Weekend Unthreaded

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150 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #
    RickWill

    The is thread -1 that I was hoping to put on Weekend Unthreaded for any Aussies not watching the cricket.

    Peter Ridd was well received at the EIKE conference:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6mBig9Xrxk
    From 18 minutes in to 48 minutes. An extremely informative 30 minutes loaded with new information for me and I spent years looking at the reef. When I see something like this I wonder how much of any reported news I should take seriously. Who could have thought that coral was able to adapt to such wide conditions in a single generation!!!

    I get the impression that any university would benefit from the presence of Peter Ridd. Maybe he will be able to go onto bigger things. I hope his intellect is not wasted.

    –Moved. -Cheers Jo

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    • #
      RickWill

      Jo – Appreciate that.

      I have followed some of the EIKE videos and get enough German to understand the slides. Peter’s was a good one for single language Aussies.

      There are some impressive speakers. Surely common sense must prevail soon.

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      • #
        Screaming Nutbag

        Lol, and a Lord Monkers at the end to round off the cast of kooks. Hilarious.

        I don’t see anything new in all of that – a polar bear “expert” who’s never actually done any field research on polar bears, a crank who’s proven in his lab that CO2 isn’t a greenhouse gas, yet another collection of meteorological site cherry-picks to “demonstrate” the record is fake. Etc…

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        • #
          Hanrahan

          Even Fitz didn’t give you a green thumb. You really are all alone on an ice floe.

          I’ve just been advocating free speech on another forum so will refrain from giving a red thumb. 🙂

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          • #
            Screaming Nutbag

            No sceptic would watch that silly video and fail to see it for what it is – desperate codgers peddling nonsense they can’t publish because even in 2019 most publishers still have *some* standards.

            And then Screaming Lord Monkers at the end with his nazis and mass murder nonsense.

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            • #
              Hanrahan

              Until 6pm tonight this forum has had a sense of decorum. Ever thought of meeting the standards the rest of us do?

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        • #
          theRealUniverse

          Screaming idiot troll, you write elcrappo!

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        • #

          And yet despite all these nutcases talking at the one conference “screaming” can’t find one single error or argument that’s wrong, just non-stop namecalling.

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        • #
          clive hoskin

          If this is all fake,screaming Nut bag,then why are you here???????

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    • #
      Andrew McRae

      You’ve probably seen the update Peter Ridd posted this morning regarding his case. JCU are taking their sweet time with filing their case, so Dr Ridd has paused accepting any donations until more is known.

      ~ ~ ~
      I started to compare a pair of submissions to the Rural Affairs GBR Water Quality Committee.
      The only point of agreement I can find between the two is on the value of peer review.
      P.Ridd:

      However, peer review is often just a quick read of the work, maybe for just a few hours, by a couple of anonymous people selected by an editor of one of the science journals. This review
      is a good first pass to make sure that the work is readable and will often pick up some problems,
      but falls far short of a decent error checking system.

      J.Shine/AAS:

      Peer review is a central component of the scientific process. The best people to assess the scientific merit of research are scientists with comparable skills and knowledge. When a research paper undergoes a peer review prior to publication, this is only a first step.

      Sounds like “Peer reviewed” is only slightly more glamorous than “spell-checked”.
      There’s some concurrence on that point, but what happens next is a bit difficult to reconcile.

      J.Shine/AAS:

      Following publication, the paper becomes part of the public record and is subject to intense scrutiny by thousands of scientists – the discipline as a whole. Any flaws are identified and can be addressed in subsequent studies.

      P.Ridd:

      We thus have the situation that for one of the most cited GBR science papers, that is referenced in the 2019 Outlook Report, shows “long term decline” of the GBR, (a) we cannot get the raw data, (b) there are obvious methodological errors, and (c) it can’t be replicated.

      Yeah yeah whatEVAR Doctor Ridd, you’re just cherry picking one cherry. /s

      J.Shine/AAS:

      The Australian Academy of Science is greatly concerned about a recent tendency to “cherry pick”, dismiss, misrepresent, or obscure scientific evidence or smear individual scientists.

      P.Ridd:

      raised doubt about nine scientific papers that include a wide suite of conclusions directly relevant to policy. These nine papers have between them been cited thousands of times. Questionable findings in these papers include:
      (a) Halving river-borne nutrient and sediment concentrations will halve concentrations of
      nutrients and sediment in Great Barrier Reef waters
      (b) Riverine discharge is significantly related to GBR water turbidity
      (c) Nutrients from agricultural runoff are largely responsible for Crown-of-Thorns starfish
      plagues
      (d) Minimizing pollution from agricultural runoff would reduce mean macroalgal cover on
      coral reefs by 39%, and would increase the mean ‘richness’ of hard corals and
      phototrophic octocorals by 16% and 33% respectively.
      (e) There was a 50% reduction in coral cover in the GBR from the early 1960’s to 2000
      (f) There was a 14% reduction in coral growth rates between 1990 and 2005.
      (g) Coral cover will fall to 5%-10% by 2022.
      (h) The outer and inner GBR are 28% and 36%, respectively, down the path to ecological
      extinction.
      As this has been dealt with in detail in Larcombe and Ridd (2018/9), […]
      The main point is that if these nine very important papers on fundamental issues about the GBR have serious flaws, one has to question others papers. Almost none have been subjected to more rigorous quality assurance protocols than peer review.

      One has to wonder how many cherries one can pick out of the fruit salad bowl before it becomes clear that what was in the bowl was mostly giant deformed cherries. Is nine enough? Some hypothesis cherries are so enormous that entire policy pies can be (half-)baked from a single cherry. e.g. the “Reef Crisis” paper. Amidst all the criticism, then Dr Ridd’s opinion was misrepresented in a way that might even match some of that “smearing” the AAS claims it is so concerned about.

