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
My not-especially-groundbreaking takeaway from this exercise in honing my energy intuitions is that we built our energy infrastructure primarily around hydrocarbons, a technology with a particular set of capabilities and constraints. Hydrocarbons are very energy-dense, easy to move around, and easy to store, which to some extent makes up for the fact that it’s hard to convert them into other types of energy without incurring large losses.
The technology we’ll replace it with will likely not share those particular capabilities: electricity can be converted to different forms of energy with fewer losses, but it’s not as easy to store and move around as hydrocarbons are. Decarbonizing doesn’t just mean building lots of solar power and wind — it probably means completely rethinking how our energy infrastructure works.
https://www.construction-physics.com/p/energy-cheat-sheet?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=tks73&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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In short hydrocarbon energy storage is 10x more dense than batteries. And the basis of life on earth all driven by solar power from perfectly natural carbon compounds, specifically carbohydrates, another name for hydrated carbon dioxide.
But now we have to ‘decarbonize’? No. It’s a fantasy from the Greens who would be appalled to realise the green they worship is a long chain hydrocarbon. (Or very rarely an oxide of copper as Malachite or VerdiGreen, the dull Grey green of copper domes.)
I see Greens as people scared of technology, any technology. And so of the industrial revolution which they demand is now reversed. Which would take us back to slavery, destitution and the Dark Ages, literally.
Meanwhile China chases our dreams based on carbon power and nuclear and automation but driven by utterly dictatorial communism in a world scale military dictatorship. The War on the West is well underway. Supported by easily manipulated Greens who demand we ‘decarbonize’ but stay rich. Except that’s not possible.
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I see the Greens as unintellegent, poorly informed, people who blindly follw their leaders.
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Correction in country level energy is being done per comments
The country-level energy consumption vs per capita numbers look off? China almost certainly does not have more per capita energy usage than the US.
And as for the impact of growing renewables on grid (and off grid) uses, I wrote something almost three years ago now but I think is still very relevant
https://www.tsungxu.com/p/clean-energy-transition-guide
Yep, this is an error, I’m away from my computer atm but will correct it as soon as I’m able.
Thanks!
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Clean energy transition? Why is the use of natural solar energy in the form of hydrocarbons now dirty? You are breathing out CO2 at the moment.
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Calling traditional energy sources like coal, gas and nuclear “dirty” is just more propaganda, which the Left are superbly good at.
But they think burning wood or other biomass is OK?
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Johannes Leak in Today’s The Australian Cartoon sums up The Labor Party approach on Nuclear Power
“Nuclear Power – Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid” with Impotence Albo, Brain Damage Chalmers & Hideous Deformities Blackout Bowen – Warning Could Shock You!!
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Nuclear will rise on the rubble of flawed policy … but not before damage is done
Energy ministers, and the uncountable legions of advisers, agencies and advocates responsible for the grid under construction, are inflicting the greatest act of self-harm in our nation’s history.
CHRIS UHLMANN
It’s odds-on the Albanese government will deliver billions more in electricity subsidies some time after the Reserve Bank board meets next February.
Because, if not for the Ponzi scheme of state and federal governments laundering taxpayer dollars back through power bills, electricity prices would be 66 per cent higher.
In the parallel universe of politics the arsonists expect praise when they return with a fire extinguisher. In this world Labor and a long parade of Luddites also furiously attack a remote nuclear future in the hope people won’t focus on the disastrous energy present.
The here and now is where the focus should be sharp because the system under construction will be ruinously expensive and unreliable. The case for nuclear inevitably will rise on the rubble of bad policy, but not before enormous damage is done.
Economist Chris Richardson has calculated the difference between the subsidised and real cost of power from figures hiding in plain sight in the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics consumer price index.
Richardson wrote on X that the politics of surging electricity prices were dire, so the federal government would almost certainly return to the taxpayer till to mask the bill shock.
“But that’s another $3.5bn into the economy for the RBA to juggle,” he wrote. “So they may well keep the RBA guessing … because that’s what makes sense in a game of chicken.”
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Another great article by Chris Uhlmann. A stunning summary with indisputable facts, and an excellent comparison of countries such as China and the U.S. who have good energy policies, and countries such as Germany who are suffering because of their very flawed energy policy. I urge folks in Australia to buy a copy of The Australian this morning and read this article.
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Graeme4,
there are so many good articles in The Australian, that I finally succumbed and have become a The Australian Subscriber – Worth Every Cent & includes WSJ as well
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Old Ozzie: The Australian has ramped up its articles about renewables vs fossil fuel and nuclear recently. Many of these articles include issues being discussed here, WUWT and other sites. Great to see, and there are now many more folks on board. Uhlmann’s excellent video has had a significant impact on people’s thinking.
I hope that you are viewing the online version – the many comments add a lot to the article.
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“The old-fashioned concept of base load power is proving to be more and more a thing of the past.”
She is a fool without even a superficial understanding of what she is talking about.
Even is you dont want to call it baseload, the country needs a minimum level of assured power as it ticks over at 3AM. Its not an old fashioned concept and its not going to go away, its just reality.
Its a shame someone so clueless gets airtime on this topic.
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…EXCEPT.. that minimum demand is closer to midday than 3 am, these days ,..due to the excess of Roof Top solar forcing down grid demand.
