JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
Australia’s population set to soar over next decade
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12892715/Australia-population-four-million-decade-2033-Sydney-Brisbane-Melbourne.html
I frequently read of housing shortages and high rents so hope the Govt is putting in suitable infrastructure
140
As usual with politicians, there is a lot of talking and very little action. They appear to have no knowledge of the shortage of builders and the increasing costs of materials.
290
It is a supply and demand issue. The demand side is immigration which they are jacking up. The supply side is building companies and tradespeople where there are all sorts of problems which the government isn’t exactly fully addressing.
90
It’s really a wishful thinking issue. Politicians make decisions based on ideology, what makes the look good and where we are in the electoral cycle. They either have no idea about practicalities, costs and consequences; or they just do not care unless it impacts their career and/or parliamentray pension outcomes.
110
Please consider that the services and infrastructure in the most populated states at least are far behind population growth and were before the Albanese Union Labor Government became the highest by far number of immigration approvals Federal governments of all time, including post-world war two. Since May 2022 new Australians admitted enough to create two or three new Queensland Cities of Toowoomba.
Then consider the workforce, primarily trades people in the Building & Construction Industry and the severe shortage of qualified people when demand across all sectors is so high;
* New dwellings and housing estates.
* Home extensions and renovations.
* Roads, public transport and hospitals, schools, shopping centres, and so on.
* Exercise in futility and at high cost Transition – Renewable Energy Target of 82 per cent wind and solar, plus all the back up firming equipment and land areas.
* A new second electricity transmission grid for wind and solar installations, not required for existing power stations.
And ignoring the over loaded situations Albanese Union Labor has bragged about cutting back on migrants but study the numbers, cutting back to continue well above past highest intake years.
90
ANY attempt to significantly increase population densities in the inner cities to meet some BS 15 minute “metric”, is doomed to failure. Water and electricity in and sewage / garbage “out” are “utility” issues that cannot be changed at the wave of the taxpayer-funded magic wand.
This is NOT meant to ‘end well”; it is another “national crisis” to be ridden hard and never actually solved.
There are too many heavily-entrenched entities with their snouts deep in the trough, never letting any crisis go to waste.
And a Happy New Year to all, if you make it.
90
10000 research papers retracted this year. The highest ever
https://www.iflscience.com/10000-research-papers-were-retracted-in-2023-breaking-annual-records-72071
181
A lot of “Climate Science” papers that worth retraction have been overlooked.
390
There are two reasons for retraction. One is genuine problems with the paper and retraction by the authors. The other is retraction by the journal for frivolous reasons when the paper goes against the dogma.
00
Guardian journalists complain about getting asked to come into office 3 times a week as they will miss their pets
https://dailysceptic.org/2023/12/24/guardian-staff-protest-that-their-pets-will-suffer-if-theyre-forced-to-come-in-to-the-office/
Mind you, many others in other offices are coming in less frequently and it seems younger people in particular refuse to work a 5 day week, whether at home or in the office and expect lots of benefits.
I don’t know how long it will be until employers say, if they want to work from home 100 miles away and never come in, we might as well get someone a quarter of their price, benefits and pensions, who is not going to come in from 5000 miles away.
411
Doesn’t matter. They won’t be needed in the NWO anyway as AI can lie just as well for free.
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/fobo-wef-predicts-44-human-skills-will-be-replaced-ai-five-years
If only they’d had integrity and engaged in truthful journalism. Oh well…
60
The Prime Minister has overcome that pet missed problem, he takes his dog with him on board the RAAF Airbus.
30
Reposting this from last thread ’cause I think it is excellent.
https://rumble.com/v42yfh5-pathologist-arne-burkhardt-final-interview-revealing-the-grave-dangers-of-m.html
At the very least we are witnessing a crime of corrupt incompetence, if not nefarious intent.
210
Thanks Honk,
A rather long session at 2 hrs 42 mins, but fascinating and well done. Strong evidence for how damage is caused by the named jabs.
More detail than I’ll ever remember, but I’ve captured the link in a place where I’ll be able to find it again.
I strongly recommend it to anyone looking for evidence to support their lawsuit for damages from the jab.
Cheers
Dave B
40
HRS says ” witnessing a crime ”
I get the sense that this issue is a lot like the CO2-AGW argument.
Folks want to have perpetrators “brought to justice”.
I doubt anything will happen.
120
That’s important.
30
Ref no 4
20
‘Twas the Night Before Blackouts
https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion/twas-the-night-before-blackouts/
Fabulous satirical energy transition poetry from Jon Sanders based on the Christmas blackouts and near misses nearby last Christmas. Many funny rhymes.
My anniversary token is about keeping PA’s grid not broken:
https://delawarevalleyjournal.com/opinion-how-pa-can-prevent-deadly-blackouts/
Planning should focus on deadly cold windless nights.
May yee all be merry,
David
161
David
Its already probably Valentines day over in Oz, but as you are some hours behind the UK there is still time to wish you a merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year
60
Given our standards of governance it’s April 1 every day in Oz.
270
‘Twas the night before blackouts,
the solar lights were dim.
The wind had all but stopped,
and things were looking grim.
The grid backup batteries were in the red,
the people poor and cold.
We said renewables would never work,
but the pollies would not be told.
Your turn! Community poem. 😁
130
Anthony Albo is a pest,
I won’t go on,
You know the rest.
