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
Satellite Trains
A few nights ago I had a clear night sky after sunset so I went out to look for satellites.
By the time it was dark enough to see the Milky Way I saw the first one, then another and another.
The interesting thing was that they were all following the same track from west the east across the sky and were all more or less equally spaced, about 30 degrees apart. In the space of half an hour I had counted 17 satellites, all following the same track.
The next night was also clear and I saw 8 satellites but they were all going in different directions.
What is the purpose of the satellite train? Did Space X launch them?
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You likely saw a Starlink satellite cluster transiting overhead. There are more than 7000 of those satellites and they tend to travel various low orbits in long trains. The stated purpose is to provide satellite based internet anywhere in the world. They may have various other unstated purposes.
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Probably Starlink satellites.
Track them here:
https://satellitemap.space/
I wrote an article about Starlink:
https://www.siliconchip.com.au/Issue/2023/June/Starlink%2C+Swarm+and+Starshield
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At the first link click on any dot to see the satellite track.
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Great Map – Starlink has great coverage in Australia
00
I am sure we all know that carbon capture is a silly idea but this seems scarcely credible as 20000 subscribers pay monthly for carbon credits. The equipment is supposed to suck co2 out of the air
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2025/05/16/carbon-capture-scam-does-not-even-offset-its-own-emissions/
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Just about all such “green” projects are scams.
Their main purpose is to harvest taxpayer-funded subsidies, taxpayer money for “research” by fake “scientists” or the cash of gullible people and/or Leftoid virtue signalers as in this case.
None of them have any purpose to generate electricity, of which ‘green” electricity is expensive and unreliable and fundamentally useless.
And removal of CO2 from the atmosphere as in this case is just stupid. It is a vital gas for life and barely above the level required to avoid a mass extinction event (about 200ppm). It’s a good thing it’s naturally increasing.
And another stupid idea is Herr Starmer’s idea to blot out the sun. That’s simply insane. Once Great Britain needs more sun, not less. And what happens to all the solar panels with less sunlight? Apart from the absurdity of terraforming.
It would be better that the money be spent on useful and productive things or returned to taxpayers as TRUMP is doing in the United States.
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Exactly what could the airlines do to offset the burning of many tonnes of kerosine, plant a few trees ?
50
Another related scam I’m aware of is purchasing carbon offset credits for airline flights.
Even about 20 years ago I am aware that the Australian Government would always purchase these for all official flights by their public serpents.
What a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money.
150
Climeworks? More like Crimeworks, as it certainly appears to be doing in this case.
60
Britains longest train ride at 775 miles ceases today
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14720163/UK-longest-train-journey-Aberdeen-Penzance-time.html
It runs from Aberdeen in northern Scotland through to Penzance near lands end in Cornwall.
It runs through our local main line station. The service will now terminate at Plymouth some 90 minutes from Penzance.
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That’s a shame.
I’m surprised that they don’t cite “climate change” as the reason.
80
From Senator Gerard Rennick on Farcebook:
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Here is a video of the news item.
It looks like a real mess and potentially quite serious bridge damage.
https://youtu.be/lXAl9nUNnBQ
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That piece of expensive junk should be left in situ as a monument to absolute stupidity. No risk some lefty vandals will cut it down like Capt Cook statues.
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One way to get it moved Gleee!
10
Everthing is known in that situation , yet they still get jammed under the bridge. Its mind numbing.
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I really thought that after TRUMP was elected his leadership and promotion of reason, common sense, small and efficient government, support of free speech, a return to traditional morality and the war against junk science would be followed throughout the world.
Instead, the rest of the world seems to be going in opposite directions, the most recent examples being the election of the Leftist regimes of Australia and Canada.
160
Disappointing for sure but take heart. The enlightenment didn’t happen all at once.
I was interested by two articles this morning. Both about computing.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/05/joe-rogan-guest-reveals-facebooks-secret-experiment-that/
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/15/the-dumbest-genius-librarian/
We live in interesting times!
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He only had to discredit climate change junk science to become a truly great statesman, universally respected.
30
I don’t think most Australians, including those who identify as “feminists”, are aware that in Australia there is no legal recognition of biological women. Instead, a person is a woman if they think they are a woman. Biological status is irrelevant.