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That was the point really, if badly expressed. I didnt say it was “the” minimum, its the minimum of assured power needed when the sun has gone down , the wind is typically more quiet and all the 9 to 5ers are tucked in bed. You still need high rise HVAC, transport, hospitals, essential services, water , sewage etc to still work; and of course charge those EVs.
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And the Children Shall Lead Them Astray on Climate Change
Montana opens the door for climate litigation based on ‘stress.’
By The WSJ Editorial Board
There are many competitors for craziest court decision this year, but the Montana Supreme Court may take the prize. A 6-1 majority this week effectively declared—get this—a state constitutional right to protection from climate change. What’s next? A right to sunshine?
Sixteen youth plaintiffs (Held v. Montana) in 2020 challenged two state environmental permitting laws that barred regulators from considering the climate impact of projects permitted under the state’s environmental law. They argued that climate change caused them severe stress and anxiety.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Mike McGrath decreed that the right to a “clean and healthful environment” in the state constitution includes protection from the purported harms of climate change. The Justices upheld an August 2023 lower-court decision that held the children could challenge state permitting laws since they were harmed by Montana’s contribution to climate change. The court also ruled the permitting laws were unconstitutional.
Children felt fear “from disappearing glaciers in Montana (both aesthetically and from the dependence many communities place on the water they provide throughout the summer); the impacts climate change is having on culturally important native wildlife, plants, snow, and practices; summer smoke and extreme heat” and much more, the High Court says.
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Montana represents an infinitesimal fraction of global CO2 emissions, so any alleged injuries suffered by the plaintiffs couldn’t be redressed by the court’s ruling anyway.
No matter.
The court’s decision essentially puts Montana on the hook for global climate change, which opens the door to environmental challenges to almost any economic activity in the state.
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The Children felt fear “from disappearing glaciers in Montana
Perhaps a touch of history?
1923 Montana Glaciers could disappear by 1948
Says Professor Waterman. North-western University Medford Mail Tribune (Oregon) Dec. 29
1924 Montana Glaciers could disappear in a few years
Says Dr. Elrod (University of Montana)
1924 Montana Glaciers could disappear in 25 years
Says Dr, Matthes US Geological Survey
1952 Montana’s Glacier Park may need new name
The giant glaciers are melting away and could be gone in 50 years
say naturalists The Post-Standard (Syracuse New York) Mar 05, 1952
2009 No more Glaciers in Montana by 2020?
National Geographic News March 2 2009
2010 Signs installed about glaciers being gone by 2020
2014 No more Glaciers in Montana by 2034?
What will they call Glacier National Park (Montana) in 30 years when all the glaciers are gone? New York Times Nov. 22, 2014
2019/20 Signs removed (all 29 of them)
2021 All of the glaciers in Glacier National Park are expected to be gone by 2030,” said Noah Greenwald, director of endangered species for the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)
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Good grief, its the climate alarmists and the captured education system that are causing the stress.
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Then We Have the Brain Dead Idiot TEAL in Mackellar – Zali Sreggall
Nick Cater: ‘Antiquated’ concept of base load power is more relevant to Australia’s energy future than Zali Steggall would have us believe
Australians just need to look at what is powering our grid right now to know why Zali Steggall’s obsession with batteries and lithium is nothing but hot air,
writes Nick Cater – SkyNews.com.au Contributor and Political Commentator
The invention of smartphones allows fewer excuses for ignorance than at any time in human history. Fact-checking political pronouncements has never been so simple, even on technically complicated subjects like climate change and energy.
The AEMO Energy Live app, for example, tells us the source of the electricity we’re using in real-time, as opposed to the type of generators Zali Steggall prefers.
Steggall told Sky News this week that base load power is “an antiquated idea”.
“Our grid is evolving and changing,” she said. “We are now, with smart technology and appliances, able to meet the needs of the grid by turning on and off as required, on demand.
“The old-fashioned concept of base load power is proving to be more and more a thing of the past.”
Steggall may or may not be surprised to learn that at 5.15 am on Friday, 92 per cent of NSW’s electricity was provided by antiquated base load generators. What’s more, they were burning what she calls fossil fuel and the rest of us call coal.
Of the rest, two per cent was generated by gas and hydro. Wind was generating five per cent and solar one percent. Batteries were contributing a big fat zero.
This is certainly not a picture of a grid evolving and changing at a pace visible to the naked eye.
This is the real world, which MPs like Steggall are prepared to ignore.
Base load power cannot be imagined away, and if Steggall wants us to stop burning coal and gas, nuclear energy is the only energy source capable of holding up the grid.
In the interests of full disclosure, Steggall would, I’m sure, want us to put on the record that her 2022 election campaign received funding from Climate 200, led by Simon Holmes à Court.
Steggall’s base load denialism must be judged on its own merits by whether it is in harmony with the data. Unfortunately for her, it is not.
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Nuclear Now! A Nuclear Energy Revival in the Era of Trump.
The cleanest and most efficient way to boost energy capacity, which has been neglected for years, is nuclear power, and insiders within Trump’s inner circle are looking at exactly that.
Stephen Moore, an economic advisor for President-elect Donald Trump, whom I recently interviewed over the incoming administration’s economic policies, shares a similar vision and said that nuclear energy is long overdue for an American renaissance after being neglected decades ago.
“We need to get back to building new plants so that we have the electric power capacity for the next generation of artificial intelligence and other uses that will tax the grid beyond what it can provide. AI will use three to four times as much energy as the internet, so demand is going to spike and we will be at risk of brownouts,” Moore told HotAir in a separate interview.
