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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Statistics
SEK 700 Million = roughly AUD 112 Million
SEK 72 Billion = roughly 11.5 Billion
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How does that wisdom go?
“Lose a little bit on every deal but make it up in volume.”
(it’s a great business strategy let me tell ya.)
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It worked for Amazon. They lost money on every book sold when that was their business.
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And the Atlantic Shores South offshore wind system off the coast of Long Beach Island New Jersey has had its air permit voided, due to the U.S. Environmental Appeals Board granting a remand of the EPA’s air pollution permit. A local group, Save LBI, had filed a challenge against the EPA’s permit, citing “flawed analysis, including improper air quality modelling”.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/31/atlantic-shores-wind-project-sinks-and-with-it-a-green-illusion/
https://www.savelbi.org/
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Le Pen barred from standing in next Presidential election.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14554791/marine-le-pen-fury-court-bans-jail-term-europe-right.html
Le Pen-France. Romania. Germany. Holland. All places where the right wing either became the largest party or were frozen out of being a junior partner in Govt. Can’t think of any equivalence with left wing parties but of course you only have to attach the Epithet “extreme” to the right wing phrase or make references to A certain Austrians party who gained deserved notoriety last century and the establishment can do what they want
270
Lawfare uses the courts as a round-about way to achieve political objectives.
This third-world tactic has become increasingly popular in the West especially against democratically popular candidates who are inconvenient for the apex globalists.
Donald Trump
Marine LePen
Matteo Salvini
Geert Wilders
Călin Georgescu
Jair Bolsonaro
Nikola Gruevski
Ekrem İmamoğlu
And historically, Marine’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
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“In retrospect, the spark might seem as ominous as a financial crash, as ordinary as a national election, or as trivial as a Tea Party. The catalyst will unfold according to a basic Crisis dynamic that underlies all of these scenarios: An initial spark will trigger a chain reaction of unyielding responses and further emergencies. The core elements of these scenarios (debt, civic decay, global disorder) will matter more than the details, which the catalyst will juxtapose and connect in some unknowable way. If foreign societies are also entering a Fourth Turning, this could accelerate the chain reaction. At home and abroad, these events will reflect the tearing of the civic fabric at points of extreme vulnerability – problem areas where America will have neglected, denied, or delayed needed action.”
“Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning the way you might today distance yourself from news, national politics, or even taxes you don’t feel like paying. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted. The Fourth Turning necessitates the death and rebirth of the social order. It is the ultimate rite of passage for an entire people, requiring a luminal state of sheer chaos whose nature and duration no one can predict in advance.”
– The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
Read it if you haven’t.
This is of course the essence of 2032.
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Nah, only affects America, they’ll be down the drain by then.
“which discusses the history of the United States as a series of generational biographies going back to 1584…the theory has also been described by some historians and journalists as pseudoscientific, “kooky”, and “an elaborate historical horoscope that will never withstand scholarly scrutiny”.
Give me Martin Armstrong, he’s got a computer for his predictions! ..or how about-
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237458
00
Another tesla dealership goes up in flames
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14555681/Tesla-dealership-goes-flames-Italy-17-cars-destroyed-cops-probe-possible-arson-amid-spate-attacks-Musks-vehicles-Europe.html
I am sure that the same must be happening in Chinese car dealerships where cars are made by coerced workers, using coal and the politics of the country concerned decidedly iffy.
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Interesting times in Germany as the country lurches left due to coalition partners even though the country voted right. They are taking on unprecedented amounts of debt to race to net zero whilst de industrialising their country
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/03/30/higher-taxes-more-political-repression-no-solutions-germanys-next-government-will-be-from-hell/
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There is no “right” just the unaparty.
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Hanrahan
March 31, 2025 at 4:15 pm
So you are going to vote for democrat lite: labor.
Please don’t whinge later in the year if they retain power with greens and teals dictating national policy.
Not certain yet about my vote, Hanrahan.
a) I will try to find out more about the Libertarian candidate who is anti global warming.
b) I will try to shift our Liberal candidate to openly anti-Paris, anti-Nett0 stance.
Yes, I will continue to whinge.
Today it looks like we will have the reasons for good 3-year whinge.
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The libertarian candidate will get 2% of the vote. How does such a vote keep the green/teal blob out of power?
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Hopefully the Australian voter understands how the preferential voting system “works”?
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So down around No. 4 under three unviable candidates you will give a preference to the unaparty. That’s stoopid, easier to put it at the top and run down the paper from there.
The Senate is different, you can hope to get a sensible minority elected. I always give Pauline a vote.
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Primary votes over a certain level ensure election support ($$) for the minority candidate and their party.
No need to give the unaparty $$
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The libertarian will not reach that level.
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Checked that already . ONP did not put up a senate candidate in our area.
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The AEC will NOT publish this legal alternative to what you will be told when the senate ballot paper is handed to you.!Be familiar with these sections of the ACT(268a and 269).
(1) A ballot paper in a Senate election is not informal under paragraph 268(1)(b) if:
(a) the voter has marked the ballot paper in accordance with paragraph 239(1)(b); or
(b) if there are more than 6 squares printed on the ballot paper below the line—the voter has consecutively numbered any of those squares from 1 to 6 (whether or not the voter has also included one or more higher numbers in those squares).
(2) For the purposes of this Act:
(a) a voter who, in a square printed on the ballot paper below the line, marks only a single tick or cross is taken as having written the number 1 in the square; and
(b) the following numbers written in a square printed on the ballot paper below the line are to be disregarded:
(i) numbers that are repeated and any higher numbers;
(ii) if a number is missed—any numbers that are higher than the missing number.
Note: Paragraph (2)(b) applies both for the purposes of determining whether a ballot paper is formal, and for the purposes of determining which numbers marked on a ballot paper are counted in the election.
Example: A ballot paper has squares below the line that are numbered 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The vote is informal because, by disregarding the numbers 3 and upwards under subparagraph (2)(b)(i), only 2 squares have been numbered.
