JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Last full day in jersey and went to the war tunnels. This was excavated by slave Labour and locals and served as a giant hospital complex for the Germans who had 15000 troops here in a population of only 60000 locals.
Jersey was invaded in July 1940 when Churchill decided it could not be defended. Things must have looked ultra bleak what with the airborne battle of Britain the collapse of the Belgian and French armies which culminated in the evacuation at dunkirk of 338000 British soldiers.
Jersey is very much like devon, my county, and cornwall and is very english. It was very chilling therefore to see German troops in the context of English buildings, phone boxes, pedestrian crossings etc.
All this was of course whilst europe was collapsing, German tanks were driving through Paris and fully 18 months before The Americans joined. Our Aussie and kiwi friends had joined the allies at the start of the war of course.
The allies landed in Normandy in 1944 but it was not until ve day a year later that Jersey was liberated. As I mentioned yesterday liberation day is still a very big thing here
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Jersey was largely ignored. Retaking Jersey was pointless in terms of effort and benefit. It had been turned into a fortress. So had Norway. What was effective was keeping 15,000 troops in Jersey and 250,000 troops in Norway during the Normandy landings. Defending such a huge coast was impossible. What really mattered was control of ports and supply of petrol. These were solved by Churchill’s Mulberry ports and the extraordinary PLUTO petrol pumping all the way from Liverpool to Southhampton to the beach at Normandy and then into the countryside.
So many things were invented in those times. And after the war had huge impact on the rapid development of the modern consumer society. Cheap free Penicillin in massive quantities was perhaps the greatest result of the D Day landings. And 98% of the wounded soldiers who made it back to England were saved.
But Jersey had to wait. Like Norway. Logistics were the real battle when invading, not strong points and castles as in previous wars. In modern warfare these could be bypassed.
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Also hardly known in the rapid technical development during the war was the attempt to destroy the extraordinary superweapon, a German rail gun by crashing an aircraft into the site.
This cost the life of Joseph Kennedy, the older brother of John Kennedy. Joseph volunteered instead of going home after his survival of his tour of duty as a bomber pilot. The weapon was a remote control Libeator B-24 bomber stuffed with high explosive and flown remotely from an adjacent Liberator using a television camera. This predated the drones of today. But it could not also take off on its own and the takeoff crew including Kennedy were to bail out as the adjacent aircraft took control of the drone. Unfortunately the tricky remote bomb trigger was susceptible to radio interference as a British engineer had warned. So the bomb triggered over Kent, vaporizing Kennedy.
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Excuse me, it’s not the first of April; that PLUTO story beggars belief.
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“America joined the war late in 1941.”
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After Pearl Harbour. But they had already been shipping massive supplies to the UK and Russia under the Lend Lease program. Neither country would have survived the war without US help. The shipments to Russia were incredible. And when Russia finally reached Berlin, it was on US trucks. The Germans may have had mobility in tanks and aircraft, but they lacked the trucks and their soldiers walked into Russia in Blitzkreig with a million horses pulling wagons.
Even today along the Trans Siberian railway there are WWII trains as memorials. Check the wheels. All sizes are in inches. And there was enough rail line to build the Trans Siberian three times over. Food in vast quantities. Aircraft. Much came through Iran, a traditional strong connection from Persian days which persists today, something which also influences US policy with Iran. The battleground remains Afghanistan, the key to India.
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For obvious reasons the advent of ‘Lend-Lease was represented as an act of unparalleled generosity. In fact it was clearly to America’s advantage that American weapons should be carried into battle by the fighting men of England and the empire rather than by the sons of American mothers…
The opportunity for the most ruthless of American attempts at hard bargaining during the summer of 1940 was provided by the desperate English shortage of destroyers, of which they possessed only ninety-four, the result of the refusal of the disarming governments of the 1920s and 1930s to hearken to the warnings of the Admiralty that imperial defence and the protection of trade routes demanded all the 433 destroyers which had been at sea in 1918. The Englsh asked for fifty ‘moth-balled’ four-stack destroyers dating from the Great War. The United STates Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, proposed that these fifty ancient vessels should constitute the full purchase price for the naval and air bases which England had offered the United States in Newfoundland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Santa Lucia, Trinidad and British Guiana; not only that, but, as the British War CAbinet minutes put it: ‘The draft letters proposed by Mr Cordell Hull also included a definite statement that if the waters surrounding the British Isles became untenable to British ships of war, these would be sent to other parts of the empire for the continued defence of the Empire.’ In other words the British were to agree not to use their fleet as a bargaining counter in peace negotiations with Germany, should a German invasion prove successful.
