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Corals bleached in 1862 by all the cars and coal plants that didn’t exist

Peter Ridd writes that a new paper uncovers rare lithographs of corals underwater in 1862.

One hundred and fifty year old pictures of corals are rare enough, but these ones had the unmistakable pure white cauliflower look that marks them as totally bleached. But in 1862 the first coal fired power plant was still twenty years away from starting work as a coral destroyer, and carbon dioxide levels were a perfect 286ppm.

This is the spot (below) in the Northern Red Sea just at the end of “The Little Ice Age”. Perhaps the seas were too alkaline then, and were yet to reach the perfect pH nirvana they must have struck the year before humans started scuba diving en masse.

Bleaching in 1862, twenty years before the worlds first coal fired power plant was built. Ransonnet 1862 | Tomas Cedhagen 2021

We can see why scuba diving was not popular in 1862.

The first underwater camera had a little man inside?

 

Somehow the great marine-psychics of the world know that corals didn’t bleach in the early 1960’s even though, or perhaps “because”, there was almost no one down there to see it.

From Peter Ridd:

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Tuesday Open Thread

9.5 out of 10 based on 13 ratings

Ten years ago China was worried about race based genetic bioweapons — Hello Biotech Cold War?

Image by AngMoKio

For anyone trained in genetics the news that China warned of the potential for race based genetic bioweapons in 2011 is just stating what any good SciFi writer has known for years. But the macabre detail may help wake up the rest of the world to the idea “What if”. What would a New Biotech Cold War look like, and does it look like this?

China was spelling out some toe-curling recipes: warning that new biotech could pump up the virulence of infectious agents; it could neutralize antibiotics and vaccines, or potentially make the “target” population more vulnerable by disabling specific genes. Theoretically, adversaries could add genetic material covertly. How about some involuntary “Gene Therapy”coming to an airconditioning system near you?

But hey, they were just speculating right?

Funnily enough, a guy called Miles Yu was working for Mike Pompeo, advising him on China, and he raised the existence of the Chinese submission with the US State Department last December. Pompeo ordered an investigation, but they couldn’t find a copy of China’s original submission at the time (it’s only a global UN convention, yeah?). But when Joe Biden was sworn in, the investigation was shut […]

Weekend Unthreaded

9.3 out of 10 based on 16 ratings

Florida: schools to teach downside of communism: unis to teach goodside of unfashionable ideas

Science of Civilization Lesson #2: What’s the most deadly kind of government on Earth?

“Big Government”

One third of millennials approve of communism, probably because they don’t know what it is:

January 2020: Poll of young Americans found 70% will “vote socialist” and half of them think communism is OK

Gulag in Latvia | Image Rakoon.

According to a poll commissioned by the Washington, D.C. area nonprofit Victims of Communism, 70 percent of Millennials say they are likely to vote for a socialist while one in three view communism favorably.

The same poll also reported that 27 percent of people believe President Donald Trump is the biggest threat to world peace. The survey placed the U.S. president over North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

According to YouGov, 36 percent of millennials say they approve of communism. That percentage is up almost 10 percent from 2018.

Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida, has a plan that students in his state should understand why Cubans swim to Florida more than Floridians swim to Cuba:

DeSantis signs bills requiring Fla. […]

Defund The Academics! CSIRO, Australian Unis had worked with Wuhan Lab too (and they forgot to mention it for 18 months?)

Well here’s a surprise. A year and a half later and now we find out that Australian labs were also helping China?

And tonight, 520 days after China shared the genetic sequence of SARS-2, Australian scientists are suddenly very concerned about how Australia might still be doing gain-of-function work with viruses? Minister Greg Hunt is asking for a “review” of gain-of-function research in Australia? Did he even know?

It’s amazing what the power of a good reporter can achieve. Hail Sharri Markson and The Australian.

For 500 long pandemic days some publicly funded scientists had millions of reasons apparently, not to talk about how the virus might have been a lab leak. These public servants may have been publicly scoffing at the idea the virus may have leaked from a lab, but they didn’t think to mention that they’d worked with bats, and gain-of-function viruses and even the Wuhan lab itself?

They were ethically bound to speak up. Did they say nothing, or did they talk to Morrison and Hunt in private? After which, given the government’s role, possibly none of them wanted to let that bat out of the bag?

Public trust in these institutions might be about to […]

Thursday Open Thread

9.6 out of 10 based on 12 ratings

Ivermectin may prevent 86% of Covid cases, and the UK will do a hobbled trial of it

The new super meta review of Ivermectin is out. It’s 27 pages of fine print detail and 144 references, and it’s very impressive.

Ivermectin…. by Fvasconcellos

Bryant et al soaked themselves in 24 studies involving 3,406 people and found that ivermectin use reduced deaths by a very nice 60% with “moderate certainty”. But ivermectin appears to be at its best when used to prevent infections in the first place. There was “low certainty” but with prophylactic use Covid infections were reduced by an average of 86% . But by the time patients were “in need of mechanical ventilation”, the data, while muddy, suggested ivermectin was not much help.

