Weekend Unthreaded

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116 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #
    Annie

    Gosh, am I the first to see this, by sheer accident as I really meant to be out gardening atm!

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    The Depraved and MOST Deplorable (and still asleep) Vlad the Impaler

    We all plant many seeds, in many ways, at many times.

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  • #

    I mentioned in the earlier week day Unthreaded that wind generation had a good day earlier in the week.

    Another of those good days was yesterday, the Saturday, although it did not reach the 50% Capacity Factor (CF) average across the whole day of the earlier week day.

    However there was a record for wind generation set yesterday, when, at 9.15PM, and for one five minute point in time, wind generation was 5220MW.

    That is the highest that wind generation has ….. EVER been.

    As well as that, it was above 5000MW for 80 minutes, also a record.

    That 5220MW all time high gave wind generation an operational CF at that time of 67% ….. and again note the irony that at its absolute best ever, it still only operates at 67% of its Nameplate, virtually what coal fired power hums along at its daily low point, waiting to ramp back up when its needed again in a few hours, keeping in mind that ALL the Units in Victoria operate at 100% whilst ever they are operating.

    Now, wind generation Nameplate rose to the level it is now of 7728MW back in May, and this is the highest it has ever been, one time in seven Months that it does its best, and even then just for five minutes.

    Even so, the gap between the low for this day and that high was 3000MW, and in high wind situations later in the day, there were losses of 500MW to 600MW four times in that time frame when wind generation was high.

    Tony.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      I missed the peak supply. Mt. Barker (the SA one) was blacked out for 8 hours yesterday evening (from roughly 4.25 p.m.)

      Nice to know the wind was blowing somewhere.

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  • #
    TIP

    Can anybody pls try to correct, improve or confirm these numbers – im finding it quite hard to get 2020 year to date numbers among all the covid “noise”

    USA Death Toll / Year

    2016 2.75M CDC
    2017 2.81M CDC
    2018 2.84M CDC
    2019 2.85M CDC

    2020
    september 2.3M CDC
    october 2.39M CBS (not a type error..yes…CBS)
    december 2.49M US Live Stats

    It looks to me as though the US will struggle to surpass 2.85M deaths by any meaningful amount give the “enormity” of the covid pandemic

    ALSO

    Sweden – condemned by worldwide media, experts and scientists for their “failure” to handle covid19 “properly”

    Normal total number of deaths per year approx 90,000 people (since 2010)

    Total number of deaths to 13 November 2020 < 82,000 people

    Sweden's total deaths for 2020 will be the lowest in the last decade (highest 92,000 2012)

    Norway – lauded for not following Sweden

    Typical annual death toll, approx 40,000 looks like it will remain within the normal (not lower nor higher) range too.

    Is this what is expected having just experienced the greatest pandemic, reportedly claiming hundreds of thousands of lives..?..

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    • #
      Karabar

      Canada: Long Term Home care deaths
      2019 10,781
      2020 10,953

      Ratio 98.48%

      Hardly a “deadly pandemic”. And not far away from a long term average.

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    • #
      RickWill

      The point you make is that the response to the pandemic has been extremely effective. Imagine what the death toll would be without all the action taken. Despite all the actions, the death toll is similar to any other year. That just means that millions more would have died had there been no controls.

      Sweden remains a disaster area. They still do not have spectators in sporting arenas. They have just put a limit of 8 people in any gathering:
      https://www.rt.com/news/506879-sweden-covid19-restrictions-infections-groups/

      Most of Australia has been Covid free for many months and sporting events now have more than half the venue capacity utilised. Internal travel is gradually getting back to normal. Victoria endured the world record of lockdowns but is now Covid free. More than 80% of the population consider the lockdown was worth it. There is a great sense of freedom once the virus has been eliminated.

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      • #
        TIP

        Rickwill – “The point you make is that the response to the pandemic has been extremely effective.” – no.

        The point appears to be A. not very deadly (despite reporting otherwise) and B. Regardless of response – no actual excess deaths.

        Never forget – the “Experts/Scientists” said

        Sweden no lock down 105,000 deaths
        Sweden soft lock down 85,000 deaths
        Sweden hard lock down 26,000 deaths

        Sweden ACTUAL about 7000 deaths – the experts/scientist were as much as 1500% wrong and STILL accusing Sweden of doing poorly!!!

        As time goes on, I suspect Anders Tegnell will be remembered for getting Covid19 “more” right than anybody else.

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        Peter C

        There is a great sense of freedom once the virus has been eliminated.

        Well there should be a great sense of freedom. What I see is our government maintaining strict control over many aspects of out lives and overreach in others.

        The latest is the Health Information Initiative applying to all who visit a Public Hospital. I won’t go there but I can see it coming to all Private hospitals very soon. Unfortunately the AMA will be all for it.