A second ballot paper has squares below the line that are numbered consecutively from 1 to 9 and then 11, 12, 13 and 14. The vote is formal under paragraph (1)(b). However, only the squares numbered from 1 to 9 are counted for the purposes of sections 273 and 273A because the numbers 11 and upwards are disregarded under subparagraph (b)(ii) of this subsection.
269 Formal votes above the line
(1) A ballot paper in a Senate election is not informal under paragraph 268(1)(b) if:
(a) the voter has marked the ballot paper in accordance with subsection 239(2); or
(b) the voter has marked the number 1, or the number 1 and one or more higher numbers, in squares printed on the ballot paper above the line.
(1A) For the purposes of this Act:
(a) a voter who, in a square printed on the ballot paper above the line, marks only a single tick or cross is taken as having written the number 1 in the square; and
(b) the following numbers written in a square printed on the ballot paper above the line are to be disregarded:
(i) numbers that are repeated and any higher numbers;
(ii) if a number is missed—any numbers that are higher than the missing number.
Note: Paragraph (1A)(b) applies both for the purposes of determining whether a ballot paper is formal, and for the purposes of determining which numbers marked on a ballot paper are counted in the election.
Example: A ballot paper has squares above the line that are numbered 1, 1, 2 and 3. The vote is informal because, by disregarding the numbers 1 and upwards under subparagraph (1A)(b)(i), no squares have been numbered.
A second ballot paper has squares above the line that are numbered consecutively from 1 to 9 and then 11, 12, 13 and 14. The vote is formal under paragraph (1)(b). However, only the squares numbered from 1 to 9 are counted for the purposes of sections 273 and 273A because the numbers 11 and upwards are disregarded under subparagraph (b)(ii) of this subsection.
Votes that are formal both above and below the line
(2) If a ballot paper in a Senate election:
(a) has squares marked above the line in accordance with subsection 239(2) or paragraph (1)(b) of this section; and
(b) has squares marked below the line in accordance with subsection 239(1) or section 268A;
then, for the purposes of sections 272 and 273, the only squares that are taken to have been marked on the ballot paper are the squares that are marked below the line.
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I vote for Pauline, not the party. She has had some poor candidates in other states I’ve noticed.
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Hanrahan, it’s almost like you are paid by Labor-Green-Teal to help them. Do you mean to demoralize and dissuade any one thinking of voting for a right leaning minor Party?
If the 2% of libertarian supporters went out and did something to help, like hand out flyers, donate, or join the local group, that 2% could easily reach 4%.
You are not the only one. Conservatives are their own worst enemy.
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Jo, have you ever heard a labor/green/teal say something like “I’ll vote conservative this time, the leftist candidate isn’t perfect”?
You people are crazy thinking that each of you heading off like a bunch of cats will vote in ANYBODY.
No, that’s you intellectuals.
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Jo, if you want an example of the intellectual capacity of the “anti Hanrahan” crowd goto #6.3.2
I don’t mind being an outsider.
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Preferential Voting in Australia: The Definitive Guide with Marbles
https://youtu.be/YiLAx7kp4Rc?si=Q58ZmvHxuziH6_RP
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It’s sad that we have political parties issuing “how to vote cards”. No one should be telling any one how to vote. If you need a how to vote card then you’re too stupid to be voting, and unfortunately that would be a fair percentage of the Aussie population. I certainly wont be using a how to vote card, I’ll be preferencing the way I want to, not how they want me to. And greens will definitely be the last on the voting slip.
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Sad that someone with a nick of “Liberator” wants to restrict freedom. They are free to offer, you are free to accept or decline, to act on the advice or not to.
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Looking at the post from DestroyerD69 and thinking of the average Aussie I’ve met in the last 20years, I can’t see many of them understanding how to vote at all!
A ‘how to vote’ card would be vital for most of them!
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It must be terrible having to live among them.
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FWIW – making the case that there are a number of “rights”
“Right, Left, Right — a Blast From The Past From October 2015.”
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2025/03/28/right-left-right-a-blast-from-the-past-from-october-2015/
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Europe’s idiocracies turn to the dark side
Today we can see that Europe’s leading powers are following the call as they collectively and single-mindedly embrace militarization and earnest preparations for war.
Europe’s idiot warhawks
European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen has announced her ReArm Europe plan with up to €800 billion of military spending. Soon to be German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is pushing for unlimited borrowing for infrastructure and defence spending. Even before assuming office, he won German parliament’s approval for a €500 billion fund to finance defence projects.
But this is only the start: Merz is pushing through constitutional amendments that would remove fiscal restraints on debt and unleash a massive boost to military spending. Ultimately, the figure could rise up to €1.7 trillion. It would more than double Germany’s debt to GDP, from 62.4% currently, to about 125%. How much money is €1.7 trillion? It’s about €20,400 per man, woman and child in Germany.
Cut losses or double down on failure?
Rational policymakers would have to take all this into account, recognize a lost cause and adjust course. This is what the new administration in Washington is doing.
But the European ship of fools is resolute, determined to double down on failure, no matter the cost.
It must be the definition of idiocracy, as it leads the old continent into a predictable tragedy. It will give rise to a large and powerful military industrial complex (MIC) – an alliance of big banks, government, military and private, for-profit defense corporations.
The danger of this development was underscored by US President Dwight Eisenhower in his January 1961 farewell address.
Europe’s economies are stuck in a slow-motion decline, which has been largely self-inflicted and which may seem unstoppable. Unemployment is rising as small and medium-sized businesses face bankruptcy in their thousands and large corporations are idling productive capacities or moving them to China or the United States. Against that backdrop, government-directed large-scale investment programs will be received as a lifesaving relief.
Earlier this month, for example, the CEO of VolksWagen, Oliver Blume overtly embraced the opportunity to repurpose some of the company’s productive capacities and become a weapons manufacturer. Defense procurement contracts from the government will boost the company’s performance, so regardless of the nature of those contracts, the VW’s management and shareholders will welcome them. The workers will also benefit: keeping their jobs is certainly better than ending up on the street.
The cumulative effect of all the planned spending will create a temporary bonanza for the whole economy. If Chancellor Merz’s spending plans materialize in full, they could boost Germany’s economic growth from 1% to 2%. Of course, many politicians will try to hitch a ride on this gravy train and claim credit for the economic revival and all the new jobs.
