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Saturday

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111 comments to Saturday

  • #
    Dennis

    One of Australia’s first commercial wind farms has been earmarked for decommissioning after its owners ruled out replacing aging turbines due to cost. The Codrington Wind Farm opened near Port Fairy in south-west Victoria in July 2001, marking a new frontier in renewable energy in Australia. The site was deemed “close to perfect” due to its strong prevailing winds off the Southern Ocean when Premier Steve Bracks opened what was at the time Australia’s largest wind farm. A wind turbine as seen from directly below, against a blue sky with light cloud cover. Government figures show there are 41 wind farms and 2,500 turbines in Victoria.

    Nearly 24 years later the site’s operator Pacific Blue has unveiled plans to cease operations by 2027 and decommission the wind farm, including removing its 14 turbines. A Pacific Blue spokesperson said it was not pursuing re-powering the farm as it was not financially viable.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Are they removing the massive concrete foundations as part of the decommissioning?

      I doubt it.

      At 26 years it appears to have had an unusually long life of harvesting subsidies and not much else of note. And they don’t usually last that long either. Maybe this was a showcase farm so they kept it going as a demonstration for other subsidy harvesters?

      Meanwhile a proper coal power station would be only halfway or less through its life producing vast amounts of inexpensive, reliable electricity with no subsidies. And nuclear plants in the US are now being certified for 80 year lives.

      What a shocking waste of resources these wind subsidy farming operations are.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        As usual I went to my favourite resource – G Earth and I can find the viewing area and substation but there is no sign of a tower. All that is visible are some smudges where they may have been. Two possible explanations are that the news is old and the towers have already gone and that the smudges are where the foundations have been removed.

        00

      • #
        Ian

        “What a shocking waste of resources these wind subsidy farming operations are.
        The Americans don’t seem to think so.

        The US still uses wind turbines for energy production. In fact, wind power is a significant source of electricity generation in the US, with over 73,000 wind turbines installed across the country.

        Wind energy is the largest source of renewable electricity generation in the US, providing 10.1% of the country’s electricity. Wind power capacity totals 153 GW, making it the fourth-largest source of electricity generation capacity in the country.Impact:This is enough to power the equivalent of over 46 million American homes.
        The US wind industry is expanding, with more turbines being deployed to meet state and federal renewable energy goals.

        04

    • #
      Vladimir

      What part(s) of a wind tower are actually so “irreplaceable” after 20 years that the whole schimozle must be blown up?
      Hard to believe it is concrete, must be some rotating bits…

      60

      • #
        RickWill

        The concrete is support for the embedded steel. And all steel corrodes and fatigues. The hold down bolts will be useless. Also the technology has moved on with much bigger units now the norm.

        They have to remove the towers so they do not collapse as they age. If they do start collapsing then they become dangerous to remove.

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        • #
          Yarpos

          You would think , as they claim its a “perfect ” site, ypu could do something like move 50 meters left of the old foundations and build new towers. They say another issue is new transmission line access to the site.

          My guess is that the subsidy regime has changed , they are probably expected to chip in for connection and suddenly the perfect site is uninvestable.

          It reminds of a mate who was an early solar adopter with a very high FIT. He wanted to put more in but walked away once he became aware of the new rules.

          10

    • #
      Ronin

      I wonder why they can’t lift the old generator off the stick and crane a new later technology head back up, and get another 24 years out of it.

      10

    • #
      David Maddison

      I hope they use cutting charges (shaped charge explosives) at the base to bring them down and make videos.

      Should be spectacular.

      But they probably won’t. They wouldn’t want such material to be used against the windmill scam.

      Our e Safety Kommissar might even censor such videos because she thinks seeing falling windmills is not in the national interest…

      40

  • #
    Dennis

    Obviously, but apparently not to many Australian politicians, wind turbines operating life averages 20-25 years and thereafter re-powering after removal of the old wind turbines might not be considered viable for shareholders who are not prepared to renew their funds invested.

    The following article is worth reading based on a US experience with wind turbine business.

    https://stopthesethings.com/2017/03/13/born-lucky-stars-align-perfectly-for-pms-son-with-mammoth-bet-on-wind-power-outfit-infigen/

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    • #
      Vladimir

      Still do not understand. After 20-25 years of operation the whole enterprise is in red? Have it made any profit at any stage?