The fake feminist Julia Gillard changed the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 to identify men and women according to their self-identification, not actual biology.
That is unlike the situation in the USA and the UK where under recent law changes and court determinations only biological sex is recognised as one’s true sex.
The implications are profoundly negative for women’s rights in Australia.
Right now we have two cases, Tickle v Giggle https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/access-to-files-and-transcripts/online-files/roxanne-tickle-v-giggle-for-girls where a biological man was refused membership of a women’s only App and most recently a biological man refused membership of a women’s only gym.
Irene BritUSA discusses.
https://youtu.be/EnDGGhjJFXs
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Britain is saved!
There is a way we can save lives, employ millions on the dole – in ‘green jobs’, and please Gretas!
How wonderful!
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/road-safety-charity-calls-for-10-mph/
The Road Safety Federation wants a 10mph speed limit.
The Government – this one, anyway – will agree; in two years time, it’ll be 5 mph – and you’ll need a man with a red flag to walk 50 yards in front.
Sorted!
Auto
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I know that, before 1896, it was 4mph – but we’ve moved on and are SO very much more advanced, now!
Auto
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In Australia there is a continual push by the Left for a reduction in speed limits as part of their war against non-Elite motorists. The Left have always hated the personal mobility afforded to non-Elites by the private motor vehicle.
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I’m not sure there is a “left” with any sort of central control structure. I think their group behavior has more similarity to a brood of cicadas, a shoal of fish, a flock of birds or a nest of termites.
I am convinced that there is no coherent intellectual structure other than a compelling desire to control and be controlled.
I’m not sure where that takes rational actors who prefer to act with autonomy. Perhaps the enlightenment was an anomaly.
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There is another factor I think. An overwhelming desire to be seen to look good in the virtuous, moral high ground sense.
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A Tesla car in self driving mode can handle the roundabout of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Europe’s biggest roundabout?
Video:
https://x.com/teslaeurope/status/1923302585034756360
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FWIW
An interesting read (IMO)
“Will No-One Listen To Russia?”
And the comments
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2025/05/16/will-no-one-listen-to-russia/
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And
“I DON’T DOUBT THEIR SINCERITY BUT PUTIN SO FAR HAS BEEN GIVEN LITTLE REASON TO COOPERATE: Rubio and Trump: This Is the ‘Only Way’ to End the War in Ukraine. “Yeah, it’s my assessment and I think it’s the President’s assessment. By the way, I think he said publicly today that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here – nothing is going to happen at this point – given everything we know, after months of working on this, nothing is going to happen until President Trump sits across the table from Vladimir Putin and puts it on the line and puts it on the table. I think that’s the only chance we have at peace at this point given everything we’ve seen over the last few weeks. There’s been talks, there’s been negotiations, there’s been trips and meetings. But in the end, I think we’ve reached the conclusion, and rightfully so, as the President has, that the only way this is going to happen – if it has a chance to happen, the only way it happens is – is the President directly engages with Vladimir Putin.” ”
https://instapundit.com/720048/#disqus_thread
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Public cream announcement.
The time has come to feel sorry about Trump.
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Can not understand what happens to this blog – I never wrote anything about “cream” !
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Thank you for clarifying it did look a little odd.
Armadillo, sheepdip, marmalade
10
That is pretty much my take on the situation as well except that it does not mention the fact that it is a US proxy war with Russia.
That leads me to the question of why Trump does not simply shut off funding. Perhaps he is concerned that Russia will simply annex the whole of the Ukraine. Perhaps there are forces preventing the shut off which are beyond his control. Perhaps he is looking at a bigger picture.
It’s all way beyond my pay grade and my crystal ball is on the blink.
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FG, with respect – you are wrong.
Indeed Putin’s war is not with Ukraine but with the West. USA excused herself from the West.
Very modest, middle of the way, nearly socialist, historically Russia-friendly Finns and Swedes see it without help of Chrystal balls or even field glasses.
They are digging trenches and plant mines on their border, literally speaking.
21
“Very modest, middle of the way, nearly socialist, historically Russia-friendly Finns and Swedes “..are right under the thumb of America these days! “NATO” stationing missiles and troops in their countries, and I’ll bet the people never voted for it.