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Economically the EU is ten times stronger than Russia and removing fiscal restraints is important to defend Europe militarily. As you are aware Putin does not want a ceasefire, so the war will continue until he is dead.
Being on a war footing should lift the EU out of its economic malaise and with the end of hostilities there will be the reconstruction of Ukraine, paid with frozen Russian Assets.
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The war will continue until there is a victor and a vanquished. The quicker that is achieved the sooner the bloodshed will cease.
Current policy almost guarantees an “ever” guerrilla war, Afghanistan 2.0.
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There is no doubt that Ukraine will win and there won’t be guerrilla warfare because the West intends to introduce democracy, rule of law, freedom of information and prosperity. All the things we enjoy.
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Really? There has been plenty of time to achieve that already if there was the will.
“For as long as it takes” bears little resemblance to “In it to win it”.
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Amazing how ineffective this vast numercial actually is when the resources are so fragmented and incompetently managed.
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Strong thunderstorms are moving into Georgia and northern Florida.
https://i.ibb.co/pBv6Jvp7/Screenshot-2025-03-31-20-00-31.png
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I posted a screen shot of y’day’s storms on another forum. Did they do much damage?
https://hotcopper.com.au/threads/some-violent-storms-in-mississippi-and-louisiana.8517015/
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“Much of the intense storms were expected to strike after nightfall, heightening concerns. Tornadoes that occur at night are nearly twice as likely to be fatal as those during daylight hours, a 2022 study found.”
“This spring’s procession of severe storm systems looks likely to continue. With this week’s threat looming, forecasters are already monitoring a large area from Texas to the Midwest for another potential round of thunderstorms on Wednesday.
Residents across all affected regions are urged to stay informed and have multiple ways to receive weather alerts, especially in areas at risk for nighttime storms.”
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“This spring’s procession of severe storm systems looks likely to continue. With this week’s threat looming, forecasters are already monitoring a large area from Texas to the Midwest for another potential round of thunderstorms on Wednesday.
Residents across all affected regions are urged to stay informed and have multiple ways to receive weather alerts, especially in areas at risk for nighttime storms.”
00
Here is a fascinating video about the world’s first motorised expedition to the South Pole. It was in 1957-58 and the vehicles used were Ferguson tractors.
https://youtu.be/i5nfFlfp4Ls
Incidentally, these vintage Ferguson tractors, the “greys” can still be seen at the Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally near Melbourne, https://www.lakegoldsmithsteamrally.org.au/ , next open May 3rd and 4th.
Many of these old tractors are still in use today although probably a bit small for modern commercial farming operations, at least in Australia. They are mainly used on hobby farms.
The Ferguson company still exists after mergers and is now Massey Ferguson.
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He scaled the highest mountain,
he drove the coldest continent,
he helped Sherpa children
learn to read and write…
then he went home and raised bees 🐝
Sir Ed’s grinning image graces our $5 note, which sadly the Gnomes of Basel want to eliminate: what have the Kiwis ever done for us?
Think it was a Massey-Ferguson lawnmower my brother and I were made to push round the backyard every alternate weekend ‘to keep in shape like Ed’ our dad said. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
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The same is true of women…
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An interesting video, but his first statement about these being the first vehicles in Antarctica was wrong, as a car was brought in for Scott’s 1907 expedition (it proved useless) and a baby Austin in 1927.
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I learned to drive on one of those old grey Fergies. It was a very useful workhorse. There are still some around in working condition. A mate recently restored one and uses it around the farm.
I was delighted to hear they were used for that trek to the Antarctic.
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We’ve still got one in the fleet though not much used these days.
At the local show many years ago I took our boys to look at a restored one – as what ours used to look like. The owner reckoned they were an easy restoration as most parts were still available
Ours usually means a job for Dad. Like winding wire out of fences when re-building. Winding wire out of 100 yard strains by hand is do-able but slow and monotonous. And a lot harder out of longer strains.
So Dad built a winding wheel and frame that turns a Ferguson post hole digger into a wire winder. Biggest single wire wind is 1.5 km in one go.
For wooden posts with wire joined with figure 8 knots the wire will pull through if you streamline the leading tail by bending it back. For short strains you pull and join in sequence. For steel posts you need to pull as slowly as possible to stop the tail of the wire whipping and tangling.
And the Ferg is “just right” – idles at about 400 rpm for slow pulls. And has enough power at idle to pull the wire but stalls before anything breaks if the wire catches.
40
Another Ian,
They call that a whipper snipper nowadays.
20
They need a lot more work on that prototype then –
The tractor is stationary when operating
The wheel is about 3 feet diameter and only turns at about 80 rpm – so an ineffective basis for a cutter
The wire only whips when it breaks at the wheel, which is rarely if used within operating parameters, and it is restricted by the frame.
Maybe Heath Robinson could modify it in the direction of that item you had in mind?
But maybe have a look at a PTO slasher – they can inadvertently be very effective wire winders too. But a pain to get the wire off.
20
Wasn’t the three point hydraulic linkage what made it such a hit? I drove one at Ag College.
21
And the tailored line of equipment that went with it
And (AFIK) the only tractor with two songs in its honour
I was told at a field day by a bloke using one to dig post holes that the only thing it missed to be the complete prototype for modern smallish tractors was independent PTO operation
40
I would think the Grey Fergusons, lacking low range gearing and having less tractive effort than a Series One LandRover would have been abit underpowered to pull the ‘overall’ tracks in the snow ! Perhaps it was the later hi/low range equipped models that were used for the mission?
00
David,
A must read on that expedition is ‘Crevasse Roulette, The First Trans-Antarctic Crossing 1957-58’ the recollections of Australian Jon Stephenson. Jon was a geologist and over wintered having set out the fuel and supply dumps using dog teams for the attempted mechanised crossing the following summer.
My recollection is Hillary was doing the same from the other side and decided that the tractors were so successful he would continue to the South Pole off his ‘own bat’.
