Merry Christmas

To you, your friends and family, wishing you all the best, wherever you.

The clock is turning, and it’s Christmas in New Zealand… Australia, Japan, China, …

Christmas house in lights

A house around the corner generating some CO2 for Christmas.

Cheers!

— Jo

9.5 out of 10 based on 107 ratings

136 comments to Merry Christmas

  • #
    Aaron M

    Merry Christmas Jo!

    …and a big thank you for this wonderful blog. Where do insert the coal in stocking joke? 🙂

    -Aaron.

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  • #
    Sonny

    Yes, Merry Saturnalia to all.

    Christmas is my favourite pagan holiday of the festive season.

    60

  • #

    Joanne, David and Family,

    May you have a wonderful and peaceful day.

    All we (as those who comment here at this site) have to offer you is our best wishes to you, because to all of us, you are the Santa, and the present you give us is this wonderful site where we have the freedom to make our comments, something not always available anywhere else.

    Thank you Joanne, for having the perseverance to keep this site going.

    To all else who comment here, thank you all for the so much I have learned here, and remember, today is the day for children. Make sure you are somewhere where you can see their faces, because amidst all the trouble our World might be in, those children, and grandchildren are what keep us all grounded.

    We all learn from each other, and if it wasn’t for this JoNova site, we would have a lot less knowledge.

    Thank you Joanne. Happy Christmas.

    Tony.

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    • #
      Colin Henderson

      Agreed Tony – I will Tip Jar that!

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    • #
      me@home

      Well said Tony. Many thanks for all your contributions; you have taught me a lot and some of it will find its way into my soon to be published (to my family) memoir. Cheers to you and yours.

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    • #
      PeterPetrum

      Beautifully said, Tony, and my heartfelt agreement. Jo and David have been what has kept me sane and hopefull this year, without them I think I would have sunk into an increasingly deep depression. This site is so critical to the ongoing development of the ideas and confidence within this band of sceptics which are going to be so important as we help move the world to realising the stupidity and lack of science in the global warming alarmism.

      And my thanks to you too, for your deep understanding of power, it’s sources, it’s generation and the real issues to do with the sources of intermittent power. I have found your information deeply educational and it has allowed me to speak to others with the confidence of knowing my facts.

      And thanks from me, a relative ignoramus, to all of those who contribute positively to this site. Let us approach the New Year with confidence.

      30

  • #
    George McFly......I'm your density

    Best Christmas wishes from sunny Queensland to you and your family Jo and keep up the excellent work

    120

  • #
    jorgekafkazar

    Merry Christmas from the US, Jo & Co.

    130

  • #
    Henry

    Cheers to all and a big thanks to Jo for being a fighter against the Climate madness around the globe.

    140

  • #
    Radical Rodent

    A very merry Christmas to you all in England’s extreme southern counties from the far chillier north. May the New Year bring some sanity to the world, and a touch of reality to science.

    120

  • #
    John Gorter

    and here too in Langkawi

    Happy Christmas

    Auguri

    John

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  • #
    TdeF

    Merry Christmas to everyone in all your different climates. Remember, it is just the weather. Let no one tell you it is someone’s fault and you should pay. 19 years this year since the global temperature, whatever that is, changed even a little bit. If you want a different climate, just move.

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    • #
      Annie

      Merry Christmas to you Jo, David and your family and to all who come here.

      We had a little crib service for the children this afternoon and believe they should be given hope and an assurance that they matter and have every right to be on this Earth without feeling guilt or shame inculcated by those with ulterior motives of control and greed. We hope they enjoyed their Christingles and found a time of magic, despite the heat!

      Let’s celebrate that we are human, and enjoy this beautiful planet on which we live and try to help those less fortunate to enjoy their lives.

      180

  • #
    Peter Miller

    Merry Christmas Jo and to all other readers.

    And seasons greetings to the trolls and all the other sad, politically correct, left wing, greenie alarmists who infest our world,.

    172

  • #
    Reed Coray

    Merry Christmas to all–but a ever so slightly Merrier Christmas to all skeptics and especially those who actively fight the CAGW nonsense.

    181

  • #
    Stacey

    Dear Jo and all contributors and readers

    Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda
    Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year

    S

    110

  • #

    Merry Christmas from Canada. All the best in 2016.

