Weekend Unthreaded

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292 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #
    Aussie Pete

    People will say that now is not the time to be worrying about the future, there are lives at stake. To them I would say, we weren’t prepared for Corona’s arrival, the least we can do is start preparing for its departure.
    Scott Morrison has taken an almighty gamble, insomuch that the economy will bounce back to normal as soon as that happens. Good luck with that!
    For a Country that hasn’t made a profit for 12 years, we are now staring at a debt of possibly one trillion dollars.
    My high school maths – circa 1962 – tells me that if we could possibly make a 10 billion dollar profit per annum, it will take 100 years to get back in the black.
    For that equation to change, our society will have to change. There will have be a root and branch reset of society’s values and ideologies. We will just have to cope with fewer jet skis and more 10 foot tinnies on our waterways.
    The economy will be on a giant ventilator for years to come, and to say that the politicians and public servants will take a temporary wage freeze, while most of the rest of us are on life support, is just not good enough.
    Can we afford such largesse as the “Boosting Female Founders Initiative”? Applications close on 14th April 2020 for grants of up to $480,000 for a woman or women who wish to start or expand an enterprise. From the Federal Government website,
    The Boosting Female Founders Initiative (the program) will run over three years from 2020-21 to 2022-23. The program is part of the Women’s Economic Security Package, which helps to support more Australian women into work and supports Australia’s international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The program will provide targeted support on a co-contribution basis to female founders of startup businesses (startups) to launch and scale their businesses into domestic and global markets.
    Perhaps the money would be better spent, not only teaching our children to spell personal responsibility but also showing them what it means.
    Our leaders have made a moral judgement that lives are more important than money and fair enough, but to think that we can return to how it was just a few weeks ago and leave future generations to pick up the tab would be morally reprehensible.
    It must be up to the leaders, survivors and those relatively unaffected to take something a little more than a 1/2 hr haircut and begin the rebuild immediately.
    From http://www.dinosaurdiary.com.au

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    • #
      PeterS

      It goes without saying that it’s a very difficult issue. There is no rule book. PM Morrison did state there is a time to think about how to recover from the pandemic but it’s not now. However, he can’t put it off for say 6 months. That’s far too long. The concern I have though I don’t know if he will take it seriously enough and come up with the appropriate plan to start rebuilding our nation. I am preparing a letter to that effect and more. I will be sending it to him and the opposition leader soon. I suggest others do the same. This is our chance to make a real difference.

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        I think we need to plan to restart in june. After having people living like caged animals for 3 months, times up. If they havent crushed the curve by then, we will just have to put mitigation strategies in place and get on with it.

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        • #
          PeterS

          Agree. The problem though is no one really knows how long we can keep the economy in a coma without the governments racking up so much debt we end up defaulting. It could be as little as 3 months to perhaps 12 months. No one really knows since the central bank can keep handing over digital credits to the government as long as they like. At some point though other problems arise. People will go crazy, families break-up, suicides rise. Already in the US some places ar reporting suicides on the increase. Then there is the real risk of civil violence escalating. It has already started in small cases but it could explode if the economy is kept in a comma for too long. Gun sales are way up. If we all only had a crystal ball it would be so easy but we don’t. We are fumbling along in the dark. The risks are a plenty. Let’s hope we come out of this mess sooner rather than later. A practical cure and a vaccine sooner rather than later would be help.

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          • #
            farmerbraun

            “. Then there is the real risk of civil violence escalating.”

            But you will have had a practice run at lockdown.
            O.K. it’s just a pretend lockdown at present , but six months from now you will be well into the depression/reset.
            Only the real thing, emergency powers etc. will be enforced, seriously, at the merest hint of disorder.

            Don’t live in a city ; it will be hellish.

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            • #
              OriginalSteve

              I think while corona is nasty, the real end game is the lockdown and the power trip that goes with it.

              Apparently Australia conveniently had its onfluenza pandemic plan signed off on August 2019 and then Gates funded Event 201 is in October 2019.

              The coincidences are a bit close.

              Speaking to someone who knows Honk Kong nationals, apparently HK is open for business.

              Im tempted to call BS on this thing….

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          • #
            Hanrahan

            Peter, who calls in their markers?

            As I see it everyone is in debt to everyone else. The “money” men have no interest in settling the multiple trillions of gambling tabs they have written because they have no idea who is a winner and there is gold keeping the ponzi scheme going.

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            • #
              PeterS

              The people will. When people lose confidence in the governments en mass the people start withdrawing cash from the banks (ie, call in their chips so to speak). Then the run on the banks start. Then governments shut down the banks. Then we have chaos. Then the democratic governments turn into dictatorships and all forms of democracy are suspended. That’s one scenario. There are others but they all have similar endings.

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      • #
        AP

        They don’t read them, and you won’t get a reply.

        He only listens to “the best advice” from people like ”masks are dangerous for peons to use” Brendon Murphy.

        The best thing we can do is buy pitch forks.

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      • #
        Dean

        I am writing letters to members of parliament demanding to understand why they have not reduced the speed limit everywhere in Australia to 20km/hr everywhere.

        It will save nearly 1000 lives each year, and the government will not have to spend lots of money keeping people under house arrest.

        If they are prepared to sacrifice the economy for a slightly worse flu and flu-like disease season, then they should have no problems implementing all sorts of effective strategies.

        What happens next year?

        The economy shuts down to eliminate obesity?

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        • #
          tonyb

          I made a similar comment elsewhere on car accidents. Logically as the UK gets up to 40000 flu deaths a year (2015) then we should shut up shop every winter or at the least make it mandatory to wear masks.

          In the UK we also have 140,000 ‘avoidable’ deaths reach year out of a total of 600,000, so logically we should do something extremely proactive about those. If anyone has a comparable figure for Oz I would be interested to hear it

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        My understanding is that ScoMo is willing to go ’til Xmas. Before or after?

        Reminds me of a quip from when I was a Kid, “The operation was a success, sadly the patient died”. By Xmas we would truly be a banana republic.

        Deprivation is deadly but to point this makes you out a Daddy Warbucks Capitalist.

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        • #
          farmerbraun

          The depression, or if you like a short sharp deflation followed by runaway (I won’t say hyper) inflation which takes a number of years to correct, is locked in; has been for a year or so.
          Thee will be deprivation , and that is the reason you are practising lock-down , although the current regime is far from locked-down.
          But google tracking has demonstrated that it’s slowly sinking in, naughty people heading for the beach house for Easter are being monitored, and there is less wandering around , and now that on-line liquor is an essential industry the social “dynamics” will change.

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          • #
            farmerbraun

            In NZ , the narcotics trade, amongst other things, continued during “lockdown”.
            But as we come to the two week mark , the only ones moving around at night are the couriers for the “gangs”.
            The police are making the most of the opportunity and the emergency powers that are in place.

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    • #
      scaper...

      I would like to know where the money is coming from to pay for the billions in welfare. I suspect electronic money printing. It won’t end well.

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      • #
        el gordo

        Quantitative Easing is popular around the world, nothing to see here move along. The government was almost in the black until this virus turned up, so its anyones guess where we go from here.

        Its the revolution we had to have and I suspect thrift will become the new normal.

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        • #
          Kalm Keith

          Quantitative easing does away with the need for thrift and so discourages it. Thrift is wrong in modern politics because by definition anyone who is thrifty obviously intends to be a bit too independent. Nobody should be so independent that they might begin to think for themselves.

          Just print what’s needed and devalue the currency.

          Under this system nobody need ever work again.

          KK

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          • #
            AP

            The Venezuela model. Nobody need work because there are no jobs.

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            • #
              farmerbraun

              And there is nothing to buy even if you had the wheelbarrow of currency.

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              • #
                James

                And on the odd occasion there is anything to buy you need a wheelbarrow load of Bolivars! Now was is named after the sewage works just north of Adelaide?

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      • #
        RickWill

        It won’t end well.

        It never ends. The government just keep making “money”. It is a book entry that is balanced by private savings. There is zero cost for governments making money these days as it is simply a change in the allocated box in computer memory. Once it required paper and printing but that has long gone.

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      • #
        Ted O’Brien.

        My description is that each new dollar is made by shaving a little bit off every dollar already on issue and glueing all the bits together.

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      • #
        PeterS

        The money is coming from the central banks. They just digitally issue credits to the respective governments so they can spend the “funny money” as they see fit. It works well in the short term but the problem is it won’t all be paid back. The more debt the governments accumulate the closer they get to defaulting. Then what happens depends on a number of factors, such as whether the US dollar is still the reserve currency. If it is then each other fiat currency defaults one by one and people keep flocking to the “safe” haven of the US dollar. Then we have a digital world cryptocurrency based on the US dollar. Then they get into more trouble and people lose confidence in it. Gold then becomes the “safe” haven and new US dollar collapses. What happens after that gets muddy but I have my own thoughts, which I won’t go into here as it might upset a few people.

        The alternative is the US dollar loses its world currency status before other fiat currencies default. In that case I suspect there will be a concerted effort on the part of most central banks outside the US to form a new world digital world currency based on perhaps a cryptocurrency. If and when this new world currency takes off the US dollar will decline and default, unless they give in and join the new currency. What happens after all that will be similar to happens after the other scenario.

        In either case all other cryptocurrencies will be illegal. They will also ban the ownership of gold by individuals. That has happened before and already the EU has already started to ban the sale of gold to individuals through traditional gold dealers.

        It will all end in tears but currently central banks and governments are doing their best to postpone the crash and burn as long as possible. They have been kicking the can down the road for decades now. The road ends at the edge of a big cliff.

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      • #
        Dean

        Have a look at the difference between things like “paper” silver (AUD22/oz) and the price for actual metal silver (AUD40+) if you can get it.

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        • #
          PeterS

          The cost of buying silver bars from the Perth Mint depends on the size. A 100oz silver bullion bar costs about A$25/oz. A 10oz silver coin costs about A$29/oz. The retail price is always higher than the spot price. Bullion dealers need to make a profit too.

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    • #
      RickWill

      Australia’s net financial position has been strengthening and will continue to strengthen through the current circumstance because the country will continue to export raw materials but imports will decline as demand will be down.

      This on the latest net financial position data at December 2019:

      Australia’s net IIP liability position was $891.5b at 31 December 2019, a decrease of $83.4b on the revised 30 September 2019 position of $974.9b. Australia’s net foreign debt liability position decreased $20.9b to $1,143.5b. Australia’s net foreign equity asset position increased $62.6b to $252.1b at 31 December 2019.

      So country actually reduced external debt by $83.4b in the last quarter of 2019.

      More detail on this link:
      https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/5302.0

      Sovereign debt simply ends up as private savings providing the net international position is not deteriorating.

      After the health crisis there will be increased propensity for individuals to save; ready for the next crisis. The government has to create money for private savings to increase. They are doing that right now.

      Sovereign debt, in the sovereign’s currency, never has to be paid back. They control the interest rates and they could make them negative if they chose so the debt would then produce an income stream. Problem with negative interest is that individuals will be discouraged from having their wealth held as bank deposits.

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      • #
        AP

        There are so many problems with what you have suggested that I don’t know where to begin.

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        • #
          farmerbraun

          Agree. But it will solve any shortage of toilet tissue , should one develop.

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        • #
          RickWill

          Why don’t you try to begin. Not knowing where to begin could be interpreted as in need of a clue because you have none.

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          • #
            AP

            In simple terms, without delving into the secondary markets: All debt falls due. If a country doesn’t pay it down, it has to be rolled over, at a new interest rate, with a new due date. Sometimes with a new lender too, so the original lender can be paid back their principal to invest elsewhere.

            The country borrowing does not set the interest rate. The lender does. If your country becomes less credit worthy, the interest rate demanded rises. We saw this with the PIGS during their sovereign debt crises. Eventually, this can become self-defeating, where the interest is so high, it drives the financial crisis. When a government then tries to print its way out of such crises, inflation – and sometimes hyperinflation – ensues. This ensures the total economic collapse of the nation.

            There. Explained?

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          • #
            AP

            Currently the Australian 2 year bond yield is 5.75%. This is the rate at which the Australian government borrows that $300 billion in stimulus cheques. It is NOT the RBA’s cash rate target. Completely different things.

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            • #
              Sceptical Sam

              Tommy rot. You’re exaggerating AP.

              The Australian Government has three series on offer for next week (6, 7 and 8 Apr):

              1. $2.0 Billion at 2.25% maturing 21 November 2022
              2. $1.0 Billion at 1.50% maturing 21 June 2031
              3. 2.0 Billion at 5.50% maturing 21 April 2023.

              See those dates?

              https://www.aofm.gov.au/program/forthcoming-transactions#TB

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              • #
                AP

                Weren’t you the one saying that this would all be repaid in a couple of years?

                Caught in your own lies.