      Everything has final lifespan, even if ridiculously short in our “disposable” society.
      But let us be reasonable. My electric shaver purchased 25 years for a grand sum of $39 still does its job. Original rotating blades are in place though couple of stationary guards have been replaced.

      30

      • #
        Dennis

        The Australian wholesale price bidding from suppliers system favours so called renewables – wind turbines, solar panel installations and battery installations, effectively the highest bidders to supply the orders get the go ahead and other suppliers are paid the same amount.

        However, renewables are given favourites treatment and go ahead before power stations are supplying.

        The government-taxpayers subsidise renewables with an incentive profit before any operating profit is earned.

        However, after considering Return On Funds Invested shareholders cannot justify the costs of removal, repairs to foundations and power lines etc., and new equipment. If they proceeded they would be reinvesting past dividends.

        20

  • #
    Gerard Basten

    I came across Victorias-Climate-Science-Report-2024. It is a comprehensive “scientific” report that underpins all the state’s actions in the environment, climate change and energy department department and is designed to justify all their actions in the name of science. No wonder that we are in the mess we are in.

    Link here:
    https://www.climatechange.vic.gov.au/victorias-changing-climate/Victorias-Climate-Science-Report-2024.pdf

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    • #
      Simon

      I agree. Unfortunately, preparation for the changing climate has been limited and insufficient.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        What is the world’s largest CO2 emitter, by far, China, doing about it Simon?

        They have twice the emissions of the next biggest emitter the USA, and China’s CO2 emissions are rapidly increasing (not that it matters).

        What will be the benefit of Australia further destroying its economy to achieve supposed “Net Zero”, even though many say we are already there and even a Net “carbon” sink?

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      • #
        Skepticynic

        >preparation for the changing climate has been limited and insufficient.

        Yes, limited because we can’t afford unlimited.

        Think of all the untold millions we spent and continue to spend on all those sexy desalination plants.
        Are you saying they are insufficient preparations?

        What about the $444 million we donated to prepare the GBR for the changing climate? Not enough you say?

        Think how much cooler we are now with all those expensive newfangled electric fans around the countryside that we’ve invested in. Luxury!

        Think of how much incoming solar radiation has been diverted from surface warming by all those marvellous coal-fired-silicon based solar panels. I’m feeling cooler already.

        I agree, we didn’t prepare enough for the rising oceans that were going to flood our low-lying suburbs by about 10 years ago but luckily we still have time to build massive seawalls around our coast or relocate entire suburbs just in case. You can never be too careful.

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      • #
        TedM

        You may be correct by accident Simon. we certainly have not prepared for the dramatic cooling forecast by John L Casey, David Evans (if I remember correctly), and a number of Russian scientists to begin circa 2030.

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        • #
          David Maddison

          As the world cools, how are we going to keep warm without coal, gas and nuclear power?

          Especially in the more woke cold northern hemisphere countries like Canada and northern Europe.

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        • #
          RickWill

          Russia needs land in lower latitudes to survive the coming glaciation. Their climate modelling is centuries ahead of the UN inspired nonsense about Global Warmimnh™.

          I forecast this year to be a big step in appreciating that snow comes out of the oceans. NH will get to the hottest it has been so far in the current warming cycle and new snowfall records will be set across the NH.

          No CMIP3 climate models predicted increasing snowfall. If there are CMIP7 models they ill be predicting increasing snowfall because that is now obvious. The question then is how long will it increase for. The answer to that is at least 5,000 years. By then, most of Russia will be solid ice and a long way down to soil. The Sahara will be back to lush, green forests and farmland.

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          • #
            KP

            “The Sahara will be back to lush, green forests and farmland.”

            So all the Gimmigrants in the Nordic countries will be keen to get home and farm then?

            The Russians will move South as the deserts through the ‘Stans green up again. The Territory will become popular I expect, Darwin our new capitol!

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          • #
            el+gordo

            Looking back to the Eemian Interglacial there was a strong aridity pulse at the end.