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        • #
          Kalm Keith

          Peter, nothing that the AMA promotes would be surprising after their whole hearted endorsement of the Truth of Man Made Global Warming and death by incineration due to CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

          KK

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          Annie

          I don’t feel free; no sense of freedom as I still can’t go and see my 98 year old mother, any of my siblings, my eldest son and his family, my eldest grandson and our first great grandchild, not to mention some of our best friends. It is still iffy to go and see second son in Perth. I feel imprisoned, would be conscientious about isolating at our rural home on return but the dictator won’t do it.

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      • #
        yarpos

        disaster area? seriously? just because they dared not to fit you world view? they stack up pretty well against most in Europe

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      TIP
      There are two very obvious problems with the claims about Sweden. November 13 is day 318 of the year not a full year. A full year at that same daily rate would be 82,000 / 318 * 365 = 94119
      So the claim 2020 “Sweden’s total deaths for 2020 will be the lowest in the last decade” is obviously false.
      I will wait to see if anyone else is will tell you about the second obvious problem for a while.

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      • #
        TIP

        I did not intend writing “the” lowest – i meant “one of” the lowest.

        I thought they would end up < 90,000

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        • #

          TIP at a number around 94,119 when you claim the highest as 92,000 is it looking like being the lowest, one of the lowest or more than 2000 worse than the highest?

          BTW. I gave you the benefit of the leap year. 82,000 / 318 * 366 = 94377. 2012 was also a leap year.

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          • #
            TIP

            Slow down…we arent there yet.

            At 92000 – nobody battered an eyelid – Should 94000 equate to the “responses” we’ve had or mandating an expedited vaccine?

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            • #

              TIP
              Nothing ever justifies mandating any vaccine at all. Polly’s that go along with that need to be voted out. People who praise Tegnell’s “herd immunity” plan are part of the problem. It was always a vaccination plan. Herd immunity without vaccination is impossible because it acts to prevent itself.

              Tegnell, who is also the architect of Covid-19 Sweden’s lockdown-lite, said: “To reach full herd immunity to stop the disease and may be get rid of the disease in the long term, by certain you need a vaccine.”
              https://fit.thequint.com/coronavirus/covid-vaccine-may-come-in-2020-but-production-will-be-by-end-2021

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                TIP
                The second part of your error with Sweden is ignoring the present between November 13 and Friday just gone Sweden time. The daily death toll there caused by the failed “herd immunity” plan just like all the countries where the “flatten the curve plan” failed rose dramatically. It is now well over 55 per day in Sweden. The online data sites will not show this clearly for another ten days. It can be seen however. On the 28th of November Sweden was showing 6681 total deaths. One week later now and it is showing 7067. (7067-6681)/7 = a weekly average of 55 per day. It is still going rapidly up. The herd immunity plan fails completely. A massive death toll for no gain.
                Only eliminating the virus by by getting the growth rate below 1 works.

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            • #
              Kalm Keith

              I don’t want my eyelids “battered”; there’s a suggestion of deep frying.

              By contrast I’ve often batted my eyelids in amazement.

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      • #
        yarpos

        talking absolute numbers is a nonsense, people die , various causes are assigned, games are played

        Sweden has experienced no 2nd wave peak in terms of excess deaths

        weekly data is available at euomomo.eu

        we just need to keep muttering tests, tests, cases , cases comply and all will be well

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    • #
      Broadie

      I’ll give you the TIP so to speak.
      Never before in the history of mankind have so many people been laboratory tested for anything.
      You are reporting the facts on mortality and not paying attention to the missive.
      People are are being tested and they are testing positive for something!
      Keep up the good work. John E Cullen was excellent in asking why Dr Fauci wasn’t sending anyone to Vietnam to find out the special techniques they used to save their population? Absolutely no interest in these cultures with what appears to be advance virus defenses.

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        Broadie
        In this case they are being tested for death not covid. How many of those do you think are false deaths?

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        One of the guiding forces in Vietnam was a doctor who moved there from Israel/Switzerland to treat holiday makers from Europe. He ended up staying there for 32 years.

        He wasn’t the only “western” orientated medical support person but I mention him to make the point that it was all achieved on the basis of a sensible appraisal of the situation rather than some mysterious oriental technique.

        Borders with China were closed at the expense of cutting off supplies of materials used in Vietnamese factories and tourists were subjected to regular “temperature checks” so that active cases might be isolated. Practical measures.

        By contrast in most of the West, the response has been mostly political and very damaging.

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  • #
    MP

    I have been looking into QLD’s election system. Konnech are a company registered in the US but made in China

    Konnech supplies QLD electoral software, this company is privately owned by Eugene Yu, Democrat donor.
    https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=eugene+yu&order=desc&sort=D

    Eugene Yu was educated in China https://www.linkedin.com/school/zhejiang-university/ though he fails to mention his degree on internal combustion engines in his company profile, gained in China.