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              • #
                AP

                Also that may be what’s on offer, but thats not the current bond yield. The yield (set by the secondary market) ultimately determines the rate the gubbimint can get. Why participate in an offer on the primary market if you can pick up the same instruments on the secondary market at a better yield?

                You need to learn your stuff mate. I am a former investment banker and came first in finance.

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              • #
                Sceptical Sam

                You’re also a teller of porkies, sonny.

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              • #
                Sceptical Sam

                Why participate in an offer on the primary market if you can pick up the same instruments on the secondary market at a better yield?

                An investment banker wouldn’t need to ask that question, sonny.

                Next week’s issues will be going at the rates set by the Government. Not the rates set by the secondary market. The Government is not raising funds in the secondary market.

                The proof of your tommy-rot will be seen next week when the Government gets the full $5 Billion away. And, every month thereafter.

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  • #
    williamx

    FYI

    The Fire Brigades Employees Union Sitrep to members re Fire Rescue NSW Covid-19 update.

    Quoted from Sitrep 14/2020.

    “The FBEU has been briefed from the Department(Fire Rescue NSW),that they have currently run out of many of the items that we will require to keep us safe throughout this pandemic, although we were assured last week that this issue was in hand, the Department are now urgently trying to source these products. Crews are to manage as best they can in these circumstances and if you are missing required safety equipment to respond to certain emergency calls, inform your chain of command and notify Comms if you are unable to attend.”

    end quote.

    As an employee of said emergency service, I cannot comment on this. But you my friends are free to do so.

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  • #
    farmerbraun

    Mad Magazine Moment.

    ” you know your blog has become non-essential when it takes up to four minutes to load the site”.
    Internet Rationing is a thing because . . . . The Emergency.

    In the essential category FaceBooks are Go!

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    • #
      James Poulos

      Oh quick let’s organise a ‘Bundles for Blogs’ before someone else thinks of it…

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      • #
        farmerbraun

        You got me. I had to look it up. 🙂

        “Legal Bundle Value Pack™. FTC+GDPR+CCPA compliant templates . . . “

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    • #
      Ted O’Brien.

      Not just the internet either. The wife is complaining about the phone, too.

      Some people have applied the connotation of biological warfare to this crisis. If somebody wanted to engage in biological warfare against us this is just about how they might do it. And the next step would be to disable our communications system.

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      • #
        farmerbraun

        ” disable our communications system.”
        It’s much easier to take the power down ; has the same effect.

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        • #
          Mal

          Already started
          We have windmills and solar and closing down baseload coal power stations

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            Look at what happened to the South Coast during the fires…..

            If people are in lockdown more than 3 months, the govt best be ready to bulk arrest people in the streets because people will just refuse to be locked up any longer. Then good luck finding enough jails..oh wait we have all those schools with 6′ fences…

            Last time i looked, we are a Democracy. The people need to push back.

            The govt should be scared of the people, and the people should never fear the govt.

            Im all for rule of law, but sometimes standing firm against potential abuse of power by forced lockdown may have to be done….

            Dont forget the influence the Banksters have on our govt…

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    • #
      Chad

      ” you know your blog has become non-essential when it takes up to four minutes to load the site”.
      Internet Rationing is a thing because . . . . The Emergency.

      Its not necessarily “internet rationing”.
      This blog for instance has been slow for months, steadily getting worse.
      Im no expert, but i do know there are serious technical software/hardware problems with Jo’s site.

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Chad:

        Coul it be that there has been a lot more people trying to get information rather than ‘Pollyanna’ waffle from a government spokesman, who can barely pronounce Covid?

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          Or “filtering” is in progress to put you off using the site…..

          You will know we’re winning when search engines refuse to include the site in search results…

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  • #
    Kalm Keith

    Yes, there are horrible things happening around the world related to CV19.

    Yes, medical staff have seen horrific deaths related to CV19.

    Yes, we need to take action to prevent deaths and minimise suffering.

    Yes we must respond to this crisis.

    All that is acknowledged; but the response of our government has been to smash the CV19 with a Hammer with No apparent awareness of what they were doing.

    We are on the brink of a Catastrophe far bigger than CV19 when governments Hammer the society they are supposed to be saving.

    KK

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    • #
      PeterS

      See my post above. My thinking is this is our final chance to avoid a crash and burn scenario. The next big crisis might very well destroy us completely so we must prepare ourselves as best we can and as quickly as we can before it happens so we can weather it. Although the current pandemic crisis is serious it’s not nearly as bad as say the two world wars. We can recover and rebuild this nation and make it great again. It requires all hands on deck. That include the lefties. Anyone who refuses to join in the nation building efforts should be treated as a trait0r. That includes our leaders, state and federal.

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      • #
        el gordo

        Apparently crash and burn has arrived … economic recession, depression and WW3.

        ‘House prices in Sydney and Melbourne are predicted to crash by 50 per cent during the next three years as Australia suffers from its first depression since the 1930s, an American economist fears.

        ‘Bestselling author Harry Dent, who predicted the US real estate bubble before the global financial crisis began in 2007, said coronavirus was likely cause Australia’s unemployment rate to triple to 15 per cent in coming months.’

        Daily Mail

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        • #
          RickWill

          Harry Dent makes predictions all the time. He rarely lets a crisis opportunity go to waste; like climate believers. His basic concept of demographics is useful but he thinks linearly and governments do not necessarily abide by his thinking.

          I expect international tourism will be damaged for a while. That works both ways. Aussies will tour in Australia rather than going overseas. The exchange rate will help in that occurring. It will be decades before cruise ships are back in favour. I don’t think Australia owns any of the major lines.

          Australia’s education model will likely shift as there will be reduced number of international students.

          If Australia comes out without a great number of CV19 deaths then it will continue to be an attractive place for visitors and immigrants. More immigrants will continue pressure on housing.

          Those people currently involved in essential supplies and services are doing well now. Supermarkets for example. My wife made a point about a store manager saying that he could not understand their toilet paper sales were still up 50%; pointing out that not many employers offer scented Quilton dunny paper. Bulk buying down so more through retail outlets. One of my sons is an essential service provider and his business is down a little but the government assistance actually gets him above where he would normally be.

          Air travel will be down. The local councillors will be less inclined to head off to Europe for their annual “learning” excursion. We may see rates decline. I am in one of the council districts that now has an appointed administrator so that will save some money.

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          • #

            Australian housing has been among the most overpriced in the world.
            https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2020/01/demographia-australian-housing-among-worlds-most-unaffordable/

            One mans crash is another mans “affordable housing”.

            Australia has needed a return to normal value in housing for a long time. I don’t know that this virus will provide that though. Unless the death toll goes up a lot — the same number of people will want the same number of houses and besides helicopter money is on the way.

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            • #
              PeterS

              Yes it is overprices and yes a “correction” is due. When it happens though it won’t be a typical soft landing. It will over-correct, i.e. crash simply because it has been far too high for far too long. That’s how the cookie crumbles.

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            • #
              Boris

              True, but can you imagine that in a ‘civilised’ world where science can measure many many things very precisely we have closed our eyes and allow the arbitrary value or what poses as money grounded in nothing except the say so of governments?

              On the one hand we deserve to shorn like dumb sheep. Alas, a just society is a figment of our flawed belief. Our representatives in parliament are really making sure we have honest weights & measures as we’ve been led to believe.

              The innocent will be victimised by such a correction that none of their making and they didn’t see coming.

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        • #
          PeterS

          Possibly but I doubt it. Clearly only time will tell. I suspect this is not the crash and burn but just one more step towards it.

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        • #
          Bill In Oz

          I wonder who Harry Dent is being paid by ?

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    • #
      farmerbraun

      It’s not clear that there is an enhanced attempt to save the most “non-essential”. But there is an attempt to give the appearance of one.

      How’s your Social Credit Score? Are you keeping your Social Distance?
      What about when you are in your Social Housing?
      Are you completely satisfied with your Social Welfare?

      Feel free to add. 🙂

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  • #
    ren

    “The disease is way more severe than anybody could actually imagine,” Grayver said. “I cry. I think that’s ok to actually say, the fact that I do allow myself to, at a certain point, feel what this actually means.”

    She said that if others could see what she has to witness on a daily basis, people would take the quarantine much more seriously, and no one would ever leave their home.
    https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/you-can-smell-fear-you-can-smell-death-doctor-describes-covid-19-hospital-hell/2359507/

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    • #
      farmerbraun

      Better to cry for your country.

      “Poor fella my Country”.

      What was the point of your post?

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    • #
      RickWill

      The doctor must live in bubble stating:
      “way worse than anyone could imagine”
      It is not only what was imagined but was, in fact, accurately predicted. The prediction has a peak of 855 daily deaths in NY on 10th April. With 630 deaths in NY yesterday they are tracking the mid range prediction.

      The arrogance of the US east coasters is on show in her comments. It will be a sobering lesson to realise they are third world in their health care. The number of young people with underlying health conditions is a factor too. She is actually surprised that many seriously ill patients are under 60yo. Clearly misinterpreting the triage decisions driving death statistics in other countries.

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        farmerbraun

        Apparently there is a view that obesity is not a significant co- morbidity for those less advanced in years.

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    Kalm Keith

    And talking about governments “controlling” everything.

    We have just exited the twighlight zone imposed on us from above by benevolent government.

    Yes, daylite saving is over, we are now back in real solar time, or GMT.

    Has there been any benefit from daylite saving to counter the messups and disruption it causes?

    O.K. They’re doing well so far when every year there’s a new control tightener added:

    Global warming, tick.

    Daylite saving, tick.

    CV19 stay inside, tick.

    What have they got cooked up for 2021.

    KK

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    • #
      farmerbraun

      “At this stage , what does that matter?”
      TM (Hilary Clinton)

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Next year.

        Yes, maybe we won’t make it that far.

        The only good thing about the lifting of daylite saving is that I can have my high noon drink an hour earlier now.

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      PeterS

      Increase in civil violence against governments of the day as more people who have lost a lot seek retribution. That will be met with more draconian actions from the governments.

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        scaper...

        Ya reckon? When it eventuates there will be more of us than them. The stormtroopers will be overwhelmed.

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        • #
          Chad

          …..And what will you ( or any of the revolution). do , once you have overwhelmed the stormtroopers ??

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            scaper...

            Reclaim our liberties would be a good start. Not a revolution, a push back. The warmists must be enjoying what is happening as it was always their intent. Funny how the right and CC sceptics became their useful idiots.

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          • #
            farmerbraun

            Ask Danton and Robespierre.
            Oops , where did they go?

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        • #
          PeterS

          I didn’t say there won’t be a battle. Civil war is nothing new to most countries around the world. People can only take the BS and pain so far then they snap. History proves this is so over and over. As to who will win the battle – well does it matter? It will be a dictatorship either way. Democracy will be scrapped in the interests of “national security”.

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        Destroyer D69

        My understanding is that Australia is the ONLY democracy that has not had a full on civil war on the road to where they now are.Is this going to be the final straw on the backs of the citizen camels?????

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        • #
          el gordo

          No, we are fairly compliant, probably due to our convict heritage. Also its a vey big country and there are too few radicals to mount an uprising.

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      I think they are taking the opportunity as a dry run for the next thing …this is an opportunity to test how far australians can be pushed, before they push back.

      The non-stop saturation coverage/fear mongering is right out of the 9 / 11 play book.

      My question is what else is going on that is being kept quiet?

      Case in point – during the Depression, the Bank of England tep turned up in Oz and told the govt to stop spending on infrastructure projects, thus deepening the Depression horribly. If the Establishment are happy to do that to screw a population under horrible conditions then, they will do it again. The US govt told people to put all thier gold in Fort Knox, then confiscated it.

      This is why they need to be warned about exceeding a 3 month lockdown. They read this blog, Im sure of that.

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        PeterS

        If we are to go down the conspiracy theory road we can say there have been any number of dry runs since year dot. I look at it differently. It’s all going to go pear shaped eventually regardless of whether it’s by design or not. As we get closer and closer to the final crunch, certain groups will be positioning themselves for maximum benefit. They might also assist in the decline at times but they know they don’t need to. Patience is key. Humans are self-destructive.

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      You know this has been a personal irk for years, the history of DST shows only a couple of individuals who felt strong personal opinions about what others should do in their spare time, forward to today and include any public displays of government sanctioned activism to that list, anything from charity, awareness or protest Australians have been socially conditioned to react to government guidance.

      Only last year people were lauding the great generosity of Aussies for bushfire relief efforts, and some of the over the top accolades were frankly un-Australian, forward to Covid-19 where the affected don’t just live in the bush but also major cities and what is the first big story here? people en masse selfishly hoarding toilet paper also un-Australian.

