Midweek Unthreaded

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261 comments to Midweek Unthreaded

  • #
    el gordo

    Big breakthrough, according to the Daily Terror this flash mob is coming down under.

    “The Deplorables Tour: We’re Funny Because We’re Right”

    Read more at https://www.wnd.com/2018/10/pro-trump-comedians-kick-off-deplorables-tour/#kwSyzwuwSZYIpJvx.99

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  • #
    ColA

    Hi all, here’s a fun little exercise, have a vote on your Aunty

    https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/abc-news-australia/#prettyPhoto

    and when your finished have a look around!!

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    • #
      el gordo

      If we add up the Left, Centre Left and Extreme Left, then its clear the electorate believes Aunty has lost her balance.

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    • #
      PeterS

      Might as well move all of the right of centre votes to the extreme left since they are either kidding or so far beyond even extreme left (ultra extreme left) they truly believe the ABC is not biased enough to the left. It’s almost like conducting a similar survey asking people to vote whether a piece of white paper is white, off white, grey, dark grey or black. There will be some who will say it’s black.

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      Not so much a hockey stick but more a slippery slide .

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  • #
    ColA

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/brief-answers-to-the-big-questions-and-on-the-future-review-serious-doubt-on-serious-earth-1539909146

    Our scientific picture of the cosmos, Hawking proposes, is already so complete that it eliminates the need for God. “No one created the universe,” he declares, “and no one directs our fate.”
    They might even solve what many scientists and philosophers consider the greatest mystery of all, the mind-body problem. This puzzle asks, as Mr. Rees puts it, “how atoms can assemble into ‘grey matter’ that can become aware of itself and ponder its origins.”

    As a mere small ‘c’ catholic, I think Hawking and Rees show a hell of a lot more faith with these two statements not to believe on God!! Especially since they don’t have any plausable alternate answer!

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    • #
      mal

      The best explanation I have found as to how the universe works is a publication called the “Kyballion”.
      Its dated (early 1900’s) but the 7 operating principle it espouses are the best I have come across.
      You can look it up online and download it for free.

      Good luck with self discovery.

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      The Universe was sneezed out of the nose of a ‘Big White Arkelseezer’ ! (excuse spelling of that word I cant find the book hitchhikers guide)
      PS For the record, I am a Big Bang Theory denier as well.

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      • #
        James Murphy

        Heretic!
        Everyone on Viltvodle VI knows it was the Great Green Arkleseizure. Woe betide you at the coming of the Great White Handkerchief!

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    • #
      yarpos

      You dont need a plausable alternate answer to see that the orginal proposition is nonsense , and the choose not to believe. Not everything can be tied up with a bow and presented as the “answer” that we all must beleive. Many of us are comfortable with that, others need a nice tidy story to explain the world.

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      • #
        Lionell Griffith

        Do you know because you believe or do you believe because you know? There is an important difference that often is a matter of life or death.

        Sometimes the best answer to a question is “I don’t know.” Especially when you don’t really know.

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          From my Christian perspective, my coming to faith was on the basis of a series of mathematical impossibilities…..

          What I think is cool about God, is that He will meet you where you are at, and speak to you in your world.

          Mine was maths and logic, others might be other stuff. The other thing is He is way smarter than we are, Hawking could have done well to remember that.

          The other point in all this is this – why create humans of amazing capability, in a complex environment, only to have us die off like flies for no apparent reason?

          To me, that’s as silly as saying we are just animate matter. If you look at our complexity, the world around us, the universe, to say it happened by accident to me is willfully ignoring the intelligent construction right in front of your face…..

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          • #
            Kinky Keith

            Hi Steve,

            It was going really well until the last two paragraphs.

            I’m not sure whether God would endorse the conflict that has been generated by the literalisation of the Creation story, or feel disappointed.

            Does anyone know where this idea started? It sounds like something from the bible belt from a few decades back.

            It wasn’t something ever mentioned in church 60 years ago.

            Interesting.

            KK

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          • #
            Lionell Griffith

            As I understand your belief, you believe it is impossible for god not to exist. This belief appears to be based upon your need to have a externally determined purpose for your life, the universe, and everything. What is it that causes you to think there is an externally supplied purpose for it all? Assuming what you need to prove because you don’t know does not constitute knowledge abut what is. Nor does merely being uncomfortable with the thought that you might have to discover your own purpose for living and that you, personally, must do the work necessary for that discovery. Apparently, you are so uncomfortable with that thought, you need to invent the existence of a god to take the blame whatever happens. This even though your are very personally involved with your own life and no one else can live your life for you.

            The fact is, you must make decisions and must act upon them to sustain that life. Your decisions and actions must be consistent with what is for you to remain alive. You and you alone are responsible those things. Others cannot do the necessary work for you. Yes, they can provide examples of what to do and what not to do. They can also be parties to exchange of the values necessary to sustain life. Yet, they cannot provide you with the knowledge and wisdom to do the things to fulfill your purpose for your life. That you must acquire based upon your own effort.

            At the base of it all, you have one choice to make: to live or not. If you choose to live, that forms the bases for your purpose. What that purpose consists of is up to you. Choose wisely. If you choose not to live, do nothing. Your choice will soon be made so. In all of this, the existence of god is irrelevant. That is if YOU want to LIVE your life. Otherwise, what is the point? There is none.

            Personally, I see no sufficient evidence to believe that god exists. If he/she/it does and has an ultimate purpose for my life, he can stuff it. Its MY life, My choices, My actions, and My responsibility for their consequences. I will not cooperate with being a puppet on a string just to make that maliciously arrogant vindictive bastard happy.

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            • #
              Kinky Keith

              Hi Lionell,

              Many talk about and relate to God in the terms that you find difficulty with.

              I have similar difficulty.

              The church I attended sixty years ago seems to have been reprocessed into a dogma driven belief vehicle that thrives on “religious” DVDs from the US evangelical system.

              The DVDs are scarey not only because of their content, but principally because I don’t find them pertinent to the true meaning of Christianity.

              The God that I relate to is described in the text quoted above:
              “For where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst”.

              This suggests that God comes to help because he is summoned and is not depicted as “watching over”.

              As you suggest, we make our own lives.

              The modern Church that I have recently come into contact with frequently promotes the idea that Jesus died for us on the cross and says that all our sins are forgiven.
              This church is also involved in the true essence of Christianity: it has incredible reach into the community, involving young and old alike..
              Very inspiring.

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              • #
                Lionell Griffith

                I would go one step further. I am not and cannot be responsible for acts I did not commit. Jesus, if he actually existed and was actually the son of that unspeakable bastard known as god, need not forgive me. I do not and will not own those sins and will not accept his misbegotten forgiveness. He sacrificed himself for his own purposes not mine. I am responsible for what I do and ONLY what I do! He can preach is so called gospel somewhere else. I am NOT interested.

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              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Lionel,

                My last paragraph was trying to contrast two things: the constant reminder that Jesus died on the cross for me, is a bit too much. We did not cause that. The idea is a control mechanism. Contrast that with the immediate good I can see happening in the local community. The world is a difficult place to manoeuvre through: just listen to the local Christian radio station to see what I mean.

                KK

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              • #
                OriginalSteve

                Its always an interesting discussion….. I think God does intervene to a point , he says he will not be mocked, so if you sew evil you will reap evil. If people behave poorly, expect the ramifications as explained in the Bible, to follow. Australia recently endorsed SSM, which will have its ramifications, as it basically spits in Gods eye, so we as a nation will suffer, its just a matter of how and when.

                People think they are “progressive”, but if you look at if from Gods perspective, He created us with certain limits, abilities, and requirements – when we go outside those or overtly reject them, we come off second best. From a Christian point of view, sin entered humanity in the garden of eden, and its been a struggle since.

                As to becoming a poor parrot of US evangelicalism – I cringe when I think of church being done poorly and giving churches a bad name. We could also think of other bad examples, with child abuse as a prime example. Christianity is about living life in the real world, which is why for example we have forgiveness for our benefit ( not Gods ). Church is about providing a place to get together to worshhip, to help others, to develop our walk in faith. Church is not a place to become dogmatic and to become isolationist, but its also a place of sound theological teaching, a chunk of which govts world wide recently working in concert, seem to have decided to try and outlaw via implementing the bondage upon humanity of PC.

                Christianity is real world, if you look at Jesus, who was born in a stable, ministered to a cosmopolitan world, and died between 2 thieves, who had his title written in 3 different languages on his stauros, and was scourged and beaten, but rose from the dead triumphant to found the Church in the real world, not some academic ivory castle……

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              • #
                Roy Hogue

                Knowing Lionel I won’t touch this except to say shame on you, Lionell Griffith for insulting those who do not agree with you. Your choice of words is not that of a wise man.

                I can accept that you acknowledge no God, good, your privilege. But now you go too far with, “…unspeakable bastard known as god…” Just as the rest of us don’t know everything, neither do you.

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          • #

            Original Steve:

            I believe faith and God have no place in a climate skeptic blog. This is a more appropriate place for climate related science — facts, data and logic.

            Of course you are free to have your beliefs and opinions.

            But they don’t become facts because you believe them,
            any more than the coming climate catastrophe doesn’t become a fact because many leftists believe the scary annual predictions of doom.

            Religious leaders have used fear of going to Hell to control and direct their followers, for many centuries.

            More recently, politicians and the government bureaucrats with science degrees they hire, have been using the fear of turning the Earth into hell, by burning fossil fuels.

            I see a strategy of controlling people through fear,
            whether by conventional religions, or by the “CO2 is evil “secular religion.”

            I reject all attempts to control people through fear
            of a coming catastrophe, with absolutely no proof
            catastrophe is coming !

            There are many questions in life where the answer
            is “no one knows” — but people are uncomfortable with unanswered questions, so they invent answers.

            One invented answer is to claim a god, or gods, created
            things we have no other explanation for, because
            “no one knows” makes many people uncomfortable.

            Another invented answer is to measure some mild global warming and demonize CO2, because “no one knows” what causes climate change, makes many scientists uncomfortable.

            For those of us who think CO2 is beneficial, the staff of life, with proof — thousands of plant growth studies — it would be contradictory to believe in God, Heaven, Hell etc., with no proof.

            If I was a religious person ( I have never been one), it would be difficult for me to criticize the unproven leftist belief that CO2 is a satanic gas, while simultaneously believing in many unproven and unprovable religious beliefs ( many of which seem ridiculous to this atheist, but not to most people ).

            If a person does not need proof to believe in God,
            then why does a climate change cult member need proof to believe in a coming climate catastrophe?

            In comparing conventional religions with the
            climate change religion, I do think the Ten Commandments have about seven that make a lot of sense for a civil society, and like that believers don’t force their religion on anyone.

            But I can’t think of anything that modern climate junk
            science offers for humanity … yet they DO force their
            beliefs on everyone !

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    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Hi Col,

      Stephen Hawking is barking up the wrong tree if he believed that the validity of Christianity hinges on whether God created the universe or not.

      And as for the Big Bang, all I can say is that regardless of whether there was a bang or not, it’s a great explanation for what we currently see and measure around us in space.

      KK

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      • #
        Annie

        If there was a ‘big bang’…what started that off? Where did it come from?

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        • #
          KinkyKeith

          Hi Annie,

          What I was saying is that I don’t know what happened way back then. I wasn’t there and it is so unknowable that it doesn’t bear thinking too much about much less having a conflict over.

          The paradox is that I believe that God created the heavens and the Earth.

          But he didn’t make them.

          This modern Creation conflict disturbs me because it is like the CAGW conflict. Both those memes seem to have only one purpose, to make it easier for Elites to control us.

          🙂

          KK

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          • #
            Annie

            It certainly shouldn’t be an angst controlled discussion. I’m not into forcing people into my beliefs and I’m also not into being bullied for them and being forced into others’ beliefs. 🙂

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            • #
              KinkyKeith

              If Stephen Hawking had an understanding of the Bible, namely Mathew 18:20, he would have perhaps had a more localised and personalised understanding of what Christianity is about: making a better world for all of us.

              When our local world is in such turmoil and conflict there doesn’t seem to be much relevance in the Big Bang, there are more important things to deal with.

              KK

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              • #
                PADRE

                During October we have been having readings from the Book oh Job which addresses the question, “why do bad things happen to good people?” In the end there is no really satisfactory answer, and Job recognises this in the face of being shown the wonders of creation. If, as I do, we believe in God of love, of creation and of redemption, then there has to be an element of mystery otherwise we would simply be making a God in our image who we can control.People like Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins cannot deal with mysteries- there has to be a scientific answer or theory for everything. In their case the only option is to deny the existence of God, and in Stephen’s case the afterlife.
                There are more important questions than creation, and all the World’s great religious faiths seek to address them: why do we exist, what is the purpose in life,and from whence comes the human spirit?
                As well as being, physical, emotional and intellectual beings, we are spiritual beings. It is the spiritual side of life that is too easily neglected. For me, Christianity provides the best answers to the big questions.

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              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Hi Padre,

                In replying to Lionell above I have expressed my amazement at the change in focus of the Church over the past six decades.

                Back then we believed that God Created the Heavens and the Earth. It was also understood that Charles Darwin had given us an insight into how God had done this and thus further enhanced the miracle.

                God is with us when we seek him and ask for guidance and strength and love.

                KK

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        • #
          theRealUniverse

          That my dear Watson is the paradox that physics CANT answer, even with the incomprehensible mathematics of warped spacetime.
          In the Bigbang theory the initial conditions are assumed NOT deduced from theory.