According to Moore, the U.S. gets less than 20% of its electric power from aging nuclear plants that are now on the verge of being retired after decades of service and need to be replaced fast, or the nation will face a worsening energy production deficit as demand increases.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has seen its industries implode after deciding to shut down its last nuclear power plants during the Ukraine war and is now having a severe electricity crisis. Meanwhile, in comparison to its faltering neighbor on the other bank of the Rhine, France is now more committed than ever to nuclear power to sustain its economy.
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Teals tried to stop miners’ lifeline
The Albanese government ignored an 11th-hour bid by teal MPs to stop it approving coalmine extensions that have shored up thousands of jobs in Queensland and NSW.
BRAD THOMPSON
Six teals, along with independent senator David Pocock and Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie, joined forces in an attempt to stop the mine extensions on environmental grounds.
The teals and two independents told the government it was at risk of breaching the hard cap on carbon emissions set under the safeguard mechanism – Labor’s flagship emissions-reduction policy for heavy industry.
They wrote to Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on December 17 warning against extension approvals for the Boggabri mine, BHP’s Caval Ridge mine and the Lake Vermont Meadowbrook mine.
The MPs raised concerns that approving the mines would jeopardise the hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions and pre-empt an important review of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme.
The government approved the three mine extensions on Thursday and also gave a green tick for Queensland-based Vitrinite to proceed with its Vulcan South mine amid disputed allegations it illegally destroyed koala habitat.
Teal MP Sophie Scamps said the government was talking out of both sides of its mouth on the environment and emissions-reduction targets in the countdown to the federal election.
She conceded it involved thousands of jobs but said mine construction workers could find alternative employment building 1.2 million homes and renewable energy projects in line with government policy settings.
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Huh!
Way back in 2017/18, I completed my first series of daily data recording.
That was about the ….. Base Load. I was ‘called out’ when I said that at around 4AM every morning the Australian grid was consuming 18,000MW of power. and that that was totally false, so I decided to detail it on an overall, and a State by State basis.
So at the end of that Series (after almost 15 Months) the average Base Load at that time came in at 18,034MW.
The percentage of that total delivered by coal fired power came in at 81%. (14,643MW)
That Base Load has been rising inexorably year upon year, by small amounts, and is probably closer to 18,700MW now.
If virtually all of Australia is asleep at that time, then just imagine what is actually happening to CONSUME that much electricity at that time. That’s the LOWEST power consumption of the day.
That 18,000MW is three quarters of Australia’s average daily power consumption.
People still do not believe that the low point of power consumption for the day is actually that high.
It’s not an antiquated idea ….. It’s a physical reality!
Take away coal fired power and Australia will just ….. STOP.
Tony.
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With snow-jumping genii like Steggall having input to our energy future we are certainly on the slide down to the third world. What we need is a backflip by Dutton and Co to recognise the dilemma of the Gore/Thunberg net-zero myth.
I could suggest broadcasting Nicol to the world but Holmes-a Court wouldn’t permit that .
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Why economists are slamming Albo for splashing taxpayer dollars to subside Chinese-made EVs like MG, BYD GWM and Teslas
Despite Australia’s growing debt crisis, Labor this week announced low-interest loans to buy an EV.
The policy would cover workers earning less than $100,000 a year, which means anyone on less than the average, full-time salary.
But the taxpayer-subsidised loans would also be available for essential workers on six-figure pay, including police officers, teachers, firefighters and nurses.
The government is providing $150million to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to provide interest on loans that are up to five percentage points lower than standard rates for personal loans.
This means someone could buy an electric car at an ultra-low interest rate of just 1.2 per cent compared with the Commonwealth Bank’s 6.2 per cent secured loan rate for those buying an electric vehicle.
Daniel Wild, deputy executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs think tank, slammed the government move and said taxpayers should not be subsidising Chinese electric cars, which already command 80 per cent of Australia’s EV market.
‘In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and with soaring government debt, it is remarkable that the Albanese government is using our tax dollars to create an ideal dumping ground for cheap Chinese EVs,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It is not the role of the federal government to incentivise the sale of foreign made products flooding our market.’
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen argued the government policy would save EV buyers more than $8,000 on a $40,000 loan with a seven-year term.
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Could be describing Australian Labor PM 1 page AirMiles Albo & Blackout Bowen!
UK Labour net zero drive will create 170,000 jobs … in China, analysis shows
Tories say Miliband’s plans will see profits soar in Beijing’s windmill, solar and battery industries
The Climate Secretary has put a pledge to make the energy grid carbon neutral by the end of the decade at the centre of his net zero drive.
China dominates production of the technology needed to meet the deadline, including wind turbines, solar panels and electric car batteries.
To reach his wider net zero goals, Mr Miliband will also have to persuade sceptical motorists to ditch their petrol cars in favour of electric ones.
The Government is set to press ahead with outlawing the sale of all new fossil fuel-only powered cars by 2030 and hybrid vehicles by 2035.
China is a huge producer of electric cars and the batteries used to power them, with the Tories predicting the switch will create 82,226 jobs there.