90
Klaus Schwab presents….
https://youtu.be/9wCoXGMxJnk
80
I saw a clip a couple nights ago and KS was talking about how actual elections are not needed anymore, but it’s been taken down and replaced with edited versions.
130
Strange peak in all cause mentality straight after covid “vaccinations” and “boosters”. Video posted by Senator Malcolm Roberts (Australia), only 1m:41s. I don’t know another source of this but it won’t be long before Farcebook censors this.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Z6e7aQuUCk6Y2gsF/?mibextid=NnVzG8
150
Long press or right click. Save.
20
Offshore wind creeping forward in Oz:
“Australia Advances Offshore Wind Plans in Gippsland”
https://www.offshorewind.biz/2023/12/22/australia-advances-offshore-wind-plans-in-gippsland/?%3Futm_source=offshorewind&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_2023-12-25
“Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy has made preliminary decisions on the granting of feasibility licences for offshore wind projects in Commonwealth waters off the Gippsland region in Victoria.”
Advancing backwards.
91
Follow the money trail.
And how far do Aboriginal claims extend into the sea anyway, given they did not have boats suitable for ocean travel, only the most primitive bark freshwater craft for lagoons and rivers?
260
Aboriginal sea rights extend to the NAB shoal, Westpac Reef or the ANZ islands, whichever pays best.
281
It’s always about the money.
Always was, always will be.
181
reminds me of a chant they use
60
An important aspect of Cultural Marxism is that there is no absolute truth – therefore “history” is manipulated to achieve a political outcome.
The whole concept of a “First Nations People” has to be viewed throgh the lens of Cultural Marxism. The people we now call “Aboriginals” were never a “nation” with a common language and a leadership structure (eg a King) – they were just warring tribes with over 200 different languages. The Negritoes where the first inhabitants of Ausralia.
The Orwellian named “Truth Telling” (stage 2 of “The Voice”) is just the fabrication of history to achieve a political objective in this case a “treaty” between some Australians of a mixed racial heritage with other Australians of a mixed racial heritage and where 90% of people who self-identify a “Aboriginal” would not be alive today but for European settlement (and so even basic biology can be dismissed if it does not fit the political agenda).
When it comes to “Truth Telling” you can bet that the “truths” associated with the historical treatment of Aborginal females will be swept under the rug – just as the current treatment of Aboriginal females in dysfunctional Aboriginal communities is ignored as not fitting the political narrative of the Left and their Culural Marxism ideology.
We are required to pay our respects to “Aboriginal Elders, past present and future” whose lack of leadership is responsible for much of the dysfuction in many (but not all) Aboriginal communities such as youth crime and low school attendence rates. And we must mot mention the practice of Aboriginal Elders taking child brides!!
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/aborigines/2022/08/the-little-mentioned-ignoble-savage/
260
I heard Bruce Pascoe is shortly to announce his latest research proves ancient “first” “nations” folk were the first to build aircraft carriers.
240
Not only that, they were multi-purpose; within minutes of launching they became submarines.
140
An honest measure of electricity production is how much can be produced on-demand.
The answer for ALL wind and solar projects is ZERO, unless battery backed.
And the cost of the storage must be incorporated into the true cost.
And these parasitic devices must be forced to compete without government market restrictions with coal, gas, hydro and in mature countries (not Australia), nuclear power.
If that happened, wind and solar would be shown for the scam that it is.
260
The cost of battery storage for a solar and wind only electricity grid in Australia would be around $10 TRILLION based on current demand – the calaculations are not difficult.
Pumped-Hydro is a fantacy as confirmewd by Snowy 2.0
The corrupt CSIRO (97% of scientists agree with whoever is funding them) only models electricity production and not transmission and the provision of back-up power when the Sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing
180
Even the latest CSIRO GenCost report admits that pumped hydro is not the answer for storage.And the earlier Net Zero report, while analysing all possible storage systems, couldn’t recommend a single viable one.
80
The CSIRO GenCost report is here (link below).
It reeks of BS custom written for what the Government wants to hear.
What a pathetic organisation they have become.
They are meant to be providing independent scientific advice, not woke propaganda.
A disgraceful waste of our taxes.
https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/energy/energy-data-modelling/gencost
20
20
Whot? So this is why my bill, the cost per Watt-Hr, goes down each year (it hasn’t)?
00
We need to elect a Javier Milei; CSIRO would be one of the first agencies disbanded and the ABC and AEMO would not be far behind.
20
Oh Lord, there it is again “….downward pressure on prices” absolutely a rolled gold BS red flag in any “renewables” related discussion.
50
When I come to power:
I do not want to hear anything about downward pressure on prices.
I want to see big drops in prices.
00
Grid scale wind and solar in Australia are hitting a storage limitation. Adding more capacity just reduces overall capacity factor. The grid intermittents are now competing with rooftops. Rooftops are growing faster because they can still make money and push out grid scale generators.
AEMO now use the term”economic offloading” to distinguish voluntary curtailment from forced curtailment due to grid constraints. Figure 45 on page 29 in the linked report shows how the capacity factor reduced as the connected capacity increased:
https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/qed/2023/qed-q3-2023-report.pdf?la=en
From page 3 of that report:
Rooftops are where most of the actual growth is occurring. And you have to realise that the actual energy being used within the household that is supplied from the roof is not measured. So the true generation could well be twice the measured figure. That is why the minimum demand has been the lowest ever recorded.
