Weekend Unthreaded

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314 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #
    jack

    Down the rabbit hole (or through the looking glass?).

    The Australian Prime Minister says,
    There is an eight-fold increase in the number of people being monitored under a security watch list.

    What has Australia become?
    Gone are the days of yesteryear when an Aussie was an easy going, happy, larrikin.

    Western civilization on the edge of a precipice,
    herded into the precarious position, just one step from destruction,
    by a small and vocal majority.

    If you don’t tow the new world line (which should be labeled, new left), because of their inability to use reason to support their position, you are viciously labeled and face the brunt of ad hominem attack. Media driven (by media mouth piece puppets) propaganda is their main tool.
    In their extremest view, if your not a xyz-panderer, you have xyz-phobia and if you do not agree with our left wing ideals you are right wing (there is mo middle path in their asinine duelistic view of politics).

    When any rational argument (or view for that matter) is gagged with hate inciting terms like far-right, h8-$peech, xyz-phobia, (or the science is settled, so shut up), we are on the verge of despotism.

    As demonstrated by history, there is far more damage done by forcibly muting the rational criticism of ideas than allowing free and open debate.

    It is time for this political correctness to be bagged up and thrown in the rubbish where it belongs.

    And politics: Both are main parties are full of it (it: as in above, and also put sh in front of the it as well). It is time for them to ante up or get out of the game.

    Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

    Thomas Jefferson

    Note: I have used symbols in some words because I am not sure what I can and cannot say anymore.

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    • #
      Travis T. Jones

      In New Zealand, a Democracy Turns Against Itself
      Under pressure, democracies have a nasty habit of acting like panicked crowds.

      https://reason.com/archives/2019/03/29/in-new-zealand-democracy-turns-illiberal

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      • #
        jack

        Travis T. Jones
        It took a long time for your reply to appear, not sure why.
        In response to your reply I shall yet once again quote Thomas Jefferson.
        Something like,
        “The course of politics,
        Republic,
        Democracy,
        Despotism”.

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      • #
        PeterS

        Representative democracy is a con, much like the man-made global warming hoax. We need direct democracy if we are to have at least half a chance of surviving as a nation.

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        • #
          jack

          You start with very small Government.
          They are merely administrators.
          They don’t cost much, most of the wealth stay in the hands of the citizens.
          They don’t tell us what to do, we tell them what they can and carn’t do.
          The conditions for a prosperous nation.

          Then the Government grows & grows & grows.
          They become law makers and arbitrators.
          They try to control everything, from the economy to the environment and society.
          They take half of average person money to pay for them.
          The nation becomes in debt.
          They tell us what to do.
          Our only recourse is a choice between to parties. Originally with some ideological separation, eventual the difference becomes only rhetoric.
          The democratic illusion.
          We are merely coasting along on what we once had.

          Does it stop there?
          Are they going to say we should have less control?
          Are they going to say we are going to make Government smaller.?
          Are they going to return freedoms taken?
          NO!
          They have deliberately created the condition where they reverse the basic priciple of the western civilization.
          The individual is not capable of looking after themselves. So we are going to do it for you.

          And so with little more than a whimper, we continue down the path of social despotism.

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        • #
          Leo Morgan

          I sympathise with your proposal but suggest we modify the idea a bit.

          The problem with direct democracy is that it leads to ‘Bread and Circuses’. Remember, Hillary got the popular vote.

          On the other hand, the major problem with representative democracy is political parties. They are a problem because parliamentarians represent the party more than they represent the constituents. I think we should keep elected representatives, who have the authority and responsibility to oversee our appointed heads of departments, investigate abuses, and stand up for individuals and compel expert advice. But we should make the following changes:
          Firstly, we should outlaw political parties as criminal conspiracies. Politicians talking to other politicians off the record under any circumstances should be found guilty of an offence called ‘associating with a known politician while being an elected representative’.

          Secondly, of course, we still need to circumscribe their behaviour. I suggest a democratic veto. A plebiscite on every piece of legislation. No legislation may become law unless it garners a simple majority, from an optional vote consisting of more than 25% of the eligible voters. While this would have been prohibitively expensive in the past, we now have the technology to do it cheaply.

          And of course, it would make it possible to vote against legislation. This is very much the intent of the suggestion. The true definition of freedom is the ability to say “Hell no” and make it stick.
          The complaint that doing this would make it impossible for a government to govern, is in fact exactly the point. The government would not govern, the people would.
          As they should.

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      • #
        Greg in NZ

        Travis T. Jones, the past 2 weeks have indeed been a travesty, resembling a North Korean-style mass programming of traumatised faithful field-workers. Apart from hearing the initial news item on the radio – on the very Ides of March itself – I refuse to listen to any of the overtly emotional reportage spewing forth across the fear-waves (thankfully I gave up TV years ago). There’s been a wealth of calm, clear, written prose concerning the shoah available to read without the hoopla, and ulterior subliminal nonsense, that mass-mind-munting-media is pushing. And yes, the govt of the day is enacting exactly what the wo/man/i/festo laid out. Yet not all of us believe…

        https://nopunchespulled.com/2019/03/19/the-christchurch-massacre/?fbclid=IwAR2znP-3PdK1Sil0mzLai1iuzlAM4POZcxtc8nCNyVVnSSTfEmJHO_Y5Jgk

        Sir Bob Jones writes: “A mature approach to this event… is to take it in our stride, not over-react and to get on with life… should he be sent back to Australia for life imprisonment[?]. Here’s a better idea. Offer him to Pakistan as a victim nation of his action. Their treatment of him, particularly if public, will certainly act as a deterrent to like-minded others.”

        https://www.globalresearch.ca/angles-of-tolerance-yusuf-islam-in-christchurch/5673124

        The Mayor of Christchurch herself welcomed ‘Cat Yusuf Stevens Islam’ onto the stage to sing hippy trippy 1970s Peace Train songs to the mesmerised (traumatised?) crowd. Yet was this not the same man who agreed, wholeheartedly, with the fatwa placed upon author Salman Rushdie 30 years ago? Strange days indeed; very peculiar, mama.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Jack:

      I agree. I took on 3 believers last night in debate. I made the mistake of pointing out that Trump was doing what he said he would do, if elected. The fury that erupted was quite unexpected. They refused to accept Trump, that he wasn’t colluding with Russia, and that he was a vicious racist and anti-feminist (apparently male chauvinous) is no longer in vogue but pig still is. Then they got onto his rejection of Climate Change. The ABC has a lot to answer for.
      Then this afternoon I turned on the car radio and got a full blast of ABC propaganda (it was about the Night Parrot) about the importance of chacking facts and the importance of scientific integrity. A bit rich coming from the ABC.

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      • #
        jack

        Graeme No.3
        They are an angry lot, aren’t they.
        When you use facts or reason, they get angrier!

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          We may get to a point when they are violent.

          IMHO a lot of them seem completely brainwashed, its a step up to violence, but if they can become conditioned to get violent when pushed, how much of a step woukd it be to get them to commit unhinged violence.

          During the Inquisitions, one characteristic of the mobs was bursts of extreme anger.

          I honestly think there has to be a spiritual dimension to this – so many people across the planet all dangerously deluded and potentially primed to be so potentially violent…..

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          • #
            jack

            I agree OriginalSteve

            Reject Reason and any atrocity is justifiable

            I forget who said it,
            someone a lot smarter than me.

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          • #
            PeterS

            It’s inevitable that society will become more violent as the governments of the West become more and more elitist and overpowering disregarding the wishes of the people. It’s not something we should be looking forward to but it is going to happen regardless. How violent it becomes is anyone’s guess. The neo-cons are only making matters worse by wanting to expand their attraction to violence against other nations.

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            • #
              el gordo

              Nothing is inevitable and under Beijing’s new world order there will be peace and harmony everywhere.

              This benevolent fascist dictatorship is happy to leave Australians to their own political devices, in their mind democracy is so last century.

              Its not uncommon for a bus load of Chinese tourists to turn up at parliament for Question Time, to watch democracy in action. Perhaps they are amused by the shouting across the floor, its a novel experience but nevertheless impressive.

              There won’t be any violence, nor crash and burn, this is a brave new world and, because Oz is the quarry, we’ll muddle through.

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              • #
                Analitik

                under Beijing’s new world order there will be peace and harmony everywhere

                FFS, haven’t you seen the unrest with falling property prices, shadow loan companies going under, tech company layoffs???

                China has a raft of issues at hand threatening its own “peace and harmony” let alone its attempt to spread its influence under the Silk Belt and Road initiative (check out how happy Sri Lanka is with the deal they got locked into)

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              • #
                el gordo

                The fall in property prices reflects what is happening in Australia and the tech company layoffs is more to do with looking for fresh talent methinks.

                https://qz.com/1562014/chinas-tech-giants-are-firing-people-amid-an-economy-slowdown/

                A corrupt Sri Lankan government got itself in a mess, that is their problem. Did you know China has a 99 year lease on Darwin Harbour?

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          • #
            yarpos

            Its a lucky thing we have been disarmed eh?

            10

      • #
        Yonniestone

        We were first subjected to the unbridled hatred of the left four years ago on the streets of Melbourne for simply flying our nation’s flag and affirming our love for it.

        What struck us most was the complete lack of reason for their motives, you could see the fear underneath their bravado it was a fear of the repurcussions from the authority they answered to if they stepped outside of party policies.

        This is the same fear that drove the masses of communist history into revolution and their demise, history will repeat and repair when the tolerant refuse to tolerate the intolerant.

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      • #
        Roger

        I suspect that there is a similar mindset to those in the UK who don’t believe in Democracy and want to Remain ruled by the EU.

        James Delingpole at Breitbart has an article reporting on a study of the attitudes and mindset of Brexiteers and Remainers. Brexiteers are more tolerant, generous and kinder than ‘spiteful, nasty, vengeful’ Remainers.

        https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/03/30/brexiteers-nicer-than-remainers-say-experts/

        There is little doubt that the left-wing mindset is not very kind or nice towards those who don’t conform to their worldview, be that climate change, agenda 21 or their preferred anti-democracy future.

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      • #
        Speedy

        You can’t use reason to talk someone out of an unreasonable position. (Mark Twain or similar.)

        Cheers,

        Speedy

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          Speaking of drinking the Kool Aid….

          https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-01/nrma-calls-for-diesel-and-petrol-car-ban-by-2030/10949414

          “The NRMA says Australia is lagging so far behind the rest of the world in adopting low-emissions vehicles that a ban on the sale of new internal combustion engines should happen within the next decade.

          The UK and France have already announced plans to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040, and other countries including Germany and China have indicate they intend to follow a similar path.

          NRMA CEO Rohan Lund told Four Corners Australia has a lot of catching up to do.

          “So if anything, our targets here need to be a bit more aggressive than what we’re seeing in other markets,” he said.

          “I would expect to start seeing targets that are between 2025, 2030 for banning [the sale of new] petrol-driven cars in this country.

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          • #
            AndyG55

            I would expect to see members leaving the NRMA, by the thousands.

            Tell them where to STICK-IT !!

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          • #
            WXcycles

            What we’re seeing is high taxes applied to imported cars and motorbikes per-sec. And given hybrids are usually initially more expensive people won’t chose to buy them unless ‘virtuous’ signals and messianic dispositions are very high priority items.

            Plus if government(s) were not constantly gouging the shishkabab out of the aussie driving punter, to pay for the nearly but not quite completely useless virtue-signaling windmills and solar panel scams the punters might have sufficient disposable incomes and lower imported car prices to pay for hybrid cars.

            But given gasoline is also so fantastically highly taxed by same miscreant governments, which of them will want widespread adoption of hybrids that consume 25 to 30% less fuel? Tax revenue would plummet! Paradise lost! Have you no humanity!?

            So we can’t have that. A country can only afford only so much useless virtue-signaling. The less fuel-efficient and higher taxed the cars are, the more government prefers it. The current settings are about maximizing the highest taxation grabs from the most.

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    • #
      StephenP

      In the same way as every direction from the North Pole is South, from the Left Pole every direction is Right (-Wing).

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    • #
      jack

      :
      Only two red thumbs down!
      I’m a bit disappointed about that.
      Jo, you need more “diversity” in your content to attract more more weirdos to your site. 😉

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Dont worry, we get a few, but also we get a few who monitor and ask questions to gauge how we will react. I think a couple of times they got a rude shock.

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    • #
      WXcycles

      The Australian Prime Minister says,
      “There is an eight-fold increase in the number of people being monitored under a security watch list.”

      You can bet most of them are first or second gens from middle east and north Africa,

      “This is the immigration we had to have.” – Every Federal politician in the country for the past 15 years.

      No, we didn’t have to have immigration of this sort. We could have had immigration of people who didn’t bring such counterproductive ‘cult-ural’ baggage with them, because right now domestic ‘nationalists’ are simply responding to treacherous politicians who have ruined our social fabric and cohesion with immigration of entirely the wrong type, and are thus now putting so many Australians on (very expensive and totally otherwise unnecessary) ‘watch lists’, and then pretending to be protecting us from the bitey-nasties which they just keep importing anyway!

      Double-think much, Morrison?

      20

      • #
        jack

        :
        Cane Toads, Foxes & Rabbits where once our biggest import problem, but now…!
        Expansion of infrastructure is not matching our population growth.
        We have the dams running low, supplying twice the population and they blame the weather!
        Today the authorities were talking of a congestion Tax on our roads!!
        The whole thing smacks of a nightmarish implementation of Hegelian dialectic.

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  • #
    TdeF

    Why is it in the US that ‘Climate Change’ is a huge topic for Democrats and not even on the radar for Republicans. Similarly around the world. If ‘climate change’ and its parent ‘runaway tipping point armageddon Global Warming’ are so important, why are opinions divided entirely on party lines? What is it about Democrats/Labor/Socialist/Communists/Fascists that Climate Change is so important?

    Besides, where is it happening? How can you tell? It’s been 30 years. Please, send us a sign, not snow in LA.

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    • #
      TdeF

      Snow in LA, Las Vegas, Cairo and freezing weather in tropical Bangladesh sends entirely the wrong message.

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      • #
        TdeF

        You would think that despite the best efforts of the BOM, NASA and the UN/IPCC, the world is getting colder rapidly. Of course cooling is just an extreme side effect of Global Warming, due to Climate Change.

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    • #
      Richard Ilfeld

      Because, first, climate change is only the latest fraud that the left has bet upon in their goal to achieve political dominance and remake society, and second, because the left has always fancied itself an international movement whereas the ordinary, work-for-a-living build-up-society-and-institutions crowd not only does not have a shared view across countries — it i totally baffled at cross border politics.

      The left can say “workers of the world, unite”. It feeds on the emotion of shared victimhood, and grows as a vampire like movement in the dark underbellies of our countries by drinking the blood of hate of the successful. The international proletariat has become the international ‘environmental movement’. The tell is the same goals, a healthier environment being a goal tertiary to raising money, tearing down institutions, and taking over governments.

      The Europeans are condescending toward everyone culturally, Americans mostly indifferent excepts for profit as their institutions spread, the China Russia axis preserves values and behaviors from the last century, and every else gets out of the way wile the elephants roll around.

      Our elections in the states are generally winner-take-all (except in left leaning leftist only primaries, where groups keep juggling the rules to gain an advantage). I don’t understand proportional or first-past-the-post systems, or banana republics with ‘strong men’, or a communist central committee, except as academic concepts. I have no idea how the leaders of the EU are chosen. I’m not sure the citizen of the EU do either, which is probably on purpose. The phrase ‘forming a government’ critical in most of the world’s parliamentary systems, is an abstraction, as the holding of a caucus might be to someone not from Iowa. The concept of a written constitution and independent court system, and non-arbitrary governance is strange to many.