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      • #
        ColA

        Hey all, that was interesting from everyone, lots of different views and opinions with an open and considered discussion.
        If you could keep saying to Hawking (RIP) or any of them, ‘but where did that come from in the first place?’ Eventually they run out of answers!
        Trying to get a concept in my head of the size of the universe starting with me, my family, my home, walking in my town, hours driving thru my Tweed Shire, days driving thru NSW, 5 hours flying over Australia, days to fly around the world. Then you need to adjust your reference frame to days to the moon, months to travel to Mars and 35 years for Voyager 1 to go out of the Solar system (although it did take the scenic route!). Adjust your reference frame again to light years (1 ly = 9.46 trillion kilometres) and 4.2 ly away to Alpha Centuri, 26,000 ly to the center of the Milky Way which is about 170,000 ly diameter and a mere 2 million ly to the Andromeda Galaxy!
        “Size of the universe,
        The proper distance—the distance as would be measured at a specific time, including the present—between Earth and the edge of the observable universe is 46 billion light-years (14 billion parsecs), making the diameter of the observable universe about 91 billion light-years (28×10^9 pc).” Wikipedia, but as soon as you give things a size you acknowledge they have a limit and the obvious question is what is beyond that??
        I don’t know about others but I start to have trouble even in our solar system!!

        And that’s the easy one!!

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    • #
      Mark M

      “If you really want to scare people, get a toy turtle and put a straw in its nose.”

      Looks like someone has been partying a little too hard.

      Is the toy turtle plastic?

      What about the straw?

      The tape you use to stick the turtle to yourself? Plastic?

      Note: there is nothing funny about the failed doomsday global warming apocalypse, unless you’re laughing at the people who still believe.

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    • #
      Peter C

      Scariest Halloween costume of all:

      1) Climate Change Scientist

      Put on a lab coat and grab copies of the IPCC study that came out a few weeks ago saying we are likely to see major crises from climate change as early as 2040 (or just write “IPCC Study” in big letters on a piece of recycled paper). Hand it to anyone who will take it. Give it to children (or their parents!) instead of candy. To get into character, say, “We’ve been trying to tell you this for years!”

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  • #
    ColA

    I had a shot at Their Aunty this morning:-

    Program: Fran Kelly morning show today
    Program Date: 31/10/2018
    ABC Service\Network: Radio National
    ABC Recipient: Audience & Consumer Affairs
    Subject: Poor investigation & misleading unbalanced reporting
    Your Comments: Fran Kelly had someone on ABC RN from the Red Cross hierarchy babbling on about 2017 being an unprecedented disaster year for disasters and everything is getting worse and worse and we are all doomed.
    I nearly ran of the road I was swearing at them so much!!
    As it happens here is what she may have found if she actually researched/investigated her subject:-

    “Tracking Progress on the Economic Costs of Disasters Under the Indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals, Environmental Hazards.” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17477891.2018.1540343

    The above clearly shows 2017 is an outlier from a DECREASING trend – not the unprecedented disaster of disasters rhetoric that suits the funding drive of the Red Cross.
    Fran Kelly would do better to at least engage her brain, practice being a journalist and get her facts correct BEFORE she puts her foot down on her flapper trap!!

    Will the ABC be advising the Australian public that the information in the interview was not accurate??

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    • #
      Sambar

      On my local radio this morning was an interview with an lady who has just written a book ( fiction ) about some events in Tasmania. As research she stayed in Tassie for a few weeks and was totally in raptures about the beautiful old growth rain forest and how it had to be preserved after all, and I quote her words, this was where they discovered penicillin. As you say ColA, just a bit of proper research would have revealed information about a Scottish bloke and a petri dish.
      Sometimes I despair, and like you, swearing at the radio rarely produces anything other than elevated blood pressure.

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    • #
      RickWill

      YOU actually listen to the ABC. I commend you for your resolve in the face of extreme adversity. I am no longer willing to bear the pain.

      It would be a great service to Australia to eliminate the ABC. Let the few shows that have merit survive in a commercial arena.

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      • #
        Serp

        The fracture occurred about fifteen years ago when all RN scheduling was changed and many informative programs simply disappeared and were replaced by fatuous talk shows; it’s been all downhill since then into the current Stalinist playground that is today’s ABC.

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      • #
        ColA

        Rick:-

        Dory Previn – Twenty-Mile Zone

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  • #
    Mark M

    Turns out emitting a trace gas (CO2) is a truly lousy way of destroying cocoa/chocolate …

    Oct 30 2018: Origin of chocolate shifts 1,400 miles and 1,500 years!

    Cacao was in use in South America centuries before its exploitation by civilisations in Mexico and Central America, experts say.

    “It is used by people in this area more than 5,000 years ago – way earlier than we have ever found in Mesoamerica and Central America,” said Prof Michael Blake, a co-author of the research from the University of British Columbia in Canada.

    Writing in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, Blake and colleagues describe how they made the discovery at a site in the highlands of Ecuador called Santa Ana-La Florida.

    Thought to have been lived in between about 5,500 and 3,300 years ago, the site caused a stir when discovered in 2002 because it revealed a previously unknown ancient society now called the Mayo Chinchipe culture.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/29/origin-of-chocolate-shifts-1400-miles-and-1500-years-cacao-ecuador?CMP=share_btn_tw

    So, cocoa has survived many changes of climate, more than was first thought!

    What does the doomsday global warming science say now?

    ‘oogle “ global warming will destroy cocoa trees ” … 1,910,000 results (0.65 seconds) … take your chocolate covered cherry pick!

    Here’s one: No more beer, chocolate or coffee: how climate change could ruin your weekend

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/09/no-beer-chocolate-coffee-how-climate-change-ruin-your-weekend

    Really?

    Reality:

    Olam forecasts chocolate feast after bumper cocoa crop
    feb 28 2017
    https://www.ft.com/content/519f9a38-fd74-11e6-96f8-3700c5664d30

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  • #
    Greg in NZ

    https://www.metservice.com/warnings/road-snowfall-warnings

    Road Snowfall Warnings 31 Oct / 1 Nov from the deep south up to the central North Island, accumulating snow on the higher passes. Wind chill dropping to -20˚C with 30 cm snow on some of the ski fields by Thursday. Happy Halloween and welcome to the 1st of November – damn goebbels vormink strikes again!

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    • #
      el gordo

      European Cooling Signal

      ‘Winds of 110mph bring destruction in Italy as snow traps more than 1,000 drivers in France

      ‘Roads were blocked and thousands of people were left without power in southern and central Europe, as rain and violent winds sparked flooding and tore up trees.’

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    • #
      el gordo

      Greg the unseasonal chill in NZ is directly related to this regional cooling signal, the collapse of the subtropical ridge

      http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDY65100.pdf

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      • #
        Greg in NZ

        el gordo, more like the collapse of the gravy-train carbon-crockfest prophecies (unless ‘warming causes freezing’ is their latest settled séance commandment). Nothing unusual about freezing snow in Oct or Nov or Dec or Jan or any month of the year at 45˚ South – yet it is hilarious listening to radio hosts stumbling/stuttering incredulously as they report cold and snow and avalanche warnings for the next few days (as opposed to their usual diet of “we’re all gonna burn & drown unless…”). I’m so enthusiastic about this coming apocalyptic cat-ass-trophy that, yesterday, I shouted myself a season’s pass up the mountain for next year… hoot!

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        • #
          sophocles

          Enjoy! 🙂

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            Greg in NZ

            Cheers, sophocles, I always do. As next year will be my 30th season snowboarding, 1989-2019, according to the WMO & UN I have now been riding for a whole ‘climate cycle’ of 30 years – taking the good with the bad seasons – does this now make me an ‘expert’? Can I call myself Doctor of Snowboardology? Professor of Sideways Knuckle-Dragging? My buddies simply call me the old longhaired, hard-boot carving, snow freak – I’ll stick with that.

            https://www.metservice.com/skifields/whakapapa – 1 Nov, NZ, snow to 900 m (35 cm) -9˚C with -21˚c wind chill, more snow this weekend.

            https://www.snow-forecast.com/maps/dynamic/andes_central?over=none&symbols=snow&type=snow.next3days – still snowing in the Chilean Andes with another metre on the way this weekend.

            http://snowreport.co.za/facebook/ – it started snowing lightly last night in Lesotho, South Africa, with more today, 1st November.

            Note to red thumbers and other Gore believers – 2018 was not only an epic snow season, Australia included, it’s now November and it’s still snowing and freezing around the southern hemisphere: that NZ White Christmas is getting closer every week, especially with that quiet, spotless sun…

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  • #

    I’m going bush for five days on the Melbourne Cup weekend, so for the last week I’ve been checking the weather reports from the BOM so that I can plan the trip. For the last week the BOM has been showing that we will have hot, dry, weather throughout the Melbourne Cup weekend.

    I wake up this morning to rain, so I check the BOM weather report and now they are saying it’s going to be mild and wet for the next seven days. Just yesterday it was the complete opposite. If the likes of the BOM can’t predict the weather one day in advance, how the hell can they support climate predictions 100 years in advance? Or even 10 years in advance?

    I guess a year from now, the weather this weekend will have been adjusted and homogenised such that the Melbourne Cup weekend 2018 was the hottest and driest on record.

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      RicDre

      Hmm, that sounds familiar…I was planning to do some work outside on the house this week, so I checked the Weather Channel forecast yesterday for Northern Ohio USA and it said I’d have 4 days of sunny weather in the mid 70’s F. Today it is partly cloudy and in the mid 50’s F and the forecast now shows rain for the rest of the week. Must be Climate Weirding. Or something.

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      el gordo

      BoM’s seasonal forecast is consistently wrong and I demand an audit.

      http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/outlooks/#/overview/summary

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        Sceptical Sam

        Me too.

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          OriginalSteve

          The BOM is only good 4 days out in terms of weather forecast.

          Kinda make you wonder ow they predict 50 years out…
          Answer – they cant!

          Ouch.

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          • #
            robert rosicka

            Actually Steve you give them too much credit with four days out and I’ve seen 12 hours out wrong as well .
            Unless you count a forecast of rain last week for this week in which they predicted rainfall between 0 – 160 mm which has so far been 100% accurate .

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      robert rosicka

      Yet the can tell you the exact temperature to the nearest 100th of a degree in ten, twenty and one hundred years .

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    Another Ian

    ” If the likes of the BOM can’t predict the weather one day in advance, how the hell can they support climate predictions 100 years in advance? Or even 10 years in advance?”

    Easy! You’re not supposed to notice that.

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    Mark M

    Frustrated farmers turn on BOM forecasting

    Some farmers battling the drought are so frustrated by weather forecasts they joke they’d be better off studying the behaviour of ants, galahs or even emus to predict when it might rain.

    Some people believe bull ants build their nests high before heavy rain while others insist galahs hanging upside down from power lines is a sure sign a deluge is imminent.

    Graziers and crop farmers alike argue times might be tough but what’s worse is the false hope created by forecast rains that never arrive.

    The 68-year-old says he’s heard governments say “You should be farming by forecast”.

    “Well, we’d be broke in 12 months if we did,” is his response.

    https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/08/17/07/01/frustrated-farmers-turn-on-bom-forecasting?ocid=social-9news

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    David Maddison

    I noticed McDonald’s (at least in Victoriastan) is now virtue signaling with paper straws rather than much more functional plastic ones.

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  • #
    pat

    ***great opening question, NBC! the CAGW mob’s favourite evangelical speaks:

    31 Oct: NBC: How one scientist convinces skeptics that faith and climate action aren’t at odds
    “The first step is to connect over shared concerns.”
    By Denise Chow
    Climate science and Christian fundamentalism might not seem to go together, with a recent poll showing that only 28 percent of white evangelicals believe Earth is warming because of human activity. But Katherine Hayhoe says it’s never been a problem for her.
    An evangelical Christian and director of Texas Tech University’s Climate Science Center in Lubbock, Hayhoe calls science and religion “two sides of the same coin.”…

    Hayhoe came to prominence in 2016, when she hosted a televised discussion about climate change with President Obama and actor/climate activist Leonardo DiCaprio. More recently, she was profiled in “Let Science Speak,” a new six-part documentary that can be viewed on YouTube and on the project’s website…

    To learn more about Hayhoe’s views on the intersection of climate science and religion, NBC News MACH spoke with Hayhoe before the documentary’s Sept. 20 premiere at the Tribeca TV Festival in New York City. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity…

    ***NBC: There’s overwhelming agreement among climate scientists that human activity is causing climate change. Why are many people still skeptical about the link?…
    https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/how-one-scientist-convinces-skeptics-faith-climate-action-aren-t-ncna920746

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      TdeF

      This is a new concept in science. Beyond agreement, there is overwhelming agreement. That means presumably that anyone who does not agree is the problem. Who cares about the truth? Galileo lived until he died under house arrest because there was overwhelming agreement. Many political prisoners too, those who survived. It is a Stalinist concept. Disagree at your risk.

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        OriginalSteve

        I think people have finally had a gut full of PC.

        Its interesting – people are now pushing back on PC very hard, to the point of openly mocking PC snowflakes ( even the more aggressive ones ) and now openly issuing the challenge of
        “Who died and made your stupid set of PC laws king?”

        Its an interesting development – people are waking up fast and fighting back. I think the left wont know whats hit them….but I mean if you look at it, PC is basically the obstruction of natural justice, the imposition of thought control and the legalization of un-natural laws upon humanity.