The bad thing about Ivermectin is that there are not many bad things. It’s too good, too cheap, too safe, and too far out of patent to be profitable.

Given the evidence of efficacy, safety, low cost, and current death rates, ivermectin is likely to have an impact on health and economic outcomes of the pandemic across many countries. Ivermectin is not a new and experimental drug with an unknown safety profile. It is a WHO “Essential Medicine” already used in several different indications, in colossal cumulative volumes.

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Google funds virus research too, and with the same man who channeled money to Wuhan

Perhaps Google just wanted to help some medical researchers?

There’s nothing to suggest the Google charity funded the Wuhan Lab, or Covid, and Google says they didn’t. But the Google charity did send money to Peter Daszek and his charity which in hindsight doesn’t seem like a good place to put money. The EcoHealth Alliance is the one that Fauci helped fund, which did send money to Wuhan. And Daszek was the guy who joined the WHO team to “investigate” the origin and tried to quash the idea that it was a lab leak. He helped author a paper on Nature that said it was natural based in nothing much last February.

So it’s an odd fish for Google to have company with. Somehow there are millions of dollars of what appears to be careless money sloshing around in the system — and being divvied up for things that the careless funders might not have thought too much about. The Big Tech companies are acting like Dictators of medium sized nations but without the accountability…

These viral studies occurred in places like Japan, the US and Malaysia. One team worked on Henipavirus, which is also a bat borne virus. Another […]

Minus 81 Celsius last week in Antarctica

It was ten degrees below normal at Scott Base, in June, and usually July is the coldest month.

Pitch black, minus 81C and a howling wind.

Scott Base crew enduring near-record breaking Antarctica winter – 10C colder than usual

Spare a thought for the hardy crew who are wintering down in Antarctica, experiencing near-record breaking cold temperatures.

They’ve come very near to the coldest ever recorded temperature of -89.6C.

Cap Allon at Electroverse points out that some of that Global Warming has made it up to New South Wales where it had the coldest June day in 122 years two weeks ago.

A few weeks before that, Dunedin Airport New Zealand hit a record of minus 8.8C in May. It was the coldest day ever recorded there in any month since records started in 1963. One cold day doesn’t mean a lot climate wise, but if Antarctica was close to record warmth would most of the worlds media have barely said a word?

Remember the poles are warming twice as fast as the rest of the world.

ht Climate Depot and Electroverse

10 out of 10 based on 80 ratings […]

Tuesday Open Thread

8.8 out of 10 based on 14 ratings

Using “Enviromentalism” and the UN as a trade weapon: China fires fake “Reef Scare” missile

Flynn Reef, Queensland, Photo by Wise Hok Wai Lum

Ever since Australia asked for an investigation into the source of Covid, China has been accidentally-on-purpose sticking pins into our trade deals. Pop went the wine, coal, beef, barley and lobster markets.

Now after concreting corals reefs in the South China Sea and plundering the Galapagos, China is suddenly concerned about the Great Barrier Reef. Overnight Chinese players in the UN have pushed it to the top of a list that had 82 more fragile ecosystems ahead of it. Pop, goes the tourism trade as the headlines ring out that UNESCO says the Reef is “in danger”.

At the moment, the only tourists that could possibly be frightened away are a few New Zealanders, because no one else can easily get around the two week quarantine. But when flights reboot, Australia just needs to send photos of the glorious corals to the world and “pop” goes the UN and China’s reputation.

It’s time the West dumped the UN — it’s just a play tool for Sino power

That would “pop” some of the CCP web of influence. What’s a Veto of a dead committee worth?

How many other environmental […]

Nothing shows how pathetic solar and battery power are like the pitiful celebrations

Strap yourself in: Solar Power and batteries made a whole town 100% renewable (for 80 minutes).

It’s an Australian first! Put out a press release. No seriously, they did:

Solar and battery microgrid takes WA town to 100% renewables in Australian first

Western Australia has again demonstrated its remote renewable energy generation chops, after successfully powering the Pilbara town of Onslow entirely on a combination of large and small-scale solar and battery storage for a total of 80 minutes.

Only 520,000 minutes short of a whole year.

“The milestone achievement was announced by WA energy minister Bill Johnston on Friday morning after being demonstrated by state government-owned regional utility Horizon Power, which established the solar and storage microgrid next to an existing gas plant.”

Onslow is a metropolis of 847 people sited in one of the sunniest zones in one of the sunniest countries in the world. With at least 3650 hours of sun a year, Onslow vies for a top ten position globally.

If solar power was going to make it anywhere, this would be it. But we all know what keeps the lights on in Onslow and it isn’t solar power.

