Sunday

8.3 out of 10 based on 22 ratings

149 comments to Sunday

  • #
    el+gordo

    Blocking high pressure brings a string of subzero temperatures to Canberra.

    https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/canberra-thaws-after-its-longest-frosty-spell-july-in-decades-/1415312

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  • #
    Richard C (NZ)

    ‘Coldest Day’ in Southern Hemisphere was Aug 10 2010.

    In Saturday’s Open Thread Harold presented this ABC article:

    ‘Global boiling’: Confronting graph a warning for Australia

    As the northern hemisphere battles intense heatwaves, fires and record temperatures, Australia is warned to prepare for what’s to come.

    Chantelle Francis with AFP

    https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/global-boiling-confronting-graph-a-warning-for-australia/news-story/1463f8b4c72296b7ab6abaff8f9f6f33

    What Chantelle doesn’t realize, and therefore doesn’t (and NEVER would) report is what happened in the SH recently in the same NCEP CFSV2/CFSR dataset.

    The World and NH graphs (cycles) peak July-August but the SH cycle is at the bottom at that time.

    The “Hottest Day” 2023 record was July 6 but it is interesting to look at the SH to see what happens at that time. At Aug 10 2010 the SH was at record low since 1979 (-10.31 C, -0.88 C anomaly):

    Daily 2-meter Air Temperature
    https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_daily/

    The culprit, as it was for the “Hottest Day”, was Antarctica. On that day Aug 10 2010, Antarctica sank to the ‘Coldest Day’ since 1979 (-38.06, -8.07 anomaly).

    In a world where, apparently, “Every fraction of a degree matters.” that was 80 fractions (tenths) of a degree in the negative (cold) direction.

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    • #
      Richard C (NZ)

      >“Every fraction of a degree matters.” – Professor Mark Howden

      Director, ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions

      Professor Mark Howden is Director of the Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions at The Australian National University.

      He is also an Honorary Professor at Melbourne University, a Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and is a member of the ACT Climate Change Council. He was on the US Federal Advisory Committee for the 3rd National Climate Assessment, was a member of the Australian National Climate Science Advisory Committee, and contributes to several major national and international science and policy advisory bodies.

      Mark has worked on climate variability, climate change, innovation and adoption issues for over 30 years in partnership with many industry, community and policy groups via both research and science-policy roles. Issues he has addressed include agriculture and food security, the natural resource base, ecosystems and biodiversity, energy, water and urban systems.

      Mark has over 420 publications of different types. He helped develop both the national and international greenhouse gas inventories that are a fundamental part of the Paris Agreement and has assessed sustainable ways to reduce emissions. He has been a major contributor to the IPCC since 1991, with roles in the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and now Sixth Assessment Reports, sharing the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with other IPCC participants and Al Gore.

      He is a former Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO Agriculture.

      https://www.anu.edu.au/news/for-journalists/professor-mark-howden-0

      # # #

      All that and still clueless about climate downunder.

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      • #
        alastair gray

        So Mark, as a Nobel laureate belomgs in the same pantheon as the august and distinguished Professor Michael Mann of the State Penn. Cringe mere mortals at teh feet of the mighty

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    • #
      Richard C (NZ)

      >”On that day Aug 10 2010, Antarctica sank to the ‘Coldest Day’ since 1979 (-38.06, -8.07 anomaly)”

      1979 was the start of the series. Only reached -35.09 anomaly -5.15.

      30

  • #
    PeterPetrum

    There was an article in surprise, surprise, the Australian this morning on the disaster approaching the Biden’s over the Hunter Biden foreign bribery actions, in cahoots with his father.

    One commenter noted that it was about time that Australian media picked up the story and I replied ….

    Yes, Steve, and you would not be the only one in this country to feel that way. The Australian media has been very slow to cover this story from its start. One has to get on to right wing web sites in the US to realise the depth of potential corruption in the Biden family, not just Joe and Hunter, although they are the main players. It is all unfolding now in the US and the Republicans in the House are going to make sure that it does not die.

    My comment was rejected, once again. What is wrong with this newspaper – who are these comment judges?

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    • #
      Skepticynic

      Danny O’Brien, the executive vice president and head of government relations at Fox News’ parent company, is a former Joe Biden chief of staff who is reportedly actively helping the Biden campaign connect to Washington lobbyists.

      Fox News Appoints Former Joe Biden Chief Of Staff Danny O’Brien As Executive Vice President In Slap In The Face To Conservative Viewer Base
      Former Joe Biden Chief of Staff Danny O’Brien is the Executive Vice President and Head of Government Relations for Fox News Corporation.

      https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/fox-news-appoints-former-joe-biden-chief-of-staff-danny-obrien-as-executive-vice-president/

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    • #
      Ian

      “My comment was rejected, once again. What is wrong with this newspaper – who are these comment judges?”

      These comment judges are the moderators. You are certainly not alone in getting comments rejected from The Australian. Any hint of criticism of or disagreement with the articles or journalists will see you rejected tout de suite

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    • #
      James

      If it got rejected by word filtering, then the way around this is to install a Ukrainian cyrillic keyboard. Then use some of the cyrillic letters i, e, o r (cyrillic G) that look the same, use these characters instead of latin ones and word filters will not catch the words that set off the comment going to moderation. Works best on a Ipad or tablet.

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    • #
      Ronin

      “My comment was rejected, once again. What is wrong with this newspaper – who are these comment judges?”

      The usual leftards.

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    • #
      Ross

      Yes, it’s frustrating isn’t it PP? I’ve read all the comments guidelines and I cant find where my rejected comments do not comply. One thing for sure, they never like you criticising either the journalist or indeed the Australian itself. Also, you can never criticise government medical experts. The Chief Medical Officers ( both state and federal) are off definitely off bounds, even though these people have been the biggest disinformation suppliers. The TGA is definitely off bounds, and has a whole note devoted to it in the guidelines. But then sometimes I feel my comments are rejected because plenty of other commentators have said the same thing and if the article is relatively old, it’s rejected. When you comment next time, just note the elapsed time since the article was posted perhaps. Otherwise its pot luck.