            ‘The period closed as temperatures steadily fell to conditions cooler and drier than the present, with a 468-year-long aridity pulse in central Europe at about 116,000 BC and by 112,000 BC, ice caps began to form in southern Norway, marking the start of a new glacial period.’ (wiki)

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          • #
            TedM

            “Russia needs land in lower latitudes to survive the coming glaciation.”

            Correct and so it seems logical that Russia will attempt to acquire arable land to it’s south. Aka Ukraine.

            02

      • #
        el+gordo

        Its seriously flawed from the outset, CO2 doesn’t cause global warming and humans have no part to play.

        ‘These changes are predominantly caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere, primarily due to human activities such as fossil fuel combustion and land-use change.’

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      • #
        TedM

        Correct Simon, it’s gone completely in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, in the direction that you think it should.

        00

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Interestingly as Anthropogenic CO2 rose so has the sale of air conditioning, thus masking the heating effect

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      • #
        David Maddison

        What heating effect?

        In Melbournistan I don’t even need to run my AC more than about a dozen times a year and then that’s only for the third floor and north facing rooms and only for short periods.

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      • #
        TedM

        Reverse cycle AC, possibly to mask any cooling effect.

        30

      • #
        Ronin

        Nothing to do with stuff being made in China and being cheaper ??

        20

        • #
          Hanrahan

          We buy more aircons because our standard of living is improving. Our standard of living is improving because of abundant cheap energy. Generating cheap electricity increases CO2. Increasing CO2 causes panic that makes once cheap electricity expensive.

          We are in the fourth turning.

          10

      • #
        Honk R Smith

        Wonder if the increase in air-conditioning sales is partly because cheaper air conditioners are being manufactured in China … more folks can afford them since China is exempted from Net Zero stuff?

        Oh I forgot, it never got hot before fossil fuels and nobody would have wanted AC anyway.
        I wonder if Al Gore likes air-conditioning?
        I wonder what kind of HVAC I would need for my 100 million dollar End of the World underground bunker on Maui?
        Does yacht AC require fossil based fuel?
        Will Al Gore carbon be sequestered, only to one day be mined and released once again on an unsuspecting future civilization?

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    • #
      Gob

      The Sea-level rise pages are outstandingly vague ignorant specious rubbish; we’re assured the expansion of warming oceans is perilous with not a single calculation adduced nor an actual coefficient of expansion of sea water mentioned. Shameful.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Victoriastan is installing 35 additional speed (revenue) cameras at a cost of $49 million or $1.4 million each.

    Apart from the blatant revenue-raising measure “for our own good”, like all public works projects in Victoria the cost seems implausibly high for what’s being delivered. You can build a lot of stuff for $1.4 million, here we are getting just one speed camera set up.

    Even the fake conservative Liberal “opposition” (Labor Lite), who rarely complain about government over-reach or excessive fines or taxes, agree that’s it’s a “cash grab”.

    And as usual any statistics quoted are highly questionable, generated by “research” organisations, one in particular, that gets paid with taxpayer money to produce the desired highly questionable statistics to support government policy.

    Many if not most politicians are psychopaths, they absolutely don’t get about people or supposed safety, it’s absolutely about revenue. The reason these sort of offences are popular to fine is that there highly amenable to automation and thus automatic revenue collection.

    In my view, in the future Victoriastanis can expect to look forward to fines for many other “offences” that are amenable to automated detection. For example I would have thought jay walking is highly amenable to automated detection using AI and Australia’s national facial recognition database. The government could get tens of thousands of fines per day from that…

    Some comments from the Tube:

    https://youtu.be/LP6eJjl2JKk

    Yes, there is a national facial recognition database:

    https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2022/government-building-national-facial-recognition-database.html

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  • #
    David Maddison

    About 70% of Canadians live below the 49th parallel.

    TRUMP’s (joking?) suggestion to invite some or all of Canada to become part of the United States makes sense.

