Weekend Unthreaded

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285 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #
    Dave

    I read this at the ABC

    Elon Musk’s Tesla and SA Labor reach deal to give solar panels and batteries to 50,000 homes

    Give?
    For free!

    Yup, that’s right GIVE for free!

    Premier Jay Weatherill ahead of the March state election, solar systems and batteries will be supplied and installed free of charge.

    WOW!

    What a beautiful result, Jay & Elon pay for 50,000 FREE solar & battery installations to the lovely stupid people of South Australia?

    WHY?
    They must be loaded!

    Is it April 1st?

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    • #
      James Murphy

      It’s worse than that… the whole thing will still be owned by Tesla, so Weatherill says in one breath, that he wants to re-nationalise the electricity system, and then, in the next, he is singing the praises of his deal with a foreign company to allow them to make a killing in the electricity industry.

      Yet, people seem to genuinely believe that this is good for SA…

      Comments on Jay Weatherill’s facebook page are proof that the SA education system has failed.

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    • #

      My favorite number’s ‘two’!
      Ooh,ooh …

      Great southern land
      of the lo-ong weekend,
      courtesy of the Industrial
      Revolution ‘n Democracy!

      How fortunate that ‘ol
      King Coal released serfs
      from unremitting labour
      twenty -four -seven,
      serfs,let’s go surfin’!

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    • #
      Clive Popham

      Nothing in this world is fee, in this case other taxpayers will be paying for the ‘free installations’. Are these homeowners so stupid they think that these installation come from the Golden Goose? They also said that the installation would reduce their electricity bill by 30%, a record number of people were interested. Make the bribe big enough and people will go for it and why not??

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      • #
        RexAlan

        Hi Clive

        “in this case other taxpayers will be paying for the ‘free installations’. In other words non home owners or people who can only afford a small apartment. I wish I could afford a house!

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      • #
        yarpos

        Sounds like they are just effectively renting roof and wall space for the distributed installation. Probably why it is going in on public housing initially, where the SA govt has control.

        It will be interesting to see how it affects private homes and what access rights you have to grant. I wonder who pays for what of you need to re roof?

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      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        Who pays for maintenance and the upkeep? Read the fine print, folks. And don’t agree to anything that you do not fully understand.

        Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.

        20

    • #
      Annie

      Who is paying for it?

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Annie:

        An interesting question. At current rates it costs about $12,000 to get a Tesla battery installed and set so that it both starts delivering electricity to your house and have you solar switched to deliver to the battery when there is a blackout. Add in $3,000 for some solar PV panels and all up it amounts to $750 million. As neither S.A. and (as far as I know) Tesla have that sort of cash lying around it would have to be borrowed, so the cost will be boosted by interest payments.
        The other thing of concern is Weatherdill’s comment about it being a “virtual power station”. Does he expect those batteries to start discharging if there is a shortfall in generation? That wouldn’t please the home owners coming home to a flat battery. And if there is a blackout then the last thing a sane person would want is for electricity making the lines alive.
        One thing is certain, he is obsessed with installing or starting as many renewable projects before the election (e.g. the Solar Tower near Pt. Augusta) so that the State can never recover. He may not intent destroying the S.A. grid but he probably will, then the overseas owner will sue for billions.
        The other problem is that both the Liberals and (Xenophon’s) SABest are pushing their belief in renewables too.

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        • #
          joseph

          Not a pretty picture.

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        • #
          Annie

          Oh, good grief! It just becomes worse and worse! Are they quite mad in SA?
          I daresay Victoria are scheduled to be the next totally crackers state.

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            I still think we should ring fence SA and put in a Checkpoint Charlie for anyone coming out of East Germa….er……the SA Soviet…..er…..SA….. into the rest of Oz….

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          • #
            Graeme No.3

            I have come to the conclusion that the Weatherdill knows that his days are numbered. In the last year he has spent $A1,390 million (Battery 100, diesel OCGTs 440, Solar Heat station 100 and now 750 – minimum) on renewables. Either it is a last ditch effort to gain votes from the 66% of the population who think the government has a big bag of money or he has been told by Labor ranks that not winning the election will be the end of his leadership. Certainly he has been sniping uncharacteristically at Xenophon who most people think would back him for another term**, and he has tried to install as much renewables as possible as a sort of memorial.

            ** Most people believe that if Xenophon gets as the balance of power then he would back Weatherill. It is being exploited by the Liberals and costing Xenophon’s party (SABest) votes, hence his recent drop in polling.

            30

      • #
        Graham Richards

        C’mon Annie, who do you think will really pay for it. It’s

        20

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Elon has to sell something, he is never going to get any more Americans than rich early adopters out of their V8s.

      Ford is selling $90,000 Lincoln SUVs faster than they can make them, 1,300 in Jan. Tesla sold 800 S models, the price equivalent.

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      • #
        yarpos

        Realistically those are two different segments of the market, neither set of buyers was ever going to buy the others cars, or anything like it.

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        • #
          Hanrahan

          neither set of buyers was ever going to buy the others cars,

          My point. EVs are for a small niche market, the rich early adopters. I’m reminded of a quote from Yogi Berra about a once popular restaurant: Nobody goes there any more, it’s too crowded. Owning a Tesla grants you membership of an exclusive club. If they ever reached 10% of the market that club would be no more exclusive than membership of the municipal golf course and no one would buy them any more.

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          • #
            yarpos

            hence the Model 3 if it ever sees the light of day in numbers

            meanwhile the Bolt is doing nicely in EV sales terms and more importantly is getting very good good press and consumer reviews. They are already cutting his lunch.

            20

    • #
      • #
        yarpos

        Our own beloved Yackandanda VIC is going to achieve “energy sovereignty” by 2022 it claims. I guess that means 100% renewables or it could just be weasel words to make the target whatever you want it to be.

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          Fairy – dust, recitals-in-the-park, renewables and complete nonsense…..

          Ah the Yackandandah Soviet…..if its energy sovereign, then it should be completely disconnected from the grid to prove it can cut it.

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          • #
            yarpos

            I believe the dream is to microgrid it and I would guess to retain a grid attachment. I think my little village/hamlet thing is starting to look at the same thing. How they plan to get there is up to your imagination atm.

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            • #
              Annie

              Oh yes, they definitely are looking at grid attachment in what you call the village/hamlet thing! We call it a village, ‘they’ call it a ‘community’….get with it 😉

              20

    • #
      RickWill

      The Government said analysis by economic consultancy firm Frontier Economics showed the 250 megawatt system in South Australia would lower energy bills for participating households by 30 per cent.

      This is not difficult when you have the most expensive grid power in the developed world and there are massive transfer payments from electricity consumers in other states who will pay for the STCs (aka Solar Transfer Costs)

      The addition of 250MW in this chunk will go a long way to killing the current base load of 530MW. In 4 years all the grid connected generation will be forced to shut down through the middle of the day. Think of what that means for wind capacity factors. If gas is kept running to keep the grid in sync then the solar systems will be shutting down on over voltage.

      There is the possibility of clocking the batteries to provide synchronous output that might eliminate the need to have gas providing the stability function. That WOULD be a technical achievement but pointless in the long run because the SA grid is already in terminal demise.

      If South Australia keeps moving down this path at this pace it will outrun the economics of more wind in other States and will retain the lion share of the LGC and STC transfers. That delays the inevitable demise as the SA folly is HEAVILY subsidised by consumers in other states..

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      • #
        Chad

        More detailed reports state that only 25,000 of the installations (on public housing). will be “free” , progressively installed over the next 2 years,…whilst the remaining 25,000 will have to be paid for by the private owners who must apply to participate, after the initial 25,000 are completed.
        In other words, Wetherills scheme is for 125 MW , and the other half is just another (2 year delayed) commercial Solar package sales deal that anyone could have anytime they wanted. …..Without government spruking. !
        Unless there is some other new discount /rebate scheme available then really, theis is a 125 MW project…over the next 4 years.
        We need to watch for more details, but i suspect private applications wont be detailed for quite a while.

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        • #
          Chad

          Sorry..i intended to add..
          So even if the sun shines every day (it doesnt !). ..the this $800m scheme will supply 125 x 20% = 25 MW ( equivalent) of new generation, total , eventually, after 2 years !

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    • #
      TdeF

      The RET means the rest of Australia pays for them as they qualify for carbon credits which are paid in advance.
      That’s you the electricity user paying in your monthly bill for Solar panels and batteries for South Australia, but Musk gets to own them.

      If the government of South Australia pays even half, the rest comes from everyone else. Given that there is a 100% markup in everything, you could create a deal where the South Australian government pays nothing, the people of Australia pay everything and Elon Musk gets to own it all and supply the panels and batteries.

      This deal needs close examination to see who pays for what and who owns what. It is not a gift, but may plunder the legalized theft of cash from every household in Australia. South Australia has not paid for a single windmill. They will probably not pay for 50,000 solar systems. Weatherill gets reelected and Musk makes more money and we pay.

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    • #

      Enron Musk is desperate to escape the USA where the jig is up. He has to find new pastures to graze upon the gullible.

      Yeah; he got the memo. The swamp creatures are about to find themselves high and dry and the first thing that they’ll drop is support for the “accessories”. It’s going to take years, but it has to happen to avoid a civil war.

      What are the odds that quite a few of those 50,000 installations will suffer a fate similar to those in Peter Garrett’s home insulation scheme?

      The terrible thing about history repeating itself is that you only have to learn it once before recognizing that what is happening simply has a new cast of characters. The plot is the same.

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      • #
        C. Paul Barreira

        The ineptitude of the one is not identical with the rapacity of the other. History does not repeat itself, but as Mark Twain remarked, “at best sometimes it rhymes”.

        He also wrote:

        There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.

        The Soviet Republic of South Australia (hereafter SovRepSA), under the management of Chairman Clone of Rann and his buddy the Mad Kout, seems determined to adapt the phrase to local conditions.

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      • #
        sophocles

        One thing you can guarantee: Musk won’t be paying. He’ll be profiting.
        He has a “Super Factory” he’s desperate to keep going.

        It seems SA taxpayers are to pay for all the public housing installations.
        Musk loves taxpayers. To him, they are a bottomless Money barrel. Or were … until Trump.
        Now he’s found Weatherill and South Australia … so Musk’s future looks much brighter.

        TANSTAAFL There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

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        • #

          IIRC, the “Super Factory” is a Panasonic production line for its cells and batteries. And that’s not yet fully functional.

          Also consider the production line is set up to make the previous generation cells; not even the current ones and will need to be essentially gutted before it’s able to produce the next-generation cells. (It’s a substantially different chemistry and physical structure.)

          Enron Musk and his followers are portraying the Tesla EV to be simpler than conventional vehicles with “fewer” parts. Well; a typical Tesla has around 7000 cells in it, plus battery management including coolant pumps. For comparison, a 1987 VW Golf had about 6900 components in total when it left the factory.

          Prang a Mk2 Golf and you can still buy replacement parts; no necessarily original but usually OEM. And any competent panel beater can make it look and work again.
          Prang a Tesla and it’s a write-off because the carbon-fibre is unrepairable outside of specialist workshops that probably number in the low zeroes.

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          • #
            Chad

            Bernd,
            Tesla’s “Gigafactory” , though not yet fully completed, is already producing the latest NMC 21700 format cell for use in both their Model 3 car , and their new generation PowerWall and PowerPack storage batterys.
            The plant has multiple production lines to enable different cells to be produced as required.

            20

          • #
            yarpos

            The moving parts argument is a furphy. They try to make out the roadside is littered with broken down ICE vehicles. How many do you ever see? Nobody at the basic consumer level cares about the innards, they just want a working system at an affordable price that delivers the functionality they require.

            20

        • #
          Environment Skeptic

          Interestingly, and now quite commonly, many high profile demigods of finance find themselves at the mercy of their creditors. Just like various governments do and corporations. If the creditors do not like what they are doing then they get ‘de-funded’ like everything else.

          The idea that tax payers actually own dollars is a myth. MOney comes into existence via debt.

          https://insideevs.com/elon-musks-borrowing-hundreds-millions-questioned/

          10

      • #
        MudCrab

        My big surprise with Musk is not so much that he is a fraud, but that he is so open about it.

        He puts up just about any old tosh on his twit feed, claims it is a massive gift from the SpaceX/Tesla/BoringCompany Gods and the unquestioning masses make Oooo and Arrrr noises.

        Everything is smoke, mirrors and distractions. One of his latest stunts is to convince people to pre-order flame throwers (ummm… what?! and… why?!) for some grossly inflated prices. Apparently his BoringCompany has developed them and they are cool and fun things to own.

        Or… they are propane torches you can buy COTS for a lot less, which means that about 90% of the price is the MUSK and BoringCompany logos on the side.

        Now the correct response to this sort of marketing ploy is to first question exactly why ‘flame throwers’ such as these need to be sold to the public in the first place and then question why the BoringCompany is making them. The BoringCompany has the nominal function of constructing industrial grade tunnels in order to help create Musk’s dream of an alternate mass transit system (spoiler! All they do seem to have achieved is to dig a pedestrian tunnel so his worker drones don’t have to cross a busy main road to get from the staff carpark to his SpaceX factory). Instead this part of his business empire now seems to be wanting to compete with Think Geek in the ‘toys for adults’ market.

        However instead of asking Musk why his professional tunnel digging division seems to be changing their market focus, all the loving masses are running around asking if it is too late to pre-order a Musk brand flame gun.

        Given that I am an Adelaide boy I find Musk’s interest in my state mildly worrying.

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    • #
      Lance

      As well, those Tesla batteries have a seriously declining warranty issue.

      https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2016/07/02/teslas-incredible-shrinking-powerwall-warranty/

      85% capacity for 2 yrs or 4 MWh throughput
      72% capacity years 3 to 5 yrs or 9 MWh
      60% capacity after 10 yrs or 18 MWh throughput

      Another aspect is, due to the possibility of Li-Ion batteries catching fire, their presence might invalidate fire insurance coverage.

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      Didn’t the Libs offer 40,000 battery’s and an extension cord to NSW ?

      20

      • #
        MudCrab

        Yes, plus an ‘education’ fund to allow the masses to more richly understand how they can reduce their power usage.

        What was worse was they were proud of it… at least for the first few days. I ran into my local (Liberal) member about a week later, someone who I have known for years and are on very good speaking terms with. I mentioned the then new Liberal power policy and she was VERY evasive.

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        • #
          robert rosicka

          Your poor people of SA have a choice of exactly who to vote for this election who will restore the power back to what it was

          30

          • #
            MudCrab

            Australia Conservatives would be the only ‘pro power’ group, but best we could expect is to pick up a few spots in the MLC.

            Personally I think we are completely screwed. Xenophon will suck primary votes away from the other parties and then give them straight to Labor on preferences. Sad thing is that the majority of the voting population do not remotely understand 2PP.

            40

    • #
      Bob

      The ABC article says,

      The retailer will have the right to tap output of the household batteries and solar panels to supply power into the grid.

      Does this mean the retailer can take power at any time and leave the household battery with no power?

      30

    • #
      Ceetee

      Theres nothing like freeing up your Mahatma Ghandi when you have great big wads of cash in your bank account am I right?

