New Years Eve

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157 comments to New Years Eve

  • #
    william x

    The answer I seek has never been answered.

    It is the holy grail I have never found.

    It is the end of 2023, so I’ll update .

    Ok, lets assume every country became net zero today. Thats right now, (December 31st, 2023)

    My question is:

    “Without AGW, what would be the mean global temp, increase or decrease, from 2023 levels, of our planet earth in the year 2035?”

    It should be a simple answer for those that preach AGW as definitive, accurate science driving climate change.

    It can’t be that hard for our climate seers. Yet I have been waiting a decade for an answer in vain… Obfuscation rules.

    Feel free to enlighten me. They can’t.

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    • #

      Well a specific temp for one year cannot be predicted because temps oscillate (weather being chaotic). For example what would ENSO be doing? El Niño, La Niña or in between?

      But the fantasy AGW models should show the 30 year average beginning 2023 about the same as beginning 2035, although it should drop as the CO2 level drops, which it should do, but very slowly, they think.

      Mind you I take none of this seriously but you asked for the AGW answer.

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    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Ah Grasshopper, perhaps the time has come for you to carry the hot hibachi into the snow.
      Enlightenment is there is no enlightenment.

      You may now wander the Earth mumbling about how the knowers do not know.
      You will encounter many other outcasts mumbling about other ‘conspiracies’, but stay true to the path you know and have been given by the masters of your fate … the IPCC.

      Happy 2024 🙂

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    • #
      Graham Richards

      2024 will be a good year. Everywhere is now net zero so there’ll be no more floods, no more droughts, no more bush fires. If any of the aforementioned do occur the Governments the WEF & the UN will therefore reimburse all victims of those occurrences.

      All losses, suffering & inconvenience, all starvation in the 3rd world will be things of the past, guaranteed by “ net zero “. Nirvana at last.

      Pull the other one, it plays Jingle Bells.

      Problem is that probably 80% of the electorate believe in fairy tales!!

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      • #
        GlenM

        Since it’s not the disaster bushfire event (so far) that the radical Green/Socialists had been hoping for they will have to make do with more floods and storms. Alas, most people would rather trust the opinions of so-called experts. But I do point out to some that use of the term as a crutch for their arguments might be unwise.

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      “Without AGW, what would be the mean global temp,

      Is this a useful question? The UN wants to limit a projected temperture increse to less than 1.5°C.

      In Earth’s present-day climate, the annually-averaged surface air temperature in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) is 1.5°C higher than in the Southern Hemisphere (SH)

      So why the neeed for this alarmism if the Northern Hemishere is already 1.5°C hotter than the Southern??

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      • #
        Murray Shaw

        That difference can be attributed to the NH being 70% land/30% water, the land generating and holding heat, whereas the SH is the inverse 70% water/30% land, roughly speaking.
        Further, I would reckon the difference should be greater, a 1.5C change is only a cloud covering on a sunny day here.

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        • #
          Mike Jonas

          Hi Murray – yes the land surface heats a lot more, though it doesn’t generate the heat, the sun does that. But no the land doesn’t retain heat – deserts are cold at night. It’s the oceans that retain heat, and they do it over long periods, both stabilising the climate and contributing to multi-decadal and longer climate cycles. Anyone who understands the sun, clouds, and the ocean, pretty much understands climate. Unfortunately, no-one at the IPCC understands any of the three and the models absolutely cannot model any of them.

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    • #
      Ross

      Ahh, the Andrew Bolt question. If I were a climate alarmist, I would probably answer “ The temperature change would be all relative to our efforts, but it’s all irrelevant, because we’re saving the planet”. So , basically just spin some complete bull dust.

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      • #
        Graham Richards

        Speaking of BS, who stole our much loved & anticipated 2023 El Niño. Listen for the weeping, wailing & gnashing of teeth from the climate soothsayers 😂😂😂😂

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    • #
      RickWill

      “Without AGW, what would be the mean global temp, increase or decrease, from 2023 levels, of our planet earth in the year 2035?”

      You would be on solid ground to back the existing trend. CO2 has no influence on the energy balance so, if human activity stopped, the trend in temperature will continue as is.

      Peak solar intensity started shifting north, on average, 500 years ago. The impact on the Northern Hemisphere was observed a hundred or so years later. The cooling in the Southern Hemisphere is only just being observed in the higher latitudes. The different hemispherical responses is a function of the relative distribution of land and the fact that water has much greater thermal inertia than land unless the land is holding vast amounts of ice like Greenland. Greenland is warming rapidly in winter but the summer temperature can never get much above 0C. The region with the highest “global warming” is the Greenland plateau in winter. The temperature has moved from the brass monkey freezing to just bitterly cold.

      These broad trends of northern oceans warming and southern oceans cooling are locked in for around 9,000 years now. Snowfall will continue to increase in the NH and eventually overtake snow melt. That is only happening on Greenland so far. Once the land starts accumulating ice again, the land temperature will decline as it gains elevation over the oceans as they fall.

      There is high confidence in these predictions because it last happened 120,000 years ago when humans were not adding CO2 to the atmosphere.
      https://1drv.ms/i/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhHVBY-1Ocs-HRzaV?e=C53KfZ

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    • #
      John Connor II

      Without AGW, what would be the mean global temp, increase or decrease, from 2023 levels, of our planet earth in the year 2035?”

      It should be a simple answer for those that preach AGW as definitive, accurate science driving climate change.

      You want a simple answer as though everything can be reduced to a single equation, like the grand unifying theory of physics.
      Even now, new discoveries are being made like undersea volcanic contributions and solar cycle influence.

      You won’t get an answer unless you’re talking to a climate loon.
      Just accept natural cycles and variations and the fact you can’t control them.

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      No change William.

      Variations in the level of CO2 in the atmosphere have no effect on temperature.

      The amount of solar energy that reaches the biosphere is primarily determined by orbital mechanics and varying cloud cover : it’s sort of predictable on a grand scale but basically it’s just weather.

      The concept of CAGW is basically nuts and the mental picture I have of the situation is of millions of co2 molecules darting about up there, each carrying two special sacks draped over the links to the oxygen atoms and those sacks are filled with super high energy Photons.

      On that note I must leave and wish everyone a

      Happy New Year.

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    • #
      Strop

      lets assume every country became net zero today

      Why assume that? That’s not the aim.
      The aim is to disrupt the “developed” countries and allow the “developing” countries to continue at current levels, even increase CO2 emissions. Also, let the “developed” countries give money to the “developing” countries in exchange for CO2 emission credits.

      The questions are:
      How much money needs to be given to the developing countries before CO2 emissions are no longer a climate problem?
      Would adopting a one world communist government mean “science” discovers the natural cycles that cause climate variations and that AGW is a net positive?