    God kissed the world on Christmas Day —
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRz7FnItJ1w

    100

  • #
    Turtle of WA

    Merry Christmas to Jo, David and family.

    Well done for your outstanding achievements this year.

    100

  • #

    Merry Christmas Jo and David. Love your blog, the humor, the science. And, I’m especially grateful for David’s series this past year. Have a happy new year as well.
    Andy

    170

  • #
    Andrew McRae

    The christmas cracker jokes at lunch might be funny… but I’m skeptical.

    Merry Christmas to David, Jo, their little Evans, and all the assorted Jonovians across the world.

    140

    • #
      Andrew McRae

      My skepticism was rewarded.
      http://i.imgur.com/9v7x4zah.jpg

      In other news, Dr David Viner of East Anglia University has reiterated his concern for the catastrophic consequences of global warming. “Snowmen just aren’t going to know what transportation is”, he said. “The only reason there won’t be any snowman climate change refugees by 2030 is `cause they won’t be able move anywhere.”
      The Intergovernmental Pontificaters on Cryosphere Carriage will release their Snowpeople Impacts report next month.

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  • #

    Nadolig Llawen a Flwyddyn Newydd Hapus i chi ac eich teulu Joanne, a Nadolig Llawen i chi pob un ar y we yma.

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    • #
      TdeF

      According to Google Translate from Welsh.. Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to you and your family Joanne, and Merry Christmas to you all on the web here.

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    • #

      Google got it the wrong way round 🙂 Nadolig Llawen is Merry Christmas, but the gist is correct 😀

      60

      • #
        AndyG55

        Eugene, have ever been to

        llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch ?

        Yep.. Its a place name, and it does exist ! 🙂

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        • #

          AndyG55 – Wrth gwrs,siaradaf i Gymraeg – Gog ydw i, o’r Sir Meirionydd./of course, I speak Welsh – I am a Gog (North Walian) from Merionethshire. It is on Ynys Môn (Anglesey I can also say it, though most people shorten it to LlanfairPG.
          Dymuniadau Gorau/best wishes

          50

        • #
          jorgekafkazar

          I’m unlikely to ever get there. I suppose I could pin a note to my anorak…

          30

    • #
      Greg Cavanagh

      Looks like a random assortment of vowels and consonants to me. Thanks for the translation 🙂

      And a very merry Christmas to Jo and David, and everyone here.

      80

  • #
    PeterK

    Merry Christmas to Jo, David, mods and all the great commentors at this site from a cold Canuck in Saskatoon Canada where current temp is -11 C and low tonight is calling for -24 C.

    Love this site and all I have learned from the many great articles posted and the many great commentaries that follow the articles.

    Merry Christmas all!

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    • #
      PeterK

      Time stamp on my first post is December 25 3:57 am.
      Local time here in Saskatoon is December 24 11:57 am

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      • #

        Weirder than that, we are on WordPress Time. It’s not Brisbane (Australian east Coast non-daylight savings time) but something 16 minutes ahead of it.

        I can change the timezone, but the time is wrong in every zone.

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        • #
          PeterK

          Yes, I noticed when I posted that the minutes were off some 10 minutes or so. Thinking about it now, local minutes were :41 and posted minutes are :57.

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        • #
          Peter C

          Time puzzle answered at last.

          Thank you and Happy Cristmas

          60

        • #
          Graeme No.3

          Obviously the time has been homogenised!

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        • #
          Glenn999

          Trust the government. They’re here to help.

          Merry Christmas to Jo and everyone from Florida, while we still await a real coldfront…

          40

        • #
          David Maddison

          Incidentally, there are three time zones around the world with a 45 minute offset. They are Nepal, Chatham Island and Australian Central Western time (which is not an official time zone).

          10

  • #
    lance

    Merry Christmas to everyone from Alberta, Canada

    110

  • #
    ossqss

    A very Merry Christmas wish to you all from Sarasota Florida!

    I could not resist posting this item as PC alarmists seem to have all the same indicators as CC alarmists. Please forgive me, as it is the night before Christmas here, but do enjoy the humor 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IRgZ4TUsS8

    140

  • #
    patrick healy

    I can only reiteriate Tony from Oz’ s sentiments above so articulately stated.
    We owe such a lot to brave realists like Joeanne who put their reputations out there for the demonic opposition to try and sadduce.
    BTW it is 1814 gmt here in Scotland on Christmas Eve and I would like to know what time it is in Melbourne, as I need to phone my brother to wish him a Happy Christmas, as I do to all the wonderful bloggers on here.