      The folks that are trying to make things work, who believe in work and progress and markets and customers and people free to earn a living and formation and control of capital and making life better for all as individuals in the real world keep trying to figure out the messy problem of how much government is enough, how much is too much, and what form is best, while power is hared by those who produce results.

      The folks who are or wish to feel left out are sure that they, if their ifinite wisdom, could do better if only they were given all power– they always find it easier to take over by violence or lies, as giving folks a better life is far too hard. Climate change is the best lie going, and that’s why the global left has latched on to it. It’s a route to power without producing anything worthwhile;
      promising rainbows and unicorns after a brief but violent Armageddon.

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    • #
      GD

      Besides, where is it happening? How can you tell? It’s been 30 years. Please, send us a sign, not snow in LA.

      That’s the question I ask of warmists. Where is it happening?

      Invariably it’s a fine sunny day, albeit a little on the cool side when we are having this discussion. As you say, it’s been 30 years. Surely by now, someone somewhere would be feeling the heat. Instead, the ‘extreme’ weather events are predominantly unexpected freezing weather in the Northern Hemisphere.

      As for extreme weather in Australia, warmists and politicians try to blame bushfires and floods on mankind’s burning of coal. The reality is that the intensity of bushfires is exacerbated by the lack of dry fuel clearing, not by CO2 emissions from industry.

      When in doubt, read Hanrahan’s “We’ll All Be Rooned”.

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      • #
        David Wojick

        If only it were that simple. Unfortunately the green world is full to the brim with specific claims of human caused extreme weather events. The U.S. National Climate Assessment (by 13 federal agencies no less) is larded with them. The so-called scientific literature is awash with “attribution” studies (certified by the U.S. Academy of Sciences) that even claim to measure the degree of human contribution. The developing countries are gearing up compensation claims based on their to-be-reported “loss and damage” from human caused climate change. And so on.

        This is not something we can just shrug off.

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    • #
      Slithers

      I have relatives in the UK. They tell me more snow is forecast.
      Late spring in northern Hemisphere. Snow in April!
      Early winter in Australia, Snow in March!
      I think the conclusion can only mean one thing;
      The climate is getting cooler!

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      • #
        Annie

        We had snow flurries in North Yorkshire every morning until late May in 2013. I know, because I walked to collect our paper every day!

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        • #
          Annie

          Today I saw snow lying in sheltered nooks and crannies on a Cumbrian mountain…

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          • #
            Sambar

            Cumbria home Annie, Autumn is stiil wonderful. Stable, sunny again and a few points of much needed rain over thje past few days. 22 degrees C today

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            • #
              Annie

              Sounds good Sambar but I am enjoying seeing my family and the beautiful wild flowers and bursting spring buds of England atm!

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      • #
        toorightmate

        Slithers,
        You are wrong, wrong, wrong!!!
        It is the weather which is cooler, not the climate.
        I’ll tell you in about 1,000 years from now what the climate MIGHT be doing.
        In the meantime, no one in Tasmania is growing pineapples.

        20

        • #
          Slithers

          Oh Dear! Toorightmate it is you are so wrong, wrong, wrong!
          Weather is LOCAL.
          An observed fact of equal effects(Lengthening winter seasons) in Northern and Southern Hemispheres is climate.

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          • #
            toorightmate

            30 years is a dot on the CLIMATE graph.
            1,000 years might just show a trend for CLIMATE.

            10

  • #

    There’s a quirky little thing I’ve been noticing recently, but only since I have been doing the detailed data collection for my Australian power generation Series. While I have only recently picked up on it, it’s always been the case and it’s something I asked the Engineer I spoke with at the AEMO. (I mentioned that just six days back in an earlier Comment at this link)

    When I was speaking with him about the subject of that earlier comment, before ringing off, I asked if I might call him at later times, every so often if I had any questions, and he said he would happily take my calls. And, as it is, I have only phoned him back the one time, and he was as helpful that time as for the earlier time.

    As I was just starting out with that Series, I wanted to know about the time thing, and as obvious as that might sound, it’s a specific thing.

    As you all know, electrical power is an instantaneous thing. What is being generated HAS to cover what is being consumed, plus a little more. (insurance, and losses etc)

    However, all of that is a total at a single point in time, and carries on across the day.

    So, keeping that in mind, I wondered about the situation when you view those power consumption graphs (Load Curves) for each State at the AEMO site. (at this link) Okay, at the link, on the graph, the lighter coloured line shows the Load Curve for actual power consumption, the Demand. At the top left on the graph are the buttons for each of the five States. At the top right are the two buttons for 30 Minutes and 5 Minutes, and it’s more accurate on the 5 Minute button, as the 30Minute one is just the situation at the end of each 30 minute averaging period.

    On the NSW one at the default image there, when you move your mouse over the graph, the day and the time shows up at the bottom of the graph for where your mouse currently is.

    What I wanted to know, with power being instantaneous, was if the time was a set thing, or the individual time for each of those States.

    The AEMO Engineer informed me that the time is the ONE time for all five States. and is set on Queensland time, which is always Eastern Standard Time, as Queensland does not have Daylight Savings Time, and that’s understandable for the AEMO, as they never need to adjust the time when that EDST changes twice a year.

    So the time you see at EACH ONE of those five States is the Queensland time, so, the power additions (from State to State for the total) can be calculated for that single point in time.

    So, we now are nearing the end of AEDT, so it will change back soon.

    However, as is the nature of power consumption, those early AM minimums (the Base Load) and the evening Peaks are nearly always at or around the same time each and every day, Summer and Winter, and the two benign Seasons. The actual Demand reaches a minimum each AM (at 4AM plus or minus a little) and the same happens with the major Peak, (in the evenings) as it rises to that peak, and then falls away.

    What I have noticed this Summer is that those minimums and the peaks are now spread out across longer time periods anything up to an hour or more, and that’s 12 separate five minute time readings. It’s a case of being at or around that low or high, give or take 100MW (plus or minus 0.3% to 0.5%, so virtually nothing) for the hour, and sometimes more time in fact.

    Each State has it’s Peak or minimum at around the same time each day, only now, with EDST, it is spread out across time because it is an instantaneous reading of Demand, based on the time in Queensland.

    So in fact, Daylight Savings is probably beneficial when it comes to power consumption, because each State has their peak at the same time, but at a different time BECAUSE of daylight savings, so not as much power is need at those larger Summer peaks.

    South Australia, with its half hour difference makes little impact because it is such a small consumer, at only 6.25% of the Australian Total.

    However, the three Biggies, NSW, Qld and Victoria do make a difference, because without daylight savings, those peaks could be anything up to 1500MW higher on some of the bigger consuming Summer peaks.

    Tony.

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    • #
      TdeF

      Tony, a big issue today was that people do not understand how to get the maximum return from their solar panels with ‘payin’ rates. (This is part of an ongoing campaign to say that the rocketing electricity prices are the fault of the public)

      Can you tell me

      1. If solar inputs from home panels actually are used by anyone? Can the system work in reverse in fact, or is this just more subsidies by everyone for middle class solar panels?

      2. If randomly windmill power generated is actually used and means less coal is burned and thus CO2 generated, or is the power simply dumped as it is in excess to supply?

      I have a suspicion that this whole windmill/solar panel pay in is just rubbish, as well as your nameplate/actual argument. I suspect that there is no overall reduction if supplies are unpredictabl, just a double cost for consumers to have two competing systems running.

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      • #

        TdeF,

        as the Engineer at AEMO mentioned to me (shh! Don’t tell anyone) they do not rely on rooftop solar in the wider picture of power generation. Rooftop power is a local thing used in the residential sector, and local to the area where the houses have panels, and is not used (and in fact is of no use at all) on the grid for the actual power generation versus power consumption.

        Now, why he said that is that the only sizeable power generation from rooftop solar is around midday, and at that time, power consumption is in the main falling away between the morning and evening peaks.

        He also mentioned context. You have a rooftop system of an average 6KW. The home consumes a large(ish) part of that, and what is fed back outside of the home with the panels needs to be kept in the context of a grid consuming (in whatever area) anything between many hundreds and many thousands of MEGAWATTS.

        And electrical power is not dumped.

        They only generate what is actually being consumed plus losses and a bit of insurance. After many many decades of power generation, the single most important thing in all electrical power generation is the Load Curve. That has NEVER changed, from day to day, and across the whole year. They know what is going to happen across each hour of the day, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring, so they know what’s coming, and in increments across each five minutes they can adjust that power generation, and usually do it in advance, telling plants when to be ready to add to the grid.

        Now, wrt coal fired power. When you have a minimum each day of an average 18000MW, a daily average of (around) 23000MW and Peaks as high as 32000MW, then they need large scale power generation, and here in Oz, that’s coal fired power. That is what DELIVERS those huge amounts of daily power. What I have found is that no matter what rooftop solar is doing or what wind power is doing, it has ZERO effect on coal fired power. That just keeps on delivering what it always has, HUGE amounts of the required power.

        If wind power is high, then natural gas fired power and hydro power fall, and vice versa, when wind is low, those two sources are high.

        Coal fired power ramps up and down, and does that on a daily basis, not just now because of wind and solar, but because it always has done just that, ramp up and down on an hour to hour basis, across each and every day.

        Tony.

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        • #
          TdeF

          Power is not dumped. Ok.

          1 So what happens when the coal fired stations are supplying all our needs and the wind and solar generators come on line?
          What happens to the excess?

          2 Who is paid? Everyone?

          3 Who decides?

          4 And can home power ever supply industrial power? Does the distribution system work in reverse, back up to high voltage for distribution from domestic areas?

          5 And does the excess power from solar in a dormitory suburb ever power anything?

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          • #

            Coal fired power supplies 74% of all power plant generated power.

            The remainder comes from five other sources, natural gas fired power, (8.6%) hydro power, (6.3%) those smaller (and numerous) Other sources, (2%) wind power, (6.6%) and solar plant power. (1.9%)

            When wind power goes up, natural gas and hydro go down, and keep in mind we are only talking about 1% if wind goes high or low, and that’s only at the day to day level.

            Coal fired power stays at that 74% mark.

            Rooftop solar power can NEVER supply power on the scale of Industrial or Commercial power requirements.

            Tony.

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        • #
          TdeF

          As for ‘ramping up and down’, can that happen fast enough?

          Does that save any coal, or is the power not generated when it could be generated?

          My point here is that I suspect that the high variability of solar and wind cannot be matched by anything other than gas and hydro and when that is inadequate, there is a massive mismatch. What happens then.

          I suspect that there is myth that payin solar is used, when it is almost never used. There is a myth that there is no loss from a mismatch of demand and supply from solar, wind, hydro, diesel, coal. Dumping.

          It is highly possible that solar and wind do not at all reduce the need for coal power, if the priority is to avoid blackouts, the inverse of dumping.

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            Look at the image at this link. (This is from five days ago)

            This shows the Load curve for coal fired power (lower black line) and all fossil fuelled power. (upper black line)

            Actual total generated power is a line a little higher than the upper black line and the same shape.

            The coal fired line ramps down to the daily minimum, from Midnight to 4AM. Then up to the morning peak at around 7AM. then slightly down, and then back up to the evening peak at around 7PM, and then back down again. It does that on a fleet wide basis, with each of those 48 Units doing their own little bit.

            They burn the same coal all the time, just altering the input excitation to vary the output.

            The range from low to high on this day was 4180MW, from the 4AM low to the 7PM peak, with up down and up in between.

            EVERY day.

            Tony.

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              Bobl

              I think you should check this, varying excitation changes voltage, but it also varies load on the mechanical drive, you have to have a regulator on the engine in order to keep the frequency right. So in general it’s the speed regulator and sychroniser that does the heavy lifting.

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          TdeF

          “Don’t tell anyone they do not rely on rooftop solar in the wider picture of power generation. Rooftop power is a local thing used in the residential sector, and local to the area where the houses have panels, and is not used (and in fact is of no use at all) on the grid for the actual power generation versus power consumption.”

          That means we are being ripped off. Theft. As usual. Paying people to have solar power and the fantasy that solar power dormitory suburbs at low voltage is used to make aluminum.

          The insanity is that people believe they are doing a good thing. Governments force us to pay them for that good thing. But it is all fake. People pay very high prices for electricity because of under utilization of pay in rates, the very thing governments are now telling us should reduce the cost of power.

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            Rooftop solar. Think of it like this.

            There is a current Nameplate of around 8500MW, huge by any standard when mentioned as that one big number.

            The actual average power being generated in its totality is around 1200MW per day.

            Half of that is actually being consumed by the homes with the panels on their roofs.

            So now we have 600MW being generated in total.

            That is not in the one place, but spread across the WHOLE of Australia. It’s not one big generator in the one place delivering power to the grid.

            It’s 2.5 million teensy weensy little tiddlers all over everywhere.

            It’s nothing at all in the scheme of things spread across such a vast area.

            Tony.

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              TdeF

              Thanks. Politically though they are arguing is that the reason poor people with solar are not better off
              is that they are not utilizing pay in rates.

              My contention is that pay in rates are a fr*ud on the public. Handing our cash to subsidize solar after paying half the cost in the first place.

              As you agree, home solar (for which we pay even after installation) is not only trivial, it is never used by anyone else. So what happens to it? Or doesn’t that matter?

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                GD

                Jo, I reckon that this exchange between TonyfromOz and TdeF should be the basis for a separate post about the myth around the benefits and efficacy of solar panels on residential rooftops.

                It seems from reading Tony and TdeF’s remarks that solar rooftop panels offer a slight benefit to the householder and absolutely no benefit to the national grid. At the same time, they are a liability which forces up the energy prices for everyone else.

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                Robber

                Feed in tariffs at around 10 cents/kWhr are a fraud, and the ACCC has recommended they be abolished: “Premium solar feed-in-tariff schemes should be funded by state governments and the small scale renewable energy scheme should be phased out”. The Vic ESC states: “the feed in tariff includes a price that is paid to account for the avoided social cost of carbon attributable to a reduction in air pollution.”
                Home solar is having an impact on overall demand on the grid around midday (see Jo’s article on the duck curve.)

                While wind and solar are currently having virtually zero impact on coal-fired generation as Tony has demonstrated, that’s because the fluctuations are being balanced by variations in hydro and gas generation. But double the RET and coal will be impacted.
                For example, solar currently delivers a peak of about 5 GW, and wind 4 GW, combined average 3 GW, range 1-9 GW. That is currently balanced by hydro that varies from 1-5 GW and gas 1-6 GW.
                But now consider Labor’s BS scenario where intermittent “renewables” must supply 50% of the average demand of 24 GW.
                That’s 12 GW on average from wind and solar. Coal currently supplies an average of 17 GW, so it will certainly be drastically curtailed under this scenario.
                Furthermore, peak wind/solar could be over 30 GW, well in excess of total demand, hence the sudden interest in further investment in pumped hydro and batteries.
                For when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind hardly blows, those “renewables” will deliver only 1 GW, requiring 23 GW on average and up to 34 GW peak demand to be provided by “reliables” – therefore coal, gas and hydro must continue to be available or the lights will go out. Massive duplicate investments will come at a cost.
                See another great Jo article on the impact of 55% Renewables on electricity costs.

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          • #
            RickWill

            Rooftop is having a huge impact on the grid. South Australia typically has its minimum demand on grid scale generation around midday rather than the historic early morning minimum. In the last 24 hours the minimum grid generator demand in Queensland was at midday on Sunday at 5075MW and not 4am Monday when it was 5094MW. This year Queensland will often experience minimum demand at midday rather than 4am.