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We don’t and can’t control the CO2 levels. 98% of all CO2 we put into the atmosphere gets rapidly absorbed by the sinks, mostly by the ocean. Anthropogenic CO2 is removed from the atmosphere with a half-life of about 10 years:
https://chipstero7.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/9d896-donkeyland.png
90,000 measurements of CO2 levels compiled by Georg Beck show a very different history of CO2 levels. So does Stomata data. The ice-core shows CO2 levels below 280ppmv but has been shown to consistently underestimate paleo levels:
https://chipstero7.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/5fb43-main-qimg-0b5b17574244ade3b5fe9b1aa71d78d52b252812529.png
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C14 levels look sort of OK but the lower graph of atmospheric CO2 is bizarre.
Who is this George Beck?
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https://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/09/23/obituary-ernst-george-beck/
https://www.ferdinand-engelbeen.be/klimaat/beck_data.html
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Quite right Richard.
A minor point.
The half life of CO2 is less than 10 years. The IPCC use the word “lifetime” to refer to two different things. Turnover time and adjustment time. This creates a lot of confusion.
The IPCC say, on page 8 of the First Assessment Report, the “turnover time” is “about 4 years”. The turnover time is not the half life. It is the inverse of the proportion of the gas that cycles through the atmosphere each year. The turnover time used by the IPCC can be calculated by dividing the amount of the gas in the atmosphere, at the time the report was published, by the total emissions at that time. In the 6 assessment reports the turnover time they use ranges from 3.5 to 3.9 years.
If the turnover time is 3.9 years, then about 26% of the atmospheric CO2 is cycled out each year.
This would be a half life of a little over 2 years.
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The half life of all CO2 is about 5 years as measured by C14. But all CO2 is not ’emissions’. Emissions are much lower and closer to the water and cycle much faster. The amount of fossil fuel CO2 in the air more than half way through the 20th century in 1958 was only 2.03%+/-0.15%. Today it is still 2.0%. Both are direct measurements. There is only a small amount of fossil fuel CO2 in the air. The increase in CO2 is from the ocean with slight warming, nothing more.
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“There is only a small amount of fossil fuel CO2 in the air.”
I agree completely.
I should have said above that the estimate of the half life being about 2 years is predicated upon the assumption that the IPCC value for the turnover time is correct.
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There is a list of 36 papers in Table 1 of this 2023 paper.
(1) The adjustment time is never larger than the residence time and is less than 5 years.
(2) The idea of the atmosphere being stable at 280 ppm in pre-industrial times is untenable.
(3) Nearly 90% of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide has already been removed from the atmosphere.
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George has closed the argument with direct CO2 measurement, not ‘world’ proxies like ice cores in Antarctica.
For example the temperatures of Europe, measured by real thermometers not proxies in six cities over the last 250 years were summarized, smoothed and fitted by Prof Carl Otto Weiss and his team of retired mathematicians. It is the best fit I have ever seen with just two regular cycles.
But the real temperatures match George’s CO2 in Europe! Firstly this confirms that CO2 is a direct consequence of warmer oceans.
It also demonstrates that the temperature in Europe is NOT the same as the ‘world temperature’ most of which is from extrapolation from proxies, especially the bottom 30% of the planet where no one lived or the 3/4 of the planet which is water and ice. Indirectly it debunks this idea of a ‘world temperature’ which for all practical purposes of prediction does not exist. No surprise there. On humans scales the climates in Australia and Europe are not connected, subject to the ocean currents which are so different and contain 99.9% of surface heat and all the water.
As for ‘ice’ cores, this is compressed snow. All the man made CO2 story comes from the top half metre of a 2km block of ice!
CO2 escapes as the snow piles up over the years and turns very slowly with the seasons from snow to compressed snow (firn) to hard blue ice over hundreds of years, reducing in size x2. The time resolution of CO2 from the very spectra is clearly about 2,000 years. An experienced scientist can tell the resolution from the width of the peaks which do exist. The most recent 250 years 50% excess is going to be a substantial overestimate. It may be nothing at all.
A real concern though is that George’s data does explain why CO2 levels over China are not higher than those over Antarctica given 40% of all CO2 is generated in China.
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A bit more on the Fractionation Process, smoothing is the key word.
‘This rate indicates smoothing of the CO2 record by diffusion is one to two orders of magnitude smaller than the smoothing by diffusion in the firn at the depth of 287m (gas age 1⁄4 2.74kyrBP) in the Siple Dome ice, and so does not degrade the record. However, applying the permeation coefficient to greater depth (equivalent to tens of thousands of years) in the Siple Dome ice core suggests an impact on smoothing of the CO2 records on a decadal scale.’ (Ahn et al 2008)
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As someone who has analysed spectra, you generally have an inverse relationship between resolution and range. Ice cores are up to 2km deep for a million years of data. And the peaks are never as small as 100 years wide, more like 2,000 years. This is the resolution. And you cannot trust data from the partly formed recent ice which is the basis of the argument that CO2 has gone up suddenly. It’s far more likely that CO2 goes up and down rapidly, like the temperature within a day and all people talk about is an average. Even instantaneous temperature varies greatly across a room or across a street.
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Is that you again Claire, hows the rest of the Newlyn family
https://joannenova.com.au/2024/12/thursday-86/#comments
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Ah yes, a momentary brain fade when I moved over to Telstra.
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I had a brain fade, the family is well, thanks for asking.
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More TRUMP Revolution news:
1) George Floyd drug overdose case which sent an innocent police officer(s) to jail to be reopened.
Comments by Liberal Hivemind.
https://youtu.be/8fxNc8Rmsjw
2) Liz Cheney to come under criminal investigation.