Jon Stephenson was a colleague Peter Ridd at James Cook University. Another story about Jon Stephenson is ‘The Great White Whale’ , the attempt to climb the highest Australian Mountain.
This story is astounding! No such epic adventure could be attempted now on such a shoe string budget as the paper work would make even meeting to discuss such an attempt beyond the resources expended in these attempts to climb Big Ben.
Enjoy the amazing photography and cast of characters.
20
More on desflurane
Yesterday I mentioned how woke hospitals in Australia are trying to or have banned desflurane as it’s a supposedly especially potent “greenhouse” gas, supposedly 3700 times more potent than CO2.
At 0.3 parts per trillion in the atmosphere (2014), if it is 3700 times more potent than CO2 that would make it equivalent to 1110 parts per trillion or 0.00111 parts per million compared to CO2 at around 420 parts per million. It’s bizarre.
Something I didn’t mention yesterday is its supposed residence time in the atmosphere.
Firstly, supposedly it has no absorption in the UV therefore does not undergo UV photolysis to degrade it.
Then it is claimed to have a lifetime in the atmosphere of 14 years.
That 14 year figure doesn’t make sense to me because normally the residence time of a gas in the atmosphere is quoted as a half life or average life not total life. If the lifetime is 14 years, what happens then, does it all suddenly disappear?
The fact that incorrect quantities are being used which should be average lifetime or half life makes me further suspicious about the numbers.
Furthermore, even if the figure of 14 years was for average lifetime, we could multiply the figure above for CO2 equivalent amount from 0.00111 parts per million by 14 times and it would become 0.01554 parts per million compared to CO2 at 420 parts per million.
It still doesn’t make sense and is still no basis to remove this desirable anaesthetic gas even assuming the claim that trace gases in the atmosphere can alter global temperatures was true.
250
Seems it’s all about patents and the fact big pharma can make more $$$ by getting rid of out-of-patent products.
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FWIW
“normal-horoscopes
Follow
Okay someone asked me earlier
“Hey CT, you study the occult for a living, off the top of your
head, what’s the most popular form of the occult in today’s world?”
Pseudo-nutrition. Bar none. A massive amount of the fad dieting world goes beyond simple misinformation and ignorance and full on into a systemized non-scientific theory of anatomy and nutrition that 100% qualifies as magic.
If you replace the term “toxins” With “evil ghosts” half of these blogs would sound like sumerian curse tablets.”
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_OtDYGvAmu_1-iElYSlvVyHHO-LfnNip29AbTeC9GGEtB7sKqPuSQKyCU4wLU6ZDOdxUVYWaD9G-rRekrq_sle6Nz9VLiqoJsLxcOAhQftFNXNSSu2zg_EhuTyf8_Yp_tqBEj1DJ9_Ff3PvELDbFSsuqAAkrf11_08ZEHalpejcbW9CdsdYYhOxcWgA/w400-h376/Meme%20-%20sumerian%20curse%20tablets.png
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“what’s the most popular form of the occult in today’s world?”
Cosmetics… Although its probably the same people within the population.
00
FWIW – more on the covid scene
“On Friday, NPR ran a delightful little story headlined, “Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has its billion dollar grant cut by Trump administration.” The “vaccine grant” was one of the largest of the 5,200 grants announced to have been cut in last week’s final USAID takedown. Bill Gates was hardest hit.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/bugging-out-monday-march-31-2025?
And more on this gent –
“Another top pandemic villain bit the dust. Accountability, in one form or another, is slowly seeping down into the lower culpability layers. In absolutely terrific news, late last week the Associated Press ran a story headlined, “Top vaccine official resigns from FDA, criticizes RFK Jr. for promoting ‘misinformation and lies.’”
“Marks was one of the main architects of the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) process that enabled early approval of the jabs by lowering safety standards and axing long-term safety studies.
And Marks was the genius who expanded mRNA EUAs to children and infants. He rubber stamped the ‘bivalent’ vaccines, based only on a six-mouse study. He often criticized his own agency’s VAERS injury reporting system, calling it unreliable— even though it was his job to fix it. He was the creature who slow-walked the FDA’s public records response with jab data, and insisted responding would take 75 years.”
“But America’s children said they weren’t sad at all. They feel downright fizzy about it.
“What do you want to bet Dr. Marks reappears on Pfizer’s board of directors?”
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FWIW
“Hungry Yet, UK? British Government Going After Fishes and Farms”
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2025/03/31/hungry-yet-uk-british-government-going-after-fishes-and-farms-n3801342
Another “Elbowtrix Box”?
70
Users claiming that Elon Musk is not 100% correct on everything
Yesterday I provided a link to a Youtube short where Elon Musk stated that the US can be 100% supported by solar farms that cover just a small proportion of the American continent. I was absolutely disgusted by some of the users of this site who said that they weren’t completely on board with that statement. Has the woke mind virus affected people here? How can anyone possibly say that Elon Musk is wrong about anything? How can a man who invented the EV in his garage as an impoverished teen be wrong about this?
The video in question: https://youtube.com/shorts/nwA4HFXOzRs?si=gp0gxFrmxKVN3spt
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>Elon Musk stated that the US can be 100% supported by solar farms
Hero you’re not 100% correct with that statement.
99% maybe, but notice after he made that statement Rogan checked by asking, “24/7?”, Musk qualified it by saying, “We need batteries”.
90
That was pointed out yesterday. But TwiggyTheDero doesn’t really want a conversation about it. He/She just wants someone to say Musk is wrong. Didn’t get that response yesterday so they’re fishing again today.
160
It seems you’ve clearly reached the point of trolling and are not really interested in a discussion about utilising renewables. It’s been evident across many of your posts. But it’s confirmed by the fact you didn’t engage with any reasonable conversation yesterday and it consistently comes back to you simply wanting someone to say Elon Musk is wrong.
I can only imagine you want that said so you can then say that if he’s wrong on this then maybe he’s wrong on one or all the things he’s doing that a number of commenters here like. Maybe you don’t like that he’s looking at ways to cut waste, or that he’s not a fan of DEI or woke, or you don’t like that he supports free speech and less censorship on X.