      Also note that during the bushfire fund raising we went to a local one organised in a week through car clubs and it raised $38k on a Thursday night, now despite the constant shilling of diversity in our communities the people there were everyday Aussies from dare I say it Anglo Saxon descent, no (Insert multiple “diverse” ethnicity) just the much maligned whitey, I’ve also seen this with ANZAC Day ceremonies.

      My view is no matter what your background is if you live and gain under Australian citizenship you should respect its culture and history no exceptions, the idea that embracing and adopting other cultures through open boarders is fraught with failure as the various ideals clash under one law, this is the plan of the left and make no mistake they are the true enemy within.

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        Kalm Keith

        Good one.

        30

      • #

        3 weeks of no toilet paper at my local super market. Same for soap, paper towels, and hand sanitizer.

        However, individual toilet paper rolls can be found in every gas station and corner mini mart.

        Hand sanitizer is only available at local CBD Oil / Vape shops.

        Crazy, right?

        30

      • #
        Boris

        >>”Also note that during the bushfire fund raising we went to a local one organised in a week through car clubs and it raised $38k on a Thursday night, now despite the constant shilling of diversity in our communities the people there were everyday Aussies from dare I say it Anglo Saxon descent, no (Insert multiple “diverse” ethnicity) just the much maligned whitey, I’ve also seen this with ANZAC Day ceremonies.

        Australian academic, Frank Salter, has researched the innate interest ethnies have in furthering their own gene pool through altruistic behavior. However, whites have been displaying a “pathological altruism” that is hastening our replacement.

        Frank Salter:
        “Unlike people of other races, whites seem to demand some kind of objective, rather than subjective, reasons for survival.

        >>”……. open boarders is fraught with failure as the various ideals clash under one law, this is the plan of the left and make no mistake they are the true enemy within.

        When the government goes into command economy mode more than it normally is there will be shortages and difficulties. Tensions will show/fracture along racial and ethnic lines.

        Surely everyone knows by now that our gene pool is the fundamental basis of our cultural expression. Sure environment influences how genes express themselves over time, but we are our genes.

        ‘Science’ has been busy trying to deny that, but continuing to deny “human Nature” will ensure western civilisations demise.

        We have been, are being, herded into a divide and conquer situation which will now be clearer to the naysayers as this engineered economic destruction gets more acute.

        10

    • #
      Raving

      The oncoming depression is real enough. The covid crisis will provide the much needed impetus to restructure economics. There are downsidesto globalization and outsourcing.

      For countries to recover they will turn toward isolationism and self interest. This is as true for China as anyone else.

      GDP is a local responsibilty. No economic fat to fuel economies elsewhere

      40

      • #
        Kalm Keith

        We hope.

        40

      • #
        el gordo

        There may not be a world depression because the dynamics have changed, China is a counter balance.

        I agree some counties will go into isolationism, particularly the US, but China fully intends to push forward with international expansion. In relation to world food security, globalism is good.

        00

    • #
      Ted O’Brien.

      Daylight saving was for people who started work at 8:30 or later. People who had the benefit of mains powered lighting.

      There were and still are people who really do save daylight by starting work at 7:00 am, because they didn’t have the benefit of mains power. For these people these last few weeks are a damnable nuisance with near complete darkness at 7:00 am.

      10

  • #
    TdeF

    Suspect and pointless article front page on the Australian no less, hibernation vs elimination. ‘Chinese correspondent’ Will Glasgow. Even the title is silly. These are not the choices.

    The author praises Taiwan’s less than total shutdown with schools open when Taiwan had a two month head start and scrupulously checked all incoming people.

    They had no Ruby Princess. No ignorant politicians who could not believe it. No people heading off on cruises and planes in February and March against government advice. No vast numbers of incoming Wuhan Chinese unchecked, as America and Italy had. And no warning.

    And an investigative force ready to move fast and track every infection.

    We would have been in the same position if WHO had told the world what Taiwan formally told WHO, that a new virus was loose in Wuhan, a virus every
    bit as dangerous as SARS and MERS and the last few from Wuhan, simply because it had so many asymptomatic carriers.

    And that is officially because WHO does not accept that Taiwan exists with the strict One China policy introduced by the new President of WHO. That is not mentioned.

    You have to wonder if the Australian Chinese correspondent is not also under orders if he still wants to be the ‘Chinese correspondent’. Nice placement, front page in the Australian. So China is not at fault. The victims are the problem and the incompetent Western democracies. Will makes that point a few times, say “This is not about whether you are an authoritarian state or a democracy. It’s about good public health management.” And other democracies too. China is blameless. The victims are the problem, not ‘authoritarian’ China.

    The resignation of the head of WHO is not enough. The world deserves a politically independent health organization, separate from the corrupt United Nations. And the IPCC should cease to exist. The World Meteorological Association does not need to be part of the UN and to play politics. Besides, meteorologists are not qualified Climate Scientists because they are not socialist anthropologists like the current head of the IPCC.

    The other question is how such a zero content nothing burger article blaming Western democracies managed to get front page on the Australian.

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Typical comminist/Saul Alynski strategy – blame the opposition for the exact thing you are doing.

      71

      • #
        Boris

        >>”Typical comminist/Saul Alynski strategy – blame the opposition for the exact thing you are doing.

        Who’s the master of that strategy?

        10

    • #
      toorightmate

      Excellent TdeF.

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    • #
      TdeF

      Update. Now the byline reads “The ‘COVID-19 elite’ — the countries with better outcomes — have a number of things in common.”

      Yes, they all border China and do not believe a word of the Chinese government and have been burned before. Avain flu. Swine Flu. SARS. MERS. HENDRA. Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea. On even a hint of a problem, they shut the borders and go into total control of incoming viruses.

      Where Boris Johnson is still hankering after ‘herd immunity’, still hoping there is a middle ground. And while it lasts, the supporters of the Chinese Government are still pushing Sweden as a wonderful example of doing as little as possible, chasing herd immunity. They will be the pariah of Europe.

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  • #
    ren

    In tobacco, but also other plants, and even yeast or cell lines, you can produce vaccines so-called subunit. Such vaccines usually contain one or more virus proteins – most of them are structural proteins, i.e. those that form a virus envelope. What makes them different from attenuated vaccines?

    – These particles externally resemble a given virus and cause almost the same immune response as a natural virus. They do not contain genetic material of the virus. Therefore, there is no risk in their case of neither the virus multiplying nor the return of the virus to its virulent form and disease symptoms – the expert explains.
    https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2020/03/breaking-weve-got-vaccine-says-pentagon-funded-company/163739/

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  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    The debate over immigration is over: restriction wins.
    The debate over borders is over: they are needed.
    The debate over globalization is over: the era of autarky begins.
    The debate over Europe is over: it is a geographic expression, not a polity.
    The debate over global warming is over: it is irrelevant.
    The debate over international institutions is over: only nations matter.
    The debate over the Peoples Republic of China is over: it is a menace to the community of nations, not a member of good standing.

    Crisis is clarity. (h/t: social media)

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    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Back in 1918 – all those statements were true – and yet the Spanish flu swept the world.

      64

      • #
        el gordo

        The Spanish flu epidemic may never have happened if France and Britain hadn’t imported Chinese coolies in 1917 to relieve ordinance soldiers to become front line cannon fodder.

        China now has to get its act together and rid the world of influenza, every year there is a new strain and its becoming expensive.

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        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          El gordo, so what – the point I was making was that the flu went everywhere, despite borders, balkanisation, no international institutions, etc

          In fact the measures used in the attempt to contain the Spanish flu in Australia, are exactly the same as what is proposed now, – masks, travel restrictions

          We have learned nothing. And this is typified by your comment, which is both xenophobic and inaccurate.

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          • #
            Yonniestone

            As did the Bolshevik Revolution which launched that century’s greatest series of genocide and political instability whose policies the Greens now openly adopt.

            We have learned nothing. And this is typified by your comment, which is both typical and inaccurate.

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            • #
              Peter Fitzroy

              So you accept my point that borders, anti globalisation are not an answer.

              Our medical treatment of this pandemic is just 1981 with ventilators.

              Can you understand that? We have not progressed.

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              • #
                Raving

                Yes globalization is the answer! In fact, it has been over leveraged to outsourcing and profiteering by large companies and individuals.

                Fortunately the global synergy to deplete the local wealth will reverse into restoring/investing in local wealth.

                In short, globalization has run it’s course. Wealth has been extracted by the 1% about as far as it can go.

                The pendulumwill now swing in the opposite direction.

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              • #
                Raving

                To be fair you should also include remote sensing to identify track and trap those victomswho are infected..

                .. but yes the treatment is a more modern method of quaranteen.

                By rough definition, an EPIDEMIC is an uncontrolled spread of an infectiuos pathogen. If it could be successfully treated or stopped by affordable vaccination it would not be growing in an epidemic manner

                10

              • #
                Raving

                L m a o follow up comment in moderation
                Used the dreaded ‘v word’ and must have spelled it correctly

                10

              • #
              • #
                AndyG55

                “So you accept my point that borders, anti globalisation are not an answer”

                Another blatant and absolute lie.

                The only reason this current virus is being contained is because countries are acting for their own benefit.

                CLOSING BORDERS.

                People like you WANT this virus to spread globally and wide.

                01

            • #
              Yonniestone

              Your point accepted, NO and how?

              yes I fully understand you have not progressed past Marx.

              Once again a typical weasel worded comment.

              20

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                Tell me what, apart from respirators, is different between the Spanish Flu and Covid-19, and I’ll include the xenophobia and inaccuracies.

                I don’t think you can which is why you divert into inanities and ad homs.

                12

              • #
                Bill In Oz

                Peter there are significant differences.In 1919
                No one knew about viruses.
                No one understood how that disease was spread.
                Though their hunch was to use quarantine to prevent the spread of the disease.

                And other readers should know
                None of that is about ideology at all
                It’s about medical science.

                10

          • #
            Mark D.

            xenophobic !!!!

            Ooooh! what else is the Left going to come up with when that (already) wears thin?

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          • #
            el gordo

            Leaf thinks I’m a sinophile and Fitz reckons I’m xenophobic, China has enough rice to feed their people for one year.

            https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202004/04/WS5e886de0a3101282172846da.html

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        • #
          TdeF

          The origin of the ‘Spanish’ Flu was determined to be a single soldier from America. They have his name and base.

          The Americans entered the war very late and arrived without most weapons, which they bought largely from the French. Brave fit young men but with nothing. They cursed the French equipment. However they also brought an infection into the dirty, wet, cold trenches. And the right weapon as it produced a cytokine storm in young men with good immune system. Personally I think it ended the war because the Germans lost their ability to fight. This is never mentioned but with exponential growth and no warning, all sides were devastated. Ironically it was called the Spanish flu as it devastated Spain too and Spain was not a combatant, so they went public.

          The official figure is 37 million dead. The real figure may be closer to 100 million. And in a time without the internet, mobile phones, television and jet aircraft, the Spanish flu slowly infected the planet. And DNA had been seen but not understood. As for the previous millenia, isolation was the only weapon.

          Of course the origin cannot be proven. What is certain is that it was natural. What is likely about this virus is that it is identical to the one described by the 2017 paper of the Chinese Army Wuhan Institute of Virology. From what I have read, they deny it could have escaped. This is just a horrible coincidence in time, place and bat and editing with the Aids virus.

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          • #
            el gordo

            I see your single soldier and raise.

            ‘In the new report, Humphries finds archival evidence that a respiratory illness that struck northern China in November 1917 was identified a year later by Chinese health officials as identical to the Spanish flu.

            ‘He also found medical records indicating that more than 3,000 of the 25,000 Chinese Labor Corps workers who were transported across Canada en route to Europe starting in 1917 ended up in medical quarantine, many with flu-like symptoms.’

            National Geographic

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          • #
            TdeF

            And to confirm the difference with the “Spanish” flu, this from 1919 in Melbourne.

            “The striking feature of the epidemic in 1919 was the very heavy death rate among persons at the most
            vigorous period of life.” … “ Approximately 72 per cent of those who died from influenza were
            between 20 and 50 years of age.” (Source: Victorian Year Book 1919–1920, pp. 180–181).

            These were the soldiers in the trenches. Drowned in a cytokine storm. The old and young were largely spared.
            And it went world wide, reaching Australia a year later. And there were about three waves in 1919.

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            My understanding was the spanish flu originated from Fort Detrick….

            10

        • #
          Raving

          An article in theconversation on the Spanish flu (2014). They got it wrong

          http://theconversation.com/world-war-ones-role-in-the-worst-ever-flu-pandemic-29849

          10

      • #
        farmerbraun

        You’re full of it mate. Go through those statements one by one and show how they were all true , and then tell us what that has to do with the flu.

        “Back in 1918 – all those statements were true –”

        01

      • #
        Bill In Oz

        Peter Fitzroy
        The Spanish flu swept the world because soldiers & coolies involved in the War at the Western Front
        Were all sent home by ship around the world by the Allied powers
        To Australia, New Zealand, British India, Vietnam, China, The French Colonies in West Africa & the various British colonies in Africa
        Also many young men of British origin living in Argentina who fought for Britain were sent home to Argentina
        Spreading the Flu to Latin America.

