to new research, raising fears that the virus could be spreading undetected.

    It’s another twist in the emerging threat of the H5N1 virus, widely seen as the most likely cause of the next pandemic.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

    150

  • #
    David Maddison

    Once Great Britain is becoming everything Orwell warned about in Nineteen Eighty Four.

    In the following video, Simon Webb discusses how only those with approved political views can be employed by the UK Government.

    Of course, in the example discussed “extreme right wing” (according to the Left) simply means anyone slightly to the right of Pol Pot.

    https://youtu.be/nr3rBa64unc

    150

    • #
      Steve of Cornubia

      Meanwhile, elsewhere in Batshit Bonkers Britain (TM Katie Hopkins), a guy who participated in the recent demonstration outside a migrant hostel, during which he added a piece of wood to a fire somebody else had lit, then threw a rock at a policeperson, has been jailed for … wait for it …

      NINE YEARS!!!!!!

      Elsewhere in the UK’s free and fair legal system, by way of comparison, Huzaefa Aleboud was convicted of assaulting a 13yo girl by penetration, two counts of rape and assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was jailed for five and a half years. One of his accomplices, Hamoud Al Soaimi, convicted of three counts of sexual assault of the same 13yo girl and one assault by penetration, was jailed for two years suspended for two years with 180 hours unpaid work.

      I can’t find the words, seriously.

      130

      • #
        Greg in NZ

        Where’s King Charlie or Prince Willie when ya need ‘em – talking to cabbages or saving the planet?

        Johnny Rotten (the original one) was correct: it’s a f***ist regime.

        20

        • #
          Steve of Cornubia

          Chaz and Will have their roles, for the moment at least, but neither have any say in sentencing. THAT is at the discretion of the government.

          10

    • #
      Skepticynic

      >only those with approved political views can be employed by the…

      Sounds exactly like the ABC!

      10

  • #
    David Maddison

    Moira Deeming won her defamation case against Victorian Liberal (fake conservative) Opposition “leader” for calling her a Nazi. What he said was bizarre, inappropriate and obviously untrue. He is unfit for leadership even of the fake conservative Liberal Party and he is a complete waste of space but refuses to resign.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/12/moira-deeming-wins-defamation-case-victorian-liberal-leader-john-pesutto-over-neo-nazi-comments-ntwnfb

    John Pesutto defies calls to resign after being ordered to pay $300,000 for defaming Moira Deeming

    A defiant John Pesutto says he won’t resign as Victoria’s opposition leader after a damning court judgment found he defamed ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming and will need to pay her $300,000 in damages.

    Federal court justice David O’Callaghan on Thursday found Pesutto defamed Deeming on five separate occasions after the Let Women Speak rally she helped organise on 18 March 2023, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

    O’Callaghan found a media release, radio and TV interviews, press conference and a dossier Pesutto created to justify her expulsion from the party room conveyed that Deeming “knowingly associated” and “sympathises” with neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

    240

  • #
    David Maddison

    This is not a bad effort by this African guy who built his own car from scrap.

    https://youtu.be/_LV-xwHCrg8

    And on the subject of African cars, Africa is trying to build its own EV.

    https://youtu.be/RigENdB0uH0

    Don’t laugh. Africa is trying to build a car industry but Australia shut theirs down, mostly due to expensive “green” energy and feral unions. Do you feel left behind yet?

    150

  • #
    David Maddison

    Now taken bets on whether Australia’s BoM (official Government meterological propaganda organisation whose weather prediction can no longer be trusted) will declare 2024 the “hottest eeevveerrr”, as we freeze here in Melbournistan.

    210

    • #
      RickWill

      I am certain of it. I think it is the first year evah that every month has been higher than the trailing 30 year average.

      Hottest” is used loosely though.

      A few days back, I compared November 2024 with 1974 for Ferny Creek. Daily minimums up from 10C to a whopping 15C. Maximums up by a smaller margin from 24 to 25C. So Nov24 up on Nov74 by 3C – that puts it into scary territory according to the UN. And I believe “hottest” November evah for Australia; likely tipping the scales to hottest year evah.