            The distributors are having to redesign the networks to cater for reverse power flow. It is now a significant issue and they have flagged the need to budget for it. It will add more cost to network charges. This is Ausnet’s latest planning report:
            https://www.ausnetservices.com.au/-/media/Files/AusNet/About-Us/Regulatory-Publications/AusNet-Services_Distribution-Annual-Planning-Report-2019_2023.ashx?la=en

            Increased penetration of Solar PV and other forms of generation have resulted in significant reverse power flow at light load conditions in some parts of the network. The full impact of bi-directional power flow is yet to be observed however, it is envisaged that network augmentation may be required in future to cater for this emerging change in power system behaviour.

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          Hanrahan

          Coal fired power ramps up and down, and does that on a daily basis, not just now because of wind and solar, but because it always has done just that, ramp up and down on an hour to hour basis, across each and every day.

          But thermal plants can’t ramp up and down as efficiently or quickly as hydro and the newer closed cycle gas. I read a GE type was still efficient down to 30% rated.

          You and I are ex “queer trades” RAAF where the transformers we met were true two way devices. I’m wondering if the transformers in subs are the same. Somehow I doubt it. If power can’t be reversed through the sub localities will experience rising voltage and solar systems will drop out where the only ones exporting are those owned by the tech savy who have wound up the output voltage. [I am told by a system engineer that it happens]

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          • #
            RickWill

            No transformer has difficulty with power flow in either direction. No generator operates at transmission voltage. All have step up transformers in order to supply into the network. The problem comes from the scarcity of transformers fitted with automatic or remote controlled tap changes so the reverse power flow can be handled without the low voltage side going into over voltage. The majority of transformers at the distribution level have off-load tap changers, which require power off before the tap changer can be adjusted. These are not suited to a system that can have power flow in both directions.

            The linked paper gives some insight into the issues of handling intermittent generation:
            https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.06025.pdf

            If you had not already realised it, all this comes at a cost which “no one” could possibly foresee. It guarantees one thing, if you are not making your own electricity you will be paying more for grid power.

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            • #
              Slithers

              I am sort of mystified by the statements here.
              Step-up means low voltage in and Higher voltage out.
              When I did electricity (60 years ago) that meant an Auto transformer, a single coil with taps at a different numbers of turns. The output side had a fixed number turns.
              Can these modern grid transformers switch between tap off points?
              What happens when the power is going the other way?
              Very carefully regulated voltage and frequency from those pesky inverters providing power into a step-up transformer.
              What is the result?

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    • #
      James Poulos

      Tony,

      Could the spread of the peaks and troughs in demand be in any way also caused by the increased use of Smart Meters and people attempting to utilize lower peak times – when in actual fact if everyone did they would just spread the peak over longer periods?

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  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    97% BoM … 100% mission failure

    Our mission
    The Bureau’s mission is to provide Australians with the information they need to live safely and sustainably within their natural environment, which encompasses the atmosphere, ocean, water and land.
    To achieve this, the Bureau of Meteorology:

    * monitors and reports on current environmental conditions;
    * analyses and explains trends in environmental data;
    * provides forecasts, warnings and long-term outlooks on environmental phenomena that affect the safety and prosperity of Australians; and
    * fosters greater public understanding of environmental intelligence. 
    http://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/10/a-short-history-of-the-bureau-of-meteorology/

    31 March, 2019: Flood-hit Territory cattle station owner calls for government support

    “Initial forecasts promised up to 200 millimetres for the parched Barkly, and possible flooding.

    Grazier Katherine Warby and her husband run a family-owned cattle station near Tennant Creek in the Barkly.

    “We were told that we were going to get huge rainfall.

    We were told that we would get between 200 and 300 millimetres, we were prepared for big rain,” she said.

    [It was] really, really disappointing.

    I know some people did get absolutely nothing, but just the lead-up to it, the hype was huge, from the police, from the SES, it was really disappointing …”

    The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed the system had passed further to the east than initially predicted.

    Aug, 2018: Frustrated farmers turn on BOM forecasting

    “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.

    “It just breaks your spirit,” sheep farmer Chris Blunt from Emu Swamp told AAP.

    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/frustrated-farmers-turn-on-bom-forecasting/b2f78fd4-3fd5-4c18-ae47-d33b6f33127e

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      What’s the problem? It sounds reasonable to me.

      With this in mind I’m waiting for crocs to show in Brisbane R. That will be fun.:)

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      • #
        GD

        Crocs? I doubt it.

        In the late 60s/early 70s I spent some school holidays (from Townsville) at my grandfather’s house overlooking the Brisbane river. The University was directly across the river. In those days there was regular traffic along the river. Morning, noon or evening it was a joy to watch small boats hauling produce and rowing teams competing.

        It reminded me of the classic poem by John Masefield:

        Cargoes

        Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
        Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
        With a cargo of ivory,
        And apes and peacocks,
        Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

        Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
        Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
        With a cargo of diamonds,
        Emeralds, amethysts,
        Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.

        Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
        Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
        With a cargo of Tyne coal,
        Road-rails, pig-lead,
        Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

        As I looked out on the Brisbane river it was the third stanza that rang true.
        However, no crocs, although on shore there were plenty of blue-tounged lizards.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Here is an absolutely bizarre segment which was just on the ABC “Science Show”. It starts out by claiming that during the moon landings the US requested Australian assistance because we were good at “faking things”. This is a reference to the early days of international cricket matches held in Britain and results were relayed to Australia in semi real time via telegraph and the commentators made up the relevant dialogue and sound effects on live radio. This was before reliable real time audio links via radio or undersea cable. Anyway that leads into bizarre mocking comments about President Trump. The segment is both not funny, has no legitimate purpose and has nothing to do with science. The segment is at the following link.

    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/president-trump-heading-for-the-far-side-of-the-moon/10953196

    My response which will probably not be published was:

    This wasn’t very funny and it was a poor excuse to bash President Trump, but what else would we expect from the ABC? And where was the science? Furthermore, nonsense like this just “proves” to the poorly educated, which I’m sure are well represented among ABC listeners, that the moon landings were a hoax as many already seem to believe. Remind me again why my taxes have to pay for this garbage?

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      And they call us flat earthers !

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      jack

      Dave This is outrageous.
      Robyn Williams, a failure at science presentation, has a crack at political satire.
      His satirical attempt could only be described as pathetic.
      He is obviously not capable of earning a living in real world, so
      would be best suited to a job with the Government in the department of,
      “To incompetent to earn a living, so lets just pay him money”.
      :
      I am truly gobsmacked with the content of that broadcast.

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      That is some truly bizarre attempt at humour, pure political bias,

      – AIMLO (acronym)
      – Ex President Clinton cited as a credible reference.
      – Cricket broadcasts mocked as Dave notes, Aussie culture bashed.
      – Fake moon landing and USSR space missions called fake.
      – Nixon mentioned as conspirator.
      – Everyone paid/bribed to keep quiet, anti capitalism.
      – The fake moon landing flag myth raised as fact.
      – Climate Change science mentioned as legitimate.
      – Fox News aligned with Trump.
      – Trump’s government is unworkable.
      – Cliche Trump jokes, hair, ego, MAGA, wall.
      – Dalek ABC geek joke?
      – Dalek Exterminate line used at end, wishful thinking?

      The skit finishes with Tom Lehrer’s “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” for what effect escapes me, I don’t know if the entire thing is satire of the usual left memes seen today or actually sincere in its delivery, either way its a bit clumsy and mildly disturbing.

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        Hanrahan

        If the moon landing as faked, they did a pretty good job. There was far more to the story than “One small step for man ….” from blast off to recovery – They were incredibly convincing.

        But it pales into insignificance compared to Apollo 13. That was high drama Hitchcock could not match.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Yonniestone, you might want to post your comments at the ABC website comments section for that segment.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      As an aside, with those old cricket broadcasts, the sound of the ball hitting bat was made by hitting a pencil on a coconut shell.

      They were the days when the ABC was both admired and necessary to spread the word to “the country”.

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      • #
        Graeme#4

        I recall reading that since the score depended on the “commentators” receiving telegrams, they were sometimes caught out when more than one wicket fell in quick succession. Then they had to quickly change their “commentary” to realign with the actual score.

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      GD

      This is an outrageous abuse of taxpayer funds and a betrayal of the trust that Australians have traditionally placed in the national broadcaster.

      Clearly, the ABC staff are thumbing their noses at us. They don’t give a rats about their charter.

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    • #
      WXcycles

      We have to pay taxes to get that top-shelf krud David.

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  • #
    pat

    31 Mar: AP: Judge restores Obama-era drilling ban in Arctic
    By SUDHIN THANAWALA
    U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason in a decision late Friday threw out Trump’s executive order that overturned the bans that comprised a key part of Obama’s environmental legacy.
    Presidents have the power under a federal law to remove certain lands from development but cannot revoke those removals, Gleason said.
    “The wording of President Obama’s 2015 and 2016 withdrawals indicates that he intended them to extend indefinitely, and therefore be revocable only by an act of Congress,” said Gleason, ***who was nominated to the bench by Obama…

    no doubt that’s not the end of that story. however, what about the FakeNewsMSM’s FakeClimateLeaders – Norway, France, China?

    Court challenge to Arctic oil drilling in Norway defeated
    Financial Times – Jan 4, 2018
    Norway has defeated a lawsuit brought by environmental groups trying to block drilling for oil in the Arctic…

    15 March: The Barents Observer: No halt in Norway’s hunger for Arctic oil
    Amid growing protests against Arctic drilling, the Norwegian government proposes 48 new oil blocks in the Barents Sea
    By Atle Staalesen
    The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy on Thursday announced that it proposes drilling on additional 90 blocks, 48 of them in the Barents Sea.
    “It is important to keep up the positive development with exploration in the Barents Sea, […] I hope this will lead to robust field development solutions and enhanced industrial activity in the North,” the minister adds…

    Norway still heavily invested in coal
    World Coal – 4 Mar 2019
    Norway’s Oil Fund has US$7.2 billion invested in the global coal industry

    5 March: Forbes: Forbes’ Richest Russian Gets Even Richer In LNG Deal
    by Kenneth Rapoza
    The richest Russian on the Forbes billionaire list, Leonid Mikhelson, became even richer on Tuesday after selling a 10% stake in its Arctic LNG project to ***France’s Total…
    The deal for the sale of 10% of Novatek’s Arctic LNG-2 project was signed last year at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum—deemed the Russian Davos—in the presence of president Vladimir Putin and France’s president ***Emmanuel Macron…

    The Russian state reserves commission puts Arctic LNG-2 gas reserves at approximately 2 trillion cubic meters. The project will eventually include the construction of three LNG train terminals that can transport around 6.6 million tons per year each, using gravity-based structure platforms…

    ***European companies are sharing in Mikhelson’s ice-cold Arctic wealth.
    Italy-based Nuovo Pignone, an oil and gas industry equipment manufacturer owned in part by GE, secured a contract in December to provide turbo machinery equipment for a Novatek LNG export project. Siemens of Germany is also in with the Russians. They won a contract to provide equipment for the Arctic LNG 2 project…

    American firms are sanctioned from providing any technical equipment used in the extraction of hydrocarbons in Russia’s Arctic. ExxonMobil was banned and later fined by the Obama administration for its joint venture with Rosneft in Russia’s Kara Sea, near the Yamal peninsula where Mikhelson is setting up an Arctic throne for Novatek…
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2019/03/05/forbes-richest-russian-gets-even-richer-in-lng-deal/#41e0de27492d

    1 May 2018: Foreign Policy: China’s Ready to Cash In on a Melting Arctic
    Beijing has big plans for its own Polar Silk Road
    By Sherri Goodman, Elisabeth Freese
    That means a new route through the unfrozen Arctic, dominated by Chinese trade and tied into Beijing’s global ambitions…
    https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/05/01/chinas-ready-to-cash-in-on-a-melting-arctic/

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    pat

    29 Mar: Daily Mail: Famed civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center faces allegations of ‘systemic racism and sexism’ including claims qualified African-American employees were ‘passed over for promotions’
    •Employees have spoken out about alleged racism and sexism within the Southern Poverty Law Center
    •The civil rights group, based in Alabama, monitors the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists
    •The SPLC has launched a wide-ranging external review following the firing of co-founder, five times married, Morris Dees earlier this month…
    •On March 22, SPLC President Richard Cohen stepped down, resigning a little more than a week after he fired Dees
    •Former Michelle Obama’s Chief-of-Staff Tina Tchen has been appointed to lead a company-wide review
    By Chantalle Edmunds
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6864575/Famous-civil-rights-group-accused-systemic-racism-sexism.html

    28 Mar: ClimateChangeNews: NGO ignored warnings about bullying boss, before and after tragedy
    By Megan Darby
    Holly Borday killed herself on 31 October 2017. Friends and family described a bright and passionate young woman, brought low by bullying in the climate movement.
    In a Facebook post shortly before her suicide, Borday implicated Wael Hmaidan, executive director of ***Climate Action Network International (Can-I), in sexual harassment…

    A Climate Home News investigation has found the organisation failed to act on warnings about Hmaidan before and after Borday’s death, allowing his behaviour to continue for years…
    “There is something heroic about the climate sector,” said one ex-staffer. “People feel like they are burning for the cause and everything else is insignificant.”…

    Her father said Borday, who was 30 when she died, had faced “challenges” with her mental health prior to working for Can-I, but these had been under control. After leaving Can-I, she spiralled into depression. Her experience in the climate movement “was so negative and humiliating that it ruined her chance of recovery,” in his view…

    In her report, US-based investigator Saleha Walsh expressed surprise both at the number of people who came forward and the fear of retaliation they showed. “People were concerned about the effect that speaking out against Mr Hmaidan could have on their career or job at the secretariat and, most strikingly, in the climate movement in general,” the report said. Several interviewees cried as they recalled events that were traumatic for them…
    https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/03/28/ngo-ignored-warnings-bullying-boss-tragedy/

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  • #
    pat

    Facebook: #StopAdani:
    6h ago: It’s a sign of our times: #StopAdani and #StopCoal signs outside places of worship! You can take part…PICS

    29 Mar: Melbourne! There’s still a few (free) tickets left for the #climateelection kickstart on Monday! Don’t miss the chance to be part of this amazing event. Come meet with other passionate Aussies to make plans for the clean energy revolution! RSVP:

    28 Mar: The Bob Brown Foundation is gearing up for the #StopAdani Convoy, inviting YOU to travel up the east coast of Australia to the Galilee Basin in April!
    Register here for more details…

    28 Mar: Let’s talk toxic corporate influence on our democracy: not only has One Nation been sprung seeking ‘donations’ from the NRA, they’ve also pocketed $25K in donations from Adani and their lobbyists in the past year alone.
    Whether it’s guns or climate change, both Adani and One Nation are willing to make Australia a more dangerous place for the next generation…

    27 Mar: A passionate call-to-action from US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s late, but it’s not too late to prevent catastrophic climate change. That’s why we must #StopAdani #climateelection.