    See this short video about the geographical distribution of Canadians.

    https://youtube.com/shorts/Fv8OAYsdin4

    50

  • #
    Reader

    (Socialist Duchy of Canada) Nova Scotia must disclose findings of environmental racism report, NDP says
    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-nova-scotia-must-disclose-findings-of-environmental-racism-report-ndp/

    Nova Scotia’s Opposition NDP called on Premier Tim Houston’s government Friday to release a report about the province’s long history of environmental racism, saying it’s a matter of accountability.

    An eight-member panel was expected to submit its report to Houston’s government in December 2023.

    Justice Minister Becky Druhan, who is also responsible for the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism, did not answer Thursday when pressed by reporters to explain why the government is sitting on the report…

    30

  • #
    David Maddison

    Apparently South Africa is so well managed by its woke DEI Government that it exports more copper than it mines.

    Goolag AI says:

    Yes, it’s true that South Africa exports more copper, particularly in the form of scrap, than it mines.

    The reason is that the country is reverting to a more natural Net Zero lifestyle. They no longer want the modern lifestyle brought by Europeans 373 years ago.

    Thus, the inherited European-style infrastructure is being dismantled, especially that with valuable metals like copper. For example, electrical cables along railway lines are being removed rendering railways inoperable, other electrical infrastructure is being removed, cultural artefacts with lots of copper like bronze statues etc. are no longer needed as part of a lifestyle that South Africans no longer want to follow so they might as well dismantle this unwanted infrastructure and sell it as scrap.

    The copper is badly needed elsewhere so more windmills and EVs can be built so it’s win-win. The South Africans get the lifestyle they obviously prefer and the West gets its windmills and EVs.

    The place must be a wokester’s paradise. They should all go to live there.

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    • #
      Rafe Champion

      I saw a story that after the collapse of the Soviet empire, one of the Baltic states became a significant exporter of something, maybe copper, without mining it, because it was looted in Russia and reached the outside world via the Baltic state.

      10

  • #
    Graeme No.3

    And just when you thought Climate Lunacy had peaked with (the lots of money, lovely money) going in the UK to pollute the atmosphere in order to “combat Global Warming”
    there is now a plan (with lots of money, lovely money) to REFREEZE the Arctic. Yes, some escapes from sheltered homes (sometimes called Universities) to pump sea water onto the ice and thicken it.
    I reckon Russia will have something to say about that. Canada & Norway may, but their current politicians probably favour this.

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    • #
      Ronin

      No need to refreeze the Arctic, if you put any credence in the report that claims the AMOC is dying, it will happen without any human interference.

      10

    • #
      Sambar

      But, but, but, the Northwest Passage, The sea route to the Orient! Humans are funny people. We want the North West passage open for trade but we want the Arctic sea to save the planet. Talk about have your cake and eat it!

      50

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Another day another mRNA”

    “And just like that, $600 million dollars evaporated from Moderna’s pandemic gravy train. One wonders how long it can stay in business with no products.

    It was also very bad news for the medical-industrial complex’s favorite technology toy. Andrew Nixon, a new Health and Human Services spokesman, explained Kennedy’s decision: “After a rigorous review, we concluded that continued investment in Moderna’s H5N1 mRNA vaccine was not scientifically or ethically justifiable.”

    In other words, neither safe nor effective.”

    More at

    https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/always-winning-friday-may-30-2025?

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Moderna can rely on Australia at least.

      Australia has shown its propensity for compulsory administration of mRNA substances to all Australians.

      It will help make up for the diminishing US market as these dangerous and ineffective substances are banned by RFK Jr and produced and forcibly administered in Australia instead.

      And remember the Labor Government has a “mandate” to do whatever it pleases.

      https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark-butler-mp/media/world-leading-moderna-vaccine-facility-opens-in-victoria

      World leading Moderna vaccine facility opens in Victoria

      The Southern Hemisphere’s only mRNA manufacturing facility has opened in Victoria – backed by the Australian and Victorian Governments – ensuring world-class mRNA vaccines and medicines can be made in Australia and creating hundreds of jobs.