South Australia has produced more than its lunchtime demand from rooftops. Only possible by exporting stabilising generation to Victoria. WA has had to find ways to limit rooftops to keep their system stable because they are not interconnected with the east coast.
Australia gets a lot of sunshine. There are now many households who could get lower cost power by making their own and going off grid. As grid prices continue to spiral up I expect to see grid defection to become a real issue. That is threat to new investment in grid capacity.
The situation could change a little once Snowy 2 is completed but it is a project at least 5 years to completion. So far, the completion date is advancing faster than the progress so it is one of those projects that may never be completed.
The only way these offshore wind projects will come off is for guarantees on an income stream. Victoria cannot do that because the State is broke and people are leaving due to the cost of everything going up. If the Federal government do it and the consumers are awake then it will be the governments downfall. The fact that “renewables” are ruinously expensive is starting to gell with consumers.
200
Ten years ago I made the mistake of installing roof top solar at a cost of around $8000
When I did the maths on whether to apply for the then much higher feed-in tarrif rebate – I found that the grid provider would charge more for drawing power from the grid at night and during peak periods if I signed up for the feed-in tarrif rebate. I therefore did not sign up.
The was a small saving on the power bill with the solar panels however the payback period did not justify the $8000 expenditure.
Since then feed-in tarrifs have fallen substantially.
https://www.esc.vic.gov.au/media-centre/how-can-feed-tariff-go-down-while-retail-prices-are-increasing
150
I had expected the export value to reduce, so didn’t include it in my initial cost calculations. As expected, the WA SWIS grid will soon reduce the export value, from 7c/unit, down to 2c. But I will still pay off my solar in less than 8 years, including Opportunity Cost.
I believe that eventually, to keep our grids stable, the power producers may decide to refuse home solar system power exports.
100
I was talking to a now retired engineer who used to do all that management of the power (whatever it is) stuff, and he was saying South Aus is a total pain with its off on solar and wind habit. And that with electricity getting more expensive leads to more people putting on rooftop solar all over the place which makes matters even worse. So obviously something is going to happen once engineers get a say again instead of politicians.
70
Upgraded my 12 year old 4kw rooftop system about a year ago, using a bit more than half of the old panels and increasing the total to about 6kw. More a question wanting a warranty on the inverters than having a problem with the output levels of the panels.
One year data: The new system generated about 8500 kwh of which I actually used about 3500 kwh ($980 from avoiding the 28c/kwh grid charge and $98 GST) and the 5000 kwh sent back to the grid earning the SWIS nominal 7c ($350). Grid usage was about 6700 kwh. Blame the water pump and split system heat pumps in winter.
I would say since I am now partially protected from further increases in the grid supplied prices, the payback period is acceptable.
Two items on the wish list.
1- another 1kw of vertically mounted (ie winter preferential) panels that the existing inverters will “handle”. Yes I have the blank wall.
2- Seriously cheap batteries (4 to 5 kwh capacity) that will process through the evening cross over period. They exist but not in Australian Standards certified form.
30
I have had rooftop for almost 13 years now. The 66c/kWh I have gotten is due to end in 2024. But it has paid back a few times over so far. I maximised the value by shifting around half my load off-grid. That was to test a lithium battery that is still going strong 11 years on.
A few neighbours now have rooftop solar. All advise it was a wise investment for them. The most recent, 3 years ago now, put in a 6kW system that cost him $4,000 with the contributions from Victoria and the Federal mandated STCs.. He told me he is saving an average of $100 per month on hs bill. He uses reverse cycle heating and cooling so a much bigger user than me. His system dropped my annual output by around 200kWh because the street voltage is often at the 252V where my system backs off. His impact would have been greater if his panels faced north but most face east and half of mine face northwest so his peak output occurs ahead of my peak output. His wife made conscious decision to shift their load to sunny days where possible. Things like dishwasher, ironing, clothes washing are now done through the middle of the day.
My solar output this year will reach just under 3,000kWh. Most is exported so income will be close to $1980. This year I had to pay one gas bill of $160. I have the same supplier for gas and electricity. The three previous years I ended slightly ahead on household energy but the rising gas price and higher connection fees are catching up. I expect I could become all electric in a year or two if the sums work out.
It is difficult for me to understand how you could spend $8,000 on a rooftop system 10 years ago in Australia and the investment not making a solid return. I have two friends who installed systems 10 years ago after the 66c/kWh was dropped and they both found them to be great investments. One of those has since retired to Queensland. He bought a new house there but also decided to build a house better suited to their needs. He already has 10kW of panels on the new house that was in operation while the house was being finished internally.
67
RickWill,
The issue is that your solar was installed with the subsidies which have made them (everyone else) pay . I have a friend who has not paid for power for some time due to the subsidies . We have installed solar due to same subsidies but still pay a power bill and this is going to get worse due to the new “solar tax” and rising supply charges . With the grid stability becoming unreliable I am also considering batteries , but I would not do this on a cost /benefit basis except that I don’t want to lose all the stuff in my fridges and freezers and would like to be able to use my reverse cycle aircon. If the grid goes down I cannot access the power my solar produces unless I do this . IF we remove everything but renewables the “South Africa” scenario will come into play . California is already going towards mandating that all batteries be connected to the grid to stabilise it. Having batteries that can be drained (by law) at the whim of power companies (including your EV) will not end well for the punters that bought them . For this reason I have held off with batteries for now .