    27 Mar: Top turnout at the #ClimateElection Kick Start in Sydney last night! If you’re in Melbourne, don’t forget yours on Monday night, 5.30pm St Kilda Town Hall HOMOGENOUS PIC
    REPLY: Greg Durnsford:
    Adani is a fantastic opportunity to provide much needed jobs…taxes and royalties. Without coal royalties Queensland’s economy would collapse.
    Bring it on Adani…
    Garth Odowd: Greg Durnsford why are you trolling these pages?
    Greg Durnsford: Garth Odowd freedom of speech is not trolling
    Harold Taylor: Being in the industry, you can’t see the forest for the trees. Coal has passed it’s use by date, and you need to get your head around the transitioning phase. Coal still has some uses, but not for energy.
    Graham Vear: Greg Durnsford you can not see the future,,not about politics, about giving our children a future, Queensland economy will collapse if ADANI are allowed to mine, our entire way of life will collapse if we continue to pollute the atmosphere. FACT.
    Mirella Bohan: Queensland’s economy will not collapse without coal if government and industry create an intelligent plan for the 100% transition to renewables by 2030 as countries like Finland are doing ETC…

    26 Mar: Religious leaders including an Anglican priest, a Uniting church minister, a Catholic Sister of Mercy, a Jewish rabbi, a Baptist pastor and ordained Buddhists held ‘Funeral for Coal’ vigils today, pressuring Australian Labor Party to #StopAdani. PIC
    https://www.facebook.com/pg/stopadani/posts/

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    • #
      glen Michel

      I hope the convoy of unwashed ropeheads are ambushed at Proserpine.Locals from far and wide come down to meet those who have contempt for you.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Can you believe this garbage?

    https://trib.al/MscJJVv

    Experts call for the word ‘cyclist’ to be BANNED because it ‘dehumanises’ people who ride bikes

    Experts believe the word ‘cyclist’ should be banned as it ‘dehumanises’ them

    A new Australian study concluded cyclists weren’t rated as completely human

    Participants in the study admitted they were deliberately aggressive to cyclists

    A new study, conducted by researchers at Queensland University of Technology and Monash University, found there was a link between the dehumanisation of cyclists and deliberate acts of aggression directed towards them on the road.

    QUT professor Narelle Haworth said the study, which questioned 442 people in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, found 55 per cent of non-cyclists rated cyclists as ‘not completely human’.

    She is behind a push to scrap the word ‘cyclist’ and replace it with the term ‘people who ride bikes’.

    (See link for rest.)

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      Yonniestone

      I guess speed bump is out too then?

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      Sambar

      Whoohoo, I am finally ahead of the game, I have for about the last 70 years, always refered to myself as ” a person who rides bikes” you know . a cyclist. Can I be outraged, more to the point can I be compensated or is there a government grant that I can apply for? I think we should start a movement to be refered to as bi- pedalist, much more inclusive.

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Sambar:

        Don’t use that term. Very shortly the ABC and the SMH will be calling for recognition of various LGBTQIA (if that is enough?) categories of things** that ride bicycles, and claiming there is hate and discrimination against them.

        **We have to include those animals that can ride bicycles to placate the animal rights nutters.

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        WXcycles

        Most people don’t have a problem with individual cyclists riding within a bike lane. The only problem I have with them are the arrogant clowns in the Lycra gear, in groups of two and three, who insist they have some special right to ride two and three abreast.

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      Lewis P Buckingham

      I feel April the First coming on.

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    • #

      Ingsoc. Fewer and fewer words, Big Bro and Trilateral Kommiszars’ dream, so that what may be said, or even thought, is reduced to virtual nought. ” We Luv Big Brother!” ” Big Brother knows Best!”

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      OriginalSteve

      At least 97% of cyclists are… cyclists….

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        Hanrahan

        There are cyclists and there are lycra wearing nuts. Who are we talking about?

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          The lycra brigade are usually well behaved, but you get a few who are plain bonkers and earn honorary darwin awards every day….hard cire diir kickers cone to mind. To be fair, some car drivers are plain thoughtless, but some bikers are also plain arrogant.

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          Sambar

          Hey H, a few comments on “nuts” first ya gotta be nuts to ride a bike on the highway, second, ya gotta be nuts to wear lycra, great to ride in but absolutely no protection if you come off ( bits of my skin everywhere) and third when the weather turns cold, as it did over the last 2 days ya get ya N-ts frozen off.
          So “who are we talking about” well me I guess.

          P.S I do try my hardest to be courteous to all road users and now in my mid seventies the kids make me carry a gps locator in case I can’t find my way home, the wife on the other hand hopes the batteries in said device go flat.

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      Bill in Oz

      I was waiting to walk across Henley Beach road in Adelaide yesterday. There is a cycle land and two cyclists rode past me as I waited.
      But Both women and both clearly nervous. Why ? because the traffic was so heavy, that it was very dangerous. Just a minor mistake by either the cyclist or the car drivers and it would have been all over red rover.

      Years ago an academic friend at Monash Uni was killed riding home from Monash. He survived first wipe out and was hospitalised four years earlier. But the second killed him.

      I think cyclists need their own dedicated cycle paths…For safety’s sake ! A cycle land on a major road is an acciden waiting to happen..

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    Hanrahan

    Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who piloted US Airways Flight 1549 to safety in the “Miracle on the Hudson” in 2009, blasted Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration for their roles in the two recent plane crashes involving the Boeing 737 Max 8.
    CBS News

    You have to go back aways to remember when a design weakness caused total loss of life, twice. In two instances I recall, the DH Comet and Douglas DC 8 they caused the collapse of the manufacturer. I’m not suggesting that Boeing’s survival is at risk but I believe there is more pain to come.

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      Roy Hogue

      The Boeing 737 Max 8 has an automatic stall recovery system that lowers the nose as a stall becomes imminent. And that would be correct recovery unless you’re too close to the ground. The airplane picks up speed and begins to fly again. Erroneous activation of that system is suspected in both crashes. There’s talk that the crews didn’t know how to deactivate that stall prevention system and might have prevented the crash if they had known how and did it in time.

      Some search results

      If you’re unfamiliar with aviation use of the word stall, in simple terms it means the wings no longer generate enough lift to support the weight of the airplane. So down it goes.

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      • #
        WXcycles

        Roy, every airliner (and even many GA aircraft) since about WWII, have had a stick-shaker warning system, plus mechanical wind-horns that make a sound only within a given wing speed range, or angle of attack, plus the electronic alarms also, and 60 lb ‘stick-pusher’ and 60 lb ‘rudder-pusher‘ have been standard for many decades, to overcome the pilots, and force the nose down, or yaw sideways, in the event the aircraft was about to stall, or to spin out of control.

        Those have been around all of my life and if they didn’t exist literally hundreds (if not thousands) more airliners would have crashed, due to their lack.

        The simple truth is that pilots are prone to making errors, and they do at times unknowingly fly past the aircraft’s flyable limits. That basic fact is why such systems were invented, then made mandatory on all passenger types, and have been improved on endlessly. More advanced control safety-net systems have become ubiquitous today on virtually all new aircraft of almost every size and type. They are on by default, and thousands are alive because of them. It’s a big part of why aviation is so much safer than driving any car.

        Erroneous activation of that system is suspected in both crashes.

        This “Suspected” causation stuff doesn’t cut it, in science or real life. It’s a biasing statement and effect of group-think influences, typical of a tendency to confirmation-bias. The antidote to ‘suspected’ and presumption is all of the evidence, and that often takes 6 months to a year for the test to be run and the real causes to emerge. Await the accident report.

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          Roy Hogue

          You are correct on all counts. You probably have experience that puts my private flying for fun to shame. But we both know that up there, you either handle it or you become a statistic.

          I just reported what I could find. And every investigation starts with some assumption or suspicion.

          I will take issue with the idea that more and more automated systems is a guarantee of greater safety. The two on the flight deck still need the skill it takes to fly that jetliner without all the digital magic or someday they’re going to find themselves hitting the seawall at SFO because they couldn’t make that most simple and easy of all landings, a visual approach in ideal conditions. It’s not bad to have the safety systems but…

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            WXcycles

            You only have to read the Air France Flight 447 accident report (the actual report) to realize the PIC pilot didn’t have even minimal essential skills, proficiency and currency to fly a modern jet when the automatic systems turned of for only 37 seconds (from memory). The aircraft actually regained full air data from one of the pitot tubes within 13 seconds but the pilot had no clue, and just kept losing control any way. He didn’t maintain cleared heading, cleared altitude, he change engine settings for no reason and turned right 270 degrees. The plane was fine, it could have flown all the way to Europe and landed without the pitots. But the ~3,000hr pilot crashed it anyway because he was never trained to manually fly IFR partial panel with a loss of air data. But even then all he had to do was continue manually fly straight and level as per clearance. He couldn’t even do that! And he deliberately over-rode the automatic anti-stall system and its warnings and high-speed deep-stalled it any way!

            So safety systems are not literally fool-proof. It’s clear the pilot of 447 was a complete fool, his inability defies adequate explanation in other terms, as the average instrument student would have managed to keep that jet flying straight and level for hours in that same state. He almost immediately did everything wrong and stalled it, despite the jet telling him to stop doing it. The 447 jet’s computers were right, the air data was already back working within 13 seconds. That pilot fought the jet’s valid warning and recovery systems until it crashed. The MAX8 computers may well turn out to have been correct too, so I’ll be very keen to read the final report, as I’ve read too many aircraft accident reports to ever presume the aircraft caused it.

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            • #
              Roy Hogue

              As you might suspect, I no longer go chasing after all the details of even the big news crashes. Does that accident report happen to clarify what the meteorological conditions were at the time? The initial reports had them in a thunderstorm, a place even I would go around. And they certainly would have the necessary means to see a bad storm and avoid it. So I was asking myself, why would they fly into such a storm?

              Pilot blindness to what’s going on is a common thing. A perfectly flyable L1011 was flown into a Florida swamp because no one was paying attention to flying the plane. Fly first then debug a landing gear indication problem. Where was the pilot in command’s head?

              When I read GA accident reports a common thing ran through a lot of them…the pilot ignored several good opportunities to see what was going wrong and do something about it.

              First, fly the airplane.

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                WXcycles

                The met situation was described in great detail of course, and the possible ways of thinking about it as it occurred that led to the pilot’s actions were also analyzed and speculated about. What comes out of it was the aircraft was not headed into a storm on its radar, it was flying under the extended layer of a CB’s anvil-head. At no time did they fly into a storm, they were in fairly smooth air, no rain. So smooth in fact that the other pilot had just gone back to a bunk for a snooze and only one pilot was in the cockpit. A small area of the anvil-head was dropping out copious small ice pellets that entered and blocked all three pitots in seconds due to their small size and quantity of it. But it was quite brief and then over quick, and one of the heated pitots melted the ice and regained full air data in just 13 seconds.

                All of them had cleared in under 35 seconds and resumed proper operation – as they’re supposed to.

                The other factor was that it was a very heavy jet at that point, and climbing in stages, as that became possible as the reducing fuel load got lighter and allowed the next incremental climb. But it was at the very top of its stable flight envelope at the time, and the pilot still tried to make it then climb INTO and though the anvil head, in a misguided and out of envelope attempt to climb over it. The aircraft had no more performance left for such a climb. He simply didn’t understand that the jet was already close to its altitude limit for its current weight. He asked it to do the impossible because he didn’t understand it was not possible to do that. He also didn’t understand that the blocked pitots were not a crisis, and that flying the jet is what a pilot does if the autopilot is not working. He had no idea, every action was the wrong one. The right action was to maintain heading and altitude, as there was no pressing danger, and leave the engines as set, as that would keep airspeed stable and continue on as before. But he did none of that and killed every one of them in minutes.

                The plane was perfectly viable, even with all three pitots blocked, and it had of course auto-defaulted to a manual flight partial-panel mode that the pilot should have immediately recognized, but didn’t, and basically panicked when required to actually fly it manually – which he clearly had little idea how to do, and even less comprehension of how it would handle when near maximum flyable altitude for the weight. It ‘flew’ about five minutes before hitting the water, mostly in a deep stall, that he put it in and then guaranteed it remained in by fighting the jets properly operating controls and it’s valid and correct warnings. Which were all ignored.

                After that 13 seconds to clear the pitot it was possible for him to simply engage the autopilot again, and let it fly itself as before. That accident report is a damning testament to the outrageous lack of training and capability of the high-hour pilots in how to actually manually fly and to remain current in a modern jet, even in a typical manual flight configuration, with a minor and temporary system loss, and a typical load, in conditions that are common across the equator. Why could the pilot not even maintain altitude and heading when there was not real danger or problem that could not be easily managed in seconds? Why no capacity to simply keep it flying without airspeed data? The answer is, he panicked, as he had no real idea how to flying the jet at high altitude on partial-panel with even minor system degradation of normal capabilities and data.

                Frankly, this crash was and remains a total disgrace.

                The pilot(s) were there specifically for exactly this sort type of partial-panel manual flight situation. But they clearly had no real clue how to fly the jet manually. Even a low-hour IFR novice could have flown it to safety with ease by just following the required heading and altitude which is rule #1 of partial-panel instrument flying, and also the basic requirement of flying along an ATC controlled jet route.

                I think it’s quite a stretch to presume the MAX8 jet was at fault, or had a fatal flaw that caused it to crash, I doubt that very much. I’ve read numerous accident reports where pilots clearly did not know the jet or the manuals well, and did not know how to fly it manually with competence and confidence, because their training was totally insufficient, and there was nowhere near enough of it to make them aware of what was occurring and required. Accident reports make very clear that after a pilot has ~1,000 hours flight time they do NOT get any safer. In fact the lowest crash rates per hour flown is for relatively new pilots between 500 hrs and 1,000 hrs.

                And get this, the group most prone to crashing a GA aircraft, are in fact the cohort of very high-hour airline pilots, that are apparently using a private GA aircraft to try and regain their IFR and manual flight proficiency, currency and airmanship skills. They crash more often than even novices do.

                The airlines simply don’t train the pilots to fly the jet manually outside of takeoff and landing, and don’t maintain their manual flight proficiency levels, even if they ever do attain full manual flight proficiency on a jet (which they almost certainly never do any more).

                So I’ll await the report without presuming a jet or manufacturer is at fault, as that’s historically very unlikely to be the case. The investigation has the flight data and voice record and the wreckage so they’ll figure this one out even if it takes a year or two to get there (I don’t think it’ll take anywhere near that long though).

                That said, it blows my mind to see numerous ignoramuses actually assert that ‘pilot-error’ doesn’t even exist, or that it’s all a corporate cop-out and cover-up by a manufacturer, when thousands of air crash reports show that completely silly view could not possibly be any more incorrect and total bunk. I see lots of people asserting Boeing is to blame with zero evidence to back up their absurd conspiracy assertions. And that sort f brain AWOL nonsense is everywhere on the net at present. I suspect a lot of their ‘ignorance’ is not real and is coming from the usual lying watermelons and their organized war against passenger aircraft and airline manufacturers crusades. I don’t doubt they deliberately sew this stuff all over the internet to try and harm the flight industry, the manufacturers and ‘evil’ corporations.

                People should be aware of it and not fall for their worthless narratives.

                2c

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                Roy Hogue

                The more I’ve thought about what you said the more I tended to believe the men in he cockpit were button pushers, trained to let the computer do it, not trained to fly the plane themselves. Suddenly thrown into a problem their cookbook of solutions didn’t know anything about, they panicked.

                I had a bastard of a flight instructor. He made me fight out any problem I had and figure out myself what to do. I nearly flipped the plane upside down practicing climbing turns because I wasn’t paying close attention. I lost the horizon and had no idea what my situation was. And when I panicked and looked over at the seat beside me for help he was looking out the window.

                He isn’t going to help so what are you going to do, Roy? I got mad and saved it myself. He never said a word. We were back in his office debriefing and still he never said a word about it. Finally I couldn’t stand it and asked him how long he would let that go on. He said, “You mean that nonsense up there? At least upside down.” I was tempted to throw the book I had in my lap at him. But I relented when I finally realized he did me a big favor because he forced me to learn to be self sufficient.

                Up to that point the airplane was my boss, still largely an unknown to me and it intimidated me. But that day I became the boss.

                What does it say about the training of a crew that can’t make a visual approach at SFO without hitting the seawall?

                There must be a lot of pilots like that by now.

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              Robber

              I once heard a psychologist talking about finding and training the right people for the right jobs. He suggested that pilots today are trained to follow checklists – wheels up, flaps down, auto pilot on etc – whereas older pilots came out of the air force where they were trained to respond quickly to attacks. So what you need are pilots who trust nothing and can think outside the computer box.

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              • #
                Roy Hogue

                The check lists are important because they help avoid mistakes. But yes, it’s necessary to have that other component. I would call it institutional awareness, what’s going on around me and what is my airplane doing — all the time while in the air?