Maybe you do think we should go 100% solar. Fair enough. If that is your thought, and you think that Musk is wrong on a topic you don’t like about him, then your ‘if Musk is wrong on one thing then he might be wrong on another’ can be turned back on yourself. That if you think he’s wrong any of the topics I mentioned then maybe he’s wrong about solar.
But it’s a foolish argument to have here because no one here thinks Musk is infallible and it’s also a silly base to argue from.
We can’t have a discussion because you’re not clearly stating any position. Just sarcastically or facetiously throwing out baits in an effort to amuse yourself.
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Definitely a troll that started out half funny. But the persistence suggests they may be a disgruntled Tesla buyer. No indication of the country of origin. My guess is USA because Musk’s impact in Australia and elsewhere is limited.
My wife has a negative view of him that stems from his raft of sexual partners. Both my wife and I are in the boat of death being the end of the partnership. Maybe TTH is a penguin as well and dislikes the concept of swingers and those who exhibit that tendency.
50
Well, let’s hope your wife doesn’t want out if your death is the way to end the partnership. I cleverly married a divorcee so I can be confident paperwork is enough for her, and I can sleep with both eyes closed. 😉
We live in a world where people have different views on what behaviors are acceptable. I wouldn’t want Musk to marry my daughter but I’m happy to pay him for my internet service.
90
Indeed we live in the strangest time .
The omnipresent young master X Æ A-Xii creates an impression that he is the brain behind Elon’s achievements.
No one questions, no even dares to smile when the child picks his nose, sitting on the hallowed carpet of Oval Office…
20
Musk has consensual relations with some of his staff, who get promoted quickly or demoted if they reject him. Its the culture, the richest man in the world is a tosser.
17
I couldn’t care about his staff, they are adults and must make their own decisions. If I was the richest person o the planet I’d expect to buy anyone I wanted, its been the same for the Presidents, the dictators, the Emperors, the kings, the chiefs, the headmen, whoever was in charge in all human history.
However he has just sent four people into their first space trip, and over the poles in a first for mankind, so I’d rate him way above anyone else on the planet.
Twiggy, Tesla was just a meaningless fancy of his youth, not worth talking about.
10
I’m going to provide a non-troll reply for once. I think cutting government waste is great. I’m not against that. I am however against the worship of him on this site. I also think it’s ironic that he is probably the world’s greatest rent seeker. Every one of his companies are heavily subsidised and loaded with government contracts. He’s not the hero you guys think he is.
And regarding his sexual partners, all his kids are IVF. Despite him tweeting his proclivity of “impregnating” women (he has his own burner X accounts that talk about his sexual prowess), his children are all strangely IVF.
37
Thanks for stating your point of contention more clearly.
I don’t think you need to really worry about Hero worship of Musk and people thinking he’s perfect. The two thoughts can be and are independent.
Nice of you to defend Musk regarding the accusation he has too many sexual partners. Hope that’s not out of hero worship. 😉
70
So you’re here to give us all a telling off. Even those of us who remain ambivalent about Musk’s place in the world.
Ok. Job done. Bye now.
81
IIRC by the ecofadist code if it is said 6 times somewhere it becomes gospel truth
40
FWIW
“THE NOT SO FINAL COUNTDOWN: Another Climate Apocalypse Deadline Just Passed.”
1028days and still here
https://instapundit.com/711652/#disqus_thread
40
Takeaways From Lee Zeldin’s EPA Confirmation Hearing
Not a good look.
5. Climate Change
“I believe that climate change is real, as I told you,” Zeldin told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Zeldin said Trump’s past characterizations of the phenomenon as a “hoax” were, in reality, criticisms of policies enacted in response to climate change.
“I respectfully disagree,” Sanders said in response.
The senator followed up by asking whether climate change amounted to an existential threat—“meaning that there must be an urgency to get our act together to address it.”
“We must with urgency be addressing these issues,” Zeldin responded. He said he was prepared to apply pressure to other countries on environmental policy.
In response to earlier questioning from Whitehouse, ranking member of the committee, the nominee acknowledged a link between carbon dioxide emissions and ocean acidification and described rising sea levels as a problem.
“That’s what the scientists tell me,” Zeldin said, when asked if greenhouse gas emissions were warming the oceans.
He told Whitehouse that the issue of large-scale carbon dioxide emissions “certainly needs to be focused on for the EPA,” saying that carbon dioxide and methane emissions trap heat.
Zeldin said the EPA has treated carbon dioxide like a pollutant, in line with the Supreme Court’s 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA decision, but he noted that it was not among the six air pollutants found in the Clean Air Act.
30
As long as he removes the pollutant label from CO2, nothing else that he thinks about the molecule of life matters. If it is not labeled a pollutant, it will not be regulated by the EPA. They can get on with the job of keeping industrial derived hazardous chemicals and elements out of the food chain; air we breathe and water we drink.
170
It is hard to how much knowledge Zeldin has of actual science.
I would have said that an increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere would lead to an increase in CO2 dissolved in the oceans and hence a reduction in pH. I would add however that peeing in the Pacific Ocean will also have an effect on pH. I would further add that the oceans are so strongly buffered that these reductions would be so insignificant as to be impossible to measure.
The same goes for warming the oceans. A warmer atmosphere will lead to warming oceans. That warming will again be so insignificant as to be impossible to measure.
And there is no doubt in my mind that “these issues” need to be addressed. This time around they might try science!
Oh and I fully agree with RickWill. With that one simple act the whole climate crusade capers will deflate as the grifters seek new adventures.
30
FWIW – another nice little scheme
“What the DOGErs Keep Finding at Social Security Explains the Progressive Spasms”
What they found – “…is gobsmacking.
What is the ‘this’ he’s referring to that they found?
That the Biden administration in 2024 – one year – gave 2.1 MILLION NON-CITIZENS social security numbers.”
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2025/03/31/what-the-dogers-keep-finding-at-social-security-explains-the-progressive-spasms-n3801328
120
If they have a Social Security number that means they can enrol to vote doesn’t it?