      All I can say at this point is that the establishment and the rebels are still fighting a war of perceptions.
      When enough people perceive there is a problem with the GBR science quality, at the very least the appearance of a solution has to be furnished by actually doing something different, even if tokenistically. The only crisis demonstrably happening with the reef is entirely onshore.

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  • #
    RickWill

    While at the top of the blog I thought it worth giving my simple table another plug:
    The concept of so-called greenhouse gas is wrong. Water vapour is regarded as the most powerful “greenhouse” gas. This fundamental premise is easily tested using NASA data for water vapour and ToA outgoing long wave radiation for any year. This table shows the globally averaged data by month for 2018 – TPW in mm and OLR in W/sq.m:
    Mnth TPW- OLR
    Jan 17.04 236.8
    Feb 17.29 236.5
    Mar 17.73 237.9
    Apr 18.19 238.7
    May20.40 240.6
    Jun 20.92 243
    Jul 21.89 243.9
    Aug 21.04 243.4
    Sep 20.54 242.2
    Oct 19.68 239.5
    Nov 18.93 237.1
    Dec 18.91 236.5
    Water vapour cycles annually due to orbital eccentricity and predominance of surface water in the Southern Hemisphere being exposed to the highest solar input. Water vapour has a minimum in January and a maximum in July. OLR has its minimum in January or February and its maximum in July. So water vapour and OLR are strongly POSITIVELY correlated. Water vapour goes up and OLR goes up; water vapour goes down and OLR goes down. The correlation globally is high:
    https://1drv.ms/b/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNg0eoxeRHedx24wc5

    The basic premise of climate models is wrong. A polynomial with sufficient degrees of freedom can be made to match any curve. Modern climate models have automatic tuning so the users are further separated from reality than when they had to fiddle with the parameters.

    This post has gained a little positive traction over at WUWT on the linked blog:
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/11/23/how-much-sun-could-a-sunshine-shine/
    I believe it is the simplest way to point out the silliness of the concept of “greenhouse” gasses.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Rick;
      You have some support, John Tyndall thought the same, despite his discovery of the IR absorption by CO 2. He reasoned that the effect of CO2 wasn’t high enough to show the difference in temperatures, esp. The difference he noted between “ground level” and the top of a mountain.
      (Tyndall was a well known mountaineer.)

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  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    In renewables- this fact may have passed everyone by.
    https://reneweconomy.com.au/renewables-supply-30-of-nem-demand-over-entire-week-for-first-time-52572/
    30% for a week
    Off a base of 20%

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    • #
      Screaming Nutbag

      It’ll never happen. The ice man will be delivering his blocks out the back of his horse and cart for ever, it’s the best system and nothing will better it.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Aren’t you glad that hydro is now counted as a “renewable”. I am old enough to remember your colleagues fighting tooth and nail against new hydro installations. And Tasmania and South Australia are “benefitting” from their larger proportion of renewables by their reduced economies.

      When I came out of the local supermarket this afternoon I saw that the Handicapped spot next to me was occupied by a ute. (I walk with a stick but don’t consider myself qualifying for that spot). The driver then came out and even at a glance couldn’t be described as handicapped physically, but judging by the slogans pasted on the tailgate he was definitely a Greenie.
      I suggest the possible explanations for him parking in the handicapped parking spot (despite there being vacants spots nearby).
      1. He cannot read.
      2. He is so arrogant that he thinks normal behaviour is beneath him.
      3. He thinks the world will be ending so soon that he was in a hurry to finish shopping.
      Do you use the handicapped parking spot (for no reason) at you local supermarket?

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      • #
        Screaming Nutbag

        Handicapped parking cheats are usually dumb, selfish bogans or wogs.
        Greenies? Sure. I believe you.

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      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        Who are you directing this totally off topic rant at?

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        • #
          robert rosicka

          Bit of a pest isn’t he Fitz ? , if that 30% of the whole new system was factual and I’m not sure it is I’m astounded anyone would think this was a good thing .
          How many billions have been spent (wasted) on renewables and the end result was a few minutes over a few days which had the absolute perfect weather for wind and solar but because of the low temps in at least three states consumption was lower .
          And we did notice it was mentioned when this spin first was advertised.

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        • #
          Kalm Keith

          Scro Bro does it all the time, just ignore him.

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        • #
          Peter C

          Wrong of me to give a green thumb to Peter Fitzroy.
          I thought his reply was to Screaming Nutbag.

          Nutbag: What do you mean by wogs?

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    • #
      yarpos

      An entire week thats really impressive isnt it?

      Not sure what Nutbags point (if any ) is. Most of the people on the blog have lived through/particpated in the period of most significant technological change ever known and have embraced it. It also happens to put them more in touch with maths, physics, engineering and reality rather than wishful thinking.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      That’s fine, but ATM wind/solar is meeting 5% of Sunday evening demand in the eastern grid.

      What should do we do in your world, go to bed and make babies?

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      • #

        Wind, solar and big battery will always be horse-and-cart tech because, like horse-and-cart, they are antiques. While some old tech is effective after centuries, non-hydro renewables are not. That’s because they are too hopelessly feeble, diffuse, intermittent and costly for mainstream power. They are decor. They are sources of plunder for green carpetbaggers. They are marching bands for River City. Oh, and they’re fully imported, like the diesel and diesel gennies that renewables push us into buying.

        The enemy of the new is the faux-new. Remember: all the money, good will and cred for new power sources is being frittered on these old lumps of clunk. The fact that they work is nothing. A perfect day’s wind sending power north across the Pyrenees won’t make up for the hundreds of other days when nuke power was coming south from France. Stringing together a billion electric toothbrushes will generate power. It means nothing.

        The crazy thing is I like all this alternative stuff: wind, solar, hempcrete, mud brick, off-grid earthships made from old tyres etc etc. It’s very me. I even wear socks made from nettles. But I know clunk when I see clunk.

        Do coal. Just do the coal. Do it well, do it better. But do it.