130
Every solar and wind turbine is an impost on the grid that consumers pay for. My deal is just a little more attractive but the panel and inverter cost was considerably higher when I bought my system.
00
What you are really saying is that subsidy farming can pay … and I think probably no one disputes this. Your 66c per kWh is clearly not a market based rate … meaning that somewhere in the system somebody else paid a bit extra to allow that to happen.
The question remains whether it’s possible for everyone to live at the expense of everyone else.
260
well said Tel. Thats exactly and concisely it. And the answer to the last question, is no.
But Rick was smart at the time, he put his snout in the trough and sucked up the rewards of others’ loss. At the end of the day, what else can you do?
Back in what 2010 I put a heat pump water system for $50. Totally absurd waste of your money. The thing broke as soon as warranty expired and was switched back to regular style.
For businesses at the moment they are throwing new heat pumps for free basically. I know a farmer who has multiple houses so he claimed six of them. Thanks for your and my contribution.
I’m up for a new one now actually (new house), and would put a smaller electric in. When left to my actual money I see no value in the expense of the heat pump.
60
The 2023-24 ‘flat rate’ minimum feed-in tariff in Victoria is 4.9 cents per kilowatt hour – that is a lot less than the 66 cents per kilowatt hour you have been getting.
If more people install rooftop solar there will be even more unwanted electricity at noon on a sunny day which will force the feed-in tariffs even lower.
80
It was a fossil fuel, Kerosene, that saved the whales and replaced whale oil for lighting.
We have now come full circle – off-shore wind turbines will now kill many whales since fossil fuels have been demonised when the world we now know would not be possible without fossil fuels.
280
Advancing backwards is a very appropriate phrase David. Australia was a great place to live for the average person right up to the 1990s (just my opinion) but since then we have been in steady decline. We havent seen the short term catastrophy as Biden has caused in the US, but Albanese has that potential. If his stupidity is affirmed by re-election, I shudder to think what he may perpetrate.
110
Bureaucrat making in effect laws, not anybody accountable to the people.
80
I understand that the foundation for every offshore wind turbine planned for coastal Australia will be mounted on a steel and concrete structure moored to the bottom of the ocean and about the same dimensions as a coal carrier ship’s hull.
80
China continues its record cold:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/china-freezes-coldest-december-records-31748576
Anchorage is likely to reach its average winter snowfall two months early:
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2023/12/13/reduced-visibility-and-messy-roads-ahead-as-more-snow-hits-anchorage/
110
Luck that China has all those coal-fired powerstatons that can still operate when it is cold unlike solar panels (covered in snow) and iced-up wind turbines!
China is currently permitting two new coal fired power stations EVERY WEEK – this may increase in response to the record cold.
130
This link has a video of CO2 over the globe using satellite data. The distribution shows it is is not as well mixed as some believe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlNj4Vd-w0k
It should be no surprise that China has high CO2 levels over and downwind. If CO2 worked like the models work, then China would be perpetually warm. It would be the place constantly setting new high temperature records rather than new low records.
140
Yes, but as a blogger of the leftist side posted recently when obviously shocked to read that nuclear reactor or coal burning the driving force is steam, the blogger attempted to make out that steam is so old fashioned and useless compared to modern technology.
100
‘Children won’t know what sunburn is’
Rain, rain, rain… Gone are the days of burning hot sand, blazing sunshine, frazzled bodies on the beach… When experts warn ‘hot and dry’, prepare for the opposite.
New Year’s Eve for you folk on the West Island, L’australia, is looking just as wet and stormy – however, we have the bonus of a COLD FRONT sliding up from Antarctica just in time for the fireworks and midnight hugs. Snow on 1 Jan 2024 anyone?
Summer in the South Pacific ain’t what it used to be. Happy soggy Boxing Day!
190
Tesla Will Suspend Drivers For Autopilot Abuse In New Software Update
70
Turns out GM’s Onstar was just the tip of the iceberg 20 years ago. But I refused to own any vehicle with anything like it then and now. Way too Orwellian even then.
120
In China recently when one EV maker went bust all its EVs stopped working since their control systems were all networked back to a central computer.
With no money to operate and staff the central computer the EVs became unoperational!
In future, EV drivers will most likely be limited on how far they can drive (15 minute cities) and when they will be allowed to recharge their EVs so as to manage grid demand.
Be prepeared for a “Brave New World”!
180
Put a spare diesel engined vehicle aside for your future needs, no doubt vegetable oil will still be available to purchase so prepare to produce bio-diesel at home.
I had a neighbour who is now deceased who drove a Nissan Patrol of the 1980s and was a member of a bulk vegetable oil purchasing group who all produced their own bio-diesel fuel and he proved to me that his fuel cost per litre saving was significant, noting to begin with that in Australia fuel excise (tax) amounts to close to fifty per cent of the retail price, plus GST.
71
not sure that works too well with modern diesels.
20
CO2 Lover, can you remember any more details about the Chinese EV maker that went bust? Name, Month, any clues? I’d like to know more…
00
Seems there is quite a few.
The most recent is VM motors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEDZmrzII14
00
Question: What did Californians use before candles?
Answer: Electricity
180
Same will soon apply to Australians.
110
Back in the day, 60 or 70 years+ ago, car manuals used to tell you how to adjust valve clearance and change oil etc..
Nowadays, car manuals and warning signs tell you not to drink the battery acid.