      But all the extra moisture in the atmosphere is now doing its thing during the boreal winter. Stories you will not see on their ABC:
      https://www.ntv.co.jp/englishnews/articles/2021e7vjsrez6ao834qr.html
      https://www.aol.com/bomb-cyclones-record-rain-high-184918416.html
      https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/other/snowfall-totals-here-s-how-much-snow-fell-in-west-michigan/ar-AA1v2luk

      60

      • #
        Greg in NZ

        Japan’s skifields have been BURIED under relentless snowfalls (1 to 2 metres just this last week) as Siberian nor’westers pick up moisture off the Sea of Japan then slam into the mountains of Honshu and Hokkaido – despite warnings years ago the ski industry was ‘on the rocks’ due to you know what.

        And here in the Southern Hemisphere 1 week out from our longest day – summer at last? –
        Friday 13th December 2024
        Mt Cook & Southern Alps
        Heavy Snow (60cm next 48hrs)
        -7C temp, -19C windchill, 70km/h W gales.

        So-called ‘Black Friday’ turns into WHITEOUT BLIZZARD FRIGID Friday the 13th, the 3rd snowstorm this month (‘summer’?). Looking at the Roaring Forties screaming eastwards under Aus, I’m 97% confident we’ll have a 4th blizzard before the year’s out… odds on a ‘White Solstice’ or even better, a ‘White Christmas’?

        NB. Last year it snowed Dec 30 & 31 and carried on snowing into Jan 1 2024, even on Mt Ruapehu in the North Island, New Year’s Day: there’s almost a pattern forming here methinks.

        90

    • #
      el+gordo

      Melburnians to experience a weekend of summer before the cold sets in again.

      A hot continental air mass will drift over southeastern Australia from this weekend as a stream of northwesterly winds develops ahead of an approaching cold front. This air mass will bring the highest temperatures of the year to much of Vic, including Melbourne.’ (Weatherzone)

      42

    • #
      Brenda Spence

      Dont worry, Perth’s heat is on its way!

      Makes a mockery of “average” temperatures

      20

    • #
      Yarpos

      Freeze? Gilding the lily a bit arent we?

      10

  • #

    Oz lurches forward with more renewables:
    https://renews.biz/97610/australia-selects-first-tender-projects/

    The whole article is crap. An example: “The Capacity Investment Scheme aims to ensure enough new affordable and reliable electricity will be brought into the grid to meet demand between now and 2030.”

    Affordable and reliable! That should rule out renewables.

    190

    • #
      David Maddison

      affordable and reliable electricity

      Australia, like most Western countries, has strict laws against false and misleading advertising and false and misleading statements relating to corporate activities and decisions. That statement is dangerously close, if not a direct violation of one or more of those. It is an obvious lie because the more wind and solar we get, the more exoensive and less reliable electricity becomes.

      And as Jo mentioned a few days ago, if it were not for vast amounts of taxpayer money being paid to large industrial consumers such as the Tomago aluminium smelter which draws 850MW, to shut down on a regular basis, then Australia would have regular huge blackouts

      190

    • #
      another ian

      Bumped from late Thursday

      FWIW – dawning!

      “Wind Power Has Hit Its Limits In Europe”

      “Brian Vad Mathiesen, a professor at Aalborg University in Denmark, commented: “We cannot have an electricity system that’s based solely on wind and solar. There are stark technical and economic limits to how much we can integrate into the grid.” ”

      https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wind-power-has-hit-its-limits-europe

      110

    • #
      GlenM

      Affordable and reliable counts as misinformation in my view. They have a hide this lot.

      110

    • #
      Eng_Ian

      I’d argue that solar is mostly reliable.

      I can guarantee that it will not produce any electricity at night.
      I can guarantee that it will produce at or close to nameplate when the sky is clear and the temperature is cool.
      I can guarantee that the power produced will significantly decline if a cloud goes over.
      I can guarantee that the power produced will decline due to an elevated temperature on the panels, typically 0.3% per degree C above 25C, (ever touched a panel that’s been in sunlight on a hot day? Bet you won’t do it again).