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    • #

      “30% for a week”
      So the hydrocarbon fuel companies provided less product but due to the high price at those times would have made far more profit on less product. An all round win for them. How long have Fits and screams been working for them i wonder?

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  • #
    Deplorable Lord Kek

    Further to what was being discussed earlier in relation to the policy schizophrenia of (1) increasing co2 emissions through mass immigration (well above historical or replacement levels) v the King Canute-like efforts to stop ‘climate change’, comes this gem from Mark Latham’s Outsiders on 20 November 2019:

    “Why did the Government promise prior to the last NSW election to halve the net overseas migration rate into the State to now declare at page 42 of today’s New South Wales economic blueprint, “We are not attracting enough migrants”. Why has the Government broken one of its key election promises and openly misled the people of NSW so badly?”

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    • #
      yarpos

      What would make the NSW government think they control immigration?

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Lord Kek:
      We need to import lots of illiterate (and semi-literate) people to act as fodder for manufacturing industries.
      Admittedly current policies are aimed at eliminating manufacturing industries, so these people can go on Social Welfare providing jobs for more public servants ( a.k.a. as bureaucrats).
      Those on social welfare spend their money, as do all those extra bureaucrats, thus ‘boosting’ the economy.
      What could go wrong?

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      What government can be trusted with anything?

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        KK:

        “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand.

        Milton Friedman”

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        • #
          Kalm Keith

          Good one!

          There’s a world wide shortage of sand and no self respecting politician would pass up the opportunity to help some poor struggling country.

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          • #
            Hanrahan

            Sand that has been blown around for thousands of years is round and no good for structural concrete. The desert states have to import that.

            Fancy having the job of selling sand to the Arabs, you’d get plenty of laughs at parties.

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  • #
    el gordo

    Here they argue that the industrial age is upsetting normal ENSO pattern, post hoc ergo propter hoc, but in fact its the end of the Holocene.

    https://phys.org/news/2019-11-el-nino-violently-industrial-age.html

    The good news is that satellites and corals agree on temperature

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    • #
      Screaming Nutbag

      I’m not sure your re-wording accurately conveys what the author was in fact reporting.

      Let’s use her words, shall we:

      “We find that ENSO variability over the last five decades is ~25% stronger than during the preindustrial. Our results provide empirical support for recent climate model projections showing an intensification of ENSO extremes under greenhouse forcing.”

      https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2019GL083906

      Also, I couldn’t find anything in there about “the end of the holocene”. Was that something that came from your own research?

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      • #
        el gordo

        Yes, its no secret that the Holocene has passed its used by date.

        We also know at the Holocene Climate Maximum that ENSO was practically non existent and during the Little Ice Age it was very active, so it stands to reason that CO2 has no part to play.

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Screaming Nutbag:

        Practically ALL the Green sites have been waffling about the end of the Holocene and the new Anthropocene.
        Given that the latter will end in 2030 according to the Extinction Rebellion mob, or 2035, 2040 or 2050 according to various Climate “scientists” this will turn out to be the shortest geological time ever.

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        • #
          WXcycles

          Geologists define the geological timescale and the Humanities Faculty’s “Anthropocene” widget isn’t a part of it, and never will be.

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      • #
        Another Ian

        “E.M.Smith says:
        22 November 2019 at 7:33 pm

        @Larry L:

        Exactly why I’ve made so little progress on a DIY climate model. The ones I’ve downloaded and examined are crap, and pondering how to “Roll My Own” has generally resulted in anything that looked like a promising direction suffering the same kind of complexity and missing steps / data crap issues.

        I’m not giving up on it, but it has made me painfully aware of just how useless are the existing set of “climate models”.

        They do not include ANY changes in the Sun at all.
        The atmosphere does not change height / density at altitudes.
        Solar spectrum and amount are constants (IF they look at spectrum at all).
        CO2 is coded to have an effect. (i.e. designed to be causal).
        Ozone modulation ignored.
        No Cosmic rays
        Clouds cumbersome and wrong at best, a plug number average at worst.
        At best, volcanic aerosols are plug numbers from historical records or just made up.
        No allowance for changed particulates / aerosols from Smog Control.
        PDO / AMO etc. are not present or are expected to emerge, but don’t. Forget the other “teleconnections” entirely.
        Ocean treated as a single digit number of ‘layers’. Just how do you get things like Gulf Stream with eddies and all from that? What about continental shelves?
        Mountains? What mountains?…
        Resolution of about 8K to 16K cells in some of them. Forget about Lake Erie and Rhode Island, they are too small to show up. Lake Effect snow without the lake?
        Millankovitch inputs ignored. (Not seen one yet with precession, obliquity, eccentricity)
        and more.

        Maybe I ought to do an article…”

        https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2019/11/21/sun-temperatures-valentina-zharkova/

        “How Much Sun Could A Sunshine Shine?”

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/11/23/how-much-sun-could-a-sunshine-shine/

        “I leave it to the reader to consider and discuss the implications of all of that. One thing is obvious. Since they can all hindcast quite well, this means that they must have counteracting errors that are canceling each other out.

        And on my planet, getting the right answer for the wrong reasons is … well … scary.”

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      • #
        theRealUniverse

        Nutbag! “We find that ENSO variability over the last five decades is ~25% stronger than during the preindustrial…”
        That doesnt mean its anything to do with CO2 or other fake science they dream up.
        You sure live up to your name. troll.

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      • #
        theRealUniverse

        Nutbag, you may want to look at this, https://www.iceagenow.info/cold-periods-correlate-with-civilization-collapse-video/ of course its just denier stuff to you isnt it.
        Careful going to iceagenow, extreme cold records reported daily…

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      • #
        PeterW

        Another weak correlation cited as proof.

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      • #
        WXcycles

        “We find that ENSO variability over the last five decades is ~25% stronger than during the preindustrial. Our results provide empirical support for recent climate model projections showing an intensification of ENSO extremes under greenhouse forcing.”