    Eugene is the Chairman of Konnech Australia PTY Ltd. He has a masters in business administration from Wake Forest University (North Carolina) and undergraduate degrees in Internal Combustion Engine Design.

    Konnech’s programmers are located in Wuhan China https://www.fionasimpson.com.au/queensland-electoral-system-at-risk/
    https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/committees/LACSC/2020/ECQInquiry2020/submissions/016.pdf

    They have a subsidiary company, ABvote http://www.pollchief.com/ABVote.html

    No wonder the Chook was not concerned about losing the election and her commie NZ mate.

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    • #
      Memoryvault

      What makes you think that the QLD election had to be rigged in Ponygirl’s favour by the Chinese or anyone else? Here are the first two sentences of a letter I received from my local Liberal Member Andrew Powell, the week before the election. The bolded type is as it appeared in the actual letter:

      Dear Mr Sawyer,

      As a proud father of five and your Local Member for Glasshouse, I’m passionate about our health care system and I’m determined to keep our community safe and healthy.

      That’s why when it comes to the cironavirus the LNP will always support the expert medical advice of our Chief Health Officer . . .

      So, in a nutshell, anybody who actually believes this scamdemic BS would think Anna and Labor were doing a sterling job, and have no reason not to vote for them.

      Conversely, anybody who thinks, like me, that the whole thing is a gigantic con job had no reason to vote for more of the same from the LNP.

      In other words, tweedle dum and tweedle dee. Tweedle dee won. Ho hum.

      I think the end result was pretty much all that could have been expected, under the circumstances. No involvement by the Chines, or anyone else, required.

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      • #
        MP

        O dear. The programmers are located in China, our governments electoral system is made in China.

        You present speculation, I am showing facts and there is plenty more on the web.

        You think I don’t know the LNP are the same as Labour and greens. With what’s happening in the US why do you think it could not also be here. Can’t rule it out, but you can rule it in.
        I don’t think Queenslanders are that Gullible and I know Kiwi’s aren’t.

        Have you looked into Damn it Jennets (the mad cat lady) Expert Medical credentials.

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      • #

        It is fairly obvious that the virus is being used as part of the vote rigging. The green left stated early that they hoped many Trump voters would die. Their undercover operatives are the fake identities behind much of the false claims that the virus is not dangerous. The aim being to kill voters over the ages that are more likely to vote Trump. Once dead these elderly victims of the misinformation campaign keep on voting but for the other side.

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  • #
    Furiously curious

    Re Morrison’s and the Liberals sudden tilt to the greens on renewables, and climate change. I’m reckoning pressure from business, and bureaucracies, who are celebrating critical mass in Wokeness, thanks to the tender ministrations of their HR Depts. When Trump tried to crack down on Diversity seminars in Federal institutions, the CDC told him to get lost!
    The other thing is Big Business in the West has shifted all manufacturing to China and the third world, leaving them twiddling their thumbs, and thinking the best way to generate money in the West, will be mergers, govt subsidies, and 50-50 private/govt monopolies. Allowing them to suck the populace dry, through a very big straw.
    Industry for Aus- forget it – aged care, education can’t last long as it is so bad, minerals, real estate, legal tangles, farming, I guess migration is an industry(?), public ‘servants’ to make everything as slow and as difficult as possible –this is how we keep 25 million people gainfully employed? Tourism might be a while coming back? Is this really a viable, dynamic economy? In a world of funny money, I suppose it is?

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    • #
      Ted O'Brien.

      It is indeed coming from business, and is backed by the investment already put in place on yhe back of Clive Palmer’s/ Al Gore’s “protection” of the RET.

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      • #
        Memoryvault

        Almost right, Ted.

        The concept of the RET may have been voiced by Clive Palmer, with support from Al Gore, but it was Tony Abbott who actually enshrined it in legislation.

        This is hardly surprising. It was the Liberal government of John Howard that first legislated the groundwork in 2007, and Abbott who took it onboard as an election promise in 2010. He also started the 2013 campaign on the same basis but had to scrap it after KRudd did.

        It was then Abbott who approved the Regulation to implement the RET in September 2015, to become effective from July 1, 2016, exactly one year later than originally envisaged by Howard in 2007, and then Gillard in 2010.

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        • #
          Ted O'Brien.

          Sorry, mv, that’s not how I remember it. What I recall is:

          In about 2,000 Howard introduced the RET at a low level (2%?) At that time even I thought there was a problem looming.

          It was the Rudd/Gillrd/Rudd government which set the RET at the level that Abbott inherited in 2013.