The […]

Weekend Unthreaded

9.9 out of 10 based on 8 ratings

Rumor: Top Chinese Secret Service man defected — says Covid was military bioweapon

It’s the sort of news that causes a Geopolitical realignment

There are now three Chinese defectors saying Covid19 was deliberately created by the Chinese Military. The third, Dong Jingwei, is possibly the highest ranking yet, and apparently talked to the DIA in mid February after flying into the US to visit his daughter.

The claims are that he has brought with him terabytes of data or “nearly 19 million documents”. It’s potentially dynamite — allegedly containing studies of Covid, forecasts of spread in the West, and names of Chinese spies in the US with details of payments.

If this is confirmed, and the Chinese Military did release a deadly bioweapon on the world, as Paula Bolyard says, “it ranks as one of the worst crimes against humanity the world has ever seen” — and the media, and some intelligence agencies, helped to cover it up.

The DIA kept the defector a secret from the CIA and FBI because they believed there were Chinese spies within them.

BREAKING: Defector Claiming Chinese Military Responsible for COVID-19 Identified as Top Counterintelligence Official

Paula Bolyard, PJ Media

According to RedState, the data includes:

Early pathogenic studies of the virus […]

People abandoning BBC propaganda for new UK Channel “GB News”

Signs of life in the UK outpost of Civilization

A new TV channel called “GB News” only opened on Sunday, to smashingly good ratings. GB News outdid the BBC and Sky on its first day as 164,000 people tuned in to see if they got real news for a change instead of repetitive inane cliches approved by some middle level bureaucratic arts graduate who was pushing their own political agenda to pump up their grifting salary and impress their friends. The BBC got 133,000 viewers and Sky 57,000.

BBC hit by mass boycott as viewers flock to Andrew Neil’s GB News and cancel TV licences

by Laura O’Callaghan, Express

AVID fans of GB News have hailed Britain’s newest TV channel and vowed to continue their boycott of the Beeb as they seek information from alternative sources.

Naturally, the collectivist bullies have gone after the advertisers, and while many spineless corporate CEOs have folded to cancel culture, at least one team is fighting back. Companies with weak CEOs include Kopparberg, Grolsch, Nivea, Open University, and Ikea.

Bravo to The Co-op which stood their ground

The Co-op announced that it would not remove its advertising.

Kim Jong Un Attends Ivy League University To Learn New Brainwashing Techniques

When only the best will do:

Babylon Bee

“I thought I knew all there was to know about communist indoctrination, but I was wrong,” said the ruthless dictator to reporters after sitting through a 2-hour lecture on why fidget spinners are a remnant of Western patriarchal oppression. “Your American college professors have this down to an art!” …

The murderous leader of North Korea plans to go back to his home country and start his own Ivy League school: Kim Jong UNiversity.

Thanks to the Babylon Bee. Click the logo to read the rest.

9.9 out of 10 based on 44 ratings

China suddenly puts brakes on climate action, wind and solar subsidies

It’s almost like China’s climate action was just window dressing. It seems to be unraveling…

China’s National Carbon Trading Scheme was supposed to go into full operation later this month, but now it’s been cut back by two-thirds. Instead of burdening 6,000 companies it will only afflict 2,000. And only a week ago, the Chinese government suddenly axed solar and wind subsidies, with the cuts starting just six weeks from now. Oilprice calls it “a crushing blow for wind and solar”. In a devastating move, there are even demands that solar plants have to sell electricity at the same price as coal power. The cruelty!

China produces three quarters of all the world’s solar panels, having subsidized-the-heck out of the global industry, exploited slave labor and driven the US leaders out of production.

Judging by the Wall St Journal story — in the last two months the paradigm has shifted from Environmental control to Economic priority. Perhaps solar power wasn’t much use for building ballistic missile submarines?

How different things would be if solar was actually cheaper than coal…

No new solar power plant subsidies. Just like that? China to stop subsidies for new solar power stations, onshore wind projects […]

Thursday Open Thread

9.8 out of 10 based on 10 ratings

What really happened on Capitol Hill on Jan 6?

Entrapment on Capitol Hill: Did the FBI infiltrate and even lead the riot?

Capitol Hill, January 6

A very strange pattern

Many people are still being held in jail, without bail, five months later, but some of the people who appeared to be the most aggressive activists at Capitol Hill didn’t even get indicted. Were these people legally protected because they were undercover operatives or informants working with the FBI? If so, how much did these actors instigate events and thus entrap genuine protesters?

And if the FBI knew this event was going to happen, on “the most important day ever in Congress”, why didn’t they stop it and let Congress debate the question of whether the election was stolen? Seven US states had sent in dual electors, effectively choosing both Biden and Trump, and a growing number of Senators in five of those states had upped the ante by calling for an official decertification. All that Donald Trump, Rudy Guiliani and 88 State Senators were asking for, was a ten day delay so those key states could consider the new evidence and vote again and choose one set of electors.

Look who benefited from the Capitol Storming?

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