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    • #
      Harves

      An even more basic question that is never answered (and never even asked) is “What is the ideal average global temperature for the planet?” Follow up questions could include: “How is this determined?”, “Do maximums and minimums matter or only the average?”.
      But here’s my favourite unanswered question of all: “Why are billions of dollars spent investigating the potential to adapt to living on Mars (in an environment with no oxygen and average temperatures of -60 deg C), when apparently it’s impossible to adapt to living on earth if the temperature changes by 2 degrees?”

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    • #
      Sceptical+Sam

      Define mean global temperature.

      Explain how the current system is beyond reproach for accuracy, reliability and validity.

      Then the conversation can start.

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    • #
      el+gordo

      ‘Feel free to enlighten me.’

      The world is warming step by step, it obviously has nothing to do with our variable star, so it must be CO2. What do you make of it?

      https://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_November_2023_v6_20x9.jpg

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    • #
      Don Amoore

      WAKE UP FGS!! There IS NO climate catastrophe, just rich and powerful men getting richer and more powerful. CO2 and warming are beneficial and at worst innocuous.
      We must stop pandering to their dire fantasies and fight back HARD!

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  • #
    John Hultquist

    Q1 Tower (Queensland Number One) is 322.5-metre (1,058 ft) tall. If you are near the top and descend to the ground, the temperature will, on average, increase by 3C degrees. If one pays attention, this change is likely noticeable.
    In eleven years (2035), whether the “average global temperature” goes up or down, it is not likely to be noticeable. Modern temperature measuring instruments may detect a change.
    A WAG: up 0.16 Celsius degree

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    • #

      I asked that question of 12 climate scientists a dozen years ago. Several had never made the calculation, several said they didn’t know how to make the calculation and several more came up with a figure( for the Uk if we went net zero) of less than a hundredth of a degree assuming co2 to have the potency assumed by models.

      That is the equivalent of walking up two steps of a staircase as regards temperature decreasing as you gain height.

      Well worth upending society and spending several trillion pounds, in the case of the UK, mI am sure you will agree.

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    • #

      However even a one degree increase globally implies a lot more energy at work in the atmosphere which is where the models get the extreme weather changes. Just look at how much weather difference a big El Niño is said to make and these are just fractions of a degree.
      See https://i0.wp.com/wattsupwiththat.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/UAH_LT_1979_thru_November_2023_v6_20x9-1.jpg?resize=720%2C324&ssl=1

      One cannot just laugh AGW off. This is a serious scientific debate.

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      • #
        Robert Swan

        David+Wojick,

        This is a serious scientific debate.

        Rubbish. The whole thing is scientistic (looking sciency), not scientific.

        All the modelling is about averages. All the warnings are about extremes.

        The land isn’t uniform, neither are the oceans, and the atmosphere is anything but. The world doesn’t care about means. How useful would the daily weather report be if it just averaged away all the isobars and gave a single pressure figure for the whole country? Is there a hurricane developing? Who could tell?

        That’s what I see with the climate charade: plotting trends in averages, then drawing detailed pictures of increased cyclones and water lapping at the Sydney Opera House, etc., etc. They give us an utterly blurred picture, then try to scare everybody with what might be hiding in the blur.

        It should not be called science until it makes specific, consistent, testable predictions. And it should not have been considered in policy until those predictions stood up to testing.

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        • #

          Increasing extremes follow from increasing averages if you assume a normal distribution, which they do. Also the alarmists in fact claim that early predictions have been pretty accurate. A case of this is discussed here:
          https://judithcurry.com/2023/09/05/do-cmip5-models-skillfully-match-actual-warming/#more-30427

          Of course we cannot test forecasts for 2100, so the AGW argument is that the models are based on well established science. That is the argument that must be addressed, especially the existence of large positive feedbacks which is where the excessive warming comes from. The CO2 warming per se is not much. In fact Happer and the IPCC agree on that bit.

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          • #
            Mike Borgelt

            “Increasing extremes follow from increasing averages if you assume a normal distribution”
            I want to see the PHYSICS behind that glib assertion. If CO2 does what the warmunists claim then the temperature difference between equator and poles is less. As the atmosphere is a heat engine you are likely to get fewer extremes.
            Where is the evidence for any large positive feedbacks? I haven’t seen anything beyond bland assertions.
            There are positive feedbacks but humans have noting to do with them. See ice ages.
            Before wrecking our entire civilisation it may be a good idea to be at least 99% sure that burning so called “fossil fuels” is indeed a problem. The ice will be back soon enough and then things will be grim for humanity. Enjoy the interglacial.

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          • #
            Robert Swan

            David+Wojick,

            Increasing extremes follow from increasing averages if you assume a normal distribution

            Not so. The assumption you’re making is not normality, it’s that the mean is the only thing that has moved, i.e. that the original distribution curve has just shifted to the right. Are you sure that the added energy hasn’t affected the variance?

            If climatologists *are* sure of that, why was there ever any speculation on increased hurricane frequency/intensity. The effect of a uniform increase in atmospheric energy would just apply new figures to the same isobars. The same pressure differentials driving exactly the same winds. So why was that story making the rounds?

            Forgive me if I disagree that their nonsense must be taken seriously. It deserves ridicule because it’s ridiculous. The real problem is not a scientific one. As you say, they’re always banging on about “well established science”; that’s as unscientific as can be. The people we’re dealing with are political activists and they only use “science” as much as it helps the “cause”.

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          • #
            Kalm Keith

             David+Wojick

             “the existence of large positive feedbacks which is where the excessive warming comes from”

            1. Those “things ” are Not models.

            2. Could you please describe the scientific basis of
            those “large positive feedbacks”?

            3. “excessive warming” where? The planet has been cooling for the last 7,000 years and this is confirmed by the unchanged direction of sea levels over that period; down, down, down.

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        • #
          Ted1.

          Hang on a bit. This is one of the few bits of information that is fair dinkum science. And it shows a lot of notable features.

          First is that except for “the pause”, the trend is mostly up or down. Second is that during the pause it was not so up or down.

          In about 2016/18 NOAA claimed in victorious terms that there had never been a pause. While not exactly a lie, this was thoroughly disingenuous. What had happened was that the short term trend line had returned to the original long term trend line. Now it seems to be headed north again.

          There’s got to be some information out there somewhere that gives a better explanation for this.

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          • #
            Robert Swan

            Ted1.,

            This is one of the few bits of information that is fair dinkum science.

            Not sure which bit you mean. The global mean surface temperature? I’d put its scienciness at much the same level as the Dow Jones Index. It tells you a little about the broader system, but not anything you can use (unless you’re just betting on numbers, like Lotto). In both cases, the numbers you put into the calculation are much more informative than the magical number you get back as their average.

             Weather is local.
             Climate is weather averaged over time.
            ∴ Climate is local.

            Global “climate” statistics are for politics, not science.

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          • #
            el+gordo

            ‘Now it seems to be headed north again.’