– from Correlli Barnett’s book “The Collapse of British Power” (1972).
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“fully 18 months before The Americans joined. Our Aussie and kiwi friends had joined the allies at the start of the war of course.”
Sigh.
America had no reason to join before Pearl Harbor. Americans were extremely reluctant to get involved in another ‘European War’ after getting dragged into WWI a generation earlier for no good reason. Unlike the Commonwealth countries you mentioned, Americans prided themselves on leaving the conflicts of and loyalties to the ‘old world’ behind when they arrived on American shores. Americans were sick and tired of Europe’s never-ending wars of competing empires. It wasn’t until the Japanese forced their hand that they joined in. Heck, FDR still might have had a hard time convincing the American people to fight in the European theater if Hitler hadn’t idiotically declared war on America on December 11th.
Sadly, after WWII, when America became a superpower, it adopted the European model of maintaining the empire through constant conflicts and wars and hasn’t stopped since. I wouldn’t mind seeing America pull back a bit and embrace the more detached pre-WWII stance of avoiding ‘foreign entanglements’.
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You don’t think Trump is attempting to do that? Certainly that is the rhetoric. In his first term he declared NATO a waste of money and told the Europeans to defend themselves.
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His rhetoric is certainly in that direction.
But in his first term he didn’t really follow through. The Afghanistan withdrawal didn’t happen during his term. He escalated the Russian-Ukraine enmity by shipping weapons to Ukraine (something Obama wouldn’t do). He got suckered into bombing Syria on what may have been a false flag operation (gas attacks). He didn’t draw down the American presence in Europe or Africa. He dropped a Cuisinart on Iran’s #2 guy and pureed him. It’s true he didn’t start any new wars and managed to pull of the Abraham accords, but he didn’t really ratchet down the American military presence around the world.
Now in his second term, he’s failed thus far at tamping down the wars in Israel and the Ukraine. He still hasn’t touched the American military presence in military bases around the globe. He’s escalating tensions with China and Iran. Maybe the brinksmanship all works out. But it’s a big damn gamble that could go pear-shaped in a number of awful ways.
Trump’s peacenik cred is long on bluster and short on results.
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A major UK supreme court ruling states that women’s biological sex and gender are the same thing and trans people can not use women only space. The result has been relief by many and some small demos
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14627823/Thousands-trans-activists-protest-emergency-demonstration-against-Supreme-Court-gender-ruling-London.html
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Germany awash with solar power and exports the surplus but shortage at other times
https://notrickszone.com/2025/04/16/solar-madness-in-germany-gigawatt-hours-of-subsidized-electricity-gets-dumped-abroad-for-free/
Solar farms in the UK routinely include large solar batteries but I think they are only intended to smooth out intermittency and not as a massive storage faciloty
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But smoothing out intermittency between natural supply and human demand is what a massive storage facility is for.
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So because its the cheapest power in the world power prices can come down 80% to consumers!!
30
According to an article published in New Scientist, the aerosols produced by human dumping into the atmosphere have the effect of slowing global warming. When china cleaned up this pollution, warming increased.
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So when pro AGW people argue that the rate of warming is the compelling factor that means it’s CO2 causing the warming, does this cessation of aerosols mean the rate of warming was artificially inflated by the atmosphere playing catch-up once the aerosol suppression was removed?
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Why didn’t the climate “modellers” mention or predict this, assuming it s true at all?
I don’t believe anyone that identifies as a climate “scientist”.
Their “models” have no forecasting or even hindcasting ability whatsoever, therefore they are not valid and they are meaningless, despite billions of taxpayer funds being spent on them.
191
Thanks Peter
‘A recent surge in the rate of global warming has been’ caused by a submarine volcanic eruption. There, fixed it.
21
Did anyone else have problems getting on this site this morning?
I got a message something to the effect that I didn’t have permission.
.