          It was then the PUP , and of course the ALP and Greens, who forced Abbott to keep the RET. They let him reduce it a little. He was able to put a closing date on it, but that RET underpins much of the wind and solar “farms” that are becoming ubiquitous around the countryside.

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          • #

            Wasn’t the emissions trading loophole left in some legislation that was approved in the last two weeks of the Abbot government. Within days of Abbotts ousting Turnbull and Hunt were promising emissions trading. https://joannenova.com.au/2015/10/turnbull-hunt-suggest-carbon-emissions-trading-could-start-mid-2016-thank-gore-and-palmer-for-the-open-door/

            All Gore and Palmer managed ot get out of Tony Abbott was to force him to add in a proviso to not rule it out entirely, but to allow a “review” for an ETS.

            Turnbull then got it through parliament in December 2015 quietly with help from the Greens and Labor on the last hour of sitting and announced it the day before Christmas or something.

            I’ve not seen any evidence that Abbott even knew what the SafeGuard Mechanism was.
            https://joannenova.com.au/2016/05/secret-deal-australia-already-has-an-ets-carbon-tax-starts-in-5-weeks/

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            • #
              Memoryvault

              Turnbull then got it through parliament in December 2015 quietly with help from the Greens and Labor on the last hour of sitting and announced it the day before Christmas or something.

              It’s a nice fairy story, Jo, and that’s all it is. There was no such vote on this in Parliament in December 15 2015, or any other date, a fact anybody can check on Hansard.

              The provision for the ETS was incorporated into the legislation repealing the Carbon Tax, introduced by then PM Tony Abbott in 2014, and was brought into being by Regulation, prepared by then Environment Minister Greg Hunt, and signed off on by then PM Tony Abbott on September 14, 2015, his last act as PM. It included an effective start date of July 1, 2016.

              The Regulation was approved by Cabinet on September 22, 2015, under new PM Turnbull.

              The entire “vote on December 15” BS was perpetrated in a news article by Alan Kohler, who took over from Laurie Oakes as Chief Propagandist and Spinner of Lies For Corrupt Governments, around the same time. It never happened.

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              Ted O'Brien.

              I remember that term from the event with Al Gore: The RET would be “protected”. And it pretty much was, reduced a little.

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              • #
                Memoryvault

                True, Ted.
                It was “reduced” to the “100 largest emitters of CO2”, which just conveniently happened to mostly be coal fired power generators, thereby paving the way for all the government nurtured investment in ruinables.

                Mother Gaia Moves in Mysterious Ways.

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          • #
            Memoryvault

            We are debating at cross purposes here, Ted. There is no real argument.

            In the 2010 election both Liberal (Abbott) and Labor (Gillard) ran on a platform of introducing the Emissions Trading Scheme as required by the international banksters. The only difference was Labor was aiming for a floor price of $23.00 a tonne, and the Liberals intended setting it at $15.00 a tonne.

            This was when Gillard made her immortal
            “There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead” comment.

            Gillard won the election with a little help from a couple of turncoats, and almost immediately introduced what was supposed to be a carbon tax for two years, and was then meant to revert to an ETS. The justification given at the time was to secure the support of the Democrats and the Greens in the Senate.

            The bill passed as a carbon tax, intended to revert to an ETS after two years, with support from the Democrats and Greens. However, Abbott and the LIberals won the next election in 2013 in a landslide.

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        • #
          Tel

          The RET law snuck through 21 December 2000 … and activated April 2001.

          https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A00767

          It’s been tweaked many times since then. John Howard deserves most of the blame, but if you want to also blame Abbott then I’m fine with that.

          This is a certificate trading scheme to enable cross-subsidy … taking money away from coal fired power stations and transferring to politically preferred solar and wind power. It’s been running for almost 20 years and I believe it was Rudd who extended it an extra 10 years.

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          • #
            Memoryvault

            True, Ted.

            The Bill/version which put the initial nail in the coffin was the
            “National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007”
            passed by the Howard government in September 2007.

            It was one of many of Howard’s acts of desperation to stave off defeat in the coming election.

            It didn’t work.

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      That’s brilliant FC.

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    • #
      el gordo

      There has been a strong tilt to renewables because that is what the states have chosen. In many ways the Federal government is powerless to do anything about this, so they are sitting on their hands.

      Secondary Industry is set to flourish in the NSW outback with energy coming from the new renewable zones, supported by a gas fired power station utilising Narrabri gas. This is a decentralisation package in a nutshell and should work, leaving the door open to build a coal fired power station at Dubbo a decade from now when demand increases and the global warming scare has passed.

      ‘Is this really a viable, dynamic economy? In a world of funny money, I suppose it is?’

      Our main assets are mining, agriculture, tourism and education, soon secondary industry will spring into action and we won’t know ourselves.

      All the central banks have been trying to keep their economies afloat, in a low inflation environment, by releasing more money into the economy.