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  • #
    pat

    31 Oct: Cornell Chronicle: Emily Parsons: Anthropologist to speak on climate change denial Oct. 30
    (Emily Parsons is program coordinator for the Society for the Humanities)
    Despite overwhelming evidence that climate change is unfolding more rapidly than previously imagined, many policymakers around the world are rolling back environmental protections.
    Anthropologist Jennifer Carlson will give a talk, “Denial’s Authority: Anti-Environmentalism and the Aesthetics of Negativity in Contemporary Climate Politics,” Oct. 30 at 4:30 p.m. at A.D. White House. Carlson is the Cornell Society for the Humanities 2018-19 sustainability fellow…

    Carlson, a visiting scholar in energy humanities at Rice University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences, researches how the ability to deny climate change increases one’s political authority…
    This semester Carlson is teaching a class titled Deranged Authority: Culture, Power, and Climate Change…
    The lecture is sponsored by the Society for the Humanities and the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.
    http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/10/anthropologist-speak-climate-change-denial-oct-30

    reminder:

    Wikipedia: In 2010, the Atkinsons endowed the (Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future) with an $80 million gift, making it the largest gift ever received from an individual at Cornell University at that time…the center is home to 514 Faculty Fellows representing 12 Cornell University colleges and 90 departments…
    Partner Organizations include: CARE, Environmental Defense Fund, Oxfam America, The Nature Conservancy, Smithsonian Institution

    29 Oct: Eureka Alert: Most Americans underestimate minorities’ environmental concerns — even minorities
    Cornell University
    (Co-authors on the paper were Adam Pearson of Pomona College, Rainer Romero-Canyas of the Environmental Defense Fund and Columbia University, Matthew Ballew of Yale University and Dylan Larson-Konar of the Environmental Defense Fund and the University of Florida, Gainesville. The research was funded in part by a grant from Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and the Environmental Defense Fund)
    The study, “Diverse Segments of the U.S. Public Underestimate the Environmental Concerns of Minority and Low-Income Americans,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It also found most Americans associate the term “environmentalist” most closely with whites and the well-educated…

    For example, there’s a misperception that people with lower incomes have more pressing needs and don’t have the luxury to worry about environmental threats. However, poorer people and people of color consistently report the opposite, perhaps because they are typically the hardest hit by environmental challenges.
    The researchers conducted an online survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,200 Americans about their levels of concern for the environment, whether they identified as an environmentalist, and the age, socioeconomic class and race they associated with the term “environmentalist.”…
    https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/cu-mau102918.php

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    RicDre

    The IPCC has a new way of calculating the temperatures for global warming; They use a 30 year average centered on the date for which they want to calculate the temperature. So to calculate a temperature for 2017, they compute an average of all of the temperatures from 2003 through 2031. And where do they get the temperatures for 2018 thru 2031 you ask? Simple, they extrapolate what those temperatures will be based on the temperature trend in the prior 30 years of data (1988 through 2017 in this case). What could possibly go wrong?

    See the following for more details:
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/10/29/moving-the-goalposts-ipcc-secretly-redefines-what-climate-means/

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  • #
    pat

    no link, but easy to find 75-page WWF Living Planet Report 2018 online:

    30 Oct: CNN: This is the ‘last generation’ that can save nature, WWF says
    By Rob Picheta
    Global wildlife populations have fallen by 60% in just over four decades, as accelerating pollution, deforestation, climate change and other manmade factors have created a “mindblowing” crisis, the World Wildlife Fund has warned in a damning new report.
    The total numbers of more than 4,000 mammal, bird, fish, reptile and amphibian species declined rapidly between 1970 and 2014, the Living Planet Report 2018 says…

    The group has called for an international treaty, modeled on the Paris climate agreement, to be drafted to protect wildlife and reverse human impacts on nature…
    The WWF has urged the 196 member nations of the Convention on Biological Diversity to consider a range of targets when they meet in Egypt in late November.
    It also encouraged a deal to be struck at the 75th United Nations General Assembly in 2020.
    The group is pushing for “a target that should be equivalent to the 2 degrees target (to limit global temperature rises) of the Paris agreement, and we still have to work out what the target is,” Lambertini said…
    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/29/health/wwf-wildlife-population-report-intl/index.html

    ***and another treaty:

    30 Oct: Guardian: The unseen driver behind the migrant caravan: climate change
    While violence and poverty have been cited as the reasons for the exodus, experts say the big picture is that changing climate is forcing farmers off their land – and it’s likely to get worse
    by Oliver Milman in New York, Emily Holden in Washington and David Agren in Huixtla, Mexico
    Experts say that alongside those factors, climate change in the region is exacerbating – and sometimes causing – a miasma of other problems including crop failures and poverty…

    With an estimated 150 million to 300 million climate refugees set to be displaced worldwide by 2050, ***a new international framework will be needed to accommodate them…
    (Michael Doyle,international relations scholar at Columbia University) is part of a group of academics and advocates pushing for ***a new treaty that would focus on the needs of displaced people, rather than their exact reason for leaving, in order to cover the expected wave of climate migrants.
    Any reform of the landmark refugee agreement is “quite unlikely at present”, Doyle said, due to the complexity of such a new arrangement, as well as the rise of nationalist governments in places such as the US…
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/migrant-caravan-causes-climate-change-central-america

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Showing how much pull the Left has …..

      https://thehill.com/homenews/media/413542-fox-business-exec-condemns-rhetoric-of-guest-who-blamed-migrant-caravan-on

      Fox Business Network will no longer book a guest who blamed the latest migrant caravan on the “Soros-occupied State Department.”

      “We condemn the rhetoric by the guest on Lou Dobbs Tonight,” Gary Schreier, senior vice president of programming for Fox Business, said in a statement, according to CNN. “This episode was a repeat which has now been pulled from all future airings.”

      A Fox News spokesperson told CNN that the guest, Judicial Watch head Chris Farrell, will no longer be booked on Fox Business Network or Fox News.

      Farrell made the comments on Dobbs’s show while discussing the caravan of migrants making their way through Central America toward the U.S.-Mexico border. Farrell has contributed to The Hill.”

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    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      Fearful of global warming, they march en masse from a cold region to a hot one ….
      Geoff.

      20

  • #
    pat

    29 Oct: Epoch Times: Trump Approval Among Black Voters Rises to Record 40 Percent in Rasmussen Poll
    By Petr Svab
    The number marks a record high, the pollster noted, and shows a rapid rise in support for the president among black voters, compared to Rasmussen’s own results from a year ago…

    Reuters/Ipsos polls also have revealed an increase, though more modest, to 16.5 percent approval among blacks in an Oct. 18–22 survey, from 11 percent at the end of August…

    Among all likely voters, Rasmussen has been tracking Trump job approval at around the 50 percent mark throughout October, compared to the 40 to 47 percent range being reported by other pollsters…
    Trump, with an unabashedness of his own, received only 8 percent of the black vote in 2016…

    To begin with, Trump hadn’t been considered racist in the left-leaning circles of mainstream media and entertainment until he ran for president…
    Black unemployment, a powerful talking point, has dropped to historic lows under his administration’s “America First” economic agenda. Violent crime also slightly declined in 2017, after two years of increases…

    ‘Blexit’
    The support of singer, producer, and businessman Kanye West has been helping Trump from another angle…
    Conservative political commentators such as Candace Owens and Dinesh D’Souza have popularized the expression “the Democratic Plantation,” which draws a parallel between the racism against blacks advocated by the Democratic Party in the past and the system of government dependency represented by the welfare state advocated by the Democrats of the present.

    Some effects of the efforts of Owens and others can be seen among the blacks joining the Walk Away movement to leave the Democratic Party.

    Owens has recently announced a new initiative called “Blexit,” which specifically urges black Americans to leave the Democratic Party. An accompanying clothing line, sporting “Blexit” and “We Free” in capital letters, was designed by West.
    https://www.theepochtimes.com/black-approval-of-trump-at-record-40-percent-in-rasmussen-poll_2702994.html

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    • #
      pat

      followup. Kanye is now feuding with Candace for crediting him with creating the Blexit logo, which Epoch Times states as well.

      Candace did say that at the Blexit launch, BUT she was clear in the Fox interview below that Blexit was solely her idea, inspired by Nigel Farage/Brexit, from before Kanye even tweeted her in February, and that Kanye introduced her to a designer who helped to create the logo.

      nonetheless, Fox begins the summary with: “Rapper designs hats for the campaign urging black voters to leave the Democratic Party”. didn’t they listen to what she actually said?

      30 Oct: Youtube: 3min26sec: Fox News: ‘Blexit’ movement gets design help from Kanye West
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewTcBQaNS9Y

      knew theirABC would jump on the story, which they did almost immediately and, altho they attribute the piece to ABC/Reuters, the spin at the start, which gives the impression Kanye’s turning his back on Trump, and the Candace Blexit is just a secondary matter, is all ABC’s imaginings:

      31 Oct: ABC: Kanye West says he is distancing himself from politics after months of praising Donald Trump
      by ABC/Reuters
      West, Mr Trump’s biggest celebrity supporter, had said the President made him feel “like a superhero”, and that wearing the Trump campaign’s iconic red Make America Great Again hat gave him power.
      But in a series of tweets, West has seemingly backflipped, claiming that he feels like he has “been used” for his influence.
      “My eyes are now wide open and now realise I’ve been used to spread messages I don’t believe in,” he tweeted, without specifically mentioning Mr Trump or the Republican party…

      West — who once claimed he would run for the US presidency in 2020 — also sought to distance himself from a new campaign that seeks to draw African-Americans away from supporting the Democrat Party…

      The singer and fashion designer, who has said he is bipolar, also said he “never wanted any association” with the campaign launched last weekend, called Blexit
      West, 41, was linked to the campaign after its leader, conservative activist Candace Owens, said he had designed the logo for the movement’s hats and T-shirts.
      “I introduced Candace to the person who made the logo and they didn’t want their name on it so she used mine,” West tweeted on Tuesday. “I have nothing to do with it.”…
      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-31/kanye-west-says-he-is-distancing-himself-from-politics/10451460

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  • #
    pat

    comment in moderation.

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  • #
    Chris in Hervey Bay

    If the world is warming at an alarming rate,
    And all the worlds glaciers are retreating at an alarming rate.
    Can someone explain how this new glacier in the left over cauldron of Mt St Helens, in the southern region of Washington State, has formed and growing ?
    And, why the existence of this glacier, The Crater Glacier (also known as Tulutson Glacier), has been hidden by the press for 20 years ?

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    Robber

    Has Andrew Bolt’s blog been hacked? It shows no posts.

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  • #
    Ruairi

    Less use of coal and building more windmills,
    Brings carbon taxes and high power bills.

    Fake news can be construed in any form,
    Which for the M.S.M. is oft the norm.

    Emissions targets, which most countries hailed,
    Were reached by just a few but mostly failed.

    More skeptic climate scientists now fear,
    That honesty could cost them their career.

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    Hanrahan

    Over the weekend some were discussing the output from their rooftop solar and I was amazed that some got the rated o/p under good conditions.

    I have a 3.6 KW system which seldom gives much over 2 KW. Just now, midday EST on a bright cloudless day, it is still just over 2 KW. Admittedly they haven’t been cleaned but I don’t recall higher readings when it was brand new. Should I be getting more? I don’t have computer monitoring.

    30

    • #
      crakar24

      Are they facing north? general rule of thumb is capacity X 7 in summer and X 3 in winter so @ 3.6 you should be getting around 25KW per day, if you only get 2KWhours then something is wrong should be closer to 3.something.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        I’m in Townsville, [lat 19?] so at this time of year the sun is only a few degs north. The panels are in two strings abt 15 deg slope, one string W and the other E. I am disappointed to find they are in series because I am told that the system is choked to the poorer string, not average as I would have thought.

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        • #
          RickWill

          It is poor practice to have panels in the same electrical array facing in different directions. Also it is surprising that with 3.6kW of panels you only have a single array.

          Solar panels are essentially a current source of limited voltage. Connected in series the whole circuit current will be limited by the least irradiated panel. At midday with sun directly overhead, both sections of your array will be tilted at 15 degrees to the sun. That corresponds to only a 4% reduction in output (say 150W) from what you would have if the panels were perpendicular. It does not explain why you are only getting about 2kW. In the morning the western array will limit the whole output and the reverse in the afternoon.

          If there was shading of a panel or even part of a panel that could explain a greater reduction.

          It might pay to have someone with knowledge on panels and system to look over your installation. There are companies specialising in servicing and fault identification on solar systems.

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      • #
        Sceptical Sam

        @Cracker

        I think you’re a little bit high with those figures.

        The average daily output across the year is about 4x the rated capacity. Hence Hanrahan could expect about 14.4 kWh per day on average.

        He’s a little bit down on that. There is a compounding degradation in panel performance that ranges between 0.5% and 3.0% per annum depending on the panels. That along with the absence of regular cleaning and maintenance (are all the panels functioning?) may well account for Hanrahan’s lower than expected performance.

        https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51664.pdf

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      5kw system and in six years I’ve seen it get above 4.5kw once ,usually low 4 or high 3 .

      10

    • #
      RickWill

      What is the latitude of your location?
      What is the tilt angle of the panels?
      What direction do the panels face?
      Is there any shadow forming?
      How many panels and how are they arrayed?

      For 3.6kW you probably have two or more arrays. You should be able to compare the output of each array by isolating the PV output from one array and seeing how much the output falls.

      You should also be able to scroll through your data in the inverter and see the peak output along with daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and total statistics.

      In Victoria we have smart meters and the 30 minute data is downloadable from the poles and wire company.

      A 3.6kW north facing system on an inclined roof should produce a peak of around 4kW under cool clear conditions when sun is perpendicular to panels.

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      • #
        Chad

        Looking at the solar (utility) performance of the grid linked farms on OpenNEM site
        https://opennem.org.au/#/regions/nsw
        And using capacity totals from Anero data
        SA and QLD indicate solar performance with a CF of 16% approx..
        But NSW indicates a CF of 35% ??
        EG last 24 hrs, 5.0 GWh generated, from a total installed capacity of 585MW (according to Anero)
        Is there a bug in the Open nem NSW page, or has NSW secretly installed another 6-700MW of solar that no one is aware of ??

        20

        • #
          RickWill

          The largest utility scale solar in NSW has tracking panels. Full tracking under a clear sky could get capacity factor close to 50% at Coleambully. Out of the 585MW shown in NSW, 207MW is stated as tracking. However Qld has tracking farms as well as does Vic.

          Looking in detail at NSW it appears that the new farm is inverter limited:
          https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNgw9QeG_YzVwSSKSH
          It hit 145MW before 8am and held that level till after 4pm. So that is 33% CF without even considering the wings. By comparison Broken Hill reached its inverter limit of 53MW at 1030 and started to fall off after 1430.