      30

  • #
    Skepticynic

    I’m only an occasional contributor here, but I’ve been a keen follower for many years and I’m worried.

    I’m missing the brilliant contributions from that irascible old genius TdeF.

    Anyone know where he’s gone? Is he coming back? Is he OK?

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    • #
      yarpos

      Hopefully just on a winter holiday

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    • #
      MP

      Wow someone noticed.
      He got onto a battle over batteries, dug himself into a hole and kept on digging. He should be due to pop out the other side of the planet soon.

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      • #
        Saighdear

        As I too have said about hole digging, Keep on digging, faster and deeper in the hope that the idiots observing will fall in.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Yes, please come back TdeF.

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    • #
      Annie

      We haven’t seen TdeF for a few days. He had a lot of very interesting posts recently; some people disagreed with some of them. He is one of my favourite contributors here, so I hope it’s just a break for holidays or maybe overseas work.

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    • #
      Scott

      TdeF stands for Tour de France,

      so maybe he was visiting in person.

      Agree really enjoy his posts

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    • #

      Great question Skepticynic. I wrote to him and asked, and he has replied. Thankfully it appears he is well, but other tasks are keeping him away.

      Yes indeed, I do miss his thoughful input across so many topics. Few people can carry that breadth with such detail. I hope the situation improves but am relieved he is not ill, just distracted.

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  • #
    yarpos

    I thought this was an interesting piece from Eugyppius on Substack

    https://www.eugyppius.com/p/the-true-and-the-false-vision-towards

    The general topic is the apparent stupidity of political leadership in todays world. Technocrats who obviously know best inflate their areas of interest/control to get public attention, politicians then leap on board treating these inflated views as reality, then find themselves caught in an artificial bind where the easiest road is to just pile on some more even though the stupidity of their positions grows ever clearer. Covid 19, “boiling” planet, the energy “transition, the Voice; it all sounds terribly familiar.

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    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Thanks for that link.
      Learnt a new word … ‘pandemicists’.
      Yep.
      The matured larva of Climate Alarmists.
      Stupidity is a soft pedal.
      We could take a more detached rational view and see this phenomenon as a confluence of Western affluence creating a decadent culture of endemic intellectual credentialism corruption resulting in mass ‘stupidity’.
      Mass formation, Jung style.
      Or a sophisticated plot by the burgeoning class of a Neo Feudal Order, chaffing from a 120 years of nation states, very un-stupidly using ‘Pandemic’, the womb twin of the New Climate Religion, as the rally cry of its’ New Crusade.
      I think maybe in 1099, the Crusader army outside the walls of Jerusalem were muttering something about ‘boiling’.
      It was July.
      It was the MWP.
      There was a massacre.
      Needles are more polite than swords.

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      • #
        Honk R Smith

        On other caffeine fueled consideration …
        it does seem as though we are now very clearly divided into ‘believers’ and ‘non-believers’.
        Those that accept and follow the ‘truth’ of ‘Science’, and those that ‘deny’ it.
        Complete with a Priesthood and an Inquisition to enforce orthodoxy and cull the herd.
        Infidels and Saracens.
        Deja vu all over again.

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    • #
      KP

      “the apparent stupidity of political leadership in todays world. Technocrats who obviously know best inflate their areas of interest/control to get public attention, politicians then leap on board treating these inflated views as reality, then find themselves caught in an artificial bind where the easiest road is to just pile on some more even though the stupidity of their positions grows ever clearer. Covid 19, “boiling” planet, the energy “transition, the Voice; it all sounds terribly familiar.”

      Utopia Australia… Shows perfect examples of it every week!

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Not all, in fact probably not any, indigenous peoples anywhere were the wonderful environmentalists the woke fantasise that they were. The myth of the Noble Savage.

    For example, the Maori in New Zimbabwe managed to wipe out all nine species of moa in under 100 years, plus the Haast’s Eagle which specialised in eating moa (Ref. 1).

    Looking at the graph in Ref. 2, that’s about the same period of time for the first ten species claimed to be rendered extinct by European settlers in Australia.

    But in Australia the settlers were more environmentally conscious than Aborigines by not constantly burning the land. They stayed with the one plot of land and enriched it and didn’t constantly move to the next plot of land once one had been exhausted.

    (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DPolynesians_arrived_sometime_before_1300%2Crelied_on_them_for_food.?wprov=sfla1

    (2) https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1417301112

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    • #
      Lawrie

      I had this discussion with my daughter last night. White settlers occupied the same country as did the Aborigines but managed to establish permanent dwellings and communities. They also thrived and increased in areas the Aborigines found inhospitable. Sir Sydney Kidman established a cattle empire where “First Nations” people wandered scratching a tenuous living. We also discussed “country”. A land owner is more connected to their country than some part Aborigine in Sydney. I suppose we should thank Albo for ensuring there will be division and questions for the foreseeable future.

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      • #
        Ted1.

        I doubt that it will ever be possible to make people who did not see it understand how much damage the rabbits did in Australia.

        In our area the rabbits ruled for 60 years. Big areas of land were completely stripped of topsoil; as the rabbits dug up the roots of the vegetation, leaving the soil loose at the mercy of the wind and the rain.

        This caused that land to revert from grassland to woody weeds.

        10

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Fussy rabbits didn’t eat the prickly pear, it seems.

          I remember when the calici virus “escaped”. The question was “How fast did it spread”?

          A. 60 in a built up area but 100 out of town.

          00

    • #
      Earl

      Rest easy David it is all about to be righted. New Zimbabweland are running a poll on what should be the Zimbabweland bird of the century!! Seems an October 2022 threat that the organisers of any such poll would be sued if extinct species were not included seems to have had an affect because…. yip extinct species are being included in the 2023 poll.