                In civil aviation I don’t think anyone responds to an attack. But any dangers that are present, from weather to other aircraft is on the pilots mind all the time.

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                Roy Hogue

                Dad-gum spellchecker has become more trouble than a barrel of rattlesnakes. I tried to say, “I would call it situational awareness…” and look what I got instead.

                Shame on you Google for messing up the finest spellchecker in the world. 🙁

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      Another Ian

      H

      Have a read of the Martin 2-0-2.

      IIRC that might have been DC 10 not DC 8

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      Sambar

      Hanrahan, if I recall correctly the DH Comet had a problem with wings falling off as a result of what is now know as metal fatigue. This “new” phenomena was not truly understood at the time of these planes crashing. As a kid we were trotted out to a school ground in central Victoria and all told to look for an airplane. When it was spotted we were then informed that “that airplane has no propellers, it was the first jet powered passenger plane to fly from England to Australia”. The gasps of amazement and general awe still makes me smile.

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      • #
        Roy Hogue

        The wings didn’t fall off the de Havilland Comet. Their windows were too large and the wrong shape. Once at altitude and under pressure the large window frame was inadequate to withstand the force against the window. Metal fatigue finally let the window blow out, probably taking out a frame member or two as it went. Damage quickly expanded from there.

        Only one crash could be described as wings falling off. The wings were over stressed in a storm.

        That lesson is why all jets since the comet have the small rounded windows they now use.

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          Annie

          Correct, Roy. It was metal fatigue around the windows.

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          Roy Hogue

          I remember a fascinating documentary from only a few years ago about how frantic the search was for an answer to why they crashed. Finally one engineer took an entire airplane, submerged it in water with cameras all over the plane to record what happened.

          Metal fatigue was suspected but where, how, what was the point of failure? By varying the water pressure inside the aircraft there could be many pressurization cycles simulated in a short time and with water not being compressible when something failed it would be recorded by the cameras but there would be no more damage because of air trying to get out.

          It didn’t take very long to catch a failure and then they had it recorded and could analyze what happened easily, something you can’t do with the airplane scattered all over the ground after a crash.

          The same weakness was discovered around the doors if I remember correctly but never caused a crash.

          But the Comet was finished and it drove de Havilland out of the business of airline transport.

          The human race has paid a dear price for what it knows about flying and still they crash, witness the 737 Max 8. With everything new there’s a new chance for a weakness that will become a catastrophe.

          In the Max 8 case there was a pilot in the cockpit with only 200 hours on his log. How can you hope to succeed that way. He certainly didn’t cause the malfunction. But if he had realized what was happening and could have shut off the malfunctioning system, who knows what the outcome would be. When I was learning to fly you needed a minimum of 200 hours before you could take the instrument flight check ride. And that’s still a long way from ether seat in an airliner. Slipshod and flying don’t mix well.

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            Kinky Keith

            Hi Roy, a good outline that goes well with the comment by Richard I.

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            Annie

            The pilots who worked their way up by flying various small aircraft over thousands of hours and many take-offs and landings hone their skills in a way that many modern young pilots don’t. Our son had thousands of hours before he transferred to smaller jets, then A330/A340/A380 in succession.
            Similarly, those who go to sea racing small flighty dinghies have handling skills with sensitivity to wind, wave and current that stands them in good stead when they go ocean racing. As my husband found when he was sailing on a 55footer in a hurricane in the Atlantic!

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              Roy Hogue

              I’s the experience that can make the difference between success and failure. I have often wondered if a younger less experienced pilot more used to pushing buttons instead of handling everything himself could have pulled off what Sully did. I suspect we may find out someday.

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            Peter C

            The dH 106 comet did struggle on for quite a few years, eventually produced as the Comet 4.

            That was succeeded by the HS Nimrod,

            A very elegant Sea surveillance aircraft.
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Nimrod#/media/File:British_Aerospace_Nimrod_MR.2,_United_Kingdom_-_Royal_Air_Force_(RAF)_JP506967.jpg

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              Annie

              Yes, I thought it went on for quite a while; I flew on it as a passenger. Then it was used for many years adapted as the Nimrod surveillance aircraft until relatively recently (can’t remember dates for that though).
              Nimrod…the mighty hunter. (Now I have Benjamin Britten’s setting of Christopher Smart’s poem going in my head 🙂 ).

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              Roy Hogue

              The dH 106 comet did struggle on for quite a few years, eventually produced as the Comet 4.

              That was succeeded by the HS Nimrod,

              Then I did’t remember everything I saw in that documentary — human error, the most common cause of a crash.

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      Greebo

      Sully also has quite a bit to say re the Airbus cockpit design following the results of the inquiry into the Air France flight 447 crash.

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        Roy Hogue

        I don’t suppose you have a link to anything I could read or watch, maybe?

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        Roy Hogue

        Well, I just went looking for it myself and found more than I wanted.

        I may be just a guy who flew single engine for fun but I agree with Sully. The range of movement he demonstrated from full up to full down elevator means you have to have a light touch — harder to manage when afraid for your life — and then pilot and co pilot sticks not connected and the unstated but obvious necessity of an extra step to transfer control from one to the other bothers me. There is something good about basic simplicity. A whole lot less can go wrong.

        In a crisis, simplicity counts. There are fewer mistakes you can make.

        I never had my hands on he controls of an airliner but thanks to a pilot friend I did get a chance at the pilot’s seat in a 727 simulator. But that’s another story.

        The little ones and the 747s all fly by the same laws of aerodynamics and have the same consequences if you get it wrong.

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    robert rosicka

    Lil Bill wants to appoint a female Governor General, well there’s a first .
    Why not a black ,gay, trans, mountain panda that identifies as female for GG , then I will be impressed .

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    jack

    Just for fun.
    Two pieces of string walk into a bar.
    The first piece of sting asks, “What are you drinking?”
    “A beer”, replied the second piece of string.
    The first piece of sting goes up to the bar and asks the bartender for two beers.
    The bartender asks,”Are you a piece of sting?”
    “Yes” the string replies.
    “Sorry”, says the bartender, “I carn’t serve string here.”
    The string goes back to his mate and explains the situation.
    “No worries”, says the second piece of string,”leave this to me.”
    The second piece of sting then tangles and frays himself up.
    He then goes up to the bar and asks the bartender for two beers.
    The bartender asks,”Are you a piece of sting?”
    The string replies,”Frayed Knot”.
    🙂

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    el gordo

    Murray on Sky just said Channel 9 have told Fairfax staff to stop editorialising.

    So we shouldn’t expect to see any more nonsense from Hannam.

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    Peter C

    I spent yesterday at a Political Rally.

    The Australian Conservatives Victorian State Conference.

    Events kicked off with an address by the Founder and Leader of the Party, Cory Bernardi.
    Cory resigned from the Liberal Party 2 years ago because he thought that the Libs were ignoring popular sentiment on a number of important, even critical issues which they should be responding to. He was censured, then ignored by the party leadership. Now it is not a good thing for an elected representative to abandon the party which he/she purports to represent.
    However, Cory was representing the principles that the Liberal Party claimed as their own, yet seemingly had neglected or abandoned.
    What was the correct thing to do? Change from within seemed to be blocked by the Liberal Party itself. So resign or leave? Cory choose to leave and set up his own Party, The Australian Conservatives.

    Policy must follow Principle. So what are our Principles?
    1. Limited Government: The rightful functions of government are to guarantee individual freedom, property rights, internal order, a strong national defence, and the administration of justice.
    2. Personal Responsiblity: We believe that each individual is morally responsible for, and should bear responsibility for their actions.
    3. Free Enterprise: The allocation of resources through voluntary agreement between individuals and businesses is the most productive and efficient supplier of human needs and is the economic system most compatible with a free society.
    4. Stronger Families:We recognise the importance of the natural family as the best possible institution for the nurturing and development of future generations and its role as the foundation of society.
    What is best for our families is best for society.
    5. Civil Society:The values, customs, conventions, and norms of the Judeo-Christian tradition are the foundation for western culture and provide the appropriate framework to inform and guide a free society. In other words. Western European Culture, from Ancient Greece, foundations of Democracy, up to Australian Culture as a lineal beneficiary of that historical development.

    There was a lot more to follow including presentations for John Roskam (IPA), Dr Bella D’Abrera (IPA) and then a most rousing address from Kevin Bailey AM, Lead Victorian Senate candidate for the Australian Conservatives.

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      robert rosicka

      Got my vote

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        Kinky Keith

        I voted for the local rep in the recent state election won.
        The incumbent won of course, but the a.c. Rep got 4%.
        Considering the relative newness of her party it’s a good start.

        KK

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    tom0mason

    For those interested in Climate (or ‘Climate Change™) here a link to an old book on the latest research in 1905 of climate. Called Climatic Changes: Their Nature and Causes by Huntington and Visher it is freely available at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37855 . And yes CO2, terrestrial variations, solar variations, and stellar effects are discussed. Remarkably modern considering its age.

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    Graeme#4

    I’m still trying to understand how Snowy Hydro plan to introduce a humongous pumping system without impacting the current water used for inland irrigation. They say that they can do this, but they plan to draw the water from Talbingo Reservoir, which I believe is part of the existing Smowy scheme. Also I can find water levels for every Snowy reservoir, which appear to be lower than normal, except Talbingo.

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    pat

    I don’t drive, but have heard people who do listing dozens of reasons this is a bad idea:

    27 Mar: BBC: Road safety: UK set to adopt vehicle speed limiters
    Speed limiting technology looks set to become mandatory for all vehicles sold in Europe from 2022, after new rules were provisionally agreed by the EU.
    The Department for Transport said the system would also apply in the UK, despite Brexit.
    Campaigners welcomed the move, saying it would save thousands of lives.

    Road safety charity Brake called it a “landmark day”, but the AA said “a little speed” helped with overtaking or joining motorways.
    Safety measures approved by the European Commission included intelligent speed assistance (ISA), advanced emergency braking and lane-keeping technology.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47715415

    28 Mar: Reason: New E.U. Rules Would Mandate Technology Preventing Cars From Going Above the Speed Limit
    Intelligent Speeding Assistance raises practical and privacy concerns.
    by Christian Britschgi
    The European Union has provisionally agreed on new auto safety rules that will require all cars sold within the E.U.’s 27 member countries to come with a host of new safety features, including intelligent speeding assistance (ISA)—which would prevent cars from going above the speed limit—by 2022.
    According to The New York Times, drivers would still be allowed to switch the technology off at their discretion, but the car would have to start with it flipped on…

    The E.U.’s goal is laudable, particularly given the death toll cited by Bieńkowska, as well as the fact that the main cause of 30 percent of all fatal accidents on European roads is speeding. Nevertheless, the safety mandates coming out of the E.U. may well be a bit over ambitious.
    That’s according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), which argues that intelligent speeding assistance (ISA) is currently too unreliable to be accepted by customers.
    The speeding technology would work either by onboard cameras detecting roadside speed limits signs, or by using a digital database of speed limits to check a driver’s speed versus what’s allowed on a particular road

    Simpler versions of this technology would simply warn drivers when they are going too fast. A more intrusive form of it, which the E.U wants to mandate, would actively prevent a driver from going beyond what is allowed on a particular road.
    But as the ACEA notes, there are obstacles to implementation. Road signs are not standardized across Europe. Even if they were, signs are often damaged or covered by foliage. That means onboard cameras might have difficulty seeing and interrupting these visual cues.
    There also currently doesn’t exist a single database that keeps up-to-date records on all speed limits across all European roads, which would limit the GPS-based version of this technology.

    Requiring all cars to be linked up to such a database at all times also raises privacy concerns…
    The new rules announced this week have only been agreed to in principle by the E.U’s Parliament, Commission (executive branch), and Council of Ministers (which consists of elected officials from each country), but still needs to be formally voted on before it can go into effect.
    https://reason.com/blog/2019/03/28/new-eu-rules-would-mandate-technology-pr

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    beowulf

    For BREXIT fans.

    I had prepared a very long winded comment on likely Brexit outcomes and tactics, which you will be happy to learn has been made redundant. One of those outcomes concerned the court case brought by a solicitor against May and the government a few days back for exceeding her authority when she went to the EU to ask for an extension beyond the original legally binding 29/3/19 Brexit default WTO deadline.

    I have just seen further details about that case and I find it hilarious that while the snakes in parliament were plotting and scheming the demise of Brexit — and continue to do so — Brexit MAY have already happened on the 29th as originally intended. Britain MAY already be free without realising it as the pollies carry on like they are still in charge of events.

    Theresa May side-lined parliament illegally when she purported to personally engage in an agreement with the EU for an extension of Article 50 beyond the March 29th deadline, acting beyond the limits of her power. Parliamentary approval was given retrospectively as a rubber stamp, authorising a Statutory Instrument to be issued by a Minister of the Crown, but the whole process is still subject to legal challenge.

    The Remainers would seem to have shot themselves in the foot by bringing the Miller Case in 2016 to invalidate the ability of the government to leave the EU without the consent of parliament via statute before Article 50 could be triggered. It forced the government to get a full enabling statute through parliament to trigger the Article 50 leaving process.

    It now appears that the backing of a full statute was once again required to enable the PM to vary the Article 50 date (since it was set by statute originally), before she could ask the EU for an extension to the Brexit date.

    In practical terms this means that the extension was likely illegal under British law and therefore invalid if the Supreme Court so rules. If that is so then Britain has already been in a state of Brexit for 2 days and all the parliamentary anti-Brexit shenanigans are for nought. The Remainers may have been gazumped while they weren’t looking.

    Oh happy daze if the court upholds the original date. Please let it be so.

    That case was actually a double-whammy and served to sure up the Leave case in other respects not directly under consideration, but helpfully clarified by the Lords Justice, such as possible revocation of Brexit.

    The Justices made no determination on the points of law below, but nor did they contest them, nor did counsel for either party — the government and Remainers. The Supreme Court accepted the statements as common ground, which would seem to give them some authority.
    Referring to revocation of Article 50, from paragraph 26 of the UK Supreme Court judgement in the case Miller and Another v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union:

    “. . . notice under article 50(2) . . . cannot be given in qualified or conditional terms and that, once given, it cannot be withdrawn.”
    “. . . once the United Kingdom gives Notice, it will inevitably cease at a later date to be a member of the European Union and a party to the EU Treaties.”

    If the Article 50 extension is declared valid, then there is still the obstacle of trying to revoke A 50 altogether to reverse Brexit.

    Oh what a tangled web you weave Theresa. It looks like she might have fouled her own nest with this one.

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      Another Ian

      Re Brexit

      Email I got with no link to source. Features 007 and Queen Elizabeth in discussion

      007 “All of Parliament, Ma’am?”

      Elizabeth “Yes 007. The bloody lot”

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      beowulf on Brexit. Article 50. This should ensure Brexit but with enough of the people on side, 48% voting ‘remain’ and a compliant medja,* the globalist elite have become emboldened to bypass the referendum result, viz the PM and Parliament, and now feel strong enough to subvert the democratic process. I fear that Democracy may be at an end.

      * Google Brexit and all you get are ‘The Conversation’ and ‘The Guardian’ coming up with alarm messages on ‘dire’ consequences of leaving the EU.

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    tom0mason

    Commenters here may be interested to know that new research reveals that the sun affects the air mass over the Pacific (in particular the movements within the Walker cell). From https://phys.org/news/2019-03-solar-variability-weakens-walker-cell.html

    The issue of solar influences on climate is long and controversial, as there have been numerous claims that did not survive proper statistical scrutiny in most cases. But besides statistical verification lies an even more challenging problem: How could miniscule changes in incoming solar radiation produce significant climate signatures?