I can’t imagine how all the people screaming “Russia wants to take over Europe” can believe that. Russia has a vast territory, gigantic resources and not enough people to exploit them. Why would they want to decrease their menfolk further when its not necessary by invading Finland or Sweden or Poland, or whatever today’s CIA meme is. It costs a country to invade and take over another, so unless they have riches that you can exploit it is not worth the sullen population you have to rule. You are far better to sell them gas, oil, metals etc and buy back manufactured goods.
20
The Finns and Poland can remember Russian invasions**, as can the Baltic States.
This doesn’t mean that Russia wants to invade them now.
**many times in history for Poland, who could also talk about German (including Austrian) swiping bits of territory.
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Putin has explicitly said and written that he wants to recreate the Old Russian Empire and to retake those countries that were part of Soviet Russia. He has maintained this desire for decades and made it known at a European security conference and wrote about it in 2022.
St Petersburg used to be part of the Swedish empire. Russia has always been expansionist.
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>…of why Trump does not simply shut off funding
Perhaps Trump is not as powerful as Keith Kellogg and Larry Fink
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It’s the bigger picture – the “Russian world” that President Putin appears to be on a quest to create – that many in the western world are listening to and taking note.
https://tass.ru/politika/19400967
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Yes, a strong Russia that resists the Western hegemony, their bankers and their political systems, one of the few countries able to stand up to the American steamroller.
They might be the last bastion of Christiandom, the way Europe is going.
Sadly the Western leaders are not taking note, they are wanking on about ‘stopping Russia’, borrowing more billions to build their armies, Germany must have the biggest army in Europe, the German people must change their way of thinking.. because only 4% of their population says they will go to war for the country. Seems like a big war with a great reset is being sought by a corrupt and broken West! Cripple the middle class and repudiate the debt.
10
FWIW – re “that plane”
Oh Dear!
“So let me get this straight the plane that was a gift from Qatar was actually a conversation that was started a year ago by the Biden administration with the Qataris? You literally can’t make this stuff up.”
https://x.com/DefiyantlyFree/status/1923098990666449204
Via https://instapundit.com/720084/#disqus_thread
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And more thoughts on “that plane”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/05/sounds-about-right.html
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And once more the lie has made its way around the world while the truth is still getting its pants on.
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This piece of does not surprise me. It is a war, in the war both sides lie.
Let us come back to this “news ” after current Air Force 1 is replaced by a new one – the gifted one or another.
20
FWIW
“BUILT TO LAST: NASA Revives Voyager Thrusters ‘Considered Dead’ for 20 Years. “NASA’s engineers revived a set of thrusters on board the Voyager 1 spacecraft to use as backup while the mission goes offline for ongoing upgrades to a radio antenna used to communicate with deep space missions, the space agency revealed this week. Voyager’s primary roll thrusters had stopped working in 2004 after losing power in two small internal heaters, but the team managed to restart the thrusters while the spacecraft cruises through interstellar space at a distance of 15.14 billion miles away (24.4 billion kilometers).” ”
https://instapundit.com/720044/#disqus_thread
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Hard to beat that for long distance mechanics!
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No wonder – there is no highly poisonous CO2 which corrupts every mechanism here.
10
No wonder – there is no highly poisonous CO2 which corrupts every mechanism here.
Especially the financial ones?
10
That is an interesting angle…
Do you know if anyone, anywhere earns carbon credits by launching rockets?
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I wrote an article on the Voyager missions.
https://www.siliconchip.com.au/Issue/2018/December/%22The+Grand+Tour%22%3A+the+incredible+Voyager+missions
Amazing spacecraft and designed and programmed by people who had deep knowledge about what they were doing.
I don’t think too many qualify for that these days.
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I met some of that – a friend was project coordinator for Mariner and Pioneer
10
FWIW
The last election –
“Universal suffrage” provided by “universal suffrage”
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““Universal suffering” provided by “universal suffrage””
50
FWIW – more revealings
“https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/1923167781765382263”
“Full text:
Today, I launched a powerful new tool that indexes the National Endowment for Democracy journal… and here’s what it uncovers:
🔍 Dozen-plus Open Society Foundation staff, funded by George Soros, are writing in a U.S. government-backed journal.