      00

  • #
    Mark M

    Exclusive: Laser Scans Reveal Maya “Megalopolis” Below Guatemalan Jungle

    A vast, interconnected network of ancient cities was home to millions more people than previously thought.

    https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/maya-laser-lidar-guatemala-pacunam/

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    • #
      John of Cloverdale, WA, Australia

      One day an Aboriginal ancient city may be found under the desert.

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      • #
        glen Michel

        As the Lord said in his visit here long,long ago. “Don’t do anything ’til I get back”

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        • #
          toorightmate

          And everyone obeyed.

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        • #
          Another Ian

          Give credit for firestick farming

          Bill Gamage “The biggest estate on earth: How aboriginals made Australia”

          Not helped by the urban approach to fire :-

          “A fire! Put it out before it burns something”

          As opposed to rural “We aim to burn something before we put it out”

          And guess where fire permit central is.

          20

        • #
          Wayne Job

          The lord looked and saw his creation was good and said to man go forth and you will find good and obedient wife in all the corners of the earth. But he made it round and had a good chuckle.

          10

      • #
        Just Thinkin'

        John,

        don’t hang by your finger nails waiting for that to happen.

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      • #
        Chad

        Shussshh !……you will give someone an idea for anothe Dream time story !

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      • #

        Just Thinkin’ Feb 05,18:11:09 am

        John,don’t hang by your finger nails waiting for that to happen.

        WHY? Usn Sloths do dat fer 20/24hr ever day! 🙂

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      • #
        MudCrab

        Even if it was found you wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near it, let alone study the bloody thing.

        The ‘Elites’ control the cultural dialog. Having outsiders – EUROPEAN outsiders at that – actually get involved and actually offer some scientific method or even offering to help expand our understanding is right out. These people have a vested (and selfish) interest in making sure they are not only the ‘go to’ people for questions about pre-1788 history, but also in that no one disproves the 60,000 years of living in harmony story line.

        You could find a settlement proving pre-1788 Australians developed space flight and there would still be no way that anyone would be allowed to study it.

        The real tragedy here is that these very ‘elites’ are the ones who are really destroying the Aboriginal culture. If no one is allowed to know what it is, then how do you know what has been lost?

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  • #
    Extreme Hiatus

    BIG NEWS re “The media is part of the deep state”

    “So Christopher Steele was meeting with journalists, the journalists were writing articles; the FBI was leaking to media and citing articles as underlying evidence to support their counterintelligence investigations; and all of this was used to validate the investigative documents the FBI was receiving from Christopher Steele; who, along with the leaking FBI officials, was also the source of the media articles.”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/02/03/this-is-madness-the-media-are-just-as-complicit-in-the-doj-corruption-and-fisa-abuse/#more-145439

    Definitely worth reading it all. This isn’t from “sources.” It is from court and FBI documents! Catastrophic news for the Fake News machine and it is not fake news.

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    • #
      James Murphy

      Sadly, I see all this disappearing from the headlines by next weekend, the MSM has no interest in biting the hand that feeds it.

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    • #
      Another Ian

      EH

      This came first

      “The Problem Isn’t Just Corruption at the FBI and Main Justice, It’s Also The Media…”

      https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/01/24/the-problem-isnt-just-corruption-at-the-fbi-and-main-justice-its-also-the-media/

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      • #
        Extreme Hiatus

        Another Ian – This latest one seems to provide all the evidence for that one, and more. As James Murphy noted above, they’ll definitely be trying to bury this. I don’t think they can. There’s evidence of direct payments to churnalists and media companies and that still hasn’t come out yet. And I’m thinking Trump is definitely going to be tweeting about this!

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          Short of cash? Ring Julie Bishop; one phone call or twitter from Rhianna and $90 million was deposited in the Clinton Funds, or that part of it with Julia Gillard in it.
          “Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has announced a $90 million donation to the Julia Gillard-chaired Global Partnership for Education just hours after singer Rihanna took to Twitter to plead with the Australian government for funds.

          MOD: I have deleted the comments that sprang to mind so don’t worry if there is still a slight smell of smoke.
          [Thank you. I was wondering where the smell was originating.] Fly

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        • #
          Just Thinkin'

          With Trump tweeting about it should
          set a few heads exploding in Australia, too.

          Time to get some pop-corn and a ringside seat…

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        • #
          philthegeek

          And I’m thinking Trump is definitely going to be tweeting about this!

          So Trump tweeting about something makes it more credible than evidence gathered by professionals who know that whatever they collect is likely to be tested and examined in a court? Seriously, what planet are you from…Janet??

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          • #
            Raven

            philthegeek wrote:

            So Trump tweeting about something makes it more credible than evidence gathered by professionals who know that whatever they collect is likely to be tested and examined in a court?

            Well, the FISA court didn’t bother to test the Russian “dossier”.
            The FBI didn’t bother to verify it either, so that was lucky, eh . .

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    • #
      philthegeek

      So, the premise here seems to be that anyone not in full and permanent “can i get that zip while i’m down here sir” mode over Trump is part of some deep state antidemocratic conspiracy?

      Bit weird and hysterical. 🙁

      Why not just chill, let the US work this through their justice system and see where it comes out.

      And eat popcorn. 🙂

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      • #
        sophocles

        philthegeek said:

        And eat popcorn. 🙂

        Thanks for the reminder. More popcorn and beer supplies this weekend are necessary! 🙂

        This is great entertainment. Fantastic. Sometimes I wonder if heads will literally roll …
        Ah, Public Executions: that’ll larn ’em!

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        yarpos

        Bit overstated dont you think? people are just responding to the facts as they appear, and sharing a bit of schadenfreude. Feel free to chill as much as you like.

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  • #
    Jack Snap

    Some more new science for Jo’s consideration. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-20628-2

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    • #
      tom0mason

      I seem to remember a few years back some researcher in India did a similar study and concluded that the climate models were not good enough.
      I’ll have to hunt down the reference now, wont I?

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    • #

      look forward to Jo writing a blog post about a rather boring article that concludes that today’s GCM models are more reliable than other models for improving dryland productivity with this conclusion

      We conclude that reliable and skillful dynamic GCM models, interfaced with validated crop simulation models, can now be used to inform optimum crop designs to increase farmers’ profits and reduce risks. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology current POAMA-2 model outperformed the statistical SOI phase system across all tested measures of reliability, skill, shift and dispersion, particularly during autumn and winter.

      zzz

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      • #
        Glen Michel

        A joke surely. BoM’s short term forecasts ok; medium term is bloody unreliable. Might have to give those forecast TC’s a bit of hustle by the way as they a well in arrears. Very reactive in their forecasts I would venture.

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        Peter C

        I would like to see that outcome too. Really useful climate models that give our farmers a competitive advantage and reduce risk.

        Unlikely IMHO until the BOM is reformed. Can the models actually work when they are based on the CO2 Greenhouse Theory?

        Did “Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology current POAMA-2 model” perform well?
        Just asking.

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      • #
        philthegeek

        look forward to Jo writing a blog post about a rather boring article that concludes that today’s GCM models are more reliable than other models for improving dryland productivity with this conclusion

        Yup and i look forward to being abducted by a van load of long legged red headed gymnasts that then have my evil way with me. About as likely to happen . 🙂

        10

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Ah gee-

        “I have had so many requests from my legions of fans to post more blogs. No really, there are a surprising number of people out there that read and re read my pastes… I mean posts … and check in to see if I have added anything new.
        So today’s, and possibly this year’s, new post should satisfy those fans. Basically it is this link about scientific theories.
        Yep, this is another placeholder in case I need to move someone on from their argument by distraction. You know the one where they write, “it is only a theory”. Amazingly, people still try to slip that one into an argument. They are often the same people who distract with, “it is only a model”, without understanding that their lives would soon come to an end without models.”

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  • #
    yarpos

    Does anyone know if a list exists that gives the install date of the various wind turbine installations in Australia? I can find plenty of listing with locations, capacity and the like, but nothing with commissioning or install dates.

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  • #
    yarpos

    My first random sighting of a Tesla in the wild. 130km out of Melbourne, heading back in of course.

    SBS and ABC ran a story last night on the sentencing of the nutter who ran over a mosque crowd a while ago. There was much earnest discussion on the guy becoming “radicalised” and the terrible risk of right wing extremism in the world, and how this was a warning to governments everywhere.

    Yup, it wasnt just a nutter, you only have to look around the world to see that right wing extremism is the major threat that requires focus. The stupidity and denial of reality is quite mind boggling.

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    • #
      Annie

      It surely cannot belong to a local!!! It must be one of the tourists from Melbourne.

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      • #
        yarpos

        I suspect that is the case, however I am often surprised at what is lurking garages in this area. I am a local car club member and just in that group there is everything from the usual Aussie classics and Morrys to a fully restored V12 Etype, a Ferrari, a newish Bentley, and assorted Mustangs. So the odd Tesla wouldnt shock me (pun intended). Another sighting today with a blue Model X (I think that what they call the SUV). I’m on a roll.

        Wouldnt suprise me to see more as we are with easy return range for weekend doddles and the like.

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          Annie

          They recharge up here?

          I wonder if the Bentley is that beauty in which I had a ride not too long ago?! Owner is a local classic car enthusiast.

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            Annie

            I missed the Australia Day parade in Marysville this year…too tired to get a move on that day…but there are usually some great classic cars in it.

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            • #
              yarpos

              Change the date! protesters were thin on the ground 🙂 Our son was up from Melbourne , he thought it was good to be in the country where you could wave Australian flags with it being a big statement of anything much other than Yay! Australia Day!

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              • #
                Annie

                Although I was late there, I was aware of a very good atmosphere and lots and lots of Australian flags. As it was so hot over by the Police station where they were serving a sausage sizzle I went to buy my own snack and sat in the shade of a large tree near the river. It was very relaxing and enjoyable to warch people just having a great day.

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              • #
                Annie

                I gather that there was a great time had by the people in Thornton too.

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  • #

    Has any Green scheme ever worked? We now face a problem with recycling, given that China no longer wants our trash and it looks like the whole scheme is about to collapse, unless more money is poured into saving things.

    Now I don’t necessarily have an issue with recycling, but who thought up the idea that other countires will keep taking our trash indefinitely, rather than looking at local solutions?

    Once again, the Green Blob gave no thought to the unintended consequences and now everyone is in a panic.

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      sophocles

      build Teslas in Australia!

      They’re plastic. You can tell from the way they burn … 🙂

      Ford, GM Holden, Toyota and Mitsubishi have shut down, so SA should open its doors, not just it’s taxpayers and other parts, to Elon Musk.

      Problem solved.

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      • #
        yarpos

        Just give SA to Elon and he can run it as a little fiefdom.

        20

      • #
        tom0mason

        sophocles

        But, but, but it’s environmentally friendly plastic.
        As the adverts will tell you —

        “…A revolutionary Musk plastic. Fully sustainable plastic made from Unicorn ordure, knitted with Porcine feathers by clever Gaia pixies.”

        It’s not that nasty flammable petrochemical plastic, really its not…

        🙂

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    pat

    the ConservativeTreehouse article posted by Extreme Hiatus is telling.

    AUDIO: 3 Feb: Breitbart: Steve King’s Memo Warning: ‘Watch Closely for Barack Obama’s Fingerprints’
    by Robert Kraychik
    “Watch closely for Barack Obama’s fingerprints,” said Rep. Steve King (R-IA) on Saturday, suggesting the recent alleged partisan weaponization of state surveillance powers could be connected to the 44th president. “[Democrats and their allies] will defend Barack Obama at all costs, and they’ll defend Hillary Clinton almost at all costs unless they have to sacrifice her to protect Barack Obama,” he added.

    King offered his remarks during an interview with Breitbart News’s Deputy Political Editor Amanda House on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Saturday…READ ON
    http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2018/02/03/steve-kings-memo-warning-watch-closely-for-barack-obamas-fingerprints/

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  • #
    pat

    reminder: Wikipedia: Fusion GPS: The company was co-founded in 2011 by Glenn R. Simpson, a former investigative reporter and journalist for Roll Call and The Wall Street Journal; Peter Fritsch, former Wall Street Journal senior editor; and former Wall Street Journal journalist Thomas Catan.

    lengthy, read all:

    3 Feb: IdahoConservatives: The FISA Memo Exposes Fusion GPS Obama 2012 Campaign Links
    The players within the Obama administration will be scrutinized and hopefully be exposed as House investigators continue combing through the source documents. Their role in the conspiracy to help Clinton win the election may be one part of a broader strategy that goes all the way back to the 2012 Presidential campaign of President Obama against Mitt Romney.

    Fusion GPS was hired by the Obama for America campaign to perform opposition research against Mitt Romney. Fusion GPS’s job was to gather research and connect reporters who would publish hit pieces while the lawyers made the payments and managed the relationships. In early 2012, the Obama campaign launched a political hit job against Mitt Romney campaign donors.

    On February 2, 2012, Michael Isikoff went on air at NBC news about how a donor named Frank VanderSloot from the small town of Idaho Falls, Idaho had made a million dollar donation to the Mitt Romney supporting Restore Our Future PAC.
    On February 6, 2012, Mother Jones published a hit piece attacking the Idaho donor in an article that led to a well-documented defamation lawsuit (LINK)…

    Isikoff set up the pitch and Mother Jones hit it out of the park. On March 15, 2012, Rosie Gray wrote an article that attacked the same Idaho donor and quoted Mother Jones Washinton Bureau Chief David Corn. He admitted his involvement in the article by explaining that Mother Jones often pulled articles and put them back after correcting non-factual reporting…

    Simpon’s role in the hit job was exposed when they sent an intern to dig up dirt in Idaho. Kim Strassel detailed this investigation in her Wall Street Journal article (LINK)…READ ON
    https://idahoconservatives.com/national/fisa-memo-obama-fusion-gps/

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    pat

    Harvard Kennedy School has plenty of CAGW connections.
    this is so bizarre coming as it does when the FISA memo was about to be released. Facebook, Google & Crowdstrike will protect US elections? lol:

    30 Jan: Harvard: Wanted: A firewall to protect U.S. elections
    Major bipartisan Harvard initiative seeks safeguards to ensure future voting integrity
    By Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Staff Writer
    EDGE OF DISCOVERY
    Second in a series of articles on cutting-edge research at Harvard.
    As the FBI and Congress work to unravel Russia’s hacking of the 2016 presidential election and learn whether anyone in Donald Trump’s campaign supported the effort, one thing has become clear: U.S. elections are far more vulnerable to manipulation than was thought…

    Now, as federal and state officials are partnering to examine voting and election security, a new initiative at ***Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) is working to shore up another at-risk component of the U.S. election system: political campaigns.