      Small is beautiful.

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      • #
        Ted O'Brien.

        Any day soon anything small might need to be backed up by the world’s biggest, most modern steelworks. If the Chinese won’t process our raw materials we might have to do it ourselves.

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        • #
          Kalm Keith

          Great idea.
          At the moment we only have two industries;

          1. Mining and

          2. Consumption.

          Item 1 is in trouble and item 2 has a serious time limit based on the fact that it involves the vibrant social security system we have plus retirees spending the last of their hard won savings over the next 10 years.

          After that newcomers will be largely on the pension, aka unfunded government handouts requiring borrowing.

          KK

          30

        • #
          el gordo

          Australia has steelworks and they are working overtime.

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          • #
            Kalm Keith

            Like our tenuous hold on aluminum production?

            We need a Steel Industry that can provide rod and bar material suitable for secondary processing, which also needs to be developed here.

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              el gordo

              The so called ‘free market’ leaves us at the mercy of Rio, as you may know they have closed down their NZ operation and might do the same in Australia.

              https://aluminium.org.au/australian-aluminium/

              12

              • #
                Kalm Keith

                Australian aluminium production is solely at the mercy of politicians demanding high electricity prices to fund subsidisation of Renewable energy tokens which are a ripoff.

                It’s surprising that we have any primary industry remaining here when everything works against it.

                RIO what’s that got to do with anything?

                KK

                30

              • #
                el gordo

                Rio owns the smelters, if they are uneconomic because of cheap imports then they will pull the plug. At that point does government intervene to save jobs and maintain this secondary industry?

                That of course would appear as socialism with Australian characteristics.

                13

              • #
                Kalm Keith

                Government policy, in the form of taxing coal fired electricity generation, is The Sole Determinant of electricity prices paid by Industry in Australia.

                It’s gotten so bad here that even offices requiring power for computers, elevators and air conditioning/ventilation have been made inoperable.

                Government policy is bad!

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                Surely not?
                We’ve had PF, I, S@A; do we add EG to the list?
                Government has endorsed the ramping up of electricity prices and Aluminium smelting is a primary function.

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                Why did I suspect it would be in moderation for being immoderate.

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                Closer.

                Government has endorsed the ramping up of electricity prices and Aluminium smelting is a primary function.

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              • #
                MP

                KK, El loco is this sites Joe Bidden.

                BHP were talking about shutting their WA smelter due to power prices, don’t know what happened.
                The one in SA should be good as its owned by the Chinese and the tax payer powered it with solar panels made in China

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                el gordo

                When did the a Chinese consortium buy into the SA smelter? Was it before or after the interconnector failed?

                Premier Gladys has big plans and Bluescope is part of the mix of bringing the jobs back home and building renewable zones.

                https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-12/nsw-government-steel-mandate-plan/12872864

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                The future of Australia.

                E.G.
                “Premier Gladys has big plans and Bluescope is part of the mix of bringing the jobs back home and building renewable zones.”

                More debt, more fantasy with equipment that an Elitist money churn.

                Tragic.

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              • #
                el gordo

                Don’t worry about debt, in a low inflation environment the private sector needs to invest in massive infrastructure. The fantasy comes in when they start planning the VFT network and realise a new coal fired power station is needed to support it.

                Australia’s population is expected to double in 30 years, so decentralisation and satellite cities will become de rigeur.

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        Analitik

        How does the VFT fit in with this western NSW decentralisation?

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        • #
          el gordo

          Obviously a VFT system would only be constructed if cities develop, then we would build it with Australian steel and know how.

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          • #
            Kalm Keith

            What Australian steel.
            What Australian know how?
            All gone.

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              el gordo

              Don’t be ridiculous, our steelworks are operating at full capacity. You should get out more often.

              It seems we are both right on aluminium.

              ‘Mining giant Rio Tinto says its Australian Aluminium smelters, which employ more than 2,600 workers, are not sustainable at current power prices.

              ‘The company runs three smelters in Australia, which are under financial pressure due to the high price of electricity, which makes up about a third of their costs, and the low price of aluminium due to a flood of cheap supply coming from Asian competitors.’ (Guardian)

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              • #
                MP

                El diablo, that makes you wrong, which is actually your default setting

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                The Guardian.
                Enough said.
                We were both right?: if the guardian said it how can I be right. Don’t agree with anything much they say but note that many comments on Harry and Meghan, Charles, Diana and Camilla and also The Queen are attributed to the Guardian.

                Governments don’t care a hoot about Australia’s industrial base or secondary manufacturing.

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                el gordo

                Government’s all around the Western world have been lured into letting the markets decide, on the basis of supply and demand, but China’s SOI swamped the market with cheap goods. Everyone was happy except those who lost their jobs.