The dumbing-down of society is complete.
Ref: https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a13082/2420976/
160
My new vacuum cleaner’s manual says not to clean the appliance with petrol. OK!
120
I had a 1960 Morris Major for a few years as a timkering project. The owners manual was indeed interesting reading and it seemed that people in the 1960s where far more capable of doing real things than people are these days. Wealth and specialisation I guess, overlayed with the general dumbing down and people feeling they no longer need to know that stuff.
80
As a 19 year old I could remove the engine from my Volkswagen Beetle in 15 minutes and did all my own servicing, VW was a people’s car, as were the earlier model GMH Holdens, I inherited a 1967 HR Model 3-speed gearbox, 6 cylinder motor, 130,000 kms since purchased new in 1995 and had regularly towed an 18 foot caravan.
The HR was owner maintained.
70
had
00
Funny….
I saw a meme which I will translate into words:
A restaurant patron says “waiter, there’s a fly in my soup”.
The waiter (Klaus Schwab) says “I know”.
70
Don’t worry, be happy.
60
WEF will look after you, how do you like these four walls and ceiling?
40
“The dumbing-down of society is complete.”
Not at all. It is not the dumbing down of society but the increased complexity of modern vehicles.
My first car was a 1934 Ford 8 bought in 1958. My second a 1939 Morris 8 Series E bought a year later. I did my own maintenance which including replacing a clutch and rear differential both of which were bought from scrap car yards.
As cars became more complex so it has become more difficult to do one’s own maintenance and with the advent of the computerisation of vehicles home based repairs are virtually impossible
63
Things like that can cause wonderment –
A kangaroo put one son’s motorbike into a fence, where the barbed wire came close to cutting his throat. So we decided we did need a grader but that it wouldn’t be coming from the shiny paint end. So we plucked up courage and resurrected a 1959 vintage one. In this I was helped by people on an old machinery blog.
Some 12 years later there was a request there for tips on how to work on the power steering of a similar unit. And I had experienced that job.
As I started to add what I knew I had the thought that I might have been the only person in the world who had done that job in that time!
And he got his problem solved.
110
I had one that had been restored by a qualified mechanic and enthusiast, he converted it to an Austin A40 engine, gearbox and differential with first gear blocked to limit it to three gears. Steel spacers were added to enable the spoked wheels to fit the A40 hubs. It was completely repainted by a qualified auto painter maroon with black mudguards and it looked something like a stubby MG.
My embarrassment was a time when cornering too quickly and having forgotten to check the wheel nuts were tight both rear wheels came off and the car skidded to a halt on the differential. Problem was my embarrassment was viewed by a crowd of people waiting at a bus stop.
40
Why would anybody want anything to do with any part of an A40? Horrible car, with a long-throw that often wrecked bearings. And you needed to know how to replace head gaskets and valves as these regularly failed. Mine rightfully ended its days out on the Nullarbor.
10
mmmm that how I used to drive the Major , as a three speed car. It was geared down so far that 1st gear was pretty useless apart from the steepest of hill starts.
20
You just need to watch on you tube a channel called just rolled in and you can see some real dumb car owners, who shouldn’t really be driving or their cars shouldn’t be on the road.
00
“As cars became more complex so it has become more difficult to do one’s own maintenance ”
and yet mechanics have become no brighter..
00
A Christmas Story: OpenAI Ambivalent on White Genocide , Seductive AI has no rules. It will change your life (or end it).
Top 10 Most Seductive AI Humanoid Robots This 2023 , Top 10 Dangerously Seductive Robots 2024 Edition , Interview With China’s Most Dangerous AI Robots In 2024
10
Biden’s “Rule of law” explained –
https://youtu.be/7LzHXTD0JkU
“via https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/12/video_malarkythe_saga_of_joe_biden_and_corn_pop.html
Massaquoi’s presence is a reminder that, in Biden’s America, while Biden may be stupid and incoherent, he’s got a powerful “rule of law.” This “rule” is that his side is above the law, and everyone else is below the law.”
Via a comment at Chiefio
40
I suffered my Xmas dinner last night amongst the Blue Zombies.
(Reupped after COVID.)
The first person I met proudly informed me she was a ‘socialist’ before I even got her name.
(My tongue hurts from all the forced biting.)
Anyway, it turns out I and them are mad about the same things.
Except for them it’s all Trump’s fault.
It’s going to be a weird year.
20
How does a project originally estimated to cost $2 billion lower energy prices when the real cost will be around $20 billion (including new transmission lines)?
This is the official line:
So extra energy from solar power at noon will be used to pump water up hill to meet peak demand from 5.00pm to 8.00pm when the Sun is setting or has already set.
Surplus wind power will also be utilised.
However, the pumps used to pump water up hill have a fixed capacity.
What happens when there is an extended period of cloudy days or windless days?
The resevoir will be drawn down for several days in a row which will then take several days to fully recharge.
If massive pumps are installed these will require massive suplus energy to operate for a speedy recharge.
Therefore there must be a failure rate period for Snowy 2.0 when too many consecutive days of cloud cover or low wind when the draw down in resevoir level will require an extended period of optimal weather to recharge – ie several days (weeks?). During this period there will be a constraint on how much water can be used to meet peak demand.
I bet there has never been any modelling of this failure rate period.
140
Plus it seems the whole of Australia’s east coast grid will be dependent upon this fundamentally defective installation to back up fundamentally defective wind and solar.