        The claim is that the data is valid for the entire length of the industrial age which began in about 1760, or at the deepest depths of the Little Ice Age, when CO2 levels were entirely natural, and remained so until about the middle of the first half of the 20th century.

        A whole lot of nothing-burger.

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    • #
      DaveR

      Green thinking does not equal real science. They are a long way apart and moving increasingly so as time passes.

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  • #
    Sambar

    Interesting outcome on the. Application for a large solar farm proposed near Albury. One of the grounds for rejection was It was thought to be bad for the local environment.
    Sounds like Bob Browns windmills in Tassie. It’s all a good idea, just not in my back yard.

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    • #
      PeterW

      I know people for whom it literally was just over the back fence.

      An absolute eyesore. It’s interesting that as an industrial development -calling it a “farm” is a lie – it somehow seems to have been exempted from the zoning laws applied to other industrial developments.

      … Let alone mining.

      Call it a Solar-Mine or a Solar-Factory.

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    • #
      WXcycles

      Have these people not even realized that the optimal placement for a Solar electrical generator is at the equator?

      42 degrees south in Tasmania is kinda not ideal, given the sun’s zenith is 65 degrees North of that during mid-winter, so the angle of incidence of sunlight to the ground at midday is only about 25 degrees, at Hobart in mid-winter.

      That’s just awesome, let’s build a solar farm!

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  • #
    pat

    h/t Chris Kenny/Sky News who noted an earlier version of Prince Charles’s NZ nonsense this week:

    (linked on jo’s previous thread):
    22 Nov: EconomicTimesIndia: PTI: Prince Charles talks about climate change, says humans only have 10 yrs to ‘change the course’

    8 Mar 2009: Daily Mail: Prince Charles: ‘We have less than 100 months to stop climate change disaster’
    By Daily Mail Reporter
    A dire climate-change warning will be issued by the Prince of Wales when he tells the world we have ‘less than 100 months to act’ before the damage caused by global warming becomes irreversible…
    The comments will form part of a speech, ‘Less than 100 months to act’ to be made to business leaders in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next week as the Prince tours South America with the Duchess of Cornwall…

    Next week’s speech is also set to resemble an address he made in San Paulo in 1991 when he warned at the start of the last recession that it was important to continue to care for the welfare of the planet…
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1160319/Prince-Charles-We-100-months-stop-climate-change-disaster.html

    22 Apr 1991: UPI: Royal couple visit Brazil on environmental mission
    By MICHAEL MOLINSKI
    The highlight of the trip was to be a private, daylong seminar on environmental conservation aboard the royal yacht near the northern city of Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon River…
    Among those scheduled to attend were Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello; William Reilly, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, British Environment Minister David Trippier and his Brazilian counterpart, Jose Lutzenberger, along with several top U.S., European and Brazilian bankers, businessmen and environmentalists…

    The royal party will be flying around Brazil in two British Aerospace 146 jets, which England exports to Brazil and hopes to send more. And on the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, the prince and princess will be riding in Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit 2 automobiles.
    With exports to Brazil now liberalized under Collor’s economic plan, Britain plans to export the cars beginning next month at a retail cost in Brazil of about $350,000…

    The two countries also are involved with several scientific studies regarding the environment in Brazil and the rapid deforestation of the Amazon rain forest.
    Among them is the Anglo-Brazilian Amazonian Climate Observation Study, whose Brazilian acronym, ABRACOS, means embraces. The project is aimed at studying the effects of deforestation on the climate. England is one of the largest consumers of Brazilian wood.

    The royal visit, which appropriately began on Earth Day, also serves as one of several warmups for Rio-92, next year’s UN-sponsored, worldwide environment conference to be held in Rio de Janeiro.
    https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/04/22/Royal-couple-visit-Brazil-on-environmental-mission/6085672292800/

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  • #
    Yonniestone

    A call out to any here with avian experience, on a walk in the bush this morning Mrs Yonnie rescued two newborn birds from the ground against my strong opposition and advice, well now (she’s) we’re stuck with feeding and tending two chicks of an unknown species.

    We’re feeding them (internet advice) moistened cat/dog dry and boiled egg, they wouldn’t feed for the first hour and thought the worst but now they’re regular every 20 minutes or so and seem to be set on pooping on their own heads (normal?)

    Any other advice would be appreciated, besides trying to advise Mrs Yonnie on anything.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      It is definitely normal to poop in their own nests, with two caveats: That they are being fed the right diet and they are not one of those where the parents clean out the poop. Either way, that’s the least of your problem.

      I had a mistletoe bird build a nest just off our landing. I saw three chicks but only two fledged. The third was a dried up hide, not a smelly mess when I looked later. Nature has its ways.

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    • #
      toorightmate

      The strongest advice I can offer you is to continue saying, “Yes Dear”.

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        I think we used to feed chickens on chickweed which if my memory serves me after 65 years was that green thing like clover that you don’t like having in the lawn.

        Maybe crush some barley, wheat being unavailable?

        KK

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Just find more worms.;) . I know its hard to keep wild bird chicks, theyre very sensitive.

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      Not sure if this is much help but here’s one sure way of feeding them that’s a bit more natural,

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O8wAXNLmL1Q

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    • #
      beowulf

      Young birds (like young anything) require a high protein diet because they are laying down muscle. Even honey-eaters and many seed eaters feed their chicks insects for a time for the protein content.

      It’s a pity you have no idea what species they are because it will make a big difference pretty soon. You don’t want to go stuffing dog food down the throat of a seed eater or honey-eater for too long. Is there a nearby nest that has been parasitised by a cuckoo chick that has tossed the others out? A single nestling might be rejected and disposed of by the parents because it was imperfect, but the fact that there are 2 would indicate something else is the cause.