    130

  • #
    farmerbraun

    There’s something very peaceful about milking the cows on Xmas morning ; maybe it’s because I can’t hear the nearby city on this day. How grinchy is that? 🙂
    Anyway – gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar – speaking of the New Year . . . . it’s one week until the start of calving here. It always feels good to see all those new arrivals.

    FB.

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    • #
      Rod Stuart

      I wonder what happened to Ozboy? I wonder if Izen is still a true believer?
      All the best to you and yours, Farmer. Keep those big black and white girls happy.

      30

      • #
        farmerbraun

        Ozboy is alive and well. IZEN conceded some time ago that the skeptics had prevailed and nothing would ever be done to limit the output of the Demon Gas.
        He was right on the money there. We still pray for him 🙂

        40

      • #

        I’m still about – some study has curtailed blogging for a while.

        Merry Christmas and best wishes form 2016 to you, Jo and everyone here.

        60

  • #
    Just-A-Guy

    Seasons Greetings To All JoNovians

    May the holiday cheer, and the coming new year, bring you all a better and more meaningful life together with your loved ones, friends, and neighbors.

    🙂

    Abe

    80

  • #
    F. Ross

    Even in the face of being redundant I too would like to add my

    Best Wishes for a Very Merry Christmas!

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  • #
    TdeF

    Merry Christmas to our red hander too. It must be a lonely, unrewarding job on Christmas day so it’s nice to be appreciated.

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    • #
      Peter C

      Very generous of you TdeF
      And appreciated. You have 2 red thumbs already!

      110

    • #
      Annie

      Gosh! 5 red thumbs now…well done TdeF! You must really be annoying the trolls 🙂

      A very Happy Christmas to you. I have just put our Christmas turkey in to cook…quite mad on a hot north wind day…thank goodness for a well insulated oven and AC!!!

      90

    • #
      AndyG55

      Ok.. I’m a bad boy.. I wanted to show my appreciation for Tdef’s comments as well.

      ….so I gave him a red.

      I think I maybe got the logic wrong there, somehow. 🙂

      Cheers all ! 🙂

      51

      • #
        Yonniestone

        Ok I’ll also fess up for red thumbing TedF, just being a bit silly which is quite unusual for me.

        Love your work TedF and merry Xmas, AndyG55 you should be ashamed. 🙂

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        • #
          AndyG55

          “just being a bit silly which is quite unusual for me.” say what ?????

          Now you really are being silly !! 😉

          30

    • #
      AndyG55

      But I think you have to agree, TdeF,…

      … its nice to know the red thumbers are reading your comments … and seething. 🙂

      81

    • #
      TdeF

      It’s a little affirmation present for the Red Hander on whom irony is utterly lost, let alone literacy. Still it is reassuring to know there is someone who goes to all the trouble, every day, a sort of manic dedication to a perverse task which is now expected if not understood. It must be hard to be a red hander, unappreciated. Red hand away.

      100

  • #
    AndyG55

    Baaaa! Humbug! to everyone 🙂 🙂

    And a Happy whatever you choose to celebrate at this time of year 🙂 🙂

    Only Joking of course..

    MCaaHNY to all.

    80

  • #
    Bite Back

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, even from grumpy old me. 🙂

    May 2016 bring a change in the winds and let us start to hear encouraging news.

    BB

    90

  • #
    Monna Manhas

    Merry Christmas to everyone from British Columbia, Canada.

    90

  • #
    Ruairi

    Happy Christmas to Joanne Nova,
    For her science,her style and insight,
    Which I read first thing in the morning,
    And again the last thing at night.

    So our thanks to Joanne Nova,
    For her very informative site,
    Which so many people love reading,
    Then straight to the keyboard to write.

    Her battle with faked global warming,
    Is for skeptics a beacon of light,
    So let us keep sending her funding,
    To help her continue the fight.

    290

  • #
    Peter C

    Christmas Day

    Words John Wheeler Music William G James

    The north wind is tossing the leaves.
    The red dust is over the town;
    The sparrows are under the eaves,
    And the grass in the paddock is brown;
    As we lift up our voices and sing,
    To the Christ-child the heavenly King.