    “Soon enough, we realized that the magnitude of the wind anomalies that we detected in observations simply could not be explained by radiative considerations alone. We thought that if it comes from the sun, there must be another mechanism that amplifies the weakening of the Walker circulation,” said Prof. Lesley Gray of University of Oxford. With the aid of a global climate model, this mechanism was found in the dynamical coupling between the atmosphere and ocean circulation in the tropical Pacific.

    Again the sun asserts its authority on our weather, on our climate.

    60

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      There’s just so much Money available for grants to study swirl patterns in the ocean and the air that it’s hard not to laugh at the Scyence™.

      The world has gone mad, you only have to listen to the constant stream of absolutely mind bending gender/feeling/climate topics being pushed mercilessly on the half million or so ABC radio outlets to understand that.

      I must admit to not having read the link but it seems that we need a giant reality check on how the thinking processes of the nation are operating. Start with kindergarten in the education system and begin to feed a generation on true reality.

      Listen to the ABC radio drivel, and be afraid, very afraid.
      We have entered the Twilight Zone.

      KK

      71

      • #
        RicDre

        “We have entered the Twilight Zone.”

        More likely, The Outer Limits

        There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly, and we will control all that you see and hear.

        50

  • #
    Richard Ilfeld

    If one reads the popular press, one knows very little about the Boeing Max 737 crashes, and most of what one knows is wrong.
    The issue presents itself to pilots as trim runaway.
    This has been possible in all 737 aircraft, and the pilot response is the same in the new models.
    AOA is an add-om. It is not present in most commercial jets (but is used extensively in the military)
    It is reasonable optional equipment for the flight regime of most commercial jets.
    The US has had many thousands of flights of the max aircraft. Incidents have been encountered, and handled by well trained and current
    pilots, as exist in many, but not all countries. Extensive responsibility for training crews and maintaining aircraft is controlled by host countries and their carriers. The FAA does not have jurisdiction outside the US.

    The system is being improved. This does not mean it was necessarily unsafe. To get a feel for the complexity of the problem and the nuances involved: http://www.b737.org.uk/mcas.htm

    This might be hard to slog through for those without aviation background. The most important note is that the issue as it presents itself to the pilots, and the pilot response, has not changed across the 737 line of aircraft.

    Perhaps Tony can explain this better.

    40

    • #
      RicDre

      Richard Ilfeld: Thanks for the link to MCAS information, it is a clear explanation of what MCAS is and how it operates.

      20

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      The 737 MAXX is a flying crash test dummy.

      Bound to scare everyone in them by weird unpredicted computers overriding the pilots time & time again.

      Dopey engineering by Boeing

      And they know it.

      And It will cost Boeing !

      Why ? Because no insurance company will pay out on the folks who died in the two crashes.

      20

      • #
        Greebo

        If what the MSM is reporting can be believed, it’s already costing Boeing $70 mil a day. The insurance thing is on top of that.

        10

  • #
    Another Ian

    “New paper: Urbanization has increased minimum temperatures 1.7K in the UK”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/03/31/new-paper-urbanization-has-increased-minimum-temperatures-1-7k-in-the-uk/

    30

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Just heard on the ABC that the NRMA wants a ban on all new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2025 .

    10

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Seems like a good idea, and in line with the greens policies.

      212

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      But do NRMA’s members want this ?

      Bugger NO !

      Yet another ballon floated by an ’employee’ of NRMA ! The idiot should be sacked !

      80

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        Why, the biggest sources of pollution are coal power, coal and vehicles. I would like to live to a healthy old age, not coughing my lungs out. Australia lags the world in this.

        213

        • #
          Bill in Oz

          Are you speaking for all NRMA members Fitz ?

          Or just doing your Stalinist “I demand this & You will do as I say” crap

          Ohh and by the way the more EV cars on the road the more need to electricity and fpor coal powered electricity..Fact !

          101

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Not all NRMA members, which is a misnomer, since they went public ages ago. What I’m asking is do you support a reduction in pollution, which would be achieved by electric cars. If you were to say “but but but…. coal fired power”, it is still more efficient than millions of poorly adjusted heaters travelling our roads, and spewing god knows what into the atmosphere.

            213

            • #
              Lank

              Fact – Every time Peter Fitzroy exhales he ‘pollutes’ with carbon dioxide and spews ‘god knows what into the atmosphere’.

              61

            • #
              Bill in Oz

              AHHhhhhhhh So The ‘National Road Motorists Association’ of NSW is just another corporate company with it’s own barrow to push including making life expensive for motorists…

              Motorists in NSW need their own motoring club as elsewhere in Australia to speak for them. As clearly the NRMA Corporation certainly does NOT.

              And the ABC editors ned to remember this in future. NRMA Does not = Motorists of NSW..Just another private company with an appropriated ‘inappropriate’ name.

              50

            • #
              AndyG55

              “it is still more efficient than… blah… blah ”

              WRONG again.

              To be efficient, something also has to be useful.

              EVs are NOT useful for Australian conditions and uses, and probably never will be.

              81

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Stop being so down to Earth Andy.

                Can’t you be a bit more inclusive and, at least, pay lip service to the modern “non right”, all encompassing manner of thinking that is rapidly supplanting alcohol and combustible inhalants as the soporific of the times?

                KK

                40

          • #
            robert rosicka

            Labor want 50% electric vehicles on the road by 2030 ! Only way that will happen is if they subsidise the the bejesus out of them and punish fossil fuel car owners .
            This just might be the end of the labor party if that happens and more than likely will .
            We’re talking well north of 6 million electric cars by 2030 and we don’t have enough electricity to keep the lights on now so imagine the load needed for six million virtue signalling buzz boxes .

            51

            • #
              robert rosicka

              These figures could be well out but if you extrapolate it to 2030 you’re looking at between five hundred thousand per year to a million per year for eleven years , given numbers are below one percent right now it’s not only pie in the sky stuff it’s dishonest even if they picked 10% by 2030 .

              30

        • #
          Graeme No.3

          Peter Fitzroy:

          The solution is simple, go and live in the Outback. Somewhere in Sturt’s stony desert suggests itself.

          71

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Beside’s there being no such place, the word Global has special significance here.

            27

            • #
              Graeme No.3

              Sturt Stony Desert is an area in the north-east of South Australia, far south western border area of Queensland and the far west of New South Wales. It was named by Charles Sturt in 1844, while he was trying to find the inland sea which he believed lay at the centre of Australia.
              Sounds ideal for you. I believe there is a pub in Birdsville that has wifi access so you won’t be missed.

              61

            • #
              AndyG55

              Global pollution has been falling for many years.

              Even in China, the impact of new coal power stations has been a large drop in pollution

              Most of China’s, and the world’s, real pollution comes from the extraction of large quantities of rare earths for use in wind turbines, solar panels and batteries.

              NOT from coal fired power stations.

              Why do you want to INCREASE it by the rampant manufacture of “renewables”

              Rank stupidity.. that is the AGW anti-CO2 agenda, writ large.

              52

          • #
            robert rosicka

            Hey putz I’ve found the ideal solution for your CO2 spouting nonsense.

            20

        • #

          The “Peter Fitzroy” who was on GeeUp duties a few weeks back said he’s vote for new HELE coal for Oz, and without the alabatros of carbon capture. Can we get that guy back? This one thinks Bayswater is making him cough.

          80

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            So you are happy to pollute? Are you happy for your lifestyle to have negative health effects on the people in the Hunter? And about HELE, I’m only a supporter if there is absolutely no other choice, be that as stopgap(while a build out of other forms of production), or to provide energy security. This is also assuming that the new HELE is built in the Royal National Park

            18

            • #

              Aw, the other Peter Fitzroy was a real HELE guy, said he’d vote for it. No last resorts or National Parks for him. He just wanted some o’ that good HELE coal power. Definitely my fave Peter Fitzroy.

              And this one corrects someone’s spelling immediately after he writes “beside’s”!

              I want the old Peter back!

              81

            • #

              What Peter Fitzroy is really saying here is that he doesn’t support an USC coal fired power plant at all.

              There’s no way on Earth it would have a snowball’s chance of being constructed in any National Park at all.

              It’s nowhere near a coal mine for the fuel, as most are here in Oz, so the coal would need to be transported by rail, and no railway has a snowballs of being constructed in a National Park, and there’s snowballs of transmission lines being constructed in any National Park.

              He knew all this when he wrote it.

              Peter Fitzroy is stirring again. Stop it!

              Tony.

              70

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                There is water, coal, and a nearby rail line in the Royal National Park. Also there is existing Coal mining infrastructure, and to the west there is existing Transgrid infrastructure. , and to the South an experienced workforce. Of course, you could argue that the Park is more important than energy, but wouldn’t that make you a greenie?

                36

              • #
                AndyG55

                WRONG as always.

                There is NO argument for building HELE in the RNP.

                You are fantasizing so you can invent your own comedy routine of slap-stick stupidity..

                You are being an idiot troll.

                52

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Andy, don’t be so hard on him.
                His contribution to the chocolate fund is allowing the rest of us to finish paying off our electricity bills instead.

                10

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                I think it’s cute that George Soros is contributing indirectly to this blog through POC and the branch of his wonderful organisation in tax haven PNG: Gettupim.

                Thank you POC, thank you George.

                KK

                10

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Andy, been thinking.

                Prompted by the stream of damaging posts.

                Perhaps I misjudged Georges stooge?

                Perhaps he Isn’t buying Chocolate.

                Who’d a thought that a member of the current Moral Majority, perhaps, maybe, heaven forbid: isn’t buying Chocolate while still eating it.

                So! A very modern pause marker.
                Perhaps a challenge.

                I will donate twice what POC gives for chocolates as a once off event up to his max of 500 chocs. Not that I don’t trust him, but subject to confirmation by email from the blog management.

                KK

                10

            • #
              AndyG55

              “Are you happy for your lifestyle to have negative health effects on the people in the Hunter?”

              That was a piece of propaganda BS, countered immediately by doctors in the region.

              53

            • #
              AndyG55

              “This is also assuming that the new HELE is built in the Royal National Park”

              The idiot pfutz strikes-out yet again.

              There are plenty of places to the south west of Sydney which would be far more appropriate in every aspect.

              Closer to workable rail-lines.

              Closer to coal.

              Closer to workforce.

              The idiot pfutz is throwing up red herrings so he can catch them in his mouth as a parlor trick to amuses himself.

              TROLLING !!!

              43

        • #
          AndyG55

          “Why, the biggest sources of pollution are coal power,…..blah blah.”

          BS !!!!

          Modern coal fired power stations produce very little real pollution.

          HELE , even less.

          12

        • #
          toorightmate

          Peter Fitzroy,
          You do not know what pollution is – you bloody dope.

          42

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Well, maybe you could educate me?

            04

            • #
              crakar24

              Here is a start,

              Your body regulates your breathing based on how much CO2 there is in your blood stream, you evolved this way it is not something new. When you exercise you are not breathing heavy to get O2 in you are breathing heavy to get CO2 out get it?

              So lesson number one in your education is: CO2 is not a pollutant it is a vital gas that keeps you alive.

              30

            • #
              el gordo

              CO2 is not a pollutant, so phasing out petrol is a criminal act, but getting rid of diesel cars is a must because of the particulates.

              Its come to my notice that 58% of Australian millennials want a dictatorship and if you could spare a minute this will offer some background.

              http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/04/01/bradley-thomas-meet-the-godfather-of-cultural-marxism/

              22

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                If CO2 is not a pollutant, why is there a 1000 ppm limit for homes?
                As to your link, a combination of right wing Fascisti style politics with left wing socialism. Yep that is so going to happen.

                22

              • #
                AndyG55

                Bet your bedroom gets above 1000ppm every morning, not to mention the other gases and BS that you keep coming out with

                There is NOTHING wrong with CO2 levels up to 5000ppm and beyond.

                Unfortunately atmospheric levels are not likely to rise much above 700ppm for any foreseeable future.

                CO2 is NOT a pollutant at any possible level in the atmosphere.

                32

              • #
                el gordo

                ‘Yep that is so going to happen.’

                Its already happening, climate change is the Trojan Horse.

                11

              • #
                el gordo

                ‘If CO2 is not a pollutant, why is there a 1000 ppm limit for homes?’

                Oxygen is killing us every day, can’t live with it, can’t live without it.

                ‘Contrary to popular myth, hyperventilating air at ordinary pressures never causes oxygen toxicity (the dizziness is due to CO2 levels dropping too low), but breathing oxygen at pressures of 0.5 bar or more (roughly two and a half times normal) for more than 16 hours can lead to irreversible lung damage and, eventually, death.’

                Science Focus

                00

            • #
              toorightmate

              Yep.
              It is lots of things, both gases and particles.
              CO2 is NNOT a pollutant, unless oxygen, nitrogen, argon, etc are also pollutant.

              20

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                see above.

                02

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                As Above.

                So Below.

                XXX

                10

              • #
                theRealUniverse

                CO2 is the life gas along with O2, they need each other. Plants need CO2, they evolved in an atmosphere with around 7%!!! not a measly .35% as now. We are near the cutoff point for photosynthesis. AND PF CO2 is LIMITED in buildings because we breath O2! And cant survive in high levels of CO2 THAT DOESNT MEAN ITS A POLLUTANT either.

                22

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                theRealUniverse Which plants were those, nothing like those levels after the carboniferous, and then it was tree ferns. Flowering plants came later.

                12

              • #
                AndyG55

                Most plants NEED much higher levels to grow at their best.

                Nearly ALL plants grow better at higher levels of atmospheric CO2.

                Your DENIAL of basic biological FACTS is getting past being remarkable stupid.

                Anyone would think you had NEVER done any basic biology in your pathetic nil-educated existence.

                22

            • #
              AndyG55

              “Well, maybe you could educate me?”

              No, you have proven that nobody has ever been able to educate you.

              You are incapable of learning anything.

              32

  • #
    robert rosicka

    In a move that’s angered 4wdrivers the NSW govt has banned bullbars !
    Must read through to the end .

    http://unsealed4x4.com.au/pat-takes-off-his-akubra-reveals-glorious-mullet/

    30

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      I stopped to give assistance at a horrible accident.

      A four year old boy bolted from his carer? into the path of an innocent young girl driver.

      I got down close but no sign of life and considered asking neighbours for some ice to pack his head while applying CPR.

      Considered the time he had been down and the PC implications, and left it.

      When I got there a local identified the carer and the driver and explained what had happened. They were both dry stretching.
      The carer was beyond help considering there was a crossing with lights about 40 metres away.

      I comforted the driver.

      I never mentioned the Bull Bars which had probably doubled the severity of the impact.

      Bull bars are probably essential in the country, but just an added danger in cities.

      Like guns.

      KK

      00

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    And there I was thinking you did not have a sense of humour

    05

  • #
    Bodge it an scarpa

    Have noticed lately that Skye News are increasingly showing Leftist/ pro Climate Change alarmist
    opinions and views. If as some here believe,Murdock and News LTD were serious about keeping Shorten out of the Lodge, they would sack the likes of Richardson, Reece, Speers and Gilbert.

    31

    • #
      el gordo

      Murdoch outlets are fair and balanced.

      01

      • #
        Bodge it an scarpa

        I don’t give a toss about fair and balanced when it comes to Skye News. All the other TV channels constantly harp on about Climate Change alarmism, and Renewable Energy BS etc. Got to fight fire with fire. Skye if they are serious about providing an alternative viewpoint leading up to the Fed election should give their Left wingers a few weeks off at least.

        21

        • #
          el gordo

          Sky is a news outlet and must look at different points of view.

          Its alright for the Guardian to be green/left but not the ABC. Fairfax staff have been informed by their new owners that all editorialising has to stop, so they will be returning to the centre.

          To retain integrity the Murdocracy must be fair and balanced in news presentation, not in commentary. Rowan Dean is outragious on Sunday mornings.

