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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Welcome back Jo.
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Hear hear! Well done Jo.
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I wondered why the Easter Sunday thread wasn’t available. Best not to mention the main thing that kept coming up: I’m sure it was just technical issues.
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My face has gone purple.
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A quick check before writing this reveals the “no it doesn’t work” camp seems bigger than the “yes it does” camp.
The “it” being whether you can “control/influence” the overall interest rate impact on your credit card by the way you make your repayments.
Last year fed up with a certain bank and keen to close this last account with them I spent a few minutes online setting up daily automatic payments of the same small amount <$10.
Got a letter last week, complete with a bank cheque, from the old bank regarding the now closed credit card account. The covering letter apologised for their miscalculation on the credit card account with the cheque also including a little bit of a remediation compensation payment.
“We charged fees and calculated interest incorrectly on the account. This is our mistake and we’re sorry.”
Food for thought which I’m sharing because I have sworn off credit cards and so can’t replicate it to prove one way or the other but invite potential players to try it.
Action: Set up same <$10 automatic daily payment each day for a month. I did mine between 1-20 October 2024. Pay the full monthly instalment fee by due date.
Account was closed in November and took until this month for them to realise their “mistake”. Therefore, if you do try it bear in mind time lag AND if your account is still operating then any adjustment will probably be made through the account itself so keep an eye out for an entry such as interest rate adjustment on your account.
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I have always been charged a yearly fee for my credit card but I noticed now that I am now being charged a monthly fee instead (still the same price overall, thank goodness). Being Easter, can’t find out why. Any one know? (Comm Bank Card).
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Yes, Ian, our Comm Bank have done the same to us, on our Master Card that we use almost exclusively for overseas travel (used to use!) as we got free travel insurance. Although the fee is almost identical it means that we have to access the account and pay it every month otherwise we are sure the Bank will charge us credit interest. We will be visiting our bank to find out why. What we may have to do is credit the card with the full annual fee so that if we miss a month (us oldies, very forgetful you know) we will at least be in credit, so no fee.
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We can always open up new accounts. If enough customers move their money, certain banks may reconsider their virtuous climate policies.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-17/cba-stops-lending-to-climate-culprits/104219812
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Thanks, Peter. That’s probably their aim to catch us out and charge us. What I really object to is we were given no warming this would happen. We also use to get to the first week in the new month to pay our balance. Now we have to pay the balance around the 23rd of each month, at least 2 weeks earlier. Also our yearly rate went from about $50 to $96 a year – time to turn in the card.
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I received the same letter, and payments, for two non-credit-card accounts. They were real, because the payments did arrive.
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Sounds like the bank to be with. Which Bank?
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Not the ANZ as a guess? I ask because I switched away from them, fortunately with an e-mail saying that I couldn’t use bankcard with them. I realised that as I had cut the card up at the bank branch (since closed).
Over a year later I got a series of e-mails wanting a payment changed. I couldn’t get any response to e-mails so went into the local branch (since shutdown) with e-mails which took the girl about 3 minutes to agree. She then spent 25 minutes arguing the HO lot about they had got it wrong. Took that time before they admitted a mistake. Made me determined never to use them again.
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I just heard an owner of a Foodworks shop in Wagga Wagga explain how his new electricity contract has increased by $2000 per month for an annual total of $144000. He has his roof covered in solar panels and uses all his own power during the day. He then reminded us that all his suppliers face similar increases in power prices which feed into higher prices all round. Even with this attack on cost of living the polls show Albo ahead. What on earth are people thinking? This guy is killing me but I don’t like how the other fellow looks so I want to keep on being killed. Only leftists could think that makes sense.
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That is a 20% increase just for him. And the suppliers also get that impost.
As for Albo being ahead I am doubtful but then the other fellow has been woeful.
He should have been miles ahead. He had better pray for a big blackout this week.
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I wonder how much the electricity cost is as a proportion of revenue.
Also wonder what the split up is in terms of connection fee, peak demand fee and energy fee.
My son is part owner of a service business in Melbourne and their electricity costs fell dramatically after installing rooftop solar. The business operates from 8am till 6pm and there is negligible electricity demand out of hours; unlike a food store running refrigeration.
I do not know what incentives businesses in NSW have to reduce electricity demand. Victoria has a number of energy efficiency programs that provide OPM to make upgrades. For example:
https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/victorian-energy-upgrades/products/cold-room-discounts
There are similar schemes for refrigeration.
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Refrigeration is a huge amount of the cost of electricity of a supermarket, both in store, in storage at the store and in warehousing.
I suspect that’s why the cost of refrigerated or frozen goods has risen so dramatically with the cost of electricity e.g. ice cream to name an obvious example.
Ultimately paid for by the taxpayer, of course.