          Rough look at the NSW total shows average around 450MW for around 11 hours. So the 5GWh looks correct on that basis. Were sunny days across NSW on 30th and 31st October.

          20

          • #
            Chad

            But Rick..
            Coleambally is rated as a 180 MW icapacity plant, so even including its “wings” and assuming 9.5 hours at 145 MWh, it only makes a CF of 0.32 (v good actually !)
            But that is the best of them, most are non trackers and some were not even working, so i still do not see how NSW could achieve 0.35 for the total ?
            Let alone why they are double SA or QLD.

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            • #
              Chad

              Actually, i guess its obvious really..
              The Open nem NSW data calc simply does not use all the 585 MW capacity figure in its calculations !!
              Any way to check ?

              30

              • #
                RickWill

                The calculation appears correct based on the data on Anero. It is easy enough to isolate each State and each generator. NSW today has been above 400MW for 8.5 hours. The peak is 520MW. Integrating the curve looks roughly average of 480MW over 9+ hours. That is not far off the 4.9GWh for the day. Need to check after the sun goes down for the final figure.

                The 5GWh figure you read earlier included yesterday afternoon, which was clearer than today as the output is falling faster today.

                Tracking panels should be getting close to 50% CF at this time of year on a clear day.

                20

            • #
              RickWill

              A number of the Queensland stations were limiting at much lower levels then their rating. They may be grid constrained or they have sections out for maintenance or the capacity is not yet commissioned.

              30

              • #
                Chad

                Rick, the Anero page……
                https://anero.id/energy/solar-energy
                ….shows an overall CF for NSW if you select it.
                That shows a peak figure of approx 70% for a max of 8 hrs or so.
                Add on another 2 hrs for the “wings” and you still wont get up to 30%’,CF for the day.
                I dont doubt the 5 GWh for the day , but i do not believe the 35+% CF, especially when the other states are so much less.
                I still need to figure out what the Opennem input data is

                20

              • #
                Chad

                And the Qld outputs are definitely weird, almost as if most of them are capped for some reason ?… except for Clare, but even that seems to max out at 75% of its capacity ??
                None of the solar plants ever seem to produce at 100% capacity,…even for a moment , let alone a few hours ??

                20

              • #
                RickWill

                The NSW CF shows above 85% from 0830 to 1500. The peak is 88.2%.

                20

              • #
                Chad

                There is a lot of suspect data mixed in there Rick,
                Example..
                Anero lists the Parkes solar farm as 50 MW, (flat panel ?) whilst their own site confirms it at 66MW (tracking) …?
                So Anero are giving them 100% CF rating at 75% output !
                Also, other sites (eg, Broken Hill) with non tracking systems appear able to achieve 100% of rated output for 4-5 hours consistently…..which would also suggest that they have extra capacity available but not “registered”

                20

              • #
                Chad

                Mugga Lane solar seems to be capable of 109% CF ??

                30

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Glenrowan in Victoriastan and panels face west at 33 degrees which is the slope of the A frame roof .
        So best solar is from this time of year till March (depending on heat ) of the day and about 1 iSh pm or so for peak .
        Panels add up to 5000kw .
        Electricity use is higher in summer and everything here requires electricity in one way or another so every time water is used or flushed requires a pump somewhere .

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    • #
      RickWill

      My 3kW system peaked at 3160W today. It comprises 16 off 190W panels in two 8-panel arrays. It is a generally overcast day, cool but with clear breaks in the cloud. A good day for getting close to peak output.

      This link shows what I believe is my best export day this year:
      https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNgw6Wyj2MPtLXXj7R
      There was no one in the house so only a few standby loads. The fridge and freezer run off-grid.

      The best 30-minute billing period was output of 1.18kWh corresponding to 2.36kW exported. Actual inverter output is about 60W higher given the standby loads.

      The peak output from the panels occur on a cool clear day when the sun is perpendicular to the panels.

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    • #
      yarpos

      I think your experience is probably more typical. I made a flippant comment wondering any panel anywhere on the planet had ever produced its rated output, and it seems that with the correct alignment of the planets on ocassions it is possible. Back in the real world they are generally derated all the factors you would expect such as orientation, angle, location, contamination, age , weather, shade , time of day etc.

      Our 3kW system has never produced more than 2.78kW , it reports its output to the vendors website and provides the ability to troll back through the records. Not dissapointed at all with that, we are 38S ish, orientation is not perfect, angle is not perfect, my cleaning is especially not perfect.

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      • #
        robert rosicka

        Knowing what the system losses are I’m astounded by your output and wonder if maybe they’ve put higher wattage panels on than stated ?
        All panels have a label on them on the back saying what temp and efficiency at the lab they are tested at bearing in mind that it’s very rare for real world to match what they do in the lab .
        Biggest losses are heat and all the panels I’ve seen for poly and mono are about 25% loss once the panel temp (not air temp) reaches about 25 degrees .
        More expensive Amorphous? Aren’t as affected by heat or cloud but to get better than rated output makes me wonder why ,having said that I wouldn’t be complaining either .
        Driving around OZ the closer you get to the Tropic of Capricorn the better the camper panels worked in all conditions in putting out max power so maybe your are well sited .

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        • #
          robert rosicka

          Found out today the solar farm planned for Winton had numerous objections from neighbours and two from the local council so the company is taking it to Vcat for a ruling .
          Large portion of the land is very good cropping country .

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    • #
      James Murphy

      I can’t recall if it has been posted here before, but this guy in Sydney did a reasonable assessment of home solar performance over 5 years.
      https://youtu.be/aQQE8V9NBXw

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    • #
      bobl

      Here’s what I have found, (I built some monitoring to put on my array). I have a 3KW array but at this time of the year it maxes out at about 2.1-2.2 kW. I have recently cleaned my panels.

      The Monitoring tells me I lose about 300W when the panels are dirty and about 300W when humidity is over 50% (Water vapour haze from high humidity reduces insolation). I only get peak output on cool clear days below 50% RH.

      Because you have split array the whole array will be current limited to the shaded panels, since you are in Townsville (19.25S) at the equinox (Close enough to now) you will lose about 8% for the whole array at midday. Thats 300W, dirty panels will cost you 300W and high humidity will lose you 300W. Now you will probably lose 100Watts to loss of efficiency from heat, and wiring /conversion losses will be around 5% or 200W. So I would expect under your conditions around 2.4 kW at midday.

      If you shifted your panels to be north facing and cleaned them then you would gain about 600W and be able to reach 2.9 kW now at midday and around 3kW at the summer solstice, with peaks at 3.2kw on RH < 50% days (which is almost never in Townsville in summer). The 400Watt loss in this case is just that at the solstice the angle of incidence is around 15deg losing 4% (150 Watts) plus the 300 watt conversion and efficiency loss due to heat (give or take humidity)

      A Bigger problem for you is that the array capacity will fall off quite quickly if the sun is east or west of midday because half the array is effectively shaded and will current limit the other (working half). To solve this the east and west arrays need to be wired in parallel not series. Frankly the best bet is to put them on frames on the ground facing North in an unshaded place.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        Thanks guys, Bobi especially. I will have to clean the cells before getting the installer involved but I reckon I’m down a bit. My roof is high which means no shading but also means I aint goin there.

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  • #
    Dennis

    The great deception of voting Liberal Coalition Labor Greens;

    http://concit.org/the-great-deception-behind-voting-lib-lab-greens/

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  • #
    MudCrab

    Came out earlier this week in SA – the Liberal Party suicide energy policy where they will lower the cost of energy by offering $6000 per household to install battery systems.

    And we wonder why the rest of Australia laughs at us.

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    • #
      RickWill

      The ABC isn’t laughing at you. They are applauding you. They are encouraging the rest of Australia to follow SA into the light.

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    • #
      James

      Where are they getting the money from China? Borrow the money from China, then send it straight back to pay for solar panels, then send it back a second time to pay off the loan. No wonder SA is broke!

      70

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    pat

    30 Oct: WUWT: Another Look at Michael Crichton’s ‘State of Fear’ – Part 1
    by Bob Tisdale
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/10/30/another-look-at-michael-crichtons-state-of-fear-part-1/

    30 Oct: WUWT: Climate Scientists Invading Children’s Games to “Answer Questions” on Climate Change
    by Eric Worrall
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/10/30/climate-scientists-invading-childrens-games-to-answer-questions-on-climate-change/

    29 Oct: WUWT: How Bad is HadCRUT4 Data?
    Andy May
    Guest Essay by Renee Hannon
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/10/29/how-bad-is-hadcrut4-data/

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    pat

    google guy to bring back extinct species? hmmm?

    on ABC Just In page:

    Engineering director quits Google for conservation sea change
    ABC Radio Adelaide By Malcolm Sutton
    Posted 34 minutes ago
    He walked away from job overseeing 650 staff with one of the most powerful companies in the world to help ***bring a species extinct in South Australia back from the dead, and Alan Noble says he couldn’t be happier.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/

    31 Oct: ABC: Former Google heavy-hitter turns to underwater drones to aid marine conservation in SA
    ABC Radio Adelaide By Malcolm Sutton
    The aim is to bring back a locally extinct extinct shellfish called the Angasi oyster, which thrived on the South Australian reef until European settlers wiped the species out in the 1800s.
    “These are the things that an ecosystem like a reef gives back,” Mr Noble told ABC Radio Adelaide’s Mornings program…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-31/google-heavy-hitter-alan-noble-turns-to-marine-conservation/10447746

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  • #
    pat

    30 Oct: RenewEconomy: Rise of renewables dooms baseload generation
    by Fereidoon Sioshansi
    As more renewable resources, primarily solar and wind, are added to networks across the globe, they make the generation profile more variable while reducing wholesale prices. This, in turn, makes it more challenging for conventional generators, especially those with little or no flexibility to ramp up and down, to remain viable.

    By contrast, flexible generation and storagereceive a premium for their ability to fill in the voids left by variable generation. By the same token, resources that offer flexibility on the customer-side or behind-the-meter (BTM) such as demand response (DR), are expected to be highly valued as explained by accompanying articles in this issue.

    This, of couse, is not news. A paper recently published by James Bushnell and Kevin Novan of the University of California, Davis, however, highlights the challenges that the increasing amounts of renewables pose for conventional generators, in particular baseload units, which cannot easily respond to variations in supply and demand…ETC
    https://reneweconomy.com.au/rise-of-renewables-dooms-baseload-generation-28517/

    29 Oct: Financial Times: Letter: Policymakers should focus on building nuclear plants
    From Prof Anton van der Merwe, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Uni of Oxford, UK and Emeritus Prof Wade Allison, Dept of Physics & Keble College, Uni of Oxford, UK
    The first misconception is that radioactivity is very dangerous…
    Fear of radioactivity has resulted in onerous regulations, which have made nuclear energy unnecessarily expensive…

    The second misconception is that renewables can meet our energy needs. Unfortunately their low energy density means that unfeasibly large (country-sized) installations of solar panels/wind farms and hydroelectric schemes would be required, immensely damaging to the environment. More serious is the intermittent supply, which requires renewables to be backed up by carbon fuel generators. No storage technology on the scale required to overcome this intermittency is available or likely.
    In spite of these misconceptions, environmentalists and policymakers concentrate on plans to increase renewable capacity, a strategy that greatly increases the risk of catastrophic climate change.

    They should be focusing more on building nuclear energy plants…
    https://https//www.ft.com/content/14025b74-d90b-11e8-a854-33d6f82e62f8

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    pat

    ABC couldn’t be sweeter:

    AUDIO: 7min 42sec: 30 Oct: ABC AM: ‘We cannot wait any longer’: Phelps, ACF CEO on climate change
    with Sabra Lane
    The Australian Conservation Foundation says it wants to make the next federal election a turning point for taking action on climate change.
    And it will outline its blueprint at the national press club today.

    The foundation says it wants to “inspire” its half a million supporters to be foot-soldiers in this campaign, and it will target three specific seats.
    The ACF says it won’t tell people how to vote, but outline candidates’ views on things like phasing out coal fired power, for example.

    The Conservation Foundation’s chief executive is Kelly O’Shanassy, who will deliver the speech.
    And the candidate who’s set to be the new member for Wentworth, Kerryn Phelps, will be in the audience.
    https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/we-cannot-wait-any-longer:-phelps,-acf-ceo-on-climate-change/10445458

    30 Oct: Australian Conservation Foundation: Energy Transformation: Address to the National Press Club
    Making the climate election by Kelly O’Shanassy, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Conservation Foundation
    It is now a matter of public record – which is a fancy way of saying it got a bunch of media attention – that earlier this year I met with Bill Shorten at the Great Barrier Reef to show him the dying coral, talk about climate change and well, get on his back about the Adani coal mine…

    Stretching beyond the horizon, these coral gardens should have been one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. But it wasn’t. Because much of the coral was dead…
    The reef has become the Australian symbol of climate damage. But what we are seeing on the reef is the tip of the melting iceberg.
    We don’t have to look hard to see climate damage right across our country…

    Climate damage is in our urban fringe communities, who are looking a little more nervously at the neighbouring bush they love, and wondering whether a fast and furious bushfire is coming over the hill.
    A fear no longer restricted to the summer months. The winter just gone saw 1600 blazes across Queensland and NSW alone. In Winter.
    Climate damage is in our urban communities, who notice that it’s hotter than it used to be. And the days where the mercury soars are getting more frequent than the ones where you reach for a jumper.
    Where communities like Penrith sweated through temperatures of 47 degrees last summer – heights we expect in the deserts of Oman, not the suburbs of Sydney…

    Poll after poll shows the community wants action.
    And in good news, the solutions for stopping climate damage are here, now too.
    Sensible national climate policy may have stalled, but clean energy is nearly unstoppable in Australia.
    Banks and ***super funds are shifting capital away from coal.
    Globally, there are at least two million electric cars in operation.
    Here in Australia the red meat industry has committed to carbon neutrality by 2030…

    Today I launch ACF’s National Agenda which contains ten actions to protect nature and stop climate damage…
    So far, six out of 10 people we connect with say they only will vote for a party that will stop Adani and repower Australia with clean energy…
    Our goal is to hold at least 15,000 conversations across Bonner, Chisholm and McNamara, greater than the winning margin of these seats…
    During a door knock a few weeks ago, 8 in 10 people said they will only vote for a party that will stop Adani and repower Australia with clean energy…

    For the sceptics out there, it is worth remembering ACF was born from conservative roots. The initial spark for ACF was Prince Philip…
    https://www.acf.org.au/address_to_the_national_press_club_making_the_climate_election

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      yarpos

      “Poll after poll shows the community wants action.”