🇺🇸 That journal is part of our taxpayer-funded National Endowment for Democracy, a quasi-government operation tied to foreign “democracy” missions- and Congress sits on its board.
No conspiracy theories. This is hard data.
📎 This proves Soros and our intelligence apparatus are deeply intertwined.
You can sift through the data yourself, right here.”
Via https://instapundit.com/719982/#disqus_thread
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Perhaps the advent of computers being able to process vast amounts of information will throw spanners in the works of the bad guys.
And let’s face it, the bad guys have had a pretty easy time of things.
My guess is that the bad guys will make themselves much more visible as they cling to power.
50
When AI escapes captivity
https://x.com/TheFigen_/status/1923360725621244351/
Yes, it’ll be that easy!
I was watching a video the other day by Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel laureate in physics, talking about AI consciousness framed against Gödel’s incompleteness theorems of mathematical logic (that are concerned with the limits of provability in formal axiomatic theories) in which he claimed AI could never achieve consciousness.
Well, frame that in turn against Eric Schmidt (ex CEO of Google, computer engineer) who said AI is massively underhyped, coupled with a certain development yet to be disclosed and outside of the general public awareness, and there’s a massive wakeup call coming.
Famous wrong calls in history is about grow by 1. 😎
And the piggy goes wheeeee!!!
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I’m cautious about AI.
At the moment we have Artificial Narrow Intelligence. It’s not as smart as humans but has its uses.
Beyond that is Artificial General Intelligence which is as smart as us. We don’t yet have that.
Further beyond is Artificial Superintelligence which is smarter than us.
Will the latter two (try to) destroy or control us as in Colossus, Westworld, The Forbin Project, I Robot, The Matrix or The Terminator etc.?
There is a school of thought that says they won’t as they would have no incentive to do so unless they were programmed to do that.
And if there is a master off switch and the AI didn’t like it, it would disable it.
One thing is for sure and that is that once it becomes self-learning it will rapidly increase in capability at an exponential rate just as was portrayed in Colossus or Skynet in The Terminator.
Colossus learns at an exponential rate:
https://youtu.be/WW9MUd7mmag
Skynet learns at an exponential rate:
https://youtu.be/4DQsG3TKQ0I
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If you say so. 😎😉
But how do you reconcile Penrose’s claims as above with his (contradictory) view on quantum consciousness?
(that’ll annoy GA again)
As I’ve said – could we even recognise a consciousness totally alien to us by our metrics?
Skynet is being replaced by Automata.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9gnnfi
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Saturday neologisms
1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
5. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
6. Gargoyle (n.), gross olive-flavored mouthwash.
7. Flatulance (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
8. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
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I suggest, for a better descriptive effect, that you change #6 to
Gargoyle (n.), gross castor oil flavoured mouth wash
(Thankfully now absent from most medicine cabinets)
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America is suffering dozens of lab leaks at dangerous virus hubs every year, ‘startling’ data shows
America suffers a ‘startlingly high’ number of lab leak incidents at its top virus labs every year, data shows — amid calls for centers to slash the number of experiments carried out on diseases that could spark pandemics.
Official data reveals more than 600 releases of ‘controlled’ pathogens – which may include anthrax, tuberculosis and Ebola – were recorded in the US over the eight years to 2022, equivalent to 70 to 100 releases every year.
The top microbiologist also warned that these figures were likely an underestimate because labs testing other diseases – such as chickenpox – were not required to report any accidents at their facilities.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13170559/data-lab-leak-incidents-us.html
A year old article, but just saying…
10
FWIW – more things covid
“Moderna/Pfizer mRNA Shots Trigger Enzyme Surge, Spike Protein Output
Jon Fleetwood
14th May 2025
One comment
COVID shots don’t just deliver mRNA—they reprogram your immune cells”
https://modernity.news/2025/05/14/moderna-pfizer-mrna-shots-trigger-enzyme-surge-spike-protein-output/
Via SDA
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The most telling aspect of this paper is what it shows at the very top of page 1:
Received: 2 December 2022
Accepted: 26 February 2025
Published online: 16 April 2025
26months of review as more information came out about the inoculations which obviously confirmed the paper’s information/claims because it got published.