      When I was a kid we had very large aviaries of natives: finches / parrots / quail. I have never heard of birds crapping on their own / each other’s heads, but I’ve not dealt with orphan birds. Those species where the parent disposes of the droppings usually produce their droppings in a sort of mucous bag for ease of disposal. Is this like what you are seeing? The chick generally requires stimulation by the parent to produce its bag of poo on cue.

      Without knowing even vaguely what they are, it is very hard to make suggestions. If the cat suddenly disappears though, they could be wedgetails.

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      • #
        Another Ian

        We’ve been tending a pair of butcher birds with two chicks. The reward is in song.

        A suprise discovery is that they like banana.

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      Thanks for all the replies, we contacted our Vet and they told us to bring them in as they have contact with wildlife carers.

      They took information on where they were found etc.. so they can release them back there, good luck little avian’s.

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    • #
      John in NZ

      Finely chopped worms are good to start with.

      A 40 watt incandescent light bulb hung over the box to keep them warm. CFL and LED bulbs are no good.

      If they huddle under it they are cold.

      If they move to the far end of the box they are too hot. Adjust accordingly.

      Look at the beak for an idea of what type of bird it is.

      Keep the cat or dog away and best of luck

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  • #
    Kalm Keith

    I don’t understand why he’s even on here, no real contribution, but we should accept the request of Screaming Nutbag to be addressed in the ancient Roman form:

    Henceforth,

    Murmurionatis Scrotum.

    Sounds more scientific.

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    • #
      yarpos

      I think its good that Jo welcomes alarmist input, it would be sad if the site became somethinf like Renew. Having said that Nutbag seems to be a content free zone and adds nothing meaningful yo the discussion.

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  • #
    Dave

    Or as the folk of PNG would say
    “Singaut bal long bek”

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      “Singaut bilum long leks”

      In such a flexible language its always good to have another way of putting it.

      🙂

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  • #
    robert rosicka

    I can now add this to my resume –

    Single-handedly managed the successful upgrade and deployment of a new environmental illumination system with zero cost overruns and zero safety incidents .

    Sounds much better than I changed a light bulb .

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      Hardly big news but recently I saw a headline to the effect the ban on incandescent bulbs has been lifted in the US. Didn’t read the article so may be wrong.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        So I checked:

        The US is scrapping a ban on energy-inefficient light bulbs which was due to come in at the beginning of 2020.

        The rule would have prohibited the sale of bulbs that do not reach a standard of efficiency, and could have seen an end to incandescent bulbs.

        Many countries have phased out older bulbs because they waste energy.

        But the US energy department said banning incandescent bulbs would be bad for consumers because of the higher cost of more efficient bulbs.

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      Lionell Griffith

      How many bloggers on this blog does it take to change a light bulb? One!

      How many greenies does it take to change a light bulb? Also, one but they pretend to save the earth by using renewable vegetable oil lamps and insist that electricity be made so expensive that few can afford to use light bulbs.

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        RicDre

        As a retire computer-programmer, I have to add this:

        Question: How many Software Engineers does it take to change a light bulb?

        Answer: None, that’s a hardware problem!

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          Lionell Griffith

          Love it!

          Having been an electronics experimenter and a licensed radio amateur in my youth, I do understand hardware to a significant degree. I tell management that I don’t do hardware and that I am a software engineer.

          Because of that, I tell them I want a faster CPU, more cores, much more ram, vast quantities of SSD/HDD space, a higher resolution true color larger display, free unrestricted access to the LAN and WAN, and the freedom to install/configure any software I think I might need. Since management usually doesn’t understand either hardware or software, I often get what I want. If not, I have to pay for it myself.

          After that, all I have to do is deliver as I promised.

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            Another Ian

            Terminology is important.

            Story years ago of a consultant who had progressed to requisitioning a bar fridge for his clients libations. Refused.

            Next budget quite happily bought a “negative heat exchanger”

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              Graeme#4

              Back in the days when microwave ovens were expensive, the boss was building a big boat in the company’s backyard. Popped his head in the door one day and told me that our section had just purchased a test oven.

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    joseph

    I found this to be an interesting delve into the subject . . . . the links to parts 1 and 2 are on the page . . . .

    https://www.coreysdigs.com/health-science/exploiting-transgenders-part-3-the-funders-profiteers/

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      Kalm Keith

      Interesting.

      A quick glance shows the tragic public outline of this issue but I suspect that, like most current discussion, it doesn’t go to the origin of the problem that occurs during pregnancy.

      While the article, I suspect, is rightly critical of the Surgico/Pharmaceutical “fix” I didn’t pick up on any attempt to explain the background of the biology behind it.

      Both the LGBTIQR movement and the Surgico/Pharmaceutical movement have not bothered to “go there” and instead have sought to profit from the first things that comes to hand.

      All this is to the detriment of those with gender dysphoria which is a spectrum disorder within the very solid bounds of the basic problem.

      Acceptance is the basic key for dealing with this and chemical or surgical intervention is likely just tinkering at the edges and making things worse.

      KK

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    BC

    And now for something that won’t surprise in the least:
    Lufthansa Boss Laments Low Pax Interest in Offsetting Carbon Footprint
    An extract:

    A growing number of airlines are offering passengers a voluntary CO2 offset scheme; however, passengers are not picking up on the possibility to fly carbon neutral despite a growing public concern about the environmental impact of air transport. “The numbers are quite low,” IATA chairman and Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr told media at the IATA Wings of Change Europe conference in Berlin. Less than one percent of passengers in Europe currently compensate for their carbon footprint, according to Spohr, who added that the number actually is “only 0.1 percent”.

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      yarpos

      Funny how he talks as if the passengers arent the public. The public he hears that demand for offsets from arent the public at all, they are a noisy minority that get too much attention.

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  • #

    Your chance to vote for prat of the year 2019. St. Greta of Thunberg looks to be a strong contender.