        All in all a complete ball’s up !
        But nothing to do with modern day globalisation.

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    • #
      PeterS

      Pretty much summaries what my letter will contain to PM Morrison and the opposition leader. I will also include several suggestion of how to start the nation building process. It won’t be easy but it’s fairly simple. Going by their past our current leaders, state and federal have lost the plot. I’m hoping they get enough feedback from people to change their attitudes. I’m not holding my breath but at least I will do my bit to try and engage us into hyper-drive and get our nation great again.

      30

  • #
    farmerbraun

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/india-drags-china-international-court-covid-19-war

    War reparations being demanded before the first shot is fired .

    Oh wait!

    Whose was the first shot?

    01

  • #
  • #
  • #

    At least the coronovirus is real, unlike the stupid greenhouse effect.

    http://phzoe.com/2020/03/04/dumbest-math-theory-ever/

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    • #
      farmerbraun

      Just a typo , right?

      02

    • #
      Kalm Keith

      At the moment it seems that complexity has got 11 believers here. Well done Zoe.

      Many of the concepts you use are good.

      Shame that more than mathematical genius is required to sort this out.

      KK

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  • #
    Another Ian

    Meanwhile below the coronavirus headlines

    ” FYI, a recording of a live broadcast by Professor David Karoly’s entitled “Climate trends to 2030 and beyond – implications for current R,D&E in LPP and future priorities for LPP” to the Livestock Productivity Partnership is availablehere. The presentation is about 1.5 hrs and includes lots of detailed slides.

    Direct URL: https://youtu.be/j_1f90snvKw

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    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      Another Ian,

      What was your purpose in posting a link to that Karoly pile of unmitigated, unproven, unverified social claptrap?
      It is a shame that Karoly continues to describe himeself as a “Scientist”.
      A good scientist does not use expressions like “There is some suggestion that … ” to make an argument. The good scientist shows data and puts it up to defend it.
      Karoly gives you a choice – gossip or unverified models.
      Suit yourself.
      Geoff S

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  • #
    Graeme No.3

    Completely unthreaded but is anyone else having mini-blackouts in their electricity? Lasting about 1 to 4 seconds.
    Here in the Adelaide Hills I had near 40 such on Friday evening, then about 12 last night.
    A real nuisance in that the TV needed to reset itself after each, as did the wireless modem, and my hot spot on the iPhone (Telstra).
    Ah! the joy of living in the State with the highest percentage of renewables. Fortunately my laptop kept running so I was able to view a (saved) movie about primitive life.

    Yes, we had a cool change Friday night although it had passed through and only the rain was coming down. Saturday evening was very pleasant (cold, it never got above 14℃ all day) but it then rained.

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    • #
      Robber

      Short blackout in Powercor area of SW Vic overnight. Very strong winds.
      Anero.id shows massive wind generation and minimum controlled gas for SA grid.
      Wind supplied 115% of demand at 4am, gas 23%, with surplus exported.

      60

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Thanks, but I was referring to 6.30 – 8.45 p.m. Friday night and Saturday evenings. It seemed to be raining fairly heavily both times.

        30

        • #
          Analitik

          Do you know if the Heywood interconnector is back in full operation yet?
          If not, then it could be due to the combination of increased demand from the colder conditions and highly variable wind farm output due to the wind bursts with the recent weather fronts moving through the bight

          I haven’t been able to find any recent news about the interconnector

          20

          • #
            Graeme No.3

            No, I don’t know if the interconnector is alive and well, and not suffering from the Corona virus (anticipating the next excuse for failure from RenewEconomy) but it may not matter.

            You could be right; with the gas fired backup screwed down to a minimum yet the wind turbines generating up to 113% of the total demand in SA, a lot would have to be sent to Vic. With the wind not blowing steadily at the right speed (see wishful thinking on RenewEconomy and other places like The Guardian, Bloomberg etc.) any change in wind speed would naturally cause fluctuations (that’s a real word Peter F, not xenophobia). Just as well it happened at night, what would have happened if the output from rooftop solar was varying as a cloud passed.

            10

    • #
      PeterS

      Are non-led lights flickering? We had a similar experience a couple of months ago here in a northern suburb of Sydney. Turned out to be due to arching at a particular power pole. It affected 100 or so houses. Check with your power company.

      30

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        No. Momentary darkness. After that switched on one of my battery LED lights.
        The TV would go dark, then needed to find the channel again during restart.

        20

    • #
    • #

      I’m not experiencing any brownouts or blackouts in Atlanta, GA. But that’s probably because I’m located ~70km and ~55km from the 1st and 2nd largest CO2 producing (coal) power plants in the Western Hemisphere.

      The air “pollution” here is terrible, and that’s why the population doubled here in the last 30 years from 3 to 6 million.

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      We had a decent lightning storm on Friday night (Ballarat) that cut power briefly a few times and then couldn’t get internet connection to stay the next day, thought the NBN was down but worked out it was the Telstra modem/router at fault its worked fine for a few years and put it down to possible surge damage, we had a spare and all’s good with it so far.

      40

    • #
      Bill In Oz

      No problem on Friday or Saturday night here in Mt Barker Graeme.
      Could it be the Woodside Substation which is faulty ?

      10

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Bill;

        There are 2 circuits (at least) in Woodside. But I must ask people 2 streets away if they had problems.

        10

    • #
      NigelW

      As Peter S. said arcing.

      As trees short the 11kV lines (the 3 wires that are strung above the 4 house feed wires that feed current to street transformers) to ground when wind blows them into contact, the sub(station) auto-trips to prevent damage. The sub will automatically attempt a reconnect after 3 seconds. If the reconnect trips out, the sub will stay disconnected until the line is cleared by inspection. If the reconnect is successful, you get power until the next touch of a tree…

      It was obviously windy enough up your way that a tree kept hitting your lines. A clearance issue, for sure.

      30

    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      G#3,

      Yes. Some nights the brownouts turn off the PC from sleep mode.
      Several times a day we have NBN wi-fi telephone disruptions.
      We now regard the old landline replacement as highly unrelaible.
      This is not so good for us oldies in a medical emergency.
      Overall, computer PC has slowed. Especially noted on Jo’s blog.
      We live in Donvale, 10 km East of Melbourne CBD.
      NBN was hooked up in Oct last year after 9 months of disputes . Geoff S

      10

  • #
    Contemptible Blackguard

    Below is an excerpt taken from Mari Riley’s ‘Grand Solar Minimum Channel’ It seems to apply in California so not, so sure about Australia, as sewage is treated in different way but is worth noting:

    “Kim Prather, a leading atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wants to yell out her window at every surfer, runner, and biker she spots along the San Diego coast.

    “I wouldn’t go in the water if you paid me $1 million right now,” she said.

    The beach, in her estimation, is one of the most dangerous places to be these days, as the novel coronavirus marches silently across California. Many beachgoers know they can suffer skin rashes, stomach illness, and serious ear and respiratory infections if they go into the water within three days of heavy rain, because of bacteria and pathogens washing off roads and into the ocean. Raw or poorly treated sewage entering the ocean also poses major health risks.

    Prather fears that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could enter coastal waters in similar ways and transfer back into the air along the coast.

    In her research, Prather has found that the ocean churns up all kinds of particulate and microscopic pathogens, and every time the ocean sneezes with a big wave or two, it sprays these particles into the air. She believes that this new coronavirus is light enough to float through the air much farther than we think. The six-feet physical distancing rule, she said, doesn’t apply at the beach, where coastal winds can get quite strong and send viral particles soaring.”

    This makes sense given your blog about the ability of aerosols to remain airborne for long periods.

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  • #
    Contemptible Blackguard

    PS: It used to be ‘Where’s Wally’now it’s ‘Where’s Greta?’

    50

  • #
    Another Ian

    “Japan Continues Their Leadership In Rejecting Junk Science
    Posted on April 4, 2020 by tonyheller

    (Japan) has more than 90 coal plants and plans to operate 22 additional new plants. It relies on coal for more than a third of its power generation needs, resulting in an upward increase in carbon emissions.”

    https://realclimatescience.com/2020/04/japan-continues-their-leadership-in-rejecting-junk-science/

    A harvest of red thumbs in 3, 2, 1?

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  • #
    OriginalSteve

    So not a busy day …..or?

    http://catallaxyfiles.com/2020/04/04/a-powerful-state-directing-action-must-be-avoided-at-all-costs/

    What appears to be citizen journos showing complete opposite to MSM hyped reports…

    https://youtu.be/5pIMD1enwd4

    [ Steve all of your posts today have gone straight to moderation because of a typo with your email address .
    Are you using a new device or another computer ?
    Will put them through now for you . ] AD

    40

  • #
    Another Ian

    “Wow!Finally! The 2020 Victoria’s Secret Catalogue”

    https://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/topic/127871-new-joke-thread-30/page/72/?tab=comments#comment-1409737

    You may have to right click and “view image”

    20

  • #
    Another Ian

    Most other places too

    This year on the Forum we completely missed April Fool’s Day.

    And that ain’t no joke!”

    https://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/topic/129060-know-what/

    20

  • #
    Another Ian

    ?????

    “Ground Reports – Healthcare Focus – What’s Going On In Your City, Town, Neighborhood?…”

    “There’s something really odd, a profound disconnect of sorts, between what the media is sharing and the reality of what the general public is reporting from their own experience.”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/04/04/ground-reports-healthcare-focus-whats-going-on-in-your-city-town-neighborhood/

    Might be interesting to watch what comes up in comments there

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    • #
      RickWill

      It is nice to see the social distancing working. It would have been far better to keep CV19 out of countries but since that did not happen they needed to be locked down. In many cases it has been effective. Much of Europe was a bit slow. Most of US was OK. Only 5 States are likely to have stressed health care system although the internal spread through air travel may be a problem.

      Australian hospitals are generally much quieter than normal. A renal specialist I know does non-elective surgery and he is working flat out in primarily private hospitals. However the private hospitals in Australia are all temporary public hospitals and mostly twirling their thumbs. There is a lost opportunity with a large proportion of our medical staff on standby but that is a goos thing in the circumstances. Maybe they can be geared up to rapidly test the entire population for CV19 or immunity.

      10

  • #
    RickWill

    I had a Bunnings gift card burning a hole in my wallet so went to local Bunnings today to get something I have been eyeing for a while.

    I was impressed with the way they had changed operation of the store to support people separation. The entrance was divided into separate IN and OUT doors. A dob of hand sanitiser was applied by a masked attendant as you entered. No one in the aisles came within 2m of me. Others and store staff stopped to ensure a gap in the main corridors. The checkouts had screens around the operator and a table beside the counter to hold items while being scanned. The floor at checkouts had crosses to mark acceptable approach distances to others in the queue.

    Roads were very quiet for Sunday morning.

    It is my observation that most Australians are taking great care to avoid interpersonal contact. I hope the present level of control rewards the effort being made by most so that Australia avoids both the need for draconian controls and the loss of life being seen in other countries.

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  • #

    Okay, so when it’s all over, watch politics very closely, and here I’ll just deal with Oz.

    Politics in the future suddenly has become very very difficult. There’s going to be no easy ride. To get the Country out of all this, every part of political decision making is now dependent upon the Country having to find our way back from Trillions in debt. Politics will be very very very hard work.

    Watch very closely what happens in the next six Months.

    Wrt the actual Party in Government at this time, all you are seeing is a core of those Ministers at the moment. The rest of them are actually superfluous, and no one is commenting. If they (both Ministers and back benchers alike) have gone back to their electorates, they are even invisible there, and making no appearances, even to reassure their constituents. Even Ministries less than those at the forefront of all this have disappeared from view. When this is over, each of those Ministries will face ‘The Razor Gang’ like never seen before. THEY will be the ones to have to make those hard decisions and suffer the feedback, the blowback, and the consequences. There will be no easy points to be had any more, nothing at all that will make them look good.

    The (Federal) opposition, (Labor) at the moment is totally irrelevant. I can honestly say I have only seen one or two of them even making a comment, and even that is as rare as hens teeth, even Albanese. Those in Labor now see the Country as a basket case (well, don’t they all now) and that to find a way back from what it was like at just the start of the year is now an awful lot of work with hard decisions to be made. So, to them, as Labor Party members, Government at the moment is a poisoned chalice that not very many would aspire to, because they now KNOW that if they do gain Government, then it is a basket case for them too.

    So, all of a sudden, politics is not the ‘easy’ ride it once was ….. for any of them, Representatives or Senators, be they Government, Opposition, or any of the Minor Parties, who are now the (totally) least relevant of them all, and utterly useless.