      Back in the day Big Pharma used to restrict the sale of dangerous drugs io Third World countries with approval given by corrupt and incompetent politicians… Mmmm…

      80

    • #
      another ian

      And on the “Vitamin I” front

      “20 Studies Show the Cancer-Fighting Potential of this Low-Cost Drug”

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/05/20-studies-show-cancer-fighting-potential-this-low/

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      • #
        Steve of Cornubia

        I am currently trying to buy some more tablets myself but, because my usual supplier seems to have ceased trading, I have to find a new supplier via ‘Indiamart’. This has been a frustrating experience as, so far at least, no other supplier has been so easy to deal with, and just getting an invoice to pay against has been a chore.

        10

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    From an email so cartoon source unknown

    “When ever I have to fill out a form that ask

    “Who to call in a case of emergency”

    I always write

    “Ambulance”

    None of my family is going to answer a call from an unknown number”

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  • #
    beowulf

    This is a video of the Taree flood a week ago, taken near the mouth of the Manning River, a large catchment with a lot of development.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouViXPbQTP4

    Most striking is the almost total absence of man-made flotsam amongst the masses of natural flotsam heaped on the beach. Normally you get at least a few empty drums, hay bales, dead cattle, live cattle and pieces of broken-up buildings cast ashore.

    We in the developed nations are constantly harangued and blamed for polluting the ocean with plastic straws and shopping bags, yet here is a perfect example of where the ocean pollution DOESN’T come from. It doesn’t — in the main — come from developed countries, even after an uncontrolled event like a really major flood. Yes, the 2022 Brisbane flood dumped polystyrene from destroyed pontoons northwards towards Noosa, but that was negligible. Our contributions are mostly episodic, beyond our control and minor.

    Contrast that with any number of northern Australian beaches close to our Asian neighbours, where a huge percentage of the beach flotsam is just plastic rubbish of all kinds — often complete with foreign language writing — dumped deliberately or carelessly into rivers to Australia’s north and allowed to drift down to constantly foul our beaches. That, combined with discarded trawling gear from fleets pillaging the surrounding northern waters.

    The beach below is in the NT area. It’s a shocker courtesy of our neighbours, and no flood did this. It’s nearly as bad as Kuta in Bali.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjUUJ2ahHxE

    Put the blame where it belongs and return our drinking straws.

    140

    • #
      Vladimir

      Having lived for 25 years under a yoke of my mother-in-law I know true meaning of the word cleanness but the standards of one Vietnamese resort we visited few years ago were something to behold !
      Until one step away from the resort gate – the rubbish was also out of this world.

      30

    • #
      David Maddison

      return our drinking straws.

      And free supermarket plastic bags.

      The Left constantly calling them “single use” as part of their propaganda was a huge lie.

      They had a multitude of uses. Everyone I know had a multitude of uses for them as well. Now people have to buy plastic bags to do the same job these multi-purpose, multi-use bags used to do.

      It’s all part of the Left’s war against convenience products just to make us miserable and attack our way of life in all ways, minor and major.

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  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Why It Is So Difficult For Trump To Clean Up Biden’s Ukraine Mess”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/why-it-so-difficult-trump-clean-bidens-ukraine-mess

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  • #
    Rafe Champion

    HEADS UP! GREAT WORK BY KATHRYN PORTER

    Green energy plans mean the USA is sleepwalking into a future of blackouts
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2023/12/25/usa-power-grid-blackout-christmas-green-energy-nerc/

    And there is more
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/k/ka-ke/kathryn-porter/

    30

  • #
    RickWill

    Musk on his vision for Mars. Talking equipment, time line and funding.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwf-rVuCEkU

    I expect he will carry many along with him for the ride and maybe the riches that they unlock.

    10

    • #
      David Maddison

      He’ll do it, I’m certain of that. And it will be a huge achievement.

      Starship is the means by which he’ll do it. And the engines run on methalox fuel, liquid methane and oxygen, which can be synthesised from the Martian atmosphere and water, both present on Mars. A return journey is also possible even without refuelling on Mars, with the use of Starship tankers and Starship fuel depots.

      His plan is to have a fleet of 1000 Starships in continuous operation.

      Mars has no real attraction for me to work or live there, although I might visit.

      20

      • #
        KP

        I dunno DM, how would that 40% of Earth’s gravity feel to old bones and joints? Maybe Earth can ship all the old people there and we can set the planet up with an extra 20years of working life.