    Just follow the link – https://poll.fm/10466298

    Pointy

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    Graeme No.3

    Since I started ‘totally off topic’ (P.F. 2.2.2) why not continue? I read an article on a financial fraud and I quote part
    “Investors often told us that what drew them in initially was the fear that they would miss out on the next big thing. Many were struck by the personality and persuasiveness of the “visionary” Dr Ruja. Investors might not have understood the technology, but they could see her talking to huge audiences, or at the Economist conference. They were shown photographs of her numerous degrees, and copies of Forbes magazine with her portrait on the front cover.

    But it seems it’s not just the promise of riches that keeps people believing. After Jen McAdam invested into OneCoin she was constantly told she was part of the OneCoin “family”. She was entered into a Whatsapp group, with its own “leader” who disseminated information from the headquarters in Sofia. And McAdam’s leader prepared her carefully for conversations with OneCoin sceptics. “You’re told not to believe anything from the ‘outside world’,” she recalls. “That’s what they call it. ‘Haters’ – Bitcoiners are ‘haters’. Even Google – ‘Don’t listen to Google!'” Any criticism or awkward questions were actively discouraged. “If you have any negativity you should not be in this group,” she was told.

    And the unusual part is that this was from the BBC. They didn’t see any parallels with AGW/Climate Change/ Climate etc.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-50435014

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      Peter Fitzroy

      I see you are not responding tomthe question, and I’m guessing that if you did, you would be snipped for An egregious ad hom

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      Lionell Griffith

      Like sex, fantasy sells. People seem to forget that if it is too good to be true, it likely isn’t true. They want to believe that there is a free lunch. Which leads them to believe that they can get rich by investing in the schemes that produce nothing and sell sizzle.

      The bottom line is that all Ponzi (pyramid) Schemes collapse. Some simply take longer to collapse than others. You would be better off to burn your money than invest in one of them. At least you would get a bit of warmth out of your investment.

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    Green activists make big bucks!

    https://www.cfact.org/2019/11/22/the-climate-change-money-machine/

    I had no idea the numbers had become so huge.

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    • #
      Lionell Griffith

      Remember?

      Politicians and their bureaucrats are interested only in power over people to enable them to extract wealth from those who create wealth. They use that stolen wealth to buy still more power over people to be used to do more of the same. They do this until the society/economy they pretend to govern collapses into a pile of rubble.

      I have long contended that it is the collapse they are after. The wealth they pocket from the action is simply an anesthetic to hide their malevolence from themselves.

      How do I know this? When you destroy the ability of the producers to continue to produce (the consequence of power over people), money has nothing to buy and thereby becomes worthless. This has been true of every government since the first government.

      Can we break the deadly cycle? Many thousands of years of recorded history of government says not. The lure of a free lunch at the expense of everyone else is simply too seductive for some/many to resist. Even as the free lunches become ever more costly and eventually vanish.

      We can try to vote in better people. The problem is where will the better people come from? They come from We the People. Can a people who expect free lunches even know what better means? No. They simply vote for more free lunches until there is nothing to vote for.

      This means you can’t vote for better people until We the People have better ideas and are able to pick the better people. THIS it why it is the worst possible idea to let government control education. If we do, better ideas will be extinguished by the politicians. Each subsequent generation of people will have fewer better ideas until the generation who have no good ideas finally extinguish themselves.

      The above happens because we are constrained by the same physical laws that constrain the function of steam engines. See The Three Laws of Thermodynamics for why this happens and what can be done about it. It isn’t easy, but something can be done. It is called externally applied work of the right kind at the right time.

      “But…but…we want our promised free lunch!” Sorry, they don’t exist. It is either go to work or go extinct.

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      • #

        Having worked either in or with the U.S. Government my entire career, I cannot agree. Generally speaking, government is a good thing. Moreover, I see no workable alternative.

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          Lionell Griffith

          I suspect the only thing we are arguing about is what kind of government is good or bad.

          For example: the minimum possible government that defends the citizens individual rights is good. Anything more than that minimum is bad. If you want government to do more than that, you pay for it and leave me out of it.

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          WXcycles

          I see no workable alternative.

          I do, our system, but with vastly better leaders.

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    RicDre

    From Judith Curry’s Climate Etc: Week in review – science edition

    New York’s Unstable Electric Grid
    https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/the-grid/new-yorks-unstable-electric-grid/

    The Cost of Decommissioning Wind Turbines is Huge
    https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/wind/the-cost-of-decommissioning-wind-turbines-is-huge/

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      Lionell Griffith

      Fatal Irony: We are moving ever more rapidly to the magic of renewables, presumably to save the earth. All that is doing is increasing the speed at which the earth is being destroyed. Yet, we are urged to do more of the same while ignoring what is really happening.

      This is one more demonstration that the mysterious and seemingly ubiquitous green they don’t have our or the earth’s best interest at heart. They want destruction for the sake of destruction.

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    Ian Hill

    I’ll repeat this here with more details.

    From Channel Nine’s web site – 45 Photos of Australia’s Most Devastating Weather Events.

    Included is the 1989 Newcastle earthquake! Earthquakes are weather??

    Not Included is Cyclone Tracy in Darwin on Christmas Day 1974 which from memory killed about 65 people.

    An interesting inclusion is the heatwave of 1895-96 which killed 435 people across Australia. Don’t mention this to the BOM.

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      Greg in NZ

      As they are wont to say, their so-called science is even

      ‘worse than we thought’!

      How about snow in Australia in November: your BoM’s Alpine Forecast has snow & sub-zero temps not only for the next 48 hours, but for the coming weekend too, when ANOTHER vigorous COLD front arrives.

      Aussie kids won’t know what summer is!

      As I read on WUWT recently: 97% of the world’s climate scientists’ pedictions have failed – and even that is an underestimation.

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    • #

      yeah the 1895-96 was because people’s airconditioning failed.

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        el gordo

        The years 1895-96 were ENSO neutral and it seems strange that so many people died from heat stroke.