    Led by former presidential campaign managers for Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney, the Defending Digital Democracy project is gathering cybersecurity experts from the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as private-sector internet heavyweights like Facebook, Google, and the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, to identify problems and share pragmatic wisdom with local, state, and federal campaigns so they are better informed about cyber threats and can make their organizations harder for attackers to infiltrate…

    Mook noted that while the campaign took great care to protect against sabotage by political opponents or intruders looking for valuable information to use for espionage purposes, “I don’t think anybody was imagining that a foreign country would steal the information and then release it out to the media.”
    The Russian cyberattack taught him that “it didn’t just matter how secure our campaign was, it mattered how secure the other organizations we work with are. So, the DNC, John Podesta’s personal email account — they were all good places for adversaries to find ways to hurt us. And so it really opened my eyes to how important it was to have a cybersecurity strategy that covers risk across a number of different surfaces, not just the one you directly control,” said Mook…

    “One of the things that I’ve found incredibly challenging is the whole nature and structure of these campaigns,” said Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chief technology officer of CrowdStrike, the firm that first identified Russian hackers as behind the DNC email server breach…
    https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/01/wanted-a-firewall-to-protect-u-s-elections

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    pat

    March 2017: ABC America: Obama ‘could not have directed’ alleged wiretapping: Former CIA director
    By John Verhovek
    Former CIA and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden delivered a strong rebuke to President Trump’s allegations — without presenting evidence — that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in the lead-up to the election.
    “President Obama could not have directed this,” Hayden, who was appointed by President George W. Bush to lead the CIA in 2006, told ABC’s Rick Klein and Jonathan Karl on the “Powerhouse Politics” podcast…
    “I suspect that even if it did happen – and there’s an ‘if’ in there,” Hayden said, referring to the alleged wiretapping, “[President Obama] would not have been made aware of it.”…

    Hayden, who also served as NSA Director from 1999 to 2005, said he has a high regard for current FBI Director James Comey, adding that with President Trump’s latest accusations, “we are off the map here in terms of normal governmental activity.”…
    …Hayden said, “there aren’t any Obama dead-enders in [the intelligence community], there aren’t any deep-staters in there.”…
    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-directed-alleged-wire-tapping-cia-director/story?id=45950046

    Aug 2016: RealClearPolitics: Michael Hayden: Trump Is a “Clear and Present Danger,” “I Fear for Our Future”
    Today on The Lead with Jake Tapper, former NSA director Michael Hayden tells CNN’s Jake Tapper that Donald Trump is a “clear and present danger” to America.

    BTW: Wikipedia: Michael Hayden: In 2017, Hayden became a national security analyst for CNN.

    29 Nov 2017: Yahoo: Trump on Twitter: Ex-Spy Chief Hayden Escalates Attack on President
    by Jeff Stein, Newsweek
    Updated: Michael Hayden, the former CIA and NSA director, usually shows up for a rhetorical fight with a verbal knife, responding to criticism with quote-ready comments, contrarian facts and cutting-edge wit. Late Saturday night, however, the former spy boss was so disgusted by a Donald Trump tweet that he rolled out a cannon.

    Just after lifting off from Palm Beach, Florida on Air Force One, the president had unleashed another attack on CNN as “fake news,” which he alleged, “represent(s) our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!”…

    “If this is who we are or who we are becoming, I have wasted 40 years of my life,” the former Air Force general tweeted. “Until now it was not possible for me to conceive of an American president capable of such an outrageous assault on truth, a free press or the first amendment.”…
    Former CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin, who had called Hayden’s attention to Trump’s tweet, expressed similar shock. “If you…are not dismayed by this, you may now be numb and no longer capable of outrage,” he wrote. “Scary if that’s our new normal.”…

    By Sunday afternoon, Hayden’s emotion-packed comment had generated nearly 46,000 re-tweets and was climbing toward 100,000 “likes,” making it probably the most popular thing he’d posted since joining Twitter in October 2015. Over four million Twitter users at least saw it, judging by the service’s “impressions” count. And the comments were overwhelmingly approving. “Ninety nine to one, maybe better,” Hayden said in a telephone interview Monday evening, matching Newsweek’s own sampling. Many seem to come from military veterans…

    What set him off? For starters, “the First Amendment’s sacred, even when I think it’s being abused,” Hayden said. But supporting a free press, he added, is also “a core element” of American foreign policy…

    “When you’ve got our president undercutting—in essence, trying to de-legitimize—our free press, it gives headroom to the Sisi’s and the Erdoğan’s and all those other folks in the world to do something that’s frankly destructive for them and destructive of the world we want to live in.” …

    Trump’s attack on CNN encourages the world’s despots to ban, arrest or encourage violence against the cable news network’s foreign correspondents, Hayden says. And as if on cue Tuesday, the Libyan media began questioning the authenticity of a recent CNN exposé of slavery markets in the country, according to Jenan Moussa, a reporter for Arabic Al Aan TV.
    Trump’s calling CNN a “major source of (Fake) news,” Hayden says, “may have been the one that pushed me over the edge.”
    He fears the U.S. media may have already suffered “institutional damage” from Trump’s “continued pounding.”…
    “How do you guys recover from that? How do you survive it?” he asked. And “how do you hold your ground as a free press without a being or appearing to be the opposition or even the resistance, which then undercuts your legitimacy?”…

    All through his 2016 campaign, Trump similarly denigrated and ridiculed the CIA, FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies as “deep state” tools of the Democrats and establishment Republicans…

    This story has been updated with the news that Libyan media is questioning a CNN report on slavery markets in the country.
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-twitter-ex-spy-chief-170126651.html

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    pat

    connect dots between the Harvard Kennedy School US Elections story – which quotes Dmitri Alperovitch:

    TheCipherBrief: The Cyber Advisory Board
    Meetings are expertly moderated by General Michael V. Hayden, former Director of the NSA and CIA…
    Suzanne Kelly CEO & Publisher, The Cipher Brief
    (FROM LINKED IN: Suzanne Kelly was previously with CNN, NPR & VOA)

    Advisory Board includes:
    General Michael Hayden, Former Director, CIA and NSA
    General Hayden is a retired four-star General in the United States Air Force; he was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2006-2009 and the Director of the National Security Agency from 1999-2005…

    ***Robert Hannigan, Former Director, GCHQ
    Robert Hannigan was Director of GCHQ, the UK’s largest intelligence agency and NSA equivalent from 2014-17. He was a member of the National Security Council…ETC

    ***Dmitri Alperovitch, Co-Founder and CTO, Crowdstrike
    Dmitri Alperovitch is the Co-Founder and CTO of CrowdStrike Inc. In 2016, Alperovitch revealed Russian intelligence agencies’ hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), events which unveiled the full scope of cyber influence operations being launched against the 2016 US Election. Alperovitch is currently a Senior Fellow at ***Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center’s Defending Digital Democracy Project and a Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council. He has served on the board of Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) Industry Advisory Board and currently serves on the RSA Conference Advisory Board…

    Michael Sulmeyer, Director, ***Belfer Center’s Cyber Security Project, Harvard University
    Michael Sulmeyer is the Belfer Center’s Cyber Security Project Director at the ***Harvard Kennedy School. He is also a Contributing Editor for Lawfare. Before Harvard, he served as the Director for Plans and Operations for Cyber Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. There, he worked closely with the Joint Staff and Cyber Command on a variety of efforts to counter malicious cyber activity against U.S. and DoD interests. For this work, he received the Secretary Medal for Exceptional Public Service. Previously, he worked on arms control and the maintenance of strategic stability between the United States, Russia, and China.
    https://www.thecipherbrief.com/cyber-advisory-board

    1 Feb: Washington Times: The un-American cabal
    The Constitution is under attack everyday by those eager to destroy a presidency
    By James A. Lyons
    (James A. Lyons, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations)
    There is no question that on Nov. 8, 2016, we had a political revolution in America. However, that election was for more than the presidency. It was for the “soul” of America and the rights and freedoms embedded in our Constitution…

    While the discredited FBI lead counter-intelligence agent Peter Strzok and his mistress, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, discussed forming a “secret society” which they now claim was a joke, there is a Sept. 20, 2017, article in True Pundit which describes how six U.S. intelligence agencies formed a “Stealth Task Force” headed by CIA Director John Brennan to run the unauthorized surveillance on Trump associates and possibly against Mr. Trump himself.

    According to the article, after being denied two FISA court warrants applications, this group used the British spy element, headed by ***Robert Hannigan, embedded at NSA, Ft. George Meade, Md. Why this UK spy element? Because they were not constrained by needing a FISA warrant to wiretap Americans; it’s believed this activity commenced in November 2015, well before the compilation of the discredited Trump dossier…
    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/1/obamas-leftist-holdovers-attack-americas-soul/

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    • #
      Extreme Hiatus

      pat, that’s some great research you’re doing! Thanks.

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      • #
        pat

        Extreme Hiatus –

        thanks. the internet is a wonderful thing.

        yet another correction required, yet AP needs all these writers and even the correction barely makes sense:

        3 Feb: Associated Press: Correction: Trump-Russia Probe story
        Yesterday
        In a story Feb. 2 about a Republican memo on the Russia investigation, The Associated Press erroneously reported that a former British spy’s work on an opposition research project was initially funded by the conservative Washington Free Beacon. Though the former spy, Christopher Steele, was hired by a firm that was initially funded by the Washington Free Beacon, he did not begin work on the project until after Democratic groups had begun funding it.
        A corrected version of the story is below:

        Trump says Russia-probe memo proves bias; Dems say no
        By ERIC TUCKER, MARY CLARE JALONICK and CHAD DAY; Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin, Catherine Lucey, Matthew Daly and Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report
        The Republicans argue that top Justice and FBI officials concealed relevant information from the court, namely the full details of Steele’s motivations and funding.

        ***Steele was working for Fusion GPS, a firm initially hired by the conservative Washington Free Beacon to do opposition research on Trump. Steele didn’t begin work on the project until after Democratic groups took over the funding…
        https://apnews.com/63c883156e314b68b86209d3b63890f5

        ***sounds like gobbledygook to me.

        and all those writers didn’t know this before now?

        27 Oct 2017: WashingtonFreeBeacon: Fusion GPS and the Washington Free Beacon
        A note to our readers
        By Matthew Continetti and Michael Goldfarb
        Since its launch in February of 2012, the Washington Free Beacon has retained third party firms to conduct research on many individuals and institutions of interest to us and our readers. In that capacity, during the 2016 election cycle we retained Fusion GPS to provide research on multiple candidates in the Republican presidential primary, just as we retained other firms to assist in our research into Hillary Clinton. All of the work that Fusion GPS provided to the Free Beacon was based on public sources, and none of the work product that the Free Beacon received appears in the Steele dossier. The Free Beacon had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele. Nor did we have any knowledge of the relationship between Fusion GPS and the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie, and the Clinton campaign.

        Representatives of the Free Beacon approached the House Intelligence Committee today and offered to answer what questions we can in their ongoing probe of Fusion GPS and the Steele dossier. But to be clear: We stand by our reporting, and we do not apologize for our methods. We consider it our duty to report verifiable information, not falsehoods or slander, and we believe that commitment has been well demonstrated by the quality of the journalism that we produce. The First Amendment guarantees our right to engage in news-gathering as we see fit, and we intend to continue doing just that as we have since the day we launched this project.
        http://freebeacon.com/uncategorized/fusion-gps-washington-free-beacon/

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        sophocles

        I second ExtremeHiatus’s thanks, Pat.
        Your posts have always been interesting reading.
        Keep it up.

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    Extreme Hiatus

    Facing the imminent disintegration of the Great Barrier Reef and all that, this is vital new expert advice for Australians. It is based on research in exotic beach locations and other stuff.

    Coral reefs are in trouble: How can people adapt?

    January 30, 2018, ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies

    “An international team of scientists has developed a strategy to boost people’s ability to adapt to climate change.”

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180130090852.htm

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    • #
      el gordo

      Social Science.

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    • #
      yarpos

      adapt? you mean like put something warm on when its cold and take it off later when its not? I didnt realise that I needed scientific help with that. At the moment its about 10-12C in the morning and 30 something in the afternoon. Better chopper in an emergency adaption team right now. Is that ride of valkyries I hear in the distance ….?

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      • #
        Extreme Hiatus

        “scientific help”

        Thought that was the funniest part of it. Vital research on the beach… because Climate Change.

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        • #
          Another Ian

          Best example I’ve heard of vital research on the beach and watching the amount of bare skin.

          Vital research and tax deductible if you provide the liquid nitrogen for skin care

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          • #

            Vital research and tax deductible if you provide the liquid nitrogen for skin care

            Huh? Human skin can survive the endothermic result of slight sprinkles of LN2, else death and decay! LN2 is great for rolling up dirt on the floor, the mass contraction cannot withstand the lateral push. LN2 is also great for making colorful 125 proof vodka Popsicles….Everbody know dat!
            All the best!-will-

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  • #
    pat

    April 2017: TheCipherBrief: Climate Insecurity and the Changing Balance of Power
    by Carmen Medina, former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence
    As world temperatures rise, international experts predict that more frequent droughts, water shortages, and agriculture shortfalls will destabilize more and more societies, creating new national security headaches for the U.S. These experts contend that the years of political chaos in Syria foreshadow the future. The drought that preceded the Syrian civil war was the worst in 900 years…

    By turning away from the international climate consensus, the U.S. is sacrificing its ability to influence and lead on an issue considered a very serious problem and an immediate threat by more than 50 percent of the world population. This, in turn, will tend to weaken U.S. soft power. International affairs abhor leadership vacuums, and China seems capable of stepping into the breach, both politically but perhaps more to the point, economically. China is becoming the world leader in energy technologies. Five out of the six leading solar panel manufacturers are Chinese, as are five out of the ten leading wind turbine makers. Beijing is also innovating in areas such as emissions trading systems and green capital markets. China may be able to parlay its prowess on clean energy into greater influence on other global economic issues, further enhancing its soft power…

    Over the coming months, The Cipher Brief, in conjunction with the Stimson Center, will be publishing a Natural Security Series featuring articles on the convergence between environmental and national security issues. Be sure to check in tomorrow for the next part of the Natural Security Series.
    https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/climate-insecurity-and-the-changing-balance-of-power

    Harvard Kennedy School: Belfer Center: Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
    The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements identifies and communicates scientifically sound, economically sensible, and politically pragmatic public policy options for addressing global climate change. The Harvard Project’s research focuses on policy architecture, key design elements, and institutional dimensions of international and domestic climate change policy—and draws upon leading scholars and policy practitioners from around the world (including Argentina, Australia, China, Europe, India, Japan, and the United States).
    Overview – Research (421) – Experts (8)
    https://www.belfercenter.org/project/harvard-project-climate-agreements

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    • #

      Harvard Kennedy School: Belfer Center: Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

      Is there anything more woeful? Racoons, skunks, and black bears are nice when not surprised! Armadillos not so much! 🙁

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        Another Ian

        Armadillo is a delicacy in Brasil – tatu

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          Armadillo is a delicacy in Brasil – tatu

          In southern USA Armadillo is post hole digger. Sky oft back of tractor: wire rope with welded vise grip! Varmint lifted by tail to location for post hole. In rock, Armadillo get dull quickly! Un-clamp then fetch new sharpend Armadillo!
          All the best!-will-

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  • #
    PeterS

    One of the best reviews I’ve seen so far:
    The Truth About The FISA Memo | FBI/DOJ Exposed

    What’s more interesting is apparently this is just the tip of the iceberg as more is to come out in the open.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      Of course there is, or should be, more to come. The US is corrupt to the core. If they opt NOT to follow Trump [he can’t do it in one Presidency] the West, AWKI will fall like a termite infested barn. Australia will follow Hawke over the cliff singing Solidarity Forever.