    Okay, so what will happen in the near future, and just you watch.

    There will be a slew of resignations and retirements from all sides of politics. They KNOW what a good wicket they are on. They have access to the single best superannuation in the Country, the one they voted for themselves to look after them in the luxury they deserve for the rest of their days after serving their Country so well. They will take that huge Superannuation, and all the perks they get, safe in the knowledge that its there forever, a guaranteed huge income for them while they can go back to doing whatever they want to do, safe also in the knowledge that, now out of politics, those hard decisions are somebody else’s problem, and they won’t have to suffer any of those consequences.

    People will come to dislike politicians of any flavour because of what they now have to do.

    Preselection has now become almost impossible. No one will want to run for politics, and all those pretenders will have just ….. run away.

    The same will also apply at the State level, in every State.

    Please forgive my cynicism, but you just watch.

    If there’s one silver lining in all of this, money will be so scarce for anything at all, there will be nothing for climate change or renewable power, which relies so strongly on Government largesse, and will totally dry up in the private sector. Yes, at last, the market totally WILL decide that.

    Tony.

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      RickWill

      All the new money will flood into private bank deposits as other investments will look risky. The banks will be looking to lend it for anything that promises a return – favoured right now is anything labelled “renewable energy”.

      If Australia gets through CV19 without high death toll ScoMo will be prime minister for as long as he wants.

      Right now there are a lot of Aussies doing well. The groceries stores have large increase in turnover because food outlets that bulk buy have much lower trade. People who took a toilet break at their place of work are now buying toilet paper to do their business at home. OfficeWorks is doing a roaring trade. Paint shops are doing a roaring trade. My doctor son has been offered weekend work at $200/hr, which he declined because he does not want to burn out ahead of what could be serious times. My phsio son has lower turnover than normal but the government assistance makes him better off. My own GP can claim $50 for a 5 minute phone call to me to print a prescription renewal.

      To reiterate, all that new money the government is issuing will end up in private savings. Some people will do very well out of the current situation. Those in government service for example. I did see the Federal opposition propose to donate their latest pay rise to chairty – is the Labor party a recognised charity

      On another point, I have had more than a dozen emails and letters from my State and Federal representatives regarding CV19 over the past month. They are using the opportunity to get in my face and show they are thinking of me and the community. The State member is in opposition.

      Cory Bernadi has restarted his weekly email. He is a CV19 skeptic; suggesting the governments action is unwarranted.

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        Bill In Oz

        Cory is wrong on this one Rick

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          RickWill

          I sent him this reply to his email:

          I have a descriptive term for people who cannot see the bleeding obvious – dingbat. Generally dingbats have an inability to comprehend obvious information when it is put in front of them. I consider all religious zealots dingbats because their purpose lacks logical thought.

          There are a lot of dingbats in the world who believe that there is such as thing as “greenhouse gas”. They claim water vapour is the most powerful “greenhouse gas” and more water vapour leads to global heating. Satellite data easily proves this wrong:
          https://1drv.ms/b/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNg1uzA-KKFEvD5BzX
          Radiative heat loss from the globe is in phase with water vapour and highly correlated – dead opposite of what “greenhouse” theory states.

          Then we have dingbats who believe that energy collected from wind with turbines and solar from panels of exiting technology is renewable. The simple truth is that neither of these sources are “renewable”; they can never collect enough energy to maintain the production systems to replicate them. I run my household on solar panels and batteries so I have a true appreciation of the costs.

          Now I see dingbats who are downplaying the risks of CV19. The only knowledge that is required regarding CV!9 is – left to run its course through western societies it rapidly overwhelms the medical system and the death rate skyrockets. Once the military get involved, as has occurred in China, Italy and Spain, no data on fatality rates is reliable. One thing we do know about China is that the fumes from crematoriums indicated much higher death toll than the official toll. We also see piles of urns with cremation ashes that vastly outnumber the official toll.

          The only course of action for governments faced with dingbats who think they are superhuman is to impose and enforce home quarantine. The greatest mistake with regard to reporting on CV19 is that it only kills old and infirm:
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ts8X3HDtPE

          Helicopter money will never be needed to be paid back. It simply becomes private savings. That means those holding savings can fund their own retirement so they reduce the future claim on government. Anyone who can appreciate basic bookkeeping can work this out. There are lot of dingbats who think sovereign governments need to balance their income and expenditure – doing that means net private savings has to be funded by trade imbalance:
          https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/treasury/Written_Evidence/Evidence-Professor-Steve-Keen.pdf

          Rick Will

          So far I have not had a response. He did say that he had a lot of response from his previous letter that followed similar lines. Maybe he can be educated on CV19.

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              RickWill

              Another dingbat using silly numbers to counter the bleeding obvious.

              The high proportion of aged deaths in Italy is skewed by triage decisions. The picture in New York is somewhat different because money skews the access to hospitals there.

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                Raving

                The numbers in Italy or elsewhere don’t make sense right now, esecially so if it is assumed that the epidemic has run its course

                13 m Italians aged65 or older. 15,360 covid19 fatalities so far. Assuming that everyone who died was over 65 …. only .117% (point two percent) of Italians over 65 have died in this epidemic

                seen enough reports to be confident that the mortality rate in old people is a few percent to double digit percentages. Less than one tenth of those deaths are mentioned

                Choose whatever stats you desire but mortality rates for the olld of less than 1% doesnt seem reasonable.

                The most plausible explanation is that the epidemic has moved to 10-20% at most and slowed way down. That would almost make sense

                https://www.indexmundi.com/italy/age_structure.html

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                Raving

                Just a reminder … I even hazard to give the explanation provided. Thes assumption of percentages of deaths and percent infected by the virus assumes uniformity throughout the population. We know that there are a lot of deaths in Lombardy and much fewer in the middle and south of the country

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            Bill In Oz

            That’s an excellent E-mail Rick !
            Dingbats = Dumbnuts
            We need a variety of terms to make folk listen !
            I’ve noticed that Greg Kelly MHR swings wildly on Corona 19 as well
            He has been making a bet each way in his Facebook posts.

            Perhaps it is that many Sceptics have for long, been denying the Global warming scare
            That it has become a habitual, uninformed reflex
            And now we have the real scare – a global health pandemic disease
            Which really is a threat
            And needs to be squashed by the nly means at our disposal now
            Quarantine & lockdowns !

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      Kalm Keith

      Like the logic Tony but I’ve come to think that there’s no logic in the way the herd moves.

      Where politics is concerned Australians have Herd Immunity and voters are unable to act in their own best interests.

      Wish it was different.

      KK

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      toorightmate

      Tony,
      The economic aftermath of this virus wont be all that much harder than the fiascos which were left by Whitlam and Gillard.
      Whitlam’s shenanikans took about 20 years to correct and we are (were) still in the mire from Gillard. She was terrific at getting union funeral funds to purchase a house, but not too good with the nation’s finances.

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      Richard Ilfeld

      Well, i pretty much agree.
      This is a strange war; as we’ll emerge with all our assets intact.
      We’ll have been out a few months, we’ll have lost a few bucks. A lot of folks who had the savings
      we are told to have will have burned through some. The rest of us will have debt.
      The debt will not be a problem.

      Lets assume that net of pent-up demand, we lose one quarter of one year’s production; and have a second, “recovery”
      quarter of net one half normal. In the US, instead of 22 trillion of nation debt, We’ll probably have about 25.
      But if you are right, and i think you are, that we will wring a lot of the foolish non-productiveness out of
      our economies, and we will gain from some accelerated creative destruction, and more healthy international relationships,
      in a few years this period will look like a wash economically.

      Many countries have learned, however, that higher taxes inhibit recovery – Tony is spot on that no one will want to serve given the hard choices that will have to be made.
      Underfunded public pension funds may not be backfilled, grants to “activists” will be hard to come by, and if you are taking money at a state sponsored school
      you’d better be teaching classes. Finding ways to lower costs of ordinary thing for ordinary people, like electricity, will be good; raising them for no real reason probably
      not. I expect the productive economy to come back with some vigor– but don’t expect much capitalization, or borrowing, for those who don’t produce goods or services.

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    Peter C

    Australia and Coronavirus

    According to Coronavirus Worldometer we are starting to get on top of the virus.

    Quarantine is not strictly enforced, yet the numbers are coming down.
    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/australia/
    We are not nearly as good as Taiwan, which is the real stand out country!

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      TdeF

      I watch this site with trepidation each day. And it seems to finish growing around 5pm. So far I have not been disappointed.

      And given the week for infections to appear, the rapid decay in new infections started ten days ago, with isolation. They are still getting cruise ship cases, 9 out of 14 new cases in WA are new cruise ship cases. On the 28th March 2020 the new infections peaked at 450. Yesterday it was 190, a drop of 35. Another 35 today will see 155. 5 days from now we might be in single digits.

      It is really a bell curve of new infections a week ago. By the end of the Month we should have had no new infections for two weeks. I hope. We can then get back to work after a holiday which is not so different commercially to Christmas/New Year except it was unexpected. At least for those not in the front line.

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        TdeF

        Then it is a question of how long it will take for infected patients to survive with immunity and no virus. In every sense that is disappointing. About 1/7th, 15% of those infected are ‘cured’ after three weeks of this. So at the end of April with no new infections we are still likely to have 2-3,000 people in care or isolation who have live virus. We cannot relax until there is no live virus in this country, but we can isolate those infected. It only takes one unscrupulous or careless person though.

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        Graeme#4

        What intrigued me with the German cruise ship Artania is that it was headed for New York out of Sydney. Yet it turns up in Fremantle, way off its planned route, and refuses to leave.

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          David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

          I dunno G4, a short hop across to Capetown, maybe visit Rio and the Bahamas before NY. Sort of reverse of the First Fleet. Quite reasonable until the virus hit – everywhere.

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        RickWill

        This is the link you posted:
        https://infogram.com/1p7ve7kjeld1pebz2nm0vpqv7nsnp92jn2x?live
        It does not go anywhere!

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          Peter C

          True TdeF’s link does not work. Can you fix that TdeF?

          ScoMo has not yet outlined any plans to get then country working again.

          I think the cruise ship victims should be treated separately, both from the statistics and management. Cruise ship passengers are at high risk. If all the sick patients are taken off the remainder of the passengers and crew can stay onboard until their 14 day isolation period is up

          For the rest of us, it may depend on rapid testing and isolation to control the inevitable outbreaks. If they can be kept small we may be able to get going again.

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            TdeF

            Currently at 114 at 1pm, we are 76 cases lower than yesterday’s 190. Fingers crossed. As said it usually stops by 5pm. My guess is the delay for Perth numbers.
            35 lower than 190 would be 155. This is all the result of total isolation a week ago and great detective work and the cooperation of a whole country to beat this evil virus.
            And the putative medications just keep coming. The use of a medication for lice and scabies is so unexpected.

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              TdeF

              And we are starting to see my Gibraltar face on the decline. Like the brakes on a Porsche.

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              TdeF

              Fingers crossed. 4PM (really 5pm old time) and it is only 134 new infections today! That’s 56 fewer than yesterday’s 190. If this holds, new infections are 1/4 of what they were on week ago. We could be under 100 new infections in two days, single digits by the weekend. For the country!

              Forget 6 months. The disaster can start to be over by the weekend, in terms of new infections. Then the recovery of 4,000 people without infecting anyone else.

              Give it time to extinguish completely because we still have a few thousand people with the virus under observation. The country can open fully for business when there is not a single live infection for two weeks.

              Open Australia by geographic stages. Perhaps country towns first with no history of infection. A prohibition on intercity travel.

              I leave the detail to others, but hopefully not of the calibre who let a whole cruise ship walk off when they fully knew the consequences. After all the drama of the Diamond Princess in Yokohama was all over the papers for two weeks. Surely they knew?
              We get the Ruby Princess and they just disembark? Why didn’t the Japanese think of that? Pure genius.

              Someone must bear the consequences of such lethal stup*dity? Or is there no one home. He said, she said, when they all knew.

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                Raving

                I like your reply, you might get there yet TdeF. … Even lesser so I am confident Aus cando as well as S.Korea and Taiwan of keeping levels down once they arrive there

                What deeply confuses me is the 15k deaths in Italy with a pop of 13 m seniors over the age of 65. That translates to point 12 of a percent mortality

                The are way too many missing corpses to call the outbreak either finished or endemic in the population.

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                Peter C

                No persistent low level. There is no such thing with this virus.

                The whole World has the virus! Goods and Supplies and some passengers are still coming to our shores.
                So some new infections will occur until the disease goes away. How do we deal with that?

                Hopefully Australia can get back to work sooner than the rest of the world. Quarantine of incoming people is clearly necessary and the sooner that can be done in Secure Facilities instead of HOTELS the better.

                After that we have to put out the spot fires.