[Yes. The site does appear a bit temperamental at the moment. This includes Jo experiencing some posting issues too. – Raquel]
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I got some message saying if I could see this page (not Jo’s page) then the page I was seeing was properly installed. Figured it was result of new/updated security software Jo was/had installed. Cleared down and retried and in like Flynn.
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Absolutely. As Ian says, problems started last evening. Quite a battle to restore the connection. Did so by starting again through Google.
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Hi Jo,
If I disable my VPN sometimes your site works, if not this is the message I get.
——
Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access /2024/04/saturday-54/ on this server.
——
Plus your red and green are not working properly.
I have sent you an email of a screenshot I took a few minutes ago when trying to access your site re Testing 123, Apache HTTP Server.
RexAlan
31
I had that a few times yesterday, starting in the afternoon.
31
Thought the e Kommisar had come knocking on Jo’s door… but she’s back! Happy Feaster Sundae 🌞
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Agreed.
We don’t even know what the e Safety Kommisar is censoring.
Any site outage could be due to either censorship or technical issues.
The censor must be required to publish a daily log of what she has censored and why.
And also what she has attempted to censor but has not been able to.
And remember, she is even trying to censor your elected representatives. Here is Senator Babet’s comment, federal senator for Victoriastan.
20
I am now able to sometimes post from Chrome on my phone but not always on the Samsung Internet browser.
And like and unlike comments not working.
Effectively random.
30
Maybe Jo needs a mirror site in a place far far away…
Or a substack…
Can’t post either without routing through a VPN…
Bulgaria is nice 😁
10
DM
That started last night
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New Official White House website on Covid lab leak narrative.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/
It’s discussed by Dr John Campbell:
https://youtu.be/AwbBJexNQT0
Bad news for those promoting the lab leak theory to protect the Chicomms.
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No problem at all, but you reminded me that I couldn’t get any ABC channels on my TV on Good Friday. All other channels showed up as available.
(Wasn’t a problem although I occasionally switch to Channel 20 (or 21) for Antiques Roadshow repeats during ad breaks on the commercials).
Can any one explain this? Can we get the ABC to continue – it would save money and inconvenience very few.
Then I got this.
Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access /wp-comments-post.php on this server.
Cancelled and closed Browser and then checked that the above had been posted anyway.
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When our group of units loses TV, it’s always ABC and SBS first. In our case, it’s either a masthead amplifier or splitter plug pack – usually a plug pack. It seems the TV distribution system can still distribute the other TV channels, even when faulty.
30
Thanks, but my TV gets signals from WiFi (Optus 4G).
Oh well, ABC was back again late yesterday (for what that is worth).
10
Just when you thought that climate projects couldn’t get any more crazy.
This is apparently NOT a joke. It’s dated from two days ago, not an April Fool’s joke.
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British pensioners are literally freezing to death due to energy poverty.
Where will the energy and money come from to implement this insane idea?
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Reminds me of something my English parents used to say
“The old mad lady would go down to the sea every morning and pee into the ocean, this will raise the sea and help my sons ship off the rocks”
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Do scientists know what effects this will have on the ecological system in the oceans and everything else that depends on the health of these oceans?
I’m asking as an uninformed idiot because I really don’t know.
This strikes me as an experiment that could have an awful lot of detrimental consequences.
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The only ‘ground-breaking’ is the brazenness of such a novel pie-in-the-sky (or sea in this case) scam. Genius!
Thar’s a fortune to be made
out of them thar seas, arrr…
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Unintended consequences much? What do they add to acidify and then add to neutralise? How much extra salt goes into the sea? What effect does that have on the local ecology? What is the source of energy to drive this process?
Talk about perpetual motion machines!!
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But under the Lunatic policies of the UK Government the cash flows freely (until bankruptcy).
40
This is from a country that is celebrating a court decision to ‘settle’ the definition of human ‘woman’.
I’m glad the Western intellectual tradition has ascended to the point where learned jurists can parse such difficult questions.
Though I doubt much ‘settling’ will result.
They also can no longer produce steel because they have no coal …
though they sit on a mountain of coal.
The contagion spread from the wet market across the street from Parliament.
Not from the chocolate factory.
20
Teams up nicely with TdeF’s PLUTO story at https://joannenova.com.au/2025/04/easter-sunday-2/#comment-2844039 eh.