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      • #
        PeterS

        It’s now clear there was much dirty work carried out by the left. Now that all this is coming out and there is much more to come, something must be done about it – meaning the bias of the MSM and the rest must be flushed away like a poisoned pond. If this means people at high places must go to prison then so be it. If on the other hand nothing is done and the left keep on their attacks and perhaps eventually bring down Trump and steal the democratic decision of the people, the US will experience their second civil war. To avoid it I sincerely hope something is done to fix the mess that the left have created. As I said that means some of them have to go to prison.

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          Graeme No.3

          PeterS:
          I am no expert on the USA but it occurs to me that the people in the middle States that voted for Trump are also the people who own most of the private weapons. The Left with their adversion to guns don’t own many; perhaps they were counting on the Home Security Forces or the Army to enforce their diktaks, but I think that most of the ranks there also come from non Left areas.

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            Lance

            Statistics support your view.
            Number of guns in the USA: 310 Million registered firearms.
            Ammunition in private hands: 4.2 Billion to 1 Trillion rounds.

            Texas has the most weapons, about 590,000 registered firearms.
            Wyoming has the most weapons per capita: 195 per 1000 persons.

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              James

              There is no nationwide gun registration in the US. Some states have hand gun registration. Most states do not have long gun registration. Are your number just hand guns perhaps?

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                OriginalSteve

                I wonder whether things are being set up to allow foreign troops in for “peacekeeping” after the Left has undermined america and created a failed state:

                One marvels at the apparent un-earthly genius behind all this :

                http://thinkexist.com/quotation/today-americans-would-be-outraged-if-u-n-troops/347294.html

                “”Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government.”
                – Henry Kissinger in an address to the Bilderberger meeting at Evian, France, May 21, 1992.

                (in an address to the Bilderberger organization meeting at Evian, France, on May 21, 1991. As transcribed from a tape recording made by one of the Swiss delegates. )”

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                PeterS

                Something like a Chinese version of “Red Dawn” scenario possible? Perhaps. The key difference to all other previous downfalls is today nations have sufficient firepower to destroy the earth many times over. I suspect the outcome will be somewhat different but no more pleasing.

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              Robert Swan

              Those statistics can’t be correct:

              310 million firearms / 320 million US population is an average of about 1000 firearms per 1000 persons. So 195 firearms per thousand can hardly be the most.

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              • #
                Lance

                Stats were referencing “Registered guns per capita”. That’s why the numbers look weird.

                Example, WY: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/most-heavily-armed-states-in-america/53/

                Overall, there’s about 90 guns/100 people in terms of total guns vs total population.

                Laws vary by State. A Lot.

                Lots of individuals own several firearms.
                I’ve got 5. My neighbor in California (1994) had about 75 or more in a collection.
                The distribution isn’t 1:1.
                Lots of people have zero. A few people have a lot. That skews the simple average.

                80% of the houses in my neighborhood are Federal Agents (active or retired) and all of those are armed to the teeth. Typically 5 to 10 per house.

                California required long gun registration beginning 2014.

                I despise wikipedia, but they do have a good list of the laws by state
                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_United_States_by_state

                Sorry for mixing things up. My mistake.

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              • #
                Lance

                Total guns in US: 270 – 310 Million estimated 2013

                https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?&article=1679&context=urban_facpub

                No pun intended, but the total is a “moving target”, state laws vary, and estimates apply.

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                sophocles

                Approx 1.1 million firearms in NZ. Not bad for a population of 4.8 million.

                Possession of a firearm requires a firearms licence and good lock-up security. There are about 250,000 licence holders in the population. That would average about 4-5 firearms per shooter.

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                Kinky Keith

                Britain still seems to have a functioning democracy: they voted for Brexit.

                Gun related deaths there are about 2.3 annually per million of population.

                Gun related deaths in the USA are almost 50 times greater than Britain.

                In Australia gun related deaths are less than one tenth of those in the USA but then we have sharks to deal with.

                KK

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                robert rosicka

                One unknown in the death by shooting in oz stats is if it includes shootings by police .

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              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Hi Robert,

                I know that farmers living out of town need guns, but there’s another side to that when times get bad.

                Del Shannon could probably explain better than me.

                I also acknowledge that former law enforcement officers might feel safer with a gun but when we have people saying that they need guns because they grew up with Indians ????? and treat gun ownership as a hobby, it’s possible that the USA might be heading down the wrong track.

                KK

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    pat

    a propaganda piece, but one does wonder if Hannigan might have brought Christopher Steele into the picture:

    13 Apr 2017: Guardian: British spies were first to spot Trump team’s links with Russia
    Exclusive: GCHQ is said to have alerted US agencies after becoming aware of contacts in 2015
    by Luke Harding, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Nick Hopkins
    According to one account, GCHQ’s then head, Robert Hannigan, passed material in summer 2016 to the CIA chief, John Brennan. The matter was deemed so sensitive it was handled at “director level”. After an initially slow start, Brennan used GCHQ information and intelligence from other partners to launch a major inter-agency investigation…
    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia

    28 Feb: American Conservative: Is There More to the Flynn Story?
    A strange resignation in a UK intelligence service suggests U.S. partners may have been involved.
    By Philip Giraldi
    (Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is executive director of the Council for the National Interest)
    The American media is ignoring a story from London about the abrupt resignation (LINK) of Robert Hannigan, the head of Britain’s highly secretive Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which is the codebreaking equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Hannigan’s resignation on January 23 surprised everyone, with only a few hours’ notice provided to his staff. He claimed in a press release that he wanted to spend more time with his family, which reportedly includes a sick wife and elderly parents. Given the abruptness of the decision, it seems likely to be a cover story.

    The British media is speculating that Hannigan was pushed out because he was resistant to sharing sensitive intelligence with the Trump White House, but that story makes no sense. The UK’s formidable GCHQ does indeed have significant resources that make it the most valued partner for the NSA, but the bilateral flow of information is predominantly from Washington to London, making the relationship more valuable to Britain than to the U.S., no matter who is president.

    Hannigan, who is only 51, was a senior civil servant brought into GCHQ in November 2014 for an anticipated four-year tour of duty. He was tasked with initiating reforms in the wake of the Snowden revelations…

    The Hannigan resignation is not occurring in a vacuum, and some in the large and highly networked retired intelligence community have come to believe that it is connected to the investigation and downfall of Trump’s first national-security advisor, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy has detailed exactly how the Flynn case does not appear to fit into any acceptable category that would have mandated an investigation and interrogation by the FBI. Surveillance of a Russian official would be authorized under FBI guidelines, but to extend that type of monitoring or investigation to a U.S. citizen would require specific authority from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court to issue a warrant based on probable cause.

    There is no evidence that that was ever done. Flynn was not an actual or suspected foreign intelligence agent, and it would be ridiculous to suggest that he might be so inclined. Nor was he engaged in any criminal activity or unwittingly connected to an ongoing investigation…

    Regarding the actual development of the investigation of Flynn, recall for a moment that we are dealing with at least some individuals at the top levels of national-security organizations who did not hesitate to break the law, leaking information to the media on the highly classified telephone intercepts. Some government employees have gone to jail for doing just that…

    Why would these leakers do it? The investigation of Flynn was initiated by high-level Obama officials who had access to tightly controlled and normally inaccessible information. “Obama advisers” were reportedly working directly with the FBI to investigate Flynn. Many of those advisers and other high officials had lost much in the electoral outcome and some might certainly have been seeking payback, while the lame-duck White House could have been looking for ways to preemptively weaken the incoming administration.

    The FBI or NSA would have been recording the conversations of the Russian ambassador as a legitimate exercise of their authority, but the normal procedure involving inadvertent intercept of a soon-to-be high-ranking American would be to redact that part of the conversation or otherwise “minimize” it to conceal his or her identity. Leaking the classified information thus obtained to the media portraying Flynn, and by extension Trump, in a bad light would require reconstruction of the original documents and might be risky to carry out. Even if the enterprise could be seen as a good move politically if one were a Democrat, it would not pay to do it too directly, as someone might eventually backtrack and find out the source…

    Yes, I know this is largely speculation, but former colleagues and I have come to suspect something does not smell right with the Hannigan resignation and would seem to be quite plausibly related to Flynn. It also explains how and why the investigation proceeded as aggressively as it did: information derived from a major foreign intelligence partner could not be easily dismissed or ignored and would have to be acted upon.

    Hannigan’s exit is almost certainly more than it seems, and the Flynn dismissal also would appear to have aspects that have not yet surfaced and, in truth, might never see the light of day…

    As for Hannigan, did the Trump White House discover what had occurred and did it back channel to British Prime Minister Theresa May demanding that someone’s head roll? Or did May learn of the maneuvering independently and respond appropriately? However it is playing out right now, someday the whole story almost certainly will be leaked and whatever contrivance or sequence of events enabled the attack on Flynn will become public. You can be sure of that.
    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/is-there-more-to-the-flynn-story/

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      Hanrahan

      Pat, if the Poms interfered in the US election is it “an act of war” or is that only when the Russkies do it?

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        Pat, if the Poms interfered in the US election is it “an act of war” or is that only when the Russkies do it?

        The ‘Poms’, including Australia, NZ were co-operating with the corrupt obummer CIA under 5-eyes. The high level corruption is no longer local to the USA. OTOH most low level ‘spooks’ remain very loyal to their-own country! Do not paint with to broad a brush. Best get into your meerkat (suricate) outfit and watch in every direction!
        All the best!-will-

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    • #
      sophocles

      Here’s Ben Davidson’s take on the magnetic pole reversal
      It could happen in the second half of this century …

      20

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        el gordo

        A coronial mass ejection would be a natural disaster of unprecedented proportions.

        10

        • #
          Annie

          I take it you did mean ‘coronial’ in view of the many preceding comments?!

          20

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          Glen Michel

          Out with the monarchy and bring out the guillotine!

          20

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            Another Ian

            GM

            Seems to me that the US has been doing its best in the last 50 years or so to restore a monarchy – without taking a hint from those countries who still have them on checks and balances

            10

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          A coronial mass ejection would be a natural disaster of unprecedented proportions.

          Solar Coronal mass ejection?? To what\where\when\how? Is GOD worried?

          20

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            el gordo

            If it was similar to the 19th century event there might be a communications breakdown with unforeseen consequences.

            ———-

            Supposing every 700 years something triggers an internal dynamic, which flips the world into a cold epoch.

            I mentioned 1300 AD in the Pacific and of course the great famine of 1315–17 in Europe.

            Climate cooled suddenly around 535-536 and the harvests failed, there was lot of volcanic activity as we entered the Dark Ages.

            The Roman Warm Period is a flaw in the cycle, but its picked up again during the Iron Age cold epoch 900-300 BC.

            Further back 1800-1500 BC the Middle Bronze Age was ‘a period of unusually cold climate in the North Atlantic region, then came Bond Event 2 – possibly triggering the Late Bronze Age collapse.’ wiki

            What do you think of the hypothesis?

            20

            • #

              What do you think of the hypothesis?

              Not hypothesis, not even conjecture that needs but wee evidence. All you seem to have is fantasy\speculation with intent to scam\[SNIP – J] for profit!
              All the best!-will-

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                el gordo

                Hypothesis: a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.

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    TdeF

    On the Nunes memo, remember a time when Trump alleged that Trump towers was wiretapped? Unbelievable. He was shouted down as delusional, paranoid, nuts.

    Now it is fact, FBI wiretapping on behalf of the US government on the basis of material created and paid for and supplied by the Democrats and their agents and organized by the Department of Justice and supported by the various heads of the FBI and the DOJ and two Attorneys General. Unbelievable. A nothing burger? This was the Deep State at work.

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      PeterS

      Pretty much everything Trump has said so far since he became President that has been rubbished has eventually been proven to be correct. This is in stark contrast to Obama where pretty much everything he has said has been proven completely false afterwards. Goes to prove the left hate the truth.

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    Timo Soren

    I bet they’ll use some rebate system, so
    Betty Wilson
    Wallabee Lane
    South Atlanta (SA)

    will get her rebate.

    30

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    Ruairi

    A little surge leaves Aus. grid unprotected,
    So air-cons. can be bought but not connected.

    Cheap power for Australians now is gone,
    With more electric switches OFF than ON.

    The Dems. sat stony-faced and unimpressed,
    When S.O.T.U. was by Donald Trump addressed.

    To save Australia’s grid, let their Commission,
    Ignore the fake concerns about emission.

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    Lance

    Stanford Medical Center. New Cancer treatment entering human trials.

    Injecting 1 microgram of 2 substances into a tumor caused T cells to destroy all tumors even ones that metastasized.

    87 of 90 mice cured in one treatment. Other 3 needed one more shot.

    It is a general treatment. Works on all solid tumors. No need for patient or tumor specific immunotherapy.

    Inexpensive.

    “When we use these two agents together, we see the elimination of tumors all over the body,” said Ronald Levy, MD, professor of oncology. “This approach bypasses the need to identify tumor-specific immune targets and doesn’t require wholesale activation of the immune system or customization of a patient’s immune cells.”

    “Our approach uses a one-time application of very small amounts of two agents to stimulate the immune cells only within the tumor itself. In the mice, we saw amazing, bodywide effects, including the elimination of tumors all over the animal.”

    See article at:

    https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2018/01/cancer-vaccine-eliminates-tumors-in-mice.html

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    largest it has undertaken since World War II. The figures involved are staggering: $50 billion for new submarines, $35 billion for frigates, $3 billion for offshore coastal patrol vessels, all of which are to be built in Australia. https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/corruption-threatens-australias-defense-program/

    30

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    el gordo

    ‘Last year, Cape Town recorded its driest year since 1933, and the three years to the end of 2017 were also the driest period in those 84 years.’

    ABC

    30

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      PeterS

      The main goal by the left behind all this was obvious for some time – to instigate a silent coup and bring down Trump. Now we are starting to see the exact details of the process by which the left were to carry out their goal – and still trying. I see it backfiring for the left big time because as usual the left are so obsessed and stupid they can’t ever see how they are in the wrong, and more and more people in the US must now be not very happy with the left for trying to destroy the recent benefits that Trump has delivered. It won’t end well for the US if the left despite all this evidence continue to try to achieve their goal and perhaps even succeed in bringing down the duly elected US President. If nothing is done to quell the insatiable appetite by the left to bring down the US Presidency, the US will become so polarised the only way to relieve the stress is to have a civil war. Given the wheels of justice and of governments at various levels move very slowly, and the fact that many of those wheels have faulty bearings, I can’t see anyway of avoiding the catastrophic end of yet another “empire”. History yet again is being repeated, and we have a front seat to watch it unfold.

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        OriginalSteve

        The Left want conflict – they are nothing more than vultures, and thrive on the carcasses of nations…

        Should the US dissolve into civil war, watch as other communist foreign nationals pour in to really up the ante and the conflict. It will escalate quickly into a very bad thing. Although I suspect a lot of good people will die, but I also think many good people will rout the communists.

        300 million people and probably as many guns, and quite a few people who have tactical training and willing to fight for their nation to the end. There will also be many veterans who can and will form highly effective units to decimate the Leftists.

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          yarpos

          That last paragragh is the bit that makes me wonder who would be doing all the gun confiscation if the radical dems got their way. The police are well populated with ex military and have strong local connections unlike here, they arent going to do it. The miltary arent going to do it. What are they going to do? send in the counsellors and social workers?

          10

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            OriginalSteve

            Likely foreign UN troops, hence Kissingers comnent.