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And here is the answer that Blackout gives tio an obviously good question on what was promised and what has been delivered on electricity prices:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MxYGoM3imU
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The cafe I go to once a week kept getting bigger power bills, so the owner rang Energex and complained, they sent a bloke out to check the readings, the meter and the switchboard, short story is they couldn’t locate the meter or switchboard, so how was a bill sent with no NMI, just a radar job.
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Video.
Matt Walsh discusses TRUMP’s removal of the illegal immigrant, Abrego Garcia, girlfriend basher and MS-13 gang member who the Left want to re-import to America.
The truth is not what the Left and Lamestream Media are telling you, as usual.
https://youtu.be/AX1RQzQhh88
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I remain pleasantly surprised that the UK Supreme Court actually decided something that humans have always known and that is that a man wearing a dress or even taking hormones or castrating himself does not make him a biological woman.
I keep wondering how this can happen in one of the wokest and Leftist countries on the planet? It’s a good thing of course, but so surprising that there are still a few learned legal scholars left in that country.
It means that biological women can in fact have protected spaces which biological men may not enter.
This decision also has global implications, including for Australia in the case of Tickle vs Giggle in which a biological man is suing because he was denied access to a women’s only site. https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/access-to-files-and-transcripts/online-files/roxanne-tickle-v-giggle-for-girls
The video is at: https://youtu.be/6OyOKCDYKjs
Are we seeing an outbreak of (un)common sense?
First TRUMP and then this UK Supreme Court decision?
Will this (un)common sense spread to Australia?
When I see stupid Australians quite likely about to elect a Green Labor Government, I have little hope.
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Starmer announces 400 arrested for having opinions:
https://x.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1913535435361456365
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I suspect the number is much higher than that. And they even arrest British-origin people for praying or suspected praying (but never any recent immigrants taking over an entire street and praying to their entity).
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Clarification:
The video I referenced above is about the decision being discussed by YouTuber Irene BritUSA.
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It is forgotten that during the Howard Coalition Government terms the Marriage Act had a clause inserted with legislated change supported by Labor in Parliament that a marriage is between a man and a woman.
From memory MPs Gillard and Wong voted in favour of the amendment
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It was also brought out in the Tickle vs Giggle case that Gillard changed the definition of what a woman was and this also affects the case.
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We, here in Londonistan, are still waiting for a public comment from our ‘leader’, Sir Starmer (aka 2TK) on this matter.
Famously, before the 2024 Election, he was quoted as saying that 99.9% of women don’t have a penis.
Not a public peep since …
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Here is a calculation I would like to see done and could conceivably be the topic of a masters thesis if you were able to find a non-woke university to do it in. (I can think of no Australian “university” that doesn’t suffer from the woke mind virus.)
Calculate the amount of wealth drained from the Australian economy ever since fake conservative Liberal John Howard set the country on the road to economic ruin with “ruinables”.
The impact is surely massive and comes at the cost of capital that could have been used for useful projects, wealth drained due to closure of industry and higher costs for remaining businesses that are able to survive, higher interest rates, massively decreased standard of living (especially for low income earners) etc..
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The HILDA report shows changes in lifestyles over the past 20 years:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-06/hilda-report-graphs-australian-life-changed-20-years/105009846
Australia’s productivity decline since 1975:
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2024/12/the-four-causes-of-australias-productivity-decline/
The consequences of Australia’s deindustrialisation:
https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/australias-strategic-blindspot-deindustrialisation-and-the-threat-to-national-resilience/
Vote green! Lol.
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Given that the Libs are very bad, they are still slightly less bad than Green Labor and Australia will take slightly longer to destroy under their reign.
Therefore it would be more sensible to elect the fake conservative Libs over Green Labor. So vote for Libs with either first preference, or preference them after your conservative party preferences but before Greens and Labor.
On the other hand, the alternative point of view is that the sooner Australia undergoes economic collapse, the better it will be to motivate conservative forces to get elected at the next election, assuming a Green Labor regime will allow further elections. This is almost what happened in America after TRUMP had the 2019 election stolen from him and America had to endure four years of Biden and his controllers.
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UK went with the other hand and turned left. Now it seems Farage is in line for PM at the next election. So it could be a fast transition back to sanity.
The problem with Australia is that there is no Trump or even Farage. The nearest Australia has is Pauline Hansen – the right principles but not a lot going on between the ears. My view is that Peta Credlin, aged 53, could actually be better than Trump with the right team. It would mean reshaping the LNP.
She does not carry the NertZero baggage that Peter Dutton is burdened by. This is the person Australia needs ss PM and as true national leader:
https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/peta-credlin/wind-and-solar-monstrosities-disaster-about-to-hit-rural-australia/video/2433a5f1b73b706a9346179bd097b9b1
Articulate, smart, knows the swamp from both sides, imposing presence. Was touted as the most powerful woman in Australia a decade ago. She made Dan Andrews tremble with fear.