      Here is an expose of how the Huia bird – supposedly popular with white settlers for inclusion in their headresses(?) – went extinct.

      My great great grandmother was a good looker from all accounts so the family is thinking of threatening the next Miss Australia contest if they don’t include her (and of course give us front roll seats, free hotel accomm to attend the show etc).

      Wonder if it will ever get to the stage with subsequent polls that they include mythical flying creatures too.

      10

  • #
    Turtle

    Has anyone done a calculation of the energy lost by burning gas at a power station to heat electric stoves and cookers at point-of-use in comparison to burning the gas at point-of-use?

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    • #
      Philip

      Probably not. lol

      50

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      A difficult question because burning the gas can be in different ways.
      Burning gas in a CCGTs plant (continuous operation) is about 60% efficient (62-63% in the latest plants).
      Burning gas in a CCGTs plant with intermittent operation is about 50% efficient (as in the UK where they back up wind power when it fails).
      Burning gas in an OCGT plant with continuous operation is about 40% efficient
      Burning gas in an OCGT plant with intermittent operation is about 35% efficient
      I don’t know what the efficiency of cooking with gas is (although I’m assuming it is quite good).
      Also there are the losses in transmission from the power station via transmission, transformers etc.

      The higher the efficiency the less losses. For comparison I list the hot water heating used in many homes in the UK where the efficiency of gas is reported to be 85% or better. Victoria’s brown coal plants are no more than 35% (at most).

      50

  • #
    David of Cooyal in Oz

    Afternoon all,
    I’m becoming an increasing fan of zinc, and have just come across this paper from 2022, which describes zinc as a cofactor of vitamin D, which I was starting to believe might be true.

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665944122000190

    I haven’t finished reading the paper yet, but thought it sufficiently significant to report immediately.

    Cheers
    Dave B

    140

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Yes, but don’t use too much. About 10-25 mg per day (Multivitamin capsules may be 15 mg) depending on stature.
      Also something that helps it be absorb e.g. Quercitin, Quinine (Tonic water) or red onions in diet.
      Was recommended in 2020 (with Vitamin D3) as boosting health and avoiding ‘flu.

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      • #
        David of Cooyal in Oz

        I agree you have to be careful, but it’s important to know that vitamin D is not completely, or maybe just not effective without zinc. And vice versa. Which is what it means for them to be cofactors.

        So if you want your immune system to work effectively, ensure vitamin D and its cofactors are available. In adequate quantities.

        Cheers
        Dave B

        50

    • #
      Bruce

      A short note about Zinc:

      Australian soils generally have the LOWEST Zinc content in the world. This, while having the lowest SULPHUR coal and oil on the planet.

      Zinc deficiency is a common problem with agriculture and horticulture.

      Low Zinc in the soil and plants means low zinc in the herbivores and thus humans.

      LOTS of Zinc underground; DEEP underground, in places like Mt. Isa, but NOT in surface soils. Many of our “mineral-rich” volcanic soils are old nnd tired.

      It is worth reading up on the list of bodily functions in which Zinc plays a major role.

      60

    • #
      Philip

      Beware. I was told last night of a woman – this person knew personally so not just hearsay – who was right into supplements, long term, and she had a reaction to Potassium and its basically destroyed her brain. The moral was vitamins that pass through the body like vit C, take what you like, but ones that store or take out, be careful.

      40

      • #
        Bruce

        The Sodium / Potassium BALANCE is critical. The Body dumps excess electrolytes as a matter of course, but can only deal with them at a rate determined by the kidneys. Let the balance get out of whack and the wheels start falling off.

        Hydrate or die! But NEVER drink distilled water.

        20

  • #
    David Maddison

    Notice how “global climate meltdown” and “UFOs” have been put on the agenda to draw attention away from the Biden crime family, both their crimes and Biden’s physical and mental unsuitability for office.

    Imaginary issues to draw attention away from real issues.

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    • #
      el+gordo

      Excuse me, the UAP hearing is very instructive.

      Both sides of the House have been mute on reverse engineering since Roswell and Biden is just another clown.

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      • #
        • #
          el+gordo

          The UAP hearing will soon be forgotten and life return to normal.

          ‘While the hearings brought attention to UAPs and could lead to more reporting from people who work in the military and aviation, the testimonies did not produce evidence to fundamentally change the understanding of UAPs.’ (PBS)

          Unlikely to be walking amongst us, they are sort of repugnant.

          00

    • #
      MP

      Bidens the bag man, small change, the EP version of the distraction.
      It’s not what they are waving in our faces that is the concern.

      50

    • #
      Custer Van Cleef

      They’ve also got a Strategic Reserve of charges against Trump up their sleeve, ready for distraction, as we saw this week when Jack Smith responded to more Biden dirt getting exposed by releasing more charges against Trump.

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    • #
      John Connor II

      But still not a single photo of an ET that doesn’t look like a 60’s camera taking a photo of Bigfoot in a fog at midnight…

      120

  • #
    PeterPetrum

    But in Australia the settlers were more environmentally conscious than Aborigines by not constantly burning the land. They stayed with the one plot of land and enriched it.

    Not sure if that is factual, David. Many plant species in Australia depend on fire for regeneration (such as banksia) and this has occurred through thousands of years of aboriginal people using what is now termed “cool burns” to clear out the undergrowth beneath the forest canopy on a regular basis.

    This practice allowed them to secure a food supply from animals moving in front of the slow burn, it cleared the way for onward movement, it led to regeneration of the species of plants that depended on fire and it had the added benefit of reducing the chance of catastrophic fires that eventuate from overgrown woodland.

    After three years of La Niña rains up here in the Blue Mountains I am dreading this next dry summer. There has been no backburning for three years and the bush is solid with ground level, scrubby growth. This season’s fires will be “catastrophic and unprecedented” I am certain. We could have done with some aboriginal bush management.

    I am still voting NO to the Voice!