            Because of El Nino and the Hunga Tonga eruption.

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      • #
        RickWill

        However even a one degree increase globally implies a lot more energy at work in the atmosphere

        You are as confused as the dingbats making climate models – the CO2 botherers.

        Temperature, energy and power should not be confused.

        A dry atmospheric column above a 30C surface has energy of 3.16e(J/m^2. Keep the surface temperature the same but add water until it is saturated and the energy increases to 3.84E9J/m^2 – a 22% increase in energy by adding just 1.1% to the mass. .

        Climate models are blind to Earth’s orbital precession. They aim to add incoming energy and subtract outgoing energy with the difference being accumulated. The difference as measured at the top of the atmosphere radiation imbalance is calibrated to the rising ocean heat now measured by the ARGO buoys. However surface temperatures is not a function of energy. It is closely tied to the solar intensity or power flux measured in W/m^2 and ocean advection to land.

        Oceans response to solar forcing is quite different to the response on dry land. Just increasing solar intensity on the ocean surface will increases evaporation and that actually causes the surface to cool as the thermocline steepens. However the land temperature response is near linear with solar forcing. The northern hemisphere oceans are warming due to summer advection from ocean to land reducing as the land is getting warmer cause summer advection to slow down. The reverse is happening in winter and why there is such a strong trend in winter advection – new autumn snowfall records are a regular feature of weather reporting now and follows new records for NH September ocean temperature.

        The climate dingbats actually think energy is going from the surface of the oceans to the abyss in a matter of decades. Another gross error in thinking. The oceans have retained more abyssal heat because NH summer advection is slowing down.

        The greatest failure of climate models is the thoroughly inadequate effort to model convective potential and the related cloud formation that actually regulates Earth’s energy uptake. Open ocean surfaces cannot sustain more than 30C. Above 26C, the sunlight reaching the surface drops faster due to cloud formation than the long wave emission drops. That thermodynamic balance is reached at 30C. That is the temperature where there is no net heat flux through the surface. The surface achieves thermodynamic balance.

        The time and location experiencing the most “global warming” is the Greenland plateau in January. It is warming at a rate of 9c/century – way after than anywhere else. You have a relatively low energy atmosphere getting a little more ocean advection in winter. The result is that the elevation is increasing – no climate model predicted that. NASA somewhat embarrassed to report it: Look how well they hide the important fact:

        Greenland Ice Sheet surface elevation is changing as mass loss accelerates. In understanding elevation change, the magnitudes of physical processes involved is important for interpretation of altimetry and assessing changes in these processes. The four key processes are surface mass balance (SMB), firn densification, ice dynamics, and isostatic adjustment. We quantified these processes at Summit, Greenland, where monthly GNSS snowmobile traverses have measured a decade of elevation change. We find an elevation increase at Summit of 0.017 m/a.

        If you understand the difference between temperature, energy and power you will be a long way ahead of climate modellers.

        Your statement that I highlighted above is bunkum. And shows you have some way to go in =understanding important data related to climate change. But very few people understand the difference between temperature, energy and power so you are not alone.

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  • #
    Simon Thompson

    I guess the old “Self fulfilling prophecy” will kick in soon.
    As the world gets colder the CC mavens will take credit.
    Renewable as in Aurum Anserum Ponunt enriching the actors.

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  • #

    Interesting analysis of the fallacy behind the Colorado Court barring Trump’s name on the ballot because he is supposedly an insurrectionist.

    https://heartland.org/opinion/colorado-supreme-court-repeatedly-quotes-trump-out-of-context-to-ban-people-from-voting-for-him/

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    • #
      David of Cooyal in Oz

      Thanks David,
      I’m glad Heartland researchers were able to find Trump’s actual words as well as their context. I watched at least some of that speech and remembered those words, but couldn’t have given a reliable reference for them.

      It’s a sad time for America that their legal system has become so dysfunctional.

      Cheers, and may 2024 see an improvement – a big one.
      Dave B

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    • #
      another ian

      Did they invoke “AI” to achieve that?

      Seems that we were better off when “AI” stood for artificial insemination

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Good article.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/consumers-are-rejecting-the-great-reset-5554713?utm_source=ref_share&utm_campaign=copy

    Consumers Are Rejecting the Great Reset

    Commentary

    A friend got a rental of a Tesla over the holidays. It’s undoubtedly the industry standard for EVs and a complete blast to drive. The problem: It’s not a practical car at all. He was driving in the cold, and the car was nearly drained after two hours. Searching for a charge was no easy task. The first one didn’t work. The second one stated that it would be charged in 10 hours, which he didn’t have. The third one charged in one hour but that was a full hour wasted.

    His conclusion: This is indeed a glorified golf cart designed to keep you at home and under the thumb of the manufacturer. And this is just a test. The repairs are worse. Keep in mind that this is the best the industry has to offer. The other manufacturers of these things make products not nearly as high-rated, which is why so many of them are sitting on lots unsold and why orders for the machines are plummeting.

    It seems like the EV craze has peaked already. Growth in gas cars is now far higher than electrics, flipping a trend from 12 months ago. Finally, consumers are figuring it out. This is a good second car, provided you’re driving in your own town, you have a hook-up at home and can charge it overnight, and you don’t suddenly have to go out of town. It’s a toy, sometimes a fun one, but not a real car. For that, you need gas.

    The idea that this car is going to transition the United States to “clean energy” is absurd. If every car were electric, the grid would crash and rationing would be the norm. And maybe that’s the whole point. You drive only with permission. Nothing about your transportation is within your control. Authorities will decide everything for you. It’s a perfect strategy for creating a society of dependents.

    Fortunately, consumers aren’t playing along. We still live with the remnants of a capitalist system whereby manufacturers have to make profits. So that’s a serious problem for the whole industry. It could very well collapse in 2024.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

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    • #

      Consumers Are Rejecting the Great Reset…

      Whilst that may or may not be true, EVs. Are not the “Great Reset” that some see them as !
      EVs are nothing more than a minor change in transportation drive technology,….some thing that has happened several times in the past…IE, ….Animal power to Steam, ..Steam to petrol,..petrol to Electric. ( you could consider petrol to diesel as a similar drive system change also ?)
      Whilst EVs may be a poster boy for the push for CO2 reduction, that is more of a advertising gimmic than a realality, since we are alll well aware of the “carbon debt” that all EVs generate in manufacture.

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        And cars were often powered by batteries before the Ford model T came. Range meant they were best around the inner city.
        There was even a company in London which would tae your batteries away and charge them (for a fee) and no doubt rent your others.
        Forward to today and NIO (Chinese car startup) offers battery replacements at their sites where you only spend 5 minutes. You still have to find their newest site.
        Nothing new about electric cars, just recycled.