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              Raving

              It will be wonderful if Australia squelches all COVID19 cases. I can even see that or a persistent low level occuring quite soon.

              But then it comes down to the thorny and worldwide problem of re-opening travel.?

              I naively imagined all that border crossing was frivolous vacation stuff. Yet it involves countless students, foreign workers, immigrants, returning Australians, tourism, the shipping industry

              … soon enough there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands that need to goback and forth across the border.

              Am impressed by the chinese epidemic data. Not going to worry if it is correct or rubbish. Either way of many they are going to have huge problems with such a large dense population and a strong exort commerce

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                TdeF

                No persistent low level. There is no such thing with this virus. You eliminate it or it eliminates you. And this is just the very worst of a great series of terrible contagions out of Wuhan. We have to slam the doors such, technically. Screening. Quatantine. No more deadly viruses!

                And it is not hard to eliminate. If we have not had an infection in a month in Australia, it is gone. And we do not want it back.

                Low level, herd immunity, these accomodations, rationalizations are old concepts. This is a pandemic virus. It kills a lot of people.

                Sure, maybe ‘old’ people, like people who have just retired to enjoy their life’s work and their grandchildren? And maybe the next one kills the 50 year olds. At what point do we say enough? We have the technology. And all it takes to kill this, is to deny it new victims. The old victims recover and kill the virus, or the virus kills the victim. Either way, it is dead.

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                TdeF

                Also no infection so far is ‘endemic’. Australia’s total cases are around 5,000 in 25,000,000 or .02%.
                Even America’s is 100,000 in 330,000,000 or 1 in 3300. 0.03%.

                We do not want endemic, ‘herd immunity’. We want it gone.

                The other point is that total number of infections/deaths has nothing to do with population. It has to do with number of starting points.

                There are so many tourist spots in Northern Italy. Each is a starting point with exponential growth.

                Australia has really Sydney and Melbourne mainly. Then another three. In the US, are the busiest airports in the world and the main entry point is not Los Angeles or New York or San Francisco or Chicago but Atlanta. Then the connections with Canada and Mexico. Each a hub of infection. Boston, Washington, New Orleans, Denver, Philadelphia.

                The US is not one of two sites, it is fifty, each expanding exponentially. Each a different country.

                The only solution is total lockdown for four weeks. Then the virus dies. Actually it cannot die, it just ceases to exist.

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            Kalm Keith

            I like that last sentence: so much hope in it.

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          TdeF

          It does now.

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            RickWill

            A nice set of numbers – Australians should be encouraged by this. Dare I suggest, thankful to our government for eventually getting it good enough to avoid a catastrophe.

            This video is in a recent thread at WUWT.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pIMD1enwd4
            It is claimed proof that the MSM lie. I stated that lack of queues is a good thing and was predicted by the best available data. The 855 New Yorkers predicted to die on Good Friday are already in hospital beds. The lock downs are clearly working there.

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          RickWill

          It was fixed by moderator.

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        David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

        G’day TdeF,
        This reply would be better placed above, but the numbering system is close to its limit, so I think this is as close as I can get.

        https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-05/nsw-police-investigate-ruby-princess-cruise-coronavirus-deaths/12123212

        The NSW police have launched a murder investigation.

        Cheers
        Dave B

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          TdeF

          And at the same time as the Diamond Princess in Yokahama harbour? This is culpable. If it was a political decision, such a person should not hold public office again. The whole world knew how lethal this decision was.

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      Andrew McRae

      Through enforced sacrifice with mixed reception, we have indeed flattened the curve.
      The situation has entered a twilight zone where my projection cannot see more than 2 weeks into the future because there is now a big question mark over what the government will do next. It all depends on what the government’s definition of “enough” will be with regards to testing for new case discovery versus ongoing hundred billion dollar GDP cost.

      The only prediction I will make is that starting tomorrow for 14 days the number of active cases will decrease for the first time since the epidemic started here, dropping by roughly 2400 cases by 18 April or nearly halving. Then active cases will probably begin increasing again but at a slow pace, with a doubling time of maybe 25 to 32 days.
      And that is the last Covid19 prediction I’ll be making for a while, maybe ever.

      Behaviour changes have avoided the future untimely deaths of between 250000 to 400000 Australians. The option A) of isolating only the aged and vulnerable and the internationals while letting everyone else frolic as normal is starting to look pretty appealing, but consider how quickly undetected infections can blossom. We were seeing a case doubling time of 5 days during early March. Starting with only 100 undetected infected people we would in 30 days have more new cases than we’ve had so far, and we’d be right back where we started.

      Those 250k deaths will come back if the spreading is allowed to resume at full pace before either option B) we get a treatment for it soon, or option C) the little blighter is exterminated here. Crushing the curve is not about saving lives any more, we’ve already accomplished that, it’s now about recovering the economy sooner instead of later, by making option C happen. There is still nothing inevitable in any of this. Unlike February we are now in the position of choosing our future again.

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        RickWill

        I expect to see social distancing as more a way of life. Until there is a vaccine, I will be limiting my exposure and I believe I will not be alone in Australia.

        I expect face masks will be more commonly worn in Australia as we see in Japan for example.

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          Bill In Oz

          Universal annual dose of Ivermection maybe ?
          And all travellers coming to Australia
          To have a compulsory dose a week before arrival.

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            farmerbraun

            Nah . Medication for life?
            Have you got shares in Ivomec Bill?
            I want a digital immunity proof, just like Bill Gates is going to have.

            https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/did-bill-gates-just-reveal-real-reason-behind-lock-downs

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              Bill In Oz

              That’s Fine Farmer B.
              You just come visit us in Oz.
              Ivermectin is actually off patent now.
              And no I do not have shares in any company making it.

              Think about your medication for life remark FB
              It already happens for many fol with vaccinations.
              And most livestock farmers dose their livestock at regular intervals
              To eliminate infestations of worms, ticks etc.
              But maybe you don’t have them in NZ ?

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                farmerbraun

                No vaccinations on this farm in the last 40 years Bill.
                Never had a flu shot and probably won’t.
                Happy to get a tetanus booster as required, but I don’t vaccinate stock for Clostridia.
                No anthelmintics used.

                Nobody needs to buy all that stuff ; it’s just the fashion.
                But the farming skills and stockmanship ain’t what they used to be.

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              OriginalSteve

              Gates can pee into the wind on that….

              Arrogant elitist globalist who wants to microchip humans like livestock…..

              No, nope, no way.

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          TdeF

          Not necessary. Viruses are poison chemicals made in the body. If they cannot transmit, they die. Once there is no case left in Australia, it is gone.

          And I believe we should never let another flu/corona virus/rhino virus in the door. No colds, flus, deadly pathogens, engineered viruses. Our grandparents use innoculatiosn, yellow books, quarantine. We can test.

          For all the cost and trouble for prohibiting m*slim m*ssacres, we can stop the thousands of deaths every year and millions of work hours lost. There is a cost but huge saveings. Maybe now we have the will to do it. We have the technology.

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    RickWill

    I know there are a good number of conspiracy theorists who monitor this site so the following is my contribution for this weekend’s reading.

    I could not think up a more ingenious plan to rule the world than what has happened in recent history and reaching a crescendo now.

    It takes about 3 decades.
    Step 1 – Disrupt manufacturing across the globe by gradually increasing their input costs. An effective way is to create a long running global emergency centred on cost of energy; for example, demonising CO2 and all fossil fuels.

    Step 2 – Fill the manufacturing gap by rapidly ramping up your capacity as well as capacity of raw material suppliers globally by investing and controlling their natural resources. Produce efficiently at reasonable profit margin to provide low cost goods to the world. Become the supplier of choice.

    Step 3 – Convince the rest of the world that you can supply, at their cost, a means to harvest free energy to solve the global emergency. That provides a powerful income stream while increasing indebtedness of other nations.

    Step 4 – Gradually infiltrate countries acquiring their land, housing, primary production and remaining industrial production capacity.

    Step 5 – Infiltrate the UN and enhance its authority to control global activities.

    Step 6 – Build your health care system and pandemic response to be second to none.

    Step 7 – Manufacture a dangerous virus that spreads asymptomatically but is deadly for a significant portion of people who host it.

    Step 8 – Spread the virus globally while controlling it internally.

    Step 9 – Watch the global economy disintegrate as countries try to come to terms with massive loss of life and economic neutering.

    Step 10 – Offer health care and supplies to countries struggling while they become increasingly indebted to you.

    Step 11 – Use the duration and aftermath of the pandemic to acquire more resources across the globe.

    Step 12 – Organise the UN to levy taxes on your behalf to repay the debt owed to you.

    Step 13 – Once you have a globally sanctioned method of global tax collection you are the global government.

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      RickWill

      To add a bit of fuel to the theory and name names –

      China is flooding Italy with assistance:
      https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/coronavirus-covid-19-italy-china-supplies/

      The doctors bring with them first-hand experience of dealing with the coronavirus, having previously helped to tackle the original outbreak in China’s Hubei province that killed more than 3,000 people. Tough quarantine measures have seen the rate of new cases in China dwindle, while in Europe the outbreak continues to spread.

      Meanwhile cracks appear in the EU experiment:
      https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/14/coronavirus-eu-abandoning-italy-china-aid/

      In a shameful abdication of responsibility, fellow countries in the European Union have failed to give medical assistance and supplies to Italy during an outbreak. China is filling the void.

      Sealing the bond between Italy and China:
      https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/china-italy-and-coronavirus-geopolitics-and-propaganda/

      Italy has been an alluring geopolitical prize throughout the ages because of its strategic location in the middle of the Mediterranean, its wealth, and the useful skills of its people. Now it’s the turn of today’s rising power, China, to seek to extend its influence there.

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        toorightmate

        I consider that the EU “Experiment” failed dismally when the virus first hit Italy and Italy asked the EU for assistance. EU ignored Italy.
        That’s a union not unlike Bill Shorten’s. We’ll fund election campaigns and GetUp. Blow the members.

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        Mark D.

        Italy has been an alluring geopolitical prize throughout the ages because of its strategic location in the middle of the Mediterranean, its wealth, and the useful skills of its people. Now it’s the turn of today’s rising power, China, to seek to extend its influence there.

        Italy set themselves up for this when they allowed their native birthrate to drop below replacement rate. Smart that China knew to fill the vacuum at least in the north. Pity that the south of Italy has a different group filling the void.

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    Deplorable Lord Kek

    “Researchers in Australia report that Ivermectin, an FDA-approved drug commonly used to treat parasites, appears to be effective in treating the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19). The drug is widely available and can be “repurposed” for this application, doctors said.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/04/04/common-anti-parasite-drug-may-kill-coronavirus-in-under-48-hours-say-researchers/

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    Analitik

    This is for those who feel massive stimulus packages will be necessary to get the economy going again after the pandemic is controlled (ie the Alan Kohlers & other economists), here is an interesting case of a depression that corrected so quickly that it has been forgotten – I had certainly never read nor heard about it, previously.

    The key was the government DID NOTHING and market forces sorted the economy out so quickly that it never gets mentioned.

    https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-lesson-of-a-crash-that-cured-itself/

    BTW I am not saying that the current support package for keeping workers on payrolls is unnecessary – this is a special case beyond the normal economic “emergency”, like providing a coma patient with nutrients via IV. And even in this case, there is some unnecessary funding in the package with the US being even worse.

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      Bill In Oz

      Fake news !
      That depression lead to a catastrophic situation in most of Europe
      With hyperinflation in Germany & Central Europe and massive unemployment.
      And that gave Hitler & the NAZIs their start in Germany !

      Here in Oz we had our own depression and it took a couple of years to get out of it.
      ( Small beer to those of us from other countries ! SARC )

      It’s crucial to make some Americans stop thinking you are the whole planet
      And nothing else exists !

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Bill,

        hyperinflation was due to European governments (basically printing money). Both Hungary and Austria had this trouble before the German government chose the same path. It had nothing to do with this (forgotten) USA depression 2-3 years before.
        One of the reasons that the USA government didn’t rush in and make things worse was that decision making wasn’t happening, with a dying President and their prolonged electoral process, which resulted in a non-entity (Harding) becoming President in Jan. 1921.

        Hitler didn’t look like a threat until the Great Depression started, and it was only in 1933 that the Nazis became the largest (but still minority) party in the Reichstag. More fiddling by politicians who thought they could use Hitler for the own ends got him into power.

        30

    • #
      el gordo

      Laissez faire economics is so last century and if the West adopted that approach at this critical moment, China would pick up all the cheap assets for a song. History may repeat itself, but nothing is ever exactly the same, because everything has changed.

      As it stands the Morrison government has intervened into the free market and put a moratorium on overseas investors snapping up potential bargains. Our mixed economy is now going through turbulent times and ultimately globalism will take a battering, leaving us to become more self reliant.

      30

      • #
        farmerbraun

        ” leaving us to become more self reliant.”