    (Sorry this was a reply to David at #5 above. )

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    • #
      Vicki

      I am with you on this one, Peter. I am of the opinion that the cool burns of Aborigines in our valley (in the NSW Central Tablelands) kept the overgrowth of shrubs under control creating the “grassy Box Gum woodlands” that kangaroos love and our graziers utilised. It was when large tracts were subdivided into smaller plots that the “Greenies” began to move in and scrubby saplings started to thrive. In some parts of the valley we now have tinderboxes every strong Summer.

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      • #
        Sambar

        Don’t know if the “cool burn” hypothesis is totaly correct either. If you read Watkin Tenches observations around Sydney, he writes of fires lit in the height of summer, January and February, with extreme heat and wind coming from the inland. While these fires may not have had huge fuel loads they would certainly be hotter than “cool” autumn burns that just creep along the ground. If I was a cynic I’d say that the “cool burn” and native knowledge of how and when to light a fire may well be an invention along the lines of finely tailored possum skin cloaks. They both suggest huge knowledge and skill, the facts however, may well be different.

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        • #
          el+gordo

          They were hunter gatherers and probably had no conception of meteorological warnings, so they would have had fires going in mid summer.

          100

    • #
      Steve of Cornubia

      Vote NO if you wish – I will too – just be aware that the Yes side will win even if a majority votes No.

      You only have to consider that the state premier who commanded his paramilitary police to fire upon peaceful citizens, lock up others who voiced opposition to his lockdowns/vaccine mandates and who regularly sidesteps Australia’s laws when accused of multiple alleged crimes, gets voted in for another term.

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      • #
        Plain Jane

        I think the voice will get in no matter what the plebs vote. I dont think our votes matter at all any more. Vic I think was an example. Also the last federal. Probably many more. I am thinking of leaving the country.
        just not sure where to go.

        150

        • #
          Steve of Cornubia

          And as America has shown, a leftist presidential candidate can hide in his basement for most of the crucial debates, refuse to be interviewed by any media outlet that doesn’t support him, fail to draw any kind of crowd to his rallies, perform badly in all the credible polls, stuff up his speeches, suffer from very obvious mental decline and fail miserably to articulate his policies.

          But still ‘win’ …

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          • #
            Lawrie

            Win with help from Maduro’s can’t fail machines and the whole swamp.

            10

            • #
              Lawrie

              His win had a positive; those who can be bothered now know that the entire US voting system is a joke. They also now know that the FBI,CIA, DOJ, CDC, and the rest of the alphabet soup can be bought and paid for along with the media and tech media.

              20

        • #
          Bruce

          As per the classic US Tammany Hall / Democrat slogan:

          “Vote early, vote often”.

          See also that scion of sweetness and light,Josef Stalin:

          “It does not matter who votes.

          It is who counts the votes that matters”.

          “Dominion ueber alles”?

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      • #
        David of Cooyal in Oz

        Do you know what scrutineering of the voting and of the counting is in place? Or will that be organised by our government after the result is declared?

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    • #
      Red

      It’s not as if lightning has ever started a fire. /sarc. Back before we started putting out any and all fires as fast as we could they just burnt themselves out which would obviously result in a much larger area being burnt. I think lighting is not getting its far share of credit and it was managing the land long before there were any aboriginal occupants.

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      • #
        Lawrie

        C’mon Red. Marcia Langton and Bruce Pascoe have shown that Aborigines invented lightning along with agriculture and flight.

        30

    • #
      Philip

      They used fire because they didn’t make it to the stone age. That’s all they had. The only weapon they had against nature, was fire. So, they had to work something out and what they did work out was pretty elementary. Certainly not sustainable or “regenerative” – the new buzz term – given it made great changes to the ecology.

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    • #
      Lawrie

      When I was young, in the 50s, many landowners who backed onto Crown land leased large tracts and ran their cattle there. The cattle kept the scrub down and trampled the trash making it harder to burn. We still had fires and some large ones but I don’t recall the treetop fires we see nowadays. With the under story kept down flames don’t rise high enough to get into the crowns.

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    • #
      Chris

      Yes, many native species do not regenerate unless exposed to intense heat or smoke. Eucalypts become fire tolerant after 15 years old. Here in WA, a local native plant garden nursery sells ” liquid smoke” what ever that is to germinate some local plant species. The CO2 and ash from big fires does not go waste, it is taken up by the phytoplankton in the Southern and Pacific Oceans , returns O2 to the atmosphere and is the keystone species for all marine life.

      30

  • #
    Custer Van Cleef

    “The process by which money is created is so simple that the mind is repelled.” – John Kenneth Galbraith

    For Banks, creating new money is a breeze . . . they just enter a number in their Accounting Software:

    “However, it is important to note that the majority of money in the Canadian economy is created within the private banking system [i.e. commercial banks] every time banks extend new loans like mortgages, consumer loans and business loans. Whenever a bank makes a loan [i.e. an asset to the bank], it simultaneously creates a matching deposit [i.e. a liability to the bank] in the borrower’s bank account, thereby creating new money (see Appendix, Table 2).”

    Simultaneously, a bank creates a liability and an asset for the SAME amount, and “poofff” — there they are, in its electronic ledger. The books still balance so it must be okay — COOL!

    Here’s an easy to digest version of how Canadian Banks do it (but it’s essentially the same for Banks everywhere):
    How the BoC Creates Money Through its Asset Purchases

    P.S. Would you like to create your own money? … So you, too, can buy fixed assets before they appreciate in value. Can we all be a ‘bank’ too, if we ask nicely? 🙂

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    • #
      Old Goat

      Custer,
      What puzzles me is how Canada can spend enormous amounts of money that they don’t have and not suffer the consequences – if there was a competition they would be Olympic standard. The swamp is strong in that one…..

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      • #
        Mike Jonas

        In banking, as in many things in life, the going is best close to the edge of the precipice.

        10

  • #
    David Maddison

    Senator Babet has been threatened/warned by Farcebook that they may permanently shut down his FB page.