        20

  • #
    beowulf

    Topher Field on the viability of all-electric farming, crunching undeservedly optimistic numbers and still managing to tear it to shreds.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVAtuGuVv2I

    BTW he apparently has “NYET ZERO” Tshirts for sale.

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  • #
  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “New Analysis: IPCC’s Emissions-Based Climate Model Errors So Massive They Eliminate Predictive Validity”

    ““All in all, and contra to the IPCC reports, there is insufficient evidential basis for the use of carbon dioxide, et cetera, emissions – taken together, the IPCC’s Anthro – as climate policy variables.” − Green and Soon, 2025”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/30/new-analysis-ipccs-emissions-based-climate-model-errors-so-massive-they-eliminate-predictive-validity/

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Brigitte Macron pushes husband in face.

    https://youtu.be/mEy2yJynzpI

    10

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Charlie Kirk – Trust me: Trump’s revolution is coming to the UK

    What I learned from debating at Oxford and Cambridge

    As in America, a distressing number of British students seem unable to deliver a question without reading it off their phones.

    That said, the students of Oxbridge are certainly bright – and better at insults than the average American. Some are impressively well-informed.

    In the US, an ideological transformation has swept almost every campus I visit. Five years ago, I’d typically meet a wall of hostility like the one I found at Cambridge. But in today’s America, college-age students have moved toward Trump more heavily than any other demographic. The decline of religiosity among young people has halted and may be in reverse.

    On dozens of campuses in the past year I’ve met thousands of young people refusing to passively accept the decline of their civilization. In contrast, at Oxbridge I found the dominant outlook to be a depressed and depressing near-nihilism. They were students who hardly cared their country has less free speech than 50 or 100 years ago.

    They loved the abstract fight for “democracy” in Ukraine, but find the actual outcome of democracy in America very icky. That fixation on America says it all. There’s more interest in moralizing about the bad man across the Atlantic than in salvaging their own declining country.

    In Britain at large, a very different attitude prevails. I spoke to everybody I could while there, from drivers and blue-collar workmen to journalists.

    They’re angry at Britain’s net-zero-driven energy stagnation. They’re furious at the Biden-esque levels of immigration inflicted on them by their “Conservative” government in the past decade.

    The great turn in Britain is coming. And when it arrives, the students of Oxbridge will be the most surprised of all.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    RIP Loretta Swit, aka Margaret Houlihan

    Everyone’s favourite MASH nurse, made it to 87 years, dying from natural causes.

    60

  • #
    John Connor II

    UK capital gains tax hike triggers millionaire exodus, revenue drops 10 percent

    The UK government’s attempt to raise revenue through higher capital gains taxes has backfired, triggering an exodus of high-net-worth individuals and a 10 percent drop in net tax collections. Officials had anticipated increased revenue, but instead, the policy has led to fewer taxable transactions and a shrinking tax base. This is a textbook example of the Laffer curve in action when tax rates rise too high, collections can actually decline.

    https://citizenwatchreport.com/uk-capital-gains-tax-hike-triggers-millionaire-exodus-revenue-drops-10-percent/

    Gee, what would have happened if the UK implemented unrealised CGT instead.
    Watch Oz to find out.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    AI takes over white-collar elite leaving degrees worthless, half of all entry-level office jobs to vanish warns Anthropic CEO

    Within 2 years, 90% of investment banking, consulting, tech, and law school jobs will be replaced by AI.
    Medical school isn’t far behind, starting with administrators.
    College degrees will be useless.

    https://x.com/JohnLeFevre/status/1928213842292613564

    And Biden said “learn to code”.
    Well, the AI did!

    30

  • #
    John Connor II

    Quantum shock threatens Bitcoin and banks, Google says encryption could break in under a week

    It now estimates that a quantum machine with fewer than one million noisy qubits could break 2048-bit RSA encryption in under a week.

    That’s 20 times faster than previous forecasts and could impact everything from bank accounts to Bitcoin wallets.

    https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1927985761141272618

    As I’ve said, nothing’s safe and you need AGI to develop an encryption protocol that quantum computers can’t break.
    Then destroy the AI that created that protocol, just to be sure.
    Sounds familiar.