    It is going to be a hot Christmas Day here in Melbourne and the North wind is getting up already

    Happy Christmas to all who read this and especially to our beautiful and generous host and her family

    80

    • #
      Annie

      Boxing Day is running true to form in Melbourne! It is now cold, wet and windy, ready for the Boxing Day Test. I remember the year we were given very good tickets for it. By the time we got to Richmond station the rain was torrential. We sat for a while and then decided to go home. Picnic lunch was enjoyed with the heating full on! Later, when the rain had stopped, we went back for the little time played when we could sit anywhere…so much for our good tickets.

      The rain is welcome for us as it’s been very dry. Oh…sun just out. Better find out if play has begun or been delayed.

      Boxing Day was cold and windy in 2001…we took our visiting family for a walk at Elwood and we all froze.

      30

  • #

    To Jo, David and all, a Scottish toast:

    ‘Lang may your lum* reek
    wi’ither folk’s coal!’

    *chimney

    80

  • #
    handjive

    A Christmas story …

    “Beginning in a decade or two, scientists expect the warming of the atmosphere to melt the polar icecaps, raising the level of the seas, flooding coastal areas, eroding the shores and sending salt water far into fresh-water estuaries.

    So far, the greenhouse effect has not been clearly felt.

    In the generations since scientists first theorized that increased carbon dioxide would alter the earth’s temperature balance by trapping heat in the atmosphere, no one has been able to measure a significant warming.

    Scientists have explanations for that, and they believe their temperature curves will soon soar off the scale.

    But for now the greenhouse effect remains part of a hypothetical, if not so distant, future.”

    That was 1985. 30 years ago. New York Times.

    A safe and happy festive season to all.

    81

    • #
      el gordo

      Thirty years is climate, so naturally there are rumors spreading that we are doomed never to experience global warming in our life times.

      Cheers everyone, enjoy the hiatus while it lasts.

      60

    • #
      John F. Hultquist

      The NYT article (1985) was authored by James Gleick – a quite good and well known writer. His “Chaos: Making a New Science” was published in 1987. From this NYT piece: He says, global warming “… remains an uncertain demon.
      More recently, his brother Peter, made news because while being the ethics guy of the Pacific Institute, he perpetrated what some have called fraud regarding The Heartland Institute (H-I). The H-I claims, and Peter Gleick denies, that he forged a 2-page document.

      30

  • #
    tom0mason

    Festering greeting! 🙂
    Have a Happy Humbug and a preposterous New Year!! 😆

    Have a good one and enjoy yourselves…

    70

  • #
    EternalOptimist

    3 Hours to go here in the UK.

    I propose leaving the trenches for a game of footie with the enemy

    70

  • #
    Robert O

    A happy Christmas to all and hope that the new year will bring goodwill to the many who are suffering due to man’s follies.

    80

  • #

    Joanne, David and Family,

    Thank you for yet another year of top-quality work in daily postings of colossal quality. Your site is the one that we turn to first,for news, argument and public comment. Your site is an island of rationality in a sea of insanity. Have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas.

    120

  • #
    mc

    New research project reveals; “97% of scientists are convinced this blog is the best blog ever – it’s even better than we thought and the other 3% don’t know what they’re talking about!”

    I fully concur with this finding.

    Jo, David, mods and everyone who visits here, merry Christmas.

    90

  • #
    Mike Borgelt

    Merry Christmas all!
    We got our presents on Tuesday,. The trusty BD-4 got us from Broken Hill to Esperance in just over 8 hours and on checking email after arrival we learned that our nice neighbours who moved out for work are moving back in, and SpaceX landed a Falcon booster back on the pad after a successful launch. Great news for us space flight enthusiasts.
    To quote a certain fictional spaceship Captain ” a good day, still flyin”.(Damn, but I loved Firefly)

    60

  • #
    spangled drongo

    Merry Christmas, Jo and David. Thanks for all your hard work throughout the difficult year.

    May the light of the sun eventually shine through to all our alarmist friends.

    70

  • #
    pat

    Merry Christmas & a healthy, happy & prosperous New Year to Jo, David & family, plus all the JoNova contributors.