    The reason is, ostensibly, that he posted about his opposition to a sexually explicit book which was being sold in Kmart and Target (Australia) promoting sex, including aberrant forms, to children as young as eight.

    He has also been threatened in the past by YouTube to close his channel down.

    Note that this interference with our political representatives and the electoral process only happens to conservatives on those platforms.

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  • #
    Richard C (NZ)

    I was watching our One News live report from outside the MCG before the All Blacks – Wallaby game Saturday evening.

    Temperature on the screen said 30 C. Thinking that was a tad on the high side I checked the MCG temperature at the time – 16 C.

    I assume there was a glitch – a 14 C differential outside-inside MCG must be some type of record otherwise.

    60

  • #
    John Connor II

    Holy smoke and mirrors: Solar panels THREE TIMES more carbon intensive than natgas?

    The report from Environmental Progress points out a fatal flaw in the solar panel data all of this frenzied switch to renewables is based on: it’s either industry sourced, not independantly verified, OR…it just flat out DOESN’T EXIST.

    Chinese manufactured solar panels have taken over the field and we are still told that solar is much cleaner – even with the obvious drawbacks and limitations I’ve gone over here a million times – that any natural gas powered electricity source. AND THERE IS NO CHINESE DATA IN THE SYSTEM

    A commentary published in Nature Geoscience a few years ago estimates that, just to convert a seventh of world primary energy production (25,000 TWh), it might be necessary to triple the production of concrete (from just over 10 billion tons a year to almost 35), quintuple that of steel (from just under two billion tons to just over 10) and multiply that of glass, aluminum and copper several times. And we are talking about converting not even 15% of the world’s energy needs to renewable energy.

    https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2023/07/24/holy-smoke-and-mirrors-solar-panels-three-times-more-carbon-intensive-than-natgas-n566851

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Cheap proton batteries compete with lithium on energy density

    RMIT engineers say they’ve tripled the energy density of cheap, rechargeable, recyclable proton flow batteries, which can now challenge commercially available lithium-ion batteries for capacity with a specific energy density of 245 Wh/kg.

    That’s as compared to the ~260-odd Wh/kg delivered by the lithium-ion batteries in a current Tesla Model 3 battery pack, but without using any lithium, thus avoiding a forecasted lithium squeeze, as well as geopolitically sensitive dependence on China in the battery supply chain, and all kinds of end-of-life issues.

    It’ll be relatively cheap, since you don’t need lithium or any other exotic metals, and the thing can be made using abundant materials and inexpensive fabrication. It’ll also be 100% recyclable.

    So what would be the advantages of a proton battery once it becomes commercially available? Well, it’s a very safe and stable way to transport hydrogen, as opposed to high-pressure gas, constantly boiling cryogenic liquid, or highly caustic ammonia. It should last a long time, and be quick to charge.

    “Our battery has an energy-per-unit mass already comparable with commercially available lithium-ion batteries, while being much safer and better for the planet in terms of taking less resources out of the ground,” said lead researcher and RMIT Professor John Andrews in a press release.

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378775322007972

    https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2023/jul/proton-battery

    Cheap. Safe. Stable. Hydrogen haters still gonna hate. 😁

    02

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      Steve of Cornubia

      Obviously the technology will need more development before it’s rolled out, to rid it of some obvious flaws.

      The main problem is that it will be “cheap”. Nobody involved in the vast money-go-round that is ‘renewable energy’ likes cheap stuff, so a way has to be found to make it stupendously expensive, especially if it’s going to be reliable and long-lasting.

      The alternative is to devise a means whereby this cheap and reliable ‘battery’, even though fully functional, will croak after a year or two, maybe by embedding software that will bugger it up on a predetermined date, like your mobile phone.

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      Steve

      Safe and effective.

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    Steve of Cornubia

    I was puzzled – but not surprised – to hear that Beyond Blue, a supposedly apolitical charity supporting those suffering from depression, has publicly thrown its support behind the Yes campaign.

    Then I read that they had been given $10M so that they could help indigenous people cope with the stress, trauma and pressure that they will suffer during the referendum.

    Dare I say, “Quid pro quo”?

    Democracy, 2023 style.

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      David Maddison

      I wonder how much that works out to be in terms of dollars per vote delivered?

      On their web site they claim “13 million people reach out to” them every year.

      I.e. Half the population of Australia. I find that VERY difficult to believe.

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      Tel

      If I remember, they also supported Julia Gillard with a nice job after she left Parliament … so perhaps they aren’t 100% apolitical.

      I would guess no one gets those type of jobs unless they have a few connections.

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    surftilidie

    For an encyclopaedia on why you should vote No in the forthcoming referendum on the Voice, try this:

    https://quadrant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/August-2023-online-special.pdf

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    John Connor II

    Did you know the word “incorrectly” is spelled incorrectly in the dictionary?

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    Tides of Mudgee

    An interview of Senator Rennick by John Campbell about excess deaths. The clip is not dated, but Senator Rennick refers to being “midway through 2023”. 32 minutes. ToM

    https://youtu.be/UR1X9O2lMlA

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      another ian

      In response to his missing on position for the next federal election you and add

      “Rennick was right”

      to any correspondence to the LNP organisations

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    Tides of Mudgee

    This is an interview of Senator Rennick by John Campbell about excess deaths. While the clip is not dated, Senator Rennick during the interview mentions that “we’re midway through 2023”. 32 minutes. ToM

    https://youtu.be/UR1X9O2lMlA

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    John Connor II

    Will you be fried, frozen or drowned? Your cut-out-and-keep guide to UK climate change

    CATASTROPHE, disaster, calamity, ruin and devastation are not mere words that appear over and over again in the Met Office’s latest briefing about the climate Armageddon that is rapidly enveloping the world. They are warnings that should serve as a wake-up call to the ludicrous deniers who implausibly assert that the climate emergency is nothing more than ecological claptrap underpinned by shoddy science.