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        • #
          PeterPetrum

          When I lived in the UK in the 1960’s in both central Scotland and London, all the milk carts that delivered milk to one’s doorstep or front gate were electric. The operated quietly in the early morning and the clinking of the milk bottles was louder than the vehicle.

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      • #
        Yarpos

        A bit simplistic.There is far more to EVs than a change in the drive technology. EVs come with far more capability for top down control than previous. Each real step change is driven by improvements that consumers want and that improve their lives. I dont see that with EVs. I see a niche they suit and thats about it.

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      • #
        RickWill

        Are not the “Great Reset” that some see them

        They are being peddlled as planet saving chariots. Instead, they have guaranteed their own demise. Any material that goes into the automotive industry has global significance. The current EVs are intensive in exotic materials like no other automotive development. The car industry has evolved to be less material intensive relative to the utility the vehicle offers. Thinning of steel panels but improving coatings to increase service life. Replacement of rigid panels prone to impact damage with plastic that will absorb a minor impact. Replacement of heavy metal mouldings with durable plastic mouldings. Aluminium engine blocks instead of cast iron to reduce weight. Disc brakes rather than drum breaks to reduce weight while improving stopping efficiency. Hybrids were a big step forward in fuel efficiency through regenerative braking. Better impact proytection of occupants.

        Tesla’s are behemoths. Hugely wasteful of precious resources. A thoughtful adult would never buy a Tesla. They are a fashion statement – more expensive to buy; more expensive to own; more wasteful of precious resources; lack utility due to limited range and time to charge; an order of magnitude more prone to failure than average ICE vehicle; unsafe to park in enclosed spaces. Drive a Tesla through ankle deep water and you are dicing with death or a significant repair bill. Drive it over a curb or through a pothole and the repair bill could be tens of thousands. That is a giant leap backwards in automotive development.

        EVs are a fad that is on the cusp of dying out – fads are prone to crashes. But EVs cannot go on as they are because they are constrained by precious resources. Rowan Atkinson’s feeling of being duped is because he was following a fad rather than looking for value and utility in his choice of transport.

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      Rental Car Compnay is Rejecting the Great Resent

      “A friend got a rental of a Tesla” – most likely from Hertz.

      EVs have been a financial disaster for Hertz

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drkPXa5SRwk

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      • #
        Ross

        Walked past a Tesla recharging site in regional Victoria the other day. One Tesla being re-charged. Owner had put up a sunshade and was snoozing in the front passenger seat. Isn’t it lovely being a Tesla / BPV driver to have all that spare time.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    In 2024 let’s hope atmospheric CO2 continues to naturally rise as we escape a near miss with a mass extinction event had CO2 continued to drop to 200ppm or less (at which point plant life starts to die). Even at its current level, it hasn’t been approximately this low for several hundred million years (see link), Even then, over the last 600 million years (shown by graph at link) it has usually been much higher. Hopefully it will settle at an optimal (for plants) of 800-1000ppm.

    See GRAPH at

    https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Estimates-of-the-CO2-concentration-and-the-Earths-surface-temperature-over-time-Plimer_fig4_324035341

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  • #
    David Maddison

    In Australia, apart from “green” policies limiting or prohibiting fuel reduction burns in bushland, it is also prohibited in many areas to collect firewood, further allowing fuel to build up (when it could be removed for free).

    I blame the Greens and all those that subscribe to their anti-science policies for much of Australia’s bushfire devastation.

    Fortunately, we don’t tend to get really hot weather anymore. (I have just had heating on in Melbournistan.)

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    • #
      Yarpos

      It seems the response to bushfires over recent decades was just a knee jerk response to a few hundred people killed and some towns devastated.

      We now return to our usual programming of city based Greenies dictating policies that load the bush with fuel. In the next dry cycle they will then deflect to “it’s climate change” when the inevitable firestorms rage.

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    • #
      Annie

      The temperature isn’t the only factor by any means. The fuel that has built up because of inadequate fuel reduction burns and all the extra growth of weeds and scrub thanks to our recent wet winters requires only some drying winds, dry lightning strikes, careless tourists and deliberate arson to cause massive bushfires. Very high temperatures aren’t necessarily necessary for fire.
      Our daughter was on the summer crews of Vic FFM for a few summers and can tell you blood curdling tales of tourist behavour re. camp fires in this area. There was one she attended that her crew thought they had fully blacked out. She was uneasy and insisted on returning to it…it was still burning underground.

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    • #
      PeterPetrum

      Hi David – it’s NYE here in the Blue Mountains and at 6:00pm the temperature is 15°C and the gas fire is a godsend. Going out to dinner soon and will need a raincoat. So much for the El Niño summer.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    We start the new year with unprecedented debt as the Australian Government orgy of spending continues without restraint.

    Total federal, state and local government debt is now over $1.827 trillion and increasing at a frightening rate.

    See https://australiandebtclock.com.au/

    But no one seems to care, including the fake conservative Liberal Party for whom debt was once a concern and on their agenda back in the day.

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    • #
      Gerard Basten

      Please read this:

      (copy the following link into your browser. It links to a PDF file. Sorry, I cannot manage any other way)

      https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=8a9cdac89bf7deccJmltdHM9MTcwMzg5NDQwMCZpZ3VpZD0xOWQ1OGRhNi00MmE1LTZjOTgtMzRjYy05ZTUyNDNiNTZkZjMmaW5zaWQ9NTE5Ng&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=19d58da6-42a5-6c98-34cc-9e5243b56df3&psq=billions+for+the+bankers+debts+for+the+people&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5mb2dyaXN0bGUuY29tL19hc3NldHMvcGRmL0JpbGxpb25zLUZvci1UaGUtQmFua2Vycy1EZWJ0cy1Gb3ItVGhlLVBlb3BsZS5wZGY&ntb=1

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      Australia’s Debt is 111% of GDP (June 23) this compares to the UK at 287%, Greece at 322%, Ireland at 548%

      So Labor will continue on its spending spree to get re-elected for some time.

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      • #
        el+gordo

        The US debt ceiling has reached unprecedented levels and China is in the grip of deflation because of Xi’s overweening ambition.

        The US Reserve status is losing popularity, so the world might go back to the gold standard when economic depression hits.

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      • #
        el+gordo

        Or something a little more exotic than gold.