        Whatcha gonna use for energy?

        01

      • #
        Analitik

        China would pick up all the cheap assets for a song

        Only if their rumored titanic reserve of gold is real. Otherwise, the household and small business debt crisis (born from the CCP support for dodgy local projects financed through shadow banking entities) will sink any hopes of China buying O/S assets on the cheap.

        REAL capitalism is based on government economic laissez faire with enforcement of open, equitable laws – not what we (especially in the USA) suffer through today.

        10

        • #
          el gordo

          The US has a mixed economy, do you know the percentage of public and private ownership?

          00

          • #
            Analitik

            I plainly stated that the US is not real capitalism – there is far too much government involvement and too many government entities

            00

  • #
    cedarhill

    It’s likely that treatments/cures will outpace vaccines. Modern biomed on using Ivermectin as a possible treatment:

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220302011

    Most people don’t realize how far bio science and engineering has advanced. If motivated, one can project a time when we’ll consider masks, lockdowns, social distancing, etc., as from the times of the pagans. After all, they can sequence your genome in minutes – plus tell you how many Neanderthal segments you have.

    50

    • #
      Tom Haddon

      … and that should give us bragging rights (grunt).

      30

    • #
      Bill In Oz

      Excellent link about Ivermectin !
      I hope that the various government authorities can pulls their fingers out
      And approve it’s use against COVID 19
      To eliminate this vile bit of RNA chemistry forever.
      But till then we only have the methods being used.
      Quarantine & lockdowns !
      🙁

      30

  • #
    Analitik

    An interesting article from The Conversation about the SARS-CoV-2 virus including how it sometimes provokes an overreaction by the immune system which causes the most serious cases.

    https://theconversation.com/what-the-coronavirus-does-to-your-body-that-makes-it-so-deadly-133856

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    • #
      Analitik

      How did Pat avoid moderation with his link laden posts?

      And WTF has he gone?

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    • #
      Analitik

      Anyway, this is an article that makes me feel that at leat some of my tax dollars that have funded The Conversation has been spent in a worthwhile manner.

      00

  • #

    Quick, where’s the wind generation supporters jumping all over this.

    Yesterday Saturday 4th April 2020, wind generation delivered just under 87GWH of power to the grids here in Oz. That’s at an average of 3594MW per hour. Wind delivered 17% of all generated power. Keep in mind that this is on a Saturday, the day of second lowest power consumption for the week, with Sunday the lowest. Power consumption overall on this Saturday was around 6% to 7% lower than a typical working day during the previous week, during the benign Months of the year when power consumption is lower than during those big power consuming times during Summer and Winter.

    I have been taking detailed records for the last four plus years now, and there has only been ONE DAY in those last four years when wind generation for the day has been higher than this, one day.

    This gave wind power a daily operational Capacity Factor of 51.6%.

    A little over half its total Nameplate and that’s the absolute BEST it can be. 17% of generated power on a low consumption day, and this is the absolute BEST it can be.

    What an enormous waste of money it has all been.

    Oh and even on this BEST day, there was a period when wind generation fell by more than 1000MW in twenty minutes. I can guarantee you that if coal fired power did something like that, they would be howling so loudly about how unreliable coal fired power is. Incidentally, that sudden drop is becoming a little more prevalent over the last few days, and it dropped suddenly by large amounts a few times during this day, and another drop of 1000MW in 20 minutes the day before, so I don’t know what’s going on with that.

    Wind, the second best day ever, and it still only manages 50%.

    Tony.

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    • #
      toorightmate

      Agree Tony.
      It was the second best day that I can recall.
      I look at the wind performance daily and have been doing so for several years.
      BUT, the power supply that has to work when the capacity factor is less than 5% still has to be built and kept in a state of readiness – and people tell us that wind is more economic – what a joke.

      50

      • #
        toorightmate

        23 hours after Tony posted, the wind CF was down to 9%, That means that some other power source is required. Fortunately we have that in the form of coal.

        10

    • #
      TdeF

      The drops are probably just a result of flukey wind. We do not have steady wind in Australia. And if they all go down at the same time, that’s it.

      The theory in Europe is that it would be windy in one country and quiet in another, balancing out. That was wrong. They all go up and down at the same time, creating total instability.

      It wouldn’t matter but consumption is constant, so it is completely unsuitable because it is fundementally unreliable. And solar is worse, reliably zero for half the day and minimal for half the year and lousy at low angles of incidence.

      How anyone ever thought these wind and solar would replaceme for fossil fuels or nuclear is beyond logic. And as for free? That’s a Green fantasy. Unreliables. Replaceables. Unaffordables.

      50

  • #
    Ian1946

    An disturbing article showing how lefty lunacy meant that NYC was so under prepared for what has happened.

    https://richardsonpost.com/danielg/17002/new-york-destroyed-by-political-correctness-of-its-leaders/

    The nincompoops that infest lefty institutions are dangerous and must be Held accountable for the damage that they cause.

    50

    • #
      toorightmate

      Beware of the articles about New York.
      Have a look at youtu.be/5pIMD!enwd4
      It appears that their testing crisis and hospitalisation is as “”bad”” as ours.

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    • #
      Raving

      Covid19 is exploding in Canada. You could suppose that it due to an overabundance of virtue signalling. You couldsay it was because we were reckless but Canada has locked down early and quite strongly so it might be failing but I think not.

      Why the explosion in cases and in Quebec most of all?

      Canadians like to go away and escape the coldeinter. Spring break came earlier in Quebec. Not certain of this but sen it said that 1 m Canadians go abroad in January – March

      They have all mostly come home and we are seeing theconsequences

      Before you judge Canadians too harshly remeber that millions of Australians, Brits Italians Spanish German Chineese Philipinos Indonesians, Indians… all enjoy going away for a break

      Its pandemic time and everyone needs to get home

      10

  • #
    Robber

    Daily Covid19 cases in Australia 7 day rolling average:
    7 days ago peaked at 370, last 7 days 270, so trending down.
    Daily Covid19 cases in Australia 3 day rolling average:
    7 days ago peaked at 400, 3 days ago 300, last 3 days 230.
    Good signs.
    If trend continues, Australia should be close to no new cases in another 10-14 days.
    Data Source.

    30

    • #
      el gordo

      After the dust settles there shouldn’t be a second wave, if we can maintain our borders.

      10

      • #
        sophocles

        You forget. Winter comes.

        This is not our Coughs-Colds-n-Flu season yet. That’s 3-4 months away in August.
        Be patient and take your daily Vitamin D & K2 supplements in the meantime.
        I will be.

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        • #
          el gordo

          It may come early.

          ‘After its third driest year on record, Melbourne is now having its wettest start to a year since 1911.

          ‘More than a month’s worth of rain fell in Melbourne during the opening week of April. By 9am on April 7th, the city’s monthly total had reached 86mm, well above the long-term April average of 57mm.’ Weatherzone

          10

  • #
    Raving

    The standard model of one person infecting Ro more people (infection spreads for Ro >1) is a very poor description of what is happening in reality with the covid19 epdemic.

    The predictive value of this standard model is very poor.. Why?

    1. Most of the people who die are old.When looking at death statistics, we are looking at the effect of the disease on those 60+ years old. Those below 60 might get infected but have a low chance of dying from it

    2. Old people live sheltered lives in their own homes, retirement communities or nursing homes. The dynamic is about the virus penetrating these isolated bubbles

    3. This isan epidemic where the world is in lockdown. Most people in most ways are efffectively isolated. Then again there will always be those who go out to the beach or party … breaking the quaranteen.

    These 3 featurs make the standard scenario of one person infecting Ro further people a very inappropriate description of what occurs in reality

    Finaly we are concerned with saturating the ICU, with population immunity, with the cost of locking down. This isa very complex situation (similar to climate change) which has multipleanswers to many questions which vary in time.. The description is singular but there in reality multiple concurrent questions. It really isnt death rate, infectinon rate

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  • #
    sophocles

    I don’t hold any opinion on this.
    I have no idea about it’s veracity …
    but if true, it’s very interesting:

    https://greatgameindia.com/india-drags-china-to-international-court-for-covid-19-war/

    Don your sceptic caps …
    Read this …
    Try and validate or disprove it

    Remember the rules of evidence. Drive by shots with a link to an unintelligible/irrelevant web page and an equally irrelevent/unintelligibly terse comment is not evidence.

    Enjoy.

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  • #
    robert rosicka

    NSW police are now investigating the Ruby Princess cruise ship fiasco , and from what the copper was saying they’ve already made up their mind it was the ship captains fault .
    Everything I’ve heard so far puts the blame at the feet of the NSW health dept and health minister so I’m expecting a whitewash .

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    • #

      On the day it happened, I heard a news report that the Captain stated categorically that there was no illness on board his ship. That was the only time I heard this mentioned.

      My guess is that the ship’s owners may have directed the Captain to get them all off the ship post haste.

      It seems that anything was said, and even some of the passengers themselves mentioned the extreme haste in disembarkation.

      I see Shine Lawyers are instigating that most lucrative of all actions (well, for the legal company anyway) ….. a class action suit against the ships owners and NSW Health.

      As Gomer Pyle might have said ….. Serprise serprise.

      Who would have thought

      Tony.

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      • #
        TdeF

        With the Diamond Princess locked up in Yokahama harbour for two weeks, this was all known to everyone.

        So which is worse, the company lying to get them off the boat or the authorities up to the Premier turning a blind eye to avoid political ‘complications’?

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        • #
          robert rosicka

          Officials were saying the Captain did declare about a dozen flu like cases and two that were more severe than the flu 24 hours before docking in Sydney .
          I guess it will all come out in the wash but if what I heard is true the blame goes to the NSW health dept .

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  • #
    Guenter

    1. According to worldometers.info web page over 3 million people have died to date THIS YEAR and the average yearly deaths due to flu (winter seasons and early Spring) is from 290,000 to 650,000 in a bad year! The world doesn’t shut down each year! Each year 3-4 Million people go to physicians for flu yet, it is estimated 64 million each year get the flu world wide.
    2. Recent figures from the United States Centers for Disease Control show that during the last few months the flu has infected 38 million Americans, put 390,000 in hospital and killed 23,000. Those are almost certainly massive underestimates. No one seems bothered by these figures because the flu isn’t a new disease.
    3. This virus is getting blamed for illnesses and other diseases nothing to do with Covid 19!!! how do I know? The testing method is flawed! Koch’s Postulate has NOT been satisfied and there is NO evidence of the Virus in the cases tested. (https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7105)
    4. The Virus has NEVER been isolated in any case and NO pictures exist of the virus. Only cell bits!
    5. There is no Medical or Scientific reason for the actions taken around the world. The present actions taken by the government are Political and Conspiratorial against all of Humanity!!! Nothing to do with the present illnesses experienced today!!!
    6. The Coronavirus was first developed in 1965; hundreds of papers have been written on Coronavirus as well as Patents made by Bill Gates Foundation in USA and Europe.
    7. Covid 19 was developed in a Laboratory in the USA by a Dr Shi Zhengli. She was the recipient of US Grants as early as from 2014 as well as grants from the national Basic Research program of China and the Chinese Academy of Science, the National Science Foundation of China and from Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences into research into Corona-viruses.
    8. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill published the highlights of their creation in November 2015. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15YKs_dyEZI). She was well paid by the US and Chinese Governments to research into coronaviruses. One of the worlds most respected journals called “Nature” Concerns were raised about Research to develop “gain of function” virus ( nature.com/news/engineered-bat-virus-stirs-debate-over-risky-research-1.18787).
    9. Quote from…Simon Wain-Hobson, a virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, points out that the researchers have created a novel virus that “grows remarkably well” in human cells. “If the virus escaped, nobody could predict the trajectory,” he says…
    10. There was a moratorium by the US Government against this research yet it continued.
    11. When an outbreak occurs the CDC sends 2 teams to investigate; A pathology team and a second team which NEVER gets a mention? This team is for Toxicology. Where are the Toxicological TEAMS?
    12. Bill Gates warned 5 years ago about a pandemic which may occur and his company owns Patents on Coronaviruses!
    13. There is a growing number of Doctors who are starting to sound the alarm. One worth a mention is Dr Rashid A Buttar, advancedmedicine.com. His experience and collection of vital information is something everyone should be aware of and look at. He explains simply what’s going on from research which has been given him and collected from all over the world. A Must see! He exposes all the pharmaceutical patents which have been made for coronavirus. He unravels the gobbledegook medical jargon and his videos are better viewing that all the repeats on TV. Membership is free.
    14. You-tube has censored some of his videos and preventing him exposing the lies we are being fed.
    15. The Media focuses on people breaking curfew and the police crackdown yet the hospitals around the world are empty! In New York the alleged hospitals are empty and not the way the media portrays it..