What could possibly go wrong?
110
Well David, nothing could go wrong with so many scattered wind and solar installations, at least one or two would always be operating.
sarc.
Base load, what base load?
80
One cost that is never mentioned was the purchase of shareholding from New South Wales and Victoria governments by the Federal Government and shareholder to encourage state planning approval.
I think from memory the amount was $3 billion?
60
Reuters
March 2, 20187:59 AM GMT+11Updated 6 years ago
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s federal government said on Friday it had purchased hydroelectric assets from the states of Victoria and New South Wales for A$6.2 billion ($4.8 billion), clearing its path to proceed with a national scheme to expand hydro generation.
Under pressure to plug power supply gaps which have led to blackouts, as well as cap soaring prices, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced plans last year to expand hydro generation in Australia’s southeast by around 50 percent.
40
Officially SN2 will have a capacity of 350 GWh, with a max output of 2.2 GW….
..so potentially 160 hours of continuous output at max capacity.
If it is only used for “peak support” , 6 hrs per day, that could mean 26 days of support without any input to recharge the reserviour.
But that is all theory, and 2.2GW doesnt really cover those peak demands….just help a little !
And $20+ bn is a lot cheaper than 350 GWh of batteries to do a similar job !
01
‘Elephant in the room’: The US military’s devastating carbon footprint
The US military emits more than entire industrialised nations like Portugal and Denmark, yet evades scrutiny.
The US military is vast in scale, with a carbon footprint larger than any other institution on earth. But when it comes to disclosure of its emissions of greenhouse gases, it’s been kept off the books – and has been let off the hook.
The environmental impact of the US military machine was documented in two 2019 reports, which revealed it to be the world’s largest institutional consumer of hydrocarbons, belching out more emissions than industrialised nations like Portugal and Denmark.
Yet its contribution to heating the planet is largely overlooked, the US government having lobbied for an exemption for military activity from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that set binding emissions targets for signatory nations. During the 2015 Paris talks, the exemption was removed, but reporting of military emissions remains optional.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/12/elephant-in-the-room-the-us-militarys-devastating-carbon-footprint
Who cares about pollution. They have wars to start, governments to overthrow and resources to steal.
31
The business of Amerika* is war… another reason the previous, legitimate, president was nudged out of office – not enough ‘business opportunities’ happening.
* District of Columbia Inc.
50
Trump Mocks Biden Defense Push for Electric Tanks
“We can go into enemy territory, we will blast the s*** out of everybody, but at least we will go in with environmentally nice equipment,” Trump mocked.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/donald-trump-electric-cars/2023/09/30/id/1136498/
10
re: “Who cares about pollution. They have wars to start, governments to overthrow and resources to steal.”
Heh. Now do China (can I say that here?)
10
New Science: Geothermal Energy Becomes Key Factor In Climate
“Now these curves are from Hawaii and the South Pole and they cast serious doubt on the CO2 as a control knob hypothesis first if the CO2 is rising steadily then why is the temperature increasing in a punctuated fashion?
Second, if we have virtually identical concentrations of CO2 at two distant points equator and the South Pole why do we have a highly irregular geographic pattern of temperature increase, so these two things don’t comport with each other?
Furthermore, the models which predict the warming based on CO2 as the driver or wilfully inadequate suggesting that a different mechanism is probably responsible. So here we see the projections for global temperatures based on co2 concentrations.
We see the actual temperatures is measured by three different Suites or ensembles of data the U satellites the RSS satellite and the four different reanalyses until recently there’s been very little research on the impact of geothermal heat and its impact on global temperatures.
It has not been a popular topic for discussion and we know that the vast majority of geothermal heat is emitted by volcanoes and hydrothermal vents in the middle of the world’s ocean basins.”
https://principia-scientific.com/new-science-geothermal-energy-becomes-key-factor-in-climate/
Never study anything that can disprove the lies and narratives.
60
It is disappointing to see such ambivalence. Anyone who thinks CO2 can have direct influence over Eath’s energy balance is off with the fairies. It is just moronic thinking that a trace gas could directly influence what goes on in Earth’s energy balance.
Tropical oceans are thermostatically limited to a sustainable 30C. At that temperature, the cloud formation over open ocean regulate surface sunlight to just match the heat loss to the atmosphere so they are in thermodynamic balance. The notion that tiny amounts of CO2 can alter than tenmperature control process is imbecilic.
The “Greenhouse Effect” is just bunkum. It is not science. It is in fairy land. Adults who believe that probably still believe there is a tooth fairy.
80
Those same adults appear to.believe there is a Magic Money Tree.
References – Boris, FJB et al.
Auto
20
Thoughts for the day
“Nothing disturbs me more than the glorification of stupidity.”
– Carl Sagan
“The worst of all deceptions is self-deception.”
– Plato
“Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken.”
– Bertrand Russell
“The lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness.”
– Erich Fromm
“If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.”
– Emile Zola
“Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.”
– Epictetus
“Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”
– Aristotle
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
– Edith Wharton
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– Richard Feynman
90
Tuesday ejukayshun: Slow motion water droplet. 20,000 frames/sec.
https://youtu.be/0-bZ_ci3Y34?si=2P6aEytjfvgkZaFU
Define that with an equation. Easy? Ok. Try this:
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_s58mq2wsJd1y9d09t.mp4
60
Is that why there are ripples emanating from the droplet hitting the water? Never thought about that before.