    New Year’s wish: Jo is hired to write a weekly column and/or radio/tv commentary for a major MSM outlet. surely journalists should know more about a subject than their audience? why else would they be hired? lol.

    90

  • #

    Merry Christmas Jo and David, along with the many others who comment here, even the comedians like ‘numbers’, i have learned a lot. May the New Year be prosperous for all and keep putting the CO2 back where it belongs. My trees love it! Tony has been a shining light, just one of many contributors here I would like to thank for the many years of interesting comment on the best blog on the planet. Tip time.

    50

  • #

    Say, never one to let a chance go by, have a look at this.

    Christmas Day, not just this one today, but every single one of them is the day of lowest total power consumption in our Country. Not just a little bit lower, but far and away the lowest, on average a full 33% lower overall power usage than for any other average Summer’s day. Not just one Christmas Day in isolation, but every single one of them. Even in Winter, that average total is up and beyond 30,000MW, so this day Christmas Day has lower consumption than for ANY other day of the year.

    The image at this link shows a typical average power consumption for a Summer’s day, and here I have chosen not just the largest one I could find, but one fairly close to Christmas Day, a normal average working day in Summer. See how the total rises to around 30,000MW at around 2PM in the afternoon.

    Now, look at the image at this link. This is for Christmas Day 2013, and I’ve just picked this year not for any cherry picking purposes, because they are all similar for the last 6 years of them I have available. Not how the total power consumption barely struggles to reach 20,000MW, a full 33% less total power consumption.

    That’s 10,000MW less than the normal daily average.

    Note also, the minimum here, 16,000MW a full 2,000MW lower than for ANY and EVERY other day of the year. Even with no workplaces operational, and every shop closed, that ABSOLUTE base load requirement is still 16,000MW of power.

    This one day of the year is basically, when every person in Australia is at home. Aircon units would be working more on this day than others, when people are at work. There’s probably more cooking done on this day than on any other. So, Residential power consumption, as a whole, is at its absolute highest on this one day of the year, and yet this day has the lowest total power consumption.

    No work, and everything closed. All the big power consumers off usage.

    See how such a simple looking roundly and totally ignored diagram can tell you so much.

    So, if you want that green dream of less power consumption, then the answer is so simple.

    Send everyone home, and shut everything down. Simple as that.

    These load curve diagrams are without doubt one of the most important things to be looking at in the electrical power debate, but everyone just laughs them off as ….. irrelevant.

    Tony.

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    • #
      Uncle Fred

      But Tony, the Green Glob never reads. Especially graphs.

      The Green Glob FEELS things. If it FEELS like renewables could work, then surely they must.

      For those who haven’t seen the Tasmania mess, here it is in a nutshell. Shades of SA.
      In order to make hay while the carbon tax sun was shining, Hydro used up all the water.
      So for the past few months Hydro has been importing nearly 50% of the demand from Victoria.
      The gas fired combined cycle generation at Tamar Valley, stored for the last eighteen months, was advertised for sale. Three months ago Hydro laid off over half the crew, with redundancies costing about $750K. The 60 MW Rolls Royce peaker is in England undergoing repairs. The under maintained P&W peakers are for the most part O/S.
      But on Sunday, the overloaded Bass Link failed. It might take three months to repair it. (No one knows how long it might take). Meanwhile, back at the lakes, there is no rain man. At Musselroe Bay, the wind refuses to blow.
      Now, a dozen operations staff have been hired on contract to start the gas fired big girl up again.
      Such is the idiocy of government meddling in enterprise. Such is the “wisdom” in depending on “renewables”.

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      • #
        ianl8888

        Absolutely wunderbar !!

        Not a hope of the MSM putting this sequence of events together to inform the punters

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      • #
        Robert O

        Back in about 1962 it was the same, no water in the dams due to little rain. The Great Lake was nearly empty hence little electricity from Poatina and the Gordon scheme didn’t exist. Daylight saving was introduced, very little street lighting and no neons, a gas generator was set-up at Self’s Pt. (Hobart) and they moored a diesel electric ship at the Aluminium smelter at Bell Bay, also built an oil fired station there for future use (if required) which was later converted to gas and eventually sold for a song to cover their budget problems, and industry put in a lot of diesel gensets.