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          Like I said, the power went down and aircon failed. It is weird because their well insulated undercrowded housing should have helped. And the well equipped modern hospitals with rapid emergency services on the well made roads.

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            yarpos

            I do sometimes wonder about the chart of annual deaths attributed to weather events around the world and if it says anything at all about the weather/climate. Seems more indicative of advances in forecasting, communications and infradtructure.

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      WXcycles

      From Channel Nine’s web site …

      And that’s what we have to work with, program producers and ‘Journalists’ so badly educated that they don’t even know what weather is.

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    Senex

    This is in Danish, but I’m sure there is an English version somewhere. It says “Koalas declared functionally extinct after Australian bush fires”, and the thesis is that the fires have destroyed their food supply. Might be true in some localities, but across their entire habitat range? B.S.

    https://www.berlingske.dk/internationalt/koalaen-meldes-funktionelt-uddoed-efter-australske-skovbrande

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    RicDre

    Interesting Article: “How The Limits to Growth Broke Australia’s Bipartisan Carbon Tax”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/11/23/how-the-limits-to-growth-broke-australias-bipartisan-climate-policy/

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  • #
    RicDre

    I’m not a big believer in political polls, still this is interesting: Polls Show Tories Could Win 64-Seat Majority, Has 19-Point Lead over Labour

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/11/24/polls-show-tories-could-win-64-seat-majority-has-19-point-lead-labour/

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    Robber

    Does anyone know why Macarthur wind farm in western Vic, the largest in the State at 420 MW nameplate capacity, has been shutdown since Nov 18?

    40

    • #
      robert rosicka

      I thought I heard there were transmission line problems , I note two solar farms proposed recently have been canned by local councils .
      Latest by Walla council .

      30

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      Robber

      Macarthur wind farm came back online yesterday after a week of down time.

      00

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        yarpos

        They have a lot of catch up to do to get to that towering 30%. Its huffing today so that may help if its not above the goldilocks level.

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    Another Ian

    For petrolheads

    Behind the scenes of Ford vs Ferrari – Part 1

    Take a look behind the scenes of James Mangold’s new film FORD V FERRARI and listen to interview of Christian Bale and Matt Damon.

    https://youtu.be/PhBesrEN18w

    “Ford vs. Ferrari” “behind the scenes” Part 2

    See how they filmed the various crashes including (at about 6 minutes into the video) launching a full size Ferrari from what looks like a cannon to produce the crash.

    https://youtu.be/IocyFuS6JSA

    Top 10 Things Ford V Ferrari Got Factually Right and Wrong

    https://youtu.be/bYKcALDSl10

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      yarpos

      I saw Ford v Ferrari called Cars 3 for Granpas the other day. Mind you the reviewer was a clueless millenial also decrying Hollywood remakes without once calling out the SJW lecturing they contain.

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    Geoffrey Firmin

    Radio New Zealand website today quotes Metservice forecaster telling us that heat from Australian bushfires is pushing up temperatures to unseasonable highs on the east coast of New Zealand after travelling ~ 2500 km and crossing over the Southern Alps ~ 10000 feet ASL.

    20

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Was that the Irish, English, or American fortune-teller (oops, I mean forecaster) Met(no)service rolls out whenever the wind changes direction…

      Our nor’wester is NOT a northern hemisphere nor’wester, yet these ‘foreign’ correspondents (oops, did it again, I mean experts) prattle on as if they’d never heard the term orographic, or foehn, winds.

      Initially, 10-15 years ago, I enjoyed our new PR Overlords’ makeover from the Queen’s English of National Radio to the modernised RNZ; nowadays I find it near-impossible to listen to their relentless climate agenda crock.

      But hey, isn’t it some lovely WEATHER we’re having for a change… more please!

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    robert rosicka

    Abc radio are concerned about the rise of fake news , not sure they want to go down that road because their version of truth is usually marred by ideology .

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      yarpos

      Sounds something from the satirical news

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      RicDre

      “…because their version of truth is usually marred by ideology.”

      I had to re-read this sentence because the first time I read it I thought it said “…because their version of truth is usually marred by reality.” and I thought you were referring to the US ABC (American Broadcasting System).

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        robert rosicka

        I thought the seppo version was basically the same fake news spewing medjia outlet just not sponsored by the taxpayer