      Really? do they? which polls? who are they polling?, what questions are being asked? are these like the polls predicting the Clinton landslide? or that the UK would never vote for Brexit?

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      GD

      From Kelly O’Shanassy, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Conservation Foundation:

      And the days where the mercury soars are getting more frequent than the ones where you reach for a jumper.

      Not in my neck of the woods.

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    Yonniestone

    Working in Ararat Vic a few weeks and noticed their wind farm last two days have no blades turning, can’t wait for that 100% renewables transition. /sarc.

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      Peter

      I live near Kiata wind farm, and without a breath or wind anywhere around here the the blades are turning!
      How can that be?

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      • #
        ivan

        The turning blades in no wind conditions is because they have to save the main shaft and bearings from damage (blades still causes distorted bearings and bent main shaft). To keep them turning they draw power from the grid and we never see that incorporated in the output figures from ant wind subsidy farm.

        If there was no baseload capacity in the grid all the wind subsidy farms would literally grind to a halt.

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          Graeme No.3

          So, if our current lunatic electricity “policy” causes a 3 day blackout would most of those turbines become inoperable?

          Now that would be an example of feed back.

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            ivan

            Not knowing the actual turbines (it depends on size of rotor) I can’t say if 3 days would be long enough. With the big monsters it would, smaller ones maybe not.

            It would be something I would love to see.

            To end with a chuckle see https://www.xkcd.com/556/

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          • #
            Hanrahan

            It wasn’t my trade so I don’t know details but our old Neptune anti-submarine aircraft, if fully fuelled with bomb bay tanks, had to be moved every few hours to prevent damage to the wheel bearings.

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            • #
              Yonniestone

              The term “static sag” seems to ring a bell, bearings while made from steel have their outer surface soaking in heated oil which is infused into the anodised coating, comprises are made for function and service life.

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  • #
    robert rosicka

    Seems BOM have learned their lesson from last year and no warnings about dangerous heatwaves at 29 degrees this year , but they have just invented “Heat Pulse” because they just couldn’t work up a way to call the current heat in Victoriastan a Heat wave .

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-31/hot-start-to-november-as-early-season-records-set-to-tumble/10448782

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  • #
    pat

    30 Oct: ClimateChangeNews: Christiana Figueres: ‘Coal is a public health emergency’
    At the World Health Organization’s first global conference on air pollution, the former UN climate chief launches a campaign to tackle toxic emissions at source
    By Megan Darby
    Coal is not just a problem for the climate, it is a “public health emergency”.
    That is one of the key messages of an anti-air pollution campaign launched by former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres on Tuesday.
    At the World Health Organization’s (WHO) first global conference on health and air pollution in Geneva, she joined forces with its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to call for action.

    It is closely linked to the climate fight, she told Climate Home News: “It makes the whole challenge that we are facing on climate change or greenhouse gases personal. It brings it down to my personal experience, it brings it down to the lungs of my children, it brings it down to the brain development of my child. It so happens that sources of greenhouse gases are the same sources of local pollutants.”…

    The “Every Breath Matters” campaign argues “clean air is a human right” and by 2030, everyone should be breathing clean air…
    She has recruited actor Leonardo DiCaprio as an advocate…
    At a high-level section of the conference on Thursday, ministers, mayors and leaders of international organisations are expected to announce commitments to tackle the problem.
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/10/30/christiana-figueres-coal-public-health-emergency/

    27 Oct: The Lancet: Tackling air pollution, climate change, and NCDs: time to pull together
    by Christiana Figueres, Philip J Landrigan, Richard Fuller
    Air pollution, climate change, and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are three linkedthreats to planetary health that share common origins and joint solutions. Yet effortsto address these problems have too often moved down separate paths

    This article is available free of charge.
    Simply log in to access the full article, or register…
    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)32740-5/fulltext

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      AndyG55

      ““clean air is a human right”” and by 2030, everyone should be breathing clean air…

      And to keep that air at a level where all plants and animals can breathe freely, the level of atmospheric CO2 should be pushed up as high as possible.

      Let’s all do our best to reach 500ppm buy 2030. 🙂

      Did you all know that CO2 is a natural bronchial dilator, and that raised CO2 levels can actually help asthmatic sufferers.

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      OriginalSteve

      Leftists are a public health problem – they want to shut down power generation, which impacts hospitals, heating and refrigeration, not to mention Defence, Police and law and order.

      Ergo, the Leftists are anti-law and order…..aka anarchists….

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    pat

    NatGeo is a disgrace. read all if you can bear it:

    30 Oct: National Geographic: ‘Cli-fi’ writers imagine unchecked climate change
    A new fiction series from top authors challenges readers to confront big questions in surprising ways
    By Brian Clark Howard
    CAPTION: While much cli-fi is dystopian, some writers are approaching the evolving genre with humor and other tricks of the trade.
    The literary genre known as climate fiction, or cli-fi, has been maturing over the past few years, with titles that seek to shine a light on emerging science and help readers understand a rapidly changing world.

    On Tuesday, Amazon Original Stories will launch a new series of cli-fi short stories by A-list writers, what they call “a collection of seven possible tomorrows.” Called Warmer, the collection includes works by Jane Smiley (of A Thousand Acres fame), Lauren Groff (Fates and Furies), Jesse Kellerman (The Genius), and Jess Walter (Beautiful Ruins).
    The goal, according to Amazon, is stories that “offer up a collision of fear, hope, and imagination.”

    National Geographic spoke with award-winning author Jess Walter about his contribution to the new series, called “The Way the World Ends.”…
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/amazon-originals-warmer-series-cli-fi-climate-fiction/

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    pat

    31 Oct: SMH: Climate investment risk is ‘diverse, urgent and complex’: Colonial
    By Ruth Williams
    One of Australia’s biggest asset managers has warned that climate change poses “diverse, urgent and complex implications” for investors and companies – but says unprecedented momentum is building for action.
    Colonial First State Global Asset Management, which handles $212.7 billion in funds under management for investors worldwide, says it is stepping up moves to assess and integrate climate risk as part of its investment strategies – and says both companies and investors should be further boosting their disclosure of climate-related risk, including on the physical risks to assets and infrastructure posed by a changing climate.

    Pablo Berrutti, Colonial’s head of responsible investment for Asia Pacific, said the recent report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had focused minds on the need to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees – “not a good outcome, but it’s a far better outcome than what it could be, so I think it should focus all of our minds”…

    Colonial’s responsible investment and stewardship report, to be released today alongside the Responsible Investment Association’s conference in Melbourne where Mr Berrutti is speaking, warns that climate change is already having “real investment implications”, with the asset manager assessing companies not only on their carbon footprints – their direct and indirect emissions – but also the risks thrown up by a transition to a low-carbon economy, such as the potential for assets to be rendered near-worthless, or stranded…

    In 2017, Towers Watson ranked Colonial First State Global Asset Management as Australia’s second biggest asset manager, behind Macquarie and in front of AMP. Its parent, the Commonwealth Bank, is planning a demerger of the Colonial asset management operation – known as First State Investments overseas – along with other businesses in its portfolio.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/climate-investment-risk-is-diverse-urgent-and-complex-colonial-20181030-p50cub.html

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      pat

      30 Oct: Imperial College London: Imperial launches free online course to help investors understand climate risk
      by Laura Singleton
      The free online course will respond to the challenge set by central banks, financial regulators and policymakers to provide investors with better information about the financial risks and opportunities presented by climate change.

      The course is launched by Imperial College Business School in partnership with ***Climate KIC. The course will be hosted by edX, an online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT that offers free courses from the world’s top universities to more than eight million learners all around the world.

      Developed by investment practitioners and Imperial academics, the new course is aimed at professionals working in financial markets…
      Participants will learn about emerging trends in climate-resilient investing and gain insights into potential winners and losers in the ongoing energy transition…

      Dr Charles Donovan, Director of the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment, said: “As global warming becomes a more urgent challenge for countries around the world, there’s a growing need for investment managers to understand the investment implications of climate change. There is ample evidence that climate risks are having an impact on the value of equity and fixed income portfolios. This course will help those unaware of these risks to get back in the game.”…
      https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/188813/imperial-launches-free-online-course-help/

      ***Climate KIC: Innovation for climate action
      EIT Climate-KIC is a European knowledge and innovation community, working towards a prosperous, inclusive, climate-resilient society founded on a circular, zero-carbon economy.

      The Governing Board Members
      Alice Peyrard Veolia
      Daniel Klingenfeld Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research…
      Martin J Siegert Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine…
      Renat Heuberger South Pole Carbon Asset Management Ltd.
      Ruben Alblas KLM

      The Supervisory Board Members includes:
      Yvo de Boer Independent

      Executive Team includes
      Dr Kirsten Dunlop, Chief Executive Officer
      Dr Kirsten Dunlop joined EIT Climate-KIC in January 2017, from Suncorp Australia, where she was Executive General Manager Strategic Innovation…

      (at bottom of page) EIT Climate-KIC is supported by the EIT, a body of the European Union.
      https://www.climate-kic.org/who-we-are/our-organisation/

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    pat

    it’s all advocacy:

    30 Oct: The Atlantic: Three Ways to Combat Climate Change Through the Courts
    With the executive and legislative branches refusing to act, the judicial branch might be the last hope
    by Dean Kuipers
    Climate change is crashing into America’s courts. As the science gets more conclusive, the reality more sobering, and the predictions more dire, the executive and legislative branches have refused to act. That leaves the judicial branch.

    In theory, courts are a good place for climate science. Unlike legislative bodies, where bills based on science can be derailed just because a few people say they don’t “believe in” climate change, the courts have evidentiary standards. If something’s real, it’s real. The facts accepted by 98 percent of scientists worldwide represent pretty convincing evidence…

    Lauren Regan, the lead attorney on all four of the Valve Turner trials, said that her office, the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Eugene, Oregon, has trained more than 1,000 activists on legal defense in the past few years, and she tries to impress upon them that using the necessity defense has very stringent legal requirements. But she still gets at least one call a week from someone planning to use it…

    Like the rest of the country, the courts are starting to feel the effects of climate change. May a sane and science-based policy take root there, and quickly.
    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/three-ways-combat-climate-change-through-courts/574315/

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      How do I recognise an “alt right” if I meet one? Do they wear a special tattoo or have a secret handshake?

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      • #
        James Murphy

        Just look for anyone on the receiving end of verbal and/or physical abuse for stating something which is ever so slightly to the right of Chairman Mao, or is in support of free choice, free will, and free speech.

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        • #
          James Murphy

          Of course, there are some genuine loonies on the right (who still deserve the right to be express their views) – but they are not so hard to spot.

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            Alt+right is actually Alt+R key on your keyboard…..

            Who’d have thought, windows computers are right wing?

            Gates must be having kittens….

            20

      • #
        el gordo

        The Marxist ABC thinks the story is newsworthy.

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  • #
    el gordo

    Jennifer Marohasy on ‘activism’ versus the ‘scientific method’.

    Peter Ridd will be back in court on 12th November and Jennifer will be the reporter.

    https://jennifermarohasy.com/2018/10/peter-ridd-versus-the-clowns-of-reef-science/

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    Crakar24

    SA power prices floating around the $200 mark due to it being slightly above 30 and no wind. Wait till summer arrives and Torrens island begins its shutdown

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    • #
      James Murphy

      If only the people and systems actually tasked with managing the grid were not so good at their jobs…

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    I’ll be on Outsiders on Sky tonight from 11pm EST or 8pm in WA. Can anyone record it?

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    pat

    just turned it on and heard them say you are on next, jo. wonderful. you should have a weekly spot.

    lol.

    30 Oct: UK Independent: Rupert Read: Venice is sinking and the elite does nothing – is civil disobedience the only way to make governments listen on climate change?
    It’s the hour of decision, the eve of destruction, before we become ghosts, our civilisation at best a memory. We’ve little to lose. Imagine how you’d feel in a decade’s time, once it’s too late – and you hadn’t even tried.

    October 31st — All Hallows’ Eve — is the day of the launch of “Extinction Rebellion”. Hundreds of us will be descending upon Parliament Square, to declare that we’re no longer willing to stand by while the-powers-that-be frogmarch our species (and most wildlife) towards extinction.

    Climate chaos has become an existential threat. And so we’re rebelling…READ ON
    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/venice-flooding-italy-weather-climate-change-environment-civil-disobedience-a8609116.html

    Wikipedia: Rupert Read (born 1966) is an academic and a Green Party politician in England. He is Chair of the Green House thinktank, a former Green Party spokesperson for transport,[1] former East of England party co-ordinator and currently a Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia

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    robert rosicka

    Congratulations Jo on your regular two week spot on Fox News Outsiders , finally there is light at the end of the tunnel.

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    pat

    my comment about your Outsiders’ spot (now to be a regular highlight of the show – fantastic) is in moderation. you were terrific tonite, jo.