        ‘From a resource perspective, Australia is well-positioned with some of the richest critical mineral reserves. In fact, we have the second-largest reserves of both lithium and cobalt and the sixth-largest deposits of rare earths.’ (The Mandarin)

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    Tricy Dicky

    The Evil Vehicle or EV. How are these things still being sold, never mind being pushed and promoted as saviours of the planet. We have the environmental destruction caused by the lithium mining. This is now well documented. To quote mining-technology.com: “The carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions that come with the process of lithium mining, extraction and overall production are worse for the climate than the production of fossil fuel-powered vehicles.” There may be no tailpipe emissions from an EV but the pollution of water sources, poisoning of fish, soil contamination, destruction of environments, air pollution and the “carbon footprint” of just getting a bloody Tesla in to the showroom are far higher than any ICE car. According to an article published in the UK daily mail the CO2 used to produce a Volvo XC40 is 14 tonnes. The CO2 used to produce a Polestar 2 EV is 24 tonnes. The Volvo would need to driven twice round the Earth at the equator to even match the Polestar for CO2 emissions. EV tires and brakes produce 2000 time more particulate pollution compared to an ice vehicle. Most of the cobalt used in EV manufacture come from the Congo, where there are an estimated 2000 deaths a year as a direct result of the mining. In one province alone there are an estimated 40,000 children working in the mines. Under 12 years old and the children work on the surface sorting the ore. Once they turn 12, they are sent underground. Cobalt is also extremely toxic and many of the men, women and children working in these mines are using primitive tools and their hands to dig. Even if these inhumane practices stopped today, the death toll would continue to rise for years to come. Even bloody millennials are waking up to this modern slavery and child labour exploitation by giving up vapes because of the cobalt use. There are legit mining operations in the Congo, but the vast majority of the cobalt comes from the so called “artisanal” miners and is mixed in with the small amount of industrially mined cobalt, so there is no such thing as a “clean” supply. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01/1152893248/red-cobalt-congo-drc-mining-siddharth-kara
    I, for one, am not going to support modern slavery and child labour exploitation. In my view, EVs must be banned immediately.

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      CO2 Lover

      Apart from few outliers such as Norway and Tasmania EVs are a means of replacing petrol powers cars with cars powered by Coal.

      China is the worlds largest maker of EVs and China is mandating two new coal fired power stations every week. China has abundant coal reserves but limited oil reserves.

      Get the picture?

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    • #

      EV tires and brakes produce 2000 time more particulate pollution compared to an ice vehicle.….

      ..Do you realise the impossibility of that statement ?
      ..if not, then please explain how that ratio is derived !

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      • #
        Trcky Dicky

        Hi Chad,

        The figure is taken from an article published by the Daily Mail in the UK and I should have been a little more accurate with the information. Sorry about that. Go to https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12317297/Why-electric-car-near-green-think-hidden-eco-pitfalls-NetZero-causes-pin-up.html
        for the full article. Regardless, the environmental destruction caused by lithium mining and the human cost of cobalt mining are completely unacceptable. We also have the increasing problem of EVs being written off even after minor accidents. Possible damage to battery packs is difficult to assess and whilst some manufacturers are working towards battery packs that are easier to replace, the Tesla structural batteries are far more of a problem. Having to replace the battery pack, or indeed, the whole vehicle after only a few thousand Kms does nothing to offset the excessive carbon footprint of EV and battery manufacture. “A Tesla structural battery pack is going straight to the grinder,” said Sandy Munro, head of Michigan-based Munro & Associates. Damaged electric vehicles that have been written off by insurers are stored at facilities such as UK salvage company Synetiq’s yard in Doncaster, Britain. EV battery problems also expose a hole in the green “circular economy” touted by carmakers. At Synetiq, the UK’s largest salvage company, head of operations Michael Hill said over the last 12 months the number of EVs in the isolation bay – where they must be checked to avoid fire risk – at the firm’s Doncaster yard has soared, from perhaps a dozen every three days to up to 20 per day. “We’ve seen a really big shift and it’s across all manufacturers,” Hill said. The UK currently has no EV battery recycling facilities, so Synetiq has to remove the batteries from written-off cars and store them in containers. There are also reports of container loads of EV batteries being dumped at sea because storage is becoming such a huge problem, not to mention the associated fire risk. Coupled with a significant increases in EV insurance costs in the UK, up to £5,000 per year.

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    David Maddison

    One of the first books to critique the anthropogenic global warming fraud was a self-published booklet by a New Zealander. I have it in my collection:

    The Great Greenhouse Delusion – Ten Facts
    P.A. Toynbee
    1992
    ISBN 0-473-01507-2

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      NZ’s highest temperature occurred over fifty years ago, 7 Feb 1973, reaching 42.4C at Rangiora in a roaring foehn NW gale: odd how it’s never been surpassed in all these years, decades, centuries, millennia…

      Hear outback QLD is 45-ish this weekend: that should balance Greenland’s -45, providing a mean temp of zero degrees Celsius or freezing. The South Pole is -28C with ‘snow flurries’. Crisis? No worries.

      Merry Happy 2024 to one & all!

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        GreatAuntJanet

        We’re only 39.5 now in central west Qld. It did blip up to 40 earlier in the day, still quite nice enough to sit under a tree and enjoy a morning tea with mates. Further west might be hotter, but they always are. Alarmist, panicking press exaggerating the situation still gets through to some folk unfortunately.

        30

        • #
          Mike Jonas

          No-one cares what temperature you actually get, once the media has plastered impossibly high forecasts over the front page, and has gone on to the next scare before anyone gets a chance to read the thermometer. No-one in the city, that is.

          20

    • #
      skepticynic

      The Great Greenhouse Delusion – Ten Facts
      P.A. Toynbee
      1992
      ISBN 0-473-01507-2

      Also by the same author:

      Greenhouse : the biggest rort in Christendom /
      by: Toynbee, P. A. (Peter A.)
      Published: (1995)

      Frustrations of a greenhouse dissenter : the scientific solution to a non-existent problem /
      by: Toynbee, P. A. (Peter A.)
      Published: (1997)

      Greenhouse science straight and simple : nature alone determines global climate change /
      by: Toynbee, P. A. (Peter A.)
      Published: (1997)

      30

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    David Maddison

    So, Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong is getting married to her female partner.

    I wonder why she isn’t going to any of her beloved Islamist regimes such as in Gaza for her marriage? And will they be sending any congratulatory messages to the bride and bride?

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      CO2 Lover

      How much cement has Australia sent to the Palistinians as “Foreign Aid” that has ended up in Hamas tunnels?

      Penny Wong doubled foreign aid to the Palistinainas who are hated by other Muslims. 300,000 were expelled from KuWait after the Gulf War!

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      Neville

      So is it bride marries bride or is it bride marries a sort of groom?
      I’ve noticed the MSM sometimes show us a bride in full wedding gown and a sort of groom with short hair and wearing a suit.
      Yet even our chief health officer couldn’t readily describe to the media his definition of a woman in a very long embarrassing, gurgling attempt about 18 months ago.

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      Robert Swan

      the bride and bride

      Sexist! The neutral wording is broom and broom (which ties in nicely with the expression daft as a brush).

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    • #

      So, Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong is getting married to her female partner.….

      Fundamentally that marks her/he/it as a minority (abnormal ?) thinker in our overall society.
      It is concerning to know that such minority thinkers are in positions of power and influence .

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    • #
      John Connor II

      Two Wongs don’t make it right.