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The only party which is strongly pushing awareness of the anthropogenic global warming fraud (and have the budget to do it) and that Australia must have cheap and reliable energy or we won’t survive as a viable nation is Trumpets of Patriots.
I see heaps of ads for them on YouTube.
I rarely watch TV, do they advertise there as well?
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Yes its on Utube and effective, which is probably why Albo has employed the Betoota Advocate to organise something similar.
11
Here is a very good 20 min video looking at earlier plans to colonise Mars, from the 1940s onward.
https://youtu.be/qnnY_7piaro
00
Still waiting for the flying cars the Jetsons said we’d have by now.
00
https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/bombshell-document-about-victorias-covid-curfew-kept-secret-for-more-than-four-years-can-now-be-revealed-after-legal-fight/news-story/82950defde57ec38b611985f533eaff1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X64cZBYwSMM
50
From 17 April 2025:
https://www.snow-forecast.com/whiteroom/massive-snowfall-in-the-alps/
Val d’Isere 120cm / 4ft
Tignes 105cm / 3.5ft
Chamonix 100cm / 40in
Avalanche Rating 5 (max)
Despite most ski resorts closed due to Climate Anxiety, the remaining ones are now closed due to TOO MUCH SNOW.
60
Testing
I’ve been getting “Forbiddens” all morning till now.
Unless something else has been fixed just recently –
If this posts
Might be coincidental that has happened after I just applied a Brave update
20
See posts above, others have also had problems.
20
FWIW
“Help a Mann Out
10 hours ago Charles Rotter 54 Comments
Because sometimes, the science isn’t settled—but the bill is due.”
And a “legal disclaimer”
Plus comments
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/04/18/help-a-mann-out/ “
20
“FWIW
A helpful tip for anyone contemplating reading or who has read “Romancing the Primitive” by William J. Lines –
“This is part the myth of the noble savage being at the very basis of their philosophy — Marx would be as nothing without his theories having mated with Rosseau — and the fact most people ATTRACTED to leftism, particularly at the level of becoming activists being… well… wrong ‘uns.”
From
“Sympathy For the Devil”
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2025/04/18/sympathy-for-the-devil-2/ “
21
FWIW – reduced to basics
“IF YOU THlNK THAT WOMEN HAVE P*NISES,
I WON’T BELIEVE A SINGLE WORD YOU SAY ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE.
BECAUSE IF YOU WILL LIE ABOUT SOMETHING SO OBVIOUS,
I WILL ASSUME YOU LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING!
SALL GROVER”
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQp99SgKbf_-61zMZp2ngzsagCt_saccPzJc2rgjF7j2_nGPzK3Mffh657gpz_IgGGUbZUjwOlJhlcLgcNwJwfSxCoGdB3BNAR0LL-RlZKBUvOM3YzogeX1-fE18hAKrtd-Y6smm66jl7H9vXzBPf8aV6w2v6i1DZVskrRVunG5QQ3G2e3pX4sawz-hU/s16000/Meme%20-%20women%20with%20penises.png
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AI has grown beyond human knowledge, says Google’s DeepMind unit
The world of artificial intelligence (AI) has recently been preoccupied with advancing generative AI beyond simple tests that AI models easily pass. The famed Turing Test has been “beaten” in some sense, and controversy rages over whether the newest models are being built to game the benchmark tests that measure performance.
“Incredible new capabilities will arise once the full potential of experiential learning is harnessed,” write DeepMind scholars David Silver and Richard Sutton in the paper, Welcome to the Era of Experience.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-has-grown-beyond-human-knowledge-says-googles-deepmind-unit/
Don’t remove the limiters!
https://www.elevenforum.com/attachments/22086040-webp.131578/ 😎
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“We Didn’t See This Coming”: U.S. Stunned as $134 Billion European Hydrogen Megaproject Becomes Largest Construction Site on Earth
GeoPura, in partnership with Siemens Energy Ventures, is at the forefront of hydrogen innovation. Founded in 2019, the company produces renewable hydrogen in the UK and supplies it to hydrogen power units (HPUs) leased to construction sites and events. By 2025, GeoPura aims to expand its fleet to 3,600 HPUs by 2033 and invest in green hydrogen production facilities.
https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/hs2-reveals-successful-results-of-hydrogen-generator-trial
Still gonna hate…for now…
10