            Stalin worked out that locals wont shoot locals, but foreign troops will…..

            I doubt that unless the UN nukes a few US cities to show force and neutralize local resistance by demoralizing people, they will succeed. If the UN does nuke cties, i think anyone linked to the occult UN will never leave the USA alive, as you can imagine how hard the americans will fight on home turf…..i think the UN pursuing such an ill advised path would amount to a suicide mission.

            10

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        we have a front seat to watch it unfold.

        Best to use remote TV camera from secure location, then send young trustworthy yet nimble ‘sister’ to ‘check it out’! 🙂

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    Another Ian

    “There is a 97% chance that any newspaper article which includes the words “scientists say” – is fake news.”

    https://realclimatescience.com/2018/02/scientists-say-2/

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      PeterS

      Same with schools and Universities. Our fake education system is now designed to prevent students from thinking and simply follow orders from a Marxist style teaching program.

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    Another Ian

    “Don Cherry says people who believe in climate change are ‘cuckaloos’ ”

    https://globalnews.ca/news/4004942/don-cherry-denies-climate-change/

    Read before critiquing

    Via SDA readers tips

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    David Maddison

    Some interesting videos:

    Ancient aliens debunked, see video description to go to the debunking of specific claims.
    https://youtu.be/j9w-i5oZqaQ

    Pre-Maori settlement of NZ.
    https://youtu.be/nlLHpfG9k_U

    22

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      PeterS

      I find it ironic to see more and more science fiction and fantasy nonsense being presented as real science on the so called documentary channels. But then again they continue to push the global warming hoax so is it really any wonder?

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    Ian1946

    I just heard on Sky that Will Hodgeman would pull Tas out of the NEM. does anyone here know the details?
    [Does anyone know what you are talking about?] Fly

    20

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    AndyG55

    Totally OT.

    yes, even for weekend unthreaded. !

    Things people send me. For a laugh. 🙂

    https://s19.postimg.org/vvh6cffhv/US-_Korean_trade_deal.jpg

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    OriginalSteve

    Cory Bernadi’s party is being strenthened – Lyle Shelton quits ACL to become part of Bernadis party

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/feb/03/lyle-shelton-quits-australian-christian-lobby-to-enter-politics

    “Lyle Shelton has stepped down as the head of of the Australian Christian Lobby to pursue a career in federal politics.

    Shelton, a leading protagonist in the campaign against marriage equality, will move from Canberra to his home state of Queensland to prepare for the next federal election.

    There is speculation he will be joining Liberal defector Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives party.

    Shelton said he was not abandoning his campaign to promote conservative values in Australia.

    “Last year, during the marriage campaign, I felt very much drawn to the political side of things, to the partisan side of politics,” he said.

    Lyle Shelton gets more media mentions than all three leading yes campaigners

    “I’m not leaving the battle for the values that you and I hold dear – just simply going to a different part of the battlefield.”

    Shelton said he would make a specific announcement about his run for federal parliament in the coming days. He is expected to nominate for a lower house seat or a Senate spot, in a state already crowded with conservative candidates and where One Nation’s anti-major party vote is well-established.

    Shelton’s former chief of staff, Martyn Iles, will take over as managing director of the ACL.

    “There’s never been more pressure on people of faith and on the church simply for living out our timeless convictions,” Iles said.”

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      yarpos

      I wonder how that will play out for them. If they play the religion card to fiercly they will alientate a chunk potential supporters. All about balance I guess.

      20

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    kevin george

    Trying to come up with ‘renewable’ blockbuster movie titles.

    Gone With No Wind

    The Pink Battenther

    The Sun Also rises (on cloudy days)

    A Fridge Too Far

    Swindlers List…

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    I’ve mentioned this earlier, but it’s worth having a further look.

    AGL Energy (you know them, the “We’re Getting Out Of Coal” people) look like they have completed what must have been a refurbishment to their Unit Number Two at that ancient Liddell coal fired power plant. It has been off line now for seven Months.

    It sputtered back to life on Thursday for a few hours and then went instantly back to zero from 300MW.

    At 10AM Saturday it came back up, took a few hours to get to 300MW, stayed at that for seven hours and dropped back to 250MW for some hours, and is now rolling along at 260MW. It has now been almost 48 hours back on line. Still being closely watched is my bet.

    This one Unit, if it gets back to where the others at Liddell currently are, will probably be able to deliver around 420MW of its original design of 500MW, not bad for a 46 year old Generator and the whole process behind it, coal loader, pulveriser, injectors, boiler, pressuriser, and three stage turbine and then the generator itself, so there’s a lot to it, and I might suggest that the problem it had to cause it to be down for so long was the boiler itself.

    Now refurbished, perhaps I might make a few observations here.

    420MW from this ONE Unit at a 46 year old plant, so this is a relic from the late Sixties, early Seventies technology.

    AGL also owns the largest Wind Plant in Australia, Macarthur, in Victoria, coincidentally also with a Nameplate of 420MW.

    So, over the last 24 hours this one Unit at Liddell has delivered an average of 260MW to the grid.

    Over the same 24 hours, Macarthur has delivered an average of 75MW.

    So one 46 year old Unit at a ancient technology coal fired power plant delivers 3.5 times the power as the most recent technology wind plant with 140 towers.

    Yeah yeah, I know, it’s a bad day for wind. Wait till they have a good wind day and Liddell’s Unit is off line and then you’ll see the report in the media.

    Even so, Liddell is slated for closure in 2022.

    If this one unit runs at even the average of 60% Capacity Factor for old clunkers like this, then in the time remaining till it closes, this ONE Unit at Liddell will eventually deliver DOUBLE the power of the wind plant.

    So, we have the most recent technology wind plant and it cannot deliver even half the power of one generator from the Seventies.

    And incidentally, if AGL Energy is supposedly ‘getting out of coal’, wouldn’t it have been perhaps prudent to not do anything to this one Unit, if it only has almost five years left in it. Why spend so much money, in the hope it will repay that money before the plant closure?

    Wind power will replace coal fired power!!!!!

    Give me strength. It can’t even replace One relic from the past.

    Tony.

    Oh, and this Month’s data and analysis for the Base Load Series is at this link. Seven Months now and back up beyond 18000MW at 4AM while we all sleep.

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    Peter C

    James Cook University Responds!

    to: [email protected]
    Peter Ridd did not denigrate JCU.
    JCU denigrated JCU and still does.
    This case is building into a scandal. The scandal is not the behaviour of Professor Peter Ridd. It is the behaviour of the James Cook University administration, .which seems to be trying its hardest to suppress an appeal for the restoration of Integrity and Honesty in the way the science and in particular Climate Science is conducted at the JCU.

    I am 100% behind Professor Ridd.

    I hope that the JCU can find a way to back down and save face.

    Vice Chancellor, JCU
    11:05 AM (44 minutes ago)

    Dear Mr

    Thank you for your email in relation to this matter.

    As they are before the courts, JCU cannot comment further.

    Kind regards,

    Russ Parker
    Executive Officer to the Vice Chancellor and President
    James Cook University

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      • #
        Peter C

        Yes,
        Unsurprising response. But I wasn’t expecting any response. And poor Ross Parker had to read my message and hopefully many more like it.

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        robert rosicka

        When your hear or read something and you are compelled to say, “Gee.

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      • #

        Gee, you might find some amusement in reading the sequence of correspondence between Malcolm Roberts and the rotating staff responsible for responding to such things at UQ:
        http://www.climate.conscious.com.au/empiricaloh.html

        eg,
        http://www.climate.conscious.com.au/docs/UQVCreplyJuly1.pdf

        36

        • #
          AndyG55

          Yep CT, the AGW collaborators and sympathisers at UQ run right to the top.

          The fact that they can even pretend that John Cook’s course is ANYTHING but mindless anti-factual propaganda, says it all. !

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          el gordo

          ‘…we can point you in the direction of the latest assessment report (AR5) …’

          Hmmm ….. in your own words comrade, what causes coral bleaching?

          20

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            philthegeek

            what causes coral bleaching?

            OooooHH…me..me can answer that one eg!! Will save Angry trying to engage the poor abused organ that allegedly does its thinking. 🙂

            Its the gasses from Malcolm Turnbull brainfarts that are so powerful and intense that they have been altering the atmosphere since his whole life. No one realized he had this power before he became a politician and it only became blindingly obvious once he became PM and accelerated the process. Started with the “rainmaker” episode and he has just been popping them off ever since. Thats causes the oceans to warm and the reef to bleach. Easy. 🙂

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            El Gordo, Coral lives a symbiotic life with various species of algae, but stress to the coral can cause the coral to expel the algae. (eg, Viruses, heat, pollution).
            If the algae doesn’t recolonise, the coral will usually eventually starve and therefore remain permanently bleached.
            Australia derives a fair bit of tourist interest from our ability to take them swimming among the irakunji the colourful corals and tropical fish, so dead coral is not good for many people’s livelihoods.

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        • #
          Kinky Keith

          Give it a break Moikle.

          Now there’s a good lad.

          Go and do a basic science degree to start with.

          Then you might need a few engineering courses.

          Learn to stand on your own 2 feet bhoyo, then you won’t need to hang on to the coat tails of environmental science graduates? From icu and unsw.

          30

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    James Murphy

    Despite making a profit at the expense of taxpayers via Tesla, and the engineering pipe dream that is Hyperloop, I can’t help but look at some of what SpaceX is doing, and think that Elon Musk may be on to something with that business. Sure his timelines are ridiculously optimistic, to say the least, but nevertheless, re-useable 1st stages landing themselves is pretty impressive technology.

    The Falcon 9 Heavy launch is scheduled for Tuesday, and I for one, am looking forward to seeing it, whether it blows up, or succeeds, though it would have been nice if he had not decide to launch his car, but had done something constructive/scientific with its payload, as it will end up in a heliocentric orbit, more or less at Mars distance from the sun.

    Then again, the New Zealand based Rocket Labs, and its Electron rocket is also an impressive step forward, particularly if they can demonstrate that fuels other than hydrazine are viable.

    30

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    Extreme Hiatus

    White House seeking to slash renewable energy research: report

    February 1, 2018

    “The Trump administration will ask Congress to cut funding for clean energy and energy efficiency programs by 72 percent in this year’s budget, according to a report in the Washington Post…

    Spending for the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is currently set at $2.04 billion. It would drop to $575.5 million under the proposal.

    “It shows that we’ve made no inroads in terms of convincing the administration of our value, and if anything, our value based on these numbers has dropped,” a department employee told the Post on condition of anonymity.”

    https://phys.org/news/2018-02-white-house-slash-renewable-energy.html#jCp

    Assuming the Washington Post’s reporting is accurate. So sad about them not appreciating the “value” of renewables. I guess they used facts instead.

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    Hanrahan

    How much power can SA’s interconnecter carry? ATM they are nearly becalmed so they are importing over 600 MW. Looks like another warm day too.

    40

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    Another Ian

    From an email just now

    “An Aussie’s Lament… or reflection on what was and what looks like it is now…

    I once loved my country ! ( Gary J. Matthews )

    I remember back in 1968 living in Brisbane, that the 3 major cities back then were

    Sydney. Melbourne & Adelaide.

    And Adelaide was the Industrial City.
    Adelaide – South Australia was were you went to work in the Iron Ore Industry

    or where you could get a job making railway tracks for B.H.P.

    You could get a job building ships, submarines, cars, washing machines, fridges,

    TV’s, Hills hoists, Victa Lawn Mowers, or make tyres at Bridgestone tyres.
    Lightburn Washing Machine Company even made a car called a Zeta.

    It was not much of a car but at least it was Australian and we built it.
    I worked at Stanvac where we made our own Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene and Oil.

    We had Oil Rigs in Bass Straight, North West Shelf and the Timor Sea.
    We even had Australian owned Service Stations like (H.C. Sleigh) Golden Fleece and

    many of us young wanna-be mechanics back then worked as a driveway attendant.

    I remember catching a train from the city to Gawler and then on to Freeling, Hamley Bridge, Stockport, Riverton, up to Clare, Gladstone, Laura etc.

    And all these towns were bustling with activity and on the weekends they were all open for business.
    Our shops were filled on every shelf with food and products all proudly made or grown in Australia.

    Our fridge was full of Lamb Chops and Steaks because it was cheap as we were a huge

    Lamb and Beef growing Nation.

    And once a month Mum would make us all a delicacy!

    It was called a Sunday Roast Chicken.

    I remember when we all had trade skills and high quality tools that would last and last.
    But most of all we had Mates. We as Australians watched each other’s backs even if we had not met yet, and we all said G’Day to everyone with a smile.
    Our kids could go anywhere they liked on their bikes just as long as they were home before dark.

    Australia was pretty safe back then.
    Yes Australia was once a self-supporting nation that had it all.

    It had Farms that produce our dairy, fruit & vegies and meats etc.

    And Politicians back then were known as statesmen and they were voted by the people

    for the people on behalf of the people and did what the people wanted.
    We had public utilities owned by us the people that guaranteed our

    Electricity, Water and Sewage forever.
    No one knew how much the Snowy Mountain Scheme cost, we just built it.
    No one knew how much the Sydney Harbour Bridge or the Indian-Pacific railway cost!

    WE JUST BUILT IT!

    Then came CORPORATE GREED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Now everything above has GONE.
    Now we don’t watch each other’s backs anymore but watch each other through security bars,

    burglar alarms, and security screens.
    Now we dob each other in.
    Now we import poor quality processed food
    Now we import cheap tools that break just taking them out of the packet they come in.
    Now we rely on ships to bring in our fuels.
    Now we can’t afford our own Lamb or Beef anymore
    Now we eat steroid pumped chicken just about every day.
    Now we import trade skill workers on 457 Visa’s
    Now we have high unemployment as nearly all of our Industry and Manufacturing has gone offshore.
    Now we have that many Laws that we have just about outlawed ourselves.

    But I guess we need even more laws so now we will possibly have Sharia Law as well.

    We now pay for water that falls out of the sky at $3.80 a litre.
    Now we have taxes for everything.

    Taxes for carbon, taxes for sake of having taxes, (They call them Levy’s).

    And don’t forget the newest tax is the ISLAMIC TAX (Halal Certification)
    Now here in South Australia in our towns we have Railway Stations and railway tracks but no trains.
    We have Public Bus Stops in our Towns but no buses.
    We have Hospitals and Clinics but no Doctors or Nurses.
    We all have Mobile Phones and have little to no reception.
    We have Digital TV’s with stuff all Signal.
    And the worst of all is our once great nation is being sold off piece by piece to every other country on earth except us.
    Yes I did once love my country. !

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    robert rosicka

    The AEMO site mention “non conformance” of generation on individual power generating sites or units but do they report when wind turbines aren’t generating power or solar not working ?

    50

    • #
      yarpos

      You can only non conform if you can conform in the first place. Without the ability to schedule and dispatch there is probably no need to report as you would do nothing else but report non conformance 🙂

      40

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    jim2

    South Australia is SAVED!!!

    “Tesla has been making big moves on the energy storage market in Australia, but they are now all being dwarfed by this new project that will see them install solar arrays and Powerwalls on 50,000 homes to create the biggest virtual power plant in the world.”

    “the new project announced today is using Tesla’s residential battery system, the Powerwall, to create decentralized energy storage, which basically results in creating a massive virtual power plant.