Steve Turley comments.
https://youtu.be/yj6PXekURtI
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Great news for justice. The pile on over George Floyd was appalling. There is no way justice was done. Floyd had Wuhan Flu at the time. A similar pile on for Daniel Penny nearly saw him in jail too, simply because Penny was white. This is racism, except black people cannot be racist. Tell that to the million dead Tutsi in Rwanda murdered by their neighbours.
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Video:
Tragic use of North Korean soldiers by Russia as cannon fodder.
https://youtu.be/9OnfGDky1Ts
No matter which side you support, the use of these poorly trained, conscripted, essentially mindless robotic soldiers as cannon fodder is a horrible tragedy that belongs in warfare tactics of 1000 years ago.
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This war is not about tactics. It’s slaughter. Like all wars. The last man standing wins. This war must stop. Most are conscripts killed by cannons, explosions, shrapnel, not ‘honorable combat’. It is a proxy war created and funded from outside Ukraine. Both sides speak the same language and both Christians but you have North Koreans? Like the Italians and Romanians in WWII. Or the Italians in Napoleon’s armies. Cannon fodder.
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@ TdeF
It seems the fight against green-red disease occupies much of your thinking which I respect a lot.
Why then do you need to destroy your own logic with statements like “It is a proxy war created and funded from outside Ukraine” ?
What do you say when a 10 times more populous neighbour invades Australia who nearly demilitarise herself, ideologically and practically. And justify the invasion by pointing to some historical problems and current faults of Australian Government.
Will you advocate immediate ceasefire (sarc.) ?
Will you go with you hat in hand to NATO (Aus is not a member) and separately to US (a former ally) and to Japan (a former enemy) and to Iceland.., and beg for any assistance?
In the spirit of Christmas allow me to suggest you a way out – you know very well how the CE year 1918 started –
On the West Front: Germany occupied Belgium and part of France. On the East Front: they occupied Ukraine, Belarus, Baltic countries, got very friendly with Finland and Romania…
November of 1918 – Hohenzollern and Habsburg Empires are no more.
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““It is a proxy war created and funded from outside Ukraine” ?”
Well, that states a perfectly recognisable situation. The Americans are financing and directing it, the Ukies are dying in it. It is perfectly logical Vlad.
“What do you say when a 10 times more populous neighbour invades Australia who nearly demilitarise herself, ideologically and practically. And justify the invasion by pointing to some historical problems and current faults of Australian Government.”
I would say that bears absolutely no resemblance to what has happened in Ukraine from the disintergration of the USSR until now. However if Australian Govts insist on being America’s lapdog, they will find themselves in wars they cannot win and that lapdogs are quite expendable to the Yanks.
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These alleged Nth Korean troops seem to be tricky like UFOs , its hard to get an in focus shot of one.
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Yeah, I read the interviews with captured Ukie soldiers who said that had never seen a Korean in Kursk. Who knows…
While the propaganda is just as thick as it was with Covid, at least more people can see both sides of it over Ukraine. You just pick which side to believe and ignore the other, based on your life’s experiences. Covid propaganda never allowed us that choice.
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If they even exist, I dont see why it is newsworthy if they stay on Russian turf and assist in Kursk. Nobody was shocked and amazed when NATO staff landed in Ukraine.
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Keeping up to date on your propaganda, good.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/provoked-long-train-abuses-culminated-ukraine-war#google_vignette
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Video:
Dr John Campbell interviews Dr David Grimes about Vitamin D.
It’s such an essential vitamin (actually a hormone) which many people are deficient in, even in sunny countries like Australia, and most of the medical profession is ignorant about.
We know for a fact that even a simple measure like correcting vitamin D deficiency in people would have dramatically reduced the covid death toll. And probably most people who died in nursing homes were vitamin D deficient.
Vitamin D deficiency is related to many other diseases as well.
But why use an inexpensive drug when you can use an expensive and poorly effective drug from Big Pharma and their marketing partners of the Left (which we saw during covid and Australian Government misinformation said vitamin D was of no use for covid)?
[BTW, normal vitamin D takes a while to build up but the calcifediol form can raise serum levels more quickly.]
https://youtu.be/a-uzGkCjiKQ
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Incidentally, during the plandemic the Left blamed “racism” for the fact that many more darker skinned people in Western countries supposedly died of WuFlu than lighter skinned people.
This wasn’t racism but likely due to the fact that unless they take vitamin D supplements, darker skinned people in non-tropical countries are likely to be vitamin D deficient, even more so than lighter skinned people
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FWIW
“We’re about to fly a spacecraft into the Sun for the first time
“Quite simply, we want to find the birthplace of the solar wind.””
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/12/were-about-to-fly-a-spacecraft-into-the-sun-for-the-first-time/
Via https://instapundit.com/691538/#disqus_thread
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Well, you’d better do it at night, else the craft will be destroyed by the heat.
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So they are going to fly very close, then out again, then in again… That’s pushing it, to say the least.
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One of the most significant moments in the war against energy was when the US Supreme Court in 2007 decided CO2 is a “pollutant” and therefore that the US EPA has a right to regulate it (1). Bush waa president at the time.
One aspect of this ruling was put into effect by Obama in 2015 when he implemented the so-called “Clean Power Plan” (2) to “limit carbon (sic) pollution” from power plants.