        The Hydro people thought they were going to make a fortune with the BassLink cable by selling hydro power at peak times, but it has turned out differently using Yallorn power to keep the lights on. The Greens and Labor blocked the 2nd. Gordon development way back which would have been useful and saved a lot of “greenhouse” emissions.

        Perhaps a case of history repeating itself with man’s folly and the vagaries of weather systems.

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        • #
          Uncle Fred

          I’ld like to make a little correction:
          “built an oil fired station there for future use (if required) which was later converted to gas and eventually sold for a song to cover their budget problems”
          Bell Bay Power commissioned 1972 with two Parsons 100 MW steam turbines. Constructed as “insurance” against drought. Served the purpose well as droughts occur on a roughly ten year cycle. Recommissioned in 2000 on gas from the new Tasmania Pipeline. Decommissioned 2009 with the alternator for Unit two not recoverable and the boiler for unit 1 the same. Only the oil tanks were sold.
          The facility still belongs to Hydro, and is a $70M liability as it must be demolished soon and is full of asbestos. Replacement Tamar Valley power station commissioned 2009 and operated continuously by Aurora until transferred to Hydro in mid 2013. The juicy bits have been advertised “for sale” ever since. Bureaucratic logic was “It is not needed. We have Hydro and windmills.”
          Clearly a case of over reliance on unreliable “renewables”. Therefore, the Greens leader calls for a solution: “WE NEED MORE RENEWABLES”!

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          • #
            Robert O

            Thanks for the correction. The Gordon below Franklin scheme would have generated 180MW, but now is part of history and would require a strong government to overturn its world heritage status. The water and damsite are still there. A lot of water flowing in and out of Macquarie Harbour; good clean green electricity if it were to be viable and the greens approved of it. I don’t know if there are any suitable dam sites on the Davey and New Rivers, but plenty of rainfall, and of course Paris approval required as well. Sorry being a little facetious, but a Paris blessing is required for anything in most of Tasmania having been sold out by the greens.

            40

            • #
              Uncle Fred

              So true. Hydro, while suffering the ills of any so-called “renewable” is at least a viable method of electricity generation.
              Tasmania has operated, for the most part, on this energy for more than a century.
              Society demands very expensive compliance today that was not part of the picture until a certain Fascist doctor decided that medicine was not his forte.
              He did, if you recall, rant on about the fact that Tasmania should be making use of its coal reserves instead of damming up the Gordon. In that regard he was insightful, until he got the religion of CAGW.
              The Achilles heel of hydro in Tasmania has always been the reliance on long narrow reservoirs. In order for hydro power to be successfully exploited, the reservoirs need to wide and deep so that water storage in the wet years can be saved for the droughts. The other Achilles heel of hydro in Tasmania is the broad reliance on “run of river” power stations with no storage. While it boosts the “nameplate capacity”, it does little to satisfy demand reliably in the long run.

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              • #
                Robert O

                The gentleman to whom you refer, now retired, and used to live sometimes adjacent to the Liffey R. with a solar panel on the shack roof for power, realised that political power lies in the big cities with the city latte set who think they are doing their bit for the planet whilst at the same time enjoying the benefits of A/C, good transport systems, hospitals, schools, etc. and vote accordingly in the Senate with its preferential voting system. Although one may disagree with his politics, his had the qualities of a general which do not seem to be shared with his followers as Senator SHY for example.

                20

              • #
                Uncle Fred

                I concede the point. However, could I point out that history is full of people with the ‘qualities of a general’?
                A few names such as Adolf, Joe, Tojo, and Benito come to mind.

                30

      • #
        Robert O

        The Tasmanian problem is rather unique and comes from a combination of insularity, now diminished, and the brain drain of younger talent seeking better career prospects elsewhere leaving the rest to run things.

        In the case of the Hydro, Sir Alan Knight was a visionary acknowledged by his peers, but his legacy has been diminished by politics since then.

        The same is fairly true of the apple and forest industries both of which are shadow of their past.

        30

        • #
          Uncle Fred

          One can only imagine the prosperity this State might have enjoyed had Brown stuck to medicine and the Green Glob had not been able to sink its hooks in.
          The Franklin dam would have gone far to securing energy abundance. Industries attracted by affordable energy probably would have attracted a host of other industries.
          Perhaps exploitation of the thermal coal deposits in the Fingal Valley and other areas could have augmented hydro power.