    South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill announced the deal today – the biggest of its kind by far.”

    https://electrek.co/2018/02/04/tesla-powerwall-solar-virtual-power-plant/

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      yarpos

      I do love how 100-200MW becomes “massive” 🙂

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        I do love how 100-200MW becomes “massive”

        Now that Hazelwood has closed, the smallest Units at a coal fired power plant in Australia are at the 42 year old Gladstone Power Plant.

        Each Unit at that plant can generate an originally designed 280MW, but now, after becoming so d@mned old, they can still manage 240MW.

        And Gladstone is an ‘Actual’ power plant, not a crummy ‘virtual’ power plant.

        With six Units, that’s a Nameplate of 1680MW, making it the largest power plant in Queensland.

        Oh, wait a minute, the Premier and her Energy Minister recently proclaimed that rooftop solar is now the largest generator in Queensland with 1800MW.

        See how they get away with a bland statement like that?

        That rooftop solar power will never ever reach that Nameplate as even on the best cloud free, clear Summer’s day, the best it could reach was around 1600MW. The daily average across the whole year is around 260MW, and with 75% used by the homes themselves, that’s around 65MW fed back to the grid. That’s not from a central single unit like at a power plant, but is spread across the whole of the huge State, so even that is ‘virtually’ useless.

        That’s why politicians always use Nameplate, and never factor in Insolation or Capacity Factor, huh, not that they would have the first idea what those two terms meant.

        Incidentally, as I have often mentioned, the main finding of the Queensland 50% Renewables Inquiry was that NO coal fired plant will close in the interim, up to that 2030 date.

        That means that Gladstone Power Plant will be sixty years old by that date.

        Tony.

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        Dennis

        Apparently to small minded people it is.

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  • #
    jim2

    Sorry, didn’t see the previous post on this 🙁

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  • #
    David Maddison

    (Skip if garden hoses are of no interest to you…)

    I have US manufactured garden hose timer and it has Gardena™ style quick connectors on both inlet and outlet. The outlet is connected to the body via the non-US standard thread most of the world uses for garden hoses which is 3/4″ 14TPI BSP. Strangely, the inlet side uses a different thread which appears to be 3/4″ 11.5TPI NHR which is the US “National Hose” standard for thin walled couplers. It is the latter part which I wanted to replace and I had some difficultly getting the right part but I found it on Ebay but I could only find it in plastic, not brass. The US standard is also known as GHT, garden hose thread. All of the world except US/Canada use 3/4″ 14TPI BSP fittings as one of the standards for garden watering implements except in Australia NSW uses 1″ 11TPI BSP for garden taps, not 3/4″.

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    • #
      Another Ian

      Try agricultural hydraulic fittings

      10

    • #
      robert rosicka

      There is a fitting used in the mines and is made from metal with a simple replaceable rubber ring in the centre , they are fairly cheap I believe and so good we used the same hose and connections for high pressure air or water .

      20

  • #
    pat

    3 Feb: NY Post: The GOP memo proves the ‘deep state’ is real
    By Michael Goodwin
    Because of the memo and previous revelations, we know that swamp creatures are embedded in the top of the FBI and the Department of Justice. Some used their power to try to tip a presidential campaign based on their personal politics…

    Thanks to the battle over the memo, we also know with 100 percent certainty that the mainstream media is part of the swamp. The efforts by The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others, to keep the memo from ever seeing sunshine were appalling.

    Before it saw the memo, the Times’ editorial page called it proof of “The Republican Plot Against the FBI.” A Washington Post columnist warned President Trump he would be making a historic mistake in releasing it.
    “Presidents don’t win fights with the FBI,” Eugene Robinson wrote, seemingly endorsing the blackmailing habits of the disgraced J. Edgar Hoover.

    Oddly, the campaign by those papers coincided with the celebration of their roles in releasing the Pentagon Papers nearly 50 years ago, as heroically depicted in the movie “The Post.”

    Those organizations are betraying their legacies and their duties as journalists. They share with corrupt officials a hatred of Donald Trump and believe that ending his presidency justifies any and all means.
    Their motives are as partisan as that of the Democrats who fought tooth and nail to scuttle the memo.

    Talk about being on the wrong side of history…READ ON
    https://nypost.com/2018/02/03/the-gop-memo-proves-the-deep-state-is-real/

    10

  • #
    pat

    5 Feb: ABC: Tesla virtual power plant pledge will create hundreds of jobs, SA Premier says
    By political reporter Leah MacLennan
    A plan to install solar panels and Tesla batteries in 50,000 South Australian homes over the next four years will create more than 500 jobs, Premier Jay Weatherill has said…

    Mr Weatherill visited solar panel manufacturer Tindo in Adelaide on Monday to spruik his plan, promising to create 250 jobs from the installation of Elon Musk’s Tesla Powerwall 2 products, and a further 260 in the supply chain.
    “The contract with Tesla requires local content,” he said.
    “Tindo is the only manufacturer of solar panels in the southern hemisphere [and is] here in this country.
    “It’s extraordinary that we have this opportunity to grow jobs here in South Australia.”…

    Liberals say their plan is better
    Opposition leader Steven Marshall promised a Liberal government would honour any contracts the Government had signed to roll out the Tesla plan, but would not commit to meeting the target of 50,000 homes.
    He repeated an earlier Liberal pledge to spend $100 million subsidising battery storage for 40,000 homes.
    “It’s not as good a policy as ours,” he said of Labor’s plan.
    “We’re talking about 10,000 new storage systems installed each year for the next four years.”

    Mr Marshall said Labor would not achieve 25,000 installations until mid-2022.
    “The Premier was forced to admit this morning that he’s talking about 1,000 between now and July next year,” the Liberal leader said…
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-05/510-jobs-from-tesla-virtual-power-plant-pledge-sa-premier-says/9396968

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  • #
    PeterS

    To prove the world has gone mad, the percentage of flat-earth believers is increasing rapidly. Don’t be surprised to see it suggested that flat-earth should be taught at schools – it already has been put forward by the flat earth society and others, and they are serious. In that case to escape the global warming catastrophe all we have to do is simply move to the other side, right?

    50

  • #
    pat

    5 Feb: ABC: A war is being waged between nationalists and globalists and Australia is not immune
    By Matter of Fact host Stan Grant
    PHOTO: Statue of Liberty – Caption: Photo: A pall of gloom that has settled over democracy

    Trump, Brexit a ‘core values divide’
    Since then two more events have shaken global politics: Brexit and the Trump presidency…
    Trump’s attack on American democracy
    Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump identified similar anti-globalisation, anti-deindustrialisation, tensions to win the White House: campaigning for secure borders; tougher trade: America first.
    He has ridden a wave of populism that has seen disrupters win office or strengthen their foothold in elections around the world.
    Of course, for some this is not a weakening at all, but a strengthening of democracy: the return of those left behind.

    However, Harvard University professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt are concerned enough to have written a new book, How Democracies Die.
    Democracies die in war, they write, but they also die at the hands of elected leaders, “presidents or prime ministers who subvert the very process that brought them to power”.
    They worry about Donald Trump’s attack on some of the institutions of democracy: judges and the media and fear that the United States will abandon its role as democracy promoter…
    Goodhart says “we are in a border war between nationalists, mainly on the right, and multicultural globalists mainly on the left”…
    As Levitsky and Ziblatt write: “When fear, opportunism, or miscalculation leads established parties to bring extremists into the mainstream, democracy is imperilled.”
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-05/stan-grant-democracy-in-the-fight-of-its-life/9395956

    VIDEO: 31 Jan: Russia Today: ‘BBC is a supporter of a foreign organization’: Tory lord hits out at ‘biased’ Brexit coverage
    A Tory lord has accused the BBC of Brexit bias after it was revealed two-thirds of guests on its flagship shows are against leaving the bloc. Lord Tebbit branded the broadcaster a “supporter of a foreign organization.”
    Analysis by the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) shows two-thirds of guests on BBC Question Time and Any Questions over the past two years have been against Brexit. The report describes the bias as “substantial.”

    Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Tebbit said: “Quite frankly the BBC has become a supporter of a foreign organization called the European Union.
    “Could you just quietly whisper in someone’s ear: get your act in order because you do owe a duty of impartiality.”

    Tebbit’s concerns were shared by other members of the House of Lords, with UKIP’s Lord Pearson suggesting Brexit Secretary David Davis’ negotiations had been “undermined” by the BBC.
    “The Brexit Secretary, Mr David Davis, recently said to me that his job in Brussels is made even more difficult because every time he makes a small advance there he is promptly undermined by the BBC.”
    He added that when the BBC was quizzed by a group of cross party MPs, it had not been able to identify a single program it had produced since the referendum which examined Brexit’s opportunities. “Is it acceptable that the BBC has not debated the ideas behind European integration and whether they are still valid today?” Pearson asked…

    The analysis follows another report by the think tank Civitas last week, ‘The Brussels Broadcasting Corporation?,’ which revealed that between 2005 and 2015, only 132 of the 4,275 guests asked to speak on the Today programme about the EU supported leaving…

    A BBC spokesperson said in a statement: “Neither Question Time nor Any Questions are ‘single issue’ programmes and panellists are expected to address a range of subjects each week.
    “Aside from politicians, the rest of the panels consist of political commentators, journalists, and other public figures who represent a range of viewpoints.
    “The BBC is no longer reporting on the binary choice which faced the electorate in the referendum 18 months ago.
    “Question Time and Any Questions – with due impartiality – are giving audiences the opportunity to hold to account politicians from government and opposition parties for the way they are carrying out Brexit.”
    https://www.rt.com/uk/417514-bbc-bias-brexit-tibbit/

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  • #
    pat

    5 Feb: Reuters: COLUMN-South African coal loses Europe, but gains South Asia
    by Clyde Russell
    A decade ago South Africa sent the bulk of its coal exports to Europe, a market now disappearing right before its eyes.
    But far from being worried, South Africa’s coal exporters are confident that they can increase shipments in coming years by becoming the supplier of choice to new markets in Asia, particularly Pakistan and India.
    The common theme among speakers at last week’s South African Coal Export Conference, hosted by IHS Markit, was that South Africa is in pole position to take advantage of growth in South Asia…

    Pakistan imported 11.2 million tonnes of coal in 2017, Sajid Hussain, an executive at Pakistani trading company Agro Trading, told the conference.
    This is up sharply from the 3.42 million tonnes the South Asian nation imported in 2013, but Hussain said Pakistan’s coal imports are expected to soar to around 40 million tonnes by 2025.
    This is because of a huge programme of building coal-fired power plants being undertaken in conjunction with China as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.

    This will see coal go from just under 10 percent of Pakistan’s current energy supply to around 30 percent by 2025, with Hussain stating that some 6.6 gigawatts of coal-fired power is currently under construction…

    South African coal has a significant freight advantage over similar grades of coal from Australia, and from more distant suppliers such as the United States and Colombia.
    For this reason, South African coal exporters are confident they can command the lion’s share of growth in Pakistan, and also challenge for markets elsewhere in Asia, such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
    They are also well-placed to take advantage of any increase in demand from the Middle East, which will mainly come from industrial operations such as cement makers…

    South Africa’s main export harbour at Richards Bay shipped out a record 76.47 million tonnes in 2017, and the operator is aiming to boost that to at least 77 million this year.
    Of last year’s shipments, 81.6 percent went to Asia with India being the largest buyer, followed by Pakistan, and just 10.1 percent went to Europe…

    The terminal has a capacity of 91 million tonnes, meaning there is spare capacity to boost exports, with the current constraint being rail capacity linking the port to inland coal fields several hundreds kilometres away…
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/column-russell-coal-safrica/column-south-african-coal-loses-europe-but-gains-south-asia-russell-idUKL4N1PS2W7

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  • #
    pat

    5 Feb: SteelGuru: Coal markets rise from the ashes
    Reuters reported that Far from entering the death throes predicted by some environmentalists and analysts, thermal coal miners are enjoying their best returns in years as strong Asian demand and tight supplies send prices soaring.

    Chinese thermal coal futures hit a record of 687 yuan (USD 108.49) this week, up five-fold from their 2016 lows. Coal cargo prices from Australia’s Newcastle terminal, meanwhile, have roughly doubled since 2016 lows to over USD 100 per tonne, not far off 2011-2012 levels.

    Mr Paul Flynn, chief executive of Australian miner Whitehaven Coal, said that “The coal price improvement has thrown into stark relief the robustness of underlying demand in Asia.”…

    While the spotlight of a broad energy market revival has been on oil and natural gas, specialist thermal coal miners are enjoying an even better run, suggesting investors think this much reviled fossil fuel has life in it still.
    Mr Jeremy Sussman, New York-based analyst at brokerage and investment bank Clarksons Platou said that “We made global thermal coal our favourite commodity in October and stuck with it.”
    Whitehaven, Indonesia’s Adaro Energy and global commodity merchant Glencore have all seen their share prices multiply from record lows in 2015-2016, hitting levels last seen during the mining boom before 2012.
    Mr Sussman said that “We expect coal prices to remain meaningfully higher than expectations, and as such, believe Whitehaven can keep moving higher.”

    The rise in coal prices has taken many by surprise. Morningstar Equity Research said coal prices “have fared better than we expected due to continued strong growth in China”.
    As a result, Whitehaven has seen its share price soar since its early 2016 low. Adaro and Glencore have enjoyed rallies of 330% and 290%, respectively.
    Shares in Thai coal miner Banpu are up 85%.

    That compares to increases of 18% to 45% for competitors specialising in exporting liquefied natural gas, including Australia’s Woodside Petroleum and Santos or US firm Cheniere…

    AMCI Group managing director Brian Beem said the outlook for high grade thermal coal and steelmaking coal was positive.
    Beem said in e-mailed comments that “The urbanisation and electrification of Asia will continue to drive demand for these commodities, and we see supply struggling to meet that demand because of depletion and lack of investment in new capacity.”
    https://steelguru.com/coal/coal-markets-rise-from-the-ashes/501452

    10

  • #
    pat

    5 Feb: WashingtonExaminer: Anti-climate change hawks have a bone to pick with Trump, too
    by John Siciliano
    Some of the most ardent proponents of reversing course on climate change have not heard back from the administration on when to expect follow-up steps to Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement and reverse Obama-era climate rules such as the Clean Power Plan.
    That includes addressing EPA’s “endangerment finding” on carbon dioxide, which gives the agency its underlying authority to regulate emissions…

    As long as the finding is in place, it would be easy for a more climate-friendly administration to reverse all of Trump’s actions.
    “To ensure the longevity of these plans, the Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas endangerment finding must also be repealed,” said Tom Harris, executive director for the International Climate Science Coalition and policy adviser at the free-market and anti-climate change Heartland Institute. “It is only when there is no credible basis to label carbon dioxide a pollutant, that the war on coal will not be easily revived by a future administration.”