1) https://dieselnet.com/news/2007/04epa.php
2) https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/08/03/fact-sheet-president-obama-announce-historic-carbon-pollution-standards
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Hopefully Lee Zeldin, when he takes over control of the U.S. EPA, will also again question the validity of the pm2.5 figure used in emissions control.
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FWIW
“The Keynesian Playbook – Eat your Cake and Have it too!! Are we at the End of the Road?”
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-12-15/keynesian-playbook-eat-your-cake-and-have-it-too-are-we-end-road
But as Chiefio points out
“@Another Ian:
I must once again protest that what almost everyone says is Keynesian Economics is not.
Keynes took pains to say that: yes, government can deficit spend to help prevent a depression and deflation; BUT he also then said “for no more than 3 years and then governments must run a surplus to pay off the deficit” or you will get inflation.
What is commonly practiced today is “deficit spend all you want forever” and that is NOT Keynesian and is something Keynes took pains to specifically forbid.”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2024/11/29/w-o-o-d-29-november-2024-post-thanksgiving-hope-rises/#comment-174355
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FWIW
“Denmark Passes The World’s First ‘Burp Tax’… But This Is No Laughing Matter”
“Denmark, according to The New York Times (NYT), is going ahead with its livestock “Burp Tax.” Though hotly contested, the Danish government has nevertheless finally settled on levying farmers 300 kroners (~$43) per ton for carbon dioxide emissions, ramping to $106 per ton by 2035. As is the case with many of these farm-targeted green interventions, the action is ludicrously ineffectual at addressing the trumped-up problem, while remarkably effective at further cementing state controls over economic production.”
More at
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/denmark-passes-worlds-first-burp-tax-no-laughing-matter
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Thought for the day.
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That was from Ziad K. Abdelnour, Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics.
Many more of his quotes at:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/18183912-economic-warfare-secrets-of-wealth-creation-in-the-age-of-welfare-polit
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FWIW – more covid scene
“BOMBSHELL: AUSTRALIAN DRUG REGULATOR KNOWS DNA FRAGMENTS IN MRNA VACCINES CAN ENTER NUCLEUS AND INTEGRATE INTO GENOME, INTERNAL EMAILS SHOW”
https://richardsonpost.com/rebekah-barnett/38221/bombshell-australian-drug-regulator-knows-dna-fragments-in-mrna-vaccines-can-enter-nucleus-and-integrate-into-genome-internal-emails-show/
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Unfortunately no one at Their TGA, Uniparty politicians or their Lamestream Media media partners understand or care.
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And lighting up the covid flashing red lights panel – today’s Coffee and Covid newsletter
“Alex Berenson, an author, former New York Times reporter, and the first major journalist to question the covid narrative during the pandemic, published a new Substack this week making a remarkable claim. It was headlined, “URGENT: Yale researchers have found Covid spike protein in the blood of people never infected with Covid – years after they got mRNA jabs.” ”
“In other words, they identified what I believe is the biggest problem with the jabs, which is that the mRNA has no off switch. I am convinced they are perfectly aware of this problem and are trying to figure out how to turn it off, and how to make new types of mRNA shots without that defect or that, at least, make harmless fragments of virus and not the most dangerous and harmful part like the spike protein.”
More at
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/odors-of-mendacity-friday-december?
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One of the main discussion points regarding the Yale research work is that it is unlikely any scientific journal would dare publish the results. The vaccine mafia would do a hit job on both Yale and the journal if the results were published.
40
Physics lesson for today.
Brachistochrone curve.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachistochrone_curve?wprov=sfla1
The problem was first posed by Bernoulli in 1696.
Bernoulli wrote the problem statement as:
30
Many killed at German Christmas market as Saudi Arabian drives car into crowd
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14215355/magdeburg-germany-suspect-saudi-arabia-arrested-christmas-market-explosive-device-bmw.html
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And we’ll see the usual BS from “authorities”:
“Baffled as to the motive.”
“Lone wolf.”
“Killer had mental health issues.”
“***** is a religion of peace.”
“Motor vehicle accident. Suspect mechanical defect in car.”
Blah. Blah. Blah.
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Saudi Suspect Plows Car Into German Christmas Market;
U.S. Media Blames [Checks Notes] the Car
The Saudi national, who had reportedly been in Germany illegally since 2006, allegedly rented a car and headed to the market two hours west of Berlin, which was teeming with visitors enjoying the Christmas festivities. A suitcase was found on the passenger seat of the vehicle, according to Die Welt, and authorities are currently trying to ascertain whether it contains an explosive device. The terrorist was taken into custody, and it’s not known whether he acted alone.
A police spokesman said the suspect drove “at least 400 meters across the Christmas market.” A witness said the attack occurred in the market’s fairy tale section.
A Saudi Arabian man plowed his car into a German Christmas market
And AP describes it as “A car has driven into a group of people…”
Every. Single. Time.
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Elon Musk@elonmusk
You don’t hate the lying legacy media enough
Quote Wall Street Mav@WallStreetMav
These evil cars in Germany are out of control.
Why do these cars keep doing this?
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Could be taken in at least two ways.
A. Autonomous cars are bound to have lower death toll than human driven cars. My son believes his son may not have a need to a driver’s licence because he views autonomous cars will be common place in ten years. I expect it will be longer but it could enable me to maintain easy mobility as I age.
B. Musk’s words parady the gun control mantra. I once looked at gun control laws and gun deaths. The most liberal States were not highly correlated with gun deaths. Gun ownership and deaths is better correlated.