                Its standard capitalist practice for multinational corporations to seek cheap labour and lower production costs, so they move the factories offshore to gain advantage over their rivals.

                Donald said he was bringing the jobs back home, which I consider one of his greatest achievements even though its mostly symbolic. Nevertheless, its fairly clear that the Australian government and states want to reinvigorate secondary industry.

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                Bizarre, no comprehension of things.

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              • #
                el gordo

                I know that electricity is too expensive because of renewables and the destruction of coal fired power stations, but there is nought we can do about that for a few more years.

                As you are probably aware global cooling has begun and, as a consequence, coal will soon be back in favour.

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            Peter C

            Do we still have a steel industry?

            10

            • #
              Kalm Keith

              Really I don’t want to know: it’s too depressing.

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              el gordo

              ‘We produce approximately 44 per cent of the total amount of crude steel made in Australia each year, with a total steelmaking capacity of 2.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).’

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                Again, what’s going on?

                “Made” or “used”/needed.

                In other words, if correctly interpreted, we Import 56% of our annual needs.

                So we Import 3.31 million tonnes of steel into Australia every year and the iron used to make that steel is also lost from the production cycle.

                So that’s 6.6 million tonnes of product that would should have processed ourselves but didn’t.

                Don’t mention this to politicians, they may be embarrassed.

                KK

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                el gordo

                The free market, if left to its own devices, will buy cheap steel from overseas. This is how the capitalist system works and its a bit late in the day to argue ‘protection over free trade’.

                This debate was all the rage a hundred years ago, but the big difference in the 21st century is that multinational corporations are calling the shots and if governments impose tariffs then the market gets jittery.

                Speaking on behalf of the utopian socialists, its imperative we keep international free trade operating because it offers the best chance of eliminating world poverty and avoiding WW3.

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                MP

                I would be guessing Australia makes 100% of the steel made in Australia.

                00

  • #
    BoyfromTottenham

    TIP – I can’t make head or tail of your figures. Your post has the following figures:

    USA Death Toll / Year

    2016 2.75M CDC
    2017 2.81M CDC
    2018 2.84M CDC
    2019 2.85M CDC

    2020
    september 2.3M CDC
    october 2.39M CBS (not a type error..yes…CBS)
    december 2.49M US Live Stats

    So, are the figures for 2016-2019 those of annual deaths from all causes, or something else?
    And what are the figures for the months sept-dec of 2020 – annualised deaths from all causes, or something else? Cleary if annual death rates in 2016-19 were around 2.7 to 2.8 million, that would equate to about 225,000 per month, but you say 2.3-2.4 million. And November 2020 is missing.

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      Peter C

      I saw that and had a think about it.

      I think the figures for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 are annual figures.

      The figures for September, October and December (should be November) are the cumulative total for the year.

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        David Wojick

        Correct Peter. If these are right they are dynamite. Covid has had roughly no impact!

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          Focus ONLY on COVID deaths?

          Why?

          COVID has sent a lot of people to hospitals, and sometimes to ICUs.

          The intense focus on deaths, ignoring all the pain and suffering, is heartless.

          Although a surprising number of COVID infected people have no symptoms, or mild symptoms, many have normal or serious flu symptoms. Far more hospitalizations than the usual seasonal flu.

          I’ve had two friends suffer intensely for two weeks, and three weeks, respectively, that did not go to hospitals.
          They claim they have never felt worse in their lives.
          One of those friends, a retired emergency room doctor, was cared for at home by her son, also a doctor, because he didn’t agree with what the hospitals were doing (the ventilators).

          Three friends who were infected only lost their senses of smell and taste. But many months later one still can’t smell anything. And she is young. All of these people had tested positive, but the range of their COVID symptoms was unusually wide.

          Any focus on deaths misses almost all the pain and suffering caused by COVID, and the harsh partial lockdowns, that also cause economic and health damage, maybe even worse than the disease itself ?

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            tom

            I agree. The breakdown in the supply chain, will result in starvation numbers that will far exceed covid deaths.
            I’m certain we will not receive daily death counts.

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            David Wojick

            Documenting an incredibly destructive government panicaction is far from heartless.

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            Hanrahan

            There is a case to be made for ivermectin at all stages of the disease including long-haulers,

            https://youtu.be/z5-S49EqCJ8

            But supplements such as D3, C, Zn, melatonin and quercetin should not be ignored, covered in the video.

            Ivermectin has been used as a sheep drench for decades so if your GP won’t give it to you, call on a vet. 🙂

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              Gf

              No need for a vet,every rural town has farm supply shops that stock it in many forms.just take it to the counter and pay,keep the invoice as a tax claim.
              The pour on form does not seem to effect humans badly nor the oral have not been accidentally injected yet.

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    Ted O'Brien.

    About the CCTV in the tally room.