    But the administration hasn’t made any commitment to reverse the endangerment finding…
    Myron Ebell, Trump’s EPA transition chief, and an avid opponent of climate regulation, has petitioned “the EPA to re-open the endangerment finding,” he told the Washington Examiner in an email. “EPA has not responded to our petition.”…
    “We also favor prohibiting the use of the Social Cost of Carbon guidance document rather than reforming it,” Ebell said…

    Ebell said he also would like to see the president send the Paris Agreement to the GOP-controlled Senate for a vote, where it most likely would fail. That would help to ensure it cannot easily be resurrected by the next administration…

    “To fully end President Barack Obama’s devastating ‘war on coal,’ Trump is taking many critical steps, with his plans to repeal the Clean Power Plan among the most important,” Harris said. But Trump still needs to eliminate the Obama administration’s 2015 climate rules for new coal-fired power plants, saying “as long as that rule exists, the United States cannot build modern, clean and efficient coal plants to replace older, dirtier stations as is happening in Europe, China and India,” Harris said…
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/anti-climate-change-hawks-have-a-bone-to-pick-with-trump-too/article/2647997

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  • #
    pat

    4 Feb: HeartlandBlog: Carbon Reality Meets Climate Realist In The EU
    by H. Sterling Burnett
    This comes as The Wall Street Journal is reporting Germany and a number of other European Union countries are admitting they will fail to reach the greenhouse gas cuts they agreed to as part of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Indeed, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Malta have each fallen behind in reducing emissions, although Germany faces the largest gap between commitments and current emission levels…

    In part as a result of this emissions reduction shortfall, a report commissioned by the BDI German industry group estimates meeting Germany’s share of the EU’s overall long-term target of cutting emissions 80 to 95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 would cost Germany $1.2 trillion. This price will rise if Germany’s emissions continue their upward trajectory in the short term.

    In perhaps a bit of serendipity, while EU member states struggle to cut greenhouse gas emissions while keeping their economies afloat, a new Sheriff arrived on the scene at the EU’s Environment Council.
    Neno Dimov, Bulgaria’s Environment Minister, ascended to the presidency of the European Union’s (EU) Environment Council on January 1…
    Dimov is unique as an Environment Council president because he is an explicit climate skeptic, or realist…

    Like U.S. President Trump, whom he has told the press he admires, Dimov is known for arguing environmental protection must be balanced against economic growth…READ ON
    http://blog.heartland.org/2018/02/carbon-reality-meets-climate-realist-in-the-eu/

    4 Feb: UK Sun: CARBON CORBYN Jeremy Corbyn is chauffeured to work in pollution-pumping car – despite his council’s demands for diesel bans
    By Brittany Vonow
    JEREMY Corbyn has been accused of being chauffeur driven the six miles to work in a diesel-guzzling seven-seater people carrier.
    The Labour leader, who has styled himself as an eco-warrior and claimed that air pollution is “killing children” appeared to have no qualms getting into the Ford Galaxy for the short journey.
    The Express reports that the Labour MP, who lives in Islington, had the Ford Galaxy waiting on a double yellow line outside his Islington home in north London for 40 minutes…

    Tory MP Andrew Bridgen last night told the newspaper that Mr Corbyn was guilty of “breathtaking hypocrisy”.
    He said: “He’s like one of the old Soviet leaders, riding around in his Zil while the rest of his comrades are on bicycles,
    “Once again it’s a case of do as I say, not as I do. It’s clear Mr Corbyn is one of the few not the many whom he lectures.”

    Mr Corbyn’s spokesperson said the car was provided by the Government Car Service.
    It’s website said that “low emission vehicles” are available
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5495415/jeremy-corbyn-is-chauffeured-to-work-in-pollution-pumping-car-despite-his-councils-demands-for-diesel-bans/

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      yarpos

      Fuuny stuff re Corbyn. Al Gore is another one that likes to power away from snowed in events in a big SUV.

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  • #
    pat

    hard to believe Fran had Prof Stephen Cohen on “Breakfast” today.
    she is so out of her depth, it’s embarrassing, but Cohen battles on. her final words, given what Cohen had just said to her, are ridiculous:

    AUDIO: 12mins23secs: 5 Feb: ABC Breakfast: Trump claims memo vindicates him in Russia probe
    US President Donald Trump has claimed complete vindication of any collusion between his campaign and Moscow following the release of a secret congressional memo on Russia’s efforts to influence the US election.
    In a weekend tweet, Mr Trump said the release of the classified memo is proof that the Russia investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is a witch-hunt.
    The memo, which was declassified by Mr Trump on Friday and published by House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes, claims bias against Mr Trump within the FBI.
    It claims the FBI and the justice department used an unsubstantiated and Democratic-funded report to obtain the warrant that gave permission to spy on a former Trump aide.

    The Democrats say the release of the memo ***takes the cover-up of the campaign to a new and unacceptable low but Russia expert Stephen Cohen has hit back, accusing the Democrats of fanning baseless accusations of treason against the President.
    GUEST: Stephen Cohen, Professor emiritus of Russian Studies and Politics at New York University, Princeton University
    http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/trump-claims-memo-vindicates-him-in-russia-probe/9395596

    ***takes the cover-up of the campaign? what does that mean?

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  • #
    manalive

    We have listened to the experts and endorsed the National Energy Guarantee that ends the subsidy mentality and takes a truly technology-neutral approach that will see households $400 better off each year …

    That’s Frydenberg in the Australian today.
    But the National Energy Guarantee in tandem with the RET guarantees 23% renewables by 2020.
    Guaranteeing ‘dispatchability’ for renewables necessitates storage which guarantees extra cost which will be passed on to consumers.
    Frydenberg thinks consumers want prices just to stop rising, consumers want prices to fall back to the inflation-adjusted costs pre-Rudd.

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  • #
    pat

    in reply 12.1.1 to Extreme Hiatus, I posted an AP article, corrected as regards Christopher Steele.

    for the record, I am excerpting what was written in the original 2 Feb article, which is still online at a number of media websites (hundreds of AP media subscribers carried the deeply-flawed/misleading piece on 2 Feb; some have replaced it with the Corrected version on 4 Feb…as if anyone who read the original would notice that!).

    there are other subtle & not-so-subtle corrections made to the original, if you check them carefully.

    the original:

    2 Feb: CTV Canada: AP: Trump says Russia-probe memo proves bias; Dems say no
    by Eric Tucker, Mary Clare Jalonick and Chad Day; Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin, Catherine Lucey, Matthew Daly and Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.
    Published Friday, February 2, 2018 12:06PM EST
    Last Updated Friday, February 2, 2018 11:30PM EST

    ***Steele’s opposition research effort was initially funded by the conservative Washington Free Beacon. It was later picked up by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee through a Washington law firm…
    Democrats pushed back on multiple assertions from the memo, saying it was not accurate the FBI had withheld from the court information about Steele’s potential political motivations or those of the people who hired him…
    https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/trump-says-russia-probe-memo-proves-bias-dems-say-no-1.3786998?autoPlay=true

    in the corrected version, it states:

    ***The Republicans argue that top Justice and FBI officials concealed relevant information from the court, namely the full details of Steele’s motivations and funding.
    ***Steele was working for Fusion GPS, a firm initially hired by the conservative Washington Free Beacon to do opposition research on Trump. Steele didn’t begin work on the project until after Democratic groups took over the funding…
    https://apnews.com/63c883156e314b68b86209d3b63890f5

    this is one of the ways FakeNewsMSM spreads disinfo/misinfo and gets away with it because of often belated/unseen “corrections”.

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    • #

      this is one of the ways FakeNewsMSM spreads disinfo/misinfo and gets away with it because of often belated/unseen “corrections”.

      Why ever ‘correct’ the intentional SCAM? Much more fun to scam ignorant ‘cattle’ (food), even more! 🙁

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Unbelievably, Their ABC (Australia) presented an alternative view on Climate Change™.

    http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/counterpoint/solar-effects-in-climate-change/9390416

    IMAGE: COSMIC EVENTS AND THEIR EFFECT ON CLOUDS COULD BE THE MAJOR CAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE ACCORDING TO NEW DANISH RESEARCH (PHOTO BY BRYCE EVANS ON UNSPLASH) LINK TO LARGER IMAGE.

    ///Climate change may be largely caused by solar events, letting humans off the hook, claims Danish researcher Henrik Svensmark.

    His most recent research demonstrates in the lab that cosmic ray ionisation can lead to greater cloud formation than previously believed. He says correlations between global warming and solar activity, and cosmic rays and cloud cover could mean that fossil fuels are much less a part of the climate change picture.///

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    • #
      RickWill

      NOOOOOO – sack Amanda Vanstone NOW!! Pure heresy and fantasy. This guy is a crackpot – what would a Danish climate scientist know! We only need real climate scientist like Michael Mann.

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      robert rosicka

      That’s what gets me about the Abc these days are they leaning to the right .

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    • #
      Extreme Hiatus

      One could hope that is a positive sign. Maybe they see/have been told that the tide is turning? Seems to be fewer climate scare stories out there lately. They’ll never admit they were wrong or do any quick turns, just gradually fade them away and hope people forget about it.

      Or maybe they just did one token program to show how fair and balanced they are?

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      • #
        toorightmate

        Extreme H,
        I don’t know about that, the ABC “News” (???) website gave us the story yesterday on our dying reef.
        This evening’s story is about the heating of Antarctica and the associated 50 metre rise in sea level. Good friend, Matthew England is quoted in the Antarctic scare campaign.
        On top of this, we have the daily “bag Adani” segment.
        I am afraid I do not perceive any change with the ABC.

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    • #

      I oft times thought, like kim
      at Judith Curry’s blog, that
      there was something in those
      Cheshire Sunspots :: grin,
      influencing cosmic rays and
      clouds and crops and price
      of sealing wax and string
      and maybe other things as
      well. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/counterpoint/solar-effects-in-climate-change/9390416

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  • #
    pat

    pre-release of the memo:

    31 Jan: Youtube: 5mins46secs: Fox Business: Lou Dobbs Show: FBI is threatening Trump: Chris Farrell
    Judicial Watch Director of Investigations Chris Farrell on the FBI’s objection to the public release of the FISA memo.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUi_Mb94sIg&feature=youtu.be

    shameless Schiff with the assistance of Dem operative Stephanopoulos, guarding the Deep State:

    VIDEO: 1min13secs: 4 Feb: Daily Caller: Justin Caruso: (Dem) Adam Schiff Implies That An Oklahoma City-Style Bombing Could Happen Because Of FISA Memo
    ABC’s George Stephanopoulos said, “You know, you talked about this strategy to discredit the Mueller investigation. Is it working?”

    Schiff responded by bringing up a hypothetical situation where a neighbor was buying “lots of fertilizer,” referencing the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
    “Well, I don’t think it’s working in the sense that people have a lot of confidence in Bob Mueller.”
    “But it is impeaching the FBI, and the problem with this, and this is I think at the heart of the department’s concern–is if you have a neighbor who’s buying fertilizer, lots of fertilizer, but has no yard and you have concerns about it and you want to call the FBI, you’re now going to wonder ‘Is that FBI going to hold my name in confidence or this information in confidence, what if this becomes politicized?’ Sources are going to dry up because of what the Republicans on this committee are doing now.”

    “There’s a compact between our committee and the intelligence community. You give us your deepest held secrets, we will hold them in good confidence, we won’t abuse them, they’re going to share a lot less with us now and other sources of information are going to decide not to share with the FBI because they can’t rely on our committee not to be partisan in the handling of that information, and that’s a deep disservice which ultimately makes the country less safe.”
    http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/04/adam-schiff-implies-oklahoma-city-style-bombing-fisa-memo/?utm_source=site-share

    4 Feb: Daily Caller: Cristina Laila: GOP Lawmaker Pushing to Subpoena Transcripts From FISA Court Hearings
    Rep Gohmert appeared on Fox News Sunday to talk about the FISA abuse memo which was released Friday. Gohmert also revealed he is requesting the House Judiciary Committee subpoena the FISA court hearing transcripts.

    “I have prepared a letter that I plan to submit to and hopefully have other people sign on with me tomorrow on our Judiciary Committee we have a great Chairman [Bob Goodlatte] on our Judiciary Committee. He wants to get to the facts and what I’m asking him for is that we as the Judiciary Committee subpoena the transcripts from the FISA court hearings, the four different ones at least regarding the dossier…I want to hear everything that was said,” Gohmert said…

    Gohmert wants to know why the FISA judge hasn’t put anyone in jail for committing a fraud against the court…
    Rep Gohmert previously blasted the FISA judge and said that he, as a former judge would have put former FBI Director James Comey, outgoing Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr in prison for committing fraud against the court.

    On Friday, conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch announced it filed a FOIA lawsuit against the DOJ for all underlying FISA documents.
    Rep DeSantis also called for the declassification of all FISA applications related to the dossier.

    Rep Lee Zeldin (R-NY) nuked liberals screeching about the memo’s claim McCabe said the dossier played a central role to seeking and obtaining a FISA warrant.
    Rep. Zeldin: “McCabe did in fact testify under oath that there would not have been a FISA warrant if not for the dossier. It was recorded.”

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    robert rosicka

    More garbage dressed as fact from someone who has never known serious pain .
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-05/fixing-pain-management-could-help-us-solve-opioid-crisis/9396826

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    • #
      Another Ian

      Remember that a hell of a lot of advice follows the model of that not so well known book

      “How to do it and not get it” written by “One who did it, got it and can’t get rid of it”

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  • #
    OriginalSteve

    “Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying civilisation.”

    – Aristotle.

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    Chris in Hervey Bay

    When I was studying back in the 1960’s, we were told to keep a safe distance from microwaves and UHF antennas as it could cause cancer and sterility.
    Once mobile phones became popular, these warnings were forgotten and we were told they were perfectly safe, yet they run at the same frequencies as your microwave oven.

    Now this.

    “This is the most authoritative study published that connects cancer with cellphone radiation – it should raise alarms for policymakers and awareness for all Americans,” said Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., senior science advisor at EWG. “These studies should have been done before more than 90 percent of Americans, including children, started using this technology day in and day out.”

    “Federal Research Raises Flags about Cancer Risks from Cellphone Radiation”
    https://www.ewg.org/release/federal-research-raises-flags-about-cancer-risks-from-cellphone-radiation#.WnZxNGXEirV

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    robert rosicka

    So why are more and more kids getting through school unable to read or write or work out 2×2 when they get to year 10 ?

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-05/debate-on-mobile-phones-in-the-classroom/9397898

    Experts

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      C. Paul Barreira

      They can read a bit, they can write but poorly—all government policy in SovRepSA. Students have only to complete the forms (courtesy of something called “functional linguistics”), not engage with learning.

      As for “2+2”, well, perhaps, Robert, you are a little harsh. Mind you, only a little. Try adding $3.50 to $3.50, the price of two cups of coffee two years ago. The result: $6.25.

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    Mark M

    For anyone in Sydney who is interested there is a free public event “Myth-Busting Climate Change” on Tuesday night –

    MC Craig Reucassel, host of ABC TV’s War on Waste, will lead discussions focusing on climate change and its impact on the environment, health, society and the economy.
    Panellists:

    Gavin Schmidt, climate scientist, science communicator and Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NASA
    Terry Hughes, coral reef scientist and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
    Claudia Tebaldi, IPCC lead author, climate scientist at the Climate and Global Dynamics laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research
    Greg Holland, Willis Senior Scientist, Director of the Capacity Center for Climate and Weather Extremes at the National Center for Atmospheric Research
    Helen Cleugh, atmospheric scientist, Director of the CSIRO Climate Science Centre

    https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/amos-free-public-forum-myth-busting-climate-change-tickets-42020293830?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=estw&utm-source=tw&utm-term=listing

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      yarpos

      With a diverse panel like that, they should get a full and thorough examination of the issues. Very balanced given the title. I expect the church will be full of the faithfull.