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” the alternative point of view is that the sooner Australia undergoes economic collapse, the better”
Absolutely! The faster it collapses, the sooner the brainless will wake up and realise we have to do something different, and the sooner we can get it working again!
I’d get rid of democracy of course, it is the problem that has caused the situation we’re in, but if people are so addicted to it then they had better vote for people who have never been in power.
Isn’t it obvious after 50years of the same failure, that doing the same thing again within the Uniparty will not change anything?
If voting changed anything they wouldn’t let you do it! A vote for any of the major parties is a vote for more of the same, a collapsed Australia.
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Tech tip: how to remove the fluff from Google searches
https://youtu.be/qGlNb2ZPZdc?si=HnSs0ju0eEWIA0VY
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Draw box on ballot paper………
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I’ll draw a scaffold on mine.
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You only have two things to worry about
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_suylxu2sIE1a8wa9m.mp4
That’s good! 😁
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Saw something very similar in a Biggles book, from, IIRC, about 1941.
Magic!
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Take care when you vote! Australia’s future is at stake. With the prospects of copping a hiding to nothing if Albo and his bunglers get, in it appears as if our cook is goosed! Unless of course, God has other plans fo us. Pray ’em if you’ve got ’em!
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Groan…yes, it IS at stake, but there’s no party worth voting for.
NONE have the real-world skills needed, the impartiality, lack of bias and agendas, and immunity from neocon pressures to drag Oz back from the edge.
And that is precisely why it doesn’t matter and why cycles and history repeat.
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>that is precisely why it doesn’t matter
Yes it’s tempting to be depressive and cynical but the miserable fact is that one of the possible election outcomes is slightly less disgusting than the other, so let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Vote as if it matters.
It won’t fix anything but we might end up a little less deep in the manure pit which will mean a slightly better prospect of a recoverable future.
Never despair.
Never give up.
That’s what they want.
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Convention is that if Labor loses the election then Anthony Albanese steps down as leader and someone else replaces him. Isn’t that alone worth voting for?
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Can’t wait!
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Having survived numerous Civil Defence ⚠️ ALERTS during this weekend of weather (wow)
#1 for thunderstorms after they’d passed
#2, 3, 4 for thunderstorms which never eventuated
am now looking forward to the bright world of next Tuesday, aka Tomorrow, and/or 22 April:
1073 Gregory VII elected as pope
1500 Pedro Cabral ‘discovered’ Brazil
1817 Curaçao bans white paint due to bright sunlight
1870 Lenin born
1937 Jack Nicholson born
1970 1st ‘Earth Day’ via Gaylord Nelson & friends
2016 Paris Agreement ‘signed’
(via Britannica & OnThisDay & memory)
This 22/4/25 I’ll be burning natural gas to make morning coffees, later on driving my diesel 4WD to purchase more diesel (with my headlights ON) all the while slowly exhaling that wondrous minor trace gas to assist the planet’s ongoing best of health…
… and to you all too. Happy Easter Monday!
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Jo,
Did you find the cause of the outage ? If you have hit a nerve , perhaps this is a test to see if you can be shut down or hampered . If you can move the needle on certain issues I’d wager that’s a certainty . With elections coming that’s possible as a small change in voting can change governments .
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How do we know if it’s a technical malfunction or censorship?
It’s a problem when the e Safety Kommisar does not publish what posts or sites she has censored. Completely unaccountable to we, the people.
She’s even trying to censor our elected representatives like Senator Babet:
People elected Senator Babet. No one elected the e Safety Kommisar. How dare she attempt to silence him.
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The cardinal rule of computing: BACKUP!
If Jo wants, I can rip the blog to pdf’s (fluff excluded) for posterity.
That may be all that’s left before long.
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How do you do that John?
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That’s what Albanese Labor in Government does for most voters.
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Glad you’re back again Jo.
I experienced the “Testing” variant of the “Forbidden” bug during this afternoon, first experienced about 3:30 on my first attempt since lunchtime, then each time until now, about 6pm Sydney time. It occurred on both the iPad and my Windows laptop.
Hope you’re able to get both a permanent fix and an explanation of what’s been happening.
Cheers,
Dave B
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Likewise, the *forbidden* message.(
Will send overdue Easter chocolate, Jo, a small tribute re the
free speech platform you maintain thro’ thick and thin.
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Does the Great Climate Changer send us little messages?
‘Forbidden’?
I’ve been suspicious and wary of forbidders since about 1965.
The Great Climate Changer doesn’t really forbid stuff.
Zhe allows choices.
Perhaps the Great Climate Changer provided the Great Pandemic to reveal the Forbidders …
which Zhe doesn’t like …
to us unwashed forbidden, whom are Zhis true children.
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I see we’ve had our avatars changed.. I’ve been busted as a CIA agent..
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Mine was my usual one earlier and has now changed. Interesting!
I look sozzled…
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Testing, testing, 123!
Bugger,I was used to my old one, it was easy to search on.
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