      I could do similar for wind but it is less reliable, it has bearings that fail and maintenance periods that may or may not stay on time.

      Somehow the marketing teams, spruiking their buzz words like ‘reliable’ have actually told the truth. What we should have been asking for is power that can be dispatched on demand. How silly of us to miss that little detail. Back to the naughty corner for us.

      140

      • #
        RickWill

        I can guarantee that it will produce at or close to nameplate when the sky is clear and the temperature is cool.

        You can only make that guarantee with a lot of qualifying statements:
        On the one day at sun zenith when the panels are perpendicular to the sun rays. Or the panels are full 2 axis tracking.
        Providing there are no trees, dust, bird poop, water ingress etc shadowing the panels.

        20

      • #
        Tel

        I can guarantee that the power produced will significantly decline if a cloud goes over.

        But you can’t plan in advance when that’s gonna happen.

        I think solar is great as a booster to air conditioning because that’s mostly going to be required on hot, sunny days.

        Solar is ok for tasks which can be shifted to days when the solar is available … e.g. swimming pool filter, laundry, baking a cake, pumping bores into tanks, etc. These can only be tasks where, if you miss a day or two, no one really cares.

        Solar plus battery is a great combo for low power 24×7 applications such as LED night lights, some radio comms and cameras and sensors. Limitation: can’t do high power because battery is too expensive and long-term unreliable.

        There’s a few special cases like powering a freezer, where the freezer itself can store energy for a day or so.

        00

  • #
    TdeF

    Front page of the Australian..

    “The climate war is no longer a dispute between the left and the right. It is now an economic war. An ideological contest over how to get to where most people now accept is desirable.

    What happened to science?

    – – – – – – – –

    Sadly I found this in conversation with Physics Professors Peter Ridd and Will Happer. The C14 levels are precisely what they have been for the last hundred thousands years, so there is no fossil fuel CO2 in the air (2.0%). End of story. That’s physics.

    But both then said, ‘but how do you explain’? What about ice cores? Spectral absorption and reflection? And so it went.

    The point as a scientist is that the proposition that the CO2 in the air is man made has been busted since 1958, but even leading proponents of the lie of man made CO2 driven rapid tipping point Global warming quickly skip over the simple undeniable fact that it’s not true.

    CO2 has one molecule in a trillion of C14 due to cosmic rays. Fossil fuel CO2 has none. The C14 level today is the same as 1800. (Not down 33%.)

    Man made CO2 is categorically not true by direct observation. Absolute proof, not inference or coincidence.

    – – – – – – – – – – –

    Why should this be a ‘dispute between left and right’ etc? An ‘economic war’. A war of opinion? To employ journalists?

    We should quickly rebuild what we have blown up. End of story. Everything else is irrelevant.

    And the CSIRO, the office of the Chief Scientist, ANSTO. No one says anything. I spoke directly to Alan Finkel. He was excited about the ‘biggest change in society since the industrial revolution’. Alan said for every paper which denied it, he could find another. ANSTO said ‘you don’t understand radiation’.

    Has the world gone completely mad? It’s not true. When you weigh something, you are measuring mass. When you measure age, CO2 is thoroughly modern, not ancient fossil fuel.

    190

    • #
      David Maddison

      Why should this be a ‘dispute between left and right’ etc?

      1) The Left subscribe to the doctrine of post-modernism which posits that there is no such thing as objective reality. The “truth” is whatever YOU think it is. That’s why you hear Leftists use expressions like “my truth”, not “the truth”. There is a very good article about post-modernism here: https://www.britannica.com/topic/postmodernism-philosophy

      2) Leftists, or at least the leadership of the slave army of useful idiots of the Left, are committed to the destruction of Western Civilisation. The anthropogenic global warming fra_d is one of the weapons used to do this. The destruction of the Judeo-Christian moral code is another.

      120

    • #
      el+gordo

      ‘It is now an economic war.’

      In fact its an ongoing climate war, but Benson thinks the science is settled.

      12

  • #

    Around the Western world, subsidised and mandated wind and solar power have been displacing conventional power in the electricity supply. Consequently, most of the grids in the west are moving towards a tipping point where the lights will flicker at night when the wind is low.