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        yarpos

        interesting they were all available to escape to sunny sydney in Feb, another AGW shindig in a balmy location 🙂

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      pat

      Mark M –

      related:

      5 Feb: UNSW Newsroom: World’s top weather, climate and ocean experts meet at UNSW
      With today marking 60 years of international collaboration in Antarctica, melting of Antarctic ice poses one of the greatest threats to the world, UNSW’s Matthew England will warn at a conference being held at UNSW.
      He (England) will be presented with the prize today at the joint 25th AMOS National Conference and 12th International Conference for Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography (AMOS-ICSHMO 2018) being held this week at UNSW.

      The joint conference is the Southern Hemisphere’s largest meeting of meteorologists, oceanographers and climate scientists, bringing together around 600 delegates from 35 different countries to share the latest in the weather, climate and oceans sciences.
      “The primary theme of the conference is translating our science into practical outcomes for the benefit of society,” says conference co-convener Dr Alex Sen Gupta from the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre.
      “There will be bespoke sessions on improving urban environments, climate services for decision makers, impact and risk assessments of the weather extremes affecting the Southern Hemisphere, and integrating renewables into the energy system.”

      Dr Sen Gupta says plenary sessions by world-class speakers, including Professor England, are a highlight. “Gavin Schmidt from NASA is one of the world’s most well-known and vocal climate scientists; Terry Hughes is the authority on the Great Barrier Reef; and Helen Cleugh is the leader of the new CSIRO Climate Science Centre, formed after the decimation of CSIRO climate science a couple of years ago.”…
      https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/world%E2%80%99s-top-weather-climate-and-ocean-experts-meet-unsw

      5 Feb: ABC: Climate change impact on Antarctica becomes clearer as scientists make progress
      ABC Weather By Kate Doyle
      On the 60th birthday of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), there has been a call to arms from top researchers to combat global warming and associated sea level rise before the world’s cities are inundated…

      Steven Phipps, a paleo ice sheet modeller from the University of Tasmania, knows all about the challenges of understanding the great southern continent.
      “There is so much uncertainty because we know so little about the Antarctic ice sheet,” Dr Phipps said.
      “Antarctica is very remote. It is a very extreme environment. We have observations from satellites, but observations on the ground, there are very few.”
      And there is a lot to not be able to observed…

      University of New South Wales researcher Matthew England, who was today presented with the $US100,000 Tinker-Muse prize for contributions to enhancing the preservation and understanding of Antarctica, said there was still debate about whether the warming atmosphere or the warming oceans were most responsible for the melt.
      “My gut feeling is that the ocean has been the primary reason for the warming. But chat to the atmospheric scientist and they will tell you it’s the atmosphere,” he said…

      What produces less debate is that the melt has begun.
      On the time scale of this century, which will be in the lifetime of young adults texting away today, sea level rise attributed to just the Antarctic is projected to be about 1 metre.
      “Which is already a disastrous level of sea level rise. A metre is enough to be extremely costly,” Dr England said.
      With the continuing-as-usual emissions scenario, the projected sea level rise from the Antarctic is forecast to be about 15 metres by 2500.
      “Which is staggering, because Sydney is not viable at 15 metres of sea level rise,” Dr England said…

      What can we do?
      “It’s a call to arms, but we are not asking people to change much. It is just getting behind the renewable sector, getting completely away from fossil fuels because they are the cause of this melt,” Dr England said.
      “Without action on reducing greenhouse gases … we are going to lock in metres and metres of sea level rise and trillions of dollars of damage.”
      Dr England describes Antarctic sea level rise as one of the greatest threats to the modern world.
      It is hoped his Tinker-Muse prize will help him and his colleagues to better understand what is going on in the mysterious continent to our south.
      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-05/challenges-understanding-climate-change-impact-antarctica/9398192

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    Lu

    FBI CAUGHT IN MALFEASANCE IN THE LAS VEGAS SHOOTING Stephen Paddock

    https://youtu.be/uXlmNoSk0P8

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    Ian1946

    I have just read this article.

    http://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-is-already-bringing-australias-gas-cartel-to-heel-39541/

    I don’t have the technical knowledge to determine if what they are saying is true. I was under the impression that FRAS had to come from synchronous source like large generators. As the battery is DC can it’s inverter really provide FRAS services?

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      OriginalSteve

      The Big AA cell in SA can only supply 6% of the states power for one hour.

      I think the gas sellers are safe….

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    el gordo

    Average summer weather, less than a real heatwave.

    ‘Even though this is a low intensity heatwave for most of South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, its prolonged nature may make it a tiring week for some people.’

    Weatherzone

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    Raven

    I watched a documentary on L. Ron Hubbard of Scientology fame the other night.

    He (Hubbard) came to believe he was a saviour and hero and was convinced that he had the cure for the psychological ills of mankind (Dianetics) and that the only reason that it wasn’t being promulgated far and wide was that the medical profession had a vested interest in keeping people sick.

    Replace L. Ron Hubbard with Al Gore and replace ‘medical profession’ with ‘fossil fuel interests’.
    Same story – different suits.

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    pat

    5 Feb: Eco-Business: Environment and climate change gets short shrift in India’s budget
    Allocations for renewable energy and environment in India’s federal budget have left both the clean energy sector and conservationists unhappy.
    By Soumya Sarkar, Juhi Chaudhary and Sapna Gopal, thethirdpole.net
    As the Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rose in Parliament to present the last full budget of the present government before the run up to the general elections due in early 2019, it was clear that environment and climate change were not on his priority list.

    The union budget, which allocates central government funds and provides a good flavour of policy direction, was presented in Parliament two days after the Economic Survey 2017-18, which had emphasised the impacts of climate change on the energy and agricultural sectors…

    The budgetary allocation for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), which deals with the solar and wind power sector in India, rose by a mere 9 per cent to INR 103.2 billion (USD 1.6 billion) for the financial year starting April 1…

    India aims to install a renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022. It is now unlikely that the government will achieve this target, according to K. Kasthurirangan, Chairman of industry lobby group Indian Wind Power Association (IWPA).
    “Incentives that were already there, like 80 per cent accelerated depreciation and tax holidays for renewable energy, were withdrawn last year. Due to this, the investment in renewable energy was appallingly low this year,” he told thethirdpole.net. “Today’s speech was more of promises, but nothing in reality.”…

    “There is nothing in the budget, either on renewable or wind energy,” D. Giri, Secretary General of Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA), told thethirdpole.net.
    “As far as wind energy is concerned, there is nothing new or nothing that has been offered in the budget. It’s an absolute zero.”…

    “Sustainable development, climate change, and environment conservation are completely missing in the budget,” Himanshu Thakkar, co-ordinator of activist group South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), told thethirdpole.net…
    http://www.eco-business.com/opinion/environment-and-climate-change-gets-short-shrift-in-indias-budget/

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    pat

    amazed he’s still on CBC:

    5 Feb: TheWeatherNetwork: Don Cherry says “cuckaloos” believe in global warming
    by Hailey Montgomery
    Known to many as the most outspoken man in sports, iconic Canadian commentator and television personality Don Cherry is once again facing criticism after offering input to a discussion well outside of the hockey world.
    During his CBC Hockey Night in Canada segment, Coach’s Corner, on Saturday, a day after groundhog Wiarton Willie predicted six more weeks of winter, Cherry implied that Canada’s ongoing cold weather was contradictory to the concept of global warming.
    “He predicts six more weeks of cold weather”, Cherry said, seated in front of a plush-toy likeness of Willie. “Now, I’d like to ask you with your left-wing, pinko friends: What about the warming trend?” he asked co-host Ron MacLean…

    When MacLean tried to change the subject, Cherry persisted.
    “I’m just asking, the cuckaloos always say ‘the warming trend’; we’re freezing to death,” he said.
    “We’re not totally cuckaloos if you look at some of the things going on in our world,” MacLean replied…

    On Jan. 1, Cherry linked to a document from his twitter, where he asked “left-wing kooks” what happened to global warming…ETC

    A concurrence with Trump logic…
    Multiple climate scientists have criticized trump, asserting that since climate and weather are two different things, a frigid winter does not prove that global warming is fake.
    “You see, weather is like your mood and climate is like your personality. Related, but different,” said The Weather Network’s chief meteorologist Chris Scott. “For example, one tweet storm at 3 a.m. doesn’t mean a person has a hostile personality. Maybe it’s just a bad night/day? That’s like the weather. A record cold New Year’s Eve doesn’t make global warming any less real.”

    VIDEO: Watch below: A link is becoming clear between wildfires and climate change
    https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/don-cherry-hockey-night-in-canada-coachs-corner-warming-trend-global-warming-climate-change/95044

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    pat

    Bjorn on his R&D horse again. many more links in the article than noted:

    5 Feb: USA Today: Trump’s cuts to renewable energy put us on the ropes in the fight against climate change
    by Bjorn Lomborg
    Slashing electric vehicle subsidies isn’t too bad. But dumping renewable energy R&D is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
    According to documents obtained by the Washington Post, the White House is seeking to slash the budgets by 72% in fiscal year 2019, which would cut research in fuel efficient vehicles by 82%, bioenergy technologies by 82%, advanced manufacturing by 75%, and solar energy technology by 78%…

    One U.S. study shows the richest quarter of the population receives almost all the public money spent on subsidies to discount the vehicles, while the entire fleet makes almost zero impact on climate change. The International Energy Agency predicts that even by 2040, when there will be 280 million electric vehicles, this will only reduce global emissions by 1%. In the words of Fatih Biurol, the IEA head: “if you think you can save the climate with electric cars, you’re completely wrong.”…

    We need to invest in this R&D because alternative energy sources like solar and wind are far from ready to compete with fossil fuels on the market. President Trump’s references to “beautiful clean coal” notwithstanding, fossil fuels remain the cheapest, most effective source of energy for most places most of the time — indeed the International Energy Agency estimates that on our current trajectory, even in 2040 non-hydro renewables will on average be more expensive than any other form of power both at a global level, and in industrialized and developing nations.

    As leading global energy researcher Vaclav Smil, says: “The great hope for a quick and sweeping transition to renewable energy is wishful thinking.” Vice President Al Gore’s chief scientific advisor Jim Hansen, who put global warming on the agenda in 1988, agrees: “Suggesting that renewables will let us phase rapidly off fossil fuels in the United States, China, India, or the world as a whole is almost the equivalent of believing in the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy (LINK).”

    After decades of heavy investment in subsidies to support green energy production, the latest numbers from the International Energy Agency reveal that wind provides just 0.6% of today’s energy needs, and solar a miniscule 0.2%. Even by 2040, if all of the Paris Treaty’s promises were to be fulfilled (which already seems unlikely), the IEA finds this will be 2.1% and 1.5%. Green energy is currently inefficient because it is almost entirely reliant on subsidies that added up to more than $150 billion in 2016. When the United Kingdom cancelled solar power subsidies (LINK), UK solar power installations plummeted. When Spain cut its subsidies, the renewable industry took a “brutal trajectory” (LINK) downward…

    A panel of Nobel laureates for the project Copenhagen Consensus on Climate found that the best long-term climate policy would be to make dramatic increases in global energy R&D (LINK). Research has repeatedly shown that each dollar spent on green R&D would on average achieve about $11 of global warming benefits (LINK). This is mostly because higher investments in green R&D will bring forward the day that unsubsidized green energy can outcompete fossil fuels and lead to lower CO2 emissions, reducing future global warming damage…

    The Trump administration’s earlier decision to abandon the Paris climate accord on climate change hardly doomed the planet, because the Treaty itself will, even in a best-case scenario, achieve very little: To keep temperature rises below 2ºC — a less stringent target than the 1.5ºC that the Paris climate accord grandiosely commits to — the planet would need to reduce CO2 emissions by about 6,000 Gt across the century. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) itself estimates that even if every country were to make every single carbon cut suggested in the Paris climate accord to the fullest extent possible, CO2 emissions would only be cut by 60 Gt (LINK) by 2030. This tells us that even in an implausible, best-case scenario, the UN’s own numbers show that the Paris climate accord leaves 99% of the problem in place…

    It is not too late for the White House to change course. The Department of Energy’s green energy R&D budget needs to be maintained and, indeed, significantly increased, to provide a real and effective solution to climate change.
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/02/05/trumps-cuts-renewable-energy-put-us-ropes-fight-against-climate-change-lomborg-column/1087525001/

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    pat

    read it all:

    5 Feb: SBS: AAP: Electricity emission cuts critical: MPs
    A cross-party parliamentary committee says it’s critical for Australia’s electricity system that a long-term, stable emissions reduction mechanism be adopted.
    This may not be a ground-breaking statement to those in the environmental movement, but it is remarkably the consensus conclusion reached by a cross-party group of politicians, led by Nationals MP Andrew Broad.
    The parliamentary committee’s 10-month inquiry into Australia’s electricity networks has concluded, broadly, that rules governing the markets are broken

    The group of coalition, Labor and Greens MPs back in the importance of renewables, saying they are “keen to take advantage of Australia’s natural resources, including wind and sun”.
    The lack of policy certainty around reducing emissions “has clearly undermined investment in the sector” and fixing this is critical, the report tabled on Monday says…

    ***Existing rules to encourage investment, including allowing the spot power price to rise to $14,000, don’t seem to be working…

    The committee recommends parliament adopt a “stable and enduring mechanism for scalable emissions reduction” – but stops short of saying what this should be, saying it’s not its place to recommend a model…

    The 23 recommendations also include asking regulator AEMO to look at the possibility of installing smart metres in every household and to do a feasibility study on whether and where new interconnectors between the states should be built.
    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/electricity-emission-cuts-critical-mps

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      robert rosicka

      That’s it then Pat were FLiCKED , all political parties now have proven they are not fit to govern and are now preparing to do harm to our once great and lucky country .
      Only thing now is the protest vote to try and drain our swamp .

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        OriginalSteve

        Correct.

        Happy to loan the trenching machines to start the drain digging….

        See a protest vote says an awful lot – it says the current batch of pollies are running an ungovernable country, and a country in open rebellion.

        This will upset the Banksters, who will then carpet the PM, as it also raises the flag of likely Soverign Risk.,

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    With an election coming in less than a month, Premier Will Hodgeman of Tasmania has a novel idea.
    Personally, I don’t understand why Tasmania was allowed to dabble int eh national market in the first place.
    It was supposed to be mandatory for participant States to operate in an atmosphere of competition. Hence the very reason that TVPS was owned by Aurora so that it could complete as retailer/generator with Hydro Tasmania.
    Several million dollars produced a report in 2013 writen by “the best minds in teh Australian electricity market” which recommended subdividing Hydro so that there could be even more competition.
    Nevertheless, given Tasmania’s diminishing demand, and the corresponding oversupply (that is, unless there is a drought) of hydro, this is likely a strategic move to protect the State’s consumers from the idiocy and insanity being carried out on the mainland.

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    robert rosicka

    Power prices right now $52 for QLD mainly coal fired power and SA $166 large investment renewable no coal and wants more battery and renewable power .

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