    AGI 2027.😎

    50

  • #
    John Connor II

    Thoughts on dangerous men (and women)

    “You can’t truly call yourself “peaceful” unless you are capable of great violence.
    If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless.
    Important distinction.”
    – Stef Starkgaryen

    “There are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men.”
    – Robert A. Heinlein

    “The most dangerous man on earth is the man who has reckoned with his own death. All men die; few men ever really live.”
    – John Eldredge

    “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out… without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.”
    – H. L. Mencken

    “Democracy virtually assures that only bad and dangerous men will ever rise to the top of government.”
    – Hans-Hermann Hoppe

    “If a physician presumes to take into consideration in his work whether life has value or not, the consequences are boundless and the physician becomes the most dangerous man in the state.”
    – Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Coffee – it’s all in your mind

    Researchers from institutions across Slovenia and the Netherlands found in a recent study comparing the effects of coffee – with caffeine, and without – on the brain and body.

    “Anticipation plays a significant role, where participants expecting caffeine often experience similar cognitive and performance improvements regardless of whether they consume caffeine or a placebo,”

    All of this suggests caffeine is not the only power at work when it comes to surviving the morning grind: our expectations of this morning ritual contribute, too.

    “Stimuli that closely mimic coffee can produce cognitive and physiological responses markedly similar to those of real coffee,” the authors conclude.

    https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(24)17502-0?

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    • #
      KP

      …as Pavlov discovered.. You can have your caffeine hit when you say Woof! and shake paws..

      20

    • #
      ozfred

      Could be a dose of liquid and a bit of sugar involved?
      Something to stimulate the body from its nightly lethargy.

      00

    • #
      Fran

      The flaw is that there is a very strong “tolerance” to placebos. Thus, it may work a few times but not over the long term. After several experiences of decaf, the caffeine dependent person will have the withdrawal headache.

      This applies to a lot of health trends. They run for a while and then a new trend emerges as the previous one fails.

      00

  • #
    John Connor II

    The TERRIFYING Truth About Apple’s PRIVACY LIE

    For over a decade, Apple has built its brand around one promise: your data is yours. “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone,” the ads declared. But now, a bombshell $95 million court case, and a chilling new government mandate, have shattered that illusion — revealing a surveillance scandal of unprecedented scale.

    To “improve Siri,” Apple hired third-party contractors to listen to those audio files, look at those photos, read those text messages. Whistleblowers from inside the programme claim they heard everything: arguments, business negotiations, medical diagnoses, even criminal confessions. Rather than anonymised data sets, these were raw, identifiable conversations — often tied directly to a specific Apple ID.

    https://www.visionnews.online/post/the-terrifying-truth-about-apple-s-privacy-lie

    Apple sucks.😁

    30

  • #
    John Connor II

    The big map of who lived when, from 1200 to today

    https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Ffve8bk47xckc1.png

    I learn about everything and keep ahead of the curve so you don’t have to.😁

    30

  • #
    John Connor II

    Boston dynamics’ atlas 2.0 humanoid robot can now see the world better than ever

    The big leap here is Atlas’s new perception system, a high-tech mashup of cameras, sensors, and AI that lets it read its surroundings like a seasoned pro. Forget the old Atlas, which leaned on pre-choreographed moves—this version rocks 2D and 3D vision to spot objects, dodge hazards, and tweak its plan on the fly.

    https://youtu.be/oe1dke3Cf7I?si=jI8z-tRuWRS5qXG_

    Perception and adaptability…

    10

    • #
      KP

      You reckon this time it will be able to tell a plastic raincoat from a glass window?

      10

    • #
      David Maddison

      Just think what they’ll be capable of when artificial general intelligence comes along.

      This is why the Chicomms are heavily investing in humanoid robots and artificial general intelligence. Imagine an army of those things.

      10

    • #
      David Maddison

      Check out the China Media Group World Robot Competition Mecha Fighting Series.

      These robots are mostly remote control by a human but do low level tasks like balance themselves.

      Chicomms are very serious about this technology.