02
German authorities were alert to the possibility of a terrorist attack at Christmas markets so racially profiled “little old ladies” and did bag checks on them.
I suppose it would gave been considered some form of “******phobia” to check or monitor the behaviour of fighting age immigrant males of a certain demographic.
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It’s a lone attack.
An act of violence against society as a whole out of frustration at the state of things.
It was inevitable that people would start copying China where the same thing is happening on a regular basis, not quite daily but…
Of course the CCP takes the stories down as soon as they appear and censor it as much as possible.
No doubt most people have no idea it’s even happening.
Attacks against school children, not just crowds of shoppers, is the lowest form of revenge.
And where do we focus the blame for socio-economic crises?
Your glorious inept corrupt leaders.
00
??? A group of Muslims marching through German Christmas markets, chanting in Arabic: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.”
And left-wing activists are not lacking either, shouting at Christmas stall owners… I guess they don’t like Christmas.
(a Syrian family in Vienna receives 4,600 euros in social assistance every month….)
Of course, some families of the Middle East are integrating well in The West, but lots of them are quite about, for example, an attack on a Christmas Market.
So, I wonder what the future will bring…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gZFGpNdH1A
Focus: Women made to keep low profile in some French suburbs
FRANCE 24 English
“Here we do things like in our home country”…..
—-> We need more women like Nadia and Aziza
———-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oumge03X-uw
Record 140,000 Muslims attend Eid celebration in Birmingham
note to the current feminists: Women are sitting in the back, behind the men…
————————
————————
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzsC_ynSC8Q
Protest against French school headscarf ban
AP Archive
00
Various (most?) media outlets are describing the perpetrator as “anti-Islamist”, despite him originating from Saudi Arabia. He is also being described as “far right”, a supported of Germany’s AfD party (right wing) and being against immigration.
None of that makes sense, especially the ‘anti Islam’ bit. If that was the case, why would he target a CHRISTMAS market?
20
Here is the story. It seems he is a member of the Far right and was anti mu*slim
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14215759/Magdeburg-car-attack-Saudi-Arabia-doctor-ex-Muslim-Germany-Islamising-Europe.html
Difficult to see how this attack on the thousands of innocents thronging a Christmas market advances his cause. WE shall have to see how this story evolves.
00
A follow up tp the story that the xmas market killer was far right
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14216295/Magdeburg-Christmas-market-car-attack-Saudi-Arabian-doctor.html
I don’t know what to make of it as I can’t see a motive
00
21st Century Major Concerns – ‘Gooner 9/11’ averted as Zenless Zone Zero’s butt-obfuscation technology is rolled back in the face of horny outrage
00
Pc gamers – the new lowest form of life.😆
00
“Pc gamers – the new lowest form of life.”
All 2billion of them?
At least they moved quickly, like the subtle ‘uglification’ of game characters last year..
00
Heh heh…
https://youtu.be/MhhAP4iylSE?si=dGdkRCUKe8uV1p7-
/ F-word warning.
https://suicideline.org.au/mental-health/gaming-a-cure-for-isolation-and-loneliness/
I’ll ask my hacker buddy Warlock and see what he says. 😆
00
National Defense Authorization Act sails through Congress with $895 billion for war and terror
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2025 has once again sailed through Congress, this time with an eye-watering price tag of $895 billion. While the bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support — 85-14 in the Senate and 281-140 in the House — its sheer size and scope raise serious questions about the priorities of the Biden administration and lawmakers.
This massive spending bill, which primarily funds the Pentagon, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to U.S. military-related expenditures. In reality, the true cost of national security in 2025 is expected to exceed $1.77 trillion, according to veteran defense analyst Winslow Wheeler.
https://www.stationgossip.com/2024/12/national-defense-authorization-act.html
Shut down the US government, no more last minute ceiling raises, shutdown the Pentagon, put every congressperson on $50k/year with no perks, pull out all military and 3 letter agency people and equipment in every country, shutdown all foreign military bases, end all war funding and frivolous foreign aid (sorry Pakistan – no more $200M for gender equality nonsense, go fund it yourself).
I’d make DOGE look tame! 😎
20
FWIW – till March anyway
“Shutdown Averted: House Passes Debt Ceiling-Less Spending Bill to Avert a Shutdown”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2024/12/20/shutdown-averted-n2649406
00
Xmas fun: cats in snow*
*not the same snow Al Gore said your kids would never know.
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_sosx4jcRJ41z23obp.mp4
10
Senator Gerard Rennick’s People First Party has been officially registered with the AEC. Could be very interesting. ToM
80
Thought for the day.
Perhaps we should shutdown the Australian government for a few weeks, just to stop the spread…
90
Government has all the defining attributes of an infection.
10
Xmas nativity scene
https://imgbox.com/27ZvOrMP
T-rex wins!
10
The New York Post:
Cut off the shameless nonprofits making bank off NYC’s homeless services 18/12
A damning Department of Investigations report shows the heads of city-paid shelter “charities” have been milking the system for years, using taxpayer cash to award themselves massive pay packages.
The numbers are jaw-dropping: $916,000 for the CEO of Acacia Network Housing; more than $700,000 across multiple years for the head of Camba; $1 million for the CEO of CORE, Jack Brown — who in 2021 was also caught stacking the org’s payroll with buddies and set up for-profit vendors that also funneled him cash. (The city cut ties with CORE shortly after.)