          20

        • #
          Robert O

          People probably do not know that Sir Alan was also the designer of Hobart’s floating bridge when he was head of the Public Works Dept; pretty innovative with a curve on the upstream side and no anchors to hold it in place.

          10

    • #

      Green might ask: So why not make every day Christmas? 😉

      Except that they’re already trying to shut down all industry and commerce to protect the climate.

      Undertakers and gravediggers might rejoice for a while but even their business will be unsustainable when not more wealth is being created by productive industry.

      Count yourselves lucky that not every day is Christmas!

      Merry Christmas.

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    • #
      Dave

      Amazing Tony

      I visited my mum in Greenslopes Hospital this morning!
      A large private hospital in Brisbane – quite large
      Air cons
      Lifts
      Lights
      Freezers
      Kitchens etc
      All going flat out – so I looked at the number of ALL hospitals in Australia!
      About 1,360 in total – many huge

      How many other public services operate even on holidays?
      Woolies & Coles Freezers
      High rise buildings
      Sewerage treatment plants
      Traffic control
      Water supply

      They say:

      “We can change our lifestyle to CO2 zero footprint”

      And yet we still use 20,000MW doing nothing except saving lives, keeping food supply available, water, sewerage, ports, airports – the whole place NEEDS a guaranteed electricity supply every hour, every day & every year!?

      150

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    Dennis

    Merry CHRISTmas to all!

    Best wishes for a safe and peaceful 2016.

    And for our politicians to return to Earth and good Christian values.

    And may our guests show more respect for their hosts.

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    Hasbeen

    Love those Christmas lights, a highlight of Christmas for me. Lots of people doing it around here too.

    Just as well someone’s supplying plant food. The rainfall this year has come at just the right times to spur my dragon fruit plants into massive fruit production. They need all the feeding they can get.

    Merry Christmas to all, & especially Jo. I’ll have a dragon fruit for you.

    60

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    John F. Hultquist

    For us, East of the very snowy Cascade Crest, Christmas is still 5 1/2 hours away.
    http://komonews.com/news/local/i-90-to-remain-closed-overnight-at-snoqualmie-pass

    Nevertheless, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

    80

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    John of Cloverdale, WA, Australia.

    Merry Christmas to Jo and family and all followers of this brilliant blog and seekers of scientific truth.

    110

    • #
      john karajas

      Exactly what I wanted to say John! Merry Christmas to all of you, especially to Jo, David and their family as well as my old boss from Icelandic Gold days: Peter Miller.

      80

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    scaper...

    Merry Christmas to all.

    70

  • #
    Michael

    http://www.jibjab.com/holidays/christmas
    Check out Coal- so true. I hope everyone gets coal for Christmas- sure bets worthless solar and wind power.

    50

  • #
    sophocles

    Blimey, that’s anuvver year gone. It was fast.

    It was highly enjoyable, too. Thank you David and Jo for the deconstruction of the Enhanced Radiative Greenhouse Effect According to the IPCC. That has been fascinating and interesting reading so far. I still haven’t finished it but I will, I will. I look forward to the New Year continuation of the Solar Notch Filter hypothesis.

    And thank you Jo for a website that is always interesting.

    Which means a big thank you to all the regular and even the irregular chorus of commenters. The collection of news, views and FACTs, not beliefs, beggars the imagination to make this site one of the prize blog sites.

    It’s late Christmas Day in Auckland. The Klimate Prediction … oops, the Weather Forecast, was for a more or less sunny day reaching 25d C with occasional showere. The latter are to be avoided at this time of the year because the drops are so big, you can’t dodge between them, and four drops equals a soaking. But, lo, it started sunny with occasional clouds which went away leaving a blue dome sky, no wind, nice heat with a comfortable humidity and sun, sun. sun.

    So, being fair-skinned and blue-eyed, I had to hide inside, covered in sunscreen and a wearing a broad brimmed hat every time I looked out the back door. Never mind, I had … have plenty to keep me occupied. The motorcycle is receiving much long postponed maintenance and some of the small problems are being attended to. I know why I postponed a couple of them they are substantial work to fix a minor nuisance but a BMW which leaks oil is a nothing to boast about.