    SciAm? hard to believe it was once considered a reputable publication:

    30 Oct: ScientifAmericanBlog: Kate Marvel: Who Needs Halloween?
    Climate change will bring plenty of tricks and very few treats
    In 2018, the idea that we need a special holiday to be scared feels a little strange. Zombies, vampires, and werewolves don’t seem so frightening when the real world provides us with Vladimir Putin, white supremacists, and greenhouse gas emissions. And trust me, as a climate scientist, I’m frightened every day…

    We know a little bit about the horrors that await us in the climate haunted house—we did, after all, build it ourselves. Walk in to the entrance. Above the door is that most frightening of instruments—but not just any thermometer. This one is wrapped with a wet washcloth. It’s measuring something called the “wet bulb” temperature: a combination of heat and humidity—a quantity that’s predicted to rise dramatically as the climate changes. When the wet bulb temperature gets too high, it restricts the human body’s ability to cool itself off by sweating. When it exceeds about 80°F, people working outside run the risk of dangerous overheating. When it’s higher than 95°, you—even if you are healthy, lying down, and naked in the shade (and why would you not be?)—will be dead in six hours.

    The hallway teems with rats, some the size of human infants… READ ON
    https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/hot-planet/who-needs-halloween/

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    pat

    ***”gang” is an appropriate description:

    31 Oct: ClimateChangeNews: Bolsonaro in, Merkel out: the Paris climate ***gang is breaking up
    In 2015, a group of countries banded together to shape the global climate pact, but political turmoil is pulling the alliance apart
    By Sara Stefanini; Megan Darby contributed reporting
    The alliance of rich, emerging and poor economies that sealed the Paris climate deal is falling apart…
    …climate change politics have shifted significantly since then (2015), with two more big tilts this week. Brazil elected a staunch and radical anti-environmentalist president, while Germany’s Angela Merkel confirmed her exit plans, further weakening an already fading image as the “climate chancellor” and Europe’s go-to leader in the field.
    It is the latest bout of a malaise that has infected climate efforts since Donald Trump was elected in the US in 2016.

    Now, in many important countries, climate scepticism and economic nationalism are usurping the international green enthusiasm of 2015…
    “I do not expect Merkel to stand out at the Cop,” said German European parliament member Reinhard Bütikofer, co-chair of the European Greens, adding that she is swayed by the Social Democrats’ “conventional and backward” views on environmental policy. Referring to the chancellor’s 2007 trip to learn about the consequences of global warming, he added: “Merkel has not been a proactive force in that realm of policymaking ever since she famously sported her red jacket in front of some Greenland glaciers.”…

    Meanwhile Australia – always reluctant to take climate action that might harm its large resource economy – is growing more brazen, criticising international climate talks and funding and ruling out a quick end to coal use.
    Similar views are still alive and kicking in coal-reliant Poland, which presides over Cop24…

    Even China, which has set high targets for cutting coal use and adding renewables and electric vehicles, sticks to a hard line behind negotiating doors. It wants to differentiate the responsibilities for developing economies and put more burden on developed countries – something the US and EU oppose.

    This leaves the question of where leadership will come from to drive action forward…
    “At this point the private sector and finance and technology have taken over the leadership and are decarbonising the electricity grid and are moving, not fast enough, but much more quickly than they were five years ago into a decarbonised economy,” Christiana Figueres, former head of the UN’s climate secretariat and convener of the Mission 2020 initiative, told Climate Home News.
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/10/31/bolsonaro-merkel-paris-climate-gang-breaking/

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      RickWill

      Trump is providing the leadership. He is prepared to label Climate Change for what it is – a UN grab for the wealth of the developed countries so they can garner favours for the benefit of UN administrators.

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    Dennis

    WIN SKY CH53 only broadcasts Outsiders on Sundays, unfortunately for country viewers.

    20

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      robert rosicka

      I’m country Victoria Dennis and get Sky news on ch 83 .

      20

      • #
        GD

        Is WIN available in Geelong?

        20

        • #
          robert rosicka

          According to your TV guide no ,seems to be hit and miss as to where you live if you can get Sky news unless you can afford Foxtel.

          10

          • #
            GreatAuntJanet

            It’s on our TV guide in remote and central area but we can’t pick it up (don’t have WIN here). You can listen to podcasts via the Sky News site (Outsiders is a favourite of mine) though. Helps create the illusion there is hope that sensible people do exist and have a voice in the media.

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      • #
        Ted O'Brien.

        Here I think it was channel 84.

        10

  • #
    robert rosicka

    There’s no money in coal and no future in digging it up ! Trust us we’re economists.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-01/coal-report-warns-of-grim-future-for-australian-thermal-coal/10452456

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    • #
      James Murphy

      Not just economists… but economists with a clear set of ‘guidelines’ from the powers that be. Truth be damned, it seems.

      As the article says “..IEEFA is a not-for-profit institute, funded through philanthropy, with a focus on green technologies and renewable energy…”

      It’s funded by more than one Rockefeller foundation, plus a few other similarly minded organisations. Must be good to have a not-for-profit foundation like that, just talk to other foundations, and pretend to give each other money while not having to pay any tax.

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  • #
    Robber

    From WUWT, well worth a read. should be sent to all pollie wafflers.
    REBUTTAL: IPCC SR15 Climate Change Report is Based on Faulty Premises

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      Kinky Keith

      That looks very promising for the future deconstruction of the Climate sc$m.

      It good to see an international scientific body provide such a common sense assessment of “the science”.

      Mildly worded but totally dismissive of the CAGW meme.

      More please.

      KK

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  • #
    el gordo

    Malcolm Turnbull will continue to undermine the Liberal Party through the Australian brainwashing company, he still has ambition to be the president of the first republic.

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    The Deplorable Vlad the Impaler

    Too good to keep on this side of the Big Pond:

    https://youtu.be/gjzeNBSZFUo

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    pat

    this goes well with the fabulous youtube posted by The Deplorable Vlad the Impaler:

    30 Oct: Sacramento Bee: San Francisco leaders hate Trump enough they just voted to limit the city’s water rather than do this
    by Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler
    In an 11-0 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors agreed in a resolution to support the State Water Resources Control Board’s proposal to leave more water in the San Joaquin River and its tributaries to benefit struggling fish populations. The supervisors’ vote is subject to veto by Mayor London Breed, although the board could override the veto.

    The vote splits the city from the Trump administration and instead moves its support to a state plan that its utilities commission warns could lead to severe drinking water shortages for its nearly 884,000 residents.

    The resolution explicitly says the city must divorce itself from the Trump administration and its congressional allies such as Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, who’s branded the state plan a “water grab.” The Trump administration has vowed to sue the state if the so-called Bay-Delta plan goes forward, saying it would interfere with the operation of key reservoirs owned by the federal government in the San Joaquin Valley.

    “Under the cloud of climate change denial and anti-science populism, the debate around the Bay-Delta Plan has transcended the realm of rational, environmental discourse toward a political and populist, anti-conservation rally cry, fueled by the strategic lobbying of a federal Republican administration aiming to destabilize California’s status as a Democratic stronghold,” the resolution says…

    The city’s Public Utilities Commission has been fighting the plan and, along with farm-irrigation districts in Modesto and Turlock, has been promoting an alternative that relies more on habitat restoration to revive fish populations. The Modesto and Turlock districts issued statements Tuesday reiterating their support for their alternative plan, and the PUC pushed back on the Board of Supervisors’ resolution at a committee meeting earlier this week…READ ALL
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/san-francisco-leaders-hate-trump-enough-they-just-voted-to-limit-the-citys-water-rather-than-do-this/ar-BBP8gSr?ocid=spartandhp

    30 Oct: InvestorsBusinessDaily: Editorial: Midterm Elections: 5 States Could Wreck Their Economies In Futile Fight Against ‘Climate Change’
    Election 2018: Next week, voters in five states will decide whether they want to raise their own taxes, kill jobs and lower their standards of living. All in a fanciful effort to stop “global warming.” They’d be better off letting the free market do the work.

    Washington, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado all have global-warming ballot initiatives, each heavily financed by environmental activists. New Mexico voters will decide whether to elect a powerful land commissioner who promises stiff curbs on emissions.
    None of these will make any difference in the global climate. But they will cost their residents dearly…

    Voters in both Arizona and Nevada, meanwhile, will decide whether to boost their mandates on renewable energy. Both initiatives would force utilities to get half of their electricity from renewables like wind and solar by 2030 — less than 12 years from now.
    As Stephen Moore explained in these pages recently (LINK), these renewable mandates are a punitive tax on the poor and middle class. Why? Because these mandates raise the cost of energy.
    Moore notes that a Manhattan Institute study found that eight of the 10 states with the highest electric bills had renewable-energy mandates…

    Next week, voters in these five states will have a unique opportunity to send a loud message to the rest of the country. Namely, that they aren’t buying the global-warming hysteria…
    https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/midterm-elections-global-warming/

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    pat

    1 Nov: Bolt Blog: GREEN THIEVES
    The Greens are the party of people who always expect someone else to pay for them. Thieving is an expression of that:

    (excerpt) A GREENS candidate has dramatically quit the state election race after it emerged she had posted tips on stealing groceries and bragged she was “the baddest shoplifter there is”.
    Upper House hopeful Joanna Nilson stepped down on Wednesday night after the Herald Sun exposed her boasts, which she now claims were a joke, in a Facebook group called the “Bad Gals Club”…
    https://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/green-thieves/news-story/fca56b468e54d567ae1dc2794dc23722

    50

  • #
    pat

    robert rosicka comment #45 posted a linke to an insane ABC piece:

    1 Nov: ABC: Demand for Australia’s thermal coal exports to be dire in future, IEEFA report warns
    By Greg Miskelly
    A study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) found Australia’s top four export markets — China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea — were shifting rapidly to renewables…
    IEEFA is a not-for-profit institute, funded through philanthropy, with a focus on green technologies and renewable energy…
    IEEFA is a not-for-profit institute, funded through philanthropy, with a focus on green technologies and renewable energy…

    7 Oct: GWPF: UK Telegraph: Christopher Booker: The Truth About China’s & India’s Coal Boom
    The BBC and The Guardian recently reported on new satellite pictures revealing that China, as easily the world’s largest emitter of CO2, is now busily building so many new coal-fired stations that they will add 259 gigawatts or 25 per cent to its coal-fired output, more than that of all US coal-fired power stations combined…

    In fact the real message was that China and India never had any intention of reducing their dependence on coal, as they had both made abundantly clear in documents each country submitted before the Paris agreement, where China said it planned to double its CO2 emissions by 2030, and India that it would treble them.

    This was precisely the reason given by President Trump in 2017 for pulling the US out of the “Paris accord”, which he regarded as no more than a cynical charade. But The Guardian and the BBC never mentioned any of this. If they had followed the story properly, they would have no reason for now expressing shock at what China and India are up to because they would have known it all along…
    https://www.thegwpf.com/christopher-booker-the-truth-about-chinas-indias-coal-boom/

    at least Guardian and BBC reported the above. I have never found any ABC coverage whatsoever.

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    • #
      pat

      however, partially taxpayer-funded SBS did do a wild piece, which is dishonest from the headline down (there’s a video, which doesn’t work for me). a regional revolution?:

      27 Sept: SBS: What do these new satellite images say about China’s anti-coal agenda?
      Fresh satellite images of coal-fired power plants are the work of provincial governments, an expert tells SBS News.
      By Sarah Wiedersehn, Darren Mara
      The Chinese government has ordered the construction of coal-fired power plants to be slowed down or cancelled amid global pressure to reduce air pollution.
      But US-based climate research group CoalSwarm says fresh satellite images show construction has noabated…

      Expert Tim Buckley from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEFA) says some Chinese provinces, more concerned with economic issues like unemployment, are disregarding Beijing’s international climate commitments.
      “It is a story of policy conflict between the states and provinces and the central government’s overarching national objectives,” Mr Buckley told SBS News…

      Julien Vincent from Friends of the Earth says news of new coal-fired plants being built in China is alarming.
      “China’s commitment under Paris is to peak its emissions by 2030 ***and it’s still on track to do that, the way emissions are trending. But that doesn’t mean we should be anything but alarmed at new coal power stations going ahead,” said Mr Vincent…

      Having just a couple of provinces building 50 or 100 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plants would be an “absolute global catastrophe” for the Paris Climate Agreement,” says Mr Buckley.
      ***However, he expects a strong response from Beijing…
      ***Mr Buckley also believes China remains committed to reducing their carbon footprint.

      “In the past eight years China has cancelled or shelved an amazing number of coal-fired power plants – 718 thousand megawatts of coal plants have been shelved or cancelled over the last eight years,” said Mr Buckley.
      Only this week the NDRC, the ruling governing body for energy in China, dramatically increased their renewable targets, from 20 per cent by 2030 to 35 per cent by 2035, said Mr Buckley…

      ***”I have absolutely no doubt China is absolutely wedded to transitioning to decarbonise their economy and to transition their energy system to resolve the massive air pollution problems they’ve got.”
      https://www.sbs.com.au/news/what-do-these-new-satellite-images-say-about-china-s-anti-coal-agenda

      unbelievable.

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      It’s in IEEFA’S best interest to bag coal as much as they can because of the money the make from renewables.
      Can’t get over the fibs they tell about Japan and China and also how much Coal we export .

      31

      • #
        toorightmate

        Trump gets mocked for referring to fake news.
        Unfortunately, fake news is what we get on selected topics.

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    • #
      RickWill

      There is wishful thinking then there is reality:
      https://www.afr.com/news/politics/coal-is-back-as-miners-boost-output-to-take-advantage-of-record-prices-20180925-h15vf0

      The big miners are also scrambling to hire more staff to make the most of the favourable market conditions. Coal exports have increased by $3.3 billion to $33.5 billion, or almost 11 per cent, according to the latest trade data from the Queensland government.

      30

  • #
    Peter C

    Dan Hannan

    I attended the Dan Hannan presentation last night in Melbourne.

    Dan had some excellent things to say about nationalism and free people. The concentration of power by the EU goes against that which is a very good reason for Brexit. He seemed optomistic that Brexit will succeed although he conceeds it is under threat by the ruling class.