    No one who has read and digested this authoritative and comprehensive report can fail to be apprehensive about the future. Harnessing the technological power of its powerful computer modelling system, the Met Office can produce a highly accurate forecast of how the changing climate will affect the UK. It is a truly dystopian projection and one which should ring alarm bells in the top echelons of Whitehall.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/will-you-be-fried-frozen-or-drowned-your-cut-out-and-keep-guide-to-uk-climate-change/

    Sea level around the UK has risen by 18.5cm since 1900’s, but the rate is increasing with over 60% of this (11.4cm) occurring over the past 30 years

    Overall, 2022 leaf-on season was 7 to 16 days longer than average due to extended spring and autumn seasons

    Oh please…

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    • #

      From that link,
      https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/will-you-be-fried-frozen-or-drowned-your-cut-out-and-keep-guide-to-uk-climate-change/ , John –
      “Kent
      “Known for centuries as ‘The Garden of England’, this delightful county currently plays host to gentle hills, fertile farmland and fruit-filled orchards. Country estates such as Penshurst Place, Sissinghurst Castle and Hall Place Gardens are all well known for the scenic views they offer.
      “Sadly, this will all shortly vanish under burning heat exceeding 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The rivers Stour, Medway, Darent and Dour will slow to a trickle and finally dry up completely. Dust storms and dust bowls will be part and parcel of daily living, as will camels and occasional prickly pear cacti dotted across a barren and arid wasteland. Dartford, the Met Office confidently asserts, will be a never-ending vista of shape changing sand dunes.”

      I’m not sure, but, perhaps, there is a hint of very gentle sarcasm at CW …
      Though Dartford sounds like a slight improvement on the present.

      Auto

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      Lawrie

      That site can no longer be reached. I guess it contained some things the Ministry of Truth found offensive.

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    Richard C (NZ)

    Came across a similar graph in Nature to that featured in ‘The Lancet stretches half the axis and then heat deaths look worse…’

    Comparison of weather station and climate reanalysis data for modelling temperature-related mortality
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-09049-4

    Except this paper alerts to a difference in the x axis. Scroll down to:

    Excess mortality due to heat and cold

    Figure 5
    Fraction of all-cause excess mortality (%) due to cold and heat by countries and all 612 locations (Global) estimated using station observations (gray) and ERA5-Land (red). The bar plots represent the excess deaths. The 95% empirical confidence intervals (eCI) computed using Monte Carlo simulations (see “Methods”) are reported in Table S3 in the “Supplementary material”. The range of x-axes are different in the two panels.
    https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-022-09049-4/MediaObjects/41598_2022_9049_Fig5_HTML.png?as=webp

    I don’t think I would not have noticed this in a skim read if it had not been for the Lancet issue.

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      Richard C (NZ)

      Turns out to be some of the same authors:

      Lancet 2023
      Pierre Masselot, PhD
      Malcolm Mistry, PhD
      Jacopo Vanoli, MSc
      Rochelle Schneider, PhD
      Others

      Nature 2022
      Malcolm N. Mistry,
      Rochelle Schneider,
      Pierre Masselot,
      Others

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    MP

    There were 500 EV’s on that ship, not 25.
    John Cadogan.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ9-mW-cmdE

    Where is the outrage over this environmental catastrophe, where is the Sea Shepard.

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    https://electroverse.info/heavy-snow-new-zealand-argentina-shivers-its-snowing-across-europe/

    electroverse reporting snow down to 1500m in the European Alps (with pictures). I wonder how much coverage this will get? It may not fit the narrative?? More on it’s way.

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      The latest record released by UN Productions is called Boiling Point by Cherry Picking – buy it while it’s hot! NB. A ‘record’ is a round vinyl thingie, with a hole in the middle, which produces music when a needle is placed into the groove, a la Tony from Oz.

      The past few weeks has seen snow falling in Greenland, Iceland, Norway & Sweden, the European Alps, Russia, China, the various ‘stans, Alaska, and Canada… whoops! California’s Mammoth Mountain has extended its season through the end of August due to SO MUCH SNOW still remaining on the hill… gotta love ‘summer’ in the northern hemisphere.

      Meanwhile, the snow keeps falling in NZ: over 1 metre last week at Mt Hutt with ANOTHER metre on the way this week. Cherry Picking must be an AI alias for GIGO. Buy it before it flops.

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    aspnaz

    Looks like theautomaticearth.com is being demolished by hackers. It looks like a political attack, with certain commenters able to post and others excluded. It started with what looked like a “typical” teenage hack, people being redirected to games sites, an inconvenience but no real harm done, but it has since revealed that it is attacking certain commenters, preventing them from posting.

    Just letting you know, hoping that joannenova.com.au is more robust.

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      aspnaz

      My mistake. Apparently TAE changed ad providers and the new folks have not got their act together, resulting in the site being unuseable. All appears to be fixed now.

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    aspnaz

    An interesting revelation on ice coverage in Antarctica. Apparently this year it has decrease so much that people are wondering where all the energy came from, some even suggesting it was the core of the planet. Of course, the alternative is that the numbers have been manipulated, something weather people tend to do.

    Once In A While, Proof Emerges – Climate

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      Richard C (NZ)

      aspnaz >”An interesting revelation on ice coverage in Antarctica. Apparently this year it has decrease so much that people are wondering where all the energy came from”

      Southern Annular Mode (SAM) flipped. Wind pushes ice towards coast. EXTENT is less. VOLUME is above normal.

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    Gerry

    Something about the “global boiling” we are warned about …….from American Thinker. I’m not qualified to comment on it to any real degree but I wonder if the article has any merit ?

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/07/what_nasa_and_the_european_space_agency_are_admitting_but_the_media_are_failing_to_report_about_our_current_heat_wave.html

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      Richard C (NZ)

      Gerry >”I’m not qualified to comment on it to any real degree but I wonder if the article has any merit ?”

      Who is qualified for that? The article cites a scientific study led by Luis Millán and this is a first for that atmospheric scientist:

      “We’ve never seen anything like it,” said Luis Millán, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

      What did the study find?