    It’s not too late: have a Great Christmas y’all. And a Wonderful New Year. See y’all then, if not before.

    80

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    bobl

    Merry Christmas, Jo, David and all the Mods. Wishing you a safe and prosperous year ahead.

    50

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    pat

    despite the new headline, the accompanying video is still called “NT to spend Christmas preparing for cyclone”:

    25 Dec: Sky News: Cyclone less likely to form off NT
    A Boxing Day cyclone is looking less likely to form off the Northern Territory, but today’s wild weather is very close to cyclonic.The Bureau of Meteorology says the low-pressure system, which had been forecast to move southeast and form into a cyclone over the Gulf of Carpentaria this weekend, has instead looped back to settle over the Top End. Forecaster Angeline Prasad says the storm has been unpredictable since the cyclone watch was issued for the southwest Gulf on Thursday.
    ‘It hasn’t behaved well in the last 24 hours,’ she told AAP. ‘The model guidance on this particular low-pressure system has been terrible, at the least.’…
    A cyclone watch issued for the coast from Port Roper to the Queensland border, including Groote Eylandt, was still current on Friday afternoon.
    http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/12/25/nt-to-spend-christmas-preparing-for-cyclone.html

    30

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    RoyFOMR

    Merry Xmas from Scotland and a happy New Year link to 20 years in the future.

    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2015/12/25/2035-the-year-in-review/#comment-60318

    Made me chuckle lots and without any alcohol aboard too!
    (H/T MarkStoval at WUWT for the link)

    40

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    J.H.

    Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

    30

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    Gary in Erko

    I wish you all the best of the seasona nd the year to come.
    A question for the new year – Is a season a subset of weather or of climate? Should these annual cyclic classifications (ie. seasons) be called weather or climate?

    And thank you Jo for this robust and healthy sandpit you’ve established for us to play in.

    60

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    R2Dtoo

    Merry Christmas to all from Manitoba Canada – where it is white and -20C this morning. Grama and I, our five children and eight grandchildren send best regards for a happy and safe season.

    70

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    Geoff Sherrington

    The best Christmases are those when you write these greetings knowing that you are in debt to those around you for teaching you to be a better person.
    May 2016 be a lovely year for Jo Nova people, hosts, creators, contributors and denizens, particularly those with wisdom to give.
    Geoff.

    80

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    The Backslider

    Merry Christmas to all from Finland!

    We won’t hear from Numbers because it’s not politically correct to celebrate Christmas…..

    91

    • #
      Dennis

      Here in Oz it is not politically correct to mention the guests but it is perfectly acceptable for the guests to criticise the their hosts.

      Don’t mention the war.

      51

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    Carbon500

    Happy Christmas and best wishes to Jo and all those regulars and others who contribute so much interesting material to this island of sanity in a sea of CO2 induced craziness.
    I’ve just heard from relatives in California that they’ve had a heavy snowstorm, the snow is deep and it’s shovels out to clear the way. It must be all that man-made warming…..

    60

  • #
    KinkyKeith

    A Very

    Merry Christmas

    To All.

    KK

    50

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    David Maddison

    Merry Xmas Season to all.

    60

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    Yonniestone

    Hope everyone had a great Xmas day, we survived death by mince pie for another year uuuggghhh my stomach, it’s 10°C here and 14.8mm of rain overnight after 33°C yesterday, the weather has great agility.

    71

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    Grant

    Merry Christmas and a happy new Year Jo. Thanks for your great work this year.

    40

  • #
    Popeye26

    K
    Jo, David & family

    I do hope you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you all the very best for 2016 – may 2016 be full of happiness and fruitful for all your endeavors.

    Maybe 2016 will be the year when the warmist movement finally falls on its sword.

    Cheers,

    60

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    Ceetee

    To all the smartest people I know (who just happen to pop up here) may the new year be all that you’d like it to be. Enjoy your families this Christmas. Special thanks to Jo and David for being the beacons that you are.

    60

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    Kim

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Jo and thank you very much for all the hard work and great site!

    40

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    ScotsmaninUtah

    A Merry Christmas to Jo and Family and everyone here.

    Thank you for producing such an excellent Blog Jo it is truly superb.

    40

  • #
    RB

    Merry Christmas Jo and David. Keep up the good work.

    (a bit slow because of connection problems)

    10