40
That “feature” gets an elaboration there
30
Last I checked most USA banks would happily sell you (a nonUSA resident . citizen) a US$1000000 certificate of deposit. But the bank would also ensure that you applied for (and received) a social security (tax file) number.
OTOH non-resident USA citizens have a few other hoops to “jump through”, unless they also have a 6 figure net worth
10
No.
The US Social Security number is an identification.
It provides no entitlements.
01
“Usa
usa.gov
› home › government benefits › social security
Social Security | USAGov
17 February 2023 – Learn about Social Security, including retirement and disability benefits, how to get or replace your Social Security card, and more.”
https://www.usa.gov/social-security
20
And more wailing and gnashing coming –
“Elon Musk Previews DOGE Looking into Wealth of Lawmakers: ‘How Do they Become Rich?’ ”
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/03/31/elon-musk-previews-doge-looking-into-wealth-of-lawmakers-how-do-they-become-rich/
90
Half a mill net worth after 4 years? When elected she still had a $15,000 student debt and had trouble renting a DC unit.
30
FWIW – latest Kunstler
“Convergence Calling
“The current conflict between Europe and America is not reducible towards contrasting approaches towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” —Frank Furedi on Substack”
““Contrary to Western media’s trash talk, Russian military has not been degraded. If anything, it has been significantly upgraded.” —Alex Krainer”
More at
https://www.kunstler.com/p/convergence-calling
Elaborated in
“Too Many Uncomfortable Things Are Converging…”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/too-many-uncomfortable-things-are-converging
Which gets uncomfortably close to adding ” And lost”
to this headline –
“NYT, US waged COALITION WAR against Russia”
https://rumble.com/v6rgxjx-nyt-us-waged-coalition-war-against-russia.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp
10
Key Takeaways From America’s Secret Military Partnership With Ukraine
An investigation by The New York Times has revealed that America was woven into the war far more than previously known.
From – https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/03/31/new-york-times-publishes-explosive-investigation-article-showing-u-s-military-boots-on-ground-in-ukraine-and-cia-operation-to-target-russian-federation-with-drones-and-missiles/#more-270659
and
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2025-03-31/europes-idiocracies-turn-dark-side
10
An Alternate View of the New York Times Article
Here’s why the West has so far failed to start World War III
The New York Times “exposé” on the US-Ukraine partnership contains no surprises, but the underlying revelation is stunning
By Tarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany working at Koç University, Istanbul, on Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, the history of World War II, the cultural Cold War, and the politics of memory
Yet, in reality, this time the New York Times is offering something less impressive by magnitudes. And the issue is not that the Pentagon Papers were longer. What really makes “The Partnership” so underwhelming are two features: It is embarrassingly conformist, reading like a long exercise in rooting for the home team, the US, by access journalism: Based on hundreds of interviews with movers and shakers, this is really the kind of “investigation” that boils down to giving everyone interviewed a platform for justifying themselves as good as they can and as much as they like.
Because one fundamental conceit of “The Partnership” is that the war could have been won by the West, through Ukraine. What seems to never even have entered the author’s mind is the simple fact that this was always an absurd undertaking. Accordingly, the other thing that hardly makes it onto his radar screen is the crucial importance of Russia’s political and military actions and reactions.
This, hence, is an article that, in effect, explains losing a war against Russia without ever noticing that this may have happened because the Russians were winning it. In that sense, it stands in a long tradition: Regarding Napoleon’s failed campaign of 1812 and Hitler’s crash between 1941 and 1945, all too many contemporary and later Western observers have made the same mistake: For them it’s always the weather, the roads (or their absence), the timing, and the mistakes of Russia’s opponents. Yet it’s never – the Russians. This reflects old, persistent, and massive prejudices about Russia that the West cannot let go of. And, in the end, it is always the West which ends up suffering from them the most.
Indeed, if there is one most important take-away point from the New York Times proud expose of the extremely unsurprising, then it is that the term “proxy war” is both fundamentally correct and insufficient. On one side, it perfectly fits the relationship between Ukraine and its Western “supporters”: The Zelensky regime has sold the country as a whole and hundreds of thousands, if not more, Ukrainian lives to the West.
The West has used them to wage war on Russia in pursuit of one overarching geopolitical aim of its own: to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia, that is, a permanent demotion to second-rate, de facto non-sovereign status.
And yet: In the case of the ongoing Ukraine War, the US and other Western nations – and don’t overlook that “The Partnership” hardly addresses all the black ops also conducted by them and their mercenaries – have clearly, blatantly gone beyond proxy war. In reality, the West has been waging war on Russia for years now.
30
BREAKING: Russia DECLARES Mass Military Mobilization;
Will the princelings of Moscow and St Petersburg be able to avoid this? ‘Til now minorities, prisoners and foreigners have taken the pressure of the city elites.
11
Stay away from gymnasiums – there is a video circulating showing young and healthy gym members prostrate on the floor while military types check their identities and “suggest” some of them to sign up for the glory of the motherland.
00
“Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday approved a decree launching the country’s spring 2025 military conscription, which will see 160,000 citizens aged 18 to 30 called up for service. The draft will run from April 1 to July 15, according to a document published on the government’s official legal information portal…The 2025 figure reflects a continued rise in conscription numbers. Around 130,000 were drafted in the fall 2023 campaign, while spring 2024 saw over 147,000 conscripts…
“Conscripts will not be sent to the deployment sites of the units of the Russian armed forces in (the active fronts) nor will they participate in the fulfillment of the objectives of the special military operation there,” said…the Defense Ministry. The ministry added that conscripts will be discharged on schedule upon completing their mandatory service term.”
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/putin-signs-decree-for-spring-2025-conscription-of-160-000-c
Nothing “Breaking”, nothing “Mass”, nothing “You’ll be shocked”, it’s the normal spring call-up of reserves.