      In the study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, Millán and his colleagues estimate that the Tonga eruption sent around 146 teragrams (1 teragram equals a trillion grams) of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – equal to 10% of the water already present in that atmospheric layer.

      Water Vapour is the greatest greenhouse gas by far so any attention it gets displaces the CO2 narrative – hence subdued reporting.

      The article quotes Jeff Childers:

      Here’s why corporate media is ignoring the most dramatic climate even[t] in modern history: because you can’t legislate underwater volcanoes.

      I’ve learnt from experience that mentioning hydrovents and underwater volcanoes in respect to ocean heating sends the CO2-is-evil people into conniptions. On another blog (Warmy enclave) the responses used the term “mysterious underwater volcanoes”. Not so mysterious anymore.

      20

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    James

    Has anyone heard about the battery fire in Chaumont NY, by lake Ontario? The solar farm with battery storage is on fire, in the batteries, and they cannot put it out!

    80

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    David Maddison

    Isn’t gas claimed to be “greener” than coal, hence gas is considered the less “evil” fossil fuel? So why is gas being banned in Vicdanistan? Surely delivering the FF directly to your home and burning it there, is far more efficient and less CO2 producing (not that it matters) than electricity made from coal at a power plant? And since a vast majority of electricity in Australia comes from coal, this move will actually increase CO2 emissions. Not that it matters but the Official Narrative says it does.

    It has been suggested that “they” only want one energy source into the home, it’s easier to switch off or restrict one source rather than two. Plus, you could always run a generator on natural gas, can’t have that!

    50

    • #
      Ronin

      It seems we are being corralled into a box canyon where we are forced onto one source of energy, cars, households, industry can be controlled at the whim of our UN compliant leaders.

      30

    • #
      Lawrie

      Our betters are using the climate BS to control us and the environment is irrelevant.

      00

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    David Maddison

    Converting statues and paintings of historical figures into real life images with the help of AI.

    https://www.sportinal.com/trending/historical-figures-today-syn/

    00

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    David Maddison

    DON’T GIVE UP HOPE, THINGS LOOK BAD BUT THE ELITES HAVEN’T WON YET

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    • #
      Lawrie

      That’s what keeps me going; the picture of the elites with egg on their face. Hopefully real egg thrown by their subjects.

      00

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    • #
      Ronin

      Well, he is obviously wrong , we all know it is determined by what is trending on facebook, twitter etc.

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    • #
      Gee Aye

      It is actually incorrect. The sex determining gene can be translocated such that X and Y are not determining.

      13

      • #

        It can be, but it is extremely rare. Natural selection was very strict about the X and Y thing.

        30

        • #
          Gee Aye

          not sure what you mean by strict? Sex gene location in many beasts, including mammals, is actually quite fluid in terms of chromosomal location and is likely to have changed in the not too distant past in humans. Look up Jenny Graves media commentary on sex chromosome evolution and the likely extinction of the Y

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          • #

            Strict means translocation of SRY to X is unlikely to be passed on, which you obviously know.

            The possible extinction of Y in a few million years or the sex gene location in other mammals is irrelevant to any baby born today. Obviously. Seems a bit desperate to mention it?

            PS: Since the Y chromosome has only lost one gene in the last 25 million years, it’s predicted doom may be hyperbole.

            30

            • #
              Gee Aye

              It is a projection based on hypothesised evolutionary mechasism that is of mostly academic interest, especially to those trying to understand the origins of sex genes.

              And, of course a translocated gene is unlikely to be transmitted across many or any generations. I’m not exactly sure what is meant by desperate? Did you mean the news article about someone’s unlikely unsubstantiated claim for dismissal reason shows a lack of scientific knowledge about sex determination.

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              • #

                Gee Aye, you know as well as I do that XX is female and XY is male with a few extraordinary exceptions. The exceptions are “of academic interest” and the evolution of the Y chromosome is obviously irrelevant to this debate. (Graves appears to be wrong with her simplistic linear trend assumption anyway.)

                So the professor was 99.995% correct. We don’t normally sack people for that.

                I presume from your attempt to claim the whole story is invented (without any evidence) that means you agree that the sacking for this, if it were real, which it appears to be, would be over-the-top.

                Desperate is what someone appears to be when they toss absurd strawmen arguments and deny the reported news rather than discuss it.

                10

              • #
                Gee Aye

                The claim that the story is true is also lacking any evidence. It appears more true because someone bothered publishing it.

                01

              • #

                Inside High Ed (the publication in question) has been running for 19 years, partners up with Gallup and has allegedly a circulation of 3.6m.

                You, Gee Aye, are an anonymous entity claiming the story is fake based on nothing at all.

                A 2 second search — showing you were genuine about this conversation and not just trolling for effect — would show that this story has also been reported in the NY Post, The Daily Mail, The NY Post reached out to the College for confirmation. The Daily Mail has a copy of letter.

                You have choice here Gee Aye. Are you here for an honest conversation?

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        Kalm Keith

        Superimposed on the consideration of X and Y chromosomes is also the issue which leads to gender dysphoria, or incomplete processing of the foetus.

        The human form can exist in an incomplete, damaged state and remind us that we are vulnerable to natures whims.

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        Kalm Keith

        Can you explain this in a bit more detail.
        What is incorrect and, if people are born with the difference being discussed can they live normal lives and, for example reproduce?

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        • #

          Keith, most but not all errors where genes are transposed to another location don’t work out well. About 1 in 20,000 boys are born with XX chromosomes. Some of these men look normal in every way. Others have variations and ambiguity. Though I think infertility is common.

          10

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    another ian

    Willis E has a look

    “The IPCC Says No Climate Crisis”

    “Give up? So would I.

    What these phenomena have in common is that the IPCC says that there is no significant evidence that these phenomena have changed (either increased or decreased) in the “historical period”. In other words, there’s no evidence that “global warming” has changed the strength or frequency of those weather phenomena.”