That’s a lot of profit for the heads of nonprofits.
….
Council members may posture in “shock” as they did with Commissioner Park this week, but most of them are a vital part of a political “ecosystem” that in the name of charity treats social services as an all-you-can-eat buffet on the taxpayers’ dime.
40
The New York Post:
Progressives aim to destroy NYC’s top high schools in the name of ‘equity’ 18/12
The “elite eight” high schools are centers of scholastic excellence that have long infuriated the left.
Most recently, champions of “equity” complain that the race-blind testing now admits predominantly first- and second-generation immigrant kids of Asian, South Asian and Eastern European heritage.
30
Shameful racism at work, of course nothing to do with family values and ambition, encouraging children to work and succeed, and checking the TV is not on 24 hours.
10
Pressure grows for UMich to end its failed $250 million DEI experiment | The College Fix 25/11
The total annual payroll cost of UM’s full-time DEI staff is estimated to be $30.68 million — $23.24 million for staff salaries and $7.44 million for employee fringe benefits.
To put that in perspective, $30.68 million would pay in-state tuition and fees ($17,228) for 1,781 undergraduate students.
UM’s DEI staff is well compensated with salaries as high as $402,800 for UM’s head diversity administrator Tabbye Chavous Sellers, UM’s Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion & Chief Diversity Officer.
In contrast, Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer’s salary is $159,300, and the average salaries for assistant, associate, and full professors at UM are $129,500, $148,300, and $206,500 respectively.
Therefore, UM’s chief diversity officer is paid almost 2X more than the average full professor at UM, 2.5X more than Michigan’s governor, and about 3X more than the average UM assistant or associate professor.
20
The New York Post:
New York Times drops a story on DEI dangers for fear of a staff revolt 26/11
We weren’t exactly surprised by the study that found that extreme diversity, equity and inclusion “training” actually increases racism — or that the New York Times opted against reporting on it.
The Gray Lady, after all, increasingly sees perfectly valid news that upsets its woke staffers as not fit to print.
Our guess: He or she decided it wasn’t worth risking the ire of the paper’s social justice warrior hordes, who’ve intimidated management into purging top editors and veteran reporters these last few years.
30
Nissan:
Supplier diversity and hiring: No quotas for hiring, promotions or diverse suppliers. Focus is now on merit and performance.
30
Ocean wind farm construction halted, thanks to Trump.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/12/20/totalenergies-halts-offshore-ny-wind-farm/
31
Surprised that any NY offshore wind system was going ahead. Thought that NY State had rejected all offers as too expensive.
00
If no one had ever mentioned “climate change” then there would have been no “stress” for the poor little angles. Those who preach catastrophic climate change should be the ones being sued.
10
Tony Thomas discovers that young women and girls are more inclined towards AGW.
https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/doomed-planet/they-just-wont-leave-the-kids-alone/
31
and they vote!
30
Global SST falling.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/12/20/ocean-temperatures-and-climate-hysteria-a-lesson-in-perspective/
01
Perhaps one of you can remember where this meme came from?
The meme in question is “the AEMO are required to dispatch any renewable energy that is available as a priority before any other generators”. i.e. they require consumers to buy renewables no matter what price the renewables are at.
I suspect the meme is not true. When I looked in the National Electricity Rules section 3.9 on Price Determination there is no mention of renewables. Plus this page at AEMC also has no special treatment of renewables in dispatch.
Does this mean renewables are competing fairly with fossil fuels?
If No, where does the unequal treatment happen?
Does it happen in the parallel market for LGCs?
Basically, I was recently told that renewables were competing with coal and that they often win the spot price auction and so set the price that all other generators get paid. Is that true?
00
Early on, the intermittents just made bids at the floor price. At the time that was MINUS $1000/MWh. So if they were producing, they were scheduled.
That was OK until they reached a level where coal plants could no longer reduce output but had to shut down. The cost of shutting down is very expensive and it takes days to come back up. About that time, the coal plants started bidding enough of their output at high negative price to ensure they would be scheduled. This really hurt intermittents that did not withdraw from the market.
The intermittents then started bidding around MINUS LGC price with the aim of making a little money if they could without costing heaps to ride through the negative pricing being driven by the coal.
All the bidding is public domain but very challenging to go through. There are computer packages available for running bids to maximise profits.
So there is no priority scheduling now but it was essentially the case in the early days. Of course distributed rooftops do not operate to price signals so they send out as long as the street voltage is below the 254V limit.
20
FWIW – seed oils
“Common Cooking Oils Rapidly Being Tied to Cancer as Second Study in a Week Links the Two: Check Your Pantry”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/common-cooking-oils-rapidly-tied-cancer-second-study/
10
Putin says the Oreshnik can’t be shot down, the West says it can… Putin then offered a technological duel to the USA-
“Pick a building in Kiev and defend it with everything you have, then we will send in a Oreshnik. The world will see who wins”
Simplicious-
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/medley-report-europes-descent-oreshnik
20
Amazing temperature swing from 1943 in Spearfish Arizona .
https://www.google.com/search?q=spearfish+south+dakota+weather+1943&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-au&client=safari
00
FWIW – “Elbow” one upped?
“Will the Next UK Ambassador Be Declared Persona Non Grata? Unofficially He Already Is”
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/12/20/will-the-next-uk-ambassador-be-declared-persona-non-grata-unofficially-he-already-is-n3798088
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