30
“Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday approved a decree launching the country’s spring 2025 military conscription, which will see 160,000 citizens aged 18 to 30 called up for service. The draft will run from April 1 to July 15, according to a document published on the government’s official legal information portal…The 2025 figure reflects a continued rise in conscription numbers. Around 130,000 were drafted in the fall 2023 campaign, while spring 2024 saw over 147,000 conscripts…
“Conscripts will not be sent to the deployment sites of the units of the Russian armed forces in (the active fronts) nor will they participate in the fulfillment of the objectives of the special military operation there,” said…the Defense Ministry. The ministry added that conscripts will be discharged on schedule upon completing their mandatory service term.”
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/putin-signs-decree-for-spring-2025-conscription-of-160-000-c
Nothing “Breaking”, nothing “Mass”, nothing “You’ll be shocked”, it’s the normal spring call-up of reserves.
When it gets like Ukraine you can worry!
10
Its the biggest call up since the start of the war, 160,000 men needed for the Spring offensive.
00
The UK is toast. It’s over. Turn the lights off.
“A Toddler (2-4years old) was suspended from a nursery after being accused of being transphobic”
“All staff & pupils should feel safe”
https://x.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/1906465828259643830
Please place your heads between your knees and await the crash and burn.
Toddler: “??? WTF…Goo goo gaa gaa”
111
It’s difficult to understand how Once Great Britain conquered much of the known world.
10
It’s not just the UK. The whole west is pretty much wrecked – Canada, America, the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, all are shadows of their former selves, drowning in progressive policies.
America might be saved by Trump, but that’s by no means certain. Evil forces and corrupt politicians are still at work there too. Besides, by most measures (not just social) America is a basket case, just like the UK.
Australia never rose to those heights so has lower to fall, but fall it will. That old ‘tyranny of distance’ is still a drag on our economy if we want to move away from selling dirt and do more value adding. Meanwhile, we’re headed toward an even bleaker situation that our present predicament, if Labor end up relying on the Greens and Teals to form government. Then it’s ‘check mate’.
60
Doctors Who Gave the Covid-19 Vaccine Will Be Bankrupt by 2030
Back in 2020, I warned that doctors who prescribed the then new and experimental covid-19 vaccine would likely be sued (and also imprisoned) if it turned out, as I expected, that the vaccine caused harm to those who were injected. I warned that doctors’ insurers would not be able to cope and that thousands of doctors would go bankrupt.
According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice in early 2025, all health care professionals who urged individuals to be vaccinated, or who carried out vaccinations, are both civilly and criminally liable.
It was ruled that doctors could have chosen whether or not to administer the vaccines, and could have advised against them, so they can be considered liable for their actions.
I doubt if doctors’ insurance companies would have enough money to satisfy millions of claims (with each patient demanding millions of pounds) and so the vast majority of doctors in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, the EU, etc., etc., would go bankrupt.
https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/dr-vernon-coleman-doctors-who-gave
Who will be left to treat anyone in 5 years?
80
Who will be left to treat anyone in 5 years?
And in Australia/New Zealand who will be left to cloth and feed the masses? If doctors had the opportunity to discuss and/or make their own professional decision based on the FIRST “do no harm” criteria can be held liable for their actions then major retail chains who demanded staff take the jab or lose their job rather than suspend with/without pay or make redundant should be liable for their actions also.
How much improvement to the bottom line did these doyens of doing the right thing by their customers and the environment achieve by shedding long serving loyal staff as far as future redundancy costs were concerned? If these same businesses can introduce 5-year plans to get to net zero, reduce plastic waste, offer job equality to (all) the genders and minorities (including using “positive” discrimination selection) how is it they could not see their way clear to suspending staff until the very early and justified questions regarding side affects could be answered rather than just be ignored behind the mantra of “safe and effective”.
The undercurrent is still there and will not be stopped from rising to become white water rapids.
40
The Remarkable Anti-Cancer Potential of Mushrooms
The health freedom movement has grown tired of experimental gene therapies and seek safer, more natural approaches to cancer prevention and treatment.
Overall Cancer Risk Reduction: Higher mushroom consumption was associated with a 34% lower risk of total cancer
Breast Cancer Risk Reduction: The strongest association was found for breast cancer, with a 35% lower risk in the highest mushroom consumption group
Dose-Response Relationship: A nonlinear dose-response was detected (P = 0.001), showing a 45% lower risk at 18g/day mushroom intake compared to 0g/day.
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-remarkable-anti-cancer-potential
For a more thorough unblocked analysis:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753332222002906#bib141
My top 3 rated foods would be eggs, sardines and mushrooms.
20
Six crisis points to consider before the 2025 election.
1. In the vicinity of a third of Australia’s GDP comprises exports dominated by iron ore, gas and coal. Tax and royalties from those exports enabled Australians to fund a vast social security system which underpins our standard of living. It’s in danger of crumbling just as both parties go on a disastrous spending spree to get votes.
2. We are deliberately trashing our reliability of supply reputation. In iron ore, BHP and Rio Tinto are now facing almost endless industrial action as the unions seek to regain much greater control of the operations.
In gas there have also been industrial disputes, and they have been combined with environmental issues. Australia is rapidly trashing its reputation of being a reliable supplier.
3. In the past that would not have mattered because the world was desperate for product. But now demand is softening on the back of the repercussions of reduced consumption in China and the Trump tariffs.
At the same time, regions including Africa and South America are replacing Australia as the top country for supply reliability. Australia faces lower iron ore prices and lower market share.
4. Australian renewables power generation boosts prices and lowers reliability.
We currently overcome the high renewables cost problem with subsidies, but the above revenue reduction forces and our high borrowings mean the subsidies are not sustainable.
5. Whether it be in the US, some countries in Europe, Chile or Argentina, administrations are waking up that to attract investments the rules must be more attractive than in the past.
With our high-cost, low-reliable power, the industrial relations quagmire, environmental issues and our endless bureaucracies, we will fall dramatically behind the rest of the world in attracting capital. And voters have no idea it is happening.
6. Unless there is dramatic change, Australians’ largest looming mining project – the South Australian copper belt – will be replaced by expansion in countries that want investment more than Australia.
How does the message get to Australia? Once the currency traders see the mess we are in, they will dump the Australian dollar. At around US50c to US55c, we will be forced to defend the currency because the cost of imports will skyrocket. That means lifting interest rates sharply.