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    Ian

    “Antarctic sea ice cover crashed for six months straight, to a level so far below anything else on the satellite record that scientists struggled for adjectives to describe what they were witnessing.

    While the full effect is yet to be documented, a peer-reviewed paper in August gave some insight into what it might mean. Examining satellite images, researchers from the British Antarctic Survey found that the then record drop in sea ice in late 2022 – before this year’s larger slump – could have killed thousands of emperor penguin chicks.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/31/red-alert-in-antarctica-the-year-rapid-dramatic-change-hit-climate-scientists-like-a-punch-in-the-guts

    I wonder why the significant reduction in Antarctic sea ice doesn’t interest climate sceptics here. Is it because they don’t believe it?

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    Reader

    Don’t get hurt by those flying wind turbine blades!

    Astonishing moment Storm Gerrit tears ‘£3m’ wind turbine as 85mph gales barreled down on Britain
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12906853/Astonishing-moment-Storm-Gerrit-tears-wind-turbine-apart-85mph-gales-barreled-Britain.html

    And the flying blades…
    https://twitter.com/Dedicated_Being/status/1740329649492885551

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      David Maddison

      Lucky no one was killed by those blades.

      And I wonder what happened. Despite a fundamentally defective design, in high winds the blades are meant to feather and brake so theoretically this shouldn’t happen.

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    another ian

    Read the rest of the swipe at “The Great Reset” in the linked article

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “James Hansen: 2023 Exposed Government Climate Action is Futile”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/12/30/james-hansen-2023-exposed-government-climate-action-is-futile/

    And

    “Polar bears and sea ice fail to implode in 2023 as predicted, with special thanks for your support”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/12/30/polar-bears-and-sea-ice-fail-to-implode-in-2023-as-predicted-with-special-thanks-for-your-support/

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    David Maddison

    Some people complain about how the Conquistadors destroyed the culture of Incas and similarly, other Westerners doing similar to other primitive, savage cultures.

    But those cultures usually practiced cruel and barbaric practices. For example the Incas regularly hunted other humans to obtain enough stock for their huge numbers of human sacrifices. It’s no wonder non-Inca tribes gladly helped the Conquistadors destroy Inca practices. Hernán Cortés did this by destroying the Inca religious sites where human sacrifice was practiced.

    Among other primitive peoples such as Australian Aborigines, infanticide in times of shortage was common and women were frequently mistreated or murdered, including being traded in peace treaties with neighbouring tribes with whom they were generally in perpetual warfare with.

    While the Left promote hatred of Western Civilisation and culture, it was Westerners who put a stop to these horrible practices and gave these tribes modern technology and moral guidance (such as human sacrifice and infanticide being wrong). It was also the West that put a stop to slavery which continues to be practiced in many Third World cultures beloved by the Left.

    https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2021/12/infanticide-in-traditional-aboriginal-society/

    https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2021/11/the-mistreatment-of-women-in-aboriginal-society/

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      Philip

      Yes but the west did those things from their inner compassion. And this was the trait that ended up seeing their own demise.

      The compassion could not be controlled as there were too many leftist thinking people within their societies, and the society began to self-loathe as the compassion was abused. Some people can handle and enjoy a beer; some love it so much they drink themselves to death.

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      John Connor II

      Not just ancient civilisations.
      Pick any deity worshipping superstitious time and you’ll see it there too.
      Even “modern” times until recently we had barbarism in war and medical experiments that would make you sick.
      Don’t forget that even now there’s a massive global child trafficking problem (or “operation”) using children for sex or hunted for sport in the hundreds of thousands per year, child slave labour sits around 170 million, organ harvesting from prisoners in China, over 150 countries that still have slavery, Hollywood in all its sickness, and animal sacrifices to volcanoes in Indonesia.
      What an advanced species we are.

      Your topic merits revisiting at the end of 2024 though. 😎

      40

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Top 10 COVID Events Of The Year: Revealing The Facts Unspoken And Unknown”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/top-10-covid-events-year-revealing-facts-unspoken-and-unknown

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      another ian

      And

      “Study Finds COVID Vaccination Independently Associated With Long COVID Syndrome”

      https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/study-finds-covid-vaccination-independently-associated-long-covid-syndrome

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        Trcky Dicky

        Hi another Ian,

        There are so many things wrong with the Covid jab. I will not call it a vaccine, because it isn’t. RNA is made from guanine, adenine, cytosine and thymine. DNA is the 2 strands of RNA. Thymine holds the whole thing together. It makes RNA and DNA very stable which is why these molecules can be found in an environment quite some time after an event, because of this stability. The DNA in a cells nucleus also needs to be remarkably stable in order for an organism to survive. mRNA on the other hand, does not use thymine. This is substituted by uracil. It still work to transmit a message to the ribosome to make a particular protein, as thymine is the methylated version of uracil. However, this substitution helps to make mRNA less stable and it only last from a few minutes to a few hours. This is necessary so that the ribosome is not blocked by one molecule and constantly forced to make the same protein over and over again. The Pfizer jab uses thymine making it incredibly stable and, according to a study by Roltgen et al, has still be found in some people up to 60 days after the first injection. No wonder some people get long Covid

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    Philip

    Anyone know of the pitfalls of sodium battery cars? they are now being touted as “the revolution”. Greens have started labelling lithium EVs as “bad”, now that some sodium battery cars are coming to market (somewhere, possibly China?)

    40

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    Neville

    For those who are interested this Royal Society Q & A for their question 20 is interesting and actually tells you what the so called scientists really BELIEVE.
    But I’m sure the people in a few thousand years would be very grateful for we silly buggers WASTING endless TRILLIONS of $ for the rest of this century and beyond.
    But I’m also sure they would be very happy to return to the LIA conditions and temperatures of 1350 to 1850 period. SARC.
    Here’s their answer….

    20.” If emissions of greenhouse gases were stopped, would the climate return to the conditions of 200 years ago”?
    Climate change: evidence and causes

    “No. Even if emissions of greenhouse gases were to suddenly stop, Earth’s surface temperature would require thousands of years to cool and return to the level in the pre-industrial era”.

    Figure 9. “If global emissions were to suddenly stop, it would take a long time for surface air temperatures and the ocean to begin to cool, because the excess CO2 in the atmosphere would remain there for a long time and would continue to exert a warming effect. Model projections show how atmospheric CO2 concentration (a), surface air temperature (b), and ocean thermal expansion (c) would respond following a scenario of business-as-usual emissions ceasing in 2300 (red), a scenario of aggressive emission reductions, falling close to zero 50 years from now (orange), and two intermediate emissions scenarios (green and blue). The small downward tick in temperature at 2300 is caused by the elimination of emissions of short-lived greenhouse gases, including methane”. Source: Zickfeld et al., 2013 (larger version)

    30

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    David Maddison

    A problem with Voyager 1.

    https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2023/12/12/engineers-working-to-resolve-issue-with-voyager-1-computer/

    Engineers are working to resolve an issue with one of Voyager 1’s three onboard computers, called the flight data system (FDS). The spacecraft is receiving and executing commands sent from Earth; however, the FDS is not communicating properly with one of the probe’s subsystems, called the telemetry modulation unit (TMU). As a result, no science or engineering data is being sent back to Earth.