    If fair dinkum, and this appears possible, it depicts identifiable people acting very suspiciously. Sufficient to warrant calling for evidence sub poena.

    Should that happen floodgates could open.

    Trump was well and truly forewarned. The only difference with 2016 is the scale of the operation. It is inconceivable that he would not have taken action to guard against a repeat.

    The first questions I would ask are 1. Who owns the surveillance system, 2. How long had it been in place?

    The answer to those questions would lead to the course of any investigation. e.g Was every tally room so monitored?

    Methinks a lot of people might rest uneasy in coming weeks. The Trumpsters don’t have to do anything more in the short term. If the others are guilty as Trump says, they will destroy each other in a few days.

    I find a bit of difficulty with some of the over the top clomment the Americans seem to be fond of, but the latest goss is too hilarious not to pass it on. Here it is:

    Joe Biden’s ankle is OK. He is wearing the big boot to hide an ankle bracelet.

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      PeterS

      Yes there is so much happening it’s hard to know which allegations are true and which are mistaken or even fake. The video evidence needs to be checked to see if what they did was in fact illegal. It shouldn’t be that hard. If laws were broken then arrests warrants need to be issued forthwith. What bothers me is no such action has be undertaken. Why? If a bank robber in full view was caught on camera, there would be no delay at all in issuing an arrest warrant.

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        It’s not illegal to count ballots.

        It is illegal to send watchers and media home by making them think work was done for that night.
        And then there were 82 minutes of unsupervised counting.

        That doesn’t prove any of the votes counted in those 82 minutes were illegal votes.

        And that won’t change the Georgia total.

        The primary way to “check” the votes is to examine the envelopes they came in to TRY to determine if they were legal votes.

        But there are several affidavits that claim (in Georgia, and at least one other state) that ballots appeared to be marked “perfectly” as if printed by a machine, rather than a human.

        Also, there are claims that many Michigan ballots had only the Biden box filled in, and no one else. That seems suspicious because the same one mark a few inches away would have been a vote for all Democrats on the Michigan ballot. Why would so many people vote ONLY for Biden, and completely ignore all other Democrats?

        Once again that fact doesn’t mean the votes were illegal.

        But some suspicious behavior is reflected on the ballots, rather than the envelopes they cam in.

        There are also claims of ballots that were never folded, as if they were never mailed out in envelopes.

        Unfortunately, there is less than six weeks to win court cases, or convince legislatures to take action.

        With only eight days left before electors vote on December 14 for Biden, I’d say the effort to change the 2020 vote is has almost failed.

        Not one state lawsuit has been won.

        So far the methodology for handling Georgia’s over one million absentee ballots requested for January, is going to be the same as the November 3 election. And that is not good for Republicans,

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    Peter C

    Andrew Bolt goes to the Dark Side;

    THIS IS TRUMP’S BEST WITNESS? END THIS CIRCUS NOW
    Melissa Carone was meant to be one of the Trump campaign’s star witnesses at the House Oversight Committee to prove there was vote-counting fraud in Michigan. She was such a loose cannon that even Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani tried to shush her. Trump’s effort to prove that the election was stolen is a joke and embarrassment. Watch these lowlights.

    and leaves Melbourne;

    GOODBYE, MELBOURNE. THE LOVE IS GONE AND I’M LEAVING
    I loved Melbourne when I first moved there, more than 40 years ago. But how it’s changed. There’s nothing it now offers me that’s as lovely as the joy of leaving, and I’m now going for good.

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      Serp

      I’m mystified as to his destination; he’s given no hints except to mention he originated at Murray Bridge.

      It’s a conundrum familiar to all long term residents of Victoria particularly since the next tranche of emergency powers has been proclaimed even though there’s been thirty-six days of Dan’s “doughnuts”: what out of state destination to choose before we are imprisoned in our homes again? If the Boxing Day Test’s tourism doesn’t do it the Australian Open’s will.

      Any normal human would have been humiliated by being forbidden to acknowledge the child beheading tweet but not Daniel Andrews, his effrontery is more than up to that, and anyway to the extent he was publicly damaged the CCP would read it as his taking one for the team, and it comprises the only people whose estimation matters.

      Victoria is to be the keystone Australian PRC province and Dan is auditioning for governorship. Next step the politburo… no, not Andrew Bolt, he won’t say but if it was me it’d be the West down Albany way.

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      He’s already said where he is going. Keep up.

      Also, he is correct.

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    Ted O'Brien.

    I’Ve already spilled too much coffee over that ankle bracelet story. I don’t know how I’d handle it if it turned out to be true.

    But no, police would not immediately press charges in such a case. They would first gather a lot of evidence. A lot of new evidence would come in as people acted under the duress of knowing something..

    They might if the case was big enough apply an ankle bracelet.

    How to grow a rumour!