      The following video clip apparently shows a demonstration part of the tournament which was 100% robotic with no human control.

      https://youtu.be/3TVDpo8M058

      10

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Financials Shift from ‘Green’ Agenda to Greenbacks”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/30/financials-shift-from-green-agenda-to-greenbacks/

    20

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – looking at education

    “Weekend Parting Shot: Happy Graduation!”

    Ends

    “By Thursday, the account had picked up nearly $50,000. Mykale thanked Mendoza and her followers, saying:

    Thank you so much, I was thinking of taking a gap year because I didn’t have money for school, but thank you to all of you now, I might actually go straight to technical college and get my mechanical [sic]. I never thought this would happen to me, I’m very thankful.

    Did you catch that? He’s going to a technical college. Not Harvard, not Columbia, and most definitely not MIT. Roughly translated, this means:

    While MIT grads are jump-starting their Priuses for the umpteenth time, Mykale will be walking through the showroom floor of the local Mercedes-Benz dealership.

    While MIT grads are pouring coffee and whining about the patriarchy and their uniforms, Mykale will be having his Callaway clubs re-gripped.

    While MIT grads are coming to terms with the fact that a degree in Keffiyeh Studies does not translate into a six-figure salary, Mykale will be opening champagne to celebrate the opening of his new business.

    While MIT grads are looking for bail money after a night of Antifa-style chaos, Mykale will be in flying first class and sipping mimosas.”

    https://pjmedia.com/lincolnbrown/2025/05/30/weekend-parting-shot-happy-graduation-n4940309

    20

  • #
    Stanley

    Good to see that fossil fuels account for more than 70% of the AEMO fuel mix ATM in SA, VIC & NSW. How’s that transition to renewables going Chrissy?

    40

  • #
    David Maddison

    Copied from Farcebook.

    🇬🇧 FULL STORY: Whitehall’s obsession with ‘diversity and inclusion’ has cost British taxpayers a staggering £27million in just one year, a Cabinet Office audit has exposed.

    The review found 380 full-time equality officers embedded across government departments and quangos, each pocketing an average salary of £53,000 — a collective wage bill hitting £20million.

    And that’s not all. Away days, external benchmarking, and memberships to groups like LGBT charity Stonewall pushed the bill even higher.

    Shockingly, the audit revealed 570 diversity groups run by nearly 3,000 committee members cost an extra £534,000.

    That’s £27million gone — money that could have paid the winter fuel allowance for 135,000 pensioners or funded over 1,000 much-needed nurses.

    As living costs skyrocket and NHS waiting lists grow, the Government is finally waking up.

    Plans are on the table to cull 50,000 civil service roles by 2030.

    Some insiders suggest cuts could reach 65,000 to save £5billion annually.

    Stephen Webb, former Home Office director, slammed the waste: “Ministers can go further and faster. £5billion savings are deliverable within two years.”

    Policy Exchange backed these findings, calling for brutal cuts to HR and communications staff — areas bloated by DEI roles.

    With civil service numbers swelling from 380,000 in 2016 to 515,000 today, taxpayers are footing the bill for a ballooning, woke-infested bureaucracy.

    As Keir Starmer readies for major spending reviews, Brits will be asking: Why is our money funding Whitehall ideology instead of frontline services?

    20

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – latest Kustler

    “Trump’s Parlous Gambit
    “The modern politics of division have become a banally hectoring faux morality play put on by the theater kids for the other theater kids.” —El Gato Malo on X”

    “And despite his daunting agenda, Mr. Trump at least presents a sense of confident determination to get the country righted in some fashion, to recover a sense of purpose and enterprise after years of feckless, dissipative drift into the hallucinatory madness of the Left. You must give him a chance. There is no one else right now with no other way.”

    https://www.kunstler.com/p/trumps-parlous-gambit

    30

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  • #
    another ian

    Oops!

    “An Unfortunate MAHA Blunder”

    Hopefully

    “The White House, however, has already been updating the report to correct what an HHS spokesman called “minor citation and formatting errors.” He insisted, “The substance of the MAHA report remains the same — a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation’s children.” ”

    https://patriotpost.us/articles/117684-an-unfortunate-maha-blunder-2025-05-30

    00

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