20
Ram Trucks Scandal: Cummins Settles for $1.675 Billion Fine
WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Truck engine maker Cummins Inc (CMI.N) has agreed in principle to pay a $1.675 billion fine for installing devices on hundreds of thousands of engines to allow them to emit excess pollution, the largest-ever civil penalty for a Clean Air Act violation, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.
The Department said Cummins allegedly installed so-called “defeat devices” to bypass or disable emissions controls such as emission sensors and onboard computers.
The department said Cummins used defeat devices on 630,000 2013 to 2019 RAM 2500 and 3500 pickup truck engines and undisclosed auxiliary emission control devices on 330,000 2019 to 2023 RAM 2500 and 3500 pickup truck engines to cheat emissions control requirements.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said “preliminary estimates suggest that defeat devices on some Cummins engines have caused them to produce thousands of tons of excess emissions of nitrogen oxides.” It is the second largest environmental penalty deal ever reached, the department said.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/cummins-take-about-204-bln-charge-fourth-quarter-2023-12-22/
Are they tied to VW? 😁
70
I think that in the interests of fuel efficiency, emissions controls should be turned off outside of certain cities with particular geographic or atmospheric anomalies that make them susceptible to photochemical smog.
60
Oh how the Yanks tut-tutted when VW were caught cheating.
20
Not me. I thought they (VW) were ingenious using that scheme! (PS I have no love for the ignorant, arbitrary and capricious ‘standard setters’ at the EPA.)
10
No, they just have to be competitive in the real world .
00
Xmas nativity scene, woke version
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1738667041744437490
As plausible as the original I see. 😎
13
nativity scene, life in the suburbs version
https://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d02c8d3a6aad9200d-pi
10
I have always hated brutalist architecture and it’s what I always think of when I think of dystopian societies.
It’s no surprise then, the socialist inspiration behind this appalling style.
40
Agree; the article mentions something in Sydney, but I think we have more famous versions of this appalling style in Canberra starting with the High Court.
50
No photos in the article but I looked them up. Yuck!
20
In Melbournistan I am noticing an increasing number of mask wearers.
The fear campaign has been successful.
120
We here often make fun of the soft sciences like psychology.
A mistake.
Seems to be me that very sophisticated and well funded elements of society have perfected hysteria as the MIC’s 21st century weapon of choice.
AGW was the pilot program.
There are new flags being hoisted weekly.
Only question is which one gets the population to salute … or start pounding themselves in the head with a hammer.
I’m betting on space aliens.
(Tucker Carlson apparently thinks they may not be from ‘space’, but somewhere else.)
40
Would that ‘space’ be the one that separates the ears??
00
“Hottest In 125,000 Years?”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/12/25/hottest-in-125000-years/
Conclusion –
“Anybody who claims that this year is the hottest for 125,000 years is fraudulent.
90
And a member of the lefty lunacy sheep flock.
40
Geez, this Climate Change is so bad, we are now experiencing the wettest extreme drought and bushfire season on record!!
130
You have to wonder when the climate modellers realise their models produce carp. How long does it take for morons to realise they are morons?
How can climate modellers who predicted the end of snow still hold any authority. They have been proven morons.
Japan is always late in getting snow because it is moderated by the ocean heat but when it comes, it comes with severity:
https://www.poandpo.com/news/heavy-snow-hits-japan/
The modellers are only just beginning to realise that record ocean temperature in September result in record snowfall in the fall and winter. There has to be more precipitation if there is more moisture in that air:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/other/over-3-million-americans-face-blizzard-warnings-on-christmas-with-up-to-a-foot-of-snow-in-plains-while-most-of-us-deals-with-unseasonably-warm-temps/ar-AA1m11Va
Warmth and precipitation are bedfellows. The precipitation comes down as snow if the ground temperature is below 0C. Once there is snow on the ground, it is then hard to get much warmer than 0C. So the snow tends to hang around.
80
I was at a rangelands conference at Calgary one February in early 1980’s.
The extremes of the area were detailed at one ranch on a field tour –
Usually as it got cold it also started to snow and snow is a good ground insulator and of water under ice. That year they had got the cold without the snow. One ranch had to “take extreme measures” to guarantee a water supply for their feedlot. Started with a case of dynamite. After about four feet of ice they got about 18 inches of running water, so were then OK.
Comment was also that some small communities around Calgary had the entire water and sewerage systems frozen up and had to await the spring thaw.
And it was also mentioned that a Chinook wind could strip all the snow off Alberta in a couple of days.
One Canadian blogger trades as “North of 60” and has to bury his stock water pipes 8 feet down to avoid freezing. Imagine trying to find a leak,
20
It was hot in Iceland 3000 years ago.
https://www.icelandreview.com/news/3000-year-old-trees-excavated-under-glacier/
40
Summer solstice sunlight 3,000 years ago at 65N averaged 485.7W/m^2. It will bottom in 400 hundred years time at 478.2W/m^2.
However the ocean has a significant influence on Iceland so you have to look at sunlight further south to get an idea of how the temperature on Iceland has and will change.
Coming south to 44N, the insolation was 488.2W/m^2 3000 years ago and bottomed at 483.7W/m^2 500 years ago. So it is not surprising that Iceland is already warming up but mostly in winter; having increased from -28C to -22C in January over the past 50 years. The July temperature has only increased by 2C over the same period. So most warming is due to ocean heat advection in winter. Similar trends as Greenland.