We will also be forced to reduce the deficit at a time when it will be very painful. That’s when we will realise that the 2025 elections did not address the issues. That’s what Victorians now realise happened to them in 2022.
Robert Gottliebsen
90
Rafe note the reduction in Gas & Coal in South Korea
OldOzzie
March 31, 2025 at 1:09 pm · Reply
Nuclear Growth Helps South Korea Cut Back On Coal And LNG Imports
Record nuclear power production is helping South Korea to cut imports of thermal coal and LNG to multi-year lows so far in 2025, offering a potential blueprint for other power-hungry nations looking to curb reliance on fossil fuel imports.
Nuclear reactors have generated more electricity than South Korea’s coal and natural gas-fired plants since September of last year, and have helped the country’s utilities make steep cuts to fossil fuel purchases and use so far in 2025.
Historically, South Korea has been a top-four importer of both coal and LNG, but over the first quarter of 2025 it has cut the combined imports of both fuels by 20% from 2024, thanks to greater home-grown nuclear output.
Continued high nuclear generation could allow for further drops to South Korea’s fossil fuel imports going forward and showcase the effectiveness of a nuclear fleet in displacing costly and high-polluting fuels from power production.
NUCLEAR GROWTH
South Korea’s nuclear power fleet churned out a record 17.9 terawatt hours of electricity in January, according to data from Ember, which is 20% more than in the same month in 2024 and accounted for nearly 35% of the country’s electricity.
A sustained drive to raise efficiency levels of the country’s nuclear reactors, alongside the start-up of the Shin Hanul-2 reactor in early 2024, has resulted in a steady climb in South Korea’s nuclear-powered electricity supplies.
South Korea electricity generation by source & power sector emissions
Between 2019 and 2024, total electricity generation from South Korea’s nuclear plants expanded by 29%, from 146 terawatt hours (TWh) to 189 TWh, Ember data shows.
That rapid swell in clean electricity supplies allowed for utilities to reduce coal-fired power output by 26% and still elevate overall electricity supplies by 6% during that same period.
Natural gas-fired electricity supplies grew by 17% from 2019 to 2024, and overtook coal-fired supplies for the first time last year.
But 2024 also saw output from nuclear plants exceed that from South Korea’s coal and gas-fired plants for the first time, cementing its place as the country’s primary power source.
And nuclear power’s stature within South Korea looks set to keep growing, with an additional four reactors under construction.
10
Not much to disagree with there except that Africa will not replace us as a cheap, reliable supplier. A Chinese mine was looted last week and their power issues are greater than ours. The iron ore is on the west coast and would incur half a mill Suez charges or a long trip around the Cape if headed to China or Japan.
20
FWIW – choice or Buckleys
“Eric S. Raymond
@esrtweet
I’m going to reject the implied critique entirely.
Historically the alternative to mass-produced inexpensive stuff like the piece on the right wasn’t “everybody has beautifully curved fireplace ornaments”, it’s “people who aren’t rich can’t have nice things at all”.
I’m rich on those terms. I was able to afford classically beautiful solid-oak furniture and nice Persian rugs for my house; I have a coffee table in my living room with Jacobean moldings a lot like that fireplace.
But I’m not going to snark at people who buy things like that chest on the right, or at the chests themselves, because I know that the alternatives to mass-produced “slop” are worse than the slop, both on an individual and a social level.
I have class and taste, but I haven’t led the kind of coddled life that conduces to unthinking snobbery about it. It’s simply a brute fact that not everybody can afford these things.
However bad you think mass-produced middle-class slop is, not having the options it generates is worse.”
https://x.com/esrtweet/status/1905395875490181158
Via https://instapundit.com/711780/#disqus_thread
10
FWIW
Around what went into things like furniture back in BC –
I have just rebuilt a set of four wooden dining room chairs from back then. No maker’s name plate but probably English oak. I guess from when the “middleish classes” had such chairs.
Reconstructing each chair involved replacing 65 dowels.
I started on the worst one and it looked like the “last reconstructor” had been given about a kg of nails and told to use them all.
30
“Can you, without a computer in front of you, write your own thoughts down. Can you even have orderly, concise thinking without the discipline of writing to train our brains for it? Can you reason?”
It doesn’t appear so, even without ChatGP no-one can write! Never mind the average Joe with their social media rubbish, just look at the amount of posts on here that refer to a video supposedly by someone intelligent wanting to pass on important information.. Yet somehow it always turns out they are just another wannbe influencer who wants their face in front of a camera..
Of course, the more people use Youboob, the less people write, its a self-reinforcing decline. Drives me mad!
20
H
Do you have a reference to that Russian mobilisation please?
10
Goes with # 16.2
10
These guys aren’t prone to wild speculation but it is hours now and there is nothing extra on the topic. I’ll see what today’s news brings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OENdmxRK8U&t=30s
00
More propaganda??? from your favorite group…
https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/03/31/putin-orders-160000-new-conscripts-as-ukraine-warns-russia-prepares-offensives-on-three-ukrainian-fronts/
Putin has taken the ceasefire to accelerate drone swarm strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure that may house troops like military hospitals and hotel accommodation, plus movement on the frontline using their superior artillery and scary 1,000lb – 1,500lb gliding bombs. Nothing much left of village infrastructure or human sanity after these are dropped.
00
FWIW
France – “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite” is so yesterday
10
One of my troops who went to the air show has returned to work. Their job was to chauffeur the VIP:s around. They worked 12 hours a day for 10 days straight.
One of the VIPs was our very own defence minister, after the 10 days he left, walked straight past the “chauffeurs” and not a word, no a thank you nothing, typical arrogant SOB so that’s a bunch of votes labor won’t get.
Oh and the only way I could renumerate them for their efforts was to give them “up to 5 days off’
60
>no thank you, nothing
That’s the mark of a weak person. Given power, they cease to be a human being.
>the only way I could renumerate them for their efforts was to give them “up to 5 days off’
Well done. At least there’s someone in power who still has a heart.
20
FWIW
“Recycling Power: Rethinking Nuclear Waste”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/recycling-power-rethinking-nuclear-waste
00