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    dinn, rob

    This one is tres facile: 11-24-19 Classified documents lay out the Chinese regime’s deliberate strategy to lock up ethnic minorities even before they commit a crime, to rewire their thoughts and the language they speak. The papers also show how Beijing is pioneering a new form of social control using data and artificial intelligence. Drawing on data collected by mass surveillance technology, computers issued the names of tens of thousands of people for interrogation or detention in just one week.
    Taken as a whole the documents give the most significant description yet of high-tech mass detention in the 21st century in the words of the Chinese regime itself. Experts say they spell out a vast system that targets, surveils and grades entire ethnicities to forcibly assimilate and subdue them–especially Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim Turkic minority of more than 10 million people with their own language and culture….
    The documents were given to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists by an anonymous source. The ICIJ verified them by examining state media reports and public notices from the time, consulting experts, cross-checking signatures and confirming the contents with former camp employees and detainees.
    The documents were issued to rank-and-file officials by the powerful Xinjiang Communist Party Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the region’s top authority overseeing police, courts and state security. They were put out under the head official at the time, Zhu Hailun, who annotated and signed some personally….
    It wasn’t education, it was just punishment,” said Qurban, who was held for nine months. “I was treated like an animal.” “With the powerful fist of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship, all separatist activities and all terrorists shall be smashed to pieces,” Zhu announced into a microphone. With that began a new chapter in the state’s crackdown….
    “There’s no other place in the world where a computer can send you to an internment camp,” said Rian Thum, a Xinjiang expert at the University of Nottingham. “This is absolutely unprecedented.”…Officials were asked to verify the identities even of people outside the country, showing how China is casting its dragnet for Uighurs far beyond Xinjiang. In recent years Beijing has put pressure on countries to which Uighurs have fled, such as Thailand and Afghanistan, to send them back to China. In other countries state security has also contacted Uighurs and pushed them to spy on each other. Despite the Beijing’s insistence that the camps are vocational training centers for the poor and uneducated, the documents show that those rounded up included party officials and university students….
    Mamattursun Omar, a Uighur chef arrested after working in Egypt, was interrogated in four detention facilities over nine months in 2017. Omar told the AP that police asked him to verify the identities of other Uighurs in Egypt. Eventually, Omar says, they began torturing him to make him confess that Uighur students had gone to Egypt to take part in jihad. They strapped him to a contraption called a “tiger chair,” shocked him with electric batons, beat him with pipes and whipped him with computer cords. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” Omar said. “I just told them what they wanted me to say.” Omar gave the names of six others who worked at a restaurant with him in Egypt. All were sent to prison….
    Kazakh kingergarten administrator Sayragul Sauytbay, a Communist Party member who was abducted by police in October 2017, called the detention center a “concentration camp…much more horrifying than prison,” with rape, brainwashing and torture in a “black room” were people screamed. She and another former prisoner, Zaomure Duwati, also told the ICIJ detainees were given medication that made them listless and obedient, and every move was surveilled.
    AP journalists who visited Xinjiang in December 2018 saw patrol towers and high walls lined with green barbed wire fencing around camps….“It’s the dark days of the Cultural Revolution, except now it’s powered by high-tech,” said Zenz, the researcher….
    A former staffer at Xinjiang TV now in Europe told the AP that those who couldn’t respond in Mandarin were beaten or deprived of food for days. Otherwise, speaking was forbidden. “They didn’t see us as humans,” said the former teacher, who declined to provide his name out of fear of retribution against his family. “They treated us like animals–like pigs, cows, sheep.”
    Detainees who do well are to be rewarded with perks like family visits, and may be allowed to “graduate” and leave. Detainees who do poorly are to be sent to a stricter “management area” with longer detention times. Former detainees told the AP that punishments included food deprivation, handcuffing, solitary confinement, beatings and torture.
    After they leave, the documents stipulate, every effort should be made to get them jobs. Some detainees describe being forced to sign job contracts, working long hours for low pay and barred from leaving factory grounds during weekdays.
    Qurban, the Kazakh herder, said after nine months in the camp, a supervisor came to tell him he was “forgiven” but must never tell what he had seen. After he returned to his village, officials told him he had to work in a factory. “If you don’t go, we’ll send you back to the center,” an official said. Qurban went to a garment factory, which he wasn’t allowed to leave. After 53 days stitching clothes he was released. After another month under house arrest he finally was allowed to return to Kazakhstan and see his children. He received his salary in cash: 300 Chinese yuan, or just under $42. https://www.theepochtimes.com/secret-documents-reveal-how-china-mass-detention-camps-work_3155621.html

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    Furiously curious

    Did Tony Heller have anything to do with the algorithms sorting out the raw BOM 40 degree day data? I saw a few weeks ago he was offering his algorithms, which do similar things, free to anyone who wanted them.

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    el gordo

    Global cooling signal.

    ‘Following the extreme heat witnessed last week Victoria can expect the return of some wintery conditions this coming week. A cold front will brush across the south late on Monday night, bringing cold, wet and wintery conditions across the south on the following day.’ Weatherzone

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    • #

      Every time the weather changes.

      “global cooling signal”

      Your friends from China are getting some good media at the moment.

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        el gordo

        They have this fascist element, but in the fullness of time they will get to appreciate Australian democracy with its three tiers.

        ‘Every time the weather changes.’

        Clearly you haven’t been following my train of thought, weather is inextricably linked to climate change. On this occasion a meandering jet stream and blocking high pressure indicates the subtropical ridge has collapsed, its a global cooling signal.

        I would appreciate your critique of this hypothesis?

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          It has to explain the heat it replaced.

          13

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            el gordo

            Its been a clever trick watching temperatures going up by tenths of a degree and now they will fall in a similar way. A meandering jetstream in both hemispheres is creating weather anomalies in midlatitudes, like Melbourne having four seasons in one day.

            But keep your eyes on Britain, if the North Atlantic Oscillation dips it’ll go from flood to snow and ice.

            ‘Areas of the north of England affected by severe flooding earlier this month have been told to brace for even more heavy rain over the next week.

            ‘Forecasters at the Met Office have issued weather warnings for the next five days in areas of Scotland northern England, south west England and south Wales.’

            Yahoo

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    Another Ian

    More around that area

    “Dr. Valentina Zharkova – GSM 2020-2025”

    https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2019/11/24/dr-valentina-zharkova-gsm-2020-2025/

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    el gordo

    In today’s lesson we will discuss marine heatwaves, which are purportedly threatening our very existence.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-25/marine-heatwaves-threaten-oyster-industry-great-barrier-reef/11726630

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    disorganise

    I’m sure y’all have better graphs n stuff….and I’m late for a weekender, but..

    Google brought me to this;
    https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/9/graphic-earths-temperature-record/

    Why it interested me was the trend I see – added as white line

    It looks like it must be only a few years after 2010, but it looks different to most of the graphs I’ve seen that seem to show a constant rise. Did later figured just hide the flat spot?

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    Another Ian

    “Samoa climate change resilience challenges Western perceptions”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/11/24/samoa-climate-change-resilience-challenges-western-perceptions/

    “Research from an alternate reality~ctm”

    And comments

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    robert rosicka

    No idea if this is fake news or not but has Germany love affair with renewables come to an end ?

    https://climatechangedispatch.com/germany-pulling-plug-wind-energy/?fbclid=IwAR2bNoa9xVQLf-d_Hc07ExAW3xKEbvF9hrrlPnHGG0Oys9VtFAkOxfzHfYA

    00