    Among other things, the FDS is designed to collect data from the science instruments as well as engineering data about the health and status of the spacecraft. It then combines that information into a single data “package” to be sent back to Earth by the TMU. The data is in the form of ones and zeros, or binary code. Varying combinations of the two numbers are the basis of all computer language.

    Recently, the TMU began transmitting a repeating pattern of ones and zeros as if it were “stuck.” After ruling out other possibilities, the Voyager team determined that the source of the issue is the FDS. This past weekend the team tried to restart the FDS and return it to the state it was in before the issue began, but the spacecraft still isn’t returning useable data.

    It could take several weeks for engineers to develop a new plan to remedy the issue. Launched in 1977, the spacecraft and its twin, Voyager 2, are the two longest-operating spacecraft in history. Finding solutions to challenges the probes encounter often entails consulting original, decades-old documents written by engineers who didn’t anticipate the issues that are arising today. As a result, it takes time for the team to understand how a new command will affect the spacecraft’s operations in order to avoid unintended consequences.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

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    Old Goat

    The problem with “climatology” is that we don’t have anywhere near enough data . We only have satellite data for less than 70 years and proxies are subject to unknowns . The climate is driven by a huge number of inputs and feedback loops of varying effectiveness and over longer periods errors compound . It’s way more complicated than predicting weather which is “relatively” accurate over short periods . The suns variations don’t have a lot to do with weather but are crucial to climate .

    40

  • #
    Ross

    Yesterday, I was thinking. Dangerous past time these days, I know. I realized now I get all my important news and balanced information via non MSM sources. If there’s any new tech or trends that I consider important it’s from non MSM sources as well. So, the likes of Jo’s blog , sub stack, social media (X) and podcasts are now my go to news / info sources. They work particularly well if you follow the right people. Jo is so often way ahead of the news cycle it’s not funny, and will also provide the contra debate to the crap dished up by the regular news. Then the legion of erudite correspondents who contribute to the articles. Well done all of you, even Simon , Fitzroy and Leafy. Looking forward to an informative 2024.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Melbournistan temperature today 12C to 20C.

    40

    • #
      RickWill

      I dare anyone to stand under the wysteria over the driveway for a few hours.

      Just a tad too much rain and cold for some of the plums. They are rotting before ripening.

      I feel like taking up an offer a neighbour made a few years back about using a hormone that will slow the rate of growth of grass in the back lawn. It is putting on 150mm in a week at present.

      December surface sunlight in SE Melbourne is tracking just above the minimum recorded over the past 30 years. There were consecutive days with 0.9, 2.2 and 1.7kWh/m^2. The clear sky daily dose is 8.9kWh/m^2. A lot of cloud cover in December because monthly average so far is 5.7kWh/m^2.

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      • #
        Annie

        Time to hack back our wisteria…it tried to strangle me yesterday while I was mowing. The growth of tendrils in just one week! Everything is going nuts here, including caterpillers in the tomatoes.
        BTW, first time ever for me in Aus, 5 tomatoes ripe before Christmas. That was a miracle, especially after last year’s almost total failure. We’re tripping up over the incredible sea of damaged fruit, courtesy of the sulphur-crested thugs, aided and abetted by magpies, crows, other various parrots, etc. etc.

        40

    • #
      Muzza

      Old adage – Don’t like the weather in Melbourne? Just wait 15 minutes………

      30

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    Philip

    Australia is heavily divided on this Gaza issue. We no longer have national unity based on king, country and empire, but a national division on an ethnic, external, unsolvable issue.

    80

    • #
      Harves

      Other than a more interesting range of foods, has Australia seen any other benefits from
      multiculturalism. Seriously.

      100

      • #
        Hanrahan

        I think we did, but that was before we had heard about “multiculturalism” and simply knew it as immigration.

        Snowy I [Who knew there was going to be a Snowy II?] had an amazing mix of nationalities working on it. The Italians changed the sugar industry and Nth Qld forever and probably for the better.

        40

        • #
          Muzza

          Those immigrants were hard working, war weary escapees from very similar cultures to ours. The rot started when Fraser started to import Lebanese immigrants with diametrically opposite cultural values to ours. This gross error has been continued in the name of ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘diversity’, a mistake that is now coming home to roost. They didn’t bother to read the doctrine of the 7th century warlord that directs the immigrants’ actions, all they saw was votes to keep their (the politicians’) patooties in the seats of power.

          60

  • #
    RickWill

    I started following the storm out in the northern Pacific of North America a few days ago. The swell has now reached the USA:

    The world’s best big wave surfers are descending on California to catch the biggest storm swells the US West Coast has seen in years.

    Surfers from Brazil, France and Portugal have arrived at Mavericks, a famous wave south of San Francisco, to ride the giant walls of water.

    Waves up to 70ft (21 meters) have been ridden, as even larger waves pass by.

    Just more proof of climate change and climate extremes I guess. Although the first line in the quote sort of makes the point such swells are not unprecedented.

    30

  • #
    Neville

    Our fire season has started and it’s interesting to check Aussies’ “deaths & burns” place in a long list of countries.
    Since 1990 we are placed 3rd last and only Singapore and Spain have lower deaths and burns per 100,000 people.
    Our much colder ANZAC is higher but so are so many very cold EU and northern European countries, even Greenland and Canada and USA etc.
    Anyway our 0.31 deaths per 100K are very low. I once tried to explain this to a clueless fool and was told to go and get f…..
    It looks a jumble but just hold your mouse on a date like 2019 and the list is easy to read from highest to lowest.
    But the world has improved a lot during the last 30 years. But why does Russia seem so chaotic? Must’ve been on the vodka?

    https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates?tab=chart&country=ESP~OWID_WRL~BRA~CHN~NZL~USA~AUS~CAN~DNK~FRA~G20~DEU~OECD+Countries~SWE~GBR~European+Region+%28WHO%29~FIN~GRL~IND~MCO~NLD~POL~RUS~SGP

    30

    • #
      Neville

      The world deaths from burns and fires in 1990 was 2.51 per 100 k and that had dropped to 1.44 deaths per 100 k in 2019.
      Yet world population in 1990 was 5.3 billion and much higher at 7.6 billion in 2019.
      So a much SAFER world today although we’ve seen 2.3 billion more people in the 30 years from 1990 to 2019.

      20

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    David Maddison

    My, my, the fake fact checkers on Farcebook are certainly hypersensitive.