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    Small Footprint

    The left have brought a lawsuit in Georgia, but it is suppressed by the right – and I will bet it will not get any coverage here either. FYI It is about fraud in the election process

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    joseph

    Maybe it’s time we did a deep dive into the PCR test. Informative little vid below from Dr. Chris Martensen.

    “Positive Covid test? Ask this question!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWqNl4UUlH0&feature=emb_logo

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      Kalm Keith

      I like it.
      Especially important is the highlighting of the unnecessary impact on small business people and their livelihoods.

      Got to 9 minutes, will watch the rest later.

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      Ask yourself why this is so. Thousands upon thousands of PCR tests/day in Australia. Every positive test recently is in a returned overseas traveler in quarantine and the lab doing the test has no idea of who they are testing.

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        Kalm Keith

        The important thing is that each “Teste” is worth about $50 of government money.

        I heard yesterday of 8,000 tests done in one day in an Australian city; actually that’s a light day, but it raked in $400,000.

        What’s the purpose of the tests again?

        On Saturday night I went to a public venue for the first time in 10 months: a huge crowd of 50 max. The “teste” with an electronic thermometer probably cost about 1 cent pp.
        Total testing cost, $0.50 aud.

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    tonyb

    Anyone looking for Christmas reading for climate sceptics and books they might give their climate anxious friends to help them calm down, might be interested ion my recent article

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/11/27/books-on-the-climate-emergency-suggested-christmas-reading-for-sceptics/

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      Thx Tony, think I’ll give the first two a miss, but might put the last book on my Xmas List, along with Douglas Murray’s ‘Madness of Crowds.’Oh my!

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      David Wojick

      Excellent analysis of the hysteria drenched books. Skeptics need to understand that these arguments are widely believed.

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    David Wojick

    CFACT has published my Happer et al piece that previously ran on TownHall and WUWT. I get into a nice long scientific debate in the comments:
    https://www.cfact.org/2020/12/04/could-co2-actually-cause-slight-beneficial-warming/

    The Happer results refute the hypothesis of dangerous AGW, but it will take a lot of effort to make them widely known.

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    GD

    There’s nothing it now offers me that’s as lovely as the joy of leaving, and I’m now going for good

    Strangely, instead of moving to somewhere with a better climate, Bolt moves about 60km to the Mornington Peninsula.

    Whatever problems he sees in Melbourne, in time, will follow him to his new digs.

    Leaving Melbourne to live in what is almost another Melbourne suburb.

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    RicDre

    Claim: The Great Barrier Reef is “Critical” because of Climate Change

    Just how long do we have to wait until the Great Barrier Reef is dead? The Reef allegedly went critical in the great El-Nino of 1998. Ever since, reef scientists have been bombarding us with dire predictions and demanding billions of dollars and urgent action to “save” it.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/12/05/claim-the-great-barrier-reef-is-critical-because-of-climate-change/

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    el gordo

    ‘However, a build-up in tropical moisture is under way and the bureau is holding to its forecast that most of the country’s north and east will be in for a wetter and milder summer than usual. The gauge tracking the La Nina has also strengthened in the latest readings.

    ‘Andrew Dyer, principal flood analyst with Insurance Australia Group (IAG), said the outlook was now revealing “some of the strongest wet signals we’ve seen in about 10 years” despite the hot, dry November.’ SMH

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    David Wojick

    Morano says climate alarmists are targeting children, on Sky News.

    https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6214440679001

    Link crashed my iPad.

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    Furiously curious

    A recent Michael Shellenberger article about what we can look forward to from Biden’s climate czar. Money for the Big Guys.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2020/12/03/biden-climate-plan-risks-putting-china-and-blackrock-before-the-american-people/?sh=6210422a4c9f

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    Greg in NZ

    Oh dear, oopsala, your BoM’s Alpine Forecast page is calling for SNOW and FREEZING temps tonight for both Victoria and NSW’s ski areas: Perisher’s Blue Cow webcam (mountainwatch.com) showed either hail or snow on the ground as of 5 pm. Damn you Goebbels Worming!!!

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    Hanrahan

    In an earlier thread I mentioned that I could not befriend a leftist who takes politics seriously.

    This is a link to HotCopper, a share trading site where moderators are tolerant of Trump hateism. Accepting this I was still shocked at this exchange and wonder why posters were not suspended. I would not knowingly allow some of these in my front gate.

    https://hotcopper.com.au/threads/could-trump-be-assassinated-within-a-week.5802778/

    Posted as a community service so you know your enemy.

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    CHRIS

    La Nina rules!! GBR lives!! CAGW believers sink

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      Hanrahan

      Don’t believe everything you are told about the GBR.

      It is not thriving as Ridd would tell you, nor is it dying. It is struggling and needs help and of course I am not advocating CO2 reduction. It needs TLC.

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