    I was a bit less sure about Dan’s ideas of opening our borders to free trade with trading partners who maintain high barriers themselves. He thinks Australia is a shining example! Anyway he hoped for much better trade and co-operation in the anglosphere, which he thinks will benefit all world contries.

    I had the pleasure of meeting beth the serf and we talked about lots of things. Beth gave me notice of a petition by someone who has noticed that the Vic State Goverment is proposing to increase to power of local goverment to include compulsory aquisition of poperty and the power to impliment independent CO2 emmission policies. Both very bad ideas (agenda 21).

    The threats to our liberty never seem to stop!

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    • #
      James Murphy

      Australia just ratified the Trans Pacific Partnership, effective from 30 December 2018

      (google translate – from French)

      30

    • #
      Serp

      I don’t understand how the local government agent is lawfully able to enter your house to click the star rating checkboxes for surely nobody is imbecile enough to invite that agent in.

      40

    • #
      robert rosicka

      Just wondering if the compulsory acquisition is to stop the objection to solar farms and bird choppers from neighbours at proposed sites .
      This will hurt Labor both state and Federal at the ballot box ,does anyone have more info

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  • #
    pat

    1 Nov: ABC: NT recycling scheme’s efficacy unknown after five-year review, with ‘inconsistent data collation and reporting’ blamed
    By Emilie Gramenz
    Experts have been unable to determine whether a scheme that encourages the trading of recyclables for cash is improving recycling rates in the Northern Territory, because there is not enough data available…

    “Due to inconsistent data collation and reporting on whether returned containers were reused or recycled (as proxies for resource recovery) or otherwise appropriately disposed of, there was insufficient data to provide a definitive conclusion as to what extent the CDS was increasing resource recovery,” it said.

    NT Recycling Solutions general manager Dean Caton said it was a challenge to know what happened to the containers.
    “Once the depot gets the containers they have to give them to a coordinator,” he said.
    “The coordinator then is responsible for selling that recycled material onto the people that will recycle that.”
    “For instance, for all the containers we deliver to a coordinator, I don’t absolutely know where all of it goes.”…

    (NEVER MIND)
    Wine, milk bottles could be next
    Among the reports’ 21 recommendations was an idea to explore the feasibility of adding other containers to the list of those eligible for a refund…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-01/nt-cash-for-recycling-scheme-review-unable-to-determine-efficacy/10453292

    behind paywall. heard it on Vision Radio, and it’s a mess, as expected. not to mention all those who don’t have a car to get to the collection centres, etc, but who will still be hit with the higher costs. as for some portion of the money going to schools to teach them about “sustainability” aka CAGW, that’s not a plus:

    Container deposit scheme launches as collection centres struggle to open
    Courier Mail-3 hours ago
    OVERNIGHT: The operators of Queensland’s container deposit scheme were last night scrambling to ensure all refund sites were ready to …Any delay in the rollout of the scheme would be bad news to organisations such as Aspley State School’s Parents and Community Association… “…our community gardens for our school and back into learning with the children about composting and sustainability,” P&C vice-president Barbara Rushe said…

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    pat

    funny, I can’t find this on the reneweconomy website:

    31 Oct: OneStepOffTheGrid: One of Australia’s biggest solar installers to shut up shop
    By Giles Parkinson
    True Value Solar, once the biggest solar installation company in the country, is to shut up shop after its German shareholder decided to discontinue operations in Australia.
    True Value made quite a name of itself (some good, some not-so good) by dominating industry rankings through its focus on the discount end of the market, before a change in ownership in 2011 ultimately led to a change of strategy.

    German company M+W Group bought a controlling stake in 2011, and then completed the buyout in 2013, as part of its first push into Australia.
    But the recently re-branded company – it is now known as Exyte – has decided to exit the country; Australia no longer features on its map of 20 countries in which the company, with $A4 billion in annual revenues, operates.

    Australian employees – of which there are less than 30 – were advised of the impending closure earlier this week by senior management. Word spread quickly, and RenewEconomy confirmed the status on Wednesday, although a formal announcement has not yet been issued from Europe.
    The good news for customers, and the industry’s reputation, is that the doors will not be closed straight away, and the company will gradually wind down in coming months and honour its contracts and warranties.
    https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/one-australias-biggest-solar-installers-shut-shop/

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    pat

    31 Oct: Energy Matters: Solar feed-in tariffs going up for south-east Queenslanders
    A report by the Queensland Competition Authority (LINK 33-PAGE REPORT) shows households with rooftop solar are benefiting from higher Queensaland solar feed-in tariffs (FiTs) in 2018 more than previous years.
    The report shows that the average FiT offered in the quarter to June 2018 was 11 cents per kWh. This is up from 9.8 cents in the first half of the 2017-18 year and 6.7 cents in June last year. This also represents a 64 per cent increase within 12 months.
    The highest FiT during the quarter was 20 cents, offered by two retailers. This was around double what those same retailers were offering earlier in the year…

    Retailers decide on the amount they are willing to pay customers per kWh. In south-east Queensland with large cities such as Brisbane and Gold Coast, this is a competitive market. This results in higher Queensland solar feed-in tariffs…
    According to State Resources Minister Dr Anthony Lynham, higher Queensland solar feed-in tariffs are now available because of rapid solar market growth…
    https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/queensland-solar-feed-in-tariffs/

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  • #
    pat

    31 Oct: RenewEconomy: Queensland solar is booming and pushing down daytime electricity prices
    by Marija Petkovic
    Queensland (QLD) leads the nation across several metrics as shown by the latest data from the Australian PV Institute (LINK) earlier this week…
    More solar has been added to the Queensland grid in the first 10 months of 2018 than in the previous five years combined…

    This extraordinary growth in utility scale systems has come about from a combination of drastic decreases in the cost of solar as well as government funding opportunities (particularly from ARENA)…
    In contrast, residential installations peaked in 2012, coinciding with the end of generous feed-in-tariffs and multipliers for small-scale technology certificates (STCs)…

    The zero marginal cost of solar means that it is also very good at pushing down daytime electricity prices in the wholesale market…
    Thus, we may reach a point where electricity prices are so low during the day, that further investment in solar can no longer be justified.
    There is a solution to this problem of course, and that is energy storage…
    For anyone building QLD solar projects, the question is not if you should add storage, but when.
    https://reneweconomy.com.au/queensland-solar-is-booming-and-pushing-down-daytime-electricity-prices-87209/

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    • #
      yarpos

      I am surprised that Renew is so negative. Really only daytime power? I mean the sun is always shining somewhere.

      30

    • #
      Chad

      Considering how little (<3%) of actual power generated in QLD comes from solar ….in surprised how it can have any effect on prices ??

      00

  • #
    pat

    response to FT letter posted in comment #30:

    30 Oct: Financial Times: Flexible, safe, affordable — renewables are the future
    From Dr Paul Dorfman and others
    Given the human and environmental risks associated with rampant climate change, it is more important than ever to communicate facts rather than conjecture. While Financial Times readers may be used to competing academics taking ham-fisted swings at each other, here the stakes are too high to let it go.

    The reality is that professors Anton van der Merwe and Wade Allison ( Letters, October 29) are factually mistaken on all counts.

    First, nuclear new builds are universally acknowledged to be high-risk projects involving significant delay, vast cost escalation and investor risk, with construction proceeding only with huge public subsidy.

    Second, the overwhelming scientific consensus, the basis of all international radiation protection, is that there is no safe radiation dose, and “body counts” do little to throw light on the complex reality of radiation risk. By contrast, Prof Allison believes low doses of radiation might be good for you.

    Finally, the International Energy Agency states that 1trillion watts of renewable power, equivalent to 1,000 large reactors and three times the world’s existing nuclear capacity, will be installed worldwide over the next five years. By 2023, renewables will account for a third of total electricity generation worldwide. In this context, nuclear power at the expense of more flexible, safe, productive, cost-effective and affordable technologies does seem rather foolish.
    Dr Paul Dorfman
    Honorary Research Fellow, UCL Energy Institute, University College London
    Prof Tom Burke
    Visiting Professor at Imperial and University Colleges
    Prof Steve Thomas
    Emeritus Professor of Energy Policy, PSIRU, University of Greenwich
    https://www.ft.com/content/5dc7c058-dc46-11e8-8f50-cbae5495d92b?fbclid=IwAR3UwC7jl2SUA2LpJidFeI-_qj4_sPhHNmO4dZqRxC0-8wBfr36CSfUsqFw

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    pat

    30 Oct: S&P Global: France leaves door open for new nuclear if cost-competitive
    by Andreas Franke
    France may keep the door open for new nuclear reactors in the 2020s if they prove to be cost-competitive, with a leaked government document setting a Eur60-70/MWh average cost range for the second generation EPR.
    The draft dossier, published by French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche, calls for a strategy paper by mid-2021 with a final decision on any nuclear new-build to be taken between 2021 and 2025.

    The French energy ministry was not able to comment on the document when contacted by S&P Global Platts.
    French news agency AFP last Friday said the Eur60-70/MWh levelized cost range matched comments from EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Levy in a parliamentary hearing earlier this year.
    French regional broadcaster France 3 meanwhile reported on EDF land purchases next to existing reactor sites at Belleville and Chinon quoting an EDF spokesperson saying the sites could be used for future low-carbon power generation projects.

    EDF views new nuclear projects as essential to achieve 2050 climate targets.
    “We are seriously considering the possibility of launching new nuclear projects in France in the next decade,” Cecile Laugier, VP Strategy and Environment at EDF’s nuclear unit, said at the Platts European Power Summit in September.
    “This is a decision for government, but we have the technology to do so,” Laugier said…
    The latest reports suggest the government may have moved closer to EDF’s position of no reactor closures bar the oldest units at Fessenheim before 2029.

    Royal Bank of Canada analysts expect the government to target a 50% share for nuclear in the generation mix by 2035 following comments made by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in September.
    A reduction to 50% by 2035 would correspond to operational nuclear capacity of around 44 GW, requiring a significantly faster build-out of renewables than is currently the case.
    EDF’s Laugier told Platts last month that the new EPR 2 reactors would be needed to come online in the 2030s to secure low-carbon power generation beyond 2050.

    EDF’s 58 reactors cover around 75% of France’s electricity needs. Its nuclear fleet capacity is capped at 63.2 GW.
    In its generation adequacy assessment, system operator RTE assumes 1 GW of wind and 700 MW of solar will be added per year.
    To balance a generation mix with 44 GW of nuclear by 2035, 3 GW of wind and 1.8 GW of solar need to be added per year between now and then, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.
    French year-ahead baseload power traded above Eur60/MWh this September, more than doubling since record-lows in early 2016, EEX data show.
    https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-power/103018-france-leaves-door-open-for-new-nuclear-if-cost-competitive

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  • #
    pat

    read all:

    30 Oct: Bloomberg: Billionaires Chase ‘SpaceX Moment’ for the Holy Grail of Energy
    Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Peter Thiel are funneling cash into nuclear fusion projects.
    By Jonathan Tirone
    Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Peter Thiel are just three of the billionaires chasing what the late physicist Stephen Hawking called humankind’s most promising technology…READ ALL
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-30/nuclear-fusion-financed-by-billionaires-bill-gates-jeff-bezos

    30 Oct: RenewableEnergyMag: The Autumn Budget: UK renewable energy yet again frustrated and disappointed
    by Robin Whitlock
    Widespread disappointment for the UK renewable energy sector in the Chancellors 2018 Autumn Budget, across a number of clean energy technology sectors, provokes dismayed reactions from trade associations and condemnation from Greenpeace and the Green Party.
    This year, deployment in solar PV has fallen to an eight-year low, with just 200 MW of deployment expected for 2018, representing a 95 percent fall compared to 2015. This has had serious implications for the industry, with some of the UK’s largest solar companies struggling to maintain an installer base, which will also hamstring the rollout of energy storage technologies.
    “Investment in renewable energy has plummeted in the UK and largely for want of fair tax and market treatment” said Chris Hewett, Chief Executive at the STA…

    “The lack of any announcements in today’s Budget aimed at supporting the uptake of electric vehicles, is incredibly disappointing” said Oliver Rix, Partner in Energy & Resources at Baringa Partners. Last week, the Government scrapped its grant for plug-in hybrids, which was an essential support for both consumers and the motor industry in the early stages of the transition towards the Government’s goals for 100 percent electric vehicles. As we’ve seen in the Netherlands, scrapping or substantially reducing financial support can have disastrous consequences – there, sales dropped from over 40,000 plug in hybrids in 2015 to less than 2,000 in 2018 when changes to tax rules were made…ETC
    https://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/panorama/the-autumn-budget-uk-renewable-energy-yet-20181030

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    el gordo

    ‘Now, in many important countries, climate scepticism and economic nationalism are usurping the international green enthusiasm of 2015. As a result, political support for slashing greenhouse gas emissions, sending aid to the poorest and most vulnerable countries and discussing it all in multilateral summits is waning. Others that remain committed to climate action are consumed by domestic concerns – like Brexit in the UK, and political instability in Germany.’

    GWPF

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  • #
    pat

    behind paywall, excerpts found at electricityinfo.org:

    31 Oct: Financial Times: New Asian coal plants knock climate goals off course
    A fleet of new coal plants in Asia threatening to derail global emissions targets has exposed the growing “disconnect” between energy markets and climate goals.
    Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, said the growth of coal-fired power in Asia was worrying because the new plants would “lock in the emissions trajectory of the world, full stop”.
    “How we are going to deal with this problem is for me the nerve centre of the climate change debate today,” Mr Birol told the Financial Times.
    Asia has 2,000GW of coal-fired power plants that are operating or under construction — more than 10 times as much as the EU — and many of them are inefficient plants. While the coal fleets in the US and Europe are older, 42 years on average, and nearing the end of their life, Asia’s coal plants are just 11-years-old on average and most still have decades left to operate…

    10

  • #
    • #
      theRealUniverse

      As long as the lie is told often enough, especially with ‘new’ data no one will bother to check anything pre 1996 as you indicated 1878 47.2C!!. What record..