    I posted a meme of workers cleaning up an oil leak from a windmill with the following caption and no further commentary.

    IRONY: An oil leak from a clean, green wind turbine.

    The meme can be seen here on free speech X.

    https://twitter.com/FlyFifer10/status/1671952836601544709

    The “fact check” (sic) takes you to this site in Estonia.

    https://epl.delfi.ee/artikkel/120258855/faktikontroll-elektrituulikud-ei-ohusta-eesti-rannajooni

    I think they are being hypersensitive. Even power stations can have oil leaks. Are they suggesting that windmills are so perfect they don’t have oil leaks?

    60

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    Philip

    Well the climate emergency sees us with rain and low 20s on NYE 2023, the summer from hell. No, just summer.

    40

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  • #

    No idea about the time I can spend here today, in so far for now the best wishes for upcoming 2024 from Germany !
    I hope, the way downwards come to an end and and the new direction lead upwards from the ground up to the mountains top.

    80

  • #
    Mayday

    Two years have passed since the lockdowns and vaccination protests but those central figures that took part are still being punished.
    Nick Patterson who protested against Dan Andrew’s brutal lockdowns in Victoria has had some bail conditions removed. He is now allowed to leave the State of Victoria and associate with those friends that were present at the protests. The tentative trial date is set for May 2024.

    https://www.rebelnews.com/melbourne_freedom_fighter_s_bail_conditions_dropped

    Tamara Lich and Chris Barber who protested in Canada at the truck drivers blockade are in day 33 of the trial. Their court costs are around $300,000 Canadian dollars.

    https://www.thedemocracyfund.ca/trial_day_32

    The ongoing legal action against those that speak out highlights the importance of protecting free speech and your own healthcare choices. Dictatorship governments around the world (including the un-elected United Nations and World Economic Forum) want to remove your freedom to protest and speak out if the issues don’t fit the narrative.

    The planned introduction of Australia’s “Misinformation and Disinformation” legislation by the Federal Albanese Labor government must never happen. Please make sure your friends know about the proposed misinformation and disinformation legislation and contact your local politicians and media to oppose it. Millions of soldiers have died fighting to protect your freedoms. Don’t quietly give them away in 2024.

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  • #

    Surely arguing over the climate is just being sucked into a distraction. Saving the planet is not the goal of the people driving these memes. Co2 is great for destroying Western industry, agriculture, and transport. Trans, feminism, anti religion, abortion, no disciplining, toxic masculinity, drug reform, welfare will all help to destroy the family. Culture is being destroyed with mass immigration, white privilege, education, self hatred, drugs, defunding police, and victimhood. Individually all these memes are a distraction. Until they are all wrapped up in a pretty bundle and launched back at them en masse, we are just swatting at pesky flies. Any time any of these ideas is bought up, the only reply should be, “this idea is just an attack on Western Civilisation’, over and over and over again. Some will jeer, ‘Yes, good’, but slowly many others might start thinking?

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    David Maddison

    JP Sears looks at rebranding the Deep State.

    Humour, or is it?

    https://youtu.be/3Kks5-ICLvI

    30

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    Turtle

    Happy New Year Jo, David and all the brave skeptics out there. You are wonderful people.

    30

  • #
    Steve of Cornubia

    Once again, a savage beating by young men of a frail old guy is in the news. The poor old fellow, 67yo and suffering from Dementia AND Alzheimers, mistook the car belong to the thugs for his son’s so stood by it and tried to open the door. For some strange reason, the two young men didn’t just shoo him away, or give him help. Instead they rained punches on him till he fell to the ground they stomped his head multiple times. Fortunately, he survived and is getting treatment.

    The pair have been charged with aggravated robbery of a victim over 65. I think that’s a strange charge given that, under different circumstances, it would instantly be labeled a race hate crime. Not the first or hundredth time I have seen this. The media is once again wording stories to fit the approved narrative.

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  • #
    Andrew McRae

    It being New Year’s Eve, perhaps this is the only time of the year in which making far-out predictions on the back of little to no education in the relevant matters is considered forgivable. So here is my only prediction for 2024.

    In the next year you are going to see AI being used as a distraction to help human beings avoid responsibility for their decisions far more often than you’ve seen it abused that way before. Specifically, when a group of people that you didn’t vote for and never made a trade contract have chosen the training data for a machine-learning system in order for that system to learn to make unpleasant decisions that no human would want to be associated with, you are seeing ML (or AI) being abused as a facade to shield the real decision-makers from criticism.

    I’m trying to coin a phrase to describe this phenomenon. At the moment the leading candidate is: technocracy laundering.
    Other candidates were: responsibility laundering, A.I-didn’t-do-it, and the old favourite GIGO.

    It will eventually reach the level of ending people’s lives from AI (i.e. contractors’) decisions, but I don’t expect that facet to expand quickly in the next year.
    Get ready to see more technocracy laundering generally in 2024.

    40

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    another ian

    FWIW – an observation

    “As a random sidenote… Did you ever notice that CNN is dependent on Donald Trump for more than 70% of their total broadcast TV subject matter? I check their overall TV coverage quickly a few times a week, and it’s funny, because without stories about President Trump CNN would literally lose about three quarters of their content.”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/12/30/david-axelrod-says-keeping-trump-off-ballot-would-rip-country-apart/

    Anyone keeping score on overseas news at our local YSM?

    40

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    another ian

    An example to watch methinks

    “A Huge Teachers’ Union Battle Underway In Florida, Thank DeSantis”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/huge-teachers-union-battle-underway-florida-thank-desantis

    Education or de-education?

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    another ian

    FWIW

    The latest “covid experts say” –

    “‘Experts’ Say New COVID Strain Will Cause Global “Heart Failure Pandemic” ”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/experts-say-new-covid-strain-will-cause-global-heart-failure-pandemic

    Commenters seem highly sceptical for some reason

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    another ian

    “JOHN HINDERAKER: Degenerate Animals. “Upon re-reading this post, I realize that I may have inadvertently maligned the animal kingdom. To be clear, there is no animal species, no predator, anywhere near as cruel, as heartless, as vicious, as ignorant, as the Muslims who carried out the atrocities of October 7–and the much larger number of Muslims and Western liberals in the press, at Harvard, Penn, MIT, etc., who cheered those atrocities. No animal species has sunk that low.” ”

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/12/degenerate-animals.php

    And

    https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/on-the-sexual-atrocities-hamas-committed?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=363080&post_id=140162669&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=9bg2k&utm_medium=email

    Via Instapundit

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Biden scorched-earth policy. Prepares to seize $300B Russian assets”

    https://rumble.com/v446adl-biden-scorched-earth-policy.-prepares-to-steal-300b-russian-assets.html

    IIRC the last time they went looking for that it had “gorn varnish”

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    Hanrahan

    Happy new year to our bros across the ditch.

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    Lance

    Happy new years everyone!

    40