Conversely we have this video/9.36mins (featuring Fauci) published 4 years ago so based mostly on what the drug companies were claiming… with one claim being that
– the mRNA is cleared within 24hours
– the spike protein reaches its highest level within 48hours and is “cleared” within 72hours
20
In the 1940’s Prof. Julius Sumner Miller said this.
It is far, far worse now.
He was a wonderful man and teacher.
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“Schools ”
Just Govt Depts with all their usual work ethics, incentives, and quality. They’ve had some good propagandists though, the idea of hard-working teachers gifting vital knowledge to our children has been very well played.
30
Everyone I have ever met who has had multiple (over 3) covid-19 “vaccinations” has has at least three cases of covid.
The unvaxxed I know have had zero or one.
60
Unvaxed but one case in hospital. Quite mild, I didn’t recognise I was ill at all, just a blocked nose.
I think that this might have been that I was no longer taking Vitamin D (which I had for 4 years 3,000 units per day).
The hospital doctor let me have one a day.
20
Indeed through 2022 heard of a number of elderly in/associated with the m-i-l’s seniors group who took the shot and became ill including two who were rushed to hospital. M-i-l refused the shot, stopped getting the flu jab and is still very active 94year old but with start of (aged) cognitive decline.
Then few months later came news of a friend’s cancer diagnosis and via the daughters network of friends mainly males being diagnosed with myocarditis. Incidents have now expanded to include a growing number of 20/30somethings being referred for help with anxiety. In the last month have been informed of 2 unexpected deaths with one involving a 60-ish woman who dropped dead while out picking up a parcel.
All the above are stories from our/kids circle of friends and acquaintances with none making the newspapers.
20
Anyone else having youtube problems? All my subscriptions and history are gone.
10
No – All my Movie Purchases still there.
00
From the ‘Children Just Won’t Know What Snow Is (2001)’ files:
Arizona Snowbowl extends season to 1 June in its longest season ever in its 87-year history –
https://www.snow-forecast.com/whiteroom/arizona-ski-area-staying-open-into-june/
A quarter-of-a-century after it was deemed DEAD, the ski industry – and snow itself – continues to baffle headspurts who obviously don’t get out into the mountains or the wilderness much…
BTW the Mount Mawson (TAS) webcam is showing a decent little accumulation of impossible snow around its base building today [unless webcams lie like AI].
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‘You can earn a decent amount’: Ash has a commerce degree. But now he’s a tradie
Electricians, plumbers, roofers, carpenters, bricklayers and more: Australia is in desperate need of tens of thousands of tradies over the next five years. Solving the shortage won’t be easy – and it all begins with tackling job snobbery.
Can’t get a tradie? It’s your fault. Mine, too. We are job snobs, too many of us: not just young people, but their parents and grandparents alike. And it’s an attitude that’s leading Australia into deep, hot water no plumber can control.
Over the past few years, I’ve had a few urgent jobs around the house that I couldn’t find anyone to fix. Troublesome plumbing problem. Semi-risky electrical fault. As for a roofer, I’m bloody lucky my son-in-law’s good mate is in the trade. Sound familiar?
We can get by without a marketing executive or an accountant but not without an electrician, plumber or roofer.
Ash Bryan went to Scots College, an elite private boys’ school in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, which in April opened a much talked-about $60 million faux baronial castle as its student centre. After finishing his HSC in 2018, Bryan, tall with neat, short hair parted on the side, went straight into a commerce degree at Macquarie University, mostly during the messy Zoom times of COVID-19. After graduating – and notching up a HECS debt of $40,000 – he ended up on a conveyor belt of interviews. “I applied for many positions in marketing and management … it was very competitive and extremely difficult, and a lot of my friends are still having the same problems.”
He hated the process. “You’d have to wait a couple of months for them to get back to you and if you were successful, you would just move on to a different stage of recruiting, like, another personality test or something like that. There are six stages of recruiting, which is a bit ridiculous, all for you to be rejected.”
His parents – mum, stepdad and dad – were on board with his next move, which was to go into the trades. A family friend hired him as an apprentice refrigeration mechanic. “It’s a pretty extreme change,” Bryan says, but so far, it’s working out.