      60

    • #
      yarpos

      yes , the lie gets national coverage, and the rebuttal is buried on a specialist blog

      20

  • #
    pat

    one more detail from the FT article is mentioned in Phys.org:

    31 Oct: Phys.org: Asia coal plants worrying for climate targets: IEA
    Electricity production from coal rose by four percent last year in China, and by 13 percent in India, according to IEA figures.
    https://phys.org/news/2018-10-asia-coal-climate-iea.html

    1 Nov: SBS: AAP: Adani scales back Qld coal mine plans
    Mining giant Adani has scaled back its highly controversial Queensland coal mine in a bid to secure funding for the troubled project.
    Initial output will sit at around 15 million tonnes a year, with capacity to ramp that up to 27 million tonnes.
    Adani Mining CEO Lucas Dow says it will be easier to secure funding for the project now it has been downsized…

    “This capital-efficient approach is practical, achievable and will allow us to deliver coal to our customers sooner and to take advantage of strong demand,” he said in a statement.
    “We are close to finalising finance as the recent mine and rail decisions have significantly simplified the finance requirements for Carmichael.”…

    ***Adani’s announcement on Thursday coincided with a new report warning Australia’s thermal coal exports could plummet faster than expected as demand drops in Asia…
    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/adani-scales-back-qld-coal-mine-plans

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  • #
    pat

    who will force taxpayer-funded broadcasters to report the facts?

    1 Nov: SBS: AAP: Coal power in terminal decline, NSW warned
    The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis’s report on Thursday paints a bleak future for the coal industry, where global trade volumes contract an average of four per cent every year…
    The IEEFA report warns the outlook for new coal-fired power stations in Asia, Australia’s main export market, has changed dramatically in the past four years…
    “While the Australian coal industry and its lobbyists continue to maintain that the nation’s thermal coal export industry is booming on the back of record export revenues, the reality is very different,” the report says…

    The IEEFA’s analysis lent on Independent Energy Agency forecasts ***on the basis the world meets internationally agreed objectives on climate change, air quality and universal access to modern energy…

    However, NSW’s mining industry said a different IEA report suggested coal consumption in Southeast Asia will more than double in the next two decades.
    “The NSW thermal coal sector is enjoying healthy conditions with expert independent analysis forecasting this to continue to at least 2040,” the NSW Minerals Council said in a statement.
    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/coal-power-in-terminal-decline-nsw-warned

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    pat

    IEA has so many undated publications showing up for the past 24 hours, not sure which is the one being quoted by FT:

    IEA: World Energy Investment 2018
    “The decline in global investment for renewables and energy efficiency combined could threaten the expansion of clean energy needed to meet energy security, climate and clean-air goals. While we would need this investment to go up rapidly, it is disappointing to find that it might be falling this year.”
    Fatih Birol, Executive Director, IEA
    DOWNLOAD REPORT (FREE BUT NEED TO SIGN UP)
    https://www.iea.org/wei2018/

    IEA: Coal
    Coal supplies a third of all energy used worldwide and makes up 40% of electricity generation, as well as playing a crucial role in industries such as iron and steel.
    Despite legitimate concerns about air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, coal use will continue to be significant in the future. Therefore greater efforts are needed by government and industry to embrace less polluting and more efficient technologies to ensure that coal becomes a much cleaner source of energy in the decades to come.

    10

  • #
    Peter C

    “100s of Millions of People will Die” – ACF Climate Change Warning about Breaching the 1.5C Limit

    h/t Bob in Castlemaine; The Head of the Australian Conservation Foundation Kelly O’Shanassy delivered a solemn warning last Tuesday to a packed audience of journalists, claiming that if we continue to burn coal and breach the 1.5C IPCC climate limit, “100s of millions of people will die”.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/10/31/100s-of-millions-of-people-will-die-acf-climate-change-warning-about-breaching-the-1-5c-limit/

    The wailing and shirt rendering is getting much worse!

    That made me take a look at the ACF website.

    Presidents
    1967-71 Sir Garfield Barwick
    1971-76 HRH Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh
    1977 Sir Mark Oliphant
    1978-79 Dr H.C. Coombs
    1979-84 Murray Wilcox
    1985-89 Hon. J.H. Wootten
    1990-94 Peter Garrett
    1994-97 Prof. David Yencken
    1998-04 Peter Garrett
    2004-14 Ian Lowe
    2014 – Geoff Cousins

    Fortunately most of the early presidents have died and are spared the embarrassment of having once been President of this bunch of crackpots. I suppose that it seemed like a good idea at the time.

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  • #
    pat

    nuttier than ever:

    31 Oct: Electric food – the new sci-fi diet that could save our planet
    Growing food without plants or animals sounds like science fiction. But it could stop environmental destruction
    by George Monbiot
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/31/electric-food-sci-fi-diet-planet-food-animals-environment

    30 Oct: BBC: BP profits double on higher prices and new oil fields
    Profits at oil giant BP more than doubled in the third quarter, boosted by stronger oil prices and higher production from new oil fields.
    Profits rose to $3.8bn (£3bn) from $1.86bn a year earlier, its best quarterly result for five years…
    BP’s profits were ahead of analysts’ expectations, and shares in the company were up 3.9% in early trade on the London Stock Exchange…

    Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: “BP has set the bar high for the oil majors in general, delivering a blockbuster set of earnings which have comfortably outpaced expectations.
    “These numbers reflect a business which is back on its game.”…
    BP paid a dividend of 10.25 cents a share for the third quarter, 2.5% higher than a year earlier.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46028712

    30

    • #
      Annie

      Oh good grief! The Grauniad and George really do seem to be living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. I hope I’ll be well and truly departed from this life if ever such a nightmare ‘food’ scenario came about.

      20

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      pat:

      See what happens when you dump AGW and concentrate on your main business?

      20

  • #
    pat

    30 Oct: Reuters: UPDATE 1-Greenland says China oil majors eyeing Arctic island’s onshore blocks
    by Tom Daly and Meng Meng
    China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) have expressed interest in bidding for onshore oil and gas blocks in Greenland to be offered in 2021, officials from the island said on Tuesday.
    The Arctic island, a self-ruling part of Denmark, is shifting its oil and gas licensing strategy from offshore to onshore in an effort to generate revenues faster, they said.

    The next blocks to be tendered will be on the Disko Island and Nuussuaq Peninsula area of West Greenland, industry and energy minister Aqqalu Jerimiassen told Reuters on the sidelines of a Greenland Day event at the Danish embassy in Beijing.
    Jerimiassen, who took office in May, said he met with the two Chinese oil majors, as well as China’s National Energy Administration, on Monday…

    Nielsen said it was too early to say how many blocks would be tendered, or to give an estimate for the resources in the “highly prospective” area.
    The U.S. Geogological Survey puts Greenland’s offshore oil and gas resources at about 50 billion barrels of oil equivalent, he said…

    Greenland’s domestic energy goal is to be powered 100 percent by clean energy by 2030, Jerimiassen later told a press conference, up from the current 70 percent, which is mostly from hydropower…
    https://www.reuters.com/article/greenland-china-investment/update-1-greenland-says-china-oil-majors-eyeing-arctic-islands-onshore-blocks-idUSL3N1XA33A

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    pat

    are rats the new CAGW meme?

    31 Oct: Bloomberg: Climate Change Is Scary; ‘Rat Explosion’ Is Scarier
    Scientists warn of global warming of 2 degrees Celsius. If you think that won’t affect you, think how it may affect pests.
    By Faye Flam
    As the climate warms, rats in New York, Philadelphia and Boston are breeding faster — and experts warn of a population explosion (LINK)…
    And while extinctions may inspire a sense of tragedy, it’s the creatures multiplying in outbreaks and infestations that generate horror. As rat expert Bobby Corrigan of Cornell University has told various media outlets (LINK) BLAH BLAH…

    In recent years, psychologists have accused conservatives of being more innately fearful than liberals, but that never quite squared with the fact that conservatives express less fear over environmental problems…But we’re all sharing this warming planet, and at the very least surely we can unite against a future filled with rats…
    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-10-30/climate-change-is-leading-to-explosion-of-urban-rat-populations

    off the wall:

    29 Oct: Bloomberg: Ignoring Climate Change Is Only Human
    Scientists haven’t had much luck convincing us of the impending disaster. Maybe it’s time the artists and philosophers gave it a shot.
    By Mark Buchanan
    We’re in a very weird place. Despite all the evidence that we’re on a fast trajectory for climate disaster, it’s still as if most of us don’t really believe it…
    But perhaps we also lack the imaginative capacity to face reality. That idea is increasingly being explored, not by scientists, but by novelists and philosophers…

    In his nonfiction work “The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable,” novelist Amitav Ghosh explores his puzzlement over the dearth of modern fiction centering on climate change and the human response to it…
    So novelists are, in a sense, deranged — imaginatively impaired by the climate issue, which seems somehow otherworldly and unnatural…

    Derangement also figures in a new book by philosopher Bruno Latour, “Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime,” which notes that efforts to deny climate change have gained momentum since the early 1990s, right alongside globalization and the broader movement to deregulate economies…

    Brexit, the Donald Trump phenomenon and the rise of authoritarianism are the latest consequences, as millions turn back in panic to the comfort of national identities…ETC
    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-10-29/pretending-climate-change-doesn-t-exist-is-a-human-condition

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    pat

    can imagine the derision in the comments:

    31 Oct: Daily Mail: Extreme climate events that killed 50 MILLION people through drought and famine in the 19th century could happen again, scientists warn
    •Great Drought, and subsequent Global Famine, happened from 1875-1878
    •It was the result of an extreme El Nino and other naturally climate events
    •Researchers say climate change today would intensify this type of disaster
    by Cheyenne Macdonald
    And, if it were to happen again today, scientists say it would be much worse.
    Given Earth’s current warming climate, new research suggests similar droughts caused by extreme El Niño or other natural events would be far more catastrophic than in the past, leading to ‘severe shocks to the global food system.’…
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6335099/Extreme-climate-events-killed-50-MILLION-people-drought-famine-happen-again.html

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    David Maddison

    Don’t forget the Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally this weekend. Plenty of life-giving CO2 for all.

    https://www.lakegoldsmithsteamrally.org.au/

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    el gordo

    The Express has been putting out dire warnings that the 2018-19 winter forecast in the UK will be atrocious, but the Met said it has nothing to do with them and have decided to give up seasonal forecasting.

    ‘The Met Office no longer issues public long-range forecasts because in our customer research the public have told us they would prefer a monthly outlook. Although the limitations in science mean monthly forecasts are themselves a developing area of forecasting and will therefore be less precise than our short-term forecasts, the public have told us that a monthly outlook would be of use to them.’

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    el gordo

    Angus Taylor told Peta Credlin that he will be talking to the power companies about price gouging and promised Liddell will be saved. He went on to say that by January next year he will present a few options on how we can build more despatchable power into the system.

    He reckoned closing Hazelwood was a huge blunder, so three new coal fired power stations are on the cards.

    The government is going to bring in legislation to stop Liddell closing down, a big stick, so it’ll be interesting to see how the MSM handles this.

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    Hanrahan

    Does anyone think that the warring parties in the US will shake hands and retire for a beer after the elections next week? I don’t.

    The “progressives” will find an extra gear and go bat-sheet crazy if they don’t gain control, but if they do gain control of the house Trump’s army, which is real and armed, will not stand idly by and watch due process trashed. They have been abused for years, why should they endure more????

    If I Believed I would pray for Trump. He is in the cross-hairs, not only of lone crazies, but of organised para military with access to sophisticated military hardware.

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    Dennis

    On Tuesday 30 October 2018 the Downing Centre Local Court of New South Wales received and stamped a Court Attendance Notice and a Brief of Evidence comprising 3 Affidavits from me.

    The Court Attendance Notice contains information for an offence alleging Julia Gillard gave false or misleading evidence to the Trade Union Royal Commission.

    The brief contains Affidavits from

    Ray Neal – formerly the Assistant Director and acting Commissioner for Corporate Affairs while the AWU Workplace Reform Association was being incorporated.
    Ralph Mineif – formerly the senior Corporate Affairs official who was directly responsible for the incorporation of the AWU Workplace Reform Association.
    Ralph Blewitt – the address of a purported memo from Ms Gillard which purports to give legal advice about the incorporation of the Association.
    The Local Court of NSW is considering the brief of evidence at present.

    Late last week I wrote to former Royal Commissioner John Dyson Heydon AC QC with notes about the brief of evidence against Ms Gillard and copies of the sworn Affidavits which will be led in evidence against her. Mr Heydon’s chambers have advised me in writing that the file I sent to Mr Heydon has been referred to the Commonwealth Attorney General.

    I am making a serious allegation against Ms Gillard. I am supported in that allegation by the two senior public officials who were responsible for incorporating the AWU WRA “slush fund” and by the former Secretary of the AWU WA Branch who jointly completed the application to incorporate the slush fund along with Ms Gillard.

    The charge against Ms Gillard has yet to be formally laid in open court. Ms Gillard is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

    It goes without saying that it’s a very serious matter for anyone to knowingly give false or misleading evidence to the face of a Royal Commission.

    Every touch leaves its trace.

    Michael Smith
    Michael Smith News

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    sophocles

    A ray of hope this side of the horizon …

    From Tallbloke’s talk shop the `WHO Declares [Wind] Turbine Noise ‘Serious Health Hazard’ …’

    That could be useful as a liability case against wind farm owners and purveyors.

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      Kinky Keith

      VLF pulsing has finally been outed.

      This isn’t a Noise problem and someone has been covering up.

      They should be identified and charged in every country where nearby residents have been sacrificed.

      KK

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