50
Cold snap (!) for Greenland’s ice plateau – noticed its anomaly was -16C or thereabouts, so checked Summit Camp’s temp today… -56C.
You reckon the scientists are glad having hydrocarbon fuels to keep them alive, or do they not winter-over up there: fine weather friends only?
10
Concerned citizens need to keep informing people that there would be no need for the environmental vandalism and including requisitioning tens of thousands of hectares for wind and solar installations plus transmission lines to main grid, plus a new main grid for transmission from those locations but not needed by the power station generators.
And therefore that existing location lands where power stations are now located could continue to be used, coal fired power stations maintained to continue operating, or upgrading the coal burning boiler systems to Small Modular Reactor technology, and/or replacing coal fired power stations with SMR technology new generator units. And as necessary upgrading the existing grid transmission lines for increased future demand for electricity supply.
30
How many SMR units are operational in commercial energy production worldwide in 2023?
00
Good question. I doubt there are enough to justify total commitment to them.
I’m such a Luddite that I still like a power station built beside a coal seam. That seam doesn’t need to be very big, one power station doesn’t burn a lot of coal, nothing like an export operation.
40
I suspect that the answer is –
‘Oh, Oh, Oh”
00
Quite a large number of VVER-1000, VVER-1200 units in service … but since they are a Russian design, you don’t hear much about it … mostly non-Western countries are buying them. There’s a Russian built VVER-1000 running at Bushehr, Iran and a second one supposed to be mostly finished … after a great number of political stops and starts!
The VVER-TOI is the next incremental step in the series, I searched and found only mention of one of these. The same basic design has been refined and tweaked since the 1970’s and pretty much standardized and packaged into an off the shelf product.
10
The Chinese have recently connected a 200 MW reactor to commercial service. Strangely, it’s not regarded as an SMR. However, they also recently dropped the core into one termed an SMR.
10
Plenty of SMR equivalent reactors powering warships, and have been doing so successfully for over 5 decades. Only a small technical step to transfer the produced energy from propulsion to electricity generation……..
10
I’ve recently joined Twitter again and I see Professors of Climate – as they call themselves – on there scare mongering without inhibition. As bad as and in the same style as teenage girls. Astonishing.
22
5
00
Do you have a link for that? Otherwise, it’s simply al jebra.
10
FWIW –
“Per World Exploitation Forum at Davos”
This channel provides interesting insight into the point of view of the Russians in general and Mr. Putin in particular. It was especially useful for disambiguating the fact that Putin was at one time a WEF-y yet now runs Russia. Was he still in alignment with Klaus Schwab, or not? Well, I’d figured that, as a KGB kind of guy, Putin had likely attended mostly to gather intel for Russia, but had no evidence. The picture painted in this video tends to confirm that idea.”
Links and more at
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2023/12/25/per-world-exploitation-forum-at-davos/
10
FWIW
“Your Car Stores Your Text Messages – Law Enforcement Can Retrieve Them Anytime, Following Federally Rejected Lawsuit”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/car-stores-text-messages-law-enforcement-can-retrieve/
00
FWIW
“A Not So Grassroots Revolution in Serbia”
“The Serbian government has not been 100% in lockstep with the Western narrative so now they’re going to be punished. A so-called “color revolution” has “suddenly” broken out by supporters of a political party called Serbia Against Violence (irony alert). Expect the same “spontaneous home-grown revolutions” to magically break out in Argentina and the Netherlands and anywhere else that 100% compliance is not achieved.”
https://rumble.com/v439rb8-serbia-color-revolution.-russian-intel-warned-belgrade.-borrell-russia-not-.html
Via https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/12/25/a-not-so-homegrown-revolution-in-serbia/
10
How The Babylon Bee Predicts the Future
10
Anthony Albanese: How to make gravy
Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain: The Christmas Special
10
‘Where, oh where, did the flu go?’
Viva Frei, for my fellow JN OCD squirrels.
https://rumble.com/v43bkcw-covid-made-the-flu-disappear-the-anatomy-of-corruption-viva-frei-vlawg.html
(Our overriding issue is not climate science, but the corrupt capture of ‘Science’ initiated by ‘Climate Science’ and made wholly manifest by ‘Pandemic’.)
20
Cold Humboldt Current.
https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/ocean/cdas-sflux_ssta_global_1.png
00
They got it, one way or another: UK has hottest Christmas day on record by virtue of the highest minimum.
“Temperatures at Exeter Airport and East Malling, Kent, did not fall below 12.4C, the Met Office said, beating the previous record of 11.5C measured at Waddon in Croydon in 1983.”
But also white, by virtue of snow in Scotland.
You can write any headline you want if you look hard enough!
00
Hot ?
Or do they mean warm ?
My definition of hot is a bit different… 😀
30
FWIW
“Dave Barry offers some really useless advice during his coronavirus self-quarantine”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5IE7juq4p4
In comments at https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/12/26/one-flu-out-of-the-wuhan-nest-108/
00
I got a message claiming the UK is currently running on 80% wind and solar in the middle of winter.
I found it hard to believe.
An individual called Kate Morley publishes figures on her website which are close to that claim. (69.8% “renewables”)
There’s this: https://www.energydashboard.co.uk/live (61% “renewables”)
Can it be true?
00