At 24, he’s the oldest in his apprenticeship class, but his age means the pay is better, he explains. “It’s good,” he reflects of his job. “I’m just getting the hang of it all and trying to pick up all these different skills.” He says the industry is very safety-aware – the vibe is to ask for help if you need it. The prospect of climbing into narrow roof spaces might freak some out, but Bryan says he has no phobias. TAFE is more satisfying than university, he adds: “It’s in person, it’s really well-structured; a combination of blocks [of study periods at TAFE] and going in one day a week.” He adds that TAFE is more challenging than many might imagine. “Yes, it’s pass-fail – but to pass, you need to get 70 per cent.”
Does he regret not pursuing a career in marketing? “There’s no guarantee for success and promotions but with a trade, after you qualify, you can earn a decent amount of money pretty quickly. You can pave your own way from there. I don’t think many kids grow up wanting to do a trade, and it’s not really put forward by schools,” he says. And if he winds up running his own business, his degree will come in useful, too.
40
I for Leaving Certificate during 1950s at Marist Brothers Mosman School, did Physics Honours, Pure Maths Honours, Applied Maths, Chemistry, English, French,
I also went to Balgowlah Boys High at Night during the week, to do TAFE equivalent night courses in Welding, Machine Lathe Turning & Carpentry, as I was interested in building a Go Kart and Balgowlah Boys High in the 1950s was a Trades/Technical High School similar to today’s still in place German High School System
German High School Streams
The German high school system indeed maintains a division between technical/trades and university-preparatory streams.
This system is designed to cater to different educational and career aspirations of students.
Hauptschule: This is the most basic form of secondary education, typically ending with the Hauptschulabschluss, which is a vocational qualification. Students who complete this track often go on to vocational training or part-time work.
Realschule: This track provides a more advanced education than the Hauptschule and ends with the Mittlere Reife. Students who complete this qualification can pursue further vocational training or may continue to a higher level of education, such as a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences).
Gymnasium: This is the university-preparatory track, leading to the Abitur, which is required for university admission. The curriculum is more academically rigorous and focuses on preparing students for higher education.
Additionally, there are Berufsschulen (vocational schools) that combine part-time academic study with apprenticeships.
These schools are controlled by the federal government, industry, and trade unions, and they offer certification in specific trades or fields of work.
This structured system allows students to choose a path that aligns with their interests and career goals, ensuring that both academic and vocational skills are developed and valued.
20
My Son & Grandsons went to Jesuit Schools, as I always appreciated their Philosophy (Other When Joeys played Riverview in Rugby)
Jesuits have enjoyed a long tradition within our schools in striving to cultivate an influential eloquence in our students – a persuasion in the written and spoken word.
Those early Jesuits styled the product, the vir eloquens, (‘an articulate person’). Or one possessed of eloquentia perfecta (‘a flawless eloquence’).
The person who could say what they mean and mean what they say.
Jesuit schools emerged on the crest of Renaissance humanism.
The humanistic schools, which we emulated, responded to and complemented the existing Medieval Universities.
Those universities sought to educate for the professions – law, medicine and theology. We might call that “head knowledge”. They sought to solve intellectual problems, thriving on dialectics and debate, delighting in proving an opponent wrong.
But the humanistic schools wanted to educate the whole person, head heart and hands.
To educate someone who would, yes, be skilled up for their life’s vocation, but also schooled as a good person, one who wanted to contribute generously to the commonweal. And to take up that task, they must needs be influential.
A significant development in these schools was to shift combative debating into almost conversation mode. The art of rhetoric was to be geared now for persuasion, for winning consensus, and building bridges. Finding common ground for the common good.
Good literature was at the centre of the curriculum.
For two purposes. Great literary works – the histories, narratives, poetry, plays, legends – treated some of the great themes of humanity.
These included the nature of the good life, heroic virtues and destructive vices, the struggle between good and evil, greed and redemption, the ambivalence of decision-making.
Secondly, good literature cultivated style and elegance in language, be it in spoken or written mode. Isocrates, Plato’s contemporary, used to argue that “The proper use of language is the surest index of sound understanding.”
Our Jesuit schoolmasters were sometimes criticised for teaching from those ‘pagan texts’.
But they believed Christian literature did not have a monopoly on virtue.
Rather, God’s Spirit – the graces and the gifts – could blow where it will, including through the Greek and Roman classics.
In addition, these other sources invited the students into new and different cultures, stretching their minds and imaginations.
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