    More at

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/07/30/the-ipcc-says-no-climate-crisis/

    And comments

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    another ian

    FWIW – The progress of “advertising”

    “They’re ALL ‘National Enquirer’ Now”

    https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=249410

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    another ian

    On the EV scene

    “What Happens When a Rivian EV Runs Out of Battery Charge?

    We ran our R1T pickup truck’s battery pack completely empty and things didn’t go well at all.”

    https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2022-rivian-r1t-yearlong-review-update-10-running-out-of-battery/

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    David Maddison

    I saw a brilliant meme which I’ll have to describe.

    Dr Evil says “Hunter’s plea deal fell apart”.

    Dr Evil’s offsider, Frau Greta Farbissina, instructs “Release the UFO’s”.

    10

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    • #
      Ross

      One of the major problems here is that the farmers are being too acceptable of the wrong science being promoted by the climate alarmists. The cattle farmers in particular are sleep walking by accepting the nonsense being proposed by the likes of CSIRO. This is this proposal to feed cattle seaweed extract to solve a problem ( methane emissions) which isn’t even a problem. It doesn’t help in particular when those that supposedly represent them at government level ( NFF, LNP etc) are also on board with the whole AGW scam. Littleproud is the leader of the National Party and is quoted numerous times as being a believer in man made climate change. Even down at NP state level most of their reps are also believers. But if you can restrict gas appliances in a state with oodles of gas I suppose it’s going to be easy to reduce the national cattle herd in a country which consumes 15 X the emissions its makes. All this will do is make beef dearer, for no good reason.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Feeding seaweed to cattle is bizarre. How much energy does it take to grow, collect, process and transport the seaweed compared to grass grown on site where the cattle live? And seaweed is hardly a natural diet for a bovine.

        40

        • #
          David

          Will create a gigantuan fire risk……is that what they want?

          20

        • #
          Ross

          Absolutely spot on David. In agriculture we have new crops, breeds, technologies proposed or developed on small scales all the time. The test is always to upscale it and be commercially profitable. “Ok, you’ve been playing around with it on a few hectares in experimental phase and some government assistance, now you need to make money from it”. Usually that’s when these new developments coming crashing back down to earth.

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    David Maddison

    I think EVs might be OK as second cars for shopping and local trips but they won’t replace petrol/gasoline/diesel vehicles for long trips such as are typical in the US, Canada, Australia etc. or for heavy haulage or towing boats or caravans (US=camper trailer). They theoretically have less maintenance but recharge costs are rapidly increasing due to the proliferation of unreliables, so you only save in maintenance costs until the battery needs replacing.

    30

    • #
      Richard C (NZ)

      David >”I think EVs might be OK as second cars for shopping and local trips but they won’t replace petrol/gasoline/diesel vehicles for long trips such as are typical in the US, Canada, Australia etc. or for heavy haulage or towing boats or caravans (US=camper trailer).”

      Upthread I linked to the article – “Tesla’s secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints”

      In that is the story of a family road trip from Colorado to California in a Tesla Model 3:

      In March, Alexandre Ponsin set out on a family road trip from Colorado to California in his newly purchased Tesla, a used 2021 Model 3. He expected to get something close to the electric sport sedan’s advertised driving range: 353 miles (568 kilometres) on a fully charged battery.

      He soon realised he was sometimes getting less than half that much range, particularly in cold weather – such severe underperformance that he was convinced the car had a serious defect.

      “We’re looking at the range, and you literally see the number decrease in front of your eyes,” he said of his dashboard range meter. Ponsin contacted Tesla and booked a service appointment in California.

      And,

      By the time Alexandre Ponsin reached California on his March road trip, he had stopped to charge his Model 3’s battery about a dozen times.

      “I have 150 miles of range on a full charge!”

      Now think about fully loaded Tesla Semis.

      30

      • #
        Richard C (NZ)

        Same article:

        Electric cars can lose driving range for a lot of the same reasons as gasoline cars – but to a greater degree. The cold is a particular drag on EVs, slowing the chemical and physical reactions inside their batteries and requiring a heating system to protect them. Other drains on the battery include hilly terrain, headwinds, a driver’s lead foot and running the heating or air-conditioning inside the cabin.

        Hilly terrain is a big factor in NZ – not so much in the US.

        I had a chuckle at this video involving hills in the US:

        Watch Tesla Semi blow past diesel trucks up a hill
        https://electrek.co/2023/07/17/tesla-semi-blow-past-diesel-trucks-up-hill-video/

        “Fully loaded” Tesla Semi blows past a diesel hauling a military Light Armoured Vehicle (I think) – wow. What is not elaborated on is that an EV truck loses 25% of payload to the battery that they haul around ALL THE TIME – fully charged or near flat.

        Also, in the background is a diesel semi blasting up the lane behind the Tesla passing the same diesels.

        I’m underwhelmed by the demo.

        40

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Of course an EV will have more power uphill but there is no free lunch, battery drain would be rapid.

          Would you be at risk of going into “limp home mode” when the battery pack overheats?

          A consumer-standard Tesla can’t “fly” around Nurburgring or up Pikes Peak, they can’t deliver that power for a prolonged period.

          00

  • #
    David Maddison

    “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing, because he could only do a little.” — Edmund Burke

    30

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    David Maddison

    The BBC banned Johnny Rotten after he disclosed, in 1978, the crimes of Jimmy Savile. Here is an interview with Mr Rotten from seven years ago discussing it.

    https://youtu.be/v4OzI9GYag0

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    Ross

    It was World Ivermectin Day last Saturday, by the way. I hope all the horses enjoyed their dose 🙂 RFK junior spoke illustriously about IVM ( and other subjects) in a broadcast interview with Hannity on FOX. Hannity, like most in the media, totally unaware of its efficacy vs COVID. Let’s just say Bobby set him straight. Haven’t got a link but just try Hannity RFK or similar- should pop up.

    32