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  • #
    RickWill

    Hospitals in Sweden are beginning to experience the consequences of their experiment:
    https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=4916&artikel=7445789

    Translated:

    Healthcare in Stockholm has a lot of jobs in the corona crisis. Now the region has changed the rules for how some of the staff should work. They will work more hours a week, and receive much higher wages than usual.
    In Stockholm, most people who need intensive care right now are being cared for. Intensive care is the care of those who are most ill. A lot of staff is needed, and they have to work a lot. When it is a particularly major crisis, the regions can change the rules for staff. They have done that in Stockholm now. They have activated a crisis agreement for staff working in intensive care. This means that working hours are increasing. Now the staff will work 48 hours a week. They also get paid much more than usual. They receive more than twice the salary.

    Now the field hospital built by the military has also opened in Älvsjö outside Stockholm. Right now, the hospital has 140 seats, but there will be even more.

    A military field hospital for CV19 patients.
    https://www.shutterstock.com/es/editorial/image-editorial/swedish-army-field-hospital-for-coronavirus-gothenburg-sweden-24-mar-2020-10592884e

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    • #
      farmerbraun

      So instead of increasing social welfare payments by declaring half the workers to be non-essential , Sweden is paying the doctors more to work a few more hours at double the pay. So that’s a bit of QE.
      And obviously it’s the “herd immunity” approach to dealing with the effects of the virus.
      So the economy gets a boost ; not a drag.
      Sweden had the lowest ICU beds /unit of population I think , and that’s not a problem either apparently.

      So what is Sweden doing wrong, if anything?

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  • #
    Another Ian

    “The Guardian: Can we Rescue the Great Barrier Reef?”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/04/04/the-guardian-can-we-rescue-the-great-barrier-reef/

    What would be the difference between “fates worse than death” and being saved by “The Gurdian”?

    20

    • #
      sophocles

      What would be the difference between “fates worse than death” and being saved by “The Gurdian”?

      The pain. Guess which one would be worse.

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  • #
    Raving

    “Europe’s future is at stake in this war against coronavirus”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2020/apr/05/europes-future-is-at-stake-in-this-war-against-coronavirus

    The world is headed towards a dreadful fiscal mess. Net zero by 2050 will cost so much more

    10

  • #
  • #
    toorightmate

    Sorry Chanel 7, but using Kevin Rudd to politicise the Ruby Princess virus disaster was pathetic.
    We expect this rubbish from the ABC, not from Chanel 7.

    40

    • #
      RickWill

      I have had cause to throw up watching Channel 7 as much as the ABC recently. Melissa Doyle was spew worthy on one of her interviews recently. My wife goes gobble, gobble when she sees a turkey. When she started that while watching Doyle it was time to turn to another channel.

      10

  • #
    ren

    This allowed the researchers to draw two conclusions: “A high viral load in the throat at the very onset of symptoms suggests that individuals with COVID-19 are infectious very early on, potentially before they are even aware of being ill,” explains Colonel PD Dr. Roman Wölfel, Director of the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology and one of the study’s first authors. “At the same time, the infectiousness of COVID-19 patients appears to be linked to viral load in the throat and lungs. In hospitals with limited bed capacity and the resultant pressure to expedite patient discharge, this is an important factor when it comes to deciding the earliest point at which a patient can be safely discharged.” Based on these data, the study’s authors suggest that COVID-19 patients with less than 100,000 viral RNA copies in their sputum sample on day 10 of symptoms could be discharged into home-based isolation.

    The researchers’ work also suggests that SARS-CoV-2 replicates in the gastrointestinal tract. However, the researchers were unable to isolate any infectious virus from patients’ stool samples. None of the blood and urine samples tested positive for the virus. Serum samples were also tested for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Half of the patients tested had developed antibodies by day 7 following symptom onset; antibodies were detected in all patients after two weeks. The onset of antibody production coincided with a gradual decrease in viral load.
    https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/c-ub-cvf040320.php

    10

  • #
    ren

    The most important thing now is the collaboration of scientists around the world to create a vaccine quickly, even without a huge number of approvals, to make it before the second wave in the fall (or spring in Australia).

    10

    • #
      ren

      If we don’t stop the virus by October, the economies of many countries will collapse.

      10

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        If we dont restart the economy by June we are in trouble.

        Invermectin and malaria drugs need to be made widely availble as “bio-armour”.

        People need to wean themselves off the vaccine paradigm…doing so also removes a lot of power from govt and Big Pharma….so naturally the govt will always push for them.

        20

      • #
        Mark D.

        People like me will be happy to go back to work once a satisfactory treatment is proven.

        The illness for 80% isn’t that bad. Only the fear of becoming one of the worst 20% keeps us willing and compliant enough to watch our life savings go down the drain.

        Assure us of a treatment and the economy will roar back. The lessons learned already will create new enterprise and boom.

        00

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Why is a rushed vaccine safer than a rushed “off label” use of a drug that has been used for 400 years? Does the the fact that there is billions offered to the vaccine manufacturer but there is nothing offered to manufacturers of generic drugs.

      It has been improved, of course, but its safe dosage is very well known.

      10

      • #
        farmerbraun

        And what is wrong with the natural immunity that develops after two weeks , in all cases , as we understand at present?

        Does someone have a problem with that?

        00

  • #
    ren

    You have to take advantage of the fact that the virus is not detected in the patients’ blood and use the plasma of people who have no symptoms. You have to do mass tests.

    00

  • #
    TdeF

    Everywhere I read that the virus is established, endemic, ‘herd immunity’. We are a long way from that. Even in Italy with 119,000 cases in 60 million people. 1/6th of 1%.

    In the US, the worst, it is 300,000 cases in a 330 million population. Not 0.1%

    In Australia, 5,000 cases in 25 million. 0.04%

    Despite the panic, the virus has not a great hold on any population. Yet. Politicians quickly realise they cannot preside over another black death by inaction. Where 1/3 to 1/2 of the people die. Whole cities ceased to exist.

    At the same time we can deal with this, but the cheapest, simplest way is complete isolation. Remember, this is NOT a living thing. It is a trick chemical. It does not die. If it cannot be passed on, it ceases to exist. And it does that in a very short time, 2-3 weeks tops. So if everyone stayed away from everyone else for 3 weeks, it would not exist. It’s that simple.

    It thrives on panic and flight and people breaking the rules.

    So take 3 weeks holiday at home. Enjoy. Read a book. Or two. Enjoy your children. Be a family, not machinery. And it will be over.

    Besides, we have no choice. If we can survive 2,4,6 weeks holiday a year with the place not falling apart, say a week or two over Easter, we can just use that time to eliminate this virus.

    Then we slam the door shut. No more viruses for Australia. No more flu, corona viruses, rhino viruses or any other sort. Stop them at points of entry. Test, test, test and if one is discovered, isolate. The whole world can do this, as it did with smallpox.

    And we can wipe out measles, aids, the lot. It’s a small effort and cost compared to the suffering, death, loss, tragedy of doing nothing and playing victim mentality. Or as some doctors have it, que sera sera. No longer. We are fighting back. Partly because we have no choice.

    The total number of NEW cases today was 136. Down from 450 a day just a week ago. In a week, none.

    Look after those who have it. Get them better. And the virus is gone from Australia. And it’s not coming back.

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    • #
      TdeF

      Even China. 100,000 cases in 1,400,000,000 is 1 in 14,000. 0.007%. Time to stop it, not indulge, accept, accomodate, resign. Time to fight, by doing absolutely nothing. It’s a lot cheaper than a real war and with no casualties in the front line. Just boredom.

      20

      • #
        TdeF

        I was watching a show tonight on the Black Death in the 13th century in England. Churches in the middle of nowhere, because the towns were gone. Often half the population died. The tragedy was worse than any war. Wars like WWII took 10% of Germany, 10% of Russia. In the US, 450,000 out of 150million, so 0.3%. It’s hard to imagine 50% of everyone gone.

        So the real threat to the human race is in viruses, bacteria, fungi. We fight these with hygeine, isolation, drugs. Mothers survive childbirth now. People survive appendicitis.
        But we go to pieces with a virus.

        What is a few weeks of staying home and watching TV to defeat something like this? And no actual cost, no sacrifice at all. While the commentators wail that the world will no longer exist, not a house or factory or car or person is damaged by this.
        We just have to wait. Try telling that to an economist.

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        • #
          Hanrahan

          The Spanish Flu was the cruelest thing. The world had just stopped the bloodiest war to date and as the soldiers were limping home they were struck down with something that was more deadly than the Somme

          My Dad fought in Flanders, survived the Great Depression and his bride dying in childbirth. He said to me “You think I’m naive” But like most men of his era he was.

          20

          • #
            TdeF

            Brides died in childbirth. Often. Mortality in childbirth in Victoria England was 30%, generally a week after childbirth. We cannot understand that today. Massive infant mortality too, in the first year. No matter how much money you had, many women died. And the father remarried, often more than once. The children grew up with a step mother or nanny. Thus the tales of the evil step mother. It wasn’t divorce, as today. It was doctors not washing their hands. Then blood loss before WWI when transfusion was discovered.

            We have solved the bacterial problems. Now we need to isolate and exterminate, not accept, the viral ones. Or face a pandemic. We have the technology. We had the technology with this one, if only the Chinese Government had given everyone the facts in December, but the policy was to hide the blame. As with the Ruby Princess, but on a world scale.

            30

  • #
    Hanrahan

    Hey Jo, can a few $s help fix your feed?

    I think some undeserved “stimulus” money may come my way. “Stimulus”? Ya kiddin me, I’m not allowed out to go out and spend it. Maybe a stimulus to get out of bed in the morn may help,

    When I see it I’ll move some of it on. 🙂

    40

  • #
    TdeF

    A trick in reading the totals graph. The lines showing slope have no significance with the individual graphs. You do not have to cross them. On a log graph they indicate the slope required for the period of doubling. So for a perfect exponent, you have a straight line.

    As infections drop, the curves go to horizontal and the slope at any time shows how long it will take to double again.

    For example Spain has just crossed the line for doubling every 3 days. In fact the curve at the end has the slope of doubling every 10 days, so they are winning the war. When it is horizontal, they will have won. Italy has a slope of perhaps 12 days, so the spread is slowing dramatically.

    And Australia has a slope corresponding to perhaps 20 days, so it has nearly stopped. By the end of this week, our numbers will have stopped growing as we cross the 5 day line with a horizontal line. Apart from making sure the virus does not escape from the 4,500 infected people, we will have won. As unbelievable in stopping as it was in starting.

    And as in all wars we owe a great amount to the very brave people in the front lines, while we sheltered at home. As Winston Churchill said about the Battle of Britain, never in the field of conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

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  • #
    Environment Skeptic

    More ripples in the pond of life….From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6vwVUYmv7I
    Big Brother Canada 8 Houseguests Get an Update on COVID-19 Pandemic
    “1,129,063 views
    •Mar 26, 2020

    00

  • #
    ren

    This is a deadly virus. Ask doctors in Italy. They divide the lungs into sectors. Each sector is scored and then tries to heal.

    00

  • #
    ren

    The real problem is that the virus will attack until at least summer 2021.

    00

  • #
    ren

    The Italians have already mastered the methods of treatment. Medicine in rich northern Italy stands at a high level. Steroids only inhibit inflammation, they cannot guarantee a cure.

    00

  • #
    tom0mason

    Paul Homewood has an interesting video up at https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2020/04/05/who-is-dr-tedros/

    Basically it answers the question of “Who Is Dr Tedros?” with a very informative and hard-hitting video of who the head of the WHO really is.

    30

  • #

    I hesitate to say something that is not virus related but Saltbush has a fire prevention plan:
    https://saltbushclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/bushfire-enquiry.pdf
    Sounds right to me.

    Remember those pesky fires? Oh no that was yesterday’s news. Focusing entirely on the virus outbreak is a big part of the economic collapse. It is an attention collapse.

    20

  • #
    Another Ian

    Re renewable choke points etc

    “When will Audrey Zibelman and the AEMO come clean with the public?”

    “Apparently in some circles the AEMO has made it known that we will have to keep coal in the mix for the foreseeable future.

    Has the AEMO conveyed that vital information to the ALP, the Greens and the general public? When is the ABC and the MSM going to report this?

    Until the general public is aware of the reality of the situation the Greens, Zali Steggall and the ALP can play posture and pontificate about RE and zero emissions and get away with it.

    Bipartisan energy policies will not be possible until the rank and file of voters realise There Is No Alternative to coal for many years to come. TINA!”

    http://catallaxyfiles.com/2020/04/05/when-will-audrey-zibelman-and-the-aemo-come-clean-with-the-public/

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    toorightmate

    Is it true that deaths from pneumonia in the USA have dropped dramatically over the past 3 weeks?

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  • #
    kevin a

    Was the coronavirus man-made?

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