          00

  • #
    crakar24

    Labor have revealed a little bit of policy, 50% of all new cars sold in Australia must be electric within one decade. They will also tighten the fuel regs meaning you wont be able to buy a car that meets them and hence forced to buy an electric one.

    I think its time the people were given what they want and in time common sense will once again rise from the ashes of stupid.

    50

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      cracker:

      They also want to bring in heavy penalties for industries that pollute and cutting emissions in agriculture.
      I had a brief interlude in my life when the NSW Government decided to do so. That meant getting details, and the public servant (leader as they operate in multiples) decided he knew what we had to do.
      He had a plan based on a paint factory with 2 mixers and 2 tanks making water based paint. We had over 200 tanks and at 2,600 products (mostly solvent based) and he couldn’t or wouldn’t explain how to measure what came out of the operations. That the emissions were directed to a high temperature burner was immaterial to him, except he wanted someone to climb to the top of the exhaust stack (at 500℃) every hour to do measurements. Completely unreasonable and determined that his way must be the choice. There was a united complaint from the industry and he was reprimanded, but the Public Service was excited about all that information that they might get.
      I moved on, fortunately for my sanity, and a more devious mind took over. His answer was a giant Excel spread sheet with all our products broken down to the various solvents and the amounts thereof, depending on the annual sales. This required 64 pages, with 2600 lines, plus sub-totals etc (always on other pages). It was enormous and incredibly complicated (as designed). I couldn’t follow just one product through 5 pages. The public servants were ecstatic and suggested that other paint companies do the same. There was a conference of the various companies and his opening words were “Bullshit baffles Brains”. He then offered a stripped down version which they all used and the public service was delighted. Whether the figures were accurate was another thing.
      Sadly that firm, and quite a few others, has gone out of business, but somewhere those meaningless figures would be preserved by the bureaucracy..

      40

    • #
      Robdel

      Did not the yellow vest protests in France start with fuel tax increases so that Macron could preen himself about how he was a Climate Change saint?

      40

    • #
      robert rosicka

      The NRMA are goading them into it with comments like automobile manufacturers won’t be making fossil fuelled cars by 2030 , as with the comments above about the NRMA I think they are struggling for relevance and customers and can see a niche market or they have been infiltrated by the green menace maybe .
      And putz if your not already driving a Tesla no point commenting , don’t tell us how to do it show us how to do it .
      Those on low incomes are struggling to afford the Junkers we drive and I know of no one that can afford a Tesla .

      51

    • #
      toorightmate

      I now pay at least double what I should be paying because governments of all persuasions believe the CO2 hoax.
      I cant wait to pay more than double what I would like to for a car which will be fuelled by the most expensive fuel imaginable. Again, because governments of all persuasions believe the CO2 hoax.
      Cori Bernardi will be the only one to vote for.

      32

  • #
    pat

    report leaked to Bolton at AFR?

    1 Apr: AFR: Robert Bolton: Academic freedom is not in crisis
    A report into academic freedom says there is no evidence of a crisis of free speech at universities.
    But it will outline plans for a code of practice that would mean universities have to be more careful in how they handle visiting speakers and would define more precisely who in a university is covered by academic freedoms.

    The review says the debate on what people can say at university has become confused because people conflate free intellectual inquiry, which is an academic principle, with freedom of speech, which involves the whole community.
    But it will argue that creating a law to protect freedom of speech on campuses might unintentionally compromise such rights by defining them too rigidly…
    The review was completed in early March and the government is due to release its response to the findings before it calls the federal election…

    But it will outline plans for a code of practice that would mean universities have to be more careful in how they handle visiting speakers and would define more precisely who in a university is covered by academic freedoms.
    The review says the debate on what people can say at university has become confused because people conflate free intellectual inquiry, which is an academic principle, with freedom of speech, which involves the whole community.
    But it will argue that creating a law to protect freedom of speech on campuses might unintentionally compromise such rights by defining them too rigidly…

    The government was also concerned about academic freedom at James Cook University after at the sacking of academic, Peter Ridd, who rejected a link between human activity and damage to the Great Barrier Reef.
    James Cook University said it sacked professor Ridd for other reasons and the case is before the federal court but free-market think tanks such as the Institute of Public Affairs said the case was about the right of academics to speak their minds.

    In his draft code, Mr French defined academic freedom as “upholding free intellectual inquiry in relation learning, teaching and research”.
    But it was universities’ role to to refuse admission to a visitor to speak on campus if they did “not meet scholarly standards” or their comments could be “detrimental to the university’s character”.

    The CEO of the Group of 8 universities, Vicki Thomson, said her members were reluctant to adopt new rules on academic freedom because the subject was “off the radar” of the public.
    “There are existing mechanisms to deal with freedom of speech at universities. But it’s an ‘inside the beltway’ conversation for most people.”…

    “Universities enable commentary on campus from all sides of the political spectrum. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as it doesn’t breach state and federal protections on discrimination.”
    The National Tertiary Education Union said agreed with Mr French that there was no crisis of free speech in Australian Higher Education.

    NTEU national president Alison Barnes said university students and staff have the same free speech rights at other Australians.
    “We believe any attempts to codify free speech in university is not only unnecessary but will only act to further constrain such rights on campuses,” Dr Barnes said.
    https://www.afr.com/news/policy/health/academic-freedom-is-not-in-crisis-20190329-p518us

    10

  • #
    Bill in Oz

    Hi Jo, have you seen this post at No tricks Zone
    http://notrickszone.com/

    More fake data cooling in the past

    To show how warm is the present !

    40

  • #
    Speedy

    Clive Palmer to rewrite National Anthem

    Australian billionaire, philanthropist and national living treasure, Clive Palmer, has gifted the Australian people with a new national anthem. He explains why: “All Australians are sick of the old anthem, it’s out of tune with modern Australia and our aspirations for a better life. I just tizzied up the words a bit and had a go. I think it should be compulsory at all sporting events, the opening of parliament and all schools and childcare centres on a daily basis.

    *Royalties payable to C. Palmer C/Swiss Account #1394 3112 9050 XXXX.

    The UAP National Anthem of Australia
    (Music: P. McCormick. Lyrics: C. Palmer)

    Australians all, I think you see,
    You really need a bloke like me.
    A bloke who’s smart, and really wise,
    And never, never telling lies.
    Who truly fights for worker’s rights –
    Of shysters be aware!
    These, and others, are just shites,
    But I’m, a, billionaire!
    These and others are just shites,
    But I’m, a, billionaire!

    I’m good as good as good can be –
    And jam-packed with integrity;
    If sometimes people do complain,
    I’m sure my nephew will explain;
    He’s just ducked out, he will return,
    He’s somewhere over there…
    He will be back, there’s no concern,
    He will come back, I swear,
    He will be back, there’s no concern,
    When I, advance, his fare…

    Thought you’d like to know.

    Cheers,

    Speedy

    91

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    26 Mar: WSJ Editorial: Democrats Vote ‘Present’ on Climate
    Democrats are upset they had to vote on their own Green New Deal.
    Isn’t democracy great? Only in Congress could a political party introduce legislation with great media fanfare, then vote against it and blame the other side for cynicism…

    nice quoting of ex-Obama officials – Summers & Light:

    27 Mar: Vox: Nancy Pelosi is trying to force Trump to return the US to the Paris climate agreement
    By Umair Irfan
    While Republicans still hold the White House and the Senate and are unlikely to pass any climate legislation, House Democrats are signaling to their base that they are serious about action. And with HR 9, they’re also trying to tell the rest of the world that people in the United States still want to uphold their obligations to cut greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris accord…

    The decision to withdraw was widely decried; economist Lawrence Summers called it “probably our most consequential error since the Iraq War,” and critics predicted it would have severe economic and national security consequences…

    Pelosi framed rejoining the Paris agreement as a moral obligation…
    Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), the chair of the newly formed House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and a co-sponsor of the bill, said that HR 9 would undergo markups in the relevant committees in the coming weeks and will be brought to the floor for a vote…

    Andrew Light, who served as a senior climate negotiator at the US State Department under the Obama administration, noted that the bill not only brings the US back to the Paris agreement but also pushes for increasingly ambitious targets to cut emissions.
    “These commitments are not one-off things,” said Light, now a distinguished senior fellow at the World Resources Institute and a professor at George Mason University. He pointed out that the Paris agreement was designed to strengthen over time…

    The language in the new bill also addresses one of Trump’s biggest objections to the Paris agreement: that countries like India and China were not pulling their weight…
    Senate Democrats also announced their own select committee on climate change on Wednesday…
    But the Senate and White House remain in Republican hands, which is likely to thwart any action…
    https://www.vox.com/2019/3/27/18283831/pelosi-climate-change-green-new-deal

    10

  • #
    pat

    Mark Levin/Fox has just begun his program with guests John Solomon and Sara Carter.

    10

  • #
    George4

    Fours Corners on ABC tonight 830pm

    Climate of Change

    Could be a fair amount of BS I feel.
    Fitting for April fools day.

    30

    • #
      robert rosicka

      Yes I’ve seen some footage of it and looks like they have totally ditched on truth in advertising.

      52

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Im sure the whole AGW SCAM was launched on April 1..Its so fr@@dulent it had to be. Same with Mann’s (Hockey Schitck) publication, if you can call it a paper even.

      10

  • #
    crakar24

    Reply to Pete F at 25…..

    Here is a start,

    Your body regulates your breathing based on how much CO2 there is in your blood stream, you evolved this way it is not something new. When you exercise you are not breathing heavy to get O2 in you are breathing heavy to get CO2 out get it?

    So lesson number one in your education is: CO2 is not a pollutant it is a vital gas that keeps you alive.

    32

    • #
      Gee aye

      and it is how you lose weight. How about that amazing fact?

      51

      • #
        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          He is right, C24 – how did you think it worked?

          11

          • #
            crakar24

            WTF?…again

            01

            • #
              Gee aye

              crakar… the way you lose weight is by removing carbon from your body. The carbon from broken down organic compounds is removed from the body as carbon dioxide. You breath to lose weight. Second place for weight loss is the sloughing of skin and third is bile.

              how did you think it worked?

              00

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Then why expel the excess?

      11

      • #
        AndyG55

        OMG. Your ignorance exposed by your question astounds even me.

        You never did do even basic biology, did you pfutz.

        40,000ppm CO2 out. It can’t build up forever.

        FFS, do some learning about how the lungs work before commenting further,

        You are making a total ASS of yourself, yet again

        On purpose , I suspect.

        Its really is just MINDLESS TROLLING that gets your rocks off, isn’t it pfutz. !!

        12

  • #
    Bill in Oz

    I think Peter Fitzroy is polluting the intellectual atmosphere of JoNova’s blog.

    All those in favor of voting for a ‘consensus’ exclusion ban on him, please tick green. All those against vote red thumb !

    72

    • #
      Gee aye

      Yes. You should be able to continue agreeing with each other unhindered by skepticism.

      34

    • #

      Nope. No bans by me. I don’t do consensus.

      However I did like the old HELE Pete better than this one. Come back, Fitz-HELE! I’m “beside’s” myself with worry.

      00

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        We are on to site selection now mosomoso. I’ve found a greenfields site, with access to everything required.

        02

        • #

          HELE Pete! You’re back! Tell GeeUp we don’t want that snowflake, spellchecker guy coming round with his Hunter Valley wheeze and his car bans by 2025. I never red thumb (except Annie, of course, when she says shocking things like Merry Christmas and Happy Easter) but I was so tempted with this new Fitzroy.

          Er…this is the original Pete, I hope? The HELE votin’ Pete?

          20

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Great to have your support. The good thing about this new site is that it is well away from built up areas, which means that any pollution will not be a problem.

            12

          • #

            Actually, Pete, we already have heaps of sites and heaps of the good Permian black in NSW (for several centuries). Only a total doofus like that other Pete would want to use a built-up area or a National Park, and he’s gone now, with all his cheap GeeUp stunts, right?

            We’ve got the coal, let’s rock and roll.

            20

            • #
              Peter Fitzroy

              Yep,
              Now for that proposed site. A national park sitting above a coal seam and next to good infrastructure is a natural. Not only that, coal mining in and under national parks has a long history. To bad about Thirlmere Lakes National Park, which after mining is now known only as Thirlmere National Park, but progress right?
              Of course if you value unimproved land above coal fired power, maybe we could do some wind turbines instead. /sarc off

              02

              • #
                AndyG55

                You would need to build the coal fired power station before you could make the wind-turbines, pfutz.

                Then of course, you don’t need the wind turbines..

                Useless things anyway, only work part of the time, not fit for purpose.

                All that extra CO2 in the RNP will make it grow even better, too, while windmills will decimate the birds and other avian life.

                13

              • #
                PeterFitzroy

                So you admit that more CO2 is bad for humans, but good for plants? Are you proposing a vegetable led future?

                02

              • #
                AndyG55

                “So you admit that more CO2 is bad for humans”

                wtf are you yabbering about this time. Inventing crap. !

                On the “sauce” yet again, have you been ?

                Nowhere did I, or anyone else, say atmospheric levels of CO2 are bad for people.

                10

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Peter Fitzroy,

                You have ignored the Challenge.

                The challenge ends at 5pm EST today.

                KK

                00

            • #

              Serfs luv it, freed us from slavery,
              ‘Let’s hear it for ol’ King Cole!’
              Plants luv it, yr sequestered ol’
              CO2! Quick growers like bamboo luv
              it,suck it down, strip the air above
              it of CO2 in just a few days,
              Sahara Desert luvs it …

              http://notrickszone.com/2019/01/16/700000-square-kilometers-of-added-green-vegetation-climate-change-shrinks-sahara-desert-by-whopping-8/

              Greening’s so good, well plant-wise that is,
              what’s behind the Green Door not so good,
              eh Mister George Soros?

              Efficient, cheap energy, good ol’ King Cole,
              keepin wheels of energy turnin’ and real
              jobs employin’ serfs, CO2 keepin’ plants
              from starvation levels – that’s 200 parts
              per million. Cheers for Summer-time Cornucopia.
              Hooray! Hooray!

              20

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      I’ve brought this up on a number of occasions Bill.

      A stinking wet sponge.

      00

  • #
    Bill in Oz

    Meanwhile I’ve just discovered this short video about clean energy.

    Is coal very polluting ?

    And are wind & solar ‘clean’ sources of energy ?

    A USA perspective which is very interesting

    00

  • #
    • #
      pat

      having said that, I do believe ABC will be informing us the show is an April Fool’s prank.

      AIMLO is a clue.

      then there is Guests:

      Clarence Lovely has Rodney Marks in faint font below it.

      Comedian.om.au: Rodney Marks
      Comedian, hoax speaker, corporate impostor
      Rodney is a genuine fake expert. His comedy teases out distinctions betweens real experts and real quacks…
      https://comedian.com.au/

      00

      • #
        pat

        of course, it’s our just another hit piece on President Trump. nothing more.

        since Mueller/Barr – US media have been under constant attack, even on their own networks/channels, over their fake TrumpRussia propaganda over the past 2 years.

        not so ABC, or SBS, or Fairfax, or our TV channels, or the putrid Guardian which has infiltrated the Australian media scene.
        they have not even followed up on all the shifts to the real scandal, Spygate!

        BBC is the same. daily, breathless reporting of every TrumpRussia lie, and now NOTHING.

        and not one of our politicians have called our media to account for their fake reporting on a sitting President, even tho the US is a major ally! shame on all of them.