    This is a “frog in the saucepan” effect and it only starts to worry people when it is almost too late.
    https://newcatallaxy.blog/2023/07/11/approaching-the-tipping-point/

    In Australia the transition has just hit the wall. Britain and Germany have passed the tipping point and they keep the lights on precariously with imports and deindustrialization to reduce demand.

    The meteorologists never issued wind drought warnings and they even missed the Dunkelflautes that must have been known to mariners and millers for centuries!

    https://www.flickerpower.com/images/The_endless_wind_drought_crippling_renewables___The_Spectator_Australia.pdf

    IN case they missed it before, there is a massive wind drought in Europe at present and power prices are through the roof.

    Can we find out why the meteorologists failed to warn us about wind droughts? Imagine embarking on a major irrigation project without investigating the water supply including historical rainfall figures.

    https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/climate-change/no-gusts-no-glory/

    170

    • #
      TdeF

      Chinese money.

      Look at who outputs nearly more CO2 than all other nations combined and sells all the windmills and solar panels and invented and distributed the Wuhan Flu to the world.

      Look at who banned our lobsters and wine for simply asking the question?

      Look at who sets up police stations in foreign countries like Ireland just to haul their own citizens off the street for not obeying orders.

      WWIII has started. It’s not nuclear.

      And the journalists and politicians are compliant. From Andrews and Albanese to Wong. The whole alphabet of toadies.

      200

  • #
    Forrest Gardener

    One of the more Orwellian recent turns of phrase is to classify shutting down electricity use as,

    wait for it,

    a source of electricity.

    Yep. Just flick the switch to off and you magically become a generator.

    120

    • #
      TdeF

      In a hot war, the first move is to shut down the power stations.

      And when the Labor party lost control of the power stations in the 1990s, they wanted their power back. You might remember the predictable strikes at Christmas and Easter. And the baggage handlers. etc.

      So what has happened is the Nationalizaion of all electrical power.

      1. stop fossil fuels as by the Constitution, they are in the complete control of the states based on natural resources.

      2. create and enforce a National Grid, to save the country from shortages and implement a National policy on electricity.

      3. force everyone to use Chinese windmills and solar panels.

      4. Make the Prime Minster the head of all the power stations.

      5. Pass endless laws to commercially punish anyone who produces Carbon Dioxide. aka the Safeguard Mechanism. A 35% tax on carbon dioxide to be sent to China as certificates.

      And Voila, the unions are back in power. And so are the Chinese communists. Plus all communists hate Israel. Why is unknown. But it is now official Australian foreign policy. Or as Prime Minister Albanese says, hating Israel is not the same as antisemitism. Really? Why do we even care? What business is it of Australia?

      152

    • #
      David Maddison

      Yes. Paying large amounts of taxpayer money to shut down large industrial consumers like the Tomago aluminium smelter which draws 850MW to liberate electricity is seen as what they call a “virtual power station”. If it wasn’t for these “virtual power stations”, Australia would have regular blackouts.

      130

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Are our smaller towns declining, too?”

    https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/12/are-our-smaller-towns-declining-too.html

    There is a lot of empty shop space in inland Oz

    40

    • #
      Tel

      One thing I noticed about living further out of town is that Amazon Prime will give free (on the margin) delivery on any item. Want a bag of peanuts and don’t feel like driving to the store? No problem, someone xan personally put those peanuts into your hands the next day.

      I dunno how Amazon makes a profit on that … but my wife finds it very handy and I’m starting to get won over.

      I feel a bit bad for the local stores competing against such a monster … and I do sometimes but local for some things … but sheesh Amazon has a heck of a big range and free delivery next day for many items!

      00

      • #
        Skepticynic

        How far out of town is too far to get that kind of service?

        00

        • #
          Tel

          If you do a bit of searching, it will give you lists of postcodes around your general area.

          I couldn’t find a page with one big master list covering the delivery area … I presume there would have to be limitations but at least in our case Amazon package delivery goes to the door, while Aust Post only ever delivers a card and you need to drive down and pickup packages from the post office.

          Also, with Aust Post even a small regular postpak satchel is not cheap – $11 then it goes up to $15 for express post.

          10

  • #
    Penguinite

    Great Johannes Leak cartoon in todays Australian “Dress Up Albo doll” showing a range of his T shirts including “Buy one get Wong Free”

    100

  • #
    Tides of Mudgee

    Received an email with this trailer of “Dollars and Destruction” with no further information. Have searched and can’t find the full doco. Anyone know? ToM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=KHDcprkbKxs&fbclid=IwY2xjawHDIn5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHa2x3ZRcdWLIVgbzIxVTuAREeo5rIcXtudeWp6q-7WiqhZqFBJKQJKhlpw_aem_zbVwZzfVJi67jxdPMjC-tw

    50

  • #
    Chad

    Wind turbine towers “flexing” in the breeze !
    I doubt any engineers will be comfortable watching this …..
    https://youtu.be/mL_MgUakQSc?si=y5vMyjK0wQOVkCrx

    70

    • #
      Neville

      Chad it’s hard to believe that turbine mast would last 15 years, but most clueless donkeys will still believe.

      70

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Aircraft wings are designed to flex. Is this within design parameters? Hard to imagine if rivets are popping.

        00

    • #
      Eng_Ian

      ALL structures deflect under load. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

      I’d more concerned about the cyclic flexing that was visible under load. It looked like maybe a few percent more added then subtracted from the load, probably when the fan blade went in front of the tower. Cyclic loading causes fatigue, you only get so many flexes before the material either work hardens or fails due to micro cracks that grow until they are no longer micro.

      60

    • #
      Broadie

      Lucky for now that the tower is absorbing the shocks or the whole stick and its footings would be slowly but surely knocked over by impact of the twisting forces and impacts.

      00

    • #
      Yarpos

      Looks less dramatic than many an aicraft wing I have watched. Hopefully its built to cope.

      00

  • #
    David Maddison

    Video from Paul Joseph Watson.

    The Left are rebranding arch terrorist leader of the Syrian insurgency Abu Mohammed al-Jolani as a good guy, ignoring his terrorist past.

    No surprise, of course.

    https://youtu.be/R9f_VVueu6g

    93

    • #
      MP

      My enemy’s enemy is my friend.

      How did you figure it to be “left” backed by the USA and Israel, apparently they are Al-Qaeda, the arch enemy of the USA and Israel, now installed in power by the USA and Israel, are these two countries “left”.

      You’re that tangled in your own byass you cannot see the game plan.

      51

      • #
        KP

        “How did you figure it to be “left” backed by the USA and Israel, apparently they are Al-Qaeda, the arch enemy of the USA and Israel, now installed in power by the USA and Israel, are these two countries “left”.”

        Yes, its not “Left” or “Right”, its just the Yanks and Israel versus the world. They will happily create and train terrorist organisations like they did with Al Qaeda/ISIS to use against their enemies-of-the-moment, and even use them in false flag events like the twin towers if needed. They don’t care about politics or who is Left-Right-Whatever, only who has the power to command whole countries.

        You can only be a friend of America if you are a vassal, do as you’re told or you will be taken down. They don’t recognise ‘allies’, only targets or countries of acceptable collateral damage. Would they sacrifice Germany to destroy the Russians?? Lets wait and see…

        00

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Does it matter how PJW, you or I describe him? He is BOSS for now and we have nothing to do with it. There are no good guys.

      Assad had to go before any change would be possible.

      22

  • #
    KP

    “Pay up by January 1 or face huge penalties, government tells Zuckerberg

    “The Australian government will defend its sovereignty and we would take very, very dimly any decision by any platform to respond to this very reasonable, well-thought-through, deeply consulted initiative with any … sort of retributive actions,” Jones said.

    The government intends for the charge to come into effect from January 1, despite key details still being determined. As parliament has risen for the year, this suggests it would have to be applied retrospectively.”

    Ah, Utopia Australia..
    ‘We need a launch! The PM’s suffering in the polls! What can you do’
    ‘But you haven’t done anything about building the last project’
    ‘It doesn’t matter we just need something to announce..’

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tiktok-caught-in-australian-tech-charge-as-labor-unveils-meta-fightback-20241212-p5kxss.html

    30

    • #
      el+gordo

      ‘Meta has consistently argued its users do not value news content and it should therefore not pay for article links.’

      That is a reasonable argument, hard to verify.

      00

  • #

    I mentioned this a day or so back, how the future for Offshore wind in Australia might be, well, not what is proposed, and probably not even happening at all, outside of thought bubble proposals proudly spruiked by, well, you know who, and his cronies.

    So, why is that?

    The maritime shipping required to actually construct them, you know, out in the Ocean.

    It’s been done in Europe, sure enough, but wait till you see what is actually required, and the cost of them, and here, keep in mind we have no shipbuilding capability here in Australia.

    I have a new Post at my home site, and when you read what is actually required, you might view these proposals for what they are, hot air.

    Link to Post – Problems For Offshore Wind In Australia

    Not just my saying this either, as I have a couple of references to back it all up.

    Tony.

    150

    • #
      Chad

      Tony, i know you have a lot of data for coal, wind, solar , etc, generation onto the Grid.
      We also know that the data quoted for Roof Top solar is just a estimate based on system sales, and some regeonal sample recording etc. …and as such should be treated with a pinch of salt .
      ….But is there anywhere reliable data for that portion of RT solar that is fed into the grid.?
      Im sure the electricity retailers have the data to re emburse the FIT charges that customers earn, but does any authority (AEMO ?) collect and summarise the totals .?

      00

      • #

        Chad,

        you are entirely correct where you write this:

        the data quoted for Roof Top solar is just an estimate based on system sales, and some regional sample recording etc

        This is what a lot of people do not understand. The OpenNem site and the Aneroid site both provide those estimates, and it seems that people INCORRECTLY ‘assume’ that these figures are verbatim, like the totals actually shown at the OpenNEM site, and that the total power shown there is what is fed onto the grid. (a) Consumed in that area where it is generated on the rooftops in that area ….. and (b) fed onto the grid ….. are NOT the same thing.

        Both of those sites showing those estimates are computer data ‘constructs’ taken directly from the AEMO site for exact contributions to the grid, those SCADA reports which are updated on that five Minute basis. There are ten magillion bazillion gazillion of them, and these are the ONLY reports for what goes to the grid.

        You click on any of them and it will download an Excel spreadsheet showing the exact contribution to the grid in the previous five minutes of ….. EVERY registered power source in the Country.

        Rooftop solar is a guess, and here I might have said best case guess, but hey, who would actually know for certain.

        There is NO WAY anyone would ever know with any accuracy at all.

        Those two recording entities I mentioned compile those guesses.

        I might add that nothing would go back to the grid in the reverse direction at any substation anywhere, so rooftop solar would be consumed in the local area where it is being generated on top of those roofs.

        Tony.

        30

  • #
    Neville

    Very simple sums proves that Labor and Bowen are dopes or con merchants.
    In 2022 Chinese co2 emissions were 11.35 billion tons and increased to 11.9 B ts in 2023 or an increase of 0.55 Bn Ts in just one year.
    But Australian co2 emissions in 2023 were just 0.383 bn Ts or about the same annual co2 emissions as the last 20+ years.
    Again China’s INCREASE from 2022 to 2023 is 1.4 times HIGHER than Australia’s TOTAL co2 emissions. IOW simple to find and simple to understand. So what’s the problem with Albo and B O Bowen?
    Here’s the link from OWI Data.

    https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country?country=OWID_WRL~CHN~AUS

    80

    • #
      Neville

      Sorry that Chinese increase from 2022 to 2023 is about 1.6 times Australia’s TOTAL annual co2 emissions. Not 1.4 times.

      20

  • #
    Steve of Cornubia

    Google Shopping “goes full Jaguar” with their Christmas shopping ad. Sorry, did I say ‘Christmas’? Sorry, I meant ‘holidays’. Sorry.

    Note the absence of anything remotely connected with traditional Christmas celebrations and imagery, just a pot plant with lights, plus of course …

    https://www.instagram.com/p/DDXshDxyVk2/

    00

  • #
    John Connor II

    The march of Hammerschmid Teufellauf

    St. Gallen, Switzerland, every Dec 5.

    https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_snqqt2oMii1sstv8d.mp4

    Reminds me of climate activist loons.

    10

  • #
    Vladimir

    After listening to Jacinta Allen this morning It finally clicked in my head – who are all those people? Like her, Chris Bowen, and some others…
    I thought they can not read English. We all met people (especially – bosses) who talk well but tragically cannot hear, there must be people who write but unable to read.
    There must be tons of data, for years coming to her desk daily screaming at her STOP DIGGING ! You are already at the bottom !

    20

  • #

    It is just about the US medical insurance assassination, but this is as good a journalistic take as I have seen, on any topic, in memory! And this is the journalism our mis information laws are designed to stop. It’s 26 mins so long, but just a great example of how things should be done.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd2RmweW9WE&t=368s

    01

  • #
    Vladimir

    Again, by chance came across an interesting fellow Yang Kuisong, worth checking – just an example:
    https://www.readingthechinadream.com/yang-kuisong-facing-up-to-chinas-revolution.html
    Some of what he is discussing, eg – how Russia helped (or otherwise…) to create modern China I read years ago and curiously it is coincides to some small details, but some quite opposite. Must be a matter of perception – when you give or when you receive…
    Like, number of machine guns and boxes of shell passed over in 1945-46, or thousands of Mexican dollars – it was big sums in 1920-30es…

    00

    • #
      el+gordo

      ‘The Soviet Union collapsed, but we are still here, so why can’t we continue for a thousand generations?’

      Revolution is coming in China, unpaid workers attacked the police who had arrived to maintain stability. They picked up steel rods and chased them away, so to avoid further embarrassment the workers were paid their wages.

      Are you aware of the homelessness in capital cities, people sleeping on the street and eating garbage scraps to survive, they are helpless. Xi is puffed up with his own self importance and cannot see that he has destroyed the middle class.

      The students and workers are returning to their villages, a hotbed of discontent is going to explode.

      34

      • #
        Honk R Smith

        “Xi is puffed up with his own self importance and cannot see that he has destroyed the middle class.”

        At least we don’t have any puffed up self importants in the Western countries destroying the middle class and creating homelessness and hotbeds of discontent.
        Yay us.

        20

        • #
          el+gordo

          The difference between democracies and dictatorships is stark, we can throw out our elected representatives and replace them with other clowns.

          00

  • #
    Yarpos

    “You need three phase to drive a decent ducted system, as opposed to “window rattlers”

    There is a world of products between these two extremes

    00

  • #
  • #
    Tony Dique

    Has anybody heard anything about major electricity supply problems in northern New South Wales in January?

    00

  • #
    Broadie

    Doctor William Bay claims victory in the Queensland Supreme Court.

    Enormous victory against APHRA

    Health Professionals free to talk without being de-registered

    20

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – from today’s Coffee and Covid newsletter

    “a hiccup for the “Moderna Melbourne” production line?

    “Yesterday, BioSpace ran a pharma-insider article headlined, “Moderna’s RSV Vaccines Run Into Safety Roadblock.” Corporate media has hysterical blindless and can’t see this story. The sub-headline added, “The FDA flagged at least five cases of severe or very severe RSV lower respiratory tract infections in infants immunized with Moderna’s investigational mRNA vaccines.” In other words, the vaccine didn’t work (ineffective) and made the infants more susceptible to RSV (unsafe).”

    More at

    https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/1500-pardon-st-thursday-december?

    And other things

    30

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Provoked: The Long Train Of Abuses That Culminated In The Ukraine War”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/provoked-long-train-abuses-culminated-ukraine-war

    10

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – more covid linking

    “Trump’s Nominee for FBI Director Dropped a Major Allegation About the CIA, COVID, and Dr. Fauci”

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2024/12/13/trumps-fbi-director-nominee-dropped-a-major-allegation-about-the-cia-covid-and-dr-fauci-n2648985

    10

  • #
  • #