        30

        • #
          pat

          results of Donald Trump search on ABC website:

          Donald Trump and the rest of the world could see the (redacted) Robert Mueller report by mid-April
          2 days ago

          Did Donald Trump obstruct justice? Democrats will keep asking until they see the Mueller Report
          By Washington bureau chief Zoe Daniel and Emily Olson
          3 days ago
          The President’s decision to fire his FBI director isn’t a crime in itself, but it could be an impeachable offense if he did it for any reason other than seeing Mr Comey as “not able to effectively lead the Bureau”, as he wrote in the termination letter.

          Donald Trump and allies ready to turn tables on opponents and media after delivery of Mueller report ABC/Reuters
          6 days ago

          original headline:

          If you ask Trump, the Mueller report means we can all move on. Except we can’t.

          changed to:

          Donald Trump says the Robert Mueller report is ‘complete exoneration’. Except it isn’t
          By Washington bureau chief Zoe Daniel and Emily Olson
          25 Mar 2019
          Obstruction of justice could be a felony crime, punishable by anything from a few fines to 10 years in prison.

          NOT ONE MENTION OF CLINTON/DNC/OBAMA INTEL/FUSIONGPS/STEELE/FISA/RUSSIANS/UKRANIANS/ETC ETC ETC ETC

          30

  • #
    Bill in Oz

    The Australian has published that the :”NRMA is Australia’s Leading Motorists Association”

    Poor & dopey reporting and subbing by the Australian.

    It’s just another car insurance company with it’s own agenda.

    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/nrma-floats-ban-on-new-petrol-diesel-cars/news-story/262b4a2f00d4e2d947d26df294bcfa23

    10

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      See – I told you Bill, but luckily for me, the Australian back me up, otherwise you would still be arguing about it, and calling me a Troll.

      07

  • #
    Speedy

    Greens respond to Clive Palmer. “Ours is better”.

    The Greens National Anthem of Australia
    (Music: P. McCormick. Lyrics: R. Di Natale)

    I’ll save the whale, I’ll save the trees,
    My plastic bag will save the seas;
    I’ll save the carbon from the air,
    And save the cuddly polar bear –
    Which, by the way, will save the reef;
    (And it will work, I swear!)
    But may involve a little grief –
    The cupboard, will, be bare;
    If I become the climate chief,
    Australia, needs, a prayer.

    And since we’re children of the stars,
    I pledge to save all life on Mars.
    In doing this, I’ll prove my worth,
    And make some “useful” friends on earth,
    Who make it plain, they’re sooo humane,
    And ‘cos they know I “care”
    I’ll ride upon the gravy train;
    Australia pays the fare.
    I’ll ride upon the gravy train;
    Australia, pays, the fare.
    (I need, a new, au pair…)

    40

  • #
    pat

    equal time, sort of!

    Labor gets mention in the short summary:

    10min38sc: 1 Apr: ABC Breakfast: Labor bringing back ‘carbon tax’ with new climate change policy, Cormann says
    In turn, Labor has set up a showdown with the Coalition over climate change by releasing key elements of its 45 per cent emission reduction policy.
    With the May election the backdrop to everything that happens from here-on-in, Bill Shorten has declared Labor is primed for government.
    Guest: Mathias Cormann, Finance Minister; Leader of the Government in the Senate
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/labor-bringing-back-carbon-tax-with-new-climate-change-policy/10957738

    Cormann eventually brings up Labor’s planned use of International carbon offsets, says that “would harm the economy, would harm families, would cost jobs, would drive up unemployment”, according to summary on Breakfast homepage.

    no Coalition mention in summary:

    AUDIO: 10min29sec: 1 Apr: ABC Breakfast: Labor to deliver pollution cuts in ‘most cost effective and efficient manner possible’, Butler says
    Under a Labor Government, 250 of the country’s biggest industrial polluters will face penalties under tougher emission caps.
    There would also be new emissions standards for the transport industry, plus a 50 per cent electric vehicle target for all new car sales by 2030.
    Guest: Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/labor-to-deliver-pollution-cuts/10957740

    rough paraphrasing:
    Mark Butler: international carbon markets involve real cuts in emissions; overseen by Paris Agreement process; Kyoto dodgy trick – only Ukraine supports, maybe it will be by Putin. everyone else has rejected this dodgy accounting trick.
    Fran: how much more expensive – have you got around to modelling it?
    Butler: tech revolution we’re seeing all around the world means we’ll get GDP growth. Fran: we need more RE first, says a listener whose comment Fran chooses to read.
    Butler: that’s why we have 50% RE target. revolution in EVs happening right now. Fran: another listener: EVs require double the power a house uses.
    Butler: it isn’t a revolution that will happen over night.

    but then ABC gives a whole segment to an EV advocate! no opposing voice:

    AUDIO: 7min48sec: 1 Apr: ABC Breakfast: Labor’s electric vehicle policy a ‘big step forward’, industry says
    Labor’s policy is in contrast to the Morrison Government, which says it won’t release its national electric vehicle strategy until the middle of next year.
    Guest: Behyad Jafari, Chief executive, Electric Vehicle Council
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/labors-electric-vehicle-policy-a-big-step-forward/10957932

    rough paraphrasing:

    Jafari: EVs make up 2% of all new vehicles sold; 0.2% in Australia.
    Fran: could that be cost 50,000 or 100,000 for a Tesla.
    Jafari: we have 4 available here between $28,000 and $60,000.
    Jafari: govts are providing tax breaks, etc. Fran: until our electricity supply gets greener blah blah.
    Jafari: importantly Labor are coupling their plan with 50% RE. EVs are a battery on wheels.
    Fran: distances. charger.
    Jafari: it’s starting to be built blah blah. 480kms on a charge. some give full recharge in 12-15 mins.

    00

  • #
    theRealUniverse

    Labour is totally insane..45% CO2 reduction = NO coal, stop breathing, etc etc. = NO power grid, = NO industrialization, = NO development, = GDP way down south..as in MINUS.

    51

  • #
    philthegeek

    Interesting article some one sent me a link to.

    33

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Good article, ‘food for thought’

      35

      • #
        philthegeek

        Regardless of agreement or disagreement with the premise, i think its one of the clearest written atricles i have seen regarding possibilites and state of play.

        32

        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          Ammonia is also a feedstock for a lot of industrial processes, one of which is fertiliser, hence the ‘food for thought’ tag

          53

          • #
            philthegeek

            Yup, there are serious long term ramifications for the climate as well as the food and industrial production base if Ammonia production can be done, cheaper, cleaner and more efficiently. Interesting how fast the tech is moving.

            42

            • #
              Graeme No.3

              IF.

              Ask yourself ‘Why would industry persist with current methods with all that “cheap” renewable electricity?
              Perhaps something to do with the cost of transmission from those wide barren spaces? Perhaps the dust in those wide barren spaces reducing the solar yield by 50%? Perhaps something called thermodynamics?

              And certain bacteria can do this too.

              31

            • #
              el gordo

              Good effort Phil.

              20

  • #
    pat

    just in case you missed theirABC’s Labor/EV advocacy on Breakfast, ABC serves up more for lunch:

    1 Apr: ABC World Today: Electric vehicles: Labor announces policy to boost sales
    By David Sparkes
    Under the policy announced today, businesses would be given tax breaks to buy electric cars, along with other measures.
    The target is for electric cars to make up half of all new cars sold in Australia by 2030.
    Advocates say it’s a positive step, but one that needs to backed up by investment the necessary infrastructure.
    Guests:
    Richard McNeall, electric vehicle owner
    Behyad Jafari, Electric Vehicle Council
    Ali Asghar, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
    https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/electric-vehicles-labor-announces-policy-to-boost-sales/10958712

    and documents it elsewhere, as well:

    1 Apr: ABC: Labor climate change policy proposes tax breaks for businesses to buy electric cars
    By political reporter Jane Norman
    ABC’s FAVE SHORTEN PIC WITH SOLAR PANELS: Photo:Labor argues transport emissions can be reduced while saving Australians money.
    Mr Shorten strengthened his language against the use of carry-over credits on Sunday, describing it as “a particular accounting technique that only the Australian Liberal party and the Ukraine use”…

    Mr Shorten will use today’s announcement to paint the Coalition as “a hopelessly divided party” full of “climate sceptics”…

    Trade-exposed industries like steel, aluminium and cement would receive “tailored treatment” under the plan, while the transport sector would be subject to vehicle emissions standards, to be negotiated after the election.
    Labor argues transport accounts for 20 per cent of Australia’s emissions, which can be reduced while at the same time helping Australians save money at the petrol bowser…

    The plan would dramatically increase the number of electric cars in Australia by giving businesses a tax deduction and setting a national target — that half of all new cars sold by 2030 will be electric.

    Sensing the shifting sentiment towards action on climate change, the Prime Minister recently announced the Coalition would pour another $2 billion into the Climate Solutions Fund, its rebranded Emissions Reduction Fund.
    Labor has labelled that policy a failure and has promised to scrap it, if it wins the election.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-01/labor-proposes-tax-breaks-for-businesses-to-buy-electric-cars/10957268

    00

  • #
    philthegeek

    Hmmmm…..Coalition doing the carbon tax 2.0 thing. 🙂

    Maybe they can quote the below from Peta Credlin on the manufactured furphy that was carbon tax 1.0 ???

    “Along comes a carbon tax. It wasn’t a carbon tax, as you know. It was many other things in nomenclature terms but we made it a carbon tax. We made it a fight about the hip pocket and not about the environment. ”

    I love election time. Sooooo much comes home to roost 🙂

    43

  • #
    pat

    the NRMA spokesman:

    NRMA: Group Chief Executive Officer, Rohan Lund
    On 27 January 2016, Rohan Lund was appointed to the role of Group Chief Executive Officer of the National Roads & Motorists’ Association (NRMA)…

    Most recently the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for ***Foxtel, Australia’s largest subscription business, Rohan’s previous roles also include COO of Seven West Media, CEO of Yahoo!7 and Strategy Director for SingTel Optus…

    LUND: “I want to work for customer driven businesses and no organisation is more passionate about their customers than the NRMA”. “The world is changing at a rapid pace. The next few years will see radical change in motoring and travel, and Members will inevitably look to the NRMA for leadership and services to meet those changing needs.”…

    NRMA membership has been in Rohan’s family his whole driving life. Married with six children and a Director of UNICEF, he is passionate about family and community issues…
    https://www.mynrma.com.au/community/corporate-information/executive-leadership-team#Rohan

    just in case you missed the TV program, Breakfast or The World Today, ABC has:

    1 Apr: ABC: NRMA calls for ban on sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030
    Four Corners By Stephanie March, Lisa Mcgregor, Naomi Selvaratnam
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-01/nrma-calls-for-diesel-and-petrol-car-ban-by-2030/10949414

    1 Apr: ABC: Will we make it?
    Are Australia’s efforts to curb global warming enough to meet our Paris target?
    By Stephanie March
    Australia’s current Paris target is only a starting point — the Paris Agreement expects that in 2020, countries will come back with more ambitious pledges.
    Most of our emissions come from four areas of the economy: transport, industry, agriculture and electricity…

    Rohan Lund, the CEO of motoring body NRMA, says our love for big gas guzzlers is partly responsible. Many of our top-selling cars last year were SUVs or utes.
    “We’re a big country, we’ve a big driving culture and particularly in outer suburban areas in the regions we like big cars,” he said.
    One way to get less carbon-intensive cars on our roads would be to introduce a fuel efficiency standard…
    Other countries like the UK and France are taking a more interventionist approach and have announced plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars as early as 2040…

    LUND: “I would expect to start seeing targets that are between 2025, 2030 for banning [the sale of new] petrol-driven cars in this country.”
    Australia is also a global laggard when it comes to electric vehicle uptake. There are only 7,300 on our roads and according to industry they make up about 0.2 per cent of annual new car sales…

    Industry
    When gas is burned for energy it is cleaner than coal — which is good news for the countries that buy our gas — but extracting and processing it here is pushing up Australia’s emissions…

    Agriculture
    Methane from livestock is the biggest problem. Each day Australia’s roughly 90 million sheep and cattle produce the potent greenhouse gas through burps and farts…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-01/is-australia-on-track-to-meet-its-paris-emissions-targets/10920500

    from ABC TV Four Corners page – really?

    With activists on both sides of the debate pushing to make the Federal poll a climate election, this is a ***must watch Four Corners.

    00

  • #
    pat

    in case you missed it: anti-Govt rhetoric from Reputex’s Grossman; no dissenting voice:

    AUDIO: 3min39sec: 1 Apr: ABC AM: NRMA calls for ban on new petrol cars in next decade
    By Stephanie March
    The federal Labor Party has announced a plan to increase the number of electric and renewable-fuelled cars over the next decade.
    The move to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles is also being pushed by an unlikely source.
    Motoring body NRMA is calling for a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by as early as 2025, as Australia struggles to curb its rising carbon emissions.
    Featured:
    Rosco Sullivan, organiser, ute muster, Oberon Show
    Unnamed bricklayer and utility van owner
    Rohan Lund, chief executive, National Roads and Motorists’ Association (NRMA)
    Hugh Grossman, executive director, Reputex
    https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/nrma-calls-for-ban-on-new-petrol-cars-in-next-decade/10957758

    01

  • #
    Speedy

    Bill Shorten’s new Australian National Anthem.

    The Labor Party National Anthem of Australia
    (Music: P. McCormick. Lyrics: W. Shorten)

    Australians all, please just forget
    We’re floating in a sea of debt;
    In spite of what it may appear,
    It wasn’t us who got us here.
    So, if we’re clumsy with your cash,
    It’s ‘cos we love to share;
    Watch franking credits cop a slash,
    It’s something, you can, spare.
    You want an economic crash?
    We’ll drive, Australia, there.

    We’re union born and union bred,
    We’re strong in arm and weak in head,
    And if you think that’s thuggery –
    Then you can go to buggery.
    A campaign “loan” means we condone
    With mercy rich and rare;
    Of course it’s not skulduggery –
    We only, think, it’s fair.
    And did I mention buggery?
    We’ll tell you, what, is fair.

    Cheers,

    Speedy

    50

  • #
    tom0mason

    More failures of the climate models —
    It’s well known these models are poor at showing clouds and precipitation, a couple more items these models fail at —

    Not good at modeling pressure changes —
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181016132032.htm
    The findings raise serious questions about the accuracy of regional climate projections in the UK and neighbouring parts of Europe because meteorological conditions in those regions are closely linked to air-pressure changes over Greenland.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-41334-7
    Uncertainty in hydrological analysis of climate change: multi-parameter vs. multi-GCM ensemble predictions …

    When model predictions are found to be inaccurate, … large while uncertainty in their temperature projections was small, and vice versa. … based on scenarios from regional climate models.

    These models aren’t accurate enough to be the basis of changing the fundamental economics of the world.

    10

  • #
    Speedy

    Sung to the tune of the Australian National Anthem. An “Independent” view. One to make you “Getup” and dance…

    The “Independent’s” National Anthem of Australia
    (Music: P. McCormick. Lyrics: Getup)

    Australians all, please heed our voice
    We’re here to give you, Hobson’s choice,
    Our policies, we swear on oath,
    Are red or green, but mostly, both,
    So if, perchance, you did elect
    Us – by whatever means,
    Whatever wishes you direct,
    Is not, a hill, of beans,
    Your wishes, we will not respect,
    We’ll sell, you to, the Greens.

    We look so very good you see –
    Just watch us on our ABC;
    Whose audience, we know for sure,
    Is fed on steaming, green, manure.
    And, in keeping with this trend,
    Their questions will be “fair”;
    It’s nice to have a public friend,
    Who gives us lots of air…
    Just give the truth a little bend,
    The Charter’s, their, affair…

    30

  • #
    David Wojick

    My latest whistle blowing:
    https://www.cfact.org/2019/03/29/yet-another-bogus-renewables-versus-coal-cost-study/

    The claimed low cost of renewables does not include the huge cost of making them reliable.

    10

